Cedric and Ochi Vongerichten at Wayan. Photo: M. Cooper

During a recent dinner at Wayan, a new Indonesian restaurant in Nolita, one of the owners  Ochi  fluttered from table to table, pollinating conversations with tidbits and jokes that helped everyones night blossom (she also assured diners that a Balinese suckling pig would join the menu soon, as would Indonesias national dessert, es teler). A gin cocktail named for her, the Ochilike  made with Champagne vinegar that is fittingly sharp and playful  landed on several tables. As her husband, Cedric, ran the kitchen, Ochi, who moved to New York from Jakarta, picked up a small bottle of the restaurants homemade hot sauce. We call this sambal bule, she told an Indonesian guest she had just met. The kitchen, she explained, calls Cedric bule, too. Bule is Indonesian for gringo.

Many people may get hung up on the idea of a white guy running an Indonesian restaurant in one of the ritziest neighborhoods in Manhattan. Nevertheless, Wayan is, in its early going, a delight. I absolutely love the decor. Its simple, chic, and impactful, Prabal Gurung, the Nepalese-American fashion designer who held a Lunar New Year party there, says. I loved all of it, its perfect fusion and explosions of tastes and aromas.

Tika Rakhmatika, the general manager of Upi Jaya in Elmhurst, favors Wayans simple corn fritters (I could eat that all the time, every day). She adds, It feels like a Balinese restaurant  its almost spot-on. An Indonesian friend, meanwhile, wolfed down a helping of Javanese oxtail soup and sighed: Oh, Ive missed that taste. Cedrics nasi goreng is fried rice beautifully heightened, nearly to the umami chewiness of bready meatballs. The chef calls the trio of satays  chicken, pork, and shrimp, each perfected across 30 or so versions  bulletproof in terms of juiciness. And they are, which is all the more remarkable considering the kitchen has no grill (they use a French plancha instead).

Wayan, in other words, is the kind of mom-and-pop restaurant that many couples dream of opening: a dining room that tells their collective story through personal food and friendly service; that feels as warm as it does instinctive. It just so happens that Cedrics father, and Ochis father-in-law, is arguably the most famous chef in the world.

The chefs version of avocado gado gado with quail eggs and peanut relish. Photo: M. Cooper

Bangkok-born and forever moving  to Boston, Geneva, Hong Kong, Lisbon, London, Osaka, and Singapore  Cedric Vongerichten spent some of his scattershot childhood in New York, living in the Drake Hotel, where his dad, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, ran one of New Yorks most celebrated restaurants (Cedric would sometimes ask classmates which hotel they called home). By the time he was 14, Cedric had moved to the south of France with his mother, and began his culinary career following in Jean-Georgess footsteps  while using his mothers name. Cedric Prevost, as he was known, worked under Alain Ducasse at Le Louis XV in Monaco, Christian Willer at La Palme dOr in Cannes, and Jacques Chibois at La Bastide Saint Antoine in Grasse  all Michelin temples of culinary demigods  and contends today that those bosses never knew of his famous lineage. When he was 17, Cedric agreed to help open his fathers restaurant in the Bahamas, unaware that the elder Vongerichten had only extended the invitation in the hope of steering his son away from this particular career trajectory.

I sent him for six months of work with local fisherman  prep work, Jean-Georges says. I thought hed come back and say, Forget it. Instead, Cedric dutifully learned butchering in the Bahamas, then hot appetizers in London. He worked across Asia before brushing up on management skills at the Culinary Institute of America, during which he interned at elBulli. Upon graduation, he was pulled back into the Jean-Georges corporate bloodstream, eventually working his way up to sous-chef at Jean-Georges, and becoming chef de cuisine at Perry St, the smallest of the 13 family-run New York City restaurants.

There, it took Cedric six months to devise his first dish, butter-poached lobster in lemongrass broth with potato ravioli. It took him another four years to create a menu that was completely his. And while he is still involved in that restaurant, Wayan (which means firstborn) is a project that is fully his own. He and Ochi have a business partner, Ezra William, but there is no financial involvement from Cedrics father. Instead, its another family member  Ochi  who is in many ways the driving force behind Wayan, not just for the Indonesian inspiration, but for the brass-tacks work of, for example, applying for a liquor license from the local community board.

Clockwise from top: steamed black sea bass pepes with chili-calamansi vinaigrette; pandan custard with passionfruit; chicken satay with peanut. M. Cooper. Clockwise from top: steamed black sea bass pepes with chili-calamansi vinaigrette; pandan custard with passionfruit; chicken satay with peanut. M. Coo... more Clockwise from top: steamed black sea bass pepes with chili-calamansi vinaigrette; pandan custard with passionfruit; chicken satay with peanut. M. Cooper.

Despite a dewy glow and a breezy vibe that speaks to his hobbies (windsurfing and flyboarding), Cedric is coy and cautious when discussing anything other than his cooking (asked to reveal his guilty culinary pleasure, he confesses it is  a daily Chobani), so his story about meeting Ochi while they were CIA students is not exactly candid. I dont want to get too personal, he says, but lets just say that she was taking French classes and I was a French tutor. Thats it. Ochi laughs increasingly throughout his answer until she blurts out the truth: Basically he did all my homework so after that we could party outside. They both laugh.

Together, they opened two projects in Jakarta  Le Burger and Vong Kitchen  but its Wayan that most strongly reflects the couples personality. I dont want to call it fusion or anything like that, Cedric says, I mean, its not also 100 percent authentic  its just my version, my vision of it.

And yet, in a surprising moment, there are no knives or chopsticks at Wayan, which are not really a part of the Indonesian table. Id rather eat with my hands than have chopsticks in this restaurant, says Ochi, who notes that shes seen customers eat Wayans sauteed whole shrimp  which Cedric calls so freaking sweet  with their hands.

Jean-Georges, its probably worth noting, tried to employ the same cutlery strategy at Spice Market, but he had to quickly reverse course at that Meatpacking District clubstaurant. At Wayan, it works because the restaurant is rooted in ideas of authenticity that have taken hold among New York diners in the last decade, a time when overlooked cuisines like Albanian, Portuguese, Filipino, and hyperregional Indian have enjoyed moments in the sun. The Indonesian cooking at Wayan fits snugly into that trend, even if Wayan itself doesnt, necessarily.

Little markers of Cedrics fine-dining training are everywhere in the restaurant, a sign that he will forever bear his fathers professional fingerprints. In fact, while sitting at his own eponymous flagship at the Trump International Hotel on Columbus Circle, Jean-Georges notes that his restaurants lease will end in about 15 years, and he doesnt see himself running the business forever (hell be 62 in March). He hopes Cedric will take over. More than hopes  hes planning on it. I really want him to join us eventually, Jean-Georges says. Thats the plan.

When I relay this bit of information to Cedric, he doesnt miss a beat: It sounds like we need a family meeting.
Lando Norris says he is hard at work preparing for his F1 debut.

The 19-year-old Formula 2 runner-up is making his debut for McLaren this year, as the once-great F1 team rebuilds after an uncompetitive last few years.

Norris told the Dutch publication Formule 1 that the workload as he prepares to debut is often "overwhelming".

"Yes, there are so many different situations where you have to process a lot of different information," he said.

"That is a step up for me. In F2 the driver is limited in what he can adjust.

"So I've been busy studying that kind of thing this winter. I hope that I know what to do in Australia, but I am confident. The team has helped me a lot," said Norris.

He thinks McLaren has taken a step forward compared to 2018, which will be remembered as Fernando Alonso's last in formula one.

"The atmosphere has really improved," said the Briton.

"When I look at the motivation of the whole group, things are going in the right direction. Problems we had are gradually being ironed out.

"It can always be better but it also takes time to get everyone on the same page."

As for the car, Norris says the 2019 machine is "going pretty well".

"Obviously there are aspects we are still struggling with, as it is a really different car than last year," he said.

(GMM)
Florida may soon join the growing ranks of state governments that are assessing the potential benefits of blockchain technologies.A newly introduced Senate bill would create a working group to study the technology, with an eye toward understanding how it might "improve processes, increase efficiency, and promote transparency in government" and businesses, according to the text The group, which would be established in the states Department of Management Services, would ultimately compile a report and share their findings with the Governor's office and the state Legislature.The bill was introduced earlier this month by David Santiago, a state representative and chair of the Gaming Control Subcommittee. It has since been referred to a number of committees for further review. A companion bill has also been introduced If passed, Florida would join a growing list of states  including New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Wyoming  that have formed task forces to study the potential benefits of blockchain.A relatively new phenomenon, blockchain broke onto the national scene in 2008 when a man or group of people named Satoshi Nakamoto wrote a white paper for a cryptocurrency deployed through blockchain technology that came to be known as bitcoin. Blockchain utilizes a system of cryptography to verify and store records of digital transactions, essentially ensuring trust in exchange without the use of third-party enforcement.As the new Florida bill notes, blockchain has ballooned in market value ever since its inception, going from millions to billions of dollars in just a few short years.Consequently, the technology has become an intense area of interest for state and federal officials, who see potential in its ability to modernize methods of record keeping, cost savings, and security. President Trump even recently ordered a Pentagon study of its potential benefits for U.S. cybersecurity operations.Still, some question remains as to blockchains actual utility. Is it a truly revolutionary technology, or is it simply overhyped and not really that practical ? In states where tasks forces have already set about to study the technology, outcomes from those studies have tended to be hopeful.In Illinois, for instance, where officials have made a comprehensive effort to study blockchain, the state task force's final report predicted it could help create "more responsive, trusted and integrated public services." In Florida, the benefits of the adoption of blockchain technology could be similarly diverse.The language in the Florida bill emphasizes the techs promise of increased efficiency, calling it a way to facilitate more efficient government service delivery models and economies of scale, including facilitating safe paperless transactions and recordkeeping.It also has the power to centralize operations, reducing reliance on "disparate government computer systems," while also bolstering system security against potential cyberattacks, according to the bill.The legislation asks that the working group not merely explore potential benefits of the technology, but develop a "master plan" for how the blockchain industry could be fostered and grown throughout the state. The goal, according to the bill, should be for the group to "recommend policies and state investments to help make this state a leader in blockchain technology."
(TNS)  During her second town hall in as many months in office, freshman Rep. Abigail Spanberger, DVa., fielded questions on topics as far-flung as broadband access in rural America, the immigration debate and the massive solar farm set for a vote in Spotsylvania County next week.More than 100 people gathered in the auditorium of the Marshall Center on Courthouse Road on Saturday afternoon in a county where a majority of votes went to Spanbergers opponent, Republican incumbent Dave Brat. The former CIA operatives narrow win marked the first time in almost 50 years the 7th District went blue.I didnt win by a lot. Im aware of that, said Spanberger, who immediately struck a conciliatory tone in her opening remarks. Regardless of political leaning, I thank you for being here today.Spanberger began by offering that she had helped introduce 13 bills in just more than 50 days since she took office  a dozen of them bipartisan.I am committed to places we can agree, she said to an overwhelmingly friendly audience that met her arrival with cheers and applause.Later, she added: We make progress as a country when we listen to a broad spectrum of voices.Spanberger described how broadband access was a great opportunity for bipartisanship, and that she often used that topic when sitting with her Republican colleagues.An appropriations bill signed Feb. 14 dedicates hundreds of millions of dollars to broadband. Some people need bridges and tunnels, she said. We need Internet.The partial government shutdown  the longest in history  dominated Spanbergers first weeks in office, she said. She supports a measure that would require members of Congress to forfeit their own pay if they are willing to use federal employees as negotiating tools in the future.A woman in a Humanity First T-shirt kicked off the questions during the more than hourlong event. She described how her Huguenot ancestors came to America in search of religious freedom and asked Spanberger how she intended to ensure the humane treatment of immigrants and refugees going forward  a topic raised at least twice more by constituents.Spanberger said she had co-sponsored a bill that would prohibit families from being separated at the border going forward, and there are several ongoing inquiries about the hundreds of still-missing children.Dozens of red shirts dotted the audience, many of them worn by residents who oppose a contentious 500-megawatt solar farm proposed on 5,200 acres. The Spotsylvania Planning Commission has backed a 245-acre segment.Mike Mikolosko was among those who questioned Spanberger about it.She said that it was ultimately a county decision, but that she supports renewable energy. Still, she can very much understand the concerns.A constituent from Culpeper County asked for Spanberger for commitment to meet with what he called a group of solar skeptics.The congresswoman said she would.In an interview afterward, Mikolosko, who lives in Spotsylvanias Livingston District, said he understands Spanbergers position, although he was not wholly satisfied with her answer.The state advocates renewable energy and I understand she cannot directly interfere in the local administration, he said. But I didnt hear her say that a big solar farm is not a good idea.The largely civil  and somewhat staid  town hall was not without its quips from Spanbergers allies and opponents.One made a reference to Republicans and Russians; another called Democrats the party of death and taxes.But the event ended how it started.Shawn Davis, a Spotsylvania pastor, posed the final question: If you were president for a day, what advice would you give Americans for coming together?Spanberger said she would urge Americans to reflect on the times weve been the strongest, from its initial founding to its toppling of tyranny in World War II and the patriotism that pervaded the nation after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.The push and pull of ideas and the belief that anything is possible is what made us the greatest nation in the world, she said.
(TNS) - Cambria County officials are making efforts to ensure that first responders can communicate effectively and consistently with each other when it matters most  during emergency calls.An overhaul of the countys 911 radio system got rolling last March, when the Cambria County commissioners approved a contract with Mission Critical Partners  tasked with analyzing the current 911 network, and tracking immediate fixes and future design enhancements.The $201,870 contract covers network design services, along with a $16,500 equipment allowance.Robbin Melnyk, county 911 coordinator, said the coverage area of the current radio system has been affected by tree growth and the use of analog radios instead of digital units.That has created situations in which first responders cant communicate with dispatchers at the 911 center or with each other on emergency scenes.During periods of hard rain, microwave signals between towers are often lost, meaning first responders and dispatchers lose their means of communication. A reset of those signals can take a few seconds, but in an emergency, those seconds are critical, Melnyk said.The time we need it most is when its least reliable, Melnyk said. Thats scary.Because an overhaul of the 911 radio system carries a total price tag of $15 million to $18 million, Melnyk said having Mission Critical Partners evaluate the current system will ensure that money is spent in the most effective way.It is a high priority to make sure that first responders can communicate, Cambria President Commissioner Tom Chernisky said. Robbin and Mission Critical are doing their due diligence to determine what needs to be done to fix the system. We need a system that works, and we need a system that works when our first responders need it most.Mission Critical is developing a request for proposals for a new 911 radio system based on responses from first responders about the current issues regarding coverage area, reliability, new technology and GPS capabilities.We want to work on this as a team, Melnyk said. We started the process. That was the biggest step. Were not sitting back waiting.Mission Critical Partners will likely have a request for proposals ready in March, then vendors would have six months to a year to submit bids. The consultant firm has worked with PEMA and surrounding counties, so staff are familiar with existing infrastructure around Cambria County, Melnyk said.Meanwhile, Melnyk said, work is ongoing to repair the most unreliable connection pathways until the larger project becomes feasible.Plugging in another extension cord is what were doing, she said.Weve been nursing ours as long as we possibly can. We cant do it anymore. Every dollar we spend, were making sure its going toward a new system cost. Everything we spend today is chiseling away at that.The challenge is to not interrupt the countys current system, which was implemented in 2007, while working on improvements, she said.With 21 towers in the countys 911 system, Melnyk said, the solution to the networks radio coverage gaps may not include additional towers. Some could be eliminated by sharing resources with other surrounding counties, which will improve interoperability for Cambria County first responders assisting at scenes outside the countys radio frequency.A recent $800,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency through the collection of various phone fees can be leveraged in this project for this kind of improvement in interconnectivity with other counties, Melnyk said.In June 2015, Melnyk said new state legislation for 911 funding changed the fees counties received from landlines and cellphones. These fees are collected by PEMA and distributed to counties using a formula based on populations, special cases, call volume, high-risk facilities and other factors.Of the fees collected by PEMA, 83 percent are distributed to counties. PEMA keeps 2 percent of the fees for its management of the funds and 15 percent is earmarked for qualifying regional projects.Those projects aim to reduce duplicated costs, Melnyk said, such as sharing larger equipment for cost savings and collaborating with other counties.Were always looking for opportunities to use that regional money, she said, because it frees up the countys normal 911 fee allocations for other projects.Cambria Countys location opens up several opportunities to use the PEMA money for regional connections, all while improving the countys current 911 radio system, Melynk said.In December, the commissioners approved a new 911 communications tower in Cresson Township that will provide better coverage for first responders, allow connectivity to nearby Blair County and provide an opportunity for savings and revenues.A 911 antenna atop a water tank on the former SCI-Cresson property will be moved to a newly installed 180-foot tower on a nearby parcel owned by the Cambria County Redevelopment Authority.This move will save the county money  no longer paying rent on the previous tower site  while construction will allow for wireless carrier companies to rent space from the county to provide better cell reception in that area, Melnyk said.A $398,448 bid from Tower Services Unlimited includes construction of the tower, a communications shelter and a generator at that site. It will be paid for through the countys 911 fees, but some of it will be eligible for regional funds due to the towers connection with Blair County, Melynk said.As commissioners, we will continue to work to find funding to improve the system, Chernisky said.Cambria County has received PEMA grants to build a new tower in Cresson and to improve microwaves that will enhance connectivity. Cambria County is in a great location  we are the gateway to connect Region 13 and the South Central Mountain Counties, and it will be important to network with other counties in the future to help streamline services and efficiency.Melnyk said that, unlike the system in place, a new Cambria County 911 radio system must be specifically designed with a primary focus on public safety and will likely take two years to be fully implemented.Were moving in that direction as quickly as we can, she said.Jocelyn Brumbaugh is a reporter for the Tribune-Democrat. Follow her on Twitter @JBrumbaughTD.2019 The Tribune-Democrat (Johnstown, Pa.)Visit The Tribune-Democrat (Johnstown, Pa.) at www.tribune-democrat.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Description

GIS  26 February 2019: A Whole of Island Disaster Impact National Emergency Operations Command (NEOC) exercise involving all NEOC members is being held today at the seat of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Centre (NDRRMC) in Port Louis. A Whole of Island Disaster Impact National Emergency Operations Command (NEOC) exercise involving all NEOC members is being held today at the seat of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Centre (NDRRMC) in Port Louis.

The exercise lies in the context of the development of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Policies, Strategic Framework and Action Plan which is being devised with the assistance of the Agence Francaise de Developpement.

The simulation exercise aims to test and examine Disaster Risk Reduction arrangements from mitigation to recovery, including roles and responsibilities, communication, agency activation and coordination, relief and recovery, rehabilitation and Build Back Better, financial support to agencies and disaster affected people, and to test international humanitarian assistance and relations.

As part of this project, the NDRRMC together with the Consultant, Mr P. Buckle held consultative meetings in November 2018 with all relevant stakeholders. During the meetings, several topics were discussed namely the elements of a Disaster Risk Reduction System, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, hazard mitigation, disaster preparedness and response, land drainage policy and actions, disaster relief network, enhancement of early warning systems, public awareness and sensitisation programmes, policy and governance, school emergency plans, simulation exercises and disaster communication and information flows, amongst others.

Those working session helped to identify several gaps such as hot zone management, risk mapping, finance arrangements, public communication and interagency communication. Group discussions were also held whereby participants were asked to discuss about the risks that exist in Mauritius, the gaps in the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) System, and a DRR system for Mauritius.

Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030

The development of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Policies, Strategic Framework and Action Plan is aligned on the principles of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 20152030 was adopted at the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, held from 14 to 18 March 2015 in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.

It represented a unique opportunity for countries to adopt a concise, focused, forward-looking and action-oriented post 2015 framework for disaster risk reduction; to complete the assessment and review of the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action 20052015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters; and to consider the experience gained through the regional and national strategies/institutions and plans for disaster risk reduction and their recommendations, as well as relevant regional agreements for the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action.
Description

GIS - 26 Feb 2019: The The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council dismissed yesterday the appeal of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) against a decision of the Supreme Court of Mauritius quashing the conviction of the Prime Minister, Mr Jugnauth for an offence of conflict of interests contrary to section 13(2) and (3) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 2002 (POCA) as amended by section 4(b) of the Act No 1/2006.

The basis of the charge was that Mr Jugnauth whilst being then a public official, whose relative had a personal interest in a decision which a public body had to take, did wilfully, unlawfully and criminally take part in the proceedings of that public body relating to such decision. The particulars of the charge were that Mr Jugnauth whilst being then the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Development had approved the reallocation of funds amounting to Rs 144,701,300 to pay Medpoint Ltd.

Mr Jugnauth was convicted of the offence on 30 June 2015 following a trial before the Intermediate Court and on 2 July 2015 he was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment. On 25 May 2016 , the Supreme Court allowed an appeal and quashed the conviction and sentence. On 22 June 2017 , the Supreme Court granted the prosecution conditional leave to appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. On 15 January 2018 , the Supreme Court granted final leave to appeal.

The judgment of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council sheds light on matters which were up to now in controversy as the Office of the DPP was of the view that the judgment of the Supreme Court gave rise to important questions, crucial to establishing an offence under section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (the POCA).

In granting leave to appeal to the Privy Council, the Supreme Court agreed that the matters referred to above raised substantial and significant issues of law of great general or public importance which ought to be submitted to the Privy Council for determination.

The Privy Council in its judgment has accepted the position of the Office of the DPP on the points of law in issue in this case and has confirmed the legal reasoning adopted by the Intermediate Court. On the other hand , the Privy Council has also found that on the facts of the present case, payment to Medpoint would have been effected irrespective of the re-allocation of funds and, therefore, the sister of Mr Jugnauth, Mrs Malhotra had no personal interest within the meaning of section 13(2) of the POCA. The Privy Council also underlined that by the same token, Mr Jugnauth could not have had knowledge of the existence of facts giving rise to a personal interest in the decision in his sister, because there were none.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Monday ordered Wisconsin National Guard troops assisting with security at the southwest border to return home, an executive order immediately drawing criticism from Republicans.About 112 Wisconsin National Guardsmen currently serve in Arizona, according to an announcement from the Democratic governor's office Monday. Evers said the responsibility in keeping borders safe and crime-free belongs to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol."There is simply not ample evidence to support the president's contention that there exists a national security crisis at our southwestern border," Evers said in a statement. "I cannot support keeping our brave service men and women away from their families without a clear need or purpose that would actively benefit the people of Wisconsin or our nation."President Donald Trump in April directed the Department of Defense to support the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to secure the Mexican border.The Wisconsin National Guard said in June that Arizona officials requested Wisconsin's assistance, and Evers' predecessor, Republican Gov. Scott Walker, deployed troops there. Walker's re-election campaign paid for online ads voicing support for sending troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.Evers' move drew widespread criticism from top state Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee."Securing our borders is a top priority of our nation, and I'm proud of Wisconsin's National Guard for playing a valued role," Johnson said in a statement. "It's unfortunate Governor Evers doesn't agree, and has decided to withdraw them from their important mission."Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said in a statement that Evers' decision is "yet another example of how our governor is catering to his Dane County liberal base and refusing to do what's best for our state and in this case, the entire nation."Vos said the operation is federally funded and doesn't save any state taxpayer dollars.Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said in a Monday tweet that the governor "is playing politics instead of working to keep Wisconsin safe."A Republican congressman from Illinois who said he serves in the Wisconsin National Guard said that the border mission is honorable and asked Evers to reconsider the withdrawal.U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger described in a series of tweets the work he says he has done at the border, claiming his crew caught a man crossing the border with 70 pounds of methamphetamine, saving a woman roaming the desert alone and capturing coyotes who he said prey on migrants."Did you go visit them on the border to see for yourself?" he asked Evers over Twitter. "Or did you make your decision based solely on politics?"Kinzinger echoed those sentiments during an appearance on Fox News, criticizing Evers for never visiting the troops on the border. He accused the governor of lacking the courage to announce the withdrawal earlier in the day.A Wisconsin National Guard spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to an email seeking to confirm whether Kinzinger is a Wisconsin National Guard member and whether he would face any military discipline for criticizing Evers, the state National Guard's commander in chief.A Kinzinger spokeswoman in Washington, D.C., also didn't immediately respond to an email.Evers isn't the first governor to scale back border deployment.Earlier this month, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham ordered all but 11 to 15 of the state's 118 National Guard troops to leave the border. The Democrat said she rejects Trump's contention that there is a national security crisis at the border, calling it a "charade."
San Francisco prosecutors announced Monday they would move to expunge 9,300 marijuana-related convictions dating back decades, part of a sweeping effort to rethink "the war on drugs" now that pot is legal in California.The announcement culminated a year-long review of marijuana convictions in San Francisco, which critics say disproportionately punished minority communities and made it more difficult for those with criminal records to get jobs and other essentials.Other California counties, including Los Angeles, are considering similar efforts, though none have gone as far as San Francisco. The Los Angeles County district attorney's office estimates there have been 40,000 felony convictions involving pot-related offenses since1993, but prosecutors have not said how many of those could be eligible for being expunged."It was the morally right thing to do," said San Francisco Dist. Atty. George Gascon. "If you have a felony conviction, you are automatically excluded in so many ways from participating in your community."California has become a leader in criminal justice reform, including reducing sentences for lower-level crimes and pushing for rehab instead of incarceration for some drug offenses. Advocates say clearing pot convictions is an essential next step.But some law enforcement groups are wary."To simply embark on an across-the-board expungement of 9,300 without looking at any of the surrounding factors on any of those cases strikes us as cavalier irresponsibility," said John Lovell, legislative counsel to the California Narcotic Officers' Assn.Gascon said his office would review every marijuana-related conviction to find ones eligible for expungement under Prop 64, which was passed by voters in 2016. Though individuals can request expungements themselves, the process is known to be difficult to navigate and relatively few attempted it.Gascon's office initially began the expungement process by hand and found about 1,000 cases to clear, but then teamed up with Code for America, a national nonprofit that uses technology to make government more efficient.Coders there created an algorithm that combed through San Francisco's digitized criminal records going back to 1975 in just minutes.The program automatically fills out the required forms that can be turned in to the court for processing.After about a year of work, Gascon announced on Monday they'd found 9,362 cases that were eligible to be expunged. All that's left to be done is for the courts to process the requests, he said.Employment isn't the only limitation that some people encounter after they've served their sentences, Gascon said. They can also face barriers to education, housing and employment, and may even be barred from a child's school field trip because of a conviction.Proposition 64 legalized, among other things, the possession and purchase of up to an ounce of marijuana and allowed individuals to grow up to six plants for personal use. The measure also allowed people convicted of marijuana possession to petition the courts to have those convictions expunged as long as the person does not pose a risk to public safety. People also can petition to have some crimes reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor, including possession of more than an ounce of marijuana by a person who is 18 or older."This isn't a political thing. This is about dignity. People pay their debt to society. People pay the consequences for something we no longer consider a crime," he said. "They should not be jumping through hoops for this. They should just get it."Everyone's marijuana conviction is eligible to be expunged, regardless of whether it's tied to other criminal offenses, Gascon's office said Monday. Officials had initially stated it was for standalone marijuana convictions but have since corrected their statement.In the end, the project removed what had been a disproportionate number of convictions hanging over the heads of the city's blacks and Latinos. Though San Francisco is about 5% black, that community saw a third of all marijuana-related convictions. Latinos make up about 15% of the city, but 27% of marijuana convictions, Gascon's office said.Gascon, who is not seeking a third term in office, said his ambition is to show what Code for America's algorithm did in San Francisco and take that approach statewide."We're beginning to separate those that can't from those that won't, because no longer can you say 'I can't do it,' " he said.As the medicinal and recreational use of marijuana has gained wider acceptance across the nation, lawmakers in a number of states have been wrestling with the issue of how to remove marijuana convictions from people's records.Missouri lawmakers are considering a bill that would expunge convictions for medical marijuana patients, as it is now legal there for medicinal use. New Jersey residents can have their convictions expunged, but the process has reportedly proved challenging. In New York, where the governor has proposed legalizing recreational pot use, officials are exploring the means of possibly expunging or sealing conviction records."Until something has been shown, it is hard for people to believe it will work," said Jennifer Pahlka, founder and executive director of Code for America. "Our theory of change is if you show what's possible you can reset the expectation bar."It could go a long way to helping California with Assembly Bill 1793, signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown last year. The bill mandated the state build a list of all Californians eligible to have crimes expunged under Prop 64 by July 1, with the goal of having all past marijuana-related crimes reduced or cleared in the state by 2020."It's like the stars aligned for our automatic record clearance tool!" Code for America tweeted upon the law's passage in November.San Francisco's expungements only date back to 1975, the earliest digitized records that the county's prosecutors maintain, Gascon said.In Los Angeles County, officials said Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey's office is exploring the use of different technologies to assist in the evaluation of Prop. 64 cases.Code for America plans to expand the pilot program to other California counties with the target of clearing 250,000 convictions by the end of this year. The organization has previously delved into the realm of criminal justice. In 2016, it created Clear My Record, an online application that connects people with lawyers to clear criminal records across California.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Sunday that he is moving closer to a decision on a 2020 presidential run."We're coming up to another week. Stay tuned," Inslee told CBS's Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation, adding that the decision could come "as soon as" this week."I've been pleased by what I've been hearing across the country," the second-term Democratic governor said. "That people do want a president that will act on a real emergency, which is climate change."Inslee has long been critical of President Donald Trump, especially on issues of climate change. If he were to enter the race, Inslee would be the only governor in a growing field of democratic candidates so far.The governor was in Washington, DC, this weekend to attend the National Governors Association Conference. The conference came just after 16 states filed a lawsuit challenging Trump's declaration of emergency on the Southern border.
Virginia's Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax compared sexual assault accusations against him to racial lynchings -- a peculiar choice, considering his boss, the governor, is being pressured to resign following the revelation that he's worn blackface on at least one occasion.The state's attorney general also admitted earlier this month that he attended a party wearing blackface. All three men are Democrats and Fairfax is African-American.Fairfax made his claim as the State senate closed their 2019 legislative session in Richmond, according to the Associated Press."I've heard much about anti-lynching on the floor of this very Senate, where people were not given any due process whatsoever, and we rue that," he said to a roomful of what the AP described as "stunned senators" who awkwardly sat in silence.The state of Virginia recently expressed "profound regret" for a history of racist hangings that took nearly 100 lives between 1880 and 1926. Equal Justice initiative, which puts that number somewhere north of 90, said there were more than 4,000 "racial terror lynchings" in the south between 1877 and 1950."Yet we stand here in a rush to judgment with nothing but accusations and no facts and we decide that we are willing to do the same thing," Fairfax declared during his five-minute monologue.Two women have accused Fairfax of sexual assault. A woman who came forward earlier this month claimed the politician forced her to perform oral sex in a Boston hotel room nearly 15 years ago. A second woman accused Fairfax of raping her when they were both students at Duke University in 2000. Fairfax has denied any wrongdoing.Republican House Majority leader Todd Gilbert told the AP Fairfax's analogy was out of line."That is the worst, most disgusting type of rhetoric he could have invoked," Gilbert said. "It's entirely appropriate for him to talk about due process and we would intend to offer him every ounce of it."Virginia Republicans have proposed that Fairfax and his accusers should be given a public hearing in front of the state's House of Representatives.According to the report, Virginia Legislative Black Caucus Chairman Lamont Bagby said some of his constituents feel race has played into a rush to judgement against Fairfax.Racial tensions have been running especially high in Virginia since a 1984 college yearbook was unearthed earlier this month that appeared to show Gov. Ralph Northam in a photo of a man with shoe polish on his face standing next to a man in a Ku Klux Klan robe. Northam at first apologized for the photo, but later said he didn't believe he was in that picture. He admitted to once darkening his face for a Michael Jackson costume.On Saturday, nearly 100 protesters gathered at the state capitol urging the governor to step down, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. That would leave the embattled Fairfax in charge.Shortly after news of Northam's indiscretion made headlines, the state's attorney general, Mark Herring, admitted he, too, had worn black face as part of a costume in his younger days.
He seemed at complete ease, shaking hands, posing for selfies and cracking tall guy jokes, as he laid out a plan for Democrats to take back the White House.Perhaps Bill de Blasios comfort level was aided by familiarity: This was believed to be his fourth trip to Iowa since he became mayor of New York City in 2014.It could have been the sparse crowd: Only about two dozen people braved blizzard-like conditions in Sioux City Saturday to attend the gathering organized by the Woodbury County Democrats, a traditional stop for presidential hopefuls.On Sunday, Mr. de Blasio was warmly received at the Asian & Latino Coalition PAC in Des Moines, where 40 people gathered and applauded when he talked about money being in the wrong hands.
Voting is not mandatory in the United States, as it is in Australia. But does that mean that American citizens who have the right to vote in elections also have the right not to vote?Its a question that was raised in Ohio when the state stripped Larry Harmon, a Navy veteran, from its voting rolls. I earned the right to vote, Harmon, who was kicked off the rolls in 2015 after he failed to vote in three prior elections, told NPR. Whether I use it or not is up to my personal discretion. They dont take away my right to buy a gun if I dont buy a gun.That argument was persuasive with a series of courts that heard Harmons case. After all, the National Voter Registration Act says that states cant remove individuals from the rolls simply for not voting. Ohio has a policy of sending out postcards to individuals after they fail to vote in two consecutive federal elections. Theyre supposed to respond to the postcard to affirm that they still live at the same address. But many people, including Harmon, say that they never saw the postcard, which they might have mistaken for a piece of junk mail.Last year, Harmon lost his case. The U.S. Supreme Court, noting that the state had made a good faith effort to contact voters, upheld Ohios policy -- known as use it or lose it -- of striking nonrespondents from the voter rolls. Do you have a right not to vote? asks Michael McDonald, an expert on voting at the University of Florida. The Supreme Court said no, you have to be periodically voting.The ruling triggered warnings bordering on panic from voting rights groups across the country. They worried that aggressive purging of registered voters could lead to disenfranchisement on a broad scale. Even before the Ohio case was decided, the Justice Department put out a press release announcing it would side with Ohio, reversing the agencys policy under the Obama administration. The next day Georgia removed some 200,000 voters from the rolls. Jon Husted, then serving as Ohios secretary of state, said the method can serve as a model for other states to use.In response, the League of Women Voters warned that the Supreme Court decision would fuel the fire of voter suppression across the country. NBC reported that at least a dozen other politically conservative states were planning to follow Ohios lead. Voting is a constitutional right, says Jim Condos, the Democratic secretary of state in Vermont. We should not be very aggressive about removing people from the rolls.Broad voter purges appeared to be the next step in a decade-long campaign to make voting more difficult. Expressing concerns about security, a majority of states have taken steps in recent years that restrict voting in one way or another, including photo identification requirements, cutbacks to early voting and policies designed to make it more difficult for students to vote where they attend college.But something else is happening in response. This year, hundreds of pieces of legislation are up for consideration in more than 30 states that seek to expand voting rights. Already, New York has passed a package of bills that would move the state, long considered one of the least voter-friendly in the nation, into the modern era. All over the country, both ballot measures and legislation are being promoted to make voting and registration easier and closer to universal. Its not happening everywhere; theres still a partisan divide on many voting issues. But politicians from both parties, in various states, have come around to the idea that its time to make voting easier.Differences in approaches to voting rights arent just partisan. Theyre also historical and tend to swing like a pendulum. Beginning in the 1960s, the nation as a whole began to expand voting rights in multiple ways. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 made real the promise of the 15th Amendment, guaranteeing access to the ballot to African-Americans who had been disenfranchised by a century of Jim Crow laws. It also gave the federal government authority to review state and local requirements for registration and voting. A year earlier, in 1964, the ratification of the 24th Amendment banned the use of poll taxes imposed to keep black people from voting. In 1993, Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act, which was originally known as the motor voter law because a provision guaranteed people the ability to register when signing up for drivers licenses.These expansive measures were followed in recent years by a series of restrictions, including voter ID laws and, in Kansas and Arizona, laws requiring that voters provide proof of citizenship. (The Kansas law was put on hold by a federal court last year.) The Supreme Court made much of this easier in 2013, when it issued a ruling that gutted parts of the Voting Rights Act and freed states from having to receive preclearance on election law changes from the federal government. Today, 35 states have voter ID requirements in place; some states have restricted early voting and placed new hurdles in front of voters.But the expected rush to purge voters following the Supreme Court ruling in the Ohio case hasnt taken place. Instead, momentum has shifted back in the direction of expansive voting rights. There is a push and pull with voting rights, as with other civil rights, says Jonathan Brater, an elections lawyer who recently left the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. Some of what weve seen in the last decade can be seen as a response to the huge participation in 2008, particularly of minority voters.Fewer than 10 states have Ohio-style use it or lose it policies on the books. In some cases, these policies date back to the 1990s. The states include Georgia, where the race for governor last year seemed to turn at least as much on questions regarding voter registration processes as on policies. But they havent been joined by a flock of others. Its a pretty retro method of keeping the rolls clean, says Justin Levitt, associate dean for research at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. I dont think that states that dont have it will have an interest in putting something like it in place.Everyone involved in election administration agrees about the importance of keeping voter rolls clean and up to date. Having people who are dead or who have moved away still on the list is an invitation to fraud. Duplicative or inaccurate registrations also represent an unnecessary cost, due to election-related mailings and logistical questions, such as planning the number and locations of polling places. But there are more modern ways of keeping rolls current, notably automatic voter registration (AVR). As the name suggests, under such a system, individuals are automatically registered to vote when they interact with the department of motor vehicles or other agencies, unless they choose to opt out. The major sell on automatic voter registration isnt that its going to register lots of new people, says McDonald, the Florida political scientist. The major sell is efficiency. What McDonald means is that when people update their information through the DMV, that information is shared electronically with the voter database. That cuts down on errors and, when people move within their state, their information moves with them.Since Oregon passed the first AVR law in 2016, no fewer than 15 other states have adopted similar systems, including red states such as Alaska and Georgia. More than three-dozen states have put into effect a form of online registration -- some allowing same-day registration. In January, New York became the 18th state to allow individuals to register to vote as late as Election Day itself. The legislative package there also included the creation of an early voting period and a measure to allow citizens as young as 16 to pre-register to vote.At the congressional level, Democrats have made clear that voting rights are a top priority for their new House majority. Nearly every Democratic representative has signed on as a co-sponsor of the sweeping bill, which would require online voter registration, automatic voter registration and same-day registration, as well as offer protections against voter purges, among many other provisions. The bill appears to have zero chance of moving through the Senate, let alone gaining President Trumps signature. But these types of ideas are now being tried out in legislatures all over the country and are likely to pass in at least some states.Theres an old rule of thumb that the closer you live to Canada, the more likely you are to vote. Northern states including Maine and Minnesota have long led the pack when it comes to turnout, while Southern states generally lag far behind. This isnt because voting is a welcome cold-weather activity. It has to do with the political cultures and histories of these states.But the issue of whether states encourage or discourage people from voting nowadays has more to do with internal partisan inclinations than geography. Generally speaking, blue states are rushing to make voting and registration easier, while red states have tended to put more restrictions in place. Democrats are pushing for increased access to the ballot, and Republicans favor certain restrictions such as voter ID requirements as protection against the possibility of fraud.What these latter measures have in common is adding an additional layer of effort for people who wish to vote. Its no longer enough, in many cases, to register and then show up at the polls. Voters have to show identification proving they are who they claim to be. They may also have to monitor their own registrations to make sure theyre still on the rolls. There are protections under the National Voter Registration Act for voters whose names are struck because the state believed they may have moved -- protections that remain in place despite the Supreme Courts Ohio ruling last year. But there are fewer protections for people the state thinks have died or been imprisoned. Many states dont provide notice when they remove voters for such reasons. When you are eligible and nothing has changed in your situation, its understandable that people are upset when they go to the polls and they cant vote, says Levitt, the Loyola professor. Youve done everything right, and your circumstances havent changed.Voters have generally been supportive of some of the recent restrictions. Polls over the past decade have consistently shown that at least two-thirds of the public supports voter ID laws, finding them to be both reasonable and achievable. One Gallup poll conducted in 2016 found that 80 percent of those surveyed supported voter ID laws. Last November, voters in Arkansas and North Carolina easily adopted voter ID ballot measures.But in many other places lawmakers are implementing policies that expand the franchise. And theyre already having a practical effect. In Vermont, Secretary of State Condos reports, online and automatic voter registration represented close to 70 percent of voter registrations last year.The same Gallup poll from three years ago found that the same percentage of respondents who supported voter ID laws also supported same-day registration. Its clear that the public will support policies that are advertised as making voting easier. Such measures have proven highly successful. In Michigan, voters last year easily approved a proposition to allow same-day registration, which the legislature recently amended in a lame-duck session. Nevada voters approved automatic voter registration. Perhaps the years most publicized measure, Floridas Amendment 4, received nearly 65 percent of the vote. Amendment 4 made restoration of voting rights automatic for most former felons, excepting those convicted of murder and sex crimes.Amendment 4 has had its effects -- not just in Florida, where registrations have spiked since the new law took effect in January, but in other states as well. Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds has proposed amending the state constitution to allow former felons to vote after they complete their sentences, which in Iowa would mean not just jail time but also finishing probation or parole. A lawsuit has been filed in Kentucky, which is the only other remaining state where voting rights are not automatically restored to ex-felons. Massachusetts and New Mexico may go even further. Those states are considering restoring voting rights to individuals who are currently incarcerated.Even as public opinion and policy momentum appear to have shifted toward expanding voting rights, there continue to be concerns about maintaining a balance that ensures electoral integrity. Academic studies have shown that in-person voting fraud -- the type that identification requirements guard against -- is exceedingly rare. Other types of fraud, however, particularly those involving mailed ballots, are more common. A case in point is last years disputed congressional race in North Carolina, in which as many as a thousand absentee ballots may have been destroyed. Such incidents have heightened concerns about electoral integrity, especially among Republicans. Expanding access to the polls without addressing safety protocols to protect the integrity of our electoral process is a disservice to the voters of our state, New York state Sen. Robert Ortt, a Republican, complained after the state expanded voting rights.In January, the Office of the Texas Secretary of State announced that it would ask county officials to investigate the citizenship status of up to 95,000 registered voters, as many as 58,000 of whom might have cast ballots in elections dating back to 1996. The news triggered a series of concerned tweets about voter fraud, including one from President Trump and another from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who tweeted, Any illegal vote deprives Americans of their voice.Texas officials backtracked almost immediately, with the secretary of state saying thousands of people on the initial list are in fact citizens. In previous instances in recent years, in which Florida and Pennsylvania announced there were thousands of noncitizens on the rolls, the problems turned out to be based on computer or human error, not fraud. In both states, the final number of non-citizens who turned out to be registered was fewer than 100.The goal for some policymakers in Texas, suggests McDonald, the Florida political scientist, is ultimately to require all new registrants to provide proof of citizenship. Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott has been a leading voice regarding voter fraud. His state has one of the strictest voter ID requirements, and has grown more aggressive about purging voters in the years since it was released from federal preclearance by the Supreme Court decision in 2013.Although advocates and the media pay attention to specific restrictions when they are passed, they dont always do as good a job looking at their cumulative effects, McDonald says. A series of hurdles may make citizens less likely to vote or make the attempt to vote harder than any single law on its own. The effects of discouragement compound over time, with the number of voters affected increasing from election to election. In Texas, the combination of laws has created a political culture that dampens voter turnout. Despite being home to one of the most expensive and publicized U.S. Senate contests last year, Texas didnt see turnout rise nearly as much as in many other states. In fact, Texas ranked 48th in voter turnout in 2018.This back and forth over voting rights -- from making voting easier to making it more difficult -- is nothing new in American politics. Voting registration itself, which began in the 1800s, was the product of lawmakers seeking to target political opponents by writing rules that applied only to residents of large cities. As recently as 2002, Wisconsin had such a law on its books, singling out voter registration rules only in larger jurisdictions within the state.Whether making them looser or tighter, politicians have always sought to game the system by changing the rules around voting and registration. Politicians dont make changes to laws, especially election laws, McDonald says, without thinking about the consequences of those laws on their reelection chances and the fortunes of their political parties.
If any Democrat can be elected governor of Mississippi, its Jim Hood. The states four-term attorney general is the only Democrat who has won a statewide race in Mississippi in the last 16 years. Thats one reason Republicans are taking him seriously. Nevertheless, he faces an uphill climb in this years election, and an obscure provision in the state constitution may make it impossibly steep.In Mississippi, its not enough for a gubernatorial candidate to win a majority of votes. He or she must also prevail in a majority of the state House districts. Otherwise, the election is thrown to the House to decide. Its like a single-state Electoral College system.Republicans are spread out around Mississippi, dominating rural districts, with Democratic voters concentrated in Jackson and some of the Delta counties along the states western edge. That makes Hoods task of winning most of the state House districts fairly daunting. It wont be sufficient for him to run up the score in Jackson or other blue enclaves. The Trump realignment strengthened Republican numbers in Mississippi, largely because it brought over blue-collar Democrats, says Brad Todd, a strategist for Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, the GOP favorite for governor. You can tell the Gulf Coast has gotten redder.In last years U.S. Senate contest, Democrat Mike Espy carried just 31 of the states 82 counties, although he came fairly close in the popular vote. But Democrats believe Hood maintains broader appeal. Hes won each of his four races for attorney general by double-digit margins. Not only is Hood the only Democrat whos been successful lately in statewide politics in Mississippi, but he was also the only Democrat occupying a statewide constitutional office anywhere in the South prior to the election of Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards in 2015. Its not just Democrats who have supported him through the years, says Michael Rejebian, Hoods senior campaign adviser. He appeals to a broad range of voters -- urban, rural, suburban, farmers, everybody.Because the question of who won the most House districts wont matter until November, Rejebian says the campaign is grappling right now with about a thousand more pressing issues. But its something candidates have to think about every time theres an election for governor. When Ronnie Musgrove became the last Democratic governor of the state in 1999, he and his Republican opponent won an equal number of state House districts. Musgrove had carried the state by a plurality and the House installed him in office.But back then, the House was still controlled by Democrats. Republicans now control 74 of the 122 Mississippi House seats. GOP House members arent going to install a Democratic governor who fails to carry the state outright.
In Massachusetts and Oregon, Democrats hold supermajority control of both legislative chambers. In each state, minority Republicans have been given greater deference or authority than their sheer numbers would command. But neither state can be described as a bipartisan paradise as a result.Theres long been a rule in the Massachusetts Senate to require roll call votes when 20 percent of the members ask for them. But Republicans dont hold 20 percent of the seats in the state Senate, which would equate to eight out of 40. When their numbers slipped to just seven senators, the rule was changed to allow any seven to require a roll call vote. After the Senate GOP caucus slipped to only six members, the rule was amended to say that the total number of Republican senators, however small, would suffice.The point of this courtesy is that it allows the minority party to put the Senate as a whole on record when it comes to controversial policies. Thats the theory, anyway. In practice, both chambers in Massachusetts hold fewer recorded votes than they did in past decades. Theyve dramatically dropped what we call the significant votes, says Paul Craney, spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, a conservative watchdog group. Now what they do more frequently is voice votes, in which bills pass without individual votes being recorded.Megan Montgomery, a spokeswoman for Massachusetts Senate President Karen Spilka, says that the raw numbers dont support such complaints. But the fact is that over the past six years, the Senate has held, on average, fewer than 300 recorded votes per year. Thats not a lot of roll calls, especially considering that many of them were legally required in response to line-item vetoes. Many other matters are settled informally, without the scrutiny that recorded votes might bring. In December, for example, Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill to tax and regulate short-term housing units, such as those rented through Airbnb. Both chambers passed the bill without taking a recorded vote. This after a handful of newly elected Democratic legislators had run pledging to push for greater transparency on Beacon Hill, including more recorded roll calls.In Oregon, the dynamic is a little different. Theres no rule, formal or otherwise, that guarantees the minority party any say in advancing or blocking legislation. But Democratic Senate President Peter Courtney prefers not to bring legislation to the floor without at least some Republican support, particularly revenue-raising bills. His fear is that Republicans will sit out votes if theyre not included in the process, depriving the body of a quorum. When you really beat someone and you really put them down, you know, you can train an anger and a hatred thats so violent, that theyll go to every extreme they can think of to stop you, he said in the aftermath of his partys success in the November elections.Courtneys respect for members of the other party angers some people in his own. Progressives are more than frustrated with the manner in which bills are not allowed to come to the floor of the Oregon state Senate, says Dan Jensen, who chairs Progressive Oregon, an advocacy group. Why do we work so hard to elect the people we want in office if it doesnt make a difference?Oregon and Massachusetts illustrate two perennial realities of legislative life. The first is that minorities still count, even if their numbers are meager, when there is disagreement within majority ranks. And the second is that regardless of what the rulebooks say, what really matters is how leaders choose to manage the process.
What's Next for Title X?

On Tuesday, the American Medical Association filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration's changes to the federal Title X program. The day before, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced his own lawsuit to block them. Separately, 20 other state attorneys general plan to sue.Washington will be among the first states to sue the Trump administration over its new Title X rules, released Friday, that will withhold federal funding from health clinics that provide abortion services or referrals.Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said on Monday that he plans to file a lawsuit with the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association -- which represents Title X grantees, once the rule is formally published, which happened on Tuesday afternoon. California and New York's attorneys general have also reportedly vowed to sue "We will not allow the federal government to dictate what a provider can or cannot say to a patient, Ferguson said at a press conference on Monday.The Title X program is the only federal funding stream dedicated to reproductive health and family planning. It was signed into law by President Richard Nixon and championed by then-Congressman George H.W. Bush. The Trump administration's rules reverse a history of bipartisanship.The 1976 Hyde Amendment prevents federal dollars from directly funding abortions. Title X money, which largely benefits low-income patients, is spent on other aspects of women's health, such as birth control, pregnancy testing, STI treatment and cancer screenings. Title X grantees range from state and local health departments to Planned Parenthood affiliates.To continue abortion services or referrals under the new rules, clinics will need to conduct those services in a facility that is physically separate from the clinic that receives Title X funding."Any grantees that perform, support or refer for abortion have a choice -- disentangle themselves from abortion or fund their activities with privately raised funds," a Trump official told CNN in May.Opponents refer to it as a domestic gag rule because it mirrors the "global gag rule," which prohibits American aid money from going to overseas organizations that provide abortion services or referrals.In announcing his upcoming lawsuit, Ferguson said the rule violates aspects of the Affordable Care Act and Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case that legalized abortion. He called it an assault on women during Monday's press conference.A variety of health groups swiftly condemned the rule. Womens health and progressive health organizations including Planned Parenthood and Physicians for Reproductive Health predictably called the rule "unethical." The American Medical Association also rebuked the rule, saying in a statement that the patient-physician relationship relies on trust, open conversation and informed decisionmaking, and the government should not be telling physicians what they can and cannot say to their patients.Abortion opponents, however, praised the change."We thank President Trump for taking decisive action to disentangle taxpayers from the abortion industry," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, in a statement The new rules are set to go into effect 60 days after publication, unless a judge in the pending litigation decides otherwise. The next round of Title X funding is set to be administered April 1. Theres been no word from the Trump administration on whether this round of grantees will be subject to the new rules.Folks who have [funding] applications in now are not out of the woods," says Kinsey Hasstedt, senior policy manager for the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights organization that studies abortion access. "Those entities could be beholden to most of the provisions of the rule as they make their way through the courts.In Washington, one-third of the state'sfamily planning dollars come from Title X money, according to Ferguson. He said many of the state's Title X providers would have no choice but to withdraw from the program.Planned Parenthood officials have also been vocal about withdrawing from the program if the rules take effect. Its unclear how many other state and local entities would forgo Title X money, but Hasstedt says there will be some sort of loss felt for people seeking family planning care.The idea that federally qualified health centers or community health centers can step in to fill in the gap is a favorite political talking point [of conservatives], but the reality," says Hasstedt, "is that those places are too strained."
Milwaukee, WI (53187)

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SYDNEY, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- New research has shown that by sowing Australia's winter wheat crop earlier, overall yield could be substantially increased, adding up to 1.2 billion U.S dollars to the national economy and improving global food security.

Published on Tuesday, the seven-year effort by Australia's La trobe University and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), sought a solution to reduced yield rates since the 1990's caused by less autumn rainfall across the southeastern Australian states.

La Trobe researcher James Hunt explained that the time at which grain crops flower is crucial to yield and that changes to climate have meant traditional sowing habits in Australia are no longer viable.

To solve their problem, the team sought a genotype of wheat in which development is slowed so that sowing could be moved forward but flowering still occurred in the optimal window.

By using a wheat line developed by the CSIRO, and not widely used or tested in Australia, the team showed that it's fast winter development pattern suited certain parts of the Australian wheatbelt, with the possibility of significantly increasing yield.

"We found that in the Mediterranean environments of the southern and western wheat belt, where most of the wheat in Australia is grown, the fast winter line sown early (up to 40 days earlier than traditional sowing times) could yield as well as or better than the fast spring sown at its optimal time," Hunt said.

When applied to crop simulation models, the team found that national yields could be increased by 0.54 tonnes per hectare, which is about 20 percent of the current national yield.

"This would produce an additional 7.1 million tonnes of wheat worth up to 1.2 billion U.S. dollars to the national economy," Hunt said.

"If appropriate winter cultivars can be bred for Australian growers, farm yields will be increased with little additional investment by growers required," he added.

[ Editor: WPY ]
Richard Yu, CEO of Consumer Business Group of Chinese tech company Huawei, presents the new Mate X, a foldable 5G ready smartphone, ahead of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Feb. 24, 2019. (Xinhua)

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese tech company Huawei on Sunday its their Mate X, a foldable 5G ready smartphone, at an event attended by around 3,000 people held on the eve of the 2019 Mobile World Congress (MWC2019) which opens here on Monday.

The Mate X has a 6.6-inch screen, which can be opened out into an eight-inch OLED screen to allow the user to read or view videos.

"The Huawei Mate X is a step into unknown territory," confirmed Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's Consumer Business Group.

He said the phone was a "masterwork of engineering" and that it folded in an "almost perfect" manner, while its 5G capacity would help "change the world that we currently know".

The Mate X has a Balong 5000 processor, 8 GB of RAM and 512 GB internal memory, which Yu commented would make it the "reference point for the 5G smartphones still to come".

Other points in favor of Huawei's new smartphone are its lightness and the fact that even when folded it is only 11 millimeters thick.

Meanwhile Yu highlighted that the Mate X's two batteries give it 4,500 milliamps per hour (mAh) which is "well above that of its competitors", and these batteries can be recharged in just over half an hour.

It will retail for 2,299 euros (2,607 U.S. dollars) and is expected to be available to the public "by the summer".

Huawei presented several other products at the same event, including a new range of laptops: such as the MateBook X Pro, which has a 13.9, 3K screen, as well as MateBooks with 13 and 14 inch screens.

Finally, Huawei showcased its 5G CPE Pro mobile router, which is aimed at taking 5G connectivity into the home allowing for the transmission of 8K video in real time.

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[ Editor: Zhang Zhou ]
UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- The security situation in the Darfur region of Sudan has remained relatively stable, but intermittent clashes in Jebel Marra between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA)/Abdul Wahid (AW) faction continue, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa Bintou Keita told the Security Council on Monday.

"The Jebel Marra area is still a conflict zone, without the cessation of hostilities. Overall, there are still to 2 million IDPs (internally displaced persons) in Darfur," said Keita at a Security Council meeting on Sudan and South Sudan.

According to Keita, On Jan. 17, 28, and 29, SLA/AW elements attacked SAF personnel in Manabu farming area, and three SAF personnel were killed. The SAF and SLA/AW continued to exchange fire in Manabu on Feb. 9, 11, 17 and 19, resulting in the death of seven SLA/AW members and one SAF personnel in total.

In addition, infighting between two sub-factions of the SLA/AW was reported on Jan. 17, Feb. 7 and Feb. 13, with four casualties, Keita said, adding that these factions disagree over their prospects of participation in the peace, process, while some of their clashes also seem to indicate competition over scarce resources.

Though these clashes have not resulted in new displacement, civilians in the area have been exposed to numerous incidents of robbery, abduction, and violence, attributed to both personnel in military attire and SLA/AW element, she added.

Local capacity for the rule of law needs to be strengthened for the prevention and resolution of inter-communal tensions, particularly where clashes persist over access to land, migration routes, and other sources of livelihood, Keita said.

Furthermore, according to the latest report, dated Jan. 14, of the Secretary-General on the AU-UN hybrid operation in Darfur, the threat of sexual violence remained significant, restricting women's freedom of movement to undertake livelihood activities around camps for the displaced and in areas of return, including during flight for those displaced because of the conflict in Jebel Marra.

During the reporting period from Oct. 4, 2018 to Jan. 3, 2019, there were 31 incidents of sexual and gender-based violence, the report said.

Keita called on the government of Sudan to continue its efforts toward creating conditions propitious to the return of IDPs, and among the confidence building measures that could be envisaged, to pursue a constructive dialogue with the special representative of the Secretary-General on sexual violence in conflict, and swiftly adopt a framework of cooperation as basis to address sexual violence.

In addition, efforts should be made in earnest by the international community to mobilize the resources that are needed to support the exit strategy of the African Union-United Nations' operation in Darfur (UNAMID) and its immediate effect on the ability of the Government of Sudan, and the UN Country Team (UNCT), to address the challenges of the transition in Darfur, while focusing on a difficult economic and social and humanitarian context in the larger Sudan, said Keita.

"It is our collective responsibility to ensure that the exit of UNAMID does not create a vacuum that leads to persistent local-level tensions or new risk factors," she said.

The full exit of UNAMID from Darfur is expected to be completed by the end of 2020, and it is "the first hybrid mission has begun preparations for its eventual exit," said the Secretary-General in his Jan. 14 report.

The western Sudanese region of Darfur has been plagued by a war between Sudanese government forces and the indigenous population since 2003.

In early 2008, the UNAMID was deployed in Darfur, and it is considered as the second biggest peacekeeping mission in the world, after the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

[ Editor: Zhang Zhou ]
This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Monday called on the UN Security Council to review sanctions against Sudan in accordance with the latest situation and eventually lift the sanctions.

Speaking at a Security Council meeting on Sudan and South Sudan, Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, said that the security situation in Sudan's Darfur region remains generally stable after the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) gradually handed over responsibility for security to the government of Sudan last year.

China appreciates UNAMID's contribution to the maintenance of peace and stability in Darfur, and welcomes the government of Sudan to take the initiative to enhance governance and security capacity building, Wu said.

"We believe the measures of the Sudanese government will be conducive to promoting long-term peace and stability of the Darfur region," said the Chinese envoy.

Wu said the political process in Darfur should be continued. The government of Sudan has been committed to a political settlement of the Darfur issue, and the opposition parties and armed groups in Darfur should abandon military means of settlement, take an active part in the peace process and solve problems through political means such as dialogue and consultation.

At the same time, Darfur still faces challenges such as ethnic conflicts, displaced persons, and social and economic development, he said.

As the government of Sudan bears the primary responsibility for the security of the Darfur region, the international community should actively help the government to enhance its capacity building in security maintenance and security control, Wu said.

The Sudanese security forces can take over security responsibilities from UNAMID as soon as possible, and UNAMID can be ensured to withdraw from Darfur by 2020 in accordance with the plan, he added.

He also called for international humanitarian assistance and economic support for Sudan.

At present, priority should be helping the Sudanese government to solve the problem of displaced persons to return to their homes, establish and improve local infrastructure construction, improve the agricultural production level and increase the self-sufficiency of food, he added.

[ Editor: Zhang Zhou ]
ThirdLove, a San Francisco, CA-based direct-to-consumer womens bra and underwear company, completed a $55m funding round.

Backers included:

 L. Catterton,

 Allen & Company,

 Anne Wojcicki, Co-Founder and CEO of genetic testing company 23andMe,

 Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube,

 Katie Couric, Journalist and Author,

 Nancy Peretsman, Managing Director of Allen & Company who participated independently of the bank,

 Tim Armstrong, former CEO of Oath and AOL,

 Jeff Keswin, Founder of Lyrical Partners,

 Michael Zeisser, former US Chairman at Alibaba Group,

 Felicis Ventures, and

 Valor Equity.

The company intends to use the funds to continue to expand its sizes, styles, product offerings, and fit technologies.

Co-founded by Heidi Zak and Rael Cohen, ThirdLove is an underwear brand offering bras with 78 size options and bands ranging from 30 48 and cups AA  I.

By leveraging proprietary data and using real womens measurements in its design process (Fit Finder), the company is able to consider the unique needs of diverse body sizes and shapes. More than 12 million women have used Fit Finder, which takes 60 seconds to complete and asks women a series of dynamic questions about their current bra and their unique breast shape. It is powered by numerous algorithms developed in-house in collaboration between ThirdLoves data science, data engineering, and bra design teams.

FinSMEs

26/02/2019
Its not just the ability to recognize the potential of real estate assets that has made Mike McGahan a notable real estate executive  its his track record at seeing that potential through that has burnished his brand.

Mike McGahan is the Chief Executive Officer and Trustee of InterRent REIT, a real estate investment trust with interests in multi-residential properties in core markets throughout Ontario and Quebec. He is also the President & CEO of CLV Group, which was the REITs external property manager until it was brought in-house in February 2018.

Thanks for speaking with us, Mike. Can you tell us a little about how youve come to wear these dual hats at InterRent REIT and CLV Group?

Mike McGahan: The relationship started when CLV Group initially sold properties to InterRent, at which time they asked CLV Group to manage those properties, which became InterRents highest performing assets. In 2009, when InterRent was looking for help in restructuring, due to our track record, they asked CLV Group and myself to help as direct investors and ultimately the restructuring of the organization and repositioning of their assets.

What is the significance of the internalization of the CLV Group property management team into InterRent REIT, which was announced early in 2018?

Mike McGahan: InterRent REIT recognized CLV Groups value from the start. It was chosen as the REITs external property management firm in 2009 because of its track record and reputation for being one of the best operators in the business. With CLV Group market expertise and knowledge, it helped the REIT double their suites to over 8,600 and increase its property value in excess of $2.1 billion, which has been industry-leading growth by most measures. Now that InteRent is at a size that it can sustain a management team, the internalization of management that took place in 2018 will allow InterRent to have this expertise and horsepower internally to continue to drive growth and increase market share efficiently.

Do you have any development projects in the pipeline?

Mike McGahan: Were very excited about 900 Albert Street, a project bringing InterRent REIT, Trinity Developments and PBC Real Estate Advisors together. Late in 2018 we received conditional municipal approval that allows for a large scale transit oriented mixed use development. Its an ambitious project, combining residential units with retail and office and covers all the essentials, right at a major LRT stop at Bayview Station, which intersects with the Trillium Line. These sort of developments are becoming more interesting to InterRent as a source of the REITs growth strategy.

What makes the project notable?

Mike McGahan: Well, its hard to overlook that factor, but we believe it meets a real need for Ottawa as the city is growing very quickly. The propertys location at 900 Albert St. near the Bayview O-Train station combined with having the ability to build up to 1,200 residential units will help the city meet its goals for increased transit ridership. It will also improve whats currently a city brownfield site, as we will be decontaminating the soil as we excavate for development. We will also contribute toward affordable housing and we believe that height & density belongs at mass transit hubs much like this one, which will go a long way to improving much needed rental supply to the market as well as reducing traffic, increasing LRT ridership and overall quality of life.
Planixs, a Manchester, UK-based fintech company, has secured an initial 3.5m minority equity investment from BGF.

The company will use the funds to expand its global customer base, accelerate product development and support recruitment across the business.

Founded in 2011 by CEO Neville Roberts, Planixs is a provider of analytical, forecasting and modelling software solutions across multiple industries including Financial Services and Human Capital Management.

The company works with global financial institutions such as Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays and Zenith Bank to provide Realiti, a cloud-based and on premise technology solution suite delivering real-time intraday cash, collateral and liquidity management capabilities to the financial services industry.

Realiti allows firms to comply with global BCBS248 regulatory requirements including stress modelling (incorporating UK PRA, FED and European Banking Authority regulations), using its scalable business intelligence, optimization and analytics technology platform Graphite which can work with any legacy systems. Realiti also drives operational savings and improves risk management for banks, financial institutions and large corporates including reducing expensive liquidity buffers.

FinSMEs

26/02/2019
MEL Science, a London, UK-based education technology company, raised US$2m in funding from TMT Investments PLC (AIM: TMT.L).

The investment was part of a wider funding round.

The company intends to use the funds to expand into new science subjects and scale up sales in existing and new countries.

Led by Vassili Philippov, CEO, MEL Science has developed a platform for science lessons combining VR/AR interactive visual lessons with hands-on experiments. Its first product, MEL Chemistry, is a B2C subscription service, which combines physical kits for science experiments with a VR mode-equipped iOS & Android App, and is available in more than 30 countries.

MEL Science already provides MEL Chemistry to thousands of users in the USA andEurope in both the B2C and B2B sectors. The B2C range provides science sets on a subscription model with an app that allows the user to experience the science behind the experiments in VR, increasing learning and motivation in children through an immersive experience whilst allowing parents and children to spend quality time together.

The B2B product for schools comprises high-quality education programs for children by providing fundamental understanding (instead of just memorising) using simulation engine and molecular-level experiments.

FinSMEs

26/02/2019
Codecool, a Budapest, Hungary-based coding school, raised 3.5m in Series B funding.

The round was led by Lead Ventures with participation from existing investors Portfolion.

The company intends to use the funds to continue its European expansion.

Led by Balazs Vinnai, Codecool aims to tackle the challenge of the rising number of job vacancies requiring digitally skilled workers, which is estimated to grow to 700 thousand by 2020 on an EU level. To this end, the company provides training to acquire coding (and other digital) skills, as well as employee placement. By now, Codecool has trained and helped 400 people having no previous qualification on the digital field, to fulfil a programming job at altogether nearly 100 corporate partners.

At the moment, 500 people are studying at 4 campuses operated by the company in Hungary and Poland with this number rising to 800 students as the network of education hubs enters the Romanian market by the end of this year.

The round will remain open for the coming six months to raise a sum in the range of up to 1.5m.

FinSMEs

26/02/2019
Indonesias Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman has said that the increase in the export of farm commodities, including mangosteen which climbed up three times, has contributed to the local agricultural sectors achievements (Photo: VNA)



In 2014, the GDP in the agricultural sector stood at only IDR900 trillion (USD64.3 billion). But it rose to IDR1,460 trillion (USD104.3 billion) in 2018.

In terms of rice production, Indonesia produced only 21 million tonnes of rice in 1984 and the figure rose to 33 million tonnes, ensuring the domestic rice demand. However, the country imports rice every year for the reserve fund or crop failures.

Currently, the agricultural sector is one of the biggest contributors to the GDP. The rise in the GDP is inseparable from the programme and effort of the government and President Joko Widodo, who wants to see farmers lead a prosperous life and their income continuing to increase./.
Students often struggle with raising startup capital. But with these 7 ways for students to raise capital for a college startup, you can learn how to get money to set up that business

Being a student entrepreneur is great. After all, many of the most successful businesspeople today had their beginnings as a college startup. But one thing is true for all businesses: they need funding to take off the ground. But how does a student who likely has limited finances get funds? In this post, we look at the 7 ways for students to raise capital for a college startup.

Ways to Secure Funding

Fund it Yourself. When searching for startup funding, where better to dig into first than your own pockets? Its unlikely that you will be able to cough up the entire cost yourself, but exerting the effort to scrape together whatever money you have can help offset some of the amount that youll have to look for elsewhere. Pooling in your personal savings and whatever other funds you can spare is a good start. Your Personal Network. Its common practice for young entrepreneurs to begin raising funds by pitching their business to family and friends. If your personal network takes an interest, they can provide a sizable amount that will help in getting your business started. Consider Angel Investors. Angel investors are basically investors who are interested in funding startups in exchange for a stake in the business. But more than providing funds, angel investors can also act as mentors wholl guide you as you grow your business, especially since many are always on the lookout for new business ideas that have great potential. There are different ways to look for angel investors, from attending conventions for entrepreneurs to joining online communities specifically designed to link entrepreneurs with investors. Crowdfunding. As the term suggests, crowdfunding involves raising capital through donations from the general public. In return, entrepreneurs can offer rewards or perks to donors once the business takes off. For instance, a number of websites allows you to set up a crowdfunding page for a fee or a portion of the amount you eventually raise. School Loans/Competitions. One of the often overlooked ways to get money for your business is right there in your school. Unknown to many, schools dont just issue loans for academic expenses; a lot of schools also offer business startup grants. For instance, some schools hold competitions for the best business models. Like a great admission essay, your pitch should be excellent enough to snatch the student startup grant. Government and Government-Backed Loans. Taking out government loans or government-backed loans is also a great way to fund your startup, especially since interests rates are often favorable. For example, the US Small Business Administration connects entrepreneurs with lenders and may back as much as 90% of your loan if you qualify. Bank Loans. If you are confident that the business will prosper, you can opt to take out a bank loan. However, qualifying for a loan is more difficult than the other options mentioned, since banks need strong evidence that youll be able to repay them such as having an extremely promising business plan and good credit rating. Furthermore, interests may be higher than other loans.

While many students have great business ideas, a lot also struggle with the question of how to raise capital for a startup. But there are more ways for funding than most students realize. By considering one or more of these 7 ways for students to raise capital for a college startup, you come closer to bringing those business ideas from the drawing board to reality.
The recent acquittal of three former members of Tesco senior management raises important questions for companies about the UK DPA process.

The SFO has also just decided to terminate the investigation into the Rolls-Royce managers after the company had entered into a DPA and accepted fines of $800 million based on the guilt of those same individuals. Such prosecutions must surely pass the test of being in the public interest, so the SFO decision is most likely based on the fact that there is insufficient evidence to prove corruption  an outcome that only accentuates the problems for companies considering a DPA deal.

The Tesco case arose after the companys internal analysis in September 2014 suggested that income had been fraudulently recognised in the previous half year having been pulled forward from its proper place in subsequent years. As a result, Tesco issued a statement to the market that the profit for the half year to August 2014 had been overstated by approximately 250m.

After a two year investigation by the SFO, Carl Rogberg (Finance Director), Chris Bush (Managing Director), and John Scouler (Commercial Director) were charged with fraud and false accounting alleging they had knowingly encouraged fraud to inflate the profit in the first half of the year and had reported false figures for the profit announcement.

A few months before their trial, Tesco Stores Ltd entered into a DPA with the SFO. The basis of the DPA was contained in a Statement of Facts that named the three individuals and stated that they had committed fraud and false accounting. It detailed the manner in which the offences were said to have been perpetrated by them.

Although the fact of the DPA was made public, publication of the Statement of Facts was postponed until the conclusion of the individuals trial because it was so prejudicial to the individuals.

After the first trial was abandoned, at the retrial of the individuals, the trial judge ruled that in certain crucial areas the prosecution case was so weak that no jury could convict. The three were acquitted of all charges.

Before Mr. Rogberg was formally acquitted, and therefore before the DPA could be published, the three individuals sought to have their names anonymised in the Statement of Facts since it was flatly contradicted by the trial judges ruling that there was no case to answer. However, the DPA court found that it had no jurisdiction to revisit the DPA or the Statement of Facts under the statutory scheme and the DPA could be published as it stood when Mr. Rogberg was acquitted.

Contradictory Judgments

The result was that two contradictory judgments were published on the same day. Both cannot be right. In English law, a company cannot be guilty unless a person who is the controlling mind and will of the company is guilty. While the DPA court found clear evidence of what amounts to a serious breach of criminal law and implicates senior management coupled to a Statement of Facts that set out the extent of the criminal actions of the three individuals, the trial judge, in contrast, found there was no case to answer having heard all the prosecution evidence in the forensic setting of a criminal trial.

There are several reasons how this may have arisen:

at the beginning of the investigation, the SFO prohibited the company from interviewing key witnesses for its own enquiry. Unlike an individual, a company does not know if it is guilty of wrongdoing except by a thorough investigation.

a DPA does not involve any adversarial process. The DPA court is in the hands of the two willing parties as to the assessment of the quality of the evidence and whether it exceeds the threshold to bring a prosecution. In this case, the DPA court was provided with only two lever arch files of evidence whereas at the individuals jury trial, there were several hundred volumes of evidence with all live witnesses tested in cross-examination.

For companies, the case of Tesco and Rolls-Royce demonstrates the difficulties in choosing the DPA route; a company paying a substantial fine and entering into the potentially onerous terms of a deferment, needs to be sure that such a step is taken on a correct basis. It should feel comfortable that it does not risk a revelation in a subsequent criminal trial that, far from being guilty of an offence, no case could ever have been brought against the company, nor could a DPA have been approved.

For individuals, the appearance of a DPA court naming and judging them before a full review of the evidence in a criminal trial is unfair and seriously damaging to their reputation.

Unless this is to happen again, companies should be given greater freedom to carry out their own investigation in parallel with the SFO; they should have access to all the material gathered by the SFO; the DPA court should step back from declaring there to be sufficient evidence to prosecute unless there is a greater quasi-adversarial review of the evidence; individuals should be anonymised unless or until there is a conviction; there should be mechanisms to protect the reputation of individuals by allowing the form of a DPA to be revisited where it has been shown to be wrong.

_____

Neil OMay, pictured above, is a partner and head of the corporate and white collar crime team at Norton Rose Fulbright. He represented Carl Rogberg throughout the investigation and the proceedings. He can be contacted here.
New genetic test improves safety of Inflammatory Bowel Disease treatments

A genetic discovery will make treatment for Crohns disease and ulcerative colitis safer, by identifying patients who are at risk of potentially deadly drug side effects.

A ground-breaking and large-scale NHS research collaboration, led by the University of Exeter and the Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, has discovered a gene mutation that allows the identification of patients at risk of a drug side effect, allowing clinicians to tailor alternative treatments to these individuals.

The research, funded by the charities Crohns and Colitis UK, for Crohns, and the International Serious Adverse Event Consortium (iSAEC) and supported by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), is published today (26th February 2019) in JAMA. This finding will reduce the risk of drug side effects caused by treatment with thiopurines (consisting of azathioprine and mercaptopurine). This group of drugs is commonly used for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Crohns disease and ulcerative colitis (collectively known as inflammatory bowel disease IBD) are incurable lifelong conditions that affect approximately 1 in 150 people in the UK. The main symptoms are urgent diarrhoea, often with rectal bleeding, abdominal pain, profound fatigue and weight loss. The condition disrupts peoples education, working, social and family life. Drugs to suppress the immune system are the mainstay of treatment, however more than half of patients with Crohns Disease and about 20 per cent of patients with ulcerative colitis will require surgery at some point. The lifetime medical costs associated with the care of a person with IBD are similar to the costs of treating diabetes or cancer.

About a third of patients with IBD are treated with a thiopurine drug, however, approximately 7 per cent of patients develop an adverse reaction called bone marrow suppression. This means that the bodys immune system is less able to fight infection and patients are at risk of sepsis.

Previous studies have identified mutations in a gene known as TPMT, which predisposes patients to thiopurine-induced bone marrow suppression. Clinicians either adjust the dose or avoid thiopurines altogether if routine tests show that patients are likely to carry faulty versions of the TPMT gene. However, only a quarter of patients who suffer from bone-marrow suppression have abnormalities in TPMT, suggesting that other genes may be involved.

Through the National Institute of Health Research Clinical Research Network, 82 NHS hospitals in the UK recruited patients to the study. In addition patients were recruited from international collaborators in the Netherlands, USA, Australia, France, New Zealand, South Africa, Malta, Denmark, Sweden, Italy and Canada. The Exeter IBD Research Group also recruited UK patients via the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) Yellow Card Scheme, which collects reports of patients who have experienced complications of treatment.

DNA from approximately 500 patients with IBD that suffered thiopurine-induced bone marrow suppression and 680 controls (IBD patients who had received thiopurines and had no history of bone marrow suppression), were analysed to identify genes possibly associated with this adverse drug reaction.

The researchers found an association between mutations in a gene called NUDT15 and bone marrow suppression. This gene mutation had previously only been thought important in patients of East Asian descent.

Chief Investigator of the study, Dr Tariq Ahmad, of the University of Exeter Medical School, said: In the largest genetic analysis into the side effects of thiopurine drugs weve discovered variation in a gene that can help us identify who is susceptible to thiopurine-induced bone marrow suppression. In line with the NHS 10 year plan to increase personalised medicine, testing for this genetic abnormality prior to prescribing thiopurine drugs will reduce the risks to patients, and costs to the NHS, associated with this potentially serious drug side effect.

Working with patients and clinicians from across the UK, we have shown the power of the NHS to deliver clinically meaningful genetic research outcomes.

The team found three different variants in NUDT15 that were associated with bone marrow suppression in European patients.

Lead author Dr Gareth Walker added: Personalising medicine according to a persons genetics will hopefully allow doctors to treat their patients in a safer, more effective manner

We hope that once a predictive test is developed, patients will be able to have a simple blood test before starting these drugs. This will allow doctors to modify treatments, either by reducing the dose or opting for different treatment altogether.

Dr Matt Nelson, head of Genetics at GlaxoSmithKline and chair of the iSAEC scientific committee, said: We established the iSAEC as a non-profit biomedical research consortium, working with leading academic investigators to better understand the genetic risk underlying drug-induced serious adverse events. We are so pleased the discoveries from our collaborative research with Dr. Ahmad and the IBD research network will make IBD treatment safer for patients.

Helen Terry, Director of Research at Crohns and Colitis UK said: We are increasingly interested in personalised medicine as we know that this can lead to better outcomes for patients. This study could have a significant impact for people with Crohns and Colitis, and all it will take a simple blood test that could prevent them from taking potentially harmful medication. Drug side effects are just as important to consider as initial symptoms, and we are delighted to have funded a study that will mean that at risk patients are not exposed to treatment that could lead to complications.

Case study

It was routine monitoring that raised the red flag that Vicky Melluishs treatment for Crohns disease needed urgent adjustment. Although she experienced no symptoms, blood tests showed her white blood cell count had plummeted dangerously low  a sign of bone marrow suppression this meant Vicky was at serious risk of infection.

Fortunately for Vicky, 33, her consultant dropped her dose of the Crohns disease therapy azathioprine, which she has been taking since she was diagnosed at the age of 16. Her white cell count soon stabilised.

Vicky, mother to 11-year-old Skye and two-year-old twins Gene and Dolly, described her ordeal as a young teen with terrible stomach pain that left her unable to eat. It was absolutely horrendous, she said. It started when I was 14 years old. Its a strange disease. If I had a single crisp or a sip of water, I could be in agonising pain. It was confusing for my parents as the next moment, Id be pain-free and fine. They were so worried, but we all thought maybe it was part of puberty.

Vicky was rushed to hospital when the pain became constant. By that stage Id more or less stopped eating to avoid the pain. I lost a lot of weight.

The teenager was prescribed a combination of azathioprine and a powerful steroid  but the treatment also took its toll. My face blew up like a puffer fish, said Vicky. It was absolutely huge  it looked kind of squashed together. It was awful  I felt like everyone was staring at me. I didnt go out much and I was at hairdressing college at the time, and eventually I stopped going altogether because I was poorly. I met my husband Adam around then though, and hes been wonderfully supportive through everything. Two years later, I went back and now I have a mobile hairdressing business. That helps me balance my life as a parent.

Vicky had a Crohns flare-up which led to a blockage in her intestine when she was 18 weeks pregnant with her first child, meaning she needed emergency surgery whilst pregnant and an ileostomy bag to be fitted. She had a second operation shortly after her child was born to remove part of her small intestine.

As a result of her Crohns disease, Vicky gets inflammatory arthritis that makes her fingers and other body parts swell up like sausages. She has been receiving injections of Adalimumab, to treat her Crohns disease and her arthritis since 2011.

Vicky said: It is hard living with the condition, but for the last eight years or so, Ive been free of the symptoms of Crohns disease. Ive got a good quality of life and my treatment in Exeter has been fantastic. Ive signed up to this research because its so important to get the safest and best treatment for people like me. It affects everyone differently, and we urgently need to know more about how to treat it.
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Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong holds talks with his Lao counterpart Bounnhang Vorachith. (Photo: VNA)



The bilateral great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation were founded by Vietnams President Ho Chi Minh and Lao Presidents Kaysone Phomvihane and Souphanouvong, and nurtured by generations of Party and State leaders and people of the two countries.

The relationship has become an invaluable asset shared by the two Parties and nations, and a factor ensuring the existence and development of each country, the statement said.

The two sides agreed to enhance and continuously deepen the political ties, thus orienting the overall cooperation between the two countries.

They will work to promote cooperation in economy, culture, education, health care and science-technology on the basis of each sides potential and strength, and effectively implement high-level agreements, cooperation deals between the two Governments, and cooperation programmes and plans between the two countries.

Stressing the the significance of affiliation in national defence and security, both sides concurred to strengthen the partnership for maintaining political stability, security, and social order and safety in each country.

The two sides will continue to join hands to build a common border of peace, friendship, stability, cooperation and sustainable development, and repatriate the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Laos.

They reached consensus on the timely exchange of information, close coordination and mutual support in regional and international issues.

Vietnam and Laos will step up cooperation and coordination with each other and with other countries and international organisations concerned in the management and supervision of all-round impacts of the safe use of the Mekong River water resources, contributing to ensuring sustainable and effective development, and harmonizing interests of Mekong River basin countries.

Both sides reiterated the significance of maintaining peace, stability, security and safety in the East Sea and their support of ASEANs role and principles, and agreed to promote the settlement of disputes in the East Sea through peaceful measures in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

They will join hands with relevant sides to fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties (DOC) in the East Sea and push for the early conclusion of a practical and effective Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea, thus contributing to the maintenance of peace, security, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world at large./.
Emporia, KS (66801)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
NEW HAMPTON  Thomas J. Soenen age 65 of New Hampton, died Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at MercyOne New Hampton Medical Center.

A Memorial Mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, at Holy Family Parish, New Hampton with Rev. Brian Dellaert celebrating the Mass. There will be a private family burial at a later date.

Friends may greet the family from 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26, at the Gathering Space at Holy Family Parish. Further visitation will be one hour prior to the service Wednesday at the church.

With his warm and welcoming personality, Tom Soenen was a blessing in the lives of those he met. Thomas Joseph Soenen was born Jan. 21, 1954, in Marshall, MN to Jerry and Florence (Timmerman) Soenen. He joined two older brothers and was excited to later meet his younger brother and three sisters as the Soenen family grew.

Toms young years were spent on the Soenen farm outside Marshall and he always talked fondly of being a farmer. The Soenen family moved to Emmetsburg when Tom was 11 years old and became involved in the Emmetsburg community as his parents operated the Soenen Oil Truck Stop for many years.

Upon graduating from EHawk town, Tom studied drafting at Western Iowa Tech in Sioux City which led to his first career job with Northern Natural Gas in Omaha, NE. From there he worked for Northern Natural Gas in Mason City, moving to New Hampton to work the next many years for Dome Pipeline.

Upon his retirement, Tom found employment as a spring/fall farm helper for New Hampton Farm Service, so Tom came full circle as a farmer.

In 1989, Tom and Susan (Sheldon) Zearing married and Tom became a father for Lucas and John, soon adopting both boys. Tom, Sue, and boys loved living on the acreage where Sue now continues to live. Tom could be seen doing many yard jobs with his John Deere lawn tractors and his workmanship proved the envy of many.

Besides a loving husband and parent, Tom has been involved with the New Hampton Jaycees, the New Hampton Lions Club, the Knights of Columbus, the New Hampton Fire Department (17 years), the Chickasaw Conservation Board, and the Chickasaw County Planning Commission.

Tom also enjoyed creating wood furniture, especially with red oak. Family members and friends have many mementos of Toms love for woodworking.

Tom truly loved being involved in the lives of his grandchildren: Cailin, Christian, Greyson, Levi, Lila, and Violet. He so enjoyed causing these children to laugh with him.

Tom had a special group of friends who gave him much enjoyment over his years in New Hampton. Some of these friends joined him on more than 30 years of fishing trips to Canada. After retiring, Tom was able to enjoy even more Canadian trips with many relatives.

Meeting new people and talking with them about their lives was a talent Tom much explored. He so thoroughly enjoyed a recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia and had plans for even more adventures.

Toms family includes his wife Susan of New Hampton; children, Lucas Zearing of Hudson and John (Katie) Soenen of Friends- ville, PA; parents, Jerry and Florence Soenen of Emmetsburg; siblings, Gregory (Elizabeth) Soenen of Goldfield, Bob (Jane) Soenen of Emmetsburg, Ken (Karen) Soenen of Rockwell City, Marylee (Dave) Orr of Emmetsburg, Annie (Gary) Vaske of Bancroft, and Julie (Jim) Koeppel of Coralville; sisters-in-law, Mary Wistrom (Ralph Battis) of McDonough, GA, Lynn (David) Sieving of St. Louis Park, MN, Patricia (Don) Strecker of Longmont, CO, and Vicky (John) Kline of Burnsville, MN; and many nieces and nephews.

Preceding Tom in death were his father-in-law, Sumner Sheldon; mother-in-law, Ruth Sheldon; brother-in-law, Wayne Wistrom; and infant brother, Steven Soenen.

Please note that Tom was an organ donor, with the Iowa Donor Network using his eyes, tissues, and skin.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the New Hampton Lions Club or Chickasaw County Conservation Board.

Hugeback-Johnson Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
The weekly Lenten Fish Fry at the VFW in Emmetsburg begins Friday, March 1. Serving is from 5 to 7 p.m. Members of the VFW Ladies Auxiliary will host.

Members of VFW Post #2295 will host the Chamber Coffee from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Friday, March 1. Community residents are invited to attend the Chamber Coffee.
Members of Court St. Rose of Lima #14 of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas plan to attend the State Convention in April. Delegates were named at the Feb. 5 meeting.

The State Convention will be held April 26-28 at Arrowwood Resort in Okoboji. Court St. Rose of Lima can send five delegates, with 10 alternates.

Delegates named to attend the State Convention are Bertha Mathis, Jane Bruch, Ritz Rezabek, Mary Dotson, and Angie Beem.

Darlene Hankey offered an Irish Tea Basket as a raffle item for the convention.

Members of the Court voted to make a donation to Jan Grundmeyer, State Regent, who is leaving, and a donation to Father Schott who has been the State Chaplain.

Court St. Rose of Lima held their meeting at Holy Family Parish Hall in Emmetsburg following Mass, which was officiated by Father Bill Schreiber. Regent Bertha Mathis conducted the business meeting.

Candy Bisenius, Palo Alto County Health System, gave the program on Womens Breast Health. She talked about the new notification from the radiologist that women can get on breast density.

Members of Catholic Daughters will be working at the VFW Lenten Fish Fry on March 8. Members can sign up at the March meeting.
Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong (L) and Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni (Photo: VNA)



The Cambodian King welcomed the Vietnamese leader and described the trip as a significant historical event as the two countries just celebrated the 40th anniversary of the victory over the Pol Pot genocidal regime.

It is also the first foreign visit of the Vietnamese Party and State leader in his new position, which illustrates the special sentiment and solidarity of Vietnam and Cambodia, the King said.

He expressed his belief that the visit will open up a new period of development for the two countries solidarity, traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation.

The Cambodian monarch thanked the Vietnamese Party, State and people for their valuable support for Cambodia during their national liberation and their getting rid of genocide, as well as as more recently their national reconstruction and development.

He affirmed that Vietnamese people are great, reliable friends of Cambodians and that the Cambodian people will be good neighbours to Vietnam, standing side by side with the Vietnamese people.

The King pledged to continue doing his utmost to nurture and promote the close-knit relations between Vietnam and Cambodia.

He expressed his pleasure and admiration at the remarkable achievements that Vietnam has gained in the cause of reform, considering this a great source of encouragement for Cambodia in the cause of national building and development.

He was confident that under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Vietnamese people will go on to gain further accomplishments towards realising the target of building a prosperous population; a strong country; and an equitable, democratic, and civilised society.

Appreciating the warm reception he has received, the Party and State leader said he is happy to visit Cambodia and meet King Norodom Sihamoni again, as well as witness the significant achievements of the Cambodian people over the past few years, particularly the successful organisation of the election of the sixth National Assembly and the establishment of a new parliament and government.

He expressed his belief that under the leadership of the King and the Cambodian Royal Government, local people will continue building their country toward harmony, independence, neutrality, democracy, social growth, and friendship with all nations  particularly its neighbours.

Reiterating the tradition of mutual support and solidarity shared between the two peoples, the leader expressed his gratitude for Cambodias assistance to Vietnam during its past struggle for national independence and reunification.

Reviewing the growth of bilateral relations over the past more than five decades, the two leaders spoke with delight on the important and comprehensive outcomes resulting from the two nations relations of neigbourliness, friendship and special solidarity.

According to them, the bilateral political relations have been continuously fortified via regular visits made by Vietnamese and Cambodian high-ranking leaders to their respective countries, while economic cooperation has also been thriving, bringing practical benefits to their people. Defence-security and foreign diplomacy affiliations have followed suit, and are now important pillars of bilateral collaboration.

The two countries have always supported each other and worked together at international forums, actively contributing to peace, stability and cooperation in the region and in the world, they noted.

They said that the outcomes of friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries in the recent past, sourced from the long-lasting close neighbourliness, have become an invaluable treasure to both nations, as well as a firm foundation and strong driving force to put Vietnam-Cambodia ties into a new stage of development.

They affirmed that protecting, preserving and developing the valuable relationship is the responsibility of both countries and peoples, especially the younger generations.

The two leaders also affirmed to spare no efforts in fostering the Vietnam-Cambodia traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation so as to hand over the relationship to future generations.

On the occasion, the Vietnamese leader thanked the Government, National Assembly and Senate of Cambodia for their attention and facilitation of the Vietnamese community in the country, while asking the Cambodian King to continue directing the creation of more favourable conditions for them, especially the legal status of Vietnamese-Cambodians.

He presented 100 sets of computers to the King as gifts to Cambodias educational establishments.

Trong wished the King good health and a long life, while hoping that the King would continue to make greater contributions to the traditional friendship of the two peoples. He invited the King and the Queen Mother to make a visit or leisure tour to Vietnam. King Norodom Sihamoni thanked and accepted the invitation with pleasure.

The same day, Trong and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation laid flowers at the Norodom Sihanouk Monument, as well as visiting Queen Mother Nordom Monineath Sihanouk.

Later the day, King Norodom Sihamoni hosted a banquet at the Royal Palace in honour of Party General Secretary and President of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong and the delegation./.
Washington, MO (63090)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
Andrian Candu, Speaker of the Moldovan Parliament, Vice-Chairman of the Democratic Party, said that Russia tried to interfere in the electoral process in Moldova.As previously stated by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, Russia does not interfere in the elections in Moldova. Moscow has repeatedly denied accusations of trying to influence the elections in different countries and stressed that there is no evidence to confirm this.Candu told reporters that the Russian authorities used a number of tools to influence the election campaign. "This includes the Amnesty for migrants, and the removal of customs duties, and the situation with the pilots rescued from Afghanistan," the politician said.However, the President of Moldova, Igor Dodon, denied the allegations Andrian Candu."Russia does not interfere in our elections, and the speaker's statements are blasphemous," Dodon said after visiting the polling station.The President accused the Democrats of carrying out an anti-Russian policy and that they did not care about the difficulties of Moldovan producers, who lost the main Russian market.The Head of State expressed the hope that the vote will help change the Parliament and Government and improve the difficult situation in the country.




Cobb unveils US$50 million New Zealand Facility

After two years of preparation and construction, Cobb celebrated the opening of its New Zealand pure-line facility on January 31, the company said in a press release this month.

Hundreds of community members, Cobb New Zealand team members, company leaders and industry officials attended the ribbon cutting ceremony in Rangiriri, Waikato.

"It's just great to be here and be a part of this beautiful country," said Joel Sappenfield, president of Cobb-Vantress. "We want to thank local marae cluster Nga Muka Development Trust and Waahi Whanui Trust for their continuous support for Cobb New Zealand."

Asia-Pacific is the poultry breeding companies' fastest growing region, and the new facility takes advantage of the favorable poultry health status that New Zealand enjoys. New Zealand has historically experienced lower occurrences of diseases such as avian influenza, and therefore is expected to provide a stable and lower disease-risk source that can supply the entire region. Cobb was Asia's breed of choice in the Asia-Pacific broiler market in 2017 and 2018.

Cobb's nearly US$50 million investment will produce grandparent chickens to breed high-value chicks which will largely be exported to distributors and Cobb's own operation in China to meet expected Asia-Pacific demand. The complex includes one hatchery, one quarantine shed, nine rearing sheds and 12 production sheds. Customer delivery of breeding stock from the facility is expected to begin this summer.

"As we have done with other Cobb facilities around the globe, we integrated the local community during the building stage - and now the operational stage," said Jimmy Chand, general manager of Cobb New Zealand. "This allows for us to provide work for the community and ensures that our new state-of-the-art facility is functioning to supply our customers with consistent, quality products."

When fully operational, the company will employ close to 100 team members, most of whom will come from the surrounding community.

Located in Rotongaro, South Auckland, on 368 acres (148 hectares) of land, Cobb New Zealand is the newest addition to the Cobb family. The company will supply nearly two million grandparent breeding stocks to Asia-Pacific including China, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

- Cobb
The City of Del Mar has begun looking at zoning options for affordable housing and wants input from the community.

Through March 15, residents will be able to submit considerations for the environmental impact report, including aesthetics, air quality, transportation, public services, noise and more, for 20 commercially-zoned sites being considered for low-income housing.

At a public scoping meeting Feb. 21, city staff and consultants presented a list of potential sites to add zoning for residential, particularly affordable housing, in addition to the current commercial zoning.

The city in 2013 adopted its latest housing element, a required document that spells out how a city proposes to rework its zoning to accommodate future housing, particularly for those of low and very-low income. The housing document, as part of the citys community plan, required Del Mar to amend the north commercial and professional commercial zones to allow residential up to 20 units per acre with an affordable housing component.

Theres no physical development or construction associated with this, confirmed Amanda Lee, the citys principal planner. Were literally putting words on pages in our community plan and in our zoning code.

Future development would still need permit review and approval consistent with the Del Mar Municipal Code.

Lee said it is important for the city to meet its state-mandated housing obligations.

We have a housing crisis in the state, and theres an expectation that the local jurisdictions are going to follow through, she said. The states actively pursuing enforcement action. ... We are showing our good faith effort in following through with whats in our housing element.

Most recently, California sued the City of Huntington Beach for not meeting its expectations, earlier this year. Additionally, the City of Encinitas found itself in hot water when a judge in December mandated it submit its housing plan by April. Encinitas had not had a certified housing element since the 1990s, and voters have rejected the last two attempts at the document. Earlier this month, state officials sent a proposed housing plan back to Encinitas with a demand for revisions.

If Del Mar fails to meet its requirement for additional affordable units, Lee said that could mean the city may face more challenges when seeking state and local grant funds. Additionally, new state legislation can mandate action and enforcement.

The city expects to begin work on its draft environmental document in the spring, and the public will be able to review that document in a 45-day comment period in the summer. The subject will be heard by the planning commission and city council later this year. Del Mar expects to send an update to the state in April 2020.

To view the citys entire housing element, including the sites up for consideration, visit https://bit.ly/2BSHHGO. The city is asking all environmental concerns to be sent to Shaun McMahon, project manager, at smcmahon@delmar.ca.us through March 15.
Swarthmore, PA (19081)

Today

Mainly clear. Low 73F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mainly clear. Low 73F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Balakot: India Strikes Kashmir Militants in Pakistani Territory' (excerpt)

(Source: BBC; posted Feb 26, 2019)

A formation of 12 Indian Air Force Mirage 2000H fighters struck a terrorist training camp in Pakistan this morning using GBU-12 laser-guided bombs, and supported by AEW&C and tanker aircraft and Heron UAVs, according to local media. (Indian AF file photo)





A top Indian minister said strikes targeted a training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group in Balakot.



Pakistan said it scrambled fighter planes in response.



Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours have been strained since a suicide attack earlier this month that killed more than 40 Indian troops.



India accuses Pakistan of allowing militant groups to operate on its territory and says it played a role in the 14 February attack - claims that Pakistan denies.



Tuesday's strikes are the first launched across the line of control - the de facto border that divides India-administered Kashmir from Pakistan-administered Kashmir - since a war between the two countries in 1971.



Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told a news conference that the strikes had killed a "large number" of militants, including commanders, and had avoided civilian casualties.



"Credible intel [intelligence] was received that JeM was planning more suicide attacks in India. In the face of imminent danger, a pre-emptive strike became absolutely necessary," he said.



Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage.  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019







(end of excerpt)





Click here for the full story, on the BBC website.



(ends)

India says it launched air strikes against Kashmiri militants in Pakistani territory in a major escalation of tensions between the two countries.A top Indian minister said strikes targeted a training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group in Balakot.Pakistan said it scrambled fighter planes in response.Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours have been strained since a suicide attack earlier this month that killed more than 40 Indian troops.India accuses Pakistan of allowing militant groups to operate on its territory and says it played a role in the 14 February attack - claims that Pakistan denies.Tuesday's strikes are the first launched across the line of control - the de facto border that divides India-administered Kashmir from Pakistan-administered Kashmir - since a war between the two countries in 1971.Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told a news conference that the strikes had killed a "large number" of militants, including commanders, and had avoided civilian casualties."Credible intel [intelligence] was received that JeM was planning more suicide attacks in India. In the face of imminent danger, a pre-emptive strike became absolutely necessary," he said.(end of excerpt)(ends)

Statement by Foreign Secretary on 26 February 2019 Strike on JeM Training Camp at Balakot

(Source: Indian Ministry of External Affairs; issued Feb 26, 2019)

On 14 February 2019, a suicide terror attack was conducted by a Pak based terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammad, leading to the martyrdom of 40 brave jawans of the CRPF. JeM has been active in Pakistan for the last two decades, and is led by MASOOD AZHAR, with its headquarters in Bahawalpur.



This organization, which is proscribed by the UN, has been responsible of a series of terrorist attacks including on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 and the Pathankot airbase in January 2016.



Information regarding the location of training camps in Pakistan and PoJK has been provided to Pakistan from time to time. Pakistan, however, denies their existence. The existence of such massive training facilities capable of training hundreds of jihadis could not have functioned without the knowledge of Pakistan authorities.



India has been repeatedly urging Pakistan to take action against the JeM to prevent jihadis from being trained and armed inside Pakistan. Pakistan has taken no concrete actions to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its soil.



Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary.



In an intelligence led operation in the early hours of today, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated. This facility at Balakot was headed by MAULANA YOUSUF AZHAR (alias USTAD GHOURI), the brother-in-law of MASOOD AZHAR, Chief of JeM.



The Government of India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to fight the menace of terrorism. Hence this non-military preemptive action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp. The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties. The facility is located in thick forest on a hilltop far away from any civilian presence. As the strike has taken place only a short while ago, we are awaiting further details.



The Government of Pakistan had made a solemn commitment in January 2004 not to allow its soil or territory under its control to be used for terrorism against India. We expect that Pakistan lives up to its public commitment and takes follow up actions to dismantle all JeM and other camps and hold the terrorists accountable for the actions.



-ends-


RTHK: China urges calm as India strikes inside Pakistan

China urged India and Pakistan on Tuesday to "exercise restraint" after New Delhi said its warplanes attacked a militant camp, in a move that sent tensions soaring between the arch-rivals over disputed Kashmir.

"We hope that both India and Pakistan can exercise restraint and adopt actions that will help stabilise the situation in the region and improve mutual relations," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected to meet his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj and Russia's Sergei Lavrov in Wuzhen on Wednesday for a previously planned meeting.

Wang called Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday to discuss the recent suicide attack, saying China supports Pakistan and India in efforts to resolve the issue through dialogue, state news agency Xinhua reported.

India said its strike on a militant camp had killed a "very large" number of fighters preparing an attack, in a move that worsens tensions with arch-rival Pakistan over disputed Kashmir.

Pakistan's military earlier announced Indian jets had crossed into its airspace over the ceasefire line in the Himalayan region and dropped payloads, although it said there were no casualties.

The escalation comes in the wake of a suicide bombing that killed dozens of troops in Indian Kashmir and sent tensions soaring. New Delhi had vowed retaliation after a Pakistan-based militant group claimed the attack.

India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said the raid was launched on a camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)  the group that claimed the Kashmir bombing  because New Delhi believed suicide attacks in India were "imminent".

"A very large number of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen [suicide] action were eliminated," he told a media briefing.

Pakistan's military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted that the Indian Air Force had violated the Line of Control, the de facto border between Indian- and Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

Pakistan Air Force jets were scrambled in response to the incursion, he said.

"Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force, [the Indian aircraft] released payload in haste while escaping near Balakot. No casualties or damage."

The Indian foreign secretary also said the camp was located in Balakot.

There was confusion among analysts over the location as Balakot town is in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, some 40 kilometres northeast of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

A strike that deep in Pakistani territory, and not in a disputed region like Kashmir, would be a major escalation, analysts said.

Ghafoor did not clarify what he meant by "payload", which can refer either to bombs and missiles, or more generally to items carried which are not needed for the aircraft to fly.

The military spokesman also tweeted images of what he said was the payload dropped by Indian planes, showing what appeared to be pieces of metal and displaced soil in a heavily forested area.

No casualties have been reported in Pakistan.

New Delhi had threatened to retaliate after the February 14 attack, the deadliest in three decades in Kashmir, killed more than 40 Indian paramilitaries. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2019-02-26. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
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
Lubbock, TX (79409)

Today

Becoming cloudy with occasional rain late. Low near 65F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Becoming cloudy with occasional rain late. Low near 65F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
KING AND QUEEN  The King and Queen County School Board recognized School Board clerk Anne Kennedy at its Feb. 21 meeting as part of the Commonwealths School Board Clerk Appreciation Week, declared by Gov. Ralph Northam as Feb. 18-22, according to a news release by King and Queen County Public Schools. Kennedy has served as clerk since November 2015.
There may have been no better illustration of Harris' plight than his abrupt departure from the hearing. After announcing his belief that a new election was in order, he stepped off the dais and walked out of the room with his wife Beth. His lawyers, still in the midst of the proceeding, stayed behind  leaving the Harrises to fend off a phalanx of television cameras alone.
According to a post on the sheriffs office Facebook page, deputies responded to the 7800 block of Guinea Road around 1 p.m. after a neighbor reported seeing a suspicious person on the back deck of the home. The area is near the York River Crossing shopping center on US-17 in Hayes.
The stump is long gone, but Covey connected newer deeds back to the grant and compared descriptions more than 200 years old to the modern lay of the land. He researched documents signed by the oldest Outer Banks families such as O'Neal, Mann, Farrow and Howard. This undeveloped triangle of land bordered by housing developments is where John White's 1587 colony went after leaving Roanoke Island, he said.
NASA Langley wants to create a smart center environment in which scientists and industry and academic partners can work more seamlessly together, she said. NASA Langley is exploring how best to use data analytics and wants to equip its workforce with digital assistants  like workplace versions of Alexa or Siri  that can free up researchers from tedious or administrative work so they can concentrate on end products and services, Marlowe said. Digital tools could help identify potentially game-changing innovations, too.
Lincoln, NE (68508)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. Winds light and variable.
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This service comes with a complimentary CT Select Card allowing for local discounts.

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Ukraine:

NATO in the Constitution

The day after the signature of NATOs membership protocol with North Macedonia as its 30th member, Ukraine did something without precedent: it included in its Constitution the engagement to enter officially into NATO and the European Union at the same time.

President Petro Poroshenko.

On February 7, on a proposition by President Petro Poroshenko  the oligarch who made himself rich by plundering public properties, and who is once again a candidate for the presidency  the Kiev parliament, by 34 votes to 35 with 16 abstentions, approved these amendments to the Constitution.

The Introduction pronounces the irreversible movement of Ukraine towards Euro-Atlantic integration; articles 85 and 116 state that it is a fundamental duty of the parliament and the government to obtain Ukraines full membership of NATO and the EU; article 102 stipulates that the President of Ukraine is the guarantor of the strategic decisions of the State aimed at obtaining full membership of NATO and the EU.

The inclusion in the Ukrainian Constitution of the engagement to enter officially into NATO bears with it some very serious consequences.

On the interior, it alienates the future of Ukraine from this choice, by excluding any alternative, and outlaws de facto any party or person who might oppose the strategic decisions of the state. Already, the Central Electoral Commission has forbidden Petro Simonenko, director of the Ukrainian Communist Party, to participate in the Presidential elections to be held in March.

The merit for having introduced into the Ukrainian Constitution the engagement to enter officially into NATO goes in particular to Parliamentary President Andriy Parubiy. Co-founder in 1991 of the Ukrainian National-Socialist Party, on the model of Adolf Hitlers National-Socialist Party; head of the neo-Nazi paramilitary formations which were used in 2014 during the putsch of Place Maidan under US/NATO command, and in the massacre of Odessa; head of the Ukraine National Security and Defence Council, which, with the Azov Battalion and other neo-Nazi units, attacked Ukrainian civilians of Russian nationality in the Eastern part of the country and used his squadrons for acts of ferocious abuse, the plunder of political headquarters and other auto-da-fes in a truly Nazi style.

On the international level, we should keep in mind that Ukraine is already linked to NATO, of which it is a partner: for example, the Azov Battalion, whose Nazi character is represented by the emblem copied from that of the SS unit Das Reich, has been transformed into a special operations regiment, equipped with armoured vehicles and trained by US instructors from the 173rd Airborne Division, transferred to Ukraine from Vicence, and seconded by other NATO members.

Since Russia has been accused by NATO of having illegally annexed Crimea, and of launching military operations against Kiev, should Ukraine officially join NATO, the 30 other members of the Alliance, on the basis of article 5, would be obliged to assist the party or parties under attack by adopting immediately, individually and in agreement with the other parties, any action that it should deem necessary, including the use of armed force.

In other words, they would have to go to war with Russia.

These dangerous implications of the modification of the Ukrainian Constitution  behind which are most certainly strategies by the USA and NATO  have been met with political and media silence. Including that of the Italian parliament, which, in 2017 established an agreement with the Ukrainian parliament, supported by Laura Boldrini and Andriy Parubiy.

Thus cooperation has been reinforced between the Italian Republic, born of resistance against fascism and Nazism, and a regime which has created in Ukraine a situation similar to that which brought about the arrival of fascism in the 1920s and Nazism in the 1930s.

globalresearch.ca
Human rights at risk from tsunami of privatisation

In a recent report to the UN General Assembly, the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston (from Australia), said that existing human rights accountability mechanisms are clearly inadequate for dealing with the challenges presented by large-scale and widespread privatisation.

Privatising the provision of criminal justice, social protection, prisons, education, basic healthcare and other essential public goods cannot be done at the expense of throwing rights protections out of the window, Alston said.

States cant dispense with their human rights obligations by delegating core services and functions to private companies on terms that they know will effectively undermine those rights for some people, he added.

According to the report by the Special Rapporteur, neo-liberal economic policies are aimed at shrinking the role of the state, especially through privatisation. This agenda has been remarkably successful in recent years and continues to be promoted aggressively by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), parts of the United Nations and the private sector.

The logic of privatisation assumes no necessary limits as to what can be privatised, and public goods ranging from social protection and welfare services, to schools, pension systems, parks and libraries, and policing, criminal justice and the military sector, have all been targeted, it said.

There is no substitute for the public sector to coordinate policies and programs to ensure respect for human rights. Yet privatisation directly undermines the viability of the public sector and redirects government funds to subsidies and tax breaks for corporate actors.

The consequences for human rights are overwhelmingly negative. Human rights standards are rarely included in privatisation agreements. They are systematically absent from guidelines governing both processes and outcomes.

With some exceptions, privatised entities are rarely held meaningfully to account, and government and quasi-government agencies responsible for such tasks are often either underfunded or captured by the relevant industry.

The Special Rapporteur said while it is clear both from the evidence that exists and from the basic assumptions underpinning privatisation that it negatively affects the lives and rights of people living on lower incomes or in poverty, the unsurprising fact is that few detailed studies have been undertaken and relevant data are often not collected.

In the face of externally or internally driven demands for fiscal consolidation (austerity), governments retreat from direct service provision, trade short-term deficits for windfall profits from the sale of public assets, and push hidden financial liabilities down the road for future generations. The opportunity to shed responsibility, rather than to exercise it at arms length, becomes irresistible, he added.

Privatisation also undermines democracy by marginalising the role of governments in deciding on the allocation of public goods and services, thus giving citizens even less incentive to participate in elections.

The rights expert noted that a trend towards political demobilisation, especially affecting low-income persons, has occurred in many states in recent years, and austerity policies closely linked to privatisation have created fertile ground for the rise of populist, anti-human-rights politicians.

Waves of privatisation

The Special Rapporteur explained that privatisation is a process through which the private sector becomes increasingly, or entirely, responsible for activities traditionally performed by government, including many explicitly designed to ensure the realisation of human rights. It can take many forms, ranging from the complete divestiture of government assets and responsibilities to arrangements such as public-private partnerships.

Since the 1970s, several waves of privatisation have swept the world. In 2017, the Privatisation Barometer concluded that the massive global privatisation wave that began in 2012 continues unabated.

According to the rights expert, that wave has been driven not only by governments and the private sector, but also by international organisations, especially the IMF, the World Bank and the United Nations.

While some proponents present privatisation as just a financing tool, others promote it as being more efficient, flexible, innovative and effective than public sector alternatives. In practice, however, privatisation has metamorphosed into an ideology of governance.

Large-scale privatisation was first championed by General Augusto Pinochet, fascist President of Chile, in the early 1970s and then taken up by British PM Margaret Thatcher after her election in 1979.

In the UK, the first national industries to be sold were in competitive markets, such as aerospace, road freight and storage, shipbuilding, oil and council housing. By the mid-1980s, natural monopolies, or public utilities such as rail, water, sewerage, electricity, gas and telecommunications, were sold. And in 1992, the private finance initiative was introduced as a means by which to rely on private investment to deliver a wide range of public sector services and infrastructure, in accordance with government specifications.

Internationally, privatisation was promoted as an antidote to patronage through public sector employment and as a means of reducing the size of government. It became a central feature of the programs promoted in the post-communist states of Eastern Europe and spread to Africa, Latin America and Asia under the auspices of the Washington Consensus.

Development finance and structural adjustment support were made conditional upon the transfer of ownership of burdensome and inefficient public enterprises to private companies. Public utilities, especially in water and sanitation, were the subject of large-scale privatisation.

By the early 2000s, as the pitfalls of structural adjustment became more apparent, proponents of privatisation talked less of downsizing the state and more about correcting market failures, creating markets and enabling the private sector to thrive.

Public-private

Public-private partnerships also emerged, especially in the infrastructure context, as a favoured mechanism.

According to the Special Rapporteur, another wave followed the global financial crash of 2007-08 and the resulting push for austerity and budget reductions. Privatisation generated funds for cash-strapped governments, reduced liabilities, allowed major projects to be pursued off-budget without being reflected in government spending, and provided an occasion to push public sector reforms.

Alston said the current wave of privatisation emphasises the concept of blended finance, defined as the use of development capital (from public sources like government aid or development banks, or philanthropic sources like foundations) to de-risk Sustainable Development Goal-related investments ... in order to attract commercial capital from private investors who would otherwise not have participated.

Whereas public-private partnerships are project-based and define the contractual relationship between the parties involved, blended finance refers to the sources of finance. The role of the government is in part to provide a significant risk cushion. In other words, corporations take the profits, but governments will bear much of the losses if they are significant.

Assessing the extent to which privatisation has occurred in global terms is difficult, if not impossible, given the wide variation among countries and sectors, and over time.

In the European Union, 1,749 public-private partnerships, worth some US$336 billion, have been transacted since the 1990s, primarily in transport, healthcare and education.

There is a real risk that the waves of privatisation experienced to date will soon be followed by a veritable tsunami, Alston warned.

Some observers suggest that privatisation, at least in some industries and sectors, is slowing down in the face of re-municipalisation. One study documented 235 cases of water re-municipalisation in 37 countries between 2000 and 2015. A later study of essential services such as energy, waste collection, transport, education, health and social services found 835 examples of re-municipalisation, involving more than 1,600 cities in 45 countries.

Privatisation has long been a key part of the agenda of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Although the Fund claims to have introduced major changes to some of its Washington Consensus-era policies, the emphasis on the privatisation of a range of public sector enterprises and activities continues to feature prominently in the advice given to governments and in the conditions attached to its loans. A review of the 10 most recent Article IV staff reports dealing with countries in Africa shows that the IMF was actively advocating privatisation in six cases, while in virtually all of the others the governments themselves noted their commitment to public-private partnerships and related projects.

In 2015, the World Bank promoted the concept of increasing private sector financing from billions to trillions to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. In 2017, it announced its Maximising Finance for Development agenda, which prioritises private financing and sustainable private sector solutions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Using a cascade approach, the Bank seeks to crowd the private sector in and to reserve scarce public financing for those areas where private sector engagement is not optimal or available. In effect, profitable enterprises will be reserved to the private sector, while unprofitable activities will be publicly financed.

Alston pointed out that the voluminous materials promoting this entirely one-sided solution to development financing make no mention of the human rights implications of the resulting public/private division of labour, and the implications for those living in poverty are given short shrift.

He said it is, however, important to make the point that the arguments that are systematically invoked to justify privatisation are often challenged or contradicted by the available evidence. In this context, the Special Rapporteur drew attention to the results of two very recent detailed official studies.

The first study, conducted by the National Audit Office of the United Kingdom, concluded that the private finance initiative model had proved to be more expensive and less efficient in providing hospitals, schools and other public infrastructure than public financing.

The second study, conducted by the European Court of Auditors of the European Union, examined 12 public-private partnerships in France, Greece, Ireland and Spain in road transport and information and communications technology. It concluded that the partnerships were characterised by widespread shortcomings and limited benefits.

In terms of costs, private finance is more expensive than public finance, and public-private partnerships can also incur high design, management and transactional costs due to their complexity and the need for external advice. In addition, negotiations on issues other than traditional procurement can cause project delays of some years.

Similar findings emerged from a review of public-private partnerships in health and education in Africa, Asia and Latin America that pointed to high public costs and onerous ongoing administrative burdens for the public sector.

The rights expert noted that privatisation arrangements are rarely conducive to human rights impact assessments. First, human rights criteria are systematically absent from almost all such agreements. Second, sustained monitoring is rarely undertaken on issues such as the impact on the poor, access to services and service quality.

But available reports attest to innumerable ways in which those living in poverty or on low incomes can be negatively affected by privatisation, said the Special Rapporteur.

Citing some examples, Alston said that as aspects of criminal justice systems are privatised, many different charges and penalties are levied with far greater impact on the poor, who then must borrow to pay them or face default. The quality of the services that they can afford diminishes, and their prospects of obtaining justice recede even further.

The privatisation of social protection often results in the poor being relegated to a new even more underfunded public sector.

Alston also noted that social security systems are increasingly being privatised, which is leading to service outsourcing, social insurance marketisation, commercialising administrative discretion and paying by results.

These approaches empower private-for-profit-actors to make determinations about the needs and capacities of individuals, incentivise them to do so within a corporate rather than a public goods framework, and reward spending reductions rather than the achievement of positive human outcomes.

Infrastructure projects will be most attractive to private providers where significant user fees can be charged and construction costs are relatively low. But the poor are badly placed to pay, cannot afford to use many services, and often live in distant or otherwise under-serviced areas.

Water, sanitation, electricity, roads, transport, education, healthcare, social services and financial services are far less likely to be provided adequately or at good-quality levels to the poor. Instead, such persons either go without those services or pay even higher prices for substitute services.

Third World Resurgence
Not an accident, a crime

The Mines are Weeping

Dear Friends,

Greetings from the desk of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.

The bodies of 300 Brazilians have gone cold, drowned in the 13 million cubic metres of iron-ore sludge that swept out of a tailing dam at a mine owned by Vale  one of the worlds largest mining firms. Outrage was the normal emotion that greeted the news from Brumadinho, north of Rio de Janeiro.

In 1984, one of Brazils most celebrated poets  Carlos Drummond de Andrade (1902-1987)  wrote Lira Itabirana. It could have been written yesterday.

I

The river? Sweet.

Vale? Bitter.

Oh, how much we wish

the burden was lighter

II

Between the State

and multinationals,

Pain

III

The debt?

Internal.

External.

Eternal.

IV

How many tons of iron

do we export?

How many tears

do we hide without a scream

The tragedy at Brumadinho forced the government to act, but as all governments of this kind do, they arrested the low-level managers. The long arm of the law is shortened when it comes to corporate crimes. Vale (market capitalisation at US$77.4 billion) will remain untouched. A few fines will be paid, but this likely will be taken care of by insurance companies. There is no confirmation yet that the iron-ore mud is toxic.

Three years ago, another dam burst at another mine co-run by Vale and the Australian mining giant BHP Billiton in the town of Mariana (Brazil). Then, the companies said that the mud was not toxic, and the same song and dance began about compensation and new regulations.

The UNs Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released an important  much neglected  statement at that time about the 2015 Mariana disaster. UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment John Knox and Special Rapporteur on human rights and hazardous substances and wastes Baskut Tuncak wrote:

The steps taken by the Brazilian government, Vale and BHP Billiton to prevent harm were clearly insufficient. The government and companies should be doing everything within their power to prevent further harm, including exposure [of the miners and the residents of the area] to heavy metals and other toxic chemicals.

The 2015 dam burst released 50 million tonnes of iron ore waste, enough to fill 20,000 Olympic swimming pools. Nothing was done at that time, and nothing will be done now.

There is too much money to be made from the extractive industries, who are treated like royalty by governments around the world as they come and make demands on countries, pay miserly rents to destroy the landscape and make fabulous profits by cheating the earth of its riches.

The firms that dominate this sector  from Glencore to Barrick  are largely based in Australia, Canada, China, Great Britain, Argentina and Brazil; the largest, Glencore, is based in Switzerland. Their annual revenues are in the hundreds of billions, their executives living lavish lives, their heads of government protecting them from the embarrassment of their profession.

Canada is home to half of the worlds mining firms, which have attracted the attention of the United Nations for their abuses of human rights and the environment. What the UN pointed towards is the behaviour of Canadian firms such as Barrick Gold (which has run into trouble with its private security force in the highlands of Porgera in Papua New Guinea), Goldcorp (which is accused of contamination of aquifers in Zacatecas, Mexico) and Hudbay Mineral (which is accused of being party to violent evictions, during which women were sexually assaulted, in Lote Ocho, Guatemala).

It is easy to hide behind the charming smile of Justin Trudeau rather than to establish an independent body to investigate human rights abuses by the 1,500 Canadian mining firms that operate 8,000 sites in over a hundred countries.

McDiyan Robert Yapari, a leader of the Akali Tange Association in Porgea (Papua New Guinea) writes to us that Barrick Gold and its partner (Zijin Mining of China) have about 940 allegations of human rights abuses against them. The Associations calls for investigation have fallen on deaf ears, he says. At Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, we are producing a Briefing on Canadas mining firms and their impact on the world. For now, please visit our friends at Mining Watch (Canada) for more details.

In his remarkable Condition of the English Working Class (1844), Friedrich Engels wrote: The coal mine is the scene of a multitude of the most terrifying calamities, and these come directly from the selfishness of the bourgeoisie.

What happened in Brumadinho, as our Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research office in Sao Paulo put it in a terrific report, is not an accident but a crime. So are the other mining crimes from Soma (Turkey) to Copiapo (Chile). Major mining firms care little for the lives and livelihood of the miners and of those who live in the vicinity of the mines. These areas are the planets sacrifice zones.

The large corporations have declared a war against the planet, their machinery digging deeper and deeper to make mountains of profit for the few as many millions of people perish into starvation and disorientation. The people who live in these sacrifice zones are treated as disposable, as worthless.

Mining crimes are ceaseless. They seem to come each day. Some are more spectacular than others. It is hard to forget the thirty-three miners who sat 700 metres inside the Copiapo mine in Chile owned by the San Esteban Mining Company for 69 days in 2010. When the men emerged from the mine  a miraculous rescue operation  they told the journalist Hector Tobar, the mine was weeping a lot (La mina esta llorando mucho).

The mine weeps, and so do the miners.

Not to be swept away in the mud, forgotten and discarded.

Warmly,
Aged care

Pain and suffering for residents and families

With another burst of stories detailing the pain and suffering being experienced by nursing home residents appearing in the media as the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety gets underway, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) says its time we finally, and genuinely, acknowledge that the system has failed Australias most frail and vulnerable. Radical change is desperately needed, both to the systems rules and the systems culture.

Federal secretary Annie Butler said chronic understaffing and under regulation of our aged care system are the root causes of the horrific stories that have come to light and that no doubt will continue to emerge as the Royal Commission continues. Yet, nurses and doctors, and other health professionals, have been sounding alarms about these issues for over a decade, with no action.

Australia has the opportunity to be a world leader in our delivery of aged care just as we are in our delivery of health care, said Butler. Older Australians, those who cared for us as we grew, are entitled to affordable, accessible and high-quality aged care services delivered by a professionally trained, accredited and dedicated workforce.

They do not deserve the current chronic understaffing and underfunding that leads to unnecessary wait lists, unmet expectations, pain and suffering.

The unregulated use of chemical and physical restraints in nursing homes provides yet another example of how the elderly are suffering as a result of chronic understaffing in aged care. Providing dignified care for vulnerable residents, particularly those with dementia and other complex high-care needs, requires the right number of nurses and carers with the right skills mix.

The union points out that time and time again it has warned governments of the effects of chronic understaffing in nursing homes, providing them with evidence of the dangerously low staffing levels that exist in too many nursing homes across the country.

We have conducted rigorous academic research to provide evidence for the amount of staffing and care we know should be available in nursing homes, and weve even developed an implementation plan and a financial analysis for phasing in an evidence-based methodology for improved staffing  with no response, said Butler.

Our warnings, and the warnings of doctors and other front-line health professionals, our evidence, and our solutions were all ignored. Consequently, the situation has continued to worsen to the horrific levels we are witnessing now.

One of the key barriers is that there is a culture of thinking that aged care, and the aged themselves, dont deserve the attention or investment that we give to other sectors. That culture has to change. If we are to have any real hope of providing older Australians with the care they deserve, we must re-focus. The culture in aged care has long been about profits, not people. As the public is starting to see now, its certainly not about prioritising the care needs of residents.

The Aged Care Royal Commission is important and necessary but it should not mean a delay in reforms. If we continue to delay doing what we know is right it means at least another 18 months of pain and suffering for the elderly and, potentially, too many undignified deaths.

We know it requires investment but we also know that the investment will be recovered through more jobs and by productivity gains over time.

The measure of a society is how it cares for its elderly, those who cared for us. Right now we dont measure up, but we can, and we can become the world leader in care for the elderly we should be.

Nurses, doctors and qualified health professionals agree, the system must introduce mandated minimum staffing ratios and skills mixes to finally end this crisis.

Ratios make sense

The ANMF has also released compelling evidence which outlines how mandated minimum staffing ratios in aged care can be implemented to bring improvements in care outcomes for elderly nursing home residents while also providing economic benefits.

Independent economic analysis, undertaken by the Flinders Universitys Australian Industrial Transformation Institute (AITI), not only outlines the financial benefits of implementing mandated minimum staffing levels for the care of the elderly but also warns of the significant costs of not mandating the minimum levels of nursing and care hours in nursing homes.

Put simply, aged care ratios make economic sense.

ANMF-commissioned research, the National Aged Care Staffing and Skills Mix Project 2016 (the Project), the first of its kind in Australia, investigated care needs of elderly Australians living in nursing homes, finding that an average of 4.3 nursing and care hours are needed each day and also identifying the ideal skills mix required to deliver this care.

The research provided the evidence about what is required to address the current unacceptable gap in care being provided to our elderly but to develop the skills and workforce to fill that gap and ensure safe and best practice care for all elderly Australians, a phased implementation plan and an understanding of the costs involved are needed.

The economic analysis shows that the benefits of implementing mandated minimum staffing hours outweigh the costs and warns against the costs of not implementing the recommendations. It also shows that the costs of increased staffing and improved skill mixes will be offset by savings in reduced workforce attrition and productivity gains, an increased tax take and reduced hospital system costs.

Significantly, and for the first time, the analysis has quantified previously unrecognised benefits of the implementation of mandated minimum staffing and care levels. These include savings to the economy gained from reduced mortality of residents, improved quality of life for residents and their families and carers, as well as reduced stress and depression among residents as better staffing and care levels provide them with a better, healthier end of life experience. The analysis indicates that the benefits will grow over time, reaching an estimated $9.4 billion by 2036.

In terms of developing the workforce required, the union estimated that at least 65,000 jobs will need to be created over the next 6 years; phased in with tiered increases in care hours over four stages from July 2019 to January 2025. An initial audit of current staffing levels and care hours by providers will need to be undertaken with exemptions granted to some rural and remote aged care facilities who may experience difficulties in recruiting suitably qualified staff.

To achieve broad workforce improvements, there must also be wage increases of 10 - 15 percent for nurses and care-workers. This will be crucial to address current pay deficiencies and better reflect the value of the aged care workforce and its contribution to delivering best care outcomes for nursing home residents.

The Morrison government must address this before the next federal election, warned Butler. The Aged Care Royal Commission is important and necessary but it should not mean a delay in reforms, the most critical of which is the urgent need for improved staffing levels.

If we continue to delay doing what we know is right it means at least another 18 months of pain and suffering and, potentially, many deaths.
Crippling funding cuts for higher education research

Undergraduate students starting the new academic year will face an additional roadblock this year. The federal governments university VET-FEE HELP vocational education scheme, which (they said) would help undergraduate students meet the crippling demands of the HECS fee system, has been so unhelpful that the government has been forced to introduce a new $10.5 million assistance scheme to provide additional financial assistance for students.

Unfortunately, that initiative has been accompanied by a new levy on the HECS loans. The government also wants to reduce the period for repayment of student HECS debts, suppress free expression on campus and force students to pay for security services at events they disrupt.

For students who manage to fight their way through the financial and academic hurdles of higher education and want to pursue postgraduate courses, the government has provided another set of roadblocks.

Just before Christmas the Morrison government cut $328.5 million from the federal four-year allocation for postgraduate research, twice the amount it forecast it would cut in November.

The funding cut is to be achieved by freezing the annual increases in research funding which are made each year to keep up with rises in the annual cost of living. As a result of the cuts some 500 postgraduate positions will not be available, and many projects will be lost, deferred or reduced in scope.

Professor Margaret Gardiner, Chair of Universities Australia, commented bitterly: Thats 500 fewer people who will dedicate their talent to the creation of new knowledge in the national interest.

The government argues that research funding saved will be used to provide additional help for higher education institutions in regional and remote areas. But postgraduate students from those areas will still be disadvantaged because fewer places will be available at Australias leading universities in the major cities.

Moreover, despite the redirection of research funding to higher education institutions in remote and regional areas, they will still be disadvantaged by the governments disastrous 2016 decision to cut grants for student places.

Those grants enable universities to maintain the overhead costs of research programs, including the costs of paying researchers and technicians as well as keeping libraries and laboratories operating. According to Professor Gardiner, without these grants universities are being forced to find $85,000 for every $100,000 they receive in competitive research grants.

The ongoing 2016 cuts will also reduce the number of PhD research scholarships and will damage the international status of Australian universities. Thats an important economic consideration, given that higher education is now the second highest contributor to the national economy. The world rankings of Australian universities are now beginning to slip because of the funding cuts.

The latest research funding cuts will particularly affect universities that put a high priority on research. Between them, Sydney University and the University of NSW will lose $30 million in postgraduate research grants.

Much of the funding transferred from research will be directed to institutions that lie within marginal federal seats in Queensland, for example the University of the Sunshine Coast and James Cook University.

The heads of some regional and remote universities that will benefit from the transfer of research funding were remarkably ungrateful for the transferred research funding.

The head of Central Queensland University, Scott Bowman, said he was quite shocked and quite sad to hear that the money is coming from elsewhere in the University system. ... really, its just money that we should be getting anyway.

Warped priorities

The governments priorities are horribly warped. For example it wants to spend $13.5 million of taxpayers money establishing the University of NSWs Howard Library, a collection of official papers and display items from the period in office of former coalition Prime Minister John Howard, one of the nastiest political leaders in Australias history.

The government has also allocated $4 million to allow the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to provide support to the cabinet, and it wants to allocate an additional $2.3 million to expand the role of the National Windfarm Commission, so it can deal with complaints about solar energy plants as well as windfarms.

The Commission was established by the notoriously pro-coal government led by former Prime Minister and climate change denier Tony Abbott. Not to be outdone, the current Prime Minister Scott Morrison once brandished a lump of coal in federal Parliament and extolled its virtues as an energy source.

Not content with cutting research funding, the government is also introducing a national interest test for research grants on projects recommended by the Australian Research Council. Under the test the government could block any project which it said could undermine the nations security, foreign policy and strategic interests. The government would not have to provide reasons for its decisions, giving it effective control over the nominally independent Council.

The former Minister for Education, Simon Birmingham has already used his Ministerial powers to block 11 arts and humanities projects recommended to the Government for approval last year.

Industrial research might be subject to similar interference. For example, given Morrisons overt bias in favour of fossil fuel energy systems, the government could block any research project that is likely to seriously threaten the dominance of coal and gas in the national energy market. And that in turn would threaten national development.

Last year government spending on research and development fell to $10 billion, which represents only .05 percent of national GDP, the lowest level in forty years. The Chinese government now spends 2.1 percent of its GDP on research and development, but in Australia the total spending by government, business and research institutions together represents only 1.88 percent of GDP.

Vicki Thomson, chief executive of the Group of Eight universities, commented: ... the debilitating trend of cuts to higher education and research ... ignores the reality that research investment is essential to underpin Australias economic strength and jobs  the health and wealth of Australias community.

Catriona Jackson, chief executive of Universities Australia described the research cuts as a ram raid on Australias future economic growth, prosperity, health and development.
Hands off Venezuela!

Australia against the sanctions, no coup, no to the intervention, no war in Venezuela

Over the weekend as part of the international weekend of actions in solidarity with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its legitimate government, solidarity groups in Australia rallied against the economic sanctions, rejecting the coup detat and saying no to military intervention.

Perth.

Perth kicked off with its rally on Friday, February 22 at the William Street train station. Several people gathered to listen to the speakers who rejected the US sponsored coup detat and condemned the Australian governments recognition of the puppet self-proclaimed president Juan Guaido. Speakers acknowledged the hardships created by the economic war the US has been waging for some time.

They noted that Venezuela is a rich country that doesnt need humanitarian aid. What is needed is for the economic sanctions to be lifted and the payment of the billions of funds for oil that have been withheld to be unlocked and the release of Venezuelan gold assets being held by the Bank of England.

The blockade has prevented the use of funds to purchase food and medicines. The rally rejected the use of humanitarian aid as an excuse for a military intervention in the country.

Community TV covered the event and interviewed some of the people attending.

US imperialism wants to take control of Venezuelas natural resources and hates that the popular government is in the hands of the people.

Rallies in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane called for non-interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country and the recognition of the democratically elected government of Venezuela. The solidarity groups demand the Australian government withdraw its recognition of the coup president.

We call on all progressive, unions and the anti-intervention forces to unite in solidarity with the Venezuelan workers, their unions and the democratically elected government of the Bolivarian republic of Venezuela.

Hands off Venezuela!

Brisbane.

Melbourne.
THE PEOPLE UNITED

An Open Letter to the People of the United States from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro

No Yankee boot will step in here. If they do they will die: An officer of Venezuelas 2 million-strong Civilian Volunteer Militia.

If I know anything, it is about people, such as you, I am a man of the people. I was born and raised in a poor neighbourhood of Caracas. I forged myself in the heat of popular and union struggles in a Venezuela submerged in exclusion and inequality.

I am not a tycoon, I am a worker of reason and heart, today I have the great privilege of presiding over the new Venezuela, rooted in a model of inclusive development and social equality, which was forged by Commander Hugo Chavez since 1998 inspired by the Bolivarian legacy.

We live today in a historical trance. There are days that will define the future of our countries between war and peace. Your national representatives of Washington want to bring to their borders the same hatred that they planted in Vietnam. They want to invade and intervene in Venezuela  they say, as they said then  in the name of democracy and freedom. But its not like that. The history of the usurpation of power in Venezuela is as false as the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It is a false case, but it can have dramatic consequences for our entire region.

Venezuela is a country that, by virtue of its 1999 Constitution, has broadly expanded the participatory and protagonist democracy of the people, and that is unprecedented today, as one of the countries with the largest number of electoral processes in its last 20 years. You might not like our ideology, or our appearance, but we exist and we are millions.

I address these words to the people of the United States of America to warn of the gravity and danger that intend some sectors in the White House to invade Venezuela with unpredictable consequences for my country and for the entire American region.

President Donald Trump also intends to disturb noble dialogue initiatives promoted by Uruguay and Mexico with the support of CARICOM for a peaceful solution and dialogue in favour of Venezuela. We know that for the good of Venezuela we have to sit down and talk, because to refuse to dialogue is to choose strength as a way. Keep in mind the words of John F Kennedy: Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

Are those who do not want to dialogue afraid of the truth?

The political intolerance towards the Venezuelan Bolivarian model and the desires for our immense oil resources, minerals and other great riches, has prompted an international coalition headed by the US government to commit the serious insanity of militarily attacking Venezuela under the false excuse of a non-existent humanitarian crisis.

The people of Venezuela have suffered painfully social wounds caused by a criminal commercial and financial blockade, which has been aggravated by the dispossession and robbery of our financial resources and assets in countries aligned with this demented onslaught.

And yet, thanks to a new system of social protection, of direct attention to the most vulnerable sectors, we proudly continue to be a country with a high human development index and low inequality in the Americas.

The American people must know that this complex multiform aggression is carried out with total impunity and in clear violation of the Charter of the United Nations, which expressly outlaws the threat or use of force, among other principles and purposes for the sake of peace and the friendly relations between Nations.

We want to continue being business partners of the people of the United States, as we have been throughout our history. Their politicians in Washington, on the other hand, are willing to send their sons and daughters to die in an absurd war, instead of respecting the sacred right of the Venezuelan people to self-determination and safeguarding their sovereignty.

Like you, people of the United States, we Venezuelans are patriots. And we shall defend our homeland with all the pieces of our soul.

Today Venezuela is united in a single clamour: we demand the cessation of the aggression that seeks to suffocate our economy and socially suffocate our people, as well as the cessation of the serious and dangerous threats of military intervention against Venezuela.

We appeal to the good soul of American society, victim of its own leaders, to join our call for peace, let us be all one people against warmongering and war.

Long live the peoples of America!

Nicolas Maduro

President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

See here for solidarity action.
The events of recent days ought to try the consciences of Republicans who know that extremism and hatred are wrong. Many in the party acknowledge  usually in private  that the president they have continued to back has rooted his political appeal in vicious attacks against his opponents and a free press. He has invented crises for the purpose of stoking dread and horror. And he targeted minority groups (immigrants especially) to harvest political support.
Without delay, the chief states attorneys office must launch a criminal investigation into whether there was, or continues to be, a criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice in the prosecution of sexual predators within the churchs ranks. Chief States Attorney Kevin T. Kane has been unacceptably silent on the issue, but its past time to begin a thorough investigation. Its improper to let the church police itself, especially given its reluctance to be forthright over the years about its criminal priests.
The crash occurred May 20, 2017 on Center Street near Thompson Road. Cross, who did not have a drivers license, was behind the wheel of a 2008 Infiniti G35 and driving in excess of 85 mph when he lost control of the car on a curve and slammed into a utility pole, prosecutor Sharmese Hodge told Hartford Superior Court Judge Laura F. Baldini. Within seconds, the car was engulfed in flames. A front seat passenger and Cross got out.
On Monday, Lleras pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery and admitted violating the terms of his probation for a prior arson case as part of plea agreement. Under the deal, he received a sentence of 10 years in prison, suspended after he serves 4 years and seven months in jail, and three years or probation. He was sentenced immediately.
High-risk visits are held in rooms inside DCF offices. For lower-risk visits, case workers can be instructed to either remain very close, or to give the parent and children some space. The idea of meeting at a park, a restaurant or someplace else in the community is to give the kids some normal fun. DCF typically transports the children to the visits in the community.
We've given up nothing. The sanctions are on, everything's on, but we have a special feeling and I think it's going to lead to something very good and maybe now, he said at the Governors Ball in Washington on Sunday. I think ultimately it will, but maybe not, and I'm not pushing for speed but we're not removing the sanctions.
None of the women in The Revolutionists are being remembered the way they want to be. They also have personal struggles  romantic, professional, political  that guide some of their actions. These are fully rounded, funny, smart, self-aware characters who are talking us through a revolution. Theres suspense and action as well as the scintillating dialogue. Its not much of a spoiler to note that the play takes place in the 1790s and that several of these women dont live to see the 19th century.
With the popularity of rail trails for hiking and bicycle riding, Obert believes an improved, accessible AirLine Trail will bring more visitors to town. They already come to hike to the Tri-State Marker, visit the sight of the largest train wreck in United States history, and explore US Army Corps of Engineers trails at the West Thompson Dam area. More visitors could give the town an economic boost.
Zito presented the board with five options for school start times in January. By February, the board had narrowed it down to two options. One schedule would shift school start times 5 or 10 minutes later. Rocky Hill High Schools start time would remain the same, Griswold Middle School would start at 7:50 a.m., Moser School at 8:05 a.m. and West Hill and Stevens Elementary Schools at 8:50 a.m.
The event is a fundraiser to help Horizon Wings provide food for its birds and will feature DEEP wildlife biologist Brian Hess speaking about eagles in the state, along with raptors from Horizon Wings. Two eagles will be featured guests. There will be a raffle featuring a painting of Atka the bald eagle, by artist Brenda Lyons. Cost to attend is a suggested donation of $10. Visit www.horizonwings.org for more information.
Hartford, Ct. - 02/25/2019 - Demanding accountability for a culture of sexism and homophobia, Gannon Long speaks out at a meeting of Hartford's newly formed Commission on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Plus wanting to know, in light of recent allegations of sexual harassment brought by by HPD officer and LGBTQ Liason Kelly Baerga. "What are you doing to change the culture," she asked, "Why is the chief not here, why is he sending emails and asking pother people to read them, why is he not engaging with this commission, having community conversations...and doing that real outreach...and if you guys think you're making victims feel better by streamlining the complaint process or adding more commissioners to a meeting that talks about process for 45 minutes, I don't think youre doing it." Photograph by Mark Mirko | mmirko@courant.com (Mark Mirko / Hartford Courant)
Lamont and Nooyi have already scored one significant win in terms of bringing jobs to the state. She served as a conduit between the state and Infosys, an India-based information technology company that last year picked Hartford as a hub in its U.S. expansion. The deal will bring an estimated 1,000 jobs to the capital city. It was Lamont who helped steer Infosys to the states economic development brass  and he wasnt even governor yet.
The plane was still climbing and had only been airborne for a couple of minutes when the pilot announced they were returning to the airport, Stoneburner said. Firetrucks and emergency personnel were on site as the plane landed safely.
Torrington fire officials said they were dispatched to the office at 147 Litchfield Road just before 8 a.m. on the report of a letter that was suspected of containing white powder. Officials said the letter could be connected to other similar incidents.
The snow started out as flurries late Wednesday afternoon and got heavier overnight. It arrived from the west, snowing there first. Snow stopped falling in Tolland by 4:15 a.m.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 25,A 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Weekend Unlimited Inc. ("Weekend" or the "Company") (CSE: POT)A (FSE: 0OS1)(OTCQB: WKULF) is pleased to announce that Northern Lights Supply, for which Weekend Unlimited has previously announced an arms-length agreement to acquire 49% of, has celebrated its grand opening on Saturday, February 23rd, less than three weeks after receiving one of 10 new licenses in Alberta. "The initial customer response confirmed we hit a home run with not only our store design and selection but just as important, our team's commitment to cannabis education," said Northern Lights Supply President, Derek Shields. "With very little promotion our grand opening achieved sales of $27,000 (approximately 35% margin) and our customers provided terrific feedback, mainly that they appreciated an education focused experience in the store, something we see as our number one priority," added Mr. Shields. Northern Lights Supply is situated in Nisku, Alberta , at the intersection to Canada's largest oilfield industrial park, along Alberta's busiest corridor, Highway 2 and opposite the Edmonton International Airport

, at the intersection to largest oilfield industrial park, along busiest corridor, Highway 2 and opposite the International Airport The store provides 6,500 square feet of retail space, making it one of the largest approved retail cannabis stores in Alberta

Northern Lights Supply was designed to take advantage of the upcoming edible and infused cannabis products schedule to be legal in the fall of 2019 "We want to thank all of the customers who braved the cold to come to Northern Lights Supply and we look forward to becoming an active member of our business community and are excited to be working with the Leduc and District Chamber of Commerce in estab! lishing c annabis education seminars for business scheduled in early March," said Mr. Shields. The Company also announces that it has granted 18,000,000 options under its stock option plan to officer, directors, employees and consultants at an exercise price of $0.15. It also issued 1,260,000 options at $0.25 as part of its recent acquisition of its Jamaican assets. About Weekend Unlimited Inc.

Weekend Unlimited is capitalizing on its vast industry relationships to establish a lifestyle brand featuring premium products and delivering life's highest moments. The company aggregates and scales small to medium brands, primarily in the categories of flower, extracts and edibles. Weekend Unlimited brands have best of class operations, distribution and strong revenue trajectories, making them ideal candidates for the deployment of capital and expertise through access to technologies, infrastructure and centralized systems. Learn more at www.weekendunlimited.com 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. Forward Looking Statements

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding future financial position, business strategy, use of proceeds, corporate vision, proposed acquisitions, partnerships, joint-ventures and strategic alliances and co-operations, budgets, cost and plans and objectives of or involving the Company. Such forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (includ! ing negat ive variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved.A A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause the actual results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions and dependence upon regulatory approvals. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume any ! obligatio n to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by securities laws. A For further information, please contact: Mr. Paul Chu, President and CEO

Telephone: 1 (236) 317-2812A - Toll free 1(888) 556-9656

E-mail: IR@weekendunlimited.com A
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Network Cables Industry 2019 Global Market research report provide detailed analysis of Growth Factors of the Network Cables Industry as well as it gives analysis the Market share, Latest trends, Size and Forecast until 2025. The Network Cables Industry report has studied key opportunities in the market and influencing factor which is useful to the business.

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The Global Network Cables Market 2019 research provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Global Network Cables 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 segments covered in this report: North America, US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, UK, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Russia, France, Rest of Europe, Asia & Pacific, China, Japan, India, Korea, Australia, Southeast Asia, Rest of Asia & Pacific, LAMEA, Latin America , Middle East, Africa

Global Network Cables Industry 2019 Market Research Report provides exclusive vital statistics, data, information, trends and competitive landscape details in this niche sector.

With Table and figures helping analyze worldwide Global Network Cables 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.

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1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2 METHODOLOGY

3 TRENDS AND DRIVERS

3.1 Network Cables Market Size and Trends

3.2 Opportunities in Network Cables

3.3 Market Inhibitors

4 MARKET DYNAMICS

4.1 Network Cables Industry Chain

4.2 Network Cables Cost Analysis

4.3 Network Cables Pricing Strategy

4.4 Distribution Structure

4.5 Enter Strategy

5 MARKET AND TECHNICAL CHALLENGES

5.1 Commercialization Stage

5.2 Economic Impact

5.3 Competitive landscape Overview

5.4 Regulatory/Government policy

6 PORTER\'S FIVE FORCE ANALYSIS

6.1 Threat of New Entrants

6.2 Bargaining Power of Suppliers

6.3 Bargaining Power of Buyers

6.4 Threat of Substitute

6.5 Segment Rivalry

7 Value Chain Analysis

7.1 Upstream Overview

7.2 Companies Distribution

7.3 Brand and Processing

7.4 Distribution Channel

8 Network Cables MARKET, BY TYPE

8.1 Overview

8.2 Market Size & Analysis, By Type

8.2.1 AS-i

8.2.2 ATM

8.2.3 CC-LINK

8.2.4 Fieldbus

8.2.5 CANopen

9 Global MARKET, BY REGIONS

9.1 Global Market Size and Share by Regions

9.2 North America Market

9.2.1 US

9.2.1 Canada

9.2.1 Mexico

9.3 Europe Market

9.3.1 UK

9.3.2 Sweden

9.3.3 Germany

9.3.4 Spain

9.3.5 Russia

9.3.6 France

9.3.7 Rest of Europe

9.4 Asia & Pacific Market

9.4.1 China

9.4.2 Japan

9.4.3 India

9.4.4 Korea

9.4.5 Australia

9.4.6 Southeast Asia

9.4.7 Rest of Asia & Pacific

9.5 LAMEA Market

9.5.1 Latin America

9.5.2 Middle East

9.5.3 Africa

10 Top Company

10.1 Electro Standards Laboratories

10.1.1 Business Overview

10.1.2 Recent Development

10.2 Lapp Group

10.3 LEMO USA

10.4 New England Wire Technologies Corporation

10.5 Quabbin Wire & Cable Co

10.6 Radwell International

10.7 Allied Electronics

10.8 Belden

10.9 Consolidated Electronic Wire & Cable

10.10 General Cable

10.11 Alpha Wire

11 Market Forecast

11.1 Global Market Forecast

11.3 Market Forecast by Type

11.3 Market Forecast by Region

12 Conclusion

Order a copy of Global Network Cables Market Report 2019 @ https://www.orianresearch.com/checkout/812056 .

For competitor segment, the report includes global key players of Network Cables as well as some small players. The information for each competitor includes:

Company Profile

Main Business Information

SWOT Analysis

Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margins

Market Share

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Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 67F. Winds light and variable.

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 67F. Winds light and variable.

Tomorrow

A few showers early with overcast skies later in the day. High 84F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
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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
Posted Tuesday, February 26, 2019 9:45 am

The first thing everyone should know is the good news that as of Friday, Feb. 22, 2019, there have been no confirmed measles cases in Lewis County.

Lewis County readers may have heard that there is a continuing measles outbreak in Clark County, and that cases have now popped up in states as far away as Georgia.

Measles outbreaks are rare and a great concern in any community where they appear. Public health officials in Washington and Oregon are doing everything we can to prevent the current outbreak from spreading. You can help by educating yourself about measles, and even more importantly, making sure you and your family are up to date on immunizations.

Measles is a highly contagious virus that usually lasts from seven to 10 days. It can be spread through contact, but also remains in the air for several hours after an infected person has left the room. According to the Washington State Department of Health, people who are exposed to measles and have not had the vaccine or the disease itself are very likely to get measles.

In fact, nine out of 10 susceptible people who are exposed to measles will come down with the illness.

The symptoms of measles begin with a high fever  up to 104 degrees  and include:

 Coughing

 Runny nose

 Red and watery eyes

 A rash, usually starting on the face, but which can spread to the entire body.

Common complications of measles are ear infections and diarrhea. Children younger than 5, and adults over 20 are more likely to suffer from complications. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), some people may suffer from severe complications, such as pneumonia (infection of the lungs) and encephalitis (swelling of the brain). They may need to be hospitalized and could die.

 As many as one out of every 20 children with measles gets pneumonia, the most common cause of death from measles in young children.

 About one child out of every 1,000 who gets measles will develop encephalitis that can lead to convulsions and can leave the child deaf or with intellectual disability.

 For every 1,000 children who get measles, one or two will die from it.

 Measles may cause pregnant women to give birth prematurely, or have a low-birth-weight baby.

How do you make yourself not susceptible? The very best protection against the disease is to get the Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) vaccine. This vaccine is very effective against measles. In fact, according to the CDC, just one dose of the MMR vaccine is 93 percent effective against measles. The recommended two doses brings that immunity up to 97 percent. Learn more about the MMR vaccine at http://bit.ly/2SRODOY.

Before America offered a measles vaccination program starting in 1963, the CDC shares that an estimated 3 to 4 million people got measles each year in the United States. Out of the approximately 500,000 cases reported each year to CDC; 400 to 500 people died, 48,000 were hospitalized, and 1,000 developed encephalitis. Widespread use of measles vaccine has led to a greater than 99 percent reduction in measles cases now compared with the pre-vaccine era.

If you have not had the measles, and are unsure whether or not you have been vaccinated, talk with your health care provider.

To find where vaccines are available near you, go to www.parenthelp123.org/. For more information about measles in Washington, go to www.doh.wa.gov/YouandYourFamily/IllnessandDisease/Measles.

For up-to-date conditions, follow us on Twitter @LCPHSS.
Posted Tuesday, February 26, 2019 9:38 am

People without identification have a harder time renting an apartment, opening or accessing a bank account, using medical insurance, qualifying for federal benefits, like food stamps, or even staying in some homeless shelters. And, of course, getting a job is nearly impossible.

Even joining the military, a common outlet from poverty in the past, is also unlikely without identification.

It just becomes this really, really, really unique, odd barrier that none of us really think about until it might happen to us, said Spokane City Council member Kate Burke.

A 2006 national survey conducted by the Brennan Center found that as many as 11 percent of Americans, or more than 21 million people, dont have government-issued photo ID, with elderly, minority populations or low-income individuals being least likely to possess identification.

Meanwhile, the $54 fee for a state-issued identification card in Washington is too much for many, particularly those who lack shelter.

A measure in the state Legislature, Senate Bill 5664, is aimed at eliminating barriers to identification for homeless people. If passed, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Licensing (DOL) would be required to create a program to provide homeless individuals with a free ID card, also known as an identicard.

It would cost DOL and the Department of Commerce nearly $460,000 from 2019 to 2021 in operating expenditures, according to the Office of Financial Management.

After the program is fully developed, the cost from 2021 to 2023 for DOL goes down to $355,200, proponents say.

When you think about all the many, many instances that each one of us are required to show ID on a regular basis, I think its easy to understand what a barrier a lack of ID can be, said Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver, the prime sponsor of the bill, in a public hearing Wednesday in the Transportation Committee.

Rud Browne, Whatcom County Council member and a vocal advocate for further homeless-identification programs, agrees, saying that he sees lack of identification as an insurmountable obstacle to escaping poverty.

I cant guarantee that everybody who gets ID will get off the streets, said Browne. I can guarantee that 100 percent of people who do not have ID will never get off the streets.

Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, the top Republican on the committee deciding whether the bill moves forward, declined to comment on the proposal.

To be eligible for the free identicard, applicants would have to meet the definition of a sheltered or unsheltered homeless person, reside in Washington state and not have a valid state-issued identicard or drivers license.

In Spokane, the state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) can help people lacking identification get an identicard by providing them with a voucher that reduces the cost to just $5, the rest of which is paid for by a nonprofit, essentially allowing them to obtain the card for free. Even this system is cumbersome, however, as applicants have to trek from the nonprofit to get a $5 check to a DSHS worker to receive the voucher, and then to a DOL office to be issued the ID.

Homeless youth under the age of 18 could pay just $5, the cost to produce the card. Subsidies allowed the DOL to issue 37,015 DSHS welfare reduced fee identicards in Washington in 2018, according to a department spokesperson.

Based on increases in free IDs in Illinois after the creation of a similar program, the Department of Commerce estimates that 15,000 additional cards would be issued to homeless people each year. At least eight other states, including California, Nevada and South Carolina have decided to waive fees for the homeless to get identification, according to Stateline, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trust.

While being the 13th biggest state by total population, Washington had the fifth largest homeless population in the country last year, with more than 22,000 people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2018, according to federal data.

In 10 years, more than 20,000 in Florida have been served by Orlando-based nonprofit IDignity, which helps people get their birth certificate, Social Security card, drivers license or state ID. A similar program in Whatcom County has helped approximately 140 people to obtain ID each year since 2010.

Having seen the importance of ID firsthand, Spokane Public Defender Kathy Knox supports the legislation, but wishes it allowed for individuals to reapply for free ID if theirs are lost or stolen.

Steve Strachan, executive director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, said in an email that his organization is in general support of the measure because it would allow for successful re-entry into society and enhance public safety.
Guam Republican Party leaders held a press conference Tuesday to underscore their opposition to tax increases and their commitment to roll back tax increases approved during the last Legislature.

We need to reign in spending first, said Republican Party Chairman Jerry Crisostomo, who said the first priority should be to cut expenses and look at growing our economy before raising taxes.

As a party, we strongly oppose raising taxes, Crisostomo said. We also support the rollback of taxes.

The press conference was called following Democratic Sen. Joe San Agustins bid on Monday to get Bill 4 on the agenda during this weeks session. He made a second attempt Tuesday and succeeded in getting the measure on the agenda during this weeks session.

The Legislatures Minority Leader, Sen. Wil Castro, spoke about his opposition to Bill 4, also called the or more bill.

The measure would add the words or more in the 2019 budget law in order to allow for the implementation of a tax increase on real property improvements valued at more than $1 million.

The absence of those two words threatens to create a $9.1 million funding shortfall this fiscal year. The biggest blow would fall on the Guam Department of Education, which would be forced to cut $4.5 million from its budget this year if the measure is not approved.

San Agustin was able to get the bill into the session agenda this week.

Rolling back taxes

Assistant Minority Whip James Moylan highlighted two of the bills that he introduced to roll back tax increases that took effect last year.

Bill 9, would reduce the business privilege tax from 5 percent to 4 percent which was the rate at the start of last year.

Bill 10 would cut the liquid fuel tax from 14 cents to 10 cents, back to where it was at the end of 2017.

Both of these bills are regressive tax bills that greatly affect the people of Guam, Moylan said.
Following the recent storm, the Department of Public Health and Social Services is warning the public to inspect premises around their homes and businesses for standing water where mosquitoes may breed.

DPHSS stated the passing of Supertyphoon Wutip and its accompanying rainfall have created conditions around the island that may encourage the proliferation of mosquitoes, particularly the species that breed in containers, such as the Aedes.

Debris scattered by the storm also may be collecting water and breeding this species of mosquitoes, which are known transmitters of dengue fever, Zika and chikungunya virus. And while these mosquito-borne diseases are not found on Guam, DPHSS warned they can be imported and spread by Aedes.

The Mosquito Surveillance Control Program under the department's Division of Environmental Health prepares and responds to potential mosquito-borne outbreaks. The division also conducts surveillance, traps, collects, analyzes, and identifies mosquitoes and their larvae.
A new proposed law aims to protect Guams reefs and declining fish population by banning scuba fishing in Guams waters.

Sen. Sabina Perez introduced Bill 53-35, which states that the Department of Agriculture Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources in 2009 noted that reef fish are declining at an alarming rate. The agency noted that scuba fishing is a serious threat to all reef fish stocks."

Bill 53, co-sponsored by Sen. Clynton Ridgell and Speaker Tina Muna Barnes, aims to remove that threat.

If passed, the legislation would make scuba fishing a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, or a fine between $1,000 and $5,000, or a combination of prison and a fine.

The response on social media has largely been supportive. People have been commenting on The Guam Daily Post Facebook page that the bill should have been introduced years ago.

But not everyone believes a ban on scuba fishing will restore the fish population.

I know free divers who can catch more fish than five scuba divers put together in a day, said Manny Duenas, president of the Guam Fishermen's Cooperative Association. He said the co-op's general stance over the years has been against legislation that adds more restrictions against local fishermen.

He urged senators to turn their eyes to the larger problem of erosion, which he said is smothering the reefs.

No more restrictions

Duenas said the number of local fishermen has dwindled over the years, so the idea that they are to blame is inaccurate. As a decades-long fisherman and president of the Fishermen's Co-op, he said he has seen firsthand what is killing the reef and chasing away the fish that rely on it.

We need to look at the data, at the science, Duenas said, adding that the data he has collected over the years show there hasnt been much change in the amount or size of fish.

And that tells me that the marine preserves  (which) was a restriction to our local fishermen ... that was sold to us as a way to help preserve the (fish) population  isnt working, he said. He added the preserves were supposed to be the first step to helping improve the fish population. Programs to control erosion were promised, too. Instead, he said, projects that caused the removal of mangrove forests have been allowed.

At the end of the day, were polluting ourselves and our environment to death, he said.

He said mangroves habitats, generally found near river heads and coastlines where fresh water meets the ocean, help keep too much freshwater and sediment from running into the ocean. Mangrove roots trap and hold unstable soil and are a habitat to filter feeders that clean water of sediment and nutrients which could cause algae blooms, according to the National Park Service.

When I was a kid growing up  my family is from the south  the sedimentation from the river used to settle at the mouth of the river ... but now it goes out much further. Just like at Pago Bay, you can see it, he said. When you change the dynamics of the (ocean) water, adding too much fresh water or sediment ... that causes the algae blooms (and) impacts the habitat where our fish are at.

He said he appreciates senators' efforts to help but said they need to focus on the environmental issues, not on adding restrictions to local fishermen. ... Pretty soon 'Tan Maria' wont be able to get fish because of these restrictions on our local fishermen.

Banning scuba

According to a press release from Perezs office, local fishermen and youth groups support the scuba fishing ban.

Many fishermen are seeing firsthand the impacts scuba fishing are having on their catch. These responsible fishermen are frustrated that our laws fail to regulate a damaging, unsustainable practice that threatens their livelihoods, Perez said.

According to the bill, the idea proposed by Bill 53 has been adopted in 63 nations and jurisdictions, including the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and most Pacific island nations.

The bill defines scuba diving as using a self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, but notes that other equipment that use compressed air or a mixture of air and gas (such as) nitrox, and surface-supplied air and rebreathers will be included in the ban.

Declining population

According to a press release from Perezs office, studies show scuba fishing allows for the targeting of reef fish at greater depths, and at greater efficiency, than traditional fishing methods. This practice prevents struggling fish stocks from regenerating, which are essential to the health of coral reef ecosystems, the release stated. In extreme cases, scuba fishing could contribute to fisheries collapse, it added.

In a recent study of 832 coral reefs in 64 localities, two stood out for having fish biomass low enough to constitute fisheries collapse: Papua New Guinea and Guam.

We must act now if we hope to save our fisheries from collapse, which would have negative repercussions to our coral reefs, said Perez.

Two species, once prevalent in Guams waters, are particularly vulnerable to scuba fishing: atuhong, or humphead parrotfish; and tanguisson, or humphead wrasse, the press release stated. Both fish require the ability to grow large in deep waters before returning and repopulating reefs. However, with the advent of scuba fishing, the largest of these fish are now being targeted in deep waters with startling efficiency, the release stated. Data compiled by the Guam Department of Agriculture show that all recorded catches of atuhong and 85 percent of all recorded catches of tanguisson were caught by scuba fishing.
Posted Tuesday, February 26, 2019 9:48 am

Americans are more educated now than theyve ever been in history.

A report released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau shows 35 percent of Americans age 25 and older have completed a bachelors degree  thats equal to the percentage that had completed high school in 1950. And the number of folks who hold an advanced degree has doubled since 2000.

Even in the context of this nationwide education boom, Seattle stands out. While we have long been counted among the best-educated U.S. cities, the rise in the number of college graduates here is still remarkable.

As of 2017, 63 percent of city residents age 25 and older had a four-year college degree. Among the 50 largest cities in the country, were the only one to hit that 60 percent mark  something we first achieved in 2015.

In 2000, less than half (47 percent) here had a college degree.

Theres now a total of 337,000 college graduates age 25 and older living in Seattle, plus another 23,000 under the age of 25.

With each new generation, the level of educational attainment increases. Among Seattle millennials (ages 25-34), 73 percent are college graduates. For the citys senior residents, its slightly more than half.

Another shift has occurred along gender lines. Among older adults, more men than women have completed a college degree. The reverse is true for younger Seattleites.

When you look at educational attainment among Americas largest cities, the gap from top to bottom is astounding. Along with Seattle, there are five cities where the majority of adults have college degrees: San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; Raleigh, North Carolina; Austin, Texas; and Minneapolis. Portland is right at 50 percent.

At the other end of the spectrum, a mere 15 percent of Detroit adults have a college degree. In 13 more cities, its less than 30 percent.

Its as good an illustration as any of the troubling gap between cities that are winning and those that are losing in the new economy. Successful cities like Seattle draw thousands of college-educated people from all over the country and the world to work in tech and other sectors.

Thats great  but are we producing enough of our own college grads in Washington? Compared with other states, it appears that we dont actually send a high percentage of our high-school grads off to college.

According to state figures, 59 percent of students who graduated from Washington public high schools in 2016 enrolled in college within a year of graduation; about 54 percent went to a four-year school, and 46 went to a community college.

Both a state policy agency (the Washington Student Achievement Council) and a business group (the Washington Roundtable) believe more students need to enroll in some kind of training or degree program after high school to keep Washingtons future economy humming along.

Among Seattle residents, 59 percent of those born in Washington are college graduates, compared with 70 percent of those born in another state, according to census data. And among those say theyve moved to the city from another state within the past year, an incredible 80 percent are college graduates.

More than one in four (27 percent) people who live in Seattle have an advanced degree, such as a masters, a professional degree, or a Ph.D. Only one major U.S. city has a higher percentage than Seattle: Washington, D.C.

From an economic standpoint, it makes sense that so many here have a college degree or higher. We all know its not cheap to live in Seattle, and those degrees tend to translate to significantly higher salaries.

In 2017, the median earnings for a Seattle resident with a bachelors degree was $66,000, and for someone with an advanced degree, $80,000. For a Seattle resident who had not completed high school, the median was just $22,000.

Among midsize cities, Bellevue ranks among the most educated, and has an even higher percentage of college graduates than Seattle  as of 2017, 68 percent of residents 25 and older.

Seattle Times education reporter Katherine Long contributed to this column.
Posted Monday, February 25, 2019 3:29 pm

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson will sue in an effort to block a new Trump administration rule that bars federal family-planning money from going to health-care organizations that provide referrals for abortion.

The new rule, announced Friday, would create obstacles for women, particularly low-income women, seeking abortions. It would bar organizations, such as Planned Parenthood, that receive federal Title X money from referring patients to abortion providers.

Organizations that receive those funds would still be able to perform abortions, but would have to do them in physically separate facilities. Providers have long had to financially separate abortion services from other services they provide.

Ferguson said Monday he would file a federal lawsuit in the Eastern District of Washington as soon as the rule is formally published in the federal register, which could happen at any time. He said he would also file for an injunction to block the rule from going into effect while litigation proceeds.

We will not allow the federal government to dictate what a provider can or cannot say to a patient, Ferguson said at a news conference. This case is about placing a political ideology, about placing politicians in the room when doctors and patients are discussing health-care options. That is unacceptable.

The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association said it would file a separate lawsuit to block the new regulations, and other Democratic-led states are expected to file legal challenges, Ferguson said.

Planned Parenthood said the new requirements for physical separation of facilities would be costly and all but impossible to fulfill. Planned Parenthood said the administration is making another attempt to drive it out of business, after efforts to deny funding failed in Congress.

Title X, a 1970 law designed to increase the availability of family-planning services, provided care to more than 91,000 patients in Washington in 2017, according to Fergusons office.

Nearly 90 percent of those patients receive care at Washington Planned Parenthood clinics, which would lose more than $3 million in federal funding under the new rule. If the rule goes into effect, the number of Washington counties without any Title X-funded clinic would jump from five to 21, Ferguson said.

Politicians have no business telling me what I can talk to my patients about, said Dr. Erin Berry, state medical director for Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands. I cannot imagine withholding information from my patients.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, lauded the Trump administration for the increased restrictions.

The rule does not cut family-planning funding by a single dime and instead directs tax dollars to entities that provide health care to women but do not perform abortions, Dannenfelser said.

The Reagan administration imposed a similar, but stricter, rule in 1988, which would have blocked funding to any organization that even provided counseling about abortions. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled that those restrictions were permissible. But the case wasnt decided until near the end of President George H.W. Bushs term, Bush never implemented the regulations, and President Bill Clinton withdrew the rule.

Fergusons office said the Affordable Care Act and another law, both passed since that dispute, have changed the scenario. One of those laws requires that pregnancy counseling using Title X funds shall be nondirective.

In other words, providers must neutrally present all options, Ferguson said. Thats what the law says.
Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Rain early with thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. High 84F. Winds ENE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms in the evening, then variable clouds overnight with more showers at times. Low around 75F. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
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This could be Donald Trumps week from hell.

The conservative Wall Street Journal is reporting this morning that it has obtained exclusive information concerning this weeks planned testimony from former Donald Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen. According to the Journal:

The Presidents ex-lawyer will tell House committees he witnessed Trumps lies, racism and cheating, as well as the presidents role in criminal hush-money payments, says a person familiar with his plans.

Cohens explosive testimony will be the first time the Trump confidant has publicly accused the president of committing crimes while president.

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The crimes will relate directly to the criminal scheme that Trump concocted whereby he paid a large sum of money to former porn star Stormy Daniels in order to buy her silence about their alleged sexual encounters. These encounters took place while Trump was married to his current wife Melania, and after their son Barron was born.

The Journal also is reporting that the former Trump Organization attorney will reveal to the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday some of the presidents private financial statements. Also, he will accuse Trump of manipulating the value of his net worth for business and personal reasons, such as avoiding taxes on his property.

The financial statements were created by the presidents accountant, and Cohen is expected to testify that he has personal knowledge of lies, fraud and cheating by Trump on business deals. As the presidents attorney and fixer, and also as attorney for Trumps business, Cohen was at the center of all Trump transactions for more than a decade. Thus he has personal knowledge of transactions and reportedly also has documents and recordings to back up his verbal testimony.

If Cohen provides enough evidence to prove that Donald Trump has committed felonies while an occupant of the Oval Office it will put more pressure on the Democratic House to move forward on investigations that could lead to the initiation of impeachment proceedings.

Cohen also will describe racist remarks Trump made to him, such as questioning the intelligence of black Americans and criticizing their lifestyles, according to the Journals reporting.

Cohen pleaded guilty in August to eight federal crimes, including tax evasion and making false statements to a bank, and in November to one count of lying to Congress.
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By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters)  A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday rejected a challenge brought by an associate of Roger Stone, the indicted long-time advisor to President Donald Trump, to the legality of the Justice Departments 2017 appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

In doing so, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a lower courts decision to hold Andrew Miller in contempt for refusing to comply with a grand jury subpoena that was served on him by Mueller, who is investigating potential conspiracy between Trumps 2016 campaign and Russia.

The court concluded that Muellers appointment by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Departments No. 2 official, was lawful under the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution that lays out presidential powers on appointing certain public officials.

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Millers lawyer had argued that the appointment was unlawful because Mueller was not named by the president and approved by the U.S. Senate. That argument depended on Mueller being viewed as what is known as a principal officer who must be confirmed by the Senate.

The appeals court agreed with the Justice Department that Mueller is an inferior officer, a lower-level official who is under the direction of Rosenstein like other government lawyers.

Stone, a self-proclaimed dirty trickster and Republican political operative for decades, pleaded not guilty on Jan. 29 to lying to Congress, obstructing an official proceeding and witness tampering, charges brought by Muellers team.

The Mueller probe into Russias role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign threatens Trumps presidency.

Russia has denied it interfered in the election. Trump and Moscow also have denied collusion. Trump has called the Mueller probe a witch hunt.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)
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By Nathan Layne and Ginger Gibson

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters)  President Donald Trumps former personal attorney Michael Cohen plans to tell U.S. lawmakers this week that Trump asked him several times about a proposed skyscraper project in Moscow long after he secured the Republican presidential nomination, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Cohens assertion that Trump was inquiring about the project as late as June 2016, if true, would show Trump remained personally interested in a business venture in Russia well into his candidacy. Cohen, scheduled to report to prison in May, has already said he briefed Trump on the project in June 2016.

As Special Counsel Robert Mueller nears the end of a 21-month probe into whether the Kremlin meddled in the 2016 presidential election in collusion with Trumps campaign, Cohen was set to offer lawmakers new information about the presidents private affairs over three consecutive days starting on Tuesday.

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Russia denies interfering in the 2016 election and Trump has denied any collusion took place between his campaign and Moscow.

On Wednesday, in a public session before the House Oversight Committee, Cohen also intends to give lawmakers granular details about Trumps hush-money payments to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels, and information about a money trail after Trump became president, said the source, who asked not to be identified.

In addition, Cohen will offer new information on Trumps financial statements that have never been produced before relating to how Trump represented the values of his assets in financial transactions and other matters, said the source.

Cohen pleaded guilty last year to criminal charges including tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance violations. In December, he was sentenced to three years in prison for crimes including orchestrating hush-money payments to women in violation of campaign laws before the 2016 election. He is scheduled to begin serving his prison sentence on May 6.

His in-depth discussions on Tuesday and Thursday with the intelligence committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives will be behind closed doors. The Tuesday session in the Senate will focus mainly on what Cohen knows about Trump and associates dealings with Russia, as well as about Cohens previous lying to Congress, said two congressional sources.

Cohen once said he would take a bullet for Trump, but he has since turned against his former boss. When Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, he implicated the president, who afterward called him a rat on Twitter.

In the only public session of the three this week, House Oversight Committee Democrats said they planned to question Cohen about Trumps personal finances, including the payments to women, as well as alleged efforts by Trump and his lawyers to intimidate Cohen to try to keep him from testifying.

On Nov. 29, Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress by telling lawmakers in 2017 that all efforts relating to the Moscow project had ceased by January 2016. In fact, Cohen said, those efforts continued until June 2016.

Cohen paid $130,000 weeks before the 2016 election to Daniels, who said she had an affair with Trump. When Cohen pleaded guilty to breaking campaign finance laws for that, he said he made the payment at Trumps direction.

Led by Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings, the Oversight Committee plans to limit its questioning of Cohen.

The panel said in a statement it would steer clear of the House Intelligence Committees inquiry into efforts by Russia and other foreign entities to influence the U.S. political process during and since the 2016 U.S. election, and the counterintelligence threat arising from any links or coordination between U.S. persons and the Russian government.

That will put off-limits for Cummings committee questions about any financial or other compromise or leverage foreign actors may possess over Donald Trump, his family, his business interests, or his associates, the committee said.

Cummings panel will focus on Trumps debts and payments relating to efforts to influence the 2016 election, as well as his compliance with financial disclosure, campaign finance and tax laws, it said.

Possible conflicts of interest faced by Trump, including at his Trump International Hotel in Washington, will be targets for the Cummings panel, as will the Trump Foundation and efforts by the president and his attorney to intimidate Mr. Cohen or others not to testify, the committee said.

(Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney)
Posted Tuesday, February 26, 2019 10:04 am

The Pacific Mountain Workforce Development Council pledged more than $25,000 Monday as part of ongoing efforts to provide conservation experience and job training to students in East Lewis County.

The funding was split between the Discovery Team, a summer work program for White Pass School District students in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, and Pinchot Partners, a group working to provide similar opportunities.

In our area, work is really scarce for kids, said White Pass High School principal Chris Schumaker. The ability to go and have a job and get those skill-sets and establish those professional relationships  this gives our kids a good community and good opportunities to be supported and take chances and benefit from those chances.

Last summer, the Discovery Team program put 28 students to work in the national forest for five weeks, taking on a variety of projects. The program has run for 15 years now, and has been touted by many stakeholders as a local success story  getting kids a summer job in a place where work is limited, as well as helping the Forest Service accomplish tasks it cant get to with its own crews.

It could be recreation work at the campgrounds, weve shoveled silt, weve done bridges, weve done trail work, weve cleaned up culverts so the roads arent washed away, said program coordinator Debbie Layman.

Students submit resumes and show up for formal interviews as part of the application process, preparing them to enter the workforce.

PacMtn awarded the Discovery Team with $3,000 in funding as part of its High Impact Community Grant Program. Another $22,000 was given to the Pinchot Partners, which partners with Discovery Team and other organizations with similar aims. Those connections allow the Partners to bolster the work of the Discovery Team, while providing other opportunities for students.

The Cascade Forest Conservancy provides the summer fieldwork plan that has all sorts of monitoring, said Pinchot Partners executive director Jess Martin. The kids get to go out with iPads and all sorts of tools to do streamwater health monitoring, plant monitoring and land surveying.

Some funds have been set aside for transportation assistance, allowing students without wheels to get to work. Martin said its possible the program will expand to Mossyrock and Onalaska, making it especially important that transportation needs are met.

With this added capacity, we might be able to expand the number of weeks, we might be able to expand the number of students, expand the number of projects, she said.

Martin added that the program is going to expand to students at Centralia College East, and Pinchot Partner board members have offered job shadowing and field trip opportunities at the industries where they work.

The government shutdown earlier this year halted much of Pinchot Partners planning work with the Forest Service, so its still working out how it will structure its programming this summer. But it has goodwill agreements with all its partners, and with the PacMtn grant in hand, its on track to put everything in place.

These are the kinds of opportunities that can really shape a young person, who perhaps has an interest in their science classes but doesnt know how thats going to translate into a future career, Martin said.

County commissioner Gary Stamper also had high praise for the programs.

Living up in East Lewis County and being there, youre not afforded the same luxuries as you are when you get to a more metropolitan area, he said. Those kids that work in that Discovery Team, theyre working in a laboratory. They work with apprenticeship programs. They get kids involved working with the Forest Service. Youve got the largest laboratory in the state of Washington right there at your fingertips. This is money well spent.
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One of the last gasp legal plays for Trump and his allies to close down the Mueller investigation has lost in court.

CNN reported:

Roger Stone associate Andrew Miller will have to testify to a grand jury in special counsel Robert Muellers investigation or will go to jail, a three-judge panel at the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday morning, in an endorsement of Muellers authority as a prosecutor.

The court agreed with a trial-level judges ruling that Miller should be held in contempt of court and jailed for refusing to testify under a grand jury subpoena from Mueller.

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The appeals court said that Mueller was legally appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as special counsel in May 2017. Mueller has conducted a grand jury investigation that is within his legal authority, the court wrote in its opinion.

Read the appeals court ruling:

Trump and His Pals Are Running Out Of Options

For all the talk of the Mueller investigation wrapping up, it is clear that the special counsel still has a lot of ground to cover. Trump and his friends are using every legal avenue that they can come up with to try to escape justice. There was nothing wrong with Muellers appointment, or the scope of his investigation.

Despite Trump howls of witch hunt on Twitter, there is no indication that Robert Mueller has gone beyond the scope of his investigation.

The walls are closing in, and the talk of Mueller being done with his investigation is increasingly sounding like wishful thinking from Trump and his associates.

Mueller got legal validation for his investigation, and in the process dealt a blow to the Trump claims that the probe is illegal.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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GOP Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is using his power as Senate Majority Leader play political games and to pressure 2020 Democratic candidates, according to an article this morning in the Los Angeles Times.

McConnell sets the agenda for the Senate, and instead of introducing legislation to solve the nations problems, he is planning to bring to the Senate floor bills that are exclusively designed to make Democratic senators uncomfortable.

As Democratic Senator Chris Murphy (Conn.) said, McConnell is just trying to screw with Democrats.

Sometimes it seems like every Democrat in the Senate is running for president. Thats not true, but almost one out of every five Democratic senators actually does have plans to seek the presidency. With so many of his colleagues in the opposition party eyeing the White House, McConnell has decided he should do what he can to make their lives difficult.

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For example, on Monday, McConnell forced the Senate to hold a vote on an anti-abortion bill that is very controversial. It has no chance of passing, but the vote required Democrats to take a public position on the bill, and McConnell hopes that will be used against them during the 2020 campaign.

In another high profile move, McConnell is planning a vote soon on a massive climate change plan called the Green New Deal. Again, the Majority Leader believes he will put Democratic presidential aspirants in an awkward position.

Most Democrats support stronger environmental protections and of course McConnell does not. So hes bringing up the bill to focus voters attention on what he views as one of the Democrats most extreme ideas. He is hoping to also highlight intra-party divisions between progressives and moderates.

These are just two of the votes that McConnell is expected to force this year on high-profile and politically polarizing issues, according to the Times. One of them will certainly be the Medicare for All bill, introduced by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. The issue of healthcare is not easy, and Sanders bill has pointed out that all Democrats do not agree on what to do.

When you have that high a number of U.S. senators who are in a Democratic primary for president, obviously you can cut a pretty wide swath through the field by simply forcing them to take a position on an issue, said Josh Holmes, McConnells former chief of staff and political adviser.

Democrats have a cynical view of McConnells motives.

McConnell is just trying to screw with Democrats, said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who has expressly said he wont seek the nomination in 2020.

Murphy and other Democratic lawmakers said the party is strategizing over how to handle the Green New Deal vote and the others like it. They hope to use the environmental vote to remind voters of the GOPs resistance to bringing up any climate change legislation, other than one McConnell knows will fail.

One option is for Democrats to vote present instead of in support or opposition, effectively neutering the vote. In 2017, when Republicans tried to force a vote on Sanders Medicare for All plan, nearly all the Democrats banded together to vote present instead of showing party divisions.

I think theres a lot of us talking about what to do on this, said Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), one of the Democrats who has announced his candidacy.

Other Democrats said they were eager to show their support for an idea that could differentiate the increasingly crowded Democratic primary field.

I dont know what [McConnells] intentions are exactly, said Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). But Im in favor of it, she said of the Green New Deal.

Mitch McConnell has proven to be a cynical leader of Republicans in the Senate. His antics over the next two years may backfire, however, since he may find out that the majority of American voters are in favor of the Democratic positions that he finds radical. In fact, it is possible that his miscalculations could actually help Democrats win back not just the White House, but control of the Senate as well.
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Senate Democrats need just one more vote to pass and send to Trumps desk a resolution that would kill his national emergency.

Senate Minority Leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor:



First, members of both parties know that there is no actual emergency at the border. Nearly 60 former national security advisors  Democrat and Republican, bipartisan, including former Secretaries of State and Defense, have written a statement saying there is no factual evidence of an emergency at the border. The president himself said, when announcing the state of emergency, that he didnt need to do this. An emergency, by definition, is something you need to do. Its an emergency. In the presidents own words, this is not a state of emergency. And if we let presidents  whomever they may be, Democrat or Republican  willy nilly because they want to get something done and just declare an emergency when its clear its been a long-term condition, a long-term issue  then this country is a different country.

And second  and it leads to my second point  members of both parties should be concerned about the president diverting money away from military construction projects in their districts. Again, President Trump doesnt like you for some reason. He says theres an emergency and takes money away from projects in your state that you have worked hard for. Thats no way to govern. But at the top of the list is this: its the Founding Fathers looking down upon this chamber and upon these United States of America set up an exquisite balance of power. They were worried about an overreaching executive. They knew what King George III was all about. And so they gave the Congress  they named the Congress, the House and Senate, Article I, not two, three or four  part of the government.

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Senate Democrats will soon have the votes that they need to kill Trumps emergency

Sahil Kapur is doing the whip count and it doesnt look good for Trump:

There appear to be 50 Senate votes to terminate Trump's emergency declaration. The resolution needs 51 to pass. If Trump vetoes, as he's threatened to do, it'll require 67 votes to override.https://t.co/OIawgA4lhW  Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) February 26, 2019

WHIP COUNT: On blocking Trump's emergency declaration to build a wall Democrats 

Collins 

Murkowski 

Tillis  Gardner 

Inhofe 

Toomey 

Blunt 

Romney 

Cruz 

Alexander 

Rubio 

Lee  McConnell 

Cornyn 

Graham 

Kennedy   Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) February 26, 2019

Senate Democrats need to pick up one more Republican vote to pass the resolution, but intrigue will be in how many more votes over 51 Senate Democrats will pick up. If they get near or above 60, we could see an honest to goodness veto override fight in the Senate.

Trump is going to veto the resolution, and then the real fight begins

After Trump vetoes the resolution, supporters will need 67 votes to override the presidential veto. The odds are long that so many Republicans will break with Trump, but this president is about to have a veto fight with a Senate that is controlled by his own party. Passage of the resolution is still vital because it will show the intent of the Senate to courts when Trumps emergency is legally challenged.

Buckle up, because things are about to get very interesting.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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A new report in POLITICO says that California Democratic Senator Kamala Harris has locked down California support for her 2020 presidential candidacy.

Next year the California primary will be one of the earliest in the nation, which is a change from prior years. It also has by far the largest number of available Democratic convention delegates. As a result, winning California  or at least doing very well there  is probably going to be the key for any Democrat who wants to win the 2020 nomination.

Harris made a show of force according to POLITICO, when on Tuesday she announced support of her candidacy from over a dozen important and powerful Democratic California statewide leaders and office holders.

Included in the Harris campaign announcement were support from:

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California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis,

Secretary of State Alex Padilla,

State Treasurer Fiona Ma,

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and

Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara.

Harris latest endorsements in California came just a few weeks after new Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he is backing Harris in her 2020 race for the White House.

Kounalakis, the former ambassador to Hungary in the Obama administration, and Californias first female lieutenant governor, said in a statement, Kamala paved the way for women, including myself, to run for elected office, and win. I couldnt be more enthusiastic for her presidency.

Secretary of State Padilla said Harris, has been out front on the issues that matter, including defending our right to vote, strengthening our nations security, and protecting immigrant communities. As president, she will uphold the American dream.

The crowd of new endorsements is just the latest in Harris aggressive efforts to dominate California, which is both the nations most populous state and the nations most Democratic state.

Her popularity has already been evidenced by the fact that she has previously won two state-wide races, and has a powerful political operation in the Golden State.

As POLITICO said, a mother lode of delegates are at stake on March 3 of next year in the Super Tuesday early primary.

California will have 495 delegates out of a total of 4,532 Democratic convention delegates next year, which is 11% one out of every nine delegates. A total of 2,267 delegates are needed to win the nomination. So if Harris were to win all California delegates that would be nearly one-fourth (22%) of what she will need to become the Democrats standard bearer in 2020.

Boosting her chances is the fact that Harris, the former state attorney general, is the only Californian in the 2020 White House race.

Political experts are saying that Harris early efforts to show her dominance in California will send a strong message to other Democrats in the crowded 2020 race about her strength in her home state.

Many commentators believe that as of right now Harris is one of the frontrunners for next years Democratic nomination. Last month we wrote that Harris could be Trumps worst nightmare in 2020.
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Rachel Maddows domination of Fox News continued in February as she bested Sean Hannity as was the #1 show on cable news.

According to Neilson ratings provided to PoliticusUSA by MSNBC, MSNBCs The Rachel Maddow Show was the #1 primetime cable news program in A25-54 for the 3rd straight month in February (including all specials), according to Nielsen. Maddow at 9pm averaged 549,000 viewers A25-54 (vs. FOX News 526,000 at 9pm and 538,000 at 8pm, and CNNs 363,000). In total viewers, Maddow was #1 at 9pm (including all specials), averaging 3.1M (vs. FOX News 3M and CNNs 1.3M).

In other MSNBC ratings news, The 11th Hour with Brian Williams was #1 in A25-54 and total viewers at 11pm, topping FOX News and CNN in both demographics for the 3rd month in a row. The 11th Hour averaged 327,000 viewers A25-54 (vs. FOX News 289,000 and CNNs 269,000), up +1% over February 2018 (vs. FOX News -23% and CNNs -11%). The 11th Hour averaged 1.8M total viewers (vs. FOX News 1.4M and CNNs 828,000), up +22% over February 2018 (vs. FOX News -9% and CNNs +5%). For the 3rd month in a row, Deadline: White House at 4pm was #1 in total viewers. Deadline: White House averaged 1.7M total viewers (vs. FOX News 1.55M and CNNs 946,000).

Rachel Maddow Has Pulled Ahead of Fox News

Fox News moved Sean Hannity to 9 PM to be their Maddow momentum killer because the entire Fox News brand is centered around being number one. While Hannity does run close to Maddow, he has not been able to give Fox News the number one show on cable news.

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Rachel Maddow has built her audience with her tireless and dogged coverage of the Russia investigation. The first twenty plus minutes of Maddows show is the closest thing that cable news has to nightly long-form storytelling.

Maddow delivers a compelling and informative show. Her program also serves as the antidote for the lies and poison that Trump injects into the nations discourse.

As Fox News sinks under the weight of Trump failure, The Rachel Maddow Show is soaring by giving the public the knowledge and information that they need.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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Wisconsins new Democratic governor issued an executive order on Monday to pull his states National Guard troops from the southern border because, despite the claims by Donald Trump, there is no so-called national emergency.

In a tweet, Gov. Tony Evers said there is not ample evidence to support the presidents contention of a national security crisis at our southwestern border.

Therefore, there is no justification for the ongoing presence of Wisconsin National Guard personnel at the border, he added.

There is simply not ample evidence to support the presidents contention of a national security crisis at our southwestern border. Therefore, there is no justification for the ongoing presence of Wisconsin National Guard personnel at the border. https://t.co/ggPNa10zWW  Governor Tony Evers (@GovEvers) February 25, 2019

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See the executive order here

According to The Hill, The troops were ordered to the border in June of last year by then-Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R). That came after President Trump in April ordered border states to send National Guard troops to the border for extra border security.

Walker, of course, was swept out of power in last years blue wave, losing to Evers by roughly 30,000 votes in a state Trump won in 2016.

More evidence that elections matter

What Mondays move by the new Democratic governor in Wisconsin further demonstrates is that elections really do matter.

With a Democrat now running the state, Wisconsins National Guard troops  112 to be exact  will no longer be used as political props on the southern border, a drain of resources that could be much more useful elsewhere.

As The Hill also noted on Monday, Wisconsin joins California and New Mexico, both of which have announced that they are pulling troops from the southern border this month.

While Republicans join Donald Trump in ginning up fear and phony crises to keep their base riled up, Democrats are governing responsibly.

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By Nathan Layne

(Reuters)  Special Counsel Robert Mueller is preparing to submit to U.S. Attorney General William Barr a report detailing his findings in the investigation into Russias role in the 2016 presidential election and any links to the Trump campaign.

Mueller has been looking since May 2017 into whether U.S. President Donald Trumps campaign conspired with Russia and whether Trump unlawfully sought to obstruct the probe. Mueller already has indicted or secured guilty pleas from 34 people, including six associates of Trump, as well as three Russian entities.

Here is a look at possible scenarios following the completion of Muellers report.

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REPORT FINDS TRUMP INVOLVED IN RUSSIA CONSPIRACY

Among those who already have pleaded guilty or have been convicted are: former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort; former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen; former national security advisor Michael Flynn; and former Trump campaign aides Richard Gates and George Papadopoulos. Others indicted include Trump adviser Roger Stone and Russian intelligence officers.

But the central question is whether Mueller will find that Trump himself played a role in a conspiracy with Moscow to boost his chances of winning the election or committed obstruction of justice to try to impede the Russia probe. Trump has denied collusion and obstruction.

If Muellers report reveals a willingness by Trump to collude with Russia or contains evidence of direct coordination involving the Republican president, such findings could be the starting gun for the Democratic-led House of Representatives to launch the impeachment process set out in the U.S. Constitution to remove a president from office.

Current Justice Department policy opposes bringing criminal charges against a sitting president.

Stones indictment points to instances in which people connected to the campaign communicated with him about Wikileaks, the website that released emails that U.S. officials have said Russians stole from Democrats to harm Trumps Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. For example, after a July 2016 release of emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee a senior Trump campaign official was directed to contact STONE about any additional releases by Wikileaks, the indictment stated. The sentences wording left open the possibility that Trump himself directed the campaign official.

Sam Nunberg, a former Trump aide and Republican political consultant, said any evidence that Trump was willing to work with Moscow, even without proof that he actually did that, might be enough for Democrats to draw up articles of impeachment.

Thats impeachable for the Democrats, Nunberg said.

The U.S. Constitution sets specific grounds for impeachment: treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors. If the House approves any articles of impeachment, the Senate then would hold a trial to determine whether to remove the president from office. The Senate is controlled by Trumps fellow Republicans. Only two presidents have been impeached in American history, and neither was removed.

There is also the issue of obstruction. Legal experts have pointed to Trumps firing of former FBI director James Comey while he was leading the Russia probe, Comeys allegation that Trump asked him to end the investigation of Flynn, and the presidents dangling a possible pardon to Manafort among other acts that may amount to obstruction of justice.

Barr, months before Trump named him as attorney general, last year wrote an unsolicited memo to the Justice Department arguing Mueller should not be permitted to investigate obstruction by the president.

NOBODY IN TRUMP CAMPAIGN IMPLICATED IN RUSSIA CONSPIRACY

Muellers cases against Manafort and Stone have come the closest to showing coordination between Trumps campaign and Russia. Manafort shared election polling data with his Russian associate Konstantin Kilimnik, who prosecutors have said is tied to Russian intelligence. Manafort attended a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York with other campaign officials with a Russian lawyer who promised dirt on Clinton. Mueller also found that Stone communicated with Wikileaks and the Russian hacker dubbed Guccifer 2.0.

But Muellers evidence made public to date falls short of demonstrating Trump and his campaign colluded with Russia. Collusion is a non-legal term often used to describe acts that in a criminal context in this investigation likely would translate to a charge of conspiracy against the United States.

If Muellers report goes no further, it could set back any Democratic effort to impeach Trump. But House Democrats could proceed with their own investigations that could cause Trump ongoing political damage heading into his 2020 re-election bid.

If nothing more comes out than what is public then I think Trump could claim victory, said Nelson Cunningham, a former federal prosecutor in New York and White House lawyer under Democratic President Bill Clinton.

REPORT IMPLICATES OTHERS IN CONSPIRACY BUT NOT TRUMP

Transcripts of closed court hearings this month indicated Mueller considers Manaforts alleged lies about his interactions with Kilimnik to be at the heart of the probe into possible collusion between Trumps campaign and Russia.

But that disclosure suggested Mueller was still trying to determine whether collusion occurred. In addition to sharing polling data, court filings show, Manafort and Kilimnik discussed a Ukrainian peace plan, a reference to Kremlin-friendly proposals to resolve the Ukraine conflict and end U.S. sanctions on Russia.

It is possible Muellers report will show that Manafort or others in Trumps orbit conspired with Russians but there was no credible evidence Trump himself was involved or aware. While politically damaging to Trump, such a finding may not be enough to trigger an impeachment effort, though it could fuel House committee investigations.

Its not enough to show the Russians used their people, said Robert Ray, who served as the second independent counsel in the 1990s Whitewater probe involving the Clintons business dealings, adding there would need to be proof that Trumps people actively colluded to the point that it violated the law.

I dont think it occurred, Ray said.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in New York; Additional reporting by David Morgan in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham)
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Donald Trumps national emergency declaration took another blow on Monday as Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina vowed to vote against it if and when it comes before the Senate.

In an op-ed in The Washington Post, the GOP senator wrote, Although Trump certainly has legitimate grievances over congressional Democrats obstruction of border-security funding, his national emergency declaration on Feb. 15 was not the right answer.

More from Tillis editorial:

It is my responsibility to be a steward of the Article I branch, to preserve the separation of powers and to curb the kind of executive overreach that Congress has allowed to fester for the better part of the past century. I stood by that principle during the Obama administration, and I stand by it now. Conservatives rightfully cried foul when President Barack Obama used executive action to completely bypass Congress and unilaterally provide deferred action to undocumented adults who had knowingly violated the nations immigration laws. Some prominent Republicans went so far as to proclaim that Obama was acting more like an emperor or king than a president. There is no intellectual honesty in now turning around and arguing that theres an imaginary asterisk attached to executive overreach  that its acceptable for my party but not thy party.  These are the reasons I would vote in favor of the resolution disapproving of the presidents national-emergency declaration, if and when it comes before the Senate.

Trumps emergency is headed for defeat

With Tillis announcing he will side with the Democrats, Donald Trumps fake national emergency is inching toward defeat in the U.S. Senate.

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As I wrote last week, GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she would vote to block Trumps fake emergency if it came to a clean vote in the Senate.

The Hill also reported on Monday that Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is likely to side with Democrats in blocking the presidents declaration.

If all 47 Democrats vote for the resolution they would need to flip four Republican senators in order for the resolution to pass the Senate, the report noted.

Right now, at least three Republican senators appear ready to block Trumps phony national emergency. More have publicly announced concern over the move.

Trumps emergency is already headed toward defeat in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives. As more Republicans come out against the declaration, it looks like the GOP-controlled Senate will follow suit.

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MSNBC host Katy Tur didnt hold back on Monday as she called Donald Trump dumb for not understanding how climate change works.

During a discussion about Republican inaction on the environment, the MSNBC host pointed out how Trump takes pride in his ignorance on the issue  and how the GOP is following right along.

Tur cited a Twitter post from last month in which the president whined about negative wind chills in the midwest and said about global warming, Please come back fast, we need you!

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

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Its a dumb tweet, Tur said. Im just going to say it. Its one of the dumbest tweets hes probably sent out.

Video:

Katy Tur cant believe how stupid Donald Trump is when it comes to climate change. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/WhHFYUS7qe  PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) February 26, 2019

Trumps climate change ignorance is astonishing and dangerous

Donald Trump has been pushing nonsense about climate change for years. His entire belief system when it comes to the environment is rooted in ignorance.

He has repeatedly responded to cold weather  also known as winter  by wishing for more global warming.

In the East, it could be the COLDEST New Years Eve on record. Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against. Bundle up!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2017

In an infamous 2012 tweet, Trump floated the idea that climate change was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.

The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012

While these crackpot theories may have been easy to dismiss back then when Trump was the Twitter version of a drunk man sitting alone at the end of a bar, they shouldnt be taken lightly now.

Trump is no longer just a game show host looking for attention and ratings. Hes the president of the United States. His conspiracy theories are used to create actual policy.

Climate change is a big enough threat on its own, but Donald Trumps ignorance  his proud stupidity  is making it much more dangerous.

The future of the planet is too important to be mincing words.

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Former CIA director John Brennan warned on Monday night that Donald Trumps national emergency declaration is a threat to American democracy.

In an interview with MSNBCs Rachel Maddow, Brennan said, It sets a very dangerous precedent. We dont know what Mr. Trump might decide next week or next month is going to be a national emergency.

Video:

Former CIA director John Brennan says there is no factual basis for Trumps national emergency. #ctl #p2 #maddow pic.twitter.com/H9lbJTpjwv  PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) February 26, 2019

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Brennan said:

Even the Trump administrations own statistics and assessments do not support his claim. So we decided that we were going to speak together in unison, several dozens of us that are going to take issue with it. Number two, its a clear circumvention of the Congresss budgetary authority. He went to Congress, tried to get the money for his wall, was denied it. And so this is undermining the checks and balances system that we have within our government. It is Congresss purview, its responsibility to appropriate funds. And for him to take moneys that have been appropriated for other causes and uses for his border wall is wrong in our view. And third, it sets a very dangerous precedent. We dont know what Mr. Trump might decide next week or next month is going to be a national emergency. So there has to be a foundation to do something as significant as this, and the previous declarations were solidly grounded in fact and thats why individuals who worked for both Republican and Democratic administrations decided that they were going to speak out and they were going to call the lie a lie.

Dozens of former national security officials are speaking out

Former CIA director is a frequent Trump critic, but he isnt the only national security veteran speaking out against the presidents fake emergency.

On Monday, a group of 58 former officials, including Brennan, released a joint letter opposing Trumps declaration, saying there is no factual basis for it and it only further eroded [Trumps] credibility with foreign leaders, both friend and foe.

Should a genuine foreign crisis erupt, this lack of credibility will materially weaken this administrations ability to marshal allies to support the United States, and will embolden adversaries to oppose us, the former officials wrote in the 13-page document.

With a resolution blocking Trumps emergency declaration gaining bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate, the president appears to be alone in his belief that concocting a fake national emergency to build a vanity wall on the southern border is an appropriate use of his authority.

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Posted Tuesday, February 26, 2019 10:00 am

The Southwest Washington Dance Center will host the 27th annual Dance Festival Northwest at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 23, at Centralia Colleges Corbet Theatre.

Dance Festival Northwest brings dance companies from around the Pacific Northwest to the Twin Cities. The dancers attend master dance classes together as a group and then each individual company performs dance pieces that they have prepared. Dance forms will include contemporary and classical ballet on pointe, modern/contemporary dance, ballroom, hip hop and jazz.

The host company, under the direction of Danielle Brosco, is Southwest Washington Dance Ensemble, Chehalis.

Guest performer is the Ela Fala Collective, Portland.

Visiting companies this year include Ballet Northwest, Olympia; Evergreen City Ballet, Renton; Harbor Dance Ballet Company, Gig Harbor; Johansen Olympia Dance Center, Olympia; Olympic Ballroom Dance, Olympia; Rennat Choreography, Chehalis; Seattle Civic Dance Theatre, Seattle; and Studio West Dance Academy and Dance Theatre, Olympia.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for seniors (62-plus), students, military and children. Tickets are available online at www.swwdance.org; Book n Brush, Chehalis; Southwest Washington Dance Center, 437 N. Market Blvd., Chehalis; and at the door.

Call the Dance Center, 360-748-4789, to reserve seats for those who have mobility challenges.

For more information, call the Dance Center.
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Newly announced Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders suggested on Monday that Donald Trump should be attached to a lie detector during the 2020 presidential debates.

The tongue-in-cheek proposal came when Sanders was asked how he would engage with the president if he was on the debate stage with him next year.

Well bring a lie detector along and every time he lies it goes beep, the Vermont senator said.

Video:

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Well bring a lie detector along and every time he lies it goes beep.' Sen. Bernie Sanders jokingly describes his strategy for engaging Pres. Trump if he faces him in a debate later in the campaign. #SandersTownHall https://t.co/xKLcUW0OgR pic.twitter.com/Ocd5k3VqOC  CNN (@CNN) February 26, 2019

Sanders tore into the president for his pathological lying:

Well bring a lie detector along and every time he lies it goes beep. That would be the first thing.  I have conservative friends. We all do. Theyre honest people. They believe what they believe. I believe what I believe. Thats called democracy. Thats a good thing. But I think the fraud that Trump is, the pathological liar that he is has to be exposed. So we are going to hold him accountable for what he said and what he did. He said he was going to provide health care to everybody, then he proposes to throw 32 million people off the health care that they have. He said Im a different type of Republican. Im not going to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. And he brings forward a budget that does just that. So I think holding him accountable would be a good start in that debate.

The Democratic nominee must hold Trump accountable for his lies

No matter who the Democratic nominee is in 2020, it will be a challenge to keep track of all the lies Trump will tell during the campaign, let alone holding him accountable for the lies and broken promises left over from the 2016 campaign.

As The Washington Post has reported in the past, Trump lies more than a dozen times per day. The frequency of those lies will likely intensify during the 2020 campaign as he tries to con enough voters into giving him a second term.

But thats all part of the Trump strategy  to muddy the waters so much that Democrats and the media arent sure which lie to chase.

Instead of taking the bait every time, Democrats would be smart to focus on the lies that matter most  the ones that were central to Trumps 2016 campaign and his presidency.

There is no Mexican-funded wall. Instead, Trump shut down the government in an effort to force American taxpayers to pay for the vanity project  all while denying pay for hundreds of thousands of federal workers.

Trump has not looked out for the forgotten men and women of the country, as he promised to do. Instead, he has gone after their health insurance while slashing taxes for the wealthy and proposing cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Trump has not drained the swamp. Instead, the level of corruption in the current government makes Watergate-era corruption look like childs play.

This is a president who essentially lies with every breath. In 2020, Democrats would be smart to hammer him for the ones that matter most.

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I literally sat there looking out at nothing saying to myself well, that was a fun career...

The camaraderie between slopestyle athletes is strong. But, the risks involved to get to the top are high

Swedish slopestyle sensation Max Fredriksson joins us for the latest episode of The HKT Podcast. Max shot to fame during the 2016 FMB World Tour series and secured a 3rd place finish at Red Bull Joyride, Whistler. He then went on to have a couple of seasons plagued with injuries and personal challenges. During this episode we discuss his early dedication to the sport and how other athletes like Martin Soderstrom have helped pave the way for Swedish slopestyle, we chat about overcoming career-threatening injuries, the mindset and physical capabilities it takes to compete at the highest level and much more...The HKT Podcast is available on iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud, Stitcher and Youtube or, head to our website for the entire back catalog.You can even shout at your smart home device and it'll do all the work for you!Don't forget to follow us on social media too, it's @thehktpodcast on everything.
Posted Tuesday, February 26, 2019 10:00 am

About 1,100 acres of waterfowl, deer, bear and elk habitat will be opened for hunting, bird watching and wildlife viewing near Grayland thanks to a recent land purchase by Ducks Unlimited and the State Department of Fish and Wildlife.

This (property) will be held and managed by WDFW as a new wildlife area with public access and use, said Gregory L. Green, Ducks Unlimited manager of conservation programs for the Pacific Northwest.

The purchase has been approved by the Fish and Wildlife commission and has not been finalized. The site is not currently open to public access.

The Fish and Wildlife Commission approved the purchase at its meeting Feb. 8 in Olympia.

This entire project has been in partnership with Ducks Unlimited, said Fish and Wildlife Region 6 wildlife manager Brian Calkins. In fact, it would not have been possible without them.

There are three different parcels shown on the purchase proposal map supplied by Fish and Wildlife; the largest is bordered on the north by State Route 105, and on the west by Twin Harbors State Park and State Route 105 south for about 2 miles. The north end of the purchase property is adjacent to the Elk River Unit of the Johns River Wildlife Area, a popular spot among birders and waterfowl hunters. The two smaller sections are located about two miles south of the larger parcel.

I would describe it as a very wet site, lots of wetlands, but there are also quite a few areas that were recently logged and replanted. There are some stands of older trees, but theyre pretty limited, said Calkins. Were really interested in the wetland part of this and making improvements to some of those wetlands, providing waterfowl hunting opportunities and maybe seeing if theres a way to benefit salmon and other anadromous species.

Anadromous is the term for fish species migrating upriver from the sea to spawn.

The property is not currently developed for access. It has some overgrown logging roads left over from the propertys previous owners, the timber company Anderson and Middleton, some of which may be passable by a vehicle, but preliminary plans call for walk-in access to the property.

We will most likely be managing public access from the perimeter of the property on a walk-in basis, said Calkins. Discussions about specific access and land modifications and improvements are ongoing.

The property will become part of the Olympic-Willapa Hills Wildlife Area, said Calkins, adding to its current size of more than 10,000 acres split into 23 units. The nearby Johns River Unit is a fairly well-developed part of this wildlife area, said Calkins.

As for what the new unit will be named, Calkins said the placeholder Grayland Unit appears to have stuck.

For lack of a better name we have been calling it the Grayland Unit, and nobody has proposed to change that, he said.

The process to make this purchase started last year with the intent of buying about 1,750 acres but the funding didnt come through. This years acquisition leaves about 600 acres or so of private land between the northern and southern property purchases approved by the Fish and Wildlife Commission Feb. 8. Calkins said Fish and Wildlife and Ducks Unlimited are in the process of purchasing the property in between the 2019 purchase parcels in the coming year.

We split the purchase into two phases, so this 1,100 acres more or less (approved this year) is the first phase that we currently have funds for, said Calkins. He said he is very optimistic the funds to complete phase 2 of the purchase will be approved through a grant application submitted to the State Recreation and Conservation Office.

That request has made its way through the process and is now in the Recreation and conservation Office capital budget request to the Legislature, said Calkins. If approved the purchase can move forward once the funds are released.

Funding

The property is appraised at a little more than $2 million.

Ducks Unlimited has secured $1.5 million in funding for the acquisition and due diligence costs from state and federal sources, said Green. Of this, $1 million from the US Fish & Wildlife Service National Coastal Wetland Conservation Conservation Grant Program. Those funds are administered by Washington State Department of Ecology.

The other $500,000 is from the Washington Coastal Restoration Initiative, said Green. These funds are administered by Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office. Additionally, Ducks Unlimited is providing in-kind matching funds and resources to coordinate negotiations and closing.

The state will manage the land; operations and maintenance costs are expected to be about $58,000 annually.
Posted Tuesday, February 26, 2019 9:34 am

Seventy-four years ago in the Philippine Islands, paratroopers of B Company 511th floated down on white parachutes to liberate 2,142 prisoners of war, not leaving a single person behind.

Napavine resident Robert A. Wheeler, now 86, was one of those rescued that day, in the Raid at Los Banos in Manila, the Philippine Islands on Feb. 23, 1945 along with his brother and parents by the United States 11th Airborne Division. Wheeler later learned that the day they were rescued was the same day they would have been executed.

I always think, If they hadnt come Id be dead. They had our graves dug. And I wouldnt have had two kids, nine grandkids and 12 great grandkids, Wheeler said.

In 2018 Wheeler published a memoir, A Childs Life  Interrupted by the Imperial Japanese Army, and dedicated it to the men who saved him and all the other internees at Los Banos. After 74 years, Wheeler is dedicated to making sure those involved in the raid are not forgotten.

In 1942, Wheelers father was arrested by Japanese soldiers while he was out on a walk. Eight months later, Wheeler, his brother and stepmother voluntarily joined his father, who had been kept at Santo Tomas University where Japanese soldiers created an internment camp. Over the next two and a half years, Wheeler and his family found ways to survive. During their time at Santo Tomas, their food and treatment was better than what they would later experience at Los Banos, Wheeler said. The camp received Red Cross care packages with canned food and milk, but Wheelers stepmother was frugal with the food they were given.

It wasnt long before Wheeler and his family were taken to a different internment camp at Los Banos where their food and treatment became worse. Its amazing whats edible, Wheeler said. I remember fried banana peels werent too bad. My mother didnt like the fried slugs.

Wheeler remembers scrounging for food with his brother in the camps kitchen. His brother, Albert, would pick up corn kernels on the kitchen floor until he had a full can and then their step mother would use the kernels to make cornbread.

On February 23, 1945, the Armys 11th Airborne Division came to rescue the internees at Los Banos. The biggest thing Wheeler remembers about the rescue is waking up in the morning and walking out of the barracks for roll call at 7 oclock. Wheeler said he could see the airplanes and the parachutes starting to fall. Then the gunfire began.

My crazy father was sitting on the back step making some rice mush, Wheeler said. So I grabbed a bowl of that because I was so hungry and I dove under the bed and I was eating the rice mush while the bullets were going through the walls.

Once the American soldiers were in the camp, Wheeler remembers the soldiers telling the internees to grab their belongings and to start moving. At one point, the soldiers began to set fire to the barracks to force the internees to hurry onto the Amtracs, Wheeler said.

They had a heck of a time getting us to move, Wheeler said. The worst were the nuns and the priests because they wanted to take all their stuff. A couple of British internees stopped a paratrooper and said, Would you like to stop and have a cup of tea with us?

From Los Banos, the liberated internees were taken to a rescue camp at New Bilibid Prison, the Philippine government penitentiary. The first thing he and Albert did at the rescue camp was get in line for food, Wheeler said. The camp served a light bean soup so as not to make the emaciated internees sick, but Wheeler and his brother didnt care.

We werent too bright. We went back for seconds and thirds. My brother and I were so sick that night, Wheeler laughed. We couldnt get it into our dumb heads that we didnt have to scrounge for food anymore.

After a 28-day voyage by ship, Wheeler and his family arrived on the coast of California near San Pedro Harbor. Wheelers stepmother is alive today and is now 103 years old. When Wheeler sent her a copy of his book, she called him when she finished reading it.

She said, Bobby, where did you learn to write that well? Thats the first compliment Ive gotten from her, Wheeler said.

In 2004, the History Channel released a documentary titled Rescue at Dawn: The Los Banos Raid. Wheeler was invited by the production team to be a part of the documentary and was flown out to the Philippines for eight days for filming.

Over the years, Wheeler has kept in touch with other people who were involved in the Los Banos raid, including the paratroopers that saved him. He has gone to reunions and belongs to an Ex-Prisoners of War Chapter in the San Francisco Bay area for those involved with Los Banos.

Can you imagine rescuing 2,142 men, women and children and getting them out safely, not losing one? Its a miracle, Wheeler said. Now you know why I dont want this raid to be forgotten.

Wheeler lives in Napavine with his wife, Jean, where they spend time with their kids and grandchildren. A Childs Life is currently sold at Book n Brush, the Veterans Memorial Museum and Ramblin Jacks Rib Eye.
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PIECING TOGETHER MUSEUM

Scott Mitchell, director of the Silver River Museum, shows some of the Florida artifacts that will be on display in the newly redesigned Black History Museum and Archives of Marion County in Ocala, Florida. Earlier this month, Mitchell held a piece of pearlware found on the Kinglsey Plantation slave cabins.  Doug Engle/Star-Banner via AP
When I walked into my Hawaii vacation rental, I collided with a wall of hot, humid air. Instinctively, I scanned the house for a thermostat or air conditioner. I found a small wall unit, but I couldnt plug it in. It had a lock on it. I called the owner, who said shed be happy to remove the lock  if I paid an extra $300.

Seriously? Seriously.

Apart from its cleaning fee and insurance, a vacation rental used to be one of the last all-inclusive travel deals. You could count on utilities, wireless Internet, cable TV, and other basic amenities being included.

Not anymore.

"There is nothing more maddening than when your expectations for your vacation are shattered just moments after you arrive," said Steve Schwab, CEO of Casago, a property management and vacation rental company in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Schwab and other industry experts said experiences like mine were becoming more common. Owners and managers are quietly instituting new fees to offset rising expenses or to meet increasing customer demands.

You can easily spot most of these fees before you book  and its worth a careful look. Otherwise, you could be on the hook for something like overpriced air-conditioning.

The vacation rental owner in Hawaii said she started locking the wall unit after a previous tenant ran the air-conditioning constantly, leaving her with a costly utility bill. I assured her we would run the AC only during the hottest hours of the day, but she wouldnt release the lock unless I paid the $300. I declined.

For the rest of our stay, we made plans to be out of the house during the early afternoon to escape the oppressive heat. It was a valuable lesson learned. Always  always  find out whether air-conditioning is included in the price of your rental.

When I checked the property description post online, there was no mention of the air-conditioning fee. I called the vacation rental site through which Id booked the house, and it quickly refunded $280, the full amount of its commission.

Kiedra Hinkle-Tyson, who co-owns vacation rentals in St. Louis and in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, explained the economics of vacation rentals. She said there was a surcharge for electricity use at both houses and three additional fees at her St. Louis house: for cleaning, for an extra person, and for general service.

We have additional fees because our vacation rental companies charge us fees, she said. Airbnb charges us 3 percent, and Booking.com charges us 15 percent. So, to offset some of these charges, we pass those charges on to the customer because they are the ones staying and enjoying the home.

Sam Zuo specializes in Airbnb arbitrage, an emerging business that takes advantage of cost differences between home rental and home sale markets. He manages more than 10 vacation rental properties, and he said fees were a big part of his business. Among his best sellers: early and late check-ins (at $25 an hour) and items from the minibar, which he stocks with wine.

Zuo said Airbnb had made it easier to add "resort" fees or "management" fees to reservations. "These are one-time fees that hosts can add to their listing for every new reservation," Zuo said.

In the early days of online vacation rentals, the sites charged modest booking fees. But lately, those charges have increased. Last year, for example, the popular vacation rental site HomeAway increased the subscription price that property owners pay to list on its platform by 25 percent, to $499 a year per listing. When I made my last booking on the HomeAway site, it also charged me a $300 "service fee."

Fees imposed by booking platforms arent the only costs cutting into owners profits. Daniela Andreevska, marketing director at Mashvisor, a real estate data analytics company, said many destinations had introduced new taxes on short-term rentals.

Frequently, vacation rental owners have to pay the same taxes as hotels, in addition to income tax on their rental income as well as other fees, she said. This is a new trend, as many local authorities are trying to regulate and control the short-term rentals business. Naturally, owners have to increase the nightly rates or add service fees to protect their profit.

Another factor: guests expectations. For example, some homes in the Hawaii neighborhood where I rented didnt have air-conditioning. As a visitor from the mainland, I expected it.

The industry really shouldnt be headed this way, said T.J. Clark, cofounder 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 said. 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.

Avoiding extra charges takes a little sleuthing. Thats because theres no standardized way of displaying rental amenities. You have to read every line of the property description, including details in light-gray I-cant-see-this-without-reading-glasses type.

The best way for renters to know about these fees is to ask, said Jim Prugh, owner of Lindsborg Vacation Rentals in Lindsborg, Kan. Sometimes, emailing the owner a simple question  Is everything included?  will clear up any misunderstandings.

Prugh pointed out that travelers could also avoid booking fees from Airbnb, HomeAway, and Booking.com by reserving a stay directly with an owner. I steer my guests, whenever possible, directly to my website, he said. Typically, that can save you several hundred dollars per rental, depending on the length of the stay, although you also lose having an intermediary help you should something go wrong.

Most important, though, is to read the contract before you agree to pay a deposit. It should describe everything you thought you read in the property description, including any special terms  or conditions about air-conditioning.

Christopher Elliott is a consumer advocate, journalist, and cofounder of the advocacy group Travelers United. Contact him at chris@elliott.org.
Posted Monday, February 25, 2019 3:56 pm

For opiate-addicted offenders, getting out of jail does not mean their problems are over. Withdrawals can cause serious medical issues  and increase the likelihood of relapse and reincarceration.

Currently, Lewis County provides medication to inmates to help fight those withdrawals  as its required to by law. But a new partnership  at no cost to the county  will now allow individuals to continue treatment even after theyre released.

This was a huge project for us at the jail, said Corrections Chief Chris Sweet. Were just trying to break the chains of addiction.  Its not only going to help them as theyre incarcerated, but hopefully its going to recover them once they get out of jail.

The program is part of a one-year demonstration project  or pilot program  with the Cascade Pacific Action Alliance. The CPAA is giving $80,000 of its Medicaid funding to the county in partnership with NaphCare, the provider that conducts medical service at the jail.

When inmates are taken to the jail, theyre given a clinical opiate assessment; many have overdosed or are high when theyre brought in. The county currently treats those need it. Now, though, inmates who test at a certain score can be offered the chance to enter a voluntary program, run by NaphCare and a local substance abuse counseling facility, that continues after their release.

Before this program, we were treating people, Sweet said. But once they get out of incarceration, we have really no involvement  Were now able to offer this program to them as a voluntary program to give them that assistance.

Officials are currently working to set the milestones and benchmarks that will determine the success of the demonstration project. The current funding allotment is only for one year, but Sweet said hes counting on the project proving a good investment for years to come. The funding will also allow NaphCare to provide an extra nurse at the jail, a recognition of the seriousness of withdrawals.

They will be prescribed medication within our facility to actually help them in the withdrawal process of coming down from the opiates, which we know is very dangerous, Sweet said. We have a lot of transport to our emergency room from our facility because we get people within our jail that actually have some serious health issues because theyre going through withdrawals. That money will also help pay for prescriptions to treat the individual and also an additional (nurse) thru NaphCare that has a special certification to actually counsel and be there to watch the inmate and show the inmate on how they can use medications.

Lewis County commissioner Edna Fund, who makes a point to attend Drug Court graduations, noted that taking care of people once theyre released leads to better outcomes.

If they have that transition, they have a better chance of being successful, she said.
Biotech firm Amicus Therapeutics plans to lease 75,000 square feet of offices and lab space at 3675 Market St., the first commercial building newly constructed as part of the uCity Square development in West Philadelphia.

The Global Research and Gene Therapy Center of Excellence, as Amicuss facility is to be known, is expected to open during the second half of this year and will eventually employ 200 workers, the nonprofit University City Science Center, a partner in the uCity Square project, said in a release Tuesday.

Cranberry, N.J.-based Amicus selected the University City location because of its proximity to the University of Pennsylvania and other nearby medical-research institutions with which it collaborates, the firms chairman and chief executive John F. Crowley said in the release.

The uCity Square project involves plans for 6.5 million square feet of retail, residential, office, and lab space on 27 acres of existing buildings and vacant land owned by developer Wexford Science & Technology LLC and the Science Center along and north of Market Street between 34th and 39th Streets.

The 14-story, 345,000-square-foot 3675 Market St. building opened late last year with tenants including tech incubator Cambridge Innovation Center. The Amicus offices, which will span three floors, will bring the towers occupancy to 90 percent, the Science Center said.

Amicus already has space in the buildings BioLabs@CIC shared lab space, a collaboration between Cambridge Innovation Center and shared-lab operator BioLabs, both based in Cambridge, Mass.
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Monday ordered the state's National Guard troops to withdraw from the border with Mexico, drawing the ire of a Republican congressman from Illinois who serves in the Wisconsin detachment.

Former Republican Gov. Scott Walker ordered troops to Arizona in June to assist with administrative duties along the border. Evers, a Democrat, issued an executive order Monday withdrawing them. Evers announced the order late Monday afternoon.

The governor said that about 112 troops are currently serving in Arizona but that keeping the borders safe and protecting immigrants seeking asylum is the U.S. Customs and Border Patrols job. Theres not enough evidence to support Republican President Donald Trumps declaration that a national emergency exists and theres no justification for Wisconsin troops to remain, he said.

I cannot support keeping our brave servicemen and -women away from their families without a clear need or purpose that would actively benefit the people of Wisconsin or our nation, Evers said.

Adam Kinzinger, a Republican congressman from Illinois, tweeted on Monday that he is a member of the Wisconsin National Guard and criticized Evers for his decision. In a series of tweets, he said he was sent to the border as a member of the Wisconsin National Guard and his crew caught a man crossing the border with 70 pounds of methamphetamine.

Wonder the damage that would do in Milwaukee  he tweeted.

He went on to say that he and his crew captured a few coyotes, who prey on desperate migrants, and he came across a woman alone in the desert and helped the Border Patrol rescue her.

He tweeted that stopping illegal immigration is an honorable mission and asked Evers whether his decision to withdraw was a political one. He also asked Evers to reconsider.

Kinzinger echoed those sentiments during an appearance on Fox News, criticizing Evers for not visiting the troops on the border. He accused the governor of lacking the courage to announce the withdrawal earlier in the day.

Evers spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff confirmed that Kinzinger is a member of the Wisconsin National Guard.

A Guard spokeswoman did not immediately respond to an email asking whether Kinzinger would face any military discipline for criticizing Evers, the state National Guards commander in chief.
President Donald Trump is doing everything he can to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, while others are doing everything they can to stop it from happening.

The House of Representatives voted Tuesday to overturn the national emergency Trump declared earlier this month in an effort to secure funding for barriers along the border.

Congress has never looked to reject a presidents national emergency declaration since the National Emergencies Act was passed in 1976, according to the Washington Post. Though, the legislative body isnt the only one in opposition.

Heres how Trumps national emergency declaration over the southern border is being challenged.

How and why is the national emergency declaration being challenged in Congress?

Declaring a national emergency gives a president wide-ranging and greatly enhanced powers," according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan public policy and law institute. Trump is most interested in greater control over armed forces and military construction projects, according to the center.

 READ MORE: National emergency: What is it, and why did Trump declare one over the border?

On Feb. 15, Trump signed a funding bill that prevented another government shutdown but did not fulfill his request for $5.7 billion that would go toward building 200 miles of wall along the border. By declaring a national emergency at the same time, he hoped to side-step the lengthy process it takes to get laws passed in Congress to get the financial resources needed.

House Democrats introduced a resolution Friday to block the national emergency. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the move a power grab by a disappointed President.

[President Trumps] unlawful declaration over a crisis that does not exist does great violence to our Constitution and makes America less safe, stealing from urgently needed defense funds for the security of our military and our nation, she said.

What happens next in the House and Senate?

As expected, the Democrat-controlled House passed the joint resolution Tuesday evening with a vote of 245-182. It now needs to be approved by the GOP-led Senate, where four Republican senators will need to cross party lines and vote in favor of stopping the declaration for it to pass. GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Thom Tillis of North Carolina were looking as likely yes votes, The Hill reported Tuesday.

Should the Senate also pass the measure terminating the national emergency, Trump could step in with a veto. Congress could then throw out the veto, but only with a two-thirds vote in both chambers, and not enough congressional Republicans appear to be leaning toward blocking the declaration to overrule a veto.

Rep. Joaquin Castro, the resolutions lead sponsor and a Democrat from Texas, said a veto would be mean an uphill battle, according to the Washington Post.

Were not going to give up," he said, according to the publication. "Were going to keep fighting. And Im hopeful.

Trump has been vocal about using his veto powers if needed, and historically, Congress has overridden fewer than 10 percent of presidential vetoes, according to the Senates website.

On Monday, Trump tweeted out a plea to Republicans against the emergency declaration.

I hope our great Republican Senators dont get led down the path of weak and ineffective Border Security, he wrote. Without strong Borders, we dont have a Country  and the voters are on board with us. Be strong and smart, dont fall into the Democrats trap of Open Borders and Crime!

How else is the emergency declaration being challenged?

The declaration is being challenge not just legislatively, but legally, too. Sixteen states, including New Jersey and Delaware, filed a lawsuit last week, alleging that the move was unconstitutional.

President Trump treats the rule of law with utter contempt, said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, according to the Associated Press. 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.

Pennsylvania is holding off from joining the until it becomes clear whether Trump plans to use money appropriated for projects in the state, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said.

I need to understand better where the money is coming from, whether or not its going to be taken from the people of Pennsylvania, the taxpayers, Shapiro said. I dont have that information yet. So when I go to court to defend the interests of Pennsylvanians, I want to have the strongest possible case.

 READ MORE: Should Pa. sue Trump over national emergency declaration? Democratic states are split."

Additional lawsuits have been filed by organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Biological Diversity.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Senate Democrats on Monday blocked a Republican bill that would have threatened prison for doctors who don't try saving the life of infants born alive during abortions. The measure seemed doomed from the start but offered the GOP a chance to appeal to conservative voters.

The vote was the latest instance in which Republicans have tried to go on offense on the issue and put Democratic abortion-rights lawmakers in an uncomfortable position. Supporters said the measure presented lawmakers with a simple, moral choice.

I want to ask each and every one of my colleagues whether or not were OK with infanticide, said the measures chief sponsor, Sen. Ben Sasse (R., Neb.).

Opponents, noting the rarity of such births and citing laws already making it a crime to kill newborn babies, said the bill was unnecessary. They said it is part of a push by abortion opponents to curb access to the procedure and intimidate doctors who perform it, and said late-term abortions generally occur when the infant is considered incapable of surviving after birth.

Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.), a leading Democrat on health issues, said the measure would force women to accept care that may directly conflict with your wishes at a deeply personal, often incredibly painful moment in your life  because politicians in Washington decided their beliefs mattered more than yours.

Senators voted 53-44 for Sasse's bill  seven votes short of the 60 needed to end Democratic delaying tactics aimed at derailing the measure.

Democratic Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Doug Jones of Alabama, and Joe Manchin from West Virginia were the only lawmakers to cross party lines as Democrats demonstrated anew that even in the minority, they can derail abortion-related bills.

Several dozen House Republicans, led by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) stood on the Senate floor during the vote, just as a contingent of House Democrats did last month during a crucial vote on ending the government shutdown. Republicans control the Senate by 53-47.

Only 1 percent of all abortions occur after 21 weeks of pregnancy, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights. Abortions during the final weeks are rarer still.

Doctors' and abortion-rights groups say it is extremely unusual for live infants to be born during attempted late-term abortions, which they say usually occur when the baby is extremely deformed or deemed unable to survive after birth. In such cases, families sometimes decide they want to induce labor so they can spend time with the infant before it dies.

It only happens in instances in which we know that the baby will not ultimately survive, and a choice has been premade to provide just comfort care to the baby so the parents can be with it, said Colleen McNicholas, a fellow with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

If an infant is born alive during an abortion, Sasse's bill would require doctors to render "the same degree" of care used for any birth. The baby would have to be immediately sent to a hospital.

Doctors who violate those requirements and other medical staffers who don't report violations could face fines and up to five years in prison. Doctors who intentionally kill a child born alive after an abortion would face prosecution under federal murder statutes  potentially a death penalty or life in prison.

Republicans in the Democratic-run House plan to try forcing a vote on a similar measure this spring. They will employ a seldom-used tactic, a petition requiring signatures from most House members to succeed. The GOP is expected to fall well short of the 20 Democratic supporters they'd need.

Republicans, eager to put congressional Democrats from swing states in an uneasy political spot, have been pouncing on the issue since it arose earlier this year in Virginia and New York.

Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a pediatric neurologist, spoke favorably in January about state legislation to ease restrictions on late-term abortions. He said "a discussion would ensue" between doctors and the family over what to do if an infant is born who is badly deformed or incapable of living. Northam has since faced pressure to resign over a racist photo that appeared in his 1984 medical school yearbook.

President Donald Trump has criticized a new abortion law in New York that permits abortions of a viable fetus after 24 weeks of pregnancy if the mothers life is in danger  codifying conditions specified by U.S. Supreme Court rulings.
Christin Phillips received an unwelcome piece of mail this spring: the city's latest assessment on her Bella Vista rowhouse.

It suggested that her home's value was about $130,000 above the nearly identical house next door, and that her tax bill next year would top $9,000  more than double what she paid this year.

But the city, it turns out, had incorrect information: Her house, blocks from the Italian Market, was listed as a duplex but is actually a single-family residence.

Errors are inevitable in mass appraisals involving hundreds of thousands of properties. But an Inquirer and Daily News analysis of recent assessment data and sales prices found that assessment inaccuracy remains a stubborn problem in Philadelphia.

More than a dozen neighborhoods  including Hunting Park, Southwest Philadelphia, and Fairhill  are overvalued, according to the newspapers' review. Others  University City, Point Breeze, and Center City  are getting relative tax breaks.

More than 35 percent of homes  totaling more than 165,000  are overassessed, the analysis found, meaning those homeowners are paying more than they should in property taxes and essentially subsidizing others across the city. Lower-priced properties on average tend to be overassessed, while owners of higher-priced properties may be paying too little in taxes.

Philadelphia assessment officials disagreed with the Inquirer and Daily News analysis and said they stand by their calculations.

But the latest revaluation appears to echo a long-standing problem. The newspapers' findings were similar to what an expert commissioned by the city controller found in 2013, and to a property analysis decades earlier by the Reinvestment Fund, a Philadelphia nonprofit that works to help low-income communities with affordable housing and other issues.

"It is a persistent pattern," said Ira Goldstein, who conducted that study and is the fund's president of policy solutions. "A model that produces these kind of biased results is a problematic model."

Confusion and inaccuracy surrounding Philadelphia's assessments are exacerbated by the fact that the reassessments are not only about fairness; they also increase tax revenue  a major source of the billions of dollars the city spends each year.

Elsewhere in Pennsylvania, reassessments are "revenue neutral" and are aimed at equalizing tax burdens. In Philadelphia, tax rates are not adjusted when assessments increase. The city's 2019 assessments included a 10.5 percent increase in the median value of a single-family home.

Rob Dubow, the city's finance director, defended the practice of increasing revenue alongside assessments and said that any reassessment  revenue-neutral or not  angers some residents.

"The mere fact of getting it accurate and getting it more accurate every year means that there are properties whose values are going to change," he said. "So there are always going to be people who are unhappy with paying."

Phillips, the Bella Vista homeowner, said she is all for additional tax money to fund Philadelphia's schools.

As a commercial appraiser, she understood the source of the city's error for her property. Assessors mistook her house for a duplex  which would have made it more valuable, and which it was when she bought it in 2016. She converted it into a single-family residence.

Officials have visited her property, and an appeal she filed on the assessment is pending. But other homeowners have asked Phillips to use her expertise to review their new 2019 assessments, and she said she has struggled to make sense of the city's methodology.

"It's not transparent at all, and that's a problem," she said. "That's a very big problem because no one understands it."

How does it work?

An "assessment" is the percentage of a property's value that is subject to taxation. Philadelphia assesses properties at 100 percent of market value, meaning that homeowners should pay taxes on the amount for which they could sell their home in a traditional, arm's-length transaction. Assessment officials said that the increases in the 2019 assessments of residential properties resulted from the strength of the city's booming real estate market.

But City Council members were not happy. Citing outrage from residents who will face sizable tax hikes due to those new values, Council rejected Mayor Kenney's proposed 4.1 percent property-tax increase and retained a Massachusetts firm to audit the city's assessment methods. The firm, J.F. Ryan Associates, is expected to deliver its findings in September.

>>SPECIAL REPORT: Which properties had their assessments increased or decreased from 2018? Examine our database of Philadelphia 2019 Property Assessments

Council president Darrell L. Clarke said he hoped that the audit would lead to changes.

"There clearly is some concern," Clarke said after being told about the Inquirer and Daily News analysis. "If we're going to impose additional taxes or not impose additional taxes, it should be done based on accurate information, and we've been saying that for quite some time."

Officials have said that the city's assessment office was cooperating with auditors.

"We are confident in our assessments, and confident that this audit process will alleviate the concerns of Council members and residents," said Jim Engler, who takes over Saturday as Kenney's chief of staff.

What did the Inquirer and Daily News find?

Beyond homeowners' shock at 2019 assessment increases, the analysis of recent sales and property data found that more than 165,000 Philadelphia homes are overassessed and about 133,000 are undervalued. An additional 161,000 single-family homes, or a little more than a third of all within the city, are assessed at or within 10 percent of their true market value.

To analyze Philadelphia's assessments, the Inquirer and Daily News compared the city's assigned market values to the recent sales prices of nearly 23,000 properties that sold in 2017. Using state standards, the analysis removed outliers that likely were not arm's-length sales  such as transactions for small amounts between family members.

The newspapers used a map of 55 neighborhoods to sort sales geographically. Although it splits the city into well-known neighborhoods, the city's assessment officials said they instead use smaller areas defined by trends in sales data.

The Inquirer and Daily News found that homes that sold for between $25,000 and $50,000 are valued 70 percent higher than they should be, based on the median ratios of assessments to sales prices. That would inflate the tax bill for a $37,500 home  the middle of that range  by about $360 annually.

By contrast, owners of more expensive properties were getting breaks, the analysis found. Homes that sold for between $1 million and $2 million have assessments that are nearly 11 percent below their actual value and tax bills about $2,000 less than they should be.

Some, like Adam Moffitt, have experienced both ends of the spectrum. He bought a West Mount Airy rowhouse last year for $107,000, city records show.

His assessment at that time was $83,700  much lower than the sales price and therefore likely underassessed. But the new assessment he received this year would increase his tax bill by 48 percent, to about $1,700  without taking into account a homestead exemption that reduces his bill.

His assessment is now $17,000 more than he paid for the home, according to property records, and the city increased the value of every home on the block to at least the same as Moffitt's.

Philadelphia's new assessments this year appear to be even more off the mark than those of its surrounding counties  which have not reassessed in decades. Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware Counties each have a lower percentage of overassessed properties compared with Philadelphia, according to an Inquirer and Daily News analysis of 2017 sales.

But whether properties are over- or underassessed, inequities violate the state constitution's uniformity clause, which requires that assessments are the same on all types of properties throughout a county.

There is a state board that tracks property assessments and attempts to monitor its fairness. It issues annual reports based on sales and assessments in each county, but has no enforcement power, cannot order counties to reassess, and does not check whether self-reported county data is accurate. Its analysis of 2017 sales found that Philadelphia is doing well, on average, of assessing properties at their market values.

The Philadelphia Office of Property Assessments said its own internal analysis had found no statistical evidence that sales price range would affect over- or underassessment. It said that the Inquirer and Daily News didn't remove enough outliers, and that the city's analysis, based on a much smaller portion of sales and calculated with different methods using a different time period of sales, is more accurate.

Dubow, city finance director, said that although assessments could always be improved, the city's system was not broken.

"But if your question is how can it get better, every year they're doing everything they can do to improve it," he said.

Assessment officials said the highest- and lowest-priced properties are typically the hardest to value. Buyers of low-end properties, they said, often pay cash and are looking to flip properties, which can throw off sales prices and property data. Differences in luxury amenities of high-end properties, meanwhile, can cause sales prices to vary widely, city officials said.

It is impossible to perfectly assess every property, said Robert P. Strauss, a professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University.

But Strauss said the Inquirer and Daily News findings were similar to the analysis he completed for then-controller Alan Butkovitz when the city scrapped its old system four years ago.

"It's a game of cat and mouse, if you will, to get the right data and keep it current," he said.

Strauss has examined the amounts that Pennsylvania counties spend to keep their assessments updated. In most cases, he said, it's not nearly enough. Correcting the data to fix inequities can also come at a political cost.

"If they spend enough money and make everything fair, the people whose assessments will go down relatively will never complain but the people whose assessments will go up will complain very bitterly, and they'll complain noisily," Strauss said. But he pointed out a notable exception to that principle: "Low-income communities are less likely to bite politically than high-income communities in a big city."

What is actual value?

The assessments and the ensuing tax bills have been a source of controversy for decades. A 2008 analysis by the Inquirer found city properties were assessed at a fraction of their market value and were off by an average of 39 percent.

Aimed at doing away with an unfair system that was difficult for property owners to understand, Philadelphia's Actual Value Initiative (AVI) went into effect in 2014.

Under AVI, the city aims to keep assessments at 100 percent of market value. The Office of Property Assessment said it had updated all residential properties twice since the initial update under AVI.

"We've seen remarkable improvement with every project," said Kevin Keene, the city's director of mass appraisal.

Joseph Bright, a Philadelphia lawyer who specializes in taxation, said he saw progress. "Generally speaking," he said, "I think the city is doing a much better job of keeping up with real market value than they have in the past."

But the patterns found in the most recent Inquirer and Daily News analysis have persisted since AVI was implemented, according to reviews of sales and property data from prior years.

And after hearing from residents who experienced large increases this year, City Council members have expressed doubts about the system.

"They assured us that after this initial [AVI] assessment  that the most assessments would go up in any one year would be from 3 to 5 percent," said Councilman Mark Squilla. "They still don't have this down. We need to throw some protections in place to make sure that our constituents and our residents know we have their back."

What can residents do about their assessments?

Moffitt, the West Mount Airy owner, is now one of hundreds of homeowners who have already filed 2019 appeals to the Board of Revision of Taxes (BRT) ahead of its Oct. 1 deadline.

Property owners who disagree with an assessment can contest it  but the system can be confusing and it can take a long time to resolve appeals.

First, residents can file a first-level review application to the Office of Property Assessment. This year, the city said it received more than 20,000 such applications. More than 5,000 have been processed so far, and 1,570 have resulted in changes to assessments and tax bills.

Property owners can also appeal to the BRT, as Moffitt did. One path to a successful appeal, according to the BRT, is to prove "the estimated market value of the property is not uniform with similar surrounding properties."

Although homeowners can compare their assessments with nearby neighbors', that advice is incomplete.

Assessment percentages should be uniform at all value ranges throughout a given county  in this case, Philadelphia  not just the neighborhood. A three-story rowhouse in South Philadelphia that sells for $200,000 should have the same assessment as a two-story detached home in Mount Airy that sells for the same price.

The style and location aren't relevant  what matters is the value. The city's online records do not give property owners the ability to search by sales price or assessment amount, so homeowners can't compare the tax bills of others whose properties should be valued the same.

City officials said neighborhood was simply the best indicator of market value. But a lack of transparency and information can put taxpayers at a disadvantage, Strauss, the Carnegie Mellon professor, said  tantamount to a policy of " 'Don't ask, don't say. And everything's fine.' "

What might come next for assessments?

Although Philadelphia has reassessed frequently, other counties have allowed decades to pass between mass appraisals because they are costly, unpopular, and political minefields.

Delaware County is currently reassessing, but only because a judge ordered it. In that sense, Bright, the lawyer, said Philadelphia was simply doing the right thing. "Every county," he said, "  should do it."

In Philadelphia, frequent reassessments also remain a moneymaker for the city.

City Councilman Allan Domb said he thought the city should look first at cutting spending and making government more efficient instead of raising taxes  and, in the future, should consider a revenue-neutral system.

"Otherwise," he said, "it's a backdoor way of collecting taxes."

Staff writers Meghan Bobrowsky and Michele Tranquilli contributed to this article.
For decades, the Republican Party in Philadelphia has willingly taken a back seat to the Democratic Party, in return for two reserved (and ineffective) seats on City Council, the right to mismanage the Parking Authority, city contracts, and some patronage jobs.

In return for its guaranteed sliver of the citys spoils, the Philadelphia GOP  chaired by Michael Meehan and controlled for three generations mainly by his family  rarely nominates serious challengers for public office. The GOPs willingness to let Democrats win citywide races is akin to how the Washington Generals roll over for the Harlem Globetrotters.

That brings us to the Republican candidate for mayor this year. Earlier this month, the citys GOP ward leaders endorsed Daphne Goggins.

Goggins, 56, is the first African American woman the GOP has backed for mayor. Unfortunately, the rest of her resume is lacking. The North Philadelphia ward leader is unemployed and has been collecting disability since 2010.

In an interview last week with the Daily Caller, a conservative website, Goggins said she was bipolar and suffered from depression and anxiety. She said her disability is caused by mental illness, which surfaced after she stopped snorting cocaine in 2005.

If elected, Goggins said she could transition from collecting disability to the daily grind of being mayor because, as she explained, her cabinet would do most of the work.

No disrespect to Goggins, who apparently is an active community volunteer, but is this really the best candidate the GOP could find for mayor of the sixth largest city in America? More to the point, why is it that come nearly every city election, the Philadelphia GOP seemingly takes a dive?

After all, the Democratic Party in Philadelphia is hardly a model of good government. Just last month, City Councilman Bobby Henon became the latest in a long line of Philadelphia Democrats who have been indicted. Henon was charged with bribery, conspiracy, and fraud along with electricians union IBEW Local 98 boss John J. Johnny Doc Dougherty, who is credited with helping to elect Mayor Kenney and other Democrats.

Under Kenney, city spending has increased by $600 million in three years, while the pension system remains severely underfunded. Shootings were up 12 percent last year, while the number of murders hit a 10-year high, even as the murder rate declined in other large cities.

Such issues could make Kenney ripe for a reelection challenge. But the GOPs lack of effort usually means mayors sail to reelection. Same goes for City Council members who rarely face serious challengers.

Such complacency helps explain why DROP continues to drain city coffers and why Philadelphia has one of the highest overall tax burdens in the country and is constantly dogged by corruption.

The lack of a competitive two-party system in Philadelphia hurts every taxpayer regardless of political affiliation. With no real challengers, elected officials focus on preserving their self-interest and catering to those who are connected to City Hall rather than serving the broader public.

Until the GOP ever gets its act together, voters are trapped in a one-horse town  except the horse is a Democratic donkey.
Venezuela is in the midst of a presidential crisis. Less than a year after President Nicolas Maduro won reelection, the head of the National Assembly (the legislative branch of government), Juan Guaido, declared himself the leader of Venezuela. Guaido claims that Maduro won in an election that wasnt free or fair, and as such he is not a legitimate leader. According to the Venezuelan constitution, if the president is illegitimate, the head of the National Assembly becomes the temporary leader of the country.

Shortly after Guaido announced his presidency, countries all over the world, including the U.S., have released statements calling him the legitimate leader of Venezuela. In a video statement Vice President Mike Pence called Maduro a dictator with no legitimate claim to power." Maduro is the successor of charismatic socialist leader Hugo Chavez. The rise of Chavez coincided with an oil boom, which meant that the resource-rich country also became rich. Maduro was Chavez vice president, and after his death in 2013, he took office. But the less charismatic, and less lucky, new president could continue Venezuelas good fortune  mainly under the pressure of economic sanctions. Under Maduro, Venezuela experienced an unprecedented economic collapse. The Venezuelan president was willing to use any tool for the purpose of clinging to power  imprisoning political opponent, suppressing protest with violence, and silencing journalists.

Now, even as international pressure mounts in favor of his political opponent, Maduro is still holding onto the presidency. Vice President Pence flew to Venezuela to meet with Guaido and to announce to new sanctions in an attempt to force Maduro to resign. Meanwhile, Maduro has blocked humanitarian aid from the US to enter the country. Peaceful protests on the countrys border with Columbia, where trucks full of food and medicine are blocked by the Maduro-controlled national guard, have been suppressed with live ammo.

Political cartoonists all over the world  and in Venezuela  have been commenting on the ongoing humanitarian and political crisis with their art.

Two presidents

Cartoonists depicted the differences between the two presidents of Venezuela. Rayma Suprani, a Venezuelan cartoonist, used the images of Maduro and Guaido to illustrate to different visions for the country  one with guns and another with bread.

Maduro dancing on aid

Over the weekend, protesters flooded the Venezuela-Colombia border where humanitarian aid trucks full of medicine and food were blocked by Maduros national guard from entering the country.

U.S. hypocrisy

The Trump administration has taken a bold stance against Maduro and in support of Guaido. Some cartoonists have questioned whether the United States is in a position to criticize an election as illegitimate.

Others shed light on Trumps inconsistency  love for some dictators such as North Koreas Kim Jong-un while criticizing Maduro.

New cold war

While the United States and some of its allies have recognized Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela, countries such as Russia and China  which have financial interests in Venezuelan oil  prefer to preserve the status quo with Maduro in power. For some cartoonists, the crisis in Venezuela is reminiscent of a Cold War-style proxy wars.

Its all about oil

Given the bloody history of US intervention in Latin America, some are skeptical that the motives of the U.S. to support Guaido are humanitarian. Cartoonists depicted Trump and the Republican Party as using Guaido to gain control over Venezuelas oil reserves.
Which does President Trump crave more, a Nobel Peace Prize or getting rid of North Koreas nukes?

This may be the most tantalizing question as he meets with Kim Jong Un this week in Hanoi for their second summit.

After the first summit in Singapore, Trump famously tweeted, There is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea. But, contrary to White House hype, no progress has been made toward eliminating Pyongyangs nuclear arsenal.

And Trump now appears more focused on issuing a declaration of peace with Pyongyang  a step he thinks could win him the Noble Peace Prize that everyone thinks I deserve. Last week, he told reporters he was in no rush for North Korea to give up its nukes.

The big question: Will a focus on peace help or hurt the effort to denuclearize North Korea?

On the surface, there may seem nothing risky about finally replacing the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement with a formal peace. (And a U.S. peace declaration would only be the first step toward finalizing a treaty.)

And peacemaking would certainly make for juicy headlines. But it would also provide an opening for Kim to play Trump as he did in Singapore. A premature focus on peace could undermine efforts to destroy North Koreas weapons of war.

A look back at the Singapore summit shows how Kim could use a peace declaration to derail serious moves toward denuclearization. The White House accepted a vague, poorly crafted summit statement that was weaker than North Korean statements made in previous negotiations, says the Heritage Foundations Bruce Klingner, a former CIA North Korea expert.

Claims that North Korea pledged to get rid of its nuclear program are exaggerated by the White House. Despite a halt to nuclear and missile tests, work is continuing on both programs. Pyongyang has yet to give Washington any itemization of its nuclear facilities and arsenal.

Moreover, although North Korea agreed to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Pyongyang interprets this term very differently than the White House. The phrase makes no specific commitment to getting rid of all of North Koreas weapons. But to North Koreans, the term means the United States must remove its troops and nuclear umbrella from South Korea and the entire North Asian region.

Stephen Biegun, Trumps special envoy for North Korea, admitted last month that the United States does not have a specific and agreed definition with North Korea of what would constitute comprehensive, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization.

So Washington hasnt even gotten to Square One with the North Koreans on a common definition of denuclearization."

Given this lack of progress, Trumps focus on making peace headlines in Hanoi could divert attention from pressing Kim on nuclear basics.

Biegun said last month that the United States could negotiate on peace and denuclearization at the same time. Yet Trumps delirious praise for the North Korean leader makes one wonder how hard he will press Kim on the nuclear track. Add to that the U.S. intelligence communitys belief that North Korea will never give up all its nuclear weapons because it believes they are essential to its existence. Those two realities indicate how difficult it will be to make progress in Hanoi.

Here are two huge questions that may determine the outcome of this second summit:

What concessions would Trump demand from Kim in return for a peace declaration?

At minimum, the two sides must reach a common understanding of the meaning of denuclearization and a road map for negotiations that spells out timetables and details. U.S. leaders have touted diplomatic successes only to find them evaporate due to inadequately defined requirements, says Klingner.

Moreover, the big U.S. ask will probably be for the dismantlement of the Yongbyon reactor, part of North Koreas main nuclear complex. But the administration must not overrate this achievement, if it materializes. Yongbyon has been shut down before and then restarted. This time, there must be guarantees of permanence. Moreover, there are other nuclear facilities that Pyongyang has yet to declare.

Will a peace declaration make it harder to get rid of North Korean nukes?

Going down this road now will encourage Pyongyang to press for a removal of U.S. troops from South Korea  long before any denuclearization. China, and some South Korean politicians, may do likewise. After all, if peace is at hand, why are U.S. troops needed?

Although Trump says he has no immediate intention to do so, he has expressed interest before in a troop pullout. Yet those troops provide key leverage for nuclear talks. North Korea wants us to exhaust all our leverage before we get to denuclearization, says Thomas Pickering, former under secretary of state and one of the most distinguished former U.S. ambassadors.

Kim knows what he is doing. For Trump, the gleam of a Nobel may have more appeal than the hard slog of denuclearization. In Hanoi, that will be the drama to watch.
Most of us take infrastructure for granted in our daily lives  the systems that deliver clean water to our taps, prevent our neighborhoods from flooding, and process our trash once its picked up from the curb. This year, Gov. Wolf has proposed a four-year, $4.5 billion plan called Restore Pennsylvania to overhaul the infrastructure that supports us daily. The initiative comes at a needed time to rehabilitate aging systems.

Many people do not think about the complex systems behind our rail infrastructure, and just how long they have been serving us. We dont often think about Philadelphias water mains, most of which were installed prior to 1930  some even before 1900. We also forget how much our businesses and economy rely on infrastructure. Aviation spurs over $23 billion in the economy every year in Pennsylvania, and the states two busiest airports  Philadelphia and Pittsburgh  have recently undertaken modernization projects.

When planes dont run, the gates are closed in and out of our state. When the power goes out, were not working; when the roads are clogged, deliveries dont make it on time. Infrastructure moves our economy  taking supplies from ports to roads to store shelves  and moves workers from their homes to their workplaces. Each American family loses $3,400 a year in disposable income because of our inadequate and outdated infrastructure.

Wolfs plan is a positive first step toward making sure these systems can compete in the 21st century economy. Funded by a proposed commonsense severance tax on the natural gas industry, the initiative will invest $4.5 billion over the next four years in high-impact projects in technology, development, and infrastructure. As civil engineers, we were glad to see the plan focus on these crucial investments.

In our 2018 Report Card for Pennsylvanias Infrastructure, stormwater structures, to collect and treat rain and snow runoff, received a D. Thats not a grade you would be proud to hang on the fridge. In fact, we are known nationally as the state with the most combined sewer overflows, and billions of gallons of untreated sewage enter our streams every year. According to the Report Card, the average age of most sewer systems is close to 70 years, with many having pipes more than 100 years old. Wolfs initiative will provide grants to municipalities moving forward with Pollutant Reduction Plans, helping them implement creative solutions to comply with their stormwater mandates and transform their communities.

We are also thankful for state funding that came from Act 89, signed into law in 2013, which advanced 2,600 transportation projects into construction. Within two months of Act 89s passage, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) announced plans to rebuild their rail system. That has left them better equipped to take on the 50 percent increase in ridership their regional rail has seen since 2000. While Act 89 provided much-needed funding for transit infrastructure, we recommend more funding to maintain and expand capacity. Restore Pennsylvania will help bridge the gap by increasing funding for local road upgrades, creating flexible funding options for businesses that need local infrastructure upgrades, and supporting large-scale capital projects for transit.

We hope that the Restore Pennsylvania initiative will ignite action from other state leaders. Pennsylvania needs an all-hands-on deck approach that will involve state, local, and federal government to take action. We urge state leaders to support Restore Pennsylvania and make infrastructure priority number one in 2019.

Cathy Farrell, PE, is cochair of the Pennsylvania Report Card Committee and former president of the American Society of Civil Engineers Philadelphia section.
Posted Tuesday, February 26, 2019 9:54 am

A bill introduced in the Washington House of Representatives last week would repeal the controversial Initiative 1639, which introduced sweeping gun control measures to Washington law books.

House Bill 2103, co-sponsored by a contingent of mostly Republican representatives, failed to get a hearing by the Feb. 22 deadline, but will be brought up again at the following session.

I think  its going to be a message bill, because we ended up dropping it late in the cycle, said Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen.

Walsh and Brian Blake, D-Longview, both of the 19th district, said the bill would essentially roll back gun laws to how they existed before I-1639 was passed by 60 percent of state voters.

I-1639 raises the legal age of owning a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21 and requires safe storage techniques  with possible gross misdemeanor or felony consequences for violators, under certain circumstances.

Supporters have lauded the measure as a means to reduce gun violence and enhance school security.

HB 2103 reads in part: Gun violence is far too common in Washington state and across the country, particularly gun violence involving victims who are law-abiding citizens who, if they had been armed, could have stopped the violence quickly without excessive loss of life or injury to other citizens.

The bill goes on to blame burdensome firearms regulations for making citizens more vulnerable to gun violence.

Walsh said hes introduced several bills that roll back specific elements of I-1639 that hes found particularly problematic in a sort of piecemeal approach.

My original though was that was the way to go, rather than just trying to overturn the entire thing  strike the pieces of it that were particularly problematic either constitutionally or otherwise, said Walsh.

Of the about six bills introduced that took this approach, Walsh said only one got a hearing. He likened this proposed bill to a blunt instrument, and the previous bills as a scalpel.

Walsh and Blake predicted that the bill wouldnt get a hearing by the cutoff date for policy bills, with Walsh saying that it will come up again at the next session. He added that he doubted Gov. Jay Inslee would sign it if it were to make it to his desk. Instead, he said he hoped it would grab the attention of public interest.

Some of this, both my piecemeal bills and this broader bill, are sort of setting up a little bit of the discussion for when the ball comes back to the legislature to fix the problem, he said, saying that he felt the states court will identify elements of I-1639 that need to be changed before there would be any legislative action.

At least 13 Washington sheriffs offices have said they wont enforce I-1639, with a common thread of their argument saying it violates the Second Amendment.

Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza has said that his office will enforce the law, but will not actively seek violators.
Two artists living and working in Philadelphia are among the 75 selected for the 2019 Whitney Biennial, which opens May 17 at New Yorks Whitney Museum of American Art and runs through Sept. 22.

Multimedia artists Carolyn Lazard, 31, and Tiona Nekkia McClodden, 37, will participate in the exhibition.

Lazard explores the landscape of the body, but not just any body. Lazards work focuses on illness and the distortions and insights it brings and imposes. The artist has written: I am a disabled artist whose work is informed by my experience living with multiple autoimmune diseases. As a chronically ill person, I pass as able-bodied.

Lazards work has recently been seen at LUX UK in London, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, A.I.R. Gallery in Brooklyn, the University of Toronto, the Irish Film Institute, the Glasgow Film Institute, and elsewhere. Lazard is a recipient of the Wynn Newhouse Award.

McCloddens work has recently been seen at the Institute of Contemporary Art at Penn, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and LA-MOCA. It was included in ICAs 2017 exhibition, Speech/Acts," where Inquirer art critic Thomas Hine called it at once the most in-your-face and the most ambiguous of the shows works.

The Brad Johnson Tapes, X-On Subjugation (2017), Hine said, consists of a scaffold-like frame containing a screen on which we see the artist hanging upside down by her ankles from the same structure as she recites a poem by Brad Johnson, who died of AIDS in 2011.

This years biennial, the Whitneys 79th, was co-organized by two of the museums curators, Jane Panetta and Rujeko Hockley. Not surprisingly, it has already produced some controversy.

The New York Times reports that artist Michael Rakowitz has pulled out of the exhibition, citing the involvement of Whitney board member Warren Kanders, owner and chief executive of Safariland, a weapons manufacturer. Tear gas manufactured by the company has reportedly been used against asylum seekers on the southern border with Mexico, among other global hot spots.

Rakowitz called the trustees participation toxic philanthropy,
Jimmy Fallon celebrated his fifth anniversary as host of The Tonight Show Monday night with an uncharacteristically dark and meta episode that worked as an homage to the late, great Garry Shandlings The Larry Sanders Show.

All of the guests  including Ben Stiller (in a panda suit), Robert De Niro, country band Florida Georgia Line, and Tina Fey  expressed their exasperation or annoyance with Fallon.

Upper Darbys own Fey hit the host hardest, telling her real-life friend youre a terrible person and adding off camera, Trump won because of you (a reference to an infamous hair-tousling incident during the 2016 presidential campaign).

And now for the Philadelphia-ness of it all: When Fey walked on stage (after telling a green room Fallon assistant "you should go to college), Tonight Show house band The Roots came up with a sly 215 musical nod to Philly rock band Low Cut Connie by playing the Adam Weiner-led outfits song Shake It Little Tina.

READ MORE >> Watch Elton John shout out Philly band Low Cut Connie at Wells Fargo Center

That rollicking tune is from the bands 2015 album Hi Honey. Weiner said Tuesday that he was definitely taken by surprise by the Philly hip-hop bands tip-of-the cap intro to Fey, which he called a Philly trifecta.

The piano man is well into his follow-up to last years Dirty Pictures (part 2), and Low Cut Connie is headed out to the SXSW music fest in Austin next month, followed by West Coast and European tours.

Watch the clip from The Tonight Show below, with Fey and Stiller complaining about cockroaches and Fallonitis.
A Philadelphia Streets Department employee was charged Tuesday with sexually assaulting four women in South Philadelphia and Point Breeze over the last nine months, and police said he may have committed more attacks in the area.

Police Commissioner Richard Ross said at a news conference that Safien Williams, 37, allegedly terrorized those neighborhoods before he was taken into custody Monday.

Ross and other police commanders, including Capt. Mark Burgmann of the Special Victims Unit, said Williams may be linked to as many as nine assaults or attempted assaults on women since December. Burgmann said investigators would also examine other cases dating to at least 2017.

Police credited tipsters with providing information that helped lead to Williams arrest, and urged other potential victims to come forward. Williams, police said, tended to ride his bike around South Philadelphia at night, follow women he did not know as they were walking home, then attempt to attack them  sometimes at knifepoint, and often as they entered their residences.

If you are a victim, come forward, Ross said.

The incidents for which Williams was charged took place between May 20 and last Friday, Burgmann said. Each occurred between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., and the locations ranged from the 400 block of Mifflin Street in South Philadelphia to the 1500 block of Bancroft Street in Point Breeze.

Williams, 37, was taken into custody Monday and faces charges, including multiple counts each of rape, sexual assault, aggravated assault, and robbery, police said. It was not clear when Williams would be arraigned or whether he had an attorney.

Williams was hired by the city last July and worked as a semiskilled laborer at the Streets Department assigned to a division covering Center City and North Philadelphia, said city spokesperson Kelly Cofrancisco. Payroll records show his annual salary was about $35,000.

Ross said Williams job did not appear to have any link to his alleged crimes.

Court records show that Williams served time in prison for robbery and burglary-related cases.

In 2008, records say, he was sentenced to eight to 16 years for burglary and attempted burglary. It was not immediately clear Tuesday when he was released from prison in that case.

In 2004 and 2003, records show, Williams pleaded guilty in two separate robbery cases. He received a jail sentence of up to 23 months in each case, records show.

Cofrancisco said the Streets Department does not perform background checks for the laborers and semiskilled laborers it hires.

In Williams new case, three of the alleged attacks against women occurred this month, police said, including two instances of alleged rape and one alleged indecent assault.

The incident from last May was an alleged rape on the 1200 block of Morris Street around 6 a.m., police said.

Earlier this month, police released surveillance video of an attack Jan. 26 in the 600 block of South 16th Street. Police said the suspect followed a woman into the building where she lived, sexually assaulted her, and stole her purse.

Burgmann said police were continuing to investigate all recent incidents, as well as any older cases that appeared to match Williams alleged pattern.

In response to the alleged attacks, City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson hosted a public safety walk Tuesday on the 1800 and 1900 blocks of South Bancroft Street. In a statement, he said: I want to thank the Philadelphia Police Department for its work to get this predator off the streets.
A person of interest was taken into custody Monday for a series of assaults on women in South Philadelphia, police said.

Police have been investigating nine attacks, including a rape and other sexual assaults, that started in December.

No further details were released about the person in custody.

The latest incident was Thursday at 11:30 p.m., when a 33-year-old woman was sexually assaulted and robbed of $50 in the 400 block of Mifflin Street, police said. She described her attacker as a male riding a bicycle. Police said they believe he is the same person shown in previously released video surveillance and photos regarding other reported attacks on women.

The rape occurred on Feb. 15 in the 1500 block of Bancroft Street, police said. The perpetrator sometimes was armed with a knife, police said.

Police last week released surveillance video of the suspect in one of the attacks, on Jan. 26 in the 600 block of South 16th Street.

About 12:15 a.m., the victim entered the building where she lives when an unidentified man opened the door after her, sexually assaulted her, and stole her purse. The suspect was generally described as a medium-complexion black male, about 5-foot-8 with a medium build. He has a goatee and appeared to be about 30 years old.

The man can be seen in the video riding a bicycle back and forth in the neighborhood.
Mike Walsh is one of many Philadelphia homeowners who learned this year that his property taxes would more than double.

But Walsh chose not to join the thousands of property owners who appealed their new values this year  though his annual bill jumped by 113 percent, to $4,884.

Thats because he thought the market value that city assessors assigned to his triplex on Wharton Street was correct. The property, in South Phillys booming real estate market and blocks from the famed cheesesteak corner featuring Pats and Genos, had not been reassessed since 2014.

I just didnt like the fact that my real estate taxes are going up over 100 percent," he said last week. "And I dont think real estate taxes should ever go up over 100 percent.

In some other major cities, large tax increases like Walshs are prohibited because governments place caps on hikes. In New York City, for example, significant increases are phased in over a few years. Maryland caps the amount that an assessment can rise in one year at 10 percent. Louisiana voters approved a ballot measure this year requiring that increases greater than 50 percent be phased in over four years.

In Philadelphia, however, there is no limit to the amount by which assessments  the value used to calculate property tax bills  can increase in one year. The median value of a single-family home increased 10.5 percent in the new assessments of residential properties released this year.

 SPECIAL REPORT: Which properties had their assessments increased or decreased from 2018? Examine our database of Philadelphia 2019 Property Assessments

And unlike other counties in Pennsylvania, Philadelphias reassessments are not revenue-neutral, meaning that increasing property values mean a boost in tax dollars for the city. City spokesperson Mike Dunn said the city and School District will receive about $85 million in additional revenue based on the increased 2019 assessments, after accounting for successful appeals and other factors. Last years reassessment of commercial properties was expected to bring in $118 million in additional tax revenue.

The result, said Robert P. Strauss, a professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, is a growing reliance in Philadelphia on the property tax.

As property tax revenue grows, Strauss said, the city is using reassessment kind of as a smokescreen.

Why does Philadelphia not have a cap on increases?

Since 2014, the city has aimed to perform more frequent assessments and assess properties at 100 percent of market value, which is the amount at which a property would sell. However, this year marked the first time that all residential properties were reassessed since that system began.

With the new system, known as the Actual Value Initiative, the city launched some programs to help struggling homeowners. They include a discount for owner-occupied primary residences, installment-payment plans, and tax freezes for low-income seniors.

Its a really important issue, because property values can change unexpectedly and sometimes dramatically, and its essential for a property tax system to have a way of easing the burden on a homeowner who faces a sudden change," said Joan Youngman, a senior fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Massachusetts.

Councilman Mark Squilla, who previously proposed that assessment changes be phased in, said he would support a cap except that it would violate the state constitutions uniformity clause," requiring that all properties are taxed at the same rate.

I believe theres still a way to do that, he said, whether we do it ourselves, or we do it through working with our legislators in the state to give us our ability to do that.

Dunn said the Kenney administration believes that capping assessments will, over time, create greater inequities in the property tax system because it would shift the tax burden, leaving residents whose property values did not increase to pay a higher tax rate relative to their market values than those with rapidly rising values.

How have property tax limits worked out in other places?

While many states and cities have limits that have assisted taxpayers, experts warn that they can come with downsides.

Its not hard to freeze [taxes], but its really hard to thaw, Youngman said. You have to be very careful that whatever you put in place addresses the problem with the minimum of future difficulties.

Caps can shift tax burdens, and they can make it difficult for people to move, such as in California, where Proposition 13 froze taxes at 1970s levels and limited increases to 2 percent per year. When a home there is sold, it is reassessed at market value  placing a much larger tax burden on new residents or first-time homeowners.

A 2010 report by the International Association of Assessing Officers acknowledged that market-value assessments can create problems with predictability and affordability of taxes, but advised against caps -- recommending instead the types of safety nets that Philadelphia has in place.

In some places, taxpayers push for truth in taxation, Youngman said, which amounts to government acknowledgement that rising values can impact them.

The idea is, if youre going to increase your revenue collections because the values go up," she said, that under these rules, you need to go through all the same steps you would go through if you would change the tax rate ... whether its a public notice or a hearing or a vote.

Can anything be done about rising taxes in Philly?

Youngman said experts admire Philadelphia for making the move to market-value assessments in 2014. But what can be done about the lack of a ceiling on how much property taxes can rise amid the success of the citys real estate market?

Strict revenue neutrality, as is mandated for other Pennsylvania counties, may not be practical, because government costs do increase, Youngman said. But she said reducing the tax rate to some degree when there is a large assessment increase is an accepted practice.

These silent tax increases, where the base rises and youre not just bringing in a normal increase of a few percent, but you suddenly have a large increase simply because of value changes, thats always something to be extremely cautious about, Youngman said.

Dunn said the mayor is always open to considering tax policy changes while working with City Council on annual budgets.

However, mandated revenue neutrality would hamper the citys ability to continue to provide the level of services that residents need and expect," he said, "as we would likely need to reduce services to pay for rising nondiscretionary costs.

Council commissioned an audit of Philadelphias Office of Property Assessment this year. It was scheduled for completion in September, but it hasnt yet been released. Jane Roh, a spokesperson for Council President Darrell L. Clarke, said the office is reviewing the report.

If the audit shows that property assessments are accurate, Squilla said, Council should look at reducing the tax rate to make up for assessment increases.

Some people would argue that now youre reducing the amount of money that goes into the general fund [and] youre reducing the money that goes to our schools, he said. But we have to be able to balance that on the backs of the residents, and also the city services and our School District.
In the wake of a residential property reassessment that raised taxes on many homeowners, and an audit that found flaws in the citys property valuations, Philadelphia is looking to replace the leader of its Office of Property Assessment.

The move represents a reversal for Mayor Jim Kenneys administration, which had defended Chief Assessment Officer Michael Piper and his office amid growing criticism.

The search for a new chief assessor emerged Tuesday when the job was posted on the citys job board. It comes in an election year for mayor and City Council  and weeks before the city is expected to finalize assessments that will take effect in 2020.

Kenneys administration chose to launch a national search to replace Piper because Council members have not voted on Pipers nomination to another term and would prefer a new leader for the office, Mike Dunn, a spokesperson for Kenney, said Tuesday.

In light of that preference, it is prudent that we move forward quickly to nominate a new chief assessor, to lead OPA in its important tasks and to ensure public confidence in OPAs work, Dunn said.

Piper has held the role since 2014, leading OPA and setting market values for all 580,000 of the citys parcels; those values are used to calculate property tax bills.

Council President Darrell L. Clarke called last month for a leadership shake-up at OPA, including a new chief assessor. In response, Kenneys office said it would be unfair to turn assessment officials into political scapegoats.

Pipers job has been in limbo since last June, when his four-year term expired. Under the city code, the mayor nominates a chief assessment officer and a majority of Council must approve the appointment. Kenney submitted a resolution to grant him another term, but no Council member introduced it for a vote.

The findings of an independent audit City Council commissioned in 2018 made perfectly clear that a dramatic restructuring of the Office of Property Assessment is urgently needed," Clarke said in a statement Tuesday in response to the job posting. "All efforts by the administration to reform OPA policies and procedures are welcome.

OPA has faced mounting criticism in the last year from property owners and Council members after a reassessment of residential properties increased the median assessed value of a single-family home by 10.5 percent, with many property owners receiving even larger increases. The audit commissioned by Council and released last month found the citys assessments do not meet industry standards.

Another report by City Controller Rebecca Rhynharts office, also released last month, found that OPA has improved in recent years, but reached conclusions similar to those of the independent audit. And an Inquirer analysis found that more than 165,000 residential properties, more than a third of those in the city, were overassessed and their owners are paying more than their fair share in taxes.

The Kenney administration has disputed findings in the audit, the controllers report, and the Inquirers analysis, and defended its assessment practices as fair and within industry standards. In response to the Council-commissioned audit, OPA hired its own consultant to review its assessments and make recommendations. Last month OPA issued its own list of changes and improvements it planned to make.

While it works on those improvements, OPA said it would scale back plans for a project that would revalue all of the citys properties this year. Instead, the city will use an analysis of market trends to update assessments; some properties could still receive market value increases or decreases when assessment changes are mailed to owners this spring.

Piper said in an email Tuesday that he did not have any comment on the job posting for his replacement. Kenney, however, praised his work.

I have always known Mike Piper to be a dedicated public servant, the mayor said in a statement. Mike has been tirelessly devoted to the work of OPA, and to personally hearing and addressing the concerns of thousands of property owners. His door has always been open, and he has attended countless community meetings."

Pipers annual salary is $157,185, according to city payroll records. The new job posting did not include a salary estimate.

The posting stipulates that applicants have at least four years of experience as a director or deputy of a government assessment office that oversees at least 200,000 parcels. That requirement represents one year more than the level of experience Clarke said hed like in a new chief assessor. Clarke has also asked that the city use a nationally recognized executive search firm to recruit a new chief assessor and at least three new deputy assessors.

We need to make sure that every property  from the 60-year-old brownstone in Sharswood to the multimillion-dollar Rittenhouse mansion  is assessed accurately for the purposes of fair and efficient taxation," Clarke said Tuesday.
Death came swiftly to Unit S7 in Morrisvilles Robert Morris Apartments, a cramped unit in a small town on a bank of the Delaware River. It was a crime so dark it gave pause to veteran investigators in Bucks County, who called it one of the worst in the areas history.

Five family members  including three children  were found dead by a county caseworker late Monday in what investigators described as grisly murders, but what the mother and daughter charged in the crime called a suicide pact they unintentionally survived.

Shana S. Decree, 45, and daughter Dominique Decree, 19, each were charged Tuesday with five counts of homicide and one count of conspiracy in the deaths of Shana Decrees sister, older daughter, teenage son, and twin 9-year-old nieces.

The women, in conflicting stories to police, said some of the victims were choked to death.

Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said the atrocious murders confounded investigators Tuesday as the two women were arraigned and sent to the county prison. They were denied bail because of the severity of the charges.

As confusing as it was last night, we are no closer to understanding [the motive] in the harsh light of day, Weintraub said Tuesday inside the county courthouse in Doylestown.

He identified the dead as Shana Decrees children NaaIrah Smith, 25, and Damon Decree Jr., 13, both of Morrisville; Shana Decrees sister, Jamilla Campbell, 42, of Trenton; and Campbells twin daughters, Imani and Erika Allen.

Weintraub said that gaining additional insight will be a long, laborious process, and that the cause and manner of their deaths likely wont be available for a few weeks.

The bodies were discovered about 4 p.m. Monday, when a case worker from Bucks County Children and Youth Social Services went to the apartment for an unannounced visit, according to court documents. The caseworker had tried to contact the family on Saturday, police said, leaving a business card that remained, seemingly untouched, two days later. Her last contact with the family was Feb. 5, according to court records.

When no one answered her knocks, the caseworker enlisted the help of a maintenance man, who helped her gain access to the apartment. They were greeted by a horrific scene.

The two suspects were lying disoriented on a bed, surrounded by signs of chaotic struggle. Furniture was overturned, mirrors were smashed, and the closet doors in one of the three bedrooms had been ripped off their tracks, according to investigators. Family photos were scattered about.

Dominique Decree had wounds on her neck, police said, and was taken with her mother to Jefferson Bucks Hospital.

In a bedroom beyond, police officers found the five victims, grouped so tightly together around a bed that they initially only thought they saw four bodies.

Morrisville Police Chief George McClay said the five were likely killed between Saturday and Monday. He said officers from his department had been called to the apartment in recent weeks for minor issues, including noise complaints.

He said the quintuple homicide was one of the worst murder cases in Bucks County history. Its the saddest case Ive ever had, he said.

While being treated at the hospital, Shana Decree initially told police that Jamilla Campbells boyfriend and two unknown males had killed everyone in the apartment except her and Dominique. She later recanted and told police that everyone at the apartment, including the 9-year-olds and 13-year-old, wanted to die," and that everyone was talking about suicide.

Shana Decree confessed to killing 9-year-old Imani Allen, and said her sister Jamilla Campbell killed Imanis twin, Erika. Campbell, she said, also killed NaaIrah Smith, Decrees 25-year-old daughter, and Campbell and Dominique Decree together killed 13-year-old Damon Decree Jr., according to the affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.

Dominique Decree told detectives at the hospital a different version of events, all while repeatedly telling them of her wish to die, the affidavit said.

She admitted that she choked Jamilla Campbell, her aunt, to death. She said her mother killed Damon Decree Jr. and NaaIrah Smith  her sister and brother, and her mothers own children  and that her mother also killed Imani Allen. Dominique Decree said Jamilla Campbell choked the other twin to death.

Law enforcement sources said Tuesday night that NaaIrah Smith and Jamilla Campbell and her children had moved into the apartment recently, at most a month ago.

Weintraub said investigators are not seeking any other suspects and promised that Shana and Dominique Decree would be made to pay for their crimes."

Investigators continued to speak with family members Tuesday, including Joshua Campbell, Jamilla Campbells 17-year-old son, who left the apartment recently because of how crowded it had become  one law enforcement source said the teen said it was no longer a happy home. On Monday night, Campbell was found safe in Willingboro, where he was staying with friends.

County spokesperson Larry King declined to provide information on any involvement the victims had with Children and Youth, citing privacy policies related to active cases. Expanded information on contact the agency had with the family will likely be released at the end of any criminal prosecution, he said.

Weintraub declined to answer similar questions, and would not comment on whether there were any reported mental-health issues within the family.

Those who knew the victims reeled at the news, trying to make sense of the violence.

Destiny Harris sobbed when she learned that Imani and Erika, her 9-year-old half-sisters, had been killed just a few doors from where she lived in the same apartment complex.

My heart, she said, breaking into tears Tuesday. I cant breathe, to be honest.

She had been checking on the family, she said, but all had seemed mostly normal. Harris said she paid regular visits to the family, but she was busy as a student at East Stroudsburg University.

The last time she saw her sisters, she said, was a week ago. The girls were going to turn 10 on Friday, and were looking forward to a trip to Walt Disney World.

Her sisters, Harris said, were great kids. They were smart, and they loved everyone. They were the greatest kids.

Nicole Owens was similarly stunned. She had last spoken to Shana Decree, her oldest daughters cousin, two weeks ago. Everything seemed fine at the time, Owens said. More recently, however, she grew worried after not hearing from the family for some time.

They were a close-knit family, I dont have anything bad to say in regard to who they were before this took place, she said. My heart is so heavy right now, and all I can do is just look back.

She said Shana Decree had intermittent health problems, struggling with lupus, but showed no signs of stress, anger, or strange behavior that raised her suspicions. Owens said she didnt know why the family was referred to a county caseworker.

I think that we all need to say a prayer, because we dont know what could take over our minds, Owens said. It takes someone with a sick mind to do something like that. You have to be sick to even want to take someones life.

Damon Decree, Shana Decrees son, was friends with her youngest daughter, Owens said, and they acted in plays together at Morrisville Middle/Senior High School.

The school sent a letter home to students families on Monday, offering counseling for those who knew Damon Decree or had been affected by his death.

One of the schools alumni, Thai Hall, stood outside the Robert Morris complex Tuesday, paying respects to NaaIrah Smith, an old classmate.

Sweetest girl ever, Hall said. Kept to herself, spoke to herself, was with her boyfriend the majority of the time.

Always together, Hall said. Hes sweet, too. ... Very respectful, polite, caring.

Hall looked over at the apartment where NaaIrah Smith died.

It broke my heart. It really did, she said. I was up all night, praying, praying.

Inquirer staff writers Henry Savage and Mark Fazlollah contributed to this article.
Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday said he has instructed New Jersey Transit executive director Kevin Corbett to say this week  not in three weeks, as Corbett told angry riders last Thursday  when the suspended Atlantic City and Princeton rail lines will resume service.

I would say this, with great respect for Kevins efforts and his teams efforts: They can do better, we all have to do better, Murphy said in remarks prior to speaking at a news conference on paid sick time held at the offices of Princetel in Hamilton Township.

Tuesday afternoon, NJ Transit agreed to the new timetable for an announcement -- by the end of the week -- though the embattled agency still gave no clue as to the actual restart date for the train lines.

As per the Governors direction, by the end of the week we will be providing customers with a date certain for the restoration of service on the Atlantic City Rail Line and the Princeton Dinky, the statement said.

A meeting last week in the unheated, dormant Atlantic City Train Station was widely panned by elected officials, commuters, and Atlantic City entrepreneurs, including the organizers of the massive Atlantic City Beer Festival, which in past years had thousands of people riding the train to the weekend event at the end of March.

NJ Transit officials showed up with no sound system, no chairs, and no answers, beyond the vague three-week timeline for a possible answer and an outside date of the end of June.

Ive heard from commuters who have been dealing with these service interruptions and waiting for these lines to start back up, Murphy said. They want clarity. Who can blame them. They are right. They deserve a clear indication when that will happen.

Corbett has been under increasing pressure to restart the Atlantic City-to-Philadelphia line  or even just to give a date when that will happen  since the initial target date of January came and went. The line was suspended in September to allow, state officials said, the installation of Positive Train Control safety measures by the end of 2018.

That deadline to install Positive Train Control was met, Murphy said Tuesday.

With that crisis behind us, our full attention is turned to restoring services, Murphy said. Ive instructed Kevin to give restoration dates not in three weeks but this week, so commuters can better prepare.

NJ Transit has scheduled another public meeting for 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Carman Tilelli Community Center in Cherry Hill.

Also Tuesday, three state legislators from Blackwood and Washington Townships issued a statement calling for the reopening of the rail line, saying its absence has unjustifiably disrupted the lives of thousands of South Jersey residents and has suppressed economic prosperity in the region.

[T]he residents of South Jersey deserve to see this shutdown come to an immediate end, Sen. Fred Madden (D., Washington Township), Assemblywoman Gabriela Mosquera (D., Blackwood), and Assemblyman Paul Moriarty (D., Washington Township) said in the statement.

Displaced riders dependent on public transportation are forced to endure bus routes that, in many cases, more than double their commute times, they said. "The time of our residents is valuable and we cannot afford to see any more of their time wasted.

After Murphys remarks, Assemblymen Vince Mazzeo and John Armato, Democrats who represent the Atlantic City region, issued a statement calling on NJ Transit to heed the governors instructions and announce the date for resumption of service.

Weve waited for answers from NJ Transit for months on end and weve been stonewalled at every turn, Armato said.
After a weekend of high drama but few results at Venezuela's border, the United States and other nations appeared resigned Monday to the fact that forcing President Nicolas Maduro from power will be neither quick nor easy.

Vice President Mike Pence, addressing a group of Latin American leaders in Bogota, Colombia, repeated the Trump administration's assurance that "all options" are on the table, but he offered up only minor new U.S. sanctions.

In his address to the Lima Group, the 14-nation diplomatic consortium supporting Maduro's replacement with opposition leader Juan Guaido, Pence gave no indication that the United States was ready to use force.

Despite previously indicating that he would announce "clear actions" in response to violent clashes at the border this weekend, Pence reiterated an amnesty offer for the Venezuelan military, emphasized continued "economic and diplomatic" measures against Maduro and urged other nations to exert more pressure.

The group agreed on a declaration calling for a transition to democracy "peacefully, by the Venezuelans themselves . . . supported by political and diplomatic means, without the use of force."

The only participants at the gathering who seemed to favor a more muscular approach were Guaido and the opposition he leads. On Sunday, he tweeted that he would pose a formal question to international backers, asking that "all options (be) open to achieve the liberation of this country."

Senior opposition politician Julio Borges was more direct, tweeting that the opposition "will urge for an escalation of diplomatic pressure and the use of force against the dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro."

Pence acknowledged to reporters Monday that Guaido sought assurances that the United States could use force if necessary. "I reassured him" that force remains an option, Pence said, "but we hope for better. We hope for a peaceful transition."

The military option has not disappeared, said one senior Latin American official who attended the meeting.

"It's the elephant in the room," the official said. "But nobody wants to see it, and nobody wants to talk about it. . . . There has been no discussion whatsoever regarding it."

Progress has been made, the official said. "When you look at what has happened in the last month," with dozens of nations recognizing Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate president and piling sanctions on Maduro, "we never thought we would be here."

"But this is just starting. The economic pressure, the diplomatic pressure is just starting," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the sensitive diplomatic talks. "Saturday and Sunday weren't as successful as we had hoped, but that's just part of the learning process."

Amid the post-weekend letdown, it seemed clear that the opposition had become a victim of its own hype, claiming that a humanitarian "D-Day" - with aid-laden trucks and thousands of cheering supporters coming face to face with Venezuelan security forces across the Colombian border - would burst the dams of Venezuelan military frustration and bring about a massive rupture between the armed forces and Maduro.

Instead, about 160 rank-and-file troops abandoned their posts - symbolically significant, but nowhere near the flood of support the opposition needed. At the same time, minimal amounts of aid got through. As many as eight people were killed, according to the opposition, and hundreds were injured.

"They started talking about the inevitability of winning, that humanitarian aid can't be stopped," said David Smilde, a fellow with the Washington Office on Latin America. "Yes, those are great to mobilize people. But the problem is being caught flat-footed. They've got to figure out a new plan to manage expectations."

For Guaido in particular, the weekend set up a high-stakes choice. His decision to go to Colombia allowed him to bask in the international spotlight and solicit more support. But he had left Venezuela in violation of a travel ban issued by Maduro's Supreme Court and is now publicly on the record suggesting a foreign military intervention.

Senior opposition figures said Guaido plans to return to Venezuela. But Carlos Holmes Trujillo, Colombia's foreign minister, warned Monday that he faces serious risks in doing so.

"We have information of serious and credible threats to the life and personal integrity of Juan Guaido and his family, and his wife's family," Holmes said. "From Bogota, we want to make the usurper Maduro responsible for any violent action against Guaido and his family members. It would be not only another crime but would also lead to an international situation that would force the whole Lima Group to use all the legal and political mechanisms available to it."

If he does not return to Venezuela, Guaido risks taking the wind out of the sails of a re-energized opposition - a once-moribund and divided movement that he almost single-handedly brought back to life.

"They thought it was going to be over, if not close to over," Michael Shifter, president of the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue, a think tank, said of the opposition. "They thought they'd get some aid in, that more of the senior military officials would flip."

"It just didn't happen," Shifter said. "So, they say, 'What do we do next?' The problem is if they continue to have the same strategy," using diplomatic and economic pressure, "it drags on. And if it drags on, there may be some real splits within the opposition."

Pedro Burelli, a Washington-based opposition activist and former founding director of PDVSA, Venezuela's national oil company, agreed. "I think this was to be expected," he said of the weekend's events. "Anybody who thought this would work was fooling themselves."

Sanctions are an equally high-stakes endeavor that risks worsening the already dire humanitarian condition of Venezuelans.

The United States has used the "nuclear option" against Venezuela, confiscating revenue from oil exports into this country that have provided the bulk of its operating cash in recent years. Under the sanctions imposed last month, Venezuela can continue sending oil to the United States, but any revenue it generates is to be held in blocked U.S. accounts.

Mismanagement and corruption have seen Venezuela's oil exports drop to 1.1 million barrels a day last month, less than a third of its production when Maduro mentor Hugo Chavez took over the country two decades ago.

Although China and Russia are still receiving Venezuelan oil, those sales generate no income, said Russ Dallen, of investment bank Caracas Capital Markets, because they were prepaid with loans that Maduro long ago spent.

Current shipments to China, Dallen said, total 300,000 to 400,000 barrels, with 200,000 to 300,000 more going to Russia as its portion of a joint venture. An additional 400,000 barrels per day theoretically go to India - where Russia owns one of two refineries that handle heavy Venezuelan crude - although Venezuela lacks the ultralarge tanker ships to make up for the long-distance transport costs.

Chevron, which also operates a joint venture with PDVSA, still imports Venezuelan crude under a provision in the sanctions that gave it a six-month grace period.

Gearan reported from Bogota, and Faiola reported from Caracas. The Washington Posts Carol Morello and John Wagner in Washington contributed to this report.
An undocumented man whose case became a flash point in the ferocious national debate over sanctuary cities  he sexually assaulted a child after being released from local custody in Philadelphia  was sentenced Tuesday to an additional 21 months in prison for immigration offenses.

Juan Ramon Vasquez, 50, already serving eight to 20 years for sexually assaulting his girlfriends 5-year-old daughter, swore to U.S. District Judge Nitza Quinones Alejandro that he would never come back to the United States once hes freed.

She sentenced Vasquez for reentering the country after having been deported, for which he faced a maximum of two years. She ruled that the sentence be served consecutively, meaning Vasquez will be turned over to federal custody at the end of his state prison sentence.

After that hell be deported to Honduras, his homeland.

Thank you, Vasquez told the judge after sentencing at the federal courthouse in Center City, because during the time Ive been in jail, the authorities have treated me very well.

For people who support sanctuary city policies as lawful, welcoming, and best for public safety  including Mayor Jim Kenney  the Vasquez case has been a nightmare. For those who demand stricter immigration laws and swift, hard enforcement, its proof of the danger that migrants can pose.

The sentencing came as the Kenney and Trump administrations continue to battle in federal court over the citys right to receive federal law enforcement grants, even if it refuses to help U.S. authorities enforce immigration laws. In June, a federal judge in Philadelphia barred the Justice Department from seeking to compel the city to comply by withholding the grants, and this month the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit largely upheld that ruling.

A key issue in the case revolves around the citys refusal to honor U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement requests to hold undocumented immigrants who are being released from city jails. City officials say that they will respond to those requests, known as ICE detainers, only if the paperwork is accompanied by a signed arrest warrant from a judge.

The facts of this case illustrate all too well the direct threat to public safety caused by the city of Philadelphias sanctuary city policies, U.S. Attorney William McSwain said in a news release titled Defendant Who Raped a Child Because of Philadelphias Sanctuary City Policies Is Sentenced to Prison for Illegal Reentry. After the city let this criminal loose ... Vasquez repeatedly raped his girlfriends daughter over an 18-month period. If the ICE detainer had been honored by local law enforcement, this crime never would have happened, and the victim  an innocent child  would have been spared horrendous physical and mental trauma.

McSwain, who was nominated for his position by President Donald Trump, said criminals like Vasquez should know: "My office will do everything in its power to find you, to protect our community, and to seek justice for your victims. Unlike the Philadelphia government, we are not on your side.

Kenney spokesperson Mike Dunn said that if federal immigration authorities had obtained an arrest warrant for Vasquez, he would have been released into their custody. But the federal government failed to meet this very simple legal obligation.

The city of Philadelphia has always cooperated fully with federal arrest warrants, and we will continue to do so," he said. "We simply request that ICE obtain a warrant to ensure compliance with the United States Constitution. This request is not burdensome.

A warrant signed by a judge would give the city a legal basis for continuing to hold someone. An ICE detainer, signed by an ICE employee, is insufficient, he said.

City officials maintain that they have no authority to hold anyone beyond the time they would normally be released from custody. Further, Kenney and Police Commissioner Richard Ross have argued that making local police help find and deport undocumented residents makes it less likely that people who lack legal status will come forward to report crimes  endangering the wider community.

Federal immigration authorities say that those additional requirements are overly burdensome and that ICE detainers are a legal way to keep dangerous criminals from going free. They have repeatedly held up Vasquez as the kind of danger that city policies can loose upon the public.

You are a threat to society, the judge told Vasquez on Tuesday. Despite your exhibiting remorsefulness, its still a threat.

Philadelphia police arrested Vasquez  who also used the name Ramon Aguirre-Ochoa  on charges of aggravated assault in 2014. The case against him was dropped the following year, and he was released, under a similar Nutter administration policy, despite an ICE detainer requesting that he be held for possible deportation.

About a year and a half later, Vasquez was arrested again, this time for raping the child. He pleaded guilty and in 2017 was sentenced to eight to 20 years in prison.

Federal prosecutors filed their criminal immigration case against him in 2016, and he pleaded guilty last year to one count of illegally reentering the country after deportation.

In court on Tuesday, Vasquez, with the aid of defense counsel Mythri Jayaraman, described a pitiful life in Honduras, growing up as one of 11 impoverished brothers and sisters. Vasquez had to leave school after third grade to help work on the family farm.

When he was older, he left for the United States, working in a Korean restaurant and at a metal-recycling plant, to send money home to his own five children. In prison, he said, hes taken classes in English and Spanish  hes illiterate  and in religious study.

I know that I committed a very serious crime," Vasquez told the court. I know entering this country illegally is a crime. But since Ive been in jail, Ive learned a lot of things. ... The way I live has changed, the way I think has changed, the way I act, all of it.
Faculty at the Community College of Philadelphia have authorized their union leaders to call a strike vote if progress on a new contract isnt achieved within three weeks, a union leader said Tuesday.

The union, which represents about 1,200 faculty and support staff, announced that 91 percent of its members had cast ballots in favor of the action during four days of voting that ended Monday.

Theres really a strong base of support across all three bargaining units for fair contracts and for [college president Donald Guy Generals] and the board of trustees to move off their unreasonable demands that they have been on for three years, said Junior Brainard, copresident of the union. Our members are willing to strike if its necessary, although obviously we are hoping to resolve this through negotiations.

Brainard, who teaches English at the college, said the union would hold another vote before a strike; the earliest that members would walk out would be March 18. The 27,800-student college is on spring break next week.

The strike-authorization vote is the latest development in negotiations that have been stalled for more than 2 years, largely over issues of faculty workload, health insurance, and compensation. Generals late last month said the college was considering imposing a contract on union members, its so-called last best offer, which was released last May. Union members have been operating under the terms of the contract that expired in August 2016.

Generals said Tuesday that the college had delayed imposition of a contract because it had been working with a mediator and was optimistic progress would occur.

Were a little less optimistic now, but were still hopeful a strike can be avoided, he said.

The college, he said, is preparing for the possibility of a strike. The college would try to maintain the class schedule, but if not enough faculty show up, classes would not be held, he said.

We will assess it day by day, he said.

A sticking point is the colleges attempt to increase the workload of new full-time faculty members from four courses a semester to five. Current instructors would have a choice: Those who opt for it would get a $9,000 increase in base pay. Nearly a third of faculty already teach five.

The union has argued that faculty already teach more students in four classes than faculty at other community colleges do, and many students come to the school needing remedial work and extra attention to reach their full potential. Under the colleges proposed workload increase, the union contends math faculty would teach 40 more students per semester than faculty at surrounding community colleges, computer-science faculty 56 more, English faculty 30 more, and science faculty 20 more.

Our students are first-generation college students," Brainard said. "They are immigrants. They are single parents and working adults. They are our students, and they need support.

Generals countered that the argument is based on the number of students classes are capped at, rather than the reality. Class caps range from 20 to 36, the college said, and few reach 36. The average class size is 23, according to the school.

The union has proposed lowering class sizes and giving students more support services in the library and learning lab and in counseling and advising.

Compensation for some of the unions lowest-paid members also has been a major issue, Brainard said. Some support staff earn as little as $12 an hour, a wage the college has proposed raising to $15 an hour by Sept. 1, 2020.

Ive worked full-time at CCP for 20 years and still qualify for food stamps, Paula Perry-Gable, who has worked at the college in housekeeping for more than 20 years, said in a statement released by the union.

The minimum starting salary for a full-time faculty member at CCP is $50,529 and the average below $70,000.

Among those backing the faculty is Hazim Hardeman, the first CCP graduate to become a Rhodes scholar. Hardeman, who is currently studying at Oxford, got his associates degree at CCP and his bachelors from Temple University in 2017. CCP has touted his success.

The students whose parents can afford it get comparatively well-supported faculty and staff at Temple and Drexel and Penn and Oxford, Hardeman said in a statement. "The kids who cant get overworked faculty and staff at community colleges. Please fight this reality.

If the college is serious about providing a world-class education, they have to provide world-class support to faculty and staff.
The Classics Hub Barbershop in South Philly is a whirlwind of activity on Saturday mornings.

Nearly every chair is occupied, with friendly, and fashionable, stylists talking up clients  or talking them down, as was the case this weekend of a little boy whose cries seemed to signal the rite of passage of a first haircut.

Some hugged the walls, waiting their turn.

But on this day, others bypassed the commotion and chatter, and headed up a steep stairway to a space that owner Ulysses Kae Williams reserves for community events and outreach. Fewer places are as attuned to community needs than a barbershop  and on the morning I visited, what the men I spoke with said they needed even more than a clean-up was a clean record.

Robert Mayes was one of them. The 29-year-old Philadelphian was early for the record-expungement clinic held at Classics Hub. He waited patiently as organizers and volunteers from the Defender Association of Philadelphia and South Phillys Participatory Defense Hub (more on them later) set up their tables.

I was setting up my own, the barbershop being the second of my pop-up newsrooms, a fancy way of describing a borrowed company banner, some @NotesFromHel branded chocolates and pens  of which 2-year-old Hayaa enthusiastically approved  and yours truly, asking people to share their stories where they live.

The first pop-up was in December at Southwark School, at an event hosted by Sunrise of Philadelphia and the Fleischer Art Memorial that encouraged kids, most of them from immigrant families, to tell their stories.

This is all still a one-woman experiment, but to borrow a line Knight Foundation president Alberto Ibarguen used to open up a news conference on Tuesday, its a way to shorten the distance between our neighbors and the news. Or, more specifically, neighbors whose stories we too often ignore and the news that actually matters to them.

This time, I was tagging along with Anton Moore, founder of the South Philly nonprofit Unity in the Community, who had helped host the clinic. Moore is as plugged in as anyone in Philly, and no matter where he is, he told me, there is almost always one need that supersedes all others:

Jobs. he said, and the obstacles  educational, economical and judicial  that sometimes make getting them challenging. An estimated one in three Philadelphians has some kind of criminal record. These clinics are a way to help, as are the participatory defense hubs, a relatively new community organizing model where people meet weekly to support each other and share firsthand knowledge about the legal system to better present and defend themselves.

One of the great things about these pop-ups is the serendipitous discoveries. At the first one, it was local photographer Ada Trillo, whose stunning photos of the migrant caravan in Mexico I ended up writing about. This time it was the people who volunteer their time at the participatory hubs I hope to check out soon.

But on Saturday, my attention was on those who found their way to the clinic.

Mayes told me he has convictions for receiving stolen property, and has mostly made his own opportunities with real estate and repping a local rapper. He was hoping to find something more stable, but his record kept him from even a job making doorknobs. A text in response to his inquiry about the warehouse job confirmed that.

Hi Rob, unfortunately you background disqualifies you from working with that company.

Expungement is a process  a petition, a hearing in front of a judge, the right documents that need to be sent to the right state agencies. There were no easy answers or fixes on Saturday, especially for those convicted of felonies, but no one was sent away without information to at least get the process rollling.

David Thompson was one of the men. He was working, and slowly but surely getting his life together after a crime he wasnt keen on revisiting. But he hoped with the advice he got at the clinic, hed be on his way to cleaning up his record so he could get a better job, a goal many people echoed.

Its off my heart, said Thompson. Now I need to get it off my record.
A federal judge on Tuesday resentenced a onetime aide to former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to 18 months in prison for his role in the Bridgegate scandal.

Bill Baroni, Christies top executive appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, was convicted in November 2016 on charges of conspiracy, fraudulently misusing resources at the agency, wire fraud, and civil rights violations.

He was sentenced to two years in prison, but in November a three-judge appellate panel in Philadelphia tossed the civil rights convictions against Baroni and his codefendant, former Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly.

That led to Tuesdays hearing in Newark before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton. Kelly, 46, initially sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, has filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Both have remained free on bail pending their appeals.

It wasnt immediately clear Tuesday when Baroni, 47, would report to prison.

At trial, prosecutors presented evidence and elicited testimony from witnesses showing that Baroni, Kelly, and another former Christie ally, David Wildstein, plotted in September 2013 to cause traffic jams in Fort Lee, Bergen County, near the George Washington Bridge. Prosecutors said the goal was to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee for his refusal to endorse Republican Christies reelection campaign that year.

The conspirators sought to cover up the scheme by promoting a sham story that the Port Authority, a multi-billion dollar agency, was conducting a traffic study, the evidence showed. Baroni repeated that lie to state lawmakers investigating the traffic jams.

The scheme unraveled when lawmakers obtained emails revealing an August 2013 missive from Kelly to Wildstein. Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee, it read. Got it," Wildstein responded.

Then the U.S. Attorneys Office in Newark started investigating.

Wildstein pleaded guilty in the case and testified as a government witness at trial. In July 2017, he was sentenced to three years probation.

Addressing the court before his sentencing Tuesday, Baroni said he had lost his sense of right and wrong when he went to work for Christie.

I chose to get sucked into his cult and his culture," Baroni told the judge, according to news reports.

In a letter to Wigenton, Baroni apologized for his actions, and said he had tried to make amends by volunteering with community organizations in New York and New Jersey.

In court papers, Baronis lawyers asked Wigenton to impose a sentence of six months incarceration and a period of home confinement. They said Baroni, himself an attorney, would likely be permanently disbarred and was essentially bankrupt."

Federal guidelines called for 12 to 18 months imprisonment.

Prosecutors recommended a minimum of 18 months, citing what they called Baronis outrageous abuse of power and brazen and wide-ranging perjury at trial.

Baroni was first elected to the Assembly in 2003 and served two terms before winning election to the Senate in 2007. Christie, who took office in 2010, appointed Baroni deputy executive director of the Port Authority. Wildstein served as Baronis chief of staff.

Christie, in his new book, Let Me Finish, writes that he considered Baroni a friend and a good person." But Baroni wasnt strong enough to say no to his best friend, lying felon David Wildstein, Christie writes.

It was Bills inability to do that one, simple thing  to say no to David Wildstein  that may ultimately cost him his freedom, the former governor continues. And it was my failure to see that in him that may have cost me the presidency of the United States.
Pennsylvania wont hold its primaries in the 2020 presidential race until well after the first few nominating states help narrow the field, but the Keystone State is already getting attention from at least one candidate for the Democratic nomination, hoping to show he can win voters who supported Donald Trump in 2016.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is pointing to an $11.1 billion merger between GE Transportation and railroad equipment manufacturer Wabtec Corp. in Erie as evidence of workers losing benefits even as corporate executives reap a windfall.

A day after Wabtec closed on the deal, workers at the locomotive plant went on strike Tuesday morning amid a labor dispute.

As soon as [Wabtec] came in  they said to their workers, were going to have mandatory overtime, were going to change the scheduling, and were going to substantially lower the pay for new workers, Sanders said during a CNN town-hall forum in Washington on Monday night.

And meanwhile, as a result of the merger, they gave tens and tens of millions of dollars in bonuses to CEOs and high-ranking officials, Sanders continued. That is whats going on all over this country. Large corporations cut health care and benefits for their workers, and the CEOs make 300 times what their workers make.

You go to Trump Country, Sanders said, and ask people there whether they think that makes sense.

Erie was one of three counties in Pennsylvania that voted for Barack Obama in 2012 and Trump in 2016, and helped make Trump the first Republican presidential candidate to carry the state since 1988.

Eries political turnabout was fueled in no small part by white working-class voters  such as many of those at the longtime GE plant.

But last year, Democrats performed well in Erie, with Gov. Tom Wolf, Sen. Bob Casey, and the partys congressional candidate each winning the county by around 20 percentage points.

A majority of Democratic voters want to nominate a presidential candidate in 2020 who would be a stronger contender against Trump, even if they dont agree with the candidate on most issues, according to a Feb. 4 Monmouth University poll. Just 33 percent prefer a candidate they agree with but who would have a hard time beating Trump, the poll found.

That may present a challenge to Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who ran an insurgent outsider campaign against Hillary Clinton in 2016. But the senators attention to the plight of workers in Erie shows how he thinks his class-based critique of the economy and corporate America could appeal to Rust Belt voters who went for Trump.

The unions representing 1,700 workers at the Erie plant announced a strike Tuesday morning, saying Wabtec had refused to accept a short-term agreement that preserves the wages, benefits, and working conditions of GE/Wabtec employees.

Wabtec proposed a contract in which current employees would continue to earn the same hourly rate, an average of $35 an hour, while new hires would be paid between $16.75 and $25 an hour, according to the local news outlet GoErie.com.

In a statement last week, Wabtech said the Erie plant is GE Transportations least competitive site and it has been for years," according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The company said its proposals are in keeping with working conditions at its unionized manufacturing facility in Wilmerding, Allegheny County. (Wabtec plans to move its corporate headquarters to Pittsburgh.)

Under Wabtecs merger with GE Transportation, the new company is expected to generate $8 billion in revenues with 27,000 employees in 50 countries. The deal makes Wabtec a Fortune 500 company.
Amicus Therapeutics, a growing biopharmaceutical company that focuses on rare and orphan diseases, is committing to Philadelphia in a big way.

Citing the city as a burgeoning hub for medical breakthroughs, Amicus will launch a new Global Research and Gene Therapy Center at uCitySquare.

A couple of dozen Amicus research employees already have moved into a temporary space in West Philadelphia. They will be joined by 200 new hires  biologists and chemists  when the companys 75,000-square-foot center opens in late 2019. The new facility will house the headquarters for the global Amicus science organization and the gene therapy leadership team. Amicus will retain its corporate headquarters in Cranbury, N.J.

Its a big deal for us, and I hope for Philadelphia, as well, said CEO John F. Crowley. Amicus will collaborate with top gene therapy researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Medicine, and seek additional partnerships with Drexel University and other regional institutions, he said. For us Philadelphia is a terrific fit to make medicines for people who have rare disorders.

Crowleys dramatic and unusual history in biotech was retold in the 2010 movie Extraordinary Measures, which starred Brandon Frasier and Harrison Ford.

As a newly minted Harvard MBA, Crowleys two youngest children were diagnosed as infants with Pompe disease, a rare ailment that ravages muscles and nerve cells. Rather than accept a diagnosis that would have consigned his kids to death at 8 years of age, Crowley  then a financial consultant  launched a company that pioneered enzyme replacement therapy and saved his childrens lives.

It wasnt a cure, but it improved their muscle strength and kept them alive, he said.

The company on Monday won breakthrough therapy designation from the FDA for its treatment for a late-manifesting form of the disease. The decision will speed development of the drug and helped the companys stock rise by 7 percent.

Crowley likens University Citys energy to that of the famed Kendall Square neighborhood of Cambridge, Mass., sometimes called the most innovative square mile on the planet.

This very much reminds me of what Kendall Square was a few years ago, Crowley said. This is a terrific environment and were just thrilled.

Amicus will be the flagship tenant of the new uCitySquare building at 3675 Market St., where it will occupy three floors. The company went public in 2007. From an initial staff of five, it now employs 600 people with international offices near London and in Tokyo. It has contract manufacturing plants in Switzerland, Ireland and China.

Christopher P. Molineaux, president and CEO of Life Sciences Pennsylvania, called the Amicus announcement a significant development in the life sciences community of Philadelphia. They will join the scientific and business prowess of our world-leading ecosystem, while bringing considerable jobs, expertise and innovation to tackle unmet medical needs for the ultimate beneficiary: patients.

Biotech has set down deep roots in University City in recent years. Spark Therapeutics, the gene therapy pioneer founded by researchers from Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, agreed to be sold on Monday to Roche Holding AG of Switzerland for $4.3 billion. Invisible Sentinel was acquired by Frances bioMerieux last week for $75 million. Invisible Sentinel is the Science Center incubator start-up that produces DNA tools to detect pathogens and spoilage organisms in food and beverage. Avid Radiopharmaceutics, a West Philly diagnostics company that detects amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimers disease, was acquired by Eli Lilly in 2010 for $800 million.

All of the companies intend to remain in West Philly as stand-alone divisions of bigger corporations, said Saul Behar, senior vice president of advancement and strategic initiatives at the University City Science Center.

Thats an indication of the strength of our biotech industry in general, Behar said. They see the value in staying here because of the Philadelphia market.

Crowley said proximity to the University of Pennsylvania and professor Jim Wilson of Penn medicines Orphan Disease Center was a major draw. We formalized a major collaboration with Dr. Wilson in the fall of 2018, and now well be literally down the street from him.

Amicus will be investigating gene therapy cures for Pompe disease and 14 other lethal diseases.

This is not CRISPR, Crowley said, referring to the novel gene editing technology. This is gene therapy, not gene editing. Dr. Wilson at Penn has been at the center of gene therapy. If this works, this should be a onetime treatment.

If the company is successful, Amicus wont have to make enzymes in big bioreactors with Chinese hamster ovary cells. Patients wont have to be hooked up to an IV machine every other week.

If we can replace the defective gene, their bodies can create the missing enzyme, Crowley said. But we have a lot more work to get there.

His daughter Megan was diagnosed with Pompe disease when she was 15 months old. His son, Patrick, when he was only seven days. The Crowley kids, and several thousand other children, have benefited from the enzyme therapy. Though still in a wheelchair and breathing through the aid of a ventilator, Megan is graduating from Notre Dame in May and plans to become a social worker.

In November, as Crowley was negotiating the deal with uCitySquare, he took Patrick to the Philadelphia Zoo.

We used to take him all the time when he was a little boy. He loved to look at the gorillas, Crowley said. "It was a beautiful late fall day. After we took him over to Market Street and showed him the building.

'This is where we think Amicus may be doing all our science and maybe well be able to invent a cure for your disease,'"Crowley said. "Patrick was sitting next to me in the minivan. All he said was amen.

Thats real hope," Crowley said. "Its still a long way to go. But now theres real hope.
Philadelphia city officials worked closely with Amazon and tried to slow down and amend legislation that would require retailers to take cash, according to emails between the city and the online retail giant.

When efforts to carve out Amazon from the proposed cash requirement did not satisfy the company, officials in the citys Commerce Department offered to work with the agency that would enforce the proposed law to ensure Amazons interests were protected, according to emails reviewed by the Inquirer.

The effort to intervene, by an Amazon employee who is not listed as a registered lobbyist with the citys Board of Ethics, targeted a bill that aims to protect poor Philadelphians from discrimination but could prevent the e-commerce giant from opening a store in the city. The measure  now on Mayor Jim Kenneys desk  could also affect the operations of city businesses such a salad chain, a coffee shop, and a student food hall.

The emails, provided by the Commerce Department in response to a request from the Inquirer, show the extent of Amazons backdoor lobbying  hidden from public scrutiny  even as the company hasnt publicly spoken about Philadelphias proposal to ban stores that dont accept cash.

If the Amazon employee was involved in discussion of legislation, thats absolutely lobbying, said Patrick Christmas, policy director at Committee of Seventy, a Philadelphia-based good-government advocacy group. Everyone needs to be able to see who is influencing the process.

In the loop

As lawmakers pushed to ban cashless stores, city officials kept Amazon in the loop and sought an amendment to the bill that would make the proposed cash requirement temporary, emails show.

Libby Peters, the Commerce Departments director of Policy and Performance, notified an Amazon employee on Jan. 16. that the Council bill has legs and was scheduled for a committee hearing on Feb. 5. Peters wrote that the bills primary sponsor, Councilman William Greenlee, was not receptive to our suggestions that we slow the process down or consider a sunset date on the legislation.

We said we would keep you in the loop if anything developed with the cashless business bill here in Philadelphia," Peters wrote to Jillian Irvin, a Washington-based public policy official at Amazon. "Once out of committee its very difficult to amend or slow down the bill. Any chance we could have a quick check in call with you?

Amazon plans to open up to 3,000 Amazon Go cashierless stores across the country over the next few years. The stores allow consumers with a mobile app to grab items they need and leave, eliminating the need for a traditional checkout process. After the customer leaves, Amazon charges the users online account.

Irvin, the Amazon official, emailed Greenlees office on Feb. 4 with a proposed amendment to the bill that would effectively exempt Amazon Go stores from the cash requirement.

Although Irvin clearly tried to shape legislation, she is not registered as a lobbyist with the citys Board of Ethics.

Philadelphia law requires lobbyists to register when they are paid at least $2,500 or perform 20 or more hours of lobbying during a quarterly reporting period. Violators can face fines of up to $2,000.

Its unclear how many hours Irvin worked on the Philadelphia bill, but direct communication by emails and phone calls started as early as Oct. 30 and has continued through through Feb. 12, according to records.

The Department of Commerce was not explicitly aware of Jill Irvins (the Amazon employee) status, or lack thereof, as a registered lobbyist, department spokesperson Lauren Cox said in a statement. Philadelphias regulations put the onus on the individual/firm rather than the City, so our staff did not ask Ms. Irvin about her status.

Amazon said it complied with all relevant lobbying laws.

Detrimental

Despite Amazons efforts, City Council ultimately passed legislation with language that Amazon believes could be detrimental as the company plans to open cashierless stores, emails show.

Amazon wanted language that would exclude retail locations that collect payment from customers solely by a mobile device application or by charging a customers Internet-based account, according to a copy of the proposal.

Instead, Council amended the measure to exclude retailers selling consumer goods exclusively through a membership model that requires payment by means of an affiliated mobile device application.

Greenlee has said that language should allow Amazon to open one of its stores in the city. But Amazon and its legal counsel dont think that the language is applicable to their model, according to Cox, the Commerce Department spokesperson. In particular, Amazon has concerns with the word membership because the companys Prime membership is not required to access Amazon Go stores, Cox said.

With all due respect to Amazon, they can request something but its our decision on how to word something, Greenlee said. They didnt get elected to make those decisions. We did.

After lawmakers advanced the bill from committee without Amazons amendment, First Deputy Commerce Director Sylvie Gallier Howard told Irvin there was still hope to fix the issue. She said the city could resolve the issue through regulation, or Amazon could contact another lawmaker.

You could try for the amendment again as there is still an opportunity or I can work with the Human Relations Commission to address through regulations, Howard wrote on Feb. 8. I believe Councilmember Green (not Greenlee) might be helpful with that amendment."

Irvin asked to be put in touch with Green. But she said the membership amendment may have made things worse.

So I think Greenlee is trying to be helpful, but unfortunately the membership concept may actually be more detrimental to us.
Of all the parts of the human body, the stubby little discs between the bones in the spine represent one of the more remarkable feats of natures design.

Consisting of tough, rubbery rings of collagen with jelly-like centers, they compress with every step we take. They twist. They flex. Over a lifetime of wear and tear, they replenish their supportive matrix of collagen despite having no internal blood supply.

It is really a marvel of engineering, said Robert L. Mauck, who as a biomedical engineer at the University of Pennsylvania, has the chops to say that.

So naturally, Mauck and a team of colleagues have attempted to recreate it in the lab.

Thats because natures design, though impressively rugged, does not last forever. With age, nearly everyones spinal discs degenerate to a degree, in some cases causing terrible pain. Lower -back pain was the worlds leading cause of disability in 2017, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. In severe cases, patients resort to having vertebrae fused together, but they lose flexibility and often are not satisfied with the result. One-third come back for repeat surgery.

In late 2018, the Penn team published a promising study of what they hope is a better option: replacement discs made from a combination of synthetic materials and living cells.

So far, the researchers have implanted their discs only in rats and goats, but they appear to behave much like the real thing, said Penn Medicine orthopedic surgeon Harvey E. Smith, the clinical leader of the effort.

Its a living structure, Smith said.

The results have impressed other researchers who are working on the same challenge, among them Lawrence J. Bonassar, a Cornell University biomedical engineering professor.

Clearly, there is more work to do, but obviously these results are incredibly encouraging, said Bonassar, whose team has reported success with implanting a different type of replacement disc in dogs.

It has taken more than a dozen years for the Penn team to get to this point, and a lot of varied expertise. In addition to engineers and orthopedists, the group includes veterinarian Thomas P. Schaer, a research director at Penns New Bolton Center, who joins Smith in implanting the experimental discs in the necks of goats.

Most of the study authors also are affiliated with the Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia, such as biomedical engineer Sarah Gullbrand, the lead author of the study, and some of their funding came from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. That is because members of the military suffer especially high rates of disc degeneration and back pain, whether from combat injury or operating large machinery, Mauck said.

Bus and truck drivers also may be at higher risk of disc degeneration, as are cigarette smokers  likely because smoking harms blood vessels, and therefore discs, among many other body parts.

When a disc ruptures or collapses, pain can arise in several ways, though the cause is not always clear.

Nearby nerves can be compressed, causing pain to shoot down the leg  a condition called sciatica. If the failed disc is in the neck, similar pain can travel down the arm.

Less clear is how disc failure causes pain in the back itself, said Smith, an associate professor at Penns Perelman School of Medicine. Some of the pain may be a kind of warning signal: the bodys attempt to limit motion so that an injured back can heal. Inflammatory chemicals and swelling can play a role.

In some cases of disc rupture or herniation, back pain lasts for years. But in others, it goes away after a few months, though their MRIs may look similar to those patients who remain in great pain. And plenty of older people with degenerating discs never experience the pain at all.

I could have someone whos 60, and they have bone on bone, and they dont have any pain, Smith said.

(In still other cases, back pain is purely a muscular ailment, which may be alleviated with rest followed by exercise.)

For those who suffer disc-related pain, one option is fusion, in which the surgeon removes the damaged disc and inserts a piece of bone in between the vertebrae. That decompresses the nerves but the joint can no longer move, so there may be more stress on the vertebrae above and below it.

Another option is a replacement disc made of metal and plastic. Those allow somewhat more motion than spinal fusion, but they wear out, eventually shedding small particles of debris  which can trigger immune reactions such as inflammation. And unlike other joints that surgeons replace with metal-and-plastic devices, such as the hip, the spine is a less forgiving environment, said Cornells Bonassar. The fluid-filled hip joint is better able to clear out some of the bits of plastic and metal.

In the spine, theres no place for all these particles to go, he said.

That is why the Penn team uses biodegradable materials to make its replacement discs: a sugar-like synthetic gel to mimic the collagen-based jelly inside a natural disc, and layers of a high-tech polymer to mimic the stiffer type of collagen that makes up the outer ring of a real disc. The polymer is made through a process called electrospinning, using electricity to draw out threads of fiber from a nozzle.

Also, as in natures design, the Penn teams replacement discs are seeded with living stem cells, which produce collagen over time to replace the synthetic materials as they degrade.

In the long run, its the cells were putting in that are going to maintain this living tissue, Mauck said.

Something about discs in the spine seems to inspire comparisons with food. Doctors commonly liken them to jelly doughnuts, though they are much sturdier.

Describing its replacement discs, the Penn team sticks with a culinary theme. Gullbrand makes each one by hand, wrapping the outer layers of polymer more than a dozen times around the inner core of sugar-like gel.

She wraps it sort of like you would wrap a cinnamon bun, almost, Mauck said.

The completed disc is somewhat squishy at first, then becomes more rigid within weeks as its cells produce collagen.

At first its like thick Jell-o, Mauck said during a laboratory tour.

And after it gets stiffer?

Maybe like a scallop? Gullbrand offered.

Thats perfect, Mauck said. It starts out like Jell-o and ends up like a scallop.

The discs in goat necks performed well for the two months their progress was followed. The animals retained their normal range of motion and the discs resisted compression much like natural discs, the authors reported in their study. Next steps include implanting discs into more goats, which will be followed for two years, and implanting discs in the lower back of rabbits.

It will be years before Smith can implant replacement discs into his human patients. If it works, people would achieve relief from pain while maintaining flexibility. And maybe the surgeon and his colleagues will get to the core of why some people suffer pain and others do not.

Back pain is sort of like the common cold, Smith said. Everyone has it. We know how to treat it. But were still trying to get down to the root causes. In terms of the fundamental science, we have a long way to go."
A former waiter at Wm. Mulherins Sons in Fishtown claims, in separate lawsuits filed Monday, that management defamed him during a sexual-harassment scandal last year and also skimmed tips from workers.

In the defamation case, filed in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, Michael Cona, who worked at the popular restaurant from its March 2016 opening until last March, says Alex Tewfik, the food editor of Philadelphia Magazine, had met with restaurant owners Randall Cook and David Grasso in February 2018 to discuss allegations by four former female employees that they had been harassed by the restaurants then-executive chef, Chris Painter, its then-general manager, Michael Jreidini, and two unidentified staff members.

The suit claims that Cona was suspended March 1, 2018, the day Tewfiks article appeared online, and that he was fired two weeks later. The suit says it was an editor from Philadelphia Magazine who reported the harassment allegations to Cook and Grasso, not the former workers themselves. The suit names Tewfik and the magazines parent company, Metrocorp. Holdings Inc., as well as Cook, Grasso and their company, Method Hospitality.

Cona denies having harassed anyone.

As possible motivation, the suit suggests that Tewfik had worked for Painter at Il Pittore restaurant and had contentious dealings with him. This gave Tewfik his own axe to grind, says the suit, filed by Center City lawyer J. Conor Corcoran and seeking damages in excess of $1 million. It alleges defamation, conspiracy, commercial disparagement, and intrusion upon seclusion  effectively invasion of privacy.

In response to the allegations last year, Cook and Grasso issued a statement that read, in part, that the suspensions were put in place after Philly Mag notified Cook and Grasso of the allegations. The suit says Cona was never contacted about the allegations before the articles publication and was never questioned.

Instead of questioning [Cona] about the allegations, [Grasso and/or Cook] lubriciously attempted to cover their own hides with [a statement] to both the reading public and the Philadelphia restaurant industry at large, and the other employees at the restaurant, more specifically, throwing [Cona] under the bus, the suit says.

Though Cona was not mentioned by name in the article, the suit claims that others in the restaurant industry knew that he was among those suspended and later fired. He was unable to find work for at least three months, the suit says. Courts have held that the use of someones name is not required to constitute libel or defamation.

Grasso, speaking on behalf of Cook and Method, said he had no comment.

This frivolous lawsuit is nothing but a baseless conspiracy theory," said Tom McGrath, editor of Philadelphia Magazine, speaking on behalf of the magazine and Tewfik. Philadelphia magazine carefully reported on serious allegations of sexual harassment by a chef and staff at a well-known Philadelphia restaurant. The plaintiff, who was let go by the restaurant, was not named in any of our articles. Yet he now claims the magazine should pay him no less than $1 million as a result of being out of work for three months. The magazine will not be bullied. Were confident that all claims against the magazine will be swiftly dismissed.

In a separate suit filed in U.S. District Court, which names Grasso, Cook, Method Hospitality, and Jreidini, Cona claims that Mulherins management forced waiters to give a portion of their tips to other restaurant staffers, such as busers, runners, and polishers.

Its called tip-skimming, and violates both the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and Philadelphias Gratuity Protection law, as well as a Pennsylvania law protecting employee wages. The suit seeks damages of at least $150,000.

The suit claims that when the restaurant first opened, tips were put into a bartender pool and a servers pool. Two percent from each pool went to the host or hostess, and 14 percent of each pool went to support staff.

Then, 8 percent to 12 percent of the server pool was moved to the bartender pool at a rate of 4 percent per bartender, per shift.

The suit says Jreidini later used a formula to allocate the tips for those in the support staff pool, based on their role at the restaurant.

The suit claims that some of the money went straight into the pockets of the defendants.

Cona says in the suit that he believes that servers had walked away with less than 50 percent of the tips.

Grasso, speaking on behalf of Cook and Method, said he had no comment. An attempt to reach Jreidini, who is now general manager at Suraya, was unsuccessful.
Wegmans started hosting live music in its stores on Friday nights as a test, and about a decade later, the events have spread to so many stores the company uses a booking agency to handle requests from local musicians.

But music is only the beginning of whats being offered at grocery stores. There are beer tastings, cheese nights, meatless Mondays, crab feasts, summer cookouts. The Whole Foods markets in Plymouth Meeting and Exton have rooftop yoga classes.

At the Weavers Way Co-op in Ambler, about 400 people show up each week for $4 Fridays to buy complete hot meals sold at a discount price. Some customers opt to stay and eat in the store, sitting at folding tables set up in the freezer aisle and visiting with friends.

Jon Roesser, general manager of the Weavers Way co-ops, said $4 Fridays were aimed at making the nonprofit into a place where locals could feel plugged into their community. The store recently served its 20,000th such meal.

That, to me, is what grocery stores should be in the 21st century, he said.

But such events are also a crucial way to get people into the grocery store  something that has become more challenging in the era of meal-delivery kits and online shopping. In a way, the events are an acknowledgment that an in-store Starbucks or sushi case is no longer enough to encourage in-person shoppers, who tend to spend more money than online buyers because they make impulse purchases.

Roesser oversees cooperative stores that are sustained in part by membership fees and that dont have to turn a profit. The goal is to break even financially, but in order to do that, the Weavers Way locations in Chestnut Hill, Mount Airy, and Ambler still depend on in-store sales.

Brick-and-mortar stores are trying to retain our relevance," Roesser said. "Were all trying to evolve as the industry evolves. Years ago, you had to go grocery shopping as a chore. Now, the chore is gone  you can get it delivered. So anyone whos selling food has to give you a reason to come here.

Kevin Lang is manager of the Wegmans store in King of Prussia, where Friday night concerts are a reliable draw, particularly in the summer, when the performances move to the outdoor patio and tables. There, people can buy food and drinks from Wegmans and eat or order from the Pub, a connecting restaurant. The setup works for families with picky eaters, he said, and often the performances are attended by friends of the bands, too.

I think theres a lot of people who see grocery shopping as a task," said Lang, who has worked for Wegmans for 30 years. "But I think if we can make it an enjoyable experience, something people look forward to, it goes a long way toward changing that attitude.

Wegmans in King of Prussia also hosts a crab fest with picnic tables and demonstrations by experts. On Saturdays, local breweries offer samples and educate people about new products. There are meet the farmer events to introduce customers to local produce and the people who grow it.

Its a great way for them to build their business," Lang said. Because, lets be honest, not all of our customers have the time or ability to visit their local farm stand once a week.

That lack of time has also led Wegmans to create more products designed for customers who might be drawn to meal kits, such as ready-to-cook meals that can be prepared in oven-safe bags.

Were constantly innovating as a company, but I think you miss some of that innovation by only going online," Lang said. Its pretty simple: If you see something new and you can taste it or learn about it, youre more likely to buy it.

Whole Foods has long supported in-store tasting events and demonstrations, often featuring local businesses. Every store in the Philadelphia region offers tastings on Saturday afternoons, and some stores also host cheese nights, weekly live jazz concerts and, in the summer, yoga on the roof.

The Devon store hosts Thursday night cookouts in the summer with beer tastings and live music designed for families who go away for long weekends.

They dont want to cook and clean the night before they leave, store team leader Ken Letherer said.

At Weavers Way in Ambler, the $4 Friday meals always include a main course and two sides  a recent menu was pork vindaloo, green beans and coconut, and rice  and there is always a vegan option. The dinners draw all kinds of customers, Roesser said.

Weve got people who come in once a week for their meal, and thats perfectly fine, he said. Thats great. Because, otherwise, those folks arent coming in the door at all.

Friends often come together or bump into each other there. On a recent January evening, a few tables of seniors clustered at the front of the store near the live music, while families with toddlers took seats at folding tables in the freezer aisle.

Christopher and Alexandra Lee, who live near the store, often come and bring their year-old daughter, Lyla. Its so convenient for us, Christopher Lee said. We can sit and eat, and she likes walking around. Its a safe place for her to explore.

On that night, they ran into one of Lees coworkers, Travis Whitmer, who was picking up meals to take home to his family.

I tell everyone about $4 Fridays, Whitmer said. People ask what Im doing  I tell them to come with me.

The dinners dont make money, Roesser said. The goal is to break even (an advantage of operating as a nonprofit, he added). But the bargain meals may pay off once diners start browsing the aisles, he said. And keeping the dinners priced low allows the store to combat a common misconception: that a co-op is an expensive place to shop.

This is a community co-op, so wed better be walking the walk, which is that were here for everyone," he said.
Logansport, IN (46947)

Today

Rain showers in the morning with scattered thunderstorms arriving in the afternoon. High 88F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Isolated thunderstorms during the evening, then mainly cloudy overnight. Low 69F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
A Lebanon County teacher is facing charges after police say he showed a photo of his penis to a student.

According to the Pennsylvania State Police at Jonestown, the incident occurred Sept. 18 at Northern Lebanon High School in Bethel Township.

Matthew Lord, 36, of Bernville, has been charged with unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors and indecent exposure and was arraigned today before Magisterial District Judge Kim Wolfe, who set unsecured bail at $50,000.

According to police, Lord, a teacher, showed a 17-year-old student a picture of his penis on his cellphone.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April.
According to preliminary reports, the unofficial Penn State students ' drinking holiday known as State Pattys" was either: A) a little tamer than usual this year; or B) just what people have come to expect.

State College police told PennLive Monday they wont have their official tabulation of related calls for several days because of changes in the departments records management system. So reserve final judgments until then.

But early reports from officers on duty through the weekend suggested that the overall number of police calls was down.

As far as State Pattys went yesterday it seemed to be a little bit more mild, State College police Lt. Bradley Smail told the Centre Daily Times Sunday. Just generally speaking from officers coming in, theyre saying it seemed to be a little less busy than it has been in years past.

At Mount Nittany Medical Center, however, the emergency department reported a slight uptick in alcohol-related calls from noon Friday through noon Sunday, from 42 in 2018 to 46 this year. Spokeswoman Anissa Ilie noted, however, she could not say whether all of those calls were related to State Pattys Day.

The drinking holiday began in 2007, when students who were frustrated that they would be on spring break over Saint Patricks Day, organized a separated weekend to get their Irish up.

The event - and related problems - grew for several years, reaching the point where it really became one of many State College residents least favorite associations with Penn State. In 2011, for example, there were 338 arrests or citations reported between State College and Penn State police.

That number had fallen back to 160 last year, according to the CDT, in conjunction with steps like limits on the number of visitors permitted in Penn States dorms.
A woman who police believe killed five family members with the help of her 19-year-old daughter told investigators that everyone in the house wanted to die and talked about suicide, according to an affidavit filed by police.

Shana Decree, 45, and Dominique Decree, 19, are charged with killing five family members, including three children, inside a Bucks County apartment Monday Both are facing five counts of criminal homicide and one count of conspiracy in the Morrisville slayings.

Shana and Dominique Decree were each found after social workers went to the apartment, but got no answer. At their request, a maintenance worker opened the apartment. He found the apartment in disarray and people in bed inside the apartment who seemed disoriented, and called 911.

Officers responding then found the bodies of five individuals, but police have not said how they died.

All 7 found in small bedroom with Queen size bed. Two women alive found in bed. 9yr old twin girls on top of each other on floor. Two adult women&son,13,found on both sides of bed. All lived in 3 bedroom apt. Morrisville has been here for two disturbance calls in past 2mos 1/2 pic.twitter.com/5owiXChpbR  Steve Keeley (@KeeleyFox29) February 26, 2019

Breaking: Bucks County authorities have confessions in killings of 5 in family. 5 likely had been dead at least 3 days. Dept of Human Service staffer came Saturday to check family&left business card when no one answered door. Car still in door so she called police @FOX29philly pic.twitter.com/owFeDzJ2JH  Steve Keeley (@KeeleyFox29) February 26, 2019

According to the criminal complaint, the disoriented people were identified as Shana and Dominique Decree.

At 5:40 p.m., Morrisville Police Chief George McClay and detectives with the Bucks County arrived to find an apartment they describe in court documents as in disarray, with furniture tuned over and with broken glass and clutter throughout. The caseworker who initially responded told officers the apartment was not in a disarray when she last visited on Feb. 5.

Officers found two unoccupied bedrooms at the end of a hallway in the residence - behind the last door on the left was another bedroom, where officers initially found four bodies, according to the criminal complaint.

A man was found on the bed face up, with his right foot through the wall into the adjacent bedroom, according to the criminal complaint. The body of a female child was found on the floor face up at the foot of the bed, and another female was found to the left of the bed in a seated position against the bed.

Bodies of two other females were also found in the bedroom.

The dead were identified as Shana Decrees two children, NaaIrah Smith, 25, and Damon Decree Jr., 13, both of Morrisville; Shana Decrees sister, Jamilla Campbell, 42, of Trenton, New Jersey, and Campbells 9-year-old twin daughters, Imani and Erika Allen.

Morrisville police Chief George McClay said one of the twins was stacked on top of the other, and they were covered, so officers didnt at first see the bodies.

At the hospital, both Dominique Decree and Shana Decree waived their Miranda rights and chose to talk to officers without the presence of an attorney.

Dominique Decree had visible injuries on her neck, and at first denied knowing what happened. She told officers she lived at the residence with her mother, her sister NaaIrah Smith, her brother, her aunt Jamilla, and her aunts twin daughters.

Dominique Decree at first told officers an unknown man caused the injuries to her neck, denied knowing what happened, and asked if her family was alive. She also repeatedly said she wished to die, according to the complaint.

Shana Decree also denied knowing what happened, and said Jamillas boyfriend and two other men came into the apartment and killed everyone except her and Dominique, according to the complaint.

After being told by police that her mother identified a potential suspect, Dominique also named Jamillas boyfriend and two other men as the assailants.

Shana Decree later told police that everyone in the apartment, including the 9-year-old twins and the 13-year-old, wanted to die, according to the criminal complaint. She also said that everyone in the residence, including the children, were talking about suicide.

Dominique Decree then told police that Shana Decree killed two of the children and NaaIrah Smith, that Jamilla Cambell choked another child to death, and that Dominique Decree choked Jamilla Campbell to death.

Police said they have not yet been able to confirm when or in what order the victims died.

McClay said the twins father was at the scene Monday night and was cooperating with police. He is not considered a suspect, McClay said.
Eric King claimed he wasnt the gunman in a fatal December 2016 shooting inside a Harrisburg bar, city Detective Jason Paul told a Dauphin County jury Tuesday.

In fact, Paul said, King contended that he wasnt even in ODs Plantation at Sycamore and 16th streets the night Derick Garner was shot.

That, the detective said, is what King told him during an interview at the police station about 12 hours after Garner received his fatal wounds.

He said he wasnt at ODs, and he didnt shoot somebody because he doesnt carry a gun, Paul said under questioning by Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Gettle.

Gettle is contending Kings claims are belied by surveillance video from the bar that investigators say shows King shooting Garner. She played a clip of the video for the jurors on Monday.

The prosecutor is seeking a first-degree murder conviction and life prison term for the 36-year-old King. The killing, she claims, occurred over disrespect King believed Garner had shown him.

Public defenders Mary Klatt and Joseph Hartye are contending that King believed he had to shoot Garner or risk being shot by Garner.

Paul testified that King kept denying involvement in Garners slaying even when he confronted King about the bar video and about a 9mm pistol was found at the home of Kings mother.

In earlier testimony Tuesday, Corporal Nicholas Sciana, a state police firearms expert, said he linked that pistol to five spent shell casings found at the murder scene. Sciana said two bullets found in and outside the bar were too mutilated to be connected with any gun.

Under cross-examination by Hartye, Paul said several witnesses who were in ODs when the shooting occurred denied seeing anything, even though they would have been just feet from Garner when he was shot.

Thats very common. People dont want to help the police, Paul said. I assume they dont want to be called a snitch.

Detective Jon Fustine said King was apprehended with help from Kings own cell phone. He said police secured a court order to ping Kings phone to determine its location. That led investigators to the Middletown-area home of Kings mother, he said.

King was arrested after he was spotted driving away from his moms apartment complex, Fustine said.

The trial is to resume Wednesday in Judge William T. Tullys courtroom. On Tuesday afternoon, King told the judge he intends to testify.

As an aside, members of Garners family said Garner would have marked his 47th birthday on Tuesday. Garners mother spent her birthday sitting in the gallery during first day of Kings trial on Monday.
Harrisburg police on Monday identified a man shot to death in a vehicle near Maclay and Jefferson streets as 35-year-old Michael Evans Turner.

Police were called to the 2100 block of Jefferson streets about 11 a.m. on a report of someone firing a gun into a white Ford Escape that was parked along the curb. Officers arrived and found Turner in the drivers seat, fatally wounded.

Police did not release any additional details, including whether Turner was believed to be alone in the vehicle prior to the shooting or whether he lived in the area. Police also did not release any suspect information.

The investigation is ongoing, police said.

The crime scene is located across the street from a vacant lot where a proposed Autozone store is planned.

2019 CENTRAL PA. HOMICIDE MAP: Click to see the homicides that have happened in central Pennsylvania in 2019.


Did Eric King shoot and kill another man at a Harrisburg bar out of genuine fear or because he was angry about being disrespected?

Thats the question a Dauphin County jury is being asked to decide. The facts it will need to come up with an answer began amassing when Kings murder trial began in Judge William T. Tullys courtroom Monday afternoon.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Gettle came out swinging. Shes seeking a first-degree murder conviction and life prison sentence for the Dec. 29, 2016 killing of 44-year-old Derick Garner at ODs Plantation.

Hell hath no fury like a man disrespected, Gettle told the jurors in her opening statement. Eric King felt that he was being disrespected.

King, now 36, and two friends went to ODs at 16th and Sycamore streets after being refused entry at another bar, Bills Cafe, where King had been flagged for carrying a gun the week before, the prosecutor said.

While at ODs one of Kings friends felt that Derick Garner was staring too much at him and a dispute ensued, she said. When King tried to intervene, Garner told him to mind his own business, Gettle said.

That irked King, she insisted. She said King was leaning against a pool table when he drew his pistol, spun around and shot Garner.

Garner, who was hit by one bullet, ran from the bar. King also left the bar, then fired four more shots at the fleeing Garner, hitting him two more times, Gettle said.

There was nothing that happened in that bar that justified what (King) did, she argued.

King initially denied even being in the bar when Garner was shot, Gettle said. She promised to show the jury surveillance video from ODs which belies that claim and backs her contention that the killing was intentional.

Gettle stressed that the murder weapon, a 9 mm pistol, was recovered from the home of Kings mother. Also, she said, gunshot residue was found on Kings hands and clothing.

Self-defense was not what was going on here, she said.

Yes, it was, First Assistant Public Defender Mary Klatt countered.

She said King had reason to be edgy. In January 2008 he was shot and severely wounded while walking home from ODs, Klatt said.

That, and the later acquittal of the accused shooter, created a cycle of fear for her client, she said, and that fear remained embedded in the back of his mind.

She insisted that fear rose to the surface during the hostile, threatening conversation with Garner inside the bar. She claimed King shot Garner inside ODs because he believed Garner was preparing to shoot him.

Klatt said King kept shooting at Garner outside the bar because he feared Garner was trying to ambush him.

She urged the jurors not to give undue weight to the silent surveillance footage Gettle will show.

There is far more to this case than meets the eye, Klatt said. Eric genuinely believed this was a shoot or be shot situation.
Corrina Mehiel was a budding artist who specialized in work that provided social commentary. She had turned abandoned bicycles and broken parking meters into works of art and crafted pieces that drew attention to water contamination.

Mehiel, 34, who grew up in Central Pennsylvania and once headed the Harrisburg nonprofit arts organization, Danzante, had come to Washington excited to work on an exhibit at George Washington Universitys Corcoran School of the Arts and Design. Just as she was wrapping up in the spring of 2017 and preparing to return to her North Carolina home, her colleagues were unable to reach her. They found her fatally stabbed inside her apartment, her legs tied with black stretch pants.

On Monday, a D.C. Superior Court jury heard opening statements from attorneys and prosecutors followed by emotional testimony from family and friends in the first day of the trial of a homeless D.C. man charged in Mehiels killing.

Nearly a week after Mehiel was found dead on March 21, 2017, authorities arrested El Hadji Alpha Madiou Toure, 29. He is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, sexual assault, robbery, burglary and other offenses. Federal prosecutors also added an enhanced penalty saying the killing was heinous, atrocious and cruel. If convicted, Toure faces life in prison without parole.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Nestler told jurors that Toure did not know Mehiel and targeted her for robbery. He said the defendant forced his way into Mehiels apartment, sexually assaulted her and then killed her.

Toures DNA was found on Mehiels body and on the leggings, authorities said. Nestler also said Mehiels DNA was found inside Toures backpack, which authorities found at the time of his arrest. Authorities said a security video showed Toure using Mehiels bank card.

Toures public defenders say their client did not kill Mehiel and that authorities were pressured to make an arrest quickly because of media attention on the case.

Defense attorney Emily Stirba said that the Mehiel attack was similar to another that occurred a little more than two weeks earlier. In that case, the victim also was sexually assaulted and bound.

Mr. Toure is innocent, but detectives had tunnel vision and were pressured to close this case. You will see that the previous attack had the same patterns as Ms. Mehiels attack, Stirba said.

Stirba added that after Toures arrest, detectives investigated to see whether Toure could have been involved in the earlier attack. Stirba said they discovered that Toure had signed himself into a homeless shelter run by Catholic Charities at the time of the attack.

No arrests had been made in the sexual assault case. Nestler said in his opening statement that it was unrelated to Mehiels killing.

Toures attorneys also note that no weapon used in the killing was found and that there were no injuries to Toure at the time of his arrest.

Stirba suggested that Toure and Mehiel had a consensual sexual relationship. She said that there was no connection between her clients use of Mehiels credit and ATM cards and her slaying.

According to court documents, Toure drove Mehiels car and repeatedly used her bank card in Maryland and the District.

Corrina Mehiel, who grew up in central Pennsylvania, was in Washington D.C. working on an exhibit at the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design.

Police said they found paperwork with Toure that showed he had purchased a Ford Taurus after Mehiels death, and had made a $1,000 down payment.

Mehiels body was found in the apartment where she was staying in the 600 block of 14th Street NE, near the H Street corridor.

Mehiels family members sat in Judge Juliet McKennas courtroom on Monday, some wiping away tears as a recording was played of the 911 call from Mehiels boss, artist Mel Chin. He had gone to search for her when she failed to show up for work.

Chin testified how the 911 operator asked him to determine whether the woman needed CPR. He told the operator, after touching Mehiels leg, that her body was cold. It doesnt look good, Chin told the operator. No. Shes not breathing. Shes cold. We need someone here. I think someone killed her.

Mehiels father, Ronald, testified that his daughter earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees in art and chose to work on pieces that had a social component as an effort to bring change.

On the Sunday before she was to drive to back to North Carolina, Mehiel said that he spoke to his daughter and that she was excited about returning home. I said, I love you and be careful.  That was the last time they spoke.
Gov. Tom Wolfs latest attempt to raise money for the Pennsylvania State Police by imposing a fee of up to $166 per person on municipalities that rely on the department for police protection may not be the end-all, be-all solution but its an idea that is hoped will get the conversation started with the General Assembly.

Acting state police Commissioner Robert Evanchick told state lawmakers at a House budget hearing on Monday that finding a resolution to his departments funding dilemma becomes increasingly important with each passing year.

Lawmakers want to scale back the amount of money they divert from the Motor License Fund to help cover the state polices budget. Money from that fund  constitutionally restricted for highway construction, safety and repair  now underwrites $770 million, or two-thirds, of the state polices $1.3 billion budget. Lawmakers are looking to reduce that by $30 million to $40 million a year until it reaches no more than $500 million.

Its important that we are funded no matter where the funding comes from, Evanchick told the House Appropriations Committee. Im trying to fund the Pennsylvania State Police so we can keep providing the services that citizens deserve.

The governors latest proposal calls for charging municipalities with fewer than 2,000 residents an $8 per person fee. The sliding scale per-capita fee rises incrementally based on municipal populations until it reaches a high of $166 per person for communities with more than 20,000 residents.

Adding to the state polices funding problem is the growing number of municipalities that depend the department for their full- or part-time police coverage. Already this year, two more municipalities disbanded their locally funded police departments. That comes on the heels of seven municipalities that did the same thing last year.

At this point, 1,297 of the states 2,561 municipalities depend on the state police for full-time police coverage. More than 400 others look to the state police to provide part-time coverage to supplement their own departments.

Rep. Austin Davis, D-Allegheny County, however, represents some of the communities that have their own police forces and limited resources.

Were kind of tired of subsidizing other parts of the state, he said.

Republican lawmakers on the committee who represent some of the less-populated communities didnt voice outright opposition to the idea of charging a fee to communities reliant the state police. However, they said a per-capita fee could become cost prohibitive for municipalities particularly those that have low crime rates.

After hearing state police officials acknowledged their coverage of the municipalities it covers is primarily incident driven rather than routine patrolling, Rep. Fred Keller, R-Union County, said a fee-for-service model might be the more equitable way to go.

Evanchick said the department is looking at that. But he also noted that it can be hard to quantify the cost. For example, he said it seems unfair to charge a municipality for incidents that involve someone from outside the area who drives through a community and gets involved in a crash or criminal incident.

Keller said perhaps traffic-related incidents could be extrapolated and the state police could base its fee on a communitys three-year average number of incidents to which they responded.

That doesnt seem like its unreasonable to me, Keller said.

When Evanchick went before the Senate Appropriations Committee last week, committee Chairman Pat Browne, R-Lehigh County, voiced frustration with the governors repackaged per-capita fee proposal. He said charging a fee based on population doesnt track the actual services that are being provided in a way thats defendable.

Until a fee-for-service funding model is put on the table, Browne said he was going to recommend to his caucus not to take the governors proposal seriously.

Wolf spokesman J.J. Abbott said, Weve always said if the Legislature is interested in addressing the larger issue which is the unsustainable current funding structure for the state police, we are open to hearing alternative proposals that address the same goal.

Without the $103 million that the governors proposal raises for the state police, Evanchick said there would be no money to fund three cadet classes a year to train troopers to replace the 150 to 300 who retire annually. Further, overtime costs would rise and safety equipment couldnt be purchased.

He said, Theres a lot of things we would probably have to cut back on.
A New Jersey man who claimed despair over the death of his baby daughter led him to participate in the robbery of a Hummelstown bank has been sentenced to 5  years in federal prison.

James Spratley, 40, will have to wait a while before beginning that jail term, however.

U.S. Middle District Senior Judge Sylvia H. Rambo ordered Spratley to serve his bank robbery sentence consecutively to a 2- to 7-year state prison sentence he is serving on convictions in Lebanon County on child endangerment and drug charges.

Spratley was among three men charged with the July 2017 robbery of the Fulton Bank branch. He was the one investigators said walked into the bank and handed a teller a note stating HOLD UP.

The robbers got away with more than $2,000 but were captured after their getaway car crashed into a box truck near the Harrisburg Mall.

Spratley pleaded guilty to a federal bank robbery charge. In a sentencing memorandum, defense attorney Michael Palermo said a family tragedy prompted Spratley to participate in the crime.

Spratleys year-old daughter died from a bacterial infection three months before the robbery, Palermo said. The child endangerment conviction in Lebanon County stemmed from the living conditions in the attic where Spratleys family was residing, Palermo said.

He said the death of Spratleys daughter led him on a tailspin of drug use and made him susceptible to the invitation to join in the bank robbery plot. Spratley suffered a broken back in the crash that followed the robbery and suffers chronic pain, Palermo wrote.

Spratley is the last of the robbers to be sentenced.

Alphonso Holmes, 34, of Hummelstown, the driver of the getaway car, also pleaded guilty to a federal bank robbery charge and this past July was sentenced by Rambo to 46 months in prison.

Josue Rivera, 27, of Lebanon, was prosecuted in Dauphin County Court. Judge Deborah E. Curcillo sentenced him to 7 to 23 months in county prison in March 2018 after he pleaded guilty to robbery and conspiracy charges.
Gov. Tom Wolf wants every school district teacher in Pennsylvania to earn at least $45,000 a year.

He proposed the idea during his annual budget address this month. Heres what you need to know about the idea.

How much do teachers earn now?

The average classroom teacher in Pennsylvania had a salary above $67,000 last year. But salaries vary widely across the state.

State law only requires a minimum teacher salary of $18,500.

In five Pennsylvania school districts, the average classroom teacher  not just ones at the bottom of the pay scale  had a salary below $45,000 last year.

Across the state, 180 out of 500 Pennsylvania school districts would receive money to raise the minimum salaries above $45,000.

Which districts would benefit?

A lot of districts that benefit are in rural parts of the state. The five districts that would receive the most money are in Cambria, Somerset and Fayette counties.

But some districts in more urban areas, such as Scranton and Reading, would benefit.

Wolfs proposal would send about $377,000 to the Scranton School District and about $263,000 to the Reading School District.

Most districts in the Philadelphia suburbs and southcentral Pennsylvania wouldnt receive money under the proposal.

How much would the proposal cost?

Nearly $14 million for one year, according to the Wolf administration.

Thats a relatively small amount when it comes to state money K-12 education  the state expects to spend about $6 billion on its basic education subsidy this year.

The state money would cover salary increases, plus costs that rise as someones salary increases: retirement contributions, as well as Social Security and Medicare taxes. Thats according to Rick Levis, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Whos opposed?

The chairman of the state Senate Education Committee, Ryan Aument, said a lot of his Republican colleagues werent very enthusiastic about the idea when Wolf proposed it. That includes Republicans who represent school districts that would receive extra money, the Lancaster County Republican said.

My sense is there was a lot of concern, Aument said.

The Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials opposes the measure. Jay Himes, executive director of the group, pointed to regional differences in the cost of living as a reason why pay differs.

And he said the teachers can bargain for higher salaries during local contract negotiations.

Everybody gets a fair shot at it, Himes said.

Who supports the proposal?

Wolf obviously does.

So does the states largest teachers union, the Pennsylvania State Education Association.

Whats the argument against the proposal?

One of the biggest objections to the idea is to its potential ripple effects.

Jim Panyard raised that concern through the Listening Post feature of PA Post.

Hes the former chief executive of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association, a powerful business group in Harrisburg.

Panyard, in his words, once had a quixotic run for the gubernatorial nomination for the Republican Party, which fell drastically short. He dropped out before the 2006 primary.

In his Listening Post question, he asked what would happen to all the teachers already earning above $45,000. He thinks he knows the answer.

It has a ripple-up effect, if you will, to jack everyone elses salaries up, Panyard said.

Aument, the chairman of the Senate Education Committee, raised the same concern.

Teacher salaries are generally negotiated between school boards and unions based on an educators years of service and degrees earned.

If the state raises the floor to $45,000 a year, then its reasonable to expect that will influence contract negotiations, Aument said.

For instance, if teachers with 10 years of experience are earning $45,000 in one district, they would likely not want to earn the same as a first-year teacher in the district.

That ripple effect would not be covered by the nearly $14 million proposal. And Aument thinks the ripple effect would be a lot larger than $14 million, arguing that it could impact every teacher in the district and even neighboring ones.

Marc LeBlond, a senior policy analyst with the conservative Commonwealth Foundation, argued that the best way to improve teacher salaries would be to increase competition among employers  by that, he means do more to encourage the number of charter school and private school options.

Whats the argument for the proposal?

Gov. Tom Wolf delivers his budget address for the 2019-20 fiscal year to a joint session of the Pennsylvania House and Senate at the state Capitol in Harrisburg, February 5, 2019. Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, is at left, and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is at right. Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.comPENNLIVE.COM

In his budget address, Wolf said, classroom teachers have too often been getting the short end of the stick. He argued the proposal would help districts across the state, particularly in rural areas, compete to recruit and retain the very best professionals in education.

This could be a game-changer for our schools, Wolf said.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association says teachers deserve a salary that is in line with others who have bachelors or masters degrees.

We shouldnt have highly dedicated teachers who are strapped with student loan debt, who are unable to pay their bills or make ends meet, PSEA spokesman Chris Lilienthal said.

He said demands and requirements have increased for teachers, and teachers are working with a higher percentage of students with special needs and English as a second language.

Shane Hazenstab, the superintendent of the Conemaugh Valley School District, said the salary money would would obviously impact teacher morale and likely would lessen our teacher turnover. His Cambria County district would receive a little over $693,000  which is more than any other district in the state.

As for potential ripple effects, Levis with the Pennsylvania Department of Education said the governor has significantly increased education funding over the past four years. That money, he said, is going to support all of the states school districts, including local contract decisions.

What happens after the first year?

That was another question submitted to the Listening Post.

Wolf has said the proposal will be fully funded by the state.

Under Wolfs proposal, the salary increase money would be built into the basic education funding that is the largest source of state funding for schools.

That money is subject to debate in the state Capitol each budget season. But Lilienthal with the Pennsylvania State Education Association is optimistic lawmakers would not cut it.

He said the basic education funding line has only been cut once in at least the last 30 years.

The results of that cut were devastating to schools  something that many, many lawmakers saw firsthand in their local school districts and are not eager to repeat, Lilienthal said in an email. A basic education funding cut could happen in the future but is highly unlikely.

Who is covered by the proposal?

Overall, about 3,200 people, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

It goes beyond classroom teachers and covers other professional staff members, such as school nurses, library specialists and counselors.

Who is not covered by the proposal?

Support staff members, such as instructional aides, arent.

Neither are teachers in charter schools.

Why arent charter school teachers included?

Charter schools are already excluded from teacher salary requirements, Wolfs press secretary, J.J. Abbott, wrote on Twitter.

This is misleading, at best. The Charter Law excludes charter schools from meeting teacher salary requirements, not our proposal, which raises the threshold for existing requirements.



Glad to have your support for raising teacher salaries! https://t.co/4PpErlV2Uk  J.J. Abbott (@jjabbott) February 19, 2019

Charter schools are public schools. But Ana Meyers, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, told The Morning Call of Allentown that its a good thing charter schools arent covered by the same salary requirements as districts.

Charter schools were designed to have greater flexibility than traditional public schools, she said.

Teacher salaries in charter schools are typically lower than in public school districts.

Across the state, there were nearly 50 charter schools where the average classroom teacher had a salary of less than $45,000 last year.

How do teacher salaries in Pennsylvania compare to other states?

The National Education Association has some data on this. The national teachers union says:

The average teacher salary nationally was $59,660 in 2016-2017.

In Pennsylvania, the average was higher: $66,265.

But, again, there is a wide variety among school districts. Pennsylvanias school funding system and disparities between rich and poor districts is the subject of a lawsuit. A trial is scheduled for 2020.

Whats next?

The proposal is expected to come up during budget hearings for the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Those hearings are scheduled for March 4 in the House and March 5 in the Senate.
SULPHUR, La. (AP)  Police say a man wearing a gorilla suit broke into a Louisiana home and hid under a mattress before officers arrested him.

News outlets quote Sulphur Police Department spokesman Mel Estes in Thursday reports as saying that officers saw Jeremie Moran walking through yards in the costume. They had received calls about a suspicious person looking into homes.

Estes says Moran ran into a home as officers approached but was discovered hiding. He was jailed on charges including resisting an officer, unauthorized entry, meth possession and wearing a mask.

In Louisiana, a person convicted of wearing a mask in public can be sentenced to three years in prison at most. Exceptions are allowed for religious purposes or on holidays like Halloween and Mardi Gras.

Its unclear if Moran has a lawyer who could comment.
At 12:17 p.m. Feb. 26, 1993, a 1,200-pound bomb in a rented truck exploded in the parking garage of the North Tower of New Yorks World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others.

The explosion knocked out the World Trade Center's power - which disabled the sprinklers, generators, elevators, public address system and the emergency command center.

In March 1994, terrorists Mohammad Salameh, Ahmad Ajaj, Nidal Ayyad and Mahmoud Abouhalima were convicted of the bombing and sentenced to 240 years in prison. Their sentences are later reduced to 100 years.

The man allegedly behind the plot to blow up the World Trade Center, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef was later captured, convicted and sentenced to 240 years in prison. The driver of the van, Eyad Ismoil also was captured, convicted and sentenced to 240 years in prison.

The FBI also uncovered plots to blow up the George Washington Bridge, the United Nations and other New York landmarks.

The attack also had a local connection. In 1993, the FBI raided the home of Kelvin E. Smith near New Bloomfield, Perry County, saying he allowed Muslim fundamentalists to receive military-type training at a public shooting range on his property.

While the three did fire weapons at Smith's range, Smith said he had no idea who they were.

Smith had said he thought the men were mercenaries who planned to help the Muslims in Bosnia.

Smith pleaded guilty in September of 1999 to three counts of making false statements to the FBI and one count of destroying evidence - he dumped four semiautomatic assault rifles in the Delaware River. In 1999 he was sentenced to 366 days in prison.

At the time, the World Trade Center bombing was one of the worst terror attacks in United States. Eight years later on Sept. 11, 2001, the United States faced the worst when Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked airplanes and flew them into the World Trade Center, bringing down both towers and killing thousands of people.
A river, that river from the movie, A River Runs through It, runs through Lancaster Saturday and Sunday, March 9-10, as the Lancaster Fly Fishing Show returns for its eighth edition at the Lancaster County Convention Center in the city.

The show will be packed with top names in the world of fly fishing, including Tom Baltz, Bob Clouser, Joe Humpreys and Gary Borger, demonstrating skills like fly casting and fly tying, as well as 2019s newest gear, gadgets and tools. There will be 15 presentations per hour throughout the show.

The Lancaster County Convention Center will feature all-things-fly-fishing  for beginner to seasoned veteran  with seminars, casting demonstrations, fly-tying, destination films, Fly Fishing Film Festival, and the newest tackle and clothing in a sold-out exhibition hall.

The show will feature a tribute ceremony to the late fly-fishing icon Bernard Lefty Kreh on Saturday afternoon.

Among the more than $40,000 in national show door prizes are trips to Pesca Maya, Ascension Bay, Quintana Roo, Mex., $5,692; three days fishing, three nights of lodging and accommodations at the Restigouche River Lodge, New Brunswick, Canada, $5,350; four nights/three days Lodge Fishing Package for two anglers at the Belize River Lodge, Belize, $5,050; four nights, three days, steelhead fishing at Alaskas Boardwalk Lodge, $4,395; and Nervous Waters four nights/three days of golden dorado at Suinda Lodge in Corrientes Province, Argentina, $3,800. Others include Nervous Waters four nights/three days of golden dorado at Pira Lodge, Corrientes Province, Argentina, $3,800; three nights/two days for two persons at Andros Island Bonefish Club, $2,904; Iceland Fishing Guides two days in Iceland for one person, $2,500; Soaring Eagle Lodge on the San Juan River in northwestern New Mexico, with three nights lodging and meals and two days of guided fishing for two anglers, $2,100.

Additional door prizes are a Tom Morgan Rodsmiths flyrod, $1,850; WaterMaster raft with accessories, $1,695; seven days at Weatherbys Maine Sporting Lodge for one, $1,603; Fisheads San Juan River Lodge three nights lodging, two days of float fishing for two, $1,520; and two days guided fishing on Davidson River private water or two days float trip for two, plus two-nights lodging at Hemlock Hideaway Cabin in Pisgah Forest, $1,500.

A total of 11 classes with fly-tying and casting experts, including Casting Strategies with Gary Borger and Situational Nymphing with George Daniel, are open for advance registration. Class fees are $85 and include admission to the show for the day.

Fly Fishers International will host a free learning center with casting, fly-tying, knot tying, rigging and choosing a fly.

Among the Destination Theater presentations are programs on Eastern Trophy Tailwaters, Pennsylvania Blue Ribbon Trout Streams, Tactical Dry Fly Fishing, Big Flies for Canadian Trout, Hunting Musky with a Fly and Trophy Striped Bass with a Fly.

Seminars include Mountain Trout with Joe Humphreys, Really Matching the Hatch with Gary Borger, Fly Fishing for Bass from Top to Bottom with Bob Clouser, and Fly Fishing the Salmon River and Other Great Lakes Tributaries with Bob Shannon. There are 10 hour-long seminars each day.

Admission to show is $15 for one day, $25 for two days, $10 for active military, $5 for children 6-12, and free to children 5 and under and Boy and Girl Scouts under 16 in uniform.

Scouts in uniform can earn credits toward a fly-fishing merit badge.
Toby Keith fans will have two chances to catch the country music star in Pennsylvania this year.

Keith has announced the upcoming dates and locations of his Shouldve Been A Cowboy Tour XXV on his official website, with shows beginning on March 22 and continuing through the fall of 2019.

The tour will stop at Highmark Stadium in Pittsburgh on Sept. 27. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. on March 1, but presale begins at 10 a.m. Feb. 27.

Then, on Sept. 28, Keith will perform at the Bloomsburg Fair in Bloomsburg. Tickets for this show also go on sale starting at 10 a.m. on March 1.

The tour takes its name from Keiths hit song, Shouldve Been A Cowboy, originally released in 1993 on his self-titled debut album. Keith is also known for songs such as American Soldier, Red Solo Cup" and How Do You Like Me Now?!

For more information about the tour, visit the Toby Keith website.
Who doesnt love doughnuts? The doughy, deep-fried confection is perfect for breakfast, dessert and any time in between.

If youre looking to maximize your donut options, youre in luck: Bert Sperling of BestPlaces.net crunched some numbers for the top 100 metro areas in the country to find the best locations for doughnuts (or donuts).

Obviously, bigger cities are more likely to have more options. Fortunately, the list looks at doughnut locations per capita, determining which metro areas have the highest doughnut density. And with all of that math and science involved, surely that means eating a few cant be all that bad for you, right?

According to these results, Pennsylvanias Scranton-Wilkes Barre-Hazelton area nabbed the eighth best spot in the country for doughnuts, edging the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington region in Texas as well as the Albany-Schenectady-Troy metro area of New York.

Here are the top 10:

Providence-Warwick, RI Worcester, MA Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT New Haven-Milford, CT Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT Springfield, MA Scranton--Wilkes-Barre--Hazleton, PA Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY

If youre interested in looking through the full list of metro areas that were in the study, you can check out the spreadsheet with all of the numbers crunched in the study by clicking here.

Looking for a few doughnut options closer to our area? Take a look:
GTX is back, baby. After being kicked to the curb in favor of a new RTX brand that signifies the inclusion of dedicated RT and tensor cores that enable real-time ray tracing and AI-enhanced gaming, Nvidias tried-and-true mainstay returns for the release of the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics card. Yes, that means this $280-plus GPU lacks the cutting-edge capabilities of its bigger siblings, like the GeForce RTX 2060. But by ditching all the extra hardware, Nvidia was able to focus the GTX 1660 Tis efforts on just plain kicking ass in games.

And it succeeds, friends.

The GeForce GTX 1660 Ti delivers outstanding 1080p and solid 1440p gaming performance on a par with last-gens $380 GTX 1070, without the massive price increase witnessed in its RTX-laden cousinsit's only $20 more than what the GTX 1060 launched at. This card beats the snot out of AMDs Radeon RX 590, even though its starting price is $10 lower. Its a winner. Lets take a look at the Asus ROG Strix GTX 1660 Ti, a custom-cooled, heavily overclocked version of the GPU that costs $330.

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti specs and features

Despite costing just $20 more than the 6GB GTX 1060, the new GTX 1660 Ti comes loaded with much more hardware under the hoodmore CUDA cores, more L1 cache, more texture units, faster GPU and memory clock speeds, more transistors built using the more advanced 12nm FFN manufacturing process, you name it. Two notable features remain identical, however: a 120-watt TDP and the 6GB of onboard memory capacity, though the GTX 1660 Ti gets a massive bandwidth upgrade by moving from GDDR5 to GDDR6.

Nvidia

The memory isnt the only upgraded hardware. The CUDA cores at the heart of the Turing GPU inside the GTX 1660 Ti (and its RTX brethren) received a significant overhaul that helps Nvidias new graphics cards outpace their Pascal GPU-based predecessors. Most notably, Nvidia added a new integer pipeline (INT32) alongside the floating point pipeline (FP32) traditionally used to process shading. This lets the GPU manage floating point and non-floating point instructions concurrently, rather than stalling the shading process while the GPU tackles integer tasks, which used to be the norm. The new capabilities help Shadow of the Tomb Raider run over 50 percent faster on the GTX 1660 Ti than it did on the 6GB GTX 1060, Nvidia saysa claim verified by our own performance testing.

Nvidia

Turing GPUs also include support for variable rate shading, a technology that allows different parts of the image to be rendered at varying fidelity levels for increased performance. It also provides a unified cache architecture that gives Turing almost three times more available L1 memory than the Pascal GPUs in the GTX 10-series, with twice as much bandwidth and lower latency. Those features help boost performance in Wolfenstein II and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, respectively, by 50 percent compared to the GTX 1060, Nvidia says.

For a much more in-depth dive into the changes in these new-look CUDA cores, check out our deep-dive into Nvidias Turing GPU architecture. Youll learn a lot about the ray tracing and tensor core capabilities of RTX GPUs there, too.

Of course, as a modern GeForce card, the GTX 1660 Ti can take advantage of Nvidias rich software ecosystem, including features like Ansel super-screenshots, ShadowPlay video capturing, automatic game optimization via GeForce Experience, and G-Sync monitor compatibility. Nvidia GPUs can now play nice with AMD FreeSync monitors too.

Asus ROG Strix GTX 1660 Ti specs and features

While the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti will hard-launch today, February 22, with multiple versions available from all the usual suspects starting at $280, the specific graphics card we reviewed is the $330 Asus ROG Strix GTX 1660, a luxurious model with a heavy overclock, a ferocious custom cooler, and extra features galore. Everything youd expect from a ROG Strix card, in other words! Heres a look at its spec sheet:

Asus

Out of the box, the ROG Strix is rated for a 1,860MHz boost clock, a 90MHz increase over the GTX 1660 Tis reference speeds. Downloading Asuss handy GPU Tweak II overclocking software and activating the one-button OC mode ups that to 1,890MHz. But you dont need to do that: The large, effective cooler on the ROG Strix allows the card to hover consistently between 1,935MHz and 1,950MHz in our games testing, because Nvidias GPU Boost algorithm automatically pushes clock speeds further as thermal headroom allows. GPU Tweak II lets tinkerers fine-tune things even further with manual overclocking controls, too.

The triple-slot Asus ROG Strix GTX 1660 Ti comes with three RGB-illuminated axial fans, a beefy heatsink, a metal-braced design, and a fetching full-length backplate that mirrors the aesthetic on other modern Strix releases.

Asus

Asus is particularly proud of its Auto-Extreme automated manufacturing process. Traditionally, soldering of through-hole and surface-mounted components needs to be performed in separate stages, Asuss reviewers guide explains. Auto-Extreme Technology allows all soldering to be completed in a single pass, reducing thermal strain on components and avoiding the use of harsh cleaning chemicals. The end result is less environmental impact, lower manufacturing power consumption, and a more reliable product.

Beyond the bulky heatsink and fan trio, the ROG Strix GTX 1660 Ti packs additional features for better thermal performance. Strix GPUs include MaxContact Technology, a fancy way of saying that the heat spreader contacting the GPU is precision-machined to be 10X flatter than traditional designs, allowing for improved heat dissipation. The card also comes with a pair of Asus FanConnect II fan headers. Any PWM case fans connected to the headers can automatically react to the GPUs temperature, picking up speed when temperatures rise and slowing down when your GPU is idle. In our prior experience, its especially effective if you use FanConnect with a front case fan pointed at the Strix.

Asus

Add it all up and the ROG Strix GTX 1660 Tis custom cooling solution is almost frightfully effective, as youll see later. That effectiveness gives the graphics card some interesting versatility, which we first witnessed in the Asus ROG Strix RTX 2080: A dual-BIOS switch that lets you choose between Performance and Quiet profiles.

Thats nothing new in swankier graphics cards, but the Strixs powerful cooler lets both profiles deliver identical performance in games, and thats a rarity. Instead, the Performance BIOS ramps up the fans to keep temperatures consistently below 60 degrees Celsius. Performance mode runs surprisingly quietly, but the dedicated Quiet mode optimizes for acoustics and runs virtually silently. Quiet features a much less aggressive fan curve, and the fans go idle if the GPU core temperature drops below 55 degrees Celsius.

Asus

According to Asus, the Performance BIOS is 16 percent cooler than the Quiet BIOS, while Quiet is 13X quieter. Both are tremendously effective at their given goals in practical use. This is a great feature for discerning gamers.

Next to the dual-BIOS switch, youll find a dedicated hardware button for disabling the ROG Strix GTX 1660 Tis RGB lightinga thoughtful touch. That lighting can be controlled by Asuss Aura Sync software. The port loadout for the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti will vary from model to model, but the ROG Strix comes equipped with a pair of DisplayPorts and a pair of HDMI 2.0b connections.

Brad Chacos/IDG The dual-BIOS switch (left) and LED activation button (right).

While were reviewing Asuss most expensive and glamorous GTX 1660 Ti offering today, the company is releasing several SKUs across its ROG Strix, Asus Dual, and Asus Phoenix brands with varying speeds and feature sets:

ROG-STRIX-GTX1660TI-O6G-GAMING - $329.99

ROG-STRIX-GTX1660TI-A6G-GAMING - $324.99

ROG-STRIX-GTX1660TI-6G-GAMING - $319.99

DUAL-GTX1660TI-O6G - $309.99

DUAL-GTX1660TI-6G - $304.99

PH-GTX1660TI-O6G - $284.99

PH-GTX1660TI-6G - $279.99

Got it? Good. Let's hit the test bench.

Next page: Our test system, benchmarks begin
Lenovos ThinkVision M14 is a thin, light, USB-C-powered portable monitor that pairs perfectly with the companys iconic matte black ThinkPads. The 14-inch, 1920x1080-resolution panel shines bright at a solid 300 nits, providing plenty of extra screen space for multi-tasking, but the 1.3 lb. monitor only measures 4.6mm thick, so it wont take up a lot of space in your travel bag.

With a spec sheet like that, the ThinkVision M14 could be a winner when it launches this summer for $249. Our intrepid video director Adam Patrick Murray went hands-on with Lenovos portable display at Mobile World Congress and hes already excited to spend more quality hands-on time with it. Check out his first impressions in the video above, and stay tuned to PCWorld for more MWC coverage!
The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 15 is a 2-in-1 struggling with an important question: How big is too big when it comes to one of these hybrids? Sure, its great to have both your tablet and laptop needs served by a single machine, but only so long as both are actually useful. With a 15.6-inch screen, the IdeaPad Flex 5 15 is an average-sized laptop, but an absolutely massive tablet.

Is it workable though? That's what we investigated for our review.

Design

Lenovos lineup of 2-in-1 devices is truly sprawling, encompassing multiple sub-brands and a broad range of prices. The IdeaPad Flex 5 15 (just Flex 5 from here on out) we reviewed falls in the middle of the spectrum, listing for a hair over $1,200 and featuring an Intel Core i7-8550U processor, integrated Intel HD 620 graphics, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, a 512GB PCIe SSD, and a 15.6-inch 1080p IPS touch display.

Its worth noting this is the top end of the Flex line, and indeed quite a bit more expensive than the Flex 6 14 we tested last year. If you dont mind dropping to a Core i5-8250U, 8GB of RAM, and a 5,400rpm hard drive you can get a Flex 5 for as little as $590, or less than half the price of the model we reviewed. But thats an entirely different machine, at that pointone that, with an actual hard drive inside, is arguably less suited to the ultraportable lifestyle implied by a 2-in-1.

Adam Patrick Murray/IDG

The problem is the $1,200 Flex 5 we looked at is still trapped in the body of a $590 machine.

Hey, it happens. Theyre both 15.6-inch convertibles, so of course Lenovos going to use the same chassis for each. It's just...so bland. Devoid of any eye-catching design features, its simply a silvery-black slab of plastic with a nondescript Lenovo logo on the outside.

At least its inoffensive, and if we were talking about the $590 machine Id be tempted to cut it some slack. Actually, thats exactly what we did with last years Flex 6 14 review, where my colleague Ben Patterson describing it as plain but professional. Fair enough, but plain and professional isnt very exciting once you leap to a $1,200 machine.

Two basic 360-degree hinges keep the Flex 5 together. They feel sturdy enough for any and all positions, but are more utilitarian than clever. Pop the lid and the quality improves ever so slightly. A metal palm rest area encompasses a decently large touchpad, a fingerprint reader, and an oversized keyboard. The latter is one of my favorite features on the Flex 5, with slightly convex keycaps and a pleasantly chunky feel to typing. The Flex 5 also eschews a numeric keypad, opting instead to give keys a bit of room to breathe. This is a relief for my fat fingers, even if the amount of open range on each side of the keyboard looks a bit odd.

Adam Patrick Murray/IDG

Of course youll also find the Flex 5s large 15.6-inch display. These larger 2-in-1s are neat, in theory, doubling as full-sized laptops instead of opting for a smaller screen in the name of portability. Practical, though? Not so much, in my experience. Flipping the Flex 5 into tablet mode, it feels incredibly unwieldy. And why wouldnt it, at 0.8 inches thick and nearly 4.5 pounds? 14-inch convertibles are already a bit awkward as tablets. The Flex 5 is even bulkier, and the relatively fat bezels above and below the screen don't help.

Thus I hesitate to recommend it as a 2-in-1. The larger screen is welcome for standard laptop use, but I think weve reached (and passed) the limit for convertibles. You could perhaps use it tented, perched on a desk or an airline tray while watching videos, but Im hard-pressed to imagine using the Flex 5 as an actual tablet. Its too thick and too heavy. And keep in mind we reviewed the SSD-equipped model. It seems ridiculous to offer the same machine with an HDD whirring away inside.

Screens are often Lenovos weakest point, too, and the Flex 5 is no exception. We perform our battery rundown tests at 250 nits, what we consider standard for comfortable day-to-day usage. Well, usually we perform our battery rundown tests at 250 nits. The Flex 5s display maxes out at 245 nits, falling short of our (fairly forgiving) guidelines. In a darkened or dimly lit room its fine, but even in a well-lit room the Flex 5 has trouble with glare. Outside and on the go, its essentially useless.

Adam Patrick Murray/IDG

As for ports, the Flex 5 features a charging port, HDMI-out, a USB 3.0 port, USB-C, and a 3.5mm jack on the left-hand side, plus a second USB 3.0 port, an SD card slot, and the power button on the right. One oddly archaic feature: The Flex 5 draws power from a standard laptop brick with a barrel charging. That makes sense for the entry-level Flex 5, but a $1,200 convertible? That should definitely be using USB-C for power in 2019, not an inelegant cord complete with transformer wart at the halfway point.

The Flex 5s speakers are adequate. Harman Kardons name lends a bit of respectability to what are fairly standard laptop speakersshrill, with nonexistent bass and less volume output than youd hope. Theyll work if youre desperate, but even a budget pair of headphones would be a better choice.

Performance

The impracticality of some aspects of the Flex 5s design shows up in its performance results. Whats interesting here is Lenovo improved the product line by stripping out hardware. The Flex 6 14 model we reviewed last year came equipped with a discrete graphics card, if you can believe itan Nvidia GeForce MX130. Not much of a discrete graphics card, but it existed. This years version sticks to the aforementioned integrated graphics.

And yet as we noted last year, the MX130 actually performed significantly worse in 3DMark testing than competitors who relied on boring ol integrated Intel HD 620 graphics. That remains true, with our Intel HD 620-equipped Flex 5 posting a score of 4,315 in 3DMarks Skydiver benchmark, compared to the Flex 6 14's pallid 3,111.

Melissa Riofrio/IDG Not surprisingly, the Lenovo Flex 5 15s integrated Intel UHD 620 graphics posted a middling score in this graphics test. Its not designed for gaming.

Its no gaming machine, but its at least on a par with other 2-in-1s in its price bracketwhich is no surprise, as they all pretty much use the same HD 620 graphics.

Theres a catch, though. The lack of a discrete graphics card means more stress on the CPU, and more stress on the CPU means more heat. That, combined with the fact weve stepped up to a Core i7-8550U from last years Core i5-8250U, means our Flex 5 needed much better heat dispersion than the previous modeland it didnt get it. Even during menial tasks, the fans (or perhaps fan, singular) whir away nonstop, and still the machine withers at the first sign of effort. Even though the Core i7-8550U is theoretically a better-performing part, the Flex 5s scores hewed closely to those of its Flex 6 14 cousin when it came to CPU-heavy benchmarks.

For instance, PCMark 8s Work Conventional benchmark allows us to test day-to-day web browsing, word processing, and so on. Here, the Flex 5 posted 3,230 compared to the Flex 6s 3,291well within the margin of error where the two machines might as well be identical.

Melissa Riofrio/IDG Any score over 2,000 in PCMark 8 Work Conventional means the system can handle mainstream work applications. The Lenovo Flex 5 1570 can do the job ably.

Next we run a HandBrake test to see how the machine performs when under load for a significant period of time. This involves using HandBrake to convert a 30 GB MKV file to the Android Tablet preset, a CPU-heavy task that can really suffer from heat-related performance throttling.

Melissa Riofrio/IDG In the sustained CPU usage demanded by HandBrake, the Lenovo Flex 5 15 stuck with the pack, though it's a mite slower than other systems with the same CPU.

The Flex 5 finished the job in an hour and 10 minutes, slightly better than last years model but still far slower than a Core i5-8250U with adequate coolingto say nothing of other Core i7-8550U laptops. Its enough to make you wonder why Lenovo opted for the more expensive part in the first place, given the Flex 5 clearly isnt taking advantage of that power except in short bursts.

Lastly, we do a battery rundown by looping a 4K video at 250 nits' brightnesswhich, as I said above, wasnt possible with the Flex 5. Thus we looped the same video at the max brightness of 245 nits, which gave us about eight and a half hours' runtime.

Melissa Riofrio/IDG The Lenovo Flex 5 15's scant 8.5 hours of battery life is adequate. All the models that last longer have bigger batteries, except for the Samsung Notebook 9 Pro, whose 39mAh battery was surprisingly efficient.

Spectacular? No, and indeed you can find comparably priced 2-in-1s with much better battery life. That said, I suspect Lenovo opted for the diminutive 52.5Wh battery to save weight, and I cant blame them given the Flex 5s already significant bulk.

Bottom line

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 isnt a bad machine, just an awkward one. It fulfills every promise, checks every box Lenovo says it will. It is technically a 2-in-1 machine. Its just that the laptop part of this equation works significantly better than the tablet part, even though youre paying for the luxury of a 2-in-1. Combine that with a lackluster aesthetic and dim screen, and its hard to justify the Flex 5s existence. Lenovos own Yoga line outclasses it in every way, for just a few dollars more. Look to the Yoga first, if youre set on a Lenovo 2-in-1.
FastestVPN in brief:

P2P allowed: Yes

Yes Business location: Cayman Islands

Cayman Islands Number of servers: 150+

150+ Number of country locations: 23

23 Cost: $30 per year

$30 per year VPN protocol: IKEv2

IKEv2 Data encryption: AES-256-GCM

AES-256-GCM Data authentication: MS-Chap v2 and TLS

MS-Chap v2 and TLS Handshake: SHA-II

Editor's note: There is a new 2020 version of FastestVPN. Read our review to find out how it has improved over the 2019 version reviewed here.

Every VPN service out there says its the fastest, but few are so bold as to make that claim right upfront, in the company name. Yet here we have FastestVPN, a Cayman Islands-based service that offers VPN connections in 23 countries and has more than 150 servers. Is it actually the fastest service around? Well get to that, but first lets take a look at the desktop app.

Note: This review is part of our best VPNs roundup. Go there for details about competing products and how we tested them.

Features and services

When you start up the FastestVPN application it has a typical single-pane design with a bit of a Shazam feel thanks to the big yellow lightning bolt in the middle of the connect button. The top of the window shows the current location youre connected to (or can connect to), and the bottom of the window shows your bandwidth usage in MB for both upload and download.

IDG FastestVPNs primary dashboard.

Click the hamburger menu icon in the upper-left corner, and you can choose the Locations screen to select from the services 23 countries and multiple U.S. options.

The Settings panel (also under the hamburger menu) doesnt have much in terms of options. Theres an internet kill switch, which is off by default, and you can also choose your preferred VPN protocol: PPTP, L2TP, IKEv2, or OpenVPN via TCP or UDP. If you do mess with these settings either IKEv2 or the OpenVPN options are your best choices.

Thats all there is to the FastestVPN app, though the company has also built malware protection and ad blocking into the service. The app is pretty good, but one thing I dont like about it is how it behaves on the taskbar.

When the app is open it sits on the taskbar with no presence in the system tray. Then when you close the app window it minimizes to the system tray. So far so good, but what is unusual is that I couldnt open the app up again by clicking on the system tray icon. Right-click the system tray icon and you have two options: Connect/Disconnect and Exit. The latter worked just fine, but I could never use the Connect/Disconnect option, and if I wanted to see the app again I had to quit and restart it. Not great.

FastestVPN charges $30 per year, or you can buy three years for $40, and until late February the company is offering five years of service for $50. One year for $30 is an amazing price and that covers 10 simultaneous connections instead of the usual five. FastestVPN offers apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Fire Stick. There are also tutorials for setting up on Linux, routers, and the Kodi VPN.

Performance

IDG FastestVPNs settings screen.

So here we are at the big question for FastestVPN: Is it the fastest? Not by a long shot, but that doesnt mean it wont fit most peoples uses. In our tests, FastestVPN maintained an average of about 28 percent of the base speed. Thats not slow enough to place it among the bottom performers, but nor is it fast enough to be mid-tier in our tests.

All of FastestVPNs country connections produced double-digit speeds in our tests, so they should be fine. But weve reviewed much faster services such as Mullvad, NordVPN, and HotSpot Shield.

Privacy, anonymity, and trust

FastestVPN is officially based in the Cayman Islands, but it also has a business address in Los Angeles. The company CEO is Azneem Bilwani who is based in Pakistan.

As for the companys privacy promises, they are quite good. FastestVPNs privacy policy is written in the style of a FAQ. It says the company does not store logs in any way. Any information or logs related to your browsing historythe websites you visit, the content you download or stream, your traffic destinations, or your DNS queriesstays with you and you alone, the page says.

To sign up for an account with FasestVPN requires your name and email address, and possibly further information depending on your method of payment. FastestVPN accepts payments via PayPal, credit card, eWallets such as Apple Pay, and ACH bank transfers. There doesnt appear to be an option to pay with cash or cryptocurrencies.

Conclusion

FastestVPN wont win any prizes for speeds compared to other VPNs, but its still well worth a look. The price is pretty great, as are the 10 simultaneous connections, and the desktop app is very easy to useif a little annoying after you close it. Speed improvement would be great, but overall this is a fine choice for anyone looking for an affordable solution with a no-logging promise.

Editors note: Because online services are often iterative, gaining new features and performance improvements over time, this review is subject to change in order to accurately reflect the current state of the service. Any changes to text or our final review verdict will be noted at the top of this article.
Android phones might get a bad rap, but theyre actually quite secure. Or at least they can be.

With a little work, your Galaxy, Pixel, or OnePlus phone can be a veritable fortress, virtually impenetrable to hacks, attacks, and bad apps. So whether youre looking for a little extra security or a complete lockdown of your phone, heres everything you need to keep your data from falling into the wrong hands.

Android security: Default protection

Even if you skip the entire set-up process and ignore every safeguard prompt, your Android phone still does plenty to keep your information safe.

Play Protect

IDG

Google has built a malware scanner right into the Play Store called Play Protect. First and foremost, it runs a safety check on apps before you download them, but more importantly, it also checks your phone for any apps that may have gone awry since you downloaded them. If it finds any, it will warn you via a notification and in extreme cases delete them from your device on its own. You can check your Google Play Protect settings and see the apps it scanned in the Updates tab inside the My apps & games section of the Play Store.

Encryption

Ever since Android 5 Lollipop, Android has offered full-device encryption by default, as long as you set some kind of an locking method on your phone (pattern, pin, or password). In Android 7 Nougat, that switched to file-based encryption, but the end result is essentially the same: The data on your phone is protected by 256-bit AES standard encryption as soon as its locked, so unless someone knows your passcode, they cant see anything.

Android security: Basic protection

You dont need to be a paranoid android to put a basic layer of protection on your device, you only need to change a few settings.

Set a password

While newer Android phones offer numerous biometric methods for unlocking, every phone still requires one of three traditional locking methods: pattern, PIN, or password. Theyre not created equal, though. A pattern (made on a 9-dot square) is easiest to remember but the least secure. A 6-digit pin is far better, but the best of all is a random password. But even if you choose a string of letter and numbers, you should set a reminder to change once every six months or so. And make sure its not the same as the one that protects your primary Google account.

Turn on 2-step verification

No matter what you use your phone to do, your Google account is central to everything that happens. As the name suggests, with 2-step verification, youre adding an extra layer of protection, so even if someone steals your password they still wont be able to get into your account. Heres how it works. After youre prompted to enter your Google password, a code will be sent to your default phone via text or call which will need to be entered in order to grant access your account.

While this wont necessarily protect your phone against theft, it will protect whats on it. For example, if someone tries to remotely log in to your Google account from another device, youll know via the 2-step message on your phone. And then you can take the appropriate action and change your password.

Install Find My Device

IDG

Google offers a handy tool to track a lost or stolen phone right in the Play Store. Called Find My Device, it lets you track, lock, and erase your handset from wherever you are with just a tap. After downloading, you can sign in using your Google account and allow it to access your your devices location. From then on, youll be able to log into Googles Find My Device site and instantly locate where your phone is if you lose it. Youll also be able to remotely lock your device, display a message or phone number for whomever finds it, or completely erase all of the content on your phone.

Stay updated

Google releases monthly security updates for Android that most newer phones distribute in a relatively timely manner. You dont need to check for themonce one is available, your phone will automatically let you know. But dont delay, because its easy to forget about them. Set or schedule an update to be installed as soon as your phone lets you know its available. It only takes a few minutes and it could make all the difference.

Android security: Moderate protection

Now that the basic stuff is out of the way, lets work on putting an even stronger lock on your Android phone.

Set up fingerprint unlock

IDG

A password might be a strong way to secure your phone, but it cant beat your fingerprint. And if you bought your Android phone within the past two years, theres a good chance it has a fingerprint sensor either below the screen, on the back, or built into the power button. Find it and head over to your security settings to register one or more fingerprints. It only takes a few seconds to enact a very important layer of protection.

Numerous phones also offer face unlocking, but unless you have a Huawei Mate 20, you should skip these. Thats because most phones use the 2D front camera to scan your face rather than a 3D map like with Face ID on the iPhone or Huaweis depth-sensing camera, so theyre very easy to spoof with little more than a picture.

Prevent unknown downloads

One of the greatest benefits of Android is also one of its biggest risks: downloading apps that arent on the Play Store. When you install an app from outside Googles store, youre losing out on Play Protect and opening your phone up to possible malware. To keep a lid on any potential trouble, Google has built a way to shut off any accidental or unintentional downloads. In the Special app access settings, youll find an Unknown sources or Unknown apps tab, which lets you shut off the installation of apps from a non-Play Store source, such as Chrome or some other browser.

IDG

Depending on your phone, the mechanism is a little different. Up until Android Nougat, there was a single toggle that let you either block or install apps from unknown sources. In Android Oreo and later, permission is granted on a per-app basis, so you can allow Chrome or Slack to install apps while blocking others. Its a good habit to visit this setting every once in while to make sure there arent any malicious apps that are allowed to install software behind the scenes. If you find any that are, tap the name and turn the toggle off.

Uninstall apps

Speaking of wayward apps, one of the best ways to keep your system safe is good, old-fashioned house cleaning. Simply jump into your app drawer and simply uninstall apps that you havent used in a while. Itll free up storage and itll make sure they dont turn into potential risks.

Check app permissions

Its also a good idea to check in on your app permissions every now and again. When you download an app from the Play Store and launch it for the first time, Android asks you if it can have access to things like the microphone, camera, phone, etc. A lot of times we just tap away access without even realizing what theyre asking for, but you can always of back and revoke it after the fact. Head over to the Permissions tab inside Apps in Settings and youll be able to see which apps are allowed to do whatand turn off anything that looks suspicious.

Android Security: High protection

If you came here to learn how to turn your Android phone into a vault, heres what you need to do.

Disable Smart Lock for Passwords and Auto Sign-in

Smart Lock for Passwords might be convenient, but if you want to lock down your phone, youre going to need to handle your passwords on your own. And that unfortunately means turning off Smart Lock for Passwords. Heres why: Googles method doesnt use any kind of authentication on a per-site or account basis like password managers do, so after signing in to your account for the first time on your device, all of your passwords will be available. That obviously could be a problem if someone swipes your phone.

IDG

Youll find the toggle inside the security settings for your Google account, not inside the Security tab in Settings. Once you get there, tap on Security, then scroll down to Signing in to other sites, and tapped Saved Passwords. Youll see two toggles: Offer to save passwords and Auto sign-in. If you dont want to turn the whole thing off, you can also select sites that ignore auto sign-in. We think a much better solution would be to require biometric authentication every time a password is entered (which Apple does on the iPhone), so until that happens, you should switch it off if youre paranoid.

Download a password manager

If youre turning off Smart Lock, the only way to keep your passwords safe and organized is to lock them up inside a password manager. Stronger and more secure than the Smart Lock password sync Google offers, a password manager encourages unique, complex passwords, lets you organize and manage multiple logins, and stores sensitive notes, credit card information, and anything else you want to keep in a digital locker. And its all protected by a password or a fingerprint, whichever you choose.

Since your password mananger is a separate service, youll be able to access your passwords on any device or browser, so even if someone steals your phone your most personal data will still be protected. And with Android Oreo, youll even be able to incorporate some of them into Autofill on your phone (fingerprint-protected, of course).

Our favorite password manager is LastPass, but there are plenty of great options out there. Youll need to pay an annual fee, but its worth it. Check out PCWorld's guide to the best password managers for everything you need to know.

Use a VPN

No matter how many safeguards you add to your phone, its inherently vulnerable every time you visit the web. Why? Because the information you send can be stolen and spied on with little effort, especially if youre using a public Wi-Fi hotspot. If you use a VPN service, your information is encrypted before it hits the airwaves, so your data is fully protected from everybody except the VPN provider and whatever website you're visiting. Even if someone manages to steal it, its protected.

There are numerous VPNs in the Play Store, so make sure you check out the rankings and user reviews before making your pick. Our recommendation for starting out is TunnelBear, which is free and super simple. If youre looking for something more advanced, you can download OpenVPN for Android and experiment with Mullvad, the top PC pick in our roundup of the best VPN services.

Use an Authenticator app

Weve already discussed how important 2-step verification is for your Google account, but you should also be using it for any service that offers it: Twitter, Facebook, Dropbox, etc. But if you want to take it one step further, you can use an authenticator app to generate unique codes right on your phone rather than sending them over SMS text messages, which can be riskier. Google makes its own authenticator app for your Google account and many other sites thats free in the Play Store, so we recommend checking it out.

Get a physical security key

Google

If you want the ultimate protection for your accounts, nothing beats an NFC security key. Roughly the size of a flash driven (so you can attach it to a keychain) and completely phishing-proof, a security key dispenses with codes and stores all of your authentication on a physical device. So its basically impossible to get into any of your accounts without the key, even if someone manages to steal all of your passwords. The $50 Titan Security KeyRemove non-product link bundle (which includes USB and Bluetooth

security keys) is a great option from Google, but there are also less-expensive options from YubicoRemove non-product link.

Enter Lockdown mode

If all else fails, Google has added a new Lockdown option to Android 9 that lets you completely secure your phone at a tap. Hold down the power button for a second and youll see a Lockdown option at the bottom of the list. (If you dont, you can enable it in the Lock screen settings.) Tap it and your phone will instantly lock, turn off the fingerprint scanner (so someone cant force your finger to unlock it), remove all notifications from the lock screen, and disable Smart Lock. And itll stay that way until the next time you re-lock your phone.
Microsofts Your Phone app bridges the gap between your Windows 10 PC and a smartphone, allowing quick interactions with images shot with your phones camera and the ability to send and receive texts right from your PC. Having tried, and abandoned, using the phone as your PC with Continuum, Microsoft apparently settled upon an assistant role via the Your Phone app. Eventually, Microsoft hopes that Your Phone will evolve into something even bigger, so its worth checking out.

The idea behind Your Phone is focus: Pulling out your phone is an unnecessary distraction within Windows world. Microsoft feels a text should be processed in the same way as an email, as a quick interaction that can be dealt with and then set aside.

It also doubles as a gateway of sorts for other Microsoft apps for your phone. Youll find a sidebar that encourages you to download apps like the Swiftkey keyboard, Microsoft News, and older apps like Microsoft Hyperlapse Mobile and Wordament. None of these are necessary to allow Your Phone to function, though.

How to set up Your Phone

To use Your Phone, youll first need the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, which bundles the Your Phone app along with it. Note that Your Phone is actually two apps: the Your Phone app on Windows, and the Your Phone Companion app for Android. Ensure that your phone and PC are on the same Wi-Fi network, as well as connected via Bluetooth, too.

On Windows, the Your Phone app should be immediately apparent. In beta builds leading up to the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, a shortcut to the Your Phone app appeared on your PCs desktop, and it seems to appear post-release as well.

Mark Hachman / IDG Setting up Your Phone may require you sending a link to your phone to download the Your Phone Companion app.

The Your Phone Companion for Android can either be downloaded via the link, or you can enter your phone number into the Your Phone app. Microsoft will send a text to your phone with the download link inside of it.

Unfortunately, there doesnt seem to be a Your Phone Companion app for iOS. My colleague Brad Chacos said that Your Phone reported that Apples iOS could only send webpage URLs from the phone to Windows.

Note, too, that the Your Phone Companion app is different from the apparently defunct Phone Companion app that originally launched with Windows 10. But there is a Photos Companion app for iOS, authored by Microsoft, that allows you to send photos from your iPhone to Windows. Yes, this is horribly confusingwhich is why were focusing only on the Android app.

Mark Hachman / IDG The Your Phone app Settings are extremely basic, though you can toggle functionality like Photos on or off.

In fact, the mobile Your Phone Connection app really offers nothing as far as the actual Your Phone functionality is concerned, at least for the momentit merely establishes your phone and your PC are linked, and offers suggestions for additional apps. If the two arent connected, make sure that both your phone and PC are on the same Wi-Fi network, as well as connected via Bluetooth. Ive found that when Your Phone isnt syncing properly, Bluetooths usually the culprit. The app can be awfully finicky, however.

Mark Hachman / IDG Your Phone Companion does basically nothing except establish that your phone and PC are linked,

Using Your Phone

On Windows, the Your Phone app performs two very simple functions: It provides a repository for your phones text messages, known as Messages, as well as photos. Messages can be written and responded to using your PCs keyboard. If you recently snapped a photo, Your Phone is designed to allow that photo to be accessible immediately for you to use or edit when you return to your PC.

Using Your Phone to send texts is easy: Simply select a contact and either author or reply to a text to that person. Theres a small hitch, though: While Your Phone appeared to pull contacts from my Android phone, it didnt understand how Google distinguished an SMS-capable mobile phone from a landline. In other words, if you want to create a new text message, youll need to double-check if youre actually texting the correct number.

Mark Hachman / IDG The screen for composing and replying to messages is very cut-and-dried. As this screenshot indicates, URLs arent even transformed into active HTTP links.

Unfortunately, texting via the Your Phone app is texting: pictures and GIFs arent transferred, and youll be asked to view the content on your phone if you receive something that the app cant parse. Rich Communication Services (aka joyn) isnt supported, either. Maybe thats why Messages is officially listed within the app as being in preview?

The Photos component of Your Phone is straightforward, although I ran into a few bugs in my time using it. For one thing, syncing can still be problematic, even with the phone connected via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and remaining in an unlocked mode. (Microsoft hasnt said that all three conditions must be in place for Photos to work, though I did so in order to test it.) Do something wrong, and Your Phone may think that the two arent connected.

Mark Hachman / IDG Your Photos constructs a grid of your most recent photos.

Photos places a grid of screenshots and photos taken with your phone within the Your Phone app, up to a total of 25. You can right-click each photo and copy and save it (at full resolution) elsewhere to your hard drive. Double-clicking it opens the Photos app, where you can share it, add it to a creation, edit it, or more.

One quirk here is that because the photo is on your phone, not your hard drive, youll need to save a copy of the photo locally or on a backup drive if you perform any edits upon it. The fact that photos arent stored locally also prevents you from purposefully or accidentally deleting a picture from the Photos aspect of Your Phone, as that option is grayed out. (You can open up the Windows 10 Photos app to delete the photo, if you want.) You also cant mark a photo as a favorite within the Your Phone app.

Mark Hachman / IDG Clicking a photo within the Photos aspect of Your Phone opens the Windows 10 Photos app, but youll need to save an edited copy locally.

Unfortunately, that means that you can end up with multiple instances of the Photos app open on your PCsome showing read-only files that you cant do anything with, while others are editable. Its a bit awkward.

The future of Your Phone

A good free alternative to Your Phone is the Dell Mobile Connect app. Once restricted to specific Dell PCs, its now available for any Windows PC and Android phone. Like Microsofts Your Phone app, Dells Mobile Connect theoretically allows you to place calls from your PC as well as send texts; however, it doesnt allow you to view photos like Your Phone does.

Mark Hachman / IDG One of the marquee features of Dell Mobile Connect is the ability to remotely mirror your phone, so that you can control it via your PC.

The big bonus feature that Dell Mobile Connect offers is its ability to establish a remote connection to your phone, so that you can interact with your phones mobile apps, right from your pocket. Dell Mobile Connect mirrors the screen, so you can do everything you could do on your phone, albeit with a little lag.

Microsoft said onstage at the Surface Pro 6/Surface Laptop 2 launch that it hopes to do the same with Your Phone sometime in the future. It would probably be equally nice to for Your Phone to add phone call support as well as remote mirroring, so that the app could achieve Microsofts dream of allowing to leave your phone in your pocket.
The well-known Protestant reference work, New Bible Dictionary (edited by J. D. Douglas, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1962, Sackcloth, p. 1112), describes biblical sackcloth:

A coarse cloth . . . usually made of goats hair . . . Sackcloth was worn as a sign of mourning for the dead . . . , or of mourning for personal or national disaster . . . or of penitence for sins (1 Ki. 21:27; Ne. 9:1; Jon. 3:5; Mt. 11:21), or of special prayer for deliverance . . . The form of the symbolic sackcloth was often a band or kilt tied around the waist . . . it was usually worn next to the skin (2 Ki. 6:30; Jb. 16:15; 2 Macc. 3:19), and was sometimes kept on all night (1 Ki. 21:27; Joel 1:13) . . . Sometimes the sackcloth was spread out to lie on (2 Sa. 21:10; Is. 58:5) . . . Prophets sometimes wore it as a symbol of the repentance which they preached (Is. 20:2; Rev. 11:3).

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Exodus 17:9-12 (RSV) And Moses said to Joshua, Choose for us men, and go out, fight with Amalek; tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. [10] So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. [11] Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. [12] But Moses hands grew weary; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat upon it, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; so his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

Deuteronomy 9:18-19 Then I lay prostrate before the LORD as before, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin which you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. [19] For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure which the LORD bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the LORD hearkened to me that time also. (cf. 9:9; Ex 34:28)

1 Chronicles 21:14-17 So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel; and there fell seventy thousand men of Israel. [15] And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it; but when he was about to destroy it, the LORD saw, and he repented of the evil; and he said to the destroying angel, It is enough; now stay your hand. And the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. [16] And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. [17] And David said to God, Was it not I who gave command to number the people? It is I who have sinned and done very wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Let thy hand, I pray thee, O LORD my God, be against me and against my fathers house; but let not the plague be upon thy people.

Ezra 9:1-7 After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. [2] For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons; so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost. [3] When I heard this, I rent my garments and my mantle, and pulled hair from my head and beard, and sat appalled. [4] Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered round me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. [5] And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garments and my mantle rent, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the LORD my God, [6] saying: O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to thee, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. [7] From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt; and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as at this day.

Esther 4:15-16 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, [16] Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.

Psalm 35:13 But I, when they were sick  I wore sackcloth, I afflicted myself with fasting. I prayed with head bowed on my bosom,

Ezekiel 4:1-8 And you, O son of man, take a brick and lay it before you, and portray upon it a city, even Jerusalem; [2] and put siegeworks against it, and build a siege wall against it, and cast up a mound against it; set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it round about. [3] And take an iron plate, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; and set your face toward it, and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is a sign for the house of Israel. [4] Then lie upon your left side, and I will lay the punishment of the house of Israel upon you; for the number of the days that you lie upon it, you shall bear their punishment. [5] For I assign to you a number of days, three hundred and ninety days, equal to the number of the years of their punishment; so long shall you bear the punishment of the house of Israel. [6] And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the punishment of the house of Judah; forty days I assign you, a day for each year.

Daniel 9:3-6, 16 Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. [4] I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying, O Lord, the great and terrible God, who keepest covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, [5] we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from thy commandments and ordinances; [6] we have not listened to thy servants the prophets, who spoke in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. . . . [16] O Lord, according to all thy righteous acts, let thy anger and thy wrath turn away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy hill; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people have become a byword among all who are round about us.

Acts 13:2-3 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. [3] Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

Acts 14:23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they believed.

Colossians 1:23-24 provided that you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. [24] Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christs afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,

***

Photo credit: Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness (c. 1635), by Jose Leonardo (Spain, 1601-before 1653). Matthew 3:4 (RSV): Now John wore a garment of camels hair, . . . [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]

***
William Hamblin and I published this column in the Deseret News back on 4 October 2014:

Amid the recent attention garnered by the barbaric cruelty and spectacular battlefield success of the Islamic State and its new caliphate (on which, see our previous column Turning the clock back to the 7th century in Iraq?), the sudden arrival on the scene of a new and very threatening terrorist group called Khorasan might easily be overlooked. (In fact, some commentators at nationalreview.com and carnegieendowment.org argue that, strictly speaking, Khorasan doesnt even exist.)

Perhaps some explanation on the linguistic, theological and historical background behind these related organizations  if, indeed, there really are two of them  might be helpful, including a few words about names.

The White House commonly refers to the Islamic State as ISIL, while others call it ISIS. These are simply different translations of the same name, which in Arabic is Al-Dawla al-Islamiyyah fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham. The last element in that name, al-Sham, can be translated as Syria (hence, ISIS) but, properly speaking, it denotes not merely the modern nation-state of Syria (the Islamic State cares nothing for modern political borders) but the larger historical area of Greater Syria or, as its sometimes called, the Levant (hence, ISIL). The Arabic acronym for the Islamic State is actually neither ISIS nor ISIL, but  based upon the names Arabic spelling  Daesh.

Modern political Syrias interest in regaining its traditional scope is, incidentally, one of the factors behind the Asad regimes hostility to Israel and its constant interference in neighboring Lebanon, which, as an independent country, is a modern creation imposed by European colonial powers.

But what of the Khorasan group? If it exists (which, in the murky world of Islamist terrorism, isnt easy to determine), its thought to be a very small elite corps (perhaps fewer than 100 men) that might be compared to the U.S. Armys Special Forces units or the Navy Seals. Classically, Khorasan denoted the region of modern Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and eastern Iran (essentially the area known even more anciently as Parthia), located on the eastern margins of the early Islamic empire.

But the leaders of the alleged Khorasan group come from Kuwait, Syria and Yemen, not from Khorasan. So why the name?

If youve seen images of ISIS warriors cruising in caravans down major roads (before U.S. bombing raids, well telegraphed in advance, were launched against them) or of triumphant ISIS fighters standing over rows of executed captives, youve seen their black flags, inscribed in Arabic with the essentials of the Islamic testimony or profession of faith: There is no god but God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God.

This is a clue.

Its said that the Prophet Muhammad flew a black battle flag, and that Ali, his cousin and son-in-law and the last of the four orthodox caliphs who succeeded him, also went to war under such a flag.

In the 740s, the Abbasid revolution overturned the corrupt and increasingly ineffective Umayyad Dynasty that had ruled the entire empire from Damascus. One of the most successful revolutions in pre-modern history, it commenced among disaffected non-Arab Muslims in the extreme east of the Islamic world  in Khorasan  and its fighters were called musawwids (roughly, the black-bearers) because they marched westward under a black banner (the rayat al-sawda). It was probably at about this time that a prophecy of Muhammad was set into circulation, predicting that the Mahdi, the apocalyptic figure expected by both Sunni and Shiite Muslims in the last days, would arrive accompanied by black standards from the East.

Since at least 2001, black banners have commonly appeared on jihadist websites and among members of al-Qaida, Somalias al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Finally, if youve seen that black flag, you may also have noticed ISIS fighters gathered around it with their index fingers pointing skyward. Theyre not boasting, in Western style, Were Number One. Instead, theyre indicating their allegiance to the Islamic principle of tawheed or making/declaring One. In its most basic sense, tawheed refers to the Islamic principle of absolute monotheism (again, There is no god but God).

The worst sin in Islam is that of shirk or, roughly polytheism, and Muslims have historically regarded (and rejected) even Trinitarian Christianity as polytheistic heresy. Those single extended fingers indicate a rigid commitment to monotheism, and perhaps help to explain the Islamic States brutally harsh treatment of Middle Eastern Christians. However, the gesture also seems to represent ISISs vision of one global Islamic State, wholly subservient to that One God  and to one universal earthly caliph.

It seems that the Islamic State may be on its last legs as a holder of territory. At least, for the time being. It is, however, nowhere near done as an idea and a threat. We should not be complacent on that score.
Ill be returning a bit over the next few days to Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos (Toronto: Random House Canada, 2018). Heres a passage that struck me:

The philosophical study of morality  of right and wrong  is ethics. Such study can render us more sophisticated in our choices. Even older and deeper than ethics, however, is religion. Religion concerns itself not with (mere) right and wrong but with good and evil themselves  with the archetypes of right and wrong. Religion concerns itself with the domain of value, ultimate value. That is not the scientific domain. Its not the territory of empirical description. The people who wrote and edited the Bible, for example, werent scientists. They couldnt have been scientists, even if they had wanted to be. The viewpoints, methods and practices of science hadnt been formulated when the Bible was written.

Religion is instead about proper behaviour. Its about what Plato called the Good. A genuine religious acolyte isnt trying to formulate accurate ideas about the objective nature of the world (although he may be trying to do that too). Hes striving, instead, to be a good person. It may be the case that to him good means nothing but obedient  even blindly obedient. Hence the classic liberal Western enlightenment objection to religious belief: obedience is not enough. But its at least a start (and we have forgotten this): You cannot aim yourself at anything if you are completely undisciplined and untutored. You will not know what to target, and you wont fly straight, even if you somehow get your aim right. And then you will conclude, There is nothing to aim for. And then you will be lost.

It is therefore necessary and desirable for religions to have a dogmatic element. What good is a value system that does not provide a stable structure? What good is a value system that does not point the way to a higher order? And what good can you possibly be if you cannot or do not internalize that structure, or accept that order  not as a final destination, necessarily, but at least as a starting point? Without that, youre nothing but an adult two-year-old, without the charm or the potential. That is not to say (to say it again) that obedience is sufficient. But a person capable of obedience  lets say, instead, a properly disciplined person  is at least a well-forged tool. At least that (and that is not nothing). [102-103]

Now, I dont fully buy everything above. So far as I can tell, Jordan Peterson isnt a theist. Or, at least, not a very robust one. His thinking above is very much like the late Stephen Jay Goulds notion of the non-overlapping magisteria of religion and science, which I also reject, at least in part. But theres truth in what Dr. Peterson has to say. Religion isnt merely a failed attempt at science, and it never was.
From the website of the Interpreter Foundation:

The Strait and Narrow Path: A Video Supplement for Come, Follow Me Lesson 9: He Taught Them as One Having Authority

***

From the indispensable Jeff Lindsay:

A Strange Piece of Work Poorly Explained by a Non-LDS Witness of the Book of Mormon Translation

***

I was involved in a small meeting up in Salt Lake City last Thursday afternoon. I was anticipating that Elder Gary Stevenson of the Twelve would be among those there, but, as it happened, he wasnt. This disappointed me, because Ive known him since before he was called as a mission president to Japan, where one of my sons eventually served under him. Now, though, I see why he wasnt there:

Gospel begins at home  Mormon leader

***

Elder David B. Haight (1906-2004):

I would hope someday that our great-grandson Mark and others of our posterity would have similar spiritual experiences and that they would feel the spiritual power and influence of this gospel. I hope that Mark and others will have opportunities such as I had when I was in the temple when President Spencer W. Kimball received the revelation regarding the priesthood. I was the junior member of the Quorum of the Twelve. I was there. I was there with the outpouring of the Spirit in that room so strong that none of us could speak afterwards. We just left quietly to go back to the office. No one could say anything because of the powerful outpouring of the heavenly spiritual experience.

But just a few hours after the announcement was made to the press, I was assigned to attend a stake conference in Detroit, Michigan. When my plane landed in Chicago, I noticed an edition of the Chicago Tribune on the newsstand. The headline in the paper said, Mormons Give Blacks Priesthood. And the subheading said, President Kimball Claims to Have Received a Revelation. I bought a copy of the newspaper. I stared at one word in that subheading: claims. It stood out to me just like it was in red neon. As I walked along the hallway to make my plane connection, I thought, Here I am now in Chicago walking through this busy airport, yet I was a witness to this revelation. I was there. I witnessed it. I felt that heavenly influence. I was part of it. Little did the editor of that newspaper realize the truth of that revelation when he wrote, Claims to Have Received a Revelation. Little did he know, or the printer, or the man who put the ink on the press, or the one who delivered the newspaper  little did any of them know that it was truly a revelation from God. Little did they know what I knew because I was a witness to it.
Well, there they go again. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of these two idiots.
BLOOMINGTON  For Jean Case, there was no better place to write her first book than her first hometown.

"It was actually my husband's idea that I come back," said Case, wife of former America Online CEO Steve Case and a high-level executive herself in the company's early days. "I felt this town really shaped me. As I was writing stories of others, I wanted to feel grounded in my own past."

That's how Case found herself in October 2017 at a home in Bloomington, crafting "Be Fearless: 5 Principles for a Life of Breakthroughs and Purpose"  and why she came back as part of the book tour after it released to critical acclaim and hot sales in January.

Case spent her first few years in Normal before moving to Florida, where she launched a career that's included not only AOL, but roles in the Reagan and George W. Bush administrations; 15 years with the National Geographic Society board, including currently as board chair; and serving as CEO of The Case Foundation, part of the couple's "Giving Pledge" campaign to give away a majority of the their wealth, now over a billion dollars.

"A big message in the book is it's usually ordinary people who do extraordinary things, and I felt like anyone looking at my early life would never have imagined I would go on to have the opportunities I had," she said. "I really appreciated seeing people from all walks (growing up), with great talent and real passion to make the world better."

In the book, Case lays out how readers can succeed by embracing five principles: "Make a Big Bet"; "Be Bold, Take Risks"; "Make Failure Matter"; "Reach Beyond Your Bubble"; and "Let Urgency Conquer Fear."

In an early section labeled "Leaving Normal Behind," she describes how she sprouted from her childhood in the Twin Cities, including working for her grandparents at the defunct Commercial Hotel on Front Street.

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"It's a town with great Midwest values... and part of that value is neighbor helping neighbor, caring for one another, and obviously I've tried to spend my career working to empower others," she continued. "A lot of that was ingrained in me here. I give my mother and my grandparents a lot of credit."

As part of a return trip to the Twin Cities to promote the book, Case visited Oakdale Elementary School in Normal. She thinks she could still name all her teachers there  "but don't test me on that," she added with a laugh.

"I loved every teacher I had at (Oakdale) school. The story I tell in the book is, when I went to Florida, the education here was so great and so advanced that I was way ahead of grade level," she said.

During that visit, Case also met with Normal Mayor Chris Koos, who said he hopes to start an ongoing dialogue with her.

"It was clear to me she has a strong connection to the Town of Normal," he said. "There's no question (it's an amazing story)."

Case said the Twin City community felt immediately familiar and comfortable when she returned. She rented a house in the 1300 block of East Washington Street through AirBnB. She wrote about the writing process in the epilogue, "On Returning to Normal."

"What I love about it is it's kept pace with the times, but has a lot of what I remember best about it. ... Every day I would take walks or ride my bike around, and people were just as friendly as I remembered. It's a community that really cares about one another," she said. "On the other hand, look at the new (Rivian) factory that's coming in. It couldn't be any more 'right now.'"

Case hopes Bloomington-Normal residents will see themselves in the book, and she encouraged the community to let urgency conquer fear.

"I have no doubt there are people in this community who have brilliant ideas about how to make the world better," she said. "I hope (this book) inspires them to think about taking their idea forward."

Contact Derek Beigh at (309) 820-3234. Follow him on Twitter: @pg_beigh

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CHICAGO  Lawyers for a transgender woman held at the Pontiac men's prison have filed a lawsuit asking that she be moved to a women's facility, and an end to alleged sexual assault and harassment she has experienced for a decade.

Janiah Monroe has attempted suicide multiple times and also tried to harm herself in other ways while housed in men's prisons, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Peoria by the Uptown People's Law Center and Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center in Chicago.

In a statement from her lawyers, the inmate identified as Andre Patterson by the Illinois Department of Corrections, said, "I have been sexually assaulted at every men's prison that IDOC put me into, including by IDOC staff. It's time for IDOC to recognize my gender and take responsibility for keeping me safe. As long as I'm in a men's prison, IDOC can never protect me from sexual assault."

Monroe's anticipated release date is March 2051 on Cook County attempted murder and attempted aggravated arson charges and several aggravated battery charges involving prison staff.

In the lawsuit alleging sexual violence inside the prison system against Monroe, Monroe's attorneys ask that she be transferred to a women's prison and receive adequate mental health services for the remainder of her sentence.

"Guards using coercion and unnecessary force is, sadly, widespread in Illinois prisons. But trans women in men's prisons suffer this abuse more frequently, and at times with deadly consequences. Gendered bigotry shouldn't be tolerated anywhere, but least of all in our prisons, which are supposed to be places of law," said Alan Mills, of Uptown People's Law Center.

Monroe's 2017 request for transfer to a women's prison was denied.

IDOC spokesperson Lindsey Hess declined to comment on the pending litigation. On the issue of housing for transgender inmates, Hess said the agency "carefully considers housing assignments and works with a committee comprised of medical, mental health and security professionals when making placements for transgender offenders."

The lawsuit follows a ruling last year by a federal judge ordering the IDOC to review its denial of Strawberry Hampton's request to be transferred to a women's facility. The state also was ordered to develop training for correctional officers on transgender issues. Hampton, who alleged she was sexually abused in prison, was moved to Logan Correctional Center in December from the men's prison in Dixon.

Contact Edith Brady-Lunny at (309) 820-3276. Follow her on Twitter: @pg_blunny

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Palestine, TX (75801)

Today

Rain early with thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. High 82F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.
The graphite drawings of Margaret Colarelli will be on display in the exhibit "Past Forward," which opens Wednesday at Northwood University.

Colarelli, a Northwood professor from Midland, will speak on her artwork in a program set for 6 to 8 p.m. that day in the lecture hall and lobby of Griswold Communications Center on the Northwood campus, where her work is exhibited.

Her exhibit explores how the past is integrated in the present in three series: the striking presence of modern windmills in the rural landscape of Michigan; iconic ancient and classical female forms brought forward in new psychological contexts, and the impressions and images of a stone wall from an Italian church from 948.

"My travels to Italy have especially inspired my work by integrating classical sculpture, painting, and architecture," Colarelli wrote in an artist's statement. "My cross-disciplinary teaching of the history of Western Civilization, humanities, and creativity have kept me close to the power of cultural artifacts and landscape that speak as old and new forms of expression."

She said she hopes "to engage the viewer in recognizable images and moments of visual experience that are placed in fresh contexts. In this way, the viewer is asked to react to and evaluate his or her contemporary reality and historical legacy."

Although she was active in art since childhood (oil painting and graphite drawing scholarship classes at Pratt Institute, and the Brooklyn Museum Art School), she began studying graphite drawings with Armin Mersmann in 2012 at the Museum Schools of the Midland Center for the Arts. Since then she has been a part of many prestigious art shows, won a number of awards and was a 2018 artist in residence in La Macina di San Cresci, Italy.

At Northwood, Colarelli is a teacher of creativity, history of Western Civilization, as well as humanities and literature.

At Wednesday's opening, refreshments will be served. Admission is free.
The leaders of Dow, the world's leading materials science company, met with sell-side analysts in New York City on Monday to discuss the financial goals of the new Dow.

During the meeting, Dow discussed its operational and financial targets, portfolio differentiation relative to peers, near-term earnings growth opportunities and intended capital allocation priorities upon separation from DowDuPont, according to a company press release.

On April 1, DowDuPont is separating into three, independent, publicly traded companies -- one for each of its agriculture, materials science and specialty products businesses.

"New Dow will be well positioned to drive best-in-class financial performance and shareholder returns," said Jim Fitterling, chief executive officer of Dow, in the press release. "We have a focused playbook of cost and growth drivers, clear and disciplined capital allocation priorities and a strong balance sheet. Our path to shareholder value creation is straightforward and in our control."

During the meeting Monday, Fitterling and Howard Ungerleider, president and chief financial officer of Dow, explained the investment thesis and goals of the new Dow, including:

 How Dow's streamlined portfolio and industry-leading positions will unlock earnings and cash flow upside, and position the company for reduced earnings volatility relative to peers.

 The intent to issue an industry-leading dividend payout of $2.1 billion and launch a $3 billion open market share repurchase program after separation, with a shareholder remuneration target of about 65 percent of operating net income across the cycle.

 Capital expenditures at or below depreciation and amortization, comprised of incremental, high return on invested capital growth investments, with a near-term spending range of $2.5 billion-$2.8 billion for at least the next three years.

 A total of about $800 million of cost synergy and stranded cost savings yet to be delivered, of which 75 percent will be additive in 2019 versus 2018.

 Progress the company is making toward its targeted capital structure, with a target adjusted gross debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ratio of 2.5 to 3 times.

 Modeling considerations for the new Dow and each of its operating segments and additional details on upcoming incremental, high return on invested capital growth investments.
We've all heard the scary statistics of identity theft. In the last year:

An estimated 16.7 million people were victims

Identity theft cost Americans $17 billion (compared to a whopping $21.8 billion in 2012)

The Federal Trade Commission took 371,061 reports of identity theft in the U.S., including 133,015 reports of credit card fraud

Behind all of these numbers are living, breathing identity theft victims. Each victim now has trouble convincing people that he is who he says he is and that various nefarious crooks aren't him! This is one such story of an educated, computer-savvy victim, along with tips on how you can protect your identity from this digital epidemic.

Greg's Story

In 2011, Greg Scott's credit card was compromised. The IT professional discovered the problem when his card was unexpectedly declined while ordering equipment for a customer over the phone.Turns out, the decline was because there were fraudulent transactions on his card. The Minnesota native immediately took action:

"I called U.S. Bank, and the automation sent me right over to the fraud department. And we spent an hour chasing down every detail of every transaction. There was like $14,000 worth of stuff somebody tried to steal on this credit card. None of the charges went through  none of them. So I had names and dates and transaction IDs. We even called the merchants and talked to the store clerks that waited on this clown. That's how far we took it. I packaged all that up, and I sent it to a contact I knew in the FBI here in the Twin Cities. He sent it to Florida, and then nothing happened. I'm still waiting on a call back from the FBI." It's been seven years!

Greg believes that because he ultimately didn't lose any money as a result of this fraud, the FBI wasn't interested in helping him. "If you're an identity theft victim, law enforcement, they might be sympathetic, but they're not gonna lift a finger to help you. They're just not."

The worst part

Greg says the worst part about this experience was not what actually happened to him  the charges were reversed and he wasn't held liable for the fraudulent transactions. The worst part was that nothing was ever done about it:

"The really terrible part is, they're still out there doing it because nobody tried to catch them."

Of his experience, the grandfather says, "I'm one bald guy who called a bank fraud department and found out lots of information.Imagine what an agency with legal power, such as the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, could do if they would only lift a finger.We can stop identity theft in five minutes when we decide we want to."

A System That's Fundamentally Flawed

Greg maintains that the credit system needs to be revamped. "If you really, really, really want to solve this problem, the whole system is fundamentally flawed. And anything we do within that system is gonna be a Band-Aid."

Right now, everything is linked to your Social Security number. If someone gets that, it's pretty easy to impersonate you. Says Greg, "We need to get rid of Social Security numbers as an authenticator."

The solution he proposes involves consumers having private keys that are required in order for credit to be opened in their name. This would put responsibility on consumers to protect and understand their private key, but it would also make identity theft much more difficult. You can learn about his proposal on his website.

Greg's not holding his breath on the credit system changing, though. "I don't think this reform is going to happen anytime soon, because the only way reform ever happens is when the pain to maintain the status quo is bigger than the pain to do the change."

In the meantime, Greg says there are a few things consumers can do to help protect themselves from identity theft.

How to Protect Yourself from Identity Theft

Use credit cards instead of debit cards

Greg recommends using credit cards instead of debit cards whenever possible  especially for online purchases.

Debit transactions come out of your checking account immediately, whereas credit card transactions often take a couple of days to post. This means it's more likely that you'll notice a fraudulent transaction before the money is actually gone.

Additionally, the credit card issuer assumes liability for fraudulent transactions  not you. While your bank will investigate claims of fraudulent transactions on your checking account too, the process might take longer. In the meantime, you're short of the cash.

Credit monitoring

Greg says that credit monitoring is a good idea, although it is ultimately a reactive solution. "The problem with credit monitoring is that it happens after the fact. So, somebody charges up a bazillion dollars on my credit card and then buys a plane ticket to South America where we can't extradite them and string them up by their thumbs. Well, I find out about it after it's already done and over with. It's too late, it's already happened. I can call and scramble and react, but I'm reacting, I'm not proacting."

Even so, he recommends reviewing your credit card transactions online on a regular basis  don't just wait for your monthly statement. The sooner you identify an unauthorized charge, the sooner you can take action.

Let MoneyTips protect your credit and your identity with a free trial.

Freeze your credit

One option Greg mentions that's a little more proactive is freezing your credit. "You contact all the credit reporting agencies and you ask them to freeze your credit. Now nobody can do a credit event without the credit being unfrozen. So, if you want to borrow money or take out a mortgage or buy a car or something like that, you have to unfreeze your credit, and the credit reporting agency OKs it. Then you can take out the loan, then you freeze your credit again."

The downside of this option used to be that it cost money and required the consumer to invest some time and effort. However, credit freezes have been free as of September 21st, 2018.

There's no substitute for vigilance

Greg maintains that there's no simple solution for avoiding identity fraud. At the end of the day, people need to be careful and do what they can. "Be alert," emphasizes Greg. "Pay attention to all your account balances. Get rid of credit cards you don't use. Keep life as simple as you can keep it. There is no perfect answer. The awful thing is, you can do everything right and still get hammered."

Wrapping Up

If there's one thing you take away from his story, Greg Scott hopes it will be this six-word rhyme:

"Care and share to be prepared."

What does it mean? Well, it means that if you're the victim of credit card fraud or identity theft, take steps to address it, and then share your experience.

Greg maintains that there's power in awareness and we can help educate each other by talking about the risks. He says, "Care enough to do something about it, and then share what you learned with everybody, liberally." Greg certainly practices what he preaches: based on his personal experiences, he wrote Bullseye Breach, an internet security book disguised as a novel about how mobsters steal millions of credit card numbers.

Protect your credit  protect your identity  protect yourself with a free MoneyTips trial.

Photo iStockphoto.com/sturti
Ottumwa, IA (52501)

Today

Rain showers in the morning with scattered thunderstorms arriving in the afternoon. High 79F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Variable clouds with showers at times, and perhaps a rumble or two of thunder, especially early. Low 67F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Oskaloosa, IA (52577)

Today

Showers early then scattered thunderstorms developing later in the day. High 82F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Overcast with rain showers at times. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Oscar shared the wealth this year, spreading out its awards across films representing a spectrum of experiences and perspectives. Now its time to catch up with all those newly minted Oscar-winning films you never got around to seeing in the theater. As luck would have it, many of them are already available to see at home.

Netflix is streaming three winners:

Roma " (Mexico, R, with subtitles), which took home three awards (Alfonso Cuaron won for best director and best cinematography and the film took home the foreign-language film trophy).

Black Panther  (PG-13), which took home the awards for original score, costume design, and production design.

Period. End of Sentence.  (not rated, with subtitles), winner for best documentary short subject.

You can rent Bohemian Rhapsody (PG-13), which took home four awards, including one for Rami Maleks committed performance as Freddie Mercury, and BlacKkKlansman (R), which earned Spike Lee his first Oscar for the films adapted screenplay (shared with Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott). Both are on Cable on Demand and Video on Demand and available to rent on DVD at Redbox and other rental locations.

Also on Video on Demand are "A Star Is Born" (R), which won for Lady Gaga's original song "Shallow," and "First Man" (PG-13), which took home the trophy for its inspired visual effects.

Bao" (G), the touching winner in the animated short category, is available to rent on YouTube or purchase (for the same price as a YouTube rental) on Google Play, Amazon Video and other services.

Five of the nights big winners arrive on Cable on Demand, Video on Demand and DVD in March, including "Green Book" (PG-13), which took home awards for best picture, best supporting actor (Mahershala Ali) and best original screenplay.

Also coming in March are "The Favourite" (R), with leading actress winner Olivia Colman; "If Beale Street Could Talk" (R), with supporting actress winner Regina King; family-friendly animated feature winner "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" (PG); and documentary winner "Free Solo" (PG-13).

Coming in April is Vice (R), which won the award for make-up and hairstyling.
A police investigation is underway after wounded man arrived at a Portland hospital Monday after a shooting, authorities say.

The shooting occurred around 6:40 p.m. near Northeast Prescott and 14th Avenue and the injured man is expected to survive, Portland police said. He has not been identified by authorities and no arrests have been announced.

Portland police ask anyone with more information on the shooting to contact the bureaus gun violence response team at 503-823-4106.

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 |@EvertonBailey

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Senate President Peter Courtney is doubling down on a statewide density push with a proposal that would allow apartment development across most of Portland as well as stretches of other large cities.

The Salem Democrat is sponsoring Senate Bill 10, which would require cities to allow dense development along major transit routes, including all rail and frequent-service bus lines. He said the bill would help increase the supply of rental housing, promoting affordable rents and encourage the use of public transit.

If the only apartment you can afford is two towns over and a 70-minute car ride to work, I dont think weve solved the problem, Courtney said Monday. Senate Bill 10 is about building housing where people want to live.

The bill as written, however, faces resistance from city and regional planners who say its broad-brush approach undermines their ability to tailor development regulations to a particular neighborhoods circumstances. It appeared unlikely to advance in its current form but could be reformulated by a work group convened by Courtneys staff.

Within the Portland area, the bill would permit high-density development  on the order of mid-rise apartment buildings  within a quarter-mile of major transit lines and medium-density development  small apartments buildings and townhouses  within a half-mile. It would also allow dense mid-rise development near all light-rail stations.

Most of the residential areas within Portlands boundaries fall within one of those categories, particularly east of the Willamette River, according to a map prepared by the city.

A map prepared by the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability shows that most of the city would be open to medium- or high-density development under Senate Bill 10, which permits more density near major transit lines.

Outside of the Portland area, the bill calls for less density  more low-rise apartments and townhouses. It wouldnt apply to cities with fewer than 10,000 residents outside of metro Portland. And most cities arent blanketed with frequent-service transit like Portland, so the impact would be less dramatic.

Courtney acknowledged at the outset his proposal had put him at odds with city planners and neighborhood groups who would testify to oppose the bill.

I dont intend to simply allow rampant development or building anywhere and everywhere, because there are fragile communities within our neighborhoods, and they have to be protected as well," Courtney told a Senate committee. "Im just trying to find a way to build more housing thats affordable and accessible at a time when we desperately need it.

Cities raised concerns about tying transit service so directly to land-use planning. Eric Chambers, a lobbyist for the city of Gresham warned that the bill would effectively turn transit agencies into urban planners -- transit decisions about where to run bus service would govern a communitys growth and development.

While we often partner with our transit agency as we consider community growth, the agencies themselves are not equipped to drive urban planning and zoning, nor is it consistent with their missions, Chambers wrote.

A Portland planning official said that without flexibility, the proposal could be disruptive to Portlands neighborhoods and could serve to displace lower-income households.

The bill mandates dramatic density requirements and does not reflect the complexities of redeveloping a builtout city like Portland, wrote Joe Zehnder, the interim director of the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

Metro, the regional government and planning agency for the Portland area, expressed similar concerns, and a lobbyist for TriMet said it would make it more difficult to build support for transit investments because of the possible land-use implications.

The bill also faces opposition from homeowners who said it would dramatically change their neighborhood for the worse. Other residents of the Portland metro area, however, offered written testimony in favor of the bill, saying it would advance the environmental goal of reducing driving and provide cheaper housing.

Lawmakers are already considering House Bill 2001, a proposal from Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, that would effectively abolish single-family zoning in large cities by allowing duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes in any residential zone. Similarly to Senate Bill 10, the House bill seeks to add to the stock of rental housing in a bid to keep rents from climbing at the pace of recent years.

Both bills, if approved, could be undercut by private land-use restrictions. Covenants recorded on property deeds when the neighborhoods were developed  even some from a century ago  sometimes prohibit the construction of anything other than single-family houses.

Courtney proposed a separate bill, Senate Bill 8, which would require people who challenge locally approved affordable housing projects to the state land-use board to pay the developers legal fees if the challenge is rejected. He said that would discourage delay tactics, which he likened to frivolous lawsuits.

That bill had the support of Oregons housing authorities, who say those challenges can add costs to affordable housing projects. But other groups said it would only throw up an obstacle to public participation in land-use decisions.

People should have reasonable access to their local officials and the Land Use Board of Appeals, said Peggy Lynch of the League of Women Voters of Oregon.

-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com; 503-294-5034; @enjus

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The fight for the Republican Party is long over, and Donald Trump won -- bigly. But Bill Kristol keeps fighting anyway.

The conservative writers persistence has cost him. Once at -- or at least near -- the center of power in Washington (he was Vice President Dan Quayles chief of staff), the 66-year-old now must snipe from the distant right-field bleachers. His conservative magazine The Weekly Standard recently went under.

Kristols latest heckling effort: hes attempting to shame Senate Republicans into voting against President Trumps national-emergency declaration.

His Republicans for the Rule of Law organization has put out a 30-second ad in which prominent GOP senators declare their horror at then-President Barack Obamas 2014 executive actions that offered temporary legal status to millions of illegal immigrants and expanded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

If this president can impose his own immigration laws unilaterally, we stop having a constitutional system of checks and balances, Sen. Ted Cruz says in the ad. Its the power of a monarch or an emperor.

Cruz, like almost all of his GOP colleagues in the U.S. Senate, has not opposed Trumps Feb. 15 declaration, which allows the president to free up federal dollars for a southern-border wall. On Monday, 58 former senior national-security officials issued a bipartisan statement declaring, Under no plausible assessment of the evidence is there a national emergency today that entitles the president to tap into funds appropriated for other purposes to build a wall at the southern border.

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on Tuesday is expected to pass a resolution to overturn the emergency declaration, sending it to the Senate. Right now, only two Republicans in the upper chamber, North Carolinas Thom Tillis and Susan Collins of Maine, have indicated they will support the resolution.

If Republicans were against executive overreach [during the Obama Administration], the Republicans for the Rule of Law ad says in closing, showing GOP Sens. Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Chuck Grassley and John Cornyn, they should be against it now.

In an effort to influence Republican senators who might be wavering in their support of the president, Kristols group is running the spot on Fox News in the Washington, D.C., market. Watch the ad below.

This ad from Republicans for the Rule of Law will run on Fox in DC over the next couple of days. We hope it will help to remind Republican members of Congress that their duty to Constitution and country should prevail over temporary partisan loyalty. pic.twitter.com/5xRU1ASQYB  Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) February 25, 2019

-- Douglas Perry

@douglasmperry

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UPDATED 8 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26: Amtrak train stranded in Oregon after hitting tree being towed to Eugene

***

Nearly 200 people have been stranded on an Amtrak train in the Eugene area for 24 hours due to downed trees and heavy snow and may not be rescued until Tuesday morning, officials say.

The Amtrak Coast Starlight train left Seattle around 9:45 a.m. Sunday with a planned final destination of Los Angeles, but hit a tree in Oakridge a little before 6:20 p.m. and has remained there since then, according to Olivia Irvin, an Amtrak spokeswoman. She said 183 passengers are on board.

Crews with Union Pacific, which owns the rail lines, have been helping clear a path to the stranded train, said Tim McMahan, a Union Pacific spokesman. They are expected to reach the train by 6 a.m. Tuesday. Passengers would then be transported back to Eugene and then Portland, he said.

Oakridge is about 45 miles southeast of Eugene. The area received 10 to 14 inches of snow by Monday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. Power outages have also been widespread in the area.

Pacific Power reported Monday evening that 42,000 customers were without power from Corvallis to Roseburg, which saw more than 31,000 customers without electricity.

McMahan, the Union Pacific spokesman, said Amtrak made the decision to keep passengers on board because of the local power outages. The train has power.

Also, with only two small hotels in town they dont want to separate the passengers prior to having them rebound for departure, he said.

Passenger Rebekah Dodson said the train hit low-hanging branches, and the damage ultimately disabled the locomotive. Crews tried to make repairs until 1 a.m. Monday to no avail, she said.

Passengers were told at 7 a.m. that another train would tow them to Eugene and told at 1 p.m. that the train was still coming, said Dodson, of Klamath Falls. She said they hadnt heard any official word from Amtrak on when they would be rescued since then.

The last announcement from an Amtrak worker came around 6:30 p.m., announcing someone would be playing the ukulele for children on board.

Its been difficult to keep peoples panic down and morale up because we have no idea when were getting off, said Dodson, an author and professor at Klamath Community College. Her trip from Albany to Klamath Falls was supposed to last four hours.

Its just a mess and theres nowhere we can go.

Dodson said passengers were served breakfast and lunch, but mostly have to rely on eating whatever they brought with them or share with each other. She said theyve run out of drinking water and some parents have had to tie washcloths together with safety pins to act as diapers for young children.

She estimated several feet of snow on the ground outside and said they appear to be in a wooded area. The owners of two dogs are periodically allowed to go outside with their pets but everyone else has to remain inside and keep the windows closed. Many people dont have cell reception.

She said the train is apparently running on auxiliary power and still has heat and has at least six working bathrooms.

Were in the middle of nowhere and the nearest roads in the area are closed, Dodson said. We would love to be able to get back to Eugene at this point, but then what do we do when we get there?

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 |@EvertonBailey

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The State Department has indicated little hope of bringing back a Saudi citizen to the United States after he fled before his manslaughter trial in Portland.

The department confirmed an earlier report in The Oregonian/OregonLive that Abdulrahman Sameeer Noorah is in Saudi Arabia and expressed sympathy to the parents of the teenager Noorah is accused of killing in a hit-and-run crash in 2016.

But the letter to U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., didnt mention whether the State Department plans to undertake diplomatic measures to secure Noorahs return and seemed to suggest any resolution was outside of its purview.

The United States and Saudi Arabia do not have a bilateral extradition treaty, and Saudi Arabia does not extradite its nationals to the United States, wrote Mary Elizabeth Taylor, the departments assistant secretary of legislative affairs. Therefore, the law enforcement options available are limited.

Taylor added: At this point, the State Department has no concrete, credible evidence as to how Mr. Noorah effected his escape.

The letter, dated Feb. 14 but released Monday, seems to undercut the accounts of federal law enforcement officials, who told The Oregonian/OregonLive last year they believe the Saudi government help Noorah, then-21-year-old college student, escape prosecution in 2017.

Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Marshals Service allege he left his Southeast Portland neighborhood in a black SUV and later used an illicit passport and private plane  likely provided by the Saudi government  to flee the country in the death of Fallon Smart, 15.

The wealthy Persian Gulf kingdom had previously retained private defense attorneys to work on Noorahs case and cut a $100,000 check to provide him bail, according to court records and prosecutors. Authorities placed him under on pre-trial supervision and seized his passport.

Since those revelations, The Oregonian/OregonLive has found 16 other cases across the U.S. and Canada where university students from Saudi Arabia have vanished while facing criminal charges  even after some, like Noorah, surrendered their passports to authorities.

State and federal officials, including prosecutors, Homeland Security investigators and the FBI, have confirmed that at least eight of these defendants, including Noorah and two others from Oregon, have returned to Saudi Arabia or left North America.

Wyden, who has sought answers from the Trump administration about the disappearances and introduced legislation punish Saudi Arabia for its suspected role, blasted the State Departments response.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is proud to brag about Americas military and economic dominance, but he apparently believes the State Department is powerless to stand up to Saudi Arabias long pattern of apparently helping criminal suspects escape U.S. justice, he said in statement. That is not good enough for the victims of these violent crimes in Oregon and across the country.

Chris Larsen, an attorney for Fallon Smarts family, expressed similar frustration.

Were disappointed with the State Departments apparent unwillingness to use its considerable diplomatic power to work with the Saudi government to return Mr. Noorah to Oregon to face trial for his crimes, Larsen said.

While we appreciate Secretary Pompeos condolences, what we need is a commitment by this administration to act: to negotiate with the King of Saudi Arabia for the return of Mr. Noorah. We understand that while the law enforcement options are limited, the Department of State options are not so limited.

Read the full State Department below.

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh; 503-294-7632

Read other stories from this series:

He was accused of killing a Portland teen. Feds believe the Saudis helped him escape

Gone: More cases emerge of Saudi students vanishing while facing Oregon charges

Saudi students who vanish before trial span states, decades

Oregons Merkley and Wyden seek to punish Saudi Arabia over students who vanished before trial

Oregons Wyden prods FBI director for answers about Saudi role in student disappearances

Not just Oregon: Saudi students in at least 8 states, Canada vanish while facing criminal charges

Feds launch investigation into disappearance of Saudi students facing U.S. charges
NOTE: Based on new information, this story has been updated to reflect a different range of amounts Andrea Laing could receive.

A Portland jury on Monday awarded $15 million to a woman whose right leg was severed by a MAX train as she tried to run across the tracks to catch a train on the other side.

The amount Andrea Amy Laing actually will receive could possibly range from as little as $682,800 or to as much as $8.7 million, under various Oregon laws applying to the case.

Laing was wearing a hoodie when she was struck by a eastbound MAX train at the Elmonica/Southwest 170th station in Beaverton on Nov. 16, 2015. Although it was disputed at trial, TriMet argued she was wearing earbuds that were playing loud music, as evidenced by an emergency responder who picked them up off the tracks after Laing was hit.

During a 10-day trial, TriMet argued that Laing tried to dart across the tracks without looking both ways first, in a rush to catch a westbound train that had already reached the station. The eastbound train struck her.

In addition to an above-the-knee amputation, Laing also suffered broken ribs, fractures of facial bones and many internal injuries, including damage to her spleen that required its removal.

She spent five weeks in the hospital. A surgeon said she likely survived the catastrophic injuries only because of her youthful age. She was 23 at the time.

Laings attorneys sought a protective order from Multnomah County Circuit Judge Christopher Ramras to bar the public release of the TriMet surveillance video of the accident. Ramras granted the order. The video was repeatedly played in court, and The Oregonian/OregonLive took still frame photos of it.

Laing sought more than $27 million in damages.

She contended TriMet and MAX operator Gabe Sutherland were significantly at fault for her injuries.

Jurors found TriMet 43 percent at fault, the MAX operator 15 percent at fault and Laing 42 percent at fault.

Half a dozen jurors who spoke with The Oregonian/OregonLive after the verdict said TriMet failed to listen to recommendations on ways to improve pedestrian safety in a report written by an engineering firm many years earlier.

Jurors criticized TriMet for failing to install features such as a swing gate that would force pedestrians to stop and open the gate before stepping onto the tracks. It could increase the likelihood that pedestrians would look both ways, they said.

Jurors said TriMet also could better alert pedestrians when more than one train is pulling into the station: An electronic sign that flashes the word Trains with arrows pointing in both directions would serve as an eye-catching warning, they said.

Even so, jurors also found Laing was at fault for failing to adequately look out for the incoming train and take reasonable safety precautions.

But they didnt fault Laing for wearing a hoodie, given Oregons cold and wet weather. They noted the video surveillance showed a large hood -- and they didnt have evidence that it blocked her field of vision.

Jurors also said TriMet hadnt proven that Laing was listening to loud music. Surveillance video didnt show whether she was wearing her earbuds. Whats more, even if she had been wearing earbuds, theres no evidence that they prevented her from hearing the sound of the trains horn, jurors said.

Laings attorneys, Randolph Pickett and Sonia Montalbano, criticized the train operator for not braking sooner and not sounding the horn earlier. An expert said Sutherland began to blast the horn 1.9 second before impact.

On the morning of the accident, Laing was walking toward the MAX station at 9:12 a.m. when she saw the westbound train -- the one she wanted to ride to work -- had pulled into the station. She began to run. An instant before getting hit by the eastbound train, she appears to see it and rapidly try to slow down. But she couldnt in time and was hit by the corner of the approaching train.

Laing was run over by the train, which took 10 seconds to come to a complete stop.

Laing doesnt have a memory of the accident. She repeatedly left the courtroom when video was shown to jurors or when witnesses described what they saw and the aftermath. TriMet faulted Laing for not heeding warning signs or features designed to get pedestrians to Stop, look and listen.

Youd seen the Look Both Ways sign? TriMets attorney, Michael Shin, asked Laing.

Yes, Laing testified.

Youd seen the tactile strip, the white strip, with bumps? Shin asked.

I saw them every day, Laing said. It became habitualized.

And you saw the Dont Stand Here sign in the middle of the tracks? Shin asked.

Yes, Laing responded.

Andrea "Amy" Laing testified during a nine-day trial in Multnomah County Circuit Court in February 2019.

Deborah Kay Anderson, who was stopped in her car waiting for the train to pass, testified she saw Laing pick up her pace as she stepped onto the tracks.

It looked like poof. She was gone, she disappeared, Anderson said. It looked like it sucked her underneath.

Anderson said she and a friend who was riding in her car called 911 and rushed to Laings aid. Anderson described the train operator as distressed.

He came out of the train and fell to his knees, Anderson said. He just turned into a puddle, crying sadness.

The jury awarded $5 million in economic damages for lost wages and past and future medical costs, and $10 million in noneconomic damages for Laings pain and suffering. Because the jury found TriMet and its MAX operator 58 percent at fault, Laings attorneys likely will argue the agency must pay out 58 percent of the $15 million, or $8.7 million.

But TriMet likely will argue the most its on the hook for is $682,800. Thats the amount Oregon law caps TriMets liability at, under designated limits for public agencies such as TriMet. The tort claim limit law, however, is hotly debated. Higher courts have been asked to rule on its constitutionality.

TriMet hasnt decided yet whether it will appeal.

TriMet appreciates the work of the jury and thanks the jurors for their service, the agency said in a statement. We will consider possible next steps in this case.

Laings attorneys declined comment.

-- Aimee Green

agreen@oregonian.com

o_aimee

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Tim Lewis knew the trip wasn't going to be a short one. Traveling from his sons home in the Bay Area back to his house in Salem was always at least a nine hour ordeal. But when he departed from California on Sunday morning, he had no idea what he was in for.

The trip would end up taking more than twice that and ended up including a seven-hour stint on Interstate 5 south of Cottage Grove where Lewis, his wife and what he estimates to be thousands of other travelers sat with no cell service and no idea when they would start moving again.

To make matters worse, Lewis said hed gotten conflicting information from Trip Check, the Oregon Department of Transportations automated traffic alert system.

We knew there was nothing we could do, Lewis said. But when you dont know whats going on or how long youre going to be in an uncertain situation, it is extremely frustrating.

Oregon saw no shortage of transportation problems from the snowstorm that dumped up to a foot of heavy, wet snow on the central and southern portions of the state. Some drivers were stranded when roads were shut down due to fallen trees. Amtrak passengers on a marooned Coast Starlight train spent more than 36 hours stuck on the rails south of Eugene.

The state has been vocal about the hazards of winter driving around Oregon, recommending that drivers always travel with a full tank of gas, snacks and blankets in case of prolonged delays. Always use Trip Check, officials said, as third party mapping apps can leave you on side roads with conditions worse than the main highways.

Lewis and his wife, both 61, heeded all that advice and still ended up on a nightmarish 21-hour journey.

The couple departed the Bay Area around 10:30 a.m. Sunday morning, making their way north on I-5 through what Lewis described as a very windy and rainy northern California. Checking Trip Check the whole way, they debated stopping for the night in Ashland. The website said the roads had been closed earlier, but were moving Sunday afternoon, so they continued on their way.

When they passed through Grants Pass around 7 p.m., a digital sign on the side of the road said there was a closure ahead so they again turned to Trip Check. The website said there were delays, but no closures.

We thought Lets go for it, Lewis said.

And then they hit mile marker 159.

We didnt move an inch for three hours, Lewis said. Then it was maybe two-tenths of a mile. Over five hours, we probably went about half a mile.

Stuck in an area with no service, Lewis said he and his wife passed the time staring out into the snowy abyss, strategizing ways to use the bathroom, and wondering when they would ever get moving again. Lewis, who has has type 1 diabetes, was lucky to have had his travel kit, which includes all his medication, in the car.

If not, this could have been a life-threatening situation for me, he said.

Around 3 a.m. Monday morning, traffic finally started to crawl forward. Lewis and his wife made it home to Salem around 5 a.m., nearly a full day after they set out on their trip.

Lewis held no ill will toward state officials, but had a couple recommendations for those in charge so others might avoid his fate. He wished there was a radio station that provided updates in areas with no cell service. He wished there was a last updated note on the digital roadside signs so drivers could know when the latest information was provided. He wishes, more than anything, that hed stopped for the night in Ashland.

In that kind of situation, he said, a little knowledge goes a long way.

-- Kale Williams

kwilliams@oregonian.com

503-294-4048

@sfkale

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The key to quality design is function, and that goes for anything from the Fremont Bridge to a folding chair.

Just ask Roland Haertl, who at age 82 has had a hand in designing both.

After years of engineering work and a successful Kickstarter fundraiser, Haertl shipped the first 100 of his Interlude travel chairs to customers last month.

The Interlude  so named because its meant to be enjoyed during that time in-between activities  is a lightweight folding stool for people on the go.

Before his unexpected foray into furniture design, Haertl had a long career in civil engineering, construction and real estate development. He worked on the Washington County administration building, a French fry plant in Hermiston, and the Red Cross blood donation center in Portland. Though partially retired, he still provides land development consulting from his home in Camas.

But his biggest legacy, Haertl said, is a project for which he never received proper recognition: the Fremont Bridge.

In 1966, when the Marquam Bridge was unveiled, it was generally panned as unattractive. So, when it came time for the Oregon Department of Transportation to approve a concept for the new Fremont Bridge, the department solicited input from the Portland Art Commission.

Haertl said members of that commission reached out to him, remembering an exhibition on European bridge designs he had displayed years before at Reed College.

I said, Give me two weeks, and I did some very quick calculations, he said. I did a sketch and had an architect in the office draw it up.

At the time, Haertl worked for Werner Storch & Associates in Lake Oswego. The firms concept was preferred by the Art Commission and ultimately selected by the Department of Transportation, he said, though by that time, Haertl had left the firm and started his own business.

The primary purpose of the bridges iconic tied-arch span was to avoid putting pillars in the water.

I dont think you put a column in the river; its a turning basin for ships, he said. Nobody, I think, predicted that the arch would become this entry symbol to Portland.

In the case of his folding chair, a good design should also be intuitive to use.

The Interlude opens with a firm tug on a handled strap that snaps the chair into place. The chair has a 12-inch plastic seat. Its aluminum legs have a standard height of 17 inches that can expand to 22 inches. The chair comes with a carrying strap and weighs less than three pounds.

The Interlude was inspired by a trip Haertl took about six years ago to Barcelona, Spain.

All of a sudden, I had my right leg going numb, and I could only walk without pain maybe 30, 40 yards and then I had to sit down, he said.

During the trip, he bought several chairs, canes and cane-and-chair hybrids, but none worked well. The seats were too small, the canes too unsteady, and the chairs too long to fit in carry-on luggage.

So, when I came home, I started designing a chair, he said.

Most people, particularly if they were in their late 70s, wouldnt go to such lengths in search of a suitable chair. But for Haertl, this was the start of a six-year production process.

Why did he do it?

Oh, I think I was probably in the middle of a gap of not having enough to do, he said.

Haertl worked with Evolve Collaborative, a new Portland firm, to design, produce and market the Interlude. With Evolves help, a Kickstarter fundraiser raised more than $22,500 last year. The Interlude now retails for $99 and can be purchased online at interludechair.com.

Haertl said its never too late to start a new business or become an entrepreneur. If someone has an idea, get advice and dont hesitate to go after it, he said.

When the time is ripe, it happens.

-- Samantha Swindler

@editorswindler / sswindler@oregonian.com

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The Borax Lake chub, a tiny fish that lives in only one place on earth, has come back from the brink of extinction and federal officials said Monday they will propose removing protections for the species under the Endangered Species Act.

The fish, which measures only about 2 inches fully grown, lives only in the waters of Borax Lake in southeast oregon. The lake, like the fish that inhabits it, is unique. Fed by geothermal springs below the surface, waters in the lake can range from 61 to 100 degrees. The lake also contains high levels of borax, hence the name, as well as arsenic and lead.

Despite high levels of chemicals toxic to other animals, the Borax Lake chub thrived in the 10-acre lake, keeping to the edges where temperatures were more suitable. It is the only animal that that is known to live in the lakes harsh environment.

Geothermal projects, shoreline degradation from off-road vehicle use and development came to threaten the unique fish. In 1980, an emergency listing was issued for the fish and it was granted protection under the Endangered Species Act.

More than 300 acres of habitat, including the lake itself, were safeguared by the designation and the listing also limited damage to the streams around the lake. In 2000, congress prohibited geothermal exploration and mining in areas around the lake.

Since then, the population has boomed. IN the mid-1980s, the Borax Lake chub population dipped as low as 5,000. By 2015, that number approached 80,000, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

The Borax Lake chub population has rebounded since historic lows in the mid-1980s.

The Borax Lake chub has a bright future thanks to the Endangered Species Act, and Im happy this unique little fish will continue to thrive in the wild, Stephanie Kurose, endangered species policy specialist for the organization, said in a statement. The Act is the worlds most successful wildlife conservation law, and the chubs recovery is another powerful testament to its effectiveness.

The proposal to remove protections for the fish is open to comment for 60 days, per federal rules.

-- Kale Williams

kwilliams@oregonian.com

503-294-4048

@sfkale

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When divvying up responsibility for climate change, China and India are typically given a heaping share of blame.

Greenpeace last year knocked China for a dramatic surge in its carbon emissions. And when President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement, he cited China and India, both of which he said benefitted from the accord at Americas expense.

The two large Asian countries, like the U.S., produce a lot of carbon emissions. Theyre also making the planet greener.

The world is literally a greener place than it was 20 years ago, NASA stated this month, and data from NASA satellites has revealed a counterintuitive source for much of this new foliage: China and India.

China belches a lot of pollutants into the sky, leading many city dwellers in the worlds most populous country to wear face masks as they go about their daily lives. The communist government there is trying to mitigate the nations polluting ways with a massive tree-planting/forest-expansion initiative. India hasnt matched its larger neighbors forest-adding effort, but in recent years it has significantly increased both its tree cover and the acreage it devotes to crops.

Other countries, of course, also are making the planet greener, though China and India alone account for one-third of the greening, according to NASA. The space agencys data indicates climate change also plays a meaningful part in this greening, with increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere contributing to a fertilization boom.

Taken all together, the greening of the planet over the last two decades represents an increase in leaf area on plants and trees equivalent to the area covered by all the Amazon rainforests, NASA writes. There are now more than two million square miles of extra green-leaf area per year, compared to the early 2000s -- a 5% increase.

Find out more about the NASA study.

-- Douglas Perry
The Portland school board on Tuesday will decide the fate of one of its seven public charter schools, a decision school supporters say is unfair given the relatively short deadline theyve been given to address persistently low test scores.

A district report shows Trillium Charter School, which serves more than 200 K-12 students in North Portland, has seen a continual slide in test scores and steep losses in enrollment over the last couple of years.

Trillium admitted 203 students this fall, a drop from 289 the previous year and nearly half the high of 405 enrolled in 2013-14. Those losses pose a major financial hurdle for the small school: District staff estimate the drop has lost Trillium about $600,000 in state funding this school year alone.

The school also posted extremely low test scores in math in grades three through eight in 2016, 2017 and again in 2018, district officials say. Trillium students performed very poorly on standardized reading and writing tests in 2018 as well.

Still, a dedicated group of parents, teachers and students  nearly 100 in all  turned out at a charter committee meeting of the Portland school board to protest the possible revocation of its charter after 17 years in operation.

The school has experienced an intense churn in leadership and staffing since the 2016-17 school year, when its executive director, Kieran Connolly, left for the top job at Mosier Community School.

Critics told The Portland Tribune that Connollys departure left Trillium in disarray. Since he left, the school has seen a revolving door among its teaching staff and on its volunteer board, which appoints its own members.

But Patrice Mays, who took over as executive director at Trillium in August after a year as the interim director, says she hasnt seen much in the way of support from district leadership to raise test scores. Mays also contends that she was given an unrealistic timeline to produce results: about a year-and-a-half compared to the six years Connolly was on the job.

What we need is additional time. I havent been given the same time as my predecessor and he was not held accountable and held to the same standard as myself, Mays told the school boards charter committee at its Feb. 20 meeting.

She also told The Oregonian/OregonLive that neighborhood schools have failed her students.

My students are filled with experiences and stories of being isolated, bullied or taunted. They are queer, trans, quirky and different. They matter, she wrote in an email. Their testimonies are evidence of how the district has not provided a safe place for them to learn.

Most of the children who testified in front of the charter committee said they felt welcomed at Trillium, which wasnt the case at previous Portland schools. One parent said she uprooted her family from Florida to get her kids into Trillium.

The schools charter first came into question when it posted losses in math scores for students in third through eighth grades for two consecutive years. In 2017, 10 percent of third- through fifth-graders met state benchmarks while 18 percent of sixth- through eighth-graders passed.

In January 2018, the district, citing state statutes, told Trillium to raise those numbers substantially, to 40 percent for both groups. Elementary students doubled their passing ranks to 20 percent. But scores for the middle school-aged students dropped  just 7 percent of them met state math benchmarks.

The process we have is pretty prescribed from the state, school board member Amy Kohnstamm, who chairs the charter committee, said. We really spent the time reviewing that process and they had not been able to improve after three years.

Trilliums high school students also lag behind their peers across the state on math proficiency, but post stronger reading scores across the board.

Some parents who attended the charter committee meeting contest that the schools small class sizes, while a boon for students who seek extra attention from teachers, may also account for declines in performance.

Trillium, like all public schools in Oregon, allows students to opt out of state standardized tests. And small sample sizes, at least two parents said, can make for huge swings in the percentages of students meeting math and reading benchmarks.

That makes the data highly volatile, Kohnstamm said.

Mays asked parents to begin opting their students back into standardized testing in a Feb. 2018 letter. That effort produced some results, Kohnstamm said, but not enough to bolster Trilliums percentages enough to meet the conditions of its review.

Its clear that they have strong, new leadership but its just a really tough situation in terms of diminished enrollment and financial instability as well as not really having evidence that achievement is on the rise, Kohnstamm said.

The Portland school board will meet at district headquarters, 501 N. Dixon St., at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
A senior trooper is suing Oregon State Police, alleging his supervisor harassed and retaliated against him for taking medical leave and filing workers compensation claims for injuries suffered on the job.

Mark McDougal, 45, a 20-year trooper, suffered a severe spinal injury after he was run over by a suspects car in 2014 and then aggravated that injury in October while administering CPR to a suspect who had been shot and killed by a member of the Basin Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team, the suit says.

McDougal separately injured his shoulder during defensive tactics training and required surgery. Earlier this month, he suffered a concussion on the job, after falling on snow and ice in the parking lot and striking his head on a patrol cars bumper.

The suit alleges that McDougals supervisor, Sgt. Patrick Trippett, repeatedly mocked McDougal for his injuries, called him a gay slur around other troopers and made derogatory remarks about McDougals genitals in his criticisms of him for filing workers compensation claims.

I do not take a step like this lightly. I am very dedicated to this job, said McDougal, speaking on his own behalf. My hope is to bring some change to make things better for the future younger troops.

McDougals suit comes amid similar complaints lodged last year against Trippett from six other troopers who have worked with McDougal in the Klamath Falls Area Command office.

The other troopers, in a 2018 letter to two state police captains, backed up McDougals allegations that they heard Trippett repeatedly call McDougal a derogatory name. The other troopers wrote that Trippett consistently failed to show competent leadership, using offensive terms, name calling, disparaging comments, bully tactics and hypocrisy to define his leadership style.

He belittles, insults and demeans to exert his superiority over the people he supervises and we are asking you to investigate and put a stop to it, the six troopers wrote, in a signed letter to two police captains.

Oregon state police just learned of the lawsuit Monday and couldnt comment on the pending litigation or a personnel matter, spokesman Capt. Tim Fox said.

Mark Banks, president of the Oregon State Police Officers Association, said he couldnt comment because the plaintiff, McDougal, and the defendant, Trippett, in the lawsuit are both members of the union.

McDougal complained about the alleged harassment to state police supervisors but nothing was done, his attorney Michael Fuller said.

McDougal said he filed a complaint last fall with the state police Professional Standards Division, was interviewed but hasnt been informed of any outcome.

McDougal also contends he was passed over for a promotion to sergeant in November, a post filled instead by a trooper on the job for three years who didnt meet the minimum requirement for sergeants rank of working five years on the street.

McDougal said he didnt have problems until he transferred from the North Plains office to Klamath Falls three and a half years ago. Before his Klamath Falls patrol post, he said he received support and appreciation from his supervisors for his work.

McDougal is seeking $2.5 million in economic and noneconomic damages from the state police and a court-ordered injunction to prohibit state police from the alleged discrimination.

The lawsuit was filed Sunday in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

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Lawyers for six Occupy ICE protesters who face federal misdemeanor charges will argue Tuesday for a jury trial, but prosecutors contend the demonstrators arent entitled to one for the relatively minor allegations.

Having a jury return a verdict will lend legitimacy and credibility to a case of significant public interest amid a divisive national debate about the power of the federal government and its treatment of people seeking refuge in the U.S., wrote defense lawyer Per C. Olson on behalf of the defendants.

Although the protesters admit they dont have a constitutional or statutory right to a jury trial, the court has the discretion to allow one and should because the case involves their First Amendment rights to challenge government practices they believe are inhumane and unlawful, Olson argued.

Theyre concerned a federal judge could be viewed as another arm of the government, he wrote.

The six have pleaded not guilty to creating disturbances and failing to comply with lawful directions of federal police. The two misdemeanors could bring a maximum penalty of up to 30 days in jail and a $5,000 fine.

The potential that the government will seek restitution for property damage or the cost of dismantling the makeshift camp around the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters in Southwest Portland makes the case more serious, he noted.

A jury of defendants peers will guard against the threat or appearance of a vengeful prosecution, Olson wrote.

Prosecutors argue that a federal judge can fairly try the case.

The misdemeanor charges werent brought because of the protesters speech but because they occupied, damaged and blocked the entrance to a federal building for days, wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Kerin.

The defendants push for a jury trial appears to be motivated by a desire to find potential jurors who may also disagree with the same government policies in an attempted jury nullification effort, she added.

Kerin wrote in court documents that protesters not only impeded operations at the building on Southwest Macadam Avenue but subjected Federal Protective Services officers to verbal threats, doxing and racial epithets and shared personal information on social media about federal officers that led to vandalism at several federal employees homes.

The entire cost for public safety, crowd control and cleanup reached more than $1.8 million, Kerin wrote in court documents.

Defense lawyers said the six people in this case had nothing to do with those behaviors and prosecutors shouldnt lump all the demonstrators together.

More than 150 federal employees and contractors work at the building for several federal agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Government Services Administration, and two divisions of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency - Homeland Security Investigations, and Enforcement and Removal Operations.

The occupation outside the building lasted about five weeks in June. Protesters set up a makeshift camp and remained there around the clock. They said their intention was to protest the Trump administrations policy of separating children and parents detained after border crossings and seek the abolishment of ICE.

The building closed for 10 days because protesters blocked its entrances. Early on June 28, after Federal Protective Service officers issued verbal warnings and posted written notices saying further obstruction of the entrances violated federal law, the officers moved in to arrest a group who continued to block the entries.

The defendants in this case linked arms and chanted in protest. Two of the them were bound together in a so-called sleeping dragon device, which had to be cut and dismantled.

The disruption was significant, Kerin wrote.

Pictures of employees faces, cars, license plates and tattoos were taken by protestors and dispersed on social media, with remarks such as We must know who the Gestapo is! according to the prosecutor. At least three federal employees homes were vandalized after their personal identification was revealed publicly. Another employees car was vandalized and one was followed home from the building to his home.

An African-American law enforcement officer who traveled from another state and began working at the Macadam Building on June 24, 2018, had racial epithets yelled at him by protesters throughout his entire multiple-week deployment. At one point, protesters told him that they hoped his fellow white law enforcement officers would hang him, Kerin wrote.

After protesters arrests, a transport van was unable to leave the Macadam Building during a medical emergency because some blocked the only vehicle exit. Protesters tried to open the doors of the van and threatened the passengers, Kerin wrote.

Federal Protective Services called in more than 165 out-of-state federal law enforcement officers and employees to help with the massive demonstration, according to court papers.

The defendants are Cameron M. Cruscial, Lauren M. Halcomb-Hudson, MacKenzie G. Hilmes, Emma C. Mavros, Anna V. Moklayk and Kathryn A. Pyland. Similar charges against a seventh defendant, Stuart W. Tanquist, were dismissed.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jolie A. Russo will hear arguments on the request for a jury trial at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

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Hanoi airport, public spaces tighten security measures to highest level

Preparations are in full swing in Hanoi, as the capital city of Vietnam is gearing up to host the highly anticipated second summit between DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump.

Talks between the two leaders are scheduled on Wednesday and Thursday in Hanoi. Sources said Kim and Trump will both arrive in the city one day ahead of the summit.
Pete Santilli, the conservative Internet talk show host who pleaded guilty to conspiracy stemming from the 2014 Bunkerville standoff in Nevada after charges were dismissed against him in the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, is in a legal battle with conservative lawyer Larry Klayman, who now represents Cliven Bundy.

In January, Santilli filed a bar complaint against Klayman, claiming Klayman collected donations for more than a year while Santilli and co-defendants were in custody in Nevada, promising to challenge their detention but never did.

This month, Klayman filed a $15 million defamation lawsuit in the Superior Court in the District of Columbia against Santilli, alleging in part that Santilli is violating the terms of his federal supervised release through his communications with now-indicted Roger Stone, a longtime advisor to President Trump.

Klaymans suit followed several emails Klayman sent Santilli promising to sue him if he didnt withdraw his bar complaint.

Klayman, according to Santilli, had promised him and his co-defendants in Nevada that hed file a civil lawsuit against U.S. District Judge Gloria M. Navarro, who was the trial judge in the Bunkerville prosecution, as well as former Nevada U.S. Sen. Harry Reid and President Barack Obama, in an attempt to get relief for their detention, claiming they were held without due process as political prisoners.

Mr. Klayman kept promising he would be having an appointment with the Attorney General & also continued to collect donations from our supporters for legal fees, Santillis complaint says.  After months of failing to follow through with the work he promised, as well as securing an appointment with AG Sessions. We were finally informed that our entire legal package was forwarded without our permission to AG Sessions, who then turned over our priveleged (sic) materials to the prosecution team.

Santilli partly blamed Klayman for his decision to plead guilty to the conspiracy charge in the Nevada case, although Santilli had his own court-appointed lawyer. While Klayman promised to help the defense teams review of discovery and exhibits prior to the Bundy trial, Klayman was incompetent in the use of computers, and hadnt done the preparation, Santilli wrote.

Due to his extreme lack of preparation for trial within one month prior to trial, Mr. Klayman is partly to blame for me being forced to plead out on a felony, Santilli wrote in his bar complaint.

Santilli wrote that he was concerned he was at risk of being collateral damage and might be found guilty by association due to what he saw as a lack of preparation by other attorneys involved in the case.

Conservative lawyer Larry Klayman files $15 million defamation suit against radio show host Pete Santilli, after Santilli filed bar complaint against Klayman.

In the end, Navarro dismissed all charges against Santillis co-defendants, citing government misconduct in prosecutors failure to share evidence with the defense as required by law.

Santilli pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer before trial and was sentenced in September to time served and placed on two years of federal supervision. Hes returned to his Internet radio show.

Klayman argues that he never entered any agreement to represent Santilli, who he described as lacking the courage to stand trial. Instead, Klayman insisted in his suit that hes worked tirelessly to gain justice for Cliven Bundy, and only material from the public record was shared with Sessions office.

In Klaymans suit filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, Klayman also argued that Santilli sold out his co-defendants in the Bunkerville case through his plea deal and is in bed with Stone, now indicted stemming from special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into Russias interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Klayman contends Santilli is doing the bidding of Stone, in an attempt to discredit both Klayman and Klaymans client, Jerome Corsi, another political gadfly, who is a witness in the case against Stone. Corsi is alleged in an indictment to have been one of two intermediaries between Stone and WikiLeaks in 2016 before the online site published stolen emails damaging to Hillary Clinton.

Last week, a federal judge in Nevada denied Santillis request to his probation officer to interview Stone while Stone faces indictment.

"The probation office concludes that the potential professional or financial value [Defendant] has assigned to an interview with Stone does not outweigh our unique responsibility of placing him (Santilli) in the best position to succeed during the term of supervision,'' the U.S. Probation Office wrote to U.S. District Judge Gloria M. Navarro, who denied Santillis request.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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A former Lake Oswego investment manager was sentenced to three years in federal prison Monday and must repay $529,000 he embezzled for his personal use and to help fund marijuana businesses.

Federal prosecutors had sought as much as four years in prison for the defendant, Shayne Kniss, 43, who pleaded guilty last year to a single charge of wire fraud. But U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mosman ruled Kniss had issues with mental health and alcohol abuse that are mitigating factors under federal sentencing guidelines.

Intriguingly, Mosman also noted that Kniss prior attorneys and others who havent faced charges appeared to bear a great deal of responsibility for the fraud. Some of them agreed to pay civil settlements that helped recoup $4 million of the more than $5 million that vanished in the scheme.

The case occurs in a larger context of bigger players paying their way out of this problem while youre left holding the bag, Mosman told Kniss in a downtown federal courtroom Monday afternoon.

Between 2011 and 2013, Kniss collected millions of dollars from 47 investors for a firm called Iris Capital Management. He promised he would buy homes, rehabilitate them and sell them at a profit. Investors said he personally guaranteed them returns of 8 to 12 percent.

Instead, investigators say he used some investors money to pay off prior backers and embezzled more than $500,000 of investors money to fund marijuana businesses. While Iris collapsed as the scheme came apart, a receiver put in charge of resolving the case recovered nearly 80 percent of the funds.

Five of Kniss victims testified Monday, lamenting the loss of retirement savings, feelings of betrayal and years of stress that resulted from the case. Some indicated they lost as much as a half-million dollars and recovered only a portion.

Shayne actually groomed us, said Tom Renne, 70, of West Linn. He said Kniss played on his Christian faith and offered gifts to his wife and wine tasting parties to win their business. Renne said his family lost $25,000 in the scheme and recovered none of it.

We felt like we were fools that we were trusting someone like this, he told the court Monday.

The prosecution and defense agreed Kniss was a poor manager who reacted badly when he was unable to handle complex investments or deliver the returns he had promised.

As an investment advisor, Kniss was a utility infielder who wanted to be a home run hitter, but he did not have the tools, federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo.

He was not an incredibly savvy, intelligent, well-equipped investment advisor, Conor Huseby, Kniss public defender, told the court Monday. He was a mess.

Before sentencing, Kniss apologized to his victims and to his family and said he suffered mental and emotional struggles as Iris came apart.

In the end it was my decision which caused so much harm in this case, he acknowledged.

Judge Mosman recommended Kniss serve his prison time in a federal prison in Georgia, near his current home. Originally from Canada, Kniss could be subject to deportation after his sentence but prosecutors said the law will likely allow him to apply to return to the U.S. if he chooses.

Its not clear when, or if, Kniss would be able to repay the $529,000 he owes his former investors. His attorney said Kniss has just $500 in his bank account, owes $300,000 in taxes and has $120,000 in credit card debit.

Still hanging over the courtroom Monday was the strong implication that others havent been held fully accountable. Huseby, Kniss lawyer, blamed Iris real estate manager for mishandling the properties and one of Kniss former attorneys for a conflict of interest in managing the marijuana investments.

Additionally, the court-appointed receiver now in charge of Iris Capital wrote in a sentencing memo that she had reached millions of dollars in confidential settlements with unnamed others in the case who appeared to be subject to securities violations.

-- Mike Rogoway | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699
Report Predicts Commercial Satellite Launch Service Market to hit over $7 bn by 2024, key players- Lockheed Martin, Airbus, Boeing, Orbital ATK, Arianespace

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Communication commercial satellite launch service Market will dominate industry volume share owing to increasing usage of wireless technology and rising connectivity among various countries. Reconnaissance segment is anticipated to hold over 35% of overall revenue share owing to utilization of imagery SATs for improving farming techniques. Online web sources and GIS tools for farmers will further spur segment revenue over the forecast period.Get Sample Copy of This Report @The micro commercial satellite launch service market will experience more than 6% of growth rate during the projected time span. This growth rate can be credited to rising developments for enhancing affordability and reliability of the launching vehicles. Micro SATs penetration is observed in various industries owing to compact size.North America is predicted to dominate commercial satellite launch service Market and will be worth over USD 2.5 billion by 2024. This dominance can be credited to availability of robust infrastructure in the region and presence of multiple space organizations including SpaceX and NASA. Expansion of navigation industry demand to locate destinations is contributing significantly in regional revenue generation. Asia Pacific is anticipated to register robust growth owing to low launching cost offered by organizations such as ISRO.Company profiled in this report based on Business overview, Financial data, Product landscape, Strategic outlook & SWOT analysis: Lockheed Martin Airbus Space Exploration Technology Boeing Axelspace Corporation Orbital ATKMake an Inquiry for purchasing this Report @Continuous R&D activities for cost reductions will aid developing countries such as India to strengthen its position., In 2018, ISRO launched 31 satellites and is planning for around 3000 in next ten years. Rising satellite manufacturing facilities will strengthen the commercial satellite launch service Market over the forecast period. For instance, in 2017, Airbus commissioned factory to manufacture One-Web SATs with annual investment of around USD 17 billion.Government agencies such as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recommends and approves the regulations and procedures that govern commercial launch service industry. It satisfies infrastructure requirement for the companies located both domestically and internationally. European space organizations are exploring various alternatives for micro launchers for launching SATs for different applications including, telecom, technology demonstration, education, earth observation, and mobile applications.LEO segment of commercial satellite launch service market will exhibit CAGR of around 3.2% during forecast period owing to less deploy time and low launching cost in comparison with other orbits. Additionally, the segment is the positive gateway for expanding connectivity in remote areas.Browse Report Summary @Commercial satellite launch service market players are Lockheed Martin, Airbus, Space Exploration Technology, Boeing, Axelspace Corporation, and Orbital ATK. Industry players are adopting mergers and acquisition strategy to enhance their industry share. In January 2018, ULA acquired Atlas division of Lockheed to reduce cost and enhancing business efficiency.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:
Latest Research On Smart Watch Market Analysis and Opportunities by Top Leading Vendors like Apple, Google, Garmin, Fitbit, Motorola, Sony Corporation, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.

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Smart Watch is a portable wearable device that is used to track various activities such as steps covered in a day, calories burnt, heart rate, and others. Smartwatch is similar to mobile phone device with a touchscreen display and consists of various apps through which a person can access his mobile phone. Increase in adoption of smartphone along with fast internet connectivity is the key driver for the growth of the global smartwatch market.The Smart Watch market size is expected to grow CAGR of +17% during the forecast period.A new report as an Smart Watch market that includes a comprehensive analysis of the global market. This includes investigating past progress, ongoing market scenarios, and future prospects. Accurate data on the products, strategies and market share of leading companies in this particular market are mentioned. This report provides a 360-degree overview of the global market's competitive landscape. The report further predicts the size and valuation of the global market during the forecast period.Get Sample copy of this Report @:Companies Profiled in this report includes; Apple Google Garmin Fitbit Motorola Sony Corporation Samsung Electronics LG Electronics Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.The competitive landscape of the global Smart Watch market has been described with detailed analysis. Furthermore, researchers throw light on some small scale and medium scale industries to differentiate the strategies carried out by them. Additionally, it highlights the major key players operating across the global regions like North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Europe.The standalone segment accounts for the highest market share in the global smartwatch market owing to features such as wireless operations, sim card acceptance & can be used as mobile phone, and to access the internet. Rise in demand for wireless fitness & sports devices, increase in health awareness among the consumer, and entrance of large number of players, drive the growth of the smartwatch market.Key Benefits for Global Smartwatch Market: This study presents an analytical depiction of the global smartwatch industry along with the current trends and future estimations to depict the imminent investment pockets. The overall smartwatch market potential is determined to understand the lucrative trends to gain a stronger foothold in the industry. The report includes information related to key drivers, restraints, and opportunities with a detailed impact analysis. The current market is quantitatively analyzed from 2019 to 2026 to highlight the financial competency of the smartwatch market. Porters five forces analysis illustrates the potency of the buyers and suppliers in the market.Get up to 20% Discount on this Report @:The Smart Watch market report includes key showcase sections and sub-segments, evolving market patterns and elements, free market activity changes, market opening quantification throu market forecasts, and current patterns Challenge tracking, competitive beat of knowledge, opportunity mapping for innovative leaps.Study Objectives of Smart Watch Insurance market: To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast of the various segments and sub-segments of the market. To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth. To analyze the Internet of market based porters five force analysis etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW). To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective. To provide country level analysis of the market for segment on the basis of type and end-user.For More Information:About usThe Research Insights  A global leader in analytics, research and advisory that can assist you to renovate your business and modify your approach. With us, you will learn to take decisions intrepidly. We make sense of drawbacks, opportunities, circumstances, estimations and information using our experienced skills and verified methodologies. Our research reports will give you an exceptional experience of innovative solutions and outcomes. We have effectively steered businesses all over the world with our market research reports and are outstandingly positioned to lead digital transformations. Thus, we craft greater value for clients by presenting advanced opportunities in the global market.Contact usRobinSales managerContact number: +91-996-067-0000sales@theresearchinsights.com
Future Growth of Airport Security Market Size Global Analysis by Key Players - Thales Group, American Science and Engineering, Inc, Westminster Group PLC, Axis Communications, Scanna MSC Ltd

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This report compiled by Market Study Report, LLC, focuses on factors influencing the present scenario of the Airport Security market. The research report also offers concise analysis referring to commercialization aspects, profit estimation and market size of the industry. In addition, the report highlights the competitive standing of major players in the projection timeline which also includes their portfolios and expansion endeavors.Airport Security Market is set to exceed USD 16 billion by 2024; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc.High penetration of these solutions is due to the demand for advanced security systems such as biometrics in identity and access monitoring, contactless entryway checkpoints, x-ray scanners, and thermal cameras. Conventional security measures employ invasive procedures and protocols such as physical checks and body pat-downs which are highly uncomfortable. To boost passenger convenience, airport security market vendors are investing in R&D activities for the development of technologies such as x-ray scanners. In high-risk settings, preventive measures are required over reactive technologies. In such cases, it is essential to track and forecast security threats in contrast to taking measures to fix the issues after their occurrence.Request a sample of this premium report at:Some of the players operating in the global airport security market include Thales Group, American Science and Engineering, Inc, Westminster Group PLC, Axis Communications, Scanna MSC Ltd., Bosch Security Systems, RedXDefense LLC, Fisher Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd, OSI Systems, Inc., and MilliVision Technologies. Companies are increasingly entering into long term partnerships with airports for the testing and deployment of their technologies. For instance, Izmir International Airport has entered into an agreement with Tyco Security Products for the provision of unified security solutions such as access control, location monitoring, and intrusion tracking.The rising penetration of smart technologies and IoT in airports is fueling the demand for airport security market. These include technologies such as remote check-ins, sensor equipment, e-gates, RFID baggage reconciliation systems, etc. A major portion of the data is collected in real-time and stored in large central databases. The presence of security issues in such cases can leave the data vulnerable to attacks from internal and external parties. Wireless tracking technologies, for instance, can allow a hacker to utilize triangular algorithms or Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) Information to track the location of the Wi-Fi end-point user and unearth historical data such as the route taken by the users, purchasing data, etc.A major factor contributing to the high growth of the airport security market is the increase in the traveler populations, primarily in the Middle East and Asia Pacific. Large scale globalization and rapid industrialization is driving the movement of goods and people across country borders. Owing to this, airports in urban locations are increasingly experiencing high passenger traffic causing governments of varying economies to undertake massive projects for the upgrade of existing technologies and the development of new airports. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the U.S government has increased the stringency of security procedures in and around the aircraft and passenger areas.The airport surveillance system market is anticipated to exhibit substantial growth during the forecast time-period. These systems are required to be functional at all times and sense multiple movements occurring at varying ranges. Additionally, these systems are supposed to function effectively in intense environmental conditions such as fog and storms and capture images in reduced visibility settings. The advent of 4K cameras and video units has revolutionized the airport security market owing to their sharper and improved image quality and provide coverage for a wider area.Request a discount on standard prices of this premium report at:The North America airport security market is anticipated to dominate in terms of revenue in the following years. This is mainly attributed to the high emphasis of the U.S government on security measures such as surveillance cameras and cyber security solutions. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has launched the testing of 3D checkpoint scanning technology at the Phoenix Sky Harbor and the Logan International Airport. The computed tomography screening equipment improves the threat detection capabilities by providing a more through 3D image of the screened cargo.More Details on this Report:About 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:
Crawler Crane Market Regional Forecast 2019-2024 By Top Players Terex Corporation, Liebherr Group, Konecranes, Palfinger AG, Escorts Limited, Link-Belt Cranes, Sany Group

Crawler Crane Market

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The Asia Pacific crawler crane market is witnessing a high adoption in the construction and mining sectors and expected to grow at a CAGR of over 5% from 2018 to 2024. Global companies are expanding their business operations in the region by collaborating with local manufacturers. For instance, in December 2016, Jekko s.r.l. collaborated with Lee Hyun Soo and Dennis Shin for establishing a new subsidiary, Jekko Korea in Seoul.Countries including India, China, and Japan are adopting advanced automated technologies in industrial sectors for enhancing their business operations. The escalating infrastructure development projects in countries including India will favor the crawler crane market growth.Request for a sample copy of this report @The crawler crane market is witnessing demand for low-level access units, niche machines, and customized choices. Growing installation & maintenance activities for the upgrade of fire stations, street lights, glasswork, and other associated infrastructure coupled with increasing organization of several events such as concerts, corporate events, and festivals, are driving the need for these machines across several regions.Major players in the crawler crane market include Terex Corporation, The Liebherr Group, Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd., XCMG Group, The Escorts Group, Komatsu Ltd., Sany Group, and Manitowoc. Companies including The Escorts Group, Furukawa UNIC Corporation, and Terex Corporation sell their equipment through specialized construction equipment distributors and construction firms across the globe.Crawler Crane Market, By Capacityo Below 50 metric tonso 50 to 250 metric tonso 250 to 450 metric tonso 450 to 650 metric tonsCrawler Crane Market, By Applicationo Rentalo Constructiono Miningo Oil & Gaso EnergyMake an inquiry for purchasing this report @Crawler Crane Market size is set to exceed USD 3 billion by 2024; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc. The shipments are expected to grow at a CAGR of over 4%.Increasing utilization of crawler cranes in the energy sector is anticipated to drive the crawler crane market growth. These machines offer heavy lifting operations at the nuclear and renewable energy sites and facilitate the operators in handling the materials efficiently. Several manufacturers have developed energy sector-specific machines that witness a high demand. For instance, Manitowoc has launched a wind power crane, Grove GTK1100, that is used for wind turbine operations such as erection and construction. Additionally, the crawler crane market is witnessing growth opportunities due to the increasing infrastructure projects across the globe.Economic growth across the globe, especially in China, India, and Southeast Asian markets, has led to a better infrastructure demand. Growing building & construction spending due to a rise in per-capita disposable income along with enhanced infrastructure in Asia Pacific and Latin America will drive the crawler crane market. Growth in Latin America will be led by an increase in infrastructure spending, mainly transportation and energy, closely followed by spending on non-residential structures. The key areas of construction growth in emerging economies are social, transport, energy, defense infrastructure, and government accommodation.Browse report summery @High maintenance costs and initial investments are the major factors hindering the crawler crane market development. The high cost is discouraging several business manufacturers and OEMs from deploying high-end machines. Companies consider that investments for automated equipment must meet the global quality and manufacturing standards. In addition, the cranes are available on lease from the manufacturers at a lower price than the newer machines. Instead of procuring a new equipment, several customers commonly prefer renting equipment, which is anticipated to hamper the market.The strong distributor relations aid companies in gaining a competitive advantage and understanding the demand for any new products in application segments. This helps companies in the crawler crane market in efficiently marketing new product lines and expanding the customer base. In July 2018, The Liebherr Group announced the opening of the companys new headquarters in Virginia. The new facility developed a production & workshop unit to support Liebherrs construction, concrete, and cranes division.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:
Nanotechnology Electric Vehicle (EV) Market to 2023  Global Analysis and Forecasts by Types, Technologies, Applications and End-User Verticals

Nanotechnology Electric Vehicle (EV) Market Research Report 2023

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Research Reports Inc a new industry research that focuses on Nanotechnology Electric Vehicle (EV) market and delivers in-depth market analysis and future prospects of Global Nanotechnology Electric Vehicle (EV) market. The study covers significant data which makes the research document a handy resource for managers, analysts, industry experts and other key people get ready-to-access and self-analyzed study along with graphs and tables to help understand market trends, drivers and market challenges.Download Sample Report For Nanotechnology Electric Vehicle (EV) :An electric vehicle, also called an EV, uses one or more electric motors or traction motors for propulsion. An electric vehicle may be powered through a collector system by electricity from off-vehicle sources, or may be self-contained with a battery, solar panels or an electric generator to convert fuel to electricity. EVs include, but are not limited to, road and rail vehicles, surface and underwater vessels, electric aircraft and electric spacecraft.The global market size of Nanotechnology Electric Vehicle (EV) is $$$ Million in 2017 with $$$ CAGR from 2013 to 2017, and it is expected to reach $$$ million by the end of 2023 with a CAGR of $$$% from 2018 to 2023.The Companies Include :Daimler Safety Cell, Daimler Smart Car, BYD, Think Environmentally Friendly Vehicles, TH!NK City Safety Concept, Think Overnight Power Top-Up, GM Volt, GM Opel, Tesla Motors, I MiEV Electric Car by Mi et al.There are 3 key segments covered in this report: geography segments, end use/application segments and competitor segment.For geography segment, regional supply, application-wise and type-wise demand, major players, price is presented from 2013 to 2023.Make An Enquiry For Nanotechnology Electric Vehicle (EV) :This report coverss following regions :North AmericaSouth AmericaAsia & PacificMEA (Middle East and Africa)EuropeThe key countries in each region are taken into consideration as well, such as United States, China, Japan, India, Korea, ASEAN, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, CIS, and Brazil etc.For end use/application segment, this report focuses on the status and outlook for key applications. End users also can be listed.Grab Discount For Nanotechnology Electric Vehicle (EV) :For competitor segment, the report includes global key players of Nanotechnology Electric Vehicle (EV) as well as some small players.The information for each competitor includes:Company ProfileMain Business InformationSWOT AnalysisSales, Revenue, Price and Gross MarginMarket SharePurchase Now :We also can offer customized report to fulfill special requirements of our clients.TABLE OF CONTENTSChapter 1 Executive SummaryChapter 2 Abbreviation and AcronymsChapter 3 PrefaceChapter 4 Market LandscapeChapter 5 Market Trend AnalysisChapter 6 Industry Chain AnalysisChapter 7 Latest Market DynamicsChapter 8 Trading AnalysisChapter 9 Historical and Current Nanotechnology Electric Vehicle (EV) Market inChapter 10 Historical and Current Nanotechnology Electric Vehicle (EV) Market in South America (2013-2018)Chapter 11 Historical and Current Nanotechnology Electric Vehicle (EV) Market in Asia & Pacific (2013-2018)Chapter 12 Historical and Current Nanotechnology Electric Vehicle (EV) Market in Europe (2013-2018)Chapter 13 Historical and Current Nanotechnology Electric Vehicle (EV) Market in MEA (2013-2018)Chapter 14 Summary for Global Nanotechnology Electric Vehicle (EV) Market (2013-2018)Chapter 15 Global Market Forecast (2019-2023)Chapter 16 Company ProfileResearch Reports Inc. is one of the leading destinations for market research reports across all industries, companies, and technologies. Our repository features an exhaustive list of market research reports from thousands of publishers worldwide. We take pride in curating a database covering virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories. We are one of the premier sources for such reports & report customization services.Research Reports Inc.#766, 99 Wall Street, New YorkNY 10005, United StatesUS / Canada Toll Free: +18554192424,UK :+4403308087757Email: info@researchreportsinc.com
Craft Beer Market Worth 22.76% CAGR by 2025

Craft Beer Market Size and Market Trends by 2025

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The global craft beer market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 22.76%, in value terms, during the forecast period 2018-2025. Craft Beers are produced in small breweries, using traditional methods and ingredients inspired by local taste, texture, and flavors. Moreover, it is produced in small quantity. The rising number of microbreweries across the globe produces a small amount of beer but emphasize on the quality, taste and new product innovation according to the changing palate of beer drinkers. Increasing government support for microbreweries via start-up will boost the production of craft beers in the coming years. Shifting consumers preferences towards a healthy lifestyle has influenced the younger population to adopt healthier beverages with low alcohol content like craft beer.Lager is projected to be the leading segment of the overall Craft Beer Product Market during the forecast period.Request Sample Copy of Report @On the basis of product type, the craft beer market has been segmented into Lager, Ale, Stout & Porter and Others. Lager segment dominates the global craft beer with 68.21% market share of the total craft beer market and projected to lead the market over the forecast period 2018-2025. Due to the increase in preference for lower but value-based product consumption of alcohol. Moreover, the carbohydrates present in lager are beneficial for health along with other health benefits. Ale is projected to be the fastest growing craft beer market in terms of value with a CAGR over 25% for the forecast period, 2018-2025.North America accounts for the largest share of the Global Craft Beer Market during the forecast period.On the basis of region, the craft beer market has been segmental into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America. North America dominates the world craft beer with 36.26% market share of the entire craft beer market and projected to lead the market over the forecast period, 2018-2025. Africa is projected to be the fastest growing market with a CAGR over 28% throughout the forecast period due to the increasing penetration in South Africa. The growing consumer awareness regarding the wide selection of flavors and styles of the product is expected to be a crucial factor for market growth in the country.Objective of the Study: To analyze and forecast market size of the world craft brew market, in terms of useful & volume To examine the careful market segmentation and forecast the market size, in terms useful, on the premise of the region by segmenting world craft brew market into 5 regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and geographical area. To outline, categorized and forecast the world brew market on the premise of product kind and channel. To examine competitive developments like expansions, technological advancement, new flavor launches, services, and regulative framework within the world Craft brew market. To pinpoint the drivers and challenges for the world craft brew market To spot the profile of leading players, that area unit concerned within the producing and provide off craft brew globally.Get More Information about this Report and TOC @Global Craft Beer Market Competitive LandscapeCompanies, such as D.G. Yuengling and Son, Gambrinus Company, Heineken N.V, Boston Beer Company, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., and Belgium Brewing Company are the key players in manufacturing craft beer. In terms of product offerings, Boston Beer Company and D.G. Yuengling and Son are the major players in the market, providing various tastes and flavors of craft beer.Strategic Outlook for major Industry Player In March 2018, D.G. Yuengling and Son have added a new beer to its craft beer product portfolio, known as Golden Pilsner, a modern pilsner crafted with the perfect balance of malt and hop for crisp, smooth refreshment. In May 2017, Heineken N.V acquired the 100% stake in Lagunitas, a craft beer maker having entered a 50/50 partnership in 2015 , allowing the company to accelerate the expansion of the brand to many markets around the world In Aug 2017, New Belgium Brewing has entered into a licensing agreement with Mohegan Sun, to feature New Belgium brand in Mohegans gaming area. The company Taproom within the gaming area, will feature 12 craft beer lines, including sour and seasonal releases, expanding its presence in the east coast.Customization of this Report can be done as per clients requirement.Planet Market Reports gives statistical surveying reports to businesses, people and associations with a goal of helping them in their decision making process. We have huge database of market research reports & company profiles across globe. We offer premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.Planet Market Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, & industry experts which provides you deeper penetration of market research industry ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.We have statistical surveying reports from number of top publishers and update our reports collections on daily basis. Planet Market Reports seasoned and well-informed team of Research Coordinators works closely with you, offering unbiased and expert advice on the most appropriate market research reports. With their in-depth knowledge of market research trends, industry verticals and market research publishers, many organizations regard the services of our Research Coordinators as being indispensable. We help you in your buy choice by mapping your data needs with our immense accumulation of reports. Get in touch with us for your special interest needs and we will connect inside 24hrs to enable you to discover the market research report you require.Our team is a group of highly motivated people who want to support you 24/7 with the latest accurate research data available. We continuously develop our website to make sure you are able to access the information available in the easiest and safest way. We hope you appreciate our websites and services, if you have suggestions or feedback please let us know through our Contact Us form.Name: Jennifer DanielEmail-Id: sales@planetmarketreports.comUS: +1-716-2260907UK: +447441952057Organization: Planet Market Reports
Insurance Industry, in Albania: Strategic Market Intelligence with Trend & Future Opportunity

Insurance Market

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A new research document is added in HTF MI database of 37 pages, titled as 'Strategic Market Intelligence: Insurance Industry in Albania - Key Trends and Opportunities to 2022' with detailed analysis, Competitive landscape, forecast and strategies. The study covers geographic analysis that includes important players/vendors such as Sigal Unique Group Austria Sh.a., Eurosig Sh.a., Sigma Interalbanian Vienna Insurance Group Sh.a. etc. The report will help you gain market insights, future trends and growth prospects for forecast period of 2018-2022.Request a sample report @SummaryGlobalDatas "Strategic Market Intelligence: Insurance Industry in Albania - Key Trends and Opportunities to 2022", report provides a detailed outlook by product category for the Albanian insurance industry.It provides values for key performance indicators such as written premium, incurred loss, claims paid, commissions and expenses, combined ratio, total assets, total investment income and net earned premium during the review period (2013-2017) and forecast period (2017-2022).The report gives a comprehensive overview of the Albanian economy and demographics, and provides detailed information on the competitive landscape in the country.The report brings together GlobalDatas research, modeling and analysis expertise, giving insurers access to information on segment dynamics and competitive advantages of insurers operating in the country.This report provides in-depth market analysis, information and insights into the Albanian insurance industry.Get Customization in the Report, Enquire Now @ScopeThe report provides in-depth market analysis, information and insights into the Albanian insurance industry. Key Inclusions -- Insights and Dynamics of the Albanian insurance industry.- Comprehensive overview of the Albanian economy and demographics, and provides detailed information on the competitive landscape in the country.- Albanian insurance industrys market structure with market shares and market forecasts to 2022.- Historical values for the Albanian insurance industry for the reports 2013-2017 review period, and projected figures for the 2017-2022 forecast period.Companies Mentioned in the ReportSigal Unique Group Austria Sh.a., Eurosig Sh.a., Sigma Interalbanian Vienna Insurance Group Sh.a., Albsig Sh.a., Intersig Vienna Insurance Group Sh.a., Sigal  Life, Unique group Austria Sh.a., Sicred Sh.a., Insig Jete Sh.aBuy this report @Reasons to buy- Make strategic business decisions using in-depth historic and forecast market data related to the Albanian insurance industry, and each category within it.- Understand the demand-side dynamics, key market trends and growth opportunities in the Albanian insurance industry.- Assess the competitive dynamics in the insurance industry.- Identify growth opportunities and market dynamics in key product categories.Table of ContentsExecutive SummaryIndustry - SnapshotPolicies and PenetrationPremium....ContinuedView Detailed Table of Content @It's vital you keep your market knowledge up to date. If you have a different set of players/manufacturers according to geography or needs regional or country segmented reports we can provide customization accordingly.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager)HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA  08837Phone: +1 (206) 317 1218sales@htfmarketreport.com
Body Contouring Market Research Objective by Global Players as Alma Lasers, Meridian, Cynosure, Syneron Medical, Lumenis, Palomar Medical Technologies

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This Market report Global Body Contouring Market Research Reportprovides detailed insight covering all important parameters including Development Trends, Challenges, Opportunities, Key Manufacturers and Competitive Analysis.Body Contouring Market - HighlightBody contouring market is gaining traction due to the growing awareness among the people regarding their look. Body contouring involves removal of excess body fat to improve appearance.The segment has many procedures such as body lift, bra line back lift, body fat transfer, implants and abdominal etching that can effectively bring back the body in shape.The global body contouring market can expect a hike by 9.8% CAGR during the forecast period (2017-2023) expresses Market Research Future (MRFR) in a detailed study that also includes possible body contouring market drivers and segmental analysis for a better understanding of the market in the near future. Among the major reasons, obesity is one of the major factors, along with technological advances and improved surgical treatment. The success rate of surgeries has gone up which can further cement the segments foothold.However, the body contouring market has its loopholes as well. The surgical process incurs a high cost which can pull back the market growth during the forecast period.GET PREMIUM SAMPLE COPY @Due to increasing prevalence of obesity across the globe many of the companies are in the race to introduce better treatment for obesity. Companies are using a trend of strategic alliance and acquisition to gain the market and minimize the competition in the market.Non-invasive and minimally invasive body contouring treatments are on the rise continuously. In the US alone, revenue from body contouring treatments was more than $361 million in 2014 and demand for the product is projected to grow 15.4% per year through 2019.The revenue of company was $277.9 million in 2015, compared to $255.8 million in 2014 with the growth of 9%.Key AcquisitionsThe body contouring market is intensely competitive as the trend is hitting a home run among the populace. Companies are bringing in strategies that include merger, acquisition, collaboration and other methods to stay afloat in the market. For instance, CVC Capital Partners is planning to buy Lumenis.Prominent players in the global body contouring market are Alma Lasers (Israel), Meridian (Michigan), Cynosure (US), Syneron Medical (Israel), Lumenis (Israel), Palomar Medical Technologies (US), Valeant (Canada), GlobalMed Technologies (US), Asclepion Laser Technologies (Germany), Andrew Technologies (Canada), BTL Industries (US), Cutera (US), Fotona (Slovenia), GlobalMed Technologies (US), Chromogenex (UK), Human Med (Germany), InMode (US), Invasix Aesthetic Solutions (US), Erchonia (US), Wells Johnson Company (US), and others.Body Contouring Market - Segment AnalysisThe global body contouring market is segmented by type of devices into invasive devices, minimally invasive devices & non-invasive devices.Non-Invasive devices segment is further sub-segmented into radio frequency lipoplasty devices, and high intensity focused ultrasound lipoplasty devices.Minimally invasive devices are sub-segmented into laser-assisted lipolysis devices, and radio frequency assisted liposuction devices, and invasive devices are sub-segmented into ultrasound assisted liposuction devices and other.Detailed Regional AnalysisRegion-specific analysis of the global body contouring market includes North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), and Middle East & Africa (MEA).North America has the largest market share, and its position is going to remain the same in the coming years as well. The region gets the upper-hand as it is technologically superior and provides excellent medical facility to its customers. Furthermore, the spending capacity of the region is quite high which can provide the necessary boost to the regional market.Europe holds the second position. First-rate medical infrastructure is something that can significantly impact the regional market growth. The APAC market is to catch up soon as the market has the potential to become the fastest growing one during the forecast period.BROWSE REPORT DETAILS AND IN-DEPTH TOC @Major Points from Table of ContentChapter 1. Report PrologueChapter 2. Market Introduction2.1 Definition2.2 Scope of the Study2.2.1 Research Objective2.2.2 Assumptions2.2.3 LimitationsChapter 3. Research Methodology3.1 Introduction3.2 Primary Research3.3 Secondary Research3.4 Market Size EstimationChapter 4. Market Dynamics4.1 Drivers4.2 Restrains4.3 Opportunities4.4 ChallengesTOC ContinuedAbout Us:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Office No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Multiparameter Patient Monitoring Market Analysis (2019- 2025): Key industry players | Philips Healthcare, Skanray Technologies, KizlonMedical, Mediana

Multiparameter Patient Monitoring Market

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China multiparameter patient monitoring market is estimated to grow at 4.8% from 2019 to 2025. According WHO, over 230 million people in China have cardiovascular diseases and it is predicted to increase up to 50% by 2030. Growing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases have supported the market development in China. Moreover, increasing healthcare expenditure to invest in developing new technology will promote industry growth.Multiparameter Patient Monitoring Market size is set to exceed USD 11 billion By 2025.Increasing geriatric population suffering from chronic diseases and requiring critical monitoring will surge demand of multiparameter patient monitors devices rendering positive impact on industry growth. According to WHO, Worlds population over 60 years will get double from 12% to 22% between 2015 to 2050.Request for a sample copy of this report @Growth drivers Rising incidences of chronic diseasesin developed as well as developing regions Increasing awareness regarding availability of technologically advanced multiparameter monitors in Asia Pacific Rising adoption of portable home multiparameter patient monitoring devices in North America and Europe Integration of advanced technology within the multiparameter monitorsMajority of the geriatric population suffers from chronic ailments. For instance, prevalence of heart diseases is high due to diabetes in elderly people. Multiparameter monitoring devices are highly preferred as they provide accurate monitoring results. Thus, high adoption of such superior quality multiparameter patient monitoring devices in treating the geriatric population will augment the industry growth.Increasing technological advancements in multiparameter patient monitoring devices leading to development of innovative products will drive the industry growth. Changes in technology coupled with convenience and accuracy associated with multiparameter patient monitoring devices will upsurge the demand. For instance, Skanray Technologies launched TruSKAN, a six channel multiparameter patient monitoring systems that provides integrated pulmonary index for patients respiratory status along with other vital parameters. Availability of such technologically advanced multiparameter monitoring devices will augment the business growth. However, stringent regulations for manufacturing of medical devices will hamper the multiparameter patient monitoring market growth. Moreover, low affordability rates in developing countries due to high price will further impact on industry growth.Browse Report Summery @Key industry players:Portable monitors will witness 3.8% growth from 2019 to 2025. Portable multiparameter monitors developed by key industry players have improved accuracy and enables rapid recovery. These technologically advanced portable devices are useful in ambulances and clinics as mobility of monitors proves beneficial for patient monitoring . Also, high preference for portable multiparameter patient monitors in elderly population base will further drive the segmental growth. Aforementioned factors along with operational ease possessed by portable multiparameter monitors surges the segment growth.High acuity level segment held 43.8% market share in 2018 and it will show lucrative growth during analysis timeframe. Technological advancements that have enabled monitoring patients health on multiple parameters will drive high acuity segment growth. Also, wireless network for such monitors reduces clutter of wires in ICU. Further, monitors also provide alarm notification under critical situations and hence,such technological integrations in high acuity patient monitoring devices foster the segmental growth.Pediatric patient monitoring segment valued at 2.3 billion in 2018 and it will have enormous growth during analysis time frame. According to CDC, congenital heart defect is the most common birth defect and over 40,000 babies gets affected by CHD every year in U.S. Rising number of complications in new-born babies and increasing incidents of cardio-respiratory problems in pediatric patients will increase the demand for multiparameter patient monitoring systems.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Key industry players in multiparameter patient monitoring market includes Epsimed, KizlonMedical, Mediana, Medion Healthcare, Medtronics, Mindray, Masimo, Opto India, OSI Systems, Philips Healthcare, Skanray Technologies, Spacehealth Labs and VOTEM. Prominent industry players adopt strategies including acquisitions, mergers, distribution agreements and innovative product launch to strengthen product portfolio and garner higher market share.For instance, in November 2018, Mindray launched BeneVision N1 Patient monitor, with enhanced data analysis that improves patient monitoring. Introduction of new products will foster companys revenue generation.Multiparameter patient monitoring market research report includes in-depth coverage of the industry with estimates & forecast in terms of revenue in USD million from 2014 to 2025, for the following segments:Multiparameter Patient Monitoring Market, By Device Type (USD Million)o Portableo FixedMultiparameter Patient Monitoring Market, By Acuity Level (USD million)o High-acuity multiparameter patient monitorso Mid-acuity multiparameter patient monitorso Low-acuity multiparameter patient monitorsMultiparameter Patient Monitoring Market, Age group (USD Million)o Adulto Pediatrico GeriatricRead More: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:
Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia:

A British national, the first to be convicted of violating the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) in the U.S., been shipped back to England by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) deportation officers.

Adrian Paul Baron, 64, was removed to London, via a commercial flight from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. The former banking boss pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the US.

On March 20, 2018, Baron, the chief business officer and former chief executive officer of an offshore bank, was indicted in U.S. District Court-Eastern District of New York (EDNY) for conspiracy to defraud the United States by failing to comply with FATCA.

In July 2018, Baron was arrested by Hungarian authorities and subsequently transported to the U.S. to stand trial. On Sept. 11, 2018, Baron pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States by failing to comply with FATCA, marking the first-ever conviction for failure to comply with the act.

Additionally, as part of his guilty plea, Baron stipulated to a judicial removal order (JRO). On Jan. 24, 2019, Baron was sentenced to time served - receiving credit for time spent in Hungarian law enforcement custody, fined $25,000 (USD), and based on the JRO, ordered removed to the United Kingdom. On Jan. 25, 2019, Baron entered ICE custody so the agency could remove him from the U.S.

"Baron was brought to the U.S. to face pro......................

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Vietnam to issue 300 silver coins to commemorate Trump-Kim summit

International

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Hanoi, Feb 26: The second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will kick off on Wednesday, February 27, and this time the host is yet another Southeast Asian nation - Vietnam.

The country has taken all measures to make the historic occasion a memorable one and it was learnt that 300 silver coins were set to be issued on Tuesday, February 26, to welcome the summit between the world's two most talked-about leaders. The first summit between the two was held in Singapore on June 12 last year.

Viet Nam News cited a representative of Vietnam Philately Co. which has been asked to make the coins to say they are designed with two faces - one having the image of a dove, an olive branch and the flags of North Korea and US. The other face has the image of a lotus and the date of the summit. The coins cost USD21 each (around Rs 1,500).

Kim-Trump meeting: N Korean leader train arrives in Vietnam

"Our designers and artisans have worked very hard to design and finish to coin's image in only one week. We are trying to complete the coins to issue them today to welcome the historic summit," the representative was quoted as saying by Viet Nam News.

On February 23, the US also issued 1,000 coins with each worth USD100 (over Rs 7,100) to commemorate the summit. Last year, too, the Trump administration had announced a coin to mark their Singapore summit.

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 11:08 [IST]
US-Taliban talks: Special US official has working lunch with top Taliban leader

International

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Kabul, Feb 26: The US's war in Afghanistan is in its 18th year now and almost two decades of experience showed that military solution hasn't really worked in paving way for peace in the war-ravaged nation. Now, the two sides have agreed to hold talks and the Taliban have sent its A-team to the peace talks that took off on Monday, February 25, and aim at ending the US's war in Afghanistan that has killed over 2,300 troops, NBC News reported.

The US and its allies had invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 in the wake of the 9/11 attacks but hasn't been able to exit the country since then.

Abdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban movement and a power commander in their ranks, reached Doha on Sunday, February 24, for the talks, NBC News quoted two Taliban members as saying. Baradar is believed to have the authority to sell a deal to the rank-and-file members who are engaged in a fight to topple the US-backed government in Afghanistan since 2001.

US's special representative Zalmay Khalilzad met Baradar for the first time as the talks began in the capital of Qatar on Monday.

No, US is not completely withdrawing its forces from Syria

Khalilzad said he had a working lunch with Baradar before they shifted to the talks.

In January, the US-Taliban talks in Qatar made progress in putting an end to 17 years of conflict in the country, the US said. The sides also saw long discussions and they had "draft framework" that included a promise on behalf of the Taliban to prevent Afghanistan from turning into a safe shelter for international terror outfits.

Afghan special envoy for peace Mohammad Omar Daudzai praised Baradar's participation in the talks.

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 8:12 [IST]
Amid standoff with China, IAF to get land in Uttarakhand to carry out activities in border areas

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This is how International media reported on 'Surgical Strike 2.0'

International

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Feb 26: India, early on Tuesday morning, struck a key terror camp in Balakot, Pakistan, eliminating JeM terrorists including fidayeen who were undergoing training. At a press briefing, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale confirmed a "non-military preemptive action" specifically targeting at a Jaish-e-Mohammed camp in Balakot. Gokhale said the target was chosen to avoid civilian casualties.

While Indian media praised the precision and success of the attack, this how the international media has largely remained neutral and wary of making assertive comments.

New York Times reported with the headline, "Indian Jets Strike in Pakistan in Revenge for Kashmir Attack".

How the IAF strike at Balakot unfolded: All the updates here

ABC reported,"India strikes inside Pakistan after deadly Kashmir attack",

CNN reported, "India says it has launched air strikes across the disputed border with Pakistan".

China, which had previously had a lukewarm response to India's accusations against Pakistan and JeM following the Pulwama attack, News agency Xinhua reported,''Pakistan army says Indian warplanes cross LoC, India confirms airstrikes on training camp.''

Guardian wrote that the attack was an 'act of extreme valour'.

Meanwhile, a majority of the Pakistan media quoted the country's Army declaring the Indian Air Force's reported strike against Jaish camps in the country was a failure while some termed it as 'intusion' and 'violation of the LoC.

Let us have a look at it:

Pakistani newspaper Dawn's website reported that 'Indian Aircraft Violate LoC, Scramble Back After PAF's Timely Response: ISPR'.

Dunya News reported that the Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Goyal for not being able to answer media queries regarding the attack during a press conference held in India after the attack.

Express Tribune in the following headline said: "Pakistan chases away Indian jets after LoC violation." It also carried another article where Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi promised 'befitting response'.

The Nation led with a quote from the foreign minister declaring that both Pakistani citizens and the country's defence forces are on alert.

Another article on the website headline was 'India 'minds' airing of ISPR briefing'.

With multiple aircraft taking off at same time, how IAF confused Pak and hit Balakot

Samaa TV's website is headlined, "Pakistan Air Force foils attempted Indian attack after it breaches Line of Control".

Pakistan Today reported, "PM Imran summons meeting after LoC invasion by Indian aircraft."

The News International paraphrased the Army's claims to headline their lead article on their website as: "PAF repulses Indian attempt of incursion into Pakistan air space."
Ready to work with new US administration says Pak foreign minister

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No Indo-Pak bi-lateral so far on sidelines of Afghan meet

'Story being presented is the opposite of reality', says Pakistan while quoting Mehbooba Mufti

International

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Islamabad, Feb 26: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the story being presented is the opposite of reality while quoting Mehbooba Mufti.

Addressing press conference, Shah Mahmood Qureshi quoted Mehbooba Mufti and said that the story being presented is the opposite of reality. "Voices from within (within India) have started to emanate. The statement by Mehbooba Mufti is before you, that the story being presented is the opposite of reality", ANI tweeted.

Qureshi also earlier said, "The action of IAF puts regional stability and peace at grave risk. Area of strike open. Domestic and international media being taken to site."

'Will take international media to the area of strikes', says Pak foreign minister in denial mode

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehboob Mufti on Tueday not wholeheartedly endorsing the strikes stated that both India and Pakistan had came out with their respective versions of the air strikes.

She tweeted "Post pre dawn strikes carried out by IAF, conflicting reports coming in. Official communique by FS claims that terror training camps were bombed while Pak denied this & said that the planes made a hasty retreat after being spotted. Hope objective of both sides has been served."

She also asked Pakistan not to escalate the situation after the Indian Air Force carried out a raid on camps of the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed across the Line of Control (LoC).

How the IAF strike at Balakot unfolded: All the updates here

Earlier in the day, Indian fighter jets crossed the Pakistani territory and conducted air strikes on terrorist camps, which escalated the ongoing tension between the two neigbours. The Indian aircrafts pounded 1,000kgs of bombs, and the Indian government confirmed this as a successful mission. The airstrikes targeted Jaish camps in Balakot, which was across the Line of Control and deep into Pakistani territory. A Pakistani drone has also been shot down near the Gujarat border.

Pakistan admitted that Indian fighter jets struck Balakot, but claimed that they returned when it scrambled its war planes.

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 19:06 [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'

Pak to raise issue of India's 'violation' of LoC at UN, OIC: Report

International

pti-PTI

Islamabad, Feb 26: Pakistan will raise the issue of India's "violation" of the Line of Control (LoC) at the United Nations and other international forums, a media said Tuesday, quoting sources.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan and attended by the top civil and military leadership, including Army chief General Qamar Jawed Bajwa, Geo TV reported.

"It was decided that the matter of Indian LoC violation be immediately raised at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the United Nations and with friendly countries," the news channel said, citing sources.

In a swift and precise air strike following the Pulwama attack, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders.

When Pakistan put all its terrorists in one basket at Balakot

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will make contact to raise the issue at international forums, sources added.

During the meeting, it was also decided that a joint session will be called to take the Parliament into confidence.

Qureshi briefed the participants of the meeting on the current situation in the wake of Indian air strikes on Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest camp in Pakistan early Tuesday.

Ahead of the meeting, Qureshi chaired an emergency consultative meeting at the Foreign Office.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, he said, Pakistan "holds the right to self-defence and a befitting response to Indian aggression."

PTI
Pak FM briefs Chinese counterpart on regional situation after Pulwama attack

International

pti-PTI

Islamabad, Feb 25: Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday telephoned his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and briefed him about the regional situation in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

[NIA identifies vehicle, owner involved in Pulwama attack]

In a statement, Pakistan's Foreign Office said that State Councilor Wang thanked the foreign minister for the call and appreciated Pakistan's efforts. "He agreed that the unfolding regional situation was serious with implications for peace and security of the entire region," it said.

[Pulwama terror attack: EU wants India, Pakistan to urgently "de-escalate" tension]

The two leaders spoke over phone amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan after a suicide attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad killed 40 CRPF soldiers in Pulwama district in Jammu and Kashmir. Wang "acknowledged Pakistan's invaluable contributions in the fight against terrorism for which Pakistan has paid a heavy price," the FO said.

Qureshi thanked China for its steadfast support and underscored Pakistan's desire for peace and stability in the region and resolution of all issues through negotiations and dialogue with India, it said. He also highlighted the steps taken by Pakistan to de-escalate the situation, it added. The two leaders agreed to stay in touch with each other over the regional developments.

PTI
Pakistan looks to Masood Azhar as it plans major offensive in India

Azhar is not missing: India to call out Pakistan at FATF

Why killing of Masood Azhars nephew Fauji Bhai is a major shot in the arm

Masood Azhars listing as global terrorist may figure at RIC Foreign Ministers meet in China

International

pti-PTI

Wuzhen, Feb 26: The Pulwama terrorist attack and the listing of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN is expected to figure prominently at Russia, India and China (RIC) Foreign Ministers' meeting being held in China tomorrow.

Besides attending the annual trilateral meeting, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj would also hold bilateral talks with her Chinese and Russian counterparts on the sidelines of the meeting in which the listing of Azhar by the UN's 1267 committee is expected to figure.

Ms Swaraj's meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi assumes significance as it is the first high-level interaction between the two countries after the Pulwama terror attack that left 40 CRPF personnel dead.

Slap from Army officer shook him completely: Ex-cop on Masood Azhar

China, a veto-wielding member, has consistently blocked India, the US, the UK and France's efforts to list Azhar as a global terrorist since 2016 but endorsed a scathing statement issued by UN Security Council on February 21 on the Pulwama attack.

The UNSC statement on the the Pulwama attack stated that "the members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir, which left 40 Indian paramilitary forces dead and dozens wounded on February 14, 2019, for which Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility".

But after endorsing the statement in which JeM has been named, China the next day in an apparent attempt to placate Pakistan sought to play it down, saying that the mention of JeM in the statement was only in general terms and does not represent a judgement.

The issue of listing of Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN is expected to come up before the 1267 committee of the UN Security Council again as France, also a veto-wielding member of the high-power UN body, said it would move the resolution again.

The issue is also expected to figure prominently in Ms Swaraj's talks with Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov.

This is the 16th meeting of the RIC Foreign Ministers.

"During the 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," Chinese Foreign Minister Geng Shuang told a media briefing in Beijing on February 20.

PTI
Three more Rafale jets to land in India from France in non-stop flight

France recognises India's need to ensure security, asks Pakistan to end terror activities

International

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Paris, Feb 26: France too joined the European Union and China to call for restraint from India and Pakistan after Indian warplanes bombed a terrorist camp deep across the Line of Control, but also supported India's need to ensure security.

[How the IAF strike at Balakot unfolded: All the updates here]

A spokesperson of the French Foreign Ministry said Paris recognises India's legitimacy to ensure its security against cross-border terrorism and asked Pakistan to put an end to the operations of terrorist groups established on its territory.

"France recognises India's legitimacy to ensure its security against cross-border terrorism and asks Pakistan to put an end to the operations of terrorist groups established on its territory": Acting spokesperson of France's Ministry of Europe & Foreign Affairs, according to ANI.

"France,which stands by India in the fight against terrorism in all its forms, is fully engaged in mobilising int'l community to sanction terrorists responsible for this attack (Pulwama) and freezing their financing networks": France's Ministry of Europe & Foreign Affairs.

[This viral video claiming IAF strike on Balakot is from a video game]

France also called upon India and Pakistan to exercise restraint to avert any risk of military escalation and preserve strategic stability in region.

"France calls on India&Pak to exercise restraint to avert any risk of military escalation & preserve strategic stability in region. Resumption of dialogue b/w Islamabad-New Delhi necessary to initiate peaceful settlement of differences," ANI further quoted the spokesperson of France's Ministry of Europe&Foreign Affairs.

Indian Air Force jets had targeted a terror camp where Pakistan-backed Jaish terrorists were preparing suicide attacks on its cities, India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said earlier in the day. He said a "very very large number" of terrorists from the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group were killed in the strike.

Pakistan Prime Minister has vowed retaliation and asked his fellow countrymen to brace for "anything" that can happen.
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China urges India, Pak to exercise restraint after IAF strike on Jaish camp across LoC

International

oi-Deepika S

Beijing, Feb 26: China on Tuesday called for 'restraint' after India's air strikes on Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan.

When asked for China's response to India's airstrikes on terrorist camps in Pakistan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told the media here that we have taken note of relevant reports."

"I want to say that India and Pakistan are both important countries in South Asia. A sound relationship and cooperation between the two serves the interests of both the countries and peace and stability in South Asia," he said.

Islamabad reserves right to retaliate: Pak Foreign Minister after Balakot strikes

"We hope that both India and Pakistan can exercise restraint and do more to improve mutual their bilateral relations," he said.

India early Tuesday morning carried out a "non-military, preemptive action" against a major terror camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. The strike was conducted after the government received credible information about "another suicide terror attack" by JeM in various parts of the country.

They said at least 325 terrorists and 25 to 27 trainers were at the camp, the biggest operated by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group, which had claimed responsibility for the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, Kashmir that killed 40 jawans.

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 15:14 [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'

After Kabul starts bypassing Pak, Islamabad gives special facility to Afghan refugees

International

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Islamabad, Feb 26: Soon after Afghanistan started exporting goods to India bypassing Pakistan via Iran's Chabahar Port, the Imran Khan government of Pakistan announced its permission to 1.5 million Afghan refugees registered in the country to open accounts with local banks.

The announcement was tweeted by none other than PM Khan who said "this should have done a long time ago".

I have issued instructions today that Afghan refugees who are registered can open bank accounts and from now onwards they can participate in the formal economy of the country . This should have been done a long time ago.  Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) February 25, 2019

Data suggest that almost 2.5 million Afghan refugees live in Pakistan out of whom 1.5 million are documented. The move also came in when the US and Taliban resumed their talks in Doha.

Watch out, Pakistan! First Afghan cargo to India via Chabahar Port to start today

As per the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over 3.8 million refugees have been repatriated to Afghanistan since 2002 but several of them returned to Pakistan owing to violence and lack of jobs and employment.

World bodies praise Pakistan for its step

According to Pakistan daily Dawn, the Amnesty International (AI) and the UNHCR lauded Islamabad's move to allow registered Afghan refugees to operate bank accounts in Pakistan.

The AI also said in a tweet: "At a time when much of the world has turned its back on refugees, Pakistan's government has taken an excellent step to help them reclaim their dignity."

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a statement: "I commend Prime Minister Imran Khan, the government and the people of Pakistan for taking this important step in support of Afghan refugees - a forward-looking, generous gesture of solidarity of global significance."

Why India should not complain about Saudi Arabia's hefty aid to Pakistan

UNHCR Director for Asia and the Pacific Indrika Rawatte said: "This is a bold demonstration of humanitarian leadership in a world that is not inclusive," Dawn reported.

UNHCR Representative in Pakistan Ruvendrini Menikdiwela said the opening of the bank accounts will help the refugees' families living abroad to send remittances through banking channels and that will help improve Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves.
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Won't let this country bow down, says PM Modi in first response after IAF airstrikes

India

oi-Deepika S

Churu, Feb 26: Hours after India struck biggest Jaish camp in Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he assures that India is in safe hands.

"I assure you that the nation is in safe hands. I won't let the country to bow down," said PM Modi while addressing ex-servicemen."Today your mood is different," said Modi before raising Bharat Mata ki Jai slogans.

"Every Indian will win. We won't let anything threaten India. Serving you is my priority. I will always defend the nation," said PM Modi in Rajasthan's Churu.

At Gandhi Peace Prize event, PM makes indirect reference to air strikes

Combat jets of the Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control on the Pakistani side in a pre-dawn strike on Tuesday, 12 days after the Pakistan-based terror group, Jaish-e-Mohammed carried, out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

They said the Mirage 2000 fighter jets pounded JeM terror camps in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakoti in the well-planned strike, destroying the camps.

Hours later, Prime Minister Modi chaired a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security which was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Sitharaman.

After the Pulwama attack, Modi announced that the armed forces have been given full freedom to respond to the strike.
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Woman BJD leader accused party MLA of misbehaviour

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

Bhubaneswar, Feb 26: A member of the Odisha Women's Commission and the ruling BJD accused a fellow party leader of "misbehaving" with her at his residence.

Tilottama Nayak, a BJD leader from Kalahandi district, levelled the allegation against the party's Jajpur MLA Pranab Prakash Das.

"Bobby Babu (the MLA's nickname) misbehaved with me following which I had an argument with him. Several other women were present. He also used abusive language while talking to them. If I am not safe from an MLA, how can I give security to other women," Nayak told reporters.

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The alleged incident took place at the residence of Das in the city, when Nayak had gone to the law maker over a party-related matter.

The BJD and the MLA in question have not yet made any comment on the issue.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan sought a clarification from Patnaik.

"This is an unfortunate incident that a member of the state commission for women is harassed by a sitting MLA," Pradhan said.

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 5:58 [IST]
A fraud on the Constitution: How Article 35A was added by deceit

PM says Article 370 has given separatism, terrorism in J&K, hails its revocation 'historic'

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Will Kashmiri politicians ever discuss fallouts of Article 35A?

India

oi-Hardeep Singh Bedi

New Delhi, Feb 26: Every Kashmir based political party talks about how important are the special rights given to Jammu and Kashmir, but they seldom discuss the 'fallouts' of those rights.

A day before the hearing of Article 35A in the Supreme Court, two prominent leaders of Kashmir have warned the Centre and the Supreme Court of dire consequences if the status quo is not maintained.

The petition challenging the Constitutional validity of Article 35A, which gives special rights to the permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), is listed for today for the hearing in the Supreme Court.

Mehbooba warns Centre not to fiddle with Article 35A says,'else you will see what you haven't'

Jammu and Kashmir's former Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti told reporters on Monday, "Don't play with fire; don't fiddle with Article-35A, else you will see what you haven't seen since 1947, if it's attacked then I don't know which flag people of J&K will be forced to pick up instead of the tricolour."

The Kashmiri leaders have even issued veiled threats to the Supreme Court to influence its decision.

Mufti told reporters that she hopes that before taking a decision on Article 35A, "the SC would think that Article 370 - whose part is Article 35A - is a bridge in our relation with the country and any unnecessary fiddling or tampering with it will undermine and nullify the very contract that legitimizes Jammu and Kashmir's accession to India."

The National Conference leader and another former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah too has warned that any tampering with the Article 35A will have serious implications in the state.

A Kashmir expert has told One India on the condition of anonymity that the special rights accorded to Jammu and Kashmir have actually benefitted Kashmiri politicians and bureaucrats, financially as well as politically, and not the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

"The modus-operandi of the Kashmiri politicians has been that when they are in Delhi then they use 'mood of the Kashmiris' to extort more funds from the Centre. More money means more kickbacks. And, back home they spread all sorts of imaginary stories about 'Delhi' to intimidate Kashmiris. When militancy was at the peak in the state then Kashmiris, especially rural, were made to believe that if they land in Delhi then they would be immediately put behind bars," said the expert.

He also said that the threats emanating from Kashmir are also a part of the age-old 'mood of the Kashmiris' tactic.

J&K Govt stand on Article 35A remains unchanged says official

"The current unrest among Kashmiri politicians is also because they know that then President Rajendra Prasad had bypassed the Parliamentary route of creating laws to incorporate Article 35A into the Constitution. Hence, it's legally challenged and can be declared null and void, which means their golden days will be over," he asserted.

He also questioned: Why don't Kashmiri politicians get support from Jammu and Ladakh over their special rights rhetoric?

Fallout of Special Rights

Since Article 35A is applicable in Jammu and Kashmir, non-residents cannot buy or own immovable property in the state, settle permanently, or get state government jobs.

Due to this Special Right, big private industrial players like Tata, Reliance, and Adani groups cannot start industries in Jammu and Kashmir.

Its fallout has been best documented in the latest Jammu and Kashmir government's Economic Survey.

PER CAPITA INCOME

In the terms of per capita income, Jammu and Kashmir stands at 24th position in India. Even Naxalism affected state Chhattisgarh and insurgency hit state Nagaland is ahead than Jammu and Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir Economic Survey says, "The per capita income during 2017-18 at current prices is estimated at Rs. 86108 while per capita income during 2016-17 stood at Rs. 77918 at current Prices. The projected per capita income at current and constant 2011-12 prices for the year 2018-19 is roughly estimated at Rs. 94992 and Rs.69221 respectively."

On the other hand, Delhi's per capita income in 2018-19 was pegged at Rs 3,65,529, three times the national average of Rs 1,25,397.

How successive state governments have been successful in reducing the poverty in Jammu and Kashmir has also been outlined in the survey.

"In the state of J&K 67.44 % (1080174) rural households with monthly income of the highest earning member is less than Rs 5000 per month and 14.35 % (232753) households with monthly income of the highest earning member is between Rs 5000 per month and Rs 10,000 per month besides 18.02% (288670) households with monthly income of the highest earning member is higher than Rs. 10000 per month."

UNEMPLOYMENT

Talking about the unemployment in J&K, the survey says, "Currently youth unemployment is one of the major challenges faced by the state of Jammu & Kashmir. With the number of educated unemployed youth running in lakh, the need for employment creation through youth entrepreneurship is undeniable."

Unemployment is one of the major factors behind the militancy in Kashmir.

Around 70% of Jammu and Kashmir's population lives in the rural areas and is directly or indirectly dependent upon the agriculture for livelihood and employability.

Meddle with Article 35A and prepare for the worst says Hizbul chief

Painting a grim picture, the survey says, "The contribution of Agriculture sector towards Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has remained constant which is an indication of the onset of the declining trend of the sector."

TOURISM

Jammu and Kashmir has scenic beauty and is Kashmir is called 'Paradise on the Earth'. Tourism sector accounts for around 6.98% of the state's GDP. However, J&K is not among the top 10 domestic destinations in the country on the basis of number of tourist arrival.

Before the outbreak of armed militancy for Azadi (independence) in 1989, tourists from all over the world used to visit Kashmir that provided livelihood to the Kashmiris dependent on the sector.

Tourism has been hit very hard due to militancy. The number of tourists visiting Kashmir Valley has declined over the years.

As per the survey, "A total of 13,08,765 domestic/foreign tourists visited Kashmir Valley in 2012 and that number was reduced to 10,50, 480 by the end of October 2017.

On the other hand, Ladakh witnessed growth in tourism during the same period.

While 1,78, 750 domestic/foreign tourists visited Ladakh in 2012, the number grew to 2,59, 170 by the end of October 2017.

INDUSTRIES

Another fallout of Special Status is visible in Jammu and Kashmir's industry sector.

The survey says that from 2008-09 and up to October 2017, a total of 3,22,26 small scale industry (SSI) units were registered in the state that generated 1.58 lakh jobs.

"While 880 SSIs were registered in 2014-15, the number declined to 627 in 2016-17," says the survey.

The scenario in the large and medium scale industry sector is very disheartening.

"The number of industrial units registered under large and medium sector up to October 2017 from 2008-09 stands at 103, which generated 23929 jobs," Jammu and Kashmir Economic Survey says.

According to it, not a single large and medium scale industry was set up in 2014-15. However, the highest number in this regard was recorded in 2015-16 when 14 large and medium scale industries were registered.

HANDICRAFT

Jammu and Kashmir, particularly Kashmir Valley, is known for its handicrafts. However, the production and export of handicrafts goods is also declining.

Kashmiri carpets and shawls are in heavy demand all over the world.

While the export of carpets and shawls was Rs 717.75 crore and Rs 674.25 crore respectively in 2014-15, it fell to Rs 369.81 crore and 304.05 crore respectively in 2016-17.

EDUCATION

The education sector is also one of the major causalities due to the disturbance and militancy in J&K.

As per the survey, "The Unified District Information System of Education (UDISE) is throwing startling revelations. The dropout rate has increased considerably from 6.93% and 5.36% in Primary & upper -primary during 2015-16 to 10.30% and 10.20% during 2016-17 in primary and upper primary level. The decrease has mainly been due to disturbing conditions prevailed during 2016-17."

What Kashmir and Kashmiris have gone through in the last three decades is well-known, and it is also becoming crystal clear that who wants Kashmir pot shall continue to boil.

Big questions are: will Kashmiri politicians ever discuss fallouts of Article 35A? Or, will they continue to do the politics that has only benefitted them?

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 16:09 [IST]
Amid standoff with China, IAF to get land in Uttarakhand to carry out activities in border areas

Why the strike at Balakot KPK is extremely significant in the war against terror

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 26: Among the three locations that were hit by the Indian Air Force to avenge the Pulwama attack, the one at Balakot is most significant.

Top sources told OneIndia that the most significant hit was at Balakot as it houses the Jaish-e-Mohammad's biggest terror camp. It has been their major launch pad and the camp is spread across 7 acres, the source also added.

Balakot is a town in the Mansehra district in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

Sources claimed that there were at least 200 to 300 casualties. The other locations to be hit were Chakothi and Muzaffarabad. During the hit at Balakot, the alpha control rooms of the JeM.

Pulwama avenged: IAF destroyed 7 acre JeM camp at Balakote

Intelligence officials say that the hit at Balakot can be considered to be most significant. First and foremost it falls under Pakistan territory and all the JeM terrorists were pushed back from PoK to this area following the Pulwama attack.

More importantly, Balakot is the biggest launch pad of the Jaish-e-Mohammad. The camp was set up in 2001 and since then it has housed several operational launch pads and has been considered to be the home of the JeM. The setting up of the camp was overseen by JeM bosses and Saifur Rehman Saifi. He is the one who fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan. He is also considered to be an architect of suicide bombings in Pakistan.

Further it houses one of the major training camps of the outfit. The training camp at Besyan Chowk is a major one and it has produced several 1,000 terrorists, intelligence sources also say.

Balakot, which is 50 kilometres away from Abbottabad, where Osama Bin Laden was killed also is a venue for the JeM to hold its propaganda meetings and rallies.

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 10:37 [IST]
Amid standoff with China, IAF to get land in Uttarakhand to carry out activities in border areas

When Pakistan put all its terrorists in one basket at Balakot

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 26: The Balakot terror camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammad was the primary target of the air strikes by the Indian Air Force today.

The intelligence had reported that the Jaish-e-Mohammad was planning another major strike in the Kashmir Valley and several terrorists were being trained in this regard. India said that its Air Force had inflicted severe damage after striking at the terror camp at Balakot.

With multiple aircraft taking off at same time, how IAF confused Pak and hit Balakot

Immediately after the Pulwama attack, Pakistan ordered all terrorists of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Hizbul Mujahideen to shut down terror camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. This was done in anticipation of a major strike by India.

The terrorists were ordered to be moved into the Balakot camp, which is in a densely forested area and is spread across nearly 7 kilometres. The movement of the terrorists into Balakot began immediately after the Pulwama attack.

How IAF bombed JeM camp at Balakot despite it being in midst of densely forested area

This was in a way a blessing for the security agencies, who went on to target a large number of terrorists in one operation that was carried out by the Indian Air Force. There were a large number of terrorists present at Balakot at the time of the strike. Sources tell Oneindia that at least 300 terrorists including their top commanders and trainers have died in the strike.

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 15:52 [IST]
Journos must be treated as frontline staff for COVID-19 vaccination: Devendra Fadnavis

To ensure unity, Fadnavis reaches out to Shiv Sena legislators

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

Mumbai, Feb 26: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis sought to reach out to MLAs and MLCs of the Shiv Sena to ensure the BJP and the Uddhav Thackeray-led party contest upcoming elections in unison.

Fadnavis invited the legislators of the BJP and the Sena over a dinner.

At the occasion, the chief minister expressed hope that the NDA allies would work hard to improve their tally in Lok Sabha elections, a BJP MLA said.

"Fadnavis also admitted that NCP chief Sharad Pawar is more experienced but Sena-BJP can still outsmart him in the poll campaign. He also stressed that the Congress and the NCP are losing this battle even before elections are announced," the MLA said.

Pawar is expected to contest from Madha Lok Sabha constituency.

Tolerance in country's blood says Fadnavis

Recently, BJP chief Amit Shah and Fadnavis had appealed to party workers to ensure that Baramati, the pocket-borough of Pawar, be won in elections.

The CM asked all the elected representatives to attend the ongoing budget session during discussions on supplementary demands and drought. "Almost 99 per cent farmers have received money into their bank accounts," the CM claimed.

"Both the parties should campaign in such a way that they are campaigning for their own party candidate. The BJP-Sena alliance will definitely win the elections again," the MLA quoted the CM as saying.

As per the poll pact, the BJP will contest 25 of total 48 LS seats in Maharashtra and the Shiv Sena 23. The ruling allies also announced to share number of assembly seats equally for upcoming elections, after accommodating their allies. Maharashtra has 288 Assembly seats.

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 6:04 [IST]
Centre renames 2 prominent institutes after Sushma Swaraj on the eve of her birth anniversary

Sushma Swaraj leaves for China; to hold meetings with foreign ministers of China, Russia

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Feb 26: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj left for China on Tuesday night to attend a meeting of foreign ministers of Russia, India and China. Her visit comes in the wake of growing tension between India and Pakistan after Indian Air Force carried out strikes on a terror camp in Pakistan in a pre-dawn operation.

[Why the strike at Balakot KPK is extremely significant in the war against terror]

She is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with the foreign ministers of Russia and China and discuss the issue with them.

"Counter-terrorism on the agenda. EAM @SushmaSwaraj departs for Wuzhen, #China for the 16th Foreign Ministers Meeting of Russia, India & China #RIC. Apart from attending the trilateral meeting, EAM will also hold bilateral discussions with Russian and Chinese Foreign Ministers," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

Besides the air strike, the Pulwama terror attack and the listing of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN are expected to figure prominently at the Russia, India and China (RIC) Foreign Ministers' meeting on Wednesday.

[Centre, Opposition stand united against terror, says Sushma Swaraj after all party meet]

Besides attending the annual trilateral meeting, Swaraj would also hold bilateral talks with her Chinese and Russian counterparts on the sidelines of the meeting in which the listing of Azhar by the UN's 1267 committee is expected to figure.

Besides Swaraj and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, the meeting would be attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Kumar said. 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.

PTI
Centre renames 2 prominent institutes after Sushma Swaraj on the eve of her birth anniversary

The joy of our lives: Sushma Swaraj's husband warm birthday wishes for late leader

IAF Air Strike: Sushma Swaraj chairs all-party meeting at Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Feb 26: An all-party meet to brief Opposition on India's air strikes chaired by Union Minister Sushma Swaraj is underway at Jawahar Bhawan.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has briefed both President and Vice-President about the Indian Air Force strike at JeM terror camp in Balakot across LoC, reported news agency ANI quoting sources.

PM Modi also met with his top ministers in the cabinet committee on security at his home in Delhi after India carried out pre-dawn air strikes on terror camps across the Line of Control on Tuesday.

Non-Military, pre-emptive action says Foreign Secy after IAF hits JeM camp in Balakot

Twelve Mirage 2000 fighter jets of the Indian Air Force crossed the Line of Control around 3:30 am and dropped 1,000 kg laser-guided bombs on terror camps of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, completely destroying them.

India carried out the operation two weeks after 40 soldiers were killed in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama. A suicide bomber of the Jaish-e-Mohammed exploded a car full of bombs next to a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy.

The Jaish-e-Mohammed, which is led by Masood Azhar, had claimed responsibility for the February 14 attack.
Ayodhya land deal: Rahul Gandhi slams BJP, says betrayal in name of Lord Ram is unrighteous

Ayodhya land 'scam': Congress to stage demonstration in all districts in Uttar Pradesh

Ayodhya's 'Princess Park' likely to be inaugurated during Diwali

Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid case: SC likely to pass order on mediation on March 5

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

New Delhi, Feb 26: Supreme Court said it would pass order on next Tuesday on whether the Ayodhya's Ram-Janmabhoomi Babri Masjid land dispute may be sent for court-monitored mediation to save time.

The apex court asked the concerned Parties to explore mediation as an option to settle the dispute.

"We are not agreeable", reiterates Advocate CS Vaidyanathan representing Ram Lalla.

"We will do nothing against your wish", assured CJI Ranjan Gogoi.

The five-judge Constitution Bench recorded the objection of CS Vaidyanathan in its order and deferred the passing orders on referring matter to mediation till next date of hearing.

"It's not a dispute over private property. It has become so contentious. We're seriously giving a chance for mediation." Justice Bobde says on mediation, "even if there is only 1% chance, it should explored".

Parliamentary Panel asks Twitter to ensure no foreign influence in 2019 poll

Previous hearing:

The apex court had earlier on January 27 cancelled the scheduled hearing for January 29 as Justice Bobde was not available that day.

Fourteen appeals have been filed in the apex court against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya be partitioned equally among the three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

The five-judge bench was re-constituted on January 25 as Justice U U Lalit, who was a member of the earlier bench, had recused himself from hearing the matter. When the new bench was constituted, Justice N V Ramana was excluded from the re-constituted bench.

Justices Bhushan and Nazeer, who were included in the newly constituted bench, were part of an earlier bench headed by then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra (now retired) which had heard the Ayodhya land dispute matter.

The three-judge bench had on September 27, 2018 refused to refer to a five-judge constitution bench the issue related to reconsideration of the observation in the apex court's 1994 judgment that a mosque was not integral to Islam.

While then CJI Misra and Justice Bhushan had said it has to find out the context in which the five-judge bench had delivered the 1994 judgment, Justice Nazeer had given a minority verdict disagreeing with the two judges.

Justice Nazeer had said whether a mosque is integral to Islam has to be decided considering religious belief which requires detailed consideration.

On January 10, Justice Lalit had recused himself after expressing disinclination to participate in the hearing any further as he had appeared as a lawyer for former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh in a related matter "sometime in the year 1997".

Along with the main matters, the constitution bench will also hear the connected issues raised in separate petitions.

The Centre had on January 29 moved the apex court seeking its nod to return the 67-acre undisputed acquired land around the disputed site to original owners.

The 0.313 acre plot, on which the disputed structure stood before it was demolished by 'kar sevaks' on December 6, 1992, was within the 2.77-acre disputed premises, the plea filed by the government had said.

The government had then acquired 67.703 acres, including the 2.77-acre plot, through a legislation in 1993. The Ram Janambhoomi Nyas (RJN) is the owner of as much as 42 acres of the acquired non-disputed land.

The Centre's plea has said that the RJN (a trust to promote construction of Ram Temple) had also sought return of excess land acquired to original owners.

The Centre has claimed that only 0.313 acre of land was disputed on which the structure stood before it was demolished by 'kar sevaks' on December 6, 1992.

It has sought modification in its 2003 order and permission to return to original owners the 67 acres "non-disputed" land around the disputed structure in Ayodhya.

A week after, another petition was filed challenging the constitutional validity of a 1993 central law by which the government acquired 67.703 acres of land, including the disputed premises of Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid, in Ayodhya.

The petition, filed by seven individuals, including two Lucknow-based lawyers claiming to be devotees of Ram Lalla, has contended that Parliament had no legislative competence to acquire land belonging to the state.

(with PTI inputs)
Aim is to help govt says Rahul Gandhi while releasing white paper on COVID-19

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Punjab Congress infighting: Rahul Gandhi to meet party MLAs in Delhi today

'Salute IAF pilots': Opposition unites to back air strike

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Feb 26: Opposition leaders on Tuesday "saluted" the pilots of Indian Air Force (IAF) amid reports claimed that India launched air strikes on terror camps and launch pads across the Line of Control.

"I salute the pilots of the IAF," Rahul Gandhi tweeted.

India is believed to have carried out air strikes inside Pakistan early Tuesday and targeted terror camps.

The strikes involving several fighter jets of the Indian Air Force successfully destroyed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

No international law broken, we bombed 'our own territory': Swamy on IAF strike

The extent of the damage inflicted on the ground is not immediately known.

I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 26, 2019 Arvind Kejriwal salutes the bravery of IAF Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal tweeted congratulating the armed forces for striking terror camps in PoK. I salute the Indian Air Force and indeed all our Armed Forces. Congratulations @IAF_MCC  Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) February 26, 2019 Akhilesh Yadav congratulates IAF Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has congratulated IAF for the strikes in Pakistan. Jai Hind.  Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) February 26, 2019 Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has also reacted on the strikes. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has also reacted on the strikes saying Jai Hind IAF also means India's Amazing Fighters, says Mamata West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday hailed the Indian Air Force (IAF) for carrying out air strikes in Pakistan. "IAF also means India's Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind," Banerjee tweeted. India carried out air strikes inside Pakistan early Tuesday and targeted terror camps, official sources said.
Revenge not over till JeM chief Masood is "struck down": Sanjay Raut

India

pti-PTI

Mumbai, Feb 26: Senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday congratulated the Indian Air Force for strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan but said the revenge for the Pulwama attack will not be complete till Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar is "struck down".

India struck Jaish-e-Mohammed's(JeM) biggest camp in Pakistan early Tuesday in a major "preemptive" action killing a large number of terrorists and trainers of the Pak-based terror group preparing to carry out suicide attacks in this country. In a tweet, Raut lauded the "bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan."

"However, until the satan JeM chief Masood Azhar is struck down, our revenge won't be complete," said the Rajya Sabha member, whose party is an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra.

No international law broken, we bombed 'our own territory': Swamy on IAF strike

Raut also re-tweeted a statement of National Conference leader Omar Abdullah in which the latter said, "If this is Balakote in KPK its a major incursion & a significant strike by IAF planes. However if its Balakote in Poonch sector, along the LoC its a largely symbolic strike because at this time of the year forward launch pads & militant camps are empty & non-functional."

PTI
Punjab puts border districts on high alert after IAF strike across LoC

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

Chandigarh, Feb 26: Punjab has put its border districts on high alert in the wake of the Indian Air Force's (IAF) strikes across the Line of Control (LoC), undertaken by India as a retaliatory measure in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack.

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh held a high-level meeting with state minister Manpreet Badal and senior officials in the wake of the IAF strikes on JeM terror camps in Balakot.

Bigger, better, deadlier: Why the air strike is more lethal than the surgical strike

Amarinder Singh tweeted, "We are on top of the situation in wake of the Indian Air Force airstrike. Discussed all eventualities with top civil & police officials. We've put the border areas on high alert & I'll visit the area tomorrow for an on-ground assessment. I appeal to the people to remain calm."

Punjab CM congratulated the IAF for the successful strike across the LoC. Amarinder Singh tweeted, "Great job by the Indian Air Force. The IAF Strikes have sent the much needed signal to Pakistan and the terrorists it's harbouring - don't think you can get away with acts like the Pulwama Attack. Bravo to the IAF men and my full support for the action."

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 16:50 [IST]
Hindus can never be anti-India, patriotism is their basic character, says RSS chief citing Gandhi

RSS chief advocates 'Akhand Bharat', says Pakistan in distress ever since partitioned from India

Pulwama martyrs get a proper 13th day 'Shraadh' ritual: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Feb 27: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday said that the jawans martyred in Pulwama on 14 Frbruary got a proper 13th day 'shraadh' after the air strikes on Pakistan.

[How the IAF strike at Balakot unfolded: All the updates here]

Incidentally, Twelve days after the Pulwama attack, the IAF struck Pakistan a day ahead of the 'tehervin' ritual marking the 13-day mourning period.

India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders.

The operation, described as a "non-military, preemptive strike", was welcomed by the entire political spectrum and military experts who had been advocating retribution after the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama claied by JeM.

[Jaish chief Masood Azhar: An overweight blue-eyed boy of ISI]

The strikes involving several fighter jets of the Indian Air Force successfully destroyed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the sources told news agency PTI. The extent of the damage inflicted on the ground is not immediately known.

The strikes came amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan following the February 14 suicide attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group in Kashmir's Pulwama district that killed 40 CRPF soldiers of whom a dozen belonged to UP.

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Story first published: Wednesday, February 27, 2019, 1:18 [IST]
Amid standoff with China, IAF to get land in Uttarakhand to carry out activities in border areas

Pulwama avenged: IAF destroyed 7 acre JeM camp at Balakote

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 26: The Indian Air Force today carried out a decisive strike on terror camps in Pakistan as part of the action to avenge the Pulwama attack in which 44 CRPF jawans were martyred.

The IAF struck at three places, Balakote, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad and sources say inflicted heavy damage. The biggest strike was at Balakote, which houses a 7 acre terror camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Maulana Masood Azhar led terror group that carried out the Pulwama attack.

The Balakote camp is located at KPK. The IAF according to sources struck these camps with laser guided bombs, which it may be recalled were first used in Kargil. Balakot is a town in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is around 50 kilometres away from the Line of Control.

IAF pounds Pakistan, flattens Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camps

Major terror camps had been identified on the basis of concrete intelligence, following which the strike took place, sources also added. Around 1,000 kilograms of bombs were dropped during the operation, the source also added.

Sources say that three launch pads of the Jaish-e-Mohammad were destroyed. The pads to be hit were at Balakote, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad. The control rooms of the JeM too have been destroyed, the source added.

The casualties have been severe following the air strikes. Nearly 200 terrorists have been hit, the source also added. Apart from the Mirage 2000s, drones and early warning jets too were part of the operation.

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 10:20 [IST]
PM Modi monitored realtime airstrikes on Jaish camp across LoC: Report

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Feb 26: Prime Minister Narendra Modi was up all night as he monitored the Indian Air Force operation to destroy a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Pakistan, relaxing only after all the pilots returned safely home, government sources said Tuesday.

After congratulating all those involved in the operation around 4.30 am, he got busy with his daily routine as he prepared for a full day's schedule, including the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security at his residence around 10 am.

Pakistan violates ceasefire at multiple locations across LoC after India

He then rushed to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, where President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2015-2018. Later, Modi flew to Rajasthan for a rally and returned to New Delhi to attend an ISKCON event.

"The prime minister did not sleep a wink all night and remained intimately involved in the operations," said one source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Modi attended a News18 television channel conclave at the Taj Palace hotel on Monday night, and left for home at 9.15 pm. After reaching his 7 Lok Kalyan Marg residence in 10 minutes, he took a light meal and became involved in the operation, going through the preparations for the air strike on the training camp, the source said.

It is not clear if he was at home or at some other location where a control room monitored the historic events about to unfold.

The prime minister was in touch with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Air Force Chief B.S. Dhanoa before, during and after the operation, the source, who is close to the prime minister, said.

Pakistan's veiled threat to India says,'Ready to be surprised'

Once the operation ended, he checked with officials about the well-being of the pilots involved. the source said. When it was clear everyone was safe, the prime minister withdrew and turned his attention to other matters, he said.

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 20:43 [IST]
Different terror groups, one master: What has made terrorists desperate in Kashmir

PLFI ultra with Rs 10 lakh bounty arrested

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

Ranchi, Feb 26: An ultra of the People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI), who had suffered bullet injuries during an encounter with security forces in Gumla district, was arrested from his house, police said.

Santosh Yadav, who carried a Rs 10-lakh reward on his head, was nabbed by personnel of Jharkhand Jaguar and Ranchi police from his house in Pandra area.

Kulgam encounter: DSP, Army man martyred, 3 Jaish terrorists killed

In the encounter with CRPF's CoBRA and district police personnel, three PLFI ultras were on Sunday gunned down in Amtoli forest in Gumla district, but several other Maoists struck by bullets, had managed to flee, including Yadav.

He was involved in the killing of CRPF jawans, arson and blasting railway tracks between Hatia and Rourkela Railway stations, a police officer said.

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 5:50 [IST]
In message to China, Army Chief says dont test our patience

Be it LAC or LoC, why NSA Ajit Doval gets top billing in national security planning

Will give ceasefire with Pak the best shot: General Raju

Army retaliates to Pakistan shelling at multiple locations across LoC, destroys 5 posts

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Srinagar, Feb 26: Giving Pakistan a befitting response for LoC-wide ceasefire violations, The Indian Army on Tuesday destroyed five Pakistani posts and inflicting a number of casualties to the Pak Army, according to reports.

Five soldiers of the Indian Army were also injured in the Pak firing, of which two have been evacuated to the Military Hospital.

Hours after the Indian Air Force (IAF) had launched air strikes on terror camps and launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC), Pakistan retaliated by violating ceasefire for the fourth consecutive day on Tuesday at multiple locations along the Line of Control (LoC) and the border.

According to the reports, Pakistan violated ceasefire at Kanachak sector in Jammu, Rajouri district, Akhnoor sector, Nawshera sector, and Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday.

The Indian Army on Tuesday said Pakistan Army violated the ceasefire agreement on the Line of Control (LoC) in the Pir Panjal valley's Rajouri and Poonch districts and Jammu's Akhnoor.

How the IAF strike at Balakot unfolded: All the updates here

On Monday, the Pakistan Army has resorted to firing and mortar shelling on forward posts and civilian areas along the LoC in Rajouri and Poonch districts on seven of the last eight days.

At about 18:30 hours on Monday, Pakistan launched unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing small arms along the LoC in Nowshera sector.

They had violated the ceasefire agreement in the same sector on Sunday as well, by shelling with mortars and firing small arms.

Amid rising 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 constant fear, they said.
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'

Pak drone shot down near the International Border in Gujarats Kutch

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Feb 26: A Pakistani unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was on Tuesday shot down near the International Border in Kutch district of Gujarat, police sources said. This comes within hours of Indian Air Force striking a Jaish terror camp in Balakot.

Debris of the UAV was seen near Nanghatad village in Abdasa taluka of Kutch, they said.

On hearing a loud sound around 6 am, villagers went to the spot and found the debris of the UAV, the sources said.

Islamabad reserves right to retaliate: Pak Foreign Minister after Balakot strikes

Asked if a Pakistani UAV had been shot down by the Indian armed forces, a police official, on condition of anonymity, said, "Such an incident has happened, we are investigating the matter." The official, however, refused to elaborate further.

Earlier, combat jets of Indian Air Force bombed Jaish terror camp across the Line of Control on the Pakistani side, 12 days after Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group carried out an attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in Kashmir.

The IAF dropped 1,000 pound bombs in a thickly-forested hilltop that has eliminated a large number of terrorists in Balakot, the biggest camp of the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The strikes was carried out on the basis of credible intelligence and designed to target the Jaish camp without any civilian casualties, Gokhale announced hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a top security meet to review the cross-border strike.

PTI

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 14:05 [IST]
Amid standoff with China, IAF to get land in Uttarakhand to carry out activities in border areas

Pak alleges IAF jets crossed LoC: Their version say Indian officials

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 26: Amidst heightened tensions in the wake of the Pulwama attack, Pakistan has alleged that Indian Air Force jets had crossed the Line of Control. Pakistan said that the IAF jets had crossed the LoC from Muzaffarabad sector in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

In a tweet, Director-General Inter Services Public Relations Major General Asif Ghafoor said, "Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage."

Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage.  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019

Highly placed sources tell OneIndia that there is no truth in the information. There is nothing to say. This is Pakistan's version of the story, the official also added.

India has been contemplating serious action against Pakistan after over 40 CRPF jawan were martyred in an attack at Pulwama earlier this month. The Jaish-e-Mohammad led by Maulana Masood Azhar claimed responsibility for the attack.

Reports from Pakistan also suggested that the army there was put on high alert. Further hospitals too were asked to be ready, Pakistan media reports stated.

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 8:37 [IST]
NIA raids houses of separatists, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, in Kashmir

India

pti-PTI

Srinagar, Feb 26: The National Investigation Agency on Tuesday carried out searches at premises of separatists, including Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, in connection with a case related to funding to terror and separatists groups in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

[NIA identifies vehicle, owner involved in Pulwama attack]

The NIA team, accompanied by local police and CRPF personnel, swooped at residences of some of the separatist leaders, including the Mirwaiz, Naseem Geelani, son of pro-Pakistan separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and chairman of Tehrek-e-Hurriyat Ashraf Sehrai, they said. There was no word about the recoveries made from these residences during the day-long searches.

Besides these, the houses of JKLF leader Yaseen Malik, Shabir Shah, Zaffar Bhat and Masarat Alam were also raided. Barring the Mirwaiz and Sehrai, all other leaders were inside jail for quite some time now. The NIA had questioned two maternal uncles of the Mirwaiz  Maulvi Manzoor and Maulvi Shafat  and his close aides last year. Both of them are retired senior government officers.

[J&K administration withdraws security of 5 separatist leaders including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq]

The NIA probe seeks to identify the chain of players behind the financing of terrorist activities, including those who pelted stones on security forces, burnt down schools and damaged government establishments.

The case names Hafeez Saeed, Pakistan-based chief of Jamaat-ud Dawah, the front for banned Lashker-e-Taiba, as an accused, besides organisations such as the Hurriyat Conference (factions led by Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq), Hizbul Mujahideen and Dukhtaran-e-Millat.

PTI
Mamata to join hands with BJP again in case of hung assembly in Bengal: Sitaram Yechury

Yechury raises suspicion over EC decision to put on hold poll to RS seats in Kerala

Decision to bring in new faces in LDF cabinet taken in CPI(M)'s long term interest: Sitaram Yechury

Modi is busy shooting PR films says Yechury

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

New Delhi, Feb 26: CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reportedly shooting "PR films", saying such photo shoots only "rubbed salt into the wounds of those suffering".

In an apparent reference to Modi allegedly shooting a "propaganda and publicity" film till the evening of February 14, the day of the Pulwama terror attacks, and photographs of him washing the feet of sanitation workers on Sunday, the Left leader said the PM should make his priorities clear.

"105 deaths in sewers and septic tanks in 2018 & 11 in 2019 alone. Nothing done to redress the grave situation despite Court Orders. PR photoshoots with multiple cameras only rub salt into the wounds of those suffering historical injustices," he said in a tweet.

Modi's return to power will be 'death knell' for all constitutional institutions: Sitaram Yechury

"It is just not Kashmir. The North-East is in immense turmoil. But Modi is busy shooting PR films in a Forest resort or mouthing inane film dialogues, irrespective of whether soldiers die or civilians. That makes clear what his real priorities are," Yechury said.

Modi Sunday took a holy dip at the Sangam in Allahabad and interacted with sanitation workers, who have ensured cleanliness during the ongoing Kumbh Mela, describing them as "real karma-yogis" whose contributions were being lauded all over.

He also performed the Ganga aarti and conducted Charan Vandana' (washing the feet) of select sanitation workers, as a mark of respect to their efforts in ensuring a clean Kumbh.

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 5:41 [IST]
Meddle with Article 35A and prepare for the worst says Hizbul chief

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Srinagar, Feb 26: The Hizbul Mujahideen chief in the Kashmir Valley, Riyaz Naikoo has issued another warning and this time it is regarding Article 35A. He has asked people to be ready for a major battle if the Article is tampered with.

He further asked the Jammu and Kashmir police not to come in the way of a peoples' movement. The special status should not be meddled with and the J&K police should not stand in the way of what the people of the state want, he also said.

In an audio clip that runs into 8 minutes, he says that India wants to tamper with Article 35A. The Article is our identity and I want to tell the people whatever has to happen, would happen all in one shot.

We have to make a sacrifice. Why don't we all do it at once, he said. The Article is as important for you as it for the people of the state, he said while addressing the police of the state.

Explainer: What is Article 35A

The unverified clip comes just five days after Naikoo had issued a warning to all non-local labourers in the state. He had said that the Army should be taken back and that is the only solution.

The operational chief of the Hizbul Mujahideen, Riyaz Naiko had 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.

Will kill non-local labourers if you target Kashmiris says Hizbul

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.

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.

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 7:43 [IST]
Architect of Surgical Strike 1, Lt Ten Hooda showers praise on strike 2

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

New Delhi, Feb 26: Lt Gen DS Hooda (Retired), the Northern Army Commander during the 'Surgical Strike' in 2016, congratulated the government and Indian Air Force for carrying out air strike in Balakot in Pok.

Lt Gen DS Hooda (Retired), who is heading Congress task force on national security, said, "My compliment goes to the government for taking this action and also to the Air Force for the way they have carried out this strike (in Balakot) in an absolutely professional manner."

"All pilots are safe. I think it needed to be done. I personally had no doubt in my mind after Pulwama attack that some strong action will be taken by the government, " said Hooda.

Non-Military, pre-emptive action says Foreign Secy after IAF hits JeM camp in Balakot

After the Pulwama attack, Hooda had told forein news agency that Associated Press that while "some kind of limited (military) strike (against Pakistan) is more than likely," he hoped for "rethinking and reconciliation" from all sides in the conflict.

The former general, who was in charge of the army's northern command at the frontier with Pakistan in Kashmir and counterinsurgency operations, oversaw India's "surgical strikes" in September 2016 after militants attacked a military base in the frontier town of Uri near the highly militarised Line of Control.
Amid standoff with China, IAF to get land in Uttarakhand to carry out activities in border areas

In close coordination with Army, IAF says Navy Chief amidst tensions with China

How the IAF strike at Balakot unfolded: All the updates here

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 26: India dealt a decisive blow and targeted Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camps at Balakot Muzaffarabad and Chakothi in the wee hours of Tuesday.

The strikes by the Indian Air Force began at 3.30 am and went on until 3.58 am. The IAF used the Mirage 2000 for this operation and used 1,000 kilogram laser guided bomb to destroy the terror camps. Sources tell OneIndia that at least 300 terrorists had died in this operation.

You can check below for all the updates on how the IAF strikes unfolded:
Amid standoff with China, IAF to get land in Uttarakhand to carry out activities in border areas

IAF strikes: J&K administration advises people to stay calm, not to believe in rumours

India

pti-PTI

Srinagar, Feb 26: The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Tuesday advised people in the state to stay calm and not to believe in rumours in the aftermath of the Indian Air Force's strikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed's terror camp in Pakistan.

Anxious residents of Srinagar and other major towns in the Kashmir valley could be seen discussing the latest developments amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan following the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.

"We hope that it ends here and there is no more escalation. If there is escalation in hostilities, it will be the people on either side of the Line of Control who will suffer the most," Abdul Gani Dar (80), who has witnessed all wars between India and Pakistan, said.

Many residents, including former chief minister Omar Abdullah, took to social media to express their fears about the possibility of a full blown confrontation between the two nuclear powers.

With multiple aircraft taking off at same time, how IAF confused Pak and hit Balakot

"The problem now becomes PM Imran Khan's commitment to his country - 'Pakistan will not think about responding, Pakistan WILL respond'. What shape will response take? Where will response be? Will India have to respond to Pakistan's response?"

Abdullah wrote on his Twitter handle. Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam Tuesday asked people to remain stress free and go about their normal activities.

"In case there is anything to be communicated regarding people's safety and security, the government will do so directly, through media," Subrahmanyam said in a brief statement without mentioning the air strike.

"The people are urged to be calm and not to believe in rumours circulating on WhatsApp or other social media," he said.

Residents of Kashmir had gone on a hoarding spree after the government launched a crackdown on separatists and Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir cadres last week.

The move was followed by the deployment of 100 additional companies of paramilitary forces in the valley. In an apparent dig, Abdullah said the reports about an Indian Air Force C17 Globemaster III flying over Jammu and Kashmir was about election duty and had nothing to do with the air strikes in Pakistan.

"It's sitting in Srinagar offloading paramilitary forces to deal with internal security & election duty. Has nothing to do with the airstrike in to Pakistan this morning," the National Conference leader said.

Meanwhile, the officials said security forces have been asked to remain on alert as the NIA is carrying out raids on residences of some top separatist leaders and their sympathisers.

Security forces have been deployed in strength in vulnerable areas of the city as officials expect protests against the raids.

PTI
JeM acquired vehicle used in Pulwama just 10 days before attack

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Srinagar, feb 26: The Jaish-e-Mohammad conducted trial runs and pieced together a powerful car bomb in ten days before it carried out the Pulwama attack.

Bomb experts of the outfit were called in from Pakistan and with the help of the locals, a powerful car bomb was pieced.

After hitting a blind spot, how NIA traced the vehicle used in Pulwama attack

The vehicle in question, a Maruti Eeco was purchased by Sajjad Bhat, a resident of Bijbehara, Anantnag just ten days before the attack. The National Investigation Agency, which identified the vehicle said that he was the seventh owner of the car that was sold first in 2011.

The agency said that as per the records available, Bhat, who is with the JeM had acquired the vehicle on February 4 2019. This was exactly ten days before the attack. The Pulwama attack was carried out by Jaish-e-Mohamamd terrorists, Adil Ahmed Dar on February 14 2019.

NIA officials tell Oneindia that while months of planning had gone into the attack, the JeM managed to piece together the bomb and also carry out trial runs with the car in question in the last ten days.

The vehicle was acquired with the specific purpose of using it in the attack. Moreover it was acquired at the last minute, with an intention of staying off the radar, officials also explained.

The lead that the NIA got after identifying the vehicle with the Chassis number MA3ERLF1SOO183735 Engine G12BN164140 is a crucial one. Finding the last owner of the vehicle Bhat is a crucial lead and it will help us understand the conspiracy and the extent of the local involvement better.

Maruti Eeco used in Pulwama attack changed hands 7 times before ending up with JeM

Investigations had revealed that the JeM had used both Pakistani and local terrorists for the attack. Investigations so far have found that the car bomber Adil Ahmed Dar and the owner of the vehicle are both locals.

The NIA says that getting Sajjad Bhat will be crucial. During the raids at his home on February 23, he was not found. Images of him holding sophisticated weapons have surfaced on the social media following which it was ascertained that he had joined the Jaish-e-Mohammad.

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 7:30 [IST]
Jaish chief Masood Azhar: An overweight blue-eyed boy of ISI

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Feb 26: Masood Azhar, the Jaish-e-Mohammed's chief whose terror academy in Balakot faced a blitzkrieg from Indian Air Force jets early Tuesday, is an overweight fugitive released by India in exchange for passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999 and has since been a blue-eyed boy of Pakistan's external snooping agency ISI.

[How the IAF strike at Balakot unfolded: All the updates here]

Nearly 20 years after his release, during which he staged some audacious terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and hinterland, his Balakot camp where he trained terrorists to carry out suicide attacks, was in the cross hairs of Mirage 2000 jets, which achieved a spectacular success by destroying the resort-like facility and possibly killing up to 350 inmates. For all his reputation, Azhar was not a hard nut to crack when he was in the custody of Indian forces, according to officials.

A former police officer, who interrogated Azhar after his arrest in 1994, said he got shaken up on the first "slap" from an army jawan, prompting him to blurt out details of his movements.

He was arrested in Anantnag in South Kashmir in February 1994 after he had entered into India on a Portuguese passport through Bangladesh. It was a chance arrest. He along with Sajjad Afghani were travelling in an auto when it was stopped by armymen at Khanabal.

"Both ran from the autorickshaw prompting the army men to nab them. Army men were happy to find Sajjad Afghani and had a little knowledge about the other," former Director General of Sikkim Police Avinash Mohananey, who interrogated Azhar many times during his two-decade tenure in the Intelligence Bureau, told PTI.

[Who is Maulana Yusuf Azhar, the target of the IAF strikes at Balakot]

The 50-year-old Azhar, son of a retired school headmaster from Bhawalpur in Pakistan, always felt his custody in India was going to be short-lived and that attempts would be made for his release, he had said during his first meeting with Mohnaney at Kot Balwal jail in Jammu, immediately after his arrest.

Attempts were indeed made - the first one within 10 months of his arrest when some foreigners were kidnapped from Delhi in February 1994 and demanded his release. The plot failed when U.P. and Delhi Police managed to get the hostages freed from captivity in Sahranpur. During that raid on Saharanpur raid, police arrested another militant, Omar Sheikh, who would eventually be released along with Azhar in exchange for the passengers of the 1999 hijacked flight IC814. Sheikh late became well known after he beheaded Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan.

Another attempt to release him was made by a shadow group of Harkat-ul-Ansar, Al-Faran, which demanded his release in exchange of five foreigners kidnapped in Kashmir in July 1995. A tunnel was dug in Kot Balwal jail in 1999 to his escape but Azhar could not move out because of his unusual body structure -- he was overweight and had large belly that was too big to be squeezed through the tunnel. However, in the process, Sajjad Afghani was killed. Finally, he was released by the BJP-led NDA government in 1999, along with Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar alias 'Latram', in exchange of the passengers of the flight IC-814.

The Kathmandu-New Delhi plane was hijacked and taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan by Masood Azhar's men. After the negotiations with hijackers failed, the government succumbed to their demands and the then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh took the three terrorists to Kandahar in Afghanistan in a special plane to ensure the release of passengers of the hijacked plane. Thus began a new chapter of terror in Jammu and Kashmir as well as rest of India.

After his release in 1999, Azhar formed the Jaish-e-Mohammed and scripted many audacious terror strikes in India and went on to became a favourite of the ISI. JeM announced its arrival in the Kashmir Valley in 2000 by carrying out a suicide car bombing attack at the gate of Badamibagh cantonment in Srinagar, the headquarters of the Army's 15 Corps. Two armymen were killed in the attack.

[Why the strike at Balakot KPK is extremely significant in the war against terror]

Later, it was involved in the attack on Parliament, the Pathankot air force base, army camps in Jammu and Uri, and the latest suicide attack on CRPF in Pulwama which claimed the lives of 40 personnel. While in custody, intelligence agencies did not have to do much work on Azhar and he gave insights into the functioning of terror groups operating from Pakistan, the officer said.

"'I had never been slapped by my father but for the first time in my life an Army jawan did so even before asking me any question'," the officer remembered Azhar telling him. "He was an easy man to handle and the slap had shaken him completely." Azhar shared information about recruitment process and functioning of terror groups in Pakistan at a time when intelligence agencies were still grappling to understand the proxy-war unleashed by Pakistan's espionage agency ISI, Mohananey, a 1985-batch IPS officer, who headed the Kashmir desk in the agency at that time, said.

Azhar gave the Indian agencies vital insights into diversion of Afghan terrorists into the Kashmir Valley and the merger of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (HuJI) into Harkat-ul-Ansar, represented by him as its general secretary, he said. The Jaish chief, during his stint as a journalist with 'Sada-e-Mujahid', a tabloid published from Karachi, had travelled in 1993 with a group of Pakistani scribes to some countries drumming up support for "Kashmir cause', he aid.

PTI
US: CDC classifies Delta variant, first identified in India as 'variant of concern'

In strong message, Centre tells social media platforms not to lecture India on freedom of speech

With Delta Plus worry, India's fresh covid cases go up to 50,040; recovery rate rises to 96.75 per cent

India briefs foreign envoys on air strike on JeM camp in Pakistan

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Feb 26: India on Tuesday apprised the envoys of all major countries about its air strike on the Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest terror training camp in Pakistan, official sources said.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and and other Secretaries have been briefing foreign envoys, including from the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom, they said.

It is learnt that Gokhale briefed the envoys of the P-5 countries.

Envoys of Sri Lanka, Maldives, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Turkey and Indonesia were also briefed about the air strike.

"We are very happy that the Indian government has informed us in a quick and informed way about what happened. We are informing our capitals and our capitals will decide what opinion has to be formed," said Hans Dannenberg Castellanos, Dean of Diplomatic Corps in India after meeting Gokhale.

Non-Military, pre-emptive action says Foreign Secy after IAF hits JeM camp in Balakot

He further said, "The information is that they did not affect any civilian or any Pakistani military installation."

In a swift and precise air strike following the Pulwama attack, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, officials said. The operation, described as a non-military, preemptive strike, was welcomed by the entire political spectrum and military experts who had been advocating retribution after the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama claimed by JeM.

Gokhale told the media the "intelligence-led operation" on the Pakistan-based terror group's biggest training camp in Balakot became "absolutely necessary" as it was planning more suicide attacks in India.

PTI
Govt has no tolerance for terror, says Amit Shah in UP's Ghazipur

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Ghazipur, Feb 26: Amit Shah launched the Kamal Jyoti Sankalp Abhiyan - a massive nation-wide outreach programme - on Tuesday from Ghazipur in the politically significant state of Uttar Pradesh.

While addressing the gathering Shah said,''Nation wanted revenge for Pulwama terror attack. Government has zero tolerance towards terrorism. Operation was conducted at 3.45 am on Tuesday.

Indian troops gave a befitting reply to Pakistan. First, the surgical strike was in Uri and now an air strike for self-defence. The government can go to any extent to ensure country's safety.''

How the IAF strike at Balakot unfolded: All the updates here

''Surgical strikes after Uri and now air strikes in self-defence, both have given the message to the world that for the security of the country, India's soldiers and government can go to any extent,'' he said.

Earlier in the day, twelve Indian Air Force Mirage-2000 jets crossed the Line of Control (LoC) early on Tuesday morning and destroyed terror camps of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. The air strike, which has been dubbed surgical strikes 2.0, comes two weeks after a terror attack on CRPF soldiers in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir.

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 19:37 [IST]
Induction of Congress MLAs into BJP is death of Parrikar's legacy, says outgoing Goa deputy CM

Swaraj, Parrikar, Ananth Kumar: BJP has lost some of its tallest leaders recently

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar discharged from hospital

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Panaji, Feb 26: Hospitalised Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was on Tuesday discharged from Goa Medical College, a top state government facility. On Saturday night, a team of doctors led by AIIMS Associate Dean of Gastroenterology Dr Pramod Garg, was in Panjim to check on Parrikar after he complained of discomfort.

"His parameters are holding fine. Latest, either by tomorrow evening or afternoon he will return home. There was discomfort but Dr Garg has given his treatment," state health minister Vishwajit Rane said.

Amid reports of his deteriorating health, Rane had tweeted on Sunday, urging people "not to speculate" about the former Defence Minister's health.

Cong urges Parrikar to resign gracefully, says going to assembly with pipe in nose doesn't suit you

Parrikar was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer in February last year and has been in and out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, Delhi and New York since.

With two versions coming on Parrikar's health, the Congress called the Governor to intervene. State Congress president Girish Chodankar felt the whole situation was confusing, with the public kept in the dark.

"The Governor has to step in and take charge. How long can you hide things about public representatives?" said Chodankar.

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 19:50 [IST]
Amid standoff with China, IAF to get land in Uttarakhand to carry out activities in border areas

Day after Pulwama, IAF said would always be at forefront to execute the mission

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 26: The Indian Air Force had said a day after the Pulwama that it was ready to strike deep into Pakistan and destroy terror camps.

In the aftermath of the Pulwama attack, various options including a limited military conflict was discussed. However from the start, top officials felt that the best option to be exercised would be an air strike.

Why the strike at Balakot KPK is extremely significant in the war against terror

The IAF would always be at the forefront in executing its missions, Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa said following the attack at Pulwama. 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.

Sources tell OneIndia that various options were discussed at high level meetings. However the IAF made it clear from day one that it was ready and would strike at very short notice.

Top security officials were of the view that India needs to engage its air power and strike at targets. A top official had told OneIndia that there would be precision air strikes across the border.

Bigger, better, deadlier: Why the air strike is more lethal than the surgical strike

Nearly 140 aircraft had been engaged for this exercise, the source added. The aircraft had been stationed near the border. They are battle ready and can strike at very short notice, the officer had also added. The Indian Air Force said that it can hit at anytime and at very short notice.

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 12:32 [IST]
'I don't lie, I don't have a reputation of lying', says Dassault CEO

Thumbs up for Rafale deal, no irregularities, no commercial favouritism found

Surgical strike 2: Know more about Dassault Mirage 2000

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

New Delhi, Feb 26: Twelve days after ghastly terror attack in Pulwama, a group of Mirage 2000 Indian Fighter jets struck a major terrorist camp across the LoC on Tuesday.

The Mirage 2000 is a jet fighter made by Dassault aviation of France. The Dassault is also the maker of Rafale, which is embroiled in controversy now.

In 1999, when the Kargil War broke out, the Mirage 2000 performed remarkably well during the whole conflict in the high Himalayas, even though the Mirages supplied to India had limited air interdiction capability and had to be heavily modified to drop laser-guided bombs as well as conventional unguided bombs.

LIVE: India hits back, 3 JeM camps at Ballot, Chakoti, Muzaffarabad destroyed

Armed with Paveway LGBs, the aircraft were involved in the destruction of enemy command bunkers.

During Operation Safed Sagar from June-July 1999, two Mirage squadrons flew a total of 514 sorties. No. 1 Squadron flew air defence and strike escort missions, while No. 7 Squadron conducted 240 strike missions during which it dropped 55,000 kg (121,000 lb) of ordnance.

Upgraded Mirage 2000:

The Indian Air Force received the first two upgraded Mirage-2000 aircrafts from France under a Rs 10,000 crore deal in July 2018.

The two upgraded aircraft, flown in by IAF pilots from France covering Greece, Egypt and Qatar in over seven days, landed at the Gwalior Air Force Station.

The contract for upgradation was signed with Thales Aeroportes Systems and Dassault Aviation of France.

Specifications:

Countries of Origin: France

Builder team: Dassault Aviation, SNECMA, Thomson-CSF

First flight: March, 1978 [Mirage 2000C] February, 1991 [Mirage 2000D]

In-service in the French Air Force: Summer 1983 [Mirage 2000C], April, 1993 [Mirage 2000D]

Similar Aircraft: Mirage III/5, Kfir andViggen

Crew: One Mirage 2000N & 2000D -- two [ 1 pilot + 1 navigation and weapon officer]

Role: Interceptor [Mirage 2000C] All weather night and day missions such as Battlefield Air Interdiction (BAI) [Mirage 2000D]

Major operational capabilities: [Mirage 2000D] Automated terrain following at very high speed and very low altitude, All-weather night and day bombing capability,

High precision all weather day/night bombing with Thomson-CSF PDL-CT

(With PTI inputs)
Congress not to give Mandya seat to Sumalatha, wary of BJP's move

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

Bengaluru, Feb 26: Sumalatha Ambareesh, wife of late Congress Minister MH Ambareesh, is unlikely to get Congress ticket in the forthcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Currently, the Mandya Lok Sabha seat is held by LR Shivarame Gowda of Janata Dal (Secular) who defeated BJP candidate in the bypoll held in December 2018.

According to source, " Mandya is held JDS after the bypoll and in 2014 JDS's CS Puttaraju was elected MP against Congress leader Ramya/Divya Spandana. In the coalition arrangement is sitting party MP gets the chance to contest the election. Therefore, the Congress party ruled out Sumalatha's candidacy."

Denied CM post thrice for being Dalit: Parameshwara

The Congress is also wary of denying the ticket to Sumalatha Ambareesh in the election. Also, Source told OneIndia, "If the Congress denies ticket to Sumalatha, she may fight as an Independent candidate from Mandya with BJP's support. And if wins, BJP will take her on board."

Over the last several days, Congress leaders from Mandya are meeting Sumalatha at her Bengaluru residence and have been requesting her to contest the Lok Sabha poll from Mandya constituency which was once represented by her husband. Ambareesh had served as minister of state for Information and Broadcasting in the 14th Lok Sabha, but resigned over his dissatisfaction with the Cauvery Dispute Tribunal award, though the resignation was not formally accepted.

Sumalatha offered to donate half acre land to the family of CRPF jawan C Guru martyred in the Pulwama attack to build a memorial for Guru.
Explained: What is the result tabulation portal for Class 12 that CBSE has developed

CBSE Class 10 result 2019 likely by May 10; Check details

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Feb 26: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 10 Results is expected to be released by May 10. Once declared students can check their scores on the official websites of the board. They must keep their roll number, school number and date of birth handy before the results are declared.

The board had earlier this month issued a notification stating that results for both class 10 and 12 would be declared early this year. Results for both grades are usually announced in the third week of May.

This year, 43,411 students from Uttarakhand are appearing for class 10 board examinations and 38,795 for class 12 board examinations across 156 centres.

CBSE Class 10 Result 2019: How to check

In order to check the results, the candidates need to follow the steps listed below:

Go to the official website www.cbse.nic.in

Click on the link, 'CBSE Class 10 Results'

Enter the roll number

After submitting the same, the results will appear on the screen.

Take a printout
Prove it, says Navjot Sidhu as Amarinder Singh hints he may join AAP

'Truth will triumph': Navjot Singh Sidhu sticks to his guns over rift with Amarinder Singh

Cant be neutral in war of right and wrong, says Navjot Sidhu

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Amristar, Feb 26: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday hailed the IAF air strikes targetting terrorist bases inside Pakistan.

Taking to Twitter, Punjab minister, who had sparked outrage over his comment on February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in south Kashmir's Pulwama that killed 40 jawans, tweeted,''In the war of right and wrong, you cannot be neutral. The war against terror outfits is spot on... Bravo Indian Air Force, Jai Hind.''

"Nations cannot be held responsible for an act done of a few cowards...and terrorism has no 'dharam, mazhab, zaat aur desh' (religion, caste or country)," Sidhu had said.

How the IAF strike at Balakot unfolded: All the updates here

"State is on alert, I will be touring bordering areas tomorrow. We are ready for any eventuality. I told the Union Home Minister that if there is anything that Punjab can do we are there to for the defence of our country," Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh told ANI.

Referring to the air strikes against Jaish, Sidhu in another tweet stressed that the antidote for snake bite is also poison.

He also posted a video of his February 18 statement. "Terrorists should be crushed and their punishment should act as a deterrent for generations to come," Sidhu said in the video.

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Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 21:26 [IST]
Amid standoff with China, IAF to get land in Uttarakhand to carry out activities in border areas

Bigger, better, deadlier: Why the air strike is more lethal than the surgical strike

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 26: The Indian Air Force struck at three locations to destroy terrorist camps in a bid to avenge the Pulwama attack.

The most significant aspect of this strike was that the IAF struck deep inside Pakistan territory at Balakote, which is at Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The other two locations to hit were Muzaffarabad and Chakothi, which are in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

Pulwama avenged: IAF destroyed 7 acre JeM camp at Balakote

Officials say that this hit is much bigger than the surgical strikes that were carried out on in the aftermath of the Uri attack. The surgical strike was carried out near the Line of Control at Kupwara and Poonch.

However this falls under an air strike and is much bigger than the surgical strike as it hit camps deep inside Pakistan territory. More importantly this is the first time after the 1971 Indo-Pak war that an Indian fighter aircraft has entered Pakistani airspace. No Indian aircraft entered Pakistani air space during the Kargil war of 1999, it may be recalled.

In comparison to the surgical strike, this hit is much bigger in terms of the payload of weapons dropped. Laser guided bombs of up to 1,000 kilograms were dropped. This technology was first used in the Kargil war.

Experts also say that this could one of the most daring strikes by the IAF considering it was done at a time when Pakistan was on a state of very high alert.
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

Mann Ki Baat: 'Our country accomplished an unprecedented feat by vaccinating over 7 mn people', says PM

At Gandhi Peace Prize event, PM makes indirect reference to air strikes

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Feb 26: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday made an indirect reference to the air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force on terror camps across the LoC when he sought apology from the audience at the Rashtrapati Bhawan for being late as he was "busy" with "some other work".

He had chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security at his official residence around 10.00 am before rushing to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, where President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2015-2018.

The event at the Rashtrapati Bhawan was to begin at 11.00 am, but started a little late. "First of all, my apologies or being late.

Day after Pulwama, IAF said would always be at forefront to execute the mission

The programme started late as I reached here (Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhawan) late. I was busy in some other work and I was late," he said while addressing the gathering.

In a pre-dawn operation, the Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side, 12 days after the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

PTI
Karnataka SSLC Exams 2021: COVID-19 positive students too can take exams, here is how

After reaching late, techie makes threat call to delay flight in Bengaluru

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

Bengaluru, Feb 26: After realising that he would miss his flight, a 49 year old software engineer made a threat call to the Kempegowda International Airport here and said that there was a bomb on the aircraft.

The airline staff and the CISF officials immediately sanitised the flight before declaring that the threat was a hoax. The techie identified as Prateek Rathore Mahesh Bhai was detained before he could board the flight.

Delhi put on 'high priority alert,' following specific Jaish threat

Prateek is from Surat and he had come to Bengaluru on Sunday with wife and son to attend a family function. He was to take the flight back home at 7 pm, but reached the airport late.

At around 6.57 pm, he called the KIA and said that there was a bomb on the aircraft. The security officials scanned the CCTV footage and learnt that he was walking out of the terminal speaking on the phone at the exact time that the call had been received.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 8:06 [IST]
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In honor of those who serve

Vernon Fire Department thank and remember those who served
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So what is the scenario that could propel a credible GOP challenger to Trump in the primaries? Perhaps, in late spring, if Trump is running behind in the polls against every single Democratic candidate and if he is implicated in some sort of criminal conduct or if an economic or international trauma plagues his presidency, then there could be a more welcoming environment for a challenger.

But it will not be from the likes of Weld, Kasich or Flake. Fair or not, they represent the genteel incrementalist past. Conservatives who represent a majority of the party nationwide believe that establishment Republicans are responsible for slowly giving America away. Generally speaking, the energy of the Republican Party is supplied by the president and his America First agenda. It is unlikely that any of that will change between now and the convention in 2020.

Still, as the 2020 race gets underway, the mainstream media will try to keep Weld and any other challengers afloat. Look for them to over-report if an opponent lands any blows to make it seem as if support among Republicans for the president is developing some cracks. As a reality check, according to Gallup, Trump's approval among Republicans is 89 percent. At this point, it looks as if Weld, et al., are more likely to serve as useful foils for the president rather than serious threats.
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.
Amy Nejezchleb, a 38-year-old Libertarian who describes herself as a moderate voter, also said frustration at Trump helped spur her to vote. But she said what shes really hoping for is elected officials who know what their constituents want, theyre doing their best to represent that and theyre not listening to the lobbyists that represent corporations, she said.

Spencer Head, the chairman of the Nebraska Young Republicans, said Trump also drew GOP voters to the polls. In particular, he said, Republicans were reacting to candidates like Kara Eastman from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

The Trump effect was a big part of what brought voters out on the Republican side, too, he said. We had a lot of new voters who saw the Democrats continue to tack a little to the left.

Now the political parties are looking to voters to further their gains and undo the other sides victories in 2020.

We are going to try to run up the score in Douglas County in terms of registration, said Crystal Rhoades, the Democratic county party chair who mounted an aggressive push to register and turn out new voters during the past election. Were going to aggressively recruit good candidates. Were going to run a strong ground game.
Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson announced late Monday that he has sued Bellevue University for allegedly making deceptive statements about the accreditation status of one of its programs.

The press release said some nursing students incurred student debt or lost their hard-earned money because of the universitys false or misleading statements about when the program would be accredited, whether it was accredited and the importance of accreditation.

The press release said that between 2012 and March 2017, about 179 students participated in Bellevues RN (registered nurse) to BSN (bachelor of science in nursing) program.

The university said in a statement: We take seriously the allegations outlined in the press release distributed by the Attorney General but stand firm that these specific allegations are simply not true. We look forward to presenting our defense in court.

A Bellevue University spokeswoman said the schools program is still going and is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. The CCNEs website said the university received its initial accreditation in October 2017, after the period cited by the attorney general.
Two women were critically injured in an Omaha house fire Monday, and a man, who also was injured, has been identified as a suspect.

Janet Bohm, 56, and Amanda Bohm, 18, have been taken to the burn unit at St. Elizabeth Regional Medical Center in Lincoln for specialized care.

Carl Bohm, 65, was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center. He, too, was in critical condition.

He is considered a suspect in the fire, said Phil Anson, an information officer with the Omaha Police Department.

The fire at 3742 Himebaugh Ave. was reported at 12:45 a.m. Monday. All three were out of the house before fire crews arrived, fire officials said.

Police had been called to the address previously to investigate a reported assault, according to emergency scanner traffic.

Firefighters saw large amounts of smoke and flames as they approached the house, Battalion Chief Scott Fitzpatrick said. It took about an hour to bring the fire under control.

The house, valued at $58,500, was a total loss.

Two family dogs escaped the fire, and animal control officers from the Nebraska Humane Society were attempting to rescue them.
A group that says it spent six months building better relationships between local tenants and landlords wants the City of Omaha and the State of Nebraska to delay pursuing a landlord registry.

They say their idea emphasizes improved communication and arbitration between renters and landlords, which they call less adversarial than formal complaints.

Heres how it would work: If a tenant has a problem with a landlord, he or she can call the organization, which will contact the landlord or help the renter reach the landlord and then broker a solution. There is no charge for the service, which is staffed by volunteer renters and landlords, the group says. When asked about the groups funding, leaders said they had held at least one fundraiser, but they didnt disclose their funding sources.

The group, called the Nebraska Landlord-Tenant Commission, can act as an arbitrator between landlords and tenants, said Kenneta Wainwright, the groups founder, who is a tenant. The groups actions are not legally binding, and despite its official-sounding name, it is not a government agency.
Are you wearing jeans today?

Levi Strauss (1829-1920) was born 190 years ago Tuesday in Buttenheim, Germany. In 1854, he immigrated to New York, where his older brothers already had a wholesale dry goods business.

In 1854, the Strauss brothers sent Levi to San Francisco to open a new branch serving miners in the California Gold Rush.

In 1870, Jacob Davis, a tailor in Virginia City, Nevada, invented denim pants with stress points reinforced by copper rivets. These quickly became so popular that Davis approached Levi Strauss, his denim supplier, for financial backing. In 1873, Davis & Strauss patented their jeans. Soon after, they built a factory to mass produce them. By 1926, purchasers all over the western United States were calling them Levis.

The first Levi was Jacob and Leahs third son in the Bibles book of Genesis. At his birth, Leah says Now my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons. Hebrew lawah means joined. Levis descendants became priests and attendants at Jerusalems temple.

Before the Reformation, Levi was only used by Jews. Then some Protestant parents took it up.
A man has been committed to the Central Mental Hospital after a jury verdict that found him guilty of manslaughter, and rejected unanimous expert opinion that he was legally insane, was declared perverse by the Court of Appeal.

Polish national Dariusz Alchimionek (44), with an address at Barrow Way, Spa Street, Portarlington, Co Laois, had denied the manslaughter of Offaly man John Gorman (19) and assault causing harm to his brother, Adam, on December 29, 2015.

The brothers had been returning home from Tullamore when a vehicle driven by Alchimionek suddenly crossed the road into the path of their oncoming car at Ballycrystal, Geashill, Co Offaly.

Tullamore Circuit Criminal Court heard how Alchimionek had become convinced the Islamic State group, or Isis, were about to invade Europe and a third World War was about to begin.

Consultant psychiatrists for both the prosecution and the defence, both of whom worked at the Central Mental Hospital, agreed that Alchimionek met the criteria to be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

The jury had the option of returning of three verdicts: guilty, not guilty or not guilty by reason of insanity.

The trial judge told the jury: "In light of the medical evidence, it would seem to me that you have no option but to accept... the defence of not guilty by reason of insanity is available to the accused, and in such circumstances, you are obliged to acquit."

After two hours and 50 minutes of deliberations, the jury returned majority guilty verdicts of 11-1 on both counts, which were met with applause in the courtroom.

Alchimionek was then sentenced to nine years imprisonment with the final three suspended by Judge Keenan Johnson in October 2017.

The Court of Appeal quashed the jury verdict last week on grounds it was perverse and against the weight of the evidence.

President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham said the quashing of a jurys verdict because it was perverse was very exceptional but the court felt compelled to do so in this case.

The three-judge court had the option of directing a retrial or to substitute the appropriate verdict, under Section 5 of the Criminal Law Insanity Act, as had been sought by Mr Alchimioneks lawyers.

Mr Justice Birmingham said on Tuesday that the court was very conscious of the impact the terrible tragedy had on the family of the deceased.

However, he said it was never in controversy that Mr Alchimionek was, in fact, insane at the time of the incident and, if the court directed a retrial, it seemed inevitable the evidence would be the same."

If another jury was to reject the unanimous expert evidence a second time, he said the Court of Appeal would very likely find itself dealing with another perverse verdict.

On the other hand, if another jury in a retrial acted on foot of the unanimous expert evidence, then the verdict would be the same as the Court of Appeal could enter now.

Mr Justice Birmingham, who sat with Mr Justice John Edwards and Mr Justice Brian McGovern, said prolonging matters towards an inevitable conclusion by directing a retrial would not be in the public interest.

Mr Alchimionek was committed to the Central Mental Hospital for an assessment to be carried out. The most up to date medical report was prepared in July 2017.

The case was put back to March 7 for mention.

Counsel for Mr Alchimionek, Kenneth Fogarty SC, along with Niall Flynn BL, said a retrial was an unnecessary exercise.
Fianna Fail TD for Offaly Barry Cowen has said that small and medium-sized companies are being harmed by rising insurance costs.

Deputy Cowen warned that there are businesses in Offaly considering closing their doors are they can no longer afford the significantly increased premiums.

Deputy Cowen explained: As per usual it is the smaller businesses that are most at risk. Small companies, farmers, marts and community organisations all across Offaly are being buried under rising insurance costs. From speaking with people in the constituency some family-run businesses say they will have to close due to the increases."

Ive been talking to some business owners who have seen their insurance costs double over the past five years, despite no claims."

"This level of increase is simply not sustainable. The 'Cost of Insurance Working Group' was set up specifically to examine high premiums and to bring them under control. However, the government has failed to act on its recommendations."

If they wont act on recommendations then the increases will keep coming. This Government has taken its eye off the ball on the issue of insurance and businesses up and down the country are paying the price. The Minister needs to wake up to the seriousness of the issue and step up to the mark in tackling insurance costs," concluded Deputy Cowen.
SJR, WPP's content shop, used its Strategic Storytelling Index, which measures the emotional and intellectual magnetism of brand stories, to correctly predict that Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody would have a big night at Sundays Oscar ceremony.

SJR conducted an online survey of 200 adults to administer the SSI to trailers for each of the nominated movies. Participants were asked to rate each trailer in terms of Wonder (How inspirational was the trailer?), Wisdom (How educational or informative was the trailer?) and Delight: (How entertaining was the trailer?).

The trailers for Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody racked up the highest SSI scores, generating a total score of 83 and 82, respectively. BlackKKlansman, A Star is Born, Black Panther and VICE all received scores in the 73-74 range with The Favourite and Roma only registering scores in the 60s.

Green Book stood out for its high Wonder rating and Bohemian Rhapsody received the highest Delight rating.

A movie trailer is really the marketing and communications foundation for a movie. A compelling trailer sets the right tone, creates buzz and word of mouth for a movie, and is the one element those interested will see, even if they never actually watch the entire movie, said Alexander Jutkowitz, SJR CEO. Thats why the Strategic Storytelling Index is such a useful tooland, beyond trailers, can serve as a helpful guideline for any story that todays content creators are hoping to gain traction.
W2O has extended and expanded its $50,000 three-year commitment to the Future Leaders in Healthcare Fellowship Program, a joint project between the firm and The LAGRANT Foundation, an organization focused on increasing the number of ethnic minorities in the fields of advertising, communications, marketing and digital. The program, which includes a 10-week, paid fellowship in one of W2Os U.S. offices, has been expanded to include all aspects of integrated marketing and communications, including data, analytics and insights; social and digital paid, earned, shared and owned media; creative and content; activation and engagement; and investor relations. The initial fellowship, which was created and led by W2O Founder and CEO Jim Weiss and TLF Chairman and CEO Kim L. Hunter, was launched in March 2016. Since then, several individuals have been selected and completed a fellowship in W2Os New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco offices.

KYNE has bolsters its presence in Europe with the establishment of a London office. The new London office is located in the Thames-side Hammersmith area. The firms global headquarters are in Dublin. Joanne Wunder, formerly of InVentiv Health (now Syneos Health), will serve as managing director and head of Europe, reporting to David Kyne, founder and CEO. She will lead both the Dublin and London offices, which will work in partnership to service European-based clients and the firms ongoing work in Africa; growth of KYNEs global digital offering will continue to be led from Dublin. The agency is actively recruiting for positions in London and Dublin to support multiple new European-based clients in the pharmaceutical and non-profit sectors and drive new business efforts.

Sacred Heart University is the first institution of higher education to offer the SAS Joint Certificate Program in Digital Marketing. Sacred Heart developed the certificate program jointly with SAS, which specializes in analytics, business intelligence and data management. This program will be an option for students earning their masters degree in digital marketing at Sacred Hearts Jack Welch College of Business. SAS has already partnered with numerous institutions that offer the SAS Joint Certificate Program in data science, data analytics and other areas as part of its global academic program. Its partnership with Sacred Heart University marks the first time the program will be offered in digital marketing. To receive the certificate, students will complete courses in big data marketing, analysis of consumer decisions and applied topics, and they will submit a capstone project that uses SAS products and real data.
Marine biologists in Brazil were stunned to discover the body of a young humpback whale on a remote island in the Amazon jungle, at a time of the year when it should have migrated 4,000 miles away, to Antarctica.

The whales body was found by members of the conservation group Bicho DAgua, after they spotted vultures circling a mangrove on Marajo Island, a large, forested island in northern Brazil. The marine mammal, approximately 26-feet-long, was lodged in thick shrubs and brush, about 50 feet from the shore. A team from the regions Municipal Secretariat of Health, Sanitation, and Environment inspected the carcass and reported that it did not appear to have any visible injuries, so until officials conduct a necropsy, the cause of death remains a mystery. At this time, the two main theories are that a powerful tide launched the whale inland, or that it died at sea and was carried onto land by people.

Photo: Americas Byways

Were still not sure how it landed here, but were guessing that the creature was floating close to the shore and the tide, which has been pretty considerable over the past few days, picked it up and threw it inland, into the mangrove, a conservation specialist from the Bicho Dagua Institute told Brazilian media.

But the biggest mystery surrounding this case is what the whale was doing anywhere near Brazil this time of year, when most humpback whales are thousands of miles away in Antarctica. Humpback whales are commonly seen further south on Brazils Bahia coast, between the months of August and November, but they are rarely spotted so far north, at the mouth of the Amazon River, especially this time of year.

The question is, what was a humpback whale doing in the month of February on the northern coast of Brazil? Its unusual, Renata Emin, the president of Bicho DAgua, told G1.

Some conservationists believe that the calf had become separated from her mother as they were migrating south, but so far thats just a guess.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bicho Dagua (@bicho_dagua) on Feb 23, 2019 at 6:23pm PST

Because the carcass was too large and in too remote an area to remove completely, scientists took samples of it for a necropsy in hopes of figuring out how it died.
Bobby Humphreys, a competitive bodybuilder from Boonsboro, Maryland, has always loved dogs, but until two years ago, he never really cared for small breeds. He always felt that his pets should fit his own image, and even made fun of his male friends who owned small dogs. But one day everything changed and today Bobby shares his home with no less than 37 adorable chihuahuas.

Humphreys used to be a Big Dog Guy and he and his wife of 17 years had owned three Rottweilers. He loved their tough, imposing look and never even considered the idea of ever owning a small dog. In fact, he went as far as to poke fun at his male friends if they ever allowed themselves to be seen walking their girlfriends small canines. It was an ego thing, but one that Bobby quickly put behind him when he fell in love with Lady, a tiny Chihuahua that he now credits for getting him through the darkest period of his life. She opened his eyes to the love and support that small dogs are capable of offering unconditionally, and the big, strong bodybuilder is now what many would call a Small Dog Guy who looks after dozens of chihuahuas.

Photo: Big Guy, Littles World/Facebook

All guys have egos and its a big d**k measuring contest. Who can have the prettiest girl? Who can have the biggest house? Who can have the best car? Who can have the toughest-looking dog? Were all insecure at heart, Humphreys told The Dodo about his view of dogs before falling in love with Lady.

On New Years Eve 2016, Bobby Humphreys life came crashing down on him. His wife of 17 years filed for divorce and walked out on him, and just a week later he injured his shoulder in the gym and learned that he needed reconstructive surgery. He started drinking and plunged into a deep depression. Luckily, his friend Constance Rogers was there for him during those troubled times, so one day, when she asked him to look after her pet chihuahua, Lady, after being kicked out of her home, he didnt dare say no.

She messages me one day saying, Do you mind if Lady stays with you for a little while because Im getting kicked out of my house and Im not sure where Im moving yet? Bobby recalled. Lady had this terrible disposition that was very well-known. I just steered clear of her when I saw her at functions with friends. I would just pay her no mind because I wasnt into little dogs.

Because of Ladys temper, Constance advised Bobby to keep her in her small kennel, but one day, after coming home from work and seeing the tiny canine peering out of her enclosure, he decided that he didnt care if she bit him or growled at him all night, he wasnt going to keep her locked up like that. But to his surprise, Lady didnt display the kind of attitude she was famous for. Instead, when Constance came by an hour later to check on them, she found Lady in Humphreys lap. She was amazed.

Over the next four months, Bobby and Lady became even closer. There were days when the bodybuilder couldnt get out of bed because of his depression, and the only thing that kept him going was this little, adorable chihuahua. Theyd lay in bed together all day or just play, and before he knew it, the former Big Dog Guy fell in love with a really small pooch.

But despite their close relationship, Bobby knew that the day would come when Lady would have to go back to Constance. Still, he couldnt imagine going forward without his own little bundle of joy, so he started looking for a chihuahua. And thats how he found Kira, a year-old chihuahua with food aggression issues. But he didnt stop there. He adopted Harley and her sister Queen, two chihuahuas who had lived in terrible conditions, then Bella, whose nails were so overgrown they doubled back into her paws. The more chihuahuas he found, the more he realized there were so many that needed rescuing.



I started to see a pattern, Humphreys told The Dodo. So many of these little beautiful babies are being abused or taken advantage of and I just couldnt sit by and watch it happen.

Bobby eventually founded Big Guy, Littles World Sanctuary, and even brought Constance Rogers on board to help him take care of the growing number of chihuahuas in his home. He is currently living with 37 of them, and he couldnt be happier.

The feeling of love that these dogs give me, after what some of them had been through, made me say, Well, now Im responsible for them,' he said. They trust me and they look in my eyes and tell me that they love me so much.

I gotta say Bobbys story really struck a chord, not least of all because I used to share his original view of small dogs. But then one day, seven years ago, my wife, who is a veterinarian, brought home a week-old Yorkshire Terrier Toy that had been rejected by its mother. We fed Sharifa milk with the tiniest syringe we could find, and she made it. Shes been with us ever since, and I truly consider her to be my eldest daughter. So yeah, I can relate.
Moments after Kirsten Gillibrand announced her candidacy for president, the Democratic senator demonstrated burping a baby doll on national television. Asked by late-night host Stephen Colbert why she was running, she billed herself as a "young mom," willing to "fight for other people's kids as hard as I would fight for my own."
Let me do me and you do you to the highest level of our God-given abilities, Williams said. I found myself so inspired with the movie Black Panther. I hope youve seen it. For generations, Wakandans simply did their best selves, and in the end, they had that with which the rest of the world stood in need, but did you know that before there was a fantastical Wakanda, there was a real black Wall Street.

Black Wall Street

As an example reiterating Williams resolution, she revealed, in the early 1900s, a financially-successful, self-sufficient black community known as Green Wood was formed in Tulsa, Oklahoma by black entrepreneurial leaders.

By 1921, Green Wood had grown to 11,000 residents all of whom were black, Williams said. Green Wood was filled with more than 600 prosperous businesses all black-owned, operated and patronized by blacks and whites. Among the most prominent of the black entrepreneurs was Lola Williams who owned the Dreamland Theater, a 1,000-seat auditorium with love musicals.
Hong Kong: CS to visit Beijing

Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung will attend the press conference on the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in Beijing on February 28.

The press conference will be held at the State Council Information Office.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-26. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
WASHINGTON  House Democrats issued subpoenas late Tuesday to three cabinet officials, in a sharp escalation of their battle over the administrations policy of separating migrant families at the southern border.

Administration officials did not immediately say if the cabinet officials  the homeland security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen; the attorney general, William P. Barr; and the health and human services secretary, Alex M. Azar II  would comply. But Ms. Nielsen has previously refused to appear before the House Homeland Security committee to answer similar inquiries, and the Justice Department suggested Mr. Barr would not turn over documents requested by the committee.

Earlier in the day, the House Oversight and Reform Committee easily passed a measure authorizing the subpoenas that called for the officials to turn over documents pertaining to the detention policies, as two Republicans  Representative Justin Amash of Michigan and Representative Chip Roy of Texas  voted with Democrats to authorize the subpoenas. Moments later, the House Judiciary Committee held its first hearing on a child separation policy that the panels Democratic chairman, Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, described as indefensible, inhumane and immoral in his opening statement.

[Read the latest edition of Crossing the Border, a limited-run newsletter about life where the United States and Mexico meet. Sign up here to receive the next issue in your inbox.]
Mr. Shakir, who did not know that the strategists were planning to quit, had not even yet met with them. Mr. Sanderss new team said little about the surprise exit of the consultants firm, known as Devine, Mulvey and Longabaugh. The campaign appreciates all the good work DML has done and wishes them well, said Mr. Shakir in a statement.

Privately, Mr. Sanderss supporters were irritated and suggested the consultants walked away because they were not going to have the same influence as they did four years ago.

Mr. Longabaugh dismissed that claim, noting that advertising firms are by their nature central to modern campaigns and that Mr. Sanders would inevitably have come to rely on their long experience in Democratic politics.

The senator clashed at times with his consulting team in 2016  particularly Mr. Devine, and particularly at the end of the race when it was clear that Mr. Sanders could not win the nomination  but Mr. Mulvey and Mr. Longabaugh had been expected to play central roles in 2020. For months, they had been making the case that Mr. Sanders should not be underestimated.

But on Tuesday, Mr. Longabaugh would not rule out the firm working for another Democratic candidate. We havent talked about that so Im not going to comment, he said.

[Whos in? Whos out? Keep up with the 2020 Democratic field with our candidate tracker.]

Mr. Sanders, who struggled to win African-Americans voters, has made clear that he wanted a more diverse array of campaign advisers after largely surrounding himself with white men in 2016. The three consultants departing are all white, while Mr. Shakir will be the first Muslim in American history to run a presidential campaign.

And Mr. Sanders will hold a series of rallies this weekend that nod to his biography  a marked contrast to his 2016 campaign, when he eschewed talking about himself and relentlessly focused on his progressive policy agenda. He is appearing in Brooklyn, where he was born, and in Chicago, where he went to college and joined civil rights protests. The weekend tour will include a stop in Selma, Ala., for events marking the anniversary of Bloody Sunday there.

And while he may have a different group of advisers for this campaign, Mr. Sanders clearly retains the same grass-roots appeal: On his first day as a presidential candidate, he raised nearly $6 million, and on Monday, six days after he joined the 2020 race, campaign officials said he had secured $10 million from 359,914 donors.
Paul D. Kamenar, a lawyer for Mr. Miller, said they would probably appeal, although they had not yet decided whether to ask the full appeals court to review the panels decision or whether to take the matter directly to the Supreme Court.

We are disappointed with the decision and will be considering future legal action whether before the full court of appeals or the Supreme Court, he said in a phone interview.

Essentially, Mr. Millers legal team had argued that Mr. Mueller wielded too much power to qualify as an inferior officer under the Constitution, the type who can be appointed without Senate confirmation. Mr. Mueller was appointed in that manner when the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, named him as special counsel in May 2017. If Mr. Mueller was improperly appointed, they said, the subpoena was invalid.

But at a hearing over the dispute before the appeals court panel in November, Michael R. Dreeben, one of the lawyers working for Mr. Mueller, argued that Mr. Mueller was not off in a free-floating environment, but rather was subject to the supervision and control of the attorney general. As a result, he maintained, there was no need for Mr. Mueller to have been confirmed by the Senate. The appeals court agreed.

Mr. Millers attempt to challenge Mr. Muellers authority was similar to an earlier challenge brought by Paul Manafort, President Trumps former campaign chairman, who was prosecuted by Mr. Muellers office. Mr. Manaforts gambit also failed, and he was convicted after a trial on bank and tax fraud charges in the Eastern District of Virginia and then pleaded guilty to separate conspiracy charges in the District of Columbia.
michael barbaro

From The New York Times, Im Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Today: For months, allegations of fraud have swirled around a congressional race in North Carolinas Ninth District. But the Republican at the center of the controversy has held on. Why hes finally giving up. Its Wednesday, February 27.

archived recording

As directed by law, the clerk of the House has prepared the official role of the representatives-elect.

alan blinder

So it was January 3rd and hundreds and hundreds of members of Congress are coming to Capitol Hill to be sworn in for the new Congress after a really bruising midterm election.

archived recording

Certificates of election, 434 seats in the 116th Congress have been received by the clerk of the House.

alan blinder

But as everyone shows up on Capitol Hill, theres one seat everyone knows is going to remain empty.

archived recording

The clerk has not received a certificate of election for the Ninth District of the state of North Carolina.

alan blinder

And thats the House seat from North Carolinas Ninth District.

michael barbaro

Alan Blinder covers the American South for The Times.

alan blinder

The story of that seat, and why it was empty on January 3, is this extraordinary tale of election fraud, the scale of which weve not really seen very often in American politics.

michael barbaro

So Alan, take us back to when this story starts. Who was supposed to fill that seat in North Carolina?

alan blinder

Well, that depends on who you ask. If you ask the Republicans, Mark Harris was destined for that seat in Congress.

archived recording (mark harris)

And I want you to know that  this evening  that this is a journey that really has been two years in the making. But Im glad to report tonight, its just getting started.

alan blinder

Mark Harris, on election night, thinks that he has managed to pull off a victory against Dan McCready, who was one of the most prized Democratic candidates of last year. He thought he had won the election by about 905 votes.

archived recording (mark harris)

Im going to Washington to be your voice in the Ninth Congressional District.

alan blinder

So Mark Harris goes on to Washington, goes to new member orientation. But back in North Carolina, people are starting to think that some of the numbers in his election look a little fishy. And people just started to wonder, is there something that went wrong in this campaign that let Mark Harris win?

archived recording

Now at 10, an election controversy  allegations of fraud in one of the countrys tightest races.

michael barbaro

And what exactly seemed off about his election? What was it that was so fishy?

alan blinder

Frankly, a lot of things seemed off. There was a concern about the number of absentee ballots, especially in one county.

archived recording

When Mark Harris declared victory, he sang Bladen Countys praises.

archived recording (mark harris)

Thank God for Bladen and Union counties. [CHEERING]

archived recording

One month later, no one is laughing or applauding as state investigators look into the results of the Ninth District election.

alan blinder

Mark Harris won something like 60-some odd percent of absentee ballots in Bladen County. And what was unusual about that is Republicans accounted for less than 20 percent of the absentee ballots. So he won well more than half while registered Republicans accounted for less than a fifth of those ballots.

michael barbaro

And that math doesnt quite make any sense, because it would mean he was winning non-Republican absentee ballots, which is surprising.

alan blinder

Something smelled really wrong to a lot of people looking at those numbers.

michael barbaro

And how does Mark Harris explain all this after the election?

alan blinder

He says he won it fair and square. He says he ran an aggressive campaign. Thats what Republicans say. They say that they made a really concerted push. They knew it would be a tight race. And they pulled out all the stops and were looking for votes wherever they could find them.

michael barbaro

Hm.

alan blinder

Well, the state isnt so sure that Mark Harris is the clear winner. And they start digging into what happened. And meanwhile in North Carolina, a bunch of us reporters are driving around, looking for anything we can find about what might have happened. Were knocking on doors. Were asking people, have you ever met anyone who came to collect your ballot, for example. And it doesnt take long before we start to learn about a man named McCrae Dowless.

archived recording

Were learning more about the man at the center of the District Nine election fraud investigation and how he operates.

alan blinder

McCrae Dowless is a longtime political operative in Bladen County. Hes in his 60s now.

archived recording

This is McCrae Dowless. Heres a picture of him on the left.

alan blinder

Hes rail-thin. Hes pretty slight in stature. Smokes a lot of cigarettes.

archived recording

Mark Harris is not the only candidate that Dowless is connected to.

alan blinder

He was known as the elections guru, if you will, in Bladen County. He actually got a certificate for that once.

michael barbaro

A certificate saying that hes, essentially, the guy who knows the system best?

alan blinder

Hes the guy who knows where to find votes in Bladen County.

archived recording

He wanted me go out and get the absentee ballots.

alan blinder

And he had a long track record of working with Republicans and Democrats on their elections and helping people really scrounge up absentee votes to come up with winning margins.

archived recording

Mr. Dowless is accused of wrongdoing  basically using workers to forge signatures and collect ballots, which you cant even do in North Carolina.

alan blinder

As reporters are digging into McCrae Dowlesss past, we realize very quickly that hes not just your run of the mill political operative.

archived recording

Dowless is part of the 2014 McVicker campaign, but was paid in a way that would not show up on campaign finance reports.

alan blinder

Hes a guy with felony convictions for fraud and perjury.

archived recording

In another document from the suit, Dowless himself confirms he worked for the 2014 campaign to get out the vote.

alan blinder

Hes a guy whos been investigated in the past for his political work, but was never prosecuted. And it was not long after that that Mark Harris hired McCrae Dowless and said, I want you to help me find absentee voters in Bladen County and help me win an election next year. At that point, we started to put the pieces together. And we started to realize that there was probably something very wrong that had happened in Bladen County. But we didnt know exactly what had happened until last week. So last week, I went up to North Carolina for a hearing, where the state was going to start showing its evidence of what it found during this investigation.

archived recording

Lets start with by thanking the North Carolina State Bar for allowing us to use their building to conduct this hearing.

alan blinder

So the hearing room is packed on Monday morning. This courtroom where lawyers usually go when theyre in trouble, but it was one of the bigger courtrooms in Raleigh. So we all crowd in there, waiting to hear for the first time what on earth the state has come up with.

archived recording

By statute to the opening of each meeting, we must read a conflict-of-interest statement and check to see if any members 

alan blinder

Mark Harris himself is in the courtroom, sitting among his lawyers. And the first person to speak is the executive director of the Elections Board.

archived recording

We believe 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 

alan blinder

And she immediately says that investigators had found an unlawful and coordinated effort to try to influence absentee voting.

archived recording

Witness is yours, [INAUDIBLE]. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, Miss Britt.

alan blinder

One of the states star witnesses, a woman named Lisa Britt, takes the stand. And Lisa Britt is the stepdaughter of McCrae Dowless. And she worked for him during the 2018 campaign.

archived recording

Did Mr. Dowless asked you to go out and request absentee ballots from potential voters.

archived recording (lisa britt)

He did.

alan blinder

And she starts to describe how McCrae Dowlesss operation worked.

archived recording (lisa britt)

Bladen County is a poor county. So we were actually going out with absentee request forms to give people the opportunity, so everybody would have the opportunity to vote 

alan blinder

It just becomes this catalog of crime.

archived recording (lisa britt)

Some of them we did. On some  it may have been people who had voted in previous elections or whatever. So we would fill out the top part.

alan blinder

They would collect absentee ballots. They would fill in absentee ballots. They would forge signatures as witnesses for absentee ballots.

archived recording

Did he provide you with instructions about not admitting to collecting ballots?

archived recording (lisa britt)

Yes, sir.

alan blinder

And the operation was designed to make sure Mark Harris had enough absentee votes to win the election. It was an effort that was rooted in fraud, rooted in misconduct. And it was supposed to put Mark Harris over the top.

archived recording (speaker 1)

And I would excuse Miss Britt.

archived recording (speaker 2)

Call Kelly Hendrix.

alan blinder

So as the hearing goes on, we hear from more and more witnesses. We hear from another woman who worked for McCrae Dowless.

archived recording

[INAUDIBLE].

alan blinder

We hear from local elections officials.

archived recording

Would you state your name, please?

archived recording (sandra dowless)

Sandra Dowless.

alan blinder

We hear from a consultant for Mark Harris.

archived recording

Ms. Strach, are you ready for your next witness, please?

alan blinder

But then theres a big surprise.

archived recording

[INAUDIBLE] call John Harris.

alan blinder

And thats when the state calls Mark Harriss son, John Harris, up to the witness stand.

archived recording

Do you have an attorney here with you, even though you 

archived recording (john harris)

I do not, but I am one and am representing myself in this capacity.

alan blinder

John Harris is a 29-year-old lawyer for the Department of Justice. He is one of the single most self-assured lawyers I think Ive ever seen. And he comes up to the witness stand, and he starts to tell a really remarkable and compelling story.

archived recording (john harris)

I expressed my concerns, based on everything that I did know up to that point.

alan blinder

For weeks and weeks and weeks, Mark Harris had been denying, to just about everyone who would listen, that he knew of any kind of wrongdoing involving McCrae Dowless, that he had no reason to be suspicious of him. And he actually admitted that he had been the person responsible for hiring McCrae Dowless. But then John Harris gets up on the witness stand. And the state pulls out an email that John Harris sent to his father the day after Mark Harris met with McCrae Dowless.

archived recording (john harris)

This is an email that I sent to my father. And I copied my mother.

alan blinder

The email was John Harris, the son, telling his father that McCrae Dowless is trouble. That he had concerns about whether his operation was on the up and up.

archived recording (john harris)

And so thats what this meant, to summarize how these numbers seemed so off.

alan blinder

I think we realized we were watching a political collapse happen right in front of us.

archived recording (john harris)

I just want to say this in closing. I love my dad. And I love my mom. O.K.?

alan blinder

And I think Mark Harris may have realized that, too.

archived recording (john harris)

I think that they made mistakes in this process. And they certainly did things differently than I would have done them.

alan blinder

Mark Harris was crying from where he was watching all of this. I mean, he was weeping as he watched his son testify.

archived recording (john harris)

And frankly, when Im coming out of this process, Im just left thinking that we can all do a lot better than this. And thats all I have, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

archived recording

Thank you. You are excused. Would you state your name, please?

archived recording (mark harris)

Im Mark Harris.

alan blinder

And then Mark Harris himself takes the stand. And his day begins as a disaster, and it gets worse.

archived recording

You didnt ask Dowless, are you harvesting ballots?

archived recording (mark harris)

Well, he had made that clear, that he was not.

alan blinder

He starts telling the Elections Board about how he had, in fact, hired McCrae Dowless. But that he didnt know that McCrae Dowless or any of his workers were doing anything wrong.

archived recording (mark harris)

Well, I had no reason to hide this email. In fact, it was my understanding it was going to be produced.

alan blinder

Eventually, Harris misleads the board with a few instances of what his critics thought was perjury.

archived recording (mark harris)

I did not consider Johns to be a warning that this was a problem and could be a real serious potential problem.

alan blinder

And the states lawyers realized that. And pretty quickly, it becomes clear that Mark Harriss own lawyers realized that, too.

michael barbaro

So then what happens?

archived recording

I would ask for a short recess to have a discussion in chambers with the board.

alan blinder

His lawyer calls a recess. And there is a lot of confusion, frankly, in the courtroom over what on earth is happening.

archived recording

Take our lunch break now, then. And well come back.

alan blinder

We all go to lunch. Meanwhile, there is some closed-door negotiating happening. We reconvene a little later.

archived recording

Lets start by saying, Dr. Harris, you know youre still under oath?

archived recording (mark harris)

Yes.

archived recording

And youre still here voluntarily 

alan blinder

And Mark Harris comes back out to the witness stand and surprises everyone.

archived recording (mark harris)

Mr. Chairman, I have a statement that I wish to make.

alan blinder

He gets up and talks about how hed had some medical problems.

archived recording (mark harris)

On January 18, I went to the hospital. After battling what we thought was bronchitis, I developed a severe infection that actually caused me to become septic. In the process of that illness, I experienced two strokes, from which Im still recovering. Though I thought I was ready to undergo the rigors of this hearing and am getting stronger, I clearly am not. And I struggled this morning with both recall and confusion.

alan blinder

How he had offered what he called incorrect testimony 

archived recording (mark harris)

Through the testimony Ive listened to over the past three days, I believe a new election should be called.

alan blinder

And then he calls for a new election.

michael barbaro

Wow.

alan blinder

Yeah.

archived recording (mark harris)

It has become clear to me that the publics confidence in the Ninth Districts seat general election has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted. Mr. Chairman, that concludes my statement.

michael barbaro

Mark Harris, with the lead that he has in this race, is suddenly calling for a brand new election?

alan blinder

Yeah. I sent an all-caps email to my editors.

michael barbaro

What did it say?

alan blinder

I think it was something like, Harris calls for new election.

michael barbaro

Thats concise.

alan blinder

I mean, this was not what I was planning for. I think I had told my editors that morning there was no chance this would be resolved today.

michael barbaro

Mm-hmm.

alan blinder

I mean, in the courtroom, you had dozens and dozens of people who had been listening to testimony. Theyve watched Mark Harris for months say that he deserves to be a member of the United States Congress.

michael barbaro

Mm-hmm.

alan blinder

And then he just gets up and suddenly calls for a new election. It was one of those moments when you heard a lot of people gasp. It wasnt just one person gasping. A whole bunch of us gasped.

archived recording (speaker 1)

All right. Thank you, sir. No further? I call this meeting adjourned. Thank you.

archived recording (speaker 2)

Thank you.

alan blinder

So Mark Harris leaves the room. And a bunch of TV cameras chase after him. Then this five-member Elections Board votes unanimously to have a new election. That was on Thursday afternoon. And I spent the next few days asking Republicans the big question. Will Mark Harris run again? And on Tuesday afternoon 

archived recording

Breaking news out of North Carolina, Republican Mark Harris says he will not run in a new election for the states Ninth District. In a statement, he said, quote, Given my health situation, the need to regain full strength, and the timing of this surgery the last week of March, Ive decided not to file in the new election for Congressional District Nine.

alan blinder

He cited his health and said he would not be a candidate the next time around.

michael barbaro

So there will be a new election. But Mark Harris will not be a candidate?

alan blinder

There will be a new election. And Mark Harris will not be in it. So in the meantime, the people of the Ninth District of North Carolina wont have any representation in Congress. And that Ninth District seat will remain empty.

michael barbaro

Alan, what have we learned from what happened in the Ninth District of North Carolina?

alan blinder

Well, weve gotten a really detailed playbook about how election fraud can happen in the United States. Weve seen how absentee ballots are prone to abuse. And weve also seen a real embarrassment for Republicans in North Carolina and around the country. For years and years, Republicans have been sounding an alarm about the possibility of fraud at the ballot box. And for years and years, Democrats have been saying that Republicans were blowing up those worries. They were using fraud as a pretext to be able to discriminate. And now in North Carolina, we have the biggest case of election fraud in memory. And it was bankrolled by a Republican campaign. This was not voter fraud. This was election fraud  a lot of egg on a lot of peoples faces.

michael barbaro

Election fraud, not voter fraud  and why does that distinction matter, do you think, Alan?

alan blinder

Republican politicians have spent years trying to argue that individual voters are the problem when it comes to fraud in elections. What happened in North Carolina had nothing to do with individual voters. It was all about a coordinated effort to sway an election. It was a Republican campaign paying for illegal conduct. That was the problem.

archived recording (mitch mcconnell)

Now theres a new interest in ensuring the sanctity of American elections. Ive been focused for decades on protecting the integrity of elections.

michael barbaro

So Alan, on Tuesday morning, Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell gave a speech 

archived recording (mitch mcconnell)

Now Madam President, for years and years, every Republican who dared to call for common-sense safeguards for Americas ballots was demonized by Democrats and their allies.

michael barbaro

 in which he declared that what happened in North Carolina is, in his telling, evidence that there is, quote, very real voter fraud happening in the country.

archived recording (mitch mcconnell)

Now that an incident of very real voter fraud has become national news, these longstanding Democratic talking points have been really quiet. Havent heard much lately from the Democrats about how fraud never happens.

michael barbaro

And he said that Democrats should look at this and realize that the Republican argument is right  that there is a problem, and that they should accept it.

archived recording (mitch mcconnell)

So Id like to welcome my friends on the left to their new realization. Theyve just discovered that this subject really matters.

alan blinder

The lesson of the Ninth District is not that fraud happens. The lesson of the Ninth District is how fraud happens. Maybe the Senate majority leader doesnt know the difference between election fraud and voter fraud. But a lot of people on Tuesday thought he was just conflating the two and trying to misdirect and muddy the waters and make people think that what Republicans had been warning about for years happened. But it didnt.

michael barbaro

Alan, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

alan blinder
CHICAGO  Two African-American women are headed for a runoff in the Chicago mayors race, setting up an election that will make history.

Lori Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor and sharp critic of the status quo at City Hall, and Toni Preckwinkle, the county board president and chairwoman of the countys Democratic Party, will face one another in a runoff election set for April, according to The Associated Press.

The third top vote-getter  William M. Daley, a member of Chicagos political dynasty of Daleys  earlier conceded defeat.

Either Ms. Lightfoot or Ms. Preckwinkle would be the first African-American woman to lead the nations third largest city, succeeding Mayor Rahm Emanuel as mayor. Only one other woman, Jane Byrne, has been elected mayor, in 1979. If Ms. Lightfoot were to win, she also would be the first openly gay mayor of Chicago.
Good morning.

(If you dont get California Today by email, heres the sign-up.)

Yesterday, my colleagues Thomas Fuller, Jennifer Medina and Conor Dougherty took a hard look at the future of Americas infrastructure projects, like Californias high-speed rail. More specifically: Are projects that big even possible anymore, given the cost and regulation?

In California, that regulation has reached notoriously byzantine heights and is epitomized in four letters: C.E.Q.A. Conor explains how that happened:

The rapidly escalating cost of Californias high-speed rail project has led to a loss of political support and cast a cloud over its prospects, raising big questions about Americas ability to take on big projects as it once did. The trains problems also highlight a paradox here and across the nation: Its often hardest to build in the populated areas where investment is needed most.

For those trying to carry out such projects in California, nothing is more daunting than the California Environmental Quality Act, or C.E.Q.A. Signed by Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1970, the statute has become a widely used legal tool for delaying or stopping public-works projects from the massive to the micro  even, until recently, those designating bike lanes. And those cases can pit environmental objections against environmental goals.

It is widely agreed in California that new housing and infrastructure should be built in and around population centers, to curb sprawl, to cut down on driving, and to help the state meet its ambitious goals to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. But lawsuits filed under the environmental quality act have often taken aim at just such projects.
An Amtrak train in rural Oregon was extricated on Tuesday morning after its 183 passengers had been stranded since Sunday evening because of a winter storm that dropped a foot of snow and toppled trees, according to Amtrak.

Crews from Amtrak and Union Pacific, which owns the tracks, worked through Monday and into Tuesday to clear trees, power lines and snow and reach the passenger train with a new locomotive. That engine, provided by Union Pacific, was connected to the train around sunrise on Tuesday and began pulling the Amtrak train to the closest station, about 30 miles away in Eugene, Ore., according to Union Pacific and Amtrak.

Were moving slowly, so things are looking up, Carly Bigby, a passenger on the train, said in an interview on Tuesday. Were all ready to get off.

The train is expected to arrive in Eugene around noon local time, she said.

The Amtrak train, the No. 11 train on the Coast Starlight route along the Pacific Coast from Seattle to Los Angeles, pulled out of the Eugene station around 5:10 p.m. on Sunday as a large snowstorm swept through the Cascade Range. About an hour later, the train struck a tree that had fallen on the tracks, Amtrak said, and the crew decided it was best to stop.
Our columnist, Sebastian Modak, is visiting each destination on our 52 Places to Go in 2019 list. He arrived in Houston after stops in Puerto Rico and Panama.

At first glance, much of Houston looks alike. Making your way out of the Loop, the I-610 highway that circles the city center like a shirt collar, skyscrapers give way to manicured office parks and strip malls, each seemingly a carbon copy of the last. But when you look a little closer, you notice that in one of those strip malls, all the business names carry the tonal accents of written Vietnamese. In another, two Indian restaurants sit on either side of a service specializing in money transfers to Central America. In a nearby parking lot, a family  the men wearing skullcaps and knee-length agbada shirts and the women in brightly-patterned hijabs  loads up a sedan with the ingredients for a meal that I imagine tastes like another home, thousands of miles away.

Houston is widely considered to be one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world. According to the citys planning department, 48 percent of residents speak a language other than English  and more than 145 languages are spoken in the city. Twenty-nine percent of the population is foreign-born.

Diversity wasnt the main reason Houston was on 2019s 52 Places to Go list, but food and culture were. Theres the addition of the Drawing Institute to the brilliantly curated Menil Collection; a wave of new trendy Downtown food halls; the glitzy Post Oak hotel, home to a Rolls-Royce showroom and Frank Stella art  all rising out of the devastation left behind by Hurricane Harvey in August 2017. But unless you sequester yourself in the chic apartments of Downtown or the mansions of River Oaks, that diversity is everywhere you look  and everywhere you eat.
BARCELONA, Spain  The United Arab Emirates said on Tuesday that it would use equipment from the Chinese technology giant Huawei to build a new high-speed wireless network, despite pressure by the United States to steer clear of the companys products.

The announcement, made at a major European trade conference, was another setback for a campaign by officials from the United States to persuade countries to restrict the use of Huawei equipment in next-generation wireless networks, known as 5G. The Trump administration claims Huaweis equipment creates a cybersecurity risk that Chinas government can exploit for espionage or sabotage, a charge Huawei has forcefully denied.

But the plan detailed by the United Arab Emirates state-owned telecommunications company, Etisalat, was the latest indication that American officials are having difficulty persuading other countries to go along with their push against Huawei, the worlds largest maker of telecommunications equipment.

The United Arab Emirates is a reliable ally of the United States in the Middle East, and a major buyer of American military equipment.
Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.

It was mid-January, and I had just reported that New York City had sued a group of current and former real estate professionals who supposedly used Airbnb to convert more than 100 apartments across the city into illegal hotel rooms for tourists.

The allegations were staggering.

Over three years, they lodged almost 76,000 guests across 35 residential buildings, including an entire seven-unit building that was unlawfully rented to tourists through Airbnb, the lawsuit said. The city claimed the operation brought in more than $20 million in revenue by violating laws and Airbnbs own restrictions.

How exactly did they pull it off?

That was the question posed to me by Cliff Levy, my boss, and Dodai Stewart, my editor. The 2,500-word answer to that question is the basis for my article Inside the Rise and Fall of a Multimillion-Dollar Airbnb Scheme, which offers a look at how cunning entrepreneurs exploit Airbnbs platform to turn a profit.
But the opioid epidemic is not entirely white  and its a mistake to characterize it that way, given how opioids are harming nonwhite communities.

According to statistics collected by the Kaiser Family Foundation, black people made up 12 percent of all opioid-related fatal overdose victims in 2017, with 5,513 deaths, more than double the number in 2015. (Non-Hispanic whites accounted for 78 percent of all victims  37,113 deaths in total, a 37 percent increase from 2015  and Hispanics 8 percent.)

Twelve percent may not seem like a lot, but it is roughly proportional to the number of African-Americans in the United States population as a whole. In some areas, most victims of fatal overdoses are black, as in the District of Columbia, where black people make up more than 80 percent of opioid-related deaths. In Massachusetts, meanwhile, opioid death rates are going down for all other groups, but continue to rise for black people.

Dr. Tom Gilson, a medical examiner in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, told the Boston NPR affiliate WBUR that there was a Fourteen-fold increase in fentanyl deaths among African-Americans in three years; most of those deaths involved fentanyl mixed with cocaine. A recent study found that between 2012 and 2015, black men died from cocaine overdose at rates as high as white men who died from opioids during that period. If fentanyl-laced cocaine becomes more common, overdoses among black Americans could get much worse.

Native Americans have also been hit hard by the opioid crisis. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 1999 and 2015 Native Americans had the largest increase in overdose deaths compared to other groups. The C.D.C. also reported that in 2016, rates of prescription-opioid-related overdose were higher among both non-Hispanic whites and Native Americans than other groups. In response to this, several Native American tribes have filed lawsuits against the manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids.
Why Scale?

Thousands of people died at Zen Hospice Project, many of whom might otherwise have met a far less loving end. Relatives of people who died there often talk about the time with an almost ethereal quality of gratitude  as if it were outside of time and space, superhuman and so exquisitely human at the same time.

Alicia Garza, a co-founder of the Black Lives Matters movement, experienced her own mothers death at Zen Hospice Project last April . She talked about crying when she arrived at the Guest House, blown away that her mother  the last resident to die there  would get to rest somewhere nonmedical, a place where she could have a glass of wine, eat her favorite lemon poundcake and have her nails done. Ms. Garza said, We experienced angels in the care that our family received.

Its understandable that people who have benefited from such a powerful experience want it for more people. As Ms. Garza put it, Why does our care infrastructure get left to nonprofits that rely on philanthropy and good will?

Six beds isnt a lot. Often those dying at Zen Hospice Project actually lived much longer than expected  something their families attributed to the exquisite care. It was a huge comfort for those individuals and their families, but it was small in the scheme of things. Mr. Ostaseski remembered: Everybody wanted it to be bigger. Even from the very beginning, and I would always ask, Why scale? Were doing what we do really well. It wasnt false humility. It was integrity.

That tension occurs in many organizations. The default assumption seems to be that if something is working well, it should grow. But Zen Hospice Project was just one of many institutions whose appetite for growth may have killed it. As longtime community members searched for ways to move away from the nonprofit model, they grew worried that they were losing the essential beauty of the place  the focus on humans, not fees. Among the volunteers, Mr. Remer said, dying is viewed as inherently spiritual and not medical. This points to a constant tension in this type of community: running a business versus being part of a quasi-spiritual community.

Its not that scaling is inherently bad or dehumanizing, but its also not inherently good or necessary. Too often, our current philanthropic climate presses nonprofit leaders to feel that they must get exponentially bigger and seek out ways to be self-sustaining financially, rather than depend solely on donations, to be worthwhile. In fact, solving most large-scale problems that we face  like how we die in America, which intersects with so many of our largest systems  would require a whole range of carefully sized solutions and financial models.

The Afterlife

For now, Mr. Remer is trying to take what was most special about the Zen Hospice Projects approach  the emphasis on mindful caregiving  and strengthening it. He has dreams of putting the training online and measuring how this kind of training helps the bottom line for big hospitals. His hunch is that there are fewer emergency room visits and after-hours calls when relatives know how to breathe and cope, and less burnout for professionals who have learned how to process their secondary trauma, which means less expensive turnover.
Alessandra Hirsch

Chicago

To the Editor:

The report about Amy Klobuchar and her staff members brought to mind my reaction to the story, early in the 2016 campaign, about Donald Trump publicly mocking the physical disability of a reporter. A red flag was raised instantly, and the direction of my judgment about Mr. Trump  already dismal  was inalterably set: No. Never. Here was a character flaw that could not be excused by any rationale.

Your article described Ms. Klobuchar eating her salad with a comb after her aide had been unable to find a plastic fork in an airport. She then ordered that unfortunate individual to clean the comb, bespeaking a grandiosity and cruelty that is no more acceptable in her than in Mr. Trump. Other revelations in the report were also disturbing. We should not be looking for a Trump replacement who humiliates subordinates, with the explanation that she demands high standards.

With a wealth of choices for the Democratic presidential nomination, voters might forgive imperfections in the candidates as they weigh their strengths, but in the age of Trump it is all too clear how much character matters. What wouldnt pass the smell test in our own behaviors shouldnt be accepted in our leaders. Next ...

Tom Denton

New Paltz, N.Y.

To the Editor:

A saying in the court of Louis XIV had it that no man is a hero to his valet. Your lengthy front-page article about Senator Amy Klobuchar suggests that no politician is a saint to her staff. In high-stress jobs every human being is prone to fits of temper and less than perfect fairness to those who work with her in close settings day in and day out.

I know little about Ms. Klobuchar except her steely cool as she confronted then Judge (now Justice) Brett Kavanaugh in his second hearing, and that she won re-election in 2018 by 24 points in a state that Hillary Clinton only narrowly won. So we should be more interested in how she treats and will treat the people she works for (the public) than how she shows up in office gossip.
Drug company executives faced tough questions from Congress on Tuesday as they attempted to explain why, thanks to high drug prices, per capita spending on pharmaceuticals in the United States is double the average of other advanced countries. For decades, American drug makers have justified these high prices by asserting that the higher profits they generate fund research that accelerates the development of new medicines. Our data shows, however, that these companies spend every penny of their profits on distributions to shareholders in the forms of cash dividends and stock buybacks.

Because the greater part of management compensation is linked to stock price, the prime beneficiaries of this abuse of corporate profits are the executives who claim that high drug prices redound to the common good. At the same time, drug giants such as Merck and Pfizer seem to have become focused more on buying companies with successful new drugs rather than developing their own.

Congress has been raising alarms over drug prices for years. In 1985, Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat who was chairman of the House health subcommittee, accused the pharmaceutical industry of gouging the American public, driven by greed on a massive scale. But the escalation of drug prices has only gotten worse, as documented in various Senate investigations.
This argument is visible in the controversy surrounding Tucker Carlsons monologue a month ago, which stirred up libertarian backlash by calling for Republicans to use government policy to make American life friendlier to families, and particularly to single-earner households. It also informs the difference between Carneys book and the other smart right-of-center volume of the moment, Oren Casss The Once and Future Worker. The two authors share a certain common ground, but in the end Carney concludes that our current economic and social ills  cannot be solved or even significantly ameliorated by any president, or by the central government at all, while Casss whole thesis is that wiser policymaking could make a big difference to the unhappy heartlanders Carney profiles.

But the fullest case for rupture, for declaring that the era of limited government is over, is offered in two recent essays in conservative intellectual journals  Dan McCarthys A New Conservative Agenda in First Things, and Gladden Pappins Toward a Party of the State in American Affairs. Both envision a conservatism that is oriented less toward the state-as-enemy or the state-as-danger and much more toward the state-as-shaper and the state-as-harmonizer. For instance, here is McCarthys account of how the economic nationalism of Donald Trump can be transmuted into something less inchoate and more effective:

Economic nationalism is not just about tariffs. It is less about economic than it is about nationalism  that is, it takes account of the different needs of different walks of life and regions of the country, serving the whole by serving its parts and drawing them together. In the past, the challenge was to harmonize farmers, urban capital and labor. The challenge now is to balance those groups with the postindustrial classes as well, and to strengthen the productive economy against the largely fictional economy of administrators and clerks. All of this is for the sake not just of prosperity, in raw dollar terms, but of a national economy that provides the basis for a healthy culture in which citizens and their families can flourish.

Pappin makes a similar argument about how both political coalitions, but especially the right, should adapt to the current challenge from illiberal or post-liberal forces, both populist and socialist:

Rather than asking the question What should conservatives/progressives do? considerable advances can be made through certain purely practical considerations: How can the integrity of the national political community be assured? How can commercial activity and technological development continue to be turned toward the common good, and toward our own strategic advantage? What can we do with the reins of power, that is, the state, to ensure the common good of our citizens?

The likely answers to these practical questions, Pappin contends, require conservatives to make practical use of the administrative state for right-wing ends, rather than constantly returning to plaintive, nostalgic and counterproductive calls for its abolition.

A hostile reader of these essays, libertarian or liberal, might respond that a vision in which right-wing governments seek to reshape culture and mediate between classes resembles nothing so much as early-20th century fascism. A more sympathetic reader would say no, there is plenty of space for more a state-friendly conservative politics in between movement conservatism and Mussolini, and what McCarthy and Pappin are envisioning might be better described as a blend of the American Hamiltonian tradition with a 21st-century update of French Gaullism.

And the most subtle reader might say that theyre trying to provide the theory for a move that the Republican Party once in power tends to make anyway  both of the last two G.O.P. presidents have been, in some sense, big government conservatives  but so far without the strategy, seriousness and self-consciousness required to make the project a success.

I have enough of my own skepticism about the efficacy of state power to be uncertain if the project can succeed. But post-Trump conservatives are likely to be drawn to state-power conservatism not just by theoretical ambition but by a sense of political necessity.

The earlier conservative self-understanding, in which the right was defending nongovernmental institutions against the power of the state, tacitly depended on the assumption that many if not most nongovernmental institutions would be friendly to conservative values. But as civil society has decayed over recent decades, its remaining power centers have also become increasingly left-wing.

Already-liberal institutions  universities, Hollywood, the big foundations and the mass media  are now more uniformly allied with the left than even the very recent past. Corporate America happily donates to Republicans because it fears a Bernie Sanders presidency, but on cultural issues big business courts its younger customers with progressive lobbying and propaganda. In religion, Catholicism under Pope Francis aspires (scandals permitting) to ease its way leftward as well, leaving evangelical Christianity as an isolated bastion with little culture-shaping power.
Perry Wolff, a groundbreaking television producer whose documentaries took viewers on a tour of the White House with Jacqueline Kennedy and awakened them to widespread hunger in America, died on Feb. 17 in Portland, Ore. He was 97.

His death was confirmed by his son, John Trevor Wolff, a writer and his only immediate survivor.

Mr. Wolff was credited as a writer, director or producer of some 600 hours of broadcasts over more than five decades, mostly for CBS News at a time when news documentaries were regular features of the major networks prime-time programming.

His broadcasts won 17 Emmy Awards, two Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards in broadcast journalism and an Academy Award nomination for best documentary short film, for writing and directing An Essay on Matisse in 1996 for PBS.

His 1954 program Genetics I, which used dance and early films to explain science, was featured in a 1963 retrospective called Television USA at the Museum of Modern Art.
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Mayor Bill de Blasio threw his support behind congestion pricing on Tuesday as the best option to raise money for New York Citys failing subway, announcing an unusual alliance with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, his frequent rival, to fix the system.

Their joining forces could give congestion pricing momentum as state lawmakers debate whether to embrace Mr. Cuomos proposal to toll cars entering the busiest parts of Manhattan. The idea has long faced difficult odds in Albany, and a proposal by former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was defeated a decade ago.

But with the subway in crisis and the streets of Manhattan choked by traffic, Mr. Cuomo has argued that the proposal is the best option for raising billions of dollars and reducing congestion. For months, Mr. de Blasio had resisted endorsing congestion pricing and instead favored a tax on wealthy New Yorkers.

With state lawmakers facing an April 1 deadline to consider congestion pricing as part of the budget, Mr. de Blasio decided to back the idea to help mitigate the regions transportation crisis.
Seventeen people want the role. Heres a cheat sheet on the race.

Whos running?

Heres a list.

Why does it matter?

Civic pride! If thats not enough, consider this: The office has a budget of $3.5 million, can introduce legislation and can hold public hearings. The public advocate also temporarily replaces the mayor if he leaves office early (Mayor de Blasio has not ruled out a 2020 presidential run).

The role also offers an opportunity to diversify the power-holders at City Hall: White men hold New York Citys top posts. Some public advocate hopefuls want to change that.

Furthermore, three of the four previous public advocates ran for higher office: Ms. James, Mr. de Blasio and Mark Green, who fell short in his mayoral bid.

What should I know about the front-runners?

 Jumaane Williams, the Brooklyn councilman who lost the lieutenant governors race in November, was endorsed by The Times.
[Update: The state charges against Paul J. Manafort have been dismissed by a judge in New York.]

Paul J. Manafort, President Trumps former campaign chairman, is now in the sights of the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., whose office is set to bring charges against him. A federal jury in Virginia already convicted Mr. Manafort in a financial fraud scheme that could send him to prison for decades, and he has pleaded guilty in Washington to other federal charges.

But Mr. Vances prosecutors, who are said to be preparing charges to try to ensure that Mr. Manafort faces prison even if he is pardoned by the president, will most likely face a pitched legal battle and a political firefight.

A federal jury in August convicted Mr. Manafort of using foreign accounts to hide millions of dollars from his political consulting work in Ukraine, tax fraud and of lying to banks to obtain millions of dollars in loans. State charges, which would be brought by Mr. Vance, would be based on some of those same loans, which were issued by Citizens Bank in Rhode Island and Federal Savings Bank in Chicago, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Mr. Manaforts lawyers are almost certain to challenge any state charges on grounds of double jeopardy, and Mr. Vance, a left-leaning district attorney in a blue state, could face the inevitable accusation that his prosecution of a member of Mr. Trumps inner circle is politically motivated.
Excursions into solitude invariably must end, especially when theres another hour or so of movie yet to come. Civilization intrudes on Rikes seclusion when a mans voice begins squawking on her radio. Its a friendly, ever-so-slightly paternalistic intrusion. He provides an extreme weather forecast and promises future help if she should ever need it. A no-nonsense woman who seems perfectly capable of taking care of herself, Rike politely accepts the offer. Still, theres something about the exchange that seems to irk her (and you), partly because the movie is playing with the figure of the independent modern woman, one who seems capable of handling any reasonable challenge.

Join Times theater reporter Michael Paulson in conversation with Lin-Manuel Miranda, catch a performance from Shakespeare in the Park and more as we explore signs of hope in a changed city. For a year, the Offstage series has followed theater through a shutdown. Now were looking at its rebound.

The violent storm that soon descends precedes a dramatic narrative shift  after the weather clears, Rike sees a fishing trawler overloaded with passengers. (Theyre between Cape Verde and Mauritania.) Because the camera continues to share her point of view  and the trawler is distant enough  you hear voices but cant make out faces, just bodies and frantically waving arms. Rike sends out a distress signal. Her boat is too small to save all the passengers, who she worries will panic and scramble onboard, sinking it. One voice after another answers back, a clamor of international strangers who sternly tell her to do nothing and wait for help. Rike waits and waits some more.

In short order, the larger world crashes in, and a story of radical, deeply privileged individualism gives way to a potent, messy and sometimes uncomfortable parable about what human beings owe one another. The refugees are adrift on a sea of global indifference. Fischer puts a human face on the crisis through the introduction of a boy in his early teens (Gedion Oduor Weseka), who swims to Rikes boat, almost drowning. Pulling him out of the water, Rike calls him Kingsley (the name on his bracelet), and they begin a wary relationship that movingly if schematically personalizes a larger social struggle.

Fischers minimalism isnt simply a stylistic choice; its also strategic. The story of an advantaged European face to face with desperately imperiled African refugees seems tailor-made for political pieties and the dubious enshrinement of one more white savior story. For the longest time, though, Fischer, working with a script that he wrote with Ika Kunzel, refuses to preach or tip his political hand. Instead he focuses on the physical dangers and bodily assaults that Kingsley and Rike endure as the voices on the radio continue promising help and the voices from the boat eerily begin to dim. Rikes stoic competence and Wolffs attractive, contained performance have led you to think that she can handle anything, a fantasy that is as reassuring as it is grimly, horrifically false.
The movies awards strategist, Tony Angelotti, was all smiles when I found him at the Governors Ball. Youre always shocked when your movies named best picture, and Ive had the luxury of working on a few, he said, citing The English Patient, among other films. That was supposed to win, and when they said the name, I was still shocked, because Ive seen it go sideways so many times.

Join Times theater reporter Michael Paulson in conversation with Lin-Manuel Miranda, catch a performance from Shakespeare in the Park and more as we explore signs of hope in a changed city. For a year, the Offstage series has followed theater through a shutdown. Now were looking at its rebound.

Most pundits, myself included, predicted the Netflix film Roma might take the top prize, and while it did collect trophies for director, cinematography and foreign-language film, many in the industry  including Steven Spielberg, who helped champion Green Book  resisted the notion of awarding best picture to a streaming service. As I spoke to Angelotti, one nearby well-wisher shouted, Theatrical distribution lives!

But the win for Green Book was not without its own controversies: The makers of the film have spent most of this season on the defense. The star Viggo Mortensen issued a statement after he used a racial epithet at a Q. and A., while Nick Vallelonga, a screenwriter, deleted his Twitter account after an old tweet surfaced that disparaged Muslims. Family members of the pianist Don Shirley, played by Ali in the film, have also criticized Green Book for misrepresenting the mans life.

Theres been a lot of slings and arrows, one of the films executive producers, John Sloss, admitted at the Governors Ball. And yet the intention of making this film was very straightforward, from a group of decent people. As a very smart man once said to me, The only people who like Green Book are the audience.

Was it Spielberg who said that? I asked him.

Sloss laughed. Among others.

Though some will be vexed that the same academy that rewarded Moonlight two years ago has now given its top prize to the far more conventional Green Book, that, too, is the nature of the Oscars. This is a show through which we can examine not just the state of Hollywood but also figure out where were at as a culture, and what we glean from the mirror it holds up can be frustrating and illuminating all at once.

Just look at Hannah Beachler, who won the production design Oscar for Black Panther, and Ruth E. Carter, who earned the Oscar for the films costumes. It was a highlight to see these women of color take the stage, and sobering to realize that they are two of only three black women who have ever won an Oscar in a category other than acting.
I worked in human resources at a national nonprofit organization with more than 100 employees. In the summer, we hired two people for the same position. They had similar educational and work experience. One of the employees is a black woman living in a large city in Florida, and the other is a white woman living in a small city in the Midwest. When the employee in the Midwest was offered the position, the hiring manager did not consult the human-resources department and offered her a salary above the typical range. The employee in Florida was hired just a few days later and was offered a salary several thousands of dollars below what the Midwestern employee makes. The cost of living is significantly less in the part of the Midwest where the white employee lives, making the wage difference illogical. I am also furious that the nonprofit is paying a woman of color significantly less than a white woman, simply because of organizational politics.

Although I brought this up to my boss, I heard nothing about any attempts to address the situation. I have since left the organization. Do I have a moral obligation to tell the employee in Florida about the wage discrepancy and discrimination? Name Withheld

Heres one difficulty in doing anything about overall disparities in income between men and women, and between whites and blacks: Even after we have established a general pattern, identifying the social mechanisms that sustain it can be a complex matter. And it hasnt been easy to study pay discrimination in a systematic way, because data has been sparse. Thats one reason the Obama administration decided to collect information from larger employers about how they pay workers of different sexes and racial and ethnic backgrounds, in a program that was to have started in 2018. It may also be why the current administration suspended the program indefinitely. You cant manage what you cant measure, as the old business saw goes. And if you dont want to address a problem, you might prefer not to be informed about it.

Here were looking at two differently rewarded workers who are doing more or less the same job for the same organization for the same period. What might explain the disparity? Not credentials and work history, which you say were comparable. Not differences in seniority at your organization. And not differences in performance at your organization, given that were talking about starting salaries. Cost-of-living considerations only make the disparity greater. The only salient difference youve identified is in the employees race, and so, yes, bias is a serious possibility.
As a sub-zero blizzard raged outside, Ronghui Chen pushed open a glass window to let in a gust of cold air.

He was in Yichun, a faded boomtown in northeastern China, where in December, 2016 he began photographing young people whose isolation he recognized in his own life. This kind of heating puts people into the most lethargic state, depriving them of the ability to reflect, he later said in a phone interview . At the same time, he also finds it frightening to become emotionally hardened like ice underfoot in the northeastern regions that made up Chinas Rust Belt. I feel that many people, like the land itself, are making themselves freeze.

Over three successive winters, he worked on Freezing Lands, a collection of large-format photographs that explores contrasts. The cold conveyed the desolation of towns and cities whose populations are shrinking as people leave the region for education and work in bustling cities, just as Mr. Chen had done himself. The young residents spent their winters in warm and brightly painted interiors, uncertain about the future.
Wedding photographers cant possibly capture every moment of your special day, but guests can easily fill in the gaps on social media.

Using a designated wedding hashtag, attendees can post photos on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other platforms, serving as a sort of personal paparazzi.

Fifty-four percent of couples create a wedding hashtag, according to WeddingWires 2018 Newlywed Report, and one in four views photos on social media immediately after the reception.

Hashtags allow you to be able to see your wedding photos in real time, said Jeffra Trumpower, the creative director at WeddingWire. Were living in an era of instant gratification.
Headliner

Murrays Mac & Cheese

Murrays has a cheese store that also sells charcuterie and condiments on this busy West Village block, and, a few doors down, Murrays Cheese Bar, serving wine and a cheese-friendly menu. Now, in an empty storefront, formerly Amys Bread, on the same block, the company has opened a macaroni and cheese restaurant. Its a counter-service spot, with 20 seats, featuring a build-your-own menu. Start with a bowl of pasta cooked with cheese and other ingredients, then add other cheeses, vegetables, meats, sauces and toppings, all in four possible portion sizes (snack to family). Classic, barbecue, French onion and Buffalo chicken are among the style and flavor options. The pastas  all radiatori  are made by Sfoglini, a pasta company in upstate New York. Theres also a breakfast mac and cheese made with sausage, bacon, egg and Cheddar thats served only on Saturdays and Sundays.

254 Bleecker Street (Leroy Street), 212-243-3289, ext. 350, murrayscheese.com.

Opening

Sushi by Bou NoMad

With eight seats at a lobby counter, this is the second location in Hotel 3232 for this sushi restaurant offering 30-minute, 10-piece omakases for $50. The timed seatings are an idea hatched by David Bouhadana ( who has come under criticism for speaking English with a Japanese accent and will not be working behind the counter at either spot) and Simple Venue, a company that sets up and runs dining nooks in somewhat-hidden speakeasy spaces. A four-seat sushi bar for 60-minute omakase is already on the hotels 10th floor. This opening is the fourth Manhattan location , with another coming soon at 118 East 15th Street. Theres also one tucked into the Versace Mansion in Miami Beach.

Hotel 3232, 32 East 32nd Street (Madison Avenue), sushibybou.com.

Sushi Lab

There is already a sushi restaurant in the Sanctuary Hotel, but these days, so as not to let the merest broom closet go to waste, an unaffiliated eight-seat sushi operation has been installed in the hotels lobby. It also promises a 10-piece omakase for $50. Frankie Chen, the chef, will be putting a personal spin on the food, with selections like smoky miso soup and a uni macaron. (Opens Thursday)

Sanctuary Hotel, 132 West 47th Street (Seventh Avenue), 212-432-0000, sushilab.nyc.

El Paso Restaurante

Rodrigo Abrajan, a native of Puebla, Mexico, has opened an upscale Mexican restaurant. His first East Harlem venture, a taco and ceviche bar also called El Paso, has closed, and this new restaurant, decorated with Mexican artwork and specializing in moles, is now his focus.

123 East 110th Street (Park Avenue), 212-831-9831, elpasony.com.
One of the oldest items in my childhood home in Dallas is a yogurt culture. By my fathers estimate, it has been around for 25 years and seven months.

My dad started making yogurt when he and my mother immigrated to America from Delhi, India, in 1980. He has perpetuated the same culture  the bacteria that kick-start the fermentation process  ever since we moved from New Hampshire to Texas in 1992, by saving a bit of the previous batch of yogurt to create the next one.

He grew up eating homemade yogurt, and he makes it at least once a week, with no thermometers or special equipment. He brings a half-gallon of 2 percent milk to a gentle boil, and lets it cool down until it feels about as warm as a Jacuzzi, as he puts it. He vigorously mixes in a spoonful of the culture, then pours everything into a large stainless steel container. The yogurt sits in an unheated oven with the light on for a few hours until it sets, then he puts it in the refrigerator to chill.

I cant recall a single day, growing up, when the fridge was without yogurt, or as its known in Hindi, dahi. We ate it alongside every meal, as a cooling respite to the spices in our dals and sabzis. Yogurt provided body and lift to my mothers shrikhand, a sweetened cardamom-yogurt dessert, and the animating tang to her kadhi, a spiced soup made from chickpea flour.
Sexual misconduct claims have toppled many powerful men in recent years, including the billionaire casino mogul Steve Wynn. But few companies have faced regulatory fines for how they handled the accusations.

On Tuesday, the Nevada Gaming Commission fined Wynn Resorts, the casino empire that Mr. Wynn founded and ran for years, $20 million for ignoring multiple complaints about his behavior.

The fine, which the commission approved unanimously, is the largest imposed against a gambling licensee in Nevada. The previous record was $5.5 million in 2014.

It demonstrates a recognition that papering over sexual harassment and assault is a form of corporate corruption that is within the scope of regulators jurisdiction, said Emily Martin, the vice president for education and workplace justice at the National Womens Law Center. It is an important reflection of the fact that, while harassment and assault harms victims and they need to be compensated, it also has broader harms.
SWINOUJSCIE, Poland  Gargantuan tankers pull into this port on the Baltic Sea twice a month, ferrying liquid natural gas from producers in Qatar, Norway and, increasingly, the United States. The fuel will help light and heat millions of Polish homes, while gradually cutting the countrys dependence on coal.

This fuel is also an important geopolitical strategy.

Poland is determined to end its reliance on Russian energy within the next few years, part of a broader effort in Europe to diversify the regions energy supply. Relations with Russia have been unsettled, sometimes perilously, over political differences as well as the role of Poland, a former Soviet satellite, in NATO.

The country has found a ready replacement in the United States, which has an abundance of natural gas from the shale boom and a political incentive to ease Russias chokehold on Europe. Once it is chilled into a liquid, natural gas can be shipped around the world. American companies now have contracts that span decades and promise to supply Poland with the equivalent of about half of its current gas imports.
By challenging the transaction in court, the Justice Department signaled that it would have an aggressive approach to so-called vertical mergers between companies with complementary businesses.

In the case of AT&T and Time Warner, which has been renamed WarnerMedia, the wireless provider is considered a content distributor and the media business a content supplier. AT&T said that because the companies did not compete, the merger would yield benefits for customers like lower bills and new shows tailored for mobile devices.

The deal brought together one of the nations largest wireless providers with a vast media business that includes CNN in addition to HBO and Warner Bros. AT&T has over 153 million wireless subscribers and also owns the satellite TV service DirecTV.

AT&T has been operating WarnerMedia as a separate group, making it easier to unwind the business if the Justice Department prevailed in court. The group will continue to operate as a separate division, but AT&T can now integrate it more deeply with the parent company. That will give AT&T executives direct control over Turner Broadcasting, which the Justice Department sought to force the company to sell as a condition of the deal.

AT&T had agreed to take a hands-off approach to Turner during the appeal, but it can now make staff changes at the unit and take the lead in negotiating licensing deals with cable operators like Comcast or Charter. Turner includes CNN and the cable networks TNT and TBS, which own rights to broadcast games of major sports leagues like Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association.

The merger attracted a significant amount of political interest. As a presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump, who has frequently criticized CNN as fake news, vowed to block the deal if he was elected because its too much concentration of power in the hands of too few.

The Justice Department has insisted that political considerations played no role in the decision to fight it.
Timing: The verdict was unsealed on Tuesday, only after prosecutors decided they would not proceed with a second trial for an additional round of assault allegations and a gag order was lifted. The order had prevented news outlets operating within Australia, including The Times, from reporting the verdict to readers in the country. This is the article The Times published in print only, to comply.

Behind the secrecy: Our Australia bureau chief explains how the country shrouds law enforcement and the courts in unusual secrecy, particularly in cases of sexual and family violence. Officials say it protects victims and defendants, but critics say it disadvantages victims.

Heres what else is happening

Michael Cohen: President Trumps former personal lawyer and fixer is spending several days this week testifying on Capitol Hill. A person familiar with his plans said that on Wednesday, in a public session before a House committee, he will most likely describe what he says is the presidents possible criminal conduct and go into granular detail about the plan to pay hush money to Stormy Daniels, a pornographic film actress.

Elon Musk: The Securities and Exchange Commission has asked a federal court to hold the Tesla chief executive in contempt of court for posting an updated production outlook on Twitter without first seeking legal approval, in violation of his settlement with the commission last year.

Huawei: The United Arab Emirates said it still planned to use equipment from the Chinese tech giant to build its high-speed wireless network, the latest setback for the American-led campaign to curtail the companys reach.
Irans foreign minister resigns

Mohammad Javad Zarif, an American-educated diplomat who was an architect of the Iranian nuclear deal, announced his resignation on Instagram. He is one of the Islamic Republics best-known figures abroad.

In his post, he said he apologized for my inability to continue serving and for all the shortcomings during my service.

What we dont know: It was not immediately clear why he was quitting or whether his resignation would be accepted.

Analysis: Mr. Zarif was the only top Iranian official with a deep understanding of Western diplomacy and the ability to interact directly with the West. His public resignation, in a country where governance is usually conducted behind closed doors, seemed to indicate escalating tensions between the countrys hard-liners and President Hassan Rouhani.

Context: Iran is in the midst of a dire economic crisis, worsened by American sanctions, which has increased pressure on Mr. Rouhani. The U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal made Mr. Zarif vulnerable to attacks from hard-liners who never supported it.
2. President Trump may be willing to ease U.S. demands on North Korea, at least for now.

Mr. Trump and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, exchanged fiery threats in 2017, but in the second round of talks, the president wants a deal  and appears to be willing to shift his administrations goals to reach one, from immediate dismantlement of the Norths arsenal to limits on its size and reach. Above, Mr. Trump arriving in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Tuesday.

The two leaders will have dinner together on Wednesday night (which is early Wednesday Eastern Time), and then a formal one-on-one meeting. Heres whats at stake.

In an Op-Ed essay, Susan Rice, the national security adviser under President Barack Obama, sees hope for progress if Mr. Trump empowers the administrations new envoy for North Korea, Stephen Biegun.
Recent poetry collections

GLOSS By Rebecca Hazelton. (University of Wisconsin, paper, $14.95.) Hazeltons poems cast a teasing light over the surface sheen of social norms, the playacting in every relationship: Lets pretend to be with other people, one ends, until were with other people. But beneath their own witty surfaces, the poems also brim with loss and serious moral inquiry. WHEN I WALK THROUGH THAT DOOR, I AM By Jimmy Santiago Baca. (Beacon, paper, $10.95.) Subtitled An Immigrant Mothers Quest, this book-length poem follows a woman battling obstacles from El Salvador to the United States to secure a better life for her son. WHATS IN A NAME By Ana Luisa Amaral, translated by Margaret Jull Costa. (New Directions, paper, $16.95.) This bilingual volume, pairing Costas translations with Amarals Portuguese originals, relies on humble imagery and plain language to plumb complicated truths, as in a poem about the brother of the prodigal son: It must be a strange thing / loyalty / and how difficult the task / of loving. TAP OUT By Edgar Kunz. (Mariner, paper, $14.99.) In his debut collection, Kunz charts the gritty, physical terrain of blue-collar masculinity: a workbench made from scrap wood, a night job in an engine shop, a fathers hands with knuckles more scar / than skin. STILL LIFE WITH MOTHER AND KNIFE By Chelsea Rathburn. (Louisiana State University, paper, $18.95.) Rathburns third book opens with a series of introductions  to statistics, to home economics, to sex ed  each illuminating an aspect of modern womanhood, often passed from mother to daughter.

& Noteworthy

In which we ask colleagues at The Times what theyre reading now.
She knew, but she didnt participate  not fully. She participated, but she didnt know  not everything. She was a bystander. She was an anomaly.

The full role of white women in slavery has long been one of the slave trades best-kept secrets. They Were Her Property, a taut and cogent corrective, by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers, who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, examines how historians have misunderstood and misrepresented white women as reluctant actors. The scholarship of the 1970s and 80s, in particular, did much to minimize their involvement, depicting them as masters in name only and even, grotesquely, as natural allies to enslaved people  both suffered beneath the boot of Southern patriarchy, the argument goes.

Jones-Rogers puts the matter plainly. White slave-owning women were ubiquitous. Not only did they profit from, and passionately defend, slavery, but the institution was their freedom. White women were more likely to inherit enslaved people than land. Their wealth brought them suitors and gave them bargaining power in their marriages. If their husbands proved unsatisfactory slave owners in their eyes, the women might petition for the right to manage their property themselves, which they did, with imaginative sadism.

How have so many historians gotten it so wrong?

According to Jones-Rogers, they have not been listening to the right people. They Were Her Property draws on the customary sources  letters and other documents from slave-owning families and the like  but radically centers the testimonies of formerly enslaved people in interviews conducted by the Federal Writers Project, part of the Works Progress Administration.
With Jimmy Fallon celebrating his fifth anniversary as its host on Monday, The Tonight Show went meta.

Fallon broke the fourth wall, leaving in clips in which he stumbled over his words and said, Well edit that out. (They seemed more like put-ons than genuine flubs.) His former Saturday Night Live castmate and Weekend Update co-host Tina Fey was seen backstage, watching the show on simulcast and sneering at Fallons jokes. And the actor Ben Stiller popped out from under a Hashtag the Panda mask, only to diss Fallon and wander offstage in awkward silence.

At the end of the show, Fallon doubled down on the story-in-a-story strategy: He rolled tape from earlier in the day, with Fey and Stiller planning how they would pull off their supposedly candid moments.

Fallon managed to mostly pull off a regular monologue, in between it all. There were a couple of choice zingers at the expense of North Koreas leader.

There were some interesting winners last night. For example, the Oscar for best animated short went to Kim Jong-un.  JIMMY FALLON Speaking of Kim Jong-un, later this week hes meeting with President Trump. They have a lot in common: They inherited everything from their dads, and they cut their own hair.  JIMMY FALLON

Chaos
Daniel Barenboim, one of the worlds most celebrated conductors, is known for doing what he wants.

He founded an orchestra (the West-Eastern Divan, a youth ensemble of musicians from around the Middle East), a conservatory (the Barenboim-Said Akademie) and a concert hall (the Pierre Boulez Saal). In 2001, he broke a longstanding informal ban in Israel and conducted a piece by Richard Wagner, an anti-Semite beloved of the Nazis. He makes the kind of political statements most musicians avoid.

Mr. Barenboim, 76, has long been considered untouchable in Berlin, where he is music director of the Staatsoper  the citys premier opera house  and principal conductor for life of its orchestra, the Staatskapelle. He is close to city politicians and has used his influence to ensure the opera company receives a healthy annual subsidy of 50.4 million euros ($57.4 million) from Berlins government.

But cracks have begun to emerge in the conductors image as Mr. Barenboim has been accused of bullying and humiliating members of the Staatskapelle. The accusations have been reported widely in German media, and there have been calls for politicians to intervene. A spokesman for Klaus Lederer, Berlins highest-ranking official for culture, whose department provides most of the Staatsopers funding, said Mr. Lederer has asked the opera company to appoint a third party to look into the matter.

A piece of art might not always be democratic, but a public institution cant be allowed to transform into a royal court, said a recent article in the newspaper Der Tagesspiegel.
At 88, Jasper Johns is not slowing down. After spending more than six decades cultivating an extensive and influential body of work, he continues to be relentlessly productive and inventive.

His art has sometimes been described as somber or melancholic. His latest exhibition, Recent Paintings & Works on Paper, at Matthew Marks Gallery in Chelsea, depicts moments of inconsolable grief and concludes with a gallery full of portrayals of skeletons, albeit ones wearing dandyish boaters.

Yet in its sheer variety and vitality, this exhibition is optimistic, and generous in spirit. It reaffirms Mr. Johns as, foremost, a painters painter and a working artist rather than an art historical subject. In it he revisits three or four previous series  extending, editing or recombining their motifs  and introduces two new ones that more than meet the Johnsian standards of mystery, suggestion and painterly allure.
Mr. Trump did not specify how Mr. Burch, who is married to a Yemeni woman, was freed. It also was not clear who had abducted Mr. Burch, although former American officials said he was not being held by Al Qaeda.

Image Mr. Burch is an engineer at a Yemeni oil company and is married to a Yemeni woman. Credit... Nadia Forsa

Working closely with American forces, the United Arab Emirates has stationed ground troops in Yemen to fight Houthi rebels in the countrys ongoing civil war. American officials have previously told The New York Times that freeing Mr. Burch likely would have required a raid; a State Department spokesman on Monday said the United Arab Emirates was crucial to securing his release.

Two American officials discussed the details of the case on Monday on condition of anonymity.

Mr. Burch, who had been working for oil companies in Yemen for years, was 63 when he was forced from his car by unidentified gunmen in September 2017. At the time, Nadia Forsa, Mr. Burchs wife, said in a phone interview that they did it in broad daylight in front of everyone.

Kidnappings of Americans and other Westerners are common in Yemen, a poor country that has been devastated by years of civil unrest. Houthi rebels and affiliates of Al Qaeda often attempt to ransom hostages for money or accuse them of being spies.

At the time of Mr. Burchs abduction, no group claimed responsibility.

Mr. Burch began working on oil rigs in Yemen in the mid-1990s. He traveled between the United States and Yemen before moving there permanently, according to Stephen Burch, his son from his first marriage, in an interview shortly after he was taken in 2017.
A version of this article was published in print editions on Dec. 14, 2018, but not online, to comply with a suppression order imposed by a judge in Australia, where The Times has a bureau. On Tuesday, Feb. 26, in Australia, the suppression order was rescinded after a second trial was canceled. All the dates below refer to the original December publication date.

MELBOURNE, Australia  An Australian cardinal who was once an adviser to Pope Francis has been convicted of molesting choir boys more than 20 years ago, making him the highest-ranking Roman Catholic leader ever found guilty of sexual abuse.

The unanimous jury verdict against the cardinal, George Pell, 77, was delivered Tuesday in the County Court of Victoria, where a suppression order has prevented media outlets from sharing any information about the case that could be accessed in Australia.

Cardinal Pells case was especially significant because he occupied the highest levels of the church hierarchy. He had been tapped by Francis to reform the Vaticans finances after leading the churchs response to sexual abuse allegations against priests in Australia.
PARIS  The United Nations highest court on Monday told Britain that it should end its control as rapidly as possible over a remote colonial outpost in the Indian Ocean, best known for housing a strategic American air base on the island of Diego Garcia.

The judges of the International Court of Justice in The Hague voted 13 to 1 that Britain acted unlawfully in 1965 by detaching the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius, at the time a British colony, in order to pave the way for military installations to be leased to the United States.

The court heard testimony that negotiations between the United States and Britain about building a base began in 1964, a year before the Chagos Islands, which include Diego Garcia, were detached from Mauritius and made a new colony, named the British Indian Ocean Territory.

Officials from Mauritius, now an independent nation, said they were elated that the countrys claims were being recognized.
CUCUTA, Colombia  Border standoffs may not get much stranger than this one.

Three presidents, a military plane and a lineup of pop artists brought by a British billionaire arrived at a border city known to few before it became famous as the site of a military blockade by Venezuelas defiant president, Nicolas Maduro.

Mr. Maduro was determined to keep foreign aid out of his country, and the Venezuelan opposition saw an opportunity. Their plan: to break the blockade on Saturday, a culminating act of defiance meant to force the military to choose between allowing food into a hungry nation and loyalty to Mr. Maduro.

It did not go well. By the end of the day, the military had largely sided with the regime, and a protest planned as peaceful had descended into violent skirmishes. Some of the desperately needed aid was burned at the border, and four people were reported dead.

It was Mr. Maduro who had made the first move.

Earlier this month, as food donated largely by the United States made its way to the Colombian border town of Cucuta, his government barricaded an already-closed border bridge between Colombia and Venezuela, using tanker trucks and containers.
BOGOTA, Colombia  Jorge Ramos, a news anchor for the television network Univision, said he was detained by the Venezuelan government during a confrontational interview with President Nicolas Maduro on Monday evening at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas.

He didnt like the things we were asking him about the lack of democracy in Venezuela, the torture and the political prisoners, Mr. Ramos recounted on a Univision broadcast, after he said he was released by the government.

Mr. Ramos said he had been detained for more than two hours before he was let go and allowed to return to his hotel. He said the government had confiscated his crews equipment, including their phones and memory cards.

We dont have anything, he said. They have the interviews.

On Monday night, Kimberly Breier, the assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere at the State Department, said that Mr. Ramos had been detained and called on the government to release him immediately.
WASHINGTON  Lawyers for Paul Manafort, President Trumps former campaign chairman, fought back Monday against the governments portrait of their client as a hardened criminal, suggesting that he was facing the prospect of dying in prison only because he had been unfairly caught in the scandal over Russias interference in the 2016 presidential race.

In a sentencing memorandum to the federal judge who will decide his punishment next month for two felonies to which Mr. Manafort pleaded guilty last year, his legal team said his crimes did not warrant a substantial prison term, especially given his age. Mr. Manafort will turn 70 in early April.

Disputing the prosecutors damning characterization of Mr. Manafort in a court filing last week, his lawyers insisted that Mr. Manafort was not only deeply remorseful, but has suffered almost unprecedented public shame for what they called garden-variety offenses. The memos are previews of the oral arguments that both sides will make before Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, who will sentence Mr. Manafort for the two conspiracy charges on March 13.
Mr. Trump has entrusted Mr. Pompeo with laying the groundwork for a successful summit. Mr. Pompeo and his diplomats have taken that to heart, trying to negotiate what are called deliverables  concrete things, given by one side to the other, that are announced to tie a neat bow on a summit. It is not an easy task for Mr. Pompeo: My colleague David Sanger and I wrote a profile of his struggles with the challenges to his hard-line foreign policy vision from North Korea, Iran, Venezuela and even American allies.

North Korea presents a vexing problem that is, in part, the doing of Mr. Pompeos boss. With an eye toward the Nobel Peace Prize, Mr. Trump has declared on Twitter that North Korea is no longer a nuclear threat and said he and Mr. Kim fell in love. On Sunday, Mr. Trump told a gathering of governors at the White House that he was happy as long as North Korea did not do nuclear tests, which it halted in late 2017. Mr. Pompeo directly contradicted the presidents earlier statement when he told Jake Tapper of CNN on Sunday that North Korea was still a nuclear threat. Ever the loyal cabinet member  some would say mouthpiece  he tried to pretend Mr. Trump never mentioned the lack of nuclear threat, but Mr. Tapper presented him with the exact words from Mr. Trump.

So how do you do diplomacy when the presidents view of reality is starkly different than yours? To complicate matters, some White House officials  including John R. Bolton, the national security adviser  take an even more hard-line view of North Korea than Mr. Pompeo, and they are carefully watching whether Mr. Pompeo is moving the goal posts on full denuclearization. Already, Mr. Pompeos envoy has signaled that a declaration of nuclear assets from the North can take place later in the process, a shift in the American negotiating position.

And what does the North Korean leader think of all this? In a speech last Friday at Stanford, Andrew Kim, a recently retired C.I.A. official on North Korea, recalled remarkable words he and Mr. Pompeo heard from the young leader during a visit to Pyongyang last April. Kim Jong-un, replying to Mr. Pompeo asking him whether he was truly ready to give up nuclear weapons, said: Im a father and a husband. And I have children. And I dont want my children to carry the nuclear weapon on their back their whole life.
An independent senator known for his Brooklyn accent. Real change never, ever takes place from the top on down. Populist message. The level of wealth inequality in America is grotesque. And anti-establishment appeal. Establishment Democrats dont generate excitement. Bernie Sanders is jumping into the race for president, again. Hi, Im Bernie Sanders. Im running for president. In the 2016 primaries he pushed a democratic socialist message, and he found a big audience for it. He ultimately came up short. I accept your nomination. But many of his ideas have lived on. In a modern moral and wealthy society, no American should be too poor to live. In 2016, he was the only challenger to the Democratic establishment, but this time around hell be up against a crowded and diverse group of opponents. Some have adopted ideas he made popular in 2016. How do you feel about Medicare for all? Medicare for all. Medicare for all. So what are the issues he made pillars of the progressive agenda? A $15 minimum wage, tuition-free public college and Medicare for all. ... health care is a right, not a privilege. But Sanderss liberal credentials may have taken a hit over his perceived failure to address claims of sexism during his 2016 campaign. He has since apologized. What they experienced was absolutely unacceptable. So how has Sanders taken on President Trump? Hes been one of his most outspoken critics. The most dangerous president in modern American history. Most people who observed him would agree hes a pathological liar. Trump has returned the insults. Crazy Bernie. You know hes always like complaining, complaining, hes jumping around, the hairs going crazy ... lunatic. So what are his chances? Hes near the top of the early polls. Hes got some big advantages over his opponents, including a small-donor fund-raising list, a 50-state organization and fervent supporters. He has major name recognition and knows how to electrify a crowd. We are going to take on the drug companies and their greed and lower the cost of prescription drugs. But he could be up against a base who are looking for a fresh face to take on Trump, even if its on a platform that Bernie built.
Jackie Sibblies Drury has taken a shredder to the sacred Great Person biodrama and let the pieces fall like confetti.

In Marys Seacole, her breathless and radiant new play, the title character is indeed just the sort of worthy soul who qualifies for an inspirational story of uplift. Her name, to be exact, is Mary Seacole. (Well get to the additional S of the title later). Born in 1805, she was a pioneering, Jamaican-born nurse  and hotelier and world traveler  of mixed race, and was noted for her tireless work on the battlefields of the Crimean War.

She dared to cross oceans and race lines, and wrote a juicy, self-celebrating memoir, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands. A statue of her now stands nobly before St. Thomass Hospital in London.

Marys Seacole, which opened on Monday night at the Claire Tow Theater, in a Lincoln Center Theater production, includes the obligatory elements for a crowd-pleasing portrait of such a life. Childhood hardship, Freudian conflict with a parent that propels her forward, confrontations with haughty authority figures (including Florence Nightingale), scenes of perilous action, an assessment of her enduring legacy  these are all present and accounted for.
Unbutton that coat  youll find another one underneath, says the Korean-born designer Rok Hwang, 34, as he points to a mannequin wrapped in a dun gabardine trench coat. The piece can be worn as either one layer or two, joined or separated by a set of buttons at each shoulder. Hwang bases many of his designs on this technique, a splicing together of garments that adds functionality while shifting expectations of what a wardrobe staple can, and should, look like. People describe my design process as a form of deconstruction, he says, But actually, Im reconstructing  I like taking something that already exists and giving it new shape and meaning.

Its a bright February morning and Hwang is showing me around his expansive North London studio. The space  a former karate club  is considered and efficient; theres a cutting room, an office area and a long wooden table, where his team takes breaks. Hwangs designs frame the edges of the studio, leaving a wide corridor of open space that the designer calls his studio runway, where he encourages his staff and models to move around in his pieces. Later that week, he and a team of 10 will fly to Paris, to begin preparations for their first show, which will take place in a dark, red-lit basement in the citys Ninth Arrondissement. In four days, none of this will be here, he says with a giggle, gesturing at the racks of clothes that line the studio, which is otherwise uncluttered the way a gallery is. There are wide-leg cobalt trousers, pulled and twisted at the seams, paisley shirts with detachable cuffs and more double-layered overcoats  styles Hwang has quickly established as signatures.
Better yet, Anker has a reputation for being reliable. Wirecutter editor Mark Smirniotis explained that if youre looking for an accessory thats less expensive than the official ones, but more reliable than the dirt cheap, no-name brands, Anker is one of your best bets.

The middle ground is held by companies like Anker or RAVPower  less expensive than official accessories, but well-made and well-supported, he said. Anker has been around for well over five years now, and Wirecutter has tested and reviewed dozens  maybe hundreds  of their products. We see that both companies put a lot of thought into their designs and update them regularly. In our own long-term testing and reviews of reader experiences, weve also found that theyre well-made and generally reliable.

When Wirecutter has reviewed categories that Anker has an entry for, the brand regularly at least gets a runner-up slot, if not the top choice. While it doesnt hurt to check around for the specific product you need if you want the absolute best, if youre buying Anker theres a higher than average chance youre getting a product that works well.

Monoprice

Like Anker, Monoprice sells more than just cables. The company sells home theater equipment, smart home accessories, networking gear and a lot more. Its also been around and selling off-brand accessories since 2002, giving it a strong leg up on some of the competition. Some of their gear is high quality at a low price, from these subwoofers to these banana plugs, both of which earned top marks from Wirecutter. They also found that Monoprices HDMI cables were just as good as AmazonBasics, but slightly cheaper.

Mr. Morrison, author of the sites guide to cheap HDMI cables, lauded the cable selection. Monoprice has been around for many years and nearly every cable in my theater is from them, he said.

However, Monoprice has been around long enough and has a big enough product library that there are bound to be some stinkers. When Wirecutter reviewed earbuds under $50, several Monoprice headphones came up short. Wirecutter staff editor Nick Guy also suggests paying close attention to what youre buying from Monoprice.

Stock levels can be inconsistent, to start. Its not uncommon to see a product listed as out of stock with a return date several weeks in the future, he said. Monoprice also has a habit of quietly swapping out commodity accessories like cables with newer models. While that new model still might be a good buy, it may not be the same model that was listed last week.
Oh, and by the way: Chinas biggest bank, which happens to be majority-owned by the Chinese government, currently occupies three whole floors in the Trump Tower in Manhattan. It has been planning to reduce its space; it will be interesting to see what happens to that plan now.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Commerce Department has prepared a report on imports of European automobiles that, according to the German press, concludes that these imports pose a threat to national security.

If this sounds ridiculous, thats because it is. Indeed, while the Europeans arent angels, they do abide by global rules, and its hard to accuse them of any major trade sins. Yes, they do have 10 percent tariffs on U.S. cars  but we impose 25 percent tariffs on their light trucks, which makes us more than even.

But a department headed by perhaps the most corrupt commerce secretary in history will, of course, conclude whatever Trump wants it to conclude. And this report gives the president the legal authority to get us into a trade war with the European Union.

If it happens, this trade war will be immensely damaging. The E.U. is Americas biggest export market, directly accounting for around 2.6 million jobs. Moreover, our economies are very much intermeshed  which is why even the U.S. auto industry is horrified at the possibility that Trump will impose tariffs on cars.

But heres the thing: Unlike the Chinese government, the E.U. cant order private companies to make splashy purchases of U.S. goods. And it certainly cant steer business to Trump Organization properties. As a result, the chances of spiraling trade conflict remain high.

The point is that when it comes to dealing with Trump and his team, autocracies have an advantage over democracies that follow the rule of law. And trade disputes are arguably the least of it.
As thousands of families fleeing violence, poverty and oppression in Central America arrive at the American border, the Trump administration has responded by separating children and parents and cracking down on asylum claims.

A more humane, and effective, response would be to address the sources of the desperation that propelled these people north. President Trump chose on Monday to reaffirm his punitive bent, complaining about the exodus of migrants and saying he told the leaders of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, whose countries receive millions of dollars in annual aid, Were not sending it anymore. But what if the United States truly prioritized helping these nations?

Plagued by corruption, violence and gang terror, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras need stronger and more honest judges and police officers, better schools and economic development. Elites control much of the land and avoid taxes, even at some of the lowest tax rates in Latin America. Bribery is rampant, and too often leaders lack the interest, competence or will to manage such problems .

Over the years, the United States has contributed to instability by supporting autocrats in civil wars and tolerating corruption that has bred criminality. In 2017, Washington recognized the results of the Honduran presidential election days after the Organization of American States called for new elections because of voting irregularities.
To many Roman Catholics worldwide, the very fact of senior bishops listening to victims of clerical sexual abuse and the pope condemning the evil in vivid language no doubt came as a shock. The main body of the church has long shifted away from the United States and Western Europe, and the faithful in Africa, Asia and Latin America have not yet confronted the blight of predatory clergymen and institutional deafness to the extent of Americans or Europeans.

That is likely to be the explanation given by the Vatican for the lack of concrete measures to combat the crisis after a meeting heralded as a mighty counterattack by hierarchy and its activist pope against the evil ravaging their church: The global flock needs to see and hear first, and the change must arise from their own episcopate, theyll say.

It doesnt wash.

And not only because activists in the West are fed up with pledges of change in the 17 years since The Boston Globe revealed systematic abuse in the Boston diocese. The revelations have accelerated in recent years  the grand jury report from Pennsylvania of abuse by hundreds of priests over many years; a similar report from Illinois; nuns finally speaking out about what theyve been subjected to.

As the revelations have escalated, so has the rhetoric. Prepare for divine justice, Pope Francis warned abusive priests at Christmas . Ravenous wolves, he called them in his speech to the Vatican gathering. But when it came to action, the talk was once again of changing hearts and minds, of changing a centuries-old culture.
The problem with moderates has always been that they dont have a magnetic idea. Recent moderation has been a bland porridge that defines itself by what it doesnt like.

It doesnt have to be that way.

What is the core problem facing America today? It is division: The growing gaps between rich and poor, rural and urban, educated and less educated, black and white, left and right.

What big idea counteracts division, fragmentation, alienation? It is found in Leviticus and Matthew: Love your neighbor. Todays left and right are fueled by anger and seek conflict. The big idea for moderates should be solidarity, fraternity, conversation across difference. A moderate agenda should magnify our affections for one another.

There are four affections that bind our society, and moderates could champion a policy agenda for each:

We are bound together by our love of our children. The first mission is to promote policies to make sure children are enmeshed in webs of warm relationships: child tax credits, early childhood education, parental leave, schools that emphasize social and emotional learning.

We are bound to society by our work. The second mission is to help people find vocations through which they can serve the community: wage subsidies, apprenticeship tracks, subsidies to help people move to opportunity, work councils, which are clubs that would offer workers lifelong training and representation.

We are bound together by our affection for our place. The third mission is to devolve power out of Washington to the local level. Out-radicalize the left and right by offering a different system of power, a system in which power is wielded by neighbors, who know their local context and trust one another. Create a national service program so that young people are paid to serve organizations in their community.

We are bound together by our shared humanity. The fourth mission is to embrace an immigration policy that balances welcome with cultural integration. Its to champion housing and education policies that encourage racial integration. Neither left nor right talks much about racial integration anymore. But it is the prerequisite for national unity.
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A decade-old arrest of Councilman Jumaane Williams has surfaced in the final stretch of the New York City public advocates race, roiling what had already been an unpredictable contest as his rivals demanded more information just before the polls were set to open on Tuesday.

Mr. Williams, 42, on Monday acknowledged that he had been arrested a decade ago on harassment and criminal mischief charges and spent a night in custody after what he called a verbal disagreement with his girlfriend at the time. Charges were dropped and the arrest record itself is sealed.

Mr. Williams is seen as a leading candidate in the public advocate contest after he finished a close second in his insurgent run for lieutenant governor last year against the Democratic incumbent, Kathy Hochul.

The field for the special election features 17 candidates, and several female rivals used the last-minute revelation of the arrest to raise questions about Mr. Williamss fitness for the position. Another City Council member, an ally of Mr. Williams, called for an investigation into who leaked what had been a sealed arrest record.
Navy-strength describes a category of gin thats overproof, that is, more than the standard 40 percent alcohol for most spirits (and sometimes more than 50 percent). But why Navy? you may ask as you sip your gin and tonic. In the British Navy, the shipboard gin supplies traditionally included casks, usually from sherry-making, that held high-proof gin reserved for officers. If gin (or rum) could ignite gunpowder, it gave proof that it was not diluted, and had to be at least 57 percent alcohol. Simon Ford, who makes Fords Gin, has now introduced his Officers Reserve, a Navy-strength gin at 54.5 percent alcohol. Like Fords Gin, its London-style, dry and infused with classic botanicals and spices, like juniper, which impart subtle flavor. The alcohol gives it heat, which can be tempered with ice and a splash of lime and good tonic water. It does well in a martini, with a little more than a soupcon of vermouth.

Fords Gin Officers Reserve, $39.96 at Astor Wines & Spirits, astorwine.com.

Follow NYT Food on Twitter and NYT Cooking on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. Get regular updates from NYT Cooking, with recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice.
A 24-year-old Honduran woman gave birth to a stillborn baby boy last week while in ICE custody, the authorities said Monday, further raising concerns about the care pregnant women receive while detained.

The woman, whose name has not been released, was apprehended by United States Border Patrol officials near Hidalgo, Tex., on Feb. 18, according to a joint statement issued Monday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. She told the authorities that she was six months pregnant, and she was taken to a hospital and examined, the agencies said.

The woman was placed in ICE custody at the Port Isabel Detention Center near Los Frenos, Tex., and set to be released last Friday. Then she complained of abdominal pain and was to be sent to a hospital, but went into labor.

She gave birth to an unresponsive baby boy. Danielle Bennett, an ICE spokeswoman, said she had seen no information that indicated the womans detention contributed to the stillbirth.
3 PASCAL was invented in the late 1960's by Prof. Niklaus Wirth of Zurich as a tool to teach students proper programming structure before their brains became hopelessly warped by Basic. The syntax of Pascal practically forces programmers to write neat, structured, well-mannered code.

Pascal would probably have faded into disuse had not a young Swede named Anders Hejlsberg designed a Pascal programmng environment for the personal computer. This eventually became Turbo Pascal, the flagship product of Borland International, and a mid-1980's programming craze.

Though Borland's best corporate days may now be behind it, throughout the last decade, the company has kept Pascal alive through several incarnations. The most recent is Delphi, a popular object-oriented programming environment for Windows. Delphi competes with Visual Basic, but appeals more to people who hate Microsoft and prefer not buying its products.

4 C was developed in the early 1970's by Dennis Ritchie of AT&T Bell Laboratories in connection with the development of the Unix operating system. By the mid-1980's, it was ready to become the most popular programming language for personal computers. Virtually all the early applications for Windows and for the Apple Macintosh were written in C, and many still are. C is a terse, elegant, deceptively simple language that allows programmers almost unlimited flexibility. It appeals to the macho intincts of young and wild PC hackers, as well to the puzzle-solving impulses of more mature programmers, because of its power and ther variety of ways to sovle problems.

Alas, because C is so powerful, it's almost impossible to write a bug-free program in C. Allen Holub, a programmer and author, gave one of his books on C programming the title ''Enough Rope to Shoot Yourself in the Foot.''

People often ask, ''How did it get the name C?'' Answer: It was derived from an earlier, little-used language called B.

5 C++ C++ (prounced ''C plus plus'') is an extension of C developed by Bjarne Stroustrup of Bell Labs in the early 1980's. C++ extends C by adding ''objects.'' In object-oriented programming, objects are reusable computer codes that fuction as the basic building bloks of programs. In theory, the use of objects makes program code easier to maintain and reuse, although no one has actually shown this to be true. C++ is currently the language Microsoft encourages for new Windows programs.
Hate crime laws do not achieve justice, protect minorities or guarantee harmonious relationships. They have intrinsic flaws that are very un-American. The Confederacy, Nazi Germany and communist regimes have relied on hate crime laws to consolidate power.

Hate crime laws violate the principle of equal protection under the law. Punishment is dealt out based on attitude and group identity.

The philosophy of hate crimes is trending in American culture. Media trolls search back 20-40 years to judge ones attitude, what you said, how you dressed and what groups might have been offended. Reputations are ruined and jobs are lost. But business, political and media lobbies insist their self-serving agendas are right for America.

The road to justice is through the Bible and the U.S. Constitution. Love for God and our neighbor and equality under the law are the foundation of the American system.

Lets make it work.

Martin Henrichs, Valparaiso

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MICHIGAN CITY  Police are encouraging local gun owners to trade their unwanted firearms for cash in a buyback drive this weekend.

Dubbed the Silence the Violence gun drive, the buyback is scheduled for Friday and Saturday in the lobby of the Michigan City Police Department. Residents can bring their unloaded guns to the department between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. both days, according to Sgt. Chris Yagelski.

Participants will receive a $100 VISA gift card for every handgun turned into police. Shotguns and rifles will fetch $50.

Police say they will accept BB guns, pellet guns, starter pistols and varied gun pieces that will be properly destroyed. Residents can also turn over unwanted ammunition for police to dispose of free of charge.

Residents who dont have any firearms to turn in can still participate in the drive. Police will give away free gun locks as a measure for safer and secure storage, according to a news release.

Gun buyback drives date to the 1960s, but have become increasingly common in areas that are plagued by constant gun violence or have suffered high-profile mass shootings. Advocates say the drives can reduce gun crime by cutting down on the number of firearms that could end up in the hands of criminals after being lost or stolen.
She said she is inspired by the event's sponsor, NWI Food Council, and the volunteer-driven group's mission to build a sustainable, locally oriented food system in Northwest Indiana through networking, educating, advocacy and projects.

The group is also an invaluable resource for young farmers entering the industry.

In the face of a farmers' shortage and aging population, NWI Food Council and others like Granor Farms, where Berens works, are doing all they can to promote a thriving local food system.

"A hundred years ago, 30 percent of our population were farmers. Today, it's 3 percent," she said.

"It's scary to me but I know by engaging our communities, by listening to each other and celebrating the food that takes a tremendous amount of work to raise, to ship, to sell at farmers' markets, to prepare, and to share over a table, we can do so much more together than on our own."

NWI Food Council President Anne Massie said the organization was fortunate enough to secure three new grants this year to help support young, local farmers gain footing in the industry.
VALPARAISO  Shoppers in the city are urged to keep their eyes out for more than sales when visiting local stores.

Wallets and purses are being nabbed from shopping carts and in many cases, the victim's credit and debit cards are being used elsewhere in a short amount of time, police said.

"Investigators have identified a suspect in multiple thefts occurring over the last few years, with charges currently pending," Valparaiso Police Sergeant Joe Hall said.

This crime is one of opportunity and police urge shoppers to take proper precautions to avoid being victimized. Shoppers are encouraged to keep personal items with them at all times or at least within eyesight.

"If personal items must be kept in the cart, make sure all openings are secured or consider keeping the smaller items covered or attached to the cart, making them more difficult for a potential thief to remove," Hall said.
LAPORTE  A 54-year-old Wanatah man has pleaded guilty to unemployment insurance fraud.

Patrick Devereaux was sentenced to 30 months of probation and ordered to repay $11,941 for the benefits he fraudulently collected, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

A DWD employee used agency records to determine that Devereaux was working and receiving wages while claiming unemployment insurance benefits, according to the agency.

"DWD receives wage reports and new hire data from Hoosier employers documenting who is employed and receiving compensation," according to the agency. "The agency uses this information to ensure people are not collecting unemployment insurance benefits while working."

Indiana courts have ordered millions in restitution to be paid to the state's Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund since 2013, according to the DWD.

"Combating fraud preserves employer-paid monies in the trust fund for those individuals whom are truly in need of unemployment insurance benefits," said Regina Ashley, DWD chief unemployment insurance and workforce solutions officer.
But legislation proposed downstate that would include misdemeanor and all other cases in the reimbursement program could prove to be a tipping point to entice Porter County to join the program, Elwood said. Half of the county's 16 part-time public defenders handle misdemeanor cases, including four each in juvenile and adult courts.

Counties can shape program to fit their needs

The reimbursement program has been adopted by 62 of the state's 92 counties, with Elkhart County poised to join soon, Mason said. Lake, LaPorte, Jasper and St. Joseph counties are among those taking part.

Counties are reimbursed at a rate of 40 percent not only for qualifying attorney salaries, but also associated costs such as legal experts, transcripts, depositions and, if a county chooses to do so, the cost of opening, staffing and outfitting a public defender office.

Local county commissioners initiate the joining process, and a local three-member public defender board is created to oversee its creation and implementation, he said. The board is made up of two appointments by local judges and one by the commissioners, he said. Pending legislation would replace one of the judicial appointments with a local appointment by the state Public Defender Commission.
EAST CHICAGO  Police found a Gary man with an apparent gunshot wound to the back lying on the ground behind two vehicles Monday in the city's Harbor section, an official said.

Ahlon Buggs, 23, was shot in the 3900 block of Pulaski Street and died at St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago, according to the Lake County coroner's office.

East Chicago police arrived in the 3900 block of Pulaski Street just after 6:55 p.m. and were flagged down by a man, who directed officers to Buggs, Lt. Marguerite Wilder said.

Buggs, who was visiting friends in the area, was taken by ambulance to St. Catherine.

He was pronounced dead at 8:23 p.m., a coroner's release said. The cause and manner of death were gunshot wounds in a homicide.

While officers were at St. Catherine, a call from an unknown source was received at the Lake County 911 center about an active shooter at the hospital, Wilder said. The claims were unsubstantiated, she said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Angelo Machuca at 219-3918318. To remain anonymous, call 219-391-8500.
After finding himself in the minority in opposing pay raises for Gregg and Polarek during the meeting, Whitten turned to fellow council members and said, "You just gave two of the nastiest people in this county the biggest (expletive) raises we did tonight. I'd like to congratulate you for that, well done," according to the notice.

Whitten reportedly refused to apologize to Gregg or Polarek.

"I can't speak to the employment claims because I am not the prosecutor, and as such it's simply outside my purview," Whitten said Tuesday when contacted for comment. "As to the defamation, I believe that it's baseless under Indiana law."

Gregg and Polarek also intend to file a claim of intentional interference against Whitten, Germann and county government, the notice says.

The notice about the pending litigation says Polarek had worked as a deputy county prosecutor for nearly 21 years and Gregg for 15 years, and both had exceeded all performance expectations in their positions. Strong performance reviews from Gensel for both are included with the notice.

The pair helped with Gensel's re-election campaign last year by attending fundraisers, marching in parades, putting re-election signs in their yards and distributing fliers, according to the notice.
HOBART  Three people escaped unharmed after a fire ignited in the basement of a house on Monday night, officials said.

Firefighters were dispatched at 7:45 p.m. to the house on the 3900 block of Missouri Street, according to Hobart Fire Department spokesman Lt. John Reitz.

A middle-aged man living in the house admitted to firefighters that he had fallen asleep with a lit cigarette, Reitz said.

The house sustained smoke damage throughout, but the fire was contained to the basement.

Along with the occupants, a pet dog escaped the house uninjured. However, a pet cat died in the fire, according to Reitz.

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A new exhibit opened this weekend at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago surveying the work of photographer Laurie Simmons, a historically important member of The Pictures Generation who remains active as a contemporary artist.

The sweeping and comprehensive exhibition of the work of an artist who's often associated with Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, and Louise Lawler takes up most of the third floor and has some Hollywood flair, including Simmons's short three-part musical film "The Music of Regret" starring Meryl Streep and a portrait of Simmons' daughter Lena Dunham, the creator of HBO's "Girls."

First displayed by the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Laurie Simmons: "Big Camera/Little Camera" exhibit charts four decades of Simmons' career and will be on display at the museum at 220 E Chicago Ave through May 5.

MCA Senior Curator Naomi Beckwith coordinated the display of photographs, sculptures, and films that often explore archetypal female gender roles such as women in 1950s domestic settings. The namesake work "Big Camera, Little Camera" juxtaposes a miniature camera with a real one.

"I put the two cameras together for scale, and as a metaphor - real life versus fiction," Simmons said in a press release. "It was also a statement about what I intended to do with the camera."
NREL Urban Planners Translate Energy Technology into Market Success through Local, State, Federal, and Tribal Governments

Feb. 26, 2019

Project Leader Megan Day highlights some of the research and technology at the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) for participants in Energy Innovation Trends - NREL Partner Forum 2018. NREL's collaboration with partners from industry, as well as the U.S. Department of Energy, allows NREL to further the science behind some of the world's greatest energy innovations. Photo by Werner Slocum, NREL

Urban planners have not historically dealt in energy issues, yet clean energy is a growing focus around the world and urban planners' role in energy transitions is evolving as demand increases. Megan Dayone of a growing cohort of urban and regional planners working at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)said she believes urban planners are uniquely suited to provide the technical assistance required to apply integrated energy solutions within local jurisdictions.

Between Day and her colleague Alison Holm, the duo brings nearly two decades of urban planning experience to the table. Their role is much needed and expanding as cities, states, and tribes deploy renewable energy systems and set ambitious clean energy goals.

"Urban planners are generalists," Day said. "They help bridge the gap between technical experts, who have specific areas of focus, and local, state, federal, and tribal governments, which may not have energy specialists in-house."

Planners can help translate technical information and make sure no box is left unchecked. Day said that permitting considerations, for instance, come up a lot. Planners also excel at examining land-use systems and energy systems (and their integration) in a holistic way.

"During almost every webinar about solar in your zoning code and land-use planning for solar, someone asks a question about storage," Day said. "How do we plan for storage? We need to be addressing the land-use implications for solar plus storage and other technologies to enable deployment projections to be realized. Every clean energy project needs to be approved by a state or local government, making them critical stakeholders in energy transitions."

Planners with this expertise, such as Day and Holm, can even estimate the time it takes to get projects fully permitted based on the technologies involved.

"Permitting time for wind and solar is very different," Day said. "For wind, it's a five-year development phase. For large-scale solar, it could be as short as six months or as long as two years."

Urban planners operate in complex environments and work with different inputs. Many questions come directly from stakeholders. Planners help make sure stakeholders and researchers are asking the right questions and making all the necessary considerations.

"Energy technologies, solutions, and systems are being implemented within a broader context that includes decisions around housing, transportation, land-use, and economic development," Holm said. "Energy is one among many interrelated sectors that governments deal with. We're bringing the energy considerations to that discussion."

Their role as translators can't be overstated, either. Holm said that urban planners need to be able to consider questions from the perspective of local, state, federal, and tribal governments.

Alison Holm is an urban planner at NREL.

"Communities often have different motivations for exploring energy transformation, and how the problem is articulated can influence both the analysis and the range of solutions," Holm said. "For example, one community might be saying, 'Our core problem is high energy costs for our low-income populations and we're looking at solutions to that problem,' while another might be more focused on strategies to reduce vehicle emissions through electrification. There are many technical aspects to those questions, and the analysis and solutions generated have implications beyond the energy sector. Balancing the specific technical details with the bigger picture can be difficult. That's where urban planners come in."

Additionally, their work on the ground sometimes informs and inspires new work at the laboratory. As an example, Day is currently applying tools and analysis to develop a state and local energy planning tool.

Who Makes a Good Urban Planner?

The American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) is a professional institute that provides the only nationwide, independent verification of planners' qualifications. Holm recently passed AICP's timed, three-and-a-half-hour, 170-question exam, for which most planners study for months. She is now certified along with Day.

"Within the broader planning profession, it's exciting to see energy planning becoming a recognized area of focus and I think it signifies the growing importance of integrating energy considerations into urban and regional systems thinking," Holm said. "Certification lends a sense of credibility when working with communities and other planners. But more importantly, in order to maintain certification, I also need to stay informed about other aspects of planningtrends in housing, transportation, planning ethics. Ultimately, I think this will make me a better energy planner."

Holm and Day both attended University of Colorado, Denver, and earned graduate degrees in urban and regional planningbut followed different routes to get there. Holm was always interested in biology and worked in a biolab during her summers in high school and college. She added a sociology class to fill a requirement and said she really liked the scientific approach to understanding how societies function.

"I think what I became really interested in," Holm said, "was how all these different systems converge in shared spacesand that's essentially what you get in a city or urban environment."

Knowing she wanted to work before graduate school, she moved to Washington, D.C. There, she worked for the Geothermal Energy Association and the U.S. Energy Association, where she initially focused on domestic geothermal policy. She spent her last few years in D.C. working on geothermal development in East Africa, with a focus on Kenya.

However, Holm said she still had a deep interest in urban environments. She met Day at a conference and was happy to learn NREL employed full-time planners. With Holm's energy background, the laboratory was a perfect fit.

Since joining NREL, Holm said she enjoys being able to work on a variety of projects and across a range of contexts every day.

"Last week I was on back-to-back conference calls with a university in Hawaii, a small city in Illinois, and tri-county region in Western Colorado, all of which are working on different pieces of the energy puzzle," she said. "It's really interesting to explore how we can take data and analysis and apply it in different contextsand then see how that information gets fed into local processes and, ultimately, into decision-making and implementation."

Holm and Day both said that, for anyone hoping to become a professional urban planner, it's important to integrate energy planning into your studies.

"I would also recommend simply walking around, especially when you're in new places," she said. "You start to notice a lot about how people interact with the built environment."

Day's route to that fortuitous conference meeting with Holm wasn't a straight line, either. Before coming to NREL, she spent six years working as a utility-scale solar photovoltaics developer for a company that did development and design, as well as construction and maintenance. She spent time working as a senior project planner, toobut before graduate school, Day gained experience from a variety of urban environments.

She went to Colorado College before working for a few nonprofits. Her first major job was running a small nonprofit where she worked on community issues, education, and advocacy that included work with local governments. She then went to work on a U.S. Senate campaign which allowed her to interact with organizers and voters. She returned to Colorado College as the community relations manager before taking a year off when her second daughter was born.

Like Holm, Day's path ultimately led her to NREL.

"I work in renewable energy planning to have impact," Day said, "to do what I can to enable a clean energy future."

She said she loves working at NREL because she has access to a deep technical bench of experts in nearly every aspect of clean energy, which she can use to build a team and find advisers.

How Does Urban Planning at NREL Look in Practice?

NREL's urban planners work on a wide array of projects, and for each, must consider the scale, focus, and entities involved when solving their client's energy system puzzle.

At the moment, Day said she's working on an integrated decision-support tool that combines data from across DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) resources to help state, county, and local governments envision and plan for clean energy transitions.

Day and Holm leaned heavily on their urban planning background to develop EERE's Cities-LEAP Data to Decisions series, where they've worked to create pathways from data and analysis to help local governments make important data-driven energy decisions. This project built off the energy profile modeled for every U.S. city (available on EERE's State and Local Energy Data website).

The team has also worked closely with SolSmart, a DOE-funded recognition and technical assistance program that helps communities take steps to reduce solar costs. One community NREL supported through the program was Brownsville, Texas.

"Brownsville was really enthusiastic," Day said. "They had two solar installations, but they wanted more. I helped them through the process of drafting and adopting a solar ordinance. We had webinars and helped train them and reviewed their permitting process and requirements for submitting ground-mounted solar. We worked with them over the course of two years."

While their work is critical to the deployment of energy technologies, Day and Holm said the next step is for urban planners to become more integrated with the research agenda for specific technology applications.

Learn more about NREL's urban planning work on nrel.gov/energy-solutions/.
February 25, 2019 Albert Faria , 907-697-2230

GUSTAVUS, AlaskaThe public comment period for proposed changes to the Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve compendium runs February 25, 2019, through March 25, 2019 to 10 pm Alaska Daylight Savings Time.



The park is proposing two changes: one relates to updating the availability of the park public use cabin to reflect changes in the state hunting seasons; the other relates to the collection of gull eggs. The compendium is a written compilation of designations, closures, permit requirements and other authorizations and restrictions adopted under discretionary authority found in the Code of Federal Regulations.



The public can review the proposed changes and submit comments electronically at the NPS Planning, Environment, and Compliance Portal here.



Comments may also be mailed to the National Park Service, Attn: Compendiums, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, PO Box 140, Gustavus, AK 99826.



Comments will not be accept by any other method. All comments received are subject to public release without modification, including any personal information provided.



The NPS completed its annual review of the park compendiums following the lapse in appropriations that closed federal offices for 35 days. Glacier Bay is the only Alaska park proposing changes to its compendium. The currently approved compendiums for other Alaska NPS units remain in effect until rescinded or replaced.



See current park compendiums.



Learn more about park compendiums.


Napoleon, OH (43545)

Today

Showers early then scattered thunderstorms developing later in the day. High near 90F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Six individuals recently were sentenced on February 25, 2019, for various crimes in Tioga County, according to court documents. They are:

- Andrew Louis D'Aversa, 34, of Covington, 42 to 84 months State Correctional Institution with 1,141 days credit for time served, $1,900 restitution and DNA sample for third degree felony loaded firearm without a license. He also was sentenced to 18 to 48 months State Correctional Institution, consecutive to the above count, for felony possession with intent to deliver. Docket sheet.

- Cheyenne Marie Criley, 20, of Covington, nine months probation and $964.30 restitution for for third degree misdemeanor criminal mischief. Docket sheet.

- Jeffrey N. Prince, 28, of Pooler, Georgia, six months to five years minus one day Tioga County Prison with 104 days credit for time served, $7,697.37 restitution, DNA sample, no fine, no contact with victim for third degree felony criminal mischief. Docket sheet.

- Lynette Blair Cohick (Carson), 31, of Wellsboro, five years intermediate punishment, phase one 90 days EHM, phase two probation, $1,500 fine, 18 months driver's license suspension and 12 months ignition interlock for DUI. Docket sheet.

- Branden Lee Fuller, 30, of Elkland, 72 hours to six months Tioga County Prison, $1,000 fine, 12 months driver's license suspension, concurrent from today with any other current sentences, for tier three misdemeanor DUI, first offense. Docket sheet.

One individual was placed on Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition:

Charles Plumley II, 40, of Lindley, New York, nine months probation and 30 days driver's license suspension for DUI, general impairment, first offense. Docket sheet.
Norman, OK (73070)

Today

Rain. Thunderstorms possible...mainly in the afternoon. High 78F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Thunderstorms in the evening, then cloudy with rain likely overnight. Low 68F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
In Nebraska, Interstate 80 remained closed Sunday between Grand Island and Gretna just southwest of Omaha because of weather conditions and several crashes. Much of eastern Nebraska received between 6 and 10 inches of snow in the storm.

Randy Adkins, meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc., said the storm was able to tap into some of the power in the jet stream. When that happens, a storm is able to ramp up with much greater ferocity. And while some storms dont strengthen until they cross the Rockies into the Plains, this one was strong as soon as it slammed into the California coast, he said. Thats one reason forecasters were able to warn of blizzard conditions so early.

In addition to the blizzard conditions from Nebraska across Iowa and into Minnesota and Wisconsin, the storm spun out tornadoes and flooding rains in the Southeast.

The effects of Sundays storm reverberated across the region. Blizzard conditions continued to prevail across much of Iowa on Sunday because of strong winds whipping up snow that had fallen earlier in the weekend.

An extended cold spell is ahead, so the snows not going anywhere soon. Flurries are possible midweek.

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The good news, Adkins said, is that the next storm isnt expected to be as powerful as what occurred this past weekend.
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.
New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan attended a recent Pelicans game and saw something on the floor he liked  the Mardi Gras-themed uniforms with purple, green and gold stripes across the middle.

On Tuesday, Jordan walked across the parking lot from the Saints practice facility to visit the Pelicans during one of their practices. While there, Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday gave Jordan a personalized Mardi Gras jersey with the No. 94 and JORDAN across the back.

A message on Jordans verified Twitter account said he was big blessed and said to lemme know if you ever have a need for a 285 (pound) defender.

Jordan received the jersey a few days after he posted a Twitter message to light-heartedly say he was demanding a jersey from the team.

Its not uncommon to see Saints players seated courtside during Pelicans games. The teams have the same owner in Gayle Benson and some overlapping management. The teams share a parking lot to their practice facilities and play home games across the street from each other.

After the practice Tuesday, the Pelicans were scheduled to depart for a four-game road trip that begins Wednesday in Los Angeles against the Lakers.

Nobody benefits from Anthony Davis charade
New Orleans-area native Cheryl Johnson became the 36th clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives Monday night (Feb. 25) after being sworn to the position during a ceremony in Washington.

Members of Johnsons family, including her mother and father, Cynthia Davis and the Rev. Charlie Davis, were on hand for the ceremony. Her husband, Clarence Ellison and son Bradford were also there.

Johnson said her parents, who still reside in Gretna, arrived on Saturday. The first thing they did was bring a king cake," Johnson said. Asked if she brought the king cake to work to share with new colleagues, Johnson replied with a laugh that it had not survived the weekend.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, had announced in December that she had chosen Johnson as the next clerk. The House confirmed Johnsons appointment in a vote Monday before her swearing in.

New House clerk has deep N.O. connections

The clerk serves as the chief legislative official of the House. Johnson said the clerk department has some 200 staffers. Keeping the House of Representatives running, she said, takes the work of a large team.

Johnson was most recently director of government relations for the Smithsonian Institution. She also has a wealth of experience in the House, having worked in various capacities there from 1989 to 2006, according to her biography.

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Cheryl Johnson embodies public service and has dedicated her career to strengthening many of the most important institutions of our democracy, including our own, Pelosi said during the swearing-in ceremony.

Johnson holds a law degree from Howard University and a degree in journalism and mass communications from the University of Iowa. She also took part in the senior management program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Johnson said her family is spread across the West Bank, from Algiers to Gretna. She graduated from John Ehret High School in 1977 and, on the advice of a teacher, went to the University of Iowa to study journalism.

I loved every minute of it," she said of Iowa.

She said shes being living in the D.C. area since 1981 after attending law school there. I guess I got Potomoc fever," she said with a chuckle.

Johnson said she is humbled" by her appointment. Its such an honor. It really is."

The office she will run, she says, is nonpartisan. Johnson said she may be appointed by the speaker, but I support the House."
The fight against a wetland-eating bug is getting another boost from the federal government.

An appropriation bill passed by Congress last week includes $1 million to research ways to combat an Asian scale insect that has invaded south Louisiana and is devouring roseau cane, a tall and sturdy marsh grass that resists erosion and sea level rise. The scale, a tiny, aphid-like bug, and roseau cane have been under quarantine in much of south Louisiana since March.

Scientists leading the research had expected the appropriation since last May, when about $600,000 was proposed by congressional leaders. The increase to $1 million reflects growing worries about the rapid conversion of roseau cane marshes to open water, particularly around the mouth of the Mississippi River. Unraveling roseau marshes may impede river shipping, harm various near-shore fisheries, and expose hundreds of oil wells to waves and storms, state officials say.

The disappearance of dense stands of roseau is exacerbating the states land loss crisis, particularly in Plaquemines Parish, which was already expected to lose half its land area within 50 years. In some areas of south Plaquemines, roseau-dominated shorelines have receded by 1,000 feet over just 16 months.

Outpost under siege: Remote Mississippi River port threatened by insect invasion

Roseau cane is vital to maintaining the integrity of our vibrant coastline, and we need to do everything we can to protect it, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said in a statement announcing the funding.

The Louisiana State University AgCenter, which leads the states effort to halt the scale, expects the $1 million will be trimmed down to about $850,000 after federal agencies take a cut.

Even at $850,000, the money is a significant boost for what had been a shoe-string budget led by only a handful of scientists. The money will help researchers test scale-resistant roseau varieties and various scale control measures, including mowing, burning and insecticides.

We finally have the resources to look at different angles (and) eventually get to some management solutions, AgCenter entomologist Rodrigo Diaz said Monday (Feb. 25).

Diaz and state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries scientists began sounding the alarm about the scale in 2016. State leaders initially balked at Diazs request for about $400,000, telling him to either get money from parishes affected by the roseau die-off or seek federal funding.

The tide of support turned during the middle of last year. By then, the public and government officials had learned about the die-offs potential economic and environmental impacts, said Hampton Grunewald, the AgCenters government relations director. In May, the state Legislature and Congress announced sizable contributions for scale control and roseau research.

The federal government has now committed a total of nearly $1.3 million. The money joins about $1.1 million from mostly state sources, including the AgCenter, Wildlife and Fisheries and the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. Added up, the money now in hand and the money to come would top $2.4 million.

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Diaz said the funding has expanded the team of scientists working on the problem. Research has broadened to look at other potential contributors to the roseau die-off, including water levels, water chemistry, soil toxins and plant diseases. LSU scientists are teaming up with the U.S. Army Corps satellite imagery experts to map the die-off.

Nutria don't just destroy wetlands, they're also raiding bird nests, scientists say

There had been hope that a scale parasite  a tiny wasp that lays its eggs in the scales body  would curb the scales explosive growth. But scientists say breeding the wasps, which are also native to Asia, would be difficult and expensive. Theres also concern the wasp could attack Louisianas native insects.

Recent experiments indicate water salinity may be a contributor to the roseaus decline. Plants weakened by too much saltwater tend to have thriving populations of scale, Diaz said.

Other research indicates prolonged periods of high water at the Mississippis mouth may have weakened roseau in recent years.

The scale first came to the attention of Louisiana scientists in 2016 but it wasnt identified until April 2017. Its unclear how or when the insect, know by the scientific name Nipponaclerda biwakoensis, arrived from Asia, where it thrives in the wetlands of Japan and China.

About the size of a grain of rice, the scale wedges itself deep into the stalk of roseau cane and feeds on its sap. Weakened roseau eventually dies, and its thumb-thick roots loose their claw-like grip on the soil, allowing large marshy areas to disintegrate.

10 worst plant invaders on the Louisiana coast

By mid-2017, about 80 percent of the Pass a Loutre Wildlife Management Area and the neighboring Delta National Wildlife Refuge in south Plaquemines were affected by the roseau die-off. Its unclear how many acres have been impacted. The Army Corps mapping project is expected to offer some idea of the affected area in the coming months.

The scale has been confirmed in at least a dozen parishes, including New Orleans and along Lake Pontchartrain. It was also found across the state line in east Texas and the Bay St. Louis area of Mississippi.

In March, the state Department of Agriculture and Forestry declared an emergency quarantine on both the scale and roseau. The agency had hoped to prevent the scales spread to crops, including sugar cane, sorghum and rice, which share similarities with roseau cane. The quarantine restricts the transport of roseau and the scale, and the transplanting of roseau out of and within all areas south of Louisiana Highway 10. The quarantine area includes 26 parishes and portions of 10 parishes.

State officials are most concerned about duck hunters spreading the scale. During spring, duck hunters often use stalks of roseau cane to conceal their blinds. Stalks are sometimes cut, brought home and then taken to a blind at a third location. This may give the scale the opportunity to spread to several new areas, wildlife officials say.
 Flash

Bustling and crowded, Seoul Station in the Republic of Korea's capital Seoul was as busy as usual.

Tens of passengers, including some foreign tourists, stood on a platform waiting for the DMZ Train, a special line which runs once a day from Wednesday to Sunday carrying those who would like to have a firsthand look at the division of the two Koreas.

With a round-trip ticket in their hands, the passengers got on the three-car train at 10:15 a.m. (01:15 GMT) on Feb. 20, exactly a week before the planned second summit between Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Kim-Trump summit in Vietnam, the second one after the first in Singapore in June, raised further hope for peace on the Korean Peninsula that has been divided for decades.

Created in 1953 when the three-year Korean War ended with armistice, the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) has long been a symbol of both confrontation and peace as tensions or rapprochement across the inter-Korean border can be felt firsthand in the 250-km-long strip of no-man's land.

The DMZ Train departed Seoul Station for Dorasan Station, the northernmost station of the ROK just about 50 km north of Seoul and only 700 meters south of the southern boundary of the 4-km-wide DMZ.

Among the passengers aboard the train were a couple from Finland, accompanied by their 25-year-old son who stayed in Seoul for seven months to study in a university.

Elemeri Helander told Xinhua on the running train that his parents picked a DMZ tour as there remains no place like it in the world. He said they heard about a peace process on the peninsula through news media.

During his stay in Seoul, Helander felt that the situation on the peninsula got rapidly better though he had little knowledge about the region's geopolitics before coming to the ROK.

The Finnish expressed hope that Kim and Trump would make good deals in Vietnam as the second meeting itself is a good sign, saying the DPRK was expected to open itself to more foreigners and do business with the outside world.

Provided by the Korean National Railroad (KORAIL), the DMZ tour package includes visits to a peace park and an observatory near the Dorasan Station.

Lee Tae-hyun, a trainman and tour guide, told Xinhua that the number of visitors has increased since the first summit between the leaders of the two Koreas was held in April last year.

Even before the summit, many old ROK residents who have long-lost relatives in the DPRK joined the tour program to glance at the DPRK soil at a closer distance. The separated families have been banned from entering the DPRK territory for the past decades as no peace treaty has been signed after the Korean War.

During the interview with Xinhua, the trainman mentioned a granny in her 80s who had left her family in the DPRK. He found her shedding tears and watching northward near an observatory while he was looking for her.

Lee said he hopes that the day would come soon when the separated families could freely cross the border to visit their hometowns and meet their relatives whenever they want.

The divided Korean Peninsula may not be unusual to ordinary ROK residents who have no family left behind in the DPRK. They might have been accustomed to the division since it has lasted for decades.

Instead, the peace mood on the peninsula seemed fresher to them. Chang Yong-chul, a Korean American who had lived in the United States for nearly 40 years, may be one of them.

Chang said he decided to go on the DMZ tour in the hope that the heavily armed buffer zone would disappear in the near future.

Bae Byung-hoon, a 43-year-old ROK resident, joined the DMZ tour program with his son and daughter for the first time to show his children the situation of the divided peninsula.

Bae expressed his hope for peace to come on the peninsula through the Kim-Trump summit, saying that he wished his children could tour the DPRK sometime in the future.

The train ran on the tracks for just over an hour, stopping at Imjingang Station where soldiers conducted security checks and the check of identification cards and passports. After the checks, the train left for Dorasan Station.

Jeon Hyeon-jong, chief of the Imjingang Station, told Xinhua that the train route between Seoul and Dorasan Station was launched as a commuter line in 2002 and was altered into the tour route in 2014.

The station master said the DMZ Train is a symbol of peace as it runs under the theme of transforming the war-scarred land of the DMZ into a land of peace and harmony.

Near Imjingang Station is Imjingak Nuri Peace Park, some 7 km south of the military demarcation line. The park just outside the ROK side of the DMZ is a relatively easy place to experience the divided peninsula, as no security checks are required.

The park was quiet and desolate on a dreary winter day. On weekends, lots of visitors would come, said a sales clerk at a gift shop inside the tourist spot.

The number of tourists recently rose as inter-Korean relations had been improving, she added.

What was visibly different from the past was the atmosphere surrounding the park, around which armed soldiers almost disappeared and tensions were alleviated significantly, said the shop assistant who declined to be identified.

The clerk, who has worked at the shop for about six years and has lived near the park, said situations on the peninsula were expected to get better through the upcoming DPRK-U.S. summit, though it could take time.

The gift shop stands right beside the gateway to Freedom Bridge, a barricaded bridge through which a number of prisoners returned home at the end of the Korean War.

On the way to the bridge sits a war-ravaged steam locomotive that was derailed by bombs during the Korean War. Along the barbed wire to the bridge hangs strips of cloth with messages hoping for peace and reunification between the two Koreas.

A signpost explaining the steam locomotive reads, "Let me, the steel horse, travel freely along the tracks."

The DMZ Train ran again to return to Seoul on the tracks, which were currently delinked from the DPRK but will hopefully be reconnected across the inter-Korean border.
A New Orleans man arrested in December on four rape charges is now accused in a fifth rape and kidnapping, according to arrest records.

Daniel Meridy, 34, also suspected in three sexual assaults in Kansas City, Mo., was rebooked Wednesday (Feb. 20) with additional charges of first-degree rape and aggravated kidnapping, Orleans Parish court records show.

Meridys new charges stem from a June rape and kidnapping in Central City that targeted a woman who, according to police, had agreed to exchange sex with him for money.

Several of Meridys alleged crimes have victimized women who either agreed to have sex with Meridy for payment  or declined to do so, according to preliminary NOPD reports and arrest warrants for Meridy. The attacks have occurred in various parts of New Orleans  Central City, Mid-City and Treme  often in areas associated with prostitution. He used either a knife or gun in each attack, police say.

In the June attack, police say the 26-year-old victim was walking down Danneel Street the night of June 10 when a gray SUV pulled up, driven by a man known to her as Dee.

The woman got into the SUV and agreed to have sex with Meridy for money, according to an affidavit for Meridys arrest warrant, sworn by NOPD Detective Kevin Richardson. Meridy then drove the woman to the 2200 block of Fourth Street and led her to the back of an abandoned home, where he pulled a gun and raped her.

The victim declined to undergo a sexual-assault examination, but police were able to connect Meridy to the crime through DNA evidence collected from a condom used by the womans attacker, the warrant states.

Meridy was initially arrested Dec. 10 on four counts each of first-degree rape and kidnapping in connection with four separate crimes reported between 2015 and 2018. Investigators linked Meridy to the crimes via DNA collected for sexual assault kits, police said.

New Orleans man accused in 4 rapes committed from 2015 to 2018

Meridy is accused in the following:

 June 7, 2015

Meridy met a woman who agreed to have sex with him for $100 at a vacant apartment complex nearby. At the complex, in the 1800 block of Bayou Road in Treme, Meridy pulled a gun and demanded the woman return his money. He then raped her against a wall of the apartment building, police said.

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 May 26, 2016

Meridy approached a woman who had just exited a bus near the intersection of Tulane Avenue and South Genois Street in Mid-City. According to police, he forced the woman into an alley in the 600 block of South Genois Street, where he raped her while holding his gun.

 Sept. 21, 2016

A woman was walking home in Central City when Meridy, who was on a bicycle, rode up to her and asked if she would have sex with him for money. She declined and continued walking. Meridy then took out a gun and forced her behind an abandoned home near Washington Avenue and Clara Street, where he raped her at gunpoint, according to the NOPD.

 Oct. 13, 2018

Meridy offered a ride to a woman walking in Central City and, after she accepted, drove her to the 2400 block of South Johnson Street. There, he put a knife to the womans throat and forced her from the SUV into the side alley of an abandoned home. He then raped her at knifepoint.

Meridys Dec. 10 arrest occurred a few days after Richardson discovered evidence linking Meridy to a series of unsolved assaults and obtained a buccal swab from him.

The DNA profile from the four New Orleans crimes also matched that from three unsolved stranger sexual assault cases in Kansas City reported between 2004 and 2005. Each of those incidents also involved a weapon.

Orleans Magistrate Judge Harry Cantrell set Meridys bond at $1.6 million for the four attacks. Orleans Magistrate Judge Robert Blackburn on Wednesday set Meridys bond at $400,000 for the new charges, raising his total bond to $2 million.

Meridys next court hearing is scheduled for March 20.

Laura McKnight covers crime and breaking news for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.
An attorney for the man accused in a Bourbon Street shooting this weekend said at a court hearing Tuesday (Feb. 26) his client was shot by the person they labeled a security guard, and said he wants police to release video of the shooting to the public.

Louis Barnes, 37, was in Criminal District Court for a bond hearing, as prosecutors filed a motion to increase or revoke his bond in a pending failure to register as a sex offender case.

Barnes was booked on second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder charges Sunday in connection with the shooting on Bourbon Street that left Barnes and a security guard injured, and a bystander dead.

New Orleans Police have accused Barnes of grabbing a security guards gun as the guard was removing Barnes from Willies Chicken Shack in the 400 block of Bourbon Street around 3 a.m. Sunday (Feb. 24).

The 23-year-old security guard was shot in the neck and 36-year-old Julie Couvillon, who was walking nearby, was fatally shot. Police said Barnes shot himself in the shoulder during the struggle  an account Barnes attorney has challenged.

Leon Roche of the Orleans Public Defenders said Barnes was not the aggressor in that incident and did not bring a gun to Bourbon Street.

He did not murder anybody, Roche said in court.

Police have not said the security guard, who was temporarily detained, faces any charges.

In Bourbon Street shooting, cops were patrolling same block where gunfire broke out

An affidavit for Barnes arrest warrant, signed by NOPD Homicide Detective Bruce Brueggeman, says a witness told police a man with blue hair  Barnes  was holding the firearm when the woman fell to the ground.

The witness said they heard one gunshot, then saw the blue-haired man and the female bystander fall to the ground, according to the affidavit. When a second gunshot sounded off, the witness said, the security guard fell to the ground.

Video footage from a city-owned crime camera also shows what Brueggeman described as Barnes physically attacking the security officer and punching him, prior to the gunfire, the affidavit states. It appeared, Brueggeman wrote, as if Louis Barnes chased the security officer into the business... and then back out. The witness also told police the blue-haired man struck the security officer several times," before he, physically pulled the security officers gun away from him.

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Victoria Coulon, a spokeswoman for Willies Chicken Shack, said the security officer underwent surgery on Sunday, but is expected to make a full recovery.

Mr. Roche is doing a disservice to the victims affected by Mr. Barnes actions on Sunday morning, Coulon said in a statement on Tuesday, in response to the defense attorneys claims. The security guard was trying to protect our patrons and was also trying to contact the police while being physically attacked.

In court on Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Bette Matheny said Barnes is a quadruple offender with convictions for carnal knowledge of a juvenile, attempted firearm possession by a felon, unauthorized entry into an inhabited dwelling, illegal possession of stolen things and bail jumping  a conviction she said indicates he has a failure to appear.

While out on bond for his current charge, he murdered someone in the French Quarter over Mardi Gras, Matheny said.

Roche called the hearing motion practice, as he said Barnes is unable to post the $1.5 million bond Magistrate Commissioner Robert Blackburn set on the second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder charges related to Sundays shooting.

Its overkill at this point, he said.

Roche said the judge who initially set Barnes bond in the failure to register case had all the same information prosecutors provided this week, with the exception of the accusations related to Sundays shooting.

Ad Hoc Judge Dennis Waldron increased Barnes $5,000 bond on two failure to register as a sex offender charges to $200,000.

A hearing in that case is set for April.

Emily Lane contributed to this report.

Correction: This story initially said Waldron increased Barnes bond from $10,000 to $200,000. His initial bond was actually $5,000.
Nearly three years after being convicted on corruption charges, former North Shore district attorney Walter Reed has been ordered to report for prison to begin serving his four-year sentence.

Reed must surrender by April 1 to start serving his sentence for mail fraud, wire fraud, lying on his income tax returns and other charges, U.S. District Court Judge Eldon Fallon ruled Tuesday (Feb. 26).

Fallon sided with federal prosecutors, who argued in court Tuesday that Reed should begin serving his sentence immediately since a panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected his appeal on Nov. 5, and the full court on Jan. 23 refused to re-hear Reeds case.

Winter has come for Mr. Reed, U.S. Attorney Peter Strasser told a reporter for WVUE-Fox 8, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayunes news partner.

Reeds attorney, Richard Simmons Jr., had asked Fallon to let Reed remain a free man while petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to review his case. Simmons asked the judge to delay a decision for 90 days so Fallon would have time to look at the brief Simmons plans to file with the U.S. Supreme Court.

But Fallon said Reed and his son, Steven Reed, who was also convicted in the case, have had ample opportunity for their case to be heard by other judges. Steven Reed was sentenced to five years of probation, which will begin by April 1.

Prosecutors have said a Supreme Court decision could take a year or more.

This just isnt the case thats ripe for Supreme Court consideration, much less reversal. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Ginsberg told the court. The time has come, now... for the defendants to begin serving their respective sentences.

Reed said outside the courthouse Tuesday that he was disappointed but not surprised" by the judges ruling.

Im ready to go. I got my toothbrush all packed and Im ready to go," he said. "Like every adversity in my life, Im going to try to and rise above it and make something positive of that.

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Reed said he hopes to accomplish some personal growth while in prison and to do a lot of reading and writing. He said he plans to help some of those he meets in prison, using his experience as a lawyer, and teach a Bible study.

This is not the end of my life," he said. Im going to go and do my time and come back and start a brand new life.

Simmons said he did not yet know to what prison Reed would be assigned.

Former DA Walter Reed sentenced to four years in prison, much less than expected

Reed, who served as DA for St. Tammany and Washington Parishes for 30 years through 2014, was convicted by a federal jury in May 2016 on 18 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, making false statements on his income tax returns and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to launder money.

Reed son, Steven Reed, was found guilty of conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering.

Prosecutors focused much of their case on Walter Reeds use of campaign funds. They said he illegally spent more than $100,000 in campaign funds on personal items and failed to report that money as income on his tax returns. Reed gave his son money disguised as legitimate campaign expenses, and kept $30,000 a year from St. Tammany Parish Hospital for legal advice when that money should have gone to the DAs office, the government said.

Simmons has argued that prosecutors made a federal case out of state campaign laws, maintaining the matter should have been handled by the state ethics board. He argued that the counts dealing with campaign funds should have been tried separately from the counts involving the hospital funds, and he said Fallon incorrectly denied the defense a chance to call an expert witness on Louisiana campaign law.

Fallon said Tuesday the appeals court fully addressed the issue of whether federal prosecutors overreached. They met those issues, I thought, head on," he said.

Prosecutor Ginsberg said the 5th Circuit determined the case to be "a simple run-of-the-mill fraud.
Frustrated commuters will finally get a date this week when their trains will return on two NJ Transit lines that have been shut down since the fall.

Gov. Phil Murphy said he ordered NJ Transit to reveal the return date this week instead of the three-week period agency officials announced last week.

Ive instructed (NJ Transit Executive Director) Kevin Corbett to announce it this week, Murphy said in Hamilton on Tuesday morning. Customers rightfully demand an answer.

Service on the Atlantic City Line, the Princeton Shuttle and off-peak Raritan Valley Line New York trains has been suspended since September for the installation of the first phase of a federally-mandated safety system known as Positive Train Control.

As per the Governors direction, by the end of the week we will be providing customers with a date certain for the restoration of service on the Atlantic City Rail Line and the Princeton Dinky, said Nathan Rudy, an NJ Transit spokesman.

As with the original announcement planned in three weeks, the date to be given at the end of this week will not include the Raritan Valley Line. Currently all RVL riders have to change trains in Penn Station Newark to get to and from New York.

Im incredibly disappointed that Raritan Valley Line commuters who are 24,000 strong, have been left out, said Fanwood Mayor Collen Mahr, co-chairwoman of the Raritan Valley Line Mayors Alliance. Well go back to the table and sit with NJ Transit and speak to Governor Murphy.

The mayors and Raritan Valley Line commuters expected the lines off peak direct trains to New York to return when Atlantic City Line and the Dinky returned, she said.

Murphys announcement came as a chorus of legislators from both sides of the aisle demanded a date after NJ Transit officials gave a vague time frame of the second quarter of the year which could be from April 1 to the end of June. Commuters had expected the trains to return in January.

State Assemblymen Vince Mazzeo and John Armato, both D-Atlantic, asked Murphy to restore service himself. Both rode the replacement AC rail line bus service to see what displaced rail commuters experience.

Weve waited for answers from NJ Transit for months on end and weve been stonewalled at every turn," Mazzeo said. "Im prepared to hold their feet to the fire to make sure those answers are delivered this week.

Atlantic City line riders peppered NJ Transit and DOT officials with similar questions about when service would resume at a customer forum at the dormant Atlantic City rail terminal last Thursday evening. Another meeting is planned at 6 p.m. Wednesday, in the Cherry Hill municipal building at 820 Mercer Street.

Riders of the Princeton Shuttle will get a 25 percent discount on tickets between Princeton station and Princeton Junction that they now use on a shuttle bus, starting on March 1. That discount doesnt apply to the whole trip.

Raritan Valley Line riders are not receiving any discount for their inconvenience.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Matt Arco contributed to this report.

Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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New Jerseys six largest cities may soon be allowed to charge you more to park there under a new tax proposal that has enraged Republican state lawmakers.

Municipalities with at least 100,000 residents would be permitted to charge the 3.5 percent tax on parking at public and private facilities. That includes Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Elizabeth, Edison, and Woodbridge.

Sponsors of the Democratic measure say the tax would help those municipalities raise money to pay for improvements to keep pedestrians safe at mass-transit stations.

But Republicans are strongly opposed, calling it the latest in a string of tax hikes brought about by New Jerseys Democratic-controlled government.

Some Democratic lawmakers are also against the move. The bill passed the state Assembly Monday with the bare minimum votes required, 41-32. That means some Democrats voted no because there are 54 Democrats and only 26 Republicans in the house.

Here we go again, Assemblyman Anthony M. Bucco, R-Morris, said before the vote. Another voting session, another tax.

I understand its not a lot, and I recognize the moneys gonna be used for infrastructure for getting to mass transit, Bucco added. But its the constant drip, drip, drip. Another straw on the camels back that the people of New Jersey just cant afford.

The bill (A5070) still needs to pass the Democratic-controlled state Senate and signed by Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy to become law.

The money from the tax could help fund bridges, tunnels, platforms, walkways, elevators, escalators, and stairways at mass-transit facilities.

Assemblywoman Shanique Speight, D-Essex, said this will help make mass transit more accessible for the many commuters who live in places like Newark, which she represents.

We have the airport in our community, we have theaters, and we have big corporations," Speight said.

Still, Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick, R-Union, questioned whether the tax is truly a last resort.

We dont believe that there are no other options," Bramnick said. Meaning we are now authorizing a local municipality  not the voters  to determine whether theres a new tax.

Republicans also referenced the results of a Monmouth University poll released hours earlier Monday, showing only 50 percent of New Jersey residents rate the state as a good or excellent place to live  an all-time low. They argued that taxes are a major reason why.

Murphy is set to deliver his second state budget address in seven days. His first budget included more than $1 billion in tax hikes, sparking constant criticism from Republicans over the last year.

Murphy has defended the taxes, saying they help pay for funding increases for education, transportation, and public-worker pensions. He says that helps boost the middle class in the state.

But state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, said they would not approve new tax increases in the next budget.

If enacted, this legislation would not force those six municipalities to levy the tax. It would exempt parking for buildings designated for private one- or two-family homes.

The tax would also not be applied toward parking for special events. And residents would be eligible for a discount of up to 8 percent.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

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WASHINGTON  The ultimate supermarket tabloid would no longer be sold at supermarkets if a New Jersey congressman has his way.

The National Enquirer, the gossip-laden paper thats a mainstay of checkout lines, should be removed from all your store shelves," Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., a Democrat, said in a letter to the the chief executives of five supermarket chains: Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons (which includes Acme), Publix, and Food Lion.

Pascrell asked the executives to stop selling the Enquirer, which published articles in support of Donald Trump in the 2016 election and paid to kill stories accusing the then-candidate of extramarital affairs. Federal prosecutors investigating Trump reportedly have granted immunity to publisher David Pecker.

In addition, Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, the head of Amazon.com, has charged the Enquirers owner with extortion and blackmail, saying the paper said it would publish graphic photographs of him unless he said the tabloids reporting on his affair was not politically motivated. Trump has attacked Bezos over the Posts reporting on his administration, while Pecker has been close to the president.

The tabloid is a purveyor of fabricated news and possibly a vehicle in furtherance of illegal extortion, blackmail, and other crimes, Pascrell wrote to the corporate executives. In the interest of your millions of customers, this tabloid should be removed from all your store shelves."

Neither the Enquirer nor the five companies responded to requests for comment. Pascrell spokesman Mark Greenbaum said the lawmaker wanted to target one specific group of companies that sell the paper.

Pascrell said in his letter that the Enquirer successfully has been sued for libel on numerous occasions.

This pattern of behavior makes it clear that Mr. Pecker uses the National Enquirer tabloid both in total support of the leader of a political party and in furtherance of scabrous and potentially illegal schemes, Pascrell said. Given this history, his flagship tabloid publication should not be given a platform in your businesses through which to poison Americans with lies."

The Enquirer through the years has broken political scandals. It published the first pictures of then-Democratic presidential candidate Gary Hart on the boat Monkey Business with Donna Rice, a woman who was not his wife; and broke the story that another Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, had a child with his mistress.

It also published stories on space aliens, celebrity gossip, on 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton having six months to live, and that the father of U.S. Sen Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had ties to Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated President John F. Kennedy.

Id missed the lung cancer cover, the stroke story, the one about my mom @HillaryClintons hitman (possibly my missing alien sibling?!) and goodness, I think all of them actually. As always, thankful for my moms enduring health, grace, grit & goodness. https://t.co/1uCF21iPvt  Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) August 23, 2018

Pascrell said most what is published is not what real inquiring minds want to know.

Just as none of you would sell a contaminated food product, I know you would never dispense other agents of sickness to the tens of millions of customers who walk through your aisles every day, he wrote. Misinformation makes our society sick and the National Enquirer tabloid is a primary purveyor of it.

The National Enquirer tabloid is a geyser of toxic misinformation and a possible vehicle of criminal activity. Ive called on the leaders of our largest trusted supermarkets to pull it from their shelves. pic.twitter.com/hitf6gblIu  Bill Pascrell, Jr. (@BillPascrell) February 25, 2019

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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The lifeguards and visitors guides at state parks. The entry-level employees at the county animal shelter. The interns at your local library.

Theyre all about to get pay raises, and its going to cost taxpayers one way or another.

For years, businesses, labor advocates and lawmakers debated raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Would the benefit to workers outweigh the cost to small businesses?

But local governments largely stayed out of the fray, and the consequences for New Jerseys finances and local governments budgets flew under the radar.

For the state, it means an initial increase of $3.2 million in wages for the first year, a figure that balloons to anywhere from $300 million to $600 million five years from now. New Jerseys counties and local governments say results will vary, but its likely fees will rise and services cut in some jurisdictions to counteract increased payroll costs.

Supporters of the hike say thats the cost of doing business, a fair trade-off for a pay increase that will help more than one million families and boost the state economy. But critics point to the impact on taxpayers as another expense for overloaded budgets.

Its money we dont have, said state Sen. Declan OScanlon, R-Monmouth. Here we are adding to the pile of money we dont have.

A landmark state law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy earlier this month raises the minimum wage for most workers to $10 an hour on July 1, to $11 on Jan. 1, 2020, and a $1 a year after that until it hits $15 in 2024.

Seasonal workers and workers at business that employ five or fewer employees wont reach $15 an hour until 2026. Farm workers will hit $12.50 in 2024, after which state officials will determine whether to keep going to $15 by 2027.

The state Treasury Department estimated it will cost roughly $700,000 to increase state employees salaries for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Murphy will introduce his budget proposal for next year early next week. Most of these are seasonal Department of Environmental Protection employees, like lifeguards, groundskeepers and office workers, according to Treasury.

Hiking pay for contracted providers will cost another $2.5 million in next years budget.

The price tag increases dramatically once the minimum wage is fully phased in. Senate President Stephen Sweeney said his office projected it will range between $300 million and $600 million.

Its a big number because we have a lot of nonprofits that we do business with, and if we dont increase their funding, theyre going to have to cut back services, he said. Its not just direct government employees. Its the people that are depending on us funding them.

Sweeney said he is worried about the budget  he has proposed a plan to cut the cost of state and local government in New Jersey  but raising the minimum wage is the right thing to do.

Government should lead by example and not pay a substandard wage, Sweeney said.

We had some people saying exempt government ... but how do I exempt you guys when were making businesses pay? You lead by example, and for government to say Leave me out is not leadership, he said.

Until recently, local governments were exempt from the states minimum wage and responsible only for paying the federally mandated minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. And state Sen. Kristin Corrado, R-Passaic, has introduced a bill (S3492) that would restore that reprieve.

The new minimum wage law is forcing local leaders to make impossible choices, Corrado said in a statement. Many of our towns currently provide extremely affordable community services, such as day care, summer camp and recreational classes for seniors. The unintended consequence of this law is that many of these programs will disappear, unless we take action to keep local government programs accessible.

Lobbyists for New Jerseys local governments said they were added into the minimum wage bill at the 11th hour and given little chance to assess what the real-world impact would be.

But when Hudson County voluntarily enacted a $15 minimum wage last year, it reported it would cost about $744,000 and benefited 406 of its 3,100 employees, according to a brief from the Government Finance Officers Association of New Jersey and the New Jersey Association of County Finance Officers.

Some counties and towns will experience sticker shock while it wont cost others a penny, they said.

Burlington County pegged its cost at roughly $313,000, while Cumberland and Gloucester counties said they face little additional outlay, according to that report.

Because local governments are hemmed in by a 2 percent cap on spending, installed to slow increases in property taxes, taxpayers will feel the impact in terms of higher recreation fees, reduced staffing and scaled back or eliminated programs, said Michael Cerra, assistant executive director of the New Jersey League of Municipalities.

Toms River, Ocean County, estimated it would cost more than $575,000 a year to comply with a $15 an hour minimum wage and predicted higher registration fees for recreation and youth programs, beach tags and local swimming pool.

And still other municipalities, including Cinnaminson Township in Burlington County, reported they dont have any employees earning less than $15 an hour and there would be no cost to them, according to the finance officers report.

On its own, the impact of the minimum wage hike is minimal, said John Donnadio, executive director of the New Jersey Association of Counties. The real pain, he said, is cumulative.

Factor in the 2 percent cap on property taxes and other red tape, and its becoming harder and harder for counties and local governments to operate effectively and efficiently, he said.

Its like death by a thousand cuts, he said.

Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
WASHINGTON  U.S. Sen. Cory Bookers chances of being the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee improved somewhat in the Washington Posts latest ranking of the partys White House candidates.

Booker was ranked fourth, up from fifth in the November rankings, before he and several others announced their candidacies. He swapped places with former Vice President Joe Biden, who has yet to announce his candidacy.

The Post cited Bookers signature legislative win when President Donald Trump signed criminal justice legislation that provided alternatives to incarceration or shorter jail terms for those convicted of nonviolent drug crimes. That had been Bookers top priority since coming to the U.S. Senate.

Bookers top liability, the news organization said, was his previous fundraising from Wall Street and corporate interests such as the pharmaceutical industry, with its large presence in his home state. Booker renounced corporate political action committee contributions a year ago, and said he wont accept them as a presidential candidate. However, corporate PACs give very little money to White House campaigns.

Ahead of Booker in the rankings were three fellow U.S. senators, Kamala Harris of California, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

The Post said Harris seems comfortable in her own skin, on-message and sharp;" cited Sanders first-day $6 million fundraising haul; and said Warrens credibility on liberal issues is what keeps her near the top.

The top 10, in reverse order:

10. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

9. U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.

8. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio.

7. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

6. Former Rep. Beto ORourke of Texas.

5. Former Vice President Joe Biden.

4. Booker.

3. Warren.

2. Sanders.

1. Harris.

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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Updates with vote totals.

WASHINGTON  A resolution to overturn President Donald Trumps emergency declaration that would allow him to build a southern border wall drew the support of every New Jersey Democratic House member Tuesday.

The 11 New Jersey Democrats are among more than 230 House members who co-sponsored the measure led by Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas. The bill resolution passed, 245-182.

Trump declared the emergency after Congress voted to fund the federal government through Sept. 30 without including $5.7 billion in taxpayer funds for a southern border wall.

Trumps monument to his ego at the southern border is not going to happen, despite his protestations to the contrary, said Rep. Donald Payne Jr., D-10th Dist.

New Jerseys only Republican member, Rep. Chris Smith, R-4th Dist., voted no.

This is an emergency for real, he said. It has been."

The legislation followed a record 35-day partial shutdown after Trump refused to sign a spending bill without wall funding and the Republican-controlled Congress did not give it to him.

I firmly believe we need to secure our borders and ports of entry, said Rep. Andy Kim, D-3rd Dist. Its why I voted for a bipartisan bill that prevented a shutdown and provides critical resources to keep our country safe. That bipartisan compromise is what Congress delivered and this national emergency declaration undermines the spirit of that bipartisan compromise and our ability to get things done for the American people.

Trumps declaration indicated he would use federal funds already approved by Congress for other items, including military construction. That could threaten two projects in New Jersey, for which Congress earlier approved funding, according to the House Appropriations Committee.

The two projects include $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.

As a veteran, I am deeply concerned with the harm this unwarranted emergency declaration does to our military readiness, military families, and construction projects needed across the country and at Picatinny Arsenal," said Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-11th Dist., whose district includes the military facility.

Opposition to the resolution has united the Democratic delegation.

When I believe the president is right I support him," said Rep. Jeff Van Drew, D-2nd Dist. "When I believe he is wrong I say so. I believe in bipartisanship. In this case, I believe the president has overreached.

"When I believe the President is right I support him. When I believe he is wrong I say so. I believe in bipartisanship. In this case, I believe the president has overreached."



Check out the interview on @SundayFutures with @MariaBartiromo.https://t.co/yFKldYSvbg  Congressman Jeff Van Drew (@CongressmanJVD) February 17, 2019

After the resolution passes the House, it goes to the Senate, where Republicans hold a majority but enough senators have criticized Trumps action that it could pass there.

I hope our great Republican Senators dont get led down the path of weak and ineffective Border Security. Without strong Borders, we dont have a Country - and the voters are on board with us. Be strong and smart, dont fall into the Democrats trap of Open Borders and Crime!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2019

Trump also sent out a fundraising email on the eve of the vote, falsely claiming that his border wall is under construction.

We are building the wall for the safety of Americans because as long as I am your commander-in-chief, you will always come before illegal immigrants, Trump wrote.

In a NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll released last week, 61 percent disapproved of Trumps emergency declaration, while just 36 percent approved. By 58 percent to 39 percent, they said there was no national emergency along the border that would justify such a declaration.

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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Top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Jong Un arrived in Vietnam's northern Lang Son province Tuesday morning by train for his first official visit to the country and the second summit with his U.S. counterpart.

Kim's special train arrived at the Dong Dang station at around 8:13 a.m. local time (0113 GMT), and he was welcomed in the train station by Vietnamese officials and civilians, according to Vietnam News Agency.

During the visit, the first by a sitting DPRK top leader in 55 years, Kim is expected to meet with Vietnamese leaders.

Kim is accompanied by senior DPRK officials, including his younger sister Kim Yo Jong, alternate member of the Political Bureau of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee and first vice director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department, and Vice Chairman of the WPK Central Committee Kim Yong Chol, the Korean Central News Agency reported.

Kim, who left Pyongyang on Saturday afternoon, will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump for their second summit on Feb. 27-28 on bilateral relations and issues related to peace on and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

A "comprehensive" agreement was signed at the first DPRK-U.S. summit in Singapore in June 2018. The meeting resulted in improved bilateral ties.

Issues such as a roadmap for denuclearization, the lifting of sanctions and whether to issue a war-ending declaration will be the focal points at the upcoming Kim-Trump talks.

Kim is expected to have a one-on-one meeting with Trump, local reports said.

Earlier on Monday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in voiced his wish for a successful second DPRK-U.S. summit, saying that "we wish for the success of the summit as an expression of our support for the two leaders."

Security in Hanoi has been beefed up for Kim's visit.
Jason Vanderee, accused of slamming into a Passaic County gas station and killing three people while high on heroin, was the driver in a nearly identical crash two years ago, authorities said Monday.

Though no one died in that crash, Vanderee was found to be high on heroin and had to be revived with Narcan, according to Assistant Prosecutor Julie Serfess.

Vanderee was driving an SUV on Nov. 3, 2016, when he lost consciousness, crossed two lanes of traffic on Route 80 west in Fairfield and slammed head-on into a guardrail, Serfess said, reading from a New Jersey State Police report.

Troopers said they found Vanderee unconscious, ashen and gray. On the drivers side floorboard, they found 20 decks of heroin and a syringe. After he was revived with two doses of Narcan in each nostril, Vanderee reportedly said he couldnt remember the crash.

All of a sudden I felt something was wrong and I didnt know what was happening, he told troopers.

A urine sample later showed the presence of codeine and morphine in his system, Serfess said.

Victims family and friends attend court proceedings where Jason Vanderee was charged with three counts of aggravated manslaughter and other charges after he allegedly killed three people in Wayne, New Jersey while driving his car under the influence of drugs. He appeared before Superior Court Judge Ernest M. Caposela at the Passaic County courthouse in Paterson , N.J. Monday, February, 25, 2019 (Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for NJ.comEd Murray | NJ Advance Media for

Last Tuesday, Vanderee, 29, of Glenwood in Vernon Township, allegedly overdosed again while driving. This time, however, three people were killed: Jon Warbeck, 50, of Fair Lawn, his son, Luke Warbeck, 17, of Lincoln Park, and Lovedeep Fatra, 22, of Pequannock.

The three died when Vanderee ran his vehicle off Route 23 in Wayne and slammed into a Delta gas station before coming to a rest after striking an air pump and sign, Serfess said.

(The vehicle) went airborne over the top of the (Warbeck) vehicle, Serfess said.

The prosecutor said Vanderee was again revived with Narcan.

On the floorboard in plain view was a used syringe and nine glassine envelopes of heroin, Wayne Police Officer Richard Hess wrote in his report.

The family and friends of Jason Vanderee as Vanderee appeared in court and was charged with three counts of aggravated manslaughter and other charges after he allegedly killed three people in Wayne, New Jersey while driving his car under the influence of drugs. He appeared before Superior Court Judge Ernest M. Caposela at the Passaic County courthouse in Paterson , N.J. Monday, February, 25, 2019 (Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for

Vanderee, who is unemployed and was living at home, appeared in Passaic County Superior Court on Monday and was ordered held without bond.

He is charged with three counts of aggravated manslaughter, death by auto and death by auto while driving intoxicated within 1,000 feet of school property, as well as drug-related offenses including possession of hypodermic needles.

As the charges were read in court Monday, Vanderees mother, Jean, quietly sobbed as she sat beside her husband, Walter, and the couples other son and his girlfriend.

Members of the Warbeck and Fatra families were on the opposite side of the courtroom. Two women leaned against each other and quietly sobbed as the prosecutor said the three victims died at the scene.

In the earlier case, Vanderee was issued summonses to appear in court and released on his own recognizance. His driving privileges were restored by the time of Tuesdays triple-fatal crash.

Victims family and friends attend court proceedings where Jason Vanderee was charged with three counts of aggravated manslaughter and other charges after he allegedly killed three people in Wayne, New Jersey while driving his car under the influence of drugs. He appeared before Superior Court Judge Ernest M. Caposela at the Passaic County courthouse in Paterson , N.J. Monday, February, 25, 2019 (Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for NJ.comEd Murray | NJ Advance Media for

The prosecutor said Vanderee has a significant history of recklessness, saying there were crashes in 2008, 2009 and that he received a speeding ticket in 2012.

Vanderees attorney, John Latoracca, said his client has an associates and a bachelors degree and has a work history dating back to when he was age 16.

Jason has struggled for many, many, many years with addiction, Latoracca said. Were all going to learn a lot about what happened leading up to (the crash).

Jason Vanderee in court after he was charged with three counts of aggravated manslaughter and other charges after he allegedly killed three people in Wayne, New Jersey while driving his car under the influence of drugs. He appeared before Superior Court Judge Ernest M. Caposela at the Passaic County courthouse in Paterson , N.J. Monday, February, 25, 2019 (Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for

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I was driving along in Ocean County the other day ago when I crossed some railroad tracks that had been carrying freight trains until relatively recently.

As I crossed, I noticed that some trees had sprouted between the rails.

Meanwhile the population in the area has boomed. Thousands of units of senior-citizen housing have sprung up near the route in the past few decades.

A lot of those seniors can no longer drive and would appreciate having train service. They could do so if this stretch were incorporated into the proposed Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex line. But the so-called MOM Line is being held up by two things that seem to affect every plan for train service in America.

One is a lack of funding. The other is silly objections.

The silly objection in this case is an argument that the line would use a railbed that runs through Monmouth Battlefield State Park. The time to object to that was in 1850, when the line was built.

The lack of funding is more of an obstacle. Theres only so much of it to go around. And a lot of it is being wasted on pie-in-the-sky projects such as that plan to build a 520-mile high-speed line to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The states new governor, Gavin Newsom, announced recently that the state can afford to complete only a 119-mile section in the Central Valley.

A total of $13 billion will have been spent on that link by the projected completion date of 2022. Meanwhile the cost of completing the entire project has soared from $32 billion to $75 billion or so.

Among the reasons are the aforementioned silly objections. One was a call for the construction of a 27-mile tunnel through the mountains to avoid having the trains run along a lake.

It seems the lake has fish in it. Lakes often do, but only in America would that be seen as a reason not to run a train next to it.

In a recent article on the project, the New York Times offered this comparison between that project and similar ones in other countries:

Californias High-Speed Rail Authority, which is running the project, was established 23 years ago. During that time China has built 16,000 miles of high-speed rail.

How do the Chinese do it? I put that question to Jeff Davis, who is a transit expert with the Washington-based Eno Center for Transportation.

They can send people who complain to re-education camps and re-educate them to stop complaining, Davis explained.

Were a lot more civilized about that sort of thing, he said. But that makes it tough to modernize even current rail lines, never mind starting new ones.

The big project here in the New York-New Jersey area is Gateway, which had its origins back in 1996 as a $3 billion plan to build a couple new rail tunnels under the Hudson.

But the original Access to the Regions Core plan was scrapped because of silly objections. One was a contention that building the new tunnels would require rerouting a jogging trail.

Eventually the plan morphed into the current Gateway Project, which includes so many add-ons that the price tag exceeds $30 billion. The politicians on both sides of the river say they expect the feds to pick up 50 percent of that cost. But Amtrak has lots of other priorities, Davis said.

For example, you have to rebuild this tunnel under Baltimore that was built in the Grant administration, he said.

So far our officials have adopted the same tactic that California Gov. Gavin Newsom did in that address earlier this month: Lashing out at President Trump.

First Newsom trashed Trump for declaring an emergency at the border. Then he went on to say this about the money the feds have already invested in the project: I am not interested in sending $3.5 billion in federal funding that was allocated to this project back to Donald Trump.

That started Trump on a Twitter jihad. Realistically, he probably cant get back the $2.5 billion the feds already spent. But he can certainly withhold the $929 million that the state hasnt received yet, said Davis.

Californias loss could be our gain. Davis notes that any money not spent on that project could be reallocated to project in other states.

Heres my plan: How about spending it restoring service on lines that already exist here in the most densely populated state in the union?

That $929 million is almost enough to restore service on the MOM Line as well as on the Lackawanna Cutoff in Northwest Jersey.

That would make perfect sense.

Of course, thats the reason it will never happen.
New Jerseys congressional delegation took a significant step toward dealing with an authentic national emergency last week.

Spoiler alert: It had nothing to do with walling off the marauding hordes of Honduran tots in Pampers at the Southern border.

Actually, this action demonstrated why it was critical to elect a new Congress to write the spending bills and transportation bills as we inch toward a funding solution for the Gateway Project.

Because even though President Trump is unable to acknowledge it, the condition of the Hudson River rail tunnel represents a genuine crisis, as the ghost of Superstorm Sandy continues in its baleful creep through the crumbling, 109-year-old labyrinth.

The salt water damage makes the tunnel more unstable every day, which means we are watching one-fifth of the national economy teetering in real time. Erosion, accelerated by salt and chlorides, eats away at the pitted walls and steel. Cement chips drop off and have to be removed from the track. Compacted stones on the tunnels shoulders blocks drainage. The 12,000-volt electrical cables, many past their life cycle, are fraying.

Every work shift brings a new challenge. And because these tubes are used by 200,000 riders daily, Amtrak can only do two hours of maintenance each night.

It also means that just one more nasty weather event might be catastrophic.

Youd think that Trump would recognize the potential economic consequences of such calamity  a paralyzed Northeast Corridor, a fractured business climate, lost jobs, diminished home values  but as former Assemblyman John Wisniewski used to say, He apparently skipped that class at Wharton.

So its up to our members of Congress to restart the process of getting Gateway financed, and they did it last week by adding two key elements to the bipartisan spending bill that averted a second government shutdown.

The bill contained $650 million in funding that could be used for Gateway projects  a new tunnel and the Portal Bridge replacement being the most urgent  but it also clarified that a state can use a federal loan as its share of the cost in a transportation project.

That had been Trumps most obnoxious roadblock to date. He had changed rules upheld by previous administrations, which allowed such loans to be factored into the local match for transportation funding, and as Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-7th) says, That was like the administration saying, Youve taken out a mortgage, but youre not actually paying for the house. Which is nonsense.

Malinowski, who spearheaded this Funding Fairness Act with Sen. Bob Menendez, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-11th) and others, is aware that more obstacles are coming. Well address them one by one, he says. There was the refusal to count federal loans as state contributions. Then the administration sitting on the environmental review for a year. And then, of course, theres the politics.

Indeed, if the $13.5 billion tunnel project is to advance, Congress must appropriate the federal funds, and Trump has to be convinced to sign it. But as Malinowski puts it, At least theres enough funding in the system to get started on the first piece of it.

Its hard to negotiate in this environment, given the presidents contempt for the legislative process. But this is the most urgent infrastructure project in the country, and Malinowski affirms there are quite a few Republicans on his transportation committee who agree it needs to be funded.

The alternative is unthinkable. The Regional Plan Association is days away from releasing a report that will show the grim economic impact of closing one tube for repairs without a new two-track Gateway tunnel being built  which appears to be an unavoidable scenario, one that could reduce the capacity for rush hour commutes across the Hudson by 75 percent.

Thats something for our Parliamentarians to ponder, if they ever need a reminder what a real national emergency looks like.
An Ocean County man will go to prison for nearly six years after he admitted sending child porn to another person online through the social media app Kik.

David Nelson, 44, of Toms River, was sentenced to 70 months in prison on Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Nelson was arrested in April 2018 after a separate investigation into a man who offered to abuse his daughter live online led authorities to Nelson.

Nelson admitted sending at least 26 images of child porn through the app and running multiple Kik chats where such images were shared and discussed. He also admitted that he was an administrator of multiple Kik chat rooms in which child pornography was shared and discussed.

U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson also sentenced him to five years of supervised release.

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Three Long Branch Police officers were injured in a crash Monday night while they were pursuing a suspect.

One of the officers was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center and was kept overnight for observation, Long Branch Police Chief Jason Roebuck said.

He doesnt seem too badly injured, Roebuck said. Just sore and banged up.

The other two officers were treated and released from Monmouth Medical Center, he said.

The injured officers names were not released.

Roebuck said the two police cruisers were involved in a pursuit of a suspects car when they were involved in a crash with a third, unrelated, vehicle in the area of North Lake Drive.

The pursuit was related a drug investigation, Roebuck said.

The three suspects they were pursuing fled the scene and were not caught as of 10 p.m. Monday, and while they were likely no longer in the area, people in the neighborhood were asked to lock their doors as police continued to search, he said

Residents in the area of the crash said multiple roads including nearby Greens Avenue were blocked off by police as they searched for the suspect.

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Former Port Authority executive Bill Baroni  convicted for his role in the bizarre scheme of political retribution at the George Washington Bridge that became known as Bridgegate  will be spending a little less time in prison than expected, in the wake of an appellate ruling that tossed out some of the charges against him.

Originally sentenced to two years, Baroni will now serve 18 months in prison, following a re-hearing in Newark Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton.

Baroni, tearful, expressed sorrow for his actions. But he also took aim at former Gov. Chris Christie for what happened when he and others shut down several toll lanes at the worlds busiest bridge to punish the mayor of Fort Lee in September 2013.

In the course of my career I always thought I knew the difference between right and wrong, Baroni said.

However, he told the judge that when he went to work for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and for the Christie administration, that line disappeared, in an effort to promote the interests of Christie in his re-election campaign and the governors campaign for president.

I wanted to be on the team, I wanted to please him, but I chose to get sucked into his cult and culture, he said. So by the time of this idea, to use the lanes of the George Washington Bridge to help his campaign, I no longer had that line of right and wrong to say no or to stop it. So I didnt.

The former Republican state senator called himself broken.

So much good Ive done in my life Ive destroyed. I deeply disappointed my friends, my family and my father. I am so sorry, he said, his voice wavering as he stood in Wigentons courtroom.

Despite his apologies, the judge showed little empathy. While acknowledging that Baroni has done much good in his life, Wigenton said the fact of the case have not changed despite the appellate court ruling that led to his being re-sentencing.

When you really think about it, this was just an outrageous display of an abuse of power, she said, in imposing a sentence that cut just six months off the time he will spend in prison.

Baronis co-defendant in the high-profile case, Bridget Anne Kelly, 46, a former deputy chief of staff to Christie, was not in the courtroom for the re-sentencing. She continues an appeal of her conviction before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The two one-time Christie administration insiders were both found guilty in November 2016 of plotting the shutdown of several local access lanes to the toll plaza of the George Washington Bridge in September 2013, in what the U.S. Attorneys office charged as a purely personal vendetta in connection with Christies 2013 re-election campaign for governor.

Prosecutors said the two conspired with David Wildstein, a former political operative and patronage appointee to the Port Authority, to cause massive traffic jams in Fort Lee as payback against Mayor Mark Sokolich, after the Democratic mayor walked away from an expected endorsement of Christie, a Republican, during the governors 2013 re-election campaign.

Wildstein, who admitted to masterminding the lane closure plan for political purposes, pleaded guilty and testified against Baroni and Kelly. He was sentenced to three years probation and 500 hours of community service

Christie was never accused of any wrongdoing and denied any knowledge of the scheme.

Baroni and Kelly had remained free on bail pending their appeals after they were initially sentenced in March 2017.

The convictions of the pair were for the most part left intact last November, after a three-judge appellate panel found that prosecutors presented evidence sufficient to prove that the two fraudulently obtained the labor of public employees. In a harsh rebuke, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia said there was no legitimate justification for their conduct.

However, the panel threw out a portion of the case dealing with civil rights violations against the two, which focused on whether they had violated the rights of individuals to intrastate travel. The case was then sent back to Wigentons court for re-sentencing on the lesser charges.

While attorneys for Kelly petitioned the Supreme Court to the review the case, Baroni in January opted to drop further appeals and begin serving his sentence.

Appointed by Christie to the Port Authority in 2010, Baroni served as the agencys deputy executive director. At trial, he was accused of deliberately misleading a legislative committee when he claimed to believe the bridge lane closures were part of a legitimate traffic study.

Baroni told the court he deserved prison, but asked for a sentence of one year, with half of that to be served at home. He was given a term of 18 months. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media)NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Baroni was looking for his original 24-month prison sentence to be cut by half, with half of that to be served at home.

William Baroni cannot and does not dispute that his behavior in connection with the George Washington Bridge lane realignment in September 2013 was wrongful. He understands that as a result of his conduct he must serve a meaningful term of incarceration. For several reasons, the defense respectfully proposes a sentence of six months incarceration with the balance in home confinement with a special condition for community service, enabling Bill to continue helping others, defense attorneys said in a brief to the court.

The U.S. Attorneys office, though, said in its sentencing memorandum to the court that the facts showed Baroni did more than just commit a significant fraud and misapplication of public agency property.

They show an outrageous abuse of power by a senior government official who knew better, but who so passionately wanted to serve his political master that he was willing to put peoples safety at risk, federal prosecutors said in seeking a revised sentence of at least 18 months.

The judge, in imposing sentence, declared that a message had to be sent to other politicians who might be enticed into corrupt behavior.

There is a need to communicate to the community and to the public that this type of behavior will not be accepted, Wigenton said.

No re-sentencing date has been set yet for Kelly, who continues her appeal before the Supreme Court.

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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UPDATE: Gruesome, twisted details emerge in family massacre. Mom, daughter charged with killing 5 tell cops everyone wanted to die.

A mother and her 19-year-old daughter have been charged with killing five members of their family including a woman and her twin daughters from New Jersey, authorities said.

The five were found in a bedroom of a first-floor apartment in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub. Morrisville is just across the Delaware River from Trenton.

Shana Decree, 45, and her daughter, Dominique Decree, 19, were in the first-floor apartment on the 200 block of West Bridge Street with the bodies when police entered around 4 p.m. Monday. Both were taken to a local hospital before being arraigned. Each is charged with five counts of homicide and one count of conspiracy.

Shana Decree, 45, and her 19-year-old daughter, Dominique Decree, are accused in the murders of 5 of their own family members, including 3 children, at an apartment in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, Bucks County district attorney says. Few details are known: https://t.co/MKX4s9jZ6a pic.twitter.com/g3RKSMfyDR  Tom Cleary (@tomwcleary) February 26, 2019

Two of the victims are Shana Decrees children, NaaIrah Smith, 25, and Damon Decree Jr., 13, both of Morrisville. The others are Shana Decrees sister Jamilla Campbell, 42, of Trenton, and Campbells 9-year-old twin daughters, Imani and Erika Allen, authorities said.

Authorities didnt disclose a motive or say how the five were killed. Early Tuesday, police found Campbells 17-year-old son Joshua Campbell safe, according to 6abc. Police were searching for him because they were concerned about his safety. He is not a suspect, according to Weintraub.

Police had initially checked the Robert Morris Apartments on the 200 block of West Bridge Street because neighbors hadnt seen anyone who lives there in days.

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A Rockaway Township woman has been charged with providing the heroin and fentanyl to a woman who fatally overdosed on the drugs in November, authorities said Tuesday.

Natalia E. Zyga, 30, is charged with strict liability in a drug-induced death for the overdose of Sasha J. Truesdale, the Morris County Prosecutors Office said. Zyga was previously charged with drug offenses in early December with Ryan J. Nilsen, 29, in Rockaway Borough. She remains in the Morris County jail.

Authorities found Truesdale unconscious and not breathing on Nov. 23 in Rockaway Borough. She was a 40-year-old artist and college graduate who traveled extensively, her obituary says. But she also battled addiction, her family noted in announcing her death.

Truesdale born in Morristown was raised in Rockaway and Hibernia, and was a graduate of Morris Knolls High School and Montclair State University. She worked as an analyst with New Jersey Manufacturers, and when she died as working at a Panera in Morristown.

Sashas joy in life was being an artist. She loved animals, traveling and archeology. Her passion for travel and exploration brought her to Spain, England, Belize, Jamaica, and Mexico among other places, her obituary says.

The case remains under investigation. The Major Crimes Unit of the Morris County Prosecutors Office are asking anyone with additional information to call them at 973-285-6200.

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The childhood friend charged with strangling Sarah Stern and then staging her death to make it appear as if she committed suicide was convicted Tuesday after a monthlong trial in Monmouth County.

Liam McAtasney, 21, of Neptune City, was found guilty on all counts  murder, robbery, desecration of human remains, conspiracy to desecrate human remains, tampering with evidence and hindering apprehension.

McAtasney looked straight ahead as the verdict was read, and his defense attorney, Carlos Diaz-Cobo, said his client was visibly upset but had no tears in his eyes. There is an appeal to be had here, the lawyer said.

After the guilty counts were read, members of Sterns family hugged each other and cried. Detectives on the case, including lead Detective Brian Weisbrot, shook hands and hugged.

McAtasney now faces life in prison at his sentencing May 24.

The jurys decision came one day after the panel started deliberations in Superior Court in Freehold, where prosecutors presented 25 witnesses and the defense presented just three.

The most important thing is to get justice for Sarah, her father, Michael Stern, told reporters outside the courthouse. She was a great kid. It never should have ended like this. I want to thank everybody.

First Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey said the office could not be more proud of todays result," and she commended the work of the two assistant prosecutors on the case, Christopher Decker and Meghan Doyle.

Their tireless pursuit of justice in this case was really awe-inspiring to us and were incredibly proud of their hard work, Linskey said. Theyve work long and hard on this case and its been a really long road.

The trial started with a bang Jan. 23 when the states key witness, Preston Taylor, took the stand shortly after opening statements. Taylor, who was Sterns junior prom date, testified that he removed the 19-year-olds body from her Neptune City home hours after McAtasney strangled her on Dec. 2, 2016. He admitted to helping toss her body off the Route 35 bridge in Belmar with McAtasney and leaving Sterns car with the keys inside to make it appear as if she jumped off the bridge.

Sterns body has never been found. The state presented an expert on ocean tides from Rutgers University who testified that Sterns body likely traveled 7 miles out to sea within 24 hours.

Diaz-Cobo framed his client as an immature young adult who was known to make up stories. That was the case, Diaz-Cobo said, when McAtasney got into his friend Anthony Currys car and described in chilling detail how he strangled Stern and then timed her death. The confession was captured on a secret camera placed in Currys car by detectives.

"It took me a half hour to kill her, McAtasney said in the video. I thought I was going to choke her out in a couple minutes.  She was having a seizure on the floor. I got a shirt and shoved it down her throat so she wouldnt throw up and held my finger over her nose and set a timer.

Diaz-Cobo told the jury the confession was an elaborate lie to impress Curry, a budding horror filmmaker, and that McAtasney had pitched him movie ideas in the past.

The video was played before the jury near the conclusion of the states case. Portions of it were replayed for the jury during Deckers summation. Jurors asked to rewatch the video during their deliberations. Each time it was played, it elicited strong emotions from Sterns family.

Its gut-wrenching, its hurtful, Michael Stern said of the video, after the verdict was reached. To think that someone pretending to be her friend actually did that to her without any remorse. Its painful. Its sad. Its just horrible.

Throughout the duration of the trial, Michael Stern sat in the second row of the courtroom flanked by Sarahs extended family. They wore purple shirts and purple wristbands in her honor.

The McAtasney family sat on the opposite side of the courtroom.

In the well of the courtroom, the defense table and the table where the two prosecutors sat were stacked. That made it nearly impossible to see McAtasneys face during the trial. Occasionally he would lean over and whisper in his attorneys ear.

On one day, several of McAtasneys friends sat in the courtroom and he turned to them and gave a thumbs-up after they said his name.

But on most days, he sat silently and stared ahead at Judge Richard English. The only time McAtasney spoke was to tell English that his choice was to remain silent and not testify.

The verdict puts to rest a case that took more than two years to go to trial. The trial was delayed due to pre-trial motions and hearings. McAtasney also fired his first attorney, Charles Moriarty, and hired Diaz-Cobo at the beginning of 2018.

The state presented a case that relied on circumstantial evidence, leading Diaz-Cobo to argue that there wasnt any hard proof his client committed the murder. Additionally, having no body in a case raises reasonable doubt on its own, Diaz-Cobo argued.

McAtasneys fingerprints were never found on anything, Diaz-Cobo said. McAtasney stated during his taped confession to Curry that Stern urinated herself, but Diaz-Cobo made it a point to question each investigator on whether any urine was found anywhere at the scene. The answer from the lead detective on the case was no.

But the state was able to present evidence corroborating much of what McAtasney told Curry. McAtasney said the money he stole -- approximately $10,000 -- was old and looked like it was from the 1980s. Prosecutors showed the jury the cash that was recovered in a buried safe on Sandy Hook that Taylor led them to.

A detective, John Sosdian, testified that McAtasney accessed the stopwatch app on his cellphone around 4:15 Dec. 2, 2016.

The state, however, mainly rested its case on the back of Taylor, McAtasneys admitted accomplice. Taylor, 21, pleaded guilty to six charges involving robbery and the treatment of human remains and agreed to testify against his friend and former roommate. He will likely get 20 years in prison at his sentencing on May 24.

Preston Taylor is pictured on the witness stand. The murder trial of Liam McAtasney (not pictured) entered its second day at the Monmouth County Courthouse in Freehold, NJ, on Thursday, January 24, 2019. He is charged with the murder of Sarah Stern.Russ DeSantis | For NJ Advance M

Taylor described in detail on the witness stand how the plan to rob Stern took shape after she found a shoebox full of cash left by her late mother in a family home in Avon-by-the-Sea. McAtasney was with Stern when she found the cash, Taylor said.

McAtasney thought there was much as $100,000 in the shoebox, according to Taylor.

At first we started discussing the fact that it was a lot of money, what we would do if we had that type of money, Taylor said. And then the conversation evolved into, Well, what if we did have that type of money,' specifically her money. That was when the idea to rob her came about."

McAtasney, in a later conversation at the bar where Taylor worked, then made a shocking statement, according to the latters testimony: It was the type of money that someone would kill for."

McAtasney was the last person to be seen with Stern on Dec. 2, 2016. A neighbor, Carly Draper, testified that on that day, McAtasney was helping Stern move boxes and that the two came to her home. Draper said Stern and McAtasney talked about the possibility of moving together to Canada. Stern, an aspiring artist and a fan of internet celebrities, had friends in Canada and loved it up there, her family said.

However, Taylor said the talk of moving to Canada between Stern and McAtasney was a way to get Stern to withdraw some of her newfound fortune from a safe deposit box at the Kearny Bank in Bradley Beach. Prosecutors played surveillance footage of Stern at the bank on Dec. 2, 2016, accessing her box.

Taylor also said McAtasney, who was waiting in the car while Stern was inside the bank, told him then he was going to take her out.

After the robbery occurred, Taylor and McAtasney buried two safes: one in Shark River Park in Wall and another on Sandy Hook. Taylor took detectives to both sites where they found the safes. One safe, recovered from Sandy Hook, contained proceeds from the robbery. The other safe in Shark River Park had nothing in it, but it was the same safe where Stern kept some of the cash inside her room.

The trial was thrown into chaos after two jurors were dismissed following a Facebook comment one of them posted about sitting on the jury.

The case will reach a national audience when specials air on both 20/20 and Dateline.

Michael Stern told reporters after the verdict that hes looking forward to getting some sleep.

Justice was served, he said. Sarahs up in heaven. Shes an angel, and she didnt have a mean bone in her body.

I dont understand what the fight was," Stern said of McAtasney. He should have just pled guilty in the beginning and this would have been over with two years ago.

Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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A jury in Mercer County on Monday convicted a Trenton man of murder and related charges for shooting a man not far from the barbershop whered he worked for several years.

Zaire Smith, 24, now faces decades in prison for killing Rasheen Jones in July 2013 during a robbery on East Stuyvesant Avenue in the citys West Ward.

Jones was 31 and had worked for years as a barber at Masons on Pennington Avenue in North Trenton.

A jury acquitted Smith of a murder charge, but convicted him of felony murder and five other crimes relating to the shooting, including robbery and firearm possession, the Mercer County Prosecutors Office said. Assistant Prosecutor Jim Scott was the lead attorney.

Also charged in the robbery and killing was Knovell Desmond, 27, who pleaded guilty to a robbery charge a few years ago in a plea deal with prosecutors.

Prosecutors had previously offered Smith a 25-year prison term if he pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter, but he turned it down.

Police and prosecutors have said Jones, a father of two, was followed into a shop on Prospect Street by Smith and Desmond, and then followed him out too, and moments later ran after him and another male, stopping them with Desmond pulled a handgun.

Desmond then handed the gun to Smith, who was 18 at the time, and the teen shot Jones in the head. He died on the street.

Desmond and Smith remain in the Mercer County jail, Smith for sentencing n April, and Desmond for transfer to the state prison system.

Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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 Flash

In preparation of an investment summit scheduled for late March in Kathmandu, the Nepalese embassy in Beijing hosted a pre-summit conference on Monday, briefing Chinese enterprises investment opportunities in the south Asian country.

In 2017, China was Nepal's largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI), second largest trade partner, and second largest source country for tourists to Nepal, according to Leela Mani Paudyal, Nepalese ambassador in China.

The ambassador spoke about Nepal's "untapped natural, cultural and human resources," and invited Chinese businesses to invest in the country.

Maha Prasad Adhikari, CEO of the Investment Board of Nepal, provided more details on the investment needs and opportunities in the country. He listed 10 fields as priority sectors for investment: agriculture, banking and finance, education, energy, health, information and communications technology, manufacturing, mines and minerals, tourism, and transportation.

According to Adhikari, Nepal needs to increase the investment in infrastructure from the current 3 to 4 percent of GDP to around 12 percent in order to become a middle-income country by 2030, and it needs annual investments of US$17 billion to meet its sustainable development goals by that year.

He mentioned in particular the government's targets in the next decade: 2,000 kilometers of railways, 2,000 kilometers of paved roads, five international airports, 15,000 megawatts of energy, and 5 million tourists.

Investment in Nepal from the Chinese mainland reached US$493 million from 2017 to 2018, as compared to US$63 million from India, the second largest FDI source.

The upcoming investment summit will be held in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu from March 29 to 30 and is expected to attract some 400 foreign participants.
Ferocious winds that began Sunday night and continued Monday ripped off part of the roof of a closed Catholic school in Harrison, resulting in road closures around the building.

The Harrison Fire Department responded to Holy Cross School at 15 Frank E. Rodgers Boulevard South early Monday morning after an officer who was on patrol noticed debris around 3:00 a.m. hanging from the schools roof that appeared to be unstable, Harrison Police Lt. David Doyle said.

Firefighters determined that the roof sustained significant wind damage and appeared to be in danger of collapse, with debris blowing from the flat rubber/tar roof to the sidewalks and around the general area of the school building, Doyle added.

The area of Frank E. Rodgers Boulevard South between Harrison and Jersey Avenue was closed from early morning until about 5:30 p.m. Monday, when the roof was finally secured. The pedestrian sidewalk on the west side of Frank E. Rodgers Boulevard South between Harrison and Jersey will remain closed for safety, Doyle added.

The Archdiocese of Newark, which owns the former Holy Cross School building, said they hired a crew to secure the building. The roof was secured using security bars, tarps and sandbags, according to Doyle, who added the crew determined the building was structurally sound despite the roof damage.

All I saw by the time (I) came out here was tar pieces blowing around, said one crossing guard as she stood at the corner of Frank E. Rodgers Boulevard and Harrison Avenue. I didnt see anything major. Doesnt mean there wasnt any.

No injuries were reported, Doyle said.

According to the National Weather Service, Harrison saw wind gusts of up to 55 mph on Monday. The whipping winds are expected to blow west 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 50 mph in Hudson County and the surrounding areas until 9 p.m., according to the NWS.

But Harrison wasnt the only place in Hudson County that saw wind-related damage.

Its bad today, said Frank Sangastiano, a member of the maintenance crew at Stephen R. Gregg Park in Bayonne.

When Sangastiano began his shift Monday at 6:30 a.m., he immediately saw four trees had been knocked down in the uptown park. The trees got blown down, some big ones, last night.

It (the wind) blows over the garbage cans and ... the paper all around so it makes a mess of everything. If you clean it up, youre back to square one with the wind, he said, chuckling.

Bayonne police said the high winds also dislodged scaffolding from a structure on 22nd Street. While the scaffolding did not collapse, law enforcement had to close down 22nd Street between Prospect Avenue and Avenue E while the scaffolding was secured.

In Hoboken, meanwhile, the winds appeared to bring down the awning of the Society of Madonna dei Martiri building at Fourth and Adams streets.

Rick Eira of Harrison, who attended Holy Cross School before it closed in 2009, said he still prefers the blustery conditions of Monday to, say, the arctic conditions of the polar vortex from earlier this winter.

This is nothing compared to the ice. This is way better than the ice, Eira noted. Pretty soon Im going to go to work in Jersey City, and I have to cope with it."

Eira added that he wasnt surprised to hear about the schools roof being damaged in the wind.

That building is so old, Eira said.
A New Jersey man who had three Social Security numbers for more than two decades admitted he used them to defraud the government out of of $221,364, authorities said Monday.

Fernando Solaris, 63, of Newark, pleaded guilty to one count each of Social Security disability fraud and theft of government property, the U.S. Attorneys Office for New Jersey said in a statement. Solaris, who slightly altered his name when he applied for the second and third social security numbers, faces up to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced June 4.

The fraud began in 2002 and lasted until 2015 as he used one of the Social Security numbers to collect disability benefits, claiming he was physically unable to work because of pain in his back and left leg, court papers said. Solaris, however, continued to work using the other two numbers, authorities said.

On two separate occasions during that time span, Solaris used one one of the other numbers to also collect unemployment. Separately, Solaris wife also used one of the numbers to apply for and receive more than $21,000 in spousal benefits between 2009 and 2015, officials said.

Solaris, who arrived in the United States in 1970 from Uruguay, obtained his first Social Security number in 1973. He secured additional Social Security numbers in 1984 and 1989 using slight variations in his name, according to court papers.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys Office declined to say how Solaris was caught.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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A Newark police officer who shot and killed a man, and wounded another, during a car chase Jan. 28 has been suspended without pay after authorities have said his actions that night might rise to the level of criminal charges.

Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens II said his office is investigating and will leave it to a grand jury to consider whether the unnamed officer should be charged.

The investigation is active and ongoing, but the evidence gathered, so far, raises serious questions about the officers conduct," Stephens said in a statement Tuesday.

His release came two hours after Newark Public Safety Director Anthony F. Ambrose announced he had decided to suspend the officer without pay.

We have concerns about this shooting and will cooperate fully with the Essex County Prosecutors investigation, Ambrose said. All of the body and dashboard camera recordings have been handed over to prosecutor.

Neither the prosecutors office nor Newark police have released the officers name, but Ambrose said he has been on the force for 18 months.

The officer fired on the car during a chase in three separate locations, shooting both the driver, Greg C. Griffin, who died, and the passenger, Andrew Dixon, Ambrose said in a release Tuesday.

While shooting at a moving vehicle is not prohibited, the New Jersey Attorney Generals guidelines on use of force notes that shooting at a driver is generally not a good way to stop a moving vehicle and poses an even greater risk of death or serious injury to innocent persons than most other shootings.

James Stewart Jr., president of the Newark FOP, said it is extremely disappointing that the city would suspend the officer before the investigation is complete.

The incident began around 11:15 p.m. Jan. 28 when an officer tried to stop a car at Thomas Street and Pennsylvania Avenue and saw a firearm inside. The car drove off and the officer gave chase

Authorities did not say if the officer who tried to stop the vehicle was the one who fired on it at three locations during the chase. The car came to a stop at Irvine Turner Boulevard and West Kinney Street, and Griffin and Dixon were rushed to University Hospital for treatment. A loaded handgun was recovered from the car, authorities said.

Griffin, 46, of Newark, died at the hospital. Dixon, 34, also of Newark, was also shot and was initially in critical condition. His condition was later upgraded to stable, the release said.

Dixon is charged with possessing the gun, Newark police said.

The attorney generals use of force guidelines say officers should only fire on moving vehicles unless there are no other options and there is an imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm to the officer or another person.

The safety of innocent people is jeopardized when a fleeing suspect is disabled and loses control of his or her vehicle," the guidelines say. "There is also a substantial risk of harm to occupants of the suspect vehicle who may not be involved, or involved to a lesser extent, in the actions which necessitated the use of deadly force.

Stewart slammed the police department for suspending the officer, saying that Dixon and Griffin never ditched the gun during the two-mile chase, suggesting they were intending to use it.

He said the officer has had a phenomenal start to a career" by taking eight guns off the street in his time on the force. The suspension, Stewart said, has left the officer wondering where his next paycheck is coming from, and how he is going to feed his children, or pay his mortgage.

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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A 73-year-old man will face two federal charges of robbery in heists at two Bergen County banks, authorities said Monday.

John Nottingham was arrested without incident Feb. 15 in a ShopRite in Englewoods Palisades Court, according to city police Capt. Tim Torell.

Police and FBI investigators said that on Oct. 20, 2018, Nottingham robbed a Valley National Bank in Hackensack of $10,000 cash.

After an investigation, police identified Nottingham as their suspect, but they were unable to find him. They filed state and federal arrest warrants charging him with armed robbery and weapons possession, Torell said.

John Nottingham, 73,

On Feb. 2, Nottingham robbed a Bank of America in Englewood of nearly $3,000, Torell said. Security camera video of a suspect walking toward the bank was released by Englewood police and a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest was offered. The video prompted a tip that led them to the Englewood supermarket, where Nottingham was taken into custody, Torell said.

Torell said Nottingham was an Englewood resident but had been living on and off in a hotel room in South Hackensack.

FBI and police reported finding $1,500 in cash in the room taken during the Englewood robbery.

Nottingham faced a federal judge in Newark and was ordered held pending trial, Torell said.

According to public records, Nottingham was convicted in 2005 in Passaic County on a weapons charge and served time in South Woods State Prison.

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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A former town councilman and EMS volunteer who worked at a Bergen County daycare center was charged with possessing child pornography, officials said Monday.

Charles Chuck Jandris surrendered to authorities Friday after a months-long investigation revealed the 53-year-old used the internet to view and possess digital files depicting nude and sexually explicit prepubescent children, according to the Bergen County Prosecutors Office.

In September 2018, investigators received information that Jandris accessed the illegal files, Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Dennis Calo said in a statement.

Jandris, of Mahwah, worked as a childrens daycare finance director, the prosecutors office said. He is listed as a staffer with the Childrens Learning Center of Mahwah.

Our Director of Finance, Chuck Jandris, is a volunteer EMT for Mahwah EMS, and is a firm believer in a safe, secure and healthy environment for everyone. He is on call, literally every day, for our entire CLC family, the centers website states. A LinkedIn account also lists Jandris as a finance director with CLC.

News of the charges spread to the centers Yelp page, where one online reviewer posted Sunday of being sick to my stomach, about the allegations. The centers page lists Jandris as an owner.

Calls and emails to the center were not immediately answered Monday night.

Jandris was appointed to a seat on the Mahwah town council in April 2011, elected to the governing body in November of the same year, but did not run again in 2014, The Record reported. Jandris also served as a captain with the towns emergency medical services squad.

Mahwah Emergency Medical Services is saddened by the recent charges brought against former member Charles Jandris," William Finizio, an attorney for the organization, said in an email Tuesday.

"While the charges are unfortunate, there is no indication that any alleged illegal or inappropriate activity was conducted in his capacity as a member of Mahwah EMS. Mr. Jandris has not been a member of Mahwah EMS since in or about August of 2018. he added.

Records show Jandris was released from the Bergen County Jail Friday ahead of a March 13 court hearing. It was not clear if he had a lawyer.

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The Dark Side of the Japanese Internet

From dating apps to social media, the Internet has created new ways for people to connect. However, in Japan cases of young women seeking financial support from older men in exchange for companionship illustrate the risks of trusting strangers online.

Paying for Companionship

The term papakatsu has recently joined the Japanese lexicon. It refers to young women seeking out on social media and dating apps older men who are willing to shower them with gifts. Although similar to the idea of sugar dating familiar in Western countries, the Japanese expression generally implies a platonic relationshipmeals, shopping, movies, but no sex. The practice was even the focus of a 2017 smash-hit online drama series about the development of one such relationship that was later picked up by major broadcaster Fuji Television.

The trend in compensated dating has spawned a slew of online services. Most attract women with boasts of male userbases filled with high income earners and prestige careers like doctors and government administrators; promises of nonsexual relations and hints that users can make hundreds of thousands of yen per month are also popular lures. Compensated dating, even by minors, is not in itself illegal as long as it is nonsexual. But despite site operators assurance that companionship comes with no physical strings attached, experts warn that such businesses risk becoming hotbeds of child prostitution and other crimes.

Seventeen-year-old high-school student Satomi (not her real name) is among a growing group of young women involved in papakatsu. Standing just over five feet tall with long black hair, she projects innocence and purity. She uses Twitter and friend-making apps to find dates, writing in her profile that she is open to sugar daddies. She is currently dating several men regularly, all full-time company employees, the youngest in his twenties and oldest in his fifties.

Satomi asserts that money is not her main objective, insisting instead that she simply has an interest in older men. She charges 5,000 per hour for a date in a cafe or restaurant. She has a strict policy against sex and meeting in hotels, so men looking for a date with a sexual component have to look elsewhere. However, for those merely wanting a few hours of companionship, Satomis rate is less expensive than options like a club-sanctioned date with a cabaret hostess.

Satomi says she started compensated dating about a year ago after a person approached her on Twitter. All I do is have coffee and listen, she explains. I just nod and smile at whatever boring things the men are going on about, but they say that talking to me is soothing.

Although people are free to take part in compensated dating as they see fit, the public generally views the practice as distasteful. This was illustrated when the governor of Niigata Prefecture resigned in disgrace in April 2018 after Japanese tabloids reported that he was involved in compensated dating with women he had met online.

A Shifting Industry

The business of bringing people of the opposite sex together predates the rise of the Internet. The Japanese phrase for compensated dating, enjokosai, is even said to date from the 1970s and was coined as a coy way to describe married women engaged in prostitution. To meet customers, women registered for services known as dating clubs or lover clubs. After an initial interview, women could list their names free of charge on club registers that male clients then perused in search of dates. Men were screened for income, paid a registration fee, and were also expected to cover date expenses, but the clubs themselves only made the introductions, leaving what happened next up to the two parties involved. Women who graduated from a well-known womens school or were models or flight attendants were almost guaranteed a steady stream of introductions.

Dating clubs eventually gave way to telephone clubs that required no advance registration and could be used by anyone. Men simply walked into an establishment, positioned themselves before a telephone assigned to them by a staff member, and waited for women to call into the club.

The first such shop is said to have opened in Kabukicho, Tokyos red-light district, in 1985. Telephone clubs offered greater anonymity than dating clubs and attracted a wider variety of customers. However, they drew public ire and were soon targeted by local ordinances that restricted where they could operate.





The industry evolved further when Japans communication giant NTT launched its Dengon Dial phone message service in 1986, followed by its premium-rate telephone number service Dial Q2 in 1989. Dating and telephone club operators quickly adopted these new technologies to create what were called two-shot dial services that connected people anonymously by phonemen paid 100 per minute to call into a premium-rate number while women dialed a toll-free line. The services were transformative by eliminating the need for users to visit shops and came to be used in particular by younger people.

A profusion of lines sprung up, including those for people who wanted to arrange dates and others who were merely interested in phone sex. However, news of staggering telephone bills and compensated dating masking child prostitution became cause for public concern, and authorities took steps to rein in these services.

Hook-Up Sites and Crimes of Passion

When the Internet began to take off in the mid-1990s, these businesses grew into so-called hookup sites that enabled perfect strangers to easily connect for trysts and other purposes. In 2001 there were several high-profile crimes linked to such sites, the first a disturbing story of a high school student who attempted to stab to deathallegedly at her requesta housewife he had met online. This was followed by the shocking murder of a female university student in Kyoto by a man she had been exchanging emails with.

The incidents resulted in authorities passing new regulations in 2003 banning people under the age of 18 from accessing hookup sites. But the arrival of social networks like Mixi and Gree the following year made meeting people online easier than ever before. Social media platforms became dating spaces accessible to any user, and direct messaging served as a ready means for any number of sordid purposes, including making unprompted sexual advances or negotiating the terms of compensated dating.

By the time sites began restricting direct messaging functions, smartphones had already started to replace platforms like Mixi and Gree. User could easily access apps like Twitter, Facebook, and Line from the new mobile devices, and hookup businesses quickly found ways to tap into these new modes of communicating.

The National Police Agency in 2017 recorded 1,813 cases in which minors under the age of 18 were victims of obscene acts or prostitution arranged through apps or on social media platforms. This was more than double the number of incidents in 2008, the first year NPA began keeping these statistics.

Professional Sex Work in Disguise

Toward the end of the first decade of the 2000s, compensated dating and delivery health, a Japanese-English term for outcall sex work in hotel rooms rented by clients rather than a fixed location, had morphed into a veiled form of professional sex work known as en-deri.

On the surface the interactions are the same as any other compensated dating arrangement, with women posting profiles on hookup sites. However, when a male client contacts a person to arrange a date, they are unwittingly interacting with a male dispatcher who in the online character of a woman negotiates details like meeting place and payment before sending a call girl. Perpetrators of such operations exploit the ease of registering on hookup sites, and even if discovered, effortlessly disappear, only to pop up again under a different profile. Subsequently, prostitution rings are increasingly turning to dating sites to sell their services.

Such a scheme played a part in a 2013 murder of a 16-year-old female vocational college student in Hiroshima Prefecture. In the case, a group of youths kidnapped the victim following a spat on messaging app Line, took her to a remote area where they tortured and murdered her. Six of the seven people arrested for the crime were minors, including three youths, one an en-deri sex worker, who lived in the same apartment as the victim. Reports indicated that a disagreement over the distribution of money earned from prostitution contributed to the event.

Hashtag Hookups

Todays hookup industry is more accessible than ever. However, the dark side of such openness was brought home by a recent case of nine dismembered bodies discovered in an apartment in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture. The grisly incident brought particular attention to Twitters hashtag function, which the killer used to meet his victims.

By adding hashtags to terms like papakatsu, compensated dating, and hookup, Twitter users can turn the platform into a dating site. Once connected, parties can switch to the direct message function to negotiate terms of the rendezvous. Twitter is not alone, of course. There are all sorts of way users can find one another on social media, including various message boards, specialized sites, and even apps like Himabu, a chat service for students popular among middle- and high-schoolers.

The police are not passively standing by, though, and have been bolstering their ability to monitor online activity. Officers have even taken to messaging accounts that hint at compensated dating, arranging meetings to warm the person of the dangers of their actions. Aichi prefectural police recently launched a program in which volunteer college students send warning messages to minors found looking to hookup on social media with the goal of preventing compensated dating by encouraging the impression that the police are watching.

However, every time a new service appears on the Internet, people find a way to use it to run hookup schemes, prompting a new slew of regulations. The endless game of cat-and-mouse is driven by human desire itself, and will continue to exploit new realms as online society evolves.

(Originally published in Japanese on January 18, 2019. Reporting and text by Shibui Tetsuya; editing by Power News. Banner photo  Graphs/PIXTA.)
Candace A. Frerk, age 72 of the Town of Tonawanda, and formerly of Niagara Falls, unexpectedly on June 22, 2021 at her residence. Candace was a former member of St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church in Niagara Falls. She was a long time member of Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church, where s
ANSONIA  Construction is expected to begin early this summer on the next phase of the popular Ansonia Riverwalk.

The Planning and Zoning Commission this week unanimously approved plans for the latest Riverwalk expansion, dubbed Segments 3 and 4.

Engineer Terry Gallagher from DeCarlo & Doll, which is serving as project manager, presented plans to the commission during its monthly meeting Monday.

This next phase of the expansion will feature, in part, construction of the Valleys own lighthouse perched atop a levy on the Naugatuck River.

While Gallagher said the lighthouse has yet to be approved by the Army Corps of Engineers, OMalley said the Riverwalk will get its lighthouse.

The mayor told me to get it done, so we will work through any issues, OMalley said. We may have to possibly move the location, but we will have one. The engineers will figure it out.

Gallagher said Segments 3 and 4 will comprise a paved, half-mile path, about 10 feet wide, with timber rails on each side. The path will run from behind the Target parking lot on Main Street to the back of other businesses on Chestnut Street and Healey Drive and come back out to Main Street, all along the Naugatuck River.

The project also will feature benches along the path, gateway elements with signage and decorative walls and historic plaques. A circular plaza/observation platform also is planned to take advantage of the river views, Gallagher added.

Its really going to be a nice addition to downtown Ansonia, said Gallagher.

Cassetti previously said the latest expansion will enable people to have a roundtrip ticket that will loop walkers, joggers and bicyclists from the Division Street starting point, through downtown, up Main Street south, past our planned Charger Point Lighthouse, continuing over another Naugatuck River levy and ending back at Division Street for a healthy three-mile excursion.

Segments 3 and 4 are slated to cost about $1.4 million. The project falls under the Transportation Alternatives Program, and includes funding from the Federal Highway Administration, Connecticut Department of Transportation and Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments.

OMalley is excited to see yet another phase of the Riverwalk nearing construction.

A healthy, vibrant community provides amenities and recreational opportunities for its residents, she said. Mayor Cassetti firmly believes in providing these opportunities and we were fortunate to secure the funding to continue our Riverwalk. Ansonia is one of very few communities who are working on and will make the connection to communities on two borders.

Ansonias main entrance to the Riverwalk on Division Street is located directly across from Derbys popular greenway. Cassetti wants to see the citys Riverwalk connect to Seymour, which also has a greenway in place, and ultimately all the way to Torringtons greenway.

jean.sos@snet.net
ANSONIA  The city is considering giving delinquent taxpayers the boot if they dont pay their motor vehicles taxes.

According to Mayor David Cassetti, the city wants to be more aggressive in boosting its annual collection rate for motor vehicle taxes. Thats why hes looking into inking a contract between the city, TaxServ Capital Services LLC and VioAlert Systems LLC, the West Haven company that places a boot on cars, immobilizing them in place with a wheel-locking device.

Ansonia currently uses TaxServ as its debt collector for delinquent motor vehicle taxes.

Not only would the city stand to recoup a considerable amount of delinquent motor vehicle taxes  some $750,0000  if it implements the program, but it wouldnt cost the city a dime. All fees and program costs would be paid for by the scofflaws, according to Cassetti.

Economic Development Director Sheila OMalley said the program has proven to be successful in several area municipalities including Bridgeport, Danbury, Waterbury and West Haven.

Motor vehicle taxes are the most difficult to collect because it is difficult to track license plates and some people are registered in other towns and cities and are living here, said OMalley. This system can identify through plates and registration and locate the vehicles.

OMalley said City Tax Collector Johanna Figueroa has been very aggressive searching for any and all tools to increase the overall (collection) rate of the office.

Figueroa said Tuesday she just ran a report for the 2017 grand list for regular motor vehicles, and said the collection rate is at 83 percent, leaving $577,454 in uncollected taxes. The 2017 supplemental motor vehicle tax collection rate is 68 percent, she said, with nearly $170,000 remaining in uncollected taxes.

The tax office has sent delinquent notices as well as demand notices requesting payment, she said. TaxServ, on behalf of the Tax Office and authorized by me, mailed out tax warrants to further collect delinquencies. The tax warrants did help but only for those unpaid taxes that were several years old.

Figueroa added that in a small city such as Ansonia, motor vehicle taxes are higher in number than real estate and business property taxes combined.

More efforts need to be taken for the current grand list, and the boot would be effective, she said. This tool to collect is to be fair across the board for those who make the effort to pay their liability.

TaxServ Capital Services of Hartford is the vendor that would administer the boot program for Ansonia in cooperation with VioAlert Systems.

Through the program, vans equipped with license plate recognition devices drive around the city, scanning for plates listed in the citys delinquent tax database. A metal immobilizer is then placed on the wheel of any vehicle with delinquent taxes. A notice is placed on the vehicle with instructions on how pay to pay the outstanding taxes and have the boot removed. Once the taxes are paid, the boot typically is removed within an hour.

Cassetti said an informational meeting with TaxServ and the Board of Aldermen to discuss the program and potentially approve an agreement will be scheduled in the near future.

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Jeenah Moon / Bloomberg

MILFORD - A 22-year-old New Haven man has been arrested for allegedly stealing more than $1,800 worth of merchandise from a Victorias Secret store.

Police said Stephen Blackshear was arrested on a warrant charging him with taking the merchandise without paying for it on Nov. 19, 2018.
 Flash

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday endorsed the United States reversal on keeping a small proportion of U.S. troops in Syria after the planned pullout.

"On the U.S. decision, I can only but welcome this choice ... The U.S. decision is a good thing," Macron told reporters.

"That responds to the need to stay with the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces, an Arab-Kurdish alliance) and those who, on the ground, have worked to fight against the Islamic State," he said.

Macron also pledged to "continue to operate in the region within the coalition".

Last Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said a small fraction of U.S. forces would remain in Syria with troops from other countries.

According to U.S. media reports, citing a senior administration official, the U.S. would keep about 400 troops in two different regions of Syria.

In December 2018, Trump decided to pull out about 2,000 troops from the Arab country, saying that the terrorist cell has been defeated.

Despite Washington's decision, Macron, on Jan. 17, said France would carry out its military offensive against the Islamic State fighters in Syria this year. He, then, warned that "any rush to withdraw (troops) would be a mistake".

France was one of the first European countries to join the international coalition against the IS. Its fighter jets bombed the group in Iraq in 2014 and then IS targets in Syria a year later.

Around 1,000 French troops including special forces have been based in the north of the country, and deployed alongside local Kurdish and Arab forces.




The decision by Quinnipiac University President Judy Olian to shutter AM1220 WQUN appears final with no recourse or room for petitions or appeals. It is absolute.

But before the station falls silent on May 31, there are a few things you may want to know as a matter of record.

Radio is not dead. In fact, a recent Nielsen survey confirmed that AM/FM radio is Americas top reach medium, giving it mass appeal among diverse audiences  across generations, ethnicities and demographic. (How America Listens: The American Audio Landscape, Nielsen Insights, May 2018).

For over 20 years, WQUN has trained generations of students in the timeless arts of media production and management. One of those core talents that interns mastered at the station was good writing. Can we not agree that good writing, particularly in radio where words must convey images and action, is a special skill that is prized in any industry? Perhaps this is why Quinnipiacs campus station, WQAQ, currently has more than 60 student-run radio shows that air each week.

Since its founding in 1997, WQUN has evolved into a successful broadcasting enterprise with a loyal audience that extends well beyond the Hamden-North Haven-New Haven corridor to the Connecticut shoreline. The special partnership that made this possible required the station to cover operating expenses through advertising sales, which they have done unfailingly, and the university to underwrite salaries and nonoperational costs. It is a unique relationship that demands patience, care and trust.

The small, dedicated AM1220 team has pioneered a market-tested formula that blends hyper-local news with classical pop and public-affairs programming. It is a team of women and men with over a century of experience and achievements to match, as evidenced by the letters and plaques that hang on the studios walls. Their tireless and selfless service to the students they train (including four this semester) and the communities they serve has brought recognition and honor to the University.

At its very core, AM1220 WQUN has functioned as a virtual town square providing a platform and a voice to many who had neither. It is the quintessential American experiment in equal access and freedom of expression.

In a time of pervasive national division and derision, WQUN should not be viewed as a financial burden, but a social necessity. Leading by sacrifice and example is precisely how Quinnipiac may realize, in part, its vision of becoming a national leader in the education of undergraduate and graduate students [by] transforming passion into impact.

A few years ago, The Washington Post adopted as their slogan Democracy Dies in Darkness. But democracy can also die in broad daylight and in a place you would least expect  a university.

Lew Nescott Jr., of Hamden, is founder of Noessis Political Risk Consultants and past sponsor of Friday Morning Marketplace with the Hamden Regional Chamber of Commerce on AM1220 WQUN. He is currently on assignment in Washington, D.C.
Chinese economy is being transformed. After the rapid growth seen at the turn of the century, it is now rising in value. As the opening-up process continues apace, the government is offering big incentives to foreign enterprises to increase their stakes in China's mainland market.



Most importantly, a new foreign investment law (FIL) is on the cards.

The new law is a replacement of three older ones covering investments from abroad. Ready to be reviewed at the upcoming plenary session of the 13th National People's Congress in March, the new law will focus on equity and non-equity joint ventures and foreign-owned commercial entities among others.

This comes at a time when several multinationals are bidding to expand their share of the Chinese market. Leading enterprises who announced fresh large investments last year include Germany's BMW AG and BASF SE, along with Exxon-Mobil Corp. and Tesla from the United States.

The new law will enhance market accessibility and add further protection to FDI, which is expected to rise significantly in 2019 beyond last year's US$135 billion.

Growing investor confidence, coupled with the transparency in the financial environment, is expected to spur greater economic activity and induce a surge in business collaborations.



In this regard, an important concern has been addressed. The new law explicitly forbids the use of administrative methods by officials to force technology transfers from abroad. Instead, it encourages voluntary cooperation by investors based on fair settlement principles, while guaranteeing protection of their intellectual property rights.

As a further incentive, foreign companies are being treated equally with their Chinese counterparts, with fewer bureaucratic hurdles and less hassle. They will now be regulated by the same laws applying to the establishment and expansion of domestic companies.

One exception, however, is the negative list. As maintained by many countries, the list is a set of industries where foreign investment remains restricted. Although it has been shrinking through frequent revisions, the Chinese list still identifies 48 such sectors; but there are less restrictions for the pilot Free Trade Zones (FTZs) now testing the waters.

Thus, a fairer rules-based environment is being built conforming to international norms while still considering local conditions. Anti-monopoly measures are being stepped up for domesticforeign mergers and a more efficient mechanism for reporting investment information is being introduced.

Another benefit of the law is its contribution to the high-quality development of China. After rising rapidly, the country's economy is moving towards a sustainable capacity. The trend, incorrectly interpreted as a "slowdown" abroad, is actually a strengthening of the economy's resilience and giving it more room to maneuver.

Before the law can be implemented, however, a comprehensive feedback structure is in place to ensure the valid concerns of stakeholders are considered. The draft was opened for comments of foreign companies and foreign chambers of commerce. Although there is a possibility that some cooperative ventures will need to reorganize their structures to meet the new requirements, the overall response has been positive so far.

The impact of the new law should become more apparent by assessing the outcomes of some upcoming activities.

First is the China International Import Expo scheduled to be held early November. The expo debuted last year and achieved deals worth over US$57 billion. This year, potential investors will have a facilitative cover of the new law.



Second is a push by the Ministry of Commerce to lower or remove managerial barriers in the pilot FTZs. Hainan FTZ is being promoted to attract additional capital, whereas Shanghai FTZ is being expanded with further liberalization of its investment atmosphere. The law will make it convenient for companies planning to enter the Chinese market through these zones.

It is obvious that China's legislative system is not stagnant, and that government is constantly seeking to adjust its policies to promote its economy in a global setting, which is a great encouragement for all those thinking of investing in China's mainland market.

Daniel Hyatt is a Pakistan-based freelance journalist and commentator on modern China.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, 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.
GUILFORD  For many, Harriet Beecher Stowe  the Connecticut-bred woman behind the book Uncle Toms Cabin represents one of the countrys most famous abolitionists.

But Dennis Culliton, the Guilford history teacher behind the Witness Stones project, wants to illuminate another, largely untold piece of Stowes history: though Stowe and her like-minded relatives seem seemed to form the epitome of an enlightened New England family, they also benefited from slavery, a reality common throughout the region.

In a March 7 presentaton at the Guilford Free Library, Culliton and Beth Burgess, collections manager of the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, will use archival evidence to illustrate this lesser-known story.

Culliton emphasized Stowes story  which features her maternal relatives hometown of Guilford  forms only a small piece of the puzzle, one he hopes will contribute to a larger conversation about the Norths complicity in slavery.

With that bigger picture in mind, Culliton plans a second event later this spring as a follow-up to his presentation: a discussion with Jenifer Frank and Anne Farrow, co-authors of Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from the Slave Trade.

Looking at messy and muddy history

According to the Harriet Beecher Stowe Centers website, Stowe is thought to have helped precipitate the abolition of slavery by writing about its realities in her novel Uncle Toms Cabin, which reached a global audience.

While Culliton said he does not seek to diminish Stowes work, he does want to tell a fuller story about her life and background. A long-standing but incorrect narrative about Stowe, for example, tells that as a Litchfield native, she was first exposed to slaverys horrors during temporary residence in Ohio, he said.

In reality, Culliton said, archival evidence shows Stowe was exposed to slavery as a child in Connecticut, before her time in southern states. Stowes attitudes toward slavery evolved throughout her lifetime, Burgess added.

Changes in Stowes attitudes manifest in her writing, Burgess said, pointing to a chapter in Uncle Toms Cabin that pertains to Liberia, where Stowe expressed support for the idea that, instead of living as members of a free and equal society in the U.S., slaves might be better off returning to Africa. Some years later, editorials in which Stowe urged Lincoln to end slavery immediately suggested her beliefs had changed, Burgess said.

According to Burgess and Culliton, myriad evidence shows Stowes maternal aunt, Harriet Foote, owned slaves, and that Stowe had contact with them during visits to her aunts house in Guilford (after Stowes mother died, she lived with her aunt for a time). During her early life, slavery would likely have been acceptable to Stowe, Burgess added, just as it was to her parents and grandparents generation.

While Culliton was conducting his research, a section from Stowes autobiography drew his attention. In the passage, Stowe describes a moment where, as a younger child who normally didnt have much clout in the family, she felt pleased she wasnt stuck at the bottom of Aunt Harriets household hierarchy; instead, she held status over black Dinah and Harry the bound boy.

Suspecting Harry and Dinah were slaves, Culliton pursued their identities in his research. Eventually, he found a family history in which a Foote cousin claims Harriet Foote inherited Dinah and Harry from another relative, indicating they were considered property.

Another aspect of Stowes background applies directly to her parents, Roxana and Lyman Beecher, Culliton said. Based on the evidence Culliton compiled, he and Burgess have concluded that while the Beechers were living in East Hampton, two young girls of color became servants in their household.

When the Beechers left for Litchfield some years later, they took the girls  likely just 10 years old, Culliton said  with them. Records suggest they were indentured to the Beechers until age 18, when they would have been released with a meager compensation for years of servitude, Culliton noted.

The idea the Beechers took these girls far away from their families not only troubled Culliton, it struck him as ironic given Stowes famous condemnation of the family separations that slaves so often endured.

History, Burgess said, is messy and muddy, even when it comes to people such as Stowe. From Burgesss perspective, rethinking Stowes relationship with slavery represents one of the uncomfortable discussions about race that we have to have.

Instead of being a house museum that only presents the positive aspects of a historical figures life, the HBSC has been working to take Stowe off her pedestal and paint a more nuanced historical picture, Burgess said. They are excited to participate in a program like Cullitons, she added.

When it comes to Stowe, its important to recognize that her narrative is not the only narrative, Burgess said, and to bring the stories of people of color into dialogue with Stowes history.

Complicity: Broader implications of Stowes family history

Stowes connection to slavery went beyond her interaction with enslaved people. Like many prominent New England families, Culliton said, her predecessors owed much of their wealth to slavery.

Culliton pointed to the large, classic New England homes in towns like Guilford are known for. You dont have these big two- and three-story houses because people were selling hay to each other, he said.

Among the documents essential to Culliton and Burgesss presentation are correspondences, ship manifests and company records, which indicate that along with his brothers, Stowes grandfather Eli Foote regularly participated in the West India Trade, Culliton said.

Foote would bring New England products to the West Indies and trade them for valuable goods like sugar and molasses, Culliton noted, adding it was the toil of hundreds of thousands of slaves that produced those goods.

And the Foote family business was not unique to Guilford or New England: one of Eli Footes ship manifests lists the goods he carried to the West Indies on behalf of other prominent Guilford families, Culliton said.

Frank, a journalist and the co-author of Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from the Slavery said this practice was commonplace.

Contrary to the myth the North was not involved in slavery, northerners both owned slaves themselves and profited from slavery, Frank said.

There was frequent and huge trade between New England and the West Indies. Its how Connecticut got wealthy, she added.

Stowe and the Footes provide a localized example of a reality common throughout the region, Culliton said, and their connection to abolitionism makes their case allthemore striking. Were using a unique family to tell a common story, he added.

Culliton hopes the program will help people re-think their communities and question the idea slavery was a southern problem. He sees it as an adult ed extension of his Witness Stones Project, an initiative where middle-school students research the stories of Guilfords slaves and install commemorative stones at the spots where they lived.

Burgess and Culliton will present their findings at the Guilford Free Library at 7 p.m. March 7. The follow-up discussion with the authors of Complicity will be held on April 9 at 7 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to read the book prior to the event.

meghan.friedmann@hearstmediact.com
A proposed bill in Nevada seeks to further discourage using a phone while driving.

It calls for allowing police to use a device to determine if a handheld wireless phone was used at the time of a crash.

Existing law there generally prohibits using phones that aren't hands-free while driving.

If drivers don't allow the device to be used, police would have to seize the driver's license or permit and order it to be suspended for 90 days, the proposal says.

Affected drivers could request a hearing to review the suspension, and police could issue a temporary driver's license to the person that lasts for a week, according to the current wording of the bill.

According to the bill, the changes would have no financial effects on local and state governments. It was not immediately clear if police departments already have the technology available.
NEW HAVEN  The Board of Education is asking Mayor Toni Harp to increase its operating funds by $30 million in the next fiscal year in the budget she will present to the Board of Alders.

Superintendent of Schools Carol Birks said district staff projects the system will need $217 million to cover its cost increases and close its lingering deficit.

We know we need $217 (million) just on general funds, she said.

Birks last week presented the school boards Finance Committee with three plans to mitigate the increased costs. All three plans operated under the assumption that there would be $20 million in cuts to things such as staff; leases or renegotiated contracts; or increases to revenue streams such as grants. Birks did not promise any layoffs under the plan, saying she expected there to be attrition at the end of the school year, but she also said she would not commit to a no-layoff clause in union contracts.

On Monday, before four of the five present school board members voted to approve the budget (Harp, who serves on the board, abstained), Birks presented a version of the budget that assumed no additional funds to the current operating budget of $187 million.

Within that version, she proposed about an $11 million cut to full-time personnel costs, among other cuts including about $2 million to transportation and $2.5 million to school operating costs, to carve out a working budget with no increase.

Board President Darnell Goldson accused Birks of presenting a vision for the budget wherein she didnt even expect an increase.

What we have to do is do right by the school system, and our responsibility is to tell the mayor, the Board of Alders and the state what it will honestly take to run this system in a way that provides a quality education for our students and a good working environment for our staff, and this $187 (million) doesnt do that, he said. It may be where we end up, but its not where Im willing to start from.

Goldson appeared bemused at the presentation, which did not appear to ask outright for a $217 million general fund budget. Birks said she was only presenting what she knew she had for expenditures, as the districts general fund appropriation this year was $187 million, and it is against state law to reduce a school districts operational funding.

Birks said the state gave the district a tentative notice of a $2.6 million increase to its Alliance Grant funding, which is given to the states neediest districts for turnaround efforts, but also a $19,000 slash to adult education funding and a potential reduction to the Education Cost Sharing grant.

Board member Joe Rodriguez suggested that, in addition to the budgetary ask of a $30 million increase to operating funds, the district attach its budget mitigation plan to show what the cost could be to the district if the full weight of that request is not funded.

The last thing I want to do is let anyone off the hook, like if we dont get the money we have a remediation plan, Goldson said, but he also said he didnt want to include anything that appears to be a threat that there will be layoffs if the city does not approve a $30 million increase to the school board.

brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com
The rate of breastfeeding for infants under six months old in China is 29.2 percent, according to a recent survey by China Development Research Foundation.

The survey, conducted between Sept 2017 to Jan 2018 among over 10,000 mothers with infant children across the country, also found that only 11.3 percent of the participants breastfed their children within an hour of birth.

Fang Jin, deputy secretary general of the foundation, attributed the low rate of breastfeeding to easy access to breast milk substitutes and the misleading advertising of such products.

The lack of public awareness as well as deficiency of support from family and social communities, including medical institutions, are also reasons why fewer mothers choose to breastfeed their children, said Fang.

The World Health Organization recommended that infants be breastfed within an hour after birth and remain breastfed until they are six months old.

The report called for measures be taken to raise public awareness, encourage medical care institutions to provide support and improve the legislation for maternity leave and childbirth insurance system.
BRANFORD  The family of a young boy sexually assaulted by the former owner of a Branford graphics company over a two-year period has reached a $1.5 million settlement with the perpetrator, according to the Connecticut Law Tribune.

Roger Guay, 75, former co-owner of K&G Graphics in Branford, pleaded guilty in November 2017 to third-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor, according to the Law Tribune and a Connecticut Judicial Department database. The case was initiated by the North Branford Police Department.
EAST HAVEN  Just a few months after he replaced a schools business manager who resigned after being charged with violating Connecticut banking laws in his previous job, interim Chief Operations Officer Richard Huot is no longer coming to work.

Exactly what Huots status is, however, remains unclear.

Superintendent of Schools Erica Forti said Huot, a retired administrator whom the Board of Education hired on an interim basis on the recommendation of the Connecticut Association of School Business Officials, or CASBO, hasnt resigned, nor has he been asked to leave.

But board Chairwoman Michele DeLucia said, Mr. Richard Huot, our interim, left suddenly. She said she had no indication as to why.

DeLucia said board members were upset about instances in which they believed Huot allegedly failed to properly follow board bidding policies with regard to maintenance and cleaning contracts.

The board was upset about the violation to the policy, and I think there was some pressure on the superintendent to follow up, DeLucia speculated .

But Huots apparent sudden departure, around the same time that the board decided at a special meeting that it was going to seek to fill the job on a permanent basis, was a surprise, she said.

The apparent change in Huots work status came while Forti was away for a few days, Forti said.

I just got back into district on Thursday, she said.

Forti said the school board now is looking possibly hire a search firm to help fill the job on a permanent basis, and were talking about what the transition is going to look like as we look to fill the position permanently, she said.

The district is seeking ... a smooth and structured transition, Forti said.

Huot, who has had a long career in school finance, formerly was director of finance and operations at Hebron Public Schools, among other positions, according to his LinkedIn page.

He served as CASBOs president for 1987-88 when he worked in the East Hartford school system, according to the CASBO website.

Huot was brought in as interim director of finance and operations following the suspension and later resignation of former schools Business Manager James Farrell. Huots title was changed a few month ago, said DeLucia.

Farrell was suspended after the school board learned that Connecticut Banking Commissioner Jorge Perez in July issued a consent order alleging Farrell violated state statutes in his previous position with the New Haven County Credit Union.

In the preliminary statement of the consent order, Perez said his office investigated Farrells actions while Farrell worked for the New Haven County Credit Union. The investigation revealed Farrell violated provisions of state banking law, Perez said

Perez said Farrell violated three state laws, each of which would form the basis for removing Farrell from office. Farrell agreed to sanctions against him, including paying $10,000 to the state as a civil penalty, Perez said.

Another provision of the sanctions specified that Farrell may not, without Perezs consent, hold any position as a director, officer, employee or independent contractor with any bank, Connecticut credit union or federal credit union.

The latest turmoil follows the Feb. 14 arrest of Board of Education member and former chairman John Finkle following his indictment on charges that he and two other men defrauding his Illinois employer of $1.5 million.

Finkle, 57, a former school board chairman and Republican candidate for mayor, is charged along with Steven C. Gold, 46, of Pleasant Prairie, Wis., and Kenneth J. Pedroli, 59, of Stony Brook, N.Y., the U.S. attorneys office said in a release.

The indictment appears to focus on Finkles work as a salesman, not his role as an elected official.

The indictment, in turn, followed by several weeks a federal subpoena of records in a separate case involving the East Haven Public Schools Little Jackets preschool program.

The Board of Education subpoena sought, among other things, the emails of Finkle; his wife, fired Little Jackets manager Catherine Finkle; and former schools Business Manager Farrell.

Forti fired Cathy Finkle in a letter dated Nov. 8, 2018. Forti said in the letter that she found Finkle to be not fully forthcoming, and her responses inconsistent or inaccurate during an October pre-disciplinary meeting, when the findings of the external audit were discussed.

The superintendent also alleged that Cathy Finkle filled out timesheets for her daughters, who both worked for the Little Jackets program, and forged their signatures, in violation of policies and protocols.

Forti also accused Cathy Finkle in the termination letter of failing to satisfy her responsibilities to manage the programs finances.

mark.zaretsky@hearstmediact.com
CHESHIRE  The Board of Education will begin advertising soon to find a new assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.

Tony Perugini, chairman of the boards personnel subcommittee, said advertisements for the position will go out over the next several weeks. District officials hope to have the position filled before the end of the current school year, he said.

Shawn Parkhurst, who had been in the position since the end of 2016, left the Cheshire school system at the end of 2018 to become superintendent of the Windsor Locks school district.

We hope to get the applications back from candidates for the job in early April, Perugini said. We hope to make a decision on who we want to hire sometime in May.

Former Dodd Middle School Principal Donald Wallonis has come out of retirement to serve as the districts interim assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, until a new one can be hired, Perugini said.

Wallonis has served in a number of interim administrative roles over the years.

He served as interim principal of Highland Elementary School when Beverly Scully retired as principal in 2018, according to Jeff Solan, the districts superintendent of schools. And Wallonis came back to Dodd again as principal on an interim basis in 2012 when Solan became Cheshire High School principal after having served in that role at the middle school.

Before coming to the Cheshire school district, Parkhurst had been Wallingfords assistant superintendent in charge of instruction and curriculum from July 2013 through 2016.

luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com
NIO sells luxury electric SUVs in China for about US$60,000 each. NIO is at the intersection of several high growth markets in China. The high-growth markets are electric cars, luxury goods and a segment of very rich people.

NIO provides all owners with an app to connect with other NIO owners. They also provide a luxury club network membership.

NIO delivered 3,318 vehicles to customers in December, 2018. NIO delivered 11,348 delivered ES8 luxury electric SUVs in 2018. The ES8, an upscale battery-electric three-row SUV positioned as a domestic Chinese alternative to Teslas Model X.

The wealthy in China account for about one-third of total global luxury spending.

Chinas luxury sedan segment grew around 18.8 percent in the first 11 months of 2018 compared with the same period last year. The premium sport-utility segment rose about 3.5 percent between January and November.

Sales of passenger cars priced at more than 300,000 yuan (US$43,470) rose 6.8 percent to 114,000 units in November this year according to China Passenger Car Association data. For the first 11 months, sales of passenger cars exceeding 300,000 yuan jumped 15.1 percent to 1.16 million units.

NIO Lifestyle

NIO is selling other luxury products like clothing. NIO has partnered with Hussein Chalayan. Hussein in a leading turkish-born designer who has been called the Picasso of fashion. During the height of Shanghai Fashion Week, NIOs lifestyle brand, NIO Life, partnered with fashion icon Hussein Chalayan to officially launch the limited edition NIO X Chalayan collection. NIO also announced the beginning of sales of custom-tailored Chalayan clothing for NIO users.

Growing Wealth in China

China is forecast to become home to 32 of the worlds 40 high net worth cities over the next five years.

China has the second most millionaires in the world. The US has the most millionaires.

SOURCES- CNBC, 60 Minutes, NIO

Written by Christina Wong. Nextbigfuture.com
China has set up a national work group for immunization planning that will suggest ways to ensure vaccines are safe, the head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday.

The work group, led by a vice-minister of health, will analyze all incidents involving vaccine safety over the past few years to find the root sources of problems, Gao Fu, head of the center, said at a news conference. He didn't name the minister.

"Vaccines made in China are some of the best in the world," said Gao, who is also a member of China's top political advisory body. "We should have no doubt about the role of vaccines in disease prevention or the quality of vaccines made in China."

For example, he said, by promoting immunization, some infectious diseases that once seriously harmed people's health in China, such as smallpox, have been eliminated.

Hepatitis B once infected more than 10 percent of the population of China, but now only 0.3 percent of children under 5 years old are carriers because of mandatory immunization.

Gao made the comments in light of a series of incidents involving vaccine safety over the past few years.

In a major scandal last year, Changchun Changsheng Life Sciences, a vaccine producer in Changchun, Jilin province, faked production records and used expired material for the production of rabies vaccines over the past four years.

The company was ordered to suspend production, and senior executives were detained and face criminal charges. The company was ordered to pay fines of 9.1 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion) for violations, one of the heaviest fines imposed on a pharmaceutical company over the past few years.

Following the revelations, top officials vowed harsh penalties and reform of the vaccine supervision system to eliminate loopholes. A new law on the management of vaccines was drafted for review.

Fang Laiying, former head of the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, said he has faith in the overall safety of drugs in China, but individual cases involving violations of the law can tarnish the image of the whole pharmaceutical sector.

"The government is intensifying its efforts in cases involving violations of drug safety laws, including severely punishing criminals and setting up strict accountability systems to improve supervision of the sector," he said.

Gao, the CDC head, said major infectious diseases such as dengue fever and AIDS will continue to be the priority in disease prevention and control this year.

"We will improve health education for the public, including promoting HIV prevention and providing more information to college students," he said. "We will also focus on some impoverished regions to help residents improve disease prevention to help them rise out of poverty."
Venezuelan opposition leaders and their international allies calculated that an attempt to push desperately needed humanitarian aid into the country on Saturday would trigger the final collapse of the country's authoritarian regime. Sadly, their bet did not pay off. Security and paramilitary forces torched aid trucks and opened fire on opposition supporters - killing at least eight and wounding several hundred - even as President Nicolas Maduro danced on a stage in Caracas. The regime demonstrated that it remains willing and able to employ arms against opponents who can't and won't respond in kind. That leaves supporters of a peaceful transition to democracy in Venezuela with a dilemma.

It wasn't surprising that opposition leader Juan Guaido, who has been recognized by more than 50 countries as Venezuela's legitimate president, reacted to the bloodshed by hinting that he would call on those nations to consider using force against the Maduro regime. But as the Trump administration appears to recognize, a military intervention remains a bad option. It is opposed by key nations that have led the diplomatic campaign against Mr. Maduro, including neighboring Colombia. And it could create still greater chaos in Venezuela, which already is overrun with armed gangs, drug traffickers and Colombian guerrilla groups. A foreign force would struggle to pacify the country, especially if the Venezuelan army had been destroyed.
As President Donald Trump's allies continue to try to discourage Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan from mounting a 2020 primary challenge, the president's former deputy campaign manager David Bossie has started to organize a political salvo: a collection of endorsements for the president's re-election campaign from prominent Maryland Republicans.

Bossie, who is one of two Republican National Committee representatives for Maryland, spoke at the Montgomery County GOP Convention on Saturday. There, he met privately with allies of the president to discuss assembling a statement that would send a clear signal to Hogan, a Republican, about Trump's support in the state as the governor weighs a 2020 bid, according to two people familiar with the effort who were not authorized to speak publicly about it. They said the statement, which is not yet finalized, is expected to express support for Hogan as governor while fully backing Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Hogan - who has high approval ratings in heavily Democratic Maryland - has long been critical of the president, but he has become more vocal since starting his second term this year. Maryland limits its governors to two terms, and some high-profile conservatives have encouraged Hogan to challenge Trump in the presidential primary. Last week, Hogan accused the RNC of taking "unprecedented" steps to close ranks around Trump and shield him from potential challengers.

On Monday, Hogan criticized Bossie's attempt to divide Republicans in his state.

"These kind of heavy-handed tactics are not what we need in our politics. We should be focused on encouraging discussion and debate, not seeking to divide," Hogan said. "This is exactly why people are so fed up with Washington."

Bossie declined to comment on Monday.

Maryland House Minority Whip Kathy Szeliga, R-Baltimore County, has been helping Bossie recruit a "Trump 2020 Leadership Team" in the state, and several Republican lawmakers said Monday that they have pledged their support.

Del. Barrie Ciliberti, R-Frederick, who was a county chairman for the president's campaign, said the statement will help "ward off any attempt at a primary for whoever would be foolish enough to do that." Ciliberti acknowledged that things could change if special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Trump and his campaign "paints the man as Dracula," but he doesn't expect that to happen.

"Larry Hogan is an intelligent man, and he is very politically astute," Ciliberti said. "He'll know what to do."

Robert Flanagan, a Republican and former delegate from Howard County who lost his seat to a Democrat, said the rush to collect endorsements is "a mistake."

"I would encourage my fellow Republicans to resist that. They can make their decisions down the road. Give it a little time," said Flanagan, a Hogan ally who has been critical of Trump. "There's a temptation to look at the situation in the short run only, and we've got to invest in the future of the party."

Hogan told Politico last week that he is in no hurry to make a decision on running for president and that "at this point in time, I don't see any path to winning a Republican primary against this president." Other Republicans who have considered challenging Trump have reached a similar conclusion. So far, Trump has one declared high-profile Republican challenger: former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld.

Hogan was unexpectedly elected in 2014, with registered Democrats outnumbering Republicans in the state by more than 2 to 1, and he was elected to a second term in November.

Hogan has had high approval ratings throughout his governorship, and a Goucher College poll released last week found that 80 percent of Marylanders approve of Hogan's management of the state government. Meanwhile, less than a third of residents approved of the president's performance. Still, 55 percent of those polled said that Hogan should not run for president.

Although Hogan was re-elected with overwhelming support from Maryland Republicans in November, he has angered some members of his party for, among other things, supporting the removal of a controversial statue in Annapolis, backing gun restrictions and criticizing Trump.

During his second inaugural address last month, Hogan implicitly criticized Trump, decried the divisiveness of Washington politics and recounted how his late father served in Congress during Watergate and was the first Republican on the House Judiciary Committee to publicly call for President Richard Nixon's impeachment.

"Party loyalty and personal affection and precedents of the past must fall before the arbiter of men's actions: the law itself," Hogan said in that speech. "No man, not even the president of the United States, is above the law."

- - -

The Washington Post's Ovetta Wiggins and Rachel Chason contributed to this report.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who is poised to formally announce that he is running for president as early as this week, has held elected office since before Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 29, was born.

Though he said it has felt lonely at times, the 68-year-old Democrat has been trying to do something about global warming for almost that entire time. He's learned more from his failures than his successes. Now he hopes that Democratic primary voters come to value hard-earned wisdom.

Every 2020 candidate is talking extensively about climate change in his or her stump speech, but no one else has made it the central rationale for seeking the presidency. "I've got three grandkids, and I want them to experience what I have: salmon in the river, snow in the mountains, clean air and forests to hike in," he said in an interview this weekend at the National Governors Association winter meeting. "It's all going to be degraded if we don't take this battle on."

As a congressman, Inslee was a key player in the push for a cap-and-trade system 10 years ago. A bill passed in the House but stalled in the Senate, even though Democrats had a near-filibuster-proof majority.

Last March, Inslee fought hard but failed to enact the nation's first carbon tax in Washington state. He couldn't whip the votes to pass the bill through his state's Democratic-controlled legislature. This past November, voters in his state rejected a ballot initiative to impose a carbon fee on fossil fuel emissions. A separate push he spearheaded to cap emissions was blocked in the courts.

Inslee said "perseverance" is his single greatest personal quality. "You have to realize it's a necessary quality to achieve any major social change," he said. "Suffragettes understood that. ... You have to just keep plugging away at it. Sometimes perseverance is more important than genius."

Inslee said he "welcomes" Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal for its ambition and for drawing attention to his pet issue, but he said there's not really a plan for him to endorse. "This was not a policy document. It was really not meant to be," he said. "So now people like me will issue policies to actually put meat on the bones."

Republicans have warned in apocalyptic terms that the resolution could take away people's cars and even lead to killing cows. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is moving to hold a show vote to force Democrats to take a position on the resolution. Inslee said Republicans are using scare tactics that remind him of the debate over Obamacare.

"It's just death panels all over again," he said. "They squawk . . . and they make up stuff out of thin air, just like they did on health care, and then we win. I believe, and I hope, it will be the same result on climate change."

During our conversation at the Marriott Marquis, I noted that Democrats lost the House in 2010 after they passed the Affordable Care Act and that several congressmen lost their seats specifically because they walked the plank to vote for cap-and-trade system during the same Congress. "Timing is everything - in comedy and politics," he said.

Inslee explained that he's cleareyed about what's realistic. He does not think getting to a carbonless economy in a decade is doable. After his defeats of the past decade, the governor also no longer advocates for a carbon tax or a carbon-pricing system.

"I'm proposing alternatives," he said. "What's important to realize is this other assortment of tools in the toolbox can achieve the same carbon reduction as a carbon charge. There's a lot of routes to this destination."

When cap-and-trade failed in 2010, Inslee argued that "it was just a line on the graph." Now people experience more frequent fires, flooding and hurricanes, plus worse air quality, so it feels real and thus they're inclined to act.

While the general idea of action is popular, specific steps can generate backlash. During our interview, I noted that the mass yellow vest protests in Paris over the past few months started because of public outcry over France imposing a new tax to fight climate change. Inslee emphasized that this is partly why he does not advocate carbon taxes.

"Look, we've got a suite of policies that are available to us, not just carbon pricing," he said. "In my state, we've got five bills in the legislature that are all moving forward with the goal of 100 percent clean energy. . . . We've learned that we have multiple tools, not just one. There are a lot of different ways to skin this cat."

Inslee's decision to go all in on climate is certainly calculated, but it's not craven. This is not some election-year conversion. Back in 2007, Inslee co-authored a 416-page book on this topic called "Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy." Bill Clinton wrote the foreword.

Inslee pointed to a poll conducted this month by the Center for American Progress, a progressive advocacy group, that found "addressing the climate crisis" is tied with universal health-care coverage as the top priority among Democratic voters in the five early states.

Another poll this month from Saint Anselm College found that 88 percent of likely New Hampshire Democratic voters said they are more likely to support a candidate who advocates for the Green New Deal. That was a higher number than Medicare-for-all, regulating Wall Street, taxing the ultra-wealthy and providing tuition-free college.

A December poll from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication found 69 percent of Americans are at least "somewhat" worried about climate change, up seven points from last March.

Inslee said he would be willing to declare a national emergency on climate change, allowing drastic federal action that could not pass Congress, if the Supreme Court upholds President Trump's emergency declaration to build a wall on the southern border. The governor emphasized that he's against Trump's invocation of emergency powers and hopes it gets struck down. "But if the rules change and the circumstances change, we're going to play by whatever rules exist to deal with this existential crisis," he said. "So if the possibility exists, we'll say yes."

Inslee noted that he has made tangible, if incremental, progress as governor. Indeed, the Seattle Times Editorial Board praised him last month for trying to elevate the national conversation surrounding global warming and for his work to reduce emissions during six years as governor: "Inslee has a compelling story to tell about the state's ability to grow its economy, increase education spending and host the nation's two most valuable companies - all while reducing emissions, increasing use of renewable energy and enforcing strong regulations to protect the health of forests, waterways and air quality. . . .

"Inslee secured investments in clean-energy research, pushed to increase electric vehicle use in the state and co-founded a coalition of 17 governors working to uphold the Paris Agreement on climate-change goals. Energy related greenhouse-gas emissions in Washington declined 3 percent since their pre-recession high in 2007, despite population growth and the nation's fastest economic growth in recent years. Emissions are expected to fall 5.5 percent by the time Inslee's current term ends in 2020 . . . He's been a strong advocate for private- and public-sector research and advanced product development. That includes championing state support for Boeing's development of cutting-edge, fuel-efficient jetliners."

Inslee has significantly more experience than most of his better-known rivals for the nomination. He got elected to the state House in 1988, won a U.S. House seat in 1992, lost reelection in 1994 because he voted for the assault weapons ban, battled his way back to Congress in 1998 and stayed there until he won the governorship in 2012. His second term wraps up at the end of 2020. Inslee also recently wrapped up a successful stint as the chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.

Right now, however, he doesn't register in the early polls.

But the governor said he's accustomed to starting races as the underdog. He noted that he defeated a GOP incumbent to win his House seat and said he didn't have support from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "They flew a guy out to Yakima to tell me they weren't going to help me," he recalled. "I said why didn't you just call?"

- - -

The Washington Post's Joanie Greve and Mariana Alfaro contributed to this report.
DANBURY  A new nonprofit named for the late Gabrielle White has spread educational support and supplies to children on three continents in just one year.

Gabrielles Wings raised more than $450,000 since it launched last February to honor the legacy of Gabrielle, the granddaughter of Danbury philanthropist Noel Hord, whose death in 2017 shocked communities across Connecticut and New York.

The group has since built new playgrounds, libraries and computer labs in Gabrielles name everywhere from her hometown of New Rochelle, N.Y., to a South American village in Belize to another community near Capetown, South Africa.

The idea is really to enable children, especially children in under-served communities, with the ability to soar, said Michelle Hord, Noels daughter and Gabrielles mother. Gabrielle loved butterflies, and we think about an angels wings, but also the butterfly effect: That one small thing can change anything.

Gabrielles Wings partners with The Hord Foundation, which will hold its annual fundraising gala on Saturday night at the Amber Room Colonnade, to complement the foundations mission to provide college scholarships to African-American students with help both locally and internationally for younger needy children.

Together, they provide a lifelong support system to children and young people of color to help mentor them about the opportunities education makes available and provide financial support they might not otherwise receive.

My dream goal would be that there could be children who benefited from the work of Gabrielles Wings who could even go on to be Hord Scholars, Michelle Hord said this week.

In New Rochelle, the group completed a new accessible playground in November and renovated a corner of the community library dedicated to inclusive literature, both of which now bear Gabrielles name.

Through Michelle Hords mission work, she also connected with a church in Capetown in the middle of a digital desert  where students do not have access to computers or technology within 30 miles, she said. Gabrielles Wings was able to partner with the church and township there to construct a new computer lab to give more than 100 children unprecedented access to educational resources.

In Belize, the group helped a school struggling to fill its library with hundreds of books featuring people of color to help inspire more than 200 students, she said.

All of those efforts help other children see Gabrielle  who was an avid 7-year-old reader, cook and student  as an inspiration for their own education, Michelle Hord said.

The bonus track that I discovered will guide some of our choices: Its obviously powerful to give back, but its also powerful for children to see someone who looks like them able to give back, she said.

Michelle Hord and two Hord Scholar alumnae will speak at the gala about the two organizations work.

The Hord Foundation has awarded more than $5 million in scholarships to more than 2,000 black students from the Danbury area over the past 26 years. Last year, the group awarded about 75 scholarships worth about $200,000 to students.

Hord Scholars have gone on to study at Ivy League universities and work around the world, but the scholarships also have helped students attend community college and technical schools to start jobs here in Danbury, Noel Hord said.

The gala has always been about sharing and exposing the investment that our supporters make and for them to be able to see firsthand how their investment is not only paying off for the individual students receiving it but how they are paying it forward in their professional careers, their personal agenda, Noel Hord said. Its like a stream can become a river, and a river a lake, and so on.

If you go Tickets are still available for The Hord Foundation annual gala at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Amber Room Colonnade. The fundraising dinner will include a silent auction and dress is black-tie optional. Tickets cost $150 and can be purchased online at www.hordfoundation.org. See More Collapse

zach.murdock@hearstmediact.com

Correction: The nonprofit Gabrielles Wings is named for Gabrielle White. An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated her last name.
You are here: Business

China will allow overseas individual investors to participate in the trading of iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange starting Wednesday, the exchange said in an online statement Tuesday.

The announcement came after the country opened iron ore futures to foreign institutional investors in May last year as part of the financial opening-up efforts.

Iron ore contracts were launched in 2013 and broadly traded among producers and traders, with futures prices closely correlated to spot prices.

By including overseas investors, futures prices should better reflect the global iron ore market, Li Zhengqiang, president of the exchange, has said.

China is the world's largest importer of iron ore, with imports of the commodity exceeding 1 billion tonnes last year.
A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge has awarded the owners of the former Connecticut Yankee power plant in Haddam $40.7 million as a partial summary judgment in a case involving the federal governments ongoing failure to build a national repository for spent nuclear fuel.

Judge Nancy Firestone issued her decision last Thursday. Connecticut Yankee officials, along with their counterparts representing former nuclear plants in Maine and Massachusetts, initially had sought the partial summary judgment in July 2018. The Maine Yankee Atomic Power Co. is getting $34.4 million from the partial summary judgment, while Yankee Atomic Electric Co., which represents the owners of a former nuclear power plant in Rowe, Mass., will get $28.1 million.

The United Illuminating Co. and Northeast Utilities were among the owners of the Connecticut Yankee plant. Northeast Utilities later became part of what now is Eversource Energy.

The decision covers the federal governments failure to remove spent nuclear fuel from the three former power plant sites for a period from Jan. 1, 2013, through Dec. 31, 2016.

Bob Capstick, a spokesman for Connecticut Yankee, said the federal government has 60 days to appeal the decision.

The three companies are seeking an additional $1.2 million from the government for the same time period covered in the partial summary judgment. That amount is in dispute and Firestone has scheduled a June trial to hear arguments on these costs, Capstick said.

Wayne Norton, president of Connecticut Yankee and Yankee Atomic as well as the chief nuclear officer of the former Maine power plant, said he was pleased by the judges ruling, which he said ultimately will flow back to ratepayers.

But the money the federal government will use to pay the judgement comes from a fund that is paid for by U.S. taxpayers.

We urge the federal government to fulfill its commitment to remove this material from our sites without further delay and end this costly cycle of litigation, Norton said in a written statement.

The federal government was supposed to have developed a national repository for spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain in Nevada in time to open in 1998. But the process became bogged down in politics, forcing the storage of nuclear fuel at sites scattered around the U.S.

The courts previously have awarded the three New England-based companies $472 million in phases of litigation over the years, according to Captstick. The litigation began in 1998 and will continue until a national spent nuclear fuel repository is established, he said.

The litigation is done in phases because of U.S. Federal Appeals Court Ruling which prohibited the owners of the power plants from collecting damage awards for costs that have not yet been incurred. So the three companies litigate with the federal Department of Energy every few years to recover the costs that have been incurred over time.

There are two sites for spent nuclear fuel in Connecticut, which has only one active nuclear power plant.

Dominion Energys Millstone station in Waterford has two nuclear generating units and one that has been retired from service. Spent nuclear fuel from the plant is stored on the Millstone site.

Nuclear fuel also is stored on part of the site of the former Connecticut Yankee nuclear plant in Haddam. Decommissioning of the Connecticut Yankee plant was completed in 2007, 11 years after the facility was closed because its consortium of owners determined it was no longer economically feasible to operate.

Capstick said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ultimately will determine how much of the federal courts awards will be passed along to ratepayers of UI, Eversource Energy and other owners of the former nuclear power plants. FERC approved a June 2013 filing on an agreement reached between the three Yankee Companies and state utility regulators in Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts.

Norton urged Congress to authorize and appropriate sustainable funding from the Nuclear Waste Fund to implement a pilot program to remove spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste from shut-down reactor sites and relocate it to one or more consolidated interim storage facilities and to complete the review of the Yucca Mountain license application.

luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com
New Delhi:

US President Donald Trump on Monday signalled that a negotiated trade deal is within reach with China. Will soon have "a signing summit" with the Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, he said. A high-powered Chinese trade delegation led by its Vice President Liu He left Washington on Sunday after four days of extensive talks with American team led by US Trade Representatives Robert Lighthizer. Trump said the Chinese trade delegation could soon be coming back again.

"It looks like they'll be coming back quickly again. And we're going to have another summit. We're going to have a signing summit, which is even better. So hopefully, we can get that completed. But we're getting very, very close," Trump said at a meeting of Governors at the White House.



ALSO READ | US President Donald Trump leaves for Hanoi for his second summit with Kim Jong-un



The world's two largest economies are locked in a trade war since Trump imposed heavy tariffs on imported steel and aluminium items from China in March last year, a move that sparked fears of a global trade war. In response, China, the world's second largest economy after the US, imposed tit-for-tat tariffs on billions of dollars worth of American imports. Last year, Trump imposed tariff hikes of up to 25 per cent on USD 250 billion of Chinese goods. The move prompted China to increase tariffs on USD 110 billion of US goods.

Trump and Xi agreed to halt any further tariff increase for 90 days beginning January 1. Trump cited progress made during trade talks in Washington DC this month as a reason to delay the tariff increase.

Trump had already expressed optimism about the negotiations Friday after meeting with China's vice premier Liu He. The talks concluded on Sunday. Xi also struck a positive tone in a letter Liu delivered to Trump, saying he hoped the negotiations would be held in a "win-win" spirit that would lead to a mutually beneficial agreement.

The Chinese president expressed hope that the talks maintain "a mutually respectful, cooperative and win-win attitude" and lead to a "mutually beneficial" agreement.

A day earlier, the President had said that the two countries were nearing a trade deal.

Trump used the occasion to praise Xi for helping him on fentanyl, an opioid used as a pain medication and for anesthesia, which he said is of the tremendous problem to the US.

Trump referred to the tough laws in China, including a provision of death penalty for them successfully handling the drugs problem.

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New Delhi:

North Korean leader Kin Jong-un arrived in the Vietnamese border town of Dong Dang in a heavily armoured train on Tuesday morning ahead of his meeting with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday. He took a 60-hour train ride to Vietnam which would otherwise just take 3-4 hours by plane. So why did Kim actually embark on a train journey so long from Pyonngyang in North Korea to Dong Dang traversing through China?

The train that Kim is on is often referred to as a special hotel that can move. The train, which has a label DF-0002 differs from the model that his father Kim Jong-il took, which had the label DF-0001. According to reports, the train is built with high-level of security facilities and a very hotel-like interior.

Kim started off on his long train trip on Saturday afternoon (local time), departing from Pyonngyangs train station at around 4:30 pm. After 60 hours, it arrived at the Dong Dang station in Vietnam. From here, the North Korean leader will transfer to a motor vehicle to complete the trip to Hanoi. From Dong Dang Station in Lang Son Province, it will take about three hours to reach Hanoi by car. The straight-line distance between Pyonyang and Hanoi is 4,500 kilometre.

The route likely taken by the heavily armoured train that Kim was travelling in. (Photo: Twitter/@PixAggregator)

Several reasons are being put forth by experts for Kim to undertake the 60-hour train journey. One being, as the train passed through China, the trip was also viewed as a way for North Korea to boost its close ties to its ally. While some like to believe that this is how his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, North Koreas founder, travelled to Vietnam in 1958 and 1964, using airplane and train to reach Hanoi via China. Kim is often seen to replicate his grandfather to reinforce the idea that he is a successor of the Kim regime.

According to a report in the Korea Herald, the armoured train is also thought to be a safer choice for Kim, as North Koreas state jet Chammae-1 is old and there is a lack of experienced pilots. The Chammae-1 is a Soviet-era IL-62M, that is capable of traveling up to 10,000 kilometre. When Kim travelled to Singapore by plane for his first summit with Trump in June 2018, he did so on a plane borrowed from the Chinese government.

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New Delhi:

Hours after Mirage 2000 fighter jets of the Indian Air Force pounded the Jaish-e-Mohammeds terror camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwas Balakot at 3:30 am on Tuesday, the Pakistan Army today said that New Delhi must be ready for its response. Wait for our response, we will surprise you, said Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said. However, Spokesperson of the Pakistan armed forces admitted that Indian fighter jets remained in its airspace. He also said that all political parties remained united and that the civilian government has given nod to an appropriate attack.

Questioning the duration Indian Air Forces mission, Maj Gen Ghafoor said, Let India come and stay in Pakistani airspace for 21 minutes. We will see what will happen next. "Not even a single brick or debris is present there. They are claiming 350 deaths. Even had there been 10 casualties, there would be blood, funeral prayers, injuries," the spokesperson added.

On reports of 350 casualties in the Surgical Strike, the spokesperson said that, the Indian forces flew away after dropping four bombs inside Pakistan's territorial space. The Indian forces wanted to target the civilian areas."

As the National Assembly session resumed today, Pakistani opposition leaders demanded that a joint parliamentary session be summoned. Later, Pakistans National Security Council (NSC) held a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan. We are in a state of war. The Parliament should sit together and decide, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senior leader Khursheed Shah said. Stating that India wishes to exploit our internal differences and attack us, Shah said, We have to show to India and the world that the entire nation is united.

The strike comes after reports that Pakistan is shifting terrorist leaders, including Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, to safe areas after India demanded of strong action against them following the Pulwama attack on February 14, sources said. The sources added that on February 17-18, Azhar was shifted from Rawalpindi to Kot Ghani near Bahawalpur in Pakistan.

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Washington:

US President Donald Trump Monday left for Hanoi for his second high profile summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during which the two leaders will have several rounds of discussions aimed at normalising ties and complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. President Trump and Chairman Kim are scheduled to meet in Hanoi, Vietnam on February 27 and 28. During their two days of talks, the two leaders are expected to have several rounds of discussions in multiple settings, including a one-on-one, during which they are likely to review the progress made after their first historic summit in Singapore last summer.

Ahead of his trip, Trump said he shared a great relationship with the North Korean leader.

I think we can have a very good summit. I think well have a very tremendous summit. We want denuclearisation, and I think hell have a country that will set a lot of records for speed in terms of an economy, he told a meeting of governors at the White House.

In a tweet, Trump described the summit with Chairman Kim as very important.

With complete denuclearisation, North Korea will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse. Without it, just more of the same. Chairman Kim will make a wise decision! he said.

We both expect a continuation of the progress made at first summit in Singapore, Trump tweeted Sunday.

Heading over to Vietnam for my meeting with Kim Jong Un. Looking forward to a very productive Summit!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2019

Trump and Kim had their historic first meeting in Singapore in June last year, where they agreed on denuclearisation of North Korea.

North Korea has long insisted it will not give up its nuclear arsenal unless the US removes its troops from South Korea.

...I tell Chairman Kim, he has a chance to have a country that is so vibrant, economically. Maybe one of the most in the world. Hes got a location thats unbelievable. As a real-estate person, Ive always done very well with location.

But hes right between China, Russia, and then on the other side, South Korea. So they cant touch each other unless they go through North Korea, Trump said.

I think it can be, really, one of the great - one of the great financial and economic countries anywhere in the world. So I tell him that. I said, But you cant do that if youre going to keep nuclear (weapons). If you do nuclear, that cant ever happen, Trump said.

Trump reiterated that he was having a great relationship with Kim. Trump said he was not in a rush to denuclearise North Korea.

We see eye to eye, I believe. But youll be seeing it more and more over the next couple of days, one way or the other. Whats going to happen? I cant tell you. I think eventually it would, but I cant tell you. And Im not in a rush. I dont want to rush anybody. I just dont want testing. As long as theres no testing, were happy, he said.

Trump said he had done really something, very special with respect to North Korea.

The US insists it will accept nothing less than complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

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You are here: Business

Chinese firm Beijing Urban Construction Group has started construction of a 70 million U.S. dollars asphalt road project in southern Ethiopia, an Ethiopian official said on Monday.

In a press statement, Samson Wondimu, communication director of the Ethiopian Roads Authority said the asphalt road project located in Ethiopia's Southern regional state is 73 km long, with the project cost to be fully covered by the Ethiopian government.

Wondimu said the project is expected to be completed in four years and connect the agriculturally fertile areas of southern Ethiopia to the country's heartland.

He also said the area is home to several tourist attractions, and the road is expected to boost foreign tourist flows to Ethiopia.

Beijing Urban Construction Group is already constructing several other road projects in Ethiopia including a 69 km asphalt road project in northern Ethiopia.

Chinese companies, as pioneers in Ethiopia's road infrastructure development sector, have so far realized remarkable road projects ranging from the 85 km Addis Ababa-Adama toll expressway to the 223 km Dire Dawa-Dewele asphalt concrete road project connecting landlocked Ethiopia to Djiboutian ports.




New Delhi:

China on Tuesday urged India and Pakistan to "exercise restraint" and asked New Delhi to carry out its fight against terrorism through international cooperation, hours after Indian fighter jets struck Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest camp in Pakistan in a pre-dawn attack. More than 10 bombs were dropped by the multi-role fighter jet Mirage 2000 at around 3:30 am. The aerial attack comes a day after Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a high-level meeting with all three service chiefs. When asked for China's response to India's airstrikes on terrorist camps in Pakistan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told the media here that we have taken note of relevant reports."

"I want to say that India and Pakistan are both important countries in South Asia. A sound relationship and cooperation between the two serve the interests of both the countries and peace and stability in South Asia," he said.

"We hope that both India and Pakistan can exercise restraint and do more to improve mutual their bilateral relations," he said.



Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale has also briefed foreign diplomats from the USA, UK, Russia, Australia, Indonesia, Turkey and six ASEAN nations.

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New Delhi:

Indian Air Force (IAF) destroyed the Pakistan-based terror camps and launch pads of Jaish-e-Mohammed across Line of Control (LoC) by dropping 1000 kg bombs in the wee hours. As the reports started pouring in, the nation rejoiced the mission, calling it a befitting reply to dastardly terror attack of JeM in Pulwama.

But, in the parliament of Pakistan, the leaders of opposition shouted slogans of ''shame shame'' which echoed loudly inside the building. 12 of IAF's Mirage 2000 fighters crossed the Line of Control in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday said Pakistan holds the right to self-defence and a befitting response.''We kept on telling the world that this could happen they [India] carried out aggression against Pakistan today.

India violated the LoC [today]. Pakistan holds the right to self-defence and a befitting response, Qureshi told media, after chairing an emergency consultative meeting at the Foreign Office.

On February 14, 42 CRPF personnel were killed in Pulwama district when a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into their bus.

The CRPF personnel were killed when a terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the bus they were travelling in.

In aftermath of Pulwama attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that the armed forces being given free hand to avenge Pulwama attack. Addressing media in New Delhi after the CCS meet, PM Modi said.

Our security forces have been given free hand. The forces behind this act of terrorism and those responsible for it, will be definitely be punished, he said.





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New Delhi:

Pakistans ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf took to Twitter to criticise the Indian media for their hyper-nationalism. It also said that the Indian government, in dire need of winning the upcoming elections, are willing to create unrest in the entire region.

The PTI said, We realise its election year, and a desperation across the border. Fact of the matter is, Indian jets were forced to retreat in haste by Pakistan army patrols and dumped fuel, which in their scramble they thought was a bomb. (sic)

Criticising the India media, the Imran Khan-led PTI said We always knew Indian media was irresponsible, but beating the war drums shows a disturbing bloodlust and deteriorating mindset at a time when Pakistan is on an upward trajectory. Indian jets scrambled back from Balakot which lies close to the LOC. Perhaps Indian Defence Ministry should call up Indian media houses and inform them of the cover up story they have for Indian Air Force retreat. Might help in controlling their hysteria. (sic)

We always knew Indian media was irresponsible, but beating the war drums shows a disturbing bloodlust and deteriorating mindset at a time when Pakistan is on an upward trajectory. Indian jets scrambled back from Balakot which lies close to the LOC.#Pakistan  PTI (@PTIofficial) February 26, 2019

It didnt stop short of alluding the media coverage to Bollywood and said, Side Effects of Bollywood Are Hazardous To Indian Medias Mental Health. Might Induce Hallucinations and Delusions Of Grandeur. (sic)

Earlier in the day, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had said, Indian government is in dire need of winning the upcoming elections, selfish enough, they are willing to create unrest in the entire region. Pakistan will use all international forums to expose India while being ready to retaliate to any aggression.

The Indian Air Force carried out pre-dawn airstrikes on Tuesday and destroyed major launch pads of terrorists in Balakot in PoK. More than 10 bombs were dropped by the multi-role fighter jet Mirage 2000 at around 3:30 am.

The aerial attack comes a day after Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a high-level meeting with all three service chiefs. Defence experts say that Mirages would have used 500 kg laser-guided bombs. The Mirage 2000s may have used Israeli lightening laser designator pods to drop their precision bombs. Though Pakistan has tweeted the photos of large craters, the actual impact of the airstrike will be revealed by the satellite images.

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New Delhi:

Pakistan's Islamabad High Court has rejected the bail plea on medical grounds of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is currently serving a seven-year jail term in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption case. The Islamabad High Court said in its decision in the capital on Monday that Sharif could not be given bail on health grounds as he was already being treated at a hospital. "We're surely disappointed by this decision," Sharif's aide, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, told reporters, adding that a government medical board had called for urgent treatment. But he said his party would respect the court decision. "We have always respected court decisions," he said. "We will take all necessary legal recourse."



According to a Punjab government official, the three-time prime minister asked the doctors to shift him back to jail after his bail was rejected.



"The doctors advised angiography of Sharif but he refused to have the procedure in the Jinnah Hospital," the official told news agency PTI.

"We have shifted Sharif to jail primarily on his request," he said and added that the Sharif family was interested to get his angiography done from London after bail.



ALSO READ | Pakistan shifts terrorist leaders to safe zones after India demands action: Sources

The home department spokesman also confirmed that Sharif was sent back to jail on his "wish".

The five-member special medical board of the Jinnah Hospital that examined Sharif said the patient needs cardiac catheterisation, for further management, in view of his symptoms of angina.

Shahbaz Sharif, younger brother of Nawaz Sharif said: "We are consulting our lawyers to challenge the high court verdict to reject his bail in the Supreme Court."

Sharif remains barred from running for public office for life after the Supreme Court in April ruled he had lied on a parliamentary wealth declaration and the disqualification from that crime would last for an indefinite period.

The three-time former prime minister was dismissed from office in July 2017 over corruption allegations, with the country's top court ordering the anti-corruption watchdog to launch proceedings against him and his family.

Sharif and his children - two sons and a daughter - were charged with three counts of corruption during his two stints in power in the 1990s.

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London:

Concentrations of pharmaceuticals have increased in freshwater sources all over the world over the past 20 years, with levels of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin having potentially damaging ecological effects, scientists say. The research by environmental experts at Radboud University in the Netherlands is the first to examine the risks of two particular medicines in global freshwater sources. "Getting an accurate picture of the environmental risks of pharmaceuticals around the world depends on the availability of data, which is limited," said Rik Oldenkamp, lead author of the study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

"It's true that there are models, such as the ePiE model, which can give detailed predictions of pharmaceutical concentrations in the environment, but these are often only applicable to places where we already have a lot of information, such as rivers in Europe," Oldenkamp said.

The new model developed by the researchers, which builds on an existing model with a lower resolution, makes it possible to come up with worldwide predictions for individual ecoregions.

For the two pharmaceuticals investigated in the study -- carbamazepine, an anti-epileptic drug, and ciprofloxacin, an antibiotic -- the environmental risks were found to be 10 to 20 times higher in 2015 than in 1995.

The increased human use of ciprofloxacin was found to have a particularly high impact globally.



ALSO READ | Scientists turn waste glass into everyday products

"The concentrations of this antibiotic can be harmful for bacteria in the water, and these bacteria in turn play an important role in various nutrient cycles," said Oldenkamp.

"Antibiotics can also have a negative impact on the effectiveness of bacteria colonies used in wastewater treatment," he said.

Antibiotic resistance has been on the agenda of the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations General Assembly for a few years now.

"Generally, it's seen as a problem for the health sector, as resistant bacteria can be spread within hospitals or through livestock," said Oldenkamp.

"But there's little awareness of the role of the environment in this problem, even though it becomes increasingly clear that the environment functions as a source of resistance for various pathogens," he said.

"Our model predicts a relatively high environmental risk for ecoregions in densely populated and dry areas such as the Middle East, yet those are precisely the areas where there is little data on pharmaceutical use and concentrations in surface waters," said Oldenkamp.

The researchers predicted human pharmaceutical consumption in these areas using regression models based on consumption in other countries, along with socio-economic and demographic information, and linked this to information related to other factors such as water sources and the number of people with access to wastewater treatment.

"Our model shows a particular need for new data in these types of areas," said Oldenkamp.

"The model is really a starting point for creating an insight into the environmental risks posed by pharmaceuticals all over the world," he said.

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New Delhi:

You now have proof to disprove people who say animals/dogs dont have emotions because they do! And this viral video right here is the proof! Lion King inarguably, one of the most touching animations ever made has an impact that can stir up all sort of emotions even for the coldest of hearts, especially baby Simbas discovery on dad Musafas murder by his own brother, Scar.

A dog that is making out us take out our tissue bags show the same reaction we have on finding Musafas death. The Twitter handle of FOX 26 Houston posted a video of a dog watching the emotional scene in The Lion King, and it is absolutely heart-breaking.

Watch the video here:

This puppy was absolutely transfixed by the scene in the Lion King when Simba reacts to the death of his father. (Volume up!)



STORY: https://t.co/Bf4TfoTDsP

CREDIT: Josh Myers via Storyful pic.twitter.com/owy1S5o3Z8  FOX26Houston (@FOX26Houston) February 21, 2019

As if it not painful enough to watch helpless Simba after his fathers death, this dog whimpering in emotions at the scene makes us cry ugly-face both for the dog and for the scene, of course.

After the 1:52 minute of the dog went viral on social media with over 12 million views, thousands of hugs from The Lion King fans have come pouring in for the dog, because we understand the poor poochs pain.

Check out some of the tweets for the pooch here:

My heart was just ripped out of my chest... https://t.co/SpikFULd9c  Haley Neal (@_haleyneal_) February 24, 2019

Omg this dog is so affected by this scene.  https://t.co/XUESEal71a  lovealwayswins (@ChooseLove86) February 23, 2019

My heart broke into millions of pieces https://t.co/TVXUdO8Aa3  Giuncotton (@zikidlin) February 25, 2019

I need to hug this dog!!! https://t.co/LwZBnPme0G  Jeannie Siciliano (@Jeannie_NJ) February 24, 2019

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highlights For first time ever, India has struck deep into Pak.

Feb 26 air strike changes the geostrategic equations.

Now, our armed forced will not defend but attack too.

New Delhi:

"I speak to you at a moment of great peril to our country and our people. Some hours ago, soon after 5.30 pm on the 3rd December, Pakistan had launched a full-scale war against us Today a war in Bangladesh has become a war on India I have no doubt that by the united will of the people, the wanton and unprovoked aggression of Pakistan should be decisively and finally repelled Aggression must be met and the people of India will meet it with fortitude, determination, discipline and utmost unity We must be prepared for a long period of hardship and sacrifice." These lines from Mrs Indira Gandhi's December 3, 1971 address to nation marked the beginning of what will be later known as Indo-Pak War. While experts have always said that India realised the might of air power during this war, four decades later, New Delhi changed the wargame on February 26, 2019. Though, the Indian Air Force has not released any official statement on the Balakot air strike, the information so far suggests that it was a very specialised military operation carried out with specific inputs.

Here are 5 points that show how this day will go down in history as the day India changed its tactical approach forever:

1: Attacking deep into Pakistan: This is the first time after the 1971 war that India has crossed the Line of Control. In fact, India always maintained the sanctity of the borders even during the 1999 Kargil War. While the December 8, 1971 attack destroyed Murid Air Base located 120 km inside Pakistan, the fact remains that even the IAF personnel never knew what they hit. It was not a well-thought-out plan. The IAF team led by Squadron Leader RN Bharadwaj, Flying Officer VK Heble, Flying Officer BC Karambaya and Flight Lieutenant AL Deoskar flew British-made Hunters on a fateful day, an NDTV report said. In response and during the ensuing two weeks, the IAF carried out some 4,000 sorties in the West from major and forward bases in Jammu, Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan, while, in the East, a further 1,978 sorties were flown in 1971.

2: While 1971 mission destroyed 30% of the Pakistan of the strength of this same 15 Squadron of the Pakistan Air Force, the February 26 air strike was specifically about the terror camps operating on Pakistani soil.

3: More importantly, the Balakot air strike shows that India is capable of carrying out precision-based attacks without any fanfare. The fact that the Indian Air Force got a nod to conduct this air strike deep into Pakistan shows that our armed forces are ready for pre-emptive airstrike knowing the possibilities of retaliation.

4: Reports that Indian Air Force Chief BS Dhanoa personally drafted the masterplan of Balakot air strike means that India is ready to play the hardball.

5: The guarded reaction by China means that this is new India, which cant be sidelined and told to do something. While calling this an Israel-inspired mission would be too far-fetched, the fact is that we have moved beyond the docile, dove policy.

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New Delhi:

BJP president Amit Shah congratulated the Indian Air Force (IAF) after the air strike on terror camps across the LoC in a pre-dawn operation on Tuesday. "Strikes in Pakistan underscores resolve and will power of new India; India will never tolerate terrorism," the BJP chief said.

BJP chief Amit Shah on Monday said terrorism in the country will not be tolerated at any cost and only the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi can give a befitting reply to Pakistan. Strongly condemning the February 14 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, Shah said here that no one but only the Modi government can give a befitting reply to Pakistan.

While addressing the booth level workers of Rohtak, Hisar and Sirsa Lok Sabha constituencies in Haryana, Shah described the Pulwama incident as a cowardly act.

He paid homage to the personnel who lost their lives in the attack and said such incidents have no place in the country.

Terrorism in the country will not be tolerated at any cost, he said, adding that to protect the country is the first priority of the government.

He said the people can never forget martyrs who are sacrificing their lives for the country. He appreciated the leadership of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, saying under the government led by him, the state has witnessed all-round development.

He praised the states hard-working farmers, its soldiers and players, saying entire country is proud of them.

Describing the workers as backbone of the party, Shah asked them to work harder to ensure that the BJP wins all 10 Lok Sabha seats from Haryana.

Hitting out at the previous Congress government over corruption issue, Shah said the Khattar government has provided clean, transparent and corruption-free government.

(With PTI inputs)

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New Delhi:

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday said Pakistan holds the right to self-defence and a befitting response. The Indian Air Force carried out pre-dawn airstrikes on Tuesday and destroyed major launch pads of terrorists in Pakistans Balakot. We kept on telling the world that this could happen they [India] carried out aggression against Pakistan today. India violated the LoC [today]. Pakistan holds the right to self-defence and a befitting response, Qureshi told media, after chairing an emergency consultative meeting at the Foreign Office. The meeting at the Foreign Office was attended by former foreign secretaries and senior diplomats, and held consultations over the prevailing situation.



More than 10 bombs were dropped by the multi-role fighter jet Mirage 2000 at around 3:30 am. "Clouds of danger are lingering over Pakistan and we can see aggression," Shah Mehmood Qureshi said. "An aggressive segment is bent on risking regional peace for its political gains," he added. "Indian leadership has become flustered in trying to achieve its political gains," Geo News quoted Qureshi as saying.



Qureshi further said, "We are a responsible nation and have to move forward responsibly, wisely and patiently."



Stating that Prime Minister Imran Khan is up to date with "minute-by-minute details", the foreign minister said, "I will hold a meeting with the prime minister and brief him regarding the consultative meeting to be held at the Foreign Office."



In a brief statement issued to media, Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale spoke about intelligence operation. In an intelligence lead operation in the early hours today, India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commander and Jihadis were eliminated, Gokhale said. Credible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country. A pre-emptive strike became important. India struck the biggest camp of JeM in Balakot, Gokhale added.



The aerial attack comes a day after Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a high-level meeting with all three service chiefs.

Defence experts say that Mirages would have used 500 kg laser-guided bombs. The Mirage 2000s may have used Israeli lightening laser designator pods to drop their precision bombs. Though Pakistan has tweeted the photos of large craters, the actual impact of the airstrike will be revealed by the satellite images.

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New Delhi:

Pakistan on Tuesday admitted that fighter gets of Indian Air Forces (IAF) crossed Line of Control (LoC) from Muzafarabad sector in the wee hours. However, it tried to downplay the development saying IAF jets released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot but there were no casualties or damage.

"Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," Pakistan army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted.

The IAF is yet to respond to these claims. According to reports, Indian authorities are likely to make an official statement in this regard at around 10:15 am.

"Indian Air Force violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft gone back," Ghafoor said in another tweet.

The development comes amid heightened tension between the two nuclear-armed nations since February 14 suicide attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

Meanwhile, reports are coming that Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad terror launch pads across the LOC were completely destroyed in IAF air strikes. "Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad terror launch pads across the LOC completely were destroyed in IAF air strikes. JeM control rooms also destroyed," tweeted ANI.

More than 10 bombs were reportedly dropped by the multi-role fighter jet Mirage 2000 at around 3:30 am on Tuesday morning. The aerial attack comes days after Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a high-level meeting with all three service chiefs.

Defence experts say that Mirages would have used 500 kg laser-guided bombs. The Mirage 2000s may have used Israeli lightening laser designator pods to drop their precision bombs. Though Pakistan has tweeted the photos of large craters, the actual impact of the airstrike will be revealed by the satellite images.

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State utility firm Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) on Monday signed an agreement with two Chinese firms and one Kenyan firm for the 70 MW geothermal energy drilling project.

The two Chinese firms were Shandong Kerui Oilfield Service Group and Shandong Kerui Oilfield Service Group Co. Ltd. Another firm Kenya Electricity Generating Company was also part of the agreement.

In a press statement, EEP said the two Chinese firms and one Kenyan firm are expected to supply drilling materials as well as drill wells for possible geothermal energy sources in central Ethiopia.

Named the Aluto- Langano geothermal project, it's part of the Ethiopian government's plans to generate up to 5,000 MW of geothermal energy in the coming few years. Ethiopia currently produces only 7.3 MW of geothermal energy.

EEP said the agreement with the three firms will see the drilling initially of 22 wells to probe their geothermal energy generation potential.

EEP further said the geothermal energy project is expected to consume 173.2 million U.S. dollars, with the World Bank expected to cover the total project's cost through loans and grants.

Ethiopia has the longest section of the 7,000-km East African Rift Valley, which boasts an estimated geothermal potential of 10,000 megawatts (MW), but the country has been unable to match the neighboring Kenya's installed geothermal power capacity of about 630 MW.

Geothermal energy is considered a reliable renewable energy sources although it involves a greater start-up cost.




New Delhi:

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday said Pakistan's armed forces are on alert and are capable of defending every nook and corner of the country. The Indian Air Force carried out pre-dawn airstrikes on Tuesday and destroyed major launch pads of terrorists in Balakot in PoK. More than 10 bombs were dropped by the multi-role fighter jet Mirage 2000 at around 3:30 am in the morning. "Clouds of danger are lingering over Pakistan and we can see aggression," Shah Mehmood Qureshi said. "An aggressive segment is bent on risking regional peace for its political gains," he added. "Indian leadership has become flustered in trying to achieve its political gains," Geo News quoted Qureshi as saying.

Qureshi further said, "We are a responsible nation and have to move forward responsibly, wisely and patiently."



Stating that Prime Minister Imran Khan is up to date with "minute-by-minute details", the foreign minister said, "I will hold a meeting with the prime minister and brief him regarding the consultative meeting to be held at the Foreign Office."



ALSO READ | LIVE | PM Modi-led CCS meeting ends, big announcement on surgical strike soon

"In the meeting at FO, I will brief the participants regarding Pakistan's viewpoint." Qureshi has summoned an emergency consultative meeting at the Foreign Office following a breach of the LoC by Indian military aircraft.



The aerial attack comes a day after Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a high-level meeting with all three service chiefs.

Defence experts say that Mirages would have used 500 kg laser-guided bombs. The Mirage 2000s may have used Israeli lightening laser designator pods to drop their precision bombs. Though Pakistan has tweeted the photos of large craters, the actual impact of the airstrike will be revealed by the satellite images.



There are unverified reports that many residents of Srinagar heard planes hovering over the city all night. In terms of geography, while Muzaffarabad and Chakothi are located in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, the fact is Balakot is located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. If the targets of the airstrikes are confirmed, this means that India has hit locations deep into Pakistan and not PoK. Balakot is about 50 miles from the ceasefire border known as the line of control based on lines established after the first war the two countries fought over Kashmir shortly after independence in 1947.

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New Delhi:

Following the surgical strike across the Line of Control in Pakistan on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale has now briefed foreign diplomats from the USA, UK, Russia, Australia, Indonesia, Turkey and six ASEAN nations. More than 10 bombs were dropped by the multi-role fighter jet Mirage 2000 at around 3:30 am. The aerial attack comes a day after Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a high-level meeting with all three service chiefs.

The attack was confirmed by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi. In a brief statement issued to media, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale spoke about intelligence operation. In an intelligence lead operation in the early hours today, India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commander and Jihadis were eliminated, Gokhale said. Credible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country. A pre-emptive strike became important. India struck the biggest camp of JeM in Balakot, Gokhale added.



ALSO READ | I want to assure you that India is in safe hands: PM Modi after surgical strike 2.0

The airstrikes are seen as a way by India avenging the Pulwama terror attack. On February 14, around 40 CRPF personnel were killed when a suicide bomber rammed into a convoy while moving from Jammu to Srinagar in Lethpora area of South Kashmirs Pulwama district. Pakistan based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed the responsibility of the attack.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said: We kept on telling the world that this could happen they [India] carried out aggression against Pakistan today. India violated the LoC [today]. Pakistan holds the right to self-defence and a befitting response, Qureshi told media, after chairing an emergency consultative meeting at the Foreign Office. The meeting at the Foreign Office was attended by former foreign secretaries and senior diplomats and held consultations over the prevailing situation.

Defence experts say that Mirages would have used 500 kg laser-guided bombs. The Mirage 2000s may have used Israeli lightening laser designator pods to drop their precision bombs. Though Pakistan has tweeted the photos of large craters, the actual impact of the airstrike will be revealed by the satellite images.

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New Delhi:

The Indian Air Force pilots, who carried out the airstrikes on terror camps in Pakistans Balakot on early Tuesday morning, were given clear instructions by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval  in case they were captured, it will be a suicide mission, according to sources. More than 350 Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, including Fidayeen and their trainers, were killed as IAF used 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets in a five-star, resort style camp in a hilltop forest in Balakot in Pakistan on early Tuesday morning, according to sources.

Hundreds of Fidayeen and their trainers were shifted from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to the camp in Balakot after the Pulwama attack, providing Indian forces with "a sitting duck target" when they carried out an air strike early Tuesday, killing up to 350 terrorists, sources told news agency PTI said. They said at least 325 terrorists and 25 to 27 trainers were at the camp, the biggest operated by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group, which had claimed responsibility for the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, Kashmir that killed 40 jawans.

The pilots were also instructed by the NSA that the target should only be terror bases (training or launch pads) and not Pakistan military bases. They were also asked to make sure there was no collateral damage in the operation. The IAF was tasked to carry out strike on February 16. The IAFs DG air operations (offensive) sought 10 day-time to prepare precision strikes. The NSA granted it with the instruction of zero collateral damage to men and the aircraft, said the sources.

On the same day, the Indian Navy was tasked to deploy submarines closer to Karachi and Gwadar in an attempt to create decoy and confuse Pakistanis of a maritime attack from India.

On February 18, the military advisor to the NSA, the IB chief, the RAW chief gave five target options to the IAF, three were chosen considering operational aspects in mind, added the sources.

Interestingly, exercise Vayushakti in Pokharan on February 16 was quickly modified to check the Pakistan radars. It was found that they were extremely sensitive during operation air show, especially with IAF bases near LoC and the International Border. Hence, Gwalior was chosen as the base to launch air strikes, the sources said.

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday briefed both President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President Venkaiah Naidu about the Indian Air Force (IAF) air strike at Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps across Line of Control (LoC) in the wee hours.

He briefed them after chairing the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in the wake of reports claimed by Islamabad that IAF fighter jets crossed the LoC and returned after dropping a payload in Pakistan. All the IAF bases have been put on high alert anticipating a reaction from Pakistan to the strikes carried out by the Indian fighter jets in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Balakot early on Tuesday.

The air strike was confirmed by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi. In a brief statement issued to media, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale spoke about intelligence operation. In an intelligence lead operation in the early hours today, India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commander and Jihadis were eliminated, Gokhale said.

Credible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country. A pre-emptive strike became important. India struck the biggest camp of JeM in Balakot, Gokhale added.

Talking about the terrorist killed in the airstrike, Gokhale said that, large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders were eliminated in largest JeM camp in Balakot. Camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother in law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar.

Meanwhile, Director General of Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Asif Ghafoor confirmed in a tweet early Tuesday that the IAF planes dropped the payload near Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before leaving in haste as the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) scrambled its war planes.

On February 14, around 40 CRPF personnel were killed when a suicide bomber rammed into a convoy while moving from Jammu to Srinagar in Lethpora area of South Kashmirs Pulwama district. Pakistan based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed the responsibility of the attack.

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday reiterated that he will not let the country down. Addressing a rally in Rajasthans Churu district, PM Modi sang few lines of Prasoon Joshis song  I would like to repeat what I said in 2014 I pledge on this soil, I will not let the country die, I will not let the county stop, I will not let the country bend. It is my promise to Mother India, I will protect your honour. (Saugandh mujhe is mitti ki Main desh nahin mitne dunga, Main desh nahin jhukne dungaSogand mujhe is mitti ki) he said.

Referring to the Indian Air Forces air strike across the Line of Control (LoC) in which three camps of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed was destroyed, PM Modi said that the nation is in safe hands. Today the mood of the people looks different. Today is a moment, we should bow our heads in front of the armed forces. From the land of Churu, I would like to tell the country that India is in safe hands, he said.

He said there is nothing more important than the nation. Your pradhan sewak is working because for us India comes first. We are moving ahead with sentiments of Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan, PM Modi said in his first public address after IAF strike on Pak.

I can understand your josh (excitement) today. Every Indian will win. wont let anything threaten India. At this moment, we have to bow down and honour the Pulwama martyrs, he added. Talking about the National War Memorial (NMW), which was inaugurated by him on Monday, PM Modi said that it has been dedicated to the nation after 70 years of independence. 70 years after independence, for our brave martyrs who laid down their lives, a national war memorial was dedicated yesterday, he said.

India on Tuesday sent a strong message to Pakistan after the Indian Air Forces struck the terror bases across LoC with 12 Mirage 2000 Aircrafts carrying 1000 kgs of bomb. The strike came after PM Modis repeated warning to the terror-backing country of a 'befitting response' for the attack that martyred 40 CRPF soldiers.

The surgical strike was confirmed by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi on Tuesday. In a brief statement issued to media, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale spoke about intelligence operation.

In an intelligence lead operation in the early hours today, India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commander and Jihadis were eliminated, Gokhale said. Credible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country. A pre-emptive strike became important. India struck the biggest camp of JeM in Balakot, Gokhale added.

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New Delhi:

Hours after Indian Air Force (IAF) reportedly destroyed the Pakistan-based terror camps across Line of Control (LoC), sources said that a Pakistan drone has been shot down on Kutch border on Tuesday at 6.30am. It is not known yet whether the drone takedown was part of India's pre-dawn airstrike.

Meanwhile, Gujarat Police has issued high-alert in the state saying the administration has increased security at important establishments.

Earlier, Indian Air Force reportedly crossed the Line of Control and destroyed Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad terror launch pads. "Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad terror launch pads across the LOC completely were destroyed in IAF air strikes. JeM control rooms also destroyed," tweeted ANI.

More than 10 bombs were reportedly dropped by the multi-role fighter jet Mirage 2000 at around 3:30 am on Tuesday morning. The entire operation continued for 21 minutes, says a report. Defence experts say that Mirages would have used 500 kg laser-guided bombs.

The aerial attack comes days after Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a high-level meeting with all three service chiefs.

Defence experts say that Mirages would have used 500 kg laser-guided bombs. The Mirage 2000s may have used Israeli lightening laser designator pods to drop their precision bombs. Though Pakistan has tweeted the photos of large craters, the actual impact of the airstrike will be revealed by the satellite images.

The extent of the damage inflicted on the ground is not immediately known but the sources claimed the Pakistani side sustained significant losses.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefed by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the operation. Hours later, he chaired a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security which was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Sitharaman.

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New Delhi:

A special meeting of the National Security Committee chaired by the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said India committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at time and place of its choosing. The meeting was held at his office on Tuesday. It was attended by Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defence, Finance, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, COAS, CNS, CAS, and other civil and military officials. However, Pakistan rejected the Indian claim of targeting terrorist camp near Balakot and the claim of heavy casualties. More than 10 bombs were dropped by the multi-role fighter jet Mirage 2000 at around 3:30 am.



The Pakistan government has decided a joint session of the Parliament. Prime minister has summoned a special meeting of NCA on February 27. Imran Khan has directed that elements of national power including the Armed Forces and the people of Pakistan to remain prepared for all eventualities, Radio Pakistan reported.



Earlier, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Pakistan holds the right to self-defence and a befitting response. The Indian Air Force carried out pre-dawn airstrikes on Tuesday and destroyed major launch pads of terrorists in Pakistans Balakot. We kept on telling the world that this could happen they [India] carried out aggression against Pakistan today. India violated the LoC [today]. Pakistan holds the right to self-defence and a befitting response, Qureshi told media, after chairing an emergency consultative meeting at the Foreign Office. The meeting at the Foreign Office was attended by former foreign secretaries and senior diplomats, and held consultations over the prevailing situation.



"Clouds of danger are lingering over Pakistan and we can see aggression," Shah Mehmood Qureshi said. "An aggressive segment is bent on risking regional peace for its political gains," he added. "Indian leadership has become flustered in trying to achieve its political gains," Geo News quoted Qureshi as saying.

Qureshi further said, "We are a responsible nation and have to move forward responsibly, wisely and patiently."



Stating that Prime Minister Imran Khan is up to date with "minute-by-minute details", the foreign minister said, "I will hold a meeting with the prime minister and brief him regarding the consultative meeting to be held at the Foreign Office."

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New Delhi:

Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar's brother-in-law Yusuf Azhar was killed when Jaish camps across the Line of Control were attacked by the Indian Air Force in a pre-dawn attack on Tuesday. Yusuf Azhar alias Mohammad Salim alias Ustaad Gohri was on the Interpol list and among the most wanted in India. The foreign secretary confirmed India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated. This facility at Balakot was headed by Maulana Yusuf Azhar (alias Ustad Ghouri), the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar, the chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed.

JeM's Yusuf Azhar alias Mohammad Salim alias Ustaad Gohri who was targeted today by IAF #airstrike in Balakot across LOC was on the Interpol list and among the most wanted in India. pic.twitter.com/1eTj8FhFMJ  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

India on Tuesday confirmed that it had carried out a non-military, pre-emptive air strike in Pakistan's Balakot, in a pre-dawn attack targeting the biggest training camp run by the Jaish-e-Mohammed, who had claimed responsibility of the attack on 40 CRPF personnel on February 14. Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told a press briefing that the pre-emptive terror strike was conducted as there was credible intelligence that the JeM, which had carried out the recent Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, was plotting major strikes in various parts of the country.

Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose, Gokhale told the media.

In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary, the foreign secretary said.

Addressing the media at 11.30 am, he said the strike had been carried out by a short while ago and further details were awaited.

In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated, he said.

The facility at Balakot, located in a thick forest on a hilltop far away from civilian presence, was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar, alias Ustad Ghouri, the brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar, he said, reading out from a statement.

The statement did not say if Yousuf Azhar was among those killed.

The Government of India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to fight the menace of terrorism, the foreign secretary said.

The selection of the target, he said, was conditioned by the desire to avoid civilian casualties.

India, Gokhale said, expects Pakistan to dismantle all terror camps, including those of the JeM.

 India has been repeatedly urging Pakistan to take action against the JeM to prevent jihadis from being trained and armed inside Pakistan. Pakistan has taken no concrete actions to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its soil, he said.

Earlier in the day, government sources said Mirage 2000 combat jets of the Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control in the Pakistani side. They said jets pounded the camps in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakoti.

However, there was no independent confirmation of these reports and Gokhale made it clear that only one camp was struck in Balakot without mentioning the Mirage 2000 jets.

The JeM has been active in Pakistan for the last two decades and has its headquarters in Bahawalpur in Pakistans Punjab province, Gokhale said in the statement.

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New Delhi:

After initial frenzy, key facts about the Surgical Strike 2.0 are trickling down the information framework. Now, latest pictures have surfaced online that show Jaish-e-Mohammeds Balakot terror camps. The photos tweeted by news agency ANI show the nondescript camp located on a hilltop of the Balakot forests. According to intel sources, ammunition dump blown up today had more than 200 AK rifles, uncountable rounds hand grenades, explosives and detonators.

Entire terror set up in the suicide bombing training centre in Balakot was decimated in pre-dawn attack. Though Pakistan has resolutely denied the attack inside Balakot, intel; sources say over 300 terrorists were eliminated in the covert operation by the Indian Air Force. Flags of the USA, UK and Israel were painted on staircases at the Jaish e Mohammed facility.

Key Jaish-e-Mohammed operatives targeted in todays air strikes were Maulana Ammar, who was associated with Afghanistan and Kashmir operations. Others included Maulana Talha Saif, brother of Maulana Masood Azhar and head of preparation wing.

The Balakot-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp destroyed by the Indian Air Force Tuesday was located on the bank of the Kunhar river in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan and was also used by the Hizbul Mujahideen terror group, government sources said.

The Balakot camp was an important training centre for the JeM and other terror organisations and it had several structures to accommodate terrorist trainees and facilities to train them. Situated on the Kunhar river, the Balakot camp offered possibility of aquatic training to terrorists and housed hundreds of terrorists, the sources said.

The camp, 20 km from the Balakot town, was used for "battle inoculation" and its trainers were ex-officers of the Pakistan Army. Several "inspirational lectures" were delivered by JeM founder and terror mastermind Masood Azhar and other terrorist leaders on several occasions.

In the Balakot camp, the terrorists were imparted the advanced 'Daura-e-Khaas' training in weapons, explosives and field tactics, attack on convoys of security forces, planting and making of IEDs, suicide bombing, rigging vehicles for suicide attacks and survival tactics in high altitudes and extreme-stress situations, they said.

The report also said that nod for February 26 airstrike was given by the Indian Air Force chief on February 15. Reportedly a dry run was conducted on February 24. There were also reports that Pakistan had scrambled F-16s to intercept the Indian Air Force but abandoned seeing the Indian formation. The February 26 airstrike was coordinated by the IAFs Western Air Command.

(With agency inputs)

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New Delhi:

A Pakistani unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was shot down near the International Border in Kutch district of Gujarat on Tuesday morning, hours after Mirage combat jets of the Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control on the Pakistani side, 12 days after Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group carried out the dastardly Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

Interestingly, the drone was brought down in Ambasa village by the Israeli missile Derby, the sources added. This is the first time that Spyder has been used for taking down any enemy aircraft, they said.

The Spyder defence missile system was deployed for operational role in 2017. Debris of the UAV was seen near Nanghatad village in Abdasa taluka of Kutch, they said.

On hearing a loud sound around 6 am, villagers went to the spot and found the debris of the UAV, sources told news agency PTI.

Asked if a Pakistani UAV had been shot down by the Indian armed forces, a police official, on condition of anonymity, said, "Such an incident has happened, we are investigating the matter."

The official, however, refused to elaborate further.

Indian Army has shot down a Pakistani spy drone in Abdasa village, in Kutch, Gujarat. Army and police personnel present at the spot. pic.twitter.com/84wUJY916l  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

Earlier, more than 350 Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, including Fidayeen and their trainers, were killed as IAF used 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets in a five-star, resort style camp in a hilltop forest in Balakot in Pakistan on early Tuesday morning, according to sources.

Hundreds of Fidayeen and their trainers were shifted from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to the camp in Balakot after the Pulwama attack, providing Indian forces with "a sitting duck target" when they carried out an air strike early Tuesday, killing up to 350 terrorists, sources told news agency PTI said.

They said at least 325 terrorists and 25 to 27 trainers were at the camp, the biggest operated by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group, which had claimed responsibility for the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, Kashmir that killed 40 jawans.

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Chinese telecommunications giants ZTE, Huawei and Xiaomi displayed their brand new products at the 2019 Mobile World Congress (MWC2019), which opened Monday in the city of Barcelona in northeast Spain.



ZTE presented its new smartphone: the ZTE Axon 10 Pro 5G, one of a range of 5G compatible devices to be shown to the public for the first time at the event.

"We have been coming to the MWC for several years, but 2019 is the first year in which we are going to see 5G commercialized and we think we are going to be a key player in the sector," Li Qing, marketing manager from Chinese smartphone producers ZTE told Xinhua, adding "Innovations in 5G have been and will continue to be a very important strategy for our company."

Chinese companies Huawei and Xiaomi presented their proposals for 5G handsets on the eve of the MWC2019, with Huawei showcasing the Mate X and Xiaomi, their Mi Mix 3 5G.

However, MWC2019 is not just about smartphones, with 5G opening new possibilities for connected and autonomous cars and Artificial Intelligence (AI).



"I hope to see what the new trends are, especially in 5G, and this week will decide the business strategy that my company will take for the coming years," Bojan Pavlovic, Research and Development Director of software developing company, Ibis Instruments, told Xinhua.

"I have come here to see the challenges which the introduction of 5G offers to telecommunications providers and to try and identify the spaces in the market, so we can attempt to fill them," he added.

The four days of the MWC2019 also offer opportunities for networking, with numerous rooms set aside to visitors to find future business partners, while there is also a series of keynote speeches and conferences hosted by industry heavyweights aimed as helping decide the future of the mobile industry for 2019 and beyond.



"This is probably the most important conference in the world, in which we are going to see the next generation of technology. The products that are going to be used in society during the next 10 years are all here," industry expert Mike Murphy commented to Xinhua.

This is the 14th time for Barcelonia to host the event since the Mobile World Congress was moved to the city in 2006.

Around 110,000 people are expected to visit the MWC2019, which will last until Feb. 28, with 2,400 companies from 200 counties exhibiting under the banner "Intelligent Connectivity."
New Delhi:

The Indian Army destroyed five Pakistani posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday night in a befitting retaliation to firing from across the border, resulting in a "number of casualties" to Pakistan troops, a defence official said.

"The Indian Army retaliated for effect and our focused fire resulted in severe destruction to five posts and number of casualties to Pakistani army (along LoC in Rajouri and Poonch districts)", the defence PRO said.

From 6:30 pm onwards, the Pakistani army initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by shelling with heavy calibre weaponry along the LoC out of frustration, he said.

The Pakistani troops were also seen firing mortars and missiles from civilian houses, using villagers as human shields.

However, the Indian Army targeted the Pak posts away from civilian areas, the PRO said, adding that this resulted in a "number of casualties" to Pak troopers.

In exchange of fire, five soldiers of the Indian Army suffered minor injuries, out of which two of them were shifted to a military hospital for medical treatment; they are stable.

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highlights Modi had announced that the armed forces being given free hand.

Reports suggest that the camp destroyed by IAF belonged to JeM.

Reportedly 10 bombs were dropped in pre-dawn airstrike.

New Delhi:

India carried out another surgical strike across the Line of Control in early morning hours on Tuesday. According to news agency ANI, the Indian Air Forces Mirage 2000 dropped 1,000 Kg bombs and destroyed major terrorist camp across Line of Control. At 3:30 am, Mirage 2000 struck the camp, which is supposed to be located somewhere in Balakot. 12 Mirage 2000 jets took part in the operation that dropped 1000 Kg bombs on terror camps across LOC, completely destroying it, the Ani report said.

The report comes hours after Pakistan claimed that Indian Air Force violated the Line of Control. Major General Asif Ghafoor, spokesperson of Pakistan Armed Forces, took to Twitter to announce about the alleged violation. Indian Air Force violated Line of Control. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircrafts gone back, Ghafoor said in an early morning tweet. Short while from now, he also tweeted an update saying that, Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. He also added that, Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage.

The claim comes amid reports that Islamabad has been anticipating a strong action from New Delhi. Hence, it has not vacated the winter posts in the forward areas. This has happened for the first time in many years. The report also said combined with the launchpads, the real number of the Pakistani troopers across the border cant be guessed. There are more than 50 such winter posts near the Line of Control, the media report said.

In aftermath of Pulwama attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that the armed forces being given free hand to avenge Pulwama attack. Addressing media in New Delhi after the CCS meet, PM Modi said, Our security forces have been given free hand. The forces behind this act of terrorism and those responsible for it, will be definitely be punished, he said. If our neighbour which is totally isolated in the world thinks it can destabilise India through its tactics and conspiracies, then it is making a big mistake, PM Modi said without naming Pakistan.

Meanwhile, there are also reports that Pakistan is shifting terrorist leaders, including Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, to safe areas after India demanded of strong action against them following the Pulwama attack on February 14, sources said. The sources added that on February 17-18, Azhar was shifted from Rawalpindi to Kot Ghani near Bahawalpur in Pakistan.

Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage.  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019

To keep Azhar and other terrorists safe, Pakistan has provided three-layer security which is guarded by local police, special forces and the Pakistan Army. The outer periphery is being guarded by the local police, while the second and third layers have been taken care of by special forces and the Pakistan Army.

After the Pulwama attack, which was carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed, India launched a major diplomatic pressure on Pakistan. The government slammed Pakistan for using terrorism as an instrument of state policy. India has also asked Pakistan to take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control.

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highlights Pakistan has not vacated winter posts in the forward areas.

Indian forces have been given free hand, PM had said.

Delhi has slammed Islamabad for using terrorism state policy.

New Delhi:

Amid heightened tension over Pulwama terror attack, Pakistan today claimed that Indian Air Force violated the Line of Control. Major General Asif Ghafoor, spokesperson of Pakistan Armed Forces, took to Twitter to announce about the alleged violation. Indian Air Force violated Line of Control. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircrafts gone back, Ghafoor said in an early morning tweet. Short while from now, he also tweeted an update saying that, Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. He also added that, Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage.

Indian Air Force violated Line of Control. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircrafts gone back. Details to follow.  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 25, 2019

Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage.  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019

The claim comes amid reports that Islamabad has been anticipating a strong action from New Delhi. Hence, it has not vacated the winter posts in the forward areas. This has happened for the first time in many years. The report also said combined with the launchpads, the real number of the Pakistani troopers across the border cant be guessed. There are more than 50 such winter posts near the Line of Control, the media report said.

In aftermath of Pulwama attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that the armed forces being given free hand to avenge Pulwama attack. Addressing media in New Delhi after the CCS meet, PM Modi said, Our security forces have been given free hand. The forces behind this act of terrorism and those responsible for it, will be definitely be punished, he said. If our neighbour which is totally isolated in the world thinks it can destabilise India through its tactics and conspiracies, then it is making a big mistake, PM Modi said without naming Pakistan.

Meanwhile, there are also reports that Pakistan is shifting terrorist leaders, including Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, to safe areas after India demanded of strong action against them following the Pulwama attack on February 14, sources said. The sources added that on February 17-18, Azhar was shifted from Rawalpindi to Kot Ghani near Bahawalpur in Pakistan.

To keep Azhar and other terrorists safe, Pakistan has provided three-layer security which is guarded by local police, special forces and the Pakistan Army. The outer periphery is being guarded by the local police, while the second and third layers have been taken care of by special forces and the Pakistan Army.

After the Pulwama attack, which was carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed, India launched a major diplomatic pressure on Pakistan. The government slammed Pakistan for using terrorism as an instrument of state policy. India has also asked Pakistan to take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control.

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New Delhi:

The Indian Air Forces Mirage 2000 fighter jets not only destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps located in the Pakistan occupied Kashmir, but also targeted area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, latest media report said. According to news agency ANI, air strikes in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region were based on locations provided by on ground intelligence sources.

In terms of geography, while Muzaffarabad and Chakothi are located in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, the fact is Balakot is located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. If the targets of the airstrikes are confirmed, this means that India has hit locations deep into Pakisan and not PoK. Balakot is about 50 miles from the ceasefire border known as the line of control based on lines established after the first war the two countries fought over Kashmir shortly after independence in 1947.

Till official confirmation comes, the mystery looms large over which Balakot has been targeted in Pakistan. Because, there are two Balakotes in Pakistan, one is a town in Mansehra district of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and the other along LoC in PoK. Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah, while reacting to the attack, said: If this is Balakote in KPK its a major incursion & a significant strike by IAF planes. However, if its Balakote in Poonch sector, along the LoC its a largely symbolic strike because at this time of the year forward launch pads & militant camps are empty & non-functional.

The airstrikes are seen as a way by India avenging the Pulwama terror attack. On February 14, around 40 CRPF personnel were killed when a suicide bomber rammed into a convoy while moving from Jammu to Srinagar in Lethpora area of South Kashmirs Pulwama district. Pakistan based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed the responsibility of the attack.

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New Delhi:

Hours after India reportedly destroyed the Pakistan-based terror camps in Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad across Line of Control (LoC), the Indian Air Force (IAF) has put all air defence systems on high alert. Indian Air Force has put on high alert all air defence systems along the international border and LoC to respond to any possible action by Pakistan Air Force, tweeted ANI. Military establishment across LoC has also been put on high alert, sources said.

According to reports, around 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets crossed Line of Control (LoC) around 3:30 this morning and dropped 1,000 kg bombs on terror camps of Jaish-e-Mohammed, completely destroying them.

Flight tracking websites spotted heightened activities along the border with an IAF early warning plane Emb 145 and mid-air refueller circling in the area early in the morning. According to reports, more than 10 bombs were dropped by the multi-role fighter jet Mirage 2000 at around 3:30 am on Tuesday morning.

Pakistani F16s were scrambled to retaliate against IAF Mirage 2000s but turned back due to size of Indian formation. Western Air Command coordinated operation, tweeted ANI.

The entire operation continued for 21 minutes, says a report. Defence experts say that Mirages would have used 500 kg laser-guided bombs. The aerial attack comes days after Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a high-level meeting with all three service chiefs.

In Islamabad, the Pakistan Army alleged that the Indian Air Force violated the Line of Control (LoC) in Muzafarabad sector.

"Indian aircraft intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said in a tweet.

"Indian Air Force violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft gone back," he tweeted.

The extent of the damage inflicted on the ground is not immediately known but the sources claimed the Pakistani side sustained significant losses.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefed by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the operation. Hours later, he chaired a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security which was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Sitharaman.

With PTI Inputs

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New Delhi:

India carried out another surgical strike across the Line of Control in early morning hours on Tuesday. According to news agency ANI, the Indian Air Forces Mirage 2000 dropped 1,000 Kg bombs and destroyed major terrorist camp across Line of Control. At 3:30 am, Mirage 2000 struck the camp, which is supposed to be located somewhere in Balakot. 12 Mirage 2000 jets took part in the operation that dropped 1000 Kg bombs on terror camps across LOC, completely destroying it, the ANI report said. The airstrike comes 12 days after the dastardly terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in which 40 personnel were killed. Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed the responsibility of the attack.

Here are the LIVE updates:

7.53 pm: India had made it clear that terrorism must be eradicated, we had given many chances to Pakistan, therefore, India was forced to take action so that these things can be stopped, says Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh on India strikes at Jaish-e-Mohammed camp in Balakot.

6.58 pm:

#WATCH EAM Sushma Swaraj after all party meeting: I am happy that all parties in one voice praised the security forces and supported the Govt's anti-terror operations. pic.twitter.com/AOaIhMIDln  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

6.57 pm: I am happy that all parties in one voice praised the security forces and supported the Government's anti-terror operations, says Sushma Swaraj after the all-party meet.

05: 45 pm: Our Indian Air Force has avenged Pulwama attack, said Amit Shah.

05.24 pm: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, High Commissioner of India to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, CPM leader Sitaram Yechury and Congress leader Gulam Nabi Azad are present in the meeting.

5.06 pm: All-party meet begins after IAF's skrikes terror camps across LoC, Sushma Swaraj to brief.

4.17 pm: Punjab has put its border districts on high alert in the wake of the Indian Air Force's (IAF) strikes across the Line of Control, undertaken by India as a retaliatory measure in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack: Punjab chief minister office.

3.59 pm: A total of six bombs were dropped on Pakistan based terrorist camps by the Indian Air Force Mirage 2000s: Government sources.

3.30 pm: Ex-Army Chief General Bikram Singh: It's an excellent operation that has been undertaken. It was certain it'll happen, it was writing on the wall as PM had announced it. We've seen that earlier when PM announced after Uri we went in for surgical strike 1.This is surgical strike 2

3.20 pm: Dean of Diplomatic Corps, Hans Castellanos: Satisfied that Indian govt has had such a rapid response in informing Heads of Missions. The info is that they did not affect any civilian or any Pak military installation, that it was direct attack due to credible intelligence received

3.10 pm: India committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at time and place of its choosing at Pakistan NSC meeting.

3 pm: Pakistan foreign, defence and finance ministers to hold press conference soon.

1.58 pm: Foreign diplomats from the USA, UK, Russia, Australia, Indonesia, Turkey and six ASEAN nations being briefed by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale on Indian air strike across LOC in Balakot.

1.38 pm: Slogans of 'Imran Shame Shame' chanted in Pakistan Parliament.

1.20 pm: PTI reported that Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday made an indirect reference to the air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force on terror camps across the LoC when he sought an apology from the audience at the Rashtrapati Bhawan for being late as he was "busy" with "some other work". In a pre-dawn operation, the Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side, 12 days after the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

1 pm: Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress on IAF strike at JeM camp across LoC: We've always said that whatever action the forces take for protection of this nation, all of us will support them in unity, they are taking action against the terrorists in Pakistan. I congratulate them

12.52 pm: India to brief world leaders on strike.

12.48 pm: Pakistan violates ceasefire in Jammu.

12.40 pm: PM Modi to address the nation from Churu in Rajasthan.

12.30 pm: NSA Ajit Doval along with Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat and IAF Chief BS Dhanoa is reviewing the security situation on the borders after Indian Air Force strikes at JeM terror camp in Balakot across LoC.

12.12 pm: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj calls all-party meeting at 5 pm today.

11.58 am: Pakistan Prime Minister will chair important meeting.

11.35 am: Foreign Secreatry Vijay Gokhale says,"This facility in Balakot was headed by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother in law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar...The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualty. It's located in deep forest on a hilltop."

11.20 am: Pakistan DG ISPR has clarified that Indian aircraft intrusion across LOC in Muzaffarabad sector within AJK was 3 to 4 miles. DG ISPR says under forced hasty withdrawal, the Indian aircraft released payload which had free fall in an open area. @OfficialDGISPR says no infrastructure got hit & there were no casualties.

DG ISPR says under forced hasty withdrawal, the Indian aircraft released payload which had free fall in an open area. @OfficialDGISPR says no infrastructure got hit & there were no casualties https://t.co/Ut5bpidFFx #PakistanArmy, #PakistanAirForce, #PakistanZindabad  Radio Pakistan (@RadioPakistan) February 26, 2019

11.05 am: This is what BSP chief Mayawati tweeted:

                                  ,     -  -              Mayawati (@Mayawati) February 26, 2019

11 am: I salute the Indian Air Force and indeed all our Armed Forces. Congratulations @IAF_MCC, says Akhilesh Yadav.

I salute the Indian Air Force and indeed all our Armed Forces. Congratulations @IAF_MCC  Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) February 26, 2019

10.58 am: My Salute to the Indian Airforce. Jai Jawan.. Jai Hind.. #IndiaStrikesBack #IndianAirForce, tweets Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy.

My Salute to the Indian Airforce.

Jai Jawan.. Jai Hind..#IndiaStrikesBack #IndianAirForce  H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) February 26, 2019

10.57 am: IAF also means India's Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind, tweets West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

IAF also means India's Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) February 26, 2019

10.56 am: China and Pakistan foreign ministers spoke on the phone after the attack, reports.

10.54 am: "Necessary step by Air Force": Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on reports of India's strike on terror camps over LoC.

10.52 am: Pakistani F16s were scrambled to retaliate against IAF Mirage 2000s but turned back due to the size of Indian formation. Western Air Command coordinated operation, reports ANI.

10.45 am: Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale to brief the media at 11.30 today.

10:35 am: PM Modi-led CCS meeting ends, big announcement on surgical strike soon.

10: 30 am: As per sources NSA Ajit Doval was monitoring himself all the operations as it was carried out and planned under his guidance.

10:05 am:

10.02 am: Meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security underway at 7, LKM.





10 am: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi calls for an emergency meeting at Foreign Office.

9.58 am: Indian Air Force has put on high alert all air defence systems along the international border and LoC to respond to any possible action by Pakistan Air Force, reports ANI.

9.57 am: We salute the @IAF_MCC for their consistent & determined effort to keep Indians safe. Jai Hind.

We salute the @IAF_MCC for their consistent & determined effort to keep Indians safe.

Jai Hind. https://t.co/RmfHQNlwH4  Congress (@INCIndia) February 26, 2019

9.55 am: Intel sources have said that anticipating action by Indian forces after the terror attack in Pulwama, Jaish-e-Mohammed leaders were moved to safer locations. Abdul Rouf Asghar, brother of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar is said to have been moved out to Punjab. Sources added that Maulana Masood Azhar was also moved from a JeM camp in Bahawalpur, as reported by India Today.

9.53 am: JAI HIND, IAF  @IAF_MCC @adgpi #IndiaStrikesAgain #IndiaStrikesBack #IndiaStrikes, tweeted Gautam Gambhir.

9.46 am: Unless we know which Balakote is being talked about by the Pakistani generals its pointless speculating about what we may have hit & what fallout the airstrike will have, Omar Abdullah.

If this is Balakote in KPK its a major incursion & a significant strike by IAF planes. However if its Balakote in Poonch sector, along the LoC its a largely symbolic strike because at this time of the year forward launch pads & militant camps are empty & non-functional.  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 26, 2019

9.46 am: If this is Balakote in KPK its a major incursion & a significant strike by IAF planes. However, if its Balakote in Poonch sector, along the LoC its a largely symbolic strike because at this time of the year forward launch pads & militant camps are empty & non-functional, tweeted Omar Abdullah.

9.41 am: I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan, tweets Arvind Kejriwal.

I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 26, 2019

9.40 am: I salute the pilots of the IAF, tweeted Rahul Gandhi.

 I salute the pilots of the IAF.   Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 26, 2019

9.30 am: Subramanian Swamy on reported air strikes by IAF in Balakot, Chakothi & Muzaffarabad terror launch pads across LoC: Actually it was mostly on our own territory, which is called PoK- Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. So you can always bomb your own territory, nothing wrong.

Subramanian Swamy: Even if it was their territory, we have under the United Nation charter the right of self-defence. They have been attacking us & they say we want to give a thousand cuts to India, so our government did the right thing by giving them 1000 bombs. https://t.co/t1N22SzLHS  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

9.25 am: According to News 18 reports, 200-300 casualties on the Pakistani side.

9.15 am: Sources have said Army and Air Force officials are expected to brief the media about operational details.

9.14 am: "Pakistan will not think about responding, Pakistan will respond". What shape will response take? Where will response be? Will India have to respond to Pakistan's response?" Omar Abdullah tweeted.

9 am: Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad terror launch pads across the LOC completely destroyed in IAF air strikes. JeM control rooms also destroyed.

8.40 am: Indian Air Forces Mirage 2000 dropped 1,000-kg bombs.

8.30 am: At 03.30 hours on February 26, a group of Mirage 2000 Indian Fighter jets struck a major terrorist camp across the LoC and completely destroyed it, IAF sources.

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highlights Pre-dawn attack was carried out in 21 minutes.

Total 12 fighter jets of the IAF were used in the attack.

Reportedly a dry run was conducted on February 24.

New Delhi:

The Indian Air Force had flown several fighter jets from as many as 20 air bases to attack the terror camps across the Line of Control during the pre-dawn attack on Tuesday. News Nation has learnt that only two fighter jets were used in the air strike and rest of the 10 aircraft were used to protect these combat jets. Latest media reports say that fighter jets were flown from Gwalior, Bathinda and Ambala. The mega formation included Mirage 2000, Matra close combat missile and Heron drone, an India Today report said. The report also said that nod for February 26 airstrike was given by the Indian Air Force chief on February 15. Reportedly a dry run was conducted on February 24. There were also reports that Pakistan had scrambled F-16s to intercept the Indian Air Force but abandoned seeing the Indian formation. The February 26 airstrike was coordinated by the IAFs Western Air Command.

Defence experts say that Mirages would have used 500 kg laser-guided bombs. The Mirage 2000s may have used Israeli lightening laser designator pods to drop their precision bombs.Though Pakistan has tweeted the photos of large craters, the actual impact of the airstrike will be revealed by the satellite images.

The Balakot terror camp was developed in 2000-2001, a Times Now report said. It also added that the terror facility was overseen by Saifur Rehman Saifi, who had introduced suicide bombings to the terror outfits. A BBC report said that local residents of Balakot were woken up by loud blasts at 3-4 am. The 12 Mirage-2000 hit the statue of Masood Azhar on Mount Jaish with 1,000 Kg bombs. Curiously, the Pakistan Air Force had demonstrated tactical preparedness by releasing flares in Cholistan desert, a report said.

Meanwhile, the IAF has put all air defence systems on high alert. Indian Air Force has put on high alert all air defence systems along the international border and LoC to respond to any possible action by Pakistan Air Force, tweeted ANI. Military establishment across LoC has also been put on high alert, sources said.

The airstrikes are seen as a way by India avenging the Pulwama terror attack. On February 14, around 40 CRPF personnel were killed when a suicide bomber rammed into a convoy while moving from Jammu to Srinagar in Lethpora area of South Kashmirs Pulwama district. Pakistan based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed the responsibility of the attack.

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highlights Selection of strike was conditioned by to avoid civilian deaths.

This was a non-military pre-emptive action, says MEA.

Large number of Jaish commanders were eliminated.

New Delhi:

Indian Air Forces pre-dawn attack targeting terror camps in Balakot was confirmed by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi on Tuesday. In a brief statement issued to media, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale spoke about intelligence operation. In an intelligence lead operation in the early hours today, India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commander and Jihadis were eliminated, Gokhale said. Credible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country. A pre-emptive strike became important. India struck the biggest camp of JeM in Balakot, Gokhale added.

Talking about the terrorist killed in the airstrike, Gokhale said that, large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders were eliminated in largest JeM camp in Balakot. Camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother in law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar.

The airstrikes are seen as a way by India avenging the Pulwama terror attack. On February 14, around 40 CRPF personnel were killed when a suicide bomber rammed into a convoy while moving from Jammu to Srinagar in Lethpora area of South Kashmirs Pulwama district. Pakistan based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed the responsibility of the attack.

In aftermath of Pulwama attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that the armed forces being given free hand to avenge Pulwama attack. Addressing media in New Delhi after the CCS meet, PM Modi said, Our security forces have been given free hand. The forces behind this act of terrorism and those responsible for it, will be definitely be punished, he said. If our neighbour which is totally isolated in the world thinks it can destabilise India through its tactics and conspiracies, then it is making a big mistake, PM Modi said without naming Pakistan.

Meanwhile, there are also reports that Pakistan is shifting terrorist leaders, including Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, to safe areas after India demanded of strong action against them following the Pulwama attack on February 14, sources said. The sources added that on February 17-18, Azhar was shifted from Rawalpindi to Kot Ghani near Bahawalpur in Pakistan.

Media Briefing by Foreign Secretary (February 26, 2019) https://t.co/11jgiQfuBL  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) February 26, 2019

On February 14, around 40 CRPF personnel were killed when a suicide bomber rammed into a convoy while moving from Jammu to Srinagar in Lethpora area of South Kashmirs Pulwama district. Pakistan based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed the responsibility of the attack.

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New Delhi:

The Indian Air Force carried out pre-dawn airstrikes on Tuesday and destroyed major launch pads of terrorists in Pakistans Balakot. More than 10 bombs were dropped by the multi-role fighter jet Mirage 2000 at around 3:30 am. The attack was confirmed by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi. In a brief statement issued to media, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale spoke about intelligence operation. In an intelligence lead operation in the early hours today, India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commander and Jihadis were eliminated, Gokhale said. Credible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country. A pre-emptive strike became important. India struck the biggest camp of JeM in Balakot, Gokhale added.



Surgical strike 2.0: Pakistani politicians react after 'surgical strike'



Shehbaz Sharif



Pakistan leader of the opposition in National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif said that India should refrain from plunging into war. The Indian leadership should come to its senses and act responsibly and should not [plunge] the people of South Asia into war, he said. Shehbaz further warned that India should not take Pakistans patience as weakness. It will be a significant mistake on the Indian side to mistake Pakistans stance as weakness," he said.



Shah Mehmood Qureshi



We kept on telling the world that this could happen they [India] carried out aggression against Pakistan today. India violated the LoC [today]. Pakistan holds the right to self-defence and a befitting response, Qureshi told media, after chairing an emergency consultative meeting at the Foreign Office. The meeting at the Foreign Office was attended by former foreign secretaries and senior diplomats, and held consultations over the prevailing situation.



Khursheed Shah



Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senior leader Khursheed Shah said that we are in a state of war. "India should know that jihad is a part of our faith," Shah asserted. "The opposition is ready to stand on the border and Pakistanis are ready to sacrifice their lives," the PPP leader stated.

Khawaja Asif

This is a challenging time. It is a matter of life and death for the country. We need to stand with our forces now. The OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) has been invited for the first time. It is a setback and an embarrassment for us. Our friends have invited India, it is an insult. We must boycott the OIC.

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highlights The entire political setup seems to be united on the airstrike.

Major parties are hailing the Indian Air Force pre-dawn attack.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar called it a 'necessary step.'

New Delhi:

On Tuesday, India woke up to the news of Indian Air Forces mega strike deep into Pakistan occupied Kashmir destroying major terror camps run by Jaish-e-Mohammed. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi was among the first leaders to react on this. I salute pilots of IAF, tweeted Rahul Gandhi as Mirage 2000 pounded Jaishs PoK camps. The Congress also took to Twitter and said, We salute the @IAF_MCC for their consistent & determined effort to keep Indians safe. Jai Hind.

Earlier, leaving aside the political differences, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had said that the entire Opposition stood with the Narendra Modi government over Pulwama terror attack. Addressing media in New Delhi, Gandhi had said that expressed his grief and said, I am hurt, so is every Indian. This is a terrible tragedy. This type of violence done against our security forces is absolutely disgusting. The aim of terrorism is to divide this country and we are not going to be divided.

Former Prime minister Manmohan Singh also had said that, As the Congress President put it, today is the day of mourning. Our country has lost close to 40 jawans of the armed forces. Our foremost duty is to convey to the families that we are with them. The Congress party stands in full support of our jawans and their families. We will do all that is necessary to keep this nation united, he added.

Former Prime minister Manmohan Singh also had said that, As the Congress President put it, today is the day of mourning. Our country has lost close to 40 jawans of the armed forces. Our foremost duty is to convey to the families that we are with them. The Congress party stands in full support of our jawans and their families. We will do all that is necessary to keep this nation united, he added.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said that, actually it was mostly on our own territory, which is called PoK- Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. So you can always bomb your own territory, nothing wrong.

Even if it was their territory, we have under the United Nation charter the right of self-defence. They have been attacking us & they say we want to give a thousand cuts to India, so our government did the right thing by giving them 1000 bombs, Swamy added. I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said.

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Hong Kong will retain its title as the world's most expensive office market in 2019 despite an anticipated rent decrease, international property adviser Knight Frank said in a recent industry outlook report.



Benefiting from tight supply, rents in Hong Kong are expected to stand at around US$2,578 per square meter per annum this year, down from 2018's estimate of US$2,714 but still well above the 10-year average of US$2,084, according to the global consultancy.

Rents in Beijing are expected to fall slightly from 2018's estimate of US$669 to US$662 per square meter per annum, earning the Chinese capital city the No.11 spot. Shanghai, which ranks No.18 this year, will probably see its office rents unchanged at US$506 per square meter per annum.

"In the Chinese mainland, Beijing has the highest rental price for premium offices, and Shanghai comes next," said David Ji, director and head of research and consultancy for Knight Frank China. "In the mid to long term, the supply of office space in Beijing still faces acute shortages."

Demand for new Grade A office buildings in Beijing is mainly driven by Internet and high-tech companies, while in Shanghai, leasing demand from emerging industries such as co-working spaces, artificial intelligence and new energy is strong, according to the report.

Melbourne and Sydney, which are forecast to rank No.21 and No.7 this year, will see the largest rental growth with rents rising 10.1 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively, from 2018. Both of the Australian cities are experiencing tight supply due to employment growth and relatively low levels of development completions in recent years, Knight Frank predicted.
New Delhi:

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar Tuesday congratulated Indian Air Force for launching a strike on a terror camp in Pakistan in which up to 350 terrorists and trainers are believed to have been killed.

Within minutes after he was discharged from the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) this evening, Parrikar, 63, took to twitter and praised the Air Force.

"I salute the #IndianAirForce for its daring operations. It is a testimony to the IAF's unparalleled strike capabilities. The new India under Shri.@narendramodi ji believes in its forces, and makes no compromise on terrorism and national security," tweeted the former defence minister who had supervised the 2016 surgical strike across the LoC.

I salute the #IndianAirForce for its daring operations. It is a testimony to the IAFs unparalleled strike capabilities. The new India under Shri. @narendramodi ji believes in its forces, & makes no compromise on terrorism & national security.  Manohar Parrikar (@manoharparrikar) February 26, 2019

India conducted a major pre-emptive strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) training camp early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers, and senior commanders, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Tuesday also commended the Indian Air Force for carrying out a successful operation against terrorist camps across the LOC. Spontaneous celebrations erupted in many parts of the state while bereaved family members of the two CRPF personnel from Bihar, who were among those killed in the dastardly Pulwama terror attack, said it felt like balm on our wounds.

Such a step was warranted in view of the public anger against terrorism that was prevailing in the country. A beginning has been made and the Centre must take all steps that are required to wipe out terrorism, Kumar told reporters.

Congratulations to our great Air Force for a successful operation. Jai Hindi Jai Bharat tweeted Prasad, who is in Ranchi serving sentences in fodder scam cases. Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, who belongs to the BJP, said in a statement it was on Bihars soil during his February 17 visit that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had remarked that he felt the same fire in himself that was raging in the hearts of the people after the Pulwama attack. The entire nation is with the PM and the Indian Air Force in this proud moment.

Lok Janshakti Party heir apparent Chirag Paswan, who had recently shot off an impassioned letter to the Prime Minister urging him to launch a drive against terrorism which should not be discontinued until a single terrorist was alive, tweeted our Air Force has avenged the Pulwama terror attack by destroying the hideouts of Jaish. Salutations to the armed forces for this courageous expedition.

Patna Sahib MP Shatrughan Sinha, in news mostly for his outbursts against the BJP leadership and the Modi government, tweeted Honourable PM Sir! The entire nation is with @narendramodi in this hour. We are all with you and you have our fullest support. Salutes to the great Indian Air Force.

(With agency inputs)

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New Delhi:

The External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, on Tuesday, briefed all parties after the Indian Air Force conducted air strikes across the Line of Control (LoC). After the meeting, Sushma Swaraj said that all parties in one voice praised the security forces and supported the governments anti-terror operations.

According to the sources, the minister also informed the leaders that she spoke to US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo over the Indian air strikes on Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps in Balakot.

While speaking to the media after the all-party meet, Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, We have appreciated the efforts by the forces, they always have our support to end terrorism. Another good thing is that it was a clean operation which specifically targeted terrorists and terror camps.

#WATCH EAM Sushma Swaraj after all party meeting: I am happy that all parties in one voice praised the security forces and supported the Govt's anti-terror operations. pic.twitter.com/AOaIhMIDln  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

The European Union spokesperson, Maja Kocijancic has also reacted to the development and said, We're following very closely the current developments between India & Pakistan. We remain in contact with both countries & what we believe is essential, is that all exercise maximum restraint and avoid further escalation of tensions.

The Cabinet Committee on Security met on Tuesday morning at the residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Indian Air Force carried out air strikes in Pakistan. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman were present at the meeting.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other top officials of the prime minister's office and the security apparatus were present at the meeting, official sources said.

India is believed to have carried out air strikes inside Pakistan early Tuesday and targeted terror camps, sources said.

The strikes involving several fighter jets of the Indian Air Force successfully destroyed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the sources said.

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met all three chiefs of armed forces and congratulated them after the Indian Air Force (IAF) conducted air strikes in Pakistans Balakot, the biggest training camp of terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, killing over 350 terrorists, including Jaish chief Masood Azhar's brother-in-law. The meeting with the military chiefs was held after Pakistan said that it will "respond at a time and place of its choosing". Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had held a meeting of the National Security Committee that included the chiefs of all three armed forces and other officials.

Khan asked the armed forces and the people of Pakistan to remain prepared for all eventualities. It summoned the Acting Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad. The Pakistani government condemned the air strikes conducted by the IAF in Balakot calling it the violation of its territorial sovereignty by fighter jets.

The Acting Foreign Secretary summoned the Indian Acting High Commissioner and strongly condemned the Indian violation of Pakistans sovereignty and territorial integrity, the Foreign Office said in a statement. The statement came after an emergency meeting to review the situation, PTI reported. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said India has committed aggression by violating the LoC and Islamabad has right to self-defence.

In his statement after the Pulwama terror attack, Imran Khan had said the country would act if India gave "actionable intelligence" against terrorists based in the country. He had warned India that Pakistan would retaliate if India indulged in any "misadventure".

On Tuesday afternoon, PM Modi had said at a rally in Rajasthan's Churu: "I assure you, the country is in safe hands."

More than 350 Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, Fidayeen and their trainers, were killed as IAF used 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets in a five-star, resort style camp in a hilltop forest in Balakot in Pakistan on early Tuesday morning according to sources. Hundreds of Fidayeen and their trainers were shifted from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to the camp in Balakot after the Pulwama attack, providing Indian forces with "a sitting duck target" when they carried out an air strike early Tuesday.

They said at least 325 terrorists and 25 to 27 trainers were at the camp, the biggest operated by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group, which had claimed responsibility for the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, Kashmir that killed 40 jawans.

Everyone at the camp was sleeping and Pakistani defence establishment had no clue that the attack was coming so deep into their country because they had expected a surgical strike on camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir near the Line of Control, said the sources who are close to the government.

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New Delhi:

Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Mohammed met his terrorist group counterpart Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Hafiz Saeed on Tuesday after the Indian Air Forces Mirage 2000 jets conducted aerial surgical strike at the terrorists camps in Balakot across the Line of Control (LoC) on early morning, killing more than 350 members, according to sources. The meeting was conducted by Pakistan intelligence agency ISI.

Masood Azhar had also met Syed Salahuddin of Hizbul Mujahideen on January 21. News Nation on Monday reported that Pakistan is shifting terrorist leaders, including Azhar, to safe areas after India demanded of strong action against them following the Pulwama attack on February 14. The sources added that on February 17-18, Azhar was shifted from Rawalpindi to Kot Ghani near Bahawalpur in Pakistan.

To keep Azhar and other terrorists safe, Pakistan has provided three-layer security which is guarded by local police, special forces and the Pakistan Army. The outer periphery is being guarded by the local police, while the second and third layers have been taken care of by special forces and the Pakistan Army.

More than 350 Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, Fidayeen and their trainers, were killed as IAF used 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets in a five-star, resort style camp in a hilltop forest in Balakot in Pakistan on early Tuesday morning according to sources. Hundreds of Fidayeen and their trainers were shifted from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to the camp in Balakot after the Pulwama attack, providing Indian forces with "a sitting duck target" when they carried out an air strike early Tuesday.

They said at least 325 terrorists and 25 to 27 trainers were at the camp, the biggest operated by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group, which had claimed responsibility for the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, Kashmir that killed 40 jawans.

Everyone at the camp was sleeping and Pakistani defence establishment had no clue that the attack was coming so deep into their country because they had expected a surgical strike on camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir near the Line of Control, said the sources who are close to the government.

But India received intelligence that JeM had shifted many in-training terrorists and hardcore operatives, along with their trainers, to the Balakot camp, which has facilities for 500 to 700 people, and even has a swimming pool along with cooks and cleaners.

Fighter and other aircraft took off from several air bases in Western and Central commands at about the same time, leaving Pakistani defence officials confused as to where they were heading, the sources said. A small group of aircraft broke away from the swarm and headed to Balakot where "the sleeping terrorists were sitting ducks for the Indian bombing," said one source.

"They had no idea that Balakot was to be the target ... when the pictures come in you will see only khandhar (ruins) of the once-flourishing camp", said the source.

There has been no official confirmation that Indian Air Force jets carried out the attack, although defence sources have said that Mirage 2000 planes pounded the camp with bombs and levelled it.

The terror camp is located 20 kms from Balakot town.

Balakot is some 80 km from the Line of Control near Abbotabad where Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in hiding by covert U.S. forces who had also sneaked into Pakistan to carry out the operation, catching the entire Pakistani military unawares.

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New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that it will pass an order on March 5 if the Ayodhya case may be sent for court-monitored mediation to save time. The next hearing has been deferred for eight weeks, which would be consumed by the parties in vetting the translated documents, could be utilised for mediation. Ram Temple is not a dispute over private property. This issue has become so contentious and we are seriously giving a chance for mediation," said Justice Bobde who was hearing the matter. Even if there is only one per cent chance of mediation between parties, we should give it an opportunity," he said. The Supreme Court is hearing the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case. The previous hearing on January 29 was postponed as Justice SA Bobde of the five-judge Constitution bench was not leave.



Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan who was representing the Muslim litigant, however, said that his client was open to mediation. If your Lordships want to try it, I wont oppose it, he said.

The bench also comprises Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Ashok Bhushan, Abdul Nazeer and DY Chandrachud. As many as 14 appeals have been filed in the Supreme Court against the Allahabad High Court judgment in 2010, which was delivered based on four suits.



On Monday, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy mentioned before the Supreme Court his plea that he has a fundamental right to offer prayers at the disputed site in Ayodhya. However, the bench asked him to be present in court on Tuesday.



Earlier, Centre had moved the Supreme Court and sought permission from the top court to return all 67-acre surplus land at the site. The government asked the Supreme Court to lift the status quo on non-disputed land. The government asked the top court to allow it to hand over part of the land that is not under dispute to Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas. The government's petition comes after the Ayodhya case hearing was cancelled because of the non-availability of Justice SA Bobde.





Earlier, BJP president Amit Shah parties like BSP, SP and Congress should make their stand clear on the issue. BJP's stand is clear that Ram Temple will be built in that very place in Ayodhya. SP, BSP and Congress should clear their agenda, whether they want the construction of Ram Mandir or not, Shah said.

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New Delhi:

Condemning the appalling attack against the Indian security forces in Pulwama on February 14, France on Tuesday said that Pakistan should put to an end the terror activities from its territory. France recognises Indias legitimacy to ensure its security against cross-border terrorism and asks Pakistan to put an end to the operations of terrorist groups established on its territory, it said in a statement.

France, which stands alongside India in the fight against terrorism in all its forms, is fully engaged in mobilising the international community to punish the terrorists responsible for this attack (Pulwama) and to block their financing networks, the statement added.

France also asked India and Pakistan to exercise restraint to avert any risk of military escalation and to preserve strategic stability in the region. The resumption of bilateral dialogue between Islamabad and New Delhi is necessary in order to start peaceful settlement of differences, it reads.

Early on Tuesday, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 80-km from the Line of Control (LoC), killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, officials said in New Delhi.

The air strikes came 12 days after the JeM carried out a suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

At a hurriedly called special meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) hours after India's air strikes inside Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan asked the armed forces and the people of his country to remain prepared for "all eventualities."

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New Delhi:

Punjab has put its six border districts on high alert in the wake of the surgical strike by Indian Air Force (IAF) on Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps across the Line of Control (LoC). Six districts that have been put on high alert are - Ferozepur, Tarn Taran, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Fazilka. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh chaired a high-level law and order review meeting and ordered a spate of measures to deal with any contingency in view of the attack.

It was concluded in the meeting that there was no need to panic and it was decided against evacuating the border areas, an official spokesperson said. All police chief and Deputy Commissioners have been asked to put in place all contingency plans to ensure the protection and safety of the citizens.

The chief minister has decided to camp in the border areas as part of the confidence-building measure. The chief minister will himself visit the border areas from Pathankot to Ferozepur by road tomorrow where he will stay the night. The next day, he will visit the Tarn Taran region and spend the night at Faridkot. Captain Amarinder will return to Chandigarh on Friday after visiting the border areas of Ferozepur district, his Media Advisor Raveen Thukral said.

The chief minister discussed all aspects of the current situation with the top brass of the police and civil administration, including Personal Secretary Suresh Kumar, Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, Home Secretary NS Kalsi, DGP Dinkar Gupta, and DGP (Intelligence) VK Bhanwara.

Immediately after the deadly Pulwama attack on a CRPF convoy, Amarinder Singh, a former Army captain, had made it clear that he was in favour of strong retaliatory action and that the Congress would support any action taken by the central government.

"Great job by the #IndianAirForce. The #IAFStrikes have sent the much-needed signal to Pakistan and the terrorists it's harbouring - don't think you can get away with acts like the #PulwamaAttack. Bravo to the #IAF men and my full support for the action," he said in a tweet.

An emotional Amarinder had also said if Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan could not arrest the Jaish chief, who operates from the Pakistani soil, then "we will do it for him".

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New Delhi:

Two weeks after the Pulwama terror attack in Kashmir, India on Tuesday woke up to the news of Indian Air Force dropping around 1000 kg bombs on Jaishs terrorist camps in Pakistan. As soon as the news came out, Bollywood lauded the IAF for giving a befitting reply to Pakistan after the Pulwama terror attack.

After Ajay Devgn, Anupam Kher and Akshay Kumar, now Salman Khan has joined the bandwagon. The actor took to his Twitter account and wrote, ''Respect @IAF_MCC Indian Air Force... Jai ho !!!.''

Respect @IAF_MCC Indian Air Force... Jai ho !!!  Salman Khan (@BeingSalmanKhan) February 26, 2019

In a brief statement issued to media, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale spoke about intelligence operation. In an intelligence lead operation in the early hours today, India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commander, and Jihadis were eliminated, Gokhale said.

''Credible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country. A pre-emptive strike became important. India struck the biggest camp of JeM in Balakot,'' Gokhale added.



On February 14, around 40 CRPF personnel were killed when a suicide bomber rammed into a convoy while moving from Jammu to Srinagar in Lethpora area of South Kashmirs Pulwama district. Pakistan based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed the responsibility of the attack.

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New Delhi:

Congress President Rahul Gandhi will visit Assam on Tuesday and kick-start his campaign in the state ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. He will address a poll rally at Khanapara veterinary field in Guwahati at 11 am and will also hold a discussion with the Northeast Congress Coordination Committee, a forum of Congress leaders from the North-eastern states around 3 pm. We are expecting around 1 lakh people from the different districts of the state for this rally, said APCC President, Ripun Bora.

Bora had on Monday morning flagged off a Prachar Yatra in which at least three mini trucks with banners of the party presidents picture and the partys election songs  two numbers released by Assam PCC last week  set out from Rajiv Bhawan and made rounds of the city inviting people to participate in the mega rally. The leader who stood firm and defeated the anti-constitutional Citizenship (Amendment) Bill will visit Guwahati and will talk on how the Congress can protect Assam from the BJP, said the recorded invite that played in a loop between the election songs in the min-trucks as reported by The Telegraph.

Bora stated in a press meet, If any decisions for the upliftment of the citizens of Northeast, especially Assam needs to be taken, then we will not dither from it. We will not create allies with any other political parties; however, AGP is still under observation.

Former chief minister of Uttarakhand and AICC general secretary of Assam Harish Rawat said, Rahul Gandhi will bring a new wind of change for the people of Assam and the Northeast.

Following is his tentative programme:
New Delhi:

The Indian Air Force (IAF) destroyed the Pakistan-based terror camps and launch pads of Jaish-e-Mohammed across Line of Control (LoC) by dropping 1000 kg bombs in the wee hours. As the reports started pouring in, the nation rejoiced the mission, calling it a befitting reply to dastardly terror attack of JeM in Pulwama.

The Indian Air Force pilots who carried out the mission were congratulated by eminent personalities like Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and West Bengal CM, Mamta Banerjee among others for their bravery and successful completion of the task. Soon they will be honoured with gallantry awards.

If the valour of the IAF pilots have ignited you, here's how to join Indian Air Forces and be at the duty of the nation.

A person can become an officer in the Indian Air Force at one of the following levels

1. 10+2: (Direct entry) This level is for men only. All males who have completed their 12th standard from science stream may join the National Defence Academy through an entrance exam conducted by UPSC twice every year, May and december. Candidates get a three-year common training at NDA, and are then shifted to AFA for basic Flying Training, prior to commissioning. Candidates should be aged between 16 and a half and 19 and a half years.

2. Graduate: Graduates can join any of the IAF's branches. Candidates who are shortlisted after selection undergo training at one of the IAF training institutes, after which they are commissioned and posted. Advertisement for CDSE comes out in the months of July and November. Candidates should be aged between 20 and 24 years.

3. AFCAT: is the biggest test conducted to induct both men and women as officers in all the three branches of IAF, i.e. Flying, Technical and Ground Duty. AFCAT is conducted twice every year; June and December and includes an added test called EKT (Engineering Knowledge Test) for Technical branch aspirants. Candidates should be aged between 20 and 24 years.

Favoured degrees include Aeronautical Engineering, Electronics etc.

Women can join any branch of the IAF but are only eligible for a Short Service Commission (14 years). Also, women fighter pilots are not currently allowed in the IAF even though helicopter and transport pilots are.

Selection of candidates into the Air Force occurs through screening of applications followed by a test that accesses the candidates knowledge in subjects like General Awareness, English, Mathematics, Physics and Mlitary aptitude. The screening test is followed by intelligence, psychological tests, group discussions and a medical examination. Candidates who excel in all the processes are finally selected to the permanent commission.

The major training academy is Air Force Academy (AFA), located in Dundigal, Hyderabad.

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China and the United States are expected to come to an agreement soon over trade frictions, analysts said, as the negotiating teams are reported to be discussing the wording of an accord and considering applying the brakes to their tariff standoff.

U.S. President Donald Trump (1st R) meets with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (2nd L, front) at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, Feb. 22, 2019. [Photo/Xinhua]

They made the prediction after Chinese and U.S. officials said there had been concrete progress on multiple issues in the latest round of trade talks in Washington.

During the latest talks, held from Thursday to Sunday in Washington, the seventh round since February of last year, the two sides focused on the text of an agreement, the Chinese delegation said, according to a Xinhua News Agency report.

The negotiators also had made substantial progress on such specific issues as technology transfers, protection of intellectual property rights, nontariff barriers, the service industry, agriculture and exchange rates, the delegation said.

On the basis of the latest progress, the two sides are expected to continue their work into the next stage, in accordance with the instructions of the two countries' top leaders, according to Xinhua.

State Councilor Wang Yi said Sino-U.S. trade negotiations have once again made concrete progress and provided positive prospects for bilateral relations and the global economy. Wang, also minister of foreign affairs, made the remark at an event on Monday, according to a statement issued by the ministry.

Yao Yang, dean of the National School of Development at Peking University, said, "It is encouraging that both sides have begun to work on the text of an agreement, which indicates a speeding up toward sealing a trade deal."

"The progress also showed that effective economic diplomatic measures can help resolve cumbersome issues and reduce confrontation between two nations," Yao said.

After tit-for-tat exchanges of hefty import tariffs, President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, agreed in December to halt new tariffs for 90 days to allow for talks. Since then, negotiations have been conducted on a wide array of topics.

Early Sunday afternoon in Washington, Trump tweeted that he "will be delaying" the increase of tariffs on Chinese imports scheduled for March 1, due to "very productive" trade talks between the two countries.

Chen Bin, executive vice-president of the China Machinery Industry Federation, said the organization's member companies are optimistic because the extension of the March 1 tariff deadline should help both Chinese and U.S. companies restore their ability to trade, while pacifying Chinese companies that have already invested heavily in machinery manufacturing in the U.S.

"It is increasingly evident that tariffs had negative effects  such as rising unemployment and slowing growth rates  not only in China and the U.S., but also in many parts of the world," said Xue Rongjiu, deputy director of the Beijing-based China Society for WTO Studies research institute.

The proposed tariff delay indicates economic rationality is prevailing and both countries are predicted to reach an agreement soon, Xue added.

Asa Hutchinson, governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas, applauded both presidents for working hard to narrow the differences and reach more consensuses. "I am optimistic we will be able to reach an agreement because it is important for both countries," he said.
Mumbai:

The RBI has proposed that at least 50 per cent of compensation of senior officials of private and foreign banks, including whole time directors and chief executive officers, "should be variable". A discussion paper on proposed guidelines for compensation of wholetime directors/chief executive officers/material risk takers and control function staff issued by the central bank also said ESOPs should be included as a component of variable pay.

In January 2012, the Reserve Bank had issued the compensation guidelines for implementation by private sector and foreign banks from the financial year 2012-13. "These (2012) guidelines are being reviewed, with an objective to better align with FSB (Financial Stability Board) Principles and Implementation Standards, based on experience and evolving international best practices," the RBI said while inviting comments from stakeholders by March 31.

The proposed guidelines, to be effective from the ensuing financial year (post issue of the final guidelines), further said, "Variable pay is to be capped at 200 per cent of fixed pay." As per the extant guidelines, the variable pay is capped at 70 per cent of fixed pay but did not include ESOPs.

The proposed guidelines also said minimum 50 per cent of variable pay is to be via non-cash component while mandating a compulsory deferral mechanism for variable pay, regardless of quantum of variable pay.

"It should be ensured that there is a proper balance between fixed pay and variable pay. The total variable pay shall be limited to a maximum of 200 per cent of the fixed pay (for the relative period). "Within this ceiling, at higher levels of responsibility, the proportion of variable pay should be higher. The deterioration in the financial performance of the bank should generally lead to a contraction in the total amount of variable compensation paid," the paper said.

The paper said banks are required to put in place appropriate modalities to incorporate malus/clawback mechanism in respect of variable pay, taking into account relevant statutory and regulatory stipulations as applicable. "Wherever the assessed divergence in bank's asset classification or provisioning from the RBI norms exceeds the prescribed threshold for public disclosure, the bank shall not pay the unvested portion of the variable compensation for the assessment year under 'malus' clause," it said.

Further, in case of divergence, no proposal for increase in variable pay (for the assessment year) should be entertained, it added. While floating the discussion paper, the RBI said compensation practices, especially of large financial institutions, were one of the important factors which contributed to the global financial crisis in 2008.

Employees were too often rewarded for increasing the short-term profit without adequate recognition of the risks and long-term consequences that their activities posed to the organisations. "These perverse incentives amplified the excessive risk taking that severely threatened the global financial system. The compensation issue has, therefore, been at the centre stage of the regulatory reforms," the RBI said.

The Financial Stability Forum (later the Financial Stability Board) in 2009 brought out a set of Principles and Implementation Standards on sound compensation practices. The guidelines have been proposed for private sector banks, including Local Area Banks, Small Finance Banks and Payments Banks. For the foreign banks operating in India by way of Wholly Owned Subsidiary structure, the guidelines as applicable for private sector banks in India will be applicable, the paper said.

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As a deadly 'zombie' disease continues to spread across the US, scientists warn that humans could be next.

Known as Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) - or "zombie deer disease" - the contagious disease attacks the brains of members of the deer family, leaving emaciated animals with a zombie-like appearance before they die.

Like Mad Cow Disease, the cause is believed to be misfolded proteins known as prions. University of Minnesota assistant professor Peter Larsen told Vox the prions "turn the brain into Swiss cheese".

The animals begin to suffer dementia and hallucinations before the symptoms worsen. They start struggling with walking and loss of bodily functions before their inevitable death.

It's been found in 26 states across the US, as well as three Canadian provinces. It spreads through deer, elk, moose and caribou populations through contaminated bodily fluid, drinking water, soil and food. The prions can survive in the environment for years, and there is no cure.

Studies have shown it can be transmitted to other animals, including monkeys and mice with human genes. And researchers have successfully infected human cells in petri dishes with prions from sick animals.

This has led to fears that it could spread to humans next through the consumption of infected meat.

Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, made the dire warning earlier in February.

"It is probable that human cases of chronic wasting disease associated with consumption of contaminated meat will be documented in the years ahead," he told Minnesota lawmakers.

"It's possible the number of human cases will be substantial and will not be isolated events."

A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called for more research to monitor the possibility of such inter-species transmission.

"As a precaution, hunters should avoid eating deer and elk tissues known to harbor the CWD agent (eg brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils, lymph nodes) from areas where CWD has been identified," it warned.

Newshub.
Five people have been charged after viciously attacking two police officers who responded to the assault of a transgender woman in Melbourne on Sunday morning.

Both officers suffered serious injuries during what Wayne Gatt from the Victorian Police Association told News.com.au was "one of the most horrific (attacks) on a police officer I have ever seen".

Kayla Potts, 25, her fiance Jack Houldcroft, 27, Potts' brother Trent, 26, and her friend Phillip O'Donnell, 38, were all arrested after the fight in St Kilda, while a 26-year-old St Kilda man was later arrested on Monday afternoon.

The Melbourne Magistrates Court heard on Monday that two police officers were called to a St Kilda bar after a transgender woman was allegedly kneed in the genitals.

When police arrived and approached Mr Potts, who was attempting to leave in a taxi, he fled down the street after refusing to answer questions.

One officer chased Mr Potts who eventually rounded on him and began punching him in the chest.

Mr Potts' sister then allegedly approached the officer from the side and punched him in the head.

The officer hit out with his flashlight, splitting Ms Potts' head open on her forehead.

Meanwhile, the second officer at the scene had tripped and fallen while attempting to chase Mr Potts and had been set upon by several men. A bystander's video of the scene shows the men punching, kicking and spitting on the officer before one slams his head against the pavement six times.

Victoria Police Superintendent Tony Silva told News.com.au this particular attack was sickening.

"I would describe it as rag dolling him, smashing his head into the concrete roadway," Mr Silva said.

The group has been charged with two counts of assaulting a police officer, affray, violent disorder, and other assault charges. If convicted, all parties face a mandatory six months in jail for assaulting an emergency worker.

Newshub.
The "Happy Spring Festival - Shanghai Theater Academy Art Troupe", supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and organized by the Shanghai Bureau of Culture and Tourism visited the UK from February 6 to 17, bringing Chinese traditional performance to England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

In London, the performances of the art troupe set off a "Chinese style" in Trafalgar Square. According to official statistics, the Maritime Museum attracted more than 7,900 residents and tourists on the day of the performance. That was more 1,000 people over 2018.
OPINION: It was supposed to be ground-breaking.



The biggest price revolution to beset our national carrier in more than decade.

Fares slashed. Some halved. Jetstar who?

What we actually got today was confusion, little detail and no word from AirNZ boss Christopher Luxon. No interview on my drive-time radio show. No TV spot in the evening.

Odd. On the day you launch a revolution, the leader should be present. Basking in the glory and commanding respect from the adoring public.

What we got from out national carrier was a press release confirming price cuts, some up to 45% off.

But there are so many questions we dont have answers for.

Questions for Christopher Luxon:

1. How many of these fares per plane will be offered?

2. Are there a certain number guaranteed each year?

3. Are they only available at limited times/dates?

4. If so, what times/dates?

The claim that 750,000 fares will now be offered at $50 or less p/a sounds fantastic.

5. But how many were offered last year? Whats the difference going to be?

6. Will this be a cost neutral exercise for AirNZ?

7. Will passengers at other price points or package types end up paying more to compensate?

Only once these rather important questions are answered will we begin to understand how significant todays announcement was in reality.

Is this a full meal or just a cookie and a cuppa tea?

An open invitation to you, Chris.

Come on the show tomorrow and clear a few things up, because from where Im sitting it's looking a little cloudy with the chance of a con job.

What is it, a revolution or clever ruse?
A man has been shot by police following a shoot out in Christchurch.

Police say the man, who was wanted by police, failed to stop on request. Officers gave chase and deployed road spikes, and when the driver stopped and got out of the car he began shooting.

Officers returned fire, shooting him in the lower half of his body. Police immediately gave the man first aid and transported him to Christchurch Hospital, where he remains under supervision in a critical condition.

Should New Zealand police officers routinely carry guns?

Vote in The AM Show poll below.

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The Health Minister has dismissed concerns raised by 230 scientists around the world that 5G radiation could pose a significant health risk.

The group of scientists, including one from New Zealand and eight from Australia, have expressed "serious concerns" about increasing exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) when 5G technology is rolled out.

5G, or fifth generation, is the next step in mobile internet connectivity, set to launch commercially in some countries in 2020. While it will offer faster speeds and more reliable connections, it will also require more antennas, thus increasing exposure to radiation.

"Introducing electromagnetic energy that has the potential to interfere with such delicate, electrical structures (molecules and cellular structures) should be approached with caution," New Zealand science lobbyist Bruce Rapley said.

The group of scientists is concerned nobody will be able to avoid being exposed to wireless radiation once 5G is introduced, because it's estimated 5G-transmitters will need to be placed every 10 to 12 houses in urban areas.

"Based upon peer-reviewed, published research, we have serious concerns regarding the ubiquitous and increasing exposure to EMF generated by electric and wireless devices," the scientists' appeal to the United Nations and World Health Organization says.

The scientists said the effects include cancer risk, an increase in genetic damages, structural and functional changes of the reproductive system, learning and memory deficits, neurological disorders, and negative impacts on general well-being.

When asked if the Government has taken these concerns into consideration, Health Minister Dr David Clark told Newshub Ministry of Health officials don't believe there is anything to be concerned about.

"I am advised by Ministry of Health officials that the balance of research evidence suggests that exposure to the radiofrequency produced by any transmitter, including those that will be used by 5G services, do not cause health problems, provided they comply with international guidelines."

The Interagency Committee on Health Effects of Non-Ionising Fields monitors research into the health effects of electromagnetic fields. Its latest report published in December 2018 found that while magnetic fields have been linked to cancers, the risk is low.

"Although studies into brain tumour risks associated with mobile phone use have found a small association in the heaviest users, the researchers acknowledge that this could simply reflect biases in the data," the report says.

At its most recent meeting, the Committee concluded there was no new research that would lead it to propose any changes to current Ministry of Health recommendations.

"In view of the continuing public interest in this area, the ubiquitous nature of exposures and the open research questions that remain, the Committee will continue to monitor new research," the report adds.

'A travesty for public health'

Mr Rapley, the lobbyist who signed the group of scientists' warning about 5G, told Newshub while there is a strong commercial interest in pursuing expansion of radiofrequency around the world, independent research "has been stifled".

"It is nearly impossible to get funding for research, the outcome of which may affect commercial profit," he said. "The proof of this is the strong opposition encountered by any scientist who dares to research and publish results that are indicative of harm, thus threatening profitability of a corporation."

That health can be the poor cousin to industry profit is a "travesty, not to mention the ethical and moral responsibility of our regulating authorities", he said.

"We have yet to achieve that level of understanding and control in any meaningful way for high frequency radiation technologies."

Mr Rapley said every time public health issues have been ignored for the sake of profit, disaster has been the result, pointing to the Thalidomide disaster, considered one of the darkest episodes in pharmaceutical research history.

"The drug was marketed as a mild sleeping pill safe even for pregnant women. However, it caused thousands of babies worldwide to be born with malformed limbs. The damage was revealed in 1962."

He said we still have a long way to go when dealing with the complexities of radiation and the intricate workings of biological organisms.

"For as long as those that control our society are predicated on profit rather than public health, we will continue to experience problems, and disasters. The precautionary approach is a dead concept, killed in a hit-and-run by the Almighty Dollar."

5G has been at the centre of souring relations between New Zealand and China. The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) in November warned Spark against using Huawei equipment to build its 5G network, which may have offended the Chinese government.

Newshub.
Winston Peters appears to be softening his view on capital gains tax (CGT), after previously saying he wasnt keen on the idea.



Before the 2017 election, the New Zealand First leader said a CGT was "off the table". In the Newshub ASB Great Finance Debate at the time, he said: "They won't work in this country. They won't work in any other country. They never have worked."

But when confronted by Magic Talk's Peter Williams about his former views on CGT, the Deputy Prime Minister said on Tuesday: "When you're presented with a new set of circumstances, then it's wise to actually consider it before confirming your former opinion."

"Capital gains tax is just one of the things [recommended in the Tax Working Group's report] - there were a whole lot of other suggestions made," he said. "Given the quality of that committee... we need to consider them very seriously."

He added: "Fairness is what the New Zealand people should expect from the Government."

On Monday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern appeared to be lining up with that view. She used her post-Cabinet media conference to give farmers and small businesses an assurance they would be front of her mind when weighing up a CGT.

As a coalition Government, Ms Ardern will have to consult with both New Zealand First and the Greens about the proposed changes to the tax system.

Mr Peters wasn't the only senior Government minister trying to defuse criticism around CGT on Tuesday.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson told a business breakfast gathering at Eden Park: "It's change and change is always challenging for people."

He said it's important for people to remember that "we haven't made a decision yet", reminding the crowd that the Tax Working Group's report provided suggestions for the Government that do not have to be implemented.

The Prime Minister made similar comments on Monday, saying there needs to be a debate about the Tax Working Group's recommendations before a decision is made.

"Let's debate the actual report rather than simply making things up," she said, criticising National leader Simon Bridges' comment that the proposed tax would be an "assault on the Kiwi way of life".

The Tax Working Group released its recommendations last week, including a CGT on gains and losses on land improvements (except the family home), including shares and business assets. It would not apply to personal items, like bikes, boats and art.

The CGT would be set at the income-earner's top tax rate, likely to be 33 percent for most people, which Mr Bridges said on Thursday, was "one of the highest rates of capital gains tax in the world".

The Government will give its official response to the TWG's recommendations in April, after the public has had the opportunity to debate the issue.

Newshub.
Rouxle Le Roux's lawyer says her client inadvertently breached her home detention conditions for a simple reason - she "didn't hear the knocking" on her door.

Le Roux, 19, was sentenced to 11 months' home detention and 250 hours of community service for killing teenager Nathan Kraatskow at an Albany intersection in May. Le Roux, a learner driver, had consumed wine and cannabis earlier that day.

As part of Le Roux's sentencing she was required to be available if authorities came to her home. But it's alleged that on February 20 she failed to respond when probation officers arrived twice.

She's been charged with failing to comply with the conditions of her sentence and will appear in court again.

However lawyer Belinda Sellars QC told Newshub that Le Roux didn't hear the knocking due to nearby construction work.

"Rouxle and her mother were both at home," she told Newshub. "There was a lot of building noise."

Corrections says if offenders don't follow the conditions of their sentence they will "treat it very seriously".

Serious breaches can result in additional convictions, or the cancellation of home detention and imprisonment.

However Ms Sellars says it's most likely Le Roux will be given a warning due to it being a "minor" breach. She says Le Roux was due to appear in court anyway as part of her monitoring.

Le Roux has previously expressed remorse for her actions, telling NZME she felt terrible for Nathan's family.

"I am going to do my best to not have his name go down in vain," she said in December.

"I want to prove to them I am remorseful and I take this seriously and this will never happen again."

Newshub.
Police have released photos of two men believed to have been involved in a sickening homophobic attack on reporter Aziz Al-Sa'afin.

The AM Show journalist was walking down Auckland's Karangahape Rd with a friend in the early morning of February 10 when they were violently attacked.

A group of men punched Al-Sa'afin in the face and kicked his friend to the ground while calling them "f*gs" and "homos".

The culprits ran away when other people came to the victims' help, and police launched an investigation into the unprovoked assault.

Now they're a step closer to bringing the assailants to justice.

On Tuesday Auckland City District Police released still images from CCTV footage taken of a stretch of K Road.

Two men can be seen walking down the street, one wearing a white T-shirt and the other seeming to have draped his shirt around his neck. They appear to be laughing together.
New Zealand Customs has been forced to front up after they allowed one of the notorious British tourists to flee the country on a false passport.

Despite police concerns he may have multiple passports James Nolan had been granted bail while facing charges of assault and fraud.

James Nolan was released on bail in late January. He'd promised to return to court just days later.

But instead within 24 hours, the 26-year-old was on a flight out of the country, let through by customs officials.

"He was considered a low flight risk simply because he was not in possession of his own passport that had been given up as part of his bail conditions," said Terry Brown from Customs New Zealand.

He was using an associate's passport.

According to Mr Brown, it was human error that let them down.

That's because the e-gate did raise the alarm, having registered that Nolan's face didn't match the passport he was using.

But the custom's officer chose to overrule the technology and allow him to leave.

"We're hurting about this because we pride ourselves in facilitating lawful and legitimate passengers and stopping the people who shouldn't be travelling and we failed in this instance," said Mr Brown.

British born Nolan was visiting New Zealand with his 2 children and pregnant wife.

His family quickly gained notoriety after an incident at Takapuna Beach, where they were accused of littering, and a young boy was filmed telling a woman he would "knock her brains out".

The 26 year olds reckless driving and assault charges date back to this day.

He's facing charges of fraud relating to a series of roofing scams that police believe total more than $100,000

Police say when Nolan failed to reappear in court they contacted customs to ensure border alerts were put in place. Investigations are underway into the passport Nolan travelled on for his getaway and Interpol has been notified.

Customs is currently undertaking a review

But Kris Faafoi, the Minister in charge wants assurances Nolan's case is a one-off.

"Well it's not a good look, that's obvious, at this stage we do think its human error because the smart gate system gave an alert - the gentleman, if you can call him that, was obviously using someone else's passport, we can make our own judgements on that."

An embarrassing breakdown in process that's allowed this runaway, to head straight to the runway.

Newshub.
It's been in the making for a decade, but now the future of Auckland's SkyPath is hanging in the balance.

The trust that designed the path has told the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) that if it doesn't pay for the intellectual property it owns, the project might not go ahead.

The kilometre-long pedestrian and cycle path alongside the Harbour Bridge would allow Aucklanders to move between Westhaven and Northcote Point, a link that's been missing for more than 60 years - but now its future is uncertain.

"It's crazy, I've been there for 12 years working on this and I thought we were getting across but it looks as though we're not," SkyPath trustee Andy Smith told Newshub.

"NZTA have said they're going to reconsider everything."

The SkyPath Trust says the NZTA isn't sticking to its agreement to pay for the intellectual property rights to the design, costing a total of less than $2m.

"For all the work the engineers, the architects, the designers that have come up with this, it's been a huge investment," Mr Smith says. "What's stopping them?"

The NZTA released a statement saying it's been looking at a number of design options, but needs to do more work before it knows the right design to take forward.

It wants to get it right the first time, including the right width so more people can use it without restrictions, as well as the best materials to build the structure.

Jodi Johnston, spokesperson for the Campaign for Better Transport, says it would be "horrific" if SkyPath didn't go ahead.

"It's been 60 years since the bridge was opened and everyone said it should've had a footpath and cycle access. Before you know it, we're all grey and we're still waiting for a footpath across the Auckland Harbour."

Skypath Trust says it's time for NZTA to step up.

"Stick to your promises," Mr Smith says. "Deliver something. They're public servants, a little bit of serving would help."

On Tuesday afternoon the NZTA said it's willing to work through the intellectual property issue with the Trust to find a resolution.

The NZTA says construction could start at early as 2020, but it expects to have the business case finalised by the middle of the year.

Newshub.
Dr Jordan Peterson defended himself on Australian TV this week after being hit by an unexpected question from far-right internet provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos.

The 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos author was a panellist on ABC's Q&A on Monday night (local time), following his recent tour of New Zealand.

Yiannopoulos featured in a pre-recorded video, in which he attacked Dr Peterson for "betraying his allies" - specifically citing the Canadian clinical psychologist's perceived silence on the controversies surrounding US judge Brett Kavanaugh and footage of Catholic school students facing off with a Native American protester.

"I don't believe that I'm obliged to comment on absolutely everything that happens everywhere in the world," replied Dr Peterson.

"I don't think that I am betraying my fundamental base... I'm also, by the way, not trying to talk to young men. I'm trying to talk to people.

"There's been this idea generated in the news by news people who keep reading the news that other news people create that somehow I have a coterie of angry, young, white men surrounding me because they're angry about feminism and about all these other 'isms', let's say.

"I don't see it like that at all."

Yiannopoulos shot to fame as an online provocateur propagating content and opinions considered by many to be misogynistic, racist and transphobic.

He lost a book deal and his job at controversial website Breitbart in 2017 over comments he made defending adult men having sex with underage boys.
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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.
Cline tone-deaf on gun policies

Rep. Ben Cline is to be commended for holding a town hall meeting in Lynchburg last week, thus breaking with the tradition of his predecessor. But, similar to former Rep. Bob Goodlatte, Cline seems determined to disregard the wishes of those he is supposed to represent.

He was asked why, since a vast majority of U.S. citizens want strong background checks for gun ownership, he would oppose them. His response was that universal background checks would be too burdensome for law-abiding citizens.

Several people in that room, listening to him, have themselves lost loved ones to gun violence. That is why they were there. How do you think they felt? How do we weigh burdensome against the loss of even one life? Their congressman stood there and said that it would be a nuisance to try to protect the lives of innocent people.

If we wish to drive a car, we are required to know the laws and pass a test. Does Cline regard this as too burdensome a requirement? Can he explain the urgency of gun ownership that would preclude waiting a few days for a permit?
So the Supremes said its OK for all Indianians to walk our beach up to the high water line on our Great Lake. Just dont expect to walk on our beach west of our Portage Lakefront Park as someone decided it was OK to build a concrete and steel structure out into our lake so as to prevent trespassers on our beach. Whatever code official OKd that construction should have their names publicized.
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With the proposition of an independent airport authority back on the table, members of the Lynchburg Regional Airport Commission will look to an outside consultant for confirmation of the authoritys benefit.

During a special meeting Monday, commissioners heard a report from Airport Director Mark Courtney about the fiscal benefits of transitioning to an independently governed authority and delved into other compelling reasons for the shift.

The Lynchburg Regional Airport Commission has served as an advisory board to assist the city in the planning, organization, direction and administration of the airport since 1990. Members are appointed by city council; Lynchburg has owned and operated the airport since its inception in 1931.

Courtney said Lynchburg is the only commercial service airport in the state not governed by an independent airport authority.

City and airport officials first explored the idea of an independent airport authority in the early 2000s as part of the creation of a proposed air commerce park in which the city and Campbell County would partner to develop about 150 acres southwest of the airfield. The goal was to integrate county and city-owned property into a combined industrial park and commercial service regional airport governed by an independent airport authority.
Dominion has a long track record of getting utility-friendly legislation passed through the General Assembly. The SCC's annual report on energy prices last September noted that Dominion rates produced more than $300 million in excess revenues.

But many observers said Dominion's political muscles has atrophied in recent years, thanks in part to a 2017 blue wave that saw many more progressives elected to the state House.

The House passed a bill this year that would have posed a serious threat to Dominion's planned Atlantic Coast Pipeline natural gas project, despite heavy opposition from the company's small army of well-connected lobbyists. The bill failed in the Senate, but the fact that it made it so far was a sign to many that Dominion's political punch is not what it once was.

"Dominion is very concerned about their long-term influence over the legislative process," said retiring Democratic Del. David Toscano, a former House minority leader.

In its ruling in the Walmart case, the SCC told the company that if it thought its rates were too high "its potential recourse" could be found at the General Assembly.

Steve Haner, a lobbyist who has often tangled with Dominion, said the commission's message was clear.

"It's sending a signal to the business community, "Sorry, you can't escape, if you want to fix this, it's up to you.'" Haner said.
(Representative image/ Reuters)



Twelve Indian Air Force Mirage-2000 jets crossed the Line of Control (LoC) early on Tuesday morning and destroyed terror camps of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. The air strike, which has been dubbed surgical strikes 2.0, comes two weeks after a terror attack on CRPF soldiers in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir.



Prime Minister Narendra ModI, while addressing a poll rally in Rajasthan, said, Today I assure the countrymen, India is in safe hands. He also repeated the BJPs campaign slogan of 2014 with the message that he wont let anyone hurt or stop the nation.



Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale confirmed the air strike and said a large number of JeM terrorists, trainers and senior commanders were eliminated at the largest terror training camp in Balakot. The camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother-in-law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar. The government said the camp was located on a hilltop, deep in a forest, and far away from any civilian presence.



Sources told CNN-News18 that the air force dropped 1,000 kg laser-guided bombs on the terror camp. Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level Cabinet Committee on Security meeting in New Delhi along with Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Arun Jaitley on the attack. The attack, which the government said was pre-emptive action in the face of more fidayeen strikes, took place at 3:30 am.



India had put all IAF bases in the western sector on maximum alert after the Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.



Pakistans NSC, however, "strongly rejected Indian claim of targeting an alleged terrorist camp near Balakot as well as the claim of heavy casualties" and claimed that Pakistans jets had intercepted the IAF planes and forced them to withdraw without causing any damage. They claimed that payload dropped by Indian fighter jets was not 1,000kg laser-guided bombs and instead fuel tanks to escape faster.



"Once again Indian government has resorted to a self-serving, reckless and fictitious claim," the statement said. "This action has been done for domestic consumption being in election environment, putting regional peace and stability at grave risk."



"The claimed area of strike is open for the world to see the facts on ground. For this domestic and international media is being taken to the impact site. Forum concluded that India has committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing," the statement said.
While some Mexican immigrants give positive accounts about migrating to and living in the United States, their health status tells a different story.

In a small study in Columbus, anthropology professors Jeffrey Cohen, Douglas Crews and their student Alexandra Tuggle, all from The Ohio State University, found that many migrants celebrated living in Columbus. However, they also experienced discrimination and exhibited physical signs of stress, such as high blood pressure, high blood sugar and obesity.

"There was a real disconnect between the positive narratives they told and the discrimination they felt and the stress revealed by their health measures," Tuggle said.

The researchers believe the positive narratives were a coping mechanism.

"These migrants are creating their own mental constructs so they can be happy and survive in what can be a difficult, stressful environment," Crews said.

The study was published online recently in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology.

The study involved 34 Mexican migrants who had lived in Columbus between five and 30 years. Several were undocumented. Nearly all said they moved to the United States for economic reasons.

The participants were interviewed about their experiences of migration and settlement in the United States, their life in Columbus and discrimination they faced.

In addition, 28 of the participants underwent a variety of health tests and completed self-assessments of their health.

The narratives and the health measures didn't match up, Cohen said.

Most participants focused on the positives of living in Columbus. Some mentioned the ability to buy a house and to live near schools for their children among the reasons they were happy.

"Although the narratives were overwhelmingly positive, discrimination showed up in a lot of them. Some people reported physical attacks, there were cases of participants and their children being harassed for speaking Spanish, and there were cases where doctors refused to treat them," Cohen said.

In addition, the health measures for many migrants suggested they were under a lot of stress.

Nearly 80 percent were overweight or obese, according to their body mass index scores. Findings showed 21 percent had hypertension and 25 percent were hyperglycemic.

Nearly half of the sample (46 percent) rated their health as only fair or poor.

"Many of the migrants attributed their poor health to economic changes in the U.S., living in the cold Midwest, job loss and limited access to health services," Tuggle said.

With the challenges that migrants face in the United States, the positive outlook found in the narratives might be necessary to survive and thrive, according to Crews.

"There's been plenty of research that suggests that our attitudes have an influence on physical health. Migrants may be constructing these positive narratives to deal with their elevated stress and help themselves cope," Crews said.

The researchers noted that this was a small study done only with Mexican migrants in Columbus. The experiences of other migrant groups in other places may be different.

To get a better understanding of the Mexican migrant experience in the United States, the Ohio State research team is going to Mexico to learn more about the context for future U.S. immigrants. They will interview people there who are planning to migrate, those who have no intention of migrating and those who left Mexico but then returned.

"We hope to learn more about what led to the findings we had in this study, about where it all started," Crews said.
New evidence suggests that Chikungunya virus arrived in Brazil at least one year earlier than it was detected by public health surveillance systems. Scientists at the Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz published their findings in the journal Scientific Reports.

Blood samples collected at the Institute Nacional de Infectologia in Rio de Janeiro between March 2016 and June 2017 were analyzed using a genetic test, the QuantiTect/QuantiNova Prove RT-PCR Kit. The test identified 40 samples positive for Chikungunya virus and negative for Dengue virus and Zika virus. Researchers then retested these samples using the CII-ArboViroPlex, a multiplex test developed by CII that can simultaneously scan for the presence of Zika virus, all serotypes of dengue virus, chikungunya virus, and West Nile virus. The CII test confirmed the earlier testing, but performed with greater sensitivity, suggesting it could identify the virus when other tests could not.

Fourteen of these samples representing dates across the fifteen-month collection period were further analyzed using VirCapSeq-VERT, a method developed at CII for viral diagnosis, surveillance, and discovery. VirCapSeq-VERT enabled recovery of near-complete viral genomic sequences and identification of the viruses as representatives of the East-Central-South-African genotype of chikungunya virus.

An analysis of the fourteen genomic sequences showed a strong correlation between genetic divergence and the date at which the sample was taken. This allowed the researchers to identify a "molecular clock" based on the pace of mutations between samples. The timing suggested the virus could have circulated as early as 2012 and was likely imported from Central Africa. Chikungunya virus was first reported by public health surveillance systems in 2014.

"With heightened concerns around Zika, more Brazilians were tested for the infection," says Nischay Mishra, PhD, the study's leader at CII. "At the same time, many of those tested were actually infected with dengue or chikungunya, which present with similar symptoms."

"This study demonstrates the value of sensitive diagnostic technologies that can differentiate between these infectious diseases and provide insights into the origins of the chikungunya outbreak in Brazil," says first author Thiago Moreno L. Souza, a professor of biochemistry at Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
New research has shown that the risk of developing a red meat allergy after being bitten by a tick may be much higher than scientists had thought.

Anest | Shutterstock

The previous understanding was that a tick needs to have recently fed on the blood of a non-human mammal before it bites and causes the allergy in a human.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina have now found that some ticks can cause the allergy to develop, irrespective of what they have recently fed on.

The commonly held theory was that a tick would gorge on the blood of a mammal such as a mouse, dog or deer.

It would then pick up a sugar molecule called alpha-gal, which is present in virtually all mammals apart from humans and other primates. If that tick then bit a human, the alpha-gel in the ticks saliva would cause the person to become hypersensitive to the sugar.

Since alpha-gel is present in red meats, the person is then at risk of an allergic reaction on exposure to beef, pork and maybe even dairy.

Now, in findings presented at the annual conference of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology this weekend, Professor Scott Commins suggests that it is the tick itself and not its last blood-meal that causes alpha-gel syndrome (AGS).

The upshot of these findings is that we now have a much larger pool of tick bites to be concerned about because it doesn't appear that the prior blood meal is important. Professor Scott Commins, First Author

For the study, the team took blood from human samples and added donated plasma from people with and without AGS. They then introduced saliva taken from four types of tick, some of which had fed on blood containing alpha-gel and some that had not.

Currently, the Lone Star tick is the species most commonly associated with red meat allergy in the US. Indeed, the researchers found that saliva from this tick could trigger an immune reaction 40 times more powerful than usual in sensitized blood.

Saliva from the deer tick, a primary vector for Lyme disease in the US, also triggered a reaction. The most concerning finding, however, was that saliva from both species triggered reactions in sensitized blood even if the ticks had not fed first.

Red meat allergy is just one of many health problems causes by tickborne diseases in the US  problems that are only expected to worsen as the planets climate warms. Furthermore, there is currently no treatment or cure for the allergy.

Commins stresses the importance of avoiding ticks and taking precautions to prevent tick bites.
Thought Leaders Dr Wei Min Professor, Department of Chemistry

Columbia University

An interview with Dr Wei Min, describing his work involving the development of new chemical imaging techniques for studying small molecules, which led to him being awarded the 2019 Pittcon Achievement Award, conducted by Alina Shrourou, BSc.

What are the current limitations associated with fluorescence microscopy for biomedical applications?

There are several notable limitations that people in the field are now recognizing.

Firstly, fluorescence microscopy does not allow the measurement or imaging of small metabolites or small molecules. Due to the nature of their chemical structure, fluorophores are generally large, meaning they need a certain conjugation system to absorb light in order to become fluorescent.

 Carl Dupont/Shutterstock.com

Their large size also means that fluorophores cannot be used to label small metabolites such lipids, fatty acids, glucose or neurotransmitters. If you did try to do that, the fluorophores themselves would change the physical or chemical behavior of the small molecules. I think people now recognize that fluorescent microscopy is not compatible with small molecule biology, so that is one major limitation.

Another limitation is the number of channels or number of colors you can use due to the broadness of the fluorescent spectrum. The width of the fluorescence spectrum is between 50 and 100 nanometers. This means that in the visual range of our spectrum, you cannot use more than five fluorescent colors simultaneously.

Typically, people use three or four colors, which is already quite challenging. Using more than five colors is considered extremely difficult. I think people now recognize such a color-coded barrier for fluorescent microscopy, just as they do for the resolution barrier for optical microscopy.

Since the number of colors is limited to perhaps three to five, people cannot image more than about five different species at the same time. That restricts its application in multiplex a or high-dimensional analyses that require simultaneous measurement of many species and targets. In that respect, fluorescence microscopy is fundamentally limited.

Why are metabolites and drugs hard to visualize inside cells and whats the relevance of this ability in biomedicine?

Metabolites and drugs are hard to visualize because they are not fluorescent to begin with and are mostly small molecules. They do not emit fluorescent and they are small, so you cannot visualize them by themselves and they cannot be labeled with the large fluorophores.

At the same time, they are terribly important in biomedicine because a lot of disease are related to abnormalities in their metabolism. We know that many major diseases such as metabolic disease or syndrome, cancer, diabetes and other diseases are all related to the dysregulation of metabolism. We therefore want to study metabolites because they are so significant in medicine.

Drugs are also relevant to biomedicine because most of the drugs are small-molecule-based. Of course, people are used to having had antibody-based drugs, but nowadays, I would say most drugs available on the market are still based on small molecules.

Please outline the three alternative imaging strategies you will be highlighting in your talk at Pittcon 2019, titled: Chemical Imaging for Biomedicine: The Next Frontier of Light Microscopy

Pittcon 2021: March 6-10Find out more Pittcon 2021 Ernest N. Morial Convention Center

New Orleans, LA USA

At Pittcon, I will be mainly talking about three new imaging modalities. The first one is called Bioorthogonal Chemical Imaging, which is used to develop small tags - much smaller ones than fluorophores.

These very small tags we have developed are based on chemical bonds because those bonds can be made to only two or three atoms. These tiny tags can be attached to the small molecules metabolites and drugs such as I described. Stimulated Raman technique is a multi-photon version of the Raman scattering phenomena and we are using that kind of microscopy to visualize the labeled metabolizing drugs.

The second strategy is trying to address the multicolor challenge. We are now developing dyes we call Raman dyes that have a unique, very narrow spectrum. In this way, in principle, we can generate many more colors than we could do with fluorescence. We have already published two papers over the past few years that show the unveiling of 20 colors, which is a big advance compared to just the five colors that can be used in fluorescence.

The third strategy is more to do with animal imaging. In this case, we use heavy water, deuterium-labeled water, as a general metabolic probe. The hydrogen in water is replaced by deuterium to give a heavier version. On consuming this heavier water, the animal would resynthesize its metabolites to process amino acids, fatty acids and sugars, for example. Since the deuterium would be carried over into this newly synthesized metabolites, we can use Raman spectroscopy and microscopy to visualize the amount and location of these deuterium-bearing metabolites, as well as their distribution through the tissues of the animal. That is related to the big challenge of how we can image metabolism in live animals.

Please describe your research which led to you receiving the Pittcon Achievement Award, presented by the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh.

One piece is related to my post-doc work in which, together with my previous advisor Professor Sunney Xie, we published a paper in Science in 2008, where we developed stimulated Raman Imaging Microscopy. However the main piece that this award is related to is recognition of my independent work at Columbia.

The Bioorthogonal chemical imaging for small metabolites and drugs was the first strategy I described and the second was Super Multi-Color Imaging. This involved progressing beyond the use of just the five colors and expanding it to 20 colors. I think it is these two new strategies developed as part of my independent work that are being recognized by this award.

What does it mean to you to win the Pittcon Achievement Award?

Pittcon is really the largest community of analytical chemistry and applied spectroscopy, so I am honoured to know that my field and community recognizes me because of the work that I have done.

How do you think that the novel optical microscopy solutions you have developed will help to address issues in biomedicine?

I think this relates to the unique advantages of the techniques we have developed. The ability to see metabolites and drugs is going to have a large impact in biomedicine because they are the key players in many diseases. It has not previously been possible to visualize these small markers using microscopy. Now, our technique enables their visualization, so they can be seen at a very high resolution in live cells. I think this should open up a whole lot of new research opportunities in terms of understanding these molecules in the context of disease.

The traditional one-parameter-at-a-time approach has now become inadequate in terms of addressing those cutting-edge questions, so more and more people, companies, and doctors are realizing the key is being able to carry out measurements in a comprehensive way. Our technique that employs 20-color or 50-color imaging is going to pivotal in enabling this capability, so I believe this era has opened up a lot of exciting bio-technology applications.

About Dr Wei Min

Dr. Wei Min graduated from Peking University in 2003. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2008 studying single-molecule biophysics with Prof. Sunney Xie. After continuing his postdoctoral work in Xie group, Dr. Min joined the faculty at Columbia University in 2010, and was promoted to Full Professor there in 2017. He is also affiliated with the Kavli Institute for Brain Science and NeuroTechnology Center at Columbia University.

Dr. Min's current research interests focus on developing novel optical spectroscopy and microscopy technology to address biomedical problems. In particular, his group has made important contributions to the development of stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy and its broad application in biomedical imaging.

Dr. Min's contribution has been recognized by a number of honors, including Pittsburgh Conference Achievement Award (2019), Analyst Emerging Investigator Lectureship (2018), Coblentz Award of Molecular Spectroscopy (2017), the ACS Early Career Award in Experimental Physical Chemistry (2017), Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2015), Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (2013), and NIH Director's New Innovator Award (2012).
A 3D hydrogel created by researchers in U of T Engineering Professor Molly Shoichet's lab is helping University of Ottawa researchers to quickly screen hundreds of potential drugs for their ability to fight highly invasive cancers.

Cell invasion is a critical hallmark of metastatic cancers, such as certain types of lung and brain cancer. Fighting these cancers requires therapies that can both kill cancer cells as well as prevent cell invasion of healthy tissue. Today, most cancer drugs are only screened for their ability to kill cancer cells.

"In highly invasive diseases, there is a crucial need to screen for both of these functions," says Shoichet. "We now have a way to do this."

Shoichet and her team are internationally known for their work on hydrogels, jello-like materials based on hyaluronic acid, a biocompatible substance commonly used in cosmetics. In the past, they have used hydrogels to enhance stem cells that are injected in the body to overcome disease or degeneration.

In their latest research, the team used hydrogels to mimic the environment of lung cancer, selectively allowing cancer cells, and not healthy cells, to invade. In their latest research, the team used hydrogels to mimic the environment of lung cancer, selectively allowing cancer cells, and not healthy cells, to invade. This emulated environment enabled their collaborators in Professor Bill Stanford's lab at University of Ottawa to screen for both cancer-cell growth and invasion. The study, led by Roger Y. Tam, a research associate in Shochet's lab, was recently published in Advanced Materials.

"We can conduct this in a 384-well plate, which is no bigger than your hand. And with image-analysis software, we can automate this method to enable quick, targeted screenings for hundreds of potential cancer treatments," says Shoichet.

One example is the researchers' drug screening for lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), a rare lung disease affecting women. Shoichet and her team were inspired by the work of Green Eggs and LAM, a Toronto-based organization raising awareness of the disease.

Using their hydrogels, they were able to automate and screen more than 800 drugs, thereby uncovering treatments that could target disease growth and invasion.

In the ongoing collaboration, the researchers plan to next screen multiple drugs at different doses to gain greater insight into new treatment methods for LAM. The strategies and insights they gain could also help identify new drugs for other invasive cancers.

Shoichet, who was recently named a Distinguished Woman in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering, also plans to patent the hydrogel technology.

"This has, and continues to be, a great collaboration that is advancing knowledge at the intersection of engineering and biology," says Shoichet.
Almost half (42%) of British men are concerned about their fertility according to new research by ExSeed, an emerging pioneer in the male fertility space which enables men to test their sperm quality at home. The research, which conveys the views of a thousand British men, also reveals that, of those with concerns around their fertility, less than a fifth (18%) intend on having tests and 29 per cent would expect their partner to be tested first.

Beyond the pain and frustration of having difficulties conceiving, more than a quarter (27%) of men say fertility issues would definitely cause issues with their relationship, while a third (33%) said they probably would.

In addition to the well-known factors which have a negative impact on male fertility, such as smoking and alcohol consumption, the ExSeed research also indicates there are several misconceptions amongst men around what can affect their sperm quality, with half (50%) believing the size of their testicles makes a difference, with 24 per cent of those saying definitely and 26 per cent possibly. Other factors men falsely believe will negatively impact their sperm quality include taking antidepressants (18%), having hot baths every day (14%), taking antibiotics (13%) and riding a bike or horse (9%).

Morten Ulsted, co-founder and CEO of ExSeed, comments:

Male infertility has historically been a taboo subject with many men avoiding the topic altogether and suffering in silence. The research clearly highlights that concerns around infertility are widespread meaning there are potentially millions of men who share the same worries; our mission is to throw the conversation open, remove the stigma around male fertility and reassure men that guidance and help are at hand.

ExSeed will soon be launching a state-of-the-art device in the UK, enabling men to analyze and improve their sperm quality from the comfort of their own home.
True, and many cases get handled this way. But too many others get handled by attorneys who will do whatever it takes to get their slice of the overdue bill. These debt mills know how to use the legal system to prompt judges to order bench warrants for people who fail to appear in court.
Vanuatu turns the Corner LETS USE THIS AS A SPRINGBOARD FOR THE FUTURE
Thought to be Canada's most promising potential defense against the brown marmorated stink bug - a globally spreading agricultural pest native to Asia - the samurai wasp (another species from Asia and natural parasitoid of the former) has been considered for future release in the country in recent years.

However, prior to any formal decision and regulatory approval, the parasitoid, which is known to be specialized on stink bug eggs, was identified at a heavily infested site in Chilliwack, British Columbia, during a survey of the local enemies of the bug, conducted by a research team led by Dr. Paul Abram of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Their findings are published in the open-access Journal of Hymenoptera Research.

Native to China, Japan, Taiwan and the Korean peninsula, the brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) has already established in areas of the United States and Europe and continues to spread. It is highly damaging to a wide range of vegetable and fruit crops, including peaches, apples, pears, soybeans, cherries, raspberries and pears. Curiously, those infested areas in both the USA and Europe also saw the arrival of the samurai wasp (Trissolcus japonicus) amid assessments whether releasing samurai wasps in the wild should be warranted.

"Classical (importation) biological control of invasive pests, where natural enemies are imported and intentionally introduced from a pest's area of origin, involves years of research to assess risks and benefits of proposed introductions, followed by regulatory approval," explain the researchers in their paper.

"However, there is increasing recognition that unintentional introductions of natural enemies are probably common, introducing a high level of uncertainty to the regulatory process for biological control introductions."

In two consecutive years (2017 and 2018), the team of Dr Abram placed a total of 1,496 egg masses (41,351 eggs) of brown marmorated stink bugs at 16 field sites in coastal and interior British Columbia - already known to host large and well-established breeding populations of the species - in order to monitor and identify the local enemies of the pest. Later on, when the researchers retrieved the eggs and studied their parasitoids, they found three native wasp species, but their parasitism appeared largely unsuccessful.

According to the scientists, as well as previous studies conducted in both the USA and Europe, native wasps would often lay their eggs in those of the brown marmorated stink bug, but their larvae would rarely complete development. Even when they emerged, they were unlikely to produce their own offspring.

In one of the egg masses, however, the scientists noted that all eggs had been parasitized and, moreover, each produced a viable wasp. Later, the offspring would register a success of >90% in parasitizing brown marmorated stink bug eggs. Following these observations, the team identified these parasitoids as samurai wasps.

While the species is currently being redistributed within some US states on purpose, samurai wasp populations advancing to other localities suggest that much like its host, the parasitoid is also becoming a "global invader". Therefore, it is quite possible that the samurai wasps in British Columbia have simply crossed a distance of >400 km from nearby Washington State, and the wasp is still at the early stages of its establishment in Canada.

"Nonetheless, the detection of this exotic biological control agent in Canada concurrently with regulatory review of its intentional importation and release is emblematic of the current uncertainty around regulatory control on the movement of biological control agents across borders," comment the authors of the study.

Field surveys and extensive analyses are currently underway to track the establishment and biological control impact of the samurai wasp in Canada and also reveal how the species ended up in British Columbia.
Researchers from the Universities of Helsinki, Turku and Missouri as well as the Family Federation of Finland present the first results from a new, extraordinarily comprehensive population-wide dataset that details the lives of over 160,000 World War II evacuees in terms of integration. The results demonstrate that migrants' integration into a host community involves a trade-off between gaining increased social status and having fewer children.

Evacuees from Karelia, a region ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union during World War II, had the unfortunate fate of having to evacuate from their home twice in the space of a few years. Evacuees fled to western Finland at the beginning of the war, but then many of them returned to their homes for 2 - 3 years when the territory was recaptured by Finland, only to have to evacuate again at the end of the war.

"This exceptional historical event provides a natural experiment, which allowed us to analyze the likelihood of various social groups returning to their natal communities when offered the opportunity," explains Robert Lynch, the first author of the article from the University of Turku, Finland.

The data also allowed a comparison between people who chose to return home with those that did not as they lived side by side in post-war western Finland.

Evacuees who returned to their homes after initial evacuation had more children after the war than those evacuees who stayed in western Finland for the entire war. It appears that the stronger bond to their natal community and the social and familial ties that come with it had a positive effect on fertility. However, after their second evacuation they were less likely to integrate and intermarry with people in western Finland, consequently missing out on opportunities to increase their social status.

On the other hand, the evacuees who stayed in western Finland for the entire war ended up having fewer children, but they intermarried with the host population in western Finland at a higher rate and thus, were more likely to increase their social status.

Like many migrants and refugees today the world over, the evacuees in the study faced choices between keeping strong social bonds with their natal communities and fellow migrants and integrating to form relationships that bridge the differences between groups. The research shows that the choices made had real consequences for the migrants' future fertility and socioeconomic status.

"Together, these results have important implications for understanding the migrant experience today and can be useful background knowledge for policy makers desiring to promote social cohesion," says John Loehr, senior author on the article from the University of Helsinki, Finland.

More broadly, however, these results can be viewed from a cultural and evolutionary perspective that considers the importance of balancing the human predisposition for tribalism and our need to have distinctive group level identities with the need for social cohesion. In other words, the degree to which people prioritize their own ethnic group, culture, family or region vs the importance they place on building new relationships and bridges with people from different groups and backgrounds impacts their life course, the opportunities they are likely to encounter and how they interact with others.
Scientists at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have discovered a defect in immune cells known as "killer T cells" that explains their inability to destroy cancer tumors. The researchers believe that repairing this defect could make the cells much better cancer killers. Further, they predict their discovery could be used within three to five years to help identify patients who will best respond to cancer therapies.

The finding could be a significant boost to the burgeoning field of immunotherapy, which aims to harness the body's immune defenses to defeat cancer. The discovery could also let doctors better predict and assess how well a patient responds to treatment.

"For a long time, the presence of immune cells in cancer has been associated with a better outcome in patients, but it's not really been clear why the immune cells haven't been able to control the cancer. What is the cancer doing?" said researcher Timothy Bullock, PhD, of the UVA Cancer Center. "This [finding] gives us plenty of opportunity to come in with interventions to invigorate these T cells and level the playing field substantially so they're much more competitive."

Building Better Cancer Killers

Despite their fearsome moniker, "killer" T cells often become inactive in solid tumors. UVA's new research sheds light on why. Bullock and his team determined that these sluggish soldiers suffer from a dysfunctional enzyme, enolase 1. Without it, they cannot use a vital nutrient, glucose.

"There is a functional defect in this enzyme that is preventing the cells from breaking down glucose and using it in such a way that they can proliferate and become functional," explained researcher Lelisa F. Gemta. "They don't process it well, and that's what we've been digging into: to find out why do these cells take up glucose but fail to break it down."

By amping up the effectiveness of the enzyme, the researchers believe they can make the killer T cells much better at killing cancer. The sluggish soldiers would become much more formidable fighters.

The researchers also believe that doctors will be able to examine the enzyme to predict how well a patient will respond to treatment. "I think that there is an opportunity to actually use this enzyme as a read-out for the quality of the T cells that are in the tumor, so that when a physician comes in with a clinical trial we can theoretically analyze how the T cells metabolically compare within the tumor," said Bullock, of UVA's Department of Pathology. "It's almost a biomarker of immune function and fitness within the tumors."

The research is part of UVA's aggressive efforts to advance the field of immunotherapy. For example, it is conducting a leading-edge clinical trial of an experimental immunotherapy for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia that has resisted other forms of treatment. The approach, known as chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, takes a child's own immune cells and genetically modifies them to make them better at killing cancer.

By confronting the defect they have discovered and making these T cells fitter, Bullock hopes that his new discovery will complement such emerging treatments and make them more effective. The finding, he notes, also might be put to use one day to dampen excessive immune responses, such as are seen in autoimmune disorders.
Looking at a sample of 'ethnically diverse' cell lines, a City of Hope researcher found that most were of European ancestry, and a prostate cancer cell line was mislabeled as African-American when it was of European origin

As the biomedical field races to develop therapies based on an individual's genetic makeup, a City of Hope scientist and his colleagues found that some commercial cell lines used for countless laboratory studies have mislabeled ancestry when it comes to minorities.

So, it will take longer for underrepresented populations to reap the benefits of "precision medicine," an emerging approach to disease prevention and treatment that takes an individual's genes, environment and lifestyle into account.

"A lack of diversity is prevalent in every level of biomedicine - from the patient population in clinical trials to the donated samples for scientific investigation," said Rick A. Kittles, Ph.D., director of the Division of Health Equities at City of Hope and senior author of the new study. "How can we expect to narrow the health equity canyon when our basic scientific resources - cell lines for laboratory study - is predominately from people of European ancestry? Minorities like myself are not the primary beneficiaries of most scientific innovations."

The study, published Feb. 20 in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, looked at 15 commercial cell lines used to study prostate, breast and cervical cancers. The cell lines were categorized based on their amount of West African, Native American and European genetic ancestry. All previously classified white cell lines were accurately described with average European ancestry of 97 percent, whereas cell lines classified as African-American were not always accurately described and were of more mixed genetic ancestral background.

Of note, many scientists who investigate prostate cancer health disparities have used a cell line called E006AA-hT, which is characterized as of African-American origin. Yet, Kittles and his colleagues discovered that E006AA-hT is predominately of European ancestry (91 percent) and may actually be a case of kidney cancer, not prostate cancer. That leaves the cell line MDA-PCa-2b as the only commercially available African-American prostate cancer cell line, Kittles said.

"This mislabeling may elicit memories of a time in the United States when African-Americans were identified as black if they had any noticeable amount of African-American ancestry in their skin color," Kittles said.

Researchers also scoured the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) website for cell lines derived from normal and malignant breast tissue. They found that 71 percent of the specimens were classified as white, while 13 percent were designated as African-American. There was only one Hispanic and one East Indian sample.

"Disturbingly, entire demographics are ignored in key mechanistic studies hindered by the restraints monoethnic cellular models afford," the study stated. "This is problematic as underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, who are more likely to suffer disproportionate disease incidence and mortality, remain also underrepresented in biospecimens available for research."

Genetic ancestry estimates offer more sophisticated characterization that could lead to improved disease prevention and treatment protocols. As a result, Kittles and his colleagues suggest using a standard set of 105 established ancestry informative markers to validate ancestry in order to make headway in precision medicine for all.

"An important aspect of precision medicine is being able to leverage the genetic background of individuals for disease risk assessment, stratification, prognosis and outcome," Kittles said. "Here we show that what many investigators thought were classic samples from racially defined individuals wasn't the case."

City of Hope and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) formed an alliance two years ago to bring precision medicine quickly to patients. City of Hope provides a state-of-the-art clinical setting to advance genomic breakthroughs made by TGen, a leader in applying genomic analysis and bioinformatics to cancer drug development.

To make precision medicine precise for people of all ethnicities, diverse biospecimens are required, Kittles said. And these biospecimens should undergo robust characterization so that their genetic ancestry are accurately reflected, he added.

Source: https://www.cityofhope.org/
Lab instruments are important tools throughout research and health care. But what if those instruments are leaking valuable information?

When it comes to biosecurity, this could be a very real threat, according to a group of researchers at the University of California, Irvine, and the University of California, Riverside. By simply recording the sounds of a common lab instrument, the team members could reconstruct what a researcher was doing with that instrument.

"Any active machine emits a trace of some form: physical residue, electromagnetic radiation, acoustic noise, etc. The amount of information in these traces is immense, and we have only hit the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we can learn and reverse engineer about the machine that generated them," said Philip Brisk, a UC Riverside associate professor of computer science who worked on the project.

In a paper presented at the Network and Distributed System Security Symposium, the group showed they could reconstruct what a researcher was doing by recording the sounds of the lab instrument used. That means academic, industrial, and government labs are potentially wide open to espionage that could destabilize research, jeopardize product development, and even put national security at risk.

The researchers wondered if it was possible to determine what a DNA synthesizer was producing from the sounds its components made as it went through its manufacturing routine.

DNA synthesizers are machines that allow users to build custom DNA molecules from a few basic ingredients. Researchers commonly construct segments of DNA to insert in the genome of other organisms, especially bacteria, to make new organisms. Sometimes these living systems are used to make valuable new pharmaceuticals or other products.

Brisk and UC Irvine electrical and computer engineering professor Mohammad Abdullah Al Faruque and his doctoral student Sina Faezi; along with John C. Chaput, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at UC Irvine; and William Grover, a bioengineering professor at UC Riverside, set microphones similar to those in a smartphone in several spots near a DNA synthesizer in Chaput's lab.

All DNA is built from just four bases, adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T), arranged in almost infinite combinations. The specific patterns, or sequences, can be read as a clue to what kind of DNA it is.

DNA synthesizers contain components that open and close to release chemicals as they manufacture each of these bases, along with the tubes and chambers through which they flow. These mechanisms make distinctive sounds as they work.

After filtering out background noise and running several adjustments to the recorded sound, the researchers found the differences were too subtle for humans to notice.

"But through a careful feature engineering and bespoke machine-learning algorithm written in our lab, we were able to pinpoint those differences," Faezi said. The researchers could easily distinguish each time the machine produced A, G, C, or T.

When the researchers used software to analyze the AGCT patterns they acquired through the recordings, they identified the correct type of DNA with 86 percent accuracy. By running it through additional well-known DNA sequencing software, they boosted the accuracy to almost 100 percent.

Using this method, a knowledgeable observer could tell if the machine was making anthrax, smallpox, or Ebola DNA, for example, or a commercially valuable DNA intended to be a trade secret. The method could help law enforcement prevent bioterrorism, but it could also be used by criminals or terrorists to intercept biological secrets.

"A few years ago, we published a study on a similar method for stealing plans of objects being fabricated in 3D printers, but this DNA synthesizer attack is potentially much more serious," Al Faruque said.

The researchers recommend that labs using DNA synthesizing machines institute security measures, such as strictly controlling access to the machines and removing innocuous-seeming recording devices left near the machine. They also recommend that machine manufacturers begin designing machine components to reduce the number of sounds they make, either by redesigning or repositioning the components or swaddling them in sound absorbent material.

Almost all machines used in biomedical research make some kind of sound, noted Brisk and Grover, and the hack could conceivably be applied to any machine.

"The take-home message for bioengineers is that we have to worry about these security issues when we're designing instruments," Grover said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday he intends to bring down skyrocketing drug prices by leaning on an existing federal law that could enable the state to import prescription meds wholesale from Canada, where they're much cheaper. He's citing direct support from President Donald Trump, whose administration would have to approve the endeavor.

He not only supports this, he is enthusiastic, DeSantis said at a news conference northwest of Orlando.

But it's not clear Florida's idea has actually gotten that level of commitment.

The White House would not directly answer whether it supports letting states import prescription drugs from Canada and would not say whether it has blessed this proposal.

Instead, said spokesman Judd Deere, the president has asked his administration to "learn more details" about Florida's drug-importation plan and "looks forward to educating Governor DeSantis on the many policy options the Trump administration has proposed to reduce costly drug prices for American families." (Those policy options, according to a White House blueprint released last year, don't include importation.)

"President Trump is always eager to discuss ways to lower drug prices for the American people," Deere said.

Still, Florida is joining the growing ranks of states that, squeezed by climbing drug prices, are eyeing the Canadian fix. This idea isn't new: Bernie Sanders, Vermont's left-leaning independent senator, is among a number of longtime champions in Congress.

Legislation has been advanced this year in about a dozen states that would advance wholesale drug importation programs and a bill was introduced in Florida on the same day DeSantis outlined his support.

Vermont, Sanders' home state, where a measure became law last year, leads the pack. But the state has not yet sought necessary federal approval.

And how much would these programs help anyway? While statehouses may be abuzz, in Washington, national politics impedes feasibility. And skeptics question how much relief these initiatives could actually provide.

"I don't think large-scale importation  given both the size of the United States and the potential for retaliation [by the industry]  is likely to save as much as might be projected," said Rachel Sachs, an associate law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, who tracks drug-pricing laws.

Said Ameet Sarpatwari, a lawyer and epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School, "Something like importation could help on the margins in the short term, but it needs to be coupled with some sort of strategy to be sure there is efficient supply in the market."

In order to pursue this approach, states are leaning on a provision in a 2003 law that empowers the Department of Health and Human Services to approve state programs to import medications from Canada, as long as the state can show the practice is safe and saves money.

Once they gain this go-ahead, states would develop wholesale importation programs and then sell the drugs they get from up north to local pharmacies and hospitals, theoretically netting savings.

But HHS has never approved such a move. Last year, HHS Secretary Alex Azar told reporters that importation proposals constituted a "gimmick" rather than any meaningful drug-pricing reform. Vermont plans to formally submit its importation proposal this summer. So far, HHS has been silent on that project.

Last June, though, Azar directed the Food and Drug Administration to establish a working group to study how drug re-importation could help address price hikes and supply disruptions.

DeSantis on Friday acknowledged that he doesn't yet have the backing of federal agencies needed to make his plan go forward.

The guarantee of drug safety is also a challenge. HHS secretaries from both Republican and Democratic administrations have argued over the years that they could not find a process that meets this standard  though many pharmaceutical policy experts dispute this argument. Sarpatwari called it "a red herring."

Policy researchers question whether these proposals would net substantial savings  or even survive the backlash from the powerful pharmaceutical industry.

"If you think about the practicalities of trying to feed a large section of the U.S. market from Canada, it doesn't make much sense," argued Michael Law, a pharmaceutical policy expert and associate professor at the University of British Columbia's Centre for Health Services and Policy Research. "There are too many steps along the way where people will shut it down."

Pharmaceutical companies supplying Canadian wholesalers will quickly notice, he said, if those entities are buying lots more drugs and then selling them back to Americans. And they would cut off supplies pretty quickly.

That's especially true, Law added, for a state as big as Florida, whose population of 20 million people is not that far from rivaling Canada's 37 million.

Importation would also face a formidable opponent from the Canadian government, both he and Sachs said. If Canadian prices are used to bring down American prices, drugmakers have a reason to just charge more up north.

Vermont estimated potential savings of between $1 million and $5 million. Those figures don't account for the costs of setting up the program.

Even with those issues, though, there's active interest in the idea  just ask DeSantis' own constituents. A number of employers and local governments in Florida have been buying drugs from Canada for years. Among them: the Pasco County school district near Tampa.

"The program is working well, and we've had no issues or complaints," said Patricia Howard, an employee benefits official with the school system.

In Florida, as around the country, some businesses also already help consumers purchase drugs from overseas, and they say they see sizable savings.

Tim Booth, owner of Canadian Meds in Lady Lake, Fla., said his customers get prescriptions filled from pharmacies in Canada, Australia, Britain and India. "We get many doctor referrals who fax us prescriptions for their patients," he said.

Canadian Meds, which is located about eight miles from where DeSantis made his prescription drug announcement, is one of about 20 such storefront businesses across Florida that claim thousands of customers each year. These businesses, which technically operate outside the law, started in 2003 and continue with little pushback from regulators.

"Everybody knows drug prices are too high, so anything they can do is good for the American public," Booth said.

But the benefits Booth's customers see may not translate to a statewide program, considering the differences between thousands of customers versus a statewide program. Plus, the federal law that DeSantis' plan would use authorizes importation only from Canada  not Australia, Britain or India.

That said, proposals like these have political implications, both in states, whose budgets are directly squeezed by climbing drug prices, and in Washington, where drug pricing is one area where congressional activity seems more likely.

"This goes along with a broader thinking that's going on about how to lower drug prices in the United States," Law said. "Despite the fact that this might not work  it's not too long before someone figures out something that would."
For the first time, researchers have shown that a combination of perfluorinated substances in the mother significantly inhibits child growth.

They make many everyday things easier, such as keeping children's feet dry in waterproofed boots, stopping the meat balls sticking to the frying pan and making it easier to clean the carpet.

But these environmental chemicals, the perfluorinated substances, have a wide range of damaging effects, with the most recent turning out to be reduced growth in fetuses.

This is shown by a new study in which researchers from Aarhus University have examined the cocktail effect of the chemicals, leading to findings which are both significant and alarming according to Professor Eva Cecilie Bonefeld-Joergensen from the Department of Public Health.

"The perfluorinated substances can mimic the hormone estrogen and can therefore disrupt the body's natural hormonal processes including the development of the fetus. We can see that the complex mix of perfluorinated substances in the mother impairs fetal growth and length," she says.

Researchers had previously only studied the individual impact of the substances on the fetus, and these results had not been entirely clear-cut.

Eva Cecilie Bonefeld-Joergensen and her research colleagues have developed a new method for extracting and isolating the contents of the substances from the blood and then subsequently determining the combined endocrine disrupting effect of the substances - popularly called the cocktail effect - on the development of the fetus.

"When it comes to the overall effect, the calculation is not 1+1=2, but rather 1+1=3. Low birth weight can lead to a number of diseases later in life, but we still lack specific knowledge about how the children who are exposed to the substances subsequently develop," says Bonefeld-Joergensen of the results which have been published in the scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

She is currently waiting for an answer to an application for a foundation grant to carry out the necessary follow-up studies on the ongoing development of these children.

The researchers have examined blood samples from 702 pregnant Danish women who were registered in the database "Aarhus Children's Biobank". Such thorough studies of the concentration of perfluorinated substances and their biological effect in pregnant woman have not been done previously, but the study is nevertheless in line with previous research in the area. The substances have furthermore been associated with a range of issues including breast cancer, fertility problems, ADHD, the risk of asthma, a weakened immune system and the reduced effect of vaccines.

The harmful environmental chemicals accumulate in the body and are not easily degradable. They are fat and water repellent and are found in our food, in the air we breathe, in dust and water and in a wide range of everyday products such as e.g. waterproof clothing, food packaging, furniture textiles and make-up. Only a few of the almost one thousand different perfluorinated substances are presently regulated by law, and there is no product labeling requirement.

"As a consumer, you have to ask in the store. Products with these toxic substances are popular, but we pay the price with our children's and our own health if we don't avoid these products," says the researcher.

The area is regulated by the EU, but the Minister for Environment and Food, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen (the Danish Liberal Party), has recently announced that he will explore the possibility of a national ban on the substances in cardboard and paper for food packaging.

The new study is part of Aarhus University's Fetotox project, which studies the impact of perfluorinated substances on women and children.
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The dog owner and one of her friends located the dog on the side of the house and police told her to take the dog to the vet with that friend. The other friend reportedly told police he had been bitten on his leg by (the) dog just prior to our arrival. (The friend) said the dog is aggressive and told (the dog owner) to put the dog away prior to the arrival of police, according to the report.
Travelers checks

The Keys were an add-on for us. We were already in Florida, so we buzzed eight hours south from Sarasota to check Key West from our bucket lists. During the drive, I spent a good chunk of time staring out the window at teal ombre waters of both the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean. The colors are supernatural.

Our ride down the 113-mile Florida Keys Overseas Highway  connecting islands with the mainland and including the seven-mile bridge (actually 6.79 miles)  took longer than I expected because of random traffic slowdowns. Theres one road in and out of the Keys and this 45 mph stretch with 42 separate bridges was it.

We were unable to find a campground for our RV, so we left it behind and took four wheels. February is high season, so even hotwire.com rooms were commanding $200-plus per night, before fees and taxes. Thats when, against the advice of others, I turned to Airbnb.com. There I learned you could overnight on a boat  renting just a bed or an entire boat.

We like privacy, so we chose to stay overnight on a 30-foot Catalina sailboat at Stock Island Marina. With all fees and taxes, it totaled $209 per night. Not bad to be a few miles from the entertainment center on Duval Street despite some spatial challenges when it came to sleeping. We stayed two nights.

On the Atlantic side of Stock Island, marina waters are mostly quiet. We rocked so gently that I didnt notice. Well, I may have noticed a little after sipping some of Papas Pilar blonde rum from Hemingway Rum Company.

In the morning, walking to the shower room, I could hear the citys roosters calling wake up to resistant sleepers. The overall effect was charming.

Hemingway House: 907 Whitehead St., Key West, 305-294-1136, hemingwayhome.com.

Hemingway Rum Company: 201 Simonton St., Key West, 305-414-8754, papaspilar.com.

Kermits Key West Key Lime Shoppe: 200 Elizabeth St., Key West, 305-296-0806, keylimeshop.com.

Mallory Square: 400 Wall Street, Key West, mallorysquare.com.

Old Town Trolley Tour: 201 Front St., Key West, 855-623-8289, trolleytours.com/key-west.

Truman Little White House: 111 Front St., Key West, 305-294-9911, trumanlittlewhitehouse.com.

Sloppy Joes Bar: 201 Duval St, Key West, 305-296-2388, sloppyjoes.com.
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The Community Culinary School of Northwestern CT in New Milford will host a culinary showcase, Recipe for Success, March 23.

The event will run from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the 19 Main venue at 19 Main St.

The culinary celebration is the largest fundraiser for the nonprofit school, which provides job and life skills training to unemployed and underemployed adults from the greater New Milford area.

All food prepared in classes is donated to local food banks to feed the hungry within the community.

The event will feature hors doeuvres prepared by students under the direction of Chef Instructor Chef Blythe Roberts and an open bar.

Silent and live auctions will feature luxury goods and travel, including seven nights accommodations for four in Manciano, Italy, on the southern edge of Tuscany.

A Restaurants for a Year auction package with $100 gift certificates to area restaurants, and guests will have the opportunity to purchase tickets for a wine basket drawing featuring more than 20 bottles.

I am excited to be back at the helm of the Community Culinary School where I am planning a culinary extravaganza for our Recipe for Success gala, said Chef Roberts, who recently resumed his role with the school. I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve from my lifetime in the culinary field.

Guests will be able to enjoy a variety of hors doeuvres including food stations and displays, he said. I plan to impress our guests in every way.

To date, 38 classes of students have graduated from the school with a job placement rate of 96 percent.

Graduates have moved into dynamic careers within the food service industry.

We are thrilled to have the opportunity to feature the skills of our students and graduates, while bringing awareness to our program and raising funds that will allow us to continue the important work that we do said Dawn Hammacott, executive director.

Tickets are $85 per person and can be purchased online at www.communityculinaryschool.org or by contacting the school at 203-512-5791.

Sponsorship, advertising, and auction item donation opportunities are also available.
DANBURY  Opponents of tolls on Connecticut highways will stage a rally in friendly territory on White Street in Danbury.

The Stamford grassroots organization No Tolls CT is organizing the protest at 1 p.m. Saturday at the corner of White and Wildman streets,

Danbury leaders at the state and local levels have been adamantly opposed to tolls of any kind and Mayor Mark Boughton has been one of the most vocal, both as mayor and throughout his unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination for governor last year.

Boughton frequently quips that hed chain himself to the highway to stop tolls, if it came to that, but he might not be available to chant and wave signs on Saturday afternoon.

I dont know that Ill be able to stop by, but obviously I agree, Boughton said.

City Council members also have expressed their dissatisfaction with any tolling plan, but they will not discuss a resolution formally opposing tolls at the council meeting next week. Instead, theyll wait until this summer as the toll fight drags on.

Weve got a lot of budget-related stuff that we need to get through, so well wait until the legislative session is over and then circle back, Boughton said. A resolution is something well still consider, we just have to get through this first and then well try tackle tolls.

Gov. Ned Lamont proposed this month a plan to build 53 toll-collecting gantries across the cities three major interstates and the Merritt and Wilbur Cross parkways.

Construction could begin in 2022 at the earliest and cost $213 million, but Lamont has estimated it could raise as much as $800 million each year.

The plan has been met with some fierce opposition, however, including No Tolls CT, Danbury, Stamford and other municipalities along the states major arteries who argue the tolls are another tax on resident drivers and could hobble area businesses.

zach.murdock@hearstmediact.com
BRIDGEPORT  Freshman Sen. Dennis Bradley, D-Bridgeport, made a local pitch Monday for a bill aimed at compelling school districts to put more teachers of color in front of an increasingly diverse student body.

The bill, which Bradley said would at least get a public hearing in the current legislative session, calls on districts to draft five-year minority teacher recruitment plans that the state would have to approve.

It is a problem I have seen as a member of the (Bridgeport) Board of Education, Bradley said from the third floor community room of the citys public library. There is really something to be said about the impact a minority teacher can make, especially a male minority teacher, in the life of young people of color.

With Bradley were City Council member Ernie Newtown and two teachers  Ryan Brown, a seventh-grade teacher at Read School and Sheree Baldwin Muhammad, a second-grade teacher at New Beginnings Family Academy, a city-based charter school.

Brown and Muhammad are both part of Educators For Excellence, a group that recently released a report outlining the need for more minority teachers.

That report, and others, have called for increases in culturally responsive teacher training programs to groom future teachers of color, state-supported Grow Your Own programs that offer free college tuition in exchange for returning to the district to teach or a program to offer housing subsides for teachers in high-cost areas.

Increasing the ranks of teachers of color is something the state Department of Education has also worked on, with a goal of increasing the ranks to 10 percent  or by 1,000 new certified educators of color  by 2021.

State officials on Monday said that in the 2017-18 school year, new teaching certifications were awarded to 2,870 people in the state, of which at least 67.2 percent were identified as white, 183 were Hispanic, 63 were Asian, three were Native American and 524 were not identified by race.

In the current school year, as of January, there were 2,799 new teaching certifications of which 68.7 percent were white, with 31.2 percent minority or unknown.

Bradley said the state is taking steps but needs to up its game.

His bill would start small, requiring districts to report  as they do now  on minority recruitment efforts, but also calls on them to provide a plan to boost their minority teacher count by at least 2 percent annually over the next five years.

The idea is to hold (districts) accountable, Bradley said. If their goals arent met, why?

At present, there would be no penalties for noncompliance. Bradley said he does not see it as an unfunded mandate.

The idea is to encourage, Bradley said.

Statewide, some 47 percent of students are minorities while 74 percent of their teachers are white.

In Bridgeport, efforts to increase minority teacher staffing have been reported to the school board, but the percentage of minority educators has hovered around 8 or 9 percent for the past five years.

The effort is stymied by the short supply of teachers of color who graduate each year from state teacher colleges, educators have said.

Bradley said the fact that Bridgeport has a number of minority school administrators, including Schools Superintendent of Schools Aresta Johnson, is a good thing.

Its all about leadership, he said.

Newton, who started out as a teacher many years ago, said more needs to be done to encourage minority teachers to move to the state, either through incentive programs or laws that make it easier for teacher certifications from other states to transfer to Connecticut.

He called the effort long overdue.

The budget proposed last week by Gov. Ned Lamont would broaden certification reciprocity with other states and maintains funding levels for minority teacher recruitment efforts and existing loan forgiveness programs that assist minority students in pursing careers in education.

Muhammad, who grew up in Stratford but got her teaching degree in Florida, said transferring back to the state was difficult.

Having teachers of color in the classroom, she said, can help students feel comfortable and increases the chances they can see themselves as teachers.

Brown agreed.

I have had students who gravitate to me, Brown said. I understand the struggles they go through. My identity plays a role in that.

lclambeck@ctpost.com; twitter/lclambeck
Other points she noted from the annual report include a drop in the number of dogs transferred to rescue groups, because the shelter has more room to accommodate them, and an overall drop in the length of stay at the shelter for animals. The figure for cats dropped dramatically and it ticked up slightly for dogs, but Bianchi said thats because they are receiving more training before being adopted.
The Danbury Music Centres Charles Ives Concert Series spring season, completing its second full season, will feature four concerts.

The series is dedicated to celebrating the legacy of Danburys own Charles Ives with performances of his music, todays American music and music that transcends the traditional boundaries of classical music to incorporate other styles, according to a news release. Tickets to the series can be purchased and more information can be found here.

The series is led by artistic director Paul Frucht and associate artistic director, Jon Cziner, both of whom are composers. Frucht, a recent Juilliard graduate and Danbury native, is also the Centres new associate director, artistic planning and program development.

The spring season begins with a program called American Violin Sonatas on Saturday, March 9, at 7:30 p.m., at the Danbury Music Centres Marian Anderson Recital Hall, which features two nationally-renowned musicians, violinist Rachel Lee Priday and pianist Conor Hanick.

The Series renews its partnership with Congregation Shir Shalom in Ridgefield, presenting an afternoon of Music by Jewish Composers on Sunday, March 31, at 4 p.m., featuring violinist Avi Nagin, cellist Julian Schwarz and pianist Marika Bournaki, all of whom are both familiar faces on the Ives Series and nationally recognized chamber musicians and soloists in their own rite.

On May 13th, the Ives Series will, for the first time, present a concert in New York City, in an effort to bring Danburys iconic composers legacy further out into the tristate area. The programed, titled The Ives Series in NY: Charles Ives and His Living Legacy, will take place at 7:30 p.m. at Peter Norton Symphony Spaces Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre.

The program will feature Ives Series Artist-Faculty performing works by Ives, the series two artistic directors  Frucht and Cziner, 2019 Composer-in-Residence Robert Paterson and Nina C. Young and Justin Dello Joio, two previous composers-in-residence.

The spring season closes on June 2 at 4: p.m. at Congregation Shir Shalom with concert featuring Dallas Symphony Orchestra Principal Harpist, Emily Levin.

Tickets to the series can be purchased and more information can be found here.
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AP photo/Evan VucciIn this June 12, 2018, photo, U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un walk from their lunch at the Capella resort on Sentosa Island in Singapore. The success of the second summit between the two leaders hinges largely on whether Kim proves he's truly committed to denuclearization.
She said those living near the property could help keep it clean, and local scout troops could assist in putting in trails. Gary Brown, president of the local chapter of the Izaak Walton League, said the conservation group has already voted to assist in maintaining the property.
A Massachusetts woman who allegedly assaulted a man wearing a Make America Great Again hat at a restaurant in Falmouth is in custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and due to be deported.

Authorities said Rosiane Santos, 41, is "an unlawfully present citizen of Brazil."

"Santos is currently facing local charges for assault and other offenses. She is presently in ICE custody and has been entered into removal proceedings before the federal immigration courts," read a statement from John Mohan, a public affairs officer for ICE's Boston office.

Santos pleaded not guilty last week in Falmouth District Court to charges of assault and battery and disorderly conduct for an incident the evening of Feb. 15.

Police said they were called to the Casa Vallarta on Davis Straits Road, where Bryton Turner had been minding his own business when Santos began to verbally assault him due to the MAGA hat he was wearing.

Turner began to record the incident with his phone saying, "Ignorant people like this. I'm just trying to sit here, eat a nice meal."

In the video, Santos can be seen walking up behind him and pulling the hat off his head.

Court documents show when police asked Santos why she did it, she said it was because he supports President Donald Trump and she allegedly called Turner an expletive.

"That's the problem with America these days. People are just ignorant. They want to lash out on people who are educated," Turner said in the video.

Police said when Santos was arrested, her eyes were "bloodshot and glassy". While walking her out of the bar, she allegedly hit Turner in the head.

Santos had been released on her own recognizance but was then taken into ICE custody Tuesday.
A silver alert has been canceled for a missing Shrewsbury man.

Massachusetts State Police said Monday night that 72-year-old Mark Babbitt had been found.

Details were not provided.

Police had issued a silver alert earlier Monday for the man described as about 6' tall and 165 pounds.

Babbitt was said to possibly have been driving a black 2011 Volkswagen Jetta with Massachusetts plates 2HX988 and with a UCONN Huskies decal on the rear driver's side window.

The 72-year-old Shrewsbury man is known to frequent the Northboro and Westboro areas.
Gov. Charlie Baker will deliver his plans for the next year in his annual address to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.

The Republican will reveal his legislative plan and proposals for the $42 billion budget, which will need to be approved by July 1.

Baker was re-elected as Massachusetts' governor last November after holding two-thirds of the vote against Democrat Jay Gonzalez. During his inauguration speech last month, he promised to continue his focus on improving public transportation, combatting the opioid addiction crisis and battling climate change.
Maine could become the first state in New England to impose a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags.

The Portland Press Herald reports at least three lawmakers have proposed legislation to ban the bags that environmentalists say harm local wildlife and contribute to pollution.

The move comes after 20 towns and cities in the state have approved bans or fees on plastic bags, and several more are considering local ordinances.

State Rep. Nicole Grohoski says she wants to ban plastic bags in all retail stores, but she would support exemptions on bags used in pharmacies, for produce or meat or for caustic items.

A survey by the Retail Association of Maine shows nearly 65 percent of its members support a ban or fee.
A Massachusetts police officer accused of child rape was ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing at his arraignment Tuesday.

Carlos Vieira, 49, was arraigned in Lawrence District Court on two counts each of aggravated rape of a child and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.

Vieira was arrested without incident Monday in Haverhill following a month-long investigation, according to the Essex District Attorneys Office.

During the arraignment, prosecutors said Vieira met a 13-year-old boy in the summer of 2018 through a gay social media app called GRINDR. He agreed to meet the boy at Mount Vernon Park in Lawrence where a sex act is alleged to have taken place in a dark SUV.

On Sept. 13, the day of the Merrimack Valley Gas explosions, prosecutors said the child allegedly saw an officer directing traffic in the vicinity of Mount Vernon and Beacon Street and recognized the officer as the same man he had the sexual encounter within the park.

The child did not know the man was an officer at the time. Investigators confirmed Vieira was paid for working on the day of the gas explosions.

It was then that the child's mother went to the district attorneys office and the investigation began.

Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera expressed his anger at the allegations in a statement.

"If it is determined to be true, we will act quickly to remove the officer involved," Rivera said.

Vieira, a 19-year veteran of the police department, has been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation, according to Lawrence Police Department Chief Roy Vasque.

The judge in the case has impounded the police report.

Vieira's dangerousness hearing is scheduled for March 1. He is represented by attorney Gil Nason.
Cleanup has started around the region following powerful gusts that slammed New England on Monday and caused power outages, downed trees and toppled power lines.

More than 46,300 Massachusetts customers and 82,850 New Hampshire customers lost power due to the unforgiving wind. The National Weather Service said peak gusts at 60 mph were reported through several parts of Massachusetts on Monday.

Lots of clean up underway this morning after strong winds toppled trees in the area knock out power, damage cars and homes ... Including this home in Mattapan. @NBC10Boston @NECN pic.twitter.com/irr19bVMxj  Katelyn Flint NBC10 Boston (@KFlintNBCBoston) February 26, 2019

Mayhem unfolded due to the gusts and caused trouble for drivers and homeowners, and damage was still being caused on Tuesday morning.

In Wellesley an elderly blind woman recovering from a broken leg was in a Radcliffe Road home when a tree toppled over, causing major damage.

"It looked like Armageddon. It was so incredibly devastating," said the woman's daughter, Debbie Pelles.

Miraculously, Pelles said her 93-year-old mother and caregiver were fine.

"The caregiver, Jenny, was here and helped get my mother out of the danger zone. As long as my mom and Jenny are taken care of and they're not hurt, that's good. This is just structure," Pelles said.

In Waltham, residents were also cleaning up in one neighborhood where a toppled tree was blamed for taking out several electrical wires.

"It was just wind. It was just amazing how much wind can really do to a tree or to a neighborhood," said one resident.

And in Carlisle, neighbors trapped on a dead end street worried about their safety Tuesday morning with live wires on the ground after Eversource arrived 10 hours later.

On Monday during the height of the storm in Clinton parts of a roof blew off from a building as seen on video captured by the Lancaster Fire Department.

A 4-year-old girl and a nanny were faced with a scary situation in Milton when a tree crushed a car they were traveling in. The two were extricated and rescued with the child unharmed. However, the nanny was hospitalized with minor injuries and the girl was taken to an area hospital as a precaution.

In Chelsea, a woman was injured by a toppled traffic light and a piece of metal from a Natick church steeple flew off after dangling for hours.

High Winds Cause Downed Trees, Power Outages Across Region
After walking for an unknown amount of time, the victim was near the Hammond YMCA on Southeastern Avenue at 173rd Street when she encountered a man on a bicycle, according to the affidavit. The victim asked the suspect for directions home and followed him when he offered to show her the way, the affidavit states.
The Grand Canyon is celebrating its 100th birthday as a national park.

Visitors can get into the iconic park free Tuesday for the celebration that includes children's choirs, cultural demonstrations and cake.

"The 100th anniversary of Grand Canyon National Park is an occasion to celebrate the parks incredible impact on Arizonas citizens and economy, global reputation, and to inspire future generations to experience the park and protect its beauty, natural resources and cultural significance," a National Park Service press release read.

Centennial events begin mid-morning Tuesday.

A fourth-grade class from the Grand Canyon School will lead a Happy Birthday sing-along. Sunni Dooley will tell Navajo winter stories later in the day.

Before Grand Canyon became a national park, the land was home to and visited frequently by Native American tribes.

The park was protected as a game reserve and national monument before being designated a national park on Feb. 26, 1919. Now, more than 6 million visitors a year peer deep into the gorge, navigate river rapids, hike trails and camp under the stars.
Actor and comedian Volodymyr Zelensky is a household name in Ukraine.

The 41-year-old Zelensky has played many different roles throughout his decades-long career; he even stars as the president in a Ukrainian TV series.

Even though playing the president on TV is the extent of his political experience, the actor has rapidly crossed over to become a star in Ukrainian politics: A recent poll suggests Zelensky is the front-runner in the countrys upcoming presidential election, with more support than the incumbent Petro Poroshenko and the former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, NBC News reported.

Despite his popularity, some fear Zelensky might be biting off more than he can chew.
A bid to tighten Virginia laws around using cellphones while driving will have to wait another year.

Lawmakers rejected legislation aimed at keeping drivers off their phones during the final moments of the 2019 legislative session, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.

Both the House and Senate passed legislation that would have outlawed hand-held phone use while driving, but the two chambers couldn't agree on compromise language to get a single bill through both chambers.

Some lawmakers expressed concerns the bill would lead to racial profiling by police.

Advocates for a ban on hand-held phone use while driving said they would try again next year.
A Thai political party swore loyalty to the king Saturday, a day after its stunning decision to nominate the monarch's sister as its candidate for prime minister backfired when the king called the move inappropriate and unconstitutional.

The statement of fealty comes as the country ponders a Friday whirlwind in which Princess Ubolratana Mahidol broke with tradition proscribing the monarchy's involvement with politics to become a candidate for the Thai Raksa Chart Party, only to have her brother, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, invalidate her action with a late night order.

Thai Raksa Chart's statement said the party loyally accepted the king's order and expressed deep gratitude to Ubolratana for her kindness toward the party.

Ubolratana, who is active on Instagram, did not directly mention the king's order in a Saturday message, merely thanking people for their support and encouragement and insisting on her sincere desire to see Thailand progress with rights and opportunities for all its people.

Thailand's March 24 election will be the country's first since a 2014 military coup put in place a junta determined to reshape the political system to eradicate the influence of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose allies have won every national election since 2001.

So it was not only a shock that Ubolratana was formally entering politics, but also that she was doing so in alliance with a Thaksin-backed party. Her candidacy would have pitted her against the junta leader and current Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the preferred choice for premier of the pro-royalist military.

Thaksin was ousted by the military in a 2006 coup, and the country's establishment has spent more than a decade trying to neuter his political machine through court rulings, constitutional rewrites and other changes to the electoral system. In addition to deepening political divisions that have flared into protests and street violence, the campaign has had little success.

Just eight years after ousting Thaksin, the military stepped in again to remove his sister's government.

Thaksin remains wildly popular with the country's rural majority, who were drawn to his populist policies such as universal health care and rice subsidies and were willing to overlook accusations that he was enriching himself while in office. But Thaksin's popularity made the country's Bangkok-based establishment uneasy and some saw his popularity as a threat to the monarchy itself.

Thaksin, who went into exile in 2008 to avoid serving prison time on a conflict of interest conviction he insists was political, was generally believed to have been involved in setting up Ubolratana's candidacy. That shook the country's royalists, who have long seen their campaign against Thaksin as way to protect the monarchy.

It was widely assumed that Ubolratana, thought to be close to her brother, had at least received his approval for her action. What actually had happened behind the scenes is unlikely to become public, because the royal family's private affairs are almost never leaked.

Vajiralongkorn's order stressed that Thailand's constitution insists that the king and those around him stay above politics, and the principles of democratic government also put politics off-limits.

It directly addressed the point that his sister was a member of the royal family even though her formal royal titles had been lifted decades ago when she married a foreigner.

"Even though she relinquished her title according to royal laws ... she still retains her status and position as a member of the Chakri dynasty," the king's order said. "Bringing high-ranking royal family members to be involved in the political system, in any way, is an act that is against the ancient royal protocol and national custom and culture, and is seen as a highly inappropriate act."

Her candidacy had caused great excitement, because it offered the possibility of a strong challenge to Prayuth winning his job back. Her association with the monarchy was seen as making it difficult for royalists in parliament, which picks the prime minister, to vote against her.

Prayuth had been considered the front-runner, because changes in constitutional law and election rules were implemented by his government to make it difficult for political parties without military backing to capture the premier's post.

The royal order from Vajiralongkorn, read on national television late Friday night, caught by surprise newspapers that had already started their press runs with stories focusing on ramifications of Ubolratana's candidacy.

An early edition of the English-language Bangkok Post with the banner headline 'Political earthquake,' failed to report the aftershock of the king's order.

There had been warning signs before the king's order that Ubolratana's candidacy was vulnerable.

Hours after she was registered as a candidate, a political party supporting Prayuth filed an objection with the Election Commission, arguing that the action broke rules banning the use of the royal institution as part of a political campaign. Several other complaints followed, mostly from conservative royalists.
The people of Okinawa voted Sunday on a plan for a U.S. military base relocation in a referendum that will send a message on how they feel about housing American troops in Japan, who many see as a burden on the group of tiny southwestern islands.

The referendum is technically not binding but interest is high for testing the public sentiment about the plan to relocate Futenma air base, which is pushed by the national government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The plan has its beginnings in 1995, when outrage erupted against U.S. service members over the rape of a 12-year-old girl. Futenma was long criticized as dangerous, being in a residential area. Washington also agreed to transfer some personnel to the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.

A replacement base is on a coastal landfill in an area called Henoko. Critics say wildlife such as coral reefs and the dugong will be hurt.

"There are so many American troops here. Of course, 99 percent of them are good people, but then there is that 1 percent who do evil things. It's hard for us," said Tomomichi Shimabukuro, who runs a seaside inn called Churaumi-kun.

"I feel most people of Okinawa are going to vote in protest of the plan," he said in a phone interview.

Japanese media surveys have shown voters are likely to reject the Henoko plan. Nearly 1.16 million residents were eligible to vote. Interest has been strong, not only in the rest of Japan but among pacifists internationally.

The referendum asked: "On the landfill for the construction of the U.S. military base planned by the government in Henoko, Nago city, to replace Futenma air base," with the answers being: "I agree," ''I oppose," or "Neither."

Although Okinawa makes up less than 1 percent of Japan's land space, it houses about half of the 54,000 American troops stationed in Japan, and makes for 64 percent of the land used by the U.S. bases, under a bilateral security treaty.

Japan relies heavily on the U.S. for its defense, and the government has said it will not abide by the referendum, even if the Henoko plan is rejected.

Over the years, Henoko has drawn countless protests and sit-ins. The election last year of Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki, the son of a Japanese woman and a U.S. Marine he has never met, has injected renewed energy to the movement.

Skeptics are worried the costs for a landfill base like Henoko may keep growing, the runway may end up being too short and the government may not close Futenma, after all.

Some in Okinawa are wondering why U.S. military operations can't be moved to other parts of Japan. Such plans have been repeatedly brought up with little progress, making some in Okinawa feel they are getting second-class treatment.

Col. John Hutcheson, spokesman for U.S. Forces Japan, said the Henoko agreement is a bilateral deal aimed at closing Futenma, while maintaining what he called vital capabilities for regional security. He declined to comment on the referendum, saying it was a domestic political issue.

"We are committed to maintaining good relations with local communities on Okinawa and do our best every day to balance their concerns with the necessity to maintain readiness in support of our treaty commitments," he said.
One man is dead after a crash on Interstate 5 near downtown Monday afternoon, according to the California Highway Patrol.

A 21-year-old man from Calexico was driving a white Nissan Versa when he crashed just north of Imperial Avenue on southbound I-5 at around 1 p.m. near State Route 94.

CHP said the driver was allegedly going 80 to 90 miles per hour when he struck the center divide on the highway. Officers said it is not clear what made him crash at this time.

The Versa struck a disabled Prudential Overall Supply truck on the side of the roadway. The company is known for supplying and laundering automotive uniforms.

NBC 7's Rory Devine

A CHP officer said the truck appeared loaded and wasn't moving at the time of impact, leaving the Versa "obliterated."

"We want drivers to maintain a high visual horizon, and that means to keep your eyes up and look as far down the road as you can to be able to anticipate things either in the road or on the left or right shoulders," CHP Officer Mark Hale said.

The truck suffered apparent exterior damage toward its rear end.

A SigAlert was issued at 1:26 p.m. in the area, closing all southbound lanes on the highway, officials said. Caltrans said all lanes were open in the area at around 5:20 p.m.

Three lanes closed on SB I-5 at Imperial Ave due to a traffic collision. #SDCaltransAlert  Caltrans San Diego (@SDCaltrans) February 25, 2019

NBC 7's SkyRanger 7 flew overhead of the crash. Hundreds of cars, stretching approximately six miles back to Sea World Drive, could be seen stuck behind the wreckage.

CHP said it will be shut down for an "unknown duration of time."

Investigators do not believe drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash at this time.

NBC 7's Rory Devine

No other information was available.

Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.
What to Know Jonathan Sandoval-Lepe faces 120 months in federal prison for sex with a minor and child pornography possession.

Starting in 2015, Sandoval-Lepe had traveled to Baja, California to have sex with the victim, who was 13 years old at the time.

Investigations revealed he possessed more than 600 images and videos of child pornography.

A Long Beach man was sentenced on Monday to 10 years in federal prison for the molestation of a minor in Mexico and possession of child pornography.

Jonathan Sandoval-Lepe, 32, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge George H. Wu to pay $15,000 in restitution to his victims, including $10,000 to the Mexican victim, plus a $10,000 special assessment to the Domestic Trafficking Victims' Fund.

Following his release from custody, Sandoval-Lepe will remain on federal supervised release for the remainder of his life.

Over the course of about two years that began in the spring of 2015, Sandoval-Lepe traveled to Baja California to have sex with the victim, who was 13 when the illicit sexual conduct started.

He also admitted that in September 2017 he enticed the victim to produce child pornography while he was in the United States. The victim sent child porn to Sandoval-Lepe in California.

In August 2017, Sandoval-Lepe knowingly received child porn images that he downloaded onto his computer from a peer-to-peer network, his plea agreement states. The investigation found more than 600 such images and videos, some of which depicted children who were under 12 years old, according to court documents.

Sandoval-Lepe pleaded guilty in November in Los Angeles federal court to charges of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place and receiving child pornography depicting other victims.
Weather Alert

...DANGEROUS HEAT CONTINUES THROUGH THE FIRST OF THE WEEK... .Strong high pressure will remain over the Pacific Northwest through much of the coming week. Very hot and dangerous temperatures today through Tuesday before temperatures cool slightly rest of the week but still remaining hot. ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM PDT THURSDAY... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with temperatures of 110 to 118 degrees today 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. &&
House Democrats have ignored a veto threat and passed legislation that would stymie President Donald Trump's bid for billions of extra dollars for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. The move has escalated a clash over whether he has abused his powers to advance the signature pledge of his 2016 campaign.

The House's 245-182 vote Tuesday to block Trump's national emergency declaration fell well below the two-thirds majority that would be needed to override what would be the first veto of Trump's presidency. Thirteen Republican backed the Democrats' measure as top Republicans worked to keep defections as low as possible, wanting to avoid a tally suggesting that Trump's hold on lawmakers was weakening.

The issue is now before the Republican-run Senate, where there already were enough GOP defections to edge the resolution to the brink of passage. Vice President Mike Pence used a lunch with Republican senators at the Capitol to try keeping them aboard, citing a crisis at the border, but there were no signs he had succeeded.

"I personally couldn't handicap the outcome at this point," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who plans a vote within the next three weeks. He even said Republicans remained uncertain about the legality of Trump's move.

The showdown was forcing Republicans to cast uncomfortable votes pitting their support for a president popular with GOP voters against fears that his use of emergency powers would invite future Democratic presidents to do likewise.

House Republicans who joined all voting Democrats to support the resolution included moderates from competitive districts such as Fred Upton of Michigan and libertarian-leaning conservatives like Thomas Massie from Kentucky.

The White House, in a letter to lawmakers threatening a veto, said blocking the declaration would "undermine the administration's ability to respond effectively to the ongoing crisis" at the border.

Republicans said Democrats were driven by politics and a desire to oppose Trump at every turn. They said Trump had authority to declare an emergency to protect the country and they defended his claims of a crisis.

"We are at war on the southern border with the drug cartels," said Rep. Pete Olson, R-Texas.

Trump has asserted that barriers would stop drugs from Mexico from entering the U.S. In fact, government figures show that 90 percent of drugs intercepted from Mexico are caught at ports of entry, not remote areas where barriers would be constructed.

Democrats said Republicans repeatedly accused former President Barack Obama of flouting the Constitution, which gives Congress control over spending, but are ignoring Trump's effort to do the same.

"Is your oath of office to Donald Trump, or is your oath of office to the Constitution?" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., asked Republicans.

Trump's push for the wall reflected a continuation of the anti-immigrant views that helped fuel his election, some Democrats said.

"Since when do we call human beings in need a national emergency?" said Mexican-born Rep. Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, D-Ill. "Is he running out of insults for people like me?"

Democrats said the crisis is a fiction manufactured by Trump to evade Congress' vote this month to provide less than $1.4 billion for barrier construction. That was well below the $5.7 billion Trump demanded as he forced a record-setting 35-day federal shutdown.

"The president does not get to override Congress in a raucous temper tantrum over his inability to broker a deal" with lawmakers for more money, said Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, sponsor of the one-sentence measure blocking the declaration, called Trump's move "constitutional vandalism."

Trump used a 1976 law to declare a national emergency and ordered the shift of $3.6 billion from military construction projects to wall building. Citing other powers, he intends to shift an additional $3.1 billion from Defense Department anti-drug efforts and a fund that collects seized assets.

The money would be used to build steel barriers up to 30 feet tall and other barriers and for "law enforcement efforts," said a White House statement.

In the Senate, three Republicans have said they will back Democrats' drive to block the emergency declaration: Maine's Susan Collins, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski and North Carolina's Thom Tillis. One more GOP defection would provide enough votes to approve the Democratic measure, assuming all Democrats and their independent allies back it.

Republicans said senators asked Pence numerous questions about which projects Trump would divert to pay for the wall, with Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., saying the discussion was "hearty." Shelby, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which controls spending. said the committee would quickly "backfill" money for military construction with other funds he did not identify.

"That issue won't stay alive long," Shelby told reporters.

Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the chief GOP vote counter, said there may be GOP attempts to amend the House measure, saying Republicans "think they have amendments that would improve it."

That suggests that McConnell may try finding a way to add language that could sink the Democratic resolution or, perhaps, make it more palatable for Republicans. The law requires the Senate to vote on a measure within 18 days of receiving it from the House.

Though presidents have declared 58 emergencies under the law, this is the first aimed at acquiring money for an item Congress has explicitly refused to finance, according to Elizabeth Goitein, co-director for national security at New York University Law School's Brennan Center for Justice. This is also the first time Congress has cast votes on whether to annul an emergency declaration, she said.

Several lawsuits have been filed aimed at blocking the money, including by Democratic state attorneys general, and progressive and environmental groups. Those suits are likely to delay access to those funds for months or years.

AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro and Associated Press writer Colleen Long contributed.
I think were excited to have to the mission and vision of the housing center aligned with somebody, like Jay, and some of the work that hes been able to do in other communities, she said. Were really fortunate, I think, at this point, to be working with him.
Nearly 200 people were stuck on an Amtrak train in rural eastern Oregon for two nights after it hit a tree that fell onto the tracks in a snowed-in city dealing with power outages.

The Amtrak Coast Starlight train was near Eugene, Oregon, on its way to Los Angeles from Seattle Sunday evening when it struck the tree. None of the 183 passengers or crew were hurt, Amtrak said in a statement, but snow and fallen trees in Oakridge made conditions too difficult for the train to be taken out.

It was finally on the move again Tuesday morning after Union Pacific crews were able to reach the train and clear the tracks.

A representative for Amtrak had said that people on board had access to heat and food, though passengers told NBC News and local news outlets that it was difficult for some to cope.

"We've had a couple of panic attacks that we've worked through," Rebekah Dodson said an interview that aired on NBC's TODAY show Tuesday.

But she also said that most people got along  she even tweeted a selfie with a smiling crew member and praised staff for their professionalism.

"There's nothing anybody can do to get us anywhere because of the weather," Dodson said.

The city of Oakridge only has two small hotels and was dealing with power outages, so it wasn't a viable option to let passengers and crew get off the train, according to a statement from Union Pacific.

Union Pacific said that one of its locomotives was pulling the train toward Eugene after its crews cleared the tracks. An Amtrak alert said the train was on its way back to Seattle.

Amtrak Chief Operating Officer Scot Naparstek said in a statement that customers on the train would be offered "refunds and other compensation" after the "unfortunate" events stranded the train.

"With more than a foot of heavy snow and numerous trees blocking the track, we made every decision in the best interest of the safety of our customers during the unfortunate sequence of events," Naparstek said.

Dodson posted a video to Facebook from the moving train as it crawled through snowy forest.

"Everybody's super-excited to be on the train, to be moving," she said, before other passengers chimed in to echo those comments.

One woman said that people had tears in their eyes when the train started moving.
What to Know A person of interest is now in custody in connection to a series of sex assaults targeting women in South Philadelphia.

The person, who has not yet been identified, was taken into custody Monday afternoon. No charges have been filed.

Police say a male suspect assaulted nearly 10 women in the last two months, with one attack resulting in rape.

Update: Police have charged a South Philadelphia man who works for the city in at least four of the sexual assaults.

A person of interest is now in custody in connection to a series of sex assaults targeting women in South Philadelphia.

The person, who has not yet been identified, was taken into custody Monday afternoon. No charges have been filed at this time however.

Police say a male suspect assaulted nearly 10 women in the last two months, with one attack resulting in rape. On Friday, police said they had received eight reports. By Saturday, another woman came forward, bringing the total number of victims to at least nine.

"Almost all of our victims were accosted by this gentleman as they were trying to enter either their apartment or a business. So the M.O. is exactly the same," Philadelphia Police Department Capt. Mark Burgman said.

While most of the attacks have been deemed attempted sexual assaults or indecent assaults, the most recent resulted in rape, Burgman said at a Friday evening news conference held to discuss the spate of attacks. The captain said a woman was opening a business around 5 a.m. Friday on the 1900 block of South Bancoft Street when the man pulled a knife on her, pushed her inside and then raped her.

The ninth victim, a 33-year-old woman, came forward Saturday after the department's news conference.

She told police that she was trying to enter her apartment Thursday around 11:30 p.m. on the 400 block of Mifflin Street when a man rode up behind her on his bike, grabbed her by the waist, assaulted her and took off with $50 and her bag, PPD spokeswoman Tanya Little said.

The woman's description of her alleged attacker matches the one of the man who police believe is responsible for the other sexual assaults in the area.

Police say the suspect is between 30 and 50 years old, usually wears dark clothes, rides up behind victims on his bike and pulls a knife on them.

Police first put out an alert about the suspect in January. At that time, he had allegedly assaulted three women in a 10-day period.

Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, who represents South Philadelphia, issued a statement Saturday urging residents who might have any information to reach out to police.

"Women in South Philadelphia should not have to be stressed over their safety when leaving or returning to their homes alone, and locking their doors in fear at night, because a serial predator has not been caught," he said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the PPD's Special Victims Unit at 215-685-3251/3252.
What to Know A mother and daughter are accused of killing five family members inside a Bucks County apartment. The mom claims the family "wanted to die."

Shana Decree, 45, and her daughter Dominique Decree, 19, are both charged with homicide and conspiracy.

The victims are Shana Decree's daughter, son, sister and 9-year-old twin nieces, the district attorney said.

The last time Destiny Harris saw her 9-year-old twin sisters, they were getting ready to celebrate their upcoming birthdays.

A week later, their bodies were found inside a Bucks County, Pennsylvania, apartment.

Two of the girls' relatives - their aunt, 45-year-old Shana Decree, and her 19-year-old daughter, Dominique Decree - are charged with the murders and those of three other relatives.

"They were so happy," Harris said of her sisters. "They didn't deserve that."

Both mother and daughter are being held without bail because of the potential for first-degree murder charges, Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said.

There are no additional suspects, officials said.

Weintraub declined to elaborate on a motive for the five murders, but Shana Decree offered a haunting statement to police: They "wanted to die," she said of her relatives.

Bucks County DA

Officials discovered the gruesome scene Monday afternoon in a small first-floor apartment located on the 200 block of West Bridge Street in Morrisville. The bodies were discovered by the building manager after a Bucks County Children and Youth Social Services Agency representative attempted to perform a well-being check on the family.

Officers who later arrived on the scene found the apartment in "disarray" and bodies scattered throughout one bedroom. Broken glass and turned-over furniture littered the three-bedroom apartment, officials said.

Some of the victims were lying in beds while others were sitting upright, according to the affidavit. One had his foot through the wall and into another bedroom.

Police believe the killings happened at some point on Saturday, though they have yet to release causes of death.

The victims were identified as Shana Decree's two children, Naa'Irah Smith, 25, and Damon Decree Jr., 13, both of Morrisville; Shana Decree's sister, Jamilla Campbell, 42, of Trenton, New Jersey; and Campbell's 9-year-old twin daughters, Imani and Erika Allen.

PHOTOS: Morrisville Family Murder

The twins would have turned 10 years old this week.

Smith, meanwhile, had only lived in the apartment for just one month and was engaged to be married, according to her father, Ronald Smith. Earlier in February, he tried to visit his daughter but she would only speak with him through the door.

Then, Ronald Smith received text messages from his daughter saying that soon she would pass through the "pearly gates."

"My daughter was a very good person," he said. "I don't know how she fell into this or what happened. I still want answers, too."

Campbell's 17-year-old son, Joshua, who was initially feared to be in danger, was found safe with friends in New Jersey, police said.

"Frankly, we're still trying to sort this out," Weintraub said. "The people who committed these atrocious acts are now in custody and [will] be made to pay for their crimes."

The People

Police say the suspects, Shana and Dominique Decree, were related to the five people they're accused of killing. All eight family members lived in the same Morrisville, Pennsylvania, apartment.

Neither Shana Decree nor her daughter had prior criminal records and nothing suspicious was discovered during the family's last well-being check, which was performed on Feb. 5, according to the county.

But Destiny Harris said she had a bad feeling even before hearing the devastating news.

The Decrees "were going through something religiously, and they decided to drag the kids into it," she said. "They never should have had to deal with any family issues."

But Morrisville chief of police George McClay refuted a possible faith-based motive.

"That has not been indicated in any way," he said.

Neighbor Nicole Owens told NBC10 that she became concerned Friday when no one answered her knock at the family's apartment. On Saturday, Owens alerted apartment maintenance staff that something might be wrong.

Two days later, a Bucks County representative attempted to do a well-being check. When no one answered, a building manager let himself inside. He found Shana and Dominique Decree "disoriented" in one of the bedrooms, according to the affidavit. They were both taken to a local hospital before their arrests, Weintraub said.

When she reported to jail, Dominique Decree had visible injuries to her neck, officials said.

Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub choked up while discussing the arrest of two women implicated in the killing of five family members  ranging in age from 9 to 42 years old.

At the hospital, each woman initially claimed that a man or men killed their family members and attacked them, police said.

Shana Decree later told investigators that the entire family "wanted to die." She claimed even the children were suicidal.

At least one of the 9-year-old twins attended Morrisville Middle School, which released a statement Tuesday morning offering counseling and support services for students and staff.

"This is a time of great sorrow for the entire school community," the statement read. "This is a difficult time for everyone, but I know our students and staff will be able to lean on each other as they remember their classmate."

Online court records don't list an attorney who could comment for either woman.

NBC10 journalists Deanna Durante, Miguel Martinez-Valle, Steven Fisher, Brandon Hudson, Mitch Blacher, Jim O'Donnell, Aaron Baskerville and David Chang contributed to this report.
Senate leaders agreed to hold votes this week on dueling proposals to reopen shuttered federal agencies, forcing a political reckoning for senators grappling with the longest shutdown in U.S. history: Side with President Donald Trump or vote to temporarily end the shutdown and keep negotiating.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. set up the two showdown votes for Thursday, a day before some 800,000 federal workers are due to miss a second paycheck.

One vote will be on his own measure, which reflects Trump's offer to trade border wall funding for temporary protections for some immigrants. It was quickly rejected by Democrats. The second vote is set for a bill approved by the Democratic-controlled House reopening government through Feb. 8, with no wall money, to give bargainers time to talk.

Both measures are expected fall short of the 60 votes need to pass, leaving little hope they represent the clear path out of the mess. But the plan represents the first test of Senate Republicans' resolve behind Trump's insistence that agencies remain closed until Congress approves $5.7 billion to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. For Democrats, the votes will show whether there are any cracks in the so-far unified rejection of Trump's demand.

Democrats on Tuesday ridiculed McConnell's bill, which included temporarily extended protections for "Dreamer" immigrants, but also harsh new curbs on Central Americans seeking safe haven in the U.S.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the GOP plan's immigration proposals were "even more radical" than their past positions. "The president's proposal is just wrapping paper on the same partisan package and hostage taking tactics," offering to temporarily restore programs Trump himself tried to end in exchange for wall funding, Schumer said.

McConnell accused Democrats of preferring "political combat with the president" to resolving the 32-day partial federal shutdown. He said Democrats were prepared to abandon federal workers, migrants and all Americans "just to extend this run of political theater so they can look like champions of the so-called resistance" against Trump.

The confrontational tone underscored that there remained no clear end in sight to the closure. Amid cascading tales of civil servants facing increasingly dire financial tribulations from the longest federal shutdown in history, the Senate chaplain nudged his flock.

"As hundreds of thousands of federal workers brace for another painful payday, remind our lawmakers they can ease the pain," Chaplain Barry Black intoned as the Senate convened.

The upcoming vote on the Democratic plan marked a departure for McConnell, who had vowed to allow no votes on shutdown measures unless Trump would sign them.

The White House views its latest offer as a test of whether Democratic leaders can hold their members together in opposition, said a person familiar with White House thinking who was not authorized to speak publicly. The administration also wants to show they are willing to negotiate, hoping it will push more blame onto Democrats, who are opposing negotiations until the government reopens. Public polls show Trump is taking the brunt of the blame from voters so far.

"How long are they going to continue to be obstructionists and not solve the problem and not reopen the government?" White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said of Democrats.

One freshman, Democrat Rep. Elaine Luria of Virginia, a state that's home to many federal workers, was circulating a draft letter Tuesday urging Pelosi to propose a deal that would reopen the government and then consider border security legislation  including holding votes on Trump's demand for wall money  by the end of February. A similar effort was under way last week by a bipartisan group of senators.

As the stalemate grinded on, Alaska Airlines said the closure would cause at least a three-week delay in its plan to start new passenger flights from Everett, Washington. Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said the shutdown could slow home sales by 1 percent in coming months. And a restaurant in Red Bank, New Jersey, owned by musician Jon Bon Jovi joined the list of establishments serving free meals to furloughed federal workers.

McConnell's bill largely reflects the proposal Trump described to the nation in a brief address Saturday. It would reopen federal agencies, revamp immigration laws and provide $5.7 billion to start building his prized border wall with Mexico  a project Democrats consider an ineffective, wasteful monument to a ridiculous Trump campaign promise.

Republicans posted the 1,301-page measure online late Monday. Its details provoked Democrats, particularly immigration provisions Trump hadn't mentioned during his speech.

The measure would provide a three-year extension of protections against deportation for 700,000 people covered by the Delayed Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. Democrats want far more to be protected  Trump last year proposed extending the safeguards to 1.8 million people, including many who'd not yet applied  and want the program's coverage for so-called "Dreamers" to be permanent.

Trump has tried terminating the Obama-era DACA program, which shields people brought to the U.S. illegally as children, but has been blocked so far by federal judges.

The GOP bill would revive, for three years, protections for people from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua who fled natural disasters or violence in their countries. Trump has ended that Temporary Protected Status program for those and several other countries.

Republicans estimated the proposal would let 325,000 people remain in the U.S. But the GOP proposal contains new curbs, providing those protections only to those who are already in the U.S. legally and who earn at least 125 percent of the federal poverty limit.

The bill would also, for the first time, require minors seeking asylum from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to process their applications at facilities the State Department is to establish in several Central American countries. Other new conditions include a limit of 15,000 of these minors who could be granted asylum. Currently, many asylum seekers apply as they're entering the U.S. and can remain here as judges decide their request, which can take several years.

As a sweetener, the Republican measure also contains $12.7 billion for regions hit by hurricanes, wildfires and other disasters. The Democratic bill also includes the disaster aid.

One White House official said Trump was open to counter-offers from Democrats. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, said Trump was also willing to use his proposed temporary extensions for "Dreamers" as a way to seek long-term deal.

The official said Trump would be willing to seek at least permanent legal status for "Dreamers," but probably not a path to citizenship.

Democrats have refused to negotiate until Trump reopens the government. Trump is worried Democrats won't agree to a wall compromise if he relents, while Democrats say Trump would use the shutdown tactic again if it works.

"If we hold the employees hostage now, they're hostage forever," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters.

Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Jill Colvin, Catherine Lucey, Kevin Freking, Matthew Daly and Laurie Kellman contributed.
What to Know The upstairs neighbor arrested for sexually assaulting and fatally stabbing an 11-year-old New Jersey girl has pleaded guilty

Andreas Erazo was arrested after Abbiegail Abbie Smiths body was found on a roof behind the building where the two lived

Erazo pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and first-degree aggravated sexual assault Tuesday, Monmouth County prosecutors said

The upstairs neighbor arrested for sexually assaulting and fatally stabbing an 11-year-old New Jersey girl has pleaded guilty, prosecutors say.

Andreas Erazo, 20, of Keansburg, was arrested in July 2017 after Abbiegail Smiths body was found partially clothed and wrapped in a comforter on a roof behind the building where she and Erazo lived.

Erazo on Tuesday pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and first-degree aggravated sexual assault, Monmouth County prosecutors said.

The state plans to recommend that he serve life in prison, subject to provisions that would require him to serve 63 years, nine months and three days before he would be eligible for supervised parole, according to prosecutors.

Abbiegails mother reported her missing on July 12, 2017, about an hour after she disappeared from their apartment on Hancock Street in Keansburg, prosecutors said.

Detectives found the girls body on the roof of a building behind her apartment complex the next morning. Sources at the time said her hands had been bound; an autopsy later found she had been sexually assaulted and stabbed to death.

An investigation led police to Abbiegails upstairs neighbor, Erazo, who was charged with her murder. Prosecutors at the time said blood stains were found on his windowsill, and a knife was found in his apartment.

Erazo admitted to killing Abbiegail during a nine-hour interrogation, but he didnt have a lawyer with him at the time, according to prosecutors.

He is expected to be sentenced on May 31.
Metro announced Monday that it is expanding its bike sharing network into Central Los Angeles, with more than 40 new stations in MacArthur Park, Rampart Village, Koreatown, Echo Park, Silver Lake and surrounding communities.

"County residents have already pedaled more than two million miles on Metro bikes," said county Supervisor and Metro Board Chair Sheila Kuehl.

"That's a testament to this cost-effective, easy and healthy way for residents to get around, and a big reason why we are expanding the program to more areas of the county."

Metro officials said the expansion will augment the existing downtown L.A. area bike share stations, and are being added to Union Avenue and Olympic Boulevard, Westlake Avenue and 3rd Street, Eighth Street and Vermont Avenue, and Shatto Place and Wilshire Boulevard.

Stations have also been added at the Westlake/MacArthur Park Red/Purple Line Station, Seventh Street and Park View Street, Fourth Street and Vermont Avenue, Seventh Street and Berendo Street, and Union Avenue and Seventh Street.

Additional stations will be installed in Koreatown, Echo Park, Silver Lake areas over the next few months and will be announced on Metro Bike Share Program's social media channels.

"We are reimagining public transportation in Los Angeles -- and scaling up bike share is a big part of solving our first/last mile problem, by giving transit users a convenient way to get from the bus stop to their front door," Los Angeles Mayor and Metro Board Second Vice Chair Eric Garcetti said.

"This expansion will give Angelenos and visitors alike an easy, affordable way to skip traffic and experience some of our city's most incredible sights."
A man was in custody Monday, accused of purposefully flooding an entire apartment complex in the Little Italy section of San Diego.

Emergency crews were called to EighteenTen State Street near the corner of State and Elm streets just after midnight.

Officers found eight floors had been flooded after a man opened a fire hose on the eighth floor.

"It was gushing like it came out of a fire hydrant," said resident John Dahlgren.

Dozens of residents woke up to a screeching fire alarm just after midnight. A witness shared a video showing water had reached to just about a foot from the top of the fire door in a stairwell leading to the parking garage.

Water covered the floor of the parking area underneath the complex, according to video obtained by NBC 7.

Some residents said the water damaged their personal property held in garage storage units.

Francisco Morales, 37, was arrested and booked on suspicion of felony vandalism, according to Billy Hernandez, spokesperson for the San Diego Police Department.

Hernandez did not provide a possible motive for the vandalism. No residents who spoke with NBC 7 were familiar with Morales. They couldn't think of a reason anyone would want to flood the building, and also questioned how Morales got into the complex because residents use a security badge.

Apartments in the complex rent for anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 per month according to rental websites.

The building is located east of Interstate 5, north of the 1st Avenue exit and across the street from Washington Elementary School.

Officials said residents were told to leave the building but they did not provide a number of units affected by the flooding.

Colleen Sullivan lives in the building next door to 1810 State Street and said she had just gotten dropped off around 12:30 a.m. when she saw the river of water gushing down the street.

"It felt like the Titanic," Sullivan told NBC 7.

McMillin LLC., the owner and developer of the apartment complex, issued the following statement:

"It is our priority to ensure that our tenants are safe and well taken care of. Our Eighteen Ten State St. apartments are professionally managed by Alliance Residential Company, and they are working around the clock to facilitate all tenant inquires. The damage is currently being assessed, and plans are in motion to address repairs and interim solutions. In regards to details of the crime or the individual associated, we do not currently have any comment, as the police are investigating.

Police also confirmed that San Diego Gas & Electric crews were called to the complex to shut off power.

Scott Baird/NBC 7

Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.
After long journeys to Vietnam, U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are in place for their second summit to address perhaps the world's biggest security challenge: Kim's pursuit of a nuclear program that stands on the verge of realistically threatening targets around the planet.

Although many experts are skeptical Kim will give up the nuclear weapons he likely sees as his best guarantee of continued rule, there was a palpable, carnival-like excitement among many in Hanoi as the final preparations were made for the meeting. There were also huge traffic jams in the already congested streets.

The two leaders are to meet over two days, first at dinner on Wednesday followed by meetings on Thursday.

Trump arrived late Tuesday in Air Force One after a flight that included refueling stops in England and Qatar. He shook hands with dignitaries on a red carpet that was flanked by members of the Vietnamese armed forces dressed in crisp white uniforms. The route to his hotel was decorated with American, North Korean and Vietnamese flags, and adults and children peered out upper floor windows holding up cellphones to capture Trump's arrival.

"Tremendous crowds, and so much love!" the U.S. president tweeted.

Kim's journey to the summit, though shorter, was even more protracted. To get to Hanoi, he took a nearly 70-hour train ride through southern China and then traveled from a Vietnamese border town in his limousine. Hours ahead of his border crossing at Dong Dang, footage from Japanese TV network TBS showed Kim taking a pre-dawn smoke break at a train station in China, a woman who appeared to be his sister, Kim Yo Jong, holding a crystal ashtray at the ready.

In Hanoi, soldiers, police and international journalists thronged the streets outside his hotel and hundreds of eager citizens stood behind barricades hoping to see the North Korean leader. As flags from the three countries fluttered in a chilly drizzle, dozens of cameras flashed and some citizens screamed and used their mobile phones to capture Kim's rock-star-like arrival.

"I like him," local resident Van Dang Luu, who works at a nearby bank, said of Kim. "He is very young and he is very interesting. And he is very powerful," she said. "Trump is not young, but I think he is very powerful."

Kim ventured out of his locked-down hotel  traveling news media who were told to use it as a staging area were kicked out  and spent Tuesday traveling around the Vietnamese capital in his armored limousine. With a squad of bodyguards in tow, he visited sections of Hanoi, including his nation's embassy where a loud cheer went up as he entered the compound.

The leaders first met last June in Singapore, a summit that was long on historic pageantry but short on any enforceable agreements for North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenal.

North Korea has spent decades, at great economic sacrifice, building its nuclear program, and there is widespread skepticism among experts that it will give away that program cheaply.

Trump laid out ultimate goals for both the U.S. and Kim in an appearance before the nation's governors Monday before leaving Washington: "We want denuclearization, and I think he'll have a country that will set a lot of records for speed in terms of an economy."

Trump has praised Pyongyang for ceasing missile tests, and he has appeared to ease up on demanding a timeline for disarmament. Kim is seeking relief from crushing U.S. sanctions.

Even as he tamped down expectations that he'll achieve big strides toward denuclearization, Trump was still eager to claim an attention-grabbing victory to offset the political turmoil he faces at home.

That eagerness for a victory, however, has spawned worries across world capitals about what Trump might be willing to give up in the name of a win. There seems less mystery about his North Korean counterpart. Survival of the Kim regime is always the primary concern.

Trump was the driving force behind this week's summit, aiming to re-create the global spectacle of his first meeting with Kim last year.

Four main goals emerged from the first Trump-Kim summit: establishing new relations between the nations, building a new peace on the entire Korean Peninsula, completing denuclearization of the peninsula and recovering U.S. POW/MIA remains from the Korean War.

While some remains have been returned to the United States, little has been achieved on the other points. Korean and American negotiators have not settled on either the parameters of denuclearization or a timetable for the removal of both Korean weapons and American sanctions.

"I'm not in a rush. I don't want to rush anybody, I just don't want testing. As long as there's no testing, we're happy," Trump told the governors on Sunday.

As host, Vietnam is eager to show off its huge economic and development improvements since the destruction of the Vietnam War, but the country also tolerates no dissent and is able to provide the kind of firm hand not allowed by more democratic potential hosts.

AP journalists Yves Dam Van, Deb Riechmann, Hyung-jin Kim, Adam Schreck Hau Dinh and Kim Tong-hyung contributed to this report.
Texas voters are split down the middle when asked if they wanted a wall built on the Mexico border, but whether the wall is built or not they don't want President Donald Trump using emergency powers to build it, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.



The poll said Texans are split 48-48 on whether to build a wall along the Texas-Mexico border. The support can nearly be drawn down party lines with 87 percent of Republicans supporting it and 90 percent of Democrats opposing it. Fifty-one percent of Independent voters also opposed the wall. According to those voters, only 47 percent of them approve of the job Trump is doing



The poll said 60 percent of Texas voters disapproved of President Donald Trump using emergency powers to fund the wall; 52 percent of voters said they don't believe undocumented immigrants crossing the border amounts to a national emergency. However, 52 percent of voters agreed with Trump "that the undocumented immigrants, drugs and gang members crossing the border is an 'invasion.'"



Texas voters are divided in their opinion of President Donald Trump as 47 percent approve of the job he is doing and 50 percent disapprove. "Texas is the state most directly impacted by the border wall controversy because of its long border with Mexico. Its generally conservative nature and stronger support for President Donald Trump makes these numbers especially relevant. "President Trumps 47  50 percent job approval in Texas is not great, but its better than Quinnipiac University finds in nationwide polls," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.



According to the poll, 53 percent of men supported the wall while 52 percent of women opposed it. Sixty-four percent of voters ages 18-34 opposed the wall while 58 percent of voters over 65 were in favor of it.



Racially, 63 percent of white voters support the wall while 80 percent of black voters and 65 percent of Hispanic voters are opposed.



"Texas voters are split down the middle on the need for a border wall, but overwhelmingly think immigration has been good for this country," Brown said



According to 57 percent of Texas voters, a wall on the Mexican border would not "significantly decrease violent crime in the U.S." while 54 percent said the wall would not "significantly decrease the amount of illegal drugs in the U.S.."



By a wide margin, 62 percent of Texans oppose the federal government seizing private property to build the wall.



Regarding school funding, an overwhelming 83 percent of Texas voters supported proposed multi-billion dollar increases in school funding; 78 percent favored school funding being linked to student population while 12 percent said it should be tied to student performance on standardized tests -- 60 percent said standardized tests were not good for education.



On property tax, 77 percent of voters favored requiring local governments to get voter approval if they want to increase property tax by more than 2.5 percent.



Approval ratings for Gov. Greg Abbott was at 58 percent; U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz was at 51 percent while U.S. Sen. John Cornyn was at 43 percent.



Researchers with Quinnipiac University surveyed more than 1,200 Texas voters and said the margin of error in their survey was +/- 3.4 points. The poll was conducted by using random digit dialing of land-lines and cell phones followed up with live interviews.
All 12 Senate Democrats have declared their opposition to embattled interim Secretary of State David Whitley, seemingly dooming his confirmation chances following a controversial advisory last month that warned election administrators about noncitizens potentially voting illegally.

Whitley's confirmation requires the support of two-thirds of senators, or 21 of them if all 31 are present for the vote. The Senate has 19 Republicans who would probably support the governor's nominee, but without the support of any Democrats, confirmation is mathematically impossible.

In a statement to The Dallas Morning News on Friday, Sen. Carol Alvarado of Houston said she couldn't vote for Whitley.

You can read the full story from our media partners at The Dallas Morning News by clicking here.
I understand how word of a specific crime or type of crime can shape ones perception of personal safety, Oak Park Police Chief LaDon Reynolds said. But I also believe these numbers should allay the concerns of residents whose perception of crime may be based more on news reports and social media posts. The facts related to a crime often change from the initial reports as the investigation progresses toward an arrest.
Authorities continued to scour the shallow waters of a southeast Texas bay Monday for clues about what led to the sudden crash of a Boeing 767 cargo plane carrying Amazon packages, and for the body of one of the three people aboard.

A north wind has aided searchers by exposing more of the three-quarter-mile debris field left Saturday when Houston-bound Flight 3591, which Atlas was operating for Amazon, disintegrated on impact with Trinity Bay, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) east of the city, an area sheriff said Sunday night.

None of the three people on the jumbo jet survived the crash, according to authorities and the plane's owner, Atlas Air. On Sunday, emergency workers recovered two bodies from the costal bay , which were sent to a medical examiner's office for autopsies.

Sheriff's deputies and investigators from the FBI and National Transportation Safety Board are searching for the remaining body and the plane's black box, which records flight data and voices in the cockpit.

The only person aboard the flight from Miami to be officially identified was a pilot for another airline who had been riding in a passenger seat on the cargo plane.

Mesa Airlines Capt. Sean Archuleta had been getting a lift back to his home in the Houston area, his friend told the Houston Chronicle . The 36-year-old was a new father and weeks away from starting his "dream" job flying for United Airlines, Don Dalton, Archuleta's roommate, told the paper.

Archuleta's wife lives in Colombia and was "devastated" by the news of his death, Dalton said.

Atlas Air said in a Sunday statement that it has established a program to support the families of the dead and that it has a team, including CEO Bill Flynn, at the crash site to assist investigators.
A man who murdered his father was sentenced to life in prison, said Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis.

Kenneth Alleman Midgley II, 30, committed the murder April 13, 2017 in their Plano home.

Midgley put his fathers body in a freezer, then fled to Mexico.

Two days later when the father didnt pick up his wife and daughter from the airport, the mom called Midgley. He said she could not speak with her husband because he was not alive.

Midgley spent ten days in Mexico before turning himself in to authorities.

In January, Midgley pleaded guilty to murder.

On Feb. 18 at the punishment hearing, family members testified that they feared for their safety if Midgley was released. Evidence was presented to show he planned the murder, had a lack of remorse and was a danger to society.

This sentence ensures that the victims family and our community will forever be safe from this violent man, Willis said.
Garret Bear was a bit confused Monday morning when his dad got him into the car earlier than normal and told him to pull his beanie down over his eyes.

But it made things that much sweeter when they reached their final destination.

"I was surprised," said Garret, a sixth-grader from Arlington.

They pulled into the parking lot of the Longhorn Harley Davidson dealership in Grand Prairie, where about two dozen bikers from across North Texas were waiting for them -- ready to give him an unforgettable morning.

"When we first pulled up, it was heartwarming," said Ashlee Garner, Garret's mom. "These people care, even though they didn't know us from anything ... it means a lot."

Garret's parents said he regularly gets picked on by kids at school. It got to the point that they went to school administrators. But the bullying hasn't stopped.

"The school has done what they can," said James McIntosh, Garret's father. "We don't blame the school. It's not their fault. It's not the kids' fault. It starts at home. If the parents don't take an interest, they don't have a clue what their kid is doing to other kids outside the home."

Wanting to try something else, McIntosh got in touch with the team at Longhorn Harley Davidson after a friend connected him with some of the staff there.

They'd worked with a biker named Ken "Shiner" Harrison, who oversees a network that they thought could be uniquely suited to help Garret. It's called "Bikers Against Bullying."

"It's about making the kid a rock star," said Harrison.

Concerned about the number of young people killing themselves over bullying, Harrison saw an opportunity to do something about it.

So when "Bikers Against Bullying" is contacted about a kid, he rallies bikers from across North Texas -- and together, they escort the kid to school in a display of strength and support.

They were more than eager to come to Garret's aid.

"We just want to help and make sure that bullying does not become a bigger epidemic than it is," said Rico Rossi, an employee at Longhorn Harley Davidson, who also took part in Monday's ride.

After spending some time hanging out with Garret and his family, they geared him up, put him on the back of a motorcycle, and rolled out for his school.

"Garret is going to feel like he's on cloud nine," said Harrison. "He's gonna walk in with his chest high, pumped, ready for the day. Other kids are gonna say wow, I wish it was my riding those bikes. And then they're gonna say, wow -- he must be a really cool kid."

His assessment was accurate.

"It was really cool," said Garret.

But even more than that, they hope Garret -- and the kids who bully him -- now realize a lot of people have his back.

"I really, really hope this gets through to them that bullying is not OK," said McIntosh.
The Fort Worth Stockyards are synonymous with cowboy history and now there is a new addition to that tradition. The new addition teaching, what for many, is the secret of the black cowboy.

Thats the secret Jim Austin, co-founder of the National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum, is excited to tell.

"Every day, I get up and I think about the importance of sharing this history," Austin said.

The little-known history is being housed at 2029 N. Main St. in Fort Worth -- the stories of minority cowboys and cowgirls.

"We're talking about the history of African-American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian and white cowboys, and the way that they made a difference in the west," Austin said.

Jim Austin has been working diligently to spread this information throughout North Texas. The museums recent move to the high traffic area near the Stockyards and Exchange District is in hopes of capitalizing on the more than two million visitors the area gets each year.

Austin, who is also the co-founder of the Cowboys of Color Rodeo, said having the chance to celebrate and share the history of the minority cowboys and cowgirls is truly his honor. He isnt shy to admit that even for him, this history was truly a secret.

"At the age of 40 years old, I found out that 40 percent of the cowboys were people of color," Austin said.

There are so many reasons he said he continues to do this work, especially bringing in school children to learn about history that may not be in their books. But he made it clear, there is one reason in particular that is always one of the most important.

"You can't know where you are going if you don't know where you came from ... and that's a true statement," Austin said.

For ticket prices and more information on the museum, click here.
Amber Alerts were issued in Texas on Saturday for three siblings who were reported missing from Waterbury last weekend and were last heard from in Sealy, Texas.

Waterbury Police are searching for 2-year-old Maryah Matthew, 5-year-old Dylan McGrath and 7-year-old Maddison McGrath. All three siblings were reported missing from Waterbury on Saturday, February 16, and were believed to be with their biological mother, 29-year-old Crystal McGrath.

Police said all three children were last seen with Crystal on February 16, 2019 at approximately 12:30 p.m.

Maryah is described as a female who is 2'0" and weighs 30 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing a blue shirt, a white vest with gold hearts, blue pants and black boots with hearts.

Dylan is described as a boy who is 3'0" and 45 pounds with brown hair and green eyes. He was last seen wearing a blue and white sweater, blue pants with a white stripe and black shoes.

Maddison is described as a girl who is 4'0" and 75 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a leopard print sweatsuit.

Officers said Crystal was allowed supervised visits with her three children, but she violated the conditions of the supervised release last weekend.

Police said Crystal left a McDonald's restaurant on Reidville Drive in Waterbury with the children. Her boyfriend, 38-year-old Lester Joy, was believed to be in the vehicle, authorities said. They are driving a maroon 2002 Volvo with a Connecticut license plate of 417-YTY.

Texas Ambert Alert Network

Police are searching for Crystal and Joy in connection with the kids' abduction.

Officers said they were last heard from in Sealy, Texas.

Law enforcement officials said they believe the children are in grave or immediate danger.

If you have any information regarding the abduction, you're urged to call Waterbury Police at 203-574-6911.
All the bill needed to become law was President Donald Trump's signature. It would create a national archive of documents from civil rights cold cases. Students had been working on the project for years, families waiting on it for decades. But time was running out.

Legislation dies in the transition from one session of Congress to the next, and unless Trump acted, it would be lost.

So the students at New Jersey's Hightstown High School did what teenagers do: They started tweeting at the president.

And not just Trump. They tweeted at his advisers, his staff and even Trump-friendly celebrities whose thousands of followers could carry their message to the White House.

As the deadline neared, Oslene Johnson, 19, was managing the project's Twitter account from under the blankets in her bedroom and trying not to be discouraged.

"When you really look at it, it's about providing closure for communities, families, and also as a country," said Johnson, who has since graduated but still works with the students.

Imagine, the class considered, all the people, African-Americans mostly, who have lived with questions about what happened to their loved ones 50 years or more ago. The killings and injuries have long passed. The perpetrators are gone. But the families, she said, "they're still with us."

The students' interest began in 2015, when teacher Stuart Wexler's Advanced Placement government and policy class at Hightstown High was studying the civil rights movement. They couldn't believe that in America, so many criminal cases involving racial violence and death could remain unsolved.

Srihari Suvramanian, 17, a senior, said in an Associated Press telephone interview with the class: "It's just atrocious that these individuals have gotten away with crimes committed decades ago, for so long, even though the majority of Americans know it's wrong."

He added: "We think it's very important to provide a sense of closure. Even if we can't get a full sense of closure, maybe provide some answers to the people that were denied justice."

The students crowdsourced a list of cases, filed Freedom of Information Act requests and then waited. Research on old cases often runs into dead ends, and they could imagine the difficulties that families go through trying to get answers.

They turned their attention to Congress.

The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, which collects records at the National Archives from the assassination, provided a model for the legislation they wanted. They took bus trips to Washington to find supporters. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., was among the first to sign on, inspired, his office said, by the work and the possibility it held.

Then Democrat Doug Jones won a Senate seat from Alabama in December 2017. They had already reached out to Jones, the U.S. attorney who won convictions after reopening the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing case from 1963 in Birmingham.

Six months after he was sworn in as the first Democratic senator from Alabama in a generation, Jones stood on the Senate floor and introduced the bill that would become the Civil Rights Cold Case Collection Act. The students watched from the gallery above.

"Justice can take many forms," Jones said. Reconciliation can be a potent force, he said. "After all this time, we might not solve every one of these cold cases, but my hope is, our efforts today will, at the very least, help us find some long overdue healing and understanding of the truth."

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who was presiding in the chamber that day, has said he was so moved that he told Jones he would sign on as a co-sponsor. Cruz helped bring Republicans on board. By December, in the final days of the congressional session, the bill unanimously passed the Senate and was approved in the House, 376-6. From there, it was off to the president's desk.

But the students worried the bill would expire when the new Congress convened in January.

"We went on a mad, desperate scramble to get the president to sign the bill," said James Ward, a 17 year-old senior who helped mobilize the student body, class by class, "to take out their phones and tweet."

In Wexler's classroom, students posted photos of Trump's "midnight advisers"  aides, media celebrities  and started putting "X's" through the ones they had reached out to. "We were tweeting at as many people as we could," Suvramanian recalled.

He was finishing class one afternoon when he dashed off an email to Christopher Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax and a Trump ally. "He got back to me within 30 minutes," the teenager said. After a short exchange, another note came back, "He said, 'I dropped a message to the president around 10 minutes ago and I really hope your bill gets signed into law.'"

Even with the new Congress starting the next day, the actual deadline for signing the bill was still a week away  the night of Trump's border security address to the nation amid what became the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

Johnson, a student leader when the project started, tried not to lose hope as she tweeted. She had graduated and moved on, as had many other students. There have been dozens in all, over the past several years, who had been involved in the project.

Then word came. Jones' office told Wexler, who told the students: Trump had signed the bill, which focuses on unsolved criminal cases from 1940 until 1980.

Johnson cried.

"The families could now, with access to information, at least know something about what happened," she said.

Along with Trump's signature came a lengthy signing statement of potential concerns about the process for review and public release of the documents, but also support for Congress to fund the effort. Ruddy confirmed he had reached out to the White House, impressed by the students. He thinks the president would have been, too.

Margaret Burnham, a law professor at Northeastern University and director of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, said what Wexler and his class did was "nothing short of amazing."

"The creativity was not so much in framing potentially effective legislation, but in strategizing how to get it through the Congress," said Burnham, who has worked for years on these issues and similar efforts in Washington. "That's where Stuart and his students, over several classes, were just dogged  and creative, incredibly creative  in their ability to persuade Congress, people on both sides of the aisle, of the meaning and continuing urgency and significance of this issue."

Tahj Linton, 17, said he hopes other Americans understand the power they have to shape political outcomes. "If we can start to solve some of the racial problems that were never really closed in the past decades or 50 years or so, maybe we can start to work on the ones that are happening today and make a difference about it," he said.
U.S. intelligence officials are increasingly doubtful that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un intends to dismantle his nuclear program, the officials told NBC News.

That's President Donald Trump goal in negotiating with North Korea, though there's no evidence Kim shares it. The White House has set low expectations for the meeting between Trump and Kim this week in Vietnam.

Trump could establish bare-bones diplomatic outposts between the two nations or perhaps offer to formally end the decades-old war on the Korean Peninsula, current and former U.S. officials say. Trump has been vague on whether he would offer to withdraw U.S. troops as part of a deal, saying last week that it was "not one of the things on the table" but later that "everything is on the table."

One former senior U.S. official said, "One of the worst possible outcomes is he makes some crazy deal pledging to withdraw U.S. troops for a vague promise of denuclearization."
Venture Smith is a slave who bought his own freedom and later created an autobiography that stories his history.

Its a piece of Connecticut history and a very important story to tell, as NBC Connecticut celebrates Black History Month.

Smith was born in Dukandarra, Africa and named Broteer, the son of King Saungm Furro, according to descendants.

But Smith was captured and taken on Rhode Island slave ship to America. He was sold for four gallons of run, and a piece of calico according to his autobiography. He was also renamed Venture.

Venture was about 7 years old at the time, according to Karl Stofko, East Haddam Municipal Historian.

The reason there is so much knowledge of Smith history is because he created an autobiography called A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, A Native of Africa: But Resident Above Sixty Years in the United States of America.

One of the earliest ones that was written and published. And was probably the only one that described what life was like in Africa, Stofko said.

Stofko has been studying Smith and watching over his East Haddam gravesite since the 1970s. There was an archaeological dig in 2006 on the site to try to gain even more knowledge of his history.

Smith was sold from owner to owner, working in places like Fishers Island and Stonington. He was a slave for about three decades.

But Smith took on side-jobs to earn enough money to buy his freedom from his last owner, Oliver Smith, of Stonington, and took his last name. Eventually Smith amassed enough money to buy the freedom of his children, his wife, and other slaves.

Stofko said Smith also amassed 134 acres of land in Haddam Neck.

Heres somebody that had all of this adversity but still made a big success of himself, Stofko said.

Its my history, my relatives history, my descendants history and it will be carried on, said Florence Warmsley, of Middletown, who is an eighth generation descendent of Smiths.

Warmsleys learned Smiths story from her grandmother. Now Warmsley keeps the legacy alive with the next generation of descendants.

Warmsley said she once held an original copy of Smiths narrative.

I think he knew how rare it was, and how important. I think he was very intelligent and decided that in this way, he could have his own little piece of the American dream, Warmsley said.

According to University of North Carolina Associate Professor John Sweet, who also studied Smith, Smiths narrative was the first published American slave narrative. He also said Smith was one of the few survivors of the Middle Passage who got to tell their story in print.

Chandler Saint, co-director of the Documenting Venture Smith Project spoke with NBC Connecticut on the phone while in Ghana. He said hes taking Smiths story back to Africa.

He overcame slavery and unbelievable oppression in a non-violent way which is something very few figures in history have accomplished, according to Saint.
The Social Security Administration offices on Litchfield Street in Torrington are closed and the building will be closed for the rest of the day as authorities investigate a suspicious letter.

The fire department responded to the offices at 147 Litchfield St. a little before 8 a.m. Tuesday after a letter with possible white powder was discovered and the building was evacuated.

Officials from the Department of Fire Services said the letter could be related to other incidents in the region.

The fire department and police secured the building and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, State Police, Torrington Area Health Department, United States Postal Inspection Service, Social Security Administrations Office of the Inspector General, DHS Federal Protective Services and Federal Bureau of Investigation responded to assist in the event it was necessary.

The Connecticut State Police Bomb Squad secured the package, which was collected for evidence and further testing.

Fire officials said the initial meter readings didnt indicate anything hazardous, but more testing will be done.
A recall has been issued for some Market 32 By Price Chopper Black Forest Ham sold at deli counters in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont, according to the U.S. Department of Agricultures Food Safety and Inspection Service.

A news release issued Tuesday afternoon says that Sahlen Packing Company, Inc., based in Buffalo, New York, is recalling more than 13,000 pounds of ready-to-eat deli ham products that might be contaminated with plastic

The deli ham items were produced on Jan. 25.

The USDA said the recall is for varying weights of whole hams sliced and sold at deli counters containing MARKET 32 BY PRICE CHOPPER BLACK FOREST HAM with natural juices caramel color added 97% FAT FREE and a sell by date of April 8, 2019.

The recalled ham has establishment number EST. 5155 inside the USDA mark of inspection.

The Food Safety and Inspection Services was notified on Feb. 22 and said there have been no confirmed reports of anyone being injured and anyone concerned about an injury or illness should call a healthcare provider.

If you bought these products, throw them away or return them to the store you purchased them from.
During the assemblies, students are expected to learn to never swim alone, to notify an adult if someone is swimming alone to relax, kick and float should they fall in water, how to use life jackets and what to do when someone falls in the water, according to the release.
Connecticut lawmakers are considering ending a long-standing practice on state roads: riding a motorcycle without a helmet.

For the first time, some of the loudest voices in the conversation are coming from motorcycle riders who favor wearing helmets.

Their choice comes at everyone elses expense, said Paul Siciliano, a motorcycle safety instructor said of motorcycle enthusiasts who insist on not wearing helmets a matter of comfort and tradition.

They dont represent the majority of riders in Connecticut anymore. They just dont, he added.

Motorcyclists who prefer not to wear helmets were also vocal before the Joint Transportation Committee. They argue that trained adult riders know how to protect themselves, and avoid dangerous situations that could result in crashes. They also argued that helmets impede their ability to see the road.

Twenty-eight states have some kind of requirement for helmets, either universal or for children up to age 17.

This should be our choice. You know? I want to take that chance, said Norman Lejoie, who started riding motorcycles more than 40 years ago. Hes owned 17 different bikes over that period of time. He added, Let those who ride decide.

A recent AAA poll of licensed Connecticut drivers showed that 75 percent of them favor a universal helmet law, which is what New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts have as their laws.

Jennifer Homendy, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, even testified in support of the universal helmet proposal before lawmakers.

Safety equipment is the best defense to prevent injury and thats across the board whether its seat belts, helmets, car seats, booster seats. It prevents fatalities and injuries and in these case we believe it would prevent fatalities and injuries as well, Homendy said.
AT&T plans to move nearly 90 jobs out of their Meriden call centers, and many union workers arent happy about it.

The union, CWA Local 1298, joined forces today with Sen. Richard Blumenthal to protest.

AT&T workers at that call center gathered Monday to speak out against the companys plan to move 89 jobs to either Tennessee or Georgia.

The union says the jobs are specialized, good paying, and hard to find. They monitor and maintain the 911 system in 22 states.

Paul Scherban has been working in the building at the 911 Center for 25 years.

It's nothing that you're just going to start doing immediately... there's a big learning curve, the Wethersfield resident explained.

AT&T said the move to consolidate takes place throughout the year and wont affect the majority of Meriden employees.

I beg to differ with that as well in our bargaining unit here in CT there is probably a grand total of 150 people in the core business and this is 89, said CWA Local 1298 president David Weidlich.

We are talking good jobs public safety and fair treatment of people, Blumenthal said.

The senator supported the workers at the protest, and said he agrees that these are not jobs Connecticut can afford to lose.

We are here to send a message to AT&T to do the right thing keep these jobs here because it's more than just the individual workers it's their families and it is the people who are going to call 9-1-1, Blumenthal said.

The company said there will be no impact to public safety  in fact the company claims the larger centers with more employees are more effective.

In a statement AT&T went on to say:

"Most affected employees, including all affected union-represented employees, will be offered a job at other U.S. company facilities, and a $20,000 relocation allowance. We hope as many of the affected employees as possible choose to stay with the company. Any who decline the relocation offer have the opportunity to seek other jobs within the company."

AT&T said the company hired 20,000 people last year, including 150 here in Connecticut.

The union says severance packages are also being offered.
What to Know A number of New York state politicians are calling for the legalization of prostitution

Senators Jessica Ramos, Julia Salazar and Brad Hoylman, as well as Assemblyman Richard Gottfried are working with Decrim NY

The group hopes to introduce a bill to rewrite the state's penal code to decriminalize sex trades in the state of New York

A number of New York state lawmakers are calling for the legalization of prostitution.

Senators Jessica Ramos, Julia Salazar and Brad Hoylman, as well as Assemblyman Richard Gottfried are working with Decrim NY to introduce a bill to rewrite the states penal code to decriminalize sex trades in the state of New York.

Decrim NY is a coalition to decriminalize, decarcerate and destigmatize the sex trade in New York City and state.

In a Daily News op-ed, Ramos and Salazar urged for the end of criminalization of sex work while Gottfried and Hoylman spoke out about the Decrim NY in a series of tweets where they expressed their support.

Decriminalization is critical to protecting the rights and safety of people who trade sex, no matter where they are on the spectrum of choice, circumstance, and coercion. #DecrimNY  Senator Brad Hoylman (@bradhoylman) February 25, 2019

"We aim to repeal statutes that criminalize consensual sexual exchange between adults and create a system that erases prostitution records for sex workers and sex trafficking survivors so they can move on with their lives," the opinion piece reads in part.

Ramos represents Corona, Elmhurst, and Jackson Heights and Salazar represents Bushwick, Greenpoint and Williamsburg in the state Senate.

Criminalization does not address why people trade sex, because most people trade sex out of economic need: to pay bills, make rent, and put food on the table. People often turn to sex work after a life event such as a major health-care bill leaves them economically vulnerable. LGBTQ, black and brown, immigrant and disabled communities engage in sex work at higher rates because they are locked out of jobs in the formal economy, according to the opinion piece.

Top Tri-State News Photos

Ramos and Salazar say that 9 out of 10 people arrested in sex-work-related massage parlor raids are immigrants, with most being undocumented Asians.

LGBTQ youth, who often run away from home seeking acceptance, trade sex at 7 to 8 times the rate of other youth in New York City, Ramos and Salazar say.

Nevada is right now the only U.S. state where prostitution is legal in some counties.
A 17-year-old boy was shot and killed Monday evening near Schurz High School in the Old Irving Park neighborhood, police said.

At 5:36 p.m., the boy was riding in a westbound vehicle in the 4400 block of West Addison when the male shooter fired at him as he stood on a corner near Schurz, a Chicago Public Schools high school located at 3601 N. Milwaukee. The suspect was with two other males when he opened fire, Chicago police said.

The teen was struck in the neck and rushed to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

The Cook County medical examiners office didnt immediately confirm his death.

A police spokeswoman didnt know whether the boy was a student at the high school. A CPS spokeswoman didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

Area North detectives are investigating the shooting.
This election eve is a hectic one given it being the largest number of candidates ever running for Chicago mayor. All of the fourteen were busy shaking hands and leaving no stone unturned in their search for votes.

Lori Lightfoot, who has been surging in the final weeks, perhaps due being endorsed by the Chicago Sun-Times, was at Revival Food Hall in the Loop.

Lightfoot said she is confident that her volunteer operation will get out the vote regardless of the weather Tuesday.

We have over 600 people city-wide whove committed from Saturday to Election Day  thats over 1,600 hours of volunteer time, and theyre enthusiastic volunteers, Lightfoot said. Because this weather isnt for the faint of heart.

At her campaign headquarters, Preckwinkle couldnt stress enough just how confident she was for Tuesdays election; saying she was optimistic eight times during a short press conference.

Preckwinkle sought to downplay the firing of her campaign manager last week. She also dismissed the questions into whether Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke broke ethics rules by throwing her a fundraiser as political theater.

As I go around the city, what people are concerned about is not campaign dynamics, but the issues that face their communities, Preckwinkle said.

Mendoza was on the Far South Side receiving a last-minute endorsement from the United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers Union Local 551.

Standing before a group of union workers, Mendoza invoked the memory of her father, a member of the pipefitters union who died when she was 22 years old.

You may not believe me but Ill be walking through the house and Ill smell the smell of the pipes my dad used to work with as a pipefitter, Mendoza reminisced. He used to use this orange goopy stuff to clean his hands and get rid of the smellbut to me, that smell was always a great smell, believe it or not, she said. It was the smell of hard work, of pride in your job, of earning a fair dollar for an honest days work.

Bill Daley was busy making sure that his volunteers were well-fed as they were getting out the vote. He stopped by Lincoln Park cafe The Bourgeois Pig to pick up pastries and later picked up a couple of pizzas from Bar Cargo in River North.

As for Daleys get out the vote operations, he said, with technologies today, its a lot easier (for volunteers) than in the old days and weve taken advantage of that, but yet we still have people who have gone door-to-door throughout this city, and were proud of that.

Paul Vallas was at the food court in the Thompson Center to make one of his final pitches to voters at lunchtime.

He said that voters just might find it too hard to swallow what he called the establishment candidates.

In 1970, 50 percent of this city was middle class and today, 16 percent are, Vallas said. Well thats certainly reasonable for a Daley or a Chico or anyone who is a part of the establishment  I say that sarcastically.

Gery Chico was out at the early voting site in the 42nd Ward  his home ward. Forecasters are predicting a 40 percent chance of snow on Election Day, which could stifle voter turnout. Chico said that the weather could be advantageous to candidates with robust get-out-the-vote operations, which he says he has.

Anybody that thinks youre a sure thing going into this is not thinking right, Chico said. Anybody who takes these voters for granted is at severe risk. Were not. Were talking with people on L trains, coffee shops, businesses, homes all over the place  were not leaving any stone unturned.

Jerry Joyce who has the number one spot on the ballot cast his early vote Monday and is counting on the support of the vote-rich 19th Ward.

I think that we have momentum, were peaking at the right time, Joyce said. Our supporters are going to vote and well be in the runoff.

Willie Wilson has courtside seats at Mondays Bulls game with opponent Paul Vallas, saying its a symbol of their willingness to still be friends. Wilson also attended a rally on the far northwest side expressing confidence in Tuesdays results.
A police officer shot a dog early Sunday while responding to a report of a burglary at a home in northwest Indiana.

About 3:30 a.m., officers responded to a call of a burglary in progress at a home in the 400 block of Center Street in Valparaiso. The person who reported the burglary believed the suspect was still inside when they arrived at the home, Valparaiso police said in a Facebook post.

When the first responding officer showed up at the home, the dog aggressively approached him, police said. The officer then backed away and shot the dog for his own safety.

The dogs owner took the pet for medical treatment, police said. The pups condition wasnt immediately known.

The Valparaiso Police Department recognizes the unfortunate nature of this incident and sympathizes with the officers involved and the owners of the canine, the Facebook post said.

Police said the investigation into the reported burglary is ongoing.

Officers were told the house had been checked when they arrived on the scene, police said. Investigators later learned that multiple locations of the home were found forced open or unsecured.
Note: We'll be streaming live from mayoral candidates' campaign headquarters throughout the night in the player above. Right now is a live look from Willie Wilson's HQ.



Election Day has arrived in Chicago, with voters making their choice in a 14-way race for mayor that's destined for a runoff election and aldermanic races in many of the city's 50 wards.

Here's a look at live updates from voters, polling places and campaign headquarters across Chicago during the 2019 municipal elections.

LIVE UPDATES:

9:39 p.m. BREAKING NEWS: Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle appear poised to make April runoff election for Chicago mayor as Bill Daley concedes.



9:25 p.m. Paul Vallas concedes after earning 5.45 percent of the vote with 87 percent of precincts reporting.



9:19 p.m. Supporters are still checking coats and heading into a very full Bill Daley's headquarters. Daley still has not made an appearance.



9:12 p.m. Lori Lightfoot speaks as election results show she leads the race for Chicago mayor. She thanks supporters: "You have been remarkable."



9:08 p.m. Willie Wilson tells his supporters he is not conceding yet, citing a long night ahead.



8:57 p.m. Amara Enyia concedes after earning 7.9 percent of the vote with 82 percent of precincts reporting.

8:38 p.m. Susana Mendoza delivers concession speech, garnering 9.06 percent of the vote with 76 percent of precincts reporting.



8:30 p.m. Lori Lightfoot, Toni Preckwinkle and Bill Daley appear to have pulled ahead in the race. Lightfoot stands at 17.5 percent of the vote, Preckwinkle at 15.8 percent and Daley at 14.8 percent, with 75 percent of precincts reporting. The top two vote-getters make the April runoff election. Willie Wilson is in fourth place with just over 10 percent.

8:24 p.m. Former Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy delivers concession speech after earning 2.7 percent of the vote with 75 percent of precincts reporting.

GET LIVE ELECTION RESULTS HERE

8:16 p.m. Ald. Marty Quinn appears headed to victory over DePaul freshman in 13th Ward, election results indicate.



8:15 p.m. Gery Chico delivers concession speech, garnering 6.3 percent of the vote with 75 percent of precincts reporting.



8:10 p.m. "I have lived in Chicago for 35 years," said Kristi Milton, a Lightfoot partygoer and supporter. "I have never been so excited for the prospects of this city and I've always been a voter." She described the party atmosphere as "organic effervescence."

7:52 p.m. With 56 percent of precincts reporting, Lori Lightfoot leads the field with 17 percent, followed by Toni Preckwinkle at 16 percent and Bill Daley at 15 percent. Live updates.



7:47 p.m. Chicago's voter turnout did NOT hit a record low. Approximately 500,000 voters cast ballots, according to the Chicago Board of Elections. Final turnout likely will be 34 percent of registered voters, beating the 2007 election by 1 percent. The surge was last minute, Board of Elections spokesman Jim Allen says, attributing some of the last-minute voters to social media shaming.

7:38 p.m. Cheering at Lori Lightfoot's campaign headquarters as early results show her in the lead.

7:14 p.m. It isnt just Chicago mayor  heres a look at some of the other races you should keep an eye on throughout the night.



7 p.m. Polls are now closed across Chicago. The Chicago Board of Elections stresses that if voters are in line before 7 p.m. they must be allowed to vote.



6:44 p.m. Susana Mendoza's mayoral campaign co-chair Marty Castro called this "a historic election for lots of reasons" and says he feels confident about tonight's results. "You always want to have the highest turnout as possible, but when you look at the early vote ... there is a higher-than-the-typical amount of Latinos that have voted early," Castro said from Mendoza's campaign headquarters at Moe's Cantina.

6:22 p.m. In an interview with mayoral candidate Willie Wilson, he talked about the need for Chicago to come together. "We hit all 77 communities in Chicago. So thank God for that," he said. "We were able to get feedback from a cross-section of the city of Chicago ... including my base -- African Americans." Wilson said he had hoped a lot of young people would come out to vote.

6:20 p.m. Mayoral candidate Garry McCarthy is asked about entering the race before Rahm Emanuel dropped out and whether voters will take that into account. "Well I hope they do," he said, "because the people who jumped in after the mayor dropped out are political opportunists who are not doing it for the right reasons and all the candidates who were in the race before that bring that to the attention of the voters."

If you arent willing to take on Rahm Emanuel I dont think you that you should be talking about how you have all the answers. If you had the answers in August you should have come forward, not in September after Rahm dropped out."

6:08 p.m. All quiet at Bill Daley's election headquarters at Venue West in the West Town neighborhood, with just under an hour left until polls close.

6 p.m. Last hour to vote in Chicago! We'll have live election results as votes are tallied tonight. Bookmark this link to our live results page.



5:47 p.m. Lori Lightfoot arrives at her election night headquarters.



5:40 p.m. Lori Lightfoot's communications director Nadia Perl says she expects a large turnout at Lightfoot's election night party at the EvolveHer work space in River North. Perl says Lightfoot will arrive soon to answer a few media questions.



5:30 p.m. Willie Wilson arrives at his campaign headquarters at the Swissotel. When asked how he feels going into tonight, he said, "Like James Brown, I feel good."

4:30 p.m. Voter turnout is at 427,294 which is 26.9 percent of registered voters, according to Chicago Board of Elections spokesman Jim Allen. That number includes vote by mail and early voting ballots submitted Monday night, but not roughly 6,000 mail-in ballots received Tuesday, which will be added to the count beginning Wednesday, along with other late-arriving ballots.

Compared to the midterm elections in November 2018, the biggest difference has been young people. 2018 turnout by age group compared to now:

25-34: 189K vs. 52K now

35-44: 163K vs. 63K now

45-54: 151K vs. 69K now

55+: 190K vs. 135K now

Total turnout last fall was 61 percent, were now looking at 31-32 percent, Allen said.

Record low turnout was in 2007 at 33.08 percent, for a race that was not highly contested and no one expected it to be close, leading to low voter interest.

"We may be in that neighborhood by the time all the ballots are counted by March 12," Allen said, but he noted that comparing the two was like "apples and oranges."

Here we have an open mayoral contest with 14 candidates on the ballot. We had polling on Election Day that emerged in some media reports that put two, three, four candidates within striking distance of each other so its really surprising that in a hotly contested race for mayor where there are multiple choices and it seems to be highly competitive, that we would have turnout anywhere near 2007," Allen said.

Turnout doesnt reflect the high numbers in early voting, it doesnt reflect high numbers we saw in vote by mail. Voters are changing their behavior," he added.

Examples of high turnout was 47 percent in 1991, 75 percent in 1987, according to Allen, who said Tuesday's turnout, hovering around 30 percent, "is good for any city typically but not good for Chicago."

We've seen a remarkable number of institutions and individuals be reluctant to even offer an endorsement saying theyll wait til April 2," Allen said, speculating that it's possible "voters have done the same."

1:20 p.m.: [[506392041, C]]

12:45 p.m.: Here's the latest updates from the Chicago Board of Elections:

Including early voting and mail-in ballots, the total number of votes cast just before 1 p.m. was just over 303,000. Of that total, only 55 percent came from Election Day. If this pace continues, officials said the day could end with an historically low voter turnout for a municipal election in the city.

"Given what weve heard about the polling in this election there couldnt possibly be a time where your vote counted more and Chicago voters need to be reminded that their votes count more," Chicago Election Board spokesman Jim Allen said.

So far, two election judges have been removed from their precincts, one for allegedly encouraging voters to support a specific aldermanic candidate and a second for "verbal abuse."

Election officials confirmed at least one location in Independence Park didn't open until 8:10 a.m. or 8:15 a.m., well after the 6 a.m. start time. They are also investigating complaints that a location serving two precincts also opened late.

On the other hand, officials touted a polling location in the 5th Ward where election judges "powered through" a lack of heat and no electricity.

A shooting was reported near a polling place at Hoyne Park, Allen said. Police could not confirm details on the shooting, however.

12:20 p.m.: [[506387611, C]]

11:21 a.m.: As of 11 a.m., more than 117,000 votes have been cast in Chicago, according to election officials.

10:45 a.m.: Chicago's next mayor may not be decided by tonight. Here's why.

10:20 a.m.: A very smooth day so far at the Glessner House, a museum in the Prairie District that functions as a 3rd Ward polling place. A steady stream of voters has been in and out here, very intent on having their voices heard. Precinct Captain says most people come after work, and reminds South Loop residents that even if there is a line, you should get in that line - it assures you can vote, even if 7 p.m. comes and goes.

9:44 a.m.: After reports of electioneering in the 25th Ward at Precinct 4, election officials say "field dispatch is fully aware of the complaints and is keeping an eye on things over."

9:22 a.m.: Chicago Board of Elections says polls at Precinct 4 in Ward 45 were "up and running around 8 a.m."

8:43 a.m.: Chicago Board of Elections says it has called Precinct 41 in the 44th Ward after reports they were checking signatures and asking for the last two digits of voters' social security numbers. Election officials said they called the precinct and "rules were clarified."

8:36 a.m.: Chicago Board of Elections responds to a complaint that voters were turned away at precinct 3 in Irving Park. Election officials said they have spoken to judges at the precinct and are "following up accordingly." They also reported looking into a compalin that some voters were turned away from precinct 9 in the 46th Ward.

8:30 a.m.: Chicago Board of Elections says turnout is above 40,000 as of 8 a.m.

8 a.m.: Candidate Gery Chico has voted at Polling Place 42 at Harold Washington College.

7:45 a.m.: Vallas said he feels optimistic after casting his ballot.

7:20 a.m.: Mayoral candidate Paul Vallas votes at the Beldon Stratford in Lincoln Park.

6:30 a.m.: With Emanuel stepping aside, and a number of young progressive challengers vying for aldermanic seats, City Council could soon look quite different. Here's a look at 12 big races happening across the city.

6:15 a.m.: The first votes have been cast! Not sure what you should bring with you to vote? Here's a checklist.

6 a.m.: Polls open across Chicago! Find your polling place here. You can also see who will be on your ballot before you vote. Click here for more.

RESOURCES:

Who's running for mayor? Fourteen people are running to be Chicago's next mayor, the largest number of candidates in city history.

Where do they stand on certain issues? To help cut through the campaign noise, we asked all 14 candidates for mayor seven questions to help inform voters on who they are and where they stand on certain issues the city faces. See their answers here.

Who's endorsed? If you're still undecided, it can be helpful to known who's backing whom. Click here for a breakdown of the 14 mayoral candidates' endorsements.

What questions will be on the ballot? In addition to voting for your chosen candidates, you can weigh in on issues specific to your ward and even down to your precinct. Click here to find the questions that will be asked of various Chicago voters.

How to get live results: Live Election Day coverage will air on NBC 5 throughout the evening and at 10 p.m. You can also track up-to-the-minute race results live in the NBC Chicago app - where you can turn on notifications to get alerts on winners of the biggest races - and right here on NBCChicago.com. For more info click here.
What to Know A mother and daughter are accused of killing five family members inside a Bucks County apartment. The mom claims the family "wanted to die."

Shana Decree, 45, and her daughter Dominique Decree, 19, are both charged with homicide and conspiracy.

The victims are Shana Decree's daughter, son, sister and 9-year-old twin nieces, the district attorney said.

This story is no longer being updated. For the latest information on this case click here.

A Pennsylvania woman charged in the deaths of five of her relatives, including two of her children and her 9-year-old twin nieces, claimed the victims "wanted to die," authorities say.

The claim was revealed in an affidavit filed Tuesday morning by Bucks County detectives. In it, they say the mother, Shana Decree, offered multiple explanations about what happened in the Morrisville apartment before it was discovered Monday.

Decree's adult daughter, 19-year-old Dominique Decree, was also charged in connection with the killings. The five family members were found dead in a bedroom.

Decree, 45, and her daughter both face five counts of criminal homicide and one count of conspiracy, according to court records.

The five victims were identified as Shana Decree's two children, Naa'Irah Smith, 25, and Damon Decree Jr., 13, both of Morrisville; Shana Decree's sister, Jamilla Campbell, 42, of Trenton, New Jersey, and Campbell's 9-year-old twin daughters, Imani and Erika Allen.

"This is a terrible tragedy," Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said at the scene late Monday night. "I just spoke with the family of all five of the deceased and we're all heartbroken."

The first-floor apartment is in the Robert Morris Apartments on the 200 block of West Bridge Street, which is about 30 miles northeast of Center City, Philadelphia. The bodies and the suspects were found Monday just after 4 p.m. during a welfare check after a county children and youth representative was unable to get an answer at the door, according to a probable cause statement.

Once a maintenance worker opened the door to the apartment, they found the home in disarray with furniture turned over and broken glass, the probable cause statement said. The five deceased family members were found on or around a bed in the same bedroom, police said.

Campbell's 17-year-old son, who was initially feared to be in danger, was found safe, staying with friends in New Jersey, police said.

A friend of the victims told NBC10 they tried knocking on the door a few times Friday but no one answered.

"I saw the landlord and said, 'What's going on?' And she said, 'We are doing a welfare check because trash is piled up out there for a while, to see if they are all right.' Nobody answered the door so the maintenance guys went in," said Nicole Owens, a resident of the apartment.

Shana Decree and Dominique Decree were both hospitalized before being taken into custody, Weintraub said. Dominique Decree had visible injuries to her neck, detectives said.

While at the hospital, each woman initially claimed that a man or men killed their family members and attacked them, police said.

Shana Decree later admitted to investigators that she took part in the killings, saying the entire family wished to die. She claimed even the children were speaking of suicide, according to the affidavit.

A judge arraigned the elder Decree early Tuesday morning and ordered her held without bail, courts records said. Dominique Decree was arraigned Tuesday afternoon.

"I wanted to make sure everybody knew that the people who committed these atrocious acts are now in custody and [will] be made to pay for their crimes," Weintraub said.

While police ruled the deaths homicides, investigators did not immediately reveal how the victims died.

The investigation resumed Tuesday morning.

It isn't clear whether either woman has a lawyer to speak for her. Court papers show they have not requested a public defender, and no attorney information is listed.
What to Know Passed in 2016, California's Proposition 64 legalized adult use of marijuana and eliminated several pot-related crimes.

But there was no system established for those who could now retroactively get their pot-related sentences dropped or reduced.

So San Francisco partnered with non-profit Code for America to develop a technology that systematizes and expedites that process.

Over 8,000 marijuana-related convictions were erased or reduced using a technological approach that prosecutors nationwide should adopt to address a growing backlog of criminal cases eligible for modification, San Francisco's district attorney announced Monday.

San Francisco is the first California county to announce full compliance with the state's broad legalization of marijuana that also made an estimated 200,000 past pot convictions eligible for erasure or reduction.

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon credited the nonprofit technology organization Code for America for solving the biggest hurdle to identifying eligible cases dating back decades.

When voters passed Proposition 64 in 2016 to allow adult use of marijuana, they also eliminated several pot-related crimes. The proposition also applied retroactively, but provided no mechanism or guidance on how those eligible could erase their convictions or have felonies reduced to misdemeanors.

A few hundred people hired attorneys, paid court fees and filed petitions to modify their records since November 2016, but the vast majority of convictions still remain untouched. Many district attorneys throughout the state said they lack the resources to sift through and review decades' worth of criminal cases to identify eligible convictions.

In January 2018, Gascon announced his office would take on the time-consuming task of sifting through many thousands of criminal cases to identify eligible marijuana convictions. Until then, only 23 people who hired lawyers and paid court fees took advantage of the new law in San Francisco.

In May, when Gascon announced a partnership with Code for America, his office managed to identify and dismiss a little more 1,000 eligible misdemeanor cases. Since then, an additional 8,132 cases have been identified. Gascon said a total of 9,300 cases dating back to 1975 will be dropped or reduced without cost, active participation and, in many cases, the knowledge of the defendants.

"We don't have to do it," Gascon said Monday. "It was just a matter of dignity."

Code for America is a San Francisco-based nonprofit group that seeks to use technology to make government more efficient. Director Jennifer Pahlka said coders developed a "light weight" and simple computer-based algorithm dubbed "Clear My Record" to quickly identify eligible cases. The program automatically fills out forms to be filed with the courts.

Pahlka said Monday that Code for America was working with several other California district attorneys to identify eligible marijuana cases in their counties.

In December, Michigan became the latest state to broadly legalize marijuana, eliminate pot crimes and allow past convictions to be erased or reduced. Meanwhile, prosecutors in Baltimore, Seattle, Chicago and multiple others across the country followed Gascon's lead and announced their intentions to clear eligible marijuana convictions in their jurisdictions.

Gascon and Pahlka called on prosecutors across the country to adopt Code for America's technology.

"I want to continue to evangelize, if you will, to get others around the country and the state to do the same things and push the envelope to continue to reduce the impacts of criminal convictions when we can," he said.
A suspect has been identified in the Sunday fatal shooting of a man in Danville, police said Monday.

Authorities were looking for Mark Allan Sypien, 51, of Dublin in connection with the fatal shooting of 76-year-old John Moore in an industrial park on the border of Danville and San Ramon Sunday afternoon, police said.

Telemundo

Police were called to the industrial park located along the 3400 block of Fostoria Way after someone called 911 to report gunshots in the neighborhood. Arriving officers found Moore in the parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police Chief Allan Shields said Monday an arrest warrant for murder has been issued for Sypien in the shooting. Investigators did not release a motive or if the two men knew each other.

"We dont believe this is a random act," Shields said.

Sypien is described as a white male, 5 feet, 9 inches tall, weighing about 185 pounds, with gray hair and green eyes.

He was last seen driving a 2003 Silver Ford Escape with Illinois license plate 1008122, police said.

Moore was the former president of the Danville Rotary Club, and a friend Monday described him as someone who was "always willing to help."

Anyone seeing Sypien should contact the police immediately. Anyone with information on Sypiens whereabouts or any information on the case should contact police at (925) 314-3702 or via Nixle by texting Tip DanPD and your tip to 888777.
Authorities say Kucharski was under the influence of crack cocaine and had alcohol in his system when he hit Dunlap, 17, about 10:55 a.m. Feb. 19 as she crossed the street in front of Downers Grove North High School, where she was a junior. Kucharski was driving in the wrong lane and ran a red light when he hit Dunlap, who was in the crosswalk at Main and Grant streets.
The death of Jeff Adachi, one of San Franciscos most visible public figures, remains littered with questions as several members of the citys legal circles are questioning why police categorized it as a suspicious death investigation.

NBC Bay Areas Investigative Unit has learned new details about who was with the public defender the night he died and the state of his health.

Sources tell our Investigative Unit that preliminary autopsy reports show Adachi suffered extensive heart disease. But while messaging from the district attorneys office and the public defenders office did not always line up, on Monday both said that what happened with Adachi is a personal matter, not necessarily a criminal one, even as crucial questions remain unanswered.

The woman who was with San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi has apparently disappeared. Investigative Reporter Jaxon Van Derbeken provides the latest.

Sources said Friday Adachi died from a heart attack, but the Investigative Unit learned Saturday that a police report said officers were called to a residence on Telegraph Place to meet with the medical examiner about the discovery of Adachi's body.

While officers headed to the scene, the medical examiner called dispatch to cancel the officers from responding. SFPD kept going and were told a woman had called 911 from Adachi's phone, which has since gone missing.

According to police, the woman reported she and Adachi went to dinner when Adachi complained about stomach pains. The two headed to the nearby apartment that reportedly belonged to a friend of Adachi.

The woman told police he had two glasses of wine, took a pill, then became unresponsive.

Paramedics took Adachi to the California Pacific Medical Center Davies Campus where he was pronounced dead, the report read. Sources told the Investigative Unit that the autopsy for Adachi was being conducted Sunday.

Matt Gonzalez  chief attorney for the public defenders office and a long-time Adachi colleague  says a suspicious death investigation misses the mark.

There have been some feelings that their turning this into a crime scene when it was really Jeff having a heart attack and dying from it, he said.

The police report from that evening, however, raises some questions.

For example, officers didnt get to the scene for some three hours after the 911 call, and may have been waived off at some point.

A responding officer writes we were notified by dispatch that we were no longer needed and the call was cancelled. Based on the suspicious nature of the call, I phoned the medical examiner before arriving at 46 Telegraph Place, anyway.

Later in the police report  obtained by our Investigative Unit  there is a description of the woman who placed the emergency call, identified as Caterina.

When police arrived, she was gone.

On Monday, NBC Bay Area learned Caterina is actually Catalina  a Columbian national who is being sought by SFPD for questioning.

The police report also contains numerous photos of an unmade bed, alcohol and contraceptives.

At an unrelated press conference Monday in San Francisco, District Attorney George Gascon paid respects to Adachi, and fielded our question about the unusual nature of this investigation.

Im worried that were going into a direction that we shouldnt, right? I dont think any of us are perfect. And I think the personal things should remain personal.

The San Francisco Police Department issued a statement lauding Adachi as a public servant, but making no mention of why it took officers three hours to get to the apartment or where they are in locating Catalina.
Sources tell NBC Bay Areas Investigative Unit that preliminary autopsy findings indicate Public Defender Jeff Adachi suffered extensive heart disease. Its the latest information as the probe continues into the suspicious circumstances surrounding his sudden death.

Any final determination on the cause of Adachis death on Friday will have to wait until blood toxicology tests come back. Meanwhile, new details continue to emerge about the confusing and suspicious events of that night.

NBC Bay Area has learned that the woman who used Adachis phone to call 911 has been identified.

The woman, identified as Caterina in both the police report and in the 911 call log, is a Colombian national whose true first name, sources say, is Catalina.

Authorities are currently looking for Catalina, who called at 5:41 p.m. using the name Caterina. She told the dispatcher that Adachi had a stomach ache while at dinner, and later stopped breathing at 46 Telegraph Place.

According to the police report, by the time police arrived, the caller who had been with Adachi was gone. Instead, police met another woman at the scene, a friend of Adachis, a real estate agent named Susie Kurtz.

According to the police report, Kurtz said that she spoke to Caterina at the scene. She says Caterina told her that Adachi had two glasses of wine before she went out and got him a pill he requested to treat stomach pains. Records show that medics took him to California Pacific Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 6:54 p.m.

Police reports indicate that officers were summoned to the location by the Medical Examiner. But the officer who wrote the report noted that while en route to the Telegraph address at 8:37 p.m., the dispatcher cancelled the police response.

In the report, the officers write that they decided, because of the suspicious nature of the call, to respond to the scene anyway.

The officer who wrote the report, Adrian Payne, said that he asked the director of operations for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Chris Wirowek, about the decision to call off the response.

Wirowek  who apparently was at the hospital  told Payne that he had no reason to believe there was a crime scene at the address, but added that the death was still under investigation.

Finally, sources tell NBC Bay Area that in addition to the missing witness, the police have also been unable to find Adachis cell phone or wallet.
A pair of California lawmakers are looking to make a patient's trip to the emergency room less painful financially.

Assemblyman David Chiu and state Sen. Scott Wiener, both of San Francisco, rolled out new joint legislation Monday to deal with the problem of surprise bills from out-of-network hospitals.

Millions of emergency room patients each year are brought in by ambulance and are often unable to tell paramedics which hospital works best with their insurance. If they end up at the wrong hospital, it can drastically increase what they're charged.

The issue has been particularly prominent at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, which is out of network with all private insurance.

Because the hospital has no contract, the insurance company can pay whatever it wants, and patients get stuck with the rest, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Under the proposal, hospitals would not be allowed to send patients an exorbitant bill or send them to collections for anything other than a co-pay or deductible.

The lawmakers say after a major emergency, the only thing a patient should have to worry about is getting better.
California consumers would have more power to sue corporations for misusing their data under a proposal by the attorney general Monday to expand what already is the nation's most far-reaching law protecting personal information.

The revision to the law passed last year is among several sought by Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Santa Barbara Democratic state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson to make it easier to enforce once it takes effect on Jan. 1, 2020.

"This is basically a bill to enforce the law," Jackson said.

Consumers are able to sue companies that collect their data if their information is stolen or disclosed in a data breach, but only if the company was found to be careless or negligent. That allows suits if the data was not encrypted or the company didn't take other reasonable security measures.

The new legislation would expand a consumer's right to sue for damages to include other violations under the law, even if they don't result in a data breach.

California's European Union-style privacy law will require companies to tell consumers upon request what personal data they've collected, why it was collected and what categories of third parties have received it. It will bar companies from selling data from children younger than 16 without consent. Customers will also be able to ask companies to delete their information and refrain from selling it, so violations could be subject to individuals' and class action lawsuits.

The Internet Association's California government affairs director, Kevin McKinley, said it opposes the change, "as it would unwind a key piece of the deal that was struck last year to pass (the law) and to make the law workable for companies both big and small."

The California Chamber of Commerce said the goal of the legislation "appears to be lawsuits and attorney's fees" with "significant new avenues of litigation that will primarily benefit trial attorneys." The chamber predicted the measure would harm small businesses and "kill jobs and innovation."

Californians for Consumer Privacy chairman Alastair Mactaggart and Common Sense CEO James Steyer, who both supported the privacy law, praised changes they said would strengthen the measure.

The proposed legislation also removes requirements that the attorney general provide companies legal advice about the law and give them 30 days to fix a problem before he can sue. Becerra said unless the pending law is revised, he will be required to provide unlimited legal opinions to the very companies that are breaking the law.

The law responds to several huge breaches in recent years including those at Target and Equifax. Facebook also has faced criticism after it was revealed that Republican-linked consulting firm Cambridge Analytica collected data from millions of Facebook users without their knowledge.

Monday's announcement is among several attempts to build on the state's privacy law.

Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this month said consumers should get a "data dividend" from the billions of dollars that technology companies make by capitalizing on personal data they collect, for instance by selling the data to outside businesses that target ads to users.

Another pending bill would require companies to disclose how much consumers' data is worth to them.
An arson fire that left an elderly San Mateo woman dead earlier this month was a targeted gang attack, police said Monday.

On Friday, police arrested Fifita Ponifasio Tau, 26, of East Palo Alto in connection with the blaze.

Crews responded at 4:26 a.m. Feb. 19 to the fire in the 100 block of S. Humboldt Street in San Mateo. Firefighters helped four people get out of the home and two others from a detached garage, authorities said.

Residents, however, told firefighters that one person was unaccounted for, and crews went back in to pull Susana Tonga, 85, from the burning home. They performed CPR, but Tonga did not survive.

Police haven't released information on why Tau targeted the home, but investigators said he was acting independently of his gang, said San Mateo police spokesman Michael Haobsh.

Fire investigators found an accelerant near the front of the home but haven't released detailed information about it.

Tau was arrested at 8 p.m. Friday at a home in the 2300 block of Oakwood Drive in East Palo Alto in connection with the fire and death of Tonga. He was taken to San Mateo County jail.

Anyone with information on the fire is encouraged to contact Sgt. Lee Violett at (650) 522-7650 or by email at lviolett@cityofsanmateo.org. Anonymous tips can be submitted to http://tinyurl.com/SMPDTips or by calling (650) 522-7676.
U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan believe exposure to around-the-clock trash fires on their military bases has left them with breathing problems and chronic illnesses, even years after returning home.

The Department of Veterans Affairs maintains that exposure to such fumes has not been definitively linked to any long-term health effects. The agencys stance continues to hinder the approval process for veterans hoping to secure medical care from the VA, which operates 1,243 health care facilities across the country. Members of Congress, however, are now pushing to expand health care coverage for veterans by forcing the VA to acknowledge burn pit exposure as a "presumed" service-connected illness.

Soldiers Call Burn Pits the 'Modern Day Agent Orange'

"[Veterans] are either becoming 100 percent disabled or they're dying," said U.S. Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-California. "You have a lot of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals in that smoke that our service members are breathing in."

Ruiz, a medical doctor of 18 years, authored two pieces of legislation and co-authored a third with Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Florida, that would guarantee medical care for veterans exposed to burn pits. The efforts aim to label such exposure as an automatic "presumption" of service-connected illness. A similar designation was ultimately put into place for Vietnam veterans who were exposed to the dangerous chemical known as Agent Orange.

"This is our Agent Orange, but they dont care," one local veteran told NBC Bay Area.

He asked his identity not be revealed due to the sensitive nature of his work as an intelligence officer. The Bay Area-based soldier spent a year stationed at Balad military base in Central Iraq, and he now suffers from asthma and pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable lung disease.

He believes exposure to a burn pit while serving in Iraq is the source of his illnesses.

"I was healthy when I came into the Army, and for some reason I have a plethora of medical issues now," he said.

The veteran regularly coughs up blood and recently had a pacemaker put in because of a slow heart rate at just 39 years old. He also suffers from chest pains and frequent breathing problems.

"Slowly, over a period of time, my health just started going downhill." he said.

Burn Pit Usage on U.S. Military Bases Abroad Dates Back Decades

Burn pits date back to the Gulf War in the 1990s and were largely used on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan beginning in the early 2000s. Veterans returning from those wars showed increased signs of respiratory problems, including asthma, chronic bronchitis and other lung diseases, according to a study published in the research journal Military Medicine.

VA Believes Burn Pit Exposure Causes 'Temporary' Health Problems

While the VAs own research also found a possible link between chronic health problems and burn pit exposure, the agency maintains that study is not conclusive. As a result, veterans exposed to burn pits are often denied care by the VA.

Congress heavily restricted the use of burn pits a decade ago. At that time, there were more than 270 burn pits at bases in the Middle East, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office. The Department of Defense hired private contractors to manage the burned trash piles. When something needed to be discarded, it was tossed into the flames. Veterans told NBC Bay Area they saw everything from refrigerators to plastics, and even body parts thrown into the fires. The pits burned 24 hours a day.

"You could just taste it. It was like this sickening thing that kind of burned the back of your throat all the time," the Bay Area veteran said. He says he worried about the burn pit exposure while he was stationed in Iraq, but he says any efforts to run his concerns up the chain of command were dismissed.

The Department of Defense now largely uses incinerators at military sites. As a result, only 16 burn pits are currently in use at U.S. bases in the Middle East, according to a spokesperson with U.S. Central Command. While 15 of those burn pits are only allowed to include "non-hazardous waste," such as classified documents, the military is operating one burn pit in Syria for "covered waste," which includes hazardous materials.

"I do believe the military is failing veterans," said Ruiz. "In the United States in the 1970s, they banned the use of open burn pits for a reason. So why would it be okay that we expose Americans in and foreign soil to those same burn pits that we don't allow to be burned here because of their toxic effects?"

NBC Bay Area

Eligibility for Medical Care Varies Widely for Veterans

Veterans of the Gulf War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are generally eligible for medical care at the VA for at least five years after being discharged, according to information posted on the Department of Veterans Affairs website. Compensation beyond that can be provided based on illnesses or injuries caused or made worse by active military service.

Compensation can include financial support or health care for injuries like severe hearing loss, traumatic brain injury and PTSD. Veterans who believe they are eligible for these benefits can file a claim with the VA. The VA stressed that approved medical coverage is based on individual circumstances on a case-by-case basis.

VA Denied 80 Percent of Medical Claims Related to Burn Pit Exposure

It is unclear how many veterans have been exposed to burn pits. Over the past decade, however, the VA approved just 20 percent of the medical claims related to the flaming piles of garbage. From June 2007 through Nov. 30, 2018, the VA processed 11,581 VA disability compensation claims with at least one condition related to burn pit exposure, according to VA spokesperson Susan Carter. Of those, 2,318 claims were granted.

While the VAs website lists breathing and lung problems among the conditions eligible for disability benefits, it can be difficult for veterans to prove those conditions derive from burn pit exposure. The VA says air pollution in Iraq and Afghanistan may actually pose a "greater danger  than exposure to burn pits." While the VA admits there are toxins in burn pit smoke, the agency says most health effects are "temporary."

"VA looks continually at medical research and follows trends related to medical conditions affecting Veterans," Carter said in a statement.

'In Some People, It Might Be Making Them Sick'

The VA is currently in the process of contracting with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to review respiratory health effects of airborne hazards in Southwest Asia, according to Carter. The report is scheduled to be released in 2020.

"In some people, it might be making them sick," said Dr. Drew Helmer, director of the VAs War Related Illness and Injury Study Center in New Jersey.

"Who it is making sick, how many people it is making sick, and what is the sickness -- those are still questions we dont have good answers for."

Helmer, who spoke to NBC Philadelphia, said the effort to investigate the potential long-term effects of burn pit exposure is an ongoing process at the VA.

"Even you go back further, we were concerned about Gulf War veterans and their exposure to burning oil well fires, for example," he said. "So it's been a very long process."

The Department of Defense did not answer repeated requests for an interview. The agency still has not released a comprehensive list of what exactly was tossed into each of its military burn pits and when.

"Theyre trying to skirt away from accountability and responsibility," said Ruiz. "If we dont know what was burned, then we wont be able to identify the health risks in order to outreach to our veterans."

More than a decade after returning from Iraq, the Bay Area veteran says hes still suffering. On his left arm, he now bears a tattoo, showing a skeleton dressed in military garb surrounded by flames and smoke.

"This is me dying -- me dying in the burn pits," he said, pointing to the tattoo. "Honestly, I feel like that is what led to everything that is wrong with me."

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Im running for U.S. Congress because I think we should make America grateful again, Malouf says in the video announcing his intentions to run. And that we should not give in to evil, but proceed ever more boldly against it. And because I care about peace, liberty and the truth.
The global marine community has cause to celebrate a conservation milestone in the Philippines. The Municipality of Tingloy on Maricaban Island in Batangas Province recently designated 22.01 hectares (54.4 acres) of thriving coral reef habitat as a marine protected area (MPA), only the second MPA to be established in the municipality. Located within the most biologically diverse waters on Earth, the new MPA protects against localized threats while bolstering an emerging ecotourism industry. The new protected area was championed by the local government and community of Tingloy, under the leadership of Mayor Mark Laurence F. Alvarez, along with several collaborating institutions, including the California Academy of Sciences, De La Salle University-Manila, and the local non-profits Pusod Inc. and the SEA Institute - VIP.

"The establishment of this new MPA--and its long-term monitoring--is significant because it recognizes the need to set aside areas for conservation before the reef is lost or damaged beyond its ability to come back," says Dr. Terry Gosliner, the Academy's Senior Curator of Invertebrate Zoology. "Artificial reefs will never be as diverse and healthy as natural reefs, so it's always better to protect the reefs you have than try to play Humpty Dumpty with a damaged or destroyed reef."

Maricaban Island is situated in the Verde Island Passage, a treasure trove of marine life nestled between the island of Luzon to the north and Mindoro to the south. The new MPA--named Pirasan--encompasses a mature, healthy, and resilient reef ecosystem. Like all reefs, however, it faces threats from local pollution, sedimentation, coastal development, and global climate change.

The municipality of Tingloy is deeply committed to monitoring the reef's ongoing health. A two-year program designed by Academy scientists Drs. Terry Gosliner and Meg Burke in collaboration with Drs. Wilfredo Y. Licuanan of De La Salle University-Manila, Kent Carpenter of Old Dominion University, and Jeff Williams of the Smithsonian Institution empowers local residents to steward the reef. Residents routinely survey marine species indicative of reef health and monitor trash along the shore. These community-driven survey results are then integrated with additional data collected by program scientists into a "reef health report card" that establishes a baseline of comparison and measures the effectiveness of the MPA over time.

In addition to Pirasan, Tingloy is also finalizing plans for three other MPAs based on recommendations from Academy scientists and community input collected during earlier research expeditions in the region. During March of last year, Drs. Terry Gosliner and Meg Burke along with their program partners provided scientific justification for Pirasan's protection when recommending locations to Tingloy government officials that would benefit from MPA status.

Due to the success of the only other MPA in Tingloy, which has been in place for over ten years, many local fishermen are now recognizing the positive impact conservation measures have for sustaining fish stocks: Fishermen are now harvesting more fish from the waters surrounding the MPA than they did before the MPA was established. Healthy reefs also open opportunities for earning new livelihoods from ecotourism and provide greater protection from storm surges caused by typhoons. Near Tingloy's new MPA, a sandy beach is becoming a bustling tourist destination and a launching point for visitors to witness the natural beauty of the protected area by boat and snorkeling.

"Tingloy is a community like so many in the Philippines and tropical world that is trying to figure out how to feed their families in the face of climate change and diminishing resources," says Dr. Meg Burke, Academy Director of Science Integration and Operations. "It's not always easy to recognize that the short-term sacrifice of establishing a marine protected area, which limits fishing activity and may mean your family has less to eat today or tomorrow, is worth it for the long-term gain of nurturing healthy reef ecosystems. Pirasan is a symbolic step toward recognizing greater future yields, more livelihood opportunities, and a brighter future."
(Natural News) When it comes to winning over hearts and minds of voters, Democrats have found that when theyre honest, they tend to drive away support rather than engender it.

For instance, in recent weeks far-Left lawmakers in deep blue states like New York, Vermont, and Maryland have either passed or are in the process of passing new abortion laws that are so permissive they fall just short of outright infanticide.

The alarming increase in full-term abortion legislation has already led to a voter backlash; a survey taken this month found that the vast majority of Americans oppose radical late-term abortion laws.

The same is true of Democrats preference for socialism. When Americans are told the truth about socialist policies, most soundly reject them. In fact, the very term socialist is a voter turnoff; a July 2018 poll found that 76 percent of Americans would not vote for a self-ascribed political socialist. Maybe thats why Sen. Bernie Sanders has pledged to run for president again as a Democrat.

Its this inability to be honest with Americans that is driving so much of the Democrat-aligned Left-wing social media and mainstream media (MSM) assault against POTUS Donald Trump and his Republican supporters.

After the billionaire businessman electorally trounced Hillary Clinton in 2016, the political establishment concocted a Russian collusion hoax claiming that the Trump campaign and Moscow were in cahoots to steal the election, in part with a massive disinformation campaign on Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms.

When that hoax didnt pan out the way the Obama-inspired Deep State wanted  with the removal of POTUS Trump from office  the Left turned to its allies in the MSM and social media to ban, downgrade, and censor conservatives ahead of the 2018 midterms.

Now, as 2020 approaches, the Left, led by Hillary, a two-time presidential loser and unindicted trafficker in classified emails, is going all-out to purge conservative Trump supporters from any platform where they have a sizable following.

The only Russia-style influence operations during our recent elections have been launched by Democrats

Last week Clinton tweeted out a garbage story by Politico already claiming that foreign actors are using  what else?  social media to target 2020 Democratic candidates, and that conservatives, of course, are perpetuating the attacks.

.@Politico reports today: "A wide-ranging disinformation campaign aimed at Democratic 2020 candidates is already underway on social media, with signs that foreign state actors are driving at least some of the activity." https://t.co/LjM14jluq8  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 20, 2019

Politico noted further a coordinated barrage of social media attacks suggests the involvement of foreign state actors:

A wide-ranging disinformation campaign aimed at Democratic 2020 candidates is already underway on social media, with signs that foreign state actors are driving at least some of the activity.

The main targets appear to be Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and former Rep. Beto ORourke (D-Texas), four of the most prominent announced or prospective candidates for president.

It looks like the 2020 presidential primary is going to be the next battleground to divide and confuse Americans, Brett Horvath, a co-founder of Guardians.ai, a tech company that disrupts cyberattacks and seeks to protect pro-democracy groups from information warfare, Politico noted.

As it relates to information warfare in the 2020 cycle, were not on the verge of it  were already in the third inning.

Sure.

What we know is this:

 The only Russian-style influence operation we actually know occurred  because the perpetrators admitted it  took place during a special U.S. Senate election in Alabama by a Democrat-aligned firm that helped a Democrat win a seat long held by Republicans.

 The Left-wing social media platforms have been banishing conservatives from their platforms, not liberals.

 MSM coverage of POTUS Trump has been 92-95 percent negative.

All of which proves, again, that the Left cant be honest with American voters about their ideas so they have to resort to dishonesty in order to prevail.

Read more about the Lefts social media censorship of conservatives at Conservative.news.

Sources include:

TheNationalSentinel.com

Politico.com

TheGatewayPundit.com
(Natural News) Last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders officially launched his second bid for the presidency with a lie: He has agreed to run as a Democrat (again) though hes not really a Democrat, hes officially an Independent.

But that Independent label is also a lie because the only reason he chooses to list himself that way is that Socialist  which is his real political affiliation  doesnt go over well with most Americans.

In any event, misidentifying his party allegiance wont be the last lie the long-serving Vermont senator will tell. When he starts drilling down on his economic plans and policies, hell try to sell them as legitimate and viable, though socialism has a long and horrid history of failure, as weve seen in example after example around the world, the latest one playing out (violently, as usual) in Venezuela.

In fact, hes already working on his schtick.

You will recall, you may recall, but in 2016, many of the ideas I talked about: Medicare for all, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, making public colleges and universities tuition-free, Sanders said during an interview with CBS News. You know whats happened over three years? All of those ideas and many more are part of the political mainstream.

Well, Sanders economic ideas are indeed part of the political conversation, but is Marxism mainstream? That might be a stretch. Then again, lets remember that Bernie cant really be honest about his true political affiliation or about the deleterious effects of socialism on a society.

For instance, he could never be truthful about his love for food lines, which are commonplace in countries where socialism and Marxism have been fully implemented. Such lines become commonplace because grocery stores  denied the profit motive and mandated by government to provide food at prices far below cost  cant afford to keep shelves stocked. (Related: Venezuela was my home, and socialism destroyed it. Slowly, it will destroy America, too.)

You know, its funny. Sometimes American journalists talk about how bad a country is when people are lining up for food. Thats a good thing. In other countries, people dont line up for food. The rich get the food and the poor starve to death, Sanders observed back in the 1970s.

That doesnt even make sense but then again, neither do socialist policies. And yet

Venezuela-style socialism wont play in states Democrats need to win in 2020

Okay, so we might be tempted to proclaim that Sanders was making this observation so long ago. That would be a credible argument if the Vermont senator had changed his point of view over the years, but he hasnt. In fact, Sanders has doubled-, tripled-, and quadrupled-down on socialism over the years. And he was so pro-Soviet-style economy back in those days hes lucky he didnt get tossed in prison for providing aid and comfort to our Cold War rival.

Sanders is also a big defender of Marxism and communism, an ideology responsible for the deaths of more than 100 million people, Pavlich wrote.

https://twitter.com/ReaganBattalion/status/1098073499279740928

Meanwhile, as Sanders continues to burnish his Marxist/Socialist bonafides, Democrat Party establishment types are increasingly concerned about the partys extreme Leftward lurch.

As The National Sentinel reported Saturday, Democratic strategists worry that POTUS Donald Trump will use the far-Left economic ideals of Sanders and other 2020 contenders in a convincing fashion.

The big progressive programs are popular in a caucus or primary electorate, but probably dont move the needle among voters who want to find someone who will change Washington by tilting the system to favor people in the middle  not the very rich or the very poor, said Jeff Link, an Iowa Democrat who worked for former President Barack Obamas campaign.

Other GOP strategists note that there are really only a handful of states  many in the upper Midwest as well as Florida  that will be in play, electorally, in 2020, and its hard to imagine that Sanders socialism will go over well in most of them.

Read more about how socialism leads to mass starvation at Starvation.news.

Sources include:

TheNationalSentinel.com

TownHall.com
(Natural News) A shocking new report from the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) reveals that Florida is now following liberal Californias tyrannical lead  along with 29 other states looking to usher in vaccine mandates this season. Over 100 bills targeting vaccine rights have been filed nationwide. While a select few are doubling down on rights to medical freedom and informed consent, a devastatingly large majority of these bills are aimed at restricting or eliminating the rights of the American people.

The NVIC Advocacy Portal team has reportedly identified a number of bills which flat-out threaten voluntary vaccination decisions and has issued multiple advocacy alerts for bills which threaten health freedom.

Vaccine mandates are a threat not just to human health, but to American freedom. Beyond concerns about potential vaccine damage, there is a greater concern about state and federal governments expanding their power. Allowing government entities to force the public to be vaccinated sets a dangerous precedent for the future. And once you give government the power to do something, theyre not going to just give it up.

The rise of vaccine mandates

California became the nations leader in vaccine tyranny just a few short years ago, with the passing of SB 277. Senator Richard Pan is credited with pushing SB 277 into action and dismantling parental rights when it comes to inoculation and childrens healthcare.

According to a report from the Sacremento Bee, Pan has received many thousands of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry. Vaccine manufacturers reportedly gave millions to multiple California politicians just shortly before SB 277 was pushed through.

Dozens of pharmaceutical companies made hefty campaign contributions as well as direct lobbying payments. Lobbying payments is, of course, a term used to whitewash what these payments really are: Bribes.

Pan himself received a cool $95,000  earning him the lions share of pharma cash, as well as the champion of mandatory vaccine legislation.

And yet, politicians like Pan try to convince the public that their legislation  no matter how unconstitutional  is fueled solely by their desire to protect the public. Its as if were supposed to believe the millions of dollars these tyrants receive from the pharma industry has had no influence on their opinions  even though the sole purpose of lobbying is to influence politicians and their policy decisions.

There are substantial questions about vaccine mandates and who they are truly intended to serve. Given what the Sacremento Bee has found, it seems that vaccine mandates are more rooted in corporate interests than they are in public health.

Vaccine tyranny

In addition to pushing vaccine mandates, Senator Pan has also tried to outlaw vaccine skepticism. Just in case making vaccines mandatory wasnt enough, the tyrant-in-chief wants to make sure the public cant even talk about vaccine science  unless its a government-approved conversation. Surely thought suppression and censorship will be for the public good, as well.

Indeed, the war on free speech is actually the perfect complement to the war on health freedom. As Mike Adams, founder of Natural News and creator of Brighteon.com, contends, once fake news is criminalized, any speech that dissents from the leftist narrative will be rendered illegal.

No matter how you slice it, vaccine mandates are a threat to humanity. And now that the vaccine industry has tested the waters in California, we are seeing an uptick in mandatory vaccination legislation nationwide. Soon, the federal government may even be in on it.

See more coverage of the latest vaccine atrocities at Vaccines.news.

Sources for this article include:

GreenMedInfo.com

SacBee.com

NVIC.org
(Natural News) Its a well-known fact that many older adults suffer from bone loss or osteoporosis. But what many people dont realize is that it can happen to them, despite their age. In fact, the National Osteoporosis Foundation reports that over 54 million Americans suffer from, or are at risk of, osteoporosis. This can be caused either by excessive bone loss or insufficient production of bones mass. For some people, both factors may even be present.

Having weak bones can take a toll on the quality of a persons life. It can reduce mobility and increase the risk of bone breakage. When bone loss becomes too severe, bones might even break just from bumping into something or straining, like when you sneeze. Over the years, people have gathered a lot of information regarding bone health and osteoporosis prevention. Unfortunately, most of it is wrong.

When it comes to bone loss, the most common misconception that people have is that calcium alone can solve this problem. This stems from findings that people with osteoporosis have calcium-deficient bones. Although this mineral is crucial for bone development, there are other problems that need to be addressed to prevent bone loss. One of these is oxidative stress, which occurs due to an imbalance in free radicals and antioxidants in the body. Studies have shown that vitamin C is crucial for preventing oxidative stress and bone loss. (Related: Supplemental calcium is the wrong approach to age-related bone loss.)

How does vitamin C improve bone strength

What many people dont realize is that osteoporosis is scurvy of the bones, which is a symptom of vitamin C deficiency. This means that increasing your intake of this nutrient can promote the growth of new, healthy bone. Previous studies have shown that vitamin C supplements can improve bone density test results. But, unlike calcium, it produced strong, structurally sound bones and reduced the risk of fractures. This is possible because vitamin C plays an important role in the formation of bones structural matrix. It is involved in the production and cross-linking of collagen, as well as the development of non-collagen bone matrix proteins. It is also important for differentiating stem cells into bone cells and for regulating the cells that form collagen and cartilage.

A study from Mount Sinai School of Medicine was able to demonstrate the protective effects of vitamin C against osteoporosis in an animal model. The researchers showed that the mice that were supplemented with vitamin C avoided bone loss. These results were supported by findings published in the International Journal of Experimental Pathology. In this study, the researchers found that vitamin C deficiency caused failure of collagen synthesis. This resulted in symptoms of scurvy, such as spontaneous bone fractures.

More reasons to increase vitamin C intake

Increasing your intake of vitamin C can give you many other health benefits. Some examples of these include the following:

Lower blood pressure  High blood pressure increases the risk of heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in the world. Taking vitamin C supplements has been shown to improve blood pressure. It works by relaxing the blood vessels.

 High blood pressure increases the risk of heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in the world. Taking vitamin C supplements has been shown to improve blood pressure. It works by relaxing the blood vessels. Improved immunity  Vitamin C is most commonly used for its ability to boost immunity. This nutrient stimulates the production of white blood cells that fight against infection. It also has potent antioxidant properties that protect the immune cells from highly reactive molecules.

 Vitamin C is most commonly used for its ability to boost immunity. This nutrient stimulates the production of white blood cells that fight against infection. It also has potent antioxidant properties that protect the immune cells from highly reactive molecules. Lower risk of dementia  The potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of vitamin C are beneficial against dementia. It has also been associated with improved cognitive functions.

Read more news articles on the health benefits of vitamin C by visiting Nutrients.news.

Sources include:

NaturalHealth365.com

Healthline.com
(Natural News) When you were younger, you were probably taught that volcanoes contained a central chamber filled with molten material called magma. But a British study claims that that there is no such underground space inside a volcano, only many small pockets filled with crystals and magma.

These findings are earthshaking in more ways than one. Our modern understanding of volcanoes is built around the idea that there is a centralized magma chamber that controls volcanic activity, including the powerful eruptions that endanger many lives and property.

But the researchers at the Imperial College London and the University of Bristol are now saying that volcanoes get their magma from mush reservoirs. These theoretical spaces are conceptually similar to aquifers, the layers of porous materials found deep underground that hold vast amounts of groundwater.

A mush reservoir is a space that is mostly filled with solid crystals. The gaps between the individual crystals are filled by magma, the hot semi-fluid and fluid material that comes from deeper parts of the Earths crust. (Related: Lava from active Hawaiian volcano threatens geothermal power plant.)

A new model explains volcanoes and magma much better

Based on their findings, the Imperial-Bristol researchers believe that the time is ripe to shed the idea of the magma chamber. For one thing, despite serving as the cornerstone of models, studies, and theories regarding volcanic activity for decades, a magma chamber has never been observed inside a volcano.

We now need to look again at how and why eruptions occur from mush reservoirs, urged Imperial researcher Matthew Jackson. We can apply our findings to understanding volcanic eruptions with implications for public safety and also to understand the formation of metal ore deposits associated with volcanic systems.

Jackson explained that a volcanic eruption requires a source of magma that contains minimal amounts of solid crystals. In the magma chamber model, this hot liquidized rock was believed to collect inside a huge cave that was located deep within the volcano.

The latest chemistry experiments appeared to disprove the traditional model of one big body of magma. Instead, the new findings call for many smaller pools of magma stored in the spaces between the solid crystals.

The new mush reservoir model did have problems of its own. It could not explain the appearance of magma that contains few solid crystals. Neither could it determine the mechanism by which the magma reaches volcanoes during eruptions.

The rise of the magma mush reservoir model

Thanks to the latest computer modeling, there is now an explanation for the presence and movement of the magma with low crystal content. The British researchers say that hot liquid rock is less dense than the solid crystals, so it flows upward through the gaps between the structures.

On its way to the top, the magma melts the crystals. The increasing amounts of molten material eventually reaches spaces and fills them up with magma that have fewer crystals than normal. These areas do not last for long, but the magma accumulated in them can potentially cause volcanic eruptions.

A major mystery about volcanoes is that they were thought to be underlain by large chambers of molten rock, said Bristol researcher Stephen Sparks, the co-author of Jackson. Such magma chambers, however, were very difficult to find.

According to him and his colleagues, magma forms within hot rocks that are mostly made up of crystal. Most of the time, the molten rock stays inside the pores throughout the crystalline rocks. Eventually, pressure on the rock melt forces it to ooze into pools of magma, leading to the formation of small, temporary magma chambers or  in the worst case scenario  a volcanic eruption.

Sources include:

AlphaGalileo.org

Imperial.ac.uk

Nature.com
A: As an agent, I did a lot of showings, open houses. Im a very outgoing person. As a young agent  I dont know if it was because of my age  I found myself in a lot of situations where I felt a little bit uncomfortable. I was never attacked or approached inappropriately, but I did have some discomfort. Last year at a friends house, a story came on TV about the 2014 murder of a real estate agent in Arkansas. It was eye-opening, shocking and very gruesome. A man and woman posed as buyers  all along they were planning on killing her. It was a premeditated, horrible situation. It had been in the back of my mind a little bit when Anne said, Should we do something for Realtor safety? Realtor self defense came up as an idea for a special program.
(Natural News) #FascistJack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, has now banned the @HealthRanger channel for nearly two weeks even though we tweeted absolutely nothing in violation of Twitters policies. Utterly without providing any justification or reason, Twitter CEO #FascistJack Dorsey (@Jack) proves that the radical Left is a lawless cartel of techno-fascists who selectively silence the voices they dont want you to hear.

Just like we have a two-tiered justice system in America where Democrats go free for treason while Trump associates are raided at gunpoint for mis-remembering something, we also have a two-tiered speech system in America. In that system, only obedient, conformist liberals are allowed to speak. Independent thinkers, journalists and Trump supporters are silenced by the thousands in order to protect weak-minded Leftists from fresh ideas that challenge their snowflake safe spaces.

All this week, Natural News fans and Health Ranger fans are invited to tweet the tag #FascistJack across Twitter and denounce the unjustified, punitive banning of the @HealthRanger account. Here are some Twitter accounts that can be addressed in your tweets:

@TwitterSupport

@Twitter

@Jack

Be sure to use the tag #FascistJack in your tweets to let Twitter know that Jacks grotesque fascism and online book burning isnt getting a free pass.

Jack Dorsey is a speech supremacist and an idea bigot whose reckless actions represent a real danger to any free society.

Twitter has also banned Laura Loomer and Alex Jones, by the way, along with literally thousands of other conservative, pro-Trump, pro-America channels over the last two years. It is this kind of online ethnic cleansing that now typifies Twitter, YouTube, Google and Facebook, a criminal cabal of techno-fascists who function as un-elected authoritarian bullies to silence conservative or independent voices.

Techno-fascism has reared its ugly head in America, and Jack Dorsey it exactly what it looks like. (Read TechGiants.news for daily updates on the pure evil being committed by Twitter, Apple, Google, Facebook and YouTube.)

The ultimate BULLY: Jack Dorsey answers to no one, offers zero transparency and silences anyone he targets

Think about how dangerous people like Jack Dorsey are to Democracy and freedom in general. Hes a billionaire bully who was never elected, answers to no one, offers exactly zero transparency about his censorship process, yet has the monopoly power to silence anyone he targets, for any reason.

The fact that people like Jack Dorsey exist in our society with this much monopoly power is a threat to human freedom and the civil rights of all people. Dorseys behavior exhibits the traits of a sociopathic super-villain, a kind of Dr. Evil who seeks domination over all the worlds words and thoughts. Whats just as disturbing is the fact that no one seems to be willing to stop him. If theres one thing weve all learned over the past couple of years, its that if evil isnt stopped, it will continue to encroach upon our liberties and values.

The simple fact that Jack Dorsey is more than happy to weaponize his monopoly power and abuse it to silence his political enemies is proof that Jack Dorsey must be stopped. Jack Dorsey is an online serial killer of good ideas, carrying out the coordinated mass murder of online voices that he personally doesnt like. These are the actions of a highly disturbed, morally-vacuous individual suffering from a dangerous God complex and intense hatred for basic human rights.

In my view, #FascistJack should be arrested and charged with RICO Act racketeering and gross violations of anti-trust law. After all, under the authoritarian hand of Jack Dorsey, Twitter has become an online racket that selectively censors the speech of conservatives, Christians and patriots. If anyone other than a Leftist attempted to carry out such a gross violation of basic civil rights in America, they would be criminally indicted.

Jack Dorsey should apologize to the Health Ranger for his brazen censorship of important voices

Be sure to tweet @Jack and let him know hes not getting away with silencing the Health Ranger. Demand our accounts be reinstated and that Jack Dorsey apologize for attempting to suppress the speech of the Health Ranger and other important, independent voices that have extremely valuable knowledge and analyses to contribute to the public space.

This attack on the freedom to think cannot go unanswered. Under the fascist rule of Jack Dorsey, Twitter has gone from the free speech wing of the free speech party to the Fourth Reich of Techno-Fascism. While Adolf Hitler burned books, Jack Dorsey shuts down entire channels, blocking any discussion at all.

Dangerous fascists like Jack Dorsey believe that the freedom to speak must only be allowed for those with whom he personally agrees. This is precisely what Adolf Hitler believed, and its exactly what is practiced today in communist China, where Twitters censorship policies would feel right at home to the enslaved, surveiled masses who have been living under techno-tyranny for many years now. Is Jack Dorseys hero Chairman Mao?

It begs the question: Are we going to let communist-sympathizing Jack Dorsey silence the great voices of America? Is this acceptable in our society now, to just lay down and surrender to online speech tyranny carried out by deranged left-wing lunatics who quite literally hate their own country but love the tyranny of Red China? (Which, by the way, enables the government there to carry out secret arrests and organ harvesting of anti-government dissidents.)

Hell no. Its time to denounce Jack Dorsey, fight back against Twitter, demand a platform for speech and continue to pursue alternatives that may ultimately make Twitter obsolete. In the mean time, lets continue to call for the FTC and DOJ to pursue criminal charges against Twitter and its rogue, lawless CEO Jack Dorsey, for violating the civil rights of millions of Americans while running an online racketeering censorship scheme to enrich himself at the expense of everyone else.

OnlineCivilRights.org is launching soon

Beyond merely complaining about the massive, dangerous censorship of the left-leaning techno-fascists, we are in the process of launching a new online organization that respects the free speech of everyone, including Leftists, conservatives, Christians and LGBT community members as well.

That organization is called OnlineCivilRights.org, and it is organized as a project branch of an existing 501(c)3 non-profit. Well have more details soon. The OCR will seek to organize class action lawsuits against tech companies like Twitter.

We are currently scouting for legal representation, so if you know law firms that wish to organize large-scale lawsuits against Twitter for its outrageous, discriminatory censorship of conservative voices, please send them our way.

We can help organize hundreds of independent publishers who have been demonetized, blacklisted, shadow-banned and de-platformed by Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Google and other techno-fascist platforms run by authoritarian lunatics of the Left.

In the mean time, read more about Jack Dorsey at the upcoming website (launching soon) DorseyWatch.com.
(Natural News) When Roger Stone, noted Republican political operative and long-time associate of POTUS Donald Trump, was arrested last month for non-violent process crimes including lying to Congress and obstruction, his Florida home was raided by more than two dozen heavily armed FBI agents at the crack of dawn.

The deep state officers were dressed in tactical vests with large weapons. They were wearing night vision glasses. This is the [special counsel Robert] Mueller Deep State at work, reports The Gateway Pundit. They send out fully armed tactical teams to harass and abuse political opponents in the dead of night. And only CNN hacks get tipped off before hand.

Stone, 66, didnt resist and no one thought ahead of time that he would. He had no guns in his house. He was sleeping at the time of the raid. And he went quietly. But the SWAT-like effort to arrest him smacked of intimidation and for no good reason other than Muellers authoritarian prosecutor, Andrew Weissman, wanted to send a message to anyone else associated with the president they could expect the same treatment.

Meanwhile, just days after Stones Jan. 25 arrest, a previously obscure actor unknown to Americans outside of a few million faithful who are fans of Empire, the Fox Television program he stars in, was plotting a hate crime hoax that would eventually result in his arrest as well.

By now most Americans know the name Jussie Smollett, and they know him alternately as the actor who faked a hate crime or the actor who was driven to fake a hate crime by the racial hatred and bigotry of the president and his growing legions of supporters. (Related: PREDICTION: Jussie Smollett will confess, then blame racist America for driving him to fake his own hate crime, TRIPLING down on being the victim.)

While people debate that point (for some reason), what is crystal clear is that the manner in which Stone and Smollett were taken into custody was very different.

Very different.

There is good reason why rank-and-file cops in Chicago are angry about Smollett arrest

Stone was treated as though he was a ranking member of a criminal cartel. While the FBI did not use an actual SWAT team to make the arrest, most of the two dozen agents who stormed his home around 6 a.m. were armed with assault rifles and wearing body armor, though Stone didnt have a single firearm, according to reports.

Did the charges against Stone warrant this kind of massive show of force? Were government agents concerned he would put up a fight? Was there some intelligence the FBI had suggesting that Stone was holed up in his home with several other gunmen? No to all of that.

Smollett was not subjected to the same kind of ridiculously over-hyped arrest. In fact, he was notified by Chicago PD that he was going to be charged with disorderly conduct for filing a false police report. Granted, his alleged crime also did not warrant the response of a police SWAT team and nearly 30 officers.

But neither did Stones arrest for a similarly non-violent criminal action. The difference appears to be that Stone is a Trump associate and Smollett is a Left-wing, Trump-hating, gay, black actor.

Nevertheless, rank-and-file Chicago PD officers were none too happy with the manner in which Smollett was taken into custody and treated with kid gloves, according to Quillette journalist Andy Ngo, who observed in a tweet that rank and file officers at CPD are angry at how their PR is coddling the actor with soothing public statements.

I know this can be difficult emotionally, and we hope he doesnt do anything terrible. We want to make this as diplomatic as possible. In the end, this is only a class 4 felony. He will get through this and we want to make it as easy as possible for him to do it. But again it is about accountability, Chicago PD police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said, after also stating that the department would negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest.

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

Negotiate a surrender. No wonder rank-and-file officers are bitter.

And Stone, too.

Read more about the tyranny of Robert Muellers tyrannical FBI at Tyranny.news.

Sources include:

NaturalNews.com

TheGatewayPundit.com

ABC7.Chicago.com
(Natural News) Bees, like many of the worlds insects, are in crisis, and their numbers are dwindling at an alarming rate. At the same time, the worlds population  and its reliance on insect-pollinated crops  continues to grow at an equally alarming pace. The bees might be in crisis right now, but pretty soon it will be humans who are in really serious trouble.

While the worlds governments have started to wake up to the dangers pesticides pose to honeybees, a series of studies by the University of Guelph, published in the journal Environmental Entomology recently, warns that these measures are not enough. They also warn that other species of bees, including bumblebees and solitary bees, are at least as important as the honeybee when it comes to the pollination of food, and yet these species have, for the most part, been virtually ignored in terms of pesticide risk assessment measures. (Related: As global insect population plunges toward total ecological collapse, the corporate-run media still censors the truth about GMOs and pesticides.)

Protecting wild pollinators more important now than ever before

The studies were based on a group of workshops held in Canada in 2017, which were attended by 40 bee researchers from a variety of educational institutes, as well as representatives of regulatory agencies and agrochemical companies.

Science Daily reported that the research confirmed that habitat loss, pathogens and widespread pesticide use continue to have a dire impact on insect populations worldwide. And this is true, not just of honeybees, but of all bees as well as many other types of insects.

There is evidence that our dependency on insect-pollinated crops is increasing and will continue to do so as the global population rises, study co-author Professor Nigel Raine told Science Daily. With growing demands for crop pollination outstripping increases in honeybee stocks, protecting wild pollinators is more important now than ever before. Honeybees alone simply cannot deliver the crop pollination services we need.

While governments have focused their efforts on protecting honeybees, Raine warns that wild bees are even more important to food pollination than farmed bees. Very few studies have focused exclusively on the effects of pesticides on adult and larval wild bees when they are exposed to these chemicals through their food sources or the soil they live in.

The scientists involved in the latest research are particularly concerned about the effects of pesticides on bumblebees. Bumblebee queens, for example, have a different life cycle to honeybee queens, and this makes them experience more contact with pesticides in the course of their lifespans.

Thats a critical difference because the loss of a single bumblebee queen translates into the loss of the colony that she would have produced. Its one queen, but its a whole colony at risk, noted Angela Gradish, one of the studys lead authors.

Both honeybees and bumblebees forage on many different types of flowering plants. The bumblebee is at greater risk of pesticide exposure, however, because it is larger and carries more pollen around between plants. It also forages when there is less light and when weather is cooler, which is not typical of honeybees.

The massive bee and insect crisis gets far less coverage in the mainstream media than the unsubstantiated theory of global warming. In the meantime, while the problem is largely ignored, pollinators continue to die off at an alarming rate. Governments around the globe need to step in quickly and take decisive steps to halt the use of pesticides in conventional farming. If they do not, the future of our own species will begin to look as bleak as that of the worlds insects.

Learn more at Pesticides.news.

Sources include:

ScienceDaily.com

NaturalNews.com
The NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg will travel to Kosice, Slovakia, on Thursday, 28 February 2019 to attend the meeting of the Heads of State of the Bucharest 9 group. In the margins of the Conference, the Secretary General will have a bilateral meeting with the President of the Slovak Republic, Mr. Andrej Kiska.

More information on the event is available here.

The Secretary General will also attend a public event organized by GLOBSEC, where he will address university students, young entrepreneurs, and others.

Media advisory:

14.30  address by NATO Secretary General at GLOBSEC public event

This event will be streamed live on the NATO website.

Photographs and video will be available on the NATO website after the events.

Follow us on Twitter (@NATOPress and @jensstoltenberg).
The NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller travelled to Budapest on Tuesday (26 February 2019) and met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter Szijjarto, with Minister of Defence Tibor Benko and with other high-level government officials. She also delivered a keynote speech at the Ambassadorial Conference of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In her speech Ms. Gottemoeller noted that the security environment today is more complex and often more chaotic than it has been in a long time. She highlighted that with its ongoing pattern of aggressive actions, Russia continues to reject and undermine the rules and institutions that have created stability, prosperity and peace in Europe and around the world for many decades and that Russia is undermining one of the pillars of nuclear arms control. Russias new SSC-8 missile system directly contravenes the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces - INF- Treaty, she said. Russias new missiles are mobile, easy to hide and nuclear capable. They can reach cities such as Budapest in minutes.

Ms. Gottemoeller stressed that there are no new US missiles in Europe, only Russian ones. She also noted that NATO Allies have repeatedly raised concern with Russia over this new missile system for the last six years, but that Unfortunately, our concerns have been ignored.

Ms. Gottemoeller mentioned that this is one of the many reasons why ongoing dialogue with Russia is so important. We disagree on so many things. But to stop talking to each other would only increase the risk of actions on either side being misinterpreted and of events spiralling out of control.

She said that Russias consistent cheating by developing, testing and deploying the SSC-8 has forced the United States, with the full support of all NATO Allies including Hungary, to suspend its obligations under the INF Treaty, stressing that Allies hope that that Russia will return to compliance and destroy its missiles, launchers and associated equipment. There is still a window of opportunity for Russia to comply with the treaty, until August, she said.

Ms. Gottemoeller thanked Hungary for its support to Ukraine in the conflict with Russia, including with reverse gas flows, humanitarian assistance and medical treatments to wounded soldiers.

Ms. Gottemoeller underscored that the meetings of the NATO-Ukraine Commission are a central part of our support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a powerful way to ensure its government stays on track with reform.

Allies have acted in solidarity with Hungary when it comes to Ukraines Law on Education. In the Brussels Declaration and in the assessment of Ukraines Annual Programme, all Allies urge Ukraine to fully implement the recommendations of the Venice Commission, she said.

Ms. Gottemoeller also welcomed the resolution by the Hungarian government to reach 2% GDP on defence by 2024, and the intent to spend 20% of the defence budget on major equipment from next year onwards.

Our actions must demonstrate that we are investing in our deterrence and defence, and doing everything in our power to maintain peace and stability in our neighbourhood  be that to the south or to the east, she said. NATO has helped to keep the peace in Europe for 70 years. By standing in solidarity, I fully expect that we will do so for many more to come.
Yves here. While imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the gilet jaunes may not be so happy to have right wing yellow vest copy-cats.

By Rob May, who is currently completing a PhD. on the radical right at Sheffield Hallam University. His work focuses on British fascisms links and influences with overseas counterparts. He has written for academic journals, newsletters and organisations. He lectures in history, politics and sociology. Originally published at openDemocracy

Alexander Gauland publicly supported the protests, while Princess Doris von Sayn-Wittgenstein, patron of the AfD in the Land of Schleswig-Holstein, posted a photograph of herself wearing a yellow vest.

So-called yellow vest movements are now active across the globe. Beginning in France on 17 November 2018, the yellow vests (named after the fluorescent safety vests French motorists wear) protested against Frances rising fuel prices introduced by the Macron government before morphing into a much broader protest on issues such as the high cost of living and income inequality. Dissatisfied people across the world are now donning the yellow jackets and congregating to protest.

Inspired by the French model, the majority of these groups taking to the streets are aiming their discontent at their respective governments on what are traditionally left-wing issues. The largest yellow vest protest outside France was held in Taipei on 19 December 2018 with over 10,000 residents calling for fairer tax laws. In Israel, the complaint appears to be targeted on governmental corruption and tax hikes. In Iraq, more employment opportunities and better services are the main reasons for discontent. In the UK, left-wing Labour activists have adopted the attire to demand an increase in public spending and a Labour government. While in Italy, yellow vests have marched in Rome to protest against the new tough anti-migrant lawimplemented by Italys radical right Five Star government, making it easier to expel new arrivals.

However, the yellow vests are not exclusively left-wing movements. The radical right has also capitalised on the unrest. Dressed in yellow, thousands of activists are demanding that their causes be heard. This blog post examines yellow vest radical right activity in Canada, Germany and the UK.

Active across the country, the movement in Canada appears to have been appropriated by far-right extremists. Extreme racist, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant chanting and placard waving are now commonplace in these marches. In fact, far right hate peddling biker gangs are not only taking part in the rallies but also recruiting new members from them. Brett Mineer, a Canadian radio show host, was bombarded with threats and abuse, including calls for his wife to be raped and for him to be physically attacked, after he criticised the racist elements and conspiracy theories peddle[rs] among the crowds.

On 21 January 2019, Canadas ambassador to France, Isabelle Hudon, claimed that the Canadian yellow vest movement bears little resemblance to the gilets jaunes of France, suggesting that the French protests are not obsessed with race or immigration. During a trip back to Canada she was surprised to see some yellow-vest protesters brandishing signs with violent words on immigration, stating that Its not at all the kind of messages that the real gilets jaunes in France would deliver.

In Germany, far-right organisations have found a new uniform with the yellow vest. Three such movements  Pegida (a movement against the Islamization of the West), Zukunft Heimat (Future Homeland) and Merkel-muss-weg-Mittwoch (a highly-active anti-Merkel group)  organised a gathering in yellow vests outside of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on 1 December 2018 to denounce the UN Covenant for safe, orderly and regular migration approved by the Bundestag the day before. A thousand people gathered to call for an end to these inconsistent policies that give all rights to foreigners while ethnic Europeans are treated as second-class citizens.

Alternative for Germany (AfD), the third largest party in the federal parliament, is also attempting to capitalise on yellow vest demonstrations. Alexander Gauland, its co-leader and leader in the Bundestag, has publicly supported the protests, while Princess Doris von Sayn-Wittgenstein, patron of the AfD in the Land of Schleswig-Holstein, posted a photograph on social media of herself wearing a yellow vest.

Lastly, at the helm of the UKs radical right yellow vest movement appears to be James Goddard. Goddard is an Islamophobic self-professed supporter of the well-known anti-Islam campaigner Tommy Robinson  some label Goddard a wannabe Tommy Robinson. In fact, Goddards racism led to the suspension of his Twitter account. His fundraising activities have also been blocked by crowdfunding sites. In January 2019, Goddard attracted considerable media attention when, dressed in a yellow vest, he harassed public figures,leading to his arrest. As a result, Overnight, the Leicester-born James Goddard turned from just another angry bloke to a leading figure in the British far-right. Subsequently, Goddard appears to be organising regular yellow vest protests across the country, demanding a hard core no deal Brexit. Many attending these marches appear to be using Brexit as a smokescreen to highlight other grievances.

Supporters of the English Defence League (EDL), an Islamophobic organisation founded by Robinson, have also made themselves visible at rallies. Speakers have addressed crowds to call for Britons to fight for Christianity against foreign cultures and religions. Some demonstrators have decorated their yellow vests with aggressive and offensive slogans or messages. For example, F**k the Police F**k the Government F**k the EU, Left-wing scum: Merkel, May Macron, Corbyn Go To Hell and  presumably in reference to Asian grooming gangs  protecting our children does not make us far right. It makes us just right. At present, each rally is attracting numbers in the low hundreds. Unsurprisingly, clasheshave occurred between the radical right yellow vests and both the police and the left-wing yellow vests.

The future of the yellow vest movements is difficult to predict. If the yellow vests in France continue to protest in vast numbers  2 February marked the twelfth consecutive weekend of demonstrations when between 10,000 and 13,800 people protested in Paris, with thousands more in Tours, Valence, Marseille, Bordeaux, Toulouse, and other French cities and therefore sustain the interest of the mass media, the yellow vests are likely to continue in other countries, and the radical right will continue to adopt the uniform for its own purposes.

iv>
I am departing from our usual practice and publishing Brexit links separately and early. The press has reported on two developments, one of Corbyn saying he would back a second referendum (although note that there still appears not to be enough votes in Parliament to back even a motion calling for one; recall that Peoples Vote called on Labour to scuttle a similar motion last month for that reason), the second a potential major reversal by May. I wanted to give readers the chance to discuss these developments separately, based both on analysis that may come before the Cabinet meeting this morning and any announcements coming out of it.

PM set to offer MPs guarantee of binding vote on whether to take no-deal Brexit off table for 29 March ITV. This is from Robert Peston. Bloomberg does have a similar storywith all of one source, that was re-reported by Reuters (as in with Bloomberg in the headline). But the Sun and the Daily Mail have similar reports.

Theresa May poised to open the way for delaying Brexit Financial Times. Key section:

Downing Street believes there is now a solid Commons majority against a no-deal exit, suggesting that if Tory Eurosceptics refused to back the deal next month then Brexit would be delayed by perhaps a couple of months. As Europhile ministers met at Westminster to discuss tactics ahead of a Brexit vote in the Commons on Wednesday, one ally of the prime minister said: The principal concern is to stop those people from resigning. The prime minister will set out her plans to avert the pro-European revolt at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, with tensions riding high over her willingness to countenance a delay to Brexit.

For what its worth, the Torygraph has not deigned to promote these rumors. I see nothing at all related to this story on its landing page. This is the top portion:

Plus per Peston, May hasnt made up her mind. If I were her, Id wait for the referendum amendment backed by Corbyn to fail (see tweetstorm below, it doesnt have the votes). Peston claims this would happen Tuesday AM, which I gather is in a ministers meeting.

.This move would also prove that her gambit of pushing back the meaningful vote to March 12 was a backfire, that it elicited more pushback than she could manage in the form of the threat of 23 ministerial resignations (the Sun has it at 15). Put this another way, this may be the showdown between the ERG and the Remainers. The Remainers claim theyd vote with Labour on Brexit, but where does the ERG go? A vote of no confidence?

Brexit: this historically dysfunctional process Richard North. North is less convinced as to the significance of the blowup. If I were to summarize his take, its that May might get the no deal Brexit commitment simply to mean no March 29 crashout. The EU has previously said it wouldnt extend unless the UK had a settled view in Parliament, which it doesnt, and gives a reason for asking for an extension. Even though some EU leader are making clear theyve softened their position, quite a few others are making clear theyve had it with the UK, which suggests at most theyd be amendable to only a short extension. For both the reasons of the much greater difficulty of getting a long extension (long = beyond the seating of the European Parliament on July 2, and more likely, two months as the outside from the UK side), May would likely present short as in a few weeks to two months.

Put it another way: no one in Parliament has come to grips with the fact that the only way to take a no deal Brexit off the table is to rescind the Article 50 notice. I see no willingness to do that, absent the cover of a second referendum, and per below (read the tweetstorm) not enough votes in Parliament for that either.

Consistent with our reading, the Sun presents the Remainer rebels ask as merely stopping a crash out on March 29, and not a lasting resolution to that threat:

Theresa May will today propose to Cabinet that she formally rules out a No Deal Brexit on March 29, opening the door to a delay. The decision will mean putting off Britains EU exit by weeks or months if MPs still havent passed a new divorce agreement in two weeks time.

Labour have committed to backing a second referendum amendment if their 'soft Brexit' plans are voted down by the Tory-DUP majority in Parliament. Let's break that down #SecondReferendum  Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) February 25, 2019

Pharma industry steels itself for no-deal Brexit Financial Times

Hub in Belgium to keep NHS supplied in event of no-deal Brexit Guardian (Kevin W)

Tony Blair backs the Independent Group as he says truly mind-boggling Labour has been taken by populists Independent (Kevin W)

EU debates length of Brexit delay despite May vow to stay on time Financial Times. Views are all over the map. And a lot of hostility to an extension.
The second day of trading on the foreign currency interbank market witnessed commendable activity with indications that the US  RTGS dollar cross rate will stabilise to below three in the long term.

The product of the Monetary Policy Statement, the forex interbank market was off to a flying start with US$5 million worth of RTGS dollars traded on Friday.

FBC Holdings Executive and President of the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe, Mr Webster Rusere told the ZBC News that trade continued on Monday amongst different banking counterparties with bids averaging 2,4 RTGS dollars per 1 US dollar and sellers offering an average of 2,5231.

Trade volumes on Monday are expected to be released by the central bank later in the day. Consequently, rates on the parallel market continue to take a knock as the market is self correcting itself.

The rates are going down here and we are feeling the pinch of the monetary policy. We used to get 400 RTGS dollars per US$100 but the rate has gone down to around 320 RTGS dollars per US$100.

Presenting the Monetary Policy Statement last week, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor, Dr John Mangudya dismissed a runaway parallel market rate, saying it is oftenly overpriced and sentimentalised.

The floating of the RTGS dollar was widely commended by industry captains as it is going to bring efficiency to the a market based foreign currency allocation.

 ZBC

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Fair Trade Friday is an organization that helps to empower women and battle poverty through dignified, sustainable industry (craftsmanship). They have three subscriptions to choose from that send fairly traded items from around the world: The Original Box, Bracelet of the Month, and Earrings of the Month. I have subscribed to the Earring of the Month box for years now, and I am really excited to have this opportunity to review the Original Box!

My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out our review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

About Fair Trade Friday

The Subscription Box: Fair Trade Friday Original Box

The Cost: $32.99 per month + free US shipping

The Products: 2-4 fairly traded global handicrafts

Ships to: the US for free, Canada for $15, Worldwide for $25

Fair Trade Friday Sweet Friendship Review

This booklet is included every month, and it has nice details about the items and the artisans who created them. This months theme is Sweet Friendship.

Oven Mitt by Ziyada, India  Listed Retail Value $15

You know, in all the years I have been a subscription box enthusiast, I believe this is the first time I have ever received an oven mitt in a box. Brilliant! I actually really needed one! This is a really and truly awesome one, too. Whenever I see something from India with this type of print, I immediately wonder if it could be hand block printed, and yes! It is! It also passed my cast-iron skillet test! The handle of my skillet gets super hot and it is really heavy, so I usually have to supplement my mitt with another towel doubled to pick up the skillet and pour the contents onto a plate, but this mitt can handle that job all by itself. Ziyada is an organization that provides safe employment for impoverished communities in north India. They do really beautiful work!

Cake Toppers by Mercy House Global, USA  Listed Retail Value $6

These little cake toppers are the kind of thing I would never think to buy, but they sure are festive! What a fun inclusion! These items were made by refugees in Houston, Texas who work directly for Mercy House, the parent organization of Fair Trade Friday.

Spatula by Itza Wood, Guatemala  Retail Value $29.95

I was really happy to receive this spatula in my box this month because I have taken to cooking almost exclusively with wooden spatulas. They wont scratch nonstick surfaces like metal will, and I dont have to worry about overheating a plastic spatula and having toxins leech into the food. This spatula is also really smooth and well made, and the top is pointed so it is extra useful in breaking up foods. I love it! Itza Woods products are all made from sustainable wood from the tropical forests of Guatemala, and they help to provide employment for impoverished craftspersons in the area.

Chocolates by Equal Exchange, Central America  Listed Retail Value $5

These little milk chocolate bars were so creamy and delicious! Notice I said were because they are definitely long gone at this point! I love that they included little recipes on the back of the packaging for things to make with the chocolates, but lets be honest. Theres no better way to eat chocolate this delicious that straight out of the wrapper! Equal Exchange is actually a cooperative of workers from Peru, Ecuador, Panama, and the Dominican Republic who work together to bring rights and responsibilities to the workplace. And to make amazing, fairly traded chocolate!

The Verdict: I love my subscription to Fair Trade Friday Original Box! Everything was awesome this month, but I definitely needed and was most impressed by the oven mitt. Its so pretty, and such high quality! I also like all the information they provide to show how your subscription directly impacts the lives of others. It makes the subscription seem that much more special.

To Wrap Up:

If I subscribe today, can I still receive this box? No. In order to receive the box of the month, you must subscribe before the 24th of the previous month.

Value Breakdown: This box cost $33 shipped. It included four items, so the average cost per item is $8.25. The total suggested retail for all items is $55.95, which means the savings on this box is 41%!

Check out all of our Fair Trade Friday reviews and more fair trade boxes in the Artisan Subscription Box Directory!

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What do you think of Fair Trade Friday?
There is a blotter page and, under Community, you can find out about the departments participation in A Way Out, through which addicts can turn themselves in for rehabilitation with no charges; National Night Out; Shop with a Cop; Coffee with a Cop and the department joining Nextdoor.com.
San Antonio has a glossy 110-page plan for its parks. The plan requires plenty of fancy words and a lot of money.

Rather than free Wi-Fi in the park  what nature lover thought of that one?  Id be happy if the city would just tackle the oak wilt and raw sewage, vagrant campers, trash and dog waste bags lining the trails of the big parks near me.

Mary Ann Parks

Packing flintlocks

Re: Only in Texas, Your Turn, Thursday:

A recent contributor has noted that Rep. Jonathan Stickland is introducing a bill to allow the open carrying of firearms because the Second Amendment states that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. I have to agree this is plainly stated in the Second Amendment and that such a bill should be enacted.

However, this bill should apply only to weapons that the framers of the Constitution had in mind  that is, muzzle-loading rifles and pistols. The authors of the Second Amendment had never thought of rapid firing repeaters. In fact, revolvers hadnt even been invented.

So, as long as we are free to carry flintlocks equipped with ramrods and tote powder horns, the framers of the Constitution should rest easy.

Steven Botts

Its not yes or no

I recently received the 2019 Congressional District Census in the mail and started filling it out but stopped before finishing.

I have never seen such a one-sided survey that forces you into either complete agreement or disagreement with narrow and limiting issues. Where are the questions about global warming or environmental protection? There should have been boxes for a one through five choice on these questions, not just total agreement, total disagreement or no opinion.

Guess what  I have opinions that do not fall into any of these three boxes that were obviously designed and worded to get the yes box checked and thereby signaling total approval of Donald Trump.

Very few questions can be answered with 100 percent for or against it. To expect such an answer to complex questions is to limit your interest in the truth. I am a conservative, but not in all things. I support some of Trumps ideas, but I am totally against others. This census is not about discovering what the people want or how we feel about these topics. It is biased and designed to give the GOP and Trump the results he wants in order to support his agenda.

I will not be completing or sending the survey back; no matter how I check your boxes off, it will not represent how I feel.

Rick Blythe

Perfect balance

The editorial cartoon cartoon Feb. 16 showed the hypocrisy of socialism vs. capitalism.

It seems to me that people on the extreme ends of both political spectrums have managed to demonize both socialism and capitalism. We need an exquisite blend of both to form (and continue to strive for) a more perfect union. Capitalism provides jobs, wealth, security and innovation. Socialism provides infra-structure, safety and safety nets. Why not embrace both and strive for that perfect balance?

Greed is the enemy of both capitalism and socialism. There are some things that simply should not be for profit. And there are some things that require a partnership of the public and private. If we want to improve the hateful dialogue, lets stop demonizing and start being honest and realistic.

Sue Rodarte
Bexar County officials recently swooped into The Glen for yet another trash cleanup.

This time it was the Bexar County Sheriffs Office. On an overcast and chilly Saturday morning, deputies and probationers moved mounds of garbage, and collected mattresses and other dumped furniture from the alleys in this Northeast Side neighborhood in the unincorporated county just beyond San Antonio city limits and near Windcrest and Converse.

The cleanup made a striking visual difference. For a day. It might even last a week or a month. But everyone knows the trash will be back in the alleys. A cleanup is not a policy solution. Eventually, the dumping will resume and trash will again blanket the neighborhood.

How does this happen in a neighborhood? All it takes is a few residents to choose to not have trash service. This is, after all, a fairly low-income area. Perhaps they assume the city will provide trash service. Many residents in this part of town  in unincorporated Bexar County  think they live in the city. But once the trash piles up, the dumping begins, and the problem magnifies.

But life does not have to be this way. We know this morally. No neighborhood in our community should be blanketed in heaping, stinking mounds of garbage.

We also know Bexar County and the city of San Antonio successfully partnered on a trash service pilot program in Camelot II, which is the next neighborhood over. Camelot II had identical trash issues, but not any longer, thanks to the pilot program. The city provides trash service. Residents have paid their bills, which are folded into their CPS Energy bills. Mandate trash service and bill through a utility. Thats the magic formula.

Beyond cleaning up the neighborhood, the Camelot II pilot program was supposed to create a model of success to be replicated elsewhere. Instead, county leaders have said legislation that state Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, passed last session to prevent trash issues like this has gaps.

That legislation gave Bexar County the authority to mandate trash service. It included enforcement mechanisms for landlords with multiple properties who do not require trash service. It allowed for the county to contract with private or public trash haulers. Now, county officials say the legislation does not require all landlords to put trash service in lease agreements and lacks enforcement for landlords with a single property.

OK, fix the law. But there is no excuse to not fix the neighborhood. What worked in Camelot II would work in The Glen. No neighborhood in Bexar County should be covered in trash.
Public school teachers are overworked and underpaid. We support an across-the-board teacher pay hike as some state leaders have suggested.

In a commentary recently published on these pages, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick proposed a state-funded pay raise for all Texas schoolteachers.

Patrick has made several failed attempts at pay equity. This session, he is pushing Senate Bill 3, introduced by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, which seeks to provide all teachers with a $5,000 raise.

The legislation would provide the average teacher with a 9.4 percent pay hike and raise the average salary closer to the national average annual of $60,483. But such a raise for the 350,000 teachers in Texas public schools comes with a $3.7 billion price tag. The Legislature must find this money and take care that the pay raises arent eaten by cost increases in health care.

The problem: Preliminary budget proposals indicate the Texas Senate and House are miles apart. The House budget proposal has an additional $9 billion in new money for public education; the Senates proposal has $4 billion. The House budget is closer to the mark, with the caveat that this funding be sustainable.

There is much negotiating to be done to reach a consensus, especially if its going to include an across-the-board pay increase for teachers. But under no circumstances can this proposed teacher pay raise be shoved down to cash-strapped school districts as an unfunded mandate from the state.

But teachers deserve a raise.
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 San Antonio Express-News and the Houston Chronicle that found that the Southern Baptist Convention repeatedly tolerated sexual assaults by clergymen and church volunteers. The newspapers 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.

Some victims as young as 3 were molested or raped inside pastors studies and Sunday school classrooms, the papers reported.

Leathers told me he is glad he wrote the 2002 article, even if it cost him his career. He expressed frustration at Southern Baptist priorities: The church leadership would expel a church that appointed a woman as senior pastor, even as it accepted sexual predators.

The indifference to criminal behavior is an echo of what has been unearthed in the Catholic Church over the decades. The latest sickening revelations are of priests getting away with raping nuns and assaulting deaf students.

These new scandals provoke fresh nausea at the hypocrisy of religious blowhards like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson who thundered at the immorality of gay people even as their own Southern Baptist network tolerated child rape.

I suspect its no accident that these crimes emerged in denominations that do not ordain women and that relegate them to second-class status.

The result may be threefold: an entitled male clergy, women and girls taught to be submissive in church, and a lack of accountability and oversight. Its complicated, of course, for many of the Catholic victims were boys, but there does seem to have been an element of elevating male clergy members on a pedestal in a way that made them omnipotent and unaccountable.

Underneath it all is this patriarchy that goes back millennia, Serene Jones, the president of Union Theological Seminary, told me, noting the commonality of the Catholic and Southern Baptist churches: They both have very masculine understandings of God and have a structure where men are considered the closest representatives of God.

The paradox is that Jesus and the early Christian church seem to have been very open to women. The only person in the New Testament who wins an argument with Jesus is an unnamed woman who begs him to heal her daughter (Mark 7:24-30 and Matthew 15:21-28).

The Gospel of Mary, a Gnostic text from the early second century, suggests that Jesus entrusted Mary Magdalene to provide religious instruction to his disciples.

But then conventional hierarchies asserted themselves, and women were mostly barred from religious leadership.

After the investigation, the Southern Baptists have promised greater training and more background checks, but whats needed above all is accountability and equality.

Baptist women have been ready to be heard for a century. I know because my great-grandfather John Howard Shakespeare was the leader of Baptists in Britain from 1898 to 1924 and practiced his sermons on his wife. When she once insisted that she had something else to do, he locked her in an upstairs room.

My great-grandmother Amy, wearing a long dress, then climbed out an upper window and onto a tree branch, and finally clambered down the tree to the ground.

So much has changed for women since then, yet even today a majority of religious women still belong to denominations that do not ordain women. And as long as inequality is baked into faith, as long as men of God are unaccountable, then sexual assaults will continue.

The problem is structural, an inequality and masculine conception of God that empowers rapists. And, perhaps, embarrasses God.
The left complains that conservatives are obsessing over Rep. 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: Ocasio-Cortez celebrated the recent 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 nine-fold 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 spokesman 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 Lenins train pulled into Petrograds 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.

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.

@marcthiessen
"This board has the responsibility of choosing our own chair, and I think it's wholly appropriate that we ask the legislature to change the laws that would allow us to remove an appointed chair if the circumstances ever require it again," Hart said.
It will be at least another three months of waiting before Texas sees more than $4 billion in Hurricane Harvey aid money that has been tangled in red tape for more than a year.

U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson told reporters on Monday that his agency is still working on the rules that will dictate how the disaster mitigation money can be used in Texas to help homes and neighborhood brace for future storms. He said those rules are scheduled to be done by May. Then Texas would start working on a plan for how to comply with those rules, which would require yet more HUD approvals.

Carson said on Monday at a press conference in Washington, D.C., with Gov. Greg Abbott that he knows funding can never come fast enough after a disaster, but assured reporters that his agency is responding as quickly as it can.

We feel the urgency to get this done and we will, he said.

HUD has been working on the rules since February 2018 when Congress first appropriated $4.3 billion for Texas to mitigate against future storms. That long wait has frustrated elected officials in Texas. Members of the Congressional Delegation from Texas have written letters pushing Carson and his agency to pick up the pace, while Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush wrote President Donald Trump in January asking him to step in to help cut the red tape. Bushs agency is the lead organization in distributing housing relief in Texas following Harvey.

On Monday in Austin, Bush expressed his frustration again with members of the Texas Senate.

HUD Funding For Texas The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has already sent nearly $5.7 billion to Texas since Hurricane Harvey hit and another $4.3 billion is expected to be coming soon. Here is more detail on those sources of funding who is getting that funding. $5.7 billion already approved by HUD for housing repairs. Funding originally passed by Congress in September 2017, including $1.3 billion for the City of Houston and $1.2 billion for Harris County. $4.3 billion for housing mitigation to better prepare neighborhoods against future storms. Funding approved by Congress in February 2018. Funding yet to be released to Texas. Source: The Texas General Land Office See More Collapse

Their money is guided by their conditions and their rules, which has hamstrung the process, Bush said of HUD during a Texas Senate Intergovernmental Relations Committee meeting.

There are other pools of HUD money already flowing in Texas aimed at repairing homes damaged by Harvey. For instance, more than $5 billion has now been sent to Texas, including more than $1.1 billion for Harris County and $1.2 billion for Houston. Another $2.7 billion went to the other 48 counties hit by Harvey. On Monday, Carson and Abbott used their press conference to mostly celebrate an additional $652 million that has been approved for Texas, which will bump up the spending in Houston and Harris County by another $179 million for fixing damaged homes.

That is in addition to $1.2 billion in housing aid the Federal Emergency Management Agency has distributed to more than 170,000 Harvey victims since the storm hit in August 2017.

The $4.3 billion that has been stalled is for a completely different and new program. That funding is for improvements to low and moderate income homes and neighborhoods to make sure they are not perpetually damaged in future storms. HUD officials have stressed that spending is for a completely new kind of program that requires new rules and regulations that will dictate how it will run.

While Texas waits for that funding, the state has been granted another disaster declaration for storms that ravaged central Texas last year. President Trump announced Monday he was granting the disaster declaration for 33 counties hit by severe storms and flooding from Sept. 10 to Nov. 2 in 2018.

jeremy.wallace@chron.com
A 21-year-old man was arrested by Kirby police Monday after authorities accused him in a robbery that resulted in three people being shot.

Tomazs Lamont Wyatt was charged with aggravated robbery, according to jail records.

Kirby police responded to a shooting at a home in the 4700 block of Surveyor Drive on Feb. 5 and found two men and one woman suffering from gunshot wounds that were not fatal, according to Wyatt's arrest affidavit.

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The victims told police that two people wearing hoodies and bandannas came into the home and one of them opened fire, the affidavit says.

A shotgun and one person's credit card were stolen from the home, according to the arrest affidavit.

A few days later, detectives discovered that the stolen card was used in the drive-thru of the Whataburger on FM 78. Officers reviewed surveillance footage and identified Wyatt's girlfriend as the driver of the car, the affidavit says.

Officers set up surveillance outside the girlfriend's home and detained two men during a traffic stop who were in possession of the stolen shotgun, police said.

RELATED: San Marcos police release images in hit and run case that left a father in a coma

One of the detained men told police Wyatt had reached out to him on Facebook to sell him the shotgun, according to the affidavit.

Wyatt's bail was placed at $125,000, according to jail officials. The second person allegedly involved in the robbery was not identified in the affidavit.

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
What I would like is to be a unifying voice for those people who are either passionate about climate change or uneducated about it and who need to come together and realize that its happening, Mooney said. My goal is to get this out to as many people as I can as fast as I can and save the planet in the process.
Authorities identified the 1-year-old girl who was killed when a suspected drunk driver rammed into a shopping cart she was sitting in on Monday.

Corinna Tovar was sitting in the baby seat of a shopping cart in a parking lot in the 300 block of Moursund Boulevard while her mother loaded groceries into a car. At about 2 p.m., David Lee Roy Fuentes, 25, struck the cart while traveling at a high rate of speed, police said.
The sight was striking. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi walking across the Juarez Lincoln Bridge in Laredo, exchanging an embrace with the governor of Tamaulipas and trading small flags of their respective countries.

Other people may not have realized the significance of the nations highest-ranking Democratic leader, third in line to the presidency, making that short trip to the middle of the international bridge, one of four in Laredo. But South Texans know.

It happened during Laredos annual George Washingtons Birthday Celebration and in ways its organizers probably didnt intend.

The annual abrazo ceremony symbolizes the international ties between Laredo and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas and Texas, Mexico and the United States.

Pelosi had left Washington D.C., the city where President Trump declared Feb. 15 that the U.S.-Mexico border was a national emergency. Trump cited imaginary statistics of violence so severe he insisted it required access to the Pentagons budget to secure the border with a wall.

On Saturday, she arrived to a border town that had no such national emergency but was steeped in an all-American celebration in honor of the first American president and beloved founding father.

Pelosi had visited Laredo before, where it sits adjacent to Nuevo Laredo, cities that are extensions of one another, where diplomatic, neighborly gestures are a manner of course and leaders work to facilitate efficient trade and commerce.

Like residents of other border cities who feel mischaracterized, Laredoans welcomed that abrazo between Pelosi and Gov. Francisco Garcia Cabeza de Vaca to counter the dark images assigned to border towns, especially by the White House.

Its not a new phenomenon. Laredo, which is overwhelming Mexican American, hosts the nations largest Washington celebration for a reason: It has long felt misunderstood. To make their point, its citizens arent afraid to don white wigs and colonial costumes and applaud debutantes presented by a high society organization known as the Marthas, in honor of Martha Washington.

Since 1898, when the annual party began, Laredo has been working to emphasize its Americanness.

It was Pelosis first time at the bridge ceremony, said former Laredo mayor Betty Flores, and it came at such an amazing time in our history, defying all that has been said about the border at the highest levels of our country. It is the best testament that we could have made to anyone saying were a dangerous border.

Every city has its dangerous places, but Laredo is a safe place to live, Flores said.

Flores was struck by Pelosis visit, how she met groups of people with various viewpoints and listened to them. City leaders worried about the impact the negative rhetoric might have on this years festivities, but Flores said her own worries gave way when she saw how at ease Pelosi seemed.

She knows the truth, Flores said. We are not what we have been painted to be.

Pelosis trip was a timely one. Today, shes expected to lead House passage of U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castros resolution of disapproval against the presidents national emergency declaration.

It has been widely criticized as unconstitutional, given that the legislative branch clearly denied the executive branch its request for $5.7 billion to build a wall.

Illegal immigration is at an all-time low, and a new report found that most immigrants being detained now by federal officials have no criminal records.

There is a humanitarian crisis on the border, as federal officials continue to deter Central Americans trying to legally apply for asylum. Desperate people, many of them mothers with small children, line the main international bridge at Laredo, waiting for a chance to cross into the United States.

Officials have said they cannot reunite all of the Central American children separated from their parents last summer under the administrations abhorrent zero tolerance policy.

If there is an emergency, thats the one to address.

On Monday, almost 60 former national security officials stepped up to say there is no factual basis for a national emergency to build a wall on the border. Some of them are the same experts who took a similar stand against the presidents Muslim travel ban.

Only a would-be monarch would attempt to use Pentagon funds to fulfill a campaign promise in order to ensure his re-election.

Declaring a national emergency to bypass Congress is un-American.

Ask Laredo, a border community that just wrapped up its all-American tribute with the help of its Mexican neighbors. Now thats American.

Elaine Ayala is a columnist covering San Antonio and Bexar County. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | eayala@express-news.net | Twitter: @ElaineAyala
A federal judge has blocked the release of a former Texas State student accused of preparing for potential mass violence.

The order by Senior U.S. District Judge David Ezra, filed late Monday, supersedes an order by U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Bemporad to release Benjamin Bogard on bond.

Bemporad had said Bogard could get released Monday, but Ezra stayed the release until he takes up an appeal by federal prosecutors at a hearing on March 6.

In the meantime, a federal grand jury has indicted Bogard on a charge of possession of child pornography, which stems from a video and images found on his cell phone during the FBI mass violence investigation. Bogard, 20, of New Braunfels, remained behind bars Tuesday, and his lawyer entered a not guilty plea on his behalf, records show.

At Bogards bail hearing last week, FBI agents testified that Bogard created disturbing videos in which he embraced white supremacy, said he wanted to kill minorities and discussed obtaining a chemical substance to make a bomb.

On ExpressNews.com: Ex-Texas State student eyed in domestic terrorism investigation in San Antonio

The counterterrorism agents contend he could have been this countrys next mass shooter or bomber had they not stepped in and arrested him in early February over the child porn allegation, the easier charge to prove.

Bogard, the son of an Air Force veteran, came to the attention of the FBI in early November after someone contacted Crime Stoppers in Albany, New York, to alert authorities to disturbing posts on an Instagram account and other social media, FBI counterterrorism agents testified at Bogards bond hearing Thursday.

The tipster provided screenshots of the Instagram posts and the account appeared to belong to a member of the neo-Nazi group, Atomwaffen Division in part because the person in the posts was saluting Adolf Hitler and wearing a mask of a skull that covered half his face, signature signs of the group, officials said.

The account was traced to Bogard in New Braunfels, and it led to other posts Bogard made that the agents found worrisome. They included a story he posted about where to buy a precursor for explosives, discussions on Twitter that his favorite firearm part is the part that kills 30 babies per trigger pull; a chat about buying a new gun and ammunition and going ham on the state capitol and many more, according to court testimony.

He turned his phone over to agents, who searched it and found he had conducted Internet searches for the phrase buildings to bomb; for Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who shot and killed nine African American worshipers at a church in South Carolina in 2015; and for how to build a gun, among others. Several photos of Roof were saved on Bogards cell phone.

One video on his phone showed Bogard shooting a shotgun in a wooded area and another showed him racking a shotgun and talking about shooting minorities whom he made derogatory comments about, according to FBI agents.

The agent also said the phone contained numerous videos of violence and gore, including hangings, beheadings and summary executions in the Middle East.

Bogard had attended Texas State University in San Marcos for the fall 2017 and spring 2018 semesters, according to college records. But he left his job and dropped out of fall 2018 classes, according to testimony.

He had also disappeared for a short period and his parents hired a private investigator who tracked him to Dallas, where he had bought a van and the shotgun, testimony showed.

FBI agent Russell Doran testified that it appeared Bogard was mobilizing to violence, so when agents found child pornography on his cell phone, they immediately moved in to arrest him.

Bogards lawyer, Michael Morris, has argued that none of what Bogard allegedly posted is a crime, other than the child porn images hes accused of having in his cell phone. Morris also has said that Bogard was acting as an edgelord, posting shocking and offensive things to gain attention, followers and likes and had no plans to carry out any violence.

If convicted, Bogard faces up to 20 years in prison.

Guillermo Contreras covers federal courts in San Antonio and international legal issues. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | gcontreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland
A former Reeves County judge who pleaded guilty to splitting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from a contractor with ex-state Sen. Carlos Uresti was sentenced Tuesday to two and a half years in federal prison.

Jimmy Galindo, who was county judge for Reeves County in West Texas from 1995 to 2006, will return to court in May to be taken to prison.

Senior U.S. District Judge David Ezra also ordered Galindo to serve three years of federal supervision and to pay $876,000 in restitution.

The contractor, Lubbock businessman Vernon Trey Farthing III, 45, was acquitted of charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to commit money laundering, but Galindo and Uresti had already pleaded guilty to bribery conspiracy. Galindo also pleaded guilty to failure to file a 2013 tax return.

Galindo, 54, testified at Farthings San Antonio trial in October that he persuaded Farthing to hire Uresti as a consultant at $10,000 a month so that Farthings company could get a contract in 2006 to provide medical services to federal immigrant prisoners at the Reeves County Correctional Center in Pecos.

On ExpressNews.com: Feds star witness testifies Uresti was on board with bribery scheme

Galindo also testified that he advised Farthing to raise the price his Physician Network Association would charge the county per inmate, per day, to pay for the consulting arrangement. The increased price came out of the countys end.

The ex-county judge said Farthing paid Uresti, who agreed to give Galindo half of the $10,000 every month. The deal with Uresti came as Galindo decided not to seek re-election. Under the terms of the contract, the consulting fee was renewed over 10 years, providing the pair with money long after Galindo was no longer a public servant.

I deeply regret the choices that I made, Galindo told the judge Tuesday, his voice breaking. I know that the rest of my life will be difficult, but I ask your consideration of allowing me to continue to provide to my family. I sincerely and deeply apologize to Reeves County, to this court, and to my family.

On ExpressNews.com: Jury acquits Uresti co-defendant in bribery case

Galindo faced six years in prison, but the judge granted a motion for leniency from federal prosecutors, who suggested three years in prison because he cooperated. Even though his cooperation did not result in a conviction of Farthing, it helped sway Uresti to plead guilty.

Mr. Galindo was the public official, who was voting on (the contract), Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Blackwell told the judge. He was the one who initiated this bribery scheme. The idea of increasing contracts to funnel the money through Mr. Uresti originated from Mr. Galindo, who saw an opportunity for private gain. It cant be tolerated when a public official uses his position for their own private gain.

Galindos lawyer, David Botsford, described his clients conduct as aberrant behavior and asked for less time or probation so Galindo could continue working and start paying restitution.

The judge said Galindos conduct was not aberrant behavior because he didnt immediately report his actions. Instead, he kept collecting checks for years.

Each time he took a check, its a reaffirmation of the crime, Ezra said.

Related: Uresti enters guilty plea in bribery case

Uresti did not testify at Farthings trial, but the judge said there was ample evidence to support the charges for which Uresti and Galindo pleaded guilty.

Ezra on Feb. 12 sentenced Uresti to five years in prison for the bribery case, rolling it into the 12 years the judge had given Uresti last year for an unrelated fraud case involving a now-defunct oil services company called FourWinds Logistics.

Uresti turned himself in last week to begin serving his 12-year sentence. He is being held by federal marshals in Karnes County, pending his transfer to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

Guillermo Contreras covers federal courts in San Antonio and international legal issues. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | gcontreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland
Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center staff made more than 100 mistakes in the labeling of blood during a four-month period reviewed by federal inspectors, according to a report released Tuesday.

The inspection was prompted by the December death of a 73-year-old woman suffered repeated heart attacks after being given the wrong blood type.

St. Luke's leaders the released a federal inspection report Tuesday.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services review found numerous problems leading up to the fatal error.

Only on HoustonChronicle.com: Federal report details problems that led to patient death at St. Luke's in Houston

The hospital on Tuesday also released a detailed plan of correction it has already begun to implement.

In a letter posted on the hospital's website Tuesday, St. Luke's CEO Doug Lawson called the government's findings "deeply disappointing." He also wrote that he expects government inspectors to find additional problems when they return to the hospital for a complete hospital review in coming weeks.

"It is our responsibility to learn from these mistakes, and we take this responsibility very seriously," Lawson wrote. "An incident like this should never happen."

The notice of deficiencies is the latest in a series of setbacks for an academic hospital that has been regarded as among the nation's best for cardiac care. The Medicare agency cut off funding for heart transplants at St. Luke's last year after an investigation by the Houston Chronicle and ProPublica documented an outsized number of patient deaths and unusual surgical complications following the procedure in recent years.

For more information and to read the full report, click here.

This is a developing story and will be updated at houstonchronicle.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.
An Aldine ISD police officer allegedly ran a red light and crashed into a pickup truck in north Houston on Monday afternoon, a witness said.

The officer has since been placed on administrative leave as authorities investigate.

The crash happened around 6:30 p.m. in the intersection of Aldine Bender and John F. Kennedy Boulevard.

In dashcam video obtained by Chron.com, Jacob Perkins, driving a 2007 Toyota Tundra, appeared to have a green light heading south on JFK when two marked Aldine ISD police cars cruised through the intersection.

In video of the crash, neither police cruisers appeared to have their lights or sirens on when they drove through the intersection. Another vehicle next to Perkins' truck started to go as the southbound light turned green, but stopped after seeing the officers.

"I saw the green light," Perkins said. "As I approached, I saw the first cop pass, so I slowed down. Then I kept going through the intersection. The truck that was to my left hid the (second) cop car from my view until I got into the intersection. That's when I just smacked him."

CAUGHT ON VIDEO: Houston woman accused of stealing packages in custody

The crash spun the second police car into a stopped vehicle facing east on Aldine Bender.

"Once I got out of the truck, my immediate reaction was to throw my hands up to the cop and say, 'why the f*** did you run a red light?'" Perkins said. "We went and checked the police officer and everyone else to make sure that everyone was OK. As I approached (the officer), I said 'this is why you don't run red lights.' (The officer) didn't say anything. The investigating officer showed up and started doing everything. He told me personally that the cop car (driver) admitted fault."

Officials with Aldine ISD said they have yet to issue citations, if any, to any drivers in the crash. No one was injured, and their investigation is ongoing.

While the crash happened within Houston city limits, the Houston Police Department confirmed their crash detectives did not investigate the crash. Harris County Sheriff's Office also confirmed they're not investigating.

As for Perkins, his truck is in pretty bad shape, he said. He's filed a claim with his insurance but doesn't know what will happen next.

"The front end is pretty much destroyed," Perkins said, adding that his Tundra might be totaled. "It sucks, because now I'm out a vehicle because a cop ran a red light. It's a crappy situation. At least no one's hurt."

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
Teachers all across the state could be getting a raise if a bill in the Texas Senate progresses.

A Senate plan to give every full-time teacher a $5,000 raise advanced out of committee, and there are other proposals circulating that suggest variations on the plan, like boosting salary relative to student performance or giving individual districts extra money and letting them decide how to spend it.
I have more friends and family members than I remember, he said. Its really busy. There is no down time. Everything is moving. Its pretty cool, walking around and people recognizing me. (But) its a lot of work. Im gone every week in a different city doing different shows.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump struck back Monday at film director Spike Lee, accusing him of delivering a "racist hit" during an Oscar acceptance speech in which Lee referenced the history of U.S. slavery and urged people to vote in the 2020 elections.

Lee did not mention Trump by name in his remarks Sunday night after winning in the best adapted screenplay category for "BlacKkKlansman," a movie about an African American detective in the Colorado Springs, Colo., police department who infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s.

Lee thanked his grandmother for having put him through college and film school and praised her and other descendants of slaves for having "built this country into what it is today." He then observed that the 2020 presidential election is "around the corner."

"Let's all mobilize," he said. "Let's all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Let's do the right thing!"

Trump took to Twitter on Monday morning to respond, mocking Lee for having read from notes. Trump also listed what he contends are his accomplishments that benefit African American voters.

"Be nice if Spike Lee could read his notes, or better yet not have to use notes at all, when doing his racist hit on your President, who has done more for African Americans (Criminal Justice Reform, Lowest Unemployment numbers in History, Tax Cuts, etc.) than almost any other Pres!" Trump wrote.

His tweet was not the first time that Trump has responded to award recipients.

Following criticism by Meryl Streep at the 2017 Golden Globes, Trump lambasted her on Twitter the following morning, calling her "one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood."
An award-winning RE/MAX United agent, Josie Lin wants to leverage her skills and influence to help make the American dream of owning a home a reality for Asian families and to help small businesses.

Josie has made a remarkable impact on the landscape in the Katy area, said Mike Summerlin, marketing director of the RE/MAX of Texas Region.

According to Vivienne Kwon of ykCreative, Josie Lin spearheaded the development and build-out of Katy Asian Town, one of the fastest growing market centers in Katy.

Kwon has a partnership with Lin, Ginny Kim and AsUnited Marketing Alliance Group, which was formed to help multicultural businesses network and expand. AMA is a coalition of Asian-American professionals providing consulting and education in areas such as capital funding, branding, finance and real estate. Peter Yun represents the building sector of the group.

Lin talked of being very involved in raising awareness of opportunities within the Asian community and of wanting to benefit her community.

I believe more families are moving to the Katy area, said Barbara Gallo, director of operations, Asian Chamber of Commerce-Houston. Ive heard people describe Katy as Sugar Land 2.0. A lot of Asian families live in Sugar Land. I know the area that I am in, no new homes will be built in that area. Most prices are going up in Sugar Land. It makes more families move out to the Katy area.

Katy Asian Town is a very interesting development to have it be there, continued Gallo. Many families have gone to Bellaire Chinatown to shop. The issue of crime  hearing about about more people being robbed  makes people hesitant a little bit, especially at night, she continued.

More Information Josie Lin recognition 2017: Top Commercial Broker in RE/ MAX Houston 2018: Top Commercial Broker in RE/ MAX Houston 2017: No. 8 RE/MAX Texas Statewide Producer 2018: No. 6 RE/MAX Texas Statewide Producer See More Collapse

Im equidistant to Bellaire or to go north to Katy Asian Town. Id rather make the trip to Katy Asian Town for the same grocery stores and the same food places, added Gallo.

Lin has offices in both Bellaire and Katy. She has served the Bellaire area for more than 10 years and has an office at 9889 Bellaire Blvd., Ste 118, Houston. Last May, she opened an office in Katy at 23119 Colonial Parkway No. A.

Lin recently earned top awards from the Re/MAX of Texas Statewide Conference. For two consecutive years, shes been recognized as the Top Commercial Producer in RE/MAX Houston. Shes ranked sixth of the Top 20 Texas Statewide producers, moving up two positions from the prior year. Summerlin placed the recognition in perspective pointing out that RE/MAX has 275 offices and 5,000 agents in Texas.

Camille Landry, senior specialist, Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals, recognized Lin for her support of the nonprofit through the RE/MAX Miracle Home Program. Through the program, participating agents like Lin make a donation on their clients behalf after each closed transaction of a Miracle Home.

RE/MAX United broker Gene Feigelson, who said hes known Lin a long time and called her like a second daughter, talked of the impact of the Childrens Miracle Network Hospitals. In 1981, his second son was born prematurely and placed in a neonatal unit at Texas Childrens Hospital for 6 months, said Feigelson. Today is son is 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs about 200 pounds. Because of Texas Childrens Hospital Miracle Network, my son is a survivor, he said.

Feigelson said Lin is well-known through the state. Josie has done some remarkable things, he added. Through her influence, she is able to pull people together, he said. Shes able to make it happen.

karen.zurawski@chron.com
Update: Authorities said vehicular traffic has resumed at the Gateway to the Americas Bridge.

Traffic at the Gateway to the Americas Bridge in Laredo has been halted due to a possible threat of a significant group of undocumented immigrants trying to enter the United States, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Basking in girl power will be on the agenda at an event happening in March.

The pop-up tea party company specializing in whimsical treats, honeysuckle teatime, is hosting Girl Power Prom at SAY Si, at 1518 S. Alamo St. on March 9 at 8 p.m.
San Antonians are invited to "experience India in just a day" for free at festival taking place at La Villita next month.

The Festival of India will take place at La Villita on March 30, from 3 to 9 p.m. Event details shared online by the India Association of San Antonio, the organizing group, call the day something "you don't want to miss."
Lime, one of the world's largest electric scooter companies, is urging riders to be extra cautious while operating its devices because of a technical "bug" that can cause "sudden excessive braking during use," the company announced in a statement over the weekend.

The company said testing has revealed that the sudden braking usually arises when scooters are being ridden downhill at top speed. The danger prompted Lime to issue remote updates aimed at fixing the glitch that have already led to a reduction in the number of braking incidents, the company said.

But the company is still urging riders to give brakes a "tight squeeze" as soon as they begin their trip to ensure that their scooters are working properly.

The warning comes several months after The Washington Post reported that Lime scooters had a history of breaking apart in use, injuring riders nationwide. The company also pulled thousands of scooters out of circulation in California last summer after discovering that a small number of them may have been carrying batteries with the potential to catch fire.

More recently, reports of riders being injured by malfunctioning brakes have emerged in Switzerland, New Zealand and the United States. Lime said the company's braking issue demonstrates that risk is an ever-present feature of its devices.

"While this issue has affected less than 0.0045% of all Lime rides, some riders have been injured, and, although most have been bumps and bruises, any injury is one too many," the statement said, without specifying where the incidents occurred. "Like all forms of transportation, there is risk that we work to mitigate but cannot entirely eliminate."

But reports from New Zealand - where two cities temporarily banned the devices last week - suggest that the number of riders injured by locking brakes in recent weeks is significant. Lime informed Auckland city officials that the company had identified 155 incidents involving irregular braking, of which 30 resulted in injury, according to the New Zealand Herald.

The paper published bloody images of one rider who allegedly broke his jaw on both sides this month when a Lime scooter he was riding stopped without warning, tossing him overboard.

"I was in the middle of the path and it was clear - there were no bumps or anything," Liam Thompson, 27, told the Herald.

"The wheels just stopped and locked in place, and I got thrown off the front of the scooter," he added.

The company was forced to pull hundreds of scooters from two Swiss cities after riders were injured by locking brakes, according to the Local.

This month, a Texas man told the Austin American Statesman that he landed in the street when the wheels of the Lime scooter he was riding suddenly locked in place. Jeremiah Mahoney, 38, told the paper that he has filed a lawsuit against Lime that accuses the company of negligence. Mahoney is seeking $10,000 in damages, the Statesman reported.

"That thing could have malfunctioned under any circumstance at any location, and who knows what could have happened?" Mahoney told the paper. "It's really a roll of the dice, in my opinion."

In an apologetic op-ed published by the Herald on Monday, Mitchell Price - Lime's director of government affairs and strategy - described a mechanical problem that was not only dangerous, but difficult to resolve.

"Our teams have been working around the clock to rigorously assess our fleet while working to pinpoint the cause of this issue and rectify it swiftly," he wrote.

"We hired a world-renowned, multi-disciplinary engineering and scientific consulting firm to act as an independent expert to determine the cause of the problem," he added.

Price also noted that Lime is working with consumer protection agencies around the world to ensure that its devices meet "rigorous safety expectations."

At least one of those investigations involved the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which began working with Lime in November after The Post reported that the company's scooters had been breaking apart for months while people were riding them. The company had continued to rent out structurally unsound scooters despite receiving warnings from company mechanics and other workers, Lime employees told The Post.

Before Lime's publicly acknowledged the potential fire hazard involving its batteries, some employees raised concerns internally about whether the company was doing enough to address safety risks with its scooters, according to a Lime mechanic speaking on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution for commenting publicly. The mechanic provided images of internal Slack messages in which another employee also raises concerns.

"I feel that these scoots, or the product as a whole, should be removed from the market until they are safe to handle and operate," one employee wrote in the "mechanics" slack room. "I get that the scoots are expendable and replaceable, but are we now resigned to say the same for the safety of employees and customers?"

This month, a 21-year-old exchange student from Ireland was killed in an accident involving a Lime scooter.

Police say Mark Sands was riding a Lime scooter and traveling in the wrong direction on a busy downtown street in Austin when he was struck by an Uber driver, leaving him badly injured. He was taken to a hospital but died the next day, authorities said.

Though no official tally is known, an unofficial count suggests that Sands is at least the third person to die in an accident involving the electric mobility devices, which have swept across the nation in the past year.

Sands's death follows the deaths of two other men in the past six months. Jacoby Stoneking - a 24-year-old Dallas man - died after falling off a Lime electric scooter in September and receiving blunt-force head injuries, authorities said. Carlos Sanchez-Martin of Silver Spring, Md., was fatally struck by an SUV in September while riding a Lime scooter in Washington.
Microphone and US Flag View Photos

Congresswoman Lucy McBath of Georgia delivered the Democrats Weekly Address.

McBath was Tuesdays KVML Newsmaker of the Day. Here are her words:

Hi, Im Congresswoman Lucy McBath and Im proud to represent Georgias 6th Congressional District.

There have never been more women or people of color in Congress and Im honored to be a part of this historic freshman class. I proudly serve on both the Judiciary and Education [and] Labor Committees.

This coming week, H.R.8 the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 will come to Floor of the House for a vote. This historic, bipartisan gun violence prevention legislation was introduced by Mike Thompson and was co-sponsored by myself and many of my colleagues. The bill will ensure background checks for all gun sales, including unlicensed gun dealers.

As many of you may know, gun violence is an issue that is deeply personal for me. In 2012, my son Jordan Davis was shot and killed by a man who opened fire on a car of unarmed teenagers at a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida. My son Jordan was 17 years old. Jordan would have turned 24 this past weekend.

After my sons death, I dedicated my life to advocating for commonsense gun safety solutions. But, it was the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida last year that finally motivated me to run for Congress.

The pain of losing a child to gun violence never ends. It is that pain which drives my work to prevent gun violence.

These stories are vitally important as we work to pass commonsense gun safety legislation to keep families like ours from experiencing the horror and the heartbreak brought on by gun violence.

The overwhelming, bipartisan support for universal background checks symbolizes the power of advocacy and the incredible power of the survivors, family members and students who have shared their stories as they advocate for commonsense gun safety solutions and demand that we act to address gun violence.

House Democrats are taking action to make sure our communities and our nation are safer.

We need commonsense legislation to prevent gun violence and ensure that mothers and fathers have one less reason to worry. This gives students one less thing to fear when they walk into school. Most importantly, it makes our communities and our nation a safer place to live.

Thank you.

The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML.
So as not to end the school year past the first week of June, SD225 officials also decided to have a late arrival day on March 4  which would have been a day off in observance of Casimir Pulaski Day. Also, students will attend June 7, according to the report.
Looking at the role of womens bodies in theater, historically women have not been taught to use their bodies to hold power, Mallory said. Asking these women to take up physical space and to use their bodies for provocation and to create obstacles, has been freeing for them.
Jacksonville High School will remember the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting this week and honor the victims memory by discussing ways to prevent school shootings and suicides.

The high school is taking a part in a program created by Sandy Hook Promise, a national non-profit organization started by the families of the Sandy Hook victims.

On Dec. 14, 2012, 26 students and adults were killed by Adam Lanza after he entered the school with a semi-automatic assault rifle.

JHS Principal Andrea Lee received an email about the program and felt it was something that the students need to learn about, she said.

These kids are old enough to remember Sandy Hook, Lee said. We have to help ensure that, if they see something, they say something. We want them to think, What part do you play in making sure something doesnt happen?

Lee said providing the process and signs hopefully will help students come forward in the future.

We know the importance of continuing to make our schools as safe as possible, Lee said. We cant just assume kids know that if they see something they need to report it.

Students will watch videos that discuss the different signs of suicide or plans for a mass shooting, social media and how to relay the information to the appropriate person, school counselor Sherri McLaughlin said.

The school is encouraging students to wear green on Friday  Sandy Hooks school color  in honor of those who lost their lives and to sign pledge posters to Say Something if they see or hear something, McLaughlin said.

Reporting is one way to help decrease the number of lives lost to a mass shooting or suicide, she said.

People planning to commit suicide or a shooting often tell somebody something before they do it, McLaughlin said. This could save lives, including suicides.

According to Sandy Hook Promise, 80 percent of school shooters told someone of their plans, while seven out of 10 people who commit suicide told someone of their plans.

Lee hopes that, by participating in the program, students will be able to break the stigma of talking to adults about things they see, she said.

We have a barrier we need to break with a lot of kids, Lee said. There is a social stigma, I guess. Students dont want to tell on each other or they are worried they are overreacting or misunderstood.

JHS students are encouraged to use Twitter on Friday to post something positive or something theyve learned from the program using the hash tag #JHSsaysomething. Some favorite tweets will earn prizes. Students participating in Green Day on Friday also will be entered to win a prize.

Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1233, or on Twitter @JCNews_samantha.
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:
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Jensen has been on administrative leave since Clements death on Interstate 90 following an hour-long standoff with police. The 34-year-old woman initially refused to get out of her SUV, and then set it on fire before exiting with a knife in her hand, prompting Jensen to shoot her three times.
Muskogee, OK (74401)

Today

Light rain early with thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. High 82F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous during the evening. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
AUSTIN  More than 200 major corporations and wealthy individuals gave nearly $5 million to help fund Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov Dan Patricks inaugural celebrations last month, according to figures recently made public.

Nearly two-thirds of the contributions came from business groups, including AT&T, H-E-B and Midland-based Petroplex Energy Inc., according to a list of donors released last week by The 2019 Texas Inaugural Committee.
The names "Bonnie and Clyde" ring a bell, but what about the Texas lawmen who stopped them?

Former Texas Rangers Frank Hamer and Manny Gault are credited for halting notorious 1930s-era gangsters Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, known for a two-year spree of robberies and law enforcement killings throughout the Central United States.

In 1934, Hamer and Gault set up an ambush on a rural Louisiana road and, with the help of local authorities, killed the criminal duo in a hail of gunfire, according to an account on the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum website.

RELATED: Original Bonnie and Clyde indictments uncovered in old Tarrant County court records

A new Netflix movie spotlights the two lawmen, with Woody Harrelson playing Gault and Kevin Costner playing Hamer. The official trailer was published last week, and the movie is set to release March 15.

"When the full force of the FBI and the latest forensic technology aren't enough to capture the nation's most notorious criminals, two former Texas Rangers must rely on their gut instincts and old school skills to get the job done," according to the full movie synopsis.

In the trailer, the lawmen refer to themselves as Texas Rangers, but they weren't Rangers during the Bonnie and Clyde investigation. They reportedly left in 1932 after Governor Miriam "Ma" Ferguson was re-elected.

Hamer and several other Rangers resigned because of the corruption and "softness" on crime during her previous term, according to the Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum website. Ferguson fired the entire Texas Ranger force anyway on her second day and replaced them with political appointees, the website said.

Gault and Hamer were commissioned as special investigators to end the Bonnie and Clyde crime spree in 1934.

Hamer was able to recognize a pattern to Clyde Barrow's travels and started anticipating the gang's move, the website said. Eventually, in May of that year, Hamer and Gault set up the ambush with the help of Louisiana's Bienville Parrish Sheriff Henderson Jordan.

Click through the gallery above to see a more complete history of Bonnie and Clyde.

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.
Two Odessa women have been arrested following the death of an 81-year-old woman, according to an Odessa Police Department press release.

Traci Lee Alaniz, 60, and Ashley Ann Alaniz, 33, were arrested Sunday after OPD obtained a warrant for their arrest. Traci Lee Alaniz was arrested for a first-degree felony charge of injury to the elderly (family violence) and Ashley Alaniz, for failure to report a felony, a Class A misdemeanor.
The Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency rejected the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) request to hold a public hearing regarding the agencies proposed increase in the residential appraisal threshold.

ASA, along with other groups, requested a public hearing about the proposed $150,000 increase of the residential appraisal threshold. From its current level of $250,000, the threshold will go up to $400,000  exempting over seven in 10 federally related transactions from Title XI appraisal requirements.

The regulators have already solicited public comment on the proposal, and they maintained that process was sufficient for gauging reaction.
Moultrie, GA (31768)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 86F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 68F. Winds light and variable.


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.
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Plans to turn a former mill into a hotel has changed. A new Pizza Hut is being proposed and it looks like the former Sagebrush building will s
Combining cellphones, following too close, rainy weather and constant construction is not a good recipe, he said.

There is no wiggle room out there with the jersey barriers [ along the construction site ] if you get off a little and hit those barriers you will go cart-wheeling, he said.

Where the construction starts at the 115 mile marker is where Joines says one of the problems lies.

In that little narrowing near the [ start ] of the bridge , that is part of the catalyst right there, he said.

When you are in a construction zone such as this one and you combine any type of distracted driving , it will not have a good outcome, Joines said.

If you come over the white lines a little bit you are automatically within 2 feet of a barrier, he said.

One of the main distracted driving habits that Joines has seen includes people following too close behind the vehicle in front of them .

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Following too close is the biggest factor out there (because) if you are following too close at 60 mph and you are t wo car lengths [behind a vehicle] and get distracted by your phone or radio  you do not physically have the ability to stop in time to avoid a collision, he said.
The History Museum of Burke County will welcome the Rev. Dr. Scott A. Oxford, who will speak on the topic, A Measure of What Has Gone Before: Sketches of the Life of Father Eugene Lenoir Avery, at 10 a.m. Thursday at the museum as part of its Coffee at the Museum series. The presentation is free and open to the community, and refreshments will be served.

Father Avery was an African-American native of Burke County, born and raised in a time of Jim Crow, Oxford said in a press release on the event. Educated and nurtured by the community of St. Stephens Episcopal Church, Avery went on to graduate from St. Augustines College and the Bishop Payne Divinity School. He was ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1933.

Oxford himself has local ties. He grew up attending Grace Episcopal Church of Morganton, graduated from Freedom High School in 1975, served as the curator of the North Carolina Room at the Burke County Public Library from 1980-84 and is a past president of the Burke County Historical Society and the Burke County Genealogical Society.

He earned a bachelors degree in history from Appalachian State University, a Master of Divinity from the School of Theology in Sewanee, Tennessee , and a Doctor of Ministry from the Theological School at Drew University in New Jersey.
Earlier today, shares of Experience Co Ltd [ASX:EXP] were up by 26.92%, to 33 cents per share. They are now trading at 32 cents.

Watch These 10 Aussie Mining Stocks Go NUTS in 2019 (No. Eight Is A Ripper!)

Experience Cos share price pushes higher

Experience Co Ltd, an adventure tourism and leisure company, announced financial results for the half year ended 31 December 2018. Experience delivered underlying EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of $17.3 million (1H18: $13.2 million). It also reaffirmed guidance of $30 million to $33 million underlying EBITDA for the Financial Year 2019.

Whats up next for Experience Cos share price?

The share price reacted positively to the news:





Source: CommSec

Experience has been in a downtrend for the past year. The company experienced tough financial numbers on the back of poor weather and unfortunate fatalities. That said, given the corporate restructure, the business is heading in the right direction now. The share price surged more than 25% as a result today.

Experience Executive Chairman Bob East told the market:

The business is in a strong position and the leadership changes are expected to deliver improved operational and financial performance for FY19 and beyond. The skydiving business has delivered solid results in the first half of the financial year and volumes are expected to continue to stabilise into the second half of FY19. The Group is well positioned in major tourism hubs in Australia and New Zealand.

The financials and balance sheet are improving.

Thats good news for shareholders.

If the company hits its FY19 targets, the share price could potentially move towards the 60-cent level in the months ahead. But theres no guarantee that will happen. It depends on the weather, among other things. But, with the share price heavily sold off, it could offer a good opportunity at these prices.

From its origins in Wollongong NSW in 1999, Experience provides skydiving experiences in 16 locations across Australia and three locations across New Zealand. The company also offers white water rafting, hot air ballooning, canyoning, boat tours and helicopter tours to the Great Barrier Reef in North Queensland.

Regards,

Jason Stevenson,

Resources Analyst, Money Morning

PS: Interested in mining stocks? My free new investor report, Top 10 Mining Money-Makers to Buy Now, has everything you need to know to get started. To download that report for free, go here.
I would argue that memorizing the minutia is part of why people become disconnected. As a teacher I would be hard-pressed to tell somebody that you need to know James Madison wrote the Federalist Papers (a question asked on many citizenship tests) but I do think you need to know what those papers were about, because that is what were dealing with right now  factions, people dividing into camps.
The IL&FS bond toxicity contagion is spreading rapidly. The virus has now spread to a rather large body of savers, in this case insured, which coming as it does just before the general election is not good news for the government. With a concerned Trinamool Congress top gun and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Brinda Karat both expressing their displeasure over the exposure of 1.5 million salaried employees to these highly toxic bonds in IL&FS, the emergence of Postal Life Insurance (PLI) policyholders being exposed to the same bonds directly will lead to soul searching by the government.

It is imperative for the government to take congnisance of this terminal decline in these bonds and to look at an immediate corrective strategy to arrest the growing panic. What is worrisome is that at the end of 2016-17, 213,323 new policies were added to the PLI policyholders' list with a sum assured of Rs11,096.67 crore. For the total number of 4.68 million policies at the end of the FY 2016-17, the aggregate sum of Rs1,13,084.31 crore was involved which is humongous by itself. The fund balance at the end of FY 2016-17 was Rs55,058.61 crore while premium income for that year was Rs7233.89 crore.

Given that this is life insurance business, its exposure to the toxic bonds is direct, unlike salaried employees of private and PSU companies which is indirect through EPFO and pension funds.

Top of the line private and public sector companies as exposed by IANS are part of this myriad list. The ever burgeoning community of salaried employees is concerned about its money deposited with the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). At the cutting edge of the ever burgeoning IL&FS crisis, these employees are exposed to toxic investments. Most of these Employee Provident Funds and Employee Pension Funds have already stated that the IL&FS resolution plan must provide repayment before secured creditors as the resolution framework proposed by the company doesn't provide for any payment to secured creditors.

PLI is the oldest insurance company in India which was formed on 1 February 1884 under British India. The insurance company was initially set up for the welfare of postal employees. Their plans are exclusive to public sector employees. As far back as in 1894, it became the first insurance company to cover female employees of the P&T Department. It is enormously popular because it is the only insurer in the Indian Life Insurance market today which gives the highest return (bonus) with the lowest premium charged for any product in the market.

PLI has grown substantially from a few hundred policies in 1884 to more than 4.6 million policies as of 31 March 2017.

It now covers employees of Central and state governments, Central and state public sector undertakings, universities, government-aided educational institutions, nationalised banks, local bodies, autonomous bodies, joint ventures having a minimum of 10% government/PSU stake, credit cooperative societies, etc. PLI also extends the facility of insurance to the officers and staff of the defence services and paramilitary forces.

Apart from single insurance policies, PLI also manages a group insurance scheme for the extra departmental employees (gramin dak sevaks) of the department of posts. PLI is an exempted insurer under Section 118 (c) of the Insurance Act of 1938. It is also exempted under Section 44 (d) of LIC Act, 1956.

If one adds a vast number of 4.68 million policies which are now exposed to this new bug, then the number of salaried and other types of government employees rises to close to 61 lakh. The company enjoys a vast network spread across the country with around 1,55,669 branches making it India's largest and also the most trusted retail and financial services provider. When contacted on the new expose, IL&FS declined to comment.

The types of policies vary and are essentially five in numberwhole life assurance (Suraksha), edowment assurance (Santosh), convertible whole life assurance (Suvidha), anticipated endowment assurance (Sumangal), joint life assurance (Yugal Suraksha) and children policy (Bal Jeevan Bima).

Some of the affected entities have filed an intervening petition with the tribunal (NCLAT), thereby impleading themselves in this gargantuan case on how to run a corporate into the ground, include Apco Infratech, Apco, Titan, Asian Paints PF, Asian Paints Management Cadre Superannuation scheme, Aditya Birla Sun Life MF, Thomas Cook PF, Titan Watches, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), M & M PF, Himami, Bajaj Finance, Hindalco EPF, Max Financial Services PF Trust, IDBI Trusteeship Services Ltd, IndusInd Bank, Hudco Employees CPF, MMTC CPF, 63 Moons, Nayara Energy EPF, Indian Oil Corp, ITPO, CIDCO, SBI PF, GUVNL PF, Ambuja Cement, HDFC AMC, IREDA among others.

The employee provident funds of various companies and other entities had invested in IL&FS bonds and bond-holders are unsecured and may or may not get paid in the ongoing crisis at IL&FS. In any case, they are seen pretty much last on the priority list.

Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and do not reflect views of Moneylife and hence Moneylife is not responsible or liable for the same. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article.
Indian Air Force on Tuesday carried out pre-dawn air strikes on terror camps across the Line of Control (LoC) in the Pakistani side, 12 days after Pulwama terrorist attack in Kashmir. While the initial response of the financial market has been negative, State Bank of India (SBI) says it believes such attacks are unlikely to have any material impact on the markets.

In a note, SBI says, "...the impact of todays air strikes will have no material impact on the markets as like the Kargil and Uri. For one thing in common, these conflicts are more localised in nature. Also, now that India has clearly reaffirmed that its patience cannot be taken for granted, these strikes in fact act as a positive deterrent for the markets for the decisiveness in Indias foreign policy."

For example, the Kargil War was fought between India and Pakistan in Kargil during May to July 1999. During this period, leading indices of Indian stock markets showed an initial decline but strong recovery thereafter.

The Sensex and the NIFTY declined by 286 points and 79 points in three trading initial days, respectively, but recovered strongly thereafter and ended higher by 652 points and 191 points, respectively, when the conflict ended.

During the period, the Indian rupee had depreciated by 1.2% against the dollar, while there was a minor change of 2bps (basis points) in 10-year government securities (G-Secs). It may be noted that India had a fiscal deficit of close to 6% in FY2000. Interestingly, the rupee stayed at the nearly the same level during the rest of the FY2000 indicating that the value of the rupee is more determined by external factors, the note says.

The overall impact of the Kargil War, thus, was actually market-positive, SBI says, adding that the economy grew at the same pace in 1999-2000 as the year beforea healthy 6.5%.

In a similar vein, according to SBI, post the Uri surgical strikes, Indian financial markets gained with the Sensex climbing by more than 100 points and the rupee appreciating.

On 29 September 2016, India announced that it conducted 'surgical strikes' against terrorist launch pads across the line of control in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, and inflicted significant casualties.

SBI says, "Post the surgical strike, the leading indices of Indian stock markets showed decline for couple of months but recovered thereafter. The Sensex and Nifty had declined by 1,462 points and 491 points, respectively in the post three months, but recovered thereafter and ended higher by whopping 3,456 points and 1,198 points, respectively in post one year. After one year, the rupee had appreciated by 2.36% against the US dollar, while 10-year G-secs moderated by 20 bps. Overall impact of the Uri surgical strike war was actually positive for the market."

"Indian economy is currently on a sound footing with favourable macro numbers. Clearly, for India, historical evidence shows that geopolitical risks do not translate into political risks," SBI concluded.
The major indices of the Indian stock markets suffered a correction on Tuesday because of Indian Air Force (IAF) strike early morning in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). On the NSE, there were 605 advances, 1115 declines and 340 unchanged. The trends of the major indices in the course of Tuesdays trading are given in the table below:

The benchmark index Sensex fell over 500 points on Tuesday after Pakistan claimed that Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter jets crossed the Line of Control (LoC) and returned after dropping a payload. The Nifty also slipped below the 10,800 mark. All the sectoral indices witnessed heavy selling pressure both on NSE and BSE. At 10.31 a.m., the Sensex traded 351.42 points or 0.97% lower at 35,861.96 while the Nifty declined over 107.95 points at 10,772.15. Banks and metal companies faced the brunt of the selling pressure in the morning session. However. both Nifty and Sensex trimmed their losses to some extent after tanking in the early morning trade.

Global markets continued to gain on easing trade tension between US and China and declining crude oil prices. Among the sectors which gained were auto, IT and and media stocks.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said it has attached properties of absconding diamantaire Nirav Modi and his associate companies to the tune of Rs 147 crore in connection with its ongoing probe into the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case. The agency in a statement said that the action was taken under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002. The ED claimed that during investigation, it was revealed that substantial proceeds of crime obtained fraudulently by the Nirav Modi-owned group of firms Solar Exports, Stellar Diamonds, Diamond RUS from PNB were diverted to the absconding diamantaire, his relatives and entities controlled by him. The ED had earlier attached properties in India and abroad to the tune of Rs 1,725.36 crore. Besides the properties, the ED had also attached gold, diamond, bullions, jewellery and other valuables worth Rs 489.75 crore.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) into India in April-December 2018 declined by 7% to $33.5 billion over $36 billion received during the same period of the last fiscal, according to latest official data. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) data showed that India's total FDI inflows, including reinvested earnings and other capital flows, was $46.62 billion in April-December of the current fiscal.

Kotak Mahindra Bank has raised the limit on total shareholding of foreign institutional investors and foreign portfolio investors in the company to 45% from 43%. The hike in the shareholding limit is due to the central bank directive on reducing its Chief Executive Uday Kotak's stake in the bank.

The Indian drug regulator may give partial and full waiver on clinical trials to companies developing specific orphan drugs. The government is expected to come out with a clear policy on approvals of orphan drugs in the New Drugs and Clinical trials Rules, 2018. Currently, medicines used in treatment of rare diseases with less than five lakh patients typically fall under the category of orphan drugs.

The top gainers and top losers of the major indices are given in the table below:

The closing values of the major Asian indices are given in the table below:
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump both arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday, the eve of their second summit at which they will tackle how to implement a North Korean pledge to give up its nuclear weapons.

Trump flew into the capital Hanoi on Air Force One, touching down just before 9 p.m. (1400 GMT).

Kim arrived by train early in the day after a three-day, 3,000 km (1,850 mile) journey from his capital, Pyongyang, through China. He completed the last stretch from a border station to Hanoi by car.

The two leaders, who seemed to strike up a surprisingly warm relationship at their first summit in Singapore last June, will meet for a brief one-on-one conversation on Wednesday evening, followed by a dinner, at which they will each be accompanied by two guests and interpreters, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.</p><p>They will meet again on Thursday, she said.

Their talks come eight months after the historic summit in Singapore, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.

While the first meeting was all about breaking the ice after decades of war and bitter animosity between their countries, this time there will be pressure on both to move beyond the vaguely worded commitment they made in Singapore to work toward the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Trump's critics at home have warned him against cutting a deal that would do little to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions, urging specific, verifiable North Korean action to abandon the nuclear weapons that threaten the United States.

In return, Kim would expect significant U.S. concessions such as relief from punishing sanctions and a declaration that the 1950-53 Korean War is at last formally over.

Trump, landing in darkness, waved as he disembarked Air Force One and was met by senior Vietnamese and U.S. officials. Trump's motorcade passed by crowds waving the flags of Vietnam, the United States and North Korea on its way to the JW Marriott Hotel, his accommodation for the two-day summit.

Earlier, Vietnamese officials were on hand to greet Kim at the station in Dong Dang town after he crossed the border from China. He got a red-carpet welcome with honour guard, military band and fluttering North Korean and Vietnamese flags.

Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, who has emerged as an important aide, arrived with him.

About a dozen bodyguards briefly ran alongside Kim's car as he set off for the two-hour journey to Hanoi, smiling and waving to children lining the route from his limousine.

Roads were closed with Vietnamese security forces in armoured-personnel carriers guarding the route to the city's Melia hotel where he is staying.

Vietnamese authorities have been tight-lipped about the summit and have yet to announce where the two will meet.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also arrived on Tuesday and met Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh for talks.

'TREMENDOUS'

Trump told reporters before he left he and Kim would have "a very tremendous summit".

Tweeting on Monday, he stressed the benefits to North Korea if it gave up its nuclear weapons. "With complete Denuclearisation, North Korea will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse. Without it, just more of the same. Chairman Kim will make a wise decision!" Trump said.

In a speech late on Sunday, Trump, however, appeared to play down the possibility of a major breakthrough, saying he would be happy as long as North Korea maintained its pause on weapons testing.

"I'm not in a rush," he said. "I just don't want testing. As long as there's no testing, we're happy."

North Korea conducted its last nuclear test in September 2017 and its last intercontinental ballistic missile test in November 2017.

Analysts say the two leaders have to move beyond summit symbolism.

"The most basic yet urgent task is to come to a shared understanding of what denuclearisation would entail," said Gi-Wook Shin, director of Stanfords Asia-Pacific Research Center.

"The ambiguity and obscurity of the term 'denuclearisation' only exacerbates the scepticism about both the U.S. and North Korean commitments to denuclearisation.

While the United States is demanding North Korea give up all of its nuclear and missile programmes, North Korea wants to see the removal of the U.S. nuclear umbrella for South Korea.

A South Korean presidential spokesman told reporters in Seoul the two sides might be able to agree to a formal end of the Korean War, which was concluded with an armistice not a peace treaty, a move North Korea has long sought.

Protesters in Seoul tore up photographs of Kim and threw them to the ground to highlight their dismay that North Korea's grim human rights record was not expected to figure in talks.

Amnesty International said Trump had disregarded human rights to gain favour with Kim.

"His silence in the face of relentless and grave human rights violations has been deafening," it said.
Pakistan's former military dictator Gen (retd.) Pervez Musharraf has termed talk of any nuclear war with India as rubbish, saying if Pakistan would attack India with one atomic bomb, then New Delhi could "finish us by attacking with 20 bombs". "It is not so simple. Do not talk like this. There is always a military strategy," Musharraf, who is on self-exile in Dubai, said in response to a question at a news conference in Dubai on Friday evening.

His statement came amid heightened tension between the two nuclear-armed countries after the February 14 suicide attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad that killed at least 40 CRPF soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008, termed talk of any nuclear war as rubbish, Dawn newspaper reported.

In pics | Surgical strike 2.0: Here's what we know about IAF airstrikes on JeM terror camps

"If Pakistan would attack India with one atomic bomb, then the neighbouring country could finish us by attacking with 20 bombs," he was quoted as saying by the paper.

"The only solution is that we should first attack them with 50 atom bombs so that they cannot hit us with 20 bombs. Are you ready to first launch an attack with 50 bombs?" he asked.

Musharraf, who was the army chief of Pakistan during the Kargil War in 1999, said India had advantage in some areas in Kashmir and it could launch a surgical strike, but Pakistan also had advantage in many other areas. He suggested to Pakistan Army to keep a plan prepared before time to deal with any possible Indian move, the paper said.

The former general has been declared a fugitive in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case and the Red Mosque cleric killing case. He is facing several cases including a treason case for suspending the Constitution in 2007. He left for the UAE in 2016 for medical treatment and has not returned since.
Pakistan has a long history of harbouring terrorists and America should not give Islamabad even a dollar until it corrects its behaviour, Indian-American former US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley has said as she praised the Trump administration for wisely restricting financial assistance to the country.

Haley, who has founded a new policy group 'Stand America Now' that will focus on how to keep the US safe, strong, and prosperous, wrote in an op-ed that when the US provides aid to nations, "it is more than fair to ask what the U.S. gets in return for our generosity" but instead Pakistan routinely opposed the US position at the UN on several issues.

"In 2017, Pakistan received nearly USD 1 billion in US foreign aid, the sixth most of any country. Much of the aid went to the Pakistani military. Some went for road, highway, and energy projects to assist the Pakistani people," Haley wrote in the op-ed 'Foreign Aid Should Only Go To Friends'.

"On all key votes at the UN, Pakistan opposed the American position 76 per cent of the time. Much more troubling, Pakistan also has a long history of harbouring terrorists who have killed US troops in Afghanistan," she said.

Haley, the former Governor of South Carolina, added that the Trump Administration has "already wisely restricted assistance to Pakistan, but there is much more to be done."

Haley, who had stepped down as the US envoy to the UN at the end of last year, has previously strongly criticised Pakistan for continuing to harbour terrorists that turn around and kill American soldiers while taking billions of dollars in foreign aid from the US.

In an interview to US magazine 'The Atlantic' in December, Haley had said the US did not need to give money to countries that wish harm to America, go behind its back and try and "stop us from doing things".

"The one example I'll give you is, look at Pakistan. Giving them over a billion dollars, and they continue to harbour terrorists that turn around and kill our soldiers that's never okay. We shouldn't even give them a dollar until they correct it. Use the billion dollars. That's not a small amount of change," she had said.

Last September, the Trump administration cancelled USD 300 million in military aid to Islamabad for not doing enough against terror groups active on its soil. Trump had defended his administration's decision to stop hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Pakistan, saying Islamabad does not do "a damn thing" for the US and its government helped late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden hide near its garrison city of Rawalpindi.

Haley's new policy group aims to promote public policies that strengthen America's economy, culture, and national security.

The group will provide information to grassroots Americans, to highlight the dangers and the opportunities they face domestically and internationally. It will advocate the policies that strengthen the US at all levels of government and in the broader media and culture.
Twelve days after the Pulwama terror attack shook the nation, the Indian Air Force on Tuesday intruded into Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) with a payload of 1000 Kg laser-guided bombs to ambush Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps.

The operation was carried out in the wee hours around 3.30 am; 12 Mirage-2000 fighter jets were deployed for the same.

While India owns several fighter jets such as the Sukhoi, MiG 29, and Tejas, when it came to carrying out Tuesdays attack, the forces relied on the Mirage-2000, an aircraft that had helped turn the course of the Kargil war in 1999. At present, there are over 50 Mirage 2000s in the IAF's fleet and most of them are being upgraded with modern capabilities. The three squadrons are based in Gwalior.

Speaking on the jet' outstanding capabilities and what makes it the most suited for such strikes, Ashok Saxena, former Managing Director of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), told News18, "Mirages can fly at very high altitudes and can hit targets with great precision. The most capable of fighter jets available with India are the Sukhoi-30 Mki, but they can be used in case of further escalation. Mirages are best suited for operations requiring high stealth capabilities."'

He added: They proved their worth in Kargil. This might be the strategic reason to use them (in air strikes).

In pics | Surgical strike 2.0: Here's what we know about IAF airstrikes on JeM terror camps

Lets find out why the French-made Dassault Mirage-2000 fighter jets are the chosen one.

History

The jets were first commissioned in 1985. Considering the capacity and capabilities, the IAF decided to name it Vajra (thunderbolt). The aircraft debuted in 1978 and in 1984 it was inducted in the French Air Force.

India acquired the jets in 1982 as a response to Pakistans purchase US-made F-16 fighter jets. The first order placed was for 36 single-seaters and four twin-seater Mirage 2000.

After its resounding success in the 1999 Kargil War, India placed an additional order of 10 more of the Mirage-2000s.

Specifications

Mirage 2000 is a multirole combat jet made by Frances Dassault Aviation. It has been operational with the French Air Force since 1984 and was acquired by several nations such as Abu Dhabi, Egypt, Greece, India, Peru, Qatar, Taiwan, and the UAE.

The jets are available in two varieties -- single-seater and two-seater. The aircraft is operated with a centre stick and left-hand throttles. It has tricycle-like retractable landing gears, with twin nosewheels. Additionally, there are provisions to attach a brake parachute under the jets tail, which can function along with the landing gear's brakes to reduce landing distance.

What makes it worthy is that unlike most other fighter jets Mirage-2000 uses a single shaft engine, which makes it much lighter and simpler than the others.

Moreover, the Mirage 2000 is powered by two versions of the M53 turbofans. The jet can pick up a maximum speed of 2,530 km per hour.

The aircraft is 14.3 m long with a height of 5.2 m and has a wingspan of 9.1 m. The combat jet weighs 21,000 lb.

Payload and armaments

The aircraft has twin in-built GIAT 30550 F4 30 mm revolver-type cannons, which have fire rates of 1,200 or 1,800 rounds per minute. The combat jet can carry laser-guided bombs, air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles.

It has nine hardpoints for carrying weapon system payloads: five on the fuselage and two on each wing. It has a self-protection suite installed internally as well.

Government sources said Mirage 2000 was chosen for the strike for its capability to hit targets with "pin-point" accuracy.

Additionally, an IAF official pointed out on conditions of anonymity that "they are fitted with Thales RDY 2 radar, which can strike at targets with 100 per cent accuracy".

--With PTI inputs
In a press briefing, MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, "One Pakistan Air Force fighter aircraft was shot down by Indian Air Force. In this engagement, we have lost one MiG 21. The pilot is missing in action. Pakistan claims he is in their custody. We are ascertaining the facts." Read on to find out everything you need to know about the India-Pak tussle. (Image: ANI)

In the wake of Pulwama terror attack which claimed the lives of 40 CRPF soldiers, Indian Air Force (IAF) launched an attack on the perpetrators Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed sending 12 Mirage-2000 jets across the Line of Control (LoC) early on February 26 morning, conducting surgical strikes on JeM camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). (Image: Moneycontrol)

Timeline of the surgical strike: The IAF jets struck JeM hotbeds with 1,000 kg laser-guided bombs in Balakot at around 3.45 am, Muzafarrabad at around 3.48 am and Chakoti at around 3.58 am. (Image: Twitter/ Gajendra Singh Shekhawat)

Casualties: The IAF primarily targeted the biggest JeM camp headed by Maulana Yusuf Azhar, alias Ustad Ghauri (not in pic) - brother-in-law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar (L). According to Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale, the location of the strike was chosen to make sure there were no civilian casualties. The total number of reported casualties were more than 200, though Pakistan has denied the same. (Image: Moneycontrol)

The instruments of destruction: The Mirage-2000 fighter jets are manufactured by French company Dassault Aviation that also manufactures the Rafale Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircrafts. One of the most versatile and deadliest aircraft in IAF's arsenal, the Mirage-2000 was first commissioned in 1985. It played a decisive role in the 1999 war of Kargil and turned it in Indias favour. The jet features a fly-by-wire flight control system and has a Sextant VE-130 HUD, which displays data related to navigation, flight control, weapon firing and target engagement. The Mirage-2000 fighter jet is capable of launching both air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles and has a Thomson-CSF RDY (Radar Doppler Multi-target) radar on board. (Image: Moneycontrol)

What Indians said: Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level CCS meeting in New Delhi early on February 26 morning along with Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Arun Jaitley on the attack. Modi also briefed President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu about Indian Air Forces striking a JeM terror camp in Balakot. (Image: ANI)

Foreign Secretary of India, Vijay Gokhale, in a press conference said that the air strikes on JeM camps were "non-military preemptive action, in the face of imminent danger." Gokhale added that the strikes were carried out on the biggest training camp in Balakot, which he said was being run by Maulana Yusuf Azhar, the brother-in-law of JeM chief, Maulana Masood Azhar. However, as of now, it is unclear whether Maula Yusuf Azhar was killed in the attack. (Image: Moneycontrol)

Lt General DS Hooda (Retd), the commanding officer of the Northern Army Command who oversaw the surgical strikes in 2016, said that the IAF must have planned it well, selected routes, used sophisticated jammers. "IAF is much superior to Pakistan as far as technology is concerned. I think we are more than adequately prepared to retaliate. My thinking is that it's not going to be anything big from their side," Hooda told News18. (Image: Wikipedia)

Opposition leaders including Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal lauded the air strike, saluting the bravado of Indian Air Force pilots. Prominent politicians such as Omar Abdullah, Mamta Banerjee and Mehbooba Mufti also weighed in on the strikes. While Abdullah speculated the response of Pakistan, Banerjee hailed the IAF. (Image: Moneycontrol)

The response: Pakistan's fighter jets violated Indian air space in Nowshera sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district but were pushed back by Indian jets on air patrol, reported PTI. (Image: Air Combat Command)

Pakistan via its Inter-Services Public Relations (DGSIPR) Twitter handle tweeted: "In response to PAF strikes this morning as released by MoFA, IAF crossed LOC. PAF shot down two Indian aircraft inside Pakistani airspace. One of the aircraft fell inside AJ&K while [the] other fell inside IOK. One Indian pilot arrested by troops on [the] ground while two in the area." However, India denied Pakistan's claim stating that all pilots have been "accounted for". The airforce further revealed that the jet that crashed in Budgam, claiming the lives of two soldiers, was actually an IAF Mi-17 helicopter, not a fighter jet and the crash was due to a technical default, not because of Pakistani attack. (Image: ANI)

Rising tension between the two nations: Reports suggest that the Indian Air Force is now in the highest state of alert. IAF jets are in a high state of readiness and can take off in two minutes. The Army and BSF have also been put on the highest degree of alertness along the border in Rajouri and Poonch districts. Authorities have ordered temporary closure of educational institutions in a 5-km radius along the Line of Control (LoC). (Image: Moneycontrol)

Home Minister Rajnath Singh has met all paramilitary DGs. Singh was briefed about the border situation. He gave specific instructions to all DGs for complete preparedness at the border and full strength deployment. Instructions were also given for safeguarding civilians and following standard operating procedures (SOPs) in case of any emergency. (Image: Moneycontrol)
Indian traders will export raw sugar to Iran for March and April delivery, five trade sources said, the first Indian sugar sales to Tehran in at least five years as Iran struggles to secure food supplies under US sanctions.

Iran is buying the sugar from India to use up the rupees it has received for oil sales to India, the world's third-largest oil user. Iran is blocked from the global financial system, including using US dollars to transact its oil sales, by sanctions imposed by the United States.

Trading houses have contracted to export 150,000 tonnes of raw sugar for shipments arriving in March and April at $305 to $310 per tonne on a free-on-board basis, the trade sources told Reuters this week.
The temporary shutdown of Lake Shore Drive in Chicago this month because of cracked steel beams has focused new attention on the structural integrity of bridges. In response to recent media reports that the two I-80 bridges over the Des Plaines River were rated 6 and 7.4 out of 100, IDOT said the bridges were safe for travel.
Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal on February 26 said the government must encourage 5G rollout in the country at the earliest by supporting the telecom sector in terms of pricing of spectrum at reasonable levels and lowering various levies.

"My recommendation is govt must encourage 5G coming in India ... rather than being late. Government can help in giving more spectrum at reasonable price," Mittal told reporters.

He said the telecom regulator TRAI recommended price is very high, as for 5G every operator will require over 100 megahertz.

"All equipment currently being deployed by Airtel are 5G ready. You cannot have a situation where you want to benefit Digital India and you tax the most. Just not get into a new dialogue... you see new DCC (Digital Communications Commission) policy. What you have committed do that," Mittal said.

The government has promised reduction in levies on the telecom sector under the new telecom policy.

He said the industry is building infrastructure for 5G service and the government has to extend support.

Mittal said that Bharti Airtel wants to have it optical fibre company Telesonic to be in place by March and it is in talks with Vodafone to join the company with its optic fibre network.
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Nearly 20 days after more than 90 percent of the workforce at tyre major MRF's factory near Chennai stopped work, the management at has agreed to their demands.

The agitation, which began on February 8 over demands for wage revision and removal of CCTV cameras from certain areas, ended on February 25. MRF, which is the largest tyre maker in the country, had termed the strike illegal.

Normal production has resumed at the Tiruvottiyur plant and salaries have been revised by Rs 16,500, union officials told Moneycontrol. It was not immediately clear if the demand of removing CCTV cameras was agreed to by the management.

The average wage per worker at the plant is about Rs 23,000 per month. The union claims that the average wages of workers at other MRF plants are about Rs 40,000 per month. The last wage settlement at the plant happened in 2009.

Only 66 of the 1025 worker employed at the factory were reporting to duty since the strike began. Production at the plant, which is one of the nine MRF plants, suffered dramatically during the period.

With regards to CCTV cameras the union had accused the management of installing them 'all over the factory' which exploited worker's privacy. The union however has no objection to installing of CCTVs at the entry gate, scrap yard and other areas.

"The installation of CCTV camera is for safety and security. The Union had sought to challenge the installation of CCTV cameras and their demands were rejected by the Industrial Tribunal. It may be noted that installation of CCTV cameras is a requirement under the prevailing laws in Tamil Nadu," a statement from MRF said on February 19.

Not far from Tiruvottiyur on February 23, striking workers at the Royal Enfield plant at Oragadam resumed work, ending their more than 10 days long agitation.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on February 26 lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for India's air strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan, commending him for his "bold" efforts against terrorism.

Modi was tasting success in rooting out terrorism, which was threatening the entire world, the chief minister said in a statement and lauded him on behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu.

"I extend my greetings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi due to whose bold functioning, a successful air strike has been carried out which has demolished terror camps in Pakistan," Palaniswami said.

In pics | Surgical strike 2.0: Here's what we know about IAF airstrikes on JeM terror camps

India conducted a major preemptive strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp on February 26, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders

The strike comes amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan following the February 14 suicide attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group in Kashmir's Pulwama district that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on February 26 visited a hospital here to meet two persons, who were injured in the violence that broke out in Itanagar recently, over granting Permanent Residence Certificate (PRC) to non-natives in Arunachal.

The doctors informed Gandhi that both the patients were undergoing treatment for compound fractures.

The Congress chief, who was there to address a public rally, travelled to the hospital soon after landing at the LGB International Airport.

He also spoke to the attendants of the patients.

"We will look into it," he told them while speaking about the violence in Itanagar.

"The doctors here are looking after them properly... Don't worry," the Congress president told them.

Assam Congress president Ripun Bora and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Takbam Sanjoy accompanied Gandhi to the hospital.

Arunachal Pradesh witnessed massive violence since February 22 in protest against a recommendation of the Joint High Power Committee granting permanent resident certificates to six communities who are not natives of the state, but have been living in Namsai and Changlang districts for decades.

The communities are the Deoris, Sonowal Kacharis, Morans, Adivasis, Mishings and Gorkhas.
The Shiv Sena on February 26 hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's gesture of washing the feet of sanitation workers at the Kumbh Mela, but said the question before these people is of their "stomach" and not feet.

The remarks came two days after Modi took a dip at the Sangam in Uttar Pradesh and conducted 'charan vandana' (washing the feet) of select sanitation workers as a mark of respect for their efforts in keeping the Kumbh Mela clean.

"Modi should be congratulated for washing the feet of sanitation workers, but the question concerning them is not about their feet but their stomach," the Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

The prime minister's "kar seva" (service with hands) will be successful only when these workers are able to stand on their own feet, the Marathi publication opined.

On February 24, the prime minister also launched the ambitious Rs 75,000-crore Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, by transferring the first instalment of Rs 2,000 each to over one crore farmers.

Referring to it, the Sena said the poll season has begun and the government has taken a slew of decisions, including PM-KISAN scheme and cutting GST from 12 to 5 percent on under-construction houses.

"There are allegations that all this is being done keeping elections in mind. However, the budget before poll announcements are made for political benefits. Every political party in power does that," said the Uddhav Thackeray-led party, an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra.

It pointed out that the prime minister attended the Republic Day function last month wearing a saffron turban in a bid to send a message to Hindu voters.

"However, the BJP lost polls in three states that were traditionally 'Hindutvawadi'," it said.

It was apparently referring to the BJP's defeat in the three Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh during the Assembly polls held there in November last year.
China on February 26 urged India and Pakistan to "exercise restraint" and asked New Delhi to carry out its fight against terrorism through international cooperation, hours after Indian fighter jets struck Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest camp in Pakistan in a pre-dawn attack.

When asked for China's response to India's airstrikes on terrorist camps in Pakistan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told the media here that we have taken note of relevant reports."

In pics | Surgical strike 2.0: Here's what we know about IAF airstrikes on JeM terror camps

"I want to say that India and Pakistan are both important countries in South Asia. A sound relationship and cooperation between the two serves the interests of both the countries and peace and stability in South Asia," he said.

"We hope that both India and Pakistan can exercise restraint and do more to improve mutual their bilateral relations," he said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on February 26 saluted the pilots of the Indian Air Force (IAF) after it carried out air strikes in Pakistan. "I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan," Kejriwal said in a tweet.

India is believed to have carried out air strikes inside Pakistan early Tuesday and targeted terror camps, sources said.

The strikes involving several fighter jets of the Indian Air Force successfully destroyed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the sources said

The Pakistan Army on February 26 alleged that the Indian Air Force violated the Line of Control (LoC) in Muzaffarabad sector.

"Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzaffarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the army, said in a tweet in Islamabad.

"Indian Air Force violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft gone back," he tweeted.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj left for China on Tuesday night to attend a meeting of foreign ministers of Russia, India and China. Her visit comes in the wake of growing tension between India and Pakistan after Indian Air Force carried out strikes on a terror camp in Pakistan in a pre-dawn operation.

She is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with the foreign ministers of Russia and China and discuss the issue with them.

"Counter-terrorism on the agenda. EAM @SushmaSwaraj departs for Wuzhen, #China for the 16th Foreign Ministers Meeting of Russia, India & China #RIC. Apart from attending the trilateral meeting, EAM will also hold bilateral discussions with Russian and Chinese Foreign Ministers," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

Besides the air strike, the Pulwama terror attack and the listing of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN are expected to figure prominently at the Russia, India and China (RIC) Foreign Ministers' meeting on Wednesday.

Besides attending the annual trilateral meeting, Swaraj would also hold bilateral talks with her Chinese and Russian counterparts on the sidelines of the meeting in which the listing of Azhar by the UN's 1267 committee is expected to figure.

Besides Swaraj and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, the meeting would be attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Kumar said.

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.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi has saluted the pilots of Indian Air Force (IAF) after the reports of bombing across the Line of Control (LoC) surfaced on February 26.



I salute the pilots of the IAF.

 Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 26, 2019

The IAFs 12 Mirage 2000 jets on the intervening night of February 25-26 bombed several terror camps across LoC and completely destroyed it, news agency ANI said citing IAF sources. The fighter jets dropped 1,000 kilogram bombs on terror camp at 3.30am, the news agency said.

Even though any the government is yet to give its comments on the strike, reactions started pouring in with ministers and leaders in opposition parties hailing the move.

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party Convenor Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah called it wow, and added if this is true this was not a small strike by any stretch of imagination but will wait for official word, should any be forthcoming.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said he was proud of Indian army. In his reaction on the report, the CM said, We have told Pakistan that our martyrs sacrifice will not go waste. I am an Indian and I feel proud today. I am waiting for more information, but I feel proud of what information I have got till now.

In pics | Surgical strike 2.0: Here's what we know about IAF airstrikes on JeM terror camps

The Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Gajendra Singh Shekhawat praised the reported IAF strike and said yeh Modi ka Hindustan hai, ghar mein ghusega bhi aur maarega bhi (This is Modis Hindustan, it will intrude in house and kill)



    ,       ,

Air Force carried out aerial strike early morning today at terror camps across the LoC and Completely destroyed it

       !     ..     ...#Balakot #Surgicalstrike2 pic.twitter.com/fqYJgWxuqX  Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (@gssjodhpur) February 26, 2019



Leader of Opposition in Bihar Tejashwi Yadav, tweeted, We salute bravery of our pilots and Air Force. We are blessed and proud of our forces. Jai Hind.

Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar hailed the reported air strikes, saying the entire nation stands firmly behind the armed forces. "It was a necessary step required for the security of the country ... it was an act of maha parakram (mightily act)," he was quoted as saying in a PTI report.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hailed the Indian Air Force (IAF) for carrying out air strikes in Pakistan. "IAF also means India's Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind," Banerjee tweeted.



Post pre dawn strikes carried out by IAF, conflicting reports coming in. Official communique by FS claims that terror training camps were bombed while Pak denied this & said that the planes made a hasty retreat after being spotted. Hope objective of both sides has been served.

 Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) February 26, 2019

Punjab Chief Minister also lauded the IAF. In a tweet, the CM said: Great job by the Indian Air Force. The IAF Strikes have sent the much needed signal to Pakistan and the terrorists its harbouring - dont think you can get away with acts like the Pulwama attack. Bravo to the IAF men and my full support for the action.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge congratulated the IAF for the air strike at JeM camp across the LoC. "We've always said that whatever action the forces take for protection of this nation, all of us will support them in unity, they are taking action against the terrorists in Pakistan," Kharge told ANI.

Makkal Needhi Maiam President Kamal Haasan tweeted," Our 12 return safely home after wreaking havoc on terrorist camps in Pakistan. India is proud of its heroes. I salute their valour."
senior commanders were eliminated# Political leaders in India, including Congress President Rahul Gandhi, have praised the strikes# PM Modi held a high-level security meeting and has briefed the President and the Vice President# Pakistan has claimed that the IAF jets violated the Line of Control (LoC)# It is violation of ceasefire. We will give a befitting reply: Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi

# Indian Air Force (IAF) Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, currently held captive by Pakistan, will be released tomorrow. The announcement was made by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other top officials of the government are meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Multiple Indian Air Force (IAF) jets on the night of February 25-26 crossed the Line of Control (LoC) and carried out limited strikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist camp.

A ceasefire violation by Pakistan Army was also reported in the Gulpur sector of Poonch late night on February 25. The Indian Army also reportedly retaliated. The firing started at around midnight and stopped at around 2.00 am. No casualties were reported. However, it is unclear if the incidents are related.
Smith was shot in the chest Wednesday in a residential block of 146th Street in Riverdale and died a short time later at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, the medical examiners office said.
Indian Air Force pounded terrorist targets across the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side in a pre-dawn strike on February 26.

On February 14, Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) had carried out the Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. As a response to that dastardly attack, Indian fighter jets struck at the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot, said Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale.

In this operation, many JeM trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis, who were being trained for fidayeen action, were eliminated, said the Foreign Secretary.

Here are the key points of IAF's operation:

>The facility, located in a thick forest on a hilltop far away from civilian presence, was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar, alias Ustad Ghouri, the brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar, he said.

Catch the live updates on the IAF strike here.

>The Foreign Secretary called the operation a "major pre-emptive strike" on JeM as it was planning more suicide attacks in India.

>After the reports of IAF's operation surfaced, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said India has committed "aggression" by violating the LoC and Islamabad has "right to respond".

>Earlier, the Pakistan Army alleged that the Indian Air Force violated the Line of Control (LoC) in Muzafarabad sector. "Indian aircraft intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said in a tweet.

Also read | Biggest JeM camp in Balakot destroyed, many terrorists killed: Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale

>Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a high-level security meeting and has briefed President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President Venkaiah Naidu about IAF's operation, said PTI quoting its sources.

>Hours after IAF's operation, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan was chairing an "important meeting" to discuss the situation, sources told PTI.

>Political leaders in India, including Congress President Rahul Gandhi, have praised the air strike.

>The ministers in the central government and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have been asked not to term February 26 air strike as a revenge to Pulwma attack, top government sources told News18.

>The government has convened an all-party meeting in the evening on February 26 where External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will brief the leaders of opposition parties on the pre-dawn air strike, sources told PTI.

They said the meeting has been convened at 5 PM at Jawahar Bhawan which houses the ministry of External Affairs. Leaders of various parties are expected to participate.

In pics | Surgical strike 2.0: Here's what we know about IAF airstrikes on JeM terror camps

>In his first public comments after the air strikes in Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country is in safe hands and that he will not let the country down.

>At a special meeting of the National Security Committee hours after Indian air strikes in Balakot inside Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan asked the armed forces and the people of Pakistan to remain prepared for all eventualities, PTI has reported.

>Asked for China's response to India's air strikes on terrorist camps in Pakistan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told the media here that "we have taken note of the relevant reports."

"I want to say that India and Pakistan are both important countries in South Asia. A sound relationship and cooperation between the two serves the interests of both the countries and peace and stability in South Asia," he said.

>Australian Foreign Ministry stated that Pakistan "must do everything possible to implement its own proscription of Jaish-e-Mohammed" and that "it can no longer allow extremist groups the legal and physical space to operate from its territory."

"These steps would make a substantial contribution to easing tensions and resolving the underlying causes of conflict. Australia urges both sides to exercise restraint, avoid any action which would endanger peace and security in the region and engage in dialogue to ensure that these issues are resolved peacefully," the statement added.

>The European Union (EU) called on New Delhi and Islamabad to exercise "maximum restraint", news agency Agence France-Presse has reported.

"We remain in contact with both countries and what we believe is essential is that all exercise maximum restraint and avoid further escalation of tensions," EU Spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic told reporters.

>The United Kingdom (UK), in a statement said that it was "concerned by rising tensions" and that it was "encouraging both sides to avoid taking action that will pose a risk to regional stability."

"The UK is working closely with international partners, including the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to ensure that those responsible for the Pulwama attack are held to account," the statement said.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Tuesday the politically sensitive Ayodhya's Ram-Janmabhoomi Babri Masjid land dispute matter. It will be heard by a five-judge constitution bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer.

The apex court had on January 27 cancelled the scheduled hearing for January 29 as Justice Bobde was not available that day.

Fourteen appeals have been filed in the apex court against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya be partitioned equally among the three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

The five-judge bench was re-constituted on January 25 as Justice U U Lalit, who was a member of the earlier bench, had recused himself from hearing the matter.

When the new bench was constituted, Justice N V Ramana was excluded from the re-constituted bench.

Justices Bhushan and Nazeer, who were included in the newly constituted bench, were part of an earlier bench headed by then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra (now retired) which had heard the Ayodhya land dispute matter.

The three-judge bench had on September 27, 2018 refused to refer to a five-judge constitution bench the issue related to reconsideration of the observation in the apex court's 1994 judgment that a mosque was not integral to Islam.

While then CJI Misra and Justice Bhushan had said it has to find out the context in which the five-judge bench had delivered the 1994 judgment, Justice Nazeer had given a minority verdict disagreeing with the two judges.

Justice Nazeer had said whether a mosque is integral to Islam has to be decided considering religious belief which requires detailed consideration.

On January 10, Justice Lalit had recused himself after expressing disinclination to participate in the hearing any further as he had appeared as a lawyer for former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh in a related matter "sometime in the year 1997".

Along with the main matters, the constitution bench will also hear the connected issues raised in separate petitions.

The Centre had on January 29 moved the apex court seeking its nod to return the 67-acre undisputed acquired land around the disputed site to original owners.

The 0.313 acre plot, on which the disputed structure stood before it was demolished by 'kar sevaks' on December 6, 1992, was within the 2.77-acre disputed premises, the plea filed by the government had said.

The government had then acquired 67.703 acres, including the 2.77-acre plot, through a legislation in 1993. The Ram Janambhoomi Nyas (RJN) is the owner of as much as 42 acres of the acquired non-disputed land.

The Centre's plea has said that the RJN (a trust to promote construction of Ram Temple) had also sought return of excess land acquired to original owners.

The Centre has claimed that only 0.313 acre of land was disputed on which the structure stood before it was demolished by 'kar sevaks' on December 6, 1992.

It has sought modification in its 2003 order and permission to return to original owners the 67 acres "non-disputed" land around the disputed structure in Ayodhya.

A week after, another petition was filed challenging the constitutional validity of a 1993 central law by which the government acquired 67.703 acres of land, including the disputed premises of Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid, in Ayodhya.

The petition, filed by seven individuals, including two Lucknow-based lawyers claiming to be devotees of Ram Lalla, has contended that Parliament had no legislative competence to acquire land belonging to the state.

Moreover, it said, the state legislature has the exclusive power to make provisions relating to the management of affairs of religious institutions inside its territory.

The petitioners, including lawyers Shishir Chaturvedi and Sanjay Mishra, submitted that the Acquisition of Certain Areas of Ayodhya Act, 1993 infringes upon the right to religion of Hindus guaranteed and protected under Article 25 (freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion) of the Constitution.

The plea has sought the court's direction restraining the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government from interfering in "Puja, Darshan and performance of rituals at the places of worship situated within the land admeasuring 67.703 acres acquired under the Act particularly at the land belonging to Shri Ram Janam Bhoomi Nyas, Manas Bhavan, Sankat Mochan Mandir, Ram Janmasthan Temple, Janki Mahal and Katha Mandap".

It also said that the law, by which the entire disputed and adjoining undisputed land was acquired, violated the freedom of the Hindus to practise their fundamental religious rights under Article 25 of the Constitution.
Representative image

India's defence ministry said on February 26 that it had no information about Pakistani allegations that Indian aircraft violated Pakistani airspace.

Pakistan's military said that Indian military aircraft crossed the Line of Control frontier in the disputed Kashmir region and "released a payload" after Pakistan scrambled its own jets, but there were no casualties or damage.

"I have no information," an Indian defence spokesman said.
Indian Air Forces (IAF) 12 Mirage 2000 jets on the intervening night of February 25-26 bombed several terror camps across LoC and completely destroyed it, reports news agency ANI citing IAF sources.

The fighter jets dropped 1,000 kilogram bombs on terror camp at 3.30am, the report said.

A News18 report, citing sources, stated the IAF strike has led to 200-300 casualties on the Pakistani side.

The terror camps targeted in the attack include several Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camps, according to a report by News18 citing top government sources. The strike caused 200-300 casualties from Pakistan side, it added.

One of the locations is reported to be a JeM hideout in Bala kote in PoK, where there was a huge blast.

The report further cites government sources as saying that it is difficult to assess the damage there and that the situation is tense in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

In pics | Surgical strike 2.0: Here's what we know about IAF airstrikes on JeM terror camps

IAF has not officially responded to the reports. Sources in the IAF, however, told News18 said that they had nothing to report on the matter.

Pakistan via its Inter-Services Public Relations (DGSIPR) Twitter handle tweeted: "Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage (sic)," the tweet by @OfficialDGISPR said.

The tweet came three hours after another tweet from the same handle saying: Indian Air Force violated Line of Control. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircrafts gone back. Details to follow.

A ceasefire violation by Pakistan Army was also reported in the Gulpur sector of Poonch late night on February 25. The Indian Army also reportedly retaliated. The firing started at around midnight and stopped at around 2.00 am. No casualties were reported. However, it is unclear if the incidents are related.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has said he forged an alliance with the BSP so that his father Mulayam Singh Yadav can win with "record votes" from whichever seat in Uttar Pradesh he chooses to fight the Lok Sabha polls.

His comment came days after SP patriarch Mulayam Yadav -- popularly known as 'netaji' -- expressed "displeasure" over his son's decision to enter into a tie-up with the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

"I have made the alliance with the BSP so that 'netaji' can win with record votes in the state from wherever he contests the Lok Sabha polls," Akhilesh told PTI in an interview.

Mayawati and Akhilesh had jointly announced the alliance in January, saying the BSP and the SP will contest 38 parliamentary seats each out of the 80 in Uttar Pradesh. However, when the parties released the list of seats shared between them, the SP got 37 seats and the BSP 38.

When asked about Mulayam Yadav's statement last week in which he sought to know the basis for "giving away" 38 seats to the BSP, Akhilesh said, "When I was going to address a press conference to announce the alliance with the BSP, I had met 'netaji' and took his blessings."

"I had informed that in the alliance we will be getting half of the seats," he said.

Following the seat-sharing announcement, SP patriarch Mulayam Yadav had said," Now, we have only half the seats left. Our party was stronger."

On the distribution of tickets, Akhilesh said, "The seats which we are going to contest is final. Now, the list of party nominees will be finalised soon. We have already identified candidates. There is no problem in it."

When asked about reports of some SP members being disgruntled over not being considered for ticket, he said the party has been making preparations for the past one year on all seats and its leaders were asked to work on the ground in their respective areas and support whoever is given a ticket.

"We all are united and contest with full force," the SP president said.

Several times, decisions in politics are taken keeping in mind equations. "Our ticket selection was on for a year, and we got 40 applications, the maximum, from those interested to contest from Amroha, 32 candidates applied for Jaunpur seat.We will take a decision accordingly," he said

The SP leader said two seats -- Raebareli and Amethi -- have been left for the Congress and two for the RLD.

"I have left Mathura seat for the RLD as they had field their candidate in the bypolls in Kairana from a SP ticket. This is an understanding between the SP and the RLD," he said

On the SP-BSP alliance's objective, Akhilesh said, "Our fight is to save the Constitution and fight those who have taken two oaths, one of government and the other of the RSS. We decided on an alliance as our goal was one -- to remove the BJP and change the prime minister."

He alleged that BJP was finishing institutions and said "its high time people should discard them".

"People are alert and they know what is happening. They are waiting for a chance to change the prime minister," Akhilesh said.

Asked about his decision to contest in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand in alliance with the BSP, he said the reason is the same -- "to counter BJP".

Attacking the BJP government in the state, Akhilesh said the lathicharge on students in Allahabad has sent an adverse message and it has proved that the government is "anti-students".

"The government is using the official machinery to settle political scores. Now, the same students and youths of the state will give a reply to the BJP," he said.
The Cabinet Committee on Security met on February 26 morning at the residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Indian Air Force carried out air strikes in Pakistan.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman were present at the meeting.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other top officials of the prime minister's office and the security apparatus were present at the meeting, official sources said.

In pics | Surgical strike 2.0: Here's what we know about IAF airstrikes on JeM terror camps

India is believed to have carried out air strikes inside Pakistan early on February 26 and targeted terror camps, sources said.

The strikes involving several fighter jets of the Indian Air Force successfully destroyed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the sources said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 26 made an indirect reference to the air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force on terror camps across the LoC when he sought apology from the audience at the Rashtrapati Bhawan for being late as he was "busy" with "some other work".

He had chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security at his official residence around 10.00 am before rushing to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, where President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2015-2018.

The event at the Rashtrapati Bhawan was to begin at 11.00 am, but started a little late.

"First of all, my apologies or being late. The programme started late as I reached here (Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhawan) late. I was busy in some other work and I was late," he said while addressing the gathering.

In a pre-dawn operation, the Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side, 12 days after the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.
Picture for representation

Indigo Airlines was at the receiving end on February 24 as its goodwill gesture of waiving off cancellation charge for a family was criticised and was even made a laughing matter on Twitter.



Update on this case: @IndiGo6E has offered a refund for the Banday family. They will buy new tickets. They may have to stay at someone's place in Delhi till then. That has been arranged. Unfortunate incident where a family is punished for the travel agent's error.

 Shehla Rashid   (@Shehla_Rashid) February 24, 2019

The issue concerns a family from Kashmir that was denied boarding by IndiGo over a name mix-up. After learning about the case, former JNU student leader Shehla Rashid tweeted condemning Indigo Airlines for cancelling a Kashmiri familys ticket.

Her post, however, started trending on Twitter for very different reasons.

Shehla had posted on Twitter about the injustice being meted out to the hapless lot for a mistake that was made by travel agents.

Indigo Airlines replied to the tweet, explaining how they just followed the procedure and protocol set by the DGCA. The airline also said that as a goodwill gesture it even waived off the entire cancellation charge.

However, this grabbed eyeballs of erstwhile dismayed passengers of the airline who began sharing their rather funny and sad refund stories.

From getting back Rs 16 to none, the Twitter users went on an unabashed rant, calling out the airlines' double standards and lack of a uniform refund policy.



I cancelled a ticket and you guys charged 3K as the cancellation amount! I got 0 as refund! So, you have one set of rules for Kashmiris and another set of rules for the rest of India?! I am going to file a complaint with the DGCA. Absolutely ridiculous.

  Chitta (@dakshinayana) February 25, 2019



Same thing happened with me, by mistake we cancelled ticket and I just got Rs 200 back. Why this partially with all of us, rules should be same for every Indian.

 sonal (@comeonletsshare) February 25, 2019



I once cancelled a Rs 11,000 ticket with @IndiGo6E

They refunded 16 freaking Rs. 16 Rs. Why is this generosity reserved only for Kashmiris @IndiGo6E do we, rest of the Indians, grow money on trees? https://t.co/2KC1G3NNAh  Insanely Sane (@Sanity_3) February 25, 2019



I got 300/- refund for 8000 /- ticket , wow, n I thought that was their policy coz thats what they told me

 Rover (@AlmostFading) February 25, 2019



Last time around, when I realized that I would get less than Rs.100 refund- I decided to go ahead and do a web-checkin, so that @IndiGo6E does not make even more money from my seat. Maybe that's why they decided to make web-checking chargeable. :)

 Vikram Mohan (@TheVikramMohan) February 25, 2019



I was give 99. Seems i got lucky!!

 Greedy for  (@Greedy_CA) February 25, 2019

Lets take a look at some of the anecdotes shared on Twitter:
Seeking to curb excessive salary payout practices, the Reserve Bank has proposed strict compensation norms for senior officials of private as well as foreign banks, including minimum 50 percent variable component and money clawback provisions.

Floating a discussion paper, the central bank has also proposed that variable pay of CEO and whole-time directors, among other key personnel, should be "capped at 200 percent of fixed pay". Earlier variable pay was capped at 70 percent of fixed pay but did not include Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP).

High pay packets and excessive risk-taking ways in the banking industry have been under the scanner ever since the global financial crisis of 2008. Employees were too often rewarded for increasing short-term profit without adequate recognition of the risks and long-term consequences for their organisations.

"These (2012) guidelines are being reviewed, with an objective to better align with FSB (Financial Stability Board) Principles and Implementation Standards, based on experience and evolving international best practices," the RBI said.

Apart from CEOs and whole-time directors, the proposed changes in compensation would be applicable for "material risk takers and control function staff".

It has also been suggested that ESOPs should be included as a component of variable pay.

The proposed guidelines also said minimum 50 percent of variable pay is to be via non-cash component while mandating a compulsory deferral mechanism for variable pay, regardless of quantum of variable pay.

"It should be ensured that there is a proper balance between fixed pay and variable pay. The total variable pay shall be limited to a maximum of 200 percent of the fixed pay (for the relative period).

"Within this ceiling, at higher levels of responsibility, the proportion of variable pay should be higher. The deterioration in the financial performance of the bank should generally lead to a contraction in the total amount of variable compensation paid," the discussion paper said.

Further, the paper said banks are required to put in place appropriate modalities to incorporate "malus/ clawback mechanism" in respect of variable pay, taking into account relevant statutory and regulatory stipulations as applicable.

"Wherever the assessed divergence in bank's asset classification or provisioning from the RBI norms exceeds the prescribed threshold for public disclosure, the bank shall not pay the unvested portion of the variable compensation for the assessment year under 'malus' clause," it added.

A malus arrangement permits a bank to prevent vesting of all or part of the amount of a deferred remuneration. A clawback, on the other hand, is a contractual agreement between the employee and the bank in which the employee agrees to return previously paid or vested remuneration to the bank under certain circumstances.

In case of divergence (difference between bad assets declared by bank and assessed by RBI), no proposal for increase in variable pay (for the assessment year) should be entertained, it added.

Comments have been sought on the discussion paper till March 31.

In the discussion paper, the RBI said compensation practices, especially of large financial institutions, were one of the important factors which contributed to the global financial crisis in 2008.

"These perverse incentives amplified the excessive risk taking that severely threatened the global financial system. The compensation issue has, therefore, been at the centre stage of the regulatory reforms," it said.

The Financial Stability Forum (later the Financial Stability Board) in 2009 brought out a set of Principles and Implementation Standards on sound compensation practices.

The guidelines have been proposed for private sector banks, including Local Area Banks, Small Finance Banks and Payments Banks. For the foreign banks operating in India by way of Wholly Owned Subsidiary structure, the guidelines would be same as that for private sector banks in the country.
Companies developing orphan drugs will soon get a boost from Indian drug regulator through partial and full waiver of clinical trials depending on specific drugs, said Chandrashekar Ranga, Deputy Director General of Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO).

The government is expected to come out with a clear policy on approvals of orphan drugs in the New Drugs and Clinical trials Rules, 2018, which will be notified in coming weeks.

"It is in advanced stage," Ranga said on the sidelines of BioAsia 2019 in Hyderabad.

While currently there is no definition on orphan drugs in India, medicines that are used in treatment of rare diseases with less than five lakh patients typically fall under this category.

Most often, orphan drugs are priced beyond the reach of most patients.

There is a huge unmet need for drugs to treat orphan diseases but due to low number of patients and costs associated with clinical trials, most companies keep away from development of orphan drugs, Ranga said.

"There will be abridged pathway to approve orphan drugs, that reduces the cost and time for the drug to reach market at affordable cost," he said.

Ranga also said for new drugs which are already approved in highly regulated markets such US and Europe, CDSCO will consider waiver of clinical trials in India.

CDSCO will also be reducing the time taken for approval of clinical trials to 45 days for domestic companies and 90 days for overseas companies from the existing 120 days and above.
Singapore-based hospitality firm The Ascott Ltd said it has bagged a contract to manage 90 serviced apartments developed by realty firm Paras Buildtech in Gurugram, Haryana.

The Ascott is a leading international serviced residence owner-operators. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore based realty firm CapitaLand Ltd.

These serviced apartments under Ascott's Citadines brand will be operational in the second quarter of 2020.

"We are associating with Paras Group to bring our second serviced apartment project in Gurugram," The Ascott Country Head India B V Bharadwaja told reporters.

The Ascott had earlier tied up with IREO to manage their serviced apartments in Gurugram which is expected to be operational this year.

"India is a key market for us. There is a strong demand for the international class serviced residences in India. We have already tied up for 1,500 serviced apartments," he said.

Paras Buildtech Director Aman Nagar said this is the company's second hospitality project. The first one is coming up under Ginger brand in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

The property -- Citadines Paras Square Gurugram -- is located within Paras Square, which is a mixed-use development project.

The Ascott has more than one lakh serviced apartments spread over 660 properties in 172 cities across 33 countries.

In India, Ascott has two operational serviced apartment projects in Chennai comprising about 450 keys.

It has tied up for seven more such projects in India, which will take its number of total keys to around 1,500.

These seven projects, located at Goa, Gurugram, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai, are expected to be operational by 2022.

Besides real estate and hospitality, the Paras Group is into dairy, healthcare and education.
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Shares of Thermax gained 7 percent intraday Tuesday after company entered into definitive agreement to acquire stakes in joint venture (JV) company.

The company has entered into definitive agreement with Mutares Holding-24 AG, Germany and Balcke-Duerr GmbH, Germany, JV partners of Thermax SPX Energy Technologies (TSPX) to acquire their shareholding in the TSPX a JV and subsidiary company in India.

Post transfer of shares TSPX will become the wholly owned subsidiary of the company.

The share touched its 52-week high Rs 1,247 and 52-week low Rs 878.05 on 01 March, 2018 and 11 October, 2018, respectively.

Currently, it is trading 19.9 percent below its 52-week high and 13.76 percent above its 52-week low.

At 11:58 hrs Thermax was quoting at Rs 998.90, up Rs 37.55, or 3.91 percent on the BSE.
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As we head towards the general elections, most experts feel that volatility is likely to inch higher, and investors should stay with quality stocks. The December quarter results were largely in line with estimates, but Nifty PAT downgrades continued to outdo upgrades and most brokerage firms have cut their earnings estimates for FY20.

Against earnings contraction of 4.8 percent in FY18, FY19 Nifty EPS is now expected to increase 9.9 percent and 18.5 percent over the next two years. We have seen a cut of 2.8 percent and 3.5 percent in EPS to Rs 487.9 and Rs 578.1 in FY19 and FY20 (Rs 502 and Rs 599 earlier), Prabhudas Lilladher said in a report.

Our Nifty estimates are 2.4 percent and 8.6 percent lower than consensus, said the report. The Nifty is currently trading at 19.3x 1 year forward earnings that show 9.6 percent premium to long-term average of 17.6.

The entire 2018 has been disappointing for our markets and it continues so far for the current calendar year as well. There is no doubt that the market looks a bit depressing, but investors should not lose heart and remain stock-specific which have their own growth stories.

The pain is likely to remain for a while but it may not be as brutal as it has been. In fact, there are few pockets like auto and metal that are showing some early signs of revival, Sameet Chavan, Chief Analyst - Technical & Derivatives at Angel Broking told Moneycontrol.

Most of the retail participants try to catch stocks that are trading in two digits, which according to them are cheap and potential candidates for becoming multibaggers. First of all, its very important to remove this notion, he said.

Here are six stocks where brokerages initiated coverage for the first time in February, and which can deliver 14-40 percent return in the next 1 year:

Solar Industries: Buy| LTP: Rs 938| Target: Rs 1,140| Upside: 21 percent

JMFinancial initiated coverage on Solar Industries with a buy rating and a target price of Rs 1,140. The brokerage firm has valued the company at 25xFY21E.

Solar Industries is a market leader with credible track record along & aggressive investment of Rs 900 crore over a period of next three years behind increasing its domestic explosive capacity by 1.65x (Rs 375 cr), overseas (Rs 300 cr) and defense (Rs 225 cr) provide comfort for strong visibility of future growth.

ICICI Prudential: Buy| LTP: Rs 314.25| Target: Rs 400| Upside: 28 percent

UBS initiated a buy rating on ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company with a target price of Rs 400. ICICI Pru Life has a strong distribution network, with parent ICICI Bank exclusively distributing its products as well as a mix of business from individual agents and direct sales.

UBS expect mid-teen annual premium equivalent (APE) growth in the next three years and margins to improve further towards 18 percent, as the share of higher-margin protection business increases.

SBI Life Insurance Company: Buy| LTP: Rs 558| Target: Rs 740| Upside: 32 percent

UBS initiated coverage on SBI Life Insurance Company with a buy rating and a target price of Rs 740. SBI Life has been gaining market share in new business premiums, led by strong growth in the protection segment and in single premiums.

UBS expects SBI Life to continue to deliver robust growth (we estimate 15 percent APE growth on average in the next three years) and profitability improvement and to leverage the wide distribution network of parent State Bank of India.

Coromandel International: Buy| LTP: Rs 441| Target: Rs 600| Upside: 36 percent

Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities initiated coverage on Coromandel International with a buy rating and a target price of Rs 600. The brokerage firm is of the view that the company is in a leadership position and a prudent management team make CRIN a long-term structural story as the government is making a lot of efforts to improve farm economics.

Coromandel International (CRIN) is the largest privately-owned phosphatic fertiliser company in India. On all-India basis, it has a 16 percent market share whereas in its home markets of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and other adjacent states it holds nearly 65 percent share.

The fertiliser sector is not loved by many investors because of high government intervention (a fair reason considering the fate of many fertiliser companies in the past).

However, the brokerage firm pointed out that Coromandel has strategically kept itself safe from the urea trap, focusing on relatively low volume phosphatic fertilisers and made a fortune.

Aarti Industries: Buy| LTP: Rs 1,407| Target: Rs 1,599| Upside: 14 percent

Axis Securities initiated coverage on Aarti Industries with a buy rating and a target price of Rs 1599. The company was incorporated in 1984 and is a leading Indian manufacturer of Chemical and Pharmaceutical intermediates with a global footprint.

It operates primarily in three segments viz. Specialty Chemicals (78 percent of sales), Pharmaceuticals (15 percent of sales) and Home and Personal Care (7 percent of sales). The brokerage firm expects revenues to increase at 23 percent CAGR over FY18-21E while earnings are likely to grow at 27 percent CAGR to be driven by:

a) Growth in the specialty chemical (SC) sector, both globally and domestically, to aid demand for AILs products, b) Growth in the cash cow SC business from increasing utilisation and expanding capacities, as well as c) higher utilisation in the recently started Toluene derivative business (very few domestic manufacturers) as the demand for these products, mostly fulfilled by imports, remains high.

Apex Frozen Food: Buy| LTP: Rs 299.35| Target: Rs 434| Upside: 45 percent

Geojit Financial Services initiated coverage on Apex Frozen with a buy rating and a target price of Rs 434. Apex Frozen Foods Ltd (Apex) is an integrated producer and exporter of processed shrimps in Andhra Pradesh. The company has a processing capacity of 15,240MT including the leased capacity of 6,000MT.

Apex has a strong track record of growing above the industry average. Apex's revenue has grown at a robust 31 percent CAGR while the industry grew at 12 percent. Shrimp realisation witnessed a declining trend since Q3FY18 due to extended winter in the US coupled with strong supply that has now stabilised in Q2FY19.

Due to unusual high growth witnessed in FY18, PAT is expected to de-grow in FY19E, but excluding FY18, earnings growth is strong at 44 percent CAGR.

The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
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Shares of Sharda Motor Industries surged nearly 10 percent intraday Tuesday after company board agreed to the proposed demerger of the automobile seating business.

The company board in its meeting held on February 25, in principally agreed to the proposed demerger of the automobile seating business.

The company has delegated the powers to Ajay Relan (Managing Director), Vivek Bhatia (Chief Financial Officer) and Nitin Vishnoi (Company Secretary) Key Managerial Personnel(s) of the company for taking requisite actions for the same, in due course of time.

Company has entered into the joint venture (JV) agreement with Eberspaecher Exhaust Technology International GmbH (EET) for business development of BS VI norms in commercial vehicle segment in India also.

This Joint Venture is expected to bring benefits to both the JV Partners i.e. SMIL & EET.

Also, board authorized Ajay Relan, Managing Director, of the company to negotiate and sign the joint venture agreement with Eberspacher Exhaust Technology International GMBH J.V Partner.

Board also took note of the memorandum of family settlement among promoters/ promoters group of the company (MOFS).

It may please be noted that the necessary disclosures in respect of each of the above events, shall be given to the Stock Exchange(s) as and when the relevant events happen, company said in release.

At 12:13 hrs Sharda Motor Industries was quoting at Rs 1,521.00, up Rs 118.15, or 8.42 percent on the BSE.
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Shares of Britannia Industries rose 5 percent, while Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) shares fell 2 percent intraday Tuesday after former one is going to replace the later one in the Nifty50 index.

Britannia Industries will replace Hindustan Petroleum Corporation in the Nifty50 index from March 29, the National Stock Exchange said on February 25.

Den Networks, Eveready Industries, GVK Power, Manpasand Beverages and Tata Sponge are among 25 stocks that were excluded from the index.

Besides similar changes are made in Nifty500, Nifty 100, Nifty Midcap 150, Nifty Smallcap 250, Nifty Midcap 50 and Nifty Midcap 100, Nifty 200, Nifty Financial Services among others, the release added.

In a separate release, the bourse said that it has decided to revise the methodology of sectoral and thematic indices.

According to the revised method, all sectoral indices except for Nifty Tata Group, the weightage of each stock in the indices will be calculated based on its free-float market capitalisation such that no single stock shall be more than 34 percent and weightage of top 3 stocks cumulatively will not be more than 63 percent at the time of rebalancing, said NSE.

For Nifty Tata Group, the weightage of each stock will be calculated such that no single stock will be more than 25 percent and weightage of top 3 stocks cumulatively will not be more than 63 percent at the time of rebalancing, it said in a statement.

At 09:45 hrs Britannia Industries was quoting at Rs 3,071.35, up Rs 26.55, or 0.87 percent.

At 09:45 hrs Hindustan Petroleum Corporation was quoting at Rs 223.40, down Rs 4.80, or 2.10 percent.

With inputs from PTI
Ahead of general elections, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is all set to launch over 10,000 ready-to-move-in housing units in the lower (LIG), middle (MIG) and high income group (HIG) categories.

The date for the 2019 housing lottery is yet to be finalised, but sources said that scheme may be launched in the first week of March before election code of conduct kicks in.

All application processes will be done online.

Up for grabs are 960 flats for the economically weaker section (EWS) at Narela; 8,383 LIG flats at Narela and Vasant Kunj; 579 MIG flats at Vasant Kunj; and 448 HIG flats at Vasant Kunj, the DDA said in a statement.

Officials said the cost of the flats is yet to be finalised but it is likely to be in the range of Rs 70 lakh to Rs 80 lakh for MIG and Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 2 crore for HIG. MIG units range between 650 sq ft to 750 sq ft and HIG around 970 sq ft in plinth area. Carpet area of units is generally 10-20 percent less than the plinth area.

For first time homebuyers, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) benefit may also be available, officials said.

Flats surrendered by the allottees of the earlier schemes have not been included in the new scheme.

The decision was taken during authority meeting of the DDA, held under the chairmanship of the Lt Governor at Raj Niwas.

As per the new housing scheme, these 10,300 flats are under-construction and only water supply and other works are likely to be completed by July next year.

DDA launched its last scheme almost nine years ago after the Commonwealth Games when 2,300 HIG and MIG houses were up from grabs in Mukherjee Nagar, Dwarka, Rohini, Pitampura and Motia Khan. In 2014, almost 500 MIG flats located in Narela that were offered in the draw were returned by the allottees due to lack of infrastructure facilities.

The DDA's budget for the year 2019-20 was presented on Monday. Expenditure has been set at nearly Rs 6,968 crore, a growth of 23.30 per cent over FY19 revised Budget Estimate at Rs 5,651 crore.

Key activities to be taken under the budget include transforming Delhi into a world-class city and request for proposal (RFP) for developing vacant area available at Dwarka (200 hectares) is being prepared, it said.

Other activities include construction of socio-cultural centres in Rohini, CBD Shahdara and Mayur Vihar; retrofitting of Nehru Place, Bhikaji Cama Place and Basant Lok Community Centres; promotion of sports; beautification of Delhi and heritage preservation, the statement said.

vandana.ramnani@nw18.com
More than 1 lakh people search monthly for buying and renting houses or flats around India, and more than 900 crore pages cater to these searches.

The top homebuyer-related keywords for property search are house for sale, flat for sale, plot for sale, property in, bungalow in, office for sale, a joint report by SEMrush and Colliers has revealed.

The report also noted that none of the 50 websites of property developers had a traffic of 10 lakh visitors per month. Only 16 sites got more than 50,000 visitors per month. In fact, social media was the most dismal performer, contributing just 3 percent of the traffic. This clearly means builders and property developers need to shore up their social presence and engagement, it said.

The most common type of property that consumers are looking to buy are flats and apartments. Search for land and plots outstrip those of commercial spaces. While the number of searches is more in metro cities, Tier-2 cities like Jaipur, Indore, Kochi and Goa are growing fast. The interest in renting and buying properties is nearly equal, if one were to consider the search volume, the report said.

The top 10 cities where people searched for flats, houses and offices included Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kolkata, Chandigarh and Jaipur, the report said.

The average age of a home buyer has come down to about 30 years from the earlier 50 years. This has happened majorly due to improvement in monthly income and lowered cost of borrowing. Millennials make up a sizeable portion of the Indian population. 82 percent of Indian millennials stay with their parents and more than 23 percent of these are likely to move out of their family homes within the next two to five years.

As many as 65 percent of the millennials aspire to buy a property in the future, as per the report.

As for the top 10 keywords for property-related terms, the word house for sale received 9,900 searches followed by flat for sale at 8,100. Flats in ... (city) received 6,600 hits, plot for sale got 5,400, property in ... (city) received 5,400, 1 bhk flat in... (city) got 4,400, 2 bhk flat in... (city) received 3,600, 3 bhk flat in... (city) got 1,300 searches, bungalow in... (city) got 720 and office for sale in... (city) received 170, the report said.
In an attempt to provide safe pedestrian infrastructure and enhancing walkability in the Capital city, Delhis Development Authority has approved a draft walkability policy.

The decision was taken during authority meeting of the DDA, held under the chairmanship of the Lt Governor at Raj Niwas on Monday.

"The drafty policy will now be placed in public domain for three weeks for inviting comments," DDA said in a statement.

On the draft policy for "enhancing walkability" in the city, the DDA said that it was felt that on the basis of 'Walkability Plan for city of Chennai', Delhi should also take steps in this direction by the way of policy intervention and initiatives.

This will have features like removal of encroachments from footpath, identifications of vending zones, shaded tree plantation, walkable distances, installation of street furnitures and signages.

After various meetings to discuss the Walkability and Green Mobility with NDMC, East DMC, North DMC, South DMC, Transport Deptt. GNCTD, DMRC and NIUA, a draft policy document has been prepared and shared with local bodies, PWD and Delhi Traffic Police, etc, DDA said in a statement.

DDA is the chief land owning agency in the capital and is empowered to issue policies and regulations pertaining to urban development and mobility.

The draft policy has a provision for barrier free footpaths, a continuous pedestrian network, it plans to integrate public places, parks, green areas and open public spaces.

As per the draft, there are also plans to add street furniture, signages giving information on directions, location of public utilities etc.

The pilot project is expected to be implemented in areas such as ITO junction, Chandini Chowk, Hauz Khas-IIT, Nehru Place, Bhikaji Cama Plae, Kamla Nagar, Laxmi Nagar, all the ISBTs, Old Delhi Railway Station, New Delhi Railway Station among others.

As per the draft policy, there will also be a provision for pelican crossings near schools and other intersections.

The guidelines for the draft policy have been prepared by National Institute of Urban Affairs, the advisory body of the ministry of housing and urban affairs.

vandana.ramnani@nw18.com
Divya Baweja, Preeti Gupta and Sahil Bhasin

The globalisation of the economy and development of international trade and business has considerably increased the international movement of individuals across geographies. The existence of differing regimes in various countries often plays an important role when it comes to cross-border movement of employees or independent workers.

While cross-border issues arise in the areas of tax, immigration and social security, of late, social security issues too have been gaining importance as they relate to the retirement benefits of the individual venturing beyond borders for employment.

Till 2008, foreign nationals exercising employment in India were not covered under the Provident Fund (PF) regulations, since PF contributions were not mandatory where the employees pay exceeded the wage ceiling. On the contrary, Indian nationals working abroad were required to contribute to the social security scheme of the respective country. However, these contributions were generally lost due to limited tenure overseas or in failing to fulfill the minimum qualifying period of contribution or residence.

In order to eliminate the undue advantage foreign nationals had while exercising employment in India, and to create a level playing field for Indians embarking on work outside India, the government of India in October 2008 introduced special provisions in the Provident Fund and Pension Scheme, to define a new category of workers called International Worker (IW).

IW covers foreign nationals working in an establishment in India which is mandatorily required to contribute to provident fund. As a consequence, every eligible IW was required to be enrolled in the schemes with effect from 1 November 2008. This enabled India to bring to the table other countries which had a significant inbound population into India, to negotiate Social Security Agreements (SSA) with such countries.

SSA is a bilateral agreement between India and a foreign country designed to protect the interests of cross border workers. The agreement provides for avoidance of double coverage and ensures equality of treatment to workers of both countries from a social security perspective.

India, has over the period, signed and made operational 18 SSAs with other countries. Generally benefits such as detachment, exportability of pension, totalisation of benefits and withdrawal of social security benefits are available under these SSAs.

Under detachment or elimination of dual contribution, employees moving on employment to any SSA country are exempt from making social security contributions in the host country for a specified period (specific to each SSA), provided they continue to make social security contributions in their home countries. The said benefit can be claimed by obtaining a Certificate of Coverage (CoC) from the home social security authorities and submitting the same with the social security authorities of the host country.

Further, under the Exportability of Pension clause, the employees may choose to receive benefits of social security in their home country or any other country where they are currently residing (subject to the respective SSA) without any reduction of those benefits, i.e. benefits can be exported.

Under the Totalization of Benefits clause, the period of service rendered by an employee in the host country is to be counted for checking the eligibility of social security payment in the home country and vice-versa. However, the payment is restricted to the length of service in that country on a pro-rata basis.

It may be noted that withdrawal of PF and pension benefits is allowed only once the employee attains the age of 58 years (for non-SSA countries) or depending upon the conditions stipulated in the respective SSA (if any). Hence, in respect of an IW from an SSA country, withdrawal of PF and pension contributions is permissible upon ceasing to be an employee of a covered establishment, subject to meeting of the required criteria.

While SSAs are directed towards easing cross-border social security complexities, there are still a few issues and challenges which require attention to maximise benefits from these bilateral agreements. Also since, different SSAs have different terms and requirements, the terms of each SSA needs to be looked at closely so as to reap maximum advantage.

Although there are some practical challenges, the PF authorities have been constantly coming out with clarifications in support of the successful implementation of the SSAs. The increase in coverage of countries under the bilateral agreements combined with proper implementation, creates significant benefits for the mobile population, with their employers and hence, is a step in the right direction.

(Divya Baweja is Partner, Deloitte India; Preeti Gupta is Senior Manager with Deloitte Haskins and Sells LLP; and Sahil Bhasin is Deputy Manager with Deloitte Haskins and Sells LLP.)
According to TransUnion September 2018 quarter report, Indians have 3.69 crore credit card accounts (up by 31.7% in the same quarter a year ago), outstanding balance of Rs 84,400 crore (up by 35.8% for the same quarter a year ago) and the average balance per credit card holder was Rs 46,000 (up by 8.1% for the same quarter a year ago). Attractive discounts and deals on credit cards have fuelled the demand for cards from first-time users. Financial planners caution in using credit cards as its most expensive forms of credit. Generally, on a credit card outstanding amount gets charged about 3% per month which turns out to be 36% on an annualised basis.

In August 2016, YES bank commenced the credit cards business and was the 17th credit card issuer in the market. The bank is now offering 11 variants of credit cards for mass affluent, affluent high net worth (HNW) and super high net worth customers.

Rajanish Prabhu, Business Head-Credit Cards at Yes Bank, talks about USP of their credit cards, using multiple credit cards and its drawback, avoiding debt trap while using credit cards, explains WiFi enabled credit card, using a credit card in foreign country and more.

Edited Excerpts:

A: We have never expiring reward points on all the variants of credit cards. This feature is available only in some of the bank credit cards. In our high end credit cards (Yes Private and Yes Exclusive), we have low FX conversion rates of 1.75% compare to peers in the industry. This is beneficial for frequent international travellers and using their credit cards for regular transactions. We offer reward points across all categories (including EMI transactions, while loading mobile wallets, etc.) except for fuel.

A: As we were the 17th credit card issuer in the Indian market. So, we had to make sure customers have ample reasons to choose not only YES bank card but also make it the preferred card in their wallets for transaction. So, the schemes and offers are designed keeping our customer preferences. We dont see this offers and schemes as additional cost to company but consider them as an investment for the future growth of our credit card business. This helps us advance our customer engagement.

A: When you have two or more credit cards, you have a choice. Some cards might give you more reward points and offers. So, you have the choice in your pocket and able to decide which bank credit card you want to use. It also depends on banks service and your relationship with particular bank. Accordingly, you decide one of the banks credit cards as primary product and use it often.

You can also segregate your expenses while using multiple cards. For instance, use XYZ bank credit card to pay utility bills and ABC bank credit card for shopping and travelling related expenses, etc.

The flip side of using multiple credit cards is you have much more credit money to spend. And if you don't spend money responsibly, then chances are at times you tend to get over leveraged. So you have to spend your money wisely. Its important to set up credit limit while using multiple credit cards.

A: Its important having a financial discipline while using a credit card. You need to set up a credit limit for yourself while using a credit card say overall 30-40% of monthly income is sufficient (including EMI on loans). Avoid impulsive purchases using credit cards. Identify between your needs and wants before swiping a card while shopping. While using credit card you should even keep a watch on available resources and track the expenses to repay the bank when credit card statement is generated.

A: While applying for a credit card you must decide what benefits you want from your credit card and how often do you use and purpose. For instance, if you are looking for a lifetime free credit card then you must clarify this requirement with your bank and verify this term before applying. Then if you are a frequent international traveller then you want to protect the most from foreign currency (FX) markup of the bank. So, you must apply for a credit card with the lowest FX markup in the market.

Similarly, if you are frequent air traveller then you must apply for a credit card which gives enough reward points to book air travel tickets and which can be utilized again to book airline ticket in future. If you are using your credit card while shopping, then you should look for banks which keep on coming up with schemes or discount offers regularly. Also, ties up with retailers / shops for cash back schemes. Lastly, its important you must know the important terms and conditions from bank issuing your credit card while applying.

While cancelling a credit card, you must make sure that you get a letter of closure from a bank and no amount is outstanding on your credit card while closing an account. In case you have stopped using XYZ bank credit card then dont keep a minimum amount outstanding on that card and let it continue to bloat. Its best to cancel the inactive cards and close the account.

A: WiFi enabled credit card is actually contactless card. There is an upswing in the usage of WiFi enabled / contactless cards. Just to give a perspective, last year close to 0.20% of overall Yes bank card transactions were on contactless cards, but now close to 3.3% of our card transactions are on contactless cards.

It works on the radio-frequency identification (RFID) / Near-field communication (NFC) technology. You need to keep it close to payment machine; approximately three to four centimeters away and the transaction will go through. Its very convenient especially in these fast food restaurants, shopping malls and so on.

In India, contactless transaction without pin is limited to Rs 2,000. As per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines for contactless transaction over Rs 2,000 pin is mandatory.

In case, this contactless card gets stolen you need to immediately inform the bank call center and block the card. Alternatively, you can even send an SMS block from registered mobile number to bank with last four digits of your card number.

A: We would like to advice, do not use dynamic currency conversion (DCC) while using a credit card in the foreign country. This is a process whereby the amount of a transaction is converted by a merchant to the currency of the payment card's country of issue at the point of sale. You should always prefer to pay in foreign currency and not to opt for INR in foreign country while using the credit card.

This is because when you pay in INR it is treated as DCC and their FX markup is then decided by the acquirer bank in that country and that markup and conversion could be at higher rate (3% to 4.5%). Whereas, when you pay in foreign currency, you are basically assured of FX markup and conversion rate which is 1.75% to 2.5% depending on the card and the bank. So, this is inexpensive option compare to DCC.

A: There are typically three types of cards at the conceptual level one is pay in advance (prepaid cards), second pay as you go (debit cards) and third is pay later (credit cards). So, forex / travel cards fall in prepaid cards category wherein you have to load money before you use while travelling abroad.

Whereas, in credit card you enjoy the credit period while travelling abroad and pay later when bill gets generated. Further, while using credit cards you earn reward points which are not available in prepaid cards. Also, some of the banks offer higher reward points during international travel then FX markup charges (conversion charges). So, the consumer is net gainer while using credit cards internationally only if reward points are higher than FX markup charges by the bank.

A benefit in forex / travel card is rate of conversion is fixed when you buy the card and load the amount. However, you should to evaluate the FX markup charges, earning reward points on transactions and available offers on your credit card against forex / travel cards before opting.
Gautam Adani; $25.2 billion

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Adani Ports and SEZ, the cash cow of the Adani Group, is not presenting a pretty picture financially. It handed out close to Rs 6,240 crore of loans to the subsidiaries and group companies in fiscal 2018. Last fiscal, the company recorded an impairment of close to Rs 300 crore related to such loans.

Investors have also expressed their apprehensions about promoters pledging of shares, which last stood close to 45.51 percent.

All this assumes importance in light of the recent acquisition of a group company Adani Agri Logistics for a consideration of nearly Rs 1,000 crore. Concerns over the acquisition took a toll on its shares yesterday, which closed with a loss of over 8 percent.

Here's why investors are worried. Adani Logistics, which is a subsidiary of Adani Port and SEZ will acquire the entire stake from Adani Enterprise. Thus, the deal would not require minority shareholders approval.

The second question is about valuation. Adani Agri Logistics is valued at Rs 1,662 crore on an enterprise valuations basis, which is equal to 18 times its FY18 consolidated annual EBITDA of Rs 92 crore.

Our calculations suggest that to earn its current valuation (enterprise value of Rs 1,662 crore), the company will have to grow EBITDA by 78.39 percent in five years, or 51 percent over seven years.

Its own estimated total EBIDTA (mentioned in presentation till 2025) for the next five fiscal is close to Rs 693 crore, which is 42 percent of its enterprise value. Its standalone revenues have grown from Rs 99.84 crore in FY16 to Rs 105 crore in FY18.

More than just economic benefit

Possibly valuations do not fully reflect the future economic benefits and synergies, which could accrue post the acquisition.

The company claims a market share of about 45 percent in the agri logistics space, and has some worthy long term agreements with Food Corporation of India and other state government bodies.

It has 1.58 million metric tonne fully contracted capacity (55 percent operational) along with 7 trains and 28 storage & handling infrastructure facilities (only 14 operational).

The company also says that post-acquisition the combined EBITDA of Adani Logistics would double and there are several synergistic benefits with Adani Agri Logistics looking to double the capacity.

Reading between the lines

While an opportunity exists, the additional capacity would come as a result ploughing back of post-acquisition profits. Such capacity addition would only add value if these assets earn more than what they are acquired for.

That apart, one would read the numbers offered by the company with a pinch of salt in the light of the fact that they were silent about the net profit and net worth of Adani Agri Logistics.

Instead, it repeatedly highlighted an EBITDA margin of 72 percent. In an asset-heavy business funded with debt, EBITDA margins are of lesser importance compared to return on capital or return on equity.

Similarly, the enterprise value including equity valuation as presented by the company in its documents includes the current value of surplus land of 96 acres based on market benchmarks.

While the deal may have merit, it left investors with lot more homework to do before looking at the much-talked about benefits.

Follow @jitendra1929

For more research articles, visit our Moneycontrol Research Page
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Shishir Asthana

The strike by the Indian Air Force on terrorist bases in Pakistani territory is of immense significance from a security perspective. First, it shows that acts of terrorism on Indian soil will be met with a swift response; second, it indicates that the IAF can strike deep into Pakistan, with hardly any opposition; and third, since the Indian foreign secretary called it a pre-emptive strike on the basis of intelligence that the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group was planning more suicide attacks, the implication is that India need not wait for suicide bombings, but launch pre-emptive strikes to stop them. This is a huge change in our strategy to combat terrorism.

What then should investors do?

The first thing to note is that the markets seemed to take the attacks in their stride. They opened sharply lower on news of Indian Air Force (IAF) strike in Pakistan but by afternoon had recovered most of the losses. Across the border, the Karachi Stock Exchange which opened 2 percent lower but recovered half of its losses by the afternoon.

The market also seems to be getting used to such surgical strikes. The current response by the Indian markets is in contrast to its reaction on 29th September 2016 when India conducted a surgical strike in Pakistan. The broad indices fell by 2.3 percent on that day, much greater than the 0.5 percent fall post the IAF attack on Pakistan soil.

Though the market has rebounded from its low, the fear factor is still high. India Vix traded almost 11.46 percent higher at 17.12 as compared to the closing of 15.32 on the previous day, indicating more traders are expecting the market to fall.

That may or may not be the case. From where we stand today there can be four possible outcomes.

First, as the markets reaction suggests, Pakistan may choose not to escalate the matter further. Notice that the Pakistani Army has tried its best to downplay the attacks, alleging they did no damage. For its part, India too has avoided chest thumping and the Foreign Secretary emphasized that no civilians were hurt. If Pakistan does not retaliate, the matter is done and dusted and the markets have nothing to worry about. At best, Pakistan may step up terrorist attacks as they did after the first surgical strike, but this time the constant fear of reprisals will also loom over the terrorists. In that case, the markets do not have much to worry about. Pakistani authorities have said that they will retaliate, but proportionately and at a time and place of their choosing.

The second scenario could be a sharp escalation that leads to a stand-off between the Indian and Pakistan armies. Such a scenario was what happened during Operation Parakram, after the Parliament attack on December 13, 2001, when the two armies built up their positions across the border. This was the time when the market was in a bear grip post the dot-com bubble. Markets reacted negatively to the attack on Parliament but as armies from India and Pakistan started building up position, the market started to consolidate.

The third outcome could be a short localized war as we had seen during the Kargil fighting. Such an event, defence expert say, can happen only after the snow clears from the mountains. The likely period is around May. This will also be the time when India would be conducting its general elections. A controlled and short term war may rattle the markets a bit as was seen during the Kargil war.

During the Kargil war between May and July, 1999 Indian markets saw a small correction in June but they continued to move higher even as the war progressed.

In short, in all these three scenarios, the markets will bounce back. Do not forget that the likely outcome of all these scenarios is a surge of patriotism that will very likely lead to a surge of support for Prime Minister Modi, as he is seen as the architect of Indias more combative policy against terrorism. That will benefit the markets far more in the long-run.

Of course, it is possible that the final outcome could be a full-blown war, which may also escalate into a nuclear war. In that scenario, we have nothing much to worry about since few investors would live to tell the tale.
Here are stocks that are in the news today:

Results on February 26: Richa Industries, Sanofi India, Elantas Beck, Shailja Commercial

Emco: Sanjay Bhatnagar tenders his resignation as Independent Director and resigned from all memberships of committees of company.

Lupin: Company receives USFDA approval for Methylprednisolone tablets.

Mastek: IDFC AMC Limited (investment manager of IDFC Mutual Fund) through its various schemes additionally acquired equity shares in company to the extent of 0.0225 percent which has resulted in holding upto 5.0223 percent of the paid up capital of the company.

HIL: India Ratings & Research assigned long term credit rating as AA- with stable outlook for loan facilities worth Rs 276 crore:

Antel and Tata Communications build new cloud-based network for mobile and IoT providers.

Corporation Bank board has approved the proposal of capital raising plan to the extent of Rs 12,500 crore

Bharat Forge clarified that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bharat Electronics (BEL) on February 21, 2019 at Aero India Show, 2019, Bengaluru

Indostar approved issue of NCD worth Rs 150 crore on private placement basis

Bliss GVS board approved the increase of Foreign Portfolio Investors/Foreign Institutional Investors limits from 24% to 74% in the compa

Lakshmi Vilas Bank: Brickwork Ratings India revised the rating from BBB+ to BBB- (Credit watch with Developing Implications) for unsecured redeemable non-convertible subordinated lower Tier II Bonds - Series VII (Option B) of Rs 50.50 crore.

Hi-Tech Gears: Vijay Mathur has tendered his resignation from the post of Chief Financial officer. However, he will continue to act as Senior General Manager (Finance). Dinesh Chand Sharma has been elevated to the post of Chief Financial Officer.

Corporation Bank: Board approved the proposal of capital raising plan to the extent of Rs 12,500 crore by way of either issue and allotment of equity shares on preferential basis or by way of additional tier 1 Bonds or Tier II Bonds or follow on public issue or rights issue or qualified institutions placement or issue and allotment of equity shares on preferential basis to Government of India or debt issue or in combination of these thereof.

Thermax: Company has entered into definitive agreement with Mutares Holding-24 AG, Germany and Balcke-Duerr GmbH, Germany, JV partners of Thermax SPX Energy Technologies Limited (TSPX) to acquire their shareholding in the TSPX a JV and subsidiary company in India. Post transfer of shares TSPX will become the wholly owned subsidiary of the company.

Sharda Motor Industries: Company has entered into the joint venture (JV) agreement with Eberspaecher Exhaust Technology International GmbH (EET) for business development of BS VI norms in commercial vehicle segment in India also. Board in principally agreed to the proposed demerger of the automobile seating business.

Bharti Airtel: Airtel and Ciena to build one of the world's largest photonic control plane networks in India for delivering ultra-fast data over 4G, 5G and FTTH. Network to span 130,000 kms and connect 4000+ towns across India.

Tejas Networks: Company launches world's first ultra-converged broadband product at Mobile World Congress, Barcelona.

Out of F&O ban: PC Jeweller

Bulk Deals on February 25

Avadh Sugar & Energy: Life Insurance Corporation (Scheme 5) sold 58,259 shares of the company at Rs 475.83 per share on the NSE.

NALCO: ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund - BHARAT 22 ETF sold 1,24,12,768 shares of the company at Rs 48.03 per share.

Viji Finance: Vijay Kothari sold 7,51,650 shares of the company at 70 paise per share.

(For more bulk deals, click here)

Analyst or Board Meet/Briefings

Bharti Airtel: Board meeting is scheduled on February 28 to consider (i) the recommendations of 'Special Committee of Directors for Fund Raising' and; (ii) the proposal for raising of funds by issue of equity shares, bonds/debentures or other securities including through qualified institutions placement, rights issue, preferential issue or through any other permissible mode or a combination thereof.

Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services: Company's officials will meet Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC on February 27.

Tube Investments of India: Company's officials will meet analysts/investors on February 26 and 27.

Corporation Bank: Extraordinary General Meeting of the shareholders of the bank to be held on March 27, 2019.

: Board meeting will be held on February 28 to consider sub-division of equity shares (face value of Rs 10 per share) of the company.
In an unprecedented air strike across the Line of Control (LoC), the Indian Air Forces bombed terrorist training camps in Balakot on February 26. Sensing a brewing geopolitical tension, the market panicked and witnessed deep cuts through the day. At close, the Sensex fell 239.67 points to 35,973.71, and Nifty was down 44.80 points at 10,835.30.

February 26 pre-emptive strike followed the attack on CRPF soldiers in Pulwama of Jammu and Kashmir on February 14. In the suicide bomb attack, 40 soldiers were killed, leaving a nation of 1.3 billion people mourning.

Markets reaction to the Pulwama attack was also panic-stricken as it shed about 0.2 percent during the trade on February 15. But, the point to note is that the market was already in a downtrend as it had fallen for the previous five sessions as well. And it kept falling till February 19.

The market also fell after the news of first surgical strike in 2016 which followed the Uri terrorist attack. Nifty shed 154 points and Sensex fell 465 points on the day following the surgical strike.

Date Event Nifty gain/loss % gain/loss Sensex gain/loss % gain/loss 03-May to 02-Aug 1999 Kargil conflict 319 33 1,115 33 13-Dec-2001 Parliament attack -9 -0.8 -24 -0.7 26-Nov to 28-Nov 2008 Mumbai attack# 101 3.8 396 4.5 19-Sep-2016 Uri attack 29 0.33 35 0.12 29-Sep-2016 Surgical strike -154 -1.76 -465 -1.6 15-Feb-2019 Pulwama attack -22 -0.2 -67 -0.2 26-Feb-2019 Pre-emptive strike -45 -0.4 -239 -0.66

However, not all terrorist attacks or military actions lead to losses in equity market. Last two decades data suggests many-a-times, the market is unaffected by the news of terrorist attacks or military actions, at least immediately.

#Market was closed on November 27, 2008

During the Kargil conflict in 1999, the benchmark indices  Sensex and Nifty  gained 33 percent each. During the 3-month conflict, the Sensex rallied 1,115 points and Nifty surged 319 points.

Similarly, even during the attacks in Mumbai in 2008, the market reaction was surprising. The Sensex surged about 400 points in two-day trade during the attack. The Nifty rallied 100 points even as Mumbai was burning.

Experts, who Moneycontrol spoke to, said the reaction to such events is mostly knee-jerk , but the long-term trend is not affected.
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Analysts on Twitter applauded the air strike carried by the Indian Air Force across Line of Control (LoC) in early hours on February 26 and at the same time advise investors to remain cautious and buy quality stocks for long term.

Sandip Sabharwal, Independent Advisor at asksandipsabharwal.com on Twitter said that Indian Airforce carried out the most effective strike in the last 48 years. This is the day which defines that India is not a weak nation, but one that will not take things lying down.



On a day which defines that India is not a weak nation that #Congress built but one that will not take things lying down should we sell in the stock markets?

No, all of us have to buy a little.

 sandip sabharwal (@sandipsabharwal) February 26, 2019

Should we sell in the stock markets? No, all of us have to buy a little, he writes in his tweet.

Ajay Srivastava, CEO, Dimensions Corporate Financial Services in an interview with CNBC-TV18 said that the market has been on tenterhooks after the Pulwama attack on February 14. That is why we have seen domestic investors on sidelines as they have been selling on rallies.

We dont know in which way the geopolitical situation turns. Either investors should stay on sidelines or we take off positions in stocks that are likely to see a direct bearing if the situation escalates such as Reliance Industries as well as import companies because rupee might get impacted, said Srivastava.

Porinju Veliyath, Founder & CEO, Equity Intelligence applauded the actions of Indian Air Force. India destroys major terror camp in #Balakot 60km deep inside the terrorist country - lovin it! (sic), he tweeted.



India destroys major terror camp in #Balakot 60km deep inside the terrorist country - lovin it! https://t.co/yMHgMw8OKj  Porinju Veliyath (@porinju) February 26, 2019





Proud moment as an Indian. Yet another strike at Terror camps in #Pakistan. Forget markets. Forget Portfolio bleed. This is time for national joy!!

Surgical strike b4 & Air strike now.#NewIndia #Pulwama #IndianAirForce #Indiaattackspakistan

 Amar Ambani (@AmarAmbani) February 26, 2019

Amar Ambani, President, Head of Research, YES Securities writes in a tweet that it is a proud moment for India and for every Indian. Investors should forget about markets because this is the time for national joy.

"Political strategists believe that geopolitical risk has turned for the worse with a possibility that this calamity can get extended. The market will remain watchful and eagerly assess announcements from both the sides to evaluate further risk," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services on the current market situation.



I'd be happier for military operations to be conducted in secret. Write a book 10 years later. But I guess politics.  Deepak Shenoy (@deepakshenoy) February 26, 2019

: 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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The Uttar Pradesh government has set up three new family courts in the Muzaffarnagar district, officials said Tuesday. The total number of family courts in the district has now gone up to four, officials added.T

The decision was taken in the wake of Allahabad High Court's notification on creating additional family courts in over 15 districts of the state for early disposal of family disputes.

Three additional family courts were established here and their judges have also been appointed, Muzaffarnagar District Judge, Sanjay Kumar Pachori said.

According to the high court's notification issued on Saturday, three family courts each will be set up in over 15 districts including Hapur, Aligarh, Azamgarh, Badaun, Lucknow and Unnao among others.
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The proposed joint venture between Tata Steel's European unit and thyssenkrupp may have to divest some of its assets to address concerns raised by the European Commission.

The Commission, which is checking if the JV will harm competition, had issued a Statement of Objections on February 13.

"thyssenkrupp is currently assessing the document carefully and will use the Statement of Objections as basis for engaging in further constructive talks with the European Commission in order to address their competitive concerns in an appropriate manner," the German company said in a debt issuance prospectus on February 15.

And it added: "... if needed by proposing divestments of certain assets."

The joint venture will be the second largest steelmaker in Europe, behind ArcelorMittal. It will have annual revenues of 17 billion euros and will produce 21 million tons of steel a year.

While a Financial Times report had pointed out that the joint venture will have a 27 percent share in Europe's flat steel market, the share increases if sub-segments of the steel market is considered. The Commission has identified three of these segments - automotive steel, coated steel used for packaging and electrical steel - where the JV may harm competition.

Tata Steel Europe's Port Talbot facility makes steel used in the automotive and packaging industries.

When asked, spokespersons of the two companies declined to comment specifically on the possible asset sale. The two companies, separately, shared a similar statement.

They said: As it was already announced the EU-Commission has meanwhile forwarded to us a so-called Statement of Objections. Given the size of the planned transaction this is no surprise and was expected by us. We regard this as a basis for further talks with the Commission and we will now thoroughly examine the Commissions concerns. We still are confident to receive the Commissions clearance during the course of this spring.

The JV, which will be called thysenkrupp Tata Steel BV, will be led by Andreas Goss, who is currently CEO of the German company's steel division.

Hans Fischer, the current CEO of Tata Steel Europe, will be the Deputy CEO and Chief Technology Officer of the new company. Sandip Biswas, who is currently the Group Executive Vice President, Finance, Tata Steel Limited, is the designated Chief Financial Officer.
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Mergers and acquisitions are at an all-time high in the IT services sector in India, be it a large firms like HCL Technologies or mid-cap players. Industry experts think this is the way forward for the sector.

With the world shifting to digital, IT outsourcing firms are in greater need of talent and capability to cater to the demand for latest capabilities such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. According to experts, M&A now is a good strategy, despite the risks.

Among the recent buys are HCL's acquisition of IBM products for $1.8 billion, and Zensar buying Cynosure for 33 million.

Stevan Hall, President, Information Services Group (ISG)  Europe, Middle East, Africa, said last year saw highest acquisition of digital agencies by the IT firms last year. "Acquisition pipeline is incredibly healthy," Hall said.

However, Hall agreed that margins could be thin as companies are investing heavily in the space, which also has a long gestation period.

The margins could be better if a company has a non-linear revenue model such as revenue-based on outcome-based work, the margins could suffer, he added.

Akhilesh Tuteja, Global Cyber Security practice Co-leader and heads the IT Advisory practice for KPMG in India and the Europe Middle East and Africa (EMA), said: "Time is over when companies can do everything on their own." According to him, at a time when the landscape is changing so fast it is impossible for companies to build everything on their own at a short time. So acquisitions are a logical way to go about despite the risks.

Since 2015, IT firms have been on an acquisition spree in terms of number and value of acquisitions. Bengaluru-based Mindtree acquired four companies between 2015 and 2016 to the tune of $141 million as opposed to seven companies it acquired between 2004 and 2010 under $50 million.

Pune-based Persistent Systems has done four acquisitions since 2015, latest one being Herald Technologies for $5.2 million. Zensar Technologies has made four high profile acquisitions since 2015. The latest one includes the US-based Cynosure for $33 million.

Pointing out the increase in the acquisition pipeline, Atul Nishar, founder and chairman, Hexaware Technologies, said that the biggest investment is happening in digital technologies as the companies want to reach out to the customers faster.

"Artificial intelligence, blockchain and data analytics are driving the growth at the moment. If you take mid-cap players many of them are building capabilities in-house. These players are going for M&A for filling the gap or to take a competence to a much higher level. For, it takes a long time to build a platform or product," he said.

Arvind Thakur of NIIT Technologies said in a recent interaction with Moneycontrol that acquisitions are the key pillar of growth for the company and it will always keep an eye out for that. The company itself made two acquisitions since 2015  Incessant Technologies and RuleTek. As the company expands its digital offerings, they are looking to acquire companies that can offer digital capabilities.
Market regulator SEBI has said that Anand Rathi Commodities and Geofin Comtrade are not "fit and proper" to act as commodity derivatives brokers in connection with the Rs 5,600 crore scam at the now defunct National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL). Passing two separate orders, the watchdog has rejected the applications of Anand Rathi Commodities (ARCL) and Geofin Comtrade for registration as commodity derivatives brokers.

Both ARCL and Geofin Comtrade have also been directed to "cease to act, directly or indirectly" as commodity derivatives brokers, as per the two orders dated February 25.

On February 22, SEBI ruled that Motilal Oswal Commodities and India Infoline Commodities were not "fit and proper" to be granted registration to operate as commodity derivatives brokers.

The orders have come against the backdrop of the payment scam at the National Spot Exchange (NSEL) that came to light in 2013; and subsequently, many entities, including brokers, have come under the scanner of SEBI and other probe agencies.

In the separate but similarly-worded orders, SEBI said Anand Rathi Commodities and Geofin Comtrade, by virtue of being a broker, have facilitated transactions in the said paired contracts for its clients on the NSEL platform.

Both entities by their own admission allowed themselves to become a channel and instrument for NSEL to promote paired contracts amongst its clients, the watchdog noted.

The regulator said the allegations that they are not fit and proper rests on twin basis. One is the alleged violation of various laws and circulars with respect to the NSEL matter, and the second is the existence of various adverse observations by various courts/ authorities regarding the transactions in paired contracts on the spot exchange.

"We have noted SEBI's order related to ARCL. SEBI has observed that courts and authorities have made serious adverse observations against NSEL and paired contracts," Anand Rathi Commodities said in a statement.

"It states that even though such observations (against NSEL) are yet to established in a court of law, but by mere association of ARCL in the capacity of a broker with NSEL, the reputation of ARCL is affected and therefore the certificate of registration has been denied.

"We are examining the order and will take necessary legal steps to file appeal against the order. ARCL and its clients and employees are in fact victims of this fraud perpetrated by NSEL," it said, adding that the order rejects the application of registration of ARCL and has no impact on other businesses of the group.
Uh-oh! It could be you, or it could be us, but there's no page here.
Once a close aide to Pope Francis, former Vatican treasurer Cardinal George Pell has been unanimously convicted by a jury in Australia on five counts of historic child sex crimes, a verdict that is likely to land him in jail.

The jury in Melbourne made its groundbreaking decision in December to find Pell guilty on all charges. However, the verdict was sealed at that stage so as not to influence a potential second trial that was expected to commence in March. It was made public only after the prosecution didnt proceed with that case, due to weak evidence.

Pell, the most senior Vatican figure ever to be found guilty of the sexual abuse of a minor, is now awaiting sentencing for one count of sexual penetration of a child and for four counts of committing an indecent act with or in the presence of a child under 16.

Also on rt.com Pope labels child abusing clergy tools of Satan, calls for all out battle

Pells accuser came out to police in 2015, when Pell was the head of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, which oversees all economic activities of the Holy See. The office made him the third most powerful figure in the theocratic state.

READ MORE: Vatican admits to having secret rules for priests who breach celibacy & father children

The victim, now 35, told the court that Pell had sexually abused him and another boy in late 1996 and early 1997, when he was 13. The victim, who has not been identified, claimed that Pell made him perform oral sex on him after catching them sneaking into the priest's sacristy in December, 1996. Pell, the victim alleged, exposed himself to the boys and told him to get naked and touched him inappropriately. The following year, Pell again approached the boy and molested him within the church walls. Both incidents took place after Sunday masses, according to the victims testimony.

The whole case was based solely on the 35-year-olds testimony as the alleged second victim died from a drug overdose well before the proceedings began. The man said that he did not tell about his ordeal at the time out of fear of being expelled from a prestigious school, where his scholarship depended on him being in the choir.

I knew a scholarship could be given or taken away, even at that age. And what would I do if I said such a thing about an archbishop? Its something I carried with me the whole of my life, he said during the proceedings, as cited by the Guardian.

Pell, who returned from the Vatican to Australia to stand trial, said all allegations against him were a load of garbage. The Vatican released a statement saying that Pope Francis respected Pells honesty and dedication to reform.

Police had initially stated that Pell might be indicted on multiple charges of historic sexual offenses, with Australian media reporting up to 10 alleged victims. The cardinal was the subject of investigation in the early 2000s over allegations hed molested an altar boy back in the 1960s; however, no formal charges were brought at that time. Eventually, only a few charges stayed in the court and the majority were dropped due to lack of evidence.

The jury reached its verdict on December 11. A day later, Pope Francis removed Pell from the Council of Cardinals, a small circle of papal advisers. The verdict will come as another blow to the Catholic Church, which has been rattled by widespread allegations of sexual abuse. Speaking at a conference on Sunday, Francis vowed to wage an all-out battle against the abuse of minors, both sexually and in other areas calling the phenomenon all the more grave and scandalous in the Church, for it is utterly incompatible with her moral authority and ethical credibility.

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A Detroit-area LGBT rights activist allegedly burned down the house he was living in, killing five pets and sparking a federal hate crime investigation because he was frustrated over a lack of gay rights battles to fight.

Nikki Joly has been charged with first-degree arson for burning the Jackson, Michigan, house he rented to the ground, as well as two counts of animal killing related to the deaths of three cats and two dogs that died in the fire. Police accused Joly of setting the fire as a fake hate crime against himself  and a police report obtained by the Detroit News suggests he did it because he wanted attention.

Joly had opened Jacksons first gay community center in the months preceding the fire and had tirelessly led the fight to pass an ordinance prohibiting discrimination against gays in the town. With both those battles won, however, Joly was at a loss for a good fight, according to two church officials who worked with him at the church that housed his Pride Center. The Jackson Pride Parade and Festival  which took place five days before the fire  simply wasnt generating enough controversy.

Joly was very deceptive and displayed layers of manipulation, the officials told police, noting that he had broken the Pride Center away from the church that housed it without informing them of the move  even though they had secured the funding for the center in the first place.

While Joly didnt own the house and gained nothing from the insurance money, the Jackson LGBT community raised $58,000 for him and his wife after the fire. Even as the money flowed in, the FBI was zeroing in on Joly as the culprit, rather than a local man who had objected to plans to display a rainbow flag in a city park during the Pride Festival. While they initially investigated the arson as a hate crime, the timeline of events ruled out any suspect other than Joly, and they were sure within two weeks that they had their man. Despite their evidence  and a lack of denial from Joly himself  it took over a year to actually charge him, as the prosecutor wanted more proof before accusing the locally-beloved gay activist of staging a hate attack against himself.

Also on rt.com Jussie Smolletts hate crime hoax exposes Americas shocking skepticism shortage

The parallels with Jussie Smollett's more recent self-inflicted lynching are numerous  a beloved figure, seeking attention, feeds into the narrative concerning the ugly undercurrents of hate we are told are lurking just beneath the surface of American society. Cops quickly start to suspect the victim but are forced to sit on their suspicions for fear of inflaming racial tensions. Both men profited from their crimes  either financially or through media attention.

There have been hundreds of fake hate crimes perpetrated since President Donald Trump took office, as if hate-watch groups like the Southern Poverty Law Centers predictions that hate incidents would rise under the Republican president were meant as self-fulfilling prophecies. FakeHateCrimes.org lists 348, and Kentucky State University political science professor Wilfred Reilly found 409 in his own research, but fake hate crimes are by no means a post-Trump phenomenon.

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Syrian President Bashar Assad has made his first public visit to Iran  his countrys closest regional ally  since the beginning of the Syrian conflict eight years ago.

Syrian state television reported the visit on Monday, showing footage of Assad meeting with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that the two had agreed to continue cooperation at all levels for the interests of the two friendly nations.

A statement published on Khamenei's website said that Iran was proud of its assistance to Syria from the bottom of its heart.

It was a rare trip abroad for Assad who has not travelled anywhere apart from Russia since the conflict began. Assad thanked Irans leaders and people for what they have given to Syria during the war. Tehran has supported Damascus with billions of dollars of aid as the war raged on.

During the trip, Assad also met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Iran, along with Russia, has been a key ally of Syria during the war which has killed between 360,000 and 560,000 people, according to different monitoring groups.

Earlier this month, Assad warned rebel militias relying on US support that they would be sold out by Washington which sees them as no more than a bargaining chip in a political game.

We say to those groups who are betting on the Americans, the Americans will not protect you, he said in a televised speech.

Washington led the charge to oust Assad for years of the conflict, supporting anti-government rebels aligned with Al Qaeda. But the Trump administration appears to have walked back on the ultimatum about the removal of Assad after Syrian government forces and their allies manage to regain vast swathes of the country which had previously been controlled by rebel groups and IS militants.

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Russias state-run energy major Gazprom said its share of sales of natural gas in the European Union has increased to 36.7 percent last year, rising over two percent against 34.2 percent in 2017.

In 2018, according to preliminary data, the share of gas supplies to the EU countries and Turkey has reached an all-time high and totaled 36.7 percent, the director general of Gazprom Export Elena Burmistrova said at Gazproms Investor Day event, taking place in Singapore.

Also on rt.com Ditching Russian gas will be economic suicide for Europe  analyst to RT

Burmistrova added that Gazproms gas exports to Europe last year amounted to record 201.8 billion cubic meters, and is expected to significantly grow by 2035 due to the increasing demand.

According to a member of Gazprom's management committee, Oleg Aksyutin, the company saw no threat to Gazproms business in the European market from global producers of liquefied natural gas (LNG), including the US.

The companys gas exports to Europe are reportedly three times more than the amount of LNG shipped to Europe by all global producers combined.

Also on rt.com China tops list of Russias biggest trade partners

Though the share of LNG shipments have been growing, it still makes up only 13 percent of the entire gas market, according to Burmistrova. The executive added that prices for natural gas saw a significant surge.

In 2018, in accordance with linked fuel prices, the average price of Gazprom gas increased by 24.6 percent to $245.5 for 1,000 cubic meters, she said, stressing that in 2016 it stood at $167.

When it comes to China, one of the worlds biggest energy consumers, Gazprom is planning to become the countrys biggest supplier as soon as 2035, with the companys share expected to reach 13 percent of Chinese overall consumption by the same year.

Also on rt.com Washington pushing own gas sales to Europe by criticizing Russian pipeline  Bavarian PM

Gazproms annual exports to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline, which is currently 99 percent complete, are projected to reach 38 billion cubic meters by 2025.

The corporation pledged to invest 1.2 trillion rubles into new energy projects this year with 320 billion rubles set to be spent on the construction of the Amur Gas Processing Plant.

Gazprom expects gas production in Russia to increase by up to 20 percent by 2035 and reach 875 billion cubic meters a year. Last year, gas output in Russia reached 725 billion cubic meters.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section
The Brazilian vice president has said there is no chance his country would allow the US military to use its territory to invade neighboring Venezuela. The vow comes after Washington said its keeping all options on the table.

Asked in an interview if Brazil was considering letting US troops into its territory for a potential invasion of Venezuela, Vice President Hamilton Mourao flatly rejected such a possibility on Monday.

Also on rt.com Behind me is toothpaste CNN said doesn't exist in Venezuela  Max Blumenthal explores markets

"Brazil does not consider this at all," Mourao told to Brazil's GloboNews TV on the sidelines of the Lima Group meeting in Colombia. Mourao also explained that the government of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has repeatedly berated Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as a dictator, could not single-handedly greenlight the deployment of US forces.

You have to always remember that any presence of a foreign force in our country has to have authorization from the National Congress, the government cannot simply do this, Mourao noted.

The Brazilian VP doubled down on the issue on social media, tweeting that the deputies have no intention of backing such a militaristic move.

READ MORE: Maduro calls Bolsonaro modern-day Hitler after Brazil lends support to opposition leader

He stressed that Brazil believes in non-military ways of resolving the crisis, which include applying international diplomatic and economic pressure but no adventures.

Brazil, like the majority of countries in the region, has recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela. The two countries, once close allies, have fallen out sharply since the election of the right-wing Bolsonaro, who has been courting Washington and has even suggested hosting a US base on Brazilian territory.

Ahead of the Mondays meeting of the Lima Group, an alliance of 14, mostly Latin American, countries, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry urged states that have not recognized Guaido to join in the liberation effort of Venezuela.

Tensions between Brazil and Venezuela flared up over the weekend as Venezuelan security forces blocked trucks with humanitarian aid from crossing into the country from the Brazilian city of Pacaraima. The botched aid delivery was marred by violence and drew stark condemnation from the Brazilian authorities, that labeled it the acts of violence perpetrated by the illegitimate regime of dictator Nicolas Maduro. Violence also erupted at Venezuelas border with Colombia, where the US-backed aid convoys were likewise forced to turn back. Caracas sees the deliveries as a pretext for a potential military invasion and has vowed to not let the aid into the country.

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An Indian minister claimed that the countrys aircraft made a successful bombing run against terrorists on the Pakistani-controlled side of Kashmir. Pakistan said the Indian jets released a payload while fleeing.

Air Force carried out aerial strike early morning today at terror camps across the LoC [Line of Control] and Completely destroyed it, the minister of state of agriculture, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, tweeted on Tuesday.



According to Indian media, 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets bombed sites belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed jihadist group, active in Kashmir. The strikes were 100 percent successful and went exactly as planned, NDTV reported, citing sources.

The Pakistani military confirmed the incursion of the Indian jets into its territory but offered their own account of what happened next. The armys spokesperson, Major General Asif Ghafoor, said the Indian aircraft released a payload in haste under forced hastily withdrawal from the jets scrambled to intercept it, and claimed there were no casualties and no infrastructure was hit during the raid.

Ghafoor posted photos showing pieces of a munition he said was dropped by hastily escaping Indian aircraft. The photos also showed trees allegedly destroyed in the raid.

Tensions in the contested region have run high for weeks ever since a suicide car targeted Indian military police, killing 40.

Also on rt.com Pakistan ready to talk, but will retaliate if India moves to avenge deadly terror attack  PM

The terrorist attack has prompted calls for surgical strikes 2.0, a repeat of the 2016 cross-border ground operation ordered by Indian Prime Minister Modi in response to an attack on an Indian Army base in the Himalayan valley that killed 18 soldiers.

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Britain illegally occupied a group of islands in the Indian Ocean that belong to Mauritius, the International Court of Justice has ruled. Their population was expelled to make room for a massive US military base on Diego Garcia.

The entire population of the Chagos archipelago was expelled by the British between 1967 and 1973 to make room for the US base, which is the only inhabited part of the archipelago today. The UK formerly recognized it as part of Mauritius, but separated the islands as a precondition of granting independence to that former colony.

The Court concludes that, as a result of the Chagos Archipelagos unlawful detachment and its incorporation into a new colony the process of decolonization of Mauritius was not lawfully completed when Mauritius acceded to independence in 1968, the ICJ said in the advisory opinion issued on Monday, adding that the UK has an obligation to bring to an end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible.

Thirteen out of 14 judges on the panel sided with Mauritius in giving the advisory opinion requested by the UN General Assembly. The only dissenting judge was from the US. The Guardian described the ruling as a humiliating blow to Britains prestige on the world stage.

Documents cited by the ICJ show that London had told Washington that when military facilities were built on Diego Garcia it would be free from local civilian inhabitants. Some 1,500 islanders were deported from the archipelago by 1971 to make room for the US base, and forbidden from returning.

The ICJ also cited a memo prepared for UK PM Sir Harold Wilson in September 1965 by his private secretary Sir Oliver Wright, ahead of a meeting with the future leader of Mauritius:

Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam is coming to see you at 10:00 tomorrow morning. The object is to frighten him with hope: hope that he might get independence; Fright lest he might not unless he is sensible about the detachment of the Chagos Archipelago.

In its appeal to the UN General Assembly last year, Mauritius argued the separation violated UN Resolution 1514 from 1960, which prohibited breaking up colonies prior to giving them independence.

This is a historic moment for Mauritius and all its people, including the Chagossians who were unconscionably removed from their homeland and prevented from returning for the last half century, Mauritius PM Pravind Kumar Jugnauth said Monday, commenting on the ruling. Our territorial integrity will now be made complete, and when that occurs, the Chagossians and their descendants will finally be able to return home.

He also called the ruling a historic moment in efforts to bring colonialism to an end.

London has tried a variety of ways to keep the Chagos residents from returning, including paying out 4 million to almost 1,400 of them in the 1980s and establishing a maritime exclusion area on grounds that the environmental lobby is far more powerful than the Chagossians advocates.

Commenting on the verdict, a Foreign Office spokesman said the defence facilities on the British Indian Ocean Territory help to protect people here in Britain and around the world from terrorist threats, organised crime and piracy. British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is what the UK calls the Chagos Islands.

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Disgraced former Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner has reportedly been flirting with the idea of starting a marijuana business, while still halfway through his jail sentence for sexting a 15-year-old, the Daily Mail reports.

Weiner, the husband of Hillary Clintons aide Huma Abedin, was spotted having a business meeting in downtown Manhattan last week. According to a source cited by the Daily Mail, a casually clad Weiner was pitching his nascent marijuana business project to a potential investor in New York.

Also on rt.com Teen-sexting Democrat ex-congressman Weiner to walk out of prison early

At the meeting, Weiner reportedly touted himself as the perfect guy for the job, apparently referring to his wide web of connections.

Tell them you have this great venture and then be like, I know the perfect guy, the former rising star of the Democrat Party reportedly said.

READ MORE: Merry marijuana! Cannabis becomes the perfect Christmas gift in US & Canada

The ex-politician, who must now register as a sex offender, appeared to be well aware of his changed status and more-than-unfortunate credentials, reportedly advising the man to conceal his involvement in the business venture.

Weiner reportedly said that he is ready to play the grey cardinal in not attracting unwanted attention by flashing his too recognizable face. An investigation into Weiner's sexting with a teen might have become merely a tale of his personal fall from grace, had it not impacted the 2016 US election race, and in a dramatic way. When searching Weiner's laptop, the FBI found Abedin's classified emails, which prompted the agency to reopen a probe into Clinton's use of a private email server less than two weeks before the November 2016 vote.

Clinton subsequently pinned the blame for her stunning defeat to Donald Trump on the decision by then-FBI Director James Comey to restart the probe so close to the crucial date.

However, for Weiner, his sexual stuff is a thing of the past that should not preclude him from making a new shot at success, the source told the tabloid.

After being released from prison early for good behavior, Weiner has been living in a halfway house, an institution which allows ex-convicts to adjust back to society. While there, he is being constantly monitored and only allowed out on approved activities, such as job-seeking. Weiner seems to be doing well on that, but will have to be careful not to land behind bars again, since the marijuana business is illegal in the US at federal level. Medical marijuana is allowed in New York, but not recreational usage  though state governor Andrew Cuomo might be able to make life easier for Weiner with his promised Cannabis Regulation and Taxation Act.

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Irans now-former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif often used social media to spar with the US in the ongoing cold war between Washington and Tehran. RT takes a look at some of his greatest hits.

Zarif announced his surprise resignation on Instagram on Monday, apologizing for any shortcomings during his tenure. He had served as Tehrans top diplomat since 2013, and before that as envoy at the UN (2002-2007).

Also on rt.com Iran's FM Zarif announces his resignation on his Instagram page

He was also Tehrans chief negotiator in the process that resulted in the Iran Deal, the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and six Western nations that was supposed to guarantee its nuclear program would remain peaceful.

After the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from the deal in May 2018, however, Zarif found himself in a war of words with Washington  often using Trumps favorite social media platform as the preferred vehicle for delivery of weaponized satire.

Right back at you

Responding to US Secretary Mike Pompeo in June 2018, Zarif simply rewrote the US diplomats belligerent statement, replacing Iran with US and citing the old proverb that Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Color us unimpressed

By July, Trump was trying the same rhetorical gambit that had worked on North Korea, tweeting in all-caps that Iran should NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN or it would SUFFER CONSEQUENCES such as history had never seen.

COLOR US UNIMPRESSED, Zarif shot back, noting that Iran has been around for millennia and seen many empires fall, including its own.

No beauty pageant

In August, Zarif ruled out meeting Pompeo at the impending UN General Assembly session, telling reporters that Americans lack honesty. He then trolled Trump  who had made comments about world peace  by bringing up the US presidents previous career as Miss Universe organizer.

Never again

Later that month, Zarif noted the 65th anniversary of the US-backed coup in Iran that had overthrown a democratic government in favor of absolutist monarchy, vowing never again.

Raking California forests

When Trumps chief ally against Iran in the region, Saudi Arabia, found itself beset by accusations of brutally murdering Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, the US president tried to deflect by accusing Iran of malfeasance. Zarif would have none of it, wondering on Twitter if Iran was also to blame for California wildfires.

Hell will freeze over

Another exchange with Pompeo took place in January 2019, after the US secretary of state gave a speech in Cairo, demanding Iran become a normal country.

The day Iran mimics US clients and Secretary Pompeo's human rights models  be it the Shah or current butchers  to become a normal country is the day hell freezes over, Zarif replied.

Same bull, same bully

A week later, the Iranian diplomat used the 10 year challenge trend to hit out at Trumps national security adviser  an advocate of regime change in Tehran  John Bolton, simply saying Same bull, same bully.

Dictators, butchers and extremists

As Iran was preparing to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution, Trump once again called it out as the worlds leading state sponsor of terror. Zarif promptly shot back, accusing Washington of backing dictators, butchers & extremists, who've only brought ruin to our region out of hostility to Iran.

Peace and joy

Not every tweet from the Iranian FM has been confrontational, though. In December 2018, he sent out a Christmas message of peace and joy to all, while quoting the Koran  though he originally mis-numbered the verse he had in mind.

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Luigis Pizza and Fun Center was the perfect place to kick off the official fundraisers, with 95.9-The River radio station broadcasting live from there for 13 hours on Friday and quickly raising $6,000. Not only did the restaurant have to close down on the day of the shooting because of its proximity to the Henry Pratt plant, it was turned into a staging area for the massive number of first responders, and the staff ended up feeding them, as well as Pratt employees.
Social media giant Facebook has restored several RT-linked pages more than a week after it blocked them without prior notice. The pages were only freed-up after their administrators posted data about their management and funding.

The Facebook pages of InTheNow, Soapbox, Back Then and Waste-Ed  all operated by the Germany-based company Maffick Media, which is 51 percent owned by RT's video agency Ruptly  were made accessible again as of Monday evening.

All the accounts were previously suspended by Facebook, which issued no warning before taking action against the pages, even though their administration had not violated any of the social media giants existing regulations.

The social network then said in a statement that it wants the pages administrators to reveal their ties to Russia to their audience in the name of greater transparency while still refraining from contacting the accounts managers directly. FBs measure was taken following a CNN report, which accused the pages of concealing their ties to the Kremlin, even though their administrators had never actually made a secret of their relations to Ruptly and RT.

Also on rt.com Facebook blocks pages with MILLIONS of subscribers after CNN reports ties with RT

Maffick CEO Anissa Naouai said what Facebook had done was blatant censorship. She also said she believes that the move was prompted by the pages popularity and by their critical stance on several US policies, and the US-backed coup attempt in Venezuela in particular.

Facebook only contacted her on February 20, after staying silent for about five days, Naouai said. The blocking was apparently explained away by reference to a new policy.

Later, she also revealed that the social media giant agreed to unblock the pages, but only after their administration updated our About section, in a manner NO other page has been required to do. The accounts now indeed feature information related to their funding and management, visible under the pages logos.

I guess you could say we are making Facebook history or are the victims of blatant double standards.

No other pages besides the four RT-linked ones have been forced to comply with the new policy so far, Naouai says.

Also on rt.com End of free speech: Maffick CEO, host slam Facebooks unprovoked censorship after CNN report

The blocking of the accounts had been slammed by journalists and popular social media commentators. The head of the worlds largest media union, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), denounced it as an act of censorship opposed by the IFJ.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald, co-founder of The Intercept, also criticized Facebook's actions as highly disturbing. Popular social and political commenter and stand-up comedian Jimmy Dore told RT that the ultimate goal of such actions is to expand the security states control over social media.

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The Washington Post has found another Russian secret agent in Americas own backyard, this time reprimanding US-based streaming service Netflix for doing the Kremlins bidding by showing a Russian historical drama.

The WaPo has sounded the alarm over perhaps the most unlikely Russian stooge yet, putting Netflix on a par with the usual suspects, like RT and the St. Petersburg 'troll factory', as supposed tools of the Moscow propaganda game.

Also on rt.com Neocon warmongers: NBC slammed for drawing on dodgy Russiagate org in Gabbard smear

The liberal publication has taken aim at the 2017 Russian mini-series Trotsky, currently being streamed on the platform. The eight-episode series, which depicts the life of famous Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, was produced to mark the centenary of the Russian revolution and was initially oriented towards domestic audiences.

READ MORE: New Congress Democrats denounce Venezuela coup, get bashed for quoting RT-linked people



However, the WaPos Luke Johnson has found hidden seeds of the Russian governments propaganda planted in Trotskys plot, calling on Netflix to be explicit about the source of its content to viewers, rather than passing it off as just the latest television series. Johnson blames the series, and Netflix, of taking contemporary Russias anti-revolutionary ideology global by including scenes of a German agent helping Russian revolutionaries with money (incidentally, a well-known historical fact), and portraying the upheaval as a coup rather than a revolution.

Falling short of suggesting that Netflix should register as a foreign agent, the WaPo advises the media giant to think carefully whether it wants to be in businesswith Russia's propaganda channels.

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New Delhi was compelled to send jets to bomb jihadists in Pakistani territory because of its own inaction in tackling terrorists operating along the border, the Indian foreign affairs chief stated.

Air raid into Pakistan due to its inaction in combating terrorists  Indian FM

Air raid into Pakistan due to its inaction in combating terrorists  Indian FM

Source : RT - Daily news
Dutch customs officials might just be the ultimate party poopers after seizing some 90,000 bottles of Russian vodka they suspect were destined for delivery to Kim Jong-un.

The huge haul was intercepted on board a Chinese-owned vessel at the port of Rotterdam, according to Algemeen Dagblad. Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade Sigrid Kaag said she ordered the bottles be seized to enforce ongoing UN sanctions against North Korea, which bans the export of luxury goods (such as vodka) to the east Asian nation.

Kim Jong-un is currently in Vietnam for a special summit with US President Donald Trump. Its not clear what drew Dutch authorities attention to the vodka shipment, with officials saying only that the delivery, which originated in Russia, is believed to have been bound for Pyongyang and the North Korean leader.

Also on rt.com Supreme smoke break: Kim Jong-un stops for cigarette en route to Hanoi peace summit (VIDEO)

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ROOSEVELT PARK, MI  Filthy bedding, no hot water, bed bugs, mold and carpet so dirty her feet stuck to it.

Those were the conditions Tammera Herfy describes in four rooms at a Muskegon-area hotel that she rented as part of a family getaway.

She paid $155 each for the rooms at the A Victory Inn & Suites hotel in Roosevelt Park in August 2018. She was among unsuspecting out-of-towners who didnt know the city had filed a lawsuit to get the place shut down four months earlier.

It was shut down Feb. 13 by a Muskegon County judge, spurred by the citys complaints about ongoing problems with drug use, prostitution, human trafficking and other crime as well as serious pest infestation, multiple code violations and imminent fire dangers. The hotel was operating without a business license issued by the city, which also tacked an unsafe building sign on the hotel in October 2018.

Herfy, of Hazel Park, was so aghast at hotels conditions, she sent an email to Roosevelt Park City Manager Jared Olson with the subject line Our nightmare stay at Victory Inn & Suites.

She explained that she had come to the Muskegon area with several adults and children to visit Michigans Adventure amusement park.

I am writing on behalf of my family and friends and any other poor soul who finds their self in our situation, Herfy wrote Olson.

She described the conditions in each hotel room, three of which she said did not have hot water, as being filthy.

We checked in and went to the room and put our stuff down, and when you first go in, you see this nice lobby, a pool area that was decent, Herfy told MLive/Musekgon Chronicle in an interview. Then you turn the corner into another corridor and its like Armageddon. I looked at my husband said, I dont know about this.

Herfy said her family traveled to the Muskegon area on Aug. 18 to visit Michigans Adventure. But first, Herfy, her husband and grandson dropped off their belongings while they waited for some family members to check in, too. Another group of family members were already at the park.

When we dropped our stuff off, and I was already pulling the bed sheets back, Herfy said. It wasnt the best but it wasnt the worst. It was still daylight out, so we couldnt see any bedbugs."

After spending several hours at the park, tired and in need of a hot shower, Herfy and her family returned to the Victory Inn. This time, something was off.

We got back late of course, and was a little musty smelling, she said. We wanted to shower but couldnt because there was no hot water. We went to sleep and sure enough, around 4:30 a.m., I felt a burning and itching and huge welts. I got bit by something and wasnt sure what it was.

Her husband woke up as Herfy checked her body.

It just kept itching and welting, Herfy recalled. I had a feeling it was bedbugs, so then I really started pulling the sheets off. I got my flashlight on my phone going. My husband was laying down and he looked up and saw a bedbug crawling near his face.

Thats when the panic started. Each family member quickly started collecting their belongings while combing the rooms for other problems.

We found all kinds of stuff, Herfy said. The deeper you got into the hallways and the rooms, the worse it got.

Dirty clothes were piled up behind a bedframe. A losing lottery ticket purchased months earlier was found bundled with various trash behind pieces of furniture.

They found mold in the mini fridge and what Herfy described as black gunk in the toilets. A faulty ice machine in the hallway was ejecting ice at will, leaving the carpet around it soaked and mildewed.

Worse yet, she said, was the bag of what Herfy and her husband believed were illegal drugs underneath the mattress of her grandsons bed.

I felt horrible because I felt like I let my family down, she lamented. But in reality, it was just little things that added up and were so uncalled for. Like, things that basic cleaning alone would have caught.

When they stormed out of their rooms and explained why they were checking out, Herfy said all they received was disrespect and excuses.

They had excuses for everything, Herfy remembered. They said, Oh, were under new management. But then one manager said hed been working there for a while. We said enough was enough, youre not going to treat my family like this.

When they demanded their money back, the hotel resisted. Once they left, Herfy claims the manager called her and asked the family to not report them for the bedbugs and the other concerns.

The hotel owned by Bristol Property LLC. State records show the company is based in Southfield and the resident agent is Salam Shaja.

Shaja has not responded to repeated attempts to seek a comment.
ROOSEVELT PARK, MI  A bad hotel can ruin anyones vacation, but a particularly horrendous hotel can sometimes tarnish the reputation of an entire town.

That was the case for a group of unsuspecting out-of-towners who stayed at the now-defunct A Victory Inn & Suites just outside of Muskegon, which was shut down by a judge last week, according to court records.

Continuing code violations, criminal activity and the fact the hotel didnt have a business license prompted the city to seek an injunction shutting the business down. On Tuesday, Feb. 12, a Muskegon County Circuit judge granted the injunction and ordered the hotel at 2967 Henry St. closed. Its staff and guests vacated the property on Wednesday, Feb. 13.

Pest infestations, fights, criminal activity, human trafficking and serious fire danger were among the citys complaints against the operators of the hotel, which is listed on such booking sites as Expedia and Travelocity.

Visitor Tammera Herfy stayed at the Victory Inn last summer when she and her family visited the Michigans Adventure amusement park. Herfy wasnt prepared for the mold, bed bugs and filth they encountered -- and she sent a string of complaints to the Roosevelt Park city manager.

Bob Lukens, director of the Muskegon County Conventions & Visitors Bureau, said Herfys story was disheartening because you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Any time you hear about a business that is not up to par, it makes it really difficult, Lukens said. We try our hardest to portray this area in a positive light. When you have business owners that neglect their properties like that, its a big problem.

Numerous safety and health issues also were documented in the citys April 2018 lawsuit seeking to close the hotel.

The hotel is owned by Bristol Property LLC of Southfield. State records indicate the resident agent is Salam Shaja. He has not responded to repeated requests for comment about the hotel complaints, lawsuit and forced closure.

Days after her August 2018 stay at Victory Inn, Herfy sent a string of complaints to Olson via email. Those documents are included in the citys legal complaint against the hotel.

Herfy said the experience all but tarnished her perception of the Muskegon-area, which she said was unfortunate for those who visit, and even more unfortunate for those who call it home.

Im just afraid for anyone else who had to stay there, she said. I could have gone a half mile from my home to Detroit and stayed in a better hotel. Weve been there at Michigans Adventure before but we never ventured out. A friend had been raving to us about Muskegon saying how beautiful the shoreline was.

A hotel like that was not giving Muskegon the benefit of the doubt.

Online reviewers of the hotel -- who overall gave it 2 stars out of 5 -- gave their reviews such titles as Just dont do it! Terrible, and Nasty.

For some community members, the hotels closure was long overdue. And despite promises from the hotel to remedy its long list of health and safety issues, Muskegon County Circuit Judge William Marietti agreed with the city and closed the hotel via court order.

Lukens said a closed hotel doesnt help the local economy.

Thats 160 rooms that we have out of commission now, he said. If it was up to par it would help during the summer season to put people into beds here in Muskegon. Any time one goes down like that, it hurts the bottom line for the entire community.

If we dont have them here, they may go to Holland, Grand Haven or even Grand Rapids instead. We want to keep them here but not at the expense of a good stay.
KALAMAZOO, MI  Close friends of a teenager killed in a train crash are remembering the positive effects she had on their lives.

Jordan Brooks, 18, was one of three people killed in a vehicle crash with a passenger train, according to the Michigan State Police.

Brooks was inside a northbound vehicle that was struck by a westbound Amtrak train about 10 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 24, at the railroad crossing at 11th Street near KL Avenue in Oshtemo Township, police said.

The three people in the vehicle, all from Kalamazoo, were killed. Police identified the other victims as Jarmaine Brown, 20, and Marcionna Edwards, 19.

Brooks graduated from Kalamazoo Central High School in 2018, according to friend, Marcharmae Martin.

No matter what she was going through in life, she always wanted to make other people smile, Martin said. That was her way to forget whatever she was going through.

If she ever saw me sad she wouldnt allow me to cry. She would always uplift me, Martin said.

They spoke nearly every day, Martin said, and she feels emptiness now.

We were planning different things for each of our birthdays (in June and July), she said. We were planning on being roommates and living together.

Daariyon Gardner said Brooks was his friend but he thought of her more like his sister, and she was the person who would make him feel better when he had a bad day. He remembers their long talks and that they understood each other.

She loved children and loved working with them, he said. She was artistic, with talent in drawing and painting, and her sense of humor was sarcastic, he said.

She was a smaller female version of me, he said. They spent time together a few days ago, he said, going to the mall and beauty stores.

Erin Jones said Brooks was her best friend and they helped each other.

I could tell her anything knowing that I wouldnt have to worry about being judged, she said.

Brooks was employed by Kalamazoo Public Schools, district spokesman Alex Lee said. She began on Dec. 10, 2018 as a PEEP (preschool) tutor at Arcadia Elementary School. Counselors are at Arcadia this morning, Lee said.

We are deeply saddened by this tragic loss, and our thoughts and prayers go out to her family, he said.

State police are investigating circumstances that caused the crash and whether the flashing lights and train crossing gates were working at the time of the crash, Michigan State Police Sgt. Brian Buege said. No one was injured on the Amtrak train.

Investigators are waiting to review video footage from the front of the Amtrak train, Michigan State Police Lt. Ryan Schoonveld said. He said investigators have gained a lot of information about how the crash happened and expect to release more information later this week.

Schoonveld could not say who was driving. He also could not say when autopsies on the victims would be performed.

This is the second fatal crash at the train crossing in recent years.
JACKSON, MI  Appellate court judges have disagreed with a mother who was appealing her child abuse convictions on claims that evidence against her was insufficient and prosecutors acted inappropriately during her trial.

The Michigan Court of Appeals issued an order, Feb. 21 affirming the conviction of Tina Harbert, who was convicted on two counts of first-degree child abuse for failing to protect her two children from their abusive father, James Harbert.

Child abuse charges were issued against Tina Harbert, 43, and her husband James Harbert, 52, in late 2015 after grandparents discovered signs of severe physical abuse on their then 12-year-old and 10-year-old grandsons while they were in their care.

The children testified in court that their father repeatedly beat them with dog leashes, his fists and a two-by-four board, which left their buttocks bleeding, swollen, and misshapen to the point where, even over a month after their removal from their parents home, the injuries had still not healed, court records show.

James Harbert pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree child abuse during the first day of his criminal trial, Sept. 12, 2017, shortly after his son took the stand to tell the jury about the abuse he suffered at the hands of his parents.

James Harbert was later sentenced by Circuit Judge John McBain to serve 20 to 40 years in prison.

Tina Harbert was convicted on Sept. 15, 2017, and later sentenced to serve five to 20 years in prison. She was given a lighter sentence, as during the trial it became clear James Harbert was the primary abuser, McBain said.

In her appeal, Tina Harbert argued the evidence presented at her trial was not enough to convict her of first-degree child abuse when her childrens father was the person inflicting their injuries.

Tina Harbert was convicted under an aiding and abetting theory presented by prosecutors. State law allows anyone who assists in a criminal offense to be prosecuted as if he or she committed the offense themselves, according to the appellate court order.

The court disagreed with Tina Harberts argument, stating a reasonable jury could conclude she knew the extent of her childrens injuries and left them with her husband knowing it would cause further harm, the court wrote in its opinion.

(Tina) Harbert did not condemn her husbands actions; she instead blamed the children for what was happening to them, the court wrote. (Tina) Harbert shifted blame for the injuries from her husband, who was beating the children to the point of physical disfigurement, to the children for their misbehavior.

Tina Harbert also argued prosecutors acted inappropriately, largely during closing arguments, when they addressed the jury directly.

The appellate court agreed with her in part, stating it was inappropriate for prosecutors to tell jurors to be the boys advocate, though this was not enough to warrant a reversal of her conviction because the judge issued clear jury instructions prior to deliberations, the order states.

The Harberts' parental rights were terminated at the conclusion of their child neglect and abuse case prior to their criminal trial.

Tina Harbert will be eligible for parole in 2022.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A pair of activist groups are calling for the city of Grand Rapids to fire one police captain and end all cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in response to the detainment of a former U.S. Marine late last year.

Representatives of Movimiento Cosecha GR and GR Rapid Response to ICE plan to make a list of demands to Grand Rapids city officials Tuesday, Feb. 26, during the 7 p.m. city commission meeting at City Hall, 300 Monroe Ave. NW.

The groups plan of action Tuesday comes a day after the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and Michigan Immigrant Rights Center released police communications that they say outline a pattern of racial profiling based on police actions. MLive/The Grand Rapids Press also sought and received email communications from the police department through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The (Grand Rapids Police Department) has a documented problem with racial profiling in traffic stops and here we see the problem again, according to a joint statement by Movimiento Cosecha GR and GR Rapids Response to ICE.

Police arrested Jilmar Ramos-Gomez in November after he allegedly set a small fire inside Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital and then stood on the rooftop helipad. He was later held for three days by ICE agents, who concluded he was a foreign national illegally in the U.S. even though he was arrested with a U.S. passport and is a U.S. citizen born in Grand Rapids.

On Friday, Feb. 22, Interim Police Chief David Kiddle said in a statement that the unnamed officer acted properly when he contacted ICE.

Grand Rapids police officials have maintained that ICE was contacted because investigators believed it was a potential act of terrorism. But the ACLU said investigators early on dismissed the potential threat and determined that Ramos-Gomez was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Grand Rapids Police Capt. Curt VanderKooi is the departments liaison to ICE. He contacted ICE, according to emails obtained by MLive.

The activist groups planning to attend Tuesdays city commission meeting allege that VanderKooi was off duty and contacted ICE after seeing a picture of Ramos-Gomez on a news story. MLive has been unable to determine if VanderKooi was off duty during the incident.

Again, we are calling for the firing of Curt VanderKooi and then demanding that the GRPD and the Grand Rapids City Commission must resolve to stop all cooperation with ICE and all use of city resources to support ICEs violent work of separating families, according to the groups joint statement.

During the last two years, Grand Rapids police officials have said they are here to enforce local and state laws, not federal immigration laws. In a May 8 radio interview, Police Capt. Geoffrey Collard said officers do not seek out immigrants who are in the country illegally, and they dont actively pass names along to federal agencies.

"Ultimately we want to keep people safe," he told the radio show host. "We want to have the safest community possible and the only way to do that is to work together and that people trust us to come and show up and not worry about anything other than what they need help with.

We want to have people trust us so we can help in emergencies.

Ramos-Gomez was in the Kent County Jail from Nov. 21 until he entered a trespassing plea on Dec. 14. He was set to be released that day, but instead was picked up by ICE officers and taken to a detention center. ICE authorities later said he claimed to be a foreign national during a jail interview.

Ramos-Gomezs relatives said he has mental health issues from post-traumatic stress disorder. He was released when an immigration-law attorney provided ICE with documents showing his citizenship.

Those attending Tuesday evenings city commission meeting can take up to three minutes to provide public comment to the commission. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the ninth-floor commission chambers of City Hall.
CASCADE TOWNSHIP, MI  Two West Michigan development firms, Rockford Construction and The Hinman Company, say they are in negotiations to build a new headquarters for a global corporation in Cascade Township that would bring an estimated 670 jobs to the area.

In a letter sent to Cascade Township in January, developers said they were unable to identify the corporation because of the sensitivity of current negotiations, but added that the company is a professional firm, rated one of the top ten in its industry worldwide.

Rockford and Hinman, who are operating under a partnership called Glenwood Development Partners, want to build a four-story 136,000-square-foot office building for the company at 5526 Glenwood Hills Pkwy SE. The building would be owned by Glenwood Development Partners, and the corporation would lease space there.

Officials with Rockford and Hinman could not be reached to discuss the project or the status of negotiations with the corporation.

Steve Peterson, Cascade Townships community development director, is working with Glenwood Development Partners on its request to build the office building. He said the developers have not told him the name of the corporation.

The projects timeline is also unclear. Because Glenwood Development Partners is still in the process of submitting materials to the township, the project has not yet been formally approved by the township.

Materials Glenwood submitted to the township do not indicate when the firm hopes to begin construction on the project, which would also include a one-story parking garage with 670 parking spaces.

The property at 5526 Glenwood Hills Pkwy SE  southwest of the intersection of 28th Street SE and Kraft Avenue  is roughly seven acres, according to materials Glenwood Development Partners submitted to the township.

It was previously owned by Blue Cross Blue Shield, which sold the land to a limited liability company called 5480 Glenwood Hills Parkway Associates LLC in October 2005 for $1.2 million, property records show. 5480 Glenwood Hills Parkway Associates LLC transferred the land to Glenwood Development Partners in January 2007.

Peterson said Blue Cross Blue Shield had discussed constructing a building at the site, but those plans did not come to fruition.

Officials with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation declined to comment on the effort by Rockford and Hinman to bring the corporation to the area.

We dont discuss projects that may be under consideration for an incentive from the state, said Kathy Achtenberg, an MEDC spokesperson.
Latimer worked in Aurora classrooms and school administration for 33 years, according to a news release from Pritzkers office. Latimer began her career as a special education teacher at East Aurora and West Aurora. From 1990 to 1993, Latimer took over as principal of Beaupre Elementary in East Aurora. She then served as principal of the now-closed Abraham Lincoln Elementary School in West Aurora from 1993 to 2000.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI  Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss used the 2019 State of the City address to highlight the citys accomplishments of 2018, while addressing challenges that have carried over into 2019.

Among the issues Bliss discussed during her almost 50-minute speech Monday, Feb. 25, were affordable housing, community-police relations, mobility and infrastructure, economic development and the improvement of city parks and public spaces.

The mayor didnt debut any new initiatives or programs during her speech at The Intersection, 133 Grandville Ave. SW. She used her fourth annual address as a progress report on the citys challenges, while summarizing its newly crafted strategic plan.

Tonight, we will look back at our accomplishments to affirm progress that we have made, Bliss said. We will also examine ongoing work and we will turn our gaze to the future, highlighting our shared vision for progress.

Below is a summary of five major topics discussed in the mayors 2019 address.

Economic development

Mayor Bliss began on a positive note Monday evening by highlighting a handful of projects that started or completed in downtown Grand Rapids last year. Leading the way was the explosion of new economic activity that hit Bridge Street with the opening of Bridge Street Market and the West Michigan Center for the Arts and Technology.

These developments and dozens of others across our city create jobs for our residents and are catalysts for even more growth and development, Bliss said.

She also previewed upcoming projects expected for 2019, including the new Michigan State University Innovation Center, the Consumers Energy regional headquarters, the 10 Ionia tower development, and Grand Valley State University health science facility on the Medical Mile.

Bliss touted the citys appearances on various top city lists, as well as the citys 3.1 percent unemployment rate. But she also recognized that not all residents and community members share equally in the economic success.

Our economic recovery is still far from reaching all people and there are still visible inequities by race and ethnicity, Bliss said. "These inequalities impact our communitys economic vitality and basic quality of life for so many of our residents and neighbors.

As we work to reduce these inequities, we must be intentional and focused in our efforts - as well as work across sectors to have the greatest impact. We must drive a faster pace of positive change and momentum in historically marginalized communities.

Affordable housing

Affordable housing continues to be a critical issue in this city, Bliss said. We must be a city where theres a place for everyone who wishes to call Grand Rapids home, for them to be able to find a place to live.

Last year, Bliss said the city took strides to combat the issue of housing, including making changes to the zoning code, increasing the down-payment assistance program for low-income home owners, passing a residential application ordinance, and supporting an eviction prevention program.

Through those programs and more, the city helped:

131 households -- with 213 children -- through the eviction prevention pilot program;

113 people experiencing homelessness receive financial assistance to obtain housing;

142 people at risk of becoming homeless receive financial assistance to prevent homelessness;

97 households -- 277 people -- receive short-term rental assistance, up to six months, to remain housed.

401 owner-occupied homes receive minor home repairs, and 47 owner-occupied homes receive significant repairs through various programs;

60 homes be made lead-safe.

Though she said the city has made positive strides forward, Bliss called Kent Countys decision to dissolve the land bank a stumbling block. She said the lank bank has been a strong partner in securing more than $1 million to demolish blighted properties, and in creating 195 affordable housing units over the last six years.

In addition to addressing the citys housing goals, Bliss said the city must ensure homes are healthy and safe by removing the threat of lead.

This effort is one were addressing head-on and the effort will continue into 2019, Bliss said. We are working closely with our partners at the county and the state to ensure cross-jurisdictional collaboration as we work toward a shared goal of preventing our children from being poisoned by lead.

Mobility and infrastructure

Several people in the crowd broke out into cheers and clapping Monday evening when Bliss began discussing mobility and parking, especially when she said an estimated 2,500 new parking spaces are expected to open in downtown Grand Rapids this year.

Bliss also touted changes to the Downtown Area Shuttle system in 2018, which resulted in a 30-percent increase in total rides -- or about 60,000 new rides for a total of about 440,867 rides.

Take heart that progress is occurring, Bliss said. Sometimes not as quickly as people like, but it is occurring. Even as we continue to evolve our mobility road map together.

We need to be a city where we have mobility options for everyone."

In 2018, Grand Rapids made changes to its ordinances related to bicycle and pedestrian safety. As a result, Bliss said it experienced a 10-year low in vehicle crashes involving bicycles, and a three-year low in crashes involving pedestrians.

Additionally, the city upgraded 38 traffic signals throughout the city with pedestrian countdown signal heads, completed 51 miles of road construction, and installed 578 ADA ramps.

In 2019, the city plans to debut four autonomous, electric shuttles downtown as part of a pilot program with May Mobility. Bliss said the city aspires to pilot car-share, bike-share and electric-scooter-share programs this year as well.

Community-police relations

The mayor said tangible progress in improving community-police relations was made in 2018. She cited the review and recommendations provided by the Policy and Procedures Review Task Force, as well as the Policing at the Speed of Trust program, as successes in 2018.

Looking to this year, she noted that there is still more work to do.

Having a safe community is critical to our success, and that requires our continued commitment to strengthen community-police relations," Bliss said. "This requires building a strong foundation of trust between community members and our police officers.

Our time this year will be spent on implementation and action as we prepare to welcome a new chief in our department."

Bliss also thanked the police force for serving the community every day and every night, with a shared love for the city and its potential.

Parks

For the fourth consecutive year, Bliss shared her mayors book of the year selection during her State of the City address. For 2019, the book is Keep on the Grass: A Brief History of Grand Rapids Parks, which was created by the Grand Rapids Historical Commission.

Spaces are essential to being a city that creates a great quality of life, Bliss said.

The mayor highlighted park improvement efforts accomplished in 2018, including nine that were invested in using $3.9 million in parks millage funding.

In 2019, the city will see additional park improvement projects, including complete reconstruction at Clemente Park, a new universally accessible kayak launch at Riverside Park, and the creation of outdoor classrooms at Ken-O-Sha and Burton elementary schools.

We are connecting children to nature, Bliss said. Our community has made significant gains over the last five years in addressing a massive backlog of repairs, keeping our three neighborhood pools open and working toward ensuring access to vibrant parks.

Bliss called the parks improvement projects, paid in part by the 2013-approved millage, a very smart investment. She also noted that the millage is set to expire in two years.

Now is the time for us to engage our community as we consider the best way to ensure ongoing, adequate and stable funding for our parks, pools and playgrounds, Bliss said.

To view the entire address, visit the Facebook page for Bliss re-election campaign, Blissformayor.
If its not one thing this winter, its another that has led to keeping students at home.

Some mid-Michigan were forced to cancel classes Monday, Feb. 24 due to power outages.

Students at Linden Community Schools and the Genesee School District were not in class to begin the week as well as Orchard Primary at Almont Community Schools in Lapeer County.

The National Weather Service reported wind gusts of more than 50 miles per hour in Flint and Lapeer and as high as 61 miles MPH in Saginaw that left thousands in the region without power.

Russ Ciesiekli, Linden schools superintendent, confirmed power has been restored and classes will be back in session Tuesday, Feb. 26. Genesee schools and Orchard Primary will also reopen on Tuesday.

The additional day off makes re-scheduling even more of a difficulty for districts after calling several days off this school year because of wintry conditions.

Linden schools have had 13 days off due to snow, cold, ice, and the power outage, Ciesielski said.

School districts are allotted six forgiven days for their calendar which is required to include 180 days in session and 1,098 instructional hours.

A number of districts including Davison, Bentley, and Lapeer schools have already begun to rearrange calendars to accommodate the overages.

Linden schools has applied for a waiver through the state Department of Education to receive three additional forgiven days.

We are still looking at how that will look with our school calendar, said Ciesielski. We now have to include today."

State legislators -- including Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, and state Rep. Ben Frederick, R-Owosso -- are working on legislation that would forgive off days taken during a state of emergency.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency at the end of January due to subzero temperatures and wind chill values across the state.

Ananich has also discussed potentially forgiving any off days past the allotted figure for this school year due to the extreme circumstances.

To get the waiver approved, superintendents must explain why they needed the additional time and why theyre unable to reschedule.
FLINT, MI -- Genesee District Judge William Crawford abused his discretion in ordering Dr. Eden Wells to stand trial for crimes related to the Flint water crisis, attorneys for the former state medical executive argued in a new motion filed Monday, Feb. 25, in Genesee Circuit Court.

Crawford bound Wells, 56, over to stand trial on charges including involuntary manslaughter, obstruction of justice and lying to a peace officer in December, but her attorneys have said the judge disregarded evidence, relied on selective portions of witness testimony, and misstated facts of the case in his bindover ruling.

The prosecution of Dr. Eden Wells aims to invent the law rather than enforce it, attorneys wrote in the the 52-page motion to quash. The lengthy record of the preliminary examination exposes the prosecutions frenetic and aspirational effort to survive the probable cause standard by any means necessary, using large quantities of conjecture to conceal gaping legal and factual holes in its case.

Wells motion was due Monday, and prosecutors from the Michigan Attorney Generals Office have until March 25 to reply. The former medical executive is due back in court in April -- before circuit court Judge Joseph Farah weighs the arguments and decides whether Crawford abused his discretion in ruling that a jury must decide Wells fate.

MLive-The Flint Journal could not reach special prosecutor Todd Flood, who has overseen the prosecution of Wells, for comment Tuesday, Feb. 26, and a spokeswoman for Attorney General Dana Nessel did not immediately comment on the filing.

Floods role in the case and seven other pending Flint water cases is unclear since Nessel announced a shakeup and change in approach to those case last week, putting Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy in charge of them.

Wells replaced Dr. Matthew Davis as chief medical executive at the state Department of Health and Human Services in May 2015 after having worked at the department from 2003 until 2011.

Her motion to quash claims there is no evidence that Wells was told of Legionnaires outbreaks in Flint when she took the position.

The criminal charges against Wells are tied to her and DHHHS response to those surges in Legionnaires cases and deaths in Genesee County while the city was using the Flint River as its water source.

Researchers have suggested, but not proved, that Flints use of river water triggered outbreaks of the disease.

The involuntary manslaughter charge claims Wells is responsible for the death of John Snyder, who prosecutors claim died from Legionnaires disease after he was a patient at McLaren-Flint hospital.

Wells motion to quash argues she had no legal duty to provide notice to Flint residents about the outbreaks, that prosecutors failed to prove she had sufficient knowledge of the outbreaks, that she neither willfully neglected a duty or was grossly negligent regarding human life, that there is no credible evidence she caused Snyders death, and that McLaren-Flint hospital was the primary cause of Snyders death if he did die from Legionnaires'.

Although Wells term as chief medical executive ended at the close of 2018, she was hired to fill a new position -- advisory physician -- at DHHS while Gov. Rick Snyder was still in office.

The new position pays an annual salary of $179,672 and is a classified position, giving Wells job protections she didnt have as chief medical executive.
IMLAY CITY, MI  The community is reeling after an early-morning fire killed three young children, while critically injuring two other kids and their parents Tuesday.

A 3-year-old girl, 5-year-old boy and 6-year-old boy died in the fire, according to Imlay City Police Chief Scott Pike.

All of the kids attended Weston Elementary in Imlay City.

They were fantastic kids from a very loving and supportive family, said Principal Devon Caudill. They loved school and it showed. Their smiles were infectious.

Superintendent Stu Cameron said the district has a trauma team that responds in these situations to deliver age-appropriate assistance throughout the district.

The faculty is absolutely devastated. These are people who devote their lives to working with kids and they fall in love with them. People are broken up, which is understandable, Cameron said. They said, Boy these are just great kids. Theyre nice happy kids. Just really young.

A heating issue is suspected as the cause, according to officials.

Lapeer County Central Dispatch received a 911 call at 3:05 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 26 to the 2000 block of South Almont Avenue for reports of a mobile home on fire and a person screaming at that location, police said.

Officer Sara Colin and the Imlay City Fire Department responded to the scene immediately.

Colin found half of the home engulfed in flames and a 29-year-old woman reported there were people inside, according to a statement from police. The woman was later taken to the hospital in critical condition, according to police.

Firefighters entered the home and pulled six people out.

A 3-year-old girl, 5-year-old boy and 6-year-old boy died in the fire, Pike said.

A 1-month-old girl, 18-month-old boy and 42-year-old man were taken to McLaren-Lapeer and transferred to Hurley Medical Center in critical condition. The 1-month-old was later sent to Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor.

The 42-year-old man and 29-year-old woman were the parents of the children, according to police.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation by the Michigan State Police. MLive-The Flint Journal could not reach the MSP for comment.

The names of the victims were not released.

The community will wrap its arms around the family, Cameron said.

When theres an issue here, people pull together," he said. "They will rally around this family and make sure theyre taken care of.
UPDATE:

UPDATE:

IMLAY CITY, MI  Three young children were killed and four others are in critical condition following an early-morning house fire in Lapeer County.

A heating issue is suspected as the cause, according to officials.

Lapeer County Central Dispatch received a 911 call at 3:05 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 26 to the 2000 block of South Almont Avenue for reports of a mobile home on fire and a person screaming at that location, according to Imlay City Police Chief Scott Pike.

Officer Sara Colin and the Imlay City Fire Department responded to the scene immediately.

Colin found half of the home engulfed in flames and a 29-year-old woman reported there were people inside, according to a statement from police. The woman was later taken to the hospital in critical condition, according to police.

Firefighters entered the home and pulled six people out.

A 3-year-old girl, 5-year-old boy and 6-year-old boy died in the fire, Pike said.

A 1-month-old girl, 18-month-old boy and 42-year-old man were taken to McLaren-Lapeer and transferred to Hurley Medical Center in critical condition. The 1-month-old was later sent to Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor.

The 42-year-old man and 29-year-old woman were the parents of the children, according to police.

Were a small town, so everybody is very close, Pike said. How can anybody appropriately deal with the loss of children? Right now were just asking for prayers for the family.

The names of the victims are being withheld until the family has been notified, Pike said.

The Michigan State Polices arson investigator has been called to the scene to determine a cause and origin of the fire.

We suspect that it was probably some sort of heating issue, Pike said. We heard that they were having furnace issues.
ANN ARBOR, MI  The 11 million pounds of laundry done annually for Michigan Medicine will soon be sent to Detroit as part of a new partnership between three health systems.

The University of Michigan Board of Regents approved Michigan Medicine buying into a cooperative arrangement to operate a centralized laundry for nonprofit hospitals. Michigan Medicine joins Trinity Health Michigan and the Henry Ford Health System as the third member of Metropolitan Detroit Area Hospital Services Inc. (MDAHS).

Under the arrangement, the MDAHS plans to acquire interest in a commercial building at 1150 Elijah McCoy Drive in Detroit, with plans to renovate and equip a new centralized laundry facility there by summer of 2020.

Each member of the MDAHS enters into a long-term linen supply agreement, committing to pay its monthly share based on its proportional volume of laundry serviced. Michigan Medicine anticipates providing no less than 30 percent of the overall laundry volume.

Michigan Medicine Spokesperson Mary Masson said UM currently spends around $8.5 million annually to operate its current laundry facility west of Dean Road, between Hubbard and Baxter roads, on UM's North Campus.

Masson anticipates Michigan Medicine saving between $400,000 and $500,000 per year to send its laundry to the Detroit facility. To finance the new facility, the MDAHS intends to issue bonds in the aggregate principal amount not exceeding $49 million, payable over 11 years.

There is also intangible value to Michigan Medicine, Masson said. MDAHS, as a cooperative, is directly accountable to its nonprofit health system members, rather than to commercial interests.

Masson said all but a small percentage of the laundry done at the Dean Road facility is for Michigan Medicine.

Some laundry is done for other UM units but we dont expect this will significantly impact any other UM units, she said.

In December, UMs Board of Regents approved building a new $39 million bus service center at the location of the current UM Laundry Building on Dean Road, indicating it would demolish the facility after Michigan Medicine had a fully-operational laundry at an off-campus location.

The currently laundry facility opened in 1969, is now outdated and needs to be replaced, UM Chief Financial Officer Kevin Hegarty said. Refurbishing or building a new laundry facility was estimated to cost up to $22 million, the university noted.

Once the new facility in Detroit opens, laundry would be transported by truck from Ann Arbor. Michigan Medicine plans to establish a storage facility in the Ann Arbor area that will ensure a supply is always ready, as well as serve as the hub for distribution of laundry across the UM Health System, Masson said.

Hegarty said Michigan Medicine is committed to placing all current laundry employees desiring to continue working at UM into other suitable jobs.
DETROIT -- More than 10,000 entrepreneurs from over 70 countries will make their way to Detroit each year for the next three years as Forbes announced its Under 30 Summit will emanate from the city through 2021.

The summit has featured notable guest speakers and mentors such as John Kerry and Richard Branson over the years, along with appearances from celebrities and young entrepreneurs.

Quicken Loans Chairman Dan Gilbert led a press conference Tuesday announcing the summit and was joined on stage by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Wayne County Executive Warren Evans and members of the Forbes team. Whitmer called the summits choice of Detroit part of a great day, in reference to Fiat Chryslers announcement that 5,000 jobs were coming to the city.

She added the summit will help toward finding the next 5,000 jobs in the city.

What a phenomenal day were having, right Mayor? Whitmer said. This is great for the state of Michigan as well.

Whitmer said the summit will help the city and state make a mark on the national stage about what Detroit is all about and how its growing.

They have this vision of Michigan thats is not reflective of who we are and what were doing, nor where we are heading Whitmer said. We are on the move. We are innovators and doers and problem-solvers and people who believe in one another.

By attracting young people from around the world who share the same vision and desire to grow their businesses and communities, Whitmer says the summit can benefit everyone involved.

This is an exciting summit thats coming to the state of Michigan. We are proud to be hosting you and thrilled about this partnership, Whitmer said.

While the gathering of young entrepreneurs is the focus for attracting talent, Gilbert said it will also be about showcasing what Detroit has to offer and how it can help grow businesses.

This is a multi-pronged approach to the economy and private sector," Gilbert said.

Forbes CEO Mike Federle said Forbes chose Detroit in large part because of the citys resilience and ability to overcome difficulties. This quality is something he sees in young entrepreneurs.

Its a quality that Detroit has in spades, Federle said. And its a prominent reason why we chose the city as the location for the summit for the next three years.

For the last three years, Forbes held the summit in Boston.

Along with the gathering of young entrepreneurs, the summit includes music festivals, food festivals, bar crawls, start-up festivals and more. Forbes also engages in a service day on the last day of the festival which encourages participants to do something to help the city before they leave.

The summit will be privately funded and will use no tax dollars to promote the event. The 2019 summit will run Oct. 27-30 with more information about schedules and events to be announced in the coming weeks.
TROY, MI  An employee at a Michigan car wash was killed when he was hit by a customer leaving the facility, according to police in Metro Detroit.

The Troy Police Department is investigating the freak incident that occurred at Jax Kar Wash on Maple Road near Coolidge Highway around 1 p.m. on Feb. 25. Another employee was injured in the crash and is being treated at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.

According to police, the customer was driving a Ford F-150 pickup truck when they came off the automated wash area and struck the two employees near the exit.

Both employees were taken to the hospital where one of them was pronounced deceased. The driver of the truck, a 64-year-old man from Rochester, was uninjured.

Today there was an unfortunate accident where a customer who was driving a pick-up truck hit two of our team members, Jax Kar Wash said in a statement. We are told by EMS that one has minor injuries and is receiving treatment now."

"It is with deep sadness that we just learned the other gentleman, who was a dedicated member of the crew, did not survive. Our team at Troy will miss him tremendously. Our crew is quite shaken, so we wont be opening back up today.

The cause of the crash is under investigation, but there is no indication that the car wash malfunctioned, according to police.

The names of the victims have not been released pending notification of family.
Yet another round of snow is expected to roll through Michigan Tuesday night, Feb. 26 into Wednesday, and stop me if youve heard this before, but it is expected to make for a slick morning commute.

While Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula are expected to receive more accumulating snow, southern and central Lower Michigan will be the most impacted this time around. The National Weather Service in Grand Rapids published a graphic Tuesday morning that does a great job of putting any potential accumulation into perspective:

Snow arriving tonight and continuing through Wednesday morning before tapering off to freezing drizzle. Slick roads are expected. #wmiwx pic.twitter.com/xPEHqJjTNj  NWS Grand Rapids (@NWSGrandRapids) February 26, 2019

What looks like the biggest impact snow-wise for the area in the next seven days will arrive this evening, and linger through a good chunk of Wednesday in the form of light snow, the NWS reports Tuesday morning.

Models and ensembles are in fairly decent agreement with 3 to locally 6 inches along and north of I-96, and tapering off to the south. We can not rule out some light snow on Thursday, but we think most of the area will remain dry.

Related: Two snows and another blast of arctic cold for Michigan this week

In Southeast Michigan, snowfall is expected to begin about 10 p.m. Tuesday and last through 4 a.m. Wednesday. The most impacted areas are expected to fall north of the Detroit-Ann Arbor line. The weather service notes that it expects this round of snowfall to be more dry and powdery than wet and heavy.

Detroit and Ann Arbor, and south of that line, is looking at between 1 and 3 inches of projected snowfall. North of that I-94 line is where the projections of 4 to 5 and 5 to 6 inches come in for Flint, Saginaw, Port Huron, Bay City and others in the region.

In Northern Michigan, most of the snow is expected along and south of M-52 across the region. Another 4 to 6 inches of snow is expected for the already buried communities of Cadillac, Traverse City, Gladwin and Gaylord.

Speaking of already buried, the poor U.P. is looking at projections of 2 inches to the north, 3 inches in the central region and 4 inches to the southern boundary.

At this point, the only thing that seems different from run to run is the timing, as the amounts are still only marginally advisory worthy and that is only in a 24 hour sense, the weather service in Northern Michigan reports Tuesday morning.

Amounts look to be light to moderate. Considering the weather the last couple of days, this will be closer to the normal winter day that we experience in Northern Michigan.

Related: See significant snowfall totals in Michigans UP from yet another major storm
The marijuana industry in Michigan will help shape the rules for the new adult-use cannabis market, set to launch by the end of this year.

The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs wants to connect with stakeholders this March as it prepares to write the rules to govern the retail market for voter-approved recreational marijuana.

Regulators with LARA are seeking people to participate in four different group sessions at the end of March. One will be for businesses with medical marijuana licenses, one will be for municipalities, one will be for lawyers and another will be for any individual or business interested in adult-use marijuana.

I think its important for LARA to get the input from stakeholders, said Thomas Nafso, a Detroit attorney who represents three Detroit provisioning centers owned by Green Skies. Ultimately the decisions will run through the bureau.

Input from the work sessions will be used by state officials with the Bureau of Marijuana Regulation as they draft the rules that will guide licenses for retail cannabis stores, testing labs, growers, processors and transporters. The recreational marijuana program will be similar to the commercial medical marijuana program -- which launched last fall.

I think LARA definitely wants the industry to flourish; they want to see it successful, said Rob Teitel, president of Iron Laboratories. I think they want to work with all of us.

Rules have to be written -- and the first applications for business licenses must be accepted -- by December, per state law.

Doug Mains, a lawyer at Honigman in Lansing, said he expects the rules will be completed before that time, partly because most of the business licenses will be limited to medical marijuana license holders in the first two years of the program.

Theyve already gone through the medical application process," Mains said of businesses with medical marijuana licenses. The state already has an idea of who they are and what their background is -- I think well see the first applications this fall."

A three percent tax on medical marijuana ends in March, as a result of the new recreational law. That will push the state to get the adult-use industry up and running, Mains said.

I think the state is dragging its feet on getting it done, said Steve Roberts, owner of Aim High Meds in Tekonsha, of launching the adult-use market. We get 20 stop-ins a day for people looking to buy recreational marijuana.

Roberts said he thinks emergency rules are necessary to start the flow of marijuana tax money. It would be simple to start selling medical marijuana to people who arent patients, Roberts said.

All wed have to do is check IDs for 21 and older -- its that easy, Roberts said.

State officials previously held stakeholder work groups as they were writing the rules for the medical marijuana industry. Teitel said Iron Labs was among those involved.

Nothing much came out of it, Teitel said, explaining he has had more productive conversations with officials one-on-one. I think now when everyone has lobbying firms that theyre working with, that seems to be where everything happens.

Though the bulk of the license types and regulations will be similar in the medical and recreational marijuana industries, regulators will have to answer some major policy questions.

The Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act says cities can't prevent a medical marijuana facility from co-locating with a recreational marijuana facility, Mains said -- which means officials will have to determine how both industries will interact in a facility.

"Are we going to be a state with separate entrances with separate products, or are going to be more efficient than that?" Mains said.

The application process for adult-use marijuana business licenses also has to be hammered out, since most license types will only be available to medical marijuana license holders for the first two years.

A new microbusiness option for adult-use cannabis has to be defined as well.

To participate in the work groups on adult-use marijuana, email LARA-MedicalMarijuana@michigan.gov with WORK GROUP in the subject line. The email must state the group youre interested in joining: licensees, municipalities, attorneys, or individuals and businesses. Additionally, you must include your name, mailing address, phone number, occupation, job title, employer and an explanation on qualifications. The deadline to apply is 9 a.m. Monday, March 4.

-- Amy Biolchini is the marijuana beat reporter for MLive. Contact her with questions, tips or comments at abiolch1@mlive.com. Read more from MLive about recreational marijuana.
So they put together a peoples filibuster, using up their allotted three minutes of speaking time during both of the meetings two calls for public comment to extend the meeting and hammer home the need for transparency at the local level. The name comes from a rule in the U.S. Senate allowing senators to delay action on legislation with lengthy speeches or time-consuming procedures.

Bridgett McDowell, of Green Oak Township, used her first time slot to discuss the finer points of hand lettering, all while displaying signs like Hello! We are watching you! During the second call for public comment, she quoted a filibuster from the show Parks and Recreation until her time was up. Another Livingston County resident read a piece about the merits of sunshine laws.

At a county board meeting in Michigan, resident quotes @pattonoswalt's Star Wars filibuster from @parksandrecnbc until her three minutes is up. pic.twitter.com/K5cQvMesRD  Lauren Gibbons (@LaurenMGibbons) February 26, 2019

Many of those who spoke said they just wanted the option to watch the public meetings from home again, citing busy schedules, health issues and child care needs as a few good reasons why people who want to watch sometimes arent able to make it in person.

Its 2019, and to be able to go on the internet and look at your county commissioner meetings should not be difficult - you should be able to get on there and look at it, said Ben Marhofer of Genoa Township. If its public, theres no reason that it cant be put on a camera.

The Livingston County Board of Commissioners started recording their meetings and posting them online in late 2017. The initial six-month contract for that service was renewed in April 2018, but a three-commissioner panel voted 2-1 to drop the service last year when the contract expired.

Jordan Genso, a Brighton resident who had been advocating for public broadcasting long before the board began filming the meetings, organized the peoples filibuster to protest that decision. He said he wanted to make sure the publics concerns about transparency werent ignored.

Theyre hoping that it just goes away and dies quietly - Im not going to let that happen, he said. 'The only way to bring it back is if we make noise about it."

Donald Parker, the boards chair, said the move to end the broadcasts wasnt an effort to shield meetings from the public. It was a question of whether the roughly $8,000 the county spent on a contract to tape and post the meetings was worth the low viewership.

We are a county of around 190,000 people, he said. If you take a look at the viewership on a monthly basis, it averaged to just slightly over 100 people per month.

Parker said he wants to look at the boards rules before bringing the subject of broadcasting the meetings to a full board vote. But some other commissioners, including Commissioner William Green, are supportive of bringing the broadcasts back.

I think having a video is something we should do ... I feel that its important to have transparency," Green said after the meeting.

Genso said he was encouraged by the turnout and overall reaction from the board, noting that it was important for residents to have as many options as possible to see and hear what their local governments are doing.

For each more local level of government, those votes and those issues have a greater effect on you, he said. Its more likely its going to change your day-to-day life in some way.
Marks Place in downtown Eaton Rapids got a visit from the Michigans Best team of Amy Sherman and John Gonzalez during their recent search for Michigans Best Diner. A coffee shop with sandwiches, wraps and bowls to try. Owners and high school sweethearts, Mark and Krysta McGee have come up with a creative menu that they can execute in a limited kitchen.

The couple originally owned a popular hot dog stand in Eaton Rapids. Then when this historical spot became available, and they decided to take a chance on it. After doing the math on installing a hood, and other kitchen upgrades, they decided to get creative, and come up with a menu that wouldn't require extensive renovations.

The McGees discussed options, and decided "We know what we can't do, let's think about what we can do."

With that, one of the most popular spots in downtown Eaton Rapids was born.

Head on up to the counter and place your order at Mark's Place. They feature pour-over coffees from local roasters, including 517 Coffee from Lansing and Coffee Barrel from Holt. You can get all the usual specialty coffee drinks here as well.

Marks Place serves up some pretty cool Bubble Drinks. These fun and fruity creations are kind of create your own where you pick your base beverage from lemonade, Thai tea, milk tea, or iced tea. Then you add your choice of flavor from watermelon, coconut, mango, raspberry, pomegranate, cherry. On top of this you pick the flavor of your tiny bubbles that burst when you bite them, creating a fruity bomb of flavor. These choices include mango, blueberry, strawberry and green apple.

This place gets pretty busy during lunch time, when all of Eaton Rapids seems to stop by, from students to residents to employees at the hospital. "The whole town was voting for us, the entire hospital was voting for us, we are so thankful," Krysta McGee told us.

We really enjoyed the Mexi Bowl, which could serve as two meals if you wanted. Loads of rice, black beans, salsa, Mexi cheese sauce, guacamole, sour cream and your choice of protein (if you wish) all come arranged beautifully in a bowl. Eat half now, save half for later, it's a big and filling portion.

Mark's Place offers a variety of wraps to enjoy. They finish them off on the griddle for a warm and satisfying crunch. The BBQ Pork Wrap comes stuffed with cheddar cheese, sweet and saucy pulled pork, and a crunchy cole slaw. The Cuban is a nice combo of ham, pulled pork, mozzarella cheese, pickles and a house made mustard aioli. The Chicken Club is a fresh tasting option, with grilled chicken, crunchy lettuce, cheddar cheese, crispy bacon, and creamy ranch dressing.

We want to make sure when you get it and eat it, its right, Mark McGee told us. The family loves that they can all be together in this venture. Their son, Christian, who is 10, is often helping out around the cafe. Its a pretty great thing when a family can make a dream come true while working as a team.

Mark's Place

238 S Main St

Eaton Rapids, Michigan 48827

(517) 441-9156

marksplacecafe.com
Fuzzys Restaurant got a visit from the Michigans Best team of Amy Sherman and John Gonzalez during the recent search for Michigans Best Diner. Owner Elaine Tambouridis is a longtime Saginaw resident, with a long family history of owning restaurants. She purchased Fuzzys in 2000, and continues to run it today.

We asked her why she thought Fuzzy's had been a success for so long. Tambouridis told us "Number one: God. Number two: My father. He owned four major restaurants in Saginaw. Once I opened, I never really had to do any promotion. He taught me the ins and outs of the restaurant business and how to take care of my customers."

Fuzzys is known in the neighborhood first and foremost as a premiere stop in the summer for an ice cream cone. They often have lines out the door on hot days. In addition to cool, sweet treats, Fuzzys kicks out lots of homemade dishes all year long.

There are daily special's at Fuzzy's to enjoy, all homemade.

Sunday-Pot Roast

Monday-Pot Roast Sandwich

Wednesday-Goulash

Thursday-Meatloaf

Friday-Fish Fry

Saturday-Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

They also bake all sorts of treats up every day to enjoy. Peruse the rotating pie case to find your favorite. Lots of pies, including coconut cream daily. One specialty of the house is their Raspberry Creme Puff cake, which has a base of pate a choux (think eclair) that then gets filled with fresh raspberry sauce and sweetened whip cream.

Breakfasts run the gamut from eggs and toast to omelettes. We tried the popular Cinnamon French Toast, which comes out slightly crispy from the grill, and rich and sweet, with just a hint of spice.

For lunch, try any of the homemade soups, especially the chicken dumpling. They make the broth from whole chickens, so it's nice and rich. Loads of little dumplings and big chunks of carrots float around waiting for you to dive bomb them.

Burgers are popular here, and a great deal to boot. Actually, everything is a great deal here. We tried the Cowboy Burger, which is a seared patty topped with sweet sauteed onions, Swiss cheese and BBQ sauce, for just $5.99.

Fuzzy's signature Folded Sandwich is a nice alternative to your typical sandwich. They use their slightly sweet, and incredible soft pizza dough for the base, and it gets, you guessed it, folded over a variety of toppings. We had the BLT version, and it was great.

Be sure to save room for some of those baked goods, or Johnnys Famous Rice Pudding, its a Tambouridis family recipe, and only two people know the recipe. You can get it by the cup, pinto or quart. Take a little bit of Fuzzys home with you.

Fuzzy's Restaurant

1924 Court St

Saginaw, Michigan 48602

(989) 790-1719

fuzzysicecreamanddiner.com
Liberty Family Dining in Flushing got a visit from the Michigans Best team of Amy Sherman and John Gonzalez during their recent search for Michigans Best Diner.

Owner and chef John Panos told us that his restaurant, Liberty Family Dining, is getting better and better every year. That is a pretty fine statement from a guy whose family has been in the business for a very long time.

Panos' parents, Art and Lula Panos, originally owned the restaurant in 1974. After running if for quite a few years, they ended up leasing it out to someone else. Ten years later, in 1999, they got the spot back, and together, John Panos and his father ran Liberty until Art Panos passed away a few years ago.

John Panos is one dedicated owner. He is there every day, and cooks on the line every morning. His dad told him that hed never get yelled at for too much on the plate, and hes taken that sentiment to heart. The plates at Liberty definitely are filled, with huge portions of homemade food, from breakfast through dinner.

Everything is house-made here at Liberty, and we loved that it offered lots of old-school specials. The menu is pretty diverse, from eggs to burgers. You can also find liver and onions, made fresh every day. Hot turkey and hot beef, that get roasted fresh every day. Whole roasted prime rib, that then gets used in things like a prime rib sandwich or omelette, which is a very popular seller.

On Thursdays, stop by for stuffed cabbage rolls, but get there early because they frequently sell out. When we stopped by, they had stuffed peppers on the board, and they came loaded with tender rice, ground beef and a blanket of tomato sauce, just like grandma used to make.

We really try to keep it affordable while making good quality food, John Panos said.

Want an off-the-chart Monte Cristo sandwich? Head straight to Liberty. They've got a secret system down on how they make this bad boy, so that it comes out light and crispy, never greasy. A triple decker sandwich of turkey, ham, American and provolone cheese, it gets battered and deep fried, and served with raspberry jam for a sweet and savory treat.

The rice pudding here is made from a family recipe, and absolutely killer. Super creamy and decadent, with just the right amount of sweetness, it comes out in a pretty parfait glass topped with whipped cream. Dreamy.

Liberty Family Dining

6277 W Pierson Rd

Flushing, Michigan 48433

(810) 867-4768

libertyfamilydining.food74.com
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Army, Air Force Leaders Begin Crackdown on Private Housing Problems

Top Air Force officials have called for a "100 percent" review of existing housing conditions, officials said, while the Army is stepping up inspections of base housing and holding town halls for soldiers and families living in more than 87,000 homes on its posts. According to a 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 month to discuss how to solve problems, including peeling paint and mold, faulty wiring, rodent and bug infestations and more. Air Force commanders have been ordered to walk through housing and request feedback from airmen about any other housing health and safety issues they've experienced by March 1. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson also directed the Air Force Inspector General to review the base housing complaints process and the Air Force system for responding to complaints. Read more about the Army crackdown on Military.com and about the Air Force review on AF.mil.
AF Secretary Proposes Military Family Tenant Bill of Rights

The military services plan to work with Congress to give troops more say in rental agreements with private companies that manage on-base housing, potentially allowing them to withhold rent or break leases if their homes are in poor or unsanitary condition. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said their service, along with the Army and Navy, supports a tenant bill of rights that would provide troops with protection, as well as more power in handling housing problems. Wilson said the Air Force also is considering working to renegotiate its contracts with the housing companies. Read more about military housing scrutiny on Military.com.
The patrol boats, which have been in the Persian Gulf region since 2003, have been replaced by two of the service's newest...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with the federal agency responsible for investigating environmental threats, will begin assessing residents near eight active and former military bases for exposure to chemicals found in firefighting foam and other products.

The CDC, along with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), will check for exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, referred to as PFAS compounds, which have been linked to infertility, immune disorders, developmental delays in children and some cancers.

The compounds are found in nonstick pots and pans; water-repellent and stain-resistant fabrics; and products that repel grease, water and oil. But they are also found, concentrated, in the foam used on military bases and at airports for fighting aviation fires.

Research is ongoing into the public health consequences of PFAS compounds, but the Defense Department has identified 401 active and former bases where they are known to have been released into the environment.

Since 2015, the DoD has been testing drinking water systems both on and off bases for contamination. As of March 2018, the Pentagon had identified 36 sites that supply drinking water to installations that tested above the Environmental Protection Agency's accepted limits for PFAS contamination.

It also found 564 public or private drinking water systems off installations that tested above the EPA's accepted limits.

Related: Health Study Planned After Air Force Firefighting Foam Tainted Water

The DoD is currently working to determine whether area residents were exposed and, if so, to switch to a clean water source and initiate cleanup. The CDC and ATSDR, meanwhile, are studying the extent of exposure and plan to launch studies to understand the relationship between PFAS compounds and health conditions.

The eight communities the agencies will examine this year are: Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska; Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado; New Castle Air National Guard Base, Delaware; Barnes Air National Guard Base, Massachusetts; Stewart Air National Guard Base, New York; Reese Technology Center, Texas; Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington; and Shepherd Field Air National Guard Base, West Virginia.

The investigations follow exposure assessments conducted in Bucks and Montgomery counties, Pennsylvania, near the former Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove, and the Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base in Westhampton, N.Y.

CDC officials said the primary goal of the research is to "provide information to communities about levels of the contaminants in their bodies." This information will help the communities understand the extent of exposure, they added.

"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, director of the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health and ATSDR.

In addition to the contamination of some base drinking water supply systems, DoD investigations found that the groundwater at some facilities contained PFAS compounds.

According to the DoD, as of August 2017, nine Army bases, 40 Navy and Marine Corps bases, 39 Air Force bases and two Defense Logistics Agency sites had groundwater levels of PFAS higher than EPA limits. The DoD tested a total of 2,668 groundwater wells for contamination, finding more than 60 percent above the EPA's accepted limit.

According to the CDC, the community assessments will include randomly selecting residents to provide blood and urine samples to check PFAS levels. The exposure assessments will use statistically based sampling.

In May 2018, the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit organization that supports research and education on public health concerns related to environmental exposures, released an estimate that as many as 110 million Americans may have PFAS compounds in their drinking water.

A 2018 ATSDR draft toxicology report has associated PFAS compounds with ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease and high blood pressure in pregnant women. In addition, the most commonly used PFAS compounds have been linked to testicular and kidney cancer.

The Air Force last year announced that it had completely transitioned its firefighting services to use foam considered safer to the environment than the original aqueous firefighting foam.

The Army also plans to replace its stockpiles and to incinerate the PFAS-containing foams.

In 2016, the Navy announced a policy to stop releasing foam at its shore facilities except in emergencies and had a plan to dispose of its excess foam. It also announced plans to dispose and replace all shore systems and fire trucks that use the PFAS-containing foam.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @patriciakime.
A federal judge's decision Friday that the law requiring men -- but not women -- to register for a U.S. military draft is unconstitutional has no immediate impact on women or the U.S. Selective Service System.

But it does revive debate about whether the country needs a military draft system and, if so, whether all 18-year-olds, regardless of gender, should be required to register.

Judge Gray Miller of the U.S. Southern District of Texas ruled Friday that the Military Selective Service Act discriminates on the basis of gender. He said the U.S. Selective Service System's arguments in defense "smacked of 'archaic and overbroad generalization about women's preferences.'" The arguments, as interpreted by Miller, included concerns that a draft for both genders would have a negative impact on military recruiting because women might believe they will be forced into combat positions if they enlist.

"At its core, the defendant's arguments rest on the assumption that women are significantly more combat-averse than men," Miller wrote.

The ruling does not order the federal government to change its policy on who must register, nor does it make any recommendation to Congress, which would have to change the laws governing the Selective Service System to require women to sign up.

Miller's decision comes as a congressional commission weighs the future of national service, including draft registration for women and men. The National Commission on Military, National and Public Service is expected to release a report next year on recommendations for the Selective Service System and other opportunities for young people within the federal government.

Dr. Joe Heck, a former Nevada congressman who chairs the commission, said Monday that Miller's ruling was not unexpected, but that his 11-person commission will proceed unaffected with its mandates, which include making recommendations on the future of the draft registration system.

"The first question that we need to answer is, do we need the Selective Service System at all? We are looking at it very closely," Heck said. "[The United States is] spending $24 million a year to maintain a system we haven't used since 1973, so one of the things we want to review is, are there other ways? In a national emergency that requires a mass mobilization, are there other alternatives?"

A system for conscription has been used off and on since the Civil War. The Selective Service System was created in 1917 to ensure that the federal government had the ability to draft all eligible men as needed for war. The draft was abolished in 1973 by President Richard Nixon, and registration for the Selective Service System was suspended in 1975. However, under the administration of President Jimmy Carter in 1980, it was revived to ensure rapid mobilization in an emergency.

Support for women registering for the system gained steam after the Defense Department abolished all restrictions on women serving in combat positions in 2013. Several plaintiffs, including the National Coalition for Men (NCFM), subsequently filed lawsuits challenging the "men-only" requirement of Selective Service. In 2016, Congress created the blue-ribbon panel to study the issue.

On Monday, Harry Crouch, president of the NCFM, called Miller's decision "momentous" and said it is likely to place pressure on the commission and elected representatives to consider changing the system.

"If they want to keep the Selective Service System, we are OK with that, but it has to be fair for everybody because right now, it's not. You have men, if they fail to register, lose their right to vote; they can lose their driver's license; they can be imprisoned. I don't think they have been, but it's on the books ... they really can be disenfranchised."

In a statement on its Facebook page, the Selective Service System said no change to the process can occur without new legislation. The system "does not make policy and follows laws as written. As such, until Congress modifies the Military Selective Service Act or a court orders Selective Service to change our standing operation, the following remains in effect," referring to the requirement that men ages 18-25 register, while women are not required to do so.

Defense Department officials have told Congress they support preserving the Selective Service System and welcome the inclusion of women. In a report to Congress in 2017, they argued that a future draft likely would focus on highly technical skills that are in short supply in general and, accordingly, "targeting a draft to only 50 percent of the available population would severely limit" the department's capabilities in a national emergency.

Regarding Miller's ruling, Air Force Lt. Col. Carla Gleason, a Pentagon spokeswoman, referred request for comment on the case to the Justice Department. She added, however, that the Defense Department "needs and appreciates every qualified patriot who is willing and able to serve."

The Justice Department declined to comment on the ruling.

Heck said the ruling underscores the importance of his panel's work, adding that the group is holding public hearings throughout the country in the coming months, including meetings in Washington, D.C., on April 24 and 25.

He also encouraged Americans to weigh in on the issues via the commission's website.

"We have looked at a range of options regarding Selective Service since we began. ... What, if any, modifications are necessary to better reflect the needs of a 21st-century Department of Defense, to include whether women should register; should the registration be more skills-based; should there be periodic re-registration or updates. These are the questions we have been considering."

If the Justice Department appeals Miller's ruling, the case would be considered in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Heck said the commission's final report is expected in March 2020, and it will then be up to Congress to decide whether to implement the group's recommendations, which could include requiring all 18-year-olds to register, eliminating the system entirely or introducing volunteer registration.

A representative for the Service Women's Action Network, an advocacy group for female troops and veterans, said the organization believes the entire system should be abolished. But, added retired Navy Capt. Lory Manning, a SWAN spokeswoman, the group supports Miller's ruling as long as the Selective Service continues to exist.

"It's about time women register for Selective Service too," she said.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @patriciakime.
A pair of staples on the Chicago scene, Goose Island Beer Co. and Do312 have joined forces once again to host 312 Day with a week of events and deals leading up to the very real made up holiday on March 12.
A top U.S. military general told lawmakers Tuesday that there is no specific force coming from the south toward the U.S. border that poses a significant threat to the homeland or to troops stationed there.

Air Force Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy, head of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that the "threats" coming from the southern border "are not military in nature."

"A secure border does reduce threats to the homeland [but]  it is not a military threat," he said, testifying alongside Gen. John Hyten, head of U.S. Strategic Command. "Border security is national security. [But] right now, there is not a specific military force from the south that we are trying to take action against."

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Lawmakers took note that O'Shaughnessy, who assumed command of the homeland defense mission in May, pointed to threats such as Russia and China and their encroachment in the Arctic as larger priorities and direct threats to U.S. national security over the border mission.

Based on O'Shaughnessy's testimony, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said there is a lack of "specific facts" to support President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency.

"The president has declared that national emergency," O'Shaughnessy said. He said he had been consulted by senior leaders such as Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and had spoken with Trump about supporting the Customs and Border Patrol mission.

"I'm asking you. Did you recommend he declare a national emergency?" Blumenthal asked.

"I get my orders from the secretary of defense and the president," O'Shaughnessy demurred. "Those orders are very clear to me and, just like any other mission that I am given, when I get that legal order and have the troops to be able to enforce that, I do [it] with the same vigor and professionalism" as other missions.

He added, "We are trying to be a good partner" to the Department of Homeland Security "as they take on this challenge."

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said the prospect of using military funding for the wall sets a bad precedent in light of the national emergency.

"The question we're going to have to vote on is do we want the president to take Pentagon money for a threat that you acknowledge is not military in nature," Kaine said.

O'Shaughnessy's comments come as the Pentagon prepares to increase the number of troops stationed at the U.S.-Mexico border by roughly 1,000. The Washington Post reported Friday that the total will grow to about 6,000 in weeks to come.

In January, Shanahan told reporters that the Defense Department had been asked to put up more concertina wire and conduct expanded surveillance along the border, likely requiring "several thousand" more troops to be deployed.

Shanahan, along with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, toured the U.S. border over the weekend as the administration works to allocate billions of dollars for the border wall.

O'Shaughnessy said he accompanied Shanahan on the trip so that top leaders could better understand where potential funds from the military construction budget might go toward border security.

The White House has said it could dip into a number of military construction projects to cobble together $3.5 billion in funding.

The president on Feb. 15 said the $3.5 billion would be part of the $8 billion he intends to devote to new wall construction after declaring a national emergency to keep out an "invasion" of immigrants.

Some of the money could also be taken from the fund for Overseas Contingency Operations, the so-called "war budget" that funds the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.
An active-duty Marine is the subject of a criminal investigation after a series of posts emerged on social media this weekend showing his possible ties to a group associated with white supremacism.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is looking into derogatory comments attributed to a member of the Hawaii-based 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, said 1st Lt. David Mancilla, a spokesman for III Marine Expeditionary Force.

"The command will address any misconduct at the appropriate judicial or administrative level," he said. "... The Marine Corps takes every instance of misconduct seriously, whether on duty, off duty or online. Any form of racism or discrimination undermines the core values of the Marine Corps and is not tolerated."

Mancilla declined to provide additional details about the investigation since it remains ongoing. The command is thankful to those who brought the posts to leaders' attention, he added.

Screenshots of posts made by the now-deleted @Jacobite_Edward Twitter handle were shared by Marine veteran Ed Beck on Sunday. The photos show that @Jacobite_Edward claimed in his Twitter bio to be a 20-year-old infantryman with connections to Society of Saint Pius X, a group long connected to racism and anti-Semitism, according to the Anti-Defamation League, which works to combat hate and prejudice.

Photos posted by Beck show the Marine under investigation allegedly shared a picture of a swastika, a meme that include the n-word, and a post encouraging violence against women in which he shared an image of his boot under the words "women respecting tool." He also allegedly joked about shooting feminists and shared photos of World War II-era Belgian politician Leon Degrelle, a Nazi collaborator.

Beck previously alerted officials when another Marine, Lance Cpl. Vasillios Pistolis, was bragging about his involvement in the deadly 2017 Unite the Right white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on social media, ProPublica reported. Pistolis was later kicked out of the service.

The Marine Corps and other military services are under fire from members of Congress to better screen enlistees and officer candidates for white nationalism and other extremist beliefs, The Washington Post reported Monday. That follows the arrest of Coast Guard Lt. Christopher Paul Hasson, a self-described white nationalist who was allegedly planning attacks against journalists and Democratic members of Congress.

Any participation by a Marine in a hate or extremist group will not be tolerated, said Maj. Brian Block, a Marine spokesman at the Pentagon.

"We are proud of the fact that Marines come from every race, creed, cultural background and walk of life," Block said. "We expect every Marine to treat their fellow Marines with dignity and respect. Those who can't value the contributions of others, regardless of background, are destructive to our culture, our warfighting ability, and have no place in our ranks."

-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins.
The Navy is still short 6,200 sailors it needs to carry out its global mission requirements, leading top brass to stop at least two ships from participating in recent missions they weren't ready to carry out.

Adm. John Aquilino, head of U.S. Pacific Fleet, told lawmakers Tuesday that he canceled a ship's deployment to the South Pacific and sent one less vessel to participate in the 2018 Rim of the Pacific exercise due to ongoing manning shortages and training problems.

"If the ships in the Pacific Fleet are not ready to safely sail, they don't get underway," he said.

The same is true in the Atlantic, where Adm. Christopher Grady, head of Fleet Forces Command, said he has given crews more time to train up and get ready.

"We do not ask a ship or direct a ship to go on mission if they are not certified to do the job," Grady said. "... Indeed, on several occasions, I have said, 'That ship's not ready. We'll need more time.' "

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That's a change from the climate described in the investigations into a pair of 2017 ship collisions in the Pacific that killed 17 sailors. Those probes found that at least one of those ships was short staffed and hadn't completed all its predeployment certifications, yet it still steamed toward the South China Sea on a secret mission.

Aquilino and Grady were summoned to Capitol Hill to testify before a special joint session of the House Armed Services readiness and seapower subcommittees. The two were pressed to explain whether a series of personnel reforms put in place after the collisions have made the Navy safer.

The deadly accidents involving the destroyers Fitzgerald and John McCain showed that the demands on the Navy were too high for the number of ships and trained crews it has, said Rep. Rob Wittman, a Virginia Republican and the ranking member of the Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee.

Grady said all ships now must have the personnel, equipment and training to deploy. But manning can be a challenge, he said, since the Navy is working on filling 6,200 vacant sea billets. It could take years to fill those spaces and train the sailors and officers up for the mission at hand.

In the meantime, the Navy must ensure those already on deck have the training and resources they need to perform their most basic job -- seamanship and navigation, said Rep. Elaine Luria, a newly elected Virginia Democrat representing Hampton Roads, Virginia Beach and much of Norfolk.

Luria, a retired naval surface-warfare officer who served as executive officer on the guided-missile cruiser Anzio, said Navy personnel must have the highest-level skills possible to deal with the potential of serious threats from near-peer adversaries.

That, she said, is going to require a return to training on fundamentals and a constant and ongoing assessment of how sailors and officers are performing since the collisions.

"We identify problems and we implement corrective actions," Luria said, "but we fail to sufficiently assess and follow through with these before we find ourselves back here again at yet another hearing to take more corrective actions and find ourselves with more avoidable mishaps."

-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins.
A U.S. lawmaker who recently deployed to the southern border as a guardsman is within his rights to be critical of his direct chain-of-command even as officials weigh disciplinary action, according to his spokeswoman.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Illinois, earlier this week criticized Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers for withdrawing the state's troops from the southern border.

As a result, Kinzinger, who serves as an RC-26 pilot with the Wisconsin Air National Guard's 115th Fighter Wing, may face administrative action from the state adjutant general, to whom the Guard answers, for his comments, WISN 12 News reported Tuesday.

Kinzinger deployed with his unit to the border for the security mission earlier this month.

"Your guardsmen saved many lives and protected our country on this mission," he posted on Twitter on Monday.

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"I'm grateful to my fellow Wisconsin Guard members, and I'm deeply disappointed you won't let them do what they are trained to do for the good of the country," Kinzinger wrote. "@GovEvers, I hope you'll reconsider."

The intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance pilot also questioned whether withdrawing the troops was "based solely on politics."

Kinzinger's spokeswoman defended his right to speak out. "The Congressman is off-duty and has the right to exercise his freedom of speech as he so chooses, just as he has done when critical of the current president and the president before him," Maura Gillespie told Military.com in a statement.

"The implication that a member of the National Guard cannot speak freely when off-duty is just absurd, and not in accordance with the [Uniform Code of Military Justice] law nor Wisconsin law, which clearly states these restrictions only apply to members on service," she said.

The Wisconsin Guard is "looking into the matter," spokesman Capt. Joe Trovato said.

When the Guard will reach a conclusion on potential disciplinary action "remains undetermined," Trovato said during a phone call. "As a matter of organizational policy, we don't typically comment on [these] matters."

Kinzinger, a lieutenant colonel, said his two-week deployment opened his eyes to what the border mission means to the U.S., adding that more resources should be devoted to the effort.

He told CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday that he agrees the border situation "is a security threat" and he will not oppose President Donald Trumps national emergency declaration.

"It's a security threat with the amount of drugs coming over the border and the human trafficking that I've seen," Kinzinger said during the interview.

Law experts have questioned whether a military member, even retired, may speak out against superiors, and whether they would be subject to UCMJ disciplinary action.

According to the Lawfare Blog, "contemptuous speech" is prohibited by Article 88 of the UCMJ.

It criminalizes "contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or the Governor or legislature of any State," Lawfare's Rick Houghton, an Army veteran, wrote of the provision.

Article 134 of the UCMJ speaks to "the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces," and any "conduct of a nature that brings discredit upon the armed forces."

In this case, any reprimand would come from the adjutant general of Wisconsin, although such action is rare, a military source said on background.

Kinzinger has also taken a personal interest in the RC-26 aerial surveillance plane, which he flies.

Military.com recently learned that the Air National Guard may be looking to get rid of at least half of its older RC-26 fleet in coming years, even though some are still being upgraded.

Kinzinger spoke out against the plan, entering the discourse as both a policymaker and a guardsman. In an Op-Ed in Air Force Times last month, he said divesting the aircraft at a time when border security needs to be a top priority for the nation would be a mistake.

His spokeswoman said then that Kinzinger stands by his overall arguments for additional resources for border security.

"As the congressman has said before, he believes we need stronger border security, and that includes having additional military personnel on the ground to handle the illegal activity on the border, but also to help facilitate activity through the points of entry and people coming into the country," Gillespie said before Kinzinger's deployment the week of Feb. 11.

Kinzinger was commissioned in the Air Force in 2003, according to Air Force Magazine.

He first flew KC-135 Stratotankers before switching to the RC-26, and deployed several times for missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.
Buoyed by an appeals court ruling, House and Senate leaders began another push Monday for a "Blue Water Navy" bill on Agent Orange benefits that failed last year following opposition from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"It's time to do the right thing" by sailors who served offshore during the Vietnam war, said Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tennessee, ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Georgia, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said he has enough votes in the Senate to pass the bill. He hopes to overcome "a few people who made my life miserable" last year by blocking a Senate vote on the previous bill, which had passed 382-0 in the House.

Isakson and Roe were joined by Rep. Mark Takano, D-California, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, ranking member of the Senate committee, in urging VA Secretary Robert Wilkie not to appeal a January ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in favor of extending Agent Orange health care and benefits to offshore sailors.

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The appeals court considered the case of 73-year-old Alfred Procopio Jr., who served on the aircraft carrier Intrepid off Vietnam and had been denied benefits by the VA for lack of scientific evidence that his diabetes and prostate cancer were related to exposure to the toxic defoliant Agent Orange.

The court ruling found that the science backed up Procopio's claim. Judge Kimberly A. Moore wrote, "We find no merit in the government's arguments to the contrary."

The House and Senate leaders spoke at an American Legion "Fireside Chat" about the way forward on veterans issues in the new Congress.

Isakson said that much of the committees' work will focus on overseeing implementation of landmark legislation passed last year on private health care options, electronic health care records, and accountability for VA staff and employees.

"If we mess this up, I want to go into the witness protection program," Roe said of the expected $16 billion to be spent over the course of a contract with Cerner Corp. to mesh Defense Department and VA electronic health care records.

All four of the committee leaders said oversight of the VA Mission Act's implementation would ease veterans service organizations' concerns that community care could lead to the "privatization" of VA health care.

"We're not privatizing the VA, period," Isakson said.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
If you're like me, you probably wonder just what that document you get from Tricare after you receive any type of medical care actually is. You know, the important-looking one that comes either online or in the mail and says "THIS IS NOT A BILL" on top. Why did I get it and what should I do with it?

That document is known as an Explanation of Benefits (EOB), and it is not a bill. The Tricare EOB is an itemized statement showing what action Tricare has taken on your medical claim.

While insurers, including Tricare, aren't required by law to provide EOBs in most states, many do. This is because it's simply easier for them to do so rather than having to deal with the myriad state laws. Tricare is one of those insurers that sends everyone an EOB.

You may get one each time you get medical care, or you may get it at the end of each month or quarterly, depending on your situation.

You may get your Tricare EOB either online or via mail depending on what plan you have, what type of care you receive and where you get your care.

You will get an EOB for medical care, dental care and pharmacy benefits.

If you receive medical care related to certain sensitive conditions, you won't get an EOB; this is for privacy concerns. Also, if your child is over 18, you won't get an EOB for them. This is the law. By 18, they are considered an adult; any EOB will go directly to them.

What Is Included on a Tricare EOB?

While EOBs are a bit different depending on your specific situation, and they may change over time, most contain the same information:

The name of the sponsor and the person receiving care

Where the care was provided

The date medical care was provided

What type of care was provided, sometimes with a standardized medical code number

The amount billed

The amount covered

How much Tricare paid

How much was paid by Medicare, or other health insurance

Any balance you owe your provider

How much has been credited toward your annual deductible and catastrophic cap

What Should You Do with Your Tricare EOB?

It is probably a good idea to at least check out your EOB rather than deleting the email or throwing the letter away. Since almost all EOBs are electronic, you can download them and store them online or on your computer, or you can just access them on the Tricare website whenever you need to.

As a military member or a veteran, hopefully you have learned that sometimes things get lost or messed up by those in charge, and having your own records to back things up is always a good idea.

What Should You Look for on a Tricare EOB?

You always want to check the name, doctor and date of service to make sure everything is correct. Also check:

Whether you got the services the provider claims to have performed

Whether you are being billed more than once for the same service

How much the insurance company paid toward the total bill and whether that matches your plan's benefits

Whether you have to pay any or all of the bill because you haven't met your deductible

If the insurance company rejected any of the claim and the reason why

Why Is a Tricare EOB Important?

The EOB is your main documentation if you want to file an appeal. If you think you were charged for something that you shouldn't have been, or if a treatment was listed that you didn't receive, your EOB will be the place where you see it first. You may receive bills from a hospital for something that Tricare paid for. If so, your EOB will help you fight the bill collectors.

Bottom line (and good life advice): While it isn't exciting reading, spend at least a couple of minutes checking out anything you get that is related to money or insurance. If you don't, you may find a big surprise or hassle later on that could have been avoided.

Keep Up with Changes in Tricare and Your Other Benefits

Want to know about changes in military benefits as they happen? Sign up for a free Military.com membership to have the latest benefits news delivered directly to your inbox.
Chris Marquette / Hearst Connecticut Media

WESTPORT - A 51-year-old Westport woman was arrested last Friday after police said store employees found a fur vest in her handbag.

Officers were dispatched to a Westport retailer on a report of a shoplifting.
File photo

CLINTON  The Clinton Police Department will be hosting another session of its Citizens Police Academy, with 25 openings available for town residents.

The course is designed to educate the public of the day-to-day operations and inner workings of the department, according to a press release.
MIDDLETOWN  The city has had previous trouble with roofing material blowing off the water treatment plant, which touched off a major electrical fire Monday night.

The River Road blaze, at the structure on the banks of the Connecticut River, had the potential to be disastrous if not for the swift efforts of firefighters, South Fire Chief Michael Howley said.

The plant delivers 80 percent of the water supply for the 46,000 residents in the city. There was no disruption to water service, Mayor Dan Drew said on his Facebook page.

In Connecticut, wind gusts ranged as high as 50 and 60 miles per hour during Mondays windstorm, according to WFSB.

High winds knocked out the alert system that notifies the fire department, and officials were alerted by a person across the river in Portland, who saw flames atop the structure.

Its always nice to have your neighbor looking out for you, Middletown Water and Sewer Director Joe Fazzino said Tuesday.

The fire marshal and other investigators surveyed extensive damage atop the building Tuesday morning, where debris gathered on charred remains of the roof.

Video footage taken from the grounds Monday evening shows a raging fire consuming the entire structure, lighting up the night sky with the Connecticut River in the background.

One witness, watching the scene where several dozen fire trucks, police cruisers and other city personnel vehicles were clustered, characterized what he saw as mayhem.

The inside of the facility suffered minimum damage on the insides: ceiling tiles, some miscellaneous electrical equipment, but the main control room where all the electric (machinery) and all the computers is dry, Howley said.

The water and the storage tanks were never compromised, Fazzino said from the facilitys office Tuesday.

The treatment process uses chlorine, which produces a potentially deadly gas.

That was obviously a major concern of ours, Howley said. The wind was blowing north to south.

Parts of Connecticut Valley Hospital, the Rushford Center, nearby residents and the area across the river were placed on alert in case evacuations were necessary, he said. Also, Middlesex Hospital was told of the potential threat to the water supply if the plant lost power and needed to be shut down.

High winds have blown chunks of the roof off the structure on at least two other occasions over the years, both Howley and Fazzino said.

Somehow the material of the roofing and insulation caught fire, said Fazzino, who added the cause has not yet been determined.

If theres a problem at the plant, which was built in the early 1970s and renovated in 1990, an alarm is triggered to central dispatch.

It looked like the wind got underneath the roof, and flipped up portions of the roof. Its pretty large. Its got to be roughly 60 by 80 (feet), Fazzino said. The roof damage is extensive. The fire damage is less than the roof damage is, maybe a 30-by-20-foot area, and the rest of the roof that got ripped off is larger than that.

Multiple safeguards are in place at the facility. However, when the antenna, which triggers an alert to dispatchers, was wiped out from the wind and the blaze, those fail safes were not engaged, Fazzino said.

The problem is we have a fire alarm system, an intrusion alarm system, and process alarms all within the building, but, because the fire was up on the roof, it didnt activate it, Fazzino said. No matter what you do, you cant expect everything to be covered, and a roof fire isnt going to be picked up by the system.

If the building had lost power, officials would have shifted resources from the Westfield water plant to fill a portion of the need, and officials would have asked residents to begin conserving water. Neighboring towns would have been asked to help, as well, Fazzino said.

South Fire crews were assisted by Middletowns Main Street and Westfield fire departments. The fire remains under investigation.
Friends have started a GoFundMe account for the family of the two brothers killed in a fast-moving house fire on Elam Street in New Britain Sunday night.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Firefighters tried to find the two men, ages 17 and 29, in the burning home but had to get out due to the intense flames and smoke before locating the pair, New Britain Fire Chief Raul Ortiz said.

The city is in mourning with Mayor Erin Stewart offering condolences on social media and sharing the Gofundme page repeatedly on her Facebook account. The effort has raised $7,500 as of this morning.

Friends told WFSB TV that 17-year-old Elijah died while trying to save his older brother Shaheem in the blaze.

Their mother, who published reports have identified as Vicky Little, was at work at the time the blaze started. Her daughter who was also home, was able to escape unharmed.

City officials have not released the names of the two who died. Students at New Britain High School where Elijah attended are planning on honoring the pair Friday during a vigil. Grief counselors were available at NBHS Monday, officials said.

We are devastated by the loss of one of our students at New Britain High School. Once the New Britain Police Department confirms the identities of those who passed away, we will release more information, the Consolidated School System of New Britain posted on its Facebook page this morning.

School officials said counselors will continue to be at New Britain High School, Satellite Careers Academy, and Brookside School throughout the day. Klingberg Family Centers has offered its services to staff and students, officials said.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and all those impacted during this difficult time," the Facebook post said.

The two-alarm blaze injured three firefighters, including one who fell from the roof while other firefighters had entered the burning home, Ortiz said. All three firefighters have been treated and released from the hospital.

The GoFundMe page can be found here
MIDDLETOWN  A large fire on the roof of the citys water treatment plant on River Road was extinguished, averting what could have been a major disaster.

The plant supplies more than 80 percent of the citys water, according to officials. The presence of chlorine gas, used to treat the water, as well as diesel fuel, could have caused a massive catastrophe, according to South Fire District Chief Michael Howley.

The call came in just before 7 p.m. Monday, made, officials said, by someone across the river in Portland. They gave us a proximity of where the fire was. They werent sure if it was this, or the Rushford Center (nearby), Howley said from the cab of his truck outside the plant.

Once crews arrived on Silver Street, they realized the roof of the plant was heavily involved in fire. That tar and rubber and insulation was actively burning, he said.

Officials put the Rushford Center and Connecticut Valley Hospital on high alert in case the fire raged out of control, Howley said. Middlesex Hospital was also notified of the potential loss of water.

The outcome could have been much worse, the chief said. Its a big blessing, Howley said.

South Fire and city crews set up master streams  heavy water flow  very quickly and started going after it, the chief said. Work was impeded by 30- to 40-mph wind gusts.

This is a critical supply of water for the city, Howley said.

Video footage taken from the grounds shows a raging fire consuming the entire structure, lighting up the night sky with the Connecticut River in the background.

One witness, watching the scene, where several dozen fire trucks, police cruisers and other city personnel vehicles were clustered, characterized what he saw as mayhem.

The fire marshal and other investigators are surveying the scene on the roof to determine a cause, Howley said.

We believe that the fire was caused by high winds blowing a piece of the roof onto an electrical or HVAC unit, but we will determine the cause definitively as the fire marshals investigate, Mayor Dan Drew wrote on his Facebook page.

The important, and good, news is that the drinking water treatment systems are intact and that your water is safe and of high quality. We have already tested it, Drew wrote.

Personnel from Middletown and Westfield fire departments, the Middletown water and police department provided mutual aid.

All worked together with extraordinary swiftness and everyone is safe, Drew said.

Check back for updates on this developing story.
On Thursday the House passed a second bill, this one intended to close the Charleston loophole that allowed Dylann Roof to buy the pistol he used to kill nine people at a church in 2015. Roofs prior arrest for using drugs disqualified him, but the sale was allowed because his background check wasnt completed before a three-day deadline expired. This bill sets the deadline at 10 business days for the background check to be done, with an additional 10-day extension permitted if necessary. In 2016, says Rep. Joe Cunningham, D-S.C., 4,000 guns were sold to ineligible buyers who would have been caught had there been more time for the background check.
Was anyone really surprised when Ned Lamont did a flip-flop on tolls? Not me.

If youll remember when he first announced his candidacy for governor, he said hed sign a toll bill his first day in office. Then he saw the polling data and backtracked, saying hed only toll trucks.

Trucks seem like such a convenient scapegoat. Sure, lets blame them for our traffic and bad roads.

Were not responsible, its them. Everybody hates trucks, unless theyre delivering your Amazon package. But just tolling trucks wont get the money needed, so the governor gave lawmakers a second option.

Yes, lawmakers. Its the Legislature that must pass a tolling bill before the governor can sign it, so thats where the debate has quickly shifted, bringing out  the zombies.

Usually when you lose an election, you slink off in a corner to sulk and regroup. But not the Republicans.

Their standard bearers have risen again from the dead to lead a new fight, this time against tolls.

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Bob Stefanowski, the guy who didnt vote for 16 years and then couldnt decide if he was a Republican or Democrat, is now leading his party of NO in a crusade to stop the tolls tax.

Scott Frantz, who lost his Greenwich Senate seat to, gasp, a Democrat, is believed to be behind his towns pushback on tolling. Fellow GOP loser, Toni Boucher, of Wilton, is still on social media fanning the flames of discontent. Its a trifecta of zombie losers who refuse to admit they were rejected by the voters.

Elsewhere, the GOP is organizing local informational meetings with constituents to attack the Lamont budget. But if you look at whos providing the information, youll see its just GOP lawmakers. There are no voices who support tolling, just the trolls who oppose it.

The zombies and trolls are hoping to find new political life on an issue they campaigned and lost on, big time.

When 88 percent of the voters said yes to a lock box on the Special Transportation Fund last November, we witnessed a sea-change in residents attitudes toward raising revenue for our roads and rails. People understand that tolls are not a tax as the zombies would have us believe, but a user fee.

If you dont want to pay tolls, dont. Take mass transit. And when the anti-toll trolls now complain about how unfair it is to charge tolls to working men and women just trying to get to their jobs, where is their sympathy for the hours they now waste in traffic each day?

Even Stefanowski mentor Arthur Laffler understands the issue of supply and demand: we have a limited supply of highway and insatiable demand. Tolling will moderate our greed.

Mind you, with the zombies and trolls now running lose across the state, Im seriously underwhelmed at our new governors inability to sell his vision on tolling. His budget speech was fine, but theres been no follow through. Lets get cranking, Ned!

Its time for Lamont to sell the reality and necessity of tolling and finally put a silver stake through the heart of the zombies and trolls.

Jim Cameron is a longtime Connecticut commuter advocate. Contact him at CommuterAction Group@gmail.com
Miami, FL (33127)

Today

Isolated thunderstorms in the morning, then mainly cloudy late. High 86F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Variable clouds with scattered thunderstorms. Low 79F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Chicago voters cast ballots Tuesday in a rare opportunity to fill an open seat for mayor, as well as to determine the next City Council, city clerk and treasurer.

Here's how we reacted to the municipal election and its related issues as the results came in.

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11:30 p.m.: Editorial: Thanks, Bill Daley, for stressing jobs. Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle: How would you build Chicago?

The Tribune Editorial Board did not endorse Bill Daley because we had a closetful of Daley for Mayor bumper stickers and T-shirts to show off. The board had no interest in recrowning a Chicago dynasty. If anything, we endorsed Bill Daley in spite of the fact that, not because, he is the son of Richard J. Daley (mayor from 1955-76) and brother of Richard M. Daley (mayor from 1989-2011).

We endorsed Bill Daley because his perspective on the present and future of Chicago most closely aligned with ours. Chicagoans saw this mayoral election differently, sending Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle on to the April 2 runoff. Congratulations on their victories. Look for the editorial board to make an endorsement choice as we continue our mission of speaking out on the issues of the day on behalf of the city we call home.

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Daley brought to the mayoral race a deep understanding that job creation and economic growth  in both downtown and the neighborhoods  mean everything to Chicagos future. As we like to remind our elected officials, jobs provide opportunity. Jobs generate tax revenue. Jobs give people a reason to live in Chicago, or a reason to join the exodus if job prospects are better elsewhere. Poor job growth means a poorer future for everyone.

10:55 p.m.: Editorial: Lightfoot cracks the machine

No one could have predicted when Lori Lightfoot announced her plans to run for mayor in May 2018 she would emerge as the front-runner on election night. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle? Probably. William Bill Daley? Likely. Susana Mendoza? Bet on it. Willie Wilson? Possibly.

Instead, the corruption-busting anti-machine candidate who got on television late, who ran a shoestring campaign, who got in front of as many voters as possible  who ran against the machine  beat it on Tuesday. Lightfoot didnt have heavy union backing. She didnt have corporate support. She didnt follow a rose garden strategy. She didnt have high-priced consultants or media production teams or experienced campaign staffers.

And yet she bubbled to the top. She surged. Chicago voters across the city found her on a long list of candidates on the ballot  she was listed No. 12 out of 14  and propelled her into a runoff with Preckwinkle, the runner-up. Two African-American women. Two progressives. Two powerful voices.

10 p.m.: Eric Zorn, columnist, on a Lori Lightfoot vs. Toni Preckwinkle runoff

This, my friends, is what change looks like.

Lori Lightfoot said this to her supporters Tuesday evening, and I couldn't help but think how this result  Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots  will look to the rest of the country.

Lori Lightfoot, left, and Toni Preckwinkle. (Chicago Tribune photos)

Wednesday morning, America will wake up to see that Chicago voters have winnowed a 14-candidate mayoral field to two African-American women, who will meet in a runoff election on April 2.

Soon enough we'll begin sizing up the race  looking at the issues, the constituencies and how each would relate to the new City Council, but for now let's savor for a moment the historic nature of this result.

Two women of color topped the field and kicked dirt onto the Daley dynasty.

9:50 p.m.: Alex Rodriguez, editorial board member, on John Arenas ouster in the 45th Ward

Ald. John Arenas track record includes bringing into his 45th Ward on the Far Northwest Side a bevy of new retail businesses along with affordable housing for low income tenants, veterans and the disabled. He was elected to the City Council in 2011 and re-elected in 2015, but not everyone in the ward has been that happy with that track record.

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We recall the opposition he received to his support for a developers bid to build an apartment complex that would set aside 60 units for low-income tenants. Arena built a reputation as his own man on the City Council, someone who wasnt afraid to veer from Mayor Rahm Emanuels agenda. But it appears that wasnt enough to keep him in office.

Come May, it looks like the 45th Ward will be represented by James Gardiner, a Chicago firefighter and CPS special education teacher. Gardiner told the Tribune in the editorial board questionnaire he filled out that he had knocked on over 10,000 doors in the 45th Ward, and its very apparent that our alderman has lost touch with the community. Mr. Gardiner, in the 45th Ward, youre on deck.

9:40 p.m.: Kristen McQueary, columnist and editorial board member, with a bye-bye to 

Paul Vallas: The former Chicago Public Schools CEO joked recently about his legendary, wonky loquaciousness. Every time he opens his mouth, he said, a white paper falls out. Thats true, to the extent that Vallas is a deep thinker who stumbles as a bad politician. He should be OK with that. Vallas got in the race early and took on the challenge of trying to oust Mayor Rahm Emanuel. When Emanuel bowed out and a dozen other candidates jumped in, Vallas struggled to raise money and to find his lane. But wouldnt he make a stellar city budget director? Adviser? Schools consultant? Heres rooting for a continued presence in government for one of the substantive thinkers in the pack.

Amara Enyia: The chosen candidate of Chicagos homegrown Chance the Rapper, Enyias campaign saw fits of starts and stops. She got a boost from the popular artists checkbook  he donated $400,000 to her campaign in December  and another $200,000 from artist Kanye West. A policy wonk who describes herself as fluent in government finances, Enyias own money troubles created a drag on her campaign. A Tribune investigation revealed discrepancies in her finances and a failure to report income. She also struggled to nail down specifics in her plans  certainly not the only candidate to gloss over an agenda  but in the end, not enough momentum pushed her to the front of the line.

9:35 p.m.: Alex Rodriguez, editorial board member, on change in the 49th Ward

When Richard M. Daley was mayor, Ald. Joe Moore, 49th, was seen as one of the City Councils independent, progressive voices. Under Rahm Emanuel, however, he hewed closely to Mayor Emanuels agenda. He backed Rahm when the mayor wanted to saddle the city with more borrowing, and he voted to support firewalling aldermen from expanded scrutiny from the city inspector generals office. Crime has been down in his ward, and more affordable housings being built, but for voters in the 49th Ward, thats not enough.

Maria Hadden, aldermanic candidate for the 49th Ward, speaks at a news conference Oct.10, 2018. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)

On Tuesday, it appears theyve voted him out, opting for Maria Hadden, executive director of the nonprofit group, Our City Our Voice. Hadden, 38, supported an elected school board, and in Springfield, passage of a progressive income tax, as well as the legalization and taxation of marijuana. She told us, There needs to be a culture shift in City Council. For too long, aldermen have been a rubber stamp on the mayoral agenda, rather than advocates for their constituents.

Looks like voters of the 49th Ward agreed. Welcome to the council, Maria Hadden.

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9:30 p.m.: John McCormick, editorial page editor, on Chuy Garcias machine  is it sputtering or running smoothly?

Four years ago Jesus Chuy Garcia got a respectable 44 percent of the vote in a mayoral runoff against a newly sweet, sweater-loving incumbent, Rahm Emanuel. This year, as Emanuel prepares to exit City Hall, Garcia is a newly sworn member of the U.S. House of Representatives and the engineer of his own little political machine.

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Not that Garcia likes that phrase. This is no machine. Im not a boss. We have no patronage, there is no corruption, there is no exclusion from our ranks based on gender and race, he told Tribune columnist John Kass in December. Our wins over the last few years are due to our sticking to the principles of independent progressive politics and issues.

U.S. Rep. Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, who challenged Rahm Emanuel in a runoff for mayor in 2015. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

Whatever you say, Chuy, but that Illinois House race in which your Democrat, Aaron Ortiz, beat incumbent Dan Burke  brother of Ald. Ed Burke  sure looked like a clash of Southwest Side organizations. Some people would say, machines.

Coming into this city election, Garcia visibly and repeatedly put his name behind several candidates. He advertised them as a reform slate, ready to trim aldermanic prerogative, expand the inspector generals powers and ban outside employment if it leads aldermen to frequently recuse themselves from votes or otherwise creates conflicts of interest.

If youre scoring Chuys Tuesday at home, these are the candidates in which he invested the most of his mojo:

 14th Ward: Tanya Patino

 15th Ward: Rafael Rafa Yanez

 22nd Ward: Michael Rodriguez

 25th Ward: Hilario Dominguez

9:05 p.m.: Eric Zorn, columnist, on how mail-in ballots could decide this mayoral race

One of my fiddling friends told me over the weekend that hed applied for a mail-in ballot for Tuesdays municipal election in Chicago, but was reluctant to send it in because he felt it wouldnt matter  that the results would be known long before election officials got around to opening and counting his vote.

Probably, I said. But maybe not. Maybe well have a nail-biter Tuesday night and everything will turn on the mail-in (formerly known as absentee) ballots and your vote will feel especially pivotal.

Which invites the question, how likely is it that well all be waiting days and days for the mail-in votes to be counted?

The Chicago Board of Elections mailed out about 60,000 vote-by-mail forms to those who requested them. Roughly half of those had arrived by Monday and those will be counted on Tuesday.

Some percentage of the remaining 30,000 who have mail-in ballots will either not vote at all, send them in late (they have to be postmarked by Tuesday) or choose to vote at a polling place (thus nullifying their mail-in vote). Board of Elections officials would not speculate how many valid mail-in ballots will be left to be counted after they all arrive.

Given that there are 14 mayoral candidates, its almost a sure thing that no one will win more than 50 percent of the vote and avoid a top-two run off. So the nail-biter question Tuesday will be which candidate will finish in second place.

Of course no one knows what the leads and margins are going to look like as Tuesday night rolls out, but if the second- and third-place candidates are within 100 or 200 votes of one another when all the precincts have reported, were going to be in not for a long night, but a long week. Those mail-in votes could prove critical. So, my fiddling friend need not fret. Every vote counts, whether its at the voting booth or sent in with a stamp.

8:55 p.m.: Kristen McQueary, columnist and editorial board member, with a bye-bye to 

Gery Chico: Lets agree Chico has a lot to offer as a candidate. He has City Hall experience, out-of-the-box ideas and a resume that includes boosting test scores while chairman of the Chicago Board of Education. He also had the guts in 2011 to challenge Rahm Emanuel. But its hard to break from the pack in a 14-way contest and with an association of the old way, i.e. his long ties to Ald. Ed Burke. We have always appreciated Chicos straight talk. But this wasnt his race or his year.

Garry McCarthy: Here was a guy who got into the race before Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced he would not seek another term. That takes courage. But didnt McCarthys campaign always feel like a revenge mission between a disgruntled employee and his boss? McCarthy couldnt find a path, even though its true that Chicagos crime numbers were better with him as superintendent. He also couldnt shake that Brooklyn accent. And he could not escape the taint of the Laquan McDonald video. He graciously conceded defeat early in the evening.

Illinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza, a candidate for mayor, gives a concession speech at her election night headquarters inside Moe's Cantina in Chicago on Feb. 26, 2019. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

Susana Mendoza: The Illinois comptroller who went to war with former Gov. Bruce Rauner couldnt seem to keep the momentum pumping in her race for Chicago mayor. Biting at her ankles? Those associations and her wedding held at the home of Ald. Ed Burke, 14th, who faces an attempted extortion charge.

Mendoza has a bright future. Her supporters shouldnt lament her middle-of-the-pack finish in the mayors race as a crushing defeat. She can return to her actual job now of holding Illinois lawmakers accountable for the states miserable finances and debt. That's going to keep her busy anyway.

8:45 p.m.: Editorial: 4 crises confront Mayor Next  1 for each city star

Live here for a month and you ought to know what the red stars on Chicagos flag commemorate: Fort Dearborn, the Great Fire of 1871 and those long-ago worlds fairs. But well forgive the 45th mayor  at this writing, we arent even sure wholl be in the April 2 runoff  if its handier to let each star be a pointed reminder of the four crises that await Mayor Next.

8:35 p.m.: Alex Rodriguez, editorial board member, on the Obama centers future and chances for a CBA

South Siders wearied by decades of disinvestment are hoping the proposed Obama Presidential Center can spark a turnaround in their neighborhoods. The campus that former President Barack Obama wants to build on in Jackson Park on the lakefront could mean as much as $3 billion in economic development for the South Side over the decade after the center opens, according to the Obama Foundation.

But many South Siders want more than Obamas pledge to revive their communities. They want a community benefits agreement that would legally bind the Obama camp and the city to the promises of economic revival that theyve made. That agreement would guarantee South Siders jobs, and help prevent displacement of longtime residents by imposing a property tax freeze, providing rental assistance and ensuring the construction of affordable housing.

A view looking northeast shows open city-owned lots along 63rd Street. The strip is a key area near the site of the future Obama Presidential Center. (Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune 2018)

In the race for mayor, a handful of candidates say that, if elected, they would endorse the application of a community benefits agreement on the Obama Presidential Center. I dont know why the Obamas have decided they wont support a community benefits agreement, but my view is the city can do one anyway, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said at a candidates forum in December. This is a historic opportunity for us. Also on board with the idea of a community benefits agreement for the Obama center are former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot, community activist Amara Enyia and former Chicago police superintendent Garry McCarthy.

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Up until now, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has sided with the Obama Foundation on the CBA issue. But come May, Rahm will be gone. If a pro-CBA candidate becomes mayor, the Obama Foundation would have to rethink its reluctance to a community benefits agreement. For many South Siders, that would give them cause to pop the bubbly.

8:30 p.m.: Michael Lev, editorial board member, on the Ricketts familys big hopes for a sweep

Lets play two! Cubs legend Ernie Banks used to say. Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts could coin his own catchphrase: Lets win two. Ricketts and his family, owners of the team, have put money into two aldermanic races in the Wrigleyville area. Theyd like allies in the City Council, the better to support their investments in Wrigley Field and nearby businesses.

Ald.Tom Tunney, 44th, stands in front of Wrigley Field on Nov. 29, 2018. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

In the 44th Ward, Ald. Tom Tunney has stood up to the Ricketts family on behalf of residents, forcing negotiations over such issues as new signage in the stadium. Feeling frustrated with Tunney, the Ricketts family is supporting challenger Elizabeth Shydlowski, a nonprofit organization consultant. She accepted a $10,000 campaign contribution from Ricketts plus $7,500 from other Cubs-connected donors.

In the 47th Ward, nine candidates are competing to succeed Ald. Ameya Pawar. Of those, Heather Way Kitzes, who headed the Lakeview Chamber of Commerce, has received more than $30,000 from the Cubs and the Ricketts family. Shydlowski and Way Kitzkes say theyd represent constituents, not the Ricketts family, but theres a reason they received those donations. The Cubs want to bring that Friendly Confines feeling to City Council chambers.

8:10 p.m.: John Kass, columnist and editorial board member, on what movies to watch if you cant bear to watch the election results

The most important mayoral election day in Chicago in 40 years comes with a few minor annoyances, and I am just slightly annoyed.

For one thing, early newsprint deadlines mean Ill have to file my column before all of the votes in the 14-candidate mayoral race are counted. City election officials say the vote may be so close that we wont know for days which candidates made the April 2 runoff.

And, for another thing, Tuesday marked yet another year that local TV news directors in their wisdom annoyed me by deciding not to invite me onto their political airwaves.

So, I cant write about the results because there wont be any results. And I cant talk about the results that arent in because I have a face for radio and a body for print.

But I have to do something. Something political. Something that says Chicago.

So why not a Chicago political movie marathon?

Im watching 300, said mayoral candidate Paul Vallas, about the story of the heroic Spartans who faced overwhelming odds at Thermopylae. Im going to watch it with my sons and family.

The movie 300 is great to be sure, but even with that betrayal by the despicable Ephialtes and all of Xerxes hordes coming down upon them, it still doesnt say Chicago politics to me. The betrayal part does, but not the rest.

Widows, says Chicago politics to me, because its all about Chicago politics. And Colin Farrell as Billy Daley with hair is superb. So is Robert Duvall as Ed Burke.

And Thief, with James Caan and Tuesday Weld screams out Chicago politics. The cops are played by real-life Chicago wiseguys and the wiseguys are played by cops. And Weld is simply fantastic as usual.

Theres Idiocracy, just because doing the same thing over and over again, decade after decade after decade, deserves a movie of its own. All make fine Election Night movies, so you may watch with one eye, and scan your phone for news from the Chicago Tribune with the other and enjoy politics as usual.

But then theres The Great McGinty.

Mayor Dan McGinty (Brian Donlevy) chokes an unamused Boss (Akim Tamiroff) in a scene from "The Great McGinty." (John Springer Collection / Corbis via Getty Images)

This underappreciated Preston Sturges classic is all about corrupt Chicago politics.

It stars Brian Donlevy, as Dan McGinty, a drunken bum who is fished out of a West Side Chicago gutter and naturally finds a job voting repeatedly on election day for the Chicago machine.

Never mind the applesauce, says McGinty to a vote fixer. How do I get the bucks?

McGinty rises up through the ranks, becomes the political boss, and I dont want to spoil things, but he ends up tending bar in South America, telling his story of woe to an American embezzler on the run and a dancing girl on the make.

I love this movie. As do many readers, including University of Chicago professor emeritus Charles Lipson.

It is so funny you mention the film today, John, Lipson said on Facebook. I voted at mid-day and, after they put my ballot in the counting machine, I asked where my second and third ballot should go. The whole polling place broke into laughter.

Sturges, the famous writer-director was born in Chicago. This was his first of many screenplays. It won the director the Academy Award in 1941 for Best Original Screenplay. Only a man born in Chicago could have written this one.

And there is this priceless quote by William Demarest, the actor who went on to play Uncle Charlie on TVs My Three Sons when I was a boy. In The Great McGinty he plays Skeeters, the political fixer, who defended Chicago graft:

They forget if it werent for graft, youd get a very low type of people in politics. Men with no ambition.

Now enough with the editorial board blogging. I must go write my column.

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8 p.m.: Steve Chapman, editorial board member and columnist, on what the Chicago mayoral race means for the suburbs

When residents of northeastern Illinois travel far from home and are asked where theyre from, the general practice is not to say Glenview, Naperville or Flossmoor. The more common response is, Chicago.

Its not only what everyone has heard of; its the reason many of those residents  and suburbs  are located where they are. And that reality makes the mayoral election nearly as important for them as it is for people who actually live in the city.

Chicago is the economic engine of the metro area. Huge numbers of suburbanites commute by car, bus or rail each day into the city, where their livelihoods are rooted. Huge numbers of city-dwellers commute by rail or car each into the suburbs to their workplaces. When a big city thrives, its immediate neighbors reap benefits. When it declines, the surrounding area is also pulled down.

Crime may be concentrated in a few blighted parts of Chicago, but the gangs, drugs and guns that go with it often find their way into the suburbs. When crime deters tourism and investment, suburbanites pay a price.

More than jobs and profits are on the line. Prosperity and safety boost all the cultural, athletic and recreational treasures that make Chicago a world-class city.

People who live in the suburbs dont have a vote in this election. But they definitely have a stake.

7:45 p.m.: Alex Rodriguez, editorial board member, on gentrification and affordable housing  campaign flashpoints

You can view gentrification through two prisms. Its either a destroyer of working-class neighborhoods, or a conduit for economic growth that keeps those neighborhoods thriving. We dont see it as either/or. The editorial board believes the best approach is always a balance between fostering economic growth and ensuring neighborhoods remain affordable.

Gentrification and affordable housing have been focal points in this campaign. In the mayoral race, Lori Lightfoot said she would push for an ordinance that ensured the construction of affordable housing in all 50 wards. Gery Chico said he would use city incentives to repurpose shuttered city schools into affordable housing.

In several ward races, affordable housing became a major campaign issue. In the 41st Ward on the Far Northwest Side, incumbent Ald. Anthony Napolitano faced criticism for using aldermanic privilege to sidetrack a developers bid to include affordable housing in a proposed apartment project. His opponent, Tim Heneghan, said he would welcome developers who brought forward projects that included affordable housing.

People enjoy a small park on Milwaukee Avenue off The 606 elevated trail on Aug. 25, 2017. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)

In the 26th Ward, home to parts of Logan Square and Humboldt Park, the 606 recreational trail has set off a wave of gentrification  and the need for more affordable housing to keep longtime residents from being priced out by rising property taxes and rents. Incumbent Roberto Maldonados approach has been to tell prospective developers they must make affordable at least half of the units they want to build. We suspect a lot of developers would say no thanks. One of Maldonados opponents, David Herrera, pushed the notion of encouraging small business growth, which would keep commerce and jobs coming in  and sustain the wards vibrancy.

As the new City Council takes shape, we hope it adopts an approach that allows neighborhoods to economically grow and evolve, but also preserves those communities character and affordability. Anything less shortchanges the future of those neighborhoods.

7:40 p.m.: John McCormick, editorial page editor, on the case of the copycat candidates

UPDATE, 9:30 P.M.: It looks like Harris and Curtis are building insurmountable leads. We hope they dont give identical victory speeches.

In January we were amazed when we scoured the questionnaire responses that two candidates had submitted to the Tribune Editorial Board. How remarkable that these incumbent aldermen  Michelle Harris, 8th, and Derrick Curtis, 18th  think almost identically about so many issues. One example among many:

Tribune: What do you see as the city's number one challenge in the next four years?

Curtis: "Our City has made great strides in stabilizing our finances but the job isn't done. In the next four years ...."

Harris: "Our City has made great strides in stabilizing our finances, but the job isn't done. In the next four years ...."

Gosh, what a coincidence. And then we spied another coincidence. And another. And another.

We had posed nine questions most candidates could readily answer  how Chicago Public Schools should react to shrinking enrollment, whats your game plan for reducing violent crime, the pension crisis, eradicating lead from drinking water, how aldermen can be more independent of the mayor's office ...

Word for word, Curtis and Harris agreed in whole or in large measure on every answer.

When we spoke with them, the aldermen and their handlers were shocked, shocked! They professed ignorance about how such a thing had happened. In a Jan. 24 editorial we posed questions to both of them about their questionnaire responses displayed at chicagotribune.com/candidates:

If the statements next to your names, and your photographs, in fact are statements of a word merchant you hired, what does that say about your management skills? What does that say about your fitness to help run a $9 billion-a-year City Hall? And most important, what does that say about your regard for Chicago voters? What are they supposed to do with somebody else's answers passed off as yours? You say that you agree with what someone submitted in your name. But how would you have answered if you would have answered?

To those few questions weve received no answers at all  identical, different or in between. On Tuesday, voters are having their say about both aldermen. Well update with results as we get them.

7:30 p.m.: Mike Lev, editorial board member, on the Rahmulans

Mayor Rahm Emanuel leaves office in May, but what about his followers? These are the aldermen most loyal to Emanuel, the ones our colleague John Kass might refer to as the Rahmulans. A report from the University of Illinois at Chicagos political science department identified 11 City Council members who sided with Emanuel 100 percent of the time in recent votes that were not unanimous.

Of those, nine are seeking re-election: Leslie Hairston, 5th; Roderick Sawyer, 6th; Michelle Harris, 8th; Burke, 14th; Howard Brookins, 21st; Walter Burnett Jr., 27th; Chris Taliaferro 29th; Carrie Austin, 34th; and Emma Mitts, 37th.

Any effort to analyze the City Council by loyalty or opposition to the mayor wont get you very far. The study found that even the most iconoclastic aldermen still sided with Emanuel 71 percent to 90 percent of the time. That reflects the reality of City Hall politics. The mayor and his allies do everything possible to avoid calling close or losing issues to a vote. And the fact is Chicago mayors rule supreme: They control committee chair positions and purse strings, making it difficult for the council to fulfill what should be an obligation to act as a check and balance on power. Its up to voters to send a message to aldermen that they should think for themselves on behalf of constituents.

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As for the Emanuel 9, plus others who are closely tied to the current mayor, their first goal is to keep their seats. Then they can decide what kind of relationship to forge with the next mayor. The more independent the better, we say.

7:15 p.m.: Kristen McQueary, editorial board member and columnist, makes the case for saving aldermanic privilege

Within hours of Ald. Ed Burke, 14th, making his way to the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse last month to face a federal criminal complaint, candidates for mayor and members of the Chicago City Council began squawking about aldermanic privilege. Should aldermen continue to control granular decisions in their wards on zoning and permits and parking?

Yes, actually.

Burke faces one count of attempted extortion for allegedly holding up a Burger King driveway permit until restaurant executives agreed to hire his law firm for property tax work. A small-potatoes decision on a driveway permit should not be within the purview of aldermanic privilege. Agreed. Abuses of the system, including aldermen who unilaterally block reasonable affordable housing developments in their wards, should not be tolerated.

Ald. Ed Burke, 14th, departs after turning himself in Jan. 3, 2019, at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

But I do want my alderman making decisions on liquor licenses and land use. I want my alderman, who knows the wards business climate, traffic patterns, foreclosure hot spots and crime problems, to steer decisions that impact our quality of life. I want my alderman, not some bureaucrat at City Hall, to make decisions on zoning changes.

And if my alderman makes a zoning decision residents dont like, they can hold him accountable. They can vote him out. Accountability is much more difficult, if not impossible, with a random planning and zoning employee downtown or the mayors office.

The next mayor and City Council should set parameters to limit the abuse of aldermanic privilege. But they should not eliminate it. That would be a mistake.

7 p.m.: Alex Rodriguez, editorial board member, on TIFs  will reform really happen?

Chicagos history is full of clever politicians and business magnates twisting and misusing the citys policy initiatives to suit their own purposes  and, often, line their pockets. Tax increment financing is a great example, so its no surprise that TIF reform is a hot topic among voters and candidates in this election.

Calls for reform are warranted. The original intent of TIF districts was to revive blighted areas. Too often, though, TIF money has been diverted to private projects that dont need any help at all from taxpayers.

Heres how TIFs work: Once a TIF district is set up, property taxes collected by local taxing bodies within its boundaries are frozen for up to 23 years. New tax dollars generated by rising property values within the TIF are supposed to get reinvested into improvements within the district.

The most high-profile TIF news lately is the debate over a just-approved TIF district that could provide as much as $1.3 billion for new infrastructure around developer Sterling Bays Lincoln Yards mega-development on the North Side. You can read more about that here.

Site of the proposed Lincoln Yards development along Cortland Street on Jan. 22, 2019. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Lincoln Yards and other TIF-dependent developments have Chicagoans fired up about the issue, and the mayoral and aldermanic candidates have been talking of TIF reform throughout the campaign. Now the question is, will they walk the walk?

Bill Daley said he would use TIFs to revitalize the South and West sides. Lori Lightfoot pledged to ensure an area is actually blighted before applying a TIF, and said she would be much more transparent about TIF usage. Paul Vallas said he would take a third of all TIF proceeds and put it into a fund to revive blighted neighborhoods. Toni Preckwinkle called for surplus TIF money to be returned to their original taxing bodies.

Among the aldermanic candidates, some told us they favored getting rid of the TIF system altogether, while others preferred a moratorium on new TIF districts. Many said that one of the best ways to reform TIFs was to restrict the programs application to economically distressed areas  the places that need the most help. The trick, of course, will be seeing which of those pledges will be turned into action.

6:45 p.m.: Michael Lev, editorial board member, on Chicagos ridiculously low voter turnout. Where are you, voters?

Hello, anybody out there? Question for Chicagoans who skipped Tuesdays mayoral election: 14 candidates on the ballot and not one appealed to you? We meant to phrase that neutrally, not in a guilt-inducing tone. But still ... where was everyone?

The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners was anticipating very low voter turnout, somewhere in the range of 30 percent to 34 percent. In 2007, when Mayor Richard M. Daley won his sixth and last term, just 33 percent of voters turned out. That was a record low for a Chicago municipal election. The number popped up a tad to 34 percent in February 2015 when Mayor Rahm Emanuel sought his second term.

A voter casts his ballot at the Sankofa Cultural Center in Chicago on Feb. 26, 2019. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

This time, with no incumbent and a wide open field, Chicagoans had the chance to help put their stamp on the city, yet many punted. There are various theories, including feelings of apathy and cynicism over the state of Chicago politics. Some blamed confusion. With so many candidates to vet, why not wait for the anticipated run-off election when choosing between two finalists will be easier. That logic runs the risk of defeating itself: All those who opted out of the first round may find they dont like either candidate in the runoff.

Still, no excuses Chicagoans. If you missed this election, please participate next time. And if you did cast your ballot, thank you.

6:45 p.m.: Michael Lev, editorial board member, on police reform and what the next mayor must change at CPD

Violent crime plagues parts of Chicago. The Chicago Police Department, tarnished by the murder conviction of Officer Jason Van Dyke, needs an overhaul. So, which candidate for mayor has the best blueprint to reform policing?

Trick question. The blueprint already exists, and it isnt optional. The next mayor must own the federal consent decree, finalized on Jan. 31, which locks in City Halls commitment to improve police training, accountability and oversight. Whoever takes office will be handed that 236-page document and required to follow it. No shoving that agreement in a drawer. So says U.S. District Judge Robert M. Dow Jr., the enforcer.

The decree is an outcropping of the U.S. Department of Justice investigation of the Chicago Police Department and City Halls efforts at police reform. The point of the consent decree is to provide a framework to rebuild policing procedures. In turn, those better procedures should address the broken trust in minority neighborhoods, where too many rogue cops have mistreated residents. The connection to stemming violence? If the police are more trustworthy, community members will be more likely to cooperate on crime fighting.

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The consent decree wont work magic. It will take years. As the Tribune Editorial Board wrote recently, Even with court oversight, there will be obstacles because changing the culture of Chicago policing is a lot more difficult than rewriting a handbook.

The scope of Chicagos gun violence crisis is daunting. While the number of homicides and shootings has declined since 2016, Chicago continues to have more homicides than New York City and Los Angeles combined. Last year there were 561 homicides and 2,948 people shot in Chicago. During the bloody weekend of Aug. 4, there were 75 people shot, 13 of them fatally. Those are figures from a war zone; they shouldn't reflect the reality of an August weekend in an American city, we wrote at the time.

All this pressure to end the epidemic of violence will be on Chicagos next mayor. In terms of the consent decree, she or he will need to play a crucial rule in transforming the principles of better policing into practice, and them holding officers accountable when they violate the new rules. Then there are other big steps to take to fight crime more effectively. Can the mayor find room in the budget to hire more detectives? Should Superintendent Eddie Johnson be retained? What will the next police union contract look like?

Judge Dow will be watching, but it will be on the next mayor to keep Chicagoans safe.

6:30 p.m.: Andrea Hanis, editorial writer, on why the tech community yawned at Chicago's mayoral candidates

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is an enthusiastic tech booster who lured big employers to Chicago and frequently appeared at jobs announcements. Love him (HQ wins) or hate him (cloud tax), the tech community reeled at his decision not to seek a third term.

You could actually hear the sputtering as tech leader Howard Tullman wrote in Inc. about the early contenders to replace him: a pack of losers  one-issue, nichy little nobodies  solution-less soreheads  sadly deluded.

Its intriguing to wonder what will happen when digital natives start taking office in larger numbers. Isnt it nice to imagine some business-savvy, forward-looking brains tackling our citys biggest problems with a whole new sense of whats possible?

6:15 p.m.: John McCormick, editorial page editor, on Kid Krupa vs. Madigans machine

The David whose defeat of Goliath is recounted in the Book of Samuel started with better odds of victory than another David: David Krupa. Hes the college freshman and insurgent candidate who dared challenge the Michael Madigan machine in, yes, the home ward of Michael Madigan. The Illinois House speaker and head of the Illinois Democratic Party long ago installed Ald. Marty Quinn in the 13th and surely wanted Quinn re-elected Tuesday.

For more than two months weve been hoping investigators and prosecutors from the U.S. Department of Justice, the Illinois attorney generals office and the Cook County states attorneys office will get to the bottom of possibly criminal efforts to teach Kid Krupa whos boss in 13. Election fraud, voter intimidation, violation of civil rights, suborning perjury  the list of potential illegalities committed in the 13th Ward is rich with possibility.

We're talking about those 2,796 affidavits sworn by 13th Ward voters, each seeking to revoke his or her alleged petition signatures to put Krupas name on the ballot.

David Krupa, who is running for 13th Ward alderman. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune 2018)

Krupa's attorney says Krupa filed 1,729 petition signatures  more than triple the 473 valid signatures required. So why did 2,796 residents of the 13th Ward try to revoke, at most, 1,729 signatures? The situation got curiouser when it turned out that only some 187 of the 2,796 affidavit filers evidently had signed Krupa's petitions in the first place.

So what's the genesis of those other 2,609 affidavits, each sworn under penalty of perjury? Did somebody put the muscle on residents of the ward? Or mislead them? Or flout their rights as citizens?

Which explains why prosecutors might be looking into the possibilities of fraud, intimidation, civil rights violations and urging voters to perjure themselves.

Somebody really didnt want the Kid on Tuesdays ballot. But there he was.

And sure, he barely stands a chance against a Chicago Goliath. But well be watching the results and will add an update when we have it.

6 p.m.: Eric Zorn, columnist, on the biggest fibs in the mayors race

Which candidate has thrown the most low blows in the 14-candidate race for mayor? Each candidate likely would have a different answer so the only way even to begin to address the question is to look at the reports from PolitiFact Illinois. In partnership with the Better Government Association, the nonpartisan research group refereed 13 claims during the mayors race and gave a thumbs down to seven of them.

Rated mostly false:

 Susana Mendozas claim that she was the deciding vote on abolishing the death penalty in the state of Illinois."

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It was odd to see capital punishment raised as a campaign issue since Illinois hasnt executed anyone since March 1999  nearly 20 years ago  and former Gov. Pat Quinn signed the law ending the states death penalty in March 2011, nearly eight years ago.

Mendoza is technically correct that the measure would have sunk had she voted the other way, wrote PolitiFact. By that standard, however, any one of the 59 other (Illinois) House members who supported the bill on final passage could make the same claim.

 Lori Lightfoots contention that Chicagoans "live in one of the most taxed cities and the most taxed county, unfortunately, in the country."

Those trying to raise alarms about high levels of taxation often exaggerate their claims for effect, making the burden sound comparatively greater than it is. Im not sure Lightfoot was the biggest offender in this regard, but, yes, she was busted here.

Lightfoot would have been correct had she claimed that low-income Chicagoans are some of the nations most taxed, PolitiFact wrote. Instead, she made a blanket statement that plays straight into a common but misleading narrative that all in Chicago pay punishingly high taxes.

 Mendozas argument that every city with a commuter tax finds it to be a job killer.

Every, always and other extreme words are minefields for politicians, but it seems that they just cant help themselves. Many cities  would have been accurate and just as effective, but, as PolitiFact noted, Some U.S. cities with commuter taxes are thriving. The item cited Denver, Louisville, and Columbus, Ohio.

 Garry McCarthys claim that Chicago "had the lowest murder rates in a generation" when he ran the police department. Mayors and police chiefs have less control over crime rates than most voters believe. But to the extent that they want to point to statistics to bolster the case for their effectiveness, they need to be careful about their claims.

During two of McCarthys four-plus years with the department, murder rates did fall to a level not seen in decades, wrote Politifact. But McCarthy also presided over two years in which murders spiked.

 Gery Chicos charge that when Mendoza was in the General Assembly she voted to hit working families with a massive new soda tax." Its a particularly sleazy political trick to pull one element out of an omnibus bill  one that contains numerous elements designed to satisfy lawmakers from all along the spectrum in order to generate support for an important purpose  and jump up and down accusingly about it.

Rated plain old false:

 Mendozas accusation that because Bill Daley was part of former Gov. Bruce Rauners transition team he authored the blueprint for the governors four years of crisis and destruction."

The Rauner name is mud in Chicago. The then-incumbent Republican governor won just 15.2 percent of the city-wide vote in last Novembers general election, so it certainly makes sense that Mendoza has made efforts to tie Daley to Rauner. Most recently shes been calling attention to the fact that Rauners biggest donor  Ken Griffin  is also Daleys biggest donor.

Here, though, she went too far.

Daley helped produce a report that outlined general priorities for Rauners incoming administration on a long list of issues, wrote Politifact. But there is no evidence that document  guided Rauners later actions that contributed to two years of gridlock.

Rated pants on fire, the fact-checkers lowest rating:

 Toni Preckwinkles commercial saying that Mendoza supports the death penalty so much she could administer it herself.

As we have learned more about the causes and frequency of miscarriages of justice over the last few decades, many people have moved from support of capital punishment to opposition, and Mendoza is one of those people.

The only thing worse than politicians who change their views are politicians who refuse to change when presented with new evidence. The flaming inaccuracy in Preckwinkles charge was the use of the present tense  supports  when only the past tense was accurate.

As Politifact observed, the commercial grossly misrepresent(ed) Mendozas position by using out of context snippets from a speech Mendoza gave on the Illinois House floor in 2011 in which she declare(d) opposition to the death penalty.

5:45 p.m.: Alex Rodriguez, editorial board member, on the 5 wards where new blood is guaranteed

Turnovers always healthy in any setting. But given the tendency for incumbents to get entrenched in their jobs, its not always guaranteed on the City Council. Nevertheless, new bloods coming to at least five wards where an incumbent alderman isnt on the ballot.

In the 20th Ward on the South Side, Ald. Willie Cochran faces trial this summer on charges of wire fraud, extortion and bribery  and chose to not seek another term. Nine candidates are vying to replace him: Kevin Bailey, Anthony Driver Jr., Maya Hodari, Nicole Johnson, Jennifer Maddox, Dernard Newell, Andre Smith, Quandra Speights and Jeanette Taylor.

West Side Ald. Danny Solis exit from the 25th Ward was preceded by the shock waves created when it was revealed he had been cooperating with federal investigators, secretly recording conversations with fellow pols. Five candidates are on the ballot in the 25th: Alexander Acevedo, Hilario Dominguez, Aida Flores, Troy Hernandez and Byron Sigcho-Lopez.

Ald. Ricardo Munoz, who faces a misdemeanor domestic battery charge, isnt running again in the West Sides 22nd Ward seat, where four candidates  Neftalie Gonzalez, Richard Juarez, Lisette Lopez and Michael Rodriguez  are facing off. Other incumbents not running include Ald. Margaret Laurino in the 39th, where Joe Duplechin, Robert Murphy, Samantha Nugent and Casey Smagala are on the ballot, and 47th Ward Ald. Ameya Pawar, who is running for city treasurer. Nine candidates are vying for his seat.

Our hope: fresh faces in these wards that will also translate into fresh approaches to tackling the citys raft of challenges.

5:30 p.m.: John Kass, editorial board member and columnist, on how Ald. Scott Waguespack says the City Council needs to reform

If Chicago finally moves to cut back on the one thing the city has in excess  political corruption  itll take more than a new mayor and rhetoric.

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Itll take a new Chicago City Council and hard work and will to change the infamous Rule 14.

If there are enough new people elected to the City Council, well see a disruption in the old way of doing business, the reform-minded progressive Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, told me. And a lot of the people who are running say they want to do away with the old rules.

Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune 2017)

I caught up with Waguespack for an interview for my column and an appearance on The Chicago Way podcast. He talked about Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, the former longtime chairman of the City Councils Finance Committee who is under a federal City Hall corruption investigation. Burke is also a millionaire from his side legal practice appealing property taxes.

Rule 14 was not named for the Boss of the 14th Ward, but it might have been. Burke is legendary for his conflicts of interest.

Under current city law, an alderman with financial interest in a matter must declare that he or she has a conflict when a final vote is cast.

Waguespack wants that changed so that an alderman who is making money representing a client must declare it all publicly before any debate has begun in committee, not at the end of the process. And Waguespack wants TV cameras recording committee hearings, so taxpayers may see themselves being flayed.

We have to strengthen Rule 14, said Waguespack. What Ive seen Burke do is direct the discussion in the Finance Committee where a lot of the bond deals go through, where a lot of the other major deals go through. He doesnt recuse himself during the discussion. In some cases, he will drive the discussion in a certain way. And at the end of the vote, as the full City Council is prepared to vote on it, thats when he recuses himself. And that has to change.

Lame duck Mayor Rahm Emanuel has talked about offering a change to Rule 14, and there is a weak draft resolution floating around City Hall, but it comes too late. Emanuel should have pushed this change eight years ago, but he needed and wanted Burkes help then.

The council is considering a resolution to name Waguespack as the chairman of the Finance Committee rather than Emanuels choice  Ald. Patrick my wifes in real estate OConnor, 40th. If Waguespack were to be made chairman of finance, the shock waves would cause intestinal distress in every insider lobbyist in town. And maybe thats a good thing.

The people of Chicago need to know whats going on, Waguespack said. Chicago has lost hundreds of millions of dollars to pay-to-play politics.

Wake up, Chicago.

5:15 p.m.: Andrea Hanis, editorial writer, on who was willing to take on Rahm Emanuel before he dropped out of the mayors race

Chicagos mayoral candidates frequently point to the date Rahm Emanuel dropped the blockbuster news that he would not seek re-election: Who was motivated and brave enough to enter the race before the powerful mayor stepped aside? Heres a look at when each mayoral contender announced his or her candidacy.

Dates reflect candidates official word that they would enter the race as reported by local media or as announced on social media. Candidates who didnt make it to Feb. 26  and oh yes, there were more!  are not included  14 is plenty.

Dec. 11, 2017: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel discusses possible challengers with the Tribune in a story by Bill Ruthhart that calls him as cocksure as ever about his future.

Jan. 2, 2018: John Kozlar

March 9: Neal Sales-Griffin

March 21: Garry McCarthy

March 23: Willie Wilson

May 2: Paul Vallas

May 10: Lori Lightfoot

Aug. 28: Amara Enyia

Aug. 29: Jerry Joyce

Sept. 4: Boom! Rahm shocks the city by announcing the day after Labor Day that he will not seek a third term as mayor. This has been the job of a lifetime, but it is not a job for a lifetime, he says.*

Sept. 17: Bill Daley

Sept. 18: Gery Chico

Sept. 20: Toni Preckwinkle

Oct. 31: La Shawn Ford

Nov. 14: Susana Mendoza

Nov. 26: Bob Fioretti

5:05 p.m.: Kristen McQueary, editorial board member and columnist, on what well miss about Mayor Rahm Emanuel  and what we wont

Hes not a former yet, but Tuesdays election begins an official countdown on the exit of Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The next mayor of Chicago will be sworn in this spring.

The former White House chief of staff known for his cutthroat politics managed to tone it down during the wind-down of his eight years at City Hall. He even admonished an alderman for abbreviating a curse word while on the City Council floor, asking Ald. Proco Joe Moreno, 1st, to respect the decorum of the body. Earlier in his career, Emanuel could have filled a swear jar by the hour. Not anymore.

As he exits stage left, we compiled a list of what we will wont miss about Emanuel  and what we will. Feel free to add to your thoughts on social media under the hashtag #MissingRahm.

What we won't miss:

Lectures. Emanuel loves to dole out advice from that know-it-all perch, like an uncle at the dinner table but without the accompanying noogie. In the City Hall press room, in editorial board rooms, in classrooms, his habit is to raise a finger to halt potential interruptions and then with a low, calm voice, explain why hes right and youre wrong. Whether it was banning Chick-fil-A from opening in the 1st Ward due to the restaurant presidents opposition to gay marriage, or chastising President Donald Trump for highlighting Chicagos crime epidemic, you could always count on Emanuel giving a lecture on his version of Chicago values. We wont miss it.

Temper tantrums. Emanuel is well-known for sending terse emails and texts. That's putting it mildly. He could use an editor. And sometimes, a tranquilizer. We wont miss those moments, such as the one captured early in his first term when NBC 5 political reporter Mary Ann Ahern asked where the Emanuel children would be attending school, once they moved back from Washington, D.C. It was a fair question. But Emanuel ripped off his microphone and, before stomping out of the room, got in Aherns face, shouting and pointing. He later hung up on her when she called to talk it through. We wont miss it.

Double standards. Emanuel tried to blow off news reports during his tenure of his entourage speeding through red lights and not paying the tickets. Guess who does have to pay tickets for running red lights, a program expanded under Emanuel? Every working stiff in Chicago. Emanuels tendency to downplay his own stumbles, his own mistakes from the stifled video of Laquan McDonalds shooting to an egregious scandal of sex abuse within Chicago Public Schools  we wont miss it.

The sweater. When Emanuel faced a tough re-election battle in 2015, he filmed a television ad wearing a sweater that attempted to soften his image. He admitted he sometimes rubbed people the wrong way. You dont say. The public relations attempts, often staged and uncomfortable, of trying to make Emanuel seem like a Chicago guy who drinks beer and eats beef sandwiches and rides the bus were flaky and insincere. We wont miss it.

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What we will miss:

Success stories. Emanuel has been relentless at bringing jobs to Chicago and boosting tourism. The revived Chicago Riverwalk is a gem, the Navy Pier renovation and flyover (finally) have improved the visitor experience and the quality of life for downtown residents, and the explosion of restaurants and microbreweries continues to lift Chicagos competitiveness globally. The expansion of OHare International Airport is a must-do project for an international city. We'll miss his tenacity.

The real Emanuel. As an antidote to the staged messaging of his PR machine, Emanuel did show glimpses of vulnerability. He was genuinely hurt when addressing the citys violence, speaking with mourning mothers and attending funerals of the fallen. His administrations inability to knock down violent crime during his tenure will remain a painful reminder of unfinished business. But we still appreciated his honest emotion and, despite his tough guy reputation, occasional tears. We all cried them.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel participates in a groundbreaking in Chicago on Feb. 26, 2016. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)

The family mystique. Can you imagine being the mayor of Chicago and still not as accomplished as your two brothers? Big brother, Ezekiel, is a renowned medical ethicist while little brother, Ari, is a Hollywood mogul who was parodied on HBOs Entourage. As for the middle son, besides being mayor, Emanuels resume includes congressman, presidential chief of staff and investment banker. So hes still got time to make his family proud. Well miss the touch of fame.

The dancing. Dont even roll your eyes. Emanuels hip thrusts to Blurred Lines during a Taste of Chicago concert while removing his necktie, stuffing it in his back pocket and rolling up the sleeves of his crisp work shirt were pure clickbait. As a teenager, he won a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet but turned it down. Those moves also showed during a South Side music festival where he shoulder-shimmied with the best of them. We'll miss that we never saw him in a bare-knuckled fouette turn challenge. Maybe it's not too late?

5 p.m.: Alex Rodriguez, editorial board member, on why we hope the City Council is invaded by millennials

One way to bring new blood to a City Council that has become too predictable and too set in its ways is to make that new blood young blood. Millennials have changed the face and feel of this city. Theyre buying homes, working downtown and fueling a city economy that is increasingly innovation-oriented. Theyre also showing their clout at the polls. Last November, Chicago voters between 25 and 34 cast the largest number of votes among age categories during the state and midterm elections.

Its only natural for them to stake out a bigger say on the City Council.

Who exactly is a millennial? You can define the generation in myriad ways. The Pew Research Center defines them as anyone born between 1981 and 1996, meaning anyone between 23 and 38. With that definition in mind, at least 40 candidates running for alderman are millennials. Theres a millennial presence on the mayoral ballot, too  lawyer John Kozlar, 30, tech entrepreneur Neal Sales-Griffin, 31, and community activist Amara Enyia, 35. Incumbent millennials on the council include 4th Ward Ald. Sophia King, whos 29, and 35th Ward Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, who is 30.

The Tribune endorsed several millennial candidates, including King, Deborah Foster-Bonner, 28, (6th), Robert Bobby Loncar, 34, (10th), Troy Hernandez, 37, (25th), David Herrera, 36, (26th), Stephanie Coleman, 31, (16th), Deondre Rutues, 31, (37th), and Matt Martin, 34, (47th). We also endorsed DePaul student David Krupa, (13th), whos 19 and, according to Pews definition, Gen Z.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 26)  President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to "shut down" PLDT Inc. if the telecommunications giant did not set up more trunk lines for the national citizen's complaint hotline.

"Og naa moy nakit-an nga corruption, tawga ko o pahibaw-a ko sa 8888. Kin --- Bong, padungagi ra na'g trunk line. Dili kaya sa present setup. Sige busy. Ingnang PLDT. Og dili, sila may akong sirhan," Duterte said during the campaigning of the PDP-Laban slate on Sunday.

[Translation: If you see corruption, tell me. Call 8888. Bong, add another trunk line. The present setup can't accommodate all the calls. It's always busy. Tell PLDT. If not, I'll shut down their business.]

The '8888' is the Citizen's Complaint Hotline for government malpractices such as red tape, graft, and corruption.

"I don't want to brag, but they owe government eight billion. No President has ever asked for payment," Duterte said. He did not elaborate.

PLDT Spokesperson Mon Isberto said the telco is attending to Duterte's complaints.

"We are currently taking steps to address the concern expressed by the President to improve the public's access to the Citizen's Complaint Center 8888 hotline number," Isberto said in a message to CNN Philippines Tuesday.

The trunkline, along with the 911 emergency hotline, was introduced on August 1, 2016. It is a 24-hour service.

The executive order that established the complaint center requires a concrete and specific solution for each concern within 72 hours.
Trumps widely praised efforts in Venezuela will put the United States in a strong position to deal with Irans illicit behavior. As of late 2018, it was reported that Venezuela, one of Tehrans important strategic allies, would be accepting Iranian warships to Venezuelan waters. This development, certain to disturb already tumultuous relations among the United States, Iran and Venezuela, underscores Trumps remarks that these countries share a dangerous alliance that threatens American security interests. Likewise, it will thwart Irans desire to establish a beachhead in Venezuela given Caracas relationship with Hezbollah. Venezuelas former vice president and current minister of industries, Tareck El Aissami, allegedly sought to establish ties between Irans proxy, Hezbollah, and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to work in Venezuela.
NOTICE OF SALE OF ABANDONED PROPERTY The property to be sold is described as follows, to wit: a Husqvarna 48 lawn tractor no serial number, a sheet metal bender, misc wrenches, sockets and hand tools, Dewalt 7000 Watt generator, Lincoln welder, 60 grapple bucket, Milwaukee Sawzall, a homemade trailer 12 X 8 6 no V.I.N. and two lawn trailers, will be sold at public auction by the Mille Lacs County Sheriff on the 5th day of November, 2018, at 10:00 a.m. at The Mille Lacs County Search & Rescue, 38658 100th Avenue, in the City of Onamia, County of Mille Lacs, State of Minnesota and associated storage fees and document fees as computed to the date of sale. Any purchaser is herein further notified that purchasers rights are subject to the provisions of MN. Stat. 345.15, Subd. 1. All property will be sold as is with no warranty expressed or otherwise. All vehicles, trailers or motorized equipment are described as not running and not road worthy. Dated: October 15, 2018. Mille Lacs County Sheriffs Office 640 3rd Street SE Milaca, MN 56353 320-983-8250 Published in the Mille Lacs Messenger October 24, 31, 2018 870859

Ad details NOTICE OF SALE OF ABANDONED PROPERTY The property to be sold is described as follows, to wit: a Husqvarna 48 lawn tractor no serial number, a sheet metal bender, misc wrenches, sockets and hand tools, Dewalt 7000 Watt generator, Lincoln welder, 60 grapple bucket, Milwaukee Sawzall, a homemade trailer 12 X 8 6 no V.I.N. and two lawn trailers, will be sold at public auction by the Mille Lacs County Sheriff on the 5th day of November, 2018, at 10:00 a.m. at The Mille Lacs County Search & Rescue, 38658 100th Avenue, in the City of Onamia, County of Mille Lacs, State of Minnesota and associated storage fees and document fees as computed to the date of sale. Any purchaser is herein further notified that purchasers rights are subject to the provisions of MN. Stat.  345.15, Subd. 1. All property will be sold as is with no warranty expressed or otherwise. All vehicles, trailers or motorized equipment are described as not running and not road worthy. Dated: October 15, 2018. Mille Lacs County Sheriffs Office 640 3rd Street SE Milaca, MN 56353 320-983-8250 Published in the Mille Lacs Messenger October 24, 31, 2018 870859
From March 25th  27th, the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation will host its annual International Symposium on Malignant Mesothelioma in Bethesda, Maryland. The Meso Foundation has organized the event since 2004 to help bring the mesothelioma community together, offering patients and loved ones insight to the latest treatments and research, facetime with renowned mesothelioma experts, and the opportunity to connect with others facing similar experiences.

Mesothelioma Experts Present the Latest Research

Over the course of the three-day symposium, dozens of mesothelioma specialists from across the United States will lead panels that provide insight to the latest clinical trials and advancements for mesothelioma.

Leading experts in pleural mesothelioma and peritoneal mesothelioma, including Dr. Taylor Ripley, Director of the Mesothelioma Treatment Center at Baylor College of Medicine, and Dr. Harvey Pass, Chief of Division of Thoracic Surgery at NYU School of Medicine, will be leading panel discussions on the latest surgical clinical trials for patients. In recent years, many clinical trials have focused on different combinations of therapies before, during, and after surgery to improve the efficacy of the treatment. Several recent studies have tested the impact of radiation before surgery, with some early-phase trials suggesting the combination could make immunotherapy even more effective.

Another important area of mesothelioma research is understanding the genome and genetics of the disease. Researchers have been investigating how DNA may help recognize people who are potentially more susceptible to developing the rare cancer. So far, a number of chromosomal losses have been linked to mesothelioma, with many studies also focusing on the BAP1 gene, a tumor suppressor gene that may help diagnose mesothelioma. Researchers from Loyola University and the Fox Chase Cancer Center will lead a panel discussion on the latest research in this area.

One panel will also focus on the latest updates in screening and diagnostic tests for mesothelioma. Because mesothelioma has a long latency period and nonspecific symptoms, it has long been difficult to diagnose in the earlier stages. A later diagnosis can limit patients treatment options and lead to a worse prognosis. As such, various clinical trials have focused on finding new and improved diagnostic tools to detect mesothelioma sooner. Similar to understanding the genetics of the disease, research has focused on biomarkers in the blood as one avenue for earlier diagnosis.

We will cover all of these topics, and then some, and will do so in a way that makes this complicated information approachable to non-medical people, said Maja Belamaric, Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundations director of communications.

We want everybody to walk away with answers to their questions, she added.

Bringing the Mesothelioma Community Together

As mesothelioma is only diagnosed in about 3,000 new cases in the United States each year, those facing a diagnosis can often feel isolated and alone. In addition to the expert panel discussions and ability to meet top mesothelioma doctors, the International Symposium on Malignant Mesothelioma allows patients, loved ones, and survivors the opportunity to come together and find the support they need.

Studies have found that being part of a support group or having a strong support system has a positive impact on patients quality of life. Meeting others going through a similar experience with the disease can help patients and loved ones receive invaluable tips to cope, strengthen their emotional health, and find hope. While attendees will have the opportunity to interact with panel session leaders and each other, the symposium also offers a dedicated support group session inclusive of patients, new patients, caregivers, loved ones, and bereaved.

Mesothelioma survivor and advocate Heather Von St. James frequently attends these symposiums, and finds the sense of community to be the most rewarding aspect. The Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundations symposium is the best place for the community to come together, support one another and learn about what the future holds for mesothelioma treatment. There is nowhere else that the specialists, patients, and caregivers can come together in one setting, and meet as equals. That is what sets this symposium apart; its community.

Along with the sense of community and togetherness, an important component of the event is Advocacy Day. Raising awareness of the disease, as well as the dangers of asbestos, can prevent future diagnoses and lead to more research funding. This year, members of the mesothelioma community will spend this final day of the symposium meeting with their elected officials on Capitol Hill to share their stories and request funding for the first ever patient registry.

The International Symposium on Malignant Mesothelioma offers an opportunity for patients, survivors, mesothelioma experts, and others to come together to share knowledge and experiences, and help advance research to one day find a cure.
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.
Twelve days after the deadly Pulwama terror attack shook the nation and killed over 40 CRPF jawans, the IAF (Indian Air Force) today breached the LoC (Line of Control) and struck JeM (Jaish-e-Mohammed) terror camps in Balakot.

This is the first time in almost two decades that IAF's jets crossed the border and fired in aggression. The fighter jets ambushed the terror camps with 1,000 kg laser-guided bombs.

The strike was carried out around 3:30 AM by 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets. IAF operates multiple fighter jets like the Sukhoi 30MKI, MiG 29UPG, SEPECAT Jaguar, and HAL Tejas. But, the Mirage 2000 has been a trusted jet since the 1999 Kargil Conflict, the last time it fired weapons in aggression.

 MensXP / Shivam Vahia

The Mirage 2000 is built by French company Dassault Aviation - the makers of the controversial Rafale jets. The IAF calls the jet "Vajra", meaning thunderbolt for its precision aiming and intercepting abilities. The Jets were first commissioned in 1985 and it was in response to Pakistan Air Force's acquisition of the American F-16 fighter.

 WikiMedia

Initially, 36 single-seater aircraft and four twin-seater were ordered, but after its remarkably successful performance in Kargil, the government ordered 10 more. The jet is technically classified as a multi-role aircraft, meaning it can carry out air-to-ground bombings, air-to-air superiority combat, interception, as well as reconnaissance.

 Wikimedia / SRA Greg L. Davis

Even though it seems like an old aircraft on paper, India has upgraded the jet's avionics to the latest standard (Mirage 2000I) and it is classified as a fourth generation fighter.

Powering the fighter is a single SNECMA M53 turbofan that generates up to 95kN of thrust in afterburner stage. The engine has a single shaft modular design which helps in reducing the weight and in turn increases manoeuvrability. It can fly at a maximum speed of Mach 2.2 or 2,330kmph.

 Safran

It has a built-in DEFA 554 autocannon and can fire up to 1,800 rounds per minute. Five hardpoints (location where missiles and bombs are attached) are located on the fuselage and two on each wing. For today's strike, GBU-12 Laser Guided bombs were used and R.550 missile was loaded to counter any possible threat from Pakistan's air force.

 WikiMedia / SSgt. Glenn B. Lindsey

This is the same jet that was also landed on Yamuna Expressway near Mathura in 2015. For today's attack, reports suggest that Sukhoi 30MKI were also kept on standby to assist the Mirage 2000 in case of retaliation from Pakistan Air Force. At the same time, the attack was also backed by an EMB-145 AEW&CS "Netra" aircraft from Agra to look out for aerial targets and provide better radar coverage.
Before the funeral pyres and graves of the CRPF soldiers martyred in the Pulwama attack on 14th February 2019 could go cold, India showed Pakistan how terrorism must truly be dealt with when push comes to shove.

Earlier this morning, India carried out an air-borne strike on three locations in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) to eliminate terrorists and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) training camps in the area. The air-strike was carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF) using hi-tech fighter jets, which successfully destroyed the camps of the terror-outfits functioning out of three pivotal centres in the area.

Here are all the details you need to know about the who, when, where and how of the air-strike carried out by the Indian Air Force during the wee hours of 26th February 2019, that made India's stand on terrorism very clear:

The Timeline

The Indian Air Force dropped 1000 kg bombs on three sensitive terror camps in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakothi in PoK and Pakistan. Here is how the series of air-strikes were carried out.

Intel Sources: Ammunition dump blown up today in Balakot,Pakistan by IAF Mirages. The dump had more than 200 AK rifles, uncountable rounds hand grenades, explosives and detonators pic.twitter.com/b7ENbKgYaH  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

3:45 am - 3:53 am - The first strike was carried out at Balakot, 24-km north-west of Muzaffarabad. Joint training camps of Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba were located in the area. These are launch pads that were jointly operated by the three terror outfits.

3:48 am - 3:55 am - The IAF struck the terror camps in Muzaffarabad next.

3:55 am - 4:04 am - Chakothi, which is over 50 kilometres from Muzaffarabad, was the last and final target of the strike.

Source

The Official Statement By The Indian Government On The Airstrike

An official statement from the government on the airstrike on the terror bases in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakothi by the Indian Air Force, was made by the Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale in a detailed statement, earlier this morning.

Here is the full statement:

 On 14 February 2019, a suicide terror attack was conducted by a Pak based terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammad, leading to the martyrdom of 40 brave jawans of the CRPF. JeM has been active in Pakistan for the last two decades and is led by Masood Azhar with its headquarters in Bahawalpur.

 This organization, which is proscribed by the UN, has been responsible for a series of terrorist attacks including on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 and the Pathankot airbase in January 2016.

 Information regarding the location of training camps in Pakistan and PoJK has been provided to Pakistan from time to time. Pakistan, however, denies their existence. The existence of such massive training facilities capable of training hundreds of jihadis could not have functioned without the knowledge of Pakistan authorities.

 India has been repeatedly urging Pakistan to take action against the JeM to prevent jihadis from being trained and armed inside Pakistan. Pakistan has taken no concrete actions to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its soil.

#WATCH: Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale briefs the media in Delhi https://t.co/Th0TjwO99o  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

 Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary.

 In an intelligence-led operation in the early hours of today, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis, who were being trained for fidayeen action, were eliminated. This facility at Balakot was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghouri, the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar, Chief of JeM.

 The Government of India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to fight the menace of terrorism. Hence this non-military preemptive action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp. The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties. The facility is located in a thick forest on a hilltop far away from any civilian presence. As the strike has taken place only a short while ago, we are awaiting further details.

JeM's Yusuf Azhar alias Mohammad Salim alias Ustaad Gohri who was targeted today by IAF #airstrike in Balakot across LOC was on the Interpol list and among the most wanted in India. pic.twitter.com/1eTj8FhFMJ  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

 The Government of Pakistan had made a solemn commitment in January 2004 not to allow its soil or territory under its control to be used for terrorism against India. We expect that Pakistan lives up to its public commitment and takes follow up actions to dismantle all JeM and other camps and hold the terrorists accountable for the actions.

7 Vital Tactical Moves Used By IAF During The Strike

1. Mirage 2000- The multirole fighter jet acquired in the 1980s and Rafale's predecessor.

2. GBU-12 paveway laser-guided bomb, an American-built precision guidance bomb kit.

3. Matra magic close combat missile, loaded as a defence tool for a possible counter-attack by Pakistan.

Intel Sources: Picture of JeM facility destroyed by Indian Ar Force strikes in Balakot, Pakistan pic.twitter.com/th1JWbVrHw  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

4. Litening pod, a laser designator and targeting pod to acquire targets and guide precision bomb.

5. Bhatinda-based Netra airborne early warning jet.

6. Ilyushin flight refuelling aircraft to refuel jets.

7. Heron drone from a secret airfield conducted real-time surveillance along the Line of Control.

Source

More About India's Weapon Of Choice

Even though India holds many other advanced fighter jets in its artillery, Mirage 2000 was brought out once again after the 1999 Kargil War, for the airstrike.

 The French fighter jet was made by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

 The Indian Air Force first took on a 36 single-seater Mirage 2000 and four twin seater Mirage-2000 in 1982, when Pakistan bought F-16 from the US.

 Twitter

 Mirage 2000 played a pivotal part in the Kargil war in 1999. Later the Indian government took on ten more Mirage-2000 planes in 2004.

Other Things To Know About The Airstrike

 According to reports, the entire operation lasted around 20 minutes, which includes take off till return time.

 12 Mirage 2000 jets took part in the operation and dropped bombs weighing 1000 kg.

 Reports also suggest that close to 300 militants, trainers and commanders were killed in the strike.

Intel Sources: Flags of USA, UK and Israel painted on staircases seen in Jaish e Mohammed facility destroyed by Indian Air Force jets in Balakot pic.twitter.com/266CEI0hGR  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

 A Business Today report states that government sources have said that six laser-guided bombs were dropped by IAF's Mirage 2000s during the surgical air strike on terror camps located within Pakistan.

 The National Security Committee of Pakistan stated that "India has committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing, after a meeting with PM Imran Khan.

 Main targets of the air strikes were Ibrahim Azhar and Mufti Azhar Khan Kashmiri.

Source

Here is what the top officials are saying on the airstrike:

A Owaisi: Was expecting this sort of response within 2-3 days after Pulwama blast. Welcome this. We stand with govt. Though Foreign Secy called it non-military action,it's a step I was expecting govt will take long time back. I hope govt will now go after Masood Azhar&Hafiz Saeed pic.twitter.com/eYgHAfrt7c  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

Subramanian Swamy: Even if it was their territory, we have under the United Nation charter the right of self-defence. They have been attacking us & they say we want to give a thousand cuts to India, so our government did the right thing by giving them 1000 bombs. https://t.co/t1N22SzLHS  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 26, 2019

They say they want India to bleed with a 1000 cuts. We say that each time you attack us, be certain we will get back at you, harder and stronger. Salute the brave pilots of the @IAF_MCC that carried out the strikes. #JaiHind pic.twitter.com/3dLvr5oX0B  Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) February 26, 2019

IAF also means India's Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) February 26, 2019

                                  ,     -  -              Mayawati (@Mayawati) February 26, 2019

Lt Gen DS Hooda (Retired), the Northern Army Commander during the 'Surgical Strike' in 2016: My compliment goes to the government for taking this action & also to the Air Force for the way they have carried out this strike (in Balakot) in an absolutely professional manner. pic.twitter.com/zdDVqZvhOU  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019
Nawazuddin Siddiqui--the man who stands as an example of success that comes from unrelenting grit and hard work, also happens to be one of the most sought after actors in the film industry today.

Nawazuddin has blessed our screens with some of the most entertaining releases in the last couple of years, right from 'Gangs of Wasseypur', 'The Lunchbox', 'Manjhi', 'Mom', 'Manto' and more recently 'Thackeray' which took the entire nation by storm, besides many others.

Nawazuddin is at the peak of popularity since the success of 'Thackeray' and just like the industry, his fans too do not seem to be getting enough of the actor. Recently when Nawazuddin made a public appearance, he was mobbed by his eager fans who lost their calm and became violent in their bid to get a closer look at their favourite celeb.

The video capturing the incident has since been actively circulated on social media, and we can see fans pulling and tugging at Nawazuddin, regardless of the actor being heavily guarded. However, the guards do step in right on cue and take Nawazuddin to safety.

Nawazuddin is currently shooting in Kanpur for his next film titled 'Raat Akeli Hai' wherein he shall be seen essaying the role of a UP cop undertaking a murder investigation. As for Nawazuddin's upcoming release, the actor shall be next seen in a romantic film titled 'Photograph' with Sanya Malhotra as the female lead.

The trailer of 'Photograph' was recently launched and was extremely well received by the audience. The film's trailer traces the love story of two strangers played by Nawazuddin and Sanya, who meet in Mumbai and figure their way to love along the way. The film releases on 15th March, 2019.

Additionally, Nawazuddin has also been shooting for wedding comedy 'Motichoor Chaknachoor' alongside Athiya Shetty in a prominent role.
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.

Feb. 26, 2019

Kyle Cunningham

London

Wednesday, February 27

9:50 a.m.GMT

Germany

Italy

Hungary

Amy Sitnick

/PRNewswire/ -- Greenphire, the global leader in financial software for clinical trials, announced today that its Chief Product Officer (CPO),, will join a major industry sponsor to presentat the upcoming Patient Recruitment and Retention Summit inThe presentation, scheduled forat, will detail how the sponsor, which has implemented Greenphire's ClinCard and ConneX travel services, has improved patient convenience for its 28 active studies in 14 countries including, the UK and the US."We are thrilled to share how removing barriers and challenges through payment technology improves the patient experience," explained Cunningham. "In addition to enhancing patient engagement, streamlining payments through automation simplifies the process and offers increased efficiencies and financial visibility for sponsors around the globe. We're excited to share with attendees why automating these processes is truly a win-win."Clinical trials are crucial to advancing oncology research, yet participation in cancer-related studies is consistently low. In order to break down barriers for participation and make vital treatments more accessible to those who need them, patient-focused solutions are needed to allow them to focus on their health and well-being instead of logistics. United in their quest to deliver a better patient experience, the sponsor turned to Greenphire to implement a personalized clinical trial travel and payment solution.The Q&A presentation will touch on industry-specific challenges in global trials including managing country-by-country roll outs. The presenters will also dispell common myths associated with leveraging payment technology and discuss how Greenphire's "concierge approach" to expert travel service, through its ConneX solution, improved patient convenience and streamlined the sponsor's operations.Celebrating its 11th year, the Patient Recruitment and Retention Summit is a three-day conference designed to bring the latest trends and challenges in the area of patient recruitment, retention, as well as engagement with the patients to provide better results in clinical trials. To view the event's full agenda, click here.Greenphire is the global leader in financial software for clinical trials. Greenphire's best-in-class solutions optimize clinical trial performance by streamlining payment processes from sponsors and CROs to sites and patients. Greenphire's ClinCard and eClinicalGPS solutions easily handle any type of trial design and complexity, resulting in more accurate and compliant payments globally for both sites and patients. The Company's newest product, ConneX, is the most personalized clinical trial travel solution designed specifically to meet the recruitment and retention goals of domestic and international clinical trials.The choice of industry leaders worldwide, Greenphire provides better performance and better data, resulting in better trials. Learn more at www.greenphire.com.215-609-4315amy.sitnick@greenphire.com

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/greenphire-to-co-present-at-the-11th-annual-patient-recruitment-and-retention-summit-300801782.html



SOURCE Greenphire




Ageing population, hormonal factors, aesthetic treatment, pollution causing skin and hair problem, and rising disposable income are some of the common factors that can take the market forward. At the same time, globalization has made it easier for different cultures to come up with some unique solution for beauty-related problems which results in innovative products. The wide acceptance of such products can help the market in expansion.

Although, price of such beauty products is an issue but rising disposable income in the urban cities all over the world would not allow the market to remain sluggish for such reason for a long span of time.

Beauty Devices Market  Segmentation

MRFR report segments the Global Beauty Devices Market by type, application, and end-user for a better analysis of the upcoming market.

Based on the type, the beauty devices market can be segmented into hair care, skin care, oral care, and others. Furthermore, hair care segmented into hair removal devices, hair growth devices, hair styling devices, and others and skin care segmented into light/led and photo rejuvenation therapy devices, cellulite reduction devices, acne removal devices, and others.

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Application-wise, the beauty devices market can be segmented into commercial purpose and others. Furthermore, the commercial purpose can be segmented into hospitals/clinics, salon/spas, and others.

On the basis of end-user, the beauty devices market can be segmented into professional and personalized.

Beauty Devices Market  Competitive Analysis

The highly competitive, beauty devices market appears fragmented due to the presence of many well-established players having the global presence.

M&A activities, innovation, brand reinforcement, and collaboration remain the key trends for these players. Manufacturers are striving to develop high-performance beauty devices powered by the latest technology and clinical advances.

Dominant Players:

Some of key the players in the market are

LOreal S.A.

Nu Skin Enterprises

Panasonic Corporation

Syneron Medical Ltd

Home Skinovations Ltd

TRIA Beauty Inc.

Procter & Gamble Co.

PhotoMedex Inc.

Tria Beauty Inc.

Industry News:

January 07, 2019  La Roche-Posay (US), a leading global wellness brand providing dermatologist Tested Skin Care products introduces the worlds first wearable sensor  My Skin Track pH at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

This sensor comes along with a companion app to easily measure personal skin pH levels and create customized product regimens to better care for skin. This innovative sensor uses microfluidic technology and measures skin pH levels accurately. A key indicator of skin health this revolutionary innovation is still at the prototype stage.

Capillus, LLC, a medical device manufacturer in Miami, in January 2015, had launched Capillus272 that promotes hair re-growth in people suffering from androgenic alopecia.

In April 2017, LOreal SA had launched a skin device which was based on mechanobiology techniques. This technique is a massage device with anti-aging effects that help in contouring lips, face and neck. This device can improve signs of technology by improving skin tissues.

October 16, 2018  Pollogen Ltd. (Israel), a beauty-tech firm launched a new beauty device  Geneo Personal device that offers a super-facial in less than 10 minutes, without having to go to the salon. The new sleek Geneo comprises an oxygenation system that can clean the skin in 6 minutes. It stimulates oxygen from beneath the skin for rejuvenating effect in minutes. The device is launching at $109 for Early Birds and will eventually retail at $249.

Beauty Devices Market  Regional Analysis

Regionally, the market for beauty devices can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and Africa. Asia-Pacific is expected to show the fastest growth during the forecast period.

America dominates the global market due to increasing patients with PCOS, advanced technology, increasing support from the government for R&D and rise in the aging population. Moreover, the concentration of major companies has fueled the growth in this region.

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Owing to the availability of funds and government support for R&D, Europe stands in the second position and is expected to grow over the forecasted period. Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing region in this market due to the presence of advanced healthcare technology, high healthcare cost, and huge patient population. China is leading the largest market share because of rising aging population and stupendous economic growth.

Meanwhile, regions like Africa and Middle East is expected to experience a luxurious growth in years to come.

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This report analyzes the market structure and offers insights about factors affecting the market growth. Evaluating market size and forecasting the revenue, this reports covers and observes the competitive developments of market players that include joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, research and developments (R & D), and strategic alliances.

Market Scenario

Spinal needles are medical devices generally used in administration of drug or diagnostic purposes. Spinal needles are inserted into the spinal cord or canal for the collecting cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for diagnostic testing purposes or drug administration for the treatment of any neurological disease, fractures or vertebroplasty. Spinal anaesthesia is done to temporarily numb the area of pain during spine surgery in which the spinal needles play an important role in the drug administration of anaesthesia. The global spinal needle market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.8% during the forecasted period 2017-2023.

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Regional analysis

The regional segmentation of the global spinal needles market segments the market into continent-based regional markets namely The Americas (North America & South America), Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East & Africa (MEA). The biggest regional market is The Americas. North America alone holds the potential to be the largest market due to its strong economies are known as the United States of America (USA) and Canada. Many key market players are based in the USA. In this region, the availability of advanced medical facilities makes North America a bigger market than South America. Factors supporting the market growth in this region include increasing awareness among the people, an increasing number of spinal surgeries, and the increasing prevalence of different neurological disease.

Decent technological advancement, increasing healthcare expenditure, rising prevalence of diseases, and well-developed healthcare sectors are the reasons that have made Europe the second largest regional market after North America. Due to the reasons same as The Americas, Western Europe is a bigger market than Eastern Europe. The significant country-specific markets in this region are France, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom (UK), and Spain, followed by the rest of Western Europe and then Eastern Europe.

According to the report, Asia Pacific region is likely to witness a faster growth for the market during the forecast period. Factors contributing to the faster growth include the presence of huge patient population suffering from different infectious diseases and steadily rising quality of medical services in countries like India and Japan. Apart from these two countries, the other country-specific markets are Australia, South Korea, and China, followed by the rest of the Asia Pacific region.

The MEA region shows limited market slow and steady growth. The reasons for the slow market growth in this region are lack of awareness, lack of education, lack of technological development, political instability, poor healthcare facilities, and healthcare not considered a priority by most governments. The primal country-specific markets in this region are Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Saudi Arabia, followed by the rest of the MEA region.

Intended Audience

Spinal needles manufacturers

Spinal needles suppliers

Research and Development (R&D) companies

Independent research laboratories

Market research and consulting service providers

Medical research laboratories

Academic medical institutes and universities

Segmentation

Global spinal needle market is segmented on the basis of type, application and end users. On the basis of type, the market is segmented into atraumatic needle tips, directional spinal needles, pencil-point needles and others. On the basis of size, the market is segmented into 24G, 25G, 27G and other. On the basis of application, the market is segmented into diagnostic and therapeutic. And on the basis of end users, they are segmented into hospitals, clinics and other.

Key Players

The key players in the global spinal needles market include Argon Medical Devices Inc (Netherland), B. Braun (Germany), BD (USA), Boston Scientific (USA), Cook Medical (USA), Exel International (USA), Halyard Health (USA), Medline Industries (USA), Medtronic (UK), MYCO Medical (USA), Novo Nordisk (Denmark), Sarstedt (UK), Smiths Medical (USA), Stryker Corporation (USA), and Wallach Surgical (USA).

Latest Industry News

Abacus Finance Group LLC has provided senior debt financing to support Zavation Medical Products LLCs acquisition of Tampa, Florida-based Pan Medical US Corp, a maker of medical products used in minimally invasive procedures. 22 OCT 2018

Two University of Virginia alumni have built a new spine-finding device that is giving the practice of identifying the correct insertion point for epidurals and other forms of spinal anesthesia, a much-needed upgrade. 14 JUNE 2018

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The rehabilitation robotics and hospital & pharmacy robotics segments collectively accounted for around one-third of the market share in 2015, and is projected to maintain dominance throughout the forecast period. The growth of this market was majorly attributed to the shifting trends from wheelchair to robotic rehabilitation therapy, growing focus on hospital infrastructure improvisation, and increasing healthcare expenditure. Likewise, the use of hospital and pharmacy robotics have led to cost-cutting in hospital expenditure and reduction in cases of hospital-acquired infection, which further supplements the adoption of hospital and pharmacy automation robots.

The key companies profiled include Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Blue Belt Technologies Ltd., Think Surgical, Inc., Hansen Medical, Inc., MAKO Surgical Corp., Renishaw plc., Stanmore Implants Worldwide, Ltd., Mazor Robotics Ltd., ReWalk Robotics, Smith & Nephew, Ekso Bionics, Hocoma AG, Titan Medical Inc., and Hitachi Medical Systems.

A new report published by Allied Market Research titled, World Medical Robotics and Computer-Assisted Surgery Market  Opportunities and Forecasts, 2015 -2022, projects that the world medical robotics and computer-assisted surgery market would reach $20.5 billion by 2022. The surgical robotics segment was the highest revenue-generating segment, accounting for nearly half of the market share in 2015, and is expected to maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period.

The major factors boosting the market growth include a shifting trend from conventional surgery to advanced robotic surgery, growing adoption of robotics prosthetic & exoskeleton for rehabilitation therapeutics, and rising incidence of cancers and other critical disorders. In addition, rising emphasis on hospital & pharmacy automation and presence of high unmet medical needs in developing and underdeveloped economies are anticipated to drive the demand for medical robotics and computer-assisted surgical systems. Moreover, in order to minimize human errors during drug handling & medicine dispensing and reduce hospital maintenance cost & faculty time, large-scale hospitals and pharmacies are now adopting automated or robotic solutions. However, the high cost associated with such medical robotics and robotic surgical procedures is the major factor restraining the market growth.

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The rehabilitation robotics and hospital & pharmacy robotics segments collectively accounted for around one-third of the market share in 2015, and is projected to maintain dominance throughout the forecast period. The growth of this market was majorly attributed to the shifting trend from wheelchair to robotic rehabilitation therapy, growing focus on hospital infrastructure improvisation, and increasing healthcare expenditure. Likewise, the use of hospital and pharmacy robotics have led to cost-cutting in hospital expenditure and reduction in cases of hospital-acquired infection, which further supplements the adoption of hospital and pharmacy automation robots.

Key Findings:

The rehabilitation robotics market is projected to register the highest CAGR of 20.8% during forecast period.

In surgical robotics, the accessories segment is expected to maintain its market foothold.

In 2015, prosthetics was the highest revenue-generating segment, whereas exoskeleton is projected to be the fastest growing segment in the rehabilitation robotics market during the forecast period.

The medication-dispensing robotics segment generated the highest revenue, which accounted for over half of the hospital and pharmacy robotics market share in 2015.

In 2015, gynecology and urology surgery segments collectively accounted for about half of the surgical robotics market.

Asia-Pacific is likely to be the fastest growing market, growing at a CAGR of 16.5% from 2015 to 2022.

In 2015, North America and Europe collectively accounted for around three-fourths of the world medical robotics and computer-assisted surgery market revenue.

North America is anticipated to remain the highest revenue-generating region, owing to widespread adoption of surgical robotics along with the non-invasive robotic radiosurgical solutions. The growth of medical robotics and computer assisted surgery market in Europe is primarily characterized by the increase in geriatric & amputee population, high incidence of chronic diseases, and growing investment on hospital infrastructure. Moreover, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow rapidly because of the increasing healthcare expenditure, growing awareness of advanced robotic solutions for several health conditions, and increase in disposable income.

World Surgical Robotics Market  The world surgical robotic systems market was evaluated at $3.3 billion in 2014, and is estimated to garner $6.4 billion by 2020, registering a CAGR of 10.2% over the forecast period.

World Advanced Wound Care and Closure Market  The global advanced wound care and closure market has been segmented based on type, application, end users and geography. Based on type, the global market is segmented into advanced wound closure market and advanced wound care market.

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.

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The Wound Care Management Products report provides an independent information about the Wound Care Management Products industry supported by extensive research on factors such as industry segmentssize & trends, inhibitors, dynamics, drivers, opportunities & challenges, environment & policy, cost overview, porters five force analysis, and key companies profiles including business overview and recent development.The report would be based on industry data clearly referenced from authentic and reliable information sources such as statistics, industry associations, website of ministry and companies etc, market research reports, magazines, trade journals, annual reports, presentations, telephone interview etc.

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Market research report on Global Wound Care Management Products Market is inclusive of all the important aspect of the market study performed through SWOT and Porters Five Forces methodology. This report has been very well conscripted to benefit investors, new entrants and people interested in the market. Every single market has got a set of manufacturers, vendors and consumers defining a particular market along with their each and every move. Furthermore, highlights of accomplishments made by different players provided in report becomes a subject of studying for market researchers.

Top Companies:

3M

Business Overview

Recent Development

Coloplast

ConvaTec

Johnson & Johnson

Medline

Molnlycke

Smith & Nephew

SSL International

Argentum

Laboratoires Urgo

Milliken Healthcare Products

DermaRite Industries

Kinetic Concepts

Market Size & Analysis, By Type

Acute Wounds

Chronic Wounds

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The Global Wound Care Management Products Market market report is deeply analyzed by different end user or applications and type. End user or application analysis segment in reports helps readers to determine different consumerial behavior. Moreover, on the way of predicting a products fate comprehensive study will play a very important role. When reports are product based, they also include information on sales channel, distributors, traders and dealers. This helps in efficient planning and execution of industry chain and raw materials analysis.

In a nutshell, market research is an art desirable of gathering data via surveys and deep market study by a team of subject matter experts. A market research report provides direction and rationale of the market through a professional approach based on comprehensive investigation of Global Wound Care Management Products Market market. This report aiding its readers in enhancing marketing and business management strategies so that they allocate money and time in exact direction.

Table of Contents:

1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2 METHODOLOGY

3 TRENDS AND DRIVERS

3.1 Wound Care Management Products Market Size and Trends

3.2 Opportunities in Wound Care Management Products

3.3 Market Inhibitors

4 MARKET DYNAMICS

4.1 Wound Care Management Products Industry Chain

4.2 Wound Care Management Products Cost Analysis

4.3 Wound Care Management Products Pricing Strategy

4.4 Distribution Structure

4.5 Enter Strategy

5 MARKET AND TECHNICAL CHALLENGES

5.1 Commercialization Stage

5.2 Economic Impact

5.3 Competitive landscape Overview

5.4 Regulatory/Government policy

6 PORTERS FIVE FORCE ANALYSIS

6.1 Threat of New Entrants

6.2 Bargaining Power of Suppliers

6.3 Bargaining Power of Buyers

6.4 Threat of Substitute

6.5 Segment Rivalry

7 Value Chain Analysis

7.1 Upstream Overview

7.2 Companies Distribution

7.3 Brand and Processing

7.4 Distribution Channel

8 Wound Care Management Products MARKET, BY TYPE

8.1 Overview

8.2 Market Size & Analysis, By Type

8.2.1 Acute Wounds

8.2.2 Chronic Wounds

Continued

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Rising prevalence of various chronic diseases, increasing burden of cancer, and hike in mortality rates on a global scale which generates high demand for diagnosis and image-guided procedures. Contrast media finds application in diverse modalities such as ultrasound, MRI scans, x-rays and in cath lab procedures.

Unlike x-rays, contrast agents are associated with fewer adverse drug reactions. The favorable safety profile of contrast media makes them the preferred choice for medical imaging purposes as they can even be used to diagnose pregnant women without any side effects.

Rise in a number of approvals for innovative and advanced contrast media by FDA and other administrative bodies coupled with growth in the number of diagnostic centers across the globe has spurred the market growth of contrast media. Advancement in contrast agents and technical capabilities of medical imaging has inflated the accuracy of medical imaging procedures which further fuels the growth of the market.

Other driving factors include growth in global geriatric population, increasing R&D activities and government funding. However, the growth of the market might be dampened by the economic slowdown in various economies and side effects associated with contrast media.

Global Contrast Media Market  Key Players

GE Healthcare (US), Daiichi (Japan), Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals (Germany), AMAG Pharmaceuticals (US), NanoScan Imaging (US), Medrad Inc (US), Targeson (US), Guerbet (Japan), Bracco Diagnostic Inc. (Italy), Guerbet Group (France), Covidien (Ireland), Lantheus Medical Imaging (U.S.), ), Bracco Imaging S.p.A. (Italy), Subhra Pharma Private Limited (India), nanoPET Pharma GmbH (Germany), CMC Contrast AB (Sweden), Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals (UK)

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Global Contrast Media Market  Segmentation

By type, the Market for Contrast Media has been segmented into intravenous contrast materials, iodine-based, and, other.

By procedures, the market has been segmented into X-ray, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, and, other.

By application, the global contrast media has been segmented into X-ray, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, and, other.

Competitive Analysis:

GE Healthcare an American multinational company headquartered in the U.S., is one of the leading players in the contrast medium market with manufacturing and distribution of diagnostic imaging agents with more than 100 countries. OMNISCAN and VISIPAQUE are the major products of the company. Recently in March 2017, the company showcased its MRI contrast media product range at the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) 2017 meeting by launching Clariscan, which is a macrocyclic agent and is a gadolinium-based contrast agent (GBCA). Clariscan is intended to support effective visualization of abnormalities in the brain, spine, and associated tissues. The launch of this product will be provided alongside GE Healthcares comprehensive support services and solutions to healthcare physicians across the globe. The demand for contrast media has altogether expanded over the previous decade because of increasing advancement in procedures in MR imaging, raising the significance of uninterrupted and sustainable product supply, and in addition meeting the individual needs of patients undergoing diagnostic techniques. Knowing the demand for contrast medium, GE healthcare invested over USD 65 million in its overall supply across the globe from 2013 and 2016, to increase its manufacturing capacity. GE contrast media products are utilized as a part of more than 70 million systems for every year, identical to infusion in two patients for each second. In 2015, 62 million patients diagnosed using GE contrast media and acquired major share for the global contrast media market.

Daiichi a global pharmaceutical company and the second largest pharmaceutical company headquartered in Japan. Sonazoid an ultrasound contrast medium is widely used product of the company. In 2014, company has acquired Ambit Biosciences.

Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Inc. is headquartered in Germany. It is a multinational chemical, pharmaceutical, and life sciences company. In April 2016, the company announced the approval of, Gadavist injection that is the first contrast agent used with magnetic resonance angiography. Gadavist MRA significantly improved the visualization, or assess ability when compared to unenhanced MRA. This approval of the advanced product will enhance the revenue growth which will further boost the growth of the market. Ultravist, Eovist and Magnevist are the some of the major products of the company.

Industry News:

In November 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the clinical use of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner which allows spotting pituitary tumors in crushings patients. The new ultra-high field 7T Terra MRI scanner allows more reliable images of the brain and facilitates identification of very small tumors which standard MRI fails to spot.

In October 2018, Israeli startup iNNOGING innovated breakthrough in sonography technology. The innovation will enable physicians to manipulate captured ultrasound video and allow virtual dynamic examination by conversion of the video clip into a 3D model without the presence of the patient.

Global Contrast Media Market  Regional Analysis

By region, the market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia, and, Middle East & Africa. The investments and developments have been multiplying in North America market which when coupled with the presence of established healthcare services providers are the key drivers responsible for catalyzing the expansion of the market. The demand for better healthcare facilities, initiatives taken by government institutions such as FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), escalating prevalence of devices requiring imaging technologies, etc. are also stimulating revenue generation from the region. The rising count of cancer patients has intensified a fear among the population leading to an increase in pre-diagnosis treatments which is expected to escalate the demand in the market throughout the projection period.

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Europe market accounts for the second largest share of the global market. The increased expenditure in healthcare, growing awareness about diseases, availability of efficient healthcare services, etc. have led to development in revenue generation from the market. An increase in the incidence of gastrointestinal diseases has also catalyzed the expansion of the market in the region. Asia Pacific region trails Europe and will be the fastest growing market during the projection period. The huge population base of Asia is the key market growth driver. Other factors responsible for the growth in this region are developments in the healthcare sector, increased awareness and healthcare spending, large-scale penetration by major market players, etc. The rising demand will infuse growth in Middle East & Africa market.

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Meadville, PA (16335)

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Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. High 87F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

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A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable.
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Hiram, GA (30141)

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Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 87F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..

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Partly to mostly cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable.
Rushing, a firing range owner and gun seller, has been a county commissioner off and on since first taking office in 2002. In a phone interview with The Associated Press, Rushing said he attended last week's hearing and was "just disgusted" by how Harris was treated. He called into question the credibility of some witnesses alleging absentee ballot fraud in the hearing that led to the election board's decision.
If you live in Fulton County and would like to know how your county government operates and how your tax dollars are spent, you have an opport
For actress Danielle K. Thomas, theres only one way to explain the power of Come from Away, a musical in the Fifth Third Bank Broadway in A
A special program for Black History Month will focus on the sacrifices by McDowell County soldiers of color who fought for the Union and the freedom of all during the Civil War.

The McDowell County Historical Society and the McDowell Public Library will present a program by historians Alvin Hawkins and Anne Swann about the McDowell men who fought in the U.S. Colored Troops. This free program for Black History Month will be presented Thursday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the downstairs meeting room in the McDowell Public Library in Marion, located at 90 W. Court St.

The U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) consisted of regiments in the U.S. Army comprised of primarily of African-American soldiers, although other minorities such as Native Americans and Asian Americans also served. They were first recruited during the Civil War after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. These men of color were commanded by white officers. By the end of war in April 1865, the 175 USCT regiments comprised about one-tenth of the Union Army, according to online sources.

One of the most famous regiments was the 54th Massachusetts, which took heavy losses during the assault on Battery Wagner in South Carolina. This regiment and its story were depicted in the acclaimed movie Glory.
Kinzinger, from Channahon, tweeted on Monday that he is a member of the Wisconsin National Guard and criticized Evers for his decision. In a series of tweets, he said he was sent to the border as a member of the Wisconsin National Guard and his crew caught a man crossing the border with 70 pounds of methamphetamine.
McAlester, OK (74501)

Today

Rain showers in the morning with numerous thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. High 81F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

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Scattered thunderstorms during the evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
One of the women caught in a widespread investigation into prostitution and human trafficking in Florida was caught in Massachusetts during a 2011 sting that led to her being arrested on human trafficking charges.

A Worcester District Attorneys Office spokesperson confirmed 49-year-old Lan Yun Ma, who is facing human trafficking, racketeering and prostitution charges in Florida, is the same person busted in a 2011 sting operation in Oxford, Massachusetts.

Court records in Worcester Superior Court and Vero Beach Police list the same date of birth for Ma.

Vero Beach Police, the Sebastian Police Department and the Indian River County Sheriffs Office announced just a few days ago that Ma was one of several people busted in a six-month-long investigation into prostitution in Florida.

Authorities say Ma was the manager of a parlor called East Spa in Indian River County, Florida. She is listed as living in Orlando.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, Ma bought supplies for the parlor including water and condoms. She drove women to and from the business in order for them to serve as prostitutes, the newspaper said.

Lan Yun Ma (Vero Beach Police)

Police had undercover officers visit the spa in September. Women offered to perform sex acts for money, authorities said in a news conference. Undercover surveillance cameras were installed in November.

Ma was seen collecting money from customers and performing sex acts, according to court records reviewed by the Orlando Sentinel.

The newspaper reports authorities saw more than 140 sex acts conducted by women working at the spa between Nov. 30 and Jan. 10.

The case involving Ma was part of a large, multi-agency sweep targeting sex trafficking in Florida. One of the men snared in the investigation was New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. He is facing two counts of soliciting prostitution in connection to the investigation into a spa in Jupiter, Florida.

Worcester Superior Court records show Ma pleaded guilty in 2013 to charges of solicitation for prostitution and sexual conduct for a fee. She was sentenced to 30 days in jail  which she already served  and three years of probation.

Ma was first charged with human trafficking but pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of solicitation for prostitution.

The Boston Globe reports Oxford and Massachusetts State Police began an investigation into a health center in Oxford in 2011. That investigation led to Mas arrest.

Court records show Ma listed her home address as Flushing, New York at the time of her arrest. She was originally arraigned in Dudley District Court in September 2012. She posted $10,000 cash bail after her arraignment, records show.

A police report reviewed by the Globe stated three Asian women were rescued from the facility located on Fairlawn Avenue in Oxford.

One woman reportedly told police she was brought over from China under the ruse of attending college in California but was then made to work at the massage parlor, the Globe reports.

A Worcester Telegram & Gazette report from Mas sentencing said the business offered massages for $60 an hour. Ma was fined in December 2011 for not having a license to run the business in Oxford, the newspaper reports.

Investigators then discovered a backpage.com advertisement for the business that stated sensual body rubs were offered there, the Telegram reported.

Ma and another woman, Wei Ma, were both arrested and sentenced in the investigation.

A prosecutor said the women ran the business, but people in New York were actually running the illegal services, the Telegram reported.

The business preyed on immigrants who couldnt speak English, according to the newspaper.
On the eve of James Baldwin's words taking Hollywood's center stage this past weekend, a controversial cartoon depicting Baldwin was pulled by a Southern California newspaper.

On Friday evening, the San Diego Union-Tribune announced that it was removing a work by Steve Breen, the paper's longtime editorial cartoonist, from its website.

Jeff Light, the paper's publisher and editor in chief, also apologized for the cartoon, which in his words "drew an ironic parallel between two august figures - James Baldwin and Toni Morrison - and Jussie Smollett," the "Empire" actor accused of staging a hate crime last month and lying to Chicago police about it.

The cartoon, published Friday, depicted successive portraits of Baldwin, Morrison and Smollett beneath the caption, "Famous African-American Storytellers."

"I consider the cartoon offensive and not in line with our values as a company," Light wrote. Matthew T. Hall, the paper's editorial and opinion director, also apologized for the cartoon.

The San Diego newspaper was formerly owned by Tribune Publishing, then-named Tronc, which owns the Chicago Tribune. It was sold, along with the Los Angeles Times, to Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong in June.

"I ultimately agree with the decision to pull the cartoon because enough thoughtful people have told me they find it offensive," Breen, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, told The Washington Post. "I'm frustrated with myself because I feel with a few tweaks, the cartoon could have been salvaged, but I'm not exactly sure what those would be.

"Maybe with the wording. Maybe with James Baldwin and Toni Morrison saying something to Jussie Smollett. I'm not sure - maybe nothing could have made it inoffensive." Breen said he was attempting to satirize Smollett through the incongruity of the cartoon's roster.

"The problem is, I was trying to contrast Jussie Smollett with James Baldwin and Toni Morrison, and people read it as a comparison," says Breen, who notes that going forward, he will more carefully vet his cartoons involving race.

On the Andrews McMeel Syndication website that carries Breen, some commenters called the cartoon's grouping of names a "disrespectful" and an "intellectually dishonest comparison" that appeared to "trivialize the greatness of two people."

One reader said: "Your cartoon clearly positioned Baldwin and Morrison as if they were part of a police line-up with Smollett. At first - and at even second glance, with little knowledge of these literary geniuses or of Smollett's story, they all look guilty of 'storytelling.' " Another reader, though, wrote: "I saw the cartoon as contrast and not comparison right away. Although I can see how it could be taken offensively I didn't get that vibe from Steve Breen's work. An explanation not an apology would have sufficed."

Morrison has received the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for literature, the Coretta Scott King Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her writing, including the "Beloved" trilogy, "Song of Solomon" and "The Bluest Eye."

Baldwin's many honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship and France's La Legion D'Honneur. The late author-activist's fifth novel, "If Beale Street Could Talk," was adapted into Barry Jenkins's 2018 film that received an Academy Award on Sunday and three Spirit Awards on Saturday.

First published in the Washington Post
SPRINGFIELD  Hampden Superior Court Judge John S. Ferrara on Tuesday ruled a jurys conviction of Michael Brawner on a count of second-degree murder should stand, despite a defense lawyers argument that the prosecutor offered one of the most egregious closing arguments hed ever seen.

Brawner, 31, was convicted Feb. 8 in the fatal shooting of Kevin Blanton outside Blantons Chicopee home.

Ferrara sentenced Brawner on Feb. 11 to life in prison, with parole eligibility after 18 years.

Im not going to second guess their verdict," Ferrara said of the jurys decision, after hearing for a final time from prosecution and defense lawyers Tuesday.

Defense lawyer Alan J. Black had asked Ferrara to either grant Brawner a new trial, reduce the jurys verdict to manslaughter, or allow Blacks previously denied motion to dismiss the case based on lack of evidence. His request was based on what he termed prosecutorial misconduct in the closing argument of Assistant District Attorney Mary Sandstrom.

He said Sandstrom in her closing argument improperly appealed to the emotions of the jurors, expressed her own personal belief, shifted the burden of proof, vouched to the credibility of witnesses, and argued facts not presented in evidence by asking the jury to speculate about what the victim was thinking at the time of the incident.

Sandstrom told Ferrara her closing argument was backed by evidence presented at trial. She said she did not ask the jury to make unfair inferences in her closing argument.

Sandstrom said even if Ferrara thought she made incorrect arguments, his instructions to the jury were curative of any problems her closing argument may have presented. In several cases during Sandstroms closing argument, Ferrara interrupted to say she was misstating the law.

Ferrara said in order to change or reject the jurys verdict he would have to find there was prosecutorial misconduct and an insufficiency of evidence.

Ferrara said the case had a good and thoughtful jury made up of members who were attentive during the trial.

Many of Blacks objections to points in Sandstroms closing were meritorious, and many werent, Ferrara said.

He said he balanced a problematic closing by Sandstrom against the jurys verdict of second-degree murder. Sandstrom had asked the jury to find Brawner guilty of first-degree murder under the theories of premeditation and extreme atrocity and cruelty.

By rejecting a first-degree murder charge, Ferrara said, the jury showed it carefully considered the evidence and the law.

The verdict showed the jury rejected Brawners testimony, in which he claimed he didnt bring a gun to Blantons home, Ferrara said.

Black said instructions given by Ferrara to the jury regarding Sandstroms closing argument did not go far enough.

This was one of the most egregious closing arguments I have seen, Black said.

In telling his side of the altercation outside Blantons home when he and his girlfriend went to pick up her 16-year-old daughter, Brawner said Blanton came toward him with a gun. Brawner said the gun went off accidentally during a struggle, killing Blanton.

The prosecution said evidence showed Brawner went to Blantons home with a gun and shot Blanton.

Brawners girlfriend, Sorheyddi Colondres, 35, was sentenced in January to five to seven years in state prison for misleading police and attempting to cover up Brawners role in Blantons killing. She pleaded guilty to a charge of being an accessory after the fact of murder, possession of ammunition without a firearms identification card, cocaine trafficking in the amount of 36 to 100 grams and assault and battery.

Brawner had also been charged with cocaine trafficking in relation to the drug found in a safe in the room he and Colondres shared. That charge had been separated from the murder and weapons charges.

On Tuesday Brawner was sentenced to two years in jail, to run concurrent with the murder sentence, after he admitted the prosecution had enough evidence to prove him guilty of trafficking cocaine in the amount of 18 to 36 grams.
Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni announced Tuesday his office will investigate an altercation involving a Springfield Public Schools student and a Springfield police officer.

The incident, which took place in December, made waves on social media this month after a video was shared online.

Security footage captured a student at the High School of Commerce walking through a school hallway when he passed the officer, assigned as a school resource officer for the city high school.

The student appears to make eye contact with the officer and say something. The officer follows, taking several steps toward the teen before grabbing him by the back of the neck and holding him against the wall.

Video recorded shows another officer and school official intervene within seconds. One holds the teen as the officer who grabbed the teen handcuffs him.

The video was shared on social media by Bishop Talbert W. Swan II. The president of the Springfield chapter of the NAACP and head of Spring of Hope Church of God in Christ on Alden Street called the video abuse by an officer assigned to the school and said he has raised concerns with local officials, including Gulluni and Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno.

Officials told MassLive the officers actions were addressed at the time of the incident and he was placed under review, pending an internal affairs investigation.

Acting Commissioner Cheryl C. Clapprood said Monday the officer will now face a Community Police Hearing Board hearing as well.

The incident, which happened in early December, will be the subject of a review by this office," Gulluni said in a statement Tuesday. "This incident, along with the recent Jerry Bellamy case, makes it clear that the current system of assessment and referral is flawed.

Gulluni, in his second term as the Hampden County district attorney, added, There must be a more consistent and transparent process by which the conduct of police officers is reviewed when allegations of criminal behavior arise. This systemic change will commit to justice, integrity, and the public trust.

Last week, the Hampden District Attorneys office announced a review of the arrest of 48-year-old Jerry Bellamy, who was grabbed by the throat by an officer while attempting to file a complaint about a parking ticket in 2017. The announcement was made two days after MassLives exclusive story on the circumstances surrounding Bellamys arrest.
SPRINGFIELD -- U.S. Rep. Richard Neal offered support this week for efforts to lower emissions, develop renewable energy and other proposals set forth in the Green New Deal, but stopped short of endorsing the controversial environmental agenda.

The Springfield Democrat praised supporters of U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, and U.S. Sen. Ed Markeys, D-Massachusetts, recently unveiled Green New Deal resolution for energizing the climate change conversation on Capitol Hill and across the country.

The congressman, who is the lone Massachusetts delegation member to not back the Green New Deal, added that he looks forward to seeing what a new House select committee proposes to combat climate change and welcomes his constituents input on the issue.

Climate change is real, and its a threat that requires our bold action. ... House Democrats new Select Committee on the Climate Crisis is hard at work developing policy recommendations, and I look forward to seeing their plan and holding hearings on those proposals in the Ways and Means Committee," he said in a statement. The planet our children and grandchildren inherit depends on the action we take in the next few years. Its our responsibility to make sensible changes now that prevent a catastrophic future.

Pointing to his record on other energy and climate change measures, Neal said hes committed to passing legislation out of the Ways and Means Committee that will help lower emissions, modernize infrastructure, encourage green energy development and slow troubling ecological trends.

Neals office did not provide further details on why the congressman has not endorsed the Green New Deal.

Dozens of environmental activists from across Massachusetts will gather outside Neals Springfield office Tuesday afternoon to urge the congressman to sign on to the Green New Deal agenda and use his power as the House Ways and Means chairman to help advance the measure.

Organizers with the Boston chapter of Sunrise Movement, a youth-led effort that seeks to force political action on climate change-related issues, noted that the rally will take place in conjunction with others as part of a national day of action.

The Green New Deal agenda calls for a series of economic, social and energy overhaul goals to be achieved in the next decade.

They include, among other things: building smart power grids; upgrading all existing buildings and constructing new buildings to achieve maximum energy and water efficiency; removing all pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from transportation and agricultural sectors; and cleaning up hazardous waste and abandoned sites.

Nearly 70 lawmakers have signed onto the House version of the resolution, including eight members of Massachusetts delegation. Both of Massachusetts U.S. senators have also backed the proposal.

An American Action Forum analysis released this week estimated that the Green New Deal could cost between $51 trillion and $93 trillion over 10 years.
Gov. Charlie Baker said he is shocked and surprised and disappointed by the soliciting prostitution charges filed against New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

Sexual exploitation and human trafficking issues that is something that has been a high priority for the lieutenant governor and for me and for our administration, Baker said at an unrelated press conference on Tuesday morning.

Baker said he has not been in touch with the 77-year-old billionaire since the news of his alleged visits to a Florida massage parlor that was a front for a human trafficking ring broke on Friday.

[I am] shocked and surprised, Baker said. And disappointed, sure.

Asked if he thought Kraft should step down, Baker said that is a decision for the NFL.

Kraft was charged Monday with two counts of solicitation of prostitution. He is one of more than two dozen people charged in a prostitution sting in Florida. Police say they have video evidence of Kraft receiving sex acts at the the Orchids of Asia Day Spa.

This is a first-degree misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to to one year in jail, a mandatory $5,000 fine and 100 hours of community service. If found guilty, Kraft would have to take a class about the dangers of human trafficking.
EASTHAMPTON -- A long-awaited consultants' report, released in December, outlines significant upcoming expenditures for maintaining the city's water, wastewater and stormwater systems.

The report recommends steep water and sewer rate hikes and the creation of a separate parcel-based fee to pay for stormwater management -- concepts that would need approval from the city's Board of Public Works.



The Integrated Water Resources Management Plan recommends sharp increases in water and sewer fees to pay for $22 million in capital investment at the water and sewer plants, and a stormwater fee to generate $1.3 million per year from property owners to handle rain and snow runoff across the city.



The three-member Board of Public Works has yet to take action on either recommendation, and is pushing Department of Public Works Director Joseph Pipczynski for a more affordable capital plan, according to board Chairman Stanley McCoy.



"He gave us a five-year plan, and we sent it back," McCoy said in a phone interview. "We essentially said no. We asked him to pare it down."



McCoy said Pipcynski was asked to reduce the capital spending request, and to commission a new rate study to calculate the financial impact upon property owners who pay water and sewer bills. The rate study should be completed in April.



"We want to know the exact dollar amount," said McCoy. "Before we say anything, we want to know what the effect on ratepayers is going to be." He said the $22 million capital proposal amounts to a "wish list."



"We could do the same thing if we looked at our roads," McCoy said. "We could make a long list of every road repair that needs to be done, and it would be expensive. But we have to set priorities."



McCoy said the idea of a stormwater utility is on the board's radar, but hasn't come up for formal public discussion. He said the board wants to look at the potential for grants, low-interest loans and other funding mechanisms before committing to anything.



"We just approved a one-year plan with no water and sewer rate increase, and the stormwater fee idea has not been brought forward," said McCoy.

The news comes months after Easthampton voters approved a tax override to build a $109 million middle school, with local taxpayers shouldering $60 million of the cost.

Asked for comment, Mayor Nicole LaChapelle said in an email that she is "very concerned" about "the impact of the regulations and related costs," but wants to see the water and sewer rate study, which she described as "a solid plan that lays out how we pay for these crucial improvements."

LaChapelle did not say whether she favors a stormwater utility, and directed questions on the matter to McCoy and Pipczynski. Asked for comment on Monday, Pipczynski responded via email on Tuesday to say that he is "out of the office today."

Recent state and federal regulations require new standards for the maintenance and operation of municipal water infrastructure. And across Massachusetts, that infrastructure is often old and inefficient. Both factors are price drivers, Pipczynski has previously said.

In Easthampton, consultants Kleinfelder and Tighe & Bond are recommending that water rates -- currently $3.05 per 100 cubic feet -- be raised to $4.19 as soon as possible, and that sewer rates more than double, from the current $4.50 per unit to $10.48.

The rates would scale up to generate $22 million over five years for the water filtration plant on Hendrick Street, the wastewater treatment plant on Gosselin Avenue, the replacement and repair of water and sewer pipes, maintenance of 18 municipal wastewater pump stations, and more.





A separate proposal, not related to drinking water or wastewater, would create a stormwater utility. To raise $1.3 million in revenue, the utility could bill around $144 per residential parcel, according to a ballpark estimate contained within the plan.

The fee could be structured in different ways, with each option tied to the fact that runoff from impervious surfaces -- that is, rooftops, driveways and parking lots -- creates public costs.

The easiest way would be to divide the number of parcels in Easthampton (5,900) by the $1.3 million target, which would yield about $220 per parcel, according to the report. Another option would define an "Equivalent Residential Unit," or ERU, representing the "average impervious area footprint" of an Easthampton home. That would yield a charge of around $144 per residential parcel. Commercial, industrial, and nontaxable parcels would then be evaluated on an individual basis. A third way would look at "intensity of development," or the proportion of any parcel covered with buildings and driveways, and a fourth would evaluate each parcel on an individual basis.

Each option has its pros and cons, according to the report. First, the Department of Public Works would have to commission a feasibility study, the authors said. The engineers further noted that simply using the general fund to pay for stormwater costs would let nontaxable entities such as the private Williston Northampton School off the hook.



The plan, thousands of pages of thick, has been in the making since 2015. The idea was to take a comprehensive look at the city's entire water system, and to identify what needs to be done in terms of maintenance, repair, replacement, and compliance with environmental laws.

The study was designed to engage the public, determine future needs, develop best practices, evaluate alternatives and assist in long-range capital planning, according to the report objectives.



Among many observations, the engineers noted that parts of the wastewater plant are 70 years old, that some underground sewer pipes are 100 years old, and that the lack of a redundant "blower" at the water plant could put the city's drinking water system at risk. Pump stations should be replaced, a street sweeper purchased and energy efficiency upgrades instituted at the wastewater plant, the report recommends.

The Barnes Aquifer, Broad Brook, White Brook, the Manhan River, Nashawannuck Pond, Lower Mill Pond and the Connecticut River oxbow are among the resources the new stormwater regime aims to protect.

As for stormwater, the city has 2,874 catchbasins, 191 outfalls, 71 miles of drain lines, 80 miles of publicly maintained roadway, 54 culverts and three "hydrodynamic separators" to maintain. About 50 percent of Easthampton's sewer maintenance budget and staff is currently spent on the maintenance of stormwater infrastructure, according to the report.



New state and federal pollution regulations require enhanced street sweeping and drain cleaning, water quality monitoring at outflows, and public education. Bad cross-connections where stormwater enters the sewer system must be fixed. Undersized culverts and crumbling stream outfalls will need replacement. Municipalities that don't comply with the state and federal environmental rules could see hefty penalties.



Currently, stormwater costs are funded by the city's Sewer Enterprise Fund. They are picked up to some degree by Chapter 90 highway funds when road repairs are done. The engineers opined that the method is not sustainable in the long run, and does not properly target accountability for runoff, which can be full of trash and pollution.



"We recommend using drainage fees through a stormwater utility to provide long-term, sustainable revenue for stormwater management," the report authors wrote, while recommending that grants, low-interest loans and capital bonding should also be explored.



The creation of a stormwater utility would ultimately require public hearings and the passage of an ordinance by the City Council.



The report has not been posted to the city's website. The Republican procured a DVD copy through a public records request. Appendix V of the report, which can be viewed below, details the stormwater findings.





Appendix V_Preliminary SW F... by on Scribd
LONGMEADOW -- Five out of 10 applicants hoping to fill the four vacant seats on the School Committee were interviewed Monday night, in the first of two scheduled rounds of joint interviews between the Select Board and remaining School Committee members.

The School Committee currently has only three members - not enough for a quorum - since four members resigned last month. Applicants to fill the four vacant seats will serve through the annual town elections in June.

Select Board chair Mark Gold said a strong pool of candidates applied for the seats, including four public school teachers, two university-level professors - and one former superintendent, Susan Bell, who recently served on a temporary appointment to the School Committee.

The five candidates interviewed Monday included former college professor and finance committee member Peter Landen; William "Tim" Mitchell, an accounting professor at the University of Massachusetts who moved to Longmeadow from Alabama in August; James Ryan, a history teacher in Springfield; Kevin Shea, a professor at Smith College and president of the Longmeadow Softball Association; and Kevin Ryczek, who's worked as a program manager in the medical and aerospace fields.

The second round of interviews will be held Tuesday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. at Longmeadow High School, room A15.

Appointments for the four vacant seats will be made next Tuesday, March 5.

In January, School Committee chair Beth Baron and members Kerrin Morrin, Stephanie Jasmin and Melanie Rothstein submitted resignations, citing the controversy over their votes against rehiring Superintendent M. Martin O'Shea.
Who cant take a joke?

Apparently Michael Perrone of Worcester.

Perrone, 34, was arrested Friday night outside the Funny Bone Comedy Club in Manchester, Conn., charged with threatening stand-up comedian Aries Spears, who was performing that night.

He was charged with by Manchester police with threatening in the second degree, breach of the peace in the second degree, and tampering with evidence.

According to Manchester police, Perrone was in the audience for the show when he decided to heckle Spears. Heckling a stand-up comedian generally gives the comedian license to direct their entire comedic talent and know-how at the person doing the heckling, and that is apparently what happened here.

According to the police report, Perrones heckling led to what was described as a verbal exchange between the two. This back and forth continued for a few moments until Perrone got up and left the venue to go outside.

If that was the end of it, it would have been no story.

But then Perrone was seen in the parking lot pulling out a folding knife, and telling people he was waiting for Spears to come outside. Someone called police.

When officers arrived and talked to Perrone, he told them he had left the club because he was being made fun of by the comedian." He was not carrying any weapons at that time, but officers found a folding knife in a planter just outside the club entrance.

Perrone was taken into custody when witnesses told officers that the knife in the planter matched the knife he was waving around earlier.

Perrone was released on a $1,000 surety bond and is due to appear in court on March 7.
Tobacco causes 6-7 million deaths per year around the world. Some argue an outright ban on cigarettes is necessary in order to address the massive public health risk they pose to smokers and nonsmokers alike. Others say banning cigarettes violates personal freedom. An estimated 34.3 million Americans smoke cigarettes. A ban would mean massive changes in addictive behavior for each of them, but it could also mean saving the lives of the people they interact with. Should cigarettes be banned?

In the United States alone, cigarette smoking causes 480,000 deaths every year, making it the leading cause of preventable death. Secondhand smoke causes 41,000 deaths per year.

Cigarette smoking can lead to lung cancer, heart disease and stroke. Although smoking in the U.S. is on the decline, an outright ban on cigarettes would help prevent the one billion projected tobacco-related deaths in the 21st century. The BMJ Journal of Medical Ethics explains:

The weightiest factor supporting a ban, we argue, is the often substantial well-being losses many individuals suffer because of smoking...The potential gains in well-being and equality, we argue, outweigh the limits a ban places on individuals freedom, its failure to respect some individuals autonomous choice and the likelihood that it may, in individual cases, reduce well-being.

Update: People still smoke cigarettes with their kids in the car but yes please ban straws.  Jackie Bouvier (@jackiembouvier) February 12, 2019

Although banning cigarettes would certainly help the public health of the country, it would also contribute to inequality.

If the U.S. placed a ban on cigarettes, a significant portion of its population could find itself addicted to a newly illicit substance. If lawmakers take the ban a step further and make possession of tobacco illegalas was attempted in an 2013 Oregon billsmokers could face fines and prison time.

The last thing the U.S. criminal justice system needs is more drug-related crimes. Banning cigarettes would mount inequality and bias.

ever notice the government wants to ban cigarettes . I mean I dont like them, I dont like em around me but what I dont like is that government is telling you what you can and cannot do & its getting tyrannical.....  Yankee Doodle Boi (@luissxxmartinez) February 11, 2019

Hawaii might be the first state to put a cigarette ban into effect. According to State Representative Richard Creagan, taxing cigarettes is not enough. As long as people are still dying from cigarette use, there's something more their government can do to help prevent those deaths.

KRON4 reports:

Creagan dismisses the argument that his proposal would take away a smoker's civil liberty, saying it is something the tobacco industry has long cited.

Creagan plans to roll out the ban in phases so the state can reallocated tax revenue to account for its losses from cigarette sales. He also looks forward to increased tourism as a result of the ban, implying that "if Hawaii becomes the first cigarette-free destination, visitors will flock here."

Our beaches will be free of cigarette butts, our parks, all of that. Kids wont be exposed. You wont have to worry about your baby or your dog chewing on a cigarette butt, I mean, well be the first state to be cigarette-free and i think thats really cool.

Hawaii could be first in US to ban sale of cigarettes

Smoking is already villainized in the public discourseand rightfully sobut smokers themselves should not be subject to the same demonization. One smoker writes on Quora:

... the government should not be able to ban us smokers because we know the harm it does to our bodies.

I have the same opinion about the government trying to ban or tax more highly the purchase of soda over a certain size, its up to the individual drinkers what they want to put in their body, if they like soda, they shouldnt be penalized for it.

To a point, you have the right to choose what you put into your body. By grouping cigarettes in with other illegal substances, the government would be interfering with individual liberty.

I don't smoke, but this is a slippery slope....nope.  sassy_nach (@sassy_nach) February 5, 2019

A ban on cigarettes could work help level the playing field in the long run. According to the BMI Journal of Ethics:

Of course, not all disadvantaged people smoke, and not all smokers are disadvantaged, socio-economically or otherwise. In the aggregate, however, a ban could help reduce inequalities in health outcomes. Studies suggest that, in Europe, smoking could be the largest single contributor to socio-economic inequalities in health, particularly among men. In the UK, tobacco is considered the cause of about half of the socioeconomic status difference in death rates.

Good. Cigarettes are killers and tobacco companies make a fortune on the misery of other people  jezmund (@jezmundzmusic) February 10, 2019

A ban on cigarettes will not change the behavior of thousands of Americans overnight. One smoker writes on Quora:

To be completely honest if youre going to ban smoking and there will be notice given (whether you want it or not) Im going to start growing my own tobacco because I will not give it up that easily. I will continue smoking it because I enjoy it. I enjoy the smells, tastes, and sight of the plumes of smoke rising out of my pipes and cigars.

A ban on cigarettes would only turn many Americans personal decision into an illegal activity, and even then, a nominal ban would not result in the actual absence of cigarettes.

I think that if Hawaii works to ban cigarettes, it will create more of a black market and increase crime. More people will want them and work harder to get them even though they are illegal. It is difficult to change behavior with laws.  Zoe F. (@Zoe_Alxa) February 19, 2019
GREENFIELD  The union representing Baystate Health nurses in Westfield and Greenfield renewed its criticism Monday of Baystates plan to consolidate mental health inpatient treatment at a new hospital it plans to build in Holyoke.

The Massachusetts Nurses Association will host a public meeting to discuss Baysates plan at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Episcopal Church of Saints James and Andrew, 8 Church St., Greenfield.

Speakers will include state Rep. Paul Mark, D-Peru, and Greenfield Town Councilor Sheila Gilmour, according to a news release from the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

Baystate announced Feb. 4 its plans to build the new hospital with partner US HealthVest.

Baystate and US HealthVest plan to build a 70,000-square-foot behavioral hospital at the former Geriatric Authority of Holyoke site. The new hospital could increase inpatient mental health capacity in Baystates service territory by 30 percent, Baystate has said.

The partnership, called B2 Health, has offered the city $250,000 for the 16-acre property in the Ingleside section of Holyoke near Interstate 91. A Holyoke City Council committee will take up the matter March 4.

Behavioral health units at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, Baystate Noble Hospital in Westfield and Baystate Wing Hospital in Palmer will close when the new hospital opens. Baystate will still provide outpatient and partial hospitalization services at those community hospitals. Mental health beds at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield will remain.

Baystate has said it wants a centralized place to provide care for those with metal health, behavioral health and substance abuse issues. But the unions say they dont want to see mental health beds in local hospitals eliminated.

Baystates plan raises serious concerns for local patients and their families, said Donna Stern, a psychiatric nurse at Baystate Franklin Medical Center. We desperately need more high-quality behavioral health care services that are accessible to everyone in our communities. How will eliminating local beds help? Moving patients to a facility many miles away that is run by a for-profit company does not seem like the right answer. Our patients deserve better.

The nurses union also worries the new hospital will be a for-profit facility, limiting its ability to take patients with no means of paying and those who rely on Medicare and Medicaid. The union also worries that the mental health hospital wont have the medical services of a full-fledged hospital. Patients with mental health and physical issues need both.

Baystate has had an acrimonious relationship with the Massachusetts Nurses Association in Greenfield. Negotiations on the current contract stretched for a year and a half and included two strikes, each matched with a management-imposed lockout.

The bed closures would impact about 20 unionized registered nurses in the mental health unit at Franklin and 15 at Noble, said Joe Markman, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Nurses Association. Nurses at Baystate Wing are not unionized.

Baystate now has 98 inpatient psychiatric beds: 28 at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, 22 in Greenfield, 28 in Palmer and 20 in Westfield.
SOUTHAMPTON -- More than a half-dozen roads remain closed following last nights heavy winds, police say.

Eversource, meanwhile, reported nearly 400 Southampton customers remained without power as of about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.

Police, in a post on the departments Facebook page, urge motorists to avoid the following areas due to downed trees, limbs, utility poles and lines:

 East Street, closed from 55 East St. to Middle Road

 Strong Road, closed at East Street

 Glendale Road, closed from Pomeroy Meadow Road to the Easthampton town line.

 Valley Road, closed at Brickyard Road

 Gunn Road, closed in the vicinity of 78 Gunn Road

 Fomer Road, closed in the vicinity of 268 Fomer Road

 Brickyard Road Extension is closed

Police stress motorists should not drive around barricades.

Eversource, as of about 8:30 a.m., also reported significant outages in surrounding communities, including: Huntington, 206; Westhampton, 197; Easthampton, 100.
Balakot police chief Saghir Hussain Shah said he had sent teams to the area where the Indian bombs reportedly hit, which he described as a mostly deserted wooded area. "There are no casualties, there are no damages on the ground," he said. There was no immediate explanation for the differing accounts, but India and Pakistan routinely contradict one another.
Lon Povich, chief legal counsel for Gov. Charlie Baker, will leave the administration March 8 after four years in that role, Baker announced Tuesday.

Povich will be replaced by Bob Ross, who is currently general counsel at the Executive Office for Administration and Finance, the states budget agency.

Baker said he asked all his senior officials after the 2018 election whether they wanted to stay for an extended period of time or leave soon. Being chief legal counsel, Baker said, is a tough job that chews up an unbelievable amount of time.

Povich said he started thinking about leaving after having a conversation with his wife a couple of months ago, when he asked why he is really tired all the time. She responded, Povich said, Youve been looking at two cell phones 24 hours a day for the last four years.

Povich said he was honored and enthusiastic to hold the job. Every day in the governors office, I was  required to do complicated legal policy and political analysis on the most important issues facing the people of the commonwealth, working alongside dedicated professionals throughout state government. I loved it.

Povich said he will take time off to figure out his next move.

Povich is already one of the longer-serving chief legal counsels in recent Massachusetts history. Under former governors Deval Patrick, Mitt Romney and Bill Weld, chief legal counsels remained in the job for an average of two years.

Before joining Bakers administration, Povich worked as executive vice president and general counsel of BJs Wholesale Club, Inc. and before that, as general counsel at Boston Consulting Group.

This is his second stint in a governors office. He previously worked as deputy chief legal counsel to Weld, when Baker was a cabinet secretary.

Ross, who lives in Wellesley, helped craft the governors budget proposals, reviewed legislation, and worked on other administration initiatives at the Executive Office for Administration and Finance. He previously worked for former Attorney General Martha Coakley, former Senate President Therese Murray, and the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.

Gov. Charlie Baker and his incoming chief legal counsel Bob Ross on Feb. 26, 2019. (Jacqueline Tempera / MassLive.com)

The governors chief legal counsel is responsible for developing legislation, representing the governors office in policy talks with the Legislature, overseeing the committee that suggests judicial nominations and advising the governor on legal issues.

Baker called Povich an incredibly intelligent, incredibly quick, and incredibly adroit thinker as well as a great listener who works well with colleagues.

Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said Povich was respectful to his colleagues in the Legislature and judiciary, understanding and welcoming their perspectives on issues like criminal justice reform. He consulted with court officials about their needs with regards to judicial appointments and tried to recruit diverse candidates.

Polito noted that of 130 appointments to the court made during Bakers first term, half were women and 20 percent had diverse backgrounds.

Baker said Ross is a wicked smart contributor to every conversation we have someone who gets and understands the role of the lawyer in the public sector.

It is not unusual for an administration to have turnover at the beginning of its second term.

At a cabinet level, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Jay Ash left late last year for a job heading the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, a nonprofit business group. He was replaced by Mike Kennealy, who had been assistant secretary for business growth.

Secretary of Public Safety and Security Dan Bennett was replaced by Thomas Turco, who had been Department of Corrections commissioner.

Elder Affairs Secretary Alice Bonner left in January and has not yet been replaced.

Other high-up officials to leave since the November election include Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency director Kurt Schwartz, who was replaced by Samantha Phillips; Department of Public Utilities Chairman Angela OConnor, who was replaced by Matthew Nelson; MBTA general manager Luis Ramirez, who was replaced by Steve Poftak; and Undersecretary of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation John Chapman, who was replaced by Edward Palleschi.
WILBRAHAM  It perhaps is the modern equivalent of leaving a resume in the company copy machine: The superintendent of the Hampden-Wilbraham school district accidentally emailed an application for another job to more than 3,000 parents and staff in the school district.

The Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District for the first time eliminated February vacation this year. Over the weekend, Superintendent Albert G. Ganem Jr. sent a letter to students, staff and parents thanking them for making the week a success.

Or he thought he did.

Instead of attaching the thank-you to the mass email, Ganem accidentally attached a cover letter he wrote around two years ago, which he used to apply for the position of superintendent of Newburyport. In it he touts his experience at the district and school levels, including his most recent experience as superintendent of the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School district.

"It was by complete accident. I think everyone has done this at one time or another," he said. "I own it. We all make mistakes."

Ganem was the district manager of professional learning for the Worcester Public Schools before he was hired to take over Hampden-Wilbraham schools in 2016. He replaced Superintendent M. Martin OShea, who left to head Longmeadow Public Schools.

"I am very happy here. I have a lot of work I want to do in the Hampden-Wilbraham District," he said.

He said he did send a second letter apologizing to the school community for the error and sent the original thank-you letter.

"It is a good learning opportunity," he said. It is a tale of caution and reminds everyone to be careful before emailing or sending out anything on social media.

Although this letter was sent in error, superintendent turnover is constant in Massachusetts. On average a superintendent spends five years overseeing a district, according to the Massachusetts Association of Superintendents.

There are 275 superintendents in the state, and an average of 60 superintendents leave their jobs every year. About half retire and the other half leave for other jobs, typically at other districts, said Tom Scott, executive director of the association.

It is competitive to find a good superintendent, and experienced and successful superintendents are constantly being recruited for other positions. For every open position, between 20 and 25 people apply, which is much lower than it used to be. Of that total typically three or four candidates are viable ones, Scott said.

Many people do not understand superintendents may send out application letters to explore other opportunities but often drop out early in the process.

"Money can be a factor but that is often not the most important one," Scott said. "Most people move because they think they can be successful and feel they can make a difference."

When Ganem was hired, he earned a salary of $149,000 to oversee the district that has 3,057 students and six schools. The Newburyport superintendent, who was hired in March 2016, earns $172,000 a year and oversees a school district of 2,232 students and four schools.

Scott said Ganem called him after the error and said he was embarrassed about it.

While many people may have thought Ganem does not want to be in Hampden-Wilbraham Schools, Scott said that is not often the case. In their discussion Ganem repeated that he is happy in the job.
SPRINGFIELD  A development group proposing a $55 million renovation of the long-vacant historic Elm Street block at Court Square told city councilors on Monday they are on the brink of securing full financing for the project.

Michael V. OBrien, executive vice president of WinnCompanies of Boston, said his company and co-developer Opal Real Estate, of Springfield, are working to secure the final 10 percent of financing, about $5 million, to move forward with the renovation-historic restoration project at 13-31 Elm St.

WinnCompanies and Opal are proposing primarily market-rate housing for the six-story building, along with commercial tenants on the first floor. Local businessman Peter A. Picknelly is part of the development team.

An offer of $11 million from MGM Springfield, as part of its commitment to bring market rate-rate housing to the downtown area, is a critical source of funds, officials said.

Councilors hailed the news that the project could begin by the end of 2019 if the financing gap is closed.

"This project has sort of been the golden goose that has evaded us for decades in Springfield," said Councilor Michael Fenton, chairman of the council's Casino Committee. "It's always been a very integral part to downtown economic development. We have an opportunity here to finally move forward in a positive way."

OBrien said that if full funding is secured, the new development could be completed and ready to open by the summer or fall of 2021. The building has been mostly vacant for 30 years.

MGM Springfield is proposing to invest in the project as part of its commitment to provide 54 units of market-rate housing downtown. The casino is across the street from the Elm Street block.

Officials from MGM Springfield are slated to meet with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Thursday in Boston to ask for an extension so that plans for the Elm Street block can be finalized, City Solicitor Edward Pikula said. City officials had asked MGM to invest in the Court Square project if it can be done.

The Gaming Commission wanted to know by this Friday if the Elm Street housing project is viable, or if MGM will need to locate the apartments elsewhere.

OBrien said funding for the project includes state and federal historic tax credits, MGM funds, and private funding. There has been progress in finding the additional 10 percent needed to make it viable, he said.

The developers are proposing 60 market-rate apartments in the building and 14 apartments that would be restricted to tenants earning up to 80 percent of the area median income, OBrien said. In addition, there is 12,000 square feet on the first floor slated for commercial uses.

The project is extremely costly because the building has been vacant for decades, has been exposed to the elements with some interior damage, needs to be brought up to city and state codes, and needs to meet historic preservation guidelines, O'Brien said.

The developers are not planning to request tax incentives for the housing project, and do plan to use 100 percent union labor, OBrien said, points that were praised by some councilors.

Councilors attending the meeting included President Justin Hurst and members Adam Gomez, Jesse Lederman, E. Henry Twiggs, Tracye Whitfield, Timothy Allen and Fenton.

The Springfield Redevelopment Authority owns the Elm Street block and selected WinnCompanies and Opal as the preferred developers. If financing is finalized, the authority would be expected to finalize the sale of the site to the developers.

Authority Director Christopher Moskal and MGM Springfield representative Jose Delgado were also among the meeting participants.

Fenton and Lederman were among city officials saying they are impressed that, after the Court Square project was estimated to be $30 million short of funds six months ago, the developers have come a long way to closing the gap to the current $5 million.
A commercial aircraft made an emergency landing at Bradley International Airport Tuesday shortly after takeoff.

The American Airlines flight, scheduled to depart from Hartford Tuesday morning and arrive in Chicago Tuesday afternoon, had to return due to a mechanical issue, officials say.

A passenger on board told the Hartford Courant the plane was in the air for a few minutes before the pilot announced they were returning to Bradley.

She and others noticed an odor that smelled like smoke during takeoff. We took off and you could smell it, she told the Courant.
A 65-year-old Rhode Island woman was killed Tuesday morning after losing control of her vehicle on Intestate 195 in Somerset, Massachusetts State Police said.

The woman, from Pawtucket, Rhode Island, was traveling on I-195 west around 6:40 a.m. when authorities said she lost control of her 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee, causing it to crash into the median.

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The cause of the crash is under investigation by State Police and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Authorities said the victims identity is being withheld pending family notification.
SPRINGFIELD  A business planning to open a marijuana shop at the former Hampden Savings Bank building on Main Street in the downtown, has hired former state Rep. Paul E. Caron as its community and neighborhood liaison.

Diem Cannabis, which is proposing to open a shop at 1665 Main St., announced the hiring of Caron as part of its local leadership team. Caron was a state representative for Springfield for 20 years and is the owner of Paul E. Caron Associates of East Longmeadow, a private consulting company.

Other members of the local leadership team are: Chris Mitchem, chief executive officer of Diem Cannabis; John DiNovella, who will serve as Diems Massachusetts operations manager; and Frank Kanekoa, co-founder and chief financial officer.

Diem fully intends to become a part of the citys fabric, by investing in the people, and the neighborhoods we serve, Caron said. My job will be to reach out to all of the citys Neighborhood Councils/Civic Associations.

Diem has purchased the former Hampden Savings building and is proposing a restoration and renovation of the building that the company estimates will cost "upwards of $1 million."

The company also operates seven cannabis licenses in Oregon. In Massachusetts, it has received municipal approval in Orange to open a cultivating and manufacturing farm facility, and recently entered into formal negotiations for a Community Host Agreement with the city of Worcester, where it plans to operate a retail dispensary.

The Springfield City Council is allowing up to 15 marijuana shops in Springfield, which must be within business or industrial zones. The shops are allowed on 58 designated streets in those zones, under an ordinance approved by the council in September.

Caron and DiNovella have announced plans to launch an "introductory tour" of the company and its Springfield plans, by conducting community outreach meetings with numerous neighborhood councils and civic associations.

The city is preparing to accept applications for retail marijuana facilities through a request for proposals process. The proposals and qualifications will be evaluated by a city review committee.

Any applicant will need approvals from the mayor, City Council and state Cannabis Control Commission.
SPRINGFIELD - Teresa C. Younger, president and chief executive officer of the Ms. Foundation for Women, will be guest speaker at a March 18 event honoring the founders of the Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts.

"Vivid Vocal Visionary" at Tower Square Hotel from 5 to 8 p.m. celebrates the more than 20 years that the WFWM has provided over $2.5 million in philanthropic grants to at least 150 nonprofit organizations, impacting more than three million women and their families since 1997.

The nonprofit was the vision of Dianne Fuller Doherty, Martha Richards and the late Sally Livingston after the three attended the Fourth World Conference on Women in a suburb of Beijing, China in 1995 during which former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gave her famous in which she said, "Human rights are women's rights, and women's rights are human rights.

"The theme of the conference was 'Seeing the World Through Women's Eyes,' but to me the message of the conference was about the distribution of wealth and the inequity in that," said Doherty in a prepared statement.

"We decided that the conference was so powerful that we had to come home and do something with the energy and inspiration that we achieved from the women's conference."

The evening will also honor Kristi Nelson, founding executive director.

WFWM, currently headed by Donna Haghighat, provides funds to organizations that work collaboratively to empower women as well as runs the annual Leadership Institute for Political and Public Impact to help women develop civic leadership. It has partnered with Longmeadow's Bay Path University to offer academic credit to institute participants.

At the end of 2016, it launched the Young Women's Initiative Springfield Partnership, a public-private program funded in part by a $150,000 grant from MassMutual Foundation.

The March 18 event will feature Haghighat and Younger discussing shared approaches in investing in women and girls.

When Younger was appointed to head the Ms. Foundation in 2014, she called it "my dream job."

The organization, whose 1973 co-founders include Smith College graduate Gloria Steinem and Marlo Thomas, provides funding to more than 100 organizations working on issues ranging from reproductive health to affordable child care to quality childcare jobs.

Younger was among those in attendance at the 2016 White House summit, The United State of Women, that brought together some 5,000 participants, including WFMA, around a number of issues such as gender equality.

Younger was chosen by Planned Parenthood Federation of America as a Dream Keeper for social justice and freedom during Black History Month in 2015, and in 2016 was named one of the "50 Most Powerful Women in Philanthropy" by Inside Philanthropy.

Prior to heading the Ms. Foundation, Younger was executive director of the Connecticut General Assembly's Permanent Commission on the Status of Women. and earlier was the director of affiliate organizational development at the American Civil Liberties Union National Office.

She was also first woman and the first African American to serve as executive director of the ACLU of Connecticut.

Individual tickets for the March 18 event, which includes a cocktail reception and silent auction followed by dinner, are $125 and can be purchased online.
The woman who was arrested at a Cape Cod restaurant last week after she allegedly harassed a man wearing a Make America Great Again hat has been taken into ICE custody.

Rosiane Santos, 41 from Brazil, was taken into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody Tuesday morning, the agency said.

Santos was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge in Falmouth Feb. 15 after she allegedly insulted and knocked a hat off of a man eating with his friends at the Casa Vallarta Mexican Restaurant. He was wearing a hat bearing President Donald Trumps campaign slogan Make America Great Again.

Deportation officers with ICEs Fugitive Operations Team arrested Rosiane Santos, an unlawfully present citizen of Brazil, today near Falmouth, Massachusetts. Santos is currently facing local charges of assault and other offenses. She is presently in ICE custody and has been entered into removal proceedings before the federal immigration courts, John Mohan, a spokesman for the Boston ICE office said in a statement.

Bryton Turner, 23, who filmed some of the incident and shared video online, told MassLive he went into the restaurant to eat with two friends when Santos, totally unprovoked," began to touch his hat and verbally harass him.

Restaurant employees called police who arrested Santos. She pleaded not guilty to the charge in Falmouth District Court on Wednesday and was released on her own recognizance, the Cape Cod Times reported.

After her arrest, officials determined she was in the United States illegally.
SPRINGFIELD  Go online and order a BLENDi portable blender and rest assured that order has been flashed to the companys fulfillment center  an operation occupying a corner of a Springfield College dorm room.

It's also where company founder, BLENDi blender inventor and senior marketing major Jonathan Katz does product development, accounting and finance and public relations.

Im sold out now, Katz, 22, of Glastonbury, Connecticut, said. But I had boxes and boxes of BLENDis in there. I had all these big envelopes and when orders came in, Id send them out by U.S. Postal Service. The post office would come here to the campus and pick them up.

That was until he had sold out the first shipment of 300 BLENDi blenders just six months after getting his first shipment last year. Another 400 are due to arrive soon from a manufacturer in China.

"I'm taking pre-orders now to fill when the shipment comes in," Katz said. "It's crazy."

The BLENDi sells online for $49.95 but he's running a pre-order sale for $39.95 each.

The BLENDi is a portable blender powered by a lithium ion battery and charged with a common micro-USB charger like some phones use. Powerful enough to crush ice, it weighs just less than four pounds and holds 13 ounces of liquid.

The perfect single serving of a protein shake, he said.

A bodybuilder, Katz habitually drinks a protein shake after a workout.

Back during his freshman year, he kept getting frustrated because the shakes he blended with protein powder and brought with him to the gym were getting clumpy in his bottle.

"It was disgusting," Katz said. "You ended up having to chew and eat your protean. You should drink your protean. I wanted the blending experience I had at home."

The BLENDi has a strainer all the better to keep the blueberry seeds out of your blueberry smoothie.

He started looking for cordless portable blenders and couldn't find any. He started drawing one on Microsoft Paint, the graphics editing software, and he found an engineer online who'd help him.

That stated a process of developing prototypes  the first one worked off a disassembled cordless drill  being dissatisfied and starting another prototype.

In his sophomore year, Katz attended the 3-Day Startup weekend seminar Western New England University and Valley Venture Mentors hosts for entrepreneurs attending local colleges. From there he got involved with Valley Venture Mentors and its accelerator program where was able to bounce ideas off other people  many of them college students like himself.

Grinspoon and VVM helped him find student engineers at UMass who further helped him refine BLENDi.

Katz participated in the Grinspoon Entrepreneurship Initiative and its conferences. It was at one of the Grinspoon conferences that BLENDi got its name.

He'd been calling it s SteelBlade, after the steel blades in the blender.

"But the name was too aggressive," Katz said. "Women didn't like it."

A woman in the audience just shouted out Blendi, picking it from a list of possible new names.

Eighty percent of BLENDi customers are women, part of a target audience that includes folks who like health drinks like shakes and smoothies on the go, campers and picnickers and those looking for a convenient cordless way to enjoy a margarita.

Half the new order of 400 Blendis will be pink, Katz said.

"Customer feedback says women would like it in pink," he said.

He has BLENDi manufactured in China due to cost.

Its super expensive in the United states, especially the steel blades, he said.

He is worried that the concept will get stolen. There is a patent pending on one novel feature of BLENDi. And that novel feature is that the blender comes with a bottom that screws on the drinking vessel, turning it into a water bottle with a sold base.

"It's interchangeable," he said.

Katz markets BLENDi in person at new product shows and online using the social network site Instagram.

More information may be found online at https://www.blendiblender.com/
Just over a year after getting traded from the Bruins, East Longmeadow and UMass product Frank Vatrano signed a three-year extension for $7.59 million ($2.53 million per year) with the Florida Panthers.

Three. More. Years.



We're happy to have you, Frankie! pic.twitter.com/GavXfPXWr6  Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) February 25, 2019

Were thrilled that Frank will be part of the Florida Panthers organization for the next three years, Panthers general manager Dale Tallon said told Fox Sports. At a young age Frank has the work ethic, scoring sense and two-way ability to complement any of our forward lines and we look forward to working with him as he continues his development with our club.

Vatrano has career-highs in goals (20), assists (13) and games (59) this season.
Another factor that affects turnout, of course, is weather. WGN veteran meteorologist Tom Skilling predicts morning temperatures in the teens to increase to a high in the mid-20s, which he said is 10 to 15 degrees lower than normal. Winds out of the east will make the air feel 5 to 15 degrees lower than the temperature. There also will be a chance of snow throughout the day, with the possibility of lake-effect accumulations ranging from a dusting to an inch and a half north of the Loop in the afternoon.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 26)  The Sandiganbayan on Tuesday granted Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founder Nur Misuari's motion to travel abroad.

The anti-graft court has allowed Misuari to fly to the United Arab Emirates and Morocco to attend the summits of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Council of Foreign Ministers as well as the 14th Session of the Parliamentary Union of Islamic Cooperation Member States-- both in March.

The Moro leader, following his conditional arraignment for graft and malversation charges Tuesday morning, posted a 920,000 travel bond for the trip.

He leaves Tuesday night and is expected to return home by March 20.

Misuari is facing graft and malversation raps over the alleged anomalous purchase of 77 million worth of educational materials when he was governor of the then Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

During his arraignment, the MNLF Chair refused to enter a plea for the charges, so the court entered a "not guilty" plea in his behalf.
A New Hampshire man was arrested Monday after authorities said he brought a loaded handgun into Boston Logan International Airport.

The Transportation Security Administration said the Salem, New Hampshire man was caught with a 9mm handgun in one of his carry-on bags. Officials said the firearm was loaded with seven bullets, including one in the chamber.

After the gun was spotted in the checkpoint X-ray machine, authorities said Massachusetts State Police were contacted, confiscated the weapon and arrested the man on weapons charges.

Mondays gun catch marked the first gun caught at the airport this calendar year, the TSA said. In 2018, TSA agents removed 21 firearms from carry-on bags at the airport.

Even if a traveler has a concealed weapon permit, guns are not allowed in carry-on bags. However, travelers with a valid firearm permit can travel with guns in their checked bags if they follow certain guidelines.

The TSA said it has the authority to fine anyone who brings a gun into the airport up to $13,000. The agency said the typical fine for a first-time offense is $3,900.
Lawrence Police Officer Carlos Vieira, who is accused of raping a child, is being held without bail after his arraignment in court Tuesday.

Vieira, 49, of Lawrence, was arraigned in Lawrence District Court on two counts of aggravated rape of a child and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.

The Essex District Attorneys Office said a judge ordered Vieira, a member of the Lawrence Police Department since 1999, be held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing. The officer, who is now on administrative leave, will return to court Friday for a hearing. He was arrested Monday.

According to the district attorneys office, the officer and the 13-year-old boy met on Grindr. The two met at a park last summer. The alleged victims mother spoke to police on Jan. 29.

The investigation revealed that the boy and the defendant allegedly were in contact through the social media app GRINDR, the district attorneys office said. They met at Mt. Vernon Park and engaged in sexual acts on one occasion last summer.

Grindr says it is the largest social networking app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people.

The prosecutor and defense attorney argued about the alleged victims identification of Vieira with the defense stating the boy looked through several photo arrays, according to WBZ.

The boy recognized the officer during the Merrimack Valley gas explosions, authorities said.

When the boy and his family were evacuated following the gas explosions on Sept. 13, he recognized the police officer directing traffic at the intersection on Mt. Vernon and Beacon Streets as the man he met at the park, according to the district attorneys office.

According to the Eagle-Tribune, Vieira was arrested Monday as he attended a training course at the Haverhill Police Department. Investigators executed search warrants at the officers home and seized his vehicle, the newspaper reports.
As the towering, glittering glass hotel and neighboring casino buildings gear up for an enormous June opening in Everett, Wynn Resorts is looking to fill 5,800 jobs at Encore Boston Harbor.

The highly-anticipated $2.6 billion resort and casino on the banks of the Mystic River is slated to open on June 23, but needs to hire and train a large number of employees before then.

With 15 restaurants, 671 guest rooms, event space, retail shops and a sizable casino to staff, spokespeople say Encore Boston Harbor is searching for thousands of new hires -- from hospitality and food service, to finance and accounting, to transportation, information technology, legal and more.

Its the entire spectrum. There is a position for literally everyone, said Encore Boston spokeswoman Alyssa Hiller.

Of the 5,800 available jobs in Everett, about 1,400 have already been filled or are in the pipeline," Hiller said. Nearly all positions tied to accounting have been filled, and in a two-day job fair on Sunday and Monday, many applicants expressed interest in front desk and concierge positions.

Hiller could not confirm an average salary for casino and resort employees, but described pay as competitive compared to similar jobs at other casino resorts.

On Sunday alone, 2,100 people participated in lightning-round, 10-minute interviews at a job fair in the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, according to Susie McDaniel, Encore Bostons vice president of human resources.

In the brief, first-round interviews on Sunday and Monday, employers -- including Encore Boston Harbor President Bob DeSalvio himself -- identified whether a candidate was professional and had the right personality to move onto a second round of interviews. If the candidate passes round one, he or she will go on to a second, third and potentially even fourth round of interviews with the appropriate employers to see if they are a match for a specific position.

But any candidate who is passionate and prepared to work at a resort promising five-star service and absolute excellence will be considered for a job, according to Hiller. Even if a particular position is filled and no longer available, she noted that the company is willing to help strong candidates find any role that could be a good fit.

There are a lot of things we can teach, especially at an entry-level perspective. What we cannot teach is the motivation and the passion, Hiller said.

On Monday, Encore blocked off the first two hours of the job fair to applicants who live in Everett or host communities, which include neighboring cities like Boston, Somerville, Chelsea, Medford and others.

The company, owned by Wynn Resorts, has pledged to prioritize employment for local residents and hire 50 percent women, 40 percent minorities and three percent veterans.

Its an interesting process to work out, because you want to hire as many people from that community as you can to kind of grow them up in the gaming industry, so they can run the casino. 'Cause thats the goal in the long run, McDaniel said.

McDaniel has spent the last 27 years, or essentially her entire career, working in the gaming and hospitality industries. She worked in Las Vegas, the countrys gambling capital, and in places like Mississippi and Louisiana, where she helped usher in a new era of gaming and observed the reciprocity between casinos and their host communities.

You go back 10 years later, 15 years later, and the casino was being run by people from the community, which is a cool thing to see. That knowledge grows with those individuals, McDaniel said.

With her nearly three decades of experience in gaming operations across the country, McDaniel added, I think Encore Boston Harbor is the pinnacle of the industry.

Medford resident India Cobb-Rubino, 26, visited the Hynes Convention Center on Monday to apply for a front desk receptionist job. She made it through her first interview round, which she said was pretty easy.

I love the hospitality industry and Im a big fan of casinos, said Cobb-Rubino, who has worked in customer service roles before. So the five-minute commute would be great, and its nice to have a job that you want to go to rather than just go in.

At least one more Encore Boston Harbor job fair will take place in mid-March, and another may take place in April if necessary, spokespeople said. The company updates open job availabilities on its website as well.

The hiring team at Encore Boston Harbor is confident that all 5,800 jobs will be filled by late May, ahead of the grand opening events scheduled in the week before June 23.

By that opening date, the company promises every restaurant and every feature of the casino and resort will be ready for business. A special musical act is already booked for the opening, a spokesperson confirmed, but who that act is has not been disclosed.
You doubtless noticed in past week or so that you were paying about 10 or 15 cents more for a gallon of unleaded fuel than you had been on Valentines Day.

Theres certainly no love lost for that trend, but there was a bit of a bouquet attached: A national spike in prices has affected Virginia less than most states, and prices around here remain much lower than they were a year ago.

AAA issued a report Monday that the national average price had risen another eight cents, to $2.39, increasing from what was the largest one-week increase this year.

AAA said that in most places gas prices were about had been nine cents higher that prior week, but as of Monday, after all of that, they remained lower than February 2018 by about 12 cents across the country.

GasBuddy.com, which tracks price changes dynamically, reported Monday that gas prices in Virginia range from $1.90 to $2.18, all well below what the average driver is paying nationally.

In Martinsville, GasBuddy showed average as of mid-afternoon Monday at $2.087, about a nickel a gallon higher than last week.
And what does he think of the supervisors plan?

Its ridiculous, he said. Like, do you want me to go to Walmart and steal stuff? Do you want me to go stick up, you know, a store? Come on now.

Buchanan said she wants to protect public safety, for example, to prevent people soliciting from stepping into traffic and possibly being struck by a vehicle. Who would be liable if such an accident happened: the person soliciting or the motorist?

Buchanan said some motorists have complained about situations in which they had been in line to move forward and someone soliciting stepped in front of them, or the motorist wouldnt roll down the window, and the person soliciting made a noise at them.

She said she has heard about solicitation of motorists on roads near Walmart and near Roses, which also is near the intersection of Memorial and Commonwealth boulevards.

Buchanan said she wants to ensure that people who legitimately need help get help from resources that are available in the community or can get one of the numerous jobs that are available in the area if they are qualified.

She said she believes it is not illegal for someone to solicit donations in a public place, and that free speech rights must be protected.
Samsung just took the wraps off its latest Galaxy S10 phones, along with an intriguing new folding phone/tablet called the Galaxy Fold. They were all the internet could talk about on Wednesday, and with good reason: theres some legitimately cool stuff there. But none of them present the existential threat to Apple. In fact, they probably wont have a measurable impact on iPhone or iPad sales at all.

The greatest threat to continued sales of Apple products is Apple, not the threat of a superior product from Samsung.

Must-have features are often overestimated

The general thrust of the annual Apple needs to worry about these new Samsung phones punditry goes something like this: These Samsung phones have more features for the same money!

Thats not wrong. The $750 Galaxy S10e is priced like the iPhone XR, but has more storage, an OLED display, and dual rear cameras. The S10 and S10+ have more and possibly better cameras in front and back, more storage, and start at prices $100 less than the iPhone XS and XS Max.

When else have Samsung flagship phones have had more features or better-sounding specs than the comparably-priced iPhones? Pretty much every year since the Galaxy S4. Whether its wireless charging, waterproofing, OLED displays, stylus support, or NFC, Samsungs top phones have often had a laundry list of features months or years before they show up in an iPhone. Samsung often hammers home that fact in its commercials, and yet iPhone sales havent suffered.

Of course there are some people who are willing to jump out of the iPhone ecosystem and they land in Samsungs domain. Thats not new. But in the grand scheme of things, most iPhone users seem to want to replace their old iPhones with new iPhones, and if beating Apple to the punch on a handful of cool-looking features hasnt tipped the scales over the last five years, its not going to start now.

Until theres a true competitor to the ubiquitousness of iMessage and FaceTime, Apple probably doesnt have to worry about the fact that some Android phone shipped with a feature before the iPhone.

Its too early for a folding phone

What about that Galaxy Fold, though? The first real big-name folding phone/tablet! Sure, its undoubtedly slick, it doesnt seem ready for the mass market just yet.

The price tag alonestarting at $1,980puts it out of reach for almost everyone. It doesnt appear to solve many of the predicted problems with folding phones, either. In its folded state its too thick and tall to fit well into any but the largest pants pockets (and if youre a back-pocket person, forget it). The display aspect ratios are weird both folded and unfolded, and its not clear how well the broad array of popular apps will work with that. Samsung keeps showing off the same few apps that scale gracefully, but how well will that work with all the apps people use?

Google I dont think thats the phone experience people want out of a nearly $2,000 device.

Its got weird design quirks like a strange corner-notch in tablet mode, and durability remains a huge question mark. (How would a case for that thing even work? Or screen protectors?)

Samsung No way is that getting in your back pocket.

The Galaxy Fold is another cool piece of tech that lets Samsung proudly proclaim it was first. But Apples innovation has very rarely been about being first to market. Its about being the first to make a technology reliable, usable, and mass-producible enough to ship on over 100 million phones in a year. Thats the kind of thing that moves markets.

And its too early for 5G, too

Samsung also announced version of its Galaxy S10 phone for 5G networks. Its huge (6.7 inches!), expensive (no price given, but more expensive than the $1,000 Galaxy S10+), and will ship sometime in the second quarter exclusively on Verizon.

That alone puts it out of reach for anyone on the nations other three big carriers. But even for Verizon customers, its going to be some time before 5G is a thing. Verizon has promised to deploy 5G in 30 cities by the end of the year. But it hasnt yet said what those cities are and hasnt given any details about pricing or how broad the coverage will be. The really fast 5G stuff will require lots of small towers spaced closely together, which means that launching 5G in a city is very likely to mean, you get 5G coverage over about ten blocks downtown, and its still 4G LTE everywhere else.

Samsung 5G is going to be a big deal one day, but that day is not today.

All the major carriers want to crow about their 5G deployments, but the fact is, only a tiny percentage of the countrys population is going to live or work in an area where 5G coverage is reliable until well into 2020. Youre far more likely to be connected to a solid Wi-Fi connectionmitigating the benefits of 5Gthan you are to really see those multi-gigabit speeds on your mobile network. Its good to have a phone that is future-proof, but do you really want to pay big bucks today for a first-generation 5G modem that you wont get to use for another year or two?

Apples problem is pricing, not Samsung

Apple needs to keep improving the iPhone, of course. From multi-camera setups and time-of-flight 3D sensors to bi-directional wireless charging and fancy software tricks like Googles Night Sight, Apple must absolutely push ever-forward. (Dont get me started about Siri.)

But a features arms race with Samsung has never been Apples problem, and its not the reason iPhone sales are plateauing (or even declining).

If Apple has a current problem with selling iPhones, its that the prices are too high, no matter what features they have (especially in some overseas countries). And with subsidized pricing going by the wayside, the barrier to entry is just too great. In that regard, a good enough $400 phone poses far more of a threat to Apple than Samsungs similarly-priced flagship phones.

The company is transitioning to a model where iPhone upgrades are not terribly important as long as customers keep using their old iPhones. It wants people to be in Apples ecosystem so it can consume a growing array of services, and growing that base is more important that iPhone or iPad or Mac turnover rate.

Still, most companies that make their money on consumer services will practically give away hardware, selling it at cost or even a loss. Lose money on the razor, make money on the blades. Apple is light-years away from that sort of pricing scheme, but is worth considering that, over time, the company may want to lower margins on hardware in order to build a bigger base for its services business.

Samsung hasnt been able to build a successful ecosystem of its own, no matter how hard it has tried. The company pushes its own apps, store, interface, and features like Bixby, but consumers dont want them. They want Googles servicesMaps, Gmail, Chrome, Google Photos, and the Google Play store. Apples ambitions to grow a consumer services business can only truly be threatened by another manufacturer with a big hardware/software/services ecosystem of its own, and thats not Samsung.
As an LGBTQ+ person, I thought about running for mayor when no other LGBTQ+ person had ever made the ballot for mayor in this city. And as a mayoral candidate, I traveled across the city and saw people who looked like me and families like mine who were struggling in every neighborhood, Lightfoot said. Im not here despite these hardships, despite the odds. Im here because my personal and professional experiences have prepared me to lead with compassion, integrity and persistence.
After releasing iOS 12.1.3 with a few minor bugfixes, Apple has has moved on to iOS 12.2. The first beta was released to developers on January 24, 2019, with the first public release following on the 28th.

At its Show time event on March 25, Apple mentioned the release of iOS 12.2, which brings with it the companys new Apple News+ subscription service and a host of smaller features, such as four new Animoji.

To download the update, open the Settings app, tap General, then Software Update.

Updated 03/25/19: After six beta releases lasting two months, iOS 12.2 is now available.

Whats new in iOS 12.2

Apple News+: Apples new premium subscription service is the star feature of iOS 12.2. It provides access to over 300 magazines and several newspapers, including the LA Times and Wall Street Journal. The subscription costs $9.99 a month, and includes family sharing. Youll see a News+ tab at the bottom of the News app in iOS 12.2. Head there to get started.

IDG Head to the News+ tab at the bottom of the News app to get started with Apples new premium subscription service.

Support for AirPlay and HomeKit on TVs: Apple recently announced that AirPlay is coming to a bunch of smart TVs this year and iOS 12.2 starts to add support for them. Theyre referenced in the Home app, and theres an updated design to the TV Remote control center tile.

Apple News in Canada: iOS 12.2 brings Apple News to Canada, including Apple News+.

New Animoji: You can now chat with your friends using the new giraffe, shark, owl, and boar Animoji.

IDG Four new Animoji grace your Messages in iOS 12.2 (starting with Developer Beta 2).

Minor interface tweaks: In addition to TV references in the Home app, iOS 12.2 tweaks a few other minor interface elements. The Wallet gets a cleaned-up last transaction details list, and the AirPlay screen mirroring icon is new, for example.

Improved voice Messages: Voice messages in the Messages app have sounded pretty bad for a long time. iOS 12.2 fixes that by replacing the old AMR voice code with the superior Opus codec, and tripling the sample rate from 8,000 Hz to 24,000 Hz. Fredrik Riedel noticed the change and documented the night-and-day difference on Twitter.

Safari changes: Sites that do not use HTTPS are now listed as Not Secure in the menu bar. This used to appear only if a non-HTTPS site requested a password or credit card number. There are now blue arrows in the google search suggestions, which will add those terms to the search bar when tapped. Apple has added a new Motion & Orientation Access toggle in the the Privacy & Security section of Safari settings.

Weather and AQI in Maps: In Settings > Maps, theres a new Climate section with toggles for Weather Conditions and Air Quality Index. Previously, there was no way to turn weather conditions off, and AQI is entirely new. The weather and AQI appear in the lower right corner of the Map view.

Support for new devices: iOS 12.2 adds support for the new iPad Air and iPad mini, the second-generation AirPods, and adds Logitech Crayon support to the iPad Pro.

Apples complete iOS 12.2 release notes

iOS 12.2 provides support for Apple News+, adds the ability for Siri to play videos from your iOS device to Apple TV, and includes four new Animoji. This update also includes bug fixes and improvements.

Apple News+

Apple News+ is a new subscription service that extends the Apple News experience with hundreds of magazines and top newspapers

Our editors handpick top articles and magazine issues, and you also get personalized recommendations on the topics most interesting to you

Automatic downloads make it easy to read magazine issues offline

Apple News is now available in Canada, with a free experience that includes handpicked Top Stories, a personalized Today feed, and support for both English and French

Apple News+ is available in the U.S. and in Canada, with dozens of additional Canadian magazines

Siri

Ask Siri on your iPhone or iPad to play any video, show, movie, sports game, or channel on Apple TV. For example, Hey Siri, play Free Solo on my TV

Animoji

Four new Animojiowl, boar, giraffe and sharkare included for iPhone X and later, iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation) and iPad Pro 11-inch

AirPlay

Dedicated TV controls in Control Center and on the Lock Screen give you quick access to TV controls

AirPlay multitasking for video allows you to browse other apps, as well as play other short form audio and video files locally on your device without interrupting AirPlay

AirPlay destinations are now grouped by content type making it faster for you to find what device you want to play to

Apple Pay

Apple Pay Cash customers can now transfer money to their bank accounts instantly using their Visa debit cards

Wallet app now conveniently displays Apple Pay credit and debit transactions right below the card

Screen Time

Downtime can be configured with a different schedule for each day of the week

A new toggle enables easily turning app limits on or off temporarily

Safari

Website sign-in now occurs automatically after filling credentials with Password AutoFill

Warnings now appear when loading unencrypted webpages

Removes support for the expired Do Not Track standard to prevent potential use as a fingerprinting variable; Intelligent Tracking Prevention now protects against cross-site tracking by default

Smart Search Field queries can now be modified by tapping the arrow icon next to search suggestions

Apple Music

The Browse tab shows more editorial highlights on a single page making it easier to discover new music, playlists, and more

AirPods

Support for new AirPods (2nd generation)

This update also includes other improvements and bug fixes. This update:
Editors note: USA Today reports that SmugMug extended the deadline to March 12 for users to download their images from Flickr before they are deleted.

For much of its time under Yahoo, Flickr suffered benign neglect, even though a small team of developers kept it alive and advanced in often tiny increments. After 13 years, Yahoo finally made a solid decision about Flickr, its photo-hosting website: It sold it.

SmugMug, the professional photography oriented company, bought Flickr in April 2018. On November 1, 2018, SmugMug announced changes to its free and paid (or Pro) tier. SmugMug said that the 1TB of storage that Yahoo gave free-tier users is not sustainable and that plan is over. Now, SmugMug will let free-tier users retain 1,000 images and videos of any size (even at the maximum 200MB per image).

SmugMug originally announced that on February 5, 2019, the company will delete all images and media on free accounts after the 1,000 newest photos and movies. The new deadline is now March 12, 2019. These are permanent deletions: Paying for a $50-a-year Pro account after that wont restore the images. (SmugMug currently offers a 30 percent discount on the Pro account.)

If youre a Flickr user at the non-paid tier and have more than 1,000 media items, you can easily extract them. Some Pro users may opt to leave completely, as the price for the paid tier has doubled under SmugMug.

(The new owner has upgraded Pro offerings, however: it includes unlimited storage and the company has released additional improvements and a timeline for a number moreincluding far better video support. Its also reintroduced discounts, such as 15 percent off Adobe Creative Cloud, which is worth about $90 for a yearly Adobe subscription.)

Flickr used to have a single export method that was cumbersome and didnt include all data stored at Flickr about an image or video. Flickr updated that in the last year to offer a complete export. Ill explain both below.

Export everything from Flickr

Flickrs new export option includes all your data: contacts, all your comments and those of others on your photos, the contents of each photo album youve created, and every additional piece of information you added in Flickr to each image. It also retains the original metadata of the image you uploaded, including GPS coordinates, which is also the case with the older Flickr export method.

The new Flickr export option is exceedingly straightforward.

Log into Flickr via the web. (The Yahoo login account requirement is going away soon, too.) Click the account avatar in the upper-right corner, and select Settings. In the bottom panel, Your Flickr Data, click Request Flickr Data.

IDG

Downloading your Flickr data can take some time. For me, with 13,000 photos, it took four days. However, I made the request right after the announcement of changes to free and Pro tiers, so it could be faster now.

When its done, you will have a panel on the Settings page with a number of download links under both Account Data and Photos and Videos. Photos and Videos is just that: ZIP archives of all your images and movies, with names derived from how Flickr stored them.

IDG The Flickr Account page shows all the downloadable files that comprise your exported Flickr data.

These media archives ranged from about 400MB to 1.4GB in my testing. Make sure you enough have storage free on the drive to which Safari downloads files.

Whats in the Flickr data download

The Account Data downloads contain all the rich material that formed your Flickr life. Its everything you created, every list, every group you joined, every comment posted or received on your photos. The data is organized into files for account-wide information, like albums and comments, as well as an individual JSON file for each downloaded photo or video. That part is good.

That data is stored in JSON, a standard text-based and mostly human-readable interchange format thats in wide use for arbitrary data. Thats also good.

IDG JSON is a standard text interchange format thats also somewhat readable.

The bad part is that theres no easy way to import this data into something else. Another photo-sharing site, like Google Photos, would need to develop an import tool. Perhaps a Mac or Web developer would create a way to import images and JSON files, and have it produce a freestanding set of webpages you could host? Its feasible.

Even though none of this exists yet (or, frankly, may ever), you do get to retain all the data you added in Flickr.

If youre not afraid of the command line or can write a little Perl code, you could also use the free EXIFTool to attach the extra metadata in the per-photo files as additional notes in each image.

Flickr also offers a media-only export that lets you select more carefully what you want to download. This export doesnt include:

Image title, keywords, description, and licensing information unless present in the media when it is originally uploaded

Comments

Favorites (counts, by whom, and so forth)

Statistics (views by photo and related information)

It does include:

The full resolution of an image as uploaded

The encoded resolution of a video as processed after upload

EXIF metadata that was part of the media file, such as exposure, geotagging, and creation date

Flickr allows downloads from a number of places, including the Camera Roll view. Anywhere that you can download, you can retrieve an archive of all media files used in that view. (If you want to download all the images in your account, use the method in the previous section.)

In testing, Flickrs web app seemed to like sets of no more than about 2,000 items, so consider that if you have very large albums, or want to use the excellent Organize feature to collect items in a new album.

The downloadable ZIP archives can be as big as 1.4GB in my testing, though Flickr splits up large sets into several ZIP archives. Make sure you have enough space on the download drive, usually your startup volume.

In any view with a download option, a Downlink link appears by default or when you hover over the proper area. Heres how to download an album either in the main Albums view or when viewing an individual album.

Hover over the album image. Click the Download link, which is a downward pointing arrow. IDG The Download link in nearly any view lets you export all the images and videos in that particular set. A prompt tells you the number of images and videos, and asks you to confirm. Click the Create zip File button.

IDG Flickr tells you it will send you email when the download is ready.

Flickr sends you email when the download is ready as one or more ZIP archives. You can also check the Notification (bell) drop-down menu, which will show a message with a link when the download is ready.

The archives are numbered in the download view, and just make sure you get all of them if you have multiples, as you have to click them one at a time to start the download.

Import into Photos for macOS

Its impractical to import more than thousands of photos into Photos in iOS, so I recommend only performing mass migration via Photos for macOS. Flickrs ZIP archives are relatively small, making the extracted folders good units to drag into Photos one at a time.

IDG The Import dialog in macOS lets you select images or import all of them, while bypassing already imported ones.

You can opt to copy images into the Photos library from wherever they reside, and then delete the originals; or, you can leave them in place, and use Photos > Preferences > General to uncheck the Copy Items to the Photos Library box next to Importing, and the originals arent copiedPhotos references them and shows a special icon overlaid on the image to note that.

You have to choose which import path you want to take:

Dragging a folder on top of the Photos library view immediately starts an import of all new images, with a prompt about any duplicates found.

Dragging a folder on top of the Photos icon in the Dock brings up an import view that shows all previously imported images and videos and any new ones.

If youre having Photos copy the images into the library, be sure you have enough storage on the volume on which the library resides.

Once the import is complete, your media is immediately available, but you have to wait an indeterminate amount of time for object and facial analysis to complete in macOS Sierra and later. The People album should let you know how many images are left to scan, but it wont tell you how long it will take.

If you have iCloud Photo Library enabled, remember that the photos and video will also upload to sync with iCloud, which can sometimes overwhelm your internet connection if you have a lot of media data relative to your bandwidth.

While you may have lost descriptive data entered in Flickr, you can use Photos Moments to find images grouped by when they were taken, as well as searching by place if images had geotagging enabled, as with images taken from an iPhone or iPad. You can then retag images in groups with titles and keywords.

If you have descriptions you want to retain, you can either:

Open a side-by-side Flickr browser window and Photos, and use the Organizer view in Flickr. That view lets you double-click an image in the thumbnail view and then have editable fields appear for title, description, and keywords. You can copy and paste those from Flickr into Photos, switching back and forth.

If you performed a full export of your Flickr data, find the JSON file that corresponds by number with the image using Spotlightthe number is in the file name and embedded in the fileand copy the text after description.

Import into Google Photos in macOS

IDG Google Backup and Sync app lets you select folder locations for photos.

As with Photos, macOS is your best option to upload into Google Photos. Using iOS or via its web app uploader, youll spend more time than makes sense managing the upload.

In macOS, you simply install Backup and Sync and then point the app at the various directories in which you store images, including any youve selected for Flickr downloads. With Google Photos, images remain in place, and arent copied or moved within macOS.

Make a full backup

Once youve downloaded all your Flickr images and imported them into the system of your choosing, and potentially deleted the originally downloaded images unzipped folders, you will certainly want to make sure you have a full and reliable backup.

I recommend getting an inexpensive SSD, which have a very long lifetime if not used routinely. A 128GB SSD with USB 3.0 in its own enclosure can cost as little as $35, and be large enough for most photo library backups; a 512 GB OWC Envoy Pro with Thunderbolt 3 (which supports USB 3.0) is currently just $279.

With Photos libraries in which you copied all the images on import, you can quit the Photos app and then drag and drop the library onto the external drive. For Google Photos and import-by-reference Photos app usage, youll need to find all the source locations and copy them. Keeping all your images in your home librarys Photos folder thus makes a lot of sense!

If you plan to take the next step and wipe your Flickr account entirely, then an additional backup is a must.

Deciding to delete your Flickr account

Once youve download all your Flickr images, added them to Photos in macOS or Google Photos, and ensured you have a full backup of your library, should you delete your Flickr account? And if so, how?

Log in to Flickr. Click your avatar and click Settings. At the bottom of Account box, click the Delete Your Flickr Account button. IDG Youll be presented with information to review, after which you click OK-Next. IDG Flickrs account deletion option is permanent and irreversible. Enter your password. Check Yes, I Fully Understand. Click Delete My Account.

Its gone forever once you do.
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The debate raging in France is being closely watched on the other side of the Mediterranean. French President Emmanuel Macron announced last Wednesday that he wishes to integrate anti-Zionism - in the sense of denying Israel's right to exist - into the legal definition of anti-Semitism. Macron considers that "anti-Zionism is one of the modern forms of anti-Semitism", and anti-Semitic acts increased by 74% in France in 2018, compared to the previous year.

Several critical voices have pointed out that this measure could lead to inconsistencies - the most absurd being to consider some anti-Zionist Jews as anti-Semites - and to create confusion between a political ideology and a religious identity. It would also play into the hands of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for whom the two terms are inseparable, giving the impression that criticizing Israeli policy is not allowed in France , even if this is not, at all, the purpose of the iniative.

From an Arab point of view, amalgamating these two terms appears to be quite inappropriate. If anti-Zionism can sometimes, as in Europe, have anti-Semitic undertones, Zionism appears as the main cause of the rise of anti-Semitism in the Arab world, and not the other way around. The term anti-Semitism was coined in the nineteenth century to describe discrimination against Jewish populations in European societies. In addition to the somewhat simplistic argument that Arabs are themselves a Semitic people, the notion does not really make sense in the Arab context. Despite special status laws preventing them, like Christians, from accessing high ranking political and administrative positions under the Ottomans, Jews were well integrated in Arab societies and did not suffer persecution comparable to the pogroms of Europe.

"The Jewish community knew a moment of glory and power in the Ottoman era, especially when Jews expelled from Spain arrived massively, notes Henry Laurens, professor and Chair in Contemporary History of the Arab World at the College de France, interviewed by L'Orient-Le Jour (OLJ). "Before the Balfour Declaration and all its consequences, Jews were a community among others in the Arab world, which, since the Ottoman era in particular, was organized on a sectarian basis, Gilbert Achcar, professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS, University of London), and author of Arabs and the Shoah: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives (2013).





Gradual deterioration

The propagation of Zionist theses developed by the Austrian thinker Theodor Herzl gradually changed the situation until the creation of Israel in 1948, a turning point and a real shock for the Arab populations. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the local population did not really distinguish between Jews and Zionists, not being fully familiar with the latter term at the time. "The inhabitants of historic Palestine used to refer to Jews as Jews. Some were Zionists, but many were not. They were mostly religious Jews and a-Zionists or anti-Zionists, Tarek Mitri, former minister and Director of the Issam Fares Institute of Political Studies (AUB), told OLJ.

"The Arabs first learned about Zionism indirectly, by reading the European press. In Palestine, the first reactions were not necessarily negative, but things changed after the Balfour Declaration. From then on, Zionism began to be perceived as a danger for the Palestinians on the one hand, and for Arabs in the Middle East on the other. This led to a gradual deterioration of the situation for Jewish communities in the Middle East, starting in the 1930s, said Laurens.

Relationships became more complicated as Jewish immigration accelerated due to repression in Europe.

"Whenever those notions came up, there was a clear distinction between Jews and Zionist movements. What Arabs worried most about, concretely, was seeing a community gaining a territory, and becoming a nation, Laurens notes. In the 1930s and 1940s, European history collided with Near East history, even more brutally so after the Holocaust and in the lead up to the creation of the Hebrew state. During this period, the great Mufti of Jerusalem Hajj Amine al-Husseini  whose views were, however, not representative of the Palestinians - collaborated with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, initially to thwart British plans of establishing a Jewish home, but even going as far as approving Hitlers genocidal policy against the Jews, according to some historians. This episode was largely exploited by Israeli propaganda to demonstrate a so-called Arab anti-Semitism, to the point that Benjamin Netanyahu even went so far as to present the Mufti as the instigator of the Final Solution.





Conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial

The creation of a Jewish state profoundly modified the relationship between Jews and other communities in the Arab world. If, for Zionists, the birth of a Jewish state was, before anything else, the result of a collective will that lasted several decades, Arabs saw it as an injustice linked to a genocide for which they were in no way responsible. Jews in the Arab world did not welcome the birth of Israel very warmly at first. "The Jewish communities in the Arab world, especially in Egypt and Iraq, were not really tempted at first by migration to Palestine. But two factors encouraged this movement. First, the Israeli policy that did everything to attract them, to the point that the Mossad organized attacks against synagogues to scare them. Second, a feeling of mistrust was born among Arabs, and the Jews could be perceived as a sort of 5th column, according to Tarek Mitri.

After David Ben Gurion proclaimed Israels independence, anti-Zionism became prevalent in the Arab world. Zionism largely appeared as a colonial project endorsed by the Western powers to dispossess the Arabs of their lands. The distinction between Jews and Zionists became very clear in political speeches. "In their speeches, Nasser or Arafat did not confuse the two, it was quite the opposite. When he started to rise to power, Arafat's political project was to establish a secular and democratic debate in Palestine where Jews, Christians and Muslims would coexist, Tarek Mitri explains.

The Arabs' double sense of injustice and humiliation regarding the Jewish state, however, was the driving force behind the anti-Semitism that spread among the Arab working classes - where the term Jew is still sometimes used as an insult - and was widely relayed by Islamist movements. This is especially visible through the propagation of two closely linked phenomena: conspiracy theory and Holocaust denial.

"The conspiracy theories that are present in Western anti-Semitism are popular in the Arab world, because it is in fact a region that has experienced real plots and schemes, starting with the famous Sykes-Picot agreement, says Gilbert Achcar. The conspiracy theories within the fraudulent Protocols of the Elders of Zion, attributing plans of world domination to the Jews, are widely spread in the Arab world. "Among Islamists, there was a moment when they revived an old para-religious literature that ridicules and degrades Jews. They use from the sacred texts what is likely to arouse suspicion or even hatred towards Jews, Tarek Mitri notes.

Denying that the Holocaust even occurred also appeals to some, although a minority. In an article published in 1998 in Le Monde Diplomatique, the eminent Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said resented the fact that "the theory that the Holocaust is only a fabrication of Zionists circulates here and there. Why do we expect the whole world to become aware of our sufferings as Arabs if we are not able to become aware of those of others, even if they are our oppressors? "Most people who have a little culture know that the Holocaust is not an invention, but a certain negationism is popular among narrow-minded people, whether ultranationalists or fundamentalists, says Gilbert Achcar.

Gilbert Achcar, however, insists that there is no anti-Semitism specific to the Arab world, but that the dissemination of anti-Semitic views in this region is not comparable to what is happening in the West. "The whole equation between the Western world and the Arab world is completely skewed by the fact that Jews were oppressed for centuries in Europe, while in the Arab world, this hatred towards Jews is mainly the product of a modern history marked by the presence of an oppressive State, which calls itself a Jewish State", summarized Gilbert Achcar. "There was a resolution of the UN General Assembly in 1975 that said that Zionism was a form of racism and discrimination. It was revoked in 1991, but it sparked great enthusiasm in the Arab world, Tarek Mitri concludes, insisting on the need to distinguish between the two notions in the Arab world.

(This article was originally published in L'Orient-Le Jour on the 23rd of February)




According to Matassas 18-page plea agreement, preliminary sentencing calculations call for him to be given 15 to 21 months in prison, but Kennelly will make the final decision. Matassa must also pay a total of $66,500 in restitution to the union and Social Security Administration, according to the agreement.
One big example is that, under the proposed rule changes, the students representatives would be able to cross-examine each other during disciplinary hearings. The current policy at several schools is for each party to submit questions in writing instead of allowing students to directly confront each other. Ball, of Southern Illinois, said this method had been effective in gathering facts without risking additional trauma to students involved.
Lockport, NY (14094)

Today

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 87F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early followed by mostly cloudy skies and a few showers later at night. Low 69F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
Tom Reel /San Antonio Express-News

State Sen. Donna Campbell is touting her latest piece of legislation, supposedly aimed at tightening restrictions on aggregate production operations (e.g., quarries, cement batch plants, etc.) Careful reading suggests Senate Bill 694 is nothing more than an attempt to not alienate the industry.

SB 694 states that inspections of quarries by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to monitor air and water quality may be conducted every two years and allows for unannounced inspections of operators previously cited for noncompliance.
Texas lawmakers are considering a recommendation from the Texas Commission on Public School Finance to pay for adding up to 30 school days to the 180-day school year. Lawmakers and the public should first consider the trade-offs of such an investment.

It is true that increasing the school year can positively impact student achievement. For example, extending the school year can curb summer learning loss, the backward slides students have over the summer if they are not exposed to stimulating activities. Researchers have found higher-income families are able to invest more time and financial resources in their childrens education over the summer, which in turn disadvantages lower-income students who can regress or not progress at the same rate over the summer. An extended school year can also increase feelings of school-connectedness and belonging, two factors that have been found to reduce the likelihood of adolescents engaging in delinquent behaviors.

But lawmakers must also consider other investments that need to be made since the amount of money the state can provide will always have a limit. Specifically, the Legislature needs to consider what economists call opportunity costs, the loss of potential gain from funding other key education-related priorities.

First, the state needs to pay close attention to funding inequities between high-poverty districts and low-poverty districts. A recent study on Texas school finance found that high-poverty districts received 5.5 percent less funding than low-poverty districts in other states. This means high-poverty districts often have lower teacher salaries and fewer teachers per student than wealthier districts.

Second, the state needs to invest in special education. In 2018, the Texas Education Agency was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Education for failing to comply with the nations special education law, which contributed to the delay or denial of special education to eligible students with disabilities. Funding is necessary to ensure all educators receive appropriate professional development to adhere to federal laws and implement research-based practices that support success for students with disabilities.

Third, the state must invest in student mental health. One thing Texas lawmakers can do is provide the resources to require that each school in the state employ at least one school counselor and is in compliance with the American School Counselor Associations recommendation for at least one counselor for every 250 students. Right now, some entire school districts dont have counselors, and even when schools have counselors, they are often overburdened with noncounseling duties.

Fourth, we need to pay our teachers more. According to a 2017-18 estimate from the National Education Association, the average teacher salary in Texas is $53,167, which is more than $7,000 less than the national average of $60,483. Closing this gap is important, but it is also important that the state consider that teachers must be incentivized to work in schools with the highest proportion of struggling students.

Fifth, and perhaps most important, the state needs to invest less in systems of accountability and more in developing a talent pipeline of teachers, principals and counselors. Educators need to be well-prepared and professionally supported throughout their careers. This includes investments in teacher and leader preparation programs as well as additional funding for in-service professional development.

These pressing concerns need to be considered as the Legislature contemplates investing in an extended school year. Although extending the school year may provide a degree of benefits, it means the state will have fewer resources to address other long-standing school finance issues. Texas has the financial resources to create the finest education system in the nation, but significant and sustainable investments must be made in public education. To do so, lawmakers and their constituents must ask: Do we want to extend a school year without fixing the long-standing issues within Texas schools?

Simply put, extending the school year alone fails to address root problems that currently curtail the potential of Texas schools and students.

David DeMatthews is the director of the Texas Principal Leadership Academy and an associate professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Texas at Austin.
Look at the people out here, look at the tents, Nelson said. This is the best some can do for right now. Its not what they want to do. Who wakes up and says, Hey, Im going to go live on the side of the Dan Ryan? Nobody! Nobody.
UPDATE: The woman yelling in the video, whose name remains unknown, has been fired from her teaching job at The Awty International School.

Here are two excerpts from the west Houston private school's statement to parents and staff, which was emailed to Chron.com.

"While the video only captures a portion of the exchange and we do not have all of the facts, it is clear that the teacher's words and behaviors are counter to our school's values.

While the language and behavior is clearly inappropriate, it is important for me to share with you that we had not previously observed any conduct even remotely similar to that depicted on the recording.

Nonetheless, as a result of this behavior, the teacher's employment at the school has been terminated, effective immediately."

A Westchase neighborhood Kroger was the site of a racially-charged verbal assault on Sunday.

Mai Mohamed, who lives near the store, said she was standing by the water jugs outside the store (located at 9919 Westheimer Road near the Sam Houston Tollway), when she claims another customer began verbally attacking her.

Earlier this week, Mohamed told Chron.com that she walked back to her car to collect her phone and returned to the scene. The unidentified woman also returned, and is seen on the video directing a string of expletive-laden insults at Mohamed. She said that she did not know what triggered the verbal attack.

In addition the obscenities, the woman can be heard telling Mohamed to "go back to your country."

"I felt hate when she looked at me. I don't know why," Mohamed told Chron.com.

Mohamed said she returned to the store to speak with the manager about filing a complaint about the incident.

Seydou Oued lives a less than a block away from the store. He said he was at Kroger that day, and told Chron.com that he witnessed the incident seen in Mohamed's video.

He also confirmed that she went to speak with the store manager about the incident, and the possibility of filing a complaint.

Sparkle Anderson, a Kroger corporate affairs manager, said that the incident was disrupting other customers and that the store manager was trying to work with those two customers to resolve it.

She also said that the company does not know what caused the incident.

Arsalan Safiullah, a civil rights attorney for the Houston office of the Council of American-Islamic relations, is advising Mohamed.

He told Chron.com that Mohamed has not yet filed a formal complaint to Kroger.

However, he did say that she is currently in the process of exploring potential legal options.

*Safiullah also said that the Houston branch of the Council of American-Islamic Relations is asking members of the local community and nearby areas to come forth and report if they've experienced similar instances of prejudiced behavior.*

Mohamed said she is a Muslim woman who was born Egypt. After obtaining a green card, she immigrated to the Houston area in Feb. of 2017.

RELATED: Kroger to give grants for innovative ideas on preventing food waste

Peter Dawson is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | Peter.Dawson@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.
Harris County Sheriff's Office

A 27-year-old Houston man is accused of severely beating his 2-week-old son, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators said the young boy was rushed to Texas Children's Hospital in Katy on Monday after his father, Luis Angel Pacheco, called 911. He told detectives that he accidentally dropped the boy on a concrete floor earlier that day at their home in the 16600 block of Gaeldom Drive.
WASHINGTON - Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., announced Monday that she will not participate in a high-dollar fundraising program during her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, staking out a position that differentiates her from most other contenders in the field.

"Candidates spend too much time with wealthy donors, and I've made a decision to change that," Warren wrote as the subject line in an email that went out to her supporters Monday morning explaining the decision.

"That means no fancy receptions or big money fundraisers only with people who can write the big checks," Warren wrote. "It means that wealthy donors won't be able to purchase better seats or one-on-one time with me at our events."

Eschewing traditional fundraising during the primary race will provide Warren with a potentially potent talking point on the stump, bolster her self-definition as a fighter for the working class and free up a significant amount of time in early states to organize and meet voters.

But it comes at a risk: Warren has acknowledged in her fundraising emails that she hasn't achieved her online targets, a problem confirmed by a person familiar with her campaign's finances. Closing the door to high-dollar events will put even more pressure on her to come up with smaller contributions.

An aide to Warren's campaign said the decision will cost the senator "millions" of dollars she could otherwise have raised.

The move will also provide Warren's camp with a ready-made excuse if her first-quarter fundraising totals are lower than expected. Those figures are released in mid-April and are traditionally seen as an early gauge of a candidate's strength.

In her 2018 Senate race, Warren did not rely heavily on big donors, defined as those who gave the maximum allowed per election of $2,700. About 220 donors wrote Warren at least one check for $2,700, according to an analysis by The Washington Post. About 80 donors, including actor Ben Affleck, who was raised in Massachusetts, wrote her two checks for this amount, providing the maximum for the primary and the general elections.

The federal limits have been raised slightly for the 2020 election cycle, and candidates can raise $2,800 per person for their primary campaigns.

According to the rules she set out Monday, Warren will still accept checks of this size, but she will not hold the private dinners and events typically associated with big contributions. Her top staffers will still call big donors, but they will be barred from offering access to the senator as part of the pitch, according to a Warren aide.

Warren will try to make up for the lack of traditional fundraisers by adjusting her stump speech to make a direct request for supporters to donate via her website, according to an aide.

The senator has not held any private fundraisers since she announced her presidential campaign, according to Warren aides. But she did hold high-dollar events during her 2018 Senate reelection effort, and the money raised was part of the $11 million she transferred to her presidential campaign.

And she has appeared at money events for other groups. Last Friday, she was the main speaker at a fundraising dinner for the New Hampshire Democratic Party. The state party said it raised about $400,000.

Warren already had said that she would not accept money from lobbyists and political action committees, and would not sanction a super PAC to operate on her behalf.

The only other top contender in a position to entirely fund a campaign via smaller donations is Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. He reported raising $6 million in the 24 hours after announcing his presidential bid - an average of $27 per donor.

Sanders held several high-dollar fundraisers during his 2016 presidential campaign.

Warren's decision sets her apart from other Democratic candidates, including Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Kamala Harris of California. Harris initially defended taking donations from corporate PACs and corporate lobbyists, but later reversed herself to say she wouldn't accept such money.

Neither Harris's nor Sanders's campaign responded to a request for comment on Warren's move.

Harris has held high-dollar fundraisers since entering the race, including an event in Warren's home territory of Boston, first reported by the Boston Globe. It drew several past Warren donors.

- - -

Anu Narayanswamy contributed to this report.
Washington

Redefining success, President Donald Trump headed to his second meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un on Monday, determined to tamp down expectations that he'll achieve big strides toward denuclearization. Yet he was still eager to claim an attention-grabbing victory to offset the political turmoil he faces at home.

Trump is set to land in Vietnam late Tuesday and will have meetings with the host country's president and prime minister the next day before the president and Kim greet one another and sit down Wednesday for a private dinner.

Trump will be joined at the dinner by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, the White House said Monday. Kim also will have two aides with him, and there will be translators for both sides. Trump and Kim, who is traveling to the summit by train and car, will have a series of official meetings Thursday.

Trump laid out ultimate goals for both the U.S. and Kim in an appearance before the nation's governors Monday before boarding Air Force One to fly to Vietnam: "We want denuclearization, and I think he'll have a country that will set a lot of records for speed in terms of an economy."

Worries abound across world capitals about what Trump might be willing to give up in the name of a win, but there seems less mystery about his North Korean counterpart. Survival of the Kim regime is always the primary concern.

Trump was the driving force behind this week's summit, aiming to recreate the global spectacle of his first meeting with Kim last year. But that initial summit in Singapore yielded few concrete results, and the months that followed have produced little optimism about what will be achieved in the sequel.

Trump is publicly unconcerned.

He once warned that North Korea's arsenal posed such a threat to humanity that he might have no choice but to rain "fire and fury" on the nation. However, in the lead-up to the new summit, he's proclaimed himself in no hurry for Pyongyang to prove it is abandoning its weapons.

"I'm not in a rush. I don't want to rush anybody, I just don't want testing. As long as there's no testing, we're happy," Trump told the governors on Sunday.

In fact, he is ready to write himself into the history books before he and Kim even shake hands in Hanoi.

"If I were not elected president, you would have been in a war with North Korea," Trump said last week. "We now have a situation where the relationships are good  where there has been no nuclear testing, no missiles, no rockets."

While Trump was airborne, Kim's armored train was on the move in China, bound toward Vietnam's capital. Vietnamese officials promised security at "the maximum level." Reporters from 40 nations were expected to transmit the story to the world.

Kim inherited a nascent nuclear program from his father, and after years of accelerated effort and fighting through crippling sanctions, he built an arsenal that demonstrated the potential to rocket a thermonuclear weapon to the mainland United States. That is the fundamental reason Washington now sits at the negotiating table.

Kim, his world standing elevated after receiving an audience with a U.S. president, has yet to show a convincing sign that he is willing to deal away an arsenal that might provide a stronger guarantee of survival than whatever security assurance the United States could provide. The North Koreans have largely eschewed staff-level talks, pushing for discussions between Trump and Kim.
PALM BEACH, Florida -- While most attention has been focused on immigrants trying to enter the United States over America's southern border, there is legal migration taking place that has been largely ignored, though it may have at least as much economic and political impact as the other.

People are moving out of high-tax states to Florida and other states with lower tax burdens.

Florida's new governor, Ron DeSantis , mentioned the movement in a speech to the Club for Growth, which describes itself as "a national network of over 250,000 pro-growth, limited government Americans who share in the belief that prosperity and opportunity come from economic freedom."

DeSantis says New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has accused him of stealing residents from his state. "I'm not stealing anybody," said DeSantis, "they are driving people away."

The data back him up. Chris Edwards of the Foundation for Economic Freedom, the first free-market organization in the United States, produced a research document for the Cato Institute that shows "of the 25 highest-tax states, 24 of them had net out-migration in 2016." One of them is Florida where "145 households moved in for every 100 that left."

DeSantis says this influx has fueled economic growth of the state, leading to a $1.4 billion revenue surplus.

Economist Richard Rahn has created a chart that includes a comparison between the tax rates of New York and Florida. He writes that while New York imposes high taxes and conveys an anti-business attitude (the recent debacle with New York City losing a headquarters for Amazon is just the latest example), "Florida imposes no state and local income taxes in addition to the federal income tax -- yet Florida is booming, with a budget surplus, while New York is mired in debt. Only 50 years ago, New York had four times the population of Florida, and now Florida is larger than New York."

The sound economic state of Florida is not the only subject DeSantis is touting. He won applause from the dinner crowd when he mentioned his executive orders suspending Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher and Dr. Brenda Snipes, Broward County supervisor of elections. Republicans have accused these two of manipulating votes, causing confusion and chaos over vote counting that dates back to Bush-Gore in 2000.

DeSantis has other victories in his short time in office. He has named three conservatives to the state Supreme Court, transforming it from a liberal to a solid conservative majority. He has also announced plans to sign an executive order scrapping the "common core" public school curriculum, replacing it with a "strong American civics" course.

As a new Florida resident, what amazes me is why high-tax states don't get it? The facts are there for anyone to see, except for those who deliberately refuse to see them. And that's the problem. In the case of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California and other Democrat-run states, ideology appears to have eclipsed reality.

If Governor Cuomo thinks DeSantis is stealing residents from New York, maybe he should consider whether his policy of "stealing" taxpayer earnings and demanding that residents pay even more, isn't the real reason for the exodus.

It is not a difficult question to answer. In addition to the economic benefits associated with living in Florida, the weather is a lot nicer, if you discount the occasional hurricane. While people were freezing up North during the recent polar vortex, the sunny temperatures in South Florida ranged from the 70s to the low 80s.

So, keep coming New Yorkers, and others from high-tax states. Down here, the policy seems to be that if you can earn it, you get to keep more of it. That is the best prescription for economic growth and personal satisfaction.

(This year marks Cal Thomas' 35th year as a syndicated columnist. Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com.

(c) 2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
NEW DELHI - Pakistan said Tuesday that India launched a limited airstrike in Pakistani territory, an apparent act of retaliation for a terrorist attack that killed 40 Indian soldiers this month.

According to Pakistan's military spokesperson, the Indian fighter jets crossed the line that divides much of Kashmir between India and Pakistan, a boundary that neither country considers an international border.
Mark Harris, the Republican nominee in a North Carolina congressional race that was tainted by ballot fraud, announced Tuesday that he will not run in the new election for the seat.

Harris said in a statement that he has decided not to seek the state's 9th District seat due to health problems.

"Given my health situation, the need to regain full strength, and the timing of this surgery the last week of March, I have decided not to file in the new election for Congressional District 9," Harris said.

Harris has been recovering from a serious infection that had led to sepsis and two strokes.

He threw his support behind Union County Commissioner Stony Rushing, whose record Harris said has "proven him to stand firm on so many of the issues that concern us, including the issue of life, our national security, and religious freedom."

North Carolina election officials last week ordered a new contest in the 9th District, ending a dramatic months-long investigation focused on irregularities with mail-in ballots.

The board voted unanimously to throw out the November results between Harris and Democrat Dan McCready.

Harris, an evangelical minister from Charlotte, had led by 905 votes in unofficial returns.

His decision not to run follows four days of hearings last week revealing voluminous evidence that a political operative had led an illegal scheme to tamper with absentee ballots on behalf of Harris's congressional campaign last year.

Evidence also surfaced that Harris had structured his campaign so that he wasn't paying the operative, Leslie McCrae Dowless, directly and to avoid public disclosure of those payments.

Through most of the hearing, Harris claimed no knowledge of Dowless' methods and said there had been no red flags.

That changed last Thursday, after Harris falsely characterized a conversation with his son, Matthew, about whether emails in which he suggested that Dowless' tactics were questionable and was warned by another son, John, not to hire him, would become public.

Facing potential perjury charges for that testimony - and days of potentially damaging cross-examination about his own role in the ballot scheme - Harris abruptly called for a new election and declared that ballot fraud had sufficiently tainted the outcome in November to warrant a new election.

McCready began a new campaign for the seat on Friday.

Another Republican, former North Carolina governor Pat McCrory, ruled out running for the seat on Monday.

After hinting on Twitter over the weekend that he might enter the race, McCrory said on his radio show that he would look at running again for governor or for a U.S. Senate seat in 2022 instead.

"My fire in the belly is teaching and being a radio host and keeping the option open of running for governor or senator," he said on WBT Radio.

If Harris had decided to run again, he would have faced a bruising GOP primary.

Usually under North Carolina election law, a new election is ordered as a rematch of the contest that was tainted - in this case, the November election between Harris and McCready. But in December, sensing Harris's political and legal vulnerability, the Republican-controlled North Carolina legislature passed a law requiring a primary if a new election were called in the 9th District.

McCready has at least one advantage over Republican contenders: He is less likely to have to endure a tough primary, and will be able to spend the spring raising money and organizing for the fall election instead.

However, his chances in the general election are uncertain given the 9th District's traditional Republican lean and the question of whether turnout in an off-cycle election will match the enthusiasm that gave a big advantage to McCready and Democratic candidates across the country last year.

The general election is likely to be scheduled for October.

In a statement Tuesday, North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Robin Hayes expressed support for Harris's decision.

"The most important thing for him to address is his health," Hayes said of Harris. "This has been a grueling process for all involved, and we unequivocally support his call for a new election. There are numerous quality candidates that are discussing a run and although the party will not be involved in a primary, we have no doubt that a competitive nominee will emerge."

- - -

The Washington Post's John Wagner contributed to this report.
Journalist Jorge Ramos and his Univision team were detained at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's palace in Caracas on Monday, reportedly because Maduro didn't like the questions the reporters were asking him during an interview.

The group was freed shortly after, said Daniel Coronell, Univision's president for news in the United States. Coronell said the Venezuelan government officials confiscated the journalists' equipment.

Ramos, in a phone interview with Univision after he was released, said the interview with Maduro lasted about 17 minutes.

"He didn't like the things we were asking him about the lack of democracy in Venezuela, about torture, political prisoners, the humanitarian crisis that they were living," he said.

But the breaking point came, Ramos said, after he showed Maduro a video of people eating from a garbage truck.

"Immediately after, one of his ministers, Jorge Rodriguez, came to tell us that the interview was not authorized," Ramos said.

All their equipment was confiscated, including their cameras and cellphones, Ramos added. He said he was then using a phone that was not his. He and his team were questioned for more than two hours, he said.

Ramos said the interview they recorded was also taken. "The interview, they have it," he said.

Another Univision reporter, Enrique Acevedo, later tweeted out the video he said Ramos showed Maduro.

"These are the images that Jorge Ramos showed to Nicolas Maduro and provoked him to get up from the interview," Acevedo wrote in Spanish. "This is what Maduro doesn't want the world to see."

On Monday evening, Kimberly Breier, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for the region, said on Twitter that the State Department had received word that Maduro was holding Ramos and his team against their will.

"We insist on their immediate release; the world is watching," she said.

An hour after Breier's announcement, the Univision News Twitter account posted a picture of Ramos, after his release, on the phone at his hotel.

"Happy to report @jorgeramosnews and the @Univision team have been released," the post read.

But Venezuelan Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez criticized the group from Univision, writing in a tweet that hundreds of journalists who have visited the presidential palace were treated well.

"We do not offer ourselves to cheap shows," he said.

In another tweet, Rodriguez seemed to accuse the State Department of ginning up controversy.

Responding to Rodriguez, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., compared the Venezuelan official to "Baghdad Bob," the spokesperson for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The response from other U.S. politicians, many of whom have been fiercely critical of Maduro's government and supportive of his challenger, Juan Guaido, was swift.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said Maduro "is losing his grip. Detaining reporters is unacceptable. He should think carefully about his next steps and release them now!"

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., called Ramos "a living legend, truth-teller and democracy fighter" and said his detention was "DESPICABLE and will not stand."

While the administration voiced its support for Ramos in the tangle with Maduro, the Univision anchor has sparred with Donald Trump in the past.

In August 2015, Ramos interrupted then-candidate Trump during a news conference in Iowa, The Washington Post reported at the time.

"I'm a reporter, an immigrant, a senior citizen," Ramos said, hoping to ask a question about Trump's immigration policies. "I have the right to ask a question."

"Go back to Univision," Trump replied, before ordering a bodyguard to remove Ramos from the room.

After protests from other reporters in the room, Trump allowed Ramos to return, but their back-and-forth escalated until Trump reminded Ramos that he was, at the time, suing Univision for an alleged breach of contract involving Trump's Miss Universe pageant. The Post reported that the network canceled plans to broadcast the pageant because of Trump's incendiary comments about Mexican immigrants.

"How much am I suing Univision for right now?" Trump asked. "Do you know the number? I know you're part of the lawsuit."

"I'm a reporter," Ramos said.
HANOI, Vietnam - Ten hours apart, on very different modes of transportation, President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived to separate red-carpet receptions in Vietnam's capital city Tuesday, ahead of their two-day nuclear summit.

Trump touched down just before 9 p.m. aboard Air Force One, the high-tech symbol of presidential power that made a three-flight journey, including two refueling stops, over more than 20 hours from Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington.

Dressed in a blue tie and dark suit, Trump was greeted on the tarmac by a phalanx of Vietnamese government officials and Daniel Kritenbrink, the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam, as well as two columns of Vietnamese military aides in white uniforms. After shaking hands with the dignitaries, Trump entered his presidential parade limousine for the trip into the city.

On his way to the J.W. Marriott, where he will stay for two nights, Trump's motorcade passed thousands of onlookers, many recording the moment on their cellphones. People waved and some held flower bouquets or Vietnamese flags, featuring a gold star on a red background.

In a tweet, Trump said Vietnam is "thriving like few places on earth," and he encouraged his "friend" Kim to follow a similar path. "North Korea would be the same, and very quickly, if it would denuclearize," he tweeted. "The potential is AWESOME, a great opportunity, like almost none other in history, for my friend Kim Jong Un."

That morning, Kim arrived arrived at the Dong Dang train station at Vietnam's border with China after a 65-hour, 2,500-mile train journey from Pyongyang. Kim, wearing a dark Mao-style suit, disembarked from his personal armored train at 8:22 a.m. under cold, drizzly skies.

He was greeted by Vietnamese officials, chatting briefly and smiling. He was handed a bouquet of flowers and shook hands with a long line of officials and military officers before walking past an honor guard dressed in white uniforms and black boots. Outside the station, he smiled and waved at a crowd of people carrying Vietnamese and North Korean flags.

Kim then got into his personal Mercedes limousine. The car was surrounded by 12 bodyguards, who jogged alongside it briefly before it picked up speed for the final 100 miles to Hanoi.

The different arrivals symbolized the wide gulf between the world's leading economic power and a long-reclusive regime that has clung to power inside the Northeast Asian nation behind an arsenal of powerful nuclear bombs that have intimidated its neighbors and unsettled geopolitics. The second summit between Trump and Kim, following their initial meeting in Singapore in June, is being closely watched across the world over whether the two sides can make significant progress toward a detailed agreement to blunt the North's nuclear threat and, perhaps, deliver some economic relief for the impoverished nation amid a web of international sanctions.

Kim Jong Un's younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, was also seen getting off the train. Already there to greet the North Korean leader were Kim Hyok Chol, who is the recently appointed counterpart of U.S. North Korea envoy Stephen Biegun, and Kim Chang Son, who is Kim Jong Un's de facto chief of staff.

Dong Dang station had been cordoned off since Monday, with soldiers and police positioned outside. The entire road from the border town to the capital was closed from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time Tuesday.

Kim flew to his last summit meeting with Trump in Singapore, but North Korean leaders have preferred to stay grounded if at all possible. Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, was rumored to have a fear of flying.

Featuring heavy armor and bulletproof, tinted windows, the train is believed to travel at an average speed of about 35 miles per hour. A South Korean media report based on intelligence reports and defectors' accounts said it contains conference rooms, an audience chamber, an office with TV screens and satellite phones, and bedrooms. Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported it also carries a small helicopter in case of emergencies.

Kim's summit with Trump is scheduled to begin with a private dinner Wednesday evening, the White House announced, followed by a series of official meetings Thursday. Trump will be joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney for the dinner. Kim will also have two aides present, and both men will have interpreters.

South Korea's state-run Yonhap news agency said the Hanoi Opera House is a possible venue for the dinner, after it was visited by chief of staff Kim Chang Son and U.S. officials last week.

Trump will meet Vietnam's president and prime minister on Wednesday before his dinner with Kim.

Just before 11 a.m., Kim's motorcade, numbering dozens of vehicles, including two armored tactical vehicles with machine guns mounted on top, sped past a few hundred onlookers and nearly as many reporters along Pho Ly Thuong, a boulevard in the center of Hanoi that was cordoned off by police. Some Vietnamese waved American, North Korean and Vietnamese flags as the motorcade pulled up to the Melia, a hotel where Kim and his entourage are staying. His bodyguards could be seen sprinting into place in front of the main entrance for Kim's arrival.

The Melia also is housing some of the traveling White House press corps, mostly television news correspondents from the major networks, who have traveled here to cover the summit - an awkward coincidence for an authoritarian ruler who is used to tightly controlled state media in North Korea.

Shortly after Kim's arrival, the press was ordered to move its filing center to an alternative site - a sign of the North's demands for tight control over security.

The Melia is a Spanish-owned hotel that has hosted leaders including former Cuban president Raul Castro, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and former U.S. defense secretary Jim Mattis.

On Tuesday afternoon, Kim visited the North Korean embassy in Hanoi, just a few minutes drive from his hotel. There, he is likely to be briefed by his chief negotiator Kim Hyok Chol, who has been meeting Biegun in Hanoi in recent days.

Kim's schedule in Vietnam has not been publicly announced. Diplomats based in Hanoi said Kim might visit the major port city of Haiphong and the nearby picturesque tourist site of Ha Long Bay, where limestone karsts rise out of emerald seas. But a rumored trip to a factory operated by South Korean electronics giant Samsung north of Hanoi now appears unlikely, one official said.

Kim is thought to be keen to develop North Korea's economy, especially by promoting tourism and attracting foreign investment into special economic zones.

The U.S. and South Korean governments also want to encourage him to follow Vietnam's path from socialism to free-market reform, and his side trips could encourage the notion that he might indeed want to move North Korea away from state socialism and self-reliance.

But many experts say there is no sign he has any intention of relaxing his state's vice-like grip on its people or allowing foreign influence to spread. Vietnam's incredible opening to the world undertaken over the past three decades is unlikely to be a path for North Korea to follow.

North Korea state media showed a video of Kim's departure from Pyongyang on Saturday, with a platform clock showing 1627 (4:27 p.m.) as he strolled down a long red carpet dressed in a long black overcoat, past an armed guard.

He was seen waving to a small crowd of clapping and cheering people ecstatically waving pink plastic flowers. A line of officials was then seen walking down the platform, also clapping.

Video footage showed Kim having a pre-dawn smoke at a train station in China hours before his arrival in Hanoi. The footage from Japan's TBS-JNN showed Kim pacing on the platform at Nanning Station, taking a drag and chatting to officials. His sister held a crystal ashtray for him to stub out a cigarette, and he later lit up again.

Hanoi's exquisite French Colonial-style Metropole hotel is a likely venue for the summit itself, diplomats said. U.S. security and logistics planners were spotted on the hotel grounds on Monday, while reporters and television cameras were gathered outside the building in the heart of the old city.

Signs of the historic tete-a-tete between Trump and Kim have not been confined to the Vietnamese capital's elite travel locales. In Hanoi's Old Quarter, shopkeepers, T-shirt makers and flag designers are making the most out of the rare meeting of two longtime adversaries with a host of commemorative swag.

For 100,000 dong ($4.30), tourists can buy a flag emblazoned with the two leaders' faces that reads "Make the World Better." One local T-shirt printer said he could not meet the demand for the Kim-Trump shirts and had to use hair dryers to speed up the production process.

A local microbrewer is now offering a specialty brew "Kim Jong Ale," a kimchi sour ale with gentle and refreshing tart notes that belied the dictator's ignominious reputation.

The rapidly developing communist country has embraced Washington in recent years as it seeks to counterbalance its long-standing but often antagonistic and sometimes hostile relationship with Beijing.

As word of a potential second summit between Kim and Trump circulated last year, Vietnamese officials quickly proposed to play host, diplomats said. The interest Vietnam's leaders have in providing a forum to reduce tensions between the two sides appears to have public support as well.

In interviews with shopkeepers along the Old Quarter's bustling streets and sidewalks, vendors expressed support for peaceful diplomatic dialogue, and one T-shirt printer said he sold more summit shirts to locals than foreigners.

Yonhap reported that Kim will stay until Saturday, citing an unnamed source.

"On his train trip back, Chairman Kim can drop by Beijing and debrief President Xi Jinping on the outcome of the second summit," said Cheong Seong-chang, an expert at South Korea's Sejong Institute. "Kim is expected to reassure Xi about his commitment to denuclearization talks and ask for military and economic support from China."

The United States' main allies in Asia, South Korea and Japan, may have to wait longer for face-to-face debriefs. Trump will fly straight back to Washington after the summit, while Pompeo will take a plane to the Philippines.

- - -

The Washington Post's Min Joo Kim contributed to this report.
Tehran, Iran

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif resigned without warning late Monday, offering an "apology" to the nation as the nuclear deal he negotiated with world powers is on the verge of collapse after the U.S. withdrawal from the accord.

Zarif's resignation, if accepted by Iran's relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani, would leave the cleric without one of his main allies in pushing the Islamic Republic toward further negotiations with the West. There was no immediate reaction from the U.S.

It remains unclear why Zarif chose to leave his post now and what effect it will have on the atomic accord, with which Iran has been complying. He likely briefed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei before offering his resignation.

Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, previously backed the American-educated envoy through the nuclear negotiations.

The veteran diplomat first hinted at his resignation with a vague Instagram post in which he offered an "apology" for his "inability to continue to his service." The post included a drawing honoring Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, as Iranians commemorate her birth Tuesday.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, confirmed to the state-run IRNA news agency minutes later that Zarif had resigned but gave no reason for his departure.

Earlier Monday, Zarif met with members of the activist group Code Pink in Tehran, smiling as he posed for a photograph with them.

However, he was not seen in images later in the day showing Syrian President Bashar Assad meeting with Khamenei and Rouhani.

Iran has been one of Assad's main supporters during the years-long war in Syria.

On Sunday, Zarif criticized Iranian hard-liners in a speech in Tehran, saying: "We cannot hide behind imperialism's plot and blame them for our own incapability."

"Independence does not mean isolation from the world," he said.

Analysts say Rouhani faces growing political pressure from hard-liners within the government as the nuclear deal unravels.
Rose Torphy is 103 years old. On a recent visit to the Grand Canyon, she became so enamored with her centennial counterpart that she was sworn in as a Junior Ranger. The program is set up as an educational tool for people, often students, who learn about the park and promise to be a spokesperson for the parks assets and protect it for years to come.
Several Democratic presidential candidates are embracing reparations for the descendants of slaves  but not in the traditional sense.

Over the past week, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro spoke of the need for the U.S. government to reckon with and make up for centuries of stolen labor and legal oppression. But instead of backing the direct compensation of African-Americans for the legacy of slavery, the Democratic candidates are talking about using tax credits and other subsidies.

Long defined as some type of direct payment to former slaves and their descendants, the shifting definition of reparations comes as White House hopefuls seek to solidify their ties with African-Americans whose support will be crucial to winning the Democratic nomination. But it risks prompting both withering criticism from Republicans and a shrug from black voters and activists if the proposals are seen as an empty gesture that simply renames existing policy ideas as reparations.

"Universal programs are not specific to the injustices that have been inflicted on African-Americans," said Duke University economist William Darity, a veteran advocate of reparations. "I want to be sure that whatever is proposed and potentially enacted as a reparations program really is a substantive and dramatic intervention in the patterns of racial wealth inequality in the United States  not something superficial or minor that is labeled as reparations and then politicians say the national responsibility has been met."

Montague Simmons of the Movement for Black Lives, which has pushed for reparations, said the debate is "not just cash payments."

But "unless we're talking about something that has to be systemic and transfers power to the community, it's not likely going to be what we would consider reparations," he said.

For now, that's not how most Democratic presidential contenders are talking about reparations.

Harris has proposed monthly payments to qualified citizens of any race in the form of a tax credit. Warren has called for universal child care that would guarantee the benefit from birth until a child enters school. Families with income less than 200 percent of the poverty line would get free access and others would pay no more than 7 percent of their income.

Those benefits would likely have a disproportionate impact on African-Americans. But except for longshot candidate Marianne Williamson, no Democrat hopeful has called for financial remuneration for blacks.

Harris told reporters in Iowa on Sunday that "we have to all acknowledge that people have not started out on the same base and have not had equal opportunities to success."
The Texas Senate Finance Committee voted unanimously Monday on a plan to give every full-time public school teacher a $5,000 pay raise next year.

The $3.7 billion plan was promised by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who said the bill will be one of the first the entire Senate will take up this year, even as a labor group for teachers promised a rally in two weeks against it.

"Do our teachers want a pay raise? Of course they do. But they are not going to turn their backs on the team members that are crucial to making their work successful, and they're going to be pushing for a pay raise for all school employees. Expect to hear that message loudly as our members gather by the thousands for a rally on the Capitol steps in two weeks," Louis Malfaro, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers, told the Houston Chronicle.

READ ALSO: Laredo-area high schools with the best teachers, according to Niche

Rene De La Vina, president of the Laredo chapter of the Texas State Teachers Association, said a raise would appease teachers, but he hopes it will extend to support staff, such as librarians and counselors.

On March 11, members of the association and others will travel from Laredo to Austin for a teacher rally on the Texas Capitol's south steps. De La Vina said they will advocate for teacher and staff pay raises and more state funding for public education.

"If teachers get a pay raise, then there's going to be more money to give more schools more money than they have in the past," De La Vina said. "We're inviting anyone that's interested (to join us on the trip to Austin) and it'll be on a first come first serve basis."

The American Federation of Teachers will join TSTA at the rally. De La Vina said he expects to see around 5,000 to 6,000 attendees.

The bill approved by the Senate Finance Committee would require school districts to add $5,000 to full-time teachers' current paycheck.

Republican State Sen. Jane Nelson of Flowermound authored the bill.

If passed in the Senate, the House will debate it in committee. It was amended Monday to apply to charter school teachers and cover any additional state pension costs attached to the pay raises.

De La Vina said the last major reformation of the education system occurred when State Gov. Mark White in 1983-1984 approved standardized testing and teacher pay raises.

Nationally, the average teacher pulled a salary of $60,483 in 2017-18, according to the National Education Association. In Texas, that figure was $53,167, making the state 29th in the country for teacher pay.

Gov. Greg Abbott and other high-ranking lawmakers say teachers should have the chance to make more than $100,000 a year, in part so good teachers are less likely to seek promotions that would take them out of the classroom.

READ ALSO: See the best, worst graduation rates at Laredo-area high schools, academies

Some lawmakers have different ideas about how the money should be divvied out. House Democrats want to give all teachers a raise and a $500 one-time check to cover supplies they buy for their classrooms. Democrats also want the raise to reach all other school staff.

Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, proposed a $6 billion bill Friday that would give school districts enough money to fund a $5,000 raise for each teacher, although school districts could decide to use merit or other factors to decide how much each teacher should get. His proposal also gives districts additional money in per-pupil funding that the district can spend as it sees fit, such as with pay raises for school counselors or other support staff.

The Houston Chronicle contributed to this report.
The Gateway to the Americas Bridge was temporarily closed Monday afternoon due to a possible threat of a significant group of undocumented immigrants trying to enter the United States.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency's mobile field force was deployed to the area as a precaution after approximately 60 undocumented migrants attempted to enter the U.S. without inspection at the bridge.

The bridge reopened about an hour and a half after it was closed, Rick Pauza, CBP spokesperson, said.

The city estimated that about 100 pedestrians were waiting at the bridge during the closure.

The number of migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. on any given day tends to fluctuate. Sometimes dozens of them end up having to camp out for days on the international bridge.

READ ALSO: CBP allegedly finds woman with nearly $1M in cash at Juarez-Lincoln Bridge

A woman from Honduras has been with her family at the bridge for three days waiting for her chance to seek asylum in the U.S.

She said she fled from her home in San Pedro Sula because of gang violence and little job security.

"If you search online for San Pedro Sula, the first thing you'll find is the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13," she said. "And another is jobs. There, you have a job for two months then they fire you and you have to figure out how you're going to survive."

She was among the migrants who witnessed CBP officers in gear and the shutdown of the bridge.

"All of a sudden, a Mexican officer told them the caravan had arrived," she said. "Then (CBP) took security measures because of what happened in Tijuana. I think they felt the same fear over here. That's why they took those measures. But the caravan never got to (the port of entry). There was only a few people. Like 50 maximum."

She said the caravan only got to the midway point at the bridge.

"I think that most of all, it's like when you're about to reach the finish line, no? You must give your last push. I think that's what they did, but it's not like they wanted to cross (forcefully)," she said.

She said she hopes to meet with family in Washington.

CBP attributes their delayed entry into the U.S. to a backlog of processing immigrants and obtaining open beds for them in detention centers.

Another migrant, Jacqueline, said she and her 2-year-old daughter, Zoe, and her husband, Alexander, have been sitting waiting on the Mexican side of the bridge for their chance to come into the U.S. and finally feel safe.

Jacqueline said she worked in media and had a textile business with her husband. They would produce large quantities of clothes and would sell it at a market, but they were extorted by MS-13 gang members, she said.

"At gunpoint, (the gang members) hit me, my husband and my daughter was attacked as well," Jacqueline said. "We also had a client we would sell to, and they shot her in front of us in broad daylight."

They hope to meet with Jacqueline's family in California, she said.

RELATED: Department of Homeland Security plans $3B barrier along border in Webb and Zapata counties

The Nuevo Laredo municipal government said on its Facebook page that after attempting to cross into Laredo, 50 migrants decided to return to Monterrey, Mexico and 13 requested the National Migration Institute return them to their country of origin.

"Upon boarding the bus that would take them back to Monterrey, several of the migrants agreed that the vigilance exercised by the U.S. and Mexican authorities made it impossible to reach U.S. soil by force," according to the statement.

City of Laredo spokesperson Rafael Benavides said traffic wasn't impacted much by the bridge closure.

"Vehicular traffic from bridge 1 was rerouted to bridge 2," he said. "The bridge department had employees right by the outlet mall, rerouting everyone to bridge 2. That would be the same protocol if it happens again. Pedestrians going to Mexico were waiting in a queue at El Portal Center until it was clear for them to pass."
I just want the viewers to know that I am your family. I am that crazy cousin, that crazy younger brother. I am truly your family, and when you see me, I hope that you see the essence of my Southern upbringing. I hope you see the essence that I am a caring individual and that Im not only there for the competition, Steele said. Its one thing to win a competition and be very competitive, but it's another thing to be caring, giving to the other contestants to make sure theyre at their best while youre at your very best.
Denham Springs, LA (70726)

Today

Showers early then scattered thunderstorms developing later in the day. High 86F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 73F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
Nearly five years ago, the doomed Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished without a trace, with 239 people on board. The search in the Indian Ocean for the wreckage of the aircraft has been the largest and most expensive search effort in history  but it has turned up nothing.

Now, a team of researchers says Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 may have crashed thousands of miles from the search locations, based on sounds recorded in the ocean near the time the passenger jet disappeared on March 8, 2014.

In research published Jan. 29 in the open-access journal Scientific Reports, applied mathematician Usama Kadri said underwater microphones in the Indian Ocean had recorded four distinctive sound events, caused by very low-frequency acoustic-gravity waves, around the time that Flight 370 could have crashed into the sea.

His research showed that one of those sound events happened relatively close to the search area  but two others are thousands of miles away, in the northern part of the Indian Ocean, somewhere between Madagascar and the atoll of Diego Garcia in the Chagos Archipelago, Kadri told Live Science. [Flight 370: Photos of the Search for Missing Malaysian Plane]

Investigators suspect that the lost airliner crashed somewhere in the Indian Ocean, although its flight path after it disappeared from civilian and military radars, west of the Malay Peninsula, is not known.

The aircraft's captain, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, had ordered enough fuel for a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, a flight that would have lasted 7 hours and 30 minutes. But just how long the Boeing 777 jet could have stayed airborne would depend on its actual flight path, its altitude and how many of its two engines were operating.

Ocean sounds

Kadri and colleagues at the University of Cardiff in the U.K. and Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada analyzed sounds recorded by a network of underwater microphones (called hydrophones), which are maintained by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) to listen for banned nuclear tests.

The CTBTO hydrophones give directional bearings, loudness and frequencies of sounds in the ocean, from which scientists can calculate an approximate location for where those sounds originated.

But the CTBTO hydrophone network is designed to detect underwater nuclear explosions, in concert with other monitoring systems in the air and through seismological tremors in the earth  and it was thought not able to detect a crashing jet.

To learn more about the patterns of sounds made by objects crashing into the ocean surface, Kadri and his colleagues recorded the sounds caused by weighted spheres impacting tanks of water in 2017.

They found that when a massive object like an airliner crashes into the ocean, it creates a distinctive pattern of sound waves  including patterns of very low-frequency sounds known as acoustic-gravity waves (AGWs) that can be transmitted for thousands of miles through the ocean. [What's That Noise? 11 Strange and Mysterious Sounds on Earth and Beyond]

Kadri's latest research has found that the underwater speed of transmission of low-frequency AGWs, below 5 hertz, can be affected by the elasticity of the seafloor at particular locations.

That means each of the four distinctive sound events in the Indian Ocean identified by the researchers could have originated across a range of locations, but along a particular directional bearing.

Missing airliner

As well as two matching sound events recorded by the CTBTO hydrophones at Cape Leeuwin in Western Australia, the researchers found two sound events recorded by the hydrophones at Diego Garcia that could match the sounds of an airliner hitting the ocean.

Their directional bearings and timings indicated that they both occurred somewhere northwest of Madagascar  thousands of miles from the areas where searchers have looked for wreckage of the aircraft.

But the ocean is a noisy place, and Kadri said the underwater sounds might have also been caused by underwater earthquakes or volcanic eruptions, or even by meteorites or space junk falling in the ocean. [Top 10 Greatest Explosions Ever]

However, they were also valid sound signals that could have been created by the crash of Flight 370, he said.

Kadri said he recognized that the sound events near Madagascar were thousands of miles from the so-called "7th arc"  the line of possible positions of Flight 370 calculated from the aircraft's final radio signals to a tracking satellite shortly before it would have run out of fuel.

Searchers have relied on the 7th arc in their efforts to find wreckage of the missing airliner; it curves through the eastern Indian Ocean, south of the Indonesian island of Java and toward Antarctica, between 300 and 1,800 miles (500 to 3,000 km) away from the western Australian coast.

But Kadri said the positions suggested by the satellite radio data might be inaccurate, or calculated incorrectly, or otherwise misleading.

"I don't want to go into what could go wrong, but there are many things," Kadri said of the 7th-arc data. "It could be anything."

Search at sea

Kadri said that future searches for any wreckage of the airliner should start with scientific investigations of the sound events recorded in the Indian Ocean  without regard to information from other sources, such as the satellite radio data, which could create large inaccuracies.

"All the efforts that were done before, they all relied on the satellite data as given evidence  unfortunately, they found nothing," he said.

Details of the new research had been relayed to the Malaysian and Australian authorities responsible for locating the aircraft, but there are currently no plans to resume the search at sea, Kadri said.

Other experts on the search for the crash site of Flight 370 gave divided opinions about the new research.

David Griffin, an oceanographer at the Australian government's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), told Live Science that he could think of no reason why the 7th-arc satellite data should be disregarded.

Griffin also estimated that crash sites near Madagascar and Diego Garcia would result in floating debris along the East African coast within a few months  in other words, by mid-2014.

But no floating debris from the crash was found there until late 2015 and 2016, around 18 months later, he said.

However, oceanographer David Gallo, the director of special projects at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, said he was not convinced that the satellite data represented by the 7th arc gave an accurate indication of the final positions of Flight 370.

Gallo, who led the successful search for the crash location of Air France Flight 447 in 2011, said the Australian-led searches for Flight 370 had relied on the 7th-arc data because they needed to respond quickly.

But "I'm not now nor ever was a fan of the 7th arc," Gallo told Live Science in an email: "[The] plane could very well have crashed north of Madagascar."

Editor's Note: This story was updated to note that the Boeing 777 aircraft has two, not four, engines.

Originally published on Live Science.
The Australian fairy circles (seen from above) form an additional source of water in this arid region, because the rainwater flows toward the grasses on the edge.

Unusual bare circles in the grasslands of Australia and the Namib Desert called "fairy circles" aren't the work of termites, new research suggests.

Fairy circles are a long-standing mystery. Some scientists have argued that they mark termite nests or are the result of plants competing for scarce resources. Some say that a combination of termite and plant activity resulted in the odd splotches. But now, a new study suggests that the circles aren't the result of anything living. Rather, they're a result of weathering caused by heavy rainfall and evaporation.

Termites sometimes nest within fairy circles, study researcher Stephan Getzin of the University of Gottingen in Germany said in a statement. But there is no evidence that the termites are actually creating the bare patches. [In Photos: Mystical Fairy Circles Grace African Desert]

Mapping the circles

Getzin and his colleagues focused on the fairy circles in the Australian desert near the town of Newman. They used drones to visualize the circles from above and excavated samples from 48 separate fairy circles spread over 7.4 miles (12 kilometers). They compared the aerial photos of the fairy circles with bird's-eye views of known harvester termite nests.

Researchers excavate inside a fairy circle. (Image credit: Stephan Getzin)

"The vegetation gaps caused by harvester termites are only about half the size of the fairy circles and much less ordered," Getzin said.

When the team went digging in the circles, they found just a few "termitaria," or termite colonies. Those they did find were small, not the large, cemented dirt that prevents plants from growing over large areas and might cause the barren circles. What the fairy circles did contain, Getzin said, was a lot of clay and compacted soil. Most likely, he and his team concluded, the circles form in cycles of heavy rain and then evaporation under extreme desert heat. In unvegetated soil, they wrote in the open-access journal the Ecological Society of America, heavy rainfall washes fine clay into empty spaces within the soil, essentially sealing it off with a hard "crust" impervious to new plant growth.

"[N]o destructive mechanisms, such as those from termites, are necessary for the formation of distinct fairy circle patterns," Getzin said. "Hydrological plant-soil interactions along are sufficient."

Namibian mystery

In a second study published in the Journal of Arid Environments, Getzin and his colleague Hezi Yizhaq of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel used satellite imagery to study the patterns of fairy circles in Namibia. Most research on Namibian fairy circles has focused on the weirdly ordered, almost hexagonal pattern seen in fairly flat grassland conditions, they wrote. But in places where the topography is more varied or conditions are unusual, the fairy circles form different patterns. [Image Gallery: Amazing 'Fairy Circles' of the Namib Desert]

Oval-shaped mega fairy circles form a chain-like structure along a drainage line in Namibia. (Image credit: Google Earth (left), Stephan Getzin (right))

In drainage areas, for example, the researchers noticed oval fairy circles more than 98 feet (30 m) across. In extremely arid spots, they found very irregularly spaced circles. They also noted some "mega circles" more than 65 feet (20 m) in diameter. That research was just a pilot study, the researchers wrote, but it highlights questions about the plant and soil dynamics outside of the eye-catching, very regular fairy-circle patterns.

Getzin and his colleagues argue that to have fairy circles, a region must have very homogenous soil, just one or two plant species with particular growth patterns and a just-right balance of rain and evaporation. Those requirements could explain why fairy circles are seen in only two deserts on Earth.

Originally published on Live Science.
When Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, the volcano's molten rock, scorching debris and poisonous gases killed nearly 2,000 people in the nearby ancient Italian cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

But not everyone died. So, where did the refugees, who couldn't return to their ash-filled homes, go?

Given that this was the ancient world, they didn't travel far. Most stayed along the southern Italian coast, resettling in the communities of Cumae, Naples, Ostia and Puteoli, according to a new study that will be published this spring in the journal Analecta Romana. [Preserved Pompeii: A City in Ash]

Pinpointing the refugees' destinations was a huge undertaking, as historical records are spotty and scattered, said study researcher Steven Tuck, a professor and chair of classics at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. To determine where people went, he devised several criteria to look for while combing through the historical record, which included documents, inscriptions, artifacts and ancient infrastructure.

For example, Tuck made a database of family names that were distinct to Pompeii and Herculaneum and then checked whether these names showed up elsewhere after A.D. 79. He also looked for signs of unique Pompeii and Herculaneum culture, such as the religious worship of Vulcanus, the god of fire, or Venus Pompeiana, the patron deity of Pompeii, that surfaced in the nearby cities after the volcanic eruption.

A victim who perished in Pompeii after Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Public infrastructure projects that sprung up about this time, likely to accommodate the sudden influx of refugees, also provided clues about resettlement, Tuck said. That's because between 15,000 and 20,000 people lived in Pompeii and Herculaneum, and the majority of them survived Vesuvius' catastrophic eruption.

One of the survivors, a man named Cornelius Fuscus later died in what the Romans called Asia (what is now Romania) on a military campaign. "They put up an inscription to him there," Tuck told Live Science. "They said he was from the colony of Pompeii, then he lived in Naples and then he joined the army."

In another case, the Sulpicius family from Pompeii resettled in Cumae, according to historical documents that detail their flight and other records, Tuck said.

"Outside the walls of Pompeii, [archaeologists] discovered a strongbox (similar to a safe) full of their financial records," he said. "It was on the side of the road, covered by ash. So clearly, someone had taken this big strongbox when they fled, but then about a mile outside the city, dumped it."

The documents in this strongbox detailed several decades' worth of financial loans, debts and real estate holdings. It appears that the Sulpicius family members chose to resettle in Cumae because they had a business social network there, Tuck said.

During his research, Tuck also found resettlement evidence for quite a few women and freed slaves. Many refugees married each other, even after they relocated to new cities. One such woman, Vettia Sabina, was buried in a family tomb in Naples with the inscription "Have" adorning it. The word "have" is Oscan, a dialect that was spoken in Pompeii both before and after the Romans took over the city in 80 B.C. "It means 'welcome,' you see it on the floor in front of houses as a welcome mat [in Pompeii]," Tuck said. [Image Gallery: Pompeii's Toilets]

The "have" inscription outside the House of the Faun in Pompeii. The same inscription was found at a family tomb in Naples, likely from a family that had escaped the Mount Vesuvius eruption in A.D. 79. (Image credit: Steven Tuck)

However, looking at unique family names can get you only so far. "My study actually drastically undercounts the number of Romans who got out," Tuck said, as many foreigners, migrants and slaves didn't have recorded family names, making them difficult to track.

Regarding public infrastructure, Tuck found that the Roman Emperor Titus gave money to cities that had become refugee hotspots. This money actually came from Pompeii and Herculaneum  basically, the government helped itself to the money of anyone who died in the eruption who didn't have heirs. Then, this money was given to cities with refugees, although Titus took credit for any public infrastructure that was built, Tuck noted.

"The people whose money went into that fund don't ever get credit," he said.

An inscription in Naples from Emperor Titus, taking credit for rebuilding to accommodate refugees following the volcanic eruption. (Image credit: Steven Tuck)

Despite this, the new infrastructure likely helped the refugees settle into their new homes.

"The cities Pompeii and Herculaneum were gone," Tuck said. "But the government is obviously building new neighborhoods and aqueducts and public buildings in communities where people have settled."

Originally published on Live Science.




Justice Okon Abang of a Federal High Court, Abuja has adjourned to February 26, 2019 to hear an application filed by Abdul-Aziz Nyako, son to a former Adamawa State governor, Murtala Nyako, seeking for the release of his international passport, to enable him travel to Saudi Arabia, to perform the lesser hajj.

Abdul-Aziz is being prosecuted by the EFCC, along with his father, Abubakar Aliyu and Zulkifikk Abba, for allegedly laundering about N29 Billion state funds, using five companies  Blue Opal Limited, Sebore Farms & Extension Limited, Pagoda Fortunes Limited, Tower Assets Management Limited and Crust Energy Limited.

Bringing the application to court on February 25, 2019, defence counsel, R.A. Liman, told the court it was for the release of the international passport for the second and third defendants.

Prosecuting counsel, O.A. Atolagbe, however, noted that the prosecution would need time to go through the application and to come back to the court with its reply. Justice Abang, thereafter, adjourned for hearing of the application, and fixed April 8, 10 and 11, 2019 for continuation of trial.
WILLIE ODEA has said patients are going to suffer as a result of the delay in the delivery of the 60-bed modular block at University Hospital Limerick.

His comments come as Minister for Health Simon Harris faced a grilling over overcrowding chaos at UHL in Dail Eireann during Sinn Feins motion of no confidence last week.

Deputy ODea, who abstained from the vote, said the delay was due to the fact that the Government is going to lose over 1bn in capital expenditure due to the increase in costs of the Childrens Hospital. It is directly related. There is no point in denying it. Peoples lives are going to be at stake, people are going to suffer.

He said that the much-talked about and much-promised M20 Limerick-Cork motorway will pretty much suffer the same fate.

During the debate, TD Maurice Quinlivan said he had lost confidence in Minister Harris a long time ago. He condemned Minister Harris who never bothered coming back to me about motions on UHLs overcrowding.

A spokesperson for the UL Hospitals Group said: UL Hospitals Group understands that the draft HSE Capital Plan 2019 is due to be submitted to the Department of Health shortly. It will then be subject to the approval of the Minister for Health and the sanction of the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure.

A timeline for the delivery of this project can be better established when confirmation is received regarding allocation of capital funding and hence clarification when works can commence. Should funding for the project be formally approved in the coming weeks, it is anticipated that the works would be completed by mid 2020.

The proposed 60-bed block at UHL is estimated to cost in the region of 19.5m.
A FORENSIC scientist found no evidence that a serious assault took place in Mary Lowrys home, the last place where DJ Bobby Ryan was seen alive.

Scientists from Forensic Science Ireland examined areas where gardai reported positive results from blood tests in Ms Lowrys bedroom and living room. Further analyses using tests designed specifically for human blood showed that none of the areas identified were actually blood stains.

Dr Martina McBride said one sample on a light fitting and ceiling that gave a presumptive positive result for blood was probably fly faeces which can be mistaken for blood by equipment routinely used by gardai. Chemical testing and DNA sampling showed no signs of human blood, she said. One spot in the bedroom was positively identified as DNA but testing could not show if the source was blood.

She said DNA can be found as a result of someone touching a surface, sneezing, coughing or spitting. All bodily fluids, she said, contain DNA.

Dr McBride and Dr Hilary Clarke were giving evidence in the trial of Patrick Quirke, 50, of Breanshamore, Co Tipperary who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Bobby Ryan, a part-time DJ going by the name Mr Moonlight. Mr Ryan went missing on June 3, 2011 after leaving Ms Lowrys home at about 6.30am and his body was found in an underground run-off tank on the farm owned by Ms Lowry and leased by the accused at Fawnagown, Tipperary in April 2013.

The prosecution claims that Mr Quirke murdered Mr Ryan so he could rekindle an affair with Ms Lowry, 52.

Dr McBride told prosecuting counsel Michael Bowman SC that considering the injuries to Mr Ryan she would expect to see large amounts of blood in the area where he had been assaulted. She concluded that there were no signs in Ms Lowrys home of an assault where large amounts of blood were spilled.

She further noted that the house had been painted in the 22 months since Mr Ryans disappearance. This was why, she said, she examined skirting boards where water containing traces of blood might seep down when a wall is cleaned. She also examined ceilings because sometimes people dont notice blood on the ceiling.

While she said she found no evidence of an assault, she said the absence of blood may not be significant because of the time that had passed and the fact the house had been painted since Mr Ryans disappearance.

Under cross examination the witness told Lorcan Staines SC for the defence that the nature of the assault, in which Mr Ryan suffered multiple fractures to the head, would lead her to expect to find a lot of blood. However, the passing of time and fact it had been painted lowered that expectation.

She added: I went there with the expectation that it was worth looking for blood.

A small spot found beside a press in the bedroom did test positive for DNA, she told Mr Staines, but further testing was unable to show if the source was blood or any other bodily fluid and it was not possible to generate a profile that would have allowed them to identify who the DNA came from.

Eight out-buildings on the farm were not suitable for the standard blood tests, she told Mr Staines, as there was a lot of matter that would have given false positives. It would have been like looking for a needle in a hay stack, she said.

Dr Hilary Clarke said she identified the body found in the tank by generating a DNA profile from a tooth. She compared that with the DNA of Mr Ryans children Michelle and Robert Jnr and said she was satisfied that the body was their father and therefore was Mr Ryan.

She examined various samples taken from Mr Ryans van but found only low level traces of DNA not suitable for further identification. She also examined two lump hammers sent to the labs by investigating gardai and found male DNA on the handle of one of them. She was able to eliminate Bobby Ryan, Robert Ryan Jnr and Patrick Quirke as the source of that DNA.

She also looked at tubing, cable ties, a broken hair clip and other items found in the tank after Mr Ryans body had been removed. She did not sample them for DNA as she said she would have no expectation of finding DNA on them.

The trial continues in front of Justice Eileen Creedon and a jury of six men and six women.
THE MINISTER for Education visited some of Limericks educational projects when he visited the city last Friday.

Minister Joe McHugh visited the sites of several new school campuses which are currently underway in Limerick city and its environs.

It is an exciting time for education in Limerick, the Minister said.

Im seeing the same thing from all the different stakeholders (in Limerick), whether they are third level or second level or people involved with education in general.

There is a major focus on the regional approach here, a major focus on collaboration and an ambition to tackle the many, many challenges we have.

That level of enthusiasm is very evident here.

Last Friday, Minister McHugh visited the permanent site of Limerick Educate Together Secondary School (Limerick ETSS).

The school, which secured the 12-acre site last September, is currently in temporary accommodation in Fernbank on the North Circular Road.

The Minister then visited the site of a new school campus for Gaelcholaiste Luimnigh, located on Clare Street.

He was welcomed to the site by chair of the schools Board of Management Senator Maria Byrne, the chief executive of the schools patron Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board George OCallaghan, and Gaelcholaiste Luimnigh principal Donncha O Treasaigh.

While in Limerick, Minister McHugh also visited the brownfield site of the Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) new engineering-focused higher education Coonagh campus. The campus will welcome its first students this autumn.
LIMERICK Fianna Fail TD Niall Collins says government must act to help the city centre get back on its feet.

It comes after statistics recently released from GeoView reveal the main commercial centre has the highest vacancy rate in all of Munster  15.2%, as against a national average of 13.2%.

This new report shows that towns in Limerick are still struggling to get back on their feet. The national vacancy rate for commercial buildings is 13.2% but this report highlights the fact that in Abbeyfeale the rate is 16.5%, in Limerick city itself its 17.3% and in Newcastle West more than 21% of commercial properties are vacant  all well above the national average, he said.

The figures show that while there may be some economic growth centred in large urban areas, our towns and villages are continuing to struggle. The government needs to come forward with comprehensive proposals to encourage new businesses to setup in our towns and villages in Limerick.

Mr Collins said Irish towns and cities outside Dublin now face fundamental challenges to their future viability.

High vacancy rates, expanding out of town shopping centres, changing shopping habits and crippling commercial rates and rents are damaging businesses and destroying jobs. Fianna Fail believes we need a multi-faceted approach across enterprise, urban planning, culture, justice and community engagement to tackle the problem that Irish towns are facing, he said.

We believe in the future of Irish towns and the positive role they can play in bringing about balanced, sustainable job creation and investment. We recognise the necessity of sustainable regional development. A key emphasis needs to be placed on attracting people into town centres so that shops and businesses have the footfall they need to continue operating.

Cruises Street has seen two shop closures this year already, a move which has seen retail guru David Fitzsimons take the matter in hand.
The eleventh Childrens Rights Alliance annual Report Card will be launched today, February 26, 2019, the third under the current Programme for Government. This year the Government is awarded an overall C grade for living up to its promises to children, a slight increase on last years C- and a significant improvement on the D+ grade that was awarded in 2017.

Speaking at the launch of the Report today, Chief Executive of the Childrens Rights Alliance, Tanya Ward said: The C grade is an improvement and acknowledges the Government for their steady progress in a number of areas. There is no doubt that in 2018, important steps were taken to protect and empower children. Chief amongst these, Ireland led the world in introducing the first ever LGBTI+ strategy. This will help to support this group of young people who often face prejudice and discrimination in their everyday lives. For this, the Government receives an A- grade, the highest in Report Card this year.

A steadfast B grade was awarded for Physical Health reflecting the enactment of the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018. Alcohol abuse is a public health crisis and this is an important, long-awaited stride forward to protect children from alcohol harm and harmful parental drinking that can have such a detrimental impact on childrens lives.

Significant investment by Government in more affordable childcare will undoubtedly help families who are crippled by childcare costs. For example under the new scheme, a two parent family with an annual take home pay of 30,000 and with two children under three will get a weekly subsidy of 220. We also welcome Budget 2019 measures for families with older children with an increase in weekly social welfare payments of 5 for over 12s, recognising the higher costs of raising teenagers.

The introduction of two weeks paid parental leave for each parent in 2019 gets an improved B- grade for this area, helping move towards a more family-friendly society where both parents can spend more time with their child in their first year of life.

On the flipside, the lowest grade in Report Card 2019 is an F or a Fail for Child and Family Homelessness, which reflects the record number of children who were homeless in 2018. Government needs to recognise that child homelessness is a national emergency. Family hubs and other interim solutions provide only a sticking plaster to what is a bigger and more complex issue. To truly address this crisis, more public housing must be provided rather than over-relying on the private rented sector. This is the first time under the Programme for Government that the Report Card panel of experts have awarded a score so low.

The outlook on Mental Health is not good either, with the Government awarded a D- to reflect 7,206 children on waiting lists for an appointment for community and psychology supports (September 2018). These services focus on prevention, assessment, early detection and intervention for children in difficulty. There are also 2,250 children waiting for specialist mental health treatment through Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) (October 2018). While there have been improvements in recent years, children continue to be placed in adult inpatient units.

Changes to the Direct Provision and international protection system have resulted in a C grade, up from a D+ in 2018. This is the highest grade ever awarded for this section and comes following some significant positive steps by the Government this year. This includes a third increase to the Direct Provision payment for asylum seeking children in as many years, up from 21.60 to 29.80 a week for children living in Direct Provision.

The development of national standards for accommodation for people seeking protection is particularly important as they will address institutionalisation and will ensure that families with children will have their own private living space. However, we will know that the Government means business when independent inspections for Direct Provision accommodation are in place.

Judge Catherine McGuinness, who chaired this years panel of independent experts who graded the Governments performance, said: A D- grade is awarded to Traveller and Roma Children, reflecting the daily discrimination that Traveller children face in accessing the services, housing and education to which they are entitled. The increasing numbers of homeless Traveller families is particularly worrying as it adds to the already alarming levels of overcrowding. Forty per cent of Traveller families live in overcrowded accommodation compared to only six per cent of the general population. Given these concerns, the continued underspend of local authorities on Traveller accommodation is a disgrace. We also now have evidence of the abject poverty that some Roma children face as they live in overcrowded housing with rats, damp and sewerage and often dont have enough food.

Tanya Ward continued: The overall C grade demonstrates that this Government is making steady progress when it comes to improving the lives of children in this country. We hope that progress is set to continue next year, with the consideration of our immediate actions, in particular in priority areas such as housing and mental health, and supports and Traveller and Roma children- which need more attention.
The Mayor of Kildare has said he is shocked and saddened at a decision by the Department of Defence to refuse permission for a meeting of Kildare County Council to be held in the Curragh military camp.

Speaking at the Councils monthly meeting on February 25, Mayor, Sean Power, a son of the late Paddy Power who was a former Minister of Defence, said he was shocked and saddened by the Departments decision not to allow a Council meeting to be held in the Curragh on March 25 coming. It is disrespectful and insulting of the Department to treat us (the Council) in this way, said the mayor.

At the meeting in Naas, Mayor Power referred members to the letter from the Department of Defence which said it could not facilitate the Council with a meeting on March 25.

The Department said that the Council could contact the Assistant Principal Officer in the department to discuss the matter further.

SEE ALSO: Gardai investigating theft from car at Kildare Village

Mayor Power said he had sought to have the meeting in the Curragh to build better relationships between the military and ourselves.

Mayor Power said previous meetings had been successful.
A man driving at excessive speeds threw a bag of cannabis from the vehicle, Naas District Court heard.

Anthony Murray, 27, whose address was given as 94 Corrib Road, Terenure, Dublin, was prosecuted for dangerous driving and possession of cannabis.

The offences took place at two locations on the outskirts of Naas  at Blackhill, Kill and at Kill West, Kill on July 8 last.

The case was heard on February 20.

Gda John Joe OConnell said he was driving an unmarked car on the N7 at around 11pm when he noticed a silver Accord passing him at high speed.

He estimated that the car was travelling in excess of 160 kph because he was driving at that speed, but not gaining on the vehicle. He put on the blue light and at Kill West the other car increased its speed to in excess of 170 kph. He said the car slowed and pulled into the hard shoulder.

He said the driver threw a package of something out of a passenger window of the vehicle. After the garda called for assistance, he found a clear bag with a substance in it. The defendant, who was arrested, admitted it was marijuana for his own use.

Gda OConnell said the defendant was very cooperative and has no previous convictions.

He estimated that the driving incident lasted for 40 seconds to a minute. Initially he said he thought he was dealing with a stolen car or something else.

He described the defendant as a reasonable man and was very apologetic. He also said the defendant is tending to someone who is ill.

The defendant did not appear in court. Judge Zaidan imposed two fines of 1,500 for two charges of dangerous driving as well as a driving disqualification of four years. The defendant was also convicted and fined 350 for possession of cannabis.
We have a winner in our Kildare's All Time Greats vote!

Leinster Leader readers have had their say and picked their choice for the person who they consider Kildare's All Time Greats.

Over the past month and a half, 16 of Kildare's most well-known and accomplished individuals were paired up in a series of votes - from St Brigid to Arthur Guinness; Johnny Doyle to Dermot Weld.

All were deserving of the title in their own right, but who would be our readers' pick.

For the past week, voting has been neck-and-neck between our final two - famed Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton and Cystic Fibrosis campaigner and writer Orla Tinsley. Voting was close... but one of our contenders pulled ahead in the poll over the final days, thanks to a well-supported campaign in her hometown of Newbridge.

We can reveal that the winner of our Kildare's All Time Greats poll, with 56% of the final vote, is... ORLA TINSLEY!

Newbridge-born Orla Tinsley is a writer, journalist and campaigner for the rights of those with Cystic Fibrosis.

Orla Tinsley from Newbridge, winner of our Kildare's All Time Greats poll

The now-31-year-old was born with CF, a genetic disorder which affects the lungs and other organs. She began writing for the Irish Times at the age of 18 about the dearth of healthcare services and supports for sufferers in Ireland. She was named the Rehab Young Person of the Year in 2008, and published a memoir, Salty Baby, three years later, which addressed growing up and living with the condition.

Orla moved to New York to study at Columbia University on a writing scholarship in 2014. In 2017 her health seriously deteriorated, and her writing about life on the transplant list galvanised people to carry organ donor cards. She received a double lung transplant shortly before Christmas 2017.

Well done to all our contenders, and thanks to our sponsors and all who voted in our All Time Greats polls.
A body which has the clout and independence of the Garda Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) is required for prison officers who see wrongdoing, according to a Fianna Fail TD.

Marc McSharry TD sits on the Dail Public Accounts Committee which recently met with a prison officer who blew the whistle on issues at the Midlands Prison Portlaoise.

Deputy MacSharry last week called for Irish Prison Service management to be brought before the powerful committee to deal with a series of issues. He claimed local prison management is not keeping national management fully informed.

Part of the potential issue is that with the best will in the world, the Secretary General (of the Department of Justice) is the Accounting Officer, while the head of the Prison Service in County Longford is not, perhaps, fully up to speed with what is going on and she is dependent on local management which may not be as candid as it should be in answers to certain questions," said Deputy MacSharry at a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee last week.

Deputy Alan Kelly of the Labour Party said the committee agreed with Deputy MacSharry.

The issues relating to the Irish Prison Service are pretty seismic. We need a session to deal with those and as soon as possible, said the former minister.

Both TDs complained that prison management had not replied comprehensively to questions arising for the audit of 2017 spending, which was discussed at a January meeting in the Dail.

Speaking last week to the Leinster Express Deputy McSharry, who is based in Sligo, said Laois prison staff have come to him highlighting issues.

He said the committee has already spoken in camera with one prison officer who highlighted issues but suffered by doing so.

As a result, Deputy MacSharry said it is time to consider some form of independent body to which staff can go to highlight issues and make complaints, where they believe there is wrongdoing.

I think we need a GSOCesque for prisons and not one that is based in Longford (the Irish Prison Service HQ location), he said.

Laois TD Sean Fleming chairs the Public Accounts Committee. He agreed that management has questions to answer and that they would be recalled.
Celtic Tiger housing on the Laois Offaly border which got the green light as the property market crashed is being brought back to life.

Smart 2 Management Ventures Ltd, based in Dublin, intends applying for planning permission for the big housing project at the Bog Road, Portarlington near the town's secondary school.

The development applied for consists of modifications to a development which received the go-ahead in 2008.

In 2007, Paul Mitchell applied to build 66 units which were a mix of houses and apartments. Offaly County Council granted planning permission for 52 houses in 2008 with 37 conditions. The project was subject to the so-called Part V rule which required the inclusion of some social housing.

Planning permission for the development near Colaiste Iosagain secondary school was extended twice and expires in 2021.

Local builder Pat Moore commenced work on the site and the estate was marketed as Birchfields. However, the property crash brought a halt to the development which remains a building site.

The new applicants want to modify the 2008 planning permission. Smart 2 Management Ventures wants to build 62 detached, semi-detached and terraced homes on the land.

The new applicant registered as a business in November 2017. Its principal activity is financial service.
We were excited by the opportunity to solve what we think is a problem with food halls, Morton said. Is it possible to make a food hall experience in demand for all day and night, as opposed to mostly having an orientation toward lunch? We were keenly interested in that, and (John Buck) shared our excitement in developing that thinking.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 26)  Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founder Nur Misuari would rather witness the implementation of federalism over the Bangsamoro law, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.

In an interview with CNN Philippines News Night on Tuesday, Panelo noted the Moro leader has "no choice" but to support the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) as it was ratified through the majority vote of the region.

"I remember the chairman wanted federalism and not the BOL because he finds it better," Panelo said in the interview.

"Since it has been ratified, I suppose. ... As we said, we'll have to respect the majority. So for now, I think he has no choice but to support (the BOL). After all, he doesn't find it bad. It's still good, but he finds federalism better," the spokesperson added.

Misuari and President Rodrigo Duterte engaged in a 15-minute conversation in Malacanang Monday evening, when Duterte reportedly "apologized" because of "delays" in certain agreements.

Panelo reiterated they talked about federalism matters, and that Misuari did not raise concerns about the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), in the wake of reports that some MNLF members were dissatisfied with the limited seats given to their group.

He added Duterte's concept of federalism may be beneficial to Misuari's group in Mindanao.

The Palace in January expressed optimism that a new federal charter will be approved within the chief executive's term.

Meanwhile, the 80-member BTA officially assumed leadership of the new Bangsamoro autonomous region Tuesday.
The search for Laois' All Time Great is over.

The final poll closed on Monday and Bishop Daniel Delaney emerged as the clear winner, with a vote of 89% as opposed to Pat Critchley's 11%.

People voted from far and wide through the series of polls over the past month to find Laois' All Time Great. From the initial starting point of 16 candidates, Bishop Delany polled consistently strongly, and this vote strengthened as the race grew tighter.

Daniel Delany was born in Paddock in 1747. His parents were relatively well-to-do but when his father died Mrs Elizabeth Delany agreed to have young Daniel spend the rest of his childhood with his two aunts in Mountrath where he received his early education. It was here too that the parish priest, Father Denis Lawlor, influenced Daniel's decision to enter the priesthood.

With Catholicism outlawed publicly, the young Daniel was smuggled out of Ireland to France in order to receive his priestly education. He was ordained a priest in 1770. He then spent some six years as a lecturer at St. Omer, France, until his return to Ireland in 1776.

Upon his return, he found a country which had deteriorated during his absence.

Father Delany took up his duties as assistant priest in the parish of Tullow. Here, he identified that lack of education was the root cause of much of the hardship of the local Catholic populace. To address this he started Sunday schools for the local children.

According to the Patrician Brothers website, "Father Delany needed help to get his catechetical program properly established. "Therefore he gathered around him the better educated adults of nearby townships to be catechists. However, he could never rely on having the necessary number of teachers for this task. This was a problem that he solved only in the latter years of his life.

"In 1783, at the age of 36, Father Delany was consecrated a Bishop, and three years later he became the Bishop of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin. As Bishop, Daniel Delany did much to better the conditions under which the people of his diocese lived.

"After organising many public religious functions which were still illegal under British law. Bishop Delany finally took steps to secure for his Sunday schools a reliable source of catechists: he founded two religious congregations. On February 1st, 1807, he received the first women to start the Sisters of Saint Brigid (Brigidines). A year later on February 2nd, he received four men to start the Brothers of Saint Patrick (Patricians).

"For the remaining six years of his life, Bishop Delany helped the Sisters and Brothers in the education of the young of his diocese. He helped them to live the religious life, frequently said Mass for them, and spent many hours in conversation with them. Bishop Delany died in 1814. His remains were buried in the Tullow church."

For more information see www.patricianbrothers.com
The Down Syndrome Ireland Laois Branch will kick off its annual shamrock sale fundraiser this week ahead of the St Patricks Day celebrations.

Pots of fresh shamrock will be available for sale from Friday, March 8. Businesses or people who want to sell the shamrock can pre-order them and sell them on behalf of the Down Syndrome Ireland Laois Branch.

Pots of shamrock for will be on sale just in time for St Patricks Day on March 15 and 16 at Laois Shopping Centre. They are 5 per pot.

Organisers have said that all the money raised in Laois stay in Laois for local people and it will support the branch in bringing the Field of Dreams closer to fruition.

Down Syndrome Ireland's Laois Branch has secured land in Abbeyleix to build a major training and therapy centre for all its members.

This Field of Dreams will be used as a Sheltered Employment Training Centre of Excellence for adult members with intellectual difficulties.

This Centre will be a hub for all necessary therapies and supports for members to augment the employment training programmes we will be running there.

The Laois Field of Dreams will train adults with Down Syndrome so they can work for proper wages in the mainstream economy. Mick Gorman has explained why this is a huge benefit.

"Our adult population will benefit greatly from this venture by helping to prepare them for meaningful employment in the community which will lead to positive mental health and well-being and support them to integrate fully into our communities around the county. They will have a reason to get up in the morning like the rest of us in mainstream society.

"We are hoping to get huge support from the people of Laois in helping to finance this venture. People with intellectual difficulties have a great deal to offer in the workplace. It is acknowledged, and there is empirical evidence to show that where people with Down Syndrome are employed by a company, there have been positive results for employers, such as less sickness and absenteeism among fellow workers with an increase in productivity also.

People with Down Syndrome have an infectious nature that makes others working around them happier for being in their company. So, there is a dividend for employers to buy into a venture like this," Mr Gorman said.

Anyone who wants to order shamrocks can contact Mick 0860491633 or Ray 0862624092.
People are travelling from near and far to see a Laois priest after the huge response to his book where he shares his devastating story of loss and consolations of faith.

Fr Sean Hyland from Portarlington launched his book Whisperings of my Soul last December.

It was self-published and thanks to promoting the book himself to local and national media he was able to secure a nationwide distributor and attention from people all over Ireland.

The book describes in detail the tragedy that struck him and his wife, Liz, early in their marriage with the deaths of their two young children Seana and Kieran.

Sean recounts the early years of his marriage to Liz and his two childrens lives in depth in the emotional chapters from when he first met Liz to now visiting his familys grave every week in Portarlington.

Speaking to the Leinster Express, Fr Hyland explained why he wrote the book.

I lost my wife and earlier in life, we had lost our two children. Liz carried me through that and when she got sick, I prayed for support, it was kidney cancer and a long nine-month journey.

After the children died I had turned to the drink and I was terrified I would go back there.

I was always a pessimist and fell into self-pity but I prayed and I was given the strength, more strength than was natural for me.

I prayed and I got explicit consolation, dreams and visions of Liz and my children that they were safe and well, I knew this beyond doubt.

I have shared it with other people who are grieving or troubled and it comforts them. It is a gift that has been granted to more than me. That was the catalyst to write the book, my experience gave other people comfort, he said.

In the book, he explains that after he lost all three members of his family he received help through many consolations of faith which let him know that his wife and children are close by and watching over him in heaven.

In thanksgiving, he entered a seminary in Rome and has devoted the remainder of his life to God as a Catholic priest.

Fr Hyland told the Leinster Express that he is chuffed with the feedback from the book.

People visit me from all over the country with tragedies. I have had people come from Kerry and Tipperary. Water finds its own level and people who are in a tragedy will find you and they will travel to you. They know I am not going to solve it but I will share the reality of the closeness to heaven and to know that my family is safe and well, he said.

He is happy that the book is having this impact on people and he is in a position to comfort people who have been hit with terrible grief in their lives. In writing the book, he set out to comfort people by sharing the consolations of faith he has experienced.

Fr Hyland has been asked on to The Late Late Show as a guest to talk about his book and the message behind it. He will be interviewed on the show by Ryan Tubridy on Friday, March 8.

He now lives in his hometown of Portarlington where his wife and children are buried and is a curate in the communities of Clonbullogue and Rhode.
'Skullduggery' 'bad treatment' and 'confidence and supply' fatigue has led to a grassroots Fianna Fail man to compete with the party in Portlaoise at the local elections.

Dom Dunne is set to launch his local election campaign to contest for one of the seven Portlaoise Municipal District seats on Laois County Council.

Mr Dunne has accepted an invitation from Renua leader John Leahy to be its candidate in the biggest Laois County Council electoral district. He had unsuccessfully contested the Fianna Fail selection convention.

Mr Dunne, who is a member of the Portlaoise Hospital Action Committee, blamed Fianna Fail's support for the Fine Gael-led Government.

"I don't agree with this confidence and supply," he said.

Mr Dunne does not believe Brexit is a big enough issue for Fianna Fail to maintain the confidence and supply arrangement.

"I know Brexit is important but when I go to the doors it is local issues that people are talking about," he said.

The local businessman also believes he suffered during the selection of candidates.

"There was a bit of skullduggery that went on. I can't say what it was...I was let down by Fianna Fail there is no point in saying otherwise. I was let down. John Leahy rang me to ask me to run. I met him, spoke to my family and was happy to go on the ticket with him," he said.

Mr Dunne was an active member of Fianna Fail for a number of years in Laois until his recent departure.

Fianna Fail holds three seats in the Portlaoise District. Cllr John Joe Fennelly, Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald, Cllr Pauline Madigan have been selected alongside Donal Kelly. Cllr Madigan was co-opted onto the council in 2018 following the death of Cllr Jerry Lodge who was a councillor for more than 50 years.

Cllr Fennelly came second in the 2014 poll but the party's other candidates were the final two councillors returned.

Mr Dunne will be launching his campaign in the Portlaoise Parish Centre at 7.30 pm on Thursday, February 28 where he says he will outline "his political vision and passion for the area".
An elderly inmate at the Midlands Prison Portlaoise who is wanted by the FBI in New York on suspicion of producing and selling child pornography must wait to hear the outcome of a challenge to his extradition to the United States.

Daniel Mullan, aged 79, is a dual US Irish citizen. He is wanted by the FBI to face trial on charges related to the sexual exploitation and transportation of a minor as well as two counts of possessing child pornography.

Mr Mullan, who is fighting his proposed extradition to the United States from custody in the Midlands Prison, Portlaoise, was indicted by a Grand Jury in New York in September 2017, while serving a sentence for sexual offences in Ireland.

The High Court ordered his extradition to the United States in December, which he is appealing.

His barrister, Kieran Kelly BL, told the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, February 26 that his client wished to be considered for the prosecution of the alleged offences in Ireland, even though the offences were allegedly committed abroad.

He said section 2 of the Sexual Offences (Jurisdiction) Act 1996 provides for the prosecution of Irish citizens in Ireland, who commit sexual offences abroad.

President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham commented that there was an air of unreality about requiring the DPP to consider prosecuting Mr Mullan in Ireland. He said the act in question was designed to deal with people engaged in sexual tourism, not the vast number of people in the USA who can avail of Irish citizenship.

Mr Kelly agreed that there was no nexus between the alleged offences and Ireland.

He further submitted that his client suffered from a multiplicity of serious illnesses including sight loss, inability to walk, morbid obesity, atrial fibrillation, chronic infection and autoimmune compromise, peripheral neuropathy, macular degeneration, chronic cardiac failure, anxiety and cellulitis.

Mr Mullan was pushed in and out of court in a wheelchair and sat through the hearing with a blanket over his knees, wearing sandals, close to the judges as he is hard of hearing.

Mr Kelly submitted that the High Court judge seemed to focus on his clients eyesight issues and inability to walk. But the entire ambit of his ailments werent addressed.

He said Mr Mullans personal rights under Articles 8 of the Convention on Human Rights, which provides respect for a persons private and family life, required consideration by the High Court.

Counsel for the Attorney General, Remy Farrell SC, said Mr Mullans medical conditions were not a bar to extradition.

He said detailed evidence had been provided by US prison services on the facilities that would be made available to Mr Mullan, if he was extradited to America.

Mr Farrell said it would be an extraordinary state of affairs for Mr Mullans surrender to be blocked under Article 8 of the Convention of Human Rights. He said Mr Mullan had spent most of his time in Ireland in prison and there was nothing of any sort here that could ground such an entitlement to family rights.

Furthermore, Mr Farrell said the appeal had not been brought on a point of law. He said nobody was entitled to quarrel with the correctness of a High Court judgment and dress up those arguments as points of law

President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham, who sat with Ms Justice Maire Whelan and Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, said the court would reserve its judgment.

The FBI allege that for at least 30 years, Mr Mullan participated in the production and possession and sale of child pornography, which involved himself engaging in sexually explicit conduct with minor children under the age of 18.

It is alleged that he would film, record and or photograph himself and others engaged in sexually explicit conduct with minors as well as minors performing sexually explicit conduct on themselves.

It is alleged that he created the material in the US and abroad, that he maintained a collection of the child pornography that he created and that he sold copies of the child pornography that he produced.

If convicted in America he faces the rest of his life in prison.
Laois food and drink producers are uniting to form a new group to promote the county's strong cuisine culture.

Laois Food and Drink Group is to be launched by Positive Economist Susan Hayes Culleton tonight, Tuesday February 2019, in the Midlands Park Hotel.

The economist will give a keynote speech on the Food industry and trends. As the Positive Economist, Susan Hayes Culleton who has Laois connections, is renowned internationally for her expertise and motivational speeches.

Failte Ireland's Sarah Dwyer will also be attending the launch.

Helen Gee of G's Jams in Laois is the chairperson of the new group. She is also the food rep for Laois Tourism Board.

She is inviting all interested parties across Laois to join them at the Midlands Park at 7.30pm.

She said the idea for a united group began at the Connect 2 Laois for Food event in 2017 by Laois Partnership and Laois County Council, when local producers got to know each other.

"I believe the group is going to be one of the driving forces for Laois tourism. We want cafes and hotels to collaborate with local producers and perhaps have a food trail. We want to get Laois people eating Laois food, to encourage people to buy local, which is all about sustainability as well," she said.

Laois is currently abundant with new food and drink producers she said.

"We have several breweries, porridge and granola companies, breads, jams, chocolate, sauces, and this group will be a way to promote them all and showcase them at tourism events in Laois like the Gordon Bennett rally," Ms Gee said.

The secretary of Laois Food and Drink Group is Niamh Maher from Aghaboe Cakes, and the treasurer is Dave Walsh Kemis from Ballykilcavan Brewery.
venezuela

Masked anti-government protesters gather a few blocks from the bridge in Urena, Venezuela Feb. 24, on the border with Colombia, where Venezuelan soldiers continue to block humanitarian aid from entering. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)AP

As an ex-green beret of the Royal Dutch Special Forces and a former Republican councilman in Clinton Township, I strongly suggest increasing support for immediate military action against the socialist regime in Venezuela.

Our country  based on democracy, law and liberty  is well-served to send a strong message to the world, that we will not tolerate oppressive socialistic regimes in our backyard or their advancements into other territories. Unlike our previous president, who clearly showed weakness in this regard, President Donald Trump is doing a great job by increasing the budget for defense and operational capabilities.

Our president is showing strength and my suggestions will add to the increasing deterrent of our adversaries. Swift, stealthy military operations to bring back freedom and democracy will be welcomed by millions who have been suffering way too long under this socialistic and disastrous political ideology and power grab in Venezuela.

I think we have learned enough and experienced enough to understand that delaying action is only bringing another Cuba on our doorstep. Lets show the world more strength and military willingness to do what is right. If we wait Russia, China, Iran, Hezbollah and other bad elements will invite themselves into Venezuela and make things more complicated.

No more Mr. Nice Guy. Enough is enough.

Harmen Vos

Annandale
A Palmer Township man admitted he fell asleep behind the wheel before causing a wrong-way crash that killed another driver.

Alan Bruce Mannon was sentenced Monday to serve six to 23 months in Lehigh County Jail, according to District Attorney James Martins office.

Mannon, 67, fell asleep shortly before the crash that killed 67-year-old Dennis Bray of Andreas, Pennsylvania. Police said Mannon drove into Bray just before 8:30 a.m. June 23, 2017, on Route 309 in Lynn Township.

Mannon was headed north in the southbound lane approaching Gun Club Road, police said. Both vehicles swerved but the collision couldnt be avoided, police said.

Defense attorney John Waldron said he argued for house arrest. The prosecutor argued for a minimum of 11 months in prison, Waldron said. Lehigh County Judge James Anthonys six- to 23-month sentence was a compromise, Waldron said. The judge granted work release for Mannon, Waldron said.

Mannon must serve two years of probation in addition to the prison time, according to a spokeswoman for the Lehigh County district attorney.

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
Palmer Township police, firefighters and Pennsylvania Water Rescue personnel searched Tuesday along and in the Bushkill Creek for evidence from an unspecified case, police Chief Larry Palmer said.

Searchers used rakes, metal detectors, chain saws and leaf blowers as they removed debris near the northern shore of the creek near Bushkill Drive in Forks Township. The search area extended through the creek to the parking lot of the GJ Mills apartment building on the other side.

Palmer refused to say what they were searching for or which case it might be tied to. He did say they were seeking an item, not a body. By early afternoon, nothing had been found.

Palmer said Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli would be the only person who could release further information on the effort that began mid-morning in an area set off by yellow crime tape.

Morganelli said he wasnt immediately made aware of the search.

The prosecutor has been the contact person on the Jan. 4 house fire that left two people dead at 2901 Stephens St. and was ruled a double homicide, but he said he didnt know if the search was tied to that ongoing investigation.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
UPDATE: Mom, daughter charged with killing 5 tell cops everyone wanted to die

A 45-year-old Bucks County woman and her 19-year-old daughter are charged with killing five relatives, the county district attorneys office reports.

Shana S. Decree and Dominique Decree face five counts of homicide and one count of conspiracy after the bodies were found just after 4 p.m. Monday in a first-floor bedroom of a two-bedroom unit in the Robert Morris Apartments, 200 W. Bridge St. in Morrisville, authorities said.

The dead included Shana Decrees children NaaIrah Smith, 25, and Damon Decree, 13, both of Morrisville, as well as Shana Decrees sister Jamilla Campbell, 42, of Trenton, and Campbells 9-year-old twin daughters Imani and Erika Allen, the district attorneys office said.

Shana Decree was arraigned early Tuesday morning before District Judge Jan Vislosky, court papers say. Bail was denied due to the nature of the crime, records show. Her preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled 9:30 a.m. March 5.

Dominque Decrees court paperwork at 6 a.m. showed the charges but no details of an arraignment.

The causes of death were under investigation, the district attorneys office said.

District Attorney Matthew Wieintraub expressed dismay in comments carried by Fox 43.

This is a terrible tragedy, he said. I just spoke to the family of all five of the deceased and were all heartbroken.

Shana Decree, 45, and her 19-year-old daughter, Dominique Decree, are accused in the murders of 5 of their own family members, including 3 children, at an apartment in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, Bucks County district attorney says. Few details are known: https://t.co/MKX4s9jZ6a pic.twitter.com/g3RKSMfyDR  Tom Cleary (@tomwcleary) February 26, 2019

He added, I wish I had better news to report but this is important, so we wanted to come out  and make sure everybody knew that the people that committed these atrocious acts are now in custody and will be made to pay for their crimes."

Morrisville police and county detectives continue to investigate, the district attorneys office said.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
The mother and daughter charged in the killing of five family members, including three children, found piled in a bedroom of a Morrisville, Pennsylvania apartment on Monday told police the entire family had discussed suicide and wanted to die before the series of slayings commenced, according to court documents released Tuesday morning.

Shana Selena Decree, 45, and Dominique Klaran Decree, 19, each face five counts of criminal homicide and one count of conspiracy to commit criminal homicide, according to the Bucks County District Attorneys Office. The killings took place in a Morrisville, Pennsylvania apartment, just across the Delaware River from Trenton the family had been sharing.

The gruesome details of the killings emerged in an affidavit of probable cause filed along with the charges against Shana and Dominque Decree.

Two of the victims are Shana Decrees children, NaaIrah Smith, 25, and Damon Decree Jr., 13, both of Morrisville. The others are Shana Decrees sister Jamilla Campbell, 42, of Trenton, and Campbells 9-year-old twin daughters, Imani and Erika Allen, authorities said.

The bodies were discovered Monday, after a Children and Youth services representatives from Bucks County arrived at the apartment on West Bridge Street at 4 p.m. for an unannounced well-being check, according to an affidavit of probable cause released by the district attorneys office. She knocked, but no one came to the door, leading her to contact a maintenance worker at the complex.

According to the social services worker, eight people lived there, including multiple children. A spokesman for the district attorneys office did not immediately have information regarding Children and Youths involvement with the family.

The maintenance worker gained access to the apartment and called 911 at 4:16 p.m., describing a scene of disarray. He said he saw two disoriented people, later identified as Shana and Dominique Decree, in bed, according to the affidavit.

The mother and daughter were both taken to Jefferson hospital in Bucks County, and police arrived at the scene. They found overturned furniture, shards of broken glass and clutter littering the apartment. The child services worker said the apartment had appeared normal during a visit just three weeks before, the affidavit said.

Police walked past empty bedrooms and down a hallway, eventually finding four bodies scattered on and around a bed in the back bedroom. Under one of the bodies on the floor, police found a fifth body.

Jamilla Campbell, left, and Naa'Irah Smith, right, are two of the five people found dead in a Morrisville, Pa., apartment Monday afternoon. (Facebook)

UPDATE: Mother, daughter were talking about demons before massacre that left 5 family members dead, sister says

Police went to the hospital to speak to Shana and Dominique Decree. The 19-year-old had visible injuries to her neck, and said she initially denied knowing what had happened, the affidavit states. She asked if her family was alive, and kept saying she wanted to die, police said. She said that she lived at the apartment with her mother, sister and brother, as well as her aunt and two young cousins, police said.

When police spoke to Shana Decree, she, too, allegedly said she didnt know what had happened, police said. But then she gave police an account, which she later contradicted, saying that Campbells boyfriend had come to the apartment with two other men and killed her five family members, police said.

Dominique Decree gave police a similar account, but her mother quickly changed her story, police said.

Shana Decree told officers that everyone at the apartment, even the children, wanted desperately to die, police said. They were all talking about suicide, according to the affidavit. She allegedly told police she killed one of the children, and then her sister, Campbell, killed another, and then killed Smith. Then Shana and Dominique Decree killed another child, and Dominique Decree killed Campbell, police said.

Dominique Decree provided yet another version, saying her mother had killed two of the children and Smith, before Campbell strangled the third child, police said. Dominique Decree said she then strangled Campbell herself, police said.

The motive, and odd string of stories the mother and sister allegedly told police, have left authorities confused.

Weve been there since 4 p.m. yesterday and frankly, were still trying to sort everything out, District Attorney Matthew D. Weintraub said during a press conference Tuesday afternoon. As confusing as it was last night, we are no closer to understanding [the motive] in the harsh light of day.

He said the causes of death have not yet been determined for the five victims.

An investigator leaves the Morrisville, Pennsylvania apartment Tuesday Feb. 26, 2019 where 5 people were found murdered the night before. (Brian McCarthy photo)

As for the murder-suicide narrative put forth by the Decrees, he said investigators are continuing to look into it as a potentiality, given that the murder aspect was carried out.

The two accused and five victims all lived in the tiny apartment, Weintraub said, along with Campbells son. He was found safe, and authorities believe he was not in the apartment during the slaying.

Shana Decree was arraigned on the charges early Tuesday morning and held without bail. Dominique Decree is expected to be arraigned later Tuesday.

Weintraub said he believed the charges against the two accused would likely remain the same, and that Dominique Decree was likely to be held without bail as well.

I feel very confident that we have the two killers locked up who committed these atrocious, atrocious acts, he said.

Amanda Hoover can be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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The owners of an award-winning Salisbury Township restaurant have their sights set on the Easton Public Market for a third business venture and chance to fulfill a childhood ambition.

Erin Shea and her husband, Lee Chizmar, plan to open in early April a New England-style clam bar called Silvershell Counter + Kitchen" in the market at 325 Northampton St., Easton. Patrons will be able to order such prepared foods as crab cakes, fried clams, oysters, lobster rolls and chowder as well as raw fish from a seafood counter. Silvershell is moving into space previously left vacant by 3rd & Ferry Fresh Fish Market in April 2018.

Itll be a nice combination of retail grocery offering, as well as a restaurant offering, said Megan McBride, market district director. She said patrons will be able to take out or dine in.

Shea grew up in Massachusetts and met Chizmar, originally from Allentown, in Boston when he first began working as a chef. She spent her summers along the Shore in Cape Cod and dreamed of someday owning a clam shack, McBride said. The couple later moved to the Lehigh Valley from Boston in 2007, opening Bolete, frequently cited as the best restaurant in the area. The restaurant has won various national awards, including most popular restaurant in Pennsylvania from People magazine and recently named a semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurant in the 2019 James Beard Awards.

Its something shes always wanted, McBride said of Shea. Itll be very traditional in its styling.

Boletes website says of Shea: Many a summer afternoon was spent digging for Quahogs or getting more meat out of a lobster than once thought humanly possible, which all helped solidify her relationship with fresh local ingredients at an early age.

The owners are completing the build-out of Silvershell, McBride said. They envision a New England-style, beachy feel. In fact, the Easton Public Market is planning a Beach Bash event with mounds of sand behind the building to welcome the new eatery to the city. Expect the event after warm weather comes and Silvershell opens its doors, McBride said.

Chizmar, who plans to prepare dishes at Silvershell, was a semifinalist in 2015 for a James Beard Award, known as the Oscar of the culinary world. He also appeared on the Food Networks Beat Bobby Flay" and entered the shows kitchen as the culinary MVP of the Lehigh Valley.

Bolete, 1740 Seidersville Road, is also known for its farm-to-table, fine dining. The couple own Mister Lees Noodles, which opened in 2016 at the Easton Public Market. The noodle restaurant serves both traditional and inspired takes on Japanese ramen dishes, according to its website.

Silvershell will become the second recent addition to the popular market.

Taylor Taco opened earlier this month in the markets center, McBride said. Run by Matt Martin, the eatery offers a contemporary take on street tacos. It replaced Taza Stop, the stall serving Egyptian fare, which announced this past October it would move to a larger space in Bethlehem.

Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A worker was shot to death Sunday night at a warehouse in Upper Macungie Township, and authorities were continuing to investigate the homicide, township police said Tuesday.

Nester Ortiz DeLeon, 44, of Allentown, died of a gunshot wound to the body, the Lehigh County Coroners Office ruled following an autopsy Tuesday. Authorities on Monday had said DeLeon was the victim of homicide.

The shooting occurred about 11 p.m. at Customized Distribution Services Inc.' warehouse at 8400 Industrial Blvd. in the townships Breinigsville section. CDS identified the victim as an employee. DeLeon was pronounced dead at 11:53 p.m. at Lehigh Valley Hospital, Salisbury Township, according to the coroners office.

Authorities were not saying anyone was in custody Tuesday in connection with the ongoing investigation.

The investigation has not disclosed any information that poses a threat or danger to the community, Upper Macungie police Chief Edgardo Colon said in a news release Tuesday afternoon, adding that no further information would be immediately released.

The township police department, coroners office and Lehigh County District Attorneys Office Homicide Task Force were conducting the investigation.

Police asked anyone with information on the killing to call Upper Macungie Township police at 484-661-5911 or via the Lehigh County 911 non-emergency line at 610-437-5252.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
For a second time in three days, Bethlehem police officers say they found two children alone in a Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem hotel room while their guardians gambled on the casino floor.

Police said they were called at 1:25 a.m. Tuesday to the South Side casino complex for a report of two children, ages 3 and 6, left alone in a hotel room.

The 3-year-old was found by a passerby wandering alone by the elevators on the hotels sixth floor, police said.

Hotel security used surveillance camera footage to see that the child came from a room on the sixth floor, and had wandered in the hallway for a few minutes before being discovered.

Police went to the room and found the 6-year-old in the room, alone and asleep.

Surveillance video showed Nicole Jones boyfriend leave the room at about 11:30 p.m. Monday, and join Jones on the gaming floor, police said.

Jones, 34, the childrens mother, acknowledged the children were alone in the hotel room, and continued gambling until she was escorted back to the room by casino security at 1:45 a.m., according to police.

Jones, of Farmingville, New York, was arrested and charged with two counts of child endangerment. She was free after posting 10 percent of $50,000 bail.

Police did not identify her boyfriend in court paperwork, and he was not charged in the incident. The children were placed with family members, police said.

On Saturday night, a 6-year-old child was found wandering alone on the fifth floor of the hotel and police found that childs 4-year-old sibling alone in a hotel room on the seventh floor.

The mother and father in that case were charged.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
- As results of the 2019 general election is being released by INEC, the sum of N85 billion has been lost in six hours on the floor of the Nigerian stock exchange

- This was attributed to profit taking as a result of the presidential poll

- Ambrose Omordion, the chief operating officer, InvestData Ltd., attributed the market pullback to profit taking embarked by some smart investors

The market capitalisation of listed equities on Tuesday, February 26, shed N85 billion in six hours of trading to what traders attributed to profit taking as a result of the presidential poll, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

The news medium reports that, specifically, the market capitalisation, which opened at N12.194 trillion, shed N85 billion or 0.69 per cent to close at N12.109 trillion.

Part of the report read: "Also, the All-Share Index lost 226.30 points or 0.69 per cent to close at 32,473.82, compared with 32,700.12 recorded on Monday. Ambrose Omordion, the chief operating officer, InvestData Ltd., attributed the market pullback to profit taking embarked by some smart investors.

"Omordion said the smart money that pushed the market up with expectations that the opposition would win the presidential election were leaving the market.

LIVE UPDATES: Day 2: Buhari continues to lead as results of more states are released

"He said some investors who entered the market in anticipation that the opposition economic policy and reforms would support market growth were taking profit ahead of earnings season.

This pullback may not last as a result of 2019 dividend declaration season as dividend yield of financial service stocks are high and attractive due to low prices."

Similarly, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has injected 210 million dollars into the inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market to ensure adequate supply of foreign exchange to customers.

The CBN director, Corporate Communications Department, Isaac Okorafor, in a statement on Tuesday, noted that 100 million dollars was offered to authorised dealers in the wholesale segment of the market.

He said customers in the Small and Medium Enterprises segment received 55 million dollars and those requiring foreign exchange for tuition fees, medical payments and Basic Travel Allowance among others, received 55 million dollars.

Okorafor reassured the public that the bank would continue to intervene in the interbank Foreign Exchange Market in line with its desire to sustain liquidity in the market and maintain stability.

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The CBN on Friday injected 268.4 million dollars and CNY46.3 million into the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) segment.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that financial experts say the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone the presidential and National Assembly elections will cost Nigerian businesses huge financial loss.

The experts say the postponement will cost businesses in the country about $7.605 billion (N2.737 trillion), amounting to about two per cent of Nigerias Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is approximately $427 billion.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo casts his vote, boasts of APC victory | Legit TV

Source: Legit
- The US ambassador to Nigeria, W. Stuart Symington, congratulated Nigerians over the general elections held on Saturday, February 23

- Symington also advised Nigerians not to break law by announcing results before INEC does

The US ambassador to Nigeria, W. Stuart Symington, has warned against breaking the law by announcing results before the official announcement by the Independent Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) does.

Daily Trust reports that the US envoy, in a statement congratulated Nigerians on the predominantly peaceful conduct of the general elections that held on Saturday, February 23.

READ ALSO: LIVE UPDATES: Day 2: Buhari continues to lead as results of more states are released

It was proof of the Nigerian peoples resolute commitment to choose their leaders. The peaceful achievement of millions was shadowed by the violence of a few, he said.

He also urged all candidates and Nigerians generally to be patient and allow the INEC to do their job without interference or use of force.

All should convince those who support them to refrain from using force or violence to interfere with INEC. No one should break the law by announcing results before INEC does, or break the peace by claiming victory before the results are final. Everyone has a common interest in showing patience as INEC collates and announces the election results, the envoy said.

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Meanwhile, the joint international observation mission of the International Republican Institute (IRI) and National Democratic Institute (NDI) have urged political parties and candidates in the February 23 general elections to seek redress in courts on electoral disputes.

The 40-member observer group, which was deployed to the six geopolitical zones of the country, called on the political parties and the candidates to refrain from disseminating false information to citizens.

The leader of the delegation and former vice president of The Gambia, Fatoumata Tambajang, made the call on Monday, February 25, at a news conference in Abuja on the preliminary report of the elections.

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2019 Election: Nigerians reveal what Buhari did to them| Legit TV

Source: Legit Nigeria
It is a common saying that knowledge is power and every piece of information would come handy someday. Well, a young man did not expect that the CPR lessons his father taught him would ever become useful.

A young man identified as Usman Shamaki took to his Twitter page to share how he was able to save a young girls life.

According to Usman, his father taught him how to perform CPR on an unconscious person as a child and he was never too happy about the lessons. He further explained that anytime he missed a step, his father would scold him and say: "This is a matter of life and death. This could come in handy one day. It could save a life, before starting all over.

Well, the lessons came in handy for Usman 21 years later when his neighbours daughter had suffered a seizure and he was able to make her conscious again.

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See his tweets below:

READ ALSO: I couldnt save my sisters life with all the money I had - Adekunle Gold

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This is wonderful news. Indeed not all heroes wear capes.

Meanwhile Legit.ng previously reported that a lady who had been rescued by a mystery man when she was five reconnected with him 15 years later.

A story of a young lady identified as Maya Hughes and Tom Periello, has since gone viral on social media. According to the story narrated by Hughes, four months after she relocated to their home country, Sierra Leone in 2003, she fell ill and her mum decided to send her back to the US.

However, her mum, Zee Sesay, couldn't go with her and to make matters worse, she couldn't find anyone to go with a then 5-year-old Hughes and out of desperation, begged a stranger now identified as Tom Periello, who was on his way to US for a funeral.

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My Husband Ran Away When He Heard I Had Quadruplets | Legit TV

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Death is inevitable and surely everyone would take their exit from the world sooner or later. The prayer for many, however, is to live long and witness many years on earth.

This is not the case for a young Zambian media personality who has recently been reported to have taken her exit from this world four mounts after getting married to the love of her life.

According to reports Zed Gossip, the OAP identified as Suwilanji Nachela Hakanzaba had fallen sick after returning from church on Sunday, February 24.

She was, afterward, rushed to a hospital but was unable to make it out alive.

Photo of the deceased. Photo: Zed Gossip

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Modern-day Lazarus: Video shows pastor allegedly resurrecting dead man

It was gathered that she passed on less than 24 hours after being admitted at the healthcare facility.

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The deceased who was described as a vibrant presenter worked with a Christian radio station identified as United Voice Radio in her country. The Zambian media industry will surely miss her presence.

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We commiserate with the family of the bereaved and pray that she rest on in peace.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously gathered the report of a Nigerian MC Adejoh who passed on eight months after getting married. A Facebook user shared the sad news on her Timeline and disclosed that deceased died shortly after a battle with a heart related ailment.

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XXXTentacion is dead: What Really Happened To The Young Rapper | Legit TV

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- The APC claims the presidential election result in Akwa Ibom was compromised in favour of the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar

- The party's agent for the election at the state collation centre, Samuel Akpan, says the APC is not satisfied with the whole collation process

- Akpan argues that the result does not reflect the true position of what happened in the units and wards in the state

The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Monday, February 25, said it had rejected the presidential election result in Akwa Ibom, declared by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the collation centre in Uyo.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in the result announced by collation officers for the election, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)'s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, won in 28 local government area out of 31 in the state.

He polled 391, 844 votes to defeat President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC, who scored 158, 788 votes.

READ ALSO: PDP suffers defeat as Ndume returns to Senate

But, APCs agent for the election at the state collation centre, Samuel Akpan, told newsmen that he had the mandate of his party to reject the entire result as announced by INEC.

He said that the process was compromised and demanded the cancellation of the results, describing the process as a scam.

The result does not reflect the true position of what happened in the units and wards.

This is not the democracy that we wanted. APC is a peace-loving party and therefore, is not prone to violence.

Our party is not satisfied with the whole collation process from the unit to the state collation centre.

READ ALSO: Follow Live updates: INEC begins official declaration of presidential election results

There was vote-buying and the entire process was compromised. The integrity of the whole exercise has been undermined. The umpire ought to be fair,he said.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Mike Igini, said that politicians have continuously threatening electoral officers.

Igini recalled that he warned that election may be cancelled in places where there were violence and snatching of ballot boxes, adding that politicians were the ones that often disrupted elections.

I had said it that the reprobate politicians we have in our country would be the one to disrupt this election.

We are out for openness but politicians are out for chaos. The period of snatching of ballot paper is past.

I want people to know that in this state we have vowed to give purpose to the elections.

To the people who are threatening our staff, stop the intimidation because the intimidation is getting too much, Igini said.

He said that the elections in Udung Uko local government area was cancelled because it was characterised by hostilities, violence and snatching of electoral materials.

The electoral officer in the LGA, Emeka Adizua, said that he was attacked and had to be rescued by the Police in Oron.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the results of presidential and National Assembly elections being announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Legit.ng gathered that the PDP national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, speaking to journalists on Monday, February 25, in Abuja, described the figures being announced by INEC as incorrect and totally unacceptable.

He alleged that INEC in collusion with the APC had decided to alter the election result to favour the ruling party.

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2019 Election: Nigerians reveal what Buhari did to them| Legit TV

Source: Legit Nigeria
Popular Nollywood actor, Saidi Balogun, is currently receiving major heat from his fans and followers on social media after he took to the platform to celebrate the winning of President Buhari.

As the election announcements continue to emerge, many people are celebrating victories and impending victories of their preferred candidate. Actor Saidi Balogun is not left out as he recently took to his Instagram to celebrate the president as well.

Sharing a video of a builder dancing to what sounds like Hausa music in the background, he wrote: "SAI BABA DANCE,Oya show me your colour joo!"

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The post, however, outraged several fans and followers of the actor and they took to the comment section to lambaste him.

See reactions below:

Screenshots of some reactions from Instagram users/@saidibalogun

Source: Instagram

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Their reactions may be connected with the pockets of violence that occurred across the country during the election.

Recall a while back, Legit.ng reported the news of how a 19-year-old young voter identified as Daniel Usman was reportedly shot dead during presidential election on February 23.

READ ALSO: LIVE UPDATES: Day 2: Buhari continues to lead as results of more states are released

Reports claim that the young man was being forced to vote for a certain party and when he refused, got bullets buried in his body. According to Twitter user identified as @I_Am_Ilemona, Usman was a victim of electoral violence where he stood his ground and refused to vote for any candidate except his choice.

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2019 Election: Presidential candidate, party leaders react to announced results| Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
- Self-made business man Lak Siras N59.5m Lamborghini recently went up in flames

- The 22-year-old revealed that incident happened just an hour after he picked it up from service

- Sira reportedly smelled petrol and was forced to pull over before he heard a loud bang and watched his car get burnt

Successful men do not mind spending any amount on luxury items and they usually expect to get their money's worth.

However, a 22-year-old business man Lak Sira, got the surprise of his life after his fancy car, a gold-plated Lamborghini Gallardo, worth about 125,000 (N59.5m) went up in flames.

The car had reportedly just undergone a 10,000 (N4.7m) service before the unfortunate incident happened.

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Lak Sira / SWNS

Source: UGC

Sira revealed that he had been on his way to London with his girlfriend when she complained about smelling petrol. He put a call through to his mechanic who explained that since the car had just been serviced, it was normal to smell petrol.

However, the smell got stronger and his girlfriend told him to roll down the windows. They eventually pulled over and heard a loud bang before the car went up in flames.

The burnt remains of the gold-plated car. Photo: SWNS TV on Youtube

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Vehicle goes up in flames on Third Mainland Bridge (pictures)

According to Daily Mail, the young business man said: I was on the way to London with my girlfriend for a night out as I just had the car back and wanted to drive it around.

'We had only gone one junction when my girlfriend smelt petrol in the car, so I called the garage's mechanic.

'He said 'the car has just been for a service and it is usual to smell a bit of fuel', so there wasn't a problem.

'So we carried on a bit further and my girlfriend asked me to open the windows, because the smell of fuel had got that strong.

'I stopped on the hard shoulder, between J5 and J6, to remove the roof but then the next thing was we heard a loud bang, it was like a firework going off, and the back of my car caught fire.

'I just had to watch helplessly as the car which I had worked so hard to buy went up in smoke.

'We nearly died, if I didn't pull over when I did I dread to think what happened. It was very frightening and my girlfriend is scared to get in any car with me now.

'I am meeting with my solicitor to see whether to take legal action as I can't believe its a coincidence that I'd only just had the car back from the garage."

See the video of the incident below:

Nawa o.

Meanwhile Legit.ng previously reported that about 20 cars went up in flames as a result of a petrol tanker falling on Otedola bridge.

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and Lagos Fire Service were said to have been mobilised to the scene. The reports was made known by the Rapid Response Squad via its Twitter handle, @rrslagos767.

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Lets Not Blame God For Our Problems - Deyemi Okanlawon Speaks on Otedola Bridge Fire | Legit TV

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- The Senate leader, Ali Ndume of the APC, defeats the PDP in the Southern Borno senatorial constituency election

- Ndume is declared winner by INEC having scored the highest votes cast in the Saturday February 23 election

- The senator thanks the people of his constituency who came out enmasse to support him in the election

The Senate Leader, Ali Ndume of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has emerged winner of the Southern Borno senatorial constituency election.

Ndume was declared winner on Sunday, February 24, in Biu by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) having scored the highest votes cast in the Saturday February 23 election.

READ ALSO: President Buhari wins all 34 LGAs in Katsina - Collation officer

Declaring the result, the returning officer, Prof Isa Hassan, said Ndume garnered 300, 637 votes to defeat his closest rival, Kudla Haske, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 84, 608 votes.

Ndume told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) shortly after his victory that he was thankful to the electorate for their support.

I am very humbled and indebted to the people of my constituency who came out enmasse to support me.

I must commend my people for their resilience, despite attack coordinated by Boko Haram insurgents on voters at Pulka community, they defied the insurgents to exercise their franchise.

Despite all the desperation by PDP, we came out victorious. We thank God. We promise to deliver more than 90 percent votes for Mr President and we are keeping the promise, he said.

READ ALSO: Follow Live updates: INEC begins official declaration of presidential election results

Ndume commended INEC for conducting a free, fair and peaceful election.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that results of Senate and other House of Representatives election are still being collated in the state.

In another news report, Yusuph Olaniyonu, special adviser, media and publicity to president of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, has denied reports that Saraki congratulated APC senator-elect, Ibrahim Oloriegbe.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Oloriegbe, the APC candidate, who contested against Saraki in Saturdays National Assembly election, won the Kwara central senatorial district.

Olaniyonu in a statement on Monday, February 25, urged party supporters to disregard the report which claimed Saraki conceded defeat to Oloriegbe.

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2019 Election: Presidential candidate, party leaders react to announced results| Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
- INEC has apologised for the unruly behaviour of one of its returning officers in Plateau state

- The returning officer was reportedly drunk and could not declare the result for its LGA

- INEC claimed the returning officer, a university lecturer, was drunk on Sunday and was sacked when he could not perform his duty

Salihu Adamu Musa, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officer in Bokkos local government of Plateau, on Monday, February 25, apologised over the shameful behaviour of the returning officer deployed to the area.

Musa was responding to a question raised by APC collation officer in Pankshin, Emmanuel Bok, who sought to know why he (Musa), was declaring the results of elections for Bokkos, instead of the returning officer, as stipulated by law.

Musa, in his explanation, told the party agents, observers and INEC officials that the returning officer, a university lecturer, was drunk on Sunday and was sacked when he could not perform his duty.

READ ALSO: Live updates: INEC begins official declaration of presidential election results

The returning officers attitude was appalling; he was drunk and couldnt do anything at all. I took over the job based on instructions from the INEC headquarters in Jos," Musa explained.

Musa apologised to the election officials on behalf of the electoral body, and promised that the situation would not repeat itself.

Bok, who thanked Musa for the explanation, said that he had intended to reject the result because they were not presented by the officer designated to do so.

If not for the explanation you gave to us, I would not have accepted the results until we see the returning officer. But, if that was what happened, then it is very unfortunate and bad for us in our journey toward deepening out democracy, he said.

In his reaction, Mason Mahli, PDP collation officer in the local government, appealed to INEC to always ensure that only reputable people were recruited to assist it in such crucial assignments.

INEC must always look for credible persons for serious national assignments like this. Electoral duties are sacred assignments that must be handled seriously and with utter commitment, he stated.

Jonathan Mawuyau, another APC collation officer and former justice commissioner in Plateau, who also reacted to the removal of the returning officer, regretted the very bitter experience elections officials had with the sacked official.

The officer came to the collation centre drunk. On Sunday, we waited for his arrival up to 2.00 p.m., but when he later arrived and took his seat, he started dozing off before the very eyes of everybody in the hall.

Shortly after, he woke up and excused us to go ease himself, but the next thing we heard was that he had driven away. He was later accosted and brought back.

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In fact, I had to apologise on his behalf. The official was so drunk that he could not do the Job," Mawuyau explained.

Joan Arabs, INEC official from the commissions headquarters in Abuja, in her response, assured the party agents, journalists and observers, who had gathered at the senatorial collation centre in Pankshin, that the mistake would not be repeated.

We have noted this mistake and want to assure you that we will correct it, she said.

Legit.ng earlier reported that there was confusion at national collation centre on Monday, February 25, in Abuja as the collation officer for Ondo mixed up number of votes gathered by two political parties - the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Following series of mix up of the number of votes, the national chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, asked that the collation officer and his colleague step aside to reconcile their results.

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2019 Election: Nigerians react to Saraki's loss as INEC releases more results| - on Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
Legit.ng has been giving a lot of recent updates about Baba Suwe who is presently sick. The ailing Nollywood actor took to asking Nigerians to come to his aid after his illness aggravated. In light of this, a lot of Nigerians have come to his aid.

Even the vice president of Nigeria Yemi Osinbajo honoured the veteran comic actor by donating a sum of N1 million to him. The politician promised to give him more to aid his quick recovery.

In light of the quick and prompt response accorded to Baba Suwe, his first son Adesola Omidina took to writing an open letter in which he thanked all those who came to his father's aid.

The guy mentioned the individuals and groups who raised a helping hand just so his father could quickly recover. Some of the people he mentioned include the current vice president of Nigeria Yemi Osinbajo, the TAMPAN association, individual actors, friends and relatives.

READ ALSO: Top 4 scandals veteran actor Baba Suwe has been involved in

A Nigerian actor Yomi Fabiyi took to his page to share this open letter. Evidently, the letter was meant to show the depth of the actor's appreciation to the lots of people who have assisted him thus far.

Read the words below:

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"It gives me great pleasure to express the gratitude of our family to every Nigerian/Baba Suwe's fans, Non-Nigerians home and abroad. Starting with my mother, His Excellency Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (Ori idobale ni mo wa sir), TAMPAN President & Members, Movie Marketers, Late Barrister Aturu & his wife, Mr. & Mrs Segun Rasco, Mr. & Mrs. Whesu (Awokoya) Pittsburgh, Mr. Kola Olotu, Mr. Yomi Fabiyi, Jamaica Hospital New York, Federal Ministry of Health, Lagos University Teaching Hospital(LUTH) staff, Nollywood Colleagues, Media Houses, Journalists, bloggers, Human Rights NGOs, clergymen and so on. Kindly pardon me if any ommission.

"On behalf of Omidina family, I like to deeply thank everyone for your countless support, financially, morally and otherwise. The love shown to my father Babatunde Omidina (a.k.a Baba Suwe) is so enormous and extra-ordinary especially in the last 6days. The contributions and those still contributing to my father's road to recovery are unimaginable and unthinkable. This is simply Pure Love.

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"I can see the favor and grace of God in my dad's life. It is our prayers that in few months time, with your continued prayers and support, he will return fit, healthy again and back to the screen. He sends his deepest appreciation and will of course do personally later.

The family will never forget this unique love, care and acceptance. God bless all the hands that giveth, they SHALL NOT LACK. Our family wish everyone the best of sound health and prosperity.

With sincere humility and gratitude.

SIGNED:

Adesola Omidina (@twenty2ndstudios)

For: OMIDINA FAMILY.

23/02/2019"

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Recently, Jigan Babaoja, an upcoming actor, assisted in helping Baba Suwe. However, many people took to lambasting him for posing with the ailing actor while holding the cash he gave to him.

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Faces Of Nigeria | Regina Helen Thanks Everyone For Help | Legit TV

Source: Legit
Duties of a secretary  what do we know about them? Sometimes, a person who wants to become a secretary doesnt have a clear idea of what this job includes and which duties are expected from a good, helpful secretary. Here, we have a good post that will explain to you what it means to occupy this post in a company and what you will need to do.

Image: pixabay.com

Source: UGC

Being a secretary is an excellent start for one's career. If you are planning to work in big companies, the experience of being a secretary will help you a lot. Check out this post and discover the advantages and challenges of this job.

Who is a secretary and what are secretary duties?

The history of this profession dates back to Ancient Rome where wealth citizens had a special person by them. This person was called a secretary and had a range of specific duties. One of the primary functions of such a person was to advise the wealthy master and always keep secret everything the master told, did, or intended to do. Later, medieval Europeans understood the role, meaning, and value of this profession and started to introduce it widely.

Image: pexels.com

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Who is a nurse: types, roles and duties

Today, secretaries are not just ones among the numerous employees of the company. A secretary is a companys face. Attention, honesty, diligence and a friendly attitude are the necessary qualities of a high-class secretary. They help a professional communicate with people effectively and build up a positive image of the company.

A good professional at this job must have perfect communication skills, to speak his or her mind in a clear, concise, and logical way. Sometimes, secretaries participate in negotiations as members of the negotiating parties. Being present and participating in negotiations demands special skills and its just great if a secretary has them at once when hired. Such an employee is a valuable member of a company.

What a secretary should do: average duties

Image: pixabay.com

Source: UGC

Depending on the specifics of each separate company, the duties of a secretary can vary. Still, in most cases they are like this:

Management of documents. This is a secretary who controls the correctness of all the formal papers, which then will be signed by the boss. This is a secretary who systematises all the necessary documents, revises them from time to time, sends some of them to the companys archive and annihilates the others.

This is a secretary who controls the correctness of all the formal papers, which then will be signed by the boss. This is a secretary who systematises all the necessary documents, revises them from time to time, sends some of them to the companys archive and annihilates the others. Creation of a working plan for the boss. This duty involves the arrangement of meetings, the organization of briefings and councils, and other events, which mean the participation of many employees, the boss, and sometimes guests or higher management (in case the company is a branch of a bigger structure).

This duty involves the arrangement of meetings, the organization of briefings and councils, and other events, which mean the participation of many employees, the boss, and sometimes guests or higher management (in case the company is a branch of a bigger structure). Reception of phone calls, letters, emails, which are addressed at the boss. Apart from this, the secretary is the one who controls and formats all the outgoing documents and letters properly.

Apart from this, the secretary is the one who controls and formats all the outgoing documents and letters properly. Control of the timely performance of the boss assignments and tasks by other employees of the company. In case there is a certain disorder in this area, the secretary takes the necessary steps to make employees perform their duties and handle their assignments with more responsibility, diligence, and devotion.

Image: pexels.com

Source: UGC

Documentary formalisation of the employment or dismissal of employees. All these documents must be in perfect order, just like the employees documents, which confirm their employment.

All these documents must be in perfect order, just like the employees documents, which confirm their employment. Keeping all the commercial information secret by all means. Since the secretary deals with all the letters, calls, emails and other sources of confidential information, this person should be highly responsible and trustworthy.

Since the secretary deals with all the letters, calls, emails and other sources of confidential information, this person should be highly responsible and trustworthy. The informal part of a secretarys job is in a good look and good manners. Being the face of a company, a secretary should always look neat and fresh, have a healthy appearance, a pleasant smile, friendly manners, and a smart brain. Its great if the secretary speaks one or several foreign languages because there can be foreigners among the companys guests.

Organisation of a secretarys work

Image: pexels.com

Source: UGC

A secretary has numerous duties, and its necessary to organize the working place and space most effectively and comfortably. The place where the secretary works should always be neat and clean because it helps guests develop their opinion on the whole company. That is why its so important to give a lot of attention to the way the secretary looks and the place where he or she works.

Apart from this, working with papers, working in an office demands a lot of different stationery items and appliances like a laptop, a tablet, a good phone with many useful functions, and so on. Its also important to take care of the boss working place and provide it with all the necessary tools and devices in time. Its a shame if its necessary to sign an important contract and theres no pen at hand, right?

The duties of a secretary include this part, too: to provide the boss with everything that may be necessary at any moment.

List of the duties and requirements for a secretary who assists the boss

Image: pexels.com

Source: UGC

Secretaries assist managers at different levels. Those who work at the topmost levels within a company have the highest salaries, but the circle of their duties is somewhat wider. These duties involve a lot of responsibility and hard work. Heres a description of such duties for you to know.

The main duty of such a secretary is in informational and administrative assistance. In simple words, the secretary needs to know everything about everything and also plan and organise all the events, keeping in mind the boss schedule.

Such a secretary communicates with business partners of the boss directly, arranges meetings and negotiations. All this means speaking foreign languages, perfect knowledge of the business etiquette and also national specific features of the business etiquette in different countries.

A secretary of this rank should have a flawless appearance. Unless a different approach is a particular policy of the company, the classic formal style will be the best choice. A business suit that fits perfectly well, shoes of a classic shape (with medium-sized heels for female secretaries) and a smooth hairstyle. Women should also give attention to their make-up (no flamboyant colours and heavy layers) and jewellery (the fewer items, the better).

Image: pexels.com

Source: UGC

Sometimes, secretaries become a part of their boss life. Its a frequent situation when a boss asks the secretary not only to create a schedule or organize a meeting but also to collect some laundry from a dry cleaner. In case you dont want to do things like this, ask about the possibility of such tasks at the moment you are being interviewed for the job. Its normal if you dont want to do anything except for your working tasks.

If you are into becoming a secretary, you should remember that this job is not easy. You may be ordered to accompany your boss in business trips, organize those business trips, book flights and be responsible for their comfort, communicate with business partners without letting them know the commercial information about your company but being utterly polite and respectful. All this can be quite hard.

Image: pixabay.com

Source: UGC

However, if you now know the role of the secretary in a big company and still you are not scared away by anything, you can become a great assistant for your boss. First, if you have not completed it yet, you need to pass a special training that will let you know all the rules of document management and composition, and so on.

Then, when you get a certificate, you may start searching for a suitable job offer on the market. However, you should remember that the competition in this sphere is quite high and that you will need to show a very high professional excellence to be chosen among other candidates.

READ ALSO: What are the duties of the Nigerian Navy

Source: Legit
There are many ministers in Nigeria responsible for a particular sphere of activities in the country, but who is responsible for culture and information in the country. Do you know who is the Minister of Information in Nigeria now and what his duties are? In this post, you will learn top facts you should know about the current Minister of Information in Nigeria and what he is responsible for.

Image: facebook.com, @Alhaji-Lai-Mohammed

Source: Facebook

Many people do not know who is the minister of a particular industry. But we have gathered for you the most important and most interesting facts about one of the ministers. Who is the Minister of Information in Nigeria? Let's find out.

Who is the Minister of Information and Culture in Nigeria?

The current Minister of Information and Culture in Nigeria is Honorable Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

Top facts about Alhaji Lai Mohammed

According to the information provided by the official website, the Nigerian minister was born on the 6th of December, 1951 in the community of Igbaja, which is located in Irepodun Local Government Area in Kwara State. His primary education began in the Native Authority Primary School in his hometown. Then Alhaji Lai Mohammed attended Government Secondary School in Kogi State.

The current head of Ministry of Information studied at the University of Ife in the period 1971-1976. There he was certified with a Bachelor Degree of Arts and the 2nd Upper Class in French. In 1985, Lai Mohammed received a Bachelor Degree of Law at the Lagos University.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed has accumulated significant experience in the political sphere, and only after some years, in 1990, he joined the Social Democratic Party. Seven years later Sir Lai Mohammed entered the National Democratic Coalition and became the director of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu Campaign Organisation in 1998.

He became the Interim National Publicity Secretary of the APC, and afterwards, he was chosen as the substantive National Publicity Secretary. Alhaji Lai Mohammed was in that post till his election as Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

On November 11, 2015, Alhaji Lai Mohammed was sworn in by President Muhammadu Buhari as Minister of Information and Culture in Nigeria following his appointment and successful screening by the Nigerian Senate.

Image: facebook.com, @Alhaji-Lai-Mohammed

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: How many ministers do we have in Nigeria?

The Minister of Information in Nigeria plays a vital role in the development of the entire state. There is a tremendous responsibility on his shoulders, namely mass media, publishing, and printing. Keep reading, and you will learn more about the functions of his power.

Duties of the Minister of Information in Nigeria

If you wonder what functions does the Minister of the Information perform, they are the following:

implementation of state policy in the field of mass information, publishing, printing, distribution of printed works and media products, regulation, management and coordination of the activities of other republican government bodies, local executive and administrative bodies in this area;

evolution and implementation of measures aimed at reforming the dynamic growth of the economy in the field of mass media, publishing, printing, distribution of published writings and media products;

pursuing, on the basis of international treaties, a coordinated policy with the relevant authorities of the states in the sphere of mass media, publishing, printing works, and activities for the distribution of printed magazines and mass media products;

organisation and growth of international cooperation in the field of mass information, publishing, printing, distribution of published papers and media products;

the creation of a culture of mass media, the strengthening of the legal and professional fundamentals of the mass media;

the establishment of organisations and individual entrepreneurs engaged in publishing and printing actions, the distribution of printed publications and mass media products;

improvement of the management system in the field of mass information, publishing, printing, distribution of published papers and media products;

development under the legislation of investment projects and their implementation.

Image: facebook.com, @Alhaji-Lai-Mohammed

Source: Facebook

Alhaji Lai Mohammed always tries to make our country better not only inside but also on the arena of international relationships.

Now you know who is the current Minister of Information and Culture in Nigeria and what functions he performs. Also, you have learned the top facts from his biography. It is always interesting to learn something new about the people who are at the helm in the country.

READ ALSO: Current ministers in Nigeria in 2018

Source: Legit
If you are looking for Norway scholarship programs, you are probably emotionally ready to study in a cold country with a lot of snow and one of the best higher academic educations in the world! Studying at Norwegian universities can give you the experience of living in one of the most developed countries in the world and an opportunity of staying there for a long time. Check out Norway scholarship programs here.

Image: pexels.com

Source: UGC

A scholarship is something that may help a student a lot. Studying in a foreign country, in a foreign part of the world is very hard and may be very expensive. That is why scholarships are so sought for by many students in Norway.

Norway scholarship for international students

Norwegian scholarships are known for their availability to international students. Its a great feature of Norwegian education that some of their universities are free for people from abroad who come to their country to study. Heres a short list of popular Norwegian scholarships.

Image: pexels.com

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Japan scholarship 2018 for international students

Nord University Postdoctoral Fellowship in Molecular Ecology

It is a programme that stretches over two years and is available to postdoctoral students who are ready to dedicate their time and efforts to the studying of the population genomics in the Arctic Ocean and North Atlantic Ocean.

If you are interested in this programme, you can visit its own webpage for more information. Proficiency in English is one of the main criteria.

Image: pixabay.com

Source: UGC

PhD Fellowships at Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI)

This programme is aimed at helping three PhD students in their research projects. The framework of the programme includes human rights, fighting poverty, social development, and other vital issues of modern society. It is the goal of the Research Council of Norway, which funds the programme. Of course, this program is open for international candidates as well as for domestic ones.

Since there are only three available scholarships of this type, requirements are quite tough. You need to be a pursuing PhD to apply and know English at the highest possible level. If you do know other languages and can speak them freely, this is a huge advantage for you. Good communication skill, creativity, and practical experience in social sciences are highly useful.

If you are interested in details, please turn to the webpage of this program. You will find all the information you need and contact details.

Image: pixabay.com

Source: UGC

ConceptLab Visiting Fellowships at the University of Oslo

This scholarship is open to all PhD students who are interested in engineering and would like to participate in a collaborative project. This scholarship covers visits to a laboratory of concept engineering where the participants can criticize or suggest improvements to the existing concepts. The concepts are taken from all existing areas of philosophy, and thus it becomes interesting to everybody.

This scholarship is also funded by the Research Council of Norway. Even though the scholarship means only visiting the lab, the contribution from the visitors is supposed to improve the quality of performance of ConceptLab, enrich the intellectual atmosphere and, in the end, come up with new inventions.

The scholarship is available to both domestic and foreign students and in case you are already interested in the program, you are welcome to visit the webpage dedicated to this program, and discover all the eligibility criteria.

Image: pixabay.com

Source: UGC

PhD Research Fellowship in Immunology, University of Oslo

This scholarship is planned for three years of research practice in the field of immunology at the Norwegian Complement Research Group. Doctors of Medicine are heads of this programme and conduct all the research within the frame of this scholarship.

Since this program is open to foreign students, you will need to show that you are proficient in English. It is the language everybody speaks within the programme. There are other requirements, too, but you need to visit the webpage of the scholarship to check them out and see whether you are eligible with your current academic level and skills.

Image: pixabay.com

Source: UGC

Norway Arctic University Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Linguistics

This scholarship for postdoctoral students is available to international candidates. You will need to prove that you are skilled and proficient in English when you apply for this scholarship.

In case you need additional information on this programme, visit this University's webpage. To get all the information you need about application and requirements.

These are some of the best Norway best scholarship programmes that are offered to international students.

READ ALSO: MUSTE scholarship for 2018-2019

Source: Legit.ng
A group of kind-hearted Estonians rescued an animal from ice cold water. The construction workers thought they had actually saved a dog but were shocked to realise it was a wolf. They were working at the Sindi dam on the frozen Parnu River in southwestern Estonia when they spotted an animal trying to swim amidst ice. The workers approached the animal and saw that it was covered in snow. They wrapped it in a blanket and took it to a clinic or medical care thinking it to be a dog.

Later, it was a hunter who told them it was not a dog but a one-year-old wolf. They were also told that it was suffering from shock and hypothermia. The workers were utterly shocked to discover that they were taking care of a wild animal until then. The wolf recovered a day later and was released back into the wild. It was also even a GPS collar. Man Developed Customised Drone to Rescue Puppy From a Drain in Lucknow, Watch Video.

Check out pictures of the wolf mistake for a dog below:

The Estonian Union for the Protection of Animals (EUPA) posted photos of the canine on Facebook saying that the animal was "very exhausted, hypothermic and frozen" when it was brought to the clinic. One of the wolf's rescuers, Rando Kartsepp, told the Estonian newspaper Postimees that it was quiet all through the journey towards the hospital.

EUPA veterinarians who suspected that it was not a dog consulted a local hunter who confirmed it was a wolf. Estonia has approximately 200 wolves. The EUPA said they took care of the medical expenses. They added saying, "We thank the heart of the young men who went to help the wild animal and saved him."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 26, 2019 07:26 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
New Delhi, February 26: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in the all-party meeting on Tuesday informed all the leaders that she had spoken to the United States Secretary of State Michael Pompeo over Indian Air Force conducted surgical strikes on terror camps of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Balakote, reported news agency ANI. The all-party meeting was attended by many opposition leaders. In the meeting, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said the opposition extends full support to the government and security forces to fight against terrorism. Surgical Strike 2: Indian Air Force Strikes JeM Camps in Pakistan Days After Pulwama Attack, Pak Officials Cry Intrusion.

As all the opposition parties backed government to eliminated terrorist, Sushma Swaraj after the all-party meeting said, "I am happy that all parties in one voice praised the security forces and supported the government's anti-terror operations." JeM Terror Camps Destroyed by IAF in Strikes Across LoC Balakot: Photos.

Tweet by ANI:

#WATCH EAM Sushma Swaraj after all party meeting: I am happy that all parties in one voice praised the security forces and supported the Govt's anti-terror operations. pic.twitter.com/AOaIhMIDln  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

The all-party meeting was held at Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan in New Delhi. The meeting was attended by Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy and Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah among others.

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad appreciated the government efforts and extended support. "We have appreciated the efforts by the forces, they always have our support to end terrorism. Another good thing is that it was a clean operation which specifically targeted terrorists and terror camps," he said.

Meanwhile, Indian Air Force on the intervening night of 25 and 26 February conducted Surgical strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps. Confirming the development, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said JeM's biggest terror was fully destroyed in the strike. According to reports, around 300 terrorists were killed in the attack.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 26, 2019 07:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Under the new dormitories plan, Orr Hall, as seen on Wednesday, is one of the few existing dorms that is not expected to be demolished.
CAMDENTON, Mo.  Camdenton R-III School Board members recently voiced their support and concerns about a range of proposed laws in Jefferson City. The district says board members went to the meeting of statewide school board members and superintendents to hear more about the implications of those bills.

Governor Parson addressed the attendees and said he intends to promote more funding for our schools, especially in the area of transportation reimbursement. He also discussed his Fast Track program through Economic Development to train and employ adults for better paying jobs.

Camdenton R-III Superintendent Dr. Tim Hadfield and Camdenton R-III School Board Vice-President Nancy Masterson discussed the pending legislation with Representative Suzie Pollock and the effect those changes would have on district. They stressed, local control is best for Missouri school districts. They said that trying to make legislation one-size-fits-all does an injustice when local school boards know what is best for their students, their community shareholders (e.g. school calendars), and special needs and resources within their district. They also met with Representative Rocky Miller on this subject, but were unable to see Senator Justin Brown, as he was in a committee meeting.

Pending legislation that Camdenton R-III School Board will continue to monitor:

1) Charter school expansion: before any expansion of charter schools occurs, the legislation should specify that they be subject to the same accountability standards as all Missouri public schools.

2) April school board elections move to November: the board believes this bill will encourage party politics in school board elections and feels elections should remain non-partisan. This could also make it more expensive for the candidates (who receive no pay) and the local school districts, members say.

3) Further one-size-fits-all vs. local issues legislation: lawmakers are considering a reading intervention plan that will dictate that the same plan for students be used across the state. Board members say having a plan is a good idea, but individual plans should be decided by a local district based on their resources and what each student needs.
Milan, February 26 - Former VIP photographer and 'paparazzi king' Fabrizio Corona will have to leave his home in Milan within the next 120 days. The home was seized from him almost a year ago by the Milan court. The 'eviction' notice has been listed in the official deeds of the surveillance court, which in recent months upheld a therapeutic sentence for Corona with his official residence in the home. In January 2018 a Milan prosecutor asked a seized-assets board to confiscate Corona's home but give him back 1.8 million euros. The flat is in Via de Cristoforis, a stone's throw from Corso Como, the heart of the Milanese night scene. Corona has pled for the house to be left to him so he can sell it and raise some of the money he still owes. The 1.8 million is part of 2.6 million seized from the former glamour photographer, who has been through a series of trials for blackmailing VIPs.
Rome, February 26 - The spokesperson of the 5-Star Movement, Giulia Sarti, on Tuesday suspended herself from the anti-establishment group after Rimini prosecutors rejected a suit against her former boyfriend for alleged robbery. The prosecutors said Sarti, who also quit as chair of the House justice committee, was not the victim of misappropriation of reimbursements by Andrea Tibusche Bogdan, an IT consultant of Romanian origin. Sarti said no other member of the M5S had persuaded her to sue Bogdan.
Brussels, February 26 - The European Commission will issue a negative verdict on Italy's 2019 budget and the public finances in its country report on Wednesday, ANSA learned Tuesday. Government measures will not boost growth, the report will say, sources told ANSA. Investments are halted, the 'quota 100' pension reform will not boost growth and there will only be a 0.15% consumer spending rise due to the new basic income, the sources said. Instead of boosting growth, the budget may raise Italy's public debt, already the second biggest in the eurozone after Greece's, at over 130% of GDP, the report will say.
Milan, February 26 - The wife of a murdered architect on Tuesday saw her 20-year prison term upheld on appeal while her lover had his life sentence also confirmed. Alfio Molteni was murdered near Como in 2015 by Alberto Brivio at the behest of his lover Daniela Rho, the victim's wife. Another man who carried out the murder, Vincenzo Scovazzo, also saw his life term upheld.
Trieste, February 26 - Fincantieri CEO Giuseppe Bono said Tuesday that he was hopeful the Italian group's takeover of French shipbuilder Chantiers de l'Atlantique will happen. The European Commission has opened a probe after France and Germany had asked it to look into whether the takeover could harm competition on the shipbuilding market. "We will work with the EU to configure the acquisition and accelerate the process, which we are confident will come to a positive conclusion," Bono said in a conference call with analysts. "We are confident that our arguments will be given the just consideration and this will enable us to create the Airbus of the seas".
Rome, February 26 - Cardinal George Pell, who was the prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two children under the age of 13 when he was Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne in the 1990s by a court in Australia. The 77-year-old, who was also a member of the Council of Cardinals, the body that advises Pope Francis on reform of the Church, is the most senior Catholic cleric to be convicted of child sex abuse. The announcement of the ruling by 12 jury members at the County Court of Victoria comes just two days after the closure of a major Vatican meeting on protection minors from sexual abuse. A sentence hearing will start on Wednesday and Pell risks a prison term of up to 50 years. Pell says he is innocent and is appealing. Australia's ABC network, meanwhile, reported that Archbishop of Brisbane Mark Coleridge was under investigation by his former archdiocese, Canberra and Goulburn, over his handling of sexual-abuse allegations. The investigation regards a complaint by woman who said Coleridge, who is also president of the Australian Bishops' Conference, had failed to follow up on information she gave him about alleged child sex abuse in 2006, ABC said. Coleridge gave a homily during the final Mass of the Vatican meeting protecting minors.
Helmut Dosch, Chairman of the DESY Board of Directors, Oda Keppler from the Federal Ministry for Education and Research, and Arik Willner, CTO at DESY,uncover the logo wall in the DESY Innovation Village

I Love Innovation was the fitting motto with which the DESY Innovation Village was officially inaugurated on Valentines Day, in the presence of DESYs Board of Directors and representatives of the federal and local Hamburg governments. It will offer DESY start-ups offices, workshops and laboratory space.The DESY Innovation Village currently has a floor space of approx. 1000 square metres.

The inauguration ceremony was followed by an open founders colloquium, at which a variety of seminars were offered for young entrepreneurs and people interested in starting a company. They covered a wide range of topics, from legal issues, through financial options to the structure of a company.

The DESY Innovation Village is one of our central means to advance innovation, new ideas and the transfer of knowledge and technology on the campus. It demonstrates that these issues have been a focus of DESYs efforts in recent years, says Helmut Dosch, the chairman of DESYs Board of Directors. He adds that on top of this, opening the DESY Innovation Village is a first building block, which is moving the aspect of innovation and transfer forward within the overall concept of Science City Bahrenfeld.

Arik Willner, DESYs CTO and representative for innovation, is very pleased with the completion: The DESY Innovation Village is an important pillar of our innovation strategy; this is where you can see the innovative impact of fundamental research. It is incredibly important to us to have created a good working environment for the successful growth of our start-ups and that we are continuing to expand and consolidate the ecosystem for them.

In addition to the DESY Innovation Village, two other buildings for start-ups and innovative projects will also be going up over the coming years: the Innovation Centre and the Technology and Founders Centre. Until they have been completed, the DESY Innovation Village will primarily be used by DESY start-ups. In the long run, additional innovation activities at DESY are to find a home here, such as teams working on validation projects and employees in the run-up to starting their own companies.

The planned Innovation Centre is a joint project between DESY, the university and the city of Hamburg. Construction work on the building on Luruper Chaussee is due to begin in the spring of 2019. The Technology and Founders Centre is being designed by DESY as a federal institution and hopes to attract new companies in the fields of life sciences, biotechnology and new materials. The structure and facilities provided by these incubators are designed to offer knowledge-based start-ups an ideal setting in a scientifically driven context, in which DESY will serve as an anchor institute.
Metro Manila (February 26, CNN Philippines)  Malacanang assured illegal Chinese workers of due process before deportation proceedings are applied against them, the presidential spokesperson said Tuesday.

Salvador Panelo said in a media briefing Tuesday the President is cautious about the plight of thousands of Filipino illegally working in China who may face similar arbitrary immigration proceedings in case the government does the same for Chinese nationals.

"Ang sinasabi ni Presidente, we have 300,000 Filipinos illegally working there (China). Eh kung bigla mong pinauwi 'yun dito, eh 'di nagkaproblema, hindi lang sila, kundi 'yung pamilya nila. Kaya we should tread it cautiously," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Tuesday in a Palace press briefing.

[Translation: What the President is saying, we have 300,000 Filipinos illegally working there in China. If they are suddenly sent home, then they and their families would have a problem. That's why we should tread it cautiously.]

He said Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua told him over dinner that China will also do the same to Filipinos if the government deports Chinese nationals without due process. The spokesman didn't say when the dinner took place.

"If this government will just deport Chinese, not in accordance with law, then we will also do the same," Panelo said, quoting Zhao.

He later on said he and Zhao were only speaking in "general terms" and that the Chinese ambassador was not referring to the Philippines.

Panelo then said the law protects legal foreign workers.

"The immigration laws will be strictly enforced against anyone who violates it ... Chinese workers with working permits, they will be protected because they have been given the green light to work here," he said.

According to government data, almost 400 foreign nationals were arrested last year, 304 of whom were Chinese nationals either overstaying or working without permits.

The Labor department is eyeing stricter penalties against companies that continue to hire illegal foreign workers.
South Africa: Tributes for Dorothy Masuku

Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa has paid tribute to the late Dorothy Masuku, describing her as the quintessential African who was completely at ease in her articulation of the languages of Africa.

At this stage, words truly fail, as Mama Masukus death reverberates throughout the country and continent as would when a great Baobab tree falls It leaves a trail of destruction in its fall - in our case that of broken hearts, as hers was one of the most extraordinary of all lives. A legacy of immeasurable proportions, the Minister said.

The Jazz performer, composer and recipient of the National Order of Ikhamanga passed away at the age of 83 on Sunday.

Masuku spent more than 50 years being feted globally as an artist whose performances directed the spotlight at the injustices of apartheid.

On behalf of the government and the people of South Africa, I wish to pass my deepest condolences to the family of this great African, her peers, and in particular the surviving Divas of Kofifi, her fans, and my compatriots who loved and treasured her, the Minister said.

Masuku was awarded the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver for excellent achievement in and contribution to music composition and performance.

Born in Zimbabwe in 1935, she moved to South Africa with her family when she was 12 and needed treatment for health issues.

She started out as a performer at the age of 16 and developed into an accomplished songwriter and internationally acclaimed artist in the course of half a century.

Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture Xoliswa Tom said Masukus immense contribution to the music industry and the struggle against apartheid laid the foundation for the South African art industry.

She said Masukus passing away leaves a gaping hole in the music industry and that she will remember the beauty she brought to this world.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-02-26. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
UPDATE: The Department of Justice says Manyguns has been found. His family has confirmed with KFBB he was discovered dead today. While it has not yet been confirmed by authorities, those family members tell us Manyguns froze to death. They also say his body is being sent for an autopsy to determine exactly how he died.

Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services issued an attempt to locate for 22-year-old Wayne Roy Manyguns.

According to the BLES, Wayne Manyguns was last seen on Thursday, February 21.

Manyguns is approximately 62, 140 pounds.

He has brown eyes and short brown hair.

He was last seen wearing a green sweatshirt and blue jeans when he left a residence on Medicine Road by foot. He may be traveling to Lame Deer.

If you see Manyguns or know of his whereabouts you are asked to call the Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services Dispatch Center at 406-338-4000.

The Montana DOJ issued an advisory on Monday saying his whereabouts are still unknown:

"A statewide Missing Endangered Person Advisory has been issued for Wayne Many Guns, a 22 year old American Indian male, 6 foot 2 inches tall, 140 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes, last seen wearing a green sweater and blue jeans. Wayne was last seen on February 21st, and he may be attempting to travel from Browning to Lame Deer. He has no vehicle and his judgement may be impaired, he could possibly be exposed to harsh winter conditions, Any information, please contact Blackfeet Tribal Police at 406 338-4000."
Bozeman- Students from Sacajawea Middle School in Bozeman woke up early to play for Wake Up Montana with special guest Mark Wood.

Wood tours with his band, Trans-Siberian Orchestra and is in town to play with students and to teach them the importance of being creative.

Wood has toured and worked with Lenny Kravitz, Celine Dion, and Paul McCartney.

Sacajawea Middle School students will be playing with Wood at their concert tomorrow night.

The show is taking place at the Willson Auditorium.

Tickets are $10 at the door and the show starts at 7 P.M.
From noon to 9:00 p.m. on Monday Missoula the the Bitterroot Valley were under a blizzard warning declared by the National Weather Service.

Missoula resident Olivia Hills who works at Florence Coffee in Lolo said the dangerous weather conditions is "concerning."

"People have been [driving] by really slow, and the plows have been going by every 10 minutes. It's been crazy," Hills said.

Director of Emergency Management for Missoula County Adriane Beck said seven snow plows and a grader have been working around the clock since 5:00 a.m. Monday morning to keep the roads clear in Missoula County.

"[The blizzard] will have some negative impacts. Primarily the driving impacts within the Bitterroot valleys and the Missoula valleys, so here in the city as well as highway 93 and the I-90 corridors can be severely impacted by this storm," Beck said.

While the blizzard warning is no longer in effect, freezing temperatures overnight are still making it dangerous to drive.

"Don't travel if you don't have to, and if you do, make sure you have emergency equipment and supplies in your car so if something should happen that you're prepared for that," Beck said.

She recommends keeping these items in your car during the winter.

It's always a good idea to have an emergency kit in your car," Beck said. "Things such as food, water, warm clothes, flashlights, extra batteries and make sure you have a charged cell phone."

Beck added to stay updated on changing winter conditions.

"We are encouraging the public to stay aware of changing conditions to look out for weather alerts.," Beck said.

Stay updated on weather alerts on the ABC FOX Montana app. Search "Weather Weather Authority" on Apple or Android devices.
President Trump will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at their second summit in Vietnam, just as the President's former personal attorney Michael Cohen testifies before Congress and lawmakers vote on Trump's national emergency. CNN's Pamela Brown reports.
Weather Alert

...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TUESDAY TO MIDNIGHT MDT THURSDAY NIGHT... ...LAKE WIND ADVISORY WILL EXPIRE AT 9 PM MDT THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Daytime highs will climb into the mid 90s to around 100 through midweek while overnight lows remain in the 60s in many areas. Multiple record highs are possible, as well as consecutive days with highs at or above 90. The heat may last through the July 4th weekend. * WHERE...the lower Snake Plain including but not limited to Pocatello, Chubbuck, Fort Hall, Blackfoot, American Falls, Aberdeen, and Shelley. * WHEN...from noon Tuesday to midnight MDT Thursday night. * 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. &&
Auburn, IN (46706)

Today

Showers early then scattered thunderstorms developing later in the day. High 87F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Partly cloudy in the evening with more clouds for later at night. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds light and variable.
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Rain showers in the morning with scattered thunderstorms arriving in the afternoon. High 86F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Isolated thunderstorms in the evening. Mostly cloudy skies overnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.
Angola, IN (46703)

Today

Rain showers in the morning with scattered thunderstorms arriving in the afternoon. High near 85F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Thunderstorms in the evening, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low near 70F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Garrett, IN (46738)

Today

Rain showers in the morning with scattered thunderstorms arriving in the afternoon. High 86F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds light and variable.
World's largest bee, thought to be extinct, spotted for first time since 1981
(Meredith) -- Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte added to his long list of criticisms of the Catholic Church, saying that the religion will disappear completely in 25 years due to the clergy's sexual abuse scandals.

(Translated to English) "This Catholic will disappear. In almost 25 years, it will disappear. No more, people will forget it," Duterte said in a speech Sunday.

The president went on to discuss the reasons behind his theory, saying the alleged ongoing sexual abuse and its cover-ups within the Church will ultimately push its followers to flee the religion.

Pope calls abusive clergy 'tools of Satan' Pope Francis, speaking on the final day of a historic summit on clergy sexual abuse, called priests and other Catholics who abuse children "tools of Satan," but offered no concrete steps to address the church's massive and morally damning abuse crisis.

(Translated to English) "When they [clergy members] are aroused, they abuse nuns. If they're gay, they go to children. Who needs a religion like that?" Duterte said during his speech.

According to CNN Philippines, Duterte and the Catholic Church have been at odds over his ongoing criticisms of the clergy. CNN Philippines reports that Duterte previously referred to God as "stupid" and said all Catholic priests should die of venereal (sexually transmitted) disease.

Duterte's statements came on the last day of the Catholic Church's historic, unprecedented four-day summit. The summit gathered 190 Catholic leaders, including 114 bishops from around the world, to address the clergy sexual abuse scandal that stretches across several continents.
Trump is sending humanitarian aid to Venezuela. Venezuelans in the US say they need help, too
PD: Arizona mom blew .254 after driving with four young kids in the car
'I literally feel like weve been robbed': Couple loses thousands of dollars after foreclosure of Metro East wedding venue [UPDATE]
Craig Coley, 71, spent almost four decades in prison for murders he didn't commit.
The Government banned all future offshore exploration for oil and gas, despite it having lower carbon emissions than coal. They claim that the world is moving towards a future with no oil and gas.

Well if this is true, then surely other countries would be doing the same. I mean we wouldnt be so stupid as to ban domestic production just so we have to import more would we?

Well read these snippets from a SPTEC newsletter:

China: Chinas state energy giants are set to raise spending on domestic drilling this year to the highest levels since 2016, focusing on adding natural gas reserves in a concerted drive to boost local supplies. Responding to central governments call last August to boost domestic energy security, Chinas trio of oil majors  PetroChina, Sinopec Corp and CNOOC Ltd  are adding thousands of wells at oil basins in the remote deserts of Northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, shale rocks in Southwest Chinas Sichuan Province and deepwater fields of the South China Sea. The firms are showing greater risk appetite, expanding investments faster in exploration than production, emboldened by central governments political push and oil prices nearing $60 a barrel, said state oil executives and analysts at consultancy Wood Mackenzie.(Selected by SPTEC Advisory from Global Times, February 10)

So the worlds largest greenhouse gas producer is increasing, not banning, oil and gas production.

How about the worlds third largest producer?

India: India is offering 23 oil and gas and coal-bed methane blocks for bidding in the third round of Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OLAP) as it looks to more than double the area under exploration to raise domestic output and cut imports. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched the OALP-III bid round at the Petrotech 2019 conference on the outskirts of Delhi. In OALP-III, 23 blocks in 12 sedimentary basins are being offered. Of these, five are coal-bed methane (CBM) blocks. Total area on offer is about 31,000 sq kms, he said. Last date for bidding is April 10. OALP-III will run concurrently with OALP-II, where 14 blocks covering an area of close to 30,000 sq km is on offer for bidding, he said, adding in OALP-I, 55 blocks covering an area of 60,000 sq km were awarded in October last year.(Selected by SPTEC Advisory from Energy-Pedia, February 10)

We really are the morons of the world  imposing a ban that is bad for both the environment and the economy.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday rejected a challenge brought by an associate of Roger Stone, the indicted long-time advisor to President Donald Trump, to the legality of the Justice Departments 2017 appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

In doing so, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a lower courts decision to hold Andrew Miller in contempt for refusing to comply with a grand jury subpoena that was served on him by Mueller, who is investigating potential conspiracy between Trumps 2016 campaign and Russia.

The court concluded that Muellers appointment by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Departments No. 2 official, was lawful under the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution that lays out presidential powers on appointing certain public officials.

Millers lawyer had argued that the appointment was unlawful because Mueller was not named by the president and approved by the U.S. Senate. That argument depended on Mueller being viewed as what is known as a principal officer who must be confirmed by the Senate.

The appeals court agreed with the Justice Department that Mueller is an inferior officer, a lower-level official who is under the direction of Rosenstein like other government lawyers.

Stone, a self-proclaimed dirty trickster and Republican political operative for decades, pleaded not guilty on Jan. 29 to lying to Congress, obstructing an official proceeding and witness tampering, charges brought by Muellers team.

The Mueller probe into Russias role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign threatens Trumps presidency.

Russia has denied it interfered in the election. Trump and Moscow also have denied collusion. Trump has called the Mueller probe a witch hunt.
(Reuters) - Silicon Valley billionaire Elon Musk laid into the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission again on Tuesday, after it accused the Tesla Inc chief executive officer of violating the terms of a settlement last year of fraud charges against him.

In a filing on Monday, the SEC said that in a tweet on Feb. 19 Musk had broken a promise made last year to have his public statements vetted by the companys board, part of the deal.

The regulator did not say what remedy it wanted the court to impose, but the commitment was part of a settlement that headed off demands from the SEC for Musk to resign as Tesla CEO, seen by investors in the company as a substantial risk to its future.

Musk, who initially on Monday accused the SEC of failing to read the companys annual reports, followed up with another tweet in the early hours of Tuesday.

Something is broken with SEC oversight, he wrote.

Shares of the electric carmaker dipped 2.6 percent to $291 in trading before the bell, signaling concern among investors that Musk had reopened his feud with the regulator.

The companys only junk bond also dipped 0.75 points to a cash price of 87.75 in thin trading, still some way off last years lows.

With Tesla/Musk settling with the SEC in October this black cloud was in the rear view mirror for the company, analysts from brokerage Wedbush said in a note to clients.

This latest tweet (is) a wild card that could potentially bring this tornado of uncertainty back into the Tesla story until resolved.

J.P. Morgan Securities analyst Ryan Brinkman said that in a worst case scenario, the SEC could again seek Musks removal as CEO for violating the terms of the agreement and its shares could fall by a fifth, or more than $50, in value.

It is difficult to judge the likelihood of the reappearance of this worst case scenario ... but on the other hand the current allegations seem much less serious (than last years), Brinkman told clients in a note.

If the SEC were to seek Mr. Musks removal (perhaps subject to yet another settlement), we believe the shares may approach the mid-$200 levels.

Thirteen of 32 Wall Street brokerages now rate the electric car company a buy or higher. Eight view it as a hold and 11 sell or lower, with a median PT of $327.50

Teslas general counsel Dane Butswinkas, hired as an outside counsel to help settle the case with the SEC, resigned a day after Musk made the tweet to which the new SEC case refers.

The tweet read: Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019, an inaccurate claim which the SEC said had not been pre-approved by the board and was disseminated to over 24 million people.

Musk corrected his tweet four hours later to say that the annualized production rate at year-end 2019 would probably be about 500,000, with deliveries expected to be about 400,000.

While this tweet (after market hours) and the quick correction seem innocuous, the SEC isnt likely to cut Musk any slack, said another analyst, Gene Munster from Loup Ventures.

Musks unwillingness to follow the rules is part of what you have to be willing to accept as an investor in Tesla.
NEW DELHI/BEIJING, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Vedanta Ltd is selling down copper concentrate stocks from its Sterlite smelter in southern India, looking to cut costs at the plant ordered permanently shut in May, company and government sources told Reuters last week.

The Thoothukudi plant was ordered shut by the Tamil Nadu state government after protests against alleged pollution culminated in police killing 13 demonstrators. Federal elections are due in May, and the two main political parties in Tamil Nadu are against reopening the smelter, increasing the likelihood that the shutdown will continue.

"Vedanta has disposed of 55,000 tonnes of copper concentrate, and has about 35,000 tonnes left, which will be disposed of soon," one of the government officials told Reuters.

The official could not be named because he was not authorised to speak publicly.

Vedanta shipped the copper concentrate in two cargoes to Chinese buyers, one of 25,000 tonnes in late December, and another of 30,000 tonnes in late January, according to two company sources and two shipping industry sources.

Vedanta plans to sell soon the remaining 35,000 tonnes of concentrate left at the 400,000 tonne-per-year smelter, one of Asia's biggest outside China, said three Indian government sources. The sources declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

"Inventory of concentrate will be liquidated in line with our commercial protocols and as per the direction of district administration," Vedanta said in a statement, giving no further details.

An official at Daye Nonferrous Metals Group , one of China's top copper smelters, said his company had taken a cargo of Vedanta's concentrate at the port of Nanjing, without specifying how much.

(Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan in NEW DELHI and Tom Daly in BEIJING; Additional reporting by Melanie Burton in MELBOURNE; Editing by Tom Hogue)
MOSCOW, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest palladium producer, said on Tuesday tighter emissions regulations in all major markets and flattish primary supply would widen a palladium deficit in 2019.

Prices for palladium, chiefly used in emission-curbing auto catalysts, hit a record high in London on Tuesday as a threatened strike by South African mineworkers added to supply concerns in an already tight market. Nornickel produces 40 percent of the world's palladium from its Russian assets. The company estimated that gross palladium demand reached a record high of 10.7 million troy ounces in 2018, mostly driven by consumption in the automotive industry amid flat gross supply.

"(The) spot palladium market practically dried out" in 2018, Nornickel said. The company said the supply tightness was partly eased by the release of stocks from palladium ETFs (exchange-traded funds), which fell below 1 million ounces for the first time since 2009, and from Nornickel's Global Palladium Fund.

This fund buys the metal from existing stockpiles of other holders and then sells it to industrial consumers.

Nornickel said in 2019 the global palladium market deficit is forecast at 800,000 ounces compared with 600,000 ounces in 2018, with consumption up by 500,000 ounces to 11.2 million ounces due to strong demand from autocatalyst producers.

Nornickel, which competes with Brazil's Vale SA to be the world's biggest nickel producer, said the battery industry would increase consumption of this metal by 20 percent in 2019. Nickel is now mainly used as an ingredient to produce stainless steel.

"We believe that EV (electric vehicle) penetration growth will remain the key driver for high-grade nickel demand in the next 5-7 years," the company said.

Nornickel also posted 2018 results, where it reported 56 percent growth in its 2018 core earnings to $6.2 billion, the highest level since 2011, due to higher metal prices. The company, controlled by Russian businessman Vladimir Potanin and aluminium producer Rusal , also said that its board would issue a recommendation for its final 2018 dividend in May.

Nornickel's 2019 capital expenditure is expected to rise to between $2.2 billion and $2.3 billion from $1.6 billion in 2018 as it prepares to boost output to take advantage of an expected boom in demand from electric vehicle makers. Nornickel said its 2018 revenue increased by 28 percent to $11.7 billion on the back of improved metal prices, higher copper output and sale of palladium from earlier accumulated stocks.

p> (Reporting by Polina Devitt; editing by Jane Merriman)
PDAC always give me an appreciation for how big the mining industry is. It's a sea of suits. Deals get done. There is great energy at the show. I don't recall my first PDAC, but it has been well over half a decade since making my first trip. While I have been in the mining media space for a while, it is just my third month since joining the excellent Kitco News team. Please say hi. I will be roving the floor with a camera for some of the days. My survival gear/tip will be drinking coffee and wearing blister pads on my feet. The three-hour time difference never agrees with me, and there are long days spent walking from conference hall to conference hall in infrequently worn formal leather shoes. PDAC will be the last of three convention stops. I will also be at SME Annual Conference in Denver, a show that has more of a mining supplier focus. I will then be at Metal Investor Forum on the weekend before PDAC.

- Michael McCrae, Mining Audiences and Data Intelligence Manager

There are many questions on investors minds this year Is a recession coming? Where is gold heading? Is there such a thing as peak gold? Can you still make a quick profit in the mining industry? What are some life hacks to get through PDAC successfully? With the excitement and chaos of this mining giant conference approaching, you are not to worry as the Kitco News team is heading to Toronto to get you the answers to the most burning questions! I'll personally have you covered with highlights from the PDAC floor and live coverage of the most interesting sessions. Don't forget to follow and tag us on Twitter (@KitcoNewsNOW) or Facebook (@KitcoNews). Some tips from last year's event: schedule everything in advance, stay hydrated, take breaks, don't forget to eat, wear the best walking shoes, and don't miss out on some cool swag. And if things get too hectic, come say hi to the Kitco News team! I'm Really excited to get things started!

- Anna Golubova, Social Media Reporter
Editor's Note:Kitco News has the best precious metals coverage in the world and is in the process of improving its mining news, so we want to hear from you. If you work in the mining sector please take this short survey to help us bring you the news you want.

(Kitco News) - The chief executive officer of Newmont Mining, labeled a potential takeover attempt by rival gold miner Barrick Gold Corp., as nonsensical.

Following the news of a Barrick bid for Newmont, Gary Goldberg the CEO of Newmont said he was shocked, and concerned.

I had discussions with Mark [Bristow] before he came into the role about doing something together more broadly in Nevada, Goldberg said in an interview with Kitco News from the BMO Metals and Mining conference in Florida.

"Hes a miner. I'm a miner. We could sit down and have a good conversation - get the lawyers and the accountants out of the room and just have a good conversation about what could be accomplished. That's where I am but left a little bit perplexed as to why he's chosen this direction to go[a]nd to see this approach just doesn't make sense to me, Goldberg said.

On Monday, Barrick CEO Mark Bristow said that its proposal to buy Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM) provides Newmont shareholders a premium through an estimated $7 billion in synergies, even though a premium was not built into the share-price offer.

Bristow made the comments during a conference call with analysts after his company announced a proposal to acquire Newmont, which in turn earlier this year agreed to merge with Goldcorp Inc. (TSX: G, NYSE: GG).

Bristow called Newmonts plans to acquire Goldcorp ill conceived and said Barrick would not want Goldcorps assets. Newmont, in turn, issued a statement Monday saying it considers the planned merger with Goldcorp to be the better option for its shareholders.

I'm not sure [Bristow] ever did any diligence on the Goldcorp assets so I don't know what his basis is for that, Goldberg said.

In January, Newmont agreed to buy Goldcorp in an all-stock deal valued at $10 billion. That purchase is set to be the largest gold mining deal in history and would secure Newmonts lead over Barrick as the largest producer. If Barrick were to push through a deal for Newmont, it would reclaim the top spot and create a gold mining supergiant, producing 10 million ounces a year.
(Kitco News) - Gold is already on a bull run and the last Federal Reserve rate hike will be an important inflection point for the precious metal prices, Franco-Nevada president and COO Paul Brink told Kitco News.

Weve really started the last gold bull market in 2000-2001 and then we hit a peak in 2012  At the end of 2015 we hit $1,050 gold and now we are at $1,350. So, we are good three years into it. I would equate now to 2004-2005 in the last gold bull run, Brink told Kitco News on the sidelines of the Gold Stock Analyst conference.

Franco-Nevada's president described the current atmosphere in the gold space as an exciting one, adding that the Federal Reserves next steps will be of the utmost importance for gold, especially if the central bank shifts towards no more rate hikes at all.

In the last five years what we have been fighting is rate raises in the U.S. and a strong U.S. dollar. And we are at the point of inflection. I dont know whether weve already seen the last rate raise or whether that last rate raise is later this year. But, either way, that will be a point of inflection that should be a great driver for the gold price, Brink said.

The winter period is always a good time to gauge the health of the mining sector, Franco-Nevada's president added.

At this time a year, you get a lot of excitement and enthusiasm in the gold market. The gold prices also tend to be at the highest and tend to settle a bit in the summer, he noted.

For 2019, Franco-Nevada is focusing on growth, Brink pointed out.

We are going into an exciting period of growth for Franco. Weve been investing heavily in the last number of years  about $2 billion, he said. Our objective has always been to run a portfolio that is at least 80% precious metals, but weve always liked having that room of 20% for diversification, which gives us opportunities to grow when there are not a lot of opportunities in gold.
OSLO (Reuters) - Evidence for man-made global warming has reached a gold standard level of certainty, adding pressure for cuts in greenhouse gases to limit rising temperatures, scientists said on Monday.

Humanity cannot afford to ignore such clear signals, the U.S.-led team wrote in the journal Nature Climate Change of satellite measurements of rising temperatures over the past 40 years.

They said confidence that human activities were raising the heat at the Earths surface had reached a five-sigma level, a statistical gauge meaning there is only a one-in-a-million chance that the signal would appear if there was no warming.

Such a gold standard was applied in 2012, for instance, to confirm the discovery of the Higgs boson subatomic particle, a basic building block of the universe.

Benjamin Santer, lead author of Mondays study at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, said he hoped the findings would win over skeptics and spur action.

The narrative out there that scientists dont know the cause of climate change is wrong, he told Reuters. We do.

Mainstream scientists say the burning of fossil fuels is causing more floods, droughts, heat waves and rising sea levels.

U.S. President Donald Trump has often cast doubt on global warming and plans to pull out of the 197-nation Paris climate agreement which seeks to end the fossil fuel era this century by shifting to cleaner energies such as wind and solar power.

Sixty-two percent of Americans polled in 2018 believed that climate change has a human cause, up from 47 percent in 2013, according to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

SATELLITE DATA

Mondays findings, by researchers in the United States, Canada and Scotland, said evidence for global warming reached the five sigma level by 2005 in two of three sets of satellite data widely used by researchers, and in 2016 in the third.

Separately in 2013, the U.N.s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that it is extremely likely, or at least 95 percent probable, that human activities have been the main cause of climate change since the 1950s.

Peter Stott of the British Met Office, who was among the scientists drawing that conclusion and was not involved in Mondays study, said he would favor raising the probability one notch to virtually certain, or 99-100 percent.

The alternative explanation of natural factors dominating has got even less likely, he told Reuters.

The last four years have been the hottest since records began in the 19th century.

The IPCC will next publish a formal assessment of the probabilities in 2021.

I would be reluctant to raise to 99-100 percent, but there is no doubt there is more evidence of change in the global signals over a wider suite of ocean indices and atmospheric indices, said Professor Nathan Bindoff, a climate scientist at the University of Tasmania.
Ernest Scheyder

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (Reuters) - Long-time rivals Barrick Gold Corp and Newmont Mining Corp renewed their animosity on Monday with their chief executives trading insults after Barrick launched an $18 billion hostile bid for the U.S. company, presaging an aggressive battle.

The tough talk underscored deep personality and cultural differences between the worlds two biggest gold producers. Their past attempts to merge ended in acrimony in 2014, and the frictions could scuttle a deal this time too.

Newmonts financial returns in recent years show its CEO, Gary Goldberg, is a loser, Barrick CEO Mark Bristow told Reuters.

Goldberg, for his part, told Reuters that Bristows credibility and experience and performance at Randgold, which he led until last month when it was acquired by Barrick, was anemic.

Adding to the residue of resentment at the mining companies from past merger failures, the current hostile climate between the companies reflects animosity between the CEOs, opposing management styles and clashing visions for how to achieve maximum shareholder value.

The animus between Bristow and Goldberg extended to a dispute over who extended his hand first for a handshake at a BMO Metals & Mining Conference in Florida on Monday.

For investors, a Barrick-Newmont merger would bring under one roof some of the worlds most compatible gold mines and plants, which sit side by side in Nevada, and create a company likely to appeal to top shareholders seeking a haven for long-only money.

Barrick said there is more logic in a tie-up between the two than in Newmonts planned $10 billion merger with Goldcorp.

I think in an environment of lower gold prices, everyone needs more synergies and the synergies of Nevada - Barrick and Newmont - should have been done a long time ago, said Greg Taylor of Purpose Investments, which holds Newmont shares.

Newmont rejected the Barrick bid, saying a joint venture was a better way to extract value from the two companies mines in Nevada.

The two CEOs said they have not met to compare financial records on the others Nevada assets. Each blamed the other for not being willing to share information.

I drive trucks past ... processing plants in Nevada, because Gary wont share with me, Bristow said.

Goldberg questioned when he was in the state given that Bristows not really spent much time in Nevada to begin with.

The Newmont CEO was adamant the Goldcorp deal was best for his company, contrasting it with what he described as Bristows short-sighted reliance on cost-cutting to pump profits.

We see great value, he said. It feels to us that wherever Mark (Bristow) goes, he seems to be just firing people in order to boost returns.

David Neuhauser of Livermore Partners, which holds Barrick shares, said the no-premium bid could over time suggest a premium multiple, given the long life and cash-generating abilities of the combined assets.

Van Eck and BlackRock, two large shareholders in both names, did not respond to requests for comment.

Major investors have taken on extra weight in the gold sector since many of the smaller metals funds disappeared after the 2015 to 2016 commodity slump. Those long-only funds, which do not invest in small companies, have largely driven the need for gold consolidation.

Passive investors will seal the fate of this deal, said Brian Madden of Goodreid in Toronto.

GOLDCORP

The bid now goes to shareholders, with Barrick asking Newmonts investors to approve bylaw changes that would ultimately make its hostile bid easier.

The big loser would be Goldcorp, only just enjoying a share rally on the prospect of a tie-up with Newmont, which could be left without any potential buyers.

Goldcorps best hope is that it gets swept up in the next wave of activity, which many investors and analysts predict as a mighty Barrick sheds some of its assets.

There is nothing Goldcorp can do to avoid the collapse of their deal, a banker who worked on the Randgold-Barrick deal said on condition of anonymity.

Newmont and Barrick is the deal that should have always happened, at least for the past 20 years.

Additional reporting by Barbara Lewis and Clara Denina in LondonEditing by Amran Abocar and Cynthia Osterman
Barrick wants to buy Newmont. Trump wants a deal with China. Palladium wants to fly into space. And what does gold want?

Will Barrick and Newmont Create Gold Monster?

Do you remember our January 24, 2019 edition of the Gold News Monitor? We analyzed in that report the historic transaction in the bullion industry, i.e. the Newmont Minings purchase of Goldcorp, which will create the worlds largest gold miner. Forget it!

Today, we have something better for you. Yesterday, Barrick Gold Corporation, which is the largest gold mining company, announced that it has made a proposal to the Newmont Mining Corporation, the second-largest gold producer, to merge. The proposal assumes that each Newmont shareholder would receive 2.5694 Barrick shares per Newmont share, so the value of the proposed acquisition is at around $18 billion. So far, it seems that Newmont shareholders received the news about the proposal much better than Barricks shareholders  just look at the stock market price reactions displayed in the chart below.

Chart 1: Barricks stock price return (blue line) and Newmonts stock price return (orange line) over the last month.

The combination of the two would create the worlds best gold company, with unprecedented potential for value creation and the largest portfolio of Tier One gold assets, according to the Barrick. The merged company would have revenues of approximately $15.6 billion, total gold reserves of 141 million ounces and a market capitalization at almost $52 billion, based on todays share prices, more than three times larger than Franco Nevada, its nearest rival. What a golden beast!

However, nobody knows whether the deal comes to fruition. It is conditional on Newmont scrapping the deal to buy Goldcorp. And Newmonts top team seems to be skeptical, describing Barricks proposal as desperate and bizarre. In a statement published yesterday, the company said:

Newmont has previously determined that Barricks risk and return profile is inferior on many fronts, including factoring Barricks comparatively ineffective operating model, poor track record on delivering shareholder returns and unfavorable jurisdictional risk

What it certain is that the proposal is just another sign of the continuing consolidation in the precious-metals sector. And this is not without the significance not only for people investing in gold mining stocks but also for bullion investors. This is because the consolidation in the bullion industry usually occurs around gold bottoms. For example, the last big wave of M&A took place in the late 1990s, just at the end of the bear market in gold. And we have just heard about another acquisition proposal in the industry in recent weeks  so maybe something (read: golds bottom) is in the air.

Will the Trade Wars End? Will It Support Gold?

Maybe! After all, the Fed has turned dovish recently, which should be supportive for the yellow metal. And now not only Powell but also Trump is extending a helping hand. What we mean here, of course, is Trumps announcement that he would delay a hike in tariffs on Chinese imports. Its a sign that the end of trade wars is not very far from us. After all, the president needs a deal before the next years elections. Neither China wants escalation, as the country faces many domestic problems.

As trade wars were positive for the US dollar and negative for the gold market (we explained this in the December edition of the Market Overview), their conclusion should bring reverse effects.

Chart 2: Gold prices (London P.M. Fix) from January to October 2018.

Just look at the chart above. Between April and September, where trade wars were the most intense, gold significantly declined. Thus, gold bulls should welcome all positive news about the trade deal. Unless, they will be too positive and spur too strong risk-appetite which is usually negative for safe-havens assets.

And Now For Something Completely Different

We should probably, as we often do, conclude our analysis displaying the chart of gold prices. However, we would like to call your attention to palladium  its price has just jumped above $1,500. Incredible! We will examine its market in the March edition of the Market Overview. Stay tuned!

Chart 3: Palladium prices from February 22 to February 25, 2019.

Thank you.
Question: We opened a 529 college-savings plan in our home state of New York for a grandchild. But early this year, we moved to Idaho. Can we continue to deduct our contributions to the 529 on our Idaho income tax return?

Answer: You wont get an Idaho state income tax deduction for contributing to the New York 529 plan. You can, however, qualify for an Idaho income tax deduction of up to $6,000 per year (or $12,000 for married couples filing jointly) if you open an account with the Idaho 529 plan and contribute to it. You can keep your New York 529 plan or roll the money over to the Idaho plan.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 26)  President Rodrigo Duterte and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founder Nur Misuari had a short meeting Monday evening in Malacanang, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Tuesday.

Panelo said the 15-minute meeting saw Duterte "apologizing" to and "thanking" Misuari for his patience.

"What transpired last (Monday) night was that the President told the chairman that he admired his patience and he apologized for not having implemented or enforced whatever agreements they had previously with respect to federalism," Panelo told Malacanang reporters.

"They would be talking again, they did not have much time to talk so they will meet again," he added.

Panelo said Misuari did not raise concerns about the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), in the wake of reports some MNLF members were dissatisfied with the limited seats given to their group.

The Office of the President has yet to release the official list of BTA members.

"If the MNLF was complaining about it, the chairman (Misuari) did not mention it last (Monday) night," Panelo stressed. "I do not know the reasons why first there were the delay, but we will provide you with the complete list of the information as soon as we have it."

In a speech Monday, Duterte has ordered the police and the military not to arrest Misuari. Over the weekend, the Chief Executive had also appealed for the Moro leader's help in freeing three foreign hostages of the Abu Sayyaf.

READ: Duterte: Misuari will be remembered as a statesman

Misuari leaves for the United Arab Emirates and Morocco to attend summits of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Council of Foreign Ministers as well as the 14th Session of the Parliamentary Union of Islamic Cooperation Member States. The Sandiganbayan allowed him to travel abroad.

Misuari is facing graft and malversation raps over the alleged anomalous purchase of P77 million worth of educational materials when he was governor of the then Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Kingstree, SC (29556)

Today

Rain showers in the morning with scattered thunderstorms arriving in the afternoon. High near 85F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

A few clouds. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 71F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
ROCHESTER, Minn.  One woman accused of storing drugs near children is pleading not guilty while police are still looking for another.

Amber Marie Hollenbach and Haley Nicole Larson were both arrested on December 12, 2018, after the Criminal Interdiction Unit searched a home in the 700 block of 55th Street NE and say they found the women, a 3-year-old child, 1 and  ounces of methamphetamine, and a large amount of drug paraphernalia.



Haley Larson Haley Larson

Police say the meth was in places where the child could get to it.

Hollenbach, 32 of Rochester, is pleading not guilty to 1st degree drug sales, 2nd degree drug possession, and storing meth paraphernalia in the presence of a child. Her trial is set to begin on August 19.

Larson, 32 of Downing, Wisconsin, is charged with storing meth paraphernalia in the presence of a child and possession of hypodermic needles. She failed to appear for a December 26, 2018, hearing and a warrant is out for her arrest.
MANTORVILLE, Minn.  Nearly 200 vehicles got stuck in the snow in Dodge County during the weekend blizzard.

The County Sheriffs Office says that between 6 pm Saturday and 11 am Monday, they also had to deal rescue over 90 people from the roads and deal with 15 medical emergencies, 3 crashes, and one fire.

Shelters were opened Saturday night at fire stations in Claremont, Hayfield, Dodge Center, and West Concord with 25 to 30 people spending the night. The Sheriffs Office says there were also eight medical emergencies overnight Saturday and impassable roads made it extremely difficult to respond to them.

By dawn Sunday, Highways 30, 56, and 57 were completely drifted in, with drifts up to 9 feet high across the entire road in some places. The Sheriffs Office says MnDOT plow were focused on primary highways and Dodge County plows were battling 50 to 60 mph wind gusts that blew roads closed right after the plows went through.

The Sheriffs Office says there were seven medical emergencies, two roof collapses, and an industrial fire at McNeilus Truck and Manufacturing on Sunday. Fire trucks responding to the fire from Kasson wound up getting stuck in the middle of County Road 34 and a highway department front end loader had to dig the fire truck out. An ambulance also got stuck at a different spot on County Road 34 while responding to a medical emergency.

Shelters were again opened Sunday night at the Claremont Fire Station, Faith Lutheran Church in Dodge Center, Hayfield Fire Station, and West Concord Fire Station, assisting 38 people.

The Sheriffs Office says some stranded motorists had to be in the vehicles for many hours before they could be helped, with rescues being down by heavy snow equipment, fire and law enforcement pickup trucks and SUVs, and snowmobiles.

The Dodge County Highway Department had staff remain at the shop Saturday and Sunday nights to help out and the Sheriffs Office says it was fully staffed over the weekend, with many employees staying overnight at the Sheriffs Office, the Dodge Center Fire Hall, and the Kasson hotel.

We are very proud of the work all of our public safety partners did over the weekend to keep people safe here in Dodge County  law enforcement, emergency management, fire departments, ambulance services, and city and county highway departments did a tremendous job dealing with this storm," says Sheriff Scott Rose. "There are also many citizens to thank as well for all of their efforts helping us with stranded motorists  including Pastor Barb Streed who came out and helped shelter and feed 16 stranded motorists at Faith Lutheran Church in Dodge Center all night Sunday night. We live in an amazing community here in Dodge County with some incredibly dedicated people here to serve.
DECORAH, Iowa  Stealing checks from a trucking company results in probation and a fine for a northeast Iowa woman.

Lisa Diana Schroeder, 38 of Waucoma, was accused of taking the checks, forging them, and then cashing them at a bank in Calmar between July and September of 2018. Authorities say the checks totaled $4,900.95.

Schroeder pleaded guilty to six counts of forgery and one count of 2nd degree theft and has been sentenced to two to five years of probation. Schroeder must also pay $875 in law enforcement surcharges.
MASON CITY, Iowa- Crews throughout north Iowa and southern Minnesota were pulled off the roadways unless there was a dire emergency, and a dire emergency it was for one expecting mother.

Baby Ashton was ready to meet the world Sunday, forcing Deja Banks and the family to brave the roads from Forest City to Mason City. Banks said seconds into their trip they got stuck and had to dig themselves out so they could get to the Forest City Fire Department where an ambulance was waiting.

Snow plows, deputies and other agencies led the way to try and make the travel safe but it wasnt without hiccups.

The ambulance got stuck so we had to get pulled out, she said. It felt like every time we tried to move we would get stuck or wed have to stop ... it was stressful.

After the two-hour drive, Deja said she was relieved to finally get to Mercy One North Iowa Medical Center.

Im doing a lot better now, she said recalling the trip. Just recovering from childbirth but other than that glad Ashton is ok.
MASON CITY, Iowa  A wanted woman was arrested over the weekend.

Bridget Antonia Fleming, 34 of Mason City, was picked up Sunday on an outstanding warrant and booked into the Cerro Gordo County Jail on one drug charges and two shoplifiting charges.

Fleming is accused of providing methamphetamine to a confidential informant in August 2018. Shes also accused of shoplifting from the Mason City Shopko in October 2018 and from Mason Citys Hy-Vee West on January 15, 2019.

Fleming is being held in the Cerro Gordo County Jail on $10,000 bond for delivery of meth and two counts of 3rd degree theft.
FOREST CITY, Iowa  A Winnebago County man accused of dealing drugs out of his home is pleading not guilty.

Jeremy John Richardson, 44 of Lake Mills, is charged with two counts of delivery of methamphetamine and one count of sponsoring a gathering where drugs are used. Law enforcement says Richardson twice sold meth to a confidential informant in October 2018 and provided a place for three or more people to illegally use controlled substances.

All the crimes are alleged to have happened at Richardsons home, which authorities say is within 1000 feet of a public park.

His trial is scheduled to begin on April 10.
Lauded as a piece of theatrical genius, Bat The Father Rabbit The Son, written and performed by Donal OKelly returns to the Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny on Thursday night.

Its Dublin in the 1980s. Rabbit is a self-made haulage magnate. But somethings wrong. He cuts a deal with his underling Keogh to help him find his lost moorings. The quest is hampered by his dead father Bat, Citizen Army volunteer and pawn shop assistant, bubbling up.

The struggle between father and son, past and present, imagination and reality, spans Dublin. Their voyage out of Howth and up the River Liffey builds to a climax described by The Guardian as one of the strongest dramatic conclusions Ive ever seen.

An explosive exposition of the generation of Irish men that led us to Boom and Bust. Written thirty years ago, Bat the Father, Rabbit the Son is more pertinent than ever.

First presented by Rough Magic for the Dublin Theatre Festival in 1988, Bat has toured to New York, Chicago, London, Edinburgh, Australia and New Zealand. Now back again! And according to world-renowned playwright Enda Walsh A powerhouse in performance and language .. theatrical genius.

A prose poem of magical beauties and plunging vulgarities friends, it is purely brilliant

- New York Post

Magnificent script and performance

- The Scotsman

Superbly written and performed portrayal of a father/son relationship

- Irish Times

As surreal as it is apposite .. a funny, touching and frightening marvel .. OKellys manic performance is extraordinary  Sunday Independent

A wild slapstick tour de force

- New York Times

A powerful and unforgettable show

- The News, Adelaide
Weather Alert

...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM PDT THURSDAY... * WHAT...Dangerously hot temperatures will continue through the week. * 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...Unprecedented heat and unusually warm overnight temperatures will make it difficult to control the build up of heat in homes without air conditioning. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...This event will likely be one of the most extreme and prolonged heat waves in the recorded history of the Inland Northwest. Unprecedented heat will not only threaten the health of residents in the Inland Northwest but will make our region increasingly vulnerable to wildfires and intensify the impacts our ongoing drought. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Going to a place with air conditioning even for a couple hours can help mitigate heat stress. Consider going to a shopping mall, local library, or community center for relief. Do not leave young children and pets in unattended vehicles. Car interiors will reach lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes. Take extra precautions when outside. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing. Try to limit strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Take action when you see symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. &&
LEBANON, Ore. -- Lebanon firefighters are battling a blaze at the old mill site behind Walgreens on Burdell Boulevard.

Crews were out at the old mill site around 10:30 p.m. on Monday evening.

This is a developing story. Stay with KEZI for the latest information.
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The United States will be short 120,000 doctors by the end of next decade, according to the latest research from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

That shortage will become permanent unless medical schools make the path to becoming a doctor a bit less arduous.

Some medical schools seem to take pride in imposing a heavy emotional and physical toll on their students. Toughen up aspiring doctors early on, the thinking goes, so theyre prepared for long hours and high stress when theyre working in clinical settings.

That thinking is outmoded  and risks dissuading people who would make excellent physicians from considering careers in medicine. To graduate skilled doctors  and enough of them  med schools must invest more in their students mental and physical health.

Its no secret medical school is challenging. It should be, of course. Students are learning to navigate matters of life and death. Classes and lab work demand long hours and significant intellectual effort. Students also invest years of their time and significant sums of money.

Given these challenges, it stands to reason that med schools should do all they can to help their charges succeed.

At some schools, however, the academic culture is toxic. Students are expected to master material on their own; seeking help is seen as a sign of weakness. Nearly half of all medical students report having been publicly embarrassed by faculty, staff, or peers.

One survey from the Annals of Internal Medicine found that about half of medical students are suffering burnout  that is, severe emotional and physical exhaustion. Burnt-out students have a harder time absorbing information and are more prone to make mistakes in clinical practice.

Many talented young people have taken note of these negatives  and decided that medicine may not be the right field for them. The number of med school applicants has essentially been flat for the past four years.

Neither medical schools, nor a healthcare system desperate for doctors, can afford to see the pool of potential med students dry up.

Medical schools can create a more supportive learning environment without sacrificing rigor. Indeed, the Association of American Medical Colleges has explicitly called for schools to better support the health and well-being of the learners.

Some have heeded that call. The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, for instance, offers free mental health care delivered by a dedicated team of providers to its more than 900 students.

Stanford Medical School runs a cognitive behavioral therapy program to teach proven techniques for reducing stress. Administrators have also set up an annual wellness survey specifically to identify and treat the problem of sleep deprivation thats all too common among med students.

The University of Wollongong in Australia runs a student advisors program thats proven effective at preventing burnout among Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, and other at-risk student populations. And a number of medical schools have launched formal mentorship programs that pair first-year students with second-years who provide academic guidance and emotional support.

Recent academic research has chronicled the positive effect that institutional investments in academic and mental-health support can have on student performance. Weve acted on the findings from this research at St. Georges University.

Our students work closely with learning strategists to navigate academic challenges and stay on schedule. Small-group instruction and collaborative learning environments informed by the latest pedagogical research are the norm. St. Georges also offers popular programs on time-management, effective note-taking, and mock residency interviews  essential skills students dont typically learn in the classroom.

All Americans have a stake in improving the lot of medical students. After all, well need a lot more of them to address our doctor shortage.

A healthier med school culture may also help diversify the ranks of physicians in the United States. The cutthroat status quo has yielded a doctor workforce thats almost three-quarters white. Twenty percent of physicians are Asian. Less than 5 percent are black.

Racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic minorities are far more likely to consider careers in medicine if the institutions that have historically excluded them can prove theyre invested in their success.

Medical school should be tough. But it doesnt have to be miserable. By investing in support services outside the classroom, medical schools can boost student well-being  and turn out better doctors.

Glen Jacobs is provost, St Georges University, Grenada.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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Measles outbreaks across the United States have been identified with Texas being the 11th state so far to report an outbreak. The Philippines with over 2 million unvaccinated children has declared an outbreak of measles after nearly 2,000 cases and 26 deaths since January alone. In Madagascar, more than 50,000 people have been infected by the disease since October  more than the total number of measles cases reported in Africa in 2018. Moreover, in Europe, measles cases tripled between 2017 and 2018, with over 59,000 cases and 72 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The recently published report, Progress towards Regional Measles Elimination  Worldwide, 2000-2017, in the WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record showed that over 109,000 vaccine-preventable deaths still occurred last year.

Measles is a highly contagious disease, which is caused by the measles virus associated with skin rashes and a high fever, and, in some cases, serious complications, including pneumonia, seizures, and even death. At least 95 percent of a population must receive two doses of the measles-containing vaccine to protect the entire population to achieve community immunity (also known as herd immunity), and in many areas with outbreaks, this is not happening. Vaccination coverage has dropped, which means that there is not enough people are being vaccinated and the current outbreaks are mainly caused by a large number of unvaccinated people.

In medicine, its easier to understand the difference between treating the symptoms and curing the condition. However, for other things, if you only fix the symptoms, the problem will probably return and need to be fixed over and over again. 5 Whys is a powerful tool for finding the causes of problems, by asking Why? at least five times.

Measles outbreaks are happening. (the problem)

Why? There are large pockets of unvaccinated people. (First why) Why? They do not want to get vaccinated. (Second why) Why?They think the vaccines are not safe / cause autism. (Third why) Why?They read somewhere that vaccines cause autism. (Fourth why) Why? Andrew Wakefield (Fifth why, a root cause!)

The origin of the modern anti-vaccine movement can be traced back to a single unethical and unscientific study that has since been labeled fraudulent, manipulative, and unethical. This 1998 Lancet publication by Andrew Wakefield  the founder of the modern anti-vaccine movement  has been described as the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years.

Thankfully British investigative journalist Dr. Brian Deer (awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by York St. John University) pursued a landmark public interest investigation on the allegations that linked the three-in-one measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) with claims of a terrifying new syndrome of bowel and brain damage in children. Deer discovered that the public alarm had no scientific basis whatsoever. Wakefield had been secretly paid to create evidence against the MMR vaccine while planning business schemes meant to profit from the scare. Also, he misreported and changed information about the children in the study to dishonestly change the results. Besides data falsification, Wakefield failed to disclose that he had been paid more than 400,000 (US$ 515,000) by lawyers trying to prove the MMR vaccine was unsafe and children in the study were claimants of a pending lawsuit against vaccine manufacturers.

Wakefield was later found guilty by the British General Medical Council (GMC) of three-dozen charges, including dishonesty and abuse of developmentally delayed children he included in his study. Citing dishonest and unethical behavior, Wakefield was stripped of his medical license; his research paper was retracted from publication in 2010, and his position as scientific director taken away.

Despite widespread scientific condemnation and robust scientific evidence proving the safety of the measles vaccine, Andrew Wakefield, has not backed down from its conclusions and has continued his misinformation campaign. Wakefield now lives in Texas and is involved in a combination of organizations and charities related to autism and trying to prove a link between the condition and using vaccines. In 2016 he directed and appeared in a film called Vaxxed that paints himself as the victim of high-level conspiracies and shows a well-weaved narrative of context-free statistics, emotional clips, and conspiracy theories claiming that the pharmaceutical industry has controlled all of the television.. He continues to travel and preach his message of anti-vaccination and anti-science, and in one instance, he traveled to the State of Minnesota to target its Somali community. The community, which had traditionally had a vaccination rate higher than others in the state, saw it drop from 92 percent to around 40 percent which led to Minnesotas largest measles outbreak in 30 years, with over 80 percent of cases involving unvaccinated Somali-American children.

The science on vaccines is robust and clear. In science, a single published paper does not constitute a definitive fact. A study must be reproducible, and its results must be confirmed by further research before it is widely accepted. After Wakefields work was published (and retracted), numerous studies have been conducted, none of which have been able to reproduce his result. The overwhelming majority of experts in the field say Wakefield is wrong and several studies have been performed that disprove the notion that MMR causes autism.

Melvin Sanicas is an infectious disease physician.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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How did I miss his hypokalemia? Two weeks into my intern year and my patients potassium returned at 2.9. Minutes later, he coded. And I felt responsible. As I explained to my partner how my patient had become pulseless after diuresis of his heart failure, she looked at me and said, Physicians kill patients, its inevitable. Has no one told you its part of the job?

There is truth to this bluntness.

According to a BMJ article from 2016, roughly 251,000 deaths occur every year as a result of medical error. If morbidity is factored in, this number skyrockets. You would think with such a staggering mortality rate, we as physicians would be more comfortable discussing medical error and our direct role in failing to prevent these avoidable deaths.

In 1999, the Institute of Medicine brought medical error in the public eye. It revealed that between 44,000 to 98,000 deaths occur from medical error every year. This number was astonishing enough to provoke President Bill Clinton to sign a Senate bill creating an agency to address the epidemic.

Over the next decade, data surfaced exposing how that number was grossly underestimated. Now data suggest the amount of deaths ranges from 210,000 to 400,000. This would make medical error the third leading cause of death in the United States, which makes it all the more surprising that we ignore it.

This data is challenging to collect because the CDC relies on ICD-10 codes placed on death certificates to compile the list of leading causes of death. Since medical error is not registered in the coding system, it is difficult to grasp the true magnitude of the issue.

However, what can be grasped is its impact on physicians. Dr. Danielle Ofri in her book, What Doctors Feel, describes how physician error feeds feelings of paralyzing shame, guilt, and imposter syndrome. Describing a personal near-miss experience, Dr. Ofri writes, I spent weeks afterward flagellating my brain for its incompetence, berating myself for my idiocy. Any medical professional can relate to this statement.

We are all human. We all make mistakes. Physicians may believe they are more careful than the average person, triple checking their actions, and developing a more critical eye. However, walking through the hospital doors and donning a white coat does not make us immune to error. We are all human.

We cannot expect to be perfect. Even if we were, perfection is not good enough. A JAMA article described that if other fields operated at a 0.01% error rate, that would equate to 2 unsafe plane landings per day at OHare, 16,000 pieces of lost mail every hour, 32,000 bank checks deducted from the wrong bank account every hour. Yet none of this happens. Why? Because there are systems in place to prevent human error from causing harm.

A recent documentary, To Err is Human, explores the cultural issues behind medical error. Lack of transparency, an archaic hierarchical structure, and a focus on reprimanding all contribute to the problem. Furthermore, errors occur because systems are missing to catch human error.

However, there is change occurring in medicine. It just happens to be at a glacial rate.

To change the system, we have to become comfortable talking about error. It will help us cope with our mistakes and foster a culture of transparency, which is necessary to implement change. Furthermore, it will assist in obtaining accurate data on the causes of medical error, in hopes of preventing their future recurrences.

Currently, hospitals are utilizing root cause analysis to prevent medical error. However, what is needed is a change in the reporting culture. For example, NASA has a reporting system in place were near-misses are voluntarily reported and mistakes are mandatory to report. If hospitals implement such processes and encourage its use among physicians, more accurate data can be collected leading to more impactful policies aimed at preventing harm.

We have all encountered medical error. We have seen, and likely felt, its impact. So why not start acknowledging it?

It would be a shame to look back on these times and cringe at how barbaric our medical system was for allowing medical errors to persist. I would rather look back and be grateful that processes were created to prevent human fallibility from costing patient lives.

Michael Grzeskowiak is an internal medicine resident.

Image credit: Unsplash
Cooper was one of Urbinati's first clients. She was opening a clothing store with actor Danny Masterson. Masterson and Cooper were both in the 2008 film "Yes, Man." Cooper came to the opening of the shop. "'The Hangover' hadn't come out yet; it was about to. He was literally about to burst into being Bradley Cooper," Urbinati recalls. One conversation led to another in that Hollywood way, and then Cooper said: "I have my press tour in two days. Can you come over tomorrow and help me out?"

Urbinati, not quite sure what she was signing on to do, called in favors from designers she knew from her work in retail. Simon Spurr was reviving the once-popular three-piece suit. Urbinati borrowed a few and brought them for Cooper to try. He was skeptical: "A three-piece suit, really?" But he liked the look of it.

"Now, he has a very strong sense of what he wants to look like," Urbinati says. "I think he was still working it out back then."

Urbinati spent a good portion of 2018 working with Krasinski, one of her newest clients, as he promoted his film "A Quiet Place"and the Amazon Prime series "Jack Ryan."
GRAND ISLAND  An Oscar-nominated film has a historical tie-in to Grand Island.

The film Green Book, nominated for five awards, tells the story of Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) who embarks on a concert tour in the Deep South in the 1960s with driver Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen). To help him on his tour, Shirley uses The Negro Motorist Green Book  otherwise known as Green Book  as a guide for places he is welcome at in an era of segregation.

According to a November 2018 Omaha World-Herald article, the Green Book was an actual guide published from 1936 to the 1960s, with the exception of during World War II. It reports the book, broken up into states and cities, listed safe tourist homes, hotels, restaurants, clubs and service stations that would serve African-American travelers.

The 1949 edition of the Green Book lists a tourist home at 217 E. Fifth St. in Grand Island, then owned by Maggie Ann and Robert L. Hunter.

Kari Stofer, curator at Stuhr Museum, said Robert L. Hunter was the first African-American porter to work at the Yancey Hotel in downtown Grand Island. Porters, she explained, were similar to bellhops in that they opened doors and helped handle baggage.
The doctor took out a pocket knife, sterilized it in a campfire and used it to remove the stick from the boys neck. Two weeks later, I saw that boy playing, Shrestha said.

On that same trip, as the hikers headed uphill, they passed a woman on foot carrying a 5-year-old girl. She, too, asked if there was a doctor in the group. A month earlier, her daughter had fallen out of a tree and hit her head on a a rock. The woman was taking the girl to a hospital. A doctor stepped forward and realized the child had died three hours earlier. When we had to tell the mother her daughter was dead, the whole mountain was screaming, echoing her voice, Shrestha said.

Right then and there, he vowed to educate the people of Nepal and improve their health. By 1992, he launched Helping Hands Health Education. It started with a 19-member medical team that carried in 70 pieces of luggage with medical supplies and equipment to set up a 10-day temporary medical clinic.

Today, the non-profit has built a 100-bed hospital in Kathmandu and a 50-bed hospital in western Nepal, among other facilities. He also has established medical camps in Vietnam, Namibia, Tibet, India and Bhutan. Medical professionals from the U.S., Europe and Canada have served in these facilities.
Dale Seidel, a landowner in Garfield County, received a Landowner Stewardship Award from the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture at its recent 2019 Informational Seminar in Grand Island.

Seidel was nominated by Ben Wheeler of Pheasants Forever because of his commitment to using prescribed fire in collaboration with his neighbors to manage grasslands to promote their health and productivity.

Dale represents many Central Nebraska landowners who have been instrumental in achieving almost 30,000 acres of impact through the Loup River Prescribed Fire Training Exchange Program, Wheeler said.

One of the greatest threats to prairie conservation and livestock production in the Great Plains is the invasion of eastern red cedar, which degrades the grasslands. One of the most effective ways to manage it is prescribed fire. The program pairs an annual two-week live-fire training for professional wildland fire practitioners with willing landowners seeking eastern red cedar control. In 2016, Seidel was one of those landowners.

Wheeler said, Dale did an exemplary job of planning and preparing for this fire, and became highly involved during our event by contributing labor, equipment, and enthusiasm to our crew.
GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- The man accused of trying to escape police, shooting at multiple cars and shooting a man now knows the charges against him. 30-year-old Matthew Fanelli was arraigned in Josephine County Court Monday afternoon. This is the first time hes appeared in court since that high speed chase and shooting happened Saturday evening.

Right before Fanelli was about to hear his charges a Josephine County Jail Deputy spoke first. He said Fanelli needed to be in ankle and waist restraints because hes threatened staff in the last two days hes been held in the jail.

As the State Attorney recapped what happened Saturday night, Fanelli smiled and laughed. Oregon State Police said he tried to steal multiple cars and shot at multiple cars along Interstate 5 and he tried to flee from police after trying to steal a car at the Red Robin in Roseburg. Troopers also said he shot a man and dragged him into a nearby ditch along Pickett Creek Road. He was taken to the hospital and is in critical condition. The State Attorney said Fanelli also dragged the woman that man was with into that same ditch after hitting her with a gun and spraying her with her own pepper spray. One woman who was trying to get onto I-5 Saturday on her way home said she couldnt because it was blocked by armed law enforcement.

That's scary. It could have been me, you know? said Kathy Eels Because I was out in my car also just driving around."

The States Attorney said she spoke to the family of the man who was shot. She said he was undergoing surgery as the arraignment was happening.

Fanelli is being charged with:

attempted murder

seven counts of attempted aggravated murder

Eight counts of unlawful use of a weapon

Assault in the first and second degrees

Felony fleeing

His bail is set at $5,000,000. Hes due back in court in March.
ASHLAND, Ore.,- Marthe Cohn is a Holocaust survivor and a Jewish spy during WWII. Tonight, she is in Ashland and talked with NewsWatch 12 about her experiences and viewpoint on Germany.

Marthe lived with her family in France near the German border when Hitler rose to power. Soon after, her homeland was under Nazi control and her sister was arrested and sent to a concentration camp. Marthe joined the French army as a spy. She used her perfect German accent to pose as a young German nurse while secretly retrieving information about Nazi troop movements.

Today, she speaks out about her experiences and wrote a book called "Behind Enemy Lines."

"Humans all over the world have very short memories. It's important to remind them," Marthe tells NewsWatch 12.

She lives in the U.S. now and returned to Germany in 2011 to speak about her experiences. It was there that she was asked why she has waited so long to come back.

"I told them as long as people in my generation live, I did not want to come. But now they are almost all dead," says Marthe.

Now, she is willing to share her stories with Germany.

"The new generation is not responsible for what they're grandparents did," says Marthe.

She has won 6 awards, including France's highest military honor.

Tuesday night, she'll be speaking to the public at Southern Oregon University. She'll be in the Music Recital Hall at 7 p.m., February 26th. The event is open to the public.
FAIRWAY, KS (KCTV) -- KCTV5 News' investigation into allegations and fraud concerning a Topeka-based autopsy company now strings across the nation.

KCTV5 has heard from families on both coasts and across the nation who say Shawn Parcells took their money but never completed the work.

Kansas City family faces autopsy nightmare after hiring 'Professor Lynn' There are new questions about a Kansas man who drew national attention over his involvement in the case that led to riots in Ferguson, MO.

The vast majority, above 90% have been very happy with our work. However, the chips fall and they are thankful because they have peace of mind, said Parcells, the owner of National Autopsy Services.

KCTV5 first began investigating Parcells when families told us he now operates under a different name of Professor Lynn. Parcells admits thats true but says Lynn is his legal middle name so he has that right and its difficult to pronounce his last name.

He eventually admitted he changed his name because of his past reputation.

I think there was a part of me doing that. Yes, Parcells admitted.

Nationwide complaints

Lacey Langford is from Kansas City, KS. She is waiting for Parcells to refund her for an autopsy that was never completed.

Ive lost sleep, Ive gotten physically ill over it. What happened to my mom? I dont know that we will ever know, Langford said.

Patty Evans near Denver wanted answers in her husband's death when he passed out and died suddenly in their bathroom.

Very frustrated angry. I dont even if an autopsy was done at this point, Evans said.

Were not even really worried about the money at this point. Were really just want some closure as to what happened, Andrew Asifo in Washington DC told our investigative unit. Its the most low-down thing you could possibly do.

KCTV5 connected with a grieving family in Florida.

He never returns my calls. Hell lie to you, then you try to call him back and then he scolds you for trying to get an answer. Its been 14 months, Kathy Fenton said down in Florida.

Our investigative unit is now fielding calls from California and Virginia.

Most of our calls are from this area where families say they paid Parcells but still have now final autopsy report. Months keep rolling by tipping past a full calendar year.

Some families are hesitant to criticize Parcells publicly because their only hope for answer rests with him producing that final report.

Douglas County, Colorado, Coroner Jill Roman commented on the situation.

Outrageous absolutely outrageous. These families are being held hostage, Romann said.

Allegations of witness tampering

I consider him somebody that should never have been allowed in this industry. Ive been doing autopsies over 25 years. And Ive never seen something like this in my life ever! And this person is still operating? said a former employee who did not want to be publicly named because he claims hes now a witness into multiple investigations where Parcells is the target.

He shared a text message from Shawn Parcells to him that appears to be witness tampering in the current KS Attorney Generals investigation of Parcells.

Tell you what. If I know you can ignore the AG I will pay $1,000 weekly. But I have to know you wont talk to them nor make up stories that I say I am a doctor, Parcells texted the former employee.

Parcells' lawyer followed up by email with that former employee.

I advised him nevertheless to settle your dispute amicably but not to bribe you, attorney Eric Kjorlie wrote.

Parcells confirmed to our investigative unit he sent that text message. But insisted it was taken out of context and that he was only discussing how he owed that man money and planned to repay him.

Parcells is not a doctor and not a professor

All of the families KCTV5 spoke with tell us they thought they were dealing with a large corporation, and that the man they were communicating with was a doctor.

Parcells is not a doctor. Hes been accused of inflating his credentials and lying about his qualifications in the past.

In our interview he defended some of thing things he posts on twitter like how he almost became a neurosurgeon.

I tell people all the time I almost became a neurosurgeon. That doesnt mean Im a doctor. That doesnt mean that I was in medical school. I really did almost do that, Parcells said.

We checked his current resume. He lists hes currently enrolled at Eastern Virginia Medical School. That institution says they have no record of him.

We checked with Capella University concerning his doctorate in public health. Parcells eventually told KCTV5 that he never completed the program. He then became short with our investigative team and accused us of making assumptions.

Just because it is listed doesnt mean I earned a degree there ... so please dont assume that is what it means, Parcells wrote.

He calls himself Professor Lynn but hes not currently teaching at any university. The places where he did teach tell us the correct title would be adjunct lecturer.

Parcells says the students called him professor and he eventually showed us a name tag from Johnson County Community College which does says adjunct professor. They confirm through email the correct title would still be adjunct lecturer.

Wichita State University says there was intent to hire Parcells but he never actually taught. They do not consider him a former professor. Parcells argues he has an email indicating he was going to be hired and a student did shadow him for a month.

Parcells most recently worked at Rockhurst University for two semesters. Before that, he spent eight months and Johnson County Community College.

Parcells says due the length of time he spent in academia he has the right to be called professor.

Who watches out for these families?

Our investigative unit has spent two weeks to trying to figure out who watches out for these grieving families.

Langford tried to file a police report but was turned away being told this was a civil matter.

We reached out to the Kansas Attorney General about the current investigation into Shawn Parcells.

They sent us this statement:

The Attorney Generals office does not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation.

We also contacted the Kansas Department of Health. Parcells isnt even on their radar.

This lab name/person is not on any clinical laboratory certification list, and therefore does not come under lab oversight for KDHE.

The Kansas Board of Mortuary Arts told us:

We do not have oversight over autopsies.

Finally, there is the Kansas Board of Healing Arts. The directed us to this state statue.

... an autopsy may be performed upon the body of a deceased person by a physician or surgeon when so authorized.

When we pushed for an explanation as to how Parcells is able to perform autopsies, we were told not everyone one in your doctors office is a doctor.

But, Parcells admitted to our investigative team he works on bodies when no physician is present.

Medical examiners have speculated prosecutors have been reluctant to charge Parcells with any crime because hes been involved in some of their cases.

Parcells told KCTV5 he has assisted in more than 2,000 autopsy cases.
The crash happened Sunday evening at the intersection of 63rd Street and Brookside Boulevard when a driver trying to get away from police blew a red light and crashed into another car at a reported 70 miles an hour.
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.
Photo: Contributed

A mentally ill Indigenous man kept in isolation in an Ontario jail for more than four years endured treatment so "abhorrent and "inhumane" it affected his ability to stand trial for murder, a judge ruled while staying the charge.

Superior Court Justice John Fregeau ruled that Adam Capay, whose case sparked a public debate on solitary confinement in correctional facilities, endured permanent memory loss and had his pre-existing psychiatric disorders greatly exacerbated after spending four and a half years in segregation, often without proper sleep or access to mental health services.

Fregeau's late January decision, which resulted in Capay's release, was subject to a publication ban that only lifted once prosecutors indicated this week they did not plan to appeal the stay of the first-degree murder charge in the case.

Capay, 26, was accused of stabbing Sherman Quisses twice in the neck while both were at a correctional facility in Thunder Bay, Ont. While the judge acknowledged that Capay was responsible for Quisses' death, he said the man's subsequent years of isolation amounted to cruel and unusual punishment that violated his charter rights and left him unable to proceed to trial.

"The treatment of the accused was, in my opinion, outrageous, abhorrent, and inhumane," Fregeau wrote in his Jan. 28 decision. "There would be ongoing prejudice to the accused if forced to proceed to trial."

Fregeau's ruling outlined a litany of difficult circumstances Capay faced beginning during his turbulent childhood on the Lac Seul First Nation in northwestern Ontario.

Capay grew up in a family dominated by substance abuse and violence, the judge said. Capay was repeatedly sexually abused as a child, exposed to alcohol at age seven and had inhaled solvents by age eight, Fregeau wrote. Capay's father once tried to force his son to kill him when he was 10, the judge added.

Fregeau's ruling said Capay was placed in segregation at the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre immediately after his 2012 attack on Quisses.

Between June 4, 2012 and Dec. 6, 2016, Capay was largely kept in isolation for 23 hours a day.

For much of that time, Capay languished in cells where the lights were kept on 24 hours a day. For long stretches, the detention blocks he was held in did not allow him to flush the toilet from inside the cell.

Over his four and a half years in segregation, Fregeau found Capay received less than 11 hours of mental health support from jail staff.

Capay's long-standing isolation was known to correctional officials, who repeatedly signed off on extending his time in segregation even as the total number of days climbed up over the 1,600 mark.

Fregeau noted Capay's plight only came to light in 2016 after a guard tipped off Ontario's human rights commissioner while she was visiting the facility.

Calling the segregation review process "meaningless" in Capay's case, Fregeau cited the testimony of an expert witness who described the system in dehumanizing terms.

"People are filling out forms. They're checking boxes, but it's as if Adam Capays disappeared," Michael Jackson, a British Columbia-based professor with expertise on the Indigenous people within the justice system, told court.

Fregeau accepted testimony from other experts who said Capay suffered permanent memory loss and considerable deterioration in his mental state as a result of his long time in isolation.
Photo: The Canadian Press House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., accompanied by Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, left, and others, speaks about a resolution to block President Donald Trump's emergency border security declaration on Capitol Hill, Monday, Feb. 25, 2019 in Washington.

Democrats were poised Tuesday to ram legislation through the House blocking President Donald Trump from steering billions of extra dollars to his Southwest border wall, as top Republicans worked to keep GOP defections low enough to ensure that his inevitable veto would stand.

The House chamber is expected to approve the measure and send it to the Republican-held Senate, where it would take only a handful of GOP defections to pass. The legislation would revoke Trump's executive order declaring an emergency so he could siphon billions of dollars from the military to fund his proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

With three Senate Republicans saying they will support the legislation, only one more was needed to vote with all the Democrats to pass the measure and send it to Trump.

Trump is sure to prevail in the end since he could use his first-ever veto to kill the measure, but the White House is seeking to minimize defections among the president's GOP allies to avoid embarrassment. The administration issued a formal veto threat Tuesday ahead of the House vote, ramping up pressure on Republicans to hold the line.

"When you see the vote today there will be nowhere near the votes to override a veto," said House GOP Whip Steve Scalise, R-La.

Even many GOP lawmakers who view themselves as protectors of Congress' power of the purse say they are deferring to Trump in this case, saying he has the authority under a mid-1970s statute.

"They love Trump in my district," said Rep. Billy Long, R-Mo. "I'm for Trump."

Democratic leaders say the vote is not about the merits of Trump's wall but how Trump is trampling on the Constitution by grabbing money that he can't obtain through normal means.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Trump's action "steals billions of dollars" from the military construction projects including possibly family housing and child care centres  to build the wall with Mexico.

Republicans counter that problems with drug runners and human trafficking give merit to Trump's manoeuvr.

"I went down there neutral on this question. Didn't know whether or not I'd support a national emergency," said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who recently returned from a National Guard deployment along the border in Arizona. "And I came back more convinced than probably anybody that this is the right thing to do."

"If Republicans vote their beliefs, we'll get a lot. If they vote their party, we won't get a lot," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.

Trump took to Twitter on Monday to urge Senate Republicans to stick with him.

"I hope our great Republican Senators don't get led down the path of weak and ineffective Border Security," Trump wrote. "Without strong Borders, we don't have a Country  and the voters are on board with us. Be strong and smart, don't fall into the Democrats 'trap' of Open Borders and Crime!"

Vice-President Mike Pence is expected to discuss the issue with GOP senators during their weekly private lunch. A Justice Department official is also expected to attend.
College of Veterinary Medicine's shelter medicine program partners with the T. Russell Reitz Animal Shelter to increase Manhattan area service



Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019

A Kansas State University veterinary student performs a surgical procedure in the shelter medicine programs mobile surgery unit during a stop at a shelter in Beatrice, Nebraska, last summer. | Download this photo.





MANHATTAN  A new partnership will enhance the care and welfare of shelter animals in Manhattan while providing more educational opportunities for veterinary students. The shelter medicine program at the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine has teamed up to help enhance and expand medical capabilities at the T. Russell Reitz Animal Shelter.



According to Brad Crauer, assistant professor of clinical sciences, the shelter medicine program has completed more than 16,000 surgeries for more than 20 partner organizations since its start in 2015.



"Through the partnership at the T. Russell Reitz Animal Shelter, we believe there is significant opportunity to help the shelter save more lives and improve the level of care provided," Crauer said. "Students will get regular, firsthand surgical and medical experience locally."



Deborah Watkins, director of animal services for the city of Manhattan, said the animal shelter placed 1,398 animals in 2018. She is optimistic that number will grow with increased involvement from the university.



"Our mission at the shelter is to return pets to their owners and rehome homeless pets," Watkins said. "Partnering with K-State students will increase the level of quality care for homeless animals to be ready for adoption."



Bonnie Rush, interim dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, also acknowledge the benefits the partnership would bring to both pets in the community and the students.



"Our goal is to enhance the health and adoptability of each animal we encounter through the shelter medicine program," Rush said. "Occasionally, there are relatively inexpensive interventions  beyond spay/neuter  that will improve the likelihood of adoption. True to our motto, 'Future Vets Helping Future Pets,' senior veterinary students appreciate the opportunity to strengthen their skills. Even more so, they appreciate using their skills to improve the lives of unwanted and abandoned pets."



The university's shelter medicine mobile surgery unit, which is currently outreach-based, visits regional animal shelters to provide spay/neuter and medical triage service on-site. While the mobile surgery unit is only able to visit any given shelter once per week, the partnership with the T. Russell Reitz Animal Shelter will allow an opportunity for Kansas State University to have a day-to-day presence and increase the overall level of animal welfare in the Manhattan community.



Crauer said the partnership will occur in two phases. Initially, the mobile surgery unit will be stationed at the animal shelter on a weekly basis. Students will perform surgical services and address any medical cases during these visits, including exam and diagnostic- and therapeutic-plan development and implementation. Faculty from the university also will work with shelter leadership to develop best practices and standard operating procedures.



The second phase promotes a more consistent Kansas State University presence at the T. Russell Reitz Animal Shelter by utilizing the shelter medicine intern for at least one additional day each week for medical, surgical and operational expertise.



Additionally, the shelter is in the process of building a surgery suite that can also serve as a fully functioning dental unit. The suite would allow the mobile surgery unit to be deployed elsewhere while students, interns and faculty could operate at a high level on-site. The intention is to expand capabilities at the shelter beyond what can be provided on the mobile surgery unit. However, funding is still needed to complete the surgical suite.



"The city of Manhattan and the T. Russell Reitz Animal Shelter are very pleased to partner with the Kansas State Veterinary shelter medicine program," said Eddie Eastes, director of Manhattan Parks and Recreation. "This partnership will help the animal shelter fulfill its mission to protect public health through the sheltering of homeless companion animals and promote humane treatment and responsible pet ownership. We are confident this partnership will benefit the community by ensuring animals at the shelter have the best care possible as we help reintroduce them into the community through our adoption program."






JUSTICEINFO.NET: The Truth and Dignity Commission (IVD) closed its doors on December 31, 2018. Do you think the transitional justice process is finished?

MOKHTAR TIFRI: The process should not be closed on December 31, 2018 nor on May 31, the deadline the Commission has set itself for the liquidation of its assets. The process, by law, must continue. Today, it is the post-IVD work that must begin: implementation of the resolutions and recommendations of the IVD final report. Unfortunately, this report has not yet been published. The law also provides for the formation of another committee, appointed and set up by the Assembly of Peoples Representatives (ARP), which would take charge of the Commissions recommendations. However, we are not even talking about this project. Hence the belief of a number of people, including myself, that transitional justice is already dead and buried.

What remains to be done in your opinion?

In fact, many cases are opening today, firstly those of victims. The IVD is in the process of issuing reparation certificates to survivors of repression, but there remains the great work of reconciliation, to which many victims aspire. The reform of the administration has not yet begun. How can we ensure that mistakes, practices and crimes committed in the past are not repeated? What about the truth on what has been happening in our country for decades? A small part has been revealed, but what about the rest? How can we also transmit the truth to the new generations?

Another important aspect concerns the specialized chambers for transitional justice, where judgments are very slow.

Transitional justice also concerns the regions. How do we deal with regions that have been marginalized for decades and will surely be mentioned in the final report? And what about the IVD archives, what do we do with them? They will probably be entrusted to the National Archives, but for what kind of use? Will they end up being locked in drawers? How can we ensure that they do not fall into hostile or harmful hands? They contain important information about peoples private lives.

The Commission has a highly developed information technology system. What are we going to do with it? I have asked that this important heritage be transferred to other independent bodies, such as the National Authority for the Prevention of Torture (INPT) or the Human Rights body, which was legislated by the ARP and will, I hope, soon be established. We would have liked the State to take the lead in facilitating this process. However, the government filed a complaint against the IVD with the Administrative Court to annul the IVDs decision to carry out the liquidation of its assets itself. [The Administrative Court ruled in favour of the IVD.]

The head of the government has still not set a date for IVD President Sihem Bensedrine to submit the Commissions final report to him. How do you interpret this delay?

I think the conflict is essentially political. At the top, people do not believe in and have never believed in the transitional justice process. The paradox that has arisen in our country is that the law on transitional justice  which is poorly drafted and has many shortcomings from which we are still suffering today  was drafted mainly by the supposed victims, the people of Ennahdha [Islamist party] at the time of the Troika and the Constituent Assembly. Except that things changed after the 2014 elections. It is the alleged torturers who are now applying this law! The former wrote a very advantageous law for the victims, and the latter, seeing this as contrary to the interests of people close to the former regime  many of whom are currently in power  are trying to block and hinder the process.

Recommended reading Tunisia Truth Commission highlights four arms of oppression

We remember the historic plenary session of Parliament on March 26, 2018, when MPs of the majority party vetoed the continuation of the IVDs work. Since then, the government has not forcibly suspended the functioning of the IVD but has stopped dealing with it. Hence all the questions raised by the current situation: will the head of government receive Ms. Bensedrine and her board members for the submission of the final report? Will this report be published in the official gazette or will it suffer the same fate as the list of martyrs and wounded of the Revolution, which was nevertheless transferred to the government by the High Committee on Human Rights and Public Freedoms in December 2017?

Also, the president of Parliament is caught between his duty to receive the head of the IVD and pressure against it from parliamentarians, because of the veto of 26 March.

The head of government must publish the report. Decisions must be taken to implement the recommendations of the Truth Commission.

During the trials of the specialized chambers, we noticed your presence in the cases of both Islamist and left-wing victims. You are one of the few lawyers who do not distinguish between their political leanings

Yes, but I dont think that is so remarkable. Firstly, I am appearing before the specialized chambers on behalf of OMCT and for the benefit of the families of several victims. Secondly, at all times, including before the Revolution, I have never made a distinction between victims, whatever their political tendency. All victims have been subjected to abuses and their basic human rights have been violated. It is my role as a human rights defender to be committed to ensuring that justice is done for them. Otherwise who would do it?

The specialized chambers started operating in May 2018. Here too, we are moving very slowly. Why do you think that is?

There are many problems with the specialized chambers. First, article 8 of the Transitional Justice Act, which establishes specialized chambers, is really poorly worded in that it provides for the establishment of specialized chambers for transitional justice with magistrates appointed by decree. However, there is no provision to enable a sufficient number of judges. The High Council of the Judiciary has not assigned enough judges to be trained in the field of transitional justice. As we have seen recently in Nabeul, at the trial of Faycal Baraket, but also in Kef, Tunis, Gafsa and elsewhere, whenever a single judge is absent, the Chamber cannot rule. Secondly, no code or special procedures manual has been drafted for the specialized chambers. We do not know if there will be judgments in absentia. We dont know how to file objections. Is it common law that will be applied? And to what kind of Chamber should appeals be lodged? I presume ordinary courts of appeal, since there is no other choice. The law says nothing on this and only provides for specialized chambers at the trial level.

There has been a lot of talk recently about abolishing this Article [8] and cancelling the specialized chambers. There are also rumours of an amnesty after the judgments have been pronounced. This would be a blatant attack on justice and a flagrant contradiction with the philosophy of transitional justice, which gives primacy to victims. The State would be taking sides with the torturers. It would also signal the failure of all attempts to shed light on what really happened here, burying the process of writing history and any institutional reform project. And then it would be a huge disappointment for the victims, most of whom ask only for an acknowledgement of the facts by the accused and an apology! The State cannot override this whole process by declaring an amnesty!

We have not seen many accused attending the hearings of the specialized chambers. Does that mean they have State support, leading them to be absent from the courts?

The defendants must appear before the courts. We have noted a call for rebellion by some police unions, asking defendants not to respond to the summons to appear before the courts. This is very serious, especially since these acts of rebellion reflect total impunity. Some specialized chambers, such as the one in Tunis for the trial of Rached Jaidane, have issued a summons to defendants under pressure from lawyers representing civil parties. It remains to be seen in the coming days whether or not this judicial order will be enforced by the judicial police. Do we want to encourage people to use other means to take justice into their own hands? Or to move justice elsewhere by resorting to international bodies, such as the African Court of Human Rights or the United Nations?

Do you think sentences will be handed down against torturers and the people who issued the orders?

I think well get there one day. The specialized chambers are currently deciding on about 100 cases investigated and transferred by the IVD. Sentences will certainly be handed down in these cases. Will they be applied? I dont know. Because in the current context, the possible cancellation of Article 8 and the threat of amnesty still weigh on the Tunisian process. And even if the judicial process continues, it promises to be long, as in other countries in transition.

Interviewed by Olfa Belhassine.
Global indifference is fuelling atrocities across the Middle East, rights watchdog Amnesty International warned Tuesday in a report condemning what it said was growing impunity.

The crackdown on civil society actors and political opponents increased significantly in Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia, the rights watchdog said in its annual regional report.

Across the region, authorities used arbitrary detention, excessive force against protesters and administrative measures to restrict civil society, Amnesty said.

The human rights group said that global indifference to human rights violations had fuelled atrocities and impunity in the region in 2018.

It cited the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdoms consulate in Istanbul On October 2, saying the case has not been followed by concrete action to ensure those responsible for his murder are brought to justice.

It applauded rare action from countries like Denmark or Germany to suspended their supply of weapons to Riyadh, but noted that key allies of the Kingdom, including the USA, UK and France, have taken no such action.

The rights group also denounced Riyadhs military intervention in Yemen, saying the Saudi-led coalition battling rebels is responsible for war crimes and has contributed to a humanitarian catastrophe in the embattled country.

Amnesty denounced Israels crackdown on demonstrations in Gaza and the West Bank, which it says killed at least 195 Palestinians, including 41 children.

Amnesty also criticised Iran, including its repression of mass demonstrations over deteriorating socio-economic conditions.

Security forces violently dispersed the protests, beating unarmed protesters and using live ammunition, tear gas and water cannons against them, causing deaths and injuries, it said.

It denounced war crimes committed in Syria, Libya and Yemen, which have been ravaged by deadly conflicts and humanitarian catastrophes.

In the three countries, military forces with air power carried out indiscriminate air strikes and direct attacks on civilian homes, hospitals and medical facilities, sometimes using internationally banned cluster munitions, Amnesty said.

The rights group pointed to some positive developments in the region which it said serve as glimmers of hope.

Across the Maghreb, provisions to combat violence against women came into effect.

In Saudi Arabia authorities lifted a driving ban on women  even as they imprisoned women human rights defenders who had campaigned for this very right, Amnesty said.
Summerville, SC (29483)

Today

Rain early with thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. High 84F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy with showers and a few thunderstorms. Low 72F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Push for socialism

Why is there such a push for a socialistic society in this country today? Why would we want to turn away from a system that has made this country so great? President Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s stated: After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world. I am strongly of the opinion that the great majority of people will always find these are the moving impulses of life.

When did we decide that some intellectual who has never founded or run a business is in a position to determine more than I how I should run my life?

So, why have we rejected these principles? The answer is to be found in our schools. Students have been and are being brainwashed into believing that there is virtue in socialism and communism. Capitalism is being demonized as a destructive system that imprisons the masses.

One only needs to look at Venezuela. While socialism sounds good and the populace votes for it they are unable to vote it out. What then happens to the populace?

Donald Crews

Winston-Salem

Climate shifts worsen flu
The NAACP was pleased by Collins decision. We are delighted that the acts of the previous majority, which came to power through the use of racially discriminatory maps, have been checked, state NAACP president Rev. T. Anthony Spearman said in a news release.

As for gerrymandering, Collins has a point. Gerrymandering  which allows legislators to choose their voters rather than the other way around  has long been a problem in North Carolina as well as other states. If it werent for the thumb the Republican Party placed on the scale, its not very likely the amendments would have been included on the 2018 ballot.

The voter ID amendment is discriminatory, disenfranchising the poor and minorities. It was ginned up by phony claims of voter fraud. The income tax rate amendment is shortsighted, tying the states hands in ways that could prevent us from meeting future needs that require public investment.

They both may still be overturned for legitimate reasons.

But the vote in November was statewide. Every eligible voter had an opportunity to weigh in regardless of party or district. They did, and the yeas had it.
Photo: Parks Canada

Oliver town council is sending a formal request to Parks Canada requesting a referendum be held on the proposed South Okanagan national park reserve.

Mayor Martin Johansen used his powers under the Community Charter to bring the matter back before council Monday for a second vote after the first failed as a tie with an absent councillor.

Coun. Dave Mattes returned and broke the tie Monday in favour of sending the referendum request to Parks Canada.

This doesnt give council an opinion, it just says that yes we believe our constituents deserve the opportunity to voice their opinion, Mattes said.

He was addressing the concerns of Coun. Larry Schwartzenberger, who voted against the motion because he believes council should stay completely neutral on the national park debate.

To remain neutral, we should not be advocating one way or another for either side, he said. Personally, I would sign a petition that would ask for a referendum and I would vote in a referendum, but I think council made the decision to stay neutral and thats what we should do.

Coun. Petra Veintimilla voted against the motion because she was uncomfortable with the general wording of the request and wanted some conditions attached to it.

Coun. Aimee Grice and Mayor Johansen both spoke in favour of the referendum, saying they were passing on the demands of their constituents.

A poll of residents in Oliver, Osoyoos, Keremeos and Cawston released in January showed 76 per cent of people in support of a referendum on the issue.

Parks Canada has previously said a referendum is not on the table, something Mattes noted, Im not sure theyll take our advice or tutelage in the first place.

The federal government announced last night it was extending the public consultation window on the issue by two weeks, to March 15.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 26)  A Colombian drug cartel is now in the country, as seen through the batches of cocaine recently recovered from local shores, President Rodrigo Duterte said.

In a speech Monday, he said the Medellin drug cartel, which he has repeatedly blamed for the proliferation of illegal drugs in Southeast Asia, has expanded operations to the Philippines.

"I said we are facing a serious problem. Pumasok na ang cartel Medellin, Colombia. Kaya nga marami na naman makikita cocaine," he said during the first national assembly of the Liga ng mga Barangay in Pasay City.

[Translation: I said we are facing a serious problem. The Medellin cartel in Colombia has entered the country. That's why we are seeing a lot of cocaine.]

This comes after the Philippine National Police recovered 74 bricks of suspected cocaine from different coastal villages on the eastern seaboard of the country over the weekend.

Since Ferbuary 10, police have found at least 164.8 kilograms of cocaine in the form of blocks tightly sealed with brown tape, with an estimated value of over ?871 million according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. Duterte earlier said these deliveries were also an indication that the Sinaloa drug cartel have infiltrated Philippine shores.

The President said this poses as a problem since the country has many islands that can serve as entry points for the drug cartels.

"Dito, ngayon makikita mo kung lumulutang, shabu, cocaine. At mahirap ang Pilipinas because tayo ang pinaka-mahabang shoreline. Kasi island for island 'yan ganun. Hindi naman straight 'yan. Very porous," he said.

[Translation: Here, now, you can see there are floating shabu and cocaine, and what is difficult is the Philippines has the longest shoreline because it has multiple islands. It's not straight. Very porous.]

He added that patrolling every island in the country may not be possible but warned that action must be taken.

"Seven thousand islands ang Pilipinas. Hindi kagaya ng America na isang stretch lang. Dalawang submarino lang mag-ganunan. Dito island for island wala tayo. Kulang tayo. So I cannot afford na may isang patrol dito, for island for island. Ganun kahirap. So I have to do something about it. I'm just warning," Duterte added.

[Translation: The Philippines has seven thousand islands. It's not like America which is just one stretch. It only takes two submarines. Here, for each island it is not enough. I cannot afford to have one patrol island for island. It's that difficult. So I have to do something about it. I'm just warning.]

Earlier Duterte warned of a "bloodier" war against illegal drugs, expecting more arrests.

Police said they are still determining where the cocaine blocks came from but are looking into the possibility they are being dropped on Philippine shores by international drug rings including the Sinaloa Drug Cartel and the Golden Triangle syndicate.

The PDEA said syndicates may be using the Philippines as a transshipment point, given that there is no market for cocaine in the country.
Many Republicans understand what a dangerous precedent this sets. The whole idea that presidents  whether its President Trump, President Warren or President Sanders  can declare an emergency and somehow usurp the separation of powers and get into the business of appropriating money for specific projects without Congress being involved, is a serious constitutional question, Sen. John Cornyn (R.-Texas) told CNN in early February.

Now Republicans have a chance to vote their consciences, if they have any left. The House will vote today on a resolution to repeal the state of emergency. The Senate will have its opportunity soon. This is the most important vote that Republicans will make in their lives. And there is every indication that almost all of them will make the wrong choice.

Only one Republican, Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, has co-sponsored the House resolution of disapproval. Almost all Republicans will likely do what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) did: He warned against the emergency declaration before it was issued but supported it after Trump ignored his advice.

If Republicans support this unconstitutional power grab, they will have completed their transformation from the party of Reagan  a party devoted to conservative principles  to the party of Trump  a party devoted to no principle other than a desperate desire to propitiate a capricious would-be tyrant in the White House. They might as well get rid of the elephant and make their party symbol a curved yellow fruit, because they will have become banana republicans. I am worried about the Democrats drift to the left, but I can never imagine voting again for a Republican Party that represents a clear and present danger to democracy in the United States.

Max Boot is a columnist for The Washington Post.
Over the weekend, a video went viral online of a debate between Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and student members of the Sunrise Movement, a climate advocacy group, while they were visiting her office to pitch the Green New Deal. Ill leave it to others to decide who came off better in the video. But whats particularly striking about the debate is the generation gap it revealed, as Demos Senior Fellow Heather McGhee highlighted on Sundays Meet the Press.

So one of the things that I think is so important about this is that its a difference of urgency. For someone whos 7 years old  we just sat here talking about the Clinton impeachment like it was yesterday. At that time, 20 years from now in the future, we will have all coral reefs gone in this country. Its something that I think most people who are thinking about their children right now  and sorry Im getting emotional. But Dianne Feinstein has been great. And she has been in office and not had the urgency that is required. This is an emergency in this country. Its an emergency on this planet. Theres no higher responsibility of anyone who has any kind of political power right now than to try to stop a global catastrophe thats not happening in three generations. Its happening now.
"It's an ugly, ugly, ugly blemish on the United States of America. Heather (Heyer) should be alive now. It's a murderous act. It was a defining moment and [Trump] could have said to the United States and the world that we're better than that."

So naturally Trump took Lee's latest words as a personal insult and in return struck back at the director. He tweeted:

"Be nice if Spike Lee could read his notes, or better yet not have to use notes at all, when doing his racist hit on your President, who has done more for African Americans (Criminal Justice Reform, Lowest Unemployment numbers in History, Tax Cuts,etc.) than almost any other Pres!"

The suggestion that Lee, someone who reads and writes for a living, is struggling with literacy perpetuates a common stereotype among racists that black people are not intelligent. In fact, a frequent insult of Trump's against black people who criticize his presidency is to dismiss their intelligence.

But Trump's response was directed at his base as The Washington Post's Philip Bump noted. Sure, Trump is "America's president," but the use of the phrase "your President" is a reminder that he has only been consistently embraced by a small percentage of the American population despite widespread of disapproval of the American public.
Members of the Winston-Salem City Council found the results plenty disturbing when they heard them in a recent meeting of a council committee that deals with housing concerns.

D.D. Adams, council member for North Ward, said the tests are as important as the diversity study the city is embarking on to check the health of its program to help minority and women contractors.

If people are not being allowed to rent because of their race, or sex, or religion or nationality, we might have another problem that on the surface we have not even scratched, she said. We might want to look at how we can delve into this further, to see if it is conclusive we have a problem, and if so we need to fix it.

Council Member John Larson agreed:

This is not a happy report, he said. It shows a challenge that the city has.

In the eight race-based tests, in five cases there was a difference in how each person in the pair of the would-be renters was treated. There was no difference in two cases, and another was rated inconclusive.
Q: My mother has an invisible underground fence installed on her property in Winston-Salem. We are told she has to put up a physical fence, as underground fencing is not an accepted form of containment in the city limits. Is this true? Her dogs have never left her property, and she was told this in response to attacks on her dog by a neighbors dog that got on her property, which led to expensive vet bills.

S.I.

Answer: Yes, it is true.

In the city limits, an underground fence is not a substitute for an actual physical fence, said Lt. David Morris with Forsyth County Animal Control. An underground fence can be used if you are outside with the dog.

He said that people sometimes get underground fencing, then leave the dog outside all day while they are at work, which violates the citys leash law.

The attacks on your mothers dog by a neighbors dog are part of why invisible fencing is not considered sufficient. The city code says that a fence must be adequate in height, construction and placement not only to keep the dogs confined, but to keep other dogs and children from accessing the property. An invisible fence does not do that.
Photo: The Canadian Press North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves upon arrival by train in Dong Dang in Vietnamese border town Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019, ahead of his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un spent the eve of his summit with Donald Trump travelling around Hanoi in his armoured limousine Tuesday, his squad of encircling bodyguards in tow as he visited the North Korean Embassy, with hundreds of visiting journalists and thousands of local citizens following in his wake.

Trump and Kim are to meet Wednesday in their second summit aimed at addressing perhaps the world's biggest security challenge: Kim's pursuit of a nuclear program that stands on the verge of viably threatening targets around the planet.

But before the summit began, Kim took some time to venture out of his locked-down hotel and check out parts of Hanoi, including his nation's embassy, where a loud cheer went up as he entered the compound.

Soldiers, police and international journalists thronged the streets outside Hanoi's Melia Hotel where Kim is staying, and hundreds of eager citizens stood behind barricades hoping to see the North Korean leader. As Vietnamese, North Korean and U.S. flags fluttered in a cold drizzle, dozens of cameras flashed and some citizens screamed and used their mobile phones to capture Kim's rock-star-like arrival.

"I like him," local resident Van Dang Luu, who works at a nearby bank, said of Kim. "He is very young and he is very interesting. And he is very powerful," she said. "Trump is not young, but I think he is very powerful."

Vietnam's authoritarian leaders set up a huge security apparatus to welcome Kim, shutting long stretches of highway and locking down swaths of the bustling capital city. Earlier in the morning, Kim, grinning broadly and waving, stepped off his armoured train at the end of a long ride that started in Pyongyang and wound through China to the Vietnamese border. He shook hands with officials as Vietnamese troops in crisp, white uniforms and black boots stood at attention on a red carpet at the Dong Dang railway station on the China-Vietnam border.

Hours ahead of his border crossing, footage from Japanese TV network TBS showed Kim taking a pre-dawn smoke break at a train station in China, a woman who appeared to be his sister, Kim Yo Jong, holding a crystal ashtray at the ready.

Vietnamese officials have shared few details about the specifics of a summit that the world will be watching closely.

Trump was flying to Hanoi from Washington and was to arrive later Tuesday.

Although many experts are skeptical Kim will give up the nuclear weapons he likely sees as his best guarantee of continued rule, there was a palpable, carnival-like excitement among many in Hanoi as the final preparations were made for the meeting. There were also huge traffic jams in the already congested streets.

Officials in Hanoi said they only had about 10 days to prepare for the summit  much less than the nearly two months Singapore had before the first Trump-Kim meeting last year but still vowed to provide airtight security for the two leaders.
Photo: The Canadian Press

A newly disclosed memo says the Prime Minister's Office ordered public consultations on federal anti-corruption measures  a review that led to two policy moves that could end up helping embattled SNC-Lavalin.

The internal briefing note, released under the Access to Information Act, says the PMO directed Public Service and Procurement Canada to consult the public in 2017 on both the overall integrity regime and the possibility of introducing formal alternatives to prosecuting financial crimes.

Early last year, following the consultation, the government passed legislation to create what is known as a remediation agreement  a means of having a corporation accused of wrongdoing make amends without facing the potentially devastating consequences of a criminal conviction.

As a result of a second thread of the consultation, the government is also proposing to soften the penalty scheme for companies involved in wrongdoing by changing the process for determining how long an offending firm should be barred from getting federal contracts.

SNC-Lavalin, the Montreal-based engineering and construction giant, faces corruption and fraud charges over allegations it resorted to bribery while pursuing business in Libya.

It has pushed unsuccessfully for a remediation agreement, and the Trudeau government has been plunged into controversy over accusations it improperly pressured the former attorney general to make an agreement happen.
Joplin, MO (64801)

Today

Rain and thunderstorms. High near 80F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms in the evening, then variable clouds overnight with more showers at times. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
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.
Jacksonville, TX (75766)

Today

Rain and thunderstorms. High 82F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Overcast. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds light and variable.
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.

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The classical view of an IoT deployment is relatively centralized  a company wires sensors to important equipment, the sensors send data back to edge gateways, and the gateways do some limited processing of that data and then send it back to the cloud or to the data center. Its not simple, but its easy enough to understand the principles.

Some, however, recognize that vastly different architectures for the IoT are possible, including Fleet Space Technologies, a startup that earlier this month announced that it had reached a million device signups for its ambitious satellite-based IoT edge system, which its calling Project Galaxy.

The goal is to provide truly global, ends-of-the-Earth LoRaWAN coverage to any IoT device on the platform. Registered devices connect to a satellite for connectivity back to a home network. The company launched its first nanosatellite in 2018, and boasts that companies ranging from Fortune 500s to small startups have jumped at the chance to register devices for the Project Galaxy network.

While technical details about the project are sparse, the open source LoRaWAN standard is popular enough that Project Galaxys potential market is as expansive as its name. Given the limitations of the low-power WAN technology, as well as the unavoidable delay inherent in satellite communications, Project Galaxys probably not going to be the best idea for time-sensitive applications, but its global reach could make it attractive to safety, research and monitoring implementations located in remote regions.

IoT convoys

Vehical-fleet management is a popular application for IoT tech on the enterprise side, and an Arizona-based company called Haulynx is offering a new twist on the basic idea of vehicle tracking.

Haulynxs app works something like a freight-focused Uber or Lyft. Carriers can sign themselves into the system and make themselves and their trucks available for loads from brokers using the same system. Once the match between cargo and carrier has been made, the system provides turn-by-turn navigation, complete with location-aware routing based on the dimensions of the specific vehicle and cargo involved.

The idea is that brokers can pay for access to the Haulynx network for quick and easy freight routing, along with automatic updates about the location and progress of their shipments.

IoTenants

Smart home tech is traditionally seen as part of the consumer side of the IoT world, but some of the same principles are being applied to commercial real estate by forward-thinking companies.

A Czech startup called Spaceti wants to IoT-ify the entire office. From tracking open parking spots in the garage, to booking meeting rooms, temperature control  even whether the coffee machines broken or not. Its all very comprehensive. Spaceti even logs all that information for potential analytics down the road, so that it can correlate productivity to office temperature, whether theres enough coffee for everyone, and so on.

The system works with asset tagging and a series of stones, small, smooth wireless devices that work as sensors and hubs for information, all connected via a cellular network. The wellbeing smart stone, measures things like humidity and temperature, while the location smart stone provides information on tagged items, whether those are chairs, tables or otherwise.

Its one of those pitches that sound great for a certain stripe of manager who likes to have a finger on absolutely everything thats happening at his or her company, but it sounds like actually working in an office like this could prove a little bit oppressive. Much will depend on whether the operation savings are worth the price of installing the stones and the software.
VMwares introduction of x86 server-virtualization technology was a game-changing event in the history of enterprise computing. But if you look at VMwares corporate messaging today, its almost as if server virtualization has been scrubbed from the lexicon. Instead, VMware highlights its multi-cloud strategies, software-defined data centers, networking, hyperconverged infrastructures, security, SD-WAN, containers, blockchain, IoT and more.

So, whats going on with VMware? If you created a nearly $6 billion industry, had more than 75% market share and didt really face much in the way of direct competition, why not just keep doing what youre doing? Is VMware just trying to latch onto all the latest buzzwords, or is there a method to the madness?

According to analysts, its been clear for some time that the server virtualization market is approaching a saturation point. Gartner reported that license revenues for x86 virtualization declined for the first time ever in the first quarter of 2016, with most enterprises reporting data-center virtualization levels of 75% or higher. And by 2017, Gartner declared the server-virtualization market so mature that it stopped doing its annual server-virtualization Magic Quadrant reports altogether.

Meanwhile, the threat to VMware goes beyond companies having virtualized pretty much every workload that can be virtualized. In a bid to reduce capital expenditures and increase business agility, organizations are trying to downsize their data centers and shift existing workloads to the cloud, either on SaaS platforms or cloud infrastructure from AWS or Azure. And as companies decide to go cloud-native for all new applications, they are turning to cutting-edge approaches like containerization, micro-services and serverless computing, which dont require a traditional VM.

In short, VMware is a classic case of a company facing the innovators dilemma, according to Jason Bloomberg, president of the analyst firm Intellyx. The decision boils down to whether to just keep milking the cash cow, or whether to try to catch the next wave of innovation and expand into new markets, even if that might mean cannibalizing the primary revenue stream.

VMware, through a clever combination of targeted acquisitions and internal product development, has taken the innovation route, Bloomberg says, putting together an overarching VMware everywhere strategy with a broad product portfolio designed to help companies write, secure, manage and optimize applications wherever they are located.

Or, as Chris Wolf, vice president and CTO, global field and industry, at VMware puts it: Applications and data are becoming increasingly distributed, with organizations operating across a number of data centers, public cloud providers, branch offices, edge locations, and more. Our strategy focuses on ensuring consistent infrastructure and consistent operations anywhere apps and data may reside and doing so while preserving a native developer experience.

VMware expands virtualization in the data center

Having pioneered x86 server virtualization, VMware set its sights on a broader range of virtualization opportunities in data center infrastructure. After software-defined compute, it was clear to us early on that the rise of software-defined storage and network virtualization were only a matter of time, Wolf says.

The company introduced vSAN storage virtualization in 2014, then used vSAN technology as the core of its VxRail hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) appliance. VMware leveraged the acquisition of Nicira into its NSX network virtualization and security product. Armed with a fully integrated stack of virtualized compute, storage and networking technologies, VMware layered on management, automation and orchestration capabilities to create what it calls a software-defined data center. This is a highly automated data-center-as-a-service offering that can be deployed in a private-cloud, pubic-cloud or hybrid-cloud scenario.

But VMware wasnt done there. It bought AirWatch to extend application and data management, as well as security features, to end-users mobile devices. It bought SD-WAN vendor VeloCloud to bring software-defined technology to branch offices that needed to connect to the cloud. It enhanced its cloud management capabilities with the recent purchases of CloudHealth Technologies and Wavefront, which monitors cloud applications running in containers. And it recently purchased Kubernetes player Heptio as part of its strategy to enable DevOps teams to write applications on the platform of their choice.

Forrester analyst Chris Gardner gives VMware high marks for not sitting on their laurels. The move into hot new markets is showing results, he says, noting that the NSX business is already a major contributor the companys revenue stream. And he said that VMwares recent partnership with Amazon to offer software-defined data centers on AWS is an exciting development with strong growth potential. With VMware Cloud on AWS, companies can migrate and extend their on-prem VMware environments to the AWS bare-metal cloud infrastructure.

Gardner does caution that in its push to develop new offerings, VMware sometimes goes a bit too far. They tend to have multiple solutions to every problem, he says, which can be confusing to customers. We believe software vendors need to be opinionated, to come to the table with a recommendation, not a Cheesecake Factory menu, Gardner says.

VMware has other challenges as well. By expanding into new markets, VMware faces entirely new sets of competitors. Its going up against Nutanix in the HCI market, Cisco and Silver Peak in SD-WAN, Cisco again in the software-defined networking (SDN) market, and Microsoft and IBM in cloud-system management.

In addition, analysts say VMware has been a little late to the cloud and containerization parties, and its strategy has not always been clear and consistent. For example, VMware at one point tried to offer its own cloud platform but torpedoed that effort and more recently teamed with Amazon to offer software-defined data centers on AWS. This enables companies that have a VMware-based data center or private cloud to extend that enterprise-grade environment to the AWS bare-metal cloud infrastructure with no heavy lifting. Similarly, VMware wants customers to run containers inside its own virtual machines, arguing that it can provide a development platform with the security, orchestration, integration and management features that organizations are accustomed to.

Customers who spoke to Network World say they are taking a pragmatic approach to VMwares rapidly expanding product lines, evaluating each new VMware offering on a case-by-case basis. They seem generally pleased, even surprised at how well VMware has been able to anticipate their evolving needs, and they say VMwares ability to integrate its products gives it a leg up over point solutions.

VMware customers grow into vSAN, NSX and SDDC

Ryan Fay, executive vice president and global CIO at ACI Specialty Benefits, began using VMwares virtualization products in the early 2000s when he was at a different company. Its been exciting to see what VMware has been able to do, he says. The company stuck with its core competency but continued to innovate into new areas at the same time, he says.

In 2009, Fay was hired at ACI, a provider of corporate-benefits packages, to lead a digital-transformation initiative. ACI had recently acquired four companies, its data footprint was growing at 300% a year, it had security, compliance and data governance issues, and the data center needed modernization.

The first step was a basic server hardware consolidation effort that led to the creation of 40,000 virtual machines, a move that saved the company an estimated 30 to 40 percent in CAPEX costs per year and helped with HIPAA and PCI compliance efforts.

When Fay wanted to automate data center functionality, VMware was there with its software-defined data center. When encryption for sensitive customer data became a priority, VMware had just released a new version of VSphere with built-in encryption. When his software developers wanted to move to containers, VMware had its Pivotal Container Services product.

And when VMware bought SD-WAN vendor VeloCloud, it just so happened that Fay was already a customer. At one point, Fay says he went with another vendor for hyperconverged infrastructure but switched back to VMware because its platform was the most mature and had the most functionality.

Fay says he appreciates other aspects of his relationship with VMware. There is no vendor lock-in in terms of the underlying hardware. For example, NSX plugged directly into his Cisco networking gear. The result: You can have network functions virtualization pushed over any content-distribution node you want, anywhere in the world. That was a paradigm shift, because youre no longer just managing the network, youre using it to drive innovation.

Fay says he is keeping his eye on VMwares cloud offering on AWS. The only thing holding him back right now from a full production deployment is the lack of availability zones. And hes looking forward to other VMware initiatives in areas of blockchain, edge computing and 5G.

Similarly, Adam Alicea, director of enterprise engineering at VITAS Healthcare Corp., began his relationship with VMware through a server virtualization project. Eight years ago, when he joined the largest hospice care company in the U.S., VITAS was moving its data center from Miami to Smyrna, Ga., and his task was to migrate the companys 70 applications onto virtualized servers. After a 17-hour day, about 80 percent of the companys applications  many of them mission-critical apps related to patient records  were running on the virtualized infrastructure, he says. And the companys footprint had been reduced from nearly a full cage in a colocation facility to 11 server racks. Today, thats down to six racks.

Four years ago, when the in-house electronic medical records system was pushing the companys SAN to the limit, Alicea switched to a VMware vSAN. Latency dropped from seconds to microseconds and the company realized a nearly 50 percent reduction in storage-hardware-acquisition costs. Everybody was wowed, Alicea says, and he was given the green light to develop and implement a five-year plan that included deployment of a full software-defined data center.

On the networking front, Alicea began re-designing the core network, moving from Cisco gear to white-box switches running the Cumulus Linux OS, boosting the network backbone from 10Gps to 40Gps and adopting a spine-leaf architecture for increased resiliency.

The next step was adding VMwares NSX, which integrated with the storage- and server-virtualization systems to provide a single view of the entire data-center stack. In addition, NSX provided network micro-segmentation for security, as well as load balancing. It all made sense, Alicea says.

He is working with VMware in other areas as well, implementing virtual desktop infrastructure with VMwares Horizon View technology on NSX clusters. But hes also sticking to the best-of-breed approach. For example, after evaluating VMwares SD-WAN technology, he decided to stick with his current implementation.

VMware's Dell EMC connection, future plans

No discussion of VMware can be complete without mention of its somewhat convoluted ownership situation. Storage vendor EMC bought VMware in 2004 for $625 million and sold 15% of the company to the public via an IPO. In 2016, Dell, which was then privately held, borrowed $67 billion to buy EMC in a deal that stands as the largest ever in the industry. As part of that transaction, Dell issued something called tracking stock, a separate stock based on VMwares performance. Then, in December of 2018, Dell announced it was going public again and bought back the VMware tracking stock.

None of these machinations seem to have had much impact on the ground, according to both analysts and customers. Any efforts by Dell to increase synergies between the companies can only be good for customers, and these corporate changes havent slowed down VMwares continued push into new markets. For example, Dell just announced an aggressive product roadmap for its HCI product line that features VMwares VxRail technology.

And at the latest VMworld conference, the company announced several new initiatives. Project Dimension is a managed service that will bring software-defined data-center infrastructure- and hardware-as-a-service to on-premises and edge locations. Project Magna is aimed at leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to build self-optimizing virtual infrastructures. And Project Concord is VMwares blockchain initiative.

But there is always a concern that if debt-laden Dell hits a few rough quarters, it might scale back new -echnology investments at VMware.

So far, however, the overall strategy seems to be working. Revenue for the latest quarter was $2.2 billion, up 14% from the same quarter of the previous year, and the company increased its full-year revenue projections to nearly $8.9 billion. Quarterly earnings of $1.56 a share beat analyst estimates. And VMware stock, which dipped to a low of around $50 a share in 2016, is now above $150 a share.

Industry analysts are impressed. Forrester listed VMwares HCI offering as one of the leaders in the fast-growing data center in a box market. IDC says VMware is the market leader in cloud management software at more than $900M in annual revenue, and is the market leader a new category called IT automation and configuration management. And Gartner puts VMware in a leadership position in WAN edge technology.

Wolf, not surprisingly, is bullish on VMwares future:

We will be global leaders in infrastructure, networking, data management, end-user computing, and we will revolutionize how applications and data are secured. We will empower customers to take open source projects into production, providing the reliability, scalability and operational consistency they require. Finally, we expect to continue to be a major force in cloud operations and management.
Telco Singtel Optus has switched on a new mobile site in Napoleon Reef in NSW, as part of the government's Mobile Black Spot Program.

The new site was funded by Optus, the NSW Government and the Federal Government and will improve coverage in the village and also the Great Western Highway between Yetholme and Raglan.

Being able to bring mobile coverage to small rural communities like Napoleon Reef is incredibly important to us. We want every Australian to have access to reliable mobile coverage and programs like the Federal Governments Mobile Black Spot Program are crucial enablers of this goal, said Andrew Sheridan, Optus' vice-president of Government Regulatory and Government Affairs.

As the main artery linking Sydney with Bathurst its important that we offer commuters and holidaymakers driving along the Great Western Highway with reliable mobile reception.

"Critically, this new site in Napoleon Reef, will help enhance in-vehicle coverage along the highway which is vital for the thousands of people who travel along this stretch of road each day.

Regional Services Minister Senator Bridget McKenzie said the program was delivering much-needed new investment in mobile infrastructure across regional Australia to address mobile coverage issues.

Its fantastic to see that the program is reaching more and more communities across the country, like Napoleon Reef," she said.

The Mobile Black Spot Program is enabling mobile carriers to service areas like Napolean Reef where it would otherwise not have been economically viable."
Photo: CTV News

Police in Delta say they have seized a significant amount of drugs, including a suspected bulk quantity of fentanyl, from a known criminal organization.

Delta police say in a news release that drugs and weapons were recovered on Feb. 15 when members of their drug section went into a Surrey home linked to the so-called Brothers Keepers gang.

Investigators also recovered a loaded firearm, replica restricted firearm and two bullet-proof vests.

Police say three people in the home were taken into custody and later released while Crown counsel makes a decision on possible charges.

The investigation stretched over several months and police say evidence will be forwarded to Crown seeking approval for charges against several members and associates of the gang.

Staff Sgt. Heath Newton, who led the investigation, says the seizure highlights the dangers and violence associated to drug trafficking.

"This investigation is also an example of the ongoing efforts by police to stem the opioid crisis and the gang crime gripping the Lower Mainland and the province at large," Newton says in the release.
Ithaca, NY (14850)

Today

Partly cloudy in the morning followed by scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon. High 92F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms before midnight. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
Huntsville, TX (77320)

Today

Rain with thunderstorms by evening. High around 80F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Cloudy in the evening, then off and on rain showers after midnight. Low 73F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
February 25, 2019

POCATELLO  The Idaho Museum of Natural History and Idaho State University received a $20,000 award from the National Science Foundation in January to scan the entire skeleton of a blue whale that washed ashore in California. The skeleton is at the Noyo Center for Marine Science in Fort Bragg, California.

This new grant was a specific one for a very specific animal, said Leif Tapanila, director of the Idaho Museum of Natural History and professor of geosciences. This whale was beached on the California coast after it was struck by a vessel. It broke its back and floated to shore. That happened a while ago.

The whale was processed and the bones were cleaned. The museum is ready to mount the skeleton in a display, but is allowing it to be digitally scanned first.

The ideal time to scan an animal like that is right now because it is all cleaned, every element is there  all the bones from the flippers to the tail. Its all there, Tapanila said. So, we have this opportunity to go scan every bone of this animal before they hang it up. Our results are best if we can hold each individual bone and scan their entire surface.

The Idaho Virtualization Laboratory has portable, laser scanners that are the standard for making really high-resolution 3D images that can be digitized and put online.

We are part of a nationwide effort by the National Science Foundation to scan all vertebrate animals, said Leif Tapanila. This is a monstrous task. Ultimately, they want to have a digital version of every animal on the planet. If you just consider the vertebrate animals, such as mammals, reptiles and fish  there are many thousands of species right there.

In August, the Idaho Virtualization Laboratory received a $175,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to travel to the University of California, Berkeley, California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology in Boston over two years to make 3D scans of large marine mammals, hippos, elephants, rhinos and other large animals.

This summer a team led by Jesse Pruitt, Idaho Virtualization Laboratory manager and technical specialist, will head to California to scan this blue whale and to scan specimens at the University of California, Berkeley and the California Academy of Sciences for the other project.

We are looking forward to getting out there and scanning these amazing animals, Tapanila said. Once they are scanned theyll be uploaded to a public website where people can view them. The major reason the NSF feels it is important to create this database of life is to create a resource for research, Tapanila said, and I am especially excited about what well be able to do with all these digital products on the educational side and with exhibits. I can imagine a future where we are making whole new exhibits off this fundamental data.

Tapanila described ISUs big-animal scanning project as a module in the National Science Foundations umbrella program, Open Vertebrate (oVert) Thematic Collections Network (TCN) that has a goal of scanning more than 20,000 smaller vertebrate specimens. ISU received the grant from the NSF Partner to Existing Networks program.

The co-principal investigator in this project is David Blackburn, of the University of Florida and Florida Museum of Natural History, who is leading the NSFs oVert efforts.

Bottom photo information: Jesse Pruitt looks at the skeleton of a humpback whale on the screen of his computer that the Idaho Virtualization laboratory scanned for the National Park Service. The whale was named Snow.
Tuesday, February 26th, 2019 (12:01 am) - Score 2,331

The UK Government has today announced the launch of a new 3m pilot project under their 190m Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme, which within the next few months aims to connect more than 100 primary schools in rural parts of England to a Gigabit capable FTTP broadband ISP network.

By the sounds of it the public funding is only being used to help cover the expensive civil engineering (network build) costs and we note that several ISPs  including Wessex Internet, Openreach (BT), KCOM, Fluidone, Updata, GTT and E2BN  have already confirmed plans for builds with different schools (schools invited to take part in the trial have to get quotes, but its open to any Gigabit capable providers).

So far 3 schools have already been connected and a further 52 have signed contracts with work due to be completed in the coming weeks (list at the bottom of this article). The project currently looks set to be delivered under-budget and thus more than 100 schools are ultimately expected to benefit by completion (currently there are said to be ongoing discussions with another 72 schools).

Naturally all of these deployments are focused on communities that are not currently in any commercial roll-out plans for a full fibre (Fibre-to-the-Premises) broadband network, which at present reflects most of England but the specific focus here is on rural areas (i.e. this is all reflective of the Governments outside-in approach to deployment under the Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review).

The obvious benefit here is that the schools end up becoming ultrafast broadband hubs, which can in turn be used to spread Gigabit connection speeds out to rural homes and businesses in the surrounding areas, often at a lower cost. In fact thats a key part of the new pilot but its too early to say precisely how many premises will actually benefit.

Margot James, UK Minister for Digital, said: This project is a great example of the Governments new outside in approach to rolling out full fibre broadband, which is taking gigabit broadband to the hardest to reach rural areas first. As well as making a dramatic difference for students in the classroom, by using the schools as broadband hubs we are also making ultrafast broadband available to thousands of rural homes and businesses across the country more quickly.

Kim Mears, MD for Openreachs Strategic Infrastructure, said: Were really pleased to be able to support the Governments drive to connect up schools with full fibre broadband through our Full Fibre Infrastructure Build programme, which enables schools not in our commercial roll out plans to still connect to our full fibre network  without incurring any build costs. Without fast reliable connectivity there is the risk that children will miss out on what is now an essential learning tool, so being able to connect up schools in this way is great news.

Apparently the schools that have already connected under this pilot are understood to have seen their broadband speeds leap from 0.5Mbps to 100Mbps, although as per the headline these connections must have the capability to be upgraded to 1000Mbps (1Gbps) in the future should they wish to do so.

In any case for smaller primary schools 100Mbps is often enough to enable whole classes to simultaneously surf the internet on tablets as part of structured lessons, as well as supporting other online training, cloud services and educational learning tools. This can even help to save money as schools may be able to decommission some of their local servers to reduce hardware, maintenance and IT support costs.

NOTE: Its not clear if the pilot requires Gigabit capability to be symmetrical (same speeds for download and upload).

Interestingly the Government said that todays pilot will be instrumental in shaping how they invest the next 200m pot of funding under the existing LFFN Challenge Fund, which readers may recall was announced as part of last years Budget 2018 (here); this is in addition to the existing 190m pot.

Just to recap, the budget set aside 200m to pilot innovative approaches to deploying full fibre internet in rural locations, starting with primary schools, and with a voucher scheme for homes and businesses nearby. The first wave of this will include the Borderlands, Cornwall, and the Welsh Valleys.

You can see how the above quote echoes todays announcement. However it remains to be seen whether the voucher scheme mentioned above will be something new or an extension of their existing Gigabit Vouchers (details).

List of schools connected already or due to be connected shortly Dorset

Cheselbourne Primary Derbyshire

Peak Forest Primary Devon

Cheriton Fitzpaine Primary School, Highampton Community Primary School, Princetown Community Primary School, Holbeton School, Farway Church of England Primary, Filleigh Community Primary School, St Josephs Catholic Primary School Gloucestershire

Hartpury Church of England Primary, Slimbridge Primary School, Northleach Church of England Primary School, Churchdown Parton Manor Infant School, Churchdown Parton Manor Junior School Kent

St Johns Primary, Blean Primary School, St Johns CE Primary School Lincolnshire

Horblings Browns, Wrangle Primary School, The Hackthorn Church of England Primary School, Fleet Wood Lane Primary, Fairfield Infant and Nursery School, Quadring Cowley, Dunston St Peters School, Langtoft Primary School, Louth Kidgate Primary Academy, The Hackthorn Church of England Primary School, Whaplode Primary, Sturton by Stow Primary School, Nocton Primary School, Digby CofE Primary School, St Josephs Catholic Primary School, Bucknall Primary School, Legsby Primary School Somerset

Banwell Primary School, East Anstey Primary School Wiltshire

Wardour Catholic Primary School, Lacock Church of England Primary School Cambridgeshire

Wittering Primary School Derbyshire

Wigley, All Saints CofE Junior School, Osmaston CofE (VC) Primary School, Stoney Middleton CofE (C) Primary School, Stretton Handley Church of England Primary School, Brailsford CofE Primary School, Peak Dale Primary School, Thornsett Primary School, Pilsley CofE Primary School, Parwich Primary School, Kilburn Junior School, Duke of Norfolk CofE Primary School, Saint Marys Catholic Primary, Hady Primary School, Westhouses Primary School, Eureka Primary School, Stanton Primary School East Sussex

St. Peters CE Primary School, St. Michaels CE Primary School (Playden), Stonegate CE Primary School Herefordshire

Bromesberrow St Marys Church of England (Aided) Primary School Northamptonshire

Old Stratford West Sussex

Wivelsfield Primary School

UPDATE 28th Feb 2019

One of the suppliers in the schools project, RM Education, has kindly furnished us with a comment.
Burma USDP Hits Back at 'Party of Thieves' Accusations

USDP spokesman U Thein Tun Oo addresses journalists at a press conference in Naypyitaw on Monday. / Htet Naing Zaw / The Irrawaddy

NAYPYITAW  The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) on Monday fired back at online accusations that its members were all thieves.

The USDP has recently been hit with a barrage of attacks on Facebook calling it the party of thieves and accusing it of appropriating public property illegally. At a press conference in Naypyitaw, USDP spokesman U Thein Tun Oo retaliated by calling the partys accusers stooges of Western interests.

We cant say that those who call us thieves or the party of thieves are members of the public. In fact they operate as a team with international support and each of them opened several [Facebook] accounts. In fact they want to shape public opinion through the media, he said.

U Thein Tun Oo also questioned the records of serving government officials, noting that the targets of some recent public protests were still in office without specifying who he was referring to. The most recent protests against serving government officials for alleged corruption were in Tanintharyi Region, where some residents are accusing the regional chief minister of nepotism and bid rigging.

It was not said by the people. But I would say that a certain organization that wants to defeat us is doing all this intentionally. Those who are accusing us can point out the things each of us has stolen. We are open to an investigation and any charges, said U Thein Tun Oo, a former lawmaker in the Lower House of the Union Parliament.

[State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi] once said that [her government] would not retain power if the people no longer accept it. But it is as if it had never said so. [People] think [the National League for Democracy (NLD)] will not steal because it has never been in office. Now it is in office and people know it. We have done five years, and now they are doing it. After they work for five years, people will be able to judge, he added.

The USDP evolved into a political party from the Union Solidarity and Development Association, an organization established by the military regime in the 1990s. In 2010 the generals of the Myanmar military resigned and joined the USDP to contest that years elections, which it won.

The NLD boycotted that election, deeming the contest unfair, but trounced the USDP in 2015.

Reacting to the USDPs accusations, NLD spokesman U Myo Nyunt said anyone accused of corruption should be deemed innocent until proven guilty and has the right to defend themselves.

Our party does not attack other organizations. On any issue, from constitutional amendments to elections, we act only in line with the law, he said.

U Ye Tun, another former Lower House lawmaker, said the USDP will have a tough time erasing its image as a military proxy but suggested that a change of leadership would be a good start.

He said most people still believe the USDP and military are one and the same. If the party wants to change their minds, he added, it will have to try for a long time.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
Photo: Flickr

A former pastor accused in the drowning death of his pregnant wife did not mean to kill her but wanted her incapacitated so he could carry on with his double life, prosecutors argued Monday.

Crown lawyers allege Philip Grandine either secretly administered the sedative lorazepam to his wife or offered it to her so she would be less attentive while he continued an affair.

In her closing arguments, prosecutor Donna Kellway said Grandine then failed to prevent his wife from getting in a bathtub in her drugged state one evening, putting her "directly into harm's way."

"He was playing Russian roulette with her chances of having some kind of so-called accident," Kellway said. "Knowing everything that he knew, he should never have allowed her to get into that tub."

Grandine has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter. His lawyer did not bring any evidence in the trial but is expected to lay out an alternate narrative in his closing arguments Tuesday.

Anna Karissa Grandine, 29, was 20 weeks pregnant when she was found in the bathtub of the couple's Toronto bungalow on Oct. 17, 2011.

Court has heard she was not prescribed lorazepam, also known under the brand name Ativan, but the drug was found in blood samples taken at her autopsy and three days before her death, when she went to the hospital after feeling sleepy, confused and disoriented.

Lorazepam is a sedative that can cause drowsiness, reduced muscle control and impaired memory, among other things, court has heard.

The Crown said while no one saw Philip Grandine give his wife the drug, there is "an abundance of circumstantial evidence" that he did so.

Anna Grandine was cautious about her pregnancy and would not knowingly have taken anything that could endanger her baby, Kellway said. She was prescribed anti-nausea medication but did not like to take it because it made her sleepy, the prosecutor said.

Her sister testified that Anna Grandine was scared when she first experienced symptoms a few days before her death, because she did not know what was causing them, the Crown said.

The effects were so strong that Anna Grandine was taken to hospital, she said, noting Philip Grandine would have witnessed his wife's reaction to the drug.

Anna Grandine's mother told the court her daughter also asked whether her husband had given her a pill, Kellway said.

"(Anna) Karissa never had a reason to take lorazepam ... but Philip had reasons to give it to her," the prosecutor said. He also had access to the drug through his job at a seniors' home where he distributed medication and disposed of the excess, she said.

Court heard Philip Grandine had been forced to step down as pastor at a Baptist church in northwest Toronto as a result of his affair with a parishioner, who was also his wife's friend.

He agreed to marriage counselling, which included conditions that he give up the affair and pornography, but Kellway said he sought to secretly continue with both.
Burma USDP Accuses Ruling Party of Pushing Charter Amendments to Spur Protests

USDP leaders hold a press conference in Naypyitaw on Monday. / Htet Naing Zaw / The Irrawaddy

NAYPYITAW  The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) on Monday accused the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) of bringing people onto the streets on the pretext of pushing for amendments to the military-drafted Constitution.

While there is a need to think about how we should fulfill the needs of the people, we would say that it is not an honest act to carry out political activities in the name of amending the Constitution, USDP spokesman U Nanda Hla Myint said at the press conference in Naypyitaw.

Some people irresponsibly accuse us and have been misleading the people into thinking the Tatmadaw [military] and USDP are deliberately opposing the plan to amend the Constitution. In politics there must be honesty. I would say it is a dirty political trick that a party is playing in order to achieve victory, he said.

NLD spokesman U Myo Nyunt denied the USDPs accusations and said his party wanted to amend the Constitution in line with the law. Taking the offensive, he accused the USDP of using religion and nationalism to improve its own electoral fortunes.

People will not be swayed by their accusations, he told The Irrawaddy. We dont try to bring people onto the streets. It is our policy never to bring people onto the streets. We will only allow people to stage a demonstration in support of constitutional amendments in line with the law. It is an extreme thought that we are bringing people onto the streets, U Myo Nyunt said.

U Nanda Hla Myint said that, although any amendments to the Constitution would affect all citizens, the NLD failed to consult all stakeholders before forming the committee now charged with drafting proposed changes. He also claimed that the committee, which the Union Parliament overwhelmingly approved last week, was in violation of the law.

U Myo Nyunt denied that too.

A commission was formed under [former president] U Thein Sein to amend the Constitution, and we have formed a similar committee with a different name. I cant accept that they said the committee is not in line with the law and that we have bent the rules, he said.

Rallies in support of amending the Constitution have been held in several cities across Myanmar since the NLD proposed forming the drafting committee earlier this month.

On Sunday, about 500 people staged a demonstration in support of amendments in Sagaing Region. They said the Constitution was too undemocratic for Myanmar to achieve peace, human rights and genuine democracy.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
Burma Rebel Group Alliance Proposes Ceasefire With Myanmar Military

TNLA fighters participate in the armed group's Armed Forces Day in Mongton Township, Shan State, in 2015. / The Irrawaddy

Mon State  The four ethnic armed groups of the Northern Alliance say they offered the Myanmar military a ceasefire during their first meeting with the governments National Reconciliation and Peace Center (NRPC) in Yunnan Province, China, on Monday.

The groups  the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Arakan Army (AA), and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)  proposed a bilateral ceasefire with the military, an offer the NRPC said it would relay to senior officials, said TNLA Maj. Tar Aike Kyaw, who joined the meeting.

It was an informal talk. Each side proposed its ideas for the peace process, so there was no agreement. We told them that we will have a bilateral ceasefire first, then we will sign the NCA, he said, referring to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement.

We asked them to sign a bilateral deal with our four armed groups at the same time and at the same place, he said.

A source inside the Northern Alliance who asked to remain anonymous said the NRPC proposed that the four groups first make a stronger commitment to eventually singing the NCA.

The Northern Alliance and NRPC did agree to meet again in Yunnan next month.

Maj. Tar Aike Kyaw said the Northern Alliance would handle the talks on a bilateral ceasefire while talks on the NCA would be handled by its political wing, the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee.

In late December the military announced a unilateral ceasefire to last until the end of April in the north and east of Myanmar, where the Northern Alliance is mostly active, in hopes of convincing more armed groups to sing the NCA. That ceasefire does not cover Rakhine State, where the military is engaged in heavy fighting with the AA.

Ten armed groups have signed the NCA to date, but none are members of the Northern Alliance, which boasts some of the largest fighting forces in the country.
Burma Mining Company Detains, Assaults 2 Myitkyina Journal Reporters

Mytikyina Journal reporters Mun Mun Pan (left) and Ahje (right) were detained and assaulted on Tuesday by mining company workers for reporting locals concerns over controversial Chinese tissue-culture bananas plantations in Kachin States Waimaw Township.

YANGONA mining company in Kachin State detained and assaulted two journalists for reporting local residents concerns over a controversial Chinese tissue-culture banana plantation in Waimaw Township, the local newspaper that employs the journalists reported. Local residents accuse the banana plantation operator of land grabbing and causing environmental damage.

Seng Mai, the publisher and editor-in-chief of the Myitkyina Journal, a local independent weekly, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that employees of Tha Khin Sit Mining and Import and Export Company forced two reporters from the Journals office to go with them to the companys compound on Tuesday morning. They were detained for more than two hours and threatened with repercussions if they did not remove the story from the website.

The two reporters were detained in separate rooms in the compound. One of the company employees slapped a woman reporters face with [a copy of] our journal, Seng Mai said.

She said, The other [male] reporter was forced to do 300 sit-ups as punishment. He can barely walk right now, the editor added.

The two reporters were only released after the journal contacted Waimaw Township police station, who sent police officers to surround the company.

The Myitkyina Journal published a story on Monday about local residents plan to stage a protest at a site being cleared to make way for a banana plantation in Mandaung village in Waimaw Township by two companies including Tha Khin Sit. According to Myanmar TradeNet, the company is a joint venture between a local Kachin business and a Chinese partner. It is active in mining, import-export and tissue-culture banana plantations. Registration data from the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration shows the companys three directors are ethnic Kachin.

Seng Mai said the Myitkyina Journal plans to open a case against company at the police station for detaining and assaulting the reporters.

For more than two years, China-backed banana plantations have been facing a backlash from local residents in Kachin State, where operators are accused of grabbing land rented from local authorities. As the banana plantations expand, villagers displaced by fighting and living in IDP camps are increasingly concerned their land may be occupied, and that they will not be able to farm when they return home.

There are more than 27,000 acres planted with tissue-culture bananas in Waimaw Township, with most of the plantations being operated by Chinese companies, according to the states Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Ministry. Statewide, there are more than 60,000 acres of banana plantations.

Lagam Gyung Ze, a Kachin lawmaker from Waimaw Township, told The Irrawaddy that the majority of the Chinese tissue-culture banana plantations in the township are owned by Chinese companies. However, most of the companies are registered under the names of local businesspeople.

According to a 2017 environmental study by the Lisu Civil Society Organization, Chinese companies have been planting tissue culture bananas since 2012 in Kachin States Special Region 1, which is under the control of the government-allied New Democratic Army-Kachin militia. It said the plantations have been gradually expanding in three townships: Bhamo, Shwegu and Waimaw Township.

According to the study, the companies are using insecticides, weed killers and fertilizers and disposing of them carelessly. This has led to the pollution of water supplies in these areas, in turn causing soil damage and killing fish and livestock.

The Myitkyina Journal has been covering the social and environmental impacts of the plantations for a long time. Seng Mai said, Our reports have mainly focused on the suffering the plantations are causing local residents. Whenever we try to expose information about the plantations, I have found there is no transparency, even in the state Parliament.

She added, Some lawmakers say the banana plantations are illegal, but others say the state government receives taxes [from them].

An officer at the Waimaw Police Station declined The Irrawaddys requests for comment on the Myitkyina Journal case. The Irrawaddy could not reach Tha Khin Sit company, as its phone was turned off.

According to Chapter 3 of the Media Law, news media workers shall have the right to freely criticize, point out or recommend operating procedures of the legislative [branch], executive and judiciary in conformity with the Constitution, to investigate, publish and broadcast information and related opinions to which every citizen is entitled in accordance with rules and regulations, to reveal issues relating to rights and privileges lost by the citizen.

Chapter 8 states that if any responsibilities or ethics are considered to be breached by a news media worker, the aggrieved department, organization or individual shall have the right to complain to the Myanmar Press Council first. The council can resolve the problem by meeting with the two parties and seeking a compromise between them. If the two parties cannot work out a compromise agreement, or the arguments cannot be settled, the complainant or aggrieved party can prosecute the other party at the relevant court under applicable laws, it states.
Burma Govt to Boost Electric Car Market With 49 New Charging Stations

A Nissan Leaf is parked outside a pagoda in Yangon. / Zaw Aung

YANGON  Industry Minister U Khin Maung Cho on Friday said the government will allow private companies that partner with it to set up and operate charging stations for electric cars.

There are electric cars in Yangon, but they cant be used for long-distance travel. So to solve this problem, we will allow private companies to run charging stations on land owned by the Industry Ministry, he said at a meeting of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Yangon.

He said there was a growing market for electric cars in Yangon since Japanese automaker Nissan introduced the Leaf to Myanmar some years ago, though owners have complained of a lack of charging stations.

To help, he said, 36 new stations will be built in Yangon, eight along the Yangon-Mandalay Expressway, and five in Naypyitaw, all capable of fully charging a vehicle in under 30 minutes.

The Industry Ministry and Green Power Myanmar signed an agreement in November to manufacture electric vehicles at the Thagara Industrial Zone in Bago Regions Yedashae Township. The government will lease factory space for the assembly plant but will not invest.

International governments also support the idea of vehicles powered by electricity. They have less impact on the environment. The [electric car market] will develop more quickly if [the Myanmar] government introduces lower tax rates for electric car importers and manufacturers, said U Soe Tun, chairman of the Myanmar Automobile Manufacturers and Distributors Association.

According to auto dealers, there are as many as 200 Nissan Leaf owned in Myanmar.

It is good that there will be charging stations. I now use a household socket and it takes me up to nine hours to charge my car, said U Zaw Aung, who has been driving a Leaf in Yangon for the past four years.

At a charging station, the charging time may be an hour maximum with a bigger socket. It will be convenient if there is a charging station every 70 kilometers, he said.

According to the agreement between the Industry Ministry and Green Power Myanmar, the latter will manufacture 300 long-haul electric buses for Myanmar and 7,000 electric vehicles for export to India, Singapore and Sri Lanka.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
Burma Emerging, Professional Photographers Recognized at Yangon Photo Night

Bawk Ra, Htang San and Zau Dam are awarded third prize in the Emerging Photographers category at the Yangon Photo Night event for their photo essay A New Start? / Htet Wai / The Irrawaddy

Up-and-coming photographers as well as professionals were honored on Feb. 24 at the 11th Yangon Photo Night, an awards ceremony that forms one of the highlights of the annual Yangon Photo Festival. The event was followed by a wrap party at the French Institute attended by the award-winning photographers and other guests.

The ongoing 11th Yangon Photo Festival started Feb. 18 and runs through March 4. It features a series of free exhibitions, activities, screenings and parties at Goethe Villa, Maha Bandoola Park and the French Institute.

In this years edition, the festival received about 120 photo story submissions from both beginners and professionals. At the awards night, organizers displayed the work of 16 nominees. The photo essays covered a variety of issues including peace and conflict, animal welfare, and human rights, but this years main focus was environmental issues.

The photo competition has two categories: Emerging Level and Professional Level. In the Emerging Level category, four winners were chosen from 11 nominated photo essays, while at the Professional Level, three awards were given to photo essays from among five nominees. The judging was done by a jury comprising international photographers and others in front of a large audience.

Photographer Hkun Lat won first prize in the Professional category for his story The Peace House. Zarni Phyo won second prize for his breaking news coverage of the case of the two arrested Reuters journalists. His story was named after the reporters: Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo.

Im so happy to receive the first prize, but I especially appreciate that the Yangon Photo Festival teams and juries recognized the creations of [all of the photographers], said Hkun Lat.

He added that, If the Yangon Photo Festival didnt exist, we wouldnt have a place to show our photos and documentaries. YPF is a photo platform for us, so thanks to the [YPF] team.

The Peace House chronicles the situation of government and ethnic Kachin troops based near the Hpare IDP camp in Kachin State. Near the camp, Myanmar Military (or Tatmadaw) and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) troops are stationed so close together that sometimes they can even hear each other talking. The soldiers from both sides actually try to maintain a peaceful situation and help each other.

Between their two bases, soldiers from the Tatmadaw and KIA built a bamboo house and named it The Peace House. The place has become a meeting point where they can drink, eat, share food and watch movies on phones together. Ko Hkun Lat went to the Hpare IDP camp twice and captured many of the peaceful moments between the soldiers.

The third prize went to Ko Myo for his photo essay Hunting the Poachers about the illegal trade in wild elephant parts.

In the last 10 years, we have trained more than 1,000 young men and women from all backgrounds, religions and ethnicities to produce short documentaries and photo stories about social and environmental issues, said Christophe Loviny, founder and director of the Yangon Photo Festival.

He added that, The most efficient counterattacks against the propagators of hate speech and fake news are real stories strong enough to reach an audience as large as the haters.

The public can view the winning photo essays, and some produced at YPF training sessions, at the Myanmar Stories Facebook page, he said.

In the Emerging Photographers category, Sandar Lin won first prize with Flying Free, while, The Little Women by three young photographers Tin Aye Hlaing, Shin Thant Hmue and Wai Wai Aung won second prize.

Bawk Ra, Htang San and Zau Dam won third prize with A New Start? Harry Phyo won fourth prize for Will her dream come true?

The prizes for the winners included Canon professional cameras, a residency at the famous 75 photography school in Brussels and a trip to the World Press Photo Awards ceremony in Amsterdam.

Ko Hkun Lat was lucky enough to win the World Press Photo Awards ceremony trip. Im so excited about that trip, he said. That is an unbelievable chance for me; the World Press Photo Awards ceremony is the biggest there is. Im so happy to get the chance to see the worlds best photographers and learn from their creations.
Asia N.Korea's Kim Arrives to Warm Welcome in Vietnam; Trump On the Way

People wave the national flags of North Korea and the U.S. near security personnel as they wait for the motorcade of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un outside the Melia hotel ahead of the North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Tuesday. / Reuters

HANOI/ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump where they will try to reach an agreement on a North Korean pledge to give up its nuclear weapons program.

Trump is due to arrive in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, on Tuesday evening.

They will meet for a brief one-on-one conversation on Wednesday evening, followed by a social dinner, at which they will each be accompanied by two guests and interpreters, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters on Air Force One.

The two leaders would meet again on Thursday, she said.

Their talks come eight months after their historic summit in Singapore, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.

There is likely to be pressure on both sides to move beyond the vaguely worded commitment they made in Singapore to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Domestic critics have warned Trump against cutting a deal that would do little to curb North Koreas nuclear ambitions, urging specific, verifiable North Korean action to abandon the nuclear weapons that threaten the United States.

In return, Kim would expect significant U.S. concessions such as relief from punishing sanctions and a declaration that the 1950-53 Korean War is at last formally over.

Kim, who travelled from the North Korean capital by train, arrived at the station in the Vietnamese town of Dong Dang after crossing over the border from China.

Vietnamese officials were on hand to receive him at the station with a red carpet including a guard of honor and North Korean and Vietnamese flags flying.

Kims sister, Kim Yo Jong, who has emerged as an important aide, arrived with him.

About a dozen bodyguards ran alongside his car as he departed for the two-hour journey to the capital, Hanoi.

Roads were closed off with Vietnamese security forces equipped with armored personnel carriers guarding the route to the citys Melia hotel, where he is staying.

Both Kim Jong Un and Trump are also due to hold separate talks with Vietnamese leaders.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also arrived in Hanoi, on Tuesday. He has been Trumps top envoy in his efforts to improve ties with the reclusive North and has made several trips to Pyongyang to negotiate an ending of its nuclear program.

Pompeo was due to met U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun in Hanoi later.

Tremendous

Trump told reporters he and Kim would have a very tremendous summit.

Tweeting on Monday, he stressed the benefits to North Korea if it gave up its nuclear weapons. With complete Denuclearization, North Korea will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse. Without it, just more of the same. Chairman Kim will make a wise decision! Trump said.

In a speech on Sunday night, Trump, however, appeared to play down any hope of a major breakthrough at the Hanoi summit, saying he would be happy as long as North Korea maintained its pause on weapons testing.

Im not in a rush. I dont want to rush anybody, he said. I just dont want testing. As long as theres no testing, were happy.

North Korea conducted its last nuclear test in September 2017 and last tested an intercontinental ballistic missile in November 2017.

Analysts say the two leaders have to move beyond summit symbolism.

The most basic yet urgent task is to come to a shared understanding of what denuclearization would entail, said Gi-Wook Shin, director of Stanfords Asia-Pacific Research Center.

The ambiguity and obscurity of the term denuclearization only exacerbates the skepticism about both the U.S. and North Korean commitments to denuclearization.

While the United States is demanding that North Korea give up all of its nuclear and missile programs, North Korea wants to see the removal of the U.S. nuclear umbrella for South Korea.

A South Korean presidential spokesman told reporters in Seoul on Monday the two sides might be able to agree to a formal end of the Korean War, which was concluded with an armistice not a peace treaty, a move North Korea has long sought.

While a formal peace treaty may be a long way off, the two sides have discussed the possibility of a political declaration stating that the war is over.
Burma Military Majors Wife Killed in Explosion in N. Rakhine

Maj. Kyaw Swar and his wife Nan Moh Moh Zaw seen on their wedding day in a photo uploaded to his Facebook profile on February 9, 2019. / Facebook

YANGONThe wife of a Myanmar military major, Maj. Kyaw Swar, who had recently arrived in strife-torn northern Rakhine States Buthidaung Township, was killed in an explosion at their home on Tuesday morning.

Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun, spokesperson for the Office of the Commander-in-Chief, confirmed the death of the majors wife to The Irrawaddy over the phone. He identified the victim as Nan Moh Moh Zaw and explained that Maj. Kyaw Swar was recently transferred from Naypyidaw to northern Rakhines Buthidaung where he is assigned to the militarys No.15 Operational Command.

The couple transported their belongings in a private vehicle while they travelled in another car from Naypyidaw to Buthidaung on Monday. On the way to Buthidaung, the truck carrying their belongings was stopped by two men in Rathedaung. Another six men in plain clothes searched the vehicle.

The spokesperson assumed that those people discreetly planted an explosive device in their belongings. On arriving at the majors new home, staff unloaded the items without incident. When his wife was checking their belongings, the device detonated unexpectedly and she was killed on the spot.

The bomb exploded at home while Maj. Kyaw Swar was on duty in the office, said Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun.

AA spokesman U Khine Thukha said the armed group had nothing to do with the incident as it happened inside a military compound and was likely the result of a dispute among soldiers.

This is their internal problem but they accused the AA, which is a completely baseless accusation, he said.

The incident went viral on Facebook, especially among military supporters. One Facebook user Han Nyein Oo wrote a status with a photo of the couple on their wedding day alongside two stock images of letter bombs with which he claimed the attack was carried out by the Arakan Army (AA). Some countered his accusation saying it could have been the driver or a staff member who planted the bomb. So far, their accusations lack consistency and no solid proof has been found.

Meanwhile, some Buthidaung locals and AA supporters also posted on Facebook claiming that both the husband and wife were shot dead due to an internal conflict in the military compound. The Irrawaddy could not independently verify their claims.

According to Maj. Kyaw Swars Facebook profile, the couple recently celebrated their wedding ceremony elsewhere in Myanmar. Both Maj. Kyaw Swar and his wife Nan Moh Moh Zaw uploaded photos of their wedding day on Feb. 9.

The death comes just days after a Myanmar military major Maj. Aung Ko Nyein was killed in a battle with the Arakan Army in northern Rakhine State.

This article was updated to include comment from the AA.
Analysis Military Vows to Remain in Politics as Long as EAOs Exist

The Myanmar Armed Forces Day annual parade in Naypyitaw in 2018. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

CHIANG MAI, ThailandA spokesperson for Myanmars military, or Tatmadaw, in a press conference held on Saturday in Yangon restated the commander-in-chiefs vow that the military would step back from politics when there is no ethnic armed organization and the country is in peace.

This is not a new policy; it has been mentioned repeatedly since 2012 when peace negotiations began under the previous administration.

Given the fact that armed forces in Myanmarboth those of the state and the ethnic groupshave fostered a militarized culture, achieving peace and stability across the country can only be possible if they can come to an attainable agreement.

Myanmar has seen seven decades of the turmoil of civil war since groups of ethnic minorities first began to line up for an armed revolution in 1949 demanding equality and self-determination. The ongoing peace talks have not been able to bring an end to the fight for political and territorial control between the military and the ethnic armed organizations (EAOs).

The Feb. 23 press conference was held by the military to reaffirm its position on the current armed conflict, peace negotiations and frictions between the military and the NLD over the latters push for charter amendments.

At a time when a number of EAOs are fighting amongst themselves, namely the ongoing clashes in Shan State among armed groups from the Shan, Palaung (Taang) and Pa-Oh ethnic minorities, Maj-Gen Soe Naing Oo, head of the militarys True News Information Committee said only when all of them abandon arms, they will be better off and not one group will have to worry about being attacked by another.

Peace building is not an easy job: military spokesperson

Maj-Gen Soe Naing Oo acknowledged that that efforts in peace building are not smooth because

Myanmar has had 70 years of armed conflict between the military and various EAOs, but he urged the groups to cease their gunfire by 2020.

Maj-Gen Soe Naing Oo, also a peace negotiator for the military, reiterated the commander-in-chiefs promise to achieve peace by 2020 urging for the EAOs to disarm so their people can enjoy stability, peace and development.

He said the military is aware of the EAOs concerns, adding that their aim is simple:

Our approach is to bring them all on the [national ceasefire agreement] path. At the same time, they must abandon their arms policy. It is not yet that we ask them for DDR (disarmament, demobilization and reintegration). They must keep their arms but not use them so that the gunfire will stop. In that way we are trying to bring them on the track of negotiations.

He said that everyonethe state, the military, the public and also the EAOswant peace, but what is missing is how to adress the EAOs emotions, concerns and interests.

We have to work together to sort these out so it is not an easy job.

The ethnic armed groups efforts against government forces have been the result of a failure to grant political objectives and equality to the ethnic groups. The EAOs say they wouldnt need arms if there was equality and political guarantees for self-determination.

Padoh Saw Kwe Htoo Win, vice chairman of the Karen National Union (KNU) said the militarys concept has long been on the table but that the most important thing to discuss is how to integrate the various forces for the future of the Union once their political aims are granted.

Its not that we are happily doing our armed revolutionary movement. [We are fighting for our] political objectives, added Padoh Saw Kwe Htoo Win.

As well as in public, the military also pushes its 2020 peace policy during meetings with the EAOs.

Kheunsai Jaiyen, director of Pyidaungsu Institute, told The Irrawaddy that the Shan groups want to uphold the 1947 Panglong Agreement.

He said that at a meeting on Monday between representatives of the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP) and the military, SSPP vice chairperson Maj-Gen Sao Khun Sai said the Shans still uphold the Panglong Agreement principles and when the Panglong Agreement is abided by, there will be no need for us to keep up the armed struggle.

Peace negotiators on both sides continue to struggle to come up with a political settlement that is acceptable to all.

Military temperament towards EAOs

Myanmars militarythe strongest institution in the countryhas always considered themselves the true protectors of the country and that the insurgency and defiance of the ethnic groups demanding equality and self-determination is unacceptable.

Throughout ceasefire periods in the 1990s and from 2012 onwards, various terms have been used to refer to EAOs. The current NCA signatories are referred as EAOs. But groups currently carrying out active armed combat regardless of bilateral ceasefires, are regarded as insurgents and/or terrorists, and the military vows to continue counter-insurgency operations against them.

The ethnic armed forces, however, see this as a disparagement of their claims of fighting for ethnic equality and self-determination.

The military has sent out contradicting messages on their stance towards the Arakan Army, who are currently in intense battles with the military in troubled northern Rakhine State. Despite referring to them as insurgents and accusing them of taking cover in civilian villages in order to ambush military troops, Saturdays press conference heard the military representatives referring to the Arakan Army (AA) as their brothers. Military spokesperson Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun said at the press event that the reason why the Tatmadaw does not completely annihilate the AA [in Rakhine] is because the AA are our ethnic brothers.

He added that though the door to peace negotiations is open, their counter-insurgency operations will continue in the meantime. The military repeated that an armed struggle is no longer appropriate in building democratic federal state.

The militarys differing attitudes towards the ethnic rebels and the inconsistencies between its actions and words will not help them to achieve their trust-building goals nor end the armed struggle in the country.

It appears that political guarantees for equality, development and decentralization of power may be the way to reduce Myanmars militarized culture, but how long it would take and who will be willing to come to this compromise is as of yet unknown.
British Prime Minister Theresa May has promised to give MPs a vote on extending Brexit negotiations or withdrawing from the EU without a deal if her plan is rejected next month.

In a dramatic statement to the House of Commons, Mrs May confirmed that she will put her Withdrawal Agreement  including whatever additional assurances she has secured from Brussels  to a meaningful vote by March 12.

If that fails, MPs will be offered two separate votes the following day  one on a no-deal Brexit, and the other on requesting an extension to the two-year Article 50 negotiation process to delay EU withdrawal beyond March 29.

The sequence of votes will be proposed in an amendable motion tabled by the Prime Minister for debate and vote in the Commons on Wednesday.

To uproar in the Commons, Mrs May told MPs: They are commitments I am making as Prime Minister and I will stick by them, as I have previous commitments to make statements and table amendable motions by specific dates.

Theresa May made her announcement in a statement to the House of Commons (www.parliamentlive.tv/PA)

Meanwhile, Mrs May said the Government was publishing a paper assessing its readiness for a no-deal Brexit and the "very serious challenges" it would pose.

"I believe that if we have to, we will ultimately make a success of a no-deal," she said.

"But this paper provides an honest assessment of the very serious challenges it would bring in the short-term and further reinforces why the best way for this House to honour the referendum result is to leave with a deal."

Opposition response

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he had "lost count" of the Prime Minister's explanations for her "grotesquely reckless" delays.

He said: "I have lost count of the number of times the Prime Minister has come to this House to explain a further delay.

"They say history repeats itself, first time as tragedy, second time as farce, by the umpteenth time it can only be described as grotesquely reckless."

Mr Corbyn said Mrs May was promising to achieve "something she knows is not achievable" and her "obstinacy" was the block to a resolution.

"Will she be straight with people?" he said. "The Withdrawal Agreement is not being reopened, there is no attempt to get a unilateral exit on the backstop or a time limit.

"She has so far promised a vote on her deal in December, January, February and now March, and only managed to put a vote once - in January when it was comprehensively defeated.

"The Prime Minister continues to say it is her deal or no deal, but this House has decisively rejected her deal and has clearly rejected no deal.

"It is the Prime Minister's obstinacy that is blocking a resolution."

The Prime Minister hit out at Mr Corbyn over Labour's support for a second referendum.

"He has gone back on his promise to respect the referendum result and now wants to hold a divisive second referendum that would take our country right back to square one," she said.

"Anyone who voted Labour at the last election because they thought he would deliver Brexit will rightly be appalled. "

Mr Corbyn said Mrs May has become an "expert in kicking the can down the road", adding: "The problem is the road is running out and the consequences of running down the clock are evident and very real for industry and for people's jobs."

He argued Labour accepts the result of the 2016 referendum and the party is offering an alternative plan.

Mr Corbyn went on: "The Prime Minister's botched deal provides no certainty or guarantees for the future and was comprehensively rejected by this House."

He added: "If it somehow does pass in some form at a later stage, we believe there must be a confirmatory public vote to see if people feel that's what they voted for.

"A no-deal outcome would be disastrous and that's why we committed to backing the amendment in the names of (Labour MP Yvette Cooper and Tory MP Sir Oliver Letwin) to rule out that reckless cliff-edge Brexit."

Mr Corbyn said Mrs May appeared to be "belatedly listening" to the Commons, adding: "Any extension is only necessary because of the Prime Minister's shambolic negotiations and her decision to run down the clock."

Mrs May hit back, accusing Mr Corbyn of "breaking his promise to respect the 2016 referendum" and accusing him of being the one keeping no-deal on the table.

She said: "My sole focus throughout all of this has been getting us a deal that gets us out of the EU on the 29th of March with a deal.

"It is the Right Honourable Gentleman that has kept no deal on the table by refusing to agree to a deal.

"And now he talks about uncertainty on jobs - he could have voted to end uncertainty on jobs by backing the deal the Government brought back from the European Union."

The PM added: "He says he and the Labour Party accept the result of the referendum, and yet we also know that they back a second referendum.

"By backing a second referendum he is breaking his promise to respect the 2016 referendum. He'll be ignoring the biggest vote in our history and he'll be betraying the trust of the British people."

Independent Group MP Sarah Wollaston, a former Tory, said: "All that's on offer from the PM is the possibility of a short gangplank added to the cliff edge."

Independent Group MP Angela Smith said: "Once again May refuses to take the difficult decisions and kicks the can down the road.

"We have already voted against no deal and we have voted against her deal. Only way forward is to put the Withdrawal Agreement to the people for ratification."

Independent Group MP Chuka Umunna said: "Yet again, the PM caves in to the far right Tory ERG.

"She had the chance to take no deal off the table today but it is very much still there.

"When will sensible ministers stand up to her and them? What will it take for these people to put country before party? Appalling."

Independent Group member Anna Soubry (Broxtowe) said: "This is a shameful moment, nothing has changed, apart from the fact that some of us who used to sit over there are now sitting over here.

"One of the reasons for that is because yet again we see in the Prime Minister a can kicking at the same time that fudge is being created and a failure to put the country and the nation's interests first, instead the future of the Conservative Party is put first and foremost."

She asked Mrs May to confirm whether "indeed nothing has changed and no-deal remains firmly on the table"?

Mrs May replied: "She talks about acting in the national interest. At every stage of this the national interest has been the focus of the work that I have been doing."

She added: "That is why I intend to work to bring back to this House, changes that this House can support and changes that ensure that we will be able to leave the EU and do so with a deal."

PA & Digital Desk
Photo: Contributed Amanda Shatzko

The final five recipients of the Top 20 under 40 have been announced.

The annual Top 20 Under 40, by KPMG, Community Futures, City of Vernon-Economic Development and the Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce, recognizes the next generation of leaders in the North Okanagan, those under the age of 40 years of age who are making their mark through business success and community involvement.

The recipients were selected among more than 60 nominations, and include:

Derek Powers  Lawyer and partner at Nixon Wenger. Derek was at Canadas oldest and largest law firm in Toronto, and since moving to Vernon, he has expanded his practice from corporate and commercial to a general solicitors focus. I look forward to increasing my role in the Vernon community. He is a member of the Kalamalka Rotary Club and has been an Enterprize Challenge judge.

Carissa Carbonneau and Josie Teitge  Owners of Wild Sage Registered Massage Therapy. Carissa and Josie are both registered massage therapists and they opened their business in 2018. Their goal is to have a practice that makes it as easy as possible for people to take care of themselves. As part of the community, they collect food bank donations and support families in need.

Amanda Shatzko  Artist and elected official. Amanda is known internationally as a leader in creativity, culture and the human potential, and she advises governments, corporations and educational institutions. Along with being an artist, she was recently elected a Regional District of North Okanagan director. She has served with the Arts Council of the North Okanagan and the B.C. Alliance of Arts and Culture.

Kristina Klein  Owner of EATology/Cracked Pepper Catering. Kristina has seen her ideas blossom into reality, and she now has an expanding business and 21 employees. I am constantly brainstorming and implementing ways on how we can improve and grow. Giving back is also important to Kristina and she has been active with downtown Vernon events and an Upper Room Mission fundraiser.

Kaarina Schrott  Owner of One Step Foot Care. Kaarina is considered a pioneer as a foot care nurse and, I find the rewards come through the feelings I get each time a client finds improved functionality and mobility through my services. She is an instructor in advanced nursing foot care at Okanagan College and she won the 2018 Small Business of the Year award.

All recipients of the Top 20 Under 40 will be featured on the Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce website and they will also be honoured at a special recognition event Tuesday, March 12 at Okanagan Spirits.

The Top 20 Under 40 is a tremendous opportunity to recognize individuals who make our community vibrant and prosperous said Murray Smith, a partner with KPMG, which sponsors the Top 20 Under 40.

Our region is stronger because of the recipients and all of the nominees. They operate businesses and non-profit organizations, while mentoring employees, raising families and giving back to the community.
Irish fears of a no-deal Brexit are receding after the British Labour Party said it will back calls for a second referendum and Prime Minister Theresa May faced growing demands to delay next months EU-UK divorce deadline.

European Council president Donald Tusk confirmed that Ms May has for the first time formally raised the prospect of a delay, leading Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to predict there will be either a deal or a new deadline by March 29.

In a crucial interjection after the first ever EU-Arab League summit in Egypt, British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party is now in favour of a second referendum.

In a potential game-changing turn of events, he told party MPs: One way or another, we will do everything in our power to prevent no deal.

Thats why we are committed to also putting forward or supporting an amendment in favour of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit.

Mr Corbyns change of tack on seeking a second referendum comes days after eight pro-EU MPs left his party to set up an Independent group, criticising his failure to act.

The Labour leader has also confirmed that his party will back a House of Commons motion tomorrow to force Ms May to rule out a no-deal Brexit if there is no agreement by March 13, one day after British MPs will vote on the current withdrawal agreement.

Speculation is growing that Ms May will either seek a two- to three-month extension to the March 29 Brexit deadline or be offered a two-year delay in order to prevent a no-deal Brexit.

While Ms May has publicly ruled out an extension, insisting that leaving on time is still within Britains grasp, Mr Tusk confirmed that Ms May yesterday asked him about the mechanics of a hypothetical delay.

The Government did not immediately respond to the British developments, which could help avoid a damaging no-deal Brexit.

However, speaking to reporters in Egypt before the news, Mr Varadkar said: That [no deal] is a lose-lose-lose scenario for everyone and it gives me confidence, or at least a sense, that the UK will not crash out of the EU without a deal on March 29. We will either have a deal or we will have an extension.
FLAC, the Free Legal Advice Centre, was founded 50 years ago by four law students. Its role in society is as integral as ever, says Eilis Barry.

Fifty years ago the world was ablaze with radical new ideas, with civil rights movements in America and Northern Ireland, the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia, student revolts in Paris, and massive demonstrations against the Vietnam War in Britain, Europe, and the US.

While lawyers are not generally associated with marches, protests, and radical movements, in 1969 four law students  David Byrne, later attorney general and EU commissioner; Vivian Lavan, future High Court judge, who died in 2011; Denis McCullough, future senior counsel; and Ian Candy, later a magistrate in Hong Kong  came together and founded one of Irelands first civil and human rights organisations, FLAC, the Free Legal Advice Centres.

While the initial aim was to provide legal aid for people who cannot afford it, the long-term aim was to persuade the Government to establish a comprehensive scheme of civil legal aid.

Half a century ago, family law was the main area of unmet need and still dominates the queries to the FLAC information line and advice clinics today. Last year, FLAC dealt with more than 25,000 requests for legal information and advice from its telephone information line and the nationwide network of legal advice clinics.

There are now 66 FLAC legal advice clinics around Ireland, mainly based in and facilitated by the Citizens Information Services and with the commitment of almost 600 volunteer lawyers.

FLAC, as an independent law centre, takes a small number of cases in the public interest and runs a legal clinic for the Roma community. While housing and homelessness dominate the cases taken by FLAC, new issues such as privacy are emerging, which are difficult to enforce on an individual basis.

Through FLACs public interest law project, PILA, community groups and NGOs are provided with legal assistance by private lawyers acting on a pro-bono basis. The most notable example of this was when the High Court vindicated the right to a secret ballot for people with a visual impairment in Sinnott v the Minister for the Environment, where Eversheds Sutherland provided representation to Mr Sinnott.

FLAC is still campaigning to see improvements to the State legal aid scheme, including improvements to the strict means test; the levels of contributions that are required to be paid; decreased waiting times; and improvement to the allowances that just do not reflect the cost of accommodation or childcare.

In 2017, we had a small but significant victory when the Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan, abolished the financial requirement for civil legal aid for domestic violence orders in the district court.

However, there is still no legal aid available in certain areas of law, for example there is no legal aid available for a claim of sexual harassment or employment claims. FLAC recently drafted an amendment to the Legal Aid Act which, if enacted, would help to ensure that legal aid is provided for people facing eviction from their family home.

Access to justice was, and is, what FLAC is about. At an individual level, it enables people to know what their rights are and to enforce them. It is a gateway to other rights in areas such as housing and social welfare.

On a societal level, access to justice contributes to social inclusion for marginalised communities and individuals who experience legal problems in areas of debt, accessing social welfare, housing/homelessness services, and unemployment.

Providing a legal solution in one area, such as homelessness, may have a positive knock-on effect on the other problems, such as employment.

Access to justice may not sound very radical but it is fundamental to democracy and the rule of law. It involves more than access to legal aid and includes access to the courts and effective remedies.

There is a striking juxtaposition between the initiative to make Irish courts a welcome centre for international commercial dispute resolution post-Brexit, and the concern expressed by immigration lawyers that the recent direction issued by the High Court may make it harder for migrants to bring cases.

The courts are unlike any other public service and need to be treated as essential to democracy. A crucial part of the role of courts is to ensure that the laws made by the Oireachtas are applied and enforced. Courts have an important role in holding the executive and other forms of power to account.

For the courts to perform that role, people must have unimpeded access to them. Without such access, laws made by democratically elected representatives are liable to have less or no effect. The important new provisions in the domestic violence legislation are effective only if they are enforceable.

It is vital that any initiative to make Ireland a centre of excellence for commercial dispute resolution will help to improve access to justice for everyone. This is why the current review of the Administration of Civil Justice is so important, as it provides a major opportunity to improve access to justice, particularly for vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals and groups.

FLAC made submissions to this review with recommendations on making the courts more accessible for people with disabilities, lay litigants, and to make it easier to bring cases in the public interest.

Fifty years on, the need for access to justice has not diminished. FLAC will continue to campaign for access to justice from our new office at 85/86 Dorset St Upper, thanks to the generous support of Atlantic Philanthropies.

Eilis Barry is chief executive of FLAC
Two years ago, Alan Hawe killed his wife, Clodagh, and their three sons. Now Clodaghs mother and sister want a fresh inquiry to give insight into such acts, says Paul Gilligan.

ON August 29, 2016, Alan Hawe, a 40-year-old school teacher, murdered his wife, Clodagh, and their sons, Liam, Niall, and Ryan. Now, Clodaghs mother, Mary, and sister, Jacqueline, showing immense courage, have called for a new inquiry.

As I wrote in this newspaper following the inquest into this horrendous act, key questions remain unanswered.

The primary question is: Were the murders attributable to Alan Hawe having a mental health difficulty?

The answers matter not only to the extended family and to the community, but to our society and to how we understand and support those who experience such difficulties.

The word attributable places an obligation on us to go beyond asking whether Alan Hawe had mental health difficulties to being sure that it was these difficulties that caused or enabled him to murder his family. This raises the key question of capacity: Did Alan Hawe know what he was doing, and was he aware of its implications? Was he capable of making an informed decision about his actions?

Attributing acts of murder/suicide or familicide to mental health difficulties must only occur when we are certain. Speculative attribution not only does a disservice to the victims, but also does significant damage to our understanding of these difficulties and how they might manifest themselves.

Put simply, it adds to already existing stigma and misunderstandings.

People with mental health difficulties are no more likely to commit violent crime than people without mental health difficulties. They are, however, more likely to harm themselves.

Despite this, research conducted last year by St Patricks Mental Health Services, of which I am CEO, indicates that 37% of people would not trust someone who experienced post-natal depression to babysit, 18% would not knowingly marry someone previously hospitalised with depression, and 16% would not be entirely comfortable living next door to someone who experiences bi-polar moods.

While these figures represent a year-on-year improvement in comparison to 2017, the findings are still a cause for concern. The pace at which society is overcoming the stigma remains painfully slow.

Of course, people with mental health difficulties, just like anyone, can be violent, but this does not mean the violence should automatically be attributed to their difficulties.

Convincing ourselves that perpetrators of horrendous acts are, by virtue of mental illness, not fully responsible for their actions, risks preventing us from searching for an understanding of the true nature of such acts.

There is no doubt that Alan Hawe planned this act, that he was distressed and angry, and that he was facing significant life challenges. There is evidence that he believed these would in some way impact on Clodagh and their sons.

These facts are consistent with the growing international evidence that identifies stress and male proprietariness, in combination with an exaggerated sense of responsibility, as important contributory factors to murder- suicide and familicide.

Clodaghs mother and sister believe that many questions still need to be answered. They know these answers will be difficult to obtain, but they believe that it might help them find some resolution. More importantly, they believe we need more insight into why such acts are perpetrated and how we might prevent them. They believe that this can only be achieved through a new investigation.

Many will feel reopening this terrible wound is unnecessary and misguided. But, in truth, these murders remain unresolved.

Alan Hawe.

The facts and evidence need to be freshly assessed. Our prejudices about mental health, and those experiencing mental health difficulties, need to be left to one side. We need to be brave enough to confront the possibility that such actions might be attributable to distress and anger. We need to have the courage to attempt to make sense of the belief and value system underpinning such barbaric acts.

All incidents of murder-suicide and familicide warrant thorough review and investigation.

We need to learn as much as we can from such incidents to help us to better protect children and vulnerable partners. Such reviews must not be focused on attributing blame, but rather on understanding and learning. Seeking to objectively process the facts, and to avoid accepting retrospective opinion formation, needs to be a core principle.

Clodaghs mother and sister are, through their commitment to finding the truth, doing us a tremendous service.

They are asking the questions we all want and need answered. Their determination to ensure the voices of Clodagh and the boys do not remain silenced is admirable. Their desire to ensure other vulnerable families are protected is one we must all share.

We owe it to Clodagh, Liam, Niall, and Ryan to ensure we do all we can to find out why they died in such a horrendous manner.

As Clodaghs mother and sister have done, we need to challenge ourselves, to look into our hearts, and to ask ourselves if we are truly committed to finding the truth.

Paul Gilligan is the CEO of St Patricks Mental Health Services, a clinical psychologist, and author of Raising Emotionally Healthy Children
Ailin Quinlan hears from students who participated in three entrepreneurship programmes organised by Junior Achievement Ireland.

This month, primary and second-level schools throughout Ireland have been making submissions under a new awards scheme which aims to showcase excellence in entrepreneurship education.

The Entrepreneurial School Awards (TESA), which includes a prize fund of 10,000, has been launched as part of a diverse range of projects run by Junior Achievement Ireland (JAI), an organisation which established programmes to help young people develop the skills to succeed in a rapidly changing world. Last year, JAI facilitated the participation of some 60,000 students attending over 500 schools in JA activities with the support of over 160 companies and 3,000 volunteers.

The winner of the TESA School of the Year  the school designated Irelands most entrepreneurial school  will be invited to represent Ireland at the Entrepreneurial Schools Conference in Helsinki in November 2019.

JAI chief executive Helen Raftery said that in its work with schools across Ireland, the organisation saw first-hand the incredible work being done to prepare students to achieve success in their futures.

We are delighted that TESA will give us the opportunity to formally recognise that excellent work, as well as identifying an overall winner (TESA School of the Year), which will represent Ireland at the European Entrepreneurial School Awards in Helsinki in November, she declared.

We encourage all partner schools to share the details of their commitment to entrepreneurship education and join us at the summit in October to engage with other educators in this field. Of course, there is also a chance to be designated best-in-class. For full details of the application process TESA see ww. jai.ie

The Career Ready Programme

This programme helped 17-year-old Aaron Bennett, land a summer job.

Aaron, who participated in the programme from transition year through to the first term of his Leaving Certificate year at St Pauls CBS Secondary School on North Brunswick St, Dublin 7, found the experience to be an eye-opener.

Aaron Bennett from St Pauls CBS Secondary School, Dublin 7 with his mentor, Malik Pervaiz, from Deloitte.

I learned a lot of skills, he says of the programme which develops students potential by enabling their involvement in a range of activities. As part of the programme Aaron was paired with a business mentor for 18 months, visited workplaces, attended masterclasses and completed work placements.

The overall aims of the JAI Career Ready initiative, supported by Citi, are to help students to recognise their potential, to develop and increase their employability skills, support their academic work and introduce them to the world of work.

My meetings with my mentor were a big eye-opener for me. I learned a lot of skills such as how to express yourself in the interview scenario, how to polish up my CV, how to present myself in an interview in terms of how I dressed, and to assert myself in terms of looking and sounding professional.

The programme definitely helped me get a sales assistant job last summer  I dont think I would have had the confidence or the skill to assert myself to an interviewer if I hadnt done this course, he says, adding that following the interview his new employers revealed that they had been very impressed by his interview skills.

I feel the programme really gave me a good foundation to build on in terms of managing job interviews. My mentor also gave me great tips on how to manage myself in the workplace and assert myself in terms of colleagues. It was very useful.

The Project Management Skills for Life Programme

The programme gave Co Galway student Dara Kiely, 17, and his team valuable insights into everything from effective negotiation and leadership to goal-setting and project planning.

Now in fifth year, Dara looks back with enthusiasm on his time spent as project manager on an initiative under the programme, which ran at Claregalway College, a few miles outside Galway city, while he was in transition year:

The Project Management Skills for Life, a collaborative initiative between the Project Management Institute Educational Foundation (PMIEF) and JAI, brings transition year students through the core principles of project management, enabling students to understand, plan, carry out, monitor and evaluate a project of their own.

Claregalway Schools Dara Kiely.

In all, Dara and his team of about 25 transition-year students at Colaiste Bhaile Chlair built an initiative around their objective of raising awareness about LGBT rights within their school.

This was done through a special 3km Colour Run run in which 80 students participated. The project was designed and organised under the guidance of two professional project managers from the private sector who mentored Dara and his team:

The objective was to raise awareness within our school about the LGBT community. We chose an issue that was important to everyone on the team, he explains, adding that when students participating in the Colour Run passed certain designated stations they were sprinkled with rainbow-coloured dust.

 It took about a month to organise from start to finish. I found it helped us develop good leadership and communication skills; it was about motivating and inspiring people, that was very important.

We also learned how to communicate with each other within the team in a constructive way.

Out of that experience, I felt that we developed a lot of the skills which also applied to our school work, in terms of time management and communication skills and working well with peers.

Clar na gComhlachtai

Molly Nic Phaidins father would recall how, as a child, he would rinse his hands in bog water to soften them after a day spent helping out on the bog.

Listening to the story, his daughter decided that the skin-softening qualities of water in the local bog had the potential for the development of a small business  and proceeded to build a company around it with five school friends, Grace Ni Chonchur, Kate Ni Chnaimhsi, Aifric Nic Niallais, Clionagh Nic Suibhne, and Caitlin James.

The entrepreneurs from Boue Comestics, (face masks made from bog mud) Kate Ni Chnaimhsi, Molly Nic Phaidin, Clionagh Nic Suibhne, Grace Ni Chonchur and Aifric Nic Niallais from Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair, Co Donegal, were named winners of the Udaras na Gaeltachta Clar Comhlachta 2018, a hands-on business learning experience run in partnership with Junior Achievement Ireland (JAI). Picture: Andrew Downes

The girls, all students at Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair, Co Donegal, set up a mini-business Boue Cosmetics, creating a mud face-mask made from bog mud, and an accompanying website to promote their product, under Clar na gComhlachtai, a hands-on business learning experience developed and delivered in partnership with Udaras na Gaeltachta and Junior Achievement Ireland.

The programme is taught through the Irish language to students attending schools in Gaeltacht regions covering Cork, Donegal, Galway, Mayo, Meath, Kerry and Waterford. Local business volunteers and development executives from Udaras na Gaeltachta mentor the students alongside their teachers as they move from the idea generation stage, to production, marketing, sales, finance through to going to market.

We had to boil the mud, and then add aloe vera, jasmine tea and eucalyptus oil, explains Clionagh Nic Suibhne of their award-winning product.

We had to tweak it a few times to get the consistency right. It took about four weeks to develop it and we set up a focus group of female students and teachers, to get feedback, she says, adding that the group is currently seeking funding for packaging and distributing the product.

In the process of doing this, we learned a lot about team-building and listening to each other  we also expanded our knowledge about bogs and skincare and learned about business management and marketing.

The company website, designed by team-member Aifric Nic Niallais won strong commendation from the judges.
Conditions found by inspectors in a HSE psychiatric unit were the physical manifestation of the lack of care afforded to vulnerable mental health patients for too long in this country, a judge says.

In the first case of its kind, the Mental Health Commission (MHC) successfully took action against the HSE under the Mental Health Act over the conditions at St Lukes Psychiatric Unit in Kilkenny.

The case prompted MHC chairman John Saunders to say: As a regulatory body, it is entirely unacceptable to find conditions that you would have expected to find in a Victorian workhouse in a mental health service in Ireland in 2019.

Verbal evidence, as well as photographs submitted to the court by MHCs assistant inspector, Martin McMenamin, detailed just how bad conditions were.

Among the findings were:

In a room used for electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) inspectors were almost assaulted by a heavy, pungent smell which made them retreat outside to catch their breath. The smell was found to be coming from a colostomy bag left in a clinical waste bin;

In a seclusion room, Mr McMenamin found dirt ingrained on the floor and hardened patches of what I take to be food substances. He said the floor was tacky, shoes were sticking to the floor and the room had not been cleaned properly for quite a while;

The air in the seclusion room was stale and heavy and there was no natural light. The inspector asked staff to pull up a blind which was covering a window, but they couldnt as the blind wasnt working properly. The ventilation system was clogged with debris and dirt, he said;

Cobwebs in a room and staining on the walls which was possibly bodily fluid;

A dormitory had a shelf where a partially-filled urine bottle was sitting alongside cups used by residents for drinking.

The HSE pleaded guilty at Kilkenny District Court to two charges relating to physical conditions at the unit and two charges relating to not having a consultant psychiatrist sign patient seclusion orders within 24 hours of the seclusion taking place, as is required by law.

Judge Brian OShea fined the HSE a total of 5,200.

The inspectorate function of the Mental Health Commission is a hugely important one, he said.

For too long in this country, mental health issues have been ignored and stigmatised. The testimony of the inspectors and photographs [taken during the inspection] are the physical manifestation of that lack of care. What makes this worse is that the facilities here are those that house the most vulnerable people. Those people matter and the environment in which they are cared for matters.

He added that, were it not for the inspection process, there would be no mechanism to bring such conditions to the outside world.

After the case, the chief executive of the MHC, John Farrelly, said: I have spoken before about there being a legacy of disrespect for mental health patients in some cases, and the conditions found in this unit on this particular day suggest no other explanation.

It is not acceptable that our inspectors found such a dirty seclusion room on day one of their inspection and returned to find it in the same state on day four... No arguments about lack of staffing or resources offer any excuse for what we found in Kilkenny in November.

The HSE apologised for the shortcomings identified as part of November 2018 inspections and accepted the concern expressed by MHC. It said it has started a 1m capital programme at the Kilkenny unit which would be finished in May.

This investment will address deficiencies identified during inspection processes and will include a comprehensive decorative maintenance programme across the facility, to ensure full compliance with MHC set regulations in respect of privacy and premises, said the HSE.
The site of St Finans hospital in Killarney, Co Kerry, a landmark listed Victorian building overlooking the town, is to be transformed under a plan to create social housing and a community nursing unit.

The campus is also likely to be home to a third-level outreach college, though the specific discipline has yet to be clarified.

The plan for the 30-acre campus was unveiled by the HSE yesterday.

The building has dominated the tourist town since 1852 and has spectacular views of the lakes of Killarney and its mountains. It has been vacant since 2012 and there is mounting concern in Killarney about the complex.

There have been calls in Killarney for St Finans to be used as a third-level tourism and catering college.

The council and IT Tralee have approached the HSE, through the interstate transfer of property process, and have been offered at least part of the building and some of the lands.

The HSE came under pressure after a Kerry County Council meeting last week heard that an approach in 2017 by the council for almost six acres of St Finans land for public housing was still not finalised. There are 4,000 people on the housing waiting list in Kerry, the meeting was told, and private landlords are being paid over 13m a year for the social housing needs of people.

The HSE last night revealed the land is being transferred for social housing. Kerry council have confirmed that they wish to acquire 5.77 acres to the north of the Ring Road at Ballydribeen and the disposal of this element is being progressed with Kerry council. The council was currently engaged with Irish Rail regarding improving access to the site, it said.

The site will also house a community nursing unit, with the HSE intending to lodge a planning application with the council shortly.

While the HSE has not said what the IT Tralee plans are, it confirmed it had expressed an interest and has been offered what remains of the property, excluding the social housing and nursing unit elements.

The HSE is currently awaiting final confirmation of their continued interest in acquiring the remaining property, it said in a statement to the Irish Examiner.
Photo: Parks Canada

UPDATE: 6:45 p.m.

Parks Canada says it will extend the public consultation period on a proposed national park reserve in the South Okanagan-Similkameen by two weeks.

In a news release issued late Monday, Parks Canada says the extension will allow groups an opportunity to submit views on the proposed boundary and provide input on management of the lands.

"Parks Canada will conclude meetings with stakeholders on February 28, 2019, as originally planned. However, those who have not had an opportunity to attend a presentation by Parks Canada are encouraged to view the Agencys presentation.

Parks Canada invites Canadians to share their views through the consultation website until March 15.



Alternatively, hard copies of the consultation survey and information package can be found at local municipalities, regional district offices, and libraries.

ORIGINAL: Noon

It appears residents of the South Okanagan will not be getting a public forum or town hall on a national park reserve proposed for the region.

The South Okanagan Similkameen Preservation Society, a group opposed to the park, had booked the Oliver Community Centre for Tuesday evening to hold a public meeting on the issue and extended an invitation to Parks Canada.

SOSPS announced Monday that Parks Canada has declined to attend, so the meeting has been cancelled.

Parks Canada has only committed to meeting with leadership of stakeholder groups related to the proposed national park, directing public feedback to a survey online.

SOSPS will continue requests with Parks Canada to hold a public meeting regarding the proposed park, the group said Monday, adding they are calling on Parks Canada to extend the consultation process on the issue past the looming Feb. 28 deadline.

Supporters of the park have said the sensitivity of the issue makes it a poor fit for a public meeting.

Its intimidating for us to put our name out there, Doreen Olson of the South Okanagan National Park Network told Castanet last week. To have an open forum, it doesnt work. It's just a bunch of yelling.

Oliver council will debate today sending a formal request to the federal government for a referendum to be held on the proposed park.
A teenager has died following a crash in Co Wicklow.

Gardai are investigating a fatal crash at Vale Road, Arklow at approximately 9.40am last night.

A 19-year-old man was fatally injured when the car he was a front seat passenger in stuck a ditch.

The 18-year-old male driver was injured.

There were no other occupants in the car.

This stretch of road is currently closed to facilitate an examination by Garda Forensic Collision Investigators and local diversions are in place.

Gardai wish to appeal for witnesses to contact Arklow Garda Station on 0402-26320, The Garda Confidential Telephone Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.
The State has dropped charges of sexual assault against a Cork doctor after a jury failed to reach a verdict in a trial earlier this month.

Kevin Mulcahy, 61, of Creggane, Lombardstown, Mallow, Co Cork had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexually assaulting a woman in his surgery in Mallow, Co Cork on a date in February 1995.
A key Social Democrats figure said they would quit the party and several executive board members have threatened to resign over a proposal to suspend local election candidate Ellie Kisyombe.

Several Social Democrats councillors told the Irish Examiner they stand in solidarity with the Malawian woman, after a decision by the party at the weekend to review her background.

However, the Irish Examiner understands the review was agreed as a compromise after the party said at one stage they would suspend Ms Kisyombe as a Social Democrats election candidate.

Dublin Central general election candidate and councillor Gary Gannon threat-ened to resign, as did other members of the national executive board, if Ms Kisyombe was suspended.

The Dublin Central branch declined to suspends Ms Kisyombes candidacy after an email from the party executive on Saturday. The executive was also told Mr Gannon would resign while other members of board were willing to step down, party sources confirmed.

The review was a fudge, said one party source.

Amid the fallout, a conference call was held between the Social Democrats leadership and branch chairs last night as efforts continued to resolve internal conflicts.

The row is over reports that the asylum seeker advocate may have given inaccurate information to the media about her background.

Three board members of the partys national executive resigned over the weekend after a decision by the board to conduct the internal review into Ms Kisyombes background.

Party chair Joe OConnor, vice-chair Carly Bailey, and board member Chris Bond all stood down.

Meanwhile, councillors and election candidates are supporting Ms Kisyombe despite a decision by the leadership to do a background review over Ms Kisyombes asylum history.

Mr Gannon said he had absolute unequivocal support for Ms Kisyombe, as did party Cork County councillor June Murphy.

With everything going on, we need to be careful about making anything worse for Ellie, said Ms Murphy.

Social Democrats Cork City councilor Joe Harris said more information was needed on the situation.

Ellie should still be a candidate, he said.

Ms Kisyombe could not be contacted last night and a party spokeswoman said they would be making no comment.

However, there is discomfort that the executive board, including co-leaders TDs Catherine Murphy and Roisin Shortall, gave the go-ahead for the review.

This came after a party meeting last Friday, the threats to quit, and actual resignations on Saturday. Neither Ms Shortall nor Ms Murphy could not be contacted last night.Joe OConnor, who resigned as executive chair, has said that alternatives to Ms Kisyombes background review were and are available to the Social Democrats.
The legal team representing Ruth Morrissey who is suing over the alleged misreading of her CervicalCheck smear slides today claimed in the High Court they had been "ambushed" in an attempt by US laboratory Quest Diagnostics to introduce microscopic evidence in the case.

Patrick Treacy SC for Ms Morrissey who has terminal cervical cancer and less than two years to live told the court the Morrissey side were only told at the end of last week that an expert witness on behalf of Quest Diagnostics was to make use of a laboratory microscope which had been set up in the High Court for the hearing.

Mr Treacy said it was "grossly unfair" and the Morrissey legal team felt "ambushed" as such microscopic evidence, he said, was not put to their expert witness, consultant cytopathologist Dr Michael McKenna when he took the witness stand weeks ago.

It was, counsel said, a "classic ambush."

He added the reading of Ruth Morrissey's smear slides was the cornerstone issue in the case. He said the Morrissey legal team did not have their expert in court today and felt "completely ambushed".

Michael Cush SC for Quest Diagnostics said the substance of the microscopic evidence had been put to Dr McKenna in cross-examination and the expert witness on the Morrissey side, he said, "chose not to bring his microscope" to court.

Ruling not to allow the microscopic evidence, Mr Justice Cross said he did not think it would be fair to bring it in at this stage and the Quest Diagnostics expert witness, Dr Robert Marshall Austin, who is Medical Director of Cytopathology at Magee Women's Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, could give evidence as per his reports in the case.

Later, after Dr Austin began his evidence, the case was adjourned on the application of Quest Diagnostics. He will resume his evidence on Friday.

At one stage today, Mr Justice Kevin Cross, who has started his third week hearing evidence, said he had been told that the case would take until the end of March and he hoped to give his judgment before Easter, but that was not now looking likely.

Ruth Morrissey and her husband Paul Morrissey of Kylemore, Schoolhouse Road, Monaleen, Co Limerick have sued the HSE and the US laboratory Quest Diagnostics Ireland Ltd with offices at Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin along with Medlab Pathology Ltd with offices at Sandyford Business Park, Dublin 18.

It is claimed there was an alleged failure to correctly report and diagnose and there was an alleged misinterpretation of her smear samples taken in 2009 and 2012.

A situation it is claimed allegedly developed where Ms Morrisseys cancer spread unidentified, unmonitored and untreated until she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in June 2014.

It is further claimed a review of the 2009 and 2012 smears took place in 2014 and 2015 with the results sent to Ms Morrissey's treating gynaecologist in 2016, but she was not told until May 2018 of those review results which showed her smears were reported incorrectly.

The HSE the court has already heard admitted it owed a duty of care to Ms Morrissey. The laboratories deny all claims.

The case before Mr Justice Kevin Cross continues.
There is still no firm commitment that government departments will fund the near 3m needed to repair a crumbling weir on the River Blackwater in Co Cork.

The county council can not afford the cost of repairing the weir in Fermoy and has lobbed various government department for funding, as yet without receiving any written commitment.

Mary Hayes, senior executive officer for the Charleville/Fermoy Municipal District Council, said that in the latest round of written correspondence, Sean Canny, Minister for State at the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, said his department can not fund the work, "but will assist from a fisheries and environmental perspective".

In the meantime, he said he was seeking to get funding instead from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government for the project and will keep the council updated on any progress that is made.

The county engineer's department is continuing the process of progressing a tender to employ consultants to carry out a detailed design for the project.

However, Ms Hayes said that the council can only appoint them if the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment provides assurances that the capital cost of the weir repairs and the creation of a new fish pass are covered.

It's grand to say a minister is going to assist us, but there is no timeframe on how much money we might get and when we'll get it. We need funding assurances as we (the council) have all our ducks in a row, Cllr Frank O'Flynn said.

Ms Hayes said any political influence councillors could exert to get the project progressed would be welcome.

Cllr Noel McCarthy it would be crunch time when it came to appointing the consultants, which is expected to happen towards the end of March.

This is very important to the people of Fermoy, he added.

I wish the report was stronger and that the money was ringfenced. One more flood and it's over, Cllr Kay Dawson said.

This process is taking a while and people in the town are very worried, Cllr June Murphy said.

Fears have been raised that the water level is so low as the result of the weir collapse that the local rowing club may not be able to hold its summer regatta, which it has done for 100 years.
Four masked and armed men broke into a house in Donegal and threatened the occupants.

The men, who were armed with handguns and a baton, broke into the house at Drumcairn, Manorcunningham at around 8.15pm last night.
Brendan McLaughlin, the longest surviving Cystic Fibrosis lung transplant recipient in Ireland, has passed away 26 years after getting a transplant.

The Co Donegal man was a lifelong campaigner for better CF services and to encourage organ donation.

He died at the Mater Hospital in Dublin yesterday at the age of 51.

He was also the longest surviving CF single lung transplant recipient in the world.

Cystic Fibrosis Ireland has offered its condolences to Mr McLaughlin's family.
The health watchdog says Cork University Hospital is not doing enough to tackle a potentially deadly superbug.

CPE is hard to kill with antibiotics and more than half of all patients who get it die from their infection.
The government has scored a C grade in the Children's Rights Alliance annual report card for its overall performance but its efforts on homelessness were deemed a failure, while concerns persist in other areas, including mental health.

In what is the CRA's 11th such report, the government's overall performance outstripped that of the previous two years.

The highest individual grade awarded his year is an A- for LGBTI+ Children and Young People, while an F grade was awarded for Child and Family Homelessness, with the overall homeless figure hovering around the 10,000-mark for much of the past 12 months, including thousands of children.

Tanya Ward, CRA chief executive, said that F grade was the first time under this Programme for Government that it had awarded a score that low.

"We know the negative impact that homelessness has on their education, their self-esteem, their peer relationships and their health. A housing emergency must be declared and the building of public housing must become the Governments top priority. Childhood does not stand still and radical action is urgently needed."

The report said there was only limited progress on the commitment to end the use of unsuitable long-term emergency accommodation for homeless families, with nearly 4,000 children experiencing homelessness. It also noted the growth in just a year in the number of children in emergency accommodation outside Dublin.

It said the length of stay in the country's 26 family hubs was not captured. Alison Connolly of Focus Ireland referred to the "completely unacceptable" one-night-only emergency homeless accommodation options and an over-reliance on self-accommodation.

She said that compounds trauma for children who are homeless. The CRA called for time limits on the use of emergency accommodation.

The report card is based on how the government fares against previously announced commitments, and is adjudicated on by a panel of experts.

Among the report's recommendations is that government legislate to end the long-term use of unsuitable emergency accommodation for children and families; implement Housing First commitments as a matter of urgency; and fully implement the National Quality Standards Framework for homeless services and establish a robust compliance framework with an independent inspectorate.

Child & family #homelessness awarded an F grade in @ChildRightsIRL #ReportCard2019 launched this morning. Homelessness is devastating for adults, children & families. The almost 10k men, women & children in emergency accommodation deserve better pic.twitter.com/mCR35m3cGr  Niamh Randall (@NiamhRandall) February 26, 2019

Ms Ward referred to "incremental progress" by the Government in a number of areas. Grades improved on those awarded in 2018 in 17 different categories in this year's report. Grades either slipped or remained the same as those in 2018 in nine categories.

The government also received a D- grade in the categories of Traveller and Roma Children and Mental Health - on the latter the report referred to the lack of public in-patient beds for the under-18s and waiting lists for the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).

On education, positive progress was noted though CRA pointed out that key provisions of the EPSEN (Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs) Act 2004 remain unimplemented and the full education rights of children with disabilities and special educational needs remain unfulfilled.

The report also makes a number of recommendations, including a national strategy on child sexual violence.

Children's Minister Katherine Zappone said the report's findings would be studied in detail to ensure progress in all areas.
Gardai have renewed their appeal for the public's assistance in locating an Icelandic man who is missing in Dublin.

41-year-old Jon Jonsson was last seen in Whitehall on January 9 at approximately 11am.

The investigation by An Garda Siochana was highlighted on tonights Crimecall programme on RTE.

CCTV footage aired on the programme showed Mr Jonsson leaving his hotel and walking up the Swords Road, past McGettigan's pub heading north.

Mr Jonsson, who is six foot tall, of medium build and with short brown hair is seen wearing a black padded jacket.

He had arrived in Dublin the previous day with his fiancee to participate in a poker tournament.

On the day he was last seen, he had left his phone, wallet and passport in his room at the Bonnington Hotel where he was staying.

He was reported missing by his fiancee the following day.

12 members of his family have travelled from Iceland to assist in the search, and the news has generated a lot of media attention in his home nation.

Jon Jonsson

At a session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva today, Tanaiste Simon Coveney met Iceland's Foreign Minister Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson who said that he appreciated the efforts of Irish authorities in searching for Mr Jonsson.

Gardai are appealing in particular to taxi drivers and people working in casinos, given that Mr Jonsson was in Dublin to attend a poker tournament.

Anyone who has seen Mr Jonsson 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.
Photo: Contributed

There will be a special tribute to Canadian veterans at the Okanagan Military Tattoo this summer as 2019 marks the 75th anniversary of the Normandy invasion.

The Tribute to the Veterans segment of the program will feature the Regimental Band of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, a regiment steeped in history, who participated in the early stages of the D-Day landings.

The sixth annual Okanagan Military Tattoo to be held at Kal Tire Place in Vernon July 27-28 will be a combination of traditional military pomp and circumstance as well as a civilian component with bands, ethnic dancers and song.

Its Vernons largest annual indoor event and Western Canadas only military tattoo with more than 550 performers taking part including the Brentwood Imperial Youth Band from the UK, the Calgary Round-Up Band, Massed Pipes & Drums, cadets from Camp Vernon and more.

Tickets for the OMT are on sale at TicketSeller in Vernon. All seating is reserved. Tickets can be purchased in person, by phone 250-549-7469, toll free 1-866-311-1011, or online.

Special ticket prices are available for seniors, students, veterans and families.

The term Tattoo dates from around 1600 during the Thirty Years War in the Low Countries (Belgium and the Netherlands). The Dutch fortresses were garrisoned for the most part with Scottish, English, Swiss and German mercenaries.

Drummers from the garrison were sent out each evening to inform the soldiers that it was time to return to the barracks. The process was known as doe den tap toe ( Dutch for turn off the tap ) an instruction to innkeepers to stop serving beer and send the soldiers home for the night.

Over the years, the term evolved into Tattoo.

Traditionally, Tattoos have provided the opportunity for civilians to witness the music, precision and professionalism of those who have dedicated their lives to the defence and security of their country. More recently Tattoos have become more elaborate, involving theatrics, dancing and song as well as the military component.
The DUPs Jeffrey Donaldson says he believes that a deal will be reached between the UK and the EU at the last minute.

My experience of negotiations is that these things often go down to the wire, he told RTEs News at One.
Denis OBriens defamation case against the Sunday Business Post deserves to be thrown out on its backside, a High Court jury has been told.

Michael McDowell SC urged the jury not to fall for this phoney effort to persuade them Mr OBrien was defamed in articles of March 15, 2015.

There was no defamation and Mr OBrien had come to court spoiling for a fight, he said.

Mr OBrien wants to put down people who are decent, honourable, truthful journalists who keep our democracy going by telling us the truth, he said.

These were people who were careful and who got the articles lawyered.

The jury heard closing addresses from both sides in the case today and will be instructed in the law by Mr Justice Bernard Barton tomorrow before retiring to consider their verdict.

The articles named Mr O'Brien as among the 22 biggest borrowers from Irish banks in 2008 and their focus was a confidential PwC report to the Government about the exposure of Irelands banks in 2008.

Journalist Tom Lyons got a copy from a source in 2015 and shredded it shortly after the articles were published to protect the source.

Mr O'Brien claims the articles wrongly meant he was among a gang of 22 borrowers who wrecked the country, that they defamed him and injured his reputation.

The defendant, Post Publications Ltd, denies the words mean what he alleges, denies defamation and malicious publication, and has pleaded "fair and reasonable publication on a matter of public interest".

Today, Mr McDowell said Mr OBriens case is disgraceful, wholly unfounded, manufactured, false, irresponsible and malicious.

He said Mr OBrien has come to court to get damages because he wants to exercise power over the SBP and punish people whom he claims were malicious towards him.

Mr OBrien had been vicious in some of his evidence towards Mr Lyons and former SBP editor Ian Kehoe, he said.

Mr Lyons and Mr Kehoe had given evidence, because of the fear factor concerning Mr OBrien, they had considered leaving him out of the articles but explained they could not be reduced by threats or fear of litigation by making no reference to Mr OBrien.

That evidence rings true and is true, counsel said.

The jury must decide who is telling the truth, the flamboyant Mr OBrien who says he was the victim and the central figure in the articles when he was not.

The PwC report put Mr OBrien as number 10 of the 22 biggest borrowers from Irish banks in 2008, he said.

Noone in 2015 who construed the articles as meaning Mr OBrien faced financial pressure in 2008 could, when also told he had repaid all his loans, was the best customer of Irish banks and a successful mobile phone and media entrepreneur, consider that defamatory, he said.

It was untrue to say Mr OBrien was given a central role in the coverage, the story was simply not about him, he said.

It was also incorrect to say a pen picture of Mr OBrien in one article was a needle in the haystack in the context of the overall coverage.

That piece contained information from the PwC report and said he had repaid all his debts to Anglo and is one of AIB and Bank of Irelands best clients.

The articles contained no criticism of Mr OBrien, he said.

In his closing address for Mr O'Brien, Paul O Higgins SC counsel said a lot had been said about this case being vicious and there was an attempt on behalf of the SBP to turn it on its head by making the SBP the victims.

Mr OBrien was not out to personalise the case or destroy anyone and he had sued the SBP and not the journalists involved in the articles although he would have been entitled to do so, he said.

For the standards of a broadsheet newspaper, the get up of the articles was sensationalistic, heavily coloured and designed to wow you from the very front page.

Mr OBrien was a fish out of water among the 22 as he was not a developer king, not under huge financial pressure, not massively overstretched and had brought 600m back into the country.

It was also exceptionally unfair to list him in a front page graphic among seven other people who had huge problems.

He was singled out for special treatment and included among developer kings when the SBP knew his main business was not development and he had no exposure to development loans, Paul O Higgins SC said.
A ward at Cork University Hospital (CUH) affected by an outbreak of a deadly superbug was re-opened to admissions against the advice of the infection control team.

The high risk action is one of a series of shortcomings highlighted in a report by the health watchdog following an unannounced inspection last November.

The hospital was also criticised for placing three patients with CPE in a room without a toilet, shower or hand hygiene facilities.

Carbapenemase-Producing Enterobacteriales (CPE) is the newest in a long line of 'superbugs and is the most difficult to kill with antibiotics.

An outbreak at CUH was reported in July 2018.

On the day of inspection, November 7, there were seven inpatients with confirmed CPE colonisation and a further 15 CPE contacts.

A CPE outbreak had been declared on ward 1B, a 35-bed medical ward, on 20 October 2018.

Inspectors from the Health Information and Quality Authority were initially informed by senior management that all inpatients known to be colonised with CPE were confined to ward 1B.

However during the course of the inspection, they were subsequently informed that the seven patients colonised with CPE were located across four different wards.

Inspectors said the findings from the inspection raised significant concerns for HIQA around the overall approach taken at Cork University Hospital to effectively manage risks to patients from infection and antimicrobial resistance.

HIQA said more needs to be done locally by the hospital to effectively address the high risks identified during this inspection.

HIQA wrote to Tony McNamara, the CEO of CUH, saying a number of high risks were identified in relation to management of the CPE outbreak.

It also said the hospital was failing to comply with a HSE guideline on screening for CPE, while acknowledging that staffing within infection control was notably below operational norms.

Mr McNamara defended the decision to re-open the outbreak ward saying it became necessary as occupancy reduced below 50%. He said this was required as a balance of clinical priorities.

He said patients placed in a room with inadequate toilet facilities would be relocated. Mr McNamara also outlined efforts to improve staffing.
The long-awaited clean-up of a large illegal dump next to a halting site in Cork city will start within a week, city officials have insisted.

They moved to reassure city councillors last night that work to remove vast amounts of rubbish from the council-owned Elliss Yard in Ballyvolane is imminent.

The reassurance followed questions from Workers Party councillor Ted Tynan about the tender for the clean-up and securing of the site, next to Spring Lane halting site.

The start date was delayed last week after a key contractor withdrew from the project at the last minute. It is not clear why the contractor withdrew. However, a replacement contractor is now in place and it is understood that everything is in place for the work to start.

It follows fresh calls yesterday for a start date from locals who live overlooking the site. Dozens of residents staged a protest outside City Hall late last month demanding action to clean the site, which has been plagued by illegal dumping for almost two decades.

Last night, the councils director of housing, Brian Geaney, who is overseeing the clean-up operation, told Mr Tynan the council is finalising contract terms for the specialist regulated works and he expects the works to commence within the next seven days.

The council has staged several large and expensive environmental clean-ups of the site over the years, but the problem has persisted.

Fires have broken out on the site, leading to dozens of fire brigade calls outs in recent years.

The Irish Examiner highlighted the scale of the latest dumping problem last summer but it has taken until now for the clean-up to be funded and arranged.

Officials plan to remove the rubbish and install security fencing and a network of CCTV cameras in a bid to deter future illegal dumping.

In the meantime, officials are working on a long-term strategy that could see some form of development of the Elliss Yard site for community gain. It is understood talks are at an advanced stage and proposals could come before councillors for discussion within months.

A security operation will be in place for the duration of the works and gardai will be on standby if required.
New research has raised particular concern about significant links between a small group of young people and the youth justice system.

The study found that, based on the information available, children in residential care featured to a disproportionate extent at the serious end of the youth justice system (the courts and detention centre).

The Care and Justice report said many charges that young people accumulate relate directly to their behaviour while in care, such as destruction of property and assault of care staff.

It said use of private residential care has increased and is often used to accommodate children with the most difficulties, and that its cost has recently increased because of insurance costs.

The report said insurance companies were requesting to see the profile of children being accommodated before agreeing to provide insurance. Researchers were told that the rising insurance costs was on the back of significant payouts for assaults on staff.

The research, conducted by Nicola Carr and Paula Mayock for the Irish Penal Reform Trust, said the crossover of young people from care to the justice system was of concern.

There is evidence to indicate that, at the higher end of the youth justice system (ie within the courts system and the Children Detention Campus), there is a greater proportion of young people with care backgrounds.

It said the Childrens Court in Dublin estimated about one third of its cases involved young people in care, while Oberstown Children Detention Campus said 40% of young people were either in care or had significant involvement with Tusla, the Child and Family Agency.

It said the linkage was much less of an issue for children in foster care than it is for those in residential care.

It would seem that the issue of contact with the youth justice system is a particular concern for a small cohort of young people, the researchers said, adding that for this group it was a significant issue.

The study said that of the 6,072 children in care, only 361 (6%) were in residential care in 2018.

Some 15 children were in special care and 20 were in placements abroad.

More than 90% of children go into foster care.

The researchers said that residential care is most often used when children have experienced previous placement breakdowns or for older children who enter the care system late.

Of the 361 children in residential care, 222 (61%) are in private placements.

The report said there were 36 registered child care services and four Special Care units run by Tusla. There were 26 residential centres run by voluntary agencies and between 82 and 84 services run privately.

The shift to private services was the result of the staffing embargo in 2008 and the closure of some statutory residential services.

The report, published today, follows yesterdays special report in the Irish Examiner on Oberstown.

Eoin Carroll of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice said that notwithstanding the progress in Oberstown there should be a 20-year plan to end all detention for children.
A High Court challenge against An Bord Pleanala's decision to give the green-light to a 220m motorway linking the south of Cork city to the new Port of Cork got underway today.

The 12.5km M28 development links the Bloomfield Interchange on the existing N28 junction with the N40 South Ring road junction and the Port of Cork to the east of the village of Ringaskiddy.

Today, Mr Justice Michael McGrath heard submissions from counsel for the M28 Steering Group, an umbrella organisation of residents' associations representing some of the households living in areas close to the route of the proposed motorway.

The opening submissions largely focussed on the alleged impact the proposed motorway would have on the Raffeen Quarry, where objectors have said rare habitats would be disrupted by the works.

Those opposed to the proposal have concerns about the proximity the motorway would have to homes in the Rochestown, Maryborough, Douglas, and Mount Oval suburbs of the city.

Residents who object to the scheme say the motorway will cause more pollution and noise, and will have a significant detrimental impact on the amenity of their homes.

However, points arising from the planning process form the main focus of the legal challenge against the planning authority's decision.

Submissions on behalf of the objectors will continue tomorrow, after which the court will hear from An Bord Pleanala.

It gave its approval last June following a 12-day oral hearing during which the local objectors submissions were heard.

However in her report recommending the granting of permission for the project, planning authority Inspector Mary Kennelly said the existing N28 road suffers from undue traffic congestion, delays and a poor-quality alignment that presents significant safety hazards.

She further stated that the proposed motorway would improve the human environment for communities along the route and improve road safety for all road users and would not have significant negative effects on the community in the vicinity.

Four days have been set aside for proceedings.
Ian Bailey has said that it seems "inevitable" that he will be found guilty of the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier  however, he has reaffirmed his insistence that he is an innocent man.

Ms Toscan du Plantier was killed in December 1996 and Mr Bailey, a British citizen who lives in Co Cork, has denied any involvement.

Speaking to Virgin Media News in an interview aired yesterday evening, Mr Bailey said that he expects to be convicted at his French trial in May.

Im greatly, greatly imperiled here, he said.

I know that I had nothing to do with this and Im going to finish up a convicted murderer.

Im actually an innocent man and what will happen in France is that they will probably celebrate the fact that Ive been convicted and believe me to be the killer, he claimed, adding: All theyll have succeeded in doing is convicting an innocent man.

Mr Bailey, who says he will not attend the trial in France, believes he will need a miracle to escape a conviction.

I know there are people here in Ireland, in Bantry, and even very close by to the hotel were in [for the interview], know that I have nothing to do with this and short of a miracle or an intervention or some new information coming out, it would appear inevitable that at a point later this year, Ill become a convicted murderer in France.

Mr Bailey said he is facing into a very grim and dark period in his life.

Im looking at a date in May when the tectonic plates in my life are going to shift hugely and I dont know how Im going to handle it, he said.

Mr Baileys solicitor Frank Buttimer said the French trial is a showpiece and that the French authorities would never leave his client alone.

Relentlessly, they have decided to go ahead with a criminal trial which I think is just a showpiece trial to satisfy certain interests in France and I believe that the likelihood is that they will come again.

They do not ever intend to leave that man alone, he said.

The case was recently the subject of a podcast, West Cork, hosted by British journalists Jennifer Forde and Sam Bungey, which has increased the international attention surrounding the case.

In 2012, the Irish Supreme Court stopped a French bid to have Mr Bailey extradited.

Under French law, Mr Bailey can be tried in absentia, meaning the court can try him for the murder of a French citizen, even if the crime did not take place in France.

No one was ever charged with the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier in Ireland.
First-half sales at Dublin-headquartered discount clothing retailer Primark - are expected to be 4% up on last year. The company trades here as Penneys.

Figures for the six months to the start of March are scheduled to be announced towards the end of April and should show Primarks performance was boosted by increased retail selling space. However, revenues are expected to have been partially offset by a 2% decline in like-for-like sales.

The company said first- half profit is expected to be well ahead on a year-on-year basis and said early trading of its new spring/summer ranges has been encouraging.

In a trading update, last month, a spokesperson for Primark said the retailer was pleased with the trading performance of the Penneys business in the current financial year.

Primarks owner is retail and commodities group Associated British Foods. It forecast flat group earnings for the first half.

It said it would deliver first-half revenue growth in all of its businesses, other than sugar, helping it to deliver earnings per share broadly in line with the previous year. However, it said it expected a small reduction in adjusted operating profit.

Associated British Foods described as unbelievable the notion that the British government is contemplating leaving the EU next month without a deal to smooth its exit.

With only 32 days until the UK is due to leave the EU, the British parliament is deeply split over how, or even whether, the country should leave the bloc.

The finance director for AB Foods John Bason said the uncertainty was impacting the groups current operations, noting it had packaged grocery products exports in transit on the sea.

We dont know now whether they will be considered to be an import from the EU or from a country that they havent got a trading relationship with. For it even to be contemplated, a hard Brexit where youve got no arrangement with your major trading partners and when were so reliant on them for the food supply chain, I find it unbelievable, he said.

The consequences of getting this wrong for people are major and I want people to understand that, Bason said, adding that a hard Brexit would be irresponsible.

The group owns food brands such as Ovaltine, Ryvita, Twinings and Jordans. It also owns major sugar, agriculture and ingredients businesses.

- Additional reporting Reuters
Local enterprise offices should be the first port of call for entrepreneurs because of its wide range of supports for would-be business owners.

That is the message of head of enterprise at the LEO Cork City, Adrienne Rogers ahead of Local Enterprise Week, which begins on Monday.

The national event organised by the 31 LEOs and includes a series of free business-related events for Cork city businesses and budding entrepreneurs.

Ms Rogers said: Local Enterprise Week is a big highlight of our year as it is a great way to demonstrate the wide range of supports available and why the LEO office should be the first port of call for entrepreneurs in Cork.

Throughout the week a wide range of experts from around the country will gather in Cork for conferences and workshops to support owners and managers of small businesses in the city, as well as entrepreneurs.

All of the events are free and most include a networking element, where participants can connect with other entrepreneurs as well as business leaders and advisers.

Online Retailing for the Traditional Retailer and Retail Services Businesses takes place in the Clayton Hotel, Lapps Quay on Monday.

Emcee for the event, retail advisor James Burke of James Burke & Associates, said:

Christmas 2018 was a defining moment for the retail sector, with the biggest consumer migration to online in the last decade.

Much of this online retailing has encouraged sales to flow out of Ireland and this workshop will explore the potential for online success for traditional retail sectors.

Speakers include Oonagh McCutcheon from the IE Domain Registry who will talk about how using technology can streamline business processes.

Other events include a workshop on Brexit in the Republic of Work on Tuesday, facilitated by Denis Casey of Casey Business Consulting, which will outline how small businesses can prepare for Brexit despite all of the uncertainty.

For further information on the list of the free events and activities taking place in Cork during Local Enterprise Week, see the website here.
Vancouver, British Columbia - February 26, 2019 (Newsfile Corp.) (Investorideas.com Newswire) Plata Latina Minerals Corporation (TSXV: PLA) ("Plata Latina" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the drill results from the 2017-2018 multi-rig drill program that Metalurgica Reyna S.A. de C.V. ("Reyna", a wholly owned subsidiary of Fresnillo plc) has completed on Plata Latina's Naranjillo Property. Naranjillo is a grassroots epithermal silver discovery made by the Company and is located in the Mexican Silver Belt, approximately 35 kilometers southeast of the Guanajuato mining district.

Randy Eppler, interim president and CEO of Plata Latina, commented: "We are very pleased with the positive results from the recent drill program completed by Reyna. These results build upon our initial exploration success and support our geologic discovery model. Reyna has steadily expanded the extent of known mineralization, focusing on 3 target areas with development potential along a three-kilometer strike length. We believe their efforts will continue to demonstrate the value of the Naranjillo property."

2017-18 Drill Results

Reyna has drilled 45 holes in total to date at Naranjillo as part of their 2017-2018 exploration program. Recent drilling has returned similar results to Plata Latina's discovery hole BDD-N-10 which averaged 3,181 g/t Ag and 13.28 g/t Au (4,287 g/t AgEq), over 10.95 meters (7.74 meters true thickness). Significant drill results from this program are highlighted below and a comprehensive list of results along with drill results from previous Plata Latina drilling campaigns can be found in Appendix A.

*Silver equivalent based on US$15/oz silver and US$1,250/oz gold with 90% recovery for both gold and silver

The drill results from Naranjillo continue to demonstrate the discovery of a significant and extensive epithermal vein system, typical of the Mexican Silver Belt. The Sibila Vein system, in the central area of the Naranjillo deposit, has been the target of much of the drilling on the Naranjillo Property, as shown in the plan map in Appendix B and the longitudinal section in Appendix C. The main structures in the system include the Sibila, Sur, and Villa Veins, which all trend to the northwest and dip steeply to the southwest. Vein mineralization occurs from approximately 350 meters to 700 meters below the ground surface.

High-grade intervals of the Sibila Vein system have been intercepted in many of the holes along a one-kilometer trend on the Plata Latina Property. Intercepts in excess of 1,000 g/t AgEq have now been encountered in 12 holes in the Sibila system, including the original discovery hole. The best intercept to date is found in the 2018 drill hole CB-96, with 3.45 meters (3.13 meter true thickness) averaging 5,507 g/t Ag and 34.7 g/t Au, for 8,401 g/t AgEg. Another 10 intercepts from the Sibila Vein system have had grades ranging from 500 to 1,000 g/t AgEq.

About 1.5 kilometers southeast of the central area, locally high-grade mineralization has been found along the Naranjillo Vein system. Here, the best intercepts have been 2.5 meters (2.31 meter true thickness) averaging 4,978 g/t Ag and 5.57 g/t Au, for 5,442 g/t AgEq and 0.7 meters (0.54 meter true thickness) averaging 390 g/t Ag and 1.34 g/t Au, for 501 g/t AgEq. These favorable drill results in the Southeast Target demonstrate the continuity of the structural trend to the southeast and the potential for further mineralization in that direction.

A third area occurs about 2.5 kilometers northwest of the Sibila area, with mineralization identified along the San Diego I Vein where the best intercept to date was drilled by Plata Latina and returned 1.65 meters (1.24 meters true thickness) averaging 316 g/t Ag and 0.35 g/t Au, for 345 g/t AgEq. Positive drilling in this area shows the existence of further structural trends to the northwest and the potential for further mineralization in that direction.

Reyna has completed two multiple rig drill programs on Plata Latina's Naranjillo Property, since entering the 2017 option agreement with the Company.

Reyna Agreement

Plata Latina's ore concept model and extensive experience along the Mexican Silver Belt led to the 2012 staking of the Naranjillo Property. Plata Latina drilling from 2012 to 2014 discovered and further delineated the silver-gold vein system. On February 8, 2017, Plata Latina formally signed the option agreement with Reyna for the Naranjillo Property. The agreement provides Reyna the right to explore and acquire 100% of Naranjillo over a three-year period.

The terms of the option agreement are as follows:

Provides Reyna the right to explore the Naranjillo Property for a total cash payment to Plata Latina of US$1,450,000 over three years, based on staged twice per year payments. Reyna's most recent payment of US$250,000 was received on February 8, 2019, with another payment programmed for August 2019, if Reyna decides to continue exploring the Naranjillo Property.

During the three-year option period, Reyna is required to spend a minimum US$3,000,000 in exploration on the Naranjillo Property.

At the end of the three-year option period (February 8, 2020), Reyna has the option to acquire the Naranjillo Property for an additional payment of US$500,000 and the granting of a 3% net smelter return royalty to Plata Latina (the "Royalty").

Reyna would also pay advance royalty payments of US$100,000 annually until a maximum of US$1,000,000 has been reached or commercial production commences from the Naranjillo Property.

Reyna has right to further reduce the Royalty to 2% by paying an additional US$1,000,000, and, may buyout the remaining 2% Royalty by paying an additional US$5,000,000.

Other Plata Latina Mexican Silver Belt Properties

Plata Latina also controls three other exploration ready properties along the Mexican Silver Belt, including Vaquerias, La Joya and Palo Alto.

Vaquerias is located about 140 kilometers northwest of Naranjillo. Drilling of this property in early 2013 by Plata Latina encountered grade ranging to 727 g/t Ag and 0.24 g/t Au, over a drilled width of 0.55 meters (0.30 m true thickness). Vaquerias is attractively situated in an erosional window, exposing strong hydrothermal alteration and quartz veining, in an area of historical silver mining. The trend extends to the southeast, beneath younger volcanic cover.

La Joya is located about 125 kilometers southeast of Naranjillo. The area is noteworthy for its large zones of hydrothermal alteration outcropping at the surface. In several areas, the alteration is being mined by kaolin surface pit operations. Local quartz veined areas have anomalous silver/gold from surface sampling. The Company believes that significant silver epithermal silver exploration potential exists below these shallow kaolin pits at La Joya. To date, no drilling has been conducted on this property.

Palo Alto is also about 165 kilometers northwest of Naranjillo. The Palo Alto concession is located along a north trending structural trend, characterized by strong alteration and quartz veining, locally with anomalous silver/gold geochemistry from surface sampling. No drilling has been conducted on this property.

Assays and Quality Assurance/Quality Control

The submission of all drill hole samples to the commercial laboratory were done in conjunction with a quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) program that meets standard engineering practice, both for the Plata Latina and Reyna analyses. Company QA/QC protocol included the inclusion of commercial standards and blanks, into the sample stream sent to the laboratory. Additionally, on a periodic basis samples were designated for a repeat assay. All QA/QC results were monitored to ensure that all analytical results were accurate and precise. It is further noted that the assay laboratories used by both companies, ALS Chemex Labs, is an independent international laboratory with ISO certification, and is widely regarded in the mining community.

Qualified Person

The drilling results in this news release have been reviewed and approved by Mark G. Stevens, a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument (NI) 43-101. Mr. Stevens is V.P. Exploration for Plata Latina Minerals and has worked in the mining industry for more than 35 years, including evaluations of many different epithermal vein deposits from around the world. All Plata Latina drill results were previously released to the public by Michael Clarke, formerly C.E.O. for Plata Latina Minerals who is also a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument (NI) 43-101.

About Plata Latina Minerals

Plata Latina Minerals is a Canadian exploration company with a portfolio of four silver-gold properties situated in the prolific Mexican Silver Belt focused on discovering new silver-gold vein districts. Plata Latina's expertise in the ore horizon concept and extensive experience in Mexico provides a competitive edge for discovery of new districts between old historic deposits. Its highly experienced management team and board are focused on developing its portfolio of high-potential targets and exploring additional value-creation opportunities.

For more information, please contact:

W. Durand Eppler

Interim President & CEO

Telephone: +1 800 933 9925

Email: info@plminerals.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.

More Info:

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PAS is unethical, specifically prohibited by the Hippocratic Oath and opposed by the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Nurses Association, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and the World Medical Association. PAS is not medical care, has no basis in medical science or medical tradition and the drug concoctions used to end patients lives come from the euthanasia movement and not from the medical profession or medical research. Further, PAS is dangerous with illusionary safeguards in the bill: there is no requirement for formal psychiatric evaluation of patients, minimal informed consent, no witnesses to consumption of drugs required and no routine audits or impartial 3rd party oversight. Second, we oppose H.B. 1031, Maryland Constitution Amendment On Abortion, a referred amendment to the 2020 ballot making voters decide whether or not abortion belongs in our Maryland Constitution. If placed on ballots, voters of moral conscience should vote no, denying a constitutional right to kill without restriction, Gods holy, innocent, unborn babies by dismemberment, salt poisoning, and other grisly late-term genocidal methods. Proposed laws to restore the right to life of unborn babies would be invalidated after passage of this deadly amendment. These days, even Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Acts are needed to prevent infanticide! Gods words: The Lord hates hands that shed innocent blood, Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter, Thou shalt not murder.
The fine details on a receipt for a mountain bike tripped up a would-be fraudster.

Kristin Wright, of Everett, Wash., pleaded guilty in Snohomish County Superior Court to a gross misdemeanor count of filing a false insurance claim on her renters insurance.

She will serve 40 hours of community service and pay $500 in court fees.

Prosecutors charged Wright in December 2018 after an investigation by Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidlers Criminal Investigations Unit.

According to the investigation, Wright reported a burglary at her Everett apartment in 2017. She filed a claim of more than $8,600 with American Bankers Insurance Co. for stolen items, including a mountain bike, two helmets, two crates of wine and some tools.

Wright provided a receipt for the bike showing she bought it in December 2016 for $7,000. The bike store told the insurers investigator that the details on the receipt were wrong, and the model of bike listed on the receipt was not available for sale until January 2017. American Bankers concluded the receipt was falsified, denied the claim and referred the case to Kreidlers CIU.

Kreidlers CIU investigates insurance fraud and works with Washington State Patrol and state and local prosecutors on criminal cases.

Topics Fraud Washington
A stink is being raised over a $120 million court settlement from the nations largest-known natural gas leak and its not about money, but cow manure.

Environmental groups have criticized a plan to put more than a fifth of the settlement toward capturing climate-changing methane from dairy farms in the states farm belt  more than 100 miles from where the blowout occurred on the edge of Los Angeles.

Criticism of the dairy component of the deal struck between Southern California Gas Co. and the state and city of Los Angeles is wide-ranging, but groups complained the utility is getting full credit for projects partly funded by state money.

They get to count methane reduction that was already happening on the public dime, said attorney Nina Robertson of Earthjustice.

A court hearing is scheduled Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court to consider whether to give final approval of the settlement.

Part of the agreement addresses mitigation of the 109,000 metric tons of methane released after a well blowout in the Aliso Canyon storage field in October 2015 that took nearly four months to stop. The incident sent a sulfurous stench over the community of Porter Ranch, where residents complained of headaches, nausea, nose bleeds and other symptoms.

The company has spent more than $1 billion related to the blowout with the majority of that going to temporarily relocate 8,000 families, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The utility still faces more than 385 lawsuits on behalf of 48,000 people.

Under the settlement, the utility agreed to pay up to $25 million to study long-term health consequences; reimburse city, county and state governments for responding to the incident; and monitor chemicals in the air near the facility for eight years. Costs of the settlement cant be passed along to ratepayers.

The mitigation part of the deal calls for the utility to pay $26.5 million toward technology that captures methane from lagoons of cow manure and pipes it into the natural gas supply chain to be used to fuel trucks that run on compressed natural gas.

A coalition of environmental groups criticized that decision as an inefficient way to absorb the methane and said it would lead to larger and more concentrated dairies and lead to smoggier air in the already heavily polluted San Joaquin Valley while also creating more natural gas infrastructure at a time when cleaner alternatives are needed.

They joined the chorus of residents directly affected by the blowout in calling for mitigation in the Los Angeles area where there are plenty of sources where methane could be reduced.

Fix what you broke where you broke it, said Phoebe Seaton of the Leadership Council for Justice and Accountability.

Representatives from the attorney generals office and the California Air Resources Board would not comment in advance of the hearing, but the air board defended the settlement in a response to public comments filed in the court case.

The state said dairies, which contribute 20 percent of the states methane, were the optimal place to mitigate the methane and would provide a win-win controlling methane emissions on farms and providing energy used to fuel trucks that will eliminate pollution otherwise created by diesel big-rigs.

Earthjustice criticized the deal because SoCalGas will receive full credit even though public funds are being used. It also said theres not enough information to determine what percentage of a project the gas company will fund.

If SoCalGas contributes 10 percent of the funding to a dairy where 5,000 tons of methane is captured, it should only get credit for mitigating 500 tons  not the full amount, Robertson said.

Without such an adjustment, the mitigation agreement grossly overstates SoCalGas contribution in achieving methane reductions and fails to constitute full mitigation for the Aliso disaster, Robertson wrote.

The air board did not respond directly to that criticism, but rejected the idea the utility was getting a subsidy toward mitigation.

Chris Gilbride, a spokesman for SoCalGas, did not comment on the criticism but said the settlement is consistent with the utilitys commitment to mitigate the leak.

Related:

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics California Agribusiness Pollution
Atlanta-based benefits and wellness consultant Scott Parker has joined the Employee Benefits Group of Alliant. Serving as first vice president, Parker will design and deliver integrated employee benefits products for organizations.

With more than 30 years of benefits experience, Parkers experience covers strategic planning, plan design, financial management, vendor management, and long-term implementation. This includes experience working with both the public and private sectors.

Prior to joining Alliant, Parker was area senior vice president and practice leader within the Atlanta Benefits division of a global insurance brokerage firm serving a national portfolio of large-to-midsized employers. He also has a decade of experience on the carrier side of the business overseeing major and national accounts for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia.

Headquartered in Newport Beach, CA, Alliant Insurance Services, Inc. provides property and casualty, workers compensation, employee benefits, surety, and financial products and services to clients nationwide, including public entities, tribal nations, healthcare, energy, law firms, real estate, construction, and other industry groups.
Steve Collier has been named chief operating officer at Austin, Texas-based Service American Indemnity Co. (SAIC), which will be officially launched on March 1, 2019.

SAIC was founded on March 1, 2018, following Service Insurance Holdings Inc.s acquisition of American Healthcare Indemnity Co. (AHIC). The current announcement and the upcoming national launch follow the closing of licensing and other agreements.

Collier is responsible for leading SAIC operations and the companys overall strategy and execution of its national expansion. Under his leadership, SAIC will offer program business managers the opportunity to expand their footprint throughout the US through fronting arrangements for workers compensation, as well as multi-line programs.

Collier brings 40 years insurance experience in a variety of executive leadership roles and most recently held the position of vice president of Underwriting and managing director for Service Lloyds Insurance Co., a Service Insurance Holding company. As the point person for the acquisition and implementation of Service American Indemnity, Collier brings an intimate understanding of the opportunities afforded through expansion of the companys business to a national platform.

Since joining Service Lloyds in 2000, Collier has been responsible for major changes in the companys operations, most notably establishing the companys claims reserving practices, underwriting risk selection standards, implementation of a valued added risk control model, and incorporating field underwriting combined with marketing. In addition, he led the company through a complete retooling of its technology to meet the needs of this expansion.

Service American Indemnity was formed with a goal to augment and expand the company geographically through writing program business on a national scale. The company offers fronting company services utilizing its extensive experience and history of success in writing workers compensation business.

Service American and its sister company, Service Lloyds, are pooled and operate under the Service Insurance Holdings Inc. parent which is wholly owned by the Gray Family. Service American Indemnity and Service Lloyds are rated A- (Excellent) by A.M. Best.

Source: Service American Indemnity Co.
Passenger airlines in the U.S. have recorded a remarkable period of safety over the past 10 years.

Not so the nations cargo planes. Five domestically registered aircraft have crashed since 2009  killing 16 people  including Saturdays violent plunge into a bay near Houston of a plane carrying Amazon.com Inc. packages.

While no cause has been identified for that crash, which killed all three people aboard, it has revived concerns that safety standards for such things as mandatory sleep breaks for pilots or fire safety regulations are more lax on the cargo airlines than their passenger counterparts.

The Federal Aviation Administration, as part of its ongoing efforts to monitor safety issues, had been taking a focused look at cargo operations before the accident, the agency said in a statement on Monday night. The FAA also said it was looking at any additional measure that may be warranted.

John Cox, president of consulting company Safety Operating Systems and a former airline pilot, said there have been a higher number of cargo accidents than passenger accidents almost as far back as I can remember. And, he said, That still continues today.

Theres been just a single death on U.S.-registered passenger airlines since Feb. 12, 2009.

We do have some safety concerns that remain, said Captain Robert Travis, president of the Independent Pilots Association, which represents about 3,000 United Parcel Service Inc. pilots.

Equalizing Regulations

The Air Line Pilots Association, which represents flight crews at FedEx Corp., has called for equalizing the safety and security regulations for passenger and cargo flights. Lesser requirements are placed on all-cargo operations in several crucial areas, which results in unnecessary safety risk, the union said in a position paper posted on its website.

Little is known about what caused the Atlas Air wide body Boeing Co. 767-300, operating on behalf of Amazon, to suddenly dive from about 5,800 feet (1,768 meters) into a bay as it approached Houston. A video captured from a nearby jail showed the plane didnt turn or try to pull out of the plunge in its final seconds, according to National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt.

Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc. fell 5.76 percent Monday to $55.51. The company said in a statement that it was deeply saddened by the crash and was assisting the victims families.

The accident drew attention to the safety records of passenger compared to cargo airlines.

Cox said safety in the cargo arena has improved along with passenger airlines and that he wouldnt characterize the industry as unsafe. However, cargo operations sometimes occur in more hazardous conditions, such as during the middle of the night or at airports that arent as well equipped, he said.

In some areas, the regulations arent as rigorous for cargo flights, he said.

Cargo carriers follow older regulations that require pilots get at least eight hours of rest each day. The newer rules for passenger airlines, which went into effect in 2014, call for at least 10 hours off between shifts to ensure crew members can reach a hotel room and still get close to eight hours of sleep.

The new rules also added requirements designed to reduce fatigue, including cutting the amount of hours crews can work per day if they fly late at night.

The cargo industry has a good safety record and any differences in how its regulated are the result of its unique operating requirements, said George Novak, president of the National Air Carrier Association, a trade group representing freight haulers, including Atlas.

If the FAA felt there was a serious safety lapse or a gap, action would have been taken some time ago, Novak said.

The association has been participating the FAAs review of cargo safety, he said.

The difference in the safety record of passenger and cargo carriers is even more stark when comparing the number of flights they make: In 2017, the most recent year for which complete data is available, passenger flights totaled 9 million compared to 603,000 for cargo, almost 15 times higher, according to U.S. Transportation Department data.

Read More: How One Crash 10 Years Ago Helped Keep 90 Million Flights Safe

The NTSB objected to cargo carriers being excluded from the 2014 rules designed to give airline pilots more rest, particularly when they fly late at night.

The NTSB disagrees with this exclusion, as many of the fatigue-related accidents that we have investigated over the years involved cargo operators, the safety board wrote to the FAA in a 2013 letter.

One factor that has led to accidents is the higher likelihood of hazardous or flammable material being carried on cargo flights, according to accident reports.

Dubai Crash

A UPS Boeing 747 crashed in Dubai on Sept. 3, 2010, after a fire erupted on the plane and pilots couldnt reach the airport. The plane was carrying more than 81,000 lithium-based batteries, which can burn at high temperatures or explode, according to a report by the General Civil Aviation Authority of the United Arab Emirates.

While guidelines adopted by the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization and followed by airlines prohibit bulk shipments of such batteries on passenger flights, there are no such restrictions on cargo airlines.

Both UPS and FedEx have taken numerous steps to ensure manufacturers package batteries properly and are exploring better equipment to contain fires.

Although the companies have been very proactive, theres always the opportunity for some undeclared hazmat to get through and thats a concern, Travis said.

One accident illustrating the hazards of carrying cargo occurred April 29, 2013, at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

A National Air Cargo Inc. 747 under contract to the U.S. military crashed shortly after takeoff when heavy vehicles in the cargo hold broke loose and slid backward, damaging flight controls. All seven people aboard died.

The NTSB identified issues with the airlines procedures for restraining large loads and said the FAA didnt adequately oversee safety at the carrier.

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics USA Legislation Aviation Trucking Amazon Transportation
A Missouri Supreme Court ruling on talc lawsuits could reduce the liability and number of large trials Johnson & Johnson faces over allegations its talc products, including baby powder, cause cancer.

The ruling will likely offer some respite to the healthcare conglomerate as it deals with growing pressure over the safety of its talc products, some defense lawyers said. The company revealed in its annual report on Wednesday that it had received subpoenas from the U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission related to talc litigation.

Some plaintiffs lawyers, however, played down the impact of the ruling.

It was a trial in St. Louiss 22nd Circuit Court, brought by 21 plaintiffs from outside of the city whose cases were joined to that of a single St. Louis resident, that in July produced a record $4.69 billion talc verdict against J&J. The company is facing several more such lawsuits in St. Louis.

However, Missouris high court on Feb. 13 ruled in a separate talc case that allowed a non-resident to participate in joined cases was a clear and direct violation of state law barring the use of joinder  combining two or more cases  to allow courts to hear cases they otherwise could not.

Most state courts can only hear cases involving plaintiffs or defendants from that state or alleging injuries occurring within their jurisdiction. The U.S. Supreme Court strengthened those restrictions in a 2017 decision.

But the St. Louis court had allowed out-of-state residents to continue to sue New Jersey-based J&J through liberal use of joinder. In the case that produced the July verdict, 18 of the plaintiffs were from outside Missouri and three were from outside the city of St. Louis. Of the roughly 700 talc cases filed in St. Louis, only 40 involve Missouri residents, according to court filings.

If the Feb. 13 ruling closes off the St. Louis court to non-resident claims, J&J may have a stronger hand defending itself in smaller talc cases spread out among other, potentially less plaintiff-friendly state and federal courts.

Theres no real way of reading this decision other than this court clearly saying you cant join claims if the injury did not occur in the venue, said Mark Cheffo, a New York-based product liability defense lawyer not involved in talc litigation.

J&J in a statement said it was pleased with the decision. One claim that is properly before a court cannot provide a basis for drawing into a trial other claims that are not. We believe that decision is clearly correct, and we continue to believe that the science doesnt support plaintiffs claims, the company said, declining further comment.

Impact Unclear

Some plaintiffs lawyers said the Feb. 13 ruling was not as definitive as Cheffo suggests.

If defendants are celebrating this ruling as the end of St. Louis mass tort, they have not read the entire Missouri case law, said Eric Holland, a St. Louis-based plaintiff lawyer involved in the talc litigation.

Holland pointed to a 2016 Missouri Supreme Court decision that upheld a $38 million verdict in a pharmaceutical product liability case the defendant claimed had been improperly joined. The court let the result stand, saying that even an improper joinder did not render the trial unfair to defendants.

Though the 2016 ruling involved a case already decided, Holland and other plaintiffs lawyers said they planned to argue its fairness analysis also applies to out-of-state talc claims in cases yet to go to trial. They said they would also argue joining the cases was the most efficient use of judicial resources.

Defense lawyers said the Feb. 13 decision would likely mean dismissal or severing of the out-of-state claims from four upcoming multi-plaintiff cases scheduled for trial in St. Louis. Two of the cases were halted by the Missouri Supreme Court ahead of its ruling.

Holland and other plaintiff lawyers said they would challenge J&J requests to sever or dismiss talc cases by arguing the Feb. 13 decision did not overrule the 2016 ruling.

Cheffo said the 2016 ruling could make it harder for J&J to overturn the July verdict and its record penalty because the company would have to prove the joinder led to an unfair trial.

Forum Shopping

The St. Louis court has been a venue for more talc trials and has seen larger verdicts than any other jurisdiction. Outside of St. Louis, the only other significant talc verdicts against J&J to date have come in lawsuits filed by individual plaintiffs in New Jersey and California, where the company is currently facing jury verdicts totalling $142 million.

A Los Angeles jury delivered a $417 million talc verdict against J&J in 2017, but the judge threw out the award weeks later as unsupported by the evidence. All talc verdicts against J&J are on appeal.

The St. Louis court has a history of issuing large punitive damages against companies and has often been criticized by business groups as allowing forum-shopping by out-of-state plaintiffs.

While J&J faces some trials brought by individuals in other jurisdictions, the multi-plaintiff St. Louis cases are the largest and have the most potential to produce additional billion-dollar verdicts.

Plaintiffs allege that the talc in Johnsons baby powder and other J&J products causes ovarian cancer, or that asbestos contamination in the talc causes ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. Asbestos is a known carcinogen linked to mesothelioma.

J&J and its talc supplier, Imerys Talc America, a co-defendant in the litigation, deny the allegations, saying numerous studies and tests by regulators worldwide have shown their talc to be safe and asbestos-free.

Reuters on Dec. 14 published a report detailing that J&J knew that the talc in its raw and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos from the 1970s into the early 2000s  test results it did not disclose to regulators or consumers. (https://reut.rs/2Gh88KO)

J&J is currently facing roughly 13,000 lawsuits over talc, most of which have been consolidated in federal court in New Jersey. Many plaintiffs lawyers have fought to keep cases out of federal court, which they feel favors corporate defendants.

Three juries have rejected claims that Baby Powder was tainted with asbestos or caused plaintiffs mesothelioma. Five other juries have failed to reach verdicts, resulting in mistrials.

In a statement, Imerys Talc America said the Missouri ruling affirmed legal arguments it has made in litigation for the last four years. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Feb. 13, saying it lacked the financial clout to defend against talc lawsuits.

(Reporting by Tina Bellon; Editing by Anthony Lin and Bill Berkrot)

Topics Lawsuits Claims New Jersey Missouri
Britains financial sector will continue to function properly whatever form Brexit takes, a junior minister said on Tuesday, though the head of an industry body said it would back proposals to avert Britain leaving the EU without a withdrawal deal.

Britain is due to leave the European Union next month, but has not yet agreed a divorce settlement with the bloc, creating uncertainty and fears about a potentially disorderly departure.

We are very focused at the Treasury for preparing for any outcome, junior finance minister Robert Jenrick told the annual conference of the Association of British Insurers.

Britain is putting EU law onto its statute books.

This will ensure that whatever the outcome of the exit from the European Union, we have a functioning financial services regime, Jenrick said.

However, Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), described the prospect of a no-deal Brexit as Project Madness.

British Prime Minister Theresa May will on Tuesday propose formally ruling out a no-deal Brexit in an attempt to avoid a rebellion by lawmakers who are threatening to grab control of the divorce process, The Sun newspaper reported.

The CBI would back proposals that would take a no-deal Brexit off the table, Fairbairn told a conference panel.

Businesses want a deal, they know that no deal must be averted.

Several EU states have pledged to put in place laws to help avoid the worst fallout from any hard or no-deal Brexit.

But a regulatory source told Reuters that these laws have yet to be put into effect by EU member states.

Sadly, I am ashamed to say I cannot give you the reassurance that you deserve. It is our duty to put you in a position of greater certainty and that is what we are trying to do, Jenrick said.

The insurance sector is a British success story, contributing 30 billion pounds to the economy annually, but it must continually adapt to keep up with developments such as financial technology, or fintech, he said.

We cannot assume the UK is predestined to remain at the heart of this market for ever, Jenrick said.

Topics Europe Uk Brexit
More than 65,000 power outages have been reported in upstate New York after high winds rattled the region.

Syracuse.com says 5,000 utility workers have been mobilized upstate.

WGRZ in Buffalo said lake-effect snow combined with wind gusting to 60 mph could greatly reduce visibility in some areas on Monday morning.

Hundreds of schools had cancellations or delays.

The wind also caused havoc around metropolitan New York City.

On Sunday, thousands lost power upstate. In Buffalo, two people were hurt by falling light poles.

An 86 mph gust was recorded Sunday on Whiteface Mountain in the Adirondacks. There were gusts of 74 mph at the Niagara Falls airport and 69 mph at the Buffalo airport.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics New York
High winds have been bringing down trees and power lines in western Pennsylvania, leaving tens of thousands of utility customers without power.

The National Weather Service issued a high wind warning covering many areas of the commonwealth into Monday with gusts up to 60 mph or more.

In western Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium and Boyce Park closed early because of the strong winds.

Duquesne Light and West Penn Power both reported tens of thousands of outages in the region amid many reports of downed trees and power lines. Some property damage has been reported.

A Harrison City couple told the Tribune-Review that they had just gotten home from a walk with their 4-month-old baby when a tree fell on their house. No one was injured.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Pennsylvania
This is one of the big misconceptions in the cyber insurance industry that Costello and the team at Evolve MGA are trying to shed some light upon. The firm was set up four-years-ago by brothers Patrick and Michael Costello with one key goal  to provide more value to insurance brokers than anyone else in the cyber insurance market. Costello claims Evolve MGA has the broadest cyber insurance coverage that currently exists, which is supported by a cyber claims team with over 20-years of experience.

We work directly with retail insurance brokers every day and Im confident we can provide more value for those brokers than theyre currently getting from the market, Costello told Insurance Business. Many brokers experience pain points around the cyber insurance application process. A lot of large carriers have very detailed, intense, IT-related questions on their applications. Its not uncommon for these applications to go from five to 10 pages and this deters business owners right off the bat from completing the application, let alone purchasing the cyber policy.

Beyond that, I think education is a huge hurdle across the retail broker marketplace because cyber forms are evolving every few months. Cyber insurance policies today are made up of a hodgepodge of different coverages, like data breach, first-party hacking, systems failure, business interruption, etc. When you have a policy thats made up of multiple different triggers, and you have industries with different cyber exposures based on the services theyre performing, its very easy to see why an insurance broker could get confused as to whats a good cyber policy versus a bad cyber policy.

Evolve MGAs large team of cyber specialist underwriters work directly with retail brokers to educate them around changing cyber exposures, evolutions in coverage, and industry-specific risks. The firm professes tackling cyber risk with a contemporary outlook, helped hugely by the fact that the majority of Evolve MGA employees are tech-savvy millennials. Theyve grown up utilizing technology and exploring how digital systems work, which means they have great insight into the different risk factors companies face when they rely on technology to run their businesses, Costello explained.

Since 2015, Evolve MGA has been able to double its book of business on an annual basis. The firm currently has eight offices across the US, and its looking to maintain its rapid growth with new employees and more premium.

We fully understand were in the relationship business, said Costello. When it comes to cyber, insureds need experienced claims teams and coverage that will react in the event of legitimate claims. At Evolve MGA, our entire goal is to provide more value to the brokers we work with than anyone else. That means we need to be available at the drop of a hat to help them understand the risk, pick apart an issue theyre dealing with, and comprehend a complex coverage form that theyre not used to dealing with.

Unfortunately, a lot of cyber forms in the market include drawbacks and caveats, especially when it comes to first-party coverage. For example, a lot of carriers include warranty statements that require the insured to carry out duel factor authentication before carrying out a wire transfer. If the insured fails to do that on the specific instance that results in a wire transfer fraud claim, the carrier has the ability to deny that claim. A lot of carriers in the marketplace say they offer good coverage and cybersecurity services, but they will deny claims based on those warranty statements. In contrast, were looking to offer high-quality coverage that insureds can rely on.
Its fair to say that schools are underfunded here and across Maryland. The Maryland State Education Association (MSEA) is on record that state schools are underfunded by $2.9 billion annually. That money would bring teacher pay in line with other professionals  teachers are paid around 85 percent of what people with comparable educational and job experience in non-teaching professions earn. It would bring greater security to students and staff  you might have seen news about a non-fatal shooting of a teachers aide in a Baltimore school just two weeks ago. Schools could be modernized  how many school days were lost last year because classrooms were too hot? Most importantly, our children would receive education that would restore Marylands status as the best educational system in the country.
Visitors to the forum were surprised to hear from Mr Shorten, who was in the area to inspect the clean-up efforts and was positive about Townsvilles capacity to recover, Fuller said.

More than 150 policyholders took part in the event to speak with representatives from Suncorp, RACQ Insurance, IAG, QBE, Allianz, CommInsure, Youi, and Westpac Insurance about their personal circumstances and claims.

Though the claims process is well advanced for many policyholders, and hundreds of claims have already been finalised, the ICA recognised some claimants had unresolved questions or concerns, Fuller said. The forum allowed householders and small businesses to ask their insurer about the progress of their claim, including assessments and the repair and rebuilding process.

Also attending the forum were local MP Cathy OToole, Senators Anthony Chisholm and Jenny McAlister, and Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill.

ICA said insurers have so far received more than 21,500 claims, with insurance losses estimated at $886 million.

Insurers recognise these catastrophes cause emotional and financial trauma for many in the community and are doing all they can to help policyholders to get back into their homes and businesses quickly, Fuller said.

The second forum will be held on March 25. To register, visit www.disasters.org.au or call 1800 734 621.
We look forward to tapping into Jasons extensive experience and knowledge as we continue to improve and expand our international brokers offering, said Stacey Williams, executive general manager of sales and engagement.

Allison brings extensive executive management experience to his new role, with a sharp focus on national product portfolios across varied markets, customer segments and distribution channels, including brokers, agents and the direct channel.

Prior to the appointment, he was business development manager at IPAR Rehabilitation. He also worked at Suncorp Group from 1998 to 2016, most recently as chief of the workers compensation portfolio and underwriting.
Real-time social media posts from local businesses and organizations across Northern Virginia, powered by Friends2Follow. To add your business to the stream, email cfields@insidenova.com or click on the green button below.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 25)  President Rodrigo Duterte scolded government forces for meddling in the transfer of government powers during the People Power Revolution in 1986.

"Sila, mga elitista, tapos yan sila mag-power power movement. Tapos kayo naman, military pati pulis, sumasali kayo, tapos sabihin nyo, 'o dito kami sa kampong ito.' And you have done that several times. Oh my god, so that ibigay mo doon, kanino mo doon i-turn over ang gobyerno? Doon sa kalaban nya sa pulitika. Better stop it," Duterte said at the first national assembly of the Liga ng mga Barangay Thursday.

[Translation:Those elitists, and then they will do the power power movement. And you, the police and the military, you meddle, and then you say "We side with this camp." And you have done that several times. Oh my god, so that you give the powers there, to whom do you give government powers? To the political opposition. Better stop it.]

The EDSA revolution was touted as a peaceful uprising to end the martial rule of former President Ferdinand Marcos, as people took to the streets to convince government troops to join in the dictator's ouster.

In February 22, 1986, then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, alongside former Armed Forces Chief of Staff Fabian Ver and then Lt. Gen. Fidel Ramos announced their defection from the two-decade long dictatorship of Marcos.

Marcos then stepped down from his post, and was replaced by Cory Aquino from the Liberal Party.

Duterte said if power will only be turned to the political opposition, government forces should no longer meddle in the affairs.

"Kung mag-coup d'etat kayo, mag-mutiny kayo, huwag mong isauli sa pulitiko. Isauli mo sa Pilipino," he said.

[Translation: If you hold a coup d'etat or mutiny, you do not return power to politicians. You return it to Filipinos.]

Duterte is a known ally of the Marcoses, and a critic of the Liberal Party. He has skipped commemoration rites related to the 33rd anniversary of the People Power Revolution for the past three years.

CNN Philippines' Senior Correspondent Ina Andolong contributed to this report.
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There are so many different ways that you can hug a person. Obviously, each type of hug is going to have a little different meaning to it,...
Graphite developer Armadale Capital has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Chinese miner and processor Matrass Group for the offtake of 30,000 tonnes per year of flake graphite from Armadales Mahenge Liandu project in Tanzania.

The unbinding MoU will run for an initial five-year period, and will...
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi speaks during a press conference at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, on Feb. 26, after Indian warplanes violated the Line of Control in the Kashmir region. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi accused India of committing "grave aggression," saying his country had the right to give an appropriate response. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal/IANS photo)
Indian American Sini Mathews is in Dallas County jail on $250,000 bond on two felony charges of child endangerment and child abandonment and negligence in the 2017 death of her adopted daughter, Sherin Mathews. (screen grab of YouTube/VFAA video)
After being the face on British currency, British Indian World War II spy Noor Inayat Khan, will now be confirmed as the first Indian-origin woman to be honoured with a Blue Plaque at her former London home.

The Blue Plaque scheme run by English Heritage honours notable people who lived or worked in particular buildings across London. Khans plaque is set to go up at 4 Taviton Street in Bloomsbury, where she lived as a secret agent during the war.

Reuters

The blue plaque will be a wonderful addition to the area that has a special association with Noor. It will be the first Blue Plaque for a woman of Indian-origin in Britain and is a real honour, said Shrabani Basu, Chair of the Noor Inayat Khan Memorial Trust (NIKMT), who has been campaigning for the plaque since 2006 as the author of Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan.

Khan, the daughter of Indian Sufi saint Hazrat Inayat Khan, was an agent for Britains Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II and was captured and killed by the Nazis in 1944 at just 30 years of age.

As a Sufi, she believed in non-violence and also supported the Indian Independence movement. Khan felt compelled to join the British war effort against fascism.

It is from this house that she left on her final and fatal mission. Noor gave her life in the fight against fascism and her message of peace and tolerance of all religions is even more relevant today,

The Blue Plaque at her home is expected to be installed following building approval within the next few years. The Blue Plaques Panel have agreed that Noor Inayat Khan should be commemorated with a plaque. Once a nomination has been approved, it can take a further two or three years for a plaque to be unveiled, an English Heritage spokesperson said.

Agency: PTI
Walk into a mall, office or an airport and you will be welcomed by tall and tempting vending machines packed with snacks no doctor will recommend for a long, healthy life. If that vending machine were not there, it would not make much of a difference to your life. You wouldnt be in pain or suffer or risk infection. This is privilege.

Now imagine walking into the very same places looking for a sanitary napkin. Nine times out of ten, even if there is a sanitary pad vending machine, you will find it to either be empty or malfunctioning. Now youre bleeding, panicked, risking your health, in pain and uncomfortable. This is necessity.

AFP

However, your privilege is better catered to than your necessity. While an India-based documentary Period. End of Sentence won an Oscar, a large chunk of women in India still do not have access to sanitary napkins. In order to remedy this, several government, non-government organisations and corporates came up with ideas to make feminine hygiene products more easily available to women. One of the most popular was the installation of sanitary pad vending machines.

Sounds quite promising, right?

Well, it was. Until the cameras were gone and these machines slipped into a perpetual coma.

An NGO called Sum Drishti Education Society recently surveyed a few colleges and a school in Delhi to see how many of them actually had fully functioning sanitary pad vending machines. Out of the eight institutions they checked not even one had a vending machine in working condition. They were all either not working at all or malfunctioning (not dispensing pads despite accepting money and/or are not refilled).

Data by Sum Drishti Education Society

Indiatimes visited one of these campuses  Deshbandhu College - only to confirm what they had found. Students from the final year  those who had been in the college for at least three years  had not seen the bigger vending machine (supposedly installed by ONGC) work even once. One of the machines that have been put in place by Delhi university was in working condition but even that was not refilled. Someone in the administration department said that the complaint about the bigger machine that was not working was forwarded to ONGC a month ago.

Sanitary pad vending machine in Deshbandhu College, New Delhi

According to their findings, apart from colleges, vending machines in high-end places like Select City Walk, Ambience Mall Vasant Kunj and the Delhi Airport are also not in working condition.

Data by Sum Drishti Education Society

And to think this is the condition in urban areas where the awareness and education level is relatively better than rural areas.

Even if the machines are working they are not refilled because there is no proper mechanism to do so and ensure that the machines are stocked regularly.

How is it that vending machines for snacks are fully stocked and the same is not being done for sanitary pads vending machines? The problem is that there is no proper mechanism in place to ensure that pads are available and are refilled from time to time, says Dr Siya Seth, CEO, Sum Dhrishti.

Whats even more disappointing is that most of these machines  if they work  only accept Rs 5 coins in order to dispense pads. So, while you can use net banking, debit card, credit card, Paytm, BHIM and a dozen other modes of payment to buy a bag of chips, you can only and only use a Rs 5 coin to get a pad from these machines. Why is there no alternate mode of payment available?

AFP

At the end of the day, if a woman urgently needs a sanitary pad, she has to resort to borrowing or rushing to the nearest pharmacy (if at all there is one), while she bleeds.

So, who is responsible for all of this? Is it okay for corporates to install these machines as CSR activities and forget all about them? Who is responsible for making sure that the machines working and refilled from time to time? And above all, is there any accountability for any of this, whatsoever?
The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Tuesday morning hit training camps of the Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) terror group in Pakistan and ever since the attack, Twitter has been abuzz with memes and jokes.

Netizens are specifically mocking Pakistan Defence tweet where they said, 'Sleep Tight because PAF is awake' and irony being in less than four hours, the air strikes took place.

Soon after the Tweet went viral, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah wrote "This one will be filed under "tweets we wish we hadn't put out but can't delete now". Don't worry we all have them just not on this scale perhaps."

The IAF attack comes just 12 days after a Jaish-e-Muhammed suicide bomber Adil Ahmed Dar rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a bus ferrying CRPF jawans in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

Here are some of the funniest memes mocking Pakistan:

#1

#2

Awake like this.? pic.twitter.com/CqKNhY0PBd  Shubham Singh Rathour (@Shubham_singh96) 26 February 2019

#3

Pak Defence is planning to retaliate ! pic.twitter.com/VUzSdqnlIw  Anurag Singh (@anurag13may) 26 February 2019

#4

#5

#6

Challenge accepted pic.twitter.com/tL8PiFekmF           (@theesmaarkhan) 26 February 2019

#7

#8
In a heartwarming gesture, a baraat halted just as the funeral procession of a Pulwama Martyr passed by.

Harsh Goenka shared the photo on Twitter with the caption, "Meeruts bridegroom dismounts his horse and the baraat stops to salute the funeral procession of Martyr Ajay Kumar. We too salute our martyrs. We will not let their sacrifice go waste."

Meeruts bridegroom dismounts his horse and the baraat stops to salute the funeral procession of Martyr Ajay Kumar. We too salute our martyrs. We will not let their sacrifice go waste.#PulwamaRevenge #surgicalstrike2 pic.twitter.com/RaqHhVuFvs  Harsh Goenka (@hvgoenka) 26 February 2019

On seeing the funeral procession, he stopped the baraat, dismounted the horse and along with his sister, saluted the martyr.

Though we don't know them

Still we owe them

Sound sleep

Impregnable India...

Solemnization in wait

Saluting Martyrs Fate  Mansha Valecha (@Mansha7998) 26 February 2019

Proud Indian....thanks for setting up an example..  NPXS_Moon_ Token (@Pundix_Moon) 26 February 2019

55 Rashtriya Rifles personnel were martyred in a gun battle with terrorists in Pulwama. The forces were conducting searches when the militants open fired, triggering off a gun battle.

The slain soldiers were Major V S Dhondial, Havaldar Sheo Ram and Sepoys Hari Singh and Ajay Kumar.

PTI quoted the Mother of Sepoy Ajay Kumar as saying, "Pakistan has killed so many sons; Pakistan is not that big that India cannot destroy it. India can destroy it in one day. I am proud of my son, he sacrificed his life for the country."

The top Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) commander Abdul Rasheed Ghazi alias Kamran, was gunned down in the 12-hour-long encounter.
12 days after the Pulwama attack, India is believed to have carried out air strikes inside Pakistan early on Tuesday and targetted terror camps in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

"Indian aircraft intruded from Muzaffarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said in a tweet.

Emotions are running high on social media with IAF's attack on the terrorists:

#1

#2

#3

Love you PM @narendramodi 12 mirages deep inside Pakistan ,drop 1000 kg bombs destroying terrorists camp 

Salute Indian Air Force 

Jai hind....56'Inch...

"Na bhulaga -na maaf karega"#Surgicalstrike2@IAF_MCC pic.twitter.com/hRxd4GhyQj  Madhulika kak  (@madskak) 26 February 2019

#4

This the reply of a fearless and mastermind prime minister #NarendraModi ji to Pakistan.

We are proud of our AIF.

What a great reply for #terrorism.  rajat mishra (@rajatmi71170470) February 26, 2019

#5

#6

At 3.30 hours on 26th February, a group of 12 Mirage 2000 Indian Air Force Fighter jets struck JeM Terror camps across the Line of Control through PoK (Muzaffarabad) into Pakistan's Balakot area and completely destroyed it by dropping 1000 kgs bomb. Well done#Surgicalstrike2 pic.twitter.com/h6cMfFyEGu  Allu Srikanth (@srikanth6670) 26 February 2019

#7

Proud of our #IndianAirForce fighters for destroying terror camps.     ! Quiet no more! #IndiaStrikesBack  Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) 26 February 2019

#8

@IAF_MCC

Congratulations for a successful Air strike operation , we are proud of our air force

Congratulations to all the brave officers involved in the operation

         1-2    #IndiaStrikesBack #indianairforce  Prateek (@Prateek97396879) 26 February 2019

#9

When you slap us, we will no longer turn the other cheek. Instead, we will grab you by the collar and beat the shit out of you so you never think of doing it again. #IndiaStrikesBack  Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) 26 February 2019

#10

Indian Air Force reportedly dropped 1,000 kg bombs on Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps across the Line of Control (LoC) in Muzaffarabad sector.

"Credible intelligence was received that Jaish-e-Mohammed was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country & fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose."

Vijay Gokhale: Credible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country. A pre-emptive strike became important. India struck the biggest camp of JeM in Balakot. pic.twitter.com/PCgCt1xVL8  ANI (@ANI) 26 February 2019
The Ambani's wedding procession is back again, with another bang. After Isha Ambani's star-studded wedding, the family is gearing up for the next big one - Akash and Shloka's wedding.

Reports suggest that vocalist Adam Levine, keyboardists Jesse Carmichael and PJ Morton, bassist Mickey Madden and guitarist James Valentine, might take the stage at Akash Ambani and Shloka Mehtas Sangeet on March 8.

The Bollywood brigade has arrived at St Moritz in Switzerland to ring in the pre-wedding celebrations.

'Since Shloka and Akash are both fans of Maroon 5, the family thought it fitting to have them perform for the couple at the sangeet that will be held on March 8. While Akash's favourite track is Sugar in which the band is seen gatecrashing weddings, Shloka loves Move Like Jagger,' sources have been quoted as saying.

They are expected to perform hits like She Will Be Loved, Makes Me Wonder and One More Night, and their performance will last around 40 minutes. The team of sound designers that frequently works with Maroon 5 is coming down from Canada to check on the arrangements.

A source also revealed that Maroon 5 is known to charge anywhere between $1 mn and $1.5 mn for private shows, so it will be an expensive affair. Akash and Shloka will tie the knot on March 9, 2019, in Mumbai.
Though the MWC 2019 in Barcelona wrapped up over this weekend, Oppo had a fancy new release of its own to present. The smartphone company teased a new camera setup they have along with images it clicked, and they look spectacular.

The triple camera setup they're talking about is expected in a new smartphone they're releasing in a few months. But aside from that, Oppo says each of the lenses have an insane focal length, giving them "10x Lossless Zoom".

Our solution is a triple-lens camera structure, which includes:

48MP Hi-res main camera

120 degree ultra-wide lens

Telephoto lens

With all 3 lenses we can cover broad focal lengths of 16mm-160mm which make up our 10x Lossless Zoom.#GetCloserWithOPPO   OPPO (@oppo) February 23, 2019

A professional camera in your pocket.

This year, were making expressive and exploratory photography even more accessible for smartphone users. #MWC19

 https://t.co/QT80mC6CDv#GetCloserWithOPPO pic.twitter.com/SE5SD2y2Hw  OPPO (@oppo) February 24, 2019

The presentation itself at MWC involved the setup, as well as how Oppo's manufacturers will be fitting these hefty shooters into a tiny smartphone package. Apparently, it'll be with a pop out module and Optical Image Stabilization on at least two of the cameras. But the best thing about the demo was the images the camera clicked. And if they're authentic and undoctored, this device is a thing of beauty.

Another point of the demo was for Oppo to talk about its own 5G efforts, alongside so many other companies at MWC. They brought on a Qualcomm executive to talk up the company's Snapdragon 855 processor (which includes the X50 5G modem everyone is using now) in the upcoming phone and how the technology could massively improve multiplayer online smartphone gaming.

This device doesn't have a name yet, but you can expect it sometime around the second quarter of this year. Until then, keep your eyes peeled.
Now that the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is over, we take a look at all the devices launched during the event. And if there was one theme that took centre stage during the exhibition, it was putting 5G capability into upcoming smartphones.

When Samsung launched its Galaxy S10 and S10+ this time around, there were two additional devices in the lineup. One of those was the S10 5G. This device is the best (and most expensive) of the S10 lineup, with a 6.7-inch (1440x3040) AMOLED display, and four rear cameras instead of the three on the other devices. It packs a Qualcomm SNapdragon 855 processor with 8GB of RAM and 256GB internal storage, that's unfortunately not expandable, and is powered by a massive 4500mAh battery. There's still no price on this device, but you can expect it to cost you over Rs 85,000 at the very least.

The Galaxy Fold was another device from Samsung that completely raised the stakes. It's the company's first foldable smartphone, which can extend out from single-handed mode to become a tablet. It's a 4.6-inch (12:9) display in phone mode, a little narrower than your average screen. But unfolding it makes the external screen fade to black, instead opening up a larger 7.3-inch QXGA+ (4.2:3) tablet-like display inside.

The device packs a Snapdragon 855 processor as well, with 12GB RAM and 512GB internal storage, and is powered by a 4380mAh battery. It features a triple camera in the form of a 16MP ultra-wide lens, a 12MP wide-angle, and a 12MP telephoto lens. The Galaxy Fold will release this April for $1,980, or likely about Rs 1.5 lakh when it comes to India.

The Huawei Mate X is another foldable 5G phone, slightly different than Samsung's though. It instead features an 8-inch (2200x2480) display in tablet mode, which you can fold backward to give you a phone with a 6.6-inch (2480x1148) screen on the front and a 4.6-inch screen on the rear.

Here's another look at the #HuaweiMateX as it folds back from tablet to phone form factor, revealing its back side and the edge which holds all the Leica camera assembly. #MateX #5GPhone #MWC2019 #MWC19 #FoldablePhone pic.twitter.com/QKYO9A7lSQ  Indiatimes (@indiatimes) February 26, 2019

This one instead runs a Kirin 980 processor with 8GB RAM and 512GB internal storage, powered by a 4500mAh battery. Huawei also says we should expect four rear cameras, aside from a fingerprint scanner on the power button. It'll arrive somewhere in mid-2019, starting at about Rs 1,85,000.

This is actually the Korean company's first 5G-capable device. It comes with a 6.4-inch Quad HD+ FullVision OLED display, and packs a Snapdragon 855 processor with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, expandable up to 2TB via microSD card. The V50 ThinQ has a triple rear camera setup with a 12MP primary lens, 12MP telephoto, and 16MP super-wide angle. The front shooter is also a dual camera, with an 8MP standard lens and a 5MP telephoto lens. The device is powered by a 4,000mAh battery.

Apart from being a 5G phone, the LG V50 ThinQ can also be a foldable/dual-screen phone... through this enclosure and second screen sold separately, if you want. Feels like cheating? Well, no one minds if it gets the job done. #MWC2019 #MWC19 #FoldablePhone #LG pic.twitter.com/QBM3uGanEO  Indiatimes (@indiatimes) February 26, 2019

Additionally though, LG has also built a secondary 6.2-inch display for the V50 ThinQ that you can attach to the phone to give you a second screen, kind of like the Nintendo DS. And best of all, it has a new type of unlock tech called Hand ID that scans the layout of veins in your hands to unlock the phone

Xiaomi made a weird decision, leaving 5G capability out of its flagship Mi 9 and instead giving it to a reboot of the Mi Mix 3. It uses the same specs as its forebearer, except with a Snapdragon 855 for 5G. It features 6GB RAM with 64GB/128GB internal storage options, is powered by a 3800mAh battery, and packs a 6.4-inch AMOLED display with a 12MP dual camera. The device, launching in May, will be priced at Rs 48,000.

6. ZTE Axon 10 Pro 5G

This one isn't a particularly innovative device. There's no foldable display or the like but, other than 5G, it does pack a triple rear camera and a fingerprint scanner embedded in the display. It packs a 6.7-inch 1080p display, with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, as well as a 4000mAh battery. Not much else is know about it however.

7. OnePlus prototype

Aside from a Snapdragon 855 processor to give it 5G, OnePlus didn't reveal much about its upcoming new device. The company does boast a maximum speed of 500 Mbps, and seems to be aiming to use that to promote game streaming. We'll just have to wait and see how the final device turns out.

Oppo's 5G device probably isn't foldable either, but they make up elsewhere. The company has teased a triple camera on its upcoming device with "10x lossless zoom", for some truly breathtaking demo photos. Let's hope real-life testing turns out just as nice.
The Cabinet Committee on Security met on Tuesday morning at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence after the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out air strikes in Pakistan. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman were present at the meeting. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other top officials of the prime minister's office and the security apparatus were present at the meeting, official sources said.

Delhi: Meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security underway at 7, LKM pic.twitter.com/sCq0MZSB2u  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

India is believed to have carried out air strikes inside Pakistan early on Tuesday and targeted terror camps, sources said.

The strikes involving several fighter jets of the Indian Air Force successfully destroyed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the sources said.

(With PTI Inputs)
Making a veiled reference to the air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force on terror camps across the LoC, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday sought an apology from the audience at the Rashtrapati Bhawan for being late as he was "busy" with "some other work". He had chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security at his official residence around 10.00 am before rushing to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, where President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2015-2018.

BCCL

The event at the Rashtrapati Bhawan was to begin at 11.00 am, but started a little late.

"First of all, my apologies for being late. The programme started late as I reached here (Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhawan) late. I was busy in some other work and I was late," he said while addressing the gathering.

In a pre-dawn operation, the Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side, 12 days after the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

(With PTI Inputs)
Twelve days after the Pulwama attack, India is believed to have carried out air strikes inside Pakistan early on Tuesday and targeted terror camps in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), sources said. The strikes involving several fighter jets of the Indian Air Force successfully destroyed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the sources told news agency PTI. The extent of the damage inflicted on the ground is not immediately known.

IAF Sources: At 0330 hours on 26th February a group of Mirage 2000 Indian Fighter jets struck a major terrorist camp across the LoC

and completely destroyed it. pic.twitter.com/RlxTJ4e3AF  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

In Islamabad, the Pakistan Army alleged that the Indian Air Force violated the Line of Control (LoC) in Muzafarabad sector. Read More

2. PM Narendra Modi Holds Security Meet Hours After IAF Mirage Jets Bomb JeM Camps In PoK

The Cabinet Committee on Security met on Tuesday morning at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence after the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out air strikes in Pakistan. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman were present at the meeting. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other top officials of the prime minister's office and the security apparatus were present at the meeting, official sources said.

Delhi: Meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security underway at 7, LKM pic.twitter.com/sCq0MZSB2u  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

India is believed to have carried out air strikes inside Pakistan early on Tuesday and targeted terror camps, sources said. Read More

3. How India Reacted To The IAF Air Strike At Terror Camps In Pakistan #IndiaStrikesBack

12 days after the Pulwama attack, India is believed to have carried out air strikes inside Pakistan early on Tuesday and targetted terror camps in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

"Indian aircraft intruded from Muzaffarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot.

#1

Never forget never forgive #Surgicalstrike2 pic.twitter.com/bSlXjatBpH

No casualties or damage," Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said in a tweet.

Emotions are running high on social media with IAF's attack on the terrorists. Read More

4. Indian Army Shares Poem To Up Morale Of Air Force After They Destroyed JeM Terror Camps In PoK

India has carried out an air strike at crack of dawn on February 26 in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK). The strikes involving several fighter jets of the Indian Air Force successfully destroyed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits in Balakot.

'  -

    ,

   

   

 ,    

    ,

-       '#IndianArmy#AlwaysReady pic.twitter.com/bUV1DmeNkL

 ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) February 26, 2019

The strikes were carried out at 03:30 on Tuesday as twelve Mirage 2000 jets bombed major terror camps by shelling 1000 kg bombs, ANI reported. Hours after information regarding the air strikes came out, the Indian Army on its official twitter handle shared a poem that saluted the spirit of Indian Army with the hashtag #Nationfirst and #Alwaysready. Read More

5. Pakistan Defence's Tweet 'Sleep Tight, PAF Is Awake' Hours Before India's Strike Is THE Irony

The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Tuesday morning hit training camps of the Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) terror group in Pakistan and ever since the attack, Twitter has been abuzz with memes and jokes.

pic.twitter.com/IcPTCrX1PK

 Alok Mishra (@iamalokmishra91) 26 February 2019

Netizens are specifically mocking Pakistan Defence tweet where they said, 'Sleep Tight because PAF is awake' and irony being in less than four hours, the air strikes took place. Read More

6. India Adds 1.6 Crore New Voters To The List, Now A Whopping 89.9 Crore People Can Vote In 2019

Lok Sabha polls are just around the corner. As people follow political trends closely and determine which party to side with, there are many first-time voters, mainly the youth which is the most active generation of this century.

Photo: BCCL

Around 89.9 crore voters are eligible to vote in the Lok Sabha elections this year. Out of these, 1.6 crore are first-time voters aged between 18 and 19 years of age. This number is most likely to go up in the coming few months. Read More








The Gujarat police shot down a Pakistani unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on Tuesday near the international border in Kutch district in Gujarat, the police sources said. This came after the news of IAF strikes deep in PoK targeting Jaish-e-Mohammed and other terror camps. The police said the debris of the drone were seen close to Nanghatak village in Abdasa taluka in Kutch.

Indian Army shot down a Pakistani drone last night in Kutch area of Gujarat, bordering Pakistan

Read @ANI story | https://t.co/Ybk6ROaI1I pic.twitter.com/S8bgZ5rCRo  ANI Digital (@ani_digital) February 26, 2019

The sources said that villagers hear a loud sound around 6 am and spotted the debris of the UAV, the sources said.

Such an incident has happened, we are investigating the matter, said an official on the condition of anonymity.

Earlier, the news of IAF striking terror camps in PoK came to the fore. The IAF strike has come after 12 days of Pulwama attack in which over 40 CRPF were martyred in a suicide attack conducted by JeM.

(With PTI inputs)
A statement on live TV debate against India going for war against Pakistan post the Pulwama attack did cost an Odisha professor working in a private university in Bhubneshwar her job.

The professor teaching Development Theory and Practice and Sociology at School of Rural Management of the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Madhumita Ray was asked to quit after she appeared on Kanak News programmed aired on February 18.

She was in the debate with retired Indian Army Colonel Purna Chandra Patnaik and she advocated that India shouldnt go for war against Pakistan post the Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF soldiers were martyred.

On February 20, I was ordered by the management to resign and leave the university within 24 hours. I did so on the next day. Madhumita Ray was quoted by Odisha Sun Times.

The university, however, claimed that people complained against her and called her anti-national.

I was summoned by the disciplinary committee of the university and told people were offended because of the things I had said against the army and against war, and that my views were not popular among the people.

Professor Ray said that she was not warned over it.

As I was a regular employee there and my contract says I can have a notice period of one month when it comes to quitting the job. But I was told that I had to leave within 24 hours and I submitted my resignation letter, she added.

The brave lady again stuck to her words, I feel what I said is right and stand by my words. War is not at all a solution.

(With Odisha Sun Times inputs)
Advertising is one of the topics that will be dealt with by members of the State Judicial Proceedings Committee today. Most of the bills are intended to push back against bias against cannabis that exists in the law, a direct consequence of the bifurcated way state and federal law treats marijuana. Some of those changes may make sense.
Lok Sabha polls are just around the corner. As people follow political trends closely and determine which party to side with, there are many first-time voters, mainly the youth which is the most active generation of this century.

Around 89.9 crore voters are eligible to vote in the Lok Sabha elections this year. Out of these, 1.6 crore are first-time voters aged between 18 and 19 years of age. This number is most likely to go up in the coming few months.

There is an addition of 8.4 crore new voters from the last Lok Sabha polls that were conducted in 2014. At the time of 2014 announcement, there were a total of 81.5 crore voters but the final count increased to 83.4 crore.

Photo: BCCL

Times of India reported that as per the final electoral rolls with reference to January 01, 2019 there are 89.7 crore voters across the country which consists of 46.5 crore men, 43.2 crore women and 33,109 voters belonging to the third gender.

In 2014, 43.7 crore voters were men and 39.7 crore voters were women. While 28,527 voters belonged to the third gender category.

The Election Commission of India in a press release dated February 22, 2019, also said that there was a substantial increase in the number of service voters.

Service Voters are people who are enrolled in the Armed Forces of India, from Assam Rifles, CRPF, BSF, ITBF; GREF in Border Road Organisation; Central Industrial Security Force, are employed under the Government of India, outside a post of India or are member of an Armed Police Force of a State, and serving outside that state.

A total of 16,62,993 service personnel have been enrolled as Service Electors in the country in the final, last part of electoral roll 2019. In 2014 the corresponding figure was 13,27,627.

Almost 1.7% of the total electors are first-time voters aged between 18 and 19. However, this figure is less than the 2.3 crore voters in the same age group in 2014 elections.

Reportedly, Rajasthan has added the highest number of electoral voters which stands at 20.3 lakh followed by 20 Lakh in West Bengal, 16.76 Lakh in Uttar Pradesh and 13.6 lakh and 11.99 lakh in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra respectively.

Photo: BCCL

General election to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh are expected to be announced in the first week of March.

Yesterday, the Delhi Police began invention on a complaint filed by the ECI on fake news about NRIs being allowed to vote online in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

This came after social media, especially WhatsApp was being flooded with messages claiming that the ECI has allowed NRIs holding Indian passport will be allowed to cast their votes online.

Denying the claims making rounds on social media an EC spokesperson said no such facility has been extended to NRIs.
The internet is a horrible place at times and sometimes trolling transcends every boundary of sanity and normalcy. Navjot Singh Sidhu landed himself amidst a big controversy after his comments on Pulwama terror attack. Expressing his opinion, Navjot had earlier said,

For a handful of people, can you blame the entire nation and can you blame an individual? It is a cowardly act and I condemn it firmly. Violence is always condemn-able and those who did it must be punished,.

Sidhus remarks were not just trolled but he was also sacked and replaced from the show. Extending her support to Sidhu, Shilpa Shinde told media,

I am totally against the new phenomenon of banning anyone whose views you dont concur with. Sadly, CINTAA and other industry bodies are equally complicit in this. Everyone has the right to occupation; you cant deny me the right to earn my livelihood. In the same vein, I also bat for the rights of Pakistani artists to work in Bollywood, purely on the basis of talent. I have been a victim of this ban culture, so know whats wrong with it.

These remarks didn't go down too well with people and the actress started getting heavily trolled. The backlash on social media was so severe that she even received rape threats.

Shinde spoke to TOI and commented,

"I don't care at all. You really think I will be scared and keep myself secured in the four walls of my house, No that's not happening.These people will say anything but I don't care about it. I have been facing such online harassment since ages now for anything that I say or do which is not in their favour, so it doesn't bother me anymore. Also, I heard some reports stating that I will be taking legal action against these threats. But it's false news, I don't pay heed and don't want to take any action. Let them say whatever they want to. We talk about safety and look where is the safety for women in our own country?"

It was very recent that she took a decision of entering politics and she joined the Indian National Congress Party.
By Acee Agoyo

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma), a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation , is one of the most experienced legislators (and politicians) but his complaints about a one-page bill aren't earning him many fans on social media.

Cole serves as ranking member of the House Committee on Rules , and as the senior Republican on that panel, he's probably not going to go along with every Democratic initiative. That's clearly the case with H.J.Res.46 , a resolution that rebukes President Donald Trump for declaring a national emergency along the U.S. border with Mexico.

I do not understand the haste with which the majority is pushing this disapproval resolution through," Cole said as the committee took up the measure on Monday evening. "Weve had no time to review the bill and no committee has held a hearing or marked it up.

Democrats, who took control of the U.S. House of Representatives after winning a majority of the seats in the last election, are indeed moving quickly on H.J.Res.46. The measure was introduced on Friday and it's due to clear the chamber later on Tuesday, according to the Majority Leader's calendar

@JenGranholm @Martina Get this - GOP apple Tom Cole says he can't consider the resolution condemning Trump's fake National Emergency because he hasn't had a chance to read it yet. It's 70 words. He's getting paid to read it & it's not that long. He needs to do his job or resign  Ms. J. White Feather (@Storm_Rising) February 26, 2019

But #NativeTwitter wasn't happy with Cole's comments. "Pathetic," is what one one user wrote after the remarks made the rounds on Monday evening.

"It's 70 words," added another , referring to the length of the bill. "He's getting paid to read it & it's not that long. He needs to do his job or resign."

H.J.Res.46 is indeed about 70 words, give or take one, but the most important part is only two words. The measure declares that Trump's emergency declaration of February 15, 2019, is "hereby terminated."

"If Congress lets Trumps emergency declaration stand, this President and future presidents will come back for more," Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), the sponsor of the bill, wrote in a post on Twitter on Monday.

"And if the border wall is a national 'emergency' under this law, how am I supposed to tell a future President that opioid and gun deaths are not?" added Castro, who is among a crowded field of Democrats seeking his party's nomination for president in 2020. "Or climate change?"

If Congress lets Trumps emergency declaration stand, this President and future presidents will come back for more. And if the border wall is a national emergency under this law, how am I supposed to tell a future President that opioid and gun deaths are not? Or climate change?  Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) February 26, 2019

Cole, a former chair of the Republican National Committee and a former Oklahoma state lawmaker, himself has expressed similar concerns about presidential power in a number of interviews with the media . But if he is concerned about #NativeTwitter's reaction, it's not showing.

"I think he is acting well within his authority," Cole said on NPR's Morning Edition on Tuesday as he defended Trump's declaration.

Cole isn't alone in that view. Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma), a citizen of the Cherokee Nation supports Trump's border policies and has refused to shave his beard until Congress votes to fund the disputed wall

"President Trump did what needed to be done in declaring an emergency at our border," Mullin said after the February 15 declaration. "He has my complete and total support."

The other two tribal citizens who serve in Congress -- both of whom are Democrats -- disagree. Rep. Deb Haaland (D-New Mexico) and Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kansas), who are the first Native women elected to the U.S. House oppose Trump's wall and his emergency declaration.

"During my trip to the border ... I saw children separated from their parents whose lives will be forever changed by this trauma," said Haaland, who is a citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna citizen and is a co-sponsor of H.J.Res.46 . " Never did the border feel unsafe , and it is by no means a national emergency."

Davids, who is a citizen of the Ho-Chunk Nation , has not signed onto the disapproval resolution. But in discussing Trump's willingness to "circumvent" the U.S. Constitution with his emergency declaration, she said: " It is dangerous to national security and its dangerous to our democracy."

With the House set to rebuke Trump, attention is turning to the U.S. Senate, which remains in Republican hands. All Democrats and at least two Republicans -- including Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a long-serving member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs -- have indicated they will support the disapproval resolution if it comes up for a vote in their chamber.

Senator Murkowski to reporters just now re: National emergency deceleration: I will be voting yes on the resolution of disapproval.  Alan He (@alanhe) February 26, 2019

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Oyate Today television show debuts on South Dakota Public Broadcasting

By Richie RichardsNative Sun News Today Correspondent

PIERRE  After a year and a half of airing on a local TV station in Rapid City, the Oyate Today show has made its debut on South Dakota Public Broadcasting (PBS).

Oyate Today made its debut on KEVN Black Hills Fox in 2017. The idea of the show came from Tim Giago who used to do a weekly show on KEVN in the 1970s called The First Americans.

Tim and Jackie Giago approached Chris Gross, the station manager, and sold him the idea of doing the show with the caveat that they had to raise the money in order for the show to air. Jackie set out to find sponsors and although it was a tough go in Rapid City she did find enough sponsors to get the show on the air.

Originally filmed at the Dahl Fine Arts building near downtown Rapid City, the show soon moved its production to Prairie Edge with host, Richie Richards, in the fall of 2017.

Oyate Today has been a local hit show in Rapid City and has been featured on KEVN Black Hills Fox for the last year and a half. Over the weekend, the program premiered on South Dakota Public Broadcasting. The producers of the show are Tim and Jackie Giago. Photo courtesy Native Sun News Today

Prairie Edge Owner, Ray Hillenbrand, and General Manager, Dan Tribby, have been very supportive of Oyate Today. The historic building provides a perfect backdrop for a show featuring the traditional storytelling of contemporary leaders in business, literature, arts, and culture. The show continues to be filmed at Prairie Edge and the staff appreciate the filming which takes place there every other Thursday.

The overall mission of Oyate Today has been to tell the positive stories of local leaders. Often times, these leaders work behind the scenes on projects of community interest and wish to remain anonymous in the impact they have on the community. Producers and hosts have worked closely with guests to get them to open up and let down their humble guard; this is done so others can be inspired by their work and can show appreciation for local leadership.

A good example of those working quietly to change the lives of others were the special guests featured on the premiere of Oyate Today on South Dakota Public Broadcasting on Sunday, February 17 at 11 a.m. (MT). Roxanne and Anna Quinn. Roxanne is a volunteer at the Hope Center in Rapid City and Quinn is the former-Executive Director.

These two have been working with the homeless population in Rapid City and have been providing a certain maternal relationship to many who have been utilizing the services of this highly needed facility in Rapid City. Featured on the show was Francis Rencountre, a homeless man who survived many years on the streets and finally found a permanent home in 2018; he was grateful for the support of Andre and Quinn for their support.

Oyate Today will continue to be featured on KEVN Black Hills Fox on Saturday nights at 10 p.m. (MT) in Rapid City and will begin to build a statewide audience on South Dakota Public Broadcasting on Sunday mornings at 11 a.m. (MT).

Contact Native Sun News Today Correspondent Richie Richards at richie4175@gmail.com

Copyright permission Native Sun News Today

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Full speed ahead: Mark Kelly launches Senate bid at Phoenix rally

By Austen BundyCronkite News

PHOENIX  Former astronaut Mark Kellys launch event for his U.S. Senate bid drew several hundred Democratic supporters, a curious Republican and even a candidate for Phoenix mayor Sunday.

Kelly stuck with the space theme, calling his campaign a mission for Arizona.

If we dont get our act together, Arizona is going to have more heat, more drought and less economic development, Kelly said. Were in a fight for the future of our state and our country.

Climate change, common sense gun laws and education, with an emphasis on science, were priorities Kelly set for his policy agenda, calling for cooperation and teamwork.

Mike Rupp, a registered Republican, attended Mark Kellys campaign launch event at the Van Buren in downtown Phoenix. He hopes Kellys vision for the state will Make America Think Again, just as it says on his hat. Photo by Meg Potter / Cronkite News

Arizona resident and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Nils Lofgren kicked off the rally with his rendition of the national anthem, followed by brief introductions by Kelly campaign treasurer and Democratic state Sen. Jamescita Peshlakai, House Minority Whip, former Giffords page Emma McMahon, and Giffords herself.

I think hell do really well with the issue of guns in America, which actually is the national emergency not the border, Kelly supporter Kathy Emershad of Phoenix said. I think the tide is starting to turn.

Mike Rupp, a registered Republican wearing a Make America Think Again hat, said he felt abandoned by his party and attended the rally because he was curious to hear what Kelly had to say about the issues.

I dont really know much of his stance on the issues and thats why Im here, Rupp said. Im excited about the profile I see so far Im optimistic.

In 2012, Mark Kelly registered as a Republican to vote in the Texas GOP primary.



Since then his SuperPAC has spent millions promoting gun control and supporting liberals like Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton



Which Mark Kelly is Arizona going to get? #AZsen #AZpolitics pic.twitter.com/QB9BcCTCBm  The Senate Majority (@NRSC) February 24, 2019

Also on hand to show his support was Phoenix mayoral candidate Daniel Valenzuela who posed for a photo with Kelly and his wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Tucson, after the event.

I have always admired Gabby and Mark for their dedication to service and Arizona, Valenzuela said in a tweet Sunday.

Kelly is running as a Democrat for the seat vacated by the late Sen. John McCain , currently filled by former Arizona representative Martha McSally, who was appointed by Gov. Doug Ducey in December.

However, the National Republican Senate Committee attacked Kelly in a tweet Sunday claiming he was previously a registered Republican in his home state of Texas in 2012. He responded yes to questions Sunday asking whether he was a Democrat.

Kelly has been more interested in resistance than securing our border, proving hes just another obstructionist Democrat, Republican National Committee Spokeswoman Renae Eze said in an email. Arizonans deserve a leader who will take clear stances on issues important to them from day one and fight for their interests  not just another political bystander.

The RNC also encouraged people to use their politically space-themed Snapchat filter during his rally that read, Mark Kellys failure to launch. Arizona, we have a problem.

The filter did not appear to be live during the Phoenix campaign event.

In response to criticism and to close his speech, Kelly used his wifes favorite quote, and his campaign slogan, from Rear Admiral David Farragut during the Civil War: Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

Kelly first announced his candidacy in a tweet February 12 and currently has no challengers, as he is the first candidate to declare for the 2020 special election.

Rep Ruben Gallego, D-Phoenix, said in a tweet the same day that he is seriously considering a run and would make a final decision soon. McSally is also expected to run to keep the office, but has not made an official announcement.

This story originally appeared on Cronkite News and is published via a Creative Commons license . Cronkite News is produced by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University

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This morning news channels were was flooded with reports of India conducting it's second surgical strike at three terrorist launch pads in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The attack was carried out at around 3:30 am.

While social media platforms were buzzing with the news, there was no official confirmation on the same. But, now, our Foreign Secretary, Vijay Gokhale has released an official statement.

In his statement, he said, "Credible intelligence was received that Jaish-e-Mohammed was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country & fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose."



"Credible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country. A pre-emptive strike became important. India struck the biggest camp of JeM in Balakot."

He further added, "India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all measures to fight the menace of terrorism. This non-military pre-emptive action was targeted specifically at JeM camp. The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties."

Revealing details of the terrorist camps, he said that the camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother-in-law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar.



This surgical strike 2.0 was carried out by the Indian Air force after the Pulwama attack where one suicide bomber rammed his car into the truck carrying the CRPF personnel in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir.

Trends like #JaiHind #IndiaStrikesBack #SurgicalStrike2 are trending on all social media platforms.

We salute the brave hearts of the Indian Air Force.
A string of Bollywood celebrities like Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt, Sonakshi Sinha and Suniel Shetty took to social media to salute pilots of the Indian Air Force (IAF) following reports that they crossed the Line of Control (LoC) with their fighter jets and returned after dropping a payload in Pakistan.

Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan claimed that the IAF fighter jets dropped the payload near Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and returned in haste after the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) scrambled its war planes. Here's what the celebrities have tweeted: Akshay Kumar: "Proud of our #IndianAirForce fighters for destroying terror camps. ! Quiet no more! #IndiaStrikesBack"

Abhishek Bachchan:

Ajay Devgn: "Mess with the best, die like the rest. Salute Indian Air Force."

Sanjay Dutt: Salute to the Indian Air Force for their indomitable spirit in keeping our country safe! Let us all pray for their safety. Jai Hind.





Sonakshi Sinha: Jai Hind!

Suniel Shetty: Jai Hind!

Ekta Kapoor: Yay! May the force be with the INDIAN FORCES !

Rahul Dholakia: You are fighting to protect and save us by destroying and finishing terror camps - Thank You IAF. Jai Hind.

Rannvijay Singha: Experts say this attack by IAF to destroy the terror camps across the POK are of high degree of precision and very strategically planned and were successfully executed. Indian Air Force.

Sonu Sood: Jai Hind.

Madhur Bhandarkar: Salute to the daredevil IAF pilots who braved to strike in the heart of our enemy. It's time for all Indians to stand united as one.

Aftab Shivdasani: So proud of the Indian Air Force for the precise and befitting reply to reach the perpetrators a lesson. This is a new age India. Jai Hind.

Vivek Oberoi: Jai Hind.

Tusshar Kapoor: India strikes back. Jai Hind

Jackky Bhagnani: A great sight and a great thought. Here stands the National War Memorial to pay a tribute to all the brave hearts. Jai Hind!

Parvin Dabas: Jai Hind... fully support the direct annihilation of terrorist camps, you can run but you can't hide.
Investigators remove bags from a crime scene at the Robert Morris Apartments in Morrisville, Pennsylvania (Matt Rourke/AP)

Police found a woman and her teenage daughter in an apartment with the bodies of five relatives they had killed, including three children, authorities in the US state of Pennsylvania have said.

Shana S. Decree, 45, and Dominique Decree, 19, were charged with five counts of homicide and one count each of conspiracy.

Shana Decree told police that everyone at the apartment  wanted to die and talked about suicide, according to court documents.

Decree claimed one of the victims, Jamilla Campbell, 42, killed two other victims before she herself was killed.

Expand Close Crime scene tape surrounds the Robert Morris Apartments (Matt Rourke/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Crime scene tape surrounds the Robert Morris Apartments (Matt Rourke/AP)

The bodies were found on Monday inside an apartment in suburban Philadelphia after Bucks County child welfare officials showed up unannounced and got no response when they knocked on the door.

A maintenance worker opened the door and found Shana Decree and Dominique Decree in a disoriented state, according to court documents.

Police arrived and found all five bodies in a bedroom.

The apartment was in disarray, according to Police Chief George McClay, with broken drywall and broken glass, overturned furniture, and other clutter.

Shana Decree was arraigned early on Tuesday, while her daughter was expected to make her initial court appearance later in the day.

The victims included Shana Decrees children NaaIrah Smith, 25, and Damon Decree Jr, 13, both of Morrisville; as well as Shana Decrees sister Jamilla Campbell, of Trenton, New Jersey, and Campbells nine-year-old twin daughters Imani and Erika Allen. Authorities did not reveal how they died.

We wanted to come out here at this point and make sure that everybody knew that the people that committed these atrocious acts are now in custody and will be made to pay for their crimesMatthew Weintraub, district attorney

Bucks County district attorney Matthew Weintraub said that authorities were looking for Campbells 17-year-old son Joshua.

He stressed the teenager is not a suspect, adding authorities just want to ensure his safety.

We wanted to come out here at this point and make sure that everybody knew that the people that committed these atrocious acts are now in custody and will be made to pay for their crimes, Mr Weintraub said at the scene late on Monday.

The bodies were found about 4pm on Monday after police went to check on the welfare of residents at the unit in the Robert Morris Apartments in Morrisville, along the border with New Jersey about 30 miles north east of Philadelphia.

The three-storey, red-brick complex is on a busy road lined with car repair shops, a safe-and-lock shop and a bail bonds agency nearby.

Police later said Joshua had been found and was staying with friends in New Jersey.
Baker lives in Towson and Pristoop lived on the Eastern Shore (if memory serves correctly). Personally I would prefer our highest paid city employee to also live in our city and hear the evening serenade of sirens, shop in our grocery stores, walk their dog in our neighborhoods at night, eat in our restaurants, walk home from bars at night, listen to their kids experiences at our schools, etc so they see exactly where hotspots are through their interaction as a community citizen  the good and the bad so they can effectively lead our police department.
The painful news of Cardinal George Pells conviction for molesting choirboys in Australia has shocked many people, a Vatican spokesman has said.

However, Alessandro Gisotti said the prelate has reiterated his innocence and has the right to defend himself until the last level of justice.

Acting Holy See spokesman Mr Gisotti read a statement to reporters at the Vatican but did not take questions.

Expand Close St Peters Square in Rome looking towards the Vatican (Phil Noble/PA) / Facebook

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He said Pope Francis has confirmed precautionary measures already taken against Pell.

These include a ban on his saying Mass in public and as is the rule, contact in any way or form with minors.

The court verdict represented painful news that, we are well aware, has shocked very many people, not only in Australia, Mr Gisotti said.

As we have affirmed on other occasions, we restate the utmost respect for Australian judiciary authorities, he said.

In the name of this respect, we now await the outcome of the appeals trial, recalling that Cardinal Pell has reiterated his innocence and has the right to defend himself until the final level of Australias justice system, the spokesman said.

While awaiting the definitive judgment, we unite ourselves to the Australian bishops in praying for all the victims of abuse, reiterating our commitment to do everything possible so that the church is a safe home for all, especially for children and the most vulnerable, Mr Gisotti said.
A choir in the Russian city of St Petersburg has been criticised for performing a satirical song about firing a missile on the United States from a Soviet nuclear submarine.

The video of the Saturday performance by the St Petersburg Concert Choir was published over the weekend but only gained attention on Tuesday.

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The choir promptly turned off the option of comments on its social media page after it was inundated with indignant remarks.

The song, popular in the 1980s, jokes about Soviet troops being willing to fire a missile on the US for three rubles.

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The choir said in a statement that it performs a variety of songs authentic to the time they were written, and that it refuses to rewrite lyrics for the sake of political correctness.

St Isaacs Cathedral, which hosted the concert, said the song was not on the pre-approved programme and was performed as an encore, and that the cathedral does not approve of it.

It would be better to refrain from performing itOfficials at St Isaac's Cathedral

The cathedrals spokesman said although the song is a satirical one it would be better to refrain from performing it.

The song, written by Andrei Kozlovsky in the 1980s as political satire of the arms race between the US and the Soviet Union, goes: Forgive us, America, fair America, but 500 years ago they discovered you for nothing.

The choirs performance happened amid the highly charged rhetoric in Russia following the US decision to withdraw from a key security treaty with Russia.

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In his news programme on Sunday, Dmitry Kiselyov, an influential state media executive, pointed to potential targets of Russian nuclear retaliation.

Mr Kiselyov showed interactive maps that presented calculations of how soon Russian nuclear submarines will be able to strike targets on the east and west coasts of the United States.

Mr Kiselyovs comments, which were unusually bellicose even in the current anti-Western environment in Russia, were in reference to President Vladimir Putins state of the nation address last week.

The Russian leader warned the United States against deploying intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe.
The pound rallied to a four-week high on Tuesday following reports that Britains impending departure from the European Union could be delayed.

Sterling, which has been a barometer of Brexit since the 2016 referendum, rose 0.42% to 1.315 versus the US dollar, reaching its highest level since the end of January.

Against the euro, the pound grew 0.44% to 1.157.

The British currency was buoyed by news that Prime Minister Theresa May could delay Britains March 29 exit from the bloc and is to propose formally ruling out a no-deal Brexit to her Cabinet, according to The Sun.

The move could postpone Brexit by weeks or months if Parliament does not back her deal.

Parliament has been deadlocked over Brexit after MPs rejected Mrs Mays EU withdrawal agreement last month.

The pound was also lifted by news that Labour has shifted its position and is backing a second referendum on Britains membership of the EU in the wake of several MPs quitting the party.

Michael Brown, senior analyst at payments firm Caxton FX, said: The pounds gains are a result of markets beginning to price in an extension to the Article 50 negotiating period, with reports this morning that the Prime Minister is set to discuss the matter with Cabinet before laying a motion in the (House of) Commons this afternoon.

Though a delay is simply pushing back the exit date, and doesnt solve anything itself, markets are taking solace in the fact that such a move would delay a cliff-edge no-deal scenario.

He said a confirmation of the delay would likely strengthen the pound further in the near-term but noted that political headwinds remain, such as a possible second referendum.

Lukman Otunuga, research analyst at currency brokerage FXTM, said Britain risks being trapped in a Brexit limbo by extending Article 50.

While the pound has scope to extend gains on Brexit delay expectations, the medium to longer term outlook remains blurred by a thick cloud of uncertainty.

With the odds of a second referendum also rising after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn made a U-turn to back the move, another question floating in the air is whether there will even be a Brexit, Mr Otunuga added.
Coral grief: The outlook for our reefs is grim as the earth heats up due to global warming. Photo: AP

Evidence for man-made global warming has reached a "gold standard" level of certainty, adding pressure for cuts in greenhouse gases to limit rising temperatures, scientists have reported.

"Humanity cannot afford to ignore such clear signals," the US-led team wrote in the journal 'Nature Climate Change' of satellite measurements of rising temperatures over the past 40 years.

They said confidence that human activities were raising the heat at the Earth's surface had reached a "five-sigma" level, a statistical gauge meaning there is only a one-in-a-million chance the signal would appear if there was no warming.

Such a "gold standard" was applied in 2012, for instance, to confirm the discovery of the Higgs boson subatomic particle, a basic building block of the universe.

Benjamin Santer, lead author of the study at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, said he hoped the findings would win over sceptics and spur action.

"The narrative out there that scientists don't know the cause of climate change is wrong," he said. "We do."

Mainstream scientists say the burning of fossil fuels is causing more floods, droughts, heat waves and rising sea levels.

US President Donald Trump has often cast doubt on global warming and plans to pull out of the 197-nation Paris Climate Agreement which seeks to end the fossil fuel era this century by shifting to cleaner energies such as wind and solar power.

Sixty-two percent of Americans polled in 2018 believed climate change has a human cause, up from 47pc in 2013, according to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

Yesterday's findings - from research conducted out by scientists in the United States, Canada and Scotland - said evidence for global warming had reached the five sigma level by 2005 in two out of three sets of satellite data which are widely used by researchers and in 2016 in the third.

Separately in 2013, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded it is "extremely likely", or at least 95pc probable, human activities have been the main cause of climate change since the 1950s.

The last four years have been the hottest since records began in the 19th century.
Hard border: Venezuelans wait for aid near the closed boundary with Colombia in the town of Urena. Photo: Getty Images

Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido has called on the international community to consider "all options" to resolve the deepening political crisis, a dramatic escalation in rhetoric.

His comments seem to echo those from American President Donald Trump's administration hinting at potential US military involvement.

They came after a tumultuous weekend which saw President Nicolas Maduro's forces fire tear gas and buckshot at activists trying to deliver humanitarian aid in violent clashes that left two people dead and 300 injured.

For weeks, the US and regional allies had been amassing emergency food and medical kits on Venezuela's borders in anticipation of carrying out a "humanitarian avalanche" by land and sea to undermine Mr Maduro's rule.

With activists failing to penetrate government blockades and deliver the aid, Mr Guaido announced at the weekend he would escalate his appeal to the international community - beginning with a meeting yesterday in Colombia's capital with US Vice President Mike Pence on the sidelines of an emergency summit of leaders of the so-called Lima Group to discuss Venezuela's crisis.

He said he would urge the international community to keep "all options open" in the fight to restore Venezuela's democracy.

He used identical language to that of Mr Trump, who has repeatedly refused to rule out force and reportedly even secretly pressed aides as early as 2017 about the possibility of a military incursion.

American Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also stepped up the belligerent rhetoric, saying on CNN's 'State of the Union' that Mr Maduro's "days are numbered".

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who visited the border last week and has Mr Trump's ear on policy toward Venezuela, tweeted out pictures of anti-American strongmen including Panama's Manuel Noriega, Libya's Muammar Gaddafi and Romania's Nicolae Ceausescu at the height of their power and subsequent downfall - the not so subtle suggestion being that Mr Maduro himself could suffer a similar fate.

A close Guaido ally, Julio Borges, the exiled leader of congress who is Mr Guaido's ambassador to the Lima Group, was even more explicit in urging a military option.

"We are going to demand an escalation of diplomatic pressure... and the use of force against Nicolas Maduro's dictatorship," he said.

It's a prospect that analysts warn risks fracturing a hard-won coalition of Latin American nations who have come together to put pressure on Mr Maduro's socialist government.

Most Latin American governments, even conservative ones like those in neighbouring Colombia and Brazil, are on the record opposing a military solution.

They would face huge dissent should they back any military action led by the US, whose interventions in the region during the Cold War remain an open wound.

"These governments know they would face a huge tide of internal opinion greatly offended by a US-led invasion for historical and political reasons," said Ivan Briscoe, the Latin America director for the Crisis Group, a think tank based in Belgium.

It also could split what has until now been bipartisan support for the Mr Trump administration's policy toward Venezuela.

Senator Chris Murphy, a senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, over the weekend warned about a "potential trap being set by Trump".

"Cheering humanitarian convoys sounds like the right thing to do, but what if it's not about the aid?

"What if the real agenda is laying a pretext for war?" Mr Murphy said on Twitter.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Uns armoured limousine has arrived in Vietnams capital Hanoi ahead of his second nuclear summit with US president Donald Trump.

Soldiers, police and international journalists milled around the Melia Hotel where Mr Kim was set to stay, and crowds of citizens stood behind barricades hoping to see the North Korean leader.

Earlier in the morning, Mr Kim, dressed in his trademark dark Mao suit, stepped off his armoured train after a long ride that started in Pyongyang and wound through China to a Vietnamese border town.

He shook hands with officials as Vietnamese troops in crisp, white uniforms and black boots stood at attention on a red carpet beneath large North Korean and Vietnamese flags at the Dong Dang railway station on the China-Vietnam border.

A crowd gathered along the road near the station to wave North Korean flags and bouquets of flowers as the North Korean leader stepped into a black limousine that was then surrounded by bodyguards who ran alongside their leader as he left the station.

Mr Trump was flying to Hanoi from Washington.

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Mr Kims arrival comes as Vietnamese officials scramble to finish preparations for a rushed summit that is meant to deal with one of Asias biggest security challenges: North Koreas pursuit of a nuclear programme that stands on the verge of viably threatening any target on the planet.

Although many experts are sceptical Mr Kim will give up the nuclear weapons he likely sees as his best guarantee of continued rule, there was a palpable, carnival-like excitement among many in Hanoi as the final preparations were made for the meeting.

Officials in Hanoi said they only had about 10 days to prepare for the summit  much less than the nearly two months Singapore had before the first Trump-Kim meeting last year  but still vowed to provide airtight security for the two leaders.

Security will be at the maximum level, Vietnamese deputy minister of foreign affairs Le Hoai Trung told reporters.

The ultra-tight security will be appreciated by North Korean authorities, who are extremely vigilant about the safety of Mr Kim, the third member of his family to rule the North with absolute power.

Roads on Tuesday were shut down from the border with China all the way to Hanoi, 106 miles away.

I really hope to catch a glimpse of Kim Jong Un. He is an interesting man. And he rarely travels anywhere so it would be great to see him here, said Nguyen Trong Toan, a retired teacher who was waiting by the side of the street on Mr Kims expected travel route.

There are high expectations for the Hanoi summit after a vague declaration at the first meeting in June in Singapore that disappointed many.

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In a meeting with senior aides in Seoul, South Korean president Moon Jae-in said that the Trump-Kim talks would be a critical opportunity to achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Mr Moon, who met Mr Kim three times last year and has lobbied hard to revive nuclear diplomacy between the US and North Korea, is eager for a breakthrough that would allow him to push ambitious plans for inter-Korean engagement, including lucrative joint economic projects that are held back by US-led sanctions against the North.

If President Trump succeeds in dissolving the worlds last remaining Cold War rivalry, it will become yet another great feat that will be indelibly recorded in world history, Mr Moon said.

Mr Trump, via Twitter, has worked to temper those expectations, predicting before leaving for Hanoi a continuation of the progress made in Singapore but adding a tantalising nod to Denuclearisation?

He also said that Mr Kim knows that without nuclear weapons, his country could fast become one of the great economic powers anywhere in the World.
A team of American journalists led by Univisions Jorge Ramos said they had their camera equipment and phones seized at Venezuelas presidential palace after Nicolas Maduro abruptly ended an interview.

Mr Ramos, one of the most influential Spanish-speaking journalists in the US, told The Associated Press that Mr Maduro cut short the interview after 17 minutes when he was shown video on an iPad shot a day earlier of young Venezuelans eating food scraps out of the back of a rubbish truck.

The Univision team left the Miraflores palace after two hours without having their telephones, footage or four cameras returned, Mr Ramos said.

He said they were informed by intelligence agents that they would be deported on Tuesday, when they were already scheduled to return to their base in Miami.

They stole my work, Mr Ramos said. My job is to ask questions.

.@NicolasMaduro has detained a United States citizen & journalist @Univision anchor @jorgeramosnews & his news crew & seized their equipment because he didnat like the questions he was being asked. https://t.co/MQdbzbvljl  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 26, 2019

Venezuelas government denied Mr Ramos account.

They accused him of trying to stage an international incident after a senior State Department official and Senator Marco Rubio relayed reports on social media of what they called Mr Ramoss detention at the same time an interview shot earlier in the day with US network ABC was being aired.

Hundreds of journalists have passed through Miraflores and received the same decent treatment we give all those doing journalistic work, Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez said on Twitter.

My job is to ask questionsJorge Ramos

Mr Ramos, who interviewed Mr Maduros mentor, Hugo Chavez, three times, said Mr Maduro accused him of siding with the governments opponents in the political fight for power now raging in Venezuela.

More than 50 governments around the world have recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuelas rightful leader after Mr Maduro was sworn in for a second term last month following what the critics say was an illegitimate election.

Mr Ramos has previously angered one of Mr Maduros strongest critics: US president Donald Trump, who famously had the journalist removed from a news conference on the campaign trail in 2015 when he asked about his anti-immigrant views toward Mexicans.
A German hospital has put better pay, weather and food at the heart of its recruitment pitch to Polish nurses working in the NHS as Brexit looms.

A shorter trip home is also part of the charm offensive targeting nurses working in Britain, who are among European workers worried about what will happen to their work permits and right of residence if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union on March 29.

The university hospital of Dusseldorf put out the ads in two Polish weekly papers in Britain late last month.

It is more than a friendly Brexit lifeline extended to citizens of a neighbouring country: the hospital is in dire need of nursing staff and is hoping to fill that shortage with experienced professionals whose time in Britain may be running out.

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We have already received first inquiries, Torsten Rantzsch, the director of nursing at the hospital in western Germany, said.

He said the ads were deliberately written in a tongue-in-cheek style, but that we also wanted to offer an alternative to Polish colleagues, namely the security of an EU country.

Tens of thousands of European Union citizens currently living and working in Britain are concerned about what will happen to their status when the UK leaves the 27-country bloc.

With just a month to go before Brexit day, there has been no clarity on their future status and that uncertainty is worsened by the prospect of a no-deal Brexit.

Since Poland joined the EU in 2004, 20,000 of the countrys 280,000 nurses have left their home country for Britain and elsewhere in Western Europe.

The advertisement features Dusseldorfs pretty skyline with the citys landmark TV tower in front of blue skies and the Rhine River in the foreground, with the pitch written in both Polish and German.

The hospital decided to focus its campaign specifically on Poles, because many learn German in school and would be able to fit in quickly, Mr Rantzsch said.

We deliberately kept the advertisement in German  because we wanted to address German-speaking nursing staff, said Mr Rantzsch, adding that the Dusseldorf university hospital needs to hire 100 additional nurses.

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Overall there is a shortage of 70,000 nursing staff in German hospitals.

The hospital has already had good luck turning abroad to fill its shortage of skilled nurses.

In 2012, Dusseldorfs university hospital, and many other hospitals across Germany, started looking for nurses in Spain and other European countries with higher unemployment or lower wages at the time, like Italy, Hungary and Romania.
The most senior Catholic cleric ever charged with child sex abuse has been convicted in Australia of molesting two choirboys moments after celebrating Mass.

Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis top financial adviser and the Vaticans economy minister, bowed his head but then regained his composure as the 12-member jury delivered unanimous verdicts in the Victoria state County Court on December 11 after more than two days of deliberation.

The court had until Tuesday forbidden publication of any details about the trial.

Pell faces a potential maximum 50-year prison term after a sentencing hearing that begins on Wednesday. He lodged an appeal last week against the convictions.

The convictions were confirmed days after Francis concluded his extraordinary summit of Catholic leaders summoned to Rome for a tutorial on preventing clergy sexual abuse and protecting children from predator priests.

The jury convicted Pell of abusing two 13-year-old boys whom he had caught drinking sacramental wine in a rear room of a Melbourne cathedral in late 1996, as hundreds of worshippers were streaming out of Sunday services.

Pell, now 77 but 55 at the time, had just been named the most senior Catholic in Australias second-largest city, Melbourne.

The jury also found Pell guilty of indecently assaulting one of the boys in a corridor more than a month later.

Pell had maintained his innocence throughout, describing the accusations as vile and disgusting conduct that went against everything he believed in.

His lawyer had told the jury that only a mad man would take the risk of abusing boys in such a public place.

Both he and Chief Judge Peter Kidd urged the jury of eight men and four women not to punish Pell for all the failings of the Catholic Church.

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You must not scapegoat Cardinal Pell, Mr Kidd told the jury.

Along with Ireland and the US, Australia has been devastated by the impact of the clerical abuse scandal, with a Royal Commission inquiry finding that 4,444 people reported they had been abused at more than 1,000 Catholic institutions across Australia between 1980 and 2015.

Pell, who walked to and from court throughout his month-long trial with a crutch under his right arm, was released on bail to undergo surgical knee replacements in Sydney on December 14.

Prosecutor Mark Gibson did not oppose bail, saying the surgery would be more easily managed outside the prison system.

Mr Kidd warned that the continuing bail was not a sign that the 77-year-old would avoid a prison sentence.

One victim died of a heroin overdose in 2014 without ever complaining of the abuse, and even denying to his suspicious mother that he had been molested while he was part of the choir.

Neither boy can be identified.

I didnt tell anyone at the time because I didnt want to jeopardise anything. I didnt want to rock the boat with my family, my schooling, my life, the other victim told the jurors.

The victim said after the conviction was revealed that he has experienced shame, loneliness, depression and struggle.

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In his statement, the man said it had taken him years to understand the impact the assault had on his life.

Lawyer Lisa Flynn said the father of the second victim, who died at the age of 31, is planning to sue the church or Pell individually once the appeal is resolved.

Pells lawyer Robert Richter initially wanted details of the trial suppressed until his appeal was heard, but later withdraw the application.

Details of the trial had been suppressed because until Tuesday, Pell had faced a second trial in April on charges that he indecently assaulted two boys aged nine or 10 and 11 or 12 as a young priest in the late 1970s.

Prosecutor Fran Dalziel told the court on Tuesday that those charges had been dropped and asked for the suppression order to be lifted.

Another of Pells lawyers, Paul Galbally, said Pell continued to maintain his innocence.

Although the cardinal originally faced allegations from a number of complainants, all of those complaints and allegations save for the matters that are subject to the appeal have all been either withdrawn or discontinued, Mr Galbally told reporters outside.

Pell pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four counts of wilfully committing an indecent act with or in the presence of a child under 16 in late 1996 and early 1997.

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Pell did not testify at his trial. But the jury saw a video recording of an interview he gave Australian detectives in Rome in 2016 in which he stridently denied the allegations.

The lifting of the gag order comes after Francis charted a new course for the Catholic Church to confront clergy sexual abuse and cover-up.

Opening a first-ever Vatican summit on preventing abuse, Francis warned 190 bishops and religious superiors last week 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 easy to adopt, others requiring new laws.

In October, Francis removed Pell him as a member of his informal cabinet. Pell technically remains prefect of the Vaticans economy ministry, but his five-year term expires this year and is not expected to be renewed.
The court ended the trial under German legal regulations preventing overly long gaps, but said it could be restarted from the beginning if Mr Rehbogen's health improved (stock photo)

A German court has said it is unlikely that the trial of a former Nazi concentration camp guard that collapsed in December over concerns about the defendant's health will resume.

It comes after a doctor found the 95-year-old still unfit to face the court.

The Muenster state court said judges still need to make a final decision and the prosecution can appeal, but it seems unlikely Johann Rehbogen's trial can be restarted.

The trial was broken off in December after Mr Rehbogen, a former SS guard at the Stutthof concentration camp, was taken to hospital for heart and kidney issues, causing several hearings to be cancelled.

The court ended the trial under German legal regulations preventing overly long gaps, but said it could be restarted from the beginning if Mr Rehbogen's health improved.
"As you stay in (Autograph Collection) hotels around the world, each experience is like nothing else," Burke said. "That's what we're trying to do. A lot of what we've done in bringing our branding through is bringing the Naval Academy, which is such a huge part of Annapolis."
Primed: Vladimir Putin said Russia is ready for a Cuban Missile-style crisis if US wanted one

Russian state television has listed US military facilities that Moscow would target in the event of a nuclear strike, and said that a hypersonic missile it is developing would be able to hit them in less than five minutes.

The targets included the Pentagon and the presidential retreat in Camp David.

The report, unusual even by the sometimes bellicose standards of Russian state TV, was broadcast on Sunday evening, days after President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was militarily ready for a "Cuban Missile"-style crisis if the United States wanted one.

With tensions rising over Russian fears the US might deploy intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe as a Cold War-era arms-control treaty unravels, Mr Putin has said Russia would be forced to respond by placing hypersonic nuclear missiles on submarines near US waters.

The US says it has no immediate plans to deploy such missiles in Europe and has dismissed Mr Putin's warnings as disingenuous propaganda. It does not currently have ground-based intermediate-range nuclear missiles that it could place in Europe.

However, its decision to quit the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty over an alleged Russian violation, something Moscow denies, has freed it to start developing and deploying such missiles.

Mr Putin has said Russia does not want a new arms race, but has also dialled up his military rhetoric.

Some analysts have seen his approach as a tactic to try to re-engage the United States in talks about the strategic balance between the two powers, something Moscow has long pushed for with mixed results.

In the Sunday evening broadcast, Dmitry Kiselyov, presenter of Russia's main weekly TV news show 'Vesti Nedeli', showed a map of the United States and identified several targets he said Moscow would want to hit in the event of a nuclear war.

The targets, which Kiselyov described as US presidential or military command centres, also included Fort Ritchie, a military training centre in Maryland closed in 1998, McClellan, a US Air Force base in California closed in 2001, and Jim Creek, a naval communications base in Washington state.

Kiselyov, who is close to the Kremlin, said the "Tsirkon" ('Zircon') hypersonic missile that Russia is developing could hit the targets in less than five minutes if launched from Russian submarines.

Hypersonic flight is generally taken to mean travelling through the atmosphere at more than five times the speed of sound.

"For now, we're not threatening anyone, but if such a deployment takes place, our response will be instant," said Kiselyov, who is one of the main conduits of state television's strongly anti-American tone, once saying Moscow could turn the United States into radioactive ash.

Asked to comment on Kiselyov's report, the Kremlin said yesterday it did not interfere in state TV's editorial policy.

Meanwhile, it was reported Serbia took delivery of four Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets from Belarus yesterday, the defence ministry said, part of an arms purchase that could heighten tensions in the Balkans and increase Moscow's influence in the region.

Serbian Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin said that with the delivery "our air force has never been stronger in decades".
Essex Police confirmed yesterday that prosecutors have no authority to bring charges against David Mesher, who lives in Birmingham, over a racist rant he directed at Delsie Gayle on a Ryanair flight from Barcelona to London in October (stock picture)

A plane passenger who called a 78-year-old an "ugly black b*****d" will not face criminal charges in the UK.

Essex Police confirmed yesterday that prosecutors have no authority to bring charges against David Mesher, who lives in Birmingham, over a racist rant he directed at Delsie Gayle on a Ryanair flight from Barcelona to London in October.

"My mum is disappointed. Although the police have said from day one that the matter could go to Spain because it didn't happen on British soil - waiting for nearly four months to hear that is upsetting," her daughter Carol Gayle told HuffPost UK. She said that the confrontation "still plays on my mum's mind".

The force said: "Following disturbing footage on social media we have completed a thorough investigation into reports a woman was subjected to racial verbal abuse on a stationary plane at Barcelona Airport. The incident took place on Friday, October 19, last year and was reported to us when the victim returned to the UK.

"Although the offence did not happen within the jurisdiction of England or Wales, we conducted a thorough investigation and sought advice from the Crown Prosecution Service. They did not have the jurisdiction to advise on any charging decision. We... are now in contact with the Spanish legal authorities so that they can determine how they wish to proceed."

Footage recorded on the flight showed Mr Mesher calling Ms Gayle an "ugly black b*****d", and shouting "don't talk to me in a foreign language you stupid ugly cow".

In an interview with ITV's Good Morning Britain, Mr Mesher apologised, denied he is racist and put the abuse down to "a fit of temper".
A high pollution alert has been issued by the Mayor of London as the capital struggles with poor air quality.

The alert will be broadcast across 2,500 bus stop and river pier signs, at entrances to all 270 Tube stations, and on roadside message boards on the busiest main roads with instructions to switch engines off when stationary.

It is the 10th time the air quality alert system, which also involves social media and text alerts, has been used since Sadiq Khan became mayor, and the first time the capital has seen a high air pollution alert since July 25, 2018.

High pollution levels have also been recorded for particulate matter in two regions of England: in the East Midlands and the West Midlands, the Environment Department (Defra) UK air quality information service said.

Widespread areas of moderate and locally high air pollution are forecast for Tuesday in much of England, Wales, eastern Northern Ireland and eastern Scotland.

The pollution, caused by a mixture of local emissions and poor air from the continent coupled with light winds, will persist during Wednesday with a risk of localised very high pollution levels in city centres in northern England.

Officials in London said there had been poor air quality since Sunday evening as a result of local emissions which have failed to disperse and particle pollution from Germany and France.

Tuesday is forecast to see continued local emissions and the arrival of air from the near continent that is even more polluted, because it is bringing pollution from a working weekday rather than weekend.

Adults with heart or lung problems, and children with lung problems should reduce strenuous physical exertion, particularly outside, and people with asthma may need to use their inhalers more often in a high air pollution episode.

A spokeswoman for the Mayor of London said: "The high levels of pollution expected over the next few days is evidence of the scale of London's air quality crisis and is exactly why the Mayor is taking hard-hitting measures to clean it up.

"April's launch of the world's first Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in central London is expected to reduce harmful emissions in the zone by around 45pc.

"The Mayor is also cleaning up the capital's bus and taxi fleets, rolling out rapid charging infrastructure and delivering improvements to schools in some of London's most polluted areas."

The spokeswoman said Mr Khan had launched a scrappage scheme for micro-businesses and charities that used polluting vans and minibuses and would bring in a scheme to help lower-income households scrap polluting cars later this year.

The mayor wants the Government to help fund a national scrappage scheme for cities across the UK.
Activist Tommy Robinson has had his official Facebook page and Instagram profile removed because he has posted "in ways that violate our policies around organised hate", according to the social network.

Facebook said Robinson's page had "repeatedly broken these standards, posting material that uses dehumanising language and calls for violence targeted at Muslims".

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, had amassed more than one million followers on Facebook, where he regular posts live videos and appeals for donations.

Robinson said he had not heard of his ban from Facebook, claiming the "corrupt media and the establishment" were trying "to silence any opposition to their globalist plans".

He added: "When putting me in prison and trying to kill me hasn't worked, when then trying to get mainstream documentaries to destroy my name with false allegations, that hasn't worked. Now, the establishment, which has gone for the plan of completely removing me from the public sphere - people will fight against this censorship, people will not like this censorship.

"You're not just censoring me, you're censoring the public's option of listening to what I have to say. This is a complete attack on free speech which is going on across the world."

A spokesman for Momentum, the grassroots movement supportive of Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party, said: "Hate speech isn't free speech and spreading racist lies shouldn't be tolerated on our shared digital platforms."

Emails and tweets from Tommy Robinson were used as evidence in the trial of Darren Osborne, who was convicted of murder for driving a van into worshippers outside two mosques in London, to show his path of "radicalisation" before committing the attack in June 2017.

Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation who has campaigned against grooming gangs in Rochdale from within the Pakistani community, said he welcomed the ban and claimed he had met with Facebook representatives to "discuss the concern of the British Muslim community that Tommy Robinson's continued presence on social media was leading to further radicalisation of his supporters".

"This is not about free speech or silencing criticism or questioning of Islam and Muslims, this is about hate speech and hatred towards one community," Mr Shafiq said, adding that he had contacted Google and YouTube to urge them to take similar action.

YouTube is home to Mr Robinson's last remaining official profile on a mainstream social network, where he has nearly 300,000 subscribers.

He was banned from Twitter in March 2018 and removed from PayPal in November.

The ex-EDL leader's support boomed in 2018 after he was jailed for contempt of court for filming outside the trial of men later convicted of sexual abuse which was the subject of reporting restrictions.

Far-right groups from around the world rallied around Mr Robinson's cause, funding and organising rallies plagued by violence and describing his imprisonment as an issue of free speech.

He was released on procedural grounds in August and his case was referred to the attorney-general for review in October before he was named an adviser to Ukip one month later.

Ukip leader Gerard Batten said Mr Robinson's page was shut down for "BS reasons" and called for his Twitter followers to join the party.

"Simultaneously articles appear in the Guardian & Independent. The left's establishment are closing ranks & counter attacking," he added.
President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are in place ahead of their second summit on Wednesday to address perhaps the worlds biggest security challenge.

Mr Kims pursuit of a nuclear programme that stands on the verge of viably threatening targets around the planet will be central to discussions in Vietnam that will build on last years encounter in Singapore.

Mr Trump arrived late on Tuesday in Air Force One after a long flight that included refuelling stops in the UK and Qatar.

He waved from the stairs of the presidential plane, then shook hands with dignitaries and walked along a red carpet to his motorcade.

Expand Close North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, receives bouquets on his arrival (Minoru Iwasaki/Kyodo/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, receives bouquets on his arrival (Minoru Iwasaki/Kyodo/AP)

Mr Kim arrived in Hanoi earlier and spent the day travelling around the Vietnamese capital in his armoured limousine, his squad of bodyguards in tow as he visited the North Korean Embassy, with hundreds of visiting journalists and thousands of local citizens following in his wake.

He took a train through southern China and then travelled to Hanoi by car from a Vietnamese border town.

The two leaders are slated to meet over two days, first at dinner on Wednesday followed by meetings on Thursday.

They first met last June in Singapore, a summit that was long on historic pageantry but short in any enforceable agreements for North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenal.

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Whatsapp President Donald Trump meets officials on his arrival (Evan Vucci/AP)

Mr Trump has praised Pyongyang for ceasing middle tests and has appeared to ease up on demanding a timeline for disarmament.

Mr Kim is expected to ask for relief from crushing US sanctions.

But before the summit began, Mr Kim took some time to venture out of his locked-down hotel and check out parts of Hanoi, including his nations embassy, where a loud cheer went up as he entered the compound.

Soldiers, police and international journalists thronged the streets outside Hanois Melia Hotel where Mr Kim is staying, and hundreds of eager citizens stood behind barricades hoping to see the North Korean leader.

As Vietnamese, North Korean and US flags fluttered in a cold drizzle, dozens of cameras flashed and some citizens screamed and used their mobile phones to capture Mr Kims rock-star-like arrival.

Expand Close A worker helps arrange American and Vietnamese flags (Andrew Harnik/AP) / Facebook

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I like him, local resident Van Dang Luu, who works at a nearby bank, said of Mr Kim.

He is very young and he is very interesting. And he is very powerful, she said.

Trump is not young, but I think he is very powerful.

Vietnams authoritarian leaders set up a huge security apparatus to welcome Mr Kim, shutting long stretches of road and locking down swaths of the bustling capital city.

Earlier in the morning, Mr Kim, grinning broadly and waving, stepped off his armoured train at the end of a long ride that started in Pyongyang and wound through China to the Vietnamese border.

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Whatsapp North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves from a car (Minh Hoang/AP)

He shook hands with officials as Vietnamese troops in crisp, white uniforms and black boots stood at attention on a red carpet at the Dong Dang railway station on the China-Vietnam border.

Hours ahead of his border crossing, footage from Japanese TV network TBS showed Mr Kim taking a pre-dawn smoke break at a railway station in China, a woman who appeared to be his sister, Kim Yo Jong, holding a crystal ashtray at the ready.

Although many experts are sceptical Mr Kim will give up the nuclear weapons he likely sees as his best guarantee of continued rule, there was a palpable, carnival-like excitement among many in Hanoi as the final preparations were made for the meeting.

There were also huge traffic jams in the already congested streets.

Vietnam is eager to show off its huge economic and development improvements since the destruction of the Vietnam War, but the country also tolerates no dissent and is able to provide the kind of firm hand not allowed by more democratic potential hosts.

Expand Close T-shirts depicting US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (Andrew Harnik/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp T-shirts depicting US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (Andrew Harnik/AP)

I really hope to catch a glimpse of Kim Jong Un. He is an interesting man. And he rarely travels anywhere so it would be great to see him here, said Nguyen Trong Toan, a retired teacher who was waiting by the side of the street on Kims expected travel route.

There are high expectations for the Hanoi summit after a vague declaration at the first meeting in June in Singapore that disappointed many.

Mr Trump, via Twitter, has worked to temper those expectations, predicting before leaving for Hanoi a continuation of the progress made in Singapore but adding a tantalising nod to denuclearisation?

He also said that Mr Kim knows that without nuclear weapons, his country could fast become one of the great economic powers anywhere in the world.

North Korea has spent decades, at great political and economic sacrifice, building its nuclear programme, and there is widespread scepticism among experts that it will give away that programme cheaply.
Pope Francis has confirmed restrictions on Cardinal George Pell, who was found guilty of sexual offences with minors in Australia, obliging him to refrain from public ministry and have no contact with children.

In the Vatican's first response to the conviction, Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti told reporters it was "painful" for many but that the cardinal had proclaimed his innocence and has the right to "defend himself until last level" of judicial process.

Vatican treasurer Cardinal George Pell has been found guilty on five charges of child sexual abuse committed more than two decades ago against 13-year-old boys in Australia - the most senior Catholic cleric to be convicted of child sex offences.

The guilty verdict was made public on Tuesday following the lifting of a court suppression order on Pell's 2018 trial, after a second abuse case against him was dropped by the prosecution.

Expand Close Cardinal George Pell arrives at the County Court in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019. (AP Photo/Andy Brownbill) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Cardinal George Pell arrives at the County Court in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019. (AP Photo/Andy Brownbill)

The downfall of the Vatican's No.3 official brings to the heart of the papal administration a scandal over clerical abuse that has ravaged the Church's credibility in the United States, Chile, Australia and elsewhere over the last three decades.

A jury in the County Court of Victoria in Melbourne found Pell guilty on Dec. 11 last year following a four-week trial.

He was convicted of five sexual offences committed against the 13-year-old choir boys 22 years earlier in the priests' sacristy of St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne, where Pell was archbishop. One of the two victims died in 2014.

Each of the five offences carries a maximum 10 years in jail. Pell's lawyers have filed an appeal against the verdict on three grounds, which if successful could lead to a retrial.

"Cardinal Pell has always maintained his innocence and continues to do so," Pells lawyer, Paul Galbally, said outside the court.

Pell, who remains on bail, left the court on Tuesday without speaking to reporters, who virtually mobbed him as he walked from the courthouse steps to a waiting car.

A child abuse survivor, who identified himself as Michael Advocate, as his real name is suppressed under Australian law, shouted to Pell: "Burn in Hell".

Pell is due to return to court on Wednesday for the start of his sentencing hearing.

Pope Francis ended a conference on sexual abuse on Sunday, calling for an "all out battle" against a crime that should be "erased from the face of the earth".

The Vatican said in December that Francis had removed Pell, 77, from his group of close advisers, without commenting on the trial.

The school that Pell attended as a boy, St Patrick's College in Ballarat, about 120 km (75 miles) from Melbourne, said it would remove his name from a building that had been named in his honour.

It would revoke his status as an inducted "legend" of the school and strike a line through his name on a college honour board listing ordained former students the school said.

"The jury's verdict demonstrates that Cardinal Pell's behaviours have not met the standards we expect of those we honour as role models for the young men we educate," the school's headmaster, John Crowley, said in a statement.

PELL'S SEXUAL ABUSE

Pell, who took indefinite leave in 2016 from his role as economy minister for the Vatican to fight the charges, was not called to the stand in the trial.

Instead, the jury was shown in open court a video recording of an interview Australian police held with Pell in Rome in October 2016, in which he strenuously denied the allegations.

The jury was also shown a video recording of the surviving victim's testimony behind closed doors. The testimony was later outlined in open court by the prosecution.

The man, who was a school boy when abused, described how Pell had exposed himself to the two boys, fondled their genitals and masturbated and forced one boy to perform a sex act on him.

Pell, a burly 1.9 metres (6 foot and 3 inches) tall, sat hunched in the dock at the back of the courtroom throughout his trial. He stared straight ahead when the jury foreman said "guilty" for the first time, then turned away.

As the next four guilty verdicts were delivered, the man described by his own lawyer as the "Darth Vader" of the Catholic Church sat with his head bowed.

"Like many survivors I have experienced shame, loneliness, depression and struggle. Like many survivors it has taken me years to understand the impact upon my life," Pell's victim said on Tuesday in a statement through his solicitor Vivian Waller.

"The process has been stressful and it is not over yet. I need space and time to cope with the ongoing criminal process."

WIDESPREAD ABUSE IN AUSTRALIA

Mark Coleridge, the president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and who attended the Vatican conference, said Pell's conviction "has shocked many across Australia and around the world".

"We pray for all those who have been abused and their loved ones, and we commit ourselves anew to doing everything possible to ensure that the Church is a safe place for all, especially the young and the vulnerable," he said in a statement.

In 2017, Australia ended a five-year government inquiry into child sex abuse in churches and other institutions, amid allegations worldwide that churches had protected paedophile priests by moving them from parish to parish.

The inquiry heard that 7 percent of Catholic priests in Australia between 1950 and 2010 had been accused of child sex crimes, but few were pursued. The Catholic Church has paid A$276 million (US$198 million) in compensation to thousands of child abuse victims since 1980, the inquiry heard in 2017.

It also heard that nearly 1,100 people had filed child sexual assault claims against the Anglican Church over 35 years.

Two of Australias eight states and territories have since introduced laws making it a crime for priests to withhold information about abuse heard in the confessional, while the others have said they are considering their response.

The Catholic church in Australia has said it would oppose such a law.
The outlines for a grand bargain between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are broadly in place. The question in Hanoi, Vietnam, this week is whether the two men can close the deal.

Last June's Singapore summit was criticised by many experts because Mr Trump failed to secure any concrete pledges from Mr Kim to surrender his nuclear weapons, apart from vaguely worded commitment to "work toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula".

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the strongest advocate of the engagement process, argued last month it was time to move from abstract talk to concrete action when Mr Trump meets Mr Kim again. But yesterday, he praised them for travelling "a path no one has taken before".

"President Trump is personally spearheading diplomacy toward North Korea with his bold determination and new diplomatic strategies in order not to repeat past failures," he said in a statement.

"If the upcoming summit produces results, now is the real beginning."

Speaking to CNN, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed hope that the two leaders would take steps to realise what Mr Kim had promised in the last summit.

"He promised he'd denuclearise. We hope he'll make a big step toward that in the week ahead," he said.

His comments echoed those of a senior administration official briefing reporters last week that the United States wants to "move forward with a number of initiatives that could specifically advance each of the four pillars of the Singapore joint statement".

Officials, diplomats and experts say it's not hard to imagine what those initiatives might be.

The opening of liaison offices in each other's capitals would be a step toward transforming relations between the two countries; a declaration that the 1950-53 Korean War is over would be a move toward a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula; while it shouldn't be too hard to make progress on the search for the remains of US servicemen killed in the Korean War.

But it is the third pillar, denuclearisation, where the tough talk has to happen in Hanoi, and where Mr Kim needs to prove he means business.

"There are many things he could do to demonstrate his commitment to denuclearisation," Mr Pompeo said on Sunday. "I don't want to get into the details of what's being proposed, what the offers and counter offers may be, but a real step, a demonstratable, verifiable step, is something that I know President Trump is very focused on achieving."

In Seoul, lawmakers and officials have their eyes on the Yongbyon Nuclear Centre, which is home to North Korea's three nuclear reactors.

It is North Korea's only source of plutonium, and also one - but not the only - source of highly enriched uranium used for making nuclear weapons. Closing it down permanently, in the presence of expert inspectors, would slow down North Korea's ability to produce more nuclear weapons, although it would leave its current nuclear and missile arsenal intact.

In return, North Korea would almost certainly demand sanctions relief. Mr Pompeo said "core economic sanctions" imposed by the UN Security Council have to remain in place until the country completely denuclearises, but that other steps are possible.

"There are other things we could do - exchanges of people, lots of other ways that North Korea is sanctioned today that if we get a substantial step and move forward we could certainly provide an outlet which would demonstrate our commitment to the process as well," Mr Pompeo said.

The United States has imposed a range of unilateral sanctions on North Korea over a range of issues including its nuclear and missile programme, money laundering, support for terrorism and human rights abuses. Suspending some of those sanctions would require the president to certify to Congress that progress has been made in these areas, while others could be unwound by executive order, experts say.

 Washington Post
The law proposed by Del. Vanessa Atterbeary, D-Howard County, doesnt specifically mandate the confiscation of weapons, a concern among opponents during a Monday hearing before the Maryland House of Delegates Judiciary Committee. But it does allow the Department of State Police to create regulations to carry out the law. Violators of the law would be guilty of a misdemeanor and have to pay a $10,000 fine and/or spend up to five years in jail.
Severe winds from a huge storm in Canada created the unusual spectacle of huge blocks of ice tumbling on to the shore.

Footage posted online by Niagara Parks Police in Ontario, Canada showed the mounds of frozen water from Lake Erie being blown on to the street.

Winds at Niagara Falls had been reported to have reached 74mph as the storm hit, and onlookers described the ice being pushed 150ft inland in some areas.

@NiagParksPolice advising that @NiagaraParks Roads Department closing Niagara River Parkway near Mathers Arch. Strong winds blowing ice over the retaining wall from the lake. Drive with caution. Video courtesy @NiagRegPolice Insp. Garvey.... pic.twitter.com/RdXh5HYxfx  Niagara Parks Police (@NiagParksPolice) February 24, 2019

The unusual sight prompted comparisons to Game Of Thrones famous ice wall.

Can the Night King be far behind?  AlisonYXU (@Alison_in_YXU) February 24, 2019

Wind-driven ice has been piling up along the eastern end of Lake Erie and has led officials to urge evacuations in a New York community.

Expand Close A man photographs a massive build up of ice that was pushed onto the shore of Mather Park in Fort Erie, Ont., Monday, February 25, 2019. (Tara Walton/The Canadian Press via AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp A man photographs a massive build up of ice that was pushed onto the shore of Mather Park in Fort Erie, Ont., Monday, February 25, 2019. (Tara Walton/The Canadian Press via AP)

Ice mounds 25 to 30ft (eight to nine metres) high also came ashore further south, piling up on several waterfront properties in suburban Hamburg.

Expand Close Residents were evacuated as the ice began to pile up outside homes in Hamburg. (Tara Walton/The Canadian Press via AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Residents were evacuated as the ice began to pile up outside homes in Hamburg. (Tara Walton/The Canadian Press via AP)

Weve had storms in the past, but nothing like this, resident Dave Schultz told WGRZ. Weve never had the ice pushed up against the walls and right up onto our patios. Its in my patio, the neighbours patio, and the patio after that.
'Speaking on RTE, John Moran refers to people "lucky" enough to own houses in good areas' (stock photo)

One statistic that screams out is that 66pc of people over the age of 65 want to remain in mainstream housing, which seems to mean their own homes.

Why, then, is there a never-ending rant about "age-friendly neighbourhoods", "age-appropriate accommodation", "financial incentives to downsize", "options to right size", "under occupancy" etc etc?

This entirely new vocabulary only concerns 34pc of the older generation at present, since the vast majority have no interest in this kind of subtle eviction.

However, the objective here is to incentivise older people to "right size to appropriately sized units", so those statistics may change. Speaking on RTE, John Moran refers to people "lucky" enough to own houses in good areas.

If those people inherited a nice house, they paid extortionate inheritance tax. If they didn't inherit, they missed holidays, drove old cars and generally slaved for 40 years to pay massive mortgages because that is what they wanted.

Would Mr Moran explain to us all which cohort here he believes was "lucky"?

Margaret Docherty Terenure,

Dublin 6W

Many taxpayers feel that they've already paid enough

The discussion at the moment is on how to convince those of us getting older to downsize so as to free up our "luxury homes" so that others can benefit.

Social housing, by the way, was meant to be for those who primarily couldn't afford their own houses, and not a rite of passage.

There is now a movement or consensus in this country whereby anyone who is in receipt of social welfare, who contributes very little or nothing by way of direct taxes, can obtain social housing.

As a taxpayer who's paid his fair share of taxes and still does, why should I have the burden of looking after others who contribute little, or nothing, to the Exchequer?

There is a sense of entitlement in this country that if we don't work or don't contribute then we should still be entitled to free money, and free or low-rent housing.

While those of us who worked and paid our taxes were hit with reductions in pay by over 20pc under Fempi legislation in 2010 and the introduction of USC and other wage reduction measures to pay for banking, building and political incompetence, there were little or no reductions of welfare benefits.

A Department of Finance document published in 2018 showed that 1.3 million people receive social welfare benefits while more than 600,000 receive child benefit payments for 1.2 million children, approximately.

While we exclude those on State pensions, disability or carers allowances, the cost to the taxpayer is 20bn per annum. It's all too convenient to expect society to pay for someone else's choices, good or bad, and for them to benefit from those choices, while those of us who have scrimped and saved and paid direct taxes and bought our own homes, after clearing our mortgages, did not benefit from these golden handouts.

Christy Galligan, Letterkenny,

Co Donegal

Sociology is crucial in giving students a rounded education

We note that the original decision to make history an optional subject at Junior Cert level is being reviewed.

Geography is not being considered, even though it also became a non-mandatory subject at the same time. Nor are any other subjects, including sociology.

As sociologists engaged in the study of social change over time, we fully understand and support the need for young students to learn about the past, and welcome a debate as to how this might be best achieved.

But we also urge the Government to equally review the role of other non-compulsory humanities and social science subjects on the curriculum, in a more inclusive and balanced way.

It is crucial that students develop a rounded education about the world in which we live.

Sociology, which provides critical skills for the interpretation and understanding of contemporary societies, social, cultural and historical change, social policies and major societal challenges (in areas such as crime, religion, the media, governance, social inequalities, migration, education, gender, work, violence and family life) should be included.

The capacity to understand and interpret the present through sociology, combined with knowledge of the past, is a requisite skill for future leaders and citizens.

We urge the Education Minister to consider the role of sociology on the compulsory curriculum in conjunction with reviewing history, which is just one and not the only subject in the Junior Cert cycle.

Professor Sean O Riain, professor of sociology, Prof Linda Connoll, Prof Jane Gray, Prof Pat O'Connor, Prof Tom Inglis, Prof G Honor Fagan, Prof Sinisa Malesevic, Prof Eoin Devereux
True to form Theresa May continues to cloud every moment of clarity with doubt.

As Ireland, the EU and even some of her own senior ministers are advising that a delay might be the wiser option to avoid the chaos of a forced no-deal scenario, Mrs May was still clinging to the sinking notion of getting a deal by March 29.

At every torturous step along the way, she has adopted the Mark Twain doctrine which holds one should never put off till tomorrow what may be done the day after tomorrow just as well.

But now, as we reach the precipice with no agreement in sight, she suddenly wishes to accelerate and approach March 29 at ramming speed.

She chided Europe by choosing to delay a parliamentary vote on her deal, until March 12.

It was a decision branded by EU Parliament's Brexit chief Guy Verhofstadt as "one of the most reckless" he had ever seen.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was even more incensed, warning the UK was "sleepwalking into a no-deal scenario" and needed to "wake up".

Last night Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, revealed he had discussed an extension to the March 29 deadline with Mrs May in order to "end the speculation".

Inexplicably at this point, with no cohesion, direction or consensus, Mrs May still insists she remains "focused" on leaving the EU at the end of the month.

She even noted a "real determination" from EU leaders in "recent days" to find a "smooth and orderly way [to leave] with a deal".

That "determination" has been there from day one.

Brussels and Dublin were never in any doubt the consequences of a no-deal crash-out could be anything other than disastrous.

So how Mrs May could still be relying on Brussels for deliverance when she has spurned every reasonable offer of assistance, is remarkable.

It is delusional nonsense to suggest in any way that the EU bears responsibility for the turmoil surrounding Brexit.

Most of the obstacles to agreement are within her own party.

They have been exacerbated by her insistence on red lines.

An abject failure of leadership and vision on both sides of the house have brought us to the edge.

The belated but nonetheless welcome decision by Jeremy Corbyn to back a call for a second referendum may also build pressure for a delay.

As Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said last night: "Nobody wants the United Kingdom to crash out of the European Union without a deal.

"That is a lose-lose-lose scenario for everyone."

He said that he believed we will either have a deal or we will have an extension.

Betting on a semblance of purpose or resolve still looks rash given the consternation in the Commons.

But we must hope that his optimism is not misplaced.
It seems the best we can hope for now is to spend months or even years more talking about Brexit.

Apparently that's the "rational" solution at this stage - just a month from the UK's scheduled exit from the European Union after 46 years.

But there's nothing rational about Brexiteers who are determined to get out at whatever cost.

If the economic statistics, ability to travel with ease and persistent peace haven't been enough to convince the hardcore Leavers, then the sensible view of EU Council President Donald Tusk certainly won't.

The Irish backstop remains the key sticking point but the EU's top brass fails to see how UK Prime Minister Theresa May can secure a majority backing for a reworked clause even if they gave her one.

They are not going to. Despite all our scepticism the EU is as heavily invested in the backstop as the Irish Government is.

Watching the key players dash around a massive congress centre in Sharm El-Sheikh over the past few days showed just how sensitive every word uttered on Brexit is.

After May and Tusk met on Sunday, UK officials briefed journalists that "progress" was being made.

By yesterday morning, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was heading into his meeting with the PM in an unusually buoyant mode.

Before even discussing the latest developments with her, he was able to tell Irish reporters of his confidence that the choice facing the UK is now firmly the deal or a delay. He could "sense" it.

Of course, the reality is that Varadkar will have known what actually went on between May and Tusk.

The EU chief told her an extension to Article 50 rather than horrendous self-inflicted wounds is the way forward.

Straight-talker Tusk used a closing press conference, which was supposed to be about EU-Arab relations rather than EU-UK matters, to "end speculation".

"We will face an alternative, chaotic Brexit, or an extension," he said.

Minutes later in a smaller room literally across the corridor, May arrived to give her own take on the situation.

Using classic Theresa May reasoning, she told us: "Any delay is a delay."

She believes the way out of the EU is "within our grasp" and pushing the deadline back from March 29 "isn't addressing the problem".

What she wouldn't admit to is that continuous stalling votes in Parliament and asking the EU for a time limit on the backstop isn't addressing the problem either. It's merely going around in circles.

At the very least an extension might allow the UK to figure out what Brexit means.

However, it also runs the risk of something business can't afford: allowing uncertainty to reign supreme for months.

The sands have shifted though in the past 48 hours and for that much we should probably be grateful.
With apologies to the revered Seamus Mallon, we are finally looking at "Brexit for slow learners".

The fearless SDLP stalwart's comments, on the cusp of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, reflected wistfully on the squandered opportunities of the December 1973 Sunningdale Agreement, and the scandalous loss of life which followed through two decades of murder and mayhem after its failure.

Now, four weeks and three days from "B-day" on March 29, the political elite in the UK are finally having a real debate about leaving their biggest and nearest trading partner after 46 years. It's a national discussion, offering some real economic and political information, which should have been engaged more than two years ago.

Now Labour's notoriously anti-EU leader Jeremy Corbyn has signalled his party would back a second Brexit referendum if parliament rejects its alternative plan for leaving the European Union. Prime Minister Theresa May at least nominally continues to seek changes to her exit deal to help get necessary support from the London parliament.

Labour's decision changes the dynamic. It could damage her hopes of winning support for a revised deal in a vote she has promised by March 12. It might attract MPs set to have backed her agreement to avoid a no-deal Brexit, but who now prefer a second referendum.

Tomorrow is another B-day in Westminster with a complex series of cross-cutting votes being tabled. Labour will push a permanent customs union with the EU and close alignment with the bloc's single market.

But if that fails it will push for another referendum.

Labour has also said it would support a bid by its MP Yvette Cooper empowering parliament to force Mrs May to delay Brexit by seeking an extension to the Article 50 negotiating period.

The timing of all this remains uncertain and it may take a few more weeks to play out.

Mr Corbyn has been under serious pressure for some time to support a second referendum. Last week, eight referendum-supporting MPs quit the Labour Party in large part because of his failure to back another vote.

But UK Labour remains riven on the issue - almost as much as the governing Conservatives. So, we are looking at movement here, but things are far from being resolved.

We may, however, be on the cusp of important and welcome change.

For this writer, reporting Brexit brings as much job satisfaction as trying to lift a broken fried egg from a frying pan as part of the Saturday fry-up. It involves a round-up of what veteran politicians always term "definite maybes".

Today, finally, we get to dial down a few of those "maybes".

We can now say that a crash-out Brexit will not happen on March 29 next. We can also say we have taken a move closer to a second Brexit referendum.

Many Irish people understandably cling to the idea of a second Brexit vote, which would undo the nightmare outcome of that referendum on June 23, 2016.

But let's keep things real here, remembering that such a vote is not guaranteed just yet, nor is its outcome in any way assured.

Face the facts: UK voters, even if they get to vote, could well again say "Leave".

But, on the plus side, a second Brexit vote cannot happen without a longer delay on the EU-UK divorce process. Smart money is on a two-year extension - that of itself would be a big help to Ireland's situation.

It implies that the draft Withdrawal Agreement, agreed by Mrs May and her EU counterparts at a special leaders' summit on November 25, could be put on ice. Negotiations could then proceed on the future EU-UK trading relationship, a process which more optimistic Brussels diplomats suggest could be completed in two more years.

That would defuse the row over the Irish Border backstop, that device which obviates the need for the return of visible controls along that often benighted stretch between Dundalk and Derry. Elements in Brussels suggest the ultimate outcome could amount to allowing "the UK to pretend they are leaving the EU".

But such terms are unhelpful to Ireland's interests because they can in practice cost jobs and livelihoods. Let's just stay with the concept of a "soft Brexit", which would be a very good outcome for Ireland, the UK and the rest of the EU.

Silly-boy triumphalism will not save wage packets. Our nearest neighbour, and a very important trading partner, has long been up in heap about its relationship with the EU. There is only loss - no gain - from any kind of gloating here on the Irish side of the equation.
As the countdown to Brexit begins to look more like a ticking bomb than a ticking clock, it's no surprise that all our attention has been focused on the astonishingly fractious and shambolic state of affairs between the various political leaders.

Yesterday's news that Article 50 could be delayed and the UK may stay within the EU for anything between two months to two years while the technocrats try to come up with something, anything, was undoubtedly good news for this country.

Of course, if we have learned anything during this turbulent and frequently jaw-dropping debacle, it's that we shouldn't count our chickens before they hatch, even though the temptation to look for any sort of solace is understandable.

After all, as the squabbling between the UK political leadership and their European counterparts became increasingly nasty and insults were bandied around with a very non-diplomatic enthusiasm, it's hard to escape the impression Ireland has been like the child of an abusive relationship, warily watching from the corner as mummy and daddy start fighting and throwing the crockery at each other again.

Any pause in this headlong rush into mutually assured destruction between the UK and the EU will be welcomed by all but the zealots - but then again, it was the zealots who insisted on such a precipitous course of action without ever having, or even appearing to care about, a rational exit strategy.

In other times, the main countries in the farrago would have been sending gun boats up and down each other's coast lines, and while we can at least be thankful things won't reach that level, we shouldn't take our eye off the ball when it comes to events across the Atlantic. Gunboat diplomacy is currently the order of the day between the US and Russia and as the sound of rattling sabres in Washington and Moscow becomes ever louder, we're currently at greater risk of violence between the Americans and Russians than at any time since the end of the Cold War.

There had been fears there could be free-fire accidents between their respective forces when they were both operating in Syria, but the lines of communication were kept studiously open and no serious incidents occurred.

On that occasion, neither side wanted to unnecessarily provoke the other.

But even that level of wary understanding has taken a pummelling in recent weeks as Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump remain determined to play a game of chicken in which we will all lose.

On Sunday night, for instance, Russian State TV actually ran a news programme which displayed a map with all the military targets on the mainland USA that the Russians would hit first in the event of a nuclear war.

Even by the rather odd - to our eyes, anyway - standards of Russian news broadcasts, this was a major provocation to the Americans, particularly when factored in with Putin's statement last week that he would "welcome" a new Cuban missile crisis.

Instead of Cuba, however, we can simply replace that name with Venezuela, as this failed state becomes the latest piece of sovereign territory to be greedily eyed-up by both superpowers.

Not as good as his most vociferous supporters claim, and nowhere near as disastrous as his myriad critics would have you believe, Trump's presidency has actually been a reasonable success.

People on either side can cherry pick the bits that suit their own prejudice, but he has, by and large, tried to do what he set out to do. The fact that so many people despise his goals is irrelevant, because there is enough support there for him as it stands - as long as he is seen to do his best to keep his promises.

One of those promises was to stay clear of disastrous foreign interventions.

Mike Pence's threats towards Venezuela at the weekend were alarming. Marco Rubio's decision to troll Maduro by tweeting pictures of dead dictators was simply moronic. But Trump's persistent view that Venezuela could be the latest country to feel the lash of the American whip is a complete betrayal of much of what he stood for.

It shouldn't be forgotten that of the two candidates in that exceedingly weird election in 2016, Hillary Clinton was by far the most hawkish and aggressive of the pair.

Trump was able to turn her interventionist zeal against her and while nobody would ever have described him as a peacenik, he was an isolationist and proud of it - as were his voters.

As ever with this president, there is a personal dimension.

Friendly with many Venezuelan expats who reside in Florida, and much taken with the wife of a Venezuelan dissident who met him last year, there is always the fear that Trump, with the bellicose chorus of Pence and national security adviser John Bolton in his ear, could engage in a course of disastrous action not seen in the region since America and the Soviet Union fought their proxy wars in Central and South America.

Trump's biggest enemy is himself and the fact Clinton also popped up over the weekend to - through an aide - suggest she could run again if the Democrats "go too far to the Left" is a perfect example of the disarray in which the Democrats currently find themselves.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may be the media's current Democrat darling, but she has already frightened the more traditional politicians in her own party who think the best way to beat Trump is to woo back those blue collar voters who turned to the Republicans, rather than pinning all their electoral hopes on winning the coasts and relying on minorities.

The Democrats are currently going through the same crisis of identity which has riven Labour asunder in the UK.

Far-left activists are always vigorous and determined. But while they may be able to wrest control of a party the reality is that nobody - least of all the average American - wants to embrace values based on identity politics and communist theory.

Yet that's the road the Democrats seem to be going down, where many of them no longer even call themselves the "opposition", they are instead the "resistance" - as if Trump was Darth Vader rather than just a politician they don't like.

As we can see, back-of-a-fag-packet plans such as the 'Green New Deal', the new breed of Democrats are great at convincing each other but not so adept at persuading regular voters.

That's another reason for Trump's continued interest in Venezuela - it allows him to shine a mirror up to the socialists in the Democratic Party and claim that this is the level they would drag America down to.

But any intervention would be disastrous, and in the unlikely event that the Democrats can muster a candidate who doesn't frighten the electorate, could well be the hill he dies on.
The era of the 'folding phone' has begun. Dull commuter journeys are to be livened up with new-fangled handsets that fold out to become movie-playing tablets.

At least, that's what the smartphone industry says will happen at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Samsung and Huawei, two of the top three phone makers in the world, have showcased the gadgets, which will go on release in Ireland in the coming weeks.

The phones work using bendable screens. A hinge sits down the middle of an eight-inch tablet, letting it fold neatly in half. When folded, it's a normal phone, albeit a slightly bulky one.

The only hitch at present is the price - more than 2,000 for either Samsung's or Huawei's new toys. There's also the small detail that movies and Netflix shows typically play in a rectangular shape, not a square tablet.

To make up for this, Samsung says you will be able to write your emails and WhatsApp messages on different parts of the phone screen while you watch the movie.

Despite the initial high price, a number of other companies have said they will develop folding tablet-phones with video-hungry consumers in mind.

Mobile World Congress has also witnessed several other new movie-centric phones for the Irish market launched, including Sony's Xperia 1, the first to use a 4K Oled screen.

Sony has yet to announce a price for Xperia 1, although it is expected to be close to 1,000.

The Xperia 10 and 10 Plus handsets, with six-inch and 6.5-inch displays, feature dual cameras on the back of the phone. Sony is trying to position all three phones as "creator" handsets.

'Hyper' camera phones were also launched, with Nokia's re-emergence in the phone world buttressed by a new Android model with five cameras on the rear of the device, all to create extra precision for a single photo.

The dominant theme of this year's conference, which will see more than 100,000 tech, telecoms and media industry executives in attendance, is 5G.

While Irish operators are not expected to have 5G networks up and running for normal consumers before the end of this year, the industry is competing furiously on who will benefit from the technology.

The technology has caused international controversy with the US government pitting itself against Huawei, which is leading the roll-out of 5G networks across Ireland and Europe.

Executives from the Chinese company again denied that there is any security risk from deploying Huawei equipment in "core" mobile networks, arguing that US suspicions of governmental influence from China are unfounded.

A number of senior European countries, including Germany and Britain, look to have rejected the thrust of security fears over deploying the Chinese company's gear in 5G networks.
It remains the biggest case of unsolved mass murder on English soil in the 20th century.

On the night of November 21, 1974, the IRA tore the lives of dozens of families apart and left a community shattered as they bombed two pubs in the centre of Birmingham.

The attacks on the Mulberry Bush and the Tavern in the Town left 21 innocent civilians dead and 182 people injured.

Many were literally blown apart, or burned beyond recognition in the carnage.

Now, as the inquests into the killings open, Julie Hambleton, whose teenage sister Maxine lost her life in the attack, stills clings to her hope for truth, accountability and justice.

But she is furious that families are having to raise money on the streets to meet the full legal bills of the inquest. And she is upset that the perpetrators may never be called to account.

Julie, who has campaigned for the truth to be told for over a decade, finds it galling that the men who carried out the killing, whose names have been well known for some time, were able to kill with impunity.

What kind of a society allows mass murderers to have their liberty?

One of the reputed ringleaders of the bomb attacks, now deceased, has a Sinn Fein party cumann named after him  a fact that might be regarded as an act of callous disrespect to the families of the victims.

In recent days, the former Labour MP and investigative journalist Chris Mullin confirmed the names of two of the bombers in an article in the London Review of Books.

Mullin says James Francis Gavin, an IRA member and former British soldier convicted for other crimes, was one of two men who planted bombs in the Tavern in the Town and the Mulberry Bush. Gavin died in 2002.

Mullin also confirmed the name of Mick Murray, who died in 1999, as one of the two bomb-makers.

Mullin interviewed the IRA man about the killings in the 1980s, but did not reveal his identity at the time.

Sinn Feins Mick Murray cumann in the Clontarf Ward is named after the man held responsible for the worst civilian atrocity on English soil during the Troubles.

One of the effusive tributes to Murray in the partys in-house paper, An Phoblacht, said: Mick dedicated his life to the cause of Irish freedom.

After his death, Larry OToole, a Sinn Fein councillor in Dublin, is reported to have described Murray as a brave freedom fighter and a truly dedicated Irish republican.

But as she prepared for the inquests, Julie Hambleton called on Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald to drop Mick Murrays name from the partys branch out of respect to the families of victims.

Speaking to Review, she said the use of Mick Murrays name for one of the partys branches was tantamount to incitement  It would be like the English opening a building and naming it after Myra Hindley.

Julie says the Birmingham bombers not only caused the deaths of 21 innocent people  and the maiming of many others  they allowed other men, the Birmingham Six, to serve time for a crime they did not commit.

They let the Birmingham Six rot in prison, and still they didnt come forward to admit that they had done it, says Julie Hambleton.

Paddy Joe Hill, Hugh Callaghan, Richard McIlkenny, Gerry Hunter, Billy Power and Johnny Walker were all sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders.

The innocent men were convicted on the basis of forensic evidence linking them with explosives that was later discredited.

The nature of the police investigation and the trial itself fell far short of decent standards of justice. As well as faulty forensic evidence, confessions were apparently forced out of the innocent men who were held by the police.

As Chris Mullin puts it in his account: The suspects who confessed claimed they did so after being beaten and deprived of sleep, having aggressive dogs put in their cells and, in one case, being subjected to a mock execution using blank cartridges.

While the innocent men were jailed for murder, at the same trial Mick Murray sat silently in the courtroom. He was convicted of lesser charges of conspiracy to cause explosions and served 12 years in jail.

An account of the self-confessed IRA member in the Birmingham Mail said he was a 38-year-old labourer and father-of-six who lived in Erdington, an area popular with Irish immigrants.

He was reported to be one of the IRA men who prepared the bombs, and after they were planted, he phoned two warnings from a phone box to local newspapers using IRA code words.

But these warnings were delayed because the first phone he came to had been vandalised.

In the first warning, he reportedly told operator Ian Cropper: There is a bomb planted in the Rotunda and there is a bomb in New Street at the tax office. This is Double X.

The bombs had been placed in bags and reportedly left in the Mulberry Bush pub in the Rotunda building and at the Tavern in the Town, the building that housed the tax office, by James Francis Gavin and another man.

On the visits to both pubs, one man ordered drinks, while another put the bomb in place.

After being notified about the warning, police arrived to clear the 25-storey Rotunda, but the first bomb in the Mulberry Bush went off just six minutes after the initial phone call.

The explosion was reported to have blown a vast crater in the concrete floor, and part of the roof collapsed, trapping victims. Others were hit by flying furniture, and passers-by out on the street were hit by flying glass.

My eardrums are burst

The second bomb exploded in the Tavern in the Town 10 minutes later, with the blast blowing many victims into a brick wall.

A survivor, Steve Cox, described the feeling in an interview with ITV: With a noise like Ive never heard before, Im lifted up and half somersaulting, Im thrown into the wall.

My eardrums are burst, Ive lost all my hair, my eyebrows and lashes are burned off and my sweater has melted to my body.

Among those who died in the Tavern in the Town were two inseparable brothers, Desmond and Eugene Reilly, the sons of Irish immigrants from Donegal.

According to local accounts, their mother Bridget initially believed one son was dead, only to find out that both had been killed by the blast.

Maxine Hambleton, aged just 18, was killed soon after entering the pub and was reported to be standing near the bomb when it exploded. The teenager was studying for her A-Levels, and had recently worked in a vineyard in France to brush up on her language skills. She had gone into the pub to give out invitations to friends for a house-warming party.

Her sister Julie remembers her older sister as a forward-thinking, lovely girl with a hippy style  she made flared jeans for her younger sister.

That night, we knew Maxine was in town but it never entered our heads that she was in the bomb. We saw the ITN newsflash about the explosions.

Julies stepfather broke the news to her and her sister Jane on the following day after she returned from school.

She describes her reaction after hearing that her older sister had died: You go into another universe where everything becomes surreal.

You think you are dreaming. Your world and your mind and your body are outside themselves.

They are all working independently because your body goes into shock  and your life is never the same again.

There was naturally revulsion at the scale of the slaughter and a sense of shame in Ireland.

In an editorial after the bombings, the Irish Independent said the actions of the IRA bombers can make one ashamed to be Irish.

As the editorial put it: The Irish at home and abroad condemn utterly and without qualification any acts of violence, let alone atrocities on the scale of the bombs in Birmingham.

On the day after the bombings, the IRA denied responsibility for the attacks.

But Kieran Conway, who had just been appointed as the IRAs Director of Intelligence, told Review that there was shock among the leadership in the aftermath.

I was outraged at the time as were Daithi O Conaill (a senior IRA commander) and other members of the leadership, he tells Review.

Conway said he was in the building when a debrief took place in the aftermath of the killings, but says he had no knowledge of the bombings in advance.

Although he described the operation as a disgrace, the former IRA spymaster takes a curiously ambivalent attitude to the bomb attacks.

Asked if the IRA was not reckless in placing bombs in pubs, where crowds would be gathering, Conway tells Review: It was accidental and absolutely not intended.

If you were asking was it reckless to plant a bomb when you were informed that a bomb warning would be given, I would say not really, not reckless.

The ex-IRA man and alumnus of Blackrock College said he supported the Nuremberg defence  where the actions of junior ranks could be excused because they were obeying orders.

Citing the example of the death of Jean McConville, the mother murdered by the IRA in 1972, said: If three people take her to a beach and shoot her, they are less reprehensible than the person who ordered it.

Conway, who now practises in Dublin as a lawyer, says he has been asked to attend the inquest through the coroners solicitor.

I am aware that I am wanted in the UK. Unless the authorities give me safe passage there and back, I would not be in a position to travel.

He says he is now scheduled to give evidence by video link on March 21, and he will make his personal apologies to the families.

Julie Hambleton insists she is not interested in apologies from the IRA, but wants to see justice done. She dismisses out of hand the suggestion from Kieran Conway or other ex-IRA men that the Birmingham bombings were in any way accidental.

There is nothing accidental about any bombing, says Julie. If you are going to go and plant bombs in a pub or any other building where you know there are crowds of people then you should know that there are going to be fatalities and injuries.

A five-year-old could work that out  he is talking out of his backside.

On the night of November 21, the self-styled freedom fighters of the IRA not only broke the hearts of ordinary working-class Birmingham families, depriving them of their loved ones, they also made life extremely difficult for the Irish community in the city as they suffered an inevitable backlash.

Maurice Malone, a second generation Irishman who is now chief executive of the Birmingham Irish Association, tells Review: It was not just 21 people who died that night on November 21. The Irish community in Birmingham died.

Irish workers at British Leylands car plant and in other factories were attacked, and Irish businesses were petrol bombed.

Maurice says the community suffered a loss of confidence from that moment and he says the backlash affected his own family directly.

Irish workers assaulted

One day his father, also called Maurice, a worker in the Lotus factory, was able to enjoy banter with his fellow workers, playing dominoes and going out for pints. But that all changed when the bombs went off.

Soon after the bombings, he was verbally abused and assaulted during a tea break, and came home battered and bruised.

On the following Monday, he was told to leave his job for his own safety.

None of this deflected the IRA, which was to continue its campaign of violence for another two decades.

Some of the bombers returned to Ireland, and there has been little in the way of public remorse in the intervening years, or acknowledgement of the scale of the slaughter.

One of the tributes to Mick Murray in An Phoblacht merely mentions in passing how he was captured in Birmingham in November 1974 and that he sat in complete silence throughout his trial, refusing to plead or take part in the proceedings.

Another tribute said: After Mick returned home, not unlike many other comrades, he continued to unselfishly give his support and commitment to the struggle.

In recent years in Birmingham, attempts have been made to heal the scars that have affected the Irish community for two generations. The Birmingham Irish Association was instrumental in supporting the building of an impressive new memorial to the victims, which opened late last year.

Julie Hambleton is grateful for the support received for the victims families, and was particularly moved by the visit of the President Michael D Higgins to the memorial in recent weeks.

He was so kind, respectful and thoughtful, she says.

The bomb attacks were regarded as the darkest day in the history of the city, and Julie Hambleton appreciates the support from the victims of other atrocities in the Troubles  including the Kingsmill Massacre, Bloody Sunday and Ballymurphy.

Their grief is equal to our grief, and we share each others pain.

Birmingham pub bombings: a timeline

November 1974

Powerful explosions take place in two pubs in Birmingham - the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town. The bombings kill 21 people and injure 182. The dead are aged between 17 and 51. It is - at the time - the worst terrorist attack ever to hit Britain.

August 1975

Six men, all originally from Northern Ireland, Patrick (Paddy) Joseph Hill, Hugh Callaghan, Richard McIlkenny, Gerard Hunter, William Power and John Walker, are convicted of 21 counts of murder and each is given a life sentence.

March 1976

The so-called Birmingham Six make their first appeal against their convictions. This is refused by the Court of Appeal.

1985

Granada TV's World in Action documentary series casts serious doubt on the case against the Birmingham Six, as journalist Chris Mullin (below) investigates.

1986

Mullin's book, Error of Judgment: The Truth About the Birmingham Pub Bombings, sets out a detailed case supporting the men's claims that they were innocent. This includes his claim to have met some of those who were actually responsible for the bombings.

January 1987

The British Home Office refers the convictions of the Birmingham Six to the Court of Appeal.

January 1988

The original convictions are ruled to be "safe and satisfactory".

August 1990

The Home Secretary David Waddington (right) again refers the convictions of the Birmingham Six to the Court of Appeal as a result of fresh evidence.

March 1991

The Birmingham Six are freed after serving 16 years in prison. Their case is now regarded as one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history. West Midlands Police begin re-investigating the case but no new arrests are made.

2001

The Birmingham Six receive compensation for their wrongful imprisonment ranging from 840,000 to 1.2m

November 2011

Julie and Brian Hambleton, who lost their 18-year-old sister Maxine in the bombs, set up the group Justice4the21. Their aim is to reopen criminal investigations and secure convictions for the violent death of their family members. They finance their legal expenses through crowdfunding.

April 2014

The West Midlands Police refuses to reopen an inquiry into the case.

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December 2014

A former senior officer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), Kieran Conway (above), admits the group's involvement in the Birmingham pub bombings.

June 2016

Senior Coroner Louise Hunt rules that the inquests should be resumed and highlights two occasions when police were warned of imminent IRA attacks in the city.

July 2017

Coroner decides that the new inquests will not identify any potential suspects. Meanwhile, a self-confessed IRA bomb maker Michael Hayes tells the BBC he was part of the group responsible for the Birmingham pub bombings and issues an apology.

January 2018

After protests from relatives of victims, the High Court rules that the suspects will be named. The coroner appeals.

September 2018

The High Court rules the coroner doesn't have to name the suspects. The inquest is now due to start in February 2019.

November 2018

The Birmingham Irish Association erect a memorial to the victims of the bombs, exactly 44 years after they occurred.

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February 2019

President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina (above) visit the Birmingham bomb memorial site. In a lengthy article on the bombings, Chris Mullin again identifies two of the four men he said were responsible for the crime.
Tired of a reputation as a commuter town in the shadow of Dublin - Drogheda is set to take its fight for city status to Government.

The Drogheda City Status campaign is to stand before an Oireachtas Committee on Wednesday to call for recognition as an Irish city to enable it to step out of the shadows and compete for business.

Brian Hanratty, from the campaign, which has been in the making for 10 years, said: "The Financial Times recently recognised Drogheda as an emerging city, so its time Ireland recognised this.

"We seem to have more acceptance that Drogheda should be a city outside of the country but were determined to change that."

Mr Hanratty said Drogheda and regions to the south in Co Meath and in Co Louth to the north, account for a population of 50,000 "far in excess" of the number of people needed to gain European city status.

"And in the actual town of Drogheda we have around 40,000 people," Mr Hanratty said.

"We dont even have a town clerk and we need a city clerk and city planner because we are growing and rapidly."

Annie McGinley, from the campaign, said: "A lot of attention goes to Dublin and an awful lot to Dundalk. They have PayPal for example and so much investment.

"We arent asking for anything but the tools to invest in ourselves and with city status, we will build and build."

Former Ireland rugby player Shane Monahan, from Mornington, Co Meath, went to school in Drogheda and bases his business, social audio app, Limor, in the town.

The 33-year-old athlete said: "The city plan is a fantastic idea because the statistics back this up, as well as the emotional arguments.

"I went to school in Drogheda, I love it but aside from that, this is the fastest growing town in Ireland and its the biggest town in the country, so we need to have city status."

Shane, whos about to jet off to meetings in Silicon Valley, for his new business, said, hes "tired" of seeing commuters leave Drogheda everyday on the train.

"We have so many workers heading off to Dublin for work. Why not give the town city status, so we can seek direct investment, create more jobs, and keep people living and working in Drogheda as a city - rather than letting them spend four hours a day travelling to Dublin.

"We are 25 minutes to Dublin airport and were on the eastern corridor. We are in the best location for growth, the facilities are fantastic and youre in the countryside in five minutes.

"We need to become a city in our own right."

The campaign group said it has the support of former presidential candidate Gavin Duffy but he was not available for comment last night.

The argument for why Drogheda deserves city status will be heard from 1.30pm on Wednesday at the Joint Committee on Public Petitions who will also consider petitions dealing with nuclear research and UK citizens in Ireland.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's claim that Micheal Martin is "always either wagging the finger or sniping from the sidelines" has sparked a furious backlash from Fianna Fail.

Senior Fianna Fail TDs have accused Mr Varadkar of political arrogance and of being a "walking anticlimax" in his role as Taoiseach.

As speculation continues to mount that the country will go to the polls once Brexit is resolved, Mr Varadkar took aim at Mr Martin for comments he made over the weekend. Mr Martin had claimed remarks by the Fine Gael leader were "childish" and accused him of an attempt to provoke his party.

It came after Mr Varadkar questioned if the Fine Gael-led minority Government would have had Fianna Fail's support if Mr Martin's party was ahead in the polls.

Mr Martin also criticised the Taoiseach for perceived attacks on Westminster including remarks suggesting that the US Congress wouldn't sign off on a trade deal with the UK unless the open Border with the North was protected.

Speaking in Egypt, Mr Varadkar told reporters: "That's politics and that's Micheal Martin. He's always either wagging the finger or sniping from the sidelines. But what I haven't seen from Fianna Fail, from their Ard Fheis... is any coherent policies or any real alternative to what the Government has done."

Mr Varadkar also said it is "reasonable" to point out to the UK that "Westminster is not the only parliament that has a role in this [Brexit]".

The comments have inflamed tensions between the two parties despite extension of the Confidence and Supply Agreement due to Brexit.

"If the Taoiseach wasn't so politically arrogant and deaf to alternative solutions he would have seen proposals from us in housing, health, transport and many other areas in the past while," said Fianna Fail deputy leader Dara Calleary.

The party's social protection spokesman Willie O'Dea also rejected Mr Varadkar's remarks. He said Fianna Fail had suggested many of the current Government's policies including the treatment purchase scheme in health and the overall 2:1 ratio of spending on services over tax cuts in budgets. "I can assure Leo Varadkar that, when the next general election happens, we will have very detailed proposals to cover all the key issues of concern to citizens," he said.

"He may be a savvy political operator. But as Taoiseach he proved to be a walking anticlimax," the Limerick city TD also claimed.

"The Taoiseach, when abroad and in the company of our European partners, should concentrate on the critically important job at hand," education spokesman Thomas Byrne said.

Despite his own criticism of Mr Varadkar, Mr Martin has said his party will continue to honour the Confidence and Supply arrangement until 2020. He said the politicians cannot afford to spend four months campaigning while Brexit uncertainty continues.
Corey David Martin, 22, of Glen Burnie, who faces firearms and drug charges after police said he was found with several drugs, a firearm and $10,000 in cash while asleep in his car in Brooklyn Park Tuesday. (Anne Arundel police / handout)
Ireland will take back extremists who have travelled to fight with terrorist groups like Isil, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.

While he indicated each case would have to be considered on its own merits, Mr Varadkar said this country shouldnt expect our citizens to be somebody elses problem.

An estimated half-dozen Irish passport holders are believed to be still operating on behalf of Islamic State (Isil) in Syria.

Senior Garda security and intelligence officers reckon that many of the 30 suspects, who left here to join foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, are now dead. Others are missing and some may have headed to other theatres of war such as in the Philippines, the Horn of Africa and north Africa.

Mr Varadkars comments comes against the backdrop of an EU-wide debate over how to deal with returning fighters.

In recent days the UK moved to revoke the citizenship of Isil bride Shamima Begum.

But speaking in Egypt, the Taoiseach said he would be very loath to revoke anyones citizenship provided they are a citizen by right or acquired their citizenship appropriately.

I think its bad practice to revoke somebodys citizenship and render them stateless and leave them to be somebodys elses problem, he said.

Mr Varadkar was speaking to Irish journalists on the fringes of the first EU-Arab League of States summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, where how to counteract terrorism was high on the agenda.

He said there may be "as few as one" jihadi who has left Ireland and would be in a position to return.

"We'll have to consider whether those people legitimately acquired their citizenship," Mr Varadkar said.

Read More

At the end of December last, Alexandr Ruzmatovich Bekmirzaev, who held an Irish passport and lived here for 13 years up to 2013, was captured by Kurdish fighters in an operation against Isil in Syria.

He was regarded by the Garda security section and military intelligence as a key member of a back-up logistics support cell for Isil in Dublin.

Bekmirzaev was held by members of Kurd-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who have rounded up foreign fighters as they push, with American support, to eliminate Isil from their remaining strongholds in Syria.

But the SDF has warned it cannot hold on to prisoners for much longer, particularly as the US is preparing to pull out its troops from the region.

Gardai said Bekmirzaev, who was described as a "serious player", was one of at least 30 people known to have flown from Ireland to Syria and Iraq. Not all of them joined Isil, with some siding with the Kurds.

US President Donald Trump recently called on European countries to take back 800 Isil volunteers captured by US-backed forces in Syria and put them on trial.

Read More

Some EU countries including France and Germany have indicated they are preparing to take back their former jihadis but the UK is more opposed.

Debate in Britain has focused on the case of Shamima Begum, who fled London aged 15 to join Isil's self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria. She wants to return to the UK with her newborn son but has had her citizenship revoked.

Ms Begum, now 19, has given several interviews since she surfaced in a Syrian refugee camp, where she recently gave birth. She said she had no regrets about becoming a jihadi bride.

Her two older children have died, and she wanted to return to the UK so her newborn son would receive better care.

British Home Secretary Sajid Javid has revoked her UK citizenship, saying she qualifies for citizenship in Bangladesh, where her father is from.

Ahmed Ali said he would like to see his daughter return.

Mr Ali said: "I don't think he's [Sajid Javid] done the right thing because she is a British citizen, and if it turns out she has committed any crimes, she should face justice in the UK. She belongs to this country, she belongs to England.

"My daughter was a little child, she made a mistake, she didn't properly understand.

"I would like to make a plea to the British government not to strip her of her citizenship. If she has made any mistakes, bring her back to London, and let them do whatever they think is necessary."
GARDAI have renewed an appeal for information in relation to a fatal hit-and-run that occurred in February 2009.

Edward Lynch (38) was walking on Claddagh Road in Ballyfermot, Dublin 10 sometime between 8pm and 9pm on Sunday 22nd February.

He had just left a vehicle on Claddagh Road and was walking towards another vehicle which was close by at the junction of Claddagh Road and Claddagh Green when he was struck by a Nissan Micra.

The Micra, which had a 98 D registration, had driven from Inagh Road.

According to gardai, Mr Lynch then got into a car and followed this Nissan up to Ballyfermot Road, "where an altercation took place between the occupants".

Mr Lynch returned to his home and complained of feeling unwell, and he was found dead at his home on the morning of the 25th February 2009.

Results of a post-mortem examination indicated that Mr Lynch died as a result of injuries sustained in the hit-and-run collision.

The post-mortem report explained that he died of of hamorrhage and shock due to a ruptured spleen due to a crush injury to the abdomen.

A 2016 inquest heard how he had complained of stomach cramps and an awful pain in his chest the night before, his sister said.

A number of people were previously arrested in connection with the investigation, but to date no person has been charged.

Drug dealers, an Inchicore gangster and a young criminal from Blanchardstown were previously linked as suspects in the investigation.

Investigating Gardai are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed this incident or any person who may have information to contact the incident room at Ballyfermot Garda Station on 01-666 7212, the Garda Confidential Line 1`800 666 111 or any Garda Station.
Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan will meet with the mother and sister of Clodagh Hawe this week.

Speaking on RTEs Prime Time Mr Flanagan said: "These are crimes against the essence of humanity. Im very keen to help.

"I spoke to the Coll family today, I hope to meet them on Thursday."

The minister said he would talk to the family about "any possible inquiry" on Thursday.

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Meanwhile, the National Womens Council of Ireland (NWCI) has backed calls by the family of Clodagh Hawe for a multi-agency review into her death and the death of her sons at the hands of Alan Hawe.

It has also called on Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan and the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to complete and publish the findings of the ten year domestic homicide review, promised to NWCI and Womens Aid after the death of Clodagh and her family.

"In 2016 both the National Women's Council of Ireland and Women's Aid called for a review of domestic homicides, and the then-minister for justice Frances Fitzgerald and then-garda commissioner Noirin OSullivan promised that a review would be published," said Orla OConnor, Director of NWCI.

"The NWCI has very serious concerns about the length of time which was elapsed since the review was announced, and we very urgently need the findings of this review to be published," she added.

Ms OConnor urged the response from the Justice Department and An Garda Siochana after the sister and mother of Clodagh took part in a television interview on RTE calling for answers from the garda file which could help them try to learn why Alan Hawe (41) killed Clodagh (39), their three young sons Liam (13), Niall (11), and Ryan (6), and then took his own life in August 2016.

Responding to questions about the review from the Irish Independent, a spokesperson for An Garda Siochana said that Commissioner Harris, speaking at a Womens Aid event recently, said that preventing and tackling violence against women has been one of the priorities of his policing career.

"In general and without specific comment on any individual case, An Garda Siochana has started a process where domestic homicides will be reviewed to establish what lessons can be learnt from a policing perspective. One such review has been undertaken and two further cases have been identified for review," said the spokesperson.

"Lessons are also being learnt from the review of 41 homicides that is currently being undertaken and has been subject to public scrutiny in the Oireachtas and Policing Authority," they added.

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"Coercive control became an offence in January 2019. Training on coercive control has started in An Garda Siochana with the initial focus being on Domestic Violence Inspectors and Divisional Protective Service Units. Training for the rest of the organisation will take place during 2019 and 2020."

A spokesman for the Department of Justice said an internal system of domestic homicide reviews is underway within An Garda Siochana to better inform its approach to domestic violence generally.

"The timeline for this review is an operational Garda matter," he said.

"Jane Monckton Smith of the University of Gloucestershire is currently training members of An Garda Siochana who have been assigned to Divisional Protective Services Units and divisional domestic abuse inspectors on coercive control in relation to domestic homicides," he added.

Orla OConnor said the interviews with Clodaghs sister Jacqueline Connolly and mother Mary Coll underlined the importance of multi-agency domestic homicide reviews for the family, in their search for answers, and to work towards the eventual eradication of these crimes.

In other jurisdictions, Domestic Homicide Reviews are systematic multi-agency reviews which are used to improve risk assessment and management and to identify gaps in policy and practice, following such crimes, she said.

Ireland must initiate the practice of multi-agency reviews of domestic homicides in Ireland every time such a crime occurs. These reviews can provide families with answers but vitally for the protection of women in the future they would assist in developing best practice responses in relation to domestic violence including risk assessment and risk management. Lessons must be learnt to ensure we can best protect victims of domestic violence, she added.
St Michans Church on Church street which is currently closed due to the break in and vandalism of one the crypts under the church. Picture credit; Damien Eagers / INM

Sacrilege: Archdeacon of Dublin David Pierpoint at St Michans Church where the break-in and damage occurred

Vandals broke into a Dublin church vault and decapitated an 800-year-old Crusader before fleeing with the head.

A Garda investigation into the break-in is under way after significant damage was caused to several preserved bodies at St Michan's Church in the city centre.

The body of a nun which has been in the crypt for 300 years was trashed and her head turned the wrong way around, while a skull was also stolen.

The vandals also severed the head of an 800-year-old Crusader and are believed to have fled the scene with the head.

The Church of Ireland's Archdeacon for Dublin, the Venerable David Pierpoint, described the damage as "vandalism and sacrilege".

The archdeacon also raised concerns about the Crusader's head, which could disintegrate after being removed from the crypt where it was being preserved.

"I went down to the vault and discovered a pretty gruesome scene down there. It is pretty bad. They have damaged - the perpetrators of this vandalism, sacrilege, desecration - they have turned over some of the bodies.

"The body of a nun who is there for about 300 odd years. She has been pretty much trashed, her head has been turned around the wrong way.

"But the worst thing is the Crusader - who's mummified -body is down there.

"It's 800 years there and his body has been pretty much smashed up and his head has been severed from his neck," Archdeacon Pierpoint said.

Gardai based at the Bridewell are investigating the break-in, which occurred between 7pm on Saturday and 8pm on Sunday.

CCTV footage which captured the vandals entering the vault is also being reviewed.

"It's just a very sad day and we're completely devastated by what has happened.

"There's property in the crypts that keeps them preserved for so long. But once it's exposed to the extremities of the outside world, my fear is the longer it takes before the head is returned or recovered, then the head will just disintegrate," he said.

The Archbishop of Dublin for the Church of Ireland, the Most Reverend Michael Jackson, appealed for those responsible to return the head of the Crusader.

"I am shocked that someone would target this ancient burial place and desecrate the remains of those lying within it.

"Not only have these individuals desecrated the sacred crypt but they have destroyed these historic mummies which have been preserved in St Michan's for hundreds of years.

"I would appeal to those responsible to examine their consciences and return the head of the Crusader to its rightful place," he said.
A number of text messages pleading for help were found on the mobile phone of a young woman who claimed she was raped by a teenage boy at a Kerry B&B in a room containing five other people.

The defendant, who was then aged 15, has denied rape and attempted anal rape in the Killarney B&B on March 17, 2017.

Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a Central Criminal Court jury heard the complainant insist that she was also attacked by another young woman because she refused to get into bed with the 15-year-old defendant after accompanying him back to his B&B.

The trial heard that she only agreed to go back to the teen's B&B - after meeting him in a nightclub while out celebrating St Patrick's Day - when assured that other young women would be present.

The defendant insisted while sex did occur that evening, it was entirely consensual.

Detective Garda Padraig Doyle told the trial he conducted a forensic examination of a mobile phone belonging to the complainant.

It was found, within the phone's 'sent' folder, that there were a number of messages apparently pleading for help.

The texts found included: 'Help me,' 'I am hurt badly,' 'I need ye,' 'Girlss' and 'I am hurt'.

In a voluntary statement to gardai on March 22, 2017, the boy maintained the sex was entirely consensual.

He went to Killarney garda station, accompanied by his mother, immediately when he became aware of the allegation against him.

The teen and his mother told gardai he had been linked to the alleged incident via social media.

"She was flirting with me (in the nightclub). She was all over me.

"We went out into the toilets and we were kissing," the defendant told gardai in a statement.

The teen had paid for both himself and the young woman to get into a nightclub - and had then bought her a drink in the club.

After returning to his B&B along with another young woman and a man, the defendant insisted the complainant consented to sex.

The trial heard that another young woman and man got into another bed in the bedroom. Three other individuals later arrived into the B&B room.

"(She/the complainant) pulled the blanket over (our) heads. (She) reversed herself into me and whispered: 'Put it into me'. I did it. She was happy with it. She wanted it. It was her will as well," the defendant told gardai.

"She got her groove on - she was mad for it."

The defendant insisted that at one point the complainant was moaning in pleasure - but she said the sound was actually a cry for aid that no one responded to.

Disputed

Giving evidence by video link, the complainant rejected defence suggestions the sex was consensual and rejected the defendant's account of what happened that night.

"That is incorrect. We did not have sex - he raped me," she said.

The complainant disputed his version of events and claimed that, at one point, the defendant had placed his hand over her mouth.

She said she was physically assaulted by others in the B&B bedroom - but not the defendant - because she had refused to get into bed with him.

The trial continues.
Scene of the crash and (inset) Katie Murphy

A young man convicted of careless driving causing the death of a 16 year old girl following a Waterford collision will be sentenced next month.

Edward O'Shea (19) appeared before Waterford Circuit Criminal Court after being convicted last month of careless driving causing the death of Kate 'Katie' Murphy (16).

The Tramore teen died in a road traffic accident on the evening of October 5, 2016 when the Toyota car being driven by O'Shea collided with a wall at Cliff Road, Newtown in the seaside town.

Ms Murphy, of Castlewoods, Ballinamona, Waterford was a rear seat passenger in the car.

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O'Shea of Magnh, Fenor, Waterford was convicted in Waterford Circuit Criminal Court of careless driving causing death last month.

He was also convicted of careless driving causing injury in respect of two other female passengers in the Toyota he was driving.

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Defence counsel, David Bulbulia BL, applied to the court for sentencing to be set for next month.

Mr Bulbulia said that the court would benefit from a report by the Probation and Welfare Service (PWS).

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A short report was currently available but a more detailed report would, it was hoped, be ready for next month.

Conor O'Doherty BL, for the State, said sentencing in the matter would take some time and agreed to the adjournment.

He said the case was very "sensitive" and would, as a result, take some time to deal with.

Judge Eugene O'Kelly noted both the defence and State submissions.

He adjourned the matter until March 26 next.

Judge O'Kelly remanded O'Shea on continuing bail to appear again before Waterford Circuit Criminal Court next month.
Michael Shine was sentenced to four years in prison. Picture: Collins

A victim of paedophile Michael Shine has said the retired surgeon "will never say sorry" as he was jailed for four years.

Speaking outside court yesterday, Patrick Cusack (56), who waived his right to anonymity, said Shine's victims were "just a toy in his world".

He said it was a "good day for me and for all victims of abuse, but particularly the victims of abuse of Michael Shine".

Mr Cusack said he was "delighted" with the sentence and that it was "most appropriate", but he said the conviction was more important.

"He (Shine) will never say sorry. Paedophiles don't say sorry, it's their chemical make-up," Mr Cusack said.

He said he expects Shine, who groped seven boys in his care over a period of three decades, will never acknowledge him or any of the other victims.

"He will self gratify in his abuse, but that's as far as it goes. You are just a toy in his world."

Mr Cusack encouraged other victims of abuse to come forward and seek help.

Shine (86) of Ballsbridge, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 12 charges of indecent assault and one charge of sexual assault committed during medical examinations at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth, and at two private clinics in Drogheda on dates between 1971 to 1992.

A jury yesterday returned guilty verdicts, having deliberated for just over six hours.

Judge Martin Nolan sentenced Shine to four years' imprisonment for one count of indecent assault. He sentenced him to 18 months imprisonment for all other counts and ordered that each sentence run concurrently.

He said the appropriate headline sentence in the absence of mitigation was seven years. He described the offending as a "serious pattern of misbehaviour".

At an earlier sentence hearing, Detective Garda Seamus Nolan told Cathleen Noctor SC, prosecuting, that Shine indecently assaulted six boys aged between 11 and 15 on dates ranging from 1971 to 1988.

He said the sole count of sexual assault related to an incident in 1992 when the injured party was aged 16.

Det Gda Nolan said that during the trial a medical expert gave evidence that there was no medical basis for the behaviour described by the seven men.

Shine has three previous convictions for indecent assault relating to two complainants who were both aged 15 in 1975 and he was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment in late 2017.

These convictions are currently under appeal.

Judge Nolan said the aggravating factors in the case were the number of assaults and that as a doctor Shine was in a position of trust.

Further aggravating factors were that the victims were at the time "vulnerable" boys, that there was no expression of remorse and that Shine has previous convictions for offences of this type.

He said the mitigating factors were Shine's age, his health challenges, his good work record, his being held in high regard by his family and that there was a possibility of him dying while imprisoned.

Judge Nolan said it had been well decided by precedent that age is no barrier to prison sentences.

At the previous hearing, the first complainant told the court that Shine groped his genitals during two appointments in 1988 following surgery on his finger when he was aged 15.
Crime scene examiners found traces of blood in the sitting room and bedroom of Mary Lowrys house, the Tipperary murder trial has heard.

Retired detective John Grant, formerly of the Garda Technical Bureau, told the jury that he was crime scene manager at the farm in Fawnagowan, Co Tipperary, after the discovery of the remains of Bobby Ryan in a run-off pit.

The body was badly decomposed and inaccessible, he told the Central Criminal Court.

Patrick Quirke (50) has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Ryan (52), a part-time DJ known as Mr Moonlight, on a date between June 3, 2011, and April 2013.

The body was thought to be that of Bobby Ryan, missing two years, Mr Grant told the court, adding that he was told Mr Ryan had been in a relationship with the owner of the farm. Pat Quirke was also thought to be in a relationship with Ms Lowry, Mr Grant added.

He met Inspector Patrick OCallaghan at the scene, who informed him that the assault may have taken place at the farmhouse and to examine same for traces of blood.

On May 3, 2013, the scenes investigators examined the six-bedroom bungalow at Fawnagowan, with Mr Grant noting that the main section of the house was extremely untidy and unkempt.

Ms Lowrys mother-in-law had a separate entrance to her area of the house.

All the outhouses were in a state of disrepair with broken windows, Mr Grant said.

Gardai used a Kastle-Meyer test which gives a positive or negative reaction to the presence of blood.

There were positive readings in the sitting room, he said, and so they prepared the room for luminol testing, which involved making the room as dark as possible to use lights which enabled them to detect blood not visible to the naked eye.

A light fitting in the ceiling showed a 'very faint' reaction, he said, and it was sent to the laboratory for further testing.

Only the ceiling and light fitting confirmed blood and there was no other reaction on the surfaces of the living room, he said.

Ms Lowry's bedroom was also tested, with the bed frame, mattress and floor showing a positive reading.

The wardrobe also revealed spots of blood on the slide doors of the wardrobe, with 'directional blood spots' in the interior. The doors were sent away to the lab for further analysis.

The court has not yet heard evidence of the results of the laboratory testing.

Mr Grant said the rest of the house was examined with crime lights but nothing was found.

"There was no evidence of any blood in the remainder of that house," he said.

Garda scene examiners investigated the silver Ford vehicle owned by the accused Pat Quirke and got a negative result.

They also used crime lights to examine a Toyota Corolla car found in one of the outhouses but found nothing.

Eight outhouses around the farm were examined but gardai found it difficult to do luminol testing on those because of the broken windows, making it difficult to black them out, he explained.

Mr Grant revealed that a health and safety risk assessment, carried out at the scene found there was a "high risk" posed to officers by bodily fluids, slurry and methane and so it was decided that fire officers wearing chemical suits would perform the operation.

He was present during the post-mortem examination by the then-deputy State pathologist Dr Khalid Jabbar, which revealed numerous injuries on the body.

The cause of death was multiple blunt force trauma, mainly to the face and side of the head, with further injuries to the ribs and one leg.

Dr Jabbar informed him the injuries were fatal and the victim "would have died within minutes of receiving" them.

Under cross-examination by Lorcan Staines SC for the defence, Mr Grant was asked if he had noted one of the arms had become detached.

Mr Grant told the court that "unfortunately" one of the members of the technical bureau team had been lifting the body into the body bag, when the arm had become detached during that motion.

"They had an adverse reaction.

"I had to call in the welfare service for them because of what happened," he said.

He said the person's reaction to the occurrence had "not been pleasant" and that it had been "physical".

Meanwhile, he agreed that he was "watching closely" as the concrete slab over the tank was removed in order to retrieve the body. When the slab broke, he did not believe this event to be relevant as he felt it had not interfered with the body, he told the court.

The trial continues.
With something like the mold and mildew, we would be tracking the issues that either were aware of ... and continue following up with Corvias and the residents until it seemed the issue was solved to satisfaction, Stafford said.
Founder: Sean Quinn has repeatedly publicly condemned the attacks on those now running Quinn Industrial Holdings. Picture: AFP/Getty

A director at one of businessman Sean Quinn's former companies is seeking a restraining order after he was allegedly subjected to a "vicious attack", the Belfast High Court has heard.

Kevin Lunney's lawyer claimed he was targeted earlier this month as part of a wider campaign involving arson attacks, firebombs and harassment of executives.

Mr Lunney is a director of Co Fermanagh-based firm Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH).

The company is made up of elements of the old business empire founded by former tycoon Sean Quinn Sr.

Mr Quinn has repeatedly publicly condemned all attacks on those now running QIH.

Injunction proceedings have been brought against Fermanagh man Bernard McGovern.

In court yesterday, barrister Peter Girvan, representing Mr Lunney, confirmed he was seeking an order to stop any further alleged harassment. The application involves securing an exclusion zone around the executive's home.

Mr Girvan claimed his client was "viciously attacked" just over the Border in Co Cavan on February 1. Gardai are continuing with a criminal investigation into the alleged assault.

According to Mr Girvan, the incident formed part of a wider, "troubling" background in the area. "There's been a harassment campaign against the directors and their families," he said. "It includes arson attacks, firebombs and an online campaign."

With Mr McGovern yet to secure legal aid, no submissions were made on his behalf, but judge Mr Justice Paul Maguire was told a legal point may be raised about the court's jurisdiction to hear the case. The application was adjourned until later this week.
A woman believed her ex-husband had taken their children swimming when he texted her to say they were in another country and would not be back, a court has heard.

The man (45) abducted his children and kept them out of Ireland, away from their mother, for four years.

Sergeant Ian Lambe said the man and woman had been having marriage difficulties at the time. He told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that over the years gardai and various services had been in contact with the man trying to find an amicable way to return the children.

The man pleaded guilty to four charges of taking his children out of the country without consent at Dublin Airport on November 8, 2014.

The man, who cannot be named to protect his children's identities, has no previous convictions.

Sgt Lambe told Fionnuala O'Sullivan BL, prosecuting, that in October 2018 the children's mother contacted him to say her ex-husband would be returning with them to Ireland. He said the man met with him voluntarily the day after arriving back to Ireland. He said the children, who are now aged from eight to 15 years, have been returned to their mother.

The mother and children did not wish to make victim impact statements. The maximum penalty for the offence is seven years on each charge, the court heard.

The sergeant agreed with lawyers for the man that he has been extremely anxious about the matter. Sgt Lambe agreed that the situation went too far while the man was abroad and he couldn't turn the clock back.

Sgt Lambe further agreed that the man has since had no contact with his children, apart from a phone call with his son for a birthday.

He added that he did not think the man would come to garda attention in future.

Judge Cormac Quinn said this was a serious matter and he would like input from the Probation Service.

He ordered a report from the Probation Service, remanded the man on continuing bail and adjourned the matter until May 29, when he will hear a plea in mitigation.
A MOTHER who lost her beloved son in an horrific road tragedy has launched a campaign for a special accident scene possessions register after admitting she was heartbroken by the loss of some of his key belongings after the fatal collision.

Christina Donnelly said she spent days after the fatal accident which claimed the life of her son Brendan (24) combing fields by the Cork site where the tragedy occurred in a bid to find his mobile phone and keys.

It was only months later she realised that her son's phone and keys had been recovered from the scene by Gardai - but were later somehow lost in transfer between Gardai, the Cork hospital where her son was taken and the undertaker who handled his remains.

"I understand that the loss of Brendan's Nokia phone and keys was entirely accidental," she said.

"But I so wanted to find his phone and keep it as a reminder of him."

"I had spent hours on my hands and knees searching the roadside and fields by the accident site because I was convinced the phone had been thrown from the car and not recovered."

It was only months later that Christina became aware that items belonging to Brendan had in fact been recovered from the scene.

However, when she attempted to trace them between the Gardai, the Cork hospital and the undertaker it emerged that they had been apparently misplaced and lost.

Correspondence she subsequently received from the hospital confirmed the belongings were with him when he arrived after the accident.

But because there was no possessions register, it was impossible to trace where they had subsequently gone.

"It may seem like a small thing but it meant so much to me to get Brendan's phone," she said.

"For a family grieving the loss of a loved one, such small things can make all the difference in easing your pain and offering a little comfort."

"It is one little thing to try to ease the heartache."

Now, Christina said she wants a special possessions register to operate as standard between Gardai, hospitals, coroner's offices and undertakers when dealing with accidents.

"If an item is recovered from an accident scene it should be registered, detailed and then signed for so that it can be traced by loved ones afterwards."

"My concern is that I may not be the only person who has lost items belonging to a loved one in such circumstances."

The mother of two said she was "overwhelmed" with kindness by Gardai, hospital staff, coroner's officials and the undertaker in searching in vain for Brendan's items.

Eventually, the mobile phone company involved kindly issued Christina with a duplicate SIM so that she could access her son's voicemail.

The young man died in a head-on collision outside Cork on October 26 2009.

Brendan's best friend, Lee Salkeld (25), also died in the collision caused by a motorist who was coming home from a party where he had consumed a large quantity of drink and had even taken cocaine.

The 2009 tragedy occurred as Brendan and Lee were travelling on a city break to Amsterdam with their partners.

It was a double treat for the two young couples.

Mr Salkeld was taking his first holiday since the birth of his daughter and it was a celebration for Brendan who had been promoted in his job and was buying his first home.

The drunk driver involved was jailed for five years in November 2010 for dangerous driving causing both deaths.

He served three years and seven months.

Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard that the man had been drinking since 3pm the previous day before attending a pub fancy dress party.

He left the party after a row with his wife.

The court was told he was driving like a bat out of hell when the fatal collision occurred.

He consumed 11 cans and bottles of beer, seven pints of beer, two vodkas, three After-Shocks and a line of cocaine before attempting to drive home.

He drove his Ford Mondeo head-on into the car carrying the victims and their two girlfriends, Laura Connolly and Kate Flynn.

The man then then walked away from the scene and left the two men dying in their car.

He travelled on foot for 10km along a back-road towards his home before being located by gardai.

Today, Christina still keeps a lock of her beloved son Brendans hair - and has campaigned for road safety measures in his name.

She also has precious voice messages left by the 24 year old not to mention multiple albums of his cherished photos.
Terrible events: A fireman and rescue workers carry a barefooted body away from the scene of one of the Birmingham pub bombings in 1974. Picture: PA

The long-awaited inquests into the deaths of 21 people in the 1974 IRA Birmingham pub bombings have begun with a minute's silence for the victims.

Coroner Peter Thornton told jurors they would hear evidence of how the two bomb blasts ripped apart two pubs on what was a "perfectly ordinary evening" in Birmingham.

He told them there would be evidence alleging British security forces may have had some forewarning about the attacks, widely thought to have been carried out by the Provisional IRA, including an "over-heard" conversation which took place in prison two weeks before the bombings.

Mr Thornton, continuing his opening statement, added that the inquests would not deal with the issue of who planted the bombs, adding that was a "task of police, prosecutors and the criminal courts".

He added that although a single hearing, lasting up to six weeks, the inquests would deal with "21 separate people, 21 separate lives lost from two terrible events".

As well as those killed, 220 were injured in the blasts which were carried out at the height of an IRA bombing campaign in the West Midlands in England, the jury was told.

A third bomb, jurors heard, was planted near the Barclays Bank on the Hagley Road but failed to properly detonate that night.

The coroner said that there had been "over 50" incidents involving bombs and incendiaries "in and around Birmingham" in 1973 and 1974, but that after the pub blasts "the campaign in the West Midlands stopped".

He told the six women and five men of the jury it would be a matter for them whether the IRA called off its Midlands campaign because of the "outrage of civilian deaths on this scale" or "some other reason".

Mr Thornton said: "This is something that the city of Birmingham has suffered now for many years.

"While the inquests will inevitably focus on those who died we must also remember many other lives were and continue to be affected."

Jurors, sitting at Birmingham Civil Justice Centre, were told they would hear evidence from only a few eyewitnesses of those there on the evening, because some were "no longer alive".

He added: "They will be doing their best to recollect events accurately, but we all know memory will sometimes have gaps.

"Recollection may sometimes be distorted or inaccurate, it may be correct."

He said "nobody has been successfully prosecuted for the attack", and that the only men ever to stand trial, the Birmingham Six, were freed on appeal in 1991.

He also said: "Nobody is on trial here, an inquest does not decide matters of criminal or civil liability, and this is not a question of attributing blame to any individuals."

Hearings will continue today and tomorrow with pen portraits of each of the victims, while on Thursday, the jurors will be taken to the former sites of the pubs - both long since gone.
**WARNING: SPOILERS FOR TRUE DETECTIVE SEASON 3 FINALE**

WE got an ending, I guess, but I dont feel any kind of closure, says Roland West (Stephen Dorff) in the 2015 segment of True Detectives season three finale.

Me neither, says Wayne Hays (Mahershala Ali).

Mmmm. Maybe this is because West and Hayes didnt get the real ending. They dont realise it, of course.

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Hays will realise it later on, though, fleetingly, and will try to act on it, only for it to slip from his grip and slide out of reach again, into the encroaching void of his dementia.

Or does he deliberately let it slip away, knowing that sometimes enough is enough? Certainly, the final shot of the young Hays in Vietnam, looking over his shoulder and then disappearing into the deep jungle just before the end credits roll, suggest its a possibility.

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First, the (apparently) false ending, the bluff. We pick up where we left of last week, in 1990, as Hays takes a ride in the limo of chicken empire king Edward Hoyt (the great Michael Rooker).

They end up in the wood. Hoyt knows Hays and West killed and buried his security man, the ex-cop Harris (who did, by the way, plant the incriminating backpack). He blackmails/threatens Hays: lay off, or else. Think about your family.

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One of several surprising twists is that Hoyt isnt really a villain. He wasnt even in the country when Julie Purcell went missing in 1980 and her brother was found dead in a cave.

Back in 2015, Hays and West, clipping on their old badges and holstering their old guns, follow the trail to the old Hoyt home, now empty and held in trust, and discover the pink room, where Julie Purcell was held for years, having been abducted.

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Not, however, by some shady paedophile ring, but by Hoyts schizophrenic daughter Isabel, whose own daughter had died and who literally bought Julie from her mother.

Julies brothers death in 1980 wasnt a murder; it was accidental. Isabel pushed him and he fell against a rock. That simple.

The key to unlocking the mystery was Junius, the one-eyed man theyd been looking for, on and off, for years. He helped cover up for Isabel and raise Julie, who Isabel fed lithium for 10 years to keep her passive.

Julie escaped and, after a period running with the wrong crowd on the street, finally sought sanctuary in a convent where she eventually died of AIDS and, unlike the The Beatles Eleanor Rigby, was buried along with a new name: Mary July.

So, then, case closed? Not quite. The ailing Hays receives another visit/hallucination from his late wife Amelia (Carmen Ejogo), which appears to be a way of visualising Hays piecing together clues contained in her book. What if the ending isnt really the ending at all? she teases him.

Hays realises Mary July is not dead. She married the groundskeeper at the convent, Mike Ardoin, who she knew as a kid, and they had a daughter of their own. Hays met them while he and West were finding out Julies supposed fate at the convent.

He finds the Ardoins address and comes face-to-face with Julie/Mary . . . but then his dementia makes him forget why hes there and the moment passes, forever.

Theres so much more to say about True Detective: about how it somehow forged a happy ending for its battered heroes; about the brilliance of Nic Pizzolattos writing; about the stunning performances and chemistry of Ali and Dorff.

But all I have enough space left for is one observation: this was the best True Detective yet, and the first to merit a complete re-watch.

True Detective, Sky Atlantic.
DUBLIN could come to a standstill today as a wave of murders hits the city  but thankfully only for the filming of a BBC TV series.

The fictional programme Dublin Murders features Irish talent Sarah Greene and Killian Scott, who is known for his performances as Tommy in RTEs Love/Hate.

But Scott is swapping sides and will play Detective Rob Reilly in the series.

Filming is expected to begin in Dublins north inner city this afternoon on Talbot Street and Spencer Row from noon until 5pm.

Producers have said that a number of essential service vehicles will be parked in the vicinity of James Joyce Street, while a garda presence may also be required to hold traffic for short periods of time.

The series is based on the bestselling crime novels by Dublin-based author Tana French.

The show will follow the workings of a garda detective unit investigating a number of fictional murders in the city.

It will be broadcast on the BBC later this year and will run for eight weeks in hour-long episodes.

In one episode, when a young girl is found murdered in a dense wood on the outskirts of Dublin, Rob Reilly is sent to investigate with his partner Cassie Maddox  played by Greene.

Against his better judgment, Rob is pulled back into another case of missing children and forced to confront his own darkness.

COMPELLING

As the case intensifies, Rob and Cassies relationship is pushed to breaking point, and when Cassie is sent undercover for another case she comes face-to-face with her own past.

I couldnt be more delighted to join the creative team behind Dublin Murders, Scott said previously.

Sarah Phelps has beautifully adapted Tana Frenchs novels into a complex and dark exploration of the potentially devastating consequences of pursuing truth.
You know a TV programme has been a hit when a huge mural of its cast is unveiled in the city its set in  but thats not the only measure of Derry Girls mighty success.

Following its launch at the start of last year, it became Channel 4s highest-rated comedy in more than a decade.

Inspired by the experiences of Derry-born creator Lisa McGee  who has also written dramas Jump and Raw  the candid family-centred show follows 16-year-old wannabe writer Erin, played by Saoirse-Monica Jackson, and her friends as they grow up in the 1990s during The Troubles.

We caught up with Jackson and co-stars Louisa Harland, Nicola Coughlan and Dylan Llewellyn about returning for series two.

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With the show becoming a phenomenon not only at home  its the most watched show ever in Northern Ireland  but also worldwide since landing on Netflix, its fair to say there were some nerves ahead of reading the new scripts.

I was petrified we were going to come back completely different, says Derry native Jackson, while Harland, who plays Erins whimsical and eccentric cousin Orla, adds: Theres a fear of overdoing it.

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There was no reason to be worried.

We got into the swing of it straight away, says Llewellyn, the actor behind James, the English cousin of party-loving Michelle (played by Jamie-Lee ODonnell), who has the misfortune of being the only boy at an all-girls convent school.

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Were so comfortable, we know each other so well now.

Other than more mad antics, what can we expect from the new episodes?

Derry at that time, theres a lot of stories to tell, says Jackson, and Lisa has definitely got braver with her writing.

Galway-born Coughlan, who portrays Clare  arguably the most sensible member of the gang  says: Siobhan McSweeney [who plays Sister Michael] said its like series one was amazing, but series two is like everything in Technicolor.

Its really nice because you dont have to do any of the exposition this time, you know the five characters and the family as well.

When it comes to the impact these roles have had on the lives of the down-to-earth stars, who were all relatively unknown before Derry Girls, Llewellyn says its not really sunk in yet.

Coughlan recalls with a giggle: The weirdest was Louisa and I went to New York two to three weeks ago and we walked into a pub and the girl behind the bar went My girl Orla! and came over and hugged us both and sent us shots.

There are many memorable lines from the first series, and the cast have all experienced people shouting quotes to them.

Id say for Jamie-Lee its definitely the weirdest because its Slainte, motherf**kers being shouted at nine oclock in the morning, walking back from the gym, says Jackson.

Coughlan adds: I get grannies and mums wanting to give me a hug because Clare is like the kid you wish you had.

Shes very studious and dresses like a giant baby, and something resonates with the mums and the grannies.

Llewellyn, whose character often gets picked on by his female friends, says: People call me a dick, but I embrace it.

The characters are shown with their daily life of armed police roaming the streets and British army checkpoints on the way to school.

While its accurate to the 1990s setting, its an education for viewers around the world.

The characters are shown living through the Northern Ireland conflict, and seeing armed police roaming the streets, and British Army checkpoints on the way to school is, for many of us, an unimaginable situation.

Its also a period of history not particularly touched on in British schools.The Troubles was all we learned in history, it was shoved down our throats, we learned all about it, says Dubliner Harland when asked if theyre shocked some viewers werent educated on The Troubles.

I was so surprised that wasnt touched on majorly in the rest of the UKs schools.

Coughlan agrees.

Yeah, it was mad, she says. Dylan and I will go on Twitter and check the responses and see what people are saying, and people are being like, I knew nothing about The Troubles and now Ive fallen down a Wikipedia hole.

Its amazing the show has opened that up. Its a real pity its not taught across Britain.

Jackson says The Troubles arent widely part of the Northern Ireland education system either.

Obviously, youre taught it from living there and your surroundings, she says.

So its great to have a voice of the North on the TV. Theres not many shows from the North, and never mind for this story to be told in a humorous light.

Not only is the show pioneering in the way it shines a light on such a fraught period of recent history, it has also been applauded for being female-led.

Harland says there was a genuine fear among McGee and the actors that it would not be as successful as a show about males might be.

However, representing how funny women are is something of which the cast is proud.

Filming this season, we shot a scene that had 11 women-speaking parts in one scene, which has never been done before in a comedy, says Harland.

To hear that thats not been done before is shocking, but its also just great to be part of the movement.

The kinds of characters they play are refreshing too, and there are elements they recognise in their younger selves.

Like not caring so much about what you look like, and not caring so much about what you say or caring about what other people think, says Harland.

Theres that want to be heard, and that want to be individual, says Jackson.

Thats such a famous line from the show: Look, I wanted to be an individual but my ma wouldnt let me.

Thats definitely what it feels like when youre a teenager.

Derry Girls returns to Channel 4 next Tuesday March 5.
Creating an iconic comic character sometimes exacts a heavy toll. Harry H Corbett, a serious-minded actor and a follower of the Stanislavski system who in the late 1950s and early 60s was feted as Britains answer to Marlon Brando, could never escape from the shadow of Harold Steptoe.

When Corbett, who earned great acclaim in Shakespearean roles early in his career, played Hamlet in 1970, he complained that theatregoers and even critics couldnt (or perhaps wouldnt) take him seriously. Steptoe and Son made him a big star, but it destroyed his serious acting career.

Modern audiences are more open-minded and accepting when performers choose to change direction, yet an iconic character can still be tough to shake off.

Even though Rowan Atkinson underplayed commendably as wily, ruminative French detective Maigret in four ITV specials in 2016/17, a little part of you kept expecting Edmund Blackadder or Mr Bean to come bursting through at any second.

No matter what part John Cleese plays or however well he plays it, whether its the romantic lead in A Fish Called Wanda, the conspicuously English sheriff in Western Silverado or the cheery retiree in vapid BBC sitcom Hold the Sunset, in a corner of the viewers mind Basil Fawlty is always lurking, just waiting for the right moment to break into a goose-step.

Its not the actors fault; its just that the characters theyve created are simply so brilliant, so vividly drawn, they leave an indelible impression on the publics memory.

Nobody can say Steve Coogan has been typecast. His acting career, particularly in the past 15 years or so, from 24 Hour Party People through The Trip and Philomena right up to his superb performance as Stan Laurel in the delightful Stan & Ollie, has been too rich and varied for that to happen.

In a way, this is astonishing, because in Alan Partridge, Coogan created one of the all-time great comedy characters.

Having made his debut in 1991 on BBC Radio 4s spoof current affairs show On the Hour, the Alan we know and love seemed to burst, fully-formed, in all his glorious naffness and monumental ignorance and ineptitude, on to television in 1994s The Day Today, which was quickly followed the same year by chat show parody Knowing Me, Knowing You.

If would have been perfectly understandable if Coogan had retired the character after Im Alan Partridge. Over the course of its two series (one in 1997, the other in 2002), it hit the summit of comedy brilliance. Every one of its 12 episodes was a gold-plated, eminently quotable classic.

Rather than trying to escape Alan, Coogan embraced him and expanded his world. Since 2010, weve had the YouTube shorts (later shown on Sky Atlantic) Mid-Morning Matters, co-written with brothers Neil and Rob Gibbons, who have worked on every Partridge project since; the hilarious spoof memoirs I, Partridge and Nomad; the hit film Alpha Papa and the Sky mockumentaries Scissored Isle and Welcome to the Places of My Life.

Alan Partridge just emailed everyone in the BBC. pic.twitter.com/DM3POwgIDu  Tim Johns (@timoncheese) February 25, 2019

Most characters would have been exhausted of all possibilities after 28 years on the go, but Coogan and co-writers the Dobbs brothers and Peter Beyham have struck comic paydirt yet again with This Time with Alan Partridge, starting on BBC1 tonight.

Alan is back in the big time and back at the BBC, but more cluelessly adrift in the social media age than ever.

Hes the catastrophic stand-in co-host on This Time, a live (uh-oh) magazine show thats a whole lot like The One Show. Hes sharing the sofa and tussling for supremacy with regular co-host Jennie Grisham (Susannah Fielding, a perfect foil). Familiar faces pop up too.

Im not going to spoil your pleasure; all Ill say is its riotously funny, some of the best class-A Partridge youll ever see, plucked from the very top branch of the pear tree.

This Time with Alan Partridge airs on BBC1 at 9.30pm on Mondays.
Seana Kerslake knows things. Our chat this evening is bookended by advice and observations that are way off today's subject of discussion (namely, her star turn in new Irish horror The Hole In the Ground).

It begins with a miracle remedy she swears by. "Hot, salty water," she beams. "Then gargle. I swear to god."

She's picked up on my sore throat and is offering not some tip passed down from generation to generation of actors but a piece of know-how from her mother, who, as we discover later, has been something of an influence. "Mammies know these things, don't they," she winks.

Later, she will attend the Irish premiere of The Hole In the Ground in Smithfield's Light House cinema, not too far from where I'll be dining out tonight. "Ooh. Whatever you do, try the vegan chicken," she advises.

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Another thing the 28-year-old seems to have insider knowledge on is how to pick a role that stands out, as her track record proves.

In just a few years, the Tallaght native has found herself in the shoes of some iconic parts that have made audiences laugh, cry and google the actress in question.

The first sign that something was happening was in 2010, when Kirsten Sheridan (Jim's daughter) cast her in Dollhouse while she was a third-year student of English and Music at NUI Maynooth. The performance caught the attention of the Ifta jury who deemed it worthy of a nomination in 2013.

The next splash was even bigger, however. Her turn as the titular ex-con in A Date For Mad Mary (2016) seemed to find its way into the hearts of critics and audiences alike. Darren Thornton's film chimed with something authentic in the language it spoke - but it was Kerslake's depiction of Mary that was the central vehicle.

Not long after, Can't Cope, Won't Cope, the whipsmart RTE comedy penned by Stefanie Preissner, saw another Kerslake triumph.

Her portrayal of hapless twenty-something Aisling was picked up by Netflix in the US and the BBC over in UK-land.

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Between all this and the rave reviews, The Hole In The Ground has garnered since its Sundance world premiere in January (trade publication Variety has officially dubbed Kerslake "a star", in case you hadn't heard), she's finding herself hopping from her current domicile in London across the Atlantic for interviews and meetings stateside.

Directed by Lee Cronin and trembling with a heightened level of sensory dread that is slaying overseas film critics in its wake, The Hole In The Ground is being hailed as a high point in horror cinema in 2019, and an heir to modern classics such as The Babadook and Hereditary.

Kerslake is superb as the recently single mother who begins encountering strange goings-on when she and her son (an equally excellent James Quinn Markey) relocate to a new home off the beaten track.

Like all the best horror, her terrors are veiled exaggerations of real ghouls.

"It's vastly metaphorical," she agrees, "and that's what Lee was conscious of it being about facing demons from the past but also living with your past. You walk the streets with monsters every day which is quite terrifying. There's also that element of doubt while she tries to rebuild a life for herself and her son but then being faced with somebody who isn't who they say they are."

Whether her shift into more international attention will allow Kerslake to shed the wearisome "Irish Scarlett Johansson" tag remains to be seen but she is slowly getting used to increased spotlighting.

"It's always weird," she giggles. "It is an odd existence. Things like the premiere tonight can get quite stressful, you get nerves and butterflies, and you have a full day of press and you want to come across well. But I keep telling myself you have to enjoy these things as much as you can because your voice might be important now but tomorrow nobody cares. Roll with it."

The sassy snap of Kerslake's Dublin vowels and the odd "yeknowwarramean" belie a canny operator who identified at a young age that stage and screen was where she belonged and stayed the course.

Like older sister Amie and younger sister Niamh ("Ah, you can't get notions with them around!"), she was enrolled in speech and drama classes from a young age and was constantly involved in school plays and talent shows at St Paul's in Greenhills, as well as drama festivals such as Feis Maitiu outside of it.

"I only found out the other day that when I was about four or five, I came home from school with a slip for extracurricular drama and I said to my mam, 'I want to do that'.

"There was a drama teacher called Mrs Birchall who I had in school before I went to [renowned speech and drama tutor] Anna Walker. I thought for years my mam wanted us to be good at public speaking and have a bit of confidence or special skills - but actually it was me when I was only five and whatever that teacher ignited in me.

"And my parents made it happen - even though life was difficult, they made it happen."

Something else her parents have helped with, and something she is preparing for on this Irish premiere night, is anxiety. (Horror, incidentally, is not a genre she was ever drawn to, and she has confessed to being something of a "scaredy-cat").

"I think I'm better able to manage it now," she winces. "When I was younger, I don't think I knew how to use all the emotions that are happening in your body. When you're about to perform, they say it's like being in a high-intensity car crash, your heart rate is so bad.

"When I was young and doing Feis Maitiu and my Royal Irish Academy grades and stuff like that, it was very daunting and overwhelming for a little human to do that - but I put all that pressure on myself. My mam wasn't pushy at all, same with my dad.

"And I wasn't an attention seeking child, but maybe my sisters would tell you otherwise," she hoots, "especially on a day like today where I'm all over the place! I'm actually quite a shy individual when it comes to those things. I'd only sing under the table as a kid. I'd do shows with my cousins in front of family but that was just for fun.

"But on stage was different. Mam was always like, 'you don't have to do it if you don't want to'. That need to do it was always there but I also didn't want attention either - which is kind of messed-up when you think about it! Why do it?"

'The Hole In The Ground' is in cinemas nationwide from March 1. Cert: 15A
Oh Olivia! As I watched her standing on that stage, Oscar in hand, holding back the tears, not quite able to believe her good fortune, I wanted to punch the air - for her, for me, for all working mothers and modern women. Why? Because we can identify with her. Yes, Glenn Close is a wonderful actress, and Lady Gaga surprised us all with just how good she was in A Star Is Born. But Olivia - Olivia is one of us.

A working mother of three, she has spent years quietly grafting away, slowly and carefully climbing up that ladder. From her early years working as a cleaner, a secretary and a school teacher, she held on to her dream of acting, having fallen in love with it when she was cast in the lead role of a school play at 16. She then worked her way up the ranks with small theatre, TV and film parts, gaining respect and knowledge along the way. We didn't know her name back then, but we began to recognise her face and her talent.

While I never wanted to be an actress myself, I can relate. I always wanted to be a writer. I wrote primary school projects on my chosen career - a journalist - and, at 16 (an impressionable age, it seems), was mentored into writing my very first article for an evening newspaper by my mother's generous friend.

I wrote a terrible first-person piece on doing a student exchange to France, which was subsequently published, much to my French teacher's delight.

Seeing my name in print was a defining moment for me. While I took other career paths over the years, I came back to my first love, writing, when I became a mother.

First with a blog, then freelance writing, before finally becoming a published author. It was a dream I wasn't sure I would ever attain but one I may never have followed had it not been for that first newspaper article.

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So that's lesson number one to all of us -don't give up on your little girl dreams, and don't forget to help other little girls with theirs.

The other thing that struck me watching Olivia on stage was her genuine disbelief. Here she was, a middle-aged mum from Norfolk, who's been grafting away in niche roles in comedy shows and TV dramas for years, suddenly standing in front of the biggest names in Hollywood, having swiped the greatest prize imaginable from under their noses. You could see her wondering: 'How did this happen?'

And don't we all know the feeling - female insecurities run deep.

Almost all working women suffer from a terrible affliction called imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome can strike any woman at any moment, but mothers are particularly susceptible. It's a deep, irrational fear that you will one day wake up and be 'found out'. You can never accept that what you've achieved is actually down to your own ability.

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As my fellow blogger Andrea Mara describes it: "Sufferers don't attribute promotions and achievements to ability; they assume somebody somewhere has made a mistake, and sooner or later, there will be a hand on the shoulder, and a voice saying it was all a mix-up."

Sound familiar? I, for one, know what she's talking about. Every job offer, promotion or opportunity I get, I question it. Since I wrote my first book, I've had the most wonderful media interest and lots of truly heart-warming messages and reviews. However, I still think that people are just being nice. Recently, I've also been asked to speak at not one, but two International Women's Day events, and all I can think of is: 'Me? But why?'

As Andrea points out though, even Jodie Foster felt like a fraud when she won an Oscar for The Accused, saying to CBS News: "I thought it was a big fluke I thought everybody would find out, and then they'd take the Oscar back."

We all look at the likes of Olivia and Jodie and think, well of course they deserved the awards. And I know that others would look at me and say, well, why wouldn't they want you to speak at those events?

So, there's another lesson - we are capable, we are qualified, and we need to start believing in ourselves, because the fact is, everybody else does.

Not that any of it is easy - the self-belief or the actual labour involved. Whether you are an actress or a cleaner, being a working mother comes with its own set of challenges. We juggle work, children, money, childcare, homes, career progression and the ever-present guilt on a daily basis.

In a working mums' survey on parenting website everymum.ie, 62pc agreed that, as a mother, they have less career prospects, and 54pc agreed that they earn less as a mother, leading to even further financial worries.

And in a further survey, 79pc said that being a working parent is particularly difficult in terms of career and parenting responsibilities. While Olivia may now have all the support she needs, the early days would not have been as easy for her.

Personally, I know the trials only too well. I've been everything from full-time corporate employee to part-time working juggler to self-employed freelancer, and all of them brought their own challenges.

When I worked full-time, I missed my babies desperately and the guilt was crippling. When I worked part-time, I felt like I was doing two full jobs in half the time and neither one of them particularly well. When I was self-employed, I struggled to pay the bills.

Finally, I now have something that resembles a balance, working school hours for a company that understands the modern issues facing working mums, and also writing in my 'spare' (ha!) time.

However, my kids still give out to me on a daily basis for spending more hours on my computer than with them, so who knows if I'll ever get it right. It's a never-ending battle, but one that we need to continue to highlight so that society at large takes note and begins to help us navigate the many challenges.

One way we can help ourselves in this regard is to know our worth. When Colman was cast in the excellent The Night Manager, her character was not originally pregnant. However, the team rewrote the script for her given her new situation, including lots of scenes with chairs because they didn't want to lose her.

There are always ways to work around mothers so that we can still do our job as productively and professionally as ever. And we will repay you for it with our dedication and work ethic. I bet The Night Manager producers are pretty pleased they stuck by Colman.

So what does Olivia Colman's Oscar success say about modern women, and especially mothers?

It says stay real, keep grafting, dream big, grab every opportunity with both hands, and always, always believe in yourself and your worth. And if we can all help others to do the same along the way, then the future looks bright for modern mums.
When you  and not some large corporation  holds the purse strings, there is risk involved in deviating from a proven course, buying more vineyards or investing in new equipment. When such restraint persists, the death spiral begins and the corporations swoop in to pick the bones. Such is not the case at Rodney Strong, an iconic family-owned operation that is on a path to innovation.
Lady Gaga praised Bradley Cooper as an artistic genius following their hotly discussed Oscars duet.

The A Star Is Born co-stars created one of the more memorable moments of the 91st Academy Awards when they performed the films hit song Shallow on stage together.

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Gaga, who played upcoming pop star Ally in the movie, was seated at a piano while Cooper, who portrayed ageing rocker Jackson, sat opposite her.

Midway through the song, Cooper moved alongside Gaga and they spent much of the performance staring intensely into each others eyes before resting their heads together.

Gaga, who won best original song for the track, has now paid tribute to Cooper, writing on Instagram alongside a picture of the pair: Nothing could be more special than sharing this moment at the Oscars with a true friend and artistic genius.

The intense performance led to fans calling for Gaga and Cooper to get together in real life, despite the actor being in a relationship.

Coopers partner, the model Irina Shayk, was watching the romantic performance from the front row inside the Dolby Theatre.

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It was reported earlier this month that Gaga split with her fiance, Christian Carino.

Mel B said she felt uncomfortable for Shayk  who has a daughter with Cooper  throughout the song.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain, she said: I felt so uncomfortable for Bradleys girlfriend, oh my gosh.

I would like to think it was part of the whole performance, because theres a womens code and hopefully thats not hopefully, its only professional.
The biting and cynical period comedy The Favourite has been nominated for 12 prizes at the Bafta film awards.

Starring Olivia Colman as a cantankerous Queen Anne, the film examines personal and political jealousy and intrigue in the 18th-century court.

England is at war with France, but much of the focus of the film is on a battle at home  between the Queens oldest friend Sarah Churchill, played by Rachel Weisz, and a new contender for the affections of the monarch, the socially ambitious Abigail Hill, played by Emma Stone.

Nominated for 12 @BAFTA Awards including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress a THE FAVOURITE in cinemas now. pic.twitter.com/kkKcklRcpb  Searchlight Pictures UK (@SearchlightUK) January 11, 2019

While the film is in parts an uproarious romp, filled with absurd wigs, duck racing and gleeful swearing, it is also laced with tragedy, as the ailing Queen lives with 17 rabbits, one for each child she has lost.

Directed by the Greek auteur Yorgos Lanthimos, who previously worked with Colman and Weisz on The Lobster, it has earned recognition for Colman in the leading actress category, Weisz and Stone in supporting, as well as Lanthimos, writers Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, and costume designer Sandy Powell.

Award-winning designer Sandy Powell on the costumes of THE FAVOURITE. In cinemas now! pic.twitter.com/pYU9CEOjRi  Searchlight Pictures UK (@SearchlightUK) January 6, 2019

The film is also in the running for best film and best British film.

The EE British Academy Film Awards will be handed out at the Royal Albert Hall on February 10.
On safari: Warren Buffett said he was hunting for an elephant-sized acquisition

Famed investor Warren Buffett has down played the prospects for big deals this year, in what will prompt many investors to pause for thought.

And the billionaire appeared to fault US President Donald Trump for taking too much credit for the country's economic growth.

Mr Trump often takes credit for upbeat news on the economy and stock market, sometimes tying them to his economic policies.

Mr Buffett, who supported Democrat Hillary Clinton in her 2016 White House run, said no one person should claim credit when things go well. "It is beyond arrogance for American businesses or individuals to boast that they have 'done it alone'," Mr Buffett told shareholders.

The doyen of investing said valuations for businesses were sky high.

He said in his annual letter to shareholders that he was hunting for "an elephant-sized acquisition", but was not optimistic about getting it done.

The billionaire investor said the prospects of landing a mega-deal for his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate were "not good", because "prices are sky-high for businesses possessing decent long-term prospects".

It is a problem for the Berkshire chairman and chief executive, whose company is sitting on $112bn (98.54bn) in cash and other low-returning assets that it has been struggling to invest for years.

"In the years ahead, we hope to move much of our excess liquidity into businesses that Berkshire will permanently own. The immediate prospects for that, however, are not good: Prices are sky-high for businesses possessing decent long-term prospects," Mr Buffett wrote.

"That disappointing reality means that 2019 will likely see us again expanding our holdings of marketable equities. We continue, nevertheless, to hope for an elephant-sized acquisition."

The prospect of such a deal, "causes my heart... to beat faster", the 88-year-old said.

But Mr Buffet said he would not get caught short of cash that he could use should market conditions deteriorate.

Some of Mr Buffett's transactions over the last decade or so have included complex deals with distressed companies, including in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

The Omaha investor has also been snapping up more shares of his own stock. Berkshire bought back about $1.3bn (1.14bn) of its common stock in 2018, the company said. But Mr Buffett slammed corporate bosses who buy stock back when prices are lofty.
ALMOST 1,000 people have got a pension hike following a major government review of their retirement benefits.

The pensioners payments were reassessed to see if an increase was justified following cuts imposed seven years ago.

A full state contributory pension is worth 243.30 a week but many get less than this depending on the contributions they made during their careers.

Under the review, officials from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection applied a new assessment method.

It takes into account time spent away from the workplace to carry out caring duties.

Previously, it was based on the yearly average of their social insurance payments.

Most pensioners will get an increase following the first wave of reviews, which will benefit women in particular.

A total of 1,138 pension reviews were carried out and 86pc of these  978 pensioners  are getting an increase.

In as statement, the department said the increased payments are being made without delay and include arrears backdated to March 30 last year.

The remaining 14pc of those whose pensions were assessed will continue to receive their existing payment.

However, a further 89,000 others are waiting for their payments to be assessed.

Reviews will continue to be processed until all identified pensioners receive a review outcome in writing, said the department in a statement.

The review assesses what a persons pension would be when all their contributions including any time providing home care for relatives are taken into account.

This is known as a Total Contributions Approach.

I am pleased to see that the first decisions have begun issuing to pensioners since I signed the necessary regulations to allow the increased payments to be made on foot of the reviews, said Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty.

She said the review will benefit many no pensioner will be worse off as a result.

The pension review is due to continue for months.

Ms Doherty said her department is committed to doing it as quickly as possible and has taken on extra staff to finish the work.

Meanwhile, up to 9,000 ESB pensioners on guaranteed pensions are demanding a 7pc hike in their payments to keep pace with staff pay rises.

The ESB Retired Staff Associations 15 branches held a protest at the companys head office yesterday calling for an end to a ten year pension freeze.

It wants a traditional link between pensions and ESB employees salaries restored. It says this was the practice for over 40 years until 2010.

The pensioner said they are in dispute with the ESB and the trustees of the companys defined benefit pension scheme.

The association submitted a claim for a 7.7pc increase last August, in line with what it says staff received between 2015 and 2017.

However, it said the ESB and ESB Defined Benefit Pension Fund rejected the claim.

It said the ESB pension fund had an actuarial surplus of 58m in 2017, in a statement.

But ESB Retired Staff Association would regard the inclusion of a 700m liability for future year pension increases in a solvency test of whether a pension increase in a single year can be granted as a very flawed approach.
Facebook moved fast and broke things. Big important things like the democratic process. And it made a lot of money doing it. But now regulators and legislators in different jurisdictions are waking up to the fact that this troublesome teenager may have done serious damage and should be regulated in some way.

But Facebook is a global problem child, and each country has its own idea about what regulation might entail. In the last week, the UK's digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS) select committee showed its hand. In a detailed and damning report, it said companies like Facebook shouldn't be allowed to behave like 'digital gangsters' that consider themselves above the law.

The report accuses Mark Zuckerberg of behaving contemptuously towards legislators by refusing to appear in front of committees. It also claimed the social network was deliberately obtuse: "the management structure of Facebook is opaque to those outside the business and this seemed to be designed to conceal knowledge of and responsibility for specific decisions".

Facebook responded to the report by stating it supported privacy legislation, had taken steps to improve transparency around political advertising, increased the size of the teams working on abusive content and invested in artificial intelligence to tackle the problem. "While we still have more to do, we are not the same company we were a year ago," said Karim Palant, the company's UK public policy manager.

But while Facebook may be the main offender the report is directed at social media business and online advertising overall. It calls for a compulsory code of ethics for tech companies overseen by independent regulator, which would be able to launch legal action against companies found to breach the code. All social media platforms should be responsible for removing harmful content, including proven sources of disinformation. And legislators have work to do too; the DCMS report recommends that UK law should better define digital campaigning, and acknowledge the role of unpaid campaigns and Facebook groups in influencing elections and referendums. It also claims there has been clear and proven Russian influence in foreign elections. Legislation needs to keep up to date with the latest technological developments, and should explicitly deal with foreign players trying to illegally influence the democratic process. The committee even analysed web traffic to its own reports to show just how interested Russian audiences are in what it has to say. Almost 20pc of its unique page views came from Moscow, while 18pc of its unique page views came from London.

The UK isn't an outlier. Legislators across the world are beginning to realise the dangers of platforms that can court huge audiences without any oversight and without the responsibility of traditional media entities. In Europe we've seen the arrival of the General Data Protection Regulation, which gives European citizens control over their data. Plus, the EU ePrivacy directive, which covers tracking and monitoring is on the way.

In Germany, the Network Enforcement Act ensures tech companies remove hate speech from their sites within 24 hours, or face fines of up to 20m. In France, a new law gives judges powers to order the immediate removal of online articles that they believe amounts to disinformation during election campaigns. It also allows the French national broadcasting agency to suspend foreign TV channels that deliberately disseminate false information.

In the US there's the California Consumer Privacy Act, which gives California residents rights around their personal data; to know what personal information companies collect, what's happening to that information - who it's sold to and shared with, and to block the sale or sharing of that information.

Perhaps even more tellingly, the US Federal Trade Commission is mulling over how heavily it should come down on Facebook following the Cambridge Analytica scandal. A fine of up to $5bn has reportedly been mooted, but a decision could be months away.

So the tide seems to be turning and proper regulation for online platforms is inching ever closer. Just like a square peg won't fit in a round hole, there's increasing awareness that the VC-driven economic logic of modern surveillance capitalism isn't a good fit with an open and engaged democracy.

Without proper checks and balances, we'll be heading for a future of multiple echo chambers, where inequality of access to information is as dangerous to society as economic inequality.
Food giant Kraft Heinz reported a troika of bad news last week that sent its shares plummeting as much as 28p. Photo: Bloomberg

Packaged food giant Kraft Heinz reported a troika of bad news last week - profit that missed estimates, a $15.4bn (12.7bn) writedown on assets and an SEC subpoena that sent its shares plummeting as much as 28pc to a record low on Friday wiping out more than $15bn in market value.

It seems to be more than just a bad quarter for the maker of Oscar Mayer hot dogs and Kraft macaroni and cheese. The results raise existential concerns about the investment thesis of a company that was created in a 2015 merger orchestrated by Warren Buffett and 3G Capital, a private equity firm known more for its cost-cutting zeal than its ability to nurture consumer brands.

Two years after the merged Kraft Heinz tried - and failed - to buy Unilever for $143bn (126bn) in a deal that would let it continue slashing costs and improving profit margins, it has struggled to boost sales with a portfolio of tired brands, including Capri Sun and Maxwell House.

Now, after a massive writedown on assets including the iconic Oscar Mayer and Kraft trademarks, and a profit miss driven by higher-than-expected supply chain costs, questions are emerging about the zealous expense reduction at the heart of 3G's strategy.

"The cost-cutting mentality is coming back to bite them," said Ken Shea, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. "They need to get their house in order."

Investment Thesis

When Kraft Heinz was created, analysts wondered where the growth would come with a suite of ageing brands, which also includes Jell-O and Kool-Aid. Changing consumer tastes and shopping habits have decimated sales at the largest food companies in the US, as shoppers gravitate to more natural and organic options, rather than pre-packaged and sugar-laden products. But that wasn't supposed to matter for Kraft.

3G, with support from Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, had produced industry-leading margins after taking over Heinz in 2013 and slashing expenses. That was the plan at Kraft, and it worked for nearly two years. The combined company cut $1.7bn in expenses, beating the target it released when the deal was announced. And investors cheered, with the shares rising north of $90 apiece to trade at a big premium to packaged-food peers.

But after the fat had been cut from Kraft Heinz, management needed another deal so it could start again on improving profit margins. Two years ago, the company made the blockbuster bid for Unilever, and when news of the proposal leaked, Kraft Heinz shares closed at a record high.

Since Unilever rebuffed the proposal, though, the Buffett-backed company has been on a steady decline.

Old Brands

Kraft Heinz's inability to do a big acquisition under chief executive Bernardo Hees has put a spotlight on its failure to boost sales. The writedown reported late last Thursday, essentially a charge to reduce the goodwill value of its biggest-name trademarks, was more proof that the company has not managed its brands well, Shea said.

The charges resulted in a net loss of $12.6bn, or $10.34 a share. The company also slashed its dividend and flagged to investors a subpoena it received last year from the US Securities and Exchange Commission related to its procurement practices. Kraft Heinz said that as a result of an investigation with the help of an outside lawyer, it recorded a $25m "increase to costs of products sold."

On the back of that bad news, the pressure will be even higher to do a deal. Over the years, speculation about potential targets has centred on food peers like Mondelez, General Mills, Campbell Soup and Kellogg.

There have also been rumours it could look outside the food space in order to diversify its portfolio and grow into developing markets with the acquisition of a consumer products company.

M&A Need

Hees mentioned "industry consolidation" on the earnings call, saying Kraft Heinz was working to strengthen its balance sheet, presumably so it can pursue a deal. Kraft Heinz said it would return to profit growth in 2020 and its strong operating margins give it the "balance sheet flexibility for future consolidation".

If the 'Bank of Buffett' is still open, Kraft Heinz may still be able to get a transformative deal done.

But with its shares plummeting to a record low and big questions emerging about the strategy, pulling off a big acquisition - something that's already been tough - may be even harder from here.

Berkshire Hathaway's investment declined from a valuation of about $15.7bn to $11.4bn as the stock plunged to $35 at 10.04 am in New York.

"Kraft Heinz needs to be a consolidator and they haven't been able to do it," said Scott Mushkin, a senior analyst at Wolfe Research.

"You are in an industry that has very significant structural headwinds and one of the things you can do to try to offset that is to put some of these companies together."

Bloomberg
Avantcard is to create 40 jobs at its headquarters in Carrick-on-Shannon in Leitrim and its satellite office in Dublin.

The positions will include roles supporting the new An Post and Avantcard partnership announced last year, as well as a handful of specialist roles to support planned business growth.

The partnership with An Post will see it offering An Post branded personal loans and credits cards through the national post office network in the coming weeks.

"We had an incredibly busy 2018 as the business continues to expand and we look forward to building on that in 2019 with our new team members," said Avantcard CEO Chris Paul said.

AvantCard, which already employs 220 people in Carrick-in-Shannon and Dublin, used to be called MBNA before it was taken over in 2012.

It offers consumers credit cards and loans.

Last year Madrid-headquartered Bankinter bank bought Avantcard. That raises the prospect of a new foreign lender shaking up the market here.

Yesterday's announcement today was welcomed by Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys.

Describing the new jobs as "a huge vote of confidence in the local workforce", she said "Avantcard is living proof that you don't have to be based in a big city to make a big impact".

"I would like to warmly congratulate Chris and the team at Avantcard on this huge achievement, which serves as an example for others to follow," Ms Humphreys added.
An Irish-registered pharma company wants the High Court to overturn a 1.6bn corporation tax assessment by the Revenue Commissioners.

Perrigo Pharma International has brought the proceedings over a 'Notice of Amended Assessment' for 2013 that altered the amount of tax the Revenue claims is due from the company.

The case is against Inspector of Taxes John McNamara, the Revenue Commissioners, the Minister for Finance and the State.

Perrigo bought Elan Pharma International in 2013.

The amended assessment related to the sale in 2013 by Elan of its interest in the intellectual property for the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri.

That deal was initially taxed as trading income at 12.5pc, but Revenue, after reassessing the transaction, said it should have been treated as a chargeable gain and so taxed at a higher rate.

Perrigo bought Elan eight months after it had sold the Tysabri intellectual property.

At the High Court yesterday, Paul Sreenan SC, for Perrigo, said his client strongly disputes the amended assessment, which was issued late last November.

Counsel said the company had conducted its business in Ireland for many years on foot of a certificate from the Minister in Finance, under the 1997 Taxes Consolidation Act, entitling it to a 10pc rate of Corporation Tax. The rate increased to 12.5pc in 2005. Counsel said his client had a legitimate expectation that the sale of intellectual property would attract the same corporate tax it had been paying for almost 20 years.

However, Revenue in October said intellectual property sales, including of Tysabri, should have been treated as chargeable gain subject to an effective 33pc tax rate.

The firm now seeks an order quashing the amended assessment for January 1 to December 31, 2013.

Yesterday, Mr Justice Seamus Noonan granted the firm permission to bring its challenge. The case comes back in April.

The judge also put a stay on the company's appeal against the assessment which is pending before the Tax Appeals Commission until the High Court case has been determined.
A new world record price for a working sheep dog bitch at an official sale of 14,000gns, or 17,000, was the standout highlight at the opening fixture of 2019 at Skipton Auction Mart in North Yorkshire.

It fell to Northumberland shepherdess and media star, 33-year-old Emma Gray, and her two-year-old tri-coloured bitch Brenna.

Emma, who farms on the remote National Trust-owned Fallowlees Farm at Harwood Forest, Morpeth, only narrowly failed to match the all-time world record high price of 14,100 guineas, or 14,805, also established at Skipton in May, 2016, by Northern Irelands Padraig Doherty, of Ardagh Sheepdogs in County Donegal.

This was for a male dog. Emma and Brenna smashed Skiptons previous top price for a bitch of 9,500gns, itself thought to be a world record price for a female dog, established in 2017 by top Irish triallist Michael Gallagher, of Armoy in County Antrim.

Emma, who operates under the Graylees prefix, was selling a fully broken dog for the first time at Skipton, the UKs major sheep dog sale venue.

She was achieving by far her highest-ever price for one of her dogs with Brenna, who, as a condition of sale, was allowed to compete two days later in the English Nursery Final at Hutton in the Forest in Cumbria.

Although Brenna put in a good run she didnt finish in the top ten, though Emma did become English Nursery Champion with another of her dogs, Telf Joff.

After her record price Skipton success, Emma, who has a 400-strong flock of North of England Mule sheep, also running a commercial suckler cattle herd comprising Whitebred Shorthorn Blue-Greys and Galloways, said: I am over the moon, absolutely delighted.

Emma has already made her mark in the sheep dog trialing world. She began working with dogs at the age of 13 and later became the first woman to win the Northumberland Sheepdog Trials League in the contests four-decade history.

She was also English Nursery Champion and Reserve National Champion with another dog, Tweeddale Jamie, a son of Littledale-based Ricky Hutchinson's celebrated International Reserve Supreme Champion, Sweep, with whom Emma also represented the English team that won gold in the International Sheep Dog Societys (ISDS) 2017 World Sheep Dog Trials in the Netherlands.

Jamie has since fathered a six-strong litter of pups to Brenna  three dogs and three bitches  five of which have been sold privately, with one bitch retained on the farm, which Emma will train and hopefully later trial.

She first took over the 150-acre Fallowlees Farm aged just 23, becoming the UKs youngest solo shepherdess in the process. Emma hit the headlines in 2012 when she penned a memoir of her solitary life on a farm in the middle of nowhere with no neighbours for miles around, called One Girl and Her Dog, in which she chronicled how difficult it was to find a husband.

Dubbed Britains loneliest shepherdess, the story had a happy ending when Emma, who hails from Hawick in the Scottish Borders, found true love and last September in Kelso tied the knot with local fireman Ewan Irvine.

It was a story that grabbed the nations heartstrings. As well as making the national press, Emma has since featured on national television in the BBCs Countryfile, ITVs Flockstars, Robson Greens Tales from Northumberland series and the Alan Titchmarsh Show.

Breaking news is that the story has an even happier ending, as the couple are expecting their first child, a baby boy, two months after the Skipton sale.

And with both a baby and lambing time just around the corner, fireman Ewan, who is himself already competing with success at open level on the trials field, will be having a few weeks off to take sole charge of lambing as Emma takes things easier on the farm, which remains fallow no longer!

Record breaker Brenna, already a multiple nursery trials winner with open points to her credit, has impeccable breeding credentials. She is a daughter of legendary Welsh trialist Aled Owens Welsh National and International Supreme Champion, Llangwm Cap. Mr Owen, also a double World Sheep Dog Trials champion, travelled up purposely from Penyfed in Denbighshire to see Caps offspring put in a sparkling performance on the Skipton trials field.

Brenna, whose dam is Aeron Flos, bred by Mr Owens nephew Arwel Jones in nearby Llangwm, had attracted tremendous pre-sale interest, both from at home and overseas. On sale day, bidding opened at 3,000gns, with several telephone bidders from the United States fiercely competing in the hope of claiming the top-notch bitch.

She is bound for America, when the new world record price for a female dog was paid by Dr Pamela Helton, who farms in Maryland and has a flock of some 60 head of Swedish Gotland sheep. She also runs dogs in United States Border Collie Handlers Association (USBCHA) trials in the eastern and mid-western US.

I already have many plans for Brenna. She is slated to be my farm and primary trial dog and I am strongly considering importing her in whelp (pregnant) to the US. A potential sire is under consideration, said Dr Helton, who is Artistic Director and President of the Third Millennium Ensemble in Frederick, Maryland, which offers cutting-edge performances of chamber music and is also an advocate for up-and-coming composers.
Cloud cover will not offer respite from new eye-in-the-sky satellite cameras which will monitor activity on Irish farms from this year onwards.

At a meeting with ICMSA last week, Department of Agriculture officials "assured" farmer representatives that the new technology would be capable of operating in cloudy conditions.

It is anticipated that monitoring by cameras will ultimately reduce the number of on-farm physical inspections by Department staff and other bodies. The satellites will enable Department staff to view the activities on every Irish holding at least twice a week.

Meanwhile, the Department has agreed to review its decision to move the ANC payment date from September to October.

The ICMSA raised concerns that many farms had factored in the Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) payment, formerly known as the disadvantaged areas payment, into their September cashflow. Last year around 219.27m was issued under the ANC and Areas of Specific Constraint to farmers.

"[It] is a critical component of farm cash-flow at that time of year," said ICMSA deputy president Lorcan McCabe. He also urged farmers to ensure that they tick all the required boxes in their online application form.

Cloud cover won't hinder farming's 'eye-in-the-sky'
The city of Cape Coral treated delegates from its sister city in China to some of the best the Cape has to offer: world class accommodations, meals at local favorites, a waterfront tour  and opportunities related to economic development, including visits to businesses.

The Baise delegates, identified by the city as Chairman Wu, chair of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultive Conference; Director Ma, director of the Municipal Industrial Management Committee; and Director Gan, director of Foreign Affairs, visited Monday and today for a grand tour put on the citys Department of Economic Development to not only showcase the city and perhaps start a sister-city relationship, but to also encourage them to consider expanding to the area.

Joanne Killian, citizen ambassador who started the sister-city program here two years ago, said she is trying to meld the two cities for cultural and economic opportunities.

Theyre having a wonderful time. We are looking into investments, into education and tourism programs. We are also looking into the hotel and shopping industries, Killian said Monday.

Nita Whaley, who works in the citys Economic Development Office and chairs the welcoming committee, said she thought the delegation would learn why people want to live in Cape Coral.

Were happy theyre here because we want to find economic opportunities for them and for us, Whaley said. They are among the largest exporters of aluminum and we use a lot of it for pool cages, so we have companies who could use them as another source.

The delegates arrived in Southwest Florida early Monday morning and were greeted at The Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village with a breakfast in the new conference room.

They then took part on a tour of Lee Health and Astro-Durance Bungee Systems before going to Rumrunners, first to go on a boat tour to see the waterfront (and identify the citys expansion and the potential for possible future investment) and then for dinner.

Tuesday was to start with a tour of the citys municipal charter schools and lunch prepared by the students. They then were to travel to Ecological Laboratories, a consumer-products testing lab.

The visit is to conclude with a closing reception with local business leaders, a tour of the Wicked Dolphin Distillery and dinner at Pinchers before the delegation is to board a plane Wednesday morning.

Killian said the delegation seemed to most like Lee Health, which has a wellness center, particularly the yoga and pickleball.

We talked about doing pickleball training because China doesnt have it. We can teach them pickleball and maybe someday do a competition, Killian said. In Pittsburgh we had a dragon boat race for fun and then after a few years we competed.

The delegation also took a stroll around the Cape Harbour waterfront before taking their boat trip Monday.

Chairman Wu was asked what he thought of Cape Coral.

The people are very friendly and have welcomed us with open arms. The water is clean and the trees are green and you can see everywhere with the blue skies, Wu said through an interpreter. There are also beautiful women and handsome men.

City Council budgeted up to $10,000 for what originally was to be a three-day visit. The city sought sponsorships for host components with the Rainbow Project, the Charter School Authority, Lee Health, Ecological Labs and Big Blue Brewing sponsoring food and meals.

Final cost numbers are still be tallied.

A delegation from Cape Coral is expected to visit Baise sometime in May.
Cebu (CNN Philippines, February 25) - President Rodrigo Duterte issued a stern warning to those involved in the drug trade as he transitions to the last half of his term: "I will finish you all."

Duterte made the comment during a speech in Cebu Sunday, adding he would put an end to illegal drug syndicates.

"Naa pa koy mga three years, mahurot gyud nana sila [I still have three years. They will all be gone]," he said.

Duterte also continued his tirade against businessman Peter Lim and Daanbantayan, Cebu Mayor Vicente Loot whom he linked to the illegal drug trade.

The President said he doesn't believe Loot got his wealth through legal means, and warned Lim to hide and not show up in the country.

"Consider my term the last three years as the most dangerous years for people who are into drugs either pusher, trafficker or drug lord. Kaning panahona, pinakadelikado gyod ning kinabuhi. Basta naa ka sa druga, I will make it very very dangerous for you to live...Itong remaining tatlong taon ko uubisin ko kayong lahat [My remaining three years, I will finish you all]," he said.

Duterte said the United States, after observing illegal drug trade in the Philippines, forecast in the1990s that the country may become a narco state.

He said he will prevent this situation from happening.

"Di ko musugot na kini akong nasod will become a failed state [I will not allow that our nation will become a failed state]," said Duterte.

Cebu-based stringer Dale Israel contributed to this report.
John Corley of the Dublin2Mayo Tractor Run group outside Dail Eireann with his Massey Ferguson 135

"People on the street were telling me to get off the street, but it was all fun."

These are the words of Dublin2Mayo Tractor Run organiser and suckler farmer John Corley who took to the streets of Dublin at the weekend on his Massey Fergusion 135 to launch the over 280km run which will take place this Easter.

Last year the group raised 96,424 for charity and this year they say if they can raise over 100,000 before the run starts, one of the organisers will wear a dress while driving the tractor through the eight counties that take in the run.

John, who is a suckler farmer and lorry driver from Kilkelly, Co Mayo told FarmIreland that he got some funny looks driving the tractor on O' Connell Street but that it was all fun.

"People were asking me if I wanted a push when I was at the traffic lights at O'Connell street. I guess that's just what happens when you bring a tractor in to Dublin city centre," said John.

John and a group of locals decided to set up the run in 2018 to raise funds for the Special Baby Care Unit in Castlebar. His now 7 year old son, Oran, used the service when he was born.

"He's flying it now and is stone mad for tractors. We just wanted to give something back," said John.

The group are also raising funds for the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dublin and the Special Baby Care Unit in the Regional Hospital Mullingar.

32 tractors are taking part in the run which will leave Dublin on Good Friday (April 19). Drivers completing the run are asked to raise 1,500 in sponsorship.

As the run made its way west of the Shannon in to Connacht and Mayo last Easter, John and the team were overwhelmed by the support they received and the tractors that joined them along the way.

"People had bonfires lit. Hopefully we will see the same level of support this year."

For more information on the run or if you would like to donate visit: extremetractors.ie
DAMAGES: Monsanto has lost a court case in the US based on whether or not Roundup caused a groundskeepers cancer. Photo: AP

Bayer AG on Monday faced a second US jury over allegations that its popular glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup causes cancer, six months after the companys share price was rocked by a $289m verdict in California state court.

The lawsuit by California resident Edwin Hardeman against the company began on Monday morning in federal rather than state court. The trial is also a test case for a larger litigation. More than 760 of the 9,300 Roundup cases nationwide are consolidated in the federal court in San Francisco that is hearing Hardemans case.

Bayer denies all allegations that Roundup or glyphosate cause cancer, specifically non-Hodgkins lymphoma, saying decades of independent studies have shown the worlds most widely used weed killer to be safe for human use and noting that regulators around the world have approved the product.

During the first phase in the trial, the nine-person jury is asked to weigh scientific evidence to determine whether Roundup caused Hardemans lymphoma.

Aimee Wagstaff, a lawyer for Hardeman, told a packed courtroom during her opening statement on Monday that chemicals in Roundup made the weed killer more toxic than glyphosate alone, causing the mans cancer.

But US District Judge Vince Chhabria, who presides over the federal litigation, repeatedly scolded her for crossing the line by referring to internal corporate communications the judge has said have no bearing on the science in the case.

You completely disregarded the limitations, Chhabria said.

In a January ruling, Chhabria called evidence by plaintiffs that the company allegedly attempted to influence regulators and manipulate public opinion a distraction from the scientific question of whether glyphosate causes cancer.

If the jury determines Roundup caused Hardemans cancer, the judge said such evidence could be presented in a second trial phase.

Plaintiffs criticized Chhabrias order dividing the trial and restricting evidence as unfair, saying their scientific evidence allegedly showing glyphosate causes cancer is inextricably linked to Monsantos alleged wrongful conduct.

Evidence of corporate misconduct was seen as playing a key role in the finding by a California state court jury in August that Roundup caused another mans non-Hodgkins lymphoma and that Bayers Monsanto unit failed to warn consumers about the weed killers cancer risks. That jurys $289m damages award was later reduced to $78m.

Bayers share price dropped 10pc following the verdict and has remained volatile.

Brian Stekloff, a lawyer for Bayer, in his opening statement attacked the idea of a link between Roundup and cancer. He noted U.S. rates of non-Hodgkins lymphoma have remained steady over time, even when Roundup use began to soar in the 1990s.

Hardeman began using the Roundup brand herbicide with glyphosate in the 1980s to control poison oak and weeds on his property and sprayed large volumes of the chemical for many years on a regular basis, according to court documents. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma at the age of 66 in February 2015 and filed his lawsuit a year later. Hardeman is currently in remission.

But Stekloff on Monday said Hardemans age and his history of chronic hepatitis C were known risk factors for developing lymphoma. The lawyer also said the majority of non-Hodgkins lymphoma incidents are idiopathic, or have no known cause.
Intu Properties, which owns the Trafford Centre in Manchester, has had a challenging year

Intu Properties slumped the most since November as the company scrapped its dividend and wrote down the value of its UK shopping centres and stores.

The mall landlord recorded a 13.3pc fall in the value of its portfolio of malls and stores last year, pushing its loan-to-value ratio - a key measure of financial strength - up to 53.1pc.

That's high for real-estate investment trusts, and forced the company to suspend its dividend to save cash.

Shares in Intu fell as much as 12.5pc last week.

UK malls have been beset by retailer failures, closures and rent cuts as physical stores seek to battle the growth of online shopping, rising minimum wages and tax hikes.

That has hit demand from potential investors who area already feeling wary about buying in the UK market amid the uncertainty of Brexit.

In addition to scrapping dividends, saving about Stg200m ($261m) a year, Intu will try to sell properties to bring its borrowing levels back in line with peers such as Hammersonc, whose loan-to-value ratio is 37pc.

Chief Executive Officer David Fischel wrote in the company's full-year earnings statement that "substantial sales" in the UK will prove "challenging until a political resolution on the Brexit issue is achieved," and won't be in the interest of shareholders "while market sentiment towards UK retail property is so negative".

Sales of UK shopping malls dipped to Stg1.38bn in 2018, the lowest since 1996, according to broker Savills. Sales of all retail property totalled just Stg5.7bn last year, the lowest since 2000, according to figures compiled by Property Data. Intu is also weighing the sale of parts of its recently-acquired Spanish business.

Fischel said that the company has received "a number of unsolicited offers which we are evaluating". Intu owns three shopping malls in Spain, with plans to build a fourth, and 17 centres in the UK.

Bloomberg
An artists impression of Ho Chi Minh Citys Grand Manhattan luxury development of apartments, hotel and restaurants

The Grand Manhattan embraces the latest in New York living.

The 39-storey development will house apartments, a hotel, restaurants and some of the most expensive real estate in the country.

But instead of Central Park views, it's located in Ho Chi Minh City's District 1, better known as Saigon's Wall Street.

It's the latest brainchild of Bui Thanh Nhon, a former seller of veterinary medicine who's built his Novaland Group into one of Vietnam's largest property companies.

The chairman's majority ownership means he's amassed a fortune of around $800m (706m), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Such opulence would have been inconceivable in 1995 when Nhon shifted Novaland into real estate. The communist country has since become one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

Expansion has averaged more than 6pc per year over the past 20 years, after Vietnam opened up to foreign investment and began taking the shackles off its private-sector companies.

More recently, factories have been relocating from Southern China, helping GDP to top 7pc last year.

That's spurring overseas investors to target real estate, alongside a rapidly-growing cohort of well-heeled domestic buyers, eager to put hard currency into property.

In a world where home prices are looking precarious from London to Hong Kong, Sydney and New York, it makes Vietnam an attractive location.

Vietnam is "where southern China was 10 or 15 years ago," said Goodwin Gaw, chairman of Hong Kong-based private-equity firm Gaw Capital Partners, which oversees $17bn in real estate assets globally. It's no longer a sure thing considering home prices have been rising steadily over the past 18 months, but "long term it's still very good if you're able to hunker down".

Prices for luxury apartments in Ho Chi Minh City climbed 17pc in 2018 to an average of $5,518 per square metre, according to CBRE Group. The firm forecasts they'll climb nearly 10pc by early 2020 to $6,000 per square metre. (More affordable apartments in the city only increased 1pc last year.)

Nhon's project contains two and three-bedroom units that start from $6,000 per square metre. (He declined to be interviewed for this story.) While that's almost double the price for a typical high-end apartment in Ho Chi Minh City, it's a fraction of the cost in Singapore, Tokyo or Hong Kong.

While demand from overseas investors remains strong, the latest wave of buyers are Vietnam's newly prosperous. The number of people with net assets of $30m or more increased by 320pc from 2006 and 2016, the fastest pace globally ahead of India and China, according to a 2017 report by Knight Frank. Many Vietnamese have built their wealth through property, according to Chris Freund, founder of private-equity firm Mekong Capital.

Home ownership rates exceed 90pc, one of the highest in the world. Rising values mean there are middle-class families with dwellings valued in excess of $1m.

Neil MacGregor, a managing director at Savills Vietnam, the sales agent for The Grand Manhattan, said developers used to focus on the middle class but are now turning their attention to the more affluent. "We have more and more very rich Vietnamese, particularly entrepreneurs, looking for places to put their money," he said.

Novaland isn't without competition. CapitaLand, Singapore's largest developer, has similarly luxurious projects in Ho Chi Minh City and the country's capital Hanoi.

Land supply in central locations, however, is tight, one reason the wealthy are keen to buy now, said MacGregor.

Bloomberg
A share of the surge in corporation tax should be poured into infrastructure, Ibec says.

The employers group called on the government today to invest in public infrastructure to ensure that investment by the private sector and economic growth continues.

Danny McCoy, the groups chief executive, told a business conference on Tuesday that corporate tax receipts had outstripped government projections by 14.3bn since 2015 and noted that investment by the private sector was running at 1.5bn a week.

A proportion of surging corporate tax revenues should be allocated for long-term capital needs, Mr McCoy said.

The proceeds should be set aside for more ambitious ongoing capital investment and for the next economic slowdown so that Ireland has the resources to invest in critical infrastructure and productive investment even when budgetary arithmetic is difficult.

The State ran a budget surplus in 2018 for the first time since the financial crisis thanks to those company tax revenues, despite large overspends on health.

Business leaders said that the biggest constraints on future growth prospects related to infrastructure.

The biggest challenge bringing people in from abroad is housing, said Ceclia Ronan, Country Officer for Citi Ireland, which has 2.500 employees in Dublin.

That was echoed by Ruth Curran, Managing Partner at MERC Partners, an executive search firm.

The key things were investment in infrastructure and housing, she said when describing conversations with executive hires, along with more and better investment in healthcare.

Mr McCoy also called for a return of Special Savings Incentive Account (SSIA)- type schemes to bolster savings.

Further incentives could also be built into these schemes to encourage a future staggered withdrawal of these savings or even to provide a bridge to pension provision, he said.
British Prime Minister Theresa May will have to outline exactly why she wishes to delay Britain's exit from the European Union if her parliament demands she do so, France's finance minister said on Tuesday.

May on Tuesday offered MPs the chance to vote in two weeks for a potentially disorderly no-deal Brexit or to delay Britain's exit if her attempt to ratify a divorce agreement struck with the EU fails.

EU leaders have increasingly pushed May for an extension of the negotiating period. Three EU officials told Reuters on Tuesday that they would be ready to approve a short delay if Britain need more time to ensure parliamentary ratification.

"I just want to recall that there is an agreement. We believe this is a fair and a good agreement and it is up to the British government to assess the best way of adopting that agreement," Bruno Le Maire said at a joint news conference with Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe during a visit to Dublin.

I was delighted to welcome my colleague and friend @BrunoLeMaire to Dublin today. We had a very productive discussion on Brexit, international tax and the future of our economic and monetary union pic.twitter.com/M9GVRSKkPn  Paschal Donohoe (@Paschald) February 26, 2019

"If there is a call for an extension of Article 50 (negotiating period), we will have to understand what for. And once again it is up to the British government to explain to the member states of the EU what for."

Minister Paschal Donohoe said Dublin and Paris believed ratifying the divorce deal was "the best and only way forward". But Donohue added that Ireland would not block any potential extension, calling May's concession to pro-EU British lawmakers in her party an "important development".

Le Maire and Donohoe also discussed how companies' digital revenues should be taxed after a French-led effort to do so at a European level put them at opposite sides of the debate.

The French Government has pressured Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe to review how tech giants are taxed on revenues earned through online sales and collected data from social media users.

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French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said taxes on companies based in Ireland, such as Facebook and Google, must change if tax policies are to be made efficient.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe conceded that changes must happen but said special consideration must be given to exporting countries who depend heavily of such companies for employment.

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Mr Le Maire reaffirmed Frances support for Ireland as Brexit talks continue. However, he warned tax changes are necessary.

"On digital taxation, and I want to be very clear there is no link between the two issues and never has been," said Mr Le Maire.

"The real challenge is to build a new international taxation for the 21st century. You need a fair taxation of digital activities.

"You have to tax the revenue and have to tax the revenue from data.

"The key point for us is to find a permanent international solution as soon as possible.

"If we are able to do that at a bialateral level between France and Ireland I think that is good news for the possibility of finding a solution at ODCE."

Le Maire said he and Donohoe agreed that the two countries would work together to pave the way for a common position on digital taxation at the OECD level. But he added that he believed an interim European solution remained the best way of generating leverage for a wider deal.

He added that France had never made a link between its unwavering support for Ireland over Brexit and their disagreement over the proposed European digital tax.

"Like all good friends, we have agreements and might have some disagreements," he said.

Last year the European Commission proposed enforcing taxation on three sources of income for major digital companies: money raised from advertising, exploitation of data and digital sales. France has supported these proposals.

Ireland has so far resisted change but Mr Donohoe conceded the issue must be examined.

Explainer: Brexit de-escalation? How Wednesday's parliamentary debate will work

British Prime Minister Theresa May will on Wednesday update parliament on her progress towards securing a Brexit deal, giving politicians the chance to challenge her approach and vote on alternatives.

May wants to negotiate changes to the departure deal she agreed with the EU last year and has promised to bring it back for approval in parliament by March 12 at the latest.

She looks to have postponed a moment of reckoning in the deeply divided legislature by promising MPs they will be given the chance next month to block a no-deal Brexit and delay Britain's exit day if her agreement is rejected.

Wednesday's debate will not involve a vote on whether to approve or reject a Brexit deal.

What will they debate?

Lawmakers will debate a simple government statement which reads: "This House notes the Prime Minister's statement on EU exit of 26 February, 2019; and further notes that discussions between the UK and the EU are ongoing."

Can MPs propose changes to the wording?

Yes. They are known as amendments and, if approved by a vote, could exert political pressure on May to change the course of Brexit. However, the government is not legally bound to follow any changes approved following the debate.

UK Parliament Speaker John Bercow chooses which amendments are selected for debate.

What can we expect?

May's move to de-escalate a showdown in parliament over fears that her strategy could result in Britain leaving the EU without a deal means that a plan for parliament to seize back control of the process is not expected to be voted upon.

However, voting on other alternatives will still take place and a number of amendments could be put to a vote. The final wording of amendments has not been published yet.

Will there be votes?

Speaker Bercow will decide whether to select any of the amendments for a vote at the start of the debate, due around 1300 GMT.

Lawmakers will vote on each of the selected amendments one by one, before voting to give final approval to the wording of the motion itself. Voting is due to begin at 1900 GMT. Each vote takes around 15 minutes and the result is read out in parliament.

What amendments are expected?

1. A cross-party group of lawmakers, led by the Labour Party's Yvette Cooper, will propose a plan that would give parliament the legal power to force May to seek an extension to the negotiating period.

However, it is expected to be withdrawn before a vote provided ministers confirm the timetable May set out on Tuesday.

2. The opposition Labour Party will put down an amendment setting out their own vision for Brexit and demanding the government adopt its negotiating position. Among other things, Labour is calling for a permanent UK-EU customs union.

3. A Conservative lawmaker will put forward a plan seeking to ensure that safeguards on the rights of EU citizens, which have already been agreed with Brussels as part of the withdrawal deal, would apply even if the government was not able to ratify the exit deal.

4. The Scottish National Party are also expected to table an amendment. They have previously called for the government to delay Britain's EU exit date.
A so-called Brexit 'deal in the dessert' is being ruled out as the Europe's leadership including British Prime Minister Theresa May and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar decamp to Egypt today.

Amid heavy security in the troubled country, prime ministers from across EU and the Arab League of States have gathered for a first of its kind summit. Brexit is not on the agenda but with Mr Varadkar and Mrs May both in attendance they will be vying for the attention of other EU leaders.

Mrs May is expected to meet with EU Council President Donald Tusk on the fringes of the conference to discuss her proposed changes on the Irish backstop. However, sources have ruled out a "deal in the dessert".

Ahead of arriving in Sharm El-Sheiki, Mr Varadkar said: "While Brexit is not on the agenda for the Summit, the event will provide me with the opportunity to discuss latest developments with many of my EU counterparts who will be in attendance."

The main purpose of the two-day summit is for leaders to consider how to strengthen cooperation on issues of mutual interest including multilateralism, regional peace and stability, migration, human rights, counter-terrorism, trade, economic development and climate action.

The Taoiseach will make a formal statement during the plenary sessions. It is expected he will canvass support for Ireland's bid to win a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council in June 2020 for the 2021-2022 term.

The League of Arab States is the only pan-Arab grouping gathering all Arab countries and includes 22 states.
Britain's opposition Labour Party said on Monday it would back calls for a second referendum on Brexit if parliament rejects its alternative plan for leaving the European Union.

With just over a month until Britain is due to leave the bloc on March 29, Prime Minister Theresa May is seeking changes to her exit deal in order to break an impasse in parliament.

Labour's decision could damage her hopes of winning support for a revised deal in a vote she has promised by March 12, by attracting those who would have backed her agreement in order to avoid a no-deal exit but who would prefer a second referendum.

Parliament is due to debate and vote on Wednesday on the next steps in Britain's tortuous departure from the EU, and lawmakers are set to offer proposals, or amendments, which could include demanding the exit deal is put to a public vote.

Labour said it would put forward an amendment calling on the government to adopt its Brexit proposals, which include a permanent customs union with the EU and close alignment with the bloc's single market.

"If Parliament rejects our plan, then Labour will deliver on the promise we made at our annual conference and support a public vote," Labour's Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said.

Parliament is not expected to back Labour's Brexit plan and it remains unclear whether there is a majority in parliament in favour of holding a second referendum.

"We're in a very volatile situation. We are in the middle of a political crisis and a constitutional crisis... It's difficult to say at any one point what feelings are going to be two or three weeks down the line," a Labour spokesman told reporters.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been under pressure for some time to support a second referendum. Last week, eight referendum-supporting lawmakers quit the party, in part owing to frustration over his failure to back another vote.

The prospect of holding a second vote poses a dilemma for Corbyn: while many of the party's members and supporters fervently back a so-called People's Vote, others simply want Britain to leave the EU as soon as possible.

Labour said it would support a bid by its lawmaker Yvette Cooper to give parliament the legal power to force May to delay Brexit by seeking an extension to the Article 50 negotiating period.

"We are committed to also putting forward or supporting an amendment in favour of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory (Conservative) Brexit being forced on the country," Corbyn was due to tell a meeting of his lawmakers on Monday, his office said.

"One way or another, we will do everything in our power to prevent no deal."

Brandon Lewis, Chairman of May's Conservatives, said another popular vote would "take us back to square one" and Labour had gone back on its promise to respect the 2016 referendum result. That went 52-48 percent in favour of leaving the EU.

The amendment on a public vote may not come at this week's vote in parliament however. The Labour spokesman said the wording and timing of the amendment was still to be decided.

A proposal by Labour lawmakers Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson that May's deal be put to the public in another referendum will not be put forward for a vote in parliament until May brings her agreement back for approval.

"There's no turning back for Jeremy now," Kyle said.

Labour MPs at the meeting on Monday were split in their reactions.

"I still have deep reservations about the idea of having another referendum. I think it's going to be deeply divisive," lawmaker Stephen Kinnock said.

Labour foreign affairs spokeswoman Emily Thornberry told ITV a second referendum should present a choice between May's deal and remaining in the EU, but the Labour spokesman directly contradicted her, saying that would be an unacceptable choice.

The Remain Labour campaign group, which wants to stop Brexit, said the announcement was "a significant step forward".

"A second referendum was only ever possible with the votes of Labour Members of Parliament and we are now on the verge of making this happen," founder Andrew Lewin said in a statement.

"We are not complacent, but we are closer tonight to a Peoples Vote than we have ever been."
British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has made a major U-turn by announcing he will support a second Brexit referendum.

His party will attempt to block a no-deal Brexit and put forward or support an amendment calling for a public vote to prevent what he called a "damaging Tory Brexit".

Until now Mr Corbyn has been reluctant to back a second referendum, despite coming under intense pressure from within his own party.

However, last night he relented and told a parliamentary party meeting "one way of another, we will do everything in our power to prevent no deal".

He told MPs that, with the Brexit deadline looming, British Prime Minister Theresa May was "recklessly running down the clock" in an attempt to "force MPs to choose between her botched deal and a disastrous no deal".

Labour said it would put forward an amendment calling on the Conservative government to adopt its Brexit proposals, including a permanent customs union with the EU and close alignment with the bloc's single market.

"If parliament rejects our plan, then Labour will deliver on the promise we made at our annual conference and support a public vote," said Labour's Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer.

European leaders are convinced that delaying Brexit is now the only way to avoid a disorderly crash-out by the UK.

With 31 days until Brexit, Mrs May is under huge pressure to take what EU Council President Donald Tusk termed the "rational decision" of seeking an extension to Article 50.

The Irish Government is prepared to lobby other EU members to grant the postponement in a bid to give the House of Commons space to define the Brexit it wants.

However, it appears key figures including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch Prime Minster Mark Rutte will take little convincing. Germany's leader raised the idea with Mrs May during a meeting on the fringes of the EU-Arab summit in Egypt yesterday.

And Mr Rutte, who described himself as one of the UK's best friends, said they are "sleepwalking" into chaos. "Wake up. This is real," he said.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said "a lot of colleagues feel if there is an extension it should be an extension with a plan, rather than an extension just to continue negotiations which have gone on for almost two years".

During a meeting with Mr Varadkar in Egypt, Mrs May failed to propose any alternatives to the backstop or suggestions for how it could be time limited. Publicly she is sticking to her script, telling reporters a March 29 exit is "within our grasp".

Significantly, she refused to rule out seeking an extension despite repeated questions from the media at a press conference.

Today she will make a statement to parliament updating MPs on her "progress" in talks on the backstop which are ongoing in Brussels.

It is expected she will again leave the door open to a delay while simultaneously arguing that it should not be needed.

"What it does is precisely what the word 'delay' says. It just delays the point at which you come to that decision," she said shortly before leaving Egypt.

"And I think that any extension of Article 50, in that sense, isn't addressing the issue.

"We have [a deal] within our grasp."

The EU has offered to provide clarifications stating the mechanism for maintaining an open Border on the island of Ireland is only ever meant to be temporary.

However, the UK has yet to table precise proposals for what Mrs May believes might satisfy hardline Brexiteers in her Conservative Party.

Mr Varadkar said any proposals that do emerge "can't contradict the letter or spirit of what has already been agreed".

Several of Mrs May's MPs, who fear the damage a hard Brexit could inflict, have indicated they may back a vote that will force the government to decide between leaving without a deal or extending the Article 50 negotiation period if it has not had a deal approved by March 13.

The Dail will this evening begin debating emergency legislation to prepare for a no-deal Brexit.

However, Mr Varadkar has said he has a "sense" that the worst case scenario is unlikely to happen.
TWO men have been killed in separate single vehicle road crashes in Sligo and Wicklow.

In Sligo, gardai are investigating a crash that happened at approximately 9.45am on Tuesday on the Tubercurry Road.

"A man in his 60s was fatally injured following a single vehicle road traffic collision," a garda spokesman said.

"The mans car struck a wall at a bridge at Doomore, Cloonacool. His body was removed to the mortuary at Sligo University Hospital where a post-mortem will take place.

A technical and forensic examination of the scene is underway, the road is closed traffic and diversions are in place. Gardai are appealing to witnesses to contact Ballymote Garda Station on (071) 9189500, the Garda Confidential Line 1800-666-111 or any Garda station.

Meanwhile a young man has been killed and another seriously injured after a car struck a ditch in Co Wicklow.

The single-vehicle crash happened at Vale Road, Arklow at around 9.40pm last night.

A 19-year-old man - who was a front seat passenger - was killed and the driver of the car (18) was injured.

The young victim was named locally as Stephen O'Byrne from Annsfield House, Ballycreen, Aughrim.

There were no other occupants in the car.

Gardai wish to appeal for witnesses to contact Arklow Garda Station on 0402-26320, The Garda Confidential Telephone Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.

It has been a tragic week on Irish roads as a motorcyclist in his 50s was also killed in a crash on Dublin's M50 yesterday.

The single-vehicle crash occurred near the north bore of the Port Tunnel shortly after 10am.

The man in his 50s was pronounced dead at the scene and was last night named locally as Stephen Fisk, from Co Meath.

A 16-year-old boy was killed and four other teenage boys hospitalised following another single-vehicle crash in Carlow in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Gardai are investigating the collision which occurred near 'The Nine Stones' Mount Leinster, Borris, Co Carlow at approximately 5am on Sunday morning.

The teenage victim was named locally as Eamon Kavanagh from Myshall, Co. Carlow.
Survivors and relatives of victims of the Stardust fire at Leinster House (Antoinette Keegan/PA)

The Taoiseach has agreed to meet with survivors and relatives of victims of the Stardust fire after they staged a sit-in at Leinster House.

The group had said that they would not leave the premises on Tuesday until they received written confirmation of a meeting with Leo Varadkar over their campaign for a new inquest.

We are staging a sit in at the DAil until @campaignforleo agrees to meet us. Please listen to our story An Taoiseach and hear why we need a new inquest. Please retweet #JFT48 pic.twitter.com/VF1enhDyXP  @JusticeForThe48 (@JusticeFor48) February 26, 2019

Forty-eight young people died in the Stardust nightclub in Artane, Dublin, on Valentines Day in 1981 in what is considered the worst fire disaster in the history of the state.

Antoinette Keegan, who survived the fire but lost her two sisters, said the group has had enough of being ignored by the Government.

We have attempted to contact Leo Varadkar over and over about a meeting and we have had no response, she said.

The Stardust was the biggest disaster in the history of the state, why cant the leader of this country stand up and face his responsibilities and listen to our concerns?

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David Cameron was able to face up and apologise for Hillsborough and Bloody Sunday, why cant Leo face us?

We just want to speak to him, to let him hear our side of the story. We have no intentions of moving, and wont be leaving until we get confirmation that the Taoiseach will meet with us.

The group had been in the building meeting Independent TD Finian McGrath, and decided to stay on in an attempt to convince Mr Varadkar to meet them.

After around two-and-a-half hours in Leinster House, the group received word that the Taoiseach would be happy to meet them and their solicitor in the coming weeks.

The Taoiseachs office said they will contact the group to organise a date and time.

In a statement, the group thanked the independent TD for his help.

Met with the Stardust families again today. A positive and constructive meeting. They deserve everyones support...more on that later.  Finian McGrath (@Finian_McGrath) February 26, 2019

We would like to thank Finian McGrath for being true to his word and speaking directly with the Taoiseach on our behalf, who has now agreed to meet with the Stardust Victims Committee and our legal representation, a statement said.

Relatives and survivors have been campaigning for a new inquest for a number of years, and say they have found new evidence.

Officials originally ruled that the cause of the fire was arson, a theory that was never accepted by the families.

It was later ruled out following a fresh inquiry in 2009.

The most recent campaign began in June, and saw the families gather signatures on postcards petitioning the attorney general for a fresh inquest.

Travelling the length and breadth of Ireland, the tally stood at more than 48,000 signatures, 1,000 for each victim of the fire.

Their initial request to meet the Taoiseach last year was denied and they were referred to the Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan, as Mr Varadkars office said it fell under the remit of the Department of Justice.

The Taoiseachs Office has been approached for comment.
Gardai are investigating after a staff member at a Dublin prison was caught with a replica gun.

The incident happened on Sunday at Wheatfield Prison on Cloverhil Road.

It is alleged that a member of staff was in possession of prohibited items while entering the prison.

Gardai carried out a follow up search and two items were recovered.

A garda spokesman said "the matter is now under investigation to ascertain if an offence has been committed. No arrests have been made."
Badger vaccinations will be very important in eradicating TB, says professor (Ben Birchall/PA)

Tuberculosis (TB) may not be eradicated in Ireland by 2030 despite substantial progress being made to eliminate the disease, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

Professor Simon More from University College Dublins School of Veterinary Medicine told the Agriculture Committee on Tuesday it would take decades before TB was fully eradicated in cattle.

Prof More said the ongoing rollout of badger vaccination was very important to the national programme for eradication.

Despite this, he said there was robust evidence to suggest the current strategies being adopted may not be sufficient to successfully eradicate TB from the country by 2030.

Mr More said: TB eradication is likely to be achieved with the addition of badger vaccination to all current control measures, however, it will take a very long time  that is, many decades.

Further measures will be needed, in addition to current controls plus badger vaccination, if Ireland is to eradicate TB within a reasonable time frame.

Efforts to eradicate the disease have been made on an ongoing basis by successive governments since the 1950s.

Only a small number of countries internationally have managed to successfully eradicate the disease.

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Australia and some northern European countries are among them.

The last known case of TB in Australia was in 2002.

Mr More said in Ireland the disease was widely considered to be an issue for the government whereas in countries where there the disease has been eliminated successfully TB was very reliant on industry engagement.

In Australia, the programme was funded 50:50 by government and industry, with the latter funded through a cattle transaction levy.

If TB was to recur on the continent, a cost-sharing model of 20:80 (government: industry) has been legally agreed, which Mr More said reflected a shared understanding of the perceived public and private good associated with getting rid of the disease.

During the committee, members conducted scrutiny of a proposal regarding fishing authorisations for European Union fishing vessels in UK waters and fishing operations of UK fishing vessel in EU waters post-Brexit.

The decision was made to invite fisheries officials from the Department of Agriculture to appear before the committee at a later date to discuss the matter in greater detail.
An Garda Siochana released CCTV footage of the last known steps of missing Icelander Jon Jonsson yesterday, but it came with a caveat - news organisations couldn't publish it until 10.15pm.

That's because RTE's Crimecall was going to air the footage first - at 9.35pm on Monday night. And everyone else would have to wait.

Mr Jonsson (41) vanished after leaving the Bonnington Hotel in Dublin more than two weeks ago.

Common sense would suggest valuable CCTV and information should be released to the public as soon as its made available.

It must then be questioned why gardai embargoed such footage until after it aired on RTE's Crimecall. Gardai had released 'stills' of the CCTV footage to journalists on Sunday - so they obviously had access to the CCTV footage since then at least.

But the initial email containing a video link to the CCTV footage was only sent to media organisations at 8pm on Monday night.

And it came with an embargo.

"Gardai wish to renew their appeal to the public for assistance in tracing 41-year-old Jon Jonsson," the statement said.

"The investigation is being highlighted on tonights Crimecall programme... Please note that there is an embargo on the use of this CCTV until 10.15pm."

Crimecall plays a "vital role in assisting An Garda Siochana with its work on various live investigations," gardai say.

But does that mean other media organisations should be restricted from publishing CCTV which could help a time sensitive case?

Or was the embargo introduced so the footage would be exclusive to Crimecall?

Crimecall is there to provide a public service, but it has been known to refuse showing CCTV that aired elsewhere first.

My parents were victim of an armed robbery five years ago and the whole incident was captured by security cameras.

They released the footage to Independent.ie and Herald.ie in a bid to help identify the perpetrators.

People came forward with information, but no arrests had yet been made, so they then contacted Crimecall in the hope they would broadcast the incident.

They were told no. The reason? Gardai decided what aired on the show and it was likely they wouldn't use it as it had "appeared elsewhere."

That approach isn't really conducive to catching criminals.

Gardai issuing CCTV videos to news organisations via a press release is rare. The embargo added to the unusualness.

"An Garda Siochana is releasing CCTV footage aired on Crimecall tonight for the purposes of assisting in a missing persons investigation," the press release said.

"This footage is not being released for any other purpose. While every effort has been made to ensure that third parties are not identifiable on the footage, please ensure that you are satisfied that no other parties, other than the missing person are identifiable.

"If/when the missing person is found it is your responsibility to ensure that this CCTV footage is removed from all your online media sources."

Media websites always publish missing person appeals released by gardai and often they help trace the person and encourage people to come forward with information.

It begs the question as to why the footage was only released last night, when CCTV images had been released at the weekend.

There's probably some GDPR reason behind it which involves a convoluted explanation, but one would think it's in the interests of Jon Jonsson's family that this detail would be made available to the public as soon as possible.

Media organisations are competitive with having stories first, but when it comes to missing people or anything that is time sensitive, that really shouldn't be the case.

Crimecall may be broadcast on RTE, but it shouldn't delay other news sites from showing important footage for fear it might attract less viewers.

When asked if the embargo was a request by RTE, an RTE spokesperson said: "All decisions around CCTV footage used on Crimecall are operational decisions for An Garda Siochana.

"RTE does not ask for footage to be embargoed."

On receiving queries from Independent.ie about the reasons for the embargo, the Garda Press Office said the feedback "will be taken on-board if similar situations arise in the future."

"Firstly, thank you for your support for missing person investigations. Thank you for your feedback on this matter, which will be taken on-board if similar situations arise in the future. An Garda Siochana uses embargoes to assist the media while protecting ongoing investigations.

"An Garda Siochana does not comment in individual aspects of an ongoing investigation.

"In any Missing Persons investigation a range of factors are considered with regard to how the investigation proceeds and the level and variety of public appeals which are made which include, but not limited to:

The age of the missing person

The circumstances of the disappearance

The background of the missing person

Views of the immediate family

Progress of the investigation

"Yesterday Crimecall featured four independent missing persons investigations."
Gardai are appealing for witnesses after a man was shot in Drogheda, Co Louth.

The victim left a premises in the M1 Retail Park in Drogheda at about 2.45pm on Tuesday and got into a white Vauxhall Astra with two other men.

A black Volkswagen Passat with the partial registration 132 D pulled up close to the Astra and fired a number of shots into the car, police said.

The man, in his thirties, who was a passenger in the car, was struck at least once. The other men with him were not injured in the attack.

The driver of the Astra managed to take the injured man to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, where he was treated for serious injuries.

The black Passat also drove away from the scene, but is yet to be located.

Gardai have sealed off two crime scenes and a technical examination is under way at the M1 Retail Park and at the hospital, where the Astra remains.

An incident room has been set up at Drogheda Garda Station.

Garda are asking anyone who was in the retail park between 1pm and 3pm on Tuesday to contact them.

A spokesman said: We are also seeking information on the whereabouts of the Black Passat used in the shooting.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Drogheda Garda Station on 041 9874200.
Four and a bit years after David Cameron accidentally coined the term, we finally have a definition of masosadism and it turns out its Theresa May.

What do you do when the House of Commons keeps inflicting humiliating defeats on you? The answer, it turns out, is simples. You deny them the satisfaction, and start inflicting them on yourself instead.

It was, in its own way, taking back control, something that May declined to vote for on 23 June 2016, but better late than never.

According to the official parliamentary records, May has told the House of Commons a full 79 times that we are leaving the European Union on 29 March. She has ruled out the possibility of any delay, or any extension to Article 50, almost as many times. But right at the moment, various backbenchers were conspiring to take the power to do that out of her hands, she just did it herself.

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

Allowing for various preconditions which well come on to shortly, the government will, she said, bring forward a motion on whether parliament wants to seek a short, limited extension to article 50.

With her next breath, she made it clear that she was, herself, absolutely against extending Article 50, which means we are now at the stage of Brexit where the prime minister is herself introducing legislation she herself wants to be defeated.

It means that the Brexit video game has now perhaps reached its last level. The final boss you must beat is always yourself, the final enemy to conquer is your own mirror image. Luke and Darth. Ken and Ryu. May and May.

But it also elevates Brexit from merely mad riddle that no one understands level (copyright Danny Dyer), to a badly set puzzle that just cannot be solved.

Here, for your delectation, are Brexits next stages. On 12 March, the House of Commons will have a meaningful vote on Mays newly renegotiated Brexit deal, which will not have been renegotiated in any meaningful way, because the negotiations concluded months ago. It will probably vote it down.

On 13 March, the House of Commons will then vote on whether it will accept a no-deal Brexit. It will almost certainly vote that it will not accept one. No deal will officially no longer be better than a bad deal. And then, the very next day, Brexit may no longer mean Brexit.

On 14 March, the commons will vote on whether to extend Article 50 for a limited time. And May will encourage them not to do so. Shell do this for reasons she set out, the most significant among them being that if Brexit were to be delayed until, say the end of June, the EU parliament elections will have been and gone, the UK will not have taken part in them, it would have no MEPs, could not realistically remain in the European Union, and so a second delay would become virtually impossible. She described this as a sharper cliff edge. But the cliff edge is no longer the analogy. It is not so much getting in a car, pointing it at the horizon and slamming down the accelerator. It is just locking the doors, destroying the key and waiting for the air to run out.

And naturally, never to be surpassed in the sh*tshow stakes, Jeremy Corbyn was on hand with his own genius idea. Now that eight of his MPs have set up a new party, explicitly designed to appeal to the vast majority of Labour voters who are pro-Remain, it turns out Corbyn has rediscovered the nanoscopically thin pro-Remain credentials he wore with astonishing unease during the Brexit referendum.

As of today, Corbyn and Labour, are in favour of a second referendum, but only under a particular set of circumstances that stand precisely 0 per cent chance of ever coming to pass. The prime ministers botched deal provides no certainty or guarantees for the future, and was comprehensively rejected by this House, he barked at May. We cannot risk our countrys industry and peoples livelihoods, so if it somehow passes in some form at a later stage, we believe there must be a confirmatory public vote to see if people feel that that is what they voted for.

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So this is Labours position. There will be a second referendum, but only if Mays deal passes. In other words, Corbyn is prepared to offer a second referendum as a way out of the Brexit impasse, but only after a way out of the impasse has been found.

As ever, its hard to know where to start with this. The House of Commons has been stuck on a Brexit desert island for months now, and here was Corbyn, announcing that he is now be prepared to consider building a raft, but only after the helicopter has arrived and carried everyone to safety.

It was another masterclass in straight talking, honest politics, from the least straight talking, most dishonest party leader in decades.

It is, frankly surreal to have to point out that by the time these votes take place in mid March, the bacon on Britains supermarket shelves will still be in date by the time the UK is meant to leave the EU. Nothing other than Britains future, and the economic prospects of 70 million people, will have to be decided in less time than it takes for raw meat to go off.

That is unless Corbyn finds his way out of a riddle that has already been solved, and May is ultimately unable to defeat May. Or is it the other way round? Frankly Ive got no idea.
Nearly 200 passengers who were stuck on an Amtrak train for over 40 hours in heavy snow have finally made it to a station.

The Los Angeles-bound service left Seattle on Sunday morning but was stuck in Oakridge, Oregon, from 6.20pm local time (GMT-8), when it hit a tree.

According to an Amtrak spokeswoman, snow and debris on the line stopped the train in its tracks, with the extreme weather also making alternative transport for passengers impossible.

Finally, at around 7.50am local time on 26 February, a Union Pacific locomotive arrived to tow the train back towards Eugene, after crews spent all night clearing the line.

Volunteers from the Red Cross greeted the weary passengers when they finally disembarked on Tuesday morning at a train depot in Eugene, Oregon.

Ice Tsunami hits New York Show all 4 1 /4 Ice Tsunami hits New York Ice Tsunami hits New York Local residents check out a massive build up of ice that was pushed onto the shore of Mather Park in Fort Erie. AP Ice Tsunami hits New York A family walks near a wall of ice that was pushed onto the shore. AP Ice Tsunami hits New York A windstorm Sunday broke an ice boom in Lake Erie and allowed the ice, which was floating on the water at the mouth of the Niagara River, to spill over the retaining wall and onto the shore. AP Ice Tsunami hits New York A man photographs the ice that was pushed onto the shore. AP

Oakride, which is 45 miles from Eugene, received 25-35cm of snow on Monday, causing numerous power outages in the area.

Although the train had electricity and heat still working while it was stranded, by the time it pulled into the station tempers, food and even nappies were running short.

A Union Pacific spokesperson said the heavy snowfall outside contributed to the decision to keep passengers on board the train, as it still has power.

There are also only two small hotels in the local town nearest to where the train was stranded.

Passengers were given conflicting information, according to Rebekah Dodson, who said they were told twice on Monday that another train was coming to get them, but hadnt had any official word from Amtrak in the meantime.

Its been difficult to keep peoples panic down and morale up because we have no idea when were getting off, Dodson, whose train journey was supposed to last just four hours, told the Oregonian.

Its just a mess and theres nowhere we can go.

The train still had heating and functioning toilets and travellers were served breakfast and lunch.

However, Dodson said drinking water ran out and parents were forced to construct makeshift nappies out of washcloths.
Eight months after their historic meeting in Singapore, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un are set for round two.

Both sides are playing down expectations of a major breakthrough, but some analysts believe genuine progress could be made.

Having borrowed a Chinese jet to fly into Singapore amid fears North Koreas own planes might not make the journey, the nations so-called supreme leader this time embarked on a two-day train journey to get to Hanoi. Mr Trump took off on Air Force One on Monday.

While their first meeting was unquestionably historic  no sitting US president had met before with a North Korean leader  some questioned how much Mr Trump secured in exchange for providing legitimacy to a nation that had broken international treaties to develop a nuclear weapon.

So, just what can be expect from the second meeting of the two leaders?

North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits Show all 16 1 /16 North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea, portraits of former supreme leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are required by law to be hung in the home, the classroom, the factory and all manner of other private and public places Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the classroom AFP/Getty North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the living room AFP/Getty North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the maternity ward of the hospital Alamy North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits On board the ship Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits At the ballot box Mannen av bord North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the office AFP/Getty North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits On the bridegroom Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits On the Pyongyang subway Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits On a government building Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the teacher training facility AFP/Getty North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In Kim Il Sung square in Pyongyang Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the home AFP/Getty North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits At the military parade Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the hall Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits At the Chinese border AFP/Getty

What did they achieve in Singapore?

Plenty of people said the first meeting delivered little and the vague commitment to the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula contained few details. Critics said Mr Trump, in his typical style, oversold the deal brokered during five hours of talks. I do trust him, yeah, he told ABC News, in an interview from the city state. Now will I come back to you in a year, and youll be interviewing, Ill say, Gee I made a mistake? Thats always possible.

But perhaps the most important achievement was the change in the narrative. Just months before the meeting, Mr Trump and Mr Kim had been exchanging threats about fire and fury and the size of their nuclear arsenals. Such was the anxiety that in January 2018, people in Hawaii ran for cover after a false ballistic missile alert was sounded. People were genuinely scared that conflict could break out.

The main achievement was changing that narrative of one of potential conflict to one of two countries that had the potential to do a deal, said Yun Sun, a regional expert and co-director of the East Asia programme at the Stimson Centre, a DC-based think tank that works on peace issues.

 Mike Pompeo contradicts Donald Trump to say North Korea is still a nuclear threat

What has (and has not) happened since Singapore?

One criticism of the big headlines Mr Trump and Mr Kim made last summer was that they were then not followed up by solid achievements by envoys. Western analysts say that because Mr Kims power is all-embracing, it is harder for his diplomats to make agreements.

A similar point could be made about Mr Trump. Secretary of state Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton both interact with North Koreans at a high level, but Pyongyang knows Mr Trump could change his mind in an instant and any agreement rendered meaningless.

Following the meeting, Reuters said North Korea repatriated 55 boxes containing what were believed to be the remains of American soldiers; in July, satellite images indicated North Korea had begun to dismantle some facilities at its Sohae satellite launching station; North and South Korea moved forward with their own reconciliation.

But US intelligence officials have said North Korea has continued to develop its nuclear and missile arsenals, despite a self-imposed moratorium on testing.

What would each side like from Hanoi?

Put simply, North Korea would like to see some sort of sanctions relief  whether from US sanctions, international sanctions or those enforced by South Korea. The US would like to see something tangible to convince it that North Korea is serious about denuclearisation.

Progress for Pyongyang is and has always meant regime survival, said Paul Carroll, a North Korea expert and a senior adviser at N Square, based in San Francisco.

Any sanctions relief would be a gain, any statements that downgrade the status of the decades long armistice would be a gain, and rhetoric from Trump that conveys less threat from Kim and more legitimacy would be a gain. In concrete terms, sanctions relief, food aid, would be tangible progress.

He said from the US perspective it would like specific, time-bound commitments from North Korea on its behaviour with respect to its nuclear programme and its willingness to allow verification.

For example, it has said it would allow inspections of some sort at the Yongbyon facilities. Great, but what exactly and for how long and by whom? he said. Continued moratoria on nuclear and long-range missile tests would also be progress  it would essentially cap any improvements of their programme.

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What would represent genuine progress?

Analysts warn not to expect too much, and that the reshaping of the relationship between the US and North Korea will take decades. But there is room for optimism about modest progress. Indeed, Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, said he was more hopeful about this summit than the first.

One possible outcome, he said, would be a formal end of the Korean War, which the North has long called for as a major step towards normalising ties. That would be symbolic, he said. It would show Trump is serious about the US taking steps to change the relationship.

After meeting with Mr Kim in September, South Korean president Moon Jae-in said the North was willing to permanently dismantle its Yongbyon nuclear complex and allow international inspectors into some missile sites if the United States makes concessions of its own.

In exchange, the United States could also agree to opening US-North Korea liaison offices and allow some inter-Korean projects, provided the North takes steps towards denuclearisation, Reuters said.

Mr Sun said a win-win for both sides would involve agreeing to a road map that identified further steps. If North Korea allows IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] inspections, that would be a meaningful step.

Mr Trump has suggested he is in no rush. He said: I just dont want testing. As long as theres no testing, were happy.

Yet he also said North Korea had an opportunity to turn the corner. With complete denuclearisation, North Korea will rapidly become an economic powerhouse, he said on Twitter. Without it, just more of the same. Chairman Kim will make a wise decision.
| BY Lynchy |

Sherri Maxwell has joined the McCann Worldgroup Thailand network as Executive Creative Director, with her special focus to be MRM//McCann work.

Maxwell (pictured left) has 25 years of multi-regional experience and joins from her previous role as regional ECD for Creative Underground, based in Hong Kong.

A true creative hybrid, she is passionate about digital transformation and UX, with her work being awarded at key international shows for categories including Digital, Data-Driven Marketing and Best Use of Customer Insights & Data. She has also judged on the Direct jury at Cannes.

Maxwell said: Creativity plays a huge role in exploring innovative CX/UX solutions and designing a seamless consumer journey. Whether it is engaging content or an insight-based digital platform that grows business, McCann and MRM//McCann understands this, so I am really excited to join the team. This will be my second stint living in Thailand, where some of my best work was achieved, as well as making some great friends, so Im looking forward to this new chapter.

Having relocated to Bangkok, Maxwelli will partner with Sukit Kittinuntakul, the Deputy GM of MRM//McCann Bangkok, to deliver cutting-edge work that helps brands grow meaningful relationships with people.

Kittinuntakul (pictured left) has spent more than a decade focusing on Hybrid Engagement Planning and Consumer Experience. His background spans a wide range of industries, during his previous roles with McCann and MRM//McCann, and his recent promotion to Deputy GM of MRM//McCann will see him responsible for spearheading the MRM//McCann Bangkok office and digital transformation projects.

The changes to the team are designed to help MRM//McCann fulfill its mission of being Thailands leading customer relationship agency for the digital age. Leveraging its core competencies of creativity, technology and performance, the agency will continue to help brands grow meaningful relationships with people.

Yupin Muntzing, CEO of McCann Worldgroup Thailand, commented, Sukit has been with us for more than five years and has all the credentials to lead this expansion of MRM//McCann. With Sherris creative vision, I am confident we have the best team in place to deliver outstanding work for our clients.

With digital advertising set to grow by 20%, and eCommerce poised to grow by 13%, Thailand is a key player in Southeast Asias digital and data-driven marketing scene. Under Sukit and Sherris leadership, we have every confidence that our Bangkok team will continue to make an important contribution both to our ambitious growth plans and to our collective intelligence in the region, remarked Nick Handel, Regional Managing Director, MRM//McCann APAC.
The international communitys chilling complacency towards human rights abuses in the Middle East last year gave authorities free rein to crackdown on dissent, a new Amnesty International report has said.

In Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran, the repression of civil society and targeting of peaceful activists intensified significantly in 2018. These states were emblematic of the international communitys inadequate response to government abuses, according to the groups annual report on human rights in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Virtually all human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia are now behind bars or have been forced to flee the country, Amnesty reported.

The report noted that whilst the case of Jamal Khashoggis murder was met with unprecedented global condemnation  spurring a Saudi Arabian investigation and prompting Germany, Denmark and Finland to suspend the supply of arms  the kingdoms key allies did little in response.

Even the global outcry over the Khashoggi case has not been followed by concrete action to ensure those responsible for his murder are brought to justice, said Heba Morayef, regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

Amnesty International and Magnum Photos exhibition Show all 10 1 /10 Amnesty International and Magnum Photos exhibition Amnesty International and Magnum Photos exhibition Refugee camp in Stenkovac, Macedonia Cristina Garcia Rodero / Magnum Photos Amnesty International and Magnum Photos exhibition Over 250.000 Kurds fled from Iraq after a bitter counter attack by Saddam Hussein in northern Iraq. They now live in the mountains on the Turkish border Bruno Barbey / Magnum Photos Amnesty International and Magnum Photos exhibition Five boys from Promahi in front of the refugee ship S.S Samos that evacuated children during the Civil War in Greece David Seymour / Magnum Photos Amnesty International and Magnum Photos exhibition A family stands on what is left of their home in Syria Lorenzo Meloni/Magnum Photos Amnesty International and Magnum Photos exhibition Refugees waiting for UNICEF milk (reconstituted from powdered milk) distributed for the first time at the refugee camp in Ioannina, Greece David Seymour (Chim)/Magnum Photos Amnesty International and Magnum Photos exhibition Chechen refugees living in neighbouring Ingushetia, Russia Thomas Dworzak/Magnum Photos Amnesty International and Magnum Photos exhibition I Welcome - An Amnesty International and Magnum Photos exhibition of photographs of refugee crises past and present at the South bank, London Amnesty International and Magnum Photos exhibition I Welcome - An Amnesty International and Magnum Photos exhibition of photographs of refugee crises past and present at the South bank, London Amnesty International and Magnum Photos exhibition I Welcome - An Amnesty International and Magnum Photos exhibition of photographs of refugee crises past and present at the South bank, London Amnesty International and Magnum Photos exhibition I Welcome - An Amnesty International and Magnum Photos exhibition of photographs of refugee crises past and present at the South bank, London

In contrast, the kingdom received worldwide praise for its lifting of the controversial ban on women driving in June, despite the large number of activists that were still in detention, including women who had previously protested against the ban.

Saudi Arabias involvement in the Yemen war was similarly met with widespread indifference, the report says.

The USA, UK and France are among states that have continued to export weapons that have enabled the Saudi Arabia-led coalition to target civilians, schools and hospitals during the conflict in Yemen in violation of international law.

In Iran, Amnesty designated 2018 as a year of shame, with more than 7,000 protesters, students, journalists, environmental activists, workers and human rights defenders arrested  many arbitrarily. Women protesting against the forced wearing of the hijab were amongst those targeted by authorities.

The country witnessed two major nationwide protests in January and then in July and August, with security forces targeting those demonstrating with live ammunition, teargas and water cannon, according to the NGO.

The European Union, however, which has an ongoing human rights dialogue with Tehran, was muted in its response.

In Egypt, authorities continued to crack down on opposition, intensifying efforts in the run-up to the presidential elections in March 2018, which saw dozens of people arrested.

Egypt is now a more dangerous place for critics than at any other time in the countrys recent history, the group found.

The authorities used solitary confinement that amounted to torture and other ill-treatment and enforced disappearance against hundreds of people with impunity, Amnesty International said.

Rights groups strongly criticised Egypt this month for executing nine men accused of the 2015 killing of the countrys chief prosecutor, citing concerns of unfair trials with confessions extracted under torture.

On Monday, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi defended the death penalty during a summit between Arab and European states, saying the two regions had two different cultures.

 Hillary Clinton says Trump is part of the coverup in Khashoggi killing during speaking tour

The priority in Europe is achieving and maintaining wellbeing for its people. Our priority is preserving our countries and stopping them from collapse, destruction and ruin, as you see in many surrounding states, he said.

Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission president, said human rights had been raised in bilateral meetings during the two-day summit.

Amnesty International also expressed concern over President Sisis ratifying of two laws that awarded the state almost total control over print, online and broadcast media.

Despite these abuses, France and the US continue to supply Egypt with weapons used for internal repression, Amnesty said.

Time and again allies of governments in the region have put lucrative business deals, security cooperation or billions of dollars worth of arms sales before human rights, fuelling abuses and creating a climate where [Middle East and North Africa] governments feel untouchable and above the law, said Philip Luther, research and advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has announced his resignation in an unexpected Instagram post, offering an apology to the countrys people.

Many thanks for the generosity of the dear and brave people of Iran and its authorities over the past 67 months, he said.

I sincerely apologise for the inability to continue serving and for all the shortcomings during my service. Be happy and worthy.

Mr Zarif, a US-educated politician who is considered one of the lead architects of the 2015 Iran-US nuclear deal, did not explain why he was resigning.

He had hit out at Irans hardliners a day earlier, during a speech in Tehran.

Revolution in Iran: In pictures Show all 11 1 /11 Revolution in Iran: In pictures Revolution in Iran: In pictures A demonstration against the Shah in 1979 Getty Revolution in Iran: In pictures Armed women on guard in one of the main squares in Tehran at the beginning of the Iranian Revolution Getty Revolution in Iran: In pictures Demonstrators hold a poster of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in January 1979, in Tehran, during a demonstration against the Shah AFP/Getty Revolution in Iran: In pictures Iranian rebels pose with a U.S. flag they bayonetted upside down on trees at Sultanabad Garrison northeast of Tehran on February 12 2019 AP Revolution in Iran: In pictures A gun battle in Khorramshahr during the revolution, 1979 Getty Revolution in Iran: In pictures Ayatollah Khomeini's supporters demonstrate in the streets of Tehran against the Shah among tear gas. The "black friday" caused the death of 200 people according to the Iranian government, 2000 according to the opposition, September 8 1978 AFP/Getty Revolution in Iran: In pictures Women wearing the traditional Chador demonstrate in the streets of Tehran against the Shah on September 7 1978 AFP/Getty Revolution in Iran: In pictures Demonstrators in Tehran calling for the replacement of the Shah of Iran during the Iranian Revolution, 1979. They carry placards depicting Ayatollah Mahmoud Talaghani, one of the leading revolutionaries Getty Revolution in Iran: In pictures Ayatollah Khomeini's supporters demonstrate in the streets of Tehran against the Shah. The "black friday" caused the death of 200 people according to the Iranian government, 2000 according to the opposition, September 8 1978 AFP/Getty Revolution in Iran: In pictures Thousands of the Ayatollah Khomeini's supporters on the streets of Tehran calling for the religious leader's return in January 1979 Getty Revolution in Iran: In pictures The Iranian Islamic Republic Army demonstrates in solidarity with people in the street during the Iranian revolution. They are carrying posters of the Ayatollah Khomeini, the Iranian religious and political leader Getty

We cannot hide behind imperialisms plot and blame them for our own incapability, he said on Sunday.

Independence does not mean isolation from the world.

Irans anti-Western hardliners blamed Mr Zarif when the US pulled out of the deal in May 2018 and reimposed sanctions.

The politician was appointed minister of foreign affairs in August 2013 after Mr Rouhani won the presidency, while promising to open up Iran to the outside world.

Mr Zarif also caused uproar in February 2014, when he publicly condemned the Holocaust and was subsequently summoned to parliament.

Holocaust denial has been a staple of public speeches in Iran for decades.

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A spokesman for the Iranian mission to the United Nations confirmed the resignation but it remains unclear whether Hassan Rouhani, Irans president, will accept it.

Additional reporting by agencies
A new exhibition sheds light on the work of women who risked their lives to record the atrocities of the Nazis  and who researchers say were overshadowed by their male colleagues.

The Wiener Library, the worlds oldest institution devoted to the study of the Holocaust, is tracing the stories and legacies of the individuals and institutions who first collected evidence of the extermination plot.

The new exhibition, which opens on Wednesday and runs until mid-May, includes the work of both those who carried out the vital work as genocide exploded around them and also those who pursued justice and remembrance much later on.

It includes some of the earliest eye-witness testimonies from Holocaust survivors ever to be recorded and explores the experiences of the first generation of Holocaust researchers who conducted their work in the face of Nazi efforts to wipe out all trace of Jewish existence from Europe.

Under the most adverse conditions and often against indifference, denunciation and violence, they shaped the foundations of our current knowledge of the Holocaust, researchers said in a statement.

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It comes as evidence suggests holocaust denial is on the rise in the UK. A poll released last month claimed that more than 2.6 million British people think the Holocaust is a myth.

The study found some 5 per cent of UK adults do not believe millions of Jews were systematically murdered by the Nazis  with survivors and anti-racism campaigners saying this points to a terribly worrying level of denial.

The Wiener Library, which was founded in 1933, is the worlds oldest Holocaust archive and Britains largest collection on the Nazi era.

There was implicit or explicit bias towards women, Barbara Warnock, the curator of the exhibition, told The Independent. There is a tendency to understand history as being about men and written by men. But this is being eroded and overturned and those tendencies are a lot more challenged as we become more conscious.

(Wiener Library) (Weiner Library)

Sometimes very important individuals in Holocaust research such as Rachel Auerbach got overshadowed by men they were working with in how they were remembered. Women were more likely to be erased from the record.

Auerbach was involved in Emanuel Ringelblums underground archive Oyneg Shabes  a secret organisation that collected evidence and documented Jewish life within the Warsaw Ghetto  and later established survivor reports as an important aspect of evidence about the Holocaust.

She ran a soup kitchen in the Warsaw Ghetto in the 1940s and worked for Ringelblum to help collect evidence and testimonies. In 1943, Auerbach managed to escape and survived the rest of the Second World War in hiding.

After the war, she continued the work of the Ringelblum Archive at the Central Jewish Historical Commission in Poland and ensured that parts of the archive were rapidly recovered from their hiding places.

She spent the rest of her life resolutely fighting to secure a place for victims survival experiences in the history of the Holocaust  seeing her commitment as a natural consequence of her own survival and as a responsibility towards those who were murdered by the Nazi Party.

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Dr Warnock also cited the example of Ada Eber who conducted research into the Holocaust along with her husband Filip Friedman.

But he was the person who had books in his name, she explained. She has not been remembered even though she was instrumental in a lot of his work.

They both worked for the Nuremberg trials in 1946 but researchers found there to be little trace of Eber, in comparison to the legacy left behind by her husband. They library has no photos of her and does not even know her date of birth.

Dr Warnock also drew attention to the work done by Dr Eva Reichmann, a prominent German historian and sociologist who fled Nazi Germany in 1939. Her husband, jurist Hans Reichmann, was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen following the November Pogrom in 1938 and credits his release to hours and hours of work by his wife.

Many women whose spouses or male family members were imprisoned fought hard to get the men released and to gather the necessary paperwork to emigrate.

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Reichmann worked for the BBCs German Listening Service before joining the Wiener Library as director of research, where she led an ambitious effort to record eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust  including many hundreds of testimonies from Holocaust survivors.

She and her team gathered reports from refugees, survivors and others in Britain and abroad over the course of seven years.

Holocaust denial makes it even more imperative for us to do this work, Dr Warnock said. It is ironic that people should deny one of the most well documented historical events.
Ukrainian presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko has initiated impeachment proceedings against the sitting president Petro Poroshenko  a little more than a month before the two go head to head in elections.

Ms Tymoshenko, a former prime minister, made her move on the back of a new investigation that linked Mr Poroshenkos entourage to an embezzlement scheme involving the smuggling of military spare parts from Russia.

Speaking in the Verkhovna Rada  Ukraines parliament  on Tuesday, Ms Tymoshenko said the findings were consistent with state treason.

Given the lack of time before the elections and parliamentary arithmetic which still favours the president, the move has little prospect for success.

But the scandal has hit Mr Poroshenko just at a moment when he appeared to be gaining electoral momentum  if polls are to be believed, pipping Ms Tymoshenko to second spot behind comedian Volodymyr Zelensky. The fall-out may yet decide who wins on 31 March.

For a country at war, the revelations made in the investigation are shocking enough.

The authors of the report, a group of independent Ukrainian journalists, link a close Poroshenko associate with fraudulent arms contracts that eventually cost the military 7 million.

The scheme involved the selling of spare parts for tanks at three times market value. Not only this, the parts were smuggled in from Russia, a hostile power.

While the contracts were signed by a 27-year-old called Ihor Hladovsky, the investigation concludes that they were in fact facilitated by his father, Oleh Hladovskiy, the deputy chair of Ukraine's security council and a key presidential ally.

Profits were siphoned away through three companies, including one that earlier belonged to the president. This, the journalists suggested, was evidence the corruption likely went higher.

Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Show all 32 1 /32 Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Activists of opposition parties burn flares during a rally demanding to break an agreement with Russia on the use of the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait, in front of the parliament building in Kiev Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Volunteers with the right-wing paramilitary Azov National Corps light flares during a rally on the snowy streets in front of the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev after Russia seized two of their armored artillery vessels and a tug boat in the Black Sea AP Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Ukrainian Nationalists demand to break the diplomatic relations with Russia and nationalization of Russian property in Ukraine EPA Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Ukrainian activists burn flares during their rally in front of Russian Consulate in Kharkiv EPA Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Seized Ukrainian ships, small armoured artillery ships and a tug boat, are seen anchored in a port of Kerch Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 AP Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 The President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, announced, on 25 November, at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council that they will introduce martial law in Ukraine for a period of 60 days and appeal to the Parliament to consider the move Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Russia seized two small-sized 'Berdiansk' and 'Nikopol' armored artillery boats. The 'Yany Kapu' tugboat has forcibly been stopped Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Children from an orphanage volunteer to help the city defenders strengthen trenches on Ukraine's Army positions near the village of Rybatske 25 km from Mariupol AP Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 AP Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Policemen guard at Russian consulate during a protest action in the Black Sea Ukrainian city of Odessa AFP/Getty Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 EPA Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 AFP/Getty Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 With relations still raw after Russias annexation of Crimea and its backing for a pro-Moscow insurgency in eastern Ukraine, the capture of three Ukrainian naval vessels risks pushing the two countries towards a wider conflict. Graphic explains how the naval incident unfolded on a map Graphic News Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Activists of far-right parties burn flares in front of the parliament building in Kiev during a rally to support the Ukrainian navy Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 A Ukraine army APC moves toward on position at an undisclosed location in eastern Ukraine AP Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Ukrainian Nationalists sign a banner with a slogan reading like 'Not retreat and not surrendering!' EPA Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 AFP/Getty Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Activists glue Ukrainian flag on the fence of Russian consulate AFP/Getty Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 A volunteer with the right-wing paramilitary Azov National Corps during a rally on the snowy streets in front of the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev AP Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 AP Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 EPA Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 A National Guard serviceman extinguishes a torch thrown by a protester during a rally against the seizure by Russian special forces of three of the Ukrainian navy ships Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 A protester throws a smoke grenade during a rally in front of the embassy of Russia in Kiev AP Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Protestors set up paper ships on the tires during their rally near of Russian embassy building in Kiev EPA Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 A man extinguishes a burning car of the embassy of Russia Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Paper boats are seen placed during a protest Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 EPA Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 EPA

Speaking with The Independent, journalist Denys Bihous, who led the investigation, said President Poroshenko was implicated by design.

If he really didnt want to know about it, then hed find a way of not knowing about it, he said. But Hladkovskiy is an old, old friend. He got his government job because of this friendship.

Sergii Leshchenko, a member of parliament and a Poroshenko critic, described Mr Hladkovskiy as one of the presidents closest associates in politics  pointing to how the two had bought holiday homes close to each other in Marbella.

This isnt the first time president had been implicated in corruption, he said, but what gives the revelations more weight is that they come a month before elections, concern corruption in the military sphere, and involve Russia.

According to Mr Leshchenko, still notionally a member of Mr Poroshenkos fraction in parliament, Ms Tymoshenkos proposal was a fair price for what the president had done. Mr Poroshenko deserved not only impeachment but jail, he said.

Yulia Tymoshenko (EPA)

In a sign of the seriousness of the scandal engulfing Ukraines president, on Tuesday Oleh Hladkovskiy was temporarily suspended from his position on the Ukrainian Security Council.

Writing on Facebook, spokesman Svyatoslav Tsegolko said that Mr Poroshenko supported the suspension. He also asked law enforcement to undergo an urgent review of the information contained in the investigation.

Those concessions are unlikely to make Mr Poroshenko's problem disappear.

On Tuesday, another presidential rival, the Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovyi, piled on the pressure by concurring Mr Poroshenko had committed an offence impeachable in any other country. But his solution was not the PR favoured by Ms Tymoshenko.

Instead, Ukrainians should to declare their own impeachment on 31 March.

 USA: Scuffles erupt at anti-Poroshenko protest during UN address

Mayor Sadovyi remains a rank outsider for the presidential post. Ms Tymoshenko, on the other hand, will hope her intuitive move will reverse what had up to now been a disappointing campaign. In the space of a month, the one-time poll frontrunner has seen her rating overtaken by her two main rivals  comedian Volodymyr Zelensky and now incumbent Petro Poroshenko too.

Bihous said he had few illusions about the electoral sensitivity of his work.

In the days leading up to publication, their office was conspicuously staked out by security officers, he said. They arrived in cars with replacement number-plates, "disappearing only when we approached."

But their unwelcome presence would not get in the way of publishing a second and final part of the investigation, he said.
Halal and kosher meat cannot be labelled organic if the animal was not stunned before being killed, the EUs highest court has ruled.

The official EU organic logo must not be used on any meat derived from an animal slaughtered while still conscious, the EU Court of Justice said on Tuesday.

Organic labelling marks out the highest standards in farming welfare, judges ruled.

Stunning animals  often done through electric shocks or through a bolt to the brain  significantly reduces suffering and therefore is integral to organic standards, the judgement concluded.

Contrary to popular belief, most livestock slaughtered in halal abattoirs are stunned before they are killed.

How they reach your plate: live animal transport worldwide Show all 16 1 /16 How they reach your plate: live animal transport worldwide How they reach your plate: live animal transport worldwide Melbourne, Australia, 2017 A crowded transport truck Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals How they reach your plate: live animal transport worldwide Melbourne, Australia, 2017 A thirsty pig on transport truck is given water by a Melbourne Pig Save activist Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals How they reach your plate: live animal transport worldwide Toronto, Canada Pigs being transported to slaughter in freezing weather Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals How they reach your plate: live animal transport worldwide Toronto, Canada A volunteer gives water to thirsty pigs Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals How they reach your plate: live animal transport worldwide Toronto, Canada Pigs en route to an abattoir How they reach your plate: live animal transport worldwide Canada A cow looks out of transport truck just outside the slaughterhouse gates Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals How they reach your plate: live animal transport worldwide Spain Stacked crates of rabbits awaiting slaughter Jo-Anne McArthur / Animal Equality How they reach your plate: live animal transport worldwide Australia A pig finds some air at a sale yard Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals How they reach your plate: live animal transport worldwide Toronto, Canada Pigs in a transport lorry en route to an abattoir Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals How they reach your plate: live animal transport worldwide Melbourne, Australia, 2017 A pig in a transport truck touches noses with a man Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals How they reach your plate: live animal transport worldwide Melbourne, Australia, 2017 Chickens in transport crates Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals How they reach your plate: live animal transport worldwide Spain, 2014 A rabbit's nose and feet poke out from between plastic crates Jo-Anne McArthur / Animal Equality How they reach your plate: live animal transport worldwide Spain A rabbit looks out between plastic crate slats Jo-Anne McArthur / Animal Equality How they reach your plate: live animal transport worldwide Nepal, 2017 A chicken looks out through fencing on a crowded transport truck Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals How they reach your plate: live animal transport worldwide Spain Broiler chickens are captured and loaded into transport crates for slaughter Jo-Anne McArthur / Animal Equality How they reach your plate: live animal transport worldwide Israel, 2018 A ship carrying up to 30,000 sheep and cattle from Australia to Israel arrives at port after almost three weeks at sea Jo-Anne McArthur / Israel Against Live Shipments

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) estimates about 88% of animals killed through halal methods are stunned beforehand using techniques acceptable in Islamic law.

But a minority of halal food  and all kosher meat  does not involve stunning.

The case was brought to the EU court by a French animal welfare association in 2012, which argued halal beef should not be labelled organic.

Recommended Belgium bans halal and kosher slaughter

The rules on ritual slaughter in both Islam and Judaism are complex. To be truly halal, an animal must first be healthy and then slaughtered by a Muslim by cutting the throat with a sharp knife in a single slash.

The blood must then be fully drained from the carcass. A 2012 FSA report said about 12% of the 940 million cows, sheep, pigs, and poultry birds slaughtered each year in Britain were killed in a halal manner.

It is possible to stun halal animals via electricity which makes the creatures unconscious but not dead before their throats are ritually slit.

However, Jewish kosher slaughter, known as shechita, cannot use pre-killing stunning.

Jewish abattoirs also cut the throat of animals with a sharp blade, which proponents insist causes immediate loss of consciousness and is therefore humane and meets the EUs requirements for stunning.

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The EU ruling does not affect the legality of ritual halal or kosher slaughter, but will make it harder for some ritually-slaughtered meat to be labelled organic.

Longstanding rules create an exception under the need for freedom of religion to EU regulations on killing animals without pre-stunning.

But some EU nations, including Denmark and most recently Belgium, have banned entirely ritual slaughter, a move backed by both animal welfare advocates and right-wing populists.
The Vatican is taking no further action after Australian cardinal George Pell was found guilty of molesting two choirboys while appeals run their course.

Spokesperson Alessandro Gisotti said the conviction was painful for many, but said the cardinal, 77, had proclaimed his innocence and had the right to defend himself until the last stage of appeal.

Cardinal Pell, the most senior Catholic cleric ever charged with sex abuse, faces a maximum of 50 years in prison.

The conviction of Pell, who had been appointed by Pope Francis to be the Vaticans treasurer but has now lost the position, risks further staining the pontiffs record on cracking down on credibly accused clergy.

Mr Gisotti said Australian church leaders had imposed restrictions on Pell when he returned to his native country in June 2017 to defend himself.

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. 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In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. 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The spokesperson said Pope Francis confirmed measures prohibiting Pell from practising his ministry in public and from having contact with minors in any way or form.

Mr Gisotti noted Pell maintains his innocence. But, he added that while awaiting the definitive assessment of the facts, Pell is prohibited from exercising public ministry and from having any voluntary contact whatsoever with minors.

Those measures also include no celebration of mass in public.

Pells lawyers have said they will appeal the verdict. It comes at an embarrassing time for the Vatican who just two days ago held a major conference on preventing sex abuse.

The Pope ended the conference on Sunday by calling for an all out battle against a crime that should be erased from the face of the Earth.

Cardinal George Pell faces up to 50 years in jail (AFP/Getty) (AFP)

In 2016, reports emerged that Australian police were investigating abuse allegations against Pell that involved minors.

But at the time the Pope allowed the cardinal to stay on in his Vatican roles as his leading financial adviser and as the pontiffs economy chief.

Pope Francis had tapped Pell as his economy minister in 2014, early in his papacy, even though some allegations against the Australian were known at that time.

Mr Gisotti said Pells five-year term as economy minister for the Vatican had expired on 24 February but would not say if he was still technically in the position pending the naming of a successor.

The cardinal took indefinite leave from the post when he returned to Australia to fight the charges.

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Sentencing hearings were set to begin in Melbourne on Wednesday.

Additional reporting by agencies
The most senior Catholic cleric ever charged with child sex abuse has been convicted of molesting two choirboys moments after celebrating mass, dealing a new blow to the Catholic hierarchys credibility after a year of global revelations of abuse and coverup.

Cardinal George Pell, Pope Franciss top financial adviser and the Vaticans economy minister, bowed his head but then regained his composure as the 12-member jury delivered unanimous verdicts in the County Court of Victoria, Australia, on 11 December after more than two days of deliberation.

The court had until Tuesday forbidden publication of any details about the trial.

Pell faces a potential maximum 50-year prison term after a sentencing hearing that begins on Wednesday. He has foreshadowed an appeal.

The revelations came in the same month that the Vatican announced that the pontiff had approved the expulsion from the priesthood of a former high-ranking American cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, for sexual abuse of minors and adults.

The convictions were also confirmed days after Pope Francis concluded his extraordinary summit of Catholic leaders summoned to Rome for a tutorial on preventing sexual abuse by the clergy and protecting children from predatory priests.

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. 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The jury convicted Pell of abusing two 13-year-old boys whom he had caught drinking sacramental wine in a rear room of Melbournes St Patricks Cathedral in late 1996, as hundreds of worshippers were streaming out of Sunday services.

Pell, now 77 but aged 55 at the time, had just been named the most senior Catholic in Australias second-largest city.

The jury also found Pell guilty of indecently assaulting one of the boys in a corridor more than a month later.

Pell had maintained his innocence throughout, describing the accusations as vile and disgusting conduct that went against everything he believed in.

His lawyer had told the jury that only a madman would take the risk of abusing boys in such a public place.

Both he and chief judge Peter Kidd urged the jury of eight men and four women not to punish Pell for all the failings of the Catholic church, which in Australia have been staggering.

You must not scapegoat Cardinal Pell, Mr Kidd told the jury.

Along with Ireland and the US, Australia has been devastated by the impact of the clerical abuse scandal, with a royal commission finding that 4,444 people reported they had been abused at more than 1,000 Catholic institutions across Australia between 1980 and 2015.

Pells own hometown of Ballarat had such a high incidence of abuse  and, survivors say, a correlated higher-than-average incidence of suicide  that the city warranted its own case study in the royal commissions report.

The conviction capped a year that had been so dominated by revelations of high-ranking sex abuse and coverups that analysts openly speak of a crisis unparalleled since the Reformation. In addition to Pell, the allegations against Mr McCarrick of groping a minor in the 1970s and of sleeping with adult seminarians became public.

Cardinal George Pell leaves County Court in Melbourne on 26 February (Getty)

As a result of the scandal, Pope Franciss approval ratings have tanked in the US, and his standing with conservative Catholics around the world  already on shaky ground over his outreach to divorcees  has plunged.

Up until the verdict, Pells lawyers had appeared confident that they had established a reasonable doubt and had expected quick verdicts of not guilty.

When the jury chairman delivered the first guilty verdict, Pells hands slipped from the arm rests of the chair where he sat in the dock at the back of the courtroom. His head bowed after the second verdict, but he restored his composure for the final verdicts.

Pell, who walked to and from court throughout his month-long trial with a crutch under his right arm, was released on bail to undergo surgical knee replacements in Sydney on 14 December. Prosecutor Mark Gibson did not oppose bail, saying the surgery would be more easily managed outside the prison system.

The first four offences occurred at the first or second solemn mass that Pell celebrated as leader of the century-old cathedral in the centre of Melbourne.

I was young and I didnt really know what had happened to me. I didnt really know what it was, if it was normal, one of the complainants told the court.

The other victim died of a heroin overdose in 2014 without ever complaining of the abuse, and even denying to his suspicious mother that he had been molested while he was part of the choir.

Neither victim can now be identified.

Pell was initially charged with orally raping the second boy. But that charge was downgraded to indecent assault when the complainant testified that from his vantage point he couldnt see what happened.

More than a month later, the complainant testified that Pell assaulted him in a corridor after a mass.

I didnt tell anyone at the time because I didnt want to jeopardise anything. I didnt want to rock the boat with my family, my schooling, my life, the complainant told the jurors.

The complainant testified that he feared that making such accusations against a powerful church man would cost him his place in the choir and with it his scholarship to prestigious St Kevins College.

Pell pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four counts of willfully committing an indecent act with or in the presence of a child under 16 in late 1996 and early 1997.

He did not testify at his trial. But the jury saw a video recording of an interview he gave Australian detectives in Rome in 2016 in which he stridently denied the allegations.

Pell grimaced, appearing incredulous and distressed, waved his arms over his head and muttered to himself as the detectives detailed the accusations that his victim had levelled against him a year earlier.

The allegations involve vile and disgusting conduct contrary to everything I hold dear and contrary to the explicit teachings of the church which I have spent my life representing, Pell told police.

Pells lawyer told the jury that the prosecution case compounded a series of improbabilities and impossibilities.

He told the jury that Pell could not have parted his robes as the complainant had described.

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The jury was handed the actual cumbersome robes Pell wore as archbishop. Over his regular clothes, Pell would wear a full-length white robe called an alb that was tied around his waist with a rope-like cincture. Over that, he would drape a 3m band of cloth called a stole around his neck. The outermost garment was the long poncho-like chasuble.

More than 20 witnesses, including clerics, choristers and altar servers, testified during the trial. None recalled ever seeing the complainant and the other victim break from a procession of choristers, altar servers and clerics to go to the back room.

The complainant testified that he and his friend had run from the procession and back into the cathedral through a side door to, as Mr Gibson, the prosecutor, said, have some fun.

Monsignor Charles Portelli, who was the cathedrals master of ceremonies in the 1990s, testified that he was always with Pell after mass to help him disrobe in the sacristy.

The defence argued that Pells usual practice was to linger at the cathedral front steps talking to members of the congregation after mass. But Mr Gibson said there was evidence that Pell didnt always chat outside and had the opportunity to commit the crimes.

The lifting of the gag order comes after Pope Francis charted a new course for the Catholic church to confront clergy sexual abuse and coverups, 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, Pope Francis warned 190 bishops and religious superiors last week 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 Pope Francis went into the meeting even more weakened and discredited after one of his top advisers was convicted of the very crime he has now decided is worth fighting on a universal scale.

Pells downfall will invariably tarnish the pope, since Pope Francis appointed Pell economy minister in 2014 even though some of the allegations against him were known at the time.

In October, Pope Francis finally cut Pell loose, removing him as a member of his informal cabinet. Pell technically remains prefect of the Vaticans economy ministry, but his five-year term expires this year and is not expected to be renewed.

Associated Press
Kim Jong-un has rolled into Hanoi in an armoured limousine ahead of talks with Donald Trump in the Vietnamese capital.

The North Korean leader had earlier received a red-carpet reception amid tight security following a 65-hour, 2,500-mile journey from Pyongyang in a bulletproof train.

After disembarking at Dong Dang rail station, close to Vietnams border with China, he walked past a guard of honour before climbing into his personal Mercedes limousine on Tuesday morning.

The car was flanked by 12 security guards, who jogged briefly alongside the vehicle as it picked up speed ahead of the last leg of the journey to Hanoi.

Mr Trump will arrive in the capital later on Tuesday for the second round of landmark talks over North Koreas nuclear weapons programme.

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

Wednesdays meeting comes eight months after their historic summit in Singapore, which hosted the first ever talks between a US president and a North Korean leader.

The US president has admitted he will enter this weeks meeting with expectations substantially lower than in June 2018, indicating on Monday that he would be happy to secure a continuation of Pyongyangs suspension of nuclear and missile testing.

After last years summit, the US president declared there was no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea  a claim secretary of state Mike Pompeo later admitted was untrue.

Experts are sceptical Mr Kim will give up the nuclear weapons programme he is thought to see as his best guarantee of continued rule.

Only limited details about this weeks hastily prepared meeting have been made public. Officials in Hanoi said they had about 10 days to prepare for the meeting  much less than the almost two months Singapore had before the leaders first talks.

Vietnams authoritarian leaders mobilised a huge security operation to welcome Mr Kim, shutting long stretches of roads and locking down swathes of the bustling capital city.

Train stations were also shut down in preparation for the North Korean leaders train passing through. Pyongyang has not said why Mr Kim did travel by air to Vietnam, but his father Kim Jong-il was believed to have feared flying.

Mr Kim's choice of transport could also be symbolic. His grandfather Kim ll-sung, North Korea's first leader, travelled by train to Vietnam and Europe.

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Mr Kims train, heavily armoured and fitted with tinted bulletproof windows, is said to travel at an average speed of about 35 miles an hour. According to South Korean media reports, it consists of about 90 carriages and includes conference rooms, an audience chamber, satellite phones and bedrooms.

Hours before Mr Kim crossed the China-Vietnam border, footage from Japanese TV network TBS showed taking a pre-dawn smoke break at a train station in China. He was accompanied by a woman who appeared to be his sister, Kim Yo-jong, who was holding a crystal ashtray at the ready.

Roads on Tuesday were shut down from the border with China all the way to Hanoi, 106 miles away, where crowds and a pack of journalists waited for Mr Kim to arrive at the heavily guarded Melia Hotel.
India and Pakistan stood at an unusual crossroads on Tuesday night: either Delhi had ordered an effective surgical strike taking out hundreds of jihadis in training and completely destroying a terrorist base across the border  or Indias fighter jets had been confronted, dumped their payloads in a forest and fled, with no harm done.

Amid the war of words, both countries are agreed on some things. They agree a sortie of multiple Indian aircraft crossed the line of control into Pakistan-administered Kashmir, although not by much, and fired towards a town called Balakot.

They agree the operation was conducted in a matter of moments  an incursion of just one-and-a-half minutes in total, according to Indian defence sources  and that Pakistans air force scrambled its own jets in response.

And thats about it. For while Indias foreign secretary issued a statement describing the Tuesday morning air raid as a successful mission to avert an imminent terror attack, Pakistans armed forces insisted it did nothing more than scuff up some dirt and knock over a few trees. No infrastructure damaged, and no loss of life.

Neither side is yet to prove their point. India may yet, as it did during a similar incident in 2016, produce satellite images which it claims show the destruction. One government minister said the operation had completely destroyed the largest training camp belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), the militant group behind Kashmirs deadliest car bombing earlier this month. Its the sort of damage that before-and-after imagery should easily pick up.

Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Show all 13 1 /13 Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian muslims in Mumbai burn posters of Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, center, and Hafiz Saeed, chief of Pakistani religious group Jamaat-ud-Dawa, during a protest against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy in Kashmir that killed at least 40 AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Policeman walk past vehicles set on fire in Jammu by a mob during a protest against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Vehicles are set on fire in Jammu during protests following the attack AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian Muslims hold a protest in Mumbai the day after the terrorist attack AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Mourners gather for the cremation of Central Reserve Police Force soldier Mahesh Yadav, who was killed in Thursday's bombing in Kashmir AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Protestors in Jammu throw stones during a clash between communities while protesting against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy that killed at least 40 in Kashmir AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian police men keep vigil next to a barbed wire fencing during the third day of curfew in Jammu AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party workers in Mumbai burn a symbolic effigy of Pakistan as part of protest against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy in Kashmir, AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers pay tribute to their colleague Maneswar Basumatary, who was killed in Thursday's bombing in Kashmir AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian army soldiers patrol during a curfew in Jammu on February 16, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack A crowd carries a victim's coffin during a cremation ceremony AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack A relative of Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper Sudip Biswas mourns over his coffin at Kolkata airport AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Mourners gather for the cremation of Central Reserve Police Force soldier Mahesh Yadav, who was killed in Thursday's bombing in Kashmir AP

Pakistans foreign ministry said its side of the border was open for domestic and international journalists alike to themselves check for any signs of damage. Indeed, the ministry said it was taking independent military observers to inspect the scene.

But where to look? In the confusion after the event, the two sides could not even agree on which Balakot had been targeted  one in Pakistan-administered Kashmir or, and which would be a more serious incursion, one in Pakistan proper. Specifically, in the region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa  prime minister Imran Khans home province.

Here in India, the government has been preparing both practically and rhetorically for an operation like Tuesday mornings. Since the 14 February Pulwama bombing, the government has collected statements of solidarity and support for action in the face of terror from more than 48 other countries. And in the last few days, security forces in Indias Jammu and Kashmir have pre-emptively rounded up more than 300 suspected separatist agitators.

Narendra Modi had promised a jaw-breaking response to that car bombing in Pulwama, carried out by a young local man but prepared by JeM, which killed 40 paramilitary police officers, and in this context made a substantial retaliatory attack seem inevitable  even justified.

In his statement, foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said the sortie only hit terrorist assets and thus was not an act of aggression against either the Pakistani military or civilians. He creatively described it as non-military pre-emptive action.

Pakistan does not view it that way, though. It has not only denied any state involvement in Pulwama, but demanded India provide evidence for the claim that JeM prepared the attack from Pakistani soil.

The countrys own foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, said the airstrikes were a grave aggression, and prime minister Imran Khan vowed that Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing.

At the same time it played down the impact of the airstrikes. Mr Khan said that once again the Indian government has resorted to a self-serving, reckless and fictitious claim, suggesting the Indian account was for domestic consumption in the runup to imminent elections.

He is not the only one pointing out that an escalating conflict with Pakistan plays well for Mr Modi and his nationalist BJP in the polls.

A Reuters survey showed a marked uptick in support for Mr Modi in the immediate aftermath of the 14 February attack. He was, after all, swept to power in 2014 at least partly thanks to the image he portrayed of himself as a strong leader.

Sure enough, it wasnt long after news of the airstrikes broke on Tuesday that videos started doing the rounds on social media of jingoistic displays of Indian flag-waving, anti-Pakistan chants and the burning of Pakistan flags. One analyst who did not wish to be named told me he did not believe a surgical strike had been necessary and that it had been orchestrated for the election.

Another defence expert, Dr Gopalan Balachandran, said the airstrikes were clearly motivated by the JeM attack in Kashmir. He said the death toll in Pulwama had been intolerable to most Indians, and that Mr Modi needed to show that he was doing something about it.

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This attack was in response to that, not in response to the forthcoming polls  but that is not to say that it isnt going to help them [the BJP]. It will. They didnt do it because they wanted to affect the polls, but the fallout is that they are going to gain in the election.

Since 14 February, a number of opposition parties have broached the topic of the BJP making political hay out of the Pulwama attack. West Bengals chief minister Mamata Banerjee went as far as accusing the Modi administration of wanting to instil war hysteria, leading the BJPs state president to accuse her of making baseless allegations to score political brownie points herself.

It would be too soon for anyone to do the same on Tuesday night. Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj emerged from a cross-party security briefing to state that all parties in one voice praised the security forces and supported the governments anti-terror operations.

So what next for Pakistan? Mr Khan has called for both houses of the countrys parliament to sit on Wednesday to discuss the situation, and he has also summoned an emergency meeting of the National Command Authority  the body that oversees Pakistans nuclear arsenal.

Amid the high-stakes sabre-rattling, Mr Khan has little option but to offer a military retaliation, analysts say.

In ordinary circumstances it would need to be proportionate  but does that mean destroying a base of 300 Indian paramilitary officers, or a copse of trees? Before the country can decide on a response to todays events, Pakistan will need to settle on  and convince others  of its version of exactly what occurred.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister held a crystal ashtray for him while he smoked during his journey to the Vietnam summit with Donald Trump.

The dictator was filmed pacing around a railway station in the southern Chinese city of Nanning, while Kim Yo-jong followed him holding the ashtray in two hands.

Mr Kim was making a brief stop at the station during his 65-hour, 2,500-mile journey from the North Korean capital Pyongyang aboard a bulletproof train.

He has since arrived at the border of Vietnam and got into his personal armoured Mercedes limousine to finish the journey towards Hanoi.

Mr Trump and the North Korean leader are due to hold a second round of talks over the countrys nuclear weapons programme.

North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits Show all 16 1 /16 North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea, portraits of former supreme leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are required by law to be hung in the home, the classroom, the factory and all manner of other private and public places Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the classroom AFP/Getty North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the living room AFP/Getty North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the maternity ward of the hospital Alamy North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits On board the ship Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits At the ballot box Mannen av bord North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the office AFP/Getty North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits On the bridegroom Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits On the Pyongyang subway Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits On a government building Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the teacher training facility AFP/Getty North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In Kim Il Sung square in Pyongyang Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the home AFP/Getty North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits At the military parade Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits In the hall Reuters North Korea's pervasive leaders: the Kim portraits At the Chinese border AFP/Getty

The leaders 30-year-old sister is the director of North Korea's propaganda department and has been the driving force behind a renewed push to create a personality cult around her brother similar to that of their grandfather, Kim Il-sung, who founded North Korea.

She first shot to international prominence after she led her countrys delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea when she was pictured warmly celebrating with her South Koreas president Moon Jae-in as an all-Korean Olympic team marched into the opening ceremony.

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Thought to be in her early 30s, Ms Kim is an increasingly prominent figure in her brothers government and is likely to be the most powerful woman in North Korea.

She is known to be one of her brother's closest confidants, thanks to a shared childhood growing up in a Swiss boarding school.
 Close Indian foreign secretary reacts to airstrike on militant targets in Pakistan

Indian and Pakistani troops have exchanged gunfire over several sections of their contested border after disputed claims about an airstrike in a Pakistan-controlled sector of Kashmir.

New Delhi said its warplanes had killed a very large number of fighters when they struck a militant training camp on Tuesday morning, but Islamabad said the airstrike caused no deaths.

The overnight raid was the latest escalation between the nuclear-armed rivals since a deadly militant attack in the disputed Kashmir region earlier this month killed more than 40 Indian soldiers.

Pakistan has denied involvement in the attack but has vowed to respond to any Indian military operation against it.

The Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility. The bomber, who made a video before the attack, was a resident of Indian Kashmir.

Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Show all 13 1 /13 Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian muslims in Mumbai burn posters of Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, center, and Hafiz Saeed, chief of Pakistani religious group Jamaat-ud-Dawa, during a protest against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy in Kashmir that killed at least 40 AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Policeman walk past vehicles set on fire in Jammu by a mob during a protest against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Vehicles are set on fire in Jammu during protests following the attack AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian Muslims hold a protest in Mumbai the day after the terrorist attack AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Mourners gather for the cremation of Central Reserve Police Force soldier Mahesh Yadav, who was killed in Thursday's bombing in Kashmir AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Protestors in Jammu throw stones during a clash between communities while protesting against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy that killed at least 40 in Kashmir AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian police men keep vigil next to a barbed wire fencing during the third day of curfew in Jammu AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party workers in Mumbai burn a symbolic effigy of Pakistan as part of protest against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy in Kashmir, AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers pay tribute to their colleague Maneswar Basumatary, who was killed in Thursday's bombing in Kashmir AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian army soldiers patrol during a curfew in Jammu on February 16, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack A crowd carries a victim's coffin during a cremation ceremony AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack A relative of Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper Sudip Biswas mourns over his coffin at Kolkata airport AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Mourners gather for the cremation of Central Reserve Police Force soldier Mahesh Yadav, who was killed in Thursday's bombing in Kashmir AP

Pakistans military spokesman, Major General Asif Ghafoor, said the Indian aircrafts crossed into the Muzafarabad sector of Kashmir, which is split between the two countries but claimed by each in its entirety.

He said Pakistan scrambled fighters and the Indian jets released payload in haste near Balakot, on the edge of Pakistani-ruled Kashmir.

In a tweet, Pakistans governing Tehreek-e-Insaf party said: We realise its election year, and a desperation across the border. Fact of the matter is, Indian jets were forced to retreat in haste by Pakistan army patrols and dumped fuel, which in their scramble they thought was a bomb.

Indias foreign secretary, Vijay Gokhale, told reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday that Indian fighter aircraft targeted Jaish-e-Mohammad camps in a pre-emptive strike after intelligence indicated another attack was being planned.

Acting on intelligence, India early today struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot, he said. In this operation a very large number of Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and Jehadis being trained were eliminated.

Balakot police chief Saghir Hussain Shah told The Associated Press he had sent teams to the area where the Indian bombs reportedly hit, which he described as a mostly deserted wooded area.

There are no casualties, there are no damages on the ground because of the dropping of the bombs, he said.

The 14 February attack in Indian-ruled Kashmir was the worst attack on Indian forces since the start of the 1989 insurgency in Kashmir and came as Indian prime minister Narendra Modi is in the middle of a re-election campaign.

Insurgents have been demanding either outright independence or union with Pakistan. India routinely accuses Pakistan of arming and training militants who cross the mountainous Himalayan region. In the last year an increasingly bloody crackdown on insurgents in Indian-ruled Kashmir has escalated tensions in the troubled region.

Kashmir has been the cause of two previous wars between the uneasy neighbours. They fought a third war in 1979 over East Pakistan, which gained its independence with the help of India and became Bangladesh.

Pakistan has outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammed and seized its properties in south Punjabs Bawahalpur area, including religious schools and mosques. India has demanded Jaish-e-Mohammads leader, Azhar Masood, be listed as a terrorist by the United Nations, but has been stymied by China.

Additional reporting by agencies
Indian fighter jets crossed into Pakistan to carry out a bombing raid against a militant training camp, the Indian government said, causing Islamabad to scramble its own aircraft in response.

The operation early on Tuesday was the first major military response to the militant car bombing in Pulwama, Kashmir, earlier this month which the Indian government blames on Pakistan.

The Indian aircraft crossed into Pakistan-administered Kashmir and released a payload towards Balakot in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, said Asif Ghafoor, a spokesperson for the Pakistan armed forces.

Pakistan called the sortie a grave aggression by India. In a brief statement, Pakistans foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said India had violated its territory and that Pakistan reserves the right to respond.

Indias ANI news agency, quoting air force sources, said 12 Mirage 2000 aircraft crossed the line of control at 3.30am on Tuesday and dropped 1,000kg of bombs on militant camps.

At an extraordinary media briefing, Indias foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said the raid targeted the largest training base belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) group. JeM has claimed responsibility for orchestrating the 14 February Pulwama attack.

Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Show all 13 1 /13 Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian muslims in Mumbai burn posters of Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, center, and Hafiz Saeed, chief of Pakistani religious group Jamaat-ud-Dawa, during a protest against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy in Kashmir that killed at least 40 AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Policeman walk past vehicles set on fire in Jammu by a mob during a protest against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Vehicles are set on fire in Jammu during protests following the attack AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian Muslims hold a protest in Mumbai the day after the terrorist attack AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Mourners gather for the cremation of Central Reserve Police Force soldier Mahesh Yadav, who was killed in Thursday's bombing in Kashmir AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Protestors in Jammu throw stones during a clash between communities while protesting against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy that killed at least 40 in Kashmir AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian police men keep vigil next to a barbed wire fencing during the third day of curfew in Jammu AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party workers in Mumbai burn a symbolic effigy of Pakistan as part of protest against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy in Kashmir, AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers pay tribute to their colleague Maneswar Basumatary, who was killed in Thursday's bombing in Kashmir AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian army soldiers patrol during a curfew in Jammu on February 16, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack A crowd carries a victim's coffin during a cremation ceremony AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack A relative of Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper Sudip Biswas mourns over his coffin at Kolkata airport AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Mourners gather for the cremation of Central Reserve Police Force soldier Mahesh Yadav, who was killed in Thursday's bombing in Kashmir AP

Mr Gokhale said there was credible intelligence that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack. He added: In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary.

The foreign secretary said the camp was led by the brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar, and that the operation eliminated a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers [and] senior commanders.

The attack was a response to the menace of terrorism and not the Pakistani state, Mr Gokhale said, referring to it as non-military preemptive action. He also said the target, a remote forest camp, was selected to avoid civilian casualties.

Prakash Javadekar, Indias human resource development minister, tweeted: This was a necessary step for the defence of the country, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given the armed forces a free hand. The whole country stands behind the armed forces.

Pakistan has played down the success of the operation, with prime minister Imran Khan describing Indias account of it as fictitious.

The countrys armed forces posted pictures to Twitter that appeared to show nothing more than impact craters from bombs in forested countryside, and officials repeatedly asserted the Indian sortie caused neither damage to infrastructure nor loss of life.

Pakistan armed forces spokesperson Mr Ghafoor said: Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzaffarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force, [they] released [their] payload in haste while escaping, which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage.

India has accused the Pakistani state of allowing JeM to operate within its borders, as well as shielding the groups leader, Azhar, from being named an international terrorist by the UN Security Council.

The Indian armys top commander in Kashmir went as far as to accuse Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency of controlling the Pulwama attack directly.

The day after the car bombing, which killed 40 Indian paramilitary officers and was the deadliest of its kind in Kashmir, Narendra Modi said India would give a fitting, jaw-breaking response to this attack.

Imran Khan had previous said any adventurism on Indias part would be met with retaliation. Later on Tuesday, after convening a meeting of the countrys national security committee, Mr Khan accused India of putting regional peace and stability at grave risk. India has committed uncalled-for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing, he said.

Mr Modi has been under domestic pressure to give a show of force in the wake of the Pulwama attack, which has dominated Indias news agenda for almost two weeks. The prime minister is gearing up for a general election which must be held by the end of May.

India has already withdrawn Pakistans most-favoured nation trading status and whacked a 200 per cent tariff on Pakistani goods, though the small amount of cross-border commerce makes the impact of these measures limited.

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The Indian security forces in the area of Kashmir under the countrys control have also claimed a successful operation to take out one of the masterminds of the Valentines Day attack.

Both India and Pakistan administer a portion of Kashmir but claim the entire region as their own. The two countries have fought three major wars over the issue, though not since 1971.

The last time India claimed to have carried out a surgical strike against militant camps across the line of control was in 2016, and that was allegedly by troops on the ground rather than an air raid. To this day, Pakistan denies any such incursion took place.
Police in China using gait recognition technology to identify suspects by the way they walk can now do so in real time.

Officers on the streets of Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing have been trialling software by artificial intelligence start-up Watrix since October, which can identify individuals from the shape and movement of their silhouette from up to 50 metres away.

The software can be used on footage captured on standard surveillance cameras.

Until now, the footage could only be analysed once it was recorded, which took about 10 minutes to do, however Watrix released an update last week which now allows it to work in real time.

The technology works by analysing thousands of metrics about a persons walk and storing them in a database.

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It still works even if a persons face is hidden and cant be fooled by someone pretending to limp or walk with splayed feet or a hunch.

Huang Yongzhen, co-founder and chief executive of Watrix, said the software is about 96 per cent accurate, thereby giving his company a headstart in terms of catching suspects who otherwise could avoid surveillance.

He said compared to facial recognition, which requires someone to look at the camera, co-operation is not needed for his companys technology to successfully recognise people.

File image of surveillance cameras. (AFP/Getty Images) (AFP/Getty)

Mr Huang told the South China Morning Post that Watrix is currently working with police on criminal investigations, such as tracking suspects from robbery scenes.

He added that the country has more than 300,000 wanted criminals on the loose and his companys database includes those with a prior gait record.

The company boss also said he had received dozens of inquiries about the technology since the first version was launched.

The start-up is in talks with security companies from Singapore, India, Russia, the Netherlands and Czech Republic for contracts, which can use the gait recognition alongside face scanning for real-time or offline video analysis solutions, according to the South Morning China Post.

Aside from surveillance, gait recognition technology can also be used in nursing homes to alert staff when elderly people have either fallen over or are about to, in smart homes, and in hospitals and physiotherapy.

Watrix raised more than 100 million yuan (11.3m) to develop its software last October and is now planning to raise another 200 to 300 million yuan.
A team of American journalists said they were detained at Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduros palace after he abruptly ended an interview when they showed him a video of people eating rubbish.

The group, led by Univisions Jorge Ramos, was freed shortly after but their equipment was confiscated by Venezuelan officials, according to the networks US president, Daniel Coronell.

Mr Ramos, in a phone interview with Univision after he was released, said the interview with Mr Maduro lasted about 17 minutes.

He didnt like the things we were asking him about the lack of democracy in Venezuela, about torture, political prisoners, the humanitarian crisis that they were living, he said.

But the breaking point came, Mr Ramos said, after he showed Mr Maduro a video of people eating from a rubbish truck.

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Immediately after, one of his ministers, Jorge Rodriguez, came to tell us that the interview was not authorised, Mr Ramos said.

All their equipment was confiscated, including their cameras and mobile phones, Mr Ramos added. He said he was then using a phone that was not his. He and his team were questioned for more than two hours, he said.

Mr Ramos said the interview they recorded was also taken. The interview, they have it, he said.

 Journalists allegedly detained by Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro after showing him a video of people eating rubbish

Another Univision reporter, Enrique Acevedo, later tweeted out the video he said Mr Ramos showed Mr Maduro.

These are the images that Jorge Ramos showed to Nicolas Maduro and provoked him to get up from the interview, Mr Acevedo wrote in Spanish. This is what Maduro doesnt want the world to see.

On Monday evening, Kimberly Breier, the US assistant secretary of state for the region, said on Twitter that the State Department had received word that Mr Maduro was holding Mr Ramos and his team against their will.

We insist on their immediate release; the world is watching, she said.

An hour after Ms Breiers announcement, the Univision News Twitter account posted a picture of Mr Ramos after his release on the phone at his hotel.

But Jorge Rodriguez, Venezuelas information minister, criticised the group from Univision, writing in a tweet that hundreds of journalists who have visited the presidential palace were treated well.

We do not offer ourselves to cheap shows, he said.

In another tweet, Mr Rodriguez seemed to accuse the State Department of stoking controversy.

Responding to Mr Rodriguez, Senator Marco Rubio compared the Venezuelan official to Baghdad Bob, the spokesperson for Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

The response from other US politicians, many of whom have been fiercely critical of Mr Maduros government and supportive of his challenger, Juan Guaido, was swift.

Senator Rick Scott said Mr Maduro was losing his grip.

Detaining reporters is unacceptable. He should think carefully about his next steps and release them now, he added

Senator Bob Menendez called Mr Ramos a living legend, truth-teller and democracy fighter and said his detention was despicable and will not stand.

While the administration voiced its support for Mr Ramos in the tangle with Mr Maduro, the Univision anchor has disagreed with Donald Trump in the past.

In August 2015, Mr Ramos interrupted then-candidate Mr Trump during a news conference in Iowa.

Im a reporter, an immigrant, a senior citizen, Mr Ramos said, hoping to ask a question about Mr Trumps immigration policies. I have the right to ask a question.

Go back to Univision, Mr Trump replied, before ordering a bodyguard to remove Mr Ramos from the room.

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After protests from other reporters in the room, Mr Trump allowed Mr Ramos to return, but their back-and-forth escalated until Mr Trump reminded Mr Ramos that he was, at the time, suing Univision for an alleged breach of contract involving Mr Trumps Miss Universe pageant.

The network cancelled plans to broadcast the pageant because of Mr Trumps incendiary comments about Mexican immigrants.

How much am I suing Univision for right now? Mr Trump asked. Do you know the number? I know youre part of the lawsuit.

Im a reporter, Mr Ramos said.

Washington Post
 Close 'Speed is not that important to me' Kim Jong Un listens as Trump says he's in 'no rush' over North Korea denuclearisation deal

Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un have cut short their talks in Hanoi, Vietnam and skipped a scheduled lunch event.

The White House confirmed the summit had ended with no agreement reached as the leaders headed back to their respective hotels.

The US president talks broke down over North Koreas demands on US-led sanctions.

Basically, they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety, but we couldnt do that, he told reporters. Sometimes you have to walk.

Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said negotiations would continue at a future date.

Made in North Korea - In pictures Show all 6 1 /6 Made in North Korea - In pictures Made in North Korea - In pictures Made in North Korea - In pictures Made in North Korea - In pictures Made in North Korea - In pictures Made in North Korea - In pictures Made in North Korea - In pictures

Several Democrats came out acknowledging Mr Trumps decision to walk away without a deal was the right move in this situation. Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff said walking away with no deal was better than agreeing to a bad deal, before adding that it was the result of a poorly planned strategy.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer echoed similar statements, citing his concerns about the likelihood of a bad deal forming out of the summit.

A deal that fell short of complete denuclearization would have only made North Korea stronger & the world less safe, Mr Schumer said.

After the summit, Mr Trump also defended Mr Kim over the tragic death of American college student Otto Warmbier, who was jailed in North Korea in December 2015 for attempting to steal propaganda material during an organised tour.The president said he does not believe the autocratic leader was aware of Mr Warmbiers condition in the North Korean hard labour prison camp.

"He tells me he didn't know about it, and I will take him at his word, Mr Trump said.

After two years of imprisonment, North Korean authorities returned Mr Warbier to the US in a coma in July 2017. A few days later, the 22-year-old died in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.

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Ohio Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman criticised the American presidents defense of Mr Kim.

Im very concerned that the President didnt seem to be all that concerned about the murder of Otto Warmbier from Cincinnati, Mr Brown told reporters on Thursday. I dont know how he says he likes the dictator of NK so much.

Mr Portman insists that Mr Trump and the American people must remember Mr Warmbier and that we should never let North Korea off the hook for what they did to him."

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Michael Cohen plans to tell US lawmakers that Donald Trump asked him several times about a proposed skyscraper project in Moscow long after he secured the Republican presidential nomination, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Mr Trumps former personal lawyer said that Mr Trump was enquiring about the project as late as June 2016, which could suggest he remained personally interested in a business venture in Russia well into his candidacy.

Cohen, scheduled to report to prison in May, has already said he briefed Mr Trump on the project in June 2016. A New York Times report also claimed the presidents former attorney would describe the extent of his lies, racism and cheating, as well as his criminal conduct while in the White House, during his public testimony on Wednesday.

He is set to offer lawmakers new information about Mr Trumps private affairs over three consecutive days starting on Tuesday. The Times reported Cohen is prepared to describe Mr Trump making racist statements as well as lying or cheating in business. He previously told a magazine outlet the president said black people are too stupid to vote for me during the 2016 election.

The newspaper, which spoke to an anonymous source that had been briefed on Cohens upcoming public testimony, also revealed he would describe the president inflating or devaluing his net worth. This new information comes as special counsel Robert Mueller nears the end of a 21-month probe into whether the Kremlin meddled in the 2016 presidential election in collusion with Mr Trump's campaign

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Russia denies interfering in the 2016 election and Mr Trump has denied any collusion took place between his campaign and Moscow.

On Wednesday, in a public session before the House Oversight Committee, Cohen also intends to give lawmakers granular details about Mr Trump's hush-money payments to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels.

He also intends to give information about a money trail after Mr Trump became president, said the source, who asked not to be identified.

In addition, Cohen will offer new information on Trump's financial statements that have never been produced before relating to how Mr Trump represented the values of his assets in financial transactions and other matters, said the source.

Cohen pleaded guilty last year to criminal charges including tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance violations.

In December, he was sentenced to three years in prison for crimes including orchestrating hush-money payments to women in violation of campaign laws before the 2016 election. He is scheduled to begin serving his prison sentence on 6 May.

His in-depth discussions on Tuesday and Thursday with the intelligence committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives will be behind closed doors.

The Tuesday session in the Senate will focus mainly on what Cohen knows about Mr Trump and his associates' dealings with Russia as well as about Cohen's previous lying to Congress, said two congressional sources.

Cohen once said he would take a bullet for Mr Trump, but he has since turned against his former boss. When Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, he implicated the president, who afterward called him a rat on Twitter.

In the only public session of the three this week, House Oversight Committee Democrats said they planned to question Cohen about Mr Trump's personal finances. This includes the payments to women, as well as alleged efforts by Mr Trump and his lawyers to intimidate Cohen to try to keep him from testifying.

On 29 November, Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress by telling lawmakers in 2017 that all efforts relating to the Moscow project had ceased by January 2016. In fact, Cohen said, those efforts continued until June 2016.

Cohen paid $130,000 weeks before the 2016 election to Ms Daniels, who said she had an affair with Mr Trump. When Cohen pleaded guilty to breaking campaign finance laws for that, he said he made the payment at Mr Trump's direction.

Led by Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings, the Oversight Committee plans to limit its questioning of Cohen.

The panel said in a statement it would steer clear of the House Intelligence Committees inquiry into efforts by Russia and other foreign entities to influence the US political process during and since the 2016 US election, and the counterintelligence threat arising from any links or coordination between US persons and the Russian government.

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That will put off-limits for Cummings' committee questions about any financial or other compromise or leverage foreign actors may possess over Donald Trump, his family, his business interests, or his associates, the committee said.

Cummings' panel will focus on Mr Trump's debts and payments relating to efforts to influence the 2016 election, as well as his compliance with financial disclosure, campaign finance and tax laws, it said.

Possible conflicts of interest faced by Mr Trump, including at his Trump International Hotel in Washington, will be targets for the Cummings panel. As will the Trump Foundation and efforts by the president and his attorney to intimidate Cohen or others not to testify, the committee said.

Reuters
Paul Manaforts lawyers have asked for leniency in his sentencing, arguing in federal court that their clients charges are rarely prosecuted and that the former Donald Trump campaign consultant is not a hardened criminal.

Manafort is already facing as many as 24 years in prison after his conviction on charges including tax and bank fraud last year. The new sentencing concerns two further charges of conspiracy he pleaded guilty to last year.

Manafort, who over the decades has served four U.S. presidents and has no prior criminal history, is presented to this court by the government as a hardened criminal who brazenly violated the law and deserves no mercy, Manaforts lawyers Monday said in a memo. But this case is not about murder, drug cartels, organised crime, the Madoff Ponzi scheme or the collapse of Enron.

While Manaforts charges stemmed from the special counsel investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign, the political operatives lawyers argued in court filings that their clients particular charges are unrelated to the primary focus of that investigation.

"Manafort has been punished substantially, including the forfeiture of most of his assets, his attorneys wrote in court filings regarding their 69-year-old client. "In light of his age and health concerns, a significant additional period of incarceration will likely amount to a life sentence for a first time offender."

The former Trump campaign chairman pleaded guilty in September to one count of conspiracy against the US and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, and promised at that time to cooperate with the special counsel investigation run by Robert Mueller. He faces up to five years for those charges.

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

Prosecutors on Mr Muellers team told Judge Amy Berman Jackson last week that Manafort had brazenly violated the law for repeatedly violating American laws.

But, Manaforts attorneys argued in their plea for leniency that their client is something of a victim to the circumstances, given how much attention has been given to the Donald Trump campaign and any connection it may have had with Russia in 2016.

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They argued that Manaforts charges stem from a mundane case that revolves, essentially, around their clients failure to properly document his income.

The special counsels attempt to portray him as a lifelong and irredeemable felon is beyond the pale and grossly overstates the facts before this court, the attorneys wrote.
Democratic Representatives Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan have been the first congressional lawmakers to sign a pledge to impeach President Donald Trump.

By The People, an advocacy group calling on Congress to support impeachment efforts, announced on Tuesday that Ms Omar and Ms Tlaib signed a Pledge to Impeach the president.

The aides of both freshman representatives confirmed that they signed the pledge.

Denzel McCampbell, a spokesman for Ms Tlaib, said the congresswoman believes that Donald Trump has performed many actions that should bring forth impeachment.

Both of the Muslim women lawmakers are seen signing the pledge in a video shared by By the People.

Tick tock Individual 1, Ms Tlaib says in the video, referencing to an individual listed in special counsel Robert Muellers court filings believed to be Mr Trump.

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Were going to hold everyone accountable to the law, including the president of of the United States, she added.

Ms Omar is seen in a separate video posted on the advocacy groups social media pages.

I think there will be an opportunity once the Muller investigation is finished for us to know, Ms Omar said in the video.

By the People insists the pledge is not an issue of Republicans vs Democrats, but rather about holding the flagrant abuse of presidential power accountable.

This is not an issue of Republicans vs. Democrats, By the People spokesperson Alexandra Flores-Quilty said in a statement. Its about checking the flagrant abuse of presidential power from a white supremacist who is profiting off of the presidential office, abusing his powers, and undermining our democracy and our Constitution.

Ms Tlaib has not been shy about her thoughts on impeachment. On her first day in Congress, the Michigan Democrat wrote an op-ed in the Detroit Free Press calling for Mr Trumps impeachment.

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She also received criticism for saying, in front of her supporters, that were going to go in and impeach the mothef***er, just a few hours after being sworn-in to office.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and other key Democrat leaders, have been on the record saying they will hold off on any impeachment proceedings until Mr Muellers completes his investigation into the president, the Trump campaign and any potential collusion with Russia.
The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) opens on Thursday 25 February in Orlando, Florida, with ousted president Donald Trump its headline speaker in his first public engagement since leaving the White House for Mar-a-Lago a month ago.

A four-day gathering of right-wing activists from across the United States, CPAC was founded in 1974 by the American Conservative Union and Young Americans for Freedom and its inaugural address was given by Ronald Reagan, then California governor and a presidential candidate two years later, who used the platform to lay out his vision for the country.

It has since become an all-important date in the conservative calender, an opportunity for American right-wingers to come together to compare notes on an array of issues concerning their value system, from the Second Amendment right to bear arms to abortion.

But this years conference, entitled America Uncancelled, is likely to be unusually fraught given that the Republican Party is currently mired in civil war following Mr Trumps election defeat and the Capitol riot, with pro-Trump loyalists and establishment moderates locked in a feud that looks to determine its future.

There has even been talk of the GOP splintering into rival factions.

The latest speaker lineup has a distinctly Trumpian flavour as CPAC makes clear its allegiance to the 45th president. And its theme promises a fixation with post-George Floyd culture war narratives concerning political correctness and censorship, rather than tackling broader policy issues such as the pandemic, the climate crisis, social justice or the domestic terror threat posed by white supremacists.

What will Trump say?

The former president has kept a relatively low profile since leaving office and losing his Twitter account but will reportedly use his platform on Sunday for a show of force, according to Axios, reminding the GOP he is still in charge, expects to play kingmaker for the foreseeable future and is its presumptive 2024 nominee.

Trump effectively is the Republican Party, his senior adviser Jason Miller told the site. The only chasm is between Beltway insiders and grassroots Republicans around the country. When you attack President Trump, youre attacking the Republican grassroots.

The ex-president is also expected to mount an attack on Joe Biden  just five weeks into the job  for destroying the country, with a particular focus on his successors approach to immigration reform, according to reports.

Whether Mr Trump will be able to resist the opportunity to lash out at his enemies on the right, which now includes the likes of Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell and Liz Cheney following his recent narrow impeachment acquittal in the Senate, remains to be seen.

We can certainly expect more flag-hugging though, his habit of embracing the Stars-and-Stripes like a beloved grandmother a signature CPAC gesture and one of its oddest spectacles.

Who else is speaking?

In addition to Mr Trump, this years other speakers include American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp and ex-Trump administration officials Mike Pompeo, Ben Carson, Andrew Wheeler, KT McFarland, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Larry Kudlow and Matthew Whitaker.

From Congress, CPAC 2021 will see speeches from the likes of Republican senators Ted Cruz (still reeling from the Cancun scandal), Josh Hawley, Mike Lee, Marsha Blackburn, Tom Cotton, Bill Haggerty, James Lankford, Cynthia Lummis and Rick Scott.

They will be joined by GOP representatives including Kevin McCarthy, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, Jim Jordan, Steve Scalise, Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar, Mo Brooks and Madison Cawthorn, all of whom likewise have distinctly Trumpian leanings and backed his baseless election fraud lie.

Donald Trump Jr is expected to be a popular draw (EPA)

Governors Kirsti Noem, Ron DeSantis and Scott Walker will all appear, as will Magaverse celebrities Donald Trump Jr, Dan Bongino, Charlie Kirk, Tom Fitton, Pam Bondi, actor Jon Voight, Fox presenter Pete Hegseth, Buck Sexton, James OKeefe, Sara A Carter, Black Guns Matter founder Maj Toure and ex-NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch.

Who wont appear?

Mr Pence is one of the most conspicuous absences, having reportedly turned down an invitation to speak as his feud with Mr Trump over the Capitol riot remains bitter.

Also struck off from the original guest speaking line-up is rapper and cultural commentator Young Pharaoh, who was dropped after Media Matters reported he had previously made antisemitic comments.

Responding, the hip hop artist described CPACs decision to drop him from America Uncancelled as censorship at its best.
| BY Lynchy |

Following a stint at Droga5 London Jacob Wright has rejoined the BBH network, taking up the Chief Strategy Officer role at BBH Singapore.

Wright (pictured left) is an-BBHer in both London and Singapore and previously he has held a variety of senior strategy roles in the UK from Head of Planning of VCCPs content and social division, to Strategy Director at Mother as well as working client side for two tech start-ups.

A reputed creative strategist as well as a social media and tech expert, Wright has laid the strategic foundations for many significant, award-winning campaigns for major brands from Uniqlo and Gucci to Barclays, IKEA and Coca Cola.

Reporting to John Hadfield, CEO of BBH Singapore, Wright will be responsible for the full breadth of the strategic offer from the agency.

Commenting on the appointment Hadfield said: I am really excited to be welcoming Jacob back to BBH. He was an excellent planner when he left us eight years ago, and hes since been able to add new experience and some deep specialist understanding that will be invaluable to the agency and to our clients.

Wright said: This is a homecoming for me. BBH Singapore has gone from strength to strength creating work thats making waves globally. Theres a team here thats unique not just in the region, but in the world and Im excited to be a part of that.
A dog groomer in Florida has been arrested after allegedly ripping off the tail of a disabled veterans German Shepherd and is facing a felony charge of animal cruelty.

Police say that surveillance footage taken on February 6 show James Cordell Doughty Suthann visibly angry at the service dog, named TT, for moving around during the grooming session.

The video is so graphic that I will not post on Facebook, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said in a Facebook post. But trust me when I tell you that it is one of the most difficult things I have ever had to watch in my 39 years of law enforcement because of the horrific and cruel way the pet was treated.

The video footage, according to the sheriff, shows Mr Suthann squeezing the dogs head and then lifting it from the ground by pulling on the tail, causing it to be twisted a full 360 degrees and to be broken to the extent it could not be reattached.

Mr Suthann is also seen hitting TT in the back of his head with a hose nozzle while bathing him after the tail ripping off incident.

The dogs from Instagram Show all 6 1 /6 The dogs from Instagram The dogs from Instagram Noodle the Dachshund is just over a year old and comes with her own hashtag (#OodlesOfNoodle) The dogs from Instagram Three-year-old Staffie Ramsey was malnourished when he was adopted as a puppy but is now big and boisterous with ripped muscles and a cheeky grin The dogs from Instagram Winny the Welsh Corgi has been credited with the breed's upsurge in popularity The dogs from Instagram Bruno the miniature Dachshund has 66,700 followers The dogs from Instagram Mika the Husky has 58,900 followers The dogs from Instagram Elle the French Bulldog has 8,868 followers

The owner of 8-year-old German Shepherd is a veteran diagnosed with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. The service dog is recovering after undergoing an emergency surgery to amputate the tail.

Mr Suthann was arrested on Monday following an joint investigation by the Satelitte Beach police Department and Brevard County Sheriffs Animal Cruelty Unit.

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He was booked into the Brevard County Jail and held on a $2,000 bond.

Unfortunately, the maximum bond that could be placed on Suthann was $2,000.00, Mr Ivey added, because they dont let me personally set the bond amounts for criminals like this guy!!
A free citizen who claims not to recognise laws, allegedly threatened to kill police officers with a pig-shaped explosive emblazoned with the words f*** the police.

Dennis Duane Vann, 42, was arrested after a four-hour stand-off in his camper van in Maplewood, Minnesota.

The confrontation began when police were called to remove the vehicle from a supermarket on Friday, according to court papers.

Officers looked up the vans registration number and learned his licence had been revoked and there was a warrant for his arrest over unpaid child support in neighbouring Kanebec County.

They knocked at the vehicles door but there was no answer. Minutes later, Mr Vann drove off and was pursued by police for two miles until he stopped at a shopping centre.

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. 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. 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When told he was being stopped because his license was revoked and he had a taillight out, Vann said he didnt need a drivers licence and is not required to follow the traffic laws as he is a free citizen, police said in a criminal complaint.

Self-described free citizens, also known as sovereign citizens, believe they are exempt from legal constraints.

Mr Vann refused to leave the vehicle and told police it would be a huge mistake if they tried to force him.

When asked why, he replied: Because two people would die today - thats f***ing why.

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Maplewood police chief Scott Nadeau told local newspaper the Pioneer Press, Mr Vann said couple of cops are going to die and made multiple references to having an IED.

The van was soon surrounded by local officers, state police, the Ramsey County Sheriffs Office, and a SWAT team. The surrounding area was evacuated before the SWAT team fired tear gas through the vehicles window and deployed a robot to tear off its back door.

Mr Vann crawled out of the vehicle and surrendered.

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The criminal complaint noted that police recovered a device from the RV that was shaped like a pig and had f**k the police written on it.

It added: The pig held an energetic powder and appears to be an explosive device.

Mr Vann was arrested and charged with making threats of violence with reckless disregard for risk and fleeing police. He may face further charges following on tests on whether the pig-shaped object qualifies as an explosive device.
Northern Ireland remains the only country in the United Kingdom where abortion is still illegal.

But there have been growing calls for a change in the law, particularly after a referendum in the Republic of Ireland which overturned its ban on abortion in May.

However, abortion continues to be strongly opposed by the Democratic Unionist Party, which currently has a confidence and supply arrangement with Theresa May's Conservative Party.

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In exchange for a 1bn financial package, the DUP's 10 Westminster MPs will give her a working parliamentary majority and support on certain issues.

However, it puts the prime minister in a difficult position when it comes to supporting a change in Northern Irish law.

What is the law on abortion in Northern Ireland?

It is currently illegal to have an abortion in the country, under laws dating back to the Offences against the Person Act 1861. The maximum sentence is life.

Abortion is only permitted when there is a risk to the life of the mother, or a serious risk to her physical or mental health. In such an instance, women can have the termination in an NHS or private clinic in Northern Ireland.

However, the majority of women seeking an abortion travel to England, Scotland or Wales. Last year, the government introduced a travel grant for low income women making this journey.

In 2015, the High Court in Belfast ruled that Northern Irelands law on abortion was not compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights - specifically as it lacks provision for cases of fatal foetal abnormality, or where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Why is this different to the rest of the UK?

The Abortion Act of 1967 legalised abortion on certain grounds in Great Britain, but this did not extend to Northern Ireland.

Health was one of the devolved powers transferred to the Northern Ireland Assembly which was created in 1998. Therefore any change to abortion laws must be made there.

However, political support has long been lacking from both sides of the political divide.

The DUP are fundamentally opposed to abortion, while Sinn Fein have been moving slowly towards supporting reform, while remaining careful not to alienate their Catholic support base. The party successfully supported lifting the abortion ban in the referendum in the Republic of Ireland.

Regardless, the Northern Ireland Assembly is currently not sitting, after power-sharing collapsed in January 2017. Until another Executive is formed, abortion reform is one of many important issues which cannot be resolved.

Can the law be changed at Westminster in the absence of the Northern Ireland Assembly?

Since the Northern Ireland Assembly has not been sitting for almost two years, there now exists a grey area over what powers Westminster has to legislate on the regions issues.

While the UK government could impose direct rule on Northern Ireland, they have thus far refused to do so, as it would be seen to destabilise the peace process as set out in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

Instead, Northern Ireland has been strung along on emergency budgeting and the decision making of civil servants.

Some politicians in Westminster have called for the House of Commons to take action on abortion, and on same sex marriage, in the absence of power-sharing in Northern Ireland. This is something which is opposed by the DUP.

Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Show all 8 1 /8 Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Campaigners intervene after police try to lead away one of the three women (centre with sunglasses) who publicly took an abortion pill during a demonstration outside Belfast's Crown and High Courts, where counter-demonstrations were held by both sides of the Northern Irish abortion argument. PA Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Police officers watch on from close by as abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity hold a protest in Belfast Getty Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Eleanor Crossey Malone takes an abortion pill as abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity distribute abortion pills Getty Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Ruth Coppinger TD addresses the crowds outside Belfast's Crown and High Courts where counter-demonstrations were held by both sides of the Northen Irish abortion argument. PA Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Eleanor Crossey Malone displays an abortion pill packet after taking a pill Getty Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills Protestors dressed as hand maidens stand as abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity distribute abortion pills from a touring bus Getty Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills An unidentified woman takes an abortion pill as abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity distribute abortion pills from a touring bus Getty Images Northern Irish women protesting anti-abortion laws take illegal pills A robot drone delivers abortion pills as abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity distribute abortion pills Getty

After the Republic of Ireland voted to lift the ban on abortion in May, Theresa May refused to give MPs in Westminster a free vote on legalising abortion in Northern Ireland, amid pressure from her partners in the DUP.

This week, Labour MPs intend to put more pressure on the government by introducing a series of Commons votes aimed at ending the abortion ban in Northern Ireland.

What is public opinion on abortion in Northern Ireland?

A YouGov poll carried out in October 2018 found that 75 per cent of people in Northern Ireland want the abortion law to change, with 65 per cent agreeing that abortion should not be a crime.

In the absence of the Northern Ireland Assembly, 66 per cent of people thought that Westminster should legislate to reform the law.

This was the first poll carried out on abortion in Northern Ireland after a referendum in the Republic of Ireland voted to lift the constitutional ban on abortion in May. It is believed that the public conversation around the referendum, and the momentum which built around the cause have contributed to a growing desire for change north of the border too.
Jeremy Hunt is facing renewed pressure to raise the case of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi after it emerged he plans to travel to Saudi Arabia this week.

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry demanded ministers present their official findings into the killing of the prominent Saudi critic by the six-month anniversary of his murder in April.

The foreign secretary is hoping to make progress on the case when he travels to Saudi Arabia this week, junior minister Mark Field told MPs.

The trip comes after Mr Hunt unsuccessfully appealed to the German government to start selling arms to the Kingdom again, after Berlin halted exports due to concerns over human rights.

Germany has joined EU countries including Denmark and Finland to act following evidence of war crimes being committed by Saudi coalition forces in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia has faced an international outcry over the murder of Mr Khashoggi, who was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.

Ms Thornberry asked for details of "long overdue" progress on the investigation into his death during a Commons clash this week.

She said: "Could he ask his boss the foreign secretary to guarantee to the House that before we reach that sad milestone, he will present the government's findings on who ultimately is responsible for that murder and what actions the government is taking in response?"

Mr Field replied: "He will be going to Saudi this week and I hope there will be progress in relation to the very serious issues she brings up in the House."

Pressed again, he said "this issue clearly will be discussed" next week and he hoped for an update in the Commons following the meeting.

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The murder of Mr Khashoggi was "planned and perpetrated" by Saudi officials, according to the UN special rapporteur investigating the killing.

Agnes Callamard, who is writing a report to be presented to the Human Rights Council about the incident, said preliminary findings showed it was almost two weeks before Turkish authorities were allowed to enter the consulate.

Evidence collected during my mission to Turkey shows prime facie case that Mr Khashoggi was the victim of a brutal and premeditated killing, planned and perpetrated by officials of the State of Saudi Arabia, Ms Callamard said.

The Foreign Office has been contacted for further comment.
Ex-prime minister Tony Blair has praised the politics of the new Independent Group of MPs, as he declared the Labour Party he once led is in thrall to left-wing populists.

Mr Blair, who took the party to three election wins, said its current state is now truly mind-boggling, bedevilled by antisemitism and characterised by its savage denunciation of anyone who speaks against it.

In contrast, he cited the breakaway group of ex-Labour MPs as part of a fightback, calling on other supporters of moderate politics to embrace the spirit of insurgency, adding the struggle can be won.

Mr Blairs call to arms comes soon after nine MPs quit Labour, with more said to be considering following and deputy leader Tom Watson creating a new social democrat counterweight to Mr Corbyns left wing within the parliamentary party.

The Independent Group, which now also has three former Conservative MPs, had its first formal meeting on Monday having laid claim to the centre ground of British politics.

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

Speaking in Washington DC, Mr Blair lamented the demise of moderate politics, saying the word centrist is now used as an insult.

After pointing out how the Conservatives are morphing into something nationalistic, he turned his fire on Jeremy Corbyns party saying: The Labour Partys membership is in thrall to a populism of the left.

The running sore of the past two years has been the row over antisemitism with Jewish Labour MPs coming under sustained attack, a truly mind-boggling circumstance for a supposedly progressive political party to find itself in.

Both manifestations of populism exult in savage denunciation of those who disagree especially within their own ranks.

He then added: But the point is, the fight is not lost. The fightback is under way within the two main parties and outside of them, where last week several MPs defected to form a new political grouping.

These are new times. We need despite our moderation to embrace the spirit of insurgency... The struggle can be won Ex-Labour leader Tony Blair

The speech came within hours of Mr Corbyn addressing his own MPs after a flurry of departures from his party  including those of Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Gavin Shuker, Ann Coffey, Angela Smith, Mike Gapes and Chris Leslie.

Ian Austin also left but did not join the new grouping, while several others are also said to be close to quitting.

Mr Blair finished his speech saying: These are new times. We need, despite our moderation, to embrace the spirit of insurgency.

We need new ideas and thinking on policy. Above all, we need to wake up, gird up, stand up and summon up the strength and intelligence to prevail.

 Chuka Umunna claims The Independent Group doesn't have any policies because they've only 'just left the Labour party'

The struggle can be won. But the complacency must end.

Antisemitism featured heavily in many of the MPs departing words, but Mr Corbyns intransigence over Brexit has also been a problem  leading to the leadership promising to back some kind of push for a new referendum in a bid to prevent further departures on Monday.

The Independent Group appointed Mr Shuker as convener, though not leader, after its meeting in the afternoon, adding that its discussions had focussed on its values and priorities. Former Tory Anna Soubry said the most important priority was Brexit.

On Sunday Mr Watson said the ideas of MPs from the social democrat wing of Labour need to be given some greater weight or more would leave.

He outlined plans to give them a platform and demanded they be listened to by the shadow cabinet, but denied he was raising a rebel flag against Mr Corbyn.
The leader of the socialist group in the European Parliament has welcomed Labours backing for a second Brexit referendum  as the party shifts towards a more pro-EU stance.

Udo Bullmann, a German MEP who leads the centre-left group, said the policy move by the UK opposition party was the announcement we were waiting for.

Labour said on Monday night that it would support an amendment for a public vote if it could not get its preferred soft Brexit plan through  as seems likely. The party says it is making the move as part of a bid to avoid a no-deal Brexit, which Theresa May has failed to rule out. The referendum would have Remain as an option.

That's the announcement we were waiting for: Jeremy Corbyns plan or second referendum. UK Labour on the offensive, Mr Bullmann said.

Labour's MEPs sit in the socialist group, officially known as the Socialists & Democrats. It was once the biggest in the parliament but has since been eclipsed in size by the pro-European centre-right.

The MEP Mr Bullmann, a member of the German SPD at a national level, had previously called for a second referendum.

We think the British people deserve, once they have seen the measures and the consequences of this divorce, once they have seen the lies of the Brexiteers, the British people deserve to have a Final Say on their future. This is my firm belief and this is my understanding of democracy, he said during a debate in the European Parliament in October.

A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Show all 65 1 /65 A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit An estimated 700,000 people marched through London to demand a final say on the withdrawal agreement Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Red smoke from a canister hangs in the air as around 100,000 demonstrators march through London during a People's Vote anti-brexit demonstration savings banners and placards Anti-Brexit People's Vote March for the Future in London Rex A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Mayor of London Sadiq Khan takes part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Final Say campaigners take part in the peoples vote march for the future in London 20/10/2018 Protesters wearing final Say shirts and holding placards Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit MP Chuka Umunna (left) and MP Vince Cable (right) as MP Anna Soubry (centre) addresses Anti-Brexit campaigners at a rally after the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A Peoples Vote march attendee calls for a Final Say Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators with banners 'We're with EU' during the People's Vote March for the Future in London, Britain, 20 October 2018. Reports state that the 'March for the Future' is to be led by a column of young people and call for a Peopleas Vote on the Brexit deal. After marching through central London, there will be a rally on stage in Parliament Square, including speeches from Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. EPA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Protesters at Londons march for the future in October The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Editor of The Independent Christian Broughton speaks to demonstrators in Parliament Sqaure after they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A poster at the March for the Future in October The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Final Say campaigners take part in the peoples vote march for the future in London 20/10/2018 Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators hold placards as they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Final Say campaigners take part in the peoples vote march for the future in London 20/10/2018 campaigner wrapped in EU flag Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Final Say campaigners take part in the peoples vote march for the future in London 20/10/2018 Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators pass Trafalgar Square as they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators wave Union and European flags and hold up placards as they pass Trafalgar Square, taking part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators hold placards as they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A demonstrator holds a message during a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators take part in the 'People's Vote March for the Future,' in central London, Britain, 20 October 2018. Reports state that the 'March for the Future' is to be led by a column of young people and call for a Peopleas Vote on the Brexit deal. After marching through central London, there will be a rally on stage in Parliament Square, including speeches from Mayor of London Sadiq Khan EPA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A protester brandishes an Independent t-shirt during the Brexit March Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Tens of thousands of people take part in People's Vote March for the Future in central London. The march organised by the People's Vote campaign is led by young people calling for a People's Vote on the Brexit deal Rex A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum PA

He made the call following a huge march in favour of a final say through central London, which was supported by The Independent.

Despite Labours backing, the mathematics in the House Commons means that without more Tory MPs rebelling to support a final say, it would likely be defeated.
The campaign for a fresh Brexit referendum has received a major boost after Jeremy Corbyn dramatically swung Labour behind handing the decision back to the public.

The Labour leader ended months of prevarication and criticism by announcing he would back another public vote if  as expected  his own softer Brexit plan is defeated this week.

The move delighted referendum supporters, who hailed it potentially as a defining moment and said there was now no going back for Mr Corbyn.

Labour MPs suggested the decision had been prompted by his panic over further defections to the breakaway Independent Group, launched by eight pro-EU MPs who quit Labour last week.

If thats what its done, then they have done the country a service, said Owen Smith, who was sacked from the shadow cabinet for backing another referendum.

Recommended Brexit delay a step closer as rebels and EU leaders pile on pressure

Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, immediately said the Labour leader would join her in campaigning for Remain  if the referendum is staged.

Labours policy shift comes six months after The Independent launched its Final Say campaign for new referendum, backed by more than 1.1 million people who have signed a petition.

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Mr Corbyns backing has long been seen as the crucial tipping point without which there could never be a Commons majority in favour of a second public vote.

However, huge obstacles remain to securing that majority, given that Labour opponents of a referendum are believed to outnumber Conservative supporters.

The question that would be asked is unclear. Labour confirmed Remain would be on the ballot paper  but said it would not countenance an option of a no-deal Brexit.

Furthermore, the fear of another referendum may yet persuade Tory opponents of the deal to finally back it when the second meaningful vote takes place, probably on 12 March.

Nevertheless, Peter Kyle,the Labour MP who has proposed backing Theresa Mays deal subject to a referendum, said: There's no going back on this now for Jeremy or the party.

Mr Smith said the referendum was a prize worth grabbing for the Commons approving the stalled agreement. It is the right thing to do for the country and for Labour voters, he said.

Clive Lewis, a shadow minister who warned support for Brexit would keep Mr Corbyn pout of power, said: This decision is a hugely positive step for the Labour party and our movement as a whole."

And Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, said it could be a defining moment. "We have long argued it is the right and logical thing to give the public the final say, he said.

The announcement came shortly before Mr Corbyn addressed the weekly meeting of Labour MPs, at which he was certain to face strong criticism about his confused stance on Brexit.

At first, it was unclear whether Mr Corbyn was pledging to back a referendum on the prime ministers deal, or only in the unlikely event of Labours own Brexit proposals being adopted.

However, a briefing note for Labour MPs stated: If our frontbench amendment does not win the support of the Commons this week, we will put forward or support an amendment in favour of a public vote.

Such an amendment could be attached to the prime ministers deal  or a version of it  should it win a majority in the House of Commons.

The sentence was a reference to the amendment put forward by Mr Kyle, and fellow backbencher Phil Wilson, for a confirmatory referendum.

However, a Labour source said the party would not support the amendment in its current form, because we will not be voting for anything which supports May's damaging Brexit deal.

It was unclear what changes the leadership would demand. Mr Kyle and Mr Wilson have argued that Labour MPs would not need to vote with the Conservatives, but merely abstain.

The announcement drew some fierce criticism in the parliamentary Labour party meeting, the pro-Brexit John Mann telling Mr Corbyn: In the Midlands and north of England this decision today will stop you from being prime minister. The price will be paid.

Earlier, speaking in Egypt, Theresa May suggested she could try to force her agreement through parliament before it had been formally approved by the other 27 member states.

Rejecting calls for a delay to Brexit, she said: "An extension to Article 50, a delay in this process, doesn't deliver a decision in parliament, it doesn't deliver a deal. All it does is precisely what the word 'delay' says.

Ms May will make a statement to MPs on Tuesday, before the next round of Brexit votes  including on the cross-party bid to force an Article 50 extension if the deal is blocked again  on Wednesday.
Keir Starmer slapped down Jeremy Corbyns aides as he vowed Labour would back moves to give voters the chance to reject Theresa Mays Brexit deal in a fresh referendum.

The Labour leaders advisers are accused of watering down the partys surprise commitment to a referendum  suggesting it would not cover putting the prime ministers agreement on the ballot paper.

But Sir Keir, the shadow Brexit secretary, insisted elected politicians had decided the policy, with Mr Corbyns agreement, saying: If Theresa Mays deal goes through, it is subject to the lock of a public vote.

The cracks emerged within hours of the announcement, which has been hailed as potentially a defining moment in the campaign for a Final Say referendum on the Brexit outcome.

Mr Corbyn  desperate to head off further defections to the breakaway Independent Group  said he would back another public vote if, as expected, his own softer withdrawal plan is defeated this week.

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A briefing note for MPs said an amendment could be attached to the prime ministers deal  or a version of it  should it win a majority in the House of Commons.

The sentence was a reference to the amendment put forward by Labour backbenchers Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson, for a confirmatory referendum.

However, on Monday night, a Labour source said the party would not support the amendment in its current form, because we will not be voting for anything which supports Mays damaging Brexit deal.

A second, anonymous sources briefed that Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, misspoke when she said the referendum was likely to be Ms Mays deal vs Remain.

Asked if Mr Corbyns aides were attempting to dilute the pledge, Sir Keir said: You have got elected politicians on your programme  you had Emily Thornberry out last night  setting out what the position is that we agreed as the Labour party.

What I am saying is telling you what was in the written briefing, the official briefing from my office and Jeremys office, to Labour MPs last night

There is no question about that  it should be between a credible Leave option and Remain.

Sir Keir made clear that a credible Leave option meant Ms Mays deal, if approved  although it is still unclear if Labour will abstain to allow it to pass, subject to a referendum.

It appeared Mr Corbyns aides were suggesting Labour would only back a referendum on its own Brexit proposals, which are almost certain to be rejected by MPs.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4s Today programme, Sir Keir also sought to play down suggestions that at least 25 Labour MPs would refuse to back a second referendum in a Commons vote.

He pointed out that predictions of a similar revolt on the meaningful vote had been proved wrong, after a call for unity, adding: That pretty well worked.
Jeremy Corbyn has faced a furious backlash from his own MPs after he dramatically shifted Labours Brexit stance in favour a second referendum.

Brexiteers on his own benches warned the move could cause catastrophic damage to support in Labour heartlands and acted as a distraction to finding a way out of the Brexit chaos.

The Labour leader won plaudits from pro-EU MPs when he ended months of uncertainty by rowing in behind a Final Say vote, if his own softer Brexit plan is rejected by MPs, as expected.

However, the shift towards a public vote led to warnings of electoral disaster in Leave-voting areas, as well as a spat over the choices on the ballot paper for a fresh poll.

Mr Corbyn told the Commons: The prime ministers botched deal provides no certainty or guarantees for the future and was comprehensively rejected by this house.

We cannot risk our countrys industry and peoples livelihoods and so if it somehow does pass in some form at a later stage, we believe there must be a confirmatory public vote to see if people feel it is what they voted for.

However Brexit-backing MP John Mann said the move would be catastrophic to Labour in the midlands and the north.

The Bassetlaw MP told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: Voters wont have it. The last person to renege on their manifesto was Nick Clegg  it didnt end very well for him on tuition fees.

Our manifesto was unambiguous, we would accept the result of the referendum. A second referendum doesnt do that and the voters  in very, very large numbers  will not accept that.

Labour ex-minister Caroline Flint said there were people on both sides that for whom no deal will ever be good enough, adding: The time has come to recognise, as it said in the first line of the first leaflet in the 2017 election from Labour, the decision to leave has been made by the British people.

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We said, in the chapter of our manifesto, we are here to negotiate Brexit, not stop it.

Stoke-on-Trent Central MP Gareth Snell suggested that shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer had engineered the shift in Labours stance.

If I was being a bit unkind, part of me thinks this has been what Keir wanted all along, to move the Labour Party to a point of so much confusion this seems to be the only way forward, he told the BBC.

Which is disappointing, because in the early days I thought he really wants to speak to those of us in Leave areas who have real concerns, not just for what this means for our party but what this means for the connection our party has with those communities.

Labour veteran Sir Kevin Barron also rejected the move, tweeting: The Labour manifesto in 2017 clearly stated that we accepted the referendum result.

I will be sticking to the promise that I made to my constituents and voting against any attempt to force a second referendum.

The move comes six months after The Independent launched its campaign for a Final Say referendum, which has been backed by more than 1.1 million people.

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Plenty of Labour politicians backed the move. Bridgend MP Madeleine Moon said: What would be the better democratic outcome for the country?

Accepting a second-rate deal resulting in a second-rate future, or a second public vote asking the public whether they support or reject a second-rate future for their children and grandchildren?

Hove MP Peter Kyle, who proposed backing Ms Mays deal subject to a referendum, hailed the news as a major step. He added: Theres no going back on this now for Jeremy or the party.

Former Labour shadow chancellor and now Independent Group member Chris Leslie said the public were sick and tired of this impasse, born of politicians putting their party political interests always above the national interest.

He called for a peoples vote, urging Mrs May not to belittle the genuine heartfelt concerns that many [MPs] have in here about the real lives, the real jobs, the real livelihoods that are at stake in a botched Brexit, that cant just be swept under the carpet and we shouldnt just turn a blind eye to.
Black cab drivers have lost a High Court challenge against Uber's London operating licence, after senior judges rejected their claims of bias.

The United Cabbies Group Ltd (UCG), which represents Hackney carriage drivers in the capital, claimed Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot's decision to grant Uber a 15-month permit was tainted by actual or apparent bias.

The licence was granted on a probationary basis at Westminster Magistrates' Court in June last year after Transport for London (TfL) refused to renew it amid safety concerns.

But the judge said in August she would not hear any further cases involving the ride-hailing app after a newspaper article alleged there were financial connections between her husband, Lord Arbuthnot, and Uber.

At a hearing in London earlier this month, lawyers for UCG acknowledged the judge was unaware of any such links but said she should have checked for any potential conflicts of interest before making her decision on Uber's licence.

In pictures: European taxi drivers in protest against Uber app Show all 8 1 /8 In pictures: European taxi drivers in protest against Uber app In pictures: European taxi drivers in protest against Uber app London Taxi drivers in protest at Victoria Street in London In pictures: European taxi drivers in protest against Uber app London Black cab and licensed taxi drivers protest at Trafalgar Square in London. Unions and groups representing taxi drivers are warning that the move is leading to unlicensed drivers being contacted via the new technology, with no checks on whether they are legitimate In pictures: European taxi drivers in protest against Uber app London Black cab and licensed taxi drivers protest at Trafalgar Square, London over the introduction of a phone app called Uber which allows customers to book and track vehicles In pictures: European taxi drivers in protest against Uber app London Traffic gets worst as taxi drivers protest at Trafalgar Square in London In pictures: European taxi drivers in protest against Uber app Barcelona A taxi proceeds demonstrators holding a banner during a strike action in protest of unliscensed taxi-type-services in Barcelona In pictures: European taxi drivers in protest against Uber app Barcelona Taxi drivers hold a banner during a strike action in protest of unliscensed taxi-type-services in Barcelona. Banner reads, "Out with illegal apps" In pictures: European taxi drivers in protest against Uber app Madrid Taxi drivers carry a banner during a strike action in protest of unliscensed taxi-type-services in central Madrid In pictures: European taxi drivers in protest against Uber app Madrid Taxi drivers in London, Paris, Madrid and other European capitals plan to bring chaos to the streets in protest against unlicensed mobile car-hailing services such as Uber which have shaken up the industry

They also argued the decision was not open to her because Uber did not meet the fit and proper person criteria necessary for holding a licence.

However, their case was dismissed by Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett and Mr Justice Supperstone on Tuesday.

Lord Burnett said in his ruling: Having ascertained all the circumstances bearing on the suggestion that the judge was biased, we consider that those circumstances would not lead a fair-minded and informed observer to conclude that there was a real possibility that the judge was biased in this case.

He added that the list of tenuous connections unearthed by UCG fell well short of evidence that would begin to give a fair-minded observer even pause for thought.

Uber's application for a five-year licence was rejected by TfL in September 2017.

 London's black cab drivers protest against Uber

TfL had a number of concerns with the firm, including failure to report criminal allegations to police and the use of technology to thwart regulators outside the UK.

Chief Magistrate Arbuthnot issued the shorter licence with stringent conditions after concluding the firm had made rapid and very recent changes.

In her ruling, she was critical of the firm, saying its failure to inform police of criminal allegations lacked common sense and that it had painted a false picture of its processes.

Following the article in The Observer in August, she assigned a licensing appeal by Uber she was due to hear in Brighton to another judge and said she would not sit in future cases involving the firm.

In a statement issued at the time, a spokesman for the judiciary said: Chief Magistrate Arbuthnot did not know the Qatar Investment Authority for which her husband had acted as an adviser was a shareholder in Uber or had any links with Uber.

Lord Arbuthnot was not aware that the Qatar Investment Authority was a shareholder in Uber or that it had any links to Uber.

This is the first time that such a connection has been brought to the Chief Magistrate's attention.

The spokesman added: It is essential that judges not only are, but are seen to be, absolutely impartial.

Lord Burnett and Mr Justice Supperstone also heard submissions from TfL and the Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association, which previously made representations to Chief Magistrate Arbuthnot.

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Speaking before the ruling, an Uber spokesperson said: We've made lasting changes to our business over the last year and a half.

We've introduced new safety features in the app for riders and better protections for drivers.

Since the court ruling in June we have launched emergency assistance so riders can connect directly with the emergency services through the app.

This is one of a series of improvements we're making for both passengers and drivers, and we continue to listen, learn and improve.

PA
Tommy Robinson has been banned from Facebook and Instagram after repeatedly breaking hate speech policies.

Both pages were removed on Tuesday in response to organised hate and the targetting of Muslims.

Tommy Robinsons Facebook page has repeatedly broken standards, posting material that uses dehumanising language and calls for violence targetted at Muslims, a Facebook spokesperson said.

He has also behaved in ways that violate our policies around organised hate. As a result, in accordance with our policies, we have removed Tommy Robinsons official Facebook page and Instagram profile.

This is not a decision we take lightly, but individuals and organisations that attack others on the basis of who they are have no place on Facebook or Instagram.

Tommy Robinson supporters protest outside the Old Bailey Show all 16 1 /16 Tommy Robinson supporters protest outside the Old Bailey Tommy Robinson supporters protest outside the Old Bailey A Tommy Robinson supporter in London after former English Defence League (EDL) leader Tommy Robinson left the Old Bailey where his contempt of court case was adjourned PA Tommy Robinson supporters protest outside the Old Bailey A Tommy Robinson supporter outside the Old Bailey in London where the former English Defence League (EDL) leader is accused of contempt of court PA Tommy Robinson supporters protest outside the Old Bailey Tommy Robinson supporters outside the Old Bailey in London before former English Defence League (EDL) leader Tommy Robinson arrives accused of contempt of court PA Tommy Robinson supporters protest outside the Old Bailey Supporters of far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson demonstrate outside the Old Bailey Getty Tommy Robinson supporters protest outside the Old Bailey Supporters of far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson demonstrate outside the Old Bailey Getty Tommy Robinson supporters protest outside the Old Bailey Supporters of former English Defence League (EDL) leader Tommy Robinson protest at the Old Bailey Courthouse EPA Tommy Robinson supporters protest outside the Old Bailey Supporters of former English Defence League leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, or 'Tommy Robinson', who was jailed for contempt of court in May and later released, wait for him to arrive at the Old Bailey to attend a court hearing Reuters Tommy Robinson supporters protest outside the Old Bailey Supporters of far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson demonstrate outside the Old Bailey Getty Tommy Robinson supporters protest outside the Old Bailey Tommy Robinson arrives for his hearing at the Old Bailey Reuters Tommy Robinson supporters protest outside the Old Bailey Supporters of far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson demonstrate outside the Old Bailey Getty Tommy Robinson supporters protest outside the Old Bailey Supporters of far-right spokeseman Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, AKA Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the right-wing EDL (English Defence League) wave flags as they demonstrate outsise The Old Bailey AFP/Getty Tommy Robinson supporters protest outside the Old Bailey Supporters of far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson demonstrate outside the Old Bailey EPA Tommy Robinson supporters protest outside the Old Bailey EPA Tommy Robinson supporters protest outside the Old Bailey Robinson gestures to supporters from inside the Old Bailey AFP/Getty Tommy Robinson supporters protest outside the Old Bailey AFP/Getty Tommy Robinson supporters protest outside the Old Bailey EPA

It comes after Facebook issued a final written warning to administrators of Robinsons account on 24 January, over posts including one calling Muslims filthy scumbags and calling on people to make war on Muslims.

The page was deleted because of further violations and support for recognised hate figures including Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes  who Robinson is scheduled to tour Australia with next month  and the far-right group Generation Identity.

The anti-Islam activist has previously been removed from Twitter and Paypal over his activities, and his website was deleted in December.

Counter-extremist groups have long called for Robinsons Facebook page to be removed following a series of controversies.

The profile had a donate button until it was removed amid concern a tool originally intended for charities was being abused.

The social media company said it would take action when ideas and opinions cross the line and amount to hate speech that may create an environment of intimidation and exclusion for certain groups in society  in some cases with potentially dangerous offline implications.

On the same day Robinsons page was deleted, several supporters reported that their accounts had been disabled, including former Breitbart London editor Raheem Kassam.

Robinsons Facebook page, which had more than 1 million followers, was his primary platform for communicating with fans and organising demonstrations.

 Tommy Robinson supporters hold protest outside the BBC in Salford

He said the corrupt media and the establishment were trying to silence any opposition to their globalist plans.

Supporters characterised the ban as a free speech crackdown, but it was welcomed by MPs including Harriet Harman and Tom Watson, who said the move came far too late.

On Saturday, Robinson held a protest outside the BBC headquarters in Salford over an upcoming Panorama edition focused on him, and broadcast his own documentary on Facebook.

He used posts to ask for donations and take aim at issues and individuals, including politicians, journalists and members of the public.

Robinson posted videos doorstepping critics, with police being called after he visited the parents of a student who had been archiving his social media posts in December.

Last month, he posted a Facebook live from outside a Scottish National Party MPs surgery, and last May a broadcast from outside a grooming gang trial in Leeds saw him jailed.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was freed in August over procedural failings and is awaiting a decision from the attorney general on whether a contempt of court case will proceed.

In November, he was appointed by Ukip leader Gerard Batten as the partys adviser on grooming gangs and prisons.

Mr Batten claimed Robinsons Facebook account was shut down for BS reasons and claimed the lefts establishment are closing ranks and counterattacking.

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He has defended Robinsons appointment, but in a December Ukip Facebook video he admitted: I do wonder if I made a wise decision, but Ive asked him to do this for us and what he can bring to the table is access to a million Facebook followers.

In recent months, the English Defence League (EDL) founder has been encouraging fans to sign up for a mailing list in case he was censored by Facebook.

He retains a YouTube account, which has more than 288,000 subscribers, but had not seen activity in almost a year until Monday.

Robinson also has a profile on Gab, which is known for its far-right user base, but had not posted since last April.

Nick Lowles, chief executive of Hope not Hate, said: Stephen Lennon is a far-right thug who uses his platform to bully, abuse and stir up division, monetising his hatred to earn huge sums while hiding behind a fake free speech mantle.

Lennon has a long record of abuse towards minorities such as Muslims, so we welcome todays decision as well as Facebooks continued actions in cleaning up their platform.

Weyman Bennett, joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism, said: This decision should have been taken much earlier. Robinson has a sordid history of instigating religious and racial hatred online.
Helping Shamima Begum return to Britain would open the floodgates for other Isis members, a former terror police chief has warned.

Scott Wilson said the 19-year-old made the choice to join Isis in Syria and must suffer the consequences, amid debate about the fate of her newborn son.

The retired officer, who was UK national counterterrorism coordinator for protect and prepare until July, told journalists: If the government starts making a freeway to get back from Syria, where does it stop?

If you make it easy then youll just open the floodgates and suddenly there will be multiple people.

Suspected Isis fighter Jack Letts, known as Jihadi Jack, also said he wants to return to the UK in an interview from Syria last week.

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

It was also reported that Islamist cleric Abu Hamzas son, Sufyan Mustafa, is fighting the decision to revoke his British passport.

Mr Wilson said police and security services were spending millions monitoring extremists already in the UK, and that if Ms Begum was allowed to return she would have to be watched for years.

They will never be able to take their eyes off her because they dont know what could happen, he added. If she did do something in the UK then the security services and government would be blamed.

He was speaking at a briefing ahead of the Security & Counter Terror Expo 2019, where another officer warned that it was only a matter of time before another attack.

Chief Inspector Pete Dalton, head of protection at Thames Valley Police, said that with a record 700 terror investigations ongoing nationally, the attack threat had not gone away.

Complacency is a real risk, he added. Its a real risk in the professional security industry, in terms of budgets and cost. Its a risk in terms of mindset.

Theres still lots of work to be done and sadly its only a matter of time before another incident happens.

(Statista (Statista)

The home secretary has moved to strip Ms Begum of her British citizenship to prevent her entering the UK, following the return of more than 400 people of national security concern.

She is among 20 British women and children being held in camps by the Syrian Democratic Forces, along with six suspected fighters, The Independent understands.

Ms Begums family lawyer accused the government of making her stateless and vowed to appeal the decision, and Bangladesh denied the teenager was a dual national.

Her family have written to the home secretary asking for his help to bring her newborn son to Britain.

Ms Begums sister, Remu, asked how they could help the government in bringing my nephew home to us.

Jeremy Corbyn is among politicians saying Ms Begum has the right to return to Britain, but Mr Wilson said there must be consequences for joining Isis.

People are trying to say she was a groomed child but  she planned it herself, nobody dragged her onto that plane, no one kidnapped her and put her there, he added.

She went with the clear intention to join Isis and if it hadnt ended up the way it had, she probably would have stayed there.

 Jeremy Corbyn says Shamima Begum has right to return to UK and face questioning

Now she doesnt like where she has ended up and she wants to come back  we cant have that.

Ms Begum and the two friends she travelled to Syria with had been interviewed by the Metropolitan Police after a fourth friend from Bethnal Green Academy fled to join Isis months before.

Terri Nicholson, a former Metropolitan Police counterterrorism officer, said officers spent tremendous effort on trying to stop people travelling to Syria in the first place.

Because the consequences arent just for [Ms Begum], theyre for her family left behind, her now young baby, she added.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

Ms Nicholson acknowledged there were a lot of unknowns to balance when removing extremists citizenship, following warnings that the practice can effectively set terrorists free in warzones without any monitoring.

But if that individual does return its a distraction at a time when security and intelligence agencies are at full tilt, she added.

Police have prevented 18 terror attacks since March 2017. If were able to prevent more people from escalating those figures then thats what we should be doing.
Female MPs and the stars of the TV programme Derry Girls marched on Westminster to call for the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland has a ban on abortions in almost all cases  even rape or incest. Abortion is only permitted when there is a risk to the life of the mother, or a serious risk to her physical or mental health.

Campaigners were countered by anti-abortion protesters who urged Northern Ireland not to change its restrictive abortion laws.

The original demonstrators chose to go as a group of 28 women to symbolise the number of people who leave Northern Ireland for England and Wales each week to have a termination. They were joined by Derry Girls actors Siobhan McSweeney and Nicola Coughlan.

The women, who included cross-party MPs, carried suitcases containing sheets of paper with the names of 62,000 people who have called for the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland abortion protest in Westminster Show all 7 1 /7 Northern Ireland abortion protest in Westminster Northern Ireland abortion protest in Westminster Derry Girls cast members Siobhan McSweeney and Nicola Coughlan (right) join MPS and women impacted by Northern Ireland's strict abortion laws PA Northern Ireland abortion protest in Westminster Heidi Allen (second right) joins the protest PA Northern Ireland abortion protest in Westminster A luggage tag on a suitcase, symbolising the women who travel from Northern Ireland to England for terminations PA Northern Ireland abortion protest in Westminster The campaigners march across Westminster Bridge PA Northern Ireland abortion protest in Westminster Counter-protesters Rebecca Morgan (left) and her daughter Helen, one, demonstrate in favour of Northern Ireland's current laws Getty Images Northern Ireland abortion protest in Westminster Protesters supporting Northern Ireland's abortion laws at Parliament Square Getty Images Northern Ireland abortion protest in Westminster Demonstrators pull suitcases to symbolise the women who travel from Northern Ireland to England for a termination AFP/Getty Images

Protesters, who included MPs Karin Smyth, Diana Johnson, Heidi Allen, Christine Jardine and Stella Creasy, delivered Amnestys 62,000-strong petition to Westminsters Northern Ireland Office.

Grainne Teggart, Amnestys Northern Ireland campaign manager, said: Today went really well. There was a very determined mood. We walked in silence with a steely determination to communicate the very serious and grave situation.

The time has come for the secretary of state for Northern Ireland to stop hiding behind the excuse of devolution as to why she is not changing the law.

Ms Teggart added that she believed healthcare should not be treated as a criminal justice issue and said Northern Irish women were highly frustrated the UK government has not extended abortion rights to the region.

The suitcases were covered in airport luggage-style stickers with messages reading BFS-LGW  a reference to the route from Belfast airport to Gatwick.

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Both Lives Matter, the group who staged the opposing protest, called on the Northern Ireland secretary to ensure that Westminster respects devolution and does not impose an extreme abortion law on Northern Ireland.

They are entitled to hold those views, Ms Teggart said of the counter-protesters. However, they are out of step with the majority of Northern Ireland and the UK. In Northern Ireland, around seven in ten want abortion decriminalised and the law reformed.

The counter-protest included 10 women, each carrying a box which the campaigners said contained 10,000 names symbolising the 100,000 people who are alive today because of Northern Irelands abortion laws.

The 1967 Abortion Act, which established legal abortion, has never applied in Northern Ireland and following devolution, health remains under the jurisdiction of the regional assembly in Stormont. However, the assembly has not sat for two years due to the ongoing impasse between unionist and nationalist parties.

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Theresa May has faced pressure to give MPs a free vote on the issue after abortion was legalised in the Republic of Ireland following a historic referendum last May.

Official statistics show that 12 abortions were carried out in Northern Ireland last year. Amnesty International is calling for liberalisation of the stringent rules  saying more than 900 women travelled to England and Wales for the procedure during the same period.

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has called for the reform of termination of pregnancy laws in Northern Ireland.
Three ministers have urged Theresa May to take a no-deal Brexit off the table as they threatened to back a House of Commons move to force a delay if her deal was voted down.

Richard Harrington, Claire Perry and Margot James said the government should say it would seek a way to extend Article 50 to avoid leaving the EU without a deal on 29 March if there was no agreement.

Writing in the Daily Mail, they warned against being swept over the precipice on March 29, and said: It is a commitment that would be greeted with relief by the vast majority of MPs, businesses and their employees.

We implore the government to take that step this week.

But if the prime minister is not able to make this commitment, we will have no choice other than to join MPs of all parties in the House of Commons, including fellow ministers, in acting in the national interest to prevent a disaster in less than five weeks time that we may regret forever.

The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Show all 8 1 /8 The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Post-Brexit immigration workers sorting radishes on a production line at a farm in Norfolk. One possible post-Brexit immigration scheme could struggle to channel workers towards less attractive roles - while another may heighten the risk of labour exploitation, a new report warns. PA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Customs union A key point in the negotiations remains Britain's access to, or withdrawal from, the EU customs union. Since the referendum there has been hot debate over the meaning of Brexit: would it entail a full withdrawal from the existing agreement, known as hard Brexit, or the soft version in which we would remain part of a common customs area for most goods, as Turkey does? No 10 has so far insisted that Brexit means Brexit and that Britain will be leaving the customs union, but may be inclined to change its position once the potential risks to the UKs economic outlook become clearer. Alamy The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Northern Ireland-Irish border Though progress was made last year, there has still been no solid agreement on whether there should be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. To ensure borderless travel on the island, the countries must be in regulatory alignment and therefore adhere to the same rules as the customs union. In December, the Conservative Partys coalition partners, the DUP, refused a draft agreement that would place the UK/EU border in the Irish Sea due to its potential to undermine the union. May has promised that would not be the case and has suggested that a specific solution would need to be found. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Transition period Despite protests from a small number of Conservative MPs, the Government and the EU are largely in agreement that a transitional period is needed after Brexit. The talks, however, have reached an impasse. Though May has agreed that the UK will continue to contribute to the EU budget until 2021, the PM wants to be able to select which laws made during this time the UK will have to adhere to. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said the UK must adopt all of the laws passed during the transition, without any input from British ministers or MEPs. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Rights of EU citizens living the UK The Prime Minister has promised EU citizens already living in the UK the right to live and work here after Brexit, but the rights of those who arrive after Brexit day remains unclear. May insists that those who arrive during the transition period should not be allowed to stay, whereas the EU believe the cut-off point should be later. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreement (with the EU) Despite this being a key issue in negotiations, the Government has yet to lay out exactly what it wants from a trade deal with the EU. Infighting within the Cabinet has prevented a solid position from being reached, with some MPs content that "no deal is better than a bad deal" while others rally behind single market access. The EU has already confirmed that access to the single market would be impossible without the UK remaining in the customs union. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreements (internationally) The Government has already begun trying to woo foreign leaders into prospective trade agreements, with various high profile state visits to China, India and Canada for May, and the now infamous invitation to US President Donald Trump to visit London. However the UK cannot make trade agreements with another country while it is still a member of the EU, and the potential loss of trade with the world's major powers is a source of anxiety for the PM. The EU has said the UK cannot secure trade deals during the transition period. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Financial services Banks in the UK will be hit hard regardless of the Brexit outcome. The EU has refused to give British banks passporting rights to trade within the EU, dashing hopes of a special City deal. However according to new reports Germany has suggested allowing trade on the condition that the UK continues paying into the EU budget even after the transition period. Getty

The newspaper also claimed that 15 ministers would be ready to resign to stop a no-deal Brexit.

The threat came after Ms May suggested she could try to take her EU Withdrawal Agreement through parliament before it had been formally approved by the other 27 member states.

Amid growing pressure to delay Brexit with just 32 days left on the clock, the Prime Minister insisted it was within our grasp for Britain to leave the EU with a deal on 29 March.

European Council president Donald Tusk revealed that he had discussed the legal and procedural process for extending the two-year Article 50 withdrawal negotiations with Mrs May when he met her in Egypt on Sunday.

Mr Tusk said delaying the UKs withdrawal beyond March 29 was now a rational solution, warning that the only alternative, if MPs could agree a deal, was a chaotic Brexit.

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, who had talks with Mrs May in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on Monday, said the UK needed to wake up.

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Mr Rutte told the BBC: The Netherlands is one of your best friends. What you guys are doing  leaving the EU in this time of insecurity in the world, instability in EU  is the wrong decision.

Its four weeks until the end date and still the UK has not agreed a position.

So, now we are sleepwalking into a no-deal scenario. Its unacceptable and your best friends have to warn you.

Wake up. This is real. Come to a conclusion and close the deal.

Despite also facing pressure from pro-Europe Tories for a delay, the Prime Minister insisted in a press conference at the end of a summit of EU and Arab nations that she was sticking to her timetable.

Its within our grasp to leave with a deal on March 29 and thats where all of my energies are going to be focused, she said.

Challenged over whether MPs would be able to vote on any additional assurances she secured from Brussels before they had been formally signed off by the EU27, Mrs May told reporters: It is possible to do it either way.

Rejecting calls for a delay, the prime minister said: An extension to Article 50, a delay in this process, doesnt deliver a decision in Parliament, it doesnt deliver a deal. All it does is precisely what the word delay says.

Any extension of Article 50 isnt addressing the issues. We have it within our grasp.

Ive had a real sense from the meetings Ive had here and the conversations Ive had in recent days that we can achieve that deal.

Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Show all 12 1 /12 Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Derry, Londonderry A garage door displaying unionism, bolted shut, like a visual representation of Brexit Britain, locked to outsiders, safeguarding whats inside Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Derry, Londonderry Rossville Street, the site of Bloody Sunday, where messages demand a severance with England. From this perspective, Britain is England in sheeps clothing, the real empire, the centre of colonial power Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Bangor A political message in paint not yet dry, still forming, setting, adjusting, or in old paint finally eroding, melting away Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Bangor Moral judgement frames a residential view. The message seeks to make everybody involved in the religious narrative: those who dont believe are those most in debt Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Castlerock The beach is sparse and almost empty, but covered in footprints. The shower is designed to wash off sand, and a mysterious border cuts a divide through the same sand Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Belfast Two attempts to affect and care for the body. One stimulated by vanity and social norms and narratives of beauty, the other by a need to keep warm in the winter night Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Belfast The gate to an unclaimed piece of land, where nothing is being built, where no project is in the making, where a sign demands the creation of something new Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Derry, Londonderry Under a motorway bridge a womans face stares, auburn and red-lipped, her skin tattooed with support for the IRA and a message of hostility to advocates of the Social Investment Fund Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Derry, Londonderry The Fountain Murals, where the curbs and the lampposts are painted the red, white, and blue of the Union Flag. A boy walks past in the same colours, fitting the scene, camouflaged Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Coleraine A public slandering by the football fields, for all to see or ignore. I wonder if its for the police or for the community Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Belfast A tattoo parlour, where the artist has downed tools, momentarily, bringing poise to the scene, which looks like a place of mourning, not a site of creation Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northern Ireland Derry, Londonderry A barrier of grey protects the contents of this shop, guarding it from the streets outside, but it cannot conceal it completely, and the colours of lust and desire and temptation cut through Richard Morgan/The Independent

Mr Tusk said it was absolutely clear that if there was no majority in the Commons to approve a deal, Britain faced chaotic Brexit or extension.

The less time there is until March 29, the greater the likelihood of an extension, he said.

This is an objective fact. Not our intention, not our plan, but an objective fact.

I believe that, in the situation we are in, an extension would be a rational solution, but Prime Minister May still believes she is able to avoid this scenario.

Mrs May said she had good meetings in Egypt with Mr Tusk, Mr Rutte, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Irish premier Leo Varadkar and Italys Giuseppe Conte.

What I sense in all my conversations with my fellow leaders, both here in Sharm el Sheikh and in recent days, is a real determination to find a way through which allows the UK to leave the EU in a smooth and orderly way with a deal, she said.

The meetings came after the PM admitted she would not get a Brexit deal in time for MPs to hold a meaningful vote this week.

She said she would put her deal to Parliament by March 12 at the latest  17 days before Britain is due to leave the EU.

The PM faces the prospect of another potentially damaging Commons revolt on Wednesday, when MPs are expected to mount a fresh attempt to block a no-deal break and extend Article 50.

A cross-party group of MPs immediately confirmed they would table an amendment, giving the House the power to demand a delay to Brexit if an agreement was not in place by March 13.

In recent days, three pro-EU Cabinet ministers  Amber Rudd, David Gauke and Greg Clark  signalled they could be prepared to back the amendment if there was no breakthrough in negotiations.

There was speculation that up to 100 Tory MPs, including as many as 20 ministers, could be prepared to join them as patience among MPs opposed to no deal is stretched to breaking point.

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Labour MP Yvette Cooper, who drew up the amendment with Conservative former minister Sir Oliver Letwin, said it would become the real meaningful vote on the Brexit deal.

She told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: The Government doesnt feel to me to be behaving like a responsible government at all at the moment  the idea that we could be only a few weeks from Brexit and we still dont know what kind of Brexit we are going to have and were not even going to have a vote on it until two weeks before that final deadline.

I dont see how businesses can plan, I dont see how public services can plan, and I think its just deeply damaging.

Mrs May confirmed that Brexit negotiators would return to Brussels on Tuesday for further talks with the EUs Michel Barnier.

Press Association
 Close Holby City actor John Michie pays tribute to late daughter Louella with mural

The jury in the trial of Ceon Broughton, the man accused of manslaughter over the drug overdose death of Louella Fletcher-Michie at a music festival, will shortly begin their deliberations.

Mr Broughtons barrister, Stephen Kamlish QC, urged the jury on Tuesday morning in his closing statement not to seek vengeance over Ms Fletcher-Michies death at Bestival in September 2017.

The court heard during the course of the trial how the 29-year-old filmed his on-off girlfriend as she overdosed on class A substance 2-CP at the music event the night before her 25th birthday.

Mr Broughton denies any wrongdoing.

On the final day of testimony, the jury were reminded by the judge how Mr Broughton filmed his dying girlfriend for 50 mins as she suffered from the overdose.

In pictures: Manslaughter trial into Louella Michie's death Show all 6 1 /6 In pictures: Manslaughter trial into Louella Michie's death In pictures: Manslaughter trial into Louella Michie's death Ceon Broughton leaves Poole Magistrates' Court on 23 March, 2018. PA Archive/PA Images In pictures: Manslaughter trial into Louella Michie's death Family picture of Louella Fletcher-Michie, the daughter of Holby City actor John Michie, who was found dead after taking a party drug at Bestival on 11 September, 2017. Zoe Barling In pictures: Manslaughter trial into Louella Michie's death Louella Fletcher-Michie and Ceon Broughton were said to have been in an on-off relationship for a number of years. Instagram In pictures: Manslaughter trial into Louella Michie's death Ceon Broughton in the music video for his track 'Duracell'. CEONRPG In pictures: Manslaughter trial into Louella Michie's death John Michie attends the Inside Soap Awards, at Ministry Of Sound, in London, 21 October, 2013. Getty Images/Gareth Cattermole In pictures: Manslaughter trial into Louella Michie's death Ceon Broughton, 29, arrives at Winchester Crown Court on 4 February, 2019, where he is charged in connection with the death of Holby City actor John Michie's daughter Louella Fletcher-Michie. PA

The prosecution claim he supplied the drugs to Ms Fletcher-Michie and should have organised medical help as soon as he realised she was struggling.

But Mr Kamlish told the jury they should not see the case in hindsight.

"If you think morally wrong; he should have done more and if he gave the drugs, he should pay; he should not have been thinking of himself  We all think those things, all of us normal people, including Ceon  now, in hindsight.

But that is not the basis on which you should decide this case, [although] it is tempting to do so.

Recommended Defendant refuses to give evidence at hearing into Bestival drug death

Mr Broughton had realised just how ill Ms Fletcher-Michie was and his video showed not that he was callous or indifferent, but unaware how close to death the 24-year-old was.

The jury heard how Mr Broughton had tried to get help, telling another friend at Bestival where the pair were.

But the judge also reminded them how he had spoken with Ms Fletcher-Michie's mother and brother on the phone during the evening, who pleaded with him to take her to the medical tent.

Despite being just 400m from the medical tent, Mr Broughton did not take her to professional help.

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Instead, he continued filming as his girlfriend gradually died over several hours, during which she became incoherent and even screamed "like a wild animal".

Mr Broughton is charged with gross negligence manslaughter and supplying a Class A drug.

If found guilty and sentenced to the maximum possible term of imprisonment, he could face 18 years in jail.

To read updates from the trial as it happened, see our live coverage below:

Please allow a moment for the live stream to load
A teenager has been arrested after four men were attacked with an unknown substance near a shopping centre and railway station in Essex. which eyewitnesses described as an "acid attack".

The victims were taken to hospital to be treated for facial injuries, although they were not thought to be life changing or threatening.

Police said the attack took place on a footbridge linking Chafford Hundred station and the Lakeside shopping centre in Thurrock on Monday night.

Firefighters were filmed as they hosed people down as they sat on a low wall wrapped in foil thermal blankets.

Eyewitnesses, who shared video and photos of the incident on social media, described the incident as an "acid attack".

Acid attacks: Bangladesh's hidden victims Show all 5 1 /5 Acid attacks: Bangladesh's hidden victims Acid attacks: Bangladesh's hidden victims 621029.bin Department for International Development Acid attacks: Bangladesh's hidden victims 621030.bin Department for International Development Acid attacks: Bangladesh's hidden victims 621031.bin Department for International Development Acid attacks: Bangladesh's hidden victims 621034.bin Department for International Development Acid attacks: Bangladesh's hidden victims 621035.bin Department for International Development

Detectives said a 17-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm (GBH) following the incident.

He was also taken to hospital as a precaution.

Officers are also hunting for two other people believed to have been involved in the incident.

A 17-year-old boy was arrested after four men were attacked with an 'unknown substance' on a footbridge between Chafford Hundred railway station and intu Lakeside shopping centre in Grays, Essex, on 25 February 2019. Firefighters were seen hosing down victims who were taken to hospital with facial injuries. (Warren White)

A 17-year-old boy was arrested after four men were attacked with an 'unknown substance' on a footbridge between Chafford Hundred railway station and intu Lakeside shopping centre in Grays, Essex, on 25 February 2019. Firefighters were seen hosing down victims who were taken to hospital with facial injuries. (Ishmail Khan/Facebook)

A spokesperson for Essex Police said: We were called shortly before 8.10pm on 25 February with reports four men had been assaulted by a group of men on a footbridge linking Chafford Hundred train station and intu Lakeside shopping centre.

They have been taken to hospital with facial injuries, which are not believed to be life changing or life threatening."

They added: A 17-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm. He has also been taken to hospital as a precaution. Inquiries are ongoing to find two other people believed to have been involved in the disturbance."

c2c Trains, which runs through the station, said its services were not affected by the incident.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service was unavailable for comment.
Images taken by the European Space Agencys Mars Express satellite show the marks that an ancient network of rivers have left on the planets surface.

The valleys formed as they would on earth, with a strong flow of water carving its way through the landscape.

What is less clear is where the water came from. Due to a lack of knowledge about the past climate of Mars, scientists can not tell whether it came from groundwater, precipitation, melting glaciers or something unheard of.

There is no liquid water on the surface of mars today, though plenty of similar ex-water features have been discovered in recent years, suggesting Mars once had a far wetter and warmer climate.

Each discovery raises further questions about the planet's past atmosphere and scientists ultimately want to know whether or not it would have been suitable for life.

Next year the ESA in collaboration with Russias space program Roscomos will launch the ExoMars mission with the primary goal to address the question of whether life has ever existed on Mars".

Here The Independent has collated images from recently discovered evidence of water on Mars in the gallery above.
On a rare visit to London not long ago, I followed a short path I used to walk as a schoolboy: from the ruins of the old Roman wall near Tower Hill Tube station to the Merchant Navy memorial. The remains of Londinium contain the fine red sandwich bricks which reinforced so many Roman houses, temples and fortifications across the empire.

I studied classics for my first degree and roamed Hadrians Wall and the ancient villas of England long before I copied down the Latin inscriptions on the Via Appia outside Rome.

On my very first visit to the memorial, I noticed that the commemorative plaques to the 35,800 merchant seamen of Britains two world wars, whose bodies were lost to the sea, contained Arab Muslim names. Many came from Yemen (Arabia Felix to the Romans)  and lived in South Shields  and most worked on the great Atlantic convoys.
The US-China trade war poses the biggest current threat to the global economy, according to new research from the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The EIU put together a list of the top 10 risks the global economy is facing in 2019, and researchers said the combination... is more wide-ranging and complex than at any point since the Great Recession.

Topping the list is the chance that the trade conflict between the US and China could morph into a full-blown global trade war, and could also become a technological arms race.

Markets were boosted on Monday with news that the threat of a US-China trade war might by avoided, after Donald Trump agreed to extend a truce over $200bn (153bn) worth of tariffs on Chinese goods over the weekend.

However, the EIUs researchers noted that while this decision will avoid an escalation in tensions for now, a full-blown trade war between the US and China remains a significant risk to the global economy, owing mainly to the fact such a deal will lack the necessary enforcement measures to ensure Chinese commitment to the structural reforms demanded by US negotiators.

These products may become more costly in the trade war Show all 9 1 /9 These products may become more costly in the trade war These products may become more costly in the trade war Orange Juice, which Florida is known for, may soon be subject to import tariffs Getty Images These products may become more costly in the trade war The EU lists 'footwear with outer soles of rubber or of plastics and uppers of plastics' amongst the goods that may soon be subject to import tariffs Getty Images These products may become more costly in the trade war Cosmetic products, such as US brands Maybelline, MAC and Avon, may soon be subject to import tariffs Getty Images for Rebekka Ruetz These products may become more costly in the trade war Jeans, the all-American trousers, are on the EU's list of goods that may be subject to import tariffs Getty Images These products may become more costly in the trade war Bourbon whiskey is on the EU's list of over 100 US products that may be subject to import tariffs Getty These products may become more costly in the trade war US peanut butter products are on the EU's list of goods that may soon be subject to tariffs Getty Images These products may become more costly in the trade war US motorcycles, such as the Harley-Davidson, may soon be subject to import tariffs Getty Images These products may become more costly in the trade war Cranberry products, a major US crop export, may soon become more expensive Getty Images These products may become more costly in the trade war All tobacco products are on the EU's list of US goods that may be subject to import tarifs AFP/Getty Images

The second biggest risk identified by the EIU is the potential for the USs corporate debt burden to turn a downturn into a recession, which would greatly exacerbate a global slowdown.

At number three is the threat of China suffering a disorderly and prolonged economic slowdown. Given the growing dependence of Western manufacturers and retailers on demand in China and other emerging markets, a disorderly slump in Chinese growth would have a severe global impact - far more than would have been the case in earlier decades, the report says.

A no-deal Brexit comes in at number seven, tied with an Italian banking crisis.

If the UK leaves the EU without an agreement in place, the EIU has forecast a sharp depreciation in the value of the pound and a much sharper economic slowdown in the UK than we currently forecast. The impact on UK and EU trade and investment is likely to prove sizeable enough to dent global economic growth.

 Trump has dinner with Chinese President and reaches 90-day 'ceasefire' in trade dispute

In light of rising geopolitical uncertainty, broadening economic headwinds and technological shifts in the security landscape, the risks facing the global economy are as wide-ranging and complex as they have been since the Great Recession, said Nicholas Fitzroy, the EIUs risk briefing director.

Combining all three of these trends, a potential escalation in the US-China trade war is the primary threat to global growth, with the possibility that a number of other countries could be sucked into the conflict.
Marks & Spencer has confirmed that it is in talks with Ocado regarding a tie-up.

M&S said that there was no certainty that the discussions would result in an agreement, but shares in both companies rose after the news.

Ocado shares 12.5 per cent before lunchtime while M&S was up 4 per cent.

M&S will pay Ocado between 800m and 900m for a 50 per cent stake in the new joint venture, with an official announcement to come as soon as tomorrow, according to the Evening Standard.

The deal will reportedly split Ocado in two and values the online grocers 721,000 customers at around 1.8bn.

Marks & Spencer chairman Archie Norman has been attempting to turn around the retailer which faces stiff competition from cheaper rivals and a deteriorating outlook on the high street.

If the deal goes through M&S could buy distribution centres, delivery vans and lorries from the online food retailer.

Ocado has made rapid recent progress in the online grocery market but suffered a devastating fire at its high-tech Andover warehouse earlier this month.

Ocado shares fell 8 per cent following the announcement of a potential slowdown until it can shift operations to other locations.

The warehouse provides around a tenth of Ocados capacity, processing more than 30,000 orders a week.

Ocado said the shutdown means there will be a constraint on our ability to meet our growing customer demand.

Sophie Lund-Yates, Equity Analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: Investors will be breathing a sigh of relief on the back of this announcement, even though a deal isnt definite. Its enough to know Ocado has the interest of one of the biggest retail names in the UK..
| BY Lynchy |

DIA Brands Asia Pacific has helped to launch Singapores first ever indigenously built bus. Local bus manufacturer SC Auto recently unveiled the SC Neustar, an integral bus that is completely designed and built in Singapore. The SC Neustar represents SC Autos foray into the latest bus manufacturing technology, ushering in a new generation of auto manufacturing for the nation.

SC Neustar is the first fully-designed, made-in-Singapore bus. Built using European-sourced components, it features an integration of our proprietary chassis technology and signature bus body design to provide a complete transport solution to our customers. To ensure the SC Neustar met the highest levels of performance standards, we put it through one of the worlds most challenging test tracks where its durability and performance were tested to the limits. Beyond our products, our goal is to deliver top-of-the-line service support through the lens of regional bus operators. With the instrumental help of DIA we were able to adopt a new brand positioning, name and identity that gives us the confidence to be at the wheel of the next generation of game changers, said Irin Chen, Marketing Manager.

Pooja Dixit, Strategy Director said, The challenge was to create a brand narrative that can be supported by a compelling name, visual and verbal language that reflected the high level of innovation and international level customer service that SC Auto was committed to deliver. As a first of its kind, it was critical for SC Neustar to establish a strong identity from the get-go. Thanks to the superb execution of the SC Auto team with its commitment to excellence at all levels, the launch of the SC Neustar has been nothing short of exceptional.

DIA was established in London in 1983 and became a top five branding consultancy in the UK by the end of the 80s. Established in Asia in 1996, today DIA is an independent group based in Singapore with studios in Malaysia, Australia and Indonesia, with a focus on unravelling the complexity of business and bringing simple ideas and innovative thinking to brands.

Credits  DIA Brands  Nigel Smith, Pooja Dixit, Roxanne Perez, Lucas Saw. SC Auto  Irin Chen.
British engineering giant Babcock has revealed it will take a 10m tax hit this year linked to a restructuring to ensure the company can continue trading after Brexit.

The group is changing its aerial emergency services businesses to comply with European operating requirements, and said ongoing additional costs relating to the new structures will be around 10m per year.

The firm also said underlying earnings expectations for 2019 remain unchanged, with slightly higher margins offsetting slower revenue growth.

Total revenue is expected to drop to 5.2bn, compared with 5.36bn in the previous year, due to lower activity in its rail business.

Chief executive Archie Bethel said: We continue to make good operational and strategic progress and won some great new contracts in the period including an expansion into the aerial emergency services market in North America, a significant win in Australia and securing the next 10 years for our rail business.

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

Whilst preparing for the UK exiting the EU and for our QEC and Magnox contracts coming to an end, we continue to grow our business across our three key markets of defence, aerial emergency services and nuclear.

Shares in the group were down as much as 7.6 per cent in early trading.

Analysts at Shore Capital said: The short-term performance of Babcock remains frustrating for investors, in our view, with additional charges and some revenue weakness from changing structure impacting operations.

The long-term positioning still remains sound, in our view. We expect stronger growth to resume in due course.

Additional reporting by newswires
Brexit brings us nightmarish new headlines from the business world on most days at present.

Declining manufacturing growth; 44bn-worth of transactions in jeaopardy every day and retailers chiming in to say prices of some foods could rise by 45 per cent, to say it's looking dicey out there is putting it mildly.

The fact that former Brexit secretary David Davis chose to deny the UK was heading into a Mad Max-style dystopia is arguably quite telling.

Even Somerset Capital Management, a firm co-founded by Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg, has warned that the UK's departure from the EU could cause "considerable uncertainty".

Heres a list of companies that have issued similar warnings, announced plans to cut UK jobs or beefed up their European operations since the June 2016 referendum.

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

Airbus

The aerospace group employs 14,000 people in Britain, including 6,000 jobs at its main wings factory at Broughton in North Wales and 3,000 at Filton, near Bristol, where wings are designed.

Chief executive Tom Enders warned in January that the firm could be forced to start shutting down UK plants and attacked Theresas Mays government for the prevailing state of chaos, saying: It is a disgrace that, more than two years after the result of the 2016 referendum, businesses are still unable to plan properly for the future.

We, along with many of our peers, have repeatedly called for clarity, but we still have no idea what is really going on here, he said.

Please dont listen to the Brexiteers madness which asserts that because we have huge plants here we will not move and we will always be here. They are wrong.

 Airbus CEO urges UK decision makers to avoid no-deal Brexit

Aviva

Britains second-largest insurer announced in February it will move 7.8bn worth of assets to Ireland as it prepares for Brexit.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch

The US lender is spending $400m (306m) to move staff out of London, with Paris its preferred new European headquarters.

The bank announced the merger of its UK and Irish subsidiaries in May last year, transferring 125 jobs to Dublin. Even if the UK decided not to leave the EU, Dublin will remain BAML's European headquarters, the bank's chairman said.

Barclays

The British bank has moved 166bn of its clients' assets to the Irish capital, stating that it could not wait any longer to implement Brexit contingency plans.

Barclays has also set aside a cool 150m in anticipation of Brexit chaos, expecting a slowdown in economic growth of 0.3 per cent and a spike in unemployment of 5.7 per cent.

The lender has said it expects around 150-200 of its 50,000 staff to move, mostly to Dublin.

British Steel

The company announced 400 job cuts in September 2018 blaming the weakening of the pound and the euro which has made the raw materials it uses - all traded in US dollars - more expensive.

In May 2019 British Steel said it risked going into administration, putting more than 4,000 jobs on the line at its main Scunthorpe plant and three other sites, along with an estimated 20,000 in the supply chain.

The private-equity backed company said it needed 30m of government support, partly because of "Brexit-related" problems, namely that its European customers were holding off purchases because of uncertainty over tariffs and other trading arrangements.

Steel firms are also facing the effects of tariffs introduced by Donald Trump's administration in a trade battle with China.

Credit Suisse

The giant Swiss bank is reported to have moved about 250 bankers from London to other European financial hubs.

Dyson

The decision by billionaire inventor Sir James Dyson to relocate his companys headquarters from Malmesbury in Wiltshire to Singapore was denounced as hypocrisy, given his vocal support for Brexit.

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Sir James had said he was enormously optimistic about Britains prospects outside of the EU.

Chief executive Jim Rowan insisted the move was not linked to Brexit or lower taxes: Its about making sure we are future-proofed.

This can only be seen as a vote of no confidence in the idea of Brexit Britain, Layla Moran MP argued.

Another super-rich Brexiteer, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has suffered similar criticism for relocating to Monaco for tax purposes.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe's plan to move to Monaco was condemned by shadow chancellor John McDonnell. (AFP)

Ford

The US car maker warned in February that a no-deal Brexit would be catastrophic for its business and and put jobs at risk at its Bridgend, Dagenham and Halewood manufacturing plants.

Ford said it would do whatever is necessary to safeguard its interests.

The company had already said a month earlier it would cut jobs in the UK as a result of the rehousing two divisions, Ford UK and Ford Credit, under one roof in Dunton, Essex. Around 370 job cuts are planned for Ford's Bridgend engine factory as part of broader plans to boost profits in Europe

A no-deal Brexit would cost Ford $800m (613m) in 2019 due to World Trade Organisation tariffs and the impact of weaker sterling, the company has said.

Ford's engine plant in Bridgend (PA)

Goldman Sachs

Goldman said a year ago that it was reaching the point of its Brexit contingency planning where it would start making irreversible business decisions but an exact figure on how many people it has moved to the Continent remains illusive.

In 2017, former chief executive Lloyd Blankfein tweeted a picture of the investment bank's new London office, with the comment: "Expecting/hoping to fill it up, but so much outside our control. #Brexit".

Honda

The Japanese car giant confirmed in May it will close its manufacturing plant in Swindon in 2021, culling 3,500 jobs, a decision business secretary Greg Clark admitted was a bitter blow.

Recommended Car industry workers want to leave the EU

The companys European chief Katsushi Inoue insisted the move was being made as the company shifts its focus away from Civics towards electric alternatives and was not in response to Brexit.

An employee at the facility of 24 years standing spoke for his colleagues (and a proportion of the nation) when he branded the current political malaise idiocy of epic proportions in an interview with Channel 4 News that went viral.

HSBC

The longer we have the uncertainty the worse its going to be for the customers, chief executive John Flint warned in February. Customers are absolutely postponing investment decisions and thats been the part of this slowdown that we have seen in the UK.

Jaguar Land Rover

The UKs biggest car manufacturer, owned by Indian conglomerate Tata, announced in January that it would be cutting 4,500 jobs, the majority falling in the UK, to make 2.5bn of cost savings. Plummeting demand for diesel cars and a slowdown in China are at the root of JLR's problems.

JLR currently employs 44,000 workers in the UK at plants in Halewood on Merseyside and Solihull, Castle Bromwich and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands and also send it planned to halt production for a week in April due to potential Brexit disruption.

Both BMW and Toyota have made similar pledges for the same reason.

JPMorgan Chase

The American bank said in September its Brexit plans were past the point of no return and as many as 4,000 of its 16,000 UK staff could move in the event of no-deal being agreed between the UK and the EU.

We are now in full execution mode, vice chairman Mark Garvin told Parliaments Treasury Committee, with no little theatrical flare. We are in the very advanced phases of execution, in fact. A number of these initiatives are already in flight and in many cases we have passed the point of no return  they are happening.

The US bank will migrate its commercial banking operations to Luxembourg and merge its European wealth management arm with its office in the principality. Frankfurt will host its investment banking and markets business.

Lloyds of London

The home of the London insurance market for 330 years, Lloyds of London (not to be confused with the banking group) said back in December 2016 it would open up an EU base.

Lloyds is working on transferring all European Economic Area (EEA) business to its new Brussels subsidiary before the end of 2020.

The Richard Rogers-designed Lloyds of London building in the heart of the City (Reuters)

Michelin

The tyre manufacturer announced in November 2018 it would close its Dundee factory in Scotland, which employs 845, people by 2020, citing a decline in demand for its products and competition from Asia rather than Brexit.

Moneygram

US money transfer giant Moneygram has moved its European headquarters from London to Brussels. "Once the UK is no longer part of the EU, it is anticipated the company will no longer be able to provide payments services outside the UK," the company said in January 2018.

Nissan

The Japanese car company announced in early February it would no longer be making its new X-Trail SUV at its Sunderland factory, relocating manufacturing to Kyushu in Japan instead.

The companys European boss Gianluca de Ficchy commented in a letter to the plants 16,000 staff: 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.

A trade deal between the EU and Japan also means that exports from Kyushu to Europe will soon be tariff-free.

Nissan's X-Trail, the latest version of which will not be built in Sunderland, as the company had previously pledged (Nissan)

Panasonic

The Japanese consumer electronics giant announced last August it would be moving its European headquarters from London to Amsterdam in the Netherlands to avoid potential tax issues linked to Brexit.

Panasonic expressed concern that the UK could be regarded as a tax haven post-Brexit because of mooted proposals to slash corporate tax rates. That might result in huge back-tax demands from japan and other nations.

P&O

All P&O ships operating in the English Channel will be under the Cypriot flag, instead of the British flag to keep tax arrangements in the EU and reduce the risk of extra inspections and delays. A number of P&O ferries operating routes to and from the UK have been registered in the Bahamas for years.

Philips

Philips is closing its only UK factory, at Glemsford in Suffolk. All operations and 430 jobs will transfer to the Netherlands.

The Dutch multinational said in January the decision was part of a plan to reduce its number of manufacturing sites around the world and was not not directly related to Brexit.

But last July, Philips warned that it would cut up to 500 jobs if the UK does not secure a favourable trade deal with the EU.

Rolls-Royce

The engine maker announced 4,600 job cuts at its Derby plant by 2020, a move it said would help save around 400m a year.

Brexit was not cited as a factor. Rolls-Royce has also confirmed it is pressing ahead with plans to shift design approval for large aero engines from Derby to Germany.

Rolls-Royce, seen as a quintessentially British company and a world-leading manufacturer, stressed the switch to Germany was a precautionary and reversible technical action and would not impact UK jobs

A 235m contract to maintain the nuclear engines of the UK's fleet of submarines has been confirmed by Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson. The deal will secure about 500 jobs, mostly in Derby.

Rolls Royce is cutting thousands of jobs, mostly in support roles, at its Derby base (Reuters) (REUTERS)

Schaeffler

Automotive and industrial supplier Schaeffler is to close two sites in the UK, with uncertainty surrounding Brexit given as one factor behind the decision.

Sites in Plymouth and Llanelli, South Wales, will close within two years with up to 500 jobs affected.

Sony

Like Panasonic, the Japanese electronics giant announced in January it is moving its European headquarters from London to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It is understood that no jobs have yet been moved.

According to the Dutch government, up to 250 companies were in talks last month to relocate to the scenic canal city as a result of Brexit.

Toyota

Toyota slashed its profit forecast for 2019 and warned that it will be impossible to avoid the harmful effects of a no-deal Brexit.

We cannot avoid the negative impact no matter how much we prepare beforehand if Britain leaves the EU with no deal, the firms senior managing officer Masayoshi Shirayanagi said in February.

He said Toyota will monitor the situation, hoping that it will not happen, adding it was not currently considering production changes.

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UBS

Switzerland's biggest bank chose Frankfurt as the base for its EU operations after Brexit.

The financial system is already operating on the assumption that there is no agreement, between the UK and EU, chief executive Sergio Ermotti said in September.

Unilever

The consumer goods giant which makes everything from Marmite to Domestos, said it would scrap its dual-headquartered structure and make Rotterdam its main base.

But six months later, in October last year, it u-turned on the plan after shareholders expressed anger.
Amid all the hype of bendable phones at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, a much quieter smartphone revolution may be unfolding.

Led by peripheral phone maker HTC, this new wave of phones look much the same as those that have come before it  at least on the outside. Inside, however, they contain the software needed to transform the entire internet as we know it, and in doing so take the power back from the technology giants that dominate it.

They are the so-called blockchain smartphones. Built around the decentralised web  or Web 3.0  they cut out the internet's middlemen by running off a peer-to-peer network to send and receive information. The idea is to give people back control of their data and end the exploitation and monetisation of people's private lives by the likes of Facebook and Google.

HTC describes its Exodus 1 as "the first smartphone built for this new internet" and it is the brainchild of Phil Chen, the appropriately-titled 'decentralized chief officer' of the Taiwanese firm.

"We're this far into the information age and there's barely any conversation about digital property," Chen tells The Independent. "All of our private data  from credit history to search data  is handled by third parties. We don't own or control any of it. Instead, it is just seven companies in the world that control almost all of the data. They have become more powerful than governments."

The way to get the power back, Chen says, is to introduce a paradigm shift to the big data business models of these large tech companies, from the apps we use, to the way we pay.

These blockchain phones operate on the same underlying technology that supports bitcoin, so it is no surprise that cryptocurrencies form a key role in their operation.

At MWC, HTC is also introducing a new range of decentralised apps  or dApps  that do not share or send data back to a centralised company or server. Some apps even allow people to monetise their own data, by selling it for cryptocurrency.

Payments can also go the other way, meaning users can make micropayments directly to websites and content creators without the need for transaction fees.

Even the phone's default browser, Opera, supports such functionality, describing itself as the world's first crypto-ready browser.

"We are at the dawn of a new generation of the Web, one where new decentralized services will challenge the status quo," says Charles Hamel, head of crypto at Opera. "HTC and Opera have both made the bold decision to be the first to step up and enable this transformation."

The HTC Exodus can only be bought using cryptocurrency like bitcoin or ethereum (HTC)

Like other blockchain phones, such as the Sirin Finney, the HTC Exodus 1 comes with an in-built cryptocurrency wallet that can store private keys for bitcoin, ether and litecoin offline. By not being connected to the internet, this cold-storage wallet protects the funds from hacking, as well as a person's private data.

Until now, the HTC Exodus has only been available to buy in cryptocurrency but from March people will be able to purchase it using traditional fiat currency, with the eventual hope that the phone and the decentralised web will make it into the mainstream.

"I don't like calling it a blockchain phone because it's not just for crypto geeks," Chen says. "It's about the internet."

Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Satoshi Nakamoto creates the first bitcoin block in 2009 On 3 January, 2009, the genesis block of bitcoin appeared. It came less than a year after the pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto detailed the cryptocurrency in a paper titled 'Bitcoin: A peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System' Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin is used as a currency for the first time On 22 May, 2010, the first ever real-world bitcoin transaction took place. Lazlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins  the equivalent of $90 million at today's prices Lazlo Hanyecz Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Silk Road opens for business Bitcoin soon gained notoriety for its use on the dark web. The Silk Road marketplace, established in 2011, was the first of hundreds of sites to offer illegal drugs and services in exchange for bitcoin Screenshot Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures The first bitcoin ATM appears On 29 October, 2013, the first ever bitcoin ATM was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. The machine allowed people to exchange bitcoins for cash Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures The fall of MtGox The world's biggest bitcoin exchange, MtGox, filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after losing almost 750,000 of its customers bitcoins. At the time, this was around 7 per cent of all bitcoins and the market inevitably crashed Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Would the real Satoshi Nakamoto please stand up In 2015, Australian police raided the home of Craig Wright after the entrepreneur claimed he was Satoshi Nakamoto. He later rescinded the claim Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's big split On 1 August, 2017, an unresolvable dispute within the bitcoin community saw the network split. The fork of bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology spawned a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin cash Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's price sky rockets Towards the end of 2017, the price of bitcoin surged to almost $20,000. This represented a 1,300 per cent increase from its price at the start of the year Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures What goes up... Bitcoin price crashes spectacularly, losing half of its value in a matter of days Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin plunges The cryptocurrency eventually bottoms out below $4,000 in 2019 before slowly rebuilding momentum to outperform more traditional assets Getty Images

It's been 10 years since the birth of bitcoin and blockchain technology but the industry is still very much in its infancy.

Interest in cryptocurrency and blockchain has been in decline ever since bitcoin's dramatic price crash, which saw the cryptocurrency lose more than three quarters of its value in 2018.

Online analytics show Google searches for both terms have been in free-fall during that time, and according to Gartner, the technology entered the so-called 'trough of disillusionment' phase in its 2018 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies report.

The leading market research firm says it may be another 10 years before it reaches the 'plateau of productivity' and begins to see widespread adoption.

For this to happen, Chen says, it will likely involve the very tech giants that this technology poses a threat to. Their considerable reach means their adoption of such technology would automatically push it into the mainstream. Another scenario would be that continued data breaches propel the conversation of digital property into the spotlight.

"People are becoming more aware of their data and will realise this is part of the solution," he says. "This could spread like wildfire. The tech giants may try to quell its spread, but ultimately they may have to choose between fuelling it or getting burnt and left behind."

The HTC Exodus 1 and Sirin Finney may be the first, but blockchain technology is already seeping into more mainstream devices. Earlier this month, Samsung announced its flagship Galaxy S10 range of smartphones, which came with a "Blockchain Keystore".

There are also rumours that Facebook is planning to launch its own cryptocurrency, which could facilitate payments across its range of messaging apps  from WhatsApp to Messenger. With close to 2 billion users worldwide, such a move could create a currency to rival the dominance of the US dollar almost overnight.

In a recent interview with Harvard Law professor Jonathan Zittrain, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg explained how blockchain-based authentication could make the social network more secure. But he added: "I haven't figured out a way to make this work out."

With the technological and financial resources at his disposal, it may just be that Zuckerberg simply hasn't figured out a way to implement the technology in a way that Facebook can still claim ownership to it.

The HTC Exodus is part of a new wave of blockcain smartphones (HTC)

The open, decentralised and borderless nature of blockchain is the reason blockchain remains the only technology vertical not dominated by the incumbents of the industry  it is antithetical to their current business model. The likes of Amazon and Google are leading the way in everything from fintech to artificial intelligence, as these are all technologies they can control and own.

The two largest smartphone makers, Samsung and Huawei, both profit from personal data through their cloud storage businesses. It could therefore fall to Apple to create that spark.

"Tim Cook keeps talking about privacy but can he take the next step? I'm hopeful and I would be their first cheerleader if they did," Chen says.

"This is a big, giant leap, but we are a David among Goliaths. It will take a giant company to start reversing this tide."
Paris Fashion Week marks the grand finale to a jam-packed fashion month, preceded by New York, London and Milan.

With some of the worlds most esteemed fashion houses on the schedule  Chanel, Dior and Louis Vuitton, to name but a few  its often the most-anticipated event out of the four and usually attracts a roster of A-list celebrity attendees.

Previous seasons have seen everyone from Rihanna and Kate Moss to Jennifer Lawrence and Cara Delevingne in the front row.

There are also usually famous faces walking in the shows themselves, with Gigi Hadid, Adwoa Aboah and Kendall Jenner all having walked the runway.

This season, however, all eyes will be on the Chanel show given the recent death of the luxury labels esteemed creative director, Karl Lagerfeld, who had been at the helm of the brand for more than 30 years.

Celebrities on the front row at Milan Fashion Week Show all 12 1 /12 Celebrities on the front row at Milan Fashion Week Celebrities on the front row at Milan Fashion Week Actor Michelle Monaghan attends the Salvatore Ferragamo show on Saturday. Getty Images for Salvatore Ferra Celebrities on the front row at Milan Fashion Week Model Lottie Moss sat alongside actors Suki Waterhouse and Gabriella Wilde and Lady Amelia Windsor at the Salvatore Ferragamo show. Getty Images for Salvatore Ferra Celebrities on the front row at Milan Fashion Week Millie Bobby Brown The British actress posed at the Moncler show. AFP/Getty Images Celebrities on the front row at Milan Fashion Week Sinead Burke The British Vogue contributing editor stunned in red at Gucci. Getty Images for Gucci Celebrities on the front row at Milan Fashion Week Andrew Garfield The actor was seen attending the Gucci runway show. Getty Images for Gucci Celebrities on the front row at Milan Fashion Week Francois-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek Pinault The businessman and actor were seen posing for photos ahead of the Gucci presentation. Getty Images for Gucci Celebrities on the front row at Milan Fashion Week Saoirse Ronan The Oscar-nominated star arrived at the Gucci show in a pair of bright red trousers. Getty Images for Gucci Celebrities on the front row at Milan Fashion Week Joan Smalls The model showed off her statuesque physique at the Moncler show. Getty Images for Moncler Celebrities on the front row at Milan Fashion Week Bryan Boy The Filipino fashion blogger posed for the cameras ahead of the Gucci show. Getty Images for Gucci Celebrities on the front row at Milan Fashion Week Lucy Boynton The actor was seen head-to-toe in Gucci at the luxury Italian brand's runway show. Getty Images for Gucci Celebrities on the front row at Milan Fashion Week Florence and Benjamin Clementine The couple contrasted each other's brightly-coloured outfits perfectly before the Gucci show. Getty Images for Gucci Celebrities on the front row at Milan Fashion Week Gia Coppola The film director teamed her muted brown-toned outfit with a splash of colour thanks to the addition of a bubblegum-pink bag at Gucci. Getty Images for Gucci

Read on for everything you need to know about PFW.

What is it?

Paris Fashion Week is a trade event organised by La Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, which is the governing body for the French fashion industry.

Like its counterparts in New York, London and Milan, it happens twice a year: once in February, when autumn/winter collections are shown, and once in September, for the spring/summer collections.

Traditionally, the aim has been to give designers the opportunity to showcase their new collections ahead of when they will be available for purchase.

This allows buyers and editors to see what brands have planned for next season and identify the key trends and pieces that influence which clothes and accessories we see in shops, on websites and in magazines.

When is it?

Paris Fashion Week is always the final event on the fashion month lineup, with New York, London and Milan fashion weeks taking place beforehand.

This year, proceedings officially began on Tuesday 26 February and shows take place until Tuesday 5 March.

Who goes?

In addition to the buyers, editors and influencers in attendance, PFW typically boasts one of the most celebrity-heavy crowds.

 Milan Fashion Week: Silvia Venturini Fendi sheds tears as she takes bow for Autumn/Winter show on behalf of Karl Lagerfeld

This is usually because many of the brands on the schedule boast high-profile muses and often have contracts with some of the biggest names in Hollywood e.g. Jennifer Lawrence for Dior and Kristen Stewart for Chanel.

Expect to see some very famous faces in the front row.

What are the main shows?

This season, there will be plenty of notable highlights thanks to ever-changing shifts at the top of some of the most esteemed French fashion houses.

Nina Ricci, for example, will debut its first collection on Friday 1 March under the leadership of design duo Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh following the departure of Guillaume Henry in 2018.

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This PFW also marks an important moment for Tommy Hilfiger, who debuted his last collection for his eponymous label in Shanghai. The heritage American brand will debut its collaboration with The Greatest Showman star, Zendaya, at its show on Saturday 2 March.

Elsewhere, many will look forward to see what controversial fashion designer Hedi Slimane has in store for his second season at Celine.

The former Saint Laurent creative director prompted criticism in September when he debuted his inaugural collection for the French fashion house. It was a marked difference from the labels minimalistic aesthetic, with sequin mini dresses taking centre stage, and was labelled tone-deaf due to its model line-up, the majority of whom were white. Slimane's autumn/winter 2019 collection will be showcased on Friday 1 March at 7.30pm GMT.

Despite all this, the most-anticipated moment of PFW is undoubtedly going to be on Tuesday 5 March at 9.30am GMT, which is when Karl Lagerfelds final collection for Chanel will be revealed.

Its not yet known how the French fashion house will pay homage to the late designer, but given his legacy at the label and in the industry as a whole, were expecting big things. Watch this space.
Holly Willoughbys denim edit for Marks & Spencer is on sale today.

The 15-piece collection features a wide range of spring essentials including button-through skirts, zip-front boiler suits and Western-inspired frill-detail shirts, as well as shoes, bags and accessories.

Speaking about the edit, the This Morning presenter said: This edit has been really fun to pull together.

I have always loved the simplicity of a denim dress and I live in high-waisted skinny jeans at the weekend, she continued.

The edit is currently available in 70 selected stores nationwide and online.

Hollys Must-Haves The Denim Edit Show all 15 1 /15 Hollys Must-Haves The Denim Edit Hollys Must-Haves The Denim Edit Suede Western Ankle Boots 49.50 Hollys Must-Haves The Denim Edit Contrast Cross Body Bag 29.50 Hollys Must-Haves The Denim Edit Denim Mini Shirt Dress 49.50 Hollys Must-Haves The Denim Edit Contrast Cross Body Bag 29.50 Hollys Must-Haves The Denim Edit Pure Cotton Slogan Straight Fit T-Shirt 8.50 Hollys Must-Haves The Denim Edit Western Denim Shirt 32.50 Hollys Must-Haves The Denim Edit Cotton Rich Striped Fitted T-Shirt 8.50 Hollys Must-Haves The Denim Edit Leather Buckle Hip Belt 15 Hollys Must-Haves The Denim Edit Denim Ruffle Shirt 32.50 Marks & Spencer Hollys Must-Haves The Denim Edit Pure Cotton Utility Jumpsuit 55 Hollys Must-Haves The Denim Edit 45 Hollys Must-Haves The Denim Edit Ivy Skinny Leg Jeans 19.50 Marks & Spencer Hollys Must-Haves The Denim Edit Denim Mini Skirt 25 Marks & Spencer Hollys Must-Haves The Denim Edit Denim Midi Shirt Dress 49.50 Marks & Spencer Hollys Must-Haves The Denim Edit Leather Western Boots 55 Marks & Spencer

Denim is the theme behind Holly Willoughbys latest selection of Marks & Spencer Must-Haves (PA) (PA_Images)

But, if the 38-year-olds previous edits with the British high street brand are anything to go by, you may want to be quick as they are known to sell out in hours.

Willoughby added: I am a huge fan of wearing different denim pieces together  effortless but with a cooler edge. If top-to-toe denim isnt for you, add a crisp white tee and simple ankle boots, for a classic look that will see you through season after season.

Breton tops from the edit come in at just 8.50, while its most expensive piece is a leather bag a 79.

In October, the broadcaster launched her second collection  the winter edit  for the brand, which included a 55 tiger-print dress that proved a big hit with customers.

M&S announced that Willoughby had joined the retailer as its latest brand ambassador in September 2018.

Her first edit featured 20 pieces from the M&S autumn collection called Hollys must-haves.

In the first image released ahead of the campaign, the star wore a burgundy tartan mini skirt, a slogan T-shirt and a bright pink coat that was reminiscent of the brands sellout duster coat from autumn 2013.

Shop the Hollys must-haves denim edit here.
The highest ever winter temperature seen in the UK has been recorded, beating the previous all-time high, set only yesterday.

A temperature of 21.2C was recorded at Kew Gardens in southwest London, beating the 20.6C measured at Trawsgoed, near Aberystwyth, on Monday.

Met Office spokesman Grahame Madge told The Independent: To see temperatures of over 20C on a winters day is exceptional. The previous record was 19.7C and thats stood since 1998. It is a rare event to see temperatures this high in February.

Weve had a series of weather metrics that have meant we are getting those sort of temperatures: The fact we are getting the warm flow coming up from the south, the fact weve got high pressure giving us sunny days, which is adding to the temperatures, the fact its been dry  dry soil means the ground heats up more quickly and helps to boost daytime temperatures.

He added: A lot of different variables have all aligned to give us these high temperatures.

This season's record heat vs the same time last year Show all 8 1 /8 This season's record heat vs the same time last year This season's record heat vs the same time last year Top: people walking their dogs on Blyth Beach in Northumberland on February 27 2018 Bottom: the same view on February 26 2019 PA This season's record heat vs the same time last year Top: Edinburgh's High Street on March 1 2018 Bottom: the same view on February 26 2019 PA This season's record heat vs the same time last year Top: the Croft An Righ in Holyrood, Edinburgh on February 28 2018 Bottom: the same view on February 26 2019 PA This season's record heat vs the same time last year Top: Victor the polar bear at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster on February 28 2018 Bottom: polar bears Pixel and Nissan at the same park on February 26 2019 PA This season's record heat vs the same time last year Top: cars stuck on the M80 near Haggs in Glasgow on February 28 2018. Bottom: the same view on February 26 2019 PA This season's record heat vs the same time last year Top: the Kelpies in Helix Park, Falkirk on February 28 2018 Bottom: the same view on February 26 2019 PA This season's record heat vs the same time last year Top: the M876 in Scotland on March 03 2018 Bottom: the same view on February 26 2019 PA This season's record heat vs the same time last year Top: the Kelpies in Helix Park, Falkirk on February 28 2018 Bottom: the same view on February 26 2019 PA

But by Thursday the high pressure system bringing warm air up from Europe is expected to give way to see a potentially very strong weather system move in from the Atlantic, bringing rain, high winds and a fall in temperatures.

Nonetheless, Mr Madge said the current high temperatures are considered an extreme weather event, and added: The background rate of warming may have just nudged it up a little bit.

February is meteorologically a winter month, and we are seeing the highest temperatures for winter ever recorded in the UK.

In terms of average temperatures the month is within striking distance of becoming the warmest February since records began in 1910.

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Meanwhile, 27 councils across the country have declared a climate emergency in an effort to force authorities to act against climate change.

Though scientists warn against conflating specific weather events with climate change, there is wide recognition extreme weather becomes more likely as the baseline for average temperatures has risen.

It is thought the impact of the hot weather in winter will hit animals hardest. Hibernating mammals which emerge too early may struggle to find food and waste energy, making them weaker and more vulnerable to predators.
After a record high temperature for February of 20.6C and some of the hottest winter temperatures ever seen in the UK, the unseasonably warm weather is to continue before high winds and rain bring an end to the heatwave.

The Met Office predicts another record-breaking day for winter temperatures in the UK, with the possibility Tuesday could be even hotter in the south east than it was at Trawsgoed in Wales on Monday.

But by Thursday, the high pressure system bringing warm air up from Europe is expected to give way to see a potentially very strong weather system move in from the Atlantic, bringing rain, high winds and a fall in temperatures.

Met Office spokesman Grahame Madge told The Independent: To see temperatures of over 20 on a winters day is exceptional. The previous record was 19.7 and thats stood since 1998. It is a rare event to see temperatures this high in February.

Weve had a series of weather metrics that have meant we are getting those sort of temperatures: The fact we are getting the warm flow coming up from the south, the fact weve got high pressure giving us sunny days, which is adding to the temperatures, the fact its been dry - dry soil means the ground heats up more quickly and helps to boost daytime temperatures.

Britain enjoys record breaking warm weather in February Show all 14 1 /14 Britain enjoys record breaking warm weather in February Britain enjoys record breaking warm weather in February Woolacombe, Devon PA Britain enjoys record breaking warm weather in February People enjoy the afternoon sunshine in alongside Regent's Canal, London Getty Britain enjoys record breaking warm weather in February Woolacombe, Devon PA Britain enjoys record breaking warm weather in February Woolacombe, Devon PA Britain enjoys record breaking warm weather in February A couple eat ice-creams in the sunshine at South Beach, Pembrokeshire, Wales Reuters Britain enjoys record breaking warm weather in February Woolacombe, Devon PA Britain enjoys record breaking warm weather in February Green Park, London PA Britain enjoys record breaking warm weather in February People enjoy the sunshine on Aberystwyth beach in Wales PA Britain enjoys record breaking warm weather in February Children play in the sea at South Beach, Pembrokeshire, Wales Reuters Britain enjoys record breaking warm weather in February Woolacombe, Devon PA Britain enjoys record breaking warm weather in February A boy plays in the sea at South Beach, Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales Reuters Britain enjoys record breaking warm weather in February Two people on their phones on Aberystwyth beach in Wales PA Britain enjoys record breaking warm weather in February People enjoy the afternoon sunshine on Primrose Hill, London Getty Image Britain enjoys record breaking warm weather in February A couple enjoy the sunshine as they stroll along the Long Walk near Windsor Castle, Berkshire PA

A lot of different variables have all aligned to give us these high temperatures, he said.

Thats not going to last. We are now in a period of transition, and by Thursday we will see more Atlantic dominated weather where we get wind and rain.

On Thursday were expecting to see rain in southern parts of England, and by Saturday we will be seeing the full force of the Atlantic dominated weather with a potentially very strong system affecting parts of Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Temperatures are still likely to be somewhat above average. The average for February in southern England is a daytime maximum of about 7 or 8C, were still likely to see temperatures in double figures for many places. So were potentially still going to be seeing temperatures between 3 to 6C above average. It just wont be the 12 degrees above average were seeing at the moment.

The Met Office warned against linking specific weather events with global climate change, but Mr Madge did say the warm weather does appear to tally with a rise in average temperatures.

He said: It does fit the pattern - you would expect periods of warmer weather in a world dominated by climate change. We know globally temperatures have risen on average by about 1C since pre-industrial times, but its too simplistic and naive to say that this particular weather event must be because of climate change. Weve always experienced extremes of weather and to anybody who doubts that, Id refer them back to the Beast from the East last year when we saw daytime maximum temperatures a good 20C below what were seeing at the moment.

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Nonetheless, Mr Madge said the current high temperatures are considered an extreme weather event, and added the background rate of warming may have just nudged it up a little bit.

February is meteorologically a winter month, and we are seeing the highest temperatures for winter ever recorded in the UK.

In terms of average temperatures the month is within striking distance of becoming the warmest February since records began in 1910.
Evidence for man-made global warming has reached a gold standard level of certainty, adding pressure for cuts in greenhouse gases to limit rising temperatures, scientists said.

Humanity cannot afford to ignore such clear signals, the US-led team wrote in the journal Nature Climate Change of satellite measurements of rising temperatures over the past 40 years.

They said that confidence human activities were raising the heat at the Earth's surface had reached a five-sigma level.

This statistical measure meaning there is only a one-in-a-million chance that the signal would appear if there was no warming.

Such a gold standard was applied in 2012, for instance, to confirm the discovery of the Higgs boson subatomic particle, a basic building block of the universe.

10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke  filled with the carbon that is driving climate change  drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals, says the photographer. Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow. Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a public health emergency. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan

Benjamin Santer, lead author of the study at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, said he hoped the findings would win over sceptics and spur action.

The narrative out there that scientists don't know the cause of climate change is wrong, he said. We do.

Mainstream scientists say the burning of fossil fuels is causing more floods, droughts, heat waves and rising sea levels.

Donald Trump has often cast doubt on global warming and plans to pull out of the 197-nation Paris climate agreement which seeks to end the fossil fuel era this century by shifting to cleaner energies such as wind and solar power.

Sixty-two per cent of Americans polled in 2018 believed that climate change has a human cause, up from 47 per cent in 2013, according to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

Recommended Trump to create panel to deny proven climate change facts

The findings, by researchers in the US, Canada and Scotland, said evidence for global warming reached the five sigma level by 2005 in two of three sets of satellite data widely used by researchers, and in 2016 in the third.

Professor John Christy, of the University of Alabama in Huntsville which runs the third set of data, said there were still many gaps in understanding climate change. His data show a slower pace of warming than the other two sets.

You may see a certain fingerprint that indicates human influence, but that the actual intensity of the influence is minor (as our satellite data indicate), he said.

Separately in 2013, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that it is extremely likely, or at least 95 per cent probable, that human activities have been the main cause of climate change since the 1950s.

Peter Stott of the British Met Office, who was among the scientists drawing that conclusion and was not involved in Monday's study, said he would favour raising the probability one notch to virtually certain, or 99-100 per cent.

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The alternative explanation of natural factors dominating has got even less likely, he said.

The last four years have been the hottest since records began in the 19th century.

The IPCC will next publish a formal assessment of the probabilities in 2021.

I would be reluctant to raise to 99-100 per cent, but there is no doubt there is more evidence of change in the global signals over a wider suite of ocean indices and atmospheric indices, said Professor Nathan Bindoff, a climate scientist at the University of Tasmania.

Reuters
Steven Avery, the subject of the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer, has won a motion to appeal  a development hailed by a lawyer as a big win in his case.

The motion means that a Wisconsin circuit court will now re-examine the case, as Averys attorney Kathleen Zellner claims some evidence has been mishandled by authorities.

Avery, a native of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of Teresa Halbach, which he says he did not commit.

The motion to appeal, filed by Zellner on Averys behalf, makes mention of bones found in a gravel pit, which Zellner wants to be tested to check whether the bones are Halbachs.

If so, Zellner alleges this would challenge the version of events presented by authorities, according to which Halbachs remains were buried on Averys property.

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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According to the motion filed by the attorney, the bones were returned to Halbachs family without being tested for DNA.

Now that the motion has been granted, Averys team can submit evidence related to the bones.

The circuit court can grant a new trial, or the case can continue in appellate court, which can also grant a new trial or even reverse the conviction, Zellner told Newsweek.

Either way, the State opposed this motion and lost, Zellner added.

This evidence has the potential to undo the whole case, so it is a big win.

The attorney tweeted on Monday: "We are going to have an extraordinary number of constitutional violations when we are done. The [court of appeals] is letting us create an avalanche of evidence in this record. Higher courts rule."

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The story of Avery's conviction was brought to worldwide attention when Netflix released its documentary series Making a Murderer in December 2015.

A second season followed in October 2018.
Newly released texts suggest Jussie Smollett exchanged fitness-related text messages with one of the two brothers police say helped him stage an attack against himself, days before the alleged assault.

The messages, published by ABC News, were apparently sent from 20 to 28 January between Smollett and one of the brothers, who is referred to as Bon.

Smollett originally told police he was the victim of a racist, homophobic attack on 29 January in Chicago  during what authorities now allege was a hoax.

In a conversation dated 20 January, the Empire actor is asked how many times a day he eats (Like twice) and whether there are any foods he avoids (pork, beef and dairy, which is horrible for his voice).

On 22 January, Smolletts conversation partner asks him when a music video shoot is due to take place, and on 25 January, he sends Smollett a meal plan. The actor responds saying he will check it on his computer and asks: When do you leave town?

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

Bon answers: I leave Tuesday night, which would have been 29 January.

On 28 January, Bon, per the text conversation, tells Smollett to try to do 45 minutes of cardio, which the actor says he has done in the morning.

Easy. Good work, Bon replies.

ABC News also published a copy of a check Smollett apparently wrote to one of the two brothers, which has a memo line reading: 5 week Nutrition/Workout program (Dont Go).

Sources close to Smollett told the network the actor was getting ready to shoot a music video titled Dont Go.

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, who delivered a powerful statement to the media last week after Smollett turned himself in, told Good Morning Americas Robin Roberts on Monday that there is a lot more evidence that hasnt been presented yet as part of the case.

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Johnson has accused Smollett of allegedly staging the attack because he was dissatisfied with his salary.

Smollett has denied orchestrating the assault and his lawyers have previously said the actor felt victimized by claims he had played a role in the attack.
| BY Ricki Green |

Aussie Home Loans has appointed CHE proximity as its new creative partner following an extensive agency review process late last year.

CHEP will manage Aussies brand, communications and design remit, including a largescale brand campaign targeted for late 2019.

Says David Smith, chief customer officer at Aussie: Theres no doubt the mortgage broking industry is experiencing a pretty turbulent time, however its during challenging times that Aussie really stands tall.

Were so confident about the future of mortgage broking and the longevity of our business that we have big plans for our brand. We need a smart, proactive and relentless agency partner to help bring our vision to life, and CHEP has proven themselves to be that partner.

Through the review process CHEP impressed us in all areas but especially their strategic capability, creative credentials and highly collaborative ways of working which will bring together our people, processes and systems seamlessly. I have complete confidence in the CHEP team to deliver the service, campaigns and results we need across multiple marketing disciplines.

CHEP will support Aussies acquisition, customer engagement and experience, digital and local area marketing efforts for Aussies 1,000 plus brokers and ensure complete integration of the Aussie brand across all of these pivotal customer touchpoints.
James Bulger's mother has said she is relieved a short film about her son's death did not win an Oscar.

Denise Fergus had accused the makers of Detainment, which centres around the police interviews of James's killers, of being obsessed with the case.

She had demanded they remove the film from contention at the Academy Awards after it was nominated in the category of best live action short, a request director Vincent Lambe refused.

After Detainment was beaten on Sunday by biographical drama Skin, Ms Fergus tweeted to say she was relieved.

She said: I'm so made up, that short film Detainment did not win the Oscar, can't tell you just how relieved I am, thanks to everyone who has agreed with me on this xx.

Biggest talking points of the Oscars Show all 10 1 /10 Biggest talking points of the Oscars Biggest talking points of the Oscars Lafy Gaga and Bradley Cooper perform 'Shallow' A Star is Born actors Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper performed their Oscar-winning song Shallow at this years Oscars ceremony and set social media alight. Sky Biggest talking points of the Oscars Rami Malek falls off stage Best Actor winner Rami Malek caused concern when he fell off stage after accepting his award. He was later seen talking to medical staff but showed no signs of industry Getty Biggest talking points of the Oscars Olivia Colmans Best Actress win is a joyful surprise Its a win that many hoped for, but one that not many genuinely expected. Colman beat frontrunner Glenn Close to Best Actress, delivering a delightful (and thoroughly English) acceptance speech to boot. Its genuinely quite stressful, she said. This is hilarious. I got an Oscar! Okay, I have to thank lots of people. If, by the way, I forget anybody, Im going to find you later and give you all a massive snog. - Clarisse Loughrey AFP/Getty Biggest talking points of the Oscars Spike Lee storms off BlacKkKlansman director Spike Lee was visibly angry after learning that Green Book had won Best Picture at this years Oscars, saying the ref made a bad call. According to AP, Lee made his way to the buildings exit while the films producers were delivering their acceptance speeches, but was stopped by staff members. AFP/Getty Biggest talking points of the Oscars Green Book disappoints as Best Picture win This years Academy Awards was a tale of two shocks: one pleasant, one dire. The latter arrived with the announcement that Green Book had beaten out the categorys frontrunner, Roma, to Best Picture. It was a dismal reminder that progress is a slow, tedious process. Had Roma prevailed it would have made history, becoming both the first foreign language film and the first film distributed by Netflix (or any other streaming service) to win Best Picture. - Clarisse Loughrey AFP/Getty Biggest talking points of the Oscars Melissa McCarthy's costume to present Best Costume Design Reuters Biggest talking points of the Oscars ...and Brian Tyree Henry's to join her Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP Biggest talking points of the Oscars Bohemian Rhapsody is ahead of the pack with four wins Although Green Book walked away with Best Picture, the film with the most wins of the night was Bohemian Rhapsody. Its news that will also come as a significant disappointment to many. Alongside three wins in the technical categories  for Best Sound Mixing, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound Editing  Rami Malek also picked up Best Actor for his role as Freddie Mercury. - Clarisse Loughrey Getty Biggest talking points of the Oscars The Academy takes two steps forward for diversity, one step back Four years on from the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, and two years since the Academy took steps to rectify its predominantly white, male demographic by inviting 774 new members, its clear that progress has been made. Regina King won Best Supporting Actress for her role in If Beale Street Could Talk, BlackKklansman director Spike Lee finally won an Oscar after decades of snubs, and Black Panthers costume designer Ruth Carter, and its production designer Hannah Beachler, both became the first ever African American winners in their categories. - Alexandra Pollard Getty Biggest talking points of the Oscars Richard E Grant wins hearts, even if he doesn't win awards No one has enjoyed awards season more than Richard E Grant. The 62-year-old star of Can You Ever Forgive Me? was, in his own words, granted temporary membership to the A-list fame club after the role earned him an Oscar nomination. Given the adorable viral video he posted in reaction to the nod, the countless selfies with every Hollywood actor he comes across, and the interviews in which hes grinning ear to ear, its clear Grant decided to grab the opportunity with both hands. He didnt grab the Oscar, though. That honour, predictably, went to Mahershala Ali for his role in Green Book. Ali is brilliant, of course  but wouldnt it have been wonderful if Grant had managed to pull off a surprise victory? This was his first ever nomination, 32 years after he was snubbed for his iconic role in Withnail and I, and he plays Jack Hock  the playful, conniving, antagonistic friend to Melissa McCarthys Lee Israel  like no one else could. -Alexandra Pollard Reuters

James was two when 10-year-old boys Jon Venables and Robert Thompson abducted him from the Strand shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, in February 1993.

They led him to a railway line before killing him. Venables and Thompson were convicted of murder and have since been given new identities.

PA
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs W. Patrick Murphy Travels to the Philippines, New Zealand, and Fiji

Washington, DC - Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS) for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Patrick Murphy will travel to the Philippines, New Zealand, and Fiji February 26-March 7.

PDAS Murphy will visit Manila, Philippines February 26-March 1 to support Secretary Pompeo's visit and meet with Filipino counterparts to discuss issues of mutual interest, in addition to engaging with business and civil society.

March 1-5, he will travel to Wellington, New Zealand to meet with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense, Parliament, and other leaders to discuss the bilateral partnership and cooperation on Indo-Pacific priorities.

In Suva and Nadi Fiji, March 5-7, PDAS Murphy will meet with senior government officials to discuss regional security, economic development, and environmental resilience. He will give closing remarks at the first Strengthening the U.S.  Pacific Islands Partnership conference in Nadi co-sponsored by the Department of State and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He will also participate in the 6th annual Young Pacific Leaders Initiative conference being held this year in Suva. While in Fiji, he will also meet with Peace Corps volunteers.
History of California agriculture from 1939

Sacramento, California - The California Department of Food and Agriculture is celebrating its 100th anniversary as a state agency in 2019. Throughout the year this blog will feature a number of items to commemorate this milestone.

At the 1939 San Francisco Worlds Fair, held at Treasure Island, CDFA (then the Department of Agriculture) presented an educational exhibit called, The History of California Agriculture. This booklet remains.

The reader is taken back to the time of explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a native of Portugal in the service of Spain.

Cabrillo entered San Diego Bay in 1542 and was met by indigenous peoples telling him of maize and other foods that were abundant in fertile valleys.

The historical account quickly shifts to the 18th century and the mission period, which brought with it Spanish approaches to agriculture  specifically, grapes, cattle and sheep.

The first record of citrus plantings is referenced in 1782 at Monterey, and in 1804 what was believed to be Californias first mission orange grove was planted at Mission San Gabriel.

Also covered is the Gold Rush and a mention of how its waning period allowed for a flourishing of California agriculture that continued over the next roughly 80 years.

Other highlights:

The states agriculture value (1939) exceeds $600,000,000 annually. That figure today (2017) is more than $50 billion, #1 in the nation.

Lettuce is sometimes called green gold and goes to market from this state in nearly every month. Lettuce is currently the sixth-ranked commodity by production value in California.

The Division of Animal Industry renders great assistance to the states important poultry and egg industry through the operation of four poultry pathological laboratories. The present day Division of Animal Health and Food Safety Services operates four labs in cooperation with UC Davis; in Davis, Turlock, Tulare and San Bernardino. These labs, known collectively as the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory (CAHFS), is the backbone of Californias warning system to help protect the health of Californias livestock and poultry.

One of the important functions is the administration of laws enacted to keep out insect pests and plant disease not now found in California, and to control and eradicate, if possible, those already here. Those activities are still essential today and carried out by the Division of Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services.

Much of the Departments work in the field is accomplished through cooperation of the county agricultural commissioners and the sealers of weights and measuresThe Department works closely at all times with other agencies engaged in service for agriculture, such as the University of California and the United States Department of Agriculture. All of these relationships remain essential and strong today.

Headquarters are in Sacramento. Branch offices are in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Today CDFA has offices at more than 100 locations around the state.
Imperial Valley News Center

Vice President Pence During Visit with Venezuelan Migrant Families

Bogota, Columbia - Remarks by Vice President Pence During Visit with Venezuelan Migrant Families:

VICE PRESIDENT PENCE: Well, thank you all for taking time to meet with us. And Im here to say, on behalf of the people of the United States of America: We are with you, and we will stay with you until your libertad is restored.

The American people are proud to work with Colombia to provide assistance to you and your families as you fled from the oppression and the deprivation that has fallen upon Venezuela.

The people of the United States will continue to support you and your families. But we will also stand strong with the only legitimate President of Venezuela, President Juan Guaido.

So I encourage you to have faith. Have faith in this courageous family and all the leaders for freedom in Venezuela that they represent. Have faith that, under President Donald Trumps leadership, the United States of America and freedom-loving nations around the world will stand with you. And have faith that you will someday go home and that Venezuela will one day be free. I believe it with all of my heart. For where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

PARTICIPANTS: Amen. (Applause.)

THE VICE PRESIDENT: With that, its my great honor to stand here with the Interim President of Venezuela, President Juan Guaido.

INTERIM PRESIDENT GUAIDO: (Speaks Spanish.)
Imperial Valley News Center

President Trump on the Recovery of Danny Burch from Yemen

Washington, DC - "It is my honor today to announce that Danny Burch, a United States citizen who has been held hostage in Yemen for 18 months, has been recovered and reunited with his wife and children. I appreciate the support of the United Arab Emirates in bringing Danny home. Dannys recovery reflects the best of what the United States and its partners can accomplish.

"We work every day to bring Americans home. We maintain constant and intensive diplomatic, intelligence, and law enforcement cooperation within the United States Government and with our foreign partners. Recovering American hostages is a priority of my Administration, and with Dannys release, we have now secured freedom for 20 American captives since my election victory. We will not rest as we continue our work to bring the remaining American hostages back home.

"Today, we join Danny and his family in celebrating his return." ~ President Donald Trump
(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 word wilderness can cause some people to wax poetic and others to swear a blue streak.

The recent work on a new Salmon-Challis National Forest management plan, which includes a new wilderness inventory and evaluation, has some stakeholders digging in their heels and others seeking common ground.

The Salmon-Challis National Forest began the process of making a new management plan in 2017. This plan covers all that the national forest is in charge of, such as ecosystems, watersheds, plant and animal communities, grazing, resource extraction, rivers and wilderness areas.



Story continues below video

The development of the new plan is at the halfway point in a four-year process. Forest officials are gathering input on all areas, including its Wilderness Inventory and Evaluation. Salmon-Challis Forest Supervisor Charles Mark said there are 3 million acres in the National Forest that could be potentially considered for wilderness designation. Essentially all roadless areas on the National Forest can qualify, but realistically, lands need more qualities than that.

Were not looking at recommending that entire acreage as wilderness to Congress, Mark said. Were working our way down till we get to the areas that actually have the wilderness character that would merit a wilderness recommendation. On its website, the National Forest has posted a map of areas under evaluation and highlighting Focal Wilderness Evaluation Areas.

Mark admits that the process has people excited  some in a positive and others in a negative way. The National Forest is currently taking public comments on the second phase of the wilderness process. Public comment on that phase ends Thursday . The first phase was inventory, second evaluation, third analysis and finally recommendation. At each step of the way, public comments are taken.

I had a couple of well-attended local meetings in Salmon and Challis just before the holidays, Mark said. One way to describe how folks are feeling locally is that people are pretty concerned. A lot of the local people in and around the forest do not want to see any further restrictions on access or their ability to use the forest.

challis sign This sign stands at the Challis city limits. Assessing new wilderness land on the Salmon-Challis National Forest is part of the forests new m

At one of those Challis meetings, a majority of people in a crowd of about 120 stood up when someone asked how many in the audience were opposed to designating more wilderness acres, the Challis Messenger reported.

Wilderness designation comes with a certain set of restrictions: no motorized or mechanized means of travel, no use of chainsaws, no permanent shelters, no roads, no picnic tables, no toilets, no mining and no timber sales.

In the third phase of the process, Mark and specialists will analyze comments and recommendations and develop a range of alternatives for consideration. Expect a set of possibilities from no new wilderness, to all the prime areas recommended for wilderness designation. After the alternatives are published, public feedback will again be taken.

My intent is to have that a compressed timeline because theres so many folks that want to know, Mark said. Im going to say probably the end of spring the forest service will have areas selected for further analysis.

At the analysis stage of the process, all the stakeholders join the tug-of-war. Stakeholders know that once the forest recommends a specific area for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System, the forest will manage it as wilderness to protect its wilderness qualities in case Congress eventually designates it as wilderness. These wilderness study areas in effect become defacto wilderness.

Idaho legislators took aim at these wilderness study areas on Tuesday. The House Resources and Conservation Committee voted 10-7 to approve a House joint memorial urging Congress to remove hundreds of thousands of acres from wilderness study area designation in Idaho.

Republican Rep. Priscilla Giddings, who sponsored the bill, said Congress should remove the study areas to open the land up to industry and other uses. If approved by the House and Senate, the memorial legislation would be sent to federal officials asking Congress to act.

But there also is a groundswell of support for protecting certain areas in the Salmon-Challis National Forest under the Wilderness Act.

If you look at all of the lands on the National Forest system in the country and take the lands that have yet to be designated wilderness and you say which National Forest has the wildest remaining land that has yet to be considered for wilderness designation? No. 1 in the lower 48 states is the Salmon-Challis, even if you take out the Frank Church and the Jerry Peak Wilderness, said Rob Mason, the central Idaho representative of The Wilderness Society.

The Wilderness Society is one of several stakeholders that have joined Central Idaho Public Lands Collaborative to offer input to the Salmon-Challis as it fashions its new management plan. Dozens of local stakeholders representing most aspects of interaction with the Salmon-Challis, such as grazing, boating, mining, outfitters, are represented. The National Forest officials are required to consider all input.

These folks are showing up and putting in a lot of volunteer hours, said Toni Ruth, of the collaborative. Its very impressive. They deliver that information to the forest supervisor. So theres a dialogue instead of just a letter sent.

Mason said part of the success of collaborative efforts is to focus on views the different stakeholders have in common.

One of the viewpoints is people will say we want to just keep it the way that it is, he said. Thats a good starting point. So how do we do that in a way that satisfies local communities and strengthens local economies and also protects the values that exists on the landscape? I think there is a lot of common ground to be found there.

Josh Johnson, a conservation associate with the Idaho Conservation League, said stakeholders understand that not all of the Salmon-Challis is a candidate for wilderness designation.

Ultimately National Forests have many different uses and certain parts of the forest are more suitable for wilderness and some more suitable for different type activities, Johnson said.

That said, Johnsons organization has a two pet areas it would like to see achieve wilderness status.

Two places in particular really stand out, he said. One is the north side of the Pioneer Mountains. The southern half is in the Sawtooth National Forest and is already recommended for wilderness, and the area around Borah Peak in the Lost River Range. Those two areas we find to have exceptional wilderness character, a lot of scenic values, great wildlife habitat, opportunities for solitude and other things that fit the definition of wilderness character. These areas have been managed as wilderness areas since 1979.

Still caught in the crossfire between various stakeholders are the Salmon-Challis Forest officials. Ultimately, the forest supervisor will issue a decision and not everyone will be happy.

There are groups out there like The Wilderness Society looking at us as the last best place to designate more wilderness area, Mark said. Ive already got two-thirds of the forest as wilderness. Ive got local folks, range permittees, outfitter guides and others asking Well Chuck, how much more wilderness do you need? Thats a good question and I dont necessarily have an answer.

For information on the Salmon-Challis National Forest wilderness plans, go to bit.ly/2SpfKfi.

To comment on wilderness in general or to specific areas under consideration for wilderness designation, go to bit.ly/comments2019.
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Duluth, MN (55816)

Today

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 59F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 59F. Winds light and variable.
Warning: This article contains material that may be sensitive.

Manila (CNN Philippines Life)  When we see, hear or read about a stranger or celebrity taking their own life, most of us feel utterly powerless: in person, there is a stillness in the air in the wake of the news, a sadness difficult to articulate, impossible to act upon. Online, there is a storm of hotlines  posts that people would retweet, share or reblog to save a life  that tends to quiet down a number of days after the fact. We all know that this is not enough, but are often at a loss as to how to even talk about suicide.

According to 2015 data from the Global Burden of Disease Study, suicide rates in the Philippines are up to 1.9 for females, 5.8 for males, and 3.8 for both sexes for every 100,000 of the general population. Data from the same study in 2016 sheds light upon our mental health problems: we have close to 9 million prevalent cases of mental, neurological, and substance use disorders, 3.3 million of which are anxiety disorders, and 2.6 million of which are depression.

There has been an increased awareness towards mental health in recent years. Our national mental health laws Implementing Rules and Regulations was signed just last month, indicating a bright future for mental healthcare in the Philippines. However, when it comes to suicide, policy changes will not be immediately felt by service users, and the job isnt for advocates alone  apart from talking about the reality of suicide, it is just as important to examine our attitudes and beliefs that may be contributing towards the stigma against it.

We speak to a number of individuals, whose lives have been affected by suicide in different ways, about the Filipino discourse on suicidality (i.e. thoughts, ideation, plans, attempts) and the act of suicide.

Advocacies close to their hearts

The Philippines has a number of sincere mental health professionals and advocates. Dr. Dinah P. Nadera, UP Dilimans University Health Services resident psychiatrist and president of the Advanced Wellness, Instruction, and Talents (AWIT) Foundation, recalls having been deeply affected by losing patients due to suicide: For quite some time, I refused to see someone who was suicidal. We have lost close friends due to suicide. Families were devastated and grieved for years. We still shed tears when remembering, but keep thinking of the beautiful but short life lived. Devastation, guilt and regret are the common words to describe the feelings, but no words can express it, to be honest.

Mental health advocates often do their work with personal experience at heart. One such example of this is Valene Lagunzad, the co-founder and executive director of Buhay Movement, a nonprofit organization for mental health awareness and suicide prevention.

Anyone who has experienced loss because of suicide is never easy. I have lost a friend to suicide and I still visit her in her columbary every now and then. Her friend was a co-founder of the movement as well, and ended her life in 2016.

Despite this tragedy, Lagunzad and her fellow Buhay Movement co-founders have not given up on their advocacy: The incident left us with a lot of questions, a lot of what ifs and whys, and we kept on thinking on what happened, what could have been done, says Lagunzad.

We have coped in our own ways and still continue to grieve, but are a bit more hopeful every year.

Lagunzad knows that Buhay Movement is far from alone, and points out that she now knows upwards of 25 groups advocating for mental health awareness and suicide prevention fighting alongside her own cause.

For journalists reporting on suicide, guidelines should be stringently followed: minding ones language (e.g. instead of committed suicide or failed attempt at suicide, say died by suicide, ended their life or attempt to end their life.), refraining from discussing method and location, and providing mental health resources are among the common best practices outlined by these sites.

Medias role in portraying suicide sensitively

Public perception of suicide is shaped immensely by its portrayal on film and T.V., which range from well-meaning but misled, to simplistic and stereotyped. Both international and local media portrayals of suicide have been put into question for reducing the complex biological, psychological, and social factors into mere plot points.

While it may be easy for some to brush these depictions off, it is important to keep in mind that these skewed portrayals of suicide may be the only kind that others see.

Sophie*, a 26-year-old editor who has lost a friend to suicide, remembers that she saw a telenovela scene as a kid where a woman, after a fit of hysterical crying, drank a bottle of bleach We see it in various media [forms] daily, but stumble when we talk about real-life victims in our own country.

For journalists reporting on suicide, guidelines (such as those on Mindframe and Samaritans) should be stringently followed: minding ones language (e.g. instead of committed suicide or failed attempt at suicide, say died by suicide, ended their life or attempt to end their life.), refraining from discussing method and location, and providing mental health resources are among the common best practices outlined by these sites.

Dr. Nadera points out, though, that Philippine mass media is still riddled with bad practices. Sa news articles, may sensationalism, may insensitivity, may mga judgments pa sa iba at wala namang ibinibigay na lead kung saan magpapatulong, she says. Sa radio, may narinig pa akong ini-interview ang namatayan. Napakawalang-galang. Sa T.V. naman, may association with crime, violence, and gross psychotic behavior.

She explains that these reports are generally well-meaning and just people doing their job, but this kind of reporting may stigmatize suicide and other mental health problems to the general public.

Going beyond retweeting hotlines

Lagunzad muses on the benefits of social media for suicide prevention. We still have a long way to go, but it has [changed] a whole lot compared to a decade ago. Social media played a huge role in making us aware despite its disadvantages, she explains.

Its no secret that Filipinos are heavy social media users, our lives now inextricable from websites such as Facebook and Twitter. The instantaneity and reach of these platforms has implications about how we talk about both suicide and mental health issues at large. Through social media, it can be much easier for those who are struggling to access help or get in touch with their support system.

Julian Mauricio, a 33-year-old journalist diagnosed with borderline and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders, anxiety and depression, has attempted to end his life five times. He talks about his attempt in 2015: I was not in my right mind. For borderline personality disorder (BPD), the main issue is abandonment, and I was feeling pretty abandoned by those I considered important to me in my life. At the time, I was experiencing a psychotic break. I typed up a suicide note on Facebook, which a lot of people saw  my boss, my friends, my family  because of my Facebook post, they went on a manhunt to find me.

Fortunately, someone found him before he could do anything to hurt himself, and he was assisted to safety. Still experiencing a psychotic break, he remembers only vague flashes: being carried by a guard, with Tinna Bonifacio, his mother, and Tim Macardle, his close friend, appearing shortly after.

From Mauricios Facebook note, his mother and his close friend at a nearby condominium were able to run to his aid. However, the reactions to the post were mixed: Unfortunately, some of the reactions I got were Ang KSP (kulang sa pansin) mo, hindi ka dapat mamatay dahil didiretsyo ka sa impyerno, life is beautiful so bakit ka magpapakamatay?

He also expresses frustration towards halfhearted platitudes: When its a celebrity who attempts to end their life by suicide or admits to having a mental health problem, the whole world cares. Itll last for about two days, three days, tops. After a while itll go back to normal, parang walang nangyari. If its someone they know in real life, theyll say things like hindi yan ang solusyon, or pray na lang.

Given the comments on Mauricios note, it is clear that social media is a double-edged sword in terms of mental health.

Suicidal symptoms cannot be prayed away

Theological responses to mental health problems are valid, but not for everyone, especially when the the act of suicide is judged due to religious belief. Jai*, a 22-year-old student, has lost a loved one due to suicide. Throughout this personal tragedy, he could not help but notice the underlying beliefs that friends, family, and acquaintances had.

Its sad, really. Being rooted in Christian values, suicide means loss of contact with God, he says. [Filipinos are] starting to become open to it, but their frame of reference is very medieval and spiritual, rather than medical and psychological.

Religion, specifically Christianity here in the Philippines, has to do with the most common reactions to suicide. Mauricios aforementioned comments about eternal damnation and praying the suicidality away are all too common in our predominantly Roman Catholic country. People need to rethink the notion na kasalanan siya sa Diyos. Even the people who attend bible studies, volunteer as ministers, attend church camp, these people are not exempt from feelings of suicidality. [Suicidality] is a symptom of mental illness, and even the most religious people may get sick, he explains.

Lagunzad, a practicing Catholic herself, believes that people who say these kinds of religiously charged statements are well-meaning, but lack awareness. We cannot really blame them for their lack of openness, but we have to keep on educating them. We have to keep trying, she says.

It is also a learning experience for me, since I was also unaware of how to handle such a sensitive issue. Do not spiritualize the matter. If you want to pray for them due to your beliefs, pray for them quietly or at least ask for permission.

We all mean well, but this is far from enough for those hurting everyday from the grief of a loved one ending their lives; thoughts and prayers are not nearly enough for those who wrestle with suicidal thoughts and feelings, each day to get by an unsung tragedy in itself.

Filipinos may be afraid to ask for help

Dr. Nadera speculates upon the cultural landscape that shapes the way we talk about suicide: To begin with, we have a problem with health literacy, [as well as] really bad health-seeking behavior. It is a mix of reactions, depending whether one has survived suicide or has any direct experience related to it.

Could classic Filipino hiya be negatively affecting our ability to access the mental health services we need? As a people, we have taken to indirectness. Dr. Nadera underscores Filipino characteristics: Sa mga Filipino kasi, may kasabihan na tulak ng bibig, kabig ng dibdib, kaya madalas ang comment ay sinasabi lang niya yan. On the other hand, may ugali din ang Filipino na nakikiramdam, mayroon tayong pakiramdam sa isang pahiwatig. Kaya lang, ibang makipag-usap ang Filipino, hindi ito diretso, kaya pati pakikipag-usap tungkol dito ay pahiwatig din.

Our proclivity towards indirectness, combined with the self-isolation of mental health conditions, makes talking about mental health issues more like reading between the lines.

Education and support are necessary

The general consensus among interviewees boils down to the lack of awareness of mental health problems. Mauricios attempt at ending his life in 2015 was his fourth attempt. It was only then that he was finally able to receive the care he badly needed.

Since seeking help, he has become much more aware of his conditions and comorbidities, and has found out a lot more about BPD in relation to suicide. He shares, Mataas ang suicide rates ng BPD. Almost 80 percent of those with BPD report a history of suicide attempts, while actual rates range from 8-10 percent.

Mauricio now holds down a job as the breadwinner of his family while simultaneously caring for his mother, who is recovering from a stroke. My mom was the one who was there for me for all my five suicide attempts. When I was the one who needed help, she didnt give up on me, so I will not give up on her. His story is one of recovery  a testament to the necessity of mental health education and a strong support system for those with mental health needs.

We all mean well, but this is far from enough for those hurting everyday from the grief of a loved one ending their lives; thoughts and prayers are not nearly enough for those who wrestle with suicidal thoughts and feelings, each day to get by an unsung tragedy in itself.

Lagunzad recalls the callous words and attitudes of those who did not quite understand the gravity of suicide: At times, people do not take it seriously and have no empathy towards others affected by suicide. Either they get angry and say it's a sin, or react violently saying it's their fault or their choice. However, the most unkind response for me will still be indifference.

*Names have been changed upon the request of the interviewees.

If you are in emotional crisis and in need of immediate assistance, you may call the HOPELINE by Natasha Goulbourn Foundation (02) 804-4673 and 0917-558-4673. GLOBE and TM subscribers may call 2919 toll-free.
The Builders Merchants Federation has just launched its latest Regional Centre of Excellence at SIG in Sheffield.

The BMFs growing network of BMF Regional Centres of Excellence means training courses and regional meetings are now far more accessible to BMF members around the UK and Ireland.

The latest centre, based in SIGs purpose-built Sheffield premises, will serve BMF members in the Yorkshire region.

Opened in 2018, SIGs brand new 20,000 sq ft, three-storey head office is home to over 200 employees. Open plan, with an on-site restaurant at the heart of the building, the new office was designed to improve communications and increase collaborative working.

With top-of-the-range technology in place throughout, colleagues are able to work from any of the meeting rooms, breakout spaces and even the restaurant  making it a perfect fit as a BMF Regional Centre of Excellence.

Mark Clark, Director of National Accounts at SIG, said We are delighted to become a BMF Regional Centre of Excellence, we are working hard with our merchant customers and this reinforces our commitment to this sector. We look forward to welcoming members of the BMF and our customers through our doors over the coming months

John Newcomb, BMF CEO, added: This is a superb centre that is well used by SIGs customers and we are extremely grateful that they are opening it to our members too. We look forward to holding further Yorkshire meetings here, along with our own training courses for members in the region.
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Qatar Airways Commits to Sponsorship



Translation:

La IATA lanza los premios de Diversidad e Inclusion (pdf)

 (pdf)

IATA lanca premios de diversidade e inclusao com patrocinio da Qatar Airways (pdf)

LIATA lance les prix pour la diversite et linclusion (pdf)



Geneva - The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced the launch of the IATA Diversity & Inclusion Awards to recognize and encourage industry excellence.



Three categories of leadership in gender diversity and inclusion will be awarded:

Inspirational Role Model Award: Will be presented to a female (30+) who holds a senior position within the industry who has had a significant impact on the aviation agenda through her strong contribution to business delivery, as well as her ongoing support of the gender diversity agenda. Open to all female participants in the aviation industry.

High Flyer Award: Designed to recognize one of aviations under-30 female contributors who has started to develop her career, and thought leadership in the industry through her inspirational work. Open to all under-30 female participants in the aviation industry.

Diversity and Inclusion Team Award: Designed to recognize an airline that has seen a tangible change in their diversity as a result of the work it has been doing in diversity and inclusion. Open to all IATA member airlines.

Nominations for the awards are open from 26 February 2019 until 31 March 2019. They will be judged by an international and independent panel of experts. The first of these annual awards will be presented at IATAs 75th Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit to be held in Seoul, South Korea (1-3 June 2019).

Aviation is the Business of Freedom. The essence of aviation is building a global community by connecting people, businesses and cultures across great distances. Ten million people work in the aviation industry to make this happen. It is important that this workforce reflects the amazing diversity and inclusion that it fosters in our society. By launching these awards, we want to recognize and celebrate the great work that is being done to take the industry into the future, said Alexandre de Juniac, IATAs Director General and CEO.

Qatar Airways has generously committed to sponsoring these awards. Each category comes with $25,000 in prize money payable to the awardee or their nominated charity working on diversity and inclusion projects.

Aviation thrives with diversity and provides great employment opportunities to talented people in every corner of our planet. But there is much room to improve. For example, gender balance is by far not equal. In sponsoring these awards, we are committing to do better ourselves, to building awareness and to inspiring change, said HE Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive and Chair of the IATA Board of Governors (2018-2019).









For more information, please contact:

Corporate Communications

Tel: +41 22 770 2967

Email: corpcomms@iata.org

Notes for Editors:
Mozilla has added its voice to criticism of Australia's recently enacted anti-encryption laws, warning that they could effectively force companies to treat Australian employees as potential saboteurs. Austrailia's controversial legislation is known as TOLA, the Telecommunication & Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance & Access) Act of 2018. A draft bill was presented in August 2018 and it was enacted in December 2018, just before the Australian Parliament rose for its Christmas break. It sets out to tackle the problem posed by end-to-end encryption, used by services such as What's App, which allows only the sender and recipient to view a message, enhancing privacy and security. However, by preventing a message from being unscrambled by the service provider, end-to-end encryption provides the opportunity for avoiding surveillance. In some countries, China, Russia and Turkey, services offering end-to-end encryption are banned. Under Australia's legislation, intended to circumvent the technology, security and law enforcement agencies can force companies to create a technical function, a back door, that would give them access to encrypted messages without the user's knowledge. According to its proponents in the Australian government, the laws, are necessary to help combat terrorism and crime. Mike Burgess, Director-General of the Australian Signals Directorate addressed what he characterized as "inaccurate commentary" in a document outlined seven myths about TOLA concluding: Many of the claims about the dangerous nature of the Act are hyperbolic, inaccurate and influenced by self-interest, rather than the national interest. The true danger is the thing the TOLA Act seeks to prevent: terrorists, paedophiles and other criminals communicating in secret, without law enforcement and security agencies being able to crack their code. Australias law enforcement and national security agencies do not ask for legislative change lightly or routinely. But when technology evolves, the law should evolve too  so we can continue our mission to keep Australians safe. However, some of the concerns of its critics, including its affects on developers cannot be so easily dismissed. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has pointed out that under TOLA police can order individual IT developers to create back doors without their company's knowledge. EFF's Senior Information Security Counsel, Nate Cardozo, went on record saying: Australias new law might allow police to order engineers to program surveillance features into software behind their companys backwith the potential for Australian tech firms to have no clue whether they were even subject to an order Although TOLA was enacted less than three months ago, it is already under review by the Australian Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security and Mozilla made its submission on February 22nd. In its opening comments Mozilla states: This legislation grants sweeping and dangerous new powers to Australian law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and thanks to the foreign assistance provisions, extends these powers to foreign authorities as well. In doing so, this legislation raises grave concerns for the security of internet users and infrastructure in Australia and abroad, and fails to place appropriate limits on government surveillance. Mozilla's position is stated as: We do not believe that this law should have been passed in the first place, and we believe the best possible path is to repeal this legislation in its entirety and begin afresh with a proper, public consultation. However as Mozilla recognizes this is unlikely it gives details of changes in order of priority. The first of these it that TOLA needs to clarify that Australian authorities cannot target employees of a Designated Communications Provider (DCP) rather than the DCP itself, arguing that, as it stands, It is easy to imagine how Australian authorities could abuse their powers and the penalties of this law to coerce an employee of a DCP to compromise the security of the systems and products they develop or maintain. a situation that could: "force DCPs to treat Australia-based employees as

potential insider threats" The procedure that TOLA sets out is that initially it asks technology companies for help decrypting a users communications, using an order called a technical assistant request (TAR). If DCPs dont want to comply the next type of order, called a technical assistance notice (TAN), forces them to do so. Finally where companies dont want to help and say that they couldnt anyway because their own technology stops them, the law allows the government to issue a technical capability notice (TCN) which forces the company to alter its systems. All of these are subject to secrecy through restrictions on disclosure. Asking that the restrictions on disclosure be removed, particulaly with regard to TCN's where companies are forced to alter their systems in secret, Mozilla suggests that TOLA's secrecy would adversely impinge on open source software development: As an open source company, we are committed to developing our products and services publicly. More than just a philosophical choice, open source development allows myriad actors outside of Mozilla to identify bugs in our code, and in doing so making our products and services more resilient and secure. This benefits the hundreds of millions of people who use Mozilla products every day. Developing in the open also allows our users to have more trust in the integrity of our code. The restrictions on disclosure in TOLA around building backdoors and other acts and things that may be required under the law are not just antithetical to us an open source company but would undermine the security and trust of all of our users. At the end of its submission Mozilla repeats its opinion that the best course of action would be to repeal a law that: represents an unprecedented and unchecked threat to the privacy and security of users in Australia and abroad. More Information Telecommunication & Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance & Access) Act of 2018 Related Articles Scapegoating Encryption Final EU Copyright Directive Spells Disaster Are You Ready For GDPR? Ever Increasing Need For Secure Programming
This post is sponsored by Simply Chocolate, a one stop shop for folks who love chocolate and want to celebrate any occasion by gifting and eating chocolate from some of the best chocolatiers like Jacques Torres, Neuhaus, and Vosges. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that keep Hummingbird High up and running!

In retrospect, 2018 was a year of restraint for me: I spent the majority of it working on my upcoming book, #weeknightbakingbook, which meant long hours both in the kitchen and the library, chipping away at recipes and headnotes. I did a self-imposed No Clothes Shopping Challenge, where I literally did not buy a new article of clothing for the entire year (AMA  it actually wasnt all that bad, except for when a pair of workout pants ripped mid-HIIT class and I had to wait months to replace it). Aside from a much needed girls trip to Turkey with my mom, most of my travel was work-related; Erlend and I spent all of last years holidays at home by ourselves.

2019, on the other hand, is shaping up to be the complete opposite. Realizing how little travel we did together last year, Erlend and I booked tickets to Seattle, London (pro-tip: tickets are crrrrazzzy cheap because of Brexit), and Copenhagen. And after meeting my latest (and, dare I say, hardest, but Im likely jinxing myself now) book deadline earlier this month, I went on a bit of a shopping binge: a fancy new (and 100% entirely too expensive) suitcase from Rimowa, jeans from Madewell and Re/Done because Alana rightfully pointed out that all of my pants were two sizes too large, and a winter coat from J.Crew to replace my current one thats six years old with the broken leather strap and missing buttons.

If it sounds like I just name dropped a bunch of brands at you, its because my Year of No Shopping taught me about the importance of buying quality over quantity. Im the kind of person who researches her purchases for months and then proceeds to commit to it for years and years  Ive worn the same pair of glasses since 2008, the same winter coat since 2013, and so on. To me, its worth it to spend more on something the first time around, especially if Im planning on buying it just once and owning it for life.

Over the years, Ive started to apply that quantity over quality shopping philosophy in my baking too. Ill skimp on ingredients that wont affect the baked goods final flavorlike baking powder and baking soda, for instancebut splurge on butter and chocolate. When it comes to chocolate, I have a rule: if its not chocolate that I would eat on its own, then theres no way Im using it in a recipe. Cheap chocolate is the pits; its loaded with all sorts of wax and sugar and tastes nothing like the real stuff.

So when Simply Chocolate reached out to me to ask me to use some of their chocolates in my baking, I was beyond excited  Simply Chocolate offers a wide range of chocolate from some of the very best chocolatiers. I picked out two gift boxes (one from Knipschlidt and one from Vosges) full of the most colorful truffles and bon bons. I had the idea to make a fancier version of those thumbprint cookies, but with a TWIST: instead of topping each cookie with a Hersheys Kiss or dollop of ganache or jam, Id top it with a chocolate truffle. I thought it would be extra fun because both the Knipschlidt and Vosges truffles are all filled with different flavored creams, caramels, and ganaches  every cookie would have its own surprise flavor. The only problem was that the truffles were so good that Erlend and I had a hard time stopping ourselves from eating them while I was assembling the cookies. Oops.

also featured:

Some bakers notes:

For perfectly round cookies, use a 1-tablespoon cookie dough scoop to scoop out the dough and roll it in between your hands (like you would Play-Doh!) to make a small ball. Because I was lazy, I only rolled some of them in my hands and left the others unrolled (but still scooped). The unrolled ones definitely cracked more in the oven. The recipe also instructs you to press your thumb into the center of each cookie  you want to create an indentation thats around 1/2-inch wide. Any larger, and your truffle will likely be too small for the indentation.

of them in my hands and left the others unrolled (but still scooped). The unrolled ones definitely cracked more in the oven. The recipe also instructs you to press your thumb into the center of each cookie  you want to create an indentation thats around 1/2-inch wide. Any larger, and your truffle will likely be too small for the indentation. Unlike classic thumbprint recipes, which instructs you to top each cookie dough ball with a Hersheys Kiss and THEN bake the whole thing in the oven, youll need to bake the cookies first, wait for them to cool, and then assemble the whole thing. Baking the truffles in the oven with the cookies, or even topping the cookies with truffles while theyre still warm, will cause the truffles to melt. Hersheys Kisses hold their shape in the oven because theyre built like chocolate chips; theyre pumped with paraffin wax (yep, the same wax that you make candles and crayons with), which helps keep their shape in high heat conditions. Real chocolate, like the stuff that was used to make these truffles, doesnt have any of that and will melt completely.




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With more than 80% of our business in Asia Pacific and Japan coming through channel partners, I am delighted that this programme has attracted so many new participants that really leverage the community to deliver technologically advanced solutions and deliver maximum business value for their teams. Exciting still, the number of partner attendees who are part of the community is growing, with more and more partners at the annual HPE Technology Solution Summit (HPE TSS) each year.



Out of this expanding community, an elite group of solution architects is formed each year, known as HPE Master ASE (MASE) - certified partners. Only obtained after having experience in one field for three to five years, MASE certifications are the highest form of certifications available from HPE. These individuals are the solution architects of the future, with solid technical skills and capabilities to design technical solutions for customers.



Growing technical enablement more broadly is one of our top priorities for this year. We also have plans to offer a better user experience on the portal and having more local engagement activities and events planned too  stay tuned!



My philosophy is in line with our companys  and we stand by our core value of Partnership first, so Ill end with some quotes from some of our partners who are benefitting from being part of our communityWhy not join them?



At the events, you can catch the latest market trends or technical trends. And its a good opportunity for obtaining new information first-hand.  Wang-Suk Lee, Baynex, Korea



You must come to the events because it is very important. It can help you learn and you can work together with other community members in the lab. There, youll learn about more products and solutions from HPE. - Darmawan Hadisuryana, Synnex Metrodata, Indonesia



I am very happy with this event. The arrangement, venue and all the facilities provided by HPE has been great. - Hayden Chow, Ingram Micro, Hong Kong
Whether we have two of them on the field, all three of them on the field, well get creative and have some fun with it," defensive coordinator Joe Barry said.
Houston, MO (65483)

Today

Rain showers in the morning with scattered thunderstorms arriving in the afternoon. High 86F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Cloudy early with partial clearing expected late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
Representing Texas in Congress was one of the greatest honors of our lives. We remember well taking the oath of office and how awesome felt the responsibility to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. It burned within us every day we served in the U.S. Congress, and it still does.

Those now in office are now entrusted with that same duty, and they are being called to act to uphold that responsibility. Earlier this month, President Trump issued a declaration of national emergency in order to obtain funding for a wall on our southern border. Americans may have different views on President Trumps wall proposal, but all of us should be able to agree that an emergency declaration is a constitutionally inappropriate means to secure funding. In order to fulfill their oath of office Members of Congress should vote to terminate the emergency declaration.

Although Republicans are naturally inclined to stand with their president, it is Republicans who should be most worried about the emergency declaration. That is why we have joined together with two dozen other Republican former members of Congress to urge Republicans now in the House of Representatives and Senate to vote to end the emergency declaration.

Together, we wrote, It has always been a Republican fundamental principle that no matter how strong our policy preferences, no matter how deep our loyalties to presidents or party leaders, in order to remain a constitutional republic we must act within the borders of the Constitution. Our oath is to put the country and its Constitution above everything, including party politics or loyalty to a president.

That great Constitution creates three co-equal branches of government. It places lawmaking and spending power in the hands of the Congress. Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution, states: No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.

The power of the purse rests with Congress because it maintains the most direct connection between those being governed and those governing.

Although President Trump was clear that he desired funding for the border wall, the Congress did not appropriate it. Indeed, the government partially shut down for more than a month over this issue. The shutdown was resolved with a bipartisan spending agreement that did not include border wall funding. The president should not be able to circumvent Congresss considered decision not to provide requested funding simply by invoking an emergency. That is not how our Constitution vests power.

The president and many Americans feel strongly about the importance of building a wall on the border. But anyone who supports this president using emergency powers to obtain funding for a priority that Congress was not willing to fund must be prepared to answer this question: What will you do when a president of another party uses the precedent you are establishing to impose policies to which you are unalterably opposed? There is no way around this difficulty: what powers are ceded to a president whose policies you support may also be used by presidents whose policies you abhor.

Any person who has served or currently serves in the Congress sought the office out of great love for our country and a passionate belief in the majesty of our constitution. We sought to serve to advance freedom and prosperity  and above all to defend our constitutional order. Now those in office are being called on to do exactly that, even when expediency may counsel shunting high principle aside. Honoring that awesome oath of office means voting to terminate the emergency declared by the president on February 15, 2019.

Bartlett, a Republican, represented Texass 3rd Congressional District between 1983-1991 and was mayor of Dallas. Steelman, a Republican, represented Texass 5th district between 1973 and 1977.
If you want to see the future of bail reform in Texas, look to Philadelphia.

Beginning last February, District Attorney Larry Krasner refused to seek cash bail for dozens of nonviolent offenses, enough to comprise 61 percent of his offices cases, ranging from shoplifting to DUI to small-time pot dealing. Thats turned Philadelphia into a testing ground for criminal justice reform, and critics and supporters alike have been anxious to see the results. Last week they finally got their answer  one that should encourage advocates and give detractors serious pause.

A study published last week by George Mason University found Krasners policy resulted in a 23 percent increase in the number of defendants released without preconditions and a 22 percent decrease in the number of defendants who spent at least one night in jail. At the same time, the study found no effect on recidivism, violent offenses or failure to appear in court.

These findings shouldnt be surprising  they track with results in plenty of other places that have undergone bail reform. New Jersey almost entirely eliminated cash bail in 2017 and violent crime has declined by 30 percent since then. A federal judge ordered Harris County to overhaul our unconstitutional misdemeanor bail system in 2017, and last year Houston saw violent crime decline by 10 percent. While its a stretch to tie any single policy to a change in crime rates, these statistics show that at the very least the new policies arent leading to the spike in violence that critics predicted. Detractors  supported by the bail bondsmen whose cash flow is at risk  have cried that bail reform is just codeword for jailbreak.

The fear-mongering is a narrative based on anecdotes, not data. Individual cases of criminals re-offending while out on personal recognizance bonds may seem distressing, but they often work to obscure rather than to illuminate greater trends.

Those on the front lines of our criminal justice system have a different take than those who make money off it  they believe that keeping people out of jail can actually help reduce crime.

When you dont tear apart peoples lives, and when you keep them in contact with the things that keep them on course, they are less likely to commit crimes in the future, Krasner said at a press conference last week.

However, there is one undeniable effect of bail reform: It stops an unconstitutional practice that kept people behind bars on the basis of their bank accounts rather than their risk to society. By that measure, these new criminal justice policies are an undeniable success.

As Texas legislators debate statewide bail policy, we encourage them to put any scary anecdotes in proper context and heed the Constitution first.
WASHINGTON - Democratic Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett, who took over a key health-care post in the new Congress, plans to meet with Trump administration officials amid signs of bipartisan momentum to address consumers desire to stem the rising costs of prescription drugs.

Doggett, who represents Austin and San Antonio, has fought unsuccessfully in the past to end a rule prohibiting Medicare from negotiating with drug companies when buying tens of billions of dollars in prescription drugs for seniors annually. The Veterans Administration already negotiates prices for its drugs.

What could make this year different is President Donald Trump, an industry antagonist who has accused pharmaceutical companies of getting away with murder. Trump administration officials have held initial meetings with lawmakers, suggesting willingness to sign drug-pricing bills of some variety. And in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, both major parties are eager to claim success on a matter of overwhelming concern to voters.

As chairman of the Ways and Means health subcommittee, Doggett will play a key role in health-care matters this Congress. He plans to brief members on Medicare issues Thursday and hold a hearing next week on the benefits of competitive drug pricing.

His message to administration officials early next month, he said, is to follow the advice of candidate Trump - who endorsed negotiating drug prices.

Well be looking for common ground, he said. Im seeing an improved awareness of the problem. The question is whether that transfers into votes.

Starting Tuesday, the issue heats up on Capitol Hill when executives from seven top drug manufacturers testify in front of the Senate Finance Committee. The CEOs had sought to meet privately with senators, irritating Republicans and Democrats alike.

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Texas Sen. John Cornyn illustrated Republicans concerns when he referred in a recent hearing to kickbacks in the drug industry.

Can anybody on the panel explain to me why we have a general prohibition against kickbacks  call them rebates  under the Social Security Act, but we nevertheless allow it for prescription drug pricing? Cornyn asked in a Finance Committee session.

On Friday, the Finance panel announced a bipartisan investigation into insulin prices, citing increases as high as 585 percent in a diabetes treatment that has been on the market for nearly 100 years. Some 30 million Americans suffer from diabetes.

Perhaps more than any other policy issue in Washington, the effort to slow spiraling prescription costs offers potential for bipartisan success, analysts say.

Everything seems to be aligning for something to happen on drug pricing. Democrats are going to push it and Trump and (Health and Human Services Secretary Alex) Azar are very supportive of doing something on this, said Walid Gellad, director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing at the University of Pittsburgh.

Campaign issue for Democrats in 2020  and for Trump

The issue of higher drug costs was a key part of House Democrats carefully crafted talking points in the midterms, a message that helped them flip 40 seats. Gellad predicts that Democrats seeking their partys presidential nomination will be talking non-stop about drug prices on the campaign trail and in the candidate debates, which begin in June.

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, Doggetts partner in drug-pricing legislation, hinted last week that he, too, may join the array of Democrats running for president. Doggetts plan already has one co-sponsor in the field - Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar - and likely will have more.

For Trump, who prides himself on keeping campaign promises, the issue also looks to be important in his 2020 campaign.

The president spoke boldly in his State of the Union message about it being unacceptable for Americans to pay more for the same drug than consumers in other countries. This is wrong, this is unfair, and together we will stop it. We will stop it fast, the president said, asking Democrats to help.

For subscribers: With Democrats at the wheel, Doggetts in position to steer drug-price legislation

The Trump administration has taken several steps to bring down costs, most of them voluntary for the drug companies, and he took credit in the State of the Union for success. He is planning a bigger initiative with a rule, being written now, that would tie drug prices in a Medicare program to the average costs in several developed, mostly European, countries. But that rule, if it survives, is years away from having an effect; a pilot project wouldnt begin for more than a year.

An array of legislation already is pending, among them minor bills calling for more transparency about prices and more weighty measures that would cap out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors.

Pay-for-delay practice targeted

Doggett also intends to press for legislation that would end the industrys so-called pay for delay practice, in which brand-name drug companies pay to block or slow the arrival to the market of competitive generics.

The mere fact that discussions are taking place has bred optimism. Amid rancorous dealings over the border wall and government shutdown, Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have spoken about what might be achieved. Azar has sat down with Democrats in both the Senate and House.

Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., a close Doggett ally, was invited to Camp David this month to meet with White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney on the matter, Welchs office confirmed. Last week, Welch introduced still another drug pricing bill, one that would allow diabetes patients to buy cheaper insulin in Canada and elsewhere; importing now is banned.

In 2003, Doggett and Brown, then a House member, worked together to block the provision banning Medicare negotiating with drug-makers. The prohibition was nonetheless included to win support for the Medicare Part D legislation, a significant new social program for seniors and people with disabilities that George W. Bush signed into law.

Allowing Medicare to launch its own effort to tamp down prices could have major consequences. Part D covers 43 million people, making it the federal governments largest drug program. All told, prescription drugs cost taxpayers more than $130 billion annually, about one fifth of all Medicare spending. In a decades time, Medicares share of the nations entire retail prescription market rose from 18 percent to 30 percent, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Yet the 16-year-old law asserts that the government may not interfere with the negotiations between drug manufacturers and pharmacies - words that Doggett and Brown seek to strike from the law.

The goal, they say is a reasonable price that encourages continued innovation and research but does not impose a monopoly price. Winning the argument would require skeptics in the presidents party to accept an expanded government role in health care.

New government powers would be invoked if a negotiation with a manufacturer failed. The government then could issue a license allowing other manufacturers to produce a drug - if they compensate the original license-holder.

When Doggett and Brown stood together recently to introduce their legislation, Doggett referred to rampant prescription price gouging. Added Brown: The purpose of medicine is to help people, not to line the pockets of Big Pharma executives.
AUSTIN  The chances of teachers beginning next school year with a pay raise increased Monday as a bill to boost their paychecks cleared its first legislative hurdle, but its just one of several competing proposals for increasing school funding.

Members of the Senate Finance Committee voted 15-0 to advance a plan to give every full-time teacher a $5,000 raise. The $3.7 billion plan was promised by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who said the bill will be one of the first the entire Senate will take up this year, even as a labor group for teachers promised a rally in two weeks against it.

Teachers currently receive only a third of the funding we send to our schools, Patrick said in a statement. It will provide an immediate financial boost for teachers, assist in retaining good teachers, and recruit the best and the brightest to this critical profession. I will be moving this bill to the floor and out of the Senate at the earliest possible date."

Other lawmakers have called for linking teacher salary increases to student performance, letting school districts decide who gets raises and how big they should be, or spreading the money to include raises for support staff.

As momentum builds for teacher pay raises, so is tension over how it should be done.

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Do our teachers want a pay raise? Of course they do. But they are not going to turn their backs on the team members that are crucial to making their work successful, and theyre going to be pushing for a pay raise for all school employees. Expect to hear that message loudly as our members gather by the thousands for a rally on the Capitol steps in two weeks, said Louis Malfaro, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers.

Nationally, the average teacher pulled a salary of $60,483 in 2017-18, according to the National Education Association. In Texas, that figure was $53,167, making the state 29th in the country for teacher pay.

Gov. Greg Abbott and other high-ranking lawmakers say teachers should have the chance to make more than $100,000 a year, in part so good teachers are less likely to seek promotions that would take them out of the classroom.

Christina Rigby, PTA president at McMillen Junior High, said thats common at the schools her seven children have gone through.

For Subscribers: As health plan costs hit $1,000 a month, teachers take side jobs, delay care

I see some of our best teachers pulled into administration because thats where they get paid what they deserve, said Rigby, a five-year leader in her local PTA.

Some lawmakers have different ideas about how the money should be divvied out. House Democrats want to give all teachers a raise and a $500 one-time check to cover supplies they buy for their classrooms. Democrats also want the raise to reach all other school staff.

Part of the debate is centered on whether school districts should control how the payraise money is spent.

Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, proposed a $6 billion bill Friday that would give school districts enough money to fund a $5,000 raise for each teacher, although school districts could decide to use merit or other factors to decide how much each teacher should get. His proposal also gives districts additional money in per-pupil funding that the district can spend as it sees fit, such as with pay raises for school counselors or other support staff.

The House Education Committee is expected to unveil an omnibus school funding bill in the coming weeks, although it is unclear whether the group will bake a teacher pay proposal into that legislation.

Parents and teachers roaming the Capitol on Monday said their most important priority is improving how the state funds education, but paying teachers more is also a big deal.

Were losing good educators because they cant make a livable wage, said Courtney Jones, a special education teacher from near Waco who joined hundreds of teachers and parents lobbying lawmakers Monday. Its not just about us, because we know as teachers we cant do it alone.
Six days after Thanksgiving last year, a 73-year-old woman showed up at Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center in Houston. Her body was retaining too much fluid after a dialysis treatment, and she was in need of emergency medical care.

What happened next could have killed her.

Hospital staff put in a request to give the woman a blood transfusion, but the order was meant for another patient with a different blood type. Fortunately, the St. Luke's laboratory caught the error, sparing the woman from harm.

Four days later, however, hospital staff committed a similar mistake, only this time workers in the lab didn't notice when a blood sample arrived with another patient's blood in it. As a result, a 75-year-old woman was given the wrong blood, mistaken for a patient who had been in her ER room immediately before her.

She died the next day after repeated bouts of cardiac arrest.

The fatal mistake followed a pattern of blood labeling errors at St. Luke's during the past year, according to a scathing report issued last month by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and made public Tuesday by the hospital. The government report came after a yearlong investigation by the Houston Chronicle and ProPublica that documented numerous lapses in patient care at a hospital once regarded as among the nation's best for cardiac care.

St. Luke's leaders released the 99-page inspection report on Tuesday, along with a document detailing the hospital's efforts to correct the problems. In a letter posted on the hospital's website, St. Luke's CEO Doug Lawson called the government's findings "deeply disappointing." He also wrote that he expects regulators to find additional problems when they return to the hospital for a comprehensive audit of patient care practices in the coming weeks.

Lawson said newly hired St. Luke's executives have already made several changes to bring the hospital into compliance with federal standards, including an improved training program to ensure blood samples are labeled properly. The hospital has also enhanced its quality improvement program, Lawson wrote, and officials have made it easier for staff to report patient safety concerns to senior leadership.

"It is our responsibility to learn from these mistakes, and we take this responsibility very seriously," Lawson wrote. "An incident like this should never happen."

Dr. Ashish Jha, an expert in hospital quality, reviewed the government's findings and said it appeared St. Luke's was struggling to meet basic care standards. The labeling mistakes, he said, seemed indicative of "a broader systemic problem."

"These are really basic errors that I didn't really think happened that often anymore," said Jha, who directs Harvard University's Global Health Institute.

St. Luke's appeared to miss warning signs in the months prior to the deadly mistake, according to the government report.

An internal hospital committee identified problems with the way staff had been labeling blood samples a year ago, according to the federal report, but the unsafe practices continued. In total, regulators identified 122 incidents from a recent four-month period, from September to January, in which St. Luke's staff made blood labeling errors, some more serious than others.

These problems were compounded by a short-staffed nursing crew that lacked training in how to detect adverse reactions during transfusions and a hospital laboratory with too few workers on staff to always catch potentially fatal labeling mistakes, according to the government report.

The violations are the latest in a series of setbacks for St. Luke's. The Medicare agency cut off funding for heart transplants at St. Luke's last year after the Chronicle-ProPublica investigation documented an outsized number of patient deaths and unusual surgical complications following the procedure in recent years.

The news organizations also reported on poor outcomes following heart bypass surgery, repeated complaints about inadequate nursing care, a recent rise in the number of deaths after liver and lung transplants, and a physician's lawsuit alleging that he was retaliated against after raising concerns that some of his patients had received unnecessary medical treatments in intensive care units.

Hospital officials said repeatedly that problems identified by reporters had already been corrected, and they denied retaliating against the physician.

After the botched blood transfusion, hospital leaders have taken a different tack. Days after the inspection, the hospital's board of directors announced it had dismissed CEO Gay Nord and three other top executives.

The report released Tuesday details how the fatal mistake occurred.

Medical staff had drawn blood from an ER patient on Dec. 2 but failed to discard the sample after that patient was discharged. The vial of blood was still in the hospital room when staff brought in a 75-year-old woman who had been rushed to St. Luke's by ambulance. When a doctor ordered a transfusion, staff mistakenly sent the tube containing the prior patient's blood sample, placing a new label over the original.

Jha, the quality expert, said the double-labeling error was an egregious mistake, but with the proper checks in place, it shouldn't have led to the woman's death.

"A lab should never accept a specimen that has two labels of two different patients," he said.

Government inspectors found that the lab at St. Luke's did not have a policy on whether technicians should accept blood samples with multiple labels.

The situation was made worse by poor nursing care, regulators wrote. Many nurses at St. Luke's had not been trained on how to identify signs of a blood transfusion gone wrong. Staff continued to give the 75-year-old woman the wrong blood despite a worsening adverse reaction, according to the report.

The government report details numerous incidents in which St. Luke's nurses failed to track patient vital signs while administering transfusions, making it impossible to detect problems.

"The findings present a likelihood that serious blood transfusion reactions may not be detected in an expeditious manner, which could delay appropriate response and treatment, and could result in death or injury to a patient," inspectors wrote.

The hospital did not make changes in the weeks that followed, according to the report. In a meeting at St. Luke's on Jan. 10, more than a month after the death, hospital leaders acknowledged they still were not tracking labeling mistakes.

The hospital has since hired several new officials to guide St. Luke's on its "journey back to excellence," Lawson wrote in his letter Tuesday.

"This is a challenging time for our hospital," he wrote. "While we cannot go back and change the past, we can focus our efforts on recreating the Baylor St. Luke's you have known and trusted."

***

This story is the result of a collaboration between the Chronicle and ProPublica, an independent nonprofit newsroom based in New York. Mike Hixenbaugh is an investigative reporter at the Houston Chronicle. Charles Ornstein is a senior editor at ProPublica.





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A trio of suspects is believed to be responsible for at least three recent bank robberies in the Houston area.

The most recent heist happened around 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the Capital One Bank in the 15900 block of Stuebner Airline Road, according to the FBI. In the robbery, the three suspects allegedly ordered employees and customers to the ground at gunpoint before jumping the counter.

They then allegedly demanded keys to open the teller drawers. Employees could not find the keys, and the thieves left empty handed, authorities said.

The next day, the trio held up another Capital One Bank in the 6100 block of Texas Highway 6, according to the FBI. This time, the suspects allegedly herded the employees and customers to a back room before jumping the counter. They wound up taking an undisclosed amount of cash from the teller drawers, according to the FBI.

The trio is also suspected of robbing Capital One Bank locations in the 19600 block of Tomball Parkway on Oct. 2, 2018, and in the 10900 block of Jones Road on Nov. 19, 2018.

The first suspect is described as a black male, about 20 to 30 years old and between 5 feet, 8 inches and 5 feet, 10 inches tall. He has a medium build and is unshaven.

The second suspect is described as a black male, about 20 to 30 years old and between 5 feet, 11 inches and 6 feet tall. He has a thin build and is clean shaven.

The third suspect is described as a black female, about 20 to 30 years told and approximately 5 feet, 3 inches tall. She has a thin build.

Anyone with information is urged to call Houston Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).

Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message
A suspected thief is behind bars after leading officers on a chase across a highway, a parking lot, a small lake and a nearby business in southwest Houston, police said.

The chase started around 11:30 p.m. Monday when officers spotted a stolen vehicle at a restaurant near the South Loop and Buffalo Speedway.
On Thursday, SpaceX (founded by Elon Musk) launched the Falcon 9 into space. Making this mission especially significant, the rocket was carrying humanity's entire backup plan, according to business magazine, Fast Company.

What does that include? Called "The Lunar Library," the plan features a 30-million-page collection of humanity's greatest cultural offerings, all encoded on a specially designed disc that was sent to the moon to keep it safe, Fast Company reports.

RELATED: Elon Musk says he is building 'Starship' in Texas

Stored on the disc, made to last a billion years, is a diverse archive of human history and civilization that covers subjects from cultures to nations to languages to genres to time periods, including the contents of Wikipedia, a compilation of human languages, the Rosetta Project, and books selected by Project Gutenberg, a digital library, according to Fast Company.

Genome maps, along with 60,000 analog images of pages of books, photographs, illustrations, documents, and some of the world's greatest art, music, literature, and scientific knowledge, are also on the disc. It is composed of 25 nickel discs, each only 40 microns thick, Fast Company reports.

Once the disc is on the moon, it will be stored aboard Beresheet, an Israeli spacecraft that was also carried to space by the Falcon 9, CNET reports.

The Lunar Library was created by the Arch Mission Foundation (AMF), a non-profit organization that maintains a billion-year backup of planet Earth. This is the third installment in The Arch Mission Foundation's "Billion Year Archive" initiative, Fast Company reports. The initiative's goal is to deliver backups to numerous locations both on Earth and in the Solar System.

"We can definitely preserve our unique cultural heritage and biological record in a way that will survive for millions to billions of years," co-founder and chairman of the Arch Mission Foundation Nova Spivack said in a statement, according to Fast Company.

"Through massive replication around the solar system, we will be able to guarantee that the Arch Libraries will never be lost  even millions to billions of years in the future," he said.

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
A couple of weeks back I was sitting at La Lucha, pondering the deep, dark complexities of chef Bobby Matos Amaro-soaked carrot cake, when it hit me: In Houston right now, we are living in the golden age of this warhorse dessert.

I laughed at the thought. After decades of dodging carrot cake  once as drearily inevitable as tiramisu or chocolate lava cake on local dessert menus  I cant help but feel that the joke is on me.

I know perfectly well that the pendulum swings in the food world as surely as it does in fashion. Still, Im a little shocked and befuddled to find that Im ordering carrot cake again in Houston restaurants. And loving it.

This 20th-century descendant of medieval carrot pudding took fierce root on American menus back in the hippy-dippy 1970s, when the presence of naturally sweet grated carrots gave the spice cake a quasi-healthful air. So did the frequent additions of nuts or raisins or crushed canned pineapple, although the cream-cheese frosting that became standard kind of canceled out any good-for-you airs.

Recipe from our archives: Carrot Cake With Pineapple

Often those cakes ended up tooth-rattlingly sweet or ponderously sludgy, the grated carrots not only interrupting the crumb but letting exorbitant amounts of moisture in. I scorned them  or so I thought, until 10 years or so ago I tasted chef Ronnie Killens carrot cake at his young Killens Steakhouse in Pearland.

Served in what I called, in my 2007 restaurant review, a mighty square, Killens version dispensed with the usual layered treatment in favor of a sumptuous molten cream-cheese icing that cascaded down the sides, shiny and savory against the cakes restrained sweetness. A tumble of wispy, candied carrot shreds on top reminded you that behind this homespun block, there was a chef on duty. A really good one, who could wring magic out of a boring cliche.

This cake remains a mainstay at both the original steakhouse, its smoke-centric sibling, Killens STQ, and Killens popular barbecue joint. In my mind, its the grandaddy of our current carrot-cake renaissance.

For most of the next decade, I thought Killens carrot cake was the exception to my no carrot cake rule.

It was not until 2016, when chef Anita Jaisinghani launched her Bake Lab, a dessert and tea retreat upstairs from Pondicheri, that I met another carrot cake that grabbed me by the lapels and shook me. Her version was deeply savory rather than one-note sweet, and it took wing on a burst of black and white poppy seeds and a twinge of fresh fennel.

That multitextural carrot cake picked you up and put you down someplace far, far away. And it still does.

By last year, my interest in carrot cake had well and truly revived.

I was smitten with UB Preserv pastry chef Victoria Dearmonds unexpected addition of Vietnamese ca phe sua da, the sweetened iced coffee so beloved by Houston diners, to her triple-tiered cakes traditional flavor spectrum: the cinnamon, the pecans, the pineapple. Dearmonds coffee-tinged filling is made with the traditional sweetened condensed milk instead of cream cheese, with more milky drizzles glossing the cut surfaces. Its a light, inspired switch-up to the genre, and the multiculti twist is puro Houston.

How good is this carrot cake? Its fans think nothing of popping $65 for a whole one when theyre available for sale over the holidays.

By last autumn, my head had been turned by pastry chef Dory Fungs amusing 24 Karat cake at Poitin. The rectangular, pineapple-laced slice was crowned with a fat curlicue of cream-cheese fluff, a squiggle of gold leaf and jamlike curls of candied carrot marching away at the sides.

As a measure of how thoroughly my attitude has changed, I actually wrote the unironic phrase carrot cake connoisseurs will want to try [Fungs] graceful version, when I reviewed Poitin in November.

Carrot-cake connoisseurs! The very idea would have been unthinkable to me not so long ago. Now I consider myself one as I lose myself in the luxury of the Amaro-soaked version that Matos serves at State of Grace and as the occasional special at La Lucha.

The herbal, bitter tones of the Amaro liqueur complicate the earthy sweetness of carrots and spice. The savory tang of cream cheese in the frosting does the same. All those chords weave together in a deeply satisfying song that I can finally, fully hear.

Maybe Ill tire of carrot cake again. But not while these marvelous versions are on the Houston menu.

Alison Cook is the Chronicle's James Beard Award-winning restaurant critic. Follow her on Twitter, and keep up with Houston's latest dining and drinking news and reviews by subscribing to our free Flavor newsletter.
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The brand of daring typically showcased at the Catastrophic Theatre is a blend of dark humor, experimentalism and Gen-X nihilism, packed into some twisted little play from Wallace Shawn or Sam Shepard. But the company hardly has a track record to prepare you for someone like Robert OHara.

OHara, a black queer playwright and director based in New York City, shares with the Catastrophic a flair for absurdism, but he pushes far more buttons on the topics of sexuality and race. Not that OHaras 2011 play Bootycandy, at the MATCH through March 10, is one of those issue plays, which deliver noncomplex political messages about being different in the form of a Greek tragedy. Some of those are very good.
The attention of the energy industry has focused in recent years on the Permian Basin, the once tired West Texas oil field that roared back to life when hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling freed the vast reserves locked in its shale. But as the Permian gathers the attention, another aging oil field is making its own comeback.

The Gulf of Mexico is producing a record of almost 2 millions barrel of crude oil a day and expected to increase its output each year over at least the next five years as new projects begin operation and new discoveries in deeper waters are made. After struggling in the aftermath of the oil bust as investment shifted onshore, the Gulf has found new life as oil companies have succeeded in lowering costs, and market dynamics have made the heavier crude produced in the Gulf more valuable and sought after by refineries from the Gulf Coast to Asia.

The energy research firm Wood Mackenzie projects Gulf drilling activity to jump 30 percent this year after four consecutive years of declines. The federal government forecasts production to grow another 15 percent next year to 2.3 million barrels a day as as oil companies, particularly the biggest players, find advantage in deepwater wells that deplete far more slowly than shale reservoirs.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Offshore production shows signs of a turnaround

The quality of Gulf crude as well as the longer life of offshore wells make it just as attractive as shale to large producers today, said Sandy Fielden, Morningstars director of oil and products research.

As in the Permian and other shale plays, producers that have found ways to make money with lower crude oil prices have opened the spigots. The Permian Basin and the Gulf of Mexico account for about half nations output, now at a record 12 million barrels a day.

Cutting costs

The average cost of extracting oil barrels from deepwater wells has plunged by more than 50 percent in five years, according to Wood Mackenzie, as companies have standardized project designs and equipment. They also focused drilling projects near existing platforms that can be connected to the new wells via underwater pipelines and umbilicals, which is far less costly than building and installing new platforms.

The breakeven price for profiting off of deepwater wells has fallen from about $70 a barrel a few years ago to closer to $40, according to the top Gulf producers BP and Royal Dutch Shell. As one measure of the vast gains in efficiency, consider this: Gulf producers are pumping twice as much crude with a quarter of the drilling rigs used in the mid-1990s.

The deepwater is thought of as an expensive and difficult place to be, said Starlee Sykes, BP's regional president for the Gulf. Recent developments are changing that.

The worlds biggest oil companies, including BP, Shell and Chevron dominate much of the Gulf, and other top global players such as the French oil major Total, Norways state energy company Equinor and The Woodlands Anadarko Petroleum als are investing more in the region. Asian energy companies, valuing the political stability of the United States over potentially bigger returns in more volatile regions such as Africa and Latin America, also are developing projects in the Gulf.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Private equity sees opportunity in the Gulf

Those firms include include China National Offshore Oil Corp., called CNOOC, and the Japanese companies Inpex Corp., Mitsui Oil and Marubeni Oil & Gas.

Shell completed a series of smaller expansions last year and, this fall, will put its multibillion-dollar Appomattox platform in operation about 80 miles of the Louisiana Coast to target deep geologic layers believed to hold much on the undiscovered oil in the Gulf. Appomattox will be followed in 2021 with the Vito platform about 150 miles southeast of New Orleans.

After Vito, Shell expects to home in on its Whale discovery  announced a year ago  in the southwest Gulf almost 200 miles south of Houston. Rick Tallant, Shell vice president for production in the Gulf, said a final decision for a multibillion-dollar development of Whale is likely in 2020.

The industry in general is starting to reinvest back into the Gulf of Mexico, Tallant said.

In January, for example, BP said it would spend $1.3 billion to expand its Atlantis development about 150 miles south of New Orleans. BP said it produces more than 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day from the Gulf and plans to exceed 400,000 barrels daily by the mid-2020s.

The Gulf also is attracting further investments from smaller players such as the Houston companies Talos Energy, Fieldwood Energy, W&T Offshore and Houston Energy.

Ron Neal, co-founder of Houston Energy, said these companies are taking a contrarian approach, targeting the Gulf when shale is all the rage and buying leases at significant discounts to acreage in the Permian Basin. The Gulfs wells are costlier to develop up front, he said, but they can churn out high volumes of oil for many years, unlike shale wells, in which production drops sharply after the first year or so.

The deepwater is healthy, Neal said. We just try to be consistent and not reactionary, and its worked pretty well.

To Mars and beyond

Wood Mackenzie predicts the next big project to move forward could be Chevrons and Totals 2017 Anchor discovery more than 100 miles south of New Orleans. That development could trigger more than $10 billion in investments.. Last last year, Chevrons new Big Foot platform came online east of the Anchor find.

Fuel Fix: Get energy news sent directly to your inbox

In addition to lower lease costs and longer well life, another factor is driving increased activity in the Gulf of Mexico: premium prices for its oil. Gulf wells produce a medium grade crude and the benchmark, called Mars, is selling at $6 a barrel more than lighter crude produced in West Texas  a premium of about 15 percent and the highest differential for Mars sine 2013.

The reason: a global shortage of the heavier crudes preferred by refiners from the Gulf Coast to Asia. Several developments have cut the supply of heavier crudes on the market, including OPECs production cuts, U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, and OPEC-style output reductions put in place the government of Alberta, Canada to try to lift prices of the heavy crude produced in the provinces oil sands.

Analysts expect Gulf of Mexico oil to fetch higher prices at least though the end of this year.

As the U.S. consolidates its position as one of the worlds largest producers and a major exporter, said Fielden, the Morningstar analyst, the long-term value and importance of offshore production shouldnt be underestimated.

Marissa Luck contributed.
Jussie Smollett was the biggest point of conversation this month after he filed a police report for a hate crime allegedly committed against him. The Empire actor was accused of setting up his own attack and hiring two brothers to help carry out the attack. He's maintained his innocence throughout this whole ordeal, although Chicago Police state there's more evidence proving his guilt. However, Vince Staples believes that Jussie Smollett shouldn't face any jail time.



Jerod Harris/Getty Images

Vince Staples sat down with GQ where he discussed his current tour as well as relevant news topics. The rapper spoke on Jussie Smollett's case, saying that he doesn't understand why Smollett is dealing with so much backlash when Chicago Police also file false reports.

"Ah, man, free the Juice Man. He's just running a little scam," he said. "Shit, the fact he feels like he has to do that says more about this world and less about him. Because nobody wants to do that. Hopefully he don't get time because police are smoking people, falsifying police reports, and they get to go home so let my boy go home."

Staples also spoke on the Khloe Kardashian/Tristan Thompson scandal. In short, he doesn't care, but he does sympathize with both Khloe and Tristan due to the commentary on the Internet.

"Shit, that's not my business. And I think everybody who is obsessed with that on the internet is a loser," he said. "Any situation where people go through real-life things and people start to mock them, I can tell you haven't been through anything."
A few technical problems can't stop Nicki Minaj from showing up and showing out. A few days ago, Minaj took to her Instagram to express how "gutted" she felt over having to cancel one of her first "Nicki Wrld Tour" stops in Slovakia. "I cant believe my fans sometimes," Minaj wrote in a now-deleted Instagram post. "After waiting for hours & hours, they still tried to be understanding. Production was told the building does not have the power to facilitate my lifts (which dont only move me below & very VERY high above the stage, but also move all our props, furniture, dancers, band, etc.), our lighting rig, fog, cryo, confetti, movies/visuals. Theyd get the show powered up then the breaker would basically trip after a few mins. Juice WRLD & I waited while they did this over & over for 3 hours."

Production put safety first, and on the following day, the tour was back in business in Poland. Minaj shared a handful of intimate photos and clips from her performances, including one where the rapper asked fans to be on the lookout for a skirt that she "lost somewhere on stage."She also gave fans a taste of what goes on behind-the-scenes as she delivers famous movie lines and celebrates birthdays with her crew.

Minaj also shared a clip from the stage in Budapest that showed the thousands (upon thousands) of adoring fans in the audience.

The European leg of the "Nicki Wrld Tour" also features Juice WRLD and will run until March 28 when it ends in Switzerland.
Just when you start to think you have all the information, something like this comes out and shakes up everything. The Jussie Smollett case appeared to have been a done deal for the entertainer after the Chicago Police Department uncovered tons of evidence that point to the hate crime being staged. The actor was cut from the final two episodes of Empire's season and it looked like he may be facing prison time for falsifying information on his police report. However, he has maintained the fact that he was really attacked because of his race and sexuality. While the majority of people believe he's fibbing, a few old tweets from one of the Osundairo brothers may actually support Smollett's case.



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In a series of messages that have re-surfaced from 2013, Ola Osundairo, who went as King Ola on Twitter, scolded somebody for being a fan of Frank Ocean. "Why you following Frank Ocean yer, you know that n***a gay right?" asked Ola. According to The Blast, separate messages point to Osundairo possibly being homophobic. He also tweeted somebody saying, "YOURE GAY THATS WHO YOU ARE."

It is being reported that the tweets may be used in court to support Jussie Smollett's case. The two brothers were reportedly paid $3,500 to carry out an attack on the actor, pouring bleach on him and tying a noose around his neck.
The Academy Awards crowned Green Book as the year's Best Picture, an honor that surpasses the film's worth according to many critics. An email penned by producer Charles Wessler has added yet another reason for people to hate on the movie. He sent a scathing email to a writer named Jenni Miller, in reaction to her unfavorable review late last year. The critic uploaded screenshots of his condescending litany via Twitter. Other writers chimed in saying they had received similar emails from the production as well.

Read Wessler's grievances below.



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In the email, Wessler slams the writer for inattention. He attempts to prove this lack of consideration by pointing out how she identified Tony Lip, the character played by Viggo Mortensen. His name is Tony NOT Frank, Wessler wrote. His criticism is sad and ironic considering the fact that Lip's legal name is actually Frank Anthony Vallelonga.

What seemed to bother Wessler the most, however, were the claims of his racial insensitivity. The producer insists Green Book is the furthest thing from a racist movie and that African Americans for the most part LOVE this film. He also pointed out that "it was made by black and white people."

His acceptance speech excluded Dr. Don Shirley, the Black man whose story was (inaccurately) told through Green Book. In the press room, Wessler justified the film's misrepresentation of Shirley by claiming he was simply unaware of his family's existence and therefore could not make the proper adjustments.
When Balenciaga showed off the Triple S to the world, sneakerheads lost their collective minds. The high-fashion company released the sneaker in the midst of the big dad shoe trend that became famous in 2018, primarily thanks to Kanye West and his Yeezy 700 "Wave Runners." While some people love the Triple S, others find it to be the most offensive thing to sneakers since Jordan put a window on the side of a shoe. Although, because it's expensive, people who don't actually like the shoe will still buy it for the status and that business model has allowed the Triple S to flourish.

We've seen plenty of colorways of the shoe and some have actually made the chunky silhouette look pretty good. Now though, Balenciaga is looking to test our tastes with this all-over "Neon Green" model. These are quite literally all green except for the "Balenciaga" branding which is written in black. They're a pretty wild colorway but we're sure someone out there is going to wear them. If you can actually pull these off without having eyes rolled at you, then more power to you.

Image via Balenciaga

If you're willing to cop these, you can pick them up over at the Balenciaga web store for the high price of $995 USD.
A few years ago, Jordan Brand archived the Air Jordan 3, promising that it would never get another retro release. In the end, that turned out to be all for nothing as the brand brought back the Jordan 3 and went all in with the model last year as they released the "Black Cement" colorway as well as the Tinker's and even two Justin Timberlake collaborations. There was also the all-red DJ Khaled "We The Best" Jordan 3 that is almost impossible to come by unless you shell out thousands of dollars at a store like Flight Club.

Now, according to the Instagram account @zsneakerheadz, it appears as though in January of 2020, a model similar to the DJ Khaled Jordan 3 might be making it'sway to the market. The official colorway scheme is listed as "Varsity Red/Cement Grey/Black-Varsity Red."

Unfortunately, we don't have any real images or even photoshopped concepts of what this new shoe could look like, but an all-red Jordan 3 would most certainly be pretty popular and among one of the most popular releases of the year.

Jordan Brand has been killing it already this year so even more releases will make sure that the brand stays relevant throughout 2019 and even in 2020.
CBRE Global Investors, on behalf of its clients, has acquired Hotel Exe Moncloa, a 4-star hotel located in the heart of Madrid, Spain. The hotel is leased to Hotusa and VIPS. The seller was Lonta Investments 2016 S.L., a wholly owned subsidiary of Signal Real Estates Opportunities Fund LP.

CBRE Global Investors, on behalf of its clients, has acquired Hotel Exe Moncloa, a 4-star hotel located in the heart of Madrid, Spain. The hotel is leased to Hotusa and VIPS. The seller was Lonta Investments 2016 S.L., a wholly owned subsidiary of Signal Real Estates Opportunities Fund LP.

The city centre hotel has 161 rooms and has 770 sq m of retail on the ground floor which includes the VIPS restaurant. There are also 124 parking places. The hotel is located in the Moncloa district, next to one of the largest transport hubs in the city and within walking distance of Princesa and Gran Via, prime shopping areas in Madrid.

The acquisition offers CBRE Global Investors' client a stable cash flow in a liquid and established investment market. The Spanish hotel market is increasingly appealing to institutional investors with the potential of further yield compression against other asset classes and rental uplift.

Acting on behalf of CBRE Global Investors were DLA Piper, PwC, JLL, Christie&Co and Clifford Chance. The vendor was advised by CBRE Hotels.

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MeliA Tirana will form part of an iconic architectural project in the heart of the city. The building will combine different shapes and forms in its faAade and house residential, commercial and office space, all located in the centre of the city, a short distance from the main tourist attractions such as the Clock Tower, the Cathedral or the National History Museum, as well as the main business areas and government headquarters.

Melia Hotels International has announced the addition of a new hotel in the capital of Albania.

Thanks to new measures taken by Albania to stimulate inbound travel, Melia aims to leverage the exciting opportunities for hotel development with a benchmark hotel for international travel in the Albanian capital, applying all of its experience in pioneering destinations and its international brand recognition in the Mediterranean. Melia's leadership of the resort hotel industry has been a key factor in its growth and the extension of its influence to other Mediterranean destinations.

Melia Tirana will form part of an iconic architectural project in the heart of the city. The building will combine different shapes and forms in its facade and house residential, commercial and office space, all located in the centre of the city, a short distance from the main tourist attractions such as the Clock Tower, the Cathedral or the National History Museum, as well as the main business areas and government headquarters. The hotel is scheduled to open in 2021 and will occupy the upper floors of the building, providing 140 rooms, a restaurant, bar, meeting rooms and a modern sky lobby with panoramic city views.

Melia expects to open another hotel in Albania in 2020; the Melia Durres, an extraordinary five-star resort in Gjiri Lalzit Bay, north of Durres, the second most important city in the country. This hotel is currently under construction and will provide 400 rooms and extensive facilities to make it the best hotel in the area, with eight restaurants, several swimming pools, spa, fitness centre, beach club, convention centre and car park.

"With a privileged location on the Adriatic Sea, excellent climate, infrastructure under development, incentives for investment and a rich cultural heritage, Albania has all the ingredients to become a top travel destination in the Mediterranean, and Melia has a lot to offer and contribute thanks to its experience and knowledge of the market" assured Gabriel Escarrer, Vice President and CEO of Melia Hotels International.

These two hotels also reinforce the Company's presence in the Adriatic, where it already operates hotels in Croatia and Montenegro.

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Taking centre stage in the heart of Tower Bridge on Tooley Street, The Dixon is set to become a new cultural hub in the midst of a neighbourhood, which features The Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe and the diverse cultural offering of the new Bridge Theatre all a short distance away.

Autograph Collection Hotels has announced the opening of The Dixon in London, which joins the portfolio of more than 160 independent Autograph Collection Hotels. Taking centre stage in the heart of Tower Bridge on Tooley Street, The Dixon is set to become a new cultural hub in the midst of a neighbourhood, which features The Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe and the diverse cultural offering of the new Bridge Theatre all a short distance away.

John Licence, VP Premium & Select Brands Europe, Marriott International, said: "We are delighted to expand our offering of one-of-a-kind hotels in London with The Dixon. As vibrant, creative and historic as the neighbourhood in which it resides, The Dixon perfectly embodies our values and we're excited for our guests to experience it."



A product of passion and a personal realisation of its individual vision, The Dixon was named after John Dixon Butler  the architect who originally constructed the Grade II listed building in 1905 as a Magistrates' Court and police station  and draws inspiration from the area's rich cultural heritage, while also capturing its new wave of creative cool.

Advocating for the original through art, The Dixon showcases thoughtfully-curated pieces inspired by the history and talent of SE1 in all of its guest rooms and public spaces. The architectural restoration, led by Consarc Design Group, has transformed the hotel in uncompromising style. Rani Ahluwalia, Creative Director at M Studio London, and twenty2degrees have worked closely to bring a stunning interior concept to life that cleverly walks the line between old and new. The 193 rooms, including ten spacious suites, will redefine the traditional boutique hotel by seamlessly incorporating the locale's culture through an artful mix of heritage design.

Deeply embedded in the nostalgia of this former Magistrate's Court, restoration has been essential to the interior design. Paying homage to the experiences and memories of a previous time, each and every cell key has been kept and restored, now finding themselves interwoven in a modern design movement. Benches emotionally etched by prisoners when waiting for deliberation will find themselves brought to life once more in the lift lobbies, and a large, finely-crafted chandelier comprised of handcuffs will hang above the staircase.



The Courtroom Bar continues this unique theme, with Edwardian oak panelling providing a backdrop for the artisan cocktail bar. Drinks will be served under the original structure of the judge's bench, providing the self-titled bar with a sense of nostalgia unlike anywhere else in London.

The hotel's restaurant, Provisioners, is inspired by modern design movements, designers' studios and homes, as well as European cafe culture, while retaining historical elements of the original courthouse structure. With a nod to the Bauhaus and mid-century era, functional design creates a casual and inviting space where all visitors will feel at home. A key influence for Provisioners was modern European design and British industrial designers such as Sir Kenneth Grange, some of whose work hangs in the space with kind permission.

Socially and culturally immersive, The Dixon will be as much about the local community as it will be about its guests. Enticing creatives and city hoppers keen to explore Tower Bridge's rich history, The Dixon's support of local art will extend beyond its walls with a diverse cultural offering through local partnerships, including Anise Gallery.

Rani Ahluwalia, Creative Director of M Studio London said, "The Dixon will offer a unique take on the boutique hotel experience, offering guests a neighbourhood feel in the heart of the capital. The design intention was to create something truly beautiful, which intrinsically links back to the origins of the building and the iconic location. Collaboration has been essential to the finely crafted designs and finishes throughout the hotel, drawing upon a wide range of expertise to establish a truly stunning final product."

Rates at The Dixon start from 199.



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Barcelona hotels post record January room demand - Paris hotel performance hurt by gilets jaunes protests

Europes hotel industry reported mostly positive results in the three key performance metrics during January 2019, according to data from STR.

Euro constant currency, January 2019 vs. January 2018

Europe

Occupancy: -0.1% to 58.1%

Average daily rate (ADR): +2.5% to EUR99.56

Revenue per available room (RevPAR): +2.4% to EUR57.81

Local currency, January 2019 vs. January 2018

Barcelona, Spain

Occupancy: +6.1% to 60.4%

ADR: +7.1% to EUR107.75

RevPAR: +13.6% to EUR65.08

The market sold more room nights than any other January on record. In addition to solid weekday performance, which correlates with demand in the business travel sector, STR analysts note a significant year-over-year rise in weekend RevPAR that can be linked to strengthening leisure travel and further recovery from the period of declines that followed the Catalan independence referendum of 2017.

Paris

Occupancy: -5.9% to 65.0%

ADR: +7.1% to EUR204.07

RevPAR: +0.8% to EUR132.72

STR analysts attribute demand declines in December (-6.5%) and January (-4.2%) to ongoing gilets jaunes protests that began back in November. The 65.0% absolute occupancy level was the lowest for a January in Paris since 2016, when the market was in decline following November 2015 terrorist attacks. Hoteliers in the market have maintained ADR growth to stabilize RevPAR.

Download the Global Performance Review

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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Opinion Article

26 February 2019

In his book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell popularized what became known as the 10,000-hour rule, by documenting the lives of successful people such as Bill Gates, Mozart and the Beatles. "Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness", he wrote, inspired by the work of Daniel Levitin, the neurologist who scientifically proved that "10,000 hours of practice are required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert in anything".

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The theory is fascinating, though, not always reliable, especially in our field of hotel revenue management and distribution, where adjectives such as disruptive are frequently (over)used and success is measured more on innovation rather than consolidation. A defining factor here is the ability to adapt and evolve!

As Marty McFly (from Back to The Future, a movie the more seasoned hoteliers amongst use watched in their younger years) once wisely said, "I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it". So, what exactly are our kids going to love when it comes to hotel distribution and revenue management? Here are my Fab Four tips for 2019. No buzzwords, no hype. Just pragmatism.

#1. GET MORE RIGID WITH CANCELLATION POLICIES AND FOCUS ON PACKAGES

As revenue managers know way too well, high cancellation rates mean worst forecasting and, ultimately, less profit. According to several studies, Booking.com has over 100% more cancellation than hotel official website, so hoteliers should limit the phenomenon by creating more rigid cancellation policies or prefer Not Refundable Rates over BARs. Make sure to have a solid rate strategy in place and avoid last-minute-panic-prices (often the main reason for last-minute cancellations).

According to a recent Expedia survey, "package travelers typically book further in advance, stay longer and are less likely to cancel due to the non-refundable flight element, which helps revenue managers to take more balanced and far-sighted decisions and forecast with higher accuracy. On average, customers who purchase vacation packages book more than 2 times longer than customers who purchase hotel only, they stay on average 2 times longer and cancel at 1/3 the rate as a standalone booker". So make sure to integrate package rates in your revenue strategy. But better make d.mn sure to price them well, so you don't erode you revenue potential ...

#2. IF YOU CANNOT PROTECT FROM BRANDJACKING, MAKE SURE HAVE A STRONG GOOGLE HOTEL ADS PRESENCE

You may have heard about the recent Google ads trademarks policy update. Up until last October, hotels could file a complaint with Google for trademark infringement, as I explained in this article. Unfortunately, Google now allows virtually any advertiser to bid on your hotel name. At this link, in fact, you can read that "Advertisers may use a trademark term in ad text if they are a reseller of, offer compatible components or parts for, or provide information about the goods and services related to the trademarked term". How to fight back? You can, of course, invest in brand protection on the main search engines, but a more effective strategy may be to strengthen your presence on the Google metasearch engine. By connecting your booking engine directly on the Google Hotel Ads program, you will be able to sell your rooms directly, undercutting intermediaries. Google offers different price models: commission, ROI, or bid, so it is a virtually risk-free investment. Moreover, Google uses machine learning to maximize ROI, so the human factor involved is very limited. Make sure that your IBE supports GHA at this link and get some direct revenue back!

#3. FACILITATED IS THE NEW DIRECT

You're very likely familiar with TripAdvisor' Instant Booking, but what about BoG? BoG (short for Book on Google) allows internet users to book a hotel without leaving the SERP. The concept of facilitated booking is nothing new, but when the booking is facilitated by Google, there are good chances that it will be an Industry game-changer. Until last year, BoG was only available in a few markets (US, UK, Australia and New Zealand), but it has now rolled out in over a dozen European Countries as well. Reducing the friction during the booking process is a problem that our Industry has been trying to solve for over a decade, with little to no success. It's indicative that Google decided to integrate Hotel Ads directly in the Google Ad (former Adwords), and in a future not so far away (summer?), you would be able to cross-advertise between the two channels, improving ROI and ad pertinency.

#4. GET HELP FOR DECISION MAKING: REVENUE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Due to the ever-increasing complexity of hotel distribution, pretending to keep working without some level of automation or data aggregation is nuts. With micro-service systems on the rise, agile PMS and inexpensive cloud-native technology, 2019 will be the year virtually any property will be able to implement some kind of Revenue Management System. Remember when we had to aggregate tons of data and create NASA-engineer-level-of-complexity formulas on Excel sheets? Thank God, we survived the 90's, so machines can now do it for us. Modern RMS, in fact, are designed to optimize performances and help your daily sales strategies, providing easy-to-read reports/dashboards and suggestions about rate, inventory and distribution strategy in real-time, without the burden of manual data aggregation. RMS are great for both GMs of small properties in need of simple, low BS indications on what prices to upload and for geeky cluster revenue manager in love with advanced data and segmentation. With algorithm getting more sophisticated by the day (Moore's Law anyone?) and AI cutting down pretty much all the data noise, RMS are way more than a simple Industry buzzword.

#5. WORK WITH OTAs, NOT AGAINST THEM

Even though it seems like hotel distribution is an ever-moving target, there are clear patterns and trends. According to Phocuswright, for example, 2016 was "the first year when OTA lodging bookings in the U.S. exceeded total hotel website gross bookings". On Forecasts expect OTAs to reach over 40% market share by next year, meaning that, despite above-the-line marketing, targeted discounts and revamped loyalty programmes, consumers are not shifting to direct as their primary booking option as intensely as we all hoped for. Moreover, OTA distribution is basically a duopoly: even though there's still (a little) space for local OTAs, Booking.com and Expedia remain the most solid and reliable distribution channels for any kind of property.

Having that in mind, hotels should start reconsidering their relationships with them: embracing OTAs does not mean dropping all direct booking strategies. Hotels need to understand the intrinsic characteristics of each distributor, moreover, in an age where OTAs and wholesalers flex their rates across metasearch engines or marketplaces, it is very unlikely that users will simply "stop clicking around".

Leverage the OTA in your advantage, use them to get reach and exposure for your hotel. And create direct sales spin-off. This is what is working for us at Xotels ...

THE FINAL WORD

Work with OTAs, review your cancellation policies, advertise on GHA and keep an eye on facilitated bookings. Pursue a holistic approach, don't focus on just one single element. Otherwise you will sell yourself short ...
Opinion Article

26 February 2019

Now in its fourth iteration, it is time once more for some awards season fun. As I continue to traverse the world and experience the countless variations and regional nuances within the hospitality industry, my hope is you will find some learnings from these honors.

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This year represented one of my most intensive travel years with 130 room-nights away from home. I also used the past twelve month stretch to thoroughly experience the sharing economy with a week's accommodations in Italy booked through Onefinestay, an Accor-owned subsidiary. Even with this decrease in actual properties visited, there were ample award winners to choose from.

Please again note that the following hotels are not presented for backscratching purposes; they offer exemplary lessons for you all which can be applied to your own little slice of hospitality. For one other short note, with few resorts visited this past year (alas, I have to work!), this category will be revisted for next year's installment.

The Hotel Mogels Hotel of the Year Awards  Photo: Hotel Mogel Consulting Limited

Best Concierge: The Four Seasons Lisbon concierge welcomed us like a long-lost friend. Not having made any arrangements prior to arrival, the team seemed to anticipate our every requirement. As an example, we hired a driver for a guided tour and, surprisingly, a gourmet picnic hamper was packed in the trunk, complete with china, cutlery, linens and a local sparkler.

Best F&B Relaunch: Is the typical hotel restaurant dead, or just napping? Today's diners want variety and approachable cuisine, eschewing all formalities. One very trendy approach is that of a food hall where a number of small-counter-kitchens each serve a specialty, surrounded by retail takeout options. At the Fairmont Montreal Queen Elizabeth, the latest venue - Marche Artisans - presents a perfect example of how to bring food to both hotel guests as well as the local community. Situated adjacent to their Roselys Bistronomie fine-dining outlet allows for creative expansion of space for their well-subscribed Sunday brunch.

Best Housekeeping: We all appreciate the Swiss for their consummate drive for perfection. When it comes to housekeeping, the quaint Hotel Dante Lugano exceeded every parameter of cleanliness. The entire room looked as if it had never been used before, even though it is in the well within of the historic city center. The bathroom was so flawlessly white that the yellow rubber duck (a takeaway gift) literally shone. Even the turndown amenity was orderly. No envelope for gratuity here. When I asked the GM about his team, he confided that they were well-paid and highly respected for their contribution to the property's success.

Best Large Property Addition: How do you make the best even better? How do you differentiate a seemingly generic element of your guest offering? The ARIA Resort & Casino added a Concierge Lounge as a mezzanine club tucked away from the hubbub of the casino floor with great buffet food offerings. Presented as an add-on to all guests, the lounge is still centrally located and open through most of the day. The facility is an example of how hotels learn from other industries; in this case, the airport business lounge.

Best Renovation: Capping a multi-year property renovation, the Boston Harbor Hotel converted an area that was essentially pre-function space into their new Presidential Suite. With a spectacular harbor view, custom furnishings, massive chandeliers, public spaces and private chambers, the suite combines a feeling for the city with understated modern elegance. Importantly, the facility will add good revenue into a very competitive marketplace.

Best Convention Hotel: Is it a myth that everything in Texas is bigger? At the Fairmont Austin, the convention space is clear proof. This property's meeting space is, well, enormous, particularly considering the hotel is adjacent to the convention center with a futuristic pedestrian bridge directly linking the two. But it's not just the size of the ballrooms and ancillary space that makes this my selection as convention king. This property understands how to make meetings perform with a well-honed team.

Property of the Year: This pinnacle award goes to the QT Hotel in Sydney, Australia. Built from a converted movie theatre, everything about this property puts into question the definition of what defines a hotel. Any supposed lifestyle-property should take note. Apart from slick decor, the appropriately costumed staff resemble actors who enjoy their craft. Every aspect of the facility is unique and memorable, with the main restaurant, Gowings, offering an exceptional fluid space that seamlessly transforms from quiet breakfast abode to a buzzy downtown happy hour lounge. It all works famously. So good in fact that I'd recommend hoteliers take a trip down under because if all hotels were this good, there would be nothing to fear from the sharing economy!
Press Release

26 February 2019

ORLANDO, Fla. -- RCI, the global leader in vacation exchange as part of Wyndham Destinations (NYSE: WYND), continued its strong growth with the addition of 103 new properties to its affiliate exchange network during the second half of 2018. The new affiliations include resorts in Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, India, Latin America, and North America.

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"We're committed to delivering the broadest set of vacation exchange options for our members," said Fiona Downing, senior vice president, RCI. "Last year, we added 172 new affiliated properties to the RCI portfolio, a 22 percent increase over 2017, which is why we continue to be the first choice as an exchange partner for affiliated resorts and a vacation partner for our members."

On January 1, the Shell Vacations Club members joined the RCI network, providing access for those owners to over 4,300 affiliated resorts in nearly 110 countries.

"I'm pleased to welcome the Shell Vacations Club members to the RCI member family. We know they will appreciate the vast array of vacation resorts they can choose from and our team will make it easy to turn their travel dreams into memories they can cherish," said Downing. "The addition of the 26 Shell Vacations resorts across the west coast, Hawaii, and Mexico will provide even more opportunities for our 3.8 million subscribing members to explore the world."

The Shell Vacations portfolio of resorts includes top rated properties like The Donatello in downtown San Francisco and the waterfront Waikiki Marina Resort at the Ilikai on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii.

The RCI Latin America region's growth continues in several countries within the high end market with the inclusion of Grand Sirenis Punta Cana as well as innovative products like Grand Luxxe Jungle at Riviera Maya.

New destinations for members in Asia include four resorts from Riverside Group in China, adding new and exciting destination vacation experiences for RCI members. Two of Riverside's properties in Haiyan, Zhejiang - the PCVP Resort Six Flags Theme Park Haiyan and Wyndham Resort Six Flags Theme Park Haiyan - are situated within the internationally acclaimed Six Flags theme park that is currently under development. Scheduled to open in late 2019, these integrated theme park resorts are designed with families with young children in mind and offers guests quality vacation time and fun with the family.

During the second half of the year, RCI added 16 resorts in India, including five resorts from Times Heaven Club across the country. At the Times Flute Boutique Hotel, guests enjoy a premium boutique experience located in the heart of Jaipur. Flute offers a serene refuge of comfort and hospitality where Indian tradition and modern services are blended.

In Europe, RCI welcomed Karma resorts in Greece, France, and Italy. Located in the heart of the Tuscan countryside, Karma Borgo di Colleoli is a sprawling historic manor house which has received a new lease on life as an elegant and luxurious 5-star rated resort. Tuscany's top tourist destinations, including Pisa and Florence, are within easy driving distance.

The Registry Collection program, RCI's luxury exchange program, continued to grow with the addition of the Lanais at Mare from the St. Clair Collection in San Juan, bringing a new level to vacation ownership in Puerto Rico. Also joining the Collection is the Venezia Del Caribe Resort & Spa at Wyndham Grand Belize. This is the first 5 star luxury beachfront resort and spa on the island situated on pristine beachfront just north of San Pedro Town.

For more information, visit www.RCI.com or www.RCIAffiliates.com.
Press Release

25 February 2019

Following Minor Hotel Group and Pan Pacific Hotels Group becoming new shareholders at the end of last year, Global Hotel Alliance ("GHA"), the world's largest alliance of independent hotel brands and operator of the award-winning, multi-brand loyalty programme, DISCOVERY, today revealed another strong performance in 2018, as it embarks on a year of activities to mark its 15th anniversary.

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Overall like-for-like room-revenue produced by its DISCOVERY loyalty programme members increased by over 10% to US$1.6 billion, of which cross-brand revenue (i.e. revenue produced by members who enrolled at one brand and then stayed at another) grew 17% to reach US$108 million. In the best performing hotels, the DISCOVERY programme is now producing more than half of total room-nights sold and adding up to 8% in incremental occupancy from cross-brand customers.

The rise in revenues was driven largely by a further 21% growth in DISCOVERY membership, which reached 13.6 million members by the end of 2018. Six million of those members reside in North America, but there was strong growth in Asia (now 2.3 million members), Europe (2.2 million) and more stellar growth in Australasia (1.3 million).

In 2018 elite tier customers (DISCOVERY Black- and Platinum-level members) represented 2.6% of the active member database but produced US$400 million.

GHA's CEO, Chris Hartley feels the alliance is reaching maturity, but still has significant growth potential: "In an industry that consolidated faster than ever in 2018, our alliance's performance demonstrated that there is a well-established and attractive alternative global platform for brands wishing to remain independent. We offer the scale and reach of the mega-players at a lower cost, while leaving our member brands to build their own individual identities. We believe we are now the natural choice for the independent brand sector."

In terms of channel, more DISCOVERY members booked direct than ever before with a 24% growth in rooms revenue booked on discoveryloyalty.com. The new DISCOVERY app saw a 100% increase in bookings to over $1m a month. DISCOVERY members who booked direct did so at a rate premium of 47% over the average DISCOVERY rate, which was despite the popular 10% direct booking discount benefit launched in 2017, that is now available in most of the 500 hotels participating in the DISCOVERY programme.

Local Experiences, DISCOVERY's innovative rewards, are now more widely embraced by members than ever before. 2018 saw a further 25% growth in Black- and a 37% growth in Platinum-level Local Experience redemptions respectively.

In terms of destination performance, Dubai led the way with 26% growth in cross-brand bookings, while London, helped by a weak pound, was up 20%; and Bangkok continues to attract travellers from around the world and saw 15% growth.

While 87 new hotels joined the DISCOVERY portfolio in 2018, the three most popular hotels booked on the DISCOVERY website in 2018 were Pan Pacific Singapore, Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin and Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort in Honolulu.
Appointment

26 February 2019

HRS, the leading Global Hotel Solutions provider, announced the appointment of Greeley Koch to the position of Vice President on the company's marketing and content creation team. Koch will help enhance HRS' content and messaging to the global managed travel industry, as well as drive agendas for the company's growing portfolio of educational events, especially the Corporate Lodging Forum and HRS' hotel sourcing and payment labs.

Koch joins HRS after six years as Executive Director of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), where his initiatives helped spur a broad range of research and informational events for corporate travel managers and industry influencers. Prior to ACTE, Koch supported a diverse group of global corporate clients as a prominent consultant. He also served as a travel procurement leader for two prominent global companies (Abbott Laboratories and Bank of America) as part of his three decades in managed travel.

HRS' Corporate Lodging Forum (CLF) is the world's leading event for business hotel bookings. Since 2013, thousands of travel managers and procurement executives on five continents have taken part in CLF. This year, CLF events will take place in 14 countries. CLF addresses topics related to hotel program management, meetings & groups, payment solutions and connectivity in the travel industry.
Appointment

26 February 2019

Timbers Resorts, a luxury hospitality brand known for its exceptional boutique hotels, residence clubs and resort communities located around the world, announces the appointment of Ryan Bell as Corporate Director of Asset Management. Ryan Bell, Timbers Resorts' new Corporate Director of Asset Management, will provide corporate support to resort leadership, oversee portfolio performance and manage capital improvements planning and execution. Prior to this role, Ryan served as the Director of Asset Management for CNL Lifestyle Properties, a public non-traded Real Estate Investment Trust focused on resort and recreation investments. He was responsible for underwriting and closing new acquisitions as well as capital reinvestments across a diverse collection of real estate. He was key to building CNL's asset management platform, which touted $2.9 billion in assets including 19 ski resorts, seven resort retail villages and four hospitality properties. Ryan holds a Bachelor of Science with a major in Finance and minor in Real Estate from the University of Central Florida.
Appointment

26 February 2019

Bawah Reserve, a pristine paradise of 6 private islands in Indonesia's Anambas Archipelago, is thrilled to announce the appointment of Raymond Saja as the new General Manager. In his new role Raymond will look to position the resort as the "new" Maldives with a strong emphasis on wellness, sustainability, eco-awareness and a successful balance with luxury. Saja aims to ensure guests have an indulgent private island experience while simultaneously educating and raising awareness around the property's strong commitment to conservation stewardship and sustainability. Singapore Airlines has launched a direct flight from Newark to Singapore in October of 2018 making travel from the east coast more convenient and faster than ever. Saja who is originally from the US, is looking forward to welcoming even more Americans to the destination.

An entrepreneurial hotelier, Saja brings more than fifteen years of success within international luxury hotel operations specializing in providing guests with exceptional and unique experiences. His extensive experience has taken him across four continents from the United States to Australia where he has lead projects for Leading Hotels of the World properties including the Hotel Plaza Athenee New York and Karma Kandara in Bali. While most of his previous projects have been based in Thailand and Indonesia, Saja has also overseen rebranding projects in the German Alps, Saint Tropez, Perth, Fiji, and Cornwall, England.
Now Open

26 February 2019

Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE: H) announced today the official opening of Andaz Munich Schwabinger Tor, the first Andaz branded hotel in Germany. Joining Andaz hotels in top destinations around the world, including New York, London, Amsterdam and Abu Dhabi, Andaz Munich Schwabinger Tor is the third Andaz branded hotel in Europe. The luxury lifestyle brand celebrates local culture, fully immersing guests in destinations through distinctive experiences that appeal to each of their senses. True to the brand, the hotel offers guests an unscripted Bavarian-inspired experience, allowing guests to feel like locals from the moment they arrive. The hotel is located in the Schwabing district, the cultural hub of the city and home to theaters, restaurants, and the renowned Englischer Garten.

Just as Munich combines new and old traditions, the interior design of Andaz Munich Schwabinger Tor weaves in the heart and soul of the city. Guests can take in a video installation by artist Yves Petzner in the lobby. Stone and herringbone oak floors, luminous diamond patterned ceilings, copper accents, and leather sofas all come together to emphasize the design style of Munich.

In a nod to the Englischer Garten, Munich's largest park located steps from the hotel, the meeting space area features a nature-inspired wall composed of vertically hanging plants. Additionally, the Andaz Lounge offers an authentic Bavarian feel, furnished with a "golden pretzel" - a seat made from a cast bronze alloy and produced by a local Munich art foundry.

The hotel features 277 spacious, loft-inspired suites and guestrooms that deliver breathtaking views of the city and the Alps. Every room has been thoughtfully designed with contemporary interpretations of Bavarian traditions. Locally inspired snacks and drinks fill the mini-bar in each room. In a unique collaboration with Andaz Munich Schwabinger Tor, bath amenities in each guestroom were produced by La Bottega and Saskia Diez, an internationally renowned Munich jewelry designer. Custom-designed sofas, reminiscent of vintage car seats, provide a comfortable and luxurious setting.

With carefully selected, regionally inspired products and healing treatments - massages, body rituals, facials and aromatherapy - every guest will leave The Andaz Spa, one of the city's largest spas, feeling truly connected to the heart and soul of Munich. A spiral staircase connects the spa to the 55 foot (17 meter) swimming pool, along with an elevator that takes guests directly to the pool deck, where, on a clear day, guests can see as far as the Alps. Gym-goers can take advantage of the fully equipped, state-of-the-art, 24-hour gym.

Measuring more than 21,530 square feet (2,000 square meters), Andaz Munich Schwabinger Tor is the perfect location for creative gatherings. Guests can choose from seven inspiring studios for meetings and events, two private kitchens, a 2,150 square foot (200 square meter) exhibition space, and a 5,380 square foot (500 square meter) ballroom with a diamond-shaped folding ceiling and countless programmable lighting options.

The studio spaces offer guests a creative and relaxed environment to work alone or host informal meetings. Situated across two floors and complete with comfortable sofas and playful elements, guests also have access to large flat-screen TVs and glass whiteboards.

Each gathering space reflects the neighborhood, such as the green wall with hanging plants in the welcome area that's inspired by the Englischer Garten.

Opposite the studios on both floors is a private kitchen seating 12 at a wooden table set under the playful, suspended lamps. Here, guests can enjoy the action of live cooking at every event.
Dave Bangert

The Times-Mail

DAYTON  What do you see when you pass the billboard installed in March 2018 along Indiana 38 across from Lafayettes Subaru plant as a towering poke in the eye in a small towns neighbor-vs.-neighbor struggles?

Its the one that riffs on a motto found on the prolific, red-and-white signs planted in yards in the town just on the other side of Interstate 65:

Keep Dayton Small.

Keep Dayton Friendly.

Keep Dayton Dayton.

One interpretation, featured on postcards that started making the rounds last week, starts at the beginning of each line for a take that had both sides in the long-running Keep Dayton Small feud up in arms and pointing fingers on Thursday.

On the postcards front, over a picture of the billboard: No matter how you justify it, it still says KKK.

On the back is a pre-printed address of Lamar Advertising, the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, company that leases the billboard space.

The creator, Brian Dilkes, a Purdue biochemistry professor living in Lafayette, said his point isnt meant to accuse anyone of Ku Klux Klan membership or stake a claim in the fight over whether to limit annexation and housing growth in the town of 1,550 people.

It states, quite simply, that billboard spells KKK down the left side, Dilkes said. Thats it.  I just dont like a billboard that spells, KKK, sitting on (Indiana) 38 that I see every time I go to Indianapolis.

Dilkes, as of Thursday, hadnt mailed any of the postcards he had made, either to Lamar Advertising or to anyone in Dayton. But he did share a few with people one evening this week at The Spot, a tavern just south of downtown Lafayette.

Thats how the KKK reference filtered eight miles to Cindy Marsh, who has been front and center with Dayton Watchdog and the Dayton Area Community Coalition, sister groups that have been fighting town council efforts to annex and rezone land along Dayton Road for a proposed, 110-home subdivision.

Things escalated from there.

Marsh initially accused town board members and their supporters in a Facebook blast on a members-only page devoted to the Dayton community.

In the last 2 years I have been attacked, slandered, lied about, and called nasty names, Marsh, wife of dissenting council member Ron Koehler, wrote Wednesday night. One of the nicer ones was fat, ugly dog. But nothing has gotten my blood boiling like this atrocity!  You proposed subdivision lovers/Dayton haters have gone too far this time! Go back to your hateful posts in Tooville, and calling me horrid names, but dont even try to associate the Community Coalition with that despicable hate group.

Tooville is a reference to We Are Dayton, Too, a Facebook group created in 2017 to serve as a clearinghouse and sounding board for those in town that have made the case for the annexation and the hopes for the $300,000 to $400,000 houses that are supposed to come with it on 55 acres on the south side of the town.

Marsh had blamed the Tooville crowd of trolling her and her husband, owners of Koehler Bros. Nursery and Landscaping, in the past. In one particularly public case, Marsh pressed the state officials to force Dayton police to release security camera footage from Halloween 2017 to unmask those behind a prank to cover the signs at the entrances to town from Dayton to Koehlerville.

In that case, Luke Britt, Indianas public access counselor, recommended that release of the video was up to the town marshal, as he sized up a situation  well known to this office.

While the petty actions of some tricksters on Halloween night may seem innocuous to the outsider, it stands to reason some rabble may be roused by the release of the video in terms of potential retaliation, Britt wrote in January 2018. If, in the best judgment of law enforcement officials, this is truly a public safety threat, then the withholding of the video is neither arbitrary nor capricious.

Marsh said that sort of back-and-forth in town was her frame for the postcard, when she first saw it.

Weve had people say were trying to keep people out of Dayton, but, Im just putting my arms in the air on this one, Marsh said Thursday. That couldnt be further from the truth. Keep is in our slogan. We repeated it. How many people would see that as KKK? Im just stunned.

By Thursday afternoon, Marsh said she was deleting her Facebook posts after consulting with the town marshal over concerns of ramping things up against the wrong people.

Dave Leininger, who helps manage the We Are Dayton, Too, site, said he could see how someone not directly involved in Daytons debate might read into the billboards message. (Keep Dayton Small. Keep Dayton Pure, he said. Keep Dayton the way it was  which is, what, 99-point-something percent white? Yeah, somebody could see that.)

But I dont believe the Koehlers  and I cant stand those people  would do that intentionally, Leininger said.

Scott Swick, a former Dayton resident who moved a few miles north of the town last summer, agreed.

I dont believe this is some sort of subliminal message, said Swick, who said he was on the opposite side of the Keep Dayton Small campaign.

On Thursday, Dilkes said hed reached out to Marsh and to town leaders in recent months, via private messages, after he posted pictures of the billboard and thoughts that the billboard should be reworded, at the very least. He said he heard back from Tyrone Taylor, a town board member who is one of the targets of the billboard. Dilkes said he heard nothing from Marsh or her allies.

Marsh said she gets enough trolls at the Dayton Area Community Coalition site that she deletes many of them without reading more than a line or two.

It really does get to be a bit much, Marsh said. So, I might have missed it, if he called us out.  But, come on.

Would her group consider reframing a billboard that initially went up for a four-month stint, only to stick around into 2019 as a prelude to what could be tense town council elections in November? Marsh said that hadnt crossed her mind.

Koehler, who has butted heads with fellow council members in the past two years, was more blunt in a Facebook post Thursday: Those who are handing out this hate are just nasty, spineless, yellow cowards. It must just eat you alive to have to drive by the big ole sign every day and look at it. Well, keep looking, guys, it will be there a long time!!!! A very, very long time!!!!!!

Dilkes said he hadnt mailed any of his new postcards, yet. Hes sharing some with friends, for now.

All Im saying is, wouldnt it be nice just to modify (the billboard)? Dilkes said. I dont mind if Dayton wants to stay small. But Id like it if a billboard that spells KKK wasnt in my town.
Christopher Elliott

Evening World

When it comes to respect, sometimes little things make a big difference for travelers. For Don Brauninger, its travel industry employees who replace the words youre welcome with no problem.

Brauninger, a manager for an emergency services company in Haymarket, Virginia, has heard it from airline agents, hotel clerks and car rental employees.

No problem  as if his patronage and his presence might be a hardship.

Its my customer service bugaboo, he says.

It also raises a question or two about modern-day travel: Has respect between the travel industry and the people it serves deteriorated to such a point that we, the customers, are a problem? And if so, what can we do about it?

Wheres the respect?Respect is a hot topic in travel again. First Uber and then Frontier Airlines started soliciting tips from passengers. A tip is a gesture of respect  an acknowledgment that the customer is happy with the service.

More: Travel tipping guide: Who gets what?But for travel experts, soliciting a tip is a mile marker in the race to the bottom. Airlines and other travel companies have cut services to such an extent that customers no longer feel respected. They say its insulting for companies to ask for a gratuity when theyve reduced service to the point where its almost unrecognizable from a few years ago.

Will I be courteous? asked etiquette expert Lisa Grotts. You bet. Will I say please and thank you? Always. Will I be tipping? No.

In other words, we do have a problem.

Do travel companies respect us?Travelers accuse travel companies of starting this tailspin, and say they no longer respect their customers.

Airlines have continued to create new reasons to charge fees and they have begun charging for what was once free, says Kryss Shane, a frequent traveler and social worker. It feels like a racket and the flyer is getting taken advantage of.

Shane sees the effects whenever she travels. Its the tense moments when passengers take their frustrations out on flight attendants. Crew members have to deal with the backlash, even though they arent directly responsible for reductions in service.

It isnt just the cuts, but also the constant upselling that bothers travelers and underscores the lack of respect.

Its all the extra charges on the plane  a fee for a carry-on bag, a fee for a seat assignment, a fee for early boarding. But its also the prices at hotels: the $7 bottle of water and the mandatory $25-a-night resort fee.

When a consumer feels nickel and dimed, when the travel experience takes a back seat to profit, then respect suffers, says Ted Scofield, an attorney and author based in New York who travels frequently. When you are measured and promoted and possibly compensated based on your ability to drive profits, customers become cash machines.

Scofield says the incentives are all wrong. It shouldnt be about maximizing return on investment, but about maximizing the customers travel experience.

Maybe were the ones who have lost respectTalk to folks on the other side of the counter, and its clear theres another perspective.

The lack of respect that I have seen is firmly with the customer, says Patricia Hajifotiou, who owns Olive Odysseys, which offers tours of European destinations. People are harried, out of time and so much more often feel entitled. And that adds up to a real lack of respect towards the person on the other side of the desk.

Hajifotiou says a little patience and politeness would easily restore the lost respect. Say hello or wish them a good morning and then ask in a calm voice, clearly what it is you need. You will find so many better outcomes for yourself, she says.

Its clear that asking for a tip wont bring back the respect between flight attendants, hotel workers and car rental companies and their customers. Nor, probably, will platitudes from experts.

Respect breeds respect, explains Beverly Randolph, founder of the Protocol School of Indianapolis. Companies must foster a culture of respecting one another from the top down. In respectful workplaces, employees are more engaged and productive; theyll also be less stressed and genuinely happier  translating into happier travelers

Shamila Nduriri, a frequent traveler who founded Dalasini, an African jewelry company, agrees. For her, it comes down to observing the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, she says. Unfortunately, until people view others as equals, and act accordingly, this will be extremely difficult to achieve. Nevertheless, it starts with you and a hope that your good attitude will be contagious and others pay it forward.

Then again, maybe well know that we respect each other when people like Brauninger stop hearing no problem when theyre at the ticket counter  and get a youre welcome instead.

How to tell if a travel company respects its customers

 How do customers rate them? Check the American Customer Satisfaction Index for a list of top-rated companies. Last years top performing airlines were Southwest, Alaska and JetBlue.

 How do employees rate the company? Happy employees offer respectful service. A Glassdoor ranking of employees found that Southwest was the top travel company, followed by Delta Air Lines and Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants.

 How does the government rate them? The Department of Transportation publishes monthly report cards for airlines. The annual Airline Quality Rating summarizes the data into a ranking. Last years winners: Alaska, Delta and JetBlue.

Christopher Elliotts latest book is How To Be The Worlds Smartest Traveler (National Geographic). This column originally appeared in USA Today.

 2019 Christopher Elliott.
SEW Report

Evening World

The Owen County EMS Department, headed by Director Cris Lunsford, is known in the community for their outstanding work and professionalism. Recently, the rest of the state got a glimpse of the county hardworking emergency medical professionals.

Lunsford, his department and their ABC Safe Sleep Program were featured in the Feb. 2019 edition of The Hoosier Responder, a magazine published by the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

The story is, as follows:

One agencys quest to keep sleeping babies safe

Responding to an incident in the emergency medical services (EMS) profession can be emotionally and mentally taxing, but certain calls can be especially challenging for some emergency medical technicians (EMT).

You have to make sure you dont think about your personal life and connect it with the job, said EMT Amanda Wisley. I have a 3-year-old daughter and any time we have a pediatric patient, my mind starts thinking about my daughter, so it can be difficult some times.

After Owen County EMS responded to three incidents in 2016 when sleeping infants died, EMS Director Cris Lunsford said that was three too many. Lunsford decided the agency should take a more proactive approach to educate parents about safe sleeping habits for children.

I researched different programs and contacted EMS agencies in other states to see how they addressed the issue, Lunsford said. The other agencies sent me copies of their education material, and I pieced together a program that we could accomplish here in Owen County.

The agency shares the ABCs of safe sleep, which states a baby sleeps best alone, on its back and in a crib. Owen County EMS receives cribs from the Indiana Department of Health via the Cribs for Kids program, which offers a free crib to low-income households. Lunsford said the crib program was a great resource to utilize when they joined the Direct On-Scene Education (DOSE) program.

We joined the DOSE program because it made sense for us because we are already at the home responding to a call, Lunsford said. If we see an infant, we can start that conversation about safe sleep at that moment. If the caretaker doesnt have a crib, we pull out a form for them to sign and then we give them a crib from our truck so the baby can start sleeping alone that very night.

Additionally, Lunsford implemented floor talkers, a floor adhesive created for advertisements or awareness campaigns, about safe sleep for two local supermarkets.

EMTs also distribute safe sleep pamphlets, a storybook about safe sleep and a onesie with directions about the correct placement of the baby in the crib.

We also have burp cloths handmade by a local retired couple who wanted to help the agency, Lunsford said. They also hand-make blankets we give to older children to help calm them down in situations that can be pretty scary. It gives them something they can hold on to and hopefully provides some comfort when theyre terrified.

In the fall of 2018, Owen County EMS held their first annual Community Baby Shower, where they partnered with other agencies such as the Owen County Sheriff Department and the local Department of Child Services branch. Information about safe sleep, infant safety and infant health care was provided.

Since Owen County EMS started their safe sleep program, there have been no reports of sleep-related infant deaths in the county of 21,575 residents.

I just didnt want sleep-related infant deaths to become a trend and keep losing the lives of innocent babies, Lunsford said. My wish is that Owen County never has to respond to a call again where an infant passes away because of unsafe sleep practices. I hope sharing as much information about safe sleeping with the community will make this possible.

For those interested in subscribing to future editions of The Hoosier Responder magazine, please email pio@dhs.in.gov
Spencer, IN (47460)

Today

Intervals of clouds and sunshine. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 91F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds light and variable.
Staff reports

The Reporter Times

MSD Kindergarten fair

The Metropolitan School District of Martinsville will have a kindergarten fair from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26 at the Central Education Center (CEC), 389 E. Jackson St., Martinsville. The event is open to anyone from the district who has a child entering kindergarten in the fall. Schools represented will be: Green Township Elementary, Brooklyn STEM Academy, South School of Communications, Paragon Elementary, Centerton Elementary, Smith Fine Arts Academy and Poston Road Elementary.

Poston Road

Poston Road Elementary will be having its 2019-20 Kindergarten Orientation on April 10. There will be two sessions  at 9:30 a.m. or 1:30 p.m. Bring the childs birth certificate and shot record to the school office at the earliest convenience. There will be a parent meeting in the library, and the new kindergarten students will meet in the kindergarten classrooms. For more information, call Poston Road Office at 342-8408, Ext. 1411.

MHS Hygiene Drive

The Martinsville High School LEO Club will host its 2nd hygiene drive for local foster children. Hygiene products such as shampoo, body wash, deodorant, tooth paste and feminine products are welcomed. Sweat pants will also be accepted. Donations can be dropped off from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday until March 1 in the LEO Hygiene drive box at the MHS front lobby, 1360 E. Gray St., Martinsville.

Paragon history program

The Paragon Elementary School second-grade class will present The History of Paragon, Indiana program, in conjunction with the Morgan County History and Genealogy Association, at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28, at the school. The public is welcome to attend and enjoy this fact-filled program, which will be presented by the students.

Indian Creek Elementary

Indian Creek Elementary School will have its kindergarten registration for the 2019-20 school year from 9 to 10:30 a.m., 1 to 2:30 p.m. and 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Monday April, 8, in the gymnasium at the school, 1002 S. Indian Creek Dr., Trafalgar. Parents will need to bring their childs birth certificate from the county of the childs birth, current immunization records and the childs Social Security card.

Monrovia Elementary

Monrovia Elementary School will have its annual kindergarten roundup for the 2019-20 school year on April 16 at the school. This is a pre-registration opportunity for students who will be 5-years-old by Aug. 1, 2019. Students must be present for a brief testing. Parents must present the students birth certificate, immunization records from a licensed physician, proof of residence in the Monroe-Gregg school district, which can include a utility bill or lease agreement with the parents name and address preprinted. If the student is out of district, a non-resident student transfer application must be completed. To set up an appointment, call the elementary school office at 317-996-2246.

Kountry Kids

Kountry Kids Preschool is currently accepting registrations for the 2019-20 school year. The preschool offers two separate programs, with one tailored to children ages 3 and 4, and the other designed for children ages 4 and 5 that will be entering kindergarten the following fall. The enhanced curriculum includes STEM activities and a mini-introduction to Spanish and sign language. The school is running its annual spring special through May 31. Kountry Kids is located at Eastview Christian Church, 2745 Old Morgantown Rd., Martinsville. For more information, call 765-342-4483.
Bloomington, IN (47401)

Today

Sunshine and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High around 90F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

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Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 73F. Winds light and variable.
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.
Anchor/Multimedia Journalist

Hello! I am the weekend anchor as well as a reporter for Your News Now! You can reach me with news tips (or just to say hello!) at khonigford@wlio.com.
Lima, OH (45805)

Today

Partly cloudy. Isolated to widely scattered thunderstorms. High 89F. Winds SW at 5 to 15 mph. .

Tonight

Isolated thunderstorms during the evening, then skies turning partly cloudy overnight with a chance of a thunderstorm overnight. Low 70F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 26)  Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray on Tuesday paid a courtesy call on Vice President Leni Robredo at the Quezon City Reception House.

The 25-year-old Filipina-Australian was welcomed by Robredo's staff who were wearing the beauty queen's iconic "Three Stars and the Sun" ear cuff, as well as the beneficiaries of the vice president's programs and barangay captains from Naga City in Bicol.

Gray was entertained by the Lipa City Youth Orchestra, a group of children and students from Project GiftED.

Robredo showed Gray the "Catriona Robot" created by students of Doctor Yanga Colleges Foundation in Bulacan to the delight of the beauty queen. The robot supposedly can mimic Gray's signature lava walk.

Gray received a "malong" (traditional "tube skirt") made by displaced residents of Marawi City who are also beneficiaries of Robredo's Angat Buhay program.

Robredo lauded how Gray represented the country in the international stage.

"This is our opportunity to tell you how proud you made all of us ... not only because you won the crowd, but because you presented the best of the Filipino," the vice president said.

Gray, meanwhile, vowed to give back and spend the whole year serving the country.

"Enough small changes or acts of good will or good things can make a difference when put together," she said.

Gray and Robredo then held a closed-door meeting.

In the afternoon, Gray also paid courtesy calls on the Senate and Tourism Secretary Berna Puyat.

Days after winning the title in Bangkok, Thailand, Gray met with President Rodrigo Duterte last December 20 at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay before she flew to New York City.

READ: What Duterte asked Miss Universe Catriona Gray

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.
Please be aware that Cache Valley Publishing does not endorse, and is not responsible for alleged employment offers in the comments.

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South Vietnams treatment of its largest minority after a 1964 uprising weakened an alliance crucial to defeating the communists

Little good news came out of South Vietnam in the early 1960s. Military reverses in the fight against communist troops, the November 1963 assassination of President Ngo Dinh Diem, coup plotting and inept juntas paralyzed the countrys government. The performance of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, or ARVN, was lackluster despite increasing numbers of U.S advisers and the influx of modern equipment. One bright light was the recruitment of ethnic minority Montagnards, a French phrase for mountain people, into militias supported by U.S Army Special Forces. Together, they protected villages and thwarted attempts by the Viet Cong to expand their control in the Central Highlands.

The alliance between Montagnard tribes and the South Vietnamese government, however, was fraught with upheaval. Among the Montagnard militiamen were dissidents who wanted the tribes to have complete autonomy from the government, and in September 1964 they revolted against the South Vietnamese units in charge of them. Negotiations brought the rebellion to an end after 10 days. But tensions remained, and a strong united force of the ARVN and Montagnards, who had a reputation as tough fighters, never materializedanother missed opportunity during the long war.

U.S. aspirations for a closely woven ARVN-Montagnard force emerged in 1961, when Col. Gilbert B. Layton, an Army officer at the CIA office in Saigon, conducted an in-depth study of the 1946-54 Indochina War that gave Vietnam its independence from France. Layton noted that French colonial administrators cultivated good relations with minorities, about 20 percent of the citizenry. Some indigenous groups saw an alliance with France as a way to nurture their own nationalistic hopes, while others sought protection from their traditional lowland enemies, the Vietnamese.

In 1951, Gen. Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, the senior French officer in Indochina, used those affiliations as weapons against the Viet Minh, the organization created by Ho Chi Minh to lead the fight for independence. De Lattre formed French-led guerrilla battalions that established viable insurgencies in territories Ho Chi Minhs army had considered secure, including the Central Highlands, and were active until the 1954 Geneva peace agreement, which created the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the north and the Republic of Vietnam in the south.

Using the French experience, U.S. officials believed organizing minorities into self-defense forces would be more effective in controlling South Vietnams growing Viet Cong insurgency than forming guerrilla battalions. Those local defense forces were part of a larger counterinsurgency program that became known as pacification, a mix of village security, civic improvement projects, economic development and improved governance.

Nearly a million strong, the Montagnards (pronounced mon-ton-yards) were a logical counterforce to the Viet Cong, but their distrust of the Saigon regime threatened to quash any government-related program before it began. It was a resentment that went back centuries.

Montagnard is not the name of one specific ethnic group, but rather is a term used to encompass dozens of distinct tribes living in the mountainous regions stretching from the central part of South Vietnam to the Demilitarized Zone at the border with North Vietnam. Prominent Montagnard tribes included the Rhade, Jarai and Mnong in the Central Highlands. It is believed that the Montagnards, who have no written history, occupied Vietnams hill country since the third century after being forced out of the more fertile coastal regions by the Annamese, ethnic Vietnamese who eventually grew into an overwhelming majority.

The Montagnards traditional hostility toward the Vietnamese-dominated government increased in 1955 when Diem terminated the semi-autonomous status the tribes enjoyed under the French and brought them under Saigons direct rule.

Montagnard grievances were numerous: encroachment on tribal lands; no legislative representation; shabby treatment by local magistrates; refusal to allow their languages to be taught in schools; and promises of aid that never materialized. Government officials regularly referred to them as moi, a pejorative term meaning barbarians or savages.

Two smaller sects, the Cham and Khmers, also had strained ties with the government. The Cham people, whose population was estimated at 35,000 in 1955, were Hindu migrants of ancient origins who inhabited isolated settlements on the coastal plains near Phan Rang, 160 miles north of Saigon. Large enclaves of Khmers, 400,000 native Cambodians, lived in the western border regions. The Khmers did not consider their lands part of Vietnam, so the government treated them as troublemakers. The Cham were simply ignored.

The CIA, however, believed that Yankee ingenuity would bridge the abyss separating the ethnic minorities and South Vietnamese officials. It decided to start with Rhade villages.

About 100,000 Rhade were concentrated near Ban Me Thuot, the Central Highlands capital of Darlac province. The Rhade lived in small villages where they subsisted on hunting and slash and burn farming, cutting and burning forestland to create fields. When the land was no longer productive, they moved on.

U.S. Ambassador Frederick Nolting gained approval in 1961 to organize selected Rhade villages into self-defense forces. The agreement signed by one of Diems ministers stated the program would be administered by the CIA, separate from the ARVN and the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group created in 1955 to oversee improvement of the South Vietnamese army. That setup generated hostility from the outset because CIA operatives would be overseeing armed troops, albeit paramilitary forces, an arrangement that did not sit well with the military advisory groups commander.

The CIA selected Buon Enao, a village of 400 just east of Ban Me Thuot, as a test site. In mid-1961 the agency approached Rhade tribal elders with a proposal: If they pledged fealty to the Saigon government, the United States would provide weapons, organize village defenses and bring in Special Forces medics to offer basic health care. American zeal and a genuine concern for the villagers overcame the Rhades initial negativity, rooted in a deep mistrust of the South Vietnamese government. The test program flourished, and word spread. Soon nearby villages also joined what was called the Village Defense Program and later became the Civilian Irregular Defense Group, essentially U.S. armed and trained militias.

By early 1962, about 14,000 people resided in 40 protected villages. Those settlements were defended by 1,300 trained militiamen. About 1,000 were local security personnel, apportioned among the 40 villages based on size and location. The other 300 were organized into three Mobile Strike Force companies (dubbed Mike Forces or strikers), consisting of exceptionally well-trained men available to quickly reinforce villages under attack. Each of the three approximately 100-man striker companies was responsible for villages in an assigned sector.

As the Civilian Irregular Defense Group program grew, U.S. Special Forces troops became more involved with the CIA operation. The CIDG expansion was led by Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha, an A Team, normally consisting of 12 soldiers led by a captain. The first detachment of Green Berets, configured to eight men, was ordered to South Vietnam in February 1962. Capt. Ronald A. Shackleton and seven noncommissioned officers from the 1st Special Forces Group on Okinawa, Japan, were joined by 10 members of the Vietnamese Special Forces, Luc Luong Dac Biet. The 10 LLDB soldiers were of Rhade ancestry, a rarity in an organization that normally barred Montagnard enlistment.

The Americans served only as advisers, in accordance with the U.S. policy of assisting, not commanding. Within six months, more than 200 Darlac villages were protected by 10,000 defenders and 1,500 strikers. The province was declared secure, and a delighted Diem requested similar training for neighboring Jarai and Mnong tribes. Unfortunately, there were no more Rhade men in the LLDB to support the CIDG expansion with South Vietnamese units that included Montagnards.

Coinciding with the arrival of Shackletons team, the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, was established in February 1962 to oversee the dramatically increasing number of advisers and logistics support for the ARVN. The Military Assistance Advisory Group was integrated into the new MACV headquarters.

The success in Darlac opened a flood gate of money and equipment flowing from Washington to the CIDG program. National Security Action Memorandum 57, published in the summer of 1962, transferred all Special Forces activities from the CIA to MACV, and before long A Teams spread from Khe Sanh near the DMZ to the southernmost tip of the Mekong Delta.

But nothing was simple or easy. In 1962 the LLDB was not part of South Vietnams army. It was under the separate command of Diems brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu. His LLDB troops were much more adept at subduing anti-government rallies and raiding political opponents homes than in leading soldiers in battles with the VC. They gravitated toward the creature comforts of the cities, while the Americans embraced the living standards and the hardships of the Montagnard forces. Age-old enmities between Montagnards and Vietnamese were exacerbated by the blatant racism of some LLDB troops.

Consequently, CIDG soldiers turned to their U.S. advisers for support. With their can do and get it done now mentality, the Americans sometimes became the de facto leaders. Village defenders and strikers knew their pay, equipment and clinics came from the Americans. They gave their loyalty to their Western benefactorswho reciprocated the feeling. That relationship caused a variety of fissures. The LLDB saw the Montagnard soldiers as disloyal. The South Vietnamese government believed U.S. Special Forces teams were forging ties that encouraged separatist movements. And MACV was concerned that Special Forces officers were often commanding the CIDG, a direct contravention of their charter to only advise.

All the good work almost came to naught on Nov. 1, 1963, when Diem and his brother were assassinated in a coup led by Maj. Gen. Duong Van Minh. The junta wasted no time in bringing the LLBD into the South Vietnamese army and taking direct charge of all paramilitary units. The transition was made in great haste, and conflicting instructions caused confusion.

Complicating the coup disequilibrium was the release of political prisoners, including some who had organized a Montagnard independence movement that became the United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races, called FULRO, from the French phrase, Front Unifie la Liberation des Races Opprimees. Return of these committed activists resuscitated the quest for sovereignty and renewed agitation among the Rhade.

Turmoil increased when Maj. Gen. Nguyen Khanh seized power from Minh in a bloodless takeover on Jan. 30, 1964. Khanh issued a flurry of directives to the CIDG forces, changing their mission from pacification to combat operations.

The Montagnard militias, whose training had been defensive in nature, were ill-prepared for offensive missions. That whiplash change also took men away from their villages, limited the numbers available for protecting homes and increased the presence of overbearing LLDB officers. Additionally, Khanhs government did not follow through on promises Diem and Minh had made to the Montagnards. Supplies earmarked for villagers were skimmed off by corrupt provincial administrators. The U.S. Special Forces logistical system offset the shortfalls but could not transform government attitudes nor placate the CDIG troops.

All elements of dissatisfaction came to a head on the night of Sept. 19-20, 1964. In a carefully orchestrated operation, the Montagnards in five CIDG camps attacked the LLDB and local authorities. Each mutinous camp raised the FULRO flag in an act of defiance.

At Bon Sar Pa, about 25 miles west of provincial capital Ban Me Thuot, three companies of Rhade tribesmen killed 11 LLDB soldiers, took 200 hostages, left them at the camp under heavy guard and boarded trucks headed to the capital, where they planned to link up with other rebels in a coordinated attack on the city. The A-Team commander, Capt. Charles Darnell, tried unsuccessfully to stop them.

More violence occurred at Bu Prang Camp in adjacent Quang Duc province, where 15 LLDB troops were killed and numerous civilians murdered. The Bu Prang rebels planned to seize the provincial capital, Gia Nghia, but were stymied by a lack of vehicles. Instead, they stayed near their camp. The mutiny therefore was confined to Darlac province and centered on Ban Me Thuot.

At the Buon Mi Ga camp, 10 LLDB soldiers were killed, and CIDG troops then moved toward Ban Me Thuot on a mission to seize the radio station and airfield. The U.S. Special Forces personnel at the camp were left alone, and after the CIDG companies departed, helicopters evacuated the Americans.

In another camp, LLDB officers at Ban Don were bound and gagged but otherwise unharmed before several hundred Montagnard began a foot march toward Ban Me Thuot. The Special Forces commander at Ban Don, Capt. Curtis Terry, commandeered a jeep, caught up with the marching column of mutineers and persuaded the men to return to the camp. Terrys coolness under pressure resulted in the release of the LLDB troops and a degree of normalcy at Ban Don.

The CIDG at Buon Brieng joined in the melee but stopped short of leaving the camp when Capt. Vernon P. Gillespie, the A Team commander, barred the way. His courage and rapport with the CIDG militiamen persuaded them that nothing good would come of joining the rebellion. Gillespies peacemaking skills also kept open the main north-south road leading to Ban Me Thuot, Highway 14, allowing additional ARVN units to reinforce the Ban Me Thuot garrison.

The killings could have been far worse and Ban Me Thuot might have fallen had Special Forces detachments in other camps not persuaded the CIDG troops to return to their barracks. When those units failed to show up at Ban Me Thuot, the rebellions leaders decided there were insufficient numbers to mount a decisive attack on Darlacs capital.

News of the revolt reached MACV headquarters the next morning, Sept. 20. Gen. William C. Westmoreland, the commander of U.S. troops in South Vietnam, feared that battles between the ARVN and Montagnards might spark a countrywide insurrection that could break apart the South Vietnamese government. Tensions were still high after the Aug. 2 North Vietnamese attack on a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin. Earlier in September a failed coup attempt in Saigon had destabilized Khanhs government.

Westmoreland dispatched Brig. Gen. William E. DePuy, MACV director of operations, to help restore order. Meeting with Khanhs emissaries, DePuy counseled restraint and asked for time to allow negotiations with the Montagnards. He carried a letter from Westmoreland expressing strong support for Khanh and a threat to cut off pay and supplies to rebellious CIDG units.

There was only one other incident of open fighting. On the night of Sept. 20, strikers from Buon Mi Ga attacked a 23rd ARVN Division roadblock just east of Ban Me Thuot, but they were repulsed after suffering 10 killed. Subsequent indecision on the part of the Montagnards allowed time for talks to beginand allowed the Rhade leader of FULRO, who called himself Y Bham, to escape and re-establish his movement in Cambodia.

Col. John F. Fritz Freund, the MACV deputy adviser for the Central Highlands region, was the first senior American officer to arrive in Ban Me Thuot and became a key player in bringing the rebellion under control. Freund, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, had a distinguished record as an artilleryman in World War II. Fluency in French and a flair for melodrama enhanced his stature. French was more common than English in the CIDG forces, and the tribesmen always enjoyed a little panache.

When Freund met with the rebels holding 200 Vietnamese hostages at Bon Sar Pa, he was accompanied by Darnell, the respected A Team commander who knew many of them. While the Americans were negotiating peace with the Montagnards, an ARVN regiment was en route to free the hostages by force. Fortunately, Freund and Darnell persuaded the rebel leaders to release the prisoners, in large part because of a flamboyant speech the colonel gave in French.

Later, Freund claimed that he challenged the leader of the Bon Sar Pa rebels to personally shoot him rather than harm the hostages. Although never verified, the incident became part of Freunds mystique, one that he frequently cited. Like most war stories, the tale got better with retelling.

At the same time, Khanh agreed to amnesty for all participants and offered to sponsor a conference with Montagnard leaders to address minority issues. This satisfied the CIDG troops, and by Sept. 28 all of them were back in their camps and the mutineer banners were replaced by South Vietnamese flags. However, troublesome fallout soon followed.

Maj. Gen. Nguyen Huu Co, ARVN commander in the 12 provinces of central South Vietnam, was infuriated that Americans, not Vietnamese, were the key intermediaries in defusing the crisis. He perceived Freunds and Darnells visible roles in resolving the Bon Sar Pa standoff as a loss of face. Meanwhile, senior Americans in Saigonincluding the U.S. ambassador, retired Gen. Maxwell D. Taylorviewed the Special Forces officers involved in quelling the revolt as advocates for the CIDG units and, at times, their real leaders. Westmoreland, never comfortable with unconventional operators, instructed the top Special Forces commander, Col. John H. Spears, to limit his teams activities to advice and assistance and to uphold the LLDBs authority. Nothing in his guidance was left to interpretation.

An uneasy truce ensued. During a late October conference at Pleiku in the Central Highlands, Montagnard delegates presented commander Co with a long list of grievances. Some minor requests were approved. Others, the most important dealing with ownership of land and restoration of tribal courts, were sent to a committee for further study. But nothing happened.

The camp at Bon Sar Pa, believed to be the epicenter of the dissent, and other camps involved in the revolt were closed and their CIDG garrisons dissolved. This swift action flew in the face of the promise of amnesty. Government duplicity was viewed as being alive and well in the Central Highlands.

When widely publicized concessions were not implemented, incidents of open rebellion flared again in the highlands. Uprisings in September and December of 1965 were ruthlessly suppressed, and the Saigon government never made a serious attempt to assimilate minorities into national life.

Discontent among the Montagnards would continue throughout the war. Strong ties with U.S. Special Forces remained, but those were severed when the CIDG program was terminated and the striker companies were integrated into ARVN units during the final stages of Vietnamization, the transfer of all military operations to the South Vietnamese as the Americans began their withdrawal in 1969.

When the 5th Special Forces Group departed in March 1971, the former CIDG troops were at the mercy of the Vietnamese, their historical enemies. After the North Vietnamese took over on April 30, 1975, the Montagnards hoped the new regimeeven though communistmight usher in a better era. But the highland tribes suffered even more. Their lands were colonized into New Economic Zones, villages were burned, families were forcibly resettled, and local customs were suppressed. There were credible reports that nearly 200,000 Montagnards were killed during those postwar decades. Regardless of the number, it was a tragic end for a community that just wanted to be left alone.

John D. Howard served in the U.S. Army for 28 years, retiring as a brigadier general. During his first Vietnam tour with the 101st Airborne Division (1965-1966), his platoon conducted operations with CIDG strikers.

This article was published in the April 2019 issue of Vietnam.
Joan E. Cashin penned a biography of Varina Howell Davis in 2006. During that research and other projects, she documented the devastation of the Southern landscape. The result is The Ohio State University historians most recent work, War Stuff: The Struggle for Human and Environmental Resources in the American Civil War, which explores the conduct of both Union and Confederate armies and the impact on local civilians. Cashin discovered intense struggles over food, timber, and farm resourcesa Civil War more marked by early scarcity and devastation than commonly remembered.

CWT: Did Federals and Confederates treat civilians differently?

JC: Both armies assumed that their needs came firstthe phrase was military necessityand Union and Confederate troops behaved more or less the same. They took resources as needed right from the beginning up to the end of the war.

CWT: Yet the Union Army issued regulations in both 1862 and 1863.

JC: John Pope, a U.S. general and commander of the Army of Virginia, issued orders in July 1862 making it official that troops could live off the land. Whatever they took from civiliansfood, house, whateverthe civilians would be given paperwork by the office and there was a promise of future reimbursement. The Union Army often disregarded those promises, however, although there were always some officers and quartermasters trying to do the paperwork. A lot of officers complain frequently that they cant get men to follow orders. The men were freelancing. If they were hungry, they disappeared into the night to get what they wanted.

CWT: What about the Lieber Code?

JC: Francis Lieber was a refugee from Europe who ended up in South Carolina where he was a professor and also a slaveowner. In the 1850s he got more uneasy with the political climate and apparently with slave-owning itself. He went to New York and threw himself into the war effort when it broke out. He wanted to create a guide for conduct for the Union Army and wrote up the Lieber Code. By the time his code was issued in spring 1863, both armies had already assumed from the very beginning they had the right to take what they needed. I argue Pope and Lieber didnt have all that much impact on the ground level.

CWT: Talk about timber destruction.

JC: I was flabbergasted that both armies saw the forest as a resource that they could exploit and they practiced deforestation on a massive scale. They also took down fences and, when they could, took down private homes to get the wood. That especially surprised me because men in both armies were often farmers or farmers sons. Many of them understood the impact of what they were doing, the impact on civilians, and some clearly felt bad about it. But for the most part, the average soldier, whether a private or an officer, assumed that the needs of the military came first. So if they end up taking down all the wood in a Virginia county, then thats just the way it was going to be.

CWT: You argue that hard war is conducted as early as 1861.

JC: There isnt a progression or a turning point the way some other historians have said. In the spring and summer of 1861, barns were being cleaned out, homes were being taken over, and sometimes being taken down. This goes on throughout the conflict. By 1864, the infrastructure, broadly speaking, was breaking down.

CWT: Your research puts Shermans March in a different light.

JC: It really surprised me that the Confederate soldiers could be just as rapacious as Union soldiers. I give a qualified defense for Sherman. I think his March to the Sea has been overemphasized as an aberration and I dont think his armys behavior was that different from other armies, including Confederate armies. These massive populations of men in uniform needed resources and a lot of them did more or less what Shermans army did.

CWT: The starvation deaths in 1865 Columbia, S.C., are striking.

JC: That is something that historians have kind of shied away from because its a horrible thing to think about: American citizens starving to death in a time of war. Soldiers in both armies said this, and they were not exaggerating. Soldiers in both armies will share their rations with civilians or try to stop their comrades from taking all the food on a farm. But these massive armies have their own momentum. It is like a juggernaut passing through a region, and individual actions of charity and generosity cannot do much overall to stop the large scale suffering.

CWT: You mention some extraordinary scenes: a house with three dead people floating down the river, and a river of resin on fire.

JC: Strange, surreal, and astonishing things happened, and I argued that they happened more often in the last year of the war, including houses that were unmoored and were floating down the river, flaming wagons left behind in the road. People described buildings on fire, and communities burning down. It is as if the material, the physical world itself, is breaking up.

CWT: How does your research affect the conventional narrative of the war?

JC: The memory of the war has been distorted. The Lost Cause mythology, created after the war, demonizes the Federal Army, especially Sherman, and blames Union troops for plundering and pillage as if the Confederate Army was blameless. The evidence is overwhelming that both armies took what they needed. There are always pro-Union white Southerners out there who are willing to help the Federal Army when they can. Both armies know that. They are aware of the division within the white Southern population and that gets deleted from the narrative after the war. It is important to have a more realistic memory of what happened. There were depredations by Southern troops, and there were white southerners who were against secession and against the war from the very beginning.

CWT: You write that 40 percent of white southerners in the slave states opposed secession.

JC: When the war breaks out, some of those people give in. Some decide this is the new reality. Some leave the South because they cant support the Confederacy, but a lot of them stay. Those people are on the scene throughout the war. Both armies know there are pro-Union white Southerners. Its ironic. The Confederate troops seem more aware of their existence than people today. Soldiers in the gray uniforms were fully aware that there were white Southerners who sympathized with the other army. Many people today have forgotten that those people are part of the war narrative. 

Interview conducted by Senior Editor Sarah Richardson
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump where they will try to reach an agreement on a North Korean pledge to give up its nuclear weapons programme.

Trump is due to arrive in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, on Tuesday evening.

They will meet for a brief one-on-one conversation on Wednesday evening, followed by a social dinner, at which they will each be accompanied by two guests and interpreters, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters on Air Force One.

The two leaders would meet again on Thursday, she said.

Their talks come eight months after their historic summit in Singapore, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.

There is likely to be pressure on both sides to move beyond the vaguely worded commitment they made in Singapore to work toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Domestic critics have warned Trump against cutting a deal that would do little to curb North Koreas nuclear ambitions, urging specific, verifiable North Korean action to abandon the nuclear weapons that threaten the United States.

In return, Kim would expect significant U.S. concessions such as relief from punishing sanctions and a declaration that the 1950-53 Korean War is at last formally over.

Kim, who travelled from the North Korean capital by train, arrived at the station in the Vietnamese town of Dong Dang after crossing over the border from China.

Vietnamese officials were on hand to receive him at the station with a red-carpet including a guard of honour and North Korean and Vietnamese flags flying.

Kims sister, Kim Yo Jong, who has emerged as an important aide, arrived with him.

About a dozen body guards ran along side his car as he departed for the two hour journey to the capital, Hanoi.

Roads were closed off with Vietnamese security forces equipped with armoured-personnel carriers guarding the route to the citys Melia hotel where he is staying.

Both Kim Jong Un and Trump are also due to hold separate talks with Vietnamese leaders.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also arrived in Hanoi, on Tuesday. He has been Trumps top envoy in his efforts to improve ties with the reclusive North and has made several trips to Pyongyang to negotiate an ending of its nuclear programme.

Pompeo was due to met U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun in Hanoi later.

TREMENDOUS

Trump told reporters he and Kim would have a very tremendous summit.

Tweeting on Monday, he stressed the benefits to North Korea if it gave up its nuclear weapons. With complete Denuclearisation, North Korea will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse. Without it, just more of the same. Chairman Kim will make a wise decision! Trump said.

In a speech on Sunday night, Trump, however, appeared to play down any hope of a major breakthrough at the Hanoi summit, saying he would be happy as long as North Korea maintained its pause on weapons testing.

Im not in a rush. I dont want to rush anybody, he said. I just dont want testing. As long as theres no testing, were happy.

North Korea conducted its last nuclear test in September 2017 and last tested an intercontinental ballistic missile in November 2017.

Analysts say the two leaders have to move beyond summit symbolism.

The most basic yet urgent task is to come to a shared understanding of what denuclearisation would entail, said Gi-Wook Shin, director of Stanfords Asia-Pacific Research Center.

The ambiguity and obscurity of the term denuclearisation only exacerbates the scepticism about both the U.S. and North Korean commitments to denuclearisation.

While the United States is demanding that North Korea give up all of its nuclear and missile programmes, North Korea want to see the removal of the U.S. nuclear umbrella for South Korea.

A South Korean presidential spokesman told reporters in Seoul on Monday the two sides might be able to agree to a formal end of the Korean War, which was concluded with an armistice not a peace treaty, a move North Korea has long sought.

While a formal peace treaty may be a long way off, the two sides have discussed the possibility of a political declaration stating that the war over.
The Theresa May government on Tuesday said it is concerned by rising tensions between India and Pakistan after the airstrike by the Indian Air Force in Balakot, urging both countries to avoid risk to regional stability.

Before the airstrike, foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt on Monday spoke to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Pakistani minister of foreign affairs Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and strongly condemned the attack in Pulwama on February 14.

Responding to the airstrike on Tuesday, a Foreign Office spokesperson said: We are concerned by rising tensions. We are encouraging both sides to avoid taking action that will pose a risk to regional stability.

The UK is working closely with international partners, including in the United Nations Security Council, to ensure that those responsible for the Pulwama attack are held to account.

British officials have been in close contact at senior levels in New Delhi and Islamabad, besides taking steps to promote international efforts to avoid escalation.

Also read | Heavy firing by Pakistan along LoC, Army strongly retaliates

London is also working with UN security council members on the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Masood Azhar under UN Resolution 1267 that imposes individual targeted sanctions such as assets freeze, travel ban, and arms embargo

During talks with Swaraj and Qureshi, official sources said Hunt highlighted concern about the enduring threat to regional stability from terrorism, and encouraged Pakistan and India to improve cooperation and find diplomatic solutions for greater stability and trust in the region.

The spokesperson said: The Foreign Secretary reiterated the UKs commitment to working with both India and Pakistan, as well as international partners at the UN, to ensure that those responsible for the attack are held to account.

Also read | At all-party meet over IAF strike, oppn extends full support to govt

The Pulwama attack also figured in the House of Commons on Tuesday. Bob Blackman (Conservative) wanted a clear and unreserved condemnation on the attack in which 40 CRPF men were killed, and a call on Pakistan to stop funding terror groups.

Foreign Office minister Mark Field responded: The UK government unequivocally condemn the appalling terror attack in Pulwama on 14 February. We are actively encouraging the governments of both India and Pakistan to find diplomatic solutions and to refrain from actions that could jeopardise regional stability.

We are also working in the UN Security Council to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice, he added.
Actor Rashmika Mandanna, last seen on screen in Telugu blockbuster Geetha Govindam, will be making her Tamil debut opposite Karthi in a yet-untitled project to be directed by Bakkiyaraj Kannan of Remo fame.

The film, to be bankrolled by Dream Warrior Pictures, was officially announced on Sunday.

Rashmika, who was believed to be one of the heroines under consideration of Thalapathy 63, is finally foraying into Kollywood with this project.

Meanwhile, Karthi, last seen in Rajath Ravindrans Dev, will team up with Bakkiyaraj Kannan for the first time. The actor, currently shooting for a yet-untitled thriller with director Lokesh Kanagaraj, will be seen sporting a new look in this film.

Also read | Akash Ambani pre-wedding bash: Ranbir Kapoor-Alia Bhatt enjoy some together time, Maroon 5 likely to perform. See pics

According to a statement released by the makers: The film be high on action, emotion and comedy which will cater to the tastes of universal audiences from kids to elders. The process of erecting grand set works for this film is currently underway in full swing in Chennai. Apart from Tamil Nadu, the team has planned to shoot in Hyderabad as well. Dream Warrior Pictures assures that the film will be loved by family audiences.

Vivek-Mervin duo has been signed to compose music for the film, while its cinematography will be handled by Sathyan Sooryan. Jai (art), Dhilip Subbarayan (stunts), Rajeevan (production designer), Ruben (editing) and Aravind Raj Bhaskaran (executive producer) are the other technicians on board.

With the initial stages of preparations happening at brisk pace, the shooting is scheduled to commence from second week of March.

After the debacle of Dev, Karthi has pinned high hopes on his next two projects including this one which is gearing up for release later this year.

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The second part in the NTR biopic titled Mahanayakudu, which released amid high expectations last week, has registered very low numbers at the box-office in its opening weekend.

According to trade sources, the film managed to collect a meagre worldwide share of Rs 3.40 crore in its opening weekend, registering record low numbers for a Nandamuri Balakrishna starrer.

Directed by Krish Jagarlamudi, Mahanayakudu follows the political journey of NTR from a novice to a fearless leader, and how he was dethroned by his own ally.

The trade had bet big on the second part of the biopic following the debacle of the first part.

Whats shocking is that the second part has emerged as a bigger disaster than the first part. The numbers have sent shock waves across the trade.

Also read | NTR Mahanayakudu movie review: Nandamuri Balakrishna film is high on drama, isnt a riveting political thriller

The industry has not witness such low numbers for a star-studded project. Unlike the first part, Mahanayakudu couldnt even register a solid start the ticket window. The films start at the box-office has shocked everyone. This is one among the biggest disasters of all time in Telugu filmdom, trade analyst Trinath told Hindustan Times.

The film also stars Vidya Balan, Rana Daggubati and Sachin Khedekar in pivotal roles.

The films review in Hindustan Times said: The lack of drama made the first part nothing more than a grand retelling of crucial moments from the life of a legend of among Telugu speaking people. However, the second part of the biopic  NTR Mahanayakudu  makes up for the lack of drama in the first part and plays out like a politically fueled story of NTRs journey in politics.

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Bihars director general of police (DGP) Gupteshwar Pandey on Monday said that the girls had not escaped but they were made to flee from the shelter home in Mokama on Saturday.

He was referring to the escape of seven girls from the shelter home run by Nazareth Hospital Society at Mokama.

Four of them were victims and witnesses of the sensational Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse case, the trial in which began in a POCSO court at Saket in New Delhi.

The theory that the girls had cut open their rest room windows frame to escape doesnt seem to be true. There is something fishy. According to the findings of our officials, the girls had not escaped, but they were made to flee from the main gate, Pandey told media persons in Patna.

The Muzaffarpur shelter home case, which is being probed by the CBI and monitored by the Supreme Court.

Recently, the case trial was shifted to the court in Saket on the orders of the Supreme Court. The trial has to conclude within six months.

All the 20 arrested accused, including the alleged mastermind Brajesh Thakur, currently lodged in Patiala Jail, have been produced in three different dates before the court.

The 34 witnesses in the case, all of them former inmates of the Muzaffarpur shelter home and currently accommodated in three different shelter homes of Bihar, would have to travel to Delhi to depose against the accused.

Till their statements are recorded in the court, the state government has a daunting task of keeping them safe and protected.

One of them had disappeared from a Madhubani shelter home a few days ago.

The DGP said a team led by IG (Patna zone) Sunil Kumar had been asked to conduct a thorough probe into the Mokama incident. The report was submitted on Monday. I have neither met the officials nor have I seen the complete report, but on the basis my discussion with them, we have concluded that the girls escape was stage-managed. We will submit the report to the social welfare department. It would be their responsibility to take whatever action they deem fit.

IG Sunil Kumar also said the girls had not escaped but were made to flee from the main gate. We have certain evidence, which we will tell to the court.

Officials said that the six girls who were traced the same day, on Saturday evening, were unwilling to share anything with the police. Accompanied the child welfare committee (CWC) officials, the girls first underwent medical tests before being sent back to the Mokama shelter home, an official said.

Patnas senior SP Garima Mallik said, If the investigating officer deems it important, he may request the court to record the girls statement. The CWC members have been asked to counsel the girls to cooperate in the investigation.

Muzaffarpur shelter home accused

Prime accused Brajesh Kumar Thakur. He was founder of the NGO, Seva Sankalp Evam Vikash Samiti (SSEVS) that ran the shelter home, currently lodged in Patiala Jail, Punjab. He also ran three newspapers- Pratah Kamal (Hindi), Halaat-e-Bihar (Urdu) and News Next (English)

Former assistant director of child welfare committee (CWC) Rosy Rani.

Child protection officer, Ravi Kumar Raushan.

Superintendent of shelter home, Indu Kumari.

House mother, Minu Devi

Hema Mashih, member, SSEVS.

Helpers Kiran Kumari, Manju Devi, Chanda Devi, Neha Kumari, Vikash Kumar, Vijay Kumar Tiwari and Guddu Kumar Patel.

Brajesh Thakurs key associate in his crime, Sahista Praveen @ Madhu. She also ran the Urdu daily he printed.

Dr Ashawini alias Aasmani, doctor who injected and sedated the girls before they were abused.

 Ramashankar Singh alias Master Ji, in-charge of the printing press.

Then CVC chairperson Dilip Kumar Verma.

Vikky, SSEVS member.

Krishna Kumar Ram alias Kishan and Ramanuj Thakur alias Mamu, members of the printing press.

Dr Promila evading arrest
As I woke up to the news of the strike by the Indian Air Force deep into Pakistan territory on Tuesday, a part of me jumped with joy, but there was another part that sobered me instantly.

I was in school when India went to war with Pakistan over Bangladesh  too young to assess the consequences, but old enough to understand the feeling of gloom that instantly covered the homes of the army personnel at the defence unit where my father was posted. Some of the soldiers did not return and I have never forgotten the devastation their families suffered.

I have never been a war-monger because of that exposure to the price we pay for other peoples goals. The 1971 war was about the assertion of political superiority by leaders of all three nations, India, Pakistan and the soon-to-be-formed Bangladesh.

But the current situation, which is far removed from 1971, where both the nations have nuclear weapons, messages travel at the speed of light and theres jingoism on television channels in both countries [Didnt a Pakistani anchor threaten us with atom bombs because we stopped sending tomatoes to Pakistan after Pulwama?], brings out concerns about how we might react. In 1971, I had not known what a war correspondent might be, but in the late 1980s as I cut my milk teeth at a news agency, I signed up with them to report on the escalation at the borders during Rajiv Gandhis regime, when it seemed as though we would go to war with Pakistan. Nothing came of it, but I came back with this memorable story that was told to us as a warning not to report incorrectly. All naval ships were on red alert off the Mumbai (then Bombay) coastline in 1971 and thats how far the war correspondents of the two leading news agencies got at the time. But they were suspicious of each other as both wanted to be first with their flashes in case anything happened. Bombay was under complete blackout and you could hardly see a few metres beyond your own hands. So when a trigger-happy sailor accidentally set off his machine gun, all ships fired in the direction of the sound of that gunfire. The two reporters on board the ship that had radio communications set up for them ran for that single line. Of course, only one could get into the communication room first. Without bothering to cross check, his single line flash went out  Bombay tonight came under enemy attack for the first time!

There was no Doordarshan then, but All India Radio picked up the flash from the agency. BBC quoted AIR on it, Voice of America relayed it from BBC. A jubilant Radio Pakistan quoted VOA to announce the Indian Navy had been destroyed and the Pakistan defence establishment seemed to confirm it without cross-checking. Our ministry of defence was furious when it realised what had happened , but it was only after Pakistans plans to destroy the Indian Navy recently came to light through the Alia Bhatt-starrer Raazi that I realised why Pakistan should have thought it had achieved its goal. From the Indian side, our navy got a scare, but then a sheepish retraction of the false alarm went out from the agency that had erred. The incident could, however, have led to a lot of collateral damage.

It was stressed to us then why we must never be jingoistic about war, sadly many of us are today. Of course, many retired army men and politicians, who have nothing to lose in a war, are being even more trigger-happy than that poor sailor who almost set off an attack on the Bombay harbour. He lost his job. So did the reporter. And Mrs Indira Gandhi, like Winston Churchill, won the war, but lost the next election. That is a sobering thought.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Monday asserted that there were around four lakh prisoners lodged in prisons across the country and almost two-third of them had completed more than half of their prison term.

Singh expressed these views at a seminar organised at the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court where he was the chief guest.

Addressing the gathering, Rajnath Singh said: Pendency of cases in courts is a serious issue. As countrys home minister, I am aware of the problem and number of prisoners lodged in prisons, at present around four lakh of them all across the country. Out of this, almost two-third have completed more than half of their prison term.

It is a serious issue. I have also requested the law commission to look into the problem to address it, said the Union home minister.

Singh did not comment much on the ongoing turmoil in Kashmir valley after the Pulwama attack and only said: Kashmir is a sensitive issue.

Commenting on countrys economy, Singh said: Indias economy is among the fastest growing in the world. By 2028-30, it will be among the top three countries in the world by displacing either US, Russia or China.

Speaking on the occasion, Justice Shabihul Hasnain said: Role of Judiciary never changes irrespective of time and era. God has given immense power to judges. After God, only judges can take anyones life (death penalty) and they have to exercise their powers very judiciously.

Law minister in the Yogi government Brajesh Pathak assured the Oudh Bar Association to address all their issues.

President of the Oudh Bar Association Anand Mani Tripathi and advocate general, state government, Raghvendra Singh also addressed the gathering.
Republican Party of India (A) chief and Union social justice minister Ramdas Athawale said he would not quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), even though he is upset at being overlooked by the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP), while finalising seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha polls.

The Dalit leader, however, has demanded the BJP-Sena alliance give them two seats to contest in the general elections  one from Mumbai and the other from the remaining part of Maharashtra.

Athawale held a closed-door meeting with party leaders on Monday in Mumbai. He said he would meet CM Devendra Fadnavis this week. The BJP and Sena should give a seat each from their quota. We either want North-East Mumbai or South Central Mumbai constituency in Mumbai, and Latur, Solapur or Ramtek from the remaining part of the state, Athawale told reporters. He said he would contest Lok Sabha elections from Mumbai.

On February 18, the BJP and Sena announced a seat-sharing pact for the Lok Sabha in the state, with BJP to contest 25 and the Sena 23 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats.

Athawales demands are unlikely to be accepted easily by the saffron allies.

Of the five seats given as options by Athawale, Sena has two  South Central Mumbai and Ramtek, while BJP has the remaining three  North East Mumbai, Latur and Solapur.

Athawale said, In the highpower committee meeting, it was decided we would stay on with the NDA as it has done good work in the past five years.

For the state Assembly elections, Athawale said his party is eyeing 10 to 12 seats. Apart from the seats, the Dalit leader said it is expecting a cabinet berth in the central government if the NDA returns to power, a cabinet berth in Maharashtra and two members in the Upper House of the Maharashtra legislature. When asked if he would break away from the NDA if his demands are not met, Athawale said, I am confident that my meeting with the chief minister would be fruitful and these demands will be agreed upon there is no point in going separate ways.
The Congress and some opposition parties are keen on a Common Minimum Programme (CMP), even in the absence of a formal pre-poll alliance, several leaders familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.

The thinking behind this, they add, is that in the eventuality of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections resulting in a hung House, the parties can stake claim to forming the government by presenting the CMP as a proxy for a pre-poll alliance. Two commissions that looked at who gets to form the government after the elections have stressed that a pre-poll alliance gets priority.

While some parties such as the Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are ready for such an announcement, the Left Front and other parties are apprehensive about signing a united agenda of governance and then fighting against each other in the summers Lok Sabha polls.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Monday that he has already expressed his reservations to Congress president Rahul Gandhi. I told him that signing a CMP now and then fighting against each other in the poll is not a good idea, Yechury said on Monday.

But two of the leaders cited in the first instance said a draft of the CMP could be shared with opposition parties as early as Wednesday when they attend a meeting in New Delhi in the Parliament complex.

Also read | SP-BSP alliance: The battle for the heartland

The Congress and the NCP have already announced an alliance in Maharashtra and the Congress and the DMK in Tamil Nadu. The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have formed an alliance for Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The Congress may tie up with the Left Front in West Bengal.

However, the SP and the BSP have left the Congress out of their alliance; the Trinamool Congress will fight the Left Front and also the Congress in West Bengal; and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Congress have decided to go it alone in Andhra Pradesh. The fact that all these parties have stated their opposition to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance makes the CMP a viable alternative.

If the CMP is finally inked, it will possibly be the first such pre-poll declaration as common programmes have traditionally been announced just ahead of the formation of the government after parties have declared their support in favour of a Prime Minister. In the United Front government of 1996, the Vajpayee government of 1999, and the UPA of 2004, CMPs were formulated after election results were out.

The opposition leaders said that senior Congress leaders have already held a few rounds of meetings to prepare a draft CMP. They have involved not just political leaders but sector experts and even select Opposition leaders to discuss the possible contents for the basic promises that will the guiding force of the non-NDA government, if it comes to power, said a senior non-Congress opposition leader.

One of the proposals under consideration is a comprehensive minimum income guarantee scheme for all farmers. The Modi governments income guarantee scheme has too little financial help. It is also restricted for small and marginal farmers. We will give a much better package, said a senior opposition strategist involved in the discussions.

Also Read | Ayodhya, Rafale cases to come up in Supreme Court today

Other salient features include targeted job generation across different sectors and robust management of the economy. The Trinamool Congress, the second-largest Opposition party in the current Lok Sabha wants the CMP to speak specifically about protecting independence of Constitutional bodies.

Congress leaders were quick to point out that the Sarkaria Commission report (circa 1987) said that if a leader has to be selected from among groups of parties, then in the order of preference an alliance of parties that was formed prior to the Elections comes first.

The Punchhi commission guidelines (circa 2010) also say that the party or combination of parties which commands the widest support in the Legislative Assembly should be called upon to form the Government. If there is a pre-poll alliance or coalition, it should be treated as one political party and if such coalition obtains a majority, the leader of such coalition shall be called to form the Government.

Multiple parties coming together without a CMP can be a slippery affair. Without any formal, concrete set of goals and promises, some of its constituents can always switch over to the other side. It also helps in running a government smoothly, said analyst Sadanand Memon.

Also read | Will campaign against Pawar in Madha if alliance with Congress-NCP doesnt work out: Raju Shetti
In what may be seen as a blow to the disjointed anti-NDA front in Bihar, the Bahujan Samaj Party has decided to contest all the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state, a senior party functionary said on Monday.

According to BSP state in-charge Lalji Medhkar, party supremo Mayawati has convened a meeting of all potential candidates and other office-bearers in the national capital later this week.

Behenji has instructed us to start preparations for all the Lok Sabha seats in Bihar. Detailed instructions are expected at the meeting in New Delhi on February 28, Medhkar told PTI.

The development comes at a time when the Mahagathbandhan, comprising RJD, Congress and an assortment of smaller parties is yet to finalize a seat-sharing formula more than two months after NDA did the same.

Although Medhkar did not elaborate much on the instructions received from Mayawati and any reasoning offered for the same, her decision could be seen as a snub to the Congress which she has been cross with since the partys refusal to enter into an alliance in the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls.

It is widely believed that it was because of the BSP supremos insistence that the Congress was kept out of the formidable alliance her party has stitched with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, even though Akhilesh Yadav was reportedly not as averse to having its old ally on board.

The development also comes as a setback to the RJDs attempts to get closer to the BSP, which would have helped Lalu Prasads party to improve its standing among the dalits in the state.

Notably, Prasad had come out with an offer of getting Mayawati elected to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar, since she did not have the requisite number of MLAs in the assembly of her own state where the BJP stormed to power in the 2017 polls with a brute majority.

Yet another attempt was made by the RJD to win her over when, soon after Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav announced their tie-up, Prasads son and political heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav made a dash to Lucknow, tweeted pictures of his meeting with the BSP supremo whom he greeted by touching her feet and, weeks later, rejoiced at her advent on twitter, claiming that it was he who had requested her to become active on social media.

Although not a force to reckon with in Bihar, where it polled a meagre 2.07 per cent of the total votes in the 2015 assembly polls and forfeited its deposit in all but three of the 228 constituencies it had fielded candidates from, the BSP could tilt the scale against the Mahagathbandhan in places where there is a tight contest and margins are likely to be small.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)
Lack of adequate saplings and no hike in subsidy have affected date palm farming in western Rajasthan, said farmers who had reaped a good harvest of the fruit crop over the past decade.

Farmers of the desert region started experimenting with date farming in 2009. Initially 11 farmers grew the fruit crop on 22 hectares in Barmer; in 2013 they got the first crop. A good response from the market led to an increase in their income. I sold date crop in 2013 and earned a profit of Rs 4 lakh in the first year itself, said Sadularam, a farmer in Barmer.

Good income spurred more farmers in the region to take up date cultivation. From 22 hectares in 2009, the area of date farming increased to 200 hectares by 2018; about 100 farmers took up date cultivation in the region.

But, now many farmers say they are facing difficulties in date cultivation because of government apathy. Hemraj Choudhary, a local farmer, said, Many farmers like me are interested in date farming but we are not getting saplings. I approached officials of the agricultural department many times for saplings but failed.

Babulal Ranawat, a supervisor at the agricultural department in Barmer, said, Considering the good response from the market, a large number of farmers are interested in date farming but they are not getting saplings.

Ranawat said they targeted to sow dates on 60 hectares this year but could do it on only two hectares. A similar situation was there last year. We planned to grow dates on 20 hectares but could do it on 10 hectares due to insufficient saplings.

Ranawat said the state government inked an MoU with M/s Atul Ltd, Jodhpur, to prepare date saplings. The firm is not able to provide adequate saplings on time, which is affecting date farming.

Though the BJP government at the Centre had promised to double the farmers income and the state government has taken steps to address farm distress, profitable date farming is facing apathy.

Pradeep Pagariya, a scientist at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra in Barmer, said the government is providing a subsidy of Rs 1950 per sapling to promote date farming. Earlier one date sapling was costing Rs 3000 and now its cost has increased to Rs 5000. Despite increased cost, the government has not hiked subsidy, due to which date farming has become costly, Pagariya said. If the government considers hiking subsidy and ensures availability of saplings, farming of dates will be a boon for desert farmers.

The desert region is producing dates of Barhi variety from Iraq and Maidjul from Morcco. Barhi dates are considered the best; they are also called honey balls.
India woke up on Tuesday to the news of an operation by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on terror camp in Balakot, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The IAF carried out air strike using Mirage 2000 fighter jets to drop laser-guided bombs at what was the biggest terror camp of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, which claimed responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale, who briefed media in New Delhi after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), indicated that Yusuf Azhar, the brother-in-law of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar headed the terror camp of Balakot that was targeted by the IAF early this morning.

A large number of Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, trainers, senior commanders were eliminated in largest JeM camp in Balakot. The camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, the brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar, said Gokhale.

Follow live updates here

India had been trying to bring Yusuf Azhar to justice for last 20 years. His name first cropped up during the hijack of Indian Airlines flight IC 814 on its way from Kathmandu in Nepal to New Delhis Indira Gandhi International Airport in 1999.

JeM's Yusuf Azhar alias Mohammad Salim alias Ustaad Gohri who was targeted today by IAF #airstrike in Balakot across LOC was on the Interpol list and among the most wanted in India. pic.twitter.com/1eTj8FhFMJ  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

Also watch: Why Pakistan is unlikely to retaliate to Indias pre-emptive strike

Yusuf Azhar was one of the terrorists, who hijacked the passenger plane. The terrorists forced the pilot to divert the plane from its scheduled route and take it to Kandahar in Afghanistan, then controlled by Taliban, whose fighters surrounded the airbus. The terrorists demanded release of terrorists including Masood Azhar.

More than 170 passengers were on the flight, which the terrorists threatened to blow up if their demands were not met. India released three terrorists including Masood Azhar to secure safe return of the passengers.

Later, India approached Interpol for the arrest of Yusuf Azhar, who is charged in India with hijacking, kidnapping and murder. Rupan Katyal, one of the passengers, had been stabbed multiple times by the hijackers and died before the flight landed at Dubai airport.

According to the Interpol notice, as released news agency ANI, Yusuf Azhar was born in Karachi, Pakistan and spoke Urdu and Hindi.

In 2002, India handed over a list of 20 most wanted criminals to Pakistan. Yusuf Azhars named featured in the document. Pakistan never acted on Indias demand.

Yusuf Azhar was believed to be preparing at the Balakot terror camp for more attacks in India. Gokhale said, Credible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country. A pre-emptive strike became important.

The foreign secretary also said, The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualty. Its located in deep forest on a hilltop. The Balakot terror camp was located at about 195 km from Islamabad and over 40 km from Muzaffarabad, he said.

At least 40 CRPF jawans were killed in Pulwama terror attack on February 14. A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a convoy of CRPF carrying more than 2,500 jawans from Jammu to Srinagar. The convoy was targeted on the Jammu-Srinagar highway.
A new report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations has warned of a growing threat to global food security as a result of severe loss of biodiversity  that is, plants, animals and micro-organisms that contribute to food production.

India is among the countries with a very high threat to soil biodiversity, according to the State of the Worlds Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture report, released in Rome on February 22.

A risk index was created by combining eight stressors of soil biodiversity, which include loss of above-ground diversity, pollution and nutrient overloading, overgrazing, intensive agriculture, desertification, and climate change among others.

While climate change is a driver for the loss of biodiversity, the latter is critical in building resilience to devastating impacts of climate change, states the report, which for the first time, assessed reports of 91 countries on their biodiversity status.

The global map shows almost all of India falls in the highly stressed zone along with some parts of Africa, Americas and Asia.

The report notes that there is very limited information available on soil biodiversity in Asia but some reports show high microbial biodiversity in the soils of organic farming lands.

Soil biota is critical for release of nutrients to the crops as well as organic matter formation. With climate change soil biota will be impacted even more and there will be further loss of nutrients causing collapse of agriculture in some places, said Prof N H Ravindranath, climate scientist from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.

The global report also highlights the loss of biological control agents (BCAs)  insects and pests  as an important factor in declining biodiversity. India, in its country report, has noted a decline of parasitoid wasps and parasitoid flies, which play an important role in biological pest control. Bangladesh has reported a decline in spiders and predatory insects in fields; Nepal has mentioned a general decline in the diversity of the natural enemies of pests. The United States has reported a decline of almost 40% in its grassland bird index between 1968 and 2014.

On climate change, the reports of various countries state that extreme weather events are causing major disruptions to species distribution and yields. For example, rising temperatures in the tropics are pushing coffee growing towards higher elevations in mountainous areas.

The ranges of some important pests, such as the coffee berry borer, have also extended to higher elevations  for example in East Africa  prompting coffee farmers to spray pesticides even in highland areas. Frequent cold or windy days in spring can also disrupt pollination process. Egypt has reported that rising temperatures will lead to northwards shifts in the range of fish species, with impacts on fishery production.

Biodiversity in agriculture is crucial to adapting to climate change. India, in its report, has noted that livestock diversity, for example, is a buffer against crop failure.

It says that small land holders and landless rural dwellers manage 75% of livestock resources and obtain nearly half of their income from them.

Risk can be reduced, for example, by raising species, breeds or varieties that are well adapted to coping with shocks such as droughts or disease outbreaks or by raising a number of different types of crops, livestock or aquatic organisms so as to increase the likelihood that at least some will survive such events, the report states.

Before the Green Revolution [of the 1960s], we were growing a large biodiversity of crops on a landscape level. We had different cropping and tree systems at a farm level; multiple crops and multiple varieties of a given crop were grown. Even if there was a failure, all crops would not be affected at the same time, Ravindranath.

Now, specialisation of crops for high yields has made farmers vulnerable. Crop failures are common when there is natural disaster or pest attack, he added.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has called an all-party meeting at 5 pm today. The meeting will take place hours after she attended the meting of the Cabinet Committee on Security Tuesday morning following the IAF raid across the Line of Control to target terror camps..

Also read: IAF air strikes across LoC: Biggest terror training camp across LoC bombed, says Government

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale had addressed the media a few hours after the raid.

Opposition leaders including Congress president Rahul Gandhi have backed the air raid and have hailed the IAF for the strike.

The raid targeted the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot early this morning.

India has been lobbying foreign governments to isolate Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack of February 14 in which a suicide bomber of the JeM rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a bus killing 40 CRPF troopers.
The Supreme Court has allowed open court hearing of petitions seeking review of its December 14 judgment verdict on the Rafale deal.

A three-judge of the top court comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice SK Kaul and Justice KM Joseph will hear the matter. The Rafale review petitions will be taken up with the governments application seeking modification of the order. No date has been fixed for the hearing though.

The review petitions have been filed by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, advocate Prashant Bhushan. They have claimed that the judgment was based on errors apparent on the face of the record and non-consideration of subsequent information which has come to light would cause a grave miscarriage of justice. Aam Aadmi party MP Sanjay Singh has also filed a review plea.

Also read: No commercial favouritism: What Supreme Court judges said in Rafale deal ruling

The Supreme Court had earlier refused to order a probe on the deal to procure 36 Rafale jets from France at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore. The court had said there was no occasion to doubt the decision-making process of the Centre.

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 opposition Congress and its president Rahul Gandhi has been attacking the Narendra Modi government government at the Centre over the multi-crore aircraft deal accusing it or corruption.
The Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to hear in open court petitions seeking a review of its December 14 verdict that dismissed public interest petitions questioning the 2016 deal India signed with France to procure 36 Rafale fighter jets and seeking a court-monitored investigation of the purchase.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi and comprising justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph took the decision in a chamber hearing. They allowed the prayer of former ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, lawyer Prashant Bhushan and Aam Aadmi Partys Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh for an open court hearing of their review petitions.

The prayer for open court hearing is allowed, said the court, which after the hearing will decide whether its December verdict needs to be reviewed or not. The court said the petitions would be taken up along with the Centres application for a modification of the judgement.

The Centre wants the court to correct a paragraph wherein a reference was made about the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) having audited the Rafale deal when the CAG hadnt yet done so. This was made on the basis of a note submitted by the Centre to the court. In the application, the government said its note had been misinterpreted. The top court will also take up a fresh application by Sinha, Shourie and Bhushan seeking perjury proceedings against government officers for allegedly misleading the court.

SC had on December 14 dismissed the petitions asking for a court-monitored probe into the Rafale deal, saying there was no occasion to really doubt the decision making process that went into the purchase of Rafale fighter jets .

The petitioners have claimed that the top court had relied upon patently incorrect claims made by the government in an unsigned note given in a sealed cover in the court.

Also read | No commercial favouritism: What Supreme Court judges said in Rafale deal ruling

They claimed that the agreement for 36 Rafale jets was reached in 2015 without any such requirement having been submitted by the Air Force headquarters and without the approval of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), which are the mandated first steps for any defence procurement.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) governments decision to enter the $8.7 billion government-to-government deal with France to buy 36 Rafale warplanes was announced in April 2015, with an agreement signed a little over a year later. This replaced the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regimes decision to buy 126 Rafale aircraft, 108 of which were to be made in India by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).

The deal has become controversial with the opposition, led by the Congress, claiming that the price at which India is buying Rafale aircraft now is ~1,670 crore for each, three times the ~526 crore, the initial bid by the company when the UPA was trying to buy the aircraft. It has also claimed the previous deal included a technology transfer agreement with HAL. The NDA has not disclosed details of the price.

The deal has also become controversial on account of the fact that one of the offset deals signed by Dassault is with the Reliance Group of Anil Ambani.

The Congress claims the earlier deal was scrapped and a new one signed just to provide Ambani the opportunity for an offset deal. Both the government and Reliance have repeatedly denied this.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday transferred the MM Kalburgi murder probe to the special investigation team (SIT) handling the murder case of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh after the Karnataka government submitted that the two incidents had common links.

Kalburgi, a former vice-chancellor of Kannada University in Hampi, and a well-known epigraphist, was shot dead at his residence in Kalyan Nagar in Dharwad, Karnataka, on August 30, 2015. He was a Sahitya Akadmi award-winning scholar of old Kannada literature.

Karnatakas crime investigation department was probing Kalburgis killing, while the SIT was looking into the Lankesh murder case. Lankesh was shot dead in September 2017 in Bengaluru.

A bench of justices R F Nariman and Vineet Saran said on Tuesday that Karnataka High Courts Dharwad bench will monitor the SIT probe into Kalburgis killing. During the hearing, the judges said that if the killings of Kalburgi, Lankesh and social activist Govind Pansara as well as rationalist Narendra Dabholkar have common links, then one agency should probe all the cases and one high court should monitor it.

The Karnataka government counsel submitted that while an SIT is probing the Lankesh case, a Maharashtra team was investigating the Pansares murder and the Central Bureau of Investigation was looking into the Dabholkar case.

The court order came on a petition by Kalburgis wife, who claimed there was a common link between her husbands murder and the deaths of Dabholkar and Pansare. She had demanded a CBI probe into her husbands death.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM ) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday hailed the Indian Air Force (IAF) strike on a Jaish terror camp in Balakot Pakistan, saying India has the right to self-defence.

We welcome this. Its a right step. We stand by the government, the Hyderabad lawmaker said, reports PTI from Hyderabad.

Click here for Live updates

If a country is not able to stop non-state actors, then another country which is the target of terrorist violence has the right to act in self-defence, he said, according to PTI.

Owaisi said India should now go after Pakistani terrorist leaders Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar. They are satans and their outfits are also evil.

Read: What makes Mirage 2000 jet with laser-guided bombs a dangerous foe

Indian forces carried out a strike at the biggest camp of the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot early this morning, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said on Tuesday, hours after IAF dropped 1,000 pound bombs in a thickly-forested hilltop that has eliminated a large number of terrorists. This camp was headed by Jaish chief Masood Azhars brother-in-law Maulana Yousuf Azhar.

Read: After IAF strike on terror camp, Army tweets poem on power and peace

The strikes was carried out on the basis of credible intelligence and designed to target the Jaish camp without any civilian casualties, Gokhale announced hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a top security meet to review the cross-border strike.

The foreign secretary also launched a global outreach, briefing envoys of the USA, UK, Russia, Australia, Indonesia, Turkey and six Asean nations on the Indian air strike across LoC in Balakot.
The Rajkot police on Monday paraded a murder accused through the streets and made him to apologise to the public for the alleged crime.

Firoz Mataria was arrested on the charge of killing his friend Haresh Makwana on Saturday.

With folded hands, one of which was wrapped in plaster because of an injury suffered during committing the alleged murder, Mataria said, I am sorry for what happened. Please forgive me.

With both his arms tied with a rope by cops, Mataria was paraded and taken to the scene of the crime to re-enact the murder.

Crime branch inspector, H M Gadhvi, said, He was made to apologise to the public. Those who think they can take the law in their own hands and spread terror should get the message clear. He stood with folded hands at the very spot where he stabbed his friend Haresh Makwana on February 23.

CCTV footage from the cameras installed in Rajkots Ravi Ratna society showed that around 3 pm on February 23, Mataria chased Makwana on a two-wheeler, hit his vehicle before fatally stabbing him 37 times.

The video also shows a couple of passersby ignoring Makwana, who was lying a pool of blood. He tried to stop a biker, but in vain, the footage shows.
Several political leaders, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, on Tuesday reacted to Indian Air Force fighter jets striking a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp across the Line of Control early in the morning.

The IAF used Mirage-2000 jets with laser-guided bombs causing an estimated casualty of 200-300, almost two weeks after a terror attack killed 40 CRPF soldiers in souths Kashmirs Pulwama ratcheting tensions between India and Pakistan.

Catch live updates here: Live updates | 200-300 killed as Mirage-2000 fighter jets strike terror camp: Sources

Here is what the leaders said:

Rahul Gandhi

I salute the pilots of the IAF, Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted.

We salute the @IAF_MCC for their consistent & determined effort to keep Indians safe. Jai Hind, said the Congress from its official Twitter handle.

Union minister Rupala praises IAF

Within hours of reports of strikes by the IAF, Union minister Parshottam Rupala wrote on Twitter: BHARAT MATA KI JAI @narendramodi AND BRAVEHEARTS OF OUR ARMY n AIRFORCE JAI HO.

Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy

My Salute to the Indian Airforce.Jai Jawan.. Jai Hind.., tweeted HD Kumaraswamy.

Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah

Wow, if this is true this was not a small strike by any stretch of imagination but will wait for official word, should any be forthcoming, Abdullah said in a tweet.

As reports of air strikes across the LoC by IAF planes gather steam looks like our defences are in the air including this airborne early warning aircraft. Appears to be patrolling the international border, the National Conference leader said.

Also read | IAF jets strike and destroy Jaish terror camp across LoC: Sources

Former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha

Congratulations to our brave air force for a brilliant operation across the LOC, said Sinha.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal

I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan, he said on Twitter.

Congress party

We salute the @IAF_MCC for their consistent & determined effort to keep Indians safe. Jai Hind, the opposition party tweeted.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath

Congratulations to the brave soldiers of the Indian Air Force for tough action against the terror camps. I and my party are with you in every step taken for the good of the nation, Nath tweeted in Hindi.

Congress MP leader Shashi Tharoor

Jai Hind, Tharoor tweeted.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav

We salute bravery of our pilots and Air Force. We are blessed and proud of our forces. Jai Hind (sic), Yadav tweeted.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy

We are bombing our own territory temporarily called PoK. So no international law broken but it is in self defence (sic), BJP leader Subramanian Swamy also posted on Twitter.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a packed schedule in the hours after the Indian Air Force carried out a strike at the Jaishs largest terror camp across the line. PM Modi chaired a top security meeting to review the situation after the air strike on the Jaish camp early on Tuesday, briefed Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu about the action and attended two public events.

For one, he got off his armoured car and took the Delhi metro from Khan market station to travel to a ISKCON temple event in south Delhi. In a short video of the trip released by news agency ANI, PM Modi is seen being greeted by people. A young man greeted him by touching his feet, many others came to pose for photographs with him.

At the event later, PM Modi turned a page of the worlds largest Bhagwad Gita, over 2.8 meters big and weighing 800 kg, to mark its launch, according to news agency IANS.

PM Modi didnt make any direct reference to air strike at the Jaish camp across the line of control. But he did talk of the many lessons that the Bhagwad Gita held for everyone. Like saving the earth from devils and enemies of humanity.

Also read | Heavy firing by Pakistan along LoC, Army strongly retaliates

This is the message that we are trying to give, PM Modi said to a loud cheer from his audience.

IAF jets had crossed the Line of Control in a pre-dawn operation and bombed a terror camp that is estimated to have killed between 200 and 300 terrorists. Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale called the camp the biggest that Jaish-e-Mohammed runs. He did not put a number of the casualties in the strike.

The IAF action comes nearly a fortnight after Jaish operatives set off a car bomb in Pulwama that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had earlier briefed Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on the scale and effectiveness of the pre-emptive anti-terrorist strike. The foreign ministry has stressed that the attack was a pre-emptive strike against the Jaish which was planning to carry out suicide attacks in Indian cities.

Also read | IAF air strikes across LoC: Nation in safe hands, says PM Narendra Modi
Indian Air Force warplanes flew deep across the Line of Control in a predawn strike on Tuesday to drop bombs on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist camp in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwas province. New Delhi said a very large number of Jaish terrorists were killed in the strike designed to pre-empt suicide attacks by the terror group.

Sources said between 200 and 300 terrorists, commanders and trainers were estimated to have been killed in the air strike that, news agency PTI said, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, had been tracking through the night.

PM Modi had been up too, and was in touch with the NSA, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Air Force Chief BS Dhanoa through the night, long before the first Mirage 2000 took off to cross the line of control.

It was the first in 48 years that an IAF plane entered Pakistani airspace for air strikes and sparked off a sharp reaction from Pakistan that called it an act of aggression.

PM Modi, who chaired the Cabinet Committee on Security meeting that reviewed the situation at 10 am, met chiefs of the three armed forces. This meeting, an official said, lasted 30 minutes.

Pakistan had described the strike as an act of aggression and said it would respond at a time and place of its choosing.

Foreign Sectary Gokhale had underlined that it was self defence. Because there was credible intelligence that the Jaish, which claimed responsibility for the February 14 suicide bombing in Pulwama, was plotting more suicide attacks in various parts of the country.

Hours after the top diplomat made the announcement, the foreign ministry reached out to foreign envoys including those of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the US, Britain, France, Russia and China - about the Indian Air Forces non-military pre-emptive action on Jaishs biggest training camp.

Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj too worked the phones. Sushma Swaraj told the all party meeting that she had spoken to the US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo over the air strike. Quoting sources, news agency ANI said the foreign minister had also dialed her counterparts in China, Singapore, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

The outreach was followed by strong statements by the French and Australian government. The French foreign ministry spokesperson said Paris recognized Indias legitimacy to protect itself from cross-border terrorism and asked Pakistan to stop terror groups. Australia also asked Pakistan to do everything possible to enforce its ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed. It can no longer allow extremist groups the legal and physical space to operate from its territory, Australian foreign minister Marise Payne said.

Vijay Gokhale said India had accounted for the location of the terror camp in a deep forest on a hilltop to avoid civilian casualties.
The Cabinet Committee on Security, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, met on Tuesday within hours of the Indian Air Force fighter planes striking a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp across the Line of Control in Balakot, Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa.

The strike on terror camp comes 12 days after the Pulwama terror attack which left 40 CRPF jawans dead after a Jaish terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a CRPF convoy on Jammu-Srinagar highway on February 14. (Click here for Live updates)

The IAF used Mirage-2000 jets with laser-guided bombs weighing 1,000 pounds at around 3.30am causing an estimated casualty of 200-300 people at multiple targets, sources said.

Watch: Air Force bombed JeMs biggest camp in Pakistan: says Foreign Secretary

The meeting, underway at the Prime Ministers residence at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg in New Delhi, was attended by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, finance minister Arun Jaitley, Union home minister Rajnath Singh, national security advisor Ajit Doval and other senior officials .

Read: Rahul Gandhi, Omar Abdullah react to IAF strike on Jaish camps

This is the second CCS meeting in less than two weeks, the first was on Februray 15, a day after the Pulwama attack.

After that meeting, the Prime Minister had said that the the security forces have been given a free hand to deal with the challenges posed by terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

Read: Owner of car used in Pulwama attack on the run, NIA says he joined Jaish

There is much anger among people due to this terror attack. Peoples blood is boiling. I understand this. The nation has some expectations at this moment. Emotion is running high to do something, which is natural. The security forces have been given free hand and we have full faith in the bravery of our soldiers, PM Modi had said in 2016.
A Pakistani unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was on Tuesday shot down near the International Border in Kutch district of Gujarat, police sources said. This comes within hours of Indian Air Force striking a Jaish terror camp in Balakot.

Debris of the UAV was seen near Nanghatad village in Abdasa taluka of Kutch, they said.

(Click here for Live updates)

On hearing a loud sound around 6 am, villagers went to the spot and found the debris of the UAV, the sources said.

Watch: Air Force bombed JeMs biggest camp in Pakistan: Foreign Secretary

Asked if a Pakistani UAV had been shot down by the Indian armed forces, a police official, on condition of anonymity, said, Such an incident has happened, we are investigating the matter. The official, however, refused to elaborate further.

Read: Necessary step taken: Prakash Javadekar on IAF strike at terror camps across LoC

Earlier, combat jets of Indian Air Force bombed Jaish terror camp across the Line of Control on the Pakistani side, 12 days after Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group carried out an attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in Kashmir.

The IAF dropped 1,000 pound bombs in a thickly-forested hilltop that has eliminated a large number of terrorists in Balakot, the biggest camp of the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The strikes was carried out on the basis of credible intelligence and designed to target the Jaish camp without any civilian casualties, Gokhale announced hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a top security meet to review the cross-border strike.
Indian fighter jets violated an agreed border between the two countries, the Pakistani army said on Tuesday, as tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals rose following a major terrorist attack in Kashmir earlier this month.

Indian aircraft intruded from Muzafarabad sector, Major General Asif Ghafoor, spokesman of the Pakistan Armed Forces, said in a Twitter post, adding that it was dealt with by the Pakistan Air Force. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage.

Watch: Air Force bombed JeMs biggest camp in Pakistan: Foreign Secretary

Indian defence ministry spokesman Colonel Aman Anand did not respond to a call and text for comment. Indian foreign ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar declined to comment when reached by phone on Tuesday morning.

Relations between the arch-rivals has been extremely tense since a suicide car bombing, claimed by the Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed, on Feb. 14 in Kashmir killed 40 members of Indias security forces. Jaish-e-Mohammed is a United Nations designated terrorist group.

The Indian rupee weakened offshore, with one-month non-deliverable forward trading at 71.32 a dollar before local markets open.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)
Jammu and Kashmir director general of police (DGP) Dilbag Singh on Monday said there was no let-up in Pakistan-sponsored terrorism but security forces, including police, were determined to eliminate militancy and restore peace in the state.

Pakistan-sponsored terrorism is going on for the last many years and showing no signs of decline but we are determined to eliminate terrorism and restore peace in the region, the DGP said, adding that terror groups like Jaish and Lashkar remain active in the Valley.

Police and other security forces are conducting their operations to counter them and wipe them out and I am hopeful that in the coming months, the situation will improve further, he said.

Singh said the security forces were proud of the sacrifices made by the soldiers and were determined to eliminate all the active terrorist groups in the state in the coming months.

On security scenario and rumours flying thick and fast in the Valley, he said the situation was well under control and there was no need to panic.

In the war against terrorism, our men are also being martyred and we are proud of them. We stand by the families of our martyrs and want to tell them that we are with them in this hour of grief, the DGP said.

The police chief lauded deputy superintendent of police Aman Kumar who was killed in Kulgam encounter on Sunday, for his courage saying, We have lost a brave colleague and we are proud of his martyrdom.

J&K governor Satya Pal Malik, Union minister Jitendra Singh and senior officers of the police, army, CRPF and civil administration attended the ceremony at police lines here and paid floral tributes to Thakur whose body was flown from Srinagar to Jammu in the morning..
Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday announced that he would contest the 2019 national elections from Uttar Pradeshs Kannauj while his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, 79, would be the partys nominee from Mainpuri in the same state.

The announcement came days after Mulayam, on February 21, questioned the delay in naming the SP candidates for the national polls due this summer and the partys alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

He said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was ahead in campaigning and added that he could step in if Akhilesh was unable to keep pace. Mulayam complained the SP had fewer tickets  38  to distribute because of the alliance.

Their relations have been frosty since Akhilesh took the SPs control in 2017 when Mulayam refused to campaign for the party in the assembly polls. Mulayam has skipped most party events, including the one where his son was re-elected as party chief in 2018. He praised Narendra Modi this month in Parliament and said he wanted him to become the Prime Minister again even as the SP has tied up with BSP as part of the efforts to oust the BJP from power.

Netaji [Mulayam Singh Yadav] will contest the Lok Sabha election from Mainpuri. The Parliament member from Mainpuri, Tej Pratap Yadav, is a hardworking politician and will be adjusted somewhere, Akhilesh said in Saifai.

Akhilesh, who had represented Kannauj thrice before he vacated the seat to take over as Uttar Pradesh chief minister in 2012, refused to answer questions about his wife Dimples possible constituency. Dimple is a Parliament member from Kannauj.

The BJP formed the government at the Centre in 2014 on the back of its performance in states like Uttar Pradesh, where it won 71 out of the 80 seats. A united Opposition managed to wrest three Lok Sabha seats from the BJP in the state, prompting the BSP and SP to form the alliance.

Akhilesh also referred to PM Modis visit to Allahabad, where he washed the feet of sanitary workers on Sunday.

Elections are round the corner; all this will happen. People should be cautious of these gimmicks, he said.

Separately, in Uttar Prtadeshs Ghazipur, BJP chief Amit Shah alleged that the Congress, the SP and BSP for doing nothing for the poor. He said they only talked about the poor during their rule. [The Congress, SP, and BSP] did not take any steps for the welfare and bringing a positive change in the lives of the poor in the country. After becoming the prime minister in 2014, Modi took many steps for the welfare of the poor.

He said the Modi government ensured toilets and electricity for every house.

Various other schemes were started for the welfare of the poor. The Modi government provided homes to 2.5 crore people of the country. He said electricity is there in every house because Modi understands the problems of the poor.
The French-origin Mirage 2000s that carried out the predawn air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist camp across LoC on Tuesday are among the most reliable fighter jets in the Indian Air Forces combat fleet and were a natural choice for the unprecedented peacetime, cross-border mission, officials and experts said on Tuesday.

Inducted into the air force in 1984, the single-engine fighters performed splendidly during the 1999 Kargil war and recorded an impressive serviceability rate. The Mirage 2000 is an extremely versatile aircraft that can carry out precision strikes during day and night, two IAF officials said on condition of anonymity.

The Mirage 2000s, the officials said, struck their target with Israeli-origin SPICE 2000 bombs from a stand-off distance, which wasnt immediately known. Popeye missiles were on standby. The 2,000-pound GPS-guided SPICE (Smart, Precise Impact, Cost-Effective) bombs can hit targets up to 60km away with an accuracy of three metres, while the Popeyes range is around 80km.

Also Read: Mirage 2000, Sukhoi-30s, AWACS part of IAFs operation on JeM camp in Balakot

The fighters, manufactured by French planemaker Dassault Aviation, can carry a mix of bombs and missiles on its nine hard points.

The Mirage 2000 is a highly serviceable aircraft and had a mission accomplishment rate of 98% during the Kargil war. It is equipped with good precision weapons. The fighter would have been a natural choice for such a mission, said Air Marshal PS Ahluwalia (retd), who commanded the Gwalior air base (home to Mirage fighters) during the Kargil war, in which more than 30 Mirage 2000 jets were involved.

The IAF ordered a total of 59 Mirage 2000 jets from France, but it is currently left with 48; 11 have crashed over the years.

In 2011, India signed a $2.4-billion contract with Dassault Aviation and Thales Group, another French entity, to upgrade 51 Mirage 2000 fighters with new weapons, radars and avionics. The first two aircraft were upgraded by the firms in France followed by another two at state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, which is upgrading the remaining planes. The Mirage 2000 upgrade is five years behind schedule.

The planes may be 35 years old but they have 20 years to go after the upgrade is completed, said Ahluwalia, who flew one of the IAFs first Mirage 2000s from France to India in the mid-1980s.

The Mirage 2000s took part in a major fire power demonstration by the IAF involving nearly 140 aircraft including 81 fighter jets at the Pokhran field firing range on February 16, two days after the Pulwama suicide car bomb attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed. The jets attacked simulated targets with 250kg bombs during Vayu Shakti 2019 where IAF chief Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa declared that the air force was prepared to deliver an appropriate response assigned by the countrys political leadership. That response was delivered on Tuesday.

Former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Fali Major (retd.) said the Mirage 2000s were tried and tested during Kargil, and would have been the first choice for the cross-border air strikes. Its an excellent weapons delivery platform, Major said. The IAF also feels that the Mirage 2000 is a dependable and versatile fighter jet.

In August 2000, the air force moved a proposal to buy 126 Mirage 2000 II fighters (an upgraded version) that could be inducted 2004 onwards. But the proposal was scrapped by the defence ministry as it was a single vendor situation. The IAF was directed to opt for a competitive tendering process to buy new fighters, and the chain of events triggered by the decision resulted in the 2016 government-to-government Rafale jets deal between India and France that has become a subject of controversy in recent months.
Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said all regional political parties in Jammu and Kashmir should sit together and chalk out a strategy to save Article 35A of the Constitution.

People of all ideologies, including separatists, should resist the onslaught on the constitutional guarantee to the state, she said.

I want to tell all regional political parties that I am in contact with Omar Abdullah sahab on the issue. If there is an attack on Article 35A then I dont know which flag people of Jammu and Kashmir will be forced to raise instead of the tricolour. Dont push the people of Jammu and Kashmir to the wall, Mufti said at a press conference.

I would like to appeal to National Conference and Congress as well as leaders like (Yusuf) Tarigami sahib (CPI-M) and Engineer Rashid to sit together and decide what has to be done and how, she said.

All, including separatists, will have to come together. We all will have to resist this, she said, adding that the biggest priority right now is our identity.
Authorities on Tuesday ordered a magisterial probe into the alleged police lapses in the investigations into the kidnapping of six-year-old twins from their school bus at Chitrakoot in Madhya Pradesh Satna district on February 12. The bodies of the two were recovered on Sunday from the neighbouring Uttar Pradeshs Banda district even as their kidnappers received Rs 20 lakh ransom instead of Rs 2 crore they had demanded.

Satna district collector Satendra Singh ordered the probe after the twins father, Brijesh Rawat, alleged they could have been saved had the police raided the premises of a local trust, where the boys were reportedly kept. Rawat alleged the twins were taken to Uttar Pradesh in a vehicle, which carried a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) flag, and that Ram Rajya was written on its number plate instead of the registration number.

Police allegedly did not check the vehicle at Madhya Pradesh-Uttar Pradesh border because of the BJP flag even as Chitrakoot was on high alert following the kidnapping.

BJP spokesman Rajneesh Agrawal said chief minister Kamal Nath and top police officers have been talking about the flag since the arrest of the kidnappers to deflect attention from their failure in saving the twins. They must answer who stopped the police from taking action against the criminals. The fact is the state is facing anarchism and murders... loots and kidnappings have become the order of the day since the Congress came to power [in December]. Officials said the role of the school management would also be looked into to see whether adequate arrangements were made for children travelled from and to their homes.
The Madras high court on Tuesday ordered the recovery of Rs 21.58 lakh salary and allowances paid to a Congress legislator, who was disqualified in 2011 after serving a full term for violating election rules.

P Veldurai was elected from Tamil Nadus Cheranmahadevi constituency in 2006. He managed to serve the full term as a petition challenging his victory remained pending until 2011.

Veldurai was a government contractor at the time of filing his nomination, making him ineligible to contest the election. This aspect was overlooked during the scrutiny of his nomination papers.

One of the candidates, who lost to Veldurai, challenged his election. But the high court dismissed the petition in this regard. The Supreme Court eventually disqualified Veldurai and set aside his election.

The Tamil Nadu assembly secretary later issued a notice to Veldurai asking him to repay the salary and allowances he had received. Veldurai challenged the notice before the high court, which directed him to pay ~ 21.58 lakh within four weeks.

Since the SC, in April 2011, had declared the election null and void, Veldurai should repay the salary and allowances spent by the government.hs within four weeks, the HC has said in the order.
India and Pakistan should exercise restraint: France

France calls on India&Pak to exercise restraint to avert any risk of military escalation & preserve strategic stability in region. Resumption of dialogue b/w Islamabad-New Delhi necessary to initiate peaceful settlement of differences, ANI further quoted the spokesperson of Frances Ministry of Europe&Foreign Affairs.

We stand by India in the fight against terrorism: France

France,which stands by India in the fight against terrorism in all its forms, is fully engaged in mobilising intl community to sanction terrorists responsible for this attack (Pulwama)&freezing their financing networks: Frances Ministry of Europe & Foreign Affairs

Recognise Indias legitimacy to ensure its security against cross-border terrorism: France

France recognises Indias legitimacy to ensure its security against cross-border terrorism and asks Pakistan to put an end to the operations of terrorist groups established on its territory: Acting spokesperson of Frances Ministry of Europe & Foreign Affairs, according to ANI.

Army, Navy, IAF chiefs meet PM, NSA

Hours after the IAF warplanes struck a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistan, the three service chiefs met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and apprised him about the countrys preparedness to deal with any possible retaliatory action by Islamabad, official sources said Tuesday, PTI reported.

Swaraj speaks to counterparts in US, China, Singapore, Bangladesh, Afghanistan: Report

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj Tuesday spoke to her counterparts in the US, China, Singapore, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and briefed them about the pre-dawn strike on the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistan, according to a PTI report.

No Indian movie will be released in Pakistan: Pakistan I&B Minister

Cinema Exhibitors Association has boycotted Indian content, no Indian movie will be released in Pakistan. Also have instructed PEMRA to act against made in India advertisements, ANI quoted Choudhary Fawad Hussain, Pakistan I&B Minister.

Gave many chances to Pakistan: Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh

India had made it clear that terrorism must be eradicated, we had given many chances to Pakistan, therefore, India was forced to take action so that these things can be stopped, Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh told ANI on India strikes at JeM camp in Balakot.

State is on alert: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh

State is on alert, I will be touring bordering areas tomorrow. We are ready for any eventuality. I told the Union Home Minister that if there is anything that Punjab can do we are there to for the defence of our country, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh told ANI.

Avoid further escalation of tensions: EU spokesperson Maja Kocijancic

Were following very closely the current developments between India & Pakistan. We remain in contact with both countries & what we believe is essential, is that all exercise maximum restraint and avoid further escalation of tensions: ANi quoted Maja Kocijancic, European Union spokesperson as saying.

It was a clean operation: Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad

We have appreciated the efforts by the forces, they always have our support to end terrorism. Another good thing is that it was a clean operation which specifically targeted terrorists and terror camps, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad told ANI after the all party meet.

United against terror, says Sushma Swaraj

United against terror, says Sushma Swaraj after all party meet

All members congratulated Indian Air Force: Swaraj

We had called an all party meet on the IAF strike, I am happy that all members congratulated Indian Air Force and supported all investigations initiated against terror attacks, says Swaraj.

Happy that all parties in one voice: Sushma Swaraj after all party meet

I am happy that all parties in one voice praised the security forces and supported the Govts anti-terror operations, says Sushma Swaraj after all party meeting.

For Indias security, our soldiers and government can go to any extent: Amit Shah

Surgical strikes after Uri and now air strikes in self-defence, both have given the message to the world that for the security of the country, Indias soldiers and government can go to any extent, said Amit Shah, BJP President at a public rally in Ghazipur, according to ANI.

Pakistan violates ceasefire violation

Ceasefire violation by Pakistan in Nowshera sector and Akhnoor sector, reports news agency ANI.

CRPF jawans celebrate IAF strike at JeM camp in Balakot

Jawans are celebrating,they (Pak) have been given a befitting reply,but souls of 40 jawans isnt at peace yet,their souls will rest in peace only after mastermind of Pulwama attack is killed..., ANI quoted a CRPF jawan.

#WATCH Chhattisgarh: ASI GD Ratnakar,211-BN CRPF on IAF strike at JeM camp in Balakot: Jawans are celebrating,they (Pak) have been given a befitting reply,but souls of 40 jawans isn't at peace yet,their souls will rest in peace only after mastermind of #PulwamaAttack is killed... pic.twitter.com/PkrEZm8ByO  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

Rajnath defers Tripura programme after IAF strike

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday postponed the foundation stone laying programme for a BSF accommodation in Tripura as he was busy with the developments following the IAFs strike on terrorist training camps in Pakistan, according to a report in IANS.

Its a right step, we stand by the government: Asaduddin Owaisi

We welcome this. Its a right step. We stand by the government, All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM ) president Asaduddin Owaisi said, reports PTI from Hyderabad.

All party meeting called by Sushma Swaraj begins

Here are the visuals from the all-party meeting called by Minister of External Affairs of India Sushma Swaraj at Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan.

Delhi: Visuals from the all-party meeting called by EAM Sushma Swaraj at Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan. pic.twitter.com/9FnQ59bFsQ  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

Australia urges India and Pakistan to exercise restraint

Both sides to exercise restraint, avoid any action which would endanger peace and security in the region and engage in dialogue to ensure that these issues are resolved peacefully.

Act against terror groups: Australia to Pak

Pakistan must do everything possible to implement its own proscription of Jaish-e-Mohammed. It can no longer allow extremist groups the legal and physical space to operate from its territory, Australia said in its statement.

Fight terrorism through international cooperation: China

Hours after the Indian air force carried out a targeted strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camp located across the Line of Control (LoC), China urged India to fight terrorism through international cooperation.

PMs will power has led to the action today: Ram Madhav

Country is in safe hands, its will power of PM that has led to the action today. We had political leadership in PM Modi which decided this time to act. We acted in a responsible manner, protected Indias interest & ensured we didnt violate international norms, ANI quoted BJPs Ram Madhav.

Will take international media to the area of strikes: Pak foreign minister

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi: Pakistan will take international media to the area of strikes, helicopters are being readied, right now weather is bad, will fly when weather permits, news agency ANI tweeted.

After IAF strikes, Pak raises Kashmir issue

After IAF strikes at Jaish camp, Pakistan foreign minister raised Kashmir issue and accused India of torturing innocent Kashmiris over Pulwama attack.

We will respond at time and place of our choosing,said Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi .

Violation of our sovereignty: Pak foreign minister

India is action is a violation of our sovereignty. And, we will definitely engage, says Pakistan foreign minister.

Have done what any self-respecting country would do: Kamal Haasan

We have done what any self-respecting country would do. We are proud of what our forces have done for us. They are our shield, and they have behaved exactly like a shield. We are very proud. Salute to our fighters, said Kamal Haasan on IAF strike at JeM camp in Balakot.

Message has been sent to them: Defence experts praise IAFs strike

Various defence experts Tuesday hailed the IAFs pre-dawn air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammeds terror camp in Pakistan with some saying the message had been communicated strongly, while a former air chief said India needs to be on guard as Pakistan might react soon.

Former defence minister A K Antony, said, Pakistan should realise that they cannot stand the might of the Indian armed forces. India conducted the preemptive strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp early Tuesday, killing a very large number of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.

Pak to raise IAF air strikes across LoC at UN, OIC: Report

Pakistan will raise IAF air strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) at the United Nations and other international forums, a media said Tuesday, quoting sources.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan and attended by the top civil and military leadership, including Army chief General Qamar Jawed Bajwa, Geo TV reported.

Shall respond at the time and place of choosing: Pakistans national security commitee

A special meeting of the National Security Committee chaired by the Pakistan Prime Minister was held at his office today. The meeting was attended by Pakistans Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defence, Finance, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, COAS, CNS, CAS and other civil & military officials. Once again Indian government has resorted to a self serving, reckless and fictitious claim. Forum concluded that India has committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing, said a statement of Pakistans national security committee.

PM has directed that elements of national power including the Armed Forces and the people of Pakistan to remain prepared for all eventualities. He decided to engage with global leadership to expose irresponsible Indian policy in the region. PM appreciated timely and effective response of PAF to repulse Indian attempt without any loss of life or property, the statement added.

Pakistan summons Joint session of Parliament after IAF strike on Jaish camp across LoC

The Pakistan government has decided to requisition joint session of the Parliament after IAF strike on Jaish camp across LoC. The Pakistan PM has also summoned special meeting of NCA on Feb 27, 2019.

PM has directed that elements of national power including the Armed Forces and the people of Pakistan to remain prepared for all eventualities. He decided to engage with global leadership to expose irresponsible Indian policy in the region, said a statement by Pakistan.

China calls for restraint after IAF strike on Jaish camp across LoC

China urged India and Pakistan on Tuesday to exercise restraint after New Delhi said its warplanes attacked a militant camp, in a move that sent tensions soaring between the arch-rivals over disputed Kashmir.

We hope that both India and Pakistan can exercise restraint and adopt actions that will help stabilise the situation in the region and improve mutual relations, Chinas foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.

Foreign diplomats briefed by foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale

Foreign diplomats from the USA, UK, China, Russia, Australia,Indonesia,Turkey and six Asean nations being briefed by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale on Indian air strike across LOC in Balakot

Refrain from going to war, Shehbaz Sharif tells India

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday urged India to refrain from plunging the region into war after the IAF struck the Jaish-e-Mohammeds (JeM) biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan.

The Indian leadership should come to its senses and act responsibly and should not (plunge) the people of South Asia into war, Sharif said.

Within next 10 years Rs 7.5 Lakh Crore will be deposited in the accounts of farmers: PM

Within next 10 years Rs 7.5 Lakh crore will be deposited in the accounts of farmers. They will not have to do anything for it. They will directly get a notification on their mobile phones, saying that they have received the amount, said PM Modi in Rajashthans Churu.

For us, party is bigger than an individual and country is bigger than the party: PM

For us, party is bigger than an individual and country is bigger than the party. We are moving forward with the slogan of Jai jawan, jai kisaan, jai vigyaan. One crore farmers benefited from PM-KISAN scheme, said PM Modi while addressing rally in Churu, Rajasthan

Over 20 lakh soldiers got benefit of One Rank One Pension: PM

Your prime servant has promised the soldiers to bring in OROP. And, I am happy that over 20 lakh soldiers got benefit of this, said PM Modi

Nation in safe hands, says PM hours after IAF strikes across LoC: PM

I understand your josh. I assure you that the nation is in safe hands. I wont let the country to bow down its head, said PM Modi while addressing ex-servicemen.

Todays strong action shows the will and resolve of a New India: Amit Shah

I congratulate and salute the bravery and valour of our armed forces. Todays action further demonstrates that India is safe and secure under the strong & decisive leadership of PM Modi, tweeted Amit Shah.

Todays strong action shows the will and resolve of a New India. Our New India will not spare any acts of terror and their perpetrators and patrons, he said.

Yusuz Azhar, head of JeMs Balakot terror camp, is on Interpol list

JeMs Yusuf Azhar alias Mohammad Salim alias Ustaad Gohri whose camp was targeted today by IAF air strikes in Balakot across LOC was on the Interpol list and among the most wanted in India.

JeM's Yusuf Azhar alias Mohammad Salim alias Ustaad Gohri who was targeted today by IAF #airstrike in Balakot across LOC was on the Interpol list and among the most wanted in India. pic.twitter.com/1eTj8FhFMJ  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

This facility in Balakot was headed by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother in law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar...The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualty. Its located in deep forest on a hilltop, said foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale while briefing media over IAF air strikes on JeM terror camp.

Brother of CRPF jawan, who lost his life in Pulwama attack, reacts to IAF air strike

We are very happy that this(IAF strikes on JeM camp across LoC) happened, but we want pressure on Pakistan be kept up so that no terror organisation like JeM dares to attack us again, said brother of CRPF jawan Vijay Maurya, who lost his life in Pulwama terror attack.

Whatever action the forces take for protection of this nation, we will support them in unity: Kharge

Weve always said that whatever action the forces take for protection of this nation, all of us will support them in unity, they are taking action against the terrorists in Pakistan. I congratulate them, said Congresss Mallikarjun Kharge.

Totally new ball game: Omar Abdullah on IAF strikes

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah Tuesday said the strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force on JeM camps is a totally new ball game as it was first time that air power was used during peace time to hit terrorist targets in the neighbouring country. Weve entered a whole new paradigm with the Balakot air strike. The post Uri strike was to avenge our losses, Balakote was a preemptive strike to prevent an imminent JeM attack. Totally new ballgame, Abdullah tweeted.

Air defence system at International Border, LoC put on alert: ANI

Indian Air Force has put on high alert all air defence systems along the international border and Line of Control (LoC) to respond to any possible action by Pakistan Air Force, reported news agency ANI.

Lt gen Hooda (retd.), who oversaw surgical strikes, reacts to IAF air strikes

My compliment goes to the government for taking this action & also to the Air Force for the way they have carried out this strike (in Balakot) in an absolutely professional manner, Lt Gen DS Hooda (retd.).

All pilots are safe. I think it needed to be done. I personally had no doubt in my mind after Pulwama attack that some strong action will be taken by the government, he said.

NSA Doval along with army, IAF chiefs reviews situation at border

NSA Ajit Doval along with Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat and IAF Chief BS Dhanoa is reviewing the security situation on the borders after Indian Air Force strikes at JeM terror camp in Balakot across LoC.

Clouds of dangers hovering over us: Pakistan

I have already said that I dont want to mislead the public. Clouds of danger are hovering over us and we will have to remain alert, Pakistans Samaa TV quoted Pak minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, as saying.

The Pakistan foreign minister called a high-level emergency meeting on Tuesday for csonsultation with former foreign secretaries and senior diplomats hours after IAF carried out air strikes across the LoC.

Sushma Swaraj calls all-party meeting at 5pm

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has called an all-party meeting at 5pm over the IAF strikes on terror camp.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has briefed both President and Vice-President about the #IndianAirForce strike at JeM terror camp in Balakot across LoC, reported news agency ANI quoting sources.

Better sense should prevail: Pakistan minister

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Tuesday that better sense should prevail in India after Indian jets crossed into Pakistan and carried out what one Indian minister called an airstrike on militant terror camps.

Qureshi warned India not to challenge Pakistan and said better sense should prevail in India, according to a statement cited by state-run Radio Pakistan.

Fully prepared to respond: Pakistan on IAF strike

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi warned India not to challenge Pakistan. Pakistan is fully prepared to respond to any misadventure, tweeted official twitter account of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

Facility in Balakot headed by JeM Chiefs brother in law: Govt

This facility in Balakot was headed by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother in law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar...The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualty. Its located in deep forest on a hilltop, said foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale.

India struck the biggest JeM camp today: Foreign secretary

JeM training camps have been active in Pakistan for a long time now. India struck the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot today. The strikes specifically targeted the camp of JeM and made sure that there are no civilian casualties. Strikes happened only a short while ago,we are waiting for more details, said Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale

Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. In the face of imminent danger, a pre-emptive strike became absolutely necessary, he added.

IAF also means Indias Amazing Fighters: Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday hailed the Indian Air Force (IAF) for carrying out air strikes in Pakistan.

IAF also means Indias Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind, Banerjee tweeted.

Each time you attack us, be certain we will get back at you: VK Singh

They say they want India to bleed with a 1000 cuts. We say that each time you attack us, be certain we will get back at you, harder and stronger. Salute the brave pilots of the IAF that carried out the strikes, said Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh.

CCS meeting ends

The high-level Cabinet Committee meeting on security-led by PM Modi has ended. The high-level meeting was attended by top cabinet ministers such as EAM Sushma Swaraj, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, home minister Rajnath Singh and finance minister Arun Jaitley. NSA Ajit Doval is also attending the meeting.

Read | PM holds CCS meet after strike on Jaish terror camp across LoC

IAF has taken the necessary step: Prakash Javadekar

Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar Tuesday hailed the air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force, saying the entire nation stands firmly behind the armed forces.

PM Modi had given full freedom to the forces. IAF has taken the necessary step for the security of the nation, entire country stands with forces, said Union minister Prakash Javadekar.

Indian air strike completely destroyed militant camp: MoS agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

Air Force carried out aerial strike early morning today at terror camps across the LoC and completely destroyed it, minister of state for agriculture, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, tweeted referring to the Line of Control that divides the Indian- and Pakistani-administered parts of Kashmir.

Kejriwal lauds IAF pilots for striking terror targets inside Pakistan

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal saluted the pilots of the Indian Air Force (IAF) after it carried out air strikes in Pakistan.

I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan, Kejriwal said in a tweet.

We salute the IAF for their effort to keep Indians safe: Congress

The Congress party hailed the Indian Air Force after reports of strike at Jaish terror camp.

We salute the @IAF_MCC for their consistent & determined effort to keep Indians safe, tweeted Congress.

We salute the @IAF_MCC for their consistent & determined effort to keep Indians safe.

Jai Hind. https://t.co/RmfHQNlwH4  Congress (@INCIndia) February 26, 2019

CCS meeting attended by top cabinet ministers, NSA Doval

The high-level Cabinet Committee meeting on security-led by PM Modi is being attended by top cabinet ministers such as EAM Sushma Swaraj, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, home minister Rajnath Singh and finance minister Arun Jaitley. NSA Ajit Doval is also attending the meeting.

CCS meeting underway at PMs residence

A Cabinet Committee meeting on Security is underway at Prime Minister Narendra Modis residence at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg.

Balakot camp biggest JeM camp in Pakistan: Top government sources

According to top government sources, the Balakot camp is spread around 6 to 7 acres and is the biggest Jaish e Mohammed camp in Pakistan.

Indian Air Force fighter planes struck a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp across the LoC: Sources

A top intelligence source has confirmed the IAF fighter planes struck at one of the biggest Jaish-e-Mohammed camp in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa .

According to analysts, the strike confirmed that India will deploy full spectrum deterrence if hit by a terror strike by Pakistan-based terrorist group.

I salute the pilots of the IAF: Rahul Gandhi

After the reports of IAF strikes at terror camp surfaced, Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted, I salute the pilots of the IAF.

 I salute the pilots of the IAF.   Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 26, 2019

Mirage-2000 fighter jets caused estimated casualty of 200-300: Sources

Indian Air Force fighter planes struck a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp across the LoC in Balakot, Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa early on Tuesday morning, intelligence sources have said.

The IAF used Mirage-2000 jets with laser-guided bombs causing an estimated casualty of 200-300, the sources said.

India-Pak ties tense since Pulwama terror attack

Relations between India and Pakistan have been extremely tense since Pulwama terror attack, claimed by the Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed, on February 14 in Kashmir. The attack killed 40 members of CRPF.

Indian defence ministry says no information about air violations into Pakistan: Reuters

Indias defence ministry said on Tuesday that it had no information about Pakistani allegations that Indian aircraft violated Pakistani airspace, reported Reuters.

Mirage 2000 Indian Fighter jets struck a major terrorist camp across LoC: Sources

Indian Air Forces Mirage 2000 fighter jets struck a major terrorist camp across the LoC and completely destroyed it, intelligence sources have said.
Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhars brother-in-law Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghuari was the main target of the Indian Air Force (IAF) strike at Balakot, which is located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The IAF carried out strikes at terror camps of the Jaish-e-Mohammed deep across the Line of Control (LoC) on early Tuesday morning in the wake of Pulwama terror attack on February 14.

The area where Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp was being run at Balakot is densely forested and located on a hilltop making the IAF operation very challenging that requires extreme precision. The IAF used Mirage 2000 fitted with laser-guided bombs to strike at the terror camps. Mirage 2000 was very successful during the Kargil war in 1999.

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Briefing the mediapersons following a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in New Delhi, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said, A large number of Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, trainers, senior commanders were eliminated in largest JeM camp in Balakot. The camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, the brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar.

Yusuf Azhar was one of the terrorists who hijacked the Indian Airlines flight IC 814 in 1999 on its way from Kathmandu to New Delhi. The hijacked plane was taken to Kandahar by the terrorists.

Jaish chief Masood Azhar was among the terrorists released by India to secure release of more than 170 passengers onboard the hijacked plane. In 2002, when India handed over a list of 20 most wanted criminals to Pakistan, Yusuf Azhars named featured in the document.

Watch: Air Force bombed JeMs biggest camp in Pakistan: Foreign Secretary

Gokhale said, The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualty. Its located in deep forest on a hilltop. The camp was located at about 195 km from Islamabad and over 40 km from Muzaffarabad.

Jaish-e-Mohammed had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack, in which at least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were killed. A suicide bomber had targeted a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying more than 2,500 CRPF jawans from Jammu to Srinagar.

Also Read | Pakistan calls emergency meeting after India carried out air strikes

India responded with a series of actions targeted a Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the forces have been given freedom to choose the time and place to avenge deaths of the soldiers. The IAF strikes at terror camps across the LoC have come in the same the wake.

Gokhale said the IAF attacks were conducted following specific intelligence inputs about the presence of terror camps in the target areas. In an intelligence lead operation in the early hours today, India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in BalakoteCredible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country. A pre-emptive strike became important. India struck the biggest camp of JeM in Balakote, Gokhale said.

He said, India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all measures to fight the menace of terrorism. This non-military pre-emptive action was targeted specifically at JeM camp.
The Indian Air Force carried out strikes at terror camps of Jaish-e-Mohammed deep across the Line of Control on Tuesday causing massive damage to the terror infrastructure in the target areas. Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale confirmed the strikes by the IAF following a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in New Delhi.

The IAF used laser-guided bombs weighing 1,000 pounds that were fitted in the Mirage 2000 fighter jets of the force. Mirage 2000 entered into the service of the IAF in 1985, more as a reaction to Pakistan acquiring F-16 from the US.

Mirage 2000 was then manufactured by the Dassault Aviation of France. It is the same company that manufactures Rafale fighter jets. Under the licence from Dassault Aviation, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) manufactured later versions of Mirage 2000 for the IAF.

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The pact for technical assistance to HAL was signed during 2011-12 following which Mirage 2000 jets were upgraded in 2015 giving it more precision in hitting the targets during operation.

The upgraded Mirage 2000 is far more superior over the original version. A complete system overhaul was carried out using laser-mapping techniques to give the fighter jet the capability for more accurate attack on the targets. The new Mirage 2000 systems allow automatic tracking of targets, hitting targets with precision in very long-range engagement and also engage moving targets.

In the upgraded Mirage 2000, pilots can see inside their helmets superimposed data about the specifics of their targets. The pilots can manoeuvre the weapons by pointing their heads towards the target as displayed inside their helmets. The laser-guided bombs are thus directed at the targets with almost pin-point accuracy.

Also Read | IAF air strikes across LoC: IAF jets blow up Jaish-e-Mohammeds main terror camp in non-military strike

Mirage 2000 early this morning dropped 1,000 pound laser-guided bombs at terror camp deep across the LoC. India said the IAF operation was successful and carried out in a manner to avoid civilian casualties. A total of six bombs were dropped on Pakistan-based terrorist camps by the IAF Mirage 2000s, reported news agency ANI quoting unnamed government sources.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said, The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualty. Its located in deep forest on a hilltop. The camp was located at about 195 km from Islamabad and over 40 km from Muzaffarabad.

The area is densely forested and the terror camp hit by the IAFs Mirage 2000 was located on a hill top. Accurate military precision was required to engage a target in such a rugged terrain. The reports suggest no damage to IAF team that carried out the operation indicating that new Mirage 2000s equipped with latest laser-guiding technology matched the challenged posed by the geographical setting.

Gokhale said, in his media interaction, that the IAF operation was carried out in the view of intelligence inputs that Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed was planning more terror attacks in India. Jaish had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack killing at least 40 soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14.

The foreign secretary defended crossing of LoC by the IAF saying Pakistan has take no concrete steps against Jaish-e-Mohammed in the past several years despite the group carrying out terror activities from its soil. He also referred to 2004-understanding between India and Pakistan. Islamabad had then committed that it would not allow territories under its control to be used for terror activities against India.
Last week, the Internet was abuzz with details of the gift presented to Saudi Crown Prince and defence minister Mohammed Bin Salman by Pakistan (Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani )  a gold plated Heckler and Koch machine gun.

Perhaps so much so, that details of the gift he received from India (from the President Ram Nath Kovind) went unnoticed. Kovind gifted Salman a wooden plaque with one of the most well-known verses, Ayatul Kursi, or also known as the Throne Verse of the Holy Quran engraved on it.

Analysts say visits to high-level visiting dignitaries, including heads of governments is decided by the host country after taking into account the preferences (or likely preferences) of the high-profile guest  but also that they say something about the giver.

This is also true of gifts carried by visiting Indian dignitaries to foreign nations. For instance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently presented a Bodhi-tree sapling to the mayor of Gimhae in South Korea during his visit to the country last week. Gimhae and Ayodhya are sister cities. The Buddha attained enlightenment under the shade of a holy Bodhi tree in Gaya (Bihar).

The analysts add that Pakistans gift of a gun to Salman isnt surprising. They point out that the Saudi -Pakistan bromance with Afghan mujahideen and their descendants was bonded by the gun for much of the 1980s and 1990s  till the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the US.

Last week, in a previously planned visit, Salman visited both India and Pakistan in quick succession, although the meeting came soon after the terror attack in Pulwama, Kashmir by a terrorist owing allegiance to the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group.

The Saudi-Pakistan joint statement talked about avoiding politicization of the UN listing regime in the context of Masood Azha, the chief of the proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The India -Saudi condemned the Pulwama attack and renounced the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. The analysts say that the release of 850 Indian prisoners in Saudi Arabia was not on the agenda but the decision still taken in a one-to-one meeting between Modi and Salman.

The analysts also say that one of the key outcomes of the close personal friendship between the Saudi Prince and the Indian Prime Minister PM is the invitation to Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj to address the Organisation of Islamic Countries Council of Foreign Ministers Meeting in Abu Dhabi on March 1-2 as a special guest.

This diplomatic breakthrough has only been achieved due to Modis personal relationships with the Crown Princes of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, they add.
The India Air Force carried out a strike at terror group Jaish-e-Muhammeds biggest camp in Pakistan on Tuesday. The Indian Air Force dropped bombs in the terror camp headed Jaish chief Masood Azhars brother-in-law Maulana Yousuf Azhar. Sources told HT earlier that the laser-guided 1,000 pound bombs caused an estimated casualty of 200-300.

Here are the top developments

 Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said credible intelligence was received that the Jaish was planning to carry out suicide attacks in India after the Pulwama bombing on February 14 that at killed 40 jawans.

 The terror camp in Balakot, located in a thick forest on a hilltop, was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar, alias Ustad Ghouri, the brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar, Gokhale said.

 Sources said the IAF used Mirage-2000 jets with laser-guided 1,000 pound bombs causing an estimated casualty of 200-300. The laser guided bombs, built with Israeli technology, were first used in the Kargil war.

 A high-level cabinet committee meeting on security-led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was held on Tuesday morning. Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, home minister Rajnath Singh, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, finance minister Arun Jaitley and national security advisor Ajit Doval were among those who attended the meet.

 Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said better sense should prevail in India and said his country holds the right to proper response to what he termed a grave aggression. It is a violation of the Line of Control. Pakistan holds the right to self defence and proper response, said Qureshi, according to a video statement posted by the Pakistans ruling party Tehreek-e-Insaf.

The pre-emptive strikes were hailed by leaders of various political parties with the BJP asserting that Prime Minister Modis political will has made the difference while Congress chief Rahul Gandhi lauded the IAF and saluted its pilots.

 External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has called an all-party meeting at 5 pm today. The meeting will take place hours after the IAF raid across the Line of Control to target terror camps.

 NSA Ajit Doval along with Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat and IAF Chief BS Dhanoa are reviewing the security situation on the borders after Indian Air Force strikes.
Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter planes destroyed a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist camp in a pre-dawn strike on Tuesday in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwas province after penetrating deep across the Line of Control (LoC) to enter Pakistani airspace for the first time in 48 years.

Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale described the air strike  in which government officials said over 300 terrorists,trainers and commanders may have been killed  as non-military pre-emptive action.

Gokhale said the strike by Mirage 2000 jets at around 3:30am was ordered on the basis of credible intelligence that the Pakistan-based JeM, which claimed responsibility for the February 14 suicide car bombing that claimed the lives of 40 Indian paramilitary troops in Kashmir, planned to carry out suicide attacks in various parts of India. He stressed that the attack on the groups biggest terrorist camp, located in the town of Balakot, was undertaken in self-defence.

The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties. Its located in deep forest on a hilltop, Gokhale said.

The camp was headed by Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, the brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar, Gokhale said. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj told an all-party meeting in the evening that Indian intelligence had reason to believe Yusuf Azhar was at the facility during the strike, according to officials aware of the discussions. Azhar was one of the militants behind the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC 814 in 1999 to free Masood Azhar from Indian custody.

It was unclear if he was killed in the air strike.

Swaraj also told the all-party meeting that Indian jets had penetrated 80 miles (130 km) into the LoC. The meeting was also attended by finance minister Arun Jaitley and home minister Rajnath Singh.

Pakistan said on Tuesday that Indian aircraft intruded into its airspace, dropped their payload in haste when its own warplanes scrambled into action, and returned without causing any casualties or damage. It warned that it would respond to the Indian act of aggression at a time and place of its choosing.

I assure you that the nation is in safe hands, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told a gathering of ex-servicemen in Rajasthans Churu in the afternoon, without referring to the air strikes . I wont let this country down.

My soul says today is the day to reiterate what I had said in 2014. I swear by my land I wont let my country be destroyed. I will not let the country stop. I will not let the country bow. I pledge to the motherland that I will not let her head down, said Modi, who briefed the president and the vice president on the operation.

Most nations that reacted to Tuesdays strikes, including the UK, China and the European Union, asked India and Pakistan to exercise restraint. France said it recognises Indias legitimacy to ensure its security against cross-border terrorism and asked Pakistan to put an end to operations of terrorist groups established on its territory.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi welcomed the cross-border action.

In a tweet, he wrote: I salute the IAF pilots. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted: IAF also means Indias Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind.

Todays strong action shows the will and resolve of a New India. Our New India will not spare any acts of terror and their perpetrators and patrons, Amit Shah, president of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said.

Though Indias Mirage jets crossed the LoC in 2002 over a border dispute, this is the first time the Indian Air Force crossed Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and entered Pakistani airspace to drop a bomb since the 1971 war for the liberation of Bangladesh.

The IAF used Mirage-2000 jets carrying missiles and guided bombs to target the JeM camp spread over seven acres, people with knowledge of the development said. The air force also deployed Sukhoi 30MKIs, which were used as decoys as they flew towards Bhawalpur, the town where JeM is headquartered. These jets were also meant to double up as reinforcements in case the Pakistanis intercepted the Mirages, these people added.

On Tuesday morning, a couple of hours after the attack, a Pakistani unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was shot down near the International Border in Kutch district of Gujarat. Gujarat and Punjab are now on high alert in wake of the air strikes.

According to analysts, the strike confirmed that India would deploy full-spectrum deterrence if it was attacked by any Pakistan-based terror group. One diplomat referred to the September 2016 surgical strikes conducted on terrorist camps across the LoC days after an attack in Uri left 19 Indian soldiers dead . The Modi government made it clear from Uri 2016 that every terror strike will be met with a retaliation, the diplomat said, asking not to be named. The question in the past was should we or should we not. Now it is when, where and how.

The February 14 suicide car bombing on the Jammu-Srinagar highway left 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers dead. Modi said after the attack that he had given the Indian armed forces a free hand to retaliate at a time and place of their choosing.

The Indian Air Force on Tuesday put on high alert all air defence systems along the international border and the LoC to respond to any possible action by the Pakistan Air Force. National security adviser Ajit Doval, along with Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat and IAF chief Air Chief Marshall BS Dhanoa reviewed the security situation on the borders.

Modi chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) attended by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, home minister Rajnath Singh and finance minister Arun Jaitley. NSA Doval also attended the meeting. Gokhale briefed foreign diplomats on the operation.

They [Pakistan leadership] say they want India to bleed with a thousand cuts. We say that each time you attack us, be certain we will get back at you, harder and stronger. Salute the brave pilots of the IAF that carried out the strikes, minister of state for external affairs and former army chief VK Singh said.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday said that the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out strikes at terror camps across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. He said the IAF acted following freedom given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the forces in the aftermath of Pulwama terror attack on February 14.

It was a necessary step required for the security of the nation. It was an act of maha-parakram (a mighty act)This has come after Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave freedom to the forces following terror attack in Pulwama, Javadekar said adding, The entire nation stands behind the military forces.

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The Union minister also talked about the steps taken by the government to mount pressure on Pakistan following Pulwama terror attack. He said the government withdrew the most favoured nation (MFN) status to Pakistan, increased import tariff by 200 per cent and decided to stop Indias quota of river water from flowing to Pakistan.

Before Javadekar, another Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said that terror camps across the LoC were completely destroyed in the strikes carried out by the IAF. Shekhawat wrote on Twitter: This is Modis Hindustan, it will enter their homes and strike. Air Force carried out aerial strike early morning today at terror camps across the LoC and completely destroyed [them]. Every drop of blood will be avenged. This is just a beginning. I will not let the nation bow down.

Also Read | IAF jets strike and destroy Jaish terror camps deep across LoC: Sources

Reports early this morning said the IAF planes carried out strikes at terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC). The strikes were carried out by Mirage-2000 jets using laser-guided bombs in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkwa province of Pakistan, intelligence sources said.

The terror camps run by Jaish-e-Mohammed were the targets of the IAF strikes. Jaish-e-Mohammed had claimed responsibility for a terror attack in Pulwama on February 14. At least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were killed on Jammu-Srinagar highway.

Pakistan earlier said the IAF intruded from Muzaffarabad sector but timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force forced the fighter jets return in haste.

An estimated casualty of 200-300 was caused in the strikes by the IAF. Sources said that the laser guided bombs, which were used by the IAF, are built with Israeli technology and were first used during Kargil war.
Indian Air Force fighter planes dropped laser-guided bombs at a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp well across the Line of Control in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwas Balakote early on Tuesday morning, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said on Tuesday.

The IAF used Mirage-2000 jets with laser-guided 1,000 pound bombs causing an estimated casualty of 200-300, the sources said. The laser guided bombs are built with Israeli technology and were first used in Kargil. The air strike happened around 3.30 am.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Keshav Gokhale described the strike as a non-military pre-emptive action.

Watch: Air Force bombed JeMs biggest camp in Pakistan: Foreign Secretary

Union Minister Prakash Javdekar said the action, which comes almost two weeks after a terror attack killed 40 CRPF jawans in Jammu and Kashmir, was a necessary step. (Live updates)

Our army has demonstrated extreme bravery, said Union Minister Prakash Javdekar in the first comment by a senior government functionary on the cross-border strike.

The entire country is standing with the armed forces, he said, around the same time Prime Minister Narendra Modi met senior ministers and advisors for a review at a top security meet.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has welcomed the cross border action. In a tweet, he said I salute the IAF pilots.

According to top government sources, the Balakote camp is spread around 6 to 7 acres and is the biggest Jaish e Mohammed camp in Pakistan.

A top intelligence source confirmed the strike at one of the biggest Jaish e Mohammed camp in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. According to analysts, the strike confirmed that India will deploy full spectrum deterrence if hit by a terror strike by Pakistan based terrorist group.

The Modi government made it clear from Uri 2016 that every terror strike will be met with a retaliation, said a top diplomat. The question in the past was should we or should we not. Now it is when where and how.

The attack that killed 40 CRPF troopers in Pulwama in south Kashmir had raised tensions between India and Pakistan. The suicide bombing had led to calls for punitive strikes against Pakistan for harbouring terrorists.

Pakistans Director General of Inter Services Public Relations Pakistan, Asif Ghafoor, tweeted, Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage.

Read more| Necessary step taken: Prakash Javadekar on IAF strike at terror camps across LoC
Indian forces carried out a strike at the biggest camp of the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot early this morning, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said on Tuesday, hours after IAF dropped 1,000 pound bombs in a thickly-forested hilltop that has eliminated a large number of terrorists.

Here is the full government statement:

On 14 February 2019, a suicide terror attack was conducted by a Pak based terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammad, leading to the martyrdom of 40 brave jawans of the CRPF. JeM has been active in Pakistan for the last two decades, and is led by Masood Azhar with its headquarters in Bahawalpur.

Click here for live updates

This organization, which is proscribed by the UN, has been responsible of a series of terrorist attacks including on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 and the Pathankot airbase in January 2016.

Information regarding the location of training camps in Pakistan and PoJK has been provided to Pakistan from time to time. Pakistan, however, denies their existence. The existence of such massive training facilities capable of training hundreds of jidhadis could not have functioned without the knowledge of Pakistan authorities.

India has been repeatedly urging Pakistan to take action against the JeM to prevent jihadis from being trained and armed inside Pakistan. Pakistan has taken no concrete actions to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its soil.

Read: Jaish chief Masood Azhars brother was the IAF target

Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary.

In an intelligence led operation in the early hours of today, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated. This facility at Balakot was headed by MAULANA Yousuf Azhar (alias Ustad Ghouri), the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar , Chief of JeM.

The Government of India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to fight the menace of terrorism. Hence this non-military preemptive action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp. The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties. The facility is located in thick forest on a hilltop far away from any civilian presence. As the strike has taken place only a short while ago, we are awaiting further details.

The Government of Pakistan had made a solemn commitment in January 2004 not to allow its soil or territory under its control to be used for terrorism against India. We expect that Pakistan lives up to its public commitment and takes follow up actions to dismantle all JeM and other camps and hold the terrorists accountable for the actions.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehboob Mufti on Tueday asked Pakistan not to escalate the situation after the Indian Air Force carried out a raid on camps of the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed across the Line of Control (LoC).

In a tweet, she said Kashmiris will be the biggest casualties if the situation spirals out of control.

Since Pak has claimed that no casualties were reported despite IAF violating LoC ,they should adopt a reconciliatory stand as opposed to further escalation. Or else, an already volatile situation will spiral out of control and as usual Kashmiris will be the biggest casualties.  Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) February 26, 2019

Her rival and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah also took to Twitter to say his party will provide assistance to the administration as well as to any people caught up in any Pakistani misadventure.

Im in touch with my party colleagues in frontier areas to lend all possible help & assistance, both to the administration as well as to any people caught up in any Pakistani misadventure.  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 26, 2019

He went on to say that the local administration should be ready to evacuate people along the border and the LoC if the situation escalates.

Now we have an obligation to ensure that our people living near the international border & line of control are not caught in any Pakistani response. Local administrations need to be ready to evacuate & rehouse people to safe areas if situation escalates.  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 26, 2019

Earlier Tuesday, IAF fighter planes carried out a pre-dawn strike at the biggest camp of the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed which had claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing on a CRPF convoy that killed 40 troopers on February 14.

Pakistan s foreign minister Shah Mohammad Quereshi responded by saying his country holds the right to proper response to what he termed a grave aggression

The PTI, the party headed by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, said in another Twitter post that Qureshi warned India not to challenge Pakistan saying Pakistan is fully prepared to respond to any misadventure.

Pakistans Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) tweeted that Indian aircrafts released payload which had free fall in open area. No infrastructure got hit, no casualties.
Pakistan has violated ceasefire agreement by resorting to unprovoked firing in at least three sectors along the Line of Control (LoC). Ceasefire violations were reported from Pakistani side in Akhnoor, Nowshera, Krishna Ghati Sectors in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday.

There are ceasefire violations by Pakistan along LoC in Akhnoor, Nowshera and Krishna Ghati sectors on Tuesday. At about 1730 hours (5.30 pm), Pakistan initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by resorting to heavy shelling with mortars and firing of small arms in Akhnoor, Nowshera and Krishna Ghati sectors, said Defence spokesman Lt Col Devender Anand.

Indian Army is retaliating strongly and effectively, he added. The three sectors fall in Jammu, Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

An Army source informed that Pakistani troops have opened fire in Akhnoor, Pallanwala in Jammu district, Nowshera, Laam and Jhangar in Rajouri district and Mendhar, Balakote, Khari Karmara and partly Poonch in Poonch district.

He also informed that Pakistani troops were also using 120 mm mortars, a battalion level flat trajectory weapon. The Pakistani troops were also targeting civilian areas in Nowshera, Mendhar, Balakote and KG sectors.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) early on Tuesday morning conducted a major pre-emptive strike on Jaish-e-Mohammeds biggest camp acting on concrete intelligence inputs about the terror group preparing to carry out more attacks in India. IAF dropped 1,000 pound bombs in a thickly-forested hilltop that has eliminated a large number of terrorists. This camp was headed by Jaish chief Masood Azhars brother-in-law Maulana Yousuf Azhar.

Jaish-e-Mohammed had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack on February 14, when at least 40 CRPF jawans were killed.

Watch | Indias strike act of aggression, have right to self defence: Pakistan FM

A PTI report says that the year 2018 witnessed the highest number of ceasefire violations  2,936  by Pakistani troops in the last 15 years along the Indo-Pak border. Tuesdays ceasefire violation by Pakistan, however, is the fourth consecutive day of unprovoked firing by the other side of LoC.

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 agency quoted officials as saying.
The government has formed a three-member ministerial group to decide on the criteria for identifying beneficiaries from northeastern hill states for PM-KISAN, the cash-transfer scheme for small and marginal farmers, according to an official.

In some parts of the north-east, land assets are typically community-held, rather than individually owned, making the process of identifying small cultivators rather complex and different from the rest of the country.

Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh, rural development minister Narendra Singh Tomar and minister for development of the northeastern region Jitendra Singh make the panel.

PM-KISAN, which offers direct income support of ~6,000 a year in three tranches, is meant for farmers counted as small and marginal farmers, whose individually owned farm size is limited to 2 hectares. To be included in the scheme, individual ownership (of only up to 2 hectares) or at least some verifiable authentication of the share of an individual in village farm land is required.

In tribal-dominated hill districts of northeastern states, such as Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, the land-tenure system is quite different and much of the cultivated land in these states are held by village councils under customary laws.

The government has accepted a proposal from Manipur government to decide the criteria for inclusion in the PM-KISAN scheme after due consideration by the ministerial panel, the official cited above said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

In Manipur, although land ownership rights are ultimately community held, farmers are given their individual shares according to customary laws and inter-generational transfers. The Manipur government has proposed that such shares would be authenticated and validated by revenue department based on certificates issued by village chiefs. The Centre has approved this model, the official said. The Manipur model is likely to be adopted as a template for the rest of the northeastern states with a similar land-tenure system.

Parts of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Meghalaya as well as the hill districts of Assam, Tripura and Manipur account for a significant part of the agricultural economy of the region. In these areas, which follow a commons model, individuals often dont have transferable property rights on land.

According to economist AK Agarwal, author of Economic Problems and Planning in North-East India, land has been communally held and the usufructuary right to land is traditionally distributed in step with customary norms by the village council or the village chief. Community ownership of land is predominant in areas of shifting cultivation. Individual ownership of land is usually transferable within the tribal community.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday suggested mediation as a way to resolve the politically-sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case, saying even if there is a 1% chance of an amicable resolution of the issue, it should be given a chance.

The case is being heard by a Constitution bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and justice SA Bobde, justice DY Chandrachud, justice Ashok Bhushan and justice Abdul Nazeer.

We are aware that at no point of time has the court directed meditation and that is something which we are considering seriously. It does not involve anybodys private property and yet has become so contentious. Its about the public right to worship. We would like to give one chance, Justice Bobde said.

It shall be confidential. We do not want any their party making comments to jeopardise it, he added.

Both sides said that mediation was attempted in the past.

Justice Bobde, however, said, You seriously think the entire dispute for so many years is about a property. We are considering the possibility of healing relationships. We can decide on a property suit.

The representative of the Muslim petitioners agree to mediation but those from the Hindu side object to it. The lawyer representing Ram Lalla, the child deity, also objected, saying they want quick disposal of the matter

Earlier, during the hearing, CJI Gogoi handed over the copies of reports filed by secretary general signed by four registrars on the status of documents, translations and records in the case. He said the documents in English, Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit and Gurmukhi run into more than 38,000 pages.

CJI Gogoi said the court can fix a schedule for hearing if the parties agree that translations, provided by Uttar Pradesh, that are available are acceptable to them.

Rajeev Dhawan, representing the Muslim petitioners, said he needs time to examine the translation and that they need to do so. Dushyant Dave said on behalf of other Muslim parties that the translations were exchanged but the two parties never sat together to verify them.

CS Vaidyanathan, who is representing Ram Lalla, said the exercise was done and that both the parties sat and examined the translations.

The five-judge bench was reconstituted after justice UU Lalit, on January 10, recused himself from hearing the matter after it was pointed out to him that he has in the past appeared in a contempt case related to the title suit. Justice NV Ramana was also replaced on the bench.

Justice Bhushan and justice Nazeer, who came in instead of justice Lalit and justice Ramana, were part of a bench headed by then CJI Dipak Misra that last year declined to refer an old judgment about whether a mosque is integral to Islam or not, to a larger bench.

On January 27, the Supreme Court cancelled a scheduled January 29 hearing because justice Bobde was not available that day.

Fourteen appeals have been filed in the top court against a 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre disputed land in Ayodhya be partitioned equally between three parties  the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhada and Ram Lalla, the child deity.

The new bench is expected to fix a date to begin the hearings and prepare a schedule for them.

The bench is also expected to hear a fresh petition filed by residents of Ayodhya, who have challenged the 1993 law by which the Centre acquired the 67.7 acres of land around the disputed site. The petition, filed by seven individuals, including two Lucknow-based lawyers claiming to be devotees of Ram Lalla, contends that Parliament had no legislative competence to acquire land belonging to a state.

The court will also hear a fresh application by the Union of India seeking the courts nod to return the undisputed area, except the 0.313-acre plot where the demolished mosque stood until it was demolished by kar sevaks on December 6, 1992, to its rightful owners. According to the Centre, 42 acres of the acquired non-disputed land belonged to Ram Janambhoomi Nyas (RJN).

It has sought a modification of courts 2003 order that while upholding the acquisition law had ordered status quo at the site.

The bench has already brought on record the magnitude of the case. CJI Gogoi has mentioned that 120 issues have been framed in the case and a total of 88 witnesses had been examined by subordinate courts.

The deposition of witnesses runs into 13,886 pages and 257 documents have been exhibited; and, as the judgement runs into 4,304 pages, the original records of the case are stored in 15 sealed trunks.
The mood in the Kashmir valley was one of dread ahead of the Supreme Courts hearing of challenges to Article 35 A, which gives special rights to the state of Jammu & Kashmir.

The petitions challenge Article 35 A of the Constitution, which empowers the Jammu and Kashmirs legislature to define permanent residents of the state and provide special rights and privileges to them.

The states mainstream regional parties and separatist organisations all believe , despite their other differences, that the Article should stay. Everybody is anxious. We are a Muslim majority state and if the law goes, our demography will change, said Muzaffar Ahmad, 30, a government employee in Srinagar.

That is why if the law is revoked people will come out on roads. It will be a do or die situation he added, riffing off graffiti drawn all over the valley.

Amidst fears of war between India and Pakistan, following a terror attack on a CRPF convoy by a local terrorist owing allegiance to the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, people in the valley also fear that Article 35 A may be abrogated.

On Friday, the home ministry allotted around 100 companies of central forces to the state to maintain law and order and the local administration took a number of decisions over stocking of essentials. The same day, there were mass arrests of separatists, and lots of flight movements.

Former chief minister Omar Abdullah articulated the sense of dread of the average Kashmiri.

Our government issued strange orders; one after another order about oil pumps, ration stores and then stocking medicines What was the preparation for? If something was left unsaid that was filled by police order saying that all policemen should be ready for the situation, he said, addressing the media at party headquarters in Srinagar. A big hotel has reportedly been acquired as HQ of security forces, he added.

Abdullah said the situation would turn worse than it is in Arunachal Pradesh, if the central government tinkers with Article 35 A in J&K.

The North Eastern state is in the grip of violence after a committee recommended the grant of permanent residency certificates (PRC) to six communities that are not part of the Arunachal Pradesh Scheduled Tribes list.

Another former chief minister and PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti said any attempt to change Article 370, which gives a degree of autonomy to the state, and Article 35 A will undermine and nullify the very contract that legitimizes J&Ks accession with India.

Rohit Kansal, the official spokesman of the government, had assured people that the state governments position in the Supreme Court  seeking adjournment till an elected government is in place  stands.
China on Tuesday urged India to fight terrorism through international cooperation hours after the Indian air force carried out a targeted strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camp located across the Line of Control (LoC).

India should create favourable conditions internationally to fight terrorism, China added possibly in an oblique reference to New Delhis failure to convince Beijing to allow Jaish-e-Mohammed chief, Azhar Masood to be designated as a terrorist at the UN Security Council.

Follow live updates here

The strike comes a day before the foreign ministers of Russia, India, and China (RIC) are expected to meet in the eastern China town of Wuzhen under the RIC mechanism.

Responding to a question on the air strike, the foreign ministry spokesperson, Lu Kang said both India and Pakistan -- one of Chinas closest allies -- should maintain restraint.

We have taken note of relevant reports. I want to say that India and Pakistan are both important countries. A sound relationship and cooperation serve the interests of peace and stability in South Asia. Both parties (should) remain restrained and do more to improve bilateral relations, Lu Kang said.

Opinion: Why Pakistan is unlikely to retaliate to Indias pre-emptive strike

Read: Nation in safe hands, says PM Modi

As for Indias claims on taking action against terrorism, fighting terrorism is a global practice. It needs to be dealt with international cooperation. And India needs to create a favourable condition internationally for the same, Lu said.

The Chinese foreign ministrys reaction came soon after foreign secretary, VK Gokhale confirmed that Indian forces carried out a strike on the biggest camp of the terror group Jaih e Mohammed in Balakot area early on Tuesday.

Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary, the foreign secretary said.

The Chinese foreign ministry reacted carefully, keeping in mind its close ties with Pakistan and the fact that Indias decision to carry out the strike was triggered by JeM-planned Pulwama attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel.

Read: After IAF strike on terror camp, Army tweets poem on power and peace

Interestingly, Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi and his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi spoke over phone about the Pulwama attack and its aftermath over the phone on Monday evening.

Qureshi informed Wang of Pakistans stance on and measures to deal with the attack, reaffirming the countrys sincerity and resolution to communicate with India and find out the truth of the incident, a report by Chinas official news agency, Xinhua, said.

Qureshi said Pakistans position on maintaining regional peace and fighting terrorism will remain unchanged and it is willing to join hands with other countries to cooperate in this area, it added.

In the phone conversation, Wang said China supports Pakistan and India to resolve the issue through dialogue as soon as possible and avoid an escalation of the situation.

He called on both sides to collaborate on fighting terrorism and jointly safeguard the security and stability of South Asia, the report said.

Meanwhile, the Pulwama terrorist attack and the listing of Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN is expected to prominently figure at the 16thRIC foreign ministers meeting being held here on Wednesday.

Besides attending the annual trilateral meeting, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj would also hold bilateral talks with Chinese FM Wang and Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the meeting.

Swarajs meeting with Wang assumes significance as it will be the first high-level interaction between the two countries after the Pulwama terror attack and Tuesdays air strike.

China, a veto-wielding member of the UNSC, has consistently blocked India, the US, the UK and Frances efforts to list Azhar as a global terrorist since 2016 but endorsed a scathing statement issued by UN Security Council on February 21 on the Pulwama attack
The fire that had spread to a vast area of the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka in the past few days has been brought under total control, the state forest department said Tuesday.

The fire is under total control. It is not even on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border, principal chief conservator of forest C Jayaram (wildlife) told PTI.

Wildlife experts said, most of the core area of Bandipur has been affected by the fire that began on the February 21.

The success could be achieved with the help of the Indian Air Force, which deployed two helicopters that ferried several gallons of water from a nearby reservoir to douse the raging flames.

Punati Sridhar, principal chief conservator of forest, also said the blaze has been brought under total control, according to PTI.

M D Madhusudan, a scientist from the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), a non-governmental organisation, said in a tweet that the extent of forest fires at Bandipur until Tuesday appears to be more than 17,000 acres (69 sq km). The total area of Bandipur reserve is about 870 sq km.

As fuel loads, likely contributed by invasive Lantana build up, subsequent fires especially under windy conditions became insanely difficult to contain, he tweeted, along with satellite images of the Bandipur reserve.

The current phase of hot and dry weather in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu has made the region extremely vulnerable to fires, an analysis of weather data put out by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) suggests.

At least 372 fires were reported from different forest areas in Karnataka between Monday and Tuesday, while 415 were reported from Tamil Nadu with a majority located in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, according to Forest Survey of India (FSI) data. The FSI is a central government agency that monitors forest fires using satellite-based remote sensing technology.

Apart from Bandipur, the FSI map shows fires in Belgaum, Uttar Kannada, Dharwar, Dakshin Kannad, Kodagu and Chikmaglur districts in Karnataka.

IMD scientists said interior Karnataka, interior Tamil Nadu and Rayalseema are experiencing extremely dry conditions. The relative humidity is between 50% and 60%, while the maximum temperature is ranging between 34 and 38 degrees. Wind direction is variable blowing at about 10 to 15 kmph, said Charan Singh, scientist at IMD.

According to IMD, the 2018 northeast monsoon season (October-December) rainfall over the country as a whole was substantially below normal (56% of LPAlong period average) and there was hardly any rain after December in this region.

The National Remote Sensing Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation carried out an assessment of the area affected by the fire. On February 25, it estimated the extent of burnt area to be about 4,419.54 hectares or 10,920 acres.

While the impact of the fire on the wildlife is yet to be assessed, experts claim the ecological impact on flora is very severe. The area burnt is very large (17,000 acres) as per records, hence the impact is also very large. Though the mortality of larger animals may be smaller, the indirect impacts of these fires are devastating, said Sanjay Gubbi, a Bengaluru-based wildlife biologist.

Frequent fires in an area change diversity and floral composition with only fire resistance species such as axel wood tree, and Indian laburnum surviving in such areas.

In areas like Bandipur, it is very hard to douse fires once it burns at the scale as it has happened now. Hence, prevention is a better solution, added Gubbi.

(With PTI inputs)


Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who faced a backlash over his remarks on the Pulwama terror attack, today hailed the air strikes by the Indian Air Force on Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp across Line of control in Balakot early on Tuesday.

In the war of right and wrong, you cannot be neutral. The war against terror outfits is spot on... Bravo Indian Air Force, Jai Hind, tweeted the Punjab minister, who had sparked outrage over his comment on February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in south Kashmirs Pulwama that killed 40 jawans.

Nations cannot be held responsible for an act done of a few cowards...and terrorism has no dharam, mazhab, zaat aur desh (religion, caste or country), Sidhu had said.

Referring to the air strikes against Jaish, Sidhu in another tweet stressed that the antidote for snake bite is also poison.

    ,

    ,

    ,     ,



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      @IAF_MCC

         Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) February 26, 2019

He also posted a video of his February 18 statement. Terrorists should be crushed and their punishment should act as a deterrent for generations to come, Sidhu said in the video.

Taking a dig at the BJP, he had added, But no religion teaches to harm the innocent children...we need to get those who sponsor terrorists extradited. A terror group has claimed responsibility. But who released them at Kandahar....

Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh also welcomed the air strikes saying he had favoured strong retaliatory action after Pulwama and the Congress would support any course of action decided by the central government. They have killed 41, we should kill 82 of theirs, he had said, adding, If Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan could not arrest the JeM chief who was operating from Pak soil, then we will do it for him.

Former CM Parkash Singh Badal also saluted the Indian Air Force fighter pilots for carrying out brave and effective air strikes. Badal congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and IAF chief, Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, for completely paralysing the enemy response.

Shiromani Akali Dal chief and former deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal also hailed the airstrikes and congratulated PM and Chief of the Air Staff.
Australia joined the European Union and China to call for restraint from India and Pakistan after Indian warplanes bombed a terrorist camp deep across the Line of Control but also asked Pakistan to enforce the ban on terror groups such as the Jaish and Lashkare-Toiba.

In a statement hours after Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale announced the strike on a terror camp, Australia asked Pakistan to take urgent and meaningful action against terrorist groups in its territory including the Jaish-e-Mohammed which claimed responsibility for the attack on a CRPF convoy and the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Pakistan must do everything possible to implement its own proscription of Jaish-e-Mohammed. It can no longer allow extremist groups the legal and physical space to operate from its territory, Australian foreign minister Marise Payne said in a statement.

Also read: Nation in safe hands, says PM hours after IAF strikes Jaish camp across LoC

Australia also urged both sides to exercise restraint, avoid any action which would endanger peace and security in the region and engage in dialogue to ensure that these issues are resolved peacefully.

These steps would make a substantial contribution to easing tensions and resolving the underlying causes of conflict, the minister said.

Indian Air Force jets had targeted a terror camp where Pakistan-backed Jaish terrorists were preparing suicide attacks on its cities, Indias Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said earlier in the day. He said a very very large number of terrorists from the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group were killed in the strike.

Also read: Yusuf Azhar, 1999 plane hijacker, headed Balakot Jaish camp hit by IAF

Indian sources have told HT that the bombing was estimated to have eliminated 200-300 terror operatives.

Pakistani officials have confirmed Indian planes breached its airspace and dropped a payload over Balakot in the countrys northwest. But they have claimed that there was no damage or casualties.
Hundreds of fidayeen or suicide attackers and their trainers were shifted from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to a five-star resort style camp at a hilltop forest in Balakot after the Pulwama attack, providing Indian forces with a sitting duck target when they carried out an air strike early Tuesday, killing nearly 300 terrorists, PTI has reported, quoting sources.

The sources said those killed included 25 to 27 trainers at the the 7-acre camp, terror group Jaish-e-Mohammeds biggest in Pakistan. The Jaish had masterminded the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in south Kashmirs Pulwama that killed 40 jawans. The group is headed by Masood Azhar, whose brother-in-law Yousuf Azhar reportedly ran the camp.

Everyone at the camp was sleeping when the IAF mirage 2000s bombed it at around 3.30 am; the Pakistani defence establishment had no clue that the attack was coming so deep into their country because they had expected a surgical strike on camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir near the Line of Control, said the sources who are close to the government, PTI said.

India had received intelligence that JeM had shifted many in-training terrorists and hardcore operatives, along with their trainers, to the Balakot camp, which has facilities to house 500 to 700 people, and even has a swimming pool along with cooks and cleaners.

Fighter and other aircraft took off from several air bases in Western and Central commands at about the same time, leaving Pakistani defence officials confused as to where they were heading, the PTI report said, citing sources. A small group of aircraft broke away from the swarm and headed to Balakot where the sleeping terrorists were sitting ducks for the Indian bombing, said one source. They had no idea that Balakot was to be the target ... when the pictures come in you will see only khandahar (ruins) of the once-flourishing camp, said the source.
A Supreme Court Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi will on Tuesday take up the politically sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case. On the first day, the new bench, also comprising justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and SA Nazeer, is expected to fix a date to begin the hearings and prepare a schedule for them.

The top court will also consider the review petitions filed in the contentious Rafale aircraft deal against its December 14 judgment in chambers later in the afternoon. Review petitions against the main judgment are usually decided by the judges sitting in their chambers. If the judges  in this case the CJI and justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph  opine that the petitions deserve an open court hearing, then they would give a date for the same.

The five-judge bench hearing the Ayodhya case was reconstituted after justice UU Lalit, on January 10, recused himself from hearing the matter after it was pointed out to him that he has in the past appeared in a contempt case related to the title suit. Justice NV Ramana was also replaced on the bench.

Justices Bhushan and Nazeer, who came in instead of justices Lalit and Ramana, were part of a bench headed by then CJI Dipak Misra that last year declined to refer an old judgment about whether a mosque is integral to Islam or not, to a larger bench.

On January 27, the Supreme Court cancelled a scheduled January 29 hearing because justice Bobde was not available that day.

Fourteen appeals have been filed in the apex court against a 2010 Allahabad high court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre disputed land in Ayodhya be partitioned equally between three parties  the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhada and Ram Lalla, the child deity.

The Constitution Bench is also expected to hear a fresh petition filed by residents of Ayodhya, who have challenged the 1993 law by which the Centre acquired the 67.7 acres of land around the disputed site. The petition, filed by seven individuals, including two Lucknowbased lawyers claiming to be devotees of Ram Lalla, contends that Parliament had no legislative competence to acquire land belonging to a state.

The court will also hear a fresh application by the Union of India seeking the courts nod to return the undisputed area, except the 0.313 acre plot where the demolished mosque stood until it was demolished by kar sevaks on December 6, 1992, to its rightful owners. According to the Centre, 42 acres of the acquired non-disputed land belonged to Ram Janambhoomi Nyas (RJN).

It has sought modification of courts 2003 order that while upholding the acquisition law had ordered status quo at the site.

The bench has already brought on record the magnitude of the case. CJI Gogoi has mentioned that 120 issues have been framed in the case and a total of 88 witnesses had been examined by subordinate courts.

The deposition of witnesses runs into 13,886 pages and 257 documents have been exhibited; and, as the judgement runs into 4,304 pages, the original records of the case are stored in 15 sealed trunks.

The advantage or disadvantage for a political party or a group of parties can be imagined only if there is a judgment on the Ayodhya dispute. Mere hearing of the case doesnt mean anything for either the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] or its adversaries, said Sanjay Kumar of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS).

SCs Rafale review today

The Supreme Court will on Tuesday consider review petitions filed in the Rafale case against its December 14 judgement.

The bench would comprise Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice SK Kaul and Justice KM Joseph. As per the SC rules, review petitions are decided by the judges in chambers through circulation. In case the judges opine that the petitions deserve an open court hearing then they would give a date for the same.

The review petitions have been filed by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, advocate Prashant Bhushan. They have claimed that the judgement was based on errors apparent on the face of the record and non-consideration of subsequent information which has come to light would cause a grave miscarriage of justice. Aam Aadmi party MP Sanjay Singh has also filed a review plea.
After the Supreme Court on Tuesday suggested a resolution of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute through mediation, the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas (RJN) and Muslim litigant Iqbal Ansari in the case opposed the proposal, saying such efforts have failed in the past.

The Supreme Court also fixed next Tuesday as the date for passing its order on whether to appoint a mediator and gave eight weeks time for verification of the translation of the documents, translations and records in the case.

Even if there is 1% chance for mediation between the parties (Hindus-Muslims) we should give it an opportunity, justice SA Bobde, one of the five judges comprising the Constitution Bench hearing the title suit, said.

Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, head of the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas which has been spearheading the Ram Mandir movement across the country, said all forms of mediation on the issue have failed to deliver results in the past.

Mediation will simply kill time and delay any verdict on the title dispute. After waiting patiently for such a long duration for judgment on the Ram Janmabhoomi issue, we do not want mediation anymore, Das said.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) was also against any form of mediation.

When the court case has reached its last phase (in the Supreme Court) appointing a mediator will further delay the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, said VHPs regional spokesperson Sharad Sharma.

Also read | Give mediation a chance: Supreme Court says on Ayodhya case

The Muslim litigant in the case Iqbal Ansari also came out strongly against the Supreme Courts suggestion for a mediator.

My father late Hashim Ansari (the original litigant in the Ayodhya dispute) tried to have out of court settlement on many occasions but all efforts failed, he said.

When both Hindu and Muslim litigants have agreed to abide by the courts order, why this new mediation process? All forms of mediation have failed, Ansari asserted.

The five-judge bench was reconstituted after justice UU Lalit, on January 10, recused himself from hearing the matter after it was pointed out to him that he has in the past appeared in a contempt case related to the title suit. Justice NV Ramana was also replaced on the bench.

Justice Bhushan and justice Nazeer, who came in instead of justice Lalit and justice Ramana, were part of a bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra which last year declined to refer an old judgment about whether a mosque is integral to Islam or not, to a larger bench.

The top court had on January 27 cancelled a scheduled January 29 hearing because justice Bobde was not available that day.

Fourteen appeals have been filed in the top court against a 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre disputed land in Ayodhya be partitioned equally between three parties  the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhada and Ram Lalla, the child deity.
The central government on Tuesday briefed the opposition parties over pre-dawn strike by the Indian Air Force on terror camps deep across the Line of Control (LoC). Emerging from the meeting, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said the opposition parties extended full support to the government and security forces in the fight against terror.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj briefed the opposition leaders at the all-party meeting held at Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan in New Delhi. The meeting was attended by Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Vijay Goel, Congress leader Azad and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah among others.

We have appreciated the efforts by the forces, they always have our support to end terrorism. Another good thing is that it was a clean operation in which no civilian died and terror camps were specifically targeted, said Azad.

Swaraj said, I am happy that all parties in one voice praised the security forces and supported the governments anti-terror operations.

News agency ANI reported quoting sources that Swaraj briefed the opposition leader about her telephonic conversation with US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo over the Indian air strikes on JeM terror camps in Balakot.

In the last all-party meeting also, convened in the wake of Pulwama terror attack, the opposition parties had said they backed the government calling upon to take all necessary action in the aftermath of the terror attack killing at least 40 CRPF soldiers.

Follow live updates here

Earlier in the day, when reports of IAF operation broke, several opposition leaders including Congress president Rahul Gandhi praised the air force for the strike on terror camps. Gandhi wrote on Twitter I salute the pilots of the IAF.

Congratulations to our brave air force for a brilliant operation across the LOC, said former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy, Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav are among the opposition leaders, who extended support to the armed forces.

The IAF conducted the strike on terror camps early this morning. Confirming the cross-LoC IAF operation, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said Jaish-e-Mohammeds biggest terror camp was destroyed in the strike. Jaish-e-Mohammed had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack on February 14.

A CRPF convoy carrying more than 2,500 soldiers from Jammu to Srinagar was targeted by a suicide bomber, who rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into one of the buses of the security forces. The terror strike saw swift action by the government.

India withdrew the most favoured nation status granted to Pakistan in 1996. It also increased tariff on imports from Pakistan by 200 per cent. It also decided to stop Indias quota of water from flowing to Pakistan. IAF attack is being viewed as the latest in the series.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is on its highest state of alert following the air strikes against a terror camp in Pakistan on Tuesday, and is prepared to scramble fighter jets from its forward bases at two minutes notice should the neighbour choose to retaliate, two IAF officials said on condition of anonymity.

Soon after the Indian air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammad training camp in Balakot, India increased its air defences, not wanting to do so ahead of the operation because that would have alerted the other side. Early on Tuesday morning, a Pakistani drone was brought down across the border in Gujarat. It isnt known whether this is connected to the air strike.

On Tuesday, fighter jets were on the operational readiness platform (ORP) at several bases to intercept intruding planes; the air forces air defence network were fully activated; and bases have been ordered to be on their highest state of alert, the officials said. ORP means the aircraft are ready to take off for missions in two minutes.

The army has fortified its defences along the Line of Control (LoC) to thwart any Pakistani attempts to retaliate, an army official said. The navy too is ready for any mission assigned to it, a navy official said. Apart from activating its air defence network to take down hostile targets, the army has moved some tanks and artillery closer to the border, two army officials said on condition of anonymity.

This is purely a precautionary measure to deal with new developments, one of the officials said.

Also read | France, Australia tell Pak to stop terror after IAF strike at Jaish camp

The army has also significantly enhanced its surveillance and intelligence gathering activities along the LoC.

A high level of readiness implies moving military equipment forward and strengthening forward deployments. This will help in promptly prosecuting any contingency that we have planned for, said former army vice chief Lieutenant General AS Lamba (retd).

Lieutenant General DS Hooda (retd), who oversaw the 2016 surgical strikes as Northern Army commander, said there could be more skirmishes along the LoC and a rise in terror attacks in Kashmir in the short term as a result of the air strikes.

The IAFs air defence systems such the indigenous Akash, the Israeli SpyDer, and Soviet-origin Pechora, OSA-AK and the shoulder-fired Igla are ready to tackle any aerial threats to vital areas and points, said one of the IAF officials quoted above.

A key part of the IAFs multi-layered air defence system, Akash missiles, knocked out simulated enemy jets at night during Vayu Shakti 2019, an IAF fire power demonstration recently staged in Rajasthan. Capable of being launched from mobile and static platforms, the mid-range Akash can engage multiple aerial targets such as fighter jets and unmanned aerial vehicles in fully autonomous mode.

The OSA-AK, also an integral part of the IAFs terminal air defence capability, is a quick reaction missile system that can engage low and medium level targets with accuracy. The OSA-AK surface-to-air missile travels at a speed of 500 metre per second.

The second IAF official said that mobile observations flights were also on high alert to spot hostile aircraft.

Also read | Prepare for all eventualities, Pak PM Imran Khan to citizens after IAF strikes Jaish camp across LoC

India wouldnt have launched the precision strikes if it was not prepared for possible retaliation by Pakistan, said former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Fali Major (retd). He said all measures would be in place to respond to any Pakistani action, and the neighbour could retaliate anytime.

The air strikes in Pakistan denote very clearly the will of the government and the capability of the IAF. As for Pakistan, we have taught them a lesson not to mess with us, said Major, who had proposed aerial surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

Some experts, however, believe that Pakistan may not retaliate militarily.

Former Western Air Command chief Air Marshal PS Ahluwalia (retd) said, They cant afford to go up on the escalation ladder and engage in a conventional war. They dont have the combat potential for that. Also, it will knock them out economically, Ahluwalia said. He added that Pakistan would look at asymmetric attacks and further fuel the proxy war in Kashmir.

IAF chief Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa made the same point during Vayu Shakti 2019. He said India faced an ever present sub-conventional threat as the enemy knew it cannot defeat India in a conventional conflict.

Also read | Mirage 2000, Sukhoi-30s, AWACS part of IAFs operation on JeM camp in Balakot
Australia and France joined the European Union and China to call for restraint from India and Pakistan after Indian warplanes bombed a terrorist camp deep across the Line of Control. But both countries also asked Pakistan to enforce the ban on terror groups such as the Jaish and Lashkare-Toiba.

A spokesperson of the French Foreign Ministry said Paris recognises Indias legitimacy to ensure its security against cross-border terrorism and asked Pakistan to put an end to the operations of terrorist groups established on its territory. France also called upon India and Pakistan to exercise restraint to avert any risk of military escalation and preserve strategic stability in region.

In a statement hours after Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale announced the strike on a terror camp, Australia asked Pakistan to take urgent and meaningful action against terrorist groups in its territory including the Jaish-e-Mohammed which claimed responsibility for the attack on a CRPF convoy and the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Pakistan must do everything possible to implement its own proscription of Jaish-e-Mohammed. It can no longer allow extremist groups the legal and physical space to operate from its territory, Australian foreign minister Marise Payne said in a statement.

Watch | We know how to defend ourselves: Pak President on IAF air strike

Australia also urged both sides to exercise restraint, avoid any action which would endanger peace and security in the region and engage in dialogue to ensure that these issues are resolved peacefully.

Also read | IAF air strikes across LoC: Nation in safe hands, says PM Narendra Modi

These steps would make a substantial contribution to easing tensions and resolving the underlying causes of conflict, the minister said.

Indian Air Force jets had targeted a terror camp where Pakistan-backed Jaish terrorists were preparing suicide attacks on its cities, Indias Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said earlier in the day. He said a very very large number of terrorists from the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group were killed in the strike.

Indian sources have told HT that the bombing was estimated to have eliminated 200-300 terror operatives.

Pakistani officials have confirmed Indian planes breached its airspace and dropped a payload over Balakot in the countrys northwest. But they have claimed that there was no damage or casualties.

Also read | Prepare for all eventualities, Pak PM Imran Khan to citizens after IAF strikes Jaish camp across LoC
Pakistans national security committee on Tuesday condemned the Indian Air Forces strikes at a Jaish-e-Muhammed terror camp across the Line of Control. The national security committee, chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, said Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing.

Pakistan PM Imran Khan directed the armed forces and the people of Pakistan to remain prepared for all eventualities. A statement said Imran Khan has decided to engage with global leadership expose irresponsible Indian policy in the region.

A special meeting of the National Security Committee was held at the Pakistan PMs office. The meeting was attended by ministers of foreign affairs, defence, finance, chairman of joint chiefs of staff and other senior officials.

(Follow live updates)

Watch: Why Pakistan is unlikely to retaliate to Indias pre-emptive strike

The national security panel alleged that the Indian government has resorted to a self serving, reckless and fictitious claim. Pakistan also claimed that the air strikes were being carried out in view of the general elections in India and put regional stability and peace at risk.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said that better sense should prevail in India and said his country holds the right to proper response to what he termed a grave aggression.

I will term it a grave aggressionIt is a violation of the Line of Control. Pakistan holds the right to self defence and proper response, said Qureshi, according to a video statement posted by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the ruling party of the country.

The IAF carried out the strikes at terror camp deep across the LoC at the biggest training centre of Jaish-e-Mohammed at Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The IAF used Mirage 2000 jets to strike at the terror camp in the highly rugged and mountainous region. Reports said 200-300 terrorists were killed in the IAF operation.

The PTI, the party headed by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, said in another Twitter post that Qureshi warned India not to challenge Pakistan saying Pakistan is fully prepared to respond to any misadventure.

In a TV interview, Qureshi said there is section in India which is trying to disturb the peace in the region to serve its own political end. Indian government is in dire need of winning the upcoming elections, selfish enough, they are willing to create unrest in the entire region. Pakistan will use all international forums to expose India while being ready to retaliate to any aggression, PTIs official handle quoted Qureshi as saying.

Qureshi had called an emergency meeting after India carried out air strikes across the LoC and destroyed terror camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Early Tuesday morning, the Indian Air Force Indian forces carried out a strike at the biggest camp of the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said hours after IAF dropped 1,000 pound bombs in a thickly-forested hilltop that has eliminated a large number of terrorists.

The IAF air strike came less than two week after a terror attack in Pulwama killed 40 CRPF troopers. The Jaish-e-Mohammed had claimed that attack.
Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) has re-emerged as Al Madina and Aisar Foundation, days after the Pakistan government decided to ban it, with members of the group openly engaging in fund-raising in cities such as Lahore.

Reports of JuD working with new names  a tactic resorted to by the group led by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed whenever it faces pressure from authorities  emerged as the European Union asked Pakistan to take clear and sustained actions against terror groups listed by the UN and individuals claiming attacks such as the one at Pulwama.

A meeting of the National Security Committee chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan on February 21 decided to accelerate action against proscribed organisations, including notifying JuD and its front, Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), as banned groups.

Within three days, JuD and FIF began operating with impunity with several new names, including Al Madina and Aisar Foundation, Pakistans Daily Times newspaper reported after its journalists visited newly renamed kiosks, offices and fund collection centres of the groups.

Despite the Pakistan governments announcement of a move to ban JuD and FIF, the two groups continue to be only on a watch list and havent been included on the list of banned groups maintained by the National Counter Terrorism Authority.

There was no official response to these developments from the Indian government.

Saeeds group adopted the name JuD after international pressure increased on LeT and it was banned. Following pressure on JuD after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the group adopted the name FIF. When Saeed was placed under house arrest in early 2017 and JuD faced renewed pressure, the group re-emerged as Tehreek-e-Azadi Jammu and Kashmir.

Daily Times reported that very few FIF offices in public places had been shut, and its workers had no qualms admitting that they worked for Saeed and had only changed the name due to the governments weakness against foreign pressure.

The report said people were seen visiting the offices and donating money in the name of helping the poor.

Some of the operators at rebranded...FIF outlets expressed their feelings that the government and security apparatus were on their side, but all the stakeholders [including FIF and Hafiz Saeed] were making a compromise for the time being, the report said. At a camp outside the JuD headquarters at Chauburji in Lahore, the FIF is still collection donations, the report added.

Meanwhile, Federica Mogherini, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, told foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sunday that Pakistan should continue addressing terrorism, including clear and sustained actions targeting not only all UN-listed transnational terrorist groups but also individuals claiming responsibility for strikes like the Pulwama attack.

Mogherini spoke on the phone to Qureshi regarding the tensions between India and Pakistan following the attack, an EU statement said. She stressed the urgency to de-escalate the situation and said the EU is in contact with Indian counterparts.

She appreciated the Pakistan premiers commitment to reach out to India and said the EUs policy has always been to promote a dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve differences.

A statement issued by Pakistans Foreign Office made no mention of Mogherinis demand for action against terror groups and only quoted Qureshi as saying Pakistan had expressed its readiness to investigate the attack and asked India to share actionable intelligence.
As mentioned in my last piece, I had planned to focus on leopards in this and the next few columns. But in this column, I simply must draw your attention on the existential crisis to the Aravallis posed by the Haryana governments recent decision to move a bill in the assembly to amend the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA). The bill, as per news reports, has been approved by the cabinet and is likely to be tabled in the ongoing budget session of the assembly. The proposed bill essentially allows construction and other activities in areas where it was previously disallowed due to the enforcement of the PLPA, and can potentially destroy over 60,000 acres of forest  almost 50% of the entire Aravalli range in South Haryana. At complete risk of destruction are over 16,000 and 10,000 acres of forests in Gurgaon and Faridabad district respectively.

I am going to tell you why this should matter to you.

The Aravalli range, one of the oldest fold mountains on Earth, has been in existence for about three billion years. The mountains stretch along the northwestern frontiers of India, shaping the climate, hydrology and biodiversity of the region. It curbs wind velocity, checks evaporation, recharges ground aquifers, which are depleting rapidly. Extraction of ground water in this region is 300% more than its recharge.

Aravallis dry, deciduous forests, rich green valleys, rivers, streams are abundant with a unique mix of flora and fauna and mineral-rich soil. As per a 2017 survey by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), the Aravallis in Haryana support leopards, hyena, fox, jackals, blackbucks, sambar, chinkara, porcupines. It has over 400 species of native trees and shrubs and over 200 species of birds.

In many ways, the Aravalli range is our savior, quietly and steadily making our lives bearable and livable. For billions of years, it has stood strong, as an impenetrable green barrier against the advance of the Thar desert towards the fertile soils of Haryana and Delhi.

Today, these venerable mountains are abused and degraded. The same WII survey showed that vegetative gaps have appeared in the ranges of the Aravalli. Encroachment, mining, real estate development, privatisation of common lands, and a lackadaisical approach to resource management have destroyed the Aravallis, shrinking it by 40% in the last four decades.

We have degraded, denuded, destroyed the Aravallis to such an extent that it is no longer a shield to the Thar desert that is sweeping into the northern plains. The desert is advancing toward us. We saw it in the increased frequency of dust storms in the last few years. Remember June 2018, when Gurugram was choking under a thick blanket of dust for days, spiking pollution to catastrophic levels?

That is what the destruction of the Aravallis will mean to us. In a city where pollution levels are so high that a third of its childrens lungs are impaired and one person dies every two minutes because of respiratory illnesses, the importance of this mountain range cannot be stressed enough. Further, the destruction of Aravallis will potentially lead to more intense and frequent dust storms, hotter summers, peak levels of pollution, and even greater water shortages.

The Aravallis is the lasteven though battered  barrier between us, and an uninhabitable, unlivable city and a dystopian future. They are the citys lungs, stricken, and ailing now due to the ravages we have wrought.

All our efforts should be concentrated on rewilding the Aravalis, restoring its forests, nurturing it back to health. Instead, the government is poised to amend the PLPA Act that will strip the Aravallis of the only protective cover it has. It merits repeating that Haryana has among the lowest forest covers in the country at about 3%. It also merits repeating that the apathy of the citizens is allowing the government to hand over common lands, our collective natural heritage into a few private hands. It is doing so at the cost of our health. With the Aravallis endangered, it is us who face an existential crisis.

@prernabindra

(Prerna Singh Bindra is a former member of the National Board for Wildlife. She is the author of The Vanishing: Indias Wildlife Crisis.)
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala made a rare fashion week appearance, sitting in the front row of Dolce & Gabbana on Sunday.

The mayors presence had the hallmark of an institutional show of support after the designers were forced to cancel a Shanghai show following comments by one of the designers deemed as racist.

The stalwart Milanese brand also faced a boycott in China, the luxury worlds biggest market, and the longer term impact of the incident remains unclear. This was their first womenswear show since the controversy, which was followed by another incident involving Milan colleagues Prada and Gucci for including images that recalled blackface in their collections.

Highlights from Sundays previews for next fall and winter:

Dolce and Gabbana parade elegance

Dolce & Gabbana gave the fashion world an encyclopedic review of their artisanal credentials with an expansive show of 127 looks.

The multi-theme runway show flipped through a series of well-catalogued Dolce & Gabbana themes. Designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana started with elegant suits topped with fedora hats or elaborate feathered fascinators worthy of a female Dasheill Hammett character then transitioned to chiffon and silk dresses or pantsuits with feather boa trim that exuded leisure.

A model presents a creation at the Dolce & Gabbana Autumn/Winter 2019 womenswear show at Milan Fashion Week, Italy. (REUTERS)

The designers then ran through patterns, textiles and colour: leopard, florals, houndstooth and Prince of Wales, jewel tone colorblocking and brocades. The designers, unusually, then highlighted a series of frothy bridal gowns. And the final flourish was reserved for the brands true mainstay: beautifully tailored looks in black.

The looks played on classic, even stereotypical, roles of femininity, which remains at the heart of Dolce & Gabbanas appeal with its core consumer.

Highlights included a royal purple A-line coat with cape and bow details that popped with layers of turquoise crinoline, an all-white fitted double-breasted suit topped with a soft cashmere overcoat, a modern take on the suit deconstructed into an off-shoulder look and a black-and-white polka dot dress made voluminous by underlays worn by an Asian model. Applause emitting from a VIP front row punctuated the show.

The show titled Elegance opened with a video showing Dolce draping fabric on a model and hand stitching a garment that, when finished, was branded with the duos script in Italian Fatto a mano, or Made by hand.

Stella Jean

Haitian-Italian designer Stella Jeans collection for next fall and winter took a dramatic turn with a sleeker silhouette and more urban styling.

Jean said that her bourgeois lady is taking an updated version of a 17th-century European tour, and instead of cultural capitals, she is visiting places usually considered beach destinations  but which instead have a rich artistic tradition. By that, she referred to the naive art of French Polynesia, Haiti and the Caribbean in general.

A model presents a creation at the Dolce & Gabbana Autumn/Winter 2019 womenswear show at Milan Fashion Week, Italy. (REUTERS)

A gray, brick and camel plaid belted trench gave expression to Jeans old continent influence and European styling. A tiered, pleated red print dress worn with a turtle neck and knee-high boots projected an easy elegance. A black laser-cut top with slit-skirt and short-shorts with a sweater with a pair of cats had youthful flair.

Jean maintained her colourful naive art prints, but with a long pencil skirt worn with a sleek high-neck blouse in seashell pink. The colour palette was more subdued than in some seasons past, including pink, green, blue, brick red gray and white.

For the first time there is some black. I guarantee that it does not reflect any malaise. I am not having a difficult moment. I like black, Jean said backstage.

Marras miners

Antonio Marrass collection exuded the freedom that he imagines would have been felt by Sardinian mine workers freed from labour, dressed in their Sunday best and ready to party. Its a feeling many new economy workers could easily relate to.

The joyful looks had a deliberate rag-tag feeling that Marras achieved by taking cuttings from discarded or used clothing and other fabrics, creating a chronological history of a garment through panels and patches as it is passed from mother to daughter, father to son, adapted for occasion and season.

Marras fantasy revolves around the Italian painter Modigliani, whose father owned Sardinian mines, and painterly images appear on garments, most sweetly on the fronts of knee socks.

A womans coat was made from scraps of a mans plaid jacket and a military coat, decorated with feathers and dark sparkles that evoke the minerals within the mine. A mans jacket was recycled with sleeves from one coat and panels from another. A dress was constructed out of layers of ruffles, tiers and bows over lace. A sweater was decorated with a copper sheen, patched with a masculine plaid and the lace.

It was all about improvisation: Marras was representing workers without means  but deliberately executed  they have skill and passion.

A model presents a creation at the Dolce & Gabbana Autumn/Winter 2019 womenswear show at Milan Fashion Week, Italy. (REUTERS)

ODP sustainable bags

Model Arizona Muse brought her sustainability chops to a capsule collection of structured bags by Italian brand Officina del Poggio, or ODP for short.

Were living in a really exciting time where sustainability isnt earthy and brown anymore. Its really chic and luxury, Muse said at a presentation.

Muse, who is on the board of the London-based Sustainable Angle non-profit, sourced rich ostrich skins taken from the birds legs, which until recently would have been discarded, and fused seamlessly together with new techniques to make luxe coverings for bags designed by American Allison Hoeltzel in her Bologna workshop.

Hoetzels handbags have the simple elegance of a Shaker box, and are built around wooden forms clad in leather, offering stylish protection objects in a hard shell. The bags are secured by sleek golden closures or belt straps. The designer said she plans to incorporate elements from the capsule in the main line of her 5-year-old brand, including a sustainable micro-suede for the bags interior and organic cotton velvet for the exterior.

The sustainable collection retailed for about 20% higher than her main collection, she said.

Atsushi Nakashima explores erosion

Japanese designer Atsushi Nakashimas seventh Milan runway collection explores erosion, with one element gradually invading another. Nakashima employed a sophisticated use of materials to create a trench coat with sheer silvery panels alongside black-trim khaki.

A military green dress was set off by a partial iridescent ruffle on the hem, puffy sleeves and transparent arm. A cropped belted trench coat with technical detailing was paired with a matching skirt, with just a peek of a white top setting the two garments apart. Textiles themselves had a distressed look, seeming to erode on the garment.

His triangular logo representing the A in his first name was worked into repeating patterns on sweat shirts, smocked dresses and most luxuriously on a fur coat with a sheer overlay.

A model wears a creation as part of the Dolce & Gabbana women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy. (AP)

Ujohs proportion plays

Mitsuru Nishizakis latest Ujoh collection combined western elements like fringe scarves, ribbed knitwear and quilting alongside looser Asian silhouette with elements of a kimono jacket and martial art trousers.

Both the female and male silhouette played with proportions. Sleeves were elongated, trousers loos and jackets wide.

A womans double-breasted jacket was paired loose Asian style trousers. A mans jacket closed with a built-in kimono belt. A long gray tunic with kimono arms tied in the front scarf-like at the waist, creating two lengths. Knitwear wrapped around the body, but was never symmetrical. Nishizaki also played with quilting, mimicking it with laser cuts on a leather-like textile

The palette was mostly black and neutrals, with flashes of colour mostly left for glimpses in linings.

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SSC Constable GD Admit Card: The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) has released the admit cards for constable General Duty (GD) in various CAPFs, NIA, SSF and Assam Rifles (AR) exam 2018. The admit cards have been released for candidates whose examinations are scheduled from March 1 to March 11, 2019.

Candidates can download SSC Constable GD admit card 2019 from regional websites of SSC.

SSC Constables (GD) in Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), NIA & SSF and Rifleman (GD) in Assam Rifles (AR) Examination, 2018 is being held from February 11 to March 11, 2019.

The Computer based examination will have 100 objective questions carrying 100 marks. There will be four sections and each section will have 25 questions carrying 25 marks each. There will be 25 questions on General Intelligence and Reasoning, 25 questions on General Knowledge and General Awareness, 25 questions on Elementary Mathematics and 25 questions on English/ Hindi. Candidates will be given 90 minutes to solve the paper. The questions in all the above components will be of Matriculation level.

Candidates will be selected on the basis of Computer Based Test (CBE), Physical Efficiency Test (PET), Physical Standard Test (PST) and Medical Examination.

The number of candidates to be shortlisted for PET/PST on the basis of merit in the Computer Based examination will be around 10 times of the number of vacancies.

The exam is being held for recruitment of Constable General duty (GD) in Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Force (ITBP) Sahastra Seema Bal (SSB), National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Secretariat Security Force (SSF) and rifleman (GD) in Assam rifles. The commission will fill tentatively 54,953 (47,307 males and 7646 females) posts through this recruitment process.

SSC GD Constable admit card: Links to download

Eastern Region: Admit card

Karnataka Kerala region: Admit card

Northeastern region: Admit card

Western Region Mumbai: Admit card

Madhya Pradesh Region: Admit card

Central Region: Admit card

North Western Region: Admit card

Northern Region: Admit card
The Delhi government has allocated Rs 15,600 crore, 26% of the total budget, for the eduction sector in its budget for 2019-20 fiscal presented in the assembly on Tuesday. This is the highest among all sectors.

Delhi education minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the finance ministry, presented the budget proposal for the year 2019-20. Education was, is and will always be our top priority. Keeping people illiterate has been a strategy of political parties as of now. But, our government wants to change the face of politics by brining education in the mainstream, Sisodia said.

The government has presented a total budget of Rs 60,000 crore for the year 2019-20, 26% of which will be spent on education.

The government has allocated Rs 42 crore to be given as the seed money to students studying in class 11 and 12 in the state-run schools and those studying in its colleges and universities under the upcoming Entrepreneurship Curriculum. The amount will be given to students to start developing their business plans. The curriculum will be taught to students studying in classes 9 to 12 in Delhi government schools.

The government will also introduce a course MBA in family business at the Delhi Technical University (DTU) for students coming from business background. The curriculum will help them take forward their family businesses. We are aiming to produce more job creators than job seekers in Delhis schools and colleges, Sisodia said.

The government has announced to established a new university in applied sciences that will offer skill based courses at different levels--- diploma, certificate, graduate and post graduate, M Phil and PhD. The national capital will also get another university for teachers training. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has been working on teachers training ever since it has come into power in 2015.

From academic session 2019-20, the government schools will also be give Rs 5 to 7 lakh to strength its School Management Committees (SMCs). The SMCs will also be given Rs 1 to 1.5 lakh additional amount to help teachers who want to take new initiatives to make learning better at their respective schools, Sisodia said.

The education minister has also announced to give tablets to the students studying in class 11 and 12 in its schools of excellences and Pratibha Vikas Vidhyalaya and allocated Rs 9 crore for the purpose. Also, the government school students scoring 80% and above in class 10 board examination will be given a tablet as a reward under a Pratibha fellowship.

Under the chief minister scholarship scheme, the government has also announced to provide an annual scholarship of Rs 2,500 to government school students who scored 80% and above in classes 7 to 12. We want to encourage talented students studying in government schools. We are not going to set any minimum limit for income of parents required to avail this scheme, Sisodia said. The government has also increased the scholarships given to SC, ST and minority category students studying in its schools.

Around 40,000 students will be trained in spoken English in government schools in the next academic session, Sisodia said. Last year, the government had introduced this programme for students studying in class 11 in its over 1,100 schools.
The Indian School Certificate Examination (ICSE) Class 10 Hindi paper was easy but lengthy, students said in Chandigarh on Tuesday.

Mayank Vaishnav, the Hindi teacher at Strawberry Fields High School (SFHS), said, The questions were easy and conceptual. Students came out of the examination hall looking all satisfied and accomplished. The questions were along the expected lines. When I saw the paper I was sure students will be able to do this easily. Most of the syllabus was covered during pre-boards.

Vishnupriya Pande, a student at St Xavier High school said, The paper was very easy but it took me a while to complete it. Otherwise also Hindi is a lengthy examination and todays exam was expectedly lengthy. I missed one of my questions.

Another student Vaani Mishra added, I found the questions little tricky. However, I managed to complete the same on time.

Donna Victor a student at SFHS said, The formal letter was based on rain-water harvesting while one of the questions regarding composition was based on the importance of forests and how irrespective of that deforestation is happening.

Manavi Kaur of SFHS said, My paper for 5 marks was left unattempted as it was very lengthy. Her friend Madhusmita added, I completed my paper almost in time, there was no time left for revision.

Lucknow

The ICSE examination for Hindi was very easy to comprehend. The questions were direct, straightforward and met the immediate expectations of the students.

In Lucknow, the students of City Montessori School came out of the examination hall with a glow of exuberance and extreme satisfaction.

Aryan Sinha, a student of science stream said, This year paper was so easy to understand and write. Another student Stephen Madan added, I completed my paper almost in time. It was lengthy but highly scoring.

Amandeep and Mohini together exclaimed Thank you God! The questions in the paper were based on the same structure as we did in our comparatives and pre-boards.

Bhoomi, a student of science steam said the paper was straight forward. Im sure to come out with flying colours, she said. Raghav, another student of science steam said the question paper was satisfactory and there was no ambiguity.

Seeing the shining faces of students, Proctor and HOD (Hindi Department) Shakuntala Singh hugged the students with immense joy and excitement.

Pratiksha Srivastava and DK Trivedi, Senior Hindi educators added, We had worked very hard with the students in the classes as well as in the evening camps. We are sure about their cent percent success.

Two more Hindi educators, Manisha Singh and Suchi Srivasava said, The paper today was very easy and questions asked were accurate and required brief explanations. Even the language portion was very clear and the students were better prepared with the essay topics.

Principal Vineeta Kamran said, I am so happy to see my kids contended and the paper acted as a power booster for the students.
Chemotherapy sessions, a surgery ahead, and heads full of dreams. Seventeen-year-olds Eros Agarwal and Samiksha Sinkar wont let cancer get in the way of life.

For two Maharashtra HSC students  Eros Agrawal from Mira Road and Samiksha Sinkar from Kurla  the exams which began on Thursday are not just a test of their knowledge, but also their will to fight cancer.

Eros, 17, a commerce student at Mithibai College, was diagnosed with blood cancer in October 2017. As travelling during treatment was tough, he couldnt attend the lectures and had to even miss his Class 11 exams. His family asked him to take the exam next year. But Eros, even after undergoing more than 50 chemotherapy sessions, decided against it, and filled his form as a private candidate.

He had scored 90% in Class 10 and was in his dream college. But fate took an ugly turn and couldnt attend classes. Despite all this, he is writing his exams, said his father Rajesh, who runs a small business. After his request, the state board allotted him 20 minutes extra for each hour, considering his medical condition. His cancer treatment will go on till 2020. I want to become a CA. I will try my best to fulfill my dreams, said Eros.

Samiksha Sinkar, 17, a commerce student, was diagnosed with bone cancer in 2018. After several rounds of chemotherapy, she will undergo a surgery in March. A student of commerce stream, she is writing her exams this year.

We did not pressurise her to take the exam, but she did not want to miss a year. She has been preparing for entrance exams for design schools and we hope she clears them, said her mother Sonali.

The board has allotted her extra time, while the Bengali Education Society junior college, from where she has filled her form, has given her ground-floor seating, as she has pain in her right leg. I feel better now and will try to finish the paper without using extra time, said Samiksha.

3.35 lakh students from mumbai division have registered for the exam this year. of them, 54,056 are from Arts stream, 91,178 Science and 1,85,774 from Commerce.
The February 14 terrorist attack in Pulwama left India seething with rage. There was a groundswell of opinion that Pakistan and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)  the terrorist group that claimed responsibility for the attack  should be taught a lesson. It would have been difficult for any prime minister to not pay attention to this populist sentiment, especially in an election year. The airstrikes that the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out deep inside the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region of Pakistan proves that the latter may have overused its terrorism-under-the-nuclear-umbrella card. According to a press statement by Indias foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale, IAF fighter jets, in the early hours of Tuesday, struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. The attack eliminated a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis.

Whats new about these airstrikes? One, this is the first time one nuclear power has used airpower to strike inside the territory of another nuclear power. Two, the airstrikes were not in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) but on undisputed Pakistani territory  the first by India after 1971. The surgical strikes of 2016 did not invite, according to some experts, nuclear or any other kind of retaliation from Pakistan because it was in PoK just across the line of control (LoC). Three, unlike the 2016 strikes, these airstrikes did not target terrorist launch pads along the LoC, but a training camp. The difference would be realised in the number of casualties too, though exact figures are not known yet.

There are, however, some key similarities with the 2016 surgical strikes and previous Indian operations. The official briefing after the airstrikes was restrained and professional. India presented it as a non-military pre-emptive action against terrorists (not the Pakistani military) based on credible intelligence that the targeted camp was being used by JeM to train jihadis for suicide bombings. By not framing it as retaliation to Pulwama, India signalled that it is not walking into any pre-selected escalatory spiral. The selection of target and execution ensured that there were no civilian casualties.

The reaction from Pakistan has been confused. The spokesperson of the Pakistan armed forces started by playing down the airstrikes. He claimed that the payload actually fell on open land and did not do any damage. However, the political response has been different. Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistans foreign minister, has called the Indian action one of grave aggression, and asserted that Islamabad has the right to respond. The way out of an escalation in September 2016 was Pakistan denying that anything like the surgical strikes even happened. India did not force Pakistans hands by choosing to hold back the video footage, which was released much later. On this occasion, the Pakistani army has had to accept the IAF intrusion but it has tried to find an escape route out of the escalation ladder by playing down the impact. One does not yet know whether Pakistan will choose to retaliate or not.

Where does this leave us with the subcontinental escalation dynamics? Pakistan claims to follow the concept of full-spectrum deterrence, which aims to completely eliminate any possibility of conventional war with India. It has been able to get away with low cost, subconventional warfare against India by flaunting its nuclear weapons. The 2016 surgical strikes had already dented Pakistans fantastical doctrine. Tuesday airstrikes have now punched a bigger hole in its full-spectrum deterrence. These two events have shown that there is ample space for a one-off conventional operation, including the use of airpower in undisputed Pakistani territory, and below the nuclear threshold. Even if Pakistan chooses to escalate, unless it uncorks its nuclear options, which is almost unimaginable, it further expands the space for conventional warfare below the nuclear threshold.

This, precisely, is the big dilemma for the Pakistani security establishment. Its air defence systems have been caught napping. The option of airstrikes left its battlefield nukes ineffectual. The use of strategic nukes against airstrikes, which, the Pakistani army claims, hardly damaged anything, can be safely ruled out. Any conventional response from Pakistan hurts its own professed full-spectrum deterrence. India should be alert nonetheless. Pakistans response could be conventional or through its terrorists proxies. These airstrikes alone wont end Pakistans sponsorship of terrorism. However, India should embed such strikes into a long-term strategy of increasing Pakistans costs for pursuing subconventional warfare. Progress will be gradual and uneven but India will need to persist with a military, diplomatic and economic strategy to counter Pakistan whether an election is approaching or not.
US President Donald Trump and the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un met for the first time in Singapore in June 2018. The US had hoped for a North Korean commitment to full, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation. What it got instead was a vague promise to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Mr Kim did agree to shut down a missile engine testing site but North Korea most probably did not need it any longer. In fact, the major concession in Singapore was made by Mr Trump who announced the suspension of expensive and provocative military exercises with South Korea. Will the results be any better when Mr Trump and Mr Kim meet each other again in Hanoi on February 27-28?

Mr Kim has already achieved de facto nuclear status for North Korea. Flaunting the nukes, he has been able to drag the US president to the negotiating table. He is not going to give up the nuclear deterrent and lose everything he has so far achieved. Besides, he also does not want to meet the fate of Iraqs Saddam Hussein or Libyas Muammar Gaddafi. It now seems that Mr Trump also knows that denuclearisation is an unrealistic goal. He is happy that North Korea is no longer testing nuclear weapons and missiles.

The most realistic goal would be to place some sort of limits on the nuclear weapons programme of North Korea. Mr Kim has hinted that he would be willing to dismantle the Yongbyon nuclear complex where North Korea produces plutonium and enriches uranium. But several questions remain. Will he shut down the entire complex? Will the dismantling process be truly irreversible? And most importantly, how much and what exactly will Mr Kim demand in return? The US is contemplating a move to declare an end to the 1950-53 Korean War which had halted on the back of an armistice agreement. But Mr Kim may demand much more. Will Mr Trump make some big concessions on economic sanctions? We will know later this week.
The Delhi government gave a department-wise report on the progress of its programmes and schemes in the second edition of its outcome budget, presented in the assembly on Monday.

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, while affirming that most government projects were on track, also announced that from next year, people would get to track all capital projects online from the day of their conception.

Sisodia, who is also Delhis finance minister, said the prime objective of presenting the outcome budget is to enhance transparency in the use of public money, predictability and also for making it easy for people to understand the activities going on in various departments.

As per the report, the performance of the directorate of higher education was the best until December 31, 2018, as 86% of its 93 critical projects and schemes were on track.

The social welfare department came second with 85% works on track. The worst performer was the Public Works Department (PWD) with 35% of its works lagging behind. The transport department was only marginally better, with 32% projects running behind schedule. The report covered 15 departments.

The budget only mentioned the number of projects that are lagging behind, without specifying which projects these were. Also, the percentage of on track and off track projects for the departments were calculated based only on critical projects, not the total projects.

However, the outcome budget, did not specify the exact nature of performance which was quantified for various departments.

Sisodia said the coming fiscal, the government will present the outcome budget in a new avatar to promote greater transparency in its capital expenditure works.

We will take the exercise of outcome budgeting forward by geo-mapping each major capital project included in our outcome budget statement of any department along with the project name, nodal department and officer, timelines for completion, work award costs and details of contractor, he said.

An analysis of 2018-19 Outcome Budget with last years report suggests that the number of projects and schemes taken up by the government has seen a significant increase. This is significant as the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is preparing to fight the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and this is the last full year of its five-year tenure that ends in 2020.

Projects under the women and child development department, for example, have increased from 164 to 207. PWDs projects increased from 122 to 231, power departments rose from 59 to 111 and transports was 102 to 209.

Report a political stunt: Opposition

Leader of opposition Vijender Gupta said the outcome report of the government was driven by narrow political considerations.

There was no impartial and independent assessment by an outside agency. The government selected its own input and outcome indicators. The deputy CM overlooked the fact that a number of departments failed to spend even 20% of the budget during the first nine months of allocation (April- December). The energy sector spent 0.82%, tourism spent 0.7%, food and civil supplies 13.89% and housing 10.22%. It shows the inefficiency of the government, which it is seeking to hide, he said.

Vijender Gupta added that Sisodia praised his own government using half-cooked information provided by his own officers.
The buzz around Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor-starrer Good News is gaining momentum with every passing day. The film is about a married couple desperately trying for a baby. Work on the film has commenced and Kareena was recently spotted shooting for it in Mumbai. The actor looked glamorous as ever, wearing an off-shoulder black-coloured dress.

Kareena and Akshay have had hits together when they worked in Ajnabee, Kambakkt Ishq, Tashan, Aitraaz and Bewafaa. Interestingly, Good News, touted to be a dramedy, will see Udta Punjab actor Diljit Dosanjh and Kiara Advani in supporting roles as a Punjabi couple, also trying for a baby.

Meanwhile, the films producer, Karan Johar, tweeted on Thursday to announce that the film will release in September this year. It was previously expected to hit the screens in July 2019.

While Akshay has a busy calendar ahead, Kareena seems to be taking one project at a time, suggest reports. Once, she finishes shooting for Good News, only then will she move to Karans directorial Takht, which will reportedly go on floors from September. Takht is a multi starrer that will see Ranveer Singh, Vicky Kaushal, Bhumi Pednekar, Janhvi Kapoor, Anil Kapoor apart from Kareena in action.

Also read | Koffee With Karan promo: I like Arjun Kapoor this way or that, says Malaika Arora

Meanwhile, Akshay has already begun promoting his next film, Kesari, which is yet another Dharma Production. The actor will be seen playing a character called Isher Singh, in the film which is based on the Battle of Saragarhi. Parineeti Chopra plays the female lead in the film.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Kareena Kapoor Khan has revealed how Saif Ali Khans daughter Sara came to meet her for the trial of Kabhi Khushi Khabhie Ghum. Speaking on the closing episode of Koffee with Karan where she appeared with Priyanka Chopra, Kareena said, At the trial of Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Sara came dressed in You Are My Sonia outfit with Amrita (Singh) wanting to meet me because she was a huge fan. Sara is Saifs daughter with his first wife Amrita Singh.

Sara recently made her Bollywood debut with Abhishek Kapoors Kedarnath opposite Sushant Singh Rajput. She has since delivered a blockbuster, Simmba, with Ranveer Singh.

When Karan mentioned that more and more leading female actors are getting married at the peak of their careers nowadays, Kareena said she would take credit for starting the trend. Karan asked her how Saif Ali Khan proposed to her in Greece and she said they were shooting for her song Challiya Challiya from Tashan when Saif decided to stay back for the shoot and asked her to marry him.

Just woke up one morning and he was like Listen, lets get married. I wanna marry you. Lets just go to a church, lets just do it right here. I was like  Are you mad? He was like Yeah. I dont care. Were just gonna do it. I wanna marry you. I wanna spend the rest of my life with you and I cant see it any other way. And I just realised this was it, she said.

Also read: Akash Ambani pre-wedding bash: Ranbir Kapoor-Alia Bhatt enjoy some together time, Maroon 5 likely to perform. See pics

Kareena said Saif told her that his son Ibrahim and daughter Sara are of utmost importance to him. I was madly in love with him. Im still head over heels in love with him. And I think I always will be all my life. I think the best decision was to marry him, she said.

Kareena also talked about her equation with Saifs ex wife Amrita Singh, I have utmost respect and regard for her. Weve never met, she said. She added she met Saif years after he divorced Amrita. So it was not on anyones time. He was clearly single, she said, clarifying that there was no infidelity on anyones part.

Sundays episode of Koffee With Karan marked the end of the sixth season of the hit celebrity show hosted by Karan Johar.

Also read: Firebrand review: Usha Jadhav, Girish Kulkarni shine in Netflixs first Marathi film

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Actor Esha Deol had announced last month that she was expecting her second child with husband Bharat Takhtani. The Yuva actor took to Instagram on Sunday to post a fresh picture from a family wedding. She can be seen in full pregnancy glow. With a distinct baby bump, the actor looks stunning in a navy blue maternity gown.

Sharing the picture, she wrote: #weddings#family #takhtani wearing @mamalicious #maternitygown @anaqajewels @kareenparwani @bharattakhtani3 in @simplysimone.official #tuxedo.

Bharat can be seen in a matching dark blue tuxedo.

In fact, Esha had posted another picture where she was seen in a red gown with a bunch of girls by a water body.

It may be recalled that Esha had taken to Instagram in January this year and shared a picture of her daughter Radhya, which also had a note written. It read: I am being promoted to big sister.

Also read: Janhvi Kapoor begins shoot as Gunjan Saxena, Indias first woman combat pilot. See pic

Radhya was born in 2017. Making the announcement, Bharat has told IANS, We are very happy to announce that our daughter will be named as Radhya Takhtani. The name has been jointly decided by Esha and me.

Esha is quite active on social media and routinely shares pictures and videos. Some time back, the entire Deol household had come together for Ahana Deols housewarming function. Esha and Ahana had both shared pictures with her mother. In fact, through much of her pregnancy in 2017, she had shared pictures and videos from Greece and Mumbai.

Also read:Total Dhamaal day 3 box office: Ajay Devgn film earns estimated Rs 62cr, is highest first three-day earner of 2019

Follow @htshowbiz for more




This is a declining ritual, since tigers have ceased to be much of a threat. Earlier, when tigers were a great threat to life of both humans and live stocks, it was considered wise to propitiate the tiger.





A couple of days before the Sonarai ritual, cowherds go from door to door, begging for contributions. They also carry drums and sing songs while going around.





There are numerous Sonarai songs set to particular rural folk tunes.





The householders contribute rice, lentils or money for use in the ritual.





A particular spot is chosen for the worship. The cowherds set up sticks adorned with garlands representing the tiger god.





The food is cooked with the alms given by the people and offered to the tiger god.





The worship and rituals are usually conducted by teenagers or an by an elderly cowherd.





Even at the beginning of the 20th century, tigers were a menace in north Bengal, and villagers lost their cattle to tigers on daily basis. The loss was heavy during winter. Hence, Sonarai was performed during the winter season (December  January). The festival was scrupulously observed in the days before massive deforestation.





The festival was observed and the tiger god was worshipped in Cooch Behar and Rangpur Districts of undivided Bengal and in Assams Goalpara area.





Sonarai songs were also popular in Dhaka, Mymensingh and Pabna regions of Bangladesh.

Sonarai, also written as Sonaraya or Shonarai, is the worship of the tigers in north Bengal. It is mainly performed by cowherd boys in eastern India on Pausha Sankranti day (December  January).
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A Hickory man will serve eight to 13 years in prison for assaulting a law enforcement officer in 2016, according to a press release from 36th District Attorney Scott Reillys office.

Barry Talmadge Hildebran, 48, pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon on a law enforcement officer, assault with a firearm on a law enforcement officer and possession of a firearm by felon. He entered the plea in Catawba County Superior Court on Monday.

On Feb. 12, 2016, Deputy Scott Gay of the Catawba County Sheriffs Office tried to serve a warrant on Hildebran at the residence where he was staying, according to the release.

Hildebran was seen attempting to climb out of a second-story window when Gay said, Sheriffs office. Hildebran pointed a shotgun at Gay, who ran back to his patrol car to retrieve his AR-15 rifle while radioing for help.

Hildebran jumped from the window and pointed his weapon at Gay again. They fired their weapons simultaneously. Gays bullet shattered the wooden stock of the shotgun and struck Hildebrans hand. Hildebran ran toward Lake Hickory, jumped in and attempted to swim away but eventually swam back to shore, the release states.

Later, while being taken into custody, Hildebran attempted to pull a knife on deputies.
The Alexander County Sheriffs Office seized a computer that may contain webcam footage documenting a double homicide that occurred on Mt. Wesley Church Road earlier this month.

Officers found Chad Lee Kennedy, 38, and Mark Jefferson Furey, 57, dead in Kennedys home on Mt. Wesley Church Road in the early hours of Feb. 9.

Alexander County Sheriff Chris Bowman said last week the two men, who died in different rooms, were shot multiple times with a rifle.

Bowman said Monday that the investigation is still ongoing and the office is following up on any leads it receives.

The sheriffs office obtained a warrant on Feb. 12 to search the micro SD card of a desktop computer seized from the home. The computer was originally seized on Feb. 9, according to the warrant.

The webcam appeared to be turned on at the time officers were searching the home, according to the warrant.

On Monday, Bowman said he did not know what if any evidence has been uncovered from the computer. That takes time for that process to happen, Bowman said.

Officers also seized more than two dozen other items from the home, including drug paraphernalia, according a Feb. 9 search warrant.
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A modern private medical facility is set to be built in Francistown, thanks to Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industrys efforts to attract foreign investors to Botswana.

Minister Bogolo Kenewendo told parliament that the fruits of their investment attraction efforts were beginning to show. We are currently in discussions with several producers and a private hospital to set up operations in Francistown, she said. The discussions include looking for a 20, 000 sqm space for a certain producer, whom she did not name. Francistown has also been declared one of the seven Special Economic Zones (SEZs) that will be master-planned for by the end of 2019. While there is currently no consideration for establishing Francistown Economic Diversification Unit (FEDU), Kenewendo confirmed that BITC office will open in Francistown, particularly to deliver the one-stop business service centre, so that it can facilitate all the investors that come through Francistown.

The office will be responsible for promoting business development and encouraging investment in the northern part of Botswana. It will service both domestic and foreign investors in Francistown and surrounding areas, as well as adjacent regional blocs such as Selebi Phikwe Economic Diversification Unit (SPEDU), Orapa, Letlhakane, Pandamatenga, and Kasane regions to name a few.

Kenewendo was answering a question from MP for Francistown South, Wynter Mmolotsi who had asked what her ministry was doing to attract investment to Francistown considering the current unemployment situation which resulted from closure of mines.

He also wanted to know if she would consider establishing the Francistown Economic Diversification Unit (FEDU) to perform similar functions to the SPEDU. Kenewendo said the ministry continues to attract investment and encourages business development across all of Botswana, through its various targeted investment promotion initiatives and that includes Francistown through Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC).

Business development initiatives have been undertaken in Francistown.These include investors seminars such as African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) awareness, United Nations (UN) Procurement and Exporter Round Tables. Other exercises were held in partnership with other parastatals such as CEDA and LEA as part of the ministrys Investment and Trade Outreach Programme for 2018/2019.

Mmolotsi asked if the minister would extend any special dispensation like tax incentives to people who want to establish businesses in Francistown like has been done for businesses in Selebi Phikwe. Kenewendo said one of the services they are offering in reserved areas is a one-stop service centre and promised that they are bringing it to Francistown. Other special dispensations that are particular to manufacturing industries and can also be extended to Francistown include the 15 per cent manufacturing tax incentive.
Uniontown, PA (15401)

Today

Except for a few afternoon clouds, mainly sunny. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 88F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable.
The rise and inevitable fall from grace of former DIS Director General, Isaac Kgosi, can be attributed solely to his handler, former President, Ian Khama. In the fog of power, Khama just lost control of Kgosi. By the time the fog cleared, Kgosi had firmly asserted himself as a centre of power. In a short space of time, Kgosi had evolved from being a centre of power, to being power itself. And all credit to him; Kgosi had power, abundance of power. But unchecked power is an opiate.

In a while, Kgosi had successfully summersaulted Khama. Instead of being handled, he was the one handling Khama. And the poor Khama just like the rest of the nation became a spectator, watching helplessly as Kgosi embarked on an ambitious endeavour to be god. Kgosi took total control of Khama. He determined what Khama heard and saw. He even determined friends and foes for him. The only thing he left for Khama was showmanship and it was for a reason. Khama was free to go on his beloved rent-a-Messiah shows, where he would dance Polka the rural folks and later quench their thirsty with sweet-aid all in his endeavour to eradicate poverty. As really how blankets, diphaphata and soup could be marshalled as strategic instruments of poverty alleviation, remained inexplicable. However, to Kgosi, these roadshows were an important distraction to oversight that Khama ought to have exercised on his trustee.

With no one watching him, Mzico as they affectionately call Kgosi, went on overdrive pillaging, foraging and buccaneering the state. The DIS could not have been a more perfect tool for this looting. The DIS served as both an instrument of attrition and accumulation. He deployed it against those he perceived to be blocking his highway to wealth. All nefarious means including blackmail, bribery, extortion or even elimination were deployed and employed against his perceived adversaries. The only safe ones were those willing to toe the line of his self-serving agenda. These league of friends were rewarded handsomely and some turned millionaires overnight.

The ongoing raids and revelations have gone to point the extent and nature of unhealthy business relationships between Kgosi and some conmen masquerading as businessmen. The staggering amount of public funds transacted between the DIS and these conmen goes on to prove sense of impunity, entitlement, and greed that prevailed at the time. Khamas inaction to bring his trustee to account led many to conclude that there were, birds of the same feather. Despite all glaring evidence, Khama stood by Kgosi, and the milking of the country continued unabated.

My sincere advice to President Masisi is that, bodiba bo jeleng ngwana wa ga mmago, e re o bo bona, o bo dikologe. Intelligence services by default, comes with power, because knowledge is power. It is common cause that the new Director General, Peter Magosi would command substantial power. However, the buck stops with President Masisi and Parliament to bring him into immediate order if they reasonably suspect he is going rogue. Our intelligence services have in the past, failed beyond doubt to keep their secrets secret and have raised legitimate doubts amongst the general public on whether they can be trusted to continue to operate in secrecy with minimal oversight.

Instead of fighting to disable our enemies, our intelligence services were on aggressive crusade to loot. I sincerely hope, Masisi would learn from the mistakes that Khama made with Kgosi and that Brigadier Peter Magosi would learn from Kgosis downfall. Friends and foes, permit me to once again repeat Lieutenant General Louis Fishers words that No one has his fate in his hands.

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Tim Rowland

timr@herald-mail.com

I rise today in defense of crotchety old people, because  well, if you need to be told, you havent been reading this column very long.

Two instances of peevish behavior by high-profile politicians recently came to the fore.

One was a stay off my lawn moment for California Sen. Dianne Feinstein. When confronted by meddling kids demanding that she support the Green New Deal, Feinstein testily told them the resolution was deeply flawed, adding, Ive been doing this for 30 years. I know what Im doing. You come in here and you say, It has to be my way or the highway. I dont respond to that.

Yeah, baby  in your face! Take that, you little dweebs. Score one for septuagenarians. Now go back to hunting cute little monsters on your cellphones, or whatever you do with your shallow little lives.

I hope Feinstein and her staff went back in their office and toasted each other with flutes of Geritol for a job well done.

The second incident in The Tantrum Chronicles is the presss fascination with the nasty way U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a presidential candidate, treats her staff.

The best anecdote supporting this thesis is when a campaign aide brings her a salad, but forgets the fork. She tears him a new one, eats her salad with her comb (!) and makes the aide clean the comb.

Is a campaign stop or a candy bar commercial? Have a Snickers, Amy, because you get a little psychotic when youre hungry.

These kids go running to the papers with their tales of woe. Personally, I root for Klobuchar to pull a full Feinstein and tell these whiny little idealistic campaign aides, fresh out of the Poindexter Academy, to go home and draw down daddys trust fund while writing acoustical love ballads for the rest of their pathetic lives. (I also root for Klobuchar not to succeed Trump as the 46th president, but as the one who comes after  so she could be known as AK-47.)

If a man has a temper, he is powerful, commanding, domineering, robust, no-nonsense, tough, hard-nosed, demanding, forceful and assertive. If a woman has a temper, shes a psycho-witch.

Women cant win. Pat Schroeder of Colorado got slammed in 1987 when she became emotional while announcing she was withdrawing from the presidential race. Now, Klobuchar gets blasted for having no heart.

Men destroy people in public all the time. When Adam Stephen, founder of Martinsburg, W.Va., almost gave away the American plan to cross the Delaware on Christmas Eve, none other than George Washington belittled him to the point that everyone watching was embarrassed.

At the unveiling of his official presidential portrait, Lyndon Johnson told the dismayed artist that it was the ugliest thing he ever saw. The perpetually furious Andrew Jackson fought so many duels and was pierced by so many bullets that people used to joke that when he walked, he rattled like a bag of marbles.

Even the mild mannered Warren G. Harding, who was far more interested in chasing women than in governing, was caught strangling a cabinet secretary who had his hand in the cookie jar.

Were worried about a salad? As Slim Pickens said in Blazing Saddles, I am dee-pressed.

Washington eventually conquered his temper by reading the ancient Greeks, who considered angry outbursts to be a sign of insecurity and weakness.

Maybe. But so what? Im more concerned that anyone, ever, no matter the circumstances, would eat salad with a comb.

Tim Rowland is a Herald-Mail columnist.
Staff reports

The Herald-Mail

To the editor:

Representative Ilhan Omar did not condemn the faith, beliefs or practices of Judaism. She used language offensive to Israelis and other Jews. There was no condemning of the Jewish religion.

She used unfortunate words out of ignorance. My father-in-law also used unfortunate words some 50 years ago to talk about the Italians, the Irish and the Jews who were his neighbors. Those words were denigrating and prejudiced. So were Omars words. For this, she has been and should be criticized. Let us hope that these moments have been a learning experience for her.

There was concern about the political influence in her words: on the American way of life, on democracy and on international politics. Some have thrown the baby out with the bath water by allowing their personal prejudices rather than their own ability to interpret and learn from her mistakes to determine what they take away from her ignorance. Ignorance can be overcome by openness to new understanding. In all probability, she wont make the mistake of name calling again.

How about us? In this current world of imprecise language, can we learn to overcome the language that is limited by our all-or-nothing understanding? Can we recognize the prejudice of the words we use every day to evaluate our own vision of what is happening in our lives, in our country, in our world?

The opening is there for each of us to consider and respond to what our representatives are doing: the language they are using, the decisions they are making. The questions for us are: Can we pay attention to what they say? Can we deal with our own prejudices? Shall we become citizens who care enough to respond, or will we continue to observe in condemnation or silence?

This decision is personal. May you make it wisely.

Valerie Wills

Hagerstown
Michael Collins

The Herald-Mail

WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are getting ready for their second tete-a-tete in just nine months.

The two leaders, who have a history of insult-hurling and name-calling but have dialed down the incendiary oratory for now, are heading to Vietnam for a series of discussions on nuclear weapons Wednesday and Thursday.

The meetings are a follow-up to their first summit last June, when they signed a vaguely worded agreement promising to work toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The new round of talks will give the leaders a chance to flesh out some of the details of that accord.

Heres what you should know about the Trump-Kim Summit, Version 2.0:

Why are they meeting again?

Trump and Kim both expressed a desire for a follow-up meeting after their first summit last summer in Singapore.

Though critics questioned how much was accomplished, that encounter was truly historic: It was the first meeting ever between a sitting U.S. president and the leader of North Korea.

Three months later, Trump told a crowd in West Virginia that Kim had written him beautiful letters and said the one-time adversaries fell in love. Kim made it clear he was willing to meet again any time.

Trump announced during his State of the Union address that the second summit would take place Feb. 27 and 28 in Vietnam.

Why Vietnam?

Symbolism may have played a role in the selection of Vietnam as the host country.

While the U.S. and Vietnam have a long, bloody history that included a 20-year war, relations have improved significantly since President Bill Clinton restored diplomatic ties in 1995. Vietnam has blossomed economically and serves as a perfect backdrop for the U.S. to illustrate how it can mend ties with a former adversary.

More:From nukes to U.S. troops: The 5 key obstacles to peace with North Korea

Will Trump and Kim meet privately?

Yes. The two leaders plan a one-on-one confab in Vietnam, just as they did during their Singapore summit last summer.

No other details have been released, but the meeting is expected to follow a format similar to the Singapore summit. Trump and Kim also are expected to share a meal.

Who else is going?

Neither country has announced the delegation that will accompany its leaders, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's office has said he will join Trump.

Pompeo, the U.S.s top diplomat, has led Trumps outreach efforts to Pyongyang and traveled to North Korea at least four times last year. He also visited Vietnam last July, shortly after the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore.

Trumps National Security Adviser John Bolton also is likely to attend. Bolton was at the Singapore summit and was involved in the discussions there with Kim and other North Korean officials.

More:Trump-Kim summit: North Korea must do something 'meaningful' to denuclearize before sanctions relief

What is on the agenda?

Few details have been released, but its a safe bet that much of the discussion will center on the denuclearization agreement that Trump and Kim signed in Singapore.

While the accord pledged the two countries would work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, it offered no specifics about what kinds of weapons would be eliminated or the time frame for seeing them dismantled.

Members of the Trump administration say North Korea is still developing a nuclear weapons program, raising doubts about whether Kim is really committed to denuclearization, and satellite footage indicates that North Korea is still running its main nuclear complex.

The U.S. is looking for firmer commitments at the Vietnam summit.

What else will be discussed?

North Korea will arrive at the talks with its own agenda, which is likely to include lifting economic sanctions that have crippled the country.

Kim also has been pushing for a peace declaration formally ending the Korean War. Though the fighting stopped in 1953 with an armistice  essentially a ceasefire  the U.S. and North Korea are technically are still at war.

More:North Korea won't give up nuclear weapons, former diplomat says

More:What do we really know about North Korea? Here are 10 fascinating facts

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Everything you should know about the Trump-Kim summit in Vietnam
If the title confuses you, think Tupperware, think AmWay. This form of marketing is also known as network marketing. In my opinion, this is the most natural form of marketing that has unfortunately been exploited by many pyramid schemes. In fact, a pyramid scheme has almost the same blueprint as network marketing, save for a few differences.

Just as a disclaimer, this article is only a fair assertion on how one can avoid pyramid schemes, and how one can make money from MLM, if at all. Humor me. So let us start with the basics. How do you distinguish a pyramid scheme from a legitimate MLM? In 1979 Amway won a landmark case, in which it was declared that they are not a pyramid scheme. They noted the following factors as distinguishing factors between them and pyramid schemes. Legitimate MLMs do not pay fees for simply recruiting new salespeople. This is one of the most basic ways of telling apart the scammers. Ask yourself these questions, why would anyone pay you for recruiting a sales person who is not actually buying anything? How are they making profit from this practice?

To make money in a legitimate institution you have to sell actual products, like every business out there. As a manager, you get a percentage of the commission due to the salespeople in your team. So still, actual products are being sold. This is not true for a pyramid scheme. The best of MLMs do not require you to buy starter kits or impose minimum monthly order values to stay on as a member. I mean imagine, as a salesperson, if you ever fall under your monthly quota, you have to use your own funds to supplement just to stay on as a member. When does this ever become profitable then?

Pyramid schemes will usually charge you joining fees and impose mandatory trainings, which come at a cost to you. They might also charge membership fees. The products sold in pyramid schemes (if you ever get here) are usually of low value and their price is usually not very competitive. To aggregate these points, a legitimate MLM has an ardent focus on product sales as opposed to recruitment. It seems quite elementary that to stay wary of the pyramid schemes doing the rounds you just have to observe the above. But below are a few more pointers on how to avoid them:

Avoid anyone who sells you a list of potential sales leads. Imagine, if this same list has been sold to 9 other people before you, it is probably washed out by the time it reaches you and hence useless. And to be fair, if they have the sales leads why are they not chasing them down?

Do not sign up for an MLM at a motivational event. Even when you do go for one of these events, take time outside of it to do your own due diligence about the company you are about to sell and its products. Are their products any good? Do they have any recent lawsuits against them? How are competitor products, and their pricing?

Be particularly wary of anyone who tries to get your buy-in by flaunting their own success. And the golden rule on anything money related; if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. It is easy to be purely critical of MLMs. To be fair though, many people have amassed wealth through this method of selling, or at least built a sustainable side hustle.

All this article aims to do is make you aware that there are scammers out there and how to be wary of them. As I said, this is the most natural form of marketing. Hence, many of us can become marketers for big companies like Avon, Amway, Tupperware and the like without having to get a marketing degree. You simply ask the people in your network to try out your products, and perhaps refer you to their networks. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Matthew Umstead

matthewu@herald-mail.com

MARTINSBURG, W.Va.  A Martinsburg man was sentenced Monday by Chief U.S. District Judge Gina M. Groh to eight years in prison for illegal possession of a machine gun, U.S. Attorney Bill Powell said.

Christopher Wade Rebish, 30, pleaded guilty in October to one count of illegal possession of a machine gun, according to a news release from Powells office.

Rebish admitted to having a 5.7x28mm caliber machine gun in March 2017 in Berkeley County, W.Va., court records said.

Rebish is to be placed on supervised release for three years after his release from prison, records said.

The sentencing in the federal firearms case comes about six months after Rebish was sentenced to serve consecutive prison sentences of three to 15 years and 30 years in prison in Berkeley County Circuit Court in connection with stabbing and shooting incidents in 2017.

Rebishs sentencing in the case in August stemmed from Rebish stabbing a man in the left arm in April 2017 after he kicked open the front door of a home in the 200 block of West Martin Street and robbed the victim at knifepoint, records said.

 Matthew Umstead
Jenni Vincent

jvincent@herald-mail.com

HEDGESVILLE, W.Va.  Mike Clises first job with Dominos Pizza was as a driver back in 1980, but that only is the beginning of his tenure with the well-known pizza chain.

Clise and his wife, Margaret, now own 20 Dominos shops in locations ranging from Chambersburg, Pa., to Front Royal, Va., including several in the Eastern Panhandle.

M Pizza Inc. has Berkeley County locations on Winchester Avenue in Martinsburg, W.Va. 11 north of the city and Inwood, as well as Ranson and Shepherdstown in Jefferson County, Clise said.

They now are looking to open their 21st location, and it will be at the site of the former Potomac Video near Hedgesville.

The building is in the same plaza that currently is home to a Shop n Save grocery story, but that soon will change when a new Martins Food Market moves into that spot at 147 Roaring Lion Drive.

Clise said his buildings interior is open and wont require a lot of renovation, so it is likely the new shop will open in early June.

In addition to pizza, other menu items will include sandwiches, pasta, salad and bread products, he said.

Delivery will be available, and there also will be a drive-thru window.

About five years ago, the company came out with a new concept called Pizza Theatre, and it allows customers to watch as their orders are prepared, Clise said. It basically means we went back to having an open kitchen and have inside seating. This store will have seating for about 30 people.

The new site was selected for several reasons

We already have an existing customer base there, and the growth of the area was also a consideration, Clise said.

It is expected to have 20 to 30 employees, and many of them will be new hires, Clise said.

This area is special to him, and having another local shop is exciting, he said.

We opened our first store in 1984 and it was in downtown Martinsburg on West Burke Street. Martinsburg has always been very good to us, he said.

Clise also credits the company for encouraging employees to become franchise owners.

About 90 percent of the store owners started as drivers. And in order to own a franchise, you have to have managed or supervised a store for at least a year. You have to come up from within, he said.
Jenni Vincent

jvincent@herald-mail.com

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va.  Federal and state highways officials will be on hand at an open house Thursday to discuss the proposed Berkeley Springs Bypass in Morgan County, W.Va.

Representatives from the West Virginia Division of Highways and Federal Highway Administration will be available to explain the proposal and answer questions about it, according to a joint news release.

No formal presentations will be made, but project maps and materials will be available for review.

Its an opportunity to see changes that reflect the consideration of public comments and concerns voiced at an April public meeting as well as additional information obtained since then, the release said.

The event will be Thursday from 4 to 7 p.m. at Berkeley Springs High School.

Highways officials are looking at constructing the Berkeley Springs Bypass and the Fairview Connector after years of considering the project.

The bypass is part of the U.S. 522 project that was studied in the mid-1990s and early 2000s.

It consists of a four-lane roadway on a new alignment from the Virginia/West Virginia state line to the Maryland state line for a distance of approximately four miles, the release said.

The speed limit on the bypass will be 65 mph.

U.S. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., in early December announced $20 million in federal transportation funding for the project.

Not only is this good for travelers and those living in Berkeley Springs ... but its good for commerce and our states economic potential by better connecting West Virginia to transportation hubs around the country, Capito said in a news release announcing the funding.

The funding came from the U.S. Department of Transportations Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development, or BUILD, grant awards.

Construction of the bypass, which is estimated to cost $64 million, is expected to start in July 2020 and be completed in July 2022.

The recent federal funding also will go toward building a Fairview Drive connector on U.S. 522 near War Memorial Hospital.
Jennifer Fitch

waynesboro@herald-mail.com

WAYNESBORO, Pa.  A state grant totaling nearly $200,000 has been awarded to Mainstreet Waynesboro Inc. to rehabilitate a dilapidated building at 21 E. Main St., where the organization hopes to relocate its offices and rent space to a restaurant and apartments.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolfs office announced the grant among 43 projects to receive funding from the Department of Community and Economic Developments Keystone Communities program.

This is the first big step in the project after the planning and design stage of what we want to see there. Were certainly very grateful for the state support, said Bill Kohler, director of economic development for Mainstreet Waynesboro Inc.

DCED referred to the building as being in the heart of historic downtown Waynesboro in its news release announcing the $192,530 award.

It gives us a good feeling that were closer to this happening. We still have to raise additional funding and get a (restaurant) tenant, Kohler said.

Kohler said work will be done this year on the building, which formerly housed a mens apparel shop. He said the project has the potential to be a game changer for downtown.

A county tourism grant provided seed money of $20,000 toward the 21 E. Main St. project.

A partnership between Mainstreet Waynesboro Inc. and Waynesboro Industrial Development Corp. led to a neighboring structure being demolished in 2016. A park was installed to replace that building and serves as the location for farmers markets.
Dave McMillion

davem@herald-mail.com

A woman was flown to a Baltimore hospital Monday night after she was attacked by a dog inside a house on East Howard Street, according to a Washington County 911 supervisor.

The woman, estimated to be about 59 years old, suffered a hand injury, the supervisor said.

The woman was flown to MedStar Union Memorial Hospital because the center specializes in hand injuries, the supervisor said.

The dog bite, which occurred at 103 E. Howard St., was reported shortly after 9 p.m.

The woman was flown from the former Washington County Hospital site off East Antietam Street.

No additional information was available on Wednesday.

 Dave McMillion
Don Aines

daines@herald-mail.com

An eyewitness to the 2017 shooting death of a woman was recently found in Ohio and is being held in the Washington County Detention Center on unrelated drug charges.

Donovan Antonio Watts, 30, of Landover, Md., was recently found in Ohio by the U.S. Marshals Service, Assistant States Attorney Christopher McCormack said during a bail review hearing Monday.

Watts appeared for the hearing on misdemeanor charges of possession of narcotics and possession of drug paraphernalia filed by Maryland State Police on Dec. 31, 2017, according to court records.

Watts failed to make a March 2018 court date on those charges, and a warrant was later issued for his arrest, court records said.

McCormack called Watts the primary witness in a homicide I am prosecuting. He told District Judge Mark D. Thomas that he believed a reluctance to testify in the case of accused killer Devaughn Tyrone Drew was his reason for leaving the state.

Drew and Watts are related, he said.

McCormack said Watts also has a warrant from Allegany County, Md., for burglary and assault charges.

Drew, 34, originally was scheduled for trial this month for the Nov. 19, 2017, shooting death of 23-year-old Destiny Aurelia Boccone, who was a resident of Boonsboro, but had a Martinsburg, W.Va., address at the time of her death.

She was found dead of a gunshot wound to her head in her vehicle, which was parked in the 11300 block of Dogwood Drive, according to the Washington County Sheriffs Office.

Drew is charged with first- and second-degree murder and other counts. His trial has been rescheduled for October, according to online court records.

Drew was released from a state-prison sentence for possession with intent to distribute cocaine two days before the killing.

Watts was allegedly in the vehicle when Drew shot Boccone, according to charging documents. Watts was not charged in connection with the homicide.

A cab driver told police he later picked up two men on Noland Drive near the scene of the shooting and took them to the 300 block of West Howard Street, the document said. The cab driver told investigators he was told to pick up his fare at a stop sign on Noland Drive and, when he arrived, two men ran up and got in.

There were signs of blood in the back seat of the cab and the vehicle was towed away to be tested.

Police detained Watts at the West Howard Street address, but Drew had left the house by the time they arrived, the charging document said.

Assistant Public Defender Lisa Havilland asked Thomas to set a bond or release Watts. He went to Ohio to live with relatives after becoming homeless, and planned to return to Maryland to resolve the charges against him, she said.
Julie E. Greene

julieg@herald-mail.com

Washington County is proposing increasing its Rural Legacy easement eligibility area by 28 percent, or 12,413 acres.

County officials want to take advantage of increasing state funds expected to be available for easements, said Eric Seifarth, the countys rural preservation administrator. They also want to make sure they have good-quality properties, owned by interested landowners, eligible for future funds.

Gov. Larry Hogan has been restoring land-preservation funds, supported by land-transfer-tax revenues, that were diverted years ago to help with tough budgets.

The county is asking for $3.4 million for easements in the fiscal year that begins July 1. That would protect about 1,100 acres.

The county received about $2.3 million for this fiscal year after asking for $2.4 million.

The county is proposing increasing the Rural Legacy area in South County from 44,270 acres to 56,683 acres. If the states Rural Legacy Board approves the expansion request, landowners in the area still would have to apply for easements as state funds become available, Seifarth said.

The program is completely funded by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

The proposed expansion is in three areas.

The largest area proposed to be added is approximately 6,799 acres to the northwest along the Dam No. 4 Road corridor.

Another area is east of Sharpsburg Pike and south of Lappans Road. It goes south to the University of Marylands Western Maryland Research & Education Center, which is north of Keedysville Road. That is about 1,985 acres.

The third zone proposed to be included would expand the Rural Legacy area south with roughly 3,629 acres. That zone is south of Brownsville Road. It starts at the Frederick County line and extends west to Harpers Ferry Road. It goes south to the area of Frog Eye Road.

Easement applicants are competitively ranked based on the quality of the farmland, historic and cultural features, and environmental features such as endangered species or waterway buffering to help prevent runoff.

More people will appreciate having good farmland nearby if things get tight with food and fuel costs to transport agricultural products from other areas like California, Seifarth said.

Weve got good soils, plentiful rainfall and ready markets, he said.

Rural Legacy also protects timberland, which helps buffer waterways from pollutants, like oil and antifreeze generated by traffic, and nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous produced from farming operations, Seifarth said.

One prime property for protection in the proposed expansion area is approximately 400 acres in the Downsville area, along the C&O Canal. It is owned by Todd and Tracey Bowman.

That property has good tillable farmland and substantial good timber, Seifarth said. Existing woods already provide more than the 100-foot-wide buffer that state officials like to see along a waterway  in this case, the Potomac River.

Protecting that land with an easement in perpetuity would eliminate the possibility of 21 houses being built on the acreage, said Chris Boggs, a land preservation planner.

Todd Bowman said his family always has been interested in land preservation. That acreage is the perfect example of land that should be preserved because it backs up to the canal and river, he said.

The family does not intend to build on the property, such as a housing development, Bowman said. The family leases land to a farmer who raises cattle and grows crops.

Bowman said the family probably would use easement money to buy more land to preserve.

The historic aspect of the house on the property factors into the lands ranking for a possible Rural Legacy easement, Seifarth said.

The brick house was built in the 1860s. It is on the National Register of Historic Places as the William Hagerman Farmstead.

Seifarth said ranking properties for easements has nothing to do with whether the property owner is farming the land or leasing it out, or with a property owners wealth. Its about the land, he said.

For some property owners, easement money can help pay down debt, purchase equipment, or pay for capital improvements, he said.

Once the county gets word from state officials that its expansion proposal is reasonable, the county will hold community meetings for feedback about the possible expansion, Seifarth said. He hopes those meetings will be before July.

Official word on whether the expansion or funding request will be approved is not expected until the fall.

The county commissioners would need to grant final approval to expand the program.

The county has protected about 6,900 acres through Rural Legacy easements since 2000, Seifarth said. Those easements cost more than $22 million and involved about 65 properties.
Don Aines

daines@herald-mail.com

As a Hagerstown woman pleaded guilty Monday to killing her sister in a 2018 crash, family and friends of both the victim and the defendant were in court.

Erin Delores Stubbs collapsed sobbing into her chair at the defense table as Washington County Circuit Court Judge Daniel P. Dwyer sentenced her to five years in prison with all suspended except 18 months in the county detention center. The jail time is a consequence of the April 22, 2018, death of Natasha Hudson, who was 24 years old.

Stubbs pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence in the two-car crash at the intersection of Dual Highway and Edgewood Drive.

Oh, my God, Stubbs repeated as Dwyer announced the sentence, which included three years on probation after her release. The judge said he would consider any motion by defense attorney Loren Villa to modify the sentence after Stubbs completes the Jail Substance Abuse Program.

A dozen or more relatives and friends of Stubbs and Hudson were present for the hearing.

Villa asked for a suspended sentence for the 24-year-old Stubbs, noting her lack of a prior record, her employment and education and that she has a young son. Stubbs family did not want her incarcerated, said Villa, who suggested an option of home detention and alcohol treatment.

I think this is one case where you can safely say it wont happen again, Villa told Dwyer.

You all know how much we loved Tasha. ... Im so sorry, Stubbs told the family.

Assistant States Attorney Leon Debes earlier told Dwyer that the state was not recommending a state prison sentence and believed a local jail sentence was appropriate.

Stubbs, of Hayes Avenue, was driving a Nissan Versa at 2:04 a.m. on April 22. She made a left turn in front of a Chrysler that was traveling east on Dual Highway, Debes said in reading from the statement of facts.

Hudson, her passenger, had to be freed from the wreckage and was pronounced dead less than an hour later at Meritus Medical Center, Debes said.

Stubbs blood-alcohol content was approximately .15 percent, Debes said. The legal level to be considered driving under the influence in Maryland is .08 percent.

Stubbs also tested positive for marijuana, he said.

The accident reconstruction determined that the left-turn signal at the intersection was red when the crash occurred, Debes said. While Stubbs was the driver at fault in the crash, Debes noted that the other driver, Dennis Eugene Johnson, was also intoxicated and tested positive for marijuana.

The case is pending against Johnson, 43, of Pine Road in Mercersburg, Pa. He is scheduled to be in court on April 11, according to court records.
The first session of the final creditors liquidation meeting of Capital Management Botswana (CMB) adjourned last Thursday to April with the High Court Master, Chipo Gaobatwe ruling that CMB directors are in contempt of court. When wrapping up, attorney for the Liquidator, Peter Collins told the Court Master that he is still left with some people who must give testimony amongst them Chief Executive of Bona Life, Regina Vaka, but will appear on April 25 when the meeting resumes.

Collins said another person that must testify is Moitsheki Lekalake who came to the court briefly and disappeared, but did not give the liquidator his particulars. He then requested the Master to write a letter referring him to the Attorney General because to refuse to come when subpoenaed is a criminal offence.

Collins said that CMB directors Rapula Okaile and Tim Marshland as well as their attorney, Gabriel Kanjabanga have contravened Section 430 of the Companys Act. Kanjabanga was subpoenaed in his own right to explain his involvement because the liquidator discovered that he was involved in his official capacity in some transactions. The above section states that any person summoned by the Master or other officer in terms of subsection (3) or (4) who fails without valid excuse (a) to attend any meeting to which he has been summoned; or (b) to produce any book or document or extract from any book or document in his possession, custody or control, shall be guilty of contempt of court and liable to a fine not exceeding P1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

Collins requested the Master to refer them to the Attorney General saying something must be done lest the integrity of the court, the office of the high court master and the meeting, is compromised. Collins told the court master that he has proof that Marshland has been served with summons to appear, he said Marshland contravened Section 512 and 513 of the Companies Act. He said he has an affidavit deposed by one Van Wyk from South Africa who delivered the summons to Marshland and explained that Marshland said he was not prepared to sign. Collins quoted the section which states that in every winding up of a company unable to pay its debts, all the directors of the company, including, if the Master so directs, in writing, any person who has been a director within a period of six months preceding the date on which the winding up commenced, shall attend the first and second meetings of creditors and every adjourned first and second such meetings.

The directors shall also attend any subsequent meeting of creditors if required to do so by written notice from the liquidator. The Master or other officers in the public service who is to preside or presides at any meeting of creditors may summon any person, who is known or, on reasonable grounds, believed to be in possession of any property which belongs or belonged to the company or to be indebted to the company or any person who in the opinion of the Master or such other officer may be able to give any material information concerning the company or its affairs, whether before or after the commencement of the winding up, to appear at such meeting or adjourned meeting for the purpose of being interrogated under section 431.

He requested the Court Master to write a letter referring the concerned parties to the Attorney General where they will be made to face criminal charges. In her ruling High court Master Gaobatwe ruled that Okaile and CMB directors are in contempt, but she finds it difficult to refer Okaile to the Attorney General as he delivered a sick note to the court and is not sure if he has recovered. She said she will write a letter for both Lekalake and Marshland to be sent to AG Chambers.Attorney for NBFIRA, Sipho Ziga requested the court Master to furnish them with the official court record in summary form of the first meeting as he has to present it before the high court.

To that the court Master Gaobatwe agreed and promised that the summary requested from her office will be available on February 28th. She ruled that new creditors though allowed will not be able to submit during the second meeting billed for April 25- 26, but will do so at a later date to be communicated.
C.J. Lovelace

cj.lovelace@herald-mail.com

A lesson about augmented reality turned into actual reality for Barbara Ingram School for the Arts students on Monday.

Nearly 40 students in the schools creative writing discipline were told to get out their iPads and put their heads down on the table for an exercise.

When they picked up their heads, each had a brand new Acer Chromebook in front of them. Wide eyes and big smiles could be seen around the room as they picked up the 2-in-1 device. Many shouted thank you.

They are writing extensively and the iPad just had some limitations for them, said Ann Anders, lead teacher and technology coordinator at BISFA. Were looking at this as a device that will allow them to move into that 21st century, that will allow them to collaborate and create.

Chromebooks are laptops that operate on Googles Chrome operating system, rather than Windows or Mac. Its similar to an internet browser that essentially runs the entire computer.

The devices are used primarily while connected to the internet, with most applications and documents living in the cloud. They are touchscreen devices with a 360-degree hinge, allowing them to be used as tablets.

They are replacing iPads or older MacBooks.

The Chromebooks were piloted at North Hagerstown High School this past fall. BISFA students are the second group to receive the new computers.

It came as quite a surprise for students as they gathered in a classroom at the University System of Maryland at Hagerstown, around the corner from the BISFA campus in downtown Hagerstown.

For creative writing, these will really help, sophomore Emilea Huff said, citing the devices speed, capabilities and ease of use compared to an iPad.

Katie Anderson, a lead creative writing teacher, said Chromebooks mark a major step forward. In her sixth year at the school, she recalled when students got iPads, but they cant do what a computer can do.

It was so exciting. It was like Christmas morning, Anderson said afterward. ... The capability is just crazy. They will be able to do so much.

BISFA faculty members joined with Anders and Lisa Fichthorn-Scumpieru, the school systems digital integration specialist, to make the presentation to the kids.

We just want to thank Washington County Public Schools for making it happen, Anders said. Theyre really listening to the voices of the students.
Jeff Semler

jsemler@umd.edu

Most people know that February is Black History Month. Many have heard of famous and important contributors to the advancement of this great nation, such as Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall and others.

One of my favorite Americans is George Washington Carver, a pioneer and advocate of agriculture who contributed immensely to our nation and black history. From inauspicious and dramatic beginnings, Carver became one of the nations greatest educators and agricultural researchers. At an early age, he developed a keen interest in plants. He gathered and cared for a wide variety of flora from the land near his home and became known as the plant doctor, helping neighbors and friends with ailing plants.

Carver had a great thirst for knowledge and desire for formal education.

In 1890, he enrolled in Simpson College to study piano and painting. He excelled in art and music, but art instructor Etta Budd, whose father was head of the Iowa State College Department of Horticulture, recognized Carvers horticultural talents. She convinced him to pursue a career in scientific agriculture and, in 1891, he became the first African-American to enroll at Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, which today is Iowa State University.

Carvers interests in music and art remained strong, but it was his excellence in botany and horticulture that prompted his professors to encourage him to stay on as a graduate student. Because of his expertise in plant breeding, Carver was appointed to the faculty, becoming Iowa States first African-American faculty member.

Over the next two years, as assistant botanist for the college experiment station, he published several articles on his work in plant pathology and mycology, and gained national respect. After he completed his masters degree, Booker T. Washington hired this bright man.

It was at Tuskegee that he gained an international reputation in research, teaching and outreach. Carver taught his students that nature is the greatest teacher and that by understanding the forces in nature, one can understand the dynamics of agriculture. He instilled in them the attitude of gentleness and taught that education should be made common, or used for betterment of the people in the community.

Carvers work resulted in the creation of 325 products from peanuts, more than 100 products from sweet potatoes and hundreds more from a dozen other plants native to the South. Those products contributed to rural economic improvement by offering alternative crops to cotton that were beneficial for farmers and the land.

During that time, Carver introduced the Extension concept to the South and created movable schools, bringing practical agricultural knowledge to farmers, thereby promoting health, sound nutrition and self-sufficiency.

It was during my research of this often-overlooked American hero that I discovered we owe him for a lot more than the proliferation of peanuts.

I will leave you with a quote from Carver: No individual has any right to come into this world and go out of it without leaving behind him distinct and legitimate reasons for having passed through it. How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life, you will have been all of these.

Jeff Semler is an Extension educator, specializing in agriculture and natural resources, for the University of Maryland Extension. He is based in Washington County. He can be reached at 301-791-1404, ext. 325, or by email at jsemler@umd.edu.
Meg Partington

megp@herald-mail.com

BATON ROUGE, La.  Rhiannon Turner of Inwood, W.Va., was recently initiated into Phi Kappa Phi, the nations oldest and most selective all-discipline collegiate honor society.

Turner is pursuing a degree in history at Jacksonville University.

She is among approximately 30,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni to be initiated into Phi Kappa Phi each year. Membership is by invitation only and requires nomination and approval by a chapter. Only the top 10 percent of seniors and 7.5 percent of juniors are eligible for membership. Graduate students in the top 10 percent of the number of candidates for graduate degrees might also qualify, as do faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction.

Phi Kappa Phi was founded in 1897 under the leadership of undergraduate student Marcus L. Urann, who had a desire to create a different kind of honor society, one that recognized excellence in all academic disciplines. Today, the society has chapters on more than 300 campuses in the United States and the Philippines.

Its mission is to recognize and promote academic excellence in all fields of higher education, and to engage the community of scholars in service to others.
Mike Lewis

mlewis@herald-mail.com

The touchscreen in Michael Cermaks Tesla displays map markers, pinpointing the stations where he can recharge the electric vehicle.

On one setting, the screen shows two Tesla Superchargers, near Hagerstown and Martinsburg, W.Va., and other types of chargers. Cermak carries adapters in the cars trunk so he can take advantage of those options.

Running out of electricity hasnt been an issue at all for me, said Cermak, who has put some 95,000 miles on his Model S in about four years.

Zooming out, the GPS map shows dots along interstates and many other major roads. Cermak, who can drive about 260 miles on a charge, said that view has come in handy when hes taken longer trips, such as journeys to Colorado and Florida.

Itll tell you, Stop for 20 minutes and charge, Cermak said.

The state of Maryland wants to add many markers to Cermaks screen.

According to the Maryland Public Service Commission, the state has set a goal of having 300,000 zero-emission electric vehicles on Maryland roadways by 2025 and has targeted a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent of 2006 levels by 2030.

To ease motorists range anxiety about how far they can drive on a charge, and to help set a foundation for private companies to enter the market, the commission and four of the states largest electric utilities are launching a pilot program to install more than 5,000 fast-charging stations.

The commission stipulated that the public chargers be at property leased, owned or occupied by a unit of state, county or municipal government for public use.

In Western Maryland, Potomac Edison plans to install more than 50 public charging stations.

This (program) gives us an opportunity to partner with state officials to really determine what the best locations will be, said Aaron Ruegg, a spokesman for Potomac Edison.

Aside from specific locations, several other details still have to be worked out, Ruegg said.

For example, the decision requires utilities to establish a rate class to ensure that customers who use the public stations are covering part of the costs.

Public stations already are available at several places in the region. For example, units were recently installed near the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park in Hancock and on the Elizabeth Hager parking lot in downtown Hagerstown.

Apps and websites, such as www.plugshare.com, display maps showing public stations. The time to charge depends on the type of charger, Cermak said. Plugshare.com also lists charging costs, which vary.

For example, according to the website, public stations are available at the Walmart Supercenter off Sharpsburg Pike south of Hagerstown. The cost includes a $1 session fee, plus 30 cents per minute to charge. If a driver doesnt move his car within 10 minutes of completing the charge, he can be assessed a 40-cent-per-minute idle fee.

The note for the stations at the Elizabeth Hager lot states, Parking is $1/hour and charging (is) free for now. Charge stops after 1 hour but can restart on site.

Cermak, who owns CermakTech of Waynesboro, Pa., used the downtown Hagerstown stations recently, letting the Tesla charge while he and some others dined at a nearby restaurant.

I didnt realize how many (charging stations) they had in there. Its a nice setup, he said.

Charging at home

Cermak said the car usually recharges in his garage while he sleeps. His home charger is a dedicated electric line, similar to what people use for electric clothes dryers or electric stoves.

Every morning I start with a full tank, he said.

He rarely drives more than 260 miles in a day, he said, so he rarely needs a public station.

Home stations are also a part of the commissions ruling, calling for rebates for those who install them. The decision also calls on the utilities to develop rebate incentives to provide access to charging at apartments and condominiums. And the commission also wants the utilities to develop time-of-use rates that encourage people to charge their vehicles during off-peak hours, such as overnight, at a lower cost per unit of energy.

The cost to charge at home depends on several factors, from the vehicles battery capacity to the setup to the cost of electricity. Several online estimates for Teslas put the price at about $10 for a full charge, assuming electricity prices of 13 cents per kilowatt hour.

Overall, Jason M. Stanek, chairman of the public service commission, called the ruling a significant step toward expanding electric vehicle adoption and reducing our harmful tailpipe emissions.

Cermak, who has had solar panels installed at his home and business, said cleaner air is one of the main reasons he moved from gas-electric hybrids to the full electric vehicle.

Ive got three kids, and Im just trying to leave things as good as I can for future generations, he said.

VW money

In a separate but related move, the Maryland Department of the Environment last week announced a plan to invest more than $75 million dollars in settlement money from the Volkswagen defeat devices case to a variety of projects, including electric vehicle charging stations.

Jay Apperson, MDE spokesman, said the departments announcement and the commissions ruling absolutely work hand-in-hand.

The MDE effort is focused more on the workplace than consumer vehicles, Apperson said. Among other things, the plan would develop an electric school bus pilot program, working in concert with MDEs idle-reduction program to reduce emissions around schools.

According to MDE, from 2009 through 2015, some diesel-powered Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche vehicles were equipped with illegal defeat devices. Those devices allowed vehicles to meet emissions standards in a laboratory or a test setting. But during normal operations those vehicles emitted nitrogen oxides at up to 40 times federal standards.

About 16,000 of those vehicles were sold in Maryland. In 2016, a federal court approved a settlement that requires Volkswagen to spend $2.7 billion on emission reduction programs in the United States. Under that settlement, Maryland was awarded $75.7 million.
Staff reports

The Herald-Mail

SHEPHERSTOWN, W.Va.  Pack Horse Ford Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR), celebrated its 103rd birthday during a luncheon Feb. 23 at The Purple Iris, a neo-Georgian revival-style mansion in Berkeley County, W.Va.

The chapter was organized Feb. 22, 1916, in Shepherdstown by Anna Pink Chapline Phillips.

Nearly 40 in attendance joined Vice Regent Patricia Toffling and Chaplain Barbara Nickell in a ritual including the Pledge of Allegiance and the Americans Creed.

In keeping with national and state DAR themes, Moving Forward in Service to America and Shining Stars of Service, past Regent Cheryl Brown said, We are proud to celebrate 103 years as a DAR chapter. As we continue to support our youth, veterans and community, may we shine as stars of service.

After a buffet lunch, Toffling introduced Priscilla Rall, the events guest speaker and author of Simple Fare: Kitchen Lore and Recipes from the 1800s.

Rall was dressed in a colonial costume including an ankle-length dirndl skirt, apron, peplum overcoat and buckled shoes. She opened with a tale about her familys ties to the American Revolution and described her book as hearthside cooking using recipes for the common people, not Mount Vernon.

Her recipe book was inspired by a handwritten cookbook from Belle Grove Plantation, a 1797 manor built by Maj. Isaac Hite and his wife, Nelly Madison Hite, sister of President James Madison. Rall explained that it would have been the type of cookbook Martha Washington used, and imagined that Maj. Hite might have crossed on horseback the chapters namesake, Pack Horse Ford, on his initial journey into settling the northern Shenandoah Valley.

Ralls presentation came in the form of a game that garnered a lot of good-natured laughter as the audience competed to win a copy of her book. For every correct answer, players collected a piece of candy from Ralls assistant, also dressed in colonial garb.

Questions asked by Rall included, What, in a colonial hearthside kitchen, would be named after an animal? A spider, came the reply. Rall then displayed an example of a spider skillet  a heavy, iron, three-legged frying pan.

How were puddings cooked? Another correct answer, In bags, was given.

Rall hummed part of a nursery rhyme. What pudding is cooked nine days old? Laughter rang as the answer was called out by many, Peas! Peas, porridge in the pot nine days old.

Next, Rall held up antiquated items. One after another, audience members attempted to identify them. There was a sad iron, a 4-pound tool used for ironing clothing; a rotating grill for roasting meats; a long-handled wooden masher used in making sauerkraut; a flour scraper that looked like a small-handled hoe; a butter mold carved from wood; paddles for squeezing out buttermilk; a metal-handled tool with short chains for cleaning iron cookware; a sugar cone wrapped in blue paper; mortar and pestle for grinding herbs; and more.

Member Katherine Genung won the speakers cookbook for knowing the answer to many of Ralls questions.

Continuing the celebration, the annual candle-lighting ritual was conducted with three candles held in a sterling silver candelabra. The three candles, representing the past, present and future, were lighted by chapter members selected by Brown.

Dorrene Hale lit the first candle, representing the past, after reading the poem Pack Horse Ford written by Grace Yoke White. White was the eighth chapter regent, who read the poem during the chapters 50th anniversary in 1966.

The second candle, representing the present, was lit by Genung. It was dedicated to current chapter members who continue the tradition of service begun by the founders.

The third candle, representing the future, was lit by Robin Masnick and dedicated to the next generation of DAR women.

DAR members come from a variety of backgrounds and interests, but all share a common bond of having an ancestor who helped contribute to securing the independence of the United States. Any woman 18 years or older, regardless of race, religion or ethnic background who can prove lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution, is eligible to join.
As calls for pension fund to finance local infrastructure development continue to make echoes, asset managers argue that few bankable infrastructure projects are popping up.Speaking at the first-ever Botswana Infrastructure Investment (BII) Summit, asset managers said the challenge is not only peculiar to Botswana but the continent at large. Local capital markets industrys licensed players rose from 12 in 2008 to 64 in 2018 and 60 percent of the players are asset managers and investment advisors.

Non-Bank Financial Institution Regulatory Authoritys (NBFIRA) recent reports says the total assets under management grew from 38 billion pula in 2010 to 52 billion pula in 2017, while the domestic market capitalisation recorded was 29 billion pula in 2009 compared to 44 billion end of 2017, representing a 55.6 percent increase. Dialogue at the inaugural forum organised by MNCapital Group and African Alternative this week highlighted that political and commercial risks are tainting Africa infrastructure development chances. Ashwin West, Investor Director at African Infrastructure Investment Managers said the continent do not have capital challenges but bankable projects. We have lots of capital chasing small number of projects, said West.

Sharing his sentiments Hellen Goussard, Head of Unlisted Investment Services at Riscura said the limited infrastructure funding by the continents pension fund is a supply issue. There is a lot of qualitative understanding of what the risk is but very little quantity, said Goussard highlighting that risks associated with some of the infrastructure project are mainly limited to perceptions. She said foreign exchange rate and political risk make most project on the continent un-bankable. She however urged nation to consider the route of public private partnerships (PPPs) which has a lot to offer and are normal backed by international laws giving investors some security.

Meanwhile, Ahmed Attout, Chief Capital Markets Officer at the African Development Bank (AfDB) said the continent should improve on governance and expressed optimism that most nations are already adhering to such calls.Thing are changing to the right direction, what is missing is more efforts towards an enabling environment, said Attout adding that the continent should leverage on the bank for capacity building on infrastructure financing. We are very optimistic that we are moving into a new Africa.

Capital markets are keen to grow the African infrastructure, said Attout, adding that the narrative should change from mobilising aid for Africa to investment dialogue. Meanwhile AfDB has announced that it has kickoff dialogue with Botswana to understand the local market for a potential financing of some of the countrys infrastructure development. We have limited exposure on Botswana and have started bilateral discussions, said Kazuhiro Numasawa, Principal Investment Officer at Africa Development Bank.
Supporters of the ruling party and main opposition party briefly pull knives and machetes on each other during an otherwise celebratory gathering of supporters of President Muhammadu Buhari anticipating victory, in Kano, northern Nigeria Monday, Feb. 25, 2019. Nigeria's electoral commission on Monday began announcing official results from the country's 36 states as President Muhammadu Buhari seeks a second term.
BRISTOL, Tenn.- Sullivan County Sheriffs Office Deputy Steve Hinkle has died from injuries sustained in a Saturday shooting.

Hinkle, a 65-year-old veteran officer, died at the Bristol Regional Medical Center this afternoon.

"This afternoon, Sullivan County lost a hero. Sgt. Steve Hinkle passed away from an injury that he received in the line of duty," spokesman Andy Seabolt said in an email. "Sgt. Hinkle proudly served Sullivan County with honor and distinction for over twenty-seven years as a full-time employee. He also served as a Reserve Deputy Sheriff for five years prior to his full-time employment."

The officer had responded to a check welfare call on Saturday morning at a home on U.S. Highway 11W. He was wounded during an exchange of gunfire. Authorities later found the body of the resident, Jackie Scott Pendergrass, 44, inside the home.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation continues to probe the shooting.

Hinkle is the first SCSO Officer to die from injuries sustained in the line of duty since 2001. Hes the 21st line of duty death in the country in 2019.

Hinkles body will be taken to the medical examiners office today in Johnson City.

Arrangements will be forthcoming over the next few days.

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Abingdon, Va. - Police Officers with the Abingdon Police Department arrested four people and charged three with drug charges after investigating a suspicious vehicle.

At 5:46 a.m. Monday morning officer B. T. Graham investigated a suspicious white Subaru parked in the 400 block of Deadmore Street. When Graham approached the vehicle he saw one of the four passengers remove a syringe from their arm and the other occupants attempt to hide other objects.

The occupants of the Subaru were removed from the vehicle, searched and then arrested. Officers searched the vehicle and found a small plastic baggie containing a white crystal substance, which field testing showed was methamphetamine several syringes, and a smoking device with traces of meth.

The occupants of the vehicle were taken to the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail Authority.

The driver Myles C. Ratliff, 22 was charged with public intoxication and held in jail until sober.

Carly D. Alexander, 23 was charged with possession of schedule I and II controlled substances and held on $2000 secured bond.

Felicia J. Potter, 18 was charged with possession of schedule I and II controlled substances and held without bond.

Dakota M. Reynolds was charged with possession of schedule I and II controlled substances as well as possession of Marijuana and held on an unsecured bond.
The privacy controversies that have battered Facebook for almost a year center on data the social network shares with third parties. But news that Facebook is collecting reams of extremely personal information from other apps  without peoples knowledge  is opening up a whole other avenue of criticism for the company.

Policymakers around the world are sounding the alarm about a recent Wall Street Journal report that apps as wide ranging as a menstrual cycle tracker and heart rate monitor are sending intimate data  such as pregnancy status or body weight  to the social network without clearly disclosing the practice to users.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D, on Friday called for a probe into whether Facebook is secretly accessing personal information. As he directed the New York Department of State and other state agencies to open an investigation, he also called on federal regulators to to step up and help us put an end to this practice and protect the rights of consumers.

New Yorkers deserve to know that their personal information is safe, and we must hold Internet companies  no matter how big  responsible for upholding the law and protecting the information of smartphone users, Cuomo said in a statement on Friday.




Exodus 34:29-35 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

29 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; 34 but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him. Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him.But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them.Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face;but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded,the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

**********************





It is Transfiguration Sunday, which is a day that calls us to reflect on Jesus ascent to the top of the mountain, taking with him Peter, James, and John. When the group arrives on the mountain top, Jesus meets with Moses and Elijah, whom many assume represent the Law and the Prophets. As the conversation continues, Jesus begins to glow, the divine radiance shining forth. As they watch this scene unfold, Jesus companions are overwhelmed by what they see. You might say that they are in awe of what they see. Not knowing what else to do, they ask Jesus for permission to erect tents for the three figures. As they ask this question, Moses and Elijah disappear from the scene, leaving Jesus alone with his disciples. At that moment a voice from the heavens rings out declaring, much like at his baptism: This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him! ( It is Transfiguration Sunday, which is a day that calls us to reflect on Jesus ascent to the top of the mountain, taking with him Peter, James, and John. When the group arrives on the mountain top, Jesus meets with Moses and Elijah, whom many assume represent the Law and the Prophets. As the conversation continues, Jesus begins to glow, the divine radiance shining forth. As they watch this scene unfold, Jesus companions are overwhelmed by what they see. You might say that they are in awe of what they see. Not knowing what else to do, they ask Jesus for permission to erect tents for the three figures. As they ask this question, Moses and Elijah disappear from the scene, leaving Jesus alone with his disciples. At that moment a voice from the heavens rings out declaring, much like at his baptism: This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him! ( Lk. 9:28-36 ).





The first reading from the Scriptures takes us to Exodus 34. Here again we go to the mountain top, and when we do, we see another divine encounter. In this scene Moses has gone up to the top of Mount Sinai to speak with YHWH. This is the second time he has done this. When we pick up the story, Moses is descending the mountain, carrying with him the two tablets that define the covenant God desires to make with Israel. This is the second set of tablets, since Moses broke the first set after discovering that Aaron and the people had created a golden calf while he was on the mountain speaking with God ( The first reading from the Scriptures takes us to Exodus 34. Here again we go to the mountain top, and when we do, we see another divine encounter. In this scene Moses has gone up to the top of Mount Sinai to speak with YHWH. This is the second time he has done this. When we pick up the story, Moses is descending the mountain, carrying with him the two tablets that define the covenant God desires to make with Israel.This is the second set of tablets, since Moses broke the first set after discovering that Aaron and the people had created a golden calf while he was on the mountain speaking with God ( Ex. 32 ). This is the second opportunity for Israel to make covenant with YHWH, which occurs after Moses intercedes with God ( Ex. 33:12-23 ). Once again Moses spends forty days and forty nights on the mountain, neither eating nor drinking. Communion with God, apparently, was sufficient ( Ex.34:27-28 ). Having been on the mountain for forty days and nights, its time for Moses to return to where Israel camped out in Sinai.





When he arrives with the tablets in hand, his face shone with the glory of God, only he did not know this. That is, until he realized that Aaron and Israel were afraid to approach him because his face shone so brightly. In time he was able to convince them to come and hear his words, words given to him by God on the mountain. When he was finished, he put a veil over his face, until his next visit with YHWH. The fact that his face reflected the glory of Gods presence was a sign to the people that God was with them, and that God was guiding them through the auspices of Moses. The moment of transfiguration described in the Gospels, is an unveiling of Gods presence in the person of Jesus. The three disciples were drawn into the divine presence and saw how Jesus radiated with that presence. As for Moses, he reflected the divine presence by his countenance. It was a bit off-putting to the people, who didnt know what to make of it. Thus, because the radiance of his face was so great, he covered his face with a veil, so as not to overwhelm his fellow Israelites.





The reading from the epistle, which comes from 2 Corinthians, has a bit of a different take on the situation. Paul saw the veil as a means by which Moses hid the fact that the glow was fading with time. He saw this as symbolic of the inability of Israel to discern the identity of Jesus as its Messiah. Only in Christ, Paul believes, is the veil set aside so we can see the glory of God present in Jesus so that we might be transformed ( 2 Cor. 3:12-18 ). Paul and Luke have this Mosaic encounter in mind. We have to be careful here not to read this story in a supersessionist mode, so that this becomes a word about Gods rejection of Israel. Instead, may we read this as an invitation to perceive the glory of God present in Jesus, a glory that Moses encountered as well. He experienced that transformation that Paul spoke of, but as a human being, he like us, must continually return to Gods presence lest the glory that is God fade. Its not a one-time occurrence. For Luke, the presence is found within Jesus, and it is revealed through a momentary unveiling. For us, like Moses, we must continually return to Gods presence so we might increase in our reflecting of Gods glory. As Paul reminds us, we may have veils over our faces, which not only hide the fact that the glory of our encounters with God are fading, but these veils may prevent us from seeing what is true and what is right. So, maybe what was designed to protect is now a hindrance.





How should we read and respond to this story? In both the Exodus encounter with the Divine and the transfiguration of Jesus, we learn something about the central figure. Moses had been dealing with a rather recalcitrant community, that questioned his authority. Having this sign of his encounter with God reflected in his face reinforced his claim to leadership in the community. As for Jesus, the unveiling, together with the heavenly voice, confirmed in the three disciples that Jesus was one to be listened to, even if they didnt share the news broadly. But there is also a sense here of wonder or awe at being in the presence of God, even if you must hide in the cleft of the rock ( How should we read and respond to this story? In both the Exodus encounter with the Divine and the transfiguration of Jesus, we learn something about the central figure. Moses had been dealing with a rather recalcitrant community, that questioned his authority. Having this sign of his encounter with God reflected in his face reinforced his claim to leadership in the community. As for Jesus, the unveiling, together with the heavenly voice, confirmed in the three disciples that Jesus was one to be listened to, even if they didnt share the news broadly. But there is also a sense here of wonder or awe at being in the presence of God, even if you must hide in the cleft of the rock ( Ex 33:17-23 ).





There are many times and places where we can gain a sense of Gods presence. Being in nature can create within us a sense of wonder or awe, and if were attentive we will recognize in nature a reflection of Gods creative presence. Although our experiences of worship dont always create within us a sense of awe at the presence of God, there are times when such occurs. We might even glow with the love and glory of God reflecting off our faces, while we sing something like "Shine Jesus Shine." There are many times and places where we can gain a sense of Gods presence. Being in nature can create within us a sense of wonder or awe, and if were attentive we will recognize in nature a reflection of Gods creative presence. Although our experiences of worship dont always create within us a sense of awe at the presence of God, there are times when such occurs. We might even glow with the love and glory of God reflecting off our faces, while we sing something like "Shine Jesus Shine."





Picture Attribution: St. Vitale - Moses Receiving the Law on Mt. Sinai, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=32149 [retrieved February 25, 2019]. Original source: Images donated by Patout Burns, Vanderbilt University.
Police are still searching for a man wanted for shooting a police officer two weeks ago and the reward for his capture has increased again.

Donquale DJ Gray, 25, of Bluefield, West Virginia, is wanted in Virginia for attempted capital murder of a police officer.

The search for Gray is now focused on the Lynchburg and Roanoke areas. Law enforcement officials are following up on information that indicates Gray may be hiding out somewhere in the area, the release stated.

A reward of $20,000 is being offered for information that leads to his arrest. The reward started at $5,000.

The charges stem from a traffic stop on Feb. 16 in the town of Bluefield, Virginia.

Gray was the passenger in a vehicle stopped for an equipment violation. Gray began shooting and wounded a police officer that was standing outside the vehicle on the drivers side, according to a news release from the Virginia State Police.

Officers returned fire, police said.

The driver of the vehicle got out and surrendered. Gray got into the drivers seat and drove off. The vehicle was found abandoned a few hours later in Bluefield, West Virginia.
BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn.  The man involved in the Saturday shootout with Sullivan County Deputies had a previous criminal record, authorities said Monday.

Jackie Scott Pendergrass, 44, was found dead inside his U.S. Highway 11W home Saturday afternoon after exchanging gunfire with law enforcement officers, who originally came to check on his welfare. An autopsy is being performed.

Deputy Steve Hinkle, 65, was shot during the incident. He remained in critical condition Monday night at Bristol Regional Medical Center. No one else was injured in the standoff, which lasted most of the day.

In 1993, Pendergrass was convicted in Sullivan County of arson and felony aggravated burglary, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. He was sentenced to four years probation.

Authorities are uncertain how long Pendergrass lived at 3606 U.S. Highway 11W, but he had occupied the one-story home since at least 2012. On Monday, pieces of plywood covered windows damaged Saturday during the standoff.

Our previous call history at this residence includes a couple of disturbance calls and a theft call, SCSO spokesman Capt. Andy Seabolt said Monday.

On Feb. 10, 2012, authorities responded to a disturbance at the Highway 11W residence. Jackie Pendergrass kicked the door open and had an argument with his wife, according to a report filed with the sheriffs office. No charges were filed.

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A subsequent disturbance call on Dec. 24, 2013, also resulted in no charges. Pendergrass wife, who was at her parents house at the time, told officers the couple had verbal disagreements and that he had been texting her and threatening to burn the house down and burn down her parents house. He was not present when police responded, and officers left a voicemail message telling him to stop texting his wife.

Seabolt didnt have ready access to records regarding Pendergrass convictions in 1993, since the present computer system only contains records back to 1999.

Investigators with the TBI continue their investigation into the incident, which began after a family member placed the call to Sullivan County 911 Saturday morning, asking officers to check on Pendergrass welfare, TBI spokesperson Leslie Earhart said Monday.

The welfare check was requested due to a male subject making threats to potentially harm himself, Earhart said. Pendergrass was home by himself as Saturdays events unfolded.

Authorities said Pendergrass was dead when they entered the residence Saturday afternoon. It is unclear if Pendergrass died by his own hand or was shot by officers. The medical examiners office offered no estimate when the autopsy would be completed.

The TBI investigation remains active and ongoing, Earhart said.

Sullivan County District Attorney General Barry Staubus, who asked that the TBI investigate, said once their work is complete, he will receive their report and present those findings to a grand jury.

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WASHINGTON COUNTY, Va.  An Abingdon man was arrested by the Abingdon Police Department Monday morning after breaking and entering into a home, according to a press release from the Abingdon Police Department.

At 7:39 a.m. Monday, Officer Y.D. Wilmoth responded to a breaking and entering call in the 700 block of Hillman Highway in Washington County, Virginia. The perpetrator was described as a white male wearing a tan jacket with a hood, who was seen rolling a cart from the scene.

According to the report, when Wilmoth arrived at the scene, the individual who made the complaint pointed out the suspect, who was later identified as Augustus R. Johnson, 26, walking down Hillman Highway. Upon seeing Wilmoth, Johnson ran behind a greenhouse on the property. According to the release, the complainant gave chase and subdued the suspect.

A subsequent search of Johnson yielded a screwdriver, chisel, keys, multiple drivers licenses that belonged to other people and a flashlight.

Johnson was arrested and transported to the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail and charged with statutory burglary, possession of burglary tools, destruction of property and petit larceny. He is being held without bond.
Anderson, IN (46016)

Today

Rain showers early with isolated thunderstorms developing later in the day. High 89F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

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A few clouds from time to time. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
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Rain early with thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. High 81F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

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Scattered thunderstorms in the evening, then variable clouds overnight with more showers at times. Low 71F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
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Ireland will take back extremists who have travelled to fight with terrorist groups such as Islamic State (IS), Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.

While he indicated that each case would have to be considered on its own merits, Mr Varadkar said Ireland should not expect its citizens "to be somebody else's problem".

Half-a-dozen Irish passport holders are believed to be still operating on behalf of IS in Syria.

Intelligence

Senior garda security and intelligence officers reckon many of the 30 suspects who left here to join foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq are now dead.

Others are missing, and some may have headed to other areas such as the Philippines, the Horn of Africa and north Africa.

Mr Varadkar's comments come against the backdrop of an EU-wide debate over how to deal with returning fighters.

In recent days, the UK moved to revoke the citizenship of 'IS bride' Shamima Begum.

However, the Taoiseach said he would be "very loath to revoke anyone's citizenship, provided they are a citizen by right or acquired their citizenship appropriately".

"I think it's bad practice to revoke somebody's citizenship and render them stateless and leave them to be somebody else's problem," he said.

Mr Varadkar was speaking on the fringes of the first ever EU-Arab League of States summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, where counter-terrorism was high on the agenda.

He said there may be "as few as one" jihadi who has left Ireland and would be in a position to return.

Last December, Alexandr Ruzmatovich Bekmirzaev, who held an Irish passport and lived here for 13 years, was caught in an operation against IS in Syria.

He was regarded by the garda security section and military intelligence as a key member of a back-up logistics support cell for IS in Dublin.

Bekmirzaev was held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who, with US support, have rounded up foreign fighters as they push to eliminate IS from Syria.

The SDF has warned that it cannot hold on to the prisoners for much longer, particularly as the US is preparing to pull out troops from the region.

Addressing the ongoing Brexit debacle earlier, Mr Varadkar agreed with his fellow European leaders who are convinced that delaying Brexit is now the only way to avoid a disorderly crash-out by the UK.

During a meeting with Mr Varadkar in Egypt, Mrs May failed to propose any options to the backstop or suggest how it could be time-limited. Publicly, she is sticking to her script, saying a March 29 exit is "within our grasp".
James Kavanagh covers his head on leaving court. He will be allowed to attend the funeral of his son Eamon

A Co Carlow father jailed on Friday for animal cruelty has been granted temporary release to attend the funeral of his son who was killed in a car crash on Sunday.

It is understood James Kavanagh - who was given a three-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to 30 counts of animal cruelty relating to dogs and horses - has had an appeal for temporary release approved.

His son Eamon (16) was killed when the car he was driving hit a wall in Co Carlow in the early hours of Sunday.

Four other male occupants were in the car, with one teenager fighting for his life after being moved to the Mater Hospital.

The accident happened at around 5am on Sunday, with the black Audi A4 saloon hitting a wall alongside a cattle grid on Mount Leinster. Eamon was pronounced dead at the scene.

The other teens are believed to have suffered less serious injuries, with one being able to get out of the car to contact emergency services.

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Conditions in the area were described as "seriously foggy". The stretch of road was closed but had opened again yesterday afternoon following a forensic examination of the scene.

They were all initially taken to St Luke's Hospital and Waterford General Hospital.

Borris Vocational School, where Eamon was a third-year student, paid tribute yesterday.

The school will be offering counselling services to students.

Tragic

"This is a terrible tragedy for the family, our school and our community. We are deeply saddened by these events. Eamon was a very popular third-year student and will be greatly missed by all who knew him," the school said in a statement.

"Offers of support have been pouring in and are greatly appreciated. The staff will be helping students to deal with this tragic event. The school will be open to parents to support them and to offer them advice and guidance."

Speaking to Beat FM, Inspector Audrey Dormer said: "We are appealing to witnesses or anybody to come forward who may have seen a dark Audi A4 saloon car, which we believe could have been around the area of Myshall, Borris, Bagenalstown.

"It's quite a remote area where the accident occurred but we are appealing to witnesses to come forward and give us any information they may have.

"It's a tragic accident. A family are coming to terms with the loss of a beautiful boy."
Gardai and the family of a 34-year-old north Dublin criminal have grave concerns for his safety, with fears he may have been targeted by gangsters.

No trace has been found of Mark McCabe, from Marigold Crescent, Darndale, for nearly six weeks.

McCabe, who had been living in hostels in recent times, was reported missing to gardai by his father.

Yesterday, officers made a public appeal for information.

"Gardai wish to seek the public's assistance in tracing the whereabouts of 34-year-old Mark McCabe, from the Coolock area, who was last seen on January 17, 2019, and was rep- orted missing in recent days," a spokeswoman said.

Convictions

"He is described as being five-foot-10, with short red/brown hair. He has blue eyes and would frequent the Dublin city centre area.

"Gardai are concerned for Mark and are asking anyone who can assist in locating him to contact Coolock Garda Station on 01 666 4200, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any garda station."

McCabe has multiple previous convictions to his name.

He has also served several prison sentences, including for threatening to kill two female video store staff in Donaghmede when he was 19 in 2004.

He grabbed one of the terrified women by the hair and dragged her into a back room as an accomplice kept watch.

At a court hearing in September 2008, it emerged that the convicted drug dealer blamed his downfall on being shot in the head in a case of mistaken identity.

McCabe told the court "his mind was not with it" since the incident.

The shooting had grossly impaired McCabe's cognitive abilities, as well as his decision-making capabilities, his lawyer said.

McCabe would "essentially do anything if someone asks him".

The shooting happened in 2007 and centred on a drugs feud between rival gangs, Swords District Court was told.

Heroin addict McCabe said he was on medication, taking methadone as well as painkillers for his head injury and tablets for insomnia and anxiety.

He pleaded guilty to four counts of possession of drugs and two counts of possession with intent for sale or supply.

Sock

A search of McCabe in the Marigold estate in August 2007 found 390 worth of heroin in his sock.

A further search of McCabe in Coolock Garda Station later that month found 25 worth of heroin.

A search by gardai of McCabe's home in October 2007 uncovered 60 worth of heroin.

Meanwhile, a second search of his home in December of that year revealed cocaine worth 1,000, heroin valued at 2,600 and small quantities of cannabis herb and cannabis resin.

McCabe started taking drugs when he was 12-years-old and had more than 60 criminal convictions over a decade ago.
Dog poo on the streets of Dublin could be tested for DNA to clamp down on owners not cleaning up after their pets, two city councillors have said.

Green Party councillors Claire Byrne and Patrick Costello have submitted a proposal to the council's environment meeting tomorrow calling for drastic action on what they see as an epidemic of dog dirt being left in the capital's streets and parks.

Fines

They have also called on Environment Minister Richard Bruton to dramatically increase fines, which are currently set at 150.

Speaking to the Herald, Mr Costello said the city needs to look at "creative ways" of dealing with the issue.

Both councillors said dog dirt is the biggest issue raised when they are canvassing voters and has been since before the last local elections were held in 2014.

Mr Costello said the DNA testing of dog poo has worked well and is being continued by Barking and Dagenham Council in London.

The English borough authority began collecting dog poo in January 2016 to compile a three-month DNA database with registered dogs.

Asked what he would say to people who thought the idea was "barking mad", Mr Costello said it is working well.

The councillor said the cost of the DNA testing could be added to the fine the pet owner would subsequently have to pay.

"You have to build up a DNA database which you can do when chipping the dog, so you take a sample and at that point you put it on the database," he said, adding that it overcomes the evidence problem with the fine.

Figures provided by the council last November showed that of 135 dog fouling fines issued to date, only 83 were paid.

Of those, four were issued in 2018, with only one paid.

Another measure the councillors are calling for is the installation of waste bag dispensers in public parks.

"It comes up at the doors all the time," Ms Byrne said.

"I feel like it's getting worse rather than better.

"We fought really hard to get dog-only litter bins in the city. It should be really easy to attach something to it so people can pull a bag off."
A retired surgeon who molested seven boys in his care over a period of three decades has been jailed for four years.

Michael Shine (86), of Ballsbridge, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 12 charges of indecent assault and one charge of sexual assault committed during medical examinations at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth, and at two private clinics in Drogheda between 1971 and 1992.

On day 17 of the trial, a jury of two women and eight men returned guilty verdicts, having deliberated over six hours.

Judge Martin Nolan sentenced Shine to four years' imprisonment for one count of indecent assault, and 18 months' imprisonment for all other counts. He ordered that each sentence run concurrently.

Misbehaviour

Judge Nolan described the offending as a "serious pattern of misbehaviour".

At an earlier hearing, Detective Garda Seamus Nolan told Cathleen Noctor SC, prosecuting, that Shine indecently assaulted six boys aged 11 and 15 between 1971 to 1988. He said the sole count of sexual assault related to an incident in 1992 when the victim was 16.

Det Gda Nolan said that during the trial a medical expert gave evidence that there was no professional reason for Shine to be groping his young patients.

The perverted surgeon has three previous convictions for indecent assault relating to two complainants who were 15 in 1975, for which he was sentenced to 20 months' imprisonment in 2017.

These convictions are currently under appeal.

Victim Patrick Cusack (56), who waived his right to anonymity, said he had not had a proper night's sleep in 45 years.

Speaking outside the court after Shine was sentenced, Mr Cusack said it was a "good day for me and for all victims of abuse, but particularly the victims of abuse of Michael Shine".

Mr Cusack encouraged others who have been the victims of abuse to come forward and seek help. He said he was "delighted" with the sentence.

"He [Shine] will never say sorry. Paedophiles don't say sorry, it's their chemical make-up," Mr Cusack said. He went on to say he expects that Shine will never acknowledge himself or any of his victims.

"He will self-gratify in his abuse, but that's as far as it goes. You are just a toy in his world."

Judge Nolan said the aggravating factors in the case were the number of assaults and that, as a doctor, Shine was in a position of trust.

Further aggravating factors were that the victims were "vulnerable", that there was no remorse and that Shine had previous convictions.

Hugh Hartnett SC, defending, said his client's "health is precarious" and that a prison sentence would have a profound impact on a man of his age.

But Judge Nolan said it had been well decided by precedent that age is no barrier to prison sentences.
Victor Obaze had driven from Galway to Dublin

A banned driver borrowed a friend's car and "popped out" to run an errand after she felt unwell, a court heard.

Victor Obaze (42) was returning the car when he was stopped by gardai.

A garda told a court that Obaze, who was serving a two-year disqualification at the time, had driven from Galway to Dublin earlier that day.

Judge Paula Murphy adjourned sentencing to see if Obaze was suitable to complete community service.

The defendant, of Ashmount, Blakestown Road, Dublin 15, admitted driving without insurance or a driving licence at Navan Road on February 6.

A garda witness said he was on patrol at around 5pm when he stopped Obaze driving a 2002-registered vehicle.

No insurance, tax or NCT certificates were displayed on the vehicle.

Convictions

Blanchardstown District Court heard the defendant had six previous convictions and was disqualified from driving for two years in October 2017.

Defence solicitor Kelly Breen said Obaze had been driving a friend's car on the day in question.

Ms Breen said the friend had been feeling unwell and that Obaze had "popped out" on an errand.

He was returning the car when he was stopped by gardai, Ms Breen said.

She said the defendant had a partner and one child. He had been working, but was recently unemployed and had applied for social welfare.

Ms Breen also said the def-endant was willing to complete community service.

However, the court heard that Obaze had issues with his leg.

Judge Murphy adjourned the case so a full assessment of Obaze's suitability for community service could be completed.
Huntington, WV (25701)

Today

Sunny along with a few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 92F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Some clouds early will give way to generally clear conditions overnight. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable.
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Jazz in the Round #2 | Kenton Theatre | Wednesday, February 13

GILAD Atzmon and Frank Harrison treated a sell-out audience to an exhilarating performance of jazz virtuosity in the second Jazz in the Round chamber concert at the Kenton Theatre last Wednesday.

One of Britains most expressive and animated of saxophonists, Atzmon positively thrived on the intimacy of the occasion and filled every corner of the auditorium with the glorious tone of his instruments as he roamed freely around the performance space.

The Kenton has such a wonderful acoustic that no amplification was needed, except for announcements, which Atzmon delivered in his inimitable style  a beguiling mix of perfectly timed wit and incisive comment.

Plus, he never takes himself so seriously that he cant sometimes indulge in a little self-parody.

What is the definition of a jazz musician? he asked at one point. A musician who never plays a tune the same way once!

Just so.

Atzmon and Harrison, who play with a depth of understanding born of their long association, take a tune, albeit a standard from the Great American Songbook or a jazz classic, and reshape it into an entirely new composition.

Its a remarkable and incredibly exciting process that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats.

The programme opened with Old Folks, a sumptuous ballad famously recorded by Miles Davis in the early Sixties.

A dazzling interpretation of Autumn Leaves followed  a rollercoaster outing, baroque in style, with swift changes in time and tempo, and with each protagonist developing his own line of improvisation in fabulous counterpoint.

Autumn in Baghdad, an Atzmon original, brought a change of mood with its sombre reflection of past events in the Middle East.

The sonorous Fender-Rhodes sounds of Frank Harrisons keyboard provided a funky launchpad for Atzmons soaring leap into solo flight with My Little Suede Shoes  one of Charlie Parkers least known but most charming of compositions.

He used it to more telling and almost apocalyptic effect in his introduction to The Burning Bush.

Extraordinarily powerful and emotionally draining, this evocation of Atzmons Middle East homeland, stood out for me as the centrepiece of the concert.

The neat placing of Nature Boy brought the emotions back to normal running order. Jimmy van Heusens gorgeous ballad Heres That Rainy Day, with Atzmon on soprano saxophone, opened the second set, followed by In a Sentimental Mood.

This loosely followed a classic collaboration between John Coltrane and Duke Ellington but bore the indelible hallmark of Atzmon and Harrison.

Giant Steps offered a further evocation of Coltranes spirit, though now in gentle waltz-time rather than the rampaging stampede of the original recording, while My Favourite Things fused seamlessly with Scarborough Fair to hold the audience absolutely spellbound.

No jazz performance is ever complete without a blues and though an untitled tango would never comply with the strict 12-bar format of this musical style, its rhythm, passion and melancholic beauty, more than fitted the bill, with stunning final chords from Frank Harrison.

His lyrical piano and Atzmons clarinet breathed fresh life into the familiar tones of Body and Soul before a slow-paced deeply moving Lily Marlene brought this concert of world class jazz to a close.

Dont despair if you havent as yet sampled the delights of Jazz in the Round at the Kenton. Three more concerts are scheduled for the coming months  full details of which can be found online at www.kentontheatre.co.uk

Trevor Bannister
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 con...
Last updated 2/26/2019 at 10:46am

Press release

Havre Middle School is hosting a Middle School Invitational Choral Festival Monday at Havre High School.

Seventh- and eighth-grade students from Sunburst, Shelby, Chinook, Turner, Malta, Cut Bank, North Star and Havre Middle School will sing in a large mass choir under the direction of guest conductor Havre High School choral director Danielle Stoll.

After a day of rehearsing, an evening concert will be presented at 6:30 p.m. in the Havre High School Auditorium.

The repertoire is a diverse program including a spiritual, music based on a Victorian poem, a Latin...
Havre Beneath the Streets board member Jerry Waltari points at the ceiling as he talks Monday about renovations needed to reopen a closed-off section of Havre Beneath the Streets in Havre. Due to water damage and general aging, two full rooms will sit unused until the infrastructure above is fixed.

Havre Beneath the Streets is seeking some help repairing damage to its popular historic tourist attraction, and a Havre legislator is working to help it get some funds.

Christy Owens, office manager for the popular historic attraction and for the Frank DeRosa Railroad Museum, said two of Havre Beneath the Streets rooms have been closed due to water leakage.

The leak is coming through the sidewalk on Second Street in front of the Fraternal Order of the Eagles Club which has glass prisms, now yellowed by age, that let light into the steam and access tunnels that were under downtown Havre more than a century ago.

The damage forced the organization to move displays, two of the displays showing depictions of historic Havre businesses generally using actual equipment from the businesses themselves.

Owens said Havre Beneath the Streets first noticed the leak about a year ago, after water came into the the mercantile, post office and the auto shop rooms, which cover more than 780 sq. ft. They later made the decision close these rooms and take the artifacts out to prevent any water damage, she said, although a few of the artifacts had already been damaged and will take time to repair.

Another exhibit that had to be moved was the dentist's office, she said, which now has its items displayed in the saloon. Owens said that many of the artifacts and displays have been temporarily moved to other locations within the Beneath the Streets exhibits.

She said they still talk about the items, informing visitors of the history behind each piece, although, she added visitors lose something in the experience by not being able to see the way everything is supposed to be set up.

Beneath the Streets board member Jerry Waltari said this is the most expensive repairs they have had since first creating the Beneath the Streets exhibits in the 1990s.

Montana Rep. Jacob Bachmeier, D-Havre, said from Helena during a legislative teleconference last Friday in Havre that the repairs of the Beneath the Streets was appraised at approximately $200,000. A large part of the cost is due to the repairs required on the sidewalk.

Bachmeier introduced House Bill 391 to address this issue. Bachmeier said the scope of the bill was narrow enough that it would apply to Beneath the Streets, offering a grant for $100,000 for repairs.

Bachmeier said his bill was tabled in the State Administration Committee.

"But this bill is not dead by any means," he added.

He said he is working with people on the Appropriations Committee to add the bill as a special project into House Bill 7, introduced by Rep. Jim Keane, D-Butte, which is a reclamation and development grants bill. Once the amendment is in the bill, Bachmeier said, it will be very hard to get it out. Bachmeier said that Keane is also getting people on both sides of the aisle to work on this bill.

Owens said Havre Beneath the Streets approached Bachmeier last fall shortly before the Museum's Holiday Stroll, giving him a private tour and explaining the situation. She said if this bill was passed it would give them the resources to quickly make these repairs and reopen the exhibits.

Waltari said having to move some of the artifacts and displays makes them look as if they don't flow naturally, causing them to lose some of their effect.

He added that having to close the rooms has also caused an issue for people with handicaps because the entrance on Second Street is handicap-accessible. He said if guests can be carried down the steps they are able to provide a wheelchair for them, although the stairs are narrow and difficult to navigate.

Owens said that they have noticed a slight difference in visitors, with many of the handicapped visitors not coming due to this issue.

She said that, with time, the problems will only get worse, with the erosion getting worse every day and the integrity of the sidewalk being in danger.

"It's not something that's going to go away," she said. "It needs to be fixed."

Owens said that, eventually, they will have to make a decision, either to make the repairs so they can reopen the exhibits or to fill the entire area in to prevent collapse and have those displays be gone forever.

"Losing a bit of Havre's history," she added.

To lose Havre Beneath the Streets would be really sad, she said, and effect the entire Havre community.

She said that since Havre Beneath the Streets first opened in 1994, more than 200,000 people from across the world have visited the exhibits. Every year the attraction averages approximately 8,000 visitors, she said - those visitors stay in the local hotels, eat at the local restaurants and shop at the local stores. Havre Beneath the Streets is something that affects Havre as a whole, she said.

Owens said that, at this point in time, they are still in the early stages and are still working on bids. She added that they have also set the date for their first fundraiser for this project. The fundraiser will be April 26 in the Havre Eagles Club. She said this fundraiser is still in planning stages, but more details on the event will be released at a later date.

She added that the Havre Eagles Club has been a great partner, agreeing to work with them and help them collect money for the sidewalk project, "both entities coming together to save the Havre underground."

She said people can walk in and donate to the sidewalk fund at the Eagles Club or at Havre Beneath the Streets. She added that they are also working on a GoFundMe page as well as having a flyer available on their Facebook page for people to fill out.

Waltari added that these donations are also tax deductible and Havre Beneath the Streets can write people a receipt for their donations.

A Bear Paw Credit Union representative said people can donate to the Sidewalk Fund for Havre Beneath the Streets account at the credit union. People can either put their names on as a memo or remain anonymous. If people want a receipt for tax purposes they need to ask their teller.

Bear Paw Development Corp. Director of Community Planning Nanette Gabriel said Bear Paw is working with Havre Beneath the Streets to apply for a number of grants. She said one grant that is most fitting is the Tourism Grant, adding that it is a good fit for the project.

The application for this grant opens in July and closes in September, she said. Gabriel added that they also be notified if they qualified for the grant in December. She said are hoping to raise the required funds before the September deadline.

The Tourism Grant is a two-to-one match grant, meaning Havre Underground will have to raise a dollar for every two dollars which are awarded to them.

She said, because of that, it is important that Havre Beneath the Streets does fundraisers. She added that the museum will also be applying for several smaller grants to help pay for the fundraisers as well as preliminary architectural reviews. Some of these smaller grants they will be applying for are through BNSF Railway Havre Area Chamber of Commerce, Triangle Communications and NorthWestern Energy, she said.

Gabriel said that, initially, the match funds needed will be about $40,000.

She said Bear Paw Development is still looking for larger dollar grants and is still exploring some other options.

Havre Eagles Club has been such a supportive entity in Havre, she added, with the club and Beneath the Streets working together to make these repairs and support the community.

"It's just such an integral part of Havre and its history that if it doesn't get worked on, it keeps deteriorating, and pretty soon then we won't have a Beneath the Streets and it will have to close," Gabriel said. "We just don't want to see that happen. ... It's very interesting. It's a really huge part of our community."
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is hosting a public information meeting regarding efforts to contain chronic wasting disease and changes for the upcoming hunting season.

The meeting will be held Monday, March 11 5-6 p.m. in Havre in the conference room at the Great Northern Inn across from the Duck Inn.

Last hunting season, FWP discovered CWD in deer across the Hi-Line, one year after the first confirmation of it in wildlife in the state.

The contagious neurological disease can infect deer, elk and moose. It is always fatal and there is no known cure. Because of the new discovery, transport restrictions are in place for deer harvested in locations where CWD has been detected.

Prior to two years ago, the only animal that tested positive in the state was an elk at a game farm in Phillipsburg in 1999, although Wyoming, the Dakotas, Saskatchewan and Alberta had confirmed cases prior to that.

in 2017, the disease was confirmed in an animal harvested in Liberty County and several harvested in Carbon County. FWP then implemented testing and management plans including special hunts to test for the disease.

Hunting was closely monitored last season, and transportation restricted zones, from which brains and spinal cords of harvested animals could not be transported, were implemented.

FWP conducted CWD surveillance across the Hi-Line during the general big game season, which ended Nov. 25.

This past hunting season, 16 mule deer tested positive for chronic wasting disease in Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 6 that starts in Hill County and stretches east, Region 6 Supervisor Mark Sullivan said at a meeting in Havre Dec. 12. Of the animals that tested positive, 15 were older bucks and one was a doe.

The total in the state was 20, including two more in Liberty County and two in the Missoula area.

While no cases of the disease infecting people have been reported, it is recommended to never ingest meat from animals that appear to be sick or are known to be CWD positive. The CDC recommends hunters who have harvested a deer, elk, or moose from a known CWD-infected area have the animal tested prior to consuming it.
A blood drive is set for next Tuesday in Chinook at Wallner Hall, 330 Ohio, from 12:30 to 6 p.m.

Appointments are highly encouraged by the American Red Cross. People who have not made an appointment to donate can go on-line at https://www.redcrossblood.org or call 1-800-733-2767  1-800-REDCROSS. Walk-ins are always welcome. There will be walk-in availability throughout the day along with the scheduled appointments.

Any healthy person age 18  or age 16 or 17 with a signed parental consent  or older and weighing at least 110 pounds is eligible and encouraged to donate blood. Valid identification is required for all blood donations  drivers license or school ID are acceptable.

Parental consents for people 16 or 17 can be picked up at the high school office or at the registration table at Wallner Hall the day of the drive.

People with an appointment can save up to 15 minutes at the donation by completing the health history online the day of the drive. All they have to do is visit http://www.redcrossblood.org/rapidpass/.

Before donating, it is recommended that people get a good nights sleep; have a good breakfast or lunch; drink extra water and fluids to replace the volume the person will donate but try to avoid beverages with caffeine; eat iron-rich foods; and avoid fatty foods.

Organizers said they look forward to seeing people donating at Wallner Hall next Tuesday.
Closed due to slippery, icy conditions

Chippewa Cree Business Committee closed roads on Rocky Boys Indian Reservation at about 2 this morning at the recommendation of the Chippewa Cree Law Enforcement, but re-opened the roads about 7:15, posts on the law enforcement departments Facebook page said.

A post late last night said road conditions on the reservation were slippery ice-packed roads with snow cover.

People were urged to take precaution while out and drive slower than usual, leaving ahead of time to have enough time to get to their destination safely.

The post announcing the closure said the precautionary measure was in the best interest of the general public until the weather lets up.

About 7:15 a.m. today, the Facebook post said the roads were open and advised people to travel with care.
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Published on 2019/02/25 | Source

On the latest episode of the KBS 2TV drama "Neighborhood Lawyer Jo Deul-ho 2: Crime and Punishment", Han Min (Moon Soo-bin) was kidnapped by strangers.

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Gook Jong-hee (Jang Ha-ran) declared that she will no longer play Lee Ja-kyeong's (Go Hyun-jung) puppet. Ja-kyeong promise that she had a hidden card.

Gook Jong-hee made a call and Lee Ja-kyeong's assistant Han Min was kidnapped. Kang Man-soo (Choi Seung-kyung) witnessed this and told Jo Deul-ho. They looked for clues to find Han Min and Jo Deul-ho sent her a picture taken by Kang Man-soo, but she warned him to stay out of her business.

Han Min was tied up and wen Gook Jong-hee appeared he said, "I knew it was you. I have never been out of reach for more than 10 minutes. The GPS should be running and you're being tracked right now. You made a mistake. You have a visitor outside. Why don't you open the door?" It was Lee Ja-kyeong and she freed Han Min.

Lee Ja-kyeong asked Jo Deul-ho how she should pay him back and he laughed. "I'm going to bring you down. That'll be a payback".




Haiti - Politic : Summary of the parliamentary week





According to the Citizen Observatory for the Institutionalization of Democracy (OCID), for the week of February 18 to 22, 2019, while activities resumed timidly in the capital, in Parliament a single plenary session was able to be held in at Senate on Tuesday, February 19th.



Chamber of Deputies :

No plenary session was held in the lower house during the three days usually spent in plenary sessions (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday), for lack of a quorum... Note that at the level of the Chamber of Deputies, since the opening of the first legislative session 2019, no law was passed after three sessions already carried out by the new office.



Senate :

Tuesday, February 19, 18 senators met in plenary session, to discuss in particular the position of the Senate on the situation of the country and the vote of the report of the Ethics and anticorruption commission concerning the report of partial investigation produced on the management of the funds PetroCaribe by the Superior Court of Accounts and Administrative Litigation (CSC/CA). Prime Minister Jean-Henry Ceant, accompanied by his Minister of Justice, Jean Roudy Aly and the Government Commissioner of Port-au-Prince, Paul Eronce Villard attended this meeting.



After debates and corrections to the report of the commission, 16 senators voted in favor, zero against and 2 Senators abstained (Augustin Kedlaire and Fourcand Richard Lenin Herve). After this favorable vote, the PetroCaribe case was officially entrusted to the Haitian justice.



Note that three of the four Senators of the opposition who endorsed the PetroCaribe file did not participate in this session (Senators Evaliere Beauplan, Ricard Pierre and Antonio Cheramy) having mandated Senator Latortue to vote in favor of the report of the Commission.



Thursday, February 21, for lack of quorum (only 7 senators present) the Senate was not able to hold a plenary session



Gracia Delva (AAA), Pierre Paul Patrice Dumont (RPH), Ronald Lareche (TRUTH), Yuri Latortue (AAA), Jean Renel Senatus (LIDE), Carl Murat Cantave (KID) and Dieupie Cherub (KID).



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Social : 14 illegal Haitian migrants arrested in Honduras





On Sunday, the Honduran authorities arrested 45 Cuban migrants and 14 Haitians who entered Honduras illegally.



The arrests took place at Guasaule Customs, on the border with Nicaragua, while the migrants were traveling on an intercity bus with the intention of crossing the Honduran territory and continuing their journey to the United States. However, the police say that these migrants did not have the documents required to transit through Honduras.



The migrants were taken to the premises of the National Institute of Migration of Choluteca Department (South), where the authorities will decide if they will obtain a permit allowing them to cross the national territory or if they will be sent back to their country of origin.



For the first two months of 2019, the Honduran authorities have already arrested 2,100 foreigners, including 142 minors, at various customs posts (at the borders with Nicaragua and Guatemala) for having entered Honduras illegally (nearly 4,000 per year for the year 2018). In the last 9 years, the Honduran authorities have intercepted 70,271 migrants who had entered their territory irregularly with the intention of going to the north of the country.



S/ HaitiLibre


















One year after community members stormed a Buford Board of Education meeting calling for change and more diversity on the school board, two female challengers lost elections and four of the five seats on the board will be held by white men until 2022.
Xiaomi Mi 9 arrived on Wednesday in China and today was the first flash sale at its domestic market. The phone was launched at 10 AM sharp and all the available units were gone in 53 seconds, the company boasted on Weibo.

Xiaomi Mi 9 comes with a 48 MP main shooter in the triple camera setup, UD fingerprint scanner, and slick design. Although the company did not announce the exact amount of units sold, we are pretty sure they were aplenty, its just demand was higher than supply.

The phone is among the first with a Snapdragon 855 chipset in the world and in our review we found it to be thoughtfully designed and nicely executed flagship. You can purchase it from the Chinese retailer JD or mi.com if you want a Chinese unit and you want it fast.

If you are in Europe and youre lucky to be from Spain, Italy, or France, you can already pre-order the device, with shipments for a Xiaomi Mi 9 with 6/64 GB memory beginning later this week.

Source (in Chinese) | Via (in Russian)
The MWC is ongoing in Barcelona where many smartphone makers have announced hardware and future technologies. Aside from folding smartphones from the likes of both Samsung and Huawei, 5G is at the forefront of most of the announcements which was mentioned by Xioami, Oppo, LG, and Huawei.

The report comes from Pocket-lint who spotted the device at both Sony and Qualcomms respective booths. Unfortunately, the 5G models being shown are not reflective of the final hardware intended for consumers and Sony hasnt officially said when itd release a 5G phone.

Adam Marsh, a member of Sonys global communications team, told Pocket-lint that the device is not a commercial product but rather a test device being used for network experience testing. Marsh explained that Sony was testing different versions of the hardware for the purpose of trying to understand [what would happen] if you take an antenna away from a certain place and make it thinner.

Source: Pocket-lint

The prototype is internally being referred to as the AG-1, according to Marsh. He also explains that [Sony is] massively involved in 5G, just not launching anything commercially just yet. You can see we have a product so in the near-future.

The 'near-future' isnt an exact time frame, but it does show that Sony is working to release one as soon as this year. Pocket-lint speculates that Sonys commercially-available 5G smartphone could be unveiled at IFA 2019, which takes place this September. It will likely use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 paired with the X50 5G modem.

We wonder if Sonys 5G phone will be a variant of the newly-unveiled Xperia 1 or if it will be a whole new product. Whatever the case, the prototype also had a thin upper bezel and a 21:9 ratio display but a much thicker lower bezel.

Source
Today, a new report comes from SamMobile with information about Samsungs next flagship. No were not talking about the Galaxy Fold, but Samsungs other flagship, the Galaxy Note. A source tells SamMobile that the Note 10 is going to have a four camera system on the back.

The supposed model number will be SM-N975F. Whats strange about this number is that it does not end in a 0 like all previous Galaxy Note model numbers. The reason for this is speculated to be that the next Note could come in both 4G LTE and 5G flavors, given that 5G is not yet widely available.

It isnt known whether the next Galaxy Note will use the same four cameras that are already on the Galaxy S10 5G or whether itll offer something new to the table. Wed speculate that we might see the exact same setup for the next Note device.

Samsung Galaxy S10 5G

The Galaxy Note10 is rumored to have a large 6.66 display with presumably the same 19.5:9 aspect ratio and will offer about 8% more surface area. The Note10 is also codenamed Da Vinci and while rumors suggested the Galaxy S10 would change its naming scheme (which we now know isnt true) we cant say the same for the Note 10  at least not without skepticism.

Other rumors say that Samsung will remove the 3.5mm headphone jack for the new Note and if the Galaxy Folds lack of a headphone jack is anything to go by, it could be true. There have even been rumors about a possible camera sensor integrated into the S Pen revealed by a patent from Samsung.

In any case, the Galaxy Note10 launch is still ways away. Perhaps well see it launch in Europe later this year during IFA. However, based on Samsungs recent activity itll probably be holding its own Unpacked launch event close to or around IFA time, which takes place in early September.

Source
This report comes from TechCrunch where a group of university researchers have found three major flaws in the security of 4G and 5G technologies that are susceptible to hackers gaining location information, intercepting phone calls, and targeted phishing attacks. These vulnerabilities are said to affect 4G networks and the incoming 5G network that all phone makers and industries are raving about.

The group is made up of researchers from the Universtity of Iowa (Mitziu Echeverria, Omar Chowdhury) and Purdue University (Syed Rafuil Hussain, Ninghui Li, Elisa Bertino).

The first attack is called Torpedo and it works by exposing a weakness in the protocol that signals a handset of an incoming call or SMS message. By placing several phone calls to the target and cancelling them within a short amount of time, a paging message is triggered without the users knowledge. This can then be used to track the targets location. This paging message also reveals the channel on which the target is receiving messages, which the attacker can use to spoof Amber alert messages or block messages from arriving altogether.

Any person with a little knowledge of cellular paging protocols can carry out this attack, - Syed Rafuil Hussain

Piercer is another attack thats accessed via Torpedo. This attack lets an offender determine the IMSI (international mobile subscriber identity) of the target on a 4G or 5G network by using a brute force attack. This exploit puts devices at risk of stingray attacks from law enforcement. A stingray device is one which spoofs a nearby cell-tower, forcing nearby devices to connect to it. Its believed that advanced devices of this kind are capable of intercepting calls and text messages.

Since these findings are quite dangerous if they fall in the wrong hands, the group is not releasing the proof-of-concept code used to exploit the flaws.

Instead, the flaws were reported directly to the GSMA. This is the body of the wireless industry that represents the interests of all mobile operators worldwide. It is also the same body that organizes the Mobile World Congress shows in three cities around the world. The findings will also be announced at the Network and Distributed System Security Symposium on Tuesday in San Diego.

According to the report, all four major US carriers are affected by Torpedo and the attack could be carried out with radio equipment costing $200. Meanwhile, one of those US carriers are vulnerable to the Piercer attack, though it wasnt made clear which one. The priority remains to patch the Torpedo attack which opens the door for the other attacks.

We are waiting to hear a statement from the GSMA and will update this post following new developments.

Source
Top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Jong Un arrived in Vietnam's northern Lang Son province Tuesday morning by train for his first official visit to the country and the second summit with his U.S. counterpart, Vietnam News Agency reported.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un waves as he arrives at the Dong Dang railway station, Vietnam, at the border with China, February 26, 2019. [Photo: VCG]

Kim was welcomed at the train station by Vietnamese officials and civilians, reports said. During the visit, the first by a sitting DPRK top leader in 55 years, Kim is expected to meet with Vietnamese leaders.



Kim, who left Pyongyang for Hanoi on Saturday afternoon, will also meet with U.S. President Donald Trump for their second summit on Feb. 27-28 on bilateral relations and issues related to peace on and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (R) greeted by Vietnam's Communist Party's Politburo member Vo Van Thuong upon his arrval at the border town with China in Dong Dang, Vietnam, February 26, 2019. [Photo: VCG]

The first DPRK-U.S. summit, held in June 2018 in Singapore, resulted in improved bilateral ties.

Issues such as a roadmap for denuclearization, the lifting of sanctions and whether to issue a war-ending declaration will be the focal points at the upcoming Kim-Trump talks.

A view of the railway station ahead of the arrival of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un in Dong Dang, Vietnam, at the border with China, February 26, 2019. [Photo: VCG]




After long journeys to Vietnam, U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are in place for their second summit to address perhaps the world's biggest security challenge: Kim's pursuit of a nuclear program that stands on the verge of realistically threatening targets around the planet.



Although many experts are skeptical Kim will give up the nuclear weapons he likely sees as his best guarantee of continued rule, there was a palpable, carnival-like excitement among many in Hanoi as the final preparations were made for the meeting. There were also huge traffic jams in the already congested streets.

The two leaders are to meet over two days, first at dinner on Wednesday followed by meetings on Thursday.

Trump arrived late Tuesday in Air Force One after a flight that included refueling stops in England and Qatar. He shook hands with dignitaries on a red carpet that was flanked by members of the Vietnamese armed forces dressed in crisp white uniforms. The route to his hotel was decorated with American, North Korean and Vietnamese flags, and adults and children peered out upper floor windows holding up cellphones to capture Trump's arrival.

"Tremendous crowds, and so much love!" the U.S. president tweeted.

Kim's journey to the summit, though shorter, was even more protracted. To get to Hanoi, he took a nearly 70-hour train ride through southern China and then traveled from a Vietnamese border town in his limousine. Hours ahead of his border crossing at Dong Dang, footage from Japanese TV network TBS showed Kim taking a pre-dawn smoke break at a train station in China, a woman who appeared to be his sister, Kim Yo Jong, holding a crystal ashtray at the ready.

In Hanoi, soldiers, police and international journalists thronged the streets outside his hotel and hundreds of eager citizens stood behind barricades hoping to see the North Korean leader. As flags from the three countries fluttered in a chilly drizzle, dozens of cameras flashed and some citizens screamed and used their mobile phones to capture Kim's rock-star-like arrival.

"I like him," local resident Van Dang Luu, who works at a nearby bank, said of Kim. "He is very young, and he is very interesting. And he is very powerful," she said. "Trump is not young, but I think he is very powerful."

Kim ventured out of his locked-down hotel and spent Tuesday traveling around the Vietnamese capital in his armored limousine. With a squad of bodyguards in tow, he visited sections of Hanoi, including his nation's embassy where a loud cheer went up as he entered the compound.

The leaders first met last June in Singapore, a summit that was long on historic pageantry but short on any enforceable agreements for North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenal.

North Korea has spent decades, at great economic sacrifice, building its nuclear program, and there is widespread skepticism among experts that it will give away that program cheaply.

Summit goals

Trump laid out ultimate goals for both the U.S. and Kim in an appearance before the nation's governors Monday before leaving Washington, saying, "We want denuclearization, and I think he'll have a country that will set a lot of records for speed in terms of an economy."

Leaders previously settled last year in Singapore that there would be "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," but now they need to agree on what that means, according to The Associated Press.

Trump has praised Pyongyang for ceasing missile tests, and he has appeared to ease up on demanding a timeline for disarmament. Kim is seeking relief from crushing U.S. sanctions.

Even as he tamped down expectations that he'll achieve big strides toward denuclearization, Trump was still eager to claim an attention-grabbing victory to offset the political turmoil he faces at home.

That eagerness for a victory, however, has spawned worries across world capitals about what Trump might be willing to give up in the name of a win. There seems less mystery about his North Korean counterpart. Survival of the Kim regime is always the primary concern.

Trump was the driving force behind this week's summit, aiming to re-create the global spectacle of his first meeting with Kim last year.

Four main goals emerged from the first Trump-Kim summit: establishing new relations between the nations, building a new peace on the entire Korean Peninsula, completing denuclearization of the peninsula and recovering U.S. POW/MIA remains from the Korean War.

While some remains have been returned to the United States, little has been achieved on the other points. Korean and American negotiators have not settled on either the parameters of denuclearization or a timetable for the removal of both Korean weapons and American sanctions.

"I'm not in a rush. I don't want to rush anybody, I just don't want testing. As long as there's no testing, we're happy," Trump told the governors on Sunday.

As host, Vietnam is eager to show off its huge economic and development improvements since the destruction of the Vietnam War, but the country also tolerates no dissent and is able to provide the kind of firm hand not allowed by more democratic potential hosts.

___

Follow all of AP's summit coverage at https://apnews.com/Trump-Kim

___

AP journalists Yves Dam Van in Dong Dang, Deb Riechmann, Hyung-jin Kim, Adam Schreck and Hau Dinh in Hanoi, and Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
A Michigan mother who shot her three children to death before turning the gun on herself unexpectedly picked them up from school the day of their deaths, investigators say.

Fox 17 reports Aubrianne Moore, 28, showed up at the girls' school in the middle of the day, saying they had a doctors appointment, which investigators determined was fake.

Kent County sheriffs Sgt. Joel Roon identified Moore's daughters as 8-year-old Kyrie Rodery, 6-year-old Cassidy Rodery and 2-year-old Alaina Rau. The bodies were found Feb. 18 at a property near Cedar Springs, a community about 30 miles north of Grand Rapids.

Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young told WOOD Moore took her daughters to lunch before driving them to a property in Solon Township that belonged to the girls' great-grandparents.

That's where police believe Moore used her boyfriend's legal bolt-action hunting-style rifle to shoot and kill her daughters. Authorities say Moore then put her daughters in her car and drove down the street to her boyfriend's property before killing herself outside of the vehicle.

"We were able to pretty accurately put together the timeline of everything that happened from the time the kids were picked up from school until the time the bodies were found, so were very certain that there wasnt any opportunity for anyone else (to be involved). Plus the ballistics were consistent with the suicide in the three murders," LaJoye-Young said.

There was no suicide letter, but investigators did find other recent writings from Moore referencing some threat that didn't actually exist.

"She believes she was protecting the kids from something and most of her writings really followed kind of in that line," LaJoye-Young said.

"I don't know what else to say," she added. "There's no good answer here."

Newaygo County Probate Court records show Moore spent 10 days at a Grand Rapids psychiatric hospital in September.



A social worker wrote in a Sept. 17 petition requesting the hospitalization that the woman was paranoid and had visual and auditory hallucinations.

The social worker wrote Moore stays awake at night believing people will break into her home and is not eating believing food is being poisoned.

I believe the individual has mental illness and as a result of that mental illness the individual can reasonably be expected within the near future to intentionally or unintentionally seriously physically injure self or others and has engaged in an act or acts or made significant threats that are substantially supportive of this expectation, the petition reads.

Records indicate Moore was hospitalized but it is not clear for how long, or if she sought alternative treatment.

Family members claim efforts were being made to remove the children from their mothers custody, but Children's Protective Services told WOOD it never had any involvement with Moore and her three children.

Brandon Rodery, the father of two of the victims, said he was aware of Moore's mental health treatment.

Im guessing from what happened that she probably wasnt taking her medication," he said.

Rodery said he does not believe Moore was in her right mind and doesn't want her to be "portrayed as a monster."
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has joined the search for three missing Waterbury children who were taken by their non-custodial mother during a supervised visit Feb. 19

According to a poster put out by the organization which tracks and assists missing children cases, the three children, Maddison Mcgrath, 7; Dylan Mcgrath, 5; and Maryah Mathew, 2, may be in Texas. They were reported missing to Waterbury police on Feb. 19, which issued alerts in Connecticut at the time.
GREENWICH  Family Centers has earned the Joint Commissions Gold Seal of Approval accreditations in ambulatory health care and behavioral health care.

The Joint Commission is the gold standard when it comes to accrediting outpatient medical and behavioral health centers, said Dennis Torres, Family Centers vice president of Health Care Programs. We are proud to have received this recognition in the relatively short time FCHC has been open. This accreditation gives the community members who use our services added confidence that the care they receive is of the highest quality.

Greenwich-based Family Centers Health Care, the agencys Federally Qualified Health Center that opened in 2016, also received The Joint Commissions Primary Care Medical Home Certification.

The Joint Commissions Gold Seal of Approval is a symbol of quality that reflects an organizations commitment to meeting standards demonstrating a commitment to safe, effective and quality patient-centered care. Family Centers is accredited through November 2021.

The Joint Commissions accreditation covers Family Centers programs and sites providing primary medical, dental, mental health and human services. The organizations early care and education programs remain accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Family Centers underwent a rigorous on-site survey last November. During the review, a team of Joint Commission surveyors with expertise in ambulatory health care, evaluated compliance with ambulatory care standards related to coordination of care, infection prevention and control, management of medications and patient education and training. The manner in which FCHCs interdisciplinary team work in partnership with patients to provide comprehensive, coordinated and patient-centered care was also evaluated.

The Joint Commissions behavioral health surveyors also evaluated Family Centers compliance with behavioral health care standards for care, treatment, and services; environment of care; leadership; and screening procedures for the early detection of imminent harm.

As a recipient of The Joint Commissions PCMH Certification, FCHC aims to experience increased patient satisfaction, improved patient outcomes and reduced overall costs to the health care system.

Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission seeks to improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value. The Joint Commission accredits and certifies more than 21,000 health care organizations and programs in the U.S. Learn more about The Joint Commission at www.jointcommission.org.

Family Centers is a private, nonprofit organization offering education and human services to children, adults and families in Fairfield County. Visit www.familycenters.org for additional information.
Former PepsiCo chair and CEO Indra Nooyi joined the Amazon board Monday, which raises a question: When Gov. Ned Lamont tweeted on Feb. 8 that he had asked Nooyi to construct a path forward on attracting the online retail giant to Connecticut, could he have known the path was that direct?

Amazon.com Inc. announced late Monday it added Nooyi, 63, to its board, the second woman added to the Seattle-based companys board in the last month  following a promise last May to add more women to its board.

Nooyi, of course, would be a highly sought board candidate at any global company after retiring from Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo as CEO on Oct. 2, and as board chair on Jan. 31. It was an orderly succession following a dozen years during which she nearly doubled revenues and moved the company toward healthier snacks  relatively healthier, that is.

What we care about is Amazon in Connecticut, after the company nixed its deal earlier this month to bring 25,000 people to Queens as part of a co-headquarters. Lamont, Nooyi and Jim Smith, Nooyis co-chairman of the Connecticut Economic Resource Center, leaped into action at the first hint the New York City deal was faltering.

Cant get better access to Amazon than this; Nooyi, of Greenwich, a longtime Lamont friend, is one of only 11 members of the board. She joins as a member of the audit committee, traditionally a powerful board spot.

Amazon already has about 2,000 employees in this state at facilities in Windsor and Wallingford, and is set to add at least 1,800 more in a new, $250 million warehouse in North Haven, once the site of a Pratt & Whitney factory.

The company said it wont relaunch a search for a co-HQ2 site, after picking Northern Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., and New York late last year. But that isnt stopping Connecticut  including Nooyi, who is charged with attracting companies here  from helping develop a Stamford plan for Amazon.

Nooyi told me in an interview on Feb. 1, the day Lamont introduced her as part of his economic development team, that shes on a couple of boards, and when I asked whether shed join more, she said, Maybe, maybe not, I dont know.

Nooyi has been on the board of Schlumberger, a giant oil exploration and drilling company, since 2015. She was under consideration as president of the World Bank, the New York Times reported last month.

Im not suggesting Lamont knew Nooyi was about to join the Amazon board  Nooyi might not have even known it herself a few weeks ago. And all joking aside, Lamont cant really expect her to actively lobby her fellow directors, let alone Holly Sullivan, the Amazon site selection chief.

Thats not how these things work, and depending on the circumstances, it could become an ethics issue, which Nooyi wouldnt cross. Still, having her on the board can only help Connecticut with Amazon  if they should, by chance, have questions about the state.

When I spoke with her, she was effusive about the state where she first came to graduate school at Yale in the late 70s from her native India, and where shes lived for more than 25 years.

I see it as a great state to start a business and to live here, Nooyi said. Id like to put together the best selling-pitch on Connecticut, which we havent seen as yet. ... Not a selling pitch alone, the truth about Connecticut.

Part of that truth, she knows too well, is that Connecticut is down on itself. The first thing we have to have is confidence in our state, she said. We keep hammering the issues that dont work. Lets talk about what works and lets fix the others.

Lamont issued a statement late Monday calling Nooyi one the hardest working and impressive people I have ever known.

The governor added, without addressing Nooyis role in attracting Amazon to Connecticut, Her business acumen is matched only by her humility and desire to help others succeed. Were lucky to have her out there championing Connecticut among so many business and world leaders. I congratulate her on her appointment to Amazons Board and look forward to working with her to get our state growing again.

Nooyi declined to talk about specific economic policies in our very brief talk after Lamonts announcement, but she said the states large overhang of pension liabilities is not a deal-killer for companies looking to move here.

I dont think its pension overhang as much as we want tax certainty, Nooyi said. If theres tax uncertainty, you start getting to the root cause, why is there tax uncertainty? Then you start thinking about whats going wrong. But we have to make it predictable for businesses, good infrastructure, easy to do business, a government that works for business, a workforce thats available, a trained workforce, and then of course, tax certainty.

Easy, right? If Nooyi can advise Connecticut about Amazon, and advise Amazon about Connecticut  if they should ask  then maybe a small satellite office in Stamford could happen. Were not greedy. You know, 5,000, 7,000 jobs would go a long way if New York doesnt want them.
Greensburg, IN (47240)

Today

Sunny along with a few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 89F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. Low 71F. Winds light and variable.
In science, you cant just sit there and talk about it, Schambach said. My students have learned that if you throw a bottle on the beach, itll come right back. The reason this works is we put it in the Gulf Stream current.

The bottles take 14 to 26 months to arrive on the other side of the ocean after Schambachs friend, Capt. Ken Upton, drops them into the current about 40 miles off the coast of Wrightsville Beach.

Lauras bottle took 15 months to complete a distance roughly as far as Winston-Salem to Juneau, Alaska.

She said she was shocked that the glass bottle survived the trip. Coincidentally, she will be taking her first trip to Ireland this summer to celebrate her grandparents anniversary.

I sent her (Patten) a letter in the mail a couple days ago. I told her You found my bottle and gave her my information, so she can write me back, Laura said. Its kind of crazy. Im super excited.

According to a drift-bottle project based out of the Institute of Ocean Sciences Canada, only about one out of every 25 bottles dropped into a current are found, with most sinking, being buried in the sand or washing up in remote areas.
ASHEVILLE  Another sheriff in North Carolina says he will no longer hold detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

News outlets report Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller told reporters on Tuesday that holding people suspected of being in the country illegally "is not part of our law enforcement duties." The sheriff said if federal agencies provide a valid criminal warrant, that person will be handed over to the respective agency.

Miller says it's vital that local immigrants can call the sheriff's office without fear when they need help.

Earlier this month, Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough Jr. announced he was severing a contract that allows ICE to use the Forsyth County jail.

What were saying at the office of the sheriff is that if you want us to detain someone or arrest someone, all we simply ask, which is legal and logical, is have a judge or a U.S. magistrate to sign, Kimbrough told the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners. Were not going to do anything that is not legal.

In December, Wake and Mecklenburg counties pulled out of the federal 287(g) program, in which local law enforcement agencies check the immigration status of people they've arrested. Durham County hasn't participated in 287(g), and has said it will no longer honor ICE detainers.
Police issued another call today for help finding a woman missing from Winston-Salem.

Releasing new photos of Kristen "Krissy" McNeal and her car, police said they are still attempting to locate the 30-year-old. The photos from police show her in the driver's seat of her 1989 Oldsmobile and show the "donut"-style spare tire and black bumper trim on the car's back left driver's side.

The photos were taken Feb. 15, two days before McNeal was last seen.

Her car is a black and white, four-door sedan with the entire front end, hood and fenders spray painted black.

Its N.C. license plate number is DCN-1576, police have said.

McNeal was last seen at 1 p.m. Feb. 17 at 4122 Winter Hue St., where she left in the Oldsmobile. Police previously said her destination was unknown, but she might be in the Kernersville area.

She is described as a white woman standing 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing 135 pounds, police said. McNeal has long blond hair and blue eyes.

She was last seen wearing black leggings, a long-sleeved, white hooded shirt, a white undershirt and a pair of black, white and pink Nike shoes, police said.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who doesn't face the voters until 2022, has said she is likely to oppose Trump's emergency declaration.

In an opinion column posted late Monday by The Washington Post, Tillis wrote that while he agrees with Trump that there is a crisis at the border, he has "grave concerns when our institution looks the other way at the expense of weakening Congress's power" over spending, which is granted by the Constitution.

Tillis noted that Republicans complained when former President Barack Obama used executive powers to protect some immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

"There is no intellectual honesty in now turning around and arguing that there's an imaginary asterisk attached to executive overreach  that it's acceptable for my party but not thy party," he wrote. He said that as a conservative, "I cannot endorse a precedent that I know future left-wing presidents will exploit to advance radical policies that will erode economic and individual freedoms," such as restrictions on polluters, banks and guns.

Vice President Mike Pence was expected to attend Tuesday's weekly lunch of Senate Republican senators in hopes of persuading them to vote to support the emergency declaration.
On the opposite end of the parenting spectrum from Felts is the troopers father, who is currently serving a 2-year, 6-month-prison sentence following convictions for being a felon in possession of a weapon, felony obtaining property by false pretenses, felony breaking and entering and larceny.

Thats the guy who pressed a claim for a third of his sons death benefit, and hired a lawyer to try and get his ex-wife to agree.

The guess here is that Felts, like any number of other weary single moms tag-teamed by unreliable partners and a system that doesnt do a whole lot to enforce child-support, went along with the proposal just to have it done. She was far more concerned with the loss of her son than the division of any death benefit.

Before any checks could be written, Deputy Commissioner Silver had to OK the deal. He pumped the brakes instead.

He wrote that he hadnt signed off on the proposed agreement between mother and father, and found that Bullard had displayed minimal love, care and affection for his son but willfully abandoned the care and maintenance of (the trooper)  and is precluded from sharing in the workers compensation death benefits at issue here.
GREENSBORO  Steve Spence came to Ben L. Smith High School in early December, police said, with guns, a hit list and a plan to kill his former intimate partners.

We were almost the next national story, said Greensboro Police Chief Wayne Scott on Tuesday after federal indictments against Spence were announced.

U.S. Attorney Matthew G.T. Martin made the announcement Tuesday that Spence now faces three federal charges involving interstate domestic violence that a federal grand jury handed up Monday. Federal prosecutors said the charges carry a possible maximum sentence of life in prison.

I want there to be no doubt from this indictment that we will not tolerate crossing state lines to hunt down former intimate partners, Martin said. We will prosecute crimes of this nature to the fullest extent of the law.

Martin said those charges include crossing state lines in a stolen vehicle, and with the intent to kill, injure, harass and intimidate former domestic partners, as well as, brandishing two guns while trying to carry out domestic violence.
Two Lexington residents were arrested Tuesday after a suspect fired a shot into a Dollar General store during a robbery in the 8900 block of N.C. 8 near Lexington, authorities said.

Deshane Tomal Wright, 22, and Jahiya Daynell Burton, 19, both of Curry Street, were charged each with robbery with a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon, second-degree kidnapping, safe-cracking, larceny of a motor vehicle and shooting into an occupied building, the Davidson County Sheriff's Office said.

Davidson County sheriff's deputies responded to a reported armed robbery at the store around 6:50 a.m. After the shot was fired, a suspect left the scene in a vehicle that was stolen from an employee, according to deputies.

The stolen vehicle was later found at the scene of a crash at Old Linwood and Hargrave roads, the sheriff's office said. Deputies said they saw a suspect running from the scene. Investigators later found Wright and Burton in Lexington.

The sheriff's office didn't describe the relationship between Wright and Burton.

The two were taken to the Davidson County Jail with their bonds set at $1 million each, the sheriff's office said. They are scheduled to appear in court on March 25.
REIDSVILLE  An Eden man and a Reidsville woman are accused of trying to remove a catalytic converter from a vehicle that didn't belong to them.

At 4:42 a.m. on Feb. 19, a deputy saw a black Ford Explorer near the Express Mart off of U.S. 29, according to a Rockingham County Sheriff's Office news release. The vehicle was parked close to a black Honda SUV with a man lying underneath it.

As the deputy approached, he saw the man who had been under the SUV toss a reciprocating saw to a female in the passenger side of the Explorer. Upon further inspection, the deputy saw the suspect had metal shavings on his clothing.

Christopher Mark Roberts, 34, of 120 Geneva Drive, Eden, was arrested and charged with altering, destroying, disassembling, dismantling, reassembling, or storing any motor vehicle or motor vehicle part the person knows or has reasonable grounds to believe has been illegally obtained by theft, fraud, or other illegal means. He was also charged with possession of methamphetamine.

Roberts was placed in the Rockingham County Detention Center with bail set at $7,000.

The female who was in the Explorer was also arrested.
Boswell had previously been banned by a Wake County judge from doing any paving or graveling work in North Carolina due to numerous complaints that he was defrauding people.

Assistant District Attorney James Dornfried said in court that at 2:30 p.m. May 25, 2016, Boswell, Shaw and several other people came up to Mickey Reavis house. They said they had just finished a paving project nearby and had extra asphalt. Dornfried said the men offered to pave her driveway for free.

But later, one of the men approached Reavis, who was 69 at the time, and asked her about payment. When Reavis, who is now 72, told them she thought the job was free, the man, who appeared to be the foreman, told her it would cost her $6,500. The woman refused to pay, and a group of men circled her. The woman told authorities she began feeling intimidated.

I thought they were going to kill me if I didnt pay, Reavis said at Boswells court hearing in January 2018.

The men lowered the amount to $3,700, Dornfried said.
In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from exile on the Island of Elba and headed back to France in a bid to regain power.

In 1904, the United States and Panama proclaimed a treaty under which the U.S. agreed to undertake efforts to build a ship canal across the Panama isthmus.

In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson signed a congressional act establishing Mount McKinley National Park (now Denali National Park) in the Alaska Territory.

In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson signed a congressional act establishing Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

In 1929, President Calvin Coolidge signed a measure establishing Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

In 1952, Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed its own atomic bomb.

In 1984, the last U.S. Marines deployed to Beirut as part of an international peacekeeping force withdrew from the Lebanese capital.
Fitzmaurice said the book would not have happened without that core group that meets at the Y. But she said many people outside of the group have been a part of making it happen. Betsy Robinson, a former Greensboro News & Record editor, edited the book, and former News & Record columnist Jeri Rowe wrote the forward.

Its a much bigger project than one persons book, Fitzmaurice said.

The project reaches all the way to India.

She teaches a particular sequence called the Mother Sequence, which she learned from Heather Batton, a teacher at Triad Yoga Studio. She included it in the book.

The Mother Sequence was created by Jehangir Palkhivala from India. He had students with various ailments and created this sequence to help aid in healing. The Mother Sequence was named after an icon in the Indian yoga world known as a healer.

Fitzmaurice got in touch with Palkhivala and told him what she wanted to do with the book and asked if she could include the Mother Sequence in it. He gave her his blessing, saying the Mother Sequence was intended to heal, strengthen and spread peace  in the practitioner and his or her surroundings
Jesse is in charge of the baking. Dad taught me to make the dough. Ive been doing it for about three years now, he said.

Only Jesse and his father know the family recipe. Noah, 17, runs the cashier and does other chores in between his home-schooling.

I do all the grunt work, Noah said. About the only thing I dont do is mix the dough.

Virgil Nestorick, who handles all the ordering and administrative work, is an Army National Guard veteran who spent time in Iraq. My husband just loves America and our history, so thats why he named it Patriot, Amy Nestorick said.

Patriots pretzels are best eaten warm and freshly baked. In fact, anyone who buys one in the shop gets it baked to order on the spot  which takes about five minutes.

Customers who want larger orders are asked to call a day ahead.

We make our dough fresh every morning. And we hand-mix and hand-roll all our dough, Amy Nestorick said.

Patriot makes a 5-ounce standard twisted-knot pretzel, which sells for $4 or $5 depending on the flavor or toppings.
Setting the Record Straight on the Primeval Chronology of the Septuagint: A Response to Cosner and Carter

By: Henry B. Smith Jr., MA, MAR

Editorial note: This article has been published in the Fall 2018 issue of Bible and Spade in electronic form only, and not in print. Download the complete PDF.

Introduction

In September of 2018, Lita Cosner and Dr. Robert Carter of Creation Ministries International wrote a critique of two articles I published under the auspices of the Genesis 5 and 11 Research Project.1 Their article, Is the Septuagint a superior text for the Genesis genealogies?, can be found on the CMI website. I recommend that the reader simultaneously read my exposition and interaction below, along with their online posting.

I. Ephraem of Syria

In my article published in the Answers Research Journal in August 2017,Methuselahs Begetting Age in Genesis 5:25 and the Primeval Chronology of the Septuagint: A Closer Look at the Textual and Historical Evidence, I cited numerous sources from antiquity and the Middle Ages which claimed that the Jewish rabbis deflated the original primeval chronology in the Hebrew proto-Masoretic text2 shortly after the destruction of the Temple in AD 70.3 For those in the ancient and medieval world who viewed the Septuagints (LXX) longer primeval chronology as original, this was probably the most consistent explanation offered for the origin of the shorter chronology deposited in the Masoretic Text (MT). Among those sources, I included Ephraem of Syria, a 4th century AD Syriac theologian and prolific author. C&C critique my use of this reference, arguing that the evidence indicates Ephraem followed the MTs shorter chronology. I believe that C&C are correct on this specific point, and that the use of Ephraem as a reference is, in fact, an error on my part. For the sake of transparency, I would like to provide a full accounting of how the mistake transpired.

I found several sources that referenced Ephraem in this manner. I first discovered a citation in Jeremy Sextons article, Who was Born When Enosh was 90?, pointing to Martin Ansteys The Romance of Biblical Chronology. Anstey was a staunch proponent of the MTs primeval chronology. He stated that Ephraem accused the Jews of deflating the Hebrew chronology and concluded, In this, Ephraem was wrong4 I considered Ansteys reference to Ephraem to be that of a hostile witness as it were. After all, Anstey was not trying to advance the LXX, but the MT instead. However, this was not enough to substantiate the claim since Anstey provided no reference.

Then I came across an explicit quote from William Hales, which he attributed to Ephraem: The Jews have subtracted 600 years [in Genesis 5] from the generations of Adam, Seth, etc., in order that their own books might not convict them concerning the coming of CHRIST...5 It seemed that Anstey was either closely paraphrasing Hales quotation, or Anstey was quoting Ephraem from the same source that Hales had used 83 years prior. At this stage, I still was collecting information and drew no conclusions.

Later, when doing research on the 2nd century BC Jewish historian Eupolemus, I came across an in-depth study by Ben Zion Wacholder,6 an expert on ancient Judaism who wrote numerous articles on chronology and was a well respected scholar.7 Wacholder writes:

The significant divergence of 1,396 years between the Hebrew and Greek texts did not escape the notice of the ancients Clement of Alexandria, Judas, Julius Africanus, Hippolytus, and Eusebius, accepted the Septuagint version as authentic. The problem of explaining the lower numbers of the Hebrew version moved the Syrian classical author Ephraem of Nisibis (c. 307373) and the Monophysite Bishop of Edessa Jacob (died 708) to charge that the Jews had altered the Hebrew text to discredit the Christian belief in the imminent second coming of Jesus.8

Anstey and Hales were coming at the question of the primeval chronology in the context of conservative Christian debate, so there was the possibility that Anstey was following Hales instead of citing Ephraem directly. Even though Hales provides an explicit quote, there is no citation in his work. Wacholder provided a completely independent reference to Ephraems claim, and an added resource from 250 years earlier: Joseph Assemanis Bibliotheca Orientalis.9 In particular, footnote 9 of Wacholder (p. 99) indicates that the citation could be found in I, 65 f of that work. Like Hales quote, this could hardly be construed as a fabrication on the part of Wacholder. Because of Wacholders independence from Hales and Anstey, his extensive knowledge of chronology/Judaism, and his reputation as a good scholar, I had no reason to doubt his citation.

At this point, I decided to cite the relevant sources and utilize the quote from Hales. Wacholders reference and citation that Ephraem held this view gave me a reasonable comfort, although I still had not yet been able to drill all the way to the bottom of the matter. Nonetheless, with some hesitation, I made the decision to include the reference to Ephraem.

Shortly after the ARJ article went to press in August of 2017, Steve Rudd, staff member on the Shiloh Excavations, wrote to me and expressed his concerns that I may have made an error. He informed me that he had done a full search of Ephraems works in Logos, and Hales quote came up empty. He also advised me that Ephraem had equated Shem with Melchizedek, a scenario only compatible with the MTs post-Flood chronology, an important point also made by C&C. Ephraem used the MTs numbers in his commentary on Genesis, also correctly noted and cited by C&C. I had procured a copy through my local library, but inexplicably overlooked/missed Ephraems discussion. This oversight was a major blunder on my part, and I am at a loss to explain it. Had I fully realized there was a conflict between sources, I would have pulled the Ephraem reference until I could sort it out.

Naturally I wondered how both Hales and Wacholder would both independently get this matter wrong. I concluded there were three possible explanations: 1. The quote from Hales and Wacholders statement and citation of Assemani were cases of mistaken identity. Ephraem was a prolific author, and other works have been incorrectly attributed to him as well.10 2. The citations referred to a work by Ephraem that had not yet been translated into English. 3. Ephraem changed his views on the subject over time, and the quote was legitimately his.

It turns out that that the statement taken from Assemani was a case of mistaken identity. I subsequently discovered that the reasons for this are quite complicated. Bibliotheca Orientalis is a 4000-page encyclopedia of early Syriac Christian literature. Joseph and his brother Stephen Assemani (or Assemanus) also catalogued hundreds of Syriac manuscripts archived in the Vatican. Two Syriac manuscripts transcribed and translated into Latin by the Assemani brothers have a bearing on our discussion. Romeny explains:

Whoever wishes to study Ephrems exegesis of Genesis is confronted with the fact that two different commentaries have been attributed to him: those of Vat. sir. 103 and 110. And these texts are not only different in style, they sometimes also say completely different things. As early as in the eighteenth century, Assemani remarked that Vat. sir. 110 identified Melchizedek with S[h]em, whereas 103 called him a Canaanite. It is clear that in recent research, the text of the sixth-century manuscript Vat. sir. 110 has been considered to have better credentials.11

As it turns out, portions of manuscript 103 were written by the Syriac monk, Severus. He wrote a selective commentary (ca. AD 861), drawing on and quoting both Ephraem and another Syriac theologian, Jacob of Edessa. Jacobs complete Commentary on the Octateuch is included in the manuscript. However, when one looks at the top of pages 65 and 66 of Bibliotheca Orientalis, the heading reads: S. Ephraem Syrus. Apparently both Hales and Wacholder incorrectly attributed sections of the Syriac text from Jacobs writings to Ephraem. As Romeny notes above, the superiority of MSS 110 has only been recently affirmed by scholars. Dirk Kruisheer discusses the complex problems in more detail, including other instances where other statements were incorrectly attributed to Ephraem.12 Thus, the relevant Syriac text and Latin translations on pages 65 and 66 of Bibliotheca Orientalis are the words of Jacob of Edessa, not Ephraem. (I will discuss Jacob further below, and we will see how my error turned out to be a blessing in disguise).

Obviously, I have not referenced Ephraem since the ARJ article. My goal was to write a retraction of the Ephraem reference in one of my online updates once I was able to get to the bottom of the problem. This article provides me an opportunity to do so now. So, that is the full story on my use of Ephraem, and I apologize to the present reader and to those following the Genesis 5 and 11 Research Project for my mistake.

With all of this being said, this particular error has no significant bearing on the overall argument I have made in multiple publications. The argument for the superiority of the LXXs numbers is based on a large matrix of evidence: textual, historical, external, and internal. The fact that numerous authors in the ancient and medieval world argued that the Jewish rabbis in Israel deflated the protoMTs primeval chronology after the destruction of the Temple still stands.

Continue reading >>

Quick link: Setting the Record Straight on the Primeval Chronology of the Septuagint: Part 1 > Part 2 > Part 3 > Part 4

____________________________________

1Anyone who may be new to this research and debate should first carefully read all of the previously published articles, and: Lita Cosner and Robert Carter, Textual Traditions and Biblical Chronology, Journal of Creation 29, no. 2 (2015): 99105.

2The protoMasoretic text refers to the Hebrew text of the OT from antiquity that closely resembles the consonantal Masoretic Hebrew text from the later medieval period. For more, see: Emanuel Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible: Revised and Expanded, 3rd ed. (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2011), 2474.

3Henry B. Smith Jr., Methuselahs Begetting Age in Genesis 5:25 and the Primeval Chronology of the Septuagint: A Closer Look at the Textual and Historical Evidence, Answers Research Journal 10 (August 2017): 169, n. 3. Most argued that the motive for the changes involved messianic chronology, and that by deflating the numbers, the rabbis sought to place Jesus outside of the period of the Messiah. Eusebius attributed the textual changes to the Jews as well, but his explanation for their motivation was obscure and inadequate. For more on the messianic chronology motivation, see: Jeremy Sexton, Who Was Born When Enosh Was 90?: A Semantic Reevaluation of William Henry Greens Chronological Gaps, The Westminster Theological Journal 77, no. 2 (September 2015): 21516; Jeremy Sexton and Henry B. Smith Jr., Primeval Chronology Restored: Revisiting the Genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11, Bible and Spade 29, no. 23 (Spring/Summer 2016): 4748; Henry B. Smith Jr., MT, SP, or LXX? Deciphering a Chronological and Textual Conundrum in Genesis 5, Bible and Spade 31, no. 1 (Winter 2018): 2427, n. 4951.

4Martin Anstey, The Romance of Bible Chronology (London: Marshall Bros, 1913), 46.

5William Hales, A New Analysis of Chronology and Geography, History and Prophecy, vol. 1: Chronology and Geography (London: C. J. G. and F. Rivington, 1830), 278.

6Ben Zion Wacholder, Eupolemus: A Study of Judaeo-Greek Literature (Cincinnati, OH: Hebrew Union College Press, 1974).

7Ben Zion Wacholder, Biblical Chronology in the Hellenistic World Chronicles, Harvard Theological Review 61, no. 3 (July 1968): 45181; Idem., Chrono-Messianism: The Timing of Messianic Movements and the Calendar of Sabbatical Cycles, Hebrew Union College Annual 46 (1975): 20118; Idem., The Date of the Eschaton in the Book of Jubilees: A Commentary on Jub. 49:22-50:5, CD 1:1-10, and 16:2-3, Hebrew Union College Annual 56 (1985): 87101.

8Wacholder, Eupolemus, 9899.

9Joseph Simonius Assemani, Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino Vaticana (Rome: Typic Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide, 1719).

10For example: Edward G. Mathews, The Armenian Commentary on Genesis Attributed to Ephrem the Syrian, trans. Edward G. Mathews, vol. 573 (Leuven: Peeters, 1998).

11Bas ter Haar Romeny, Ephrem and Jacob of Edessa in the Commentary of the Monk Severus, in Malphono w-Rabo d-Malphone. Studies in Honour of Sebastian P. Brock, ed. George Anton Kiraz (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2008), 537. The reference to Melchizedek as a Canaanite instead of as Shem can be easily found on page 66.

12Ibid., 54043. For more details, see: Dirk Kruisheer, Ephrem, Jacob of Edessa, and the Monk Severus. An Analysis of Ms. Vat. Syr. 103, ff. 172, in Symposium Syriacum VII, ed. R. Lavenant, vol. Orientalia Christiana Analecta 256 (Rome: Pontificio Istituto Orientale, 1998), 599605.

Setting-the-Record-Straight-Cosner-Carter-Response-Fall-2018-BAS.pdf
Editorial note: This article has been published in the Fall 2018 issue of Bible and Spade in electronic form only, and not in print. Download the complete PDF.

II. Analysis and Discussion

1. The Rabbinic Deflation of the MTs Primeval Chronology

After their critique of my Ephraem citation, C&C write: The situation doesnt get any better when we try to verify what Smith said in the second half of this one sentence. They then quote pages 169 and 171 from my ARJ article, where I document that Eusebius, Julian of Toledo, Jacob of Edessa, George Syncellus and Bar Hebraeus all claimed that the Jewish rabbis were responsible for the deflation of the primeval chronology reflected in the present-day Masoretic Text.

Eusebius (ca. AD 310) argued that the LXX should be followed (in part) because it was translated from old and accurate Hebrew copies.13 Conversely, the MTs timeline was deflated, and Eusebius states: Therefore we suspect that this was something which the Jews did.  C&C acknowledge Eusebius claim, but then dismiss its evidential significance out of hand. Here, we have an ancient historian providing us with a very important piece of data, one which points to those who may be responsible for the origin of the shorter primeval chronology deposited in the MT.

This data can be evaluated in various ways. It can be weighed against other competing theories that attempt to explain the deliberate and systematic changes in the textual witnesses of Gen 5 and 11. A researcher can also search for corroboration from other ancient and medieval sources. In other words, do other authors in different times and different places report a similar explanation for the origin of the MTs timeline? And this data can be used (in part) to test and evaluate any theory that attempts to explain the deliberate text critical divergences between the three textual witnesses and reconstruct the original text. In other words, it does not stand alone, but can be evaluated for its veracity when all of the relevant evidence is weighed and considered.

C&C dismiss Eusebius and other sources making similar statements by creating an arbitrary and illogical evidential standard. At the end of their article, they set forth the requirement that there must be evidence of an early 2nd century AD Palestinian Jewish gathering that would have had sufficient authority to change the Hebrew manuscripts and had the power to disseminate them widely.

Presumably, C&C are referring to the oft disputed Council of Jamnia, or a similar gathering. But even if we had solid evidence that Jamnia or another comparable council actually took place, would we really expect to find explicit evidence from that meeting(s) that the rabbis deflated the chronology? Of course not. Beyond the problems of such written evidence surviving over 1900+ years, the Pharisaic rabbis participating in such a meeting to perpetrate an outrageous fraud upon the sacred text would not leave behind written documentation of it. The whole point would have been to conceal what they were doing from both the ascending Jesus movement and their own religious community. To expect us to find direct, documented evidence from a formal meeting of this sort is illogical.

More importantly, a formal, documented meeting was not necessary for the rabbis to carry out their deflation scheme. There was a limited circle of rabbinic authority in Israel in the aftermath of the Temples destruction, one which eventually centered around Rabbi Akiba (ca. AD 50-132)14 and number of other prominent rabbis. They could have easily conspired together and have left behind no trace of their conspiracy proper and any meeting(s) associated with it.

Moreover, the rabbis did indeed have adequate authority and control over the limited number of Hebrew manuscripts that had survived the destruction of the Temple. They did not require a formal meeting to obtain or receive such authority since they already possessed it. The dominant Hebrew text that emerged from the aftermath of AD 70 (the protoMT) was solely in the hands of the only sect that had survived, the Pharisaic rabbis. This is an indisputable historical fact:

after 70 CE only [MT] was left in Jewish hands. [The old LXX] no longer exerted any influence in Jewish circles since it was now in Christian hands, [SP] was with the Samaritan community, and the Qumran scrolls were hidden in caves. Other scrolls may have been circulating in Palestine, the likes of those that were imported to Qumran. However, we do not hear about such scrolls, probably because there was no organized community left in Palestine that would use texts like 4QJerb,d or 4QJosha, which deviate greatly from [MT] the evidence after 70 CE is monolithically rabbinic.15

Rabbi Akiba had the authority and power to order the removal of older biblical manuscripts (MSS) and institute the use of new ones, and he could deem Hebrew texts in the Temple Court to be unfit for public reading.16 Rabbinic sources indicate that the rabbis also had the authority to dispose of entire biblical books if they deemed them unfit or inferior, and in fact, they did so on numerous occasions.17 Further, they also controlled the copying and dissemination of new Hebrew MSS.

Even prior to the destruction of the Temple there is already evidence of centralized control by the Jerusalem Temple authorities over Hebrew biblical manuscripts circulating in Israel. Scribes worked in the Temple Court and used master copies stored in the Temple archives to correct scrolls brought to Jerusalem by local leaders. This is recorded in the rabbinic literature,18 and is also evidenced by Hebrew texts found in the Judaean Desert which possess textual affinities and exhibit scribal habits very close to those seen in later forms of the MT.19 When the Temple was destroyed and other Jewish sects disappeared (such as the Essenes at Qumran),20 the rabbis emerged with full control over the protoMT text and the doctrines and writings of rabbinic Judaism. Theses writings became absolutely authoritative for Palestinian and Diaspora Jews.21 Akiba and other influential rabbis traveled and successfully exerted their authority in the Diaspora.22 In time, the rabbinic worldview became central to Jewish belief and practice all around the world.23

In the mid2nd century AD, Seder Olam became the official Jewish chronology. Rabbi Yose ben Halafta, its primary author/editor, was a disciple of Akiba.24 Seder Olam supersedes the authority of the Hebrew text: our traditional chronology is based on Seder Olam because of the authority of its author.25 It is rabbinic authority, and not the authority of the sacred text, that is paramount. The rabbinic Seder Olam was successfully dispersed into Jewish communities as the authoritative chronology of world history, and is followed by some Jews even today.

Long before the 2nd century AD, the Jerusalem authorities had already abandoned fidelity to the authority of the scriptural text.26 The Pharisaic propensity to exalt human tradition (those earlier man-made traditions which Jesus strongly opposed and eventually led to the rabbinic corpus of writings) over Scripture is well attested in the New Testament (Mk 7:812). The scribes, who maintained control over the Hebrew texts in the Jerusalem Temple, were also fierce enemies of Jesus, and on par with the Pharisees (Lk 11:5354; 20:4547; Mt 23:136; Mk 12:3840).

During the post AD70 era, the rabbis would also have easily been able to dispose of their older Hebrew MSS with the higher begetting ages. Then, new Hebrew MSS and Aquilas new LXX recension (see below) would only reflect the shorter primeval chronology, consistent with the newly authoritative Seder Olam.27 The protoMT was then rigorously controlled and transmitted by the rabbis down to the time of the Masoretes. Under these circumstances, any Hebrew MSS which may have contained the higher begetting ages could have been easily destroyed without a trace. Hebrew texts outside rabbinic control containing the longer chronology which may have survived were eventually lost to the ravages of time.28 And those who may have possessed differing Hebrew texts in either Israel or in the Diaspora had no long standing authority to challenge the ascendency of the rabbinic corpus or the shorter chronology deposited in the (now) authoritative Seder Olam. All other competing Hebrew texts which may have still existed were supplanted and replaced by the rabbinic controlled MT. Tov observes: Had the LXX and SP not been preserved and the Qumran scrolls not been found, we would have known little about non-rabbinic copies of Hebrew Scripture."29

Additionally, Greek had become the lingua franca across the Mediterranean world. The LXX had been widely disseminated throughout the Diaspora30 and came to be regarded as sacred scripture by the 2nd century BC.31 Such acceptance by the Jewish community at large necessarily included the longer primeval chronology, reflected in the works of the Jewish historians Demetrius (220 BC)32 and Eupolemus (160 BC).33 The LXX was also used in Israel, as evidenced by Eupolemus in Jerusalem and LXX texts found at Qumran and in the Judaean Desert.34

After the advent of the Church, however, the old LXX/OG texts35 were replaced over time by the MTbased LXX recension of Aquila. Aquilas recension was completed around AD 140,36 approximately the same time that the Seder Olam reached its near final form.37 Aquila was discipled by Rabbi Akiba and he followed him in regarding every word and letter of the Hebrew Bible as having significance. This explains many traits of his recension, which is extremely literal in its fidelity to the MT.38 Aquilas recension is known to us almost exclusively through [Origens] Hexapla."39 As the 2nd century came and went, the old LXX/OG, including its longer primeval chronology, moved from a centuries old status of authoritative acceptance within Judaism to effectively being relegated to golden calf status (Mesechet Sopherim 1.7).

Other Jewish LXX recensions also amended the numbers from the old LXX in order to bring their new translations in line with the shorter primeval chronology. Lower begetting ages from Gen 5:3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 13, 15, 16, 20, and 22 are found in the margins of some LXX MSS. These are Hexaplaric readings which had been recorded by Origen and are documented in Wevers secondary LXX text critical apparatus of Genesis.40 Eusebius of Emesa (AD 300360) also documented deflations in Gen 5/11 from Symmachus' Jewish LXX recension.41 These significant changes to the original, centuries old LXX demonstrate that the Jewish authorities/translators not only deliberately shortened the primeval chronology after the destruction of the Temple, they had the authority and ability to disseminate those changes via their new LXX recensions.

The plausibility of the rabbis deliberately changing the primeval chronology only strengthens as we examine the immense spiritual conflict that arose between Christians and Jews in the early years of the Church. The crisis in Judaism caused by the destruction of the Temple and the large-scale spread of the Gospel cannot be overstated. We have already noted that the scribes described in the NT who controlled the Hebrew texts in the Temple were enemies of Jesus and His Gospel. It would be no surprise to see subsequent scribes exhibit a willingness to change the text of Scripture in order to discredit Jesus as the Messiah. The Apostle Pauls biography is a testimony to the lengths some unbelieving Jews would go to oppose the Church. The Apostle Peter warns that people are capable of profound self-deceit, leading them to distort the sacred text for their own selfish purposes: [they] twist [Pauls letters] to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures (II Pt 3:16). Indeed, Justin Martyr (100-165 AD) stated that certain Jewish opponents deliberately expunged, altered or distorted Messianic verses from their Scriptures (Dialogue with Trypho, 7173), as did Irenaeus (Against Heresies, 3.21.1).42

C&C claim that the Jews would not change the text of Scripture since doing so would cut off their nose to spite their face. I would suggest that this assertion erroneously contradicts the Scriptural portrayal of the Israelites by the biblical authors throughout the Old Testament era. A people who were willing to sacrifice and burn their own children in the fires of Molech would not be capable of altering the biblical text to discredit the Messiah their Pharisaic forebearers had conspired to murder? What of the scribes and Pharisees who ascribed Jesus miracles to Satan? Rejecting and crucifying the Lord of Glory (I Cor 1:8) entails the greatest self-deception of all, and is the quintessential example of cutting off their nose to spite their face. C&Cs assertion severely underestimates the sinful power of self-deception.

While Gen 5/11 are not messianic texts proper, they had profound messianic implications during Second Temple Judaism.43 Beckwith explains:

There is strong evidence to show that the Essenes, the Pharisees and the Zealots all thought that they could date, at least approximately, the time when the Son of David would come, and that in each case their calculations were based upon Daniels prophecy of the 70 Weeks (Dan 9:2427), understood as 70 weeks of years In ancient Jewish literature, the interpretation of Daniels 70 Weeks is always linked to come kind of chronological scheme... They are alike in beginning from Creation, and in proceeding on the assumption that, for the earliest period of history, time can be computed by adding together the ages of patriarchs in Genesis 5.44

Motive, means, opportunity, an ideological context rife with chronomessianic fervor, an extreme religious and cultural crisis, and the advancement of the Gospel all converged in the postAD 70 aftermath, leaving the rabbis with the ideal circumstances to alter the texts of Genesis 5 and 11.

Now, let us circle back to Eusebiuss claim that the Jewish leaders deflated the primeval chronology in their Hebrew texts. While Eusebius incorrectly believed that the rabbis wanted to encourage early marriages by lowering the begetting ages, other theologians and historians pointed to a much more viable motivation: discrediting Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ.

Julian of Toledo

Julian of Toledo (AD 642-690), bishop of Spain, wrote a work in AD 686 entitled, The Demonstration of the Sixth Age of the World Against the Jews with a Prayer Letter to King Ervig. Sergio Stancati explains:

Therefore, it is a reproposal of the traditional subject of the centuriesold biblical and theological controversy between Jews and Christians about the end of time and the coming of the Messiah. We can say, more specifically, the work was written by Julian for contesting the Jewish doctrine, based on interpretations of the Babylonian Talmud, about the era, far in the future, according to Jewish thought, in which the Messiah is to appear Judaism maintained that the Messiah would have been born and appeared only after the sixth millennium after the creation of the world and humankind. Obviously, Jewish theologians believed this date to be far in the future. With this interpretation, they denied that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah45

C&C refer to the Jewish Encyclopedia, which explicitly states that Julian accused the Jews of deflating their chronology: [Julian] attempts to prove that Jesus was actually born in the sixth age, in which the Messiah was to come; but, he adds, this time should not be reckoned according to the Hebrew original, which has been falsified by the Jews, but according to the Septuagint, which is more trustworthy. I was fully aware of the direct quote in the Jewish Encyclopedia (which provides older Latin academic references to support its quotation of Julian). However, I referred to Stancatis book instead to provide a more recent source in English that would also more thoroughly explain Julians argument and perspective. A close reading of Stancatis work on Julian illustrates agreement with the explicit quote found in the Jewish Encyclopedia. The title of his work makes that crystal clear.46

C&C also argue that Julians grounds for following the LXX were based on the Letter of Aristeas, and thus, his argument about the shorter chronology should be rejected. But I am not adopting and following Julians reason(s) for using the LXX,47 I am documenting his claim that the Jewish authorities had deflated the original chronology and that they were promoting a false chronology reflected in the Babylonian Talmud. A person can believe something to be true that is in fact true (the LXXs chronology reflects the original Hebrew text), but on improper grounds (Aristeas).

The viability of the LXXs primeval chronology is not and should not be based on Aristeas. The story of the LXXs origin in Aristeas is largely legendary, though it does contain some historical elements. Unfortunately, it was often accepted as accurate by many of the Church fathers, and its scope was expanded to include Greek translations outside the Pentateuch. Despite its shortcomings, its greatest value lies in the fact that Aristeas was effectively a Jewish apologetic for the LXX. Wright explains:

The LXX gradually lost its relationship with the Hebrew [text used by the translators], and those who read it began to regard it in the manner that we see reflected in Aristeas, as an independent free-standing replacement for the Hebrew The LXX came to be regarded as sacred scripture. But somewhere along the road to the LXX becoming scripture someone had to offer a justification for accepting it as a prestigious, central and sacred text Aristeas legitimizes what the LXX had become by the middle part of the second century BCE an independent, scriptural authority.48

In other words, Aristeas was not the reason Jews had embraced the LXX. No, Aristeas was written as an apologetic for the LXX, after it has already been widely embraced as genuine and authoritative by the Jewish community. This included its longer primeval chronology, as evidenced by all reliable external witnesses before ca. AD 100.

C&C also claim that Julians argument was geared towards events in salvation history, not calendar dates. To support this assertion, they pull a paragraph from Stancati out of context, and by doing so, they misrepresent Stancatis descriptions of Julians work in toto. The particular quote from Stancati that C&C cite focuses not on biblical chronology, but the whole of historical facts pertaining to Jesus. However, the quote used by C&C pertains to only one book written by Julian. C&C leave the impression that Julian was not concerned with biblical chronology in his apologetic and that I have mispresented his argument.

Quite the contrary.

Unfortunately, C&C have inaccurately represented Julians overall argument, Stancatis assessment of his works, and my representation of both. Stancatis own words summarize Julians multifaceted apologetic methodology:

The work of Julian, therefore, was on the one hand, finalized to contest the Jewish biblical hermeneutics and the diffusion of its conclusions. On the other hand, it was to attract Jews to the true messianic faith with an appropriate exegesis of the text and with a precise mathematical calculation of biblical chronology.49

It is clear from a careful reading of Stancati that Julian used multiple, integrated methods in three books to appeal to the Jews that Jesus was the promised Messiah. This included the use of biblical chronology with a challenge to his Jewish audience that they were following a false chronology of history, ultimately derived from the deflated primeval chronology found in the MT.

George Syncellus

Byzantine Chronologist George Syncellus (d. AD 810) documented Eusebius statement that the Septuagints chronology came from an ancient and uncorrupted Hebrew copy of Genesis:

According to the most ancient Hebrew text, which is to this day still in fact preserved by the Samaritans, there is, then, clear agreement with the Septuagint that the patriarchs from the Flood up to Abraham procreated after the passing of one hundred years plus some additional period of time On this issue, then, careful reflection suggests this conclusion: there is no choice but to acknowledge that, with the exception of Jared and two generations after him, the text of scripture used by the Jews has erred in its chronology from Adam to Abraham, whereas the Samaritan text is in error only for the years from Adam to the Flood. For the years from the Flood up to Abraham are found to be in agreement with the record of years reported in the Septuagint. But it is abundantly clear that the Hebrew text used by the Jews is wrong There is thus complete confirmation that the Septuagint translation was translated from, so it would seem, an ancient and a strictly accurate Hebrew text of scripture.50

Now one might argue that Syncellus in this instance is not explicitly accusing the Jews of being in error on the primeval chronology. That would be a fair point, and I should have been more precise about this in my ARJ footnote. There are two reasons I cited Syncellus. First, he notoriously blasted Eusebius with ad hominems for perceived mistakes. For example, Eusebius is Syncelleus regular object of derision because of his omission of Kainan in LXX Gen 11. Syncellus treats everyone else with equal contempt when he believes they have gone astray. By his silence and style, there is little doubt he agreed with Eusebius assessment.

Second, and more concretely, the 19th century Egyptologist Gustav Seyffarth attributes a very pointed statement to Syncellus: I concur entirely in the opinion, that this (the shortening of the lives of several of the patriarchs, in the Hebrew text) was a criminal act of the Jews.51 Seyffarths footnote reads Syncell. p. 84 Ed. Paris. After a thorough check, I did not find this exact quote in Adler and Tuffins 725page translation and analysis of Syncellus Chronography. They do not provide their own text critical analysis, however, depending instead upon A.A. Mosshammers text critical reconstruction of the extant manuscripts.

Seyffarth is referencing a manuscript of Syncellus that was being kept in Paris. Adler and Tuffin discuss Parisian manuscripts A (#1711) and B (#1764).52 There are other known extant manuscripts of Syncelllus as well. It is possible that Mosshammer decided this statement documented by Seyffarth was an inferior textual variant. Adler and Tuffin do note that the early manuscript tradition of Syncellus was likely written in the form of two codices, leading to numerous textual divergences (p. lxxvii). Nonetheless, Seyffarths quotation and citation directly from an 11th century AD Syncellus manuscript seems to show that Syncellus made more overt, direct claims beyond his implicit approval of Eusebius argument. Further research will bear this out for sure. While the evidence for the inclusion of Syncellus is not as strong as the other references, I see no reason to exclude him from this current list unless new information requires it.

Bar Hebraeus

Bar Hebraeus was also included in my list (AD 12261286).53 Though his statements are from a later period, they serve as another link in the chain of evidence. Bar Hebraeus was known by numerous names, including Abulpharag.54 He was a prolific author of the 13th century AD,55 whose work includes the Chronicon Syriacum, in which he details a chronology of history from creation using the longer primeval chronology. Additional resources written by Bar Hebreaus can be found online.56

C&C dismiss Bar Hebraeus out of hand for two illegitimate reasons. First they state that we cant find a statement in writing that the Jews intentionally altered the text. I provided a citation from Seyffarth in my ARJ article, who cites and quotes Albulpharag (=Bar Hebraeus). In 1663, Edward Pococke published a translation of Bar Hebraeus Historia Compendiosa Dynastarium from Syriac into Latin, which Seyffarth explicitly cites. This work can be found online, where there is a facsimile of the Syriac text along with Pocockes Latin translation and analysis. Seyffarth reproduces the Latin text in a footnote, and provides an English translation of Bar Hebraeus statement:

According to the Hebrew Testament there elapsed between the creation and Christ 1375 years less, than according to the Septuagint. This shortening of time is the work of the older Rabbis. For, as it had been foretold in the Law and the Prophets, that the Messiah would come into the world in the last days (or time) at the end of the sixth millennium, they shortened the lives of the Patriarchs for the purpose of rejecting Christ, and expecting another Messiah.57

C&C then employ a non-sequitur to further justify dismissing Bar Hebreaus because he says in the same work that Jesus was born on December 25, so hes clearly dealing with traditions outside the text proper. This is enough for us to discount this source entirely. Are we to understand that Bar Hebraeus statement about the Jews deflating the primeval chronology should be dismissed because he is also engaging with extra-biblical material while trying to determine the date of Christs birth on the Julian calendar? What do Bar Hebraeus arguments about the date of Christs birth have to do with his views on the primeval chronology? Absolutely nothing.58

Muhammad ibn Ahmad Biruni

In The Chronology of Ancient Nations, Muslim scholar Biruni (AD 9731048) testifies that Christians of his era accused the Jews of deflating the chronology in Gen 5/11. Birunis work was translated from Arabic into English by Eduard Sachau in 1879. Biruni writes:

The Jews and Christians differ widely on this subject; for, according to the doctrine of the Jews, the time between Adam and Alexander is 3,448 years, whilst, according to the Christian doctrine, it is 5,180 years. The Christians reproach the Jews with having diminished the number of years with the view of making the appearance of Jesus fall into the fourth millennium in the middle of the seven millennia, which are, according to their view, the time of the duration of the world, so as not to coincide with that time at which, as the prophets after Moses had prophesied, the birth of Jesus from a pure virgin at the end of time, was to take place. 59

An obvious opponent of both parties and living in Persia,60 Biruni is an independent witness to the Christian claim that the Jews had deliberately deflated the primeval chronology. Note also that Biruni is referring to Christians as a group, and not just to one particular individual, indicating that this was a commonly held view in Biruni's day.

Augustine of Hippo

We also have the testimony of Augustine in North Africa (ca. AD 420), who reports that unspecified Christians of his time argued that that the Jewish scribes made alterations in their texts as to undermine the authority of ours. He specifically deals with the numbers in Genesis 5 (City of God XV.1011, 13), and attempts to refute the Christian claim that the Jews had deflated the antediluvian begetting ages in the Hebrew text (see my analysis of Augustines arguments below in  II.4.110). Augustine thus serves as another ancient witness, a hostile witness, to this explanation for the origin of the MTs primeval timeline. Since Augustine felt that the argument was important enough to respond to, it logically follows that this viewpoint was a commonly held in the Church in the 5th century AD.

Jacob of Edessa

Lastly, we turn our attention to probably the most important witness of all: the Syriac theologian Jacob of Edessa (AD 640708). In his Commentary on the Octateuch, Jacob claims that the Hebrew text of Gen 5/11 had been deliberately deflated by Jewish authorities to demonstrate that the Christ had not yet come.61

C&C say that Jacob asserts this without any evidence to substantiate it. First, Jacobs statement in its geographical and historical context is the evidence. We can see here how C&Cs arbitrary evidential standard (i.e. documentation of a conspiracy by the rabbis) allows them to discard Jacobs statements without any critical engagement. Second, and most significantly, Jacob testifies to evidence that backs up his claim.

Jacob was intimately familiar with the OT text, had knowledge of multiple languages, and was one of the nest scholars of the Syrian Orthodox Church."62 In my ARJ and ICC63 articles, I cited Bas ter Haar Romeny, a recognized expert on western Syriac Christianity who works directly with the Syriac text. The reader can visit Romenys academia page and judge for himself his knowledge of Jacobs writings in the original language.

A careful reading of Romenys article reveals two important facts: 1. Jacob produced his own Bible translation, one which was designed to improve upon the prevailing Syriac translation, the Peshitta. His work still survives in part in several MSS. 2. Jacob also wrote a Commentary on the Octateuch. In it, Jacob claims that the original Hebrew text was falsified by the same Hebrews in order to show that Christ had not come yet. They subtracted one hundred years from the age of Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, and Mahalalel.64 Jacobs Bible translation also included the longer antediluvian chronology, and interestingly, a begetting age of 187 for Methuselah instead of the widespread and erroneous 167 reading found in many LXX manuscripts.65

As I mentioned above ( I), my incorrect citation of Ephraem turned out to be a blessing in disguise. While I was trying to get to the bottom of things, I discovered that Jacobs complete Commentary on the Octateuch is reproduced in Syriac and translated into Latin in Joseph Assemanis Bibliotheca Orientalis. The text is taken directly from manuscript Vat. sir. 103,66 the same MSS examined and exposited by Romeny. On pages 6566 (vol. I), Assemani reproduces Jacobs Syriac text, then translates it into Latin. Adler provides an English translation of Jacobs pertinent statement: The Hebrews, wanting to pervert the computation of years, in order to show that Christ had not yet arrived, subtract 100 years from Adam before he fathered Seth.67 While this statement specifically refers to Adams begetting age, it is clear that Jacob believed the entire primeval chronology had been altered by the Jewish scribes. To discredit the time of Jesus arrival, the entire timeline from Adam to Abraham was reduced. The longer chronology is also reflected in his Bible translation of Gen 5 and 11. This is confirmed above by Romeny, who paraphrased Jacobs statements.

Moreover, there was another significant statement made by Jacob. A couple of years ago, I came across this footnote written by William Hales: *Jacobus Edessenus, who flourished about A.D. 700, states, that he found in some sufficiently accurate Hebrew histories, that Adam begat Seth when he was 230 years old.68 This, of course, grabbed my attention, but I had been unable to independently corroborate Hales quotation of Jacob, so I did not use it until now.

Discussing the numerical divergences in Gen 5/11, Adler turns to Jacob and quotes him (above). Adler then says this: In this same notice, Jacob claims also that in his time there were certain Hebrew manuscripts that confirmed the Septuagint chronology.69 After reading this, I went back to Bibliotheca Orientalis and was able to verify that Adlers assessment was correct. Four scholars (Assemani, Hales, Adler and Romeny) are all in agreement on this point.70

Jacob went beyond the mere charge that the rabbis had deflated the original, longer chronology. No, Jacob knew of concrete evidence that supported his argument and vindicated his inclusion of the LXXs numbers in both his Bible translation and commentary. He did not merely appeal to Church tradition or to Aristeas: Jacob had knowledge of copies of Hebrew manuscripts that existed in his day that confirmed the Septuagints longer primeval chronology.71

Summary

When we take these statements, arguments, and evidence in their totality, we have an explanation over a long period (ca. AD 3101275) and in disparate geographical locales (Israel, North Africa, Spain, Syria [twice], Constantinople, and Persia) for the origin of the MTs shorter chronology. Jacob of Edessas account of Hebrew manuscripts that contained the longer chronology is powerful evidence, and his witness needs to be taken very seriously. The reader who dismisses Jacobs statements out of hand or resorts to impugning his credibility without evidence is simply not serious about getting to the truth.

As I have stated on numerous occasions, these sources serve as one component in an overall matrix of data. They do not prove the MT was deflated, rather, they provide a testable explanation for its divergences from the LXX. We can examine this explanation for the origin of the MTs primeval timeline by weighing the textual evidence, internal phenomena, and external witnesses.

This leads us to two important points. First, it was not practical to include all of these details in the respective articles I previously published. The underlying rationale and more detailed documentation will eventually appear in book form. I have included some of this information in this article to refute C&Cs specious claim that my Ephraem mistake is indicative of a larger pattern of errors.

Second, C&C dismiss all of these important references out of hand and employ several fallacies while doing so. They also mispresent the arguments of Julian of Toledo, Stancati, and myself. In the cases of Syncellus72 and Bar Hebraeus, they have superficially interacted with the academic literature. Their arbitrarily imposed evidential standard gives them carte blanche to dismiss any evidence pointing to the Jewish rabbis as being responsible for the origin of the MTs primeval timeline.

Continue reading >>

Quick link: Setting the Record Straight on the Primeval Chronology of the Septuagint: Part 1 > Part 2 > Part 3 > Part 4

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13Chronicle 30; Karsts translation is as follows: Es ist daher allenthalben wohl klar, da die Siebenziger-Ubersetzung aus alten und fehlerlosen Vorlagen der Hebraer ubersetzt worden ist (It is therefore well known everywhere that the seventies translation has been translated from ancient and faultless Vorlagen of the Hebrews). Josef Karst, Eusebius Werke: Die Chronik, vol. 5 (Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichssche Buchhandlung, 1911), 45. Cf. Edmon L. Gallagher, The Septuagints Fidelity to Its Vorlage in Greek Patristic Thought, in XIV Congress of the IOSCS, Helsinki, 2010, ed. Melvin H.K. Peters, Septuagint and Cognate Studies 59 (Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2013), 667.

14For a brief overview of Akibas life, see: http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1033-akiba-ben-joseph Also: Louis Finkelstein, Akiba: Scholar, Saint and Martyr (New York, NY: Covici Friede Publishers, 1936).

15Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible: Revised and Expanded, 17980 (Emphasis mine).

16Etienne Nodet, Josephus and the Pentateuch, JSJ 28 (May 1997): 19394.

17Armin Lange, They Confirmed the Reading (y. Taan. 4.68a), in From Qumran to Aleppo: A Discussion with Emanuel Tov about the Textual History of Jewish Scriptures in Honor of His 65th Birthday, ed. Jozsef Zsengeller, Armin Lange, and Matthias Weigold (Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009), 7477; Nodet, Josephus and the Pentateuch, 193, n. 55.

18Lange, They Confirmed the Reading (y. Taan. 4.68a), 7880.

19Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible: Revised and Expanded, 2829.

20The texts at Qumran exhibited more variation than the protoMT. This should not be surprising given the Essene contempt for the Jerusalem priesthood. The texts in the Temple archive were likely never used to correct many of the biblical texts from Qumran, though quite a few of them closely resemble the MT as well. The evidence is complex.

21Daniel Gruber, Rabbi Akibas Messiah: The Origins of Rabbinic Authority, Revised Edition (Hanover, NH: Elijah Publishing, 2014).

22Peter Schafer, R. Aqiva and Bar Kokhba, in Approaches to Ancient Judaism, ed. William Scott Green, vol. 2 (Ann Arbor, MI: Scholars Press, 1980), 11417.

23C&C cite a DNA study which argues that Jews were living in places such as Burma. While such a study can make genetic, ethnic connections, it cannot verify belief, practice, and language employed. And it certainly cannot verify what kind of biblical text Jews were using in Burma, or anywhere else for that matter. Besides, we have no ancient Hebrew biblical texts from Burma, we have the MT, which was controlled for many centuries by the Pharisees/rabbis.

24Heinrich W. Guggenheimer, ed., Seder Olam: The Rabbinic View of Biblical Chronology (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1998), x.

25Simon Schwab, Comparative Jewish Chronology, in Dr. Joseph Breuer Jubilee Volume (NY: Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch Publications Society, Philipp Felheim Inc., 1962), 186.

26In my article MT, SP or LXX?, I discuss the influence of Second Temple Jewish literature on (messianic) chronology, and in particular, the negative influence of the artificial chronology found in the Book of Jubilees. In detail, I argue that the matching, lower begetting ages in the SP and MT of Genesis 5 originated not from a Hebrew text, but from the artificially constructed chronology of Jubilees. The alteration of the original numbers in Gen 5 and 11 had been occurring amongst certain sects in Judaism even before the turn of the millennium, setting the stage for the creation of the Seder Olam and the reduction of the primeval timeline in the protoMT.

27Sexton, Who Was Born?, 21516; Sexton and Smith Jr., Primeval Chronology Restored, 4748.

28The Hebrew text of Genesis used by Josephus in Rome when he wrote earlier sections of Antiquities serves as an exception. It had escaped destruction by the Romans in AD 70 and did not fall into the hands of the rabbis. Nodet suggests from Josephus own statements that his Hebrew OT text was given to him by Titus, came from the Temple archives, and was likely several decades old (Josephus and the Pentateuch, 193). Jacob of Edessas Hebrew MSS containing the longer chronology are also an exception (see below).

29Emanuel Tov, The Text of the Hebrew/Aramaic and Greek Bible Used in the Ancient Synagogues, in Hebrew Bible, Greek Bible and Qumran: Collected Essays (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008), 188.

30Tessa Rajak, Translation and Survival: The Greek Bible of the Ancient Jewish Diaspora (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).

31Benjamin G. Wright III, The Letter of Aristeas and the Reception History of the Septuagint, in Praise Israel for Wisdom and Instruction: Essays on Ben Sira and Wisdom, the Letter of Aristeas and the Septuagint, ed. John J. Collins, Florentino Garcia Martinez, and Hindy Najman, vol. 131, Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism (Leiden: Brill, 2008), 294.

32Carl R. Holladay, Fragments from Hellenistic Jewish Authors: Volume I: Historians, ed. Harold W. Attridge, Texts and Translations 20 (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1983), 5191.

33F. Fallon, Eupolemus: A New Translation and Introduction, in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Volume 2, ed. James H. Charlesworth, vol. 2, 2 vols. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1983), 86172; Holladay, Fragments, 93156; Wacholder, Eupolemus.

34Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible: Revised and Expanded, 132.

35In this instance, the use of the term LXX refers only to the Pentateuchal translation done in Alexandria, while the term OG refers to the rest of the OT books, which were translated later. The Jewish authorities replaced these old Greek translations with Aquilas new recension.

36Tov, The Text of the Hebrew/Aramaic and Greek Bible Used in the Ancient Synagogues, 18688. See 187, esp. n. 77. Also, Karen H. Jobes and Moises Silva, Invitation to the Septuagint, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2015), 2628.

37Milikowsky notes that Seder Olam underwent additional edits after the time of Rabbi Yose, but the details are not altogether clear. Chaim Milikowsky, Seder Olam: A Rabbinic Chronography (Volumes I and II) (PhD Dissertation, Yale University, 1981), 17.

38Ernst Wurthwein, The Text of the Old Testament: An Introduction to the Biblia Hebraica, ed. Alexander Achilles Fischer, trans. Erroll F. Rhodes, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2014), 107.

39Natalio Fernandez Marcos, The Septuagint in Context: Introduction to the Greek Version of the Bible, trans. Wilfred G. E. Watson (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 155.

40Some readings are attributed to unknown Jewish translators (John W. Wevers, ed., Septuaginta. Vetus Testamentum Graecum: Genesis, vol. 1 [Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1974], 59; 102106).

41Bas ter Haar Romeny, A Syrian in Greek Dress: The Use of Greek, Hebrew, and Syriac Biblical Texts in Eusebius of Emesas Commentary on Genesis, Traditio Exegetica Graeca 6 (Leuven: Peeters, 1997), 248250.

42Gregory of Nyssa (AD 335-395) and Epiphanius of Salamis (AD 310-403) grappled with the differences between the Hebrew text of that time and the old LXX, proposed a variety of solutions to textual differences, and sometimes concluded that Jewish scribes/translators had corrupted Hebrew and/or Old Greek texts (Gallagher, The Septuagints Fidelity to Its Vorlage in Greek Patristic Thought, 66576).

43Roger T. Beckwith, Daniel 9 and the date of Messiahs coming in Essene, Hellenistic, Pharisaic, Zealot and early Christian computation. Revue de Qumran 10, no. 4:52142.

44From the 3rd century BC through the 2nd century AD, the Jewish writers tried to project the chronology into the future, so as to give a date to events foretold in prophecy, such as the coming of the Messiah. Roger T. Beckwith, Calendar and Chronology, Jewish and Christian (Leiden: Brill, 1996), 217. I disagree with Beckwiths categorization of Josephus chronology as Hellenistic, and a number of his other points. But the fundamental thrust of his study, and his documentation of sources, provides valuable insights into the chrono-messianism that influenced and came out of Second Temple Judaism.

45Sergio Tommaso Stancati, Julian of Toledo: Prognosticum Futuri Saeculi, vol. 63, Ancient Christian Writers: The Works of the Fathers in Translation (Mahwah, NJ: The Newman Press, 2010), 123-124.

46Julians Jewish opponents  were basing their eschatological interpretation on the Babylonian Talmud. The messianic chronology statements found in the Babylonian Talmud are dependent upon and derived from the MT of Gen 5/11 and Seder Olam. And these can be traced back to messianic chronological speculations which originated during Second Temple Judaism. These connections have been made in detail in Beckwiths Calendar and Chronology, and in numerous other sources which I have cited previously (see footnote 3).

47Stancati states that Julian followed the LXX because he believed it was inspired (p. 127). This may or may not represent Julians entire rationale for using the Septuagint.

48The Letter of Aristeas and the Reception History of the Septuagint, 29395.

49Stancati, Julian of Toledo, 12425 (emphasis mine).

50George Synkellos, The Chronography of George Synkellos, trans. Paul Tuffin and William Adler, 1st ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 12425.

51G. Seyffarth, Summary of Recent Discoveries in Biblical Chronology, Universal History and Egyptian Archaeology (New York, NY: Henry Ludwig, 1859), 139.

52Tuffin and Adler, lxxvlxxvii. Both MSS can be seen online: A (#1711) and B (#1764), along with others.

53 In the ARJ article, I stated that Bar Hebraeus was Armenian, which is technically correct. However, it would be more precise to say that he was Armenian by birth, his father was Jewish, and his family migrated to Syria during his childhood.

54https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Bar-Hebraeus

55E.A.W. Budge, The Chronography of Gregory Abu'l Faraj, The Son of Aaron, The Hebrew Physician Commonly Known as Bar Hebraeus Being the First Part of His Political History of the World (London: Oxford University Press, 1932).

56http://syri.ac/chronicles

57Seyffarth, Summary of Recent Discoveries in Biblical Chronology, 144.

58C&C employ a similar fallacy to my use of Augustines statements on Methuselahs begetting age in the LXX (see  II.4.110).

59Muhammad ibn Ahmad Biruni, The Chronology of Ancient Nations; An English Version of the Arabic Text of the Athar-Ul-Bakiya of Albiruni, or Vestiges of the Past, trans. Eduard Sachau (London: W.H. Allen and Co., 1879), 18.

60Ibid., viixiv.

61Bas ter Haar Romeny, Jacob of Edessa on Genesis: His Quotations of the Peshitta and His Revision of the Text, in Jacob of Edessa and the Syriac Culture of His Day (Leiden: Brill, 2008), 154.

62Ibid., 145.

63Henry B. Smith Jr., The Case for the Septuagints Chronology in Genesis 5 and 11, in Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism, ed. John H. Whitmore (International Conference on Creationism, Pittsburgh, PA: Creation Science Fellowship, 2018), 11732.

64Romeny, Jacob of Edessa on Genesis, 154.

65Ibid.

66Romeny, Ephrem and Jacob of Edessa in the Commentary of the Monk Severus, 543; Kruisheer, Ephrem, Jacob of Edessa, and the Monk Severus. An Analysis of Ms. Vat. Syr. 103, ff. 172, 599605.

67William Adler, Time Immemorial: Archaic History and Its Sources in Christian Chronography from Julius Africanus to George Syncellus (Washington, D.C: Dumbarton Oaks Pub Service, 1989), 48. The Latin reads: Verum Hebraei computum annorum pervertere volentes, ut Christum nondum advenisse ostenderent, centum annos Adamo, antequam gigneret Seth, detraxerunt (Assemani, Bibliotheca Orientalis, 66).

68A New Analysis of Chronology, 280, italics original. The Latin text reads: In quibusdam, inquit, satis accuratis Hebraicis Historiis scriptum reperimus, Adam genuisse Seth, quum esset annorum ducentorum et triginta (Assemani, Bibliotheca Orientalis, 66).

69Time Immemorial, 48, n. 26.

70Dirk Kruisheer is presently working on a complete publication of Jacobs Commentary on the Octateuch.

71It is possible Jacob choice of the 187 reading for Methuselah in his translation was based its appearance in the Hebrew manuscripts containing the longer chronology.

72C&C reduce Syncellus rationale for using the LXX to one internal argument he uses with respect to the begetting ages in the LXXs post-Flood chronology. This is hardly a fair or careful assessment of Syncellus.



Continue reading >>
NGK Spark Plug, a manufacturer with more than 80 years of experience in spark plugs and ceramics, and lunar exploration company ispace, inc., announced that NGK Spark Plug has agreed to participate as a corporate partner of the worlds first commercial lunar exploration program HAKUTO  R.

NGK Spark Plug and HAKUTO-R have also agreed to transport a trial design of NGK Spark Plugs solid-state battery technology to the moon in 2021. Through this technological cooperation, the two organizations will conduct the worlds first test of solid-state battery technology on the Moon.





Prototype of NTK solid-state battery.

Testing solid-state battery technology on the Moon is aimed at supplying the burgeoning lunar industry with a stable energy storage solution. However, in order to conduct sustained lunar exploration, energy storage technology must be capable of withstanding extremely cold temperatures on the Moon, such as during the lunar night and in the permanently shadowed regions at the Moons poles.

Lithium-ion batteries with liquid electrolytes are not suitable for lunar conditions. As the Moons poles can reach -150 C (approx. -240 F) in temperature, the liquid would freeze, which would cause the expansion of volume and risk of damaging the internal structure of the battery. Therefore, a stable power supply in space and on the Moon is critical for exploration and further development.

The current solution to keep electrolyte batteries above freezing temperatures has been to attach an electrical generator which generates heat using sources such as radioactive isotope which can be hazardous. In comparison, solid-state battery technology uses a solid material as an electrolyte, such as ceramic, and avoids the issue of freezing liquid. Further, the technology is expected to produce safer, more compact batteries compared with conventional lithium ion batteries.

NGK Spark Plug has been pursuing research and development on oxide-based ceramic electrolyte battery technology with a focus on providing a wider operating temperature range and higher safety than other types.

In 2016, NTK researchers reported on their development of all-solid-state lithium batteries using a lithium oxide solid electrolyte ceramics layer (Li 1.5 Al 0.5 Ge 1.5 (PO 4 ) 3 or Li 7 La 3 Zr 2 O 12 ) at IMLB 18.





The choice of oxide eliminates the risk of combustion or hazardous gas leakage, and the company leverages its ceramics expertise in material and processing to improve the performance of its solid-state battery material.

NGK Spark Plugs specialty in making batteries small and compact is a key feature for future spacecraft to install the technology in a limited space. At the same time, NGK SPARK PLUG has developed a unique capability of non-sintering the oxide-based electrolytes, instead of the common practice of sintering (densification of oxide electrolyte using a high temperature treatment). This means NGK SPARK PLUG will be able to eventually make the batteries larger for multiple applications.

ispace, inc. (ispace) is a private lunar exploration company with a vision to extend human presence beyond Earth. The company has more than 85 staff from 13 different countries; operates in Japan (HQ), Luxembourg and the US; and has signed partnerships with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Government of Luxembourg. ispace raised nearly US$95 million in Series A fundingthe largest on record in Japan and more than almost any other space company. ispace also managed Team HAKUTO, one of the 5 finalists in the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition.

HAKUTO-R is a private lunar exploration program consisting of multiple missions. It includes ispaces first two lunar exploration missions: Mission 1, a Moon orbit in mid-2020, and Mission 2, a Moon landing in mid-2021. For both missions, ispaces lunar lander and rovers will be carried as secondary payloads on SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket. The program is intended to be technology demonstration, allowing ispace to lay the groundwork for higher-frequency, customer-focused missions.
LG has introduced its first 5G phone and, well, in terms of upgrades its a far cry from the Samsung S10 5G. Basically, the LG V50 ThinQ is a V40 with a 5G chip in it, and thats of dubious benefit to consumers because 5G networks wont materialize in any significant way until 2020.

OK, there are a couple other changes: The V50 has a Snapdragon 855 processor, which is a prerequisite for use of the X50 modem. And at 8.3mm, its a little thicker than the V40 to accommodate the modem and handle the vapor-cooling chamber thats needed to keep the heat down. The V50 also has a larger 4,000mAh battery (versus 3,300mAh on the V40) to offset what LG estimates is a 20 percent hit in battery life when using 5G compared to LTE.

Oh, one more thing: The V50s camera is entirely under glass now like LGs G8, which is a nice touch. And of course itll be more expensive than the V40. Otherwise, its the exact same phone. Check out the specs:

Dimensions: 159.2 x 76.1 x 8.3mm

159.2 x 76.1 x 8.3mm Display: 6.4-inch, 3120 x 1440, QuadHD+ OLED

6.4-inch, 3120 x 1440, QuadHD+ OLED RAM: 6GB

6GB Storage: 128GB

128GB Rear camera: 12MP, f/1.5 + 16MP wide, f/1.9 + 12MP 2X zoom, f/2.4

12MP, f/1.5 + 16MP wide, f/1.9 + 12MP 2X zoom, f/2.4 Front camera: 8MP, f/1.9 + 5MP wide, f/2.2

With the G8s time-of-flight sensor, the V50 could have been a fun phone with AirMotion and Hand ID, and at least give people a reason to buy it other than the dubious promise of 5G. As it stands, LG will market the V50 as an entirely new phone, but really the only thing new about it is the modem.

LG let me play with the V50 for a few minutes, but I wasnt allowed to take pictures. Nor was I able to test 5G speeds since they werent able to set up a micro cell. So what was the point of this demo, you ask? To be among the first smartphone companies to roll out support for 5G. Samsung announced the S10 5G last week and Motorola beat everyone with the Verizon 5G mod for Moto Z last year. So LG had to get on board, lest anyone think LG wasnt on the cutting edge.

But aside from making 5G headlines, the V50 is kind of pointless. Like the rest of the 5G handsets, it uses Qualcomms x50 modem, which has already been overshadowed by its successor, the X55. This newer modem promises faster speeds, combines a 4G LTE modem in a thinner package, and supports T-Mobiles Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) network.

But modem generations aside, there are no networks to take advantage of 5G. Sprint was the first to announce support for the LG V50, with the promise of consistent connection and lower latency with virtually buffer-less streaming, which is ideal for videos, music and gaming. When youll be able to get that, I dont know, but Sprint has assured us that nine cities will be getting 5G in the first half of 2019. If thats anything like Verizons rollout, it wont be a seamless transition.

So if you plan on buying the V50, proceed with caution. Youre essentially getting an old phone, and more than likely wont be able to take advantage of its headline feature this year.

And even if you happen to live in one of the first 5G cities, you wont be getting anything near the promised super-fast all-over speeds that 5G will deliver with the X50 modem. 5G is in the very early stages of its rollout, and its going to take years before its anywhere near as ubiquitous as 4G.

I dont blame LG for the V50. 5G is the buzzword of the moment, and phone makers want, nay need, to get on board as soon as possible. Carrier hype has turned 5G from a next-gen evolution into a life-saving proposition, and phone makers have fallen for it, hook, line and sinker. Frankly, this phone should have been named the V40 ThinQ 5G, which would have given customers a proper understanding of what it is.

So buy the V50 at your own risk. Or just buy a V40 and write 5G on the back.

This story, "The LG V50 ThinQ is basically everything that's wrong with 5G" was originally published by PCWorld .
The Real Jackie Kennedy

Her style and grace were legendary, and her image came to define the 1960s. She captured the hearts of world leaders, fashion icons and people all over the planet, who knew her as Jackie Kennedy, Jacqueline Onassis, or simply Jackie O. But who was the real Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis? Take our quiz and find out.
Goshen, IN (46526)

Today

Rain showers in the morning with numerous thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. High 86F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy with showers and a few thunderstorms. Low near 70F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Goshen, IN (46526)

Today

Rain showers in the morning with numerous thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. High 86F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms in the evening, then variable clouds overnight with more showers at times. Low near 70F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Vancouver, February 26, 2019 - Walker River Resources Corp. (TSXV: WRR) ("Walker" or the "Company") is pleased to announce additional drill results from the late 2018 reverse circulation ("RC") drill program on the Lapon Canyon Gold Project, located approximately 60 kilometres southeast of Yerington, Nevada.

RC drill hole LC18-31 returned 2.28 g/t Au over 42.7 meters at a depth of 24.4 meters and 159 g/t over 1.5 meters at a depth of 83.8 meters.

Key Highlights:

To date, mineralization has been discovered in a broad, altered, fractured and brecciated NE trending structural zone termed the Lapon Rose Zone. Anomalous gold values are denoted in many areas within this zone, and significant higher-grade mineralization over significant widths is located within sub vertical en echelon zones of intense alteration and gold enrichment.

Walker's initial geological mapping and prospecting on the Project followed by its drill programs has demonstrated the potential for the emplacement of significant gold mineralization.

The 2018 drilling focused on infill and expansion drilling at the Lapon Rose zone, as well as exploration and drilling new targets, including other fault alteration zones, which in some instances show evidence of previous workings. The 2018 exploration drilling was designed to acquire technical and geological information on the structural trends.

Significantly again in Hole LC18-31, drilling intersected 159 g/t Au immediately prior to encountering old mine workings. These workings were intersected over 6.1 meters at a depth of 83.8 meters. This continues to verify historical data of the positioning of previously reported workings, in presently inaccessible mined out areas.

Consistently, since the start up of drilling on the project, all holes drilled within the Lapon Rose zone returned gold values with the majority (80%) returning significant grades and widths in en echelon zones of gold enrichment. The recent discovery of lower grade mineralization and anomalous gold present in granite, which to date has been unmineralized, demonstrates the robust nature of the system.

Assay Table: Summary of Drill Results:

Hole Alt.

(m) From

(m) To

(m) Length**

(m) Assay (Au g/t)

uncut cut* Notes: LC 18-31 2650 24.4 67.1 42.7 2.28 Lapon Rose

















83.8 85.3 1.5 159 34.28 Lapon Rose



86.9 93 6.1 No samples Old mine workings













LC 18-32 2700





No significant assays Granite geology













LC 18-33 2700





No significant assays Granite geology

*Grade cut to 34 g/t

**True widths approx. 73%

The Lapon Rose Zone has now been drilled over a strike length of some 365 meters. The width of the zone exceeds 150 meters, and the zone has been drilled over a vertical extent of 400 meters. The zone remains open along strike and depth.

RC drill hole LC 18-31 was drilled to extend the mineralized zone and was located some 50 meters away from the nearest drill intersection. The Company was not aware of previous mining activity here, demonstrating that the previous workings along the strike length of the zone were more extensive than mapped (Newell, 1936). The lower grade intersection demonstrates the robust nature of the system. Notably, after exiting the workings at 93 meters, drilling returned an assay result of 84.2 g/t Au over 1.5 meters. The Company is not including nor relying on this result in our Assay table as it may represent contamination or mine rubble.

RC drill hole LC 18-32 was drilled to establish the fault contact between the country rock (granite) and the altered/sheared zone which carries the mineralization. This was necessary to acquire geological information prior to follow up drilling of the discovery in Hole 19 (see news release 11-8-17).

RC drill hole LC 18-33 was drilled to acquire geological information near the top of the mountain range where outcrop is covered by colluvium. The hole encountered granite, but interestingly, and significantly, the hole intersected mild alteration (FeOx) in a leached granite containing anomalous gold values ranging from 0.11 g/t Au to 0.65 g/t Au over some 18 meters.

The 2018 drill program was designed to expand gold mineralized zones discovered by the Company, to discover and delineate new gold mineralized zones. The drilling also was designed to acquire technical and geological information on the structural trends. Essential, in the preparation of the 2019 drill program, for planning of drill pad emplacement and drill access routes. Further updates on the Lapon Project will be released as they become available.

Michel David, President states: "We continue to be very excited and encouraged by the drill results from the Lapon Canyon Project. The majority of holes we drilled in the Lapon Rose zone have returned significant gold grades and widths, we also extended the strike length and width of the gold mineralization, now present over 400 vertical meters in Lapon Rose. The zone is also open at depth and strike." Mr. David continues: "The 2018 drill program was again very successful, consistent with all our previous drill programs. Our planning and permitting is fully underway for the upcoming 2019 exploration and drill programs which will begin shortly."

The Company's consultant, Fladgate Exploration Consulting Corp. ("Fladgate") of Thunder Bay, ON., (see news release 02-28-18) a full-service mineral exploration consulting firm, will complete an interpretation, compilation and update of the Lapon Project's digital database with the 2018 drill results. Fladgate's initial interpretations of the Lapon digital database enhanced the planning, design and success of Walker's late 2018 drill program.

The information from the compilation and interpretation of the 2018 drill program on the Lapon Project will greatly aid in acceleration of drilling, geological mapping and understanding of the gold mineralization at the Lapon Project. Planning of the upcoming 2019 Exploration and Drill Programs is underway.

About the Lapon Project

The Lapon Project consists of 96 claims (1,940 acres) situated in the Wassuk Range, easily accessible by secondary state roads from the main highway (25 kilometres). A state grid power transmission line passes within three kilometres of the Lapon Project. The Lapon Project is located within the Walker Lane shear zone, a 100-kilometre-wide structural corridor extending in a southeast direction from Reno, Nevada. Within this trend, numerous gold, silver, and copper mines are located, notably the historic Comstock Lode mines in Virginia City. Also, the past producing Esmeralda/Aurora gold mine, with reported production of some one million ounces and the Anaconda open pit copper mine in Yerington, Nevada.

The Lapon Project is cut by a series of steeply dipping cross fault structures cutting across the Walker trend, analogous to other cross fault structures responsible for many gold and base metal deposits in the world. These faults are heavily sheared and altered (sericite, iron oxides) with abundant silica, varying in width from 60 to 300 meters. Four of these structures have been discovered at Lapon, and at least two can be traced for over four kilometers.

Small-scale high-grade mining began on the project in 1914. Approximately 600 meters of drifts and raises were developed from two adits and a two-stamp mill was built. Further underground work was carried out, returning numerous assay values in the range of one ounce per ton, with a sample at the end of an adit returning 20.6 ounces per ton. (National Instrument 43-101, Montgomery and Barr, 2004). Additional work on the Project in the following years, included the installation of a ball mill and milling facilities.

Sampling Methodology, Chain of Custody, Quality Control and Quality Assurance

All sampling was conducted under the supervision of the Company's project geologists and the chain of custody from the drill to the sample preparation facility was continuously monitored. A blank or certified reference material was inserted approximately every tenth sample. The Lapon samples were delivered to ALS Minerals certified laboratory facility in Reno, NV. The samples were crushed, pulverized and the sample pulps digested and analyzed for gold using fire assay fusion and a 50g gravimetric finish. Higher grade samples used a 1kg screen fire assay with screen to 100 microns and 50g gravimetric finish.

The scientific and technical content and interpretations contained in this news release have been reviewed, verified and approved by E. Gauthier, geol., Eng (OIQ) a director of the Company, and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Michel David"

___________

Michel David,

Chief Executive Officer and Director

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Walker River Resources Corp.

Tel: 819 874-0030

Fax: 819 825-1199

Email: info@wrrgold.com

Website: www.wrrgold.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange Nor Its Regulation Service Provider (As That Term Is Defined In The Policies Of The TSX Venture Exchange) Accepts Responsibility For The Adequacy Or Accuracy Of This News Release.



/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43032
Russia collusion still #FakeNews

To the editor:

Wow! Front page on the Sunday Register and Bee: Mueller report already in plain sight. Rarely do reputable news organizations print opinion pieces on the front page. For those readers who only scan articles, there were subheadings in bold print: Russia tried to help Trump, People around Trump were receptive to the help, Trump was trying to business in Russia and Lots of people around Trump lied. Only those readers who made it to the end of the article saw no direct evidence and he hasnt charged any Americans.

This is a hoax that would make Jussie Smollett proud. Smollett correctly assumed politicians, media and celebrities would believe his claim of being mugged. They did believe it, not because it was true, but because they wanted it to be true. Fortunately for the cause of truth, one person, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, stood up and declared it was a hoax. Superintendent Johnson publicly chastised the politicians, media and celebrities that rushed to accept the hoax.
Local economic development officials are being careful not to jinx anything, but they say the unemployment rate is creeping uncomfortably low.

Its a nationwide trend that seemed hard to imagine during the recession, when factories were closing and the jobless rate for both the New River and Roanoke valleys rose up toward 8 percent.

Skilled workers were easy to come by then, and Charlie Jewell, executive director of the regional economic development organization Onward NRV, focused almost all of his attention on attracting new jobs for unemployed people.

But now, as the unemployment rate falls to its lowest point in two decades, he says hes increasingly spending his time searching for people for all the unfilled jobs.

Not that thats a bad thing.

Its one of those challenging things to talk about. Of course its good that the unemployment rate is low and people are employed, Jewell said. But in terms of the business climate, it can make it challenging for companies that are located here to be able to compete and grow. It also undermines our ability as a region to be able to absorb new companies moving into the area.
Churches in Danville could see increases in electricity charges paired with a lower overall consumption rate, but those changes would not take effect for another 18 months if they are approved.

The Danville Utility Commission unanimously voted to recommend the adjustments during its meeting Monday afternoon. But the decision also included delaying the changes for a year so utilities staff could reach out to churches and give those organizations time to reduce usage and take advantage of energy efficiency incentives offered by the city.

This is not an easy issue, Utility Commission Chairman William Donohue Jr. said during the meeting, adding that everyone needed to be spurred toward energy efficiency.

Recommendation for the delay came after Fred Shanks, a city councilman serving as a non-voting commission member, asked that the changes be delayed until the next biennial rate study in two years. As a compromise, the commission voted for a delay of one year.

If approved by Danville City Council, the changes would take effect on July 1, 2020, instead of this coming July.
DIF Vallarta Commemorates Day of the Mother Tongue

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Faced with the need to retain the rich culture of the various indigenous groups that live in and around Puerto Vallarta, DIF President Candelaria Tovar de Davalos presided over a traditional rituals and narratives encounter on February 21, the International Day of the Mother Tongue.





The meeting was held at the Puerto Vallarta Institute of Culture on the Rio Cuale, where attendees learned more about the Tzotzil, Triqui and Nahuatl ethnic groups' language, values, traditions and knowledge.

During the formal ceremony, the first lady stressed that the DIF family works to continue fostering the importance of preserving the indigenous culture, opening spaces where they can express themselves and share their culture and traditions with others.

"In our country at least 68 indigenous languages are spoken and there is a growing risk of their disappearance. Therefore, as a society we must not only recognize and appreciate the cultural and linguistic diversity that we have, but also, as indigenous people, must share and instill in the new generations a love for their roots, the roots of all of us," Candelaria Tovar de Davalos said.

Those attending the meeting were able to enjoy the traditional dance of the Tlalocan group and the stories narrated by Yasmin Diaz Lopez, from the Tzoltzil community; Yolanda Cruz Bautista, of the Triqui; and Agustina Lazaro Ignacio, of the Nahuatl, in their respective ethnic languages, which were then translated into Spanish.

Accompanying the president of the DIF System on this festive occassion were city councilor Norma Joya Carrillo; the head of the Vallarta Institute of Culture, Marina de los Santos; the director of the DIF System, Brenda Gonzalez Cardenas; the coordinator of Indigenous Groups, Aurora de la Riva, as well as representatives of the different ethnic groups and the general public.
Defence Secretary Announces 235 Million Submarine Nuclear Propulsion Deal

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has awarded a 235m contract to support nuclear propulsion systems and revealed the name of the third Dreadnought submarine.

25 February 2019

The multi-million-pound deal with Rolls-Royce Submarines Limited will provide the support, advice and material required to ensure the continued safety and availability of the systems on board the current fleet of Trafalgar, Vanguard and Astute class submarines until 2022. The contract will sustain around 500 UK jobs.

During the visit to Rolls-Royce's site in Raynesway, Derbyshire, the Defence Secretary also announced that HMS Warspite will be the name of third Dreadnought submarine.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said:

"This year we mark half-a-century since British nuclear-armed submarines began their continuous patrol of waters around the world. This significant milestone for the Royal Navy would not be possible without the skills and ingenuity of our industry partners who supply and maintain equipment."

"Rolls-Royce plays a critical role in supporting our submarines and I'm pleased this contract will sustain 500 highly-skilled jobs that help protect our country."

The name Warspite goes back to 1595 and was the last 'great ship' to be built during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Warspite has been carried by eight Royal Navy vessels. The last being the UK's third nuclear submarine, which operated for over 20 years at the height of the Cold War.

In December 2018, the Defence Secretary announced a 400m funding boost for the Dreadnought programme alongside a 25m BAE Systems academy that will upskill employees working on Royal Navy submarines. The continued progress of the 31bn Dreadnought programme ensures the protection and defence provided by the UK's nuclear deterrent for decades to come. The Dreadnought Class submarines will enter service in the 2030s.

Submarine Delivery Agency CEO, Ian Booth said:

"This contract is vital to enable the continued safety and readiness of the Royal Navy's nuclear submarines, and its signing demonstrates the ongoing successful partnership between the Submarine Delivery Agency and industry."

"2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Continuous at Sea Deterrent and we look forward to continuing to work with our suppliers to support this national endeavour."

The new Nuclear Propulsion Lifetime Management contract will provide vital support to the delivery of the Continuous at Sea Deterrent, which reaches the 50th anniversary milestone this year. The jobs sustained by this contract will be predominantly at Rolls-Royce in Derby and satellite offices at HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport.

The contract forms part of a wider suite of contracts with Rolls-Royce to provide naval reactor plant design, support, advice and components to the submarine build programme and provide enabling services such as infrastructure and IT.

Rolls-Royce Submarines President, Steve Dearden said:

"This year marks the 50th anniversary of Continuous At Sea Deterrence and the 60th year of Rolls-Royce involvement in the naval nuclear propulsion programme. The NPLM contract will enable the continuation of our close work with the SDA to deliver Submarine operations for the Royal Navy."

"This new contract includes exciting innovative technology employing Rolls-Royce's digital capability which will enhance the service we provide and we look forward to continuing our support for the next 50 years."
Official: China Will Step Up Military, Diplomatic Pressure Against Taiwan

By Ralph Jennings February 25, 2019

China will increase military, diplomatic and other kinds of pressure against proudly self-ruled Taiwan to deliver on President Xi Jinping's demand in January that the two sides unify, a China policy maker in Taipei told VOA Monday.

"We believe it will step up measures to contact and merge with Taiwan," said Chiu Chui-cheng, deputy minister with Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council. "So, I think that perhaps military threats, diplomatic pressure and economic absorption, as well as the pressure to penetrate into and divide all of Taiwanese society, will get stronger bit by bit."

China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, but the island is self-ruled, and 83 percent of Taiwanese like it that way, according to Mainland Affairs Council figures.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, elected in 2016, rejects Beijing's dialogue condition that both sides see themselves as part of a single China. Beijing has responded by cutting off dialogue, buzzing Taiwan's airspace with military planes and passing an aircraft carrier fleet through the Taiwan Strait. A year ago, Beijing rolled out 31 incentives to lure Taiwanese people over for work, study and investment.

Xi told a live internet broadcast Jan. 2 that the two sides should pursue a "one country, two systems" model of unification that his government applied to Hong Kong in 1997. China said that year it had given the former British colony local autonomy. Xi also said China had not ruled out the use of force, if needed, to make Taiwan unify.

"In addition to hard power like diplomacy, military and economics, it will do more penetration and cause more division by organize agents," Chiu said in an exclusive interview. "The agents will be included in the media, political parties, universities and civic groups to find people who support them and then plot to split Taiwanese unity."

The main opposition Nationalist Party said in a statement Monday it had opened a "cross-Strait cities dialogue service center" for mayors and county magistrates that want relations with China because the "dialogue between government and mainland China is in a state of stagnation."

Deepening divide

China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s, when the losing Nationalists fled to Taiwan and rebased their government. Communist China has always insisted the two sides eventually unite politically.

Relations warmed from 2008 to 2016 under ex-President Ma Ying-jeou, but Ma eventually met protests from Taiwanese who felt his government had grown too close with Beijing.

At least 10 military flybys had been logged between 2015 and the end of 2017. China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, has passed through the Taiwan Strait at least four times during Tsai's term to date in office. Since 2016, China has persuaded five countries to switch diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing, the Taiwan foreign ministry said.

Tsai is eligible for reelection in 2020, likely against an opposition candidate who backs stronger China-Taiwan ties.

Help from Washington

Taiwan will look to the United States, for help in standing up against China, Chiu said. The United States has announced two arms sales to Taiwan under U.S. President Donald Trump, and it regularly passes its naval ships in waters claimed by China. The White House last year condemned other countries for switching diplomatic allegiance from Taipei to Beijing.

Washington sees democratic Taiwan as part of a chain of allies in East Asia that form a checkpoint against the maritime expansion of China, a former Cold War foe.

"The resolute support of the U.S. government is a trusted source for us in facing these challenges," Chiu said. "U.S. support for Taiwan is support for democracy and support for our universal values. So, this is also extremely important for people in positions of leadership in the United States."

Public opinion

Many people in Taiwan hope it leans more on Washington, though they're also torn by China's offer of easy access to its giant market for work and investment, scholars say.

"Taiwan's society might have two paths," said Andy Chang, China studies professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan. "One is a path favoring China, and the other favoring the United States. (The government) definitely hopes Taiwan society will pick the U.S. path, toward the international community, and not the China path, the market path."

Taiwanese voters said before local elections in November they hoped their officials would find a way to talk with China - while maintaining the island's self-rule.

"A lot of people know that mainland China is of course a threat to Taiwan, but you have to coexist with mainland China, and the best is in a peaceful way," said Huang Kwei-bo, vice dean of the international affairs college at National Chengchi University in Taipei.

Dialogue is hard as long as China demands unification and keeps weapons pointed at the island, Chiu said.
Taiwan's national defense industry to create 8,000 jobs: president

ROC Central News Agency

2019/02/25 21:51:51

Taipei, Feb. 25 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen () estimated Monday that Taiwan's national defense industry, boosted by the government's program to build naval ships at home, could create at least 8,000 "high-quality" jobs.

Addressing a convention of local suppliers supporting Taiwan's home-grown naval vessel program, Tsai said the shipbuilding deals crafted recently under the program are expected to result in an output value of as much as NT$40.5 billion (US$1.32 billion).

The president did not provide details of the "deals" in the speech, but lauded the program as saving Taiwan's shipbuilding industry from collapse amid a global recession in that sector.

"The global shipbuilding sector hit a low in recent years that led to two-thirds of shipbuilders around the world to shut down," Tsai said, noting that what the industry needs the most right now is "orders."

Tsai said Taiwan's shipbuilding industry has outstanding technical capabilities, but the only way to develop it further is to "build naval ships on our own."

Through this self-reliance, the Navy and Coast Guard Administration (CGA) have introduced many opportunities for domestic companies, she said.

Calling national defense an "important strategic industry" of the 5+2 Major Innovative Industries Plan, Tsai said Taiwan spends a lot to meet it security needs, and that spending should be used for more than just military procurements.

They should also serve, she said, as a force to boost the country's economic growth and fuel the innovation of industrial technologies.

It should be the engine that "leads businesses in the shipbuilding and peripheral machinery, materials and electrical machinery sectors to research and develop high-end technologies," she said.

The suppliers convention was held by CSBC Corp. Taiwan, the country's largest shipbuilder, to promote the "localization" of the construction of naval ships and integrate the abilities of other related sectors, according to the company.

The one-day event gathered nearly 200 representatives of 70 businesses, the Taiwan Shipbuilding Industry Association, the Taiwan Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, and related government institutions and departments.

Local news reports said CSBC has secured nearly NT$20 billion worth of contracts under the government's homegrown naval ships program, including a 4,000-ton frigate purchased by the CGA.

At the convention, CSBC Chairman Cheng Wen-lon () said the government program is entering its prime this year and will last until 2025.

During the period, the program will generate annual output of between NT$18 billion to NT$34 billion each year, with the number of people employed in the businesses serving the program to reach 5,100 to 9,400 a year, Cheng estimated.

The shipbuilder cautioned, however, that more needs to be done on standards verification for the parts and components of the planned naval ships, as Taiwan currently lacks a verification system.

Standards verification affects product quality, supplier reputations, and potential exports, Cheng said, and he urged the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Ministry of National Defense to set up a verification system to help the local shipbuilding program expand its influence.

Asked about a plan for CSBC to build submarines, Cheng said the company will deliver its design report on March 21 as required.

He said a prototype of the indigenous sub Taiwan is developing is scheduled to be tested in January 2024 and commissioned in 2025.

(By Liao Yu-yang, Wei Shu and Elizabeth Hsu)

Enditem/ls
Cavusoglu: Turkey Coordinates With Russia, US Details of Future Syrian Safe Zone

Sputnik News

15:54 25.02.2019(updated 16:03 25.02.2019)

GENEVA (Sputnik) - Turkey continues to coordinate with Russia, the United States and Iran the details of the prospective safe zone on the border with Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Sputnik.

"We're working on it. We haven't decided yet on its size. We're working with Russia, with the US, and with Astana partners. Our technical teams met several times. We appreciate that Russia understands Turkey's security concerns, as partner and ally. So we are working on it", the minister said.

According to him, Turkey will control the future safe zone, but Ankara will continue to work with the Russian military on the issue.

"It is just outside our border, so it should be led by Turkey. But we have been always working with Russia, and we will continue, including Russian security and military people," Cavusoglu added.

The statement comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on January 15, following a phone conversation with Trump, that the latter had proposed creating a 30-kilometre buffer zone in Syria.

In December, Erdogan announced that Ankara was ready to launch a military operation against Kurdish fighters on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River as well as in Syria's Manbij, if the United States did not remove the Kurdish militia from there. He later said that he had decided to postpone the start of the military operation in Syria after a phone conversation with US President Donald Trump on 14 December, during which the US president also revealed his plans to withdraw troops from Syria.

 Sputnik
Syria's Assad Visits Iran, Meets Khamenei

February 25, 2019

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited Iran for talks with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rohani -- the first time the Syrian leader has traveled anywhere other than Russia since the civil war erupted in his country nearly eight years ago.

Assad voiced his gratitude to Iran for its support throughout the war, official Syrian and Iranian news agencies said on February 25.

Several rounds of UN-sponsored negotiations in recent years have failed to end the conflict, which began in March 2011 with protests against the Assad family's decades-long rule and has killed more than 400,000 people, displaced millions, and devastated historic sites across the country.

Russia, Turkey, and Iran are all deeply involved in the seven-year Syrian conflict and sponsor separate peace talks in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana.

Tehran has given the Syrian government billions of dollars in aid since the conflict began and sent Iran-backed fighters to battle alongside his forces.

Syrian state TV says Assad "thanked the Islamic Republic's leadership and people for what they have given to Syria during the war." Assad's office said "both sides expressed their satisfaction with the strategic levels reached between the two countries in all fields."

Syrian and Iranian media released photos showing Assad, in a dark suit, in an embrace with Khamenei and shaking hands with Rohani, both of them smiling.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/syria-s-assad-visits- iran-meets-khamenei/29790299.html

Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
U.S.-Backed Syrian Defense Force Hands Over 280 IS Fighters To Iraq

February 25, 2019

The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have so far handed over 280 captured Islamic State (IS) insurgents to the government of Iraq, officials in Baghdad said on February 24.

The number handed over until now represents just a portion of the "large number" of IS fighters in the custody of the SDF, said officials, who added that the captives include more than 500 Iraqis.

The first batch of about 130 Iraqi IS members were turned over on February 21, Iraqi security forces said.

A statement by the military said the transfers were set to "continue until they are completed."

IS fighters captured large portions of Iraqi and Syrian territory from government forces in 2014, establishing what they called an "Islamic caliphate."

However, U.S.-backed forces have driven the militants from most of their territory in both countries, with the remnants holding out in increasingly shrinking enclaves.

The SDF, an alliance of Syrian Arab and Kurdish fighters, trapped the militants in less than half a square kilometer in a hamlet in the Syrian desert.

U.S. President Donald Trump has signaled he will soon declare the end of the "caliphate" and has said he will pull all 2,000 U.S. troops out of Syria, where they have been supporting the SDF.

The White House later said that some 400 U.S. "peacekeepers" would remain in the country for "some time."

Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/u-s--backed- syrian-defense-force-hands-over-280-is- fighters-to-iraq/29789065.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.
Then Cardinal Gomez warned his brother bishops that they could face not only canonical sanctions (which do not appear to have accomplished anything in the past), but also imprisonment for a cover up if they failed to properly deal with allegations. Sounds good, but no real way for the church to enforce. Who will imprison them and under what legal system? As always talk with no substance, something the Catholic Church has carried out for years in the sex abuse scandal. I will pray for the church
Chief Engineer of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Zhang Feng, on Tuesday called on countries worldwide to work together to maintain a fair, impartial and transparent environment for the development of the information and communications technology (ICT) industry.

A banner of the 5G network is displayed during the Mobile World Congress wireless show, in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, Feb. 25, 2019. [Photo: AP]

"With sound industrial competition based on market principles and international rules, we can jointly create an enabling environment for global mobile communication industry," Zhang said.

Speaking at the 2019 Mobile World Congress (MWC19) held in Barcelona, Zhang said that in the era of economic globalization, the 5G industry has become a closely interlinked industrial ecosystem.

A diversified 5G industrial chain, Zhang said, could facilitate adequate competition, providing operators with more market options and users with better services.

"Network security and user privacy protection constitute the basis for industrial development, and it is our common goal to build a globally trusted 5G security system. We should give play to our complementary advantages for mutual benefits and win-win outcomes," he said.

By establishing a globalized 5G industrial chain, countries could secure network infrastructure and promote the integrated development and application of ICT, so as to continuously boost world's economic growth, the engineer argued.

Zhang emphasized that governments and the industry worldwide should deepen international consensus and advance multi-level international cooperation in terms of technology, standard, frequency, industry and application in the spirit of equality, cooperation and sharing.

"In this process, we should jointly strive to maintain a fair and transparent environment for development," he said.

Zhang also said that the Chinese government has attached great importance to promoting the development and application of ICT.

Following a path of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development, China has actively abided by its WTO commitments by pushing forward the opening up and international cooperation of the telecom industry, which in turn contributes to the industry's sound and lasting development, he said.

The Chinese government will continue opening up and cooperation, and strive to foster a favorable environment for the industrial development.

Along with global mobile operators, industrial partners, and international organizations, China is committed to jointly promoting the innovative development of 5G for a better future of the global mobile communication industry, Zhang added.

MWC is the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry. For this exhibition more than 2400 companies and 100,000 industrial representatives from more than 200 countries and regions attended the event.

In recent years, the number of Chinese companies participating in the event has been increasing -- over 360 companies this year, accounting for 15 percent of the total. Chinese companies such as Huawei, ZTE, Xiaomi and OPPO have all released their 5G-related new products during MWC19.
Iran to help rebuild Syria, restore stability to country: Rouhani

Iran Press TV

Mon Feb 25, 2019 06:55PM

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the Islamic Republic is ready to help Syria with its reconstruction plans and restore stability to the war-ravaged country.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran, just like in the past, will stand by the Syrian nation and government," Rouhani said in a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Tehran on Monday.

He added that Tehran will also help Damascus with the repatriation of Syrian refugees to their homeland.

Pointing to "highly valuable and important" achievements gained by the Syrian government and army in their battle against terrorists, Rouhani said, "The Islamic Republic of Iran has always stood by the Syrian nation and government in the fight against terrorism in Syria and has spared no efforts in this regard."

He emphasized that multilateral cooperation among regional countries has led to the promotion of security across the region.

The Iranian president also noted that during a recent meeting in Russia's resort city of Sochi, Iran, Russia and Turkey stressed the importance of protecting Syria's territorial integrity and condemned the continued presence of US and foreign forces in the Arab country without Damascus' permission.

Speaking at a tripartite meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi on February 14, Rouhani said terrorists must not feel safe in Syria or any other part of the world.

"Terrorists must not feel safe in this country or any other part of the world and their supporters should not assume that they can play the terrorism card to their benefit in domestic, regional, or international equations," the Iranian president said.

The Sochi summit, hosted by Putin, was aimed at solidifying the three countries' cooperation towards returning peace and stability to Syria.

Over the past years, Iran and Russia have been respectively lending military advisory support and aerial backup to the Syrian military in its battle against militants and Takfiri terrorists. The foreign-backed groups started a campaign of bloodshed and destruction against the Arab country in 2011.

Iran, Russia and Turkey, known as the guarantor states of a ceasefire regime in Syria, have been mediating peace negotiations between representatives from the Damascus government and opposition groups in a series of talks held in the Kazakh capital of Astana and other places since January 2017.

Iran, Syria enjoy close cooperation: Assad

Assad, for his part, said the Syrian government and nation are always thankful for Iran's support for Damascus in the campaign against terrorists while lauding Tehran's efforts to restore security to Syria and the entire Middle East region.

The Syrian president added that Iran and Syria enjoy close cooperation at regional and international levels, particularly at the United Nations.

He emphasized that the political process in Syria should safeguard the Arab country's territorial integrity and independence and respect the demands of the nation.

Also on Monday, the Syrian president met with Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

The Leader said the Islamic Republic is honored to support Syria and considers it as equal to supporting the entire resistance front.

The Leader mentioned resistance of Syrian president and people as the main reason behind the defeat of the United States and its regional mercenaries, noting, "The Islamic Republic of Iran considers supporting the Syrian government and people as helping the resistance movement and current, and takes pride in it from the bottom of its heart."
Germany's SPD to extend freeze on arms sales to Riyadh

Iran Press TV

Mon Feb 25, 2019 07:30PM

The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), which is part of the ruling coalition, says it has plans to extend an embargo on arms supplies to Saudi Arabia despite pressure from major European countries not to do so.

Rolf Muetzenich, the deputy leader of SPD in Germany's parliament, said the party would fight to maintain the halt in shipments of already approved weapons deals with the regime in Riyadh that Berlin had imposed in November over the killing of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

"We will push to continue the halt in arms exports to Saudi Arabia beyond the March 9 deadline, since the reasons for the imposition of the moratorium have not changed," Muetzenich wrote in an essay published in the SPD newspaper Vorwaerts on Monday.

Muetzenich also stressed the need for a joint European policy in the field of arms exports to Saudi Arabia that would fall within the framework of a common European foreign policy.

"However, this cannot be a copy of the lax export practice of the French, British or even Italians," he said.

The SPD believes that it is necessary in the future to introduce European regulation of arms exports and to create a parliamentary body that will monitor its observance, according to the lawmaker.

The embargo on the arms sale to Saudi Arabia, which expires on March 9, was announced by Berlin following the gruesome murder of Khashoggi in a Saudi consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul in October last year. The SPD and Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives agreed in November to reject licenses for future arms exports to Riyadh and set a temporary moratorium on deliveries of previously approved deals.

Merkel also called Khashoggi's murder an "atrocity" that "had to be clarified," calling on fellow European governments to follow suit and suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

German news magazine Der Spiegel said in a recent report that UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt had sent a letter to his German counterpart Heiko Maas and called for lifting the ban on the export of weapons to Saudi Arabia.

The German foreign minister said last week that the resumption of arms supplies to the kingdom by Germany was tied to the resolution of the conflict in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia has been mired in the war on Yemen since 2015. The deadly campaign has put 14 million Yemenis on the brink of imminent famine.

Saudi Arabia also maintains a crippling blockade which has left all cities in Yemen unable to find food and clean water.

According to a new report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, the Saudi war has claimed the lives of about 56,000 Yemenis so far.
Exclusive: Daughter Of Putin's Spokesman Working In European Parliament

By Rikard Jozwiak, Gjeraqina Tuhina, Gregory Zhygalov February 25, 2019

BRUSSELS -- The daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman works as an intern in the European Parliament in Brussels, and has unhindered access to various EU documents, RFE/RL has learned.

Yelizaveta Peskova, the 21-year-old daughter of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, serves as a trainee with Aymeric Chauprade, a French member of the European Parliament (MEP) who has publicly supported Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.

Peskova's name appears on Chauprade's official European Parliament (EP) webpage and Chauprade confirmed to RFE/RL that she is part of his team.

"Ms. Peskova is certainly the daughter of an important personality in the Russian Federation, but as a student, she does not have fewer rights than other young people to do an internship as part of her studies," Chauprade said in an e-mailed comment.

He added that Peskova is not currently working in Russia, either for a state or private entity.

"Accordingly, there can be no conflict of interest in the exercise of my mandate as a Member of Parliament," Chauprade wrote.

Chauprade is a member of both the EP's foreign-affairs committee and the subcommittee on security and defense, and he is part of the delegation of the EU-Russia parliamentary committee.

He was one of the international observers to the Moscow-staged referendum in Crimea following the Russian military takeover of the Ukrainian peninsula in March 2014.

At the time, Chauprade called the referendum "justified," a position at odds with the European Union's. A UN General Assembly resolution supported by 100 countries pronounced the referendum invalid and confirmed the assembly's commitment to the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Several MEPs contacted by RFE/RL said they were unaware that a relative of a high-level Russian official was working among them in the EP.

Sandra Kalniete, a Latvian MEP from the largest Parliamentary Group, the center-right European People's Party, considers her work there "negligence."

"This is breach of general security rules of the European Parliament," Kalniete said.

Petras Austrevicius, a Lithuanian MEP from the Liberal Group in the EP, called Peskova's position there a "very big shame on the face of the European Parliament."

"I couldn't believe that Kremlin keeps its hand in the pockets and heart of the EU institutions," Austrevicius told RFE/RL.

Reached by RFE/RL, a spokeswoman for Peskova said she could not confirm her employment at the EP.

As a trainee, Peskova has unhindered access to the European Parliament buildings in both Brussels and Strasbourg and can attend all committees and other meetings in the chamber.

Chauprade told French news agency AFP that Peskova cannot attend closed-door debates nor participate in the work of the EU-Russia parliamentary committee.

Since controls sometimes are very relaxed with few real checks, there is also the possibility to be present at gatherings of other political groups. She also has access to both the European Parliament intranet and the intranet of her MEP's party.

But Chauprade emphasised that Peskova had no access to confidential documents.

EP interns are paid by the budget of the MEP, which is funded by European taxpayers. It is unclear how much money Peskova is getting, if any.

The MEP determines how much a trainee is paid, since the sum comes from the politician's monthly allocation for staff -- around 25,000 euros ($28,389) per month. The maximum payment for a trainee is around 1,600 euros, though it is also possible for MEPs to employ unpaid trainees.

Peskova is one of numerous children of Russia's political elite who reside or study in Western Europe and draw accusations of hypocrisy from Kremlin critics.

Her father, who has served as Putin's spokesman for nearly two decades, has been the subject of several exposes by Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny highlighting his wealth and expensive taste.

Peskova is a frequent user of social media with nearly 80,000 followers on Instagram, where she typically flaunts her glamorous lifestyle and claims to be based in Moscow, Paris, and Brussels.

While her social-media footprint does not appear to feature any photographs from the European Parliament, there are several photos of her visiting different Brussels landmarks.

An MEP is responsible for registering his or her trainee. To get a temporary accreditation pass, a one-page form must be submitted to the parliament's accreditation office. The form contains basic information -- such as name, date of birth, and identification number -- and is typically approved within hours, people familiar with the system told RFE/RL.

The procedure requires an MEP and the trainee to sign a contract, as well as an application for the defrayal of expenses, a declaration stating that the trainee has health and accident insurance, and a declaration of honor in which the lawmaker states that the trainee has a valid permit to enter and stay in the EU for the duration of the traineeship.

It typically takes three weeks for those documents to be processed, after which the trainee gets a permanent accreditation.

Chauprade told RFE/RL that all necessary procedures were respected in Peskova's traineeship.

"I repeat, this contract is validated by the Parliament and complies in all respects with the obligations in the matter," he wrote.

Up until late 2015, Chauprade was a member of right-wing French politician Marine Le Pen's National Front and was the party's top candidate in the Paris region for the 2014 European elections.

Accusing the people around Le Pen of antisemitism, he quit the party to become an independent MEP before joining and subsequently becoming the vice-chair of the other right-wing populist group in the chamber, the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD).

That group also includes Italy's Five Star Movement and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP).

Knut Fleckenstein, a German MEP from the the center-left Socialist and Democrats group, said there should have at least been a public announcement that a person with political connections like Peskova's had secured a position at the European Parliament.

"I would maybe think twice [about] what I would tell her," Fleckenstein said.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/daughter-of-putin-s-spokesman- working-in-european-parliament/29789851.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.
Pakistan to fence border after terrorist attack in Iran: Army

Iran Press TV

Mon Feb 25, 2019 10:30AM

Pakistan has promised to boost security cooperation with Iran, saying that the two neighboring countries are considering fencing the common border to keep terrorists in check.

"We both are considering fencing the border so that no third party could sabotage the brotherly and friendly relations through any nefarious act," Army spokesperson and director-general of Inter-Services Public Relation (ISPR) Major General Asif Gafoor said.

Islamabad plans to fence 950 kilometers of the border linking Pakistan's Balochistan Province with Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Pakistani media quoted him as saying.

Gafoor's comments came days after a terrorist attack originating from inside the borders of Pakistan killed 27 members of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in Iran.

On February 13, a bomber identified by the IRGC as Pakistani national Hafiz Mohammad Ali slammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a bus carrying off-duty IRGC members in Sistan and Baluchestan.

The Pakistan-based Jaish ul-Adl Takfiri terrorist group, which has ties to al-Qaeda and the Al Saud regime, claimed responsibility.

Several attacks by Pakistan-based terrorist groups have in the past targeted Iranian security forces. Iran has always complained that Pakistan is not serious in confronting the terrorists.

But the latest attack appeared to be the final straw, with several Iranian officials warning that their patience with Islamabad was wearing thin.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani has said Pakistan should be held accountable for the attack. IRGC chief Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari doubled down on that, urging Islamabad to change its policy toward Jaish ul-Adl instead of sheltering the terrorists.

Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Baqeri has said a "fiery revenge" awaits Jaish ul-Adl and other terrorist groups funded by regional Arab regimes such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In order to allay Iran's concerns, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmoud Quraishi immediately sent a high-level delegation to Tehran to provide assurance of a thorough investigation and all-out cooperation in hunting down the culprits.

Pakistani media also said the country is keen to address the issue, particularly at a time when India and Afghanistan are blaming it for orchestrating attacks against them.

The attack in Iran coincided with a terrorist bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir which left more than 40 troops dead, plunging rocky relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors to a new low.
Kazah President Appoints New Prime Minister

By RFE/RL February 25, 2019

Kazakhstan's president has appointed Asqar Mamin as Central Asian nation's new prime minister, days after the government was abruptly sacked.

"The head of state has signed an order to appoint Mamin as the Kazakh prime minister," Nursultan Nazarbaev's press service said in post to Twitter on February 25.

The announcement came four days after Nazarbaev sacked the previous government for what he described as its failure to raise living standards and diversify the economy away from the energy sector.

The 53-year-old Mamin, who had served as deputy prime minister since 2016, was then appointed as acting prime minister.

The move comes amid growing protests across the country about living conditions for Kazakhs that were sparked by the deaths of five children from one family when their home in Astana burned down.

The tragedy occurred while both parents were working overnight shifts to make ends meet.

The previous government was led by Bakytzhan Sagintaev, whose premiership started in 2016.

Nazarbaev has been in power in energy-rich Kazakhstan since before the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Rights activists and critics say the 78-year-old leader has suppressed dissent, prolonged his time in office through undemocratic votes, and used the levers of power to neutralize potential political opponents.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/nazarbaev- appoints-mamin-kazakhstan-prime- minister/29789292.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.
PM Abe: Japan to proceed with US base relocation despite Okinawa vote outcome

Iran Press TV

Mon Feb 25, 2019 08:11AM

Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe says Tokyo will proceed with a controversial plan to relocate a US air base in Okinawa, turning a deaf ear to the outcome of a referendum on the island, in which locals resoundingly voiced their opposition to the construction of a new American base there.

In the non-binding local referendum, which was held on Sunday, over 70 percent of voters in Okinawa said 'No' to the central government's plan to relocate the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station  currently located in the densely-populated part of the island  to the remote coastal region of Henoko.

An air base was being built on a landfill in coastal Henoko. Support for the plan totaled only 19 percent.

The prime minister said on Monday that he was taking the results seriously and would work to obtain the understanding of Okinawa's residents, but that the plans to move the base could not be deferred.

"We cannot avoid the necessity of moving Futenma, said to be the most dangerous base in the world," he said.

Abe said that two decades had passed since Tokyo made an agreement with Washington to relocate the airbase -- which is surrounded by schools, hospitals and shops -- to a less populated area on the northern part of the island.

The plan has so far been stalled by local politicians, who argue that moving the base to another part of Japan is not a solution, since it would still pose an environmental threat.

The island hosts more than half of the nearly 47,000 American military service members stationed in Japan.

Okinawa governor, Denny Tamaki, who strongly opposes the central government's plan, said after the tally came out, "This holds extremely important meaning."

He also called on the central government to engage in "conversation with Okinawa in order to resolve the fundamental issue, which is to close and return the land of Futenma US base as soon as possible."

An ordinance requires the governor to respect the outcome and notify the premier and the US president if the top response was backed by more than 25 percent of eligible voters.

Okinawa residents have long demanded that the US base be totally removed from the island citing allegations of sexual abuse by the American soldiers.

Residents have also expressed disgruntlement following unending noise pollution and military accidents involving US military bases in the Japanese prefecture.

Anti-US sentiments have been on the rise after a US serviceman was found guilty in December 2017 of rape and murder of a 20-year-old Okinawa woman.
Afghanistan Begins Exports to India Through Iranian Port

By Ayaz Gul February 25, 2019

Afghanistan has started shipping goods to India for the first time through a newly developed Iranian seaport in a bid to improve exports and reduce reliance on routes through its uneasy neighbor, Pakistan.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani traveled Sunday to the western border city of Zaranj to see off the inaugural convoy of 23 trucks loaded with 570 tons of cargo to the Chabahar port in neighboring Iran. The consignment is destined for the Indian port city of Mumbai.

For decades, landlocked Afghanistan has mostly relied on Pakistani land and seaports for international trade. But mutual tensions have in recent years significantly reduced Afghan trade and transit activities through Pakistan.

Addressing the nationally televised ceremony, Ghani credited a "healthy cooperation between India, Iran and Afghanistan" for achieving the milestone. He said the new export route will help improve economic growth in his war-shattered country, saying "Afghanistan is not landlocked anymore."

New Delhi has financed and developed Iran's Chabahar Port to enable Kabul get direct and easy sea trade access.

India took operational control of a portion of the Iranian port late last year for 18 months and plans to send cargo ships from its ports of Mumbai, Kandla and Mundra every two weeks, according Indian media reports.

The United States last year waived certain anti-Iran sanctions to allow development of Chabahar to support efforts aimed at stabilizing Afghanistan. The waiver has enable India, Iran and Afghanistan to continue their work to establish a new transit and transport corridor linking the three countries to help improve Afghan economy and allow the war-ravaged country to import food and medicines.

India successfully shipped 1.1 million tons of wheat to Afghanistan through Chabahar Port in 2017. That year, New Delhi also launched an air corridor with Kabul for bilateral trade.

Indian ambassador to Afghanistan, Vinay Kumar, while addressing Sunday's ceremony in Zaranj said the air corridor has since helped increased Afghan exports to his country by 40 percent.

China also opened an air corridor with Afghanistan in November and has since imported thousands of tons of Afghan pine nuts, bringing much-need foreign exchange to Kabul. Afghanistan is the largest producer of pine nuts in the world, with an annual output of about 23,000 tons. The increase in exports to China has led to an unusual rise in in prices of pine nuts in Afghanistan, say local traders and consumers.

Pakistan allows Afghanistan to use its seaports for international trade under a bilateral trade and transit agreement. It also allows use of overland routes for Afghan exports to India. However, Islamabad wants improvement in ties with New Delhi before it will allow Indian exports via the same routes back to Afghanistan.
IRGC Commander Says Iran Foiled US Attempts to Sabotage Weapons

Sputnik News

03:48 25.02.2019(updated 04:30 25.02.2019)

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said the US failed to sabotage Iran's missile program as Tehran was prepared to prevent such actions.

The Iranian general dismissed US claims of sabotaging Iran's missile program while addressing a festival in Tehran on Sunday, according to Fars News Agency. Hajizadeh said that Tehran "has understood this since several years ago but kept silent about it" and adopted special measures to confront it.

According to the IRGC commander, the US and its allies first tried to prevent the manufacturing of missiles, then blocked imports of large parts and machines, prevented the imports of boards and little parts and then withheld exports of little electronic parts to the country. However, he said, as they could not interrupt the manufacturing process, they tried to sabotage it, but "they have failed to do a damn thing so far because we have taken their animosity seriously."

Hajizadeh said that "keeping ammunitions in underground tunnels was implemented for the first time in 1984 and we have used this method until today to build and keep different types of missiles" to protect the IRGC' achievements in production.

Later on Sunday, the general said the US claim of sabotaging the Iranian missile program was foiled right from the start. He noted that the IRGC Aerospace Force decided to disclose its successful hacking of several US drones in Iraq and Syria in response to such baseless claims.

"We stated this issue (penetration into the US command centre) today because the Americans showed an impertinent behaviour and said that they had sent damaged parts to our missile industries," he told reporters in Tehran on Sunday, adding: "We did this to tell them that you were not able to attain your goals and instead, we penetrated into your systems and it was a response to the Americans' impudence."

Hajizadeh referred to the reports that Iran managed to obtain control over "seven to eight drones" flying over Syria and Iraq, as well as access to their "first-hand intel", published by Fars News Agency earlier this week. The agency released video footage claiming that it had been filmed by the US drones that were allegedly hacked by Iran. The video was possibly shot in 2016 in Syria, where an MQ-9 Reaper Drone crashed in July 2016, with the US Air Force reporting that the crash was due to an operator losing control of the UAV and not due to "enemy fire."

 Sputnik
Iranian FM Zarif Announces His Resignation

Sputnik News

23:15 25.02.2019(updated 00:49 26.02.2019)

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced his resignation Monday, Reuters reported, citing Zarif's Instagram.

"I am apologizing you for all the shortcomings [] in the past years during my time as foreign minister [] I thank the Iranian nation and officials", Zarif said as quoted by Reuters.

"Many thanks for the generosity of the dear and brave people of Iran and its authorities over the past 67 months. I sincerely apologize for the inability to continue the service and for all the shortcomings during the service. Be happy and worthy", Zarif wrote in his Instagram blog.

In 2015, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif submitted the text of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal. Tehran and the P5+1 group of international negotiators comprising Russia, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany agreed on the JCPOA in Vienna on 14 July 2015.

However, the US-Iranian relations deteriorated in May 2018 when US President Donald Trump announced his country's decision to withdraw from the JCPOA and reimpose its sanctions on Tehran that had been lifted under the agreement. The first package of restrictions came into force in August, while the second one followed in November.

In the wake of this decision, the other parties to the JCPOA  China, France, Germany, Iran, Russia, the United Kingdom and the European Union  expressed their commitment to the accord and began working to create tools to bypass the sanctions.

Zarif has repeatedly criticized the US foreing policy in the Middle East, stressing that the re-imposed sanctions would not have a dramatic impact on Iranian economy and country's energy sector.

According to Reuters, citing Tasnim news agency, some local sources familiar with the matter have confirmed Zarif's resignation, however, it was not immediately clear whether Iranian President Hassan Rouhani would accept it.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Seyed Abbas Moussavi also confirmed Zarif's resignaiton, according to the Fars news agency.

According to a source, the Iranian parliament debate on the resignation of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at Tuesday's session. "The Iranian parliament will discuss the issue of Zarif's resignation during Tuesday's session", the source said.

 Sputnik
Iran's Foreign Minister Zarif Resigns

By RFE/RL February 25, 2019

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has announced his resignation on his Instagram page.

"Thank you very much to the dear and honorable people of Iran over the past 67 months. I sincerely apologize for the incapacity to continue serving and all the shortcomings during the service. I thank the Iranian nation and officials," he wrote on his Instagram page.

A deputy Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed the authenticity of Zarif's Instagram announcement, state-run IRNA news agency reported.

There was no immediate reason offered for Zarif's move.

Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency also said "some sources have confirmed Zarif's resignation," but it was not clear whether President Hassan Rohani would accept it.

As foreign minister, Zarif led the Iranian team during negotiations with P5+1 countries -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany -- which resulted in the 2015 landmark nuclear agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Under the deal, Iran pledged to curb its nuclear activities in return for the lifting of international economic sanctions.

But Zarif came under attack by hardliners in Iran after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement in May and reimposed sanctions.

Trump called Iran "the world's leading state sponsor of terror" and said his administration had acted decisively to confront it.

The other signatories to the nuclear deal have been working to keep it alive and have resisted U.S. pressure to abandon the accord.

Top Iranian officials, including Rohani, have said that the Islamic Republic is facing its toughest economic situation in 40 years, at least partially due to the resumption of U.S. sanctions.

Zarif has served as Iran's top diplomat since August 2013, when he replaced Ali Akbar Salehi, the current head of Atomic Organization of Iran.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa, and irna.ir

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-s-foreign- minister-resigns/29790291.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.
In 2018, the General Assembly enacted House Bill 1400 which would encourage coordinated government purchasing for this. An analysis done by the Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health showed that savings could be up to $2,000 per employee per year while providing better coverage for all. Some jurisdictions are beginning to investigate this, and Gov. Larry Hogan needs to appoint and empower the task force created by the legislation to accelerate the process.
Iran's Foreign Minister Zarif announces resignationin in Instagram post

Iran Press TV

Mon Feb 25, 2019 08:41PM

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has unexpectedly announced his resignation in an Instagram post.

"I am grateful for magnanimity of the dear and courageous people of Iran and the respectable authorities' over the past 67 months," read the post published on late Monday local time.

"I sincerely apologize for inability to continue [my] service and all the shortcomings and flaws during [my] tenure," it added. "May you be happy and proud."

Seyyed Abbas Mousavi, spokesman at Foreign Ministry, confirmed to IRNA that Zarif has resigned.

President Hassan Rouhani is yet to confirm Zarif's resignation.

Chief of Staff of the Iranian president, Mahmoud Vaezi, "vehemently" denied reports that Rouhani has accepted the resignation.

The 59-year-old diplomat started serving as the Islamic Republic's top foreign minister after Rouhani took office in 2013.

He was reinstated in the post when the chief executive won a second term.

The foreign minister's discourse has notably featured rejection of Iranophobia and strong promotion of international interaction.

Zarif played an instrumental role in the negotiations leading to the conclusion of a nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic and world powers in 2015.

He famously took the stage alongside the European Union's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini to announce the agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in Brussels in February that year.
Trump 'happy' as long as N Korea does not test weapons

Iran Press TV

Mon Feb 25, 2019 07:25AM

US President Donald Trump has said he would be happy as long as North Korea does not test weapons.

Trump made the remarks on Sunday two days before his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un kicks off in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Speaking in Washington on the eve of his departure for the Asian country, the president also said he was in no rush to strike a nuclear agreement with Kim.

"I'm not in a rush. I don't want to rush anybody," Trump said. "I just don't want testing. As long as there's no testing, we're happy."

Trump, however, said on Twitter that he and Kim could come to an agreement on denuclearization.

He added they "both expect a continuation of the progress made at first Summit in Singapore" last year.

Trump also said Kim "realizes" that without any nuclear weapons, his country will quickly become "one of the great economic powers anywhere in the World."

Trump's aides, however, worry that he may get outfoxed in the summit. That is why figures such as national security adviser John Bolton, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Defense Secretary James Mattis have distanced themselves from the talks, Politico reported.

"There is not optimism in the administration," said Ian Bremmer, founder and president of the Eurasia Group. "Pompeo is deeply skeptical that we are going to get anything of substance on denuclearization from Kim Jong-un, and Pompeo believes the North Koreans are just playing for time."

In their first summit, the two leaders reached a vague denuclearization agreement. The ensuing talks between the two sides have had little progress since then.

North Korea has complained that the US has done little to reciprocate its actions to dismantle some weapons facilities and freeze its weapons testing.
North Korea remains nuclear threat: Pompeo

Iran Press TV

Mon Feb 25, 2019 01:38PM

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that North Korea remains a nuclear threat, contradicting President Donald Trump's past comments about Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

Trump has maintained that North Korea is on the path to get rid of its nuclear weapons and has also said there is no nuclear threat from the East Asian nation.

Pompeo was asked by a news anchor on CNN on Sunday whether he believes Pyongyang remains a nuclear threat. "Yes," Pompeo replied.

When asked about Trump's comments that he no longer considers North Korea a nuclear threat, Pompeo said that's not what the president said.

"What he said was the efforts that had been made in Singapore, this commitment that Chairman Kim made, have substantially taken down the risk to the American people," Pompeo said. "We're aiming to achieve that."

Pompeo said that he believes the two sides have made "a substantial step" toward denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

"We've been criticized for taking that path where we work and negotiate and the two who can effectuate the denuclearization and a brighter future for the North Korean people will gather for a second time," he said.

"I am very hopeful that we'll make a substantial step toward achieving the full denuclearization in a verifiable way in North Korea."

Trump says he and Kim see 'eye to eye'

On Sunday night, Trump said he would be happy as long as North Korea does not test weapons, ahead of his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam.

"And we see eye to eye, I believe, but you'll be seeing it more and more over the next couple of days, one way or the other," Trump said.

Trump on Monday will depart for Hanoi, Vietnam, where he will meet with Kim on Wednesday and Thursday.

The president also said he was in no rush to strike a nuclear agreement with Kim.

"What's going to happen, I can't tell you. I don't want to rush anybody, I just don't want testing," Trump added. "As long as there's no testing, we're happy."

Trump, however, said on Twitter that he and Kim could come to an agreement on denuclearization.

He added they "both expect a continuation of the progress made at first Summit in Singapore" last year.

Trump also said Kim "realizes" that without any nuclear weapons, his country will quickly become "one of the great economic powers anywhere in the World."
Backgrounder: Major interactions between U.S., DPRK in past two years

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 15:14, February 25, 2019

HANOI, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- After their historic first meeting in Singapore in June last year, U.S. President Donald Trump and top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un are scheduled to meet in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam on Feb. 27-28.

The following is a list of major interaction events that happened in the past two years between the United States and the DPRK:

On Feb. 8, 2019, U.S. State Department said U.S. special representative for the DPRK Stephen Biegun concluded his three-day visit to Pyongyang. Biegun and his DPRK counterpart Kim Hyok Chol discussed advancing the commitments that the two leaders made at their Singapore summit.

On Feb. 8, 2019, Trump said that he will meet for the second time with Kim on Feb. 27-28 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

On Jan. 18, 2019, senior representatives from Pyongyang and Washington met in Stockholm, Sweden to prepare for a second summit meeting between leaders of the two countries.

On Jan. 18, 2019, the White House said the second summit between U.S. and DPRK leaders "will take place near the end of February." The announcement was made after Trump wrapped up a meeting with Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the DPRK's ruling Korean Workers' Party Central Committee.

On Dec. 10, 2018, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against three senior officials of the DPRK.

On Aug. 3, 2018, the U.S. Department of the Treasure announced sanctions on an individual and three entities for alleged links with the nuclear program of the DPRK.

On July 26, 2018, the White House said a U.S. military aircraft carrying the remains of U.S. soldiers who died in the Korean War had left the DPRK earlier on the same day.

On July 7, 2018, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Pyongyang for high-level talks with officials of the DPRK.

On July 2, 2018, the DPRK and the United States held working-level talks at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom.

On June 18, 2018, the U.S. Defense Department said that it has suspended all plans for the joint military drills with South Korea in August.

On June 12, 2018, Kim and Trump met for their historic summit in Singapore and signed a "comprehensive" agreement which said the United States would be committed to providing security guarantees to the DPRK in exchange for Pyongyang's commitment to a complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The two leaders also agreed to establish new bilateral relations.

On June 1, 2018, senior DPRK official Kim Yong Chol traveled to Washington. Trump announced that the Singapore summit on June 12 would be held as originally scheduled after an almost two-hour meeting in the White House with the envoy.

On May 27, 2018, U.S. diplomat Sung Kim went to the DPRK side of the Panmunjom truce village for pre-summit negotiations with DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui to prepare for Trump-Kim meeting.

On May 24, 2018, the DPRK dismantled the Punggye-ri nuclear test ground in front of foreign journalists, but Trump announced hours later that he's pulling out of the summit, citing some DPRK official's "tremendous anger and open hostility" remarks towards the United States.

On May 10, 2018, Trump tweeted that his meeting with Kim will be in Singapore on June 12.

On May 9, 2018, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made another visit to Pyongyang to prepare for the Trump-Kim summit. The DPRK released three Americans who had been imprisoned after Pompeo's visit.

On April 9, 2018, Trump said that he expected to meet the DPRK leader in May or early June. On April 18, Trump confirmed that then CIA chief Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in a secret visit to Pyongyang in the previous week.

On Sept. 3, 2017, the DPRK conducted its sixth nuclear test. One day after the test, the United States distributed a draft resolution on DPRK sanctions to UN Security Council members for discussions. On Sept. 11, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution to impose fresh sanctions on the DPRK, targeting the country's oil imports and textile exports.

On July 6, 2016, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Kim Jong Un and other senior DPRK officials over alleged human rights abuses. In response, the DPRK urged the United States to immediately and unconditionally withdraw the sanctions, and if not, the DPRK will cut off all channels of diplomatic contact with the United States.
DPRK leader leaves Pyongyang for Hanoi for second DPRK-U.S. summit

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 08:58, February 25, 2019

PYONGYANG, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), left here Saturday afternoon by train for Vietnamese capital Hanoi for the second DPRK-U.S. summit, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Sunday.

Kim will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump there on Feb. 27-28. Their first meeting was held in June 2018 in Singapore, which resulted in improved bilateral relations.

Kim will pay an official visit to Vietnam at the invitation of Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong before his meeting with Trump.

Kim was accompanied by Kim Yong Chol, Ri Su Yong, Kim Phyong Hae and O Su Yong, members of the Political Bureau and vice-chairmen of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), Ri Yong Ho, member of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee and foreign minister, No Kwang Chol, alternate member of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee and minister of the People's Armed Forces, among others, said the KCNA.

Kim was seen off at Pyongyang Railway Station by Kim Yong Nam, Choe Ryong Hae and Pak Pong Ju, members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the WPK, and other senior officials of the party, government and armed forces, said the KCNA.
Council of EU Prolongs Arms Embargo on Belarus Until End of February 2020

Sputnik News

17:07 25.02.2019

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) - The Council of the European Union has decided to prolong arms embargo on Belarus, as well as sanctions introduced against four Belarusian nationals, until the end of next February, the council said in a statement.

"Today the Council decided to prolong the restrictive measures against Belarus for one year, until 28 February 2020. These measures include an embargo on arms and on equipment that could be used for internal repression as well as an asset freeze and travel ban against four people designated in connection with the unresolved disappearances of two opposition politicians, one businessman and one journalist in 1999 and in 2000", the statement read.

Meanwhile, the council has prolonged the derogation of the restrictive measures in order to allow the export of certain sporting equipment from Belarus, stressing that it would remain "subject to prior authorisation by national competent authorities on a case by case basis".

The European Union initially introduced Belarus sanctions in 2004 over the yet unresolved dissidents' disappearance.

The institution later adopted additional restrictions targeting Belarusian nationals engaged in human rights violations, crackdown on opposition and electoral standards violation. Sanctions against 170 individuals and four companies were lifted in 2016, while restrictions against four people remained in place, along with the arms embargo, introduced in 2011.

 Sputnik
Lima Group Asks Intl Criminal Court to Provide Assessment of Venezuela Situation

Sputnik News

00:43 26.02.2019(updated 01:40 26.02.2019)

The Lima Group on Monday asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to make an assessment of the situation in crisis-torn Venezuela, proposing that Venezuela's partners help organize "free elections" in the country.

"We have decided to turn to the International Criminal Court with a request to take into account the grave humanitarian situation in Venezuela, the criminal violence of [Venezuelan President] Nicolas Maduro's regime against civilians and the denial of access to international aid, which is a crime against humanity", the statement said.

Participants at the Lima Group meeting also stressed that the transition to "democracy" must be performed by Venezuelans themselves without the use of force and in line with the country's constitution.

"We call on the countries that continue to maintain partnership relations with Nicolas Maduro's illegitimate regime, to help find solutions that would open the way to a democratic transition and the holding of free, fair, transparent and credible elections", the statement added.

Colombian Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo called on the international community to join the Lima Group on the situation in Venezuela.

"It is important to invite more and more members of the international community, those who will participate with us in the expanded dialogue, so that they will join the actions that are made by us as the Lima Group and will support Venezuelans' efforts aimed at restoring democracy and hope", the foreign minister said Monday.

On 5 January, lawmaker Juan Guaido was elected as the president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, which all other Venezuelan government branches have refused to recognize. On 23 January, two days after the Venezuelan Supreme Court annulled his election, Guaido declared himself the country's "interim president". Incumbent President Nicolas Maduro, who was sworn in for his second presidential term on 10 January after winning reelection in a contest partially boycotted by the opposition in May, qualified Guaido's move as an attempt to stage a coup orchestrated by Washington.

The United States immediately recognized Guaido, after which some 50 other countries followed suit. Russia, China, Cuba, Bolivia and a number of other states have, in the meantime, voiced their support for the legitimate government of constitutionally elected Maduro. Mexico and Uruguay have refused to recognize Guaido, declaring themselves neutral and promoting crisis settlement via dialogue.

US Vice President Mike Pence said in Colombia on Monday that the Trump administration was mulling new sanctions against Venezuela's government. Pence also urged Monday all Lima Group members to freeze the assets of Venezuela's oil giant PDVSA and restrict visas for Venezuelan officials. The US vice president also called on these countries to immediately transfer the ownership of Venezuelan assets from the government of incumbent President Nicolas Maduro to self-proclaimed Interim President Juan Guaido.

Earlier on Monday, the US Treasury Department sanctioned four Venezuelan governors.

The United States has imposed numerous rounds of sanctions on Venezuela. In January, Washington blocked around $7 billion in assets belonging to Venezuela's state oil firm PDVSA. Maduro said that the restrictions were tantamount to illegal seizing.

The Lima Group of 14 countries was created in 2017 and currently seeks to end the political crisis in Venezuela. The group includes Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Guyana, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Saint Lucia. The majority of the organization's member states are backing Guaido.

 Sputnik
Brazilian Vice President Says External Force Needed to End Maduro's Presidency

Sputnik News

01:29 26.02.2019

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) - Brazil's Vice President Antonio Hamilton Mourao suggested Monday that the Venezuelan government could only be toppled through external interference.

"Venezuela will not be able to free itself from the Chavista regime on its own", he said at the Lima Group meeting in Bogota, Colombia.

The retired army general claimed Venezuela threatened the entire region, and its neighbors should deal with this threat. He added outside players could capitalize on the conflict. However, Mourao also said Monday in an interview with the Globo News broadcaster, cited by Reuters, that Brazil would not allow the US to use its territory for military invasion in Venezuela.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, whose leadership was challenged by lawmaker Juan Guaido last month after the latter proclaimed himself interim president, has condemned interference in the domestic standoff by neighboring states and the United States and has repeatedly expressed readiness for dialogue.

Brazil, Colombia and the United States, among others, have sided with Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido.

Russia, China, Cuba, Mexico and other countries continue to back constitutionally elected President Nicolas Maduro, who has dubbed Guaido a US puppet. Maduro has slammed US attempts to bring aid to the country as a prelude for invasion.

On Saturday, attempts to force unauthorized aid into Venezuela led to clashes at the border which prompted Caracas to cut off diplomatic ties with neighboring Colombia. Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez dismissed allegations that there is a humanitarian crisis and noted that, according to international law, foreign aid should only be delivered in cases of natural disasters and armed conflicts, unless the government requests it.

Meanwhile, the US Vice President Mike Pence has announced that Washington is providing an additional $56 million in funding for US allies in the region to help Venezuelan refugees.

However, the United Nations and the Red Cross have urged Washington not to politicize humanitarian assistance and not to deliver aid without the consent of the Venezuelan government.

 Sputnik
Remarks by Vice President Pence to the Lima Group | Bogota, Colombia

February 25, 2019

Palacio de San Carlos

Bogota, Colombia

11:45 A.M. COT

THE VICE PRESIDENT: President Duque; President Varela; President Morales; and especially the Interim President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, President Juan Guaido; Vice President Mourao; Your Excellencies: It's an honor to address this gathering today at a momentous hour for the people of Venezuela and for the progress of freedom in this hemisphere.

And before I begin, allow me to bring greetings from a great champion of freedom, of liberty, in Venezuela and across this hemisphere. I bring greetings from the 45th President of the United States of America, President Donald Trump. (Applause.)

Just days ago, as the world watched, the tyrant in Caracas danced as his henchmen burned truckloads of food and medicine, and murdered civilians. Saturday was a tragic day for the families of those who lost their lives. And we mourn with those who mourn. It was also a tragic day for the suffering people of Venezuela. But it was also just one more day in Venezuela's long and inevitable journey from tyranny to freedom.

As President Trump said one week ago today, so I say to all of you: Despite the brutality that the world witnessed this weekend, "a new day is coming in Latin AmericaIn Venezuela and across the Western Hemisphere, socialism is dying, and liberty, prosperity, and democracy are being reborn" before our eyes.

And, President Guaido, President Donald Trump asked me to be here today to deliver a simple message to you and to the people of Venezuela: Estamos con ustedes. We are with you 100 percent. We stand with you in America, along with all the nations gathered here today, and we will keep standing with you until democracy and your libertad are restored.

As President Trump said, in his words, "There will be no [turning] back." And the events of the last two days have only steeled our resolve.

Two years ago, leaders from 12 nations across the Western Hemisphere gathered in Peru and took a bold stand for freedom when they signed the Lima Declaration and created this group that now bears its name.

The Lima Group has proudly led hemispheric efforts to call out the Maduro regime for its slide into dictatorship. And today, thanks in large part to the leadership represented here today, more than 50 nations have joined us in recognizing Interim President Juan Guaido as the only legitimate President of Venezuela.

You've heard the voices of Venezuelan patriots crying out for freedom. You've supported their courageous effort to face down the brutal dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro. And for that, to all those gathered here, I say you have the thanks and the greatest respect of the United States of America, and I know you have the gratitude of the Venezuelan people.

To the countries represented here today, and especially to our friends, Colombia and Brazil, the United States is grateful for the way you've stepped forward to help the Venezuelan people in their hour of need.

President Duque, your country has accepted more than a million Venezuelans with open arms and fought the drug smugglers, gangs, and human traffickers that have overrun your sister republic. And for your country's leadership, you have the deepest gratitude of the United States.

And let me take this opportunity to say to all those who would threaten our friend for taking a bold stand in defense of democracy in Venezuela, know this: Colombia is our strongest partner in the region, and any who would threaten her sovereignty or security would do well not to test the commitment to our ally or the resolve of the United States of America.

Vice President Mourao, as I saw firsthand in Manaus, the Brazilian people as well, have shown great compassion in providing aid to the Venezuelan people. And that compassion was, again, on display this weekend in the midst of the tragic events that unfolded before the eyes of world. And you have our thanks.

What brings us together today is the recognition, by all the nations gathered here, that Nicolas Maduro is a usurper with no legitimate claim to power, and Nicolas Maduro must go.

The struggle in Venezuela is between dictatorship and democracy, between oppression and freedom, between the suffering of millions of Venezuelans and the opportunity for a "new future" of freedom and prosperity.

It was utterly unconscionable that Maduro blocked hundreds of tons of aid from reaching impoverished people across Venezuela. But he literally danced while truckloads of aid with food and medicine burned.

The reality is that, today, more than 9 out of 10 people in Venezuela live in poverty. The average Venezuelan has lost 20 pounds through deprivation and malnutrition, and the economy has shrunk by half. Thousands of children are starving this very hour. And, for months, food, medicine, and other supplies provided by the United States and our allies across this hemisphere have piled up along the border, even as Maduro sent aid to his puppet masters in Cuba. The Venezuelan people continue to suffer deprivation.

By contrast, the Venezuelan people's true leader took decisive action to put an end to their suffering. Interim President Juan Guaido issued a direct order to the armed forces of Venezuela to allow all humanitarian aid to enter the country on Saturday, February 23rd. And he called on the Venezuelan people to show their resolve by holding peaceful protests outside military bases across the country.

In response, thousands of Venezuelans gathered outside La Carlota Air Base in Caracas to raise their voices in support of liberty. And many of the military's rank-and-file showed their loyalty when they refused to fire on their fellow countrymen. So far, nearly 200 members of the armed forces of Venezuela have chosen to stand with the citizens of Venezuela, and defected from the Maduro regime. And even in the midst of the tragic events of this last Saturday, some aid was able to cross the border into Venezuela from Brazil.

As one of the servicemen who defected to President Guaido's government said this weekend, and I quote, "It's millions versus 30 or so of them." Thirty usurpers must not be allowed to deny liberty to 30 million people. As President Trump has said, "The fight for freedom has begun."

But Maduro's loyalists turned on their own people. As the world watched, they set fire to trucks loaded with food and medicine desperately needed by the Venezuelan people. Cuban-trained thugs in ski masks, known as "colectivos," went roaming about border towns, shooting randomly at innocent civilians. More than 300 people were injured, and at least five Venezuelans lost their lives, including members of the Pemon indigenous tribe.

What we've seen in the last two days wasn't a bold stroke by a triumphant leader; it was the desperate act of a tyrant clinging to power with violence and intimidation.

Since day one of this administration, I'm pleased to report that the United States has recognized the threat that Nicolas Maduro posed to the Venezuelan people and to nations across the region, including ours. And our administration has taken decisive action to stand with the people of Venezuela as they seek to reclaim their freedom.

The United States has imposed sanctions on more than 50 top officials, as well as on Venezuela's state-owned oil company, PDVSA, to stop Maduro's cronies from enrichening themselves at the expense of the Venezuelan people.

Speaking before the United Nations General Assembly in 2017 and in 2018, President Trump called on all nations to stand with us in condemning and isolating Maduro's dictatorship.

And on January 23rd, when the Venezuelan people took to the streets to march for freedom and democracy, the United States was proud to be the first nation on Earth to recognize Juan Guaido as the rightful President of Venezuela.

It's been my honor to travel to Latin America five times, on the President's behalf, to strengthen the coalition of support for a free Venezuela, to strengthen the ties that bind freedom-loving people all across this hemisphere. And I'm proud to report that America has kept our promise to stand with the suffering people of Venezuela. We've stood with resolve and generosity, and so we will continue to stand.

Under President Trump's leadership, the United States has provided more than $139 million in aid to the people of Venezuela already  the most of any nation on Earth. Just in the last two weeks, we've sent five military transport aircraft with 400 tons of food and medicine to Colombia and Brazil.

And as President Duque and I discussed today, our efforts to date will not only continue, they will be increased. Despite Maduro's brutality, we will press on. As we speak, we are identifying new areas along the border where we can pre-position additional aid for the struggling people of Venezuela.

Today, also, it's my privilege to announce that the United States will provide an additional $56 million to support our partners in the region as you come to the aid of the Venezuelan people fleeing from the deprivation and oppression of the Maduro regime.

In the days and weeks ahead, the United States will continue to deliver life-saving food for the hungry, medicine for the desperately ill, and shelter for those displaced by the brutality and deprivation of the regime.

And while we stand with the Venezuelan people, we will also continue to stand up to all of those who would oppress them. Many of your countries  such as Panama, Canada, and Colombia  have frozen the assets of military officials still loyal to Maduro, and we commend their action. These are important steps  cutting off the regime from the millions that they've stolen from the Venezuelan people  and we urge other freedom-loving countries to do the same.

But as we stand here today, for all that we have done before, it's time to do more. Many of your countries have pledged to crack down on the regime's money-laundering and other corrupt activities, and to cut off the worst offenders from the financial system completely. As the people of Venezuela take to the streets to reclaim their liberty, it's time to make good on those promises.

And so, today, with great respect, the United States calls on all the nations gathered here to intensify efforts to deny the Maduro regime access to financing and take the following actions to isolate the Maduro dictatorship.

First, we call on all Lima Group nations to immediately freeze the assets of PDVSA.

Second, we urge you to transfer ownership of Venezuelan assets in your country from the Maduro's henchmen to President Guaido's government, and to do so immediately.

We also urge all nations present to restrict visas for Maduro's inner circle, and vote to recognize President Guaido's representative at the Inter-American Development Bank.

These are important steps that the members of the Lima Group should endorse today and your nation should implement tomorrow. It's time.

And to support you in these efforts, at President Trump's direction, effective today, the United States will impose additional sanctions on regime officials, including three border-state governors implicated in last weekend's violence and a member of Maduro's inner circle. These men worked to block aid for people in need and suppress peaceful protests while their tyrant danced in Caracas. Their actions will not go unpunished.

In the days ahead as well, the United States will announce even stronger sanctions on the regime's corrupt financial networks. We will work with all of you to find every last dollar that they've stolen and work to return it to the Venezuelan people.

As we continue to bring economic and diplomatic pressure to bear on the Maduro regime, we hope for a peaceful transition to democracy. But as President Trump has made clear, all options are on the table.

And to those members of Venezuela's armed forces who continue to back Maduro, I have a message from the President of the United States. In words he first spoke one week ago, I say to the members of Venezuela's armed forces: "You can choose to accept President Guaido's generous offer of amnesty, to live your life in peace with your families and your countrymen." But if you "choose the other path: continuing to support Maduro," you ultimately will be held accountable. And as the President said one week ago to those same military, "You will find no safe harbor, no easy exit, and no way out. You will lose everything."

President Guaido does not seek retribution against you, but to be clear, neither does the United States of America. To all of those in the armed forces of Venezuela today, we say: If you take up the banner of democracy, President Guaido's government and the United States government will welcome your support and grant relief from the sanctions that have been placed.

Now, we know that what's holding many of you back is not loyalty to Maduro, but fear  fear for your families whom Cuban-trained secret police have kept under constant surveillance.

But the truth is, after years of oppression and poverty, after this weekend's unspeakable brutality, Maduro's regime grows weaker by the day.

So again, to those members of the Venezuelan armed forces, for yourselves, for your families, for your country, we say: Make the right choice. Accept President Guaido's sincere offer of amnesty and an inclusive transition to democracy. As President Trump said last week, "Now is the time for all Venezuelan patriots to act together as one united people." And so it is.

And to the leaders around the world, we also say, "It's time." There can be no bystanders in Venezuela's struggle for freedom. The United States calls on every freedom-loving nation in this hemisphere  including Mexico, Uruguay, and the nations of the eastern Caribbean  to join with us in recognizing Interim President Juan Guaido and his government, and join us by stepping forward to support the Venezuelan people's struggle to reclaim their libertad.

And to those nations that have been supporting the Maduro regime, in the wake of the brutality that the world witnessed this weekend, we urge you to reconsider. Reconsider your support for the tyrant. Join nations around the world to stand with the Venezuelan people. Withdraw your support for the Maduro regime. Those who continue to endorse this regime will only isolate themselves further on the world stage.

We gather here to reaffirm our commitment to freedom in this hemisphere. And as President Trump said, "The people of Venezuela are standing up for freedom and democracy, and the United States of America is standing right by their side."

As the people of Venezuela prepare to take to the streets again, we say, from our hearts, to the freedom-loving people of Venezuela: Know that you do not go alone. You go with the support and the prayers of the American people, the people of the nations gathered here, and with freedom-loving people all across the world.

And I also believe that, as you stand for freedom, you go with the grace of the author of freedom who said, in those ancient words, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you todayfor where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

Freedom springs from the hearts of all the people across this new world. And as Simon Bolivar said, "A people that loves freedom will in the end be free."

And with faith in that great promise and in all who have joined us in the cause of freedom in Venezuela, faith in the resolve of our President and the American people, and faith in the courage and strength of the Venezuelan people and those who have stepped forward for her freedom, I believe with all my heart the day is coming soon when Venezuela's long nightmare will end, when Venezuela will once more be free, when her people will see a "new birth of freedom" in a nation reborn to libertad.

To the good people of Venezuela: Seek your freedom. We will go with you. You go with God. Vayan con Dios. (Applause.)

END

12:09 P.M. COT
Pence: US With Guiado '100 Percent'

By Patsy Widakuswara February 25, 2019

The Trump administration stands with the U.S.-recognized interim president of Venezuela, Juan Guaido, "100 percent," Vice President Mike Pence said Monday as he announced new financial assistance for the Venezuelan people.

"We stand with you, and along with all the nations gathered here today, we will keep standing with you until democracy and liberty are restored," Pence said in a speech delivered to the Lima Group, following a trilateral meeting in Bogota, Colombia, with Guaido and Colombian President Ivan Duque. Pence said disputed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro "must go."

While in Bogota, Pence and regional leaders discussed strategy to hasten the departure of Maduro and how to get humanitarian aid currently piling up on the border in Brazil and Colombia into Venezuela, where supplies of food and medicine have run low.

Pence also announced additional sanctions on Maduro regime officials Monday, including three border state governors implicated in violence over the weekend and a member of Maduro's "inner circle."

"These men worked to block aid for people in need and suppress peaceful protests while their tyrant danced in Caracas. Their actions will not go unpunished," he said.

"In the days ahead as well, the United States will announce even stronger sanctions on the regime's corrupt financial networks. We will work with all of you to find every last dollar that they've stolen and work to return it to the Venezuelan people," Pence added.

Pence also announced that "the United States will provide an additional $56 million to support our partners in the region as they come to the aid of the Venezuelan people."

The Lima Group meeting was held after a weekend of unrest and violence on the Venezuelan borders with Colombia and Brazil, where Maduro's troops and loyalists have blocked the delivery of food and medical supplies. Maduro insists the aid is a pretext for an armed U.S. invasion.

"Maduro's loyalists turned on their own people. As the world watched, they set fire to trucks loaded with food and medicine desperately needed by the Venezuelan people," Pence said in his speech.

Use of force

Guaido has called on the international community to consider "all options" to resolve Venezuela's crisis. His rhetoric is similar to President Donald Trump's, who has said "all options are always on the table."

"All political and diplomatic resources have been exhausted. Now, what can we do as a region in order to support Venezuela?" he said in remarks Monday.

"You can choose to accept President Guaido's generous offer of amnesty, to live your life in peace with your families and countrymen. But if you choose the other path: continuing to support Maduro, you will ultimately be held accountable," Pence said Monday.

Guaido declared himself interim president in late January and is recognized by the U.S. and dozens of other countries as Venezuela's legitimate head of state.

Aid not getting through

None of the aid that's currently piling up in Colombia and Brazil has been able to get through Maduro's forces. At one border point, aid trucks caught fire, leading the crowd to rush to save the boxes of food and medical supplies.

A U.S. State Department official traveling with the American and Brazilian aid convoy told VOA that two trucks crossed the border into Venezuela on Saturday but were not allowed through the military checkpoint there and turned back to the Brazilian side.

U.N. condemns violence

On Sunday, United Nations Secretary-GeneralAntonio Guterres, and the head of the U.N. human rights office, Michelle Bachelet, called for violence to be "avoided at any cost and for lethal force not to be used in any circumstances."

On Saturday, Maduro supporters fired bullets at those attempting to get aid trucks into Venezuela, while Venezuelan border troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets.

Pence on Monday, referring to Maduro as the "tyrant in Caracas," said the violence over the weekend has "only steeled our resolve" to support Guaido.

According to the U.N., "The excessive use of force used by the Venezuelan security forces, as well as the involvement of pro-government elements," have resulted in at least four confirmed deaths and more than 300 injuries on Friday and Saturday.

Dany Bahar, a Venezuela expert at the Brookings Institution, said the next steps for the international community will be to find ways to increase pressure diplomatically and financially on the Maduro regime and "to try to get the United Nations on board, which has not happened yet."

Critics of the U.S.'s confrontational polices are concerned they will only exacerbate tensions in the region and make it more difficult to reach a peaceful resolution to the political standoff in the country.

"If they didn't intervene in the way they're doing now, there would be some kind of compromise that would emerge through negotiation. And they don't want that," said Mark Weisbrot, a Latin America analyst and co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington.

However, Trump administration supporters point out that the government security forces in Venezuela are responsible for the violent repression in the country and the killing of innocent civilians.

"One side has all the guns, and that's the regime of Nicolas Maduro," said Roger Noriega, who was an assistant secretary of state for Latin America during the administration of President George W. Bush and is now a political analyst with the American Enterprise Institute.
While the race will still be run in Maryland, all the associated festivities will move from Baltimore to Washington, D.C. What better hosting venue can there be than the nations capital with its trove of politicians, lobbyists and very important people? And their incomes, too.
Al-Shabab Attack Claims 9 Lives in Somalia

By Harun Maruf February 25, 2019

Somali officials say al-Shabab militants shot dead nine civilians in a suburb of Mogadishu Monday.

Officials say the militants attacked 11 civilians who were cleaning the streets and started shooting them in Lafole suburb, Lower Shabelle region. Lafole is about 20km west of Mogadishu.

Regional governor Mohamed Ibrahim Barre told VOA Somali that six women and three men were killed by the militants; the other two workers were injured in the attack.

Barre said the militants do not want the people to clean the streets because they use the garbage, trees and undergrowth to disguise their improvised explosive devices.

Meanwhile, the United States military has reported carrying out four new strikes against al-Shabab in Lower Shabelle region. The U.S. Africa command said the strikes targeted al-Shabab facilities and checkpoints in Kunyo Barrow, Jannaale and Awdhegle, killing two militants.

The al-Shabab militant group claimed the two people killed were civilians including a child. The U.S. military said no civilians were killed or injured in the strikes.
Darfur peace process at a 'standstill' as demonstrations against Sudanese Government continue

25 February 2019 - Sudan's President Omar Bashir may have declared a country-wide "cessation of hostilities" but in the face of continuing nationwide protests against his rule, the peace process in Darfur has "once again" come to a standstill, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Monday.

Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Bintou Keita, was briefing members on the operation of the UN-African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), conceding that it has "yet to be assessed" how recent political developments in Khartoum will impact peace in the troubled Darfur region.

Against the backdrop of more than ten weeks of protests across Sudan against fuel and cash shortages, which threaten to bring an end to his 30-years in power, President Bashir declared a state of emergency on Friday.

The president reportedly sacked his vice-president after declaring the state of national emergency, adding those duties to the current defense minister's portfolio. He also dissolved elected regional governments, replacing them with "18 new governors from the military and security apparatus", Ms. Keita told the Council, adding that "the Sudan armed forces are tasked to deliver law and order, in addition to national defense".

"These developments have come at a time when the Darfur peace process had come to a standstill  once again  in the context of the ongoing demonstrations against the economic and political conditions in Sudan", she continued.

The Mission was established in 2007, following a brutal civil war that broke out in 2003 that led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Darfuris and the displacement of nearly two million civilians, amidst allegations of ethnic cleansing of non-Arabs. During the fighting between Sudanese Government troops, militias and other armed rebel groups, widespread atrocities, including murder and rape, were reported.

At the end of last month, President Bashir declared an open-ended cessation of hostilities and 12 days later, government opposition factions extended for three more months a unilateral cessation of hostility in Darfur, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile States.

"The impact of the recent developments in Khartoum on the dynamics related to the peace process in Darfur is yet to be assessed," she explained, but the replacement of all civilian governors "will have a bearing on the process and some rebel groups have demonstrated a stiffening of their position", she added.

On a recent fact-finding visit to Sudan, Ms. Keita met with internationally displaced persons (IDPs) who "all expressed their deep concern over the departure of UNAMID in the absence of trusted and professional law enforcement agencies."

"Conflict-related sexual violence remains a threat to the population in Darfur, especially displaced women and girls who face particular risk when they engage in livelihood activities outside IDP camps," stressed Ms. Keita. "The fear of sexual violence also hampers the return of civilians to their places of origin.

UNAMID and the UN Country Team (UNCT) are continuing to work together towards a smooth transition from peacekeeping in Darfur to sustainable peacebuilding, said Ms. Keita who added that new Mission Headquarters in Zalingei is now "fully operational" and the office of the Joint Special Representative has relocated to Khartoum.

Flagging the "considerable political, humanitarian, and peacekeeping investments" made by the UN, she spelled out that it was "our collective responsibility to ensure that the exit of UNAMID does not create a vacuum that leads to persistent local level tensions or new risk factors".

On drawing down the Mission in less than two months, she said that international efforts should be made "in earnest" to mobilize the needed resources to support UNAMID's exit "while focusing on a difficult economic and social and humanitarian context in the larger Sudan."

Noting that there are still close to two million IDPs in Darfur, she emphasized that "human rights, issues, including the protection of women, children, and vulnerable youth from violence, remain significant," and that the local capacity for rule of law needs strengthening.

Ms. Keita concluded by saying that "UNAMID will spare no efforts" in its focus on protecting civilians, human rights, rule of law, the humanitarian situation and disarmament.
Joint UN-Red Cross appeal to end rising sexual violence as a weapon of war

25 February 2019 - Sexual violence in conflict - and the stigma that survivors often face - must be addressed urgently, UN chief Antonio Guterres said on Monday, in a joint appeal for more funding and international action, together with the head of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer.

Describing how he was "frequently horrified" by the first-hand accounts of survivors in his previous role as head of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, Mr. Guterres said that only last year, Rohingya refugees who had fled into Bangladesh spoke of the mass gang-rape of women and girls in their homes, before they fled northern Myanamar.

"The world is growing ever more aware of the ubiquity of conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence," he said. "We must do everything in our power to end the horror and stigma that affects hundreds of thousands of women and girls, as well as men and boys, worldwide."

His comments were echoed by women's rights defender Julienne Lusenge, who heads a coalition of organizations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that help victims of sexual violence seek justice through the judicial system.

"During this month of February, our medical centre, Karibuni Wa Mama in Bunia, has received in a week 28 children, including a two year-old" who were all "victims of serious sexual violence," said Ms. Lusenge, who is the Director of the Fund for Congolese Women and President of Solidarite Feminine pour la Paix et le Developement Integral (SOFEPADI).

"We keep receiving womensexual slaves of various armed groups in our different offices. They are suffering from sexual slavery but also forced marriage, forced labour, mental, physical and economic violence as well as inhuman and degrading treatment."

Appeal for $27 million, and for countries to 're-state their commitment'

Peter Maurer, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), warned that the world was facing a grave protection failure amid rising sexual violence in conflict.

"We are asking States to re-state their commitment to international humanitarian law," he said. "The law is clear: rape and other forms of sexual violence are violations. The Geneva Conventions made this prohibition clear and universal and yet 70 years on, we continue to face failures of behaviour and accountability."

In an appeal for $27 million to fund a better response to the issue in 14 countries, Mr. Maurer described the lasting damage caused by sexual and gender-based violence, which is used as a tactic of war to dehumanize victims and destabilize communities.

"We work with the survivors of horrific acts, including with women and girls given as rewards in war, fathers whose sons have been abducted and raped, young women fleeing disaster and conflict only to be sexually enslaved, and with detainees when sexual atrocities are wielded as means of torture," he said.

Following the joint appeal in Geneva, the United Nations and Red Cross pledged to listen to survivors and victims of these crimes, to enable their voices to be heard and to support them through local organizations - particularly women's organizations - in conflict zones.

In addition, the UN will promote women's participation in conflict prevention and resolution and in all formal peace processes; instruct its peacekeeping operations to ensure they have systems in place to prevent conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence; and pursue justice for victims and survivors.

An additional way to tackle the prevalence of such violence against women, girls - and to a lesser extent, boys and men  is to promote gender equality, Mr. Guterres told journalists in Geneva.

"If we want to address the problems of violence, sexual violence against women and girls and also, indirectly, with a positive impact on sexual violence against men and boys," said the UN chief, "it's absolutely essential to look into the questions of power in our societies".

"And, maybe you call it feminism, I can tell that the most important reform I am making at the United Nations is to make sure we have gender parity at all levels of the organization."
Update: air strikes against Daesh

The RAF are continuing to take the fight to Daesh in Syria.

25 February 2019

Summary

- Monday 11 February  Typhoons supported the Syrian Democratic Forces east of Abu Kamal in Syria, striking two Daesh strong-points, including a heavy machine-gun position.

- Tuesday 19 February  Typhoons used a Brimstone 2 missile to destroy a boat used by Daesh on the Euphrates.

Detail

As the Syrian Democratic Forces have continued their operations to clear the last small remaining pocket of Daesh-held territory that has been identified in eastern Syria, Royal Air Force aircraft have maintained daily armed reconnaissance support, delivering air attacks if needed by the SDF on the ground. On Monday 11 February, the SDF encountered two Daesh strong-points on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, across the river from Abu Kamal. These strong-points were directing fire, including from a heavy machine-gun, at close range against the SDF, so assistance was requested from two RAF Typhoon FGR4s, supported by a Voyager air refuelling tanker. The Typhoons conducted an accurate simultaneous attack on both strong-points, hitting each with a Paveway IV guided bomb, and successfully eliminated the threat to the SDF.

A further pair of Typhoons patrolled the Euphrates valley on Tuesday 19 February; a boat had been identified as being used by Daesh, and was found by the Typhoons to be moored on the river bank due south of Baghuz Fawqani. A Brimstone 2 missile was employed to deny the terrorists use of the craft, whether to bring in supplies or allow them to set up operations elsewhere. This was the first operational firing of a Brimstone 2 from a Typhoon FGR4, following the aircraft's recent upgrade.

UK contribution to the fight against Daesh



Map of UK forces committed to Operation Shader

Campaign against Daesh



Map of Daesh losses and gains in Iraq and Syria since September 2014

Previous update

Coalition aircraft remain available to assist the Iraqi security forces in their operations to prevent Daesh re-establishing any foothold in the country. An important part of this work is the ability to destroy terrorist stockpiles of weapons and other equipment concealed in remote areas of the countryside. On Monday 7 January, two RAF Tornado GR4s delivered an attack with a pair of Paveway IV guided bombs which successfully collapsed the entrance to a cave, fifty-five miles south-east of Kirkuk, where one such stockpile was known to be stored.

In Syria, our aircraft have continued to provide close air support to the Syrian Democratic Forces as they clear the ever-diminishing pocket of Daesh territory south of Hajin and north of Abu Kamal. Typhoon FGR4s, armed with Paveway IVs, attacked three buildings six miles north-east of Abu Kamal on Wednesday 9 January; Daesh fighters in the buildings were engaged in a close-quarters firefight with the advancing SDF. A pair of Tornados meanwhile used two Paveway IVs to deal with a truck-bomb facility in the same area. The following day, Typhoons struck a further three buildings, again being used as strong-points by Daesh. A Reaper was also patrolling the area, and its crew conducted two successful engagements with Hellfire missiles on Daesh terrorists, including a pair spotted setting up a firing position on a rooftop.

Tornados gave further assistance to the Iraqi security forces on Saturday 12 January, when they were asked to demolish the entrances to a set of tunnels discovered in the countryside to the south-west of Mosul. Each of the three entrances was successfully struck with a Paveway IV. On Sunday 13 January, Tornados were tasked with the destruction of a building five miles north-east of Abu Kamal where Daesh were known to be storing truck-bombs. The building and its contents was destroyed with a single Paveway; the Tornados then bombed a chokepoint on the nearby main road to prevent Daesh from moving any more truck-bombs into the area.

Tornados delivered similar attacks on Wednesday 16 January, bombing a further truck-bomb facility to the north-east of Abu Kamal, then cratering in two places a road leading towards the SDF locations. One of the Paveways used to crater the road caused a secondary explosion, an indication that Daesh had probably planted a booby-trap at that location. Typhoons also flew support for the SDF, striking a Daesh-held building. On Thursday 17 January, Typhoons attacked through cloud two Daesh positions which the SDF had under close observation - they confirmed both targets had been hit accurately  whilst Tornados bombed six more terrorist strong-points and firing positions.

The SDF encountered a Daesh-held building as they continued their advance on Friday 18 January, and found themselves under heavy fire. Two Typhoons were tasked to assist them, and a single Paveway IV removed the threat with a direct hit on the target. The following day, both Typhoons and Tornados flew close air support for the SDF, and delivered two attacks, striking a terrorist strong-point and eliminating a sniper position.

Two Tornados and two Typhoons provided further assistance to the SDF on Thursday 24 January, as they attacked a Daesh-held area on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, a few miles to the north-east and east of Abu Kamal. The Typhoons hit a group of terrorists fighting in the open, as well as two strong-points from which fire was being directed at the SDF, whilst the Tornados hit four such positions. All of these successful attacks used Paveway IV guided bombs. On Friday 25 January, Typhoon and Tornado flights each accounted for a further Daesh-held building, and on Saturday 26 January, a pair of Tornados struck five positions, all of which had been used by terrorists engaged in firefights with the SDF.

Royal Air Force aircraft have since continued flying armed reconnaissance patrols, on hand to support the SDF if required. Thursday 31 January saw the last operational sorties by Tornado GR4s  a pair flew an uneventful patrol over Syria, recovering safely to RAF Akrotiri at 1400 GMT after a mission lasting 6 hours.
Treasury Sanctions Governors of Venezuelan States Aligned with Maduro

U.S. Department of the Treasury

February 25, 2019

Treasury targets government officials as humanitarian aid is prevented from entering Venezuela

Washington  Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated four officials aligned with the illegitimate regime of former President Nicolas Maduro. This action, taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13692, targets the Governors of four Venezuelan states involved in endemic corruption and in blocking the delivery of critical humanitarian aid, thereby exacerbating the ongoing humanitarian crisis caused by the illegitimate Maduro regime.

"The illegitimate Maduro regime's attempts to blockade international aid intended for the Venezuelan people are shameful. Treasury is targeting four state governors aligned with former President Maduro for standing in the way of severely needed humanitarian assistance and prolonging the suffering of the Venezuelan people," said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. "The United States fully supports the efforts of Interim President Juan Guaido to address the endemic corruption, human rights abuses, and violent repression that has become the hallmark of the illegitimate Maduro regime, and looks forward to the restoration of a democratically elected government for the people of Venezuela."

As a result of today's action, all property and interests in property of these individuals, and of any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by these individuals, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. OFAC's regulations generally prohibit all dealings by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of blocked or designated persons.

U.S. sanctions need not be permanent; sanctions are intended to bring about a positive change of behavior. The United States has made clear that the removal of sanctions is available for persons designated under E.O. 13692 or E.O. 13850 who take concrete and meaningful actions to restore democratic order, refuse to take part in human rights abuses, speak out against abuses committed by the former Maduro regime, and combat corruption in Venezuela.

The following four individuals designated today have been determined to be current or former officials of the Government of Venezuela:



 Omar Jose Prieto Fernandez (Prieto) is the Governor of Zulia State, Venezuela, a position he has held since December 2017. Zulia, located in northwestern Venezuela on the border with Colombia, is known as a hub for organized crime, where narcotics trafficking and murder-for-hire is commonplace. Sophisticated and prolific criminal structures exist throughout Zulia State, penetrating even the border police force under Prieto's governorship, as several border police officers and the local Zulia police unit have come under investigation for their roles in drug and illegal weapons trafficking. As the Venezuelan people suffer from a lack of access to daily essentials, on February 12, 2019, Prieto threatened to visit the homes of opposition leaders who permitted access to humanitarian aid in Venezuela. Additionally, in response to mass protests, Prieto recently threatened to declare Venezuela's "oil state" of Zulia independent should a new transition government take power in Venezuela. Known for its massive oil fields below Lake Maracaibo, Zulia is amongst the highest energy-consuming states in Venezuela, but has been experiencing severe electricity shortages, leading to electricity rationing in the midst of the ever-worsening humanitarian crisis.

 Ramon Alonso Carrizalez Rengifo (Carrizalez) is the Governor of Apure State, Venezuela, a state along Venezuela's border with Colombia. Carrizalez was the Vice President of Venezuela from 2008 to early January 2010, as well as the Minister of Defense from 2009 to early January 2010. As of January 2019, there have been growing, massive presences of military and police forces in the streets throughout Apure State, threatening violence and attacking protestors. Carrizalez is accused of endorsing this blatant repression of democratic actors. In 2014, Carrizalez said that Apure State is infested with drug gangs, and that he believed that ranches along the border of Apure were involved in money laundering.

 Jorge Luis Garcia Carneiro (Garcia) is the Governor of Vargas State, Venezuela, a position he has held since 2008. Garcia was previously the head of the Venezuelan Army from January 2003 to January 2004, then became the Minister of Defense and held that position until December 2006. Additionally, Garcia was a former Minister for Social Development and Popular Participation. As of January 2019, Garcia rejected Juan Guaido's position as the Interim President of Venezuela. Garcia said that the people of Vargas State will continue the fight and stay in the streets to show support for former-President Maduro.

 Rafael Alejandro Lacava Evangelista (Lacava) is the Governor of Carabobo State, Venezuela, a position he has held since October 2017. Lacava formerly served as Mayor of Puerto Cabello, the municipality that is home to Venezuela's largest port, and was previously the Venezuelan Ambassador to Italy, a position he was appointed to in February 2007. Lacava has long been a friend and significant intermediary of former-President Maduro, and continues to act on his behalf. In early 2018, Lacava was accused of hiding funds in Switzerland and Andorra.

For information about the methods that Venezuelan senior political figures, their associates, and front persons use to move and hide corrupt proceeds, including how they try to exploit the U.S. financial system and real estate market, please refer to FinCEN's advisories FIN-2017-A006, "Advisory on Widespread Public Corruption in Venezuela," and FIN-2017-A003, "Advisory to Financial Institutions and Real Estate Firms and Professionals."



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The United States Sanctions Governors of Venezuelan States Aligned With Maduro

Media Note

Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

February 25, 2019

Today, the United States took action against four governors aligned with the illegitimate Maduro regime who prevented desperately needed international humanitarian assistance from entering Venezuela and/or engaged in corruption to the detriment of the Venezuelan people, in some cases involving human rights violations. Sanctions were imposed on the governors of the states of Zulia: Omar Prieto, Carabobo: Rafael Lacava, Apure: Ramon Carrizalez, and Vargas: Jorge Garcia Carneiro.

The United States will not stand by idly while the people of Venezuela are denied basic necessities and made to suffer needlessly. These actions have consequences.

We reaffirm our call on Venezuelan officials and security forces to allow urgently needed food and medicine to enter and be distributed throughout the country. This humanitarian assistance must be allowed to reach Venezuelans in need.

U.S. sanctions need not be permanent; they are intended to change behavior. The United States will continue to take appropriate action to respond to the situation in Venezuela as it develops.
Brazilian Military Widens Security Cordon on Venezuelan Border to Lower Tensions

Sputnik News

14:35 25.02.2019

PACARAIMA, Brazil (Sputnik) - The Brazilian National Public Security Force has expanded the security cordon in the border area with Venezuela to alleviate tensions following recent clashes, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the scene on 25 February.

In the early hours of 24 February, a Sputnik correspondent reported that a group of activists supporting the Venezuelan opposition in Brazil had attacked the border checkpoint near the Brazilian city of Pacaraima, setting a Venezuelan National Guard vehicle on fire. The attackers also threw sticks and stones at Venezuelan soldiers, who responded with tear gas.

Some of the tear gas grenades landed behind Brazil's borders, which prompted Brazilian troops to expand the security cordon by another 100 metres (328 feet) from the border. They then managed to push the crowd back from the Venezuelan border and thereby avoid new incidents.

On 24 February no new attempts were made to deliver humanitarian aid to Venezuela to Brazil after media reported that two trucks carrying 8 tonnes of humanitarian aid had arrived in Pacaraima on Venezuela's border the previous day.

Attempts to bring in unauthorised aid into Venezuela from neighbouring Colombia culminated in clashes on Saturday between Venezuelan law enforcement officers, who tried to prevent aid-filled trucks from crossing the country's border without permission, and protesters. These attempts also prompted Caracas to sever diplomatic and political relations with Bogota. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said he believes that the aid deliveries are a ploy to topple his government.

The situation in crisis-torn Venezuela escalated on 23 January when the opposition leader, Juan Guaido, declared himself interim president, disputing last year's reelection of Maduro. Guaido was almost immediately recognised by the United States and some other countries. Russia, China and Mexico, among other nations, voiced support for Maduro, who, in turn, accused Washington of orchestrating a coup.

 Sputnik
Yemeni Prime Minister Blames Houthis for Attacks in Violation of Peace Treaty

Sputnik News

15:03 25.02.2019(updated 15:04 25.02.2019)

GENEVA (Sputnik) - Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalek Saeed has accused the country's rebel Houthi movement of violating the peace treaty by carrying out heavy weapon attacks in regions located far from the front line.

"The Yemeni government regards any talks as a true basis for securing peace While the political process has been resumed, and the peace treaty has been signed Houthi rebels carry out violent attacks, involving heavy weapons and tanks, in the Hajjah region, located far from the front line", Saeed said at the 40th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council.

He slammed Houthis for maintaining a siege of the region and preventing locals from receiving food and medication.

"The global community and certain human rights organisations remain silent about Houthis' attacks on peaceful regions located far from the front line, which is not a proper message for Yemeni residents. This is not an optimal way to inspire armed groups to seek peace", Saeed added.

Geneva will host the third High-Level Pledging Event for the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen on 26 February. The international event, chaired by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, will aim to attract support for the humanitarian response in the crisis-torn country.

In December, during the first round of UN-led consultations in Sweden, the warring parties to the Yemeni conflict agreed to a ceasefire in the port city of Al Hodeidah, as well as an exchange of prisoners and establishment of humanitarian corridors in the area.

Yemen has been engulfed in a violent conflict between the government and the Houthi movement since 2015.

 Sputnik
US Air Force Upgrades Its B-52 Bombers to Carry More Smart Munitions

Sputnik News

22:00 25.02.2019(updated 00:40 26.02.2019)

The US Air Force is upgrading the smart weapons capacity of its B-52 heavy bomber fleet. The new and improved Conventional Rotary Launchers (CRLs) will dramatically increase the heavy bomber's ability to quickly engage targets.

By any measure, the Air Force's B-52 Stratofortress fleet is ancient. The last of its 76 B-52 bombers was delivered by Boeing in 1962, and the Air Force has made wave after wave of upgrades to keep the planes both flying and up-to-date with the latest hardware. They are by far its largest bomber aircraft, capable of hauling an astounding 70,000 pounds of weapons, and the only US plane that can carry missiles with nuclear warheads.

The CRL sits in the aircraft's bomb bay, looking like the cylinder of a revolver pistol and serving much the same function: it rotates to ready the next smart weapon to be fired out of the internal bomb bay. This video shows the equipment being loaded into a Rockwell B1B Lancer, a more modern piece of the Air Force's bomber fleet.

First installed in 2017, the CRL enabled the hulking B-52s to carry smart weapons inside its internal bomb bay instead of under the wings of the aircraft and increased the B-52's smart weapons capacity by 67 percent, Sputnik reported. However, it could only deploy four smart munitions at a time; any more and the plane's circuit breakers might overload, Business Insider noted. After all, the plane wasn't designed for modern munitions, having been built in the 1950s to carry either a couple of big dumb nuclear bombs or a whole bunch of little dumb conventional bombs, to be dropped over the target area the old-fashioned way.

This new upgrade will end that limitation by providing power to all of the internal smart munitions at once, which are guided to their targets by computers instead of simply dumped overhead.

"Now, a B-52 going into a war zone has the ability to put 20 munitions on a target area very quickly," said Senior Master Sgt. Michael Pierce, 307th Maintenance Squadron aircraft armament superintendent, according to the Lompoc Record. "Before, they would have to drop some of their munitions, power up the CRL again and then make another pass."

Business Insider notes that Pierce was speaking about the Air Force's AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) cruise missiles, a smart weapon the B-52 gained the ability to carry only last March, Sputnik reported. The B-52 can carry a larger quantity of smaller weapons.

The Pentagon is also moving forward on its Long-Range Standoff Weapon (LRSO), a nuclear missile under development since 2015 that the Air Force believes is the primary reason to keep the aging B-52s around.

Without the LRSO, "you don't have the B-52 as a viable platform," Gen. John Hyten, commander of US Strategic Command, told a September 2017 forum at the Hudson Institute in Washington, Sputnik reported. The LRSO is expected to replace the aging air-launched cruise missile (ALCM), which Hyten characterized as "ancient," "difficult to maintain" and "almost impossible to fly."

It's unclear whether the LRSO will take advantage of the CRLs when ready for deployment.

The Government Accountability Office reported in 2018 that between 2011 and 2016, the B-52 fleet cost the Air Force about $1.2 billion annually.

 Sputnik
Brazil Won't Allow US to Use Its Territory to Invade Venezuela - Reports

Sputnik News

22:34 25.02.2019(updated 23:00 25.02.2019)

Brazil will not allow the United States to intervene military in Venezuela from its territory, Brazilian Vice President Hamilton Mourao said Monday in an interview with Globo News Broadcaster, cited by Reuters.

Speaking at the Lima group meeting in Bogota, Mourao, a retired general, said that Brazil will do all it can to avoid a conflict with neighboring Venezuela.

Meanwhile, the Brazilian National Public Security Force has expanded the security cordon in the border area with Venezuela to alleviate tensions following recent clashes, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the scene on Monday.

In the early hours of Sunday, a Sputnik correspondent reported that a group of activists supporting the Venezuelan opposition in Brazil had attacked the border checkpoint near the Brazilian city of Pacaraima, setting a Venezuelan National Guard vehicle on fire. The attackers also threw sticks and stones at Venezuelan soldiers, who responded with tear gas.

The situation in crisis-torn Venezuela escalated on 23 January when opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido declared himself interim president, disputing last year's re-election of President Nicolas Maduro. Guaido was almost immediately recognized by the United States and its allies. Russia, China, Mexico, Iran and Turkey, among other nations, have voiced support for constitutionally elected Maduro, who, in turn, has accused Washington of orchestrating a coup.

On Saturday, the Venezuelan opposition attempted to deliver humanitarian aid to Venezuela, which it had been stockpiling in the border regions in recent days in defiance of the legitimate government's refusal to allow it in. Upon arrival, several trucks with aid were burnt on the border with Colombia, while four people were killed and 24 others injured on the border with Brazil, a host to another aid hub, according to Venezuelan nongovernmental organization Criminal Forum. The opposition, meanwhile, reported about 40 injured on the border with Colombia.

On Sunday no new attempts were made to deliver humanitarian aid to Venezuela from Brazil after media reported that two trucks carrying 8 tonnes of humanitarian aid had arrived in Pacaraima on Venezuela's border the previous day.

Maduro refused to allow in unauthorized aid deliveries, calling them a ploy to support those who want to topple his government.

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, in turn, recalled that under international humanitarian law, humanitarian aid is provided in the event of natural disasters, armed conflicts and war. According to Rodriguez, claims about the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the country are designed to justify the invasion of Venezuela, but the people will not allow this.

Moreover, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has urged people involved in humanitarian aid deliveries to Venezuela on the borders with Colombia and Brazil but not affiliated with their organization to refrain from wearing its emblems and thereby jeopardizing its neutrality. According to the organization, such people "might mean well but they risk jeopardizing our neutrality, impartiality & independence".

US National Security Adviser John Bolton has threatened Venezuela with more sanctions and "isolation" if its military continues blocking incoming humanitarian aid deliveries organized by the opposition.

 Sputnik
Memorials have the power to invite meaningful race conversations, but the key is addressing stubborn attitudes, stereotypes and assumptions that have been hardened and passed down over generations. The difficulty is getting beyond feelings of recrimination and guilt. When it works, we are able to get past the perspective of I didnt do it, I dont know anybody that did it, and find the ways to honor the victims.
Japan, South Korea Scramble to Intercept Chinese Spy Plane

Sputnik News

22:55 25.02.2019

Japan and South Korea scrambled their fighter jets Saturday to intercept a Chinese spy plane flying close to their airspace. The surveillance aircraft never entered either country's airspace, though.

On February 23, a Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLA-AF) Shaanxi Y-9JB (GX-8) electronic warfare and surveillance plane set off alarms in Japan and South Korea by flying into each country's air defense identification zone. Both countries scrambled fighter jets to intercept and escort the plane away from their airspace, The Diplomat reported.

The Y-9 first flew toward South Korea Saturday morning, appearing on radar near the disputed Ieo Island/Socotra Rock, a submerged rock in the Yellow Sea with a South Korean science station built on a platform above it, at around 8:03 a.m. and exiting at 8:27 a.m., the Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Tuesday in Seoul, according to Yonhap News Agency.

The plane reentered South Korea's air defense identification zone (KADIZ) at 9:34 a.m. over the Sea of Japan near the southeastern city of Pohang, leaving South Korean radar at 12:51 p.m. Yonhap noted it was the first time a Chinese plane had flown between the disputed Liancourt Rocks/Dokto and the South Korean island of Ulleungdo. During that time, South Korean fighter jets flew out to meet the Chinese Y-9, broadcasting warning messages to its crew.

The Japanese Ministry of Defense statement isn't available in English, but The Diplomat gave no report on the time Japan's Air Self Defense Force (JASDF) detected the plane, only noting it appeared over the Tsushima Strait between Japan and South Korea, a body of water that connects the East China Sea and Sea of Japan.

Only a week prior, the JASDF was up in the air again, intercepting a group of Russian Tu-95MS strategic bombers and Su-35S (Flanker-E+) multirole fighter jets over the Sea of Japan and Pacific Ocean, The Diplomat reported. Those intercepts also took place over international waters and not in Japanese airspace.

The South Korean Ministry of National Defense reportedly protested the episode to the Chinese Embassy's military attache, Yonhap reported. Japan's Ministry of Defense likewise intends to file a complaint with Beijing.

Such occurrences are shockingly common. By September of 2018, the JASDF had intercepted Chinese aircraft 345 times, already 58 more than in fiscal year 2017, according to ministry data. The Diplomat noted that the PLAAF typically sends out Y-9s on patrol through the area every four weeks.

 Sputnik
Qatar: Taliban political chief to join talks with US in Doha

Iran Press TV

Mon Feb 25, 2019 06:22AM

Qatar has announced that the Taliban political chief is set to lead a delegation from the Afghan militant group for what would mark the highest-level negotiations yet with the US on ending the 17-year-old conflict in Afghanistan.

The Taliban and Qatari officials said Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has arrived in the Qatari capital, Doha, to attend the peace talks, which are expected to begin later on Monday.

Doha said Sunday that Baradar will head the Taliban team, despite earlier reports that he could be absent, citing problems in obtaining travel documents.

The American delegation will also be led by US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad.

Mullah Baradar, who spent eight years in a Pakistani prison, was released in October last year.

Kai Eide, a former UN envoy to Afghanistan, who was involved in some of the earliest peace contacts with the militant group, described Mullah Baradar's arrival to join the negotiators as an encouraging sign the Taliban's top leadership was directly engaging in talks.

"Baradar's participation certainly means that the Doha team will become more of a decision-making body than before," he said.

"From my own experience 10 years ago, I believe that he was already, before his arrest, the most prominent Taliban leader in favor of finding a political settlement," Eide added.

The latest round of talks between the Taliban and the US were held in the Qatari capital last month, during which they agreed on a framework truce deal that would lead to the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan and end the war there.

The new round is expected to revolve around the agreements reached last month. US officials said the two sides remain at odds over the timing of the ceasefire.

The talks have so far excluded the Afghan government because the Taliban view it as illegitimate. The militant group has rejected a government bid to attend the talks as well as an offer to open an office in Kabul, urging, instead, international recognition of its office in the Qatari capital.

US officials, however, said any final agreement would require that the Taliban meet with Afghan officials.

Khalilzad said formerly that he would be pushing the Taliban figures to agree to joint steps with the Afghan side.

There are still "unsolved matters," according to a spokesman of the militant group, which has said it will not engage in direct talks with the Afghan officials unless they agree on a firm date for the withdrawal of US troops from the county.

White House officials said last December that the administration of President Donald Trump was planning to withdraw about half of the 14,000 troops deployed to Afghan soil.

US Army General Joseph Votel, the head of the US military's Central Command, also confirmed the reports in a visit to Oman earlier this month.

The Taliban's five-year rule over at least three quarters of Afghanistan came to an end following the 2001 US-led invasion, but 17 years on, Washington -- having failed to end the Taliban's militancy campaign  is seeking truce with the militants.

The Taliban have strengthened their grip over the past three years, with the government in Kabul controlling just 56 percent of the country, down from 72 percent in 2015, according to a US government report released last year.

An annual UN report said Sunday that civilian deaths in 2018 jumped by 11 percent from 2017, with 3,804 people killed, including 927 children, both all-time highs since the world body started recording figures in 2009.
India troops, militants engage in fatal gunfight in Kashmir amid escalated tensions

Iran Press TV

Mon Feb 25, 2019 07:17AM

Five people have been killed in another shootout between Indian troops and suspected militants in Kashmir as New Delhi steps up its crackdown and arrest campaign in the disputed region in the aftermath of a recent deadly bomb attack on its military forces.

Indian military and police sources said among those killed in the gun battle on Sunday were three members of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militant group  which had claimed responsibility for the car bomb attack against Indian forces in mid-February.

A senior Indian police officer and an army soldier also died in the clashes in Turigam village of South Kashmir's Kulgam district, they added.

An anonymous Indian source said one of the suspected militants killed in the incident had been a foreign national.

Over the past weeks, New Delhi's security forces have intensified a search and arrest campaign in Kulgam district, the site of the bombing that left 44 Indian paramilitary soldiers dead.

They detained some 160 pro-independence militants and their supporters this weekend.

Most of those arrested are reportedly tied to India's Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) Party.

"Since JeI has a wider network across Kashmir and they are mobilizing anti-India protests, their arrest could help in curbing such protests ahead of elections," according to a police officer.

Pro-independence leaders in Kashmir have called for a strike in protest at the arrest campaign.

Many shops, petrol stations, and businesses on the Indian-controlled side of Kashmir remain closed, with few people and vehicles on streets in sensitive areas, except for troop patrols.

In some areas of the main city of Srinagar, the government limited the movement of people and vehicles.

"The restrictions have been imposed as a precautionary measure to avoid any untoward incident," the police said.

Tensions have been running high between India and Pakistan since the February 14 bomb attack. New Delhi accuses Islamabad of being behind the assault, an allegation the Pakistani government denies.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who faces a general election by May, has said he has given carte blanche to the security forces in Kashmir to avenge the killings.

In a televised speech on Sunday, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said his country would not be intimidated by threats from India, warning Indians not to "cast a hostile eye" on Pakistan.

Elsewhere, President of the Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir, Masood Khan, warned that India was "stoking the flames of war."

Kashmir has been disputed between India and Pakistan since partition and independence from Britain in 1947. It is claimed in entirety by both sides, which have fought three wars over it.

Many Kashmiris on the India-controlled side of the Himalayan region have been demanding that the region be given independence or be merged with Pakistan.
Afghan political leaders, tribal elders to hold Loya Jirga on Taliban talks

Iran Press TV

Mon Feb 25, 2019 02:44PM

In Afghanistan, political leaders and tribal elders will hold a large gathering known as Loya Jirga in March on negotiations with the Taliban.

Umer Daudzai, President Ashraf Ghani's special peace envoy, said on Monday that the assembly will take place under a large tent in Kabul for four days starting March 17 with more than 2,000 participants, who will be chosen by special committees.

"The main purpose of holding the Loya Jirga is to reach a national consensus for peace in the country."

Daudzai added that the event would be an opportunity to make clear that the restrictions imposed in the 1990s by the Taliban on women's rights were injurious to Afghanistan's broader society. "We will discuss in the Jirga that the gains, particularly the rights of women and freedom of speech, are not up for debate or concession."

The official, who would lead negotiations with the Taliban, said the momentum for peace was fast building, hoping that direct talks with the militant group could start within two or three months. The Taliban, he suggested, may eventually have to engage with the government in Kabul to address their demands for an exchange of prisoners and removal of international travel bans on senior leaders.

The Loya Jirga is a centuries-old institution used to build consensus among competing tribes, factions and ethnic groups in Afghanistan.

The Taliban, which now reportedly controls nearly half of Afghanistan, has so far refused to hold direct negotiations with the government.

Also on Monday, US special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad met with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the top political leader of the militant group, in the Qatari capital, Doha. In a posting on Twitter, Khalilzad said the duo had held a "working lunch."

An annual UN report said Sunday that civilian deaths in 2018 jumped by 11 percent from 2017, with 3,804 people killed, including 927 children, both all-time highs since the world body started gathering data in 2009.
US VP Pence to announce 'concrete steps' for Venezuela crisis: Official

Iran Press TV

Mon Feb 25, 2019 03:06PM

US Vice President Mike Pence is set to announce "concrete steps" and "clear actions" to address the Venezuela crisis, as foreign intervention has pushed the Latin American nation into political chaos and economic collapse.

A senior US administration official said Sunday Pence will make the announcement when he meets on Monday with several leaders in the Americas in Bogota, Colombia.

The official, speaking with reporters on condition of anonymity, declined to say what the new measures would involve ahead of Pence's speech, to be delivered to a summit of the Lima Group.

"The vice president will announce concrete steps," the official said. "You should expect him to announce clear actions tomorrow as he speaks to the Lima Group."

The US vice president also plans to meet with Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido.

The meeting comes after convoys of US aid were blocked at the Venezuelan border by forces loyal to embattled President Nicolas Maduro.

Guaido, 35, who is also the head of Venezuela's defunct National Assembly, plunged the country into political chaos on January 23, when he proclaimed himself as the "interim president" of Venezuela.

After the bizarre move, US President Donald Trump and other Western leaders recognized Guaido as the country's interim president.

The US-backed opposition figure has also planned to bring in foreign humanitarian aid, including those from the US through the Colombian border, to allegedly alleviate the country's economic crisis.

Maduro has said the real incentive behind Guaido's "relief" effort is to undermine his government in a Washington-orchestrated bid to oust him, stressing that Caracas would not allow the entry of the so-called aid to Venezuela, which has the world's largest proven oil reserves.

Washington's moves against Venezuela have reached an unprecedented and dangerous level. There have been reports that the US has armed the opposition, which would make the situation even more volatile.

However, the US has not stopped there. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has vowed the US will uproot authoritarianism in Nicaragua and Cuba.

The US has had a long history of interference in Latin American nations. There was the Mexican-American war in the mid-19th century when Mexico lost half of its territory to the US.

The US also tried, but failed to stage a coup in Venezuela in 2002. Altogether, directly or indirectly, the US has been involved in regime change in Latin America more than 40 times in the past century.
US increases sanctions on Venezuela to pressure Maduro

Iran Press TV

Mon Feb 25, 2019 07:20PM

The United States has imposed sanctions on four state governors in Venezuela as Washington tries to increases pressure on President Nicholas Maduro for blocking aid convoys.

The US Treasury Department said Monday it was imposing sanctions on Omar Jose Prieto, governor of the northwestern state of Zulia that borders Colombia; Ramon Alonso Carrizalez, governor of the state of Apure and a former defense minister; Jorge Luis Garcia, governor of Vargas state and former head of the army; and Rafael Alejandro Lacava, governor of Carabobo state and ally of Maduro.

"The illegitimate Maduro regime's attempts to blockade international aid intended for the Venezuelan people are shameful," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

"Treasury is targeting four state governors aligned with former President Maduro for standing in the way of severely needed humanitarian assistance and prolonging the suffering of the Venezuelan people," he added.

The additional sanctions coincide with US Vice President Mike Pence attending a meeting of the regional Lima Group of nations in Bogota, Columbia.

Pence said at the meeting that Washington was preparing an additional $56 million in so-called humanitarian aid for Venezuela. He also called on Latin American allies to increase pressure on Maduro's government.

A senior US administration official said Sunday that Pence will announce "concrete steps" and "clear actions" against Venezuela at the Lima Group meeting.

The US vice president also plans to meet with Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido.

Guaido, 35, who is also the head of Venezuela's defunct National Assembly, plunged the country into political chaos on January 23, when he proclaimed himself as the "interim president" of Venezuela.

US President Donald Trump and other Western leaders immediately recognized Guaido as the country's interim president.

The Trump administration has steadily increased sanctions against officials in the Maduro government.

The latest US sanctions come after convoys of US aid were blocked at the Venezuelan border by forces loyal to embattled President Nicolas Maduro.

The so-called foreign humanitarian aid, which Maduro has denounced as a US plot to disguise an intervention in Venezuela, has now become the key focus of the standoff between the socialist leader and Guaido amid an economic crisis most significantly in the form of shortages of foodstuff and medicine.

The blockage of humanitarian aid at the Colombian border resulted in fierce clashes on February 22 between Venezuelan police and anti-government protesters who attempted to break through the barricaded Simon Bolivar Bridge to bring in the supplies.
USS Donald Cook Arrives in Odesa, Ukraine

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS190225-19

Release Date: 2/25/2019 12:10:00 PM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ford Williams, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs

ODESA, Ukraine (NNS) -- The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) arrived in Odesa, Ukraine, Feb. 25, 2019 for a scheduled port visit as part of our continued Black Sea presence and support to our region partners.

Since arriving in the Black Sea on Feb. 19, 2019, the ship's crew conducted maritime interoperability training exercises with the Turkish navy. These operations enhance regional maritime stability, combined readiness and naval capability with our NATO allies and Black Sea partners. This is the fourth U.S. ship visit to Odesa since January 2018.

While in port, the ship will host local dignitaries and media for tours and engagements with crew, which will culminate with a reception.

Donald Cook is the third U.S. naval vessel to conduct operations in the Black Sea in 2019. The ship entered the Black Sea on Feb. 19, 2019 to strengthen interoperability with NATO allies and partners and demonstrate the collective resolve to Black Sea security. In January, Donald Cook and Fort McHenry conducted port visits to Georgia and Romania, respectively.

The U.S. Navy routinely operates in the Black Sea consistent with the Montreux Convention and international law.

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.
USS Donald Cook Participates in Maritime Training with Turkey

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS190225-01

Release Date: 2/25/2019 9:00:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ford Williams, U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations Public Affairs

BLACK SEA (NNS) -- The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) participated in maritime interoperability training Feb. 22 with Turkish maritime counterparts in the Black Sea.

Donald Cook and the Turkish Yavuz-class frigate TS Fatih (F 242) participated in an integrated surface warfare exercise, simulated replenishment-at-sea approaches, communications and electronic warfare exercises, and a photo exercise.

"Today's exercise was another valuable experience for the crew of Donald Cook," said Donald Cook's Command Master Chief Jeremy Douglas. "Operating with Turkey is as enjoyable as it is crucial. No nation can combat global threats alone, working together gives us the opportunity to share information and experience."

The U.S. routinely practices interoperability and high-end warfare with allies and partners. Multinational training enhances interoperability partners and allies allowing us to maintain vigilance to the degree necessary to promote a secure and prosperous region.

Donald Cook, forward-deployed to Rota, Spain, deployed from Naval Station Rota, Spain Nov. 19 last year on it's eighth forward-deployed naval forces patrol.

While on patrol, Donald Cook is scheduled to conduct naval operations in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe and Africa.

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.
The U.S. should be preventing 25,000 children from dying each day because the U.S. absolutely can prevent 25,000 children from dying each day. But beyond the humanitarian perspective, the United States has a strategic interest in improving the plight of the worlds poor. We need to be aware of the economic, national security and diplomatic incentives for strong U.S. leadership in addressing global poverty, such as increased export dollars flowing into our country from markets in developing countries.
Samsung Galaxy M20 flash sale going live today on Amazon.in News oi-Sandeep Sarkar As a part of the flash sale, users will be able to avail complete damage protection plan for Rs 1,199 along with no-cost EMI offers for up to six months.

Samsung refreshed affordable smartphone, the Galaxy M20 is going on a flash sale today in the Indian market. The South Korean tech giant had launched the new Galaxy M lineup comprising of the Galaxy M20 and the Galaxy M10 smartphones in the first week of February 2019. Both the devices have been made available via flash sales earlier in India on Amazon and Samsung online retail store, now, the M20 is going up for a flash sale here in the country today.

The Samsung Galaxy M20 flash sale will begin at 12 noon today on Amazon.in and Samsung India's online web store. Interested users can visit any of the mentioned websites to grab a brand new Galaxy M20 smartphone. As this is a flash sale, we would suggest you make sure that you visit the online stores a few minutes prior to the sale and use a reliable internet connection. This will boost your chances to get your hands on the device.

Samsung Galaxy M20 price and sale offers:

In terms of pricing, the Galaxy M20 3GB/32GB variant is priced at Rs 10,990, whereas, the 4GB/64GB variant is priced at Rs 12,990. As a part of the flash sale, users will be able to avail complete damage protection plan for Rs 1,199 along with no-cost EMI offers for up to six months.

To recall, the Galaxy M20 makes use of an octa-core Exynos 7904 processor which is clubbed with Mali-G71 GPU to render graphics and 3GB/4GB RAM for multitasking. The device offers a storage space of 32GB/64GB which is expandable to up to 256GB with a microSD card slot.

The smartphone flaunts a 6.3-inch display panel with 1080 x 2340 pixels screen resolution. It features a dual camera module with a 13MP (f/1.9) aperture and a 5MP secondary depth sensor with f/2.2 aperture. At the front, the smartphone packs an 8MP camera for selfies and video calling. There is a mammoth 5,000mAH battery powering the smartphone.

Best Mobiles in India

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Redmi Note 7 Pro might come with Samsung ISOCELL GM-1 sensor in India News oi-Vivek Redmi Note 7 Pro will launch in India on the 28th of February

Update: According to a new leak, the base variant of the Redmi Note 7 Pro with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage will cost Rs 13,999, whereas the 6 GB RAM and 64 GB model will cost Rs 16,999, which is similar to the pricing of the Redmi Note 5 Pro (at the time of launch).

As of now, the Redmi Note 7 and the Redmi Note 7 Pro are the most expected smartphones in India. It is almost confirmed that the company will launch both smartphones on the 28th of February to compete against other budget smartphones from Honor, Realme, Asus, and Samsung.

In the latest turn of event, it looks like the India version of the Redmi Note 7 Pro might not feature the Sony IMX 586 sensor; instead, the device will be equipped with the Samsung ISOCELL GM-1 sensor, used on the Chinese Redmi Note 7. Similarly, the Indian Redmi Note 7 might not feature a 48 MP camera at all (speculation), as the leaked image of the Redmi Note 7 does not have the 48 MP embossing on the back like the Redmi Note 7 Pro.

Probable reason

Redmi China head has already confirmed that the Redmi Note 7 Pro will launch this week, and is expected to cost around Rs 17,999 or 1799 Yuan. At that price point, the Redmi Note 7 Pro will be competing against the Poco F1 in India, which is not good for Xiaomi's business. To solve this issue, the Xiaomi India "might" launch a toned down version of the Redmi Note 7 Pro here with a much lower price tag.

The Chinese Redmi Note 7 Pro is teased to come with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 SoC with Sony IMX 586 sensor, which will definitely offer better camera performance, and will also increase the overall price of the smartphone.

Redmi Note 7 Pro variants

According to Ishan Agarwal, the Redmi Note 7 Pro will be available in 4 GB RAM and 64 GB internal storage, which is expected to cost under Rs 15,000. The smartphone will be available in three gradient colors including Black, Gradient Blue, and Gradient Red colors.

Also, I have already told you earlier, but here are the colour and storage variants these devices will have:

Redmi Note 7: 3GB+32GB, 4GB+64GB; Black, Blue and Red

Redmi Note 7 Pro: 4GB+64GB; Black, Gradient Blue and Gradient Red#7n #RedmiNote7  Ishan Agarwal (@ishanagarwal24) February 25, 2019

Redmi Note 7 Pro specifications

The remaining specifications of the Redmi Note 7 Pro are expected to stay similar to the Redmi Note 7. The smartphone will come with a 6.3-inch IPS LCD screen with a water-drop notch. Do note that the phone has a rear-facing fingerprint sensor, so no under the display fingerprint sensor.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AIE SoC will power the Redmi Note 7 Pro with 4 GB of LPDDR4x RAM and 64 GB of internal storage. The device will have dual SIM card slots with support for 4G LTE and VoLTE on both the slots with Bluetooth 5.0 and dual channel Wi-Fi support.

The Redmi Note 7 Pro will have a dual camera setup on the back with a 48 MP primary camera and a 5 MP depth camera. For selfie enthusiasts, the smartphone will feature a 13 MP selfie shooter with 1080p video recording capability.

Best Mobiles in India
When school resumed at Douglass High School, the returning staff and students were met at the door by members of our agency in a show of our solidarity with their grief and pain. It was a very difficult day and, as I looked around at those who were there, I did not see any of those folks who so loudly proclaim their belief that School Police Officers need not be armed. They were not there on the day that this criminal decided to disrupt the safety and well-being of the Douglass community and they were not there the day that the Douglass staff and students so solemnly returned to their spaces.
Nokia 7.1, Nokia 6.1 firmware update with February 2019 security patch released in India News oi-Sandeep Sarkar The update for Nokia 7.1 weighs 61.7MB in size, whereas, the Nokia 6.1 update weighs 105.3MB in total.

HMD Global has started rolling out a new update for the Nokia 7.1 and Nokia 6.1 smartphones. The Finnish smartphone brand home for the Nokia branded smartphones is known for releasing the firmware updates timely for its smartphones. The company has been actively rolling out firmware updates for Nokia smartphones in the past and has also promised updates for up to 3 years for the newly launched Nokia 9, Nokia 4.2, Nokia 3.2 and the Nokia 1 Plus smartphones. All the recently launched smartphones come under Android One program like the previously launched Nokia smartphones and will receive the Android updates timely.

As for the Nokia 7.1 and the Nokia 6.1, HMD Global is pushing out a new firmware update for both the devices in the Indian market. The latest update for the Nokia 7.1 smartphone carries a firmware build number TA-1100 and the update for the Nokia 6.1 comes with a build number TA-1089.

As for the changelog, with the new update, a number of bugs and issues have been resolved. One such issue hampering the performance of the device was a critical security bug in the Android Framework. This vulnerability gave an attacker to get hold of an Android device and run an "arbitrary code" via a specific PNG file using privilege escalation. Following the update, we can expect a smoother user experience on both the Nokia 7.1 and the Nokia 6.1 smartphones.

The company is rolling out the update as an OTA and users should receive a notification for the update. The update for Nokia 7.1 weighs 61.7MB in size, whereas, the Nokia 6.1 update weighs 105.3MB in total. If you own any of the Nokia 7.1 or the Nokia 6.1 smartphones and do not receive any update notification, make sure you check for it manually. All you need to do is head to the Software update section in the Settings menu to check it manually.

Source

Best Mobiles in India

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Gillette, WY (82718)

Today

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 50F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 50F. Winds light and variable.
Vladimer Apkhazava: I promised myself that I would get the Georgian teachers message across to the world - GeorgianJournal
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.
Wisconsin has voted Democratic by modest margins in six of the last seven presidential elections, and the Democratic nominee will expect to win this usually Democratic state in order to win in 2020. Maryland has voted heavily Democratic in all of these elections. If Mr. Trump wins the nationwide vote and loses Wisconsin and Maryland, S.B. 582 would give Mr. Trump 20 extra electoral votes as protection against losing the Electoral College. However, S.B. 582 would not give the Democratic nominee equal protection. If the Democrat wins Wisconsin, the nationwide vote, and Maryland, he or she would get zero extra votes worth of protection against losing the Electoral College while winning the nationwide popular vote (because he or she was going to win solidly Democratic Maryland anyway, and was probably going to win usually Democratic Wisconsin).
DUII crash  At 1:30 a.m. Saturday an officer investigating a reported motor vehicle crash found a vehicle that had crashed into a house in the 1700 block of Northwest Polk Avenue. Kellson Morrison Mackenzie, 22, of Corvallis was arrested on charges of driving under the influence, reckless driving and reckless endangering. Mackenzies blood alcohol content reportedly measured 0.10 percent.

Prohibited acts: nudity  Just before midnight on Saturday, an officer was dispatched to Northwest 28th Street and Tyler Avenue for a report that a white male in his 20s, with his genitals hanging out of his pants, was attempting to get into a Saferide van. The driver said the man was heavily intoxicated and walked away, still in a state of partial undress, without being allowed into the van.

BENTON COUNTY SHERIFF

Fugitive apprehension  At 12:53 a.m. on Feb. 16, a deputy arrested a Corvallis woman who was the subject of two felony arrest warrants in the vicinity of Southwest 49th and Roseberry streets after she fled, first on a stolen bicycle and then on foot. In addition to the warrants, Lauren Nicole Sangiovanni, 24, was charged with interfering with a peace officer, possession of heroin and first-degree theft.
SWEET HOME  A man, woman and their three dogs were not injured Sunday after becoming stuck in the snow several miles up Quartzville Road, according to Lt. Michelle Duncan of the Linn County Sheriffs Office.

Duncan said that about 4:43 p.m. Sunday, the 9-1-1 dispatch center was notified by a man that his 30-foot travel trailer was stuck about MP 23.

The couple drove their 2003 F350 pickup to about MP 8 before becoming stuck again. They contacted friends who were able to cut downed trees and get to the couple Sunday evening.

Monday morning, Linn County Deputy Rodney David returned to the site and assisted in getting the pickup unstuck.

Shane Morris of Springfield told the Democrat-Herald that he and his girlfriend, Jeannette McHugh, also of Springfield, had assisted the couple as they made their way down the mountain road Sunday evening.

We went camping Saturday morning and when we saw the weather changing, we broke camp about 6:30 a.m. Sunday, Morris said. We really got dumped on with snow and didnt get out until about 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

Morris said at one point, he knocked on a window of the truck and no one was there, so it must have been after the couple had left the vehicle.
Amy Hennig, creator of the Uncharted series, claimed in a recent interview that a single-player, 8-hour game pitch wouldnt work today.

Based on the evolution of the video games industry, she told Gameranx, the original game Drakes Fortune wouldnt find a publisher so easily.

Ive said that I dont think a game like the first Uncharted, even though it was the foundational footprint for that series, would be a viable pitch today, Hennig said.

The idea of a finite eight-ish-hour experience that has no second modes, no online  the only replayability was the fact that you could unlock cheats and stuff like that. No multiplayer, nothing. That doesnt fly anymore. Now you have to have a lot of hours of gameplay. Eight would never cut it. Usually some sort of online mode. And of course you see where things are pushing, toward live services and battle royale and games as a service.

Hennig had some troubles with Naughty Dog and left the studio after a few years spent on Uncharted 4, which was then passed to Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann.

Such comments also reflect her experience with Electronic Arts, which shut down Visceral Games and her Star Wars project in order to work on a licensed open world (that also got cancelled, eventually).
And yet, Justice Sandra Day OConnor in 1984 argued that the use of religious phrases and symbols in the public square can often have no religious significance. They merely ceremonial Deism  the use of religion to make a point involving civic engagement  she said, quoting Dean Eugene V. Rostow of the Yale Law School. She acknowledged that government sponsorship of a religious message may send a message to nonadherents that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community, and an accompanying message to adherents that they are insiders, favored members of the political community and said the courts duty is to determine whether official use of religious language or symbolism endorses one religion at the expense of all other ones.
Free

Man injured in fatal Saturday crash on Galveston files $1M lawsuit

GALVESTON

A man who was injured in the Saturday car crash that killed wrecker driver Gary Dubose has filed a lawsuit against a Galveston woman implicated in the wreck.

Galveston attorney Jonathan Zendeh Del filed a lawsuit Monday against Dianna Hoyler, 52, of Galveston, on behalf of Eulogio Soto, seeking more than $1 million in damages, court records show.

Soto was struck by a state troopers patrol car after it was struck by a vehicle that had swerved off the Interstate 45 service road, Zendeh Del said.

Soto, who was in the hospital Monday with seven broken ribs and two cracked vertebrates, had been standing outside his car speaking with the trooper when he was struck and severely injured, the lawsuit asserts.

Hoyler has not been charged in connection with the crash and crash investigators had not named her as the driver of the car that left the road.

The driver of that car was still in the hospital Monday afternoon and officials with the Galveston County District Attorneys Office said they planned to file charges upon her release.

We have not determined which charge at this time, Assistant District Attorney Patrick Gurski said.

Dubose, 58, the state trooper and several others were near The Daily News building just off the freeway service road because the trooper was citing Soto for a traffic violation, officials said.

The woman driving south along the service road swerved into the grass and, in some order, struck Dubose and slammed into the back of the troopers vehicle, officials with the Texas Department of Public Safety said.

Duboses coworkers said he had been standing behind and was hit by the troopers vehicle, but department officials said he had been between the womans vehicle and the troopers car.

An official accident report wont be complete for several days, DPS Sgt. Stephen Woodard said Monday.

Dubose died at 10:05 p.m., shortly after the crash, officials with the medical examiners office said. The crash happened about 9:30 p.m., officials said.

The woman was transported to a hospital emergency room with injuries that didnt appear to be life-threatening, officials said.

Former coworkers gathered at a roadside memorial Monday described Dubose as good-humored.

Hed either make you laugh, or make you cry, said Ken Ferguson, owner of Kens Towing & Collision Service, where Dubose worked on and off for about 22 years.
Gainesville, TX (76240)

Today

Rain showers in the morning with numerous thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. High 82F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm during the evening, then some lingering showers still possible overnight. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%.
The James River hit its highest level in nine years on Monday, as runoff from a week of wet weather arrived in Richmond beneath flawless blue skies.

The Westham gauge observed a 16-foot reading on Monday afternoon, 1 foot above moderate flood stage. The last time Westham registered a higher reading was the 18.1-foot crest of Jan. 27, 2010.

Monday's flood was mostly disruptive, not destructive.

At the T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge, rapids drowned out the voices of smartphone-holding onlookers.

Tree trunks, bottles and bits of wood hurtled downstream, as if trying to outrun Monday's stiff northwesterly breeze.

Some cyclists and runners stopped to look; others may have stopped to reroute.

The floodwater lapped over portions of the Virginia Capital Trail near Rocketts Landing and the Richmond Slave Trail east of 14th Street, but it didn't climb high enough to enter Dock Street or Tredegar Street.

The pipeline walk east of Brown's Island was submerged, with water nearly halfway up the metal railings.
The Rotary Club of King GeorgeDahlgren is hosting the two candidates for King George Sheriff, during separate meetings, and inviting the public to attend.

T.C. Collins will speak to the civic group on Wednesday, Feb. 27, and Chris Giles will address the group the following week, Wednesday, March 6. Meetings are held from noon to 1 p.m. in Room 120 of the Dahlgren campus of the University of Mary Washington.

Terence T.C. Collins, 58, is a Virginia State Police special agent who has served five years on the county School Board. He worked for the state police for 25 years, advancing from a trooper to a special agent assigned to criminal investigations in Richmond, but recently left that position to pursue the King George Sheriffs job.

Giles, 55, is the chief deputy in the King George Sheriffs Office, having worked there 27 years and risen through the ranks to his current position.

The two seek the position currently held by Sheriff Steve Dempsey, who is retiring in December after almost 40 years in office.

Cathy Dyson
An hour doesnt seem like much, but when the sun goes down at 5 oclock and an eighth-grade country boy has two miles of traps to check, it can be an eternity. So, I walked home each day, hoping to get a ride and speed up my trip.

I warmed up and was about to go upstairs to change into my everyday clothes when my grandmother came in from outside. After a few brief words of greeting, she gave me some news.

Emma [her sister] called and said that Warren Utz told her to tell you that Bamber is coming Wednesday and this might be his last trip, Grandma said. If you have any furs, youd better have them ready.

Bamber was the area fur buyer. He lived over in the Valley, near New Market, I think, and made winter trips through the countryside all the way to the Chesapeake Bay buying furs that he would resell at auction.

I would later learn that this man actually had a first name, James, but back then he was simply Bamber, and he was coming Wednesday. And this was Monday.

I did have a dozen or so furs hanging in the old meat house, a few muskrats, a coon or two, one buck possum and several skunks. They were dry and ready and all I had to do was pull them off the stretching boards.
A former member of the Mountain View Fire and Safety Association pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor Monday for stealing from the organization and was ordered to pay a $500 fine.

Shaun Boutchyard, 30, was convicted of misdemeanor larceny in Stafford Circuit Court. Three felony charges were dropped.

Boutchyards father, Steven Craig Boutchyard, 54, had also been expected to enter a plea Monday but decided not to, prosecutor Michael Hardiman said. Steven Boutchyard, the former president and treasurer of the Mountain View association, now has a trial scheduled for May 22 on numerous felony theft-related charges.

Both Boutchyards were arrested over the summer following a Virginia State Police investigation that showed at least $50,000 worth of items purchased with Mountain View funds were not bought for the organizations use.

Those items included numerous major appliances, electronics, gift cards, French doors and cash withdrawals, court records show.

The amount stolen was initially believed to have been much higher, but Hardiman said it has since been determined that some of the purchases were legitimate.
Now, before anyone gets on their high horse, we believe that, in general, Mr. Rosenstein is right. If the government investigates someone and finds them innocent, there should be no obligation that the investigative material be made public. Of course, we also would support another common Justice Department practice  not publicly confirming nor denying that someone is the subject of an investigation while that inquiry is going on, but in high-profile cases, that doesnt happen too often, does it? The whole business has echoes of former FBI Director James Comeys extraordinary public discussion of the agencys findings related to Hillary Clintons use of a private email server while secretary of state, which Mr. Rosenstein cited as a reason to fire him in a memo he prepared for President Donald Trump.
An Alexandria man has been arrested in connection with a shooting Monday evening in Locust Grove, police said.

Joey Cornell Turner, 43, is charged with malicious wounding. A release from the Orange County Sheriffs Office states that the shooting occurred about 7:40 p.m. in the 7000 block of Embrey Drive. The victim was not identified, but police say the victim was shot and beaten with a pistol.

The Sheriffs Office declined to give any other details about the incident, including the motive for the shooting, the condition of the victim and the connection between Turner and the victim.

Turner, a former Spotsylvania County resident, is being held under no bond in the Central Virginia Regional Jail in Orange.

He is expected to be arraigned Wednesday in Orange General District Court.

Malicious wounding is a Class 3 felony that carries a maximum prison term of 20 years.

Keith Epps

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Estrella Monday said she and her husband had been married for 17 years and were moving to Florida, where they planned to retire. She now lives there alone and said her neck is in pain all day, every day as the result of the crash.

She said she also suffers frequent flashbacks and still has fear of being in a car.

Fitzgerald argued that Preddie deserved a lengthy sentence and pointed to his long criminal history and evidence of his inability to comply with the law.

This horrific crash could have 100 percent been prevented, Fitzgerald said. Mr. Preddie should not have been driving at all, let alone driving while under the influence.

Defense attorney Eugene Frost said Fitzgeralds description of Preddie as a scofflaw and a degenerate was not at all accurate. Frost said his client is a loving, caring father who made a bad decision that day, and he asked Ellis for mercy and compassion.

Hes hurting more than anyone can ever imagine, Frost said.

Preddie made a brief statement prior to his sentence being pronounced in which he apologized to McNeeces family and asked for forgiveness.
A Spotsylvania County man was ordered Monday to serve 10 years in prison as the result of his obsession with child pornography.

John Thomas Pishock, 23, was sentenced in Spotsylvania Circuit Court to 104 years in prison with 94 years suspended after being convicted of 21 charges related to child pornography.

Judge Joseph Ellis warned Pishock that he will serve the entire 104-year sentence if hes ever caught looking at any kind of pornography again.

One dirty picture, just one, and youll be serving the remaining 94 years as well, Ellis said.

Virginia State Police arrested Pishock in April 2017 after tracking thousands of images and videos depicting child pornography to him. Some of the images had been sent to other pedophiles.

In her quest for justice tempered with mercy, defense attorney Ghislaine Storr Burks put on extensive evidence Monday, including testimony from doctors and counselors.

The defense evidence showed that Pishock has had a longstanding obsession with child pornography, stemming at least back to early high school when he was caught sharing images with other students. His doctors testified that Pishock has been compliant in treatment over the years, but never got the treatment he really needs.
Marie shared her story of heroin addiction with Attorney General Mark Herring and at a 2016 town hall sponsored by the Stafford Sheriffs Office. She was agreeable to being named and photographed for this story, but her parents, who still live in Stafford, thought better of it.

Marie lived elsewhere after her stint in jail, and her parents dont want her former customers to know shes back in town.

With long brown hair and a firm handshake, Marie comes across as outgoing and self-assured. Its hard to picture her in the grip of a drug dealer, who marketed X-rated pictures of her on escort sites under the name Lexus.

She was already hooked on heroin when she met the dealer, who went by Cyrus. She needed a fix so badly, she agreed to whatever he proposed.

All I had was him, she said. He made it seem almost godly, the way he said he would take care of me.

Most importantly at the time, he kept her supplied in heroin so she wouldnt get dope sick, the debilitating withdrawal symptoms that users describe as the worse thing on earth. As part of her conditioning, he kept the drugs away from her long enough for her to get a taste of the sicknessand the realization she wanted no part of it.
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Prof. Reimund Neugebauer, President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Pier Luigi Gilibert, EIF Chief Executive and Joachim Menze, Head of the Representation of the European Commission in Munich (from left to right), at the founding of the Fraunhofer Tech Transfer Fund.

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is an integral part of the German innovation system, the largest applied research organisation in Europe and a model for applied research organisations worldwide. This is the first time that the EIF is promoting technology transfer from a public research body in Germany. Fraunhofer Technologie Transfer Fonds GmbH, a company specially established for this purpose, will have an exclusive opportunity to identify and finance spin-offs and licensing models from Fraunhofer institutes at an early stage of the innovation process. By providing funding for spin-offs and licensing models from Fraunhofer institutes, Fraunhofer Technologie Transfer Fonds GmbH will also create incentives for the research community to take its findings to market. Instruments for subsequent phases such as the High-Tech-Grunderfonds are already established.

Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, said: "Technology transfer is of paramount importance if we want to keep Europe in pole position in the field of innovation. This tech transfer fund will help German researchers take the product of their work to the market and make Germany's industry more innovative and competitive. This is another example of the Juncker Plan's added value in the country."

Prof. Reimund Neugebauer, president of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft said: Spin-offs are a key vehicle for the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft to exploit its intellectual property rights. They form an important and, above all, effective bridge between research and industry, and they act as a direct catalyst for the transfer of innovation. For Germany, as a hotbed of innovation, it is therefore vital that we increase the level of financial support for research spin-offs and place this on a firm footing. In setting up Fraunhofer Technologie Transfer Fonds GmbH, we are not only supporting young entrepreneurs from the research community during a critical phase but also making an important contribution to the transfer of new technology from the laboratory to the economy.

EIF Chief Executive, Pier Luigi Gilibert commented: We are delighted to launch this Technology Transfer fund in Germany, with Europes largest applied research organisation - Fraunhofer. Germany remains underserved in terms of Technology Transfer funds, in particular, for investments in capital-intensive sectors such as advanced materials or manufacturing digitalisation due to limited appetite from private investors. EU resources play a catalytic role allowing these funds to reach meaningful sizes while contributing to Germany's Technology Transfer and Venture Capital market.

Comprehensive spin-off strategy

A successful increase in the number of spin-offs as well as a sustainable participation strategy in spin-offs are declared goals of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. The new fund is divided into various measures of the start-up strategy of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, which also includes the new AHEAD funding program.

The fund benefits from the InnovFin Equity Facility for Early Stage with the financial backing of Horizon 2020, the EU research and innovation programme. In addition, the fund benefits amongst others from the ERP-EIF Facility, a joint Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany (BMWi) and EIF initiative to support financing of SMEs and start-ups in Germany.
Andaz Brand Debuts In Germany With Opening Of Andaz Munich Schwabinger Tor

February 26, 2019 // Franchising.com // CHICAGO - Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE: H) announced today the official opening of Andaz Munich Schwabinger Tor, the first Andaz branded hotel in Germany. Joining Andaz hotels in top destinations around the world, including New York, London, Amsterdam and Abu Dhabi, Andaz Munich Schwabinger Tor is the third Andaz branded hotel in Europe. The luxury lifestyle brand celebrates local culture, fully immersing guests in destinations through distinctive experiences that appeal to each of their senses. True to the brand, the hotel offers guests an unscripted Bavarian-inspired experience, allowing guests to feel like locals from the moment they arrive. The hotel is located in the Schwabing district, the cultural hub of the city and home to theaters, restaurants, and the renowned Englischer Garten.

Schwabinger Tor is a vibrant and bustling area in Munich known for its culture and diversity, said Mattheos Georgiou, general manager for Andaz Munich Schwabinger Tor. The hotel is a place for inquisitive travelers, guests, and neighbors with interest in the areas urban design, street art, and social responsibility. Munich is known as one of the most livable cities in the world, and the hotel will offer guests an immersive experience in the Bavarian capital.

Locally Inspired Design

Just as Munich combines new and old traditions, the interior design of Andaz Munich Schwabinger Tor weaves in the heart and soul of the city. Guests can take in a video installation by artist Yves Petzner in the lobby. Stone and herringbone oak floors, luminous diamond patterned ceilings, copper accents, and leather sofas all come together to emphasize the design style of Munich.

In a nod to the Englischer Garten, Munichs largest park located steps from the hotel, the meeting space area features a nature-inspired wall composed of vertically hanging plants. Additionally, the Andaz Lounge offers an authentic Bavarian feel, furnished with a golden pretzel  a seat made from a cast bronze alloy and produced by a local Munich art foundry.

Guestrooms

The hotel features 277 spacious, loft-inspired suites and guestrooms that deliver breathtaking views of the city and the Alps. Every room has been thoughtfully designed with contemporary interpretations of Bavarian traditions. Locally inspired snacks and drinks fill the mini-bar in each room. In a unique collaboration with Andaz Munich Schwabinger Tor, bath amenities in each guestroom were produced by La Bottega and Saskia Diez, an internationally renowned Munich jewelry designer. Custom-designed sofas, reminiscent of vintage car seats, provide a comfortable and luxurious setting.

Dining with a Sense of Place

The Lonely Broccoli celebrates the unique flavors of Bavaria by serving quality meat and using (almost) all parts of the animal. The menu offers a selection of prime cuts, grilled and slow-roasted meats, accompanied by local and seasonal produce. The open kitchen in the middle of the restaurant is accompanied by two long chefs tables offering front row seats to the culinary activities.

MUniqo, the dramatic rooftop bar, one of the highest in town, is the perfect place to socialize over botanical-infused cocktails, listen to live music, and take in a stunning, panoramic view of the city and the Alps.

Designed to stimulate the senses, Bicicletta, the hotels coffee bar, infuses aromas its artisan coffee and also offers fresh juices. Guests can enjoy their favorite beverage while sitting on unique bar stools shaped like bicycle seats. For a casual bite, guests can stop by Cafe M throughout the day for its deli menu.

Wellness

With carefully selected, regionally inspired products and healing treatments  massages, body rituals, facials and aromatherapy  every guest will leave The Andaz Spa, one of the citys largest spas, feeling truly connected to the heart and soul of Munich. A spiral staircase connects the spa to the 55 foot (17 meter) swimming pool, along with an elevator that takes guests directly to the pool deck, where, on a clear day, guests can see as far as the Alps. Gym-goers can take advantage of the fully equipped, state-of-the-art, 24-hour gym.

Meetings and Events

Measuring more than 21,530 square feet (2,000 square meters), Andaz Munich Schwabinger Tor is the perfect location for creative gatherings. Guests can choose from seven inspiring studios for meetings and events, two private kitchens, a 2,150 square foot (200 square meter) exhibition space, and a 5,380 square foot (500 square meter) ballroom with a diamond-shaped folding ceiling and countless programmable lighting options.

The studio spaces offer guests a creative and relaxed environment to work alone or host informal meetings. Situated across two floors and complete with comfortable sofas and playful elements, guests also have access to large flat-screen TVs and glass whiteboards.

Each gathering space reflects the neighborhood, such as the green wall with hanging plants in the welcome area thats inspired by the Englischer Garten.

Opposite the studios on both floors is a private kitchen seating 12 at a wooden table set under the playful, suspended lamps. Here, guests can enjoy the action of live cooking at every event.

For more information, please visit: https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/germany/andaz-munich-schwabinger-tor/mucaz

The term Hyatt is used in this release for convenience to refer to Hyatt Hotels Corporation and/or one or more of its affiliates.

About Andaz

Global in scale while local in perspective, the Andaz brand of luxury lifestyle hotels weaves the sights, sounds, and tastes of each propertys surroundings for a distinctively local experience. Through thoughtful, unscripted service tailored for travelers, Andaz hotels enable guests to go beyond the familiar and satiate their curiosity while immersing them in the spirit of the eclectic culture around them. Eighteen Andaz hotels are currently open: Andaz 5th Avenue and Andaz Wall Street in New York, Andaz San Diego, Andaz West Hollywood, Andaz Napa, Andaz Scottsdale Resort & Spa, Andaz Savannah, Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort, Andaz Ottawa ByWard Market, Andaz Mayakoba Resort Riviera Maya, Andaz Costa Rica Resort at Peninsula Papagayo, Andaz London Liverpool Street, Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht, Andaz Singapore, Andaz Delhi, Andaz Xintiandi in Shanghai, Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills, and Andaz Capital Gate Abu Dhabi. For more information, please visit andaz.com. Follow @Andaz on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and tag photos with #WhenInAndaz.

About Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global hospitality company with a portfolio of 19 premier brands. As of December 31, 2018, the Company's portfolio included more than 850 properties in 60 countries across six continents. The Company's purpose to care for people so they can be their best informs its business decisions and growth strategy and is intended to attract and retain top colleagues, build relationships with guests and create value for shareholders. The Company's subsidiaries develop, own, operate, manage, franchise, license or provide services to hotels, resorts, branded residences, vacation ownership properties, and fitness and spa locations, including under the Park Hyatt, Miraval, Grand Hyatt, Alila, Andaz, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, Destination, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Hyatt Ziva, Hyatt Zilara, Thompson Hotels, Hyatt Centric, Hyatt House, Hyatt Place, Joie de Vivre, tommie, Hyatt Residence Club and Exhale brand names, and operates the World of Hyatt loyalty program that provides distinct benefits and exclusive experiences to its valued members. For more information, please visit www.hyatt.com.

Media Contact:

Simone Loretan

Hyatt  Europe, Africa and the Middle East

+41 44 279 1226

simone.loretan@hyatt.com

Gloria Kennett

Hyatt

312-780-5506

gloria.kennett@hyatt.com

SOURCE Hyatt Hotels Corporation

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In July of 1947 near the Palestinian coast, the Exodus was rammed by British warships, and one of its crew and two passengers were killed when the British Royal Navy boarded, The Sun story said. All others were transferred to prison ships bound for Europe. After the French refused to forcibly remove the refugees, they were forced ashore at Hamburg, Germany.
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.
Every voting booth was filled by Madison County voters Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, as they filled out their paper ballots in Ridgeland, Miss. Voters have a number of races to consider, including judiciary and federal offices and some local issues. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Brandon, FL (WFTS) -- A Brandon man held a minor captive inside his home for 52 days, according to court documents. The Navy veteran, 39-year-old Thomas Hill, faces four felonies for allegedly driving across state lines to take the minor.

Court documents show he watched child porn, made the underage victim do chores and forced himself on them.

In an interview, Hill admitted to knowing the victims age and traveling to Georgia, but he told deputies he did it to rescue the minor. He claimed the victim was living with him.

Before taking the 300 plus mile trip to get the minor, Hillsborough County deputies say Hill spoke with them through social media.

Neighbor Manny Quinones says he saw Hill get arrested. His home on Big Cedar Way was surrounded by deputy cars, according to Quinones.

Details ABC Action News uncovered from a search warrant make Quinones cringe.

That is sick. That is sick, okay," he said.

The minor told investigators Hill held them against their will and forced himself on them. The minor also said they were forced to do chores like washing dishes and clothes.

Its blowing my mind because, like I said, I see him come in and out on a daily basis and Ive never seen any child come out of there," he said.

Authorities say Hill kept the minor for nearly two months while they were reported missing back home.

Its dumbfounding because this guy is so quiet. You hardly see him come out of his home," said Quinones.

ABC Action News knocked on his door but no one answered. We did find a seemingly old Facebook account showing him in his Navy uniform. He was enlisted for six years, according to the Navy.

Deputies seized potential evidence from Hill's duplex like his computer and a pink bondage kit.

Im a little unsettled now because, I mean, Ive never heard this from him. But to hear this? No. said Quinones.

ABC Action News also found out Hill worked at Hillsborough Community College as a lab tech. HCC tells us he didn't work with any minors and was fired February 12 for not showing up for work.

Hill was released on bond the week of February 18 for unlawful sex with a minor, traveling to meet with minor, false imprisonment and interference with custody. Hill has not been charged with child pornography.

ABC Action News reached out to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office but the agency said it could not comment on an active investigation.

The-CNN-Wire &  2019 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway Co. Ltd., the operator of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, one of China's busiest high-speed rail lines, has launched preparations for an initial public offering (IPO) on the mainland stock market.

A "Fuxing" high speed bullet train on Beijing-Shanghai high speed railway line leaves the Ji'nan West Railway Station in Ji'nan city, east China's Shandong province, 26 June 2017. [File Photo: IC]

The Beijing bureau of China Securities Regulatory Commission, the country's stock market regulator, on Tuesday published information on the pre-listing tutorial services provided by CSC Financial Co. Ltd. for Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway Co. Ltd. (BSHSR) on its website.

With high-quality assets and stable cash flows, the BSHSR has been turning a profit for more than three years in a row and is eligible for an IPO, according to the CRC.

The listing process is said to be part of a new "asset securitization" plan designed to reduce the corporate debt of China's state-run companies.

With a total length of 1,318 km and linking the capital with the eastern coastal economic hub of Shanghai, the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway has carried 940 million passengers since starting operation in June 2011.

No timetable for the IPO has been disclosed yet.
South Africa: Specialised units to be deployed in troubled Mamelodi

Specialised police units will be deployed in Mamelodi in an effort to curb crime, Police Minister Bheki Cele announced on Monday.

The Minister announced the intervention during a community engagement and imbizo in the area. He was accompanied by National Police Commissioner General Khehla Sitole, his Gauteng counterpart General Elias Mawela as well as Gauteng Community Safety MEC Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane.

During the meeting, residents took turns complaining of a wave of crime that has swept the area allegedly at the hands of a known criminal and his henchmen.

It is alleged that the gang extorts protection fees from businesses in the area and was behind a spate of robberies and vehicle hijackings. The community also complained about corrupt police officers who worked in cahoots with criminals, making it difficult to report crime.

Cele said it was time for government to govern and not allow criminals to terrorise communities.

Thats not what we went to the bush for, thats not what we went to Angola for. That was not what the struggle was for. We went to prison to make sure that the people of South Africa are safe, he said.

Cele urged Sitole to deploy the Tactical Response, National Intervention and Anti-Gang units in Mamelodi.

I want these units deployed here. I want to see who can stand in our way when it comes to fighting crime. Well come back to launch the [units]. We wont tell you when that will be. [The units] wont leave until the situation has returned to normal.

We wont leave while people still live in fear. We wont leave here while our people are still extorted protection fees. We wont leave while people are still being robbed.

Cele and the national and provincial police leadership began the day with an operation in the township.

Residents also requested that new police stations be built in far-flung areas, where residents are forced to travel long distances to access police services.

I stay in Nellmapius and I have to spend R40 to get to a police station. We are asking for a mobile station and police visibility in our area, said one community member.

She welcomed the roadblocks conducted in the morning, but said more had to be done to root out crimes such as car hijacking and drug abuse in the township.

Our children are dying because of drugs. Police should start doing their work properly and not provide excuses, she said.

Another resident complained that taverns were a source of crime and noise pollution.

Rape victims are afraid to report cases as the [police] are insensitive when handling the cases, asking demeaning questions. We are requests that victim-friendly rooms be provided with competent staff, she said.

Cele urged Mawela and Sitole to clean up the township.

If it means we die [while doing this], then so be it. There is no community that will be ruled by criminals, he said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-02-26. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
(CNN) -- Amtrak says a train with almost 200 people on board is finally moving again after 36 hours stuck in snowy spot south of Eugene, Oregon.

No one was hurt when the train hit a tree that had fallen onto the tracks Sunday about 6:18 p.m., Amtrak said. And passengers reported a "kumbaya" atmosphere during the ordeal.

The train is being pulled by a Union Pacific locomotive back toward Eugene, said Tim McMahan, spokesman for Union Pacific, which owns the Oregon rail line where the train had been stranded.

"The train had been inoperable due to weather conditions and downed trees," McMahan told CNN in an email. "UP crews worked overnight to clear the tracks."

Passenger Emilie Wyrick told CNN the train moved about a half-mile Tuesday morning before stopping again.

And Amtrak said it expects more delays as the formerly Los Angeles-bound train heads back north.

Record-setting snowfall

While they were stalled all those hours, passengers could see nearby Oregon Highway 58, closed due to snow and ice. The town of Oakridge has no electricity due to the weather, passenger Rebekah Dodson said.

The National Weather Service had predicted Sunday that up to 2 feet could fall in the area. By Tuesday morning, at least a foot had accumulated, the weather service said. Oakridge averages 1.1 inches in February.

Eugene, home to the University of Oregon about 45 miles northwest, had a record-setting 9.5 inches Monday, the weather service said.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari told CNN that none of the 183 passengers and dozen crew members were injured, but that after the accident "conditions further deteriorated with numerous track blockages from snow and fallen trees."

"Due to worsening conditions, area road closures and no viable way to safely transport passengers or crews via alternate transportation, Train 11 stopped in Oakridge, Oregon," he said. "We are actively working with Union Pacific to clear the right of way and get passengers off the train."

The train had power and enough food on board, for which passengers will not be charged, Amtrak said on Twitter on Monday.

'A giant kumbaya party'

With the help of heat, power and (so far) food, passengers said the mood on board has been surprisingly upbeat.

"It's just been like a giant kumbaya party," Dodson told CNN early Tuesday. "Strangers are playing cards. A teenager played his ukulele to kids to get them to sleep. Ladies who have never met before were dancing in aisles."

Still, she said, the "hardship" has been stressful as passengers cannot go anywhere. The train is surrounded by feet of snow. Some Los Angeles-bound college students have "panicked" because their professors won't accept their excuse for missing class, Dodson said.

Dodson said Tuesday morning that passengers had been told breakfast would be the last meal available.

Dodson was trying to return home to Klamath Falls after a teaching conference in Portland.

She said the passengers include families with children and a few dozen college students -- including about 20 students from Japan. Crew members had been "professional and nice" throughout.

Passenger Carly Bigby told CNN affiliate KOIN 6 the snack cart on the train is empty and people have run out of diapers for their children.

"A lot of the [older] kids have been really good but they're having to run up and down and it's a lot," she told the news station. "Especially the food -- it's not really food they're liking. Moms are doing all they can right now."

Bigby also said some people don't have good cell phone reception in the area where the train is stuck, and haven't been able to easily contact their families.

Train 11 operates daily between Seattle and Los Angeles, Magliari said.

The-CNN-Wire

 &  2019 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
MOBILE, Ala. -- Dr. Timothy L. Smith, president of the University of Mobile, has resigned effectively immediately.

The UM Board of Trustees announced the resignation of Smith early Tuesday afternoon. The fourth president of University of Mobile informed the board of his decision on Monday, citing personal reasons, according to the announcement.

Smith has served as president of University of Mobile since April 2016.

On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I would like to thank Dr. Smith for his service to University of Mobile, said Board of Trustees Chairman Fred Wilson, for a news release. Many significant accomplishments have been made under his tenure, and we are grateful for his leadership. The Board of Trustees is dedicated to continuing the forward momentum of University of Mobile.

Under Smiths leadership, the university significantly enhanced academic programming and added doctoral programs, built a state-of-the-art facility for health and science professions, increased national rankings and grew enrollment, according to the UM news release.

The Executive Committee and the Board of Trustees are working on finalizing plans for the immediate future of the university and ensuring a smooth transition, Wilson said.

University of Mobile is a Christ-centered liberal arts and sciences institution affiliated with the Alabama Baptist State Convention. Founded in 1961, the university has an enrollment of more than 1,700 and offers on-campus and online bachelors, masters and doctoral degree programs in over 90 areas of study.
MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) -- Officials say a gun used this weekend in a Mardi Gras shooting downtown was stolen last month from an unlocked car, magnifying a bigger problem in the Port City.

With more than 92,000 people pouring into downtown Mobile Saturday night, the situation could have easily been a lot worse. The after-party following the parade was interrupted by gunfire around 9 p.m. near Dearborn and Dauphin Street.

Dramatic cell phone video shows the moments of panic by patrons at El Papi Mexican Restaurant as shots rang out.

A 7-year-old girl and 17-year-old were injured in the shootout. Both had non-life threatening injuries.

Mobile Police arrested two teens, Isiah Carl and Tykendrick Barnett, both 17 years old.

"We continue to investigate. Two are arrested at this point, but we continue to look into others that are possibly involved. There could be more arrests," said James Barber, Mobile Public Safety Director.

Barber says the gun that was used in the shooting was reported stolen from an unlocked car in Mobile on January 4th.

"You know this is a story that seems like we keep reporting, almost every night on the nightly news, teenagers armed with stolen handguns, that end up settling disputes with gunfire," said Barber.

Following the shooting death of Mobile Police Officer Sean Tuder, this marks the second major crime where a stolen gun was used in the last month.

"Every year, more than 1,200 guns are stolen in the City of Mobile. Of those, 80% are taken from unlocked cars," explained Barber. "This is a problem our officers continue to encounter at crime scenes across the city, where a stolen gun is used."

Trying to get a handle on the problem, MPD released a public service announcement last week urging gun owners to be more responsible. It's a message Barber is trying to drive home.

"We certainly respect gun owners' rights to own a firearm and defend themselves, but along with that comes a responsibility to secure that weapon. And as I was telling you earlier - if you really think about it - you've got a gun owner in a home in the middle of the night that's arming a criminal that's only a few feet from his front door. That's a very scary thing to imagine," said Barber.

Barber says he'll be meeting later this week with state lawmakers about the stolen gun issue. While he doesn't believe gun owners should face criminal charges, he says they are continuing the discussion on possibly suspending or revoking their gun permit should it fall under this situation.
SARALAND, Ala. (WALA) -- Saraland authorities confirmed that a juvenile male has been arrested after posting a threat to Saraland High School Tuesday morning.

Officials say the threat was made on SnapChat and that the juvenile talked about violence taking place at the high school.

The social media post happened around 8:30 a.m. The juvenile was arrested approximately an hour later. He is being charged with making a terroristic threat.

The arrested juvenile is not a student of any Saraland city school and it is unclear where and if the male is a student of any school system.

Officials say light security was place at the school, "just to keep everyone's mind at ease but there is no imminent threat to the school."

Dr. Aaron Milner, superintendent of Saraland City Schools, made the following statement Tuesday morning shortly after the threat was made:

"Saraland City Schools in conjunction with the Saraland Police Department are currently investigating a threat toward Saraland High School through an online platform. It has been determined the threat was made by someone currently not affiliated with Saraland City Schools. At this time, Saraland High School is operating under a normal schedule and as a precautionary measure additional security is being provided by the Saraland Police Department. As always, the safety of our students will remain at the forefront of every decision. Thank you for your support, understanding, and patience as we attempt to ensure the individual who conveyed this threat is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Milner said some students saw something online and said something to officials. He said he is proud of that. Milner is also encouraging parents to play an active role in screening their children's phone activity.

Milner said, "Make sure your child is not utilizing their phones for things such as this, or their computer. Under Alabama law, parents can be held accountable for their child's behavior. I would urge our judges to begin holding parents accountable for anything like this that's done through a cell phone."

In the past two months, threats have been made to four Mobile County Public Schools. Police made arrests in all of those cases. There was also a threat to St. Paul's.
Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) made a mistake by announcing its planned Star Wars lands many years ahead of their opening. What became the soon-to-open Star Wars: Galaxy' Edge was first confirmed by the company in August 2015, nearly four years before the summer opening of the Disneyland version and more than four years before the late-fall launch at Disney World.

Making these plans public so early lead to some consumers deciding to postpone visits to the parks, specifically to Florida's Disney World group of theme parks. The company's California parks tend to rely on regional visitors who aren't spending as much to travel, while the Florida parks are tourist destinations.

Knowing that Star Wars was coming kept some -- maybe a lot of -- families from visiting over the past few years. That led to the company having to goose Florida attendance by dropping some local annual passholder summer blackout dates each of the past two years and offering low-priced multi-day tickets to Florida residents.

Now, as the company plans to make major changes to its Florida Epcot park, it has shown that it understands the mistake it made in going public with its Star Wars plans four years ahead of the real launch date.

What is Disney doing?

It's worth noting that the Star Wars lands were a somewhat unique situation. Disney started construction on them a few months after announcing them, and it was not like the company could keep its largest-ever in-park expansions a secret. Construction would have led to speculation, and many would have guessed Star Wars as a likely candidate to explain the unannounced building.

If, however, the company had worked without tipping its hand, it almost certainly could have shortened the period between the public getting confirmation of the Star Wars lands and their launch, and some of the Star Wars effects could have been minimized. With its now-public Epcot changes, Disney has offered a different type of narrative: The company has nine major changes on tap for the park, but they're being rolled out over three years, and none is so grand that the average person would postpone a trip to wait for one.

Disney has also been somewhat vague about its Epcot makeover. Some experiences, like films in the Canada and China pavilions, as well as a new sing-along experience in France, are coming "soon." Others, including a Guardians of the Galaxy-themed roller coaster, will take longer to open, and Disney has not offered a timeline aside from saying they will be completed by 2021.

Check out the latest Disney earnings call transcript.

How is this plan different?

Epcot is spacing out its attraction rollout, which should help in two ways. First, while waits for new rides will likely be long and attendance will be up, spreading out the additions over years should minimize the unpleasantness caused by super-packed parks. Second, the company has not made any specific period on the calendar a clear end date for people to push their vacations to.

Disney made the Star Wars situation worse by jumping the gun with its announcement of its plans. In this case, the company has big changes planned, but has released them in a way that actually dampens the excitement. Collectively, these changes -- which include a revamped park entrance and a new pavilion -- amount to a major overhaul of Epcot.

Disney isn't completely ignoring how these changes will impact Epcot. The company used the term "historic transformation" in a blog post, but that largely referred to the new "Play" pavilion that it has offered very little detail about. A new pavilion is exciting, but it's hard to justify postponing a trip for a space that has been introduced with intentionally vague language.

"This innovative, new pavilion is beyond anything we've ever created and is completely unique to Epcot," said Zach Riddley, portfolio executive, Walt Disney Imagineering in a blog post. "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."

That does sound like fun, but in a very non-specific way that shows you the company has a plan without telling you much about the plan. While the Star Wars news kept people away, the rolling nature of the Epcot introductions may actually encourage multiple visits. In other words, come this summer for the new films, the singalong, and a limited-time new nighttime show, and come next year for a new ride and maybe a new highly themed eatery.

It's a "something's always new at Epcot" approach that keeps consumers from seeing the current park as a work in progress. It's possible that some consumers will put the pieces together and see these changes as a huge collective whole. Most, however, probably won't do that, and that should keep park visitation steady even as the company quietly makes major changes.
Chaffey College has been ranked the No. 3 community college in California to enroll and graduate Hispanic students. This photo was taken at the Chaffey graduation in 2018. (Contributed photo by Chaffey College)
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The committees vice chairman, Del. Eric Bromwell, said he likely would have voted against the bill in past years. But the Baltimore County Democrat said the changes made him more comfortable with the bill, because they addressed some of the key concerns raised at the committees public hearing.
KaiOS Technologies, maker of KaiOS has announced an expansion of their partnership with Google. With this deal, KaiOS will get deeper integration of Googles services like the Google Assistant and Google Maps, and can now access YouTube for the first time on their smart feature phones.

The company also mentioned that more than five new KaiOS-powered devices boasting Google functionality will be launching in the Middle-East, Africa, Latin America, and Europe, supported by Orange, MTN, Avenir Telecom, and several other carriers and OEMs. Googles product suite has been tailored specifically for the KaiOS platform with the Google Assistant, Google Search, and Google Maps coming preloaded on every device shipped to Africa, Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia.

Google Assistant on KaiOS will be rolling out later this year and will offer new voice input capabilities across the entire OS. The upcoming new devices running on KaiOS are important additions to the current smart feature phone market.

The Sanza from Orange will be available to consumers in 16 countries in Africa in April 2019. Ooredoo will launch a new KaiOS device in Qatar, while Energizer will launch eight new phones running on KaiOS in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Sebastien Codeville, CEO of KaiOS Technologies said:
Sony has launched the WI-C600N wireless noise-canceling neckband headphones. It features Digital noise cancellation with One Push Artificial Intelligence Noise-Cancelling (AINC) that lets you listen to nothing but your music when youre on the move. You can also choose to let in surrounding ambient sound by activating the Ambient Sound Mode.

The Ambient Sound Mode lets in just the right amount of outside noise to keep users aware of their surroundings. Switch easily between Noise Cancelling and Ambient Sound Mode with a simple push of a button. The WI-C600N comes equipped with DSEE (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine) which is a technology developed by Sony that enhances the sound quality of compressed audio files by restoring high-range sound removed by the compression process.

It offers a 6.5-hours battery with noise cancellation turned on and 7.5-hours battery with noise cancellation turned off. WI-C600N offers compact 6-mm drivers keeping the earphones small for a comfortable fit. It supports Google Assistant and Siri for hands-free controls.

The WI-C600N also supports one-touch listening so users can instantly stream music via Bluetooth with just a tap on the smartphone on the NFC logo of WI-C600N. With the Sony Headphones Connect app, users can tune the headphone as per their liking. The Sony WI-C600N will be available from February 27th across all Sony Centers and major electronic stores in India priced at Rs. 10,990.
Update: POCO has finally confirmed that Netflix HD content playback will be available soon, as it has announced in the latest feedback post that it has some progress with Netflix. Hope we can expect an update soon to enable it soon. The company is yet to roll out stable update to add widevine L1 and 4K 60 fps support.

Earlier: Xiaomis sub-brand POCO launched POCO F1 in India last year. The phone did not have widevine L1 support at the launch so that users could not stream HD content on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. The company already confirmed it will look into it and later it confirmed that it is working with Google and Qualcomm, and is planning to release an update which will bring the widevine L1 support to POCO F1.

Guys! You asked for it, we got it. #POCOF1 is now Widevine L1 certified. We have started rolling out an OTA update (version  9.2.25) for beta users . Once the beta test is complete, we shall roll it in the upcoming stable updates. We really appreciate your patience.@IndiaPOCO  C Manmohan (@cmanmohan) February 26, 2019

Yesterday the company started rolling out closed beta update v9.2.25 to F1 that enabled Widevine L1 support to the phone. Even though Amazon supports HD Playback after the update, POCOPHONE Head Alvin Tse confirmed that some are not willing to certify devices that have launched already, so this could be reason HD playback still doesnt work on Netflix.

Not possible because partner not willing to certify devices that have already launched even though we have the technical solution  Alvin Tse (@atytse) February 16, 2019

Since the v9.2.25 is still in beta, it might take sometime to reach everyone. We will let you know once it rolls out to everyone.

Source
HMD Globals Nokia 9 PureView created a huge buzz even before the launch with several unofficial appearances on the web. Having said that, we already had some idea about what to expect from Nokia 9. Well, the company has made Nokia 9 Pureview official at an event in MWC 2019 recently.

Check out our first impression video here:

Substance packed Penta-Camera with ZEISS Optics

The Nokia 9 Pureview is all about stunning and substance packed Penta-camera setup on the back. It has five 12MP cameras two RGB and three monochrome lenses to collect up to 10-times the amount of light than a single colour sensor, with ZEISS Optics.

No non-sense, no notch!

The Nokia 9 comes with a 6000-series aluminium unibody sandwiched between Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on front and back. It measures 8mm in thickness and weighs around 172grams. On the front, it has 5.99-inch (25601440 pixels) Quad HD pOLED display without any notch. Having said that, there is a thin bezel on the top and bottom, deal with it.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC and why?

Out of the box, it runs on Android 9.0 (Pie) and comes with an in-display fingerprint scanner. Under the hood, the Nokia 9 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, which might sound a little disappointing. However, this can be justified with a couple of reasons.

Firstly, the existing Snapdragon 845 SoC has been particularly customised to support the five cameras on the back. To be more specific, the Snapdragon 845 SoC has Light Lux Capacitor that allows the Nokia 9 to capture and fuse these photos.

Secondarily, as we all know the Nokia 9 has been in news for quite some time now, if the company opt for Snapdragon 855 chipset, it could delay its launch even longer.

Limited edition!

Moving on to the storage, the Nokia 9 comes with 6GB LPDDR4x RAM and 128GB (UFS) storage. Notably, this limited edition Nokia 9 comes just in Midnight Blue colour. It also lacks headphone jack, which means, you will have to stick with USB Type-C headphones or Bluetooth or True Wireless headsets.

IP67, Qi wireless charging and more!

Another worthiest thing about Nokia9 is the water-resistant body with IP67 ratings and packs a 3320mAh battery with support for fast charging and Qi wireless charging.

Game changing camera setup

Coming to the crucial part, the Nokia 9 utilises Zeiss optics, powered multi-sensor camera company Light. For your information, Light is the company behind L16 a camera with 16 lenses. Another point worth mentioning here is theres no camera bump and is completely flat.

Unlike other multi-camera smartphones, the cameras behind the Nokia 9 cant be used individually. To make it simple and crisp, all the cameras work together to produce an amazingly detailed photograph.

More information = more details

It captures HDR shots using five cameras simultaneously with up to 12.4 stops of dynamic range and a full scene 12MP depth map and fuses it together into one 12MP photo with outstanding dynamic range and depth of field to refocus later.

Captures RAW DNG file alongside the JPEG

Furthermore, it is capable of shooting 60-megapixel images in burst mode and can process up to 240 megapixels of data. On top of that, it also features the ability to capture images in uncompressed RAW DNG format and edit them directly on the phone with Adobe Lightroom and Native black-and-white photography.

Lightroom mobile app to get update

Consequently, Adobe will be rolling out an update to the Lightroom mobile app to support Nokia 9s five camera lens profiles as well. This update is expected to offer better image quality and robust control. It also includes a 20-megapixel front camera.

A lot more to explore!

According to the company claims, Each 12MP JPG image can benefit from outstanding detail in areas of both bright sunlight and dark shadows at the same time with incredible texture. The depth map allows beautiful bokeh, giving you the possibility to adjust focus in Google Photos after you have taken the shot.

Price and availability

The Nokia 9 PureView comes in Midnight Blue colour, is priced at $699 (Rs. 49,650 approx) and will go on sale in March and is already available for pre-orders in select markets.

Vigneshwar contributed to this post
What right do you have to make that statement about a place you dont live in? We need to take a stand and all of us in Harford County need to [tell] Mary Ann Lisanti, We need to have a conversation with you, we need to understand why you made that statement, Smith said. We have enough issues going on. We would think people of her status  you can talk like you want around the dinner table  when youre representing all of us, as citizens of Harford County, I would think you would not have used that kind of language with anybody, white or black."
Geneva, NY (14456)

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Rain showers in the morning with numerous thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. High 92F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

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A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds light and variable.
Im encouraged by the fact that our numbers of teachers of color hired, although the numbers are small, they do reflect growth, and they do reflect growth from looking at the ranks of those existing [teachers], Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Jean A. Mantegna told members of the Harford County Board of Education at their meeting Monday night in Bel Air.
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(Reuters) - Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Monday signed an order withdrawing the state's National Guard troops from the U.S.-Mexico border, saying there was not enough evidence of a national security crisis to justify keeping them there. The Democratic governor's decision to pull back around 112 troops follows similar moves by Democratic leaders of New Mexico and California who said President Donald Trump, a Republican, had invented a crisis on the border for political gain. 'There is simply not ample evidence to support the presidents contention that there exists a national security crisis at our southwestern border,' Evers said in a statement, adding that securing the border was the responsibility of U.S.

(Reuters) - Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Monday signed an order withdrawing the state's National Guard troops from the U.S.-Mexico border, saying there was not enough evidence of a national security crisis to justify keeping them there.

The Democratic governor's decision to pull back around 112 troops follows similar moves by Democratic leaders of New Mexico and California who said President Donald Trump, a Republican, had invented a crisis on the border for political gain.

"There is simply not ample evidence to support the presidents contention that there exists a national security crisis at our southwestern border," Evers said in a statement, adding that securing the border was the responsibility of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.

The move was a rebuke to Trump, who won election in 2016 partly on a populist pledge to build a wall on the southern U.S. border.

Trump's demand for $5.7 billion to help build the wall was central to a 35-day partial U.S. government shutdown that ended last month. After Congress refused to grant him the funds, Trump declared a national emergency to gain money for the wall.

A coalition of 16 states led by California sued Trump this month over his use of emergency powers.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said Trump's claims of an illegal immigration crisis was "political theatre" at a time when border crossings were at their lowest level since 1971.

Trump deployed an additional 3,750 U.S. troops to the border this month, taking the total number of active duty and National Guard forces supporting Customs and Border Protection agents to more than 6,500.

(Reporting by Andrew Hay in New Mexico; editing by Bill Tarrant and G Crosse)

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Salman Taseer, the former governor of Punjab, had in 2008 claimed that the Sharif brothers  Shehbaz and Nawaz  are too close to terrorists including Maulana Masood Azhar, says WikiLeaks

New Delhi: After the Indian Air Force bombed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camps in Balakot area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistani leader Shehbaz Sharif, brother of former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif was quoted by Geo TV as saying that 'Pakistan's flag will fly in Delhi.'

The statement from the Pakistan leader appears to validate India's claim that successive governments in Pakistan have been sheltering terrorists to be used against India for proxy war.

Salman Taseer, the former governor of Punjab, had in 2008 claimed that the Sharif brothers  Shehbaz and Nawaz  are too close to terrorists including Maulana Masood Azhar.

In the WikiLeaks file on Shehbaz Sharif, Taseer lamented: "the Punjab government has done nothing to arrest Qari Saif Ullah Akhtar of Harkat Jihad al Islami; Maulana Masood Azhar of Jaiseh-e-Muhammad; Maulana Ludianvi of Sipah-e-Sahaba, or Hafiz Muhammad Saeed Azhar of Lashkar-e-Taiba  despite outstanding warrants for their detention (sic)".

Taseer further claimed: "the Sharif brothers 'keep going to madrassas that are extremely reactionary', and canoodling with maulvis. Shehbaz and his brother Nawaz have ignored the growing extremist threat in Punjab".

The bombing of JeM camps has angered younger Sharif, who has all along supported terror outfits along with his brother Nawaz. Both have been accused of flirting with the most-wanted terrorists in Pakistan.

In another leaked cable on WikiLeaks, Shehbaz had conceded in 2008 that terrorism was becoming a serious problem. He, however, gave himself a clean chit.

"Shehbaz blamed the increasing activity on lack of socio-economic development in the region and an influx of money from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait that while originally destined for religious charities often found its way into the hands of radical madrassa and mosque leaders with ties to the Taliban, al-Qaeda and other terrorist entities," the leaked cable said.

Shehbaz had promised the Americans that a number of madrassas to be closed, forcibly reformed, or monitored under a new programme designed to help end terrorism problem. However, his home secretary had told American envoys that they were unaware of Masood Azhar's whereabouts.
By Nathan Layne (Reuters) - Special Counsel Robert Mueller is preparing to submit to U.S. Attorney General William Barr a report detailing his findings in the investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 presidential election and any links to the Trump campaign. Mueller has been looking since May 2017 into whether U.S.

By Nathan Layne

(Reuters) - Special Counsel Robert Mueller is preparing to submit to U.S. Attorney General William Barr a report detailing his findings in the investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 presidential election and any links to the Trump campaign.

Mueller has been looking since May 2017 into whether U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign conspired with Russia and whether Trump unlawfully sought to obstruct the probe. Mueller already has indicted or secured guilty pleas from 34 people, including six associates of Trump, as well as three Russian entities.

Here is a look at possible scenarios following the completion of Mueller's report.

REPORT FINDS TRUMP INVOLVED IN RUSSIA CONSPIRACY

Among those who already have pleaded guilty or have been convicted are: former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort; former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen; former national security advisor Michael Flynn; and former Trump campaign aides Richard Gates and George Papadopoulos. Others indicted include Trump adviser Roger Stone and Russian intelligence officers.

But the central question is whether Mueller will find that Trump himself played a role in a conspiracy with Moscow to boost his chances of winning the election or committed obstruction of justice to try to impede the Russia probe. Trump has denied collusion and obstruction.

If Mueller's report reveals a willingness by Trump to collude with Russia or contains evidence of direct coordination involving the Republican president, such findings could be the starting gun for the Democratic-led House of Representatives to launch the impeachment process set out in the U.S. Constitution to remove a president from office.

Current Justice Department policy opposes bringing criminal charges against a sitting president.

Stone's indictment points to instances in which people connected to the campaign communicated with him about Wikileaks, the website that released emails that U.S. officials have said Russians stole from Democrats to harm Trump's Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. For example, after a July 2016 release of emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee a "senior Trump campaign official was directed to contact STONE about any additional releases" by Wikileaks, the indictment stated. The sentence's wording left open the possibility that Trump himself directed the campaign official.

Sam Nunberg, a former Trump aide and Republican political consultant, said any evidence that Trump was willing to work with Moscow, even without proof that he actually did that, might be enough for Democrats to draw up articles of impeachment.

"That's impeachable for the Democrats," Nunberg said.

The U.S. Constitution sets specific grounds for impeachment: treason, bribery or "other high crimes and misdemeanours." If the House approves any articles of impeachment, the Senate then would hold a trial to determine whether to remove the president from office. The Senate is controlled by Trump's fellow Republicans. Only two presidents have been impeached in American history, and neither was removed.

There is also the issue of obstruction. Legal experts have pointed to Trump's firing of former FBI director James Comey while he was leading the Russia probe, Comey's allegation that Trump asked him to end the investigation of Flynn, and the president's dangling a possible pardon to Manafort among other acts that may amount to obstruction of justice.

Barr, months before Trump named him as attorney general, last year wrote an unsolicited memo to the Justice Department arguing Mueller should not be permitted to investigate obstruction by the president.

NOBODY IN TRUMP CAMPAIGN IMPLICATED IN RUSSIA CONSPIRACY

Mueller's cases against Manafort and Stone have come the closest to showing coordination between Trump's campaign and Russia. Manafort shared election polling data with his Russian associate Konstantin Kilimnik, who prosecutors have said is tied to Russian intelligence. Manafort attended a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York with other campaign officials with a Russian lawyer who promised "dirt" on Clinton. Mueller also found that Stone communicated with Wikileaks and the Russian hacker dubbed Guccifer 2.0.

But Mueller's evidence made public to date falls short of demonstrating Trump and his campaign colluded with Russia. Collusion is a non-legal term often used to describe acts that in a criminal context in this investigation likely would translate to a charge of conspiracy against the United States.

If Mueller's report goes no further, it could set back any Democratic effort to impeach Trump. But House Democrats could proceed with their own investigations that could cause Trump ongoing political damage heading into his 2020 re-election bid.

"If nothing more comes out than what is public then I think Trump could claim victory," said Nelson Cunningham, a former federal prosecutor in New York and White House lawyer under Democratic President Bill Clinton.

REPORT IMPLICATES OTHERS IN CONSPIRACY BUT NOT TRUMP

Transcripts of closed court hearings this month indicated Mueller considers Manafort's alleged lies about his interactions with Kilimnik to be "at the heart" of the probe into possible collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia.

But that disclosure suggested Mueller was still trying to determine whether collusion occurred. In addition to sharing polling data, court filings show, Manafort and Kilimnik discussed a "Ukrainian peace plan," a reference to Kremlin-friendly proposals to resolve the Ukraine conflict and end U.S. sanctions on Russia.

It is possible Mueller's report will show that Manafort or others in Trump's orbit conspired with Russians but there was no credible evidence Trump himself was involved or aware. While politically damaging to Trump, such a finding may not be enough to trigger an impeachment effort, though it could fuel House committee investigations.

"It's not enough to show the Russians used their people," said Robert Ray, who served as the second independent counsel in the 1990s Whitewater probe involving the Clintons' business dealings, adding there would need to be proof that Trump's people actively colluded to the point that it violated the law.

"I don't think it occurred," Ray said.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in New York; Additional reporting by David Morgan in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham)

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Indian officials said the raid destroyed a training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed, the militant group behind a suicide attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 members of a paramilitary police force on 14 February. Indias foreign secretary said a very large number of JEM terrorists had been eliminated in what was the first Indian air strike on Pakistani territory since 1971.

Balakot: Villagers near the town of Balakot in northeast Pakistan were shaken out of their sleep by what seemed like an earthquake in the early hours of Tuesday, only discovering once dawn broke that there had been an Indian airstrike on their neighbourhood.

Indian officials said the raid destroyed a training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed, the militant group behind a suicide attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 members of a paramilitary police force on 14 February. Indias foreign secretary said a very large number of JEM terrorists had been eliminated in what was the first Indian air strike on Pakistani territory since 1971.

The villagers, however, said only one person was wounded in the attack and they knew of no fatalities.

A resident, who did not want to give his name, said there was a nearby madrasa run by Jaish, though most villagers were guarded talking about their militant neighbours.

There is this madrasa on the hilltop. The Jaish-e-Mohammed runs it, he said.

Another person, who also declined to give his name, said the militants had had a presence in the area for years.

I belong to that area. I know for sure that there has been a training camp. It used to be there. I know Jaish people ran it, he said.

This camp was turned into a madrasa several years ago, but no one would still be allowed to get close to this infrastructure. There are scores of students in the madrasa at any given time, he said.

Set in a wooded, hilly area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on the way to the scenic Kaghan valley, some 40 kilometres from the de facto border with India, Balakot was of many towns that was devastated by a massive earthquake in 2005.

From what villagers could see, the Indian attack had missed its target as the bombs dropped exploded about a kilometre away from the madrasa.

Mohammad Ajmal, a 25 year-old villager near Jaba Top, where the attack took place, said he had heard four loud bangs in succession just before 3 am. (2200 GMT).

We couldnt tell what had happened. It was only in the morning that we figured out it was an attack, he told Reuters after visiting the site, in a wooded hilltop area. We saw fallen trees and one damaged house, and four craters where the bombs had fallen.

Fida Hussain Shah, a 46 year-old farmer, said he and other villagers had found pieces of Indian ordnance that had splintered pine trees on the hill but the only casualty was a man sleeping in his house when shrapnel broke the windows.
By Nelson Bocanegra CUCUTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Sergeant Javier Gonzalez knew he would be killed if caught deserting Venezuela's military to flee to Colombia, but the thought of his nine-month-old son suffering the lack of milk and diapers in his economically devastated country steeled his resolve. Gonzalez's wife, Sergeant Kari Castro, escaped a day later on Sunday, crossing a riverbed near the Colombia city of Cucuta with their baby and two other family members

By Nelson Bocanegra

CUCUTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Sergeant Javier Gonzalez knew he would be killed if caught deserting Venezuela's military to flee to Colombia, but the thought of his nine-month-old son suffering the lack of milk and diapers in his economically devastated country steeled his resolve.

Gonzalez's wife, Sergeant Kari Castro, escaped a day later on Sunday, crossing a riverbed near the Colombia city of Cucuta with their baby and two other family members.

The couple are two of at least 167 members of the Venezuelan armed forces who have deserted and turned themselves into Colombia's migration agency over the last three days.

The desertions began Saturday, during a failed attempt by Venezuela's opposition to drive a convoy of hundreds of tonnes of international humanitarian aid into the country, despite a refusal by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to accept the food and medicine.

Two trucks caught fire on a border bridge, after being halted at Venezuelan National Guard barricades. Violent clashes between protesters and the armed forces left almost 300 wounded and at least three protesters dead near the Brazilian border.

The support of the military is considered key for Maduro to retain his hold on the country, especially since last month, when opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency.

"I deserted for the life of my son. We're working for a salary that doesn't stretch to anything. We can't live in misery. Enough, we're tired," said former national guardsman Gonzalez, 28, who earned about $13 a month in the ranks.

Shortages of basic goods and political unrest finally pushed the family to leave, said Castro, 38, who has spent half her life serving in the armed forces.

"It's so difficult to go to another country when you've given your life to an institution," she said.

Gonzalez said that since his desertion he has been in contact with former colleagues who are also willing to defect. Many in the armed forces are afraid of Maduro's intelligence forces, he said, which has reportedly tortured and killed those who go against Maduro.

"They're going to do it - I have lots of colleagues writing to me and they are motivated, they just need a little push," he said during an interview in Cucuta.

The couple said they are willing to return to their home country to help Guaido wrest control from Maduro, who denies any crisis and says the aid convoys are a U.S.-backed ruse to oust him.

"It's never too late to take the step - if our president Guaido is supporting us, we'll support him," said Gonzalez, who served in the national guard for eight years. "If we must form units here to plan the takeover of our country we'll do it."

Guaido, recognised by most Western nations as Venezuela's legitimate leader, urged foreign powers to consider "all options" for ousting Maduro at a Monday meeting of the Lima Group regional bloc.

Colombian President Ivan Duque told the body the desertions showed there are cracks inside the Venezuelan armed forces and called for a "domino effect" of more defections.

(Reporting by Nelson Bocanegra; writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Helen Murphy and Lisa Shumaker)

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By Sonali Paul MELBOURNE (Reuters) - An Australian court has found Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican treasurer and a former top adviser to Pope Francis, guilty on five charges of child sexual offences committed more than two decades ago against 13-year-old boys. The verdict was made public on Tuesday following the lifting of a court suppression order on the trial, after a second abuse case against Pell was dropped by the prosecution. A jury in the Country Court of Victoria in Melbourne found Pell guilty on Dec

By Sonali Paul

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - An Australian court has found Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican treasurer and a former top adviser to Pope Francis, guilty on five charges of child sexual offences committed more than two decades ago against 13-year-old boys.

The verdict was made public on Tuesday following the lifting of a court suppression order on the trial, after a second abuse case against Pell was dropped by the prosecution.

A jury in the Country Court of Victoria in Melbourne found Pell guilty on Dec. 11 last year following a four-week trial.

Pell becomes the most senior Catholic clergyman worldwide to be convicted for child sex offences. He had pleaded not guilty to all five charges.

He was convicted of five sexual offences committed against the 13-year-old choir boys 22 years earlier in the priests' sacristy of St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne, where Pell was archbishop. One of the two victims died in 2014.

Each of the five offences carries a maximum 10 years in jail. Pell's lawyers have filed an appeal against the verdict on three grounds, which if successful could lead to a retrial.

Pell, who remains on bail, left the court on Tuesday without speaking to reporters, who virtually mobbed him as he walked from the courthouse steps to a waiting car. He is due to return to court on Wednesday for the start of his sentencing hearing.

The verdict has been made public as the Catholic church tries to deal with a growing child sexual abuse crisis, following scandals in the United States, Chile, Germany and Australia.

Pope Francis ended a conference on sexual abuse on Sunday, calling for an "all out battle" against a crime that should be "erased from the face of the earth".

The Vatican said in December that Francis had removed Pell, 77, from his group of close advisers, without commenting on the trial.

Pell, who took indefinite leave in 2016 from his role as economy minister for the Vatican to fight the charges, was not called to the stand in the trial.

Instead, the jury was shown in open court a video recording of an interview Australian police held with Pell in Rome in October 2016, in which he strenuously denied the allegations.

The jury was also shown a video recording of the surviving victim's testimony behind closed doors.

The court had issued a suppression order on the trial out of concern that a second trial Pell faced could be prejudiced by the outcome of the first case. But prosecutors dropped the charges on Tuesday.

Judge Peter Kidd had extended bail for Pell, who had been walking with a crutch throughout the trial, to allow him to undergo double-knee surgery in Sydney in December. His bail had been extended since then.

(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Sam Holmes, Neil Fullick and Michael Perry)

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By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators said on Monday a Trump administration briefing had not changed opinions on the need to push back at Saudi Arabia over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and its conduct in the war in Yemen, and predicted a Senate vote on whether to end U.S. involvement in Yemen as soon as next week

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators said on Monday a Trump administration briefing had not changed opinions on the need to push back at Saudi Arabia over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and its conduct in the war in Yemen, and predicted a Senate vote on whether to end U.S. involvement in Yemen as soon as next week.

Officials from the U.S. State and Defence Departments met with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee behind closed doors on Monday to discuss the situation in Yemen, amid a months-long outcry in Congress about Saudi Arabia.

"I don't think they won any hearts and minds," Democratic Senator Chris Murphy told reporters as he left the briefing.

Critics of Riyadh, including some of President Donald Trump's fellow Republicans as well as Democrats, have blasted a Saudi-led coalition waging an air campaign in Yemen's civil war over high civilian casualties.

They also were outraged about Khashoggi's killing last year at a Saudi consulate in Turkey, and, more recently, the administration's failure to meet a deadline to report to Congress about whether Saudi officials and members of the royal family, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, were behind the death of the Saudi journalist, a legal U.S. resident who wrote for The Washington Post.

In Saudi Arabia, 11 suspects have been indicted in the murder, and officials have rejected accusations that the crown prince ordered the killing.

Senator Jim Risch, the committee's Republican chairman, declined comment as he left the briefing. But he said in a statement earlier on Monday that the administration has been "in constant communication" with him about the investigation into Khashoggi's killing.

Risch said the committee also planned a separate classified briefing with the administration this week in relation to Global Magnitsky human rights sanctions and Saudi Arabia.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers triggered a provision of the Global Magnitsky human rights act in October, giving the administration 120 days until Feb. 8 to report on who was responsible for the death of Khashoggi and whether the United States would impose sanctions on that person or persons.

Members of Congress have introduced several pieces of legislation seeking to push back against Riyadh. This month, the Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives approved a rare war powers resolution seeking to end U.S. support for the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen. [L1N20820U]

Murphy, a backer of the resolution, said he expected the Senate to begin voting on it next week. Although Trump's Republicans hold a slim Senate majority, a similar resolution passed in the chamber last year.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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By Jan Wolfe WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. lawmakers have vowed a court fight if necessary to secure the public release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's full report on his investigation into possible coordination between President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia. But such a court challenge could face numerous hurdles, legal experts said on Monday, adding that the Justice Department might have reasons far beyond protecting President Donald Trump from legal and political fallout in withholding at least parts of the Mueller report

By Jan Wolfe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. lawmakers have vowed a court fight if necessary to secure the public release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's full report on his investigation into possible coordination between President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia.

But such a court challenge could face numerous hurdles, legal experts said on Monday, adding that the Justice Department might have reasons far beyond protecting President Donald Trump from legal and political fallout in withholding at least parts of the Mueller report.

"Congress can subpoena the information Mueller has collected, but faces huge hurdles in getting it," said Ross Garber, a lawyer in Washington who focuses on political investigations. "It would have to file a civil lawsuit, which would take a long time to get through the court system, likely many years."

Mueller is preparing the eagerly anticipated report on the investigation he took over in May 2017 examining potential Trump campaign conspiracy with Moscow to help tip the election his way and whether he has sought unlawfully to obstruct the probe.

A report finding either collusion or obstruction could lead the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives to consider launching the impeachment process set out under the U.S. Constitution to remove a president from office.

The Justice Department regulations governing Mueller's appointment as special counsel called for him to write a "confidential report" explaining any criminal charges he brought, as well as any decisions not to prosecute. Mueller will submit his report to U.S. Attorney General William Barr, a Trump appointee who is required to provide a summary of Mueller's findings to Congress.

Under the regulations, it is up to Barr to decide whether to release Mueller's report to the public. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said on Sunday his fellow Democrats would be prepared to subpoena the report to win its release, call Mueller to testify and take the fight to court if necessary.

If Barr defied a congressional subpoena and refused to disclose the full report, the House could vote to hold him in contempt of Congress and seek to enforce their subpoena through a civil lawsuit in federal court.

"The congressional subpoena power is an important fail-safe in case the Mueller report is suppressed or heavily redacted," former federal prosecutor Elie Honig said.

"But it's not as simple as, 'Here's a subpoena, hand over the entire report,' or 'Here's a subpoena, now Mueller has to tell us everything he knows.' There are various limitations on what a subpoena recipient can and would have to turn over, and some of those limitations could end up being litigated in court," Honig added.

Such disputes between the Justice Department and Congress have happened before, typically being resolved through closed-door negotiations before a court has a chance to rule, University of Michigan-Dearborn political science professor Mitchel Sollenberger said.

In 2012, the House, then controlled by Republicans, voted to hold Democratic President Barack Obama's attorney general, Eric Holder, in contempt for refusing to turn over documents related to a failed federal law enforcement operation dubbed "Fast and Furious" targeting gun traffickers.

A House committee sued Holder to obtain the documents. The litigation dragged on until a 2018 settlement was reached calling for the production of documents after Obama and Holder already had left office.

GRAND JURY DETAILS

One issue that could complicate Democratic efforts to win release of the report is that it might include information about closed-door grand jury proceedings that authorized Mueller's indictments, Honig said. Barr has limits to his ability to make information about grand jury proceedings public, Honig added.

Another obstacle for securing release of the report is the possibility that Trump's administration would invoke a doctrine called executive privilege that lets a president withhold certain information from Congress or the courts.

The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed use of executive privilege to ensure that a president can get candid advice from his advisers without worrying about the private conversations later being made public.

But the high court ruled in a 1974 case involving President Richard Nixon that executive privilege cannot be used to cover up White House wrongdoing. For that reason, Trump likely would not be able to invoke executive privilege to withhold the Mueller report, Sollenberger said. Nixon resigned later in 1974 amid the Watergate scandal.

In addition, the Justice Department has policies against it revealing information about ongoing criminal investigations and against releasing information about conduct it decides not to charge as criminal. While Mueller's report would signal the end of his investigation, other federal prosecutors are pursuing related matters including the New York charges already brought against Trump's former longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen.

Barr himself criticized former FBI Director James Comey for revealing information publicly in 2016 about an investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of state.

"If you're not going to indict someone, you don't stand up there and unload negative information about the person," Barr told his Senate confirmation hearing last month. "That's not the way the department does business."

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe,; Additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Ross Colvin and Will Dunham)

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By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - A slowing economy is unlikely to crimp China's 2019 defence budget rise, as Beijing earmarks more spending for modernisation and big-ticket items like stealth jets, and focuses on Taiwan after a stern new year's speech from President Xi Jinping. The defence spending figure is closely watched worldwide for clues to China's strategic intentions as it develops new military capabilities, including aircraft carriers and anti-satellite missiles. In 2018, China unveiled its largest defence spending increase in three years, setting an 8.1 percent growth target for the year, fuelling an ambitious military upgrade programme and making its neighbours nervous.

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - A slowing economy is unlikely to crimp China's 2019 defence budget rise, as Beijing earmarks more spending for modernisation and big-ticket items like stealth jets, and focuses on Taiwan after a stern new year's speech from President Xi Jinping.

The defence spending figure is closely watched worldwide for clues to China's strategic intentions as it develops new military capabilities, including aircraft carriers and anti-satellite missiles.

In 2018, China unveiled its largest defence spending increase in three years, setting an 8.1 percent growth target for the year, fuelling an ambitious military upgrade programme and making its neighbours nervous.

The 2019 number should be revealed at the March 5 opening of the annual session of China's largely rubber-stamp parliament, although in 2017 it was initially not announced, prompting renewed concerns about transparency.

China plans to set a lower economic growth target of 6-6.5 percent in 2019 compared with last year's target of around 6.5 percent, policy sources have told Reuters. The government will also announced the economic growth target on March 5.

However, the defence budget increase could well surpass that.

Influential state-run tabloid the Global Times, which takes a strongly nationalistic line, this month cited an unidentified military expert as saying "a stable 8-9 percent increase from 2018 would be a reasonable prediction".

China still has a long way to go to catch Western forces because the number of advanced weapons now in its arsenal, such as the J-20 stealth fighter, remain limited, the paper said.

Xie Yue, a professor of political science at Tongji University in Shanghai and a security expert, said with a weakening economy there would naturally be an expectation for a slower increase in military spending.

"It should go down, as the defence budget is connected to economic growth, but certainly factors will probably mean it will still go up, like the South China Sea and Taiwan issues," Xie said.

Xi's January speech threatening to attack Taiwan should it not accept Chinese rule has shot the issue back up the agenda for China's military thinkers, especially as the island gears up for presidential elections next year.

"The Taiwan question can't keep being put off, passed down through the generations," retired Chinese Major General Luo Yuan, one of the country's most prominent and widely read military commentators, wrote on his blog last month.

"Our generation must complete our historic mission."

'ITCHING FOR A FIGHT'

One source with ties to China's military said the armed forces were itching for a fight over self-ruled Taiwan, claimed by China as its sacred territory, especially after Xi's speech.

"Every day, they're like 'fight, fight, fight'," said the source, who regularly meets senior officers.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has repeatedly warned of the threat from China, and vowed to defend the island and its democratic way of life. The United States has said it is closely watching Chinese intentions towards Taiwan.

"Even with just a broom, I would fight against China," Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang told parliament last week. "You would pay a price if you want to annex Taiwan."

The United States again sent two Navy ships through the Taiwan Strait on Monday as the U.S. military increased the frequency of movement through the strategic waterway despite opposition from China.

China's Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on this year's military budget. China routinely says spending is for defensive purposes only, comparatively small and that critics just want to keep the country down.

"What people are scared of is China getting strong," said Xu Guangyu, a senior consultant at the China Arm Control and Disarmament Association and another former senior Chinese officer, dismissing concerns about defence spending.

U.S. President Donald Trump has backed plans to request $750 billion from Congress for defence spending in 2019. That compares with the 1.11 trillion yuan ($165.40 billion) China set for its military budget in 2018.

China provides no breakdown of its defence budget, leading neighbours and other military powers to complain that Beijing's lack of transparency has added to regional tension. China says it is fully transparent and no threat.

Diplomats and many foreign experts say China's defence numbers probably underestimate true military spending for the People's Liberation Army, the world's largest armed forces, which also runs the country's space programme.

($1 = 6.7112 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Gao Liangping, and Yimou Lee in TAIPEI; Editing by Michael Perry)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Prince, 39, of Elkton, had been ordered in January to undergo further psychological evaluations to determine if he is competent to stand trial. That delayed the start of his trial on three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, use of a felony in a violent crime and illegal possession of a regulated firearm in Harford County Circuit Court.
By Khalid Abdelaziz KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir banned unlicensed public gatherings and gave sweeping new powers to police in a series of emergency decrees on Monday to counter the most sustained anti-government street unrest of his 30-year rule.

By Khalid Abdelaziz

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir banned unlicensed public gatherings and gave sweeping new powers to police in a series of emergency decrees on Monday to counter the most sustained anti-government street unrest of his 30-year rule.

The decrees came amid fresh protests in various parts of the capital Khartoum, where security forces used tear gas against hundreds of students demonstrating inside the campus of the country's oldest women's university.

Security forces were given the power to search any building, restrict movement of people and public transport, arrest individuals suspected of a crime related to the state of emergency and seize assets or property during investigations.

Prosecutors were given the authority to strip people such as lawmakers and military officials of immunity, and set up special emergency courts. Publishing news that "harms the state or citizens, or calls for undermining the constitutional system" was also banned on punishment of up to 10 years in jail.

Bashir also announced a ban on trading or hoarding fuel products and subsidised goods, and jail terms for people travelling abroad carrying more than $3,000 in currency or 150 grammes of gold.

Protesters have staged almost daily demonstrations since December, demanding that Bashir, who came to power in a 1989 military coup, step down. The protests were initially inspired by high prices for bread but have turned into a sustained campaign against Bashir and his government.

Security forces have responded with tear gas, and sometimes live fire. At least 33 people have died, according to official statistics, including three members of security forces. Protesters believe the true death toll is higher.

In the latest protests on Monday, witnesses said security forces fired tear gas against hundreds of female students who had demonstrated inside their Ahfad university campus, one of the country's most prestigious academic institutions.

They said some students burned tyres outside the campus gate.

"We had a protest stand demanding freedom and to end injustice," said a 21-year-old student who declined to be identified. There were no immediate reports of casualties. A police spokesman was not immediately available for a comment.

Witnesses also reported a separate protest in downtown Khartoum, where hundreds of demonstrators blocked a main road. Security forces dispersed a separate demonstration in the upscale Maamoura district in eastern Khartoum on Monday night, witnesses said.

STATE OF EMERGENCY

Bashir declared a one-year state of emergency on Friday and dissolved the central and state governments. He called on parliament to postpone constitutional amendments that would have let him seek another term in a 2020 presidential election, although he stopped short of saying he would not stand.

He had since appointed a caretaker central government and new governors for the country's 18 states, all officers in the armed forces or security services.

Hassan Bashir, economics professor at the state-run Al Neelain University, said Monday's emergency measures would hurt the economy by scaring away investors.

"Security measures will not resolve the economic crisis," he said. "The situation in Sudan requires more openness and not more political and economic restrictions."

Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes allegedly committed in Darfur region in western Sudan. Sudan denies any atrocities and says it does not recognise the ICC.

On Monday, Bashir's National Congress Party elected Ahmed Haroun, a former governor of North Kordofan state, as deputy head of the party for political and organisational affairs. Haroun is also wanted by the ICC on Darfur war crimes charges.

(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Peter Graff and Andrew Cawthorne)

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The IAF air strikes came 12 days after the JeM carried out a suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

Islamabad: The Pakistan government on Tuesday said no film from India will release in the country as it has called for a ban on Indian content after the Indian Air Force (IAF) destroyed a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) training camp in Balakot.

The country's information and broadcasting minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said the country's film exhibitors association will be boycotting the Indian films.

He also said that he has instructed the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to crack down on "made-in-India advertisements".

"Cinema Exhibitors Association has boycotted Indian content, no Indian movie will be released in Pakistan. Also have instructed PEMRA to act against Made in India Advertisements. #PakistanTayarHai" Hussain tweeted.

Cinema Exhibitors Association has boycotted Indian content, no Indian Movie ll be released in Pakistan. Also have instructed PEMRA to act against Made in India Advertisements. #PakistanTayarHai https://t.co/9BPo6LIsVB  Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) February 26, 2019

The minister's comments came on a day when India bombed and destroyed JeM's "biggest training camp" in Balakot in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 80-km from the Line of Control (LoC).

The bombing resulted in killing of a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, officials said in New Delhi.

The air strikes came 12 days after the JeM carried out a suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

In the wake of the terror attack, the makers of films such as Total Dhamaal, Luka Chuppi, Arjun Patiala, Notebook and Kabir Singh had announced that they will not screen their movies the neighbouring country.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi called an emergency meeting after India carried out air strikes across the LoC and destroyed terror camps

Islamabad: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi called an "emergency meeting" Tuesday after India carried out air strikes across the LoC and destroyed terror camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Qureshi will meet Prime Minister Imran Khan after the meeting in which he will discuss the security situation with high-level officials.

Sources here said that Qureshi summoned the "emergency meeting" at the Foreign Office for consultations.

In New Delhi, sources said that India is believed to have carried out air strikes inside Pakistan early Tuesday and targeted terror camps.

The strikes involving several fighter jets of the Indian Air Force successfully destroyed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the sources told PTI.

Earlier, the Pakistan Army alleged that the Indian Air Force (IAF) violated the Line of Control (LoC) in Muzafarabad sector.

"Indian aircraft intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said in a tweet.

Indian aircrafts intrusion across LOC in Muzafarabad Sector within AJ&K was 3-4 miles.Under forced hasty withdrawal aircrafts released payload which had free fall in open area. No infrastructure got hit, no casualties. Technical details and other important information to follow.  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019

"Indian Air Force violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft gone back," he tweeted.

Meanwhile, Pakistani media was reporting that the Indian government has staged a symbolic intrusion due to domestic pressure.

Prime Minister Khan has not commented on the issue.
Pakistans Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi denied the presence of a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp in the areas attack by the Indian Air Force

Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Finance Minister Asad Umar and Defence Minister Pervez Khattak held a press briefing where they denied the the presence of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) training camps in the areas attacked by the Indian Air Force.

Qureshi read out a statement from the National Security Committee meeting held earlier Tuesday which said that the Indian government made fictitious claims about targeting the Balakot camp and the resulting casualties. After the Pulwama attack, we said the Modi government will carry out some misadventure ahead of (Lok sabha) polls. Pakistan-bashing is the easiest way to win over the extreme Right, Qureshi said.

Qureshi said foreign and local media will be invited to inspect the site that has been attacked by the Indian forces, adding that Pakistan will respond after planning at political, military and diplomatic levels.

Sticking by his argument that Indias claim about the strikes is fictitious, Qureshi said the Pakistani Army and air force will never allow enemy forces to venture that deep into their territory. He maintained that they were prepared and their aircraft were airborne and ready for all eventualities. Multi-dimensional intrusion attempt was made. Few shots were fired by aircraft. They entered at 2:55 am and left at 2: 58 am due to our alertness, he said.

Qureshi said an emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has been summoned in Jeddah. When questioned about the Katarpur Corridor, he said that opening the corridor was a message of peace from Pakistan.

The IAF conducted precision strikes in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakoti across the Line of Control (LoC) in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. The attack came 12 days after 42 CRPF personnel lost their lives in a suicide bomb attack, for which the terror outfit claimed responsibility.
Donald Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen is going to make it a terrible week for the US president as he begins a series of testimonies to US Congress about Trump's contacts with Russians, hush money payments and other 'earth shattering' matters which are being talked of as a 'John Dean' moment for the current White House.

The curtains go up on high political drama in Washington DC as Donald Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen begins a series of testimonies to US Congress about Trump's contacts with Russians, hush money payments and other "earth shattering" matters which are being talked of as a 'John Dean' moment for the current White House. It's going to be a terrible week for Donald Trump, who is away in Vietnam meeting with Kim Jong Un. Whether or not the Cohen testimony shakes up American politics, it will be a remarkable television moment in American history. Wednesdays blockbuster hearing will happen at roughly the same time Trump is set to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam. Cohens testimony will be livestreamed on C-SPAN and is carried live on cable news channels starting around 10 a.m. ET - that's 8:30 pm in India on 27 February.

Cohen has already been sentenced to three years in prison. He is scheduled to surrender 6 May. Here's a rundown of key actors, themes and quirks to track on Wednesday:

Why is Cohen such a big deal?

Trump's fixer-turned-foe is a central figure in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into possible collusion between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign. Cohen played a key role in buying the silence of a porn actress and a former Playboy Playmate who both alleged they had sex with Trump. The president has denied their claims. Cohen says he paid off the women so the allegations don't hurt the Trump campaign.

What will Cohen tell us?

Cohens first public hearing Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee will dwell on Trump's debts and payments relating to efforts to influence the 2016 election. Expect Cohen to take the kitchen sink approach and embarrass the US president no end with dirt on hush money payments to a porn star and a Playboy model.

What will Cohen not tell us?

The public hearing Wednesday will not go into links between Trump and Russia or other foreign actors. All that is being served up in two closed door testimonies Tuesday and Thursday.

Do these breadcrumbs matter to the Mueller probe?

The legal peril for Trump comes from two flanks. Special counsel Robert Mueller is finding out if the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia and whether Trump later obstructed the investigation. Prosecutors in New York are actually far more dangerous to Trump and have already implicated him in the hush money payments case. Unlike Mueller, the New York prosecutors can wade into any of Trump's dealings which are under a cloud.

Why is Cohen going to jail?

Cohen has pleaded guilty in Mueller's investigation about lying to Congress about talks for a Russian real-estate project, in what he described as an attempt to reduce attention on Trump's overseas business. He told the House and Senate intelligence committees that talks ended in January 2016  before the Iowa caucuses  even though talks extended through at least June 2016, when Trump had effectively wrapped up the Republican nomination. He told lawmakers he had abandoned the project in January 2016, but he actually continued pursuing it for months after that. He also pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations for his involvement in payments to a former Playboy model and porn actress who had alleged affairs with Trump.

What's the White House saying?

The White House, on predictable lines, is seeking to discredit Trump's former personal lawyer.White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders issued a statement Tuesday, saying Michael Cohen was "going to prison for lying to Congress and making other false statements." Sanders says it's "laughable that anyone would take a convicted liar like Cohen at his word, and pathetic to see him given yet another opportunity to spread his lies."
CAIRO (Reuters) - Libya's state-run National Oil Corp said on Monday its chairman Mustafa Sanalla had arrived in United Arab Emirates to meet with a number of Libyan and international parties to discuss the Sharara oilfield crisis They would 'discuss security measures necessary to find a solution to the Sharara crisis, that guarantee staff safety, and pave the way for the lifting of force majeure at the field,' the statement said. (Reporting by Nayera Abdallah; editing by David Evans)

CAIRO (Reuters) - Libya's state-run National Oil Corp said on Monday its chairman Mustafa Sanalla had arrived in United Arab Emirates to meet with a number of Libyan and international parties to discuss the Sharara oilfield crisis

They would "discuss security measures necessary to find a solution to the Sharara crisis, that guarantee staff safety, and pave the way for the lifting of force majeure at the field," the statement said.

(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah; editing by David Evans)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Listing of Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist is expected to figure prominently at Russia, India, China Foreign Ministers' meeting

Wuzhen: The Pulwama terror attack and the listing of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN are expected to figure prominently at Russia, India and China (RIC) Foreign Ministers' meeting being held here on Wednesday.

Besides attending the annual trilateral meeting, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj would also hold bilateral talks with her Chinese and Russian counterparts on the sidelines of the meeting in which the listing of Azhar by the UN's 1267 committee is expected to figure.

Swaraj's meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi assumes significance as it is the first high-level interaction between the two countries after the Pulwama terror attack that left 40 CRPF personnel dead.

China, a veto-wielding member, has been consistently blocking India, the US, the UK and France's efforts to list Azhar as a global terrorist since 2016 but endorsed a scathing statement issued by UN Security Council on 21 February on the Pulwama attack.

The UNSC statement on the the Pulwama attack stated that "the members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir, which left 40 Indian paramilitary forces dead and dozens wounded on 14 February, 2019, for which Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility.

But after endorsing the statement in which JeM has been named, China the next day in an apparent attempt to placate Pakistan sought to play it down, saying that the mention of JeM in the statement was only in general terms and does not represent a judgement.

China also said that the Pakistani government showed readiness to cooperate with India on the investigation and that it was also ready to resolve differences with India through dialogue.

The issue of listing of Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN is expected to come up before the 1267 committee of the UN Security Council again as France, also a veto-wielding member of the high-power UN body, said it would move the resolution again.

The issue is also expected to figure prominently in Swaraj's talks with Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov.

This is the 16th meeting of the RIC Foreign Ministers.

During the 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," Chinese Foreign Minister Geng Shuang told a media briefing in Beijing on 20 February.
By Parisa Hafezi DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the urbane, U.S.-educated architect of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, announced his resignation unexpectedly on Monday on Instagram. 'Many thanks for the generosity of the dear and brave people of Iran and its authorities over the past 67 months. I sincerely apologise for the inability to continue serving and for all the shortcomings during my service.

By Parisa Hafezi

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the urbane, U.S.-educated architect of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, announced his resignation unexpectedly on Monday on Instagram.

"Many thanks for the generosity of the dear and brave people of Iran and its authorities over the past 67 months. I sincerely apologise for the inability to continue serving and for all the shortcomings during my service. Be happy and worthy," he wrote on his Instagram page jzarif_ir.

He gave no specific reasons for his decision.

Zarif played the lead role in striking the deal under which Iran agreed to curbs on its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of international financial sanctions.

He came under attack from anti-Western hardliners in Iran after the United States pulled out of the agreement last May and reimposed sanctions.

A spokesman for the Iranian mission to the United Nations, Alireza Miryousefi, confirmed the announcement of the resignation. However there was no immediate word on whether President Hassan Rouhani would accept it.

Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency said "some sources have confirmed Zarif's resignation".

Born in 1960, Zarif lived in the United States from the age of 17 as a student in San Francisco and Denver, and subsequently as a diplomat to the United Nations in New York, where he served as Iranian ambassador from 2002 to 2007.

He was appointed minister of foreign affairs in August 2013 after Rouhani won the presidency in a landslide on a promise to open up Iran to the outside world.

Since taking charge of Iran's nuclear talks with major powers in late 2013, Zarif has been summoned to the parliament several times by hardline lawmakers to explain about the negotiations.

In February 2014 he caused an uproar with public comments condemning the Holocaust and was subsequently summoned to parliament. Holocaust denial has been a staple of public speeches in Iran for decades.

Some hardliners even threatened Zarif with bodily harm after the nuclear deal was signed. Iran's top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, guardedly backed the deal.

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Peter Graff and Angus MacSwan)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
In Islamabad, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that India has violated the LoC and Pakistan has right to respond. Prime Minister Imran Khan was chairing an 'important meeting' to discuss the situation, sources said. India's air strikes came 12 days after the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir

Islamabad: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday said India has committed "aggression" by violating the LoC and Islamabad has "right to respond".

His remarks came after combat jets of the Indian Air Force (IAF) bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side in a pre-dawn strike.

Prime Minister Imran Khan was chairing an "important meeting" to discuss the situation, sources said. India's air strikes came 12 days after the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

In Islamabad, Foreign Minister Qureshi said India has violated the LoC and Pakistan has right to respond.

"First, they committed aggression against Pakistan today. It is a violation of the LoC. I consider it a violation of the LoC, and Pakistan his right to give a suitable response in self defence," he told reporters after an "emergency meeting" with high-level officials at the Foreign Office (FO) for consultations.

Qureshi briefed Prime Minister Khan after the meeting at the FO.

Earlier, the Pakistan Army alleged that the Indian Air Force (IAF) violated the Line of Control (LoC) in Muzaffarabad Sector. "Indian aircraft intruded from Muzaffarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said in a tweet.

"Indian Air Force violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft gone back," he tweeted.

Senator Sherry Rehman, a leading opposition leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, said that "Indian incursion" across the LOC is strategically "ill-advised and tactically pointless".

"Such moves only ratchet up tensions in a region bristling with anger.

"Obvious that (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi's election wardrums make prospects for talks collateral damage. India's ruling party sees no other way to win the elections hence, itching for war," Rehman said in a tweet.

Meanwhile, Pakistani media was reporting that the Indian government has staged a symbolic intrusion due to domestic pressure.

Prime Minister Khan has not commented on the issue.
Taylor said residents at APG have not experienced the same issues that have been reported in other parts of the country. He said Corvias had been letting us down, though, in its management of post housing with under-resourced maintenance staff and an ongoing maintenance backlog for new and old housing.
Donald Trump, who declared the national emergency in February after Congress declined his request for $5.7 billion to help build a border wall, vowed last week to vereuyto the measure if it passes both chambers.

Washington: The US House of Representatives votes on Tuesday on a resolution to terminate President Donald Trumps declaration of a national emergency to build a wall on the border with Mexico.

House Democrats introduced the resolution last week, challenging Trumps assertion that he could take money Congress had appropriated for other activities and use it to build the wall.

The resolution is expected to sail easily through the Democratic-controlled House. Action then moves to the Republican-majority Senate, where the measures future is uncertain even though it only requires a simple majority to pass.

While Tuesdays vote will be another chapter in a long-running fight between Trump and Democrats over border security and immigration policy, it also will be a test of constitutional separation of powers, as it is the House and Senate that primarily dictate spending priorities, not the president.

The No. 2 House Democrat, Representative Steny Hoyer, said at a press conference on Monday that he had traveled to the US-Mexico border twice in the past few weeks.

"What I concluded is there is no crisis at the border. The issue ... will be whether there is a crisis of our constitutional adherence," Hoyer said.

At least two Republican senators, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, have told the media they are likely to vote for the measure. But at least another two Republican votes would be needed if the resolution is to pass that chamber, assuming all Democrats and two independents back it.

Trump, who declared the national emergency in February after Congress declined his request for $5.7 billion to help build a border wall, vowed last week to veto the measure if it passes both chambers.

Congress would then have to muster the two-thirds majority necessary - a high hurdle - to override the presidents veto in order for the measure to take effect.

A bipartisan group of 58 former national security officials issued a statement Monday saying there was no "factual basis" for Trumps emergency declaration.

Lawmakers must not allow "any president (to) on a whim declare emergencies, simply because he or she cant get their way in the Congress," Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer declared Monday.

Schumer warned Trumps emergency declaration "could cannibalize funding from worthy projects all over the country," noting that the administration had not even decided yet what projects to take the funds from.

About 226 House lawmakers are co-sponsoring the bill, including all but a handful of Democrats as well as one Republican, Justin Amash.

The issue is also in the courts. A coalition of 16 US states led by California have sued Trump and top members of his administration to block his emergency declaration.

Congress this month appropriated $1.37 billion for building border barriers following a battle with Trump, which included a 35-day partial government shutdown - the longest in US history - when agency funding lapsed on 22 December.
When the same hotel was booked for Kim Jong Un and the White House press corps, US mediapersons were relocated to another international media filing center

Dong Dang: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the White House press corps booked the same hotel. Guess who won? The White House reporters, cameraman and photographers were set to be using a filing center at the Melia Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam's capital, for Kim's meeting with President Donald Trump.

But on Tuesday, Vietnam's Foreign Minister said they were being relocated to an international media filing center about a seven-minute walk away.

The White House did not say why the move was made and it was unclear who booked first. A few hours after the move was announced, Kim's motorcade rolled up to the hotel.

When security started to tighten at the hotel on Monday, reporters were in disbelief that the Western press corps was going to be amassed at the same place as the reclusive North Korean leader.

People lined the streets to greet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as his limousine rolled up to the hotel in Vietnam's capital where he's staying for his second summit with President Donald Trump.

A fine mist of rain fell on the crowd as his motorcade arrived behind security cars with loud sirens. As it passed, they cheered and waved Vietnamese, North Korea and American flags. They didn't see Kim's face, only his car, which had darkened windows.

Seventeen-year-old Hung Nguyen, who walked outside his high school to see Kim, says he thinks Kim is truly serious about giving up his nuclear weapons.

Asked about a possible declaration ending the Korean War, he said if the war was indeed over, governments could spend more on hospitals and technology. Japanese TV footage has shown North Korean leader Kim Jong Un taking a pre-dawn smoke break at a train station in China hours before his arrival in Vietnam for his summit with President Donald Trump.

The video broadcast by TBS on Tuesday shows Kim taking a drag on a cigarette and talking with North Korean officials at China's Nanning rail station. A woman who appears to be his sister Kim Yo Jong is seen holding a crystal ashtray.

Kim arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday after an almost 70-hour train ride that cut through southern China. Kim is frequently seen with a cigarette in his hands. North Korean TV even showed him casually smoking in front of one of his liquid-fuel ICBMs in 2017.
By Ahmed Eljechtimi RABAT (Reuters) - Britain's Prince Harry and his pregnant wife Meghan wrapped up a visit to Morocco with a tea ceremony on Monday afternoon hosted by King Mohammed VI at a Royal palace in Sale, near Rabat. Harry handed the Moroccan monarch a letter from the queen before the tea ceremony during which Meghan, who is expecting her baby this spring, wore a flowing blue dress with frilled sleeves featuring a flattering crew neck and a fitted waistline. Earlier in the day, the royal couple swapped their party gear for chinos and jeans on a visit to an equestrian centre and a cooking event

By Ahmed Eljechtimi

RABAT (Reuters) - Britain's Prince Harry and his pregnant wife Meghan wrapped up a visit to Morocco with a tea ceremony on Monday afternoon hosted by King Mohammed VI at a Royal palace in Sale, near Rabat.

Harry handed the Moroccan monarch a letter from the queen before the tea ceremony during which Meghan, who is expecting her baby this spring, wore a flowing blue dress with frilled sleeves featuring a flattering crew neck and a fitted waistline.

Earlier in the day, the royal couple swapped their party gear for chinos and jeans on a visit to an equestrian centre and a cooking event.

The royal couple held hands and joked as they posed for photos with youngsters at the projects in Rabat and sampled some of the food - including Moroccan traditional pancakes and the famed bastila pies.

The evening before, Meghan, a former Hollywood actress, had wowed the crowds in an elegant gown at a reception hosted by the British ambassador.

On Monday morning, she stepped out in blue jeans, a Breton T-shirt and a khaki anorak, accompanied by Harry in chinos, open shirt and a puffa jacket.

They toured The Royal Moroccan Equestrian Club Dar Essalam, next to the royal palace in Rabat, where they learnt about a programme helping children with autism and other conditions.

The next stop was a cooking event at the Villa des Ambassadedur hotel with food served up by children helped by a range of other projects, and by chef Moha Fedal, host of Morocco's version of Masterchef.

Later in the day, they met young entrepreneurs and visited handicrafts market. They were due to fly back to London later on Monday.

The visit at the request of the British government is the second to the kingdom in recent years by a member of the royal family, following a trip by Prince Charles in 2011. Queen Elizabeth visited Morocco in 1980.

(Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
India has achieved what it wanted and if letting Pakistan engage in gameplaying freezes an all-out conflict, it is a small price to pay.

Pakistans responses after the Indian Air Force airstrikes on three terror camps is following a predictable pattern if an all-out war is not an option it will exercise. The aim would be to discredit India on all fronts.

The first phase was noticeable in the five-hour session of the Pakistan Parliament in Islamabad on Tuesday where several dozen members reiterated the nations integrity, sovereignty and unity in the face of the attack. This collective coming together was pretty much on the cards since letting off steam was mandated against a shrill backdrop of "Indian atrocities in Kashmir" and how even "Pulwama was an indigenous affair".

At no stage did any member of the Pakistani legislature including the Opposition grasp the prickly pear and ask if there really were training camps being run under the protection of the authorities.

Even as the fury over the airstrikes spills on Pakistani streets and there are a few marches and morchas, the next step will be to up the demonising of Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. Already luridly painted as the villain of this piece, personal attacks will be integral to the strategy. And he is already being referred to as a mad man and the worst leader in India these 70 years.

One will hear ad nauseum how Modi did all this just to garner the elections three months down the road.

As the Pakistan government seeks to embarrass India, its next step (starting already) will be to call upon the OIC member states to snub Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj. Emissaries are probably already on their way to exert some kind of emotional pressure. Disinviting the guest of honour is not going to be easy to the summit scheduled for 1 and 2 March. But Pakistans rhetoric will certainly give it a shot.

As Pakistan clutches fragile straws and publicises every mildly cautionary comment as a vote against the Indian aerial action, the media will kick in. As early as Thursday, expect a convoy of local and international media to be taken to the site of the laser-guided bombings with evidence that there was no camp ever and the only witnesses will be a few burnt trees and some shallow craters. This sanitation exercise should also be already underway with army squads doing the mopping up and setting the stage for the media battalion.

There is little choice, besides a crippling war, than to continue the global discrediting and use every such effort to appease its dented national ego. Self-delusion is the best bet and Pakistan is good at feeding folderol to its people. It did that in 1965, 1971 and during the 1999 Kargil War, and, is well on the way to convincing itself that its fighter aircraft successfully chased away the intruders and won the day.

This narrative will intensify and by the end of the week, it will have convinced itself that the Indians were roundly defeated, that the Indian pilots were so shaken by the arrival of the Pakistan Air Force that they jettisoned their payloads and ran for cover. This imagery is already central to news broadcasts and talk shows and we can expect it to continue.

One imagines Prime Minister Modi finds himself totally in control and is least bothered about the bad mouthing.

Pakistan always manages to find solace in such convenient scenarios and it might well be to Indias benefit to let them run with it. After all, India has achieved what it wanted and if letting Pakistan engage in gameplaying freezes an all-out conflict, it is a small price to pay.

The self-sell already projects India as a nation that is being isolated while Pakistan is increasingly being welcomed into the global bosom with a kiss and a hug. What measure is used to create this illusion is unexplained but it is part of the strategy to heal the bruising.
By Camillus Eboh and Felix Onuah ABUJA (Reuters) - President Muhammadu Buhari took an early lead on Monday in initial official results from Nigeria's presidential election but the party of his main challenger quickly rejected the tallies as 'incorrect and unacceptable'. Saturday's election, which U.S. observers said had lost some credibility after being abruptly delayed by a week by officials citing organisational glitches, was expected to be Nigeria's tightest since the end of military rule two decades ago

By Camillus Eboh and Felix Onuah

ABUJA (Reuters) - President Muhammadu Buhari took an early lead on Monday in initial official results from Nigeria's presidential election but the party of his main challenger quickly rejected the tallies as "incorrect and unacceptable".

Saturday's election, which U.S. observers said had lost some credibility after being abruptly delayed by a week by officials citing organisational glitches, was expected to be Nigeria's tightest since the end of military rule two decades ago.

At stake is control of Africa's top oil producer and biggest economy. Northeast Nigeria has also been wracked a decade-long battle with Islamist militants has spilled into neighbouring countries and led to the deployment of a regional task force.

Buhari, 76, is a former military ruler seeking a second term on an anti-corruption platform, while Atiku, 72, a businessman and ex-vice president, has pledged above all to expand the role of the private sector.

Initial results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday put Buhari in the lead, having won in seven of Nigeria's 36 states, the commission said.

Atiku prevailed in two states and the capital Abuja, which is not a state but treated as a separate district in elections.

In provisional results announced in state capitals but not yet confirmed by the commission, Buhari and Atiku each won in two states.

Asked about the early results, Buhari told reporters: "I don't want to depend on rumours...We will rather wait for INEC to announce the (full) results."

But the chairman of Atiku's People's Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, said the election tallies announced so far were "incorrect and unacceptable".

"The results are being manipulated and cancelled for APC to retain power," he told reporters, referring to Buhari's party.

Buhari's All Progressives Congress (APC) said in a statement that the PDP had "embarked on a cynical plan to discredit INEC as a backup plan in the likely event of them losing the election".

The outcome, not expected until later in the week, appears to hinge on which man voters trust most to revamp an economy still struggling from a 2016 recession.

A credible and relatively calm vote would open a new chapter in the chequered political history of Nigeria, where nearly six decades of independence have been tarnished by military coups, endemic corruption and secessionist movements.

But doubts rose when the election was postponed on Feb. 16, just hours before it was due to begin, with authorities citing problems in delivering ballot papers and results sheets.

"NEGATIVE EFFECTS"

The week-long delay in holding Nigeria's presidential election damaged public trust in the process and probably reduced Saturday's voter turnout, U.S. observers said.

The civil society group YIAGA AFRICA, which monitored the election, projected turnout at 36-40 percent.

Situation Room, a monitoring mission comprising over 70 civic groups, said on Sunday that as many as 39 people had been killed in election-related violence, and more than 260 in all since the start of the campaign in October.

Voting, however, took place "in a generally peaceful environment", said Hailemariam Desalegn, head of the African Union observer mission and a former premier of Ethiopia.

"There were scattered incidents of violence but it was not seen as pervasive on Election Day," said Derek Mitchell, president of the U.S. observer mission.

Previous Nigerian elections have been marred by violence among supporters of different political parties that at times sparked conflict between Christians and Muslims. Security forces are currently stretched by the Islamist insurgency as well as by communal violence and banditry in other areas.

Hours before polls opened, explosions rocked Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, epicentre of the insurgency. In neighbouring Yobe, residents of the town of Geidam fled a militant attack around the same time.

Scattered violence and problems with smart card readers that authenticate voters' fingerprints meant voting in a small number of precincts was put off to Sunday, Mitchell said.

"Serious operational shortcomings put an undue burden on voters," Maria Arena, the EU's chief observer and member of the European parliament, told reporters.

(Additional reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram and Paul Carsten; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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By Marc Frank and Nelson Acosta HAVANA (Reuters) - Cubans have overwhelmingly ratified a new constitution that enshrines the one-party socialist system as irrevocable while instituting modest economic and social changes, according to the national electoral commission.

By Marc Frank and Nelson Acosta

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cubans have overwhelmingly ratified a new constitution that enshrines the one-party socialist system as irrevocable while instituting modest economic and social changes, according to the national electoral commission.

Alina Balseiro Gutierrez, president of the commission, said at a Havana press conference on Monday that preliminary results showed 84.4 percent of the 7.8 million potential voters participated in the Sunday referendum.

She said of the potential electorate and not actual votes cast, 73.31 percent ratified the charter, 7.6 percent opposed ratification and 4.5 percent spoiled or left ballots blank.

By comparison, in 1976 when the current constitution was ratified, 99.02 percent of voters in a 98 percent turnout reportedly ratified and just 54,000 were opposed.

There are no independent observers of Cuban elections, however citizens may observe the count at their precincts.

Scattered local reports on social media seemed to somewhat confirm the results.

Cubas best-known dissident and pioneer blogger, Yoani Sanchez, who runs an online newspaper from a barrio known for its support of the government, wrote she braved insults and yelling to witness the count in her precinct of 400 yes votes, 25 no votes and 4 blank ballots.

The independent online newspaper El Toque asked readers to send in local tallies, a dozen of which showed overwhelming support for ratification.

A report from a district in central Villa Clara province had the new constitution ratified by 414 votes versus 66 opposed, and another from a district in westernmost Pinar del Rio reported 298 yes votes and 18 no votes.

Debate over the constitution has dominated Cubas politics for months, with the government arguing it represents both continuity of former leader Fidel Castro's policies and adaptation to today's demands and opponents insisting it is a continuation of Communist party rule and oppression.

The government orchestrated a grassroots debate on a draft of the new constitution last year, but after it approved a final version for the referendum in December it used its monopoly of traditional media and public spaces to press for approval.

Nevertheless, duelling campaigns to vote 'yes', 'no' or abstain raged on the internet. The Roman Catholic Church issued a critique read in churches, and many evangelicals said they were opposed.

Dissidents, who were divided between those who advocated a 'no' vote and those who called for abstention so as not to legitimize a process they deemed a fraud, reported a few incidents across the country of members being temporarily detained or harassed.

"The Cuban government engaged in an unprecedented campaign to assure an overwhelmingly positive vote on the new constitution as a way to legitimize both the market-oriented economic reforms underway and the new leadership of President Miguel Diaz-Canel and the post-revolutionary generation," American University professor of government and Cuba expert William LeoGrande said.

There are important changes in the new constitution that reflect the gradual opening of the Caribbean island nation since the fall of its former benefactor, the Soviet Union.

There are references to markets and recognition of private property, foreign investment, small businesses, gender identity, the internet, the right to legal representation upon arrest and habeas corpus.

The new constitution would also restructure government, adding a prime minister and setting term limits for the president, among other changes.

"Its another big missed opportunity," said Carlos Saladrigas, a Cuban-American businessman and head of the Cuban Study Group which advocates engagement with Cuba.

"The few important economic changes made are not sufficient to create economic growth and attract foreign investment in the needed quantities," he said.

(Reporting by Marc Frank, additional reporting by Nelson Acosta; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and James Dalgleish)

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By Marc Frank and Nelson Acosta HAVANA (Reuters) - Cubans have overwhelmingly ratified a new constitution that enshrines the one-party socialist system as irrevocable while instituting modest economic and social changes, according to the national electoral commission. Alina Balseiro Gutierrez, president of the commission, said at a Havana press conference on Monday that preliminary results showed 84.4 percent of the 8.7 million potential voters participated in the Sunday referendum. She said 86.85 percent of voters ratified the charter, 9 percent opposed ratification and 4.5 percent spoiled or left ballots blank.

By Marc Frank and Nelson Acosta

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cubans have overwhelmingly ratified a new constitution that enshrines the one-party socialist system as irrevocable while instituting modest economic and social changes, according to the national electoral commission.

Alina Balseiro Gutierrez, president of the commission, said at a Havana press conference on Monday that preliminary results showed 84.4 percent of the 8.7 million potential voters participated in the Sunday referendum.

She said 86.85 percent of voters ratified the charter, 9 percent opposed ratification and 4.5 percent spoiled or left ballots blank.

By comparison, in 1976 when the current constitution was ratified, 99.02 percent of voters in a 98 percent turnout reportedly ratified and just 54,000 were opposed.

There are no independent observers of Cuban elections, however citizens may observe the count at their precincts.

Scattered local reports on social media seemed to somewhat confirm the results.

Cubas best-known dissident and pioneer blogger, Yoani Sanchez, who runs an online newspaper from a barrio known for its support of the government, wrote she braved insults and yelling to witness the count in her precinct of 400 yes votes, 25 no votes and 4 blank ballots.

The independent online newspaper El Toque asked readers to send in local tallies, a dozen of which showed overwhelming support for ratification.

A report from a district in central Villa Clara province had the new constitution ratified by 414 votes versus 66 opposed, and another from a district in westernmost Pinar del Rio reported 298 yes votes and 18 no votes.

Debate over the constitution has dominated Cubas politics for months, with the government arguing it represents both continuity of former leader Fidel Castro's policies and adaptation to today's demands and opponents insisting it is a continuation of Communist party rule and oppression.

The government orchestrated a grassroots debate on a draft of the new constitution last year, but after it approved a final version for the referendum in December it used its monopoly of traditional media and public spaces to press for approval.

Nevertheless, duelling campaigns to vote 'yes', 'no' or abstain raged on the internet. The Roman Catholic Church issued a critique read in churches, and many evangelicals said they were opposed.

Dissidents, who were divided between those who advocated a 'no' vote and those who called for abstention so as not to legitimize a process they deemed a fraud, reported a few incidents across the country of members being temporarily detained or harassed.

"The Cuban government engaged in an unprecedented campaign to assure an overwhelmingly positive vote on the new constitution as a way to legitimize both the market-oriented economic reforms underway and the new leadership of President Miguel Diaz-Canel and the post-revolutionary generation," American University professor of government and Cuba expert William LeoGrande said.

There are important changes in the new constitution that reflect the gradual opening of the Caribbean island nation since the fall of its former benefactor, the Soviet Union.

There are references to markets and recognition of private property, foreign investment, small businesses, gender identity, the internet, the right to legal representation upon arrest and habeas corpus.

The new constitution would also restructure government, adding a prime minister and setting term limits for the president, among other changes.

"Its another big missed opportunity," said Carlos Saladrigas, a Cuban-American businessman and head of the Cuban Study Group which advocates engagement with Cuba.

"The few important economic changes made are not sufficient to create economic growth and attract foreign investment in the needed quantities," he said.

(This story corrects number of potential voters in paragraph 2 to 8.7 million instead of 7.8 million and changes percentages to reflect actual voters in paragraphs 2 and 3)

(Reporting by Marc Frank, additional reporting by Nelson Acosta; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and James Dalgleish)

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By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - A slowing economy is unlikely to crimp China's 2019 defence budget rise, as Beijing earmarks more spending for modernisation and big-ticket items like stealth jets, and focuses on Taiwan after a stern new year's speech from President Xi Jinping. The defence spending figure is closely watched worldwide for clues to China's strategic intentions as it develops new military capabilities, including aircraft carriers and anti-satellite missiles. In 2018, China unveiled its largest defence spending increase in three years, setting an 8.1 percent growth target for the year, fuelling an ambitious military upgrade programme and making its neighbours nervous

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - A slowing economy is unlikely to crimp China's 2019 defence budget rise, as Beijing earmarks more spending for modernisation and big-ticket items like stealth jets, and focuses on Taiwan after a stern new year's speech from President Xi Jinping.

The defence spending figure is closely watched worldwide for clues to China's strategic intentions as it develops new military capabilities, including aircraft carriers and anti-satellite missiles.

In 2018, China unveiled its largest defence spending increase in three years, setting an 8.1 percent growth target for the year, fuelling an ambitious military upgrade programme and making its neighbours nervous.

The 2019 number should be revealed at the March 5 opening of the annual session of the country's largely rubber-stamp parliament, though in 2017 it was initially not announced, prompting renewed concerns about transparency.

China plans to set a lower economic growth target of 6-6.5 percent in 2019 compared with last year's target of around 6.5 percent, policy sources have told Reuters. The government will also announced the economic growth target on March 5.

But the defence budget increase could well surpass that.

Influential state-run tabloid the Global Times, which takes a strongly nationalistic line, this month cited an unnamed military expert as saying "a stable 8-9 percent increase from 2018 would be a reasonable prediction".

China still has a long way to go to catch Western forces, as the number of advanced weapons now in its arsenal, like the J-20 stealth fighter, remain limited, the paper said.

Xie Yue, a professor of political science at Tongji University in Shanghai and a security expert, said with a weakening economy there would naturally be an expectation for a slower increase in military spending.

"It should go down, as the defence budget is connected to economic growth, but certainly factors will probably mean it will still go up, like the South China Sea and Taiwan issues."

Xi's January speech threatening to attack Taiwan should it not accept Chinese rule has shot the issue back up the agenda for the country's military thinkers, especially as the island gears up for presidential elections next year.

"The Taiwan question can't keep being put of, passed down through the generations," retired Chinese Major-General Luo Yuan, one of the country's most prominent and widely read military commentators, wrote on his blog last month.

"Our generation must complete our historic mission."

One source with ties to China's military said the armed forces were itching for a fight over self-ruled Taiwan, claimed by China as its sacred territory, especially after Xi's speech.

"Every day, they're like 'fight, fight, fight,'" said the source, who meets regularly with senior officers.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has repeatedly warned of the threat from China, and vowed to defend the island and its democratic way of life. The United States has said it is closely watching Chinese intentions toward Taiwan.

"Even with just a broom, I would fight against China," Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang told parliament last week. "You would pay a price if you want to annex Taiwan."

'CHINA GETTING STRONG'

In 2018, China unveiled its largest defence spending increase in three years, setting an 8.1 percent growth target for the year.

China's Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on this year's military budget. China routinely says spending is for defensive purposes only, comparatively small and that critics just want to keep the country down.

"What people are scared of is China getting strong," said Xu Guangyu, a senior consultant at the China Arm Control and Disarmament Association and another former senior Chinese officer, dismissing concerns about defence spending.

U.S. President Donald Trump has backed plans to request $750 billion from Congress for defence spending in 2019. That compares with the 1.11 trillion yuan ($165.40 billion) China set for its military budget in 2018.

China provides no breakdown of its defence budget, leading neighbours and other military powers to complain that Beijing's lack of transparency has added to regional tension. China says it is fully transparent and no threat.

Diplomats and many foreign experts say China's defence numbers probably underestimate true military spending for the People's Liberation Army, the world's largest armed forces, which also runs the country's space programme.

($1 = 6.7112 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Gao Liangping, and Yimou Lee in TAIPEI; Editing by Michael Perry)

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On India's assertion that it was a 'non-military pre-emptive strikes' directed against training camps of the terrorist groups who are carrying out violent acts in India, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said, 'as for India's claim on taking action against terrorism, well fighting terrorism is a global practice

Beijing: China on Tuesday urged India and Pakistan to "exercise restraint" and asked New Delhi to carry out its fight against terrorism through international cooperation, hours after Indian fighter jets struck Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest camp in Pakistan in a pre-dawn attack.

When asked for China's response to India's air strikes on terrorist camps in Pakistan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told the media that "we have taken note of the relevant reports."

"I want to say that India and Pakistan are both important countries in South Asia. A sound relationship and cooperation between the two serves the interests of both the countries and peace and stability in South Asia," he said.

"We hope that both India and Pakistan can exercise restraint and do more to improve their bilateral relations," he said.

India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, officials said in New Delhi.

On India's assertion that it was a "non-military pre-emptive strikes" directed against training camps of the terrorist groups who are carrying out violent acts in India, Lu said, "as for India's claim on taking action against terrorism, well fighting terrorism is a global practice.

"It needs necessary international cooperation. India needs to create favourable condition internationally for the same," he said.

To another question, he said Pakistan Foreign Minister Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has spoken to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.

"During the phone call, Wang listened carefully to Pakistan foreign minister's notification and proposals on the issues and reaffirmed his opinion that the two sides need to advance their cooperation in the counter terrorism for peace and stability in the region," the spokesman said.

Lu's comments came ahead of Russia, India and China (RIC) Foreign Ministers' meeting at Chinese city of Wuzhen on Wednesday in which External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is due to take part.

The Pulwama terror attack and India's air strikes on the terrorists training camps were expected to figure in the her talks with Wang and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Levrov.

The issue of listing of JeM chief Masood Azhar in the UN 1267 committee was also expected to figure in their talks.
While they are not proposing changing the criteria used to judge schools, they told the board it could change the number of points a school needs to earn a certain star rating. In one scenario, schools would have to earn more points to be awarded four or five stars. In another, more schools would earn a three-star rating.
By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Monday it plans to ban all wings of Hezbollah due to its destabilising influence in the Middle East, classing the Lebanese Islamist movement as a terrorist organisation. London had already proscribed Hezbollah's external security unit and its military wing in 2001 and 2008 respectively, but now wants to outlaw its political arm too. Hezbollah has a role in the Lebanese government so the move may raise questions for Britain's relationship with Lebanon, although Lebanon's Hezbollah-allied foreign minister said the UK had informed the country of its commitment to the bilateral relationship.

By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Monday it plans to ban all wings of Hezbollah due to its destabilising influence in the Middle East, classing the Lebanese Islamist movement as a terrorist organisation.

London had already proscribed Hezbollah's external security unit and its military wing in 2001 and 2008 respectively, but now wants to outlaw its political arm too.

Hezbollah has a role in the Lebanese government so the move may raise questions for Britain's relationship with Lebanon, although Lebanon's Hezbollah-allied foreign minister said the UK had informed the country of its commitment to the bilateral relationship.

"Hezbollah is continuing in its attempts to destabilise the fragile situation in the Middle East  and we are no longer able to distinguish between their already banned military wing and the political party," British Home Secretary (interior minister) Sajid Javid said.

"Because of this, I have taken the decision to proscribe the group in its entirety," he added in a statement.

The Iran-backed Shi'ite group is already deemed a terrorist organisation by the United States, which last week expressed concern about its growing role in Lebanon's government. Hezbollah lawmakers termed that a "violation of sovereignty".

The British ban, which will come into force on Friday subject to parliamentary approval, means anyone who is a member of Hezbollah or invites support will be committing a criminal offence with a potential sentence of up to 10 years in jail.

ISRAEL: EU SHOULD FOLLOW SUIT

Explaining its decision, the British government said the organisation continued to amass weapons in contravention of U.N. Security Council resolutions, while its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had prolonged "the conflict and the regime's brutal and violent repression of the Syrian people".

There was no immediate reaction from Hezbollah.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, a political ally of the group, said the British move would not have a negative impact on Lebanon and that Britain had informed Lebanon of its commitment to bilateral ties.

However, in comments reported by the National News Agency, he also defended the group, whose arsenal has been a focal point of political division for years in Lebanon.

"If the whole world stood up and said the resistance is terrorism, this does not make it terrorism as far as the Lebanese are concerned," said Bassil, who is also a son-in-law of Lebanon's president and leads the political party he founded.

Hezbollah now controls three of 30 ministries in Lebanon's government, the largest number it has ever held, and has seen its regional clout expand too with fighters in various Middle East conflicts including neighbouring Syria.

It does not acknowledge the existence of separate wings.

Hezbollah's lifelong enemy, Israel, thanked Javid.

"All who truly wish to combat terror must reject the fake distinction between 'military' & 'political' wings," Israeli Security Minister Gilad Erdan said in a tweet. "Now is the time for the #EU to follow suit!"

In Britain, Hezbollah has been a topic of internal political controversy, with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn criticised by opponents for once calling the group friends.

"What do we see from his Labour Party? Hamas and Hezbollah friends, Israel and the United States enemies," Prime Minister Theresa May said last week in parliament.

(Reporting by Michael Holden in London, Tom Perry in Beirut; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Andrew Cawthorne and Frances Kerry)

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BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian Vice President Hamilton Mourao said on Monday that under no circumstances would his country allow the United States to intervene militarily in Venezuela from Brazilian territory. 'Nobody is betting on a military solution,' Mourao, a retired general, told reporters in Bogota during a meeting of the Lima Group, a bloc of nations from Argentina to Canada dedicated to peaceful resolution of the Venezuelan crisis

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian Vice President Hamilton Mourao said on Monday that under no circumstances would his country allow the United States to intervene militarily in Venezuela from Brazilian territory.

"Nobody is betting on a military solution," Mourao, a retired general, told reporters in Bogota during a meeting of the Lima Group, a bloc of nations from Argentina to Canada dedicated to peaceful resolution of the Venezuelan crisis.

The Lima Group would not back an invasion by the United States, Mourao said, and will continue stepping up diplomatic, political and economic pressure on what he called the "regime" of Venezuelan leftist President Nicolas Maduro.

Brazil, like many Western governments, has recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate leader.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo said cracks already are appearing in Maduro's support among the Venezuelan armed forces, with some 100 desertions during the weekend when the military blocked the entry of humanitarian aid at the borders with Colombia and Brazil. At least three people were killed in shooting.

The Venezuelan Army was not involved in the repression, a sign it was not prepared to shoot at its people, said Araujo, who was speaking alongside Mourao.

According to Mourao, China is rethinking its support for Maduro because it has realized his government will never pay back Chinese loans.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Bill Trott)

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Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Catholic cleric ever charged with child sex abuse has been convicted of molesting two boys, dealing a new blow to the Catholic hierarchys credibility after a year of global revelations of abuse and cover-up.

Melbourne: The most senior Catholic cleric ever charged with child sex abuse has been convicted of molesting two choirboys moments after celebrating Mass, dealing a new blow to the Catholic hierarchys credibility after a year of global revelations of abuse and cover-up.

Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis top financial adviser and the Vaticans economy minister, bowed his head but then regained his composure as the 12-member jury delivered unanimous verdicts in the Victoria state County Court on 11 December after more than two days of deliberation. The court had until Tuesday forbidden publication of any details about the trial.

Pell faces a potential maximum 50-year prison term after a sentencing hearing that begins on Wednesday. He lodged an appeal last week against the convictions. Details of the trial had been suppressed because until Tuesday, Pell had faced a second trial in April on charges that he indecently assaulted two boys aged 9 or 10 and 11 or 12 as a young priest in the late 1970s in a public pool in his hometown of Ballarat.

Prosecutor Fran Dalziel told the court on Tuesday that the Ballarat charges had been dropped and asked for the suppression order to be lifted. This is not a special case, Dalziel said. Pells lawyer Robert Richter initially wanted details suppressed until his appeal was heard, but later withdrew the application.

Pell was surrounded by a crush of cameras and members of the public as he was ushered from the courthouse to a waiting car. Youre a monster! one man shouted. Youre going to burn in hell, you freak! Are you sorry? one woman shouted. Pell did not respond. His lawyer Paul Galbally said Pell continued to maintain his innocence.

Although the cardinal originally faced allegations from a number of complainants, all of those complaints and allegations save for the matters that are subject to the appeal have all been either withdrawn or discontinued, Galbally told reporters outside. Pell has initially been charged with more than 20 charges of sexual abuse against various complainants.

The revelations came in the same month that the Vatican announced that Francis approved the expulsion from the priesthood for a former high-ranking American cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, for sexual abuse of minors and adults.

The convictions were also confirmed days after Francis concluded his extraordinary summit of Catholic leaders summoned to Rome for a tutorial on preventing clergy sexual abuse and protecting children from predator priests.

The jury convicted Pell of abusing two 13-year-old boys whom he had caught swigging sacramental wine in a rear room of Melbournes St Patricks Cathedral in late 1996, as hundreds of worshippers were streaming out of Sunday services. Pell, now 77 but 55 at the time, had just been named the most senior Catholic in Australias second-largest city, Melbourne.

The jury also found Pell guilty of indecently assaulting one of the boys in a corridor more than a month later. Pell had maintained his innocence throughout, describing the accusations as vile and disgusting conduct that went against everything he believed in.

Richter, his lawyer, had told the jury that only a mad man would take the risk of abusing boys in such a public place. He said it was laughable that Pell would have been able to expose his penis and force the victim to take it in his mouth, given the cumbersome robes he was wearing.

Both he and Chief Judge Peter Kidd urged the jury of eight men and four women not to punish Pell for all the failings of the Catholic Church, which in Australia have been staggering. You must not scapegoat Cardinal Pell, Kidd told the jury.

Along with Ireland and the US, Australia has been devastated by the impact of the clerical abuse scandal, with a Royal Commission inquiry finding that 4,444 people reported they had been abused at more than 1,000 Catholic institutions across Australia between 1980 and 2015.

Pells own hometown of Ballarat had such a high incidence of abuse  and, survivors say, a correlated higher-than-average incidence of suicide  that the city warranted its own case study in the Royal Commission report.

As a result, Pells trial amounted to something of a reckoning for survivors, with the brash and towering cardinal becoming the poster child for all that went wrong with the way the Catholic Church handled the scandal.

The conviction capped a year that had been so dominated by revelations of high-ranking sex abuse and cover-up that analysts openly speak of a crisis unparalleled since the Reformation. In addition to Pell, the allegations against McCarrick of groping a minor in the 1970s and of sleeping with adult seminarians became public.

As a result of the scandal, Francis approval ratings have tanked in the United States, and his standing with conservative Catholics around the world  already on shaky ground over his outreach to divorcees  has plunged.

Up until the verdict, Pells lawyers had appeared confident that they had established a reasonable doubt and had expected quick verdicts of not guilty. When the jury chairman delivered the first guilty verdict, Pells hands slipped from the armrests of the chair where he sat in the dock at the back of the courtroom. His head bowed after the second verdict, but he restored his composure for the final verdicts.

Pell, who walked to and from court throughout his monthlong trial with a crutch under his right arm, was released on bail to undergo surgical knee replacements in Sydney on 14 December. Prosecutor Mark Gibson did not oppose bail, saying the surgery would be more easily managed outside the prison system.

The first four offenses occurred at the first or second Solemn Mass that Archbishop Pell celebrated as leader of the magnificent blue-stone century-old cathedral in the centre of Melbourne. Pell was wearing his full robes  though not his staff or pointed bishops hat  at the time. The now 34-year-old survivor told the court that Pell orally raped him, then crouched and fondled the complainants genitals while masturbating.

I was young and I didnt really know what had happened to me. I didnt really know what it was, if it was normal, the complainant told the court. The other victim died of a heroin overdose in 2014 without ever complaining of the abuse, and even denying to his suspicious mother that he had been molested while he was part of the choir.

Neither boy can now be identified, because it is illegal to name victims of sexual assault in Victoria. Pell was initially charged with orally raping the second boy. But that charge was downgraded to indecent assault when the complainant testified that from his vantage point he couldnt see Pells penis enter the second boys mouth.

More than a month later, the complainant testified that Pell pushed him against a cathedral corridor wall after a Mass and squeezed the boys genitals painfully before walking away in silence.

Pell was in robes and I was in robes. He squeezed and kept walking, the complainant told the jurors. I didnt tell anyone at the time because I didnt want to jeopardize anything. I didnt want to rock the boat with my family, my schooling, my life.

The complainant testified that he feared that making such accusations against a powerful church man would cost him his place in the choir and with it his scholarship to prestigious St Kevins College. Pell pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four counts of wilfully committing an indecent act with or in the presence of a child under 16 in late 1996 and early 1997.

He did not testify at his trial. But the jury saw a video recording of an interview he gave Australian detectives in Rome in 2016 in which he stridently denied the allegations. Pell grimaced, appearing incredulous and distressed, waved his arms over his head and muttered to himself as the detectives detailed the accusations that his victim had leveled against him a year earlier.

The allegations involve vile and disgusting conduct contrary to everything I hold dear and contrary to the explicit teachings of the church which I have spent my life representing, Pell told police. Richter told the jury that the prosecution case compounded a series of improbabilities and impossibilities.

He told the jury that Pell could not have parted his robes as the complainant had described. The jury was handed the actual cumbersome robes Pell wore as archbishop. Over his regular clothes, Pell would wear a full-length white robe called an alb that was tied around his waist with a rope-like cincture. Over that, he would drape a 3-meter (10-foot) band of cloth called a stole around his neck. The outermost garment was the long poncho-like chasuble.

More than 20 witnesses, including clerics, choristers and altar servers, testified during the trial. None recalled ever seeing the complainant and the other victim break from a procession of choristers, altar servers and clerics to go to the back room. The complainant testified that he and his friend had run from the procession and back into the cathedral through a side door to, as Gibson, the prosecutor, said, have some fun.

Monsignor Charles Portelli, who was the cathedrals master of ceremonies in the 1990s, testified that he was always with Pell after Mass to help him disrobe in the sacristy. The defense argued that Pells usual practice was to linger at the cathedral front steps talking to members of the congregation after Mass. But Gibson said there was evidence that Pell didnt always chat outside and had the opportunity to commit the crimes.

The lifting of the gag order comes after Francis charted 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 last week 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 Francis went into the meeting even more weakened and discredited after one of his top advisers was convicted of the very crime he has now decided is worth fighting on a universal scale. Pells downfall will invariably tarnish the pope, since Francis appointed Pell economy minister in 2014 even though some of the allegations against him were known at the time.

In October, Francis finally cut Pell loose, removing him as a member of his informal cabinet. Pell technically remains prefect of the Vaticans economy ministry, but his five-year term expires this year and is not expected to be renewed.
The Associated Press

The first astronaut from the United Arab Emirates will blast off into space on Sept. 25 on a trip to the International Space Station, authorities announced Monday.

Either military pilot Hazza al-Mansoori or engineer Sultan al-Neyadi will be the first Emirati in space, part of an ambitious space program for this Gulf Arab nation home to the worlds tallest building and the busiest airport for international travel.

But the two men, selected from over 4,000 applicants, say they arent worried after the recent failure of another Russian rocket carrying astronauts to the space station.

After the incident, we were more confident with the preparedness of the mission, al-Mansoori told The Associated Press. In case of any failure, there is equipment onboard the rocket to ensure the safety of the crew, which made us more confident that the system works with a high level of adequacy.

That incident happened 11 Oct, which saw a Soyuz-FG rocket carrying U.S. astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin fail shortly after launch due to a damaged sensor. The two men landed safely in Kazakhstan.

The astronauts who were involved will go into space soon, al-Neyadi said. This shows how safe the Soyuz is, that astronauts are able to survive in case of any accident.

Both men have undergone intensive training at the Star City space centre outside of Moscow, which included pressure chamber tests, centrifuge tests, parabolic flight training, and winter survival training. Parabolic flights allow astronauts to train for being weightless in space.

Since Im a pilot, I was able to withstand a gravitational force of 9-G, al-Mansoori said. Now I must train in this sort of gravitational force, 0-G, the lack of gravity.

Al-Neyadi said the biggest challenge he faced was not a physical one.

The most difficult thing perhaps was learning Russian, since its the only language which we will use to communicate with the crew onboard the vessel, he told the AP. It was also the language they used while training at the center in Russia.

The Russian Soyuz spacecraft is currently the only vehicle that can ferry crews to the International Space Station after the US space shuttle fleet retired.

Organizers had said theyd announce the name of the astronaut going Monday. They didnt, without offering an explanation. It remains unclear when authorities will choose the first astronaut to go in September.

The first astronaut will travel in September with the Russian space mission aboard Soyuz MS-15 and spend eight days at the International Space Station. The selected astronaut will return onboard the Soyuz MS-12 and then be replaced by the second astronaut.

The UAE has a fledgeling space program with big ambitions. It launched its first locally-made satellite, KhalifaSat, in October from Japan. It also wants to launch a probe to Mars in 2020.

The UAE also says it wants to colonize Mars by 2117, with a fully functioning city of 600,000.

Though the men will be over 400 kilometers (250 miles) above the Earths surface while on their trip, the Emirati astronauts will have a taste of home when they travel closer to the stars. Russias state-owned RIA Novosti news agency quoted an unnamed industry source saying that UAE space travelers have been offered a menu of Arab dishes to select from when they go into space. The men have chosen maqloubeh, a one-pot rice dish, salona, a lamb stew, and the standard hummus, the agency reported.
Ranjit Lal

Anthropomorphism.

For centuries now, this mouthful of a word has been considered as a taboo by field biologists and scientists doing research in animal labs. It means the ascribing of what we consider are exclusively human emotions, motives and characteristics to members of the rest of the animal kingdom  be they mammals, birds, fish or insects.

When studying these creatures (or critters as so many Americans like to call them), the only behaviour that can be "objectively observed", counts. And most of that behaviour comes from a hard-wired instinct  it has nothing to do with what the creature under study may desire or want...or so scientists like to believe. Thats because it supposedly doesnt have any emotions or desires, the way we do. And to ensure objectivity, the subjects are given numbers rather than names, which would otherwise make it personal. So, in a tiger reserve, for example, the tigers being studied are coldly labelled say, 'T1', 'T2' and so on  so the researchers can ensure that no emotions get in the way while they observe their subjects.

This, in animal labs. Labs where, often, the most hideous medical (and often just bizarrely morbid) experiments are carried out. Subjects here are usually never named, just given ciphers and numbers. Actually, if you see this from the researchers point of view, perhaps its just as well. You cannot call a beagle you have just injected with some horrible brain-altering pathogen "Buddy" and then go home and look your own pet beagle in the eyes with a clean conscience.

Its so much easier to label the subject B-1 and pretend it's a thing rather than living, breathing, emotive animal.

For long, researchers have strongly believed that the moment you ascribe emotions and motives to the subject of your study  it gets hopelessly compromised. You are, after all, involving and mixing up your own emotions and motives with that of the subject  which 'doesnt have any'.

Behaviour has to be explained coldly, objectively. A tigress fiercely defending her young does not do so because she loves her cubs (as we do our own babies) but because shes genetically programmed to do so in order to carry her (and her partners) genes into the next generation, and survive. This, despite the fact that when you see a tigress with her cubs, her (and her babies) behaviour towards each other often looks affectionate and even tender  what we within our own species would call love. Baby animals don't play (as our children do) because its fun and makes them happy, but only because their instincts tell them to hone their fighting skills and figure out their places in the groups hierarchy.

Researchers will refuse to accept that the animals may actually be fooling around  prancing and dancing  simply because its a glorious day and they just want to enjoy themselves and have a bit of fun. And yet, when you watch, say crows mischievously (thats an anthropomorphic adverb, right there!) yank at the tail of a snooty peacock making it honk in annoyance (another anthropomorphic term) you cant help but wonder if the bounder is just having a bit of fun at the expense and dignity of the National bird! Closer home, anyone with a pet dog will fiercely vouch for the fact that Buddy has moods and emotions that must be catered to.

To many a researchers' horrors, this wall-eyed taboo was finally broken way back in the 1960s by a triumvirate of brave women  popularly called Leakeys angels (after the great anthropologist, Louis Leakey, who encouraged them.) They were Jane Goodall  who studied chimpanzees, the late Dian Fossey  who followed the gorillas in the Virunga National Park in Africa, and Birute Galdikas who studied orangutans in Indonesia. The trio refused to label their subjects with numbers, giving them household names  Fido, Fred, Flo, Fagin, Digit and so on, making their studies very personal indeed. (Dian Fossey, for example, lies buried next to her beloved gorilla, Digit, in the African forest.)

They had very good reason: these animals were our closest living relatives and in many ways behaved just the way we did: they did have emotions, ambitions and could be as scheming, affectionate, promiscuous and violent and loving as we have ever been. The scientific community was, of course, appalled by this and began deriding their studies  until they checked out for themselves and found the findings of these kind sensitive researchers to be spot on. Jane Goodall stunned the scientific world by discovering that chimpanzees used and fashioned tools (sticks to fish out termites from their colonies)  something considered till then an exclusively a human trait. Her studies and observations lost none of their scientific rigour just because she gave her subjects household names.

Now, of course, its being slowly accepted that many animals  apes, elephants, dolphins, dogs, parrots, even some fish  do have self-awareness  another major feature for long considered an exclusively human trait. And some of these animals are even being given legal rights, same as us.

Even so, old habits die hard. And the subject of anthropomorphism is still a bit of a hot potato in the scientific community. Even the press, while reporting, say, an animal attack  will refer to the animal involved as it, rather than by its sex, he or she  even if its gender was known. A tigress that has turned man-eater will be called it rather than she.

It really is hugely ironical because, since time immemorial, we have been giving completely inanimate objects names and gender! Ships, planes, automobiles, trains are all referred to as she and given such flowery names as Raat Ki Rani, Queen Elizabeth, and Morning Rose! Ships are christened and commissioned in elaborate ceremonies  as though they are alive! Innumerable movies have been made where machines (such as Herbie, the VW Beetle) are given personalities and names and get up to all kinds of shenanigans, which of course no machine can do.

And needless to add, writers down the ages have given animals, human characteristics and names. I have myself written dozens of books with human animals, insects and birds! George Orwell did so with Animal Farm, Richard Adams in Watership Down, and there is, of course, a vast amount of childrens literature with humanised animal subjects. Thousands of films and cartoons have been made (just look at Walt Disneys output) using animal characters.

Actually, perhaps the scientific community needs to sit back and take another look at whats starting to happen. Here we are, getting hugely excited about artificial intelligence, which everyone says is going to revolutionize the way we work. And what do we do? We give our robots and AI devices names like Alexa and Siri, for example, just like so many years ago Dian Fossey called her beloved, living, breathing chest-thumping silverback, Digit.

And some of us have gone one crazier step forward: both Siri and Alexa have been at some time or the other, proposed to  and sent flowers by nutcases in love with them.

So much for objectivity and scientific rigor!

The author is a writer, columnist, environmentalist and bird watcher.
Press Trust of India

Startups in life sciences and healthcare have been facing funding challenges with 35 percent naming it as a key challenge according to a report.

The EY report 'Life Sciences 4.0: transforming health care in India' noted that 35 percent of the 60 life sciences and healthcare startups in India mentioned receiving funding was the key challenge, followed by understanding of regulatory process and collaboration with bigger life sciences and healthcare companies.

The lack of sufficient funding was evident from the fact that 43 percent of the respondents were bootstrapped while 42 percent are also leveraging government incubators.

Further, the difficulty in getting into collaborations is also visible from the very low percentage (5 percent) of companies with more than 10 collaborations while majority (69 percent) have 0 to only 3 collaborations.

Owing to challenges in partnering with bigger companies, 71 percent of the start-ups mentioned that they have collaborated with comparatively smaller or mid-size companies with revenues less than Rs 100 crore.

It noted that 42 percent of the respondents said that receiving timely and substantial funding will provide opportunity for driving further business growth, while 38 percent felt product innovation and rising market potential due to rising incomes, health and technological awareness also have a key role to play.

Twenty three percent of the respondents also pointed towards strong government support as a responsible factor for attaining the next level of business growth.

While noting that 18 percent of life sciences and healthcare start-ups have unique products and services, it said that 82 percent of life sciences and healthcare startups offer improved affordability, accessibility and efficiency in their products and services leveraging emerging technology.
Asheeta Regidi

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade released a new draft National E-commerce Policy for stakeholder comments on 23 February 2019. The new policy contains several new recommendations, such as on infrastructure development, import rules, preventing trademark infringement, and so on. This article focusses on the data protection aspect of the Policy, which provides deeper insight into the direction data protection is likely to take in India.

The Policy takes forward key proposals of the draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018 (the PDP Bill), in particular by advocating the nationalisation of data, including through imposing data localization requirements. Enabling the monetization of this data is a key focus. Another key feature is that the Policy, in a jurisdictional overreach similar to TRAI last year, is seeking to establish policies for a broader range of data than just e-commerce data. The proposed policies and restrictions are to apply additionally to social media companies, search engines, and IoT devices and data analytics as well.

Data as capital

The Policy takes a similar approach as the PDP Bill, by, firstly, naming an individual as the owner of his data, and emphasizing the need for express consent for processing the data. Thereafter, the Policy treats data as an asset, which is to be put to use as required. The Policy expressly labels data as a valuable resource and as digital capital, to be treated as capital on par with financial capital of a corporation. Noting the competitive edge that this digital capital gives, a level playing field is sought to be created by streamlining access to such data with corporations by MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) and start-ups.

Such sharing may not be welcome by the corporations given their investment in collecting and creating it, while benefits to smaller enterprises may be limited since such sharing is likely to be anonymized. The Policy mentions the need for privacy protection and describes anonymization as a start. The PDP Bill, in fact, requires the anonymization of data before its use for research purposes or for big data analytics. However, the Policy also supports the use of data for targeted advertisements, personalized recommendations and data strategies to further competition and growth, acts which will need identifiable data in order to be effective, making it unclear to what extent anonymization will be used as a protection.

Data as a sovereign, national asset

Additionally, the Policy argues that the data of Indians belong to Indians and that the data of a country is best thought of as a collective resource, a national asset, that the government holds in trust, but rights to which can be permitted. By extension, the Indian government, Indian companies and Indian citizens will be allowed a sovereign right to Indian data, which cannot be extended to non-Indians. Access to such data by non-Indians, the Policy states, can be negotiated in the national interest.

This approach, in fact, is in furtherance of the approach taken by the PDP Bill, which, as argued here, only gives an individual a say in whether or not to give his data (unless an exemption like state processing or a law applies, where even this consent is not required), and thereafter primarily expects the individual to trust that his data is being used in a manner that is in his interest. This is evidenced by, for instance, the absence of key rights such as the right to erasure, which give an individual some control over his data, and the dilution of the purpose limitation principle by allowing the processing of data for any compatible purposes, which can be unspecified and even unidentified at the time of collection.

Restrictions on cross-border transfer of data

In order to establish its sovereignty over the data, the Policy proposes detailed restrictions on the cross-border transfer of data. First, data from IoT devices in public spaces and data generated by users in India by various sources, including e-commerce platforms, social media, search engines, etc. cannot be transferred abroad.

Next, for other categories of data, whenever sensitive data of Indians is stored abroad, access by other business entities or third parties is restricted even if the customer consents to it. Access by a foreign government needs prior permission from the Indian authorities. Failing to meet these requirements will lead to consequences which are not prescribed at present.

Lastly, certain types of data are exempted from these restrictions on cross-border data flow:

Data not collected in India

B2B data shared between business entities under a commercial contract

Data flowing through software and cloud computing services (which has no personal implications)

Data shared internally by multi-national companies, excluding data generated by Indian users from sources like e-commerce platforms, social media activities, search engines, etc.

The justification offered by the Policy for these restrictions is that not doing so would shut the doors to creating high-value digital products in India. Job creation through data analytics and cloud computing as an economic activity in India are some other justifications used. However, it is unclear why data localization is the only solution for this, or if data localization of this nature is practically possible. Consider payment data, for instance, where a transaction involves an overseas bank or an entity which needs the data to meet its obligations under overseas laws. A key point here is that all e-commerce apps and sites that are available for download in India are proposed to be required to have a registered business entity in India.

A broad interpretation of E-commerce and overlapping jurisdictions

Further, a reading of these rules and the Policy, in general, indicates that e-commerce has been interpreted broadly to include digital activities of various natures, including social media companies, data analytics and even cloud computing, as opposed to regulating traditional online marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart.

This extension is reminiscent of that made by TRAI in 2018 in its Recommendations on Privacy, Security and Ownership of Data in the Telecom sector, where the recommendations were intended to apply to the entire digital ecosystem in the telecommunication space. This effectively encompassed a much wider spectrum of entities than traditionally regulated by TRAI, including browsers, handsets, tablets, OTT services, applications and the like. A similar overlap was also seen in the financial sector, with overlapping privacy rules being issued for mobile wallets, by the RBI on the one hand and Meity on the other.

Overlaps of this nature are becoming common as activities and the legislation governing them increasingly move towards the digital space. This can lead to conflicting regulations (as with TRAIs approach to privacy which varied greatly from that of the PDP Bill, see here) and compliance issues for companies.

It will have to be seen if the Policy is an indication of how data regulations will work once India has a finalized data protection law with one general, overarching privacy law backed by sector-specific regulations and policies. Sector-specific discussions are required, for instance, sensitive sectors such as the financial or medical sector will have separate requirements. Further, if the government goes ahead with the imposition of data localization as required under the PDP Bill, despite the many objections raised to it, then this will also necessitate sector-specific discussions on whether the data generated therein should be subject to data mirroring requirements or if it's critical personal data to be subject to data localization requirements.

Issues, however, will arise when such sector-specific laws and the primary law are not aligned with each other. The new Policy, for instance, in its discussion on the use of artificial intelligence, states that the government must reserve its right to seek disclosure of source code and algorithms. This is a right that is missing under the PDP Bill, in relation to individuals or the State. In addition to conflicting regulations, another issue that arises is of the issue of regulations by a department that doesnt have a full view of the subject.

Is data sovereignty the only solution?

In terms of the individual, the draft Policy doesnt propose any steps which further the protections to an individual beyond that under the PDP Bill, since its primary focus is on monetizing the data to the fullest extent possible. For the private sector, the proposals will be of concern given the barriers they create, such as for international transactions or for foreign businesses to trade in India. The primary benefit appears to be to the government in terms of control over the data and to completely domestic businesses.

If nations around the world take a similar stance, then this will lead to data silos instead of a free flow of data, a move that cannot be good for progress. One wonders if data sovereignty is really the only solution for ensuring security or progress in the country.

The author is a lawyer specializing in technology, privacy and cyber laws.
tech2 News Staff

5G is a big talking point for this year's MWC and we have already seen quite a few smartphone makers demo their respective phones capable of 5G. Among these companies is Japanese electronics giant Sony which showcased its newest flagship Xperia 1 alongside the Xperia 10, Xperia 10 Plus and a new 5G prototype device.

As per tech news outlet, Pocket-lint spotted the 5G Sony device at both Sony and Qualcomms respective booths. There was no name given to the device as of yet so it can be assumed that the phone is not yet ready for consumers and a final product should come out soon.

A member of Sony's global communications team told Pocket-lint that this was a test device being used for network experience testing. He explained that Sony was testing the effects of placing the antenna at different places to make the phone as thin as possible. He said that we could expect the Sony 5G phone in the near future.

How soon is this 'near future' is currently a mystery although we can assume that IFA 2019, which happens in August, should give us more insight on Sony's plans for 5G.

The highlight of Sony's flagship Xperia 1 is definitely its display. The phone gets a 6.57-inch 4K HDR OLED display, the first on any smartphone. Sony's also tinkered around with the aspect ratio to what the company calls a CinemaWide aspect ratio of 21:9.

This aspect ratio is an approximation of several ultra-widescreen aspect ratios (including 64:27, 43:18 and 12:5) and is designed to show films recorded in CinemaScope of 2.35:1 or the modern anamorphic format of 2.39:1.

As always, you can head here if you wish to keep yourself apprised about the latest developments at MWC 2019
tech2 News Staff

The 5G express is running on full force at MWC and OnePlus has brought a ticket on it by revealing its new prototype 5G smartphone on the MWC show floor. Well, sort of.

The device is wrapped around in a large white box which covers everything but the phone's display. What we can make out from pictures posted by OnePlus on its official forum, is that the phone does not appear to have a notch like the one seen on the OnePlus 6T.

The aspect ratio also appears to be a bit tall than the 19:9 ratio we have come to see of many smartphone makers. It resembles more like the recently announced Xperia 1. Again we have to reiterate that this is not the OnePlus 7 but another, as of yet unnamed, standalone model.

"There's no-one better suited than OnePlus to lead 5G, because of our users."  OnePlus (@oneplus) February 25, 2019

A report by The Verge says that the phone can hit a maximum download speed of 500 Mbps. The device was connected to a local 5G base station which used a mmWave connection, which basically means high data throughput while sacrificing range. Cross-platform cloud gaming service, Shadow demoed its game Ace Combat 7.

Apart from that OnePlus has been posting a series of tweets regarding its work with Qualcomm in the 5G realm.

"Since the beginning, we've been focused on creating flagship phones, using the 800-series chipsets from @Qualcomm. Our engineering teams have had a very close and fruitful R&D relationship," said Carl Pei, co-founder of OnePlus in one of the tweets.

UK's biggest telecom network, EE will be bringing the 5G OnePlus phone to the UK said CEO Marc Allera. As a matter of fact, Allera claimed that EE will be the first carrier in the world to bring a 5G OnePlus to the market. OnePlus also announced recently its 5G phone will be sold in Finland as well in association with Elisa, the country's biggest telecom provider.

No details are available on the pricing but CEO Pete Lau had mentioned at Qualcomm's Snapdragon summit back in December that the 5G OnePlus device would cost about $200 - $300 more than the current OnePlus flagship.

For all the latest updates from the Mobile World Congress 2019, please head to our MWC 2019 page.
Reuters

Twitter Inc plans to boost hiring in India and appoint an officer to liaise with the Election Commission (EC), a senior executive said on Tuesday, responding to concerns about political misuse of social media ahead of this years general elections.

Speaking a day after an Indian parliamentary committee told the company to engage more with the Election Commission to help ensure a free and fair vote, Twitters global head of public policy, Colin Crowell, told Reuters the election was a top priority for the company.

Crowell said he had told the panel that we will certainly have a process and mechanism in place to address issues that will arise during the election period. The company was prepared to meet a request to hire an officer to liaise with the Election Commission, he said in an interview.

India, which has one of the worlds biggest Internet markets, has stepped up scrutiny of social media firms to curb the propagation of so-called fake news and prevent foreign interference in the election, which is due by May and in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a second term.

Twitter is also in the process of hiring a country head for India, Crowell said, declining to give a specific timeline. Twitters former India head, Taranjeet Singh, stepped down late last year and another executive is currently serving as the interim chief of local operations.

Calling India an incredibly important market, Crowell said the company was going to invest both in personnel and in the platform, particularly because we have this important election coming up here. He did not elaborate.

However, Crowell was also critical of draft rules proposed in December by the technology ministry but yet to be formalized, which, if enforced, will impose rules on social media companies such as Twitter and Facebook. They include removing within 24 hours content deemed to be unlawful, including anything affecting the sovereignty and integrity of India.

Certainly asking the technology companies to pro-actively police platforms to remove illegal content puts those platforms in a quasi-judicial role, Crowell said, adding concerns raised by civil society groups on the proposals are appropriate.

Jeff Paine, Managing Director of the Asia Internet Coalition (AIC), said in a statement last month the proposed regulations are too broad, contain language that is vague and ambiguous, and impose burdensome obligations on social media companies.

Crowell also said that Twitter was aware that globally there are attempts to manipulate conversations, search and trending topics on the platform.

Thats why weve doubled down on the technologies and machine learning and our anti-spam proprietary tools to go after that content at scale on a global basis, he said.
The school police union believes it is further evidence that officers must be armed in order to protect the students and staff from an outside threat. But some parents and community groups say the board shouldnt make a reactionary decision about an important policy. They argue that an armed school police force could put children, especially black children, in danger and bolster the school-to-prison pipeline.
tech2 News Staff

Facebook employs around 15,000 content editors to moderate abusive content on its platform. It is their job is to keep Facebook free of content which violates the platform's Community Standards. This content can include everything from misinformation, hate-inciting to often extremely graphic videos. These content moderators aren't Facebook employees per se, but employees of organisations that Facebook has outsourced this work to, such as Accenture, Cognizant, Genpact and other IT consultancy firms.

A detailed report in The Verge has highlighted the conditions under which a lot of these content moderators work in Arizona, US, office of Cognizant  the IT company with whom Facebook has partnered, to keep the platform clean.

Another report by Bloomberg, who spoke to content moderators from Accenture, states the random nature of content the moderators have to look at daily. According to one moderator, the site spoke to, there is a constant strain on employees as there is not only nudity or pornography to look at, but also beheadings and murder. The employees also periodically discussed 'body counts' ie. the number of dead bodies they saw on Facebook on their shift.

"But the secrecy also insulates Cognizant and Facebook from criticism about their working conditions, moderators told me. They are pressured not to discuss the emotional toll that their job takes on them, even with loved ones, leading to increased feelings of isolation and anxiety," said The Verge report.

Some of the key takeaways of this investigative story included:

Content moderators have to account for every minor break they take. In fact, two Muslim employees were also ordered to not pray during their allotted 'wellness time.'

There is a constant fear among contractors of being fired even if they make a few errors a week.

Dark jokes about suicides, smoking weed during breaks, being high during work hours are common ways of compensating the mental trauma faced while moderating graphic content.

Some employees have started believing conspiracy theories that they are to be moderating.

Within hours, Facebook's VP of global operations, Justin Osofsky put out a post on the Facebook Newsroom highlighting the efforts the company is taking to ensure the mental wellbeing of its content moderators. Osofsky did not refer to The Verge or Bloomberg story at any instance in his write-up but just said that he was aware of the misunderstandings and accusations around Facebook's content review practices.

Facebook has acknowledged that it is partnering with organisations such as Accenture, Cognizant, Genpact among others, for outsourcing content moderation work as these organisations are known for their employee care standards.

"These partnerships are important because they allow us to work with established companies who have a core competency in this type of work and who are able to help us ramp with location and language support quickly," said Osofsky defending Facebook's stand on outsourcing this critical work.

He went on to mention some of the core mechanisms in place for content moderation partners. These include having an agreement with partners to provide employees with good working facilities including wellness breaks and mental health resources. Facebook claims it also conducts weekly calls, regular visits and monthly and quarterly business reviews with its partners. Osofsky also enlisted measures that Facebook is taking to ensure that its partners get all the support required from Facebook to ensure a healthy working environment.

"We encourage all partner employees to raise any concerns with their employers HR teams. Additionally, they can anonymously raise concerns directly to Facebook via our whistleblower hotline, and Facebook will follow up on the issue appropriately," read the post.
Reuters

Silicon Valley billionaire Elon Musk laid into the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission again on Tuesday, after it accused the Tesla Inc chief executive officer of violating the terms of a settlement last year of fraud charges against him.

In a filing on Monday, the SEC said that in a tweet on 19 February Musk had broken a promise made last year to have his public statements vetted by the companys board, part of the deal.

The regulator did not say what remedy it wanted the court to impose, but the commitment was part of a settlement that headed off demands from the SEC for Musk to resign as Tesla CEO, seen by investors in the company as a substantial risk to its future.

Musk, who initially on Monday accused the SEC of failing to read the companys annual reports, followed up with another tweet in the early hours of Tuesday.

Something is broken with SEC oversight, he wrote.

Shares of the electric carmaker dipped 2.6 per cent to $291 in trading before the bell, signalling concern among investors that Musk had reopened his feud with the regulator.

The companys only junk bond also dipped 0.75 points to a cash price of 87.75 in thin trading, still some way off last years lows.

With Tesla/Musk settling with the SEC in October this black cloud was in the rearview mirror for the company, analysts from brokerage Wedbush said in a note to clients.

This latest tweet (is) a wild card that could potentially bring this tornado of uncertainty back into the Tesla story until resolved.

J.P. Morgan Securities analyst Ryan Brinkman said that in a worst-case scenario, the SEC could again seek Musks removal as CEO for violating the terms of the agreement and its shares could fall by a fifth, or more than $50, in value.

It is difficult to judge the likelihood of the reappearance of this worst case scenario ... but on the other hand, the current allegations seem much less serious (than last years), Brinkman told clients in a note.

If the SEC were to seek Mr. Musks removal (perhaps subject to yet another settlement), we believe the shares may approach the mid-$200 levels.

Thirteen of 32 Wall Street brokerages now rate the electric car company a buy or higher. Eight view it as a hold and 11 sell or lower, with a median PT of $327.50

Teslas general counsel Dane Butswinkas, hired as an outside counsel to help settle the case with the SEC, resigned a day after Musk made the tweet to which the new SEC case refers.

The tweet read: Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019, an inaccurate claim which the SEC said had not been pre-approved by the board and was disseminated to over 24 million people.

Musk corrected his tweet four hours later to say that the annualized production rate at year-end 2019 would probably be about 500,000, with deliveries expected to be about 400,000.

While this tweet (after market hours) and the quick correction seem innocuous, the SEC isnt likely to cut Musk any slack, said another analyst, Gene Munster from Loup Ventures.

Musks unwillingness to follow the rules is part of what you have to be willing to accept as an investor in Tesla.
Referring to it, the Shiv Sena said the poll season has begun and the government has taken a slew of decisions, including PM-KISAN scheme and cutting GST from 12 to 5 percent on under-construction houses

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena on Tuesday hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's gesture of washing the feet of sanitation workers at the Kumbh Mela, but said the question before these people is of their "stomach" and not feet.

The remarks came two days after Modi took a dip at the Sangam in Uttar Pradesh and conducted 'charan vandana' (washing the feet) of select sanitation workers as a mark of respect for their efforts in keeping the Kumbh Mela clean.

"Modi should be congratulated for washing the feet of sanitation workers, but the question concerning them is not about their feet but their stomach," the Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

The prime minister's "kar seva" (service with hands) will be successful only when these workers are able to stand on their own feet, the Marathi publication opined.

On Sunday, the prime minister also launched the ambitious Rs 75,000-crore Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, by transferring the first instalment of Rs 2,000 each to over one crore farmers.

Referring to it, the Sena said the poll season has begun and the government has taken a slew of decisions, including PM-KISAN scheme and cutting GST from 12 to 5 percent on under-construction houses.

"There are allegations that all this is being done keeping elections in mind. However, the budget before poll announcements are made for political benefits. Every political party in power does that," said the Uddhav Thackeray-led party, an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra.

It pointed out that the prime minister attended the Republic Day function in January wearing a saffron turban in a bid to send a message to Hindu voters.

"However, the BJP lost polls in three states that were traditionally 'Hindutvawadi'," it said.

It was apparently referring to the BJP's defeat in the three Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh during the Assembly polls held there in November 2018.
Union minister Kiren Rijiju Monday accused the Congress of politicising the inauguration of the National War Memorial in Delhi, saying the Opposition party is devoid of any issue and is trying to create a controversy over the national monument.

New Delhi: Union minister Kiren Rijiju Monday accused the Congress of politicising the inauguration of the National War Memorial in Delhi, saying the Opposition party is devoid of any issue and is trying to create a controversy over the national monument.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the country's National War Memorial adjoining the iconic India Gate complex, nearly 60 years after it was mooted to honour the fallen soldiers after Independence.

Rijiju also slammed Rahul Gandhi for his comments on "shaheed (martyr) status" to personnel of the CRPF and other paramilitary forces killed in action, saying the Congress president does not know the definition of "shaheed".

"The Congress is devoid of any issue and that is why it has raked up the war memorial issue. The Congress is politicising it. Where is the place for politics in a war memorial. But the Congress even does politics over a war memorial. The whole country is watching," he told reporters.

The Union Minister of State for Home said for the first time, the country got a war memorial within a year of having a police memorial.

"It is a matter of pride for all citizens of the country. Both the memorials are a matter of honour for the country. This is dedicated to the people who laid down their lives and for those people who are serving the nation," he said.

On 21 October last year, Modi had inaugurated the National Police Memorial at the National Capital's Chankyapuri area where a 'Wall of Valour' was erected with the names of all 35,000 police personnel who laid down their lives since the country's Independence.

Referring to Rahul Gandhi's demand for "martyr status" to paramilitary jawans who were killed in action, Rijiju said the government considers anyone who sacrifices life in the service of the nation as a "martyr".

"Rahul Gandhi does not know the definition of martyr. We consider anyone who sacrificed the life for the nation as martyr. Rahul does not have any knowledge on rules and regulations," he said.

The Congress chief on Monday trained his guns on Modi, alleging that the prime minister's ego is not allowing him to meet the demand for granting "shaheed" status to personnel of the CRPF and other paramilitary forces killed in the line of duty.

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal has asked Modi what he had done to save the lives of soldiers in the past five years.

"We stand by the war memorial. It is for the prime minister to tell us how we save the lives of our security forces," he said.

The former Union minister said memorials are good and one should remember those who gave up their lives for the country. But there should be actions on the ground too, Sibal added.
The BJP MLAs were marshalled out of the Delhi Assembly amid chants of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' and 'Vande Matram'

New Delhi: BJP MLAs were marshalled out of Delhi Assembly on Tuesday for chanting pro-Modi slogans instead of hailing the Indian Air Force for carrying out pre-dawn air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan, speaker Ram Niwas Goel said.

The Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control on the Pakistani side, 12 days after the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group carried out the dastardly Pulwama attack in Kashmir, government sources said.

The speaker was accused by the Opposition parties of not giving time to laud the strikes to which Goel said the BJP MLAs chanted "Modi Zindabad" instead of hailing the Indian Air Force.

The BJP MLAs were marshalled out of the Delhi Assembly amid chants of "Bharat Mata ki Jai" and "Vande Matram".
The Supreme Court will begin to hear challenges to Article 35A of the Constitution on Tuesday. The apex court's decision to list the matter on Monday has heightened the already taut atmosphere across Jammu and Kashmir.

The Supreme Court will start hearing petitions challenging Constitutional validity to Article 35A of the Constitution starting Tuesday. The apex court's decision to list the matter on Monday has heightened the already taut atmosphere across Jammu and Kashmir.

Calls for the abrogation of the Article 35A (and Article 370) have risen in the aftermath of the Jaish-e-Mohammad orchestrated terror attack in the state's Pulwama district, that killed 42 Central Reserve Police Force soldiers. The home ministry on Friday had issued a notification to urgently deploy additional Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in Jammu and Kashmir. The decision came ahead of the crucial hearing and at a time when the police and armed forces in the area have begun a crackdown on militants, separatists and terrorists in the area.

However, while Governor Satya Pal Mallik's administration announced through its newly-appointed spokesperson Rohit Kansal that it stands by its request of deferring the hearing on Article 35A, the government at the Centre has been in favour of doing away with the statute. The two biggest political parties in the Valley, the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference and the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party have both spoken against its abrogation.

On Monday, while NC leader Omar Abdullah said the Valley would find itself in a situation worse than Arunachal Pradesh if Article 35A is abolished, PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti warned the Centre that the situation in the valley would be "more dangerous than what we have been witnessing since 1947" if the statute is scrapped.

What is Article 35A?

Article 35A of the Constitution grants "special status" to the residents of Jammu and Kashmir and defines who the "permanent residents" of the state are. Under its purview, the classes of persons "who are, or shall be, permanent residents of the State of Jammu and Kashmir" are defined.

It also bars people from outside Jammu and Kashmir from acquiring any immovable property or government jobs in the state and denies property rights to a woman married to a person from outside Jammu and Kashmir. The right to scholarships and other forms of state government aid is also prohibited to be granted to anyone other than permanent residents of the state.

The article was incorporated in the Constitution in 1954 by an order issued by then-president Rajendra Prasad, on the advice of the Jawaharlal Nehru cabinet. It is an extension of the Article 370, another disputed statute which grants special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Why is there a call to abolish it?

When brought into force at the time of Independence, Article 35A was meant to be a temporary arrangement. But successive mentions of the article, especially by the Supreme Court, which has upheld its constitutional validity several times, has given it a kind of immovable authenticity.

In 2015, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court observed that Article 370 and Article 35A are an "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".

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. The latest PIL, filed by BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay, said the court must decide on the President of India's jurisdiction and thereby delineate who exactly can rule over Jammu and Kashmir.

Attempts have been made to abrogate the article and facilitate a seamless transition of Jammu and Kashmir into India. A separate set of constitutional statutes claiming the "special status" of a set of people living within the country, many feel, have aggravated 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 35A. The demand is no longer limited to the Bharatiya Janata Party, which promised to abolish the article ahead of the 2014 polls. Actor Kangana Ranaut has also called for the move, as has JSW Group Chairman Sajjan Jindal and spiritual leader Jaggi Vasudev.

The people living in Jammu and Kashmir, however, largely vouch for the necessity of the article, claiming it serves to safeguard the people of the region.
The National Security Committee meeting was attended by Pakistan's ministers of foreign affairs, defence, finance, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee chairman General Zubair Mahmood Hayat, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi, Chief of Air Staff Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan and other civil and military officials.

Following the pre-dawn airstrikes by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on terror launch pads in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the National Security Committee which met at Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan's office said India has "committed uncalled aggression" to which Pakistan "shall respond at the time and place of its choosing".

The meeting was attended by Pakistani ministers of foreign affairs, defence, finance, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee chairman General Zubair Mahmood Hayat, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi, Chief of Air Staff Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan and other civil and military officials.

"The forum strongly rejected Indian claim of targeting an alleged terrorist camp near Balakot and the claim of heavy casualties. Once again Indian government has resorted to a self-serving, reckless and fictitious claim," the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said in a series of tweets.

A special meeting of the National Security Committee chaired by the Prime Minister was held at PMs office today. The meeting was attended by Ministers of Foreign Affairs,Defence,Finance,Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, COAS,CNS,CAS and other civil & military officials. pic.twitter.com/6qGNSyeydb  PTI (@PTIofficial) February 26, 2019

"This action has been done for domestic consumption, being in election environment, putting regional peace and stability at grave risk. The claimed area of strike is open for the world to see the facts on ground. For this, domestic and international media is being taken to the impact site," said Pakistan's ruling party. The Imran Khan government also decided to requisition joint session of parliament so as to "take the nation on board". Imran summoned a special meeting of the National Command Authority on Wednesday. He has directed that "elements of national power", including the armed forces and the people of Pakistan, remain prepared for all eventualities.

He decided to engage with global leadership to expose irresponsible Indian policy in the region. PM appreciated timely and effective response of PAF to repulse Indian attempt without any loss of life or property.  PTI (@PTIofficial) February 26, 2019

India struck Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest camp in Pakistan early Tuesday in a major "preemptive" action, killing a large number of terrorists and trainers of the Pakistan-based terror group preparing to carry out suicide attacks in this country.

Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Tuesday that Pakistan now reserves the right to give an appropriate reply. "India has conducted a violation of the Line of Control and Pakistan reserves the right to an appropriate response," he said.
There was confusion over whether the IAF operation took place just across the LoC in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, or in Bala Kote near the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch sector.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale, on Tuesday, confirmed that the Indian Air Force had carried out a non-military, pre-emptive attack on "the biggest training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammad" terror outfit across the border in Pakistan. The pre-dawn strike involved 12 Mirage 2000 jets that dropped 1,000-kilogram bombs on the location.

With Pakistan military spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeting that the IAF jets had dropped the payload "in haste" near Balakot, confusion ensued about whether the IAF strike took place just across the Line of Control in the town located in Mansehra district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, or in a similarly named town Bala Kote near the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch sector.

Gokhale, in his briefing, has confirmed that the IAF targeted JeM camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Now, the exact location of the main strike has been pinpointed as the Jaba Top (also known as the Jabba Top), located in the province's Mansehra district.

Jaba is believed to have housed a JeM stronghold, with as many as 200 fidayeens at the time of the IAF operation. It is a 40-minute drive from both Mansehra and Balakot towns in Mansehra district.

According to defence sources, IAF fighter jets not only targeted the JeM camp, but also Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen camps near Muzaffarabad, which lies between the LoC and Jaba Top,. There were as many as six targets in the IAF operation, including Chakothi, Balakot and Muzaffarabad.

Reports are also coming in for the fact that five terror camps were independently targeted at Kangar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

It is learnt that India had shared with US intelligence inputs on eight big and 24 small terror training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Pakistan.

The list mentions a huge camp housing more than 200 terror recruits on Mansehra Ridge and another terror camp run by JeM, called Bukad Bud, near Mansehra. It is not known which of these camps were the targets of Tuesday's operation.

In the light of the IAF strike, the situation is tense across Kashmir valley, particularly near the border.

Follow live updates of the IAF strike in Pakistan here
The circumstances surrounding Andersons death are suspicious, according to a news release from Maryland State Police, which noted all possibilities are being considered and nothing has been ruled out at this time.
In short, India has just blown away the nuclear threshold for conventional operations and called Pakistan's bluff on nuclear deterrence. This is the second message from the Balakot operation.

Precision strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) carried out by the Indian Armys special force post Uri terror attacks (commonly referred to as surgical strikes) expressed Indias intent that it is willing to take risks to impose some costs on Pakistan instead of getting gripped by the fear of escalation with a nuclear-armed neighbour. Successful as the covert action was in destroying some terror training camps close to the LoC in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, the strikes were aimed at mitigating the menace of terrorism, not eliminating it.

Consequently, even though the surgical strikes imposed some costs on Pakistan, these costs were not prohibitive. The one-off operation  audacious and efficient as it was  did not signal any formal shifting of paradigm in Indian response to terror attacks. That no longer holds after Tuesday.

By sending 12 IAF mirage jets across the LoC  the first time India has bombed targets inside Pakistan since the 1971 war  where they dropped laser-guided payload on Jaish-e-Mohammad's biggest training camp in Balakot in Mansehra district of Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, India has declared an intent in revising its retaliation doctrine.

Early reports indicate that the roughly 21-minute operation by 12 IAF jets (all of which returned safely) caused significant depletion of Pakistan's terror assets. The location of Indian operation demands attention. Balakot is roughly a four-hour drive from Islamabad. That Indian fighter jets could fly so deep inside Pakistani territory, complete the objective and return home before Pakistan's radar could pick and F-16s could scramble, points to the meticulousness of Indian operation and the laxity of Pakistani response.

Every facet of the Indian operation indicates that it was intelligence-backed action, which foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale has referred to as a non-military preemptive action that was specifically targeted at the Jaish-e-Mohammad camp (more on that later).

Though Gokhale did not confirm but media reports claim that along with Balakot  which housed a permanent infrastructure furnished with swimming pool and a gymnasium, according to a report in CNN-News 18  Indian pre-dawn strikes also demolished terrorist launchpads in Chakoti, Muzaffarabad and Jaish-e-Mohammad control rooms in the area.

The foreign secretary did name Balakot during his briefing, and stated that IAFs strikes were targeted the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad". The foreign secretary also added that in this operation, a very large number of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated. This facility at Balakot was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar (alias Ustad Ghouri), the brother-in-law of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar.

The significance of Balakot also lies in the fact that in 2016 the US Federal Bureau of Investigation had assisted Indias National Investigation Agency in cracking the Facebook chats of terrorists where Balakots was mentioned as a significant training camp site for Jaish-e-Mohammad.

So what are the messages that India sent through the Balakot strike which is trending on Twitter as 'Surgical Strikes2'?

The first message is clear. This attack signals a paradigm shift in Indias security architecture. India is telling Pakistan in unambiguous terms that if Rawalpindi-bred jihadists launch terror attacks on Indian soil and target its citizens (be it civilians or security forces), India will not only cross the LoC and hit them but may use its air assets in doing so. And in order to scale up the costs on Pakistan for its use of radical and separatist elements as cannon fodder for its proxy war, India may even go deep inside Pakistani territory to operate, if needed.

In short, India has just blown away the nuclear threshold for conventional operations and called Pakistan's bluff on nuclear deterrence. This is the second message from the Balakot operation.

A Firstpost piece argued that one of Indias preferred kinetic options could be to carry out a demonstrable strike that is significant and proportionate in nature with the ghastly Pulwama attacks and yet doesnt violate Rawalpindis nuclear threshold. It was for India to figure out that Pakistan's real deterrence lied not in the tactical nuclear warheads but in the frequent threat over its use. Now that India has called Pakistans bluff, Rawalpindi must rethink its strategy of nuclear blackmail both as a cover for terrorist strikes and deterrence mechanism against Indian retaliation.

Indias third message rips apart theories about stability-instability paradox that has been used by theorists to define the India-Pakistan conflict. Taking Cold War as an example, this international relations theory holds that there is less chance of a major conflict between two nuclear powers because the Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) concept "permits stability at higher levels of conflict".

By letting its air assets cross the LoC and drop a 1,000-kg payload inside enemy territory, India has thrown away its strategic restraint and declared that it is not averse to taking a major action against Pakistan just because it has nuclear weapons. This not only junks the stability-instability assumption in India-Pakistan conflict but calls for a new delineation.
The Pakistan Army on Tuesday alleged that the Indian Air Force violated the Line of Control (LoC) in Balakot in the Muzaffarabad sector.

India's pre-emptive strikes on terror camps in Pakistan were hailed Tuesday by leaders of various political parties, with the BJP asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's political will has made the difference while Congress chief Rahul Gandhi lauded the Indian Air Force.

A high alert was issued to all Indian air defence systems along the International Border and Line of Control (LoC) after the Indian Air Force carried out an operation at 3.56 am across the Line of Control (LoC) in Balakot in Muzaffarabad sector of Pakistan. Reports said 12 Mirage 2000 jets of IAF dropped 1,000 kilograms of bombs at terror launch pads across the LoC, completely destroying it.

Indian foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said that India had targeted known terror camps  following specific intel inputs  located in deep forests away from the civilian population were targetted. Gokhale termed the strikes a non-military preemptive action and refused to take any further questions.

The operation comes amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan after the 14 February suicide attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, which killed 40 troopers.

Early on Tuesday, spokesperson for the Pakistani armed forces, Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted that the IAF had violated the LoC, after which the Pakistan Air Force had "immediately scrambled", and that the Indian aircraft had "gone back". He tweeted again three hours later, saying that the IAF had "released payload in haste" while retreating.

Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage.  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019

Payload of hastily escaping Indian aircrafts fell in open. pic.twitter.com/8drYtNGMsm  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019

The IAF operation immediately drew scores of reactions, both in India and Pakistan. Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan's party PTI, said that the Indian media's "beating of war drums" was disturbing.

We always knew Indian media was irresponsible, but beating the war drums shows a disturbing bloodlust and deteriorating mindset at a time when Pakistan is on an upward trajectory. Indian jets scrambled back from Balakot which lies close to the LOC.#Pakistan  PTI (@PTIofficial) February 26, 2019

Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi warned India "not to challenge" Pakistan. He said Pakistan "should not be worried" over the strike as "defenders of the country are fully prepared".

Qureshi was quoted by Radio Pakistan as saying, "Better sense should prevail in India. Our faith that God Almighty is the only supreme power. We are peace loving nation and have registered successes in the war on terrorism."

Pakistani journalist Mosharraf Zaidi asserted that the IAF strike wasn't in "Azad Kashmir" or Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) but in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Just to be clear: #Balakot is not in Azad Kashmir. If Indian Air Force planes dropped payload in Balakot, they crossed across the LOC, and then across the entirety of Azad Kashmir, and then into Khyber Pakhtukhwa. India didn't "cross the LOC". It has attacked Pakistan.  Mosharraf Zaidi (@mosharrafzaidi) February 26, 2019

BJP president Amit Shah attributed the success of the IAF operation to Modi's 'decisive' leadership. He said, "Todays action further demonstrates that India is safe and secure under the strong & decisive leadership of Narendra Modi."

Today's strong action shows the will and resolve of a New India.

Our New India will not spare any acts of terror and their perpetrators and patrons.  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) February 26, 2019

Party leader Nitin Gadkari also echoed Shah's statement of the action ushering in a "New India".

Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted:

 I salute the pilots of the IAF.   Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 26, 2019

Follow LIVE updates on the IAF operation here

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis told reporters: "I'm proud of the Indian armed forces. They have shown Pakistan that the sacrifices of our CRPF jawans will not go to waste. I don't have adequate information, but based on reports, I know that the IAF has struck a blow to Jaish-e-Mohammed's camp."

BJP general secretary Ram Madhav said: "Every Indian who felt the pain and anguish of the sacrifice of our forces (in Pulwama) is greatly relieved and delighted this morning. Salute to the Air Force for a meticulous operation. Our forces are world class anyway. It is the political will of our prime minister and team that made all the difference."

Amid speculation over terror camps in whether Balakote in Poonch or the one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province were targeted, Madhav tweeted that it was the latter. "By the way no doubt about which Balakot it was; it is the one in Manshera district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa," he said.

BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javdekar told reporters that people of Indian stood solidly behind their armed forces as he described the IAF strikes as an act of great valour. People have faith in Modi's leadership, Javadekar said.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said, "I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan."

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah had earlier brought to notice the confusion in reports about which Balakot had been struck, but after Foreign Secretary VK Gokhale confirmed that Balakote in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been struck by the IAF, Abdullah said that it was a "strike deep inside" Pakistan, and that the incident was "hugely embarrassing" for the neighbouring country.

So it is Balakote in KPK. Thats a strike deep inside Pakistan & is hugely embarrassing for them. Regardless of what the other side may claim was or wasnt hit the planes crossed over, dropped their payload & flew back completely unscathed.  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 26, 2019

Now we have an obligation to ensure that our people living near the international border & line of control are not caught in any Pakistani response. Local administrations need to be ready to evacuate & rehouse people to safe areas if situation escalates.  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 26, 2019

Former IAS officer from Kashmir, Shah Faesal listed a range of events as a result of the fallout after the Pulwama attack, ending with a question: Who lost and who gained?

Pulwama attack: 45 lives lost and as many families destroyed. Targetted violence against thousands of Kashmiris. Communal polarisation. A near-war situation between India and Pak. Possible electoral gains for RW forces in India. Who lost and who gained?  Shah Faesal (@shahfaesal) February 26, 2019

Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh hailed it as a great job by the IAF. "The IAF strikes have sent the much needed signal to Pakistan and the terrorists it's harbouring - don't think you can get away with acts like the Pulwama Attack. Bravo to the IAF men and my full support for the action," he said

The Congress also lauded the IAF's "consistent and determined" operations.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee hailed the Indian "Amazing" Force for the operation.

IAF also means India's Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) February 26, 2019

Uttar Pradesh minister Sidharth Nath Singh said:

Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi said: "The IAF has gone beyond PoK and into Pakistan near their capital while they were busy counting alms received from Saudi and China."

Indian Air Force Strikes at Balakot don't have official word yet but the Helter skelter by Pakistan seems like something big has happened. The IAF has gone beyond POK & into Pakistan near their capital while they were busy counting alms received from Saudi & China.  Abhishek Singhvi (@DrAMSinghvi) February 26, 2019

"This is Modi's India," Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, MoS for agriculture said, promising adequate action against perpetrators of terrorism.

    ,       , Air Force carried out aerial strike early morning today at terror camps across the LoC and Completely destroyed it        !     ..     ...#Balakot #Surgicalstrike2 pic.twitter.com/fqYJgWxuqX  Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (@gssjodhpur) February 26, 2019

NCP leader Sharad Pawar said that a "befitting reply" had been given to "terrorists".

Salute to #indianairforce for giving befitting reply to the terrorists operating from POK !#IndiaStrikesBack  Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) February 26, 2019

Makkal Neethi Maiam (MNM) president Kamal Hassan welcomed the IAF strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan, and saluted the "valour" of the "heroes". The country was "proud of its heroes," he said. "Our 12 (apparently fighter jets) return safely home after wreaking havoc on terrorist camps in Pakistan. India is proud of its heroes. I salute their valour," he said. Actors like Ajay Devgn, Anupam Kher, and Abhishek Bachchan reacted with praise for the IAF:

Mess with the best, die like the rest. Salute #IndianAirForce.@narendramodi.  Ajay Devgn (@ajaydevgn) February 26, 2019

     Abhishek Bachchan (@juniorbachchan) February 26, 2019

Anupam Kher, responding to Rahul's tweet, said, "Today will be a good day to start saluting Prime Minister Narendra Modi too."

Respect @IAF_MCC Indian Air Force... Jai ho !!!  Salman Khan (@BeingSalmanKhan) February 26, 2019

The operation comes amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan after the 14 February suicide attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, which killed 40 troopers.
The Supreme Court has listed for hearing from 26 to 28 February petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Article 35A which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir residents.

The Supreme Court will start hearing petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the contentious Article 35A from 26-28 February. Former chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah warned Centre that any tinkering of the Article 35A will trigger political upheaval.

Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, Mufti said, "If anything like that happens (tinkering with Article 35A), its consequences would be  I have said it earlier and my words were not taken well  that it would be difficult for those who raise the flag of this country to even shoulder it. If it (Article 35A) is attacked, I dont know that which flag the people of Jammu and Kashmir would raise after dropping the Tricolour," The Indian Express reported.

According to reports, the mood in Kashmir Valley was one of dread ahead of the Supreme Court's hearing.

Article 35A of the Constitution grants "special status" to the residents of Jammu and Kashmir and defines the "permanent residents" of the state. It also bars people from outside Jammu and Kashmir from acquiring any immovable property or jobs in the state. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a number of petitions challenging this constitutional provision.

The demand to abrogate Article 35A has gained more fervour since the attack on a CRPF convoy on 14 February, in which 42 jawans died. In the aftermath of the attack carried out by the Jaish-e-Mohammad, Kashmiris across the country have been facing violence and hate, and the Centre has initiated a crackdown on separatist leaders in the state.

The pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the Article 35A (relating to the special rights and privileges enjoyed by Jammu and Kashmir) in Supreme Court listed for hearing this week from Feb 26-28. pic.twitter.com/CiGJoYFpj9  ANI (@ANI) February 25, 2019

Violence erupted in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday as rumours began to circulate on social media that the Supreme Court was going to strike Article 35A down. Dozens of protests and incidents of stone pelting were reported from districts in the Valley, with people thronging markets to stock up on essentials in the fear that there could be a long shutdown and curfew in the state.

On Friday, the Home Ministry had issued a notification to "urgently" deploy 100 additional companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in the Valley.

The Supreme Court, on 19 February, had agreed to look into a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the article. The PIL, filed by BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay, also said the court must decide on the President of India's jurisdiction and thereby delineate who exactly can rule over Jammu and Kashmir.

When brought into force at the time of Independence, Article 35A was meant to be a temporary arrangement. But successive mentions of the article, especially by the Supreme Court, which has upheld its constitutional validity several times, has given it a kind of immovable authenticity.

With inputs from agencies
As a young boy growing up in the tiny hamlet of Dharmata in Baberu tehsil of Banda district, Uttar Pradesh, Naresh Kumar Chamki was used to being called 'Mehtar' a caste of sweepers  by the upper class. The school dropout opted not to become a sweeper in his village and turned to other jobs, but he couldn't shake off the title. Until Sunday night, when villagers started calling him Nareshji. The 32-year-old landless daily wage labourer was among manual scavengers from the Scheduled Caste felicitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Kumbh Mela on 24 February. The occasion left them a memory to last a lifetime, after Modi washed their feet, wiped them dry with a towel and felicitated them by giving them angavastrams.

However, despite the symbolic elevation of their social status, all they want is permanent jobs. I have been flooded with phone calls from villagers, said an elated Naresh. The problem of untouchability is a big issue in my village, so those who'd never spoken to me, are calling me Nareshji.

Everyone wants to know what conversation I had with Modiji, he added. Naresh has been entrusted with the task of cleaning Sangam Nose and receives Rs 340 per day, which is credited in his bank account by the health department every 15 days. His wife Naki Devi, 30, also works as a manual scavenger in Sangam Nose. They live with their four children in the Sanitary Colony, a temporary arrangement made by the Kumbh Mela administration.

He asked how cleaning work is going on at the ghat, to which I replied 'it's good'. Then he asked whether it's cleaner than the previous Kumbh or magh mela, to which I replied 'yes', Naresh said. He added that he would keep the angvastram till his death.

Naresh, who lives in a thatched house back home, expects that his life will change after his meeting with the prime minister. I want a job. We rarely get this (Kumbh Mela) sort of work... Can this meeting help in getting me a job?" Naresh asked.

Which was also the query of 35-year-old Horelal, a sanitary worker who hails from Darhata village in Sambhal district, who was also felicitated by the PM at the Kumbh Mela. Horelal is a construction worker in Sambhal city. A contractor sent him and his wife to the mela as manual scavengers. Horelal said after the prime minister washed his feet, he felt guilty. How can such a prominent person touch our feet? I am feeling bad that I allowed him to do so, said Horelal, attired in his work outfit which has the tag Swachhata Doot (ambassador of cleanliness).

Whenever I recall that moment, it feels like a dream, said Horelal, who cleaned the Sangam Nose, Triveni Road and Sangam Chowki area at the Kumbh Mela. Horelal has also worked in Noida and Delhi, and is among a group of labourers regularly employed to work in the NCR region and nearby district for months.

Horelal takes his wife Rajkumari, 32, and three children with him. We don't own any plot or farm land, and spend our lives like vagabonds. Now, Modiji has spoken to me, so can I get a job? If not, then recruit us as permanent sanitary workers, said Horelal.

Pyarelal, 45, and Chaubi, 35, from Banda, and Jyori, 25, from Korba, Chhattisgarh, also expect that something will happen, after Modi washed their feet. We don't dare to even dream of Modi touching our feet so this is something I will remember all my life, and hope that some officer will soon recruit us as permanent workers, said Chaubi. Modi, while addressing the workers, hailed them as karmayogis, and added that by maintaining cleanliness in the Kumbh Mela area, they have shown that nothing is impossible.

The author is Allahabad-based freelancer and a member of 101Reporters.com
Day 2 of the News18 Rising India Summit on Tuesday will begin with BJP president Amit Shah speaking at an hour-long session titled 'Mahabharat'. This comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered the keynote address.

Day 2 of the News18 Rising India Summit on Tuesday will begin with BJP president Amit Shah speaking at an hour-long session titled "Mahabharat". This comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered the keynote address on Monday, in which he primarily targeted the Congress, comparing statistics of the work the governments under the UPA and NDA had done.

Also lined up for the day are discussions on #WeToo  a movement a Chennai-based journalist began parallel to the #MeToo movement to highlight cases of harassment that men too face. NCP Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule, actors Taapsee Pannu and Padmapriya Janakiraman, filmmaker and writer Paromita Vohra and writer Santosh Desai will address the '#WeToo: The New Gender Equation' session.

During the session named 'A $1 Billion Mutinies Now', to be moderated by Managing Editor of CNBC-TV18 Shereen Bhan, Policy Bazaar co-founder and CEO Yashish Dahiya, Zerodha founder and CEO Nithin Kamath, Delhivery co-founder Suraj Saharan and PopXo founder and CEO Priyanka Gill will discuss startups and their functioning in India.

The Rising India Summit will conclude with Union minister Arun Jaitley's session on 'The Making of a New India', which is likely to focus on developmental initiatives the government has taken over the past five years.

The Rising India Summit, a leadership forum, this year is being held against the backdrop of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections with the theme 'Beyond Politics: Defining National Priorities'. The forum aims to bring to focus issues beyond the proximate and divert the discourse on the larger message of a growing India.
The fact that PAF has desisted from a counterstrike is significant and suggests that GHQ Rawalpindi thinks it will be difficult to sustain a legitimacy narrative.

Like the dog that didnt bark which helped Sherlock Holmes solve the mystery of the theft of the racing steed, Silver Blaze, the most interesting and encouraging thing from the point of view of stopping a potentially large scale conflict is the fact that Pakistan Air Force did not immediately respond to the Indian Air Forces strike on the Jaish-e-Mohammad centre in Balakot to train fidayeen suicide bombers.

In his press conference, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale made it plain that this was punitive action of a kind that Pakistan government long ago undertook to prosecute but didnt. That India had ample cause and legal justification for taking out JeM facilities after a string of terrorist attacks it had masterminded was also made clear. The important thing to note is that a precedent has now been established for India to use the anti-terrorist rationale in the future should Pakistan continue to support JeM, Lashkar-e-Taiba and other such outfits.

What is most significant about Pakistan not reacting to IAFs attack sortie is not that it wasnt detected in time. Ever since the Pulwama attack, PAF bases have been on alert and ready to scramble combat aircraft. Moreover, the SILLAC (Siemens Low Level air Control System) air defence system based out of Sargodha  possibly the best air defence complex in the subcontinent, would certainly have identified an incoming aerial attack.

The fact that PAF has desisted from a counterstrike is significant and suggests that GHQ Rawalpindi thinks it will be difficult to sustain a legitimacy narrative in the face of the Indian government painting this as a purely anti-terrorist measure. They would have taken their cue from the universal condemnation of the Pulwama terror strike which in fact would have guaranteed that no country, not even its all-weather friend, China, would have thought it prudent to be seen siding with Pakistan.

That may have been Pakistan Armys thinking from the time the JeM attack went in. How else to explain Pakistan militarys very quickly stepping on to the non-escalatory rhetoric by labeling the preemptive IAF action in the face of imminent danger from the fidayeen (as Foreign Secretary Gokhale stated), as a failure and hinting that the IAF strike force of 12 Mirage 2000 aircraft merely dropped their payload on their side of the border and scooted.

In an earlier era, in the wake of such Indian airstrike, IAF MiG-25 Foxbats would have taken off from Bareilly to do a high-altitude damage assessment flight. Now high-resolution cameras on Indian satellites would have provided reliable evidence of the attrition caused at the Pakistan end by the IAFs precision attack on JeM personnel and training infrastructure by the time Gokhale met with the press. So the Modi regime will be satisfied with avenging the Pulwama deaths and the countrys honour being restored. Islamabad by claiming no damage was done can decide not to worsen the situation by escalating.

This is a good place for peace, however, it is maintained, in South Asia and for India and Pakistan to be in.
In essence, Pakistan could soak up some punishmentsecure in the knowledge it is tying India down by inflicting disproportionate costs on its strategic adversary in Kashmir.

Either kill the tiger or be eaten by itone or the other, Mao Zedong pronounced in mid-1949, on the eve of the birth of the Peoples Republic of China. We must not show the slightest timidity before the wild beast. In the late 1960s, that speech played often on Chinese media. Faced with Beijings growing disobedience of its wishes, Moscow had turned on the heat on its unruly clienteven considering pre-emptive strikes on its nuclear weapons. The 17 Soviet divisions facing China swelled to 27 in 1969.

The Chinese estimated that Soviet mechanised forces could overwhelm its military, and reach Beijing inside of two weeks. Plain common sense called for Beijing to bend.

But in 1969, the Chinese gratuitously ambushed Soviet border guards on Damansky Island on the Ussuri river -- losing more than 200 Peoples Liberation Army troops to 58 Soviets. This defeat was a strategic success. It persuaded the Soviet Union that, ill-equipped as the PLA might be, its sheer numbers could create expensive, resource-sapping havoc. Soviet nuclear weapons could annihilate China, but Beijings own rudimentary liquid-fuelled nuclear missiles could deliver some devastation too.

Perhaps the most important lesson was: Soviet victory would only win an ungovernable, continent-sized begging-bowl.

Tonight, its more than likely that many Pakistani commanders will have texts on the Ussuri river clashes for their bedside reading. Ever since 1998, Pakistans warfighting doctrine has been premised on the proposition that its nuclear weapons guaranteed it immunity against Indian attack but now that assumption is in ruins.

From the Ussuri fighting, Pakistans generals will know weaker adversaries can transmute disaster into victory. Indias own strategic planners need to pay close attention to what Pakistans generals are thinking, to anticipate, and pre-empt the consequences.

Go to war

Lt Gen Tariq Khan, former commander of the Mangla-based I Corps, Pakistans key strike formation, laid out the countrys new strategic dilemma in comments posted on a private WhatsApp group on Tuesday.

Each Indian cross-border strike, Gen Khan noted erode our position of deterring war through our nuclear capabilitythe keystone of the strategy of a weaker conventional power. That, in turn, means we become more and more vulnerable to an asymmetric conventional threat.

Thus, Gen Khan went on, Our response should be to escalate and push the envelope of hostilities so that nuclear war is a likely outcome. In his view, such an action is not likely to escalate beyond reasonable boundaries because the rungs in the escalation ladder are so many that signatures leading to total war will reveal themselves well before [such a] war actually breaks out.

India, he argues, simply will not go down this road: the larger, richer state, it has more to lose in an all-out conflict.

Ever since the 2001-02 near-war with India, Pakistans military establishment has argued that any Indian strike across the border, no matter how shallow, could be met with nuclear weapons, potentially plunging both countries into a nuclear apocalypse. Shireen Mazari, now a minister in Prime Minister Imran Khans cabinet, has argued Pakistan has to go for a one-rung escalation ladder -- that is, to reach for its nuclear weapons.

For the most part, Indian commentators have cast these claims as a bluff but seen through the optics of Islamabad theres more than hyperbole.

Deterrence, Gen Khan argues, is a mindset and never a tangible posture. It is an outcome of a possibility [emphasis added]. For Pakistans generals, the real question is how to revive that possibility in Indian minds.

But going to war isnt an easy decisioneven for Pakistans enraged generals.

Escalate covert war

The sinews of war are infinite money, the great Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero said. Even if Pakistans generals are right, and India can only be deterred by escalation, this is the worst time for Pakistan to take their advice. Imran Khans budget deficit is ballooning. He has been knocking on the International Monetary Funds doors seeking a bailout and the country faces sanctions from the Financial Action Task Force for failing to act against terror financing.

But there are other well-tested options, too.

In 2002, writing in the Pakistan armys Green Bookan in-house compilation of essays by senior Pakistan army officersBrigadier Muhammad Zia argued for a strategy premised around covert warfare. India is highly volatile on its internal front due to numerous vulnerabilities which, if agitated, accordingly could yield results out of proportion to the efforts put in. Pointing to Kashmir, the North East and Punjab, he suggested these fault lines could be employed as an offensive option against India.

General Pervez Musharraf, then the countrys military ruler, described the 2002 Green Book, as a valuable document for posterity.

Time has proved him right. Following Indias 2016 cross-Line of Control strikesintended to punish the Jaish-e-Mohammed assault on UriPakistan escalated fidayeen suicide-squad attacks in Kashmir. Indian security force fatalities rose from 99 in 2016 to 111 in 2017 and 136 in 2018. Thus, Pakistan, through its proxies, succeeded in dishing out as good as it got.

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Bear in mind that Indian troops and police are trained personnel, but the Jaish terrorists are peasants with little educationand the asymmetry of costs to the two sides becomes clear. India needs legions of troops to guard Kashmir; Pakistan spends far less on internal security.

In essence, Pakistan could soak up some punishmentsecure in the knowledge it is tying India down by inflicting disproportionate costs on its strategic adversary in Kashmir. It could even order its proxies to hit Indian cities, as they have in the past.

Politician-scholar Husain Haqqani has recorded that the Pakistan army's jihadist project was not just the inadvertent outcome of decisions by some governments. Instead, he argued, the Pakistani state's use of Islam gradually evolved into a strategic commitment to jihadi ideology.

The covert-war strategy is the flowering of that ideology.

Sue for peace?

Theres a third prospect, though: Pakistan might just do nothing. In a thoughtful paper, scholar George Perkovich cast light on Musharraf's reappraisal of Pakistani military strategy on India after the near-war crisis of 2001-02. Lt Gen Moinuddin Haider, who served as the interior minister under Musharraf, told Perkovich he argued that the long-term costs of continuing to back jihadists would be higher than the potential losses from taking them on.

I was the sole voice initially, saying Mr. President, your economic plan will not work, people will not invest, if you don't get rid of extremists, Haider said.

Haider gathered alliesamong them Pakistan's former intelligence chief, Lt Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi. We must not be afraid, General Qazi said in the wake of the 2001-02 India-Pakistan military crisis of admitting that the Jaish was involved in the deaths of thousands of innocent Kashmiris, bombing the Indian Parliament, [the journalist] Daniel Pearl's murder and even attempts on President Musharraf's life.

Even though Pakistan deterred India from going to war in 2002, General Musharraf turned off the tap on jihadist terror in Kashmir. From 2003, fatalities began to falldropping to near-zero levels in 2008. Put simply, the cost of conflict was too high.

Its anyones guess which of the three choices Pakistans generals will now makebut the one mistake India ought not make is to imagine the last shots have been fired in what prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru once called an informal war.
A Pakistani unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was on Tuesday shot down near the International Border in Kutch district of Gujarat, police sources said. Debris of the UAV was seen near Nanghatad village in Abdasa taluka of Kutch, they said.

Bhuj: A Pakistani unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was on Tuesday shot down near the International Border in Kutch district of Gujarat, police sources said.

Debris of the UAV was seen near Nanghatad village in Abdasa taluka of Kutch, they said.

On hearing a loud sound around 6 am, villagers went to the spot and found the debris of the UAV, the sources said.

Asked if a Pakistani UAV had been shot down by the Indian armed forces, a police official, on condition of anonymity, said, "Such an incident has happened, we are investigating the matter."

The official, however, refused to elaborate further.

Earlier, government sources said that in a pre-dawn strike, combat jets of Indian Air Force attacked terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control on the Pakistani side, 12 days after Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group carried out the dastardly Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

They said the IAF's Mirage 2000 fighter jets pounded the terror camps in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakoti in the well-planned strike destroying Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the operation.
Officers feel under the consent decree that they are being required to articulate all of their activities, when they should be patrolling and protecting the community, he said. Officers are then held to an unreasonable and almost whimsical standard by elected and appointed officials under the guise of protecting the public, Pasco said. Theyre still doing the best they can every day but with apprehension.
The NIA sleuths accompanied by local police and CRPF personnel carried out searches at nearly nine places across the valley, which included the house of Nayeem Geelani, son of pro-Pakistan separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani

Srinagar: The NIA on Tuesday carried out searches on separatists in the Kashmir valley, including Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, in a terror funding case, officials said.

The NIA sleuths accompanied by local police and CRPF personnel carried out searches at nearly nine places across the valley, which included the house of Nayeem Geelani, son of pro-Pakistan separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani, they said.

Besides these, the houses of JKLF leader Yaseen Malik, Shabir Shah, Ashraf Sehrai and Zaffar Bhat were also raided.

The case relates to funds allegedly received by the separatist from Pakistan through hawala channels, the officials added.
The IAF strikes at JeM camps in Pakistan show a change in the line of thinking (act and react strongly) under the Narendra Modi government as compared to the UPA era when the govt was undecided on striking at Pakistan even after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks

"Saugandh mujhe iss mitti ki, Main desh nahi mitne dunga, Main desh nahi jhukne dunga...." This theme song of BJP for 2014 has become alive in 2019. In his first public rally held in Churu in Rajasthan, hours after official confirmation of India's surgical strike II by Indian Air Force pilots at Jaish-e-Mohammads base in Balakot located deep inside Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recited lyrics of the song written by Prasoon Joshi and sung by Sukhwinder Singh.

Exactly five years ago Modi had sung the first two lines of this fiercely nationalist song. It was a promotional song, propagated through especially designed audio-visual vans and also played ahead of BJP rallies. Today, as Modi began reciting this poem, the crowd responded with full-throttled aggression. Their reaction was suggestive of their feelings that the death of 40 soldiers in the Pulwama terror attack and some more in encounters with terrorists in parts of Kashmir was avenged.

Modi has walked the talk, fulfilling the promise he had made after the Pulwama terror attack. A few days ago, in Rajasthan, the prime minister had told people to keep "faith in the Modi government, armed forces' valour and Maa Bhawani" for retribution. He has clearly pushed the envelope and drawn loud and clear red lines that any action against India will invite harsh and strong reaction.

Given the current mood of the nation, the song, Saugandh Mujhe Hai Iss Mitti Ki..., has acquired a new meaning, and become more contextual and exciting than it was in 2014. It is surely going to be played up loudly in the run-up to the upcoming parliamentary elections. The crowd's response in Churu on Tuesday afternoon was somewhat reflective of this national mood as the crowd started chanting "Modi, Modi" even as the prime minister started making introductory remarks.

After all, the Modi government had resolved to take on Pakistan for its acts of commission and omission, made to pay some price for nurturing terror and allowing terror camps to operate from its soil.

For the second time in the last two-and-half years, the Indian forces entered Pakistan territory to conduct retaliatory strikes to eliminate terror camps operating from Pakistani soil. In surgical strike 1 in September 2016, special forces of the Indian Army had crossed the Line of Control and entered inside Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to dismantle terror camps and inflict heavy causalities. In surgical strike 2  conducted apparently around 3.30 am on Tuesday  12 Indian Air force fighter planes crossed the International border with Pakistan, did precision bombing and inflicted heavy damage to terror infrastructure, killing around 350 Jaish-e-Mohammad operatives including the brother-in-law of Jaish-e-Mohammad founder Maulana Masood Azhar. In both the cases  in September 2016 and now  soldiers involved in operation returned safely after successfully completing their designated task.

The message to Pakistan is loud and clear that any action (conducted through ISI sponsored terrorists) will invite harsh and strong reaction. Modi has proved that he is true to his words, in this regard of making the perpetrators and backers of Pulawama terror act pay a heavy price, and that todays India has 'nai niti (new policy)' and 'nai riti (new attitude)'. Security forces are have unleashed a heavy offensive against terrorists taking shelter in residential areas of Kashmir.

It is important to note here that after the 1971 India-Pakistan War, this is for the first time that Indian Air Force bombers have crossed the International Border along Pakistan and flew deep inside the country. Indian forces did not cross the Line of Control or the International Border during the 1999 Kargil War. Another difference is that during the 1971 war, Indian Air Force fighter planes flew inside Pakistan mostly as part of retaliatory strikes during the course of a full-war situation, but this time around the situation was completely different.

The Modi government had also secured approval of dominant international players including that of the United States. Last weekend, while responding to a query on Indias right to self-defence, US president Donald Trump had said, "India is looking at something very strong. And I mean, India just lost almost 50 people with an attack. So, I could understand that also."

Prior to that UN Security Council had passed a resolution initiated by France and unanimously supported by all five permanent members including China, strongly condemning the Pulwama terror attack. The statement mentioned Jaish-e-Mohammad as the outfit taking responsibility for the attack, and resolved that all countries must act together against terror.

India has now shown that it could successfully act on both the fronts  diplomatic and military. As a sovereign nation, India had all the right to act militarily to protect the peace and integrity of its people and of its soil.

The change in the line of thinking (act and react strongly) under the Modi government is evident. Consider a statement made by former Chief of Air Staff Fali Homi Major who headed the Indian Air Force during the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai, on his retirement. In an interview to Rediff in November 2009, he had said that the forces were ready for a retaliatory strike but the government (Manmohan Singh-led UPA) could never make up its mind.

"In fact, the government never made up its mind to go to war. I know the sentiment of the entire country was that of anger and disgust. The Indian Air Force was ready to strike at Pakistan. We had our contingency ready and were well prepared. However, ultimately it depends on what the government wants," he had said.

To a query that whether the Indian Air Force was prepared for air strike across the border to destroy jehadi camps, the former air chief had said: Yes, there was. However, the government was not in favour of an air strike across the border as it felt that it would escalate into a full-fledged war.

The current services' chiefs wouldn't have to express such regret. They have required political clearance and the government of the day is on their side.
Narendra Modi made an indirect reference to the IAF strikes during the Gandhi Peace Awards, apologising for being late as he was busy with some other work

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday made an indirect reference to the air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force on terror camps across the LoC when he sought apology from the audience at the Rashtrapati Bhawan for being late as he was "busy" with "some other work".

He had chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security at his official residence around 10 am before rushing to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, where President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2015-2018.

The event at the Rashtrapati Bhawan was to begin at 11 am, but started a little late. "First of all, my apologies or being late. The programme started late as I reached here (Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhawan) late. I was busy in some other work and I was late," he said while addressing the gathering.

In a pre-dawn operation, the Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side, 12 days after the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.
From January 2015 to the end of 2018, 11,995 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra, a 91 percent increase over the previous three year period.

In a letter to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on 24 April, 2015, the government of Maharashtra disclosed that 6,268 farmer suicides were noticed in the state between 2011 and 2014, when the Congress-NCP was in power. From January 2015 to the end of 2018, 11,995 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra, a 91 percent increase over the previous three year period.

Mumbai-based activist Jeetendra Ghadge filed the RTI that obtained the information. The division of Aurangabad, or Marathwada as it is commonly known, and the division of Amravati, which forms a major part of Vidarbha, accounted for most farmer suicides in Maharashtra.

Amravati, which comprises five districts  Akola, Amravati, Yavatmal, Buldhana and Washim  accounted for 4,384 suicides (36.5 percent). Marathwada, which consists of eight districts  Aurangabad, Jalna, Osmanabad, Beed, Hingoli, Latur, Parbhani and Nanded  accounted for 4,124 of 11,995 suicides (34 percent). In India, between 1995 and 2015, over 3 lakh farmers committed suicide, at a rate of more than 40 per day. However, since then, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) stopped publishing the farmer suicide statistics and the data recorded by authorities is a conservative estimate.

Local police stations often check if the person who committed suicide owns the land or not, which means women, Adivasis or Dalits largely remain unrepresented in the data. Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh recorded most of the country's farmer suicides between 2004 and 2014.

In 2014, when the NCRB changed the way farmer suicides are counted, senior journalist P Sainath called it a "slaughter of data". To downplay the crisis, Sainath noted, farmer suicides have been counted under the category of others. While pointing out that the rise in suicides by "others" in Maharashtra is a staggering 94 percent, he said authorities are hiding corpses in other columns. The RTI filed by Ghadge further revealed that in many cases in Maharashtra, the authorities did not approve compensation for victims' families. Between 2011 and 2014, 3,284 of 6,268 cases were found eligible: which means 48 percent of victims' families did not get compensation.

In the past four years, 6,844 families received ex-gratia payment. In other words, 43 percent of victims' families did not get any compensation. In Amravati, which recorded maximum suicides, the number of cases rejected is more than the ones approved in 2016 and 2018. In March 2015, the then revenue minister Eknath Khadse announced in the Assembly that the compensation would be increased from 1 lakh to 5 lakh. As per the RTI reply, the decision is pending.

"The situation of farmers has worsened. Loan waivers or crop insurance doesn't seem to work, said Ghadge. Besides, when it comes to rehabilitation of such families, the government seems to reject a majority of the proposals for compensation of just Rs 1 lakh."
Maharashtra government's farm loan waiver scheme is unprecedented in its beneficiary coverage, particularly among farmers in Marathwada and Vidarbha regions, Governor C Vidyasagar Rao said on Monday.

Mumbai: Maharashtra government's farm loan waiver scheme is unprecedented in its beneficiary coverage, particularly among farmers in Marathwada and Vidarbha regions, Governor C Vidyasagar Rao said on Monday.

He was addressing the joint sitting of the state legislature, on the opening day of the budget session. The opposition Congress-NCP boycotted Rao's address to protest against his recent remarks about the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

As part of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Sanman Yojana, Rs 24,000 crore were sanctioned for 51 lakh farmers accounts and of this, Rs 18,036 crore have already been transferred to over 43 lakh farmers, he said. The state government is working on a new piped distribution network for irrigation which would cover an area of 6.15 lakh hectare, he said.

On the BJP-Shiv Sena led state government's commitment for better farm produce prices, Rao said the government procured 40.10 lakh quintals of pulses, 2.62 lakh quintals of soyabean and 19.47 lakh quintals of 'chana' during the Kharif season 2017-18. The state government paid Rs 3,121 crore to over five lakh farmers as Minimum Support Price (MSP), he said.

To give relief to onion producing farmers affected by a steep fall in market prices in 2018-19, the government has decided to grant subsidy of Rs 200 per quintal to those who sold their crop through Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) during November 2018 and January 31, 2019, Rao said.

The Marketing Federation and the Tribal Development Corporation procured paddy/coarse grain through an online process and renumeration of Rs 486 crore was transferred into the bank accounts of over one lakh farmers, he said. The governor said over 1.5 lakh irrigation wells have been built in the last four years and another 50,000 wells were under construction.

Around 1.30 lakh ponds were dug under the state government's 'farm ponds on demand' scheme, he said, adding that 22,000 villages will be made drought-proof by May this year under the Jalyukt Shivar water conservation programme.

Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the state government has been able to provide over six crore man-days of work and spent over Rs 1,800 crore in the current fiscal, he said. Rao informed the legislature that 46 of 102 irrigation projects have been completed in Vidarbha to remove the development backlog of the region.
While it is indisputable that, principally, bombings well within the territory of Pakistan bear greater legal repercussions than the erstwhile surgical operations in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, authors argue that India has a whole arsenal of legal defences at its disposal and the conjectures are therefore inappropriate

Minutes after Pakistan's foreign minister branded the strikes by Indian Air Force in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province as an act of 'grave aggression', conjectures questioning the strike's validity in international law have emerged. While it is indisputable that, principally, bombings well within the territory of Pakistan bear greater legal repercussions than the erstwhile surgical operations in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, authors argue that India has a whole arsenal of legal defences at its disposal and the conjectures are therefore inappropriate.

UN Charter and the Right of Self-Defence

The UN Charter, vide its Article 2 (4) proscribes any threat or use of force against the political independence or territorial integrity of a state, but also authorises the inherent right of self-defence of every member state qualifies as an exception. Considering that the Indian Government has described the strike as a non-military pre-emptive action, it becomes important to understand self-defence in this context.

Even as the definition Article 51 of the UN Charter precludes the right of self-defence in absence of an armed attack, the International Court of Justice has been off-late inclined to dilute the requirement and widen the applicability of the defence against non-state actors that indulge in acts terrorism. This is observable and is held in in the opinion of Judge Simma in the Case Concerning Armed Activities on Territory on Congo, as well as the separate opinions in ICJ's ruling on Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestine Territory.

Furthermore, India's stance is strengthened by Resolutions 1368 and 1373 of the United Nations which recognize acts of international terrorism as an actionable threat to international peace and security.

Pre-emptive Self-Defence: Protection in International Law

It has been a contentious issue before jurists whether the right to self-defence under Article 51 includes a pre-emptive action. However, what is worth considering is the fact that right to self-defence emanates not only from Article 51 of the Charter, but also from the principles of customary international law. In fact, it is considered to be an inherent right under Customary International Law, meaning that it is as important as the idea of the state itself and it will exist even without the UN Charter and its Article 51.

The Caroline Test, which emerged as a principle of customary international law after the Caroline affair holds unambiguously that the states are authorised to a pre-emptive right of self-defence conditioned on the fact that it must be instant, proportional and necessary. Since the Indian Government has maintained that the strikes have been carried out on the basis of credible intelligence it received about potential attacks by Jaish-e-Mohammad in the nearby future, the customary international law standards are fairly met.

There have been valid preemptive strikes in response to terror attacks in the past too. The US claimed to be acting in accordance with Article 51, when on 20th August, 1998 it launched cruise missile attacks inside Afghanistan and Sudan, in response to terrorist bombings on its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

It may also be noted that this was also a strike against a non-state actor and not against the state inside which the perpetrators were dwelling.

It is important here to mention the technicalities referred to in the statement by Foreign Secretary, wherein he has specifically mentioned that the strikes are preemptive in direct anticipation of another future suicide bombing. Therefore, the direct cause of India's air strikes, is an anticipated suicide bombing in future and not anything in the past. This has given a sound legal backing to India's actions under International Law.

Road Ahead for Pakistan

Basing its intendment to retaliate, Pakistan is now faced with the choice of either attacking India's military base(s) or its civilian settlements. Whereas the former would qualify as an act of war under International Law, the latter constitutes a graver wrongdoing against International Humanitarian Law. The recourse, if any, is therefore to raise the issue before UN which is unlikely to yield desirable results given the solidarity with which UNSC stands with India post the Pulawama terror attack as manifested in the UNSC statement. To conclude, maybe the only remedy for a state crippled with forces of fanaticism is to sit-back and introspect.

Raghav Pandey is an Assistant Professor of Law at Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai and teaches Public International Law and Anuj Bansal is a first-year student of Post Graduate Programme at IIM Ahmedabad.
India received intelligence that JeM had shifted many in-training terrorists and hardcore operatives, along with their trainers, to the Balakot camp, which has facilities for 500 to 700 people, and even has a swimming pool along with cooks and cleaners.

New Delhi: Hundreds of fidayeen and their trainers were shifted from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) to a five-star, resort-style camp in a hilltop forest in Balakot after the Pulwama attack, providing Indian forces with "a sitting duck target" when they carried out an air strike early on Tuesday, killing up to 350 terrorists, sources said.

They said at least 325 terrorists and 25 to 27 trainers were at the camp, the biggest operated by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group, which had claimed responsibility for the 14 February suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, Kashmir that killed 40 jawans.

Everyone at the camp was sleeping and Pakistani defence establishment had no clue that the attack was coming so deep into their country because they had expected a surgical strike on camps in PoK near the Line of Control (LoC), said the sources.

But India received intelligence that JeM had shifted many in-training terrorists and hardcore operatives, along with their trainers, to the Balakot camp, which has facilities for 500 to 700 people, and even has a swimming pool along with cooks and cleaners. Fighter and other aircraft took off from several air bases in Western and Central commands at about the same time, leaving Pakistani defence officials confused as to where they were heading, the sources said.

A small group of aircraft broke away from the swarm and headed to Balakot where "the sleeping terrorists were sitting ducks for the Indian bombing," said one source. "They had no idea that Balakot was to be the target ... when the pictures come in you will see only khandhar (ruins) of the once-flourishing camp", said the source. The terror camp is located 20 km from Balakot town.

Balakot is some 80 km from the LoC near Abbottabad where Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in hiding by covert US forces who had also sneaked into Pakistan to carry out the operation, catching the entire Pakistani military unawares.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Monday that India's 'dream' of isolating Pakistan will never be fulfilled, amidst simmering tensions between the two countries after the Pulwama terror attack.

Islamabad: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Monday that India's "dream" of isolating Pakistan will never be fulfilled, amidst simmering tensions between the two countries after the Pulwama terror attack.

Forty Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed on 14 February in Jammu and Kashmir when a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into their bus in Pulwama district, sparking outrage in the country.

Addressing a conference on Kashmir in Islamabad, Qureshi said a number of foreign dignitaries were scheduled to visit Pakistan in near future.

Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Muhammad will be the chief guest on Pakistan Day Parade on 23 March, he said.

He said German foreign minister Heiko Maas will pay the visit on 12 March, and the EU High Representative will also visit Islamabad soon.

Qureshi said India's "dream" of isolating Pakistan will never be fulfilled.

India launched a major diplomatic offensive against Islamabad after the Pulwama attack and highlighted Pakistan's role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

The international community led by the US pressed Pakistan to deny safe haven to terror groups operating form its soil and bring the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack to justice.

Qureshi said Pakistan was not in favour any conflict with India.

Talking about the heightened tensions after the Pulwama attack, he said India's response was predictable. "It behaved in the same manner as it did after Mumbai attacks," he said.

The foreign minister said Prime Minister Imran Khan offered help in probe the suicide attack and also announced that Pakistan would not allow its soil to be used against any country.

He said the prime minister has made it clear that Islamabad would retaliate to any action by New Delhi.

Qureshi said action was being taken against extremists in the light of National Action Plan, a 20-point agenda to eliminate militancy.

India has asked Pakistan to take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control.

New Delhi also announced the withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation status for Pakistan and hiked the customs duty by 200 per cent on goods originating from Pakistan.
Surgical Strike LIVE updates: The naval base at Ambala air base and Mumbai naval base have been put on high alert. Meanwhile, Australian foreign affairs minister Marise Payne said, 'Pakistan must take urgent and meaningful action against terrorist groups in its territory, including Jaish-e-Mohammed which has claimed responsibility for the 14 February bombing, and Lashkar-e-Taiba.'

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Pakistan on Tuesday alleged that Indian Air Force aircraft crossed the Line of Control and were forced to turn back after Pakistan Air Force scrambled into action. Pakistan Army spokesperson, Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted Tuesday morning alleging that more than one Indian Air Force jet 'intruded' into Pakistani territory from Muzaffarabad sector. Ghafoor said, "Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force, (IAF jets) released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage."

Indian Air Force sources told ANI that a group of Mirage 2000 jets struck a major terrorist camp in Balakot sector in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The sources said that the targetted militant training camp was 'completely destroyed' and the pilots safely came back into the Indian territory.

Indian Air Force sources further said that bombs carrying at least a 1000 kilogramme of explosives were dropped on a major terror installation of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist group, across the Line of Control, ANI reported.

At least 12 Mirage 2000 jets took part in the operation that dropped 1000 kilogramme bombs on terror camps across Line of Control, completely destroying it, ANI reported. The operation was launched at 3.56 am on Tuesday morning.

Pakistan Army spokesperson, Major General Asif Ghafoor claimed that the Indian Air Force attack within the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir failed to cause any damage. He claimed that the Indian jets had to 'hastily' drop the payload in an 'open area'.

CNN-News18 reported quoting government sources that the Balakot Jaish camp has been completely flattened in the limited strikes conducted by Indian Air Force. The sources said that initial assessment of damages suggest at least 200 to 300 casualties.

If the strikes have indeed been conducted in Pakistan's Balakot sector, then the strike was much within the Pakistani territory, reports said. Balakot is reportedly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

Senior journalist Megha Prasad claimed that IAF has destroyed Alpha 3 Control rooms and launch pads of Jaish-e-Muhammad in at least three locations.

Jaish chief Masood Azhar wrote the Fath-ul Jawwad, his disquisition on the Quranic basis of jihad, during a retreat at Balakot. He sought inspiration from the memory of Islamic revivalists Syed Ahmed Barelvi and Shah Ismail, who were killed in 1831 after waging an unsuccessful insurgency against the Sikh empire

Balakote is one of the Jaish-e-Muhammads oldest and best-known training camps, which has found mention in many past criminal cases in India and abroad. There was limited physical infrastructure at the basewitnesses have spoken of a main tin-roof shed, a small mosque and several earth houses.

This may account for the absence of official confirmation from the Defence Ministry as India has no wish to push Pakistan into a corner from where it has to hit back on Jaish-e-Mohammads behalf. Reuters is reporting that the Defence Ministry is saying it has no knowledge of violations of Pakistani airspace.

Balakote training camp is in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which means India has struck inside Pakistani territory, and not just occupied areas of Jammu and Kashmir.

Moments after the news of a possible Indian Air Force strike within Pakistani territory spread, people startled tweeting using the #SurgicalStrike2, comparing these strikes to the one carried out by Indian Army post the Uri attack.

Reports have pointed out that there is a village called Balakot in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir as well apart from the Balakote sector in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Since there has been no official word on the attacks yet, it is still unclear whether the strikes took place within occupied territory or in proper Pakistani territory.

Balakot village near LoC in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir as well; no official confirmation yet

"If this is Balakote in KPK its a major incursion & a significant strike by IAF planes. However if its Balakote in Poonch sector, along the LoC its a largely symbolic strike because at this time of the year forward launch pads & militant camps are empty & non-functional," he said.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said that since it was not yet clear whether India bombed the Balakote in Pakistani territory or within the occupied territory, it was unwise to speculate. He said if the territory bombed was indeed in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, then the strike was merely symbolic.

Pointless to speculate on impact of strike till it is clear which Balakot did IAF hit, says Omar Abdullah

India Today reported that the Pakistan Foreign Minister has called an emergency meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan. Meanwhile, in India the prime minister is in huddle with his own Cabinet colleagues, including Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj.

Pakistan Army spokesperson, Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted Tuesday stating that the Indian Air Force jets struck the Balakot village in Muzaffarpur sector in the Pakistan occupied territory and not in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

Spelled as Balakote, Balakot and Bala Kot in various report, the exact location of the territory hit will only be clear when the Indian authorities take an official stand.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Army said that the 'intrusion' across LoC was in Muzaffarabad Sector within occupied Kashmir, which was just three to four miles within the Actual Line of Control. However, journalists have pointed out that the "other" Bala Kote, in Poonch, is nowhere near Muzaffarabad.

Confusion over which Balakot has been hit by Indian strikes prevails. Earlier reports claimed that it was in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, but subsequently media started claiming that the Balakote in KPK province.

Reports further suggested that the terrorist groups had emptied their launchpads but not the training camps.

Defence sources said that the IAF strike lasted not more than 21 minutes, right from take off till the return into Indian territory. The strike took place in Balakote, 24 kilometre northwest of Muzaffarabad at around 3: 45-3:53 am. The joint training camps of JeM, LeT and Hizbul Mujahideen were hit.

- Chakoti, was he last to be hit between 3.58 am and 4.04 am

- Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, was hit between 3.48 am and 3.55 am.

- Balakot, which is 24 kilometre northwest of Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, was struck between 3.45 am and 3.53 am. However, there is still confusion over whether this place falls in PoK or proper Pakistani territory.

Here are the three locations in Pakistan bombed by Indian Air Force today:

The US army combat Journal says pre-dawn window offers maximum surprise even for boots on the ground. The Soviet Military review endorses this. Bikram

It was well planned military strategy to go in at 03.30 am which is the psychological low point of alertness. The enemy is asleep, the scramble by the PAF that much slower and through history pre-dawn attacks have been of the essence. Japan attacked the US Midway Atoll around 4 am. In the Battle of the Bulge most major assaults were timed for pre-dawn. The British Harriers attacked the Falklands before the sun came up. The US 1st Special Forces were hit by a reinforced Viet Cong battalion which launched a full-scale, pre-dawn attack on the camp. The Americans were outnumbered 3 to 1.

Meanwhile, Indian news agency ANI claimed that the one of the targets destroyed by IAF Mirage jets was in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A clearer picture should emerge after the Foreign Secretary's meeting.

BBC said that the Indian Air Force has confirmed to it that they crossed the Line of Control and not the International Border. Firstpost could not independently verify this report, but if indeed this is true then this means that the IAF did not hit the Balakot in KPK province.

Two Indian Prime Ministers have faces similar choices. In 2001, after the attack on Parliament House, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was briefed on the benefits and risks of air strikes. He eventually ordered a large-scale mobilisation of troops to signal willingness to go to warbut did not authorise air strikes, fearing they could spark of a tit-for-tat cycle of attacks, without securing any strategic ends. Army chief General S Padmanabhan and Air Force chief Air Chief AY Tipnis both had their reservations, for different reasonsbut Vajpayees mobilisation eventually secured a deescalation in Kashmir, albeit at huge cost. After 26/11, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh considered air strikes; at one stage, IAF jets were on the runways with engines running. But there were issues with intelligence for targeting data and, unsure of impacts, India held back

Pakistan has two options now. Its first, strategically sensible option, is to do nothing: in the midst of IMF negotiations for a bailout, and with a ballooning budget deficit, it just cannot afford a crisis. But there are those in Pakistans army who think the countrys long-term security requires a response. In that case, a big responsethreatening escalation to a nuclear levelmakes the most sense, since it would involve the Great Powers fastest. Even if India makes no public comment, moreover, public pressure will mount as video and accounts emerge from Balakoteit is after all a mid-size town, and the camp is quite close by.

Reports have said that a Pakistani drone has been shot down at around 6.30 am in Gujarat's Kutch region. More details on this are awaited.

Pakistan drone shot down near Kutch in Gujarat at around 6.30 am, claim reports

Considering the world class SiLLaCS (Siemens Low Level air Control System) air defence system operating out of Sargodha it is technically not possible for an IAF attack sortie to go into Pakistan without PAF being alerted. But because there was no immediate counter-response the interesting and obvious take is that the Pakistan military has decided to de-escalate by not reacting despite repeated warnings that it would.

Pakistan's ruling party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lashed out at Indian media for 'war mongering'. In a tweet from its official handle, the party said that the coverage of the event shows a "disturbing bloodlust and deteriorating mindset at a time when Pakistan is on an upward trajectory"

I think there is going to be a war now, Amir Shah, 25, a student, told to his friend, who along with other people were watching the news on TV inside a shop. It has already started and if not a war after what India did Pakistan is not going to stay silent. I have a feeling they will also do something.

As the news of Indian Air Forces strike inside Pakistan Occupied Kashmir started trickling in, residents in border towns of Kashmir started wondering if there might be a war in coming days between India and Pakistan. At Sheeri in north Kashmirs Baramulla town, on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road a group of people were glued to a TV in the main market- keeping an eye on the developments.

Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said that India targeted known terror camps  following specific intel inputs  located in deep forests away from the civilian population were targetted. Gokhale termed the strikes a non-military preemptive action and refused to take any further questions.

"In an intelligence lead operation in the early hours today, India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commander and Jihadis were eliminated. Credible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country. A pre-emptive strike became important. India struck the biggest camp of JeM in Balakot," Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale.

Jaish publications show that three recruitment programmes were opened this month in Bahawalpur alone: from 16 February to 2 March, 22 February to 8 March, and from 23 February to 9 March. The message relayed to the young recruits remains the same: the survival of Islam rests on armed jihad.

Feeding the fidayeen factory in Kashmir is a much larger army: the infrastructure which organises the hundreds of young south Punjab (in Pakistan) men who head to the Jaishs military camps each year. In its magazine, al-Qalam, the Jaish calls on Punjabis to donate their religious tithe for jihadists. It publishes accounts of mosque-level meetings across the region, asking for volunteers for jihad.

Jaish publications show that three recruitment programmes were opened this month in Bahawalpur alone: from 16 February to 2 March, 22 February to 8 March, and from 23 February to 9 March. The message relayed to the young recruits remains the same: the survival of Islam rests on armed jihad.

Feeding the fidayeen factory in Kashmir is a much larger army: the infrastructure which organises the hundreds of young south Punjab (in Pakistan) men who head to the Jaishs military camps each year. In its magazine, al-Qalam, the Jaish calls on Punjabis to donate their religious tithe for jihadists. It publishes accounts of mosque-level meetings across the region, asking for volunteers for jihad.

Several bombs hit Jaba Top, between Mansehra and Balakote. At least, 100 to 200 were present at camp at the time of the strike who were attending Jaish-e-Mohammad functions. Area was cordoned off by the Pakistan Army when police got there.

According to defence sources, IAF fighter jets targeted Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and and Hizbul Mujahideen camps near Muzaffarabad. LeT has a huge set up also known as religious training institute in the area. Sources also claimed that another target was Balakot in Mansehra of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Sources said JeM has a terror camp in Mansehra known as 'Bukad Bud' and HM camp is also located nearby.

Gokhale further said that the camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother in law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar. "In an intelligence-led operation in the early hours today, India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commander and Jihadis were eliminated. Credible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country. A pre-emptive strike became important. India struck the biggest camp of JeM in Balakot."

The Indian retaliation comes 12 days after the Pakistan-based terror group, Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir, government sources said.

Large number of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists, trainers and senior commanders were eliminated in largest Jaish camp in Balakot, foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale told the press on Tuesday. The Ministry of External Affairs briefing was held after reports claimed that combat jets of the Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control on the Pakistani side in a pre-dawn strike.

The report comes in the wake of foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale's press briefing confirming a non-military intelligence-led pre-emptive attack in Balakot aimed at Jaish-e-Mohammad training camps.

Dawn reported that Balakot police chief Saghir Hussain Shah told The Associated Press that he had sent teams to the area  which he described as a mostly deserted wooded area  who found "no casualties, no damages on the ground because of the dropping of the bombs."

The article further notes: "In such a tense atmosphere, India should take up Pakistans offer to give peace a chance as the alternatives to constructive dialogue are confrontation and yet more hostility."

An editorial in Dawn slammed the Indian media and said "particularly jarring are the armchair warriors of the media  especially on the Indian side  baying for the blood of the other." The editorial, titled War rhetoric & reality said, "There has also been a reprehensible effort to exploit the attack and work up anti-Kashmiri and anti-Muslim sentiments in India, predominantly by the storm troopers of Hindutva. But perhaps what is most worrisome is that ministers and members of the establishment on both sides are talking casually about war."

NSA Ajit Doval along with Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat and IAF Chief BS Dhanoa is reviewing the security situation on the borders after Indian Air Force strikes at Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp in Balakot across Line of Control, reports have said.

Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj has invited Opposition leaders for a briefing on strike on Jaish terror camps. The meeting is scheduled at 5 pm at Jawahar Bhawan.

"All pilots are safe. I think it needed to be done. I personally had no doubt in my mind after Pulwama attack that some strong action will be taken by the government," Hooda further said.

"My compliment goes to the government for taking this action and also to the Air Force for the way they have carried out this strike (in Balakot) in an absolutely professional manner," Lt Gen DS Hooda (Retired), the Northern Army Commander said.

With Pakistan military spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeting that the IAF jets had dropped the payload "in haste" near Balakot, confusion ensued about whether the IAF strike took place just across the Line of Control in the town located in Mansehra district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, or in a similarly named town Bala Kote near the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch sector.

Unconfirmed reports on Twitter claimed that inbound civil traffic is being monitored at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. The tweet also claimed that heavy military movement has been spotted around the airport following the IAF strikes in Balakot.

1. Lashkar-e-Taiba's religious training institute near Muzaffarabad 2. Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp "Bukad Bud" near Mansehra 3. Hizbul Mujahideen camp on hill near Mangla 4. Two camps near Shinkari and Tarbela 5. A huge camp housing more than 200 terror recruits on Mansehra Ridge 6. Terror camps at Safaidi, Mansehra 7. Hizbul Mujahideen camp at Mansehra 8. Let and Hizbul Mujahideen camp at Chakoti, Hattian Bala

India had shared input on eight major terror training camps in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir and Pakistan with US intelligence besides two dozen small camps. These are as following:

India had shared with US intel input on 8 major terror camps in PoK and Pakistan

Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has convened an "important meeting" to review the emerging situation in the wake of airstrikes by Indian Air Force in Balakot. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had summoned an emergency meeting at the Foreign Office in Islamabad to discuss the security situation with former secretaries and senior ambassadors earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan media reported .

"Our country, our sovereignty, our integrity are being threatened," Asif reportedly said , asking that a joint sitting of Parliament be convened on Tuesday. "It is the need of the hour that we show solidarity with the Army." The PML-N leader said it is "not the time for political point-scoring", and called for all political parties to "suspend their differences for some time. Asif also said that the message should be sent that all lawmakers are "one in the matter of Kashmir".

Former Pakistan defence minister Khawaja Asif, in a fiery address on the floor of the National Assembly on Tuesday, called for all parties to "put on a united front" in the wake of IAF's "non-military" pre-emptive strike in Pakistan's Balakot area.

The article further noted "Indian military's brutal tactics" in Kashmir and wrote, "Moreover, the Indian militarys brutal tactics in occupied Kashmir have fired up Kashmiri resistance, with the regions disillusioned youth convinced that only armed struggle against India will help them secure their rights. But it is also true that Pakistan can take steps to send positive signals across the border. Among these can be speeding up the legal process to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack to justice."

An editorial in Dawn , put the onus on war-mongering on "Hindutva ideologues" and said, "In Indias case, Hindutva ideologues have infiltrated all levels of the state machinery; this has resulted in an increasingly rigid attitude towards Pakistan."

In a series of tweets, BJP chief Amit Shah said that the airstrikes conducted by the IAF on Tuesday "further demonstrates that India is safe and secure under the strong and decisive leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

"Today, from Churu's land, I assure the countrymen that the country is in safe hands," roared a confident Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday. "Today your mood is different," said Modi before raising Bharat Mata ki Jai slogans.

"This was an intelligence based counter terror strike not a military action for sake of war. Have demolished entire terror set up in the suicide bombing training centre in Balakot, and over 300 terrorists were eliminated in the covert operation by Indian Air Force," government sources said.

Pakistani president has reacted to the Indian Air Force strike in Pakistan. In a tweet, Arif Alvi said that it would be a mistake to underestimate Pakistan's capability to defend itself.

According to government sources, they had shared details of Balakot terror training camp head Maulana Yousuf Azhar with Pakistan in 2006. Yousuf alias Salim alias Ghouri, brother in law of JeM chief Masood Azhar, was the brain behind hijacking of IC-814.

According to top government sources, the Indian Air Force independently struck five terror camps at Kangar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

China has reacted on the Indian Air Force's strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan. Beijing came out with a short statement asking both nations to exercise restraint, PTI reported.

Intelligence sources have revealed that flags of USA, UK and Israel were painted on staircases inside the Jaish-e-Mohammed facility destroyed by Indian Air Force jets in Balakot. The visuals were tweeted by ANI.

In his first response after the Indian air strikes, Imran Khan accused India of lying and said that he will take the international media to the site of attack to expose New Delhi. Imran will also give a detailed statement in press conference at 3.30 pm.

Imran Khan to take media to attack site to expose 'India's lies'; will address media at 3.30 pm

A Pakistani statement further said, "This action has been done for domestic consumption being in election environment,putting regional peace and stability at grave risk.The claimed area of strike is open for the world to see the facts on ground.For this domestic&international media is being taken to the impact site."

Imran Khan chaired a special meeting of the National Security Committee at his office today. The forum "strongly rejected Indian claim of targeting an alleged terrorist camp near Balakot and the claim of heavy casualties. Once again Indian government has resorted to a self serving, reckless and fictitious claim."

Pakistan's ruling party Pakistan Tehreef-e-Insaf tweeted that Pakistan will retaliate to the "Indian aggression" at a time and place of its choosing.

Pakistan will respond to 'uncalled for Indian agression' at time and place of its choosing

Dean of Diplomatic Corps, Hans Castellanos said, "We are satisfied that Indian government has had such a rapid response in informing Heads of Missions. The information is that they did not affect any civilian or any Pakistan military installation, that it was a direct attack due to credible intelligence received."

The air strike on terror camps in Pakistan is a positive for the markets as it illustrates a "decisiveness" in foreign policy and increases the chances of Narendra Modi to retain power after the forthcoming polls, say analysts. - PTI

The air strike on terror camps in Pakistan is a positive for the markets as it illustrates a "decisiveness" in foreign policy and increases the chances of Narendra Modi to retain power after the forthcoming polls, say analysts.

India received intelligence that JeM had shifted many in-training terrorists and hardcore operatives, along with their trainers, to the Balakot camp, which has facilities for 500 to 700 people, and even has a swimming pool along with cooks and cleaners. PTI

Hundreds of Fidayeen and their trainers were shifted from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to a five-star, resort style camp in a hilltop forest in Balakot after the Pulwama attack, providing Indian forces with "a sitting duck target" when they carried out an air strike early Tuesday, killing up to 350 terrorists, sources said.

Fighter and other aircraft took off from several air bases in Western and Central commands at about the same time, leaving Pakistani defence officials confused as to where they were heading, the sources said. A small group of aircraft broke away from the swarm and headed to Balakot where "the sleeping terrorists were sitting ducks for the Indian bombing," said one source.

Everyone at the camp was sleeping and Pakistani defence establishment had no clue that the attack was coming so deep into their country because they had expected a surgical strike on camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir near the Line of Control, said the sources who are close to the government.

AAP supremo and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had earlier planned to sit on indefinite hunger strike from 1 March to garner support for his demand of full statehood for Delhi.

At a press conference, Pakistani foreign affairs minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said, "A parliamentary committee has been constituted in which the foreign minister, defense Minister, finance minister will be included so that all parties should be taken into confidence."

"After the Pulwama attack, we had said in a briefing that the Modi government will carry out some misadventure ahead of (Lok Sabha) elections. Bashing Pakistan is the easiest way to win over the extreme Right," he said.

At the briefing, Shah Mahmood Qureshi said, "Pakistan Army, Air Force will never allow enemy forces to venture that deep into territory. We were prepared...Pakistan Air Force was airborne and we were ready for all eventualities. It was a multi-dimensional intrusion attempt. They saw our alert air force and turned back."

Pakistani forces will never allow forces to venture that deep into territory, says Shah Mahmood Qureshi

We saw trees fallen down and one house damaged and four craters where the bombs had fallen, said Mohammad Ajmal, a 25-year-old who visited the site.

Pakistani villagers in the area where Indian jets struck what officials in New Delhi said was a militant training camp said they heard four loud bangs in the early hours of Tuesday but reported only one person wounded by bomb shards.

Quoting government sources, ANI reported that a total of six bombs were dropped on Pakistan based terrorist camps by the Indian Air Force Mirage 2000s.

"Australia urges both sides to exercise restraint, avoid any action which would endanger peace and security in the region and engage in dialogue to ensure that these issues are resolved peacefully"

"Pakistan must do everything possible to implement its own proscription of Jaish-e-Mohammed. It can no longer allow extremist groups the legal and physical space to operate from its territory. These steps would make a substantial contribution to easing tensions and resolving the underlying causes of conflict.

Australian foreign affairs minister Marise Payne said, "The Australian government is concerned about relations between India and Pakistan following the horrific terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 14 February, which Australia has condemned... Pakistan must take urgent and meaningful action against terrorist groups in its territory, including Jaish-e-Mohammed which has claimed responsibility for the 14 February bombing, and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

"Punjab has put its border districts on high alert in the wake of the Indian Air Force's (IAF) strikes across the Line of Control, undertaken by India as a retaliatory measure in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack," a statement said by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's office.

To rebuke Indian "propaganda", Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the Imran Khan government will take international media to the area of strikes. "Helicopters are being readied. Right now, the weather is bad. (The helicopters) will fly when weather permits,' he was quoted as saying by ANI.

Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh held a high-level meeting in Chandigarh with state minister Manpreet Badal and senior officials in the wake of the strikes on JeM terror camps.

Jaitley briefs Kovind, Venkaiah Naidu over airstrikes Finance Minister Arun Jaitley gave a detailed briefing of operation to President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu. CNN-News18 reported that it was discussed at the meeting that Tuesday's strike was not a revenge attack over Pulwama but rather a strike to protect India's sovereignity.

Speaking to ANI, BJP general-secretary Ram Madhav said, "After Pulwama attack, the nation was mourning for 12 days and on the 13th day our valiant air force paid the real tribute to the martyred soldiers by destroying terror training camps deep inside Pakistan territory."

NDTV reported that the Ambala air base and Mumbai naval base have been put on high alert. Meanwhile, the forces are maintaining a strict vigil at Wagah Border.

ANI reported that the Pakistan Army violated ceasefire along the Line of Control in Nowshera, and Akhnoor sectors in Jammu and Kashmir. According to CNN-News18, Pakistan has violated truce five times on Tuesday.

CNN-News18 reported that Narendra Modi will chair a meeting with intelligence chiefs and Air chief Marshal BS Dhanoa. NSA Ajit Doval will update Modi on the latest developments.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) said, "The entire nation was agitated and angry in the wake of terror attack by Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pulwama. Today, the Indian Air Force demolished Jaish-e-Mohammeds Pakistan-based base-camps by precision air strikes. We congratulate the Government of India and the Indian Air Force for exactly translating the feelings and anger of millions of Indians. These air strikes were carried out without causing any harm and damage to the Pakistani Army and civilians as well, which is in tune with the Bharatiya culture."

After the all-party meet, which was chaired by Sushma Swaraj, Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "We have appreciated the efforts by the forces, they always have our support to end terrorism. Another good thing is that it was a clean operation, which specifically targeted terrorists and terror camps,"

Jaitley briefs Kovind, Venkaiah Naidu over airstrikes Finance Minister Arun Jaitley gave a detailed briefing of operation to President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu. CNN-News18 reported that it was discussed at the meeting that Tuesday's strike was not a revenge attack over Pulwama but rather a strike to protect India's sovereignity.

Ram Madhav, BJP: Country is in safe hands, it's will power of PM that has led to the action today. We had political leadership in PM Modi which decided this time to act. We acted in a responsible manner, protected India's interest & ensured we didn't violate international norms. pic.twitter.com/uJks1ZALDv

Speaking to ANI, BJP general-secretary Ram Madhav said, "After Pulwama attack, the nation was mourning for 12 days and on the 13th day our valiant air force paid the real tribute to the martyred soldiers by destroying terror training camps deep inside Pakistan territory."

Following the airstrikes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is visiting Delhi's ISKCON temple, said, "God's powers are always with us to save the Earth from the enemies of mankind. This is the message we are trying to send to the evil spirits."

NDTV reported that the Ambala air base and Mumbai naval base have been put on high alert. Meanwhile, the forces are maintaining a strict vigil at Wagah Border.

ANI reported that the Pakistan Army violated ceasefire along the Line of Control in Nowshera, and Akhnoor sectors in Jammu and Kashmir. According to CNN-News18, Pakistan has violated truce five times on Tuesday.

"After the Pulwama attack, the countrymen demanded that such action be taken that the enemy would think ten times to repeat such incident. Today, the air force has eliminated the air strikes on the terrorists hidden in the PoK," he said.

Speaking in Ghazipur, BJP chief Amit Shah said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised a safe and secure India in 2014. First, there was a surgical strike to answer the terrorism in Uri, and now, an aerial strike against terrorism."

CNN-News18 reported that Narendra Modi will chair a meeting with intelligence chiefs and Air chief Marshal BS Dhanoa. NSA Ajit Doval will update Modi on the latest developments.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) said, "The entire nation was agitated and angry in the wake of terror attack by Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pulwama. Today, the Indian Air Force demolished Jaish-e-Mohammeds Pakistan-based base-camps by precision air strikes. We congratulate the Government of India and the Indian Air Force for exactly translating the feelings and anger of millions of Indians. These air strikes were carried out without causing any harm and damage to the Pakistani Army and civilians as well, which is in tune with the Bharatiya culture."

After the all-party meet, which was chaired by Sushma Swaraj, Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "We have appreciated the efforts by the forces, they always have our support to end terrorism. Another good thing is that it was a clean operation, which specifically targeted terrorists and terror camps,"

Surgical Strike Latest updates: The naval base at Ambala air base and Mumbai naval base have been put on high alert. Meanwhile, Australian foreign affairs minister Marise Payne said, "Pakistan must take urgent and meaningful action against terrorist groups in its territory, including Jaish-e-Mohammed which has claimed responsibility for the 14 February bombing, and Lashkar-e-Taiba."

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is chairing an all-party meeting at the Ministry of External Affairs. Earlier, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley gave a detailed briefing of operation to President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu.

Quoting government sources, ANI reported that a total of six bombs were dropped on Pakistan based terrorist camps by the Indian Air Force Mirage 2000s.

Pakistani villagers in the area where Indian jets struck what officials in New Delhi said was a militant training camp said they heard four loud bangs in the early hours of Tuesday but reported only one person wounded by bomb shards.

In his first response after the Indian air strikes, Imran Khan said that Pakistan will strongly respond to the Indian aggression at a time and place of its choosing. He also asked Pakistani citizens to stay prepared for any eventuality.

Dean of Diplomatic Corps, Hans Castellanos said, "We are satisfied that Indian government has had such a rapid response in informing Heads of Missions. The information is that they did not affect any civilian or any Pakistan military installation, that it was a direct attack due to credible intelligence received."

In his first response after the Indian air strikes, Imran Khan accused India of lying and said that he will take the international media to the site of attack to expose New Delhi. Imran will also give a detailed statement in press conference at 3.30 pm.

"We had been telling the world that India is likely to do something like this (airstrike in Pakistan). Today they have done it," Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said. "I could see that the clouds of danger were hovering over Pakistan. Pakistan is live and strong. We are a responsible nation and will respond in a responsible and tactical manner. Pakistan knows how to safeguard its interests."

Addressing a public rally at Rajasthan's Churu and in a first response after the IAF airstrikes in Pakistan's Balakot area, Prime Minister Narendra Modi started his speech to the slogans of Bharat Mata ki Jai. "India is in safe hands, bhaiyyon aur beheno," said Modi to a massive gathering where the crowd chanted "Narendra Modi" in unison.

In a series of tweets, BJP chief Amit Shah said that the airstrikes conducted by the IAF on Tuesday "further demonstrates that India is safe and secure under the strong and decisive leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

Stunned by the Indian Air Force airstrikes on Tuesday, Pakistan said it will give an "appropriate reply" to the Indian action, which it described as 'grave aggression". Soon after Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale issued official statement after the airstrikes, Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Prime Minister Imran Khan has called a meeting to discuss the issue.

Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has convened an "important meeting" to review the emerging situation in the wake of airstrikes by Indian Air Force in Balakot. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had summoned an emergency meeting at the Foreign Office in Islamabad to discuss the security situation with former secretaries and senior ambassadors earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan media reported.

Defence sources have reportedly said that the IAF strike lasted not more than 21 minutes, right from take off till the return into Indian territory. The strike took place in Balakote, 24 kilometre northwest of Muzaffarabad at around 3:45-3:53 am. The joint training camps of JeM, LeT and Hizbul Mujahideen were hit. Reports further suggested that the terrorist groups had emptied their launchpads but not the training camps.

Here are the three locations in Pakistan bombed by Indian Air Force today:

- Balakot, which is 24 kilometre northwest of Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, was struck between 3.45 am and 3.53 am. However, there is still confusion over whether this place falls in PoK or proper Pakistani territory.

- Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, was hit between 3.48 am and 3.55 am.

- Chakoti, was he last to be hit between 3.58 am and 4.04 am

NSA Ajit Doval along with Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat and IAF Chief BS Dhanoa is reviewing the security situation on the borders after Indian Air Force strikes at Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp in Balakot across Line of Control, reports have said.

An editorial in Dawn slammed the Indian media and said "particularly jarring are the armchair warriors of the media  especially on the Indian side  baying for the blood of the other." The editorial, titled War rhetoric & reality said, "There has also been a reprehensible effort to exploit the attack and work up anti-Kashmiri and anti-Muslim sentiments in India, predominantly by the storm troopers of Hindutva. But perhaps what is most worrisome is that ministers and members of the establishment on both sides are talking casually about war."

The article further notes: "In such a tense atmosphere, India should take up Pakistans offer to give peace a chance as the alternatives to constructive dialogue are confrontation and yet more hostility."

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the media that the non-military pre-emptive strike in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir's Balakot area was aimed solely at the Jaish-e-Mohammad and its leaders Masood Azhar. Sources at the Ministry of External Affairs told Firstpost that the attacks were carried out in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan putting to rest the speculations whether the strikes were conducted in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir or in Pakistan.

Large number of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists, trainers and senior commanders were eliminated in largest Jaish camp in Balakot, Gokhale said. The Ministry of External Affairs briefing was held after reports claimed that combat jets of the Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control on the Pakistani side in a pre-dawn strike.

The Indian retaliation comes 12 days after the Pakistan-based terror group, Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir, government sources said.

Gokhale further said that the camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother in law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar. "In an intelligence-led operation in the early hours today, India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commander and Jihadis were eliminated. Credible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country. A pre-emptive strike became important. India struck the biggest camp of JeM in Balakot."

Reports have said that a Pakistani drone has been shot down at around 6.30 am in Gujarat's Kutch region. More details on this are awaited.

The states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir have been put on high alert as India expects Pakistani forces to retaliate after it carried out strikes. The Indian Air Force has reportedly readied the air defence missile system to nullify any possible air attacks.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Afterwards, the prime minister is scheduled to chair a crucial Cabinet Committee for Security meet, which will be attended by Minister of External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Balakote training camp is in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which means India has struck inside Pakistani territory, and not just occupied areas of Jammu and Kashmir. This may account for the absence of official confirmation from the Defence Ministry as India has no wish to push Pakistan into a corner from where it has to hit back on Jaish-e-Mohammads behalf. Reuters is reporting that the Defence Ministry is saying it has no knowledge of violations of Pakistani airspace.

CNN-News18 reported quoting government sources that the Balakot Jaish camp has been completely flattened in the limited strikes conducted by Indian Air Force. The sources said that initial assessment of damages suggest at least 200 to 300 casualties.

At least 12 Mirage 2000 jets took part in the operation that dropped 1000 kilogramme bombs on terror camps across Line of Control, completely destroying it, ANI reported. The operation was launched at 3.56 am on Tuesday morning.

Indian Air Force sources told ANI that a group of Mirage 2000 jets struck a major terrorist camp in Balakot sector in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The sources said that the targetted militant training camp was 'completely destroyed' and the pilots safely came back into the Indian territory.

Pakistan on Tuesday alleged that Indian Air Force aircraft crossed the Line of Control and were forced to turn back after Pakistan Air Force scrambled into action. Pakistan Army spokesperson, Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted Tuesday morning alleging that more than one Indian Air Force jet 'intruded' into Pakistani territory from Muzaffarabad sector. Ghafoor said, "Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force, (IAF jets) released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage."

Khuram Malik, a Pakistani journalist, reported on Twitter that the incident was from around 1.45 am on Tuesday night. The Pakistan Army, however, has not provided any specific timeline.

The claim remains unsubstantiated from India. CNN-News18 reported that the Indian Air Force is yet to respond to their request to respond on Pakistan's claim.

Meanwhile, various news reports said that the IAF jets conducted a concentrated attack in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to target the terror camps. CNN-News18 reported, quoting top defence ministry sources, that multiple IAF jets targeted Jaish-e-Mohammad camps in Balakot sector of Pakistan Occupied scheme.

This comes amid heightened tension between two nations in the wake of the Pulwama terrorist attack, which killed at least 42 Central Reserve Police Force jawans on 14 February. While Pakistan-based group Jaish-e-Mohammad had claimed responsibility within hours of the attack, Islamabad denies any role in the incident. India has, meanwhile, promised to take this seriously and give Pakistan an appropriate response at a befitting time.
The missiles, equipped with radars with search on move capability, were test-fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near Balasore on a day when India conducted a major air assault on the biggest training camp of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed inside Pakistan.

Balasaore (Odisha): India on Tuesday successfully test-fired two indigenously-developed quick reaction surface-to-air missiles capable of simultaneously engaging multiple targets, officials said.

The missiles, equipped with radars with search on move capability, were test-fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near Balasore on a day when India conducted a major air assault on the biggest training camp of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed inside Pakistan.

Describing the launch as "fully successful", a DRDO official said all the mission objectives were met during the trial.

The two missiles were tested for different altitude and conditions. The test flights successfully demonstrated the

robust control, aerodynamics, propulsion, structural performance and high maneuvering capabilities thus proving the design configuration.

"Radars, electro optical systems, telemetry, and other stations have tracked the missiles and monitored through the entire flights. All the mission objectives have been met," a defence statement said.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated the DRDO for the achievement.

Smt @nsitharaman congratulates @DRDO_India and the Defence Industry for successful test-firing of two indigenously-developed Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missiles(QRSAM). The missile have radars with search on move capability. The project was sanctioned by the govt in July 2014. pic.twitter.com/qZIjirM9FQ  Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) February 26, 2019

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik also congratulated the DRDO for the success.

"Congratulate DRDO for successful test flight of quick-reaction surface-to-air missile off the coast of Odisha. It will help in strengthening Indian Army's strike capability and nations military might," he said on Twitter.

The state-of-the-art missile with a strike range of 30 kilometres is capable of engaging multiple targets. The all-weather weapon system is capable of tracking and firing with precision, said a DRDO source.

This was third developmental trial conducted by the DRDO for the Indian Army.

The first trial was conducted on 4 June, 2017 and the last was on 14 July, 2018. Both the tests were conducted successfully from the same base.
Winds downed a tree over a power line by the Full Moon Pub and Grill on Md. 140 just over the county line around 2 p.m. Monday, sparking a fire in the grasses abutting the highway, a spokesman for the Reisterstown Volunteer Fire Company said. Eleven firefighters controlled the blaze as of 3:30 p.m. and nobody was injured, the spokesman said.
Modi hailed the air strikes and said that it was the perfect opportunity to remember the pledge he took in 2014 after taking over as PM as he recited BJPs anthem

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that the "country was in safe hands" as he addressed a rally in Rajasthans Churu after convening a Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting in Delhi in the wake of Indian Air Force's (IAF) strike in Pakistan's Balakot.

Modi hailed the air strikes and said that it was the perfect opportunity to remember the pledge he took in 2014 after taking over as the prime minister of India as he recited BJPs anthem, Saugandh mujhe iss mitti ki, mein ye desh mitne nahi dunga, mein desh nahi rukne dunga, mein desh nahi jhukne dunga" (I swear that I will not let this nation be erased, stopped or bowed down).

IAF conducted precision strikes in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakoti across the Line of Control (LoC) destroying the Jaish-e-Mohammeds (JeM) biggest training camp and elimination many terrorists, which the defence secretary termed as a "pre-emptive military action".

Meanwhile, Modi also talked about the National War Memorial that was inaugurated in Delhi on Monday and said that an amount of Rs 35,000 crore has been disbursed to retired defence personnel, adding that the One Rank One Pension scheme will benefit 20 lakh families of soldiers.

He then criticised the Congress government in Rajasthan saying that while farmers all over the country received the first instalment of Rs 2,000 under the PM-KISAN scheme, farmers in Rajasthan did not get the amount as the government did not submit the required list to the Centre.
The Indian government must do extensive war gaming of the situation to assess the possible Pakistan response, but as of now, it is India which is decidedly at an advantage.

An appropriate Indian response to the Pakistan-sponsored car bomb attack at Pulwama on 14 February was expected any time. Analysts had recommended consideration of a spectrum of options beyond the non-military measures of doing away with MFN status of Pakistan and reworking the Indus Water Treaty. These were part of the spectrum as much as the effective diplomatic campaign undertaken by the external affairs ministry. The nation, however awaited what Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised  an appropriate military response, having given a certain freedom of action to the armed forces.

The night-time strike by 12 Mirage-2000 aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) with 1,000-pound bombs against the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camp at Balakot in the wee hours of 26 February, 2019 appears to be a very appropriately-selected option. It is learnt that the strikes also took place against a facility at Chakothi, which is just four kilometres from the LoC in the Uri sector and at Muzaffarabad, 50 kilometres deep across the LoC, although this is unconfirmed. The physical outcome of the strike is not as significant as the strike itself, and it will take some time before the damage assessment is complete. However, thousand pound bombs have a devastating effect and initial claims of casualties among terrorists are likely to be fairly correct.

What is the importance of the response in sheer strategic terms? Firstly, with lapse of time, the Indian public was getting restive and the government was under pressure. Whatever the response, it had to have a degree of proportionality; a general war with massive mobilisation is not something anyone had in mind. The selected option appears to have met that requirement. Secondly, with the kind of diplomatic traction that had been achieved internationally and Pakistan fairly on the mat, a military operation had to remain within the brackets of ensuring that this diplomatic traction was not lost. Any attempt to cross the LoC in Kashmir to do a surgical strike by the Army would have been old wine, affording Pakistan the ability to remain in denial mode. An air strike is much more visible and denial is difficult. The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) wing has already admitted that the event occurred. However, it has chosen to play it down by commenting on the effectiveness of the strike. The Director General ISPR has said that Pakistan Air Force (PAF) scrambled its aircraft in response and forced the IAF to drop the munitions well away from the intended targets.

However, as stated already, it is not the physical effect as much as the fact that the strike took place deep inside Pakistani territory, and all IAF aircraft returned safely to base. In due course, not only the IAF but also various international agencies will scan the target area and inform the world of the effect of the air strike; enough technology exists for that. Pakistan will in all probability repeat what it did after the surgical strike in 2016. A public relations exercise will be undertaken to take military diplomats to the sites of the strikes to prove to them that these were ineffective and that the PAFs "timely action" managed to thwart the IAF from carrying out its mission.

Thirdly, the selection and usage of the term pre-emptive non-military strike very appropriately sends the message that India has kept the escalation aspects in mind and remained fully aware of the effects of its action. It could have struck at the Bahawalpur facility of the Jaish-e-Mohammad; it did not. It chose to target a comparatively lesser-known camp with confirmed presence of terrorists and their leadership deep inside Pakistan. It demonstrated capability and calibration when only terrorist facility and no Pakistan Army facility was selected as the target. This helps ensure that the traction India has achieved through the diplomatic campaign to isolate Pakistan remains intact and the hands of the international community have also been sufficiently strengthened to continue with the campaign to place pressure on Pakistan.

Fourthly is the question of a Pakistani response. It has two choices; one to remain in the mode of denial about the intended effect that India wished to achieve and then do nothing more. The second is to respond militarily and proportionately. Prime Minister Imran Khan and a host of his ministers have warned that an Indian military action against Pakistani territory will not invite consideration by Pakistan for a military response, but an assured action to strike back appropriately. Some Pakistani ministers had even threatened such military action as to defeat India on the battlefield.

This is going to place the Pakistan military leadership under tremendous pressure. There was similar pressure in 2011 after the United States' operation to neutralise Osama bin Laden, but a response against the United States was not possible. On account of the boast that Pakistans immature political leadership has made, the onus is now squarely on its shoulders. The options are very limited. A response employing air resources has an immediate challenge and that is the selection of targets; there are no terror bases in India. Targeting an Indian military facility or any other infrastructure will squarely pace the onus of escalation on Pakistans shoulders. That is where the choice of target by the Indian government and the appropriate messaging in the cryptic brief by the Foreign Secretary has been a smart step. A Pakistani response in some sphere or the other should be expected because it will now be the political and military leadership which will be under tremendous public pressure.

The Indian government must do extensive war gaming of the situation to assess the possible Pakistani response, but as of now, it is India which is decidedly at an advantage. It is still the beginning, not the end of the situation developing after the Pulwama tragedy.

The writer is a retired lieutenant-general of the Indian Army
The Indian Air Force conducted airstrikes across the LoC to attack well-known terrorist camps deep inside Pakistan. Pakistan's Major General Asif Ghafoor chose to say that the attacks were carried out in Muzaffarabad, but India's foreign secretary confirmed that the IAF operation targeted a JeM camp.

So the strikes took place as expected.

In a major departure from policy, fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force conducted airstrikes across the Line of Control (LoC) to attack well-known terrorist camps deep inside Pakistan. Spokesperson for the Pakistani military Major General Asif Ghafoor chose to say that the attacks were carried out in Muzaffarabad "sector" (as against district), but India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale confirmed that the IAF operation targeted one of the Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) largest camps at Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Once part of the Sikh empire, Balakot has long been part of the jihadi complex. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa area has a number of militant camps that serve the war fronts in both Kashmir and Afghanistan. Pakistan is clearly in shock, and there is jubilation in India.

The first point is that India acted in self-defence, a basic right as mentioned in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter: "Nothing in the present charter shall impair the inherent right of an individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a member of the United Nations."

While briefing the media on the IAF operation, the foreign secretary said that the airstrikes were pre-emptive and calculated to frustrate yet another planned terrorist strike by the JeM. This is self-defence in every sense of the word. The Indian Air Force would have war-gamed such an attack at Balakot and other nearby terrorist camps several times. In such a strike, the aircraft would follow the deep valleys and ridges along the mountains to evade getting on the radar, entering at an angle that would dodge the most active air defence along the India-Pakistan border.

Whether India also attacked other camps in Pakistan is unclear. But some of the ones targeted are located near populated areas in Muzaffarabad district and therefore, escaped retribution  for now.

In the days to come, we can expect the following: Pakistani sources may claim civilian damage; and Indian "experts" can be equally trusted to claim "huge collateral damage". So here's the thing. Terrorists don't wear uniforms. They may take shelter in a school, or in a building marked "hospital", or at a madrassa. The bottom line for local authorities in Pakistan/Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is this  if you shelter terrorists, you are likely to be hit.

We can also expect that terrorist groups will roll out into the streets, demanding action against India. There may even be another terrorist strike in Kashmir, or more likely in a major Indian city. This is a risk that must be run.

Follow LIVE updates on the IAF operation here

The choices ahead are unusual, to say the least. First, India can claim its attack and Pakistan can deny it. End of story. Honour on both sides has been satisfied. Social media and analysts can go to town crowing over or alternately denying the strikes.

Option two is that Pakistan decides the airstrikes demand a strong riposte. It can use its muscle to launch attacks across the LoC as per its (self-imposed) constitutionally-mandated obligations. But after this operation, Indian early warning aircraft are likely to stay in the sky for a long while. It's not impossible, but it sure is risky.



If Pakistan launches attacks across the International Border, that would be naked aggression. Escalation is then certain, and India has the larger purse. Analysts will point out that Pakistan cannot afford a war.

But salvaging national pride is not just all about the money. As Pakistani sources note, just before the Kargil War, Pakistan's total public debt in proportion to its GDP was the highest in South Asia  99.3 percent of its GDP and 629 percent of its revenue receipts, compared to Sri Lanka (91.1 percent and 528.3 percent in 1998) and India (47.2 percent amd 384.9 percent).

With China and Saudi Arabia pouring money into Pakistan's coffers, Islamabad is in (marginally) better shape than before. A short, sharp conflict is doable but will still ruin the economy in the long run. Reviving investments will slowly die away, and even investors like the Saudis will reconsider. China will continue to stand with Pakistan but is hardly likely to countenance a potentially ruinous move. Remember, Beijing has already sunk billions into the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor that has yet to turn into profits. No, China will advise both neighbours to stand down.

No democracy that is accountable to its people  which puts Pakistan out of this league  will willingly go to war. The stock markets plunging since news of the IAF operation broke is an early indicator that even India can't afford a war. Therefore, to prevent the tension from escalating, it is vital that Prime Minister Narendra Modi make a public announcement that Indian forces are now standing down after having acted in self-defence. He may also consider offering Pakistan a path of friendship, provided it cracks down on terrorism on its soil.

A little cheekiness may also be in order. India could even offer to provide assistance to Pakistan to help close down terrorist camps  that are ruining the country, in absolute reality  thus offering Prime Minister Imran Khan the possibility of finally getting a free hand to run his country. Ending terrorism in Pakistan will give the political class some freedom to manoeuver. A turn to war, and they will, once again, be shackled to the yoke of the army, not to mention the International Monetary Fund and other creditors.

Imran's choice is stark  he can either govern or fight. He can't do both.
Narendra Modi seems to be guided by the maxim that time and patience are the biggest warriors. He chooses his own time to react to a situation and displays infinite patient in the face of heavy odds.

Just as the Indian Army commandos who conducted surgical strikes in September 2016 returned safely to their base, the Director General of Military Operation (DGMO) called his counterpart in Pakistan and informed him about the action against terrorist camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK). Though the Pakistani DGMO was aware of the situation by then, he asked the Indian Army official not to reveal the details and casualty figures in his media briefing.

In the days briefing, the Indian Army official, accompanied by an MEA spokesman, neither revealed the details nor shared the casualty figures. The reason for this unseemly request from the Pakistani side was apparent. Pakistan's Army establishment desperately needed a space to wiggle out of this crisis and deny any raids. As expected, Pakistan did exactly that.

In fact, it falls into a pattern if one looks at Pakistans denial of casualties and real damage the Indian Air Force inflicted on terror camps in PoK and Pakistan early Tuesday morning. They acknowledged the intrusion of their airspace as it was undeniable. The subsequent bravado is aimed clearly at masking the Pakistani States criminality in allowing the setting up of these camps.

The manner in which the Indian forces carried out the strikes was remarkable. It was indeed a measure of not only political maturity, but also strategic pragmatism that the air force was given a specific brief: Destroy camps and avoid civilian areas. Like in the first surgical strike, India this time also described its air strikes as a non-military operation carried out to protect itself from terrorists being trained on Pakistani soil, based on credible intelligence inputs.

As is evident, the formulation is quite careful to give Pakistan space to negotiate out of this dilemma if it wants to. At the same time, it is naive to imagine that the air strikes on certain terror training camps would act as an effective deterrent for the deep state in Pakistan that controls the nations political economy. The military-political relations in Pakistan are expected to be strained further following these air strikes.

The Pakistani military establishment has thrived on anti-India propaganda and its ability to convince people of Pakistan about its status as their saviour. The air strikes, penetrating its defence, have left a big question mark on its ability to protect the country. It is good news for political actors in that State. But the military establishment is unlikely to let go of its control so easily.

Soon after the surgical strike in 2016, the Indian government received certain credible inputs about the possibility of Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) staging a high-profile terrorist attack in Goa which was about to host the BRICS summit in October. Intelligence agencies and security forces then neutralised many ISI modules and launched covert operations to plug loopholes in security.

Those who know the thinking in the government confirm that the air strikes deep inside Pakistan are certainly not an episodic response from India to cross-border terrorism. The government, in consultation with the armed forces and security agencies, factored in all eventualities and prepared an elaborate response for each of them. Todays action is just a sequel to similar actions in the past to raise the threshold level and the cost for Pakistan to patronise terrorism, said a government functionary.

On his part, Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to have taken the air strikes as business as usual. Till last night, he continued with the agenda, giving no indication of the possibility of a major action. In the morning too, Modi attended all his programmes as usual, including holding a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) and even travelled by the Delhi Metro, mingling with passengers to reach the ISKCON temple on the eastern side of Delhi. Evidently, Modi seems to be guided by the maxim that time and patience are the biggest warriors. He chooses his own time to react to a situation and displays infinite patient in the face of heavy odds.
Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said the Indian Air Force had 'struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Balakot' in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and 'a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and jihadis were eliminated'.

The Indian Air Force on Tuesday "struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Balakot" in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and in this intelligence-led operation, "a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and jihadis were eliminated", said Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale.

Gokhale made the statement while briefing the media on the IAF operation across the Line of Control at Balakot, during which 12 Mirage 2000 jets dropped 1,000 kilograms of bombs at its targets.

The foreign secretary told reporters India had received credible intelligence that JeM  the group that orchestrated the attack on the CRPF convoy in Pulwama  was going to attempt more suicide attacks in various parts of the country and "fidayeen jihadis" were being trained for this purpose, and that the targeted camp at Balakot was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar.

"The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties. It (the JeM terror camp) is located deep in a forest on a hilltop," the foreign secretary said. "India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all measures to fight the menace of terrorism. This non-military, pre-emptive action was targeted specifically at the JeM camp."

Early on Tuesday, Pakistan had alleged that India had violated the LoC, after which the Pakistan Air Force had "immediately scrambled", and that the Indian aircraft had "gone back". He tweeted again three hours later, saying that the IAF had "released payload in haste" while retreating.

The IAF operation comes amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan after the 14 February suicide attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, which killed 40 troopers.

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Here's the full text of Gokhale's statement:

On 14 February, 2019, a suicide terror attack was conducted by a Pakistan-based terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammed, leading to the martyrdom of 40 brave jawans of the CRPF. JeM has been active in Pakistan for the last two decades and is led by Masood Azhar, with its headquarters in Bahawalpur.

This organisation, which is proscribed by the UN, has been responsible of a series of terrorist attacks, including on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 and on the Pathankot airbase in January 2016.

Information regarding the location of training camps in Pakistan and PoK has been provided to Pakistan from time to time. Pakistan, however, denies their existence. The existence of such massive training facilities capable of training hundreds of jidhadis could not have functioned without the knowledge of Pakistan authorities.

India has been repeatedly urging Pakistan to take action against the JeM to prevent jihadis from being trained and armed inside Pakistan. Pakistan has taken no concrete actions to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its soil.

Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary.

In an intelligence led operation in the early hours of today, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated. This facility at Balakot was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghouri, the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar, chief of JeM.

The Government of India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to fight the menace of terrorism. Hence this non-military preemptive action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp. The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties. The facility is located in thick forest on a hilltop far away from any civilian presence. As the strike has taken place only a short while ago, we are awaiting further details.

The Government of Pakistan had made a solemn commitment in January 2004 not to allow its soil or territory under its control to be used for terrorism against India. We expect that Pakistan lives up to its public commitment and takes follow up actions to dismantle all JeM and other camps and hold the terrorists accountable for the actions.
Pakistan's armed forces on Tuesday claimed that Indian Air Force jets had 'intruded from the Muzzafarabad sector' and 'dropped a payload' near Balakot in Mansehra district in Pakistan.

Pakistan's armed forces on Tuesday claimed that Indian Air Force jets had "intruded from the Muzzafarabad sector" and "dropped a payload" near Balakot in Mansehra district in Pakistan. The Pakistani forces' spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor said that the Pakistan Air Force had responded quickly and "effectively".

"Indian Air Force violated Line of Control. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircrafts gone back. Details to follow, Major Ghafoor tweeted. "Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage, he followed up.

However, ANI quoted IAF sources as saying that a "major terrorist camp" across the Line of Control (LoC) was struck and "completely" destroyed. "1,000 kilograms of bombs were dropped on terror camps across the LoC," the source is quoted as saying.

Where is Balakot?

Earlier, confusion prevailed after initial reports about the strike because there are two towns named 'Balakot' in the same area. However, it is confirmed that the IAF struck Balakot in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa area of Pakistan, which is a crucial area near the LoC between India and Pakistan and has been the site of cease-fire violations in the last two or three years.

Balakot is also one of the Jaish-e-Muhammad terror outfit's oldest terrorist camps, according to sources. It has found mention in many past criminal cases in India and abroad. There was limited physical infrastructure of the launch pad at the base  witnesses have spoken of a main tin-roof shed, a small mosque and several earth houses.

JeM chief Masood Azhar reportedly wrote the Fath-ul Jawwad, his disquisition on the Quranic basis of jihad, during a retreat at Balakot.

He sought inspiration from the memory of Islamic revivalists Syed Ahmed Barelvi and Shah Ismail, who were killed in 1831 after waging an unsuccessful insurgency against the Sikh empire.

The city was ravaged by an earthquake of magnitude 7.6 in October 2005. A report by BBC said, "The earthquake had affected the northern regions of Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. An estimated 75,000 people were killed, mostly in Pakistan-administered Kashmir."

In March 2018, Pakistan had said its "policy of restraint" on the LoC should not be treated as a sign of weakness and warned India of a befitting response in case of any misadventure. Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal made the remarks during his weekly media briefing in Islamabad.

The Pakistani forces have exerted great restraint but this restraint should not be construed as a sign of weakness. Any Indian misadventure on the LoC and Working Boundary can lead to a strategic miscalculation, he said. While we advise restraint to the Indian side, our military is ready to give a befitting response. We shall choose the time and place of our response, he said.

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With inputs from agencies
Residents living along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir have appealed for dialogue between India and Pakistan fearing an escalation of the situation between the neighbouring countries after IAF aircrafts struck JeM camp in Pakistan

Srinagar: As the news of air strikes by Indian Air Force (IAF) across the Line of Control (LoC) poured in, 25-year old Majid Khattana of Balakote area of Poonch got worried. He has seen artillery shells land in the area before, and he knows that if the situation between India and Pakistan deteriorates further, the border residents would have to bear the brunt.

In March 2018, five people in Balakote village were killed after artillery shells landed in the area. The civilian casualties had occurred in the forward village of Devta Dhar when a shell landed in a house. Now, when the IAF aircrafts struck across the LoC, Majids worry became acute as the villagers dont have underground bunkers to stay in.

"In times of escalation of tensions between the two countries, we are the first to bear the brunt. The shells land in the area and people face a dire time," he said, urging India and Pakistan to observe restraint.

War is not a solution. Dialogue is. There is a need that India and Pakistan resolve their issues so that we dont have to face problems," he said.

Along the border areas in Jammu region, the residents have been witness to heavy cross-border artillery shelling for the last few days. The shelling continued in some areas even today.

Riyaz Ahmad, 45, another resident of Balakote, says border residents may have to face a tough time if "situation between India and Pakistan deteriorates".

We dont have bunkers here. We are not sure what turn the situation will take, he said.

Residents of Balakote claim that they heard the sound of fighter jets flying by during the night, but added that they didn't witness any unusual movement of troops along the Line of Control (LoC).

In Kashmir too, residents were in a state of panic for the last few days after authorities issued a string of directives asking the staff to maintain a stock of medicines as well as distribute food grains to the people on Sunday.

Shafiq Mir, sarpanch of Poshana area of Poonch, said that the areas of Rajouri and Poonch have faced "difficult time" due to border shelling and in earlier wars between India and Pakistan.

Late last night, informs Mir, there was "movement of aircraft" next to the defence airstrip in Rajouri, where he lives.

"I thought it was usual activity. It was in the morning that I came to know about the airstrikes. We heard the sound of aircraft for a long time at around 3.50 am, he said, adding that the areas which are close to the LoC in Rajouri and Poonch have in the past faced damages due to shelling from Pakistan.

"Earlier, a hospital in Poonch was targeted. The people living in areas which are near the border as well as the LoC face a tough situation, he said.

Meanwhile, authorities have asked the people to remain "calm and not to pay any heed to the rumours".

BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary, has urged people to remain calm and not to believe rumours circulating on WhatsApp or other social media". He said that Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik also made a similar appeal on Sunday.

It is necessary that people remain stress-free and go about their normal activities. In case there is anything to be communicated regarding people's safety and security, the government will do so directly, through media, he said, in a statement.

Subrahmanyam also said that the divisional commissioners, as well as the deputy commissioners, will "communicate" as and "when needed".
Narendra Modi has honoured the 42 CRPF troopers who died in Pulwama by issuing orders on the 13th day to the Indian Air Force to strike at terror camps in Pakistan.

For Indians, the 13th day after death has deep meaning and is considered significant. It is customary to hold a ceremony of closure on this day. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi honoured the 42 CRPF troopers who were killed in the Pulwama terror attack by issuing orders on this 13th day to the Indian Air Force to strike at terror camps across the Line of Control (LoC). Most likely a coincidence, but certainly a move that will bring closure for the families of the fallen soldiers.

Meanwhile, a special Parliament session in Islamabad focused on the "misery" in Kashmir, where "women and children are being killed", with parliamentarians demanding that Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj be disinvited from being the guest of honour at the summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on 1 and 2 March.

This was the major thrust and oft repeated.

Pakistan's strategy has now shifted to blaming the OIC for inviting Sushma. How dare they do this when Pakistan is a member? She has to be stopped.

Over the minutes, the attack by the Indian Air Force was eclipsed by the rage over Sushma addressing the OIC.

In Parliament, Pakistani legislators also called for unity, one voice and for differences to be buried as the rhetoric turned shrill with a thread of panic in every voice. There was much talk of integrity, sovereignty and unity and the need to protect the legacy of Pakistan's founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

The essence: the country must live with honour and not concede to the enemy (India).

The invective against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Hindutva in the Pakistani Parliament rose dramatically as the morning wore on. He was accused in the House of being Pakistan's true enemy, and they also discussed how it was now time for the public and the armed forces to teach Modi a lesson.

If Pakistan's military spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor goes with the story that India's 12 armed Mirage 2000s ventured into Balakot and messed up a forest and little else, it might make sense to let him live with that delusion. It gives Pakistan a window to escape the consequences of harbouring these terrorist groups while denying the fact. It also allows for deflecting from a major-scale war and tries to indicate that Indian warplanes flew across the LoC, missed the target and were scared away by Pakistani's F16s, so they dumped their armament collectively on a forest and scarpered. If this narrative works for Pakistan. We simply attacked those who hit us.

Surfing Pakistani news channels would show that the country's official media is in deep denial. The emphasis is on Indian Mirages being "scared away" and that 1,000 kilograms of explosives only felled three trees and nothing else.

This core message for the Pakistani public and the extraordinary session of Parliament is further shored up by underscoring the "chaos" in India after the airstrikes  the rupee has fallen; Modi has done this with the elections in mind; the stock market is in a state of collapse; Indians are afraid.

Besides all that, there is invective in the news and much bravado about shattering India into a thousand pieces.

Follow LIVE updates on the IAF operation here
The news of the pre-dawn strike broke early on Tuesday, when Pakistan military spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor claimed on Twitter that their forces had sent back Indian aircraft which had intruded from Muzaffarabad sector.

Less than two weeks after the Pulwama terror attack, India on Tuesday carried out a "non-military, preemptive" air strike across the Line of Control (LoC), specifically targeting the training camps of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Pakistan. While New Delhi claimed a " very large number of JeM terrorists" were killed, Islamabad strongly rejected that terror camps were targeted or that there were heavy casualties.

The news of the pre-dawn strike broke early on Tuesday, when Pakistan military spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor claimed on Twitter that their forces turned back Indian aircraft which intruded from Muzaffarabad sector.

Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage.  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019

As confusion and speculation began, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale addressed the media. He said the "intelligence-led operation" on the Pakistan-based terror group's biggest training camp in Balakot became "absolutely necessary" as JeM was planning more suicide attacks in India, after the 14 February attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama. "In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for 'fidayeen' action were eliminated," he said, stressing that care was taken to avoid civilian casualties. Gokhale said the camp was located in Balakot but did not elaborate further.

This triggered more confusion about the location of the strike. Sources told PTI that the reference was to the town in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 80 kilometres from the Line of Control and near Abbotabad where Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in hiding by US forces.

Spelled as Balakote, Balakot and Bala Kot in various reports, initial reports also claimed the site was in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Based on what Ghafoor said, many journalists pointed out that the "other" Bala Kote, in Poonch, is nowhere near Muzaffarabad. National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said it was "pointless" speculating about what India might have hit and what fallout the airstrike will have without a confirmation on the location.

If this is Balakote in KPK its a major incursion & a significant strike by IAF planes. However if its Balakote in Poonch sector, along the LoC its a largely symbolic strike because at this time of the year forward launch pads & militant camps are empty & non-functional.  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 26, 2019

Reports later said IAF jets struck JeM hotbeds in Balakot between 3.45 am and 3.53 am, Muzafarrabad between 3.48 am and 3.55 am, and Chakoti between 3.58 am and 4.04 am.

Pakistan rejects India's claim

Pakistan "strongly rejected" India's claim of targeting the terrorist camps and causing heavy casualties even as it vowed to respond "at the time and place of its choosing" and raise the issue at the United Nations and other international forums.

At a hurriedly-called special meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC)  Pakistan's top security body  Prime Minister Imran Khan asked the armed forces and the people of his country to remain prepared for "all eventualities."

"The forum (NSC) strongly rejected Indian claim of targeting an alleged terrorist camp near Balakot and the claim of heavy casualties. Once again Indian government has resorted to a self-serving, reckless and fictitious claim," said a statement issued after the NSC meeting in Islamabad.

Pakistan's top civil and military brass "concluded that India has committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing," it added. It also invited the world media to see the facts on ground and proposed a visit to the site.

Citing sources, Geo TV reported that Pakistan will raise the issue of India's "violation" of the Line of Control (LoC) at the United Nations and other international forums. "It was decided (at the meeting) that the matter of Indian LoC violation be immediately raised at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the United Nations and with friendly countries," sources told the Pakistani channel.

The NSC statement claimed India's "action has been done for domestic consumption being in election environment, putting regional peace and stability at grave risk."

To "take the nation on board", the Pakistan government decided to requisition a joint session of parliament on Wednesday at 11 am. Imran also summoned a special meeting of the National Command Authority (NCA) on Wednesday.

Later addressing a joint press conference with the ministers of defence and finance, Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi asserted that Pakistan will "respond to the Indian aggression."

He announced that a three-member committee, including him, finance minister and defence minister, has been formed to approach parliament to take the people and other parties into confidence on the evolving situation.

Responding to questions, Qureshi claimed that "multi-dimensional intrusion" was attempted by the Indian fighter jets early Tuesday. "But the intervention by Pakistani jets forced them to return back within minutes."

He dismissed the notion that Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jets were late in responding to the Indian attack, saying PAF jets were "ready" and "air-borne." Flanked by Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattack and Finance Minister Asad Umar, the foreign minister dismissed Indian claim of destroying terror camps of banned JeM in Balakot. "There was no presence of any such camp(s)," he asserted.

Qureshi also warned India not to underestimate Pakistan. "Do not underestimate us. We have our own sense of timing and we will act and react. Pakistan will do what Pakistan should do," he said and added "we will not disappoint the people of Pakistan," he said.

Later, Pakistan Army confirmed that Indian fighter jets dropped "four bombs" during an operation on Tuesday, but downplayed its significance. Its spokesperson Asif Ghafoor also said that Pakistan will "surprise" India with its response that will be in all domains including "diplomatic, political and military."

"Prime Minister Imran Khan told the army and the people that get ready for any eventuality. Now it is time for India to wait for our response. We have decided. Wait for it," Ghafoor said.

Won't let India be destroyed, says Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed two events following the air strike: one in Rajasthan's Churu and the other in Delhi's ISKCON temple. While heavily praising the Indian security forces, he made no direct reference to the air strikes in either of the speeches.

"Today is a day to pay homage to India's bravehearts. Today, I want to assure the people of the country that the country is in safe hands," he said at a public rally in Churu.

Recalling his address at the Vijay Shankhnad Yuva Sangam in 2014, the prime minister said today was the day to reiterate the sentiments. "My soul says today is the day to reiterate what I had expressed in 2014. I swear by my land I won't let my country be destroyed. I will not let the country stop. I will not let the country bow down. I pledge to the motherland that I will not let her head down," he said. Nothing is above the nation. Those who serve the nation, everyone who is engaged in nation building, pradhan sevak (prime servant) once again greets them."

His cryptic remarks continued at an event to unveil a giant Bhagavad Gita in ISKCON temple in Delhi. "Manavta ke dushmano se dharti ko bachane ke liye prabhu ki shakti hamare saath hamesha rahti hai. Yahi sandesh hum poori pramankta ke saath dusht atmaon, asuron ko dene ka prayas kar rahe hain (Divine power is always with us to take on the enemies of humanity. This is the message we are striving to give to evil spirits and demons)," the prime minister said.

Politicians, military experts welcome airstrikes

News of the strike was welcomed by military experts and leaders from across the political spectrum who had been advocating retribution after the Pulwama attack. While BJP president Amit Shah congratulated the "bravery and valour" of the armed forces, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said he saluted the pilots of the IAF.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said the strikes are a "totally new ball game" as it was for the first time that air power was used during peace time to hit terror targets in Pakistan.

There were celebrations in several parts of the country. After External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj chaired an all-party meeting in New Delhi, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "We have appreciated the efforts by the forces, they always have our support to end terrorism. Another good thing is that it was a clean operation, which specifically targeted terrorists and terror camps."

Swaraj told ANI, "I am happy that all parties in one voice praised the security forces and supported the Govt's anti-terror operations." AAP supremo and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was to launch an indefinite hunger strike from 1 March for his demand of full statehood for Delhi, said that his will postpone his plan in view of the attack. "We all stand as one nation today," he wrote on Twitter.

In a statement, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) congratulated the Government of India and the Indian Air Force for "exactly translating the feelings and anger of millions of Indians" following the Pulwama attack. "These air strikes were carried out without causing any harm and damage to the Pakistani Army and civilians as well, which is in tune with the Bharatiya culture," it said.

About the operation

A group of Mirage 2000 jets was used to drop bombs in the operation, which included various other aircraft. Sources told PTI India received intelligence that the JeM had shifted many in-training terrorists and hardcore operatives, along with their trainers, to the camp, about 20 kilometres from Balakot town, which has facilities for 500 to 700 people and even a swimming pool.

In a synchronised operation, fighter and other aircraft took off from several air bases in Western and Central commands at about the same time, leaving Pakistani defence officials confused about where they were heading, they said. A small group of aircraft broke away from the swarm and headed to Balakot where "the sleeping terrorists were sitting ducks for the Indian bombing", said a source.

The entire operation, it is learnt, was over in 20 minutes, starting at 3.45 am and ending at 4.05 am. At least 325 terrorists and 25 to 27 trainers were at the camp, sources told PTI. Gokhale said the facility at Balakot, located in a thick forest on a hilltop far from civilian presence, was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar, alias Ustad Ghouri, the brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar. His statement did not say if Yousuf Azhar was among those killed.

Gujarat, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab were put on high alert following the strike. NDTV reported that Ambala air base and Mumbai's naval base were also put on high alert. Pakistan retaliated later on Tuesday with multiple ceasefire violations across the LoC, including in Nowshera and Akhnoor sectors, Rajouri and Poonch districts in Jammu and Kashmir.

With inputs from agencies
Indias own strategic planners need to pay close attention to what Pakistans generals are thinking, to anticipate, and pre-empt the consequences.

Pakistan likely to be in two minds to retaliate after IAF airstrikes, India can ill-afford to lower its guard

Tonight, its more than likely that many Pakistani commanders will have texts on the Ussuri river clashes for their bedside reading. Ever since 1998, Pakistans warfighting doctrine has been premised on the proposition that its nuclear weapons guaranteed it immunity against Indian attack but now that assumption is in ruins. From the Ussuri fighting, Pakistans generals will know weaker adversaries can transmute disaster into victory. Indias own strategic planners need to pay close attention to what Pakistans generals are thinking, to anticipate, and pre-empt the consequences.

IAF's strikes in Pakistan, empty coffers leave Imran Khan with two choices: end terror and govern or fight India

Ending terrorism in Pakistan will give the political class some freedom to manoeuver. A turn to war, and they will, once again, be shackled to the yoke of the army, not to mention the International Monetary Fund and other creditors. Imran Khan's choice is stark  he can either govern or fight. He can't do both.

Narendra Modi remains true to word; IAF strikes on JeM camps in Pakistan show sea change in govt policy from UPA era

Narendra Modi has walked the talk, fulfilling the promise he had made after the Pulwama terror attack. A few days ago, in Rajasthan, the prime minister had told people to keep "faith in the Modi government, armed forces' valour and Maa Bhawani" for retribution. He has clearly pushed the envelope and drawn loud and clear red lines that any action against India will invite harsh and strong reaction.

Surgical strike in Pakistan: India just announced paradigm shift in security architecture by revising its retaliation doctrine

India is telling Pakistan in unambiguous terms that if Rawalpindi-bred jihadists launch terror attacks on Indian soil and target its citizens (be it civilians or security forces), India will not only cross the LoC and hit them but may use its air assets in doing so. And in order to scale up the costs on Pakistan for its use of radical and separatist elements as cannon fodder for its proxy war, India may even go deep inside Pakistani territory to operate, if needed.

IAF strikes JeM camp: Jammu and Kashmir border residents appeal for peace, say war no solution to India-Pakistan conflict

Along the border areas in Jammu region, the residents have been witness to heavy cross-border artillery shelling for the last few days. The shelling continued in some areas even today. Riyaz Ahmad, 45, another resident of Balakote, says border residents may have to face a tough time if "situation between India and Pakistan deteriorates". We dont have bunkers here. We are not sure what turn the situation will take, he said.
He has contributed vastly to the Westminster Police Department during his time here, Spaulding told the Times. Hes the consummate professional; hes incredibly intelligent and forward thinking; and I think he will serve the city and the department, and continue to push it forward.
Earlier on Tuesday, India said its warplanes attacked a militant camp where Pakistan-backed fighters were preparing suicide attacks on its cities, killing a 'very large number' of militants from the JeM terror outfit.

As the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out a non-military, pre-emptive airstrike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) training camp in Pakistan's Balakot on Tuesday, the international community expressed concern and urged India and Pakistan to "exercise restraint".

Australia:

Australia joined the European Union and China to call for restraint from the two neighbouring countries and engage in dialogue to ensure issues are resolved peacefully.

On Tuesday, Australia also asked Islamabad to take "urgent and meaningful" action against terrorist groups including the JeM operating from its soil.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne: Australian government is concerned about relations between India and Pakistan following the horrific terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 14 February, which Australia has condemned. (file pic) pic.twitter.com/iOzo3y1CMG  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

Australian foreign affairs minister Marise Payne's statement came hours after Indian fighter jets struck JeM's "biggest terror camp" in Pakistan across the Line of Control (LoC) in a pre-dawn attack.

"Australia urges both sides to exercise restraint, avoid any action which would endanger peace and security in the region and engage in dialogue to ensure that these issues are resolved peacefully," Payne said.

"The Australian government is concerned about relations between India and Pakistan following the horrific terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 14 February, which Australia has condemned. Pakistan must take urgent and meaningful action against terrorist groups in its territory, including Jaish-e-Mohammed which has claimed responsibility for the 14 February bombing, and Lashkar-e-Taiba," Payne said.

She also took note of the reports that India has stated it has now conducted operations targeting terrorist groups based in Pakistan.

"Pakistan must do everything possible to implement its own prescription of JeM. It can no longer allow extremist groups the legal and physical space to operate from its territory," the minister said.

These steps would make a substantial contribution to easing tensions and resolving the underlying causes of conflict, Payne added.

European Union:

The European Union (EU) also called on New Delhi and Islamabad to exercise "maximum restraint" after Indian warplanes attacked the militant camp in Pakistan, reported AFP.

"We remain in contact with both countries and what we believe is essential is that all exercise maximum restraint and avoid further escalation of tensions," EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic told reporters.

China:

China's response to IAF's air strike was similar to that of Australia and the EU and asked India to carry out its fight against terrorism through international cooperation.

"I want to say that India and Pakistan are both important countries in South Asia. A sound relationship and cooperation between the two serve the interests of both the countries and peace and stability in South Asia," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.

"We hope that both India and Pakistan can exercise restraint and do more to improve their bilateral relations," he said.

On India's assertion that it was a "non-military, pre-emptive strikes" directed against training camps of the terrorist groups who are carrying out violent acts in India, Lu said, "as for India's claim on taking action against terrorism, well, fighting terrorism is a global practice".

"It needs necessary international cooperation. India needs to create favourable condition internationally for the same," he said.

United Kingdom:

The UK government followed suit in urging India and Pakistan to avoid taking action that will pose a risk to regional stability and said it was working with international partners to ensure that those responsible for the Pulwama terror attack are held to account.

In its latest statement, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said it was engaged in talks with both sides.

"We are concerned by rising tensions. We are encouraging both sides to avoid taking action that will pose a risk to regional stability," an FCO spokesperson said.

"The UK is working closely with international partners, including in the United Nations Security Council, to ensure that those responsible for the Pulwama attack are held to account," the spokesperson said.

United States:

Condemning Pakistan for its long history of "harbouring" terrorists, Indian-American former US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley said praised the Trump administration for restricting financial assistance to the country.

Haley, who has founded a new policy group - Stand America Now - that will focus on how to keep the US safe, strong, and prosperous, wrote in an op-ed that when the US provides aid to nations, "it is more than fair to ask what the US gets in return for our generosity" but instead Pakistan routinely opposed the US position at the UN on several issues.

"In 2017, Pakistan received nearly $1 billion in US foreign aid, the sixth most of any country. Much of the aid went to the Pakistani military. Some went for road, highway, and energy projects to assist the Pakistani people," Haley wrote in the op-ed 'Foreign Aid Should Only Go To Friends'.

"On all key votes at the UN, Pakistan opposed the American position 76 percent of the time. Much more troubling, Pakistan also has a long history of harbouring terrorists who have killed US troops in Afghanistan," she said.

In an interview to US magazine 'The Atlantic' in December, 2018, Haley had said the US did not need to give money to countries that wish harm to America, go behind its back and try and "stop us from doing things".

"The one example I'll give you is, look at Pakistan. Giving them over a billion dollars, and they continue to harbour terrorists that turn around and kill our soldiers that's never okay. We shouldn't even give them a dollar until they correct it. Use the billion dollars. That's not a small amount of change," she had said.

France:

France called on the neighbouring countries to avert any risk of military escalation and preserve strategic stability in their regions and upheld India in its fight against terrorism .

"Resumption of dialogue between Islamabad-New Delhi is necessary to initiate peaceful settlement of differences. France, which stands by India in the fight against terrorism in all its forms is fully engaged in mobilising the international community to sanction terrorists responsible for this attack (Pulwama) and freezing their financing networks," Acting spox of Frances Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs said.

Earlier on Tuesday, India said its warplanes attacked a militant camp in Pakistan killing a "very large number" of militants from the JeM terror outfit.

They confirmed that breached its airspace and dropped a payload over Balakot in the country's northwest, but insisting there was no damage or casualties.

Criticizing the IAF airstrike as "uncalled for aggression", Pakistani officials confirmed that Indian planes breached its airspace and dropped a payload over Balakot in the country's northwest, but insisted there was no damage or casualties.

India launched a major diplomatic offensive against Islamabad after the 14 February Pulwama attack and highlighted Pakistan's role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

India asked Pakistan to take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control.

New Delhi also announced the withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation status for Pakistan and hiked the customs duty by 200 percent on goods originating from Pakistan.

With inputs from PTI
With apathetic government figureheads and worsening natural conditions, it isn't hard to see why people like Dhanshyam believe, There is no remedy.

According to Pappu, a farmer in the village of Leheren in the Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh, only 10% of his land gives him good yield, because he can irrigate only that much. The rest is just a failure, he added, glancing at the four acres of land he owns, filled with browning, dying crop. There isnt sufficient water available for all the farmers here to keep their land fertilised, he said, voicing a concern universal in this small village in Mehrauni, Lalitpur.

All the farms have dried up, said Phoolbai, another farmer. And the problem of the lack of water extends beyond agriculture. There is no water, not to drink and not for farming, said another farmer Dhanshyam. Even the animals in this village have to go searching for water, because there is nothing here, added Pappu.

Decline in ground water levels has been very prominent in UP; a report by the Central Ground Water Board in 2016 found that 89% of analysed wells in the state have shown a decline in water levels in the last ten years. Ground water development in UP was at 74%, which measures the rate of groundwater consumption to groundwater recharge, one of the highest rates in the country. This has resulted in 37 blocks in the state being overexploited and 13 blocks in state with critical groundwater level conditions, a majority of which lie in western UP.

Although we have dug deep wells in the village, there is no water, said Dhanshyam, illustrating the reality of the groundwater crisis in Leheren. Data paints a similar picture. Of the 15 wells analysed in the district of Lalitpur in August 2014 by the CGWB, ground water was found at a minimum of 0.86 meters below ground level (bgl) and a maximum of 6.42 meters bgl; most wells showed water at a depth between 2-5 meters bgl. But even just by November 2014, the maximum depth went up to 8.49 meters bgl; most wells showed water at the depth range of 5-10 meters bgl. Although monthly fluctuations of water levels are influenced by the weather  primarily the monsoons recharging groundwater  decadal trends indicate that more than 50% of the monitored wells have shown a decline in the last ten years.

Every acre of land needs to be supplied water from the pump for at least 20 days, only then will it be fertilised, explained Pappu. Shanti, another farmer pointed at the reality of the situation, We arent allowed to use the pump for more than 20 minutes in a day. Everything here needs to be bought, paid for out of my own pockets  seeds, manure, diesel and now even water, she added. This is trapping farmers in a vicious cycle. They need to take loans in order to make the necessary arrangements for their land, but without water there can be no yield  which in turns means their income continues to take a severe hit. If we take loans, then we need to not only repay the amount but also pay an interest, said Pappu, How are we to survive managing all of this and then also fulfilling the needs of our families? With farming as the main source of income for many families in Leheren, making ends meet has become nearly impossible. We have to borrow money just so that we can buy food to fill our empty stomachs, said Phoolbai, We are starving to death. Hunger and thirst have been killing our small children. What should we do?

We have asked for help several times but there is no one to listen, said Dhanshyam, who filed a complaint about the lack of water in January earlier this year with the village head. The fact that 61.6% of water for irrigation comes from ground water sources like wells and tube wells. With declining monsoons  the only source of recharging groundwater  it is essential to establish other sources of water for irrigation. UP even has its own Irrigation and Water Resources Department to promote irrigation methods like drip irrigation, lift irrigation and canals. But even IDUP has little existing infrastructure in Lalitpur  it only has one 1.5 cusec tubewell in the district. Some, like Shanti, call it like it is: The government has given us nothing.

Ranveer Sen, the village head, thinks that the responsibility lies with the people and not with the government. There are some in the village who have tubewells installed in their houses, he said confidently, They can lend water to those in need. The lack of water has had a ripple effect on village residents, many of whom have started migrating to earn money to feed their families. Sen has a solution for this too. As for those who were planning to migrate to Delhi or other cities, weve stopped them, he said, We are giving them work here, to build the 300-350 toilets. The absurdity of his proposal  of prioritising the building of toilets in a village that has no water  seemed lost to him. Instead, he seemed pleased. At the very least, we take care of 80 poor people, he added, We are giving the unemployed opportunities through MGNREGA and other schemes.

The reality for farmers like Shanti only seems to be worsening: We cry everyday, but there is no one to wipe these tears. Mangal Singh, the local lekhpal said, Until now we have not provided any such services. They may have been given by the SDM in-charge, but we are not currently offering help to people from our department. Worse still, he noted that the water problem in Leheren has not been conveyed to the relevant authorities till now: No issues regarding water have been raised (in officials meetings) he said, but added as though he was doing our reporter a favour, But chalo, well raise this issue shortly. When asked when the problem would be resolved, he hesitated and could only say, We will be sure to raise the issue in the next few days.

With apathetic government figureheads and worsening natural conditions, it isn't hard to see why people like Dhanshyam believe, There is no remedy. Phoolbai said with a kind of hopelessness, Without securing access to water, we dont even know how we will survive and provide for our families.

Khabar Lahariya is a women-only network of rural reporters from Bundelkhand.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath said on Monday that the results of the last assembly elections in which Congress trounced the BJP in three out of the five states were an indicator of voters mood, which would set the tone for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath said on Monday that the results of the last assembly elections in which Congress trounced the BJP in three out of the five states were an indicator of voters mood, which would set the tone for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

If the results of the elections held in the last six or seven months are considered, we find that the BJP not only lost in assembly elections, but in the bye-polls held in UP where it lost both CM and deputy CMs constituencies, he said during a session at the second edition of News18 Rising India Summit in New Delhi.

Citing the Congress victory in his state, Nath said that with Madhya Pradesh being the heart of the country, the signal that emerged out of the state has reached the voters in Kerala.

Voters in far Kerala can understand, but not those (leaders) in Delhi. How many leaders are connected with rural India and understand its problems? Divisions have been made in the country on the basis of urban, rural, caste, class, etc. Weve asses, masses and classes  as divisions now, the CM sarcastically remarked.

On farmers distress

Stating agriculture as the most distressed sector, Nath said that the entire agriculture policy needed a fresh look, as at present the problem was not shortfall in production but bumper production of crops and farm produce.

Theres excess production and the farmer must get the right price for the produce, which is not happening at present. A farmer is born and dies in debt. While in MP, were providing relief to 53 lakh farmers by waiving Rs 55,000 crore (loan value), the offer of Rs 6000 per annum to farmers made by the Modi government just before general election doesnt make sense. It wont address the problem, he mentioned.

Nath who was at the forefront as Pradesh Congress chief during Madhya Pradesh election, also indicated that farm issue would play a major role in the forthcoming general election.

Farmer issues cant be ignored. As in MP, 70% of the population is dependent on agriculture though all are not farmers. This sector contributes a major chunk to the states economy, he remarked.

The state witnessed farmers agitation and mob violence in Mandsaur district in June 2017. The anger amongst farmers had been one of the factors that led to the defeat of three-term Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in 2018 assembly election.

On national security and action

In the backdrop of Pulwama terror attack, and India-Pakistan debate, Nath questioned, Is Congress not a nationalistic party? Do we need a certificate on this issue from the BJP?

It was the Congress party that fought against the British and not the predecessors of the BJP, he said.

Nath said that the government has to decide what action needs to be taken for national security. We shouldnt give advice to the government.

On development: Congress versus BJP

Referring to Narendra Modis attack on Congress that the grand old party had failed to eradicate poverty, he questioned, Has the poverty got eradicated only in these four-and-half years? Hadnt there been any development in the last sixty years and during the Congress regime?

Unlike the BJP, the Congress started from zero (after Independence). Whatever development has been taking place now, is being built upon the past, he asserted.

Concluding the session, Nath reminded the audience that the current voters were smart and the BJP shouldnt forget 2004, when the NDA government lost and the UPA came to power.

Ive contested and won elections for 39 years. I understand the pulse of the voters. Before MP election, though I knew Congress would win, I swallowed the criticisms made by the BJP, Nath added.
The Cabinet Committee on Security met on Tuesday morning after the IAF operation in Pakistan. The meeting was at theat the residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Indian Air Force carried out air strikes in Pakistan.

New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Security met on Tuesday morning at the residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Indian Air Force carried out air strikes in Pakistan. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman were present at the meeting.

Delhi: Meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security underway at 7, LKM pic.twitter.com/sCq0MZSB2u  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, other top officials of the prime minister's office, and the security officials were also present at the meeting, official sources said. India is believed to have carried out air strikes inside Pakistan early on Tuesday and targeted terror camps, sources said.

The strikes involving several fighter jets of the Indian Air Force successfully destroyed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the sources said.
Britain's main opposition Labour Party has said it could support a second Brexit referendum as the European Union opened the door to postponing the country's exit from the bloc beyond the 29 March deadline.

Sharm El Sheikh: Britain's main opposition Labour Party has said it could support a second Brexit referendum as the European Union opened the door to postponing the country's exit from the bloc beyond the 29 March deadline.

Britain remains as divided as ever over Brexit, which a narrow majority of voters backed in a June 2016 referendum and speculation that London will ask for more time to negotiate its withdrawal has gathered steam in recent days.

British prime minister Theresa May suggested on Sunday that the parliament may not be able to vote on her Brexit deal until 12 March, just 17 days before Britain leaves the EU, provoking alarm at home.

European Council president Donald Tusk said he had discussed the "legal and procedural context of a potential extension" when he met May on Sunday on the sidelines of an EU-Arab summit in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh.

"I believe in the situation we are in, an extension would be a rational solution but Prime Minister May still believes she's able to avoid this scenario," Tusk told a closing summit press conference.

The EU has been watching with growing concern the possibility that Britain will crash out of the bloc without a deal, risking chaos on both sides of the Channel. Speculation is mounting that lawmakers will in a series of votes this week move to delay Britain's withdrawal to avoid a no-deal Brexit.

The opposition Labour Party on Monday raised the pressure, saying it would put forward its own plan for Brexit, which calls for Britain to stay in the EU customs union, as part of those votes. Labour then said if its plan was rejected, it would lend its support to an amendment on holding a second referendum on EU membership  without specifying a date.

"We are committed to... putting forward or supporting an amendment in favour of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country," Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said in a statement.

Corbyn, a lifelong eurosceptic who supports Brexit, has been highly ambiguous throughout the negotiations even though many of his MPs support a second referendum. The Times described Corbyn's decision "a significant moment" but added that much would depend on the details of the new policy.

"A second referendum risks deepening the divisions in what is already a deeply divided country. It would prolong Brexit uncertainty for much of the rest of the year. And whatever the outcome, it would not settle the troubled question of Britain's relationship with the EU," it said in an editorial.

On currency markets, sterling rose further on speculation that May could push back the 29 March deadline in a bid to avert a painful no-deal divorce. Adding to her woes, the Daily Mail reported that a group of 23 dissidents met secretly to discuss how to stop Britain leaving the EU without an agreement, with as many as 15 said to be ready to resign.

Taking a united stand, the EU and its remaining 27 countries have repeatedly rebuffed May's efforts to reopen the Brexit deal struck with her government in November. Since British lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected her withdrawal deal last month, the Conservative prime minister has sought to address their concerns about the text's so-called "backstop" arrangement.

London wants the "backstop"  the clause binding Northern Ireland into the EU customs union if a new deal to keep the Irish border open is not found  to be time-limited or to be allowed to unilaterally end it.

The EU opposes any changes to an arrangement designed to keep the border between British Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland flowing. It also sees the "backstop" as an insurance policy for the peace process in the UK province of Northern Ireland. Brussels however is not budging, though it is offering political reassurances.

Tusk said he told May that "no matter which scenario, all 27 (EU countries) will show maximum understanding and goodwill". During a press conference Monday in Sharm El-Sheikh, May said she believes she can still deliver Brexit on time.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm leading the Brexit negotiations, is still working on the assumption that Britain will leave the bloc on 29 March, commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva told reporters earlier in Brussels.
Pakistani troops resorted to intense shelling and firing along the Line of Control

After India's surgical strikes on Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps, Pakistani troops resorted to intense shelling and firing along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, injuring five army jawans in Akhnoor.

The shells from 120 mm mortar guns landed in civilian areas, forcing the public to remain indoors. Many residents described it as a "war-like" situation.

Defence spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Devinder Anand said intense shelling took place all along the LoC. He said unlike the smaller size mortars, which were being used by Pakistani troops during the border skirmishes earlier, this time the shelling was heavy and artillery landed in many civilian areas. Anand added that shelling was carried out in all the major areas the army is stationed along the LoC in the Jammu region, including some strategically important locations of Nowshera, Balakote (in Poonch) and Akhnoor.

Akhnoor has a large number of defence installations. However, Anand said there were no reports of casualties. Anand described the shelling by Pakistani troops as an act of unprovoked firing, adding that both the small arms as well as mortars were resorted to for many hours. He said shelling was carried out in most of the areas along the LoC between India and Pakistan and started at around 5:30 pm and continued for a long time.

Indian Army is retaliating strongly and effectively to the intense shelling at Nowshera (Kalal, Baba Khori, Kalsian, Jhanger, Rajouri (Tarkundi forward), Balakote, KG Mankote sectors. Pakistani troops also resorted to firing in Akhnoor and Krishna Ghati sectors which was effectively repulsed, Anand said. A senior army official said the shells landed two to three kilometres inside the Indian territory. He said that the maximum distance the shells can land in Indian territory was around six kilometres from the Pakistani side. Anand said 120 mm mortar shells were rarely used.

Following the intense shelling, the locals preferred to stay indoors and the roads witnessed a deserted look. Ahead of the IAF strike, the movement of troops was increased in many areas of the border villages of Jammu, including that of Mendhar in Poonch in the past few days. Residents said fighter jets flew late Monday night over some areas, but they presumed that it was part of the heightened vigil along the border.

I have never been witness to shelling of this scale. I also heard cries of people and saw smoke billowing up from the fields where the shelling took place, said Majid Khattana, a resident of Balakote area of Poonch. Shells also landed in many areas of Mendhar sector, but not in the main city, residents said. The intense shelling triggered panic and disrupted the movement of roads for several hours. I fear there could be many civilian casualties, said Majid.
Here is what media editorials in Pakistan are saying today after the Surgical strike and about the Pulwama aftermath

Apart from reporting how Pakistan Air Force 'chased away' Indian jets, the Pakistani media weighed in on the futility of war and heightened tension between the two neighbours, while also blaming India for giving in to domestic political needs to whip up anti-Pakistan rhetoric. In the wake of Pulwama attack and Indian air strike on terror camps inside Pakistan, the media houses from across the border opined in unison how India's polity is forcing it to resort to war games, while some of them also highlighted the need for introspection for Islamabad.

In an editorial titled War Games published in The Express Tribune, columnist Hassan Niazi argues that Modi has "never been shy about using Hindu nationalism to garner support in India," adding that India "somehow manages" to control the narrative on terror attacks on its soil and convince the world to believe in its theory "without even a shred of evidence" against Pakistan.

He points out that the militant who blew up the CRPF bus in Pulwama was not linked with Pakistan, and how the quantity of explosives used in attack was impossible to have been bought and carried over from Pakistan.

However, the opinion piece fails to note how Jaish-e-Mohammad  based out of Pakistan  had willingly claimed responsibility for the attack. The fact that JeM released a video of the militant who carried out the attack also does not finds mentions mention in the piece. It instead schools Indian authorities on the need to win over Kashmiris and blames Modi for the Pulwama attack.

"Modi perhaps realises that it is the BJPs relentless brute force policy that is the root cause behind the Pulwama attack, but it is easier to blame Pakistan. The aftermath of Pulwama has shown that the people of Kashmir are not really welcome in India. Rather than sit down and consider how best to win the people of Kashmir over, the people of India have demonstrated a masterclass of discrimination and bloodshed against Kashmiris."

It has a line or two, reeling off the usual advice to the Pakistani administration to take its word on combating terror decisively, but mostly it attacks India for its "ruthless hate policy" in Kashmir.

Likewise, another article in Dawn drew attention to how even ministers from both sides were "talking casually" about war. The opinion piece also seeks to differentiate the Mumbai terror attack from the one in Pulwama, which it claims was "an indigenous reaction to Indias brutish tactics in held Kashmir."

It advised India to take up Pakistans offer to "give peace a chance" as the "alternatives to constructive dialogue are confrontation and yet more hostility."

Another opinion piece in The News International, titled Ending our collective insanity speaks about the futility of war, arguing that the "current sabre-rattling and the spectre of a terrible war in South Asia indicate that not only is our past full of follies but, our present too seems replete with irrational acts.

"The current war-mongering and jingoistic frenzy that is sweeping through India and Pakistan suggests that we have a strange fascination for the strafing of cities and blitzkrieg of towns. We tend to believe that the detonation of nuclear arms would bring goodies for our kids."

The article mostly cautions the two nuclear-powered nations to display caution while talking about wars and bombing each other. "It is prudent that the two states make hectic efforts to lift their millions out of poverty instead of pumping billions of dollars into the arms race, which is nothing but a recipe for disaster."

The article ends with an advice of conscious restraint, adding that the two nations would be foolish to believe that any of the world powers will want a de-escalation of tension between them. It says that barring India and Pakistan, everybody else has only profits to make from an Indo-Pakistan war.

"It is puerile to believe that the US and other Western countries or global powers would prevent the eruption of any conflict. The US, the UK, Germany, Russia, China, France and even pacifist Sweden are engaged in the lethal business of arms sale. For them, war is bloody  bloody profitable. So, the unscrupulous merchants of death in those states might actually want a conflict that is likely to give a boost to their arms sale. Therefore, it is important that we produce our own Gandhis, Ashokas, Russels, Sartres, Bhittais and Bullay Shahs to prevent this deadly conflict from engulfing our land of peace and love"
The Mirage 2000s have once again proven to be the hero of yet another operation by the Indian Air Force, the jets first gained prominence after what was reported to be their success in the 1999 Kargil war.

Early on Tuesday, ANI reported Indian Air Force sources as having revealed that as many as 12 Mirage 2000 jets took part in an operation to drop 1,000-kilogram bombs on what were reportedly terrorist launchpads across the Line of Control.

The operation has allegedly led to the "complete destruction" of the terrorist camp in Balakot sector of Pakistan. Indian pilots, it is being reported, have returned to safety, while 200 to 300 people have reportedly died on the Pakistan side.

However, Major General Asif Ghafoor, spokesperson of the Pakistan army, claimed that the attack had failed to cause any damage to Pakistan. He wrote on Twitter that the Indian side, "facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping."

If reports are confirmed, then the Mirage 2000s have once again proven to be the hero of yet another operation by the Indian Air Force. The jets first gained prominence after what was reported to be their success in the 1999 Kargil war.

What is Dassault Mirage 2000

The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine fourth-generation jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation, the same company at the centre of the contentious Rafale jets deal. It comes with several variants which have been sold to as many as eight countries, including Peru, Egypt, India, UAE, Qatar, Brazil, Taiwan and Greece.

Mirage 2000 has nine points for carrying weapon system payloads, five on the fuselage and two on each wing, reports AirForce Technology. The single-seat version is also armed with two internally mounted, high-firing-rate 30mm guns.

Air-to-air weapons supported by the Mirage 2000 include the MICA multitarget air-to-air intercept and combat missiles, and the Magic 2 combat missiles, both from MBDA (formed out of a merger between Matra BAe Dynamics, EADS Aerospatiale and Alenia Marconi Systems). MICA supports a maximum operating range of 60 kilometres. The aircraft can carry four MICA missiles, two Magic missiles and three drop tanks simultaneously. The Mirage 2000-5 can fire the MBDA Super 530D missile or the MBDA Sky Flash air-to-air missile as an alternative to the MICA missile.

The Mirages sold to India were reported to have had limited air interdiction, which cuts down on the use of preventive aircraft attacks against enemy targets, and had to be modified significantly.

India's Mirage 2000Hs had to be fitted with a Thomson-CSF Laser Designator Pod, known as "ATLIS", which was capable of delivering 1000 kg laser-guided bombs, which were purpose-built for the destruction of reinforced targets, says Bharat Rakshak. Parts to fit in an additional Paveway II laser-guided bomb kit had to be remanufactured by the IAF as India had been put on the embargo list at the time, following nuclear tests in Pokhran.

The Mirage in the 1999 Kargil War

During the Kargil War, India also had MiG-21s, MiG-23s and MiG-27s in its arsenal, but these jets  lacking modern weapons  had not been making a significant impact on hard-to-locate enemy positions. While pilots helming the MiG-23 and MiG-27 were used to manual dive-bombing runs, and this tactic was not suited in the rarefied atmosphere of the Himalayas.

It was at this point, says Russia Beyond, that the IAF introduced the Mirage 2000H. On 24 June, 1999, two of the aircraft struck and destroyed the command and control bunkers of Pakistan's Northern Light Infantry. Pakistan's military prowess in the war had been significantly dented since the attack, resulting in a victory for India.

During Operation Safed Sagar from June to July 1999, two Mirage squadrons flew a total of 514 sorties. The number one squadron flew air defence and strike escort missions, while the number seven squadron conducted 240 strike missions.

The impressive service of the Mirage 2000 in 1999 prompted the government to approve the purchase of ten Mirage 2000Hs, featuring improved avionics, particularly an upgraded RDM 7 radar.

Follow LIVE updates of the IAF attack on Balakot here

The 'new' Mirage

In 2004, when India made its third order for the type, the government announced its intention to upgrade its existing Mirage 2000s.

The new Mirage 2000, redesignated the Mirage 2000 I, is almost incomparable with the original jet, reported NDTV. At the heart of the upgrade is a new Thales RDY 2 radar, which allows for very long-range engagement of targets in the air, automatic tracking of targets, mapping of targets on the ground using Doppler beam-sharpening techniques, and the ability to track and engage targets which are moving on the ground.

The pilot of the new Mirage 2000 is now able to see superimposed radar data on his helmet display, without having to look at any of the references inside the cockpit.

On 1 February, a Mirage 2000 trainer aircraft crashed at the HAL Airport in Yemlur of Bengaluru, ahead of the Aero India show. Even though both the pilots ejected, one died after landing on the aircrafts wreckage.
Further, Jet Airways said it was 'working out a mutually acceptable arrangement to ensure that the company becomes current on its salary overdues'.

Mumbai: Crisis-hit Jet Airways Monday said it was working out a "mutually acceptable" arrangement regarding salary dues.

Salary payments have been delayed for many employees, including pilots. The airline management had promised to clear salary dues of its pilots by March.

"We wish to state that the company is in dialogue with its key stakeholders to enlist their full support and cooperation," the airline said in a filing to the stock exchanges.

In doing so, the company is also apprising them of the challenges faced by the company, it added.

Further, Jet Airways said it was "working out a mutually acceptable arrangement to ensure that the company becomes current on its salary overdues".

Last week, a section of pilots had reportedly warned the airline of non-cooperation from 1 March if the management did not give clarity on salary payment.

More than 1,100 pilots of the airline are represented by the National Aviator's Guild (NAG).

On 7 December, the company had agreed to pay all dues by April and make the payment current from then onwards under a revised staggered payment schedule.

Jet Airways has a debt of nearly Rs 8,000 crore and needs to make repayments of up to Rs 1,700 crore by the end of next month.

In the three months ended December 2018, the airline reported its fourth consecutive quarterly net loss of Rs 732 crore.

The airline has defaulted on a payment of the principal and interest to the consortium of the domestic banks as well as to lessors, among others.

The lessors have forced it to ground at least six aircraft due to non-payment.

"An additional two aircraft have been grounded due to non-payment of amounts outstanding to lessors under their respective lease agreements. The company is actively engaged with all its aircraft lessors and regularly provides them with updates on the efforts undertaken by the company to improve its liquidity," Jet Airways said in a regulatory filing on Saturday.

On 7 February, it had grounded four planes for similar reasons.

On 14 February, Jet Airways board approved a Bank-Led Provisional Resolution Plan (BLPRP), whereby lenders would become the largest shareholders in the airline.

Its shareholders have also approved conversion of loan into shares and other proposals during the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) last Thursday.
Recently the faculty engaged in a significant symbolic vote in which a majority indicated that they felt the implementation of the changes should be delayed for at least a year to explore further economic alternatives. Our collection of highly motivated and engaged faculty members work daily and directly with students, and we believe that it would be a disservice to their involvement at the school to disregard their vote and not allow them to pursue other solutions.Students opinions have also been underrepresented throughout this process. Students were asked for minimal and token amounts of input regarding the changes, they wrote in one paragraph of the letter.
By Jonathan Stempel and Jennifer Ablan (Reuters) - Warren Buffett said on Monday his Berkshire Hathaway Inc overpaid in the 2015 merger that created Kraft Heinz Co, but he had no plans to flee the struggling packaged foods company. Buffett spoke four days after Kraft Heinz took a $15.4 billion writedown for its Kraft and Oscar Mayer brands and other assets, slashed its dividend, and said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was probing its accounting.

By Jonathan Stempel and Jennifer Ablan

(Reuters) - Warren Buffett said on Monday his Berkshire Hathaway Inc overpaid in the 2015 merger that created Kraft Heinz Co, but he had no plans to flee the struggling packaged foods company.

Buffett spoke four days after Kraft Heinz took a $15.4 billion writedown for its Kraft and Oscar Mayer brands and other assets, slashed its dividend, and said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was probing its accounting.

Kraft Heinz's share price sank 27.5 percent on Friday, wiping out more than $16 billion of market value, and causing Berkshire to lose $4.3 billion on its stake. Berkshire owns 26.7 percent of Kraft Heinz.

"I was wrong in a couple of ways on Kraft Heinz," Buffett said on CNBC television. "We overpaid for Kraft."

Buffett did not say by how much Berkshire overpaid, but said the market reacted "probably quite properly" to the news.

He also said he has "absolutely no intention" of adding to or subtracting from Berkshire's stake in Kraft Heinz, saying the company had "very, very strong" brands and that he would be happy to own it a decade from now.

The comments were a rare admission of error by the 88-year-old billionaire on a major investment at his Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate.

Berkshire and Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital combined the former Kraft Foods with H.J. Heinz, which they bought in 2013, and own about half of the merged company.

Buffett said he may have learned about the SEC probe seven to 10 days before it was announced.

Greg Abel, a Berkshire vice chairman widely considered a candidate to succeed Buffett as Berkshire's chief executive officer, is a Kraft Heinz director.

Buffett also said he would continue to do business with 3G and its co-founder Jorge Paulo Lemann, calling him "an absolutely outstanding human being."

'TOE TO TOE'

Kraft Heinz's disclosure raised questions about 3G's financial strategy for the company, whose brands include Jell-O, Kool-Aid and Philadelphia cream cheese, and whether it is out of step with consumers seeking healthier, fresher alternatives to processed food.

Buffett acknowledged the changes, but said greater pressure is coming from retailers such as Amazon.com Inc, Walmart Inc and Costco Wholesale Corp, saying the latter's Kirkland brand outsells all Kraft Heinz products.

Stronger brands can "go toe to toe with Walmart or Costco" but weaker brands "tend to lose out," Buffett said. "The ability to price has changed, and that's huge."

Still, Buffett added: "If I had to bet one way or another, I think people will eat more of our products this year than last year."

Berkshire's own $3 billion writedown related to Kraft Heinz contributed to a $25.39 billion fourth-quarter net loss for Berkshire.

"He monumentally overpaid for Kraft," said Doug Kass, founder of the hedge fund Seabreeze Partners Management Inc. "Increasingly, the moats he initially saw in his investments have been damaged."

The bad news also called into question 3G's signature business model of zero-based budgeting, which requires managers to justify their expenses annually from scratch, rather than use last year as a guide or pursue cost savings on an ongoing basis.

Kraft Heinz's belt-tightening resulted in more than $1.7 billion in annual savings, including the loss of thousands of jobs, mirroring 3G's similar efforts at such companies as Anheuser-Busch InBev and Tim Hortons.

The strategy has resulted in leaner companies, but could backfire if the companies lacked products that people wanted, or failed to spend enough to develop and market those products.

Buffett said he did not believe 3G underinvested in Kraft Heinz, but it was hard for him to tell. Berkshire is not involved in day-to-day operations.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Jennifer Ablan in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Tom Brown)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department formally asked a judge on Monday to approve its deal to allow CVS Health Corp to merge with insurer Aetna

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department formally asked a judge on Monday to approve its deal to allow CVS Health Corp to merge with insurer Aetna.

Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia scolded the government and parties late last year for closing the $69 billion dollar merger before the consent order was approved by the court. In response, CVS offered to halt some integration of the two companies.

With the government's request for final approval of the merger, Leon may sign off on the deal with no further ado or may decide to hold a hearing to allow critics to raise their concerns, said Andre Barlow of the law firm Doyle, Barlow and Mazard PLLC, an antitrust expert who has been following the case.

The Justice Department approved the merger of CVS, a U.S. pharmacy chain and benefits manager, and Aetna in October on condition that Aetna sell its Medicare prescription drug plan business to WellCare Health Plans Inc. Both deals have closed.

CVS declined comment for this story.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he may soon sign a deal to end a trade war with Chinese President Xi Jinping if their countries can bridge remaining differences, saying negotiators were 'very, very close' to a deal.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he may soon sign a deal to end a trade war with Chinese President Xi Jinping if their countries can bridge remaining differences, saying negotiators were "very, very close" to a deal.

Markets rallied on Monday after Trump said on Sunday he would delay an increase in U.S. tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods and extend his March 1 deadline for a deal.

Trump decision avoided another escalation in a trade war that has already cost both countries billions of dollars and roiled global financial markets.

The United States is demanding China change the way it does business with the United States, demanding more access for U.S. companies, enforcement of intellectual property protection and an end to industrial subsidies.

"We're going to have another summit, we're going to have a signing summit," Trump told a gathering of U.S. governors on Monday.

"So hopefully, we can get that completed. But were getting very, very close."

High-level U.S. and Chinese negotiators met in Washington through the weekend, working toward a deal that would end a tit-for-tat tariff battle that began in mid-2018.

Trump cited progress in the talks as the reason for not raising tariffs further on Chinese goods. He also sounded a note of caution, when he said a deal "could happen fairly soon, or it might not happen at all."

Negotiators were still struggling to overcome differences on a mechanism to ensure that China fulfils any pledges it makes as part of the deal. Washington wants an enforcement mechanism built into the deal.

Assuming additional progress is made on both sides, Trump said he planned to meet with Xi at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Trump told the governors "it looks like" Chinese negotiators would be returning quickly to continue work toward a deal.

Talks over the weekend with China's Vice Premier Liu He were handled by a small team of top-level negotiators, including U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, said a source who had been briefed on the talks.

Later on Monday, Trump wrote in a tweet: "China Trade Deal (and more) in advanced stages. Relationship between our two Countries is very strong. I have therefore agreed to delay U.S. tariff hikes. Lets see what happens?"

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Makini Brice; Additional reporting by David Lawder; Writing by Susan Heavey in Washington and Chris Prentice in New York; Editing by Simon Webb and Tom Brown)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Founded in 2014, Swiggy currently connects consumers to over 60,000 restaurant partners across more than 80 cities

Online food startup Swiggy's parent company Bundl Technologies has reportedly invested Rs 31.2 crore in Mumbai-based ready-to-cook food brand Fingerlix, a media report said.

According to The Economic Times, the startup has also received funds from its existing investors including Accel Partners and Zephyr Peacock. Fingerlix is in the process of raising Series C funds and expecting to receive Rs 63 crore.

In March last year, venture debt firm Alteria Capital invested in Fingerlix. Fingerlix had raised Rs 8.5 crore in its first debt financing exercise.

In October 2017, Fingerlix had raised $7 million (approx Rs 45.50 crore) from Accel Partners and Zephyr Peacock in Series B round of fundraising.

Fingerlix' product range includes batters, mixes, parathas, snacks and ready-to-eat accompaniments.

After capturing a significant fresh food market share in Mumbai and Pune, Fingerlix launched its portfolio in the Delhi NCR region in August 2017.

In series A round in the same year, Fingerlix had raised $3 million funding from Zephyr Peacock.

Last week, it was reported that Uber Eats was in final stages of negotiations to sell its business to industry leader Swiggy. If everything goes through, this would be the biggest acquisition that Swiggy has ever made. The reports indicate that the deal will be a share swap giving Uber Eats 10 percent share in Swiggy.

Earlier this month, Swiggy launched 'Swiggy Stores' moving beyond its core food delivery segment to provide access to consumers items across multiple categories.

The company will deliver from these stores "in categories such as fruits and vegetables, kiranas and supermarkets, florists, baby care, health and supplements among others," Swiggy said in a statement.

Swiggy Stores will give its merchant-partners unmatched access to a combination of core assets to reach more existing and new customers, the statement said.

In December 2018, Swiggy had raised $1 billion in a funding round, led by South African internet group Naspers Ltd.

China's Tencent Holdings Ltd, Hillhouse Capital and Wellington Management Company also took part in the funding round, together with Swiggy's existing investors, DST Global, Meituan Dianping and Coatue Management, Swiggy said.

Naspers said in a statement it had invested $660 million in Swiggy during the round.

Founded in 2014, Swiggy currently connects consumers to over 60,000 restaurant partners across more than 80 cities.

With inputs from agencies
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday said a federal court should hold Tesla Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk in contempt for violating last year's settlement with the federal regulatory agency due to new statements made on Twitter, sending shares of the electric carmaker down 5 percent in extended trade. Musk, Tesla and the SEC last year settled a lawsuit filed by the federal agency over misleading tweets Must made in August that he planned to take the company private

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday said a federal court should hold Tesla Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk in contempt for violating last year's settlement with the federal regulatory agency due to new statements made on Twitter, sending shares of the electric carmaker down 5 percent in extended trade.

Musk, Tesla and the SEC last year settled a lawsuit filed by the federal agency over misleading tweets Must made in August that he planned to take the company private. As part of that settlement, any material statements made by Musk on social media were to be vetted in advance by the company.

The regulator pointed to Musk's Feb. 19 tweet: "Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019," noting that Musk did not seek or receive preapproval before publishing this tweet, which was inaccurate and disseminated to over 24 million people.

"Musk has thus violated the court's final judgment by engaging in the very conduct that the preapproval provision of the final judgment was designed to prevent," the SEC wrote in its motion filed on Monday in federal court in Manhattan.

Musk subsequently clarified his tweet to say that the "annualised production rate" at year-end 2019 would probably be about 500,000, with deliveries expected to be about 400,000.

The motion asks the judge to issue an order that would put the onus on Musk to show why he should not be held in contempt for violating the settlement.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tesla and Musk agreed in September to pay $20 million each to the SEC, and the billionaire stepped down as the company's chairman but remained as chief executive. In the settlement, the agency pulled back from its original demand that Musk, who is synonymous with the Tesla brand, be barred from running Tesla, a sanction many investors said would be disastrous.

The settlement was approved by a U.S. judge in October, who can now decide whether its terms have been violated.

In a response to the SEC's demand for information regarding the Feb. 19 tweet, a lawyer for Tesla and Musk said the CEO's tweet was meant to reiterate information already approved, then disseminated when the company released fourth-quarter earnings results in January.

Although the tweet was not pre-approved, the lawyer wrote, Musk believed its substance had been "appropriately vetted, pre-approved and publicly disseminated." Moreover, the lawyer said, the statement was made outside of market trading hours.

It was not immediately clear what the repercussions would be were Musk to be found in contempt, as such a citation does not necessarily mean the original agreement is now null and void.

The SEC could seek a so-called bar order, removing him from Teslas board, or could ask for a lesser penalty, like a monetary fine, said Stephen Diamond, a professor of corporate governance at Santa Clara University.

The SEC could also ask the court to reopen the original settlement for renegotiation, he said, perhaps asking that the original charges be reinstated.

"Its a pretty unusual situation," Diamond said, adding that "all bets are off."

(Reporting by Akanksha Rana and Ankur Banerjee in Bengaluru, Jan Wolfe in Washington and Alexandria Sage in San Francisco; editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Jonathan Oatis and G Crosse)

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SBI is the lead lender of a consortium that has extended loans to Jet Airways

New Delhi: State Bank of India (SBI) has called an urgent meeting of lenders with Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal and the domestic carrier's significant shareholder Etihad Airways' CEO Tony Douglas on Wednesday to discuss a way forward for the debt-laden airline, sources said.

The meeting, to be held at SBI's office in Mumbai, assumes significance amid differences persisting between Goyal, the lenders and Etihad, which has 24 percent stake in Jet Airways.

SBI is the lead lender of a consortium that has extended loans to Jet Airways.

While there was no official word from the airline, as also from the lenders, officials aware about the development said the meeting has been called by SBI and both Goyal and Douglas would be present.

Earlier on Monday, Jet and Etihad said in a joint statement they along with key financial stakeholders are working towards finalisation of bank-led provisional resolution plan for the debt-laden domestic airline.

The two carriers have also expressed confidence that once the plan is implemented, Jet Airways would "re-emerge as a viable and robust airline to reclaim its rightful place as airline of first choice for its customers".

The joint statement has been issued by Goyal and Douglas.

Jet Airways, which has been in operation for over 25 years, has been grappling with financial woes and is looking to rejig debt as well as raise funds.

Officials said Goyal is not agreeable to Etihad's demands that he should pledge his shares in the airline as well as in the loyalty programme, Jet Privilege, with lenders to raise funds.

Another bone of contention is that the Gulf carrier wants Goyal to be the sole promoter of Jet Airways but without board representation and management control, sources said.

Besides, there are also differences between the lenders and Etihad, including on the airline's demand it should be exempted from any open offer requirement from Sebi in case its stake in Jet Airways is hiked.

Lenders had originally proposed a rights issue of shares worth Rs 4,000 crore, in which SBI and other banks could have infused Rs 600 crore and NIIF Rs 1,400 crore for shares of the airlines. However, Etihad wants a rights issue worth Rs 5,000 crore while expecting SBI-led lenders and NIIF to bring an additional Rs 1,000 crore.

Etihad wants to restrict its contribution to Rs 1,400 crore. Besides, it does not want to pledge its shares to raise funds and also does not want to be classified as a promoter in the company.

On February 14, Jet Airways board had approved a Bank-Led Provisional Resolution Plan (BLPRP), whereby lenders would become the largest shareholders in the airline. Its shareholders have also approved conversion of loan into shares and other proposals during the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) last Thursday.

On Monday, SBI had also said no decision has been taken on moving the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) against Jet Airways.

However, officials associated with the lenders and key shareholders have said SBI was considering various options, including eventually moving the tribunal seeking insolvency proceedings, if other attempts to recover its loans fail to yield desired results.

In their joint statement, Goyal and Douglas had said rising oil prices, a depreciating rupee and market saturation, among other things, have combined to critically impact the civil aviation sector as a whole.

"Some airlines have been hit harder than others; Jet Airways, India's premier full-service airline, being one of them," they said.

The statement further said Jet Airways' network load factor has risen to a high of 87 percent through December 2018 and January 2019 while flight cancellation rate in December stood at 0.2 percent -- the lowest among Indian carriers.
By Laila Kearney NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil futures sank more than 3 percent on Monday after U.S.

By Laila Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil futures sank more than 3 percent on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump said OPEC should ease its approach on boosting crude prices, which he said were "getting too high."

After hitting their highest in over three months last week, Brent crude oil futures were down $2.06, or 3.1 percent, to $65.06 a barrel by 1:54 p.m. EST (1854 GMT) and U.S. crude fell $1.76 to $55.50 a barrel, also a 3.1 percent loss.

"Oil prices getting too high. OPEC, please relax and take it easy. World cannot take a price hike - fragile!" Trump tweeted, his latest in a series of tweets or comments made regarding oil prices since April 2018.

After the tweet, prices reversed earlier gains that had built on expectations for tightening supply and hopes for an agreement a day after the president promised progress in coming weeks over U.S.-China trade talks.

"Trump appears to be attempting to micromanage the oil market by encouraging the cartel, particularly the Saudis, to maintain strong enough production to keep global supplies in surplus," Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates, said in a client note.

"But as far as the Saudis are concerned, todays tweets could even embolden their efforts toward restraint."

Crude prices have risen by about 20 percent since the start of the year when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-member producers, such as Russia, cut production to reduce global supply.

U.S. sanctions on exports of crude from Iran and Venezuela have also helped tighten the market and support prices as production in the United States surges.

"If you read into it, I think there's speculation there will, in fact, be another round of waivers granted to countries and companies to buy Iranian oil," said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital Management, said about Trump's tweet. "That's also why you're seeing the negative reaction."

Washington surprised the market after granting waivers to eight Iranian oil buyers when the sanctions on oil imports started in November. Brent futures fell 22 percent that month and the waivers influenced OPEC's decision to agree in December to supply cuts starting in 2019.

(For a graphic on Trump Tweets on oil, click here https://tmsnrt.rs/2Evscq7)

SUPPLY RISK

Adding to the uncertain supply picture was ongoing political unrest in both in Venezuela and Libya.

Nigeria, Africa's largest oil exporter, where as many as 39 people were killed in election violence over the weekend, also added production risk.

Goldman Sachs analysts said on Monday that "the near-term outlook for oil is modestly bullish over the next two to three months", but added that the outlook for later in 2019 was weaker due to surging U.S. exports and an "an increasingly uncertain economic, policy and geopolitical backdrop".

(For a graphic on U.S. oil production & drilling levels, click here https://tmsnrt.rs/2Vj9SWv)

(Reporting by Amanda Cooper and Noah Browning in London; additional reporting by Henning Gloystein and Ron Bousso; editing by Jason Neely and Marguerita Choy)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
The first draft of the e-commerce policy last December set the stage for a new regime by cracking down on cosy, exclusive deals between marketplaces and their affiliate sellers.

The best way to understand India's e-commerce policy is to visualise a ropewalk high above a shaky ground. You are damned if you do and you are damned if you don't. The context in which last week's second draft (technically described as the first official draft) was thrown into the public domain by the government has all the ingredients of a complex minefield.

It is an election year in which nationalism has to be a favoured flavour but then, there is Chinese money swimming in India e-commerce startups, while US giants like Amazon and Flipkart are pampering Indian consumers and employees alike.

As if all that was not enough, there are issues related to data protection and privacy in a new world where "data is the new oil" has already become a cliche even before the industry has barely taken off, with about two-thirds of Indians yet to be touched by the whiff of e-commerce. And then, technology is still evolving, with a fine line dividing intrusion and e-spying from the agreeable business of consumer research to serve customers.

And no, there is no proposal yet for an e-commerce regulator. Not yet.

That special Indian word, "jugaad' (makeshift innovation) could well apply to the proposed e-commerce policy, which is very much a work-in-progress. Both domestic traders and consumer-friendly commentators have sharpened their daggers. Lots of lobbying still lies ahead, and it is quite clear that in a tumultuous ocean, it is difficult to imagine what a level playing field could be.

The big bone of contention remains on whether e-marketplaces such as Walmart-controlled Flipkart or its rival Amazon can sell their own inventory through special arrangements. The first draft of the e-commerce policy last December set the stage for a new regime by cracking down on cosy, exclusive deals between marketplaces and their affiliate sellers such as their own joint ventures.

That draft was clear on what the government seemed to want. But reports suggest the latest draft has loopholes that could allow old inventory to be sold in new bottles called exclusive brand arrangements. This is said to be against foreign direct investment (FDI) guidelines for e-marketplaces. (It is no longer kosher to call them e-tailers since the sellers are being sought to be separated from the platform providers).

Does the right arm of the government not know what the left is up to? While the FDI policy for e-commerce does not allow online marketplaces to have exclusive tie-ups with brands, the draft e-commerce policy allows brands to forbid platforms from selling their products. This is a clever way of forging a denial of market access from the brand side rather than provide free access to all. If the tail wags the dog instead of the dog wagging the tail  as it appears to  what we have then is a smart loophole.

Here is the bigger catch. The policy draft explicitly acknowledges that statutes and laws across the country are legacy stuff that need to "evolve" in the light of changing business models. Reading between the lines, we can conclude that if brands can decide in the good old-world way on where their goods can be sold (or not), what we have is some smart accounting jugglery in line with extant laws. Policing such agreements is going to be difficult.

If Amazon cannot sell wares from its joint venture Cloudtail in exclusive arrangements, the exclusivity clause can now be backloaded into Cloudtail. We can safely assume that between smart lawyers and smarter accountants, the tail can wag the dog. That said, it must be remembered that data science is at the heart of the emerging landscape in e-commerce. Seamless links in everything from market research to logistics can make data-sharing the lynchpin of any distribution/marketing/sales strategy. It is difficult to imagine in a roundabout loophole arrangement special offers including warranties,cashbacks and quicker deliveries to aid customers.

As some commentators note, the new framework denies choices to consumers. Can we now imagine some litigation under existing laws by angry consumers? The traders' lobby, represented by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) is also not exactly pleased. It says domestic e-commerce players may now gain at the cost of traders as the policy seems to exclude them from some of the restrictions that apply to foreign companies.

In the light of all this, it is difficult to believe as some reports suggest that the policy draft has managed to please all. But no global giant will want to miss on a digital age party in the world's fastest-growing major economy of 1.2 billion people of which two-thirds are yet to experience the Internet . We can expect the cash-rich giants to play along with the new rules, flex their FDI muscle and wait for clarity to emerge even as they jockey to tell the government what it should be doing.

The government is clear that data ownership is critical and storage is to be based in India. But there are also references to "community data" and sharing of data in the public interest. We may like these in principle but we must await guidelines and action on what all this means in a context in which technological innovations rely on data even as domestic players competeor try toagainst global giants.

How will the government ensure fair competition while also allowing space for innovations that improve efficiency in the marketplace? Nothing seems clear as of now.

The policy draft also keeps options open on imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions open and implicitly refers to "additive manufacturing" as if it was a puzzle. (Imagine a movie being "imported" into India via Netflix but shot in Switzerland with special effects done in Hyderabad).

Globalisation was difficult enough, but an interconnected world in which the Internet connects dots across the planet makes it tougher. It is not surprising that India is now trying to avoid e-commerce talks at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). It would be like acting in a movie in which the script is not ready.

In the emerging context, it is difficult to visualise what will happen to homegrown e-marketplaces such as IndiaMart.com or Snapdeal.com because technological progress depends on newer algorithms, chatbots and seamless links between suppliers and marketplaces.

At best, we can see the new draft as a modus vivendi that is an improvement on the earlier draft, but one in which skepticism is elegantly packaged in the idioms of nationalism. In the din of election noise set to emerge in the coming days, expect the government to be suitably vague and play for time.

(The writer is a senior journalist and commentator. He tweets as @madversity)
Donald Trump, who has made the US economy one of his top issues, has repeatedly tweeted about oil prices and OPEC

US President Donald Trump on Monday expressed concern about oil prices and repeated his previous calls on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to keep prices steady.

On Monday, oil prices edged up amid political uncertainty and sanctions and involuntary curbs on several producers but could face pressure from continued anxiety over the global economy and record US exports, a Reuters report said.

Oil prices getting too high. OPEC, please relax and take it easy. World cannot take a price hike - fragile!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2019

OPEC members and non-OPEC producers such as Russia are leading efforts to re-balance the market and support oil prices.

Trump, who has made the US economy one of his top issues, has repeatedly tweeted about oil prices and OPEC, airing complaints about higher prices, including ahead of the organizations meeting in December.

Oil futures tumbled more than 3 percent on Monday in their largest daily percentage drop this year after Trump called on OPEC to ease its efforts to boost crude prices, which he said were getting too high".

Brent crude futures fell $2.36, or 3.5 percent, to settle at $64.76 a barrel. US crude ended $1.78, or 3.1 percent, lower at $55.48.

The comment triggered a selloff that halted momentum from Fridays session, when both benchmarks hit more than three-month highs on expectations for tightening supply and rising hopes for a US-China trade deal.

I think that tweet set a lot of downward momentum early in the day, and we havent recovered, said Michael ODonnell, senior market strategist at RJO Futures in Chicago, a Reuters report said.

Crude prices have risen by about 20 percent since the start of the year when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-member producers, such as Russia, cut production to reduce a global glut.

Trump appears to be attempting to micromanage the oil... to maintain strong enough production to keep global supplies in surplus, Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates, said in a client note.

But as far as the Saudis are concerned, todays tweets could even embolden their efforts toward restraint.

Saudi Arabia recently estimated its production will fall in March by more than anticipated under the supply-reduction agreement, to 9.8 million barrels per day.

In addition, US sanctions on exports from Iran and Venezuela have tightened the market even as production in the United States surges.

If you read into (Trumps comments), I think theres speculation there will, in fact, be another round of waivers granted to countries and companies to buy Iranian oil, said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital Management, said about Trumps tweet. Thats also why youre seeing the negative reaction.

Washington surprised the market after granting waivers to eight Iranian oil buyers when the sanctions on oil imports started in November. Brent futures fell 22 percent that month and the waivers influenced OPECs December decision to cut supply starting in 2019.

Goldman Sachs analysts said the near-term outlook for oil is modestly bullish over the next two to three months, but added that the outlook for later in 2019 was weaker due to surging U.S. exports and an an increasingly uncertain economic, policy and geopolitical backdrop.

--With inputs from Reuters
By Elizabeth Piper and Aidan Lewis SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May said a timely exit for Britain from the European Union is 'within our grasp' and insisted on Monday that delaying Brexit would be no way to solve the impasse in parliament over the departure. Her comments came as the opposition Labour Party said it would support calls for a second referendum on Brexit, a potentially significant policy shift that could further damage May's hopes of getting a divided parliament to approve her exit deal. May said she wanted Brexit to happen as planned on March 29 and shrugged off expectations that she will be forced to delay to avoid leaving the EU in a disorderly way without an agreement.

By Elizabeth Piper and Aidan Lewis

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May said a timely exit for Britain from the European Union is "within our grasp" and insisted on Monday that delaying Brexit would be no way to solve the impasse in parliament over the departure.

Her comments came as the opposition Labour Party said it would support calls for a second referendum on Brexit, a potentially significant policy shift that could further damage May's hopes of getting a divided parliament to approve her exit deal.

May said she wanted Brexit to happen as planned on March 29 and shrugged off expectations that she will be forced to delay to avoid leaving the EU in a disorderly way without an agreement.

With the crisis going down to the wire, May is struggling to get the kind of changes from the EU she says she needs to get her divorce deal through a divided parliament and smooth the country's biggest policy shift in more than 40 years.

May, in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for an EU/Arab League summit, met European leaders to push her efforts to make her deal more attractive to parliament, where frustrated lawmakers are gearing up to try to wrest control of Brexit from the government.

While she said EU leaders had given her a sense that a deal could be won, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said they risked "sleep walking" into a no-deal Brexit and European Council President Donald Tusk described any delay as "a rational decision".

For now though, May is sticking firmly to the script, saying extending the negotiating period with the EU, which was triggered by Article 50 and which ends on March 29, would not solve the Brexit problem.

"What it does is precisely what the word 'delay' says. It just delays the point at which you come to that decision," she told reporters at the summit. "And I think that any extension of Article 50, in that sense, isn't addressing the issue. We have (a deal) within our grasp."

May has promised to bring back a vote on her divorce settlement to parliament by March 12.

Her chances of winning any such vote were damaged later in the day when the main opposition Labour Party said it would support proposals for a second public vote to stop May's Brexit deal if its own plan for Britain's EU exit is rejected.

We are committed to also putting forward or supporting an amendment in favour of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country," Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn was due to tell his party on Monday, according to his office.

The move could attract lawmakers who would have backed May's deal purely to avoid a no-deal exit, but who would prefer a second referendum.

It was not clear whether there is a majority in parliament supporting another public vote, which would require a Brexit delay to allow for time to organise it. Britons voted by 52-48 percent in favour of leaving the EU in a referendum in 2016.

DELAY

Earlier, one UK official indicated delay could be an option if lawmakers refuse to pass May's deal.

Tobias Ellwood, a defence minister, also told BBC radio: "If we cannot get this deal across the line, we are facing the prospect of having to extend."

The EU has said it is willing to grant an extension if there is evidence parliament could pass the deal. Lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected May's deal last month.

Tusk said it was clear there was no majority in the British parliament for a deal, telling a news conference:

"I believe that in the situation we are in, an extension would be a rational decision, but Prime Minister May still believes she will be able to avoid this scenario."

The EU has said any agreement on a revised Brexit deal must be sealed by the bloc's summit of national leaders on March 21-22 at the latest and May suggested that parliament could approve the deal before the bloc signed off on it.

'FAITH' IN POLITICS

A no-deal Brexit is seen as potentially hugely damaging to the Britain's economy, the world's fifth largest.

While sterling rallied on the suggestion of a delay, May has to tread carefully, with eurosceptics poised to leap on anything they see as an attempt to thwart Brexit.

"I think it would be disastrous if we had a delay," said Bernard Jenkin, a Conservative pro-Brexit lawmaker. "I think that faith in our politics - what faith is left in it - would evaporate."

May decided to push back a vote on her deal to give more time for talks aimed at securing changes to the Irish backstop, an insurance policy that would prevent the return of a hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland.

A spokeswoman for Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission president, said progress was being made. Britain's Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox will hold more talks in Brussels on Tuesday.

Several lawmakers have proposals that involve delaying Brexit to win more time to break the parliamentary deadlock.

Labour lawmaker Yvette Cooper has called on parliament to back her bid to seek to force the government to hand power to parliament if no deal has been approved by March 13 and to offer lawmakers the option of requesting an extension.

Two Conservatives have offered another plan that could be more attractive to the government. That would delay Brexit to May 23, the start of the European Parliament elections, if lawmakers have not approved a deal by March 12.

A government official said the proposal could be considered "helpful".

(Additional reporting by William James in London and Gabriela Baczynska in Brussels; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Frances Kerry)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
An investigation by The Baltimore Sun in 2017 found Kushner Cos. to be the most aggressive in Maryland in using a controversial debt-collection tactic. Under their practices, corporate entities affiliated with the complexes have sought the civil arrest of more than 100 former tenants for failing to appear in court to face allegations of unpaid debt, the newspaper found.
The RBI on Tuesday lifted lending curbs on two more public sector banks (PSBs), Allahabad Bank and Corporation Bank, by removing them from its weak-bank watch list

Mumbai: The RBI on Tuesday lifted lending curbs on two more public sector banks (PSBs), Allahabad Bank and Corporation Bank, by removing them from its weak-bank watch list.

Private sector Dhanlaxmi Bank too has been taken out of the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) Framework.

Earlier on 31 January, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra and Oriental Bank of Commerce were taken out of the PCA Framework.

In a statement, the RBI said the Board for Financial Supervision (BFS) reviewed the performance of banks under PCA and noted that the government has infused fresh capital on 21 February into various banks including some of the banks currently under the PCA framework.

Of these banks, Allahabad Bank and Corporation Bank had received Rs 6,896 crore and Rs 9,086 crore, respectively.

Capital infusion, the RBI said, has shored up their capital funds and also increased their loan loss provision to ensure that the PCA parameters were complied with.

"Accordingly, based on the principles adopted by the BFS in its earlier meeting dated 31 January, 2019, it was decided in the meeting held on 26 February, 2019 that Allahabad Bank and Corporation Bank be taken out of the PCA Framework subject to certain conditions and continuous monitoring," RBI said.

The gross non-performing assets of Corporation Bank stood at 17.36 percent of the gross advances at the end of December quarter of this fiscal, up from 15.92 percent in the same period of previous fiscal.

For Allahabad Bank, the gross NPA rose to 17.81 percent from 14.38 percent a year ago.

RBI further it has also been decided to take Dhanlaxmi Bank out of the PCA Framework, subject to certain conditions and continuous monitoring, as the bank is found to be not breaching any of the Risk Thresholds of the PCA Framework.

Dhanlaxmi Bank's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rose to 8.11 percent of the total advances, from 6.96 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2017-18.

RBI also it will continuously monitor the performance of the banks under various parameters," the central bank said.

Five public sector banks -- United Bank of India, UCO Bank, Central Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank and Dena Bank -- are still remain under PCA framework, which imposes lending restrictions and prevents them from expanding, among other curbs.

The PCA framework was one of the contentious issue between the government and the RBI. The government wanted the central bank to align the PCA framework to the global norms.

The PCA framework kicks in when banks breach any of the three key regulatory trigger points -- namely capital to risk-weighted assets ratio, net non-performing assets (NPA) and return on assets (RoA).

Globally, PCA kicks in only when banks slip on a single parameter of capital adequacy ratio, and the government and some of the independent directors of the RBI board, like S Gurumurthy, are in favour of this practice being adopted for the domestic banking sector as well.
Amsterdam, 26 February 2019 - Heineken N.V. announces that its Mexican subsidiary Cervezas Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma, S.A. de C.V. (HEINEKEN Mexico) and Cadena Comercial Oxxo (a subsidiary of FEMSA) have signed an agreement to extend their commercial relationship for 5 years, up to and including March 2024. The current successful commercial relationship began in 2010 under a ten-year agreement, whereby the only beer brands sold by OXXO have been those of the HEINEKEN Mexico portfolio. Today's announcement represents an early renegotiation of the agreement.

Under the terms of the new agreement the parties have agreed to gradually begin changing the nature of the current agreement so, starting in 2019 in places such as the metropolitan areas of Guadalajara and Mexico City and finalizing by December 2022 with Nuevo Leon and Sonora, the brands of HEINEKEN Mexico will no longer be the only beer brands available at OXXO.

Etienne Strijp, CEO at HEINEKEN Mexico, said: "We highly value our strategic partnership with OXXO and we will continue working together to grow the beer category and offer our consumers the best beer brands. Given the dynamism of the Mexican beer market, our exciting product portfolio and the commitment and motivation of our teams, we expect to continue growing our Mexican business in the coming years."

The agreement announced today is expected to be formalized through the signing of a definite contract, which is expected to take place in March 2019. Financial terms of the agreement are not disclosed.

ENDS

Press enquiries John-Paul Schuirink E-mail: pressoffice@heineken.com (mailto:pressoffice@heineken.com) Tel: +31-20-5239-355 Michael Fuchs E-mail: pressoffice@heineken.com (mailto:pressoffice@heineken.com) Tel: +31-20-5239-355 Investor and analyst enquiries Federico Castillo Martinez E-mail: investors@heineken.com (mailto:investors@heineken.com) Tel: +31-20-5239-590 Chris MacDonald / Aris Hernandez E-mail: investors@heineken.com (mailto:investors@heineken.com) Tel: +31-20-5239-590

Editorial information

HEINEKEN is the world's most international brewer. It is the leading developer and marketer of premium beer and cider brands. Led by the Heineken brand, the Group has a portfolio of more than 300 international, regional, local and specialty beers and ciders. We are committed to innovation, long-term brand investment, disciplined sales execution and focused cost management. Through "Brewing a Better World", sustainability is embedded in the business. HEINEKEN has a well-balanced geographic footprint with leadership positions in both developed and developing markets. We employ over 85,000 employees and operate breweries, malteries, cider plants and other production facilities in more than 70 countries. Heineken N.V. and Heineken Holding N.V. shares trade on the Euronext in Amsterdam. Prices for the ordinary shares may be accessed on Bloomberg under the symbols HEIA NA and HEIO NA and on Reuters under HEIN.AS and HEIO.AS. HEINEKEN has two sponsored level 1 American Depositary Receipt (ADR) programmes: Heineken N.V. (OTCQX: HEINY) and Heineken Holding N.V. (OTCQX: HKHHY). Most recent information is available on HEINEKEN's website: www.theHEINEKENcompany.com and follow us on Twitter via @HEINEKENCorp.

Market Abuse Regulation

This press release may contain inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation.

HEINEKEN Mexico and OXXO extend their commercial relationship (http://hugin.info/130667/R/2236539/880830.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: HEINEKEN NV via Globenewswire


DORDRECHT, Netherlands, Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Valvoline Holdings B.V. announced today that one of its subsidiaries has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the business assets of Fabrika Maziva a.d. Krusevac (FAM). The acquisition includes a manufacturing facility in Krusevac, Serbia, and the FAM brand, among other assets. Financial terms of the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, were not disclosed.

Located approximately 200 kilometres south of Belgrade, the plant provides a strategic location to further enhance Valvoline's access to the Eastern Europe market. The company plans to continue producing FAM, a well-known regional brand of lubricant products, and select Valvoline-branded products onsite in the near future.

"A key strategy for Valvoline is to continue increasing brand awareness and expanding market share in Europe," said Diego Brodoni, vice president and general manager of Valvoline Europe. "This investment demonstrates our commitment to the growing Eastern Europe market and to the success of our customers and partners through a more efficient and effective local supply chain."

About Valvoline

Valvoline Holdings B.V. is a subsidiary of Valvoline Inc., a leading worldwide marketer and supplier of premium branded lubricants and automotive services with sales in more than 140 countries. Established in 1866, the company's heritage spans more than 150 years, during which it has developed powerful brand recognition across multiple product and service channels. Valvoline ranks as the No. 3 passenger car motor oil brand in the United States do-it-yourself market by volume. It also markets Valvoline lubricants and automotive chemicals, including the new Valvoline Modern Engine Full Synthetic Motor Oil, which is specifically engineered to protect against carbon build-up in Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI), turbo and other engines manufactured since 2012; Valvoline High Mileage with MaxLife technology motor oil for engines over 75,000 miles; Valvoline Synthetic motor oil; and Zerex antifreeze. To learn more, visit www.valvoline.com .

Trademark, Valvoline or its subsidiaries, registered in various countries

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

Media and Investor Relations

Sean T. Cornett

+1 (859) 357-2798

scornett@valvoline.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/481359/Valvoline_Logo.jpg
HONG KONG, Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and the Royal College of Art (RCA), United Kingdom, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to confirm their intention to establish the PolyU|RCA Artificial Intelligence Design Laboratory (AIDL). The Laboratory will be the world's first and leading research facility to advance the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the design of products and service. Targeted to uncover knowledge and techniques related to design and scientific principles, new design process and innovative products, AIDL will address industry demands for efficiency, automation and customising products and services in the innovation and technology era. Its research deliverables will support industries including healthcare, manufacturing, hospitality and retail services.

The Hon Mrs Carrie LAM CHENG Yuet-ngor, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) attended the ceremony and witnessed the signing of MOU by Prof Philip C. H. CHAN, Interim President and Provost of PolyU and Dr Paul THOMPSON, Vice-Chancellor of RCA. Also joining the ceremony as witnesses were Dr LAM Tai-fai, Council Chairman of PolyU; Ir Prof Alex WAI, Vice President (Research Development); Dr Miranda Lou, Executive Vice President; Prof Naren BARFIELD, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost of the RCA; Prof Juan Cruz, Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities and Ms. Helen PROTHEROE, Director of Development & Alumni Relations of RCA.

Addressing in the ceremony, The Hon Mrs Carrie Lam, said, "The opportunity to witness this marriage of design and AI which belongs to the technology portfolio is extremely gratifying. I am sure that the collaborated team of PolyU and RCA will find in Hong Kong the appeal of time-tested legal system, robust intellectual property protection, strong financial sector, and the support for commercialisation of R and D results, as well as the distinctive east meets west culture which sparks creative inspiration."

Prof Philip C. H. Chan said, "I am confident that this Laboratory will bring together the strengths of both institutions to lead the world in this new design paradigm, contributing to the innovation and technology development in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area."

"Founded 182 years ago, in response to the first industrial revolution, the Royal College of Art (RCA) today stands at the turn of the fourth revolution. The world will witness breakthroughs across design and technology including artificial intelligence - where art and design will meet. As the world's number one art and design university, we have built our capacity to work across disciplines, combining our art and design research expertise with insights from science, technology and engineering. We are delighted to collaborate with The Hong Kong Polytechnic University to bring together unrivalled capabilities," said Dr Paul Thompson Vice-Chancellor of RCA.

PolyU will engage researchers and resources from various disciplines including Department of Applied Mathematics, Department of Computing, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Institute of Textiles and Clothing, Department of Mechanical Engineering and School of Design to work together with RCA on a number of theme-based research. Among them, there will be empirical research in Affective Computing and Social Robots that could recognise and analyse human emotions. Other studies will include Intelligent Fashion Design; Intelligent Textile and Apparel Design and Manufacturing; innovating materials of the future that are extremely light, robust and able to detect human bio-metrics for fashion and wearables; creating automatic systems for ergonomic design and human modelling, and using regenerative approach in product design and material development for sustainability in the circular economy, etc.

Committed to supporting the HKSAR Government's InnoHK initiative in developing Hong Kong as the hub for global research collaborations, the two institutions has just submitted a proposal to the HKSAR Government under the AIR@InnoHK research cluster initiative.

About PolyU

While boasting a proud history of 80 years, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is a vibrant and aspiring university with a forward-looking vision and mission. Committed to building a talent pipeline and research strength for advancing the development of Hong Kong, the Nation and the world, PolyU provides the best holistic education to nurture future-ready global citizens and socially responsible leaders; conducts high-impact interdisciplinary research and proactively transfers knowledge to create value and build impact. We embrace internationalisation and engage the Nation for education and research through strategic partnerships and collaborations.

With "Opening Minds. Shaping the Future" as our brand promise, the University is currently offering more than 160 taught programmes via six faculties and two schools, engaging in 3,200 exciting research projects and partnering with over 660 institutions overseas and in mainland China on a wide variety of initiatives. We have over 400,000 alumni around the globe and 28,000 students.

PolyU website: www.polyu.edu.hk

About The Royal College of Art

The RCA, the world's number one art and design university, provides students with unrivalled opportunities to deliver art and design projects that transform the world.

A small, specialist and research-intensive postgraduate university based in the heart of London, the RCA is a high-performing institution, a radical traditionalist in a fast-paced world.

The RCA's approach is founded on the premise that art, design, creative thinking, science, engineering and technology must all collaborate to solve today's global challenges.

In 2018, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales became Royal Visitor of the College. The Prince of Wales succeeded His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, who was Royal Visitor for 50 years.

The RCA employs a cadre of around 1,000 professionals from around the world - spanning professors, researchers, art and design practitioners, advisers and visiting lecturers - to teach and develop students in around 30 academic programmes.

RCA students are exposed to new knowledge in a way that encourages them to experiment. Working across scientific and technical canvases and beyond set boundaries, RCA students seek to solve real-world problems.

RCA opened the Burberry Material Futures Research Group in 2018 to invent sustainable materials, transform consumer experience and advance manufacturing; and the Intelligent Mobility Design Centre, supported Hyundai Kia, to lead the research agenda at the intersection of people, mobility and technology.

The RCA runs joint programmes with Imperial College London and the Victoria & Albert Museum.

RCA website: www.rca.ac.uk

Media Contacts:

Christina Wu

Manager, Communications and Public Affairs,

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Telephone: (852) 3400 2130

Email: christina.wu@polyu.edu.hk



Bethany Bull

Press Officer,

Royal College of Art

Telephone (44)207 590 4114

Email: bethany.bull@rca.ac.uk
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 26, 2019) - Lara Exploration Ltd. (TSXV: LRA) ("Lara" or "the Company"), is pleased to report that it has completed an initial four hole (total of 250.65m) scout diamond drill program to determine the attitude and vertical depth extension of a number of vanadium-bearing titanium-magnetite bodies previously identified at the surface on its Itaituba Vanadium Project, in the Tapajos region of northern Brazil. Preliminary Davis tube tests run on core samples, selected for a range of magnetic susceptibility values in the host rocks of these titanium-magnetite bodies, produced magnetic concentrate recoveries from 6.6% to 42.6%, with several of these concentrate samples showing vanadium values at 1% V2O5 (maximum of 1.03% V2O5). Lara plans to systematically cut and sample the remainder of the drill core and expects to report full assays, including Davis Tube concentrate assays in Q2-2019.

The titanium-magnetite bodies intercepted in the drill holes range in thickness from 1m to 8m and appear to be part of a sheeted array of sill-like bodies with shallow westerly dips and their gabbro host rocks are highly enriched in magnetite. Previous work (see Lara press releases of April 17, 2012 and February 11, 2014) reported vanadium values in the range from 0.3% to 0.48% V2O5 associated with very anomalous titanium values ranging from 15% to 25% TiO2 in these titanium-magnetite bodies.

Samples of fresh drill core from the different magnetite-bearing gabbroic host rocks selected from the different holes were analysed by x-ray diffraction to determine the vanadium, titanium and iron contents. These samples (with individual sample lengths from 20cm to 140cm) indicated anomalous vanadium values in the 0.07% to 0.32% V205 range, iron values from 14.3 % to 56.3% Fe2O3 and titanium values from 2.08% to 24.8% TiO2.

Davis tube tests carried out on these samples obtained magnetic concentrates with individual sample magnetic fraction recoveries reported between 6.6 % and 42.6%. These concentrates were analysed to determine the deportment of vanadium in each of the concentrates. The table below shows that several of the magnetic concentrates showed vanadium values at 1% V2O5 (maximum of 1.03% V2O5). The enrichment factor from core sample to magnetic concentrate for the samples varies between 3- and 10-fold, with the highest enrichment occurring in the lower grade samples of magnetite-gabbros carrying very coarse disseminated magnetite.

Drill core

Sample-id V2O5-%

(in Whole-rock) V2O5-%

(In DAVIS Tube Concentrate) Enrichment

Factor Magnetic Concentrate recovery -%

(from Davis Tube) Lithology ITAI-R-GB40 0.08 0.86 10.8 6.6 Magnetite-gabbro ITAI-SR-01-30.93 0.07 0.74 10.6 11.6 Magnetite-gabbro ITAI-SR-02-32.65 0.07 0.32 4.6 15.5 Magnetite-olivine-gabbro ITAI-SR-02-53.98 0.07 0.61 8.7 11.8 Magnetite-gabbro ITAI-SR-02-72.92 0.26 0.60 2.3 42.6 Magnetite-gabbro ITAI-SR-03-39.55 0.26 1.01 3.9 30.1 Magnetite-pyroxenite ITAI-SR-03-40.86 0.32 1.01 3.2 30.8 Magnetite-pyroxenite ITAI-SR-04-32.40 0.22 0.59 2.7 34 Magnetite-gabbro ITAI-SR-04-66.35 0.31 1.03 3.3 32.9 Magnetite-gabbro ITAI-SR-01A-10 0.49 0.51 1 81.9 Titanium-magnetite

Earlier Davis Tube concentrate tests and Quemscan studies on the titanium-magnetite surface samples, suggested that it would be difficult to produce magnetic concentrates with higher vanadium contents, as the titanium-magnetite grains constitute approximately 85 to 90% of the rock. Analyses of the core of titanium-magnetite bodies in the weathered zones of the drill holes has returned similar values for V2O5, TiO2 and Fe2O3 as reported earlier for the surface rock chip and grab sampling programs. Assay results for the gabbro hosts in the weathered zones for all four holes are still being compiled and interpreted and Davis Tube tests are planned to determine if significant vanadium-bearing magnetic concentrates can be obtained from the weathered rock zone. Strong weathering extends to between 20m and 25m vertically and there is a sharp contact with the fresh rock.

Prior to the drilling, little was known about the gabbro host rocks, which only occur in sparse boulder outcrops and as float boulders in the streams the general vicinity. Geological logging of the drill core indicates that these titanium-magnetite bodies are hosted within a highly magmatically differentiated layered complex, dominated by gabbro and olivine-gabbro, with layers of anorthosite-gabbro and pyroxenites. Magnetite is present in all the rock types with visual estimates ranging from 5 vol % to more than 50 vol %, either as individual coarse grains several millimeters in size, or as a dissemination of finer magnetite grains. Narrow cross-cutting veins of magnetite (from several mm to 50cm wide) are present locally in the cores.

Sampling methodology, Chain of Custody, Quality Assurance and Quality Control

All the rock channel and drill core sampling was carried out by or under the supervision of the Company's Vice-President Exploration and the chain of custody of the samples and drill core from the project area to the Company's sample preparation facilities in Itaituba and Canaa dos Carajas (where the cores were cut in half) was continuously monitored. Sample intervals for the weathered section of each hole varied between 0.5m and 1.5m and for the fresh core used for this batch of core samples varied between 20cm and 135cm.

The half-core samples were delivered to SGS-Geosol in Parauapebas where they were crushed and pulverized and the sample pulps were dispatched by SGS-Geosol to their own analytical laboratory at Vespasiano, near Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The whole rock pulps were analysed after fusion with lithium tetraborate by XRF for 10 oxides, and Loss on Ignition was determined by heating the sample in a furnace at 405 degrees centigrade.

Davis tube concentrates were obtained using a magnetic field force of 3000 Gauss and the concentrates, after drying and weighing to determine the percentage magnetic concentrate recovery, were analysed by XRF for V2O5, TiO2, Fe2O3 and seven other oxides after fusion with lithium tetraborate. SGS-Geosol routinely runs, and reports, results for a number of certified whole rock oxide and LOI sample standards and runs at least one blank sample with each sample batch.

Michael Bennell, Lara's Vice President Exploration and a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and has approved the technical disclosure and verified the technical information in this news release.

About Lara Exploration

Lara is an exploration company following the Prospect Generator business model, which aims to minimize shareholder dilution and financial risk by generating prospects and exploring them in joint ventures funded by partners. The Company currently holds a diverse portfolio of prospects and deposits located mostly in Brazil and Peru. Lara's common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "LRA".

For further information on Lara Exploration Ltd. please consult our website www.laraexploration.com, or contact Chris MacIntyre, VP Corporate Development, at +1 416 703 0010.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

-30-

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43056
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 26, 2019) - Minera Alamos Inc. (TSXV: MAI) (OTC Pink: MAIFF) (the "Company" or "Minera Alamos") is pleased to announce that it is undertaking a non-brokered private placement offering for aggregate proceeds of up to C$5 million (the "Offering").

Pursuant to the Offering, the Company may issue an aggregate of up to 50,000,000 common shares (the "Shares") at a price of CDN$0.10 per Share (the "Offering Price"). There are no warrants being issued as part of this offering. All shares issued under the Offering will be subject to a four month hold period from the closing date under applicable Canadian securities laws, in addition to such other restrictions as may apply under applicable securities laws of jurisdictions outside Canada.

The closing of the Offering is expected to occur on or about March 1, 2019 and remains subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals including acceptance for filing by the TSX Venture Exchange. A finder's fee may be paid by the Company in the form of a 6% cash fee and the issuance of finder's warrants (the "Finder's Warrants") in an amount equal to 6% of the Shares placed with subscribers introduced by any finder under the Offering. The Finder's Warrants will each be exercisable for one Share at the Offering Price for a period of two years following the closing of the Offering.

About Minera Alamos

Minera Alamos is an advanced-stage exploration and development company with a growing portfolio of high-quality Mexican assets, including the La Fortuna open-pit gold project in Durango with positive PEA completed, the Santana open-pit heapleach development project in Sonora with test mining and processing completed and the Guadalupe de Los Reyes open-pit gold-silver project in Sinaloa with mine planning in progress. The Company is awaiting the pending approval of permit applications related to the commercial production of gold at both the Santana and Fortuna projects.

The Company's strategy is to develop low capex assets while expanding the project resources and pursue complementary strategic acquisitions.

Mr. Darren Koningen, P. Eng., Minera Alamos' CEO, is the Qualified Person responsible for the technical content of this press release under National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Koningen has supervised the preparation of, and approved the scientific and technical disclosures in this news release.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Minera Alamos Inc

Doug Ramshaw, President

604-600-4423

dramshaw@mineraalamos.com

www.mineraalamos.com

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements



This news release may contain forward-looking information and Minera Alamos cautions readers that forward-looking information is based on certain assumptions and risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations of Minera Alamos included in this news release. This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements", which often, but not always, can be identified by the use of words such as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". These statements are based on information currently available to Minera Alamos and Minera Alamos provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements with respect to Minera Alamos' future plans, objectives or goals, to the effect that Minera Alamos or management expects a stated condition or result to occur and the expected timing. Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Such statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events based on certain material factors and assumptions and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, changes in market, competition, governmental or regulatory developments, general economic conditions and other factors set out in the Company's public disclosure documents. Many factors could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to vary from those described in this news release, including without limitation those listed above. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of Minera Alamos' forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on Minera Alamos' forward-looking statements. Minera Alamos does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by Minera Alamos or on its behalf, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

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.

NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR THROUGH U.S.A. NEWSWIRES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43057
SAINT JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK / ACCESSWIRE / February 26, 2019 / True North Seafood and Sequential Brands Group, Inc. are pleased to announce a new collaboration to develop the Martha Stewart for True North Seafood product line, which is scheduled to launch next month.

"Knowing where my seafood comes from is very important to me, and I've enjoyed and served True North Seafood to family and friends for years," said Martha Stewart. "After visiting True North's salmon farms near my Skylands home in Maine, I saw first-hand their innovative and industry leading methods of sustainable farming and fishing. Their passion for the environment and community is why they are one of North America's largest and most trusted producers of fresh farmed and wild caught seafood from the Gulf of Alaska to the Atlantic."

The product line offers an array of True North Seafood product that are each accompanied by a Martha Stewart signature butter flavor or spice blend. Packaging will also include an easy to follow recipe created by Martha's Test Kitchen.

"We are thrilled to be launching this new product line in partnership with the Martha Stewart team," said Glenn Cooke, CEO of Cooke Inc. "It is great for us to be able to work with Martha's team to bring delicious, well thought-out meals to all tables, even those who have busy schedules and minimal prep time."

The full product line includes: Atlantic Salmon with Lemon Herb Butter, Sockeye Salmon with Miso Butter, Wild Alaska Pollock with Southwest Spice Blend, and a Seafood Medley (Wild Alaska Pollock, Atlantic Salmon, and Bay Scallops) with Herb Spice Blend.

"This line is all about convenience and quality product," said Andrew Young, Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing, True North Seafood. "It is a perfect option for existing seafood customers while encouraging new customers who may not be as comfortable buying or preparing seafood to shop the category."

The product line will be showcased at the Seafood Expo North America in Boston on March 17-19 and available through US grocery retail starting May 2019.

About True North Seafood.

True North Seafood is one of the largest and most trusted providers of seafood in North America. Family-owned and operated, True North Seafood is a vertically-integrated leader in both farmed and wild seafood. Under the Cooke family of brands, True North Seafood has access to a network of 17 core species from Atlantic Canada, United States, Chile, Scotland, Spain, Uruguay, Honduras and Nicaragua. True North Seafood is proud to offer products that meet certifications such as; Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP), Soil Association Organic, BRC Global Standards, Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Certified Responsible Fisheries (Alaska Seafood). For the second year in a row, Cooke Inc. earned the #1 spot on the SeafoodSource list of Top 10 North American Seafood Suppliers. www.truenorthseafood.com

About Sequential Brands Group, Inc.

Sequential Brands Group, Inc. owns, promotes, markets, and licenses a portfolio of consumer brands in the fashion, active and home categories, which includes the Martha Stewart brand. Sequential seeks to ensure that its brands continue to thrive and grow by employing strong brand management, design and marketing teams. Sequential has licensed and intends to license its brands in a variety of consumer categories to retailers, wholesalers and distributors in the United States and around the world. For more information, please visit Sequential's website at: www.sequentialbrandsgroup.com.

SOURCE: True North Seafood

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/537126/True-North-Seafood-and-Sequential-Brands-Group-Partner-to-Develop-New-Martha-Stewart-Product-Line
New partnership to enable 1 million young women coders by 2030

Alibaba Cloud, the cloud-computing arm of Alibaba Group, today announced the Tech for Change initiative at the Mobile World Congress (MWC). The initiative calls for inspiring ideas and joint efforts from enterprises, start-ups and young entrepreneurs, to tackle global social and humanitarian challenges in areas such as education, economic development and the environment through technologies.

Alibaba Cloud, which provides cloud infrastructure to transform businesses digitally, will contribute to the initiative by offering partners with access to its technology expertise, global computing resources and talent development programs including Alibaba Cloud Academy and its AI competition platform Tianchi.

One of the first partnerships of the Tech for Change initiative is aimed at supporting female education across the world. The first collaboration revealed at the MWC is with iamtheCODE, the first African-led global movement to mobilise governments, businesses and the philanthropic foundation on STEAMED (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics, Entrepreneurship, and Design) education. The partnership will support young women programmers in marginalised communities through free online training and free access to cloud computing resources, with the aim to enable one million woman and girl coders by the year 2030.

"Through the Tech for Change initiative, we want to bring together creativity and innovation to tackle critical problems and challenges faced by humanity such as equality in education, healthcare for the underprivileged, sustainable agriculture and wildlife protection," said Dr Wanli Min, Chief Machine Intelligence Scientist, Alibaba Cloud. "By making technology more accessible and affordable, we can inspire creativity and nurture the next generation of game-changers who will make our world a better place."

"As an advocate for applying technologies for the social good, we believe that affordable cloud infrastructure and accessible intelligent technologies have the potential to enable smaller organisations to make huge differences in creating a better world for all humankind." Min added, "We are calling for everyone to join forces and be part of the Tech for Change global community."

The initiative reflects Alibaba Cloud's long-held value of empowering the community through technology. Alibaba Cloud has been working with small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on their social cause projects over the years, including offering cloud and intelligent technologies to ROYBI, a robotics company on early childhood education and Curefun, a Chinese AI company that creates virtual patients to train doctors and nurses in rural areas of the country. Alibaba Cloud also built a technical philanthropy platform, "Green Code" in 2017 to connect professional IT volunteers with non-profit organisations in China for philanthropy programs. More than 3,000 engineers registered for charity programs from 168 organisations in 2018.

Under the partnership with iamtheCODE, Alibaba Cloud will provide tailored courses on a range of topics including cloud computing, data analysis, machine learning and security. iamtheCODE will also add Alibaba Cloud on their blended curriculum, as certificates will be awarded to young women students who pass the course to help them along with their career path towards engineering and other practical subjects. To date over 13,000 girls have access to the iamtheCODE Curriculum. In addition, each enrolled student will be offered free access to cloud computing resources during their study.

"Having its foothold in 64 countries, iamtheCODE is delighted to partner with Alibaba Cloud to engage more young women and girls from the most disadvantaged background in the world and use its technology to change their lives. Our blended curriculum will become even more accessible as we add Alibaba Cloud on it. For iamtheCODE, priorities are to use technology to change the lives of young women entrepreneur through tech, to create employability and to equip them with the digital skills of the future," said Marieme Jamme, Founder of iamtheCODE. "We are truly honoured and excited for the young women as they will have access to the new technological advancements of Alibaba Cloud. This moment is truly historic. Working with Alibaba Cloud will make a great difference in the lives of millions of young women globally."

For more information, please check the website: https://www.alibabacloud.com/campaign/mwc-2019

About Alibaba Cloud

Established in 2009, Alibaba Cloud (www.alibabacloud.com), the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, is among the world's top three IaaS providers, according to Gartner, and the largest provider of public cloud services in China, according to IDC. Alibaba Cloud provides a comprehensive suite of cloud computing services to businesses worldwide, including merchants doing business on Alibaba Group marketplaces, start-ups, corporations and government organizations. Alibaba Cloud is the official Cloud Services Partner of the International Olympic Committee.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005596/en/

Contacts:

Media Contacts

Crystal Liu

Alibaba Group

+852 6378 5626

Crystal.liu@alibaba-inc.com

Luica Mak

Alibaba Group

+44-7905471332

luica.mak@alibaba-inc.com
It was interesting, Ruth said, to see how well orchestrated the whole evening was. A floor manager would tap a questioner on the shoulder to get them to stand, point them toward a mark on the ground, and then tap them on the shoulder again when they should return to their seat.
LONDON and PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CRF Bracket recently closed its first full quarter as a combined business after CRF Health and Bracket merged in September of 2018. With more than a 20% increase in new clinical trial business, that first quarter outpaced either company's individual performance as a standalone company throughout last year.

This reflects the excitement in the industry, particularly among pharmaceutical companies, for the merger, which brings together complementary proven solutions and scale support teams to deliver a wide suite of eClinical solutions. Sponsors and CROs quickly validated the potential of the new organization, bolstered by significant expansion of strategic relationships with 4 of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies, several new sponsor relationships, and expanded opportunities to partner with CROs. At the same time, CRF Bracket customers see increased value from new market opportunities like eConsent and Patient Engagement.

"Two things surprised me as we brought these businesses together," said Mike Nolte, CEO of CRF Bracket. "First of all, our teams embraced this with dedication and urgency in a way I've never seen before. In fact, engagement has increased and employee turnover has actually decreased since September. At the same time, our customers validated and supported our vision more quickly than I expected, and, while we are not perfect and we know we must deliver, they are collaborating with us actively as we step forward with the belief that we can reshape the future of eClinical technology in clinical trials. Our patient-centric approach aligns with their passion and mission, and together we see the empathetic connection to patients as the rivets that bind our future to faster, more reliable, more consistent clinical research. These are early days, but we are encouraged and humbled by the trust our customers are placing in us to stand alongside them in their important and often life changing work."

CRF Bracket's early success is directly connected to growing interest in the intersection of strong clinical capability, from deep roots in neuroscience to capability across the spectrum of therapeutic areas, combined with global reach and a market leading technology and service portfolio that seeks to facilitate the journey of the patient and its link to effective research.

To learn more about CRF Bracket's solutions for eCOA, eConsent, Patient Engagement, IRT, Clinical Supply Management, and Endpoint Quality scientific and data support services, visit www.crfhealth.com and www.bracketglobal.com.

About CRF Bracket

CRF Bracket was formed in 2018 by the merger of CRF Health and Bracket to provide life science companies with patient-centric technology solutions that advance clinical research and transform the patient experience. The company's solutions include electronic clinical outcome assessments (eCOAs), eConsent, patient engagement, interactive response technology (IRT), clinical supply forecasting and management, and endpoint quality services that combine advanced analytics and therapeutic area-specific scientific consulting. CRF Bracket's applications are trusted by pharmaceutical companies of all sizes, including all of the top 20 pharmas, as well as CROs, biotechs, and academic institutions on over 4,000 global clinical trials. For nearly 20 years, CRF Bracket has been committed to helping life science companies bring life-changing therapies to patients and communities around the world. To learn more visit www.crfhealth.com and www.bracketglobal.com.
Gurit nominates candidates for its Board of Directors

Zurich, Switzerland,February 26th, 2019- Gurit (SIX Swiss Exchange: GUR) today announced that it proposes two candidates for election as new members of its Board.

The Gurit Board of Directors proposes the following candidates for election as new members to the next ordinary Annual General Meeting of Shareholders taking place on April 9th, 2019.

Dr. Bettina GERHARZ-KALTE

Born in 1964; German citizen; Vice-President New Growth Business Thermal Insulation at Evonik Industries (since 2014). Previously held positions: Global Director Strategy and New Business Development at Akzo Nobel Chemicals; Global Segment Manager at National Starch and Chemical Company. Bettina Gerharz-Kalte holds a PhD in Chemistry of the Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer research and a diploma in Chemistry of the University of Mainz, Germany.

Philippe ROYER

Born in 1961; French citizen; CEO of Metalor (2014-2018). Previously held positions: Chairman and CEO of Manoir Industries; President of Business Unit at Alcoa. Philippe Royer holds a degree in Business Administration of the Institut de Commerce et de Gestion (ICG) Paris and an Engineering degree of the Ecole Centrale de Lyon, France.

Dr. Bettina Gerharz-Kalte is proposed to succeed a Board member who will not stand for re-election. Additionally, the Board proposes an extension of the Board from currently five to a total of six members. Philippe Royer acts as a representative of the shareholder Whale Holding AG / Whale Ventures AG.

"The professional and academic background of the proposed candidates complements the existing Board of Directors very well. Both candidates have valuable know-how and industry experience, which will benefit and strengthen Gurit" says Peter Leupp, President of the Board of Directors.

About Gurit:

The subsidiaries of Gurit Holding AG, Wattwil/Switzerland, (SIX Swiss Exchange: GUR) are specialized on the development and manufacture of advanced composite materials, related technologies and select finished parts and components. The comprehensive product range comprises fibre reinforced prepregs, structural core products, gel coats, adhesives, resins and consumables. Gurit supplies global growth markets with composite materials on the one hand and composite tooling equipment, core material wind turbine blade kits, structural engineering and select finished parts on the other. Gurit operates production sites and offices in Canada, China, Denmark, Ecuador, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, India, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States. For more information, please visit www.gurit.com

Gurit Group Communications

Thomas Nauer

Tel: +41 44 316 15 55

All trademarks used or mentioned in this release are protected by law.

Forward-looking statements:

To the extent that this announcement contains forward-looking statements, such statements are based on assumptions, planning and forecasts at the time of publication of this announcement. Forward-looking statements always involve uncertainties. Business and economic risks and developments, the conduct of competitors, political decisions and other factors may cause the actual results to be materially different from the assumptions, planning and forecasts at the time of publication of this announcement. Therefore, Gurit Holding AG does not assume any responsibility relating to forward-looking statements contained in this announcement.
Tradition Energy announced today that it has entered into an agreement with the Hartford-based, Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) to provide energy risk management and procurement services to educational agencies and towns throughout the state of Connecticut.

CREC operates as a non-profit entity organized primarily to support educational agencies (currently 35 school districts and 36 towns), and to promote cost-saving opportunities to all school districts and towns in Connecticut through its cooperative purchasing programs.

Connecticut school districts and towns can benefit from Tradition Energy's experience helping more than 350 local government and non-profit organizations nationwide reduce and control their energy expenditures. The CREC members will receive the most competitive energy procurement pricing available by utilizing Tradition's current contract with OMNIA Partners, Public Sector (subsidiary U.S. Communities), the nation's largest cooperative purchasing organization dedicated to public sector procurement. Tradition Energy is the exclusive energy consulting and management supplier to participants of OMNIA Partners, Public Sector.

"We are thrilled to be providing our services to Connecticut schools and towns supported by CREC," said Alan Kurzer, CEO, Tradition Energy. "Reducing and stabilizing operating costs like electricity and natural gas can go a long way in helping CREC members use more of their financial resources to meet the educational needs of children and adults," Mr. Kurzer added.

About Tradition Energy

Tradition Energy is the nation's largest and most experienced independent energy risk management and procurement advisor, serving more than 1,300 commercial, industrial and governmental clients ranging from Fortune 500 global companies to medium-sized businesses to local municipalities. Tradition Energy is part of the Tradition Group, a leading global institutional broker of financial and commodity products. Tradition employs over 2,300 people in 28 countries around the world and is publicly listed on the Swiss stock exchange (CFT). www.TraditionEnergy.com

About OMNIA Partners, Public Sector

OMNIA Partners, Public Sector is the nation's largest and most experienced cooperative purchasing organization dedicated to public sector procurement. Our immense purchasing power and world-class suppliers have produced a comprehensive portfolio of cooperative contracts and partnerships, making OMNIA Partners the most valued and trusted resource for organizations nationwide. www.omniapartners.com/publicsector

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005693/en/

Contacts:

G. Scott Merrell, Senior Director, Marketing, 713-609-9922 Scott.Merrell@TraditionEnergy.com
Follows Publication of Paper in Nature Communications Identifying Novel MoA Geroprotective Small Molecules to Extend Healthy Lifespan

Samsara Therapeutics, Inc. ("Samsara,") a platform biotechnology startup engaged in the discovery and development of compounds that address the primary molecular causes of aging, announced today the closing of a seed financing round. The financing was led by Apollo Ventures, a life sciences venture capital firm and company builder working across Europe and North America. In connection with the investment, James Peyer, Ph.D., Managing Partner of Apollo Ventures, has joined Samsara's Board of Directors.

Additionally, on February 19th, 2019 Nature Communicationspublished a peer-reviewed paper, "The flavonoid 4,4'-dimethoxychalcone promotes autophagy-dependent longevity across species" authored by Samsara's scientific team. The paper demonstrates the capability of the Samsara platform to identify novel MoA geroprotective small molecules that extend healthy lifespan across species and which are protective in mammalian models of disease.

The particular molecule (4,4'-dimethoxychalcone) is a natural product derived from the Japanese longevity herb known as Ashitaba, consumed on the island of Okinawa, which hosts the greatest number of ultra-long-lived supercentenarians. Samsara Therapeutics is conducting medicinal chemistry optimization of this compound and other Samsara platform-identified compounds in collaboration with Evotec.

"This paper in Nature Communications moves us closer to our goal of conducting the largest-ever exploration of the chemical space around natural products that extend healthy lifespan," commented Sebastian Aguiar, Samsara's Founder and Chief Operating Officer. "Virtually all of the known geroprotectors have been natural products or derived thereof, and were identified via phenotypic screening. The time is ripe for this comprehensive approach due to methodological advances in phenotypic screening, target ID, and molecular mechanism of action analysis."

Built around the world's largest platform for drug discovery based on therapeutics known as 'geroprotectors,' defined by their ability to extend healthy lifespan across model organisms, Samsara is anchoring its research on the hallmarks of aging in collaboration with leading academic scientists in the fields of energy metabolism and proteostasis. The company plans to use the proceeds from the seed financing to advance its existing pipeline of therapeutic candidates, as well as continue the identification of new candidates through proprietary phenotypic screening of curated chemical libraries.

"Our academic Founding Scientists have previously discovered and characterized multiple of the best-known healthspan-extending molecules, and we have built upon their unique capabilities with the Samsara platform," said Dr. Peyer. "Moreover, Samsara's founding scientists have other papers forthcoming on a novel class of geroprotector, acting via a novel mechanism of action."

This press release does not and shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities law of any such state or jurisdiction.

About Samsara Therapeutics

Samsara Therapeutics, Inc. is an R&D-stage biopharmaceutical platform company aiming to discover, develop and commercialize first-in-class therapeutics for the treatment of unmet medical needs and age-related diseases. Samsara's platform is the largest ever pipeline for the identification, chemical optimization, and in vivo validation of compounds that extend healthy lifespan. Samsara Therapeutics is a global virtual biotech company with operations in Oxford, Paris, Graz, Hamburg, and San Diego.

For more information, please visit www.samsaratherapeutics.com

About Apollo Ventures

Apollo Ventures is a life science venture capital firm and company builder working across Europe and North America. Apollo is unique among investment firms due to its focus on a specific field of scientific research the biology of aging.

For more information, please visit www.apollo.vc

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005495/en/

Contacts:

Investors and Business Development:

Harvey Gross

Apollo Ventures

harvey@apollo.vc

Media:

Bill Douglass

Gotham Communications

(646) 504-0890

bill@gothamcomm.com
Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - February 26, 2019) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that S.P. Kothari has been named Chief Economist and Director of the agency's Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA). Dr. Chyhe Becker, who has served as DERA's Acting Director while the SEC completed its search, will continue to serve both as Deputy Director and Associate Director of Litigation Economics.

Mr. Kothari joins the SEC from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he is a professor of accounting and finance and recently ended a six-year term as Deputy Dean of MIT Sloan School of Management.

"S.P. brings with him wide-reaching insight from his decades spent as a leader in applying sophisticated research to the operation of our financial markets, including firsthand experience from his time in the private sector," said SEC Chairman Jay Clayton. "His leadership will guide DERA well in the research and analysis it provides in support of the Commission's work on behalf of Main Street investors. I also want to thank Chyhe for her exemplary leadership as Acting Director of the division over the last year."

"I am delighted to welcome S.P. to DERA. His warm and thoughtful leadership is an excellent fit for the division and will serve us well in our role in providing economic analysis to help the Commission fulfill its mission," said Dr. Becker.

"I am honored to join the SEC's team of dedicated economists, whose work is well-known and respected throughout the discipline," said Mr. Kothari. "I look forward to working with the staff and the Commission to explore the important economic issues affecting investors and our markets."

Mr. Kothari has spent nearly two decades at MIT, both as a professor and as an administrator. He has also been Co-Chair of the Board of Governors Asia School of Business, Kuala Lumpur, faculty director of the MIT-India Program, and editor of the academic publication Journal of Accounting & Economics. In 2008, he served as global head of equity research for Barclays Global Investors, where he was responsible for research supporting the firm's active equity strategies and for managing a team of approximately 50 PhDs based around the world.

Mr. Kothari earned his B.S in Engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science and his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management. He completed his PhD from the University of Iowa.
Dozens of Boston buildings and landmarks shined Boston Children's blue on Feb. 25

Osram, a global high-tech lighting company, and Boston Children's Hospital, a worldwide leader in pediatric care, held their Shine Your Light for Boston Children's Hospital event yesterday evening, when more than 50 buildings around the City of Boston shined Boston Children's blue to show their support for Boston Children's patients and their families. Osram is the corporate sponsor of the Shine Your Light campaign.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005880/en/

Boston's skyline shines blue to show support for Boston Children's patients and their families. Over 50 buildings participated in OSRAM and Boston Children's Hospital's "Shine Your Light for Boston Children's Hospital" event. PHOTO: Boston Children's Hospital

The Marriott Vacation Club Pulse at Custom House, which hosted an event for Boston Children's, Osram and other sponsor families, was illuminated for the event with a temporary installation of Osram's Traxon fixtures,Quattro Washer and Quattro Liner,in the famous clock tower observatory.

"Two years ago, Boston Children's Hospital came to us with an idea," said Michael Flieger, Chief Financial Officer for Osram's Americas Region. "They hoped to expand their new employee giving campaign and wanted a corporate partner to help them. What really caught our attention was that they wanted to use light as the catalyst, light to help brighten an otherwise dark time both a dark time of year, and metaphorically, a dark time for many patients and families. As a global lighting technology leader that uses light to improve quality of life, including health and wellbeing, we knew it was a great opportunity to help one of our neighbors, which is also the number one children's hospital in the country."

Osram provided a $250,000 gift and support for the Shine Your Light for Boston Children's Hospital, ignited by Osram event on Feb. 25. For the second year, the event included a patient story, featuring a family member of an Osram employee who had been successfully treated at Boston Children's Hospital.

In addition, Osram employees coordinated donation drives to support the hospital's patients and families, organized volunteer teams for the annual Mix 104.1 Cares for Kids Radiothon, and participated in other volunteer activities at the hospital. The funds provided by Osram support the Every Child Fund, which provides financial assistance to families for expenses not covered by insurance; supportive services; research; and opportunities for patients to have a little fun while in the hospital allowing kids to be kids.

"Boston Children's Hospital is grateful for the ongoing support of Osram," said Michael Bornhorst, Associate Vice President of Boston Children's Hospital Trust. "Their partnership provides vital funding that fuels our life-changing mission to help kids in Boston and kids across the world."

This year, Boston Children's Hospital also secured support from additional sponsors, including Speedway, which sold Shine Your Light keychain flashlights at its stores throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the hospital.

For more information about Osram, visit www.osram.com

About Boston Children's Hospital

Boston Children's Hospital, the primary pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is home to the world's largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center. Its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. Today, more than 3,000 scientists, including nine members of the National Academy of Sciences, 17 members of the National Academy of Medicine and 11 Howard Hughes Medical Investigators comprise Boston Children's research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Boston Children's is now a 415-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care. For more, visit our Vector and Thriving blogs and follow us on social media @BostonChildrens, @BCH_Innovation, Facebook and YouTube.

ABOUT OSRAM

OSRAM, based in Munich, is a leading global high-tech company with a history dating back more than 110 years. Primarily focused on semiconductor-based technologies, our products are used in highly diverse applications ranging from virtual reality to autonomous driving and from smartphones to networked, intelligent lighting solutions in buildings and cities. OSRAM utilizes the infinite possibilities of light to improve the quality of life for individuals and communities. OSRAM's innovations will enable people all over the world not only to see better, but also to communicate, travel, work, and live better. As of the end of fiscal year 2018 (September 30), OSRAM had approximately 26,200 employees worldwide. It generated revenue of more than 3.8 billion from continued operations in fiscal year 2018. The company is listed on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt and Munich (ISIN: DE000LED4000; WKN: LED400; trading symbol: OSR). Additional information can be found at www.osram.com.

ABOUT OSRAM SYLVANIA

OSRAM SYLVANIA is part of OSRAM Americas, a group of OSRAM companies located in North and South America. As a leader in lighting solutions and services specializing in innovative design and energy-saving technology, the company sells products under the brand names OSRAM, Traxon, ENCELIUM and SYLVANIA. The portfolio ranges from high-tech applications based on semiconductor technology, such as infrared or laser lighting, to smart and connected lighting solutions in buildings and cities. The OSRAM SYLVANIA and OSRAM Americas regional headquarters is located in Wilmington, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.osram.us or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

OSRAM is a registered trademark of OSRAM GmbH.

ENCELIUM is a registered trademark of OSRAM SYLVANIA Inc.

All other trademarks are those of their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005880/en/

Contacts:

Ellen Slingsby Miller

OSRAM

978-570-3755

e.miller@osram.com

Bethany Tripp

Boston Children's Hospital

617-919-3656

bethany.tripp@childrens.harvard.edu
On February 26, 2019, during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, GTI Summit, China Mobile "5G Device Forerunner Initiative" joint-launches the first batch of 5G devices. The upstream and downstream enterprises of 5G device industry like China Mobile, Huawei, vivo, OPPO, ZTE, Xiaomi, Samsung, Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Unisoc (Unigroup Spreadtrum RDA) sent representatives to attend the summit.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005840/en/

First Batch of 5G Devices Launch (Photo: Business Wire)

At the summit, China Mobile "5G Device Forerunner Initiative" formally launched its first batch of 5G devices, including four 5G chipsets and nine 5G devices. The four 5G chipsets are provided by Qualcomm, Huawei, MediaTek, and Unisoc. And the nine 5G devices are released by China Mobile, Huawei, vivo, OPPO, ZTE, Xiaomi and Samsung. Among the launched 5G devices, some devices support both NSA and SA, while some devices' peak throughputs reach 4.67Gbps in Sub6GHz. Our launch today brings together the advanced 5G device achievements within the industry, including the debuts of many products, which are expected to hit the market in the first half of 2019. These products not only achieve the extraordinary connectivity of 5G, but also innovate by pushing the boundary of application scenarios and product forms, such as foldable displays, AI interfaces and multi-scenario convergence, allowing consumers to enjoy unparalleled experiences in the 5G era.

As an important initiator and participant of "5G Device Forerunner Initiative", China Mobile displayed Forerunner One, its first house brand 5G device at the event. Forerunner One is an integrated product with innovative form, it is defined as 5G Smart Hub. The device is equipped with traditional CPE functions and supports WiGig- enhanced connection capability to transform 5G signal to other devices without loss, it provides an innovative connection mode. Forerunner One supports AI voice and contains rich interactive capabilities of Smart Speak. Outfitted with huge-sized battery, Forerunner One is light-weighted, small-size and easy to be held with a hand, it is as portable as Mobile Router.

In February 2018, China Mobile and its global major partners in the mobile device industry jointly set up the "5G Device Forerunner Initiative" at the GTI Summit in Barcelona. It aims to gather the resources of the industry and rapidly promote the development and maturity of the 5G device industry. So far, 36 members have participated in this Initiative, covering the whole industry, such as terminals, chipsets, components and instrumentation.

In the past year, relying on "5G Device Forerunner Initiative", China Mobile has released 5G Device Guideline in Shanghai in June 2018 and 5G Pre-commercial Device Whitepaper in Guangzhou in December 2018. The guideline and whitepaper have taken the lead in clarifying the direction of the industry's R&D. Besides, China Mobile has signed MOU with its partners based on in-depth discussions to focus on short-term products, and make clear plan for medium and long-term development,laying a solid foundation for the launch of the first batch of 5G devices.

In 2019, China Mobile "5G Device Forerunner Initiative" will continuously focus on four key issues of 5G devices, maturity of communication capability, differentiated values, diverse forms and low-cost solutions. It will release a technical whitepaper on 5G commercial devices, carry out joint tests for devices to ensure its commercial quality, and promote the upgrade of consumer experience. By establishing "5G New Frequency Band (2.6GHz) Special Promotion Group" it will discuss technical solutions and launch new integrated RF devices. By inviting partners from vertical industry and Internet applications to jointly research and explore 5G business applications and device forms, it will launch more forms of ambient intelligent devices, and fully explore the value of "5G Device Forerunner Initiative". By carrying out centralized procurement of 5G devices for experiment-oriented and friendly users, it will produce various types and multi-category devices, driving the development of the industry. By the continuous research and development of China Mobile's house brand 5G devices, it will establish an industry benchmarking.

At present, 5G is moving from technical standards to commercial use, the market and industry is looking forward the maturity and stability of 5G devices. 2019 is a key year for the commercialization of 5G devices. Terminal communication capabilities will achieve comprehensive maturity, breakthroughs and innovations will be made in the business application, and product forms will be more diverse. China Mobile will continue to join hands with the "5G Device Forerunner Initiative" partners, take the lead in developing 5G devices, and boost the prosperity of 5G.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005840/en/

Contacts:

Proexpo Communications Limited

Olivia Ou

Oliviaou81@gmail.com
SpendEdge, a well-known procurement intelligence solution provider, has announced the completion of their latest spend management study for an asset management company.The report provides a comprehensive overview of how companies can maximize their savings by enhancing their spend management skills. It also highlights how developing a better understanding of spend aggregation across categories can help businesses benchmark their contract terms against the best-in-class practices.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005822/en/

Spend management study for an asset management company. (Graphic: Business Wire)

With the rising competition, it is becoming crucial for asset management companies to focus on spend analysis and develop basic spend management skills. There is a pressing need to alter their contract terms against the best-in-class practices to maximize overall savings and minimize maverick purchasing. Moreover, they are compelled to rationalize their supplier base, determine price arbitrages, and effectively manage risks to overcome traditional roadblocks and improve their sourcing strategies.

According to the procurement experts at SpendEdge, "Companies must leverage effective spend analysis solutions to minimize maverick purchasing, identify price arbitrages, and maximize their savings."

The Business ProblemThe client is a Fortune 500 asset management company that is well-known for managing mutual funds, pension plans, and other similar services. With the rise in business opportunities, they felt the need to collaborate with procurement and spend management firm that can help them understand more about their spend patterns in terms of suppliers, categories, and others. Also, they wanted to gain full visibility into their processes and analyze the benefits of spend analysis.

Want to gain a better understanding of your organization's spend patterns in terms of suppliers and categories? Talk to our experts and leverage our portfolio of spend analysis solutions.

The Solution OfferedThe solutions offered by the experts at SpendEdge, helped the client to identify improvement opportunities in contracts. They also obtained detailed insights to analyze the benefits of spend analysis and prioritize value generation opportunities. Furthermore, spend analysis experts constantly tracked indirect and direct spend categories and ensured better spend monitoring for the asset management company. Implementation of such spend management strategies strengthened the client' relationship with suppliers and reduced procurement spend.

Interested in reducing procurement spend for your organization? Request a free proposal to know how our experts can help you track indirect and direct spend categories to reduce procurement spend.

SpendEdge's spend management strategy helped the client to:

Formulate a robust spend management process.

Decrease procurement spend by improving strategic sourcing process.

Still wondering how to improve spend management process? Request a free demo and let our spend analysis experts guide you.

SpendEdge's spend management strategy also offered predictive insights on:

Improving supplier relationships.

Implementing technologies to ensure better spend monitoring.

Read the complete article to know more: https://www.spendedge.com/casestudy/spend-analysis-asset-management

About SpendEdge:

SpendEdge shares your passion for driving sourcing and procurement excellence. We are the preferred procurement market intelligence partner for 120+ Fortune 500 firms and other leading companies across numerous industries. Our strength lies in delivering robust, real-time procurement market intelligence reports and solutions. Request free proposal to know more, https://www.spendedge.com/request-free-proposal

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005822/en/

Contacts:

SpendEdge

Anirban Choudhury

Marketing Manager

US: +1 630 984 7340

UK: +44 148 459 9299

https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us
LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / February 26, 2019 / Full Alliance Group, Inc. (OTC PINK: FAGI) ("Full Alliance Group" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that Dr. Paul Brian Volpp has succeeded Jacob Thomas as CEO and President of Full Alliance Group upon Thomas's retirement. In addition, Mr. Rudy Kiste, currently the Company's Chief Financial Officer, will join the Full Alliance Group board of directors.

"We would like to sincerely thank Jacob Thomas for his years of leadership and service to Full Alliance Group as CEO, President, and Chairman of the Board. We wish him the best in retirement," stated newly appointed CEO and President, Dr. Paul Brian Volpp. "In taking the helm at Full Alliance Group, I am confident that my medical education, training, and hands-on experience at providing patient care in my own practice and in large hospital settings will enable me to lead the Company's expansion in healthcare and nutraceuticals."

P. Brian Volpp, M.D., MPH completed undergraduate work at Princeton University where he graduated cum laude with a degree in history and a certificate in American Studies. He subsequently completed a dual M.D./MPH program, studying medicine in his adopted home state of Nevada and public health administration at Loma Linda University, where he was selected to the Delta Omega Honor Society.

He completed his residency in Los Angeles, first in preliminary medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center followed by radiation oncology training at Kaiser Permanente. Dr. Volpp is board certified in both radiation oncology and integrative medicine, and practices at Palomar Hospital in Escondido as well as all three Sharp hospitals in greater San Diego. He is currently medical director of radiation therapy at Palomar as well as medical director for San Diego Radiosurgery.

During his career, Dr. Volpp published peer-reviewed research on spinal cord tumors and prostate cancer. Special interests include radiosurgery, integrative and complementary cancer medicine as well as palliative care/pain management.

Dr. Volpp concluded, "Over the next several weeks, we anticipate adding several additional senior team members and advisors to the Full Alliance Group team. I look forward to working with our growing teams to execute our refocused business strategy."

Sincerely,

Rudy Kiste

CFO / Director

Full Alliance Group Inc.

About Full Alliance Group Inc.

Full Alliance Group Inc. (OTC PINK: FAGI) is a multi-faceted holding company with various interests in technology, healthcare, and nutraceuticals.

For additional information, visit www.fullalliance.com

Contact: ir@fullalliance.com

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This shareholder update may contain a number of forward-looking statements. Words and variations of words such as: "expect", "goals", "could", "plans", "believe", "continue", "may", "will" and similar expressions are intended to identify our forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: our expectation for growth, benefits from brand-building, cost savings and margins. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause our actual results to differ materially from those indicated in our forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: continued volatility of, and sharp increase in: costs/pricing actions, increased competition, ability to raise sufficient operating capital, risks from operating internationally, consumer weakness, weakness in economic conditions and tax law changes.

SOURCE: Full Alliance Group Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/536994/Full-Alliance-Group-Inc-Appoints-Dr-Paul-Brian-Volpp-as-CEO-and-President-to-Lead-Healthcare-and-Nutraceutical-Expansion-Jacob-Thomas-to-Retire
31 Years Managing Portfolios At Several Major Wall Street Firms, With Emphasis On Biotech

BETHESDA, Maryland, Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwest Biotherapeutics (OTCQB: NWBO) ("NW Bio"), a biotechnology company developing DCVax personalized immune therapies for solid tumor cancers, today announced that it has hired David Innes as Vice President, Investor Relations.

Innes comes to NW Bio with over 31 years of managing portfolios at major Wall Street firms, and a degree in biology. For the last 10 years, Innes has worked as Senior Director-Investments at Oppenheimer & Co., LLC. At Oppenheimer, Innes managed over $175 million in assets with a concentration in emerging biotech companies, including as an advisor to many shareholders at NW Bio. Prior to Oppenheimer, he spent 20 years at UBS, including 10 years as a Vice President of Investments.

Innes noted, "After decades of focusing on small to mid-cap biotech and biomedical companies, I was attracted to NW Bio by what I believe is their broad potential, due to their approach to addressing the complexity of solid tumors which comprise most cancers. Their DCVax technology is precision-tailored to a patient's cancer, while also designed to mobilize a broad-spectrum attack on the cancer. As such, I believe NW Bio's DCVax technology has the potential to be a meaningful therapy for many types of solid tumor cancers."

"I am honored to be joining NW Bio at this pivotal time in the Company's history. I look forward to further strengthening the relationships with both current and prospective retail and institutional shareholders, as well as communicating this DCVax immunotherapy's potential to an ever broader marketplace."

Linda Powers, CEO of NW Bio, noted, "We are pleased to have someone of Dave's experience in the biotech investment community joining us. We see this as an important initial step in expanding our team with first class personnel as we move toward completion of the Phase III DCVax-L trial for GBM and initiation of Phase II DCVax-Direct trials. Welcome aboard Dave."

About Northwest Biotherapeutics

Northwest Biotherapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on developing personalized immunotherapy products designed to treat cancers more effectively than current treatments, without toxicities of the kind associated with chemotherapies, and on a cost-effective basis, in both North America and Europe. The Company has broad platform technologies for DCVax dendritic cell-based vaccines. The Company's lead program is a 331-patient Phase III trial of DCVax-L for newly diagnosed Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). GBM is the most aggressive and lethal form of brain cancer, and is an "orphan disease." The Company is also pursuing a Phase I/II trial with DCVax-Direct for all types of inoperable solid tumor cancers. It has completed the 40-patient Phase I portion of the trial, and is preparing for Phase II portions. The Company previously conducted a Phase I/II trial with DCVax-L for metastatic ovarian cancer together with the University of Pennsylvania.

Disclaimer

Statements made in this news release that are not historical facts, including statements concerning future treatment of patients using DCVax and future clinical trials, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "expect," "believe," "intend," "design," "plan," "continue," "may," "will," "anticipate," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. We cannot guarantee that we will achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements. Specifically, there are a number of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, such as risks related to the Company's ability to complete its clinical trials on a timely basis, uncertainties about the clinical trial results and data, uncertainties about the timely performance of third parties, risks related to whether the Company's products will demonstrate safety and efficacy, risks related to the Company's ongoing ability to raise additional capital, and other risks included in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") filings. Additional information on the foregoing risk factors and other factors, including Risk Factors, which could affect the Company's results, is included in its SEC filings. Finally, there may be other factors not mentioned above or included in the Company's SEC filings that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statement. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or developments, except as required by securities laws.

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To avoid disrupting businesses and neighborhoods in the Jones Falls Valley, the highway was laid out along the Pennsylvania Railroad line and elevated in stretches above the stream itself. The resulting curves couldnt  and still cant  accommodate normal interstate speeds, but it was designated as one anyway in 1956 to qualify its construction for 90 percent federal funding.
MEGA's new Brazil office supports the company's continuing international expansion

MEGA International has just announced the opening of a subsidiary in Sao Paulo, Brazil for better customer service in the region. This ninth subsidiary is another step in MEGA's continuing global expansion and will reinforce its presence in South America.

With an office in Mexico City, MEGA has worked with Latin American customers for over 10 years, especially in Mexico, Colombia, Central America, Chile and Brazil. "Our customer base in the region has grown substantially and shows no sign of slowing down," explained Lucio de Risi, CEO of MEGA. "In order to meet this increasing demand, we've opened an office in Brazil to serve the market locally and directly."

MEGA is currently developing enterprise architecture and governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) projects in multinationals and Brazilian groups. Sebastien Rey, Vice President and Managing Director of MEGA's Mexico and Latin America Operations, has been named to establish and direct MEGA's new Brazil subsidiary. Previously, Rey served as MEGA's group general counsel. Rey holds a Master's degree in business and taxation from the National Conservatory of Arts and Trades of Paris, and another Master's degree in business law from the University of Versailles.

"This is a thrilling time to be part of MEGA's growth as we're witnessing an increase in organizations leveraging business process analysis, enterprise architecture and risk management solutions to meet new business demands and embrace transformation initiatives," comments Rey.

About MEGA

MEGA International is a global software firm helping companies manage enterprise complexity by giving them an interactive view of their operations. Executives gain the visibility and information they need to make the right choices for effective governance and to strike the right balance between capacity for innovation, cost optimization, and risk management. MEGA's HOPEX software is a comprehensive lineup of integrated software bringing together industry-leading practices in enterprise architecture (EA), IT portfolio management (ITPM), business process analysis (BPA), and governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) into a single platform. Backed by HOPEX software and MEGA services, companies can boost business and IT agility in today's disruptive business environment. www.mega.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005038/en/

Contacts:

For MEGA

Elsbeth McSorley, 781-767-7694

emcsorley@mega.com
Cardston, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - February 26, 2019) - American Creek Resources Ltd. (TSXV: AMK) ("American Creek") is pleased to report that it will be attending and presenting at the RAISE at the PDAC: 1X1 Small-Cap Resource Conference, the Red Cloud 2019 Pre-PDAC Mining Showcase, as well as at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) annual conference, all held in Toronto during the next week.



The RAISE at the PDAC: 1X1 Small-Cap Resource Conference will be held on Thursday, February 28 at the One King West Hotel. RAISE at the PDAC is an exclusive event for investors and finance individuals who invest in resource stocks. A unique conference format where individual investors, investment advisors, portfolio managers and funds meet one-on-one with companies throughout the day in a series of meetings, social breaks and presentations. American Creek will be holding back-to-back meetings throughout the day in Meeting Area #7. https://raisepdac.eventbrite.ca







Events American Creek will be attending



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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The Red Cloud 2019 Pre-PDAC Mining Showcase will be held on Friday, March 1 at the Omni King Edward Hotel. American Creek will have a company display and will be also be meeting with the investment community throughout the day.

The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) annual conference will be held on Sunday, March 3 through Wednesday, March 6 at the Metro Toronto Convention Center. With some 28,000 attendees expected, this is the world's premier mineral exploration and mining conference. In addition to American Creek management and investor relations personnel manning a corporate booth (Booth #2351) throughout the conference, American Creek is pleased to report that the company has also been selected to do a formal presentation at the conference highlighting American Creek's projects and potential. The American Creek presentation will be held on Tuesday, March 5 at 2:00PM in room #802.

Electrum Option Agreement with Tudor Gold Extended

American Creek reports that it has granted Tudor Gold Corp. ("Tudor") an additional extension for the previously announced option to buy out the Corporation's 40% interest in the Electrum Project Joint Venture located near Stewart, British Columbia. Tudor paid the Corporation a non-refundable payment of $50,000 upon entering the original agreement. If the option is exercised by Tudor, a further payment of $2,650,000 will be made to the Corporation on or before April 15, 2019. This transaction is subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange.

Treaty Creek Project Update

The Treaty Creek project is located immediately north of Seabridge Gold's ("Seabridge") KSM project which is now reported to be the largest undeveloped gold resource in the world. Seabridge's infrastructure plan includes proposed twin access tunnels for several kilometers through the Treaty Creek property.

2018 drilling by Tudor at Treaty Creek was very successful, especially the final hole which returned a significant intercept of 0.981 gram per tonne gold over 563.8 metres.

Tudor recently (Jan 2019) recruited Ken Konkin to head the geological team and advance the Treaty Creek project. Among other significant accomplishments, Mr. Konkin was instrumental in the discovery and development of the Valley of Kings deposit at Pretivm's Brucejack Lake mine, an eight-million-ounce gold deposit currently in production and located a few kilometers to the south of Treaty Creek. His knowledge, experience, and expertise within the Golden Triangle, and specifically the Sulphurets Hydrothermal System, has already brought a new geological understanding to Treaty Creek with the designation of a significant new gold zone named "Goldstorm".

Tudor is presently making plans for an upcoming drill program at Treaty Creek.

The Treaty Creek Project is a joint venture between Tudor Gold, Teuton Resources Corp., and American Creek. Tudor is the operator and holds a 60% interest with both American Creek and Teuton each holding respective 20% fully carried interests in the property (fully carried until a production notice is given).

Gold Hill Project Update

The Gold Hill project is located in the Boulder Creek drainage, a tributary of the Wildhorse River east of Fort Steele, British Columbia and is a potential source of the placer gold responsible for Canada's 4th largest gold rush.

A preliminary drill program consisting of approximately 2,000 meters of drilling in four holes was recently concluded on the property. Assay results are pending.

About American Creek

American Creek holds a strong portfolio of gold and silver properties in British Columbia.

Three of those properties are located in the prolific "Golden Triangle"; the Treaty Creek and Electrum joint venture projects with Tudor Gold (Walter Storm) as well as the 100% owned past producing Dunwell Mine. The Corporation also holds the Austruck-Bonanza, Ample Goldmax, Silver Side, and Glitter King properties located in other prospective areas of the province.

For further information please contact Kelvin Burton at: Phone: 403 752-4040 or Email: info@americancreek.com. Information relating to the Corporation is available on its website at www.americancreek.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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43040
CALGARY, AB / ACCESSWIRE / February 26, 2019 / International Cannabrands Inc. (CSE: JUJU) (the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Jessie Meighan as Chief Marketing Officer and the addition of Neal Pomroy and Bryce Berryessa to the Board of Directors.

Steve Gormley, CEO of the Company commented: "It is with great pleasure that we make this announcement today. These three individuals are a critical part of our growth as we assemble our team for the go-forward strategy. We appreciate the patience of our investors as this was an important step for us in order to position and advance our business model and build momentum. We look forward to reporting our progress in Q1 as we execute our plan."

Ms. Jesse Meighan is a seasoned executive with over 10 years' operations and marketing experience. She has worked across a broad range of industries from tech to fashion and most recently co-founded the female-focused cannabis brand Jane West, where she now serves as a board advisor. As Chief Operating Officer of Jane West (2015 - 2019), Meighan crafted the brand's experience and execution creating well-designed cannabis products with a modern sensibility while focusing on continuous improvement, optimization, and growth. As a result, Jane West (the eponymous lifestyle brand built by Meighan and the founder/CEO of Women Grow) is now among the most widely recognized cannabis brands for women. In addition, Meighan is well-known in the cannabis industry as a digital influencer and champion of women professionals.

Ms. Meighan joins International Cannabrands eager to continue her mission of bringing diversity to the cannabis industry at the executive level. Jesse Meighan commented: "Steve Gormley's values and vision for ICI deeply resonate with my own, and I'm delighted to work alongside him and his team to build a company that reflects the diversity of cannabis consumers. Steve and I both believe that diversity at every level is not about optics but about building a team poised for success in the most important new industry to emerge in our lifetime."

With an art and design education and robust start-up experience, Meighan has a diverse skill set that allows her to bring brands beautifully to life, using a designer's eye, a marketer's strategic mindset, and an operations chief's understanding of the day-to-day needs of a start-up.

Mr. Neal Pomroy has an extensive background in leading and supporting successful businesses in the consumer products, businesses services and financial services industries. Mr. Pomroy has over 15 years of experience as a Managing Director in Private Equity, Venture Capital and Wall Street finance. He has held a variety of roles, but principally focused on investing and leading businesses - financial structuring, diligence and supporting post-investment value enhancement efforts. Prior, Mr. Pomroy served as a Managing Director at Mercer Management Consulting/Oliver Wyman as Head of the Private Equity and Mergers & Acquisition practice in North America and other positions. Mr. Pomroy supported the industry's largest private equity firms through investment diligence, company value growth initiatives, turnarounds and portfolio management. Mr. Pomroy is an experienced legal cannabis investor with deep domain knowledge. Mr. Pomroy's experience and cannabis investing extends to several licensed cultivation companies, facility finance, several branded product businesses, distribution and delivery, digital media and technology. He is active in multiple US states which have legalized cannabis. Mr. Pomroy received a BS from the University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce in 1983 and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School in 1988.

Mr. Bryce Berryessa is President of La Vida Verde, Inc., a highly respected branded cannabis product manufacturer and distributor in which the Company holds a 51% interest. He is a renowned expert in sustainable cannabis cultivation, extraction methods, retail operations, and cannabis product development. Mr. Berryessa has been at the forefront of the medical cannabis movement since 2005. Berryessa is also the CEO, visionary, and Co-founder of TreeHouse, an award winning and cutting edge cannabis club located in Santa Cruz County, California. Mr. Berryessa was also the co-founder and operations manager for California's first-ever Enviroganic-certified farm. Enviroganic approval means that all standards from state and local environmental compliance and organic management practices are being met. Mr. Berryessa resides in Santa Cruz with his wife and two young sons and sits on sits on numerous statewide committees: Board of Directors of the Association for Standardized Cannabis (ASC); Policy Committee of California Growers Association (CGA); Manufacturing Committee Member and Board Member for the California Cannabis Industry Association (CCIA); Founding Board Member of California Cannabis Manufacturers Association (CCMA). Bryce, a cannabis veteran can be seen in a number of high-profile publications such as Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and The Washington Post.

About International Cannabrands (ICI)

ICI's strategy centers on acquiring micro brands, distribution and specific manufacturing/cultivation companies in the cannabis space. The Company's business model is to generate revenue from cannabis cultivation, brands ranging from flower to edibles and from THC to CBD, oil extraction, ancillary products and apparel in the United States. ICI markets products with THC content where that practice has been legalized at the state level through either medicinal or full recreational use. ICI also markets products containing CBD in the US and internationally. ICI owns 51% of La Vide Verde, Inc. and has the exclusive rights to Julian Marley's JuJu Royal brand. The Company believes as the legal cannabis market evolves, high-quality, unique products will increasingly capture market share and provide a valuable platform for growth.

About La Vida Verde, Inc. (LVV)

In addition to LVV's wholesale flower, packaged flower, pre-rolls and blunts, its differentiating products include gummies, upscale protein bars, new chocolate forms and super cookies. LVV Brands currently include Skunk Feather Cannabis and Blank Brand. LVV has been operating in California since 2015, and currently has extraction, manufacturing and distribution capability. LVV is a leader in the extraction field, being one of the first to incorporate full spectrum testing in every product, testing for potency, terpenes, pesticides and residual solvents. Its concentrates are pharmaceutical grade and free of any pesticides, microbial contaminants, heavy metals or additives. LVV has recently doubled its manufacturing capability and has installed state-of-the-art technology. LVV believes that the best medicine starts with the food you eat and it takes pride in producing products for people who are search for a natural and healthy alternative for nurturing their bodies. All its products use only healthy fats, are vegan, organic, gluten-free, paleo friendly and low glycemic.

About JuJu Royal

Julian Marley conveys his message of legalization, freedom, and love through the JuJu Royal brand, a line of naturally produced medicinal herbs. Our vision is to realize the opportunity to become one of the largest brands in the Marijuana industry. The synergy between the Rastafarian culture, music, natural products and an "Irie" experience is a powerful foundation for our usiness. JuJu's strategy is to develop and grow a complete cannabis line based on an international appeal to a millennial lifestyle seeking a luxurious and premium experience. JuJu will capitalize on the unparalleled opportunity to position itself with unique, innovative, high quality brands that meet and exceed our customer's expectations. More information about the brand and various products can be obtained at www.jujuroyal.net.

International Cannabrands Contact:

Steve Gormley

Chief Executive Officer

1045 Lincoln Street, #106

Denver, Colorado 80203

Ph: (323) 828-4321 or steve.gormley@intlcannabrands.com

Media Inquiries: media@jujuroyal.net

NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER HAS REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

Disclaimer concerning Forward-looking Statements

Certain statements included herein constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risks and uncertainties regarding the Company are described in its publicly-available disclosure documents filed by the Company on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). The forward-looking statements contained in this news release represent the Company's expectations as of the date of this news release, or as of the date they are otherwise stated to be made, and subsequent events may cause these expectations to change. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend, and undertakes no obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect, in particular, new information or future events.

SOURCE: International Cannabrands Inc

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/536999/International-Cannabrands-Announces-New-Appointments-to-Board-and-Management
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 26, 2019 / Cielo Waste Solutions Corp. (CSE: CMC) ("Cielo" or the "Company") announces that Renewable U Energy Inc. ("Renewable U") has exercised its option to build a renewable diesel refinery in the City of Medicine Hat with Cielo and to that end has incorporated and funded a new company, Renewable U Medicine Hat Inc. ("R.U. Medicine Hat"), which has entered into a binding Memorandum of Understanding with Cielo ('Medicine Hat MOU'), pursuant to which the parties are working towards entering into a joint venture agreement ("JV Agreement") that will provide the framework to build and operate Cielo's third joint venture refinery that converts garbage to high grade renewable fuels (Project").

In consideration for the opportunity to enter into the JV Agreement with Cielo and undertake the Project, R.U. Medicine Hat has paid to Cielo a $250,000.00 fee ('Fee') to secure the territory of Medicine Hat, AB and the surrounding area encompassing a 50 km radius. Cielo has received the Fee.

The general terms to be incorporated into the JV Agreement are substantially the same as those previously announced terms for the joint venture refineries to be located in Grande Prairie and Calgary, AB which include the following guidelines:

a. R.U. Medicine Hat will be solely responsible for financing 100% of the costs associated with acquiring the land, building and commissioning ('Project Costs') of the initial joint venture refinery in Medicine Hat AB (JV Refinery").

b. Cielo will manage the Project overall, overseeing the planning, construction, commissioning and operation of the JV Refinery and will receive a management fee for the construction of the JV Refinery equal to 7% of the Project Costs subject to certain exclusions, and will continue to receive management fees once operations begin based on industry standards.

c. In the event that Cielo does not execute the definitive agreement for Medicine Hat, Alberta, subject to an exclusion, by May 31, 2019, Cielo has agreed, subject to applicable laws and policies, to issue R.U. Medicine Hat common shares of Cielo in lieu of returning the Fee, valued at the greater of $0.25 per share and the average closing price of Cielo's shares during the 5 trading days prior to the Execution Date.

d. Profits will be split 30% in favor of Cielo and 70% in favor of R.U. Medicine Hat, until R.U. Medicine Hat has received profits equaling 100% of the Project Costs plus the applicable management fees. Thereafter profits will be split on the basis of 50.1% in favour of Cielo and 49.9% in favor of R.U. Medicine Hat, reflecting the respective interests/ownership of the parties.

Cielo has also entered into an Option Agreement with Renewable U ('Brooks Option Agreement"), pursuant to which Cielo has granted to Renewable U an option to enter into another Memorandum of Understanding with Cielo to build a follow-on joint venture renewable diesel refinery in the City of Brooks AB, on substantially the same or similar terms to the contemplated joint venture refineries in Grande Prairie, Calgary and Medicine Hat ('Brooks MOU'). Pursuant to the terms of the Brooks Option Agreement, Renewable U has also advanced to Cielo a refundable deposit of $50,000.

Renewable U will be required to complete its due diligence prior to the close of business March 29, 2019. In the event that Renewable U elects to exercise its option and proceed with the Brooks MOU, it will pay Cielo the balance of the contemplated $250,000 joint venture fee anticipated to be required pursuant to the terms of the Brooks MOU for Brooks, AB.

Lionel Robins, CEO of Renewable U, stated 'Having completed our due diligence with respect to choosing Medicine Hat as the location for our next joint venture refinery with Cielo, we are pleased to be able to confirm that we have incorporated Renewable U Medicine Hat Inc. and advanced the $250,000 JV Fee to Cielo. Entering into the Brooks Option Agreement was predicated on our favourable review of the progress that Cielo is making on commissioning their flagship renewable fuel refinery at Aldersyde and the reception that we have received from both the City of Medicine Hat and Invest Medicine Hat. Having two and potentially three joint venture refineries on the go with Cielo in Alberta will enable us to leverage our collective strengths to serve customers better with unparalleled logistical access by rail and truck to the biggest renewable fuel markets in Canada, the United States and beyond. It is our intention to concurrently have Cielo apply for the permits and order equipment for the multiple refineries thereby lowering our overall costs. We are assembling a very strong group of experienced individuals that can pull from each other to reduce start-up risks and change the waste to renewable fuels marketplace, firstly in Alberta.'

Don Allan, CEO of Cielo, stated 'We believe that this second joint venture with the Renewable U group provides Cielo with an opportunity to significantly expand and diversify our waste feedstocks with a high-quality partner. We also believe that Medicine Hat is a large-scale opportunity that is well positioned to supply renewable diesel for compliance with the Federal and Provincial Renewable Fuel Standards into the Canadian and U.S. marketplaces. Commissioning of our Aldersyde Renewable Fuel Refinery is continuing. In the coming days, an additional 14 trades people are scheduled to be on site installing the equipment that we have ordered over the past 60 days that will allow us to run our first commercial refinery in Aldersyde, AB on a continuous flow basis. Upon achieving continuous flow we will be in a position to accelerate our plans to build JV refineries in Grande Prairie, Calgary and Medicine Hat Alberta.'

Jon Sookocheff, Director of Business Development at Invest Medicine Hat, The City of Medicine Hat's investment attraction contractor, commented, 'We are pleased to be working with Cielo and their joint venture partner, Renewable U Medicine Hat, to advance having them bring a renewable fuel green refinery to Medicine Hat. Being able to attract Renewable U and Cielo to our city is a further testament to how companies view Medicine Hat as a favourable place to locate and do business. During construction of Cielo's JV refinery management is projecting that there will be upwards of 50 full time jobs created. The opportunity Cielo brings to Medicine Hat will continue to diversify our local economy while making the city a major player in advancing green initiatives and reducing our carbon footprint. We are excited about assisting Cielo and Renewable U in advancing their green initiative.'

Join Cielo shareholders on 8020 Connect: http://connects.digital/cielo1

For more information please contact:

Cielo Waste Solutions Corp.

Don Allan, President & CEO

(403) 348-2972 Ext. 101

donallan@cielows.com

www.cielows.com

Michael Yeung, CFA, VP, Business Development & Capital Markets

(403) 348-2972 Ext. 103

michaelyeung@cielows.com

www.cielows.com

About Cielo Waste Solutions Corp.

Cielo Waste Solutions Corp. is a publicly traded company with its shares listed to trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange ('CSE') under the symbol 'CMC'. Cielo holds the exclusive license for the global rights to a transformational, patent-pending, technology engineered to convert garbage-derived feedstocks to high grade renewable diesel, at a significantly lower cost than biofuel companies. With landfills being one of the world's leading contributors to Green House Gas emissions and being projected to double in size over the next 7 years, Cielo can potentially resolve this crisis, on a cost-effective basis, by converting multiple different garbage-derived feedstocks, including sorted municipal solid waste (garbage), wood and agriculture waste, tires, blue-box waste, all plastics and virtually any other cellulous waste product into high grade renewable diesel.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively referred to herein as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. All statements other than statements of present or historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "achieve", "could", "believe", "plan", "intend", "objective", "continuous", "ongoing", "estimate", "outlook", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "should" or similar words, including negatives thereof, suggesting future outcomes.

Forward looking statements are subject to both known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, 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 statements. Cielo is making forward looking statements related to the entry and negotiation of terms of the JV Agreement as well as the Brooks Option Agreement and the ability of the parties to those agreements to fulfil their obligations. Although the Company 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.

Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, some of which are described herein. Such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the Company's actual performance and results to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required by law, neither the Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise such statements to reflect new information, subsequent or otherwise.

The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release.

SOURCE: Cielo Waste Solutions Corp

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/536991/Cielo-Enters-into-MOU-to-Build-Refinery-in-Medicine-Hat-AB-and-Grants-Option-for-a-Further-Refinery-in-Brooks-AB
Profitable and Rapidly Growing Kaleyra to List on the New York Stock Exchange Under the Ticker Symbol "KLR"

Company to be Managed by Current Kaleyra Chief Executive Officer Dario Calogero and the Kaleyra Leadership Team

New Board of Directors to be Chaired by Dr. Avi Katz and Include Equal Number of Members From Both Kaleyra and the GigCapital Board of Directors

Transaction Expected to Close in the Second Half of 2019

GigCapital, Inc., (NYSE:GIG, GIG.U, GIG.RT, and GIG.WS) ("GigCapital") a Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT) Private-to-Public Equity (PPE) corporation, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to combine with Kaleyra S.p.A. ("Kaleyra"), a profitable and rapidly growing CPaaS provider.

Following the combination, assuming no redemption by the stockholders of GigCapital, the enterprise value for Kaleyra will be approximately $192 million, or 1.5x estimated fiscal 2019 revenue. The combined company expects to utilize the available capital for organic and strategic growth. The transaction closing is not conditioned on any level of redemption by the stockholders of GigCapital or minimum cash delivered by GigCapital at closing.

The parties expect to close the proposed transaction in the second half of 2019.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory and stockholder approval. Upon consummation of the proposed transaction, the combined company will be renamed Kaleyra, Inc. (NYSE:KLR). It is anticipated that, upon the consummation of the transaction and in case of no redemption of the current cash in GigCapital's trust account, Kaleyra's current shareholders and employees would own approximately 33% of the combined company's common stock and GigCapital stockholders would own the remaining 67%.

"GigCapital is thrilled to partner with Kaleyra, our first transaction using the Private-to-Public Equity (PPE)platform methodology, where GigCapital brings its management's well-recognized and decades-long technology public-market operational and entrepreneurial expertise to enable the successful transition of a late-stage growth technology company like Kaleyra to a US public-market traded entity. Dario and his management team have consistently delivered innovative technology, product leadership, global revenue growth and profitability over the last several years. As a public company, Kaleyra will have a stronger capital structure and greater latitude to excel and achieve its projected accelerated financial growth by organic and strategic means. The combination of Kaleyra and GigCapital brings unique, attractive and promising opportunities to all shareholders, and we are looking forward to working in concert with all to build a new and advanced CPaaS industry leading company," said Dr. Avi Katz, Founder, Executive Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer of GigCapital.

Mr. Dario Calogero, Kaleyra's Founder and current Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, commented: "I am personally very proud of this transaction. This represents a significant milestone for Kaleyra and will fuel our next phase of growth within the consolidating Cloud Communications for Enterprises market. Kaleyra is well positioned in this segment as the preferred partner for both small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and larger enterprises, offering a highly secure, compliant and integrated mobile communication platform company, supporting FinTech, e-commerce and enterprises in the communication of transactions and interactions with their customers worldwide. Our product portfolio will expand further in servicing the selected industries we address, taking advantage of the public market expertise of GigCapital Founders, Directors and Advisors, as we merge our expertise in technology, marketing, strategy and finance. We look forward to working with Avi and his excellent team in this next stage for Kaleyra as a public company."

Kaleyra Investment Highlights

Leveraging its 20-year history of innovation, Kaleyra is a rapidly growing cloud communications software provider delivering secure APIs and connectivity solutions in the API/CPaaS market. Kaleyra's solutions include identity authentication, mobile and voice notifications on transactions, banking services authorizations, most notably via different integrated mobile channels through its platform.

Software and CPaaS are disrupting the telecom services market leading to a dramatic shift from the traditional hardware-centric marketplace approach. Kaleyra's scalable cloud platform is at the forefront of this evolution with a powerful combination of products that are secure, flexible, fully redundant and feature-rich. By providing the complete set of communications capabilities through converged infrastructure APIs, Kaleyra has eliminated the concerns over incompatible hardware components and network paradigms.

Kaleyra has a highly diversified global list of more than 3,000 customers. Target markets include FinTech, e-commerce and logistics, travel, healthcare, retail and education.

For fiscal 2018, no customer accounted for more than 10% of Kaleyra's total revenue. The majority of its customers span Europe, APAC, the Middle East and Latin America. Kaleyra's small presence in North America is an opportunity to penetrate this large market as it looks to aggressively drive future revenue expansion.

Kaleyra has remained profitable for 10 consecutive years. Led by a combination of organic and acquired growth, pro forma revenue has nearly doubled over the last three years while pro forma adjusted EBITDA has increased by 3x during the same period. With the total addressable CPaaS market is forecasted to increase at a 30.4% CAGR through the end of 2022(1), Kaleyra believes that through product enhancements and market expansion, its revenue and profitability growth rates over the next 3 years could match those achieved in the recent 3-year period.

(1) Sourced 451 Research

Leadership Team

Mr. Dario Calogero will continue to serve as the Chief Executive Officer, supported by his current management team combined with additional public market executives, and will remain a member of the Board of Directors to oversee and lead the operation of the business post-transaction. Dr. Avi Katz will assume the role of Chairman of the Kaleyra Board of Directors, which will comprise a total of seven members. Also joining the Board will be current GigCapital Board members Neil Miotto and John Mikulsky, and current Kaleyra Board members Simone Fubini and Matteo Lodrini, as well as an additional independent industry expert to be unanimously named by the other six members of the Board.

Transaction Details

Under the terms of the definitive agreement, GigCapital will purchase all of the ordinary shares of Kaleyra from its shareholders. The aggregate purchase price payable at the closing of the proposed transaction (excluding transaction expenses and subject to certain adjustments) will consist of (a) a mix of cash, convertible promissory notes (with conversion to be based upon the volume weighted average price of GigCapital common stock), or both in the aggregate amount of $15 million, and (b) between 8,616,819 and 10,181,819 shares of GigCapital common stock, with the level of redemption by the stockholders of GigCapital being used to determine the exact number of such shares to be issued. In addition, the Kaleyra shareholders will be entitled to receive up to 4,292,272 shares of GigCapital common stock as an "earn-out" based upon the post-combination company's revenue and adjusted EBITDA for 2019 and 2020. The cash component of the purchase consideration, if any, is to be funded by cash in GigCapital's trust account established in connection with its initial public offering, as well as the cash held by Kaleyra as of the Closing. GigCapital has also agreed to adopt an equity incentive plan that it will submit to its stockholders for approval. So long as such equity incentive plan is adopted and approved, GigCapital has agreed to issue to certain employees of Kaleyra or its subsidiaries 1,290,909 restricted stock units.

As part of the transaction, the sponsor investors in GigCapital have agreed to defer vesting and subject to a risk of forfeiture between 251,686 and 2,013,504 shares of GigCapital common stock (the "Deferred Shares"), depending upon the level of redemption by the stockholders of GigCapital, unless and until the Kaleyra shareholders receive the earn-out.

The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both GigCapital and Kaleyra, has been signed by all of the Kaleyra shareholders and remains subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval and the approval of GigCapital's stockholders. It is expected to close promptly following GigCapital's special stockholders' meeting to approve the transaction, subject to any regulatory requirements, and the sponsor investors in GigCapital have agreed to vote all of their shares in GigCapital in favor of the transaction.

GigCapital was advised on the transaction by Cowen and Company, LLC as financial advisors, with Crowell Moring LLP as legal counsel. Kaleyra was advised by Northland Capital Markets and GCA Altium as financial advisors, with Cooley LLP and Chiomenti as legal counsel.

The description of the transaction contained herein is only a summary and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the definitive agreement relating to the transaction, a copy of which will be filed, alongside with the transaction presentation, by GigCapital with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") as an exhibit to a Current Report on Form 8-K.

Conference Call Information

At 8:00 a.m. EST on March 5, 2019, Kaleyra and GigCapital will host a joint conference call to discuss the business combination with the investment community. For those who wish to participate, the domestic toll-free access number is 1-800-458-4148. The international access number is 1-856-344-9290.

A replay of the call will also be available through March 12, 2019. To access the replay, the domestic toll-free access number is 1-844-512-2921. International callers may use 1-412-317-6671. The conference ID number is 9067169.

SEC Filing

A Current Report on Form 8-K has been filed today with the SEC, accompanied by this press release and a corporate presentation, which can be accessed through the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

Disclaimer

This communication shall neither constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which the offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

Additional Information About the Transaction and Where To Find It

Additional information about the proposed business combination and related transactions will be described in GigCapital's Current Report on Form 8-K and preliminary proxy statement relating to the proposed business combination and the respective businesses of GigCapital and Kaleyra, which GigCapital will file with the SEC. The proposed business combination and related transactions will be submitted to stockholders of GigCapital for their consideration. GigCapital's stockholders and other interested persons are advised to read, once available, the preliminary proxy statement and any amendments thereto and, once available, the definitive proxy statement, in connection with GigCapital's solicitation of proxies for its special meeting of stockholders to be held to approve, among other things, the proposed business combination and related transactions, because these documents will contain important information about GigCapital, Kaleyra and the proposed business combination and related transactions. The definitive proxy statement will be mailed to stockholders of GigCapital as of a record date to be established for voting on the proposed business combination and related transactions.

Stockholders may also obtain a copy of the preliminary or definitive proxy statement, once available, as well as other documents filed with the SEC by GigCapital, without charge, at the SEC's website located at www.sec.gov or by directing a request to Tara McDonough, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, GigCapital, Inc., 2479 E. Bayshore Rd., Suite 200 Palo Alto, CA 94303, or by telephone at (650) 276-7040.

Participants in the Solicitation

Kaleyra, GigCapital and their respective directors and executive officers and other persons may be deemed to be participants in the solicitations of proxies from GigCapital's stockholders in respect of the proposed business combination and related transactions. Information regarding GigCapital's directors and executive officers is available in its Form 10-K filed with the SEC on December 6, 2018. Additional information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests will be contained in the preliminary and definitive proxy statements related to the proposed business combination and related transactions when it becomes available, and which can be obtained free of charge from the sources indicated above.

About GigCapital, Inc.

GigCapital, Inc. (NYSE: GIG, GIG.U, GIG.RT, and GIG.WS), is a Private-to-Public Equity (PPE) company, (also known as a Blank-Check or Special Purpose Acquisition Company ("SPAC")), sponsored by GigAcquisitions, LLC, and sole-managed by GigFounders, LLC (www.gigfoundersglobal.com). All were founded in 2017 by Dr. Avi Katz. The companies are led by an affiliated team of technology industry experts, deploying its unique Mentor-Investors methodology to partner with exceptional privately-held technology companies of dedicated solid entrepreneurs. The companies offer financial, operational and executive mentoring in order to accelerate their path from inception, privately-held entity into the growth-stage as a publicly traded company. The partnership continues through an organic and roll-up strategy growth post the public offering. For more information, visit www.gigcapitalglobal.com.

"Private-to-Public Equity (PPE)" and "Mentor-Investor" are trademarks of GigFounders, LLC, used pursuant to agreement.

About Kaleyra

Kaleyra is a global group specializing in providing mobile messaging services for financial institutions and multiple other types of enterprises of all sizes. Through its proprietary platform, Kaleyra manages multi-channel integrated communication services on a global scale, comprising messages, push notifications, e-mail, instant messaging, voice services and chatbots. Kaleyra's technology today makes it possible to manage huge volumes of messages, with some 2 billion notifications a month. For more information: www.kaleyra.com

Non-GAAP Financial Measure and Related Information

This communication includes reference to adjusted EBITDA, a financial measure that is not prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). Adjusted EBITDA is defined as of any date of calculation, the consolidated pro forma earnings of Kaleyra and its subsidiaries, before finance income and finance cost (including bank charges), tax, depreciation and amortization calculated from the audited consolidated financial statements of such party and its subsidiaries (prepared in accordance with local GAAP), plus (i) transaction expenses of Kaleyra and GigCapital, (ii) without duplication of clause (i), severance or change of control payments, (iii) any expenses related to company restructuring, (iv) any compensation expenses relating to stock options, restricted stock units, restricted stock or similar equity interests as may be issued by the post-combination company or any of its subsidiaries to their employees and (v) any provision for the write down of assets. The pro forma earnings of Kaleyra, which is an Italian company, and its subsidiaries, which include subsidiaries outside of the U.S., may not be prepared in conformance with Article 11 of Regulation S-X of the SEC. Adjusted EBITDA is being used to determine whether conditions have been achieved that would result in the issuance of the earn-out and the vesting of the Deferred Shares. GigCapital management believes that this non-GAAP measure of Kaleyra's financial results will provide useful information to management and investors regarding certain financial and business trends relating to Kaleyra's anticipated financial condition and results of operations. Investors should not rely on any single financial measure to evaluate Kaleyra's anticipated business.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of U.S. federal securities laws regarding the proposed transactions and GigCapital. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the closing of the combination and the expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions, plans, prospects or strategies regarding the business combination and future business plans of the Kaleyra and GigCapital management teams. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intends," "may," "might," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "would" and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on certain assumptions and analyses made by the management of GigCapital and/or Kaleyra in light of their respective experience and their perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments and their potential effects on Kaleyra and GigCapital as well as other factors they believe are appropriate in the circumstances. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting Kaleyra or GigCapital will be those anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond the control of the parties) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, including that the GigCapital stockholders will approve the transaction, the ability of the post-combination company to meet the NYSE listing standards, and that Kaleyra will have sufficient capital upon the approval of the transaction to operate as anticipated. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of the assumptions being made prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to 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.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005706/en/

Contacts:

GigCapital:

Darrow Associates, Inc.

Jim Fanucchi

+1 (408) 404-5400

ir@gigcapitalglobal.com

Kaleyra:

Marco Lastrico

Barabino Partners USA, LLC

+1 212 308 8710

m.lastrico@barabinousa.com
Lineup includes astronaut Scott Parazynski, senior Celent analyst Michael Fitzgerald, and insurance leaders from top carriers

Boston, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Duck Creek Technologies revealed today the full roster of speakers who will be presenting this year at Formation '19, Duck Creek's flagship annual conference. The event will be held at Turnberry Isle resort in Miami, FL from March 31st to April 2nd, and will feature keynote addresses from, among many distinguished speakers:

Scott Parazynski : Astronaut, Everest climber, author, physician, pilot, and inventor. In his 17 years as an astronaut, Parazynski served in numerous senior leadership roles, including Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Branch Chief and Lead Astronaut for Space Shuttle Thermal Protection System Inspection & Repair in the aftermath of the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy. Mission highlights include serving as Senator John Glenn's crewmate and "personal physician" during STS-95 and conducting EVA-assembly of the Canadian-built space station arm during STS-100. Awards received by Parazynski include: five NASA Spaceflight Medals, two NASA Distinguished Service Medals, two NASA Exceptional Service Medals, two Vladimir Komarov Diplomas from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, and two Flight Achievement Awards from the American Astronomical Association. He is also a member of the Arkansas Aviation Hall of Fame and was awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa from the Military University of Technology in Warsaw, Poland. In May 2016 he was inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame.

: Astronaut, Everest climber, author, physician, pilot, and inventor. In his 17 years as an astronaut, Parazynski served in numerous senior leadership roles, including Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Branch Chief and Lead Astronaut for Space Shuttle Thermal Protection System Inspection & Repair in the aftermath of the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy. Mission highlights include serving as Senator John Glenn's crewmate and "personal physician" during STS-95 and conducting EVA-assembly of the Canadian-built space station arm during STS-100. Awards received by Parazynski include: five NASA Spaceflight Medals, two NASA Distinguished Service Medals, two NASA Exceptional Service Medals, two Vladimir Komarov Diplomas from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, and two Flight Achievement Awards from the American Astronomical Association. He is also a member of the Arkansas Aviation Hall of Fame and was awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa from the Military University of Technology in Warsaw, Poland. In May 2016 he was inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame. Michael Fitzgerald , CPCU, MBA, PMP: Senior Analyst at Celent. Fitzgerald's research focuses on innovation, emerging technologies (blockchain, artificial intelligence), billing, business process and operations, social media, and distribution management. At Formation '19, he will reveal results of a months-long international research project measuring carriers' ability to keep pace with change in P&C insurance.

, CPCU, MBA, PMP: Senior Analyst at Celent. Fitzgerald's research focuses on innovation, emerging technologies (blockchain, artificial intelligence), billing, business process and operations, social media, and distribution management. At Formation '19, he will reveal results of a months-long international research project measuring carriers' ability to keep pace with change in P&C insurance. Tracey Berg : President of Cerity. A subsidiary of Employers Holdings, Inc., Cerity is a direct-to-consumer company dedicated to reimagining the way small businesses purchase and maintain their workers' compensation insurance. Prior to the formation of Cerity, Berg held the positions of EVP, Chief Innovation Officer and EVP, Chief Information Officer at Employers. Over 25 years, she has held a variety of roles in insurance and technology. Berg holds Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

: President of Cerity. A subsidiary of Employers Holdings, Inc., Cerity is a direct-to-consumer company dedicated to reimagining the way small businesses purchase and maintain their workers' compensation insurance. Prior to the formation of Cerity, Berg held the positions of EVP, Chief Innovation Officer and EVP, Chief Information Officer at Employers. Over 25 years, she has held a variety of roles in insurance and technology. Berg holds Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Darryl Catts : CIO, Insurance IT at AXIS Insurance. Catts led a multi-year enterprise transformation program including technology re-platforming and product / process redesign at AXIS that has supported growth 40% above plan, financial returns at 250% of initial estimates, and a 75% improvement in quote times for many lines of business - all of which contributed to AXIS earning a 2018 Novarica Impact Award, one of the largest peer-juried awards in the insurance industry.

: CIO, Insurance IT at AXIS Insurance. Catts led a multi-year enterprise transformation program including technology re-platforming and product / process redesign at AXIS that has supported growth 40% above plan, financial returns at 250% of initial estimates, and a 75% improvement in quote times for many lines of business - all of which contributed to AXIS earning a 2018 Novarica Impact Award, one of the largest peer-juried awards in the insurance industry. Kardiner Cadet: Senior Vice President of StarStone's eCommerce Division. With more than 22 years of experience in property and casualty insurance, Cadet is responsible for ongoing operations and evolving the division's digital strategy. He recently led a transformative business intelligence project that improved StarStone's loss ratio significantly while also streamlining underwriting and increasing the carrier's net promoter score.

In all, more than 20 speakers will present at this year's Formation, which has rapidly become the premier SaaS event in the P&C insurance space due to its innovative and engaging speakers, group sessions, and product and feature introductions.

"Duck Creek's mission has always been to provide carriers with the solutionsthey need to make work more productive and more efficient, and to position them well for the future through digital technologies," said Duck Creek CEO Michael Jackowski, who will also deliver a keynote speech. "This year at Formation '19, we will be introducing products and features that further differentiate the Duck Creek Platformand Duck Creek OnDemandas the tools modern insurers need to succeed in an ever-changing marketplace. Add to that an amazing lineup of speakers, and we're confident that attendees will leave the event with a clear blueprint for the future."

Carrier registration for Formation '19 is now open. To learn more or to register for this year's event, go to www.duckcreek.com/formation19.

About Duck Creek Technologies:

Duck Creek Technologies paves a genuine path to the future for P&C insurance companies. Decades of insurance experience underpin advanced technologies specifically designed to accommodate change - allowing carriers to navigate uncertainty and capture market opportunities faster than their competitors. All of the company's offerings are available standalone or as a full suite, and all are available via Duck Creek OnDemand, the provider's SaaS solution for the P&C insurance industry. For more information, visit www.duckcreek.com.



Media Contact:

Paul Rechichi

Racepoint Global

617-624-3295

prechichi@racepointglobal.com
DUBLIN, Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- DMS Governance ("DMS"), the world's leading governance + risk + compliance firm, together with CIFC Asset Management LLC ("CIFC"), a U.S. credit manager, are pleased to announce the launch of the CIFC Global Floating Rate Credit Fund (the "Fund"), an open-ended, Irish collective portfolio management vehicle authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland as a UCITS. The Fund's investment objective is to generate attractive long-term, risk-adjusted returns primarily by investing in and managing a portfolio of U.S. and European debt. The Fund will invest in some of the more liquid sectors of collateralised loan obligation (CLO) bonds, investing at least half of its funds in BBB-rated bonds.

"DMS is delighted to be partnering with CIFC to facilitate its European UCITS fund and distribution strategy. CIFC is an extremely high-quality manager and our partnership demonstrates its commitment and confidence in the DMS product and its team. We look forward to working with CIFC to develop a successful and long-standing relationship," commented Conor MacGuinness, Managing Director of DMS Europe.

CIFC Europe's Managing Director, Joshua Hughes added: "We believe the Fund will appeal to discretionary wealth managers, funds of funds managers and family offices who want to access the enhanced returns that the CLO market offers without the liquidity and diversification challenges that direct investments in CLOs would entail. The UCITS structure gives investors confidence and builds upon the quality of the team we have working on the management and distribution of the fund."

About DMS

DMS Governance is the worldwide leader in fund governance + risk + compliance representing leading investment funds and managers. DMS is a global institutional firm that excels in delivering high-quality services across a diverse range of investment fund structures and strategies. We are proud to be the leading independent provider of AIFM, UCITS Management Company and MiFID services to many of the largest institutional investors and asset managers globally. www.dmsgovernance.com

About CIFC Asset Management, LLC

Founded in 2005, CIFC is a credit manager with over $21.0Bn of assets (as of 31/12/2018) under management specializing in corporate and structured credit strategies. Headquartered in New York, CIFC is a SEC registered investment adviser. Serving institutional investors globally, CIFC is one of the largest managers of senior secured corporate credit. www.cifc.com

Media Contact

Alison Mitsas

Marketing Director

DMS Governance

(p) +1.345.749.2514 (c) +1.345.325.1776

E: amitsas@dmsgovernance.com
Partnership to Provide Secure Partition to Separate Business Data on Personal Devices; Assures Compliance with Mobility Requirements of NIST SP 800-171

SyncDog Inc., the leading Independent Software Vendor (ISV) for next generation mobile security and data loss prevention, today announced a partnership with FullScope IT, a leading provider of IT support and consulting, to enable secure and productive mobile workforces within highly regulated industries. FullScope IT will integrate SyncDog's SaaS platform, Secure.Systems, into their security service offerings in order to provide clients with a data loss prevention (DLP) application workspace that will protect and secure their mobile workforce.

In order to accommodate the more than 70 percent of professionals globally who work remote at least one day a week, highly regulated industries are seeking new technology that will enable employees to remain productive by having secure access to sensitive data outside of their organization's protected network. Similarly, employees within these industries need a secure mobile experience that is as good as the experience they have while working in the office on their desktop or laptop.

Additionally, the majority of companies in the United States and Europe are required to comply with at least one IT security regulation. These include regulations that govern the management of personal data, healthcare data, financial records, payment card data, and more, which forces companies to exert strong control over how data is transferred, accessed, and maintained throughout its lifespan. For example, adhering to the mobility requirements of NIST SP 800-171 requires organizations to enforce multi-factor authentication and other means of security to ensure their data is protected in transit and at rest. As these regulations evolve, the traditional utilization of Mobile Device Management (MDM) policies can no longer provide the security that organizations require.

"Our work with FullScope IT will provide their customers with the ability to remove the technological struggle of having to choose between increased security and increased productivity," said SyncDog CRO, Brian Egenrieder. "In this day and age, highly regulated industries need to rely on mobile devices to keep their business moving forward. SyncDog's Secure.Systems 256-bit encryption, combined with multi-factor authentication makes BYOD a realistic solution by offering the ability to keep sensitive data secure while meeting all IT security regulations."

"Mobility enables collaboration in real time while outside of the office, but at the cost of escalated risk to sensitive and controlled information," said President and CEO of FullScope IT, Ryan Rosencranz. "SyncDog provides our customers with a proactive layer of security, allowing them to securely collaborate in the field from a highly-functional mobile container."

With built in NIST SP 800-171 compliance, Secure.Systems will be integral to FullScope IT's customers. The platform is a containerized application suite that companies can deploy over the cloud, on-premise, or a combination of both, to employee's devices to ensure security and convenience for remote workers. Secure.Systems creates a seamless and highly secure partition on any iOS or Android device, completely separating business data and applications from intrusion and misuse. Employees, contractors, and third-party workers within government, legal, healthcare, and other verticals can use SyncDog's Secure.Systems platform to securely access Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) data from any device. Secure.Systems FIPS validated cryptography is a missing piece in many BYOD solutions, and a specific control requirement of the NIST SP 800-171 that until recently many contractors have put off or ignored.

This week, SyncDog is exhibiting at Mobile World Congress Barcelona, the largest mobile event in the world, bringing together the latest innovations and leading-edge technology from more than 2,400 leading companies. SyncDog will be demoing their Secure.Systems platform during the conference until Thursday, February 26 at Hall 7 Stand 7N61. For more information, visit our website https://www.syncdog.com/mobile-world-congress-feb-25-28/.

About SyncDog Inc.

SyncDog is the leading ISV for building mobile frameworks that extend app functionality to devices while securing corporate and Government networks from mobile-endpoint threat. SyncDog's flagship solution, Secure.Systems, delivers a rich and unimpeded mobile experience for employees working remotely, and supports a multitude of enterprise productivity apps within a NIST-certified (FIPS 140-2 cert. #2687), workspace. Secure.Systems is ideal for organizations that want to deliver a rich mobile app experience across BYOD, CYOD (choose your own device), or other endpoint device policy. Secure.Systems is a natural complement to security and compliance auditing initiatives to satisfy the mandates of HIPAA, GDPR, PCI DSS, GLBA, FISMA, and other laws/standards for data security.

Secure.Systems can be deployed as managed service from https://secure.systems or as an on- premise solution. Additionally, Secure.Systems can be found on the Microsoft Azure and MobileIron marketplace exchanges, as well as on the App Store (iOS) and Google Play Store (Android).

For more information about SyncDog, please visit https://syncdog.com.

About FullScope IT

Headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland, with offices in Plano, Texas and Stafford, Virginia, FullScope IT provides managed IT support to clients in diverse industries across the country following a Managed Service Provider (MSP) model. FullScope IT is a winner of the prestigious Channel Futures MSP 501 award (top 500 MSPs worldwide) and a partner in The 20. With our flat monthly fee, you can forget about hourly rates, labor billing, fees for drive time, hidden charges, and unpredictable monthly bills. Instead, focus on your business. Visit us online at www.FullScopeIT.com and connect with us on Facebook and LinkedIn.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005170/en/

Contacts:

LaunchTech Communications

Caroline Dobyns, 410-353-5340

caroline@golaunchtech.com
Under Team Unity administration there is a stronger relationship between the two islands. Commination between the Federal government on the island of St Kitts and the Nevis Island Administration is now significantly better, according to the Premier the Honourable Mark Brantley, who was speaking at the Community Consultations meeting at the St Paul's Anglican Church Hall in Nevis early in February.

"The relationship between St Kitts and Nevis has never been better. It is the best that it has been in the history of this countryand as someone who has been in the middle of it, both from the Nevis end as Premier and sitting in the Federal Cabinet, I can tell you that there has been a genuine effort to meet the needs of all the people of the country and to provide in a way that all the people of the country can benefit," Brantley said.

Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris backed up Brantley's sentiments fully. "It took a change, a new Team Unity administration with a new philosophy, with a new vision of empowerment across the divide to bring Nevis into a genuine federal relationship," said Harris.

Enhanced unity in the twin island nation empowers greater economic progress and provides for a more stable environment, making the dual-island nation a more attractive county for foreign investment. This is of particular interest for Citizenship by Investment (CBI) investors, for whom government stability is a key priority when choosing a CBI Programme, and who therefore may be further attracted to the St Kitts and Nevis' Programme.

The St Kitts and Nevis CBI Programme grants entrepreneurs and their families second citizenship in return for an investment to a national development fund, the Sustainable Growth Fund. The Programme prides itself on operating at an industry-recognised 'Platinum Standard' and accompanies decades of experience in second citizenship. Established since 1984, St Kitts and Nevis has the longest-running CBI programme in the world and has pioneered many of the best practices applied by countries today. For example, the Programme recently became the first Caribbean CBI jurisdiction to operate a digital fingerprinting system.

International legal advisory CS Global Partners is government-mandated to promote St Kitts and Nevis' Citizenship by Investment Programme.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005134/en/

Contacts:

Thomas Kohn

pr@csglobalpartners.com

+(44)2073184343

www.csglobalpartners.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 26, 2019) - Miramont Resources Corp. (CSE: MONT) (OTCQB: MRRMF) (FRA: 6MR) ("Miramont" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed an option agreement to acquire the An An concession adjacent to its existing Cerro Hermoso project. Miramont has now consolidated a total of 1886 hectares at the project with the addition of this 568 ha. concession.

The An An concession borders the existing Cerro Hermoso concession block on its southeast boundary. The exploration potential of this new concession is considered excellent given its proximity to the magmatic dike zone and magnetic anomaly.

The option is valid for four years. Under the terms of the agreement Miramont must make the following payments to acquire 100% of the concession:

US$30,000 on signing (paid)

US$20,000 on 6 month anniversary

US$60,000 on 24 month anniversary

US$500,000 to exercise option to purchase (48 months)

There is no residual royalty.

The initial drilling campaign has begun at the Cerro Hermoso project. Miramont is testing its three priority targets known as the Stockwork Zone, the Central Breccia Zone and the Carbonate Replacement Zone. Drilling on the newly acquired An An concession will require further permitting and will not be included during the current program. The Company anticipates initial drilling results in the near-term. Further information on Cerro Hermoso can be found on the Company's website.

National Instrument 43-101 Disclosure

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. William Pincus, CPG, President and CEO of Miramont and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

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@miramontrresources.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/43029
The department has already moved five new people to the academy, and must add five more. The request moves the deadline from Monday, Feb. 25, to March 18.
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / February 26, 2019 / Vanadium One Energy Corp. (the "Company") (TSX-V: VONE), has retained the services of independent consultants CSA Global Pty Ltd ("CSA Global"), to assist in advancing the Company's Mont Sorcier Magnetite Iron Ore and Vanadium Project, located in Chibougamau, Quebec. Under the terms of the contract, CSA Global will provide technical support, an initial mineral resource estimate and an NI 43-101 technical report for the Mont Sorcier Project. The Company expects to announce the results of this work in April, 2019.

Company CEO, Mr. Martin Walter stated, "the release of our NI 43-101 report defining our initial mineral resource estimate will be a milestone to confirm the historical data of the Company's Magnetite Iron Ore and Vanadium Project at Mont Sorcier."

Vanadium One is also pleased to announce that it will be an exhibitor at this year's PDAC convention, to be held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, from March 3-6, 2019. The Management Team of the Company will be present, in Booth 2633, to meet with PDAC attendees. The Company invites all to come by the booth and meet the Team, to learn more about the Mont Sorcier Magnetite Iron Ore and Vanadium Project.

About Vanadium One Energy Corp.:

Vanadium One Energy Corp. is a mineral exploration company headquartered in Toronto, Canada. The Company is focused on advancing the Mont Sorcier, Vanadium-rich, Magnetite Project, in Chibougamau, Quebec. The goal is to define the extent of this resource and demonstrate its economic viability.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF VANADIUM ONE ENERGY CORP.

Martin Walter, CEO

Tel: 416-599-8547

Rodney Ireland, Investor Relations

Tel: 416-599-8547

info@vanadiumone.com

www.vanadiumone.com

Cautionary Note Regarding 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.

This news release contains "forward-looking information" including statements with respect to the future exploration performance of the Company. This forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements of the Company, expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks, as well as others, are disclosed within the Company's filing on SEDAR, which investors are encouraged to review prior to any transaction involving the securities of the Company. Forward-looking information contained herein is provided as of the date of this news release and the Company disclaims any obligation, other than as required by law, to update any forward-looking information for any reason. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate and the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking information.

SOURCE: Vanadium One Energy Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/536989/Vanadium-One-Energy-Corp-Engages-CSA-Global-for-Initial-NI-43-101-Mineral-Resource-Estimate-at-Its-Mont-Sorcier-Project
BEVERLY HILLS, CA / ACCESSWIRE / February 26, 2019 / NMS Consulting, Inc. ('NMSC') today announced that technology leader and pioneer, Dr. Edward T. H. Wu has joined NMS Consulting's Corporate Advisory practice as Managing Director. Dr. Wu, who is highly regarded as a visionary entrepreneur, educator, author and founder of several high-tech companies, will be based from the firm's Beverly Hills and Hong Kong offices.

Dr. Wu's career spans more than 30 years both in the United States and China where he has been responsible for the growth of multiple companies that specialize in technology, solar energy and solar thermal, clean energy, software and electronics. Dr. Wu founded Shenzhen, China based Ferroton Advanced Electronics Ceramics, Inc., a firm specializing in its patented technology related to Piezoelectric Ceremic Transformer (PCT) technology. In addition, Dr. Wu founded TwinBridge Software, Inc. having also served as Chairman and CEO leading this company to introduce the first Chinese, Korean and Japanese versions of Microsoft's Windows operating and front end editing systems. In 1996, TwinBridge was the first leading company to launch Chinese OCR, Translation, Hand Writing and Voice Recognition software to the world. Twinbridge's further success resulted in Dr. Wu's development of an international distribution network with the Taiwan Foreign Affairs Department resulting in the TwinBridge software being selected as one of the major Chinese education tools and standards to the global trading and business associations, culture and literature institutions, Chinese communities and schools.

Dr. Wu is also a patented inventor having received numerous patents most recently having invented an innovative MiniSolar Concentrator technology which is highly scalable, easily deployable and maintainable solar energy systems. He is also the founder of Solar Buster Corporation, a manufacturing and sales firm of the MiniSolar Concentrator to the global markets.

'It's an honor to be part of the NMS Consulting senior team' said. Dr. Wu 'I am eager to work with existing and new clients in both the USA and China where I am able to apply experience and expertise, coupled with guidance in assisting our clients in achieving their goals.'

'As NMS Consulting is cementing its position as a global professional services firm, its important that we maintain our commitment to only attracting and working with the highest caliber of professionals' said, Trevor M. Saliba, Managing Partner. 'Dr. Wu is a true leader and pioneer in the technology sector and leader both here in the United States as well as China. His counsel to NMS Consulting clients both in China and the USA shall prove invaluable, especially to Chinese firms looking to enter the USA market and American firms looking to enter the China market. It's a pleasure to welcome Dr. Wu to the team'

Dr. Wu received his Ph.D from the Materials Science Department at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1983. In addition, he was a professor at UCLA from 1987 to 1990 where he also conducted groundbreaking and innovative research in ferroelectric thin films for electro-optical applications, piezoelectric fibers for robot sensing applications, and metallic glass for neuron network applications. As a highly regarded leading scientist in subatomic particle physics, Dr. Wu has published 15 papers and authored a book 'My Universe - A Theory of Yangton and Tington Pairs' to explain the formations and correlations between Space, Time, Matter and Energy, which have made a great impact to modern physics.

About NMS Consulting

NMS Consulting is a global strategic advisory firm focused on delivering client solutions across three business units: management consulting, corporate advisory and strategic communications. The firm provides strategic counsel to private and public companies, governments, philanthropic organizations and the individuals who lead them. For more information, please visit www.nmsconsulting.com.

Media Contact:

Terrie Gorman

+1.310.855.0020

info@nmsconsulting.com

SOURCE: NMS Consulting, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/536869/Technology-Industry-Pioneer-Dr-Edward-T-H-Wu-Joins-NMS-Consulting-as-Managing-Director
PHOENIX, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / February 26, 2019 / Uptick Newswire Stock Day Podcast welcomed Auryn Resources (AUG) back to the show to discuss targeting results derived from a newly-implemented machine learning technology. Auryn is a junior exploration company focused on finding the next globally significant mineral discovery. Ivan Bebek, executive chairman and director of Auryn, joined Stock Day host Everett Jolly.

Jolly began by asking Ivan to bring listeners up to speed on the Company's Committee Bay high-grade gold project in Nunavut. Auryn recently announced that machine learning technology generated twelve new targets (News Release from Feb. 19) and Bebek said, 'if it is right, we probably have the most real estate globally in a geo-politically safe area to have multiple major discoveries.'

Jolly asked Bebek for some background on the project and Bebek explained, 'Committee Bay is a 220-mile long belt with gold on surface from one end to the other.' He further explained that prior to the Company's arrival at this site, a gold deposit in the amount of 1.3 million ounces at 8 grams per ton was found. 'The opportunity at Committee Bay has been huge,' added Bebek.

He explained that essentially, the Company has the ideal technology to find gold mineralization, as well as a rich space to test it. 'We would go down in history, if we get this right, as the first company to find a world-scale deposit by using computer intelligence as a tool alongside our geologists. It would be spectacular. Everyone would make a tremendous amount of money.', stated Bebek.

He added that this is a dream scenario for the Company and that they look forward to begin drilling in the near future.

Jolly then asked about the Company's next step. Bebek explained that six out of the twelve target sites are ready to be drilled, while the other six need to be analyzed further.

Jolly then switched gears to talk about Auryn's flagship project in Peru, Sombrero, which has been gaining global attention. Bebek shared that the Company began exploring this area a year and a half ago and is currently awaiting drilling permits. He says a tremendous amount of gold and copper has been found on the surface, and several nearby sites have already proven to be extremely profitable.

Bebek then shared his belief that copper has been in low supply and as the demand increases, the price of copper with rise substantially. This trend is expected to continue well into the future, making the value of the Company's copper drilling project in Peru even more valuable. Bebek added that currently there are no other major copper sites coming forward.

To close the interview, Bebek shared that the Company looks forward to the news and developments of the projects in Committee Bay and Peru as they continue to evolve.

To hear Ivan Bebek's entire interview, follow the link to the podcast here: https://upticknewswire.com/featured-interview-executive-chairman-ivan-bebek-of-auryn-resources-inc-nyse-aug-2/

Investors Hangout is a proud sponsor of 'Stock Day,' and Uptick Newswire encourages listeners to visit the company's message board at https://investorshangout.com/

About Auryn Resources

Auryn Resources is a technically-driven, well-financed junior exploration company focused on finding and advancing globally significant precious and base metal deposits. The company has a portfolio approach to asset acquisition and has seven projects, including two flagships: the Committee Bay high-grade gold project in Nunavut and the Sombrero copper-gold project in southern Peru. Auryn's technical and management teams have an impressive track record of successfully monetizing assets for all stakeholders and local communities in which it operates. Auryn conducts itself to the highest standards of corporate governance and sustainability.

Forward Looking Information and Additional Cautionary Language

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking information is information that includes implied future performance and/or forecast information including information relating to or associated with the acquisition and title to mineral concessions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different (either positively or negatively) from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Readers should refer to the risks discussed in the Company's Annual Information Form and MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2017 and subsequent continuous disclosure filings with the Canadian Securities Administrators available at www.sedar.com and the Company's registration statement on Form 40-F filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov .

The Toronto Stock Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contact Information:

For further information on Auryn Resources Inc., please contact Natasha Frakes, Manager of Corporate Communications at (778) 729-0600, info@aurynresources.com or visit www.aurynresources.com .

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.

SOURCE:

Uptick Newswire

602-441-3474

https://upticknewswire.com/

SOURCE: Uptick Newswire

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/536990/Auryn-Discusses-Results-of-New-Machine-Learning-Generated-Targets-at-Committee-Bay-on-Uptick-Newswires-Stock-Day-Podcast
- The company's 'AI-based Media Recommendation Technology' selected as the winner of the 'Best Mobile Video Content Service' category at this year's Global Mobile Awards

- "SK Telecom will continue to strengthen its competitiveness in media platforms through further enhancement of AI-based video search technologies."

SEOUL, South Korea, Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM) today announced that the company won the 'Best Mobile Video Content Service' category of the GSMA Global Mobile Awards (GLOMO Awards) 2019, held as part of 2019 MWC Barcelona.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/826970/SK_Telecom_Award.jpg

Organized by GSMA, which represents the interests of mobile operators globally, the GLOMO Awards recognize and celebrate all contributions made to the evolving and developing mobile industry. The Awards are judged by independent industry experts, analysts, academic and journalists, and the winners are announced on-site throughout the MWC exhibition.

The 'Best Mobile Video Content Service' category is presented to the most compelling mobile video service and technology.

In February 2018, SK Telecom and its internet service subsidiary SK Broadband collaboratively commercialized the keyword-based recommendation technology and applied it to Btv (IPTV service) and oksusu (mobile OTT service). This technology enables users to navigate through video contents based on keywords extracted from texts such as synopses, reviews and comments.

Moreover, since developing its 'AI-based Media Recommendation Technology' in September 2018, the two companies have been actively applying the technology to both Btv and oksusu.

AI-based Media Recommendation Technology features an video analysis-based scene search, which enables users to select specific scenes from a movie, and a personalized content recommendation engine that suggests video contents based on the users' preference.

With AI-based Media Recommendation Technology, users can select specific scenes in a movie by the actors that appear or by a specific action that is taking place, and view an optimal list of contents based on viewing history.

"SK Telecom has taken video analysis-based scene search and personalized content recommendation to the next level through the application of deep learning technologies," said Jeon Jin-soo, Vice President and Head of Media Labs of SK Telecom. "We will continue to make efforts to bring innovative changes to customers' media-watching experience by applying the AI-based media technologies to broader areas of our media business."

About SK Telecom

SK Telecom is the largest mobile operator in Korea with nearly 50 percent of the market share. As the pioneer of all generations of mobile networks, the company has launched the fifth generation (5G) network on December 1, 2018. The company is not only leading innovations in the field of mobile network, but is also creating unprecedented value in areas such as media, security and commerce. In the Fourth Industrial Revolution, SK Telecom will inspire the world, building a future beyond expectations.

For more information, please contact skt_press@sk.com or sktelecom@bm.com

Media Contact

Yong-jae Lee

SK Telecom Co., Ltd.

(822) 6100-3838

(8210) 3129 6880

yjlee6880@sk.com

Ha-young Lee

BCW Korea

(822) 3782 6421

Hayoung.Lee@bcw-global.com
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MYM Nutraceuticals Inc., (CSE: MYM.CN) (CSE: MYM) (OTCBB: MYMMF) ("MYM" or "The Company") is pleased to announce additional organizational restructuring and key leadership changes.

"Today's announcement marks the continuation of our 2019 strategic plan that includes new leadership and focused direction for MYM," said Howard Steinberg, CEO of MYM. "Our restructured operational leadership team represents a significant step toward strength and stability for the Company. It will greatly enhance our ability to be successful in our goal of global expansion and creating shareholder value."

Elizabeth S Liu QC will assume the role of Executive Vice-President and Chief Legal Officer. In addition to overseeing the company's legal matters, Ms. Liu will provide the company with a broad range of strategic and risk management advice. Ms. Liu has acted for both early stage and established companies and has served as the chief operating officer for a number of them including some in the natural health products industry. Ms. Liu was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2016.

Robin Linden's role is expanded to that of Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. Mr. Linden will lead the marketing and communications team as well as provide direction for the overall strategy of the company. In addition to the branding and sales of a variety of cannabis-based products, Mr. Linden contributes over two decades of leadership and management experience in the alcoholic beverage, luxury retail and luxury hotel sectors.

Mark Forster once again becomes the company's Chief Financial Officer, taking over for former CFO, Craig Lennox. Mr. Forster has 30 years of experience in financial and management accounting in the banking, manufacturing, oil and gas, and mining industries. His prior CFO experience includes Oracle Energy Corp. and Teletouch Services Inc. He is a Chartered Public Accountant (CPA, CGA) registered in British Columbia.

Paul Cheetham will oversee MYM's global operations as the company's newly appointed Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Cheetham will lead the daily operations of the global MYM team and be responsible for the alignment and prioritization of the company investments and ensuring operational excellence across the organization. A Harvard Business School alumnus, Mr. Cheetham has extensive experience leading teams across the finance, marketing and communications, and technology industries

Tibor Antal has been named to the newly created position of Vice President of Business Development. Mr. Antal will develop new business opportunities to help establish MYM Nutraceuticals as a global leader in the cannabis space. Mr. Antal has over 30 years-experience creating partnerships, alliances and building brands around the globe.

Billy Casselman will assume the role of Vice President, Commercial Sales & Investor Relations. Mr. Casselman will be responsible for the development and execution of MYM's medical and recreational brands across various sales channels. Billy Casselman has 20 years of sales and marketing experience within regulated consumer packaged goods for National wine and spirit agencies.

About MYM NutraceuticalsInc.

MYM Nutraceuticals Inc. is an innovative company focused on the global growth of Cannabis and hemp. To ensure a strong presence and growth potential within the industry, MYM is actively looking to acquire complementary businesses and assets in the technology, nutraceuticals and CBD sectors. MYM shares trade in Canada, Germany and the USA under the following symbols: (CSE:MYM) (OTC:MYMMF) (FRA:0MY) (DEU:0MY) (MUN:0MY) (STU:0MY).

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Howard Steinberg, CEO

MYM Nutraceuticals Inc.

www.mym.ca

Keep up to date with MYM on our social media channels:

Twitter: @mymnutra

Facebook: @mymnutra

Instagram: @mymnutra

This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events or results. Such statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. 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, which are posted on www.sedar.com.

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), accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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.

Investor Relations

Billy Casselman

778-522-2261

investors@mym.ca
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 26, 2019) - Walker River Resources Corp. (TSXV: WRR) ("Walker" or the "Company") is pleased to announce additional drill results from the late 2018 reverse circulation ("RC") drill program on the Lapon Canyon Gold Project, located approximately 60 kilometres southeast of Yerington, Nevada.

RC drill hole LC18-31 returned 2.28 g/t Au over 42.7 meters at a depth of 24.4 meters and 159 g/t over 1.5 meters at a depth of 83.8 meters.

Key Highlights:

To date, mineralization has been discovered in a broad, altered, fractured and brecciated NE trending structural zone termed the Lapon Rose Zone. Anomalous gold values are denoted in many areas within this zone, and significant higher-grade mineralization over significant widths is located within sub vertical en echelon zones of intense alteration and gold enrichment.

Walker's initial geological mapping and prospecting on the Project followed by its drill programs has demonstrated the potential for the emplacement of significant gold mineralization.

The 2018 drilling focused on infill and expansion drilling at the Lapon Rose zone, as well as exploration and drilling new targets, including other fault alteration zones, which in some instances show evidence of previous workings. The 2018 exploration drilling was designed to acquire technical and geological information on the structural trends.

Significantly again in Hole LC18-31, drilling intersected 159 g/t Au immediately prior to encountering old mine workings. These workings were intersected over 6.1 meters at a depth of 83.8 meters. This continues to verify historical data of the positioning of previously reported workings, in presently inaccessible mined out areas.

Consistently, since the start up of drilling on the project, all holes drilled within the Lapon Rose zone returned gold values with the majority (80%) returning significant grades and widths in en echelon zones of gold enrichment. The recent discovery of lower grade mineralization and anomalous gold present in granite, which to date has been unmineralized, demonstrates the robust nature of the system.

Assay Table: Summary of Drill Results:

Hole Alt.

(m) From

(m) To

(m) Length**

(m) Assay (Au g/t)

uncut cut* Notes: LC 18-31 2650 24.4 67.1 42.7 2.28 Lapon Rose

















83.8 85.3 1.5 159 34.28 Lapon Rose



86.9 93 6.1 No samples Old mine workings













LC 18-32 2700





No significant assays Granite geology













LC 18-33 2700





No significant assays Granite geology

*Grade cut to 34 g/t

**True widths approx. 73%

The Lapon Rose Zone has now been drilled over a strike length of some 365 meters. The width of the zone exceeds 150 meters, and the zone has been drilled over a vertical extent of 400 meters. The zone remains open along strike and depth.

RC drill hole LC 18-31 was drilled to extend the mineralized zone and was located some 50 meters away from the nearest drill intersection. The Company was not aware of previous mining activity here, demonstrating that the previous workings along the strike length of the zone were more extensive than mapped (Newell, 1936). The lower grade intersection demonstrates the robust nature of the system. Notably, after exiting the workings at 93 meters, drilling returned an assay result of 84.2 g/t Au over 1.5 meters. The Company is not including nor relying on this result in our Assay table as it may represent contamination or mine rubble.

RC drill hole LC 18-32 was drilled to establish the fault contact between the country rock (granite) and the altered/sheared zone which carries the mineralization. This was necessary to acquire geological information prior to follow up drilling of the discovery in Hole 19 (see news release 11-8-17).

RC drill hole LC 18-33 was drilled to acquire geological information near the top of the mountain range where outcrop is covered by colluvium. The hole encountered granite, but interestingly, and significantly, the hole intersected mild alteration (FeOx) in a leached granite containing anomalous gold values ranging from 0.11 g/t Au to 0.65 g/t Au over some 18 meters.

The 2018 drill program was designed to expand gold mineralized zones discovered by the Company, to discover and delineate new gold mineralized zones. The drilling also was designed to acquire technical and geological information on the structural trends. Essential, in the preparation of the 2019 drill program, for planning of drill pad emplacement and drill access routes. Further updates on the Lapon Project will be released as they become available.

Michel David, President states: "We continue to be very excited and encouraged by the drill results from the Lapon Canyon Project. The majority of holes we drilled in the Lapon Rose zone have returned significant gold grades and widths, we also extended the strike length and width of the gold mineralization, now present over 400 vertical meters in Lapon Rose. The zone is also open at depth and strike." Mr. David continues: "The 2018 drill program was again very successful, consistent with all our previous drill programs. Our planning and permitting is fully underway for the upcoming 2019 exploration and drill programs which will begin shortly."

The Company's consultant, Fladgate Exploration Consulting Corp. ("Fladgate") of Thunder Bay, ON., (see news release 02-28-18) a full-service mineral exploration consulting firm, will complete an interpretation, compilation and update of the Lapon Project's digital database with the 2018 drill results. Fladgate's initial interpretations of the Lapon digital database enhanced the planning, design and success of Walker's late 2018 drill program.

The information from the compilation and interpretation of the 2018 drill program on the Lapon Project will greatly aid in acceleration of drilling, geological mapping and understanding of the gold mineralization at the Lapon Project. Planning of the upcoming 2019 Exploration and Drill Programs is underway.

About the Lapon Project

The Lapon Project consists of 96 claims (1,940 acres) situated in the Wassuk Range, easily accessible by secondary state roads from the main highway (25 kilometres). A state grid power transmission line passes within three kilometres of the Lapon Project. The Lapon Project is located within the Walker Lane shear zone, a 100-kilometre-wide structural corridor extending in a southeast direction from Reno, Nevada. Within this trend, numerous gold, silver, and copper mines are located, notably the historic Comstock Lode mines in Virginia City. Also, the past producing Esmeralda/Aurora gold mine, with reported production of some one million ounces and the Anaconda open pit copper mine in Yerington, Nevada.

The Lapon Project is cut by a series of steeply dipping cross fault structures cutting across the Walker trend, analogous to other cross fault structures responsible for many gold and base metal deposits in the world. These faults are heavily sheared and altered (sericite, iron oxides) with abundant silica, varying in width from 60 to 300 meters. Four of these structures have been discovered at Lapon, and at least two can be traced for over four kilometers.

Small-scale high-grade mining began on the project in 1914. Approximately 600 meters of drifts and raises were developed from two adits and a two-stamp mill was built. Further underground work was carried out, returning numerous assay values in the range of one ounce per ton, with a sample at the end of an adit returning 20.6 ounces per ton. (National Instrument 43-101, Montgomery and Barr, 2004). Additional work on the Project in the following years, included the installation of a ball mill and milling facilities.

Sampling Methodology, Chain of Custody, Quality Control and Quality Assurance

All sampling was conducted under the supervision of the Company's project geologists and the chain of custody from the drill to the sample preparation facility was continuously monitored. A blank or certified reference material was inserted approximately every tenth sample. The Lapon samples were delivered to ALS Minerals certified laboratory facility in Reno, NV. The samples were crushed, pulverized and the sample pulps digested and analyzed for gold using fire assay fusion and a 50g gravimetric finish. Higher grade samples used a 1kg screen fire assay with screen to 100 microns and 50g gravimetric finish.

The scientific and technical content and interpretations contained in this news release have been reviewed, verified and approved by E. Gauthier, geol., Eng (OIQ) a director of the Company, and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Michel David"

___________

Michel David,

Chief Executive Officer and Director

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Walker River Resources Corp.

Tel: 819 874-0030

Fax: 819 825-1199

Email: info@wrrgold.com

Website: www.wrrgold.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange Nor Its Regulation Service Provider (As That Term Is Defined In The Policies Of The TSX Venture Exchange) Accepts Responsibility For The Adequacy Or Accuracy Of This News Release.



/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43032
IRW-PRESS: Cypress Development Corp.: Cypress Development erzielt im Rahmen der metallurgischen Untersuchungen zum Lithiumprojekt Clayton Valley in Nevada positive Ergebnisse

Cypress Development erzielt im Rahmen der metallurgischen Untersuchungen zum Lithiumprojekt Clayton Valley in Nevada positive Ergebnisse

26. Februar 2019, Vancouver, BC - Cypress Development Corp. (TSX-V: CYP) (OTCQB: CYDVF) (Frankfurt: C1Z1) (Cypress oder das Unternehmen) freut sich bekannt zu geben, dass die erste Phase der metallurgischen Untersuchungen im Rahmen der Vormachbarkeitsstudie fur das unternehmenseigene Lithiumprojekt Clayton Valley in Nevada abgeschlossen wurde. Die Untersuchungen waren erfolgreich und haben die in der wirtschaftlichen Erstbewertung (Preliminary Economic Assessment/PEA) im Jahr 2018 verwendeten Parameter bestatigt. Laut den Ergebnissen wurde eine Lithiumextraktionsrate zwischen 75 und 83 % erzielt, der Verbrauch von Schwefelsaure lag zwischen 85 und 132 kg/t.

Nach der Veroffentlichung der PEA im Oktober 2018 wurden die metallurgischen Untersuchungen durch Continental Metallurgical Services (CMS) in Butte, Montana fortgesetzt und sind nach wie vor im Gange. CMS hat mehr als 75 einzelne Laugungstests durchgefuhrt. Wahrend einer Gesamtdauer von uber 250 Laborstunden wurden dabei zusammengesetzte Proben aus dem Projekt einer Laugung unterzogen. Ziel des Programms war es, den Laugungsteil des Flussdiagramms der PEA (Laugung im Ruhrbehalter) zu simulieren. Im Rahmen der ersten Testphase erfolgte eine einphasige Laugung bei spezifischer Temperatur, Laugungsdauer und Feststoffgehalt in Prozent. Anschlieend ging man zu einer mehrphasigen Laugung bei variablen Saurebedingungen und Verweildauer uber, wobei das Laugungsverfahren von der Wasche der Ruckstande bis hin zur gewonnenen Laugungslosung (Pregnant Leach Solution/PLS) simuliert wurde. Die Tests wurden in einem niedrigeren Temperaturbereich durchgefuhrt als in der PEA angegeben (70 - 90 C). Die Verweildauer in der ersten Laugungsphase betrug zwischen 1 und 4 Stunden, was in etwa der Vorgabe der PEA (2 Stunden) entspricht. Unter verschiedenen Laugungsbedingungen wurde konsequent eine Lithiumausbeute im Bereich zwischen 75 und 83 % erreicht bzw. optimiert.

Die Tests wurden an zusammengesetzten Massenproben durchgefuhrt, die aus Bohrkernmaterial aus dem gesamten Projektgelande gewonnen wurden. Dieses Material war auch wahrend der Analysen 2018 verwendet worden. Im Rahmen der weiteren Laugungstests werden Proben aus dem geplanten Abbaubereich laut Vormachbarkeitsstudie untersucht. Der Zeitbedarf fur diese zusatzlichen Tests hangt von den weiteren Bohrungen ab, die aufgrund verschiedener Faktoren verschoben werden mussten. Um die Untersuchungen fur die nachste Phase zu beschleunigen, wurde Ausschussmaterial aus drei Bohrlochern (GCH-2, DCH-15 und DCH-17) verwendet und daraus 13 zusammengesetzte Proben hergestellt, welche die groen Tonsteinformationen innerhalb des geplanten Abbaubereichs reprasentieren. Neben den Tests, die an diesen Proben durchgefuhrt werden, besteht fur das Laugungsverfahren nach wie vor Optimierungspotenzial. Um das Programm zu beschleunigen, ubergab das Unternehmen CMS eine ICP-Anlage zur Verwendung wahrend der Probenanalysen im CMS-Labor. Samtliche Analyseergebnisse fur Feststoffe und Losungen werden von ALS-Chemex bestatigt.

Diese Schritte waren relativ zeitaufwandig; bei den weiteren Arbeiten zur Vormachbarkeitsstudie geht es aber nun nicht mehr um eine weitere Optimierung des Laugungsverfahrens, sondern um den Nachweis, dass aus der gewonnenen Laugungslosung verkaufsfertiges Lithium hergestellt werden kann. Im Flussdiagramm der PEA wird dies durch Reinigung, Verdunstung und Kristallisation erreicht. CMS konnte dies im Rahmen der ersten Phase erfolgreich demonstrieren: eine 10-Liter-Probe der Laugungsflussigkeit mit einem Lithiumgehalt von 110 ppm (parts per million) wurde gereinigt und mittels Verdunstung auf einen Lithiumgehalt von uber 4.000 ppm konzentriert. Der Anteil von Magnesium und anderen Verunreinigungen in der resultierenden Konzentratlosung war vernachlassigbar. Die Reinigung, Verdunstung und Kristallisation bleibt als Basisszenario der Vormachbarkeitsstudie erhalten und wird im Rahmen der zweiten Testphase bestatigt. Alternative Methoden der Lithiumproduktion, wie z.B. der Einsatz von Ionentauscherharzen und -membranen, werden ebenfalls untersucht. Das Unternehmen und CMS konnten mit der Lithiumextraktion aus der gewonnenen Laugungslosung unter Einsatz des eigenen IX-Harzes einen gewissen Erfolg erzielen. Cypress hat daruber hinaus auch ein Drittunternehmen beauftragt, Tests mit seinem IX-Harz durchzufuhren.

Bill Willoughby, CEO von Cypress, meint: Wir sind mit den Fortschritten im Rahmen der ersten Phase sehr zufrieden. Obwohl die Arbeiten viel Zeit in Anspruch genommen haben, konnten wir auerst wertvolle Informationen uber das Laugungsverhalten des Tonsteins gewinnen und unsere Kenntnisse in Bezug auf das Laugungsverfahren entscheidend erweitern. Auf dieser Grundlage aufbauend, konnen wir vertrauensvoll zur nachsten Testphase der Vormachbarkeitsstudie ubergehen.

Todd Fayram, MMSA QP #1300, President von Continental Metallurgical Services, LLC, ist der qualifizierte Sachverstandige im Sinne von National Instrument 43-101 und hat die technischen Informationen in dieser Pressemeldung genehmigt.

Uber Cypress Development Corp.:

Cypress Development Corp. ist ein borsennotiertes Explorationsunternehmen, dessen Hauptaugenmerk auf die Erschlieung des zu 100 % unternehmenseigenen Lithiumprojekts Clayton Valley in Nevada gerichtet ist. Die Exploration und die Erschlieung durch Cypress fuhrten zur Entdeckung einer erstklassigen Ressource mit lithiumhaltigem Tongestein neben der Mine Silver Peak von Albemarle, dem einzigem Lithiumsolebetrieb Nordamerikas.

Cypress Development Corp. verfugt uber rund 72,5 Millionen ausgegebene und ausstehende Aktien.

Um mehr uber Cypress Development Corp. (TSX-V: CYP) zu erfahren, besuchen Sie bitte unsere Website auf www.cypressdevelopmentcorp.com.

CYPRESS DEVELOPMENT CORP.

Dr. Bill Willoughby

WILLIAM WILLOUGHBY, PhD., PE

Chief Executive Officer

Fur nahere Informationen wenden Sie sich bitte an mich bzw. an: Don Myers

Cypress Development Corp.

Director, Corporate Communications

Tel: 604-639-3851

Tel: 800-567-8181 (gebuhrenfrei)

Fax: 604-687-3119

E-Mail: info@cypressdevelopmentcorp.com

DIE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE UND DEREN REGULIERUNGSORGANE UBERNEHMEN KEINERLEI VERANTWORTUNG FUR DIE ANGEMESSENHEIT ODER GENAUIGKEIT DES INHALTS DIESER MELDUNG.

Diese Pressemeldung enthalt gewisse Aussagen, die als zukunftsgerichtete Aussagen gelten. Samtliche in dieser Pressemitteilung enthaltenen Aussagen - mit Ausnahme von historischen Fakten -, die sich auf die vom Unternehmen erwarteten Ereignisse oder Entwicklungen beziehen, gelten als zukunftsgerichtete Aussagen. Obwohl die Firmenfuhrung annimmt, dass die in solchen zukunftsgerichteten Aussagen zum Ausdruck gebrachten Erwartungen auf realistischen Annahmen basieren, lassen solche Aussagen keine Ruckschlusse auf die zukunftige Performance zu und die tatsachlichen Ergebnisse oder Entwicklungen konnen wesentlich von jenen der zukunftsgerichteten Aussagen abweichen. Das Unternehmen ist nicht verpflichtet, im Falle einer Anderung der Prognosen, Schatzungen oder Sichtweisen des Managements bzw. anderweitiger Faktoren eine Berichtigung der zukunftsgerichteten Aussagen durchzufuhren. Zu den Faktoren, die dazu fuhren konnten, dass sich die tatsachlichen Ergebnisse erheblich von jenen in den zukunftsgerichteten Aussagen unterscheiden, zahlen unter anderem die Marktpreise, die erfolgreiche Exploration und Erschlieung, die dauerhafte Verfugbarkeit von Kapital und Finanzmittel und die allgemeine Wirtschafts-, Markt- oder Geschaftslage. Weitere Informationen entnehmen Sie bitte der offentlichen Berichterstattung des Unternehmens auf www.sedar.com.

Die Ausgangssprache (in der Regel Englisch), in der der Originaltext veroffentlicht wird, ist die offizielle, autorisierte und rechtsgultige Version. Diese Ubersetzung wird zur besseren Verstandigung mitgeliefert. Die deutschsprachige Fassung kann gekurzt oder zusammengefasst sein. Es wird keine Verantwortung oder Haftung fur den Inhalt, die Richtigkeit, die Angemessenheit oder die Genauigkeit dieser Ubersetzung ubernommen. Aus Sicht des Ubersetzers stellt die Meldung keine Kauf- oder Verkaufsempfehlung dar! Bitte beachten Sie die englische Originalmeldung auf www.sedar.com, www.sec.gov, www.asx.com.au/ oder auf der Firmenwebsite!

Die englische Originalmeldung finden Sie unter folgendem Link:

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https://www.irw-press.at/press_html.aspx?messageID=46032&tr=1

NEWSLETTER REGISTRIERUNG:

Aktuelle Pressemeldungen dieses Unternehmens direkt in Ihr Postfach:

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ISIN CA2327492005

AXC0223 2019-02-26/14:05
Enterprises Benefit from Automated Network Operations, Multi-Vendor Support, and Lower Costs

Apstra addresses customers' application, hybrid cloud, and data center automation needs with the deployment of Intent-Based Data Center Automation to achieve higher reliability, vendor choice, and reduced costs.

"Today we announce the continued expansion of Apstra Intent-Based Data Center Automation across multiple industries and Fortune 500 companies," said Michael Wood, CMO and VP Product, of Apstra. "Enterprises require powerful, agile, and reliable automation to simplify the operations of private, multi-cloud, and multi-vendor data centers using software-first principles that enable networking and operations teams to increase efficiency and meet the demand for business and digital transformation."

Intent-Based Data Center Automation Enterprise Case Studies:

Automation Addresses Data Center Networking Skills Shortage

A mid-size financial services organization reduced operating costs and was able to leverage advanced automation technologies to manage day 0 through day 2 operations. This Enterprise conducts high-volume processing, transactional security and analytics, and has a large number of distributed endpoints. The data center networking team was tasked with increasing the reliability of services, simplifying data center network implementations, and automating operations. By implementing Apstra, the team is able to focus on ensuring that the infrastructure enables the required services. As a result, they significantly improved their end user experience and maximized profit. Read more here.

Manufacturing Enterprise Significantly Reduces Costs and Supports IoT with Innovative Storage-as-a-Service

A large multinational manufacturer orchestrated cost effective scale out and fully automated commodity infrastructure with a major reduction in CapEx and OpEx. Previously this company struggled with managing a complicated system made of different components and networking elements. They were looking for new options in the market to leverage their hardware and implement open source device operating systems. Their main objective was to be able to make their storage applications as consumable as possible by merging storage and networking capabilities into a single consumable service. All while looking to digitally transform their processes to scale and support IoT applications and slash their costs. By implementing Apstra Intent-Based Data Center Automation, this organization simplified the on-boarding of its storage and packaged the networking and storage as one system. The networking team gained reliable support for storage and IoT initiatives and they reduced CapEx and OpEx costs multiple fold. To read about their challenges click here.

Energy Company Accelerates Azure Stack Connectivity through Network Automation

A large multinational energy enterprise and Fortune 500 business with operations in 170+ countries was in need of a data center refresh with the goal of achieving application reliability. As is typical with Fortune 500 organizations, over the last 30 years this corporation has been dependent on and locked in to a single vendor. As a result, the data center infrastructure team fell behind and was unable to deliver on business transformation needs, while their costs spiraled out of control. As a result, outside the purview of the infrastructure team, application teams started moving their workloads to the public cloud. Potential security vulnerabilities and escalating costs ensued. The organization mandated that the infrastructure team to take back control to ensure regulatory, compliance, security, and cost policies were met. The infrastructure team changed their approach to reduce vendor lock-in and move to a more heterogeneous, multi-vendor, agile environment. Consequently, the team delivered on the requirements of the applications team and was able to deploy a private cloud environment. Implementing Apstra enabled them to take a software-first approach and address their hardware vendor management issues, enabling them to meet compliance requirements across both on-premises and the cloud environments. Read about the transformation here.

Large Web Services Company Simplifies Network Design, Build and Operation Process

A multi-service web, advertisement, e-commerce and mobile payment provider operating a multi-vendor production data center network deployed Apstra to help operate and manage, with limited human resources, a large fabric network comprising hundreds of racks and thousands of nodes. Offering a wide range of services to its end-users required a network infrastructure that is able to handle their exponentially growing data traffic. While they initially planned to build automation themselves, they changed their mind after trialing Apstra Intent-Based Data Center Automation they realized that they could leverage Apstra as the automation platform while applying their talented team's skills to extend, accelerate, and focus on their competitively differentiated services. The engineering team reported improvements in agility which have been game changing tasks that took them two weeks in the past now only take them two hours a 99% improvement. Read more about the business impacts here.

Large Fortune 500 Services Company Deploys Apstra for Cost Effective Cloud Services

This Large Fortune 500 business achieves greater agility and application reliability with Intent-Based Data Center Automation. The mission was to implement a customized, secure, on-premises cloud environment to support critical internal and external customer workloads and applications. A turnkey platform was required to host diverse workloads, such as Internet of Things (IoT), Smart Cities, and cyber security threat profiling. Deploying Apstra Intent-Based Data Center Automation enabled this business to onboard workloads as easy as with public clouds, with lower TCO and better IT productivity. Apstra gave the networking, operations, and cloud teams a risk-free approach to implement a cloud software stack and white box hardware. Ultimately, this business benefited from greatly enhanced agility, reliability and reduced costs. Click here to read more about the challenges they faced.

Schedule to meet with Apstra CEO Mansour Karam and Apstra CTO Sasha Ratkovic at OCP 2019 in Booth B21 on March 14 15 in San Jose.

Attend Apstra's session at OCP 2019 on March 15 to learn about Unlocking SONiC's Potential for Intent-Based Data Centers: Three Easy Steps.

About Apstra

Apstra Intent-Based Data Center Automation increases application availability and reliability, simplifies deployment and operations, and dramatically reduces costs for Enterprise, Cloud Service Provider, and Telco data centers. Apstra empowers Intent-Based Data Centers through its pioneering Intent-Based Networking, distributed system architecture, and vendor-agnostic overlay. Headquartered in Menlo Park, California and privately funded, Apstra is a Gartner Cool Vendor and Best of VMworld winner. For more information visit: www.apstra.com or follow us on twitter @ApstraInc.

Apstra Blog

Twitter @ApstraInc

LinkedIn

Facebook

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005423/en/

Contacts:

Media:

Mira Woods for Apstra

617-513-7020

mira@apstra.com
Capital for Colleagues plc - Result of AGM

Capital for Colleagues plc / EPIC: CFCP / Market: NEX / Sector: Investment

26 February 2019

CAPITAL FOR COLLEAGUES PLC

('Capital for Colleagues' or the 'Company')

RESULT OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Capital for Colleagues, the investment vehicle focused on opportunities in the Employee Owned Business ('EOB') sector, is pleased to announce that that all the resolutions were duly passed at the Annual General Meeting of the Company held today.

The change of Board responsibilities, whereby John Eckersley will become a non-executive Director of the Company and Alistair Currie will take John Eckersley's place as Chief Executive of the Company, will take place on 1 April 2019, not 26 February 2019 as announced earlier today.

Commenting on his change in role, John Eckersley said, "Having worked closely with Alistair and the rest of the Board for a number of years I'm confident that this change will allow a smooth transition and 'business as usual' for the Company. As a significant investor in Capital for Colleagues and a continuing director of the Company I will retain a keen interest and involvement in ensuring that it maximises its current and future opportunities."

The Directors of the Company are responsible for the contents of this announcement.

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit www.capitalforcolleagues.com or contact:



CAPITAL FOR COLLEAGUES PLC

Richard Bailey, Chairman

John Eckersley, Chief Executive

0161 464 3260 PETERHOUSE CAPITAL LIMITED

Mark Anwyl

Duncan Vasey 020 7469 0930

Capital for Colleagues

Capital for Colleagues is an investment company focused on the UK EOB sector. The Company has a proven management team, with a wide network of contacts and affiliates, as well as established access to investment opportunities, enabling the Company to execute its strategy and capitalise on EOB-focused investment opportunities.

The Company's joint venture, Castlefield Corporate Advisory Partners, educates and assists companies which are looking to launch employee ownership schemes, advising them, amongst other things, on how to secure investment and achieve their objectives.

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
Multiple high-grade gold drill intersections over 400m of strike length in La Ronge Gold Belt

2.10 oz/t gold over 4 feet (72.00 g/t Au over 1.2 metres) in DDH CSP-16

1.85 oz/t gold over 4.5 feet (64.42 Au g/t over 1.4 metres) in DDH CSP-03

1.39 oz/t gold over 4 feet (47.66 g/t Au over 1.2 metres) in DDH CSP-13

0.569 oz/t gold over 9 feet (19.51 g/t Au over 2.8 metres) in DDH CSP-04

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 26, 2019 / Searchlight Resources Inc.("Searchlight" or the "Company") (TSX-V: SRCH) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an option agreement ("Option Agreement") to earn up to a 100% interest in the English Bay Gold Claims ("English Bay" or the "Property") located 10 kilometers north of La Ronge, Saskatchewan in the La Ronge Gold Belt.

"The acquisition of the high-grade English Bay Gold project with multi-ounce gold intersections in multiple drill holes within half a kilometre of highway 102 is an excellent opportunity for Searchlight and its shareholders" notes Stephen Wallace, CEO and President of Searchlight. Mr. Wallace further states "this fits the Searchlight focus on high quality targets, close to infrastructure in Saskatchewan, one of the most attractive jurisdictions in the world for mining investment."

Option Agreement Terms

Searchlight has the option to acquire 100% interest in English Bay by making the following cash payments, share issuances and exploration expenditures:

1) Searchlight will pay a total of $10,000 as follows:

$1,000 has been paid

$2,000 on the Closing Date.

$3,000 on the first anniversary of the Closing Date

$4,000 on the second anniversary of the Closing Date

2) Searchlight will issue a total of 300,000 common shares of the Company as follows

100,000 common shares on Closing Date

100,000 common shares on first anniversary of Closing Date

100,000 common shares on second anniversary of Closing Date

3) Searchlight will complete $250,000 in exploration expenditures as follows:

$ 10,000 in year one

$ 75,000 in year two

$165,000 in year three

4) Upon commencement of Commercial Production, Searchlight will pay the Royalty Interest of 2% Net Smelter Return ("NSR"). At any time, Searchlight will have the right to purchase half (1%) of the NSR for $1,000,000.

All common share issuances by Searchlight will be subject to a 4-month hold period as per Canadian securities law. This Agreement is subject to approval by the TSXV.

Additional Data

Maps, drill hole and assay information is available on the Searchlight website at https://searchlightresources.com/

These presented drill sample results are historical in nature and Searchlight has not undertaken any independent investigation of the sampling nor has it independently analyzed the results of the previous exploration work in order to verify the results. Searchlight considers these sample results relevant as the Company uses historical reports to evaluate and historic sample results as a guide to plan future exploration programs. All sample widths cut by drill holes are not true widths, they represent the intersection of the incline hole with the dip of the mineralized structure. Searchlight estimates from historical data the true widths are 55% to 75% of recorded widths.

Qualified Person

Stephen Wallace, P.Geo., is Searchlight's Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Stephen Wallace"

SEARCHLIGHT RESOURCES INC.

Stephen Wallace, President, CEO and Director

Contact: Searchlight Resources Inc.

Investor Relations

(604) 331-9326

info@canyoncc.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's limited operating history and the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

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: Searchlight Resources Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/536983/Searchlight-Resources-Acquires-High-Grade-English-Bay-Gold-Claims-in-Saskatchewan
But that path is meaningless so long as the police insist on arresting and incarcerating for reasons that have nothing to do with public safety. We need strong leadership from you to make clear that our community resources should be used to keep our community safe.
Vernon, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 26, 2019) - True Leaf Medicine International Ltd. (CSE: MJ) (OTCQX: TRLFF) (FSE: TLA) ("True Leaf" or the "Company"), a leading global cannabis and hemp wellness brand for pets, has announced that it has qualified to trade on the OTCQX Best Market by OTC Markets Group under the ticker symbol TRLFF effective today.

The OTCQX Market is reserved for established U.S. and global companies that meet high financial standards, provide timely news and disclosure to investors, and have a professional third-party sponsor introduction.

"We are excited to upgrade to OTCQX today and increase our exposure amongst U.S. investors," said Darcy Bomford, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of True Leaf. "The capital markets support will drive our continued growth as a global leader in the hot cannabis-for-pets sector."

"We congratulate True Leaf on upgrading from our OTCQB Venture Market to now trade on the OTCQX Best Market," said Jason Paltrowitz, Director of OTC Markets Group International Ltd. and EVP of Corporate Services at OTC Markets Group. "As the first Canadian issuer to complete a Reg A+ offering of $10 million, trading on OTCQX will enable True Leaf to further expand its shareholder base and visibility."

The OTCQX Market provides added service, value and convenience to U.S. investors, brokers and institutions seeking to trade TRLFF.

U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for the company on www.otcmarkets.com.

About True Leaf

True Leaf is a leading global cannabis and hemp wellness brand for pets. Inspired by the unconditional love our pets give us every day, we return that love through our wellness pet products which help maintain and protect the natural vitality of our pet companions. "Return the Love" is the purpose that drives our business and is at the heart of our values to bring happiness to pets and their owners.

www.trueleaf.com

Media Contact:

Paul Sullivan

Director, Public Relations

Paul@trueleaf.com

O: 604-685-4742

M: 604-603-7358

Investor Contact:

Kevin Bottomley (Canada)

Director and Corporate Relations

Kevin@trueleaf.com

M: 778-389-9933

Joe Green (US)

Edison Advisors

jgreen@edisongroup.com

O: 646-653-7030

M: 917-575-7089

Follow True Leaf

twitter.com/trueleafpet

facebook.com/trueleafpet

instagram.com/trueleafpet

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and management may make additional forward-looking statements in response to your questions. Such written and oral disclosures are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and True Leaf hereby claims such safe harbour protection for all forward-looking statements. True Leaf believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions; however, True Leaf's actual results and performance and the value of its securities could differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements due to the impact of many factors summarized in the "Risk Factors" section of True Leaf's Offering Circular Form 1-A filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian securities regulatory authorities and other discussions of risk factors contained in True Leaf's periodic filings or supplements to the offering circular. True Leaf's Offering Circular Form 1-A can be found at www.trueleaf.com/pages/investor. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. True Leaf undertakes no obligation to update or revise any such information for any reason after the date of this presentation unless required by law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43039
PORTLAND, OR / ACCESSWIRE / February 26, 2019 / Act-On Software, the leading Adaptive Marketing platform that drives personalized and purposeful multi-channel marketing, announces new customized strategic guidance to complement the financial services-specific product features released in 2018. This additional focus is a result of banking, credit union, and wealth management customers' seeing massive success in 2018 after implementing Act-On's platform to accelerate their digital growth strategies.

Act-On recognizes the marketing challenges that financial institutions face in the digital landscape, where 81 percent of customers start their financial shopping online, according to Bankrate. With marketing automation, financial marketers can drive personalized engagement, align with their sales team, understand multiple buyer personas, and automate nurture campaigns while staying compliant in the current regulatory environment.

Act-On supports financial customers with new catalogue of templates, resources and expertise

With financial marketers top of mind, Act-On has invested in product features and multimedia resources to help them adopt modern marketing practices and develop effective strategies. This includes industry-specific templates for landing pages, forms, and emails, as well as partnerships with respected industry thought leaders. In addition, financial industry-specific agencies such as Lone Beacon, a full-service marketing firm dedicated to assisting independent financial advisors, have joined the likes of Freedom Finance, Black Knight, Inc., Tower Federal Credit Union, and RSA Insurance in leveraging Act-On's platform.

As financial institutions transition from mass email marketing to targeted multi-channel campaign marketing, Act-On works with them to help maximize their ROI on marketing campaigns while eliminating the manual work that's too often required for personalized nurturing. This customized strategic guidance, specific to the customer's business objectives, helps uncover solutions to their biggest challenges and deliver real results quickly.

Act-On has an increasing presence at financial services industry events, where marketing consultants are available to discuss Adaptive Marketing solutions specific to the attendee's financial institution. Act-On will be in San Francisco on February 26-27, 2019 at The Digital Marketing for Financial Services Summit West.

Financial institutions leverage Act-On to set themselves apart from the competition

Financial marketers are seeing the positive impact of the Act-On solution and recognizing it as a differentiator between them and their competition who have yet to incorporate marketing automation (which is 69 percent of financial institutions, according to The State of Digital Growth).

"Through the analytics, and knowing where they are in the cycle and what they're interested in, we're able to deliver customers the right message that we think is most relevant to them," said Marc Wilensky, Vice President of Communications and Brand Marketing at Tower Federal Credit Union. "We've seen a two-three times increase in our open rates, especially to the follow-up emails, and we've seen a lot more customers starting loan applications."

Similarly, Act-On customer TruStone Financial has achieved an average 68.8 percent open rate on nurturing emails with up to 83.3 percent for highly-segmented emails, creating more opportunities for customer interaction and business growth.

To learn more about Act-On's tailored offerings for the financial services industry, visit Act-On.com.

About Us

Act-On Software is the leader in Adaptive Marketing solutions that empower marketers to achieve the purposeful and personalized engagement that their business needs to thrive. Act-On makes customer data actionable, enabling marketers to strategize better business outcomes, drive more relevant multi-channel marketing, and generate higher customer lifetime value--all with the fastest time-to-value. For more information, visit Act-On Software.

Contacts

Lexi Baker

PR Manager

121 SW Morrison St., #1600

Work: 9712024076

lexi.baker@act-on.com

www.act-on.com

Links

https://www.act-on.com/press/

https://www.act-on.com/customers/industries/financial-services/

https://www.act-on.com/blog/

SOURCE: Act-On Software

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/536995/Act-On-Software-Invests-in-Product-Expertise-and-Resources-for-the-Financial-Services-Industry
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The global infection surveillance solutions market size is poised to reach USD 1.0 billion by 2026, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc., progressing at a CAGR of 14.3% during the forecast period. Improving healthcare settings worldwide coupled with advancements in healthcare IT infrastructure is projected to play a pivotal role in the growth of the market. Rising prevalence of healthcare associated infections (HAIs) has been one of the critical factors driving the market.

Key suggestions from the report:

Surgical site infections emerged as the most promising segment during the forecast period owing to increasing number of surgeries being performed worldwide

On the basis of the product and services segment, the on-premise software segment commanded the largest share in the market owing to its increased usage

North America dominated the market in 2017. Government programs and rising awareness about infection surveillance are facilitating the dominance of this region during the forecast period

Asia Pacific is estimated to witness swift growth during the forecast period due to increasing establishment of hospital chains and huge patient population

Few of the key market players are Wolters Kluwer N.V ; Gojo Industries; Becton; Dickinson and Company; RL Solutions; Baxter International Inc.; Premier Inc.; and Truven Health Analytics (An IBM Company).

Read 91 page research report with TOC on "Infection Surveillance Solutions Market Analysis Report By End Use (Hospitals, Care Centers), By Product and Services, By Infection (Surgical Site, Urinary Tract, Blood Stream), And Segment Forecasts, 2018 - 2026" at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/infection-surveillance-solutions-market

According to HAI Prevalence Survey conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2014, around 722,000 cases of HAIs were detected in the U.S hospitals alone. Moreover, according to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) in 2016, 18,924 HAIs cases were reported in 400 acute care hospitals. In addition, as per facts published by the European Commission (EC), around 25,000 people die in European Union (EU) from antibiotic resistant bacteria. The figure is expected to increase to 10 million deaths per year, if current infection trend continues by 2050.

Rising collaboration and government initiatives are also stimulating the growth of the market. For instance, in January 2018, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Pfizer, Inc. signed partnership agreement to introduce anti-microbial resistance stewardship programs. The objective was to scale up AMR surveillance network in India.

Find more research reports on Healthcare IT Industry, by Grand View Research:

Grand View Research has segmented the global infection surveillance solutions market based on infection type, product and services, end use, and region:

Infection Surveillance Solutions Product and Services Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2026)

Software



On-premise





Web-based



Services

Infection Surveillance Solutions Infection Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2026)

Surgical Site Infections (SSI)



Blood Stream Infections (BSI)



Urinary Tract Infections (UTI)



Others

Infection Surveillance Solutions End Use Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2026)

Long Term Care Facilities



Hospitals



Others (Clinics, and Ambulatory Surgical Centers)

Infection Surveillance Solutions Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2026)

North America



U.S.





Canada



Europe



UK





Germany



Asia Pacific



Japan





China



Latin America



Brazil





Mexico



Middle East & Africa

&

South Africa





Saudi Arabia

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Chuck Huebner Appointed CEO

An investment subsidiary of Investindustrial VI L.P. ("Investindustrial") has completed the previously announced acquisitionof Jupiter Holding I Corp. ("Jacuzzi Brands" or the "Company"), owner of several spa and bath products brands, among them Jacuzzi, from investment funds affiliated with each of Apollo Global Management, LLC, Ares Management Corporation, and Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. Affiliates of Nottingham Spirk Design Associates, Inc ("Nottingham Spirk") have also invested in the Company as business innovation partners.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005386/en/

Investindustrial has completed the acquisition of Jacuzzi Brands. (Photo: Business Wire)

In conjunction with the acquisition, the Company has appointed Charles "Chuck" Huebner as the new CEO of Jacuzzi Brands. Most recently, Huebner was CEO of Dacor, Inc., which designs, manufactures and markets a full range of ultra-premium kitchen appliances. Huebner commented, "I am thrilled to have been given the exciting opportunity to lead Jacuzzi Brands into its next phase of development and growth. We have an extraordinary team here at the Company, and I will build on the great accomplishments of Bob Rowan in executing the Company's mission of growing Jacuzzi Brands. We will pursue growth through innovation, investment, increased market awareness, and expansion of our presence in North America, Europe and other markets. Through a stronger relationship with our dealer partners, we will be supporting our brands with new marketing programs."

Bob Rowan, former CEO of Jacuzzi Brands, will continue working with the Company as an advisor. Rowan said, "I am extremely happy about the acquisition of Jacuzzi Brands by Investindustrial, and I am looking forward to supporting their efforts in an advisory capacity. Having worked alongside Chuck during the past few months, I am confident he will be a great leader for this new phase of Jacuzzi Brands. As for Investindustrial, the history, track record, international reach and vision of the new ownership speaks for itself. Their strong expertise in manufacturing and in growing premium brands, along with their vast international network in the design world, will provide the additional resources we need to accomplish our business plan."

Investindustrial's legal advisor was White Case LLP. Jacuzzi's legal advisor was O'Melveny Myers LLP.

About Jacuzzi Brands

Jacuzzi Brands, headquartered in Chino Hills, CA, is a global manufacturer of premium spas, swim spas, whirlpool, soaker and walk-in bathtubs and related bathroom products and accessories. The Company believes that 'when we feel good, we live a better life.' The Company operates under multiple brands, including Jacuzzi, Sundance, Dimension One Spas, Hydropool, ThermoSpas and BathWraps. The Company's flagship brand, Jacuzzi, is the most recognized in the world for spa and hydrotherapy bathing.

About Investindustrial

Investindustrial is a leading European group of independently managed investment, holding and advisory companies with 6.8 billion ($7.8 billion) of raised fund capital, which provides commercial solutions and capital to mid-market companies. Its mission is to actively contribute to the development of the companies in which it invests, by creating growth opportunities and offering global solutions through an entrepreneurial vision. Investindustrial has a history of more than 28 years of successfully partnering with premium brands such as Aston Martin and Ducati and leading global home design businesses such as B&B Italia, Flos and Louis Poulsen.

Additional information is available at www.investindustrial.com.

About Nottingham Spirk

Nottingham Spirk is a highly successful business innovation and product design firm, which has developed hundreds of products that have generated over $50 billion in sales and more than 1,200 patents for companies around the globe during the past 47 years.

Additional information is available at www.nottinghamspirk.com.

Investindustrial Advisors Limited is registered in England with its registered address at 16 Palace Street, London SW1E 5JD and company number 01316019. Investindustrial Advisors Limited is authorized and regulated by the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority as an Alternative Investment Fund Manager (Financial Services Register number: 170924).

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005386/en/

Contacts:

Team One PR (on behalf of Investindustrial for U.S. press)

Julia Walker

Tel.: +1 310 437 2454

julia.walker@teamone-usa.com

Maitland (on behalf of Investindustrial for European press

David Sturken

Tel.: 44 (0)7990 595913

Email: dsturken@maitland.co.uk

Investindustrial:

Carl Nauckhoff

Senior Principal Head of Investor Relations

Tel.: +44 (0)207 664 2138

Email: cnauckhoff@investindustrial.com
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.
Press release, 26 February 2019

Focus on integrated and sustainable HVAC solutions for commercial premises and homes

The partnership, which is to take place in several phases, will begin with the launch of a new series of heat pump chillers.

The combined solutions will draw upon the existing technology of both partners.

Systemair, a leading ventilation company with operations in 50 countries, and Panasonic, a world leader in the development of HVAC solutions, today unveiled a strategic partnership aimed at developing joint integrated and sustainable solutions for both commercial and residential premises.

The collaboration between Systemair and Panasonic will be based on the existing technology and expertise of both partners. In the first phase, Panasonic will introduce a new series of high-efficiency and eco-friendly heat pump chillers incorporating Systemair's innovative reversible cooling technology. The new integrated products are fully adaptable and suitable for use in creating solutions for specific projects (including in the light commercial sector) to meet all aspects of customer requirements.

Systemair and Panasonic are also engaged in a development collaboration on technology and functions to be incorporated into cooling and heat pump technology products. The objective is to create more high-efficiency, eco-friendly and ultra-modern chiller and heat pump products for the European market. The collaboration will also make use of the companies' smart cloud-based services. The partners will strive for seamless integration between Systemair's ventilation products and Panasonic's high-tech heat pumps for residential and commercial properties, as well as its control technology and connection facilities. Through the collaboration, the two companies will be able to create a new, powerful value offer that meets their customer requirements.

"This opens the way to major potential synergies in development that meets our customers' tough environmental demands. At the same time, we are creating long-term business opportunities in an expanding European market. Systemair's unique product range and long experience in HVAC fit perfectly with our undertaking to offer customers exceptional value, functions and product quality", says Toshiyuki Takagi, Executive Officer of Panasonic Corporation and President of Panasonic Air-Conditioner.

"We're very much looking forward to this partnership and the new opportunities that it brings for creating new innovative products and system solutions. Through the collaboration we'll soon be able to offer even better solutions, which will come to play an important role in the development of the climate systems of the future for buildings", says Roland Kasper, CEO, Systemair.

Read more at: http://systemair.com (http://systemair.com) or http://aircon.panasonic.com (http://aircon.panasonic.com)

Systemair in brief

Systemair is a leading ventilation company with operations in 50 countries in Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, Asia and South Africa. The Company had sales of SEK 7.3 billion in the 2017/18 financial year and currently around 5,800 employees. Systemair has reported an operating profit every year since 1974, when the company was founded. During the past 10 years, the Company's growth rate has averaged about 9 percent.

Systemair has well-established operations in growth markets. The Group's products are marketed under the Systemair, Frico, Fantech and Menerga brands. Systemair shares have been quoted on the Mid Cap List of the OMX Nordic Exchange in Stockholm since October 2007. The Group comprises about 70 companies.

Systemair contacts:

Roland Kasper, CEO, + 46 73 094 40 13, +46 222 440 13

Anders Ulff, CFO, + 46 70 577 40 09, +46 222 440 09

About Panasonic

Panasonic Corporation is a world leader in the development of a range of electronic technologies and solutions for customers in consumer electronics, homes, cars and B2B. The Company, which celebrated its centenary in 2018, has expanded globally and now has 591 subsidiaries and 88 associated companies throughout the world. The Group's net sales totalled EUR 61.4 billion in the financial year ending on 31 March 2018. The Company aims to create new value via innovation in all divisions and focuses its technology on creating a better life and a better world for its customers. Read more about Panasonic here: http://www.panasonic.com/global

Panasonic contacts:

Tel: +81-(0)3-3574-5664

Fax: +81-(0)3-3574-5699

Pressrelease_Systemair_Panasonic_EN (http://hugin.info/138279/R/2236398/880725.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: Systemair AB via Globenewswire


Products will be available for demo at MWC Barcelona on MyKronoz booth (CS118) from Feb 25-28 2019.

Swiss wearable brand MyKronoz today announced ZePods, its first collection of true wireless earphones, unveiled at Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2019. Offering an impressive sound quality, up to 15 hours of playtime, stylish design with 6 vibrant colors and matching USB-C charging case, intuitive touch control to manage music, calls and voice commands thanks to its Bluetooth 5.0 technology MyKronoz's first true wireless earbuds will come in two versions with distinctive design and features:

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005577/en/

ZePods Wireless TWS earbuds (Photo: MyKronoz)

ZePods , with a USB-C charging case boasting the familiar look of a sleek lighter. Available in April 2019 for a MSRP of 79,90/$ only.

, with a USB-C charging case boasting the familiar look of a sleek lighter. Available in April 2019 for a MSRP of 79,90/$ only. ZePods+, with a Qi-certified wireless charging case whose shape has been greatly inspired by Swiss traditional pocket-watch. Available H2 2019 for a MSRP of 99,90/$.

"Building on our Swiss DNA for design and our strong background in wearable technology, we believe that MyKronoz has a tremendous opportunity to seize in the flourishing market of wireless earbuds. The launch of ZePods appears as a natural and strategic evolution for our company to leverage expertise in developing affordable consumer-driven products and diversify to offer a full ecosystem." said Boris Brault, MyKronoz Founder and CEO.

In addition to ZePods, MyKronoz goes back to basics of affordable fashion wearables with a complete new line starting at 29.90 /$, featuring activity tracker, smartwatches, sport smartwatches and hybrids to cater a large and diversified audience. Among the new collection, 4 products highlights:

ZeTrack a slim and full-featured HR activity tracker with color touchscreen. MSRP: 29.90/$ Launch date: end of March 2019.

ZeNeo a real powerful smartwatch with mic speaker that looks like a sleek activity tracker. MSRP: 59.90/$ Launch date: end of April 2019.

ZeRound3 Lite the go-to smartwatch designed for your active lifestyle. MSRP: 79.90/$ Launch date: end of April 2019.

ZeRound3 the genuinely stylish connected smartwatch with AMOLED display. MSRP: 99.90/$ Launch date: end of March 2019.

The rest of the range includes ZeSport2, a multi-sport GPS smartwatch, already available at a MSRP of 149.90/$. MyKronoz will continue to innovate in H2 2019 with ZePop the hybrid smartwatch that blends fashion and tech. MSRP: 129,90/$ as well as ZeTime2 - a stainless steel hybrid smartwatch with microphone, AMOLED display and real mechanical hands. MSRP: 199,90/$.

ZePods, as well as the MyKronoz full new wearable collection will be on display and available for demos on the MWC 2019 show foor at the MyKronoz booth in the Congress Square (Booth CS118) February 25-28th, 2019.

ABOUT MYKRONOZ:

MyKronoz is part of BOW Group, a global player in lifestyle consumer products, operating worldwide in the design and wearables markets with its 2 brands: MyKronoz and LEXON.

Since July 2015, BOW has opened up its capital to Next Stage AM, then, in 2017 to PM Equity Partner the corporate venture fund of Philip Morris International. MyKronoz ZeTime has convinced over 40,000 backers in more than 100 countries and became the world's highest funded hybrid smartwatch with more than $8 million raised, as well as the largest crowdfunding campaign ever from a European company and the most backed product of 2017 on Kickstarter.

BOW Group has now more than 100 talents spread across four office locations: Paris, Geneva, Miami and Shenzhen.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005577/en/

Contacts:

International media:

Annabel Corlay

press@mykronoz.com
The entry deadline for this year's global, anti-corruption challenge has been extended to Friday 1st March 2019

Winners will be revealed at a gala dinner on the 20th March 2019

C5, the specialist venture capital firm focused on investing in cybersecurity, cloud and artificial intelligence, has announced that Lord David Gold, world renowned litigator and former partner of Herbert Smith, will be joining the panel of judges for C5's annual Shield in the Cloud global anti-corruption innovation challenge.

Running for a second year, Shield in the Cloud attracts the best and brightest minds working to innovate the fight against corruption. The competition is open to start-ups, non-profits and governments, and the deadline for entries has now been extended to Thursday, 28th February.

Lord David Gold began his career at the leading international firm, Herbert Smith, where he joined the litigation practice in 1975. He later became Head of Litigation and later Senior Partner. During this time, he oversaw the firm's international expansion in emerging markets, including the Middle East, South East Asia and Russia. During his extensive career he has advised on some notable cases, including recovering assets world-wide from Spanish fraudster Jose-Maria Ruiz Mateos, former owner of Rumasa SA. Since leaving Herbert Smith, Lord Gold has set up a consultancy and monitored BAE Systems for the US Department of Justice and advised Rolls Royce on various ethics and governance issues, helping the company obtain a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the UK, US and Brazilian authorities in January 2017.

He joins a prestigious panel of judges with expertise across the cybersecurity, technology, government banking and investment community. The panel includes Derek Maltz, the former Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA); Jay Collins, Vice Chairman Corporate and Investment Banking at Citi; Lucinda Low, Partner at Steptoe Johnson LLP; Kurt Scherer, Chief of Staff at C5 and Andre Pienaar, Founder of C5. The panel is tasked with identifying the most innovative start-ups, non-profits and governments who are using technology for global anti-corruption compliance issues. The winners will be announced at a gala dinner in Washington D.C. on 20 March 2019.

Lord David Gold said "Corruption is an issue that affects companies, individuals and countries at both the international and national level. On a global level, we are seeing more countries creating new and increasingly sophisticated anti-bribery and corruption legislations, including aggressive enforcement initiatives by government regulators. We are also witnessing various enforcement agencies joining forces to help fight against corruption and the various strains that international law has on these efforts. Technology will be invaluable in the fight to combat global, political and corporate corruption, and competitions such as C5's Shield in the Cloud are helping companies and organisations to create innovative solutions. I am honoured to be part of the judging panel, and I am looking forward to reviewing all the entrant's solutions."

Andre Pienaar, Founder of C5 Capital said "It is an honour to have Lord David Gold join our judging panel. He brings with him a wealth of legal and business expertise in the global fight against corruption and will provide invaluable insights to all our entrants."

Due to popular demand, the nominations for the Awards will close on 1st March and applications can be made here.

--ENDS--

About C5

C5 Capital Limited (C5) is a specialist venture capital firm focused on investing in cybersecurity, cloud and artificial intelligence. C5 has offices in Washington, London, Munich, Luxembourg and Manama.

www.c5capital.com

C5 Accelerate is a London, Washington D.C. and Bahrain based technology investment firm. Its mission is to accelerate best of breed startups through its two accelerators, and to build a portfolio of early stage investments.

https://www.c5accelerate.com/

Twitter: @c5accelerate

Facebook: @c5.accelerate

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005538/en/

Contacts:

For press enquiries contact:

Emily Jones and Sheena Munsami

C5Capital@hudsonsandler.com
Region's tourism trailblazer will showcase new aspects of the eco-tourism revolution its brought to the UAE

The Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq) will be announcing exclusive business management updates and the latest behind its cultural and eco-tourism tourism profile at the 53rd edition of ITB Berlin, which will take place from 6-10 March.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005533/en/

During Shurooq's participation at ITB Berlin in 2018 (Archive) (Photo: Shurooq)

Shurooq will be among the top 10,000 companies and organisations from over 180 countries, who have confirmed participation at the international travel industry's biggest marketplace. The Shurooq stand will be featured at the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA) pavilion, which will offer the world a platform to view the efforts Sharjah entities are putting in to realise 'Sharjah Vision 2021', that aims to attract 10 million visitors that year.

Among Shurooq's major announcements will be revealing the name of a new management operator for its 'Sharjah Collection' brand of eco-tourism destinations, Kingfisher Lodge in Kalba; Al Faya Lodge at Mleiha; and Al Badayer Oasis at Al Badayer desert.

Shurooq will also unveil additional facilities to many of its other leisure developments including Al Noor Island and Mleiha Archaeological and Eco-tourism Project, and showcase the latest gem in their heritage hospitality portfolio the Al Bait Hotel, which was launched recently in the region's largest restoration district, Heart of Sharjah. The project is led by Shurooq.

Mr. Ahmed Al Qaseer Chief Operating Officer, said: "For the 12th consecutive year, Shurooq participates at ITB Berlin as part of its mission and vision to showcase Sharjah's biggest achievements in the travel and tourism sectors on leading global platforms. We are returning this year with new and exciting announcements and memorable visitor experiences to reflect the growth in our corporate profile."

He added: "We will be at the SCTDA pavilion in Hall 2.2, and occupy Stand 102, where we look forward to connecting with existing and new international partners. The level of tourism investment that Sharjah is attracting continues to grow at a phenomenal rate, and this will be an ideal opportunity for us to share our news with all those involved in the hospitality industry as well as fellow developers and foreign investors."

-END-

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005533/en/

Contacts:

Shurooq

Mousa Nimer

M +971 50 222 0561

m.nimer@nncpr.com
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- For the second year in a row, Simplilearn has won a Stevie Award for Customer Service Success - All Other Industries, this year taking home the Silver. The Stevie Award for Sales and Customer Service is one of the world's most coveted prizes for businesses to recognize their commitment to customers. For this event, more than 2,500 nominations from organizations and industries of all sizes were evaluated. More than 150 professionals around the world participated in the judging process for the 2019 nominations.

Simplilearn always strives to provide comprehensive customer service to its learners, and this award is a testament to its commitment to that goal. Simplilearn has helped more than 1,000,000 professionals across 150 countries to upskill, get trained and be prepared for the digital future. Keeping customers satisfied has always been extremely critical to their operations, before, during and after their training.

After incorporating online self-paced and instructor-led training for the learners into its key offerings, Simplilearn also built a dedicated support team that would be available for 24/7 assistance. As a result, it won the Silver Stevie Award. Some of the other significant achievements are:

A Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 82 across all customer touch points, including the end of consumption of long delivery cycle

A course completion rate of 77 percent, while the e-learning industry as a whole average a rate of 10 percent

Winning the esteemed 'EC-Council ATC Circle of Excellence Award'

Being named as '2018 Top 20 Online Learning Library Companies' by Training Industry Magazine

In the year 2018, Simplilearn also won the 'Paul Writer's Bangalore's Hot 50 - Innovative Use of Technology' award

"This Silver Stevie Award for Customer Service Success - All Other Industries is another recognition of our honest efforts to provide outstanding customer service," said Krishna Kumar, Founder and CEO of Simplilearn. "It would not have been possible without the mutual efforts of our dedicated instructors, product managers, course advisors and influencers, and especially our learners who have trusted us to help them on their journey towards upskilling and career advancement."

About Simplilearn

Simplilearn enables professionals and enterprises to succeed in the fast-changing digital economy. The company provides outcome-based online training across digital technologies and applications such as Big Data, Machine Learning, AI, Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, Digital Marketing and other emerging technologies. Based in San Francisco, CA, Raleigh, NC and Bangalore, India; Simplilearn has helped more than one million professionals and 1,000 companies across 150 countries get trained, acquire certifications and reach their business and career goals. The company's high-engagement curriculum blends self-paced online learning, instructor-led live virtual classrooms, hands-on projects, student collaboration and 24/7 global teaching assistance. Simplilearn is a GSA IT-70 contract holder and was recognized by Training Industry as a Top 20 Online Learning Library Company of 2018. For more information, visit Simplilearn.com.

For more information, please contact:

Vidya Nadiminti

E-mail: vidya.nadiminti@simplilearn.net
Two-thirds of the more than 5,000 people who responded to a recent city transportation department survey said they had used either Bird or Lime scooters. More than four in five of those polled said they supported continuing the program, although support and usage among those 55 and older was far lower than their younger counterparts.
Planixs, a high-growth FinTech company, has secured an initial 3.5m minority equity investment from BGF, the UK and Ireland's most active investor in growing businesses. The company will take advantage of a fast-growing market by using the funding to expand its global customer base, accelerate product development and support recruitment across the business.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005522/en/

Founded in 2011, Manchester-based Planixs works with global financial institutions such as Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays and Zenith Bank, in providing its market-leading product suite Realiti, a cloud-based and on premise technology solution suite delivering real-time intraday cash, collateral and liquidity management capabilities to the financial services industry.

Realiti helps firms to comply with global BCBS248 regulatory requirements including stress modelling (incorporating UK PRA, FED and European Banking Authority regulations), using Planixs' highly scalable business intelligence, optimisation and analytics technology platform Graphite which can work with any legacy systems. Realiti also drives operational savings and improves risk management for banks, financial institutions and large corporates including reducing expensive liquidity buffers.

Led by CEO and Founder Neville Roberts, the business recently moved its head office to Union House on Albert Square in the centre of Manchester. In 2018, Planixs ranked 22nd overall in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 and is the UK's number one Enterprise Fintech and leading North West technology company. The Tech Track awards are published every year by the Sunday Times and represent some of the fastest growing, profitable and most admired technology companies in the UK.

The investment comes after BGF experienced a record year of investing in the North West in 2018, providing 80m in long-term funding across 16 deals. New investments in 2018 included web hosting company Miss Group, digital solutions manufacturer Evoke Creative and image mapping business Gaist.

Neville Roberts, CEO of Planixs, commented: "Planixs has experienced significant growth in a relatively short period due to the team's commitment to staying at the forefront of technology, simplifying regulatory compliance, driving liquidity cost benefit and delivering against the complexities of legacy systems that continue to permeate the financial system.

I am hugely proud of what the business and the team has achieved to date and delighted to drive our growth agenda forward with the backing of BGF and its network. There is much more we want to achieve, particularly in terms of innovation and international expansion, and the move from angel investment to the support of a long-term investor in BGF is an important vote of confidence and enabler in those plans."

Pinesh Mehta, an investor at BGF, said: "Planixs has built the market-leading FinTech solution for its rapidly-growing client base, delivering big data at scale and taking advantage of opportunities opening up due to important regulatory drivers.

We're delighted to be partnering with a strong, experienced management team, supporting them to deliver their world-class solutions and technology to a global market."

Andy Gregory, BGF's Head of Investments in the North, Scotland Ireland, said: "Manchester is quickly becoming a global FinTech hub in the North West, with some great investments in infrastructure to date. Many of the UK's leading financial services businesses have their back-office payment processing teams based here and we're therefore seeing high levels of innovation to help them streamline their processes and manage their systems in a more efficient way. We're delighted to be part of the UK's FinTech growth story with our investment in Planixs. BGF invested in one business per week in 2018, and we're ready to support more ambitious businesses in this industry and in Manchester in 2019."

The investment was led for BGF by Pinesh Mehta and Rhys Davenport.

The advisors to the transaction were:

BGF: Hill Dickinson (Legals), Paul Bosson (Financials)

Planixs: Robert Turnbull and Barry Riley at Weightmans (Legals)

--End--

About Planixs

Planixs is a leading provider of analytical, forecasting and modelling software solutions across multiple industries including Financial Services and Human Capital Management. Built on its underlying technology platform, 'Graphite', Planixs solutions rapidly deliver significant business benefits to its clients, which include major global financial organisations.

www.planixs.com

Social media: @Planixs

About BGF:

BGF was set up in 2011 and has invested more than 1.8bn in over 260 companies, making it the most active investor in the UK and globally by number of transactions. On average, BGF invested in one company per week in 2018.

BGF has 2.5bn to invest in UK SMEs and in Ireland, and an additional 250m to support Irish businesses. Earlier this year, Canada launched its equivalent the Canadian Business Growth Fund based on BGF's funding model, and Australia is now actively exploring the approach as well.

BGF is a minority, non-controlling equity partner with a patient outlook on investments, based on shared long-term goals with the management teams it backs. www.bgf.co.uk

Social media: @BGFinvestments

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005522/en/

Contacts:

Neville Roberts

Planixs CEO

Tel: +44 (0) 161 298 8822

Mob: +44 (0) 7802 430621



Jessica Wilkinson

Petal Co PR (BGF)

Mob +44 (0) 7590 056909
Press Release

Rakuten aims to tap new revenue opportunities through an IoT ecosystem of industry players, systems integrators, developers and academia

Deal extends Nokia's existing end-to-end cloud-native mobile network relationship

26 February 2019

Espoo, Finland - Nokia today announced that Rakuten has selected its Intelligent Management Platform for All Connected Things (IMPACT) (https://networks.nokia.com/solutions/iot-platform) to help the company tap new revenue opportunities through the rollout of Internet of Things (IoT) services across Japan.

As an integrated, standards-based platform, IMPACT simplifies the process of bringing and scaling multiple applications onto a single platform. As a result, Rakuten can deploy various IoT applications faster and more cost effectively across multiple sectors such as agriculture, industry and the automotive field, including connected vehicles.

Nokia will provide turnkey deployment and integration of the IMPACT platform, leveraging its experience of implementing a complete end-to-end IoT solution for several leading communication service providers around the world.

Nokia is working with Rakuten to build vertical specific use cases and a comprehensive IoT ecosystem of its own comprised of industry players, system integrators, software developers and academia. This modular solution will maximize automation, bring in innovation and help Rakuten launch new use cases faster.

Further, Nokia's solution will allow Rakuten to conceive and implement unique IoT use cases specific to the Japanese market and differentiate their offerings to B2B and B2C customers while reducing the cost of launching new IoT use cases and operations. Rakuten and Nokia are completely aligned on the IoT vision and it is being implemented in Rakuten's new mobile network operation in Japan.

Tareq Amin, Chief Technology Officer of Rakuten Mobile Network, Inc., said: "We are very excited to be collaborating with Nokia in the field of IoT. Our experience as an IT company and strong presence in a wide variety of consumer tech industries and business domains puts us in a strong position in terms of deploying the IoT platform and applications. By leveraging our existing ecosystem and Nokia's advanced IoT platform, we believe will be able to create innovative, cost-effective IoT solutions and take a leading role in the market."

Bhaskar Gorti, President of Nokia Software, said: "Rakuten has quickly established its presence in the Japanese service provider market and we are pleased to be providing it with our full IMPACT solution in order to help it seize the many IoT opportunities available in the country. IMPACT is a great extension of our relationship with Rakuten and underlines the attractiveness of Nokia's full end-to-end portfolio in the marketplace."

The Nokia IMPACT IoT Platform is a horizontal platform covering connectivity management, data collection, device detection and analytics, and business application development, on top of device and subscription management across all industries.

Resources:

Webpage: IMPACT IoT Platform (https://networks.nokia.com/solutions/iot-platform)

Press Release: IMPACT (https://www.nokia.com/about-us/news/releases/2017/01/31/enhanced-nokia-impact-iot-platform-enables-service-providers-enterprises-and-government-agencies-to-easily-deploy-iot-services/)

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.

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)

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


NOT FOR RELEASE, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD BE UNLAWFUL.

Press Release 26 February, 2019

This announcement is deemed to contain Inside Information as defined under the Market Abuse Regulations n. 596/2014

Cadogan Petroleum Plc

("Cadogan" or the "Company")

Execution of a loan and related call-option agreement

Cadogan Petroleum plc ("Cadogan"), an independent, diversified oil & gas company listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary Cadogan Petroleum Holdings BV ("CPHBV") has entered into a Euro 13,385,000 loan agreement with Proger Managers & Partners Srl ("PMP"), a privately owned Italian company whose only interest is a 59.6% participation in Proger Ingegneria Srl ("Proger Ingegneria"), a privately owned company which has a 67.9% participating interest in Proger spa ("Proger"). The loan carries an entitlement to interest at a rate of 5.5% per year, payable at maturity (which is 24 months after the execution date and assuming that the call option described below is not exercised). The principal of the loan is secured by a pledge on PMP's current participating interest in Proger Ingegneria Srl, up to a maximum guaranteed amount of Euro 13,385,000.

Proger is a privately-owned international contractor, providing some of the world's largest companies with comprehensive engineering, project management and security solutions. Its second largest shareholder, with a 27.4% participating interest, is SIMEST, the Italian government agency which supports local companies to achieve export driven growth. Proger is based in Italy, with offices in the Middle East, Africa and Europe, and is involved in major projects around the world, including significant oil & gas, energy and infrastructure installations, and has more than 60 years' experience.

In the year to 31 December 2017, Proger had revenues[1] of 110 million, generated an EBITDA of 9.1 million and 4.0 million of net profit; for the first six months of 2018, net profit grew to 2.74 million.

PMP will use the proceeds of the loan exclusively for the purpose of subscribing to Proger Ingegneria's capital increase, whilst Proger Ingegneria will in turn use the cash contribution received exclusively to subscribe its 67.9% portion of Proger's capital increase. Proger will use the capital to finance its business plan which targets a material increase of EBITDA over the next 5 years, driven by the expansion of energy projects in the Middle East as well as by the development of its integrated services business. Proger's business plan and its growth opportunities have been reviewed by PwC as part of the due diligence conducted for Cadogan.

In exchange for providing the loan, and besides the pledge on PMP's current participating interest in Proger Ingegneria, CPHBV has secured:

The right to designate two out of the seven directors in each of Proger and Proger Ingegneria's Boards of Directors. One of the two directors designated by CPHBV will be appointed as Proger's Chairman of the Board, with a supervisory role on financial affairs. The right to designate one of the three members in each of Proger and Proger Ingegneria Boards of Statutory Auditors. A call option to acquire, at its sole discretion, 33% of the participating interest that PMP will be holding in Proger Ingegneria as a result of its forthcoming subscription; the exercise of the option would give Cadogan, through CPHBV, an indirect 22% interest in Proger. The call option is granted at no additional cost and can be exercised at any time between the 6th (sixth) and 24th (twenty-fourth) months following the execution date of the loan agreement and subject to Cadogan shareholders having approved the exercise of the call option as explained further below. Should CPHBV exercise the call option, the price for the purchase of the 33% participating interest in Proger Ingegneria shall be paid by setting off the corresponding amount due by PMP to CPHBV, by way of reimbursement of the principal, pursuant to the loan agreement. If the call option is exercised, then the obligation on PMP to pay interest is extinguished.

An exercise of the call option would not only expose Cadogan to significant and realizable growth in Proger's business, but would also generate several potential operational synergies, which will support the development of both companies. For Cadogan, these synergies could include access to additional, local specialists to assist in developing its pipeline of opportunities, given Proger's presence in several countries of interest, as well as operational synergies in Ukraine with its service business. In recent years and, based on its current order book, oil & gas has been a growth area for Proger and a continuation of that trend will enhance opportunities for Cadogan. For Proger, the benefits include leveraging Cadogan's upstream competences to access higher-margin contracts in the oil & gas industry.

Cadogan, through CPHBV, intends to designate Chicco Testa (who is a current non-executive director of Cadogan) as Chairman of Proger's board of directors and to confirm Guido Michelotti who is the Chief Executive Officer of Cadogan, as a director. Guido Michelotti is already a non-executive director of Proger and therefore has excused himself from all meetings considering this transaction and has not been involved in the negotiation of the loan agreement nor in the taking of any other related decision. Guido Michelotti does not have, nor has had in the past, any economic interest in Proger.

Commenting on the transaction, Zev Furst, Cadogan's non-Executive Chairman said:

"This loan agreement creates for Cadogan's shareholders an exposure to a Company with material growth potential at a balanced level of risk; it also offers both companies the benefit of potential operational synergies for the development of their respective businesses. The loan is in-line with the Company's strategy to leverage its balance sheet position to offer such exposures, while diversifying the Company's overall geographic and industry risk profile."

Listing Rules considerations

As described above, on exercise of the call option, CPHBV would acquire the 33% of the participating interest that PMP will be holding in Proger Ingegneria as a result of its forthcoming subscription. The exercise of the option will give Cadogan, through CPHBV, an indirect 22% interest in Proger. This exercise of the call option (or the enforcement of the pledge referred to above) would be likely to constitute a reverse takeover for Cadogan under the Listing Rules.

In that instance, the exercise of the call option would be subject to and require publication of: (i) a shareholder circular and notice to convene a general meeting seeking Cadogan shareholder approval of the proposed exercise of the call option by CPHBV; and (ii) a prospectus in connection with the proposed re-admission of Cadogan's shares to the Standard segment of the Official List and to trading on the London Stock Exchange (as Cadogan's listing would be cancelled following the consummation of a reverse takeover).

About

Cadogan is an independent, diversified oil and gas company, which operates exploration and production licenses in Western Ukraine, conducts gas trading operations, and provides services to E&P companies.

Proger is a Rome-based, international company that offers state of the art engineering and management expertise in a broad range of fields.

Proger has more than 60 years of experience and now sits at the top of Italian rankings of engineering companies[2], with a consolidated position among the top 100 international engineering companies in the world according to ENR (Engineering News Record) criteria. It is a general engineering company able to guarantee the development and completion of large scale multidisciplinary projects, offering clients a unique point of reference during every phase.

Proger, counting on more than 1,000 professionals in 18 countries over 3 continents, develops projects in the following sectors:

- Oil & Gas - green energy

- Infrastructure & Transportation

- Sustainability & Environment

- Building

- Security

For further information, please contact:

Cadogan Petroleum plc Guido Michelotti Chief Executive Officer +380 (44) 594 5870 Ben Harber Company Secretary +44 0207 264 4366 Cantor Fitzgerald Europe Broker to Cadogan Petroleum plc David Porter, Nick Tulloch +44 (0) 20 7894 7000

Important Notices:

This Announcement has been issued by, and is the sole responsibility of, the Company.

Certain statements in this announcement are forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial consequences of the plans and events described herein. No one undertakes any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date of this announcement. Statements contained in this announcement regarding past trends or events should not be taken as representation that such trends or events will continue in the future.

Neither this announcement nor the information contained herein is for publication, distribution or release, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, in or into or from the United States (including its territories and possessions, any State of the United States and the District of Columbia), Australia, Canada, Japan, South Africa or any other jurisdiction where to do so would constitute a violation of the relevant laws of such jurisdiction. The distribution of this announcement may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions and persons who come into possession of any document or other information referred to herein should inform themselves about and observe any such restrictions. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdictions.

Thisannouncement does not contain or constitute an offer of, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for, the securities referred to herein to any person in any jurisdiction, including the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, South Africa or in any jurisdiction to whom or in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful.

[1] Italian accounting standards, which are based on European Union's 4th directive. Reported figures are audited

[2] 2017 and 2018 ranking of the Top International Design firms issued by Engineering News-Record (https://www.enr.com/toplists/2018-Top-225-International-Design-Firms-1)
Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) announced today that it was awarded an engineering, procurement and construction management services contract by SABIC for the recommissioning of its polyphenylene ether (PPE) resin plant in Bergen op Zoom, the Netherlands. Fluor will book the undisclosed contract value in the first quarter of 2019.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005167/en/

SABIC flags in Sittard, Netherlands (Photo: Business Wire)

"We are pleased to support SABIC with this important recommissioning project at the Bergen op Zoom site where Fluor has more than 30 years of experience of providing innovative solutions to the client," said Simon Nottingham, president of Fluor's Energy Chemicals business in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. "Fluor's proven track record in brownfield projects and construction-driven execution will minimize disruption at this complex operations site and provide cost and schedule certainty."

SABIC announced the project last year, in response to high global customer demand for its unique NORYLTM resins, based on PPE resin technology. NORYL resins are SABIC's proprietary family of modified compounds. Recommissioning the Bergen op Zoom PPE resin facility will provide customers with a second source of NORYL resins globally, and affirms SABIC's commitment to the European market and global customers who specify their NORYL resin material needs from Europe. When operational, the Bergen op Zoom facility is expected to add more than 40% global capacity over a 2017 baseline.

The 14-month project began in January 2019 led by Fluor's Bergen op Zoom office and will be supported by Fluor's Cebu office in the Philippines.

About Fluor Corporation

Founded in 1912, Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) is a global engineering, procurement, fabrication, construction and maintenance company that transforms the world by building prosperity and empowering progress. Fluor serves its clients by designing, building and maintaining safe, well executed, capital-efficient projects around the world. With headquarters in Irving, Texas, Fluor ranks 153 on the Fortune 500 list with revenue of $19.2 billion in 2018 and has more than 53,000 employees worldwide. For more information, please visit www.fluor.com or follow Fluor on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

About SABIC

SABIC is a global leader in diversified chemicals headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. We manufacture on a global scale in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific, making distinctly different kinds of products: chemicals, commodity and high performance plastics, agri-nutrients and metals.

We support our customers by identifying and developing opportunities in key end markets such as construction, medical devices, packaging, agri-nutrients, electrical and electronics, transportation and clean energy.

SABIC recorded a net profit of SR 21.54 billion (US$ 5.74 billion) in 2018. Sales revenues for 2018 totaled SR 169.09 billion (US$ 45 billion). Total assets stood at SR 320.1 billion (US$ 85.4 billion) at the end of 2018.

Production in 2017 stood at 71.2 million metric tons. SABIC has more than 34,000 employees worldwide and operates in more than 50 countries. Fostering innovation and a spirit of ingenuity, we have 11,534 global patent filings, and have significant research resources with innovation hubs in five key geographies USA, Europe, Middle East, South Asia and North Asia.

The Saudi Arabian government owns 70 percent of SABIC shares with the remaining 30 percent publicly traded on the Saudi stock exchange. For more information, visit www.sabic.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190226005167/en/

Contacts:

Brian Mershon/Brett Turner

Global Media Relations

469.398.7621/864.281.6976

Jason Landkamer

Investor Relations

469.398.7222

Janet Kearns

EAME Media Relations

+44 1252 292039/+44 7802 373466
LINKOPING, Sweden, Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The international medical imaging IT and cybersecurity company Sectra (STO: SECT B) will publish its interim report for the period May 2018 to January 2019 on March 6, 2019. Sectra invites analysts, investors, and the media to attend a teleconference/audiocast in conjunction with the publication of the report.

Publication of the interim report: 8:15 a.m. March 6, 2019

Presentation: 10:00 a.m.March 6, 2019

To participate, follow online at www.sectra.se/irwebcast, or call one of the following numbers five to ten minutes before the conference begins:

SE: +46850558354

UK: +443333009271

US: +16467224902

Sectra management will present the interim report and answer any questions. The presentation will be held in English and a recorded version will be available via www.sectra.se/irwebcast after the conference.

Approximately 30 minutes before the start, a PDF version of the presentation will be available for download at www.sectra.se/irwebcast.

Sectra's financial report calendar and annual general meeting

May 28, 2019 at 8:15 a.m. : Year-end report 2018/2019

at : Year-end report 2018/2019 September 5, 2019 at 3:30 p.m. : Annual general meeting

Further information about Sectra's financial events and interim reports: www.sectra.com/investor/calendar/

Subscribe for information

To subscribe to financial reports, invitations, and information from Sectra via email, please fill in your contact information at www.sectra.com/subscribe

For further information, please contact:

Helena Pettersson, Chief Investor Relations Officer Sectra AB, ph 46 13 23 52 04, e-mail info.investor@sectra.com

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

http://news.cision.com/sectra/r/invitation-to-presentation-of-sectra-s-nine-month-interim-report-on-march-6--2019,c2750464
Recovery Time for Data Reduced from Days to Hours

STROUD, England, Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the UK's Top 30 independent Chartered Accountants and Business Advisers, Hazlewoods, has signed a five-year deal with backup and disaster recovery specialist, Cristie Data, to protect its corporate and client data.

As a result of substantial growth in Hazlewoods client base over the past few years, the Gloucestershire firm required a more robust and scalable solution that would reduce the risk of data loss.

Cristie Data is delivering a cloud-based backup solution, based on Arcserve UDP, with a dedicated disaster recovery environment housed in a secure ISO 27001 accredited data centre owned by its parent company iomart. Multiple backups can now be completed during the working day, with minimal impact to production servers or networks, and the recovery time for data has been reduced from five days to under four hours.

Mark Brackley, IT Manager, Hazlewoods said: "With the business growing rapidly, we needed to replace our previous DR and Backup solution with one that met both current and predicted future requirements. Cristie Data understood our business but also brought fresh ideas. I'm pleased to say the implementation has gone well and testing has proved we selected the right provider and solution."

The Cristie Data solution includes proactive monitoring, reporting and support and two DR tests a year. Hazlewoods pays a monthly service fee to Cristie Data who manage the cloud solution 24/7.

Ryan Smith, Director of Sales, Cristie Data, added: "Our consultative approach to fully understanding what data protection means for a business and the wider drivers for change, enabled us to design the right solution that will scale to protect Hazlewoods business critical data now and in the future. Cristie Data is providing ongoing support and management to Hazlewoods, with regular DR testing that will allow fastest time to recovery in the event of a disaster."

Read the full case study with Hazlewoods.

Cristie Data offers data storage, backup, disaster recovery and archiving solutions and is part of managed cloud provider iomart Group PLC which owns a network of secure sovereign ISO accredited data centres in the UK and has multiple points of presence in the EU, the US, Canada, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific region.

About Cristie Data

Cristie Data have been IT infrastructure and data management specialists for over 40 years. We take a consultative and platform agnostic approach to any customer project and advise on solutions that are best aligned to your businesses. www.cristie.co.uk

About Hazlewoods

We are one of the UK's Top 30 independent Chartered Accountants and Business Advisers, with an established sector expertise that is hard to find elsewhere. Hazlewoods has provided specialist accountancy tax, audit and business advice to individuals and businesses of all shapes and sizes since the practice was founded by Marcus Hazlewood in 1919. www.hazlewoods.co.uk
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 26, 2019 / ZincX Resources Corp. ("ZincX Resources" or "the Company", TSX Venture Exchange: ZNX) is pleased to announce the Company will participate in the upcoming PDAC 2019 Mining and Investment Conference to be held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) from March 3-6, 2019.

PDAC 2019

The four-day convention is held annually in Toronto, Canada, and it is anticipated that this year's event will host greater than 1,000 exhibitors, 3,500 investors, and 25,000 attendees from more than 135 countries. Since inception in 1932 the PDAC has grown to become one of the world's leading mineral and mining investment conventions.

Corporate Booth

The Company will be exhibiting at Booth #2317 on the Investors Exchange floor at the MTCC from 10am to 5pm each day.There is an open invitation to all shareholders and investors to visit with management and staff over the 4-day period and review information from the Akie Project that highlights the Company's 100% owned zinc-lead-silver Cardiac Creek deposit. This includes the positive 2018 PEA results, new metallurgical information, excellent specimens of high-grade drill core, data from recent drilling, and learn of exploration plans for the upcoming 2019 program. Additional technical information such as maps and cross sections will also be on display.

PDAC represents another important networking opportunity to showcase the progress on the flagship Akie property and the premier zinc-lead-silver Cardiac Creek deposit.

A map showing the booth location can be found at: http://www.pdac.ca/convention/maps?l=2317

The Akie Zn-Pb-Ag Project

The 100% owned Akie property is situated within the Kechika Trough, the southernmost area of the regionally extensive Paleozoic Selwyn Basin and one of the most prolific sedimentary basins in the world for the occurrence of SEDEX zinc-lead-silver and stratiform barite deposits.

Drilling on the Akie property by ZincX Resources (formerly Canada Zinc Metals Corp) since 2005 has identified a significant body of baritic-zinc-lead SEDEX mineralization known as the Cardiac Creek deposit. The deposit is hosted by siliceous, carbonaceous, fine-grained clastic rocks of the Middle to Late Devonian Gunsteel Formation.

The Company updated the estimate of mineral resources at Cardiac Creek in 2018, as follows:

5% Zinc Cut-Off Grade Contained Metal: Category Tonnes

(million) Zn (%) Pb (%) Ag (g/t) Zn (B lbs) Pb (B lbs) Ag (M oz) Indicated 22.7 8.32 1.61 14.1 4.162 0.804 10.3 Inferred 7.5 7.04 1.24 12.0 1.169 0.205 2.9

The Company announced robust positive results from the 2018 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA). The PEA envisages a conventional underground mine and concentrator operation with an average production rate of 4,000 tonnes per day. The mine will have an 18-year life with potential to extend the life-of-mine (LOM) through resource expansion at depth. Key parameters for the PEA are as follows:

Parameter Base Case1 Tonnes Mined 25.8 Mt Mined Head Grades 7.6% Zn; 1.5% Pb; 13.08 g/t Ag Tonnes Milled 19.7 Mt Milled Head Grades (after DMS2 upgrade) 10.0% Zn; 1.9% Pb; 17.17 g/t Ag Total Payable Metal (LOM) $3,960M3 Initial CAPEX $302.3M including $45.7M contingency LOM Total CAPEX $617.9M including $58.5M contingency All-in Total OPEX $102.4 per tonne milled Pre-Tax NPV 7% $649M Pre-Tax IRR 35% Pre-Tax Payback 2.6 years After-Tax NPV 7% $401M After-Tax IRR 27% After-Tax Payback 3.2 years

1. The base case used metal prices are calculated from the 3 year trailing average coupled with two year forward projection of the average price; and are: US$1.21/lb for zinc, US$1.00/lb for lead and US$16.95 for silver. A CDN$/US$ exchange rate of 0.77 was used. The NPV discount rate is 7%. 2. DMS = dense media separation. 3. All dollar amounts expressed in Canadian dollars.

The PEA is considered preliminary in nature and includes mineral resources, including 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. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves have not yet demonstrated economic viability. Due to the uncertainty that may be attached to mineral resources, it cannot be assumed that all or any part of a mineral resource will be upgraded to mineral reserves. Therefore, there is no certainty that the results concluded in the PEA will be realized.

Kechika Regional Project

In addition to the Akie Project, the Company owns 100% of eight of eleven large, contiguous property blocks that comprise the Kechika Regional Project including the advanced Mt. Alcock prospect. The Kechika Regional Project also includes the Pie, Yuen and Cirque East properties which the Company maintains a significant 49% interest with partners Teck Resources Limited (TSX: TECK.B) and Korea Zinc Co. Ltd holding 51%. These properties collectively extend northwest from the Akie property for approximately 140 kilometres covering the highly prospective Gunsteel Formation shale; the main host rock for known SEDEX zinc-lead-silver deposits in the Kechika Trough of northeastern British Columbia. These projects are located approximately 260 kilometres north northwest of the town of Mackenzie, British Columbia, Canada.

Ken MacDonald P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration for the Company, is the designated Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for the technical information contained in this release. Mike Makarenko P.Eng, JDS Energy and Mining, is the designated Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for the PEA technical information contained in this release.

The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

ZINCX RESOURCES CORP.

"PEEYUSH VARSHNEY"



PEEYUSH VARSHNEY, LL.B

CEO & CHAIRMAN

SOURCE: ZincX Resources Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/536894/ZincX-Resources-to-Participate-at-PDAC-2019-Conference
Planned Acquisition will Result in Cultivation, Processing, Transportation and Retail Operations

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Weekend Unlimited Inc. ("Weekend" or the "Company") (CSE: POT) (CSE: POT.CN) (FSE: 0OS1) (OTCQB: WKULF) announces that it has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with PPK LLC. to acquire vertically integrated operations in Wilburton, Oklahoma.

"We have strategically targeted Oklahoma, the state has moved faster than any other state in embracing the industry, and we see the business-friendly market translating into a consumer-friendly environment where the best brands will succeed for the long term," said Weekend President and CEO, Paul Chu.

The 7-acre property includes 20,000 ft2 of indoor facilities. Of the two main buildings, the larger 15,000 ft2 facility houses nursery/cultivation and extraction activities and includes a 1500 ft2 retail designated space for a concept store to be developed as a first location in Oklahoma.

The smaller building 5,000 ft2 is targeted to be production and packaging for existing Weekend brand Canna Candys for distribution and sales in Oklahoma. PPK has secured licenses in Oklahoma for cultivation, processing, transportation and has applied for a retail license.

The Company's product focus for the Oklahoma medical market will be centred upon vape cartridges, dab rigs and candy products. The brand strategy will be scalable and expand to beverages, topicals and supplements.

Weekend will provide expertise, capital and the brands to generate growth in the Oklahoma medical market. The growth strategy will focus upon quality, trusted products for Oklahoma patients, leveraging experience in markets such as California to establish a leadership position in the new, evolving Oklahoma market.

Facilities are in final stages of preparation to begin production in mid-March. The company's sales team is active, and delivery of the initial products are expected by 1 April 2019.

Under the terms of the LOI, Weekend will acquire 51% interest in the Oklahoma operation in exchange for $5,610,000, which will consist of 50% cash and 50% shares. Weekend shall have the option to purchase the balance of the operation on terms to be determined. The transaction is subject to the usual closing conditions for transactions of this nature, including due diligence, board approval and compliance with exchange policies.

About Weekend Unlimited Inc.

Weekend Unlimited is capitalizing on its vast industry relationships to establish a lifestyle brand featuring premium products and delivering life's highest moments. The Company aggregates and scales small to medium brands, primarily in the categories of flower, extracts and edibles. Weekend Unlimited brands have best of class operations, distribution and strong revenue trajectories, making them ideal candidates for the deployment of capital and expertise through access to technologies, infrastructure and centralized systems. Learn more at www.weekendunlimited.com.

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.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding future financial position, business strategy, use of proceeds, corporate vision, proposed acquisitions, partnerships, joint-ventures and strategic alliances and co-operations, budgets, cost and plans and objectives of or involving the Company. Such forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "predicts", "intends", "targets", "aims", "anticipates" or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. A number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause the actual results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions and dependence upon regulatory approvals. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by securities laws.
Survey of More Than 1,000 U.K. Gen Zers Reveals Shopping Preferences and Workplace Behaviors

BURLINGTON, Mass., Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Profitect Inc (https://www.profitect.com/) . (https://www.profitect.com/), the leading prescriptive analytics (https://www.profitect.com/solutions/) provider for the retail and CPG industry, today announced the results of a survey in partnership with Retail Week (https://www.retail-week.com/?authent=1) of more than 1,000 Generation Z (Gen Z) consumers aged 18-22. The survey explored the shopping and retail workplace behaviors of this generation. Notably, the exclusive survey found that 62 percent of Gen Z shoppers choose in-store retail experiences over online. The data indicates that retailers should continue to invest in their stores and ensure a consistent omnichannel experience.



This year, Gen Z will comprise 32 percent of the global population, surpassing millennials (31.5 percent) for the first time, according to Bloomberg data. Furthermore, Gen Z is now entering into their first jobs and the market as consumers with purchasing power, which makes it important for retailers to understand them both as customers and employees.

"Gen Z is sending a clear picture of how they will shape the global retail industry," said Guy Yehiav, CEO, Profitect. "The data in this report demonstrates what we see when we meet retail executives. As shoppers, Gen Z demand a better experience in stores and a seamless omnichannel experience. As employees, they demand smart task-management solutions that enable independent thinking on the job. We were proud to partner with Retail Week to gain a better understanding of the UK's Gen Z population."

Download the full report, "Gen Z: Inside the Minds of Retail's Chief Disruptors," from Retail Week here (https://www.retail-week.com/research/gen-z-inside-the-minds-of-retails-chief-disruptors/7030715.article).

Gen Z as Shoppers

What makes them tick?

This research shows that Gen Zers are price-conscious consumers. Whether shopping online or in-store, price was found to be the greatest factor influencing the decision to purchase an item (56 percent online and 48 percent in store). Discounts and sales also play a key role in influencing Gen Z shoppers to make a purchase (30 percent of respondents). When deciding where to make a specific purchase, 59 percent of Gen Zers cite good promotions and discounts as a key reason for choosing one retailer over another.

"These responses prove Gen Z are smart shoppers," said Yehiav. "They are well-researched and only make big purchases if they're confident in getting the best price (and sometime service) possible. This might require visiting a different location, a different retailer, or searching the internet for the best price. Retailers who do not entice these smart shoppers with targeted promotions will miss out."

While growing up in a mobile era creates the perception that Gen Z favors technology-based interactions, they are more likely to shop in stores. Only 38 percent of respondents indicated they favored online shopping exclusively.

In another testament to Gen Z's relationship with the store, nearly half of survey respondents (48 percent) stated that if they needed to return a product they bought online, they would prefer to do so in-store. The survey found that 59 percent of Gen Zers indicated that when they return something, they often exchange it for something else. "Retailers that leverage consumer data can profit on their returns by offering the right promotions when Gen Z shoppers go back to stores, the return conversion is delivered by training personnel in-store," added Yehiav.

"There has been a negative impression that brick-and-mortar stores are less popular," said Yehiav. "The results from our UK and US survey (https://www.profitect.com/2018/09/18/seventy-six-percent-of-gen-z-shoppers-pick-stores-as-shopping-destination/) show that couldn't be further from the truth. Gen Z shoppers are still going to stores to see products in person before they purchase. The difference is that they expect stores to be 'smarter' and more personalized. Retailers that prioritize quality in-store service and the right products on store shelves - both of which can be optimized by prescriptive analytics - will win with Gen Z."

What puts them off?

Retailers must ensure quality service if they want to attract Gen Z shoppers. Almost half of respondents (48 percent) said that poor customer service would cause them to stop shopping at their favorite store. Women in particular take bad service to heart, with 59 percent saying they would abandon a brand after a poor experience, compared with 36 percent of men.

As an extension of their demand for a quality omni-channel experience, Gen Z shoppers are intolerant of out of stocks. The most commonly cited reason for avoiding a retailer is if items are repeatedly out of stock (48 percent). Further, 67 percent say that if they checked the availability of a product online, then visited a store to find it out of stock, they would be annoyed. Additionally, 15 percent stated this would cause them to never shop at that retailer again.

"Gen Z shoppers take in stock availability or poor service seriously, and retailers that don't comply will find these shoppers take their loyalty elsewhere," said Yehiav. "Retailers should take precautions to prevent these errors with technology that identifies which employees need further training, or closely monitor in-stock availability. Prescriptive analytics solutions can do this easily so that retailers don't lose valuable customers to avoidable mistakes."

Gen Z as Employees

Research shows that Gen Zers are already ingrained into the retail workforce and have well-defined preferences on how they like to work. More than half of Gen Z respondents (56 percent) have retail experience and another 30 percent say they would consider the industry in the future.

Of the Gen Zers who currently work in retail, 44 percent receive their work tasks via meetings with their manager but only 20 percent favor this way of working. Additionally 58 percent of respondents claimed the reports they work with are too complicated to understand, with a further 25 percent feeling unclear on how to act on them.

Instead, more than half (53 percent) prefer to receive a written description of their work tasks, with an even split when it comes via physical or digital format. Thirty-nine percent of respondents say that a company app would make working in retail easier or more fun.

"The research shows that the best way to harness the creativity and productivity of Gen Z employees is to play to their nature as digital natives," said Yehiav. "Retailers who invest in technology that streamlines work tasks, whether through workplace applications or smart task management solutions, will find their Gen Z employees happier and more engaged. With prescriptive analytics, retailers can push simple, easy-to-understand instructions or assignments to employees, optimizing labor costs, improving retention, and operational efficiencies."

Methodology

Retail Week, in association with Profitect, surveyed 1,000 consumers aged 18 to 22 in late 2018.

ABOUT PROFITECT

Profitect's prescriptive analytics solution has leveraged pattern detection and machine learning to identify opportunities that impact sales and margin. Profitect takes retail and CPG company data to identify areas for improvement including: inventory accuracy, out of stocks, pricing accuracy, unsellable merchandise, and assortment discrepancies. Profitect customers typically realize a 2-5% increase in sales, better consumer experience, 10-15% basis point margin improvement, and labor productivity improvement within 6 months. To learn more about Profitect visit: www.profitect.com (https://www.profitect.com/) or follow the company on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/profitect) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/profitect-inc-/?).
STOCKHOLM, Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Oncoinvent is pleased to announce that the Oslo University Hospital and Oncoinvent have each been awarded Innovation Funding to develop Radspherin as a treatment for colorectal cancer patients suffering from peritoneal carcinomatosis. The two awards make for a combined total of 7,9 million NOK where Oncoinvent will receive 4,6 MNOK and Oslo University Hospital 3,3 MNOK. The Innovation Norway grants will allow Oncoinvent to expand the clinical use of Radspherin from the current planned study in ovarian cancer patients and enables the company to carry out phase 1 clinical trials to assess the clinical safety of Radspherin in colorectal cancer patients as well.

Jan A. Alfheim, Oncoinvent CEO commented, "We are very grateful for this support from Innovation Norway. The Innovation funding will allow Oncoinvent to expand Radspherin 's potential indications for use and to reach many more patients suffering from peritoneal carcinomatosis more quickly than would have otherwise been possible. We now plan to initiate two phase I trials, one in ovarian cancer patients, and a second in colorectal cancer patients."

For further information, please contact:

Jan A. Alfheim

Chief Executive Officer

Cell: +47-46-44-00-45

Email: alfheim@oncoinvent.com

IR enquiries:

Tore Kvam

Chief Financial Officer

Cell: +47-95-93-41-99

Email: kvam@oncoinvent.com

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

http://news.cision.com/oncoinvent-as/r/oncoinvent-awarded-4-6-mnok-in-innovation-funding,c2750337
Although some people and other dancers at North County may have initially been put off by the team because they werent sure about its intentions, Wilhite said its goal has never been to upstage the schools other dancers. He said the team has worked to show what they can do, and now sometimes are seen as equals.
Amsterdam/'s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, 26 February 2019

In the period from 21 February 2019 until 25 February 2019 Van Lanschot Kempen has repurchased 7,015 of its own shares (depositary receipts for Class A ordinary shares). The shares were repurchased at an average price of 20.58 per share for a total amount of 144,393.

These repurchases are part of the share buy-back programme for at most 370,000 of own shares, which was announced on 21 February 2019. The total number of shares repurchased to date is 7,015.

More information, including a detailed overview of the repurchase transactions under this programme, is available on 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 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.

Share buy-back programme weekly press release (http://hugin.info/133415/R/2236392/880721.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: Van Lanschot Kempen via Globenewswire


Truphone will demonstrate this secure connectivity module at MWC19 in Barcelona

LONDON, Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Murata and Truphone have announced an industry changing collaboration to integrate their technologies and services in order to lead innovation in eSIM for Internet of Things (IoT) / Machine-to-Machine (M2M) devices.

Using technology from STMicroelectronics and Truphone, Murata has built a low power cellular module for the world of IoT/M2M devices. Murata's technology has a wide range of IoT applications and delivers a small, low-power cellular module that reduces power consumption-making it ideal for battery-powered devices, lowering the cost of prod3uction, and freeing up space for device makers.

The Murata module uses an ST33 M2M eSIM from ST, which offers a fully compliant GSMA solution for M2M remote SIM provisioning. The eSIM comes in a Wafer Level Chip Scale Package (WLCSP), a tiny package that allows the module to be smaller, less obtrusive and better integrated into whatever environment it may be operating in. The module also contains an STM32L4 microcontroller that provides a handful of module-management functions, including the full NBIoT and CATM1 protocol stack.

For its part, Truphone is enabling the module to connect out of the box to low power wide area technologies in multiple countries using its industry-leading bootstrap connectivity technology. Truphone has also provided its GSMA-accredited M2M remote SIM provisioning system which, in combination with the bootstrap connectivity, allows the device to fetch a SIM profile from any other mobile operator for ongoing local connectivity.

Steve Alder, Chief Business Development Officer at Truphone said: "One barrier to mass adoption of IoT is the complexity device makers face in connecting their devices. This collaboration with Murata brings together all the elements, packaged together in a way that allows device makers to get connected simply and efficiently. With Truphone's global bootstrap connectivity and remote SIM provisioning, device makers can manufacture a single worldwide model type, and then configure the device over the air to allow it to connect locally, wherever it is unboxed."

Jim Philip, Sr. Marketing Manager at Murata said: "The world of IoT devices is broad and complex, and especially so for narrow-band technologies. With this module, and the integration of technology from Truphone and ST, we're simplifying the supply chain for anyone in the IoT market who wants powerful connectivity, cost saving hardware and a geographical footprint to keep up with their business."

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Truphone

Truphone believes that connectivity can be easier, smarter and more efficient. Since 2006, we have built state of the art SIM software, intuitive management platforms and a powerful global network to make this a reality.

Every day, our technicians engineer better connections between things, people and business to make the world smarter. Headquartered in London, we have 12 offices across four continents and continue to expand globally. To learn more, visit www.truphone.com .

About Murata

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and sale of ceramic-based passive electronic components & solutions, communication modules and power supply modules. Murata is committed to the development of advanced electronic materials and leading edge, multi-functional, high-density modules. The company has employees and manufacturing facilities throughout the world. For more information, visit Murata's website at www.murata.com
Capital for Colleagues plc - Change of Board Responsibilities

Capital for Colleagues plc / EPIC: CFCP / Market: NEX / Sector: Investment

26 February 2019

CAPITAL FOR COLLEAGUES PLC

('Capital for Colleagues' or the 'Company')

CHANGE OF BOARD RESPONSIBILITIES

Capital for Colleagues, the investment vehicle focused on opportunities in the Employee Owned Business ('EOB') sector, announces that John Eckersley, currently Chief Executive of the Company, will become a non-executive Director of the Company with effect from today, to allow him to dedicate more time to his role as Managing Partner of Castlefield Partners Limited.

Alistair Currie, currently an executive Director of the Company, will assume the role of Chief Executive.

The Directors of the Company are responsible for the contents of this announcement.

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit www.capitalforcolleagues.com or contact:



CAPITAL FOR COLLEAGUES PLC

Richard Bailey, Chairman

Alistair Currie, Chief Executive

0161 464 3260 PETERHOUSE CAPITAL LIMITED

Mark Anwyl

Duncan Vasey 020 7469 0930

Capital for Colleagues

Capital for Colleagues is an investment company focused on the UK EOB sector. The Company has a proven management team, with a wide network of contacts and affiliates, as well as established access to investment opportunities, enabling the Company to execute its strategy and capitalise on EOB-focused investment opportunities.

The Company's joint venture, Castlefield Corporate Advisory Partners, educates and assists companies which are looking to launch employee ownership schemes, advising them, amongst other things, on how to secure investment and achieve their objectives.

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
By Splitting Distributed Unit and Control Unit of small cell, Rakuten and Sercomm offer Disruptive Solution to Enable Next-generation Mobile Network

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Rakuten, Inc. (TSE: 4755), a global leader in internet services and soon-to-be the newest mobile network operator in Japan, and Sercomm (TWSE: 5388), a leading manufacturer and supplier of telecom equipment, today announced the world's first virtualized small cell. Jointly developed by Rakuten and Sercomm, the small cell offers enhanced user experience by leveraging the world's first end-to-end cloud native technology. Adopting next-generation network architecture, the virtualized small cell answers the needs of the telecom industry by providing easy-to-install, high performance, expandable flexibility and seamless migration to 5G networks. Rakuten and Sercomm will showcase the product at this week's Mobile World Congress 2019.

By splitting the distributed unit (DU) and control unit (CU), the virtualized small cell offers a disruptive solution for mobile networks. Through its powerful CU computing capability, the virtualized small cell, with joint processing and cooperative radio sharing capability, can be dynamically installed as needed. The virtualized small cell enables a true end-to-end cloud native platform which does not only greatly improves reliability, but also facilitates a heterogeneous network. The virtualized small cell supports 4G LTE and is 5G upgradable with renewed DUs. By adopting an open, virtualized and split RAN (Radio Access Network), telecom operators can enjoy cost savings and fast time-to-market without the hassles of traditional base station installation.

Integrated with 2.4G/5G dual band Wi-Fi capability, in addition to new installation, the virtualized small cells can easily replace the existing Wi-Fi APs on site to reduce deployment effort without sacrificing Wi-Fi functionality. The small cell also supports PoE (Power-over-Ethernet), making it ideal for ceiling or wall-mounted installation at residential, commercial and industrial sites, such as apartments, residential complexes, office buildings, shopping malls and factories.

"Rakuten reaches over 1.2 billion of consumers worldwide with services offered in e-commerce, fintech and digital content, and now we are ready to reinforce our commitment to consumers for better living by delivering a new mobile network service, with the support of industry-leading technology partners such as Sercomm," said Tareq Amin, Chief Technology Officer, Rakuten Mobile Network. "We aim to realize our vision of creating the world's first fully virtualized, end-to-end cloud-native mobile network. Sercomm is the technology leader in small cell products, with its recognized design capability and rich deployment experience, and together we are committed to offering a reliable, cost-effective and convenient mobile service for our customers."

"At Sercomm, we are committed to the development of innovative solutions to enable next generation networks. We strive to offer high-quality solutions to telecom customers through investment of significant R&D resources," said James Wang, CEO of Sercomm. "We are pleased to team up with an industry leader like Rakuten in realizing a next generation mobile network. Together we will open a new era for telecommunication service."

Rakuten and Sercomm will demonstrate the small cell at Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona, Spain, from February 25 to 28:

Rakuten Booth: Hall 4, Booth 4A10

Sercomm Booth at #2G3, Hall 2

About Rakuten

Rakuten, Inc. (TSE: 4755) is a global leader in internet services that empower individuals, communities, businesses and society. Founded in Tokyo in 1997 as an online marketplace, Rakuten has expanded to offer services in e-commerce, fintech, digital content and communications to more than 1.2 billion members around the world. The Rakuten Group has over 17,000 employees, and operations in 30 countries and regions. For more information visit https://global.rakuten.com/corp/.

About Sercomm Corporation

Sercomm Corporation (TWSE: 5388) is a worldwide leading manufacturer of telecom and broadband equipment. Founded in 1992, Sercomm has focused on developing embedded solutions to make networking simple and affordable. With its fully integrated engineering capability and its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, Sercomm offers comprehensive telecom broadband solutions such as small cells, residential/enterprise gateways, and IoT products, and is now a global leader in the industry. Headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, Sercomm's global operation network covers markets in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region. Its customer base includes the world's top service provider, networking OEM, and system integrators. For more information, please visit www.sercomm.com.
Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, today announced that it has been recognized as the winner of the 'Quality Global Supplier' award by innogy SE, a leading European energy company. Wipro was selected as the 'Quality Global Supplier' from among innogy SE's 800 service providers and was recognized for its innovative ideas and value delivered to the energy company.

Wipro has been a strategic partner to innogy SE since 2013 and has been providing datacenter services, applications development and applications support services to the company.

Nils Scheller, Head of IT Infrastructure Services, innogy SE, said, "We are pleased that Wipro was awarded the innogy supplier award in the international category. I think this is a fair reflection of the outstanding performance of Wipro as our IT partner in the data center and cloud area."

N S Bala, President Energy, Natural Resources, Utilities Construction, Wipro Limited, said, "We are excited to receive the 'Quality Global Supplier' award from innogy SE. This acknowledgement validates the value we have delivered to the client in a short span of time. We will continue to invest in our domain capabilities, IT infrastructure services and digital-led innovations in the utilities segment to support innogy's business plans."

Wipro has been present in Germany, Austria and Switzerland since 2002 and today, has 23 offices and project delivery centers in the DACH region, with German speaking staff. The company works with customers across industry sectors such as financial services, retail, automotive, telecom, healthcare, energy and utilities in the DACH region, and offers a broad range of consulting, applications, IT infrastructure management services and digital design, strategy and operations services to its European customers.

About Wipro Limited

Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company. We harness the power of cognitive computing, hyper-automation, robotics, cloud, analytics and emerging technologies to help our clients adapt to the digital world and make them successful. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship, we have over 170,000 dedicated employees serving clients across six continents. Together, we discover ideas and connect the dots to build a better and a bold new future.

Forward-looking and Cautionary Statements

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements, which 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 our earnings, revenue and profits, our ability to generate and manage growth, intense competition in IT services, our ability to maintain 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, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which we make strategic investments, withdrawal of fiscal governmental incentives, political instability, war, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of our intellectual property, and general economic conditions affecting our business and industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. We 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. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190225006138/en/

Contacts:

Shraboni Banerjee

Wipro Limited

shraboni.banerjee@wipro.com
LONDON, Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- FeedStock announces the launch of its powerful sales insights product, Synapse, with Europe's largest independent equities broker, Redburn, integrating the system. Synapse instantly captures every client email sent in and out of organisations. Delivering enriched, automatically categorised CRM data using AI, whilst tracking how people engage with emails and their content. The system is designed for modern businesses tracking each communication, across every device without the need for email plugins, behaviour change or any manual inputs.

Synapse delivers 10 x more client insights than traditional CRMs for both the client facing operators and management teams. Legacy CRM systems produce incomplete and out of date data, making the inputs unreliable for complete business decisions. The fully-integrated FeedStock software provides a centralised dataset that can be leveraged by the whole enterprise, teams and individuals. FeedStock can pipe data into CRMs, enabling an understanding of real pipeline progression and account management.

By leveraging the rich data, our clients can drive revenue growth by discovering hidden insights in relationships, campaigns and content whilst saving money with Synapse's automated approach.

Matthew Norman, Head of Technology at Redburn, described the business rationale for choosing Synapse:

"We are always looking for the best technology solutions that can deliver value to our business. We chose FeedStock because of its new automated approach to understanding client interactions and have been amazed by the insights it produces. Almost 10 x more client data captured than our traditional CRM workflows with zero disruption to any client facing staff, whilst delivering continuous insights to our sales and management teams. Both parts of the business win."

Describing the benefits of Synapse for sales generation and account management, Charlie Henderson, FeedStock's Founder and Managing Director said:

"We created Synapse to enable people to outperform, hit their KPIs and deliver excellent outcomes. People no longer need to rely on manually inputted and partial CRM data, FeedStock automates the whole process.

"We are delighted to bring Synapse to the market at a time when data driven strategies begin to take hold over legacy CRM approaches."

About FeedStock

FeedStock was founded in 2015 by two finance professionals who wanted to improve the way people work. FeedStock is backed by venture capitalist Illuminate Financial, and partnered with both IHS Markit and Cognizant.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 25, 2019) - Tidal Royalty Corp. (CSE: RLTY.U) ("Tidal" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that, further to its press release of February 14, 2019, the Company has completed an advance of C$15,000,000 to MichiCann Medical Inc. (operating as Red White & Bloom) ("MichiCann") pursuant to a senior secured convertible debenture (the "MichiCann Debenture"). The MichiCann Debenture is non-interest bearing, other than in the event of a default by MichiCann thereunder, and will mature August 25, 2019 (the "Maturity Date"), with the Maturity Date being extendable in certain circumstances.

The obligations under the MichiCann Debenture are secured by way of a first ranking security against the personal property of MichiCann. In the event that the proposed acquisition by the Company of all of the issued and outstanding shares of MichiCann (the "Proposed Transaction") is not completed by the Maturity Date as result of, among other things, MichiCann's failure to comply with the definitive documentation for the Proposed Transaction, and MichiCann is at such time pursing an alternative go public transaction or a change of control transaction (an "Alternate Liquidity Transaction"), the Company may elect to convert, in whole or in part, the outstanding amount under the MichiCann Debenture into common shares of MichiCann ("MichiCann Shares") at a price per MichiCann Share that is the lesser of (i) $2.50 per MichiCann Share, and (ii) a 20% discount to the issue or effective price per MichiCann Share under the Alternate Liquidity Transaction.

In the event that the Proposed Transaction is not capable of being completed by October 25, 2019 for reasons beyond the control of the parties, acting in good faith, MichiCann may elect to prepay the outstanding amount under the MichiCann Debenture, with a prepayment penalty of 10%.

It is anticipated that MichiCann will use the funds advanced by the Company, solely to fund the acquisition of additional cannabis Provisioning Centers (dispensaries) in Michigan by its Michigan based investee ("Opco"), and for general working capital purposes.

Please refer to the Company's press release of February 14, 2019, available under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com, for further details as to Opco and as to the Proposed Transaction, the completion of which remains subject to the negotiation and execution of all related definitive documentation as well as certain other conditions, including each party being satisfied with the results of its due diligence investigation and receipt of all required shareholder, third party and regulatory consents and approvals, including the approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange.

In addition, the Company would like to announce that Mr. Paul Rosen has tendered his resignation as Chairman and director of the Company's board of directors (the "Board"). The Company would like to sincerely thank Mr. Rosen for the contributions that he has made during his tenure on the Board.

For further information, please contact:

Tidal Royalty Corp.

Theo van der Linde, Chief Financial Officer

Phone: 604-687-2038

The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release nor passed upon the merits of any of the transactions described herein, including the advance under the MichiCann Debenture and the Proposed Transaction.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information and Statements

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or information that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking information contained in this new release is not based on historical facts but instead is based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management. Forward-looking information contained in this news release includes, but is not limited to: the intended use of proceeds of the advance by Tidal and expectations regarding the negotiation and execution of definitive documentation for the Proposed Transaction by the applicable parties, the receipt of all requisite shareholder, regulatory and other consents and approvals, including the approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange, and satisfaction of the other conditions precedent to the consummation of the Proposed Transaction and the completion of the Proposed Transaction. Forward-looking information contained herein is based on the opinions and reasonable assumptions and estimates of management as at the date hereof and is subject to a variety of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of Tidal, that could cause actual events or results of Tidal to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Such factors include: the ability of MichiCann to use the proceeds of the advance by Tidal as currently contemplated, the ability of Tidal and MichiCann, in addition to any other applicable parties, to negotiate and execute definitive documentation for the Proposed Transaction, to satisfy the conditions precedent for the consummation of the same, including their ability to obtain requisite shareholder and regulatory approvals, and to consummate the same on the proposed terms and schedule, the U.S. regulatory landscape and enforcement related to cannabis, including political risks and risks relating to regulatory change, risks relating to anti money laundering laws and regulation, other governmental and environmental regulation, public opinion and perception of the cannabis industry, risks related to the enforceability of contracts, the requirement by Tidal to obtain additional financing, the limited operating history of Tidal, competition and other risks affecting Tidal in particular and the U.S. cannabis industry generally, and the risk factors effecting Tidal disclosed in the listing statement of Tidal available at www.sedar.com. Because of such risks, uncertainties and other factors, investors should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking information contained herein. Tidal is under no obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law. The foregoing statements expressly qualify the forward-looking information contained herein.

This news release does not constitute an offer for sale of, nor a solicitation for offers to buy, any securities in the United States.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43044
PRAGUE, Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- DevotionDresses.com has launched the first European online wedding dress marketplace, offering affordable, high quality dresses for convenient shipping to anywhere in the world. The marketplace is open only to true European and American manufacturers that pass the strictest quality demands. Unlike other online retailers prone to cutting corners, DevotionDresses.com translates all the components of a bespoke tailoring experience into a secure and simple online portal, which includes an easy, 6-step, Find-Your-Dress search tool.

Visit DevotionDresses.com and browse its latest couture wedding dresses on offer: https://www.devotiondresses.com/category/wedding_dresses

Key to DevotionDresses.com's success is its commitment to supporting European dress making traditions. Today, 80% of wedding dresses are manufactured in China and finding high-quality, haute couture dresses is becoming less and less convenient and affordable. With the launch of DevotionDresses.com, European craftsmanship takes top priority. All of the +1,500 dresses available adhere to the strictest of European standards, with each dress fully customisable.

"This marketplace came out of necessity," said Marc Westermann, founder of DevotionDresses.com. "There was a need that these top dressmakers modernize their reach, opening their wide selection of truly made-to-measure dresses directly to the client."

Customer hesitations are inherent to any online marketplace, especially when making expensive, life-changing decisions like purchasing a wedding dress. DevotionDresses.com understood these anxieties as they went about creating their online store, taking every step necessary to ensure shoppers still have access to a bespoke tailoring experience:

- Shoppers can find their perfect dress by using the Find-Your-Dress tool, navigating 6 easy steps

- Over 1,500 dresses are divided into 8 different body types, 5 different silhouettes, and dozens of colours, waistlines, and trains, all customisable

- Shoppers can specify up to 22 specific measurements

- Dresses are handmade upon order and delivered securely

- Each dress is handmade individually from the very first stich for every bride

DevotionDresses.com wedding dresses are fully refundable within 15 days of delivery. With wedding dress styles changing every season, DevotionDresses.com's launch makes cutting-edge fashion accessible for everyone, with affordable price-points, and a completely personable atelier experience.

About DevotionDresses.com

DevotionDresses.com is the one and only marketplace that combines in itself some of the best and most renown European producers offering premium European quality wedding and evening dresses that are always handsewn locally in Europe for each bride individually. Our goal is to bring high quality designer dresses for affordable prices to our beautiful brides. Due to your order going directly to the producers that are located all over the Europe, we enable you to cut overhead boutique costs and have on offer an exclusive selection of the latest, straight off the runway bespoke wedding dresses of the highest quality for a fraction of their usual boutique price.

Follow us on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/devotion_dresses/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/devotiondresses/

For more information, contact:

Marc Westermann

press@devotiondresses.com

+1-650-92-49-024 (USA)

+420-725-828-741 (EU)

+612-6145-2685 (AUS)

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/826427/DevotionDresses_Logo.jpg

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A2Pr5MMJmA
NEW YORK, Feb. 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Diplomat Pharmacy, Inc. ("Diplomat" or the "Company") (NYSE: DPLO). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980.

The investigation concerns whether Diplomat 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 February 22, 2019, Diplomat filed a Form 8-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, announcing that it was postponing the release of its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 due to a "recent determination" that it would need to record a non-cash impairment charge upwards of approximately $630 million relating to 2017 acquisitions for its pharmacy benefit management business. Diplomat also disclosed that it was withdrawing its preliminary 2019 full-year outlook provided in January.

On this news, Diplomat's stock price fell $7.59 per share, or over 56%, to close at $5.87 per share on February 22, 2019.

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
On Thursday(February 14, 2019), as many as 40 Central Reserve Police Forces(CRPF) personnel lost their lives when a suicide bomber attacked a convoy of vehicles near Pulwama. As expected, the terror attacks left countless Indian heart-broken and grabbed a lot of International attention. Earlier today(February 26, 2019), India took revenge for the cowardly attack and carried out air strikes in Pakistan. Apparently, there were over 200 causalities in the air strikes which were carried out at 3:30 AM using 12 Mirage 2,000 fighter jets.

The aircraft dropped 1,000 kg laser-guided bombs on a notable terror camp on the other side of the Line of Control and wrecked it completely.

The move has proved that India will not take an attack lying down and send a strong message to Pakistan. Several stars have praised the Indian government for 'Surgical Strike 2.0'

Actress Samantha Akkineni said that the response was the right way of ending a war.

No starting wars but ending it like  #IndianAirForce  #JaiHind  Samantha Akkineni (@Samanthaprabhu2) February 26, 2019

Mahesh Babu said that he was proud of the Air Forces and congratulated its brave pilots.

Extremely proud of our #IndianAirForce. Salutes to the brave pilots of IAF  Mahesh Babu (@urstrulyMahesh) February 26, 2019

Jr NTR hailed India for coming up with a 'fitting reply' to the Pulwama Attacks.

Our country gives a fitting reply. #IndiaStrikesBack . Salute to the Indian Air Force #JaiHind  Jr NTR (@tarak9999) February 26, 2019

Here are some for Tweets

Salute to the #IndianAirforce  #IndiaStrikesBack .. the entire country is super proud   Rakul Preet (@Rakulpreet) February 26, 2019

It is good to see stars speaking on this burning issue and supporting the motherland.
Former Alderwoman Classie Hoyle went to bat for women on the council in 2002, when opponents accused her of disrupting history and taking political correctness too far for wanting the term alderwoman in the code. She won the day, however, and passed legislation amending the code to add the title she (and the majority-female council) used.
Last year, actor Rana Daggubati became the talk of the town when he lost a good amount of weight in order to play current Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu in the NTR Biopic. Around the same time, rumours of him being unwell began doing the rounds much to the surprise of his fans. However, they died down pretty soon. Unfortunately, Rana's health recently became a topic of discussion again when rumours of him needing a kidney transplant began doing the rounds. In fact, some media houses even reported that Rana's mother would be his donor.

Now, it seems that the rumours were baseless. According to a leading website, the Baahubali actor is indeed suffering from a kidney-related problem, however, he does not need a transplant. Apparently, his kidney issues started when he was preparing for Baahubali and he has been monitoring his health since. Rana has given up smoking and is cautious about his health. The report further states that he is recovering and things are under control.

We wish Rana a speedy recovery and hope that he stays healthy.

On a related note, he was last seen in NTR Mahanayakudu. The Balakrishna starrer, which hit screens on February 22, 2019, has turned out to be the biggest disaster in the history of Tollywood. At present, he has Haathi Mere Saathi and Housefull 4 in his kitty.

Source: Telugu 360
In 2017, Oviya became the sweetheart of Tamil Nadu because of her stint on the popular reality show Bigg Boss Tamil hosted by Kamal Haasan. Her bold and outspoken nature and affair with Aarav helped her win the love of fans, making her a household name. In fact, such was the craze surrounding her that the 'Oviya Army' took over Twitter. At present, Oviya is gearing up for the release of her eagerly-awaited film 90 ML, which promises to be a treat for the younger generation.

During a recent interview with a leading website, Oviya spoke about rapport with Simbu and her personal life. Responding to a query about her marrying STR, the feisty lady said that the Chekka Chivantha Vaanam star is someone she can rely on at all times and added that she would never do anything to spoil the lovely bond she shares with him.

This is quite a mature response and proves that Oviya knows how to handle a tricky question.

In case you did not know, 90 ML is a bold comedy-drama which features plenty of bold scenes. Oviya's liplocks in the trailer have already created a buzz amongst fans. 90 ML, which was originally slated to release on February 22, 2019, will finally release in theatres this Friday (March 1, 2019).

Source: Indiaglitz

Oviya's Kissing Scenes In 90ML; How Did Aarav React To The Same?
'Yeh naya Hindustan hai, yeh ghar mein ghusega bhi, aur maarega bhi'- Remember this popular dialogue from the recently-released Vicky Kaushal starrer 'Uri: The Surgical Strike'? That's exactly what happened as the nation woke up to reports about India's surgical strike at three launchpads in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to avenge the Pulwama terror attack which took place on February 14, 2019.

According to a report in News18, while the officials of the Indian Air Force have refused to comment, government sources claim that 200-300 terrorists have been killed in this surgical strike.

Many Bollywood celebrities like Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu and others took to their Twitter page to laud the Indian Air Force. Mohit Raina who also starred in 'Uri: The Surgical Strike' too reacted to the surgical strike.

A Clear Message To The Perpetrators The 'Uri' actor told Pinkvilla, "Well, this is definitely a New India. Air strikes are usually avoided as far my limited knowledge is and the last was done in 1971. This is sending a very clear message to the perpetrators, India won't be silent anymore." Madhur Bhandarkar Salutes The Indian Army Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar too lauded the Indian Air Force for the brave act and told Pinkvilla, "I am happy that the government of India gave a free hand to our armed forces and salute to our forces who have carried such a brave strike again destroying the terror camps. At this hour we should all stand united and back our armed forces." Sanjay Dutt's Tweet "Salute to the #IndianAirForce for their indomitable spirit in keeping our country safe! Let us all pray for their safety. Jai Hind ." This Is What Yami Gautam Has To Say The actress who was also a part of Vicky Kaushal's Uri: The Surgical Strike posted, "#IndianAirForce  Jai Hind."

Surgical Strike 2.0: Akshay Kumar & Others Laud Indian Air Force For Avenging Pulwama Terror Attack
Kartik Aaryan Looked Cool At The Airport

Kartik Aaryan was spotted at the airport today, and he looked snazzy in a casual avatar. Kartik was wearing a white t-shirt with a black zip up hoodie. He teamed that with a pair of dark wash denims, and light beige sneakers. Kartik has been busy promoting his upcoming movie Luka Chuppi. He will star opposite Kriti Sanon in the movie which is scheduled to release on March 1st.

Parineeti Sported A Boho Chic Look

Parineeti Chopra sported a boho chic look today when she was spotted by the paparazzi. She was wearing a lime green crop top with a pair of high waist jeans, and had a bohemian style black and white sweater over it. She accessorized with a hat and a pair of white sneakers. Parineeti will next be seen in Kesari, starring opposite Akshay Kumar. It is set to hit the theatres on March 21st, 2019. Parineeti has two other movies lined up for this year, Sandeep Pinky Aur Faraar, and Jabariya Jodi.

Illeana D'Cruz Gets Papped

Illeana D'Cruz was spotted by the paps on Tuesday afternoon. She sported a casual look and looked pretty in a white tank top, denims, and a black cardigan over it. She accessorized with a pair of snazzy sunglasses and carried a sling bag with her.

Rakul Is Sunshine In That Yellow Ensemble

Rakul Preet Singh was shining like the sun at the airport on Tuesday morning. She looked gorgeous in an all yellow ethnic ensemble. Rakul will be seen in De De Pyaar De, starring opposite Ajay Devgn. It is set to release on May 17th, 2019.
Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release

SubCategory Select Sub-Category
Summary

Company Announcement Date: February 25, 2019 FDA Publish Date: March 04, 2019 Product Type: Food & Beverages

Vegetable Products Reason for Announcement: Recall Reason Description Potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes Company Name: Southern Specialties Inc Brand Name: Brand Name(s) Marketside Product Description: Product Description Green Beans and Butternut Squash

Company Announcement

Southern Specialties Inc. of Pompano Beach, Florida is voluntarily recalling select bags of Marketside brand green beans and butternut squash because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

The company shipped the recalled product to one retail distribution center. Although most of the product was retrieved before distribution to retail stores, some product shipped on February 17th may have reached select stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. So, in an abundance of caution, we are issuing this public announcement.

To date, Southern Specialties has not been informed of any illnesses associated with this recall.

This recall was voluntarily issued after a raw material supplier notified the company that it was issuing a recall after a routine test of a food contact surface tested positive for the bacterium. As a precautionary measure, Southern Specialties is recalling all products that were repacked at its facility on the same repacking line as the suppliers product. None of the products have tested positive.

The company is carrying out this recall with the knowledge of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.

Consumers can use the following information to determine if they have the recalled product. Anyone who has the recalled product should not consume it and either destroy it or return it to the place of purchase for a refund.

Brand Product Description UPC

Located in the white box on back of package in the lower right hand corner Best if Used By date

Located in the white box on the front of the package in the right hand corner Lot codes on bag

Located in the white box on the front of the package in the right hand corner Marketside Bagged Green Beans, 32oz. (2 LB) 907g 681131457385 MAR-9-2019 83931-123 or 83939-124 Marketside Bagged Green Beans, 12 oz. (340g) 681131328869 MAR-8-2019 83928-628 or 83932-123 Marketside Bagged Butternut Squash, 16oz. (1 LB) 454g 681131122351 MAR-6-2019 83940-319 or 83940-139

Consumers with questions regarding this recall may contact the company at 1-954-876-2453 or visit www.southernspecialties.com. We will return calls within 24 hours.

Company Contact Information Consumers: Charlie Eagle 954-876-2453 Media: Amy Philpott 703-472-6615 aphilpott@watsongreenllc.com
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.
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.
The citys sewage system is more than 100 years old and was designed to discharge wastewater directly into area waterways when it becomes overloaded, a key reason water quality is poor in the Inner Harbor, Jones and Gwynns falls and the Patapsco and Back rivers. Cracked and broken pipes allow sewage to routinely flow into city waterways. When it rains, stormwater inundates the system, sometimes washing millions of gallons of water contaminated with untreated sewage into waterways.
Sheep farmers have urged the National Trust to use wool as an alternative to its synthetic fleeces which are worn by its 10,000 employees.

The charity, which protects more than 248,000 hectares of land, is currently seeking material alternatives for its fleeces as concerns rise over synthetics and their harm to the environment.

Such material sheds hundreds of thousands of plastic microfibres every time they are washed, often ending up in waterways and harming wildlife.

As the Trust looks for alternatives, farmers have latched onto this opportunity to promote the sustainable qualities of British wool.

The National Sheep Association (NSA) is encouraging the National Trust to use wool as its new fleece or alternative garment materials.

It is emphasising the animal welfare reasons behind shearing following suggestions from animal rights groups that shearing sheep is cruel.

'Most sustainable fibre on earth'

The group has now written to the National Trust encouraging it to consider wool as a viable product for its fleeces due to it being 'renewable, natural and reliable'.

NSA Chief Executive, Phil Stocker said wool is the 'most sustainable fibre on earth' and is the 'ultimate' product in renewable technology.

It seems ironic that we call that garment  the fleece  after a sheep fleece yet most fleeces are manufactured from plastic materials and when washed contribute to polluting our oceans and environment, he said.

The truth is that British wool has largely become a by-product from sheep farming. Although there are specialist wool producers that buck the trend, most of the wool is shorn in the early summer to improve the welfare of the sheep and to prevent flies laying their eggs within the fleece and causing serious welfare problems.

Mr Stocker added: Wool grows back naturally and by the winter the sheep has a well-insulated and protective weather proof coat. It seems to me that the interests and philosophy of the National Trust align perfectly with the properties of British wool.

'Boohoo'

This message follows criticism of fashion companies such as Boohoo who recently stated they would be removing all items containing wool from sale.

However, days after the initial move, the company reversed their decision following condemnation from the sheep industry as well as a wide group of consumers.

Some farmers even invited representatives of the retailer to visit their farm to see the processes behind wool first hand.

Mr Stocker said some organisations make 'rash and uniformed' decisions without properly observing the processes behind the British sheep industry.
More than 450 jobs are at risk at one of the UK's largest meat processing companies which supplies retailer Marks and Spencer.

Tulip Ltd, which has 17 meat processing plants in the UK, faces a possible closure at their Boston, Lincolnshire plant.

The site employs 464 people, and may close in August following an unsuccessful attempt in securing a new deal with Marks and Spencer.

A spokesperson for Tulip said the company is 'deeply disappointed' with the news.

An M&S spokesperson said: We understand that there are some impacts locally when changes are made, and we will always work with our suppliers to support them and make those changes in the right way.

While we won't be working with Tulip at the Boston site they remain an important supplier for other products and we will be doing all we can to support them as they consult with their team.

Tulip is a subsidiary of the Danish Crown group  a global meat processing company which is owned by a co-operative of 8,000 farmers.

Tulip, which calls itself the 'UKs leading pig farmer', breeds and rears around 1.5 million pigs a year.
A survey has been launched to gain understanding of how Northern Irish farmers view rural crime and the official response they receive when reporting incidences.

Rural crime is an increasing and costly issue for farmers across Northern Ireland, with each incident varying greatly in terms of cost and psychological impact.

And due to the limited resources the PSNI and the Rural Crime Partnership have, the Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU) is concerned that rural crime is becoming a 'major scourge' on the countryside.

The farming union has launched the short survey and is now asking farmers to complete it.

UFU deputy president, Victor Chestnutt, said: At one level it's about petty pilfering and opportunist theft. However, what really unsettles people in remote areas are planned thefts of machinery or livestock.

Another unwelcome addition to this problem is when it involves violence or threats to families.

Mr Chestnutt said farmers are 'disappointed' that when criminals are brought before the courts and sentences imposed 'rarely reflect the impact' of the crimes committed.

This is why we are undertaking this survey and encouraging as many members as possible to take part. We want to establish how many families have been victims of rural crime, where in Northern Ireland these crimes occurred and whether there is a pattern as regards the value of the items stolen.

We want to know more about people's experience of reporting these crimes to the PSNI and why some people choose not to report these crimes, and whether that reflects a belief that they are not taken seriously, said the UFU deputy president.

He added that it would be a 'bad day' for rural communities if people believed reporting crime was 'little more than a tick box exercise'.

Tackling this problem has to begin with understanding it better and that is why we are encouraging members to take part in our survey, said Mr Chestnutt.
Over 200 sheep have died after a livestock lorry transporting them overturned on the A76 in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.

The crash happened on the A76 between Sanquhar and Thornhill on Monday evening (25 February).

The driver of the HGV - a 27-year-old man from Carlisle - suffered minor injuries.

The police are now appealing for any witnesses to the crash to come forward.

Nithsdale Police posted a short statement on Twitter regarding the accident.

"We are appealing for witnesses following an RTC which closed the #A76 overnight. Crash happened around 10:50 PM last night (Monday 25th) near to Enterkinfoot, south of Mennock. The driver received minor injuries, however over 200 sheep onboard died. Road now open."

We are appealing for witnesses following an RTC which closed the #A76 overnight. Crash happened around 10:50 PM last night (Monday 25th) near to Enterkinfoot, south of Mennock. The driver received minor injuries, however over 200 sheep onboard died. Road now open #DGRoads pic.twitter.com/yMGvoiXXjc  NithsdalePolice (@NithsdalePolice) February 26, 2019

The accident follows firefighters rescuing 39 cattle from an overturned articulated lorry in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.

And in November 2018, a lorry carrying 600 live turkeys overturned in Norfolk causing significant delays and leaving oil spillage.
Mitigation measures have been introduced for Scottish farms as the government adds the Eurasian beaver on the protected species list.

The Eurasian or European beaver will be added to the list of European Protected Species of Animals, protected under Scottish law.

This means that from 1 May 2019 shooting will only be allowed under licence, which will be managed by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). All licenses will be issued in accordance with the law on European Protected Species.

However, farmers have expressed concern about the increasing amount of beaver numbers in the UK.

NFU Scotland has insisted that 'proper management' of the species is fundamental in order to avoid impact on agriculture.

Some farmers have warned of considerable damage to farmland and the spread of disease.

However, Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said the Scottish government 'recognises' that beavers can have a 'significant impact' on farming.

We recognise that beavers can have a significant impact on farming, particularly in areas like Strathmore, which is why we have been working closely with farmers and partner agencies to establish management plans, as well as a licensing system for culling when there is no other alternative, she said.

The Scottish government believes in the highest standards of animal welfare  for both wild and domestic animals - and we felt it was high time that beavers enjoyed the same legal protection as other species like bats, dolphins, wildcats and otters.

SNH Chief Executive, Francesca Osowska added: Beavers benefit nature, creating habitats such as ponds and wetlands where other species thrive, as well as alleviating flooding and improving water quality.

But it will sometimes be necessary to minimise or prevent beavers impacts on farming, and other interests.

Beavers became extinct in Britain in the 16th century, mainly due to over-hunting. However, between 2009 and 2014, sixteen Eurasian beavers were re-introduced to Knapdale Forest, Argyll and Bute, with the benefits and impacts being monitored by SNH.
A farmer who has had enough with livestock worrying has warned that any dogs off their leads in her fields will be shot.

27-year-old Megan Needham, who works on the family farm in Rivington, Lancashire, has used social media to highlight the scourge of livestock worrying.

She said her sheep have been attacked 15 times since November 2018, and that ten have died as a result of injuries sustained by out-of-control dogs.

Ms Needham has even considered organising a dog walk in Rivington to raise awareness of livestock worrying in a bid to educate the public on the reasons behind why farmers ask for dogs to be kept on leads when near livestock.

As a local farmer I would like to work with the public and educate people properly about the dangers that can happen with dogs and livestock this is following a few unfortunate events, she said.

But following a recent dog attack on her sheep on 19 February, she said she won't hesitate to shoot dogs if spotted off their lead in her fields.

In the most recent incident, Ms Needham said she spotted a group of people with 4 dogs running off the lead in a field full of sheep.

She said: I asked nicely if she (dog owner) would put the dogs on leads in the field, her response was 'well my dogs don't chase sheep'.

Any dogs found off leads in our fields will be shot, so keep leads on them - we have had enough now!

It is an offence to allow a dog to worry livestock and farmers have legal rights, under certain conditions, to shoot the dog if they feel the livestock is in danger.

The National Sheep Association recommends that farmers only shoot dogs as a 'last resort', as the legality of a shooting depends on whether a farmer had a lawful excuse for shooting the dog in that individual circumstance.

It follows NFU Mutual releasing statistics on Monday (25 February) which shows that livestock worrying is at a historic record high.

The rural insurer estimates that the total cost of livestock worrying to the agricultural industry exceeded 1.2m in 2018.
Kent, 35, was supposed to be getting her doctorate in clinical psychology, but the Navy reversed their decision to send her to the program last fall because of her history with cancer and sent her to her fifth combat deployment instead  where she died two months later, according to Stars and Stripes.
WASHINGTON  The United States Department of Agriculture announced Feb. 22 that in White House meetings the Chinese government committed to buy an additional 10 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans.

The announcement came as the U.S. and China held talks over the weekend in Beijing, in advance of the March 1 deadline for additional tariffs.

At the close of the weekend, President Donald Trump said he would postpone a March 1 deadline for increasing 10 percent punitive duties on $200 billion of Chinese imports to 25 percent, but he set no new target date.

Since last summer, the worlds two biggest economies have raised tariffs on billions of dollars of each others goods.

Specifically, Beijing imposed import taxes on soybeans and other agricultural products in an effort to pressure Trump supporters in the U.S. farm belt. In the first 10 months of 2018, U.S. soybean exports to China dropped to 8.2 million metric tons from 21.4 million metric tons a year earlier  a 62 percent freefall, according to the Agriculture Department.

Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed Dec. 1 to postpone more penalties while they negotiate. Increases that already were imposed remained in place, battering companies on both sides.

The fight is over U.S. complaints that Beijing steals technology or pressures companies to hand it over.

Biggest farm deal.

President Donald Trump, in remarks before his meeting with Vice Premier Liu He of the Peoples Republic of China Feb. 22, said the talks will be beneficial for the farm world.

I think were doing very well with regard to farmers and the buying of products from our farmers at a certain point, Trump said.

But when the China pact is finalized, the president added, this will be a very, very substantial farm deal. This will be the biggest farm deal ever made.

The Chinese government has begun to make good on government-to-government commitments to purchase American soybeans totaling around 20 million metric tons (735 million bushels).

Want open market

Still, not all U.S. soybean growers are happy, pointing out the total purchases do not add up to the value to soybean growers of seeing retaliatory trade tariffs rescinded.

It is good to see our beans moving to China again, said Davie Stephens, a grower from Clinton, Kentucky, and president of the American Soybean Association (ASA). What our industry needs right now is structural reform that leads to China rescinding its tariff on U.S. beans and fully reopening the market.

Big market

The value of U.S. soybean exports to China has grown 26-fold in 20 years, from $414 million in 1996 to $14 billion in 2017. China imported 31 percent of U.S. production in 2017, equal to 60 percent of total U.S exports and nearly one in every three rows of harvested beans.
COLUMBUS  Ohios new director of the Department of Agriculture, Dorothy Pelanda, told state soil and water conservation leaders that Gov. Mike DeWine and his administration are keeping water quality a top priority across the state, while also pushing the reset button on the best approach.

Pelanda spoke at the Ohio Federation of Soil and Water Conservation Districts annual conference Feb. 26 in Columbus, where she announced $24 million in new programs intended to reduce nutrient runoff and improve water quality in the western basin of Lake Erie.

The programs will promote the establishment of year-round vegetative cover, through the Ohio Working Lands Program, and theyll also promote the development of nutrient management plans, and new equipment designed to reduce nutrient loss.

The funding was approved in S.B. 299, signed into law in October, with the intent of reducing nutrient runoff and the effects of harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie.

Traveling the state

Pelanda said her first few weeks as director have been filled with meet-and-greet events across the state, and that everywhere she goes, the No. 1 priority is water quality.

My goal is to get out into the agricultural communities, to listen to farmers tell their stories about their histories, their perspectives and their ideas, so that we can move forward, she said. I believe that the people closest to the problem are the ones that have the best solutions.

In 2018, a report by the Ohio EPA showed that farm nutrient runoff was the greatest contributor to phosphorus runoff and algal blooms in Lake Erie, and, acting on the science, the state declared portions of the lake impaired.

A more controversial set of actions developed over the summer and into the fall, when former Gov. John Kasich tried to get eight northwestern Ohio watersheds declared as watersheds in distress, and requiring farmers in that area to follow new rules for fertilizer and manure application.

Reviewing rules

Pelanda said the rule package developed by the Kasich administration has been put on pause, so the new administration can gather stakeholder input and decide the best course of action. The rules were not popular among farmers and most conservation leaders, who argued they were scientifically unproven and too costly to implement.

Pelanda said the ag department has put the rules in a to-be-refiled category, which neither advances nor stops the rules from going forward.

Gov. DeWine has stated that the health of Lake Erie is a top priority of this administration, but he has pushed the reset button to allow all parties involved the opportunity to listen to all stakeholders and determine a way forward that would result in meaningful action, she said.

Kris Swartz, past president of the Ohio Federation of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and a farmer from northwestern Ohio, said hes confident the new programs will make a difference, and be well received by soil and water conservation districts.

Ohios farmers are committed to doing their part to keep nutrients on our fields and out of our water and these programs will help us do that, he said.

Program details:

The Ohio Working Lands Program will encourage producers to establish year-round vegetative cover on eligible crop land. The program will promote the conversion, establishment and maintenance of forage/hay land on certain cropland acres. Also, there will be a new incentive payment to encourage producers to re-enroll acreage through the Lake Erie Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program. This will help reach the 67,000-acre goal and increase conservation efforts.

The Voluntary Nutrient Management Plan Development Program will be a partnership with the Ohio Agribusiness Association, in which producers are reimbursed for soil testing and nutrient management plans. This would help to ensure the 4R principles are put into place.

The Cost Share and Equipment Buy Down Program will provide producers with funds to purchase technological improvements to agricultural land, equipment and structures to reduce nutrient loss.
One of a series of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) photos obtained by The Fairfield [MT] Sun Times through a FOIA request. The Sun Times filed three successful FOIA requests related to federal oil and gas leases in Glacier County, Montana.
Some people binge watch Netflix Huluor HBO shows. And some people turn their downtime into cash. James made $2,275 in just 19 minutesall thanks to something called The 15 Minute Workday. The average trade makes 12% in just 5 days (factoring winners and losers) which is out of this world.

Fujitsu Limited operates as an information and communication technology (ICT) company in japan and internationally. The company operates through Technology Solutions, Ubiquitous Solutions, and Device Solutions segments. The Technology Solutions segment offers system integration services, including system construction and business applications; consulting services; front-end technologies comprising ATMs, point-of-sale systems, etc.; and outsourcing services, such as datacenters, ICT and application operation/management, SaaS, business process outsourcing, etc. This segment also provides network services, such as business network, etc.; cloud services; system support services comprising maintenance and surveillance services for information systems and networks; and security solutions that include information systems and networks installation. In addition, it offers system products, such as servers, storage systems, and operating system and middleware software; and network management and optical transmission systems, and mobile phone base stations. The Ubiquitous Solutions segment provides personal computers and mobile phones. The Device Solutions segment offers LSI devices for digital consumer electronics, automobiles, mobile phones, and servers; and electronic components, such as semiconductor packages, batteries, optical transceiver modules, printed circuit boards, relays, connectors, etc. The company also provides infrastructure, industry, and business and technology solutions. It serves automotive, manufacturing, retail, financial services, transport, telecommunications, and healthcare industries; the public sectors; and services providers. The company has strategic partnership with NetApp for enhancing data management infrastructure. Fujitsu Limited was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

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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.

Schlumberger Limited supplies technology for reservoir characterization, drilling, production, and processing to the oil and gas industry worldwide. It operates in four divisions: Digital & Integration, Reservoir Performance, Well Construction, and Production Systems. The company offers reservoir interpretation and data processing services; open and cased-hole, and slickline services; exploration and production pressure and flow-rate measurement services; tubing-conveyed perforating services; integrated production systems; software, consulting, information management, and IT infrastructure services; reservoir characterization, field development planning, and production enhancement consulting services; and petro technical data services and training solutions. It designs, manufactures, and markets roller cone and fixed cutter drill bits; supplies drilling fluid systems, fluid systems and specialty equipment, production technology solutions, and engineered managed pressure and underbalanced drilling solutions; and offers environmental services and products; provides drilling and measurement, land drilling rigs, and related support services; and supplies well planning and drilling, engineering, supervision, logistics, procurement, and contracting services, as well as drilling rig management services. In addition, the company offers well services; coiled tubing equipment; hydraulic fracturing, multistage completions, perforating, coiled tubing equipment, and services; well completion services and equipment; artificial lift production equipment and optimization services; and production management services. Further, it provides integrated subsea production systems; drilling equipment and services; onshore and offshore platform wellhead systems and processing solutions; and valve and process systems. The company was formerly known as SocieAteA de Prospection EAlectrique. Schlumberger Limited was founded in 1926 and is based in Houston, Texas.

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Sociedad QuAmica y Minera de Chile S.A. produces and distributes specialty plant nutrients, iodine and its derivatives, lithium and its derivatives, potassium chloride and sulfate, industrial chemicals, and other products and services worldwide. The company offers specialty plant nutrients, including potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, sodium potassium nitrate, specialty blends, and other specialty fertilizers for crops, such as vegetables, fruits, and industrial crops. It also provides iodine and its derivatives for use in medical, pharmaceutical, agricultural, and industrial applications comprising x-ray contrast media, polarizing films for LCD and LED, antiseptics, biocides and disinfectants, pharmaceutical synthesis, electronics, pigments, and dye components. In addition, the company offers lithium carbonates for various applications that include electrochemical materials for batteries, frits for the ceramic and enamel industries, heat-resistant glass, air conditioning chemicals, continuous casting powder for steel extrusion, primary aluminum smelting process, pharmaceuticals, and lithium derivatives. Further, it supplies lithium hydroxide for the lubricating greases industry, as well as cathodes for batteries. Additionally, it offers potassium chloride and potassium sulfate for various crops, including corn, rice, sugar, soybean, and wheat; industrial chemicals, including sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate, potassium chloride, and solar salts; and other fertilizers and blends. The company was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Santiago, Chile.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Hyundai Motor: Beijing Jingxian Motor Safeguard Service Co. Ltd. (BJMSS), Beijing Jingxianronghua Motor Sale Co. Ltd., Bluewalnut Co. Ltd., Boston Dynamics Inc., China Millennium Corporations (CMEs), China Mobility Fund L.P., Extended Term Amortizing Program LLC, Genesis Motor America LLC, Genesis Motor Europe Gmbh (GME), Genesis Motor Sales(Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Genesis Motor Switzerland AG (GMCH), Genesis Motor UK Limited (GMUK), Green Air Co. Ltd, HCA Exchange LLC, HCCA Funding Inc., HCCA Funding Two Inc, HCCA Funding Two Inc., HK Lease Funding LP, HK Real Properties LLC, HK Retail Funding LP, HMB Holding Participacoes Financeiras Ltda, HR Mechanical Services Limited, HYUNDAI KEFICO MEXICO S. DE R.L.DE C.V., HYUNDAI KEFICO VIETNAM COMPANY LIMITED, HYUNDAI MOTOR SINGAPORE PTE.LTD. (HMS), Hydrogen Energy Industry Fund, Hyundai ABS Funding LLC, Hyundai America Technical Center Inc. (HATCI), Hyundai Assan Otomotiv Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S. (HAOSVT), Hyundai Asset Backed Lease LLC, Hyundai Auto Canada Captive Insurance Inc. (HACCI), Hyundai Auto Canada Corp. (HACC), Hyundai Auto Electronics Company Ltd., Hyundai Auto Lease Offering LLC, Hyundai CHA Funding LLC, Hyundai Capital America (HCA), Hyundai Capital Australia Pty Limited, Hyundai Capital Brasil Servicos De Assistencia Financeira Ltda, Hyundai Capital Canada Inc. (HCCA), Hyundai Capital Europe GmbH, Hyundai Capital India Private Limited (HCI), Hyundai Capital Insurance Company, Hyundai Capital Insurance Services LLC, Hyundai Capital Lease Inc. (HCLI), Hyundai Capital Services Inc., Hyundai Capital Services Limited Liability Company, Hyundai EURotem Demiryolu Araclari, Hyundai HK Funding Four LLC, Hyundai HK Funding LLC, Hyundai HK Funding Three LLC, Hyundai HK Funding Two LL, Hyundai HK Lease LLC, Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility AG (HHM), Hyundai KEFICO Corporation (Hyundai KEFICO), Hyundai Lease Titling Trust, Hyundai Millennium (Beijing) Real Estate Development Co. Ltd., Hyundai Mobility Lab (HML), Hyundai Motor America (HMA), Hyundai Motor Brasil Montadora de Automoveis LTDA (HMB), Hyundai Motor Commonwealth of Independent States (HMCIS), Hyundai Motor Commonwealth of Independent States B.V (HMCIS B.V), Hyundai Motor Company Australia Pty Limited (HMCA), Hyundai Motor Company Italy S.r.l (HMCI), Hyundai Motor Czech s.r.o (HMCZ), Hyundai Motor DE Mexico S DE RL DE CV (HMM), Hyundai Motor Deutschland GmbH (HMD), Hyundai Motor Espana S.L.U. (HMES), Hyundai Motor Europe GmbH (HME), Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Center GmbH (HMETC), Hyundai Motor France SAS (HMF), Hyundai Motor India Engineering Private Limited (HMIE), Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMI), Hyundai Motor Japan Co. Ltd. (HMJ), Hyundai Motor Japan R&D Center Inc. (HMJ R&D), Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama LLC (HMMA), Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech s.r.o. (HMMC), Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus LLC (HMMR), Hyundai Motor Netherlands B.V. (HMNL), Hyundai Motor Poland Sp. Zo. O (HMP), Hyundai Motor Sport GmbH (HMSG), Hyundai Motor UK Limited (HMUK), Hyundai Motors Indonesia (HMID), Hyundai NGV Engineering, Hyundai Partecs Co. Ltd., Hyundai Protection Plan Florida Inc., Hyundai Protection Plan Inc., Hyundai Rio Vista Inc., Hyundai Rotem Brasil Industria E Comercio De Trens Ltda., Hyundai Rotem Company  Hyundai EURotem Demiryolu Araclari SAN. VE TIC. A.S ORTAK GIRISIMI, Hyundai Rotem Company  Hyundai EUrotem Mahmutbey Projesi ORTAK GIRISIMI, Hyundai Rotem Malaysia SDN BHD, Hyundai Rotem USA Corporation Moceanlab Inc., Hyundai Translead Inc. (HT), Hyundai Truck & Bus (China) Co. Ltd. (HTBC), Hyundai Truck And Bus Rus LLC (HTBR), Hyundai de Mexico SA DE C.V. (HYMEX), Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC Co. Ltd, KB Leaders Private Securities Fund1(Bond Mixed), KEFICO Automotive Systems (Beijing) Co. Ltd., KEFICO Automotive Systems (Chongqing) Co. Ltd., Kia Motors, KyoboAXA Private Tomorrow Securities Investment Trust No.12, MOCEAN Co. Ltd, Maintrans Company Services, PT. HYUNDAI MOTOR MANUFACTURING INDONESIA (HMMI), Power Protect Extended Services Florida Inc., Power Protect Extended Services Inc., Rotem Equipments (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Samsung ETF rotation Private Investment Trust 1, Shinhan BNPP Private Corporate Security Investment Trust No.34, Stamped Metal American Research Technology Inc. (SMARTI), Stamped Metal American Research Technology LLC, and ZER01NE Accelerator Investment Fund No.1.
Its why everybody sells, especially Catholic hospitals that have a very clear mission, he said. The questions is, can LifeBridge do any better? I dont know. But they are in a much better position to run the hospital because they have other hospitals in Baltimore and they have synergies and can consolidate some services And when a well capitalized system takes over a distressed hospital, it does nothing but improve quality.
The following companies are subsidiares of Zimmer Biomet: Abbott Spine, Beijing Montagne Medical Device Co. Ltd., Beijing Montagne Medical Device Co. Ltd., BioMet, Biomet 3i Australia Pty. Ltd., Biomet 3i Belgium N.V., Biomet 3i Benelux Holdings N.V., Biomet 3i Dental Iberica SL, Biomet 3i LLC, Biomet 3i Mexico S.A. de C.V., Biomet 3i Netherlands B.V., Biomet 3i Nordic AB, Biomet 3i Portugal Lda, Biomet 3i Switzerland GmbH, Biomet 3i Turkey, Biomet 3i UK Ltd., Biomet 3i do Brasil Comercio de Aparelhos Medicos Ltda., Biomet Acquisitions (Unlimited), Biomet Argentina SA, Biomet Australia Pty. Ltd., Biomet Biologics LLC, Biomet Brazil Medical Device Ltda., Biomet C.V., Biomet CV Holdings LLC, Biomet Cementing Technologies AB, Biomet Chile SA, Biomet China Co. Ltd., Biomet Deutschland GmbH, Biomet Deutschland Holding GmbH, Biomet Fair Lawn LLC, Biomet Finance US LLC, Biomet France Sarl, Biomet Global Supply Chain Center B.V., Biomet Healthcare Management GmbH, Biomet Holdings B.V., Biomet Hong Kong CBT Ltd., Biomet Hong Kong Holding Ltd., Biomet Hong Kong No. 1 Ltd., Biomet Inc., Biomet Insurance Ltd., Biomet International Inc., Biomet International Orthopedics LLC, Biomet Leasing Inc., Biomet Manufacturing LLC, Biomet Mexico S.A. de C.V., Biomet Microfixation B.V., Biomet Orthopedics LLC, Biomet Orthopedics Puerto Rico Inc., Biomet Spain Orthopaedics S.L., Biomet Sports Medicine LLC, Biomet Trauma LLC, Biomet U.S. Reconstruction LLC, Biomet UK Healthcare Ltd., Biomet UK Ltd., CD Diagnostics, CD Diagnostics Inc., CD Laboratories Inc., Cayenne Medical, Cayenne Medical Inc., CelgenTek Innovations Corporation, Centerpulse Ltd, Changzhou Biomet Medical Devices Co. Ltd., Citra Labs LLC, Clinical Graphics, Compression Therapy Concepts Inc., Compression Therapy Products, D.S. Comp Ltd., Dornoch Medical Systems, Dornoch Medical Systems Inc., EBI Holdings LLC, EBI LLC, EBI Medical Systems LLC, EBI Patient Care Inc., ETEX Corporation, ETEX Holdings Inc., Electro-Biology LLC, Endius, Espanormed S.L., Etex, ExtraOrtho, Hakuho Company Ltd., IC Guided Surgery SRL, Implant Concierge LLC, Implant Innovations Holdings LLC, Implex, InnoVision Inc., Interpore Cross International LLC, JERDS Luxembourg Holding Sarl, Kirschner Medical Corporation, Knee Creations, LDR Brasil Comercio Importacao e Exportacao Ltda., LDR Holding, LDR Medical Hong Kong (branch), LDR Medical S.A.S., LVB Acquisition Inc., Lanx Puerto Rico LLC , Lanx Srl, Medical Compression Systems Inc., Medtech SA, Medtech SAS, Medtech Surgical GmbH, Medtech Surgical Inc., NORMED Medizin-Technik GmbH, ORTHOsoft ULC, Ortho Transmission, Orthopaedic Advantage LLC, Ospol Participacoes Ltda., Representaciones Zimmer Inc. S. de R.L. de C.V., Respondwell, SM Re Ltd., Scandimed Holding AB, Shanghai Biomet Business Consulting Co. Ltd., Synvasive Technology, Synvasive Technology Inc., ZB COOP C.V., ZB COOP LLC, ZB Cayman (Asia) Holding Ltd., ZB Cayman Island CBT 2 Ltd., ZB Dental India Private Limited, ZB EMEA 1 LP, ZB EMEA Finance UK 1 Ltd., ZB EMEA Finance UK 2 Ltd., ZB EMEA Finance UK 3 Ltd., ZB EMEA US UK LLC, ZB Hong Kong CBT 2 Ltd., ZB Hong Kong Holding Ltd., ZB Hong Kong Ltd., ZB Manufacturing LLC, ZB UK Group Holdings Limited, ZH2LX Barbados Branch (branch), Zfx, Zfx GmbH, Zfx Innovation GmbH, Zhejiang Biomet Medical Products Co. Ltd., Zimmer (Shanghai) Medical International Trading Co. Ltd., Zimmer Asia (HK) Ltd., Zimmer Australia Holding Pty. Ltd., Zimmer Biomet (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Zimmer Biomet Asel Alarabiya Limited Company, Zimmer Biomet Asia Holding B.V., Zimmer Biomet Asia Holdings Pte. Ltd., Zimmer Biomet Austria GmbH, Zimmer Biomet BVBA, Zimmer Biomet CBT, Zimmer Biomet CBT 2, Zimmer Biomet CMF and Thoracic LLC, Zimmer Biomet Canada Inc., Zimmer Biomet Centroamerica SA, Zimmer Biomet Comp Ltd., Zimmer Biomet Denmark ApS, Zimmer Biomet Dental Canada Inc., Zimmer Biomet Dental K.K., Zimmer Biomet Deutschland GmbH, Zimmer Biomet Distribution LLC, Zimmer Biomet Finance Srl, Zimmer Biomet Finance US Holding Inc., Zimmer Biomet Finland Oy, Zimmer Biomet France Holdings SAS, Zimmer Biomet France SAS, Zimmer Biomet GK, Zimmer Biomet Global Holdings Switzerland GmbH, Zimmer Biomet Hellas SA, Zimmer Biomet Ireland Limited, Zimmer Biomet Italia Srl, Zimmer Biomet Korea Ltd., Zimmer Biomet Nederland B.V., Zimmer Biomet New Zealand Company, Zimmer Biomet Norway AS, Zimmer Biomet OUS Holdings AG, Zimmer Biomet Polska Sp. z.o.o, Zimmer Biomet Portugal Unipessoal Lda, Zimmer Biomet Pty. Ltd., Zimmer Biomet Romania S.R.L., Zimmer Biomet South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Zimmer Biomet Spain S.L., Zimmer Biomet Spine Inc., Zimmer Biomet Sweden AB, Zimmer Biomet Taiwan Co. Ltd., Zimmer Biomet UK Ltd., Zimmer Biomet US 2 Holding Inc., Zimmer CBT I Holding Inc., Zimmer CBT II Holding Inc., Zimmer CEP USA Holding Co., Zimmer CEP USA Inc., Zimmer CIS Ltd., Zimmer CV Inc., Zimmer Caribe LLC, Zimmer Cayman Islands Holding Co. Ltd., Zimmer Co-op Holdings LLC, Zimmer Colombia SAS, Zimmer Czech sro, Zimmer Dental (Shanghai) Medical Device Co. Ltd., Zimmer Dental Chile Spa, Zimmer Dental GmbH, Zimmer Dental Inc., Zimmer Dental Italy Srl, Zimmer Dental Ltd., Zimmer Dental SAS, Zimmer Finance Ireland, Zimmer France Manufacturing Sarl, Zimmer Germany Holdings GmbH, Zimmer GmbH, Zimmer GmbH Euro IP Branch (branch), Zimmer GmbH Winterthur Branch (branch), Zimmer Gulf FZ LLC, Zimmer Inc., Zimmer India Private Ltd., Zimmer International Logistics GmbH, Zimmer Investments LLC, Zimmer Knee Creations Inc., Zimmer Luxembourg II Sarl, Zimmer Luxembourg Sarl, Zimmer Manufacturing B.V., Zimmer Manufacturing B.V. (branch), Zimmer Medical Malaysia SDN BHD, Zimmer Netherlands Cooperatief U.A., Zimmer Orthobiologics Inc., Zimmer Orthopedics Manufacturing Limited, Zimmer Production Inc., Zimmer Pte. Ltd., Zimmer Slovakia sro, Zimmer Southeast Florida LLC, Zimmer Spine Next Inc., Zimmer Spine SAS, Zimmer Surgical, Zimmer Surgical Inc., Zimmer Surgical SA, Zimmer Switzerland Holdings LLC, Zimmer Switzerland Manufacturing GmbH, Zimmer Tibbi Cihazlar Sanayi ve Ticaret AS, Zimmer Trabecular Metal Technology Inc., Zimmer Trustee Ltd., Zimmer UK Limited, Zimmer US Inc., and Zimmer do Brasil Comercio Ltda..
State Sen. Alex Bergstein has asked state ethics officials to rule on the hiring of a former campaign worker for her Capitol office.

But the chief of staff of the majority Democratic Senate caucus defended the hiring of the aide, whom Bergstein, D-Greenwich, is paying with her own money.

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Nancy S. Nicolescu, director of education and communications for the Office of State Ethics, said Monday that the agencys legal division is researching the issue, at Bergsteins request.

Legislators, like other state officials and employees are subject to the Code of Ethics, Nicolescu said. Our conflict-of-interest rules are grounded on a single rationale: that public service is a public trust and must not be used for personal financial benefit, or for the financial benefit of certain family members or any associated business. Absent such financial benefit, the Code generally does not apply.

Vincent Mauro Jr., chief of staff for the Senate Democrats, said that literally dozens of legislative workers - most of whom are unpaid interns - are in similar positions.

There are currently about 60 badged, non-program legislative individuals working in the state legislature, according to State Capitol Police, Mauro said. This is not unusual and is a long-standing practice in the state legislature.

The first-term Bergstein, whose district includes parts of Stamford and New Canaan, is a lawyer and former chairman of the Mount Sinai Childrens Environmental Health Center. She is the co-chairman of the legislative Banking Committee.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
STAMFORD  A raid that began with the forced entry of a West Side home Sunday night netted an illegal pistol hidden in a ceiling and a prohibited high-capacity magazine capable of holding over 30 bullets.

Jaden Brayboy, 18, of Finney Lane was charged with interfering with a search, criminal possession of a pistol, possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to sell, and possession of a large capacity magazine. At Brayboys arraignment early Monday afternoon, a Stamford judge ordered him held in lieu of a $150,000 court-appearance bond.

Capt. Richard Conklin said that officers in the Narcotics and Organized Crime squad heard on the street that Brayboy was in possession of a pistol and that he was selling marijuana. With that information, the officers were able to get a search-and-seizure warrant for his Finney Lane apartment in part because Brayboy was on probation and prohibited from possessing a firearm.

Police from the SWAT Special Response Team and NOC officers gathered at the apartment at about 8:30 p.m. Sunday. The officers announced they were at the door to serve the search warrant, but heard nothing from the occupants of the apartment.

After waiting a reasonable amount of time, the officers breached the front and rear entrances. Officers used a loudspeaker to order the occupants out of the house. Only after about seven minutes and after being threatened with being bitten by a police dog who was about to be sent into the home did Brayboy and his friend Tyrik Gill, 20, of Whitmore Lane, come out of the apartment voluntarily, Conklin said.

When police searched the home, they found a Glock 23, .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol with the illegal high-capacity magazine in the drop ceiling of Brayboys bedroom, Conklin said. The magazine, which could hold 31 bullets, had 23 rounds in it. Also in the ceiling, police found two ounces of marijuana, $626 in cash and an electronic scale, Conklin said.

Police also found three ski masks, that police say are often used by criminals when committing robberies.

Brayboy was represented by a public defender.

Gills defense attorney Matthew Maddox said police will have a difficult time making gun and drug possession case stick against his client, who was visiting the Finney Lane apartment when police arrived. Gill was slapped with identical charges to Brayboy and was released after posting a $25,000 court-appearance bond.

I think the states case against Mr. Gill is labored given the fact that the vast majority of the evidence seized by police was in the possession of his co-defendant, Maddox said.

No pleas to the charges were made at their appearance.

jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com
GREENWICH  Three alleged shoplifters from New York City, accused of using a booster bag to take items from a store in Riverside, are facing multiple criminal charges.

Officers were called to the CVS store in Riverside Commons on East Putnam Avenue Friday afternoon. A description was given to police that a black vehicle had been used in a theft, according to the arrest report. The car was pulled over nearby, and officers said a quantity of CVS merchandise was found in the trunk, according to the report.
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.
STAMFORD  Mold is still not an exact science.

Thats what Newfield Elementary School parents were told at a recent meeting that brought together families, staff and officials to discuss the status of the school.

We felt we needed to get together as a whole to get a grip on whats going on with our school, said Reischea Kapasouris, one of the parent volunteers who organized the meeting. We recognize its not solely our school (with a mold problem), but in going to meetings were sharing time and not getting specifics we want answered ... we felt we needed to do something where we could focus on us.

Kevin McCarthy, an employee with environmental consulting firm Tighe and Bond who has been working on Newfield, said the firm examined areas of concern in the school prior to a full building assessment. He said the visible mold in the building is the result of water leaks. All visible mold growth and leaks have been addressed and repairs are being monitored to make sure they are done properly, he said.

More than 100 roof leaks were repaired and waterstained ceiling tiles were removed and replaced.

Drywall in four areas of the school is being cleaned, removed and replaced. The gym floor is expected to be replaced by the summer.

Still attendees had concerns. Board of Representatives member Megan Cottrell (D-4) asked McCarthy why not all classrooms have been assessed for mold. She was not satisfied with his answer that the testing was done based on visual assessment.

I know youre an expert, she said. But Im not really reassured if youre not testing every classroom.

Many parents were also upset the district would not conduct air quality testing in the school, despite teachers who spoke about the effect being in the building had on them physically.

I can feel my chest tighten just being in the building, one said. Im not like this on the weekend, but every time Im in the building, my chest is like this.

City Mold Task Force member Mike Handler, who attended the meeting, said air quality testing is not an accurate portrayal of whats happening in a building.

Attendees also expressed concerns about the district not investigating to see what caused the mold to get to the point that it did. Superin tendent Earl Kim said the district was focusing on fixing the current system instead of examining the past.

Handler said the city has spent more than $5 million since the Mold Task Force was formed. Kim also said the mold is not affecting the schools current operating budget despite what people may see in headlines.

Currently, $2.9 million has been allotted to Newfield in next years capital budget for permanent construction of new classrooms after the district closed the schools previous portable classrooms in October due to parental concerns. An additional $600,000 has been allotted to replace the portables.

erin.kayata@

stamfordadvocate.com

Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated $2.9 million was allotted to go towards new modular classrooms.
STAMFORD  Mice droppings in a food storage closet, moldy shelving, sanitizer next to cookies and bacon, and food stored directly on the floor are some of the violations recently noted by Stamford restaurant inspectors.

Eleven Stamford eateries, caterers, food trucks, markets, and school cafeterias inspected within the past month have a failing grade on the citys inspections review website, as of Tuesday afternoon. Thats a very small percentage of all of the businesses listed on the site, the vast majority of which have the highest possible health score.

The number of failed inspections fluctuates often, as the city conducts follow-up inspections and either issues another failing report card or improves the establishments grade to fair, acceptable or best.

The most common infractions found on inspection reports are hand-washing and personal hygiene issues, as well as food temperature.

A sample of recent infractions at poor-performing restaurants include storing a bucket of sanitizer next to a container of cookies, pickles, and crisp bacon at the Burger King on High Ridge Road; cooked pork belly that was prepared at the owners home and raw chicken placed on top of beef in a reach-in cooler at Kano; and a food worker using a glove to prepare a chicken and then touching a sheet pan and a door handle without discarding of the glove and washing his hands at Peter Chang.

Inspectors also found an abundance of mice droppings in a food storage closet and on top of a food container at Stamford Restaurant & Pizzeria, which received a failing grade early in the month. Inspectors returned on Monday and gave the restaurant an acceptable grade.

One school even made the list.

Stillmeadow Elementary School was given a failing score for a dented can, a four-point violation described in the inspection report as unwholesome product served to students.

A four-point violation is the most serious of all infractions, and includes issues such as improper temperature of food, poorly stored food, improperly stored and labeled toxic items, and lax personal hygiene issues, among other items.

Dented cans are the biggest culprit of botulism, said Ted Jankowski, Stamfords director of Public Safety, Health and Welfare. Foodborne botulism is a rare but serious illness caused by eating foods that are contaminated with the disease causing toxin. Taking even a small taste of food containing this toxin can be deadly. Potential cases of botulism are considered a public health emergency.

One four-point violation automatically results in a poor grade, even if the restaurant receives an overall high score.

When it comes to food temperature, Stamford health inspectors test food to see if it falls within the bacteria danger zone, which is between 41 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit. Food in that range is more prone to bacterial growth.

When restaurants fail an inspection, which are conducted without warning, they are supposed to be re-inspected about two weeks later. If the restaurant fails again, the owner is fined $150 and is required to appear before the citys health inspection division, where they discuss each infraction and establish a plan to address the issues.

A third violation means the business is subject to closure, at the discretion of the director of health. If the restaurant is shuttered, the owner must pay $300 to re-open.

Nonetheless, a cursory view of the citys own database found that some businesses are either not re-inspected soon after a failed inspection, or the information is not updated online.

For example, China Xpress II, on Selleck Street, has a failed inspection from October of last year listed as its most recent inspection. Dinosaur Bar-B-Ques catering service has a failing grade from December of last year and hasnt been reinspected, according to the citys website.

On Monday morning, there were nine listed with old failed inspections. City inspectors did not return multiple calls for comment from the Stamford Advocate about the discrepancy; however, several newer inspections were added to the website Tuesday, leaving only six with old reports.

Stamford Crowne Plaza Hotel and Conference Center failed two in a row last year, and hadnt been re-inspected since May, according to the citys website on Monday morning. By Tuesday, the hotel restaurant was reinspected, and again received a poor score.

Stamford News and Deli failed over a year ago and hadnt been reinspected, also according to the citys data on Monday. It was re-inspected on Tuesday and received a score of fair.

To view the ratings of all Stamford restaurants, visit the citys website.

ignacio.laguarda@stamfordadvocate.com
Griffin Hospital will host a free educational program about prevent Type 2 diabetes, starting March 5.

The Prevent T2 Lifestyle Change Program is an evidenced-based, year-long program designed for people with prediabetes and those who are at high risk for type 2 diabetes and want to lower their risk. Studies show that this program can prevent diabetes 58 to 71 percent.

Weekly meetings will take place from 5 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays from at Griffin Hospital, 130 Division St. in Derby, starting March 5. The program meeting schedule is weekly, one-hour sessions for four months, followed by meetings every other week for four months, and finally, monthly meetings for the remaining four months.

Prevent T2 helps participants achieve moderate weight loss by eating well and being active.

By the end of the first six months, the goal is for participants to lose at least 5-to-7 percent of their starting weight, and get at least 150 minutes of physical activity each week at a moderate pace or more. By the end of the second six months, the goal is for participants to keep off the weight they have lost, keep working toward their goal if they havent reached it, lose more weight if they wish, and keep getting at least 150 minutes of activity each week.

The program is sponsored by Griffin Health and Agency on Aging of South Central Connecticut.

To register, or for more information, contact Mary at 203-732-1137 or mswansiger@griffinhealth.org.
BRIDGEPORT  A local teen was arrested after police said he beat his girlfriend, sexually assaulted her and then set her hair on fire.

Reinaldo Ayala, 18, of Bird Street, was charged with first-degree sexual assault, second-degree assault, third-degree strangulation and unlawful restraint.

He was held in lieu of $250,000 bond.

Early Tuesday morning, police said, officers were dispatched to Bridgeport Hospital, where Ayala had just dropped off an unconscious woman. Police said Ayala told them the woman had been attacked by two black women who were with two black men who had threatened to beat him up too if he interfered.

But police continued that officers were suspicious because Ayala kept changing his story and could not give them a description of the assailants other than they were black.

Police said they questioned the victim when she became conscious, and that said she told them she and Ayala were driving from her mothers house when he became angry at something she said.

Ayala pulled the car over and then began punching the young women numerous times, police said she told them. Police said Ayala ripped the womans clothes off, choked her and sexually assaulted her. He then pulled out a lighter, grabbed the womans hair and set her hair on fire, police said.

Police said Ayala drove into a vacant parking lot and ordered the woman, who was naked, out of the car, then he grabbed a stick and began beating her.

The woman passed out from the beating and woke up in the hospital, police said. She was treated at the hospital for extensive bruising on her arms and legs and bruises and bite marks on her face and body, police said.

When they checked Ayalas car, police said they found a stick and some of the victims burned hair.
The memory is a little hazy, but from what I recall its the mid-1970s in the cafeteria of Memorial High School on the West Side. The scene is raucous. Cheering students are egging on a crowd gathered around a school-sanctioned activity in which the most popular kids are being auctioned.

Students at the predominantly Mexican American high school pooled their money, bid on athletes and cheerleaders, and got to order them around for a whole day.

It was called Slave Day, an annual fundraiser, as I recall, for the senior class. It was a tradition that students, teachers and administrators viewed as innocuous, even benign.

I dont remember being offended. I dont recall looking over to any of the few black students to see their reaction. Nor do I recall anyone voicing objections to what was clearly inappropriate and a horrific example for a group  Mexican Americans  whose own history bears similar scars.

Ours wasnt the only high school that indulged in such rituals.

A fellow journalist who attended Canyon High in New Braunfels in the mid-80s had no trouble recalling yearbook photos showing two white male students wearing blackface as part of a mammy costume and a black student in a Klan-like robe and hood. The offensive caricatures were part of fundraisers benefiting the schools National Honor Society. She felt uneasy about those memories, as I did about mine.

This week, USA Today published a report based on one of the most extensive searches of college yearbooks ever, finding widespread use of blackface and mock-Klan photos in the 1970s and 80s. The 1971 yearbook of a University of Virginia fraternity depicted armed young men wearing hoods while peering up at a lynched mannequin in blackface.

The newspapers investigation found examples way beyond Virginia, where Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam has been embroiled in a scandal over pictures on his medical school yearbook page from 1984. One showed a student in blackface next to another in a Klan robe.

Northam denied he was in the picture but later admitted he wore blackface at a dance competition that year while he was a pediatric intern at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. He has refused demands for his resignation, and a new poll this week showed a plurality of Virginia voters, including black voters, dont want him to step down.

Virginia may still think its for lovers, but its where memories of the Confederacy were made frighteningly clear in 2017, when a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville ended with the death of a counter-demonstrator, 32-year-old Heather Heyer.

Images of that hateful assembly close out BlacKkKlansman, the Spike Lee movie that is up for an Oscar on Sunday night. Its about the first African American detective on the Colorado Springs Police Department, who led the police infiltration of a local KKK chapter.

Lees movie begins with images from The Birth of a Nation, the 1915 silent picture credited with reviving the Klan by glorifying its history and demonizing black people.

Given this nations fraught history of race relations, its the denials around racism that continue to perplex University of Texas at San Antonio professor Sonja Lanehart. Americans find ways to excuse, sanitize or deny racism, and even when acknowledged, racism somehow exists without racists, she said.

People find a way to say that its something else, she said of blackface, Confederate monuments, segregation, discrimination in housing and employment, and more.

Memorial Highs Slave Day, presented as a fun-filled fundraiser, included no mention of actual slavery  what it looked like; how it was maintained; how slave owners, U.S. institutions and the countrys economy benefited from it; and how slavery led to persistent inequities that keep us from forming a more perfect union.

The takeaway isnt just to refrain from wearing blackface, making fun of slavery or wearing Klan robes. We need more public displays of reflection if we want to make our country greater.

Ours was teenage obliviousness. On Slave Day, girls bought their boyfriends and vice versa. Today, the insensitive spectacle would draw TV cameras and condemnation on social media. It now looks to me like a failure, a lost opportunity for teachers and administrators to have offered lessons.

Perhaps we should have learned what was never clearly presented in history texts about our own state: that Texas ceded from the United States of America to join the Confederate States of America and that San Antonio was once a part of Mexico, where a famous battle was fought in the ruins of a Catholic mission, in part to maintain human bondage.

Elaine Ayala is a columnist covering San Antonio and Bexar County. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | eayala@express-news.net | Twitter: @ElaineAyala
Student Culinary Department will show off their many talents, aided by members of the Student Government Association, and members of the Jr. ROTC program with a menu that features homemade pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, and fresh fruit. Juice and coffee will also be served. The community is invited to come out and enjoy breakfast for dinner for just $10 per person.
After Velia Meza won election last November to the 226th Criminal District Court of Bexar County, she reached out for guidance to Sid Harle, the person who occupied that same bench for nearly 30 years.

He did give me some advice that I rely on, probably every day, Meza said on this weeks edition of the Express-Newss Puro Politics podcast. He told me, You know, just because you have the right to do something, doesnt mean its the right thing to do.

And so I have seen that play out every single day Ive been on the bench.

On ExpressNews.com: New judges will greet jurors this week

Meza, who came to the court with 17 years of experience as a criminal defense attorney, has long been an advocate for criminal justice reform and a critic of this countrys propensity for mass incarceration.

As a judge, however, she quickly learned that the specifics of a case take precedence over any broader considerations.

You definitely have to take a look at every case on its own, she said. Because somebody misbehaved on a different case and screwed up an opportunity for them doesnt mean that in this case thats going to happen.

Mezas family emigrated from Mexico when she was an infant and she grew up in the border town of El Paso.

While that city has become the focal point in the national debate over President Donald Trumps push for a border wall, Meza said the El Paso of her youth  before the placement of border fencing  was not the dangerous place often described by Trump and his supporters.

Growing up, El Paso was a very safe city, Meza said. Because we all just jelled so well together. So growing up I never had any concerns about safety and neither did my parents.

On ExpressNews.com: Two district courts headed for runoffs

During her podcast interview, Meza also said she supports the continuation of elections for judges in Texas, but would prefer to see them be nonpartisan races in odd-numbered years.

Hear these and other comments from Meza on this weeks Puro Politics podcast.

Puro Politics is a weekly podcast with Gilbert Garcia and the Express-News political team as they take you for a spin inside the halls of civic power.

Listen and subscribe on: Apple Podcasts Stitcher TuneIn RSS All Episodes

Gilbert Garcia is a columnist covering the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | ggarcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @gilgamesh470
Ernestine Hernandez had a dilemma on her hands.

She wanted to drive her husband from their home in New Braunfels to San Antonio for a gathering to promote legislation that would help thousands of veterans, like him, who say they have suffered because of exposure to toxic smoke from burn pits in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The 90-minute round trip for medically retired Army Sgt. Lee Hernandez wasnt going to be easy. She cared for him at home but had no oxygen to bring with them. He has had 22 strokes and has severe lung problems.

Its an hour and a half there and back, Ernestine Hernandez said. But another part is, if you dont speak up, will the problem ever get fixed? Those guys with Agent Orange, they had to fight and fight and fight until the VA listened to them.

She drove to San Antonio last Thursday but missed the event organized by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro. Instead, she had to get her husband to Brooke Army Medical Center, where he spent a long weekend, fighting pneumonia.

Lee and Ernestine Hernandez are among a growing group of veterans and their loved ones whove been trying to convince the VA to recognize the fumes from burn pits as the cause of bronchial problems and other ailments. Castro has joined that battle, introducing two bills that would add severe bronchial disease to a list of health woes to be treated at no cost and perhaps provide disability benefits.

If you need help Veterans looking to learn more about the problem or sign up for the burn pit registry can log on to https://www.burnpits360.org/CONTACT-US.html They also can check with the VA. Veterans who believe their military service has affected their health can submit a claim. Information on that process is at https://www.va.gov/disability/how-to-file-claim/ For more information about burn pits, visit https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/burnpits/index.asp For the latest VA burn pit registry information, see https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/burnpits/registry.asp See More Collapse

The event Thursday night saw Castro, D-San Antonio, and representatives of Burn Pit 360, a Robstown-based nonprofit, discuss state and federal legislation and a recent Supreme Court decision.

Burn pit-related ailments make up fewer than 1 percent of the 13.4 million claims made to the VA from June 2007 through Nov. 30 last year. The VA said Thursday it had processed 11,581 disability compensation claims with at least one condition related to burn pit exposure, granting 2,318 of them.

The VA and the Defense Department have launched multiple ongoing and extensive studies that are examining airborne hazard exposure. VA is in process of contracting with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to provide another comprehensive review of respiratory health effects of airborne hazards in Southwest Asia, the VA statement said.

That report is expected in mid-2020.

So far, nearly 165,000 veterans and servicemembers have signed up for the VAs Airborne Hazards and Open Pit Registry, with more than one in 10 of them  18,888  from Texas. The Lone Star State disproportionately represented the nation in the registry, which was current through the end of last year. California was No. 2, with 10,450.

Those on the list say they lived or worked near several hundred open-air pits, which burned just about everything imaginable  weapons, munitions, plastics and body parts  and could reach more than 10 acres in size before they were banned in 2010.

The VA is at odds with some researchers on whether burn pits were a true health hazard. While the agency continues its research, it has also contended theres no proof of long-term health problems. Still, a 2010 National Academy of Sciences study found issues with the VA registry, including a failure to gather relevant information about the issue. The report noted that the registry didnt gather individual exposure data or detail how often troops were exposed to burn pit emissions.

Castro, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and vice chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wants families of deceased veterans to be able to join the VA burn pit registry. The legislation probably offers the best chance for veterans who say their health has been affected by burn pits to get help.

Mike Fisher

A federal judge in 2017 threw out a lawsuit against KBR, a military contractor in the war zone, because the decision to use burn pits was made by the military, not the companies it hired. But the judge also said he didnt doubt that the plaintiffs to some extent have been harmed  by the use of open burn pits or by the water they drank in Iraq or Afghanistan, McClatchy reported.

The case was rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the Supreme Court declined to review it, said plaintiffs attorney Susan Burke. The appeals court, she said, held that the military controlled KBRs actions and that the courts could not second-guess the armed services.

Over 1,000 people contacted us and the illnesses were devastating, said Burke, who has negotiated settlements with defense contractors involved in other war-related issues, including the infamous Nissor Square massacre in Baghdad involving Blackwater operators.

We had deaths from cancer, deaths from pulmonary issues, and then we had a significant number of people whose lungs had been destroyed, she added. We have all sorts of people suffering from cancers caused by toxic fumes from (burn pits). Its really a public health issue.

Rosie Torres husband, Le Roy, lived near a 10-acre burn pit at Balad Air Base 40 miles north of Baghdad. In the year he was there, from 2007-08, the Army Reserve captain did logistic work and traveled from base to base, conducting law enforcement investigations.

He fell ill even before coming home to Robstown.

I remember him being quarantined in living quarters for a week. It started with respiratory issues and they didnt think much more of it until he returned home, and upon returning he was coughing so much it sounded like he was going to cough up a lung and then he collapsed, recalled Rosie Torres, 45. And then at work he was having these respiratory issues and so they sort of forced him to go home and said, Dont come back until you have an answer.

Le Roy Torres, 46, was medically retired from the military and lost his civilian job as a Texas state trooper, a job he had held for 14 years. The Torres nearly lost their home, but fought back. Theyre also suing the state, saying he was let go after suffering a war-related illness.

Rosie Torres, who spent 23 years working for the VA, said she co-founded Burn Pits 360 with her husband in 2010 because of the hell we had been though. She called the experience a nightmare of being told his respiratory issues were psychosomatic, when they were real.

From that I said there are so many people going through the same nightmare we are, weve have to start this organization and we have to get the information out and give them resources and do the research, start a registry and thats what weve been doing for almost ten years, she continued.

The Burn Pit 360 registry now has more than more than 6,000 veterans. It includes entries for 130 people whose deaths are believed to have been due to burn pit exposure.

As the clocked ticked Thursday and time grew short for a decision on driving to Castros event at the VA, Ernestine Hernandez found that her husband had a fever. Doctors dont know why he has had so many strokes and cant explain the two huge nodules that are in his lungs, she said.

Lee Hernandez was an excellent swimmer, strong and full of life, but now has congestive heart failure, she said.

In home hospice, he has been getting four breathing treatments a day but doesnt walk much. Walking takes up energy he needs to breathe.

Ernestine Hernandez thinks a burn pit at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq, where he served from 2004-05, is the culprit behind the lung problems. saying, An Army NCO assigned to a quartermaster unit, he went out on gun truck missions but seemed to have been spared the worst in a time of ever-rising violence and casualty rates.

When Lee came home, however, there were signs of something wrong. He couldnt recall where his mother lived, even though she had been there 30 years. He slowly declined, showing more signs of memory loss, PTSD and suffering strokes.

Now visually impaired because of diabetes and unemployable, the VA cuts Lee, 48, a check for being 100 percent disabled, but there is no acknowledgment that burn pits harmed his health.

As darkness fell on a cloudy winter day, they skipped Castros VA meeting and drove to the BAMC emergency room instead.

What can a poor person do? You cant enjoy life no more. You cant even walk from the front door to your driveway, Ernestine Hernandez said.

Thats no quality of life. You deal with a lot of depression, PTSD. So what do I do? Medicate him, she added. Thats the VAs answer to everything. Medicate him.

Sig Christenson covers the military and its impact on San Antonio, Bexar County and across the nation. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | sigc@express-news.net | Twitter: @saddamscribe
Cheers from more than 100 pro-immigration advocates wearing red T-shirts echoed off the north face of the Texas Capitol on Monday afternoon as a speaker read aloud a number of priorities for the legislative session. The final, loudest roar came in response to a call to repeal Texas law banning so-called sanctuary cities, known as Senate Bill 4.

Immigrants are the ones who built this community, who built this country. Theyre the ones who make America great, state Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, told the crowd.

The Forza Texas rally was organized by a handful of liberal advocacy groups and was part of a daylong push of their immigration priorities to legislators at the Capitol.

Most of the discussion at the hour-long rally centered around the sanctuary cities ban. Members of the crowd launched into chants in English and Spanish between speakers, including si, se puede.

Inside the Capitol, a number of immigration-related bills have already been filed, including S.B. 672 by Menendez, which would entirely repeal Texas sanctuary cities ban.

Texas Take: Get the latest news on Texas politics sent directly to your inbox every weekday

S.B. 4 is a thinly veiled act of discrimination against people of color that erodes the trust between law enforcement and the community, Menendez told the crowd.

Foes of the sanctuary city law have long warned that it would hinder police investigations by making immigrants less likely to come forward as witnesses or victims of crime. The bill includes a provision allowing police to question immigration the immigration status of people detained or stopped  an invitation for law enforcement to profile people, opponents say.

Republican lawmakers say S.B. 4 simply requires local governments to help federal officials enforce immigration laws, and that cities and counties should have been doing so all along. Polls show immigration and border security are a big concern for Texas voters, with 37 percent calling them the most important matters facing the state, according to an October University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll.

Related: Two Texas lawmakers call for $2.5B in state funds for border wall

In December, the San Antonio Police Department became the target of the states first lawsuit to enforce the anti-sanctuary cities law when Attorney General Ken Paxton accused Chief William McManus of hindering federal immigration enforcement by releasing a dozen people suspected of being in the country illegally. They were found in the back of a tractor-trailer by police, who questioned and released them. The truck driver was arrested on a charge of smuggling of persons, but no charges were filed. District Attorney Nico LaHood blamed the police department for leaving his office without enough evidence to prosecute the driver, who went free.

While a repeal of the law is unlikely in a Legislature only two years out from first passing it, Menendez said he filed the bill to show his displeasure with the law as it is, even if it might not be successful.

You cant just give up or let folks know youre OK with the status quo, Menendez said. I have to file things because they matter to me, they matter to (my constituents). They need to know there is someone who cares about how bad and how unjust and how discriminatory S.B. 4 is.

A number of other bills that target specific provisions of the sanctuary city law have already been filed, including three measures from Sen. Jose Rodriguez, D-El Paso, that would water it down by repealing provisions that require local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration officers.

At the end of the rally, some of the youngest members crowd smashed a pinata reading No S.B. 4 while rallygoers shouted encouragement.

We dont need it, and we dont want it, Menendez said. This bill doesnt make us any safer.
David Crockett, the Alamos most famous defender, tried to get his clothes cleaned during the siege because he expected to die in battle and wanted a decent burial, according to a letter written by a military surgeon who was captured at Goliad and brought to San Antonio to treat wounded Mexican troops after the battle.

The contents of the letter, written by Dr. Joseph Barnard to a small Illinois newspaper, was part of a lecture Monday by Gary Zaboly, a New York military artist who has researched and created images of the historic battle for Texas independence.

Zaboly, who has illustrated books and articles on U.S. history since the 1970s, spoke about the clothes and appearance of the Alamo combatants during a lecture at Alamo Hall, one of several events planned daily through March 6 at the Texas shrine to commemorate the anniversary of the 13-day siege and battle of March 6, 1836.

The artist said that no one knows for sure if Crockett was wearing clean clothes, soiled buckskins or hunting garb when he was executed. But he did not have a burial  an act of reverence denied all but one of the 189 known defenders.

Crockett, a Tennessee frontiersman who came to Texas after an unsuccessful re-election bid to Congress, may have been placed next to Alamo commanders William Barret Travis and James Bowie on one of at least two funeral pyres, when the defenders bodies were burned, Zaboly said.

Only one defender, Gregorio Esparza, whose brother was a Mexican soldier, received a burial.

On ExpressNews.com: Makeover changes begin in Alamo Plaza

Zaboly said Kevin R. Young, an Alamo researcher who lived in Illinois, discovered Barnards letter while scouring newspaper archives in the 1990s, and wrote about it in the Alamo Journal in 2010. Young died in 2012.

According to the account provided by Barnard, Crockett had called for his clothes to be washed, stating that he expected to be killed the next day, and wished to die in clean clothes, that they may give him a decent burial, Zaboly quoted.

Barnard, by the way was also the only source that tells us the bodies of Crockett, Travis and Bowie were placed side-by-side on the funeral pyre, he added. If its true, it shows some respect toward the leadership, as much as (Mexican Gen. Antonio Lopez de) Santa Anna hated them, and subtle reverence for the fallen.

Barnards stand-alone account is one of many stories of the legendary battle. Some have been widely debunked by historians. Others are accepted as fact.

Many historians agree that Crockett did not die fighting, as depicted in some movies, but was captured and executed after the battle, as described in the diary of Mexican Lt. Col. Jose Enrique de la Pena.

Another Alamo tale, about Travis drawing a line in the ground with his sword and asking the men to cross if they were willing to stay and fight, has been dismissed as folklore.

Zaboly, known for his authentic-looking portrayal of figures from the battle, said more research is needed to confirm Barnards accounts about Crockett, his clothes and the funeral pyre. Barnard also kept a diary that is considered one of the best resources on the Texas Revolution.

You cant make that up out of thin air, Zaboly said. But again, we need confirmation. And we dont get much confirmation on this subject.

Bruce Winders, the Alamos on-site historian and curator, said historical researchers are trying to learn more about items Travis and others ordered for the Alamo and the Texian army, including dry goods and clothing, from New Orleans.

On ExpressNews.com: Crockett family reunites as Alamo debate heats up

When it comes out, its really going to be what will change a lot of peoples minds about the connection between New Orleans and Texas, Winders said.

He credited Zaboly with having done such well researched artistry on the 1835-1836 revolution, based largely on written accounts, that his sketches and paintings have become iconic.

Thats what Gary has done for envisioning the Texas Revolution, Winders said. Hes created an image that we look at and we go, Oh, thats what they looked like.

Zaboly also talked to visitors in Alamo Plaza on Sunday and Monday about the mission and battle site and its 1836 appearance.

He said he supports an extensive makeover of the plaza, planned by the city, Texas General Land Office and the nonprofit Alamo Endowment. A 130,000-square-foot museum to serve as a centerpiece of the project is badly needed in order to showcase thousands of artifacts and provide state-of-the-art audio and visual displays, he said.

Zaboly said hes worried about the condition of the walls of the mission-era church, but is glad the state is working on them.

The interior structure is starting to sink and shift in some places, he said.

The Land Office recently contracted with preservation experts to continue studying the limestone walls of the church and ultimately determine whether the church needs steel reinforcement and possibly have its concrete roof replaced.

Scott Huddleston covers Bexar County government and the Alamo for the San Antonio Express-News. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | shuddleston@express-news.net | Twitter: @shuddlestonSA
Days after Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear demanded greater scrutiny of 10 churches for their handling of sexual abuse, an SBC committee called on convention leaders to refrain from publicly criticizing churches without giving them an opportunity to respond, and it announced that no further inquiry was needed for seven of the 10 churches on Greears list.

We understand it is difficult, if not impossible, to issue a report on sexual abuse that will be met with satisfaction by everyone, Ken Alford of Valdosta, GA, chairman of the SBCs bylaws work group, said in a message released Saturday evening.

The statement revealed discord among SBC leaders as they wrestle with a national controversy over hundreds of incidents of rape, molestation and other accusations of sexual misconduct within the largest coalition of Baptist churches in the U.S.

An investigation earlier this month by the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News found that more than 700 people  most of them children  had reported being victims of sexual abuse over the past two decades. The newspapers series, Abuse of Faith, found that 220 church pastors, employees and volunteers had been convicted of sex crimes or took plea deals.

The groups announcement clearing all but three churches on Greears list was met with dismay  but not surprise  by victims advocates who have spent years calling for reforms.

The statement of the SBC executive committee work group was a Saturday night massacre of hope for any near-term change on sexual abuse within the Southern Baptist Convention, activist Christa Brown wrote Monday in an email to the Chronicle.

A lot of people are very upset, said victims advocate Dee Parsons. Ive been getting a number of emails saying: This is it. Theyre playing games with my emotions.

Greear did not respond to an interview request. Russell Moore, president of the SBCs Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, released a statement Monday saying he stood squarely behind Greear and an advisory panel Greear commissioned to study ways to prevent sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches.

I was not present for this bylaws work group meeting, Moore said. But he predicted that Southern Baptists will respond with clarity and action when they meet for their annual meeting this June in Birmingham, Ala., where attendees could ask whether any churches on Greears list should continue to be in good standing with the convention.

Critics complained that Alfords work group kept a narrow focus that allowed some churches to escape scrutiny. The group examined whether the 10 churches on Geears list had employed a convicted sex offender; allowed a convicted sex offender to work as a volunteer around children; continued to employ anyone who concealed sexual abuse from law enforcement; or ignored mandatory child-abuse reporting laws.

By that standard, the group singled out three churches that risked losing membership in the SBC:

Cathedral of Faith in Houston, where a registered sex offender leads the church;

Bolivar Baptist Church in Sanger, where a pastor had admitted to impregnating a teenage member of a different church that he pastored.

Sovereign Grace Church in Louisville, Ky., where the church may have evidenced indifference to sexual abuse.

The churches did not respond to phone calls Monday.

Southern Baptist leaders for years have resisted calls by victims and advocates to do more to stop sexual abuse within churches, which are acknowledged as soft targets for predators. Specifically, critics have called for leaders to develop a database of those who were credibly accused of sexual abuse or convicted of sex crimes in order to keep them out of other churches.

Quickly cleared

Three churches in Houston made the original list, but two were cleared  Brentwood Baptist Church and Second Baptist Church.

The SBC work group said Houstons Second Baptist Church, led by Pastor Ed Young  one of the largest Southern Baptist churches in the country  has significant, detailed procedures and policies in place to prevent abuse and properly respond to charges of abuse.

A former youth pastor at Second Baptist, Chad Foster, had pleaded guilty in 2013 to three counts of sexual assault of a child and two of online solicitation of a minor. Investigators said Second Baptist officials stayed quiet about Fosters earlier dismissal from the church in 2010, even after Harris County detectives arrested Foster.

Second Baptist released a statement last week assuring the convention that it has long adhered to strict policies and guidelines dealing with sexual conduct and abuse.

The statement was applauded by Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina, who emailed a church spokesman to praise the churchs response.

Second Baptists statement on sexual abuse, as well as your policies and procedures, are excellent, Akin wrote in his email. They are exactly what I would have expected from your church and my dear friend and mentor, Ed Young.

Akin told the Chronicle that the statement from Second Baptist was sufficient proof that it did not need to face any inquiry.

I would have complete confidence that (Second Baptist Church of) Houston would protect well my 12 grandchildren, all of whom are 12 and under, he wrote.

Previous arrests

Some of the churches cleared by the SBC work group hadnt knowingly employed convicted sex offenders  but they had allowed men who had been arrested and charged with sex crimes to volunteer or work at the churches while their criminal cases were still pending.

At First Baptist Church in Bedford, Texas, Charles Adcock served as a music minister in 2015 despite facing 29 counts of rape and sodomy involving a 14-year-old girl in Alabama.

It was a bad hiring practice at the time, said the current pastor at First Baptist, Billy Taylor, who wasnt responsible for hiring Adcock.

Adcock is no longer at the church but insisted he was innocent. Without admitting any guilt, he pleaded to a single charge of second-degree sodomy in January 2016 and served 15 months. He is now a registered sex offender.

Taylors church issued a statement saying members were shocked, disgusted and angered when they learned of Adcocks prior arrest. The church leaders who hired Adcock are no longer at the church, and it revised its policies to make sure it doesnt make the same mistake  a move noted by the SBC work group.

All 10 churches on Greears list were featured in Abuse of Faith. The list didnt include scores of other Southern Baptist churches that activists have criticized.

The list was about optics, not change for the purpose of protecting people within Southern Baptist churches, said Amy Smith, a victims advocate in Dallas.

Change will not happen until churches face legal consequences, both criminal and civil, for failure to report sexual abuse, Smith said. Words and policies dont protect kids and vulnerable people. Actions do.

***

ABUSE OF FAITH: In the past 20 years, a disturbing number of Southern Baptists with formal church roles have engaged in sexual misconduct. They were pastors. Deacons. Youth pastors. They left behind more than 700 victims. Read our investigation into Southern Baptist sexual abuse on HoustonChronicle.com.

Part 1: Southern Baptist sexual abuse spreads as leaders resist reforms

Part 2: Southern Baptist churches hired dozens of leaders previously accused of sex offenses

Part 3: More than 100 Southern Baptist youth pastors convicted or charged in sex crimes

Search the database: We compiled 20 years of convictions

Help us investigate: Do you have information about sexual misconduct in Southern Baptist churches? Fill out our confidential questionnaire here.

Support our journalism: Help our journalists uncover the big stories. Subscribe today

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The University of Texas at San Antonio hosted delegates from a German university Monday as the two institutions worked to developed a partnership born out of San Antonios sister city program.

Technical University Darmstadt is one of about 110 international universities UTSA partners with. The arrangement came after the mayors of both cities signed a Sister City agreement in 2017, though the universities had been discussing it as early as 2015, the presidents of both schools said.

UTSA is poised to parlay its work with TU-Darmstadt to boost student exchange programs and joint faculty research funded by various outfits around the globe, such as the National Science Foundation and organization in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, UTSA President Taylor Eighmy said.

UTSA and TU-Darmstadt officials split up into panels to explore future cooperation in cybersecurity, data sciences, political science, international affairs, engineering and other fields.

Were plotting and strategizing how we could do this, Eighmy said. Our world of discovery isnt constrained by borders or by geopolitics. The nature of solving the big, grand challenges we all face really involves collaboration ... between institutions.

On ExpressNews.com: UTSAs Eighmy has big plans for university, San Antonios downtown

TU-Darmstadt, at 141 years old, is about three times the age of UTSA. It has international partnerships with other universities that have lasted three or four decades. The collaboration elevates the research universities conduct and provides expansive opportunities for students to study abroad, TU-Darmstadt President Hans Jurgen Promel.

Its very important to go to another country to see another culture, to bring people together, Promel said.

One TU-Darmstadt student studied at UTSA last fall and the institution plans to send three next fall, said Lisa Montoya, UTSA Vice Provost for Global Initiatives and Senior International Officers. Two UTSA students are planning to study abroad at TU-Darmstadt next fall, she said.

TU-Darmstadt is one of about a dozen technical universities in Europe, a status comparable to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California Institute of Technology, Eighmy said. Darmstadt, just outside the city of Frankfurt, is recognized for its innovation in science and space research.

Krista Torralva covers several school districts and public universities in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | Krista.Torralva@express-news.net | Twitter: @KMTorralva
You put a lot of effort into planning your dream wedding. You DIYd a bunch of small details, spent an extraordinary amount of time seeking out a stunning wedding cake and may have even rented a bit of crazy entertainment. But no matter how much you try, you cant control every aspect of your wedding. And it can amount to a lot of stress. Sometimes it can be hard to let go, but if you know that, yes, people will wear jeans to your formal reception and that not every detail will be done flawlessly, it can help to manage that stress. (Carolyn Menyes, The Daily Meal)
San Antonio-based Scaleworks, which acquires established tech companies, has raised $80 million to buy more business-to-business software companies.

The firm, founded in 2015 by former Rackspace executive Lew Moorman and entrepreneur and investor Ed Byrne, acquired eight companies with its initial fund of $60 million. Scaleworks has since sold two of the firms, and the six remaining employ just over 300 people, with the bulk of them based in the Savoy Building downtown.

With the first fund they raised, they planned to buy six companies and ended up acquiring eight, Byrne said. Six is the target again this time around, and theyre looking at slightly bigger businesses  companies that can afford to bring in a strong CEO and employees, he added.

The CEO has so much influence and impact over the team that we and they build, Byrne said.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonios venture-capital investments lag, but climate here is changing

Scaleworks acquired about two new companies a year with the first fund. With the second, Byrne said, were in no rush. We look at deals all the time.

Revenue across the firms portfolio increased to $80 million last year, a 52 percent uptick from 2017. Along with its venture equity fund, Scaleworks also launched a debt fund to provide loans and alternative funding options for companies.

The co-founders characterize their model as a mix of venture capital and private equity, where they focus on expanding companies that are already established and have a solid product.

On ExpressNews.com: Scaleworks co-founder talks venture capital and what he looks for in a CEO

Often that involves hiring a new CEO and employees, and its gotten easier to hire locally, Byrne said. Initially, Scaleworks recruited largely from a few big tech companies in the area, but now it draws from a broader base of companies, he said.

The firms focus on business-to-business software targets a niche thats not as strong historically in San Antonio, said David Heard, who leads industry advocacy group Tech Bloc. The companies Scaleworks has acquired and moved to San Antonio have also added new jobs.

Scaleworks is probably one of the most powerful economic engines, as quiet as it is sometimes, in San Antonios tech ecosystem, he said.

madison.iszler@express-news.net
For the first time since San Antonio investor Sardar Biglari took the reins at Steak n Shake, the restaurant chain has posted an annual operating loss.

Biglari, in his annual letter to shareholders Saturday, said he knows whats behind the third straight year of declining results at the chain known for its burgers and shakes.

To be a market leader in the fast food business, we should have paid greater heed to becoming, well, fast, said Biglari, chairman and CEO of San Antonio-based Biglari Holdings Corp., the parent company for Steak n Shake. We failed customers by not being fast and friendly,

Steak n Shakes equipment and kitchen design led to high-cost, labor-intensive slow service, Biglari said. The chain now is overhauling and streamlining production to boost sales through speed.

OnExpressNews.com: San Antonio exec uses classic car, art collection for leadership lessons

Steak n Shakes operating loss was $10.7 million last year.

Biglari Holdings restaurant businesses, which also includes Western Sizzlin, posted a net loss of $2.6 million on $775.7 million in revenue last year. The restaurants earned $9.7 million on $807.2 million in revenue in 2017.

Biglari acquired Steak n Shake in August 2008 when it was losing $100,000 a day. By the following year, he highlighted, it was making $100,000 a day.

Meanwhile, Biglari disclosed in his letter that Steak n Shake intends to franchise all of its roughly 400 company-owned stores.

For operators to think and act like owners, we believe they must be owners, Biglari said in his letter. In other words, we are becoming a company of owners. He estimated it will take three years to make the transition. The chain had 213 franchise units at the end of last year.

Biglari didnt respond to a message  he generally does not speak to the media. He usually reserves his comments for the annual shareholder letter and the Biglari Holdings annual meeting in New York.

OnExpressNews.com: Successful San Antonio hotelier says it's all about the deal

The slide at Steak n Shake hurt the performance of its parent. Biglari Holdings earned $19.4 million, or $55.71 per Class A share, on $809.9 million in revenue. That compares with earnings of $50.1 million, or $136.01 a share, on $839.4 million in revenue in 2017. The 2017 results were helped by $53.5 million tax benefit.

Last year, Biglari Holdings created two classes of stock to enable it to use its shares to make acquisitions. The move prompted shareholders lawsuits alleging Biglari and the board breached their fiduciary duty. The suits were later consolidated and then dismissed. The shareholders recently appealed the dismissal, Biglari Holdings disclosed.

Its been about five years since Biglari Holdings last made an acquisition  a commercial trucking insurance underwriter called First Guard Insurance Co. In his letter to shareholders, Biglari said his company is seeking to buy additional insurance companies because he likes the insurance business.

First Guard generated net earnings of $4.9 million on $27.6 million in revenue last year.

We were spoiled in the First Guard acquisition  and we wish to keep getting spoiled, Biglari said.

Maxim, the mens magazine, hasnt produced such glowing results. It turned a $796,000 profit on $6.6 million in revenue. Thats down from $24.5 million in revenue just three years earlier.

Biglari said the publications ability to build profits will rest mainly on licensing the Maxim name.

Biglari Holdings bottom line widely fluctuates from year to year largely because of swings in the gains and losses of its two investment partnerships called the Lion Fund.

The Lion Funds biggest holding is in Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. Biglari has been selling shares in Cracker Barrel. Bloomberg shows Biglari owns about 14.7 percent of the shares, down from 19.7 percent last year.

Biglari offered no insight on how much he intends to sell. The $241.1 million investment in Cracker Barrel had turned into $950.8 million in value at the end of 2018, he said.

Biglari Holdings investment in the Lion Fund partnerships fell at the end of last year to $715.1 million from $925.3 million at the end of 2017.

Shares of Biglari Holdings Class A shares dipped 44 cents to close at $718.79 Monday. The Class B shares declined 29 cents to $142.60.
San Antonio-based Mexican food-maker Papa Grande Gourmet Foods, which sells products under the brand name Andy Garcia Foods, has filed for bankruptcy protection.

Papa Grande and an affiliated company each filed Chapter 11 on the eve of a scheduled state district court hearing where lender TransPecos Banks was going to ask a judge to appoint a receiver to take control of the business.

The bankruptcies put a halt to Tuesdays hearing.

TransPecos had sued Papa Grande and principals Kenneth and Hilda Garcia on Feb. 5, alleging the company was insolvent or in imminent danger of insolvency and in need of $1 million to stay viable.

Ron Smeberg, Papa Grandes bankruptcy lawyer, said in an email that the company experienced growing pains as it tried to move from a mom and pop business to a more corporate structure.

While restructuring in Chapter 11, Garcia Foods is working to be more efficient and more technologically advanced, while expanding into new markets and staying family focused, Smeberg said.

Austin attorney Cleveland Burke, who represents TransPecos, said the bank had no comment.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio Mexican food producer in dire financial straits, bank alleges

Garcia Foods makes barbacoa, tamales, fajitas, chorizo and other products that are sold at H-E-B, Walmart, Target and other retailers. It also makes products for food-service companies.

Papa Grande has filed an emergency motion with its bankruptcy petition asking for court authority to use cash that serves as collateral for loans from TransPecos. The company wants to use the money for ordinary business expenses, including wages and insurance. It pays workers on Fridays. A hearing on the request is scheduled for Wednesday.

Without access to cash collateral, Debtors operations will cease and it will not be able to make its insurance payments, and will not be able to pay its 88 (full-time and part-time) employees, the motion says.

If that happens, Papa Grande adds, TransPecos collateral position will deteriorate markedly.

TransPecos has accused the companies of defaulting on about $6 million in loans. The companies also owe $1.6 million in unsecured debt and $110,000 in delinquent property taxes to Bexar County.

Papa Grande proposes paying TransPecos almost $7,000 a month for an equipment loan and line of credit. An affiliated company that owns Papa Grandes headquarters building at 1802 Jackson Keller, KHRL Group, proposes making $23,440 monthly mortgage payments on the property. KHRL also filed for Chapter 11.

On ExpressNews.com: Areas 10 biggest bankruptcies in 2018

Garcia Foods has been in operation since 1956. Andy Garcia started the business with a $15 investment, making barbacoa with his wife on weekends in their garage, the San Antonio Express-News reported in 1994.

Kenny Garcia, one of six children, entered the family business and took over day-to-day operations in 1999.

A decade later, Kenny Garcia left the business to start Papa Grande with his wife, Hilda. In 2014, though, he bought Garcia Foods and merged it with Papa Grande. TransPecos loaned money for the purchase.

According to the emergency motion, sales had significantly decreased during Kenny Garcias absence from Garcia Foods.

The decrease in sales created an unsuspected uphill battle for Kenny and Hilda Garcia, the filing adds. Papa Grande was unable to pay its 2017 property taxes and entered into a payment schedule with the county.

Papa Grande says it had anticipated a stronger tamale season starting in October and planned to use revenue to catch up on its taxes.

Unfortunately, the company ran into a cash crunch and (was) unable to purchase sufficient raw material to fully capitalize on the holiday season, the motion says. Papa Grande estimates that it lost out on $1 million of revenue and $250,000 in profit during the holiday season, which likely would have been sufficient to bring the property taxes current.

Top hits: Get San Antonio Express-News stories sent directly to your inbox

Papa Grande renewed a $716,000 line of credit with TransPecos in December. Earlier this month, though, the bank accelerated all of the notes and moved to appoint a receiver, according to the filing.

The request for a receiver was unwarranted and led to the bankruptcy filings, the company says.

Papa Grande says it is taking strong corrective action to ensure a successful Chapter 11 reorganization. It has reduced annual payroll by $400,000 and cut its unsecured debt by $400,000. It also says it is working on new income streams by expanding its area of operation.

In addition, Papa Grande says TransPecos is over secured by about $4 million, based on the value of the real estate, equipment and money owed the company. The company says it generates $13 million in annual revenue.

Papa Grande is a strong example of individuals working hard and building a business that can continue to last for generations to come, the filing says.

Patrick Danner is a San Antonio-based staff writer covering banking and civil courts. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | pdanner@express-news.net | Twitter: @AlamoPD
Tuesday, February 26, 2019

I have kept detailed daily accounts of viewings of my expertclick.com press releases in the five years since February 1, 2014. How often those daily totals include the ten most recent press releases in a row tells a revealing story. In the two years before being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016, ten in a row was rare, 13% out of 731 days. Then the nomination came in early 2016, and in the 209 days from that first look at my 50 in a row expertclick.com press releases at 9am Norway time on 2-2-16, the rate of ten in a rows soared to 48%. That period ended about a week before the next announcement on the first Friday in October at 11am Norway time. Then the second Nobel year of study for the 2017 nomination runs from September 29, 2016 to December 23, 2017 with an 89% response rate of ten in a rows per day. That is 401 days out of 450, with 11 consecutive periods of up to 75 or 110 days in a row and 10 erratic short periods in between the long streaks. Then there is a pause period of lighter observation of 64 days with only 25 ten in a row days (39%), before beginning the 2018 year of serious observation with 223 days of ten in a row days out of 224 days, a 99.55% rate from 2-25-18 to 9-26-18. This period also includes 37 of the 46 "long looks" of about 24 in a row in one day, up to that point. There is the pause period, 9-27-18 to 10-22-18 of 26 days with 9 ten in rows, 31%. Finally, there is the start of the new year 2019 with the 10-23-18 to 2-25-19 of 126 straight days (100%) with ten in a row and another 30 "long looks" of about 24 in a row, some with a second streak not consecutive with the first ten in a row. This is a much shorter pause and many more long looks than the start of the very strong interest in the 2018 year. These patterns are uniquely suggestive of the Norwegian Nobel Committee's growing interest in my inventions of military economics, empire economics, and climate war cycles explanations. The 76 Google academia interests were mainly 2014 (9), 2015 (23), and 2016 (42), then tapered off.

Climate Development

Krakatoa erupts somewhat on schedule on December 23, 2018. The two largest volcanic eruptions in the last 200 years, Krakatoa of Sumatra in 1883 and Pinatubo of the Philippines in 1991 were a perfect double 54-year cycle of 108 years apart. They were both in the South China Sea islands in the oceanic phase of the 108-year cycle, which consists of two 54-year cycles back to back, one with the oceanic Southern hemisphere hotter and the other with the land-like Northern hemisphere hotter. Miami hurricanes (1935, 1965, 1992, 2017) and civil rights riots (Watts 1965 and Rodney King 1992) and San Francisco earthquakes (1906, 1989, 2014) have shown that some things happen on the half cycle of 27 years as well. So, Krakatoa comes back at 108 plus 27 years, 27 years after the Pinatubo eruption of 1991. All three eruptions happen after multi decade global heat waves. They are in the Western Pacific, where great storms gain energy across the largest ocean. Storms grow in the equatorial wind belt going due West from off the coast of Latin America, the greatest planetary solar gain over oceans.

Legal Suggestion

It's time to add journalists to the list of victims of hate crime attacks. False screams of fire in a crowded theatre are legally actionable. Provoking the murderers of blacks by white nationalists can bankrupt hate groups that are deemed liable. The leader of a nation should not be allowed to incite his followers against journalists with false repeated allegations of fake news and that the media are enemies of the people. Hate speech needs to have consequences. We have too long suffered attacks on journalists at rallies, murders of journalists in Paris and Maryland, and the tolerance of the murder of a Washington Post journalist by Saudi Arabia.

More detail about this main topic:

https://www.academia.edu/37572795/Following_Nobel_Norwegians_Detail_10-8-18_release_4_pages

Reuschlein, Robert. (2019, February 26), "Systemic Review of Releases", Madison, WI: Real Economy Institute. Retrieved from:

https://www.expertclick.com/NewsRelease/Systemic-Review-of-Releases,2019178068.aspx

Dr. Peace, Professor Robert Reuschlein, Real Economy Institute,

Nominated Vetted 2016 (2 Web Looks), Given Odds 2017 (3 Web Looks), Strongly Considered 2018 (48 Web Looks, one million words) Nobel Peace Prize, a favorite in 2019 (pace well ahead of last year) for Nobel Peace Prize to be announced Friday October 4th, 2019.

Contact: bobreuschlein@gmail.com,

Info: www.realeconomy.com
Hi, I am an Australian citizen in the UK on an ancestry visa. My husband is an Australian citizen in the UK on a Tier 5 youth mobility, and as that will expire later this year, we are now looking to apply for him to be dependent on my ancestry visa.



Two quick questions -



- do I have to lodge my passport with his? I understand he will be without a passport for a few months while the visa is processed - will I have to give up my passport for that period as well?



- do we need to submit all of the same documents that I had to submit to establish ancestry (i.e. my mother and grandmother's original birth certificates)? Or is the fact that I have the ancestry visa already enough. (I'm asking as these are all in Australia, and I will have to get someone to post them back to me in the UK before making the application if so).



Appreciate your help!
Above: ABN-AMRO Latest Exchange Rate Forecasts 2019-2020

- EUR/USD to $1.16 by year end, $1.25 by 2020.

- GBP/USD to $1.35 by 2019e, $1.45 by 2020.

- EUR/GBP to remain in 0.86 - 0.89 range.

Looking at the week past, ABN-AMRO head of financial markets research, Nick Kounis, highlights the string of weak exports and industrial activity figures from a basket of nations as indicative of a cooling in global growth.

Regarding Eurozone economic data releases, Kounis pointed to plummeting export order figures and particularly acute weakness in German figures, with Germany representing the economic powerhouse in the bloc.

Kounis wrote The export orders balance of the eurozone PMI survey fell deeper into contraction territory in February. Indeed, the last time order books were contracting at this pace was when the eurozone economy was emerging from the euro crisis at the end of 2012.

Elsewhere, Japanese export figures printed last week indicated a decrease in exports to the tune of 8% (annually) while Italian industrial sales shrunk by 7% (year on year). South Korean exports slowed their pace of contraction but were still down 11% yoy while Singaporean non-oil exports slumped by 10% annually.

Kounis went on to highlight the lagging impact 2018s restrictive policy measures in China and the Federal Reserves hiking cycle alongside of on-going geopolitical events as weighing on trade-oriented sentiment.

Kounis wrote The relationship between real M1 money supply growth and global trade suggests that there are lags in this process. So these drags may still be feeding through and may continue to weigh for a time, adding uncertainty related to trade policy  the US-China trade dispute and to a lesser extent Brexit  may also be hurting business confidence.

Looking ahead, ABN-AMRO anticipate both the US-China trade talks and Brexit to yield mild outcomes. Kounis wrote there are some positive noises emanating from the US-China trade talks, which could at least lead to a truce and a freeze of further tariffs.

Sentiment was bolstered into the new week in the wake of an announcement from US President Donald Trump to extend the US-China trade ceasefire, forgoing his original plan to hike tariffs on $200B+ worth of Chinese goods at the start of April.

On the Brexit front, Kounis wrote our judgement remains that a no-deal UK withdrawal from the EU is unlikely. It seems that this is the one thing there is a majority view about among UK parliamentarians. The current stalemate could well see parliament pushing the government to negotiate a delay of the Article 50 deadline next week.

While a number of central banks have shifted gears in their latest policy meetings, adopting an accommodative stance in the face of developing economic headwinds, Kounis doesnt anticipate the shift in monetary policy to yield a sharp rebound with the global economy expected to gain traction slowly later in the year.

Kounis wrote, On balance, we expect the global economy to regain some traction later in the year, but the improvement is likely to be gradual and moderate. The shift in the stance of monetary policy is not sufficient to trigger the kind of rebound that we saw in 2016-17.

In terms of FX forecasts, ABN-AMRO expect the US Dollar to remain on a positive footing over the three-month horizon with the Greenback anticipated to appreciate against the Pound Sterling (GBP/), Euro (EUR/) and Japanese Yen (JPY/) before turning bearish.

Above: ABN-AMRO Latest Exchange Rate Forecasts 2019-2020
Internacional

Hallados en una parada de autobus documentos clasificados sobre la crisis del destructor britanico con Rusia
An investigation reveals that Ibizans are genetically different from the rest of Spain inhabitants. The genetic difference is comparable to that between Basques and the rest of peninsular inhabitants, considered a genetic anomaly to date.

Ibiza is different." That is what the hundreds of standard-bearers of the "hippie" movement who visited the Pitiusan Island during the 60s thought, fascinated by its climate and its unexplored nature. What they did not imagine was that the utmost unique feature of the island was in its inhabitants. Now a study led by Francesc Calafell, principal investigator of the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE) - a mixed center of the UPF and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC) reveals that the genes of Ibiza natives are really different. Yes indeed, the island is unique.

The piece of work, published in the European Journal of Human Genetics with the collaboration of researchers from the American University of Lebanon and the University of Otago, reveals that current Ibizans come from the Catalan invaders who repopulated the island from the 13th century.

The result seems to conflict with the history of the island, which had been invaded and inhabited by many peoples previously, from the Phoenicians and Carthaginians to the Romans and Arabs. In a previous work - this time led by Zalloua and with the collaboration of Francesc Calafell and Benjami Costa, Director of the Archaeological Museum of Ibiza -, researchers had already observed that the original settlers, the Phoenicians, did not seem to have much in common with current Ibizans, but had not located the source of their genetic heritage.

"The famine that followed the Franco-Ottoman attack in 1536 along with the epidemic of bubonic plague that struck Ibizan people in 1652 was a major demographic crisis for the island; this would explain the current absence of ancient genetic traits in the islanders, as well as their differentiation, since the current population descends from a small number of survivors of these calamities, "says Simone Biagini, PhD student in Francesc Calafell's group and first author of the study.

To discover the origin of Ibizan genes, scientists have determined the genetic information of 163 volunteers from 3 regions of Spain (Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands) and have used 69 Spanish samples previously published. To evaluate the connection with the Phoenician genome, samples of ancient DNA from the Phoenician necropolis of Puig des Molins, in Ibiza, and 257 samples of modern DNA from the Middle East and North Africa have been used.

"Although we expected that there was no genetic link with the Phoenicians, the genetic singularity of today's Ibizan people is very surprising," says Benjami Costa, who has collaborated in the genetic analysis of ancient Phoenician samples.

The information on the Ibizan population contributed by the study of Calafell, also a professor at UPF, could shed light on other scenarios where there has been a similar geographical segregation. However, not all Mediterranean islands follow the same pattern: while Ibiza and Sardinia are clearly differentiated populations, Mallorca, Menorca and Sicily peoples are much more similar to mainland inhabitants.

###

The study has been financed by the Agencia Estatal de Investigacion and the Fondo Europeo de Desarollo Regional (FEDER), the Agencia de Gestio d'Ajuts Universitaris i de la Recerca (Generalitat de Catalunya) and the Unidad de Excelencia Maria de Maeztu.
Researchers at Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute are using tobacco plants as 'green bioreactors' to produce an anti-inflammatory protein with powerful therapeutic potential.

The plants are being used to produce large quantities of a human protein called Interleukin 37, or IL-37. The protein is naturally produced in the human kidney in very small quantities and has powerful anti-inflammatory and immune-suppressing properties, providing potential for treating a number of inflammatory and autoimmune disorders like type 2 diabetes, stroke, dementia and arthritis.

"This protein is a master regulator of inflammation in the body, and has been shown in pre-clinical models to be effective in treating a whole host of diseases," said Dr. Tony Jevnikar, Professor at Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and Scientist at Lawson. "The human kidney produces IL-37, but not nearly enough to get us out of an inflammation injury."

And while showing promise in animal models, IL-37's use clinically has been limited because of the inability to produce it in large quantities at a price that is feasible clinically. Currently, it can be made in very small amounts using the bacteria E. coli, but at a very high cost.

That's where the tobacco plants come in.

This work is the first of its kind to demonstrate that this functional human protein can be produced in plant cells. "The plants offer the potential to produce pharmaceuticals in a way that is much more affordable than current methods," said Shengwu Ma, PhD, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biology at Western and Scientist at Lawson. "Tobacco is high-yield, and we can temporarily transform the plant so that we can begin making the protein of interest within two weeks."

The researchers have shown in a recent study published in the journal Plant Cell Reports, that the protein can be extracted and quantified from the plant cells in a way that maintains its function. Now that they've shown they can produce the protein in tobacco, it can be translated to other plants, like potatoes.

Dr. Jevnikar is investigating the effect that IL-37 has for preventing organ injury during transplantation. When an organ is removed for transplantation and then transferred to a recipient, inflammation occurs when the blood flow is restored to the organ. He and his team believe IL-37 provides a way to prevent that injury.

"I hope that this work will impact a change in how people view plants and hopefully this approach will be a way to provide treatments to patients that are effective and affordable," Dr. Jevnikar said.

###

MEDIA CONTACT: Crystal Mackay, Media Relations Officer, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, t. 519.661.2111 ext. 80387, c. 519.933.5944, crystal.mackay@schulich.uwo.ca @CrystalMackay

ABOUT WESTERN

Western University delivers an academic experience second to none. Since 1878, The Western Experience has combined academic excellence with life-long opportunities for intellectual, social and cultural growth in order to better serve our communities. Our research excellence expands knowledge and drives discovery with real-world application. Western attracts individuals with a broad worldview, seeking to study, influence and lead in the international community.

ABOUT THE SCHULICH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE & DENTISTRY

The Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University is one of Canada's preeminent medical and dental schools. Established in 1881, it was one of the founding schools of Western University and is known for being the birthplace of family medicine in Canada. For more than 130 years, the School has demonstrated a commitment to academic excellence and a passion for scientific discovery.

ABOUT LAWSON HEALTH RESEARCH INSTITUTE

As the research institute of London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph's Health Care London, and working in partnership with Western University, Lawson Health Research Institute is committed to furthering scientific knowledge to advance health care around the world.
Scientists have discovered a new gene varitation that causes motor neurone disease (MND) in a novel biological pathway that until now hasn't been linked with neurodegeneration.

The findings for the pioneering study, conducted by team of researchers from the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN) and the NIHR Sheffield Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), could potentially help to identify completely new ways of treating MND which currently affects over 5,000 people in the UK.

MND, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is a devastating neurogenerative disorder that affects the nerves - motor neurones - that form the connection between the brain and the muscles.

The messages from these nerves gradually stop reaching the muscles, causing them to weaken, stiffen and eventually waste. The progressive disease affects a persons's ability to walk, talk, eat and breathe.

Approximately 10 per cent of MND cases are inherited but the remaining 90 per cent are caused by complex genetic and environmental interactions which are not well understood - this is known as sporadic MND. There is currently no curative therapy.

Dr Johnathan Cooper-Knock, NIHR Clinical Lecturer at the University of Sheffield's Institute forTranslational Neuroscience (SITraN) explained the impact of the groundbreaking research which is helping scientists to understand the fundamental genetic basis of MND.

"This new gene does not fit into a biological function that we already know is associated with MND, " said Dr Cooper-Knock.

"That means that this finding has potential to identify completely new ways of treating MND.

"The mutations found in patients were shown to be toxic to neurons and, when expressed in zebrafish they produced muscle weakness consistent with MND. This work strongly suggests that the mutations are the cause of MND in the patients where they were identified."

During the study, published today (26 February 2019) in the journal Cell Reports, researchers genetically sequenced tissue from two related patients with an unknown familial form of MND and found a mutation in the substrate binding region of a glycosyltransferase enzyme called GLT8D1. They went on to screen a larger sample of 103 patients, five of whom had this mutation. The study revealed a new genetic subtype of MND.

Professor Dame Pamela Shaw, Director of SITraN and the NIHR Sheffield BRC said: "Genetic screening of MND patients is becoming increasingly important as we subclassify the disease and look for new therapeutic strategies.

"MND is a devastating disease, and what we need is are more powerful therapies that protect motor neurons from injury and substantially slow down the progression of MND. Fundaamental science breakthroughs, such as the discovery of this new gene that causes MND, are vitally important in helping us to understand the mechanisms of disease; - paving the way to find potential new therapies."

"SITraN is one of the world-leading centres for research into MND. From basic neuroscience research pulled through to novel therapies and clinical trials, our aim is to improve the health and wellbeing of patients with MND and related neurodegenerative disorders and their families worldwide."

Tobias Moll who worked on the study under the supervision of Dr Cooper-Knock and Professor Shaw is completing a PhD with the NIHR Sheffield BRC Junior Academy. The NIHR Sheffield BRC is training 15 early career researchers supported by Clinical Fellowships and PhD Scholarships to work on translational neuroscience projects across chronic neurological conditions.

Tobias said: "It's great to be part of an Academy while doing my PhD. Through my clinical and scientific colleagues I get to see the wider context of my research. It is wonderful that I have had the opportunity to meet with patients whose medical condition I am working on, through the BRC and SITraN patient and public involvement groups.

This is really inspiring and helps me to see where my research really has an impact."

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For further information please contact: Amy Huxtable, Media Relations Officer, University of Sheffield, 0114 222 9859, a.l.huxtable@sheffield.ac.uk

Notes to editors The University of Sheffield

With almost 29,000 of the brightest students from over 140 countries, learning alongside over 1,200 of the best academics from across the globe, the University of Sheffield is one of the world's leading universities.

A member of the UK's prestigious Russell Group of leading research-led institutions, Sheffield offers world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines.

Unified by the power of discovery and understanding, staff and students at the university are committed to finding new ways to transform the world we live in.

Sheffield is the only university to feature in The Sunday Times 100 Best Not-For-Profit Organisations to Work For 2018 and for the last eight years has been ranked in the top five UK universities for Student Satisfaction by Times Higher Education.

Sheffield has six Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students and its alumni go on to hold positions of great responsibility and influence all over the world, making significant contributions in their chosen fields.

Global research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, AstraZeneca, Glaxo SmithKline, Siemens and Airbus, as well as many UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations.

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Sheffield Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).

The NIHR BRC is a research partnership between the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, dedicated to improving the treatment and care of people living with chronic neurological disorders.

The Sheffield Centre is one of 20 designated NIHR Biomedical Research Centres across the country, and hosts the development of new, ground-breaking treatments, diagnostics, prevention and care for patients with debilitating diseases such as dementia, motor neurone disease, stroke, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's and Parkinson disease.

For more information please visit: http://sheffieldbrc. nihr. ac. uk/

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is the nation's largest funder of health and care research. The NIHR:

Funds, supports and delivers high quality research that benefits the NHS, public health and social care

Engages and involves patients, carers and the public in order to improve the reach, quality and impact of research

Attracts, trains and supports the best researchers to tackle the complex health and care challenges of the future

Invests in world-class infrastructure and a skilled delivery workforce to translate discoveries into improved treatments and services

Partners with other public funders, charities and industry to maximise the value of research to patients and the economy

The NIHR was established in 2006 to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research, and is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. In addition to its national role, the NIHR commissions applied health research to benefit the poorest people in low- and middle-income countries, using Official Development Assistance funding.
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Ever stare at your closet and wonder why fashion designers aren't creating the clothes you really want? Talking about it on social media might just be the answer. According to new research from the University of Missouri, social media hashtags could be the tool fashion designers use to forecast trends in the industry to better connect with consumers.

Data analytics are impacting all kinds of business, including the fashion industry. Li Zhao, assistant professor of textile apparel management in the College of Human Environmental Sciences, has now found that social media data can help fashion companies discover how communities are connected to their brands. This can help them determine upcoming trends and if celebrity endorsements are having the desired impact.

"We know that people talk and are interested in fashion, so it makes sense that they talk about it on social media," Zhao said. "The data presented in this study show that designers should listen to what they are saying about trends on social media."

Zhao and co-author Chao Min, a researcher at Nanjing University in China, created a series of social networks based on hashtags people used on Twitter before, during and after Paris Fashion Week. Social networks are a way to understand the relationships or links between distinct social media content - users, sentiment and ideas.

By searching for tweets featuring #ParisFashionWeek and #PFW, the researchers were able to find relevant social media content. They used the tweets to create social networks. For example, Zhao found tweets about hand embroidery connected to tweets about Fashion Week, establishing an association between the technique and users interested in haute couture. Other keywords related to couture emerged within the social networks, such as #handmade, #elegant and #art.

Zhao also was able to tell how celebrities were influencing brands based on the social networks. Kristen Stewart and Katy Perry were two celebrities that showed a large influence for the Chanel brand during Fashion Week, giving Zhao reason to believe that the two celebrities are effective influencers for the brand.

"Consumers are using 'electronic word of mouth' during Paris Fashion Week and other major fashion events." Zhao said. "Fashion researchers and designers can listen to what they are saying to understand the direction of fashion trends and to understand how consumers are engaging with fashion brands."

"The rise of fashion informatics: a case of data-mining based social network analysis in fashion," recently was published in the Clothing and Textiles Research Journal. In future research, Zhao hopes to investigate how social media users with different geographical locations discuss the same fashion event.

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The State of Hawaii, like many municipalities across the globe, aims to increase its food self-sufficiency, with a target of 30% of its food produced locally by 2020. Increasing temperatures and changes in precipitation are already occurring locally and globally, and plans to meet food self-sufficiency goals must consider how climate change will affect agricultural viability.

Researchers from Kamehameha Schools, University of Hawaii at Manoa (UH Manoa) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) have published a study in the journal Nature Sustainability (March 2019) highlighting the large role indigenous agriculture can play in producing food, while supporting biodiversity and indigenous well-being in Hawaii under intense land use and climate changes.

The researchers of the study focused on the archipelago of Hawaii, where development pressure, rates of food importation and threats to unique native species are among the highest in the world. Furthermore, climate change impacts are expected to increase risks to communities in isolated regions like the Pacific, heightening the necessity of resilient, locally-produced food and community-based solutions.

To determine the past, present and future potential of indigenous Hawaiian agroecosystems and inform their restoration, the researchers developed spatial distribution models of three main Kanaka Maoli agroecosystems under current and future climate change scenarios. The models incorporate environmental and climactic data to determine areas suitable for certain crops and agricultural systems. The team found that Hawaii could have sustained approximately 250,000 acres of traditional agroecosystems, potentially producing more than 1 million metric tons of food annually, levels comparable to food consumption in Hawaii today. Furthermore, the study's carrying capacity estimates lend support to previous hypotheses that pre-contact Kanaka Maoli populations were comparable to Hawaii's population today.

Said Dr. Natalie Kurashima, lead author of the study, "For indigenous communities around the world, the restoration of indigenous food systems goes far beyond food security, providing opportunities for strengthening identity, social ties, knowledge transmission and well-being, inseparable from indigenous food. All of these characteristics, evident in the growing number of aina revitalization efforts going on across Hawaii, can improve social resilience to climate change."

The study also showed that although Hawaii is one of the most urbanized Pacific Islands, urban development has only slightly reduced potential traditional agroecosystems and the majority of suitable areas (71%) remain agriculturally zoned, and thus could be restored without land use restrictions today. However, like many agricultural lands around the globe, these areas are continually threatened by land conversion and development, emphasizing the current need to protect and utilize these indigenous agricultural lands.

The researchers found that projected effects of three future climate scenarios vary from no change in potential production, to decreases of 19% in the driest and warmest end-of-century scenario, meaning that large indigenous agricultural areas will likely be viable under a range of future climate changes.

"The study provides the first set of maps illustrating indigenous agricultural lands that could be resilient to a wide range of future climate shifts, which could help land owners prioritize target areas for restoration of Native Hawaiian agriculture today," said Dr. Lucas Fortini of USGS and co-author of the study.

"Our study provides a new understanding of the food production contribution of indigenous Hawaiian agriculture now and into the future, and really highlights the relevance of restoring indigenous agricultural systems today. These systems are flexible and adaptive, and include both traditional and modern crops relevant today," said Dr. Tamara Ticktin, professor of botany at UH Manoa and co-author on the study.

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Video and photos courtesy of Kamehameha Schools: https:/ / tinyurl. com/ y3rbffsu

Article posted online: https:/ / rdcu. be/ bor8t Kurashima, N.; Fortini, L.; Ticktin, T. The potential of indigenous agricultural food production under climate change in Hawaii. Nature Sustainability 2019, doi:10.1038/s41893-019-0226-1.

About Kamehameha Schools

Founded in 1887 by the legacy of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, Kamehameha Schools (KS) is a private, educational, charitable trust committed to improving the capability and well-being of the Native Hawaiian people through education. In 2015, KS embarked on a bold voyage that envisions, in one generation, a thriving lahui where learners, grounded in Christian and Hawaiian values, achieve postsecondary educational success and become leaders who contribute to their communities both locally and globally. For more information, visit http://www. ksbe. edu and connect via Facebook and Instagram (@kamehamehaschools) and Twitter (@ksnews).

About The University of Hawaii at Manoa
Maasai farmers do not kill lions for retribution whenever they lose sheep or cattle, new research shows.

It is widely believed that Maasai farmers kill lions after losing livestock - even if lions are not involved - but the study shows this is not the case.

Instead, researchers from the University of Exeter and the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi found that lion killing only increases when lions are thought to have killed livestock.

If livestock are lost to other predators, theft, drought or disease, lion killing does not increase.

Lion killing - a criminal act in Kenya that is famously part of traditional Maasai culture - is less common now than in the past, but its causes remain controversial.

"In the drylands of southern Kenya, Maasai farmers are in direct conflict with carnivores that kill their livestock," said lead author Enoch Ontiri.

"We surveyed 213 focus groups of Maasai farmers, from three geographic regions, to test theories about the retaliatory nature of lion killing.

"We found that the probability of lion killing increases when lions are identified as culprits of livestock death, but not when leopard, cheetah, hyena, dog or jackal are identified.

"These results should change the common belief that lion killing is a retributive act caused by general loss of livestock - it is a retaliatory act against the loss of livestock to lions."

The survey of Maasai communities also showed there is universal agreement that humans and lions should coexist in Kenya.

The researchers hope their evidence will help shape the governance and mitigation of human-wildlife conflict in Kenya and beyond.

"The relationship between people and wildlife is changing rapidly in Kenya," said author Professor Dave Hodgson, Director of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter.

"Lion killing is part of traditional Maasai culture but in recent years we have seen this change from an indiscriminate act that signals passage into manhood, to a direct response to the loss of livestock.

"Our study makes it very clear that lion killing is provoked only by the loss of livestock to lions.

"We believe that better protection of livestock from predators is the solution to this important source of human-wildlife conflict."

The paper forms part of Enoch Ontiri's PhD, which is funded by the Ivan Bond Scholarship.

The research is also supported by Wildlife Direct, the British Ecological Society and National Geographic's Big Cats Initiative.

The paper, published in the journal People and Nature, is entitled: "Maasai pastoralists kill lions in retaliation for depredation of livestock by lions."

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All forms of Brexit will negatively impact the UK National Health Service (NHS), but the prospect of a No-Deal Brexit presents by far the worst scenario, with negative effects on the health care workforce, NHS financing, availability of medicines and vaccines, sharing of information and medical research, according to a new Health Policy review published in The Lancet.

While the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated between the UK Government and the EU (but not agreed by Parliament) offers a more positive scenario compared to a No-Deal Brexit, there are serious concerns about the negative impact of Brexit on the NHS beyond the transition period, when the Backstop or arrangements envisaged in the Political Declaration on the Future Relationship would come into force.

Under either the Backstop or Political Declaration scenarios, the impact of Brexit on the NHS is only slightly less harmful than the No-Deal scenario, though the exact impacts vary.

In the new analysis, the authors, who are leading experts in public health and law, use the available legal and political texts on four Brexit scenarios to assess the likely impact on fifteen specific aspects of the UK health service.

The four scenarios are a No-Deal Brexit under which the UK leaves the EU on March 29, 2019 without any formal agreement on the terms of the withdrawal, the Withdrawal Agreement including a transition agreement until the end of 2020, the Northern Ireland Protocol's Backstop, and the Political Declaration on the Future Relationship between the UK and EU, which are possible scenarios after the end of the transition period.

Remaining in the EU was not included in the analysis but is better overall for health than any form of Brexit, as was outlined in a previous paper by the same authors in 2017, also published in The Lancet [1].

The authors warn that little evidence exists that the UK is prepared for any of the eventualities set out in their analysis. For instance, the recently published NHS ten-year plan ran to 136 pages, with only two mentions of Brexit, neither of which offered any detail about what it might mean, or how any threats would be addressed.

Professor Martin Mc Kee, co-author from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (UK) says: "Some people will dismiss our analysis as "Project Fear". But with just over a month to go to Brexit, we need to move beyond slogans. We have set out the problems in detail, based on the best available evidence. If others disagree, then they owe it to the British people to say why. It just isn't good enough to keep saying that "something will work out" without any details of exactly how." [2]

Recruitment and retention to the health care workforce represents a major challenge post Brexit. The Withdrawal Agreement provides reciprocal arrangements and mutual recognition of professional qualifications up to 2020. But, no provisions for health care workers have been made in the Backstop or Political Declaration. And, under a No-Deal Brexit, the Immigration White Paper proposes a minimum salary threshold of 30,000 per year which could seriously limit immigration of many health workers to the UK.

Under the Withdrawal Agreement, reciprocal health care arrangements (eg via the European Health Insurance Card, EHIC) would remain but only until 2020 as there is no mechanism to continue them subsequently, although some limited bilateral agreements may be possible with time. All reciprocal health care arrangements would cease in 2019 under a No-Deal scenario. This would be particularly harmful to older UK residents and people with pre-existing conditions for whom health insurance cover in the EU would be particularly expensive.

Access to capital financing for NHS infrastructure via the European Investment Bank would be negatively impacted in all scenarios. As one of the largest areas of public expenditure, any negative impact in the UK economy will put additional pressure on NHS financing, and the UK has already seen a slower rate of economic growth than if it had remained in the EU. The idea that Brexit will bring a "deal dividend" has been described as not credible by the Treasury Select Committee.

Given looming crises in several other sectors, including welfare and the criminal justice system, the authors note that concerns about whether the Government can maintain its funding commitments for the NHS are warranted.

Under the Withdrawal Agreement, the continuity of legal provisions will secure supply chains for medicines, vaccines, medical devices and equipment until 2020. Under a No-Deal Brexit, the absence of a legal framework for imports and exports would have an immediate and drastic effect on supply chains. Despite Government reassurance of contingency plans in place, shortages are likely because stockpiling arrangements cannot cope more than a few weeks, proposals that doctors offer "best alternative medication" can be distressing for patients, and some products (such as radioisotopes) cannot be stockpiled.

Under any form of Brexit, the UK will no longer be part of the European Medicines Agency, and while the UK's Medicines and Health products Regulatory Agency will continue to licence medicines, without laws in place to secure regulatory alignment, the UK would become less attractive for global pharma to launch new medicines, potentially meaning launch dates up to 24 months later.

Professor Tamara Hervey, co-author from the School of Law, University of Sheffield (UK) says: "It's critical to be clear about the practical effects of disentangling over 40 years of legal integration. This is not something that can be done hastily without potentially jeopardising people's health. Future legal relations will have quite different effects on the NHS: these should be taken into account when the UK Government, advised by Parliament, makes its post-Brexit choices."

Any form of Brexit will also harm the UK's European and global leadership role in health. Membership of the European Centre for Disease Control is not mentioned in the Withdrawal Agreement, and while the Political Declaration mentions global collaboration on public health, it does not reference European collaboration. UK laws on air pollution, workplace health and safety, and tobacco trade derive from EU law. With the UK having failed to meet standards on air quality, there is concern that the UK might use Brexit to roll back some of these measures.

Dr Nick Fahy, co-author from the Department of Primary Care, University of Oxford (UK), says: "The NHS is at the heart of our national life; it is vital to understand the impact Brexit will have on it. Patients and the people who care for them are facing ever-growing uncertainty and potential disruption to healthcare. The NHS urgently needs clarity and certainty about Brexit." [2]

Finally, Brexit has required the mobilisation of hundreds of civil servants, but the task ahead is immense, requiring Government and Parliament to pass several major pieces of legislation and up to 600 statutory instruments within a month. Meanwhile important legislation, such as social care, has suffered prolonged delays.

The authors note that their analysis is based on the most up to date available legal texts, but is inherently limited by the lack of transparency about the Governments' preparations, the lack of detail in the Political Declaration, and the unprecedented nature of a member state leaving the EU after more than 40 years of membership for which no comparable situation exists.

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Peer-reviewed / Review

NOTES TO EDITORS

There was no specific funding received for this review. A full declaration of interests for all authors is provided in the paper.

[1] Fahy et al, The Lancet (2017) https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)31926-8/fulltext

[2] Quotes direct from authors and cannot be found in the text of the article.
Researchers in Europe and Australia will have the opportunity to spend from one month up to a year in Australia and in several European countries including Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, UK

Researchers in Europe and Australia will have the opportunity to spend from one month to up to a year in Australia and in several European countries including Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, UK and Spain.

The exchange opportunities are through OpenInnoTrain - a new 2.5M research project focused on open innovation and research translation between university and industry with a 22-member research consortium with partners from several countries.

The project aims to enable the untapped potential of European university researchers in getting their research outcomes to the market within the University?Industry Cooperation (UIC) framework.

This Open Innovation approach for research translation is the prerequisite for societal impact through value creation by embedding research?generated knowledge into practices, transforming knowledge made available in academic publications to new or improved products and services and behavioural changes.

OpenInnoTrain works in the sectors of FinTech (a new financial industry that applies technology to improve or innovate financial services), Industry 4.0 (the digitalisation of the manufacturing industries that results in fully integrated, automated and optimised production flows), CleanTech (a range of low carbon technologies aimed at providing solutions to environmental problems) and FoodTech (the application of advanced technologies such as embedded computing and robotics to food production, packaging and distribution).

OpenInnoTrain is funded by the European Commission's prestigious Horizon 2020 research and innovation scheme and it was recently launched at the European hub of RMIT University in Barcelona.

This is the first project that connects European and Australian research at this scale within such a global network of industrial partners and academic institutions.

Professor Anne-Laure Mention, Project Coordinator and Director of RMIT's Global Business Innovation Enabling Capability Platform, said OpenInnoTrain will see the funding of up to 540 person-months of scientific exchanges over four years.

"The exchanges will be designed to facilitate the creation of an international and inter-sectoral network of both research centres as well as industry partners for knowledge development and sharing," Mention said.

"The four contemporary areas of FinTech, Industry 4.0, CleanTech and FoodTech will be in focus.

"In addition to exchanges, the project will also include workshops, summer schools, masterclasses, seminars and hackathons at RMIT's European hub in Barcelona as well as in different locations across Europe with project partners.

"At the core of the project is to foster better ways for academia and industry to work together to translate research into products and services that benefit society.

"We're excited at this opportunity to bring together global experts from research centres, industry groups and universities to make a real and positive difference to our communities." Mention said.

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More information about OpenInnoTrain can be found at: http://openinnotrain. eu/

Follow us on Twitter: @OpenInnoTrain

For project queries: Prof. Anne-Laure Mention, anne-laure.mention@rmit.edu.au

For interviews and general media queries: Karen Matthews, karen.matthews@rmit.edu.au

OpenInnoTrain is a Marie Skodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange, funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program, Grant Agreement number 823971. This document reflects only the author's view and the European Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Quantum computers will process significantly more information at once compared to today's computers. But the building blocks that contain this information - quantum bits, or "qubits" - are way too sensitive to their surroundings to work well enough right now to build a practical quantum computer.

Long story short, qubits need a better immune system before they can grow up.

A new material, engineered by Purdue University researchers into a thin strip, is one step closer to "immunizing" qubits against noise, such as heat and other parts of a computer, that interferes with how well they hold information. The work appears in Physical Review Letters.

The thin strip, called a "nanoribbon," is a version of a material that conducts electrical current on its surface but not on the inside - called a "topological insulator" - with two superconductor electrical leads to form a device called a "Josephson junction."

In a quantum computer, a qubit "entangles" with other qubits. This means that reading the quantum information from one qubit automatically affects the result from another, no matter how far apart they are.

Without entanglement, the speedy calculations that set apart quantum computing can't happen. But entanglement and the quantum nature of the qubits are also sensitive to noise, so they need extra protection.

A topological-insulator nanoribbon Josephson junction device is one of many options researchers have been investigating for building more resilient qubits. This resilience could come from special properties created by conducting a supercurrent on the surface of a topological insulator, where an electron's spin is locked to momentum.

The problem so far is that a supercurrent tends to leak into the inside of topological insulators, preventing it from flowing completely on the surface.

To get more resilient, topological qubits need supercurrents to flow through the surface channels of topological insulators.

"We have developed a material that is really clean, in the sense that there are no conducting states in the bulk of the topological insulator," said Yong Chen, a Purdue professor of physics and astronomy and of electrical and computer engineering, and the director of the Purdue Quantum Science and Engineering Institute. "Superconductivity on the surface is the first step for building these topological quantum computing devices based on topological insulators."

Morteza Kayyalha, a former Ph.D. student in Chen's lab, could show that the supercurrent wraps all the way around the new topological insulator nanoribbon at temperatures 20 percent lower than the "critical temperature," when the junction becomes superconducting. The experiment was conducted in collaboration with the lab of Leonid Rokhinson, a Purdue professor of physics and astronomy.

"It's known that as the temperature lowers, the superconductivity is enhanced," Chen said. "The fact that much more supercurrent flowed at even lower temperatures for our device was evidence that it is flowing around these protective surfaces."

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This work was supported by multiple awards from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Defense Office of Naval Research and the Simons Foundation.

ABSTRACT

Anomalous Low-Temperature Enhancement of Supercurrent in Topological-Insulator Nanoribbon Josephson Junctions: Evidence for Low-Energy Andreev Bound States

Morteza Kayyalha1, Mehdi Kargarian2, Aleksandr Kazakov1, Ireneusz Miotkowski1, Victor M. Galitski2, Victor M. Yakovenko2, Leonid P. Rokhinson1, and Yong P. Chen1

1Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

2University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.047003

We report anomalous enhancement of the critical current at low temperatures in gate-tunable Josephson junctions made from topological insulator BiSbTeSe2 nanoribbons with superconducting Nb electrodes. In contrast to conventional junctions, as a function of the decreasing temperature T, the increasing critical current Ic exhibits a sharp upturn at a temperature T* around 20% of the junction critical temperature for several different samples and various gate voltages. The Ic vs Tdemonstrates a short junction behavior for T>T*, but crosses over to a long junction behavior for T
Dubravko Justic, the Texaco Distinguished Professor in the LSU Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences, and Research Associate Lixia Wang recently co-authored a study suggesting that measuring the volume rather than the area of the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone, is more appropriate for monitoring its effects on marine organisms.

The dead zone, a hypoxic zone, is a region of low oxygen that results from runoff of high nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, often found in fertilizer, flowing from the Mississippi River into the coastal ocean. It is the largest recurring hypoxic zone in the U.S., occurring most summers, and is located off the coast of Louisiana. This nutrient pollution, coupled with other factors, is believed to have a negative impact on fisheries because it depletes the oxygen required to support most marine life in bottom and near-bottom waters.

Since 2001, stakeholders have used hypoxic area measurements to set goals for limiting or reversing its size, but this new study shows that the hypoxic volume appears more responsive to reductions in nitrogen flowing into the northern Gulf of Mexico than the hypoxic area. The researchers' model simulations indicate that even with a 25 percent nitrogen load reduction, the thickness of the hypoxic layer in the northern Gulf of Mexico decreases markedly, and hypoxia remains localized to a relatively thin layer near the bottom that most fish and other mobile organisms can more effectively avoid.

Justic believes this should be considered when reviewing and potentially setting new hypoxia management goals.

"Understanding variability in hypoxic volume is relevant to assessing the effects of hypoxia on fish and fisheries, such as enhanced susceptibility to fishing due to an increased aggregation of fish avoiding hypoxic waters," Justic said.

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A surgeon sometimes moves from one surgery to the next before the first one is completed, leaving junior surgeons, residents and physician assistants to complete the noncritical portions of the procedure.

The practice happens tens of thousands of times per year, but one might wonder: Are such overlapping operations safe?

For the most part they are, but with two important exceptions, according to research by investigators at Harvard Medical School and Stanford University published Feb. 26 in JAMA and thought to be one of the most comprehensive analyses on the subject to date.

The results, based on a comparison of outcomes from more than 60,000 surgical procedures, reveal that overall, overlapping surgeries do not increase the risk for post-surgical complications and patient death in the immediate aftermath of the procedure. However, there were two important exceptions. Patients deemed high risk--those with a relatively high predicted probability of complications from surgery, due to age and preexisting medical conditions--as well as patients undergoing coronary artery bypass experienced higher mortality and complication rates during overlapping surgeries. Additionally, overlapping procedures ran about a half hour longer on average than nonoverlapping procedures, the study found.

"For most surgeries, and most patients, our findings should be reassuring," said Anupam Jena, the Ruth L. Newhouse associate professor of health care policy in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School and an internal medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. "But for certain types of procedures and certain patients, the evidence suggests that we need to be thoughtful about whether a particular individual is a good candidate for overlapping surgery." Jena was senior author of the study.

As with any treatment, careful patient selection and an individualized approach based on the patient's risk profile and preexisting conditions are critical, the researchers added.

"As with anything else in medicine, one size does not fit all," Jena said.

Additionally, the investigators caution, the study was designed to capture only mortality and complication rates during the brief hospitalization period following surgery. It was not equipped to measure the long-term mortality and complications among patients once they were discharged.

The mortality rate was 1.6 percent for patients undergoing nonoverlapping surgeries, compared with 1.9 percent among patients undergoing overlapping procedures. Postoperative complications occurred in 11.8 percent of patients undergoing nonoverlapping procedures, compared with 12.8 percent among those undergoing overlapping surgeries. Overlapping surgeries ran notably longer--204 minutes, compared with 173 minutes for nonoverlapping procedures.

For high-risk patients, the mortality rate was 5.8 percent for patients undergoing overlapping surgeries, compared with 4.7 percent among patients undergoing nonoverlapping procedures. The complication rate was 29.2 percent for patients undergoing overlapping surgeries, compared with 27 percent among patients undergoing nonoverlapping procedures.

For patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery, the mortality rate was 4 percent in surgeries with overlap versus 2.2 percent in surgeries without overlap. Complication rates were also higher in coronary artery bypass graft surgeries that involved overlap.

The study analyzed outcomes among 66,430 patients, ages 18 to 90, undergoing eight common procedures at eight medical centers across the United States between 2010 and 2018. The procedures included knee and hip repairs, spinal surgeries, brain surgeries and coronary artery bypass grafting, a type of cardiac surgery to restore blood flow to the heart.

Previous studies of overlapping surgeries tended to have more limited scope of analysis, the researchers said. For example, some focused on a single type of surgery or on results at a single hospital.

In the current study, the authors used a national anesthesia registry to look at the start and end times of surgeries by individual surgeons so they could distinguish consecutive and overlapping surgeries. This enabled the researchers to tease out differences in outcomes for individual surgeons when they were performing one surgery at a time versus performing overlapping surgeries. By contrast, previous studies have compared overall outcomes, which may mask differences across individual operators.

It is important to remember that overlapping surgeries have clear advantages, the researchers said, including maximizing the use of top surgeons and busy operating rooms, increasing patient access to necessary care and providing crucial training experience for junior surgeons. However, the researchers cautioned, such benefits must be weighed carefully against any potential risk to patients. Although overlapping surgeries are deemed generally safe, critics have suggested definitive evidence is lacking.

The possibility of overlapping surgeries and any potential risks associated with a given patient or procedure should be disclosed to patients, who should feel empowered to ask whether their surgeon will be operating on other patients simultaneously and whether they are a good candidate for overlapping surgery.

"Patient trust and patient empowerment should be paramount," Jena said.

"While the overall findings of the study suggest that overlapping surgeries appear to be safe, we found evidence that this may not be true for all patients and all procedures," said the study's lead author, Eric Sun, assistant professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford University. "Improving efficiencies and providing training opportunities should never come at the cost of patient safety, and we need good evidence to guide us as we make decisions about surgery, both as a matter of policy and as a matter of individual patient care."

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Researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania also contributed to this paper.

This research was supported with funds from the Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH Early Independence Award, Grant 1DP5OD017897) and to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (K08DA042314).

Relevant disclosures: Jena reports receiving consulting fees unrelated to this work from Pfizer, Hill-Rom Services, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, Amgen, Eli Lilly & Company, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Celgene, Tesaro, Sanofi-Aventis, Biogen, Precision Health Economics, and Analysis Group. Sun acknowledges consulting fees unrelated to this work from Egalet, Inc., and the Mission LISA Foundation.
The pros and cons of policing methods have been heavily debated for decades in the United States.

Now, a Florida State University-led team of researchers has created a model to measure the differences between two distinct approaches to policing -- the warrior approach and the guardian approach.

Assistant Professor Kyle McLean said the concepts -- which attracted interest after the release of former President Barack Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing report in May 2015 -- had largely been theory up until now. The findings were published in Justice Quarterly.

"The warrior vs. guardian concept always seemed like a cool idea," McLean said. "It sounded really good on paper, but we didn't know if it was true. We didn't have data to back it up. So, we decided to survey some officers to see if this was something real, that we could measure in an empirical way, and we did."

The warrior concept is associated with the idea of militarizing policing and is consistent with the traditional view of police work -- to search, chase and capture. However, the newer concept of guardian policing emphasizes social service, valuing community partnerships and establishing positive contacts.

For the study, researchers surveyed officers from police departments in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Tucson, Arizona. Survey participants received nine questions and were asked to indicate their agreement to a given survey item from 1, strongly disagree, to 5, strongly agree. For instance, one survey item asked, "as a police officer, I see myself primarily as a civil servant."

Officers were also provided a hypothetical scenario of a suspicious person walking in a park at night and asked about how they would respond.

The team found that warrior and guardian models are two distinct approaches to policing. However, officers were able to adopt both mentalities. They also found officers who scored higher on the guardian measure were more likely to value communication, while higher scores on the warrior measure revealed greater importance of physical control and more favorable attitudes toward excessive use of force.

McLean said the warrior mentality often leads to more use of force, making it more likely that the officer or the citizen gets injured.

"Research has shown the guardian mentality has very positive outcomes," McLean said. "While we recognize that you can hold a guardian and a warrior mentality at the same time, if you're not already emphasizing guardianship in some aspects of your work, you're not doing it to the best of your ability and possibly to the detriment of community relationships and well-being."

McLean said future research could explore positive outcomes of the warrior mentality and whether guardian and warrior mentalities and behavior can change over time.

"My hope is that this research will inform the debate and shift the focus to how policing can be changed," McLean said. "As we come to understand these officer mentalities, we can better improve officer training and police-citizen encounters in the field, which ultimately provides better police-community relations."

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The study was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Justice. Co-authors include Scott Wolfe, Michigan State; Jeff Rojek, University of Texas - El Paso; Geoffrey P. Alpert, University of South Carolina and Michael R. Smith, University of Texas - San Antonio.
In the UK and other rich EU nations, around 15 percent of people would object to having immigrants as neighbors

According to analysis of the largest public European and international surveys of human beliefs and values, prejudice against immigrants in the UK is rare and comparable with that in other wealthy EU and Anglophone nations. Published in Frontiers in Sociology, this new study challenges prevailing attitudes on Brexit, the nature of prejudice, and the social impact of modernization.

"In the media turmoil surrounding Brexit, many pundits have seized on the prejudice angle, but these data demonstrate that is not actually what makes the UK different from the Continent," contends co-author Professor Mariah Evans of the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). "Prejudice against immigrant workers or minority ethnic and religious groups is rare in the UK, perhaps even slightly rarer than in equivalently developed EU countries. Even though only a small minority is prejudiced, in a large population that still makes many people - enough to show up in anti-immigrant demonstrations or to mobilize letter-writing campaigns to MPs."

Prejudice in the UK is 'stock standard' for a wealthy EU nation

With half a million combined respondents, the World and European Values Surveys provide a large, time-series, cross-sectional view of people's attitudes, beliefs and opinions in 100 countries.

The researchers analyzed responses from these and the well-known European Quality of Life surveys, to found out how ethno-religious prejudices vary between nations at different stages of socioeconomic development. Specifically, they compared the prevalence of prejudice in the UK to that in its global culture group and other EU countries at approximately the same level of development.

"We found a high level of tolerance for ethnic and religious diversity is typical of prosperous European and Anglophone nations, whereas ethnic and religious prejudice is much more common in poor countries.

"In this respect, the UK is 'stock standard' given its GDP per capita: just like their wealthy EU peers, around 15% of Britons would object to having immigrants as neighbors, around 10% would object to neighbors of a different race, and 10% would rather not have neighbors of a different religion."

Tackling one form of prejudice improves tolerance towards all groups

The analysis also showed that across all nations, prejudice tends to be either against all minority ethnic and religious groups or against none.

"We show that a single root prejudice - that all the feelings about specific groups spring from a single generalized feeling of tolerance or intolerance towards diversity in ethnicity and religion - holds across the whole globe," says study co-author Dr Jonathan Kelley, Adjunct Professor at UNR and Director of the International Social Science Survey.

"There is not a specific British or Japanese or Mexican pattern - rather prejudices are linked together in the same way everywhere. For example, people who would shun immigrants as neighbors would also shun neighbors of a different religion and neighbors of a different race. People who are good with one group as neighbors tend to be good with all.

"Prior researchers have suspected this, but this is the first time it has been demonstrated."

Modernization is a positive force for tolerance to diversity

The authors recognize the limitations of a survey-based approached.

"Being scientists, we would always love better measurement," allows Kelley. "For example, ratings of prejudice on a five- or seven-point scale, and breakdown by region, would have provided a more accurate picture than yes/no responses at the national level. Also, of course, the situation is rapidly evolving, so data even a few years old may be light-years away from rapidly evolving and unstable ethnic and religious group relations."

Nevertheless, these data provide a much more rational and accurate barometer of public opinion than do anti-immigrant demonstrations or political rhetoric.

"There are many ways in which Britain is known to be 'exceptional' in the European context, but prejudice against immigrants is clearly not one of them," adds Kelley.

Evans suggests a number of other positive corollaries of their findings.

"Spillover in attitudes about different groups means that events and examples that lead people to feel more warmly towards one minority will also increase their warmth towards others. For example, a well-publicized act of personal heroism by a Buddhist would likely ever so slightly increase the general public's positive feelings towards Buddhists, but also towards immigrant workers, towards people of African descent, towards Muslims, and, indeed towards all minority ethnic and religious groups.

"Equally promising, the strong gradient of prejudice decreasing with national development - economic growth and institutions that support personal freedom and markets - suggests that contrary to fashionable belief, modernization is a powerful force for good as far as tolerance for diversity is concerned."

###

Please link to the original research article in your reporting: https:/ / www. frontiersin. org/ articles/ 10. 3389/ fsoc. 2019. 00012/ full

M.D.R. Evans is Professor in Sociology, Social Psychology, and Applied Statistics and is a member of the Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of Nevada, Reno. Dr. Jonathan Kelley is Adjunct Professor at UNR and Director of the International Social Science Survey at the International Survey Center. His large survey (on income inequality) is now underway. Anyone who would like to record their opinion is welcome at:

http://www. surveymonkey. com/ r/ Inequality-10
More people of African descent with treatment-resistant schizophrenia could be safely given drug best proven to manage symptoms

A study led by researchers at Cardiff University means that more people of African descent who have treatment-resistant schizophrenia could be safely given the drug best proven to manage their symptoms.

The team identified a genetic and benign cause in people of African descent for lower neutrophil levels: a condition that can also be a rare and potentially life-threatening side-effect of the only licensed medication for treatment-resistant schizophrenia.

Professor James Walters, a principal investigator at Cardiff University's MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics said: "Clozapine is currently the most effective therapy for people with treatment-resistant schizophrenia. However, it can cause a rare adverse side-effect called neutropenia, which is a reduction of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell used to fight infection."

Neutropenia is thought to affect around 3 in every 100 people prescribed clozapine. In rare cases it can develop into agranulocytosis, a serious and potentially life-threatening condition. As a result, people being treated with clozapine undergo regular blood tests, and if neutropenia is detected treatment is stopped immediately.

"This appears to be more common in people from African or African-Caribbean backgrounds and can mean these groups are more likely to stop being treated with clozapine. Our findings suggest that in many cases, this increased rate of neutropenia is a result of a benign ethnic neutropenia rather than a reaction to clozapine," added Professor Walters.

The team conducted a genome-wide association study using samples from 552 people of African ancestry taking clozapine.

Dr Sophie Legge, joint-first author of the study explained: "We identified a genetic variant in the ACKR1 gene that was strongly associated with lower neutrophil counts, and participants in our sample with this variant were 20 times more likely to develop neutropenia during clozapine treatment than clozapine users without this genetic variant."

The same genetic variant is responsible for the 'Duffy-null' blood group, which is very common in areas of the world in which malaria has been endemic, including many parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America.

People with the Duffy-null blood group are at decreased risk of being infected with malaria, but their neutrophil levels are also lower, on average, than the rest of the population. It is thought to be the source of benign ethnic neutropenia, a hereditary condition affecting at least 25-50% of people with African or Middle Eastern ancestry.

Dr Legge continued, "There is good evidence that benign ethnic neutropenia does not lead to increased rates of infection or agranulocytosis, so in practice it is likely that many people with treatment-resistant schizophrenia are unnecessarily excluded from taking medication that could help reduce their symptoms."

In light of these findings the team suggest offering a genetic test as a simple and sensitive strategy to diagnose benign ethnic neutropenia before prescribing clozapine.

Dr Antonio Pardinas, who co-led the project said, "Individuals with the condition who show no signs of compromised immune function could have revised neutrophil thresholds in line with current benign ethnic neutropenia monitoring procedures. This would allow more people who would benefit from clozapine to start taking the medication while avoiding the need to stop treatment for many more.

"Crucially, this is dependent on the outcome of additional safety studies, but this pharmacogenetic test has the potential to assist the management of clozapine treatment."

###

The paper 'A genome-wide association study in individuals of African ancestry reveals the importance of the Duffy-null genotype in the assessment of clozapine-related neutropenia' is published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
The paper mulberry evolved its uniquely fibrous inner bark around 31 million years ago, long before the woody tree was first used for bookmaking during China's Tang dynasty. This adaptation, which makes the nutrient-rich plant easy to pass through foraging animals, may have been its way of feeding nearby soil microbes. Botanists in China discovered this connection in the first analysis of the Broussonetia papyrifera genome, published February 26 in the journal Molecular Plant.

Using comparative genetics, the research team also found that the paper mulberry tree developed a complex set of flavonoids. These compounds, commonly used in Chinese traditional medicine, can help a plant's roots attract nitrogen-fixing bacteria such as Pseudomonas and Rhizobia, which in turn promote leave and stem growth (a tactic commonly used by legumes), and enhance the paper mulberry's ability to adapt to a wide range of environments.

"The unique traits of paper mulberry are consistent with the ancient Chinese philosophy of mutual promotion and restraint, suggesting that paper mulberry is a very complex and remarkable tree species," write the authors, led by botanist Shihua Shen of the Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences. "Both humans and livestock can benefit from the symbiosis of paper mulberry and microbes."

The paper mulberry tree, which has over 30,000 genes, is native to Asia and has a long history of application. The bark of paper mulberry is the main raw material of Cai Lun papermaking, one of the four great inventions in ancient China. The tree's leaves are the raw materials for high-quality protein feed. And thanks to being rich in flavonoids, the paper mulberry forms relationships with various beneficial soil bacteria.

"The paper mulberry is a very important multi-purpose resource plant," says Shen. "However, the lack of systematic research and artificial domestication hinder the development and utilization of plant, which is far behind other economic crops. We hope that this study will promote the breeding of new paper mulberry strains with higher yield and high quality."

The research team plans to continue investigating the molecular mechanisms that lead to economically important traits such as pulping, papermaking, and the creation of feedstock, medicine, and food.

###

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Poverty Relief Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Huimin Technology Demonstration Project of the National Modern Agricultural Science and Technology Achievements City. The researchers declared no conflicts of interest.

Molecular Plant, Peng and Liu et al.: "A Chromosome-Scale Genome Assembly of Paper Mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera) Provides New Insights into Its Forage and Papermaking Usage" https://www.cell.com/molecular-plant/fulltext/S1674-2052(19)30052-8
Turkish FM holds bilateral meetings in Geneva

Cavusoglu is in Geneva to attend the 40th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council that began on Monday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday held meetings with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and with his counterparts from several countries in Geneva.

"UN PRAISES TURKEY'S STANCE ON KHASHOGGI MURDER"

In his meeting with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, Cavusoglu wished her a successful tenure.

In a Twitter post, Cavusoglu said the UN praises Turkeys principled and transparent stance on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. He also met Angolan Foreign Minister Manuel Domingos Augusto, Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek and State Minister for Human Rights of Morocco Mustapha Ramid.

In another Twitter post, Cavusoglu said he appreciated the closure of schools linked to Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) in Morocco at his meeting with Ramid. Cavusoglu will address the opening session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Founded in 2006, the Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the UN system made up of 47 states responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe, according to its website.

Turkey has an observer status in the council.
PKK supporters vandalize Council of Europe building

Dozens of PKK sympathizers arrested after vandalizing the Council of Europe building in Strasbourg and scuffling with police.

At least 43 supporters of the PKK terrorist group were arrested after a protest in front of the Council of Europe building turned violent, French media reported Monday.

The crowd gathered to protest imprisonment condition of the terror group's jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, attacked police in front of the building in Strasbourg, according to local media.

THREE POLICE OFFICERS WERE INJURED

The protesters injured three police officers by throwing stones and broke windows and the door of the building, plus set fire to a trash dumpster. Speaking to reporters, Daniel Holtgen, the director of Communications at the Council of Europe, said: Everybody is entitled to peaceful demonstration, but violence and vandalism are unacceptable.

PKK supporters vandalize Council of Europe building WATCH



Heavy security measures were taken at the Avenue de l'Europe where the demonstration took place.

Ocalan was convicted of terrorism and treason in 1999 and is currently serving a life sentence in Turkey. The PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU, waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years and has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40.000 people. The YPG/PYD is its Syrian branch.
North Korea leader arrives in Vietnam for summit

Trump is due in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, on Tuesday evening.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday for a summit with US President Donald Trump where they will try to reach agreement on how to implement a North Korean pledge to give up its nuclear weapons.

THE TALKS CAME AFTER SINGAPORE SUMMIT

They will meet for a brief one-on-one conversation on Wednesday evening, followed by a dinner, at which they will each be accompanied by two guests and interpreters, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters on Air Force One.

Their talks come eight months after their historic summit in Singapore, the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader. There is likely to be pressure on both sides to move beyond the vaguely worded commitment they made in Singapore to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Domestic critics have warned Trump against cutting a deal that would do little to curb North Koreas nuclear ambitions, urging specific, verifiable North Korean action to abandon the nuclear weapons that threaten the United States.

In return, Kim would expect significant US concessions such as relief from punishing sanctions and a declaration that the 1950-53 Korean War is at last formally over.
Erdogan: EU member states insincere

Recep Tayyip Erdogan slams EU countries accepting the invitation of Egpyt's Sisi in wake of last week's execution of 9 young men.

European leaders attending a summit in Egypt just after a mass execution of young men there shows their insincerity, said Turkeys president on Tuesday.

"How can you talk about democracy to EU member states that accepted the invitation of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who executed 9 young men last week?" Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a campaign rally in the Black Sea province of Giresun.

"GROSSLY UNFAIR TRIALS"

The two-day EU-Arab summit in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday and Monday saw heavy attendance by European officials despite Egypts execution of nine young men last week over the 2015 assassination of Hisham Barakat, Egypt's prosecutor-general. Amnesty International said the men were convicted on terrorism charges after "grossly unfair trials" marred by alleged torture.

The sentences were carried out despite calls by numerous international rights groups for a stay of execution.

Earlier this month, Egyptian authorities executed another six people in two separate cases for the murder of a judges son and a senior police officer.

Egypt has remained beset by violence and turmoil since the army deposed Mohamed Morsi, the country's first freely elected president, in a 2013 coup.
Enid, OK (73701)

Today

Showers early then scattered thunderstorms developing later in the day. High 81F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Isolated thunderstorms during the evening. Cloudy with rain arriving overnight. Low 66F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.
Athens, AL (35611)

Today

Mostly sunny skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High around 90F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly clear skies. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable.
Douglas man arrested after unpaid fare dispute

Police are appealing for witnesses after a taxi driver was allegedly abused in the capital.

The incident happened in Victoria Street on Saturday evening.

Investigating officers say an argument broke out over an unpaid fare.

A 29-year-old man from Douglas was arrested for being drunk and disorderly. He will appear at Douglas Courthouse next month.
Fayetteville, TN (37334)

Today

Generally sunny despite a few afternoon clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High around 90F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable.
Elkhart, IN (46516)

Today

Rain showers in the morning with thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. High 86F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
Bogota, Feb 26 (efe-epa).- Univision journalist Jorge Ramos confirmed Tuesday that he and his team were ordered deported from Venezuela and would be put on a flight to Miami.

"We have to leave for the airport in a few minutes and be deported from Caracas. We'll be leaving on the American Airlines flight from Caracas to Miami at 12 noon," Ramos told Colombian radio station La FM.

Ramos said his hotel was surrounded by Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) agents and he and his team would travel to the airport in "Mexican government vehicles so we can be more or less protected."

The Univision team had traveled to Caracas to interview President Nicolas Maduro and was detained inside the presidential palace for more than two hours.

Venezuela's SNTP press union said Tuesday that the team from the US Spanish-language network would be deported.

"It is confirmed that the #Univision team will be deported. Immigration authorities came to the hotel to notify that they would be taken to the airport early in the morning," the SNTP tweeted in Spanish.

Two Venezuelan employees of Univision based in Caracas, Francisco Urreiztieta and Edgar Trujillo, are also leaving the country, but they were not officially deported, SNTP president Marco Ruiz told a local radio station.

The intelligence service had been watching Ramos and the Univision team from the time they were released from the Miraflores presidential palace on Monday and escorted them to the airport, the SNTP said.

Ramos and his team were detained after Maduro became upset over the journalist's questions and a video he showed the Venezuelan leader.

"I asked him if I can call him either a president or a dictator because millions of Venezuelans do not consider him a president. Then we discussed the flood that happened here, May 2018; also the reports of torture and human rights abuses of political prisoners," Ramos said in a video aired by Univision.

"And at the end, I showed him a video that I personally took last Sunday of three kids behind a trash truck, looking for food. And, he just couldn't stand it. He did not want to continue the interview," Ramos said.

Ramos said that Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez said after that that the interview was unauthorized and "confiscated all our cameras, all our video, all our cellphones."

Ramos was accompanied by Maria Martinez, Claudia Rondon, Francisco Urreiztieta, Juan Carlos Guzman and Martin Guzman.

This is not the first time reporters have been detained in Venezuela. In January, several journalists were detained, including four from EFE.

The SNTP counted 40 aggressions by state security forces against members of the media in January alone.

Maduro's administration has repeatedly claimed that the press, particularly foreign media, wages campaigns against it and spreads misinformation about the crisis in Venezuela.

Several domestic and foreign media outlets have been taken off the air on the orders of the government for being critical of the administration.

CNN's Spanish service was taken down in 2017, Colombia's NTN24 in 2014, and RCN and Caracol in 2017.
Asuncion, Feb 25 (epa-efe).- The Paraguayan women's affairs ministry presented Monday the National Equality Plan, which aims to achieve "real equality" between men and women by 2030.

Even after the implementation of three previous gender-equality initiatives, "gaps persist," Minister Nilda Romero said during an event at an Asuncion hotel with President Mario Abdo Benitez and first lady Silvana Lopez in attendance.

"We are in a position to aspire to more," she said, adding that the plan, which outlines objectives and methods for implementing public policies for the next five years, aims to "eliminate obstacles."

The initiative calls for eliminating discrimination against women, as well as establishing mechanisms that favor equal access and the "permanence" of women in positions of "decision-making in all branches of government."

Romero also pointed out that the proposal seeks to "create conditions" that allow "the economic empowerment and autonomy of women," and to ensure women's access to the courts.

The National Plan includes specific projects for economic empowerment of indigenous women and mandates creation of a body to monitor gender violence, "to achieve greater effectiveness in prevention and punishment" of offenders.

On hand for the presentation was the UN Women representative in Paraguay, Florence Raes, said the plan constitutes a tool to undertake a public policy that is "not only ambitious but also very practical" because it "identifies the obstacles in each area."

The plan's objectives are also consistent with the United Nations' Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, Raes said.

Romero said that reducing inequality between men and women will be a "state policy" involving all public institutions, a point emphasized by the presence of the president in the presentation of the initiative, as well as numerous other senior officials and the Asuncion diplomatic corps.

The event paid tribute the Paraguayan women, embodied for the occasion by the reigning Miss Paraguay - Veronica Viveros - dressed in traditional 19th-century garb in recognition of the "women who rebuilt the country" after the 1864-1870 War of the Triple Alliance.

That conflict, the bloodiest between states in the history of South America, wiped out nearly 70 percent of the adult men in Paraguay.
Mexico City, Feb 26 (epa-efe).- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday called for dialogue to find a "peaceful solution" to the crisis in Venezuela and defended freedom of speech after a crew from the Univision network was briefly detained in the South American country while interviewing the president.

"I respectfully call on the parties to the conflict to sit down, dialogue and seek a peaceful solution," the founder and leader of the leftist National Regeneration Movement (Morena) said in a press conference at the National Palace.

If the parties request it, Lopez Obrador, popularly known as AMLO, offered to host talks in Mexico, allowing the two sides in the Venezuelan political crisis to find a solution, with the idea of having both Pope Francis and world-renowned diplomats as mediators.

"If the parties ask us, Mexico will always be willing to help in having a dialogue. To achieve peace in any nation, the doors of our country are open for dialogue," the president said.

AMLO said that if the dialogue were to happen, diplomats with "world prestige" would be invited as "intermediaries," along with the United Nations or Uruguay, a country with a similar neutral position like Mexico's on the Venezuelan crisis.

"Even Pope Francis (could be a mediator), because he has already done so," the president said, noting that the pontiff played a role in diplomatic matters involving Cuba and the peace process in Colombia.

Asked about US Vice President Mike Pence's call for the Mexican government to take sides between Venezuela's self-proclaimed interim president, Juan Guaido, and President Nicolas Maduro, Lopez Obrador limited himself to emphasizing the existing "respect" between the United States and Mexico.

"We have not had any kind of pressure," the president said, adding that polarization, confrontation and manipulation should be avoided.

Dozens of countries, including Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Spain and the United States, have recognized Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate president.

Lopez Obrador said his administration would defend freedom of speech and freedom of the press after renowned Mexican-American journalist Jorge Ramos and his Univision crew were detained by Maduro's security forces during an interview at the Miraflores Palace.

"We are in favor of the freedom of speech and the respect that must exist for the free practice of journalism in Mexico and in the world. That's what I can say," the Mexican leader said.

Venezuela's opposition does not recognize Maduro's May 2018 re-election victory and his new six-year term in office that began on Jan. 10.

The political crisis heated up on Jan. 23 when Guaido, the National Assembly's speaker, proclaimed himself the South American country's legitimate leader.
To build the largest and most complete Amateur Radio community site on the Internet - a "portal" that hams think of as the first place to go for information, to exchange ideas, and be part of whats happening with ham radio on the Internet. eHam.net provides recognition and enjoyment to the people who use, contribute, and build the site. This project involves a management team of volunteers who each take a topic of interest and manage it with passion. The site will stand above all other ham radio sites by employing the latest technology and professional design/programming standards, developed by a team of community programmers who contribute their skills to the effort. The site will be something of which everyone involved can be proud to say they were a part. We welcome your comments. The eHam.net Team, Revision 07/2020.
Effingham, IL (62401)

Today

Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. High 88F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds light and variable.
Fiscally conservative politicians in states such as South Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia this year are telling teachers that in order to get the pay raises theyve been clamoring for, theyll need to make some hard-to-swallow concessions.

Among them: allow for charter schools and vouchers, have teacher pay tied to test scores, let districts hire more noncertified teachers, and even have the powers of their union curtailed.

Frustrated with stagnant academic outcomes and skyrocketing costs, state legislators are arguing that, with the billions of taxpayers dollars theyre forking over toward schools, its about time teachers start proving their worth.

Teacher activists reject the premise that theyre slackers and say their pay, also stagnant, is an entirely separate matter and should not be tangled up with school improvement legislation. Politicians strategies, they say, are misguided, cruel, and retaliatory.

The tough bargaining has caught teacher activists riding a wave of public sympathy off guard, muddied their messaging, and forced them to fight on multiple fronts in recent weeks.

Tough Tactics

In West Virginia, Republican state senators introduced a bill this year that would provide teachers with a $5,000 raisebut only if they allowed for the expansion of charter schools, the use of vouchers, and the elimination of teacher seniority. Teachers there staged a two-day statewide strike last week that resulted in the states House of Delegates killing the compatible version of the Senate bill.

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said in his State of the State address this year that any pay raise teachers get down the line should be on the condition that they boost academic outcomes or work in one of the states many impoverished schools.

And South Carolinas Republican legislators as of late last week were still pushing an omnibus, so-called education reform bill that will provide teachers with up to a 5 percent raise if they allow the state to institute a controversial teacher pay structure, tilt the power structure in the state so that legislators, rather than the states elected superintendent, have more say over school accountability, and give the state the power to hand failing schools over to charter operators.

Hundreds of teachers decked in red packed the state capitols galleries earlier this month and threatened to stage a strike if the bill moves forward.

That was them throwing us a bone, Sherry East, the president of the South Carolina Education Association, said about the pay increase. They told us, Here. Youre getting your little 5 percent raise. Yall need to calm down and let us do all this other horrible stuff.

With states coffers this year flush with surplus dollars, more than 18 governors so far have said in State of the State addresses that they would will push to raise teachers pay, according to an Education Week analysis.

Of those governors, four said they will raise the minimum pay scale, and the rest of them are calling for millions more dollars for districts to give across-the-board pay raises to teachers.

But in a handful of states, politicians have said that if teachers want more money in their paychecks, there will be strings attached.

West Virginia has been on the front lines of the conflict.

With the collapse of the coal industry, West Virginia has struggled to pay for its school system, and thousands of families have left for jobs in other states, resulting in districts shuttering schools and laying off teachers. Last years strike, which inspired strikes in other states, resulted in teachers receiving a 5 percent pay raise, but many teachers said it wasnt enough to make a dent in the states widespread teacher shortage.

At the beginning of this years legislative session, as teachers again began to advocate on the pay issue, legislators looking to overhaul the education system said they were tired of being 50th academically ranked, a slogan they shared around the state in press conferences and on Twitter.

On the one hand, state senators added another 5 percent pay raise and an additional $24 million for student support services to a series of proposals tucked in an omnibus bill.

But the bill also would have increased elementary school class sizes; given flexibility to local politicians to raise and decrease taxes for schools; and eliminated teacher seniority during layoffs and required them to annually sign off on union dues, which many fear will result in decreased membership.

Most notably, the bill would have allowed for the expansion of charter schools and the use of vouchers, a historically divisive issue in West Virginia, one of the last holdout states in the nation without charter schools or vouchers. If any portion of the bill were to have been removed by the House, all the other parts of the billincluding the prized teacher pay raisewould be null and void.

The bill sparked a heated debate over how teachers should be given a raise.

For crying out loud, we have to concentrate on our public schools, Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican, said to legislators during an animated press conference. Youre going to take all of the good that were putting together and ruin it. When you have the opportunity to give, you ought not give and put a receipt in the box.

South Carolina Showdown

But legislators said it was past time for the states legislature to do something about the states dismal academic outcomes.

After years of ruining our states public education system, the teacher union bosses have finally lost their grip on the legislature and seemingly have lost their grip on reality, Mitch Carmichael, the president of the states Senate tweeted last week after teachers said they would go on strike over the bill. Comprehensive education reform that will improve student performance, provide parental choice and empower teachers is comingbecause parents, taxpayers, and job providers want our broken public education system fixed now.

The Senates effort was killed after a House version of the bill died on the floor.

In South Carolina, where more than 5,300 teachers left the profession last year over pay and working conditions, teachers were stunned when legislators earlier this session introduced an 84-page bill that would do everything teachers asked the state not to do. That would include allowing the state to hand over to charter operators chronically underperforming schools and allowing non-certified teachers to teach in some schools in the state.

If the bill was passed, teachers minimum pay would be raised to $35,000, up from $32,000 a year.

During a five-hour hearing earlier this month, more than 400 teachers, parents, and students denounced the bill as detrimental and ineffective. Many teachers said they were willing to strike if the bill advanced any further.

On the eve of a surprise visit from U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos last week, political leaders and state elected superintendent Molly Spearman held a press conference and announced several concessions to the bill, including getting rid of a pay structure that would have paid teachers based on outcomes rather than experience and frozen teachers pay for several years. They also announced that the House of Representatives included in its budget a provision to provide teachers with a 4 percent raise, depending on the amount of classroom experience they had, an effort that would cost the state $159 million annually.

This is a heavy lift ... because the status quo is hard to move. Habits are ingrained top to bottom, the Senates education committee chairman, Greg Hembree, a Republican, said at the news conference, according to local reports. People get nervous about change.

Texas Tradeoffs

And in Texas, legislators are debating three ways to provide teachers a pay raise: give the entire states teaching force a $5,000 pay raise, place the money in districts budgets and let district superintendents decide which teachers to give a raise to, ormost controversiallyinstitute a statewide pay-incentive program and provide a pay raise to the states best-performing teachers and those willing to work in the states worst-performing schools.

The pay-incentive program is modeled after one started several years ago in Dallas, a district thats managed to get several of its schools off the states list of worst-performing schools.

The program uses several measures to determine a teachers effectiveness, and district superintendent Michael Hinojosa said he attributes much of the districts recent success to the incentive program. He said it may not be for every district and can be extremely costly as more and more teachers hit six-figure salaries. The district pays an extra $15 million every year of local tax dollars to fund the program.

It was very intense and it was very traumatic, Hinojosa said about the early years of the program. But the district today has better test scores, and many of the districts top-performing teachers have stuck with the district. Money makes a difference. But only if its used strategically. I dont want to give an underperforming teacher a $5,000 raise, but Ill give a high-performing teacher a $15,000 raise.

But Noel Candelaria, the president of the Texas State Teachers Association, said the program would force teachers to teach to the test and ultimately be demoralizing. Echoing teachers frustrations in South Carolina and West Virginia, teachers, he said, have plenty of thoughts on how to improve test scores but their pay, well below the national average, isnt part of the equation.

Its just doubling down on paying for test scores, said Candelaria. All the research has shown that its not the direction we need to go. The impact of having quality teachers in the classroom is important and its part of the equation but its not going to be the whole solution. Even if we can get great teachers into the classroom, how do we keep them there? We need a much more holistic approach.
By Jessica Corbett

Hundreds of Kentucky high school students and climate campaigners with the youth-led Sunrise Movement descended on the Capitol Hill office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday to deliver 100,000 petition signatures and stage a sit-in to make clear to lawmakers that young people want a Green New Deal for their communities and futures.

For calling on McConnell to heed public demands for federal lawmakers to pass policies that will phase out fossil fuels and combat the global climate crisis while also creating green jobs and a more just economy, more than 40 demonstrators were arrested:





As recent polling shows more than 80 percent of Americans back key elements of the Green New Deal put forth by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), the mobilization to increase pressure on McConnell comes after the majority leader announced last week that he plans to rush a floor vote on the resolution, which critics denounced as a ploy to fuel divisions in the Democratic Party.

"Kentucky youth traveled here today because their state needs a Green New Deal. Mitch McConnell's Green New Deal vote is a political stunt to score some points for his wealthy donors," Sunrise Movement Executive Director Varshini Prakash said in a statement. "We're here to warn him and all senators: if you refuse to back the Green New Deal, young people will remember next time you ask for our votes."

Demonstrators who carried signs that read "Oil & gas $ or our lives?," "Green New Deal," and "Mitch, Look us in the eyes" as well as supporters posted updates on social media from Monday's demonstration with the hashtags #OilMoneyMitch and #LookUsInTheEyes:

"I am here because people in my community don't have jobs, are starving and turning to opioids and dying," 15-year-old Lily Gardner of Lexington, Kentucky said in a statement. "Mitch McConnell refuses to do anything about. His own constituentshigh schoolershave traveled here to meet with him. All we want is for him to put our lives above the interests of his campaign donors."



Both from McConnell's office and outside the Capitol Building, the youth demonstrators shared why they felt compelled to visit their senator in Washington, DCwith some pointing to warnings from a recent U.N. report that the international community has just about 12 years to pursue "rapid, far-reaching, and unprecedented" systemic changes needed to avert climate catastrophe:

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), who is among the scores of co-sponsors of the Green New Deal resolution, voiced support for the sit-in at McConnell's office on Monday, urging the youth climate activists to "keep fighting."



Reposted with permission from our media associate Common Dreams.


Brazilian scientists are trying to understand why a young humpback whale washed up on an island near the mouth of the Amazon river last week. The Humpback whales who feed off the coast of Brazil usually spend this time of year in Antarctica, some 4,000 miles from where the whale was found.

"We imagine it was floating and the tide took it into the mangrove," Renata Emin, president of the conservation group Bicho D'Agua that found the whale, told the Brazilian news site G1, according to The New York Times. "The question is, What was a humpback whale doing in the month of February on the northern coast of Brazil? It's unusual."

Members of Bicho D'Agua found the whale Friday in the mangroves on the island of Marajo, though it had been dead for several days according to government officials. The whale was about a year old and eight meters (approximately 26 feet) long, Bicho D'Agua said in a Facebook post.

"The vultures were spotted circling above the carcass, which was found hidden in the bush some distance from the sea," Municipal Secretariat of Health, Sanitation and Environment (SEMMA) spokesperson Dirlene Silva said of the whale's discovery, as Newsweek reported.



It will take 10 days for an autopsy to reveal the whale's cause of death, but scientists have some theories.

"We believe this is a calf which may have been traveling with its mother and probably got lost or separated during the migratory cycle between the two continents," Emin said, according to Newsweek. The tens of thousands of humpback whales that live part of the year off the coast of Brazil usually travel to Antarctica for the Southern Hemisphere's summer, The New York Times explained. When the whales are near Brazil, The Independent reported, it is usually farther south, on the Bahia coast, between August and November.

Emin told GI that her team was collecting data to determine if the whale had been caught in a net or hit by a boat, according to The New York Times.

About 300,000 whales and dolphins die every year after being caught in nets, according to the International Whaling Commission (IWC). The IWC has also recorded more than 1,200 collisions between whales and boats since 2009.



The Maritime Herald also raised the possibility that the young whale could have died after eating plastic, according to Newsweek. Last year saw many high-profile incidents of whales dying after ingesting large amounts of plastic pollution, including a sperm whale in November 2018 that washed up in Indonesia with almost 13 pounds of plastic in its stomach.

Silva said that officials had not yet been able to remove the whale from where it was found.

"It's very difficult to get there and there's no way we can send a bulldozer because it would not get through," Silva said, as The Independent reported. "There is no way to remove it. To get there, we need to cross the swamp."



Its skeleton will eventually be dismantled and moved to a natural history museum in Belem.
Glyphosatethe active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller that some studies have linked to canceris also a secret ingredient in nearly 20 popular beers and wines.

That's the finding of a new study from the education group U.S. PIRG, which found glyphosate in 19 of 20 wine and beer brands tested, including organic labels and brews.

The release of the study coincides with the beginning of the first federal trial against Monsanto and its new parent company Bayer over whether Roundup use caused a plaintiff's cancer, USA Today reported Monday.



"With a federal court looking at the connection between Roundup and cancer today, we believe this is the perfect time to shine a spotlight on glyphosate," study author and U.S. PIRG Toxic's Director Kara Cook-Schultz told USA Today. "This chemical could prove a true risk to so many Americans' health, and they should know that it is everywhere  including in many of their favorite drinks."

The drink with the highest glyphosate concentration was Sutter Home Merlot, at 51.4 parts per billion (ppb). Popular beer brands like Coors Light, Miller Lite and Budweiser all had concentrations above 25 ppb. The full results of the study, from highest to lowest glyphosate concentration in ppb, are listed below.

Wines

Sutter Home Merlot: 51.4 ppb Beringer Founders Estates Moscato: 42.6 ppb Barefoot Cabernet Sauvignon: 36.3 ppb Inkarri Malbec, Certified Organic: 5.3 ppb Frey Organic Natural White: 4.8 ppb

Beers

Tsingtao Beer: 49.7 ppb Coors Light: 31.1 ppb Miller Lite: 29.8 ppb Budweiser: 27.0 ppb Corona Extra: 25.1 ppb Heineken: 20.9 ppb Guinness Draught: 20.3 ppb Stella Artois: 18.7 ppb Ace Perry Hard Cider: 14.5 ppb Sierra Nevada Pale Ale: 11.8 ppb New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale: 11.2 ppb Sam Adams New England IPA: 11.0 ppb Stella Artois Cidre: 9.1 ppb Samuel Smith's Organic Lager: 5.7 ppb

The only beverage tested that contained no glyphosate was Peak Beer Organic IPA.

The amounts found were far below the safety limits for glyphosate set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as Bayer toxicologist William Reeves told CBS News via a spokesperson.

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets daily exposure limits at least 100 times below levels shown to have no negative effect in safety studies," Reeves said. "Assuming the greatest value reported, 51.4 ppb, is correct, a 125-pound adult would have to consume 308 gallons of wine per day, every day for life to reach the US Environmental Protection Agency's glyphosate exposure limit for humans. To put 308 gallons into context, that would be more than a bottle of wine every minute, for life, without sleeping."

However, the study noted that chemicals aren't necessarily safe just because regulatory bodies say they are.

"While these levels of glyphosate are below EPA risk tolerances for beverages, it is possible that even low levels of glyphosate can be problematic. For example, in one study, scientists found that 1 part per trillion of glyphosate has the potential to stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells and disrupt the endocrine system," the study said.

The EPA has found that glyphosate is not carcinogenic to humans, but the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer ruled it was a probable human carcinogen in 2015. More recently, a study released February found that those exposed to glyphosate were 41 percent more likely to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

In the first case to go to trial against Monsanto over Roundup last year, a jury ruled that exposure to glyphosate had caused the non-Hodgkin lymphoma of California groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson. Plaintiff Edwin Hardeman is making a similar claim in the first federal glyphosate trial that started Monday.

"Due to glyphosate's many health risks and its ubiquitous nature in our food, water and alcohol, the use of glyphosate in the U.S. should be banned unless and until it can be proven safe," the U.S. PIRG study advised.
By Jessica Corbett

As people across the globe mobilize to demand bold action to combat the climate crisis and scientific findings about looming "environmental breakdown" pile up, a startling new study published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience warns that human-caused global warming could cause stratocumulus clouds to totally disappear in as little as a century, triggering up to 8C (14F) of additional warming.

Stratocumulus clouds cover about two-thirds of the Earth and help keep it cool by reflecting solar radiation back to space. Recent research has suggested that planetary warming correlates with greater cloud loss, stoking fears about a feedback loop that could spell disaster.

For this study, researchers at the California Institute of Technology used a supercomputer simulation to explore what could lead these low-lying, lumpy clouds to vanish completely. As science journalist Natalie Wolchover laid out in a lengthy piece for Quanta Magazine titled A World Without Clouds:

The simulation revealed a tipping point: a level of warming at which stratocumulus clouds break up altogether. The disappearance occurs when the concentration of CO2 in the simulated atmosphere reaches 1,200 parts per million [ppm]a level that fossil fuel burning could push us past in about a century, under "business-as-usual" emissions scenarios. In the simulation, when the tipping point is breached, Earth's temperature soars 8 degrees Celsius, in addition to the 4 degrees of warming or more caused by the CO2 directly...



To imagine 12 degrees of warming, think of crocodiles swimming in the Arctic and of the scorched, mostly lifeless equatorial regions during the [Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum or PETM]. If carbon emissions aren't curbed quickly enough and the tipping point is breached, "that would be truly devastating climate change," said Caltech's Tapio Schneider, who performed the new simulation with Colleen Kaul and Kyle Pressel.

Quanta Magazine also broke down the study's key findings in a short video shared on social media:

The study elicited alarm from climate campaigners along with calls for the "radical, disruptive changes" to society's energy and economic systems that scientists and experts have repeatedly said are necessary to prevent climate catastrophe:



Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the amount of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere has surged from about 280 ppm to more than 410 ppm today. Although concentrations will continue to rise as long as the international community maintains unsustainable activities that generate greenhouse gas emissions, some observers pointed out that atmospheric carbon hitting 1,200 ppm is far from a foregone conclusion.



And, as Penn State University Climatologist Michael E. Mann noted, "if we let CO2 levels get anywhere near that high we're already in big trouble."

However, as Washington Post climate reporter Chris Mooney concluded in a series of tweets, "the point is not that this scary scenario is going to happen. Given the current trajectory of climate policy and renewables, it seems unlikely. Rather, the key pointand it's a big dealis that there are many things we don't understand about the climate system and there could be key triggers out there, which set off processes that you can't easily stop."



In other words, as MIT Prof. Thomas Levenson put it: "The really terrifying aspect of this research is the reminder that we do not yet know all the ways catastrophic outcomes can emerge from this uncontrolled experiment on our only habitat."

Reposted with permission from our media associate Common Dreams.


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The U.S. Department of Labor on Tuesday filed a court action against Oracle for underpaying non-white male employees by as much as US$400 million.

"Oracle suppressed starting salaries for its female and non-White employees, assigned them to lower level positions and depressed their wages over the years they worked for Oracle," states an amendment to a complaint the DoL's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs initiated against the company in 2017.

Based on OFCCP's preliminary analysis, "Oracle's method of compensating employees for their work resulted in losses of more than $400 million for female, black and Asian employees," the court filing states.

Additional data supplied by Oracle since the original complaint was filed confirms "stark patterns of discrimination" from 2013 and beyond 2017, the OFCCP maintainted.

Throughout the office's investigation of Oracle's compensation practices, the company allegedly refused to provide information it is required to maintain as a government contractor. Oracle does about $100 million in business with the federal government annually.

The amended complaint notes that "not only did Oracle refuse to produce key documents and data it was required to keep during the compliance review and in discovery -- it destroyed records relating to its hiring process as the case was ongoing."

Rare Lawsuit

Companies that do business with the federal government must agree not to discriminate against their employees or applicants for employment on the basis of race, color, sex or national origin. They also must agree to federal government audits of their compliance with nondiscrimination requirements.

It was during a compliance audit that the OFCCP discovered the following:

disparities in the compensation of women relative to men employed on the product development, information technology and support functions at Oracle's Redwood City, California, headquarters;

disparities in pay of Asians and Afro-Americans relative to whites in Oracle's product development job function at its HQ; and

disparities in the hiring of non-Asian applicants relative to Asian applicants.

Based on those findings, the office filed a lawsuit in January 2017, alleging compensation, recruiting and hiring discrimination.

"It's fairly rare for the OFCCP to bring these kind of lawsuits, particularly one this big," said J. Thomas Spiggle, an attorney with The Spiggle Law Firm in Arlington, Virginia.

Loss of Federal Contracts

When the office does bring a lawsuit, it's not uncommon for it to ask for "debarment" for a contractor, Spiggle told the E-Commerce Times.

In its complaint, the office requests cancellation of all of Oracle's federal government contracts, as well as any extensions or modifications of those contracts.

In addition, it asks that Oracle be prohibited from entering into future federal contracts and subcontracts until it fixes its prior discriminatory practices and proves compliance with federal rules on discrimination.

"Debarment would be an immediate blow of $100 million to Oracle," Spiggle said, "and much more if it's cut off from the federal government as a client for a long time."

The penalties for underpaying workers are very stiff under the Fair Labor Standards Act, he noted. "The damages portion of a suit like this can be hundreds of millions of dollars, so this is a big deal."

Strong Asian Preference

The amended complaint revealed that Oracle's "highly discriminatory college and university hiring practices" strongly preferred Asian recent college and university graduates over all others.

From 2013 to 2016, of the 500-plus college and university hires Oracle made, 450 -- or 90 percent -- were Asian, although the academic population targeted by Oracle was only 65 percent Asian, the complaint notes.

By contrast, there were several years when no Black or Hispanic college graduates were hired.

"Not only does Oracle prefer to hire Asian recent college and university graduates, but it prefers to hire visa-holding Asian recent college and university graduates," the complaint continues. "This preference for a workforce that is dependent on Oracle for authorization to work in the United States lends itself to suppression of wages."

The OFCCP also found that "Oracle's focus on hiring Asian recent college and university graduates resulted in the refusal to hire more than 100 qualified, non-Asian applicants for employment."

Oracle declined to comment for this story through spokesperson Deborah Hallinger.

The Labor Department is declining interviews on the case at this time, said spokesperson Jose Carnevali.

State Lawsuit

In addition to the Labor Department's action, a private lawsuit has been filed against Oracle in Superior Court in San Mateo County, California.

The law firm of Altshuler Berzon filed the litigation on behalf of 4,200 women employed by Oracle. It alleges that Oracle's systemic practice of paying women less than men for doing substantially equal and similar work violates the California Equal Pay Act, according to papers filed with the court.

Those papers include an analysis of 4,201 women employed at Oracle from 2013 to 2018 in product development, information technology and support, performed by David Neumark, a professor of economics at the University of California at Irvine.

"There are statistically significant gender disparities in compensation," he noted.

"Looking across base pay, Medicare wages, total compensation, bonuses, and stock grants," Neumark continued, "women received statistically significantly lower compensation than men who were, based on the data available, performing substantially equal work in jobs the performance of which required substantially equal skill, effort, and responsibility, performed under similar working conditions." Neumark's analysis uncovered the following:

3.8 percent gender gap in base pay

6.3 percent gap in Medicare wages

13.2 percent gap in bonuses

33.1 percent gap in stock grants

5.8 percent gap in total compensation

"Based on my analysis of the data," Neumark added, "these statistically significant disparities are also not explained by other job-related factors. Job definition, tenure at Oracle, tenure in position, job performance, years of job experience, and location of work site do not explain these statistically significant gender compensation disparities."

Give Tech a Kick in the Butt

"The Department of Labor's case illustrates the profound problem that Silicon Valley has with race, gender and diversity in general," said Peter Romer-Friedman, an attorney with Outten & Golden, a law firm in Washington, D.C.

"It's a problem that there's been a lot lip service to by Silicon Valley executives, but these kinds of cases are embarrassing," he told the E-Commerce Times. "Hopefully they will give the industry a kick in the butt to get more serious about taking action to hire diverse workers."

Whether that happens, especially with the current atmosphere in the nation's capital, remains to be seen.

"The Labor suit was initiated before the Trump administration took over," Spiggle observed. "That administration has done many things to take its foot off the gas in enforcing fair labor practices, so there's a question whether or not the government is going to continue this."

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.


  

EBRD and EU help Khugjil Trade grow

Toilet roll and paper napkins are everyday items which are much in demand and offer great business opportunities for local firms. Yet well known international chains often dominate the market for them.

In Mongolia, Khugjil Trade took on the big brands and won.

We make about 40 types of products in our plant here in Ulaanbaatar, said Ms Urgamal Baatar, the companys CEO. Weve been active since the early 1990s, but over time I noticed that we lagged behind in terms of productivity. So we needed to learn more about how to make our organisation and processes more efficient.

This is when she turned to the EBRD for help. Its advisory programme, funded by the European Union in Mongolia, matches businesses like Khugjil Trade with experienced experts to help them grow.

Japanese efficiency

In this companys case, the consultant applied the Japanese 5S methodology (named after the Japanese terms for sort, set in order, shine, standardise and sustain). It follows various principles of orderly production and standardising processes. First developed for the manufacturing industry, it has been adopted fully or in part by many large Western companies across all sectors.

It was a very positive experience for us, said Ms Urgamal. It helped us to see just how important it is to monitor and manage our inventory, as we may otherwise waste some of our materials.

Moreover, we conducted training courses for our staff, so that we have more motivated employees who know our objectives and what they are expected to do to achieve them.

Khugjil Trade introduced several new products, such as wet tissues, pocket napkins and four-piece toilet paper, thanks to the insights it gained from the project. It also opened a plant in Umnugobi province, which provided new job opportunities for the local population in southern Mongolia.

The numbers speak for themselves: the company increased its turnover by 84 per cent after the project. Also labour productivity went up by over 40 per cent and the company managed to reduce its operating costs.

The advice we received came at the right time, explained Ms Urgamal. Were a growing company of currently 60 employees  18 of them were hired since we finished the consulting project. We realised that there are plenty of opportunities for us to expand. We have a clear direction for this now, so were ready to start the next chapter.

Building a diverse economy

The manufacturer is one of 450 businesses that have benefitted from the EBRDs advisory services in Mongolia, funded by the EU. Beneficiaries include almost all industries and sectors  from wool producers in the countrys northern regions, to tour operators in the west or bakery shops or auto repair providers in the capital city.

Together with the EU, the EBRD supports businesses in their ambition to grow in various ways in Mongolia, including advisory services, but also through direct investments and indirect finance through partner banks. Through these activities, we help to build a strong, diverse and sustainable economy in the country.
Reporter Aubrey Wieber: aubrey@salemreporter.com or 503-575-1251. Wieber is a reporter for Salem Reporter who works for the Oregon Capital Bureau, a collaboration of EO Media Group, the Pamplin Media Group, and Salem Reporter.
More than two thousand demonstrators rally on the plaza and lawn in front of New Hampshire's Statehouse Thursday, March 31, 2011 to protest proposed spending cuts and a provision that would strip public employees of their union protection when their contracts expire, in Concord, N.H.
FILE PHOTO In this photo from 2017, then-Detective Carlos Vieira of the Lawrence police prepares for a charity motorcycle ride from Florida to Alaska. Vieira was arrested Monday and charged with the rape of a 13-year-old boy. Lawrence:. Lawrence Police Detective Carlos Vieira is planning a ride from thesouthernmost point to the northernmost part of the U.S. next June. Calledthe "Iditrod of Harley Davidson, the ride will span 7,000 miles from theFlorida Keys to Homer Alaska. Here he shows the motorcycle he will ride onthe trip which is being done to raise money for various veterans charities.He is one of 1,000 riders expected to partipate. Staff photo/Jim Patten ORG XMIT: kt06nj77
Where are the best places to shop? Who gives the best haircut? Who cooks the best burger? Join our readers in selecting the "Best of Windham."

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Claremont, NH (03743)

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Sunshine and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 92F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph..

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A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 70F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
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If the Alabama Legislature and area voters agree with Houston County Probate Judge Patrick Davenport, future probate judges will be required to be licensed attorneys.

The Houston County Commission on Monday approved Davenports recommendation to add a constitutional amendment with the prerequisite to local ballots. Davenports proposal must gain approval from the Alabama Legislature and then county voters, who would consider the request in the 2020 election cycle if it passes the state House of Representative and Senate.

Currently Alabama does not require probate judges to have a law license, but some counties have proposed and passed local statutes with the additional condition.

Last week Davenport, a graduate of the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, addressed the commission in support of the change. He said probate judges have to rule in cases of significant matters, noting he made two rulings last year in multimillion-dollar estates  one of which the Alabama Supreme Court heard on appeal and reaffirmed Davenports decision.

What I do in this office is critically important  in terms of justice, he said. It is critically important someone knows the law. I feel strongly because Ive put blood, sweat, and tears into the position.
In an effort to address mental health and security needs, Houston County officials want a $5 fee attached to probate transactions like vehicle tag purchases.

The Houston County Commission has drafted legislation that would institute the fee. Of the $5 fee, $3 would go to the countys general fund, while the Houston County Sheriffs Office and Probate Judge Patrick Davenports office would each receive a dollar.

The county had the fee for several years until the commission removed it in 2007, said Mark Culver, Houston County Commission chairman. A similar request in 2014 passed the Alabama House of Representatives but did not advance out of the Senate, Culver said.

In a presentation Thursday, Davenport said the $1 for his office will allow him to hire a county guardian  a person who will manage the cases of those who cannot make health and welfare decisions for themselves. Davenport said about 1,100 people in Houston County have been placed under guardianship care, and while most have family members who can serve as legal guardians, several residents do not.

The default position (of responsibility) is the sheriff in the (Alabama) Code, but I feel it is much more appropriate if we have a trained professional for the role, Davenport said.
Students wishing to enroll must have at least a 3.0 GPA and can take as many classes as their schedule and credit requirements allow.

Representatives from Wallace Community College will be at the meeting to go over enrollment, tuition and fees, and the registration process. Effective fall semester 2019, tuition for 3-hour courses will be $393.

Maloy said there may be some opportunity for students with financial need in a few classes, but most students do not qualify.

The exact schedule of classes will not become available until after the school board finalizes the type of schedule Houston County Schools will be on next year. Discussion ensued at the last board meeting about the functionality and cost-effectiveness of the block system versus the traditional seven-period schedule. The discussion will continue at Tuesdays all-day retreat at the Houston County Chamber of Commerce.

The same material will be reviewed at both information meetings on Feb. 28 and March 6, both at 6 p.m. at the academy on West Main Street.

Maloy will go over the policies for students who plan to take dual enrollment.
A Houston County Judge denied a recent bond request for a Dothan woman facing capital murder charges.

Dama Nell Clark, who faces capital murder charges in the 2016 shooting death of Paxton Kennedy, had requested that Circuit Judge Larry Anderson grant bond. Anderson denied the motion.

Clark is one of the four arrested and charged with capital murder in Kennedys death. Pamela Whitaker, of Cottondale, Florida, and Eric West, of Slocomb, and Joshua Steven Nance of Panama City, Florida were also arrested.

According to Houston/Henry County District Attorney Pat Jones, the charges against Whitaker and West were dismissed, and both cases are waiting to go back before a grand jury. Whitaker and West are both currently out of jail on bond.

Jones stated he could not speculate on what charges West and Whitaker will be charged with.

Nance was found guilty of manslaughter in a jury trial earlier this month. Nance testified that 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, which made the gun discharge. He also testified that West was searching for someone to beat up Kennedy for the money he owned Whitaker, not kill Kennedy.

Houston County Sheriff deputies charged Nance and Clark, his girlfriend, with capital murder for shooting into an occupied vehicle. Officials believe the shooting was drug-related. Investigators previously testified during a hearing that Nance was the shooter in the killing, and the other three people charged with the crime were accomplices. According to previous testimony, Kennedy owed Whitaker money for drugs.

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After depositing the victim at Fairfield Circle, Parrish said Jones approached an elderly couple. He brandished a weapon and demanded the couples vehicle. The couple was able to flee the area. Jones then traveled to a storage building facility located on Murray Road, where he approached another male demanding his vehicle. Jones left the white Hyundai on Murray Road, and left in his second stolen vehicle,a gray Kia Sorrento.

Parrish said Jones then traveled to Twitchell Road where he approached a man checking his mail and demanded his wallet. He then attempted to kidnap a jogger at gunpoint in the 4000 block of Ross Clark Circle. The jogger refused and the suspect fled.

Around 5:45 p.m., Monday, officers spotted the stolen vehicle driven by Jones, Parrish said. Officers attempted to stop Jones, but he fled. At Burdeshaw Street and the Ross Clark Circle is where Jones crossed over, driving his vehicle on the wrong side of the road, hitting Mr. Roberts vehicle, killing him and injuring his wife.

Parrish said the impact of the wreck di dnot stop Jones.
Trying to mention the KKK in a positive manner is tantamount to career suicide if you write for a newspaper or plan on running for public office or want people to think you still know the whereabouts of your ever-lovin mind. In fact, why EVER mention those three letters in unison unless youre in a Dave Chappelle skit or your name is Kerry Kyle Kippinhaffer. If the latter is true for you, Id suggest suing your parents  its all the craze today -- and have my name legally changed?

When I wanted to return to my home state, I found an offer of becoming a minority owner while running the paper in Linden, a town all too resembling my hometown of Marion about an hour to its northeast. Many of the towns in that area have dried up with little money flow to keep industries interested. Goodloe, who had taken over the newspaper from his father many moons ago, was hoping to ride off in the sunset, it seemed, reaping whatever monies some younger person could bring in.

Ill give you time to stop laughing at the thought that I was considered a younger person. Hey, Sutton is 79 today. All of the aforementioned took place in November 2012.
The Barbour County Extension Service is hosting a special State Extension program, ForestHEROn FIRE, on Wednesday, March 13 and Thursday, March 14 at the Wehle Nature Center located at 4890 Pleasant Hill Road in Midway.

This hands-on workshop will focus on teaching women landowners about Alabamas historic fire regimes and how prescribed fire can and should be used as an effective land management tool. Come dressed and ready to go to the woods! Most of day one, you will be indoors learning about fire behavior, safety, and management techniques. The remaining portion of the class will be spent in the woods applying what you learned.

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The ForestHEROn FIRE program will be held 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 13; 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 14 and is tailored to women who love nature and learning about the natural world. You do not have to own a lot of land. If you have even one acre, this workshop is for you, too!

The cost of the program is $80 and includes a workbook to keep; breaks, lunch, and dinner on day one; breakfast breaks and lunch on day two. Seating is limited for this program, so preregistration is required. On-site accommodations are available for those who will need them.

To register, contact Becky Barlow at (334) 329-0554 or email at becky.barlow@auburn.edu or call the Barbour County Extension Office at (334) 687-5688.
Fianna Fail have opted to place three candidates in the field for the forthcoming local elections in south Donegal.

Cllr. Michael Naughton, Phillip McGlynn and Roger Meehan were ratified last night to contest the local elections in the Donegal Municipal District.

Delegates at the Mill Park Hotel to hear all three candidates stress the need for unity during the election.

Among those attending were Deputies Marc MacSharry, Charlie McConologue, Eamon Scanlon, Brendan Smith, Senator Desmond Wilson, EU candidate Niall Blaney and former Tanaiste Mary Coughlan other councillors and delegates.

Problems facing the area were identified by all three as infrastructure, housing, the health service and the imminent threat and uncertainty of Brexit.

Deputy McConologue said the confidence and supply arrangement was one of the most difficult things to endure: We have been accused by Sinn Fein of being afraid to bring down the Government - I do not feel they have any right to criticise - they are part of no government, north or south, they have refused to participate in Westminister.

I would remind everybody that we tried to get Michael Martin elected on three different occasions but were left with a crowd of dolly mixtures led by Shane Ross.

On Brexit he said: If the UK is to crash out with no deal the implications for this county are extremely serious. There is no doubt that there will be an election after Brexit, he said.

A minutes silence in memory of the late Cllr. Sean McEniff and John the Cope Gallagher who passed away in the Shetland Islands.
India strikes back: IAF jets pound terror camps in occupied Kashmir

Indian Force Mirage-2000 jets crossed the Line of Control (LoC) early today and destroyed terror camps of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot, in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

At least 200 people and their backers, including Pakistani army personnel, are reported to have died in the pre-dawn bombing.

Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhars brother-in-law Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghuari was the main target of the Indian Air Force (IAF) strike at Balakot, which is located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

The area where Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp was being run at Balakot is densely forested and located on a hilltop making the IAF operation very challenging that requires extreme precision. The IAF used Mirage 2000 fitted with laser-guided bombs to strike at the terror camps. Mirage 2000 was very successful during the Kargil war in 1999.

The air strike, which has been dubbed surgical strikes 2.0, comes two weeks after a terror attack on CRPF solidiers in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir.

Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale confirmed the air strike and said a large number of JeM terrorists, trainers and senior commanders were eliminated in largest JeM camp in Balakot. The camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar.

The government said the camp was located on a hilltop, deep in a forest, and far away from any civilian presence.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj has invited opposition leaders for a briefing on the air strike in Pakistan. The meeting is scheduled at 5 pm at Jawahar Bhawan.

Indian Army, meanwhile, is reported to have shot down a Pakistani spy drone in Abdasa village, in Kutch, Gujarat. Army and police personnel present at the spot.

Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said India has carried out a misadventure against Pakistan. "I will call it a grave aggression. We had warned the world that such an act can take place. Today they carried out this misadventure against Pakistan. This is a violation of the Line of Control. Pakistan reserves the right to an adequate response and a right to self defence. I will meet the prime minister and present him with the view of the foreign ministry," he added.

Tawab Ghorzang, former director at Afghanistan's National Security Council, lauded the Indian Air Force for "hitting terror outfits in Balakot". "The area has been known to have the so-called jihadi training camps since era of Zia-ul-Haq," he said in a tweet.

Many thanks to @IAF_MCC for hitting terror outfits in Balakot of Mansehra, PAK. The area has been known to have the so- called Jihadi Training Camps since era of Zia-ul-Haq. It's a fight Against Terror, No one else! he said.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said India has "entered a whole new paradigm" with the Balakote air strike. "The post Uri strike was to avenge our losses, Balakote was a 'preemptive strike to prevent an imminent JeM attack'. Totally new ballgame," he said.

One Pakistani Ranger was also killed and some others were injured after being shot by BSF following a ceasefire violation in Jammu's Kanachak, reports News18 India.

Former army chief VK Singh said India wanted to stop any kind of terror attacks. "We have taken action at the right time. Decision over further action will be taken by authorities concerned," he added.
Rail Drishti lets passengers peep into railway kitchens

Indian Railways on Monday announced the launch of the Rail Drishti dashboard, a user-friendly website that would make an array of information such as the train schedule, facilities available for passenger on different trains, etc.

Railway minister Piyush Goyal launched the website in New Delhi on Monday.

Passengers can now see online how their meals are being cooked and packed at railway kitchens. They can also have access to information on railway earnings and train punctuality. All this will be made possible through the e-drishti portal of the Railways, a Railways release stated.

The web site will also make available a facility to make or track complaints.

The Railways also plans to fix barcodes on food served to passengers, which will enable them to know where and when the food was cooked.

Also, workers who indirectly work for the Railways as contract employees will get benefits, including minimum wages, provident fund and medical insurance cover from Employee State Insurance Corporation, in case they dont get the due benefits from their employees. This will be possible with the Railways putting in place online systems to track the contractors.

All contractors will be forced to provide employee benefits to their workers as the Railways collects data through its portals like e-drishti, Goyal said.

Our capital investment is about Rs1,58,000 crore, which includes lots of contract work like house-keeping, he said adding the aim is to make available information in the most user-friendly manner.

As we increase WiFi connectivity across the country, hopefully, the public will be able to access all kinds of information like wait-listed tickets and train ticket availability through the web site, he added. This is an attempt to increase transparency. The Railways may consider fixing CCTV cameras at stations, but is awaiting clarity on security approval.

Freight users can also access the portal and raise concerns if the trains are not allotted to them depending on when and where they placed their demands.

In another move, Goyal announced that the Railways will hand over its surplus land of 45 acres abutting Dharavi in Mumbai to the Dharavi Redevelopment Authority. The Railway Land Development Authority and Dharavi Redevelopment Authority will work together for slum redevelopment, which includes re-development of staff quarters. The land will be handed over on a 99-year lease.
NCLAT against giving NPA tag to IL&FS accounts, for now

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has directed banks and other financial institutions not to declare the accounts of debt-ridden Infrastructure Leasing and Finance Services (IL&FS) and its group companies as non-performing assets without its permission.

A two-member NCLAT bench, headed by chairman Justice S J Mukhopadhaya, on Monday said any move to declare the accounts of the group would only hamper IL&FS debt resolution.

No IL&FS or its subsidiaries account to be declared an NPA by any financial institution without approval from the NCLAT, the appellate tribunal said.

The tribunals direction came during the hearing over the governments plan for the resolution of IL&FS group companies.

During the last hearing on 11 February , the NCLAT had allowed 22 companies belonging to the IL&FS group that are in sound financial health to service their debt irrespective of the groups debt woes.

IL&FS has categorised group entities into three  Green (firms that can meet all debt obligations), Amber (firms that can meet some debt obligations), and Red (firms that cant meet any debt obligations), while proposing a new repayment structure to the courts.

NCLAT also gave IL&FS the go-ahead to proceed with this repayment structure.

According to the plan, 22 domestic subsidiaries have been classified as Green as they could service all their financial and operational debt, as per their repayment schedule; 10 companies have been classified as Amber as they can service only their operational debt obligations and payment to senior secured financial creditors while 38 others have been marked Red as they cannot meet any of their payment obligations, even those to senior secured financial creditors.

The appellate tribunal also lifted moratorium and allowed 133 IL&FS firms incorporated outside India to continue with the resolution process.

Ethiopia frees 4 Indian IL&FS staff

Ethiopia on Saturday released four Indian employees of IL&FS after holding them captive by Ethiopian employees of ITNL-Elsamex JV Bure, an IL&FS subsidiary, over salary dues.

The four have reached India after their three-month-long captivity ended on Saturday night.

IL&FS Transportation Network Ltd (ITNL), a part of the IL&FS Group, confirms that it has been able to secure the safe return of its four employees, working on projects in Ethiopia, to India, IL&FS said in a statement.

The employees released from captivity included Sukhvinder Singh, Bishnu Nagaraju, Chaitanya Hari and Khurram Imam.

The company takes this opportunity to thank all the agencies including the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Indian Embassy in Addis Ababa and other authorities and regulators  in India and Ethiopia  for their tireless efforts towards facilitating the safe return of its employees from Ethiopia, it added.
Amazon appoints ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi on its board

US online retailer Amazon Co has appointed Indra Nooyi, the India-born former CEO of PepsiCo, on its board of directors, amidst headwinds that threaten to threaten its business model in its last bastion, India.

Nooyi, who ran the snack and beverage company for 12 years, stepped down in October. Before Nooyi became PepsiCo's CEO in 2006, she served as the company's chief financial officer.

Nooyi, who stepped down as CEO of Pepsico in October last year, is the second non-white woman to be added on the online retail giants board and will be member of the audit committee. Starbucks COO Rosalind Brewer is the first coloured woman to join Amazons board.

Were thrilled to have elected two new members to our board of directors. Welcome, Roz Brewer and Indra Nooyi. In connection with her election, Nooyi was granted a restricted stock unit award under the companys 1997 Stock Incentive Plan for 549 shares of common stock of the company, to vest in three equal annual installments beginning 15 May 2020, assuming continued service as a director, said Amazon.com, INC while filing Form 8-K with Unites States Securities and Exchange Commission.

Nooyi was Pepsicos CEO from October 2006 to October 2018, where she also served as the chairman of its board of directors from May 2007 to February 2019. She was elected to Pepsicos board of directors and became its president and chief financial officer in 2001, and held leadership roles in finance, corporate strategy and development, and strategic planning after joining Pepsico in 1994, according to US media reports. Nooyi has also served as a director of Schlumberger Limited since April 2015.

During her 24-year-long tenure at the company, PepsiCo acquired big-name brands, invested in healthy products and fended off a call to split up PepsiCo's (PEP) food and beverage businesses. Nooyi left behind a nimbler company that was more responsive to the evolving tastes of its customers.
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By MATT SEDENSKY

AP National Writer

NEW YORK  Immigrants with specialized skills are being denied work visas or seeing applications get caught up in lengthy bureaucratic tangles under federal changes that some consider a contradiction to President Donald Trump's promise of a continued pathway to the U.S. for the most talented foreigners.

Getting what's known as an H-1B visa has never been a sure thing  the number issued annually is capped at 85,000 and applicants need to enter a lottery to even be considered. But some immigration attorneys, as well as those who hire such workers, say they've seen unprecedented disruptions in the approval process since Trump took office in 2017.





. . .
School children waving North Korean flags and a guard of honour welcome the dictator whose schedule for the rest of the day is a secret. Trump, who arrives tonight, tweeted Looking forward to a very productive Summit!"

Hanoi (AsiaNews) - After a 66-hour train journey and some 3,800 kilometres, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reached the Vietnamese capital this morning for the much-awaited second summit with US President Donald J. Trump.

At 8.10 am this morning, Kims train stopped at the Dong Dang railway station, near the Sino-Vietnamese border. The first North Korean leader to visit Vietnam since his grandfather Kim Il-sung in 1964, Kim was met with a red carpet, school children waving North Korean flags and a guard of honour in white uniforms.

The North Korean leader then climbed into a bullet-proof car and left for Hanoi where he arrived at his luxury hotel in the city centre after a drive of about two hours and 170 km.

Kim will meet Trump tomorrow and the following day, eight months after the first summit.

Kim's schedule for the rest of the day was kept secret. He may visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, as his advance team looked around it. There's also a possibility of him meeting with Vietnamese leaders, such as President and Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong.

Trump is flying from Washington, DC and is due to land at Noi Bai International Airport in the Vietnamese capital Tuesday night. The US leader expressed optimism about his summit with Kim.

"Heading over to Vietnam for my meeting with Kim Jong Un. Looking forward to a very productive Summit!" he tweeted aboard Air Force One.

Before departing for Hanoi, he also said, "We want denuclearization, and I think he'll have a country that will set a lot of records for speed in terms of an economy."

The two leaders are scheduled to begin the summit with a one-on-one meeting followed by dinner with their advisers, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is already in Hanoi,

Kim and Trump will hold talks the next day to build on the deal signed on 12 June 2018 in Singapore.

In their first historic meeting, the two agreed to work together for peace and "complete denuclearisation" of the Korean peninsula and change relations between Pyongyang and Washington.
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.

Consolidated Edison, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the regulated electric, gas, and steam delivery businesses in the United States. The company offers electric services to approximately 3.5 million customers in New York City and Westchester County; gas to approximately 1.1 million customers in Manhattan, the Bronx, parts of Queens, and Westchester County; and steam to approximately 1,576 customers in parts of Manhattan. It also supplies electricity to approximately 0.3 million customers in southeastern New York and northern New Jersey; and gas to approximately 0.1 million customers in southeastern New York. The company operates 533 circuit miles of transmission lines; 15 transmission substations; 64 distribution substations; 89,673 in-service line transformers; 3,729 pole miles of overhead distribution lines; and 2,210 miles of underground distribution lines, as well as 4,341 miles of mains and 377,490 service lines for natural gas distribution. In addition, it owns, operates, and develops renewable and energy infrastructure projects; and provides energy-related products and services to wholesale and retail customers, as well as invests in electric and gas transmission projects. The company primarily sells electricity to industrial, commercial, residential, and government customers. Consolidated Edison, Inc. was founded in 1823 and is based in New York, New York.

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Hundreds of young Cambodian Muslims are studying without regular permits in some southern schools. A meeting is scheduled with representatives of over 600 schools in the provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla. A local source notes that schools used by Islamic rebels recruit and train young people.

Bangkok (AsiaNews) - In order to fight illegal immigration and growing Islamic radicalism in Thailands southern provinces, where Thai Muslims are concentrated, the Thai government has begun to monitor ponohs, private madrassas (Islamic schools).

Security forces report that Islamic separatists are using some schools as training camps and host hundreds of Cambodian students without a regular residence permit.

Thailands Immigration Office (IB) now plans to meet with representatives of over 600 Islamic schools in the provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla.

At the meeting, the IB will listen to the school operators' opinions and improve their understanding of the importance of respecting to immigration laws, said IB chief Pol Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn.

"We are glad that students from neighbouring countries are coming here for their religious education, because we know that Cambodia does not yet have a proper Islamic school," he explained.

"We are not saying Cambodians are coming to cause problems in our country, but if they overstay, immigration police have to arrest them and follow the laws," he added.

The Ministry of Education has launched a survey to see the number of Cambodian Muslims studying in Islamic schools in the south, but official data are not yet available.

Schools are now required to submit detailed reports of every enrolled Cambodian student to the ministry.

Late last month, 11 Cambodian Muslim men aged 16 and 29 were detained after a raid at Mudrolatulfalah school. They were later deported back to their country for overstaying their visas.

Most of them came through the checkpoint in Sa Kaeo, whilst a few came via the checkpoint in Songkhla.

The raid was carried out after security authorities were alerted to concerns about the school's physical training programme, which was carried out at night.

A security source told the Bangkok Post that the school had a history of hosting southern insurgents and offering students an unarmed combat training programme.

Some reports indicate that some rebel armed groups are trying to enlist young Cambodian Muslims. The separatist group Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) have already recruited 12-year-old children in an attempt to build a new guerrilla force.
Highlights:

Spotifty sued by Warner Music Group over licensing rights in an Indian court, asking the court to block the service from playing its music.

Apple Music has had no issues securing a licensing deal with WMG in India.

Spotify plans to use a 2012 amendment of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 to play content from WMG's catalogue.

Spotifys much anticipated launch in India has once again hit a roadblock. The Apple Music rival was sued by music label Warner Music Group over licensing rights in India, asking a Mumbai court to block the streaming service to stream music from its label in the country. WMG also revoked a previously agreed upon deal for reasons, according to Spotify, are wholly unrelated to the companys upcoming launch in India. WMG filed the complaint with the Bombay High Court and asked for an injunction from an Indian court, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Spotifys continued struggle to launch in the second-largest smartphone market in the world is in stark contrast to Apple Music, which has had no problem striking deals with music labels to stream their content in India, including Warner Music Group. When the year began, the streaming-service was set to launch in India within a few weeks.

The Swedish streaming service is reportedly planning to use an Indian rule that allows radio stations to broadcast songs from the music label. Spotify essentially wants to use a 2012 amendment made to the Indian Copyright Act of 1957 when the section 31D was added which expands the compulsory licensing of copyrighted works for broadcasters. However, while most of the law has been amended over the years, what hadnt changed was the definition of broadcast. It was only defined by communication to the public. However, in 2016, the definition of broadcast was expanded to include internet broadcasting organisations also. This expanded definition is what Spotify plans to use to stream music from Warners catalogue.

Spotify is presently operating in 78 countries worldwide and has over 200 million users while Apple Music is available in over 100 countries with around 50 million subscribers. The company has been wanting to enter India for quite some time now, where the market is already being split between homegrown services like Gaana and JioSaavn, and international giants like Apple Music, Amazon Prime Music and Google Play Music.

Related Reads:

Spotify India debut could happen in March, January 31 launch deferred because of lack of deals: Sources

It is January 31 and Spotify has still not launched in India. Here's what happened
Minister for European Affairs, Helen McEntee T.D. to visit Latvia and Lithuania

News

The Minister of State for European Affairs, Helen McEntee T.D. travels to Latvia and Lithuania today and tomorrow. During her visit, the Minister will have bilateral political meetings to discuss Brexit and Brexit Preparedness. The Minister will also discuss the EU Strategic Agenda and the next EU Multi-annual Financial Framework, as well as the EUs relationship with its Eastern Neighbourhood, with Russia, and with the USA.

Ahead of the meetings, the Minister said:

I am very pleased to have this opportunity to speak directly with my Latvian and Lithuanian counterparts on our positions on the evolving issues facing the EU, particularly Brexit.

"My visit this week is part of Irelands plan for getting Brexit ready. I will outline the steps Ireland is taking for getting Brexit ready in the event of a no deal scenario, and hear what steps both Latvia and Lithuania are taking. Ireland continues to thank Latvia and Lithuania for their continued solidarity during this Brexit process.

Latvian and Lithuanian communities in Ireland have formed a strong bond between our countries and I am looking forward to contributing to further developing these relationships.

Minister McEntees visit will build on last years very positive State Visit to Latvia and official Visit to Lithuania by President Higgins during each countrys centenary celebrations. Ireland has a strong relationship with Latvia and Lithuania in the context of our shared EU membership, and the welcome communities of Lithuanian and Latvian citizens living and working in Ireland.

In Riga, the Minister will meet with Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkcvies and with Parliamentary Undersecretary for EU Affairs, Zanda Kalnioa-Lukaevica, as well as with the European Affairs and Foreign Affairs Committees of Parliament.

In Vilnius, the Minister will meet with the European Affairs Committee of Parliament, and with Vice-Minister Albinas Zananavicius, as well as addressing a public event on the theme of Better Together: a united response to Europe's challenges.

ENDS



Press Office

27 February 2019

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5 Celebrity Couples Who Decided To Give Their Marriage A Second Chance After Going Separate Ways

Relationships, marriage and the complications surrounding it forms the crux of most of our films and TV serials. However, it is not only on screen that our actors go through the trials and tribulations of relationships and marriage but in real life also their love lives hit a rough patch.

There is no dearth of ideal couples of Bollywood who eventually got divorced after a fairytale romance and wedding, but today we are talking about the ones who decided to give their marriage a second chance after deciding to go separate ways.

Amit Tandon and Ruby Tandon

The TV actor has recently revealed that he and wife Ruby are planning to give their breaking marriage a second chance. Ruby recently ran into some legal trouble and Amit has stood behind her like a rock and the two are now trying to settle their differences.

Deepshikha Nagpal and Kaishav Arora

Deepshikha Nagpal married Kaishav Arora after her first marriage to actor Jeet Upendra ended in a divorce. The two tied the knot in 2012 and made us all believe in second chances. But things turned ugly when Deepshikha filed a police complaint against Kaishav regarding domestic abuse. It almost looked certain that the two were heading for a messy divorce. But, tides turned and today both of them are trying to give their marriage a second chance as they feel they are karmically connected.

Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor

It was all the nation could talk about when the Kapoor scion and Indias favorite chocolate hero decided to tie the knot with yet another loved Bollywood actress. But no matter how beautiful the story sounds on paper, in reality, Rishi and Neetu Kapoors marriage has been through a rocky phase and there was a time Neetu even considered divorce as an option. However, the two sorted out their differences and are still going strong for 39 years now.

Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu

This was the biggest fairytale of its time. Legendary actor Dilip Kumar married Saira Banu in 1966 and the two were the ideal couple for 14 years. But 14 years into the marriage, Dilip Kumar fell in love and married Asma. However, when he found out that Asma was cheating on him, he came back to Saira and they have been together ever since.

Raj Babbar and Nadira Babbar

Raj Babbar met and fell head over heels in love with Smita Patil and the two got married. However, the issue was that Raj was already married to Nadira Babbar and had two kids with her. He broke his marriage to marry Smita, who unfortunately passed away in childbirth. After her death, Raj Babbar came back to his ex-wife Nadira Babbar and the two have been together ever since.
Grenoble, France  February 25, 2019  Tiempo Secure, a semi-conductor specialist focusing on high-end secure products, is now expanding its offer to propose various levels of integration for its Common Criteria EAL5+ grade Secure Element IP for the Internet of Things. Tiempo Secure TESIC Series of Secure Elements is now available in a variety of forms, from classical discrete semiconductor chips to ready-for-integration hardware IP macros.

The Secure Element IP macro is dedicated to System-on-Chip (SoC) designers who are now able to include integrated SIMs (iSIM or iUICC) and other Secure Element functions into their design with a minimal NRE cost. Tiempo Secure Element IP macro includes the same Secure Element features as the companys CC EAL5+/EMVCo certified chips, ensuring the same security level is integrated into the final design regardless of the choice of implementation.

For developers of chips requiring a high level of security, like IoT connection devices, Tiempo Secure Element IP allows an easy plug-and-play integration and, with its dedicated CC EAL5+ certified cryptographic library, includes all authentication, encryption and signature functions along with countermeasures (in software, hardware logic and hardware layout) against state-of-the-art physical side-channel and intrusion attacks. Consequently, Tiempo Secure can commit on the CC EAL5+ (CC EAL4, EMVCo, and/or FIPS140-2) certification of customer chips integrating its Secure Element IP macro.

Security features supported by the Secure Element IP macro with the highest, government-grade, security level possible are the secure iSIM/iUICC functions as well as secure encryption key management, secure Over-The-Air (OTA) firmware update, secure, trusted and measured boot, hardware binding, anti-cloning and sealing/unsealing functions.

Offering the highest level of security to IoT developers through the integration of a Secure Element IP seems to be the right approach for secure SoC. With our knowledge of Tiempos know-how in security, we are convinced that Tiempo will provide the right answers for an effective and efficient CC EAL5+ evaluation of these SoC products, says Elisabeth Crochon, Director of CESTI LETI (ITSEF, Information Technology Security Evaluation Facility), a security evaluation lab accredited by the ANSSI (the French National Cybersecurity Agency).

Serge Maginot, CEO, Tiempo Secure, adds: Our Secure Element IP macro and its associated secure software libraries leverage the security expertize and IP that we developed for our own secure microcontroller chips for the Governmental and Banking markets, chips that have been CC EAL5+ and EMVCo certified since 2016. This allows us to propose to SoC developers the most appropriate solution for an embedded Secure Element that reaches the highest security targets for their IoT chip platform.

The Secure Element IP macro is available from now on from Tiempo under a licensing model. Like all Tiempo Secure products, the Secure Element IP is built upon Tiempos patented fully asynchronous design technology, which offers highest security and ultra-low power consumption. It incorporates all the needed security functions such as secure secret storage, secure Over The Air (OTA) firmware update, and state-of-the-art cryptography systems.

Tiempo Secure will be present during the Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona, Spain, on February 25-28, 2019, and during Embedded World, in Nuremberg, Germany, on February 26-28, 2019. Feel free to give us a call to set up a meeting.

About Tiempo Secure:

Tiempo Secure is an independent company founded by semiconductor industry experts having unique experience in the development of secure microcontrollers and embedded secure software. The company has already designed Common Criteria EAL5+ and EMVCo certified secure microcontroller chips, available in contact and dual interface mode, for Government ID and High-end Banking applications. Tiempo Secure is expanding its roadmap by offering CC EAL5+ proven/certified Secure Elements for the IoT market, either as companion chips or as hard IP macros that are easy to integrate into application/SoC chips.

The company is headquartered in Montbonnot, near Grenoble, France. More information can be found on www.tiempo-secure.com






SALT LAKE CITY  A bill that would shorten Utah's window for legal abortions to 18 weeks is one step closer to becoming law after it cleared a major legislative hurdle Tuesday.

After an at-times emotional debate, the Utah House of Representatives voted 57-15 to pass HB136. It now goes to the Senate for consideration.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Cheryl Acton, R-West Jordan, urged lawmakers to vote in favor of HB136, saying if they do, they're be voting for "the least among us, the voiceless, the nameless  and the most oppressed."

Currently, Utah allows abortions up to 22 weeks gestation, but many Utah doctors draw the line at 21 weeks to avoid risk of violating the law.

Support from the bill came despite the likelihood it will be challenged in court. To Acton, the estimated $1 million to $3 million in legal costs would be worth the fight.

Acton said Utah lawmakers "need to put our money where our principles are."

"How much does an abortion cost?" Acton said on the House floor. "One human life."

Across the U.S., new efforts are brewing to challenge Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that established abortion as a constitutional right. Mississippi last year passed a 15-week abortion law, with exceptions for medical emergency or severe fetal abnormality, but a federal judge blocked it.

The bill passed out of the House mostly along party lines, despite Democrats' attempts to argue for a woman's right to decide whether to have an abortion.

"Just because we vote no for this bill doesn't mean we don't respect life," argued Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City.

Romero called for a "point of order," objecting when Acton began describing in graphic detail the process of second-trimester abortion, including "dismembering and crushing" the fetus in the womb.

"Do we have to go into graphic detail?" Romero questioned.

Acton argued the details were "pertinent" to the bill because "if people understood the mechanics of second-trimester abortion, they would be almost universally opposed to it."

Acton said while the bill shortens the legal abortion window, it still preserves a woman's right to have an elective abortion. The bill would also allow exceptions for rape, incest, life of the mother and fatal fetal defects.

"Utah should be allowed to enact reasonable abortion laws that reflect the will of the people of our state," Acton said, calling Utah's culture one of "life, not death."

"Now is the time for Utah to change its abortion law and not be threatened in doing so," Acton said. "It's the great moral issue of our time, the issue for which our society will be judged by future generations."

But House Minority Leader Brian King, D-Salt Lake City, said lawmakers should take the Constitution "seriously" and consider the cost to taxpayers if or when the law is challenged in court.

"We all also have personal values, moral values that come into play, I understand all that," he said, but urged lawmakers to also consider the cost of defending "what our legislative counsel believes is a clearly unconstitutional bill."

Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, told of how 25 years ago she suffered complications from a pregnancy and she was told it was likely her unborn fetus was going to have "very, very serious medical issues."

Arent said after discussing the "heartbreaking situation" with her family, her religious leader and her doctor, she decided to have the child. Her son lived, and went on to graduate from the University of Utah with a 4.0 GPA.

"I made that decision, but I made that decision and no government told me what to do," Arent said. "And that's why I strongly encourage you to let this decision stay with the parents, their religious authority, their doctor and not have government meddling in their business."

Rep. Walt Brooks, R-St. George, told his own story. He said when he was 12 years old he was told his mother was at risk of losing her life because she was pregnant. After having heart surgery at 45 years old, "her body couldn't take much more," he said.

But she and her family decided to "do everything we could" to save the child "because the value of that baby was just as important was my dear mother," Brooks said.

"My little sister is perfectly fine and she's 32 years old and has three kids of her own," Brooks said. "My mom continued to live 14 years later after that."

Rep. Brady Brammer, R-Highland, urged lawmakers to support the bill, noting that it comes during a time when other states are pushing the limits of Roe v. Wade.

"Some states are valuing the privacy of a woman far beyond what Roe v. Wade previously set," he said.

Brammer said some states are making decisions that "health safety and morals favor the privacy of the woman over the potentiality of the child."

"Why can't we do the same in the opposite direction?" he questioned.

He said it was "interesting" there was an objection to Acton's graphic description of an abortion. "Why was that objection made?" he said. "Because it's uncomfortable. It's uncomfortable to think about  and there's a reason why it's uncomfortable because you feel it inside of you that there is something wrong."

Brammer also argued 18 weeks is plenty of time for women to decide whether to have an elective abortion, noting it's one week longer than a typical football season.

"You have an entire NFL football season to make this decision," he said. "That is not a small amount of time."

Brammer urged fellow lawmakers to "maintain the integrity of the womb and not air on the side of turning it into a tomb."

The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Contributing: Emily Ashcraft
LEHI  A Riverton man arrested during a "human trafficking operation" in Lehi this month is in more trouble after investigators found child pornography on his phone, according to the Utah County Sheriff's Office.

Richard Michael Martin, 29, was arrested Feb. 14 after detectives say he solicited an undercover officer  whom he believed was a mother  to have sex with her preteen daughters, according to the sheriff's office.

During his arrest, investigators were also able to tie Martin to another undercover operation they had conducted in 2016 in which he attempted to arrange a meeting for the purposes of sex with a undercover officer posing as a 13-year-old girl, according to charging documents.

He was charged in 4th District Court on Feb. 22 of nine counts of enticing a minor  three of those counts for the alleged 2016 incident and six connected to his most recent arrest.

At the time of the arrest, the sheriff's office also announced that it believed Martin possessed "extremely graphic child pornography involving very young children and infants."

After reviewing Martin's cellphone, the sheriff's office announced Tuesday he was being held for investigation of an additional 22 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. If formally charged, Martin would have 31 felonies in total.

Investigators say they will seek possible federal charges against Martin, who was allegedly arrested for similar crimes in Kentucky in 2009.

The human trafficking operation conducted by the Utah County Sheriff's Office also resulted in the arrest of and subsequent criminal charges against David Moss, 51, of Lehi, a former police vice squad lieutenant, church leader and city government leader.
SALT LAKE CITY  With little discussion, the Senate gave final approval Tuesday to a bill allowing beer with a higher alcohol content to be sold in grocery and convenience stores.

SB132, sponsored by Senate Budget Chairman Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, now goes to the House after clearing the Senate 27-2. The bill raises the alcohol content by weight from 3.2 percent to 4.8 percent for beer that can be sold outside of state-run liquor stores.

With Utah just one of two states still selling 3.2 percent beer, breweries such as Coors and Budweiser have been phasing out its production and some products are already no longer available.

The only senator speaking to the bill Tuesday was Senate Minority Caucus Manager Derek Kitchen, D-Salt Lake City, who said his downtown area district probably has the largest concentration of microbreweries, who are seeking to preserve the lower limit.

However, Kitchen, who identified himself as "one of the two or three members of this body who actually consumes alcohol," said he didn't like the idea of protecting an industry when other constituents are calling for the change.

"I'm just excited to see us normalize our alcohol a little bit and I think this will be good for the state of Utah," Kitchen said, as well as good for consumers.

Stevenson and other backers of the legislation say retailers are being hurt by the current alcohol limit. But opponents raise concern about the impact of making stronger beer more readily available.

Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, one of two votes against the final passage of the bill, said during an earlier debate the higher alcohol content was inviting "trouble," especially among youth.

Also voting against the bill was Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, who said in previous debate he had heard from microbreweries worried about the cost of the change.

Earlier this month, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came out against the bill.

"The church opposes SB132 in its current form. We, along with other community groups, oppose legislation which represents a 50 percent increase in alcohol content for beer sold in grocery and convenience stores," Marty Stephens, director of government relations for the church, said in a statement.
PROVO  The BYU Police Department has been decertified by the state of Utah.

It will remain active as a police department, however, until Sept. 1 while BYU appeals the decision.

Information about the decision was released Tuesday on the same day a legislative committee unanimously voted to approve a bill targeting BYU that would clarify in state law that agencies like BYU's police force are subject to Utah public records law.

"The decision to decertify Brigham Young University Police Department is the culmination of three years of review by the Utah Department of Public Safety. After a great deal of effort and consideration, the decision to decertify BYU police was the sole determination of Commissioner Jess L. Anderson," the Utah Department of Public Safety said in a prepared statement.

The state department officially notified the school of the decertification decision in a letter dated Feb. 20 to BYU President Kevin Worthen, stating that the police department had failed to comply with open records rules that all other law enforcement agencies are subject to.

According to the letter, BYU police "failed to comply with the certification criteria  spefically, between 2016 and April 2018, BYUPD failed to conduct an internal investigation into specific allegations of misconduct by a BYUPD officer and failed to report any findings found to be true to Peace Officer Standards and Training" as required by law.

The department also "failed to comply with a subpoena issued by POST" on June 28 into allegations of misconduct by a BYUPD officer," the letter states.

Peace Officer Standards and Training is responsible for training and certifying all Utah law enforcement officers and dispatchers.

BYU says it will appeal the decertification decision and believes its police force is an "internal department" of a private institution.

Utah Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Marissa Cote said the BYU department failed to comply with public records requests, even when the state was the one requesting records.

"It is important to our department that all law enforcement agencies and officers in Utah are held to the highest standard. We expect transparency and accountability by all who serve the public. We will give proper respect to the decertification process," a statement from the public safety department says.

In December, the state sent BYU a letter saying it risked decertification if its police department didn't allow "all records, personnel and electronic data deemed necessary by DPS to conduct an investigation of BYU" police to be reviewed by the state. The department was also warned BYU in the letter not to "destroy, tamper with, conceal or alter" any records or documents.

The state has granted an extension to BYU until Sept. 1 to find alternative policing if it does not plan to appeal the ruling. Once the decertification is finalized, the BYU Police Department would essentially have the same powers as a private security company. It would not be recognized by the state's Peace Officer Standards and Training or other departments as a law enforcement agency and its employees would not have the power to arrest people.

Individual officers at BYU would retain their Peace Officer Standards and Training certification for an additional 18 months to give them time to find a job with another police department.

BYU posted a reply on its website describing its intent to appeal the decision.

"BYU finds this decision confounding and disagrees with the grounds for seeking decertification. The Department of Public Safety believes that university police failed to meet criteria for an internal investigation and a response to a subpoena. BYU, however, believes that university police met all applicable criteria and is surprised that the commissioner is issuing a letter on these technical grounds.

"BYU plans to file a responsive pleading and demonstrate in a hearing how university police has complied with these certification criteria. BYU continues to believe that the best way to protect its students, and to protect BYUs campus without putting a disproportionate fiscal burden on Provos taxpayers, is to have comprehensive police protection through Provo City and university police."

The controversy stems from a Government Records Access and Management Act 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.

BYU 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.

Last week, Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, introduced a bill in the Utah Legislature that would require BYU police to follow the state's open records rules. 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."

The bill passed the Senate Judiciary Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee Tuesday 5-0.

"This clarifies an ambiguity in the law that if an institution is going to have a police department  then they have to be subject to transparency like any other police department," Bramble said.

The bill, which moves on to the full Senate, won easy support from the committee after both BYU officials and an attorney representing the Utah Media Coalition urged support for the bill.

Heather Gunnarson, BYU's general counsel, and BYU Police Chief Chris Autry spoke in favor of the bill, calling for clarification in state law.

"We agree that university police should be subject to the same level of transparency and accountability as any other law enforcement office in the state," Gunnarson said.

But because SB197 would not be retroactive, it would only apply to future public records requests, and it wouldn't solve the lawsuit BYU is appealing to the Supreme Court, according to Bramble.

Contributing: Katie McKellar
SALT LAKE CITY  Should the age for buying tobacco be raised to 21 statewide?

That is a question lawmakers on the House Business and Labor Committee will tackle Tuesday.

HB324 proposes raising the minimum age for obtaining, possessing, using, providing or furnishing tobacco products, paraphernalia, and under certain circumstances, electronic smoking devices from 19 to 21 years of age.

READ MORE: Bill to raise tobacco age to 21 narrowly passes Utah House committee

Other issues discussed at the Statehouse during the day include:

A bill that would shorten Utah's window for legal abortions to 18 weeks is one step closer to becoming law after it cleared a major legislative hurdle Tuesday.

READ MORE: Utah House passes bill to ban abortions after 18 weeks

With little discussion, the Senate gave final approval Tuesday to a bill allowing beer with a higher alcohol content to be sold in grocery and convenience stores.

READ MORE: Bill allowing sale of stronger alcohol beer outside of liquor stores passes Utah Senate

The Utah House of Representatives passed on Tuesday a bill that adds college professors and teaching assistants at public and private colleges and universities to state law as adults in a position of special trust.

READ MORE: Utah House passes bill intended to protect minors from sexual abuse from college professors, instructors

The House Education Committee has on its agenda HB360, which enacts provisions related to monitoring and mitigating lead in drinking water in schools and child care centers.

The Senate Business and Labor Committee will consider job creation through SB196, which creates the Utah Works Program Act that would provide a state nonrefundable tax credit for investments by Utah Works funds in eligible businesses.

READ MORE: Utah Senate panel backs creating $30 million in tax credits to businesses hiring disadvantaged workers

The Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee will hear HB91, which calls for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food to conduct a study identifying and classifying private agricultural land across the state.

Here's what happened on Feb. 25, the 28th day of the 2019 session:
by Nirmala Carvalho

The Indian doctor is a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life whose members were received by Pope Francis in audience yesterday. India is a land of inequalities. Robotics can be used in medical treatment and against deforestation. Lest we forget, machines lack the freedom to choose."

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  In a country like India, "marked by extreme poverty and extreme wealth", robots can benefit society, "provided they are designed to prevent abuse and are morally adapted to 'humanity," said Pascoal Carvalho, a doctor from Mumbai and a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, who is taking part in the Academys plenary assembly (25-26 February) in the Vatican.

Yesterday Pope Francis received in audience the members of the Academy, which is marking its 25th anniversary this year. The gathering includes a workshop on Roboethics: humans, machines and health.

In his address, the pontiff stressed how artificial machines are useful, but should not be confused with human beings. He warns that the risk of man being technologized, rather than technology humanized, is already real: so-called intelligent machines are hastily attributed capacities that are properly human.

For the Holy Father, "artificial devices that simulate human capabilities are devoid of human quality. This must be taken into account". What is more, "A dramatic paradox is thus outlined: just when humanity possesses the scientific and technical capacities to achieve a justly distributed well-being, [. . .] we observe instead an exacerbation of conflicts and an increase in inequality.

For Dr Carvalho, India is clearly a land of inequalities. "I come from a country with profound contrasts, he says. Even basic health care is not available in rural areas. Environmental degradation is another serious cause of concern. The challenge of poverty and the environment are two sides of the same coin."

Following the pontiff's call to use the benefits of artificial intelligence in the most appropriate ways, he notes that "Robotics can play a major role in countering massive deforestation that has damaged various ethnic groups.

In his view, robotics must have moral obligations towards our ecosystem and society. We must, from a moral point of view, design [robots] so as to prevent abuse and morally adapt them to humanity ".

In terms of healthcare, "where costs are prohibitive, robots can be transformative. However, There is an important difference between men and machines. Humans are unique and irreplaceable. Machines are neither unique nor irreplaceable. This must be the basis of our countrys health system. Governments and other agencies must work together so that healthcare can be affordable.

In the end, "robots are machines, not human. For this reason, their use must be rooted in morality. They must not be used in certain areas, such as war.

Unlike human beings, robots are the product of combined data, devoid of freedom. Even if they could become more intelligent, and their intelligence overcome man's intelligence, it would not change the fact that robots are different from human beings and lack the freedom to choose."
SALT LAKE CITY  Two men and a woman accused of robbing a Park City bank during a multi-state crime spree are facing federal charges.

The trio  Matthew Anthony Fanelli, 30, from El Salvador; Jose Lopez Jovel, 31, and Cynthia Sena, 18, both believed to be from Albequerque were charged Monday with armed bank robbery and using, carrying and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, according to court documents.

On Friday, Fanelli and Jovel entered Wells Fargo Bank, 6480 N. State Road 224. Jovel got in line while Fanelli went up to a counter and pulled cash out of his pocket. Witnesses said Fanelli then pulled out a gun and told the teller "he wanted all the cash and did not want any dye packs," the criminal complaint states. The teller gave him $2,000 and the men left.

After the incident, a black Cadillac was seen leaving the area, according to the complaint. When investigators looked up the license plate number of the car, they found it was out of Denver and its owner had been shot to death.

Earlier Friday, the three were linked to an armed store robbery in Cheyenne, Wyoming, police said.

A Wells Fargo employee who saw news coverage of the robbery told police she saw Sena before the robbery looking around the lobby of the bank. Sena had told the employee she lost her purse and left the bank after the employee told her no purse had been found, investigators said.

Fanelli and Jovel were arrested Saturday in Oregon. Before his arrest, Fanelli led officers on a high-speed chase and fired at them, investigators said.

According to the complaint, Sena parted ways with the men before they were arrested and asked her mom to call the FBI. She told agents that she was with the men during the carjacking and fatal shooting in Denver, the complaint states.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Utah is participating in the other states' investigation, according to a news release from the court. Authorities in Utah will work with other states to decide whether Fanelli, Jovel and/or Sena will be brought to Utah to appear on the charges.

Federal warrants were issued for their arrests.
SALT LAKE CITY  The Utah House of Representative passed HB286 Monday, which calls for revisions the state's required semester-long financial literacy course to give high schoolers a better understanding of economic systems including capitalism, socialism and communism, the bill's sponsor says.

Rep. Jefferson Moss, R-Saratoga Springs, sponsor of HB286, said it is critical that students better understand economic systems.

"A few years ago, I wouldnt have thought this would have been a necessary bill but its become even more apparent that we do need this," he said.

Moss thanked Gov. Gary Herbert "who's been very vocal on this issue and has been very supportive of helping us encourage these concepts to be taught," he said.

In his latest State of the State address, Herbert said he wants Utah students to have a better understanding of free market economics.

"When I meet with students, I am impressed by their intelligence and curiosity. But frankly, I have been disturbed by some of the rising generations fascination with socialism," Herbert said.

The bill passed on a vote of 62-10 but not before an attempt by Rep. Karen Kwan, D-Murray, to amend the bill by striking language calling for instruction on "a command system such as socialism or communism, a market system such as capitalism and a mixed system."

Rep. Travis Seegmiller, R-St. George, opposed the amendment, which he called "the equivalent of gutting the whole purpose of what were trying to accomplishhere."

Moss also opposed Kwan's amendment, noting the language she wanted to strike was "the whole point of this bill, is that these students have a clear understanding of what those different systems are and the effects of those various systems."

The amendment failed on a voice vote.

Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, questioned whether HB286 would apply to higher education.

Ivory said he was aware of a number of concerns raised at the college level in departments of sociology, economics and political science.

"Theres a sense that theyre actually advocating for socialism and Marxism," Ivory said.

He again asked Moss whether the bill applied to what was being taught at colleges and universities.

"No this does not. This is just specifically for the financial literacy course in K-12," Moss replied.

"Im grateful this is happening," Ivory said.

"At some point we can actually look to institute this in higher ed as well."
SALT LAKE CITY  A man pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to sexual exploitation of children after prosecutors say he obtained sexually explicit photos from two Utah stepbrothers, ages 8 and 10, in exchange for gift cards.

Nikko Adolfo Perez, 26, of Atwater, California, also pleaded guilty to coercion and enticement of a minor, and receipt and distribution of child pornography, according to U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott.

In June, a Utah woman contacted police when she became concerned that a man was exploiting her 10-year-old son over various social media apps, according to the criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court.

The woman allegedly found messages between Perez, who used the username "captainamerica272018," and her son. In the messages, Perez offered the boy Google Play cards in exchange for explicit photos of him and his stepbrother, the complaint says.

The mother saw that the boy had sent photos to the man, but the photos were not still visible. After the woman contacted Salt Lake police, a detective requested that Facebook, the parent company of Instagram, preserve the contents of Perez's Instagram account.

Investigators learned that Perez sent the boys Google Play cards several times after receiving images and videos from them, the complaint states.

In one instance, Perez asked them how old they were, investigators said. They responded that they were ages 15 and 13, police said, after which Perez said, "Nah no way tell me your real age I like young boys," according to the complaint.

The boy then said they were 10 and 12, the complaint says, and Perez allegedly responded with, "Cool."

While serving a search warrant on Perez's Facebook account and a computer at his home, they found pornographic images of children, the complaint says.

In his plea agreement, Perez admitted to using other apps, including Skype, Kik, Discord, Snapchat and LiveMe to talk to between 50 and 100 other children and sometimes sent images he solicited from them to other people, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of California.

Perez faces at least 15 years and up to 30 years in prison for sexual exploitation of a minor; at least 10 years and up to life in prison for coercion and enticement; and five to 20 years in prison for receipt of child pornography. He also faces a potential $250,000 fine and a lifetime term of supervised release, the release states.

His sentencing is scheduled for May 20.
HILL AIR FORCE BASE  Becoming a military officer is among the most coveted aspirations of many who wear the uniform. For two Utah airmen, being an officer is not just a rank, but "a calling" to be performed and executed with reverence for the country they serve and all the people they are sworn to protect.

The commander

When Maj. Gen. Stacey Hawkins was growing up in Bastrop, Louisiana, a town of just over 10,000 people and the county seat of Morehouse Parish in the northeast corner of the state, he had little reason to believe he would one day become a high-ranking officer in the United States Air Force. The son of educators, like many young men in his small, predominantly African-American community, he participated in extracurricular activities and attended church regularly. His parents also stressed continuing his education beyond high school, he noted.

His interest in military service was piqued through a family summer car trip to Florida to visit his father's brother, Leo Hawkins Jr., he explained. "Uncle Leo" enlisted in the Air Force and eventually retired as a master sergeant in the late 1970s and was stationed at what was then Homestead Air Force Base in Miami-Dade County, he said.

"He had a nice ranch style house, two or three cars in the garage and driveway, palm trees in the front yard and a swimming pool in the back yard," Hawkins recalled. "I left saying, 'I want to be like Uncle Leo' and I figured if I joined the Air Force, I could have all that."

However, nearly three decades in the military later, he has been unable to emulate the life he observed Uncle Leo enjoying, he said.

"After 27-and-a-half years, I've not been stationed in Florida, never owned a swimming pool (and) all of my cars are used so I'm not sure what life Uncle Leo was living," Hawkins said jokingly. "That's not the airman life I've been afforded."

With that visit sparking his initial motivation for joining the military, he went on to apply for and gain acceptance to all three national military academies out of high school.

"Fell in love with the service academy after I joined," he said. "I'm glad I had Uncle Leo to prompt me in that direction."

He added that the path to becoming an officer through the Air Force Academy was quite challenging, but the guidance and counsel of mentor officers he met along the way helped him to succeed. He credited one man who retired as a three-star Lt. General as having been a key catalyst for his success as a cadet in the academy.

Today, he is the commander of the Ogden Air Logistics Complex at Hill Air Force Base, which "provides logistics, support, maintenance and distribution for the nation's premier fighter aircraft" including the F-35, F-22, F-16 and A-10. Additionally, the complex maintains the C-130, T-38 and other weapon systems such as the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.

The aspiring officer

San Francisco native 2nd Lt. Laketa Fludd took a decidedly different path to officer commission. The daughter of Jamaican immigrants, she learned of the military from her father, who joined the U.S. Army as a way to gain citizenship. However, she hadn't really considered it for her own career until she was a young adult, right around the time of the Great Recession.

"(That) 2011, 2010 timeframe wasn't really a good time to just be a new grad right out of college without a lot of work experience," she said. "I started looking at different options."

With her Bachelor's of International Business degree in hand, she was initially told by her recruiter that becoming an officer would simply be a matter of applying, but in a cruel twist of fate, she discovered the Air Force was at the time eliminating officer positions and not looking to bring in any new ones. Despite the disappointment, Fludd made the decision to enlist anyway and became an aircraft maintainer working on C-130 military transport planes  a field in which she had no prior experience.

"I just knew (joining the Air Force) was something I wanted to do," she said. "Every step of the way, I had people there to help me and encourage me. I just knew overall I wanted to serve."

Her first assignment was to Yokota Air Base, Japan, and it would set the tone for her career.

"My goal was to be the best maintainer that I could and be a person that people would want to help to get to where I was going," Fludd added.

Through years of hard work and perseverance, as well as the support of her husband (who is also in the Air Force), supervisors and leadership, she was able to achieve her original goal of acceptance into Officer Training School. Currently, she is an acquisitions program manager with the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at Hill Air Force Base.

Race in the Air Force

Hawkins said that as an African-American person in the Air Force, he has observed some challenges during his tenure in uniform and was aware of concerns in its history, but he is proud of the way his branch has dealt with the issue and has led the way to a more forward-thinking, fair-minded attitude that permeates it today.

"We've had some problems in the Air Force over its history," he explained. "But if you look at our history, we've been able to resolve those problems fairly quickly. We've been at the forefront of any societal change. The Air Force has been able to successfully transition and grow and accommodate any differences between people."

Why we serve

In becoming leaders, both Hawkins and Fludd expressed the desire to do something that would aid in the development and improvement of their chosen military service branch rather than just working to attain a particular status or rank. But they each acknowledged that achieving those goals would likely include ascending the "chain of command."

"Being in the war-fighting business, we do it because we love our country (and) because we are patriotic," he said. "But when we're in the trenches and in the toughest situations, we do it for our fellow airmen."

Fludd said she would like to do something to help positively shape the culture of the Air Force as a leader of men and women.

"I would want to be able to work with and for airmen," Fludd said. "Big picture, at the end of the day my long-term goal at the end of my Air Force career is to at least be able to have been a commander."

Hawkins added that working closely with people who share the same "core values" is a strong tie that binds their everyday efforts and motivates all airmen to do their best for the people around them.

"It's about the work, it's about the purpose and it's about the service that you know you're rendering to the nation," Hawkins said.
OGDEN  A man was charged Monday with raping and impregnating a 14-year-old girl nearly four years ago.

Shaun Michael Fornoff, 33, is charged in 2nd District Court with rape, a first-degree felony, and forcible sex abuse, a second-degree felony.

A girl, who was 14 at the time, recently told police that when Fornoff was 30 and living in Riverdale, he raped her in August of 2015, according to charging documents. In May 2016, the girl gave birth to a child and claimed she became pregnant by a boy her own age, the charges state.

But in January of 2018, the girl contacted the Division of Child and Family Services and stated that while she did not want to talk about it before because "it was too difficult," she has now "come to terms with what happened" and "wanted to tell the truth," according to charging documents.

Investigators collected DNA from the baby, the mother and from Fornoff, who was located by the Weber Morgan Strike Force during a drug distribution investigation, the charges state. Test results showed the probability of Fornoff being the father at 99.99 percent, according to court documents.

Since that test, investigators believe Fornoff went to Oregon and his whereabouts where unknown as of Monday.
SALT LAKE CITY  A South Jordan man already facing child pornography charges in one case was charged on Monday with downloading more child porn while awaiting trial.

Thomas Norton, 24, is charged in 3rd District Court with 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony. He was previously charged with 14 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor for offenses that happened in 2017.

The Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force served a search warrant on Norton's home on Feb. 19 after receiving information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

"A digital camera containing an SD card was found in a bedroom in the residence," according to charging documents. "When Thomas Norton was informed the items of evidence seized would be processed in a forensic lab, he turned pale and laid down on the couch."

The charges further state: "On the SD card inside the digital camera are images and videos taken of a cellphone displaying child pornography. The SD card contained images of Thomas Norton on his LDS mission interspersed with the images of child pornography. Agents also found images of child pornography on a laptop in the residence."

Prosecutors have requested Norton be held without bail.

"These crimes were committed while Thomas Charles Norton was on pretrial release for prior felony offenses," they noted in charging documents.
SALT LAKE CITY  In the words of modern day poet Anthony Liccione, They say, timing is everything. But then they say, there is never a perfect time for anything.

Certainly, there never is any time at all for what Carlo Alazo, a 22-year-old from Tampa, Florida, is accused of doing.

The eight-second video of his alleged act is difficult to watch. It apparently shows Alazo talking on a cell phone on a downtown Salt Lake sidewalk at night. He can be heard asking someone off camera, Are you gay, though? A voice can be heard answering in the affirmative. Oh, then youre gay, Alazo is heard saying, before apparently taking a swing with his right hand, ending the clip.

Its doubtful Alazo was even aware the Utah Legislature was in session, or that members of a Senate committee were about to consider a strongly worded hate crimes bill that would enhance penalties for targeting certain groups. But for anyone looking for an illustration as to why such a law is needed, well  the timing spoke volumes.

So did Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gills decision not to charge Alazo with a hate crime because, as he explained, We dont have a hate crimes statute in Utah that is usable by prosecutors.

Gill is no stranger to the subject. He testified at the Senate committee that, as a man of Indian descent, he, too, has been the victim of hate. To illustrate, he told of how, shortly after 9/11, he was leaving the federal courthouse downtown, dressed in a suit, when three men in a truck turned the corner and began yelling ethnic obscenities at him, threatening to kill his family.

For accuracys sake, that kind of thing likely wouldnt result in any penalties, even under the proposed new law. The bill specifically protects the First Amendment right to free speech.

But speech often precedes action. I know what I felt in that moment, Gill said. I felt fear for my family. He also felt fear for other people from India. That fear is genuine.

Its the kind of thing the Anti-Defamation Leagues websitesays may effectively intimidate other members of the victim's community, leaving them feeling isolated, vulnerable, and unprotected by the law.

The opponents of hate crimes legislation tend to raise two points. The first is that such bills try to punish people for their thoughts.

Thats a notion that misconstrues the justice system. A prosecutor would have to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that someone chose a victim because of one of that persons personal attributes. This becomes relatively easy when the criminal makes a statement before striking, has a website, social media page or computer database with a list of victims belonging to a certain group or has left some other admissible evidence that shows intent.

It becomes much less likely without such evidence.

The second point they raise, however, is more credible. It is that no list of such protected personal attributes is complete.

The bill, SB103, has a long list  17 items  ranging from sexual orientation to service in the armed forces. People at the Senate committee hearing raised some other possible targets not on the list, such as people who are short or victims targeted for their political affiliation.

But are these apparent omissions reasons to defeat the bill? Couldnt a future Legislature amend the law as other targets become apparent?

This isnt Utahs first attempt at this issue. The current law, passed in 2006, was a much-heralded compromise effort that created an aggravating factor for a crime based on public harm. At the time, it was seen as a big step up from a 1992 version seen as unenforceable. Now, prosecutors are describing the '06 law as unenforceable.

Sen. Lyle Hilliard, R-Logan, a veteran of many such legislative battles, told the committee, I wish, oh how I wish, that passing this law would solve the problem. It wont. But then he said he still intended to vote for the bill because it gives a bad message if we dont pass it.

Solving the problem  described simply as hatred  is a tall order, indeed. Adequately punishing it, as SB103 would do, should not be.

The committee approved the bill unanimously, sending it to the Senate floor, where it awaits further debate.

What wont get further debate, apparently, are the charges filed against Alazo  one class A misdemeanor count of threatening to use a dangerous weapon during a fight and two class B misdemeanor counts of assault.
LEHI  A Lehi man who once worked as a vice squad lieutenant, a bishop for his church, and in West Valley City government was formally charged Monday with trying pick up and "manage" prostitutes.

David Moss, 51, is charged in 4th District Court with forcible sex abuse, a second-degree felony; exploiting prostitution, a third-degree felony; patronizing a prostitute, a class A misdemeanor; and lewdness a class B misdemeanor.

The Utah County Sheriff's Office conducted a "human trafficking operation" in Lehi on Valentine's Day. After investigators posted a message on an undisclosed social media app, Moss responded to the message, according to police.

"(Moss) arranged to meet with the (undercover officer) and her friend and engage in sexual activity, for which he was willing to pay cash. At the same time, defendant was offering to be the (undercover officer's) manager for a cut of her profits," according to charging documents. "He explained to her that he'd provide protection, help ensure regular, higher-paying customers, and teach her how to avoid getting caught or arrested."

When Moss met with the undercover officers in a Lehi hotel room, he again "offered his managing services and demonstrated how to detect a cop" by taking the female officer's hand and placing it on his genitals over his clothing, the charges state.

Moss then "focused on engaging in sexual acts" with one of the women and "wanted to make sure the (woman) was not a cop," according to the charges, by exposing himself to the undercover officers.

The officers immediately ran to the bathroom and locked the door and Moss was arrested as he walked out of the room, according to a police affidavit.

Moss was with St. George police from 1997 to 2012, rising to the rank of lieutenant over the department's vice squad, but was forced to resign from the department for allegedly having sex while on duty, according to the department. He relinquished his police certification in 2013 to Peace Officer Standards and Training, which is the equivalent of having his certification revoked.

Moss was also a bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the time of his arrest. A church spokesman said Moss was immediately removed from his church position once local leaders learned of the allegations.

"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," church spokesman Eric Hawkins said.

West Valley City also confirmed that Moss had resigned as deputy director of the Community Preservation Department two days after his arrest. He was also the director of the Animal Services Division for a year, from 2016 to 2017.

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 confirmed Moss had been employed there but offered no additional comment.
by Thanh Thuy

Unemployment, pollution and food shortages are pushing people over the edge into a life of misery. In the capital, Catholics are little more than 314,000 or 3.7 per cent of the city's population. The Catholic charity has 20,000 members, committed to helping the sick, seniors, the disabled and children, something that is acknowledged even by the government.

Hanoi (AsiaNews) - Every Caritas volunteer must be committed, with fervour and effectiveness, to social and charity initiatives designed to fight social inequalities," said Mgr Thomas Vu inh Hieu, bishop of Bui Chu and president of the Vietnamese bishops Committee for charitable and social activities (Uy ban Bac ai Xa hoi), i.e. Caritas Vietnam.

In his last meeting in Hanoi with members of the organisation, the prelate stressed that "in today's Vietnam, the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider. The economy is growing but remains unstable.

Unemployment, environmental pollution and food shortages are pushing many people over the edge into a life of misery. It is therefore necessary to respond to Jesuss call of love and follow in the footsteps of the Apostles, to bring the Good News to the peripheries as well as the great cities."

One of the latter is Hanoi, a city the Communist Party has ruled for the past 64 years. By comparison, the Church has been present in the city for 400 years. Catholics number just over 314,000 or 3.7 per cent of the city population. The local diocese is divided into 29 parishes with 20,000 members in Caritas Hanoi.

The Catholic charity stands out for its commitment to the sick, seniors, the disabled and children. In fact, on the website of the governments Religious Affairs Committee, Dr Pham Huy T. writes that "Catholics living in the capital have helped to define the Hanoi of yesterday and today. This charitable tradition has been built hand in hand by both Catholic and non-Catholic communities."

On of Caritas Hanois latest initiatives is a free vitreoretinal surgery programme that has benefitted 250 poor people. Caritas volunteers also organised a lunar New Year party for 300 ethnic Muong children in the parishes of Muong Riep, Muong on, Muong Cat, Muong Riec, Lac Son and Hoa Binh.

Caritas Hanoi is particularly dedicated to students, especially those who come the capital from rural regions. To meet their needs, it has set up small hostels (luu xa). Some 1,328 volunteers from three parishes  Luu Xa, My Thuong and An Hoa  have joined the project.

Caritas Hanoi has also raised funds to build some compassion houses for most disadvantaged families in the city. And thanks to the support of Le Hung uc, president of the Wheelchair of Love association, some 200 wheelchairs were donated.
SALT LAKE CITY  A bill to add transparency to animal shelters failed to clear a Senate committee meeting when questions were raised about the bill's need and requiring private shelters to comply.

SB155 would require public and private animal shelters to publish certain statistics they are already keeping track of, including how many cats, dogs and other animals are in the shelter and how many animals are being euthanized.

Senate Minority Leader Karen Mayne, D-West Valley City, the sponsor of the bill, said she introduced the bill for transparency and to get rid of the need for public records requests through the Government Records Access and Management Act.

"I think that its just an efficient way to do it and this is all public information, people should know," Mayne said.

Mayne said there is no cost to the government for this bill. The information is already collected and in some cases is already made public. However, other times it is only available through GRAMA requests. She also said every county has a website which could be used for reporting.

Talia Butler, division director for Salt Lake County Animal Services, said having the numbers available would be very valuable.

"We do a lot of adoptions at our shelter, and there are animals that are being euthanized at shelters in rural communities that could be adopted at our shelters. If those numbers are available and easily accessible, we can pull those animals," Butler said.

She said such a step would save the other shelters money because they would care for the animal for a shorter amount of time and give her shelter revenue when the animal is adopted.

Rhett Nicks, director of Davis County Animal Care and Control, spoke in opposition of the bill because of the requirement for private organizations to report. He also said the enforcement in the bill was "vague at best."

Nicks said he would be glad to support an animal care facilities act that would require shelters to report to a state agency and make sure shelters are licensed.

Salt Lake County Council member Arlyn Bradshaw said the county has already been making efforts to have information, including animal shelter statistics, public. He said posting the information in the office or sending out an email when the statistics are asked for would fill the requirements of the bill.

"We feel strongly that the core details of these taxpayer-funded services should be readily available to the public," Bradshaw said.

Bradshaw said private shelters were included in the bill at the encouragement of animal control officers who felt it would give a more holistic view of animal welfare.

The Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee did not move the bill to the full Senate after a 4-4 vote.
SALT LAKE CITY  If a World War I memorial is shaped like a cross, does that make it a religious symbol? Even faith groups don't agree on the answer to that question, which is before the Supreme Court this week.

The American Legion, et al. v. American Humanist Association centers on a 40-foot-tall, cross-shaped monument in Bladensburg, Maryland, which is maintained with government funds. By the end of June, justices must decide if this arrangement violates the Constitution's establishment clause, which bans the government from privileging one faith group over others, and, if it does, whether the cross should be altered or removed.

Briefs filed in the case, which will be heard on Wednesday, reveal conflicting claims about the monument within and between faith groups and religious freedom organizations.

Supporters of the so-called "Peace Cross" say its secular purpose outweighs its association with Christianity, while opponents say it's undeniably and unlawfully religious.

"Maintaining a nearly century-old war memorial at a busy intersection is hardly an official declaration in law that Christianity is the government's preferred religion," argues a brief in support of the Bladensburg cross signed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and four other religious organizations.

On the other hand, faith groups opposing the cross filed briefs stating that even the appearance of religious favoritism is a problem.

This is not an atheist case. It's an everyone case.  Monica Miller, senior counsel at the American Humanist Association

"A government-sponsored cross takes sides on competing claims to religious truth," reads a brief signed by the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the general synod of the United Church of Christ and three other religious groups.

In this case, as in other high-profile religion cases in recent terms, faith groups present different visions of the government's ideal relationship to religion, clashing over what ruling would be best for a pluralistic society.

Their briefs and others filed over the last two months, which will help justices understand the broader ramifications of their eventual ruling, correct the misconception that The American Legion, et al. v. American Humanist Association pits nonbelievers against everyone else, according to Monica Miller, senior counsel at the American Humanist Association.

"This is not an atheist case. It's an everyone case," she said.

Case history

The Bladensburg cross case originated in 2014, when the American Humanist Association and three Maryland residents sued the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. The commission has overseen upkeep of the cross since the 1960s. It was originally dedicated by the American Legion in 1925.

The lawsuit claimed that by funding the care of a giant cross, the government was unlawfully privileging one faith group, Christianity, over others. Case documents note that about $117,000 of government money has been spent on the memorial over the last six decades.

"When the government prominently displays a large Latin cross as a war memorial, it does more than just align the state with Christianity; it also callously discriminates against patriotic soldiers who are not Christian," reads the American Humanist Association's latest brief.

The commission and the American Legion, which joined the lawsuit early in the proceedings to defend the cross, maintain that it is first and foremost a WWI memorial honoring the lives of 49 men from Prince George's County, Maryland. They say the cross was used as a symbol of sacrifice during the WWI era, noting there are four other cross-shaped memorials within 40 miles of the Peace Cross.

"Its context and history make plain that it was intended to serve  and, for 93 years, has served  as a secular memorial to the war dead," reads a brief submitted by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission to the Supreme Court.

A U.S. district court agreed with the commission's arguments, but the decision was later reversed by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

"Even in the memorial context, a Latin cross serves not simply as a generic symbol of death, but rather a Christian symbol of the death of Jesus Christ," the ruling explained.

The Maryand-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and the American Legion then appealed to the Supreme Court, which announced in November that it would hear the case.

Diverse involvement

A wide variety of individuals and organizations filed amicus briefs in the case, which are legal documents that spell out the concerns of groups that aren't parties in the lawsuit. These briefs covered a number of topics, including the proper application of the establishment clause, the significance of war memorials and reasons why a cross-shaped monument is or is not a religious symbol.

As with faith groups, there are veterans organizations, civil rights groups and legal scholars on both sides of the case. The opposing arguments offered by similar groups can be explained, in part, by widespread disagreement over the proper relationship between the government and religion, which the Deseret News reported on last month.

"This whole area of law is really a mess," said Kelly Shackelford, president, CEO and chief counsel for First Liberty Institute, at the time.

The notion of completely eliminating religion from the public square is antithetical to the founders' idea that religion is a public good to be encouraged.  Ismail Royer, director of the Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team at Religious Freedom Institute

The cross' supporters argue that the establishment clause prevents the government from actively coercing Americans to change their beliefs, not from passive involvement in religion. They say the Bladensburg cross is not meant to convey a religious message and that, even if passerby assume it does, that shouldn't be a legal problem.

"Allowing the cross to remain is not an establishment (of religion), and anyone who dislikes the cross is free to ignore it," reads the brief from the Becket Fund for Religion Liberty, a prominent religious freedom law firm.

In a religiously plural society, the government should practice "benevolent neutrality," not avoid religion altogether, said Ismail Royer, director of the Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team at the Religious Freedom Institute, which filed a brief in support of the Bladensburg cross.

"The notion of completely eliminating religion from the public square is antithetical to the founders' idea that religion is a public good to be encouraged," he said.

The cross' opponents, on the other hand, argue that the government must take care not to take sides in religious debates. Paying for the upkeep of the cross is an affront to non-Christian citizens, said Holly Hollman, general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.

"This case represents a threat to the principle that the government will not pick and choose a preferred religious tradition to promote," she said.

Christians should also be offended by the government's actions and arguments, said Frederick Gedicks, a law professor at Brigham Young University who joined a brief from legal scholars against the Bladensburg cross.

"The government is arguing that this (cross) is not really religious, that it's a vestige of the past," he said. "If you're a believing Christian, you don't want to think of the cross as an artifact from the past."

Religious arguments

As Gedicks noted, The American Legion, et al. v. American Humanist Association has sparked theological debates in addition to legal ones. Some faith groups have no problem saying that crosses can be used for secular purposes, while others argue that it's offensive to downplay their religious significance.

What's confusing is that many of the same groups arguing that the Bladensburg cross is predominately a secular symbol believe a ruling against this memorial would represent an attack on religion, he added. They say the American Humanist Association's goal is to ban all religious expression from the public square.

The separation of church and state is for everyone. It protects religion as much as it does nonreligion.  Monica Miller, senior counsel at the American Humanist Association

"If the (4th Circuit's) ruling stands, then you've got to go into Arlington (National) Cemetery and tear down large, free-standing crosses," Shackelford said. "I think that's an image that most Americans can't even fathom."

Miller denies this would happen. As briefs filed by the American Humanist Association and its supporters make clear, the lawsuit is aimed at reducing harmful entanglement between the government and religion, not eradicating faith from public life, she said.

"The idea that we have a bulldozer ready is sensationalizing the situation," Miller noted, adding that she's thankful a variety of Christian, Muslim, Jewish and other religious groups agree.

"The separation of church and state is for everyone. It protects religion as much as it does nonreligion," Miller said.

It's difficult to predict the Supreme Court's eventual ruling, which is expected before the end of June, according to legal experts on both sides of the case. Justices could issue a narrow decision that applies to just the Bladensburg cross or a broad one that changes how the establishment clause is applied moving forward.

Hollman hopes the ruling will acknowledge the religious significance of the cross, even if the Supreme Court allows the government to continue funding its upkeep.

"It may be grandfathered in as a historic cross," she said. The court could "uphold this (cross) without encouraging political leaders to promote more specific religious imagery on government property" in the future.

Royer, on the other hand, wants justices to affirm that the government does have a role to play in protecting religious expression in the public square.

"We hope the court will recognize that  religious content in public monuments is not something to try to eliminate, but something to be tolerated and celebrated as a public good," he said.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi called an 'emergency meeting' on Tuesday.

Sources here said that Qureshi summoned the "emergency meeting" at the Foreign Office for consultations. (File Photo)

Islamabad: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi called an "emergency meeting" Tuesday after India carried out air strikes across the LoC and destroyed terror camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Qureshi will meet Prime Minister Imran Khan after the meeting in which he will discuss the security situation with high-level officials.

Sources here said that Qureshi summoned the "emergency meeting" at the Foreign Office for consultations. In New Delhi, sources said that India is believed to have carried out air strikes inside Pakistan early Tuesday and targeted terror camps.

The strikes involving several fighter jets of the Indian Air Force successfully destroyed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the sources told PTI. Earlier, the Pakistan Army alleged that the Indian Air Force (IAF) violated the Line of Control (LoC) in Muzafarabad sector.

"Indian aircraft intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said in a tweet.

"Indian Air Force violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft gone back," he tweeted. Meanwhile, Pakistani media was reporting that the Indian government has staged a symbolic intrusion due to domestic pressure. Prime Minister Khan has not commented on the issue.
Editor of Town Talk, News & Press of Delaware County

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A.J. Sill, a one-year-old child from Boothwyn, tries his hand at strumming a professional guitar. The instructor is Andrew Behringer, a professional musician and member of the band The Friends with Benefits who is conducting free music classes for preschoolers every Monday and Tuesday at 10:30 a.m: Andrew Behringer's Play and read with music at the Upper Chichester Library. To obtain more information regarding class dates, call the library at 610-485-0200 to sign up. Upper Chichester Library is located at 3374 Chichester Avenue, #19, Upper Chichester.
Few things conjure up the greatness of the momo. Yet, however, that Sunday, as I sat down to an elaborate feast of freshly steamed momos during the Momo Food Festival organised by a heritage restaurant in the Tibetan immigrants enclave of Majnu-ka-Tilla, Delhi, I felt that there was something exceptional about the momo.

Delightful dumpling

As I savoured the steamed, glossy, round momo stuffed with a flavourful minced lamb filling, the elderly lady owner of the restaurant delved into the origins of this tasty treat, During the time of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty in Tibet in the 13th century, people felt that putting the minced lamb and scallions mixture subtly seasoned with our classic spices of yerma (ground peppercorns), zira kar-po (cumin) and sga smug (ginger) in a delicately pleated tsampa (barley flour) dough dumpling, and then steaming it in the mok-zang (momo steamer) was a delightful idea, and so was born our flavourful momo!

Interestingly enough, the Tibetan momo, stuffed with a juicy, flavourful meat filling, had a magic touch  in fact, wherever the momo travelled, be it the neighbouring Himalayan kingdoms of Bhutan and Nepal as well as Ladakh, it adjusted itself to the local preferences. As a result, people looked upon the momo, which transformed into more innovative versions with different shapes, distinct filling mixtures and varied dipping sauces, as a delightful snack and also as a satisfying meal.

For a classic food aficionado like me, I was, in fact, drawn into the momo magic circle. As I tasted the square-shaped Hirshon momos, my mind travelled back to the time when these buckwheat flour, square-shaped momos stuffed with a juicy bok choy and datshi (yak milk cheese) filling were made during the time of Tibetan Buddhist Ngalops settled in Bhutan, way back in the early 5th century.

Interestingly, in recent times, the Hirshon momos, with an interplay of Bhutanese and Tibetan flavours, has been the centre of attraction. In fact, a close Bhutanese acquaintance of mine explained: For the Hirshon momo, much like the Tibetan momo-making process, instead of the original meat filling, a mixture of greens like mustardy bok choy leaves and slightly sweet datshi seasoned with Bhutanese ground spices of tshengenmeto (Bhutanese blue poppy seeds) and ema kam (Bhutanese dried red chillies) as well as Tibetan spices of toasted yerma or Sichuan peppercorns and ginger is placed at the centre of the buckwheat flour dough rectangles. This is followed by folding the dough to make squares, then pleating the edges, and ultimately steaming them in bamboo steamers.

Backing the bamboo steaming process, she explained, Bamboo steaming of Hirshon momos matters a lot  it elevates both the Bhutanese and Tibetan flavours. In fact, its the fusion of flavours that make the Hirshon momos a popular mid-morning snack.

Evolving tastes

Next, I came across Kothey momo. As per fascinating history records, with the arrival of Newar merchants and artisans from Lhasa in Nepal in the 17th century, the round, pleated momo dumpling transformed itself into the innovative Kothey momo variety we seee today: the round momo is first stuffed with a juicy, ginger-flavoured pork filling and steamed in the traditional mucktoo steamer, after which it is pan-fried to a crispy, golden brown perfection. In fact, today, a plate of delicately pan-fried Kothey momos served with a tangy dipping chutney of tomatoes, cilantro and toasted sesame seeds is a delightful treat.

Also, a plate of Jhol momos, steamed Tibetan-style chicken momos, dunked into a jhol (a chutney with Nepalese hog plum fruit called lapsi, cumin seeds, tomatoes and sichuan pepper) is highly popular as a lunch-time dish.

Then, moving to tea-time snack delights like the Ting momo, I learnt that with the nomadic Tibetan Changpa tribe moving into Ladakh in mid-seventh century, the original Tibetan momo had a dramatic transformation  in fact, it switched over to the soft, puffy Ting momo version we see today. In the recent times, for re-creating the magic of the Ting momos, kitchen chefs follow traditional styles of intricately creating dough layers for forming rose-shape momos, and then steaming them. Furthermore, instead of the accompanying side dish of dreythuk porridge, a plate of rose-shaped Ting momos is served with the tangy tomato & chilli Sepen sauce.

Also, for Sikkimese Thaipo momos served with the Dalle Khursani chilli peppers sauce, I brushed up on my momo knowledge a bit more and learnt that with the migration of the Tibetan Bhutias to Sikkim way back in the 17th century, the momo came to be interpreted as Thaipo momo, a plump round dumpling with a flat back. In fact, a closer look revealed that the Thaipo momo is much similar to the steamed Tibetan momo, except for some slight variations: like the addition of baking soda to the flour-water mixture while preparing the dough; instead of the original meat filling, these momos had a vegetarian filling of cabbage, carrots and capsicum, flavoured with garlic and a spice mix of pepper and dried red chillies. What more, even the dipping sauce is different. Instead of the Tibetan Sepen sauce, theres the Sikkimese Dalle Khursani cherry chilli peppers sauce here.

Indeed, the humble momo has evolved a great deal in terms of shape, cooking styles, flavours, dipping sauces, and more.
An Islamabad High Court bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani announced the verdict.

Islamabad: A Pakistani court on Monday dismissed a bail petition filed by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on medical grounds in Al-Azizia reference case. An Islamabad High Court bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani announced the verdict.

Where a prisoner is receiving medical treatment in hospital or in jail, he would not be entitled to the concession of bail; the petitioner has been hospitalised time and again since January, 2019, whenever he made complaints about his indisposition, it said.
The Government of Pakistan issued the United Nations Security Council (Freezing and Seizure) Order, 2019 to streamline implementation of the international organization's sanctions on the terrorists and the terrorist organizations. A Sukhoi-30 MKI of the Indian Air Force shot down a Pakistani drone near the Bikaner Nal sector area of the border after the drone was detected by Indian Air Defence radars, reports ANI. Earlier on Monday, Indian Air Force (IAF) chief B S Dhanoa reiterated that his force hit our target in the Balakot air strikes deep inside Pakistan last week but refused to give the number of casualties saying it is for the Government to count them. IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who returned to a hero's welcome on Friday, says he faced mental harassment during the course of his 60-hour capture in Pakistan. Abhinandan has emerged as the face of the latest standoff between India and Pakistan, which has seen the nuclear-armed rivals exchange rare aerial raids. Islamabad's "peace gesture" of releasing the IAF pilot came after tensions with New Delhi over Kashmir escalated to their highest level in years. India conducted a major preemptive strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest camp early Tuesday to prevent suicide attacks being planned by the Pakistan-based terror group, killing a large number of terrorists and trainers, according to government sources who claimed to have credible intelligence that the JeM was planning to carry out other suicide attacks in India after the Pulwama bombing on a CRPF convoy 12 days ago that killed at least 40 jawans. Follow this space and don't miss any live updates!
In a surprise win, Peter Farrelly's biographical comedy-drama "Green Book", received the Best Picture honour at the 91st Academy Awards upstaging award season favourite "Roma".

The film, featuring Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali, was based on the real-life story of Dr Don Shirley, an African-American jazz pianist and composer, who embarks on a cross-country tour that necessitates hiring a white driver Tony Vallelonga(Mortensen) to assist him as a bodyguard while he travels through America's racially-divided Southern states.

"Green Book" stopped "Roma", Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron's black-and-white love letter to his childhood, from making a clean sweep at the Oscars where it had already won Best Cinematography, Best Director and Best Foreign Language Film trophies.

Other films nominated in the category were "Black Panther", "Vice", "BlacKkKlansman", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "The Favourite" and "A Star Is Born".

Hollywood star Julia Roberts presented the top honour of the ceremony to the cast and crew of the film including director Farrelly, actors Mortensen, Ali and Linda Cardillini.

"The whole story is about love. This is about loving each other despite our differences and finding out about the truth of who we are, we are the same people," Farrelly said while accepting the award.

He gave a shout out to Mortensen, saying, "We have no movie (without you). All these awards are because of Viggo and Mahershala and Linda but it all started with Viggo. I give you this my friend."

The director also thanked veteran filmmaker Steven Spielberg who had helped the film's producers in getting a distributor.

Producer Jim Burke said the team put their heart and soul in the film.

"We made this film with love and we made it with tenderness. We made it with respect. It was all under the direction of Pete Farrelly," he said.

Apart from the biggest award of the night, "Green Book" also gave Ali his second best supporting Oscar win besides its win in the Best Original Screenplay category.

"Green Book", one of the most critically-acclaimed projects of the year, had a rough Oscar campaign, courtesy controversies involving Mortensen, Farrelly and the film's writer Nick Vallelonga, son of real-life Tony Vallelonga.

Mortensen, 60, had come under fire on social media for using the N-word during a panel discussion after the screening of the film, while Farrelly found himself embroiled in a controversy after an old report resurfaced where he admitted to flashing his privates as a joke.

Following the revelation, the director had issued an apology.

Even Vallelonga faced backlash when his old tweets resurfaced in which he claimed to have witnessed thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrate the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, which turned out to be fake news.
The Indian action came 12 days after Pakistan-based JeM carried out a terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in Kashmir. (Photo:ANI)

Islamabad: Pakistan has convened a joint parliamentary session after India Air Force carried out multiple aerial strikes at major terror camps across the Line of Control (LoC).

"A joint parliamentary session will take place tomorrow," Geo TV quoted Ali Muhammad Khan, minister of state for parliamentary affairs, as saying.

"I have just come from the national security meeting and told the participants that the entire Parliament and nation are united," said Khan.

Opposition parties including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and PPP demanded a joint session to decide the further step that Pakistan would take.

"We are in a state of war. The Parliament should sit together and decide," Pakistan People Party (PPP) leader Khursheed Shah said.

"It is not the time for political point-scoring and we should put aside our differences and unite the entire nation," he added.

The opposition leaders have also urged the Pakistan government to avoid the upcoming Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in which India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has been invited as the guest of honour.

"It is an insult that our enemy is being invited as a guest of honour when Kashmiris are facing bloodshed," said Asif.

Earlier, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had also called a meeting to review the situation after IAF's operation across LoC.

Earlier in the day, Shah Mehmood Qureshi also summoned an emergency meeting at the foreign office in Islamabad to discuss the situation.

"I have already said that I don't want to mislead the public. Clouds of danger are hovering over us and we will have to remain alert," Samaa TV quoted Qureshi, as saying.

The air strike, in which 12 Mirage 2000 jets took part, was carried around 3:30 am, IAF sources told ANI. The jets dropped 1000 Kg bombs on terror camps across the LoC, completely destroying them, sources added. Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) control rooms were also destroyed in the strikes.

The Indian action came 12 days after Pakistan-based JeM carried out a terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in Kashmir, killing around 40 personnel and injuring five others.
Condemning the air strike, Qureshi said that this was grave aggression by India against Pakistan and considered it as a violation of LoC and Pakistan has the right to retaliate and self defence. (Photo: AFP | File)

Islamabad: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday said that better sense should prevail in India after Indian jets carried out aerial strikes across Line of Control (LoC).

According to statement cited by Radio Pakistan, Qureshi warned India not to challenge Pakistan.

"The Foreign Minister said the nation should not be worried over the Indian act as the defenders of the country are fully prepared to respond to any misadventure," Radio Pakistan added on its website.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi talks to Samaa News after the violation of LOC by Indian Air Force (26.02.19)@SMQureshiPTI



Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi warned India not to challenge Pakistan.

Pakistan is fully prepared to respond to any misadventure. pic.twitter.com/mobpNBTgtO  PTI (@PTIofficial) February 26, 2019

I have already said that I dont want to mislead the public. Clouds of danger are hovering over us and we will have to remain alert, Pakistans Samaa TV quoted Qureshi.

Condemning the air strike, Qureshi said that this was grave aggression by India against Pakistan and considered it as a violation of LoC and Pakistan has the right to retaliate and self defence.

On early Tuesday morning, in an operation by Indian Air Force at around 3:30 am, destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammeds camps across the LoC.
France recognises Indias legitimacy to ensure its security against crossborder terrorism and asks Pakistan to put an end to the operations of terrorist groups established on its territory, the official said in a statement.

Paris: France has condemned the terrible Pulwama terror attack that killed 49 soldiers and asked Pakistan to put an end to the terrorist groups operating from its soil.

France firmly condemns the terrible attack perpetrated on February 14 against Indian security forces in Pulwama, for which the terrorist group, JeM, has claimed responsibility, said the acting spokesperson of the ministry of Europe and foreign affairs.

France recognises Indias legitimacy to ensure its security against crossborder terrorism and asks Pakistan to put an end to the operations of terrorist groups established on its territory, the official said in a statement.
London: The British government has called on India and Pakistan to pursue diplomatic solutions in the wake of the Pulwama terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir. UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt held telephonic conversations with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said in a statement.

"The Foreign Secretary highlighted the UK's concern about the enduring threat to regional stability from terrorism. "He encouraged Pakistan and India to improve cooperation and find diplomatic solutions that will create greater stability and trust in the region," the FCO said hours before Indian fighter jets struck Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest camp in Pakistan in a pre-dawn attack.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side in a pre-dawn strike, 12 days after the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir. Hunt condemned the Pulwama terror attack and expressed condolences to all those affected, it said.

The FCO statement came amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan after the February 14 suicide attack by JeM terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers in Pulwama. The FCO said that the UK minister reiterated with both Indian and Pakistani counterparts that Britain was committed to working with both India and Pakistan as well as international partners at the United Nations to ensure that those responsible for the attack are held to account.

"The UK has been, and continues to be, in close contact at senior levels in both countries and will be promoting international efforts to tackle the threats of terrorism and improve regional stability," an FCO spokesperson said. Hunt had come under pressure in the immediate aftermath of the Pulwama attack for referring to "India-administered Kashmir" in his Twitter statement while expressing his condolences to the victims.

Indian-origin Opposition Labour Party MP Virendra Sharma wrote to him to protest that "Jammu and Kashmir have been an integral part of the Indian state" and that the minister's use of the "deeply offensive" phrase had upset Indians and British Indians.

"I hope that you will withdraw this phrase and demure from using it again in the future due to the connotations this seemingly innocuous phrase contains," wrote Sharma, Chair of the Indo-British All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG). His letter was followed by APPG Vice-Char, Conservative Party MP Bob Blackman, also writing to the UK foreign secretary to point out his "factually incorrect" statement on Twitter.

"Your language may offend and again, I suggest retracting this phrase," he wrote in the letter, which also asked the minister to clarify the support the UK is providing to "our friends in India in their ongoing battle against terrorists".

India launched a major diplomatic offensive against Islamabad after the attack and highlighted Pakistan's role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy. India asked Pakistan to take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control.

New Delhi also announced the withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation status for Pakistan and hiked the customs duty by 200 per cent on goods originating from Pakistan.
Wuzhen: The Pulwama terrorist attack and the listing of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN is expected to figure prominently at Russia, India and China (RIC) Foreign Ministers' meeting being held here on Wednesday.

Besides attending the annual trilateral meeting, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj would also hold bilateral talks with her Chinese and Russian counterparts on the sidelines of the meeting in which the listing of Azhar by the UN's 1267 committee is expected to figure. Swaraj's meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi assumes significance as it is the first high-level interaction between the two countries after the Pulwama terror attack that left 40 CRPF personnel dead.

China, a veto-wielding member, has consistently blocked India, the US, the UK and France's efforts to list Azhar as a global terrorist since 2016 but endorsed a scathing statement issued by UN Security Council on February 21 on the Pulwama attack.

The UNSC statement on the the Pulwama attack stated that "the members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir, which left 40 Indian paramilitary forces dead and dozens wounded on February 14, 2019, for which Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility.

But after endorsing the statement in which JeM has been named, China the next day in an apparent attempt to placate Pakistan sought to play it down, saying that the mention of JeM in the statement was only in general terms and does not represent a judgement.

The issue of listing of Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN is expected to come up before the 1267 committee of the UN Security Council again as France, also a veto-wielding member of the high-power UN body, said it would move the resolution again. The issue is also expected to figure prominently in Swaraj's talks with Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov.

This is the 16th meeting of the RIC Foreign Ministers. During the 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, Chinese Foreign Minister Geng Shuang told a media briefing in Beijing on February 20.
A sound relationship and cooperation between the two serves the interests of both the countries. (File Photo)

Beijing: China on Tuesday urged India and Pakistan to "exercise restraint" and asked New Delhi to carry out its fight against terrorism through international cooperation, hours after Indian fighter jets struck Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest camp in Pakistan in a pre-dawn attack.

When asked for China's response to India's airstrikes on terrorist camps in Pakistan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told the media here that we have taken note of relevant reports."

"I want to say that India and Pakistan are both important countries in South Asia. A sound relationship and cooperation between the two serves the interests of both the countries and peace and stability in South Asia," he said.

"We hope that both India and Pakistan can exercise restraint and do more to improve their bilateral relations," he said.
With the introduction of Knox Platform for Enterprise (KPE) in Android 8.0 Oreo, Knox features are now built on top of the core Android Enterprise framework.

With Android Enterprise, Google has always been focused on working alongside partners, like Samsung, to support businesses as they secure and manage millions of Android devices around the world. Samsung has also pioneered advanced security with its Knox enterprise platform, building a deep set of features upon the flexible and enterprise-grade framework of Android.

Over the past few years, Google has worked with Samsung to harmonize their enterprise investments to simplify mobility for customers and reduce duplication. With the introduction of Knox Platform for Enterprise (KPE) in Android 8.0 Oreo, Knox features are now built on top of the core Android Enterprise framework. This means that Googles validated management partners can now offer a single foundation for customers to deploy Android Enterprise, while adding supplementary Samsung Knox features as they see fit.

Google was at Mobile World Congress this week, beginning the next chapter of their partnership with Samsung with two new joint projects that will enable more enterprise feature management and expanded enrollment options for partners and customers.

Samsung leverages Android OEMConfig to accelerate delivery of Knox features to customers

Samsung announced support for OEMConfig, a new Android standard that enables OEMs to create custom device features and controls that can be immediately and consistently offered by Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) providers. The premise of OEMconfig is simple: allow an OEM provided app to configure all of the customized OEM-specific features on the device, instead of having EMMs build support for each and every OEM-specific feature in their products. OEMConfig leverages a feature of Android Enterprise known as managed configurations, and is part of the standard published on the Appconfig community.

Expansive feature sets like Samsung KPE, which deliver a broad range of security and fine-grained hardware controls, have presented a challenge for EMMs to implement. With OEMconfig, EMMs can now offer their customers a full complement of KPE features on Android Enterprise without having to build the supplemental feature support in their consoles. They can also make these features available immediately as Samsung releases them.

To support OEMConfig, Samsung will be releasing the Knox Service Plugin (KSP) app this spring. All EMM vendors that have validated their solutions for Android Enterprise can immediately support Samsung KPE features as they are updated through the Knox Service Plugin app.

Collaborating with Samsung to streamline bulk enrollment of enterprise devices

Android Enterprise offers a simple bulk, over-the-air enrollment method called zero-touch enrollment. Samsung also offers Knox Mobile Enrollment, which provides similar functionality for Samsung devices as part of their Knox Deployment Program (KDP). Both automate device and user enrollment, providing a seamless out-of-the-box configuration experience.

While these enrollment methods have been valuable to customers in setting up large Android deployments, it has been a burden for operators and resellers to integrate and offer both services. To help alleviate this challenge, Google and Samsung have developed a common client library for service providers with a single set of APIs that will integrate with both Android zero-touch capable devices and Samsung devices. Distribution of the library will begin this spring 2019 with Google and Samsung supporting ecosystem partners as they move to this simplified integration model.

A simplified path forward

By working together to reduce complexity, customers can confidently choose a single foundation for modern Android device management using Android Enterprise. Partners will now be able to offer automated enrollment services, as well as rapidly support feature enhancements like Samsung Knox Platform for Enterprise. Google is looking forward to continuing their partnership with Samsung as we collaborate on improving enterprise mobility for customers.

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In pre-dawn precision airstrikes, the Indian Air Force's Mirage-2000 fighters hit at the Jaish-e-Mohammed's main training facility at Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, crossing the Line of Control and the international border. (Representational image)

In pre-dawn precision airstrikes, the Indian Air Force's Mirage-2000 fighters hit at the Jaish-e-Mohammed's main training facility at Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, crossing the Line of Control and the international border. In a statement, Pakistan PM Imran Khan said the Indian action placed peace and stability in the region at risk, and that his country will respond at a time and place of its choosing. It is yet to be seen if this signifies a drift into a wider conflagration as we go into the Lok Sabha elections. The Army and the IAF are in a state of alert.

All reports indicate that the air operation was of the highest professional calibre. In contrast, the Pakistani military was caught napping although Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made the countrys resolve to retaliate after the Pulwama terrorist outrage clear in recent public speeches.

An official Indian statement after the airstrike was read out to the media by foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale, rather than the defence ministry. It was measured, and made a good case for the Indian action. It is noteworthy that the statement spoke of the air blitz as being pre-emptive and non-military in nature, and being intelligence-led.

The statement made no mention of retaliation for Pulwama. What it said was that there was credible intelligence that the JeM planned terrorist strikes and fidayeen attacks at various places in India. It said that since January 2004, when Pakistan gave an undertaking that it would not let its territory be used for terrorist strikes against India, there had been several breaches and evidence offered by India was not taken note of by Islamabad.

This explains pre-emptive. India has not taken military action on a pre-emptive basis before. As such, this is the turning of a page. The description non-military suggests that the IAF had not hit any military target in Pakistan. but a major terrorist centre. The statement went on to note that care was taken to ensure that there would be no civilian losses on the Pakistani side.

It remains to be seen if the Pakistani military and the Imran Khan government are persuaded by India's logic, for there is also the element of crossing Pakistani airspace, although from the Indian perspective that was an unavoidable necessity in order to hit a key terrorist target and is tied up with the idea of pre-emptive action.

The IAF has not crossed the LoC since the 1971 war (although the Army has). However, beyond the LoC lies Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, which India considers its own territory illegally occupied by Pakistan. But the Pakistan border was also crossed near Muzaffarabad (the PoK capital) in order to reach Balakot.

It seems unlikely that Pakistan will have any international support for a riposte, but its public opinion and military ability will guide its future moves.
Huaweis counteroffensive includes making its case directly to government officials, companies and journalists.

The United States government dispatched a big delegation to press its case with telecom executives and government officials that they should not use Huawei as a supplier over national security concerns. (Photo: AP)

A global battle between the US government and Chinese tech company Huawei over allegations that it is a cybersecurity risk overshadowed the opening Monday of the worlds biggest mobile industry trade fair.

Huawei has an outsize presence at MWC Barcelona, from its displays in three separate show halls down to its red sponsorship logo adorning visitor pass lanyards. The focus at this years meeting is new 5G networks due to roll out in the coming years. But the dispute over Huawei, the worlds biggest maker of networking gear, is casting a pall.

The United States government dispatched a big delegation to press its case with telecom executives and government officials that they should not use Huawei as a supplier over national security concerns. US President Donald Trumps administration says the Chinese government could use Huawei equipment to snoop on the worlds internet traffic  accusations Huawei has rejected, saying there has been no proof of a cybersecurity breach.

In a fresh salvo, 11 US senators on Monday called for the federal government to ban solar power inverters  advanced control systems  made by Huawei, saying they pose a national security threat to US energy infrastructure.

Huaweis counteroffensive includes making its case directly to government officials, companies and journalists. It has unveiled a new folding 5G phone and its executives are speaking on keynote panels at the show. Formerly known as Mobile World Congress, the show is a key forum for lobbying and deal-making thats expected to draw 100,000 visitors.

The geopolitical tensions between the USA. and China will undoubtedly be a hot topic, said Shaun Collins, CEO of research firm CCS Insight. There is little doubt that operators around the world are concerned that draconian sanctions on their ability to use Huaweis 5G infrastructure could have detrimental effects on their 5G roll-out plans.

Behind closed doors, US officials have been suggesting that Ericsson of Sweden and Finlands Nokia should be preferred suppliers, but telecom providers like Huawei for its cheap but good quality equipment. That helps lower the cost to customers of using new 5G networks, which promise lightning fast download speeds and less signal lag  advancements that will help develop self-driving cars, factory robots and remote surgery.

At Huaweis sprawling main pavilion, lit in shimmering LED lights, the company showed off virtual reality racing games that use 5G to provide crisper graphics and quicker response times than 4G.

Definitely compared to other big global vendors, theyre cost efficient, said Sharif Shah Jamal Raz, a vice president at Bangladesh mobile operator Robi Axiata, as he and his colleagues inspected Huaweis display of network base stations and modular antennas.

Trump tweeted last week that he wanted the US to catch up in the 5G race through competition, not by blocking out currently more advanced technologies. Though he didnt mention China or Huawei, the comments could be seen as a more toned-down approach to the company, which has long been blocked in the US

Guo Ping, one of three Huawei executives who take turns as chairman, told reporters Sunday that he read Trumps tweet as an admission that the US needs faster internet networks and is lagging in this respect.

Guo stressed that his company will never allow for backdoors in our equipment, and it would never violate laws and regulations in countries where it operates.

US allies in Europe are still making their minds up on allowing Huawei gear in 5G networks and its not clear if Washingtons lobbying campaign is having an effect, with some viewing it as a calculation of technical risks rather than as part of a broader battle for tech supremacy between China and the US

The CEO of Ericsson, Borje Ekholm, said countries face critical decisions as they roll out 5G networks.

As we talk to our customers, they are feeling the uncertainty and they are concerned, Ekholm said at the MWC show.

A ban on Huawei could delay the rollout of 5G in Europe by two years, said Nick Read, CEO of Vodafone, one of the worlds biggest mobile operators.

The implication is suddenly youve got to do a massive swap of equipment. Hugely disruptive to national infrastructure, consumers (and) very, very expensive, he said.

The head of Britains government surveillance agency, Jeremy Fleming, said Monday that Chinas tech dominance posed a complex strategic challenge.

We have to understand the opportunities and threats from Chinas technological offer, Fleming said in a speech in Singapore, according to a transcript. We have to take a clear view on the implications of Chinas technological acquisition strategy in the West.

The British government is carrying out a review of the risks involved with telecom infrastructure that will help it decide on Huaweis role in 5G networks. U.K. cybersecurity officials have said previously they think the risks involved with Huawei can be managed.

GSMA, an association that represents 750 mobile operators worldwide, is recommending a testing and certification regime for Europe to ensure confidence in network security.

Guo called for the industry and governments to develop clear and unified cybersecurity standards and regulations, and said decisions should be made by technical experts rather than politicians.
The Arunachal Pradesh government must reassure its citizens that no blanket measures are being considered any longer in granting permanent citizenship to six non-Arunachal scheduled tribes. The unrest involving mobs on the rampage protesting against the governments planned move on citizenship hardly befits a sensitive state in the Northeast bordering China. Pema Kundus government should have been more mindful of the complex issues over citizenship in a region that has seen much migration of tribal communities in the past six or seven decades. Most of the Northeast was once just Assam, and issues have built up in the four decades since separate states came into existence. The fear large groups of Arunachalis, including students, have harboured is over the proposed citizenship for six communities living along the Arunachal-Assam border compromising the rights and interests of Arunachals indigenous people.

The government has done well to clearly state that it will not table the recommendations of a joint high-powered committee in the Assembly, which in any case was adjourned sine die after four days of violence wracked the state last week, as mobs burnt down the deputy CMs home. There are larger political overtones to the trouble that may have been fomented by the divisive nature of politics in a state where party loyalties have been compromised by the crossover of large groups of legislators, thus denying the sanctity of poll results. Flag marches by an Army infantry regiment earlier this week helped to calm things down and it is time the government communicated its intentions better if peace is to prevail as the state readies to go to the polls again later this year.
On February 23, just as New Delhi was recovering from the controversies surrounding the visit of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the UAE foreign office in Abu Dhabi issued a statement saying that India would be invited as a "guest of honour" at the meeting of the foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) taking place in the UAE capital on March 1-2. The UAE statement explained that the invitation was in response to India's "great global political stature as well as its time-honoured and deeply rooted cultural and historical legacy, and its important Islamic component". Given the painful history of India's association with the OIC, this announcement was nothing short of a bombshell.

Fifty years ago, in September 1969, at Rabat, India suffered a deep humiliation when, though formally invited, its official delegation to the first summit of this Islamic grouping was unceremoniously evicted from the meeting at the insistence of then Pakistani leader Gen. Yahya Khan.

This meeting of 24 Muslim countries had been convened by Moroccan ruler King Hassan to protest against the arson attack on the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem in August. While condemning the attack, the conference also spoke of the gathering as reflecting the "collective voice of the Muslim world" and committed the leaders to "safeguard and protect" the interests of the global Muslim community.

The first meeting of Islamic foreign ministers was held in Jeddah in March 1970 and the OIC was formally launched in 1972. Its secretariat, headed by a secretary-general, is in Jeddah, with Saudi Arabia providing most of its funding. The kingdom maintains tight control over the functioning of the body: traditionally the assistant secretary-general for political affairs has been a Saudi, but since 2014 the two successive secretaries-general have been Saudi as well. This ensures direct Saudi control over the OIC agenda in this period of considerable internecine competition in West Asia.

Saudi influence over the OIC is the result of a shift in balance of influence in favour of the kingdom after the defeat of Egypt in the 1967 war. Till then, through the 1950s and early 1960s, Egypt after its republican revolution and espousal of Arab nationalism, socialism and secularism, had been the leader of the Arab world. In this Arab Cold War, the kingdom represented the traditional monarchies whose values and worldview were anchored in Islam. As country after country moved from royal rule to revolution - Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Libya  it seemed that the monarchies would lose this ideological competition.

The 1967 war ended this rivalry in favour of the kingdom, which now moved rapidly to consolidate its leadership in West Asia on the Islamic platform. The OIC is the product of this effort.

Today, the OIC has 56 countries, in addition to Palestine, as members. In nominal terms, these countries have a collective GDP of $10 trillion ($28 trillion in terms of ppp) and a per capita income of $10,000 ($20,000 in ppp terms). Its members cover a vast geographical space across Asia, Africa and even Europe and Latin America, and include some of the wealthiest nations of the world Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait. But in 50 years the OIC has acquired neither the standing nor the credibility that its membership and resources would warrant.

The reason is that Saudi Arabia uses the OIC as a platform to subserve its own specific interests  every time it feels the need to project Islamic backing for its position, it gets resolutions passed accordingly. In return for such support, it allows members to issue any resolution they wish against a non-member. Thus, the kingdom has ensured that the resolution on Syria condemns the Bashar al-Assad regime in the harshest terms, while extolling the kingdom's role to back the interests of the political opposition. Similarly, regarding Yemen, Saudi Arabia obtains resolutions backing its military action and its support for former President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The organisation has therefore remained institutionally feeble, with its own members giving priority to their membership of other groupings.

Pakistan is the exception. The OIC platform is the only one it can use to get one-sided anti-India resolutions passed that are then projected as the consensual position of the entire OIC membership. The anti-India resolutions cover the Pakistani agenda on the Kashmir issue, ties with India and the "abuses" heaped on India's Muslim community. These resolutions began with the foreign ministers' conference in Cairo in 1990, coinciding with the commencement of the Pakistan-sponsored jihad in Kashmir. They became longer and more abusive through the 1990s, particularly after the destruction of the Babri Masjid.

During this period, Indian envoys were assured by member countries that the resolutions did not reflect national positions and, in keeping with OIC procedure, they were generally passed without discussion or debate. We were consistently asked to ignore them. This finally resonated with external affairs minister Jaswant Singh, who in 2001 directed that they be ignored since "they are not worth the paper they are written on".

Thus, the invitation to India to be the guest of honour at the Abu Dhabi conference is essentially the correction of a historic wrong and brings India into the mainstream of this Islamic organisation, where it has a natural place. It is also a solid rebuke to Pakistan. The invitation results from the robust Indian diplomatic engagement with the major Gulf countries, particularly the high-profile interactions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and is a tribute to India's global stature.

Obviously, Pakistan will not give up the one unfettered opportunity it has to heap calumny upon India; hence, the hostile resolutions could continue for some more time. They will stop only when Saudi Arabia firmly puts an end to them.

As the external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj extends her hand of cooperation to the OIC at Abu Dhabi, the abuse of the "guest of honour" should now end and the real perpetrator of extremism and violence identified and pilloried at the Islamic platform.
Chennai: Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, DMK president M.K. Stalin actors Ranikanth and Kamal Hassan and host of other dignitaries have on Tuesday lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for Indias air strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan.

Mr. Palaniswami commended the PM for his bold initiative against terrorism. Mr. Modi was tasting success in rooting out terrorism, which was threatening the entire world, the CM said in a statement here and lauded him on behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu. I extend my greetings to PM Narendra Modi due to whose bold functioning, a successful air strike has been carried out which has demolished terror camps in Pakistan, Mr Palaniswami said.

India had conducted a major preemptive strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps in Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad terror launch pads across LoC early Tuesday, killing a very large number of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders. The strike comes amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan following the Feb.14 suicide attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group in Kashmirs Pulwama district that killed 40 CRPF soldiers including two from TN.

Mr. Stalin, hailed the Indian Air Force pilots for their valour. Proud of our #IndianAirForce pilots for their exceptional act of valor!, he tweeted.

AMMK leader and R.K. Nagar MLA, T.T.V. Dhinakaran, greeted the IAF pilots for showing Pakistan Indias strength. The terrorists have paid the price for the death of our jawans in Pulwama, including two from Tamil Nadu, he said on Twitter and urged people to stand united as Indians against terrorism.

DMDK founder Vijayakanth appreciated the befitting response by India to Pakistan by way of the air strikes. We extend our greetings and thanks to the IAF, Centre and PM Narendra Modi for IAF's befitting response to Pakistan, he said in a statement. The attacks would come as a big relief to the families of Indian jawans who had lost their lives in such Pak-trained terrorists attacks and todays air strikes have proved that the Indian army was no less to anyone, he added.

Contending that the air strikes showed that only a strong leadership such as the government led by Mr. Modi alone could protect the country, BJP state president Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan said the entire country appreciated the daring efforts of the IAF in ruining the terror camps in PoK.

MNM founder Kamal Haasan welcomed the air strikes carried out by the IAF and saluted the valour of the heroes. Our 12 (fighter jets) return safely home after wreaking havoc on terrorist camps in Pakistan. India is proud of its heroes. I salute their valour, he said.

Actor Rajinikanth took to Twitter to express his feelings. "BRAVO INDIA," he tweeted.
Chennai: Makkal Needhi Maiam has announced that non-members can seek party tickets to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Speaking to reporters in Chennai on Tuesday, party president Kamal Haasan said, applications could be procured from February 28 to March 7 at a cost of Rs 10,000 each. This is not just for the party members. But people also should take part. Non-members could also recommend a prospective candidate from a district or zone if they thought the person would become a good MP, he said.

Kamal Haasan said that his party would join hands only with like-minded parties. "We are not going to join hands with those with whom we have differences of opinion. Having such concurrence with allies is very important, that is why we are not hurrying to fix an alliance, Talks are going on with like-minded parties," he said.

When asked if there was a shift in his stand on facing the Parliamentary polls alone, he said, "Earlier we had said if there was a necessity we would contest alone. If there was a circumstance like that of now we would be going alone and we are ready for it."

The party's 'election committee' would review the applications and hold a formal interview at the party's headquarters in Chennai after March 7 to shortlist its candidates.

Earlier this month, the versatile actor-politician said his party would contest all the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu on its own in the Lok Sabha polls. "We are trying to make good for the people with clean hands. We are trying to keep our hands clean by not associating with any of the Dravidian parties," he said.
Bengaluru: Amid speculation that JD(S) supremo Mr H.D. Deve Gowda is set to contest from Bengaluru North Lok Sabha constituency instead of Hassan, the traditional JD(S) bastion, the former PM seems to have decided on an altogether different constituencyMysuru-Kodagu.

According to party sources, Mr Gowda is likely to contest from either Mysuru-Kodagu or Tumakuru but the final decision will be known only on March 5, when he and AICC President Mr Rahul Gandhi announce the seat sharing matrix between the Congress and JD(S) in New Delhi.

Meanwhile, JD(S) sources confirmed that two grandchildren of Mr Deve Gowda  Prajwal Revanna (Hassan) and Nikhil Kumaraswamy (Mandya) would be contesting the Lok Sabha polls. However, owing to several reasons, the JD(S) may concede the Bengaluru North seat to the Congress, sources said.

In the first place, Union Minister Mr D.V. Sadananda Gowda, who was reluctant to contest from Bengaluru North this time, has been asked by the BJP to seek re-election from the same constituency. Mr Sadananda Gowda shares a good relationship with the Deve Gowda family.

The second problem is that, though Bengaluru North has a substantial number of Vokkaliga votes plus minority community votes which might help Mr Gowda, the national scenario has made the JD(S) doubtful about its prospects in an urban centric seat particularly after the Pulwama terror attack and the IAF response which may have a deep impact on urban voters. With the political prospects of each of the major players in KarnatakaCongress, JD(S) and BJP likely to undergo dramatic changes as election day approached, the party does not want to take a risk by making Mr Gowda contest from Bengaluru North, said sources.

However, the JD(S) has a strong presence both in Mysuru and Tumakuru. Intelligence reports have reportedly pointed out that Tumakuru is a better constituency for Mr Gowda but he is more inclined to contest from Mysuru, as it would serve as a link between Hassan and Mandya. Both his grand children are set to contest from the two neighbouring constituencies. The Mysuru-Kodagu constituency is dominated by the BJP but since there could be a direct fight between the Congress-JD(S) candidate and the BJP this time, it would be easier for the coalition candidate to sail through, said sources.
NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said he has postponed his indefinite hunger strike, scheduled from March 1 in view of the prevailing Indo-Pak situation. His remarks came after India struck Jaish-e-Mohamm-eds(JeM) biggest camp in Pakistan early Tuesday in a major preemptive action killing a large number of terrorists and trainers of the Pak-based terror group preparing to carry out suicide attacks in this country.

In view of prevailing Indo-Pak situation, I am postponing my upwas (fast) for full statehood of Delhi. We all stand as one nation today, he posted on Twitter. Earlier, he had on two occasions gone on indefinite hunger strike.

Before postponing his hungerstrike, Mr Kejr-iwal saluted the pilots of the Indian Air Force (IAF) after it carried out air strikes in Pakistan. I salute the bravery of IAF pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan, he said in a tweet.

India carried out air strikes on terror camps inside Pakistan early Tu-esday. The strikes involving several fighter jets of the IAF successfully dest-royed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror ou-tfits in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
New Delhi: India's pre-emptive strikes on terror camps in Pakistan were hailed on Tuesday by leaders of various political parties, with the BJP asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's political will has made the difference while Congress chief Rahul Gandhi lauded the Indian Air Force.

"Every Indian who had the pain and anguish of the martyrdom of our forces is greatly relieved and delighted this morning. Salute to the Air Force for a meticulous operation. Our forces are world class anyway. It is the political will of our PM and team that made all the difference," BJP general secretary Ram Madhav said.

I congratulate and salute the bravery and valour of our armed forces.

Todays action further demonstrates that India is safe and secure under the strong & decisive leadership of PM @narendramodi.  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) February 26, 2019 Amit Shah expressed his satisfaction over 'New India' and PM Modi's answer to Terrorism

Amid speculation over terror camps in whether Balakote in PoK or the one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provice were targeted, Madhav tweeted that it was the latter.

 I salute the pilots of the IAF.   Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 26, 2019

"By the way no doubt about which Balakot it was; it is the one in Manshera district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa," he tweeted. Lauding the pilots of the Indian Air Force after air strikes on Pakistan, Gandhi tweeted, "I salute the pilots of the IAF." The Congress also tweeted, hailing the role of the Indian Air Force in keeping Indians safe with its consistent and determined effort.

IAF also means India's Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) February 26, 2019

BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javdekar told reporters that people of Indian stood solidly behind their armed forces as he described the IAF strikes as an act of great valour. People have faith in Modi's leadership, he said. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also hailed the Indian Air Force (IAF) for carrying out air strikes in Pakistan.

I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 26, 2019

"IAF also means India's Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind," Banerjee tweeted. Congress leader and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh hailed it as a great job by the Indian Air Force. "The IAF strikes have sent the much needed signal to Pakistan and the terrorists it's harbouring - don't think you can get away with acts like the Pulwama Attack. Bravo to the IAF men and my full support for the action," he said.
Young men in the city carried out bike rallies and distributed sweets praising the Indian Armed Forces and raised slogans against Pakistan.

Hyderabad: Young Hyderabadis took to the streets on Tuesday to celebrate the destruction of militant training camps located in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The Indian Air Force carried out the aerial bombing on Tuesday in retaliation to the attack on a CRPF convoy on February 14 in Pulwama in Kashmir.

As the news spread across the country, celebrations broke out in the city. Citizens, mainly students, marched on the streets holding the Indian national flag and distributing sweets.

Students of Osmania University and Nizam College held celebrations within the campus. It is a day to be remembered and celebrated; the strikes against the terrorists have brought great joy to Indians who have been in mourning after the Pulwama attack. A commendable job by our Air Force pilots who came back unscathed, said Rajiv Chaturvedi, a student.

Young men in the city carried out bike rallies and distributed sweets praising the Indian Armed Forces and raised slogans against Pakistan. In Lal Darwaza, Ghansi Bazar, Shah Ali Banda, Hussaini Alam and City College area, young men in groups carried out rallies. They called PM Modi a Tiger.

Mr Aleem Baig, who participated in various protest meetings and rallies against the terror attack in Pulwama, said the brave Air Force officers had made the country proud by conducting airstrikes on terror targets. We salute the bravery of the Indian Air Force pilots.

Politicians cutting across parties supported the strikes. BJP MLA T. Raja Singh, congratulated the IAF for its meticulously conducted operation. YSRC president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy congratulated the Indian Air Force: "Congratulations to @IAF_MCC and its fearless pilots for their commendable action against the terrorists. We are proud of you. #Surgicalstrike2" he tweeted.

Telangana Telugu Desam president L Ramana said the Indian defence forces had once again demonstrated their abilities: The entire nation is proud of our forces. We hope Pakistan learns its lesson from the strikes and stops its provocative activities through terror," he said in a statement.
The extra security cover comes after aerial strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force against terror launch pads located in PoK. (Representational Image)

Hyderabad: The Telangana state police has identified over 10 vital defence establishments in the Secunderabad-AOC area, Golconda, Bolaram and tightened security cover there.

While state police personnel have been designated to protect the establishments outside the premises, Army personnel are vigilant inside the premises, said a source.

The extra security cover comes after aerial strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force against JeM training in KPK, Pakistan.

Security was intensified at the defence establishments in the city after the terror attack on CRPF jawans at Pulwama a few days ago, a senior police officer said.

Following the aerial bombing on terror outfits, the cover has been magnified. While security outside the defence installations was taken care of by the police, Army personnel were looking after the security inside their campuses, the official added.

The establishments come under the jurisdiction of Bolaram, Marredpally, Karkhana and Trimulgherry police station limits. Apart from in Secunderabad, there were a few establishments in Langar Houz and adjoining areas as well.

Reportedly, senior police officials of the state are in coordination with army officials over security cover and steps to be taken to providing proper security to military areas.

Officials are interacting on a day-to-day basis with army personnel to review and discuss safety issues and the preparedness to deal with the situation.

The Intelligence Bureau has meanwhile alerted the directors-general of police in all states to take necessary safety measures in the wake of the strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force on terror camps in Pakistan in the early hours of Tuesday.

A communication has been sent to the DGPs in all the states. The IB said some terror groups might foment trouble.

The IB also asked the states to take steps to prevent any untoward incidents and eventualities in the wake of Tuesdays air strikes. Security has been beefed around important installations and tourist sites across different metro cities.
New Delhi: External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj Tuesday spoke to her counterparts in the US, China, Singapore, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and briefed them about the predawn strike on the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistan.

In her telephonic conversation with US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, Swaraj explained the reasons behind the strike and conveyed that the action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp.

She also spoke to Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and apprised him about the non-military, pre-emptive air strikes, the sources said. They said she also briefed her counterparts from Singapore, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on the strike.
The letter was signed by Republican Senators John Cornyn.

Both large-scale photovoltaic systems and those used by homeowners, school districts, and businesses are equally vulnerable to cyberattacks. - the lawmakers said in a letter.

A bipartisan group of senators on Monday urged the US government to block Huawei Technologies Co Ltd from supplying solar energy generators just as it has acted to keep the Chinese giant out of the US telecommunications network.

The 11 lawmakers urged the Department of Homeland Security and the Energy Department to prevent Huawei from providing solar inverters, which convert solar energy to power that is usable on power grids for US energy companies.

Both large-scale photovoltaic systems and those used by homeowners, school districts, and businesses are equally vulnerable to cyberattacks. Our federal government should consider a ban on the use of Huawei inverters in the United States, the lawmakers said in a letter.

The letter was signed by Republican Senators John Cornyn, Richard Burr, James Risch, Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton, Susan Collins, Ben Sasse and Mitt Romney as well as Democratic Senators Mark Warner, Dianne Feinstein and Independent Angus King.

Huawei is a relatively recent entrant to the US power market, but has developed a new generation of low-cost solar inverters, which convert, manage and monitor energy produced by solar panels for home use.

The United States has sought to exclude Huawei from providing equipment like routers and switches to US telecommunications companies, and has accused the firm of conspiring to violate US sanctions on Iran and stealing US technology.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday favoured an out-of-court settlement of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute thro-ugh mediation between Hindu and Muslim parties which will be monitored by the court.

A five-judge Constitut-ion bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S.A. Bobde, D.Y. Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and Abdul Nazeer, while giving this suggestion, said it would consider passing appropriate orders in this regard on March 6.

Justice Bobde observed, We may decide a property dispute but we are thinking more about healing relationships. The mediation, if done, would be confidential and court-monitored. The Ayodhya dispute was much more than a mere property dispute. It has dragged on for decades. Mediation may result in the permanent resolution of the disp-ute. Even if there is one per cent chance of amicable resolution, it should be given a try. And the mediation will be concurrent to the suit pending before the court. We are seriously considering this option. Mediation will be a confidential process too.

The CJI told senior counsel C.S. Vaidyanathan You as well as anyone know that this is not just a dispute over title to a property. It is not a dispute over a private property, but the public right to worship... There has not been mediation at any point of time in this case. That is why we are seriously considering this alternative dispute resolution mechanism under Section 89 of the Civil Procedure Code.

The CJI observed in the order that a court-monitored mediation, if ordered, would be done with theutmost confidentiality. The mediation would confront issues raised before the court in the appeals.

The CJI said since eight weeks time is being granted to verify the accuracy and relevance of the translation of documents done by the UP governme-nt, this period may be utilised for mediation under Section 89 of the Civil Procedure Code. The CJI also expressed the hope that mediation may spell a peaceful end to the title dispute between two faiths over the land where the Babri Masjid once stood before it was demolished by kar sevaks on December 6, 1992

The Muslim groups represented by Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhavan, Dushyant Dave and Raju Ramachandran expressed their willingness for mediation, if the court directed such a course.

However, Mr Vaidy-anathan for the deity Lord Ram and senior counsel Ranjit Kumar for some Hindu groups opposed mediation on the ground that it had not yielded the desired results earlier.

Mr Vaiyanathan pointed out that the Kanchi Sankaracharya tried mediation but could not succeed.

However, senior counsel Sushil Kumar Jain for Nirmohi Akhara agreed to the mediation.

The court will pass orders on next Wednesday on whether the contentious issue should be referred to a court-appointed mediator.

The parties were directed by the Court to examine the records and point out their objections. At the outset, the CJI made it clear that the hearing will commence only if parties accept the translations prepared by the UP Government as authentic.

At the outset Mr. Dhavan said, We need to examine the authenticity of the translation. We want to begin the arguments but we have to satisfy with the translation. Mr. Dhawan submitted that there may have been some exchanges in the past, but those necessarily did not mount to discussions on the accuracy of the translations.

But Mr. Vaidyanathan protested that Mr. Dhawan, appearing for appellant M. Siddique, is trying to delay hearing of the appeals. He said several orders had been passed by the apex court as way back as in 2015, giving opportunity to Mr. Dhawans side to examine the States translations and report back. For all these years, they did nothing and now they raise objections, he added.

The CJI told the counsel that the court does not intend to wait indefinitely to hear the appeals. We will not waste our time over your dispute about the authenticity of the translations. It was necessary to reach a consensus on the authenticity of the translations so that no controversy would be raised later that would derail the proceedings in the appeals he said and granted eight weeks for verification process to be completed.
New Delhi: Soon after the Indian Air Force struck in Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad, destroying terror camps across the Line of Control, Opposition leaders hailed the air strike and heaped praises on the IAF and defence forces.

Most Opposition leaders, however, decided to remain silent on attributing success of the strike on the Narendra Modi government.

Taking to the micro-blogging site Twitter, Congress president Mr Rahul Gandhi said, I salute the pilots of the IAF.

Giving a statement on similar lines, leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Mr Mallikarjun Kharge, said, Weve always said that whatever action the forces take for protection of this nation, all of us will support them in unity, they are taking action against the terrorists in Pakistan. I congratulate them.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal lauded the IAF for striking terror targets. I salute the bravery of IAF pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan. His Aam Aadmi Party tweeted out a clipping from the movie Border.

TMC chief Ms Mamata Banerjee tweeted saying, IAF also means Indias Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav too expressed similar reactions.

Actor-turned politician Kamal Haasan said India is proud of the heroes.

Our 12 return safely home after wreaking havoc on terrorist camps in Pakistan. India is proud of its heroes. I salute their valour. he said.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti called for calm. Since Pak has claimed that no casualties were reported despite IAF violating LoC, they should adopt a reconciliatory stand as opposed to further escalation. Or else, an already volatile situation will spiral out of control and as usual Kashmiris will be the biggest casualties, she said.
Mysuru: The IAF strike on terror camps in Balakot, Pakistan came at a time when the family of Pulwama martyr H. Guru was observing his 11th day ceremony at Gudigere colony in Maddur taluk. On hearing about the air strike, Guru's wife, 20-year-old Kalavathy wiped her tears and saluted the Indian forces. She said, "I feel proud of our soldiers, our forces. May God give good health, long life, courage and all the energy to them to find and kill terrorists responsible for the Pulwama attack, no matter where they are hiding."She also thanked the government for launching the counter attack. Guru's father Honnaiah said, "I am happy about the Balakot attack. There should be more such attacks and all terrorists must be killed. They should be taught such a lesson that they should never eye India again."

Meanwhile Transport Minister Mr D.C. Thammanna who participated in the 11th day ceremony said, "the Balakot attack has coincided with his 11th day ceremony and Guru's soul will rest in peace. People looked forward to such an attack."
New Delhi: Indias air strike early on Tuesday morning, well into Pakistan territory in reply to the Pulwama attack on Indian jawans earlier this month, could well change the narrative for the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2019 general election.

Reeling under the Rafale controversy, economic slowdown, growing unemployment, the alliance of Opposition parties taking a threatening shape and Priyanka Gandhis entry into politics, the BJP had its back to the wall.

Tuesdays early morning air strike, destroying the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp inside Pakistan, could put the BJP way ahead of others in the run-up to the 2019 parliamentary elections.

Within hours of the strike, an aggressive Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared at a public rally in Churu in Rajasthan: I promise this that I will not let this country bow down. India is in safe hands.

The Opposition, which was sharpening its knives to take on the government over the reported intelligence failure on the Pulwama terror attack, was not merely stumped but was all praise for the Indian Air Force.

Even as they chose to ignore the PM in their praise, a senior Congress leader pointed out: No doubt Modi has surged ahead with the air strike. With the strike, Mr Modi has regained his image as a strong and decisive leader. A BJP leader said, Now you know what the man with 56-inch chest can do.

BJP president Amit Shah tweeted, I congratulate and salute the bravery and valour of our armed forces. Todays action further demonstrates that India is safe and secure under the strong & decisive leadership of PM @narendramodi.
The foreign secretary termed it a preemptive strike and also non-military preemptive action, specifically targeted at the JeM camp.

New Delhi: After surgical strikes across the LoC in 2016, India retaliated for the February 14 Pulwama attack by launching a predawn surgical strike on Tuesday, this time by air.

The IAFs Mirage-2000 fighter aircraft bombed terror group Jaish-e-Mohammeds (JeMs) biggest training camp in Balakot in the KPK province of Pakistan, killing a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen (suicide terror) action.

This was the first time since the 1971 war that IAF fighters crossed the LoC, something they did not do even during the Kargil conflict of 1999.

Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said the terror camp was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghouri, brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar, and that credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country.

The foreign secretary termed it a preemptive strike and also non-military preemptive action, specifically targeted at the JeM camp.

Mr Gokhale said the terror camp was located in thick forest on a hilltop far away from any civilian presence.

Confusion initially persisted whether the camp that was struck was in KPK province of Pakistan or in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as both locations contain towns known as Balakot/ Balakote but sources told this newspaper this was the one in KPK.

According to some reports, Yousuf Azhar himself may have been killed in the strike.

Sources said that Indias air defence systems and armed forces have been put on high alert to thwart any attempt by Pakistan to retaliate. But the Indian forces are bracing themselves for a Pakistani retaliation. While dismissing Indias version of events as fictitious, Pakistan nevertheless accused India of committing uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing.

According to sources, five to six French-origin Mirage 2000 fighters took part in the strike, with about six bombs of 1,000 kg being dropped on the camp.

The entire operation took over 20 minutes, starting at 3.45 am and ending at 4.05 am.

To confuse the Pakistani defence forces, fighter aircraft took off from several air bases in the Western and Central commands in a synchronised operation, at about the same time.

Then a small group of aircraft broke away from the swarm and headed to hit the Balakot camp.

According to some reports, early-warning system AWACS were used to keep an eye on any action emanating from Pakistan and mid-air refuellers were also deployed for any emergency use.

Sources said around 325 terrorists were present in the camp and perished when the IAF planes struck it. Balakot in KPK is 60km by air from the LoC and 180km by road.

Sources also said that JeM used to run basic arms training and advance arms training camp and Border Action Team training at the camp.

Meanwhile, admitting that the IAF fighter aircraft had crossed the LoC in Muzaffarabad sector (of KPK) upto three to four miles, the Pakistan Army claimed that the Pakistan Air Force had scrambled its fighter aircraft in response, following which the IAF fighters went back.

The Pakistan Army also claimed that IAF fighter aircraft had released their payload in haste, which fell near Balakot (in KPK) in open area and that there were no casualties or destruction of any infrastructure.

A statement issued from Islamabad said, Pakistan strongly rejected the Indian claim of targeting an alleged terrorist camp near Balakot and the claim of heavy casualties, adding that Indian has resorted to a self-serving, reckless and fictitious claim.

Islamabad also accused New Delhi of putting regional peace and stability at grave risk, adding that the domestic and international media would be taken to the impact site.

In what was an indication of political will and resolve, photographs on Tuesday morning showed a meeting  held after the strike  presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and flanked by External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, finance minister Arun Jaitley, home minister Rajnath Singh and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman apart from NSA Ajit Doval and Mr Gokhale.

Experts point out that Indias emphasis of it being a non-military preemptive action was a clear signal to the rest of the world, including Pakistan, that the strike was not aimed at the Pakistan military or civilians but that it was aimed only at a terror camp to neutralise a planned terror attack on India.

Addressing reporters, Mr Gokhale said, In an intelligence-led operation in the early hours of Tuesday, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated. This facility at Balakot was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghouri, the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar, chief of JeM.

Pakistan army spokesperson Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor, however, claimed in a series of tweets that, Indian Air Force violated Line of Control. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircrafts (have) gone back. Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage.
New Delhi: Hours after the Indian Air Force killed a very large number of terrorists at a Jaish-e-Mohammed camp across the border in Balakot, Prime Minister Narendra Modi got off his armoured car to travel to an ISKCON temple event in south Delhi.

In a short video of the trip released by a news agency, Mr Modi was seen being greeted by people. A young man greeted him by touching his feet, many others came to pose for photographs with him. At the event later, Prime Minister Modi turned a page of the worlds largest Bhagwad Gita, over 2.8m big and weighing 800kg, to mark its launch.

Speaking at the event, Mr Modi didnt make any direct reference to the air strike. But he did talk of the many lessons that the Bhagwad Gita held for everyone.

Like saving the earth from devils and enemies of humanity. This is the message that we are trying to give, he said to a loud cheer from his audience.

Dubbed as the Astounding Bhagavad Gita, the book is billed as the largest principle sacred text ever to be printed.

Speaking about the holy book of Hindus, Mr Modi urged people to not be divisive and asked them to look beyond feelings of yours and mine.

In a veiled reference to Pakistan, Mr Modi said: In order to save the earth from enemies of humanity, Gods power has always been with us. And we are trying to send across this message with proof to evil souls and devils.

The Prime Minister said he had presented a copy of the Bhagwat Gita to former US President Barack Obama too. The Gita has been a guiding light over a thousand years, from gyaan (knowledge) to vigyaan (science).

The copy of the sacred book unveiled by Mr Modi has an artistic touch of 18 exquisite paintings and an innovative elegant layout. It was printed in Milan, Italy, on YUPO synthetic paper so as to make it untearable and waterproof.

The Bhagavad Gita, often referred to as the Gita, is a sacred text, revered by the Hindus, and is part of the epic Mahabharata, containing the teachings of Lord Krishna to Arjuna on the battlefield.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Modi said that from the smallest Gita to the biggest Gita, there have been uncountable initiatives to spread its knowledge.

He said: Lokmanya Tilak spread the knowledge of Gita in Marathi and Gujarati. Gandhiji read the Gujarati version of it in jail. For Gandhiji, Gita and Satyagraha were an inseparable part of life. Gita is not just dharam grantha, its jivan grantha too. Gita shows us the way to seva (service) and samarpan (sacrifice). Gita is worlds dharohar. It has helped everyone see the correct path.

The Prime Minister said the Gita preserved the heritage of this nation. A German philosopher had acknowledged the values highlighted in Gita when India was still fighting for Independence.

He said whether one was a Yogi or an ordinary person, one will get all his or her questions answered in Gita. Remember Gita Shlokas in the time of distress, he said, while adding Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikaas is the result of these values from Gita.

Mr Modi further said: Lets look at politics beyond the feelings of whats yours and mine. Lets not be divisive. Our government has given momentum to the movement for Yoga and Ayurveda.
New Delhi/Churu (Rajasthan): A day after he inaugurated the emotive, solemn and stately National War Memorial dedicated to slain soldiers of Independent India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday addressed the nation from an election rally in Churu, Rajasthan, to flex the taut muscles of a new India fashioned under his leadership, and both assured and boasted, repeatedly, that the country is in safe hands.

Desh surakshit haathon mein hai, Mr Modi said often in his speech. Though Mr Modi didnt make a direct reference to the airstrikes even once, he began his speech by saying that he understood very well the sentiment, excitement and enthusiasm of the people present.

I understand your josh, as today is that sort of day, he said, and at the beginning of his speech paid his respect to our heroes in the armed forces. Nothing is above nation. Those who serve the nation, everyone who is engaged in nation building, Pradhan Sevak once again greets them, he said.

As some airstrikes details remained undisclosed, contradictory claims and clips of video games were doing the rounds on WhatsApp groups, in the absence of real material proof Mr Modi turned to rhetoric to rouse proud passions. Mr Modi, who began and ended his speech by asking people to clench their fists, raise both their hands and chant Bharat Mata ki Jai, kept weaving in words like shakti, veer saput, mamata to keep on topic and create moments to ask the audience rhetorical questions.

Kaun si takat hai, he asked, is responsible for this decisive, powerful India that is finally responding to terror.

Met with baffled silence, the Prime Minister asked again, and then again, almost goading the crowd to chant Modi, Modi. The moment it did, he promptly said, Not Modi. You, and your vote.

After sending the message across the country and the LoC that it cant be business as usual, that terror will beget a military response, overt and covert, from the Modi government, he spoke of PM-Kisan cash assistance to farmers across the country, except in Congress-ruled states that have decided not to join the scheme.

In 2014, the Modi government came to power with a comfortable majority on the promise of development for all. But five years later, with Lok Sabha elections due soon, and the BJPs economic record  from job creation and farm distress, to the impact on businesses and real estate  quite obviously wretched despite the brazen skulduggery, the party is banking on returning to power on the promise of a decisive leadership, selling safety in times of insecurity.

The airstrikes near the town of Balakot, some 50 kms from LoC, is the deepest cross-border raid launched by India since its 1971 war with Pakistan.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah tweeted that if the airstrikes took place in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), it is a major incursion and a significant strike by the IAF planes However, if its Bala Kote in Poonch sector, along the LoC, its a largely symbolic strike because at this time of the year forward launch pads and militant camps are empty and non-functional.
Hyderabad: Welcoming the strike against terrorist training camps across the Line of Control, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said, As a former IAF fighter pilot my heart swells with pride at the skill and valour of the Mirage 2,000 pilots who destroyed Pakistani terror camps across the LOC. I salute our IAF brave air warriors who have effectively carried out the air strike.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Mr Reddy said that the Indian Air Force should also strike at the terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammeds headquarters in Bahawalpur and send a strong message against cross-border terrorism.

He said that Pakistan is organising terrorist camps and alleged that it could only be with the support of Pakistan that the Pulwama attack was carried out. He said that Pakistan is supporting terrorist leader Masood Azhar.
Hyderabad: India has leapfrogged developed nations in many areas, and hopefully it will do so in health as well. This was the vision set by Chief Economic Adviser Prof. Krishnamurthy Subramanian in a conversation with TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao at BioAsia 2019 Life Sciences 4.0 in Hyderabad.

Prof. Subramanian highlighted the four main concerns facing Indias healthcare-poor financial protection; high out-of-pocket expenditures (individuals investing in their own healthcare); improvement in outcomes in terms of quality of healthcare; and suboptimal access and quality of healthcare, especially among the poor.

In terms of world rankings, India stands at 143, close to Ghana while in the neighbourhood Sri Lanka is at 79 and China 92.

What is important to note is that Indias spending is at par or more than those countries, he said.

Out-of-pocket expenditure in India is way higher than other countries which is an area of concern as policy makers. Another aspect of the rankings is that if we co-relate it with government control, we see that it is low in India and it seems to have a co-relation to how we are performing, he said.

Questioning Mr Subramanian about it, he asked, Sometimes the lack of regulation or minimal regulation leads to suboptimal outcomes. But in my opinion, too much regulation sometimes stifles outcomes and innovation, how do you balance these two?

Mr Subramanian said, it is because we tend to not be careful in thinking of the right kinds of interventions. Some interventions could be better than others. We should be focused on some of the unintentional consequences and think carefully about cost difference analysis of that and then go forward with regulations.

This sector is very technical with some quantity or price restrictions. But there will be some effect of that in terms of access to some people versus others. For instance if I have to travel 20 km to avail healthcare, even if a particular price is set all over India, the fact that the cost I pay to access that healthcare is very different to what someone pays in the city. This is where one size fit all in terms of regulation does not work very well.

Mr Rao added that when it comes to drug discovery companies spend billions of dollars and more often than not, they remain unsure of outcome. A price control on dugs and on medical devices and technologies therefore tends to scare investors.

He said, Indian Life Science industry is going through a rough ride in the last few years with the growth having dropped to single digit numbers. Pharma companies are worried about price control if they have to invest billions. Make in India but dont seem to understand these practical concerns.
TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao along with Prof. Krishnamurthy Subramanian, chief economic adviser of the Government of India, and Jayesh Ranjan during a Coffeetable conversation at HICC on Tuesday. (Photo: DC)

Hyderabad: India must face several challenges head-on if it attempts to close the gap with China in the biotechnology race. This was the general consensus among panellists at BioAsia 2019 Life Sciences 4.0 discussion on Can India match China in the Bio race, in Hyderabad.

Quality and pricing of products and emboldening Indian entrepreneurs in healthcare are areas that India must pay more attention to if it wants to catch up with China as a bio competitor.

Managing director of Boehringer Ingelheim, India, Sharad Tyagi, said that in the early 1990s, both countries were talked about as nations with potential.

Today, India is still being talked about as a country with potential while China has leapfrogged ahead by not only realising its potential but going beyond it.

He said, When I look at organisations looking to invest in a country, it is the sentiments about a country that drives the decision. These sentiments are stronger than actual facts and figures.

So what are the sentiments? China says, I want to be the biggest, the best. But the noises you get out of India are I dont want multinationals, I dont want to pay for patents, I want to control prices.

It becomes very difficult for someone sitting miles away and unfamiliar with the ground reality of these messages to say

India is a better place to invest.Moderator Utkarsh Palnitkar agreed that Chinas growth in biotech has been outstanding.

He said, China stated clearly that it wanted the sector to contribute four per cent of its GDP by 2020, a number that is very large.

The growth has been underpinned by a number of changes it made, principally the setting up of the China Food and Drug Administration, he noted.

Rapid clinical trials; massive increase in product launches and the strengthening of its intellectual property rights are reasons why China has leapfrogged in terms of growth in the last two years, Mr Palnitkar said.

The scale of things in China also gives the country a manufacturing advantage  whether it is their biotech parks or infrastructure.

On the flip side, however, the Chinese language continues to be a barrier to outsiders; its novel products are limited and clinical trial documentation remains difficult and hazardous, added Mr Palnitkar, an independent consultant specialising in Life Sciences.

For its part, India is taking several steps to strengthen the sector in terms of creating new bio policies, increasing clinical trials and increasing quality clinical trials.
Swatch said that Samsungs watch bears identical or virtually identical marks.

Swatch, which has demanded a trial in the complaint which also alleges unfair competition and unfair business practices, was not immediately available for comment.

Swatch Group has filed a complaint against Samsung Electronics Co and Samsung Electronics America Inc, saying the two companies infringed its trademark on designs for downloadable smart watch faces.

The Swiss watchmaker said the Korean companies watch faces that bear identical or virtually identical marks, to the trademarks it owns and uses on its brands which include Longines, Omega, Swatch, and Tissot.

This unabashed copying of the Trademarks can have only one purpose  to trade off the fame, reputation, and goodwill of the Swatch Group Companies products and marks built painstakingly over decades, Swatch Group said in a filing to the court in the Southern District of New York.

Swatch, which has demanded a trial in the complaint which also alleges unfair competition and unfair business practices, was not immediately available for comment.

Samsung was also not immediately available to comment.
Sources said, acting on a tip-off, Triplicane police carried out a raid in a house behind the Big Mosque and found 729 packets of Benson and Hedges cigarettes worth Rs. 7 lakh and Rs. 60,000 in cash. (Representational Image)

Chennai: The city police on Monday night seized a huge quantity of foreign cigarettes and cash from a house in Triplicane here, and arrested a 31-year-old man in connection with the seizure.

Sources said, acting on a tip-off, Triplicane police carried out a raid in a house behind the Big Mosque and found 729 packets of Benson and Hedges cigarettes worth Rs. 7 lakh and Rs. 60,000 in cash.

Police said Jawahar Ali, of Devipattinam in Ramanathapuram was arrested from the spot. However, the owner of the smuggled consignment, Syyed Abudaheer (34) of Ashok Nagar in Chennai, was absconding.

According to police, Syyed smuggled the cigarettes from Singapore and Malaysia, and intended to sell them in the black market here. But on Monday, neighbours who were suspicious about Sayyeds business, alerted the police.

Police arrested Jawahar and registered a case under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act.

Meanwhile, Jawahar told police that he had joined as worker only on Monday, and that he did not know it was an illegal business. Investigations are on.
Often cash and jewels kept in his cupboard at home would vanish, and though Narasimhan suspected the hand of Savitha, was unable to nail the culprit for lack of witness.

Chennai: Weary of theft of jewels and cash at his own home, an 80-year-old man installed spy cams in strategic places at home, and finally caught his maid stealing them.

Narasimhan, lives on Harrington Road in Chetpet with his wife. Since the couple lived alone, they had hired a maid, Savitha (24), who had been working for them for over five years.

Often cash and jewels kept in his cupboard at home would vanish, and though Narasimhan suspected the hand of Savitha, was unable to nail the culprit for lack of witness.

The idea of installing spy cams struck Narasimhan, after Savitha again committed the theft in which Narasimhan lost some more cash and jewels, kept in his cupboard.

Without delay, Narasimhan carefully installed the cams last week, and waited to see how his bait worked.

Not long after, just like he had suspected, 22 grams of gold jewels and Rs 35,000 again went missing. When Narasimhan checked the footage, he found Savitha stealing it. He then rushed to the Chetpet police and filed a complaint.

Police personnel who verified the footage, questioned Savitha who initially denied any connection with the theft. Later, she confessed to the crime, after police showed her the footage.

A theft case was registered against Savitha. Police were able to seize 62 grams of gold from her, but could not retrieve any cash as she claimed to have spent it, police said. Investigations are on.
New Delhi: Leaders of different political parties congratulated the Indian Air Force (IAF) at an all-party meeting called by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, to explain about the air strikes conducted on terrorist training camps situated across the Line of Control (LoC) during the early hours of Tuesday.

The Congress said that it will support security forces in their endeavour to stop terroist attacks in India.

Ms Swaraj briefed the leaders including Congress Ghulam Nabi Azad, CPI(M)s Sitaram Yechury, TMCs Derek OBrian, Omar Abdullah of National Conference and Bhartruhari Mahtab from BJD.

Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley, also members of the Cabinet Committee on Security like Ms Swaraj, were also present in the meeting.

Mr Azad later told reporters that political parties lauded the IAFs strikes in a clean operation as there were no civilian casualties.

We will support our security forces in their endeavour to stop terrorism in India from outside, he said.

NCPs Praful Patel, BSPs Satish Mishra and BJP ally Ramdas Athawale also attended the meeting.

Earlier in a swift and precise air strike, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammeds biggest training camp in Pakistan, killing many terrorists.

The action came almost two weeks after the Pulwama attacks where over 40 CRPF personnel were killed when an explosives-laden vehicle collided with their bus on February 14.

"I am happy that representatives of all parties unanimously congratulated the IAF. They also assured their support in the actions its taking against terrorism," Ms Swaraj said after the meeting.
Sources said that the Congress is aware that bringing the discourse back to agrarian crisis, unemployment and the Rafael deal, among other issues, to counter the BJPs pitch on nationalism, will be difficult.

New Delhi: The BJP, which only a few weeks ago was looking at the possibility of getting 200 or less seats in the Lok Sabha polls, has began talking about 300 seats.

The air strikes will be on the top of the agenda of a meeting of Opposition leaders to be held on Wednesday to chalk out a Common Minimum Programme and a pre-poll alliance for the general elections.

Sources said that the Congress is aware that bringing the discourse back to agrarian crisis, unemployment and the Rafael deal, among other issues, to counter the BJPs pitch on nationalism, will be difficult.

The Congress leader quoted above indicated that the Opposition needs to be cautious in countering the BJPs nationalist agenda as they will be in danger of being labelled anti-nationals after the air strike. That Mr Modi has scored with his daring strike became evident with agencies reporting, Indians taking to the streets in celebration across the country on Tuesday after the government said it carried out air strikes inside Pakistan killing hundreds of militants in JeM training camp.
The government informed that there were credible inputs of the JeM planning more suicide attacks in India and training terrorists in the camps. (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: Indian Air Force on Tuesday strategically carried out the aerial strike on Pakistan-based terror camps across Line of Control (LoC).

The massive operation took place in the early hours of Tuesday morning around 3:30 am and was completed within 19 minutes.

Approximately 80 km from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) around 300 terrorists were killed at Balakot, Chakothi, and Muzaffarabad, across LoC.

Twelve Mirage 2000 fighter jets were used in the operation to hit joint training camps of Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba inside Pakistan.

The strike completely destroyed camps by shelling laser-guided 1,000 kg bombs. These bombs were built with Israeli technology and were first used in the Kargil war.

The non-military pre-emptive action killed JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen attacks.

A five-star resort style camp in a hilltop forest in Balakot was the breeding house of hundreds of Fidayeen and their trainers.

India received intelligence that JeM had shifted many in-training terrorists and hardcore operatives, to the Balakot camp from PoK.

The lavish camp had facilities for 500 to 700 people, and even has a swimming pool along with cooks and cleaners.

The information provided Indian forces with "a sitting duck target" when they carried out an air strike.

Everyone at the camp was sleeping and Pakistani defence establishment had no clue that the attack was coming so deep into their country.

According to the government sources terror outfits had expected a surgical strike on camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir near the Line of Control.

"They had no idea that Balakot was to be the target ... when the pictures come in you will see only khandhar (ruins) of the once-flourishing camp", said the source to PTI.

The Balakot-based Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM) terror camp was used for ''battle inoculation" and its trainers were retired officers of the Pakistan Army

Located on the banks of Kunhar river in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, the camp was also used by another terror group Hizbul Mujahideen and offered aquatic training to its inmates.

The location was also used to deliver several "inspirational lectures" by JeM founder Masood Azhar and other terrorist leaders on several occasions.

In the Balakot camp, the terrorists were imparted the advanced 'Daura-e-Khaas' training in weapons, explosives and field tactics, attack on convoys of security forces, planting and making of IEDs, suicide bombing, rigging vehicles for suicide attacks and survival tactics in high altitudes and extreme-stress situations, the sources said.

The JeM specialises in fidayeen actions and gives immense importance to religious indoctrination and ideological brainwashing, they said.

According to the intelligence sources, flags of USA, UK and Israel were painted on staircases seen in JeM facility destroyed by Indian Air Force jets in Balako.

(Photo: ANI)

Ammunition in Balakot that was dump blown by IAF had more than 200 AK rifles, uncountable rounds hand grenades, explosives and detonators.

(Photo: ANI)

The government informed that there were credible inputs of the JeM planning more suicide attacks in India and training terrorists in the camps.

The target included Jaish's biggest training camp in Pakistan. The bombs were dropped in the terror camp led by Yousuf Azhar, the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar.

India avenged the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama on February 14.

This was the first cross-border air strike India had carried out after 1971 (Bangladesh war).

On September 29, 2016, the Indian Army had conducted surgical strikes on seven terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC).

The surgical strike came in response to the attack on the Army base in Uri on September 18, 2016.
'Western Naval Command is fully prepared to deal with any untoward situation in the wake of IAF air strikes in Pakistan,' said an official. (Representative Image)

Mumbai: In the wake of IAF's preemptive air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan, the Western Naval Command here is on a high alert and "fully prepared" to tackle any eventualities, an official said on Tuesday. Mumbai Police are also on high alert following the air strikes, the official said.

"After the air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps in Pakistan in the early hours on Tuesday, the security agencies have put the city on high alert," the official said.

"The Western Naval Command remains alert 24X7. Now, it is fully prepared to deal with any untoward situation in the wake of the air strikes in Pakistan," he said.

Western Naval Command, headquartered in Mumbai, is one of the three formations of the Indian Navy.

Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, has been one of the most preferred targets for terrorist organisations. The metropolis has witnessed a series of terror attacks, including explosions in Mumbai suburban trains in July 2006, and the unprecedented attacks of 26 November 2008, when two of the prime hotels, a landmark train station, and a Jewish Chabad house, in South Mumbai, were attacked and sieged.

In a swift and precise air strike following the Pulwama attack, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, officials said.
ndia is believed to have carried out air strikes inside Pakistan early Tuesday and targeted terror camps, sources said. (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Security met here Tuesday morning at the residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Indian Air Force carried out air strikes in Pakistan.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman were present at the meeting.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other top officials of the prime minister's office and the security apparatus were present at the meeting, official sources said.

India is believed to have carried out air strikes inside Pakistan early Tuesday and targeted terror camps, sources said. The strikes involving several fighter jets of the Indian Air Force successfully destroyed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the sources said.
The targets included the control rooms of Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit that carried out a terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: In relation to the Indian Air Force's (IAF) strike on terror launch pads across the LoC, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) responded by scrambling F-16s to intercept them, but abandoned their pursuit considering the large size of the Indian formation, sources said.

Sources also revealed that the operation was coordinated by the Western Air Command of the IAF.

The terror camps at Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad were struck by 12 Mirage 2000 jets with 1000 kg of explosives at around 3:30 am on Tuesday.

The targets included the control rooms of Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit that carried out a terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14 in which 40 security personnel were killed and five injured.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in a hurriedly summoned security meeting after the IAF operation, said that clouds of danger are hovering over Pakistan and that his country should not be worried over India's operation.

"I have already said that I don't want to mislead the public. Clouds of danger are hovering over us and we will have to remain alert," Samaa TV quoted Qureshi, as saying.
Gokhale also said that a pre-emptive strike became important. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

New Delhi: Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale briefed media in New Delhi after Indias air strikes on terror camps including Jaish-e-Mohammeds in Pakistan.

Addressing the media, Gokhale said, Credible intelligence was received that Jaish-e-Mohammed was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country and fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose.

He also said that a pre-emptive strike became important.

Applauding the efforts by armed forces, Gokhale said India struck the biggest camp of JeM in Balakot and large number of terrorists, trainers, senior commander and jihadis were eliminated.

Gokhale informed that camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother in law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar.

Foreign Secretary said India firmly committed towards taking all measures to fight terrorism and Pakistan to dismantle all terror camps, including those of JeM.
In view of the operation of IAF against terror camps in Balakot in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, targeting JeM camps on early Tuesday morning, Punjab government has put its border districts on a high alert. Police had also issued a 'high alert' across Gujarat. (Representational Image)

Punjab/Gujarat: In view of the operation of Indian Air Force (IAF) against terror camps in Balakot in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, targeting JeM camps on early Tuesday morning, Punjab government has put its border districts on a high alert. Police had also issued a "high alert" across Gujarat.

The Ambala air base and Mumbai naval base have also been put on high alert. Meanwhile, the forces are maintaining a strict vigil at Wagah Border, reported NDTV.

Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday will visit the high alert declared border areas such as Ferozepur, Tarn Taran, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Fazilka. Singh has also ordered a spate of measures as a part of the states preparedness to deal with any contingency in view of the latest developments at the Line of Control (LoC).

The border district officials have been asked to put in place all contingency plans to ensure the protection and safety of the citizens. Chief Minister Singh also chaired a high-level meeting with top officials to review the situation.

The meeting was of the view that there was no need for panic and has decided against any move to evacuate the residents of the border areas. All aspects of the current situation were discussed with the top brass of the police, civil administration, and other senior officials, an official spokesperson said.

Chief minister Amarinders media advisor Raveen Thukral, who was also present in the meeting, said the Chief Minister has directed the officials to monitor the situation closely and not let down their guard under any circumstances.

The state government was in touch with the Union Home and Defence Ministries to remain abreast of the situation. The government was fully prepared to deal with any eventuality, said Thukral.

However, tranquillity prevailed along the Indo-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) after India carried out air strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) and destroyed terror camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The troops are on high alert, a senior Army officer said.

"The situation is peaceful along the LoC in J&K. There are no reports of any untoward incident reported from anywhere," the officer told PTI.

Though there was a brief ceasefire violation by the Pakistan army before the air strikes, he added.

There was intermittent firing along the IB in Kanachak sector in Jammu district on Monday night, he added.

IAFs strikes on terror camps in Balakot in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province comes 12 days after the dreaded terror outfitJaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)carried out a debilitating attack on the CRPF convoy in Pulwama on February 14 in which as many as 40 jawans were killed.
Given the painful history of India's association with the OIC, this announcement was nothing short of a bombshell.

On February 23, just as New Delhi was recovering from the controversies surrounding the visit of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the UAE foreign office in Abu Dhabi issued a statement saying that India would be invited as a "guest of honour" at the meeting of the foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) taking place in the UAE capital on March 1-2. The UAE statement explained that the invitation was in response to India's "great global political stature as well as its time-honoured and deeply rooted cultural and historical legacy, and its important Islamic component". Given the painful history of India's association with the OIC, this announcement was nothing short of a bombshell.

Fifty years ago, in September 1969, at Rabat, India suffered a deep humiliation when, though formally invited, its official delegation to the first summit of this Islamic grouping was unceremoniously evicted from the meeting at the insistence of then Pakistani leader Gen. Yahya Khan.

This meeting of 24 Muslim countries had been convened by Moroccan ruler King Hassan to protest against the arson attack on the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem in August. While condemning the attack, the conference also spoke of the gathering as reflecting the "collective voice of the Muslim world" and committed the leaders to "safeguard and protect" the interests of the global Muslim community.

The first meeting of Islamic foreign ministers was held in Jeddah in March 1970 and the OIC was formally launched in 1972. Its secretariat, headed by a secretary-general, is in Jeddah, with Saudi Arabia providing most its funding. The kingdom maintains tight control over the functioning of the body: traditionally the assistant secretary-general for political affairs has been a Saudi, but since 2014 the two successive secretaries-general have been Saudi as well. This ensures direct Saudi control over the OIC agenda in this period of considerable internecine competition in West Asia.

Saudi influence over the OIC is the result of a shift in balance of influence in favour of the kingdom after the defeat of Egypt in the 1967 war. Till then, through the 1950s and early 1960s, Egypt after its republican revolution and espousal of Arab nationalism, socialism and secularism, had been the leader of the Arab world. In this Arab Cold War, the kingdom represented the traditional monarchies whose values and worldview

were anchored in Islam. As country after

country moved from royal rule to revolution - Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Libya  it seemed that the monarchies would lose this ideological competition.

The 1967 war ended this rivalry in favour of the kingdom, which now moved rapidly to consolidate its leadership in West Asia on the Islamic platform. The OIC is the product of this effort.

Today, the OIC has 56 countries, in addition to Palestine, as members. In nominal terms, these countries have a collective GDP of $10 trillion ($28 trillion in terms of ppp) and a per capita income of $10,000 ($20,000 in ppp terms). Its members cover a vast geographical space across Asia, Africa and even Europe and Latin America, and include some of the wealthiest nations of the world Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait. But in 50 years the OIC has acquired neither the standing nor the credibility that its membership and resources would warrant.

The reason is that Saudi Arabia uses the OIC as a platform to subserve its own specific interests  every time it feels the need to project Islamic backing for its position, it gets resolutions passed accordingly. In return for such support, it allows members to issue any resolution they wish against a non-member.

Thus, the kingdom has ensured that the resolution on Syria condemns the Bashar al-Assad regime in the harshest terms, while extolling the kingdom's role to back the interests of the political opposition. Similarly, regarding Yemen, Saudi Arabia obtains resolutions backing its military action and its support for former President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The organisation has therefore remained institutionally feeble, with its own members giving priority to their membership of other groupings.

Pakistan is the exception. The OIC platform is the only one it can use to get one-sided anti-India resolutions passed that are then projected as the consensual position of the entire OIC membership. The anti-India resolutions cover the Pakistani agenda on the Kashmir issue, ties with India and the "abuses" heaped on India's Muslim community. These resolutions began with the foreign ministers' conference in Cairo in 1990, coinciding with the commencement of the Pakistan-sponsored jihad in Kashmir. They became longer and more abusive through the 1990s, particularly after the destruction of the Babri Masjid.

During this period, Indian envoys were assured by member countries that the resolutions did not reflect national positions and, in keeping with OIC procedure, they were generally passed without discussion or debate. We were consistently asked to ignore them. This finally resonated with external affairs minister Jaswant Singh, who in 2001 directed that they be ignored since "they are not worth the paper they are written on".

Thus, the invitation to India to be the guest of honour at the Abu Dhabi conference is essentially the correction of a historic wrong and brings India into the mainstream of this Islamic organisation, where it has a natural place. It is also a solid rebuke to Pakistan. The invitation results from the robust Indian diplomatic engagement with the major Gulf countries, particularly the high-profile interactions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and is a tribute to India's global stature.

Obviously, Pakistan will not give up the one unfettered opportunity it has to heap calumny upon India; hence, the hostile resolutions could continue for some more time. They will stop only when Saudi Arabia firmly puts an end to them.

As the external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj extends her hand of cooperation to the OIC at Abu Dhabi, the abuse of the "guest of honour" should now end and the real perpetrator of extremism and violence identified and pilloried at the Islamic platform.
Emma Lorre, the girl from Sweden, and Mohammad Azharuddin of Kandhamal take a picture with family members after their wedding ceremony on Sunday.  DC

Bhubaneshwar: A Swedish girls seven-year-old wait to meet her lover, a youth hailing from Odishas Kandhamal district, finally ended on Sunday evening when she arrived here with her family members.

Emma Lorre, the girl from Sweden, met her lover Mohammad Azharuddin of Kandhamal and solemnised the nikah as per Muslim custom to enter into a marital relationship.

Seven years ago, Emma had fallen in love with one Azharuddin while the latter was working as a chef in Goa.

Despite staying far away from each other for all these years, both of them continued to be in a relationship through social media. After two years of online dating, Azharuddin travelled all the way to Sweden.

In 2015, both Emma and Mohammad decided to walk down the aisle together and after getting nod from their families, they finally tied the knot in Odisha in the presence of family members, friends and relatives.

It has been seven years, and we have managed to stick through thick and thin. I hope that we live happily ever after, said Azharuddin. Emma said she would love to a be good housewife to always stand by her husband.

I would love to be a good housewife to take care of Azharuddin and his family members. At the same time, I would also do some business to augment his familys income, said the Swedish girl.

In another contrasting instance reported from Dundelmal village under Junagarh block of Kalahandi, marriage was fixed between Deepanjali, daughter of local villager Sadharm Nayak, and Amit Nayak, son Trinath Nayak of Dharmagarh. However, their destiny had other plans.

On the day of the marriage on Sunday, everything was poised to happen smoothly until Amits baraat party arrived at the brides residence. Just prior to the beginning of the rituals on the mandap, Amit collapsed on the ground.

In no time, family members of the bride found that the groom was in an inebriated state. Subsequently, a furious Deepanjali rejected the marriage on the spot.

Asked about it, Deepanjali said, I would rather die than marry a drunkard like Amit. Despite repeated attempts for compromise from both sides, the marriage was finally called off.
A new bench comprising of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justices Ashok Bhushan, Abdul Nazeer, SA Bobde and DY Chandrachud was announced in January after an earlier hearing on January 10 was adjourned. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court began hearing of Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case at 10.30 am.

The Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi asked layers of both sides to peruse the report of Secretary General of Supreme Court in status of documents.

The top court said if translations of documents are now acceptable to all, parties cannot contest translations once the proceedings begin.

The court said it can proceed with hearing if there is consensus with regard to translation of documents.

SC was referring to copies of report filed by Secretary General on status of documents, sealed records of case.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan who is representing a Muslim party, said he is yet to examine translation of documents.

Asking how much time would be needed to examine translations, Dhavan replied 8-12 weeks.

Supreme Court asked parties to show order by which they had agreed to the translated documents filed by UP government.

CJI Gogoi said dispute is arising between parties over translation of documents. He added that they will not waste their time if disputes are going to be raised over translation of documents.

Senior Advocate C S Vaidyanathan for Ram Lalla said translations were verified and accepted by all parties in December 2017.

Orders were passed to examine UP govt translations and now two years later they raise objections to it, said Vaidyanathan.

Seeing the disagreement between the parties, Supreme Court asked that can parties explore possibility of mediation to resolve land dispute. Even if there is 1 per cent chance, mediation should be done, suggested the top court.

However, Dhavan referred to Allahabad High Court verdict, and said mediation was tried earlier and was unsuccessful.

Supreme Court said it will pass order on next Tuesday (March 5) on whether the case may be sent for court-monitored mediation to save time.

A new bench comprising of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justices Ashok Bhushan, Abdul Nazeer, SA Bobde and DY Chandrachud was announced in January after an earlier hearing on January 10 was adjourned.
New Delhi: Azhar Yusuf, brother-in-law of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar and the target of the Indian air strikes on Tuesday, was involved in the 1999 hijack of Indian Airlines plane IC-814 and was on Interpol lookout notice since 2000.

Azhar alias Ustad Gauri was heading the terror camp in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which was targeted and destroyed by the Indian Air Force early this morning.

JeM's Yusuf Azhar alias Mohammad Salim alias Ustaad Gohri who was targeted today by IAF #airstrike in Balakot across LOC was on the Interpol list and among the most wanted in India. pic.twitter.com/1eTj8FhFMJ  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

After the air strike, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the media that a large number of Jaish terrorists, including top commanders, trainers and those terrorists who were to be the fidayeen (suicide attackers) were eliminated.

According to Interpol notice, Azhar alias Mohd Salim hailed from Karachi and could speak Urdu, Hindi and Pakistani.

He was involved in the hijacking of IC-814 from Nepal to Kandahar in December 1999, which ended with the release of Masood Azhar and two other terrorists. Masood Azhar later floated the Jaish-e-Mohammad terror outfit which was responsible for a series of attacks in India, including the one on Parliament and the recently in Pulwama in Kashmir.

Jaish-e-Mohammad terror outfit, Gokhale pointed out, has been active in Pakistan for last two decades but Pakistan government has always denied its existence and taken no action.

He said it was impossible to believe that such facilities, where hundreds of terrorists are trained, can operate without the knowledge of authorities in Pakistan.

The Foreign Secretary also pointed out that JeM has already been proscribed by the UN.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday briefed the opposition leades over the IAF strike at terror camps deep across the Line of Control.(Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: The Centre on Tuesday briefed the opposition parties over the Indian Air Force strikes on terror camps across the Line of Control (LoC).

After the meeting, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said the opposition parties extended full support to the government and security forces in the fight against terror.

Another good thing is that it was a clean operation in which no civilian died and terror camps were specifically targeted, said Azad.

Emerging from the all-party meet, Swaraj said, I am happy that all parties in one voice praised the security forces and supported the Government's anti-terror operations.

We had called an all party meet on the IAF strike, I am happy that all members congratulated Indian Air Force and supported all investigations initiated against terror attacks, said Swaraj.

Post the all-party meet with various leaders, Swaraj added that everyone is united against terror.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj briefed the opposition leaders at the all-party meeting held at Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan in New Delhi. The meeting was attended by Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley, Congress leader Azad and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah among others.

In the last all-party meeting convened in the wake of Pulwama attack, the opposition had said they supported the government to take all necessary actions in the aftermath of the attack.
Meanwhile, on February 16, he had picked up the girl from school on his two-wheeler and the duo did not return to the village until the next evening. (Representational Image)

Chennai: The Kancheepuram police have launched a search operation for a 28-year-old man, who allegedly raped a class 12 girl on the pretext of marrying her and later fled.

According to the police, Boopathi, (28), was an auto-rickshaw driver from Chengalpattu. Sources said Boopathi had developed a relationship with a 17-year-old girl from the same locality who used to travel to school in his auto.

Meanwhile, on February 16, he had picked up the girl from school on his two-wheeler and the duo did not return to the village until the next evening. Since the girl and Boopathi were distant relatives, the boys family had promised to get him married to the girl when she came of age.

However, on February 19, the family left the village and they were nowhere to be seen, the police said. Realising that they had been cheated, the girls father lodged a complaint at Chengalpattu all women police station. "We have retained Boopathis younger sister who was studying in a college in a district nearby. She was about to leave the college hostel when we reached the place," said the police.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the family had moved out of Kancheepuram and a team of police are tracking the mobile numbers to nab the suspect and the family. Further investigations are on.
On hearing a loud sound around 6 am, villagers went to the spot and found the debris of the UAV. (Photo: ANI)

Bhuj: A Pakistani unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was on Tuesday shot down near the International Border in Kutch district of Gujarat, police sources said.

Debris of the UAV was seen near Nanghatad village in Abdasa taluka of Kutch, they said.

On hearing a loud sound around 6 am, villagers went to the spot and found the debris of the UAV, the sources said.

Asked if a Pakistani UAV had been shot down by the Indian armed forces, a police official, on condition of anonymity, said, "Such an incident has happened, we are investigating the matter."

The official, however, refused to elaborate further.

Earlier, government sources said that in a pre-dawn strike, combat jets of Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control on the Pakistani side, 12 days after Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group carried out the dastardly Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

They said the IAF's Mirage 2000 fighter jets pounded the terror camps in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakoti in the well-planned strike destroying Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the operation.
Paris: His right-hand woman at Chanel, Virginie Viard, who has now taken the reins at the iconic label, will present what is officially his final collection on the last day of the fashion week shows on March 5. It is still not clear how much of the collection was created by Lagerfeld, who died last Tuesday aged 85.

He had leaned heavily on Viard, his head of studio, in his final months. The workaholic German, who always insisted that he would design until he dropped, drew his creations by hand and then handed them on to Viard to realise.

Virginie Viard, Karl Lagerfeld's right hand woman, has taken over the reins at Chanel. (Photo: AFP)

"I understand him and I can sublimate what he wants to do and bring to Chanel," she told AFP in a 2015 interview on what made the duo tick. Their three-decade partnership was the motor that drove a constant reinvention of the brand during Lagerfeld's 37 years in charge.

The creator was cremated Friday "without ceremony", as he had requested, in the presence of Viard and a handful of his closest friends including Princess Caroline of Monaco and fashion's most powerful man, LVMH tycoon Bernard Arnault.

Chanel would not comment on whether next week's show will include a homage to Lagerfeld, saying only that "a farewell ceremony will take place at a later date". Under Lagerfeld, Chanel staged spectacular shows at the vast Grand Palais in central Paris.

But illness stopped him from attending its haute couture show there in January, the first time he ever missed a Chanel show, with Viard taking the bow at the end. At October's spring-summer show, Lagerfeld went out of his way to acknowledge Viard, who took the bow alongside him.

The Decorative Arts Museum in Paris has put on display four of Lagerfeld's most famous creations for Chanel and Chloe, which he also transformed, in the first official tribute to his creative genius. Internet resale sites have reported a huge spike in interest for Lagerfeld's work since his death.

Such is "the Kaiser's" enduring influence, that youthful Berlin-based label Ottolinger led its show Monday with a series of acid-tinged tartan twin set outfits that were a cheeky millennials' take on Lagerfeld's Chanel classics. Its Swiss creators Christa Bosch and Cosima Gadient also took a leaf out of Lagerfeld's book by wittily batting off the comparison.

With British designer Phoebe Philo talked of as a possible successor at Chanel long term, one of her former acolytes at Celine, Korean-born Rok Hwang, kicked off fashion week's nine packed days with a highly assured Paris debut.

The London-based creator, who grew up in a caravan in Austin, Texas, won the prestigious LVMH special prize last year and the deconstructed trench coats and fluid paisley scarf dresses in his autumn winter collection won him more fans in the French capital.
Chile: For almost a century, the inhabitants of Robinson Crusoe, named for literature's most famous castaway have known that their island's fragile ecosystem depends on them conserving its unique wildlife.

One of three islands in the Juan Fernandez archipelago, 700 kilometers (430 miles) off the Pacific coast of Chile, it was discovered in the sixteenth century. The island chain secured its place in history as the home of Alexander Selkirk, the Scottish sailor marooned there for four years and four months, a tale he later related to Daniel Defoe, who penned his adventure book based on his story. One of the other islands in the chain is called Alexander Selkirk, the third is Santa Clara.

In 1977, the archipelago was named a biosphere reserve and almost a year ago, Chile announced the creation of the enormous Juan Fernandez Marine Park. Covering an area of 262,000 square kilometers (101,000 square miles) of ocean, it is one of the largest protected zones in the Pacific.

It also connects to a network of marine reserves in Chile totalling some 1.3 million square kilometers, meaning that about 44 percent of the nation's waters have some level of protection against mining and industrial fishing.

The wildlife of these remote islands faces various threats, including ocean trash, in particular plastic and invasive species that have been introduced to the fragile ecosystem of Juan Fernandez, home to around 1,000 people.

Cats, rats and coatis (a type of South American raccoon) are the main hazard for the Juan Fernandez firecrown, a type of hummingbird found only in the islands, and whose eggs and chicks are easy prey. They are also a threat to the pink-footed shearwater, a migratory seabird which only nests in the archipelago, where there are 35,000 pairs, and on Mocha Island, close to the mainland, where there are 60,000 breeding pairs.

The environment ministry has just launched a recovery plan to protect the underground nests of the shearwaters, which fly in to mate every year from the United States and Canada.

"People are taking this seriously," said Pablo Manriquez, coordinator for the NGO Oikonos, noting that residents have changed their street and house lights from white to red or green to help the shearwaters avoid crashing into buildings and trees in foggy weather, when the bright lights appear to disorient them. Downed birds are vulnerable to predators.

Work has also been started to preserve the luma trees where hummingbirds nest, eradicating non-native blackberry bushes that strangle the trees. Sustainable fishing is the archipelago's main goal.
Fawzia Koofi was one of just two Afghan women invited to Moscow earlier this month for informal meetings with the Taliban. (Photo: AFP)

Afghanistan: Fawzia Koofi was hesitant to face the Taliban militants who jailed her husband, threatened to stone her for wearing nail polish and when she became a high-profile MP and women's rights champion, they even tried to assassinate her.

But the trailblazing politician and mother of two daughters could not refuse a rare invitation this month to stand before her oppressors and declare unequivocally that their brand of misogyny and prejudice would never again take root in Afghanistan.

"It was not that I wanted to do it, but I was doing it for the women of Afghanistan," she told AFP in an interview at her Kabul home. "I felt powerful. It was a room full of people, all male... For me, it was important that I make myself visible and my message clear to them."

Koofi was one of just two Afghan women invited to a grand hotel in Moscow earlier this month for informal meetings with the Taliban. The talks came days after other, separate negotiations between the militants and the US in Qatar raised expectations of a breakthrough in the 17-year conflict.

Washington, which resumed talks with the Taliban in Doha on Monday, is seeking a way out of its longest war but Afghans and many observers fear a hasty departure could see the Taliban return to power, or the country fracture into civil war.

Many women, in particular, are afraid of being forced back under Taliban rule, beneath burqas and behind walls, without access to education or jobs. In Moscow, in scenes unthinkable under the Taliban regime, the mullahs sat in silence as Koofi defended her daughters' rights to thrive in a modern Afghanistan, free from harsh limitations.

The other 48 delegates at the unprecedented conference in the Russian capital were all men, Afghan political heavyweights and bearded Taliban officials, none used to being addressed so assertively by a woman.

"You cannot just put her in her house and deprive her, like you did me, seeing the world through the small window of their burqas," Koofi said, recalling her defiant speech before the delegation. "She has now much more connectivity. She will not go back to your time," she stated at the meeting.

One of Koofi's fellow passengers on the flight to Moscow was the Taliban's head of vice and virtue, the dreaded moral police who cruised the streets in white pickup trucks flogging women accused of indecency. "I remember how dangerous... the Hilux pickup car sound was to every woman when we heard it. That sound is still in my ears," said the 44-year-old widow.

Squarely in the minority, she had to lobby to get into smaller discussion circles. At the official press conference, she was stuck at the back, given no chance to speak while the men addressed foreign media at the front.

But that was nothing new for the female lawmaker, who has developed a thick skin in a country often described as the most dangerous on earth to be a woman or a politician, let alone both. As an unwanted newborn girl, Koofi was left to die in the sun by her exhausted mother, one of seven wives in a family of 23 children.

She lay screaming and sunburned for almost a day until her mother relented and took her back in. From that moment on she thrived under her mother's love and support, becoming the first girl in her family to attend school, though her education was interrupted when she was forced out of medical college in 1996 as the Taliban stormed to power.

But after the US invasion she rose in a new Afghanistan to work for UNICEF, before entering politics in 2005 and becoming the country's first female deputy speaker of parliament. She has spent her political life tussling with male parliamentarians trying to water down women's rights and is used to not being popular.

"My fight is not a very pleasant fight... It's not something that people like, especially politicians in Afghanistan. I see that as a positive sign," said Koofi. "I am perhaps most hated because I make many people unhappy. Which is ok, you cannot make everybody happy."

One fight she did not take up in Moscow, the Taliban's outright refusal to consider a female president for Afghanistan. "Why should I beg them to get what I deserve? It is a right that is guaranteed in our constitution," she said. "I see myself eligible for any position, regardless of my gender," she concluded.
Bigg Boss Telugu 2 winner and actor Kaushal Manda is in the news again after a section of people from his fan brigade, Kaushal Army, started to revolt against his deeds. Apparently, a few key members of the fan community accused Kaushal of fraud in the name of the Kaushal Army Foundation.

They argue that they have done a lot of work on social media to troll people who have opposed Kaushal during his participation in the reality show, but the actor has duped and looted everyone and treated them badly.

When they demanded accountability with respect to the utilisation of the foundation funds, Kaushal not only terminated them from the association but also personally targeted and threatened them.

Kaushal, however, has denied all the allegations against him. He adds that he had to terminate all the members from the fan group because he found out that they had been sexually harassing outsiders.

I expelled the members on account of misconduct towards women and the latest allegations are a part of their conspiracy to get back at me. Since I have turned down their requests and maintained discipline, they dont want to see me prosper and have been trying to spread negative news about my personality. I shall initiate necessary legal action against all those who are spreading such false news.

When asked Kaushal about the rumors that he would foray into active politics in the forthcoming elections, Kaushal adds, I do want to serve the people on a bigger platform. At the moment, though, Id rather not comment on my political plunge.
According to the ATS, they had recovered firearm and ammunition from Naiks possession at the time of his arrest.

The NIA would question him in jail between February 26 and March 1.

Mumbai: A court has granted permission to National Investigation Agency (NIA) to interrogate Harpal Singh Naik arrested from Pune for allegedly attempting to conspire to revive Sikh militancy. He was found in possession with a weapon. The NIA would question him in jail between February 26 and March 1.

While seeking permission to interrogate 42-year-old Naik, the NIA in its application alleged that the accused, along with other arrested and wanted accused, were planning for jail breaks for releasing members of Babbar Khalsa Interna-tional (BKI) in order to revive the movement and they wanted to conduct probe in this regard too.

The anti-terrorism squad (ATS) had arrested Naik from Pune in Dec-ember 2018, for allegedly having links with Khali-stan Separatist movement. Last month, the NIA took over the probe, begun further investigation and hence the case has been remanded to NIA court in Mumbai.

Apart from Naik, the ATS had also arrested Mohiuddin Siddiqui and Surjeet Nijjar. While the court granted permission to NIA to interrogate Naik in jail, the agencys req-uest seeking custodial interrogation of Siddiqui has been deferred for hea-ring till Wednesday so that Siddiqui could eng-age a lawyer for himself.

The ATS has arrested Siddiqui for allegedly supplying arms to Naik. According to the ATS, they had recovered firearm and ammunition from Naiks possession at the time of his arrest.

According to the police, Naik believed in the idea of a separate Khalistan country.
Saloni Misra is all set to make her debut in the forthcoming Telugu film, Falaknuma Das, directed by Vishwaksen. This movie is going to be the Telugu remake of the Malayalam film, Angamaly Diaries. Born in Punjab, Saloni recently returned to India from New Zealand, where she has studied fashion design.

I have extensively worked as a model, and was never keen on acting. So getting into movies, she reveals, adding, When I was called to play the role of a doctor in the film Falaknuma Das, I believed it would be an ideal debut for me. Saloni participated in a workshop to prepare for her part. I was new to the language so initially, I found it quite difficult to get my lines right. It got easier over time, though, and I thoroughly understand my dialogues now. My character is a matured one and has several shades to it, explains Saloni.

Interestingly, the actress is a trained belly dancer. I passionate about shaking a leg and have performed belly dancing a few times. I'm hoping to get a chance to showcase this skill of mine in films, too, Saloni quips.
International Brent futures were at USD 64.66 a barrel at 0346 GMT, down 10 cents, or 0.2 per cent, from their last close.

Singapore: Oil prices slipped on Tuesday, extending losses of more than 3 per cent during the previous session, after US President Donald Trump called on OPEC to ease its efforts to boost the market.

International Brent futures were at USD 64.66 a barrel at 0346 GMT, down 10 cents, or 0.2 per cent, from their last close. Brent, which plunged 3.5 per cent on Monday, fell to as low as USD 64.32 a barrel on Tuesday, the lowest since Feb 14.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $55.19 per barrel, down 29 cents, or 0.5 per cent. WTI futures dropped 3.1 per cent on Monday.

Analysts said the United States, the worlds biggest oil consumer, was keen to counter a recent rally in prices driven by major exporters trimming production. From Feb 8 to Feb. 22, Brent prices gained 8.1 per cent.

Trump on Monday expressed concern about oil prices and repeated his previous calls on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to keep prices steady.

The warning carries more weight this time around, with US legislators resurrecting a bill that would make the organisation subject to antitrust laws in the US, ANZ Bank said in a research note.

OPEC and some non-affiliated producers such as Russia agreed late last year to cut output by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) to prevent a large supply overhang from growing.

Saudi Arabia, the worlds largest oil exporter, recently estimated its production will fall in March by more than anticipated under the supply-reduction agreement, to 9.8 million bpd.

Analysts also noted that while Trump is attempting to ease prices lower, sanctions by the United States against oil exporters Iran and Venezuela have contributed to the recent gains and are providing a floor for prices.

The US is well aware that their sanctions on Iran and Venezuela are also helping oil prices remain bid and they are not in a position to abandon those stances, said Edward Moya, a senior market analyst at brokerage OANDA.

The timing of the Presidents tweet could be extremely ideal as he may have helped nudge many oil traders in closing out bullish positions.
India, which first issued a set of guidelines for biosimilars back in 2012, will revise the guidelines again to include orphan drugs and reduce the time needed for approval of clinical trials.

Hyderabad: In a bid to speed up the approval process and accessibility of drugs in the country, the Union government plans to introduce a new set of rules in the coming few weeks, according to an official of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).

India, which first issued a set of guidelines for biosimilars back in 2012, will revise the guidelines again to include orphan drugs and reduce the time needed for approval of clinical trials.

The new rules, which will substitute the existing rules, have several amendments and are expected in a few weeks, Ranga Chandrashekar, Deputy Drugs Controller (India), CDSCO, told reporters at the sidelines of the BioAsia expo here in Hyderabad.

Mr Ranga added, One of the amendments is in regard to the orphan drugs. Previously, there was no definition of orphan drugs. The new rules will define orphan drugs and create a clear, transparent regulatory pathway for approval of orphan drugs. It will also allow approval of drugs with limited data.

Orphan drugs are medicinal products intended for diagnosis, prevention or treatment of life-threatening or very serious diseases that are rare.

These drugs are called orphan because under normal market conditions the pharmaceutical industry has little interest in developing and marketing such products as these are intended for a small number of patients.

In the United States, any disease that has less than 2.5 lakh patients is classified as orphan. Thanks to India's population, the new rules may set the bar as high as 5 lakh.

Despite orphan drugs being a good business opportunity for Indian companies, they tend to avoid manufacturing them, as it does not make sense for them to run the costly clinical trials for such a small number of patients.

Mr Chandrashekar said companies developing orphan drugs could get partial and full waiver of clinical trials, depending on the drug.

There will be abridged pathway to approve orphan drugs that reduces the cost and time for the drug to reach the market at affordable cost," he said.

The new rules, to cut costs, will allow drugs that are already approved in well-regulated regions such as in the US or Europe to improve accessibility. However, Mr Chandrashekar was quick to remind that Indian companies must adhere to the intellectual property rights.

The rules will also cut down on the time period for approval of clinical trials. Mr Chandrashekar said, The timeline will be fixed in the new rules. If the regulator fails to provide the necessary approval within the fixed period, it will be deemed approved for clinical trials. Currently, it takes about four months for the process. According to the new rules, if the drug is discovered in India, it will be given approval in 45 days. For others, it'll be 90 days. At present, such approval takes 120 days.
Trading houses have contracted to export 150,000 tonnes of raw sugar for shipments arriving in March and April at USD 305 to USD 310 per tonne.

Mumbai: Indian traders will export raw sugar to Iran for March and April delivery, five trade sources said, the first Indian sugar sales to Tehran in at least five years as Iran struggles to secure food supplies under US sanctions.

Iran is buying the sugar from India to use up the rupees it has received for oil sales to India, the worlds third-largest oil user. Iran is blocked from the global financial system, including using US dollars to transact its oil sales, by sanctions imposed by the United States.

Trading houses have contracted to export 150,000 tonnes of raw sugar for shipments arriving in March and April at USD 305 to USD 310 per tonne on a free-on-board basis, the trade sources told Reuters this week.
New Delhi: India and Italy on Tuesday discussed ways to increase cooperation in areas such as machinery, infrastructure, engineering, and agriculture to promote trade and investments between the countries.

These issues were discussed during the meeting of 20th India-Italy Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation (JCEC) here. It is an institutional mechanism for bilateral trade engagement held at the level of the Minister of Commerce and Industry of the two countries.

"Both India and Italy are looking towards the development of bilateral economic and trade relations through facilitating dialogue and enhancing cooperation in a wide range of sectors like machinery, infrastructure, engineering, digitalisation, agriculture and IPR," the commerce ministry said in a statement.

The two-day session is being co-chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu and by Deputy Minister of Economic Development Michele Geraci from the Italian side. The 19th JCEC meeting was held in Rome in May 2017. The bilateral trade between the countries has increased to USD 10.41 billion in 2017-18 from USD 8.8 billion in 2016-17.
Barcelona: Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal on Tuesday said the government must encourage 5G rollout in the country at the earliest by supporting the telecom sector in terms of pricing of spectrum at reasonable levels and lowering various levies.

"My recommendation is govt must encourage 5G coming in India ... rather than being late. Government can help in giving more spectrum at reasonable price," Mittal told reporters here.

He said the telecom regulator Trai-recommended price is very high, as for 5G every operator will require over 100 megahertz.

"All equipment currently being deployed by Airtel are 5G ready. You cannot have a situation where you want to benefit Digital India and you tax the most. Just not get into a new dialogue... you see new DCC (Digital Communications Commission) policy. What you have committed do that," Mittal said.

The government has promised reduction in levies on the telecom sector under the new telecom policy.

He said the industry is building infrastructure for 5G service and the government has to extend support.

Mittal said that Bharti Airtel wants to have it optical fibre company Telesonic to be in place by March and it is in talks with Vodafone to join the company with its optic fibre network.
She not only called the surgical strike merely a war-game but also cautioned Modi that politics should not be played with the blood of the jawans.

Kolkata: Levelling a high voltage allegation against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday asserted that he knew beforehand of the Pulwama attack but he did not act eyeing for votes in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.

In her address to the Trinamul Congress core committee meeting at Nazrul Mancha in south Kolkata, she also sought Mr Modi to explain why the attack happened and questionned where he was during the attack.

Sharpening her salvo against the PM, the Trinamul supremo even charged him of pushing the jawans to the jaws of death instead of airlifting them although his government had intelligence inputs about the terror strike.

She not only called the surgical strike merely a war-game but also cautioned Mr Modi that politics should not be played with the blood of the jawans.

Although Ms Banerjee condemned the terror attack and expressed her condolences to the bereaved families of the slain jawans, this was however the first time she held Mr Modi directly responsible for the terror strike which left more than 40 Central Reserve Police Force jawans dead on February 14 in Jammu and Kashmir.

Ms Banerjee asked Mr Modi, Why did it happen Modibabu? Where were you when the incident took place? You knew beforehand that the incident was going to happen.

Lambasting the PM, she alleged, You had prior information. The government had intelligence inputs. It also had instructions. Why did you then push the jawans into the jaws of death instead of airlifting them, conducting naka-checking and sanitising the roads? Just because of playing politics for votes as the elections are nearing? The blood of the jawans is not for the politics of votes. It will not succeed.

Taking a dig at Mr Modi for receiving Seoul Peace Prize 2018 recently, the CM claimed, You would be able to mislead the people only for a few days. Surgical strike is a war-game only. So is shadow war. He poses himself to be a great leader. After triggering a war and riot across the country, he took peace prize to present himself as an ambassador of humanity. Vowing to oust Mr Modi from power and bring a change at the Centre, she instructed the Trinamul rank and file to ensure the partys victory in all of the 42 Lok Sabha seats.

Ms Banerjee told the workers, It is not merely a word that I am talking of winning 42 out of 42. We have to reflect the plan in action.
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Mix 107.7's Time Warp Prom is a night of high-energy dancing to the great retro dance music of the 80's as well as sets from the band "Stranger" along with contests, pictures, and those crazy dances! Great for couples, singles, a girls night out, even mini reunions. Come get "Into The Groove"!

Tickets available through Ticketmaster.
On Your Feet is not only the title of the Broadway musical about Emilio & Gloria Estefan but also a call to the action that the band gives the audience. Its reportedly near impossible to stay seated through the entire show due to the foot-stomping rhythmic music that begs to be danced to. More than just a musical, On Your Feet is similar to a concert from when the Miami Sound Machine was in its prime. At the Schuster Center, March 5-10, those who attend should be prepared to be On Your Feet.

For Devon Goffman its a blessing to be part of a production with such a high level of musical talent. Hes an eye witness to the joy that its spread all across the country. Weve not had a show yet where the whole audience hasnt been up and dancing by the end. Its an electric show with a mix of being a musical, a play, and a concert all in one, he said.

While the musical elements are top notch, Goffman strongly believes that the central storyline is equally compelling. It details the relationship of Emilio and Gloria Estefan, whose careers served as an inspiration to many. Now On Your Feet is inspiring even more to pursue their dreams. Its a really phenomenal story about two immigrants who never gave up and changed American music forever, said Goffman.

The story is especially relevant today, according to Goffman, with immigration being such a big issue. The U.S is a land of immigrants. Everyone you meet is a descendant of an immigrant. Its important that people be reminded of what America is, he said.

A bonus of On Your Feet is that the band, on stage throughout the whole show, contains some original members of the Miami Sound Machine. Among them is the shows music director, Clay Ostwald, who co-wrote many songs with Gloria & Emilio Estefan. It provides a very unique sense of authenticity to the music thats being replicated. Its very rare to have a show with people who were actually part of what is being portrayed. This is an amazing group of people you wont want to miss the chance to see it, said Goffman.

In addition to being part of the ensemble, Goffman plays Phil, a record producer who is initially opposed to the musical stylings of Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine. Phil is against the mixing of Latin and American music, but is eventually won over and becomes a staunch supporter.

For their vision to infuse their Latin rhythms into English lyrics, Goffman greatly respects the Miami Sound Machine. He has learned than many fans hold them in high esteem as well. Americans had never heard anything like their music before. They have an underdog spirit and as a band inspired others to pursue their dreams, he said.

In the second act, Goffman plays the doctor who is largely responsible for Gloria to walk again after a devastating bus accident. Her recovery is yet another source of inspiration that Gloria provides to her fans. Hoffman often hears personal stories from audience members at the stage door about how she inspired them to come backs from their handicaps.

To be back in Dayton is especially meaningful to Goffman, as in 2002 he was in town with the Buddy Holly Story, for the first stop on his first tour. He was most recently in Dayton with The Jersey Boys. He advises everyone to be On Your Feet on March 5  10 at the Schuster Center.

Photo credit

2431: Mauricio Martinez as Emilio Estefan and Christie Prades as Gloria Estefan and Company, ON YOUR FEET!  Matthew Murphy
Is it time to have a school and college curriculum that includes yoga, meditation and more? It would seem apt, say city folk.

Students in England are all set to benefit from what is supposed to be a heritage that has been an Indian tradition since time immemorial. Recently, about 370 English schools in the UK will expand their traditional curriculum with a new subject; mindfulness, in the primary classes. They will work with mental health experts to learn relaxation techniques, breathing exercises and other methods to help them regulate their emotions. In other words, they will be practicing Yoga.

The initiative comes months after a survey published by the Nation Health Service (UK) found that one in eight children between the ages of five to 19 in England suffer from at least one mental disorder at the time of their assessment in 2017. New Horizon College of Engineering in Bengaluru is exposing their students to such practices too. On February 19, the university hosted well known Bollywood actor Boman Irani together with Swami Mukundananda, an international authority on mind management with the goal of inspiring and empowering youth for success in life, they both talked about attaining happiness. In a chat with students and experts from around the city we find out how they feel about the concept and whether they feel the need to include the same in the Indian schools.

Rajath Ramachandran, an MA student from Jain College is of the opinion that it can be a very effective method to curb a lot of issues that teens and adults today face and create a positive change. A subject like mindfulness when introduced to our educational system promises a change that is long term and much needed. At a young age we are teaching the students to learn themselves and get a grip over their emotions through the various physical and breathing exercises; and it does not take too long for a person to adapt the same into their life as a habit. Hence, as grownups they will be able to tackle and sort out issues by themselves in a socially accepted and positive way when opposed to the current trend of relying on substances and throwing temper tantrums.

Every coin has two sides to it, so does bringing in a subject like this into our educational system. While the positive effect of it weighs much heavier, how will the students receive it?

Nikhil Banerjee, a final year student from Christ University says, It sure will have its benefits in terms of helping the child cope with their emotions and stress. But, back when I was in school we did have a similar practice. It wasnt introduced as a subject but we would spare a good hour practicing Yoga and it was mandatory. We never took it seriously and wailed away time or did it for the heck of it. I feel Yoga is something that we should practice out of interest and should never be forced upon. It wont have the desired effect. For Indians, Yoga is still somehow about religion. The spiritual aspect of it is only secondary whereas, abroad it is practised and praised for its spiritual reasons.

Roopesh BN, a professor of clinical psychology in Nimhans opines that it will be great to include a subject as such in the curriculum. Every country faces problems of crime. Crime is a result of deviance from the set social norms, leading to imbalance in the social, legal and political system. Strengthening discipline through self monitoring and mindfulness as research suggests has proven to be healthy and effective. The right time to start this would be making it a part of the education system, and intervening in the early years. Creating a safe environment to introspect, reflect and self correct could change the perception of morality and add value to inculcating discipline in an individual.

The effect Yoga early

Child learns appropriate behaviour through reflection and thought.

Develop a sense of responsibility towards actions, words and consequences.

Makes amends and understands values such as forgiveness, gratitude, kindness, etc.

Develops healthier thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

Approaches situations and people with confidence and a sense of assertiveness.

Makes an effort to display or exhibit appropriate body language.
Paris women's fashion week started Monday with a sombre mood following the death of legendary designer Karl Lagerfeld last week.

Paris: His right-hand woman at Chanel, Virginie Viard, who has now taken the reins at the iconic label, will present what is officially his final collection on the last day of the fashion week shows on March 5. It is still not clear how much of the collection was created by Lagerfeld, who died last Tuesday aged 85.

He had leaned heavily on Viard, his head of studio, in his final months. The workaholic German, who always insisted that he would design until he dropped, drew his creations by hand and then handed them on to Viard to realise.

Virginie Viard, Karl Lagerfeld's right hand woman, has taken over the reins at Chanel. (Photo: AFP)

"I understand him and I can sublimate what he wants to do and bring to Chanel," she told AFP in a 2015 interview on what made the duo tick. Their three-decade partnership was the motor that drove a constant reinvention of the brand during Lagerfeld's 37 years in charge.

The creator was cremated Friday "without ceremony", as he had requested, in the presence of Viard and a handful of his closest friends including Princess Caroline of Monaco and fashion's most powerful man, LVMH tycoon Bernard Arnault.

Chanel would not comment on whether next week's show will include a homage to Lagerfeld, saying only that "a farewell ceremony will take place at a later date". Under Lagerfeld, Chanel staged spectacular shows at the vast Grand Palais in central Paris.

But illness stopped him from attending its haute couture show there in January, the first time he ever missed a Chanel show, with Viard taking the bow at the end. At October's spring-summer show, Lagerfeld went out of his way to acknowledge Viard, who took the bow alongside him.

The Decorative Arts Museum in Paris has put on display four of Lagerfeld's most famous creations for Chanel and Chloe, which he also transformed, in the first official tribute to his creative genius. Internet resale sites have reported a huge spike in interest for Lagerfeld's work since his death.

Such is "the Kaiser's" enduring influence, that youthful Berlin-based label Ottolinger led its show Monday with a series of acid-tinged tartan twin set outfits that were a cheeky millennials' take on Lagerfeld's Chanel classics. Its Swiss creators Christa Bosch and Cosima Gadient also took a leaf out of Lagerfeld's book by wittily batting off the comparison.

With British designer Phoebe Philo talked of as a possible successor at Chanel long term, one of her former acolytes at Celine, Korean-born Rok Hwang, kicked off fashion week's nine packed days with a highly assured Paris debut.

The London-based creator, who grew up in a caravan in Austin, Texas, won the prestigious LVMH special prize last year and the deconstructed trench coats and fluid paisley scarf dresses in his autumn winter collection won him more fans in the French capital.

Virginie Viard, Karl Lagerfeld's right hand woman, has taken over the reins at Chanel. (Photo: AFP)
He attached a media report alleging that before the Pulwama terror attack, the Centre had opposed salary hikes to CRPF in the Supreme Court.

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modis ego is not allowing him to meet his demand for granting shaheed (martyr) status to personnel of CRPF and other paramilitary forces killed in action.

We must recognise the sacrifices of our paramilitary forces, like the CRPF & award their martyrs the title of Shaheed. Even if the PMs ego will not allow him to act on my request, I hope he will act on the SCs order for better pay to the paramilitary, Mr Gandhi tweeted.

He attached a media report alleging that before the Pulwama terror attack, the Centre had opposed salary hikes to CRPF in the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, ahead of the inauguration of the National War Memorial in Delhi, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal asked Mr Modi what he had done to save the lives of soldiers in the past five years.

Mr Sibal said, We stand by the War Memorial. It is for the Prime Minister to tell us how we save the lives of our security forces.

The former Union minister said memorials are good and one should remember those who gave up their lives for the country but there should be actions on the ground too, he added.

He said that while 19 jawans lost their lives in the Uri terror attack and 40 were killed in Pulwama, and asked how the government plans to prevent such killings.
SC to pass orders on whether to refer issue to mediator March 6.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday favoured an out-of-court settlement of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute thro-ugh mediation between Hindu and Muslim parties, which will be monitored by the court.

While giving this suggestion, a five-judge Constit-ution Bench, comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S.A. Bobde, D.Y. Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan, and Abdul Nazeer, said it would consider passing appropriate orders in this regard on March 6.

The CJI observed in the order that a court-monitored mediation, if ordered, would be done with utmost confidentiality. The mediation would confront issues raised before the court in the appeals.

The CJI said that since eight weeks time is being granted to verify the accuracy and relevance of the translation of documents done by the Uttar Pradesh government, this period may be effectively utilised for mediation under Section 89 of the Civil Procedure Code.

The CJI also expressed the hope that mediation may spell a peaceful end to the title dispute between two faiths over the land where the Babri Masjid once stood before it was demolished by kar sevaks on December 6, 1992.

The Muslim groups represented by senior advocates Rajeev Dhavan, Dushyant Dave, and Raju Ramachandran expressed their willingness for mediation if the court directed such a course.

However, senior counsel C.S. Vaidyanathan, for the deity Lord Ram, and senior counsel Ranjit Kumar, for some Hindu groups, opposed mediation on the ground that it had not yielded the desired results earlier.

Mr Vaiyanathan pointed out that even Kanchi Sankaracharya tried mediation, but could not succeed.

Meanwhile, senior counsel Sushil Kumar Jain, for Nirmohi Akhara, agreed for mediation.

The court will pass orders next Wednesday on whether the issue should be referred to a court appointed mediator.

The parties were directed by the court to examine the records and point out their objections. At the outset, the CJI made it clear that the hearing will commence only if parties accept the translations prepared by the UP government as authentic.

The Chief Justice of India told the counsel that the court does not intend to wait indefinitely to hear the appeals.
Approximately 80 km from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) around 350 terrorists were killed across LoC.

The government informed that there were credible inputs of the JeM planning more suicide attacks in India and training terrorists in the camps. (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: Indian Air Force on Tuesday strategically carried out the aerial strike on Pakistan-based terror camps across Line of Control (LoC).

The massive operation took place in the early hours of Tuesday morning around 3:30 am and was completed within 19 minutes.

Approximately 80 km from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) around 350 terrorists were killed at Balakot, Chakothi, and Muzaffarabad, across LoC, reported PTI.

Twelve Mirage 2000 fighter jets were used in the operation to hit joint training camps of Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba inside Pakistan.

The strike completely destroyed camps by shelling laser-guided 1,000 kg bombs. These bombs were built with Israeli technology and were first used in the Kargil war.

A total of six bombs were dropped on Pakistan based terrorist camps by the Mirage 2000 jet fighter of Indian Air Force.

The non-military pre-emptive action killed JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen attacks.

A five-star resort style camp in a hilltop forest in Balakot was the breeding house of hundreds of Fidayeen and their trainers.

India received intelligence that JeM had shifted many in-training terrorists and hardcore operatives, to the Balakot camp from PoK.

The lavish camp had facilities for 500 to 700 people, and even has a swimming pool along with cooks and cleaners.

The information provided Indian forces with "a sitting duck target" when they carried out an air strike.

Everyone at the camp was sleeping and Pakistani defence establishment had no clue that the attack was coming so deep into their country.

According to the government sources terror outfits had expected a surgical strike on camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir near the Line of Control.

"They had no idea that Balakot was to be the target ... when the pictures come in you will see only khandhar (ruins) of the once-flourishing camp", said the source to PTI.

The Balakot-based Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM) terror camp was used for ''battle inoculation" and its trainers were retired officers of the Pakistan Army

Located on the banks of Kunhar river in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, the camp was also used by another terror group Hizbul Mujahideen and offered aquatic training to its inmates.

The location was also used to deliver several "inspirational lectures" by JeM founder Masood Azhar and other terrorist leaders on several occasions.

In the Balakot camp, the terrorists were imparted the advanced 'Daura-e-Khaas' training in weapons, explosives and field tactics, attack on convoys of security forces, planting and making of IEDs, suicide bombing, rigging vehicles for suicide attacks and survival tactics in high altitudes and extreme-stress situations, the sources said.

The JeM specialises in fidayeen actions and gives immense importance to religious indoctrination and ideological brainwashing, they said.

According to the intelligence sources, flags of USA, UK and Israel were painted on staircases seen in JeM facility destroyed by Indian Air Force jets in Balakot.

(Photo: ANI)

The government informed that there were credible inputs of the JeM planning more suicide attacks in India and training terrorists in the camps.

Ammunition dump blown up today in Balakot,Pakistan by IAF Mirages. The dump had more than 200 AK rifles, uncountable rounds hand grenades, explosives and detonators

(Photo: ANI)

The target included Jaish's biggest training camp in Pakistan. The bombs were dropped in the terror camp led by Yousuf Azhar, the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar.

India avenged the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama on February 14.

This was the first cross-border air strike India had carried out after 1971 (Bangladesh war).

On September 29, 2016, the Indian Army had conducted surgical strikes on seven terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC).

The surgical strike came in response to the attack on the Army base in Uri on September 18, 2016.
Mark Aug. 2, 2019, in your calendar.

That's the day the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, one of the most consequential arms control agreements ever signed, is set to expire.

The countdown to its demise began earlier this month when, after months of baiting each other, the United States and Russia both announced they would abandon the treaty.

That mustn't be allowed to happen. Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin must end the brinkmanship that brought them to this precipice and open up talks to resolve their differences.

More than a single treaty is at stake. The death of the INF could mark the beginning of the end to decades of arms control diplomacy that resulted in more than a dozen agreements that have, so far, prevented a nuclear Armageddon.

In recent years worries about nuclear weapons have focused on other countries developing nukes, rogue states like North Korea, or even terrorists getting hold of a bomb. But the U.S. and Russia, the original nuclear powers, still control 90 per cent of all these weapons. If they give up on arms control, who knows where that might end?
Injuries from a lawnmower can be devastating. There was one incident several years ago where a lawnmower hit a screwdriver and sent it over the house and it struck a child in the head."
Dominion Energy and its partners in the Atlantic Coast Pipeline are looking for new ways around the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, including a trip to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Richmond-based energy company, the lead partner in the project, said Tuesday that it expects an appeal to the Supreme Court within 90 days to challenge a 4th Circuit decision. The court tossed out a critical federal permit for the 600-mile pipeline to cross beneath the Appalachian Trail in the Blue Ridge Mountains along the Augusta County and Nelson County line.

Dominion declared its intention after a 4th Circuit decision on Monday to dismiss the companys request for the full appeals court to reconsider a December decision by a three-judge panel. That panel vacated the permits the U.S. Forest Service issued for the project to cross the Appalachian Trail near Wintergreen Resort and portions of two national forests.

The company  anticipating the possible rejection of its request for an en banc hearing by the Richmond-based 4th Circuit  estimated earlier this month that the Supreme Court appeal could add $250 million to the cost of the project by delaying completion of the final segment of the pipeline until the end of 2021.
The One Journey Festival and graduate students and student organizations at the University of Virginia will host a film screening and panel discussion about refugees in the Charlottesville area and around the world on Thursday.

4.1 Miles is an Oscar-nominated documentary about a Greek boat captain working to save refugees trying to cross the Aegean Sea. From Damascus to Chicago portrays the life of two Syrian siblings navigating a new home in Chicago.

Panelists will discuss personal experiences and efforts to welcome and support displaced people and refugees. The panelists are Christine Mahoney, a UVa policy professor and director of Social Entrepreneurship @ UVA; Tim Cunningham, a UVa nursing professor and director of the Compassionate Care Initiative; Matt Tully, a Batten School alumnus and One Journey Festival coordinator; and Farah Ibrahim, a family support worker for Jefferson Area CHIP and a former refugee from Baghdad.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 5:30 p.m. and include food catered by CAVA. More information can be found at facebook.com/events/2309945125893926.

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Notice seeks direction on safety of jawans against mob attacks.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir government for a direction for protection of human rights of security force personnel, who are being attacked by mobs while performing duties. A Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna issued notice after hearing senior advocate Meenakshi Arora and advocate Neela Gokhale for the petitioners, Ms Kajal Mishra and Ms Preeti Kedar Gokhale, who are daughters of Army personnel.

The petitioners submitted that they are aggrieved and dissatisfied by the substantial inaction of the Centre and the state government in addressing the various acts of human right violations of the members of the Armed Forces, from the perpetrators of violence within the state, resulting in obstruction in the discharge of their duty as well as danger to the safety and security of these Army personnel at the place of their deployment.

They are further disturbed by the troops in the Indian Army, having to suffer the ire of stone-pelters, while they are discharging their duty of maintaining peace and security in the area of their deployment. More often than not, there are FIRs filed against these troops and soldiers, if they take any action in retaliation or in self-defence, against the perpetrators of stone-pelting.

The petitioners have no grievance to any Complaint/FIR being filed against any Armed Forces personnel, for any act, which amounts to any criminal offence under the law for the time being in force. However, they are very much aggrieved by the fact that no similar action is taken against the perpetrators of violence, against the armed forces personnel. In fact it is shocking to note that the former chief minister of the State of J&K, in the legislative assembly declared that as many as 9760 FIRs registered against the stone pelters shall be withdrawn as they were first time offenders.
We produced more residential services, housing, for the persons that were the most severely disabled and truly the most vulnerable in our community, and we were able to do that quietly, just working in the neighborhoods and doing our thing, Peterson said. We used to go ballistic if in three months we didnt get something on the ground and going.

Peterson also developed a halfway house on Carlton Road, helped to establish the JAUNT paratransit bus service and worked to involve families in care plans.

John Pezzoli also served in leadership roles at Region Ten for more than 25 years, before becoming one of the states top officials of behavioral health and developmental services. He helped to oversee a plan to standardize the services offered by community service boards across the state. He says now that the plan was too ambitious and not well-supported, but remains a good theory.

So, if we go back now and say everyone has to provide these base services, that will be good. But it has to be paid for, he said. And a cookie cutter approach really wouldnt be right for every place.
Because the truck was stopped, Young said at first he thought the crash might have been intentional.

With all thats going on these days, you just never know, he said.

Stephen Kenney, an Amtrak foreman, was on the train with Young when they collided with the truck. He also said he saw the truck drive around the lowered crossing arms and at one point saw the headlights of the vehicle face the train.

At the time of the collision, he described the truck as being at a 45-degree angle relative to the tracks.

Young and Kenney have filed separate lawsuits against Naylor. Both suits were filed on their behalf by attorneys and neither man said they knew how much the suits are seeking in damages.

Robert Tracci, commonwealths attorney for the county, showed two videos with approximately 40 minutes of footage of the crash and its lead-up.
CFA employs 450 people in Charlottesville, making it one of the top employers in the city.

This is the fifth settlement under the Civil Rights Divisions Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative, according to a Justice Department news release. The initiative is investigating companies suspected of discriminating against U.S. workers in favor of temporary visa workers. This is the first of those settlements to involve the H-1B visa program.

Through the H-1B program, U.S. companies can temporarily employ foreign workers in occupations that require highly specialized knowledge and a bachelors degree or higher in the specific specialty, or its equivalent, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The department found that from November 2016 to January 2018, CFA set aside annual exam-grading positions for its members who required or had H-1B visas or other high-skill temporary visas, based on their citizenship status, according to the Justice Department release.

In doing so, CFA failed to consider equally qualified U.S. workers for such positions, which violates the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, according to the release.
An Alexandria man has been charged after a shooting Monday evening in Orange County that left one person injured.

At 7:40 p.m. Monday, Orange County deputies were called to the 7000 block of Embrey Drive in Locust Grove for a reported gunshot wound. The person who had been shot with a pistol was treated and released at a nearby hospital.

Joey Cornell Turner, 43, of Alexandria, was arrested and charged with malicious wounding.

Turner is being held without bond at the Central Virginia Regional Jail. Authorities expected him to appear in court Tuesday morning. No further information was released.

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Brrr! Brrr! Boy, has it been cold these past few weeks. I even got out some of my old recipes for stews, soups, and one for New England baked beans. Although it is a long, but simple process, to make baked beans, it is well worth the effort. The aroma of the beans baking is like cooking perfume.

As with the history of grains, beans were critical to the transition of prehistoric tribes from hunting lifestyles to agricultural lifestyles. One acre of beans could feed more people than an acre of grain.

Beans, especially the dried versions, are not a new food. They have been an ingredient in the cooking of almost every civilization around the globe. Some of the American beans date back 7,000 years. The Asian soybean was cultivated 4,000 years ago. Fava beans have been found in archaeological diggings in Troy and Rome, as well as in ancient Egypt.

There is no official recipe for Boston Baked Beans. If you talked to 10 different New Englanders, you probably would get 10 different recipes for pork and beans. Most recipes use navy beans.

However, the original Boston Baked Beans did not contain pork. The dish was a staple of the Narraganset and Penobscot Indian tribes, who baked their dried beans in earthen pots with venison fat. At the time, in the early 1600s, there were no hogs in New England.
All over Hampton Roads, Surf Rider is renowned for its crab cakes, made with so little binder they cant be fried. The local chains lump-filled cakes bested the competition in two consecutive Virginian-Pilot taste tests, not to mention a recent blind-judged crab cake throwdown. But this year, said its third-generation co-owner, Chris Bennett, he almost had to take them off the menu. The ...
The following companies are subsidiares of Xerox: A B S Digital Limited, Acorn Business Machines (Holmfirth) Limited, Alloy Acquisitions Corp. 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ULC, Xerox Capital (Europe) Limited, Xerox Capital LLC, Xerox Computer Services Limited, Xerox Comercio e Industria Ltda, Xerox Corporation, Xerox DNHC LLC, Xerox Dienstleistungsgesellschaft GmbH, Xerox Distributor Operations Limited, Xerox Egypt S.A.E., Xerox Equipment Limited, Xerox Equipment UK Limited, Xerox Espana S.A.U., Xerox Exports Limited, Xerox Finance AG, Xerox Finance Leasing S.A.E., Xerox Finance Limited, Xerox Financial Services B.V., Xerox Financial Services Belux NV, Xerox Financial Services Canada Ltd., Xerox Financial Services Danmark A/S, Xerox Financial Services Finland Oy, Xerox Financial Services LLC, Xerox Financial Services Norway AS, Xerox Financial Services SAS, Xerox Financial Services Sverige AB, Xerox Foreign Holdings LLC, Xerox Foreign Sales Corporation, Xerox GmbH, Xerox Health Care LLC, Xerox Hellas AEE, Xerox Holding Deutschland GmbH, Xerox Holdings (Ireland) Limited, Xerox Holdings Inc., Xerox Hungary Trading Limited, Xerox IBS Limited, Xerox IBS NI Limited, Xerox India Limited, Xerox International Joint Marketing Inc., Xerox Investments Europe B.V., Xerox Israel Ltd., Xerox Italia Rental Services Srl, Xerox Kazakhstan Limited Liability Partnership, Xerox Latinamerican Holdings Inc., Xerox Leasing Deutschland GmbH, Xerox Leasing GmbH, Xerox Limited, Xerox Luxembourg SA, Xerox Mailing Systems Limited, Xerox Manufacturing (Nederland) B.V., Xerox Maroc S.A., Xerox Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Xerox Middle East Investments (Bermuda) Limited, Xerox N.V., Xerox Overseas Holdings Limited, Xerox Overseas Inc., Xerox Oy, Xerox Pensions Limited, Xerox Polska Sp. z o. o, Xerox Portugal Equipamentos de Escritorio Limitada, Xerox Products Limited, Xerox Products UK Limited, Xerox Professional Services Limited, Xerox Realty Corporation, Xerox Renting S.A.U., Xerox Reprographische Services GmbH, Xerox S.A.S., Xerox S.p.A., Xerox Secured Borrowing 2020-1 LLC, Xerox Servicios Compartidos Guatemala y Compani Limitada, Xerox Servicos e Participacoes Ltda, Xerox Shared Services Romania SRL, Xerox Sverige AB, Xerox Technology Services India LLP, Xerox Technology Services SAS, Xerox Telebusiness GmbH, Xerox Trading Enterprises Limited, Xerox Trinidad Limited, Xerox UK Holdings Limited, Xerox XHB Limited, Xerox XIB Limited, Xerox Xf Holdings (Ireland) DAC, Xerox de Chile S.A., Xerox del Ecuador S.A., Xerox del Peru S.A., Zeno Office Solutions, Zeno Office Solutions Inc., Zoom Imaging Solutions Inc., and inVentiv Patient Access Solutions.
Some people binge watch Netflix Huluor HBO shows. And some people turn their downtime into cash. James made $2,275 in just 19 minutesall thanks to something called The 15 Minute Workday. The average trade makes 12% in just 5 days (factoring winners and losers) which is out of this world.

GlaxoSmithKline plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the creation, discovery, development, manufacture, and marketing of pharmaceutical products, vaccines, over-the-counter medicines, and health-related consumer products in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Pharmaceuticals, Pharmaceuticals R&D, Vaccines, and Consumer Healthcare. The company offers pharmaceutical products comprising medicines in the therapeutic areas, such as respiratory, HIV, immuno-inflammation, oncology, anti-viral, central nervous system, cardiovascular and urogenital, metabolic, anti-bacterial, and dermatology. It also provides consumer healthcare products in wellness, oral health, nutrition, and skin health categories. The company offers its consumer healthcare products in the form of nasal sprays, tablets, syrups, lozenges, gum and trans-dermal patches, caplets, infant syrup drops, liquid filled suspension, wipes, gels, effervescents, toothpastes, toothbrushes, mouthwashes, denture adhesives and cleansers, topical creams and non-medicated patches, lip balm, gummies, and soft chews. It has collaboration agreements with 23andMe; Lyell Immunopharma, Inc.; Novartis; Sanofi SA; Surface Oncology; and CureVac AG., as well as strategic partnership with IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc. and Vir Biotechnology, Inc. GlaxoSmithKline plc was founded in 1715 and is headquartered in Brentford, the United Kingdom.

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Bhat, a student of Siraj-ul-Uloom, Shopian, purchased the used vehicle on February 4, an NIA spokesperson said.

Bhat is on the run. His photo has appeared in social media in which he is seen holding weapons.

SRINAGAR: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday claimed that the Maruti Suzuki Eeco van used in the February 14 suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmirs southern Pulwama was owned by Sajjad Bhat, a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) operative and resident of Anantnags Bijbehara area, who is absconding. He had bought the vehicle just 10 days before the strike that killed over 40 CRPF jawans.

Bhat, a student of Siraj-ul-Uloom, Shopian, purchased the used vehicle on February 4, an NIA spokesperson said.

Raids were conducted by a team of the NIA and police at his house on Saturday but Bhat was not present, he said, adding that he has reportedly joined the JeM and his photograph also appeared on social media where he is seen holding weapons.

So far, the NIA has questioned around a dozen people detained by the police following the blast, officials said.

Describing the identification of the vehicle and its owner as a significant breakthrough, the NIA, in a statement, said, Piecing together remnants of the vehicle used by the suicide bomber in the Pulwama attack on CRPF convoy, from the scene of incident, NIA investigators, with the support of forensic and automobile experts, have been able to identify the vehicle used for the blast.

It said the Maruti Suzuki Eeco vehicle bearing chassis number MA3ERLF1SOO183735 Engine G12BN164140 was sold to Muhammad Jaleel Ahmed Haqani, a resident of Heaven Colony, Anantnag, in 2011.

It subsequently exchanged hands seven times and finally reached Bhat, son of Muhammad Maqbool Bhat, who acquired the vehicle on February 4, the NIA said.

On February 14, JeMs 22-year-old Adil Ahmed Dar alias Waqas commando detonated the van loaded with at least 60 kilograms of RDX after driving it parallel to a fully occupied bus which was part of a large CRPF convoy at Lethapora on the Srinagar-Jammu highway.

The explosive caused extensive damage in a 150-metre radius. The CRPF bus was reduced to ribbons of charred metal, with human remains scattered across a 100 metre stretch of the road.

The NIA took over the probe into the attack from the J&K police on February 21. NIA director general Y.C. Modi, accompanied by senior officers of the agency, himself visited the site of the attack where he was briefed by local police and the CRPF.
The Travelers Companies, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides a range of commercial and personal property, and casualty insurance products and services to businesses, government units, associations, and individuals in the United states and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Business Insurance, Bond & Specialty Insurance, and Personal Insurance. The Business Insurance segment offers workers' compensation, commercial automobile and property, general liability, commercial multi-peril, employers' liability, public and product liability, professional indemnity, marine, aviation, onshore and offshore energy, construction, terrorism, personal accident, and kidnap and ransom insurance products. This segment operates through select accounts, which serve small businesses; commercial accounts that serve mid-sized businesses; national accounts, which serve large companies; and national property and other that serve large and mid-sized customers, commercial trucking industry, and agricultural businesses, as well as markets and distributes its products through brokers, wholesale agents, program managers, and specialized retail agents. The Bond & Specialty Insurance segment provides surety, fidelity, management and professional liability, and other property and casualty insurance products through independent agencies and brokers. The Personal Insurance segment offers property and casualty insurance covering personal risks, primarily automobile and homeowners insurance to individuals through independent agencies and brokers. The Travelers Companies, Inc. was founded in 1853 and is based in New York, New York.

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Wall Street Legend Who Picked Bitcoin in 2016 Shares #1 Pick for the 2020s

Picking the right investment of the decade can transform your life Microsoft in the 80sAmazon in the 90sApple in the 2000sBitcoin in 2016... Any one of these could have made you a millionaire many times over. Today, the Wall Street legend who picked the last investment of the decade
Thomson Reuters Corporation provides business information services in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in five segments: Legal Professionals, Corporates, Tax & Accounting Professionals, Reuters News, and Global Print. The Legal Professionals segment offers research and workflow products focusing on legal research and integrated legal workflow solutions that combine content, tools, and analytics to law firms and governments. The Corporates segment provides a suite of content-enabled technology solutions for legal, tax, regulatory, compliance, and IT professionals. The Tax & Accounting Professionals segment offers research and workflow products focusing on tax offerings and automating tax workflows to tax, accounting, and audit professionals in accounting firms. The Reuters News segment provides business, financial, national, and international news to professionals through desktop terminals, media organizations, and industry events, as well as directly to consumers. The Global Print segment offers legal and tax information primarily in print format to legal and tax professionals, governments, law schools, and corporations. The company was formerly known as The Thomson Corporation and changed its name to Thomson Reuters Corporation in April 2008. The company was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Thomson Reuters Corporation is a subsidiary of The Woodbridge Company Limited.

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Some people binge watch Netflix Huluor HBO shows. And some people turn their downtime into cash. James made $2,275 in just 19 minutesall thanks to something called The 15 Minute Workday. The average trade makes 12% in just 5 days (factoring winners and losers) which is out of this world.

United Technologies Corporation provides technology products and services to building systems and aerospace industries worldwide. Its Otis segment designs, manufactures, sells, and installs passenger and freight elevators, escalators, and moving walkways; and offers modernization products to upgrade elevators and escalators, as well as maintenance and repair services. The company's Carrier segment provides heating, ventilating, air conditioning, refrigeration, fire, security, and building automation products, solutions, and services for commercial, government, infrastructure, residential, and refrigeration and transportation applications. This segment also offers building services, including audit, design, installation, system integration, repair, maintenance, and monitoring. Its Pratt & Whitney segment supplies aircraft engines for commercial, military, business jet, and general aviation markets; and provides aftermarket maintenance, repair, and overhaul, as well as fleet management services. The company's Collins Aerospace Systems segment provides electric power generation, power management, and distribution systems; air data and aircraft sensing systems; engine control, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems; engine components; environmental control systems; fire and ice detection, and protection systems; propeller systems; engine nacelle systems; aircraft lighting, seating, and cargo systems; actuation and landing systems; space products and subsystems; avionics systems; flight controls, communications, navigation, oxygen, and training systems; food and beverage preparation, and storage and galley systems; and lavatory and wastewater management systems. The company offers its services through manufacturers' representatives, distributors, wholesalers, dealers, retail outlets, and sales representatives, as well as directly to customers. United Technologies Corporation was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut.

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PM unveiled Astounding Bhagavad Gita, which measures 2.8m x 2m weighing 800 kg, said to be largest Bhagavad Gita to be ever printed.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday evening took a Metro to reach the ISKON temple here where he participated in a function to unveil what is said to be largest Bhagavad Gita to be ever printed.

The Prime Minister embarked from Khan Market station and interacted with passengers on the train. Some of them touched his feet and greeted him. He took a baby onto his lap and spoke to another toddler even as people jostled to take selfies with him.

PM unveiled the Astounding Bhagavad Gita, which measures 2.8m x 2m (closed) weighing 800 kg, said to be largest Bhagavad Gita to be ever printed.

The Gita Aradhana event was at ISKCON-Glory of India Cultural Centre.

Modi has in the past taken the Metro several times.
Some people binge watch Netflix Huluor HBO shows. And some people turn their downtime into cash. James made $2,275 in just 19 minutesall thanks to something called The 15 Minute Workday. The average trade makes 12% in just 5 days (factoring winners and losers) which is out of this world.

Ralph Lauren Corporation designs, markets, and distributes lifestyle products in North America, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company offers apparel, including a range of men's, women's, and children's clothing and accessories, which comprise casual shoes, dress shoes, boots, sneakers, sandals, eyewear, watches, fashion and fine jewelry, scarves, hats, gloves, umbrellas, and belts, as well as leather goods, such as handbags, luggage, small leather goods, and belts; home products consisting of bed and bath lines, furniture, fabric and wallcoverings, lighting, tabletop, floor coverings, and giftware; and fragrances. It sells apparel and accessories under the Ralph Lauren Collection, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Polo Ralph Lauren, Double RL, Lauren Ralph Lauren, Polo Golf Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Golf, RLX Ralph Lauren, Polo Ralph Lauren Children, Chaps, and Club Monaco brands; women's fragrances under the Ralph Lauren Collection, Woman by Ralph Lauren, Romance Collection, Ralph Collection, and Big Pony Women's brand names; and men's fragrances under the Polo Blue, Safari, Purple Label, Polo Red, Polo Green, Polo Black, Polo Supreme, Polo Sport, and Big Pony Men's brand names. The company's restaurant concepts include The Polo Bar in New York City; RL Restaurant in Chicago; Ralph's in Paris; and Ralph's Coffee concept. Ralph Lauren Corporation sells its products to department stores, specialty stores, and golf and pro shops, as well as directly to consumers through its retail stores, concession-based shop-within-shops, and its digital commerce sites. The company directly operates 548 retail stores and 650 concession-based shop-within-shops; and operates 139 Ralph Lauren stores, and 143 Club Monaco stores and shops through licensing partners. Ralph Lauren Corporation was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

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Parkland Corporation operates as a marketer, distributor, and refiner of fuel and petroleum products in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Canada, International, USA, Supply, and Corporate segments. The Canada segment supplies and supports a coast-to-coast network of 1,860 retail gas stations under the Ultramar, Esso, Fas Gas Plus, Chevron, Pioneer, and Race Trac as well as operates convenience stores under the On the Run/MarchA Express brand. Additionally it offers bulk fuel, bulk and cylinder exchange propane, heating oil, lubricants, and other related products and services to commercial, industrial, and residential customers in various industries, such as oil and gas, construction, mining, forestry, fishing, and transportation under the Ultramar, Bluewave Energy, Pipeline Commercial, Chevron, Columbia Fuels, and Sparlings Propane brands. The International segment operates retail service stations under the Esso, Shell, and Sol brands; and delivers and supplies gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, propane, and lubricants to customers in various sectors, including power, oil and gas, and mining. The USA segment operates a network of gas stations; and delivers bulk fuel, lubricants, and other related products and services under the Farstad Oil, Rhinehart Oil, Tropic Oil, Superpumper, Harts, and On the Run brands. The Supply segment manufactures transportation fuels; transports, stores, and markets fuels, crude oil, and liquid petroleum gases; and manufactures and sells aviation fuel to airlines. This segment also engages in the wholesale, supply, and distribution business. The company was formerly known as Parkland Fuel Corporation and changed its name to Parkland Corporation in May 2020. The company was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

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Some people binge watch Netflix Huluor HBO shows. And some people turn their downtime into cash. James made $2,275 in just 19 minutesall thanks to something called The 15 Minute Workday. The average trade makes 12% in just 5 days (factoring winners and losers) which is out of this world.

Novartis AG researches, develops, manufactures, and markets healthcare products worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Innovative Medicines and Sandoz. The Innovative Medicines segment offers prescription medicines for patients and healthcare providers. It also provides ophthalmology, neuroscience, immunology, hepatology and dermatology, respiratory, established, and cardiovascular, renal and metabolism medicine products. The Sandoz segment provides active ingredients and finished dosage forms of small molecule pharmaceuticals to third parties across a range of therapeutic areas, as well as finished dosage form anti-infectives. It also provides active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates primarily antibiotics; protein- or other biotechnology-based products, including biosimilars; and biotechnology manufacturing services. Novartis AG has a license and collaboration agreement with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals to develop, manufacture, and commercialize inclisiran; an agreement with CureVac to manufacture COVID-19 vaccine candidate CVnCoV; and collaboration with Artios Pharma Limited to create next generation DDR cancer therapies. The company was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland.

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The following companies are subsidiares of MetLife: 1001 PROPERTIES LLC, 10700 WILSHIRE LLC, 1075 PEACHTREE LLC, 1201 TAB MANAGER LLC, 1320 GP LLC, 1320 OWNER LP, 1320 VENTURE LLC, 1900 MCKINNEY PROPERTIES LP, 1925 WJC OWNER LLC, 23RD STREET INVESTMENTS INC., 334 MADISON EURO INVESTMENTS INC., 500 GRANT STREET ASSOCIATES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, 500 GRANT STREET GP LLC, 6104 HOLLYWOOD LLC, 85 BROAD STREET MEZZANINE LLC, AFP GENESIS ADMINISTRADORA DE FONDOS Y FIDECOMISOS S.A., AGENVITA S.R.L., ALICO EUROPEAN HOLDINGS LIMITED, ALICO HELLAS SINGLE MEMBER LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, ALICO OPERATIONS LLC, ALPHA PROPERTIES INC., ALTERNATIVE FUELS I LLC, AMERICAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, ASHTON JUDICIARY SQUARE LLC, American Life Insurance Company, BEST MARKET S.A., BETA PROPERTIES INC., BORDERLAND INVESTMENTS LIMITED, BOULEVARD RESIDENTIAL LLC, BRIGHTHOUSE HOLDINGS LLC, BRIGHTHOUSE REINSURANCE COMPANY OF DELAWARE, BRIGHTHOUSE SECURITIES LLC, BRIGHTHOUSE SERVICES LLC, BUFORD LOGISTICS CENTER LLC, Brighthouse Financial, CC HOLDCO MANAGER LLC, CHESTNUT FLATS WIND LLC, CITYPOINT HOLDINGS II LIMITED, COMMUNICATION ONE KABUSHIKI KAISHA, COMPANIA INVERSORA METLIFE S.A., CONVENT STATION EURO INVESTMENTS FOUR COMPANY, CORPORATE REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS LLC, COVA LIFE MANAGEMENT COMPANY, DANIEL/METLIFE MIDTOWN ATLANTA MASTER LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, DELAWARE AMERICAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, DELTA PROPERTIES JAPAN INC., ECONOMY FIRE & CASUALTY COMPANY, ECONOMY PREFERRED INSURANCE COMPANY, ECONOMY PREMIER ASSURANCE COMPANY, EL CONQUISTADOR MAH II LLC, ENTERPRISE GENERAL INSURANCE AGENCY INC., ENTRECAP REAL ESTATE II LLC, EPSILON PROPERTIES JAPAN INC., EURO CL INVESTMENTS LLC, EURO TI INVESTMENTS LLC, EURO TL INVESTMENTS LLC, EXCELENCIA OPERATIVA Y TECNOLOGICA S.A de C.V., FEDERAL FLOOD CERTIFICATION LLC, FIRST AMERICAN  HUNGARIAN INSURANCE AGENCY LIMITED, FIRST METLIFE INVESTORS INSURANCE COMPANY, FUNDACION METLIFE MEXICO A.C., GALIC HOLDINGS LLC, GENERAL AMERICAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, GLOBAL PROPERTIES INC., GREATER SANDHILL I LLC, General American Life Insurance Company, Grand Bank N.A., HASKELL EAST VILLAGE LLC, HEADLAND PROPERTIES ASSOCIATES, HEADLAND-PACIFIC PALISADES LLC, HOUSING FUND MANAGER LLC, HPZ ASSETS LLC, HYATT LEGAL PLANS INC., HYATT LEGAL PLANS OF FLORIDA INC., INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT HOLDING COMPANY LIMITED, INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL AND ADVISORY SERVICES LIMITED, INVERSIONES METLIFE HOLDCO DOS LIMITADA, INVERSIONES METLIFE HOLDCO TRES LIMITADA, IRIS PROPERTIES INC., JOINT STOCK COMPANY METLIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, KAPPA PROPERTIES JAPAN INC., LAR VIVIENDA XVII S. DE R.L. DE C.V., LEGAGROUP S.A., LEGAL CHILE S.A., LHC HOLDINGS (US) LLC, LHCW HOLDINGS (US) LLC, LHCW HOTEL HOLDING (2002) LLC, LHCW HOTEL HOLDING LLC, LHCW HOTEL OPERATING COMPANY (2002) LLC, LONG ISLAND SOLAR FARM LLC, Logan Circle Partners, MANSELL OFFICE LLC, MANSELL RETAIL LLC, MARKETPLACE RESIDENCES LLC, MCP VOA HOLDINGS LLC, MCP VOA I & III LLC, MCP VOA II LLC, MCPP OWNERS LLC, MET CANADA SOLAR ULC, MET0 SIEFORE S.A. de C.V., MET1 SIEFORE S.A. de C.V., MET2 SIEFORE S.A. de C.V., MET3 SIEFORE BASICA S.A. de C.V., MET4 SIEFORE S.A. de C.V., META SIEFORE ADICIONAL S.A. de C.V., METLIFE 1007 STEWART LLC, METLIFE 1201 TAB MEMBER LLC, METLIFE 425 MKT MEMBER LLC, METLIFE 555 12TH MEMBER LLC, METLIFE ADMINISTRADORA DE FUNDOS MULTIPATROCINADOS LTDA., METLIFE ADVISERS LLC, METLIFE AFORE S.A. DE C.V., METLIFE ALTERNATIVES GP LLC, METLIFE ASIA HOLDING COMPANY PTE. LTD., METLIFE ASIA LIMITED, METLIFE ASSET MANAGEMENT CORP., METLIFE AUTO & HOME INSURANCE AGENCY INC., METLIFE CABO HILTON MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CAMINO RAMON MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CANADIAN PROPERTY VENTURES LLC, METLIFE CAPITAL CREDIT L.P., METLIFE CAPITAL LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, METLIFE CAPITAL TRUST IV, METLIFE CAPITAL TRUST X, METLIFE CB W/A LLC, METLIFE CC MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CHILE ADMINISTRADORA DE MUTUOS HIPOTECARIOS S.A., METLIFE CHILE INVERSIONES LIMITADA, METLIFE CHILE SEGUROS DE VIDA S.A., METLIFE CHILE SEGUROS GENERALES S.A., METLIFE COLOMBIA SEGUROS de VIDA S.A., METLIFE COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE INCOME FUND GP LLC, METLIFE CONSQUARE MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CONSUMER SERVICES INC., METLIFE CORE PROPERTY FUND GP LLC, METLIFE CREDIT CORP., METLIFE EMEKLILIK VE HAYAT A.S., METLIFE EU HOLDING COMPANY LIMITED, METLIFE EUROPE INSURANCE d.a.c., METLIFE EUROPE SERVICES LIMITED, METLIFE EUROPE d.a.c., METLIFE EUROPEAN HOLDINGS LLC., METLIFE FINANCIAL SERVICES CO. LTD, METLIFE FM HOTEL MEMBER LLC, METLIFE FUNDING INC, METLIFE GENERAL INSURANCE LIMITED, METLIFE GLOBAL BENEFITS LTD., METLIFE GLOBAL HOLDING COMPANY I GmbH (SWISS I), METLIFE GLOBAL HOLDING COMPANY II GmbH (SWISS II), METLIFE GLOBAL HOLDINGS CORPORATION S.A. De C.V., METLIFE GLOBAL INC., METLIFE GLOBAL OPERATIONS SUPPORT CENTER PRIVATE LIMITED, METLIFE GROUP INC., METLIFE HCMJV 1 GP LLC, METLIFE HEALTH PLANS INC., METLIFE HOLDINGS INC., METLIFE HOME LOANS LLC, METLIFE INNOVATION CENTRE LIMITED, METLIFE INNOVATION CENTRE PTE. LTD., METLIFE INSURANCE AND INVESTMENT TRUST, METLIFE INSURANCE BROKERAGE INC., METLIFE INSURANCE COMPANY USA, METLIFE INSURANCE K.K., METLIFE INSURANCE LIMITED, METLIFE INSURANCE LIMITED, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL HF PARTNERS LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL LIMITED LLC, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND I LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND II LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND III LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND IV LP, METLIFE INVESTMENT ADVISORS LLC, METLIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT HOLDINGS (IRELAND) LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENTS ASIA LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENTS LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENTS PTY LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENTS SECURITIES LLC, METLIFE INVESTORS DISTRIBUTION COMPANY, METLIFE INVESTORS GROUP LLC, METLIFE IRELAND HOLDINGS ONE LIMITED, METLIFE IRELAND TREASURY D.A.C., METLIFE LATIN AMERICA ASESORIAS E INVERSIONES LIMITADA, METLIFE LHH MEMBER LLC, METLIFE LIFE INSURANCE S.A., METLIFE LIMITED, METLIFE LOAN ASSET MANAGEMENT LLC, METLIFE MALL VENTURES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, METLIFE MAS S.A. DE C.V., METLIFE MEXICO HOLDINGS S. DE R.L. DE C.V., METLIFE MEXICO S.A., METLIFE MEXICO SERVICIOS S.A. DE C.V., METLIFE OBSMEMBER LLC, METLIFE OFC MEMBER LLC, METLIFE ONTARIO STREET MEMBR LLC, METLIFE PARK TOWER MEMBER LLC, METLIFE PENSION TRUSTEES LIMITED, METLIFE PENSIONES MEXICO S.A., METLIFE PLANOS ODONTOLOGICOS LTDA., METLIFE POWSZECHNE TOWARTZYSTWO EMERYTALNE S.A., METLIFE PRIVATE EQUITY HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE PROPERTIES VENTURES LLC, METLIFE PROPERTY VENTURES CANADA ULC, METLIFE RC SF MEMBER LLC, METLIFE REINSURANCE COMPANY OF BERMUDA LTD., METLIFE REINSURANCE COMPANY OF CHARLESTON, METLIFE REINSURANCE COMPANY OF DELAWARE, METLIFE REINSURANCE COMPANY OF SOUTH CAROLINA, METLIFE REINSURANCE COMPANY OF VERMONT, METLIFE RENEWABLES HOLDING LLC, METLIFE RETIREMENT SERVICES LLC, METLIFE SAENGMYOUNG INSURANCE COMPANY LTD., METLIFE SEGUROS DE RETIRO S.A., METLIFE SEGUROS S.A., METLIFE SEGUROS S.A., METLIFE SEGUROS S.A. (ARGENTINA), METLIFE SERVICES AND SOLUTIONS LLC, METLIFE SERVICES CYPRUS LIMITED, METLIFE SERVICES EAST PRIVATE LIMITED, METLIFE SERVICES EEIG, METLIFE SERVICES EOOD, METLIFE SERVICES SOCIEDAD LIMITADA, METLIFE SERVICES SP Z.O.O, METLIFE SERVICIOS S.A., METLIFE SK S.R.O., METLIFE SLOVAKIA S.R.O., METLIFE SOLUTIONS PTE. LTD., METLIFE SOLUTIONS S.A.S., METLIFE SP HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE STANDBY I LLC, METLIFE THR INVESTOR LLC, METLIFE TOWARZYSTWO FUNDUSZY INWESTYCYJNYCH S.A., METLIFE TOWARZYSTWO UBEZPIECZEN NA ZYCIE I REASEKURACJI S.A., METLIFE TOWER RESOURCES GROUP INC., METLIFE TREAT TOWERS MEMBER LLC, METLIFE USA ASSIGNMENT COMPANY, METLIFE WORLDWIDE HOLDINGS LLC, METROPOLITAN CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN CONNECTICUT PROPERTIES VENTURES LLC, METROPOLITAN DIRECT PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN GLOBAL MANAGEMENT LLC., METROPOLITAN GROUP PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF HONG KONG LIMITED, METROPOLITAN LIFE SEGUROS E PREVIDENCIA PRIVADA S.A., METROPOLITAN LIFE SOCIETATE de ADMINISTRARE a UNUI FOND de PENSII ADMINISTRAT PRIVAT S.A., METROPOLITAN LLOYDS INC., METROPOLITAN PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN TOWER LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN TOWER REALTY COMPANY INC., MEX DF PROPERTIES LLC, MIDTOWN HEIGHTS LLC, MIM PROPERTY MANAGEMENT LLC, MISSOURI REINSURANCE INC., ML 1065 HOTEL LLC, ML BRIDGESIDE APARTMENTS LLC, ML CAPACITACION COMERCIAL S.A. DE C.V., ML DOLPHIN GP LLC, ML DOLPHIN MEZZ LLC, ML MILILANI MEMBER LLC, ML NEW RIVER VILLAGE III LLC, ML NORTH BRAND MEMBER LLC, ML SOUTHMORE LLC, ML SWAN GP LLC, ML SWAN MEZZ LLC, ML TERRACES LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 1 LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 2 LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 3 LLC, MLA COMERCIAL S.A. DE C.V., MLA SERVICIOS S.A. DE C.V., MLIC ASSET HOLDINGS II LLC, MLIC ASSET HOLDINGS LLC, MLIC CB HOLDINGS LLC, MM GLOBAL OPERATIONS SUPPORT CENTER S.A. DE C.V., MSV IRVINE PROPERTY LLC, MTC FUND I LLC, MTC FUND II LLC, MTC FUND III LLC, MTL LEASING LLC, NATILOPORTEM HOLDINGS LLC, NEW ENGLAND LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, NEWBURY INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED, OCONEE GOLF COMPANY LLC, OCONEE HOTEL COMPANY LLC, OCONEE LAND COMPANY LLC, OCONEE LAND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LLC, OCONEE MARINA COMPANY LLC, OMI MLIC INVESTMENTS LIMITED, ONE FINANCIAL PLACE CORPORATION, PARA-MET PLAZA ASSOCIATES, PARK TOWER JV MEMBER LLC, PARK TOWER REIT INC., PARK TWENTY THREE INVESTMENTS COMPANY, PJSC METLIFE, PLAZA DRIVE PROPERTIES LLC, PREFCO DIX-HUIT LLC, PREFCO FOURTEEN LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, PREFCO IX REALTY LLC, PREFCO TEN LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, PREFCO TWENTY LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, PREFCO VINGT LLC, PREFCO X HOLDINGS LLC, PREFCO XIV HOLDINGS LLC, PROVIDA INTERNACIONAL S.A., RIVERWAY RESIDENTIAL LP, SAFEGUARD HEALTH ENTERPRISES INC., SAFEGUARD HEALTH PLANS INC., SAFEGUARD HEALTH PLANS INC., SAFEHEALTH LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, SANDPIPER COVE ASSOCIATES II LLC, SANDPIPER COVE ASSOCIATES LLC, ST. JAMES FLEET INVESTMENTS TWO LIMITED, Safeguard Health Enterprises, Security First Group Inc., THE BUILDING AT 575 FIFTH AVENUE MEZZANINE LLC, THE BUILDING AT 575 FIFTH RETAIL HOLDING LLC, THE BUILDING AT 575 FIFTH RETAIL OWNER, THE DIRECT CALL CENTRE PTY LIMITED, THE PROSPECT COMPANY, TIC EUROPEAN REAL ESTATE LP LLC, TLA HOLDINGS II LLC, TLA HOLDINGS III LLC, TLA HOLDINGS LLC, TRANSMOUNTAIN LAND & LIVESTOCK COMPANY, VIRIDIAN MIRACLE MILE LLC, Versant Health, WFP 1000 HOLDING COMPANY GP LLC, WHITE OAK ROYALTY COMPANY, and ZAO MASTER D.
John Bean Technologies Corporation provides technology solutions to food and beverage industry and equipment and services to air transportation industries. The company operates through JBT FoodTech and JBT AeroTech segments. It offers poultry processing, mixing/grinding, injecting, marinating, tumbling, portioning, packaging, coating, cooking, frying, freezing, weighing, and X-ray food inspection. The company also provides processing solutions for extracting, mixing, blending, pasteurizing, sterilizing, concentrating, high pressure processing, filling, closing, sealing, and final packaging, as well as processing equipment; and packaging systems for poultry, beef, pork, seafood, ready-to-eat meals, fruits, vegetables, dairy, bakery, pet foods, soups, sauces, and juices. In addition, it offers automated guided vehicle systems for material movement in the manufacturing and warehouse facilities. Further, the company provides mobile air transportation equipment, such as commercial and military cargo loading, aircraft deicing, aircraft towing, and aircraft ground power and cooling systems; and fixed equipment for passenger boarding. Additionally, it offers airport equipment, systems, and facilities maintenance services to domestic and international airport authorities, passenger airlines, airfreight and ground handling companies, military forces, and defense contractors. It markets and sells its products and solutions through direct sales force, independent distributors, and sales representatives. John Bean Technologies Corporation was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

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Wall Street analysts have given iShares MSCI China A 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 China A ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.
Informa plc operates as a business-to-business exhibitions and events, learning, and information services company worldwide. It operates through five divisions: Informa Connect, Informa Intelligence, Informa Markets, Informa Tech, and Taylor & Francis. The Informa Connect division provides content-driven events and digital platforms that allow professionals to meet, connect, learn, and share knowledge. This division operates events in finance and investment, biotech and pharma, and other specialist markets. The Informa Intelligence division offers digital intelligence and data-based products, consultancy, and research services in the areas of pharma, financial, maritime, and asset intelligence, as well as Barbour ABI, a provider of construction market intelligence and building project leads for built environment specialists. The Informa Markets division creates platforms for international markets, which provide businesses to research trends, find and showcase products, generate leads, and complete sales through exhibitions, virtual events, specialist digital content, and data solutions to customers operating in specialist markets to meet and trade. The Informa Tech division offers research, media, training, and events that inform, educate, and connect businesses and professionals working in technology. The Taylor & Francis division publishes books for upper level university students, researchers, and academic institutions in a range of specialist subjects; and journals under imprints such as Routledge, Taylor & Francis, and Cogent OA. This segment has a portfolio of approximately 160,000 book titles and 2,700 journals. The company was formerly known as T&F Informa plc and changed its name to Informa plc in August 2005. Informa plc was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

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Mumbai Police are also on high alert following the air strikes.

'Western Naval Command is fully prepared to deal with any untoward situation in the wake of IAF air strikes in Pakistan,' said an official. (Representative Image)

Mumbai: In the wake of IAF's preemptive air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan, the Western Naval Command here is on a high alert and "fully prepared" to tackle any eventualities, an official said on Tuesday. Mumbai Police are also on high alert following the air strikes, the official said.

"After the air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps in Pakistan in the early hours on Tuesday, the security agencies have put the city on high alert," the official said.

"The Western Naval Command remains alert 24X7. Now, it is fully prepared to deal with any untoward situation in the wake of the air strikes in Pakistan," he said.

Western Naval Command, headquartered in Mumbai, is one of the three formations of the Indian Navy.

Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, has been one of the most preferred targets for terrorist organisations. The metropolis has witnessed a series of terror attacks, including explosions in Mumbai suburban trains in July 2006, and the unprecedented attacks of 26 November 2008, when two of the prime hotels, a landmark train station, and a Jewish Chabad house, in South Mumbai, were attacked and sieged.

In a swift and precise air strike following the Pulwama attack, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, officials said.
HollyFrontier Corporation operates as an independent petroleum refiner in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Refining, Lubricants and Specialty Products, and HEP. It primarily produces high-value light products, such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, and specialty lubricant products, as well as specialty and modified asphalt. The company offers its products to other refiners, convenience store chains, independent marketers, retailers, truck stop chains, wholesalers, railroads, governmental entities, and paving contractors or manufacturers, as well as for commercial airline use. It owns and operates 4 refineries with a combined crude oil processing capacity of approximately 405,000 barrels per day in El Dorado, Kansas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Artesia, New Mexico; and Woods Cross, Utah. The company also owns and operates vacuum distillation and other facilities in Lovington, New Mexico, as well as asphalt terminals in Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. Its refineries serve markets in the Mid-Continent, Southwest, and Rocky Mountain regions of the United States. In addition, HollyFrontier Corporation produces base oils and other specialized lubricant products; and owns and operates logistic assets consisting of petroleum product and crude oil pipelines, terminals, tankage, loading rack facilities, and refinery processing units. The company was formerly known as Holly Corporation and changed its name to HollyFrontier Corporation as a result of its merger with Frontier Oil Corporation in July 2011. HollyFrontier Corporation was incorporated in 1947 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

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H&R Block, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides assisted income tax return preparation, do-it-yourself (DIY) tax, and virtual tax preparation services and products to the general public primarily in the United States, Canada, and Australia. The company offers assisted income tax return preparation and related services through a system of retail offices operated directly by the company or by franchisees. It also develops and markets DIY income tax preparation software online, as well as through third-party retail stores and direct mail; and provides DIY tax services, including federal and state income tax returns, access to tax tips, advice and tax-related news, use of calculators for tax planning, and error checking and electronic filing. In addition, the company offers Refund Transfers and H&R Block Emerald Prepaid Mastercard, which enables clients to receive their tax refunds; Peace of Mind extended service plans; H&R Block Emerald Advance lines of credit; Tax Identity Shield that provides clients assistance in helping protect their tax identity and access to services to help restore their tax identity; refund advance loans; H&R Block Instant Refund; and H&R Block Pay With Refund services. Further, it provides small business financial solutions through its company-owned or franchise offices, and online. H&R Block, Inc. was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri.

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Fortive Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and services professional and engineered products, software, and services worldwide. Its Intelligent Operating Solutions segment offers connected reliability tools; environment, health, safety, and quality enterprise software products; facility and asset lifecycle software; pre-construction planning and construction procurement solutions; ruggedized professional test tools; electric, pressure, and temperature calibration tools; and portable gas detection tools for a range of vertical end markets including manufacturing, process industries, healthcare, utilities and power, communications and electronics, and others. It markets its products and services under the ACCRUENT, FLUKE, FLUKE NETWORKS, GORDIAN, INDUSTRIAL SCIENTIFIC, INTELEX, and PRUFTECHNIK brands. The company's Precision Technologies segment provides electrical test and measurement instruments and services; energetic material devices; and sensor and control system solutions for power and energy, medical equipment, food and beverage, aerospace and defense, off-highway vehicles, electronics, semiconductors, and other general industrial markets. This segment markets its products under the ANDERSON-NEGELE, GEMS, SETRA, HENGSTLER-DYNAPAR, QUALITROL, PACIFIC SCIENTIFIC, KEITHLEY, and TEKTRONIX brands. Its Advanced Healthcare Solutions segment offers hardware and software products and services, including instrument and device reprocessing, instrument tracking, biomedical test tools, radiation safety monitoring, and asset management services; subscription-based surgical inventory management systems to facilitate inventory management and regulatory compliance, as well as technical, analytical, and compliance services to determine radiation exposure services under the ASP, CENSIS, CENSITRAC, EVOTECH, FLUKE BIOMEDICAL, INVETECH, LANDAUER, RAYSAFE, and STERRAD brands. Fortive Corporation was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Everett, Washington.

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Modi Sunday took a holy dip at the Sangam in Allahabad and interacted with sanitation workers.

New Delhi: CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury Monday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reportedly shooting PR films, saying such photo shoots only rubbed salt into the wounds of those suffering.

In an apparent reference to Mr Modi allegedly shooting a propaganda and publicity film till the evening of February 14, the day of the Pulwama terror attacks, and photographs of him washing the feet of sanitation workers on Sunday, the Left leader said the PM should make his priorities clear. 105 deaths in sewers and septic tanks in 2018 & 11 in 2019 alone. Nothing done to redress the grave situation despite Court Orders. PR photoshoots with multiple cameras only rub salt into the wounds of those suffering historical injustices, he said in a tweet.

It is just not Kashmir. The North-East is in immense turmoil. But Modi is busy shooting PR films in a Forest resort or mouthing inane film dialogues, irrespective of whether soldiers die or civilians. That makes clear what his real priorities are, Mr Yechury said.

Mr Modi Sunday took a holy dip at the Sangam in Allahabad and interacted with sanitation workers, who have ensured cleanliness during the ongoing Kumbh Mela, describing them as real karma-yogis whose contributions were being lauded all over.

He also performed the Ganga aarti and conducted Charan Vandana (washing the feet) of select sanitation workers, as a mark of respect to their efforts in ensuring a clean Kumbh.
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.

Smart & Final Stores, Inc. operates as a food retailer in the United States. It operates in two segments, Smart & Final and Smart Foodservice. The company's stores offer fresh perishables and everyday grocery items, such as produce, meat and deli, dairy and cheese, grocery, and beverage products, as well as paper and packaging, and restaurant equipment and janitorial supplies. It also provides various private label products under the First Street, Sun Harvest, Simply Value, La Romanella, Montecito, Iris, and Ambiance brands. The company sells its products to household and business customers; restaurants; caterers; and various other foodservice businesses, such as food trucks and coffee houses through vendors and suppliers. As of December 30, 2018, it operated 326 grocery and foodservice stores, including 59 Smart & Final stores, 201 Smart & Final Extra! stores, and 66 Smart Foodservice Warehouse stores located in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, and Utah, as well as 15 stores in Northwestern Mexico operated through a joint venture. Smart & Final Stores, Inc. was founded in 1871 and is headquartered in Commerce, California.

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Gokhale said, 'Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country.'

Gokhale also said that a pre-emptive strike became important. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

New Delhi: Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale briefed media in New Delhi after Indias air strikes on terror camps including Jaish-e-Mohammeds in Pakistan.

Addressing the media, Gokhale said, Credible intelligence was received that Jaish-e-Mohammed was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country and fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose.

He also said that a pre-emptive strike became important.

Applauding the efforts by armed forces, Gokhale said India struck the biggest camp of JeM in Balakot and large number of terrorists, trainers, senior commander and jihadis were eliminated.

Gokhale informed that camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother in law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar.

Foreign Secretary said India firmly committed towards taking all measures to fight terrorism and Pakistan to dismantle all terror camps, including those of JeM.
AstraZeneca PLC discovers, develops, manufactures, and commercializes prescription medicines in the areas of oncology, cardiovascular, renal and metabolism, respiratory, infection, neuroscience, and gastroenterology worldwide. The company's marketed products include Tagrisso, Lynparza, Imfinzi, Enhertu, Koselugo, Lumoxiti, Equidacent, Zoladex, Faslodex, Iressa, Arimidex, Casodex/Cosudex, and others for oncology diseases; Onglyza, Bydureon, Lokelma, Byetta, Qtern, Symlin, and others for cardiovascular, renal, and metabolism diseases; and Symbicort, Pulmicort, Fasenra, Daliresp/Daxas, Duaklir, Tudorza/Eklira, Bevespi, Breztri, Anifrolumab, and others for respiratory and immunology diseases. It also offers other medicines and COVID-19 products, including Synagis, Fluenz Tetra/FluMist Quadrivalent, Seroquel IR/Seroquel XR, Vimovo, Movantik/Moventig, Nexium, Losec/Prilosec, and COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca. The company serves primary care and specialty care physicians through distributors and local representative offices. It has a collaboration agreement with Daiichi Sankyo to develop and commercialize DS-1062 for the treatment of trophoblast cell-surface antigen 2 (TROP2) tumor; AliveCor, Inc. to develop non-invasive potassium monitoring solutions; Massachusetts General Hospital to accelerate digital health solutions; Sanguina on smartphone application study for hemoglobin management in patients with anemia of chronic kidney disease; Alchemab to enhance prostate cancer research; and Proteros biostructures GmbH to discover and develop novel small molecules for the treatment of various types of cancer. The company was formerly known as Zeneca Group PLC and changed its name to AstraZeneca PLC in April 1999. AstraZeneca PLC was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Cambridge, the United Kingdom.

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Penske Automotive Group, Inc., a diversified transportation services company, operates automotive and commercial truck dealerships. The company operates through four segments: Retail Automotive, Retail Commercial Truck, Other, and Non-Automotive Investments. It operates dealerships under franchise agreements with various automotive manufacturers and distributors. The company engages in the sale of new and used motor vehicles, and related products and services comprise vehicle and collision repair services, as well as placement of finance and lease contracts, third-party insurance products, and other aftermarket products; and wholesale of parts. It also operates a heavy and medium duty truck dealership, which offers Freightliner and Western Star branded trucks, as well as a range of used trucks, and maintenance and repair services. In addition, it imports and distributes Western Star heavy-duty trucks, MAN heavy and medium duty trucks, buses, and Dennis Eagle refuse collection vehicles with associated parts in Australia, New Zealand, and portions of the Pacific. Further, the company distributes diesel and gas engines, and power systems. The company operates 304 retail automotive franchises, including 142 franchises located in the United States and 162 franchises located outside of the United States; 17 used vehicle supercenters in the United States and the United Kingdom; and 25 commercial truck dealerships in Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia, Utah, and Idaho, the United States, as well as Canada. Penske Automotive Group, Inc. was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

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CoreLogic, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides property information, insight, analytics, and data-enabled solutions in North America, Western Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Property Intelligence & Risk Management Solutions (PIRM) and Underwriting & Workflow Solutions (UWS). The PIRM segment combines property information, mortgage information, and consumer information to deliver housing market and property-level insights, predictive analytics, and risk management capabilities. It also offers proprietary technology and software platforms to access, automate, or track the information and assist its clients with decision-making and compliance tools in the real estate and insurance industries. This segment primarily serves commercial banks, mortgage lenders and brokers, investment banks, fixed-income investors, real estate agents, MLS companies, property and casualty insurance companies, title insurance companies, government agencies, and government-sponsored enterprises. The UWS segment combines property, mortgage, and consumer information to provide comprehensive mortgage origination and monitoring solutions, including underwriting-related solutions, and data-enabled valuations and appraisals. This segment also provides proprietary technology and software platforms to access, automate, or track the information and assist its clients with vetting and onboarding prospects, and meeting compliance regulations, as well as understanding, evaluating, monitoring property values. It primarily serves mortgage lenders and servicers, mortgage brokers, credit unions, commercial banks, fixed-income investors, government agencies, and property and casualty insurance companies. The company was formerly known as The First American Corporation and changed its name to CoreLogic, Inc. in June 2010. CoreLogic, Inc. was incorporated in 1894 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.

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Foreign diplomats from the USA, UK, Russia, Australia, Indonesia, Turkey and six ASEAN nations are being briefed by the Foreign Secretary.

Diplomats are being briefed in South Block by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale on air strikes carried out at a massive Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camp in Balakot in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: After the air strikes on Tuesday, India initiated the process of briefing foreign countries about the development.

Diplomats are being briefed in South Block by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale on air strikes carried out at a massive Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camp in Balakot in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

Foreign diplomats from the USA, UK, Russia, Australia, Indonesia, Turkey and six ASEAN nations are being briefed by the Foreign Secretary.

Twelve days after Pulwama attack, the Indian Air Force carried out multiple aerial strikes at terror launch pads at various places in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, destroying control rooms of JeM and some other infrastructure.

The terror camps in Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad, capital of PoK, were struck by 12 Mirage 2000 jets with 1000 kg of explosives at around 3:30 am, IAF sources said.

The targets included the control rooms of JeM outfit which carried out a terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14 in which 40 security personnel were killed and five injured.

The JeM control room was completely destroyed in the air strike, sources said.

Pulwama terror attack had led to nationwide outrage and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had vowed to punish those behind the attack.

Entire world community had expressed solidarity with India after the attack.

The US has said it supports India's "Right to self-defence" in the back of the attack.
Black and Hispanic undergraduate students who are majoring in education face financial challenges and demands on their time that their white peers do not, according to a new report from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.

And its up to colleges of education to provide more support, the brief argues.

AACTE analyzed data from the U.S. Department of Educations National Postsecondary Student Aid survey , which includes information from 89,000 undergraduate and 24,000 graduate students, collected during the 2015-16 academic year. The brief looks at students from the survey who are majoring in education.

The demographic breakdown of education students reflects the disproportionately large number of white teachers in the profession: 68 percent of undergraduate education majors are white, 12 percent are African American, 13 percent are Hispanic, 3 percent are Asian or Pacific Islander, and 1 percent are American Indian or Alaska Native. (The proportion of white educators in the classroom is even greater80 percent of teachers are white .)

See also: The Nations Teaching Force Is Still Mostly White and Female

Education is also whiter than other majors. Across all undergraduate disciplines, 57 percent of students are white11 percentage points lower than the proportion of white education majors. By contrast, African-American, Hispanic, and Asian or Pacific Islander students are underrepresented. These trends are also present in education masters programs, according to the brief.

African-American and Hispanic undergraduate students are more likely than white students to be financially independent, paying for their college tuition themselves. Among education majors, 69 percent of white students are dependent on parents or other caregivers, while only 60 percent of Hispanic students and 52 percent of African-American students are.

And even among those whose parents are covering their expenses, white students may be at a financial advantage. The median parent income for white education students was almost $95,000, while the median income for African-American and Hispanic students parents was less than half of that.

The difference in income is stark, and demonstrates that African-American and Hispanic students may have a significant need for financial aid to successfully complete an education degree, said Jacqueline E. King, a consultant to AACTE and the author of the brief.

Hispanic students are also more likely than white or African-American students to be the first in their families to attend college45 percent of Hispanic education students are first-generation.

The data also looked at students family and caregiving responsibilities. Many undergraduate education students are also parents, though the proportion varies greatly by race: 15 percent of white students, 19 percent of Hispanic students, and 30 percent of African-American students have kids. Among students who are parents, almost half have children who are under the age of 5.

At the masters level, more students have children41 percent of white students, 44 percent of Hispanic students, and half of all African-American students.

Making Programs Work for Students of Color

The analysis shows that teacher colleges will need to provide more supports if they want to diversify their student populations, said King, in an interview with Education Week.

Certain student populations are more likely to have certain needs than others, she said. For example, 1 in 5 African-American undergraduate students is a single parent. The likelihood is that those students are going to have a greater need for child care than white or Hispanic students, who are less likely to be parents at all as undergraduates, and less likely to be single parents.

The clinical requirements that come along with a teaching degree may place additional burdens on students with children, beyond what they would face if they were pursuing other majors, she said.

Residency models, where students spend a year or more working in a classroom, could be especially difficult. The dual responsibilities of courses and practical experience place great demands on students who are parents, and most of these residency programs dont pay students for their worka barrier for students who may be putting themselves through college.

In addition to students socioeconomic status, AACTE also analyzed students attendance patterns. We know that [full-time attendance] is associated with higher levels of degree completion, said King.

Two-thirds of white undergraduate students attend full-time for the full academic year, while only about half of African-American and Hispanic students do the same.

At the masters level, the numbers are differentmost students, across race, attend school part-time.

Its common among masters programs in all disciplines for courses to be offered in the evenings, to accommodate the schedules of students working full-time. Colleges might consider offering night classes for undergraduates, too, said King, if they are looking for ways to make it easier for working students to attend full-time, year-round.



See also: Enrollment Is Down at Teacher Colleges. So Theyre Trying to Change

Of course, said King, the particular demographic contexts of individual colleges and universities will differ. At AACTEs annual meeting, which took place last week in Louisville, Ky., she presented the briefs findings and encouraged participants to do a similar analysis on their own campuses.

A big part of why we did this [analysis] is to put a model out there of some key data elements, and then give the educator-preparation programs that template for doing their own research, she said, in a phone interview.



These data suggest that we have a lot of nontraditional students, said King. And to the extent that we want to diversify the workforce, its going to only mean more nontraditional students. So we need to figure out ways to be as supportive as possible.

Images courtesy of AACTE.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, a pharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes generic medicines, specialty medicines, and biopharmaceutical products in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers sterile products, hormones, high-potency drugs, and cytotoxic substances in various dosage forms, including tablets, capsules, injectables, inhalants, liquids, ointments, and creams. It also develops, manufactures, and sells active pharmaceutical ingredients. In addition, it focuses on the central nervous system, pain, respiratory, and oncology areas. Its products in the central nervous system and pain area include Copaxone for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis; AJOVY for the preventive treatment of migraine; and AUSTEDO for the treatment of tardive dyskinesia and chorea associated with Huntington disease. The company's products in the respiratory market comprise ProAir, QVAR, ProAir Digihaler, AirDuo Digihaler, and ArmonAir Digihaler, BRALTUS, CINQAIR/CINQAERO, DuoResp Spiromax, and AirDuo RespiClick/ArmonAir RespiClick for the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Its products in the oncology market include Bendeka, Treanda, Granix, Trisenox, Lonquex, and Tevagrastim/Ratiograstim. The company was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Petach Tikva, Israel.

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The following companies are subsidiares of TE Connectivity: 999 Arques Corp., ABB ENTRELEC terminal block business, ACC Telecommunications, ADC Chile Limitada, ADC Communications (SEA) Pte. Ltd., ADC Communications (UK) Holding Ltd., ADC Communications (UK) Ltd., ADC Communications Hong Kong Limited, ADC Telecommunications Equipment (Shanghai) Co., AMP Amermex, AMP Products Pacific Limited, AMP Taiwan B.V., AMP Trading B.V., AMP de Venezuela, Acalon Holdings Limited, Advanced Fiber Products LLC, Advanced Fiber Products Limited, Advanced Tube Technologies, AdvancedCath, AdvancedCath Technologies, Alpha Technics, American Sensor Technologies, Betatherm (R&D) Limited, Brantner Holding Company, Brantner and Associates, Butterfly Management SAS, C.S. Tyco Decisive Inc., C.S. Tyco Dependable Inc., C.S. Tyco Durable Inc., C.S. Tyco Reliance Inc., C.S. Tyco Resolute Inc., C.S. 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(Kenya Branch), Tyco Electronics Ukraine Limited, Tyco Electronics Uruguay S.A., Tyco Electronics Verwaltungs GmbH, Tyco Electronics Wireless Systems B.V., Tyco Electronics de Venezuela, Tyco Elektronik AMP Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Tyco Global Networks Ltd., Tyco Iberia, Tyco International Services GmbH, Tyco Networks (Argentina) S.R.L., Tyco Networks (Italy) Srl, Tyco Networks (Netherlands) B.V., Tyco Networks Iberica, Tyco Submarine Systems, Tyco Submarine Systems C.A., Tyco Submarine Systems de Argentina S.A., Tyco Telecommunications Ltd., Wema Americas LLC, Wema Automotive System Private Limited, Wema Environmental Technologies (Shanghai) Co., Wema Environmental Technologies (Shenzhen) Co., Wema Environmental Technologies Ltd., Wema System AG, Wema System AS, Wema System Hong Kong Limited, Wema System Production and Distribution HK Limited, Xiamen Delixing Electric Equipment Businesss, and motec Montage GmbH.
Orange S.A. provides a range of fixed telephony and mobile telecommunications, data transmission, and other value-added services to customers, businesses, and other telecommunications operators in France and internationally. It operates through France; Spain and Other European Countries; The Africa and Middle East; Enterprise; International Carriers & Shared Services; and Mobile Financial Services segments. The company offers mobile services, such as voice, SMS, and data; fixed broadband and narrowband services, as well as fixed network business solutions, including voice and data; and convergence packages. It also sells mobile handsets, broadband equipment, and connected devices and accessories. In addition, the company provides IT and integration services comprising unified communication and collaboration services, such as LAN and telephony, consultancy, integration, and project management; hosting and infrastructure services, including cloud computing; customer relations management and other applications services; security services; and video conferencing, as well as sells related equipment. Further, it offers national and international roaming services; and mobile virtual network operators, network sharing, and mobile financial services, as well as sells equipment to external distributors and brokers. Orange S.A. markets its products and services under the Orange brand. The company was formerly known as France Telecom and changed its name to Orange S.A. in July 2013. Orange S.A. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

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The border district officials have been asked to put in place all contingency plans to ensure the protection and safety of the citizens.

In view of the operation of IAF against terror camps in Balakot in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, targeting JeM camps on early Tuesday morning, Punjab government has put its border districts on a high alert. Police had also issued a 'high alert' across Gujarat. (Representational Image)

Punjab/Gujarat: In view of the operation of Indian Air Force (IAF) against terror camps in Balakot in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, targeting JeM camps on early Tuesday morning, Punjab government has put its border districts on a high alert. Police had also issued a "high alert" across Gujarat.

The Ambala air base and Mumbai naval base have also been put on high alert. Meanwhile, the forces are maintaining a strict vigil at Wagah Border, reported NDTV.

Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday will visit the high alert declared border areas such as Ferozepur, Tarn Taran, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Fazilka. Singh has also ordered a spate of measures as a part of the states preparedness to deal with any contingency in view of the latest developments at the Line of Control (LoC).

The border district officials have been asked to put in place all contingency plans to ensure the protection and safety of the citizens. Chief Minister Singh also chaired a high-level meeting with top officials to review the situation.

The meeting was of the view that there was no need for panic and has decided against any move to evacuate the residents of the border areas. All aspects of the current situation were discussed with the top brass of the police, civil administration, and other senior officials, an official spokesperson said.

Chief minister Amarinders media advisor Raveen Thukral, who was also present in the meeting, said the Chief Minister has directed the officials to monitor the situation closely and not let down their guard under any circumstances.

The state government was in touch with the Union Home and Defence Ministries to remain abreast of the situation. The government was fully prepared to deal with any eventuality, said Thukral.

However, tranquillity prevailed along the Indo-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) after India carried out air strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) and destroyed terror camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The troops are on high alert, a senior Army officer said.

"The situation is peaceful along the LoC in J&K. There are no reports of any untoward incident reported from anywhere," the officer told PTI.

Though there was a brief ceasefire violation by the Pakistan army before the air strikes, he added.

There was intermittent firing along the IB in Kanachak sector in Jammu district on Monday night, he added.

IAFs strikes on terror camps in Balakot in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province comes 12 days after the dreaded terror outfitJaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)carried out a debilitating attack on the CRPF convoy in Pulwama on February 14 in which as many as 40 jawans were killed.
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Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday said he has postponed his indefinite hunger strike, scheduled from March 1 in "view of the prevailing Indo-Pak situation".

His remarks came after India struck Jaish-e-Mohammed's(JeM) biggest camp in Pakistan early Tuesday in a major "preemptive" action killing a large number of terrorists and trainers of the Pak-based terror group preparing to carry out suicide attacks in this country.

"In view of prevailing Indo Pak situation, I am postponing my upwas for full statehood of Delhi. We all stand as one nation today," he posted on Twitter.

Earlier, Kejriwal saluted the pilots of the Indian Air Force (IAF) after it carried out the strikes in Pakistan.

"I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan," Kejriwal said in a tweet.
Chairperson of Jharkhand State Commission for Women (JSCW), Kalyani Sharan, gave strict directions to dispose the pending cases at womens police stations across the state immediately.

In a review meeting with the officers in charge of womens PS across the State, Sharan went through the details of cases in last three years, with a special focus on cases related to domestic violence and witch hunting. The other common cases registered at womens PS included dowry and live in relationships.

Sharan informed that while most of the police station officers submitted the required details, some could not do so as they were recently posted at the new PS. Such officers have been given a 10 day time to submit the case details of last three years to the commission via e-mail.

Sharan said, Some cases were pending since three years which is definitely not acceptable. In fact the law says that domestic violence related cases should be disposed within seven days. I have directed all the OCs to take immediate steps and dispose all cases as soon as possible with all transparency.

Officers in charge of around three police stations did not show up at the meeting, a show cause notice will be served to whom by the commission.

A copy of report of the meeting will be sent to the director general of police, home secretary, DIG and to all the OCs, Sharan said.

The chairperson held another review meeting with the Child Development Project Officers (CDPO) of Kolhan region to discuss cases of atrocity against women under them.

I was shocked to know that the CDPOs had no idea that they have to deal with the cases related to atrocity against women. I have directed them to conduct regular meetings with women police stations, anganwadi sevikas and school teachers to know about such cases at block level, Sharan said.

She added, "The CDPOs have been asked to contact such women who do not tell about the atrocities they face due to shame or fear of society, and encourage them to speak out about it."

The chairperson also directed all the CDPOs to write letters to the deputy commissioners of their respective districts for organizing awareness programmes and nukkad nataks about atrocities against women and women empowerment.
The Habibganj police nabbed a woman carrying 5.7 kg of Cannabis worth Rs25000 near railway station on Monday; details of illegally carried drug are under investigation.

Police said that acting on a tip off regarding a woman carrying drugs was nabbed and when she was searched Cannabis was recovered from her possession regarding which she failed to provide details after which she was detained.

The woman was identified as Sapna Kuchbandiya of Bagh Mughaliya who was carrying drugs.

Initially when the accused spotted police she tried to escape but was chased and nabbed. Police suspect that she was waiting for someone possibly her male accomplice who would collect or carry drugs to the destination but she was nabbed before the delivery of the drugs.

After the preliminary investigation the police have registered a case under of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and have started further investigation. The details of the source and scheduled delivery would be investigated in the further investigation.

Meanwhile, Govindpura police have nabbed a miscreant from Shukrawara market serving externment from Hoshangabad and nearby 7 districts on Monday.

Acting on a tip off a miscreant roaming suspiciously was nabbed and in the initial investigation he was identified as Udit Narayan (26) Kanchan Nagar Hoshangabad.

The accused was sentenced externment by District Collector Hoshangabad for one year from Hoshangabad districts and Harda, Betul, Chindwara, Narshingpur, Sehore, Raisen and Bhopal but during his externment he was found violating the externmnt orders. The police have taken action under sections 14 and 15 State Safety Act and section 188 of the IPC.
J&K PCC chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir said that any tinkering with the special status of the state would further deepen the alienation of the people.

Srinagar: Amid reports that the Centre may, after ending its indifference towards the issue, seek the repeal of Article 35A in the Supreme Court, Jammu and Kashmirs mainstream leaders have warned the government against any attempt to tinker with the Constitutional provision.

Former chief minister and National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah said that any misadventure in fiddling with Article 35A or Article 370 will have serious and far-reaching consequences in the state. He said, Any misadventure in fiddling with its special status will unarguably have serious and far-reaching consequences in J&K.

Referring to the large-scale violence in Arunachal Pradesh, he said, A peaceful state like Arunachal Pradesh is also in flames. People there have hit the roads protesting against any changes in their permanent resident status. That, I believe, should act as an eye-opener for those who are inimical to Article 370 and Article 35A.

He added that the people irrespective of region and religion have come out in open support of these two Constitutional provisions and that our fight for protection of the States special status is being acknowledged and supported by those who are in alliance with the BJP, as well.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said that before taking a decision on Article 35A, the government at the Centre should consider that J&K was a Muslim-majority state but it chose secular India over Pakistan during the Partition and that Article 370 is the constitutional connection between J&K and the Indian Union. The Instrument of Accession is contingent on Article 370 which is inextricably linked to Article 35A. Any tampering will render the Treaty of Accession null and void, the former chief minister said.

Peoples Conference chairman and former minister Sajad Gani Lone said that any attempts to tamper with Article 35A would result in a massive backlash for mainstream thought and also disenchantment and disillusionment in the state. Any tinkering with the special status of J&K is not only intolerable and unacceptable but would also amount to the erosion of the mainstream thought and space in J&K, he said adding It is pertinent to understand that the states special status is an article of faith between the people of the state and the rest of the country and also a constitutional bridge that is paramount in its importance.

He further said, Any efforts to dilute or further erode the states special status would result in disenchantment and disillusionment in the state and also render the mainstream space irrelevant and undermine its power of representation as far as the aspirations of people are concerned.

J&K PCC chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir said that any tinkering with the special status of the state would further deepen the alienation of the people. The BJP should not even think about touching Article 35A. Any misadventure would further deepen the alienation among the people and its fire will engulf the entire state, he said adding the special status granted to the state is a settled issue.

The CPIM leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said that Article 35A confers the power to the J&K legislature to define who are the states permanent residents and what are their rights. Any attempt to tamper with this provision will fundamentally damage the special status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution, he said and while echoing his partys stand on the issues urged the government at the Centre to make a public commitment that the Article 35A will be retained intact in the Constitution.

Meanwhile, Mandi town of the frontier district of Poonch in the States Jammu division on Monday observed complete shutdown in support of Article 35A. The call for the strike had been issued by various local religious organisations and the same was endorsed by some political and trade and transport bodies.

Following Mondays strike and growing tensions in Poonch, the District Magistrate Rahul Yadav has imposed restrictions under Section 144 of the Code Of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in the sensitive border district for an indefinite period. Justifying the move, he said, In view of the prevailing law-and-order situation in the district, some people may resort to agitation and there is apprehension that such people or groups can cause obstructions and injure persons and endanger human life and property, disturb tranquillity and cause riots. He also said, People have been prohibited from initiating violent protests, making speeches, raising slogans, carrying sticks and lethal weapons, gathering and assembly of five or more people in the district.

Later while addressing a press conference, Ms Mufti said that if Article 35A is nullified then nobody would be available to lift the national flag in Kashmir. She said, If Article 35A is nullified, I fear there would be nobody to lift the national flag in Kashmir. Please don't play with fire. There has been a lot of disinformation about this article in the rest of the country.
Sounding a high alert in the border districts of Punjab, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has decided to camp in the border areas as a part of the State Governments confidence-building measures in the wake of the Indian Air Force (IAF) surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) in the wee hours on Tuesday.

The Government is also in constant touch with the Union Home and Defence Ministries to stay abreast of the volatile situation, arising from the strikes, undertaken by India as a retaliatory measure in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack.

The Chief Minister, who reviewed the situation at a high-level meeting with the top brass of the police and civil administration, has decided to stay in the sensitive border region for on-ground assessment of the situation.

As per official statement, the Chief Minister will leave for Pathankot on Wednesday morning, and will travel by road to villages in border areas of the district and Amritsar, where he will stay the night.

The next day, he will visit the Tarn Taran region and spend the night at Faridkot. Capt Amarinder will return to Chandigarh on Friday after visiting the border areas of Ferozepur district, said his Media Advisor Raveen Thukral.

Thukral, who was present at the review meeting, disclosed that the Chief Minister had ordered a spate of measures as part of the States preparedness to deal with any contingency in view of the latest developments at the LoC.

Deputy Commissioners and Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) of the border areas have been asked to put in place all contingency plants to ensure the protection and safety of the citizens, he said adding that the meeting found no need for panic and decided against any move to evacuate the residents of the border areas.

The Chief Minister discussed all aspects of the current situation with the top brass of the police and civil administration, and directed the officials to monitor the situation closely and not let down their guard under any circumstances.

The Chief Minister, who spoke to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, on the situation, earlier tweeted his full support for the surgical strikes. Great job by the #IndianAirForce. The #IAFStrikes have sent the much needed signal to Pakistan and the terrorists harbouring dont think you can get away with acts like the #PulwamaAttack. Bravo to the #IAF men and my full support for the action, he wrote.

Immediately after the deadly Pulwama attack on a CRPF convoy, Capt Amarinder, a former Army captain, had made it clear that he was in favour of strong retaliatory action and that the Congress would support any course of action decided by the Central Government.

HIGH ALERT ON THEBORDER

With the entire nation hailing the Indian Air Forces non-military pre-emptive strike in Balakot targeting the biggest terror camp of Jasih-e-Mohammad, a high alert has been raised alongside the Indo-Pak international border, including Punjab.

Apprehending retaliation by Pakistan, the State Health Department has cancelled the leave of all doctors and para-medical staff have been cancelled, besides strict instructions to remain alert and all prepared for any eventuality

An alert has been sounded on the States air bases at Adampur, Halwara, Bathinda, and Pathankot. Besides, the State police force has also swung into action deploying extra force, commandos, especially around the air bases.

If reports are to be believed, the locals along the Indo-Pak border have witnessed the movement of artillery division in the wee hours. However, no one has confirmed the development.

In Ludhiana, Punjab police has deployed commandos around the Halwara Air Base. In addition, a round-the-clock patrolling is being done by the Punjab police around the air base. We have issued special instructions to the cops not to let traffic stuck outside the air force station. We have also set up special nakas on all roads, said a senior police official.

Around 40 Punjab police commandos have been deployed around Bhisiana airbase in Bathinda. We have to remain alert. And, thus, we have intensified the security around refinery, railway station, army cantonment and also oil depots, said the official.

In all districts, the local civil and police administration held meetings with the army and air force officials to discuss regarding the security measures.

A senior Government official maintained that Amritsars Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport is already classified as hypersensitive considering its location. For Amritsar airport, special security procedures are always in place, but we would ensure additional security cover, said the official.

It has been learnt that Gurdaspur Deputy Commissioner has also held an emergency meeting with the Army, Border Security Forces officials at Tibri Cantonment. Heavy force has been deployed around Pathankot ammunition dump and Air Force station.

Besides, Patiala police has received orders for co-ordination with the Army. We have received the directions to ensure easy and unperturbed passage to all vehicles of the Army. Continuous police patrolling has also been ensured around all military areas with police control room (PCR) vans, said the officer.

Apprehending the worse, the Punjab Health Department has cancelled the leave of its all employees including doctors and para-medical staff and directed them to be available round the clock by keeping their phones constantly on,.

They have also been directed to keep the emergency medical kit ready. Besides, the chief pharmacist has been directed to ensure availability of all essential medicines.
Former Union minister and rebel BJP MP from Patna Shatrughan Sinha welcomed the airstrike by the Indian Air Force on cross border terror training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. He however added: It has indeed enthused people of the country. However, its not a time for celebrations unless the matter reaches its logical conclusion and all relevant facts are available in the public domain. He said the entire country was with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue. The BJP MP said the government must take comprehensive punitive action against Pakistan so as to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the Kashmir valley.

Sinha was in Lucknow on Tuesday to meet Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav. Both the leaders were closeted for an hour. But they refused to divulge details of their discussions. It is, however, widely speculated that he could be a Samajwadi Party candidate and they met here for the purpose. Sources said Shatrughan Sinha was seeking intervention of Akhilesh Yadav to get the support of Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejasvi Yadav in Bihar for contesting the election.

Shatrughan Sinha is sulking ever since Narendra Modi came to power in May 2014. He had been criticising Modi for the past several years. In January, he had also joined the conclave of the Opposition parties in Kolkota organised by the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Bannerjee.
The South Eastern Railway (SER) on Tuesday issued a list of trains which will remain cancelled due to the ongoing modernisation and safety related work in various sections of Howrah-Mumbai route.

The Hazur Sahib Nanded-Santragachi Express will remain cancelled on two days- March 4 and 11 for the modernisation work which also includes upgradation of the signalling system. The SantragachiHazur Sahib Nanded Express will remain cancelled on March 6 and 13.

The LTT-Tatanagar Antyodaya Express will remain cancelled on March 5, 9, 12 and 16 while the Tatanagar-LTT Antyodaya Express which too runs on the Howrah-Mumbai trunk route will remain cancelled on March 3, 7, 10 and 14.

The Sambalpur-Rourkela Passenger will remain cancelled till March 14 from February 26. The Santragachi-Chennai Antyodaya Express will remain cancelled on March 11 while the Chennai-Santragachi Antyodaya Express will remain cancelled on March 14.

Chief public relations officer of South Eastern Railway, Sanjay Ghosh said they have already informed the authorities concerned. After the modernisation gets completed, speed of mail and express trains travelling in Howrah-Mumbai main line would be augmented.

Meanwhile, passengers traveling to Mumbai are facing harrowing times. Due to cancellation of trains they have no choice left to travel to other places. Due to this, the rush in other trains has increased so much so that the authorities have issued a no-room for trains.

Authorities at Chakradharpur railway division informed that a circular has been issued in this regard.

Located on the Howrah-Mumbai main route Tatanagar is an important station. Several important trains travel via Tatanagar, including the high-profile Rajdhani Express and Duronto Express. The station sees a daily traffic of 90 mail, express and passenger trains, besides a footfall of more than 60,000 passengers.

Tatanagar station director H K Balmuchu said that they got an official circular regarding the railway job.

"We are spreading the message for the passengers so that they are aware about the decisions. The block would be undertaken for modernisation work of railway tracks and signalling system," he added.
Delhi Government has allocated over Rs1807 crore for the implementation of various schemes and projects in the transport sector for the 2019-20 in its budget tabled in Delhi Assembly on Tuesday. Out of total Budget, an amount of Rs500 crore has been allocated for the Phase-IV project of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

It is very sad to hear that the centre has not even mentioned about the Phase-IV Metro in its budget session and the project has been delayed. I appeal to the central government not to delay the project which most important for the public facility, said Arvind Kejriwal.

Interestingly, the city will see the presence of a total 4000 buses under both the Cluster and Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) scheme in different phases from the next financial years. Out of total estimation, one thousand buses will be added to the DTC fleet by 2019-20. The remaining 3000 buses (electric, Low floor and Standard floor buses) will be procured under Cluster scheme.

At present there are 3882 DTC buses are running on 557 routes including 18 NCR routes carrying about 31 lakh passengers per day. 1789 buses are being operated under Cluster Bus scheme wherein more than 12 lakh passengers travel daily. DTC bus fleet will be added by 1000 new buses in 2019-20, said Mainish Sisodia, the Deputy Chief Minister while presenting the budget.

There has been a delay in the procurement process of Standard floor buses with the hydraulic lifts. These buses will be bought under cluster scheme, said Kailash Gahlot, the Transport Minister.

A new scheme Construction of Bus Queue Shelters has been proposed to construct the long awaiting/pending 1397 bus queue shelters for which Rs 50 crore has been allotted.

The government has further approved the proposal for construction of six new bus depots at Ghumanhera, Mundela Kalan, Rohini, East Vinod Nagar, Bawana and VIU Burari which will be completed by next year. Apart from this, five new bus depots at Daurala, Kapashera, Bamnauli, Sarai Kale Khan and Narela and two new bus terminals at Dwarka Sector-4 and 12, Vikaspuri and Narela will be constructed at a cost of Rs 150 crore.

Further, to curb the air pollution level, the government has formulated a draft Electric Vehicle Policy and proposed Rs 100 crore for constituting the State Electric Vehicle Fund in 2019-20 to promote the use of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) in Delhi. We target to increase 26 percent of E-vehicles in the city by 2024, said Sisodia.
Terming the fifth and last Budget presented by the Manohar Lal Khattar Government in Haryana as jugglery of statistics and a bundle of lies, the oppositionIndian National Lok Dal and Congresson Tuesday said that the Budget estimates 2019-20 painted a grim picture of State's economy with staggering debt liability and high revenue deficit.

Both INLD and Congress legislators flayed the Budget as anti-people and anti-farmer, while the treasurer benches hailed the announcement of new schemes in the Budget for famers and workers in unorganised sector in the State.

The State Government also faced the oppositions ire for evading tabling the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for the year ending March 31, 2018 before presenting Budget estimates for 2019-20 in the ongoing Assembly Session of Haryana Vidhan Sabha.

Criticising the Government for burgeoning debt liability, Leader of Opposition and INLD's senior leader Abhay Singh Chautala said that every child in the state is now born with Rs 1 lakh debt on his head.

During the INLDs tenure in Haryana, the debt liability was Rs 23,319 crore while in Congress tenure, it stood at Rs 70,931. But now, the debt liability is projected at over Rs 1.79 lakh crore for fiscal 2019-20. Also, the revenue deficit is projected at Rs 12022.49 crore, Chautala said while alleging that the Government has also failed to elaborate on how it will bring down the staggering debt.

While speaking during the debate on Budget estimates, he also accused the Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu of neglecting key sectors of agriculture, education, health, rural development, power and transport in the Budget.

Lashing out at the State Government for reducing the budget outlay of key sectors, Chautala said that 10.31 percent of the total Budget is proposed for agriculture sector in 2019-20 while it was 12.22 percent in fiscal 2018-19.

At one point of time, the Congress legislatures pointed out that the Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu and other Ministers are not present in the House during discussion on the budget.

Former Minister and Congress MLA Geeta Bhukkal said, The Leader of Opposition is speaking, but Chief Minister is not present, the Finance Minister has also gone away, other Ministers are also not there and even in the officers gallery, most officers are not present.

However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ram Bilas Sharma, who was present in the House assured the legislators that the Finance Minister will give reply to all the queries raised by the Opposition during the discussion on budget estimates.

While participating in the debate on budget estimates, senior Congress legislator Raghubir Singh Kadian targeted the government for not announcing loan waiver for farmers of the state.

This Government claims to be a pro-farmer but there is no mention of subsidy, loan waiver, implementation of Swaminathan report in the budget for the welfare of farmers of Haryana, Kadian said.

Responding to the allegations, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ram Bilas Sharma claimed that the CAG report was tabled and provided to the MLAs on Monday alongwith other budget related reports in a bag.

Soon after, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda told the Cabinet Minister that there were statistical reports, economic survey document in the bags but CAG report is missing.

We know that elections are near and you have things to hide, which is why you have not followed the precedence of tabling CAG report before the budget debate, Hooda told the treachery benches.

Following this, the INLD legislators too joined in and showed the files provided to the MLAs a day before. INLD legislators Parminder Singh Dhull and Naseem Ahmad while waving the files in the House, said that the CAG report was not tabled.

Finance Minister, while eyeing ensuing polls had on Monday presented more than Rs 1.32 lakh crore Budget for fiscal year 2019-20 with no proposal of any fresh taxes and populist announcements like financial and social security cover to small farmers and workers in unorganised sector and rebate to artisans in power bill.

BJP, Congress blame game over Jat quota stir 2016

The State Assembly witnessed heated arguments between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress benches over the violent Jat reservation agitation in 2016 in the state.

Trouble began when the BJP MLA Aseem Goel, who opened the Budget debate in the House on Tuesday, targeted the Congress for the Jat quota stir telling them that they were responsible for burning Haryana.

Attacking the Congress, Goel said, You are responsible for hatching a conspiracy to burn the State of Haryana.

Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar too joined in to attack the Congress and said that Rohtak, Jhajjar, Beri was burnt (during the February 2016 agitation) because of you.

People are waiting to teach you a lesson for your misdeeds, Dhankar told Congress legislators.

Following this, a verbal duel ensued between legislators of ruling and opposition Congress on the Jat agitation issue.

Former Minister and Congress MLA Geeta Bhukkal took a jibe at the ruling BJP MLAs, saying that on every issue they put the blame on previous Congress government.

War of words over martyrs

During the Zero Hour, Finance Minister Abhimanyu and independent MLA Jai Prakash had heated exchange when the latter claimed that the Government has not taken care of a martyrs dependents in the State.

Jai Prakash said, The family of martyr Rajesh, belonging to Gulha village is still awaiting financial aid and a job announced by the Government. This Government does not care about the martys. Retorting, Capt. Abhimayu said, I have served in the armed forces, I know the pain of the soldiers.

But we dont do dirty politics like you do on the issues of martyrs, he told Jai Parkash.
The National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco) bagged the Swachh Bharat Award during the National Swachhata Summit 2019 being held in New Delhi recently. The award was conferred for sanitation-infrastructure building and school sanitation initiatives.

The Nalco has constructed 479 toilets in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, resulting in enrolment and attendance enhancement of students in rural and tribal area schools. It has now taken up the project to make the remote villages of Damanjodi and Angul open defecation free.

On the occasion, Nalco CMD Dr Tapan Kumar Chand was also conferred with the CSR Leadership Award in recognition of his initiatives to make CSR a part of the organisational culture of the Nalco.

Besides, Jharkhand Governor Droupadi Murmu conferred the Odishara Baraputra (Business Leadership) Award on Dr Chand during a function of Ama Utkarsh Odisha held in Mumbai on February 23 and 24.

The award was conferred on Dr Chand for promoting heritage, industrial excellence and cultural glory of Odisha and spreading Odia brotherhood through exemplary work in the field of industry and business.
Mood is like Diwali celebrations: Shah

While launching the partys Kamal Jyoti Sampark Parv from Ghazipur, BJP national president Amit Shah said that Indian Air Force had avenged the killing of CRPF jawans in Pulwama and that was possible only because of the strong will power of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The country is celebrating today. They are celebrating the valour of Indian Air Force pilots. Diwali may be months away but people are celebrating Diwali tonight, Shah said while launching the partys campaign from Gauhat village in Ghazipur district on Tuesday. He also lit a lamp outside the residence of Dalit Rudranath Ram. Later, BJP workers lighted earthen diyas across the village.

This is the land of Raja Suheldeo and Abdul Hamid. Both of them taught lesson to enemies. And today also our forces taught a bitter lesson to the enemies, he said. He also talked about different programme the Modi government had launched for the welfare of the people.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath attended the function at Bhagukheda village in Sarojini Nagar on the outskirts of Lucknow while partys state president Mahendra Nath Pandey attended a programme in Ghaziabad.

The Chief Minister said that his government was implementing programmes of the Modi government in letter and spirit. He talked about electrification of villages saying his government was committed to improving the infrastructure across the state.

The programmes were held in the evening where lamps resembling lotus (election symbol of the BJP) were lit all across the state and thus the function was named as Kamal Jyoti Sampark Parv. This is the partys outreach programme through which party leaders made an attempt to popularise welfare schemes of the Modi and the Yogi governments. The programmes were attended by senior leaders of the party and ministers in Modi and Yogi governments, BJP spokesman said.

The BJP workers also involved beneficiaries of different government schemes in this programme. The workers were asked to light the lamp at the doorsteps of beneficiaries to give a sense of involvement to these people.

The spokesman added that party workers talked about how houses had been provided to the people during the Modi regime or electrification of villages or roads had been built in villages in the last four years. He asserted that there was a transformation in the lives of people.

Senior leaders and ministers attended the functions at village level. Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya attended a function at Phaphamau (Prayagraj district) and Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma in rural Lucknow. Govardhan Jhadapia was at Barabanki district, while Union minister Santosh Gangwar addressed people in Bareilly. Speaker of UP Legislative Assembly Hriday Narayan Dixit was in Unnao and Suresh Khanna was at a village in Kaushambi.
With barely four days left for Mahashivaratri, the preparation for the Kanwad congregation is far from complete. Meanwhile, the Kanwad pilgrims have already started to pour in the holy city. The highway and the Kanwad Patri Marg are yet to be in their right condition. Observers say that the lackadaisical district administration is to be blamed for the snails pace with which the preparation works for the congregation is now progressing. We fear that things would be in mess as thousands of pilgrims would throng the city, said an observer.

The condition of the Nehar Patri Narg is pathetic with potholes gaping at many places along the stretch. Most of the hand pumps have gone dry with no alternative drinking water arrangement being in place.

Things remaining in a deplorable condition ahead of the mela, Haridwar-based Mahanagar Vyapar Mandal has expressed deep concern. It said that the unfinished expansion work of the National Highway and the potholed roads tell the sad story of the laidback attitude of the district administration. The traders associated with the organisation demanded prompt completion of the works well before the Kanwad mela begins. If things are allowed to remain in the bad shape we would be forced to resort to a stir, said a senior functionary of the traders body.

Speaking to The Pioneer, the president of Mahanagar Vyapar Mandal, Sunil Sethi said, The city residents and the shop owners are upset over the regular traffic jams happening on the city roads and lanes. Things further compound during the time of congregation. We are of the view that the VIP movements should be strictly restricted during the weekends to mitigate the traffic pileup which the common people face here.
Taking pride in the successful strike by the Indian Air force (IAF) fighter jets at terror camps located in Pakistan, residents in Raipur and other parts of Chhattisgarh came out and celebrated the action on Tuesday.

This strike should have happened long back. However, today the international community is also with us so the strike has become easy. This is a good lesson for terror groups like Jaish-e-Mohammad and countries who are nurturing those rouge elements, Major (Retired) N Tiwari said.

According to Wing Commander (veteran) GK Panda, this strike could happen because of political will of the Union government.

The IAF was tasked with a mission and they did it. Entering into enemy territory is a very dangerous situation. It was a risky job, but it must have been a very well-coordinated and planned operation, he said.

From the point of national pride, this operation was very much necessary. In past we have seen that after different terror attacks there were only talks of criticism and stern action, but this time it was different, opined SK Mishra, principal of the government higher secondary school, Lamgaon, Surguja.

Devashish Bhakhre an employee with the Central Bank of India in Raipur said the image of India of being a country that replies to violence with peace, required a change. Enough is enough. They (Pakistan) have been disturbing us without reason, so at one point we will have to retaliate, he said.

In Jagdalpur which falls in the Maoist infested region of Chhattisgarh, youths came out of home and celebrated the strike by burning crackers and distributing sweets.

Rakesh Mandavi a BA student from Kondagaon while lauding the action opined that the strike was historic. This has happened only due to a strong leader like Narendra Modi, he added.

In different parts of state like Mungeli, Bilaspur, Ambikapur Dhamtari and Jagdalpur people celebrated the strike, while proudly waving the national flag and distributing sweets.
As the entire country hailed the Indian Air force (IAF) for the airstrikes carried out against Jaish-e-Mohammad camps in Balakot, Pakistan, the sentiment of jubilation and triumph also echoed in Haryana Assembly with its legislators, passing a resolution praising the Narendra Modi Government and IAF on Tuesday.

Amid the chanting of slogans 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' and Vande Mataram by treasury benches, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ram Bilas Sharma moved the resolution praising the BJP led Central Government and the armed forces for the surgical strike across the Line of Control, which, was unanimously passed by the House.

While congratulating the Modi Government, Ram Bilas Sharma said, We must appreciate the Modi Government and defence forces for the air strike and showing bravery and valour.

The opposition also heaped praise on the Central Government and the defence forces.

Former Speaker and Congress MLA Kuldeep Sharma said, The entire country is today praising the action taken. We have political differences but on the issue of national security, the Congress is with the BJP Government.

Surgical strike was required after the Pulwama terror attack. I congratulate the defence forces on behalf of my party. Such surgical strike should be taken again to teach a lesson to Pakistan, the Congress leader said.

Adding to this, INLD legislator Zakir Hussain, while speaking on behalf on his party said, We support the resolution. Such stern action was needed against Pakistan. Surgical strike should be conducted again to eliminate terrorism.

Following this, the 90-member Haryana Assembly unanimously passed the resolution.

Earlier, the outspoken Haryana Minister Anil Vij also hailed the Central Government and defence forces for the air strike.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown his 56-inch chest. What Modi says, he does. He has shown that terrorism cannot be tolerated... Pakistan has been taught a lesson, we have hit them inside their home, Vij said while speaking in the House.

This is called 56-inch chest. This is called a lion's chest, Vij said while praising the Prime Minister.

Last week, the State Assembly had also passed a resolution, strongly condemning the terrorist attack in Pulwama district and urged the Central Government to give a befitting reply to the enemy for the ghastly act.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister Manohar Lal while hailing the defence forces on Tuesday said that it was necessary to give Pakistan which harboured and helped terrorists, a befitting reply.

After todays action by our Defence forces, the people of the country feel satisfied that Pakistan has got what it deserves, he said while talking to the mediapersons about the Indian Air Force strike on terrorist camps in Pakistan.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had made it clear that the armed forces had been given a free hand to take action at any place or time they felt appropriate. Now, that the Defence forces have taken the action, the people of the country are satisfied with it, he added.
The court has now posted for March 2 the hearing of Vadras plea seeking directions to stay the ED interrogation.

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday refused to stay interrogation of Robert Vadra, accused in a money laundering case, and directed him to join investigation before the ED on Tuesday.

Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar directed the agency to supply within five days hard copies of the documents seized from Mr Vadra during raids conducted at his offices last year.

The court has now posted for March 2 the hearing of Mr Vadras plea seeking directions to stay the ED interrogation.

Mr Vadra, who is the brother-in-law of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, had said in the application moved by him on Saturday that the ED has been interrogating him based on seized documents and, therefore, their copies should be provided to him.

On December 7 last year, the agency had carried out raids at Mr Vadras offices in Delhi.

The court said Mr Vadra will join investigation before the ED after it took up his plea for hearing.

During the hearing, senior advocate K.T.S. Tulsi, appearing for Mr Vadra, alleged that the agency wants to expedite the investigation as elections are approaching and they are losing their patience.

Mr Vadra is facing probe in cases relating to purchase of alleged illegal assets abroad and an alleged land scam in Bikaner, Rajasthan.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced a slew of measures to augment uninterrupted water supply in the national Capital.

In his Budget speech, Sisodia proposed construction of reservoirs on Yamuna flood plains to store flood water to meet the increasing demand for water in Delhi.

Sisodia announced an allocation of Rs2,370 crore in 2019-20 for implementation of schemes, programmes and projects of Delhi Jal Board and Rs467 crore for a 20 KL free lifeline water subsidy scheme.

He also proposed an outlay of Rs215 crore for 2019-20 for implementation of various schemes and projects of the Irrigation and Flood Control Department.

For improving ground water level and water sustainability in national Capital construction of reservoir in Palla Yamuna Floodplain for storage of flood water in 1,000 acre of area and rejuvenation of irrigation minors, canals, abandoned for storage and harvesting of Flood water are proposed to be implemented, he said.

Later, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also explained how Delhi would be benefited if this initiative came into being. Haryana and Delhi have water dispute over only 125 to 150 cusec water. During rains 6 lakh cusec water is released by Haryana and Delhi also releases it, he said, adding that under new scheme, we will create lakes in Yamuna floodplains and this will be stored there. It is an ambitious project and if this happens we will be self sufficient,.

Sisodia said consultants are being appointed for these projects. Sisodia also proposed two new schemes Rejuvenation of Drains with an outlay of Rs100 crore for improving the ground water and rejuvenation or preservation and maintenance of water bodies with outlay of Rs25 crore.

DJB in a pilot project, has taken up rejuvenation of 159 existing water bodies and creation of five new water bodies, he said.

In his budget speech, Sisodia said the Government has made a plan to make Delhi self-reliant for water.

Delhi is getting 900 MGD water from the Ganga, Yamuna and ground water, whereas, the total requirement is 1,125 MGD.

Delhi Government has made a plan in which availability of water supply in Delhi will be more than its demand in next few years, Sisodia said.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal heaped praise on the Delhi Budget for 2019-20 presented by his deputy Manish Sisodia and said the

Budget presented by his Government is meant for every section of society and asserted that the economy of Delhi is booming at a time when other States are grappling with difficulties.

Talking to reporters after Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia presented the budget for 2019-20 in the Delhi Assembly, Kejriwal said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government presented its first budget of Rs30,000 crore which has now grown to 60,000 crore, showing good health of Delhis finances.

Chief Minister said this is the last budget that was presented by his government as Delhi will be going to polls next year.

This budget is for everyone  rich, poor, students, teachers, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and students. We have taken care of everyone, he said.

Kejriwal claimed that AAP Government had stopped corruption in the Delhi Jal Board which was under financial crunch. Despite providing subsidy in water bills, the DJB, which was under financial crunch, is doing well now, he said.

He said that even the power discoms, which were facing financial issues earlier, are doing well despite electricity subsidy.

Only Delhis economy is booming at a time when other states grappling with issues. Delhiites are getting opportunities.

People questioned whether we would be able to run a government when we started but we have proved we can run a government. We are ready to teach BJP and Congress on how to run a government, Kejriwal told reporters.

Kejriwal said Sisodia, in his budget speech, spoke about the promises that had been made in the manifesto, and claimed it was the first time any party was talking about its manifesto.

Sisodia spoke about the promises that were fulfilled. He said those that were unfulfilled were due to Central Governments interference, he said.

The Chief Minister also used the occasion to repeat that the biggest challenge in front of them has been that Delhi is a half State.

The biggest challenge in front of us is Delhi L-G and Central Government, he said. When questioned why there were no deadlines mentioned for projects, Sisodia said, The deadline of all the projects is one year. Next year we will get a new manifesto.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the cooperative sector played an important role in the development of the farm sector bringing prosperity to farmers.

While launching mobile vans for the district cooperative banks on Tuesday, he said that such vans would help in easy transactions as farmers across Uttar Pradesh would be able to get money using their ATM cards at their doorsteps. Not only this, through these mobile vans people will be able to carry out banking operations and for that there will be no need to go to banks, the Chief Minister said.

He said of 50 district cooperative banks across the state such mobile vans had been provided in 39 districts. The villagers will also be exposed to digital banking though these vans. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a vision to build a new India and these mobile vans are a step in this direction, the Chief Minister said.

The present government has strengthened the cooperative sector by putting more money in this sector. Both the BJP governments at the Centre and the state are working with a single vision to empower farmers. The Prime Minister has made it clear that income of farmers should double by 2022 and we are working in this direction, he said.

The CM also talked about Pradhan Mantra Kisan Samman Nidhi that was launched on February 24 and that would help 2.14 crore small and marginal farmers in UP. Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi also spoke on this occasion.
Chhattisgarh government has put all chief medical and health officers on alert as at least seven persons, including a joint director of the health department, have died of swine flu since the beginning of this year.

The states preparedness to deal with the H1N1 infection was reviewed by public health and family welfare minister TS Singhdeo in a meeting of department officials and experts at conference hall of the legislative assembly on Tuesday.

In the meeting, the minister gave instructions to ensure availability of sufficient stocks of medicines in all the hospitals.

He also instructed to make all kinds of arrangements for examination of the deadly virus and ensure immediate treatment of swine flu patients. He asked the officials concerned to immediately start taking measures and provide treatment to the patients suspected to be suffering from swine flu, and not delay it till the issuance of medical reports.

The minister also laid emphasis on mass awareness campaigns in all the districts to educate the people about various aspects of the disease and the treatment and check up facilities being provided by the state government.

He told the department to issue advisory in order to inform as many people as possible about symptoms, prevention and cure of the swine flu. Health department officials said awareness drive was carried out to educate people on preventive measures and treatment for swine flu.

Check up for swine flu is being done at microbiology department of the government medical colleges and district hospitals. Free of cost medicines for the same are available in all the government medical colleges, district hospitals and community health centres, the minister said.

For more information about swine flu, common people may Dial toll free number 104 Arogya Service and get the necessary health advice. The meeting was attended by health secretary Niharika Barik Singh, health director Dr Priyanka Shukla, managing director of Chhattisgarh Medical Services Corporation Niranjan Das, dean of Pt Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Medical College, Raipur Dr Abha Singh, superintendent of Dr Bheemrao Ambedkar Memorial Hospital, Raipur Dr Vivek Choudhary, epidemic and project director (AIDS) Dr RR Sahni and director AIIMS Raipur Dr Nitin M Nagarkar and other experts.
Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday sought inclusion of Chandigarh in the list of cities notified for operation of airlines of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries under the Government of Indias Open Sky Policy.

Capt Amarinder, in a demi-official letter to the Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu, said that the International Civil Terminal at SAS Nagar (Mohali) had been functioning for the last three years and was now set to launch 24x7 operations for wide-bodied aircraft with upgraded Code 4E status from April 1, 2019.

The airport caters not only to the population of the tri-city of Chandigarh but also to international passenger traffic from the States of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and even parts of Uttarakhand, he said adding that the Punjab Government would take all possible steps to support the growth of civil aviation and to harness its benefit for the overall development of the region.

He said that presently, the Airport is unable to operate direct flights to international destinations in ASEAN countries, such as Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.

As a result, passengers from this region have to travel to New Delhi for taking flights to such countries, which is not only time consuming but also cause hardship in the form of extra travel by road, Capt Amarinder has pointed out in his letter.

Under the Centres Open Sky Policy for ASEAN countries, 18 cities have been notified for operation of airlines in the country. Presently, Chandigarh does not feature in these 18 cities notified by the Government of India. Pursuant to its scheduled upgradation to Code 4E, it becomes eligible for notification under the Open Sky Policy, he added.

Urging the Union Minister to take cognisance of these facts, the Chief Minister has requested him to issue necessary directions to notify forthwith the International Civil Terminal at SAS Nagar (IXC) under the Open Sky Policy for operation of airlines to ASEAN countries from April 1, 2019.

This would not only help in reducing the travel time of the passengers from the region to such countries and connecting destinations, but would also help in boosting tourism, economy and attracting investments in the region, he stressed.
Based on 39 indicators of hygiene such as availability of hand-washing units, clean drinking water, Mid-day meal (MDM) shed, soak pit, rain water harvesting facility and dustbins in schools, the coveted Mukhyamantri Swachh Vidyalaya Award was launched by Minister HRD, Dr. Neera Yadav during a State level event organized here on Tuesday.

The Mukhyamantri Swachh Vidyalaya awards have been instituted by the Government of Jharkhand in technical support with UNICEF to recognise government schools that have a set of functioning and well-maintained water, sanitation including hygiene facilities and have adopted certain behavioral changes to promote sanitation in schools.

A few behavioural indicators such as presence and action taken by trained teachers and members of the Child Cabinet (Bal Sansad) in schools have also been included. Following the above indicators, the schools are ranked on 5, 4 and 3 star.

Dr. Neera Yadav, Minister  HRD said, In 2018, about 2200 schools in Jharkhand were rated as 4 stars or 5 stars category as per the national standards of the Swachh Vidyalaya Purskar. The Department of Education has set an ambitious target of bringing 5000 schools to this level in this financial year.

The Government has prioritised the construction of toilets at household level. According to experts, to encourage safe sanitation practice from an early age, there is a crucial need to strengthen systems for social behavioral change communication (SBCC) on hygiene as well as the operation and maintenance (O&M) of toilets in schools.

Therefore, it becomes important to build the capacity of teachers, community members, school management committees, Child cabinets and the staff of the Department of Education to help ensure toilets are used and maintained in the long run.

Chief of UNICEF, Jharkhand Dr. Madhulika Jonathan, said, In next three years, UNICEF will focus on those schools which are not ranked or ranked as 1-star, to bring them to the 3-star category as per the national guidelines. UNICEF will support the Department of Education in capacity building, planning and monitoring for enhancing WASH facilities in schools.

All participating schools will be rated through the Jharkhand Swachh Vidyalya mobile application, which will be jointly developed by the Department of School Education and Literacy and UNICEF. Schools can file their nominations through this app from April 15 to June 15, 2019. The winners will be declared on October 15 that marks the Global Handwashing Day.

AP Singh, Principal Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy said, The Department has prepared a standard operating procedure for WASH friendly schools with support from UNICEF which will be useful document for all schools.

The Government may allow private schools to apply for these awards soon where 5 best private schools will be selected based on the 39 indicators.

The Award will be given to 119 government schools every year. During the programme a Success stories compendium on Best Practices in WASH in School was also released which highlights some of the good practices in water and sanitation adopted by Jharkhand schools.

The programme was attended by Poonam Srivastava, Joint Director, Director JEPC Umashankar Singh, District Education Officers (DEOs), District Superintendents of Education (DSEs), teachers and school students.
The terrorist training camp in Balakot was targeted by India after intelligence indicated that scores of terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and other terror groups had shifted there after the Pulwama attack to escape any action by the Indian security forces. Earlier, these fidayeen and fighters were lodged in launch pads close to the Line of Control (LoC) to infiltrate from multiple points inJammu & Kashmir through South and North of Pir Panjal mountain ranges.

Elaborating upon the reason for zeroing in on Balakot, located at the junction of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistans Punjab and Balochistan, officials in the security establishment said this camp is the main centre of JeM and some other terrorist organisations. The camp is headed by JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhars brother-in-law Maulana Yusuf Azhar. However, it is not yet confirmed if he was present in the camp when the IAF targeted it, sources admitted.

Balakot is located in a hilltop forest far away from civilian population and military establishments and therefore a sitting duck target, for the Indian forces to avoid collateral damage for punitive action, they said.

At least 325 terrorists and 25 to 27 trainers were at the camp when the Indian fighter jets attacked and it was the biggest camp operated by the Pakistan-based JeM which had claimed responsibility for the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama that martyred 44 jawans.

In fact, JeM chiefs son Abdullah had also undergone training in militancy at the same camp, they said adding new recruits are imparted training in handling weapons.

The advanced course at the camp, generally treated as a resting place for the terrorists, includes handling improvised explosive devices (IED), findayeen missions and indoctrinating gullible minds, they said.

Officials said when Indian fighter jets bombed the camp its occupants were asleep. The Pakistani defence establishment was also caught napping because they had expected a surgical strike on camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) near the LoC.

India had received intelligence that JeM had shifted many in-training terrorists and hardcore operatives, along with their trainers, to the Balakot camp, which has five-star facilities for 500 to 700 people who had access to a swimming pool along with cooks and cleaners.

The terror camp is located 20 kms from Balakot town and about 40 km from Abbotabad in Peshawar where Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in hiding by US Forces. The Pakistan Army officers training centre is also located in Abbotabad.
Twelve days after Paksitan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) carried out a deadly terror attack in Pulwama killing 44 CRPF men, Indian fighter jets on Tuesday pre-dawn executed pin-pointed punitive strikes deep inside Pakistan territory against terror groups training camps eliminating around 325 of their cadre.

India termed the action as pre-emptive and non-military to deter JeM from carrying out suicide attacks in the country. It was not clear whether JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhars brother-in-law Maulana Yusuf Azhar, alias Ustad Ghouri, was killed in the IAF attack.

Precision guided ammunition and missiles were used to destroy the JeMs biggest terror camp in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (KPK) located at the tri-junction of Pakistan Punjab and KPK. Using air power for the first time since the 1971 war with Pakistan, India conducted intelligence-led operation. In fact, the IAF was not allowed to cross the Line of Control (LoC) even at the height of the Kargil war in 1999.

The punitive strikes were carried out by at least 12 Mirage-2000 jets at 3.40 am. The terror camp in Balakot is located about 60km as the crow flies from the LoC in Uri in Kashmir, sources said.

The actual bombing at the terror camp was over in 90 seconds and at least five to six Mirages were in Pakistani territory for not more than six to seven minutes. The entire operation including the Mirages taking off from various locations close to the LoC to confuse the Pakistan Air

Force (PAF) lasted about 20 minutes and all the aircraft landed back safely.

The Pakistan Army alleged the strike was futile. Indian aircraft intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from PAF, they released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage, said Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), which is the media wing of the Pakistan Army.

Sources said at least two Mirages flew in a loop after radars picked them up in order to confuse Pakistani defences. Two other Mirages flying at low level slipped through the radar net and targeted the terror camp, sources said.

The Mirages also used electronic warfare to jam the enemy radars to enter Pakistani airspace and deployed the same tactics when PAF scrambled their F-16s near Balakot.

Also, some SU-30 MKI, the frontline fighter jets, were deployed close to the LoC to take care of any retaliatory action by the PAF besides air borne early earning communication system aircraft hovered in Indian territory to feed real time situation about Pakistani defences to the Mirage formation, they said.

At least 1,000 kg of explosives were released by the IAF jets to destroy the camp.

While the mother base of Mirage-2000s is at Gwalior, more than 1,000 km from Balakot, the jets selected for the mission were shifted to some forward bases in Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Haryana shortly before the designated time. Mid-air refuellers provided fuel to the jets to sustain them for long in the air.

The Mirages also took off from various airbases to avoid Pakistan intelligence network, they said.

Giving details of the strikes and terming them as non-military apparently since the targets were not military, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said here credible intelligence was received that the JeM was planning to carry out other suicide attacks in India after the Pulwama bombing.

Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. In the face of imminent danger, a pre-emptive strike became absolutely necessary.

In an intelligence led operation in the early hours of today (Tuesday), India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot, Gokhale said.

In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated. The Foreign Secretary said the suicide terror attack in Pulwama on February 14 was conducted by JeM.

He further said JeM has been active in Pakistan for the last two decades, and is led by Masood Azhar with its headquarters in Bahawalpur.

This organisation, which is proscribed by the UN, has been responsible of a series of terrorist attacks including on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 and the Pathankot airbase in January 2016.

In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated. This facility at Balakot was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar alias ustad Ghouri, the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar.

The Government of India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to fight the menace of terrorism. Hence this non-military preemptive action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp. The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties. The facility is located in thick forest on a hilltop far away from any civilian presence, he said.
Pakistan on Tuesday strongly rejected Indias claim of targeting terrorist camp in the country and causing heavy casualties even as it vowed to respond at the time and place of its choosing and raise the issue at the United Nations and other international forums.

At a hurriedly called special meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) hours after Indias airstrikes inside Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan asked the armed forces and the people of his country to remain prepared for all eventualities.

The forum (NSC) strongly rejected Indian claim of targeting an alleged terrorist camp near Balakot and the claim of heavy casualties. Once again Indian Government has resorted to a self-serving, reckless and fictitious claim, said a statement issued after the NSC meeting in Islamabad.

The countrys top civil and military brass concluded that India has committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing, it added.

It also invited the world media to see the facts on ground and proposed a visit to the site. Citing sources, Geo TV reported that Pakistan will raise the issue of Indias violation of the LoC at the United Nations, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and other international forums.

The decision was taken at the NSC meeting chaired by Prime Minister Khan.

The NSC statement claimed that Indias action has been done for domestic consumption being in election environment, putting regional peace and stability at grave risk.

The government has decided to requisition a joint session of the Parliament on Wednesday. Prime Minister Khan also summoned a special meeting of the National Command Authority (NCA) on Wednesday.

The Foreign Office summoned Indias acting High Commissioner here and condemned the violation of its territorial sovereignty by Indian jets. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Army confirmed that Indian jets dropped four bombs during an operation on Tuesday but downplayed its significance, saying the Indian attack was repulsed and while going back the aircraft jettisoned their payload.

Army spokesman Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said, We will surprise you and wait for the surprise. (Our) response will come and it will be different. Our response will be in all domains including diplomatic, political and military.

He claimed that the Indian planes were in Pakistans airspace for just 4 minutes and went back when challenged by the Pakistani aircraft. Ghafoor said that Indian jets first tried to enter Lahore-Sialkot sector, while another formation of jets came close to Okara-Bahawalpur area of international border but found Pakistan air force ready and went back.

Then a third formation was picked in Muzaffarabad sector which was heavier...It was repulsed, but while going back they jettisoned their payload and four bombs fell in Jabba, near the town of Balakot, causing no casualties or damage, he said.
French automotive group PSA on Tuesday said it would launch its Citroen brand of cars in India from its plant near here.



In a statement issued here, the PSA said the announcement about Citroen launch in India was made by Carlos Tavares, Chairman of the Managing Board during the presentation of FY 2018 financial results and the second phase of the group's strategic plan `Push to Pass' for the period 2019-2021.



The French group had announced its India plan in 2017 with the signing of two joint venture (JV) agreements with CK Birla Group to manufacture cars and powertrains in Tamil Nadu.



"This project means to be fully integrated in India with a comprehensive eco-system including local production of vehicles and powertrains, distribution of vehicles and services as well as procurements for the whole Group. Today's milestone represents a significant step to meet customers' expectation in India soon," Emmanuel Delay, Executive Vice President, Head of India-Pacific Region was quoted as saying in the statement.



"Announcement of Citroen brand for our Vehicle JV in India, soon after the inauguration of the Powertrain JV greenfield facility at Hosur in late 2018, is a major milestone for the long term partnership of PSA Groupe and CK Birla Group. It is truly an exciting brand for the Indian consumers seeking international eco-friendly products designed for and made in India with unique styling and comfort", C.K. Birla, Chairman, CK Birla Group of Companies, was quoted as saying in the statement.
CJI Gogoi asked layers of both sides to peruse the report of Secretary General of Supreme Court in status of documents.

A new bench comprising of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justices Ashok Bhushan, Abdul Nazeer, SA Bobde and DY Chandrachud was announced in January after an earlier hearing on January 10 was adjourned. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court began hearing of Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case at 10.30 am.

The Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi asked layers of both sides to peruse the report of Secretary General of Supreme Court in status of documents.

The top court said if translations of documents are now acceptable to all, parties cannot contest translations once the proceedings begin.

The court said it can proceed with hearing if there is consensus with regard to translation of documents.

SC was referring to copies of report filed by Secretary General on status of documents, sealed records of case.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan who is representing a Muslim party, said he is yet to examine translation of documents.

Asking how much time would be needed to examine translations, Dhavan replied 8-12 weeks.

Supreme Court asked parties to show order by which they had agreed to the translated documents filed by UP government.

CJI Gogoi said dispute is arising between parties over translation of documents. He added that they will not waste their time if disputes are going to be raised over translation of documents.

Senior Advocate C S Vaidyanathan for Ram Lalla said translations were verified and accepted by all parties in December 2017.

Orders were passed to examine UP govt translations and now two years later they raise objections to it, said Vaidyanathan.

Seeing the disagreement between the parties, Supreme Court asked that can parties explore possibility of mediation to resolve land dispute. Even if there is 1 per cent chance, mediation should be done, suggested the top court.

However, Dhavan referred to Allahabad High Court verdict, and said mediation was tried earlier and was unsuccessful.

Supreme Court said it will pass order on next Tuesday (March 5) on whether the case may be sent for court-monitored mediation to save time.

A new bench comprising of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justices Ashok Bhushan, Abdul Nazeer, SA Bobde and DY Chandrachud was announced in January after an earlier hearing on January 10 was adjourned.
So, after days of feverish speculation and desperate anxiety, India has finally done what so many of us had advocated. The air-strike on the Jaish-e-Mohammads training camps is not the dramatic triumph we had hoped for. The murderous Maulana Masood Azhar has not been eliminated and his main headquarters have not been destroyed.

But the air-strike is, by any standards, a welcome and historic breakthrough.

Heres why.

Till now, India has advocated a policy restricted only to launching strikes in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) and claiming that our forces operated in areas that we claim as part of India anyway.

If early indications are right, these strikes may have gone much further  with Indian forces attacking targets deep within Pakistan itself, not just in illegally occupied parts of Kashmir.

The message from deeper incursions is clear. We dont blame the terror attacks on Kashmiri militants on either side of the border  we blame them on the Pakistani state, which sustains and arms these militants and other terrorists. If Pakistan wishes to keep snakes in its background, then it must be ready to see that backyard blown up.

This time, it's not about Kashmiri militants. It's about the Pakistani deep state. (Source: Twitter)

The use of air power has long been resisted by Indian governments because a) this may be interpreted as a conventional military attack and b) it is hard for Air Force planes to enter Pakistan undetected and the Pakistanis could shoot down our aircraft.

That we have gone ahead despite these risks suggests a new level of daring on the part of the Indian establishment.

That our planes were able to enter Pakistani airspace with impunity re-affirms what we have always known about our superiority in conventional terms.

While the more hysterical sections of the Indian media like to portray Pakistani decision-makers as blustering jihadis, they are actually thoughtful and cunning strategists who have outwitted India over the last decade. Their calculation is simple  India would win a conventional war. And the world wont let the conflict escalate to nuclear levels. Pakistans best hope, therefore, is to wage a sub-conventional war using terror strikes.

India could, of course, respond conventionally, but our establishment is too frightened that any conventional response would lead to nuclear retaliation. So, India usually sits back and only whines to the world without launching the kind of armed response that is required.

The importance of the response to Pulwama is that it tells us that New Delhi has shed its traditional reluctance to go beyond mere diplomatic posturing and the usual appeals to the global community. Instead, we have used our conventional forces  the Indian Air Force, in this case  to strike within Pakistani territory.

We're following our instincts, and blazing through the skies. (Source: Reuters)

The trick with this kind of response, as I wrote here, a week ago, is to finish the operation swiftly  before the world has had a chance to object. Once it is over and done with, we can live with the diplomatic fall-out. Todays strike suggests that we followed that basic principle.

Indian politicians, encouraged by the Americans who call Kashmir the worlds most dangerous place, have repeatedly told our people that any strike on Pakistan could lead to nuclear retaliation. So far, at least, we have bought this line  and it has become an excuse to do nothing.

Curiously, Pakistan doesnt seem to worry that an attack on the heart of India  say, the Mumbai siege  would lead to nuclear retaliation. Islamabad knows that the only significant response from Delhi will be the standard self-righteous rhetoric.

Even the dastardly 26/11 attack went unavenged. Now, no more. (Source: Reuters)

This creates a tragic imbalance (of Indias own making) where the Pakistanis can launch any sub-conventional attack, confident that New Delhi will only huff and puff before pulling back, fearful of nuclear retaliation.

To break this pattern, as I argued last week, India has to develop a strategic, tactical strike ability where it can use its military superiority to deliver a swift blow to Pakistan, without getting bogged down in a conventional war.

Yes, Pakistan will retaliate  but no, it wont use nuclear weapons. No Pakistani will support the start of a nuclear Armageddon only to avenge the destruction of Masood Azhars training camp.

His time is up. And Pakistan knows it. (Source: Reuters)

What we will get  as we did after Uri  is more fidayeen attacks.

Thats fine. We get these attacks anyway. And if the likes of Masood Azhar know they are in our cross-hairs, they will be less reckless in launching such strikes.

There are two ways you can look at this air-strike. You can see as a vote-winning move by the government  which is how many people will see it.

This move signals a new doctrine  no more soft approach on terror. (Source: Reuters)

Or you can see it for what it is; the launch of a new doctrine that declares that India is not a soft state.

You dare kill our troops. And by God, we will make you pay.

Even if that retribution comes from high up in the air right in the heart of your country.

Also read: Pulwama Attack: PM Modi cannot afford to delay action against Pakistan. His reaction must be strong and swift
Lets take our eyes away from the TV warriors who did not actually board fighter jets and drop bombs inside territory that Pakistan claims. The fact that Pakistan has already denied any significant loss of human life or infrastructure after the surgical strikes by the Indian Air Force on the early hours on February 26, 2019, means that we have given them plausible deniability.

That is a good thing  as no one wants an outright war between two nuclear nations.

That, in my view, was the beauty of the 2016 surgical strikes carried out by India after the attack on an army camp at Uri in Kashmir. The Pakistanis just claimed that nothing happened. We claimed it was a significant strike  and even made a terrific film on the operation.

The surgical strike to avenge Uri became a super-hit movie. (Photo: Screengrab/ Youtube)

We can live with our reality and they with theirs  all magnified in both nations by TV bombers and warriors. None of us commentators would know precisely what happened or did not happen  but we can quite quickly understand that in political democracies, the important thing to comprehend is what people believe has happened.

If we believe something is real enough to satiate the desire for vengeance or appease the collective conscience of a nation, and it stops here, that too is again a good thing.

The signs are that it will stop here as it would be foolish of Pakistan to blunder into a cycle of escalation.

However, we cannot predict anything with certainty and have no idea of the domestic pressures on Pakistan PM Imran Khan who will do what the military establishment advises. And Pakistan is a state engaged in perpetual wars on both sides of its borders, with Afghanistan and India.

But there are other interests at work here. Following the Saudi Crown Prince's visit to India, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has been invited to address the Inaugural Plenary of the 46th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) as a guest of honour.

The recent visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman was very significant. (Photo: Twitter)

The meeting will be held in Abu Dhabi on March 1 and 2, for which Swaraj got the invite from Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)  who would never have done so without the go-ahead or instruction from Saudi Arabia.

In the past, Pakistan has resisted all Indian efforts to be an observer at the OIC.

The body has traditionally been pro-Pakistan in its positions  to illustrate the point: the 2017 session of the Council of OIC Foreign Ministers had adopted a resolution reaffirming the unwavering support for the Kashmiri people in their just cause.

There was more: the statement also noted that they were expressing deep concern at atrocious human rights violations being committed by the Indian occupation forces since 1947.

The invite to India significantly also came after the Pulwama terror attack on February 14.

India now gets to say its piece in front of the largest gathering of leaders representing Muslim nations  including the Foreign Minister of Pakistan Shah Mehmood Qureshi. It would, therefore, be significant to see what positions the OIC takes on Kashmir in the statements that will emerge at the end of the two-day summit after Sushma Swaraj has made her speech.

There is a huge import to the OIC invitation to Minister Sushma Swaraj. (Photo: Twitter)

What all of this suggests, however, is that India has indeed made inroads in a platform that was till now quite biased towards Pakistan.

Big business interests from India would have also had an influence. The worlds largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, and the richest Indian, Mukesh Ambanis Reliance Industry are apparently discussing joint investments in petrochemicals and refinery projects. This was revealed by Saudi Arabias oil minister Khalid al-Falih who travelled to India in December last year to attend the lavish wedding of Mukesh Ambanis daughter. The media focused on Hilary Clinton and Beyonce attending the marriage  but the Saudi oil minister was a guest whose presence had direct business and geopolitical implications.

The wedding guest who blended in, yet stood out. (Photo: Twitter)

And lets also examine the words put out by the Indian External Affairs Ministry when it welcomed the OIC invitation to Sushma Swaraj. The official statement noted this as a welcome recognition of the presence of 185 million Muslims in India and of their contribution to its pluralistic ethos, and of Indias contribution to the Islamic world.

This is where we are faltering.

We speak of our pluralism at official platforms but do not seem to believe it is worth anything at home. As one of the worlds largest nations and markets, we can win tactical and diplomatic battles  but if we do not show greater compassion for the people of Kashmir, we will lose our soul.

Let's not forget the healing touch we must have in Kashmir. (Photo: Facebook)

Surgical Strike 2 appears to be a smart operation. But great wisdom would also lie in recognising that winning hearts and minds in Kashmir should be of some value.

We do hark back to our pluralism after all when we speak at international forums.

Also read: Pulwama attack: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisis epic takedown of Imran Khan
The recent brutal killing of 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel by a youth in Kashmir, in a suicide attack, has sent shockwaves across the world. This was the deadliest terror attack in India ever since the BJP rode to power, and it has come just before the 2019 General Elections.

The martyrs are CRPF jawans from modest backgrounds. Their families will suffer for a long time to come. Their pain is definitely the whole of Indias pain. Their kin must get good jobs in the government sector.

The pain the families of the Pulwama martyrs are experiencing is the entire nation's pain as well. (Photo: PTI)

Till very recently, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) intellectuals used to argue that if they come to power, they would solve the Kashmir question in no time. Where does the Kashmir issue stand now, after five years of their complete control of the Indian political system, and also five years of a coalition government earlier from 1999-2004?

The fact is that the Kashmir problem today is more complicated than ever before.

Going by all accounts, violence and deaths of jawans and civilians have increased several-fold. Political and social relationships between mainland India and the Valley have worsened. To my mind, the narrative is fast turning into Indian Hindus vs Kashmiri Muslims  if this feeling deepens, the Kashmir question might reach a point of no return.

For whatever reasons, there is no denying the fact that Kashmir has now become a fully Muslim state within India. And if it is not handled on strictly secular and democratic ideological lines, I fear it might turn into the Palestine of the subcontinent. Already, some draw parallels between the Pandit exodus from the Valley and the Jewish exodus from Palestine after its Islamisation.

The current dispensation, with its deep focus on religious politics, has only deepened alienation in Kashmir. (Photo: Reuters)

Let us not forget that the Kashmiri elite today converted to Islam from among Pandits and other upper layers of society when India was ruled by Muslim sultans, particularly the Mughals. Allama Iqbal, the writer of the Two-Nation Theory himself, was from a family of Pandit converts.

In fact, even Jinnah came from a Gujarati bania family that embraced Islam  only such rich converts had the money to go to England and study.

What should be the position of the Indian masses on the question of Kashmir in this situation today? The masses, as they are, cannot express their position and intervene into the debate and suggest a way out. Some of us should speak on their behalf.

No doubt the question is linked to Pakistan  a vengeful neighbour harbouring terrorists.

The BJP/RSS seem to have mishandled this neighbour every time they have come to power.

The plane hijack during the Vajpayee regime, the question of maintaining relations with Nawaz Sharif after Modi came to power  all were strange, panic- and miscalculation-based responses. Quite unexpectedly, Sharif was invited to Modis swearing-in ceremony. Modi attended his relative's wedding, apparently without any scheduled preparations.

There was the time of bonhomie, when the Indian PM landed at the wedding of his Pakistani counterpart's relative. (Photo: PIB)

After Independence and Partition, India managed to establish a stable democracy because of the vision of three founding leaders  Mahatma Gandhi, BR Ambedkar and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Their contending but collective thought established an irreversible constitutional democracy, with a deep respect for the electoral system. The great architect of the Indian Constitution, Ambedkar, framed a document that could handle the complex civil societal problems we have.

But Pakistan failed on that count  it had only one tall leader, Mohammed Ali Jinnah. There were no equivalents of Ambedkar to frame a Constitution like Indias, and no Nehru to put it into practice.

Pakistan, thus, turned into a dictatorship within no time.

India is a secular democracy today because we had an Ambedkar to draft our Constitution, and a Nehru to put it into practice. (Photo: PIB)

If secularism was not made the cornerstone of India, we too would have gone down that very path. Imagine a combination of VD Savarkar, Golwalkar and KM Munshi  who was the Rights legal luminary in the Constituent Assembly in command of India. This nation would have taken the same route as Pakistan.

Religious nationalism of Islamic, Hindu, Christian or Buddhist variety will be in conflict with modern constitutional democracy in a natural course. And this is where the danger to Kashmir lies.

Since Kashmir has become a very religious state, the electoral system there is fluid. Even in our most backward states, like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, the masses tend to use their vote for economic transformation and for the protection of democracy  rather than for religious reasons.

The BJP/RSS must understand this factor before it spiritualises politics more and more, using the Muslim Kashmir as a ploy. Kashmir is a part of India. It is the only Muslim province where almost no other religious people exist prominently in the civil society. The Pandits cannot come back, whatever the ruling BJP might think or do. Kashmir and Jammu are unsettled regions, even though they are one state with democratic institutional safety  and religion plays a key role in this problem.

Apart from blaming Nehru, have they ever really offered solutions or true vision for the Kashmir issue? (Photo: Reuters/file)

The BJP in power has strengthened anti-Muslim fundamentalism  and this means Kashmir Muslims getting entrenched into their own fundamentalism.

The RSS/BJP used Kashmir as their crisis-creating card when others were in power. They do not know how to handle it now that they are in power.

As Amit Shah did again on February 24, the BJP-RSS continue to attack Nehru for their inability to handle Kashmir in the present.

Let us assume for a minute that Amit Shah was the first Prime Minister of India. With the same world view and knowledge that he has today, would he have managed to bring Kashmir to India, as Nehru did?

The more the Indian government gambles with Kashmir, the more money it needs to spend on the Army to just maintain the borders. This money could have gone into the development of education, agriculture and industry, which would have uplifted the poor Dalit-Bahujan masses for sure.

India has to spend a lot in maintaining a militarised Kashmir  money that could have gone to education and healthcare for all. (Photo: Reuters/file)

Apart from the economic losses, the BJP must understand that the problem will only be worsened if it is handled from a religious point of view.

What the BJP/RSS forces need to realise is that it is not just the Islamic religious nations that have a serious problem in negotiating with democracy. Even Hindu Nepal (before adopting an uncompromising secular democratic set-up after the Kingship was overthrown) could not negotiate the institutions of democracy, nor can the Buddhist Myanmar.

The Kashmiri Muslims have to be carefully taken along with the Indian democratic set-up  otherwise, they will slip into Islamism, making it very difficult for them to negotiate with constitutional secular democracy.

Let us hope that RSS-BJP will not push Kashmir to that corner  which would fulfil Pakistans wishes, and also create a crisis in India.

Also read: Just one move from Pakistan can end all the tension: Hand over Maulana Masood Azhar to India
A man who drove a stolen car into crowds in Melbourne and killed six people has been sentenced to life imprisonment in what the judge described as one of the worst examples of mass murder in Australian history.

James Gargasoulas, 29, showed little emotion when sentenced in Victoria states Supreme Court.

Under the terms of his sentence, he will spend at least 46 years in prison before he is eligible for parole.

Families of the victims filled the courtroom for Justice Mark Weinbergs ruling.

Gargasoulas was in a drug-induced psychosis in January 2017 when he killed the six people and injured dozens more in the busy Bourke Street Mall

His victims included a three-month-old baby who was thrown 20ft from his stroller and a 10-year-old girl.

James Gargasoulas, centre, leaves the Victorian Supreme Court after sentencing, in Melbourne (David Crosling/AAP Image via AP)

Your actions were both callous and cowardly, the judge said. You have shown no genuine remorse.

The judge described in detail the events of the terrifying rampage, noting each victim killed as well as those left with broken bones, head injuries, internal bleeding and other lasting damage.

You left a trail of destruction, the judge said. The horror of what you did has profoundly impacted the lives of those who were present that day.

Crime Stoppers Victoria ambassador George Halvagis said he thinks Gargasoulas should die in jail.

He should never, ever, get out of there, he told reporters after the sentencing.

Grieving relatives earlier told the court of their pain. The brother of Japanese victim Yosuke Kanno, 25, said he will continue suffering until he dies.

In a letter read to the court, Gargasoulas insisted he was not evil and blamed government oppression for the murders.

He also said he was the Messiah and was acting on the wishes of God on the day of the rampage, but was in a bad headspace.

Gargasoulas has treatment-resistant paranoid schizophrenia but was found fit to stand trial. He pleaded not guilty.

In November, a jury found him guilty of the six murders and 27 counts of reckless conduct endangering life.

He had been using drugs and committing crimes in the weeks before the attack and was on bail.

The judge noted he was meant to face court on the day of the massacre. Police had followed the stolen Holden Commodore for some of its journey into downtown Melbourne before the rampage.

Your crimes have had a shattering effect on countless lives, Justice Weinberg said.

Gargasoulas will be eligible to apply for release in 2063, when he is 73.
Child victims of sexual abuse could be affected by unintended consequences if the Government rushes through internet regulation without taking a balanced approach, an internet safety charity has warned.

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is urging politicians and policy makers to work with social networks to develop the best possible regulatory framework, rather than simply imposing it on them.

Recommendations have been set out by the charity ahead of the Governments long-awaited White Paper on dealing with online harms, which is expected by the end of winter.

We recommend an outcomes-based approach where the outcomes are clearly defined and the Government should provide clarity over the results it seeks in dealing with any harm, said Susie Hargreaves, IWF chief executive.

There also needs to be a process to monitor this and for any results to be transparently communicated.

The UK already leads the world at tackling online child sexual abuse images and videos but there is definitely more that can be done, particularly in relation to tackling grooming and livestreaming, and of course, regulating harmful content is important.

My worries, however, are about rushing into knee-jerk regulation which creates perverse incentives or unintended consequences to victims and could undo all the successful work accomplished to date. Ultimately, we must avoid a heavy cost to victims of online sexual abuse.

(Ian West/PA)

As well as an appropriate legislative framework, the charity says that a well-resourced programme of education is required with long-term investment, as well as flexibility to use whatever technical tools necessary, most likely in partnership with internet technology giants.

It warns that regulation that is too restrictive could actually lead to increased suffering for victims and potentially cause businesses to leave the UK.

The Government will also need to provide clarity on the results it seeks in dealing with the harm, its recommendations go on to say.

(PA Graphics/PA)

Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright and Digital Minister Margot James are currently in the US meeting with tech giants, including Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg, to discuss ways of tackling a number of internet safety issues.

The IWF, which identifies and removes online images and videos of abuse, recently revealed that 105,047 offending webpages were removed in 2018, up by a third on the previous year.
A variety of stories lead the papers on Friday, with Brexit and political divisions making headlines, as well as the murder of six-year-old Alesha MacPhail.

The Times leads with warnings that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn faces an exodus of MPs from his party unless he backs calls for a second referendum on the terms of Brexit.

The Daily Telegraph leads with a vote which means churches will no longer be obliged to hold services every Sunday.

The Guardian runs with Brexit, saying that Theresa May is facing a serious Cabinet revolt next week, with as many as 25 people said to be ready to vote for a delay to Brexit unless no deal is ruled out.

Guardian front page, Friday 22 February 2019: May faces ministerial revolt in move to head off no-deal Brexit pic.twitter.com/zmlS7nE5li  The Guardian (@guardian) February 21, 2019

The Financial Times carries news from across the Atlantic, reporting that Donald Trump is against blocking out Chinese firm Huawei from 5G.

Just published: front page of the Financial Times UK edition Friday February 22 https://t.co/ZdUveNRnpy pic.twitter.com/8XqeEsq5vO  Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) February 21, 2019

The Metro carries a report of a court case in Scotland, after a 16-year-old boy was convicted of killing Alesha MacPhail.

What the papers say - February 22 (PA)

The i reports the Liberal Democrats have offered a pact to the newly formed Independent Group.

The Independent says that only one in 10 jihadis returning to the UK from Syria are subject to prosecution.

The Daily Mirror reports that hundreds of headteachers are piloting a ban on people parking near school gates.

Tomorrow's front page: Ban on school run to save kids from toxic fumes#tomorrowspaperstoday https://t.co/bM3Enxx9to pic.twitter.com/4a8zkKO4n8  The Mirror (@DailyMirror) February 21, 2019

The Sun also carries details of the Alesha MacPhail court case, saying it was a crime that shocked a nation.

Tomorrow's front page: Sick teen who murdered six-year-old Alesha MacPhail was obsessed with Slender Man https://t.co/NkcJyQCSe4 pic.twitter.com/1vhJ6vNKEV  The Sun (@TheSun) February 21, 2019

The Daily Mail reports on a rise in the number of school children being admitted to hospital after self-harming.

The Daily Express leads on Shamima Begum, after Jeremy Corbyn said she should be allowed to return to the UK.
Fresh Brexit talks have been scheduled for early next week as Theresa May heads towards another Commons showdown on her EU withdrawal stance.

The move comes amid reports the Prime Minister is facing a major challenge from Tory MPs opposed to a no-deal exit from the EU.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox announced they will hold talks again with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier in the coming days on the Northern Ireland backstop.

Ahead of crunch Commons votes expected next Wednesday, Mrs May will travel to an EU-Arab summit in Egypt this Sunday.

While Government sources have been keen to dampen talk of a deal in the desert, the PM is expected to have meetings with EU leaders on the sidelines of the gathering.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay will hold more talks with Michel Barnier (Stefan Rousseau/PA

As the clock ticks down to the UKs scheduled exit from the EU on March 29, the PM faces a rebellion by up to 100 Tory MPs who want her to delay Brexit if she cannot cut a deal, according to the Daily Telegraph.

The newspaper reports that the Brexit Delivery Group, which represents both Remain and Leave MPs, is calling for a free vote in the Commons next week on a backbench move to take no deal off the table.

(PA Graphics)

A letter sent on behalf of the group to chief whip Julian Smith states that many MPs are deeply troubled at the prospect of a no deal, the Daily Telegraph says.

The newspaper quotes the letter as stating that numerous members of the group intend to back amendments taking the no-deal option off the table and delaying Brexit if a rejection of the Governments deal looks likely.

Up to 25 members of the Government are prepared to rebel and vote for a Brexit delay unless Mrs May rules out a no-deal scenario, according to the Guardian.

After talks in Brussels on Thursday, Mr Barclay said both sides had agreed discussions should continue urgently at a technical level.

The PM believes that securing legally binding guarantees on the backstop is key to getting her Withdrawal Agreement through the Commons.

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.
A new collection of images from around the world demonstrates different cultural traditions for welcoming babies and protecting new mothers.

Rituals such as post-partum porridge and baptisms are used to celebrate new life in different corners of the globe.

Embargoed to 0001 Friday February 22Undated handout photo issued by WaterAid of Natsumi, 29, feeding her daughter Miwa, four weeks old, during Okuizome, a first food ceremony that takes place in Japan. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Friday February 22, 2019. The new collection of images demonstrates different cultural traditions for welcoming babies and protecting new mothers from around the world. See PA story HEALTH Babies. Photo credit should read: WaterAid/Kodai/PA WireNOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

In Japan, parents celebrate Okuizome, a first food ceremony.

Lucia, 26, mother to newborn baby Bertha, eating a special porridge made from soya, maize flour and sugar which is given to mums after childbirth in Malawi (WaterAid/Jenny Lewis/PA)

In Malawi, new mothers are given a porridge made of soya, maize flour and sugar as it is thought to give them energy and nutrients.

Undated handout photo issued by WaterAid of Nagit, 30, (centre) husband Lomer, 32, (centre left) and baby Bakita sitting with their five children after the blessing of their newborn. As part of this Ugandan ceremony the skin of the Etopojjo tree is soaked in water, forming small strings. These strings are then tied around the babys wrist, ankles, neck and waist. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Friday February 22, 2019. The new collection of images demonstrates different cultural traditions for welcoming babies and protecting new mothers from around the world. See PA story HEALTH Babies. Photo credit should read: WaterAid/James Kiyimba/PA WireNOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

In Uganda, beer and dancing are used to celebrate a new arrival, as well as the skin of the Etopojjo tree being formed into small strings tied around the babys wrist, ankles, neck and waist.

Nome, 21, wearing a `masonjoany mask to protect herself from the sun and bad spirits in Madagascar (WaterAid/PA)

In Madagascar, mothers wear a masonjoany mask  made by grinding a sandalwood tree branch with water to form a paste  to protect themselves from bad spirits.

Nome, 21, wore the mask as part of the Manaboaka Jabely tradition after giving birth.

She said: In our culture, mothers like me and our newborn babies are not allowed to go outside during the first seven days after the birth.

Once we have made it through these sacred, critical seven days, we step outside for a short time to face the reality of life and the bright sun.

Picture

Black eye kohl is applied to children in India to ward off evil spirits.

Rinku, 22, from Delhi, said: The tradition of applying kohl or kajal to the infants eyes and forehead began long ago and has been taught to each generation by the elders.

The black kajal protects the child from any evil spirits and keeps them healthy.

Undated handout photo issued by WaterAid of four month old Emmeline having holy water poured over her head at the Roman Catholic Holy Family Church in New Jersey, in the belief it will absolve them of original sin. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Friday February 22, 2019. The new collection of images demonstrates different cultural traditions for welcoming babies and protecting new mothers from around the world. See PA story HEALTH Babies. Photo credit should read: WaterAid/Jill Costantino/PA WireNOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

In Catholic families, holy water is poured over a babys head, in the belief it will absolve them of original sin.

In Scotland, newborn babies  like five-week-old Emma who was photographed by Paul Watt for WaterAid  are given coins in a custom meant to bring prosperity.

The picture gallery has been released by charity WaterAid as part of their Water Effect campaign, which aims to help mothers and new babies ensure they have the best start by providing clean water and good sanitation in health centres.

Tim Wainwright, chief executive of WaterAid, said: Its unacceptable that in the developing world one in three health centres do not have clean water.

This means doctors and midwives cannot protect their patients from the risk of infection, and the consequences can be fatal.

Thats why were putting clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene at the heart of healthcare, helping save lives every day.
A no-deal Brexit would be a multi-million-pound blow to the Scottish Economy, CBI Scotland has warned.

The collapse of international trade deals as a result of crashing out the European Union would jeopardise jobs according to CBI Scotland, who urged politicians to work quickly to come to a deal.

Trade deals with an estimated 70 countries in place thanks to membership of the EU are at risk, meaning traffics could be imposed as soon as the UK leaves, it said.

CBI Scotland director Tracy Black said: If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, overnight businesses in Scotland could cease to enjoy the benefits of tariff-free trade with, and easy access to, crucial markets for products and services, from Canada to South Korea.

Many firms are unaware that its not just their relationships with EU customers at risk from a no-deal Brexit, but relationships across the globe.

Individual businesses trading with markets outside the EU would face tariffs worth millions being slapped on them instantaneously. These trade deals span five continents and are vital for the smooth export of our goods and services.

Tracy Black, Director of CBI Scotland warned that no-deal Brexit could risk tariffs on Scottish trade and jeopardises jobs (CBI/PA)

Exports to countries with EU free trade agreements are worth almost 3.9 billion to Scotland every year. The risk to these deals is an overlooked danger to our economy and yet another reason why no-deal is not an option for the UK and jeopardises jobs in our communities.

It is vital that compromise is shown on both sides of the Channel and that politicians work quickly to come to a deal.

The warning follows news that the Scottish economy could be pushed into recession if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Scotlands top economic adviser set out the impact of short-term disruption to supply chains over a number of months, and also looks at an extended period of disruption.

Among the potential risks of a no-deal outcome, the report by Gary Gillespie suggests Scotlands Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could fall by up to 7%.

Trade with the EU is also expected to be significantly impaired, with a forecast for a potential drop in Scottish exports of between 10% and 20%.

A predicted fall in exports and overseas investment, coupled with a broader economic slowdown, is suggested to result in a 10%-30% depreciation in sterling.

Figures published on Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics showed unemployment in Scotland had dropped to a record low of 3.5%, but the Scottish Governments report stated that the jobless total could rise by as many as 100,000 people in the event of a no-deal.

A UK Government spokeswoman said: The best way to avoid no deal is for parliament to agree a deal.

Our deal is the best deal available for jobs and the economy across the whole of the UK, including Scotland, allowing us to honour the referendum and realise the opportunities of Brexit

Extending Article 50 simply defers the point of decision and the policy dilemmas, choices and trade-offs we face will not go away if we postpone exit day.
The so-called Big Four supermarkets have slumped to the bottom of an annual ranking after disappointing customers with the quality of their food and ability to keep up with online rivals.

Asda, Morrisons, Sainsburys and Tesco fell to the bottom five places along with Iceland for their in-store offer in the Which? survey after achieving low scores for their produce and own-label lines.

Discounters Aldi and Lidl outperformed the Big Four with scores of 68% and 66% respectively and both received five stars for value for money.

(Which?/PA)

Asda achieved the lowest score of 56% for in-store shopping and 65% for online shopping after managing just one star for the quality of own-brand items and two stars for fresh produce.

Which? said Asdas online customers reported that it was unusual for them to receive a delivery without a substitution.

Some 55% of Asda customers had received a substitution with their last order, including parsley replacing basil, potato gratin instead of macaroni cheese, and red wine vinegar replaced by a bottle of red wine.

Tesco scored just above Iceland and Asda at 59% for its in-store offer, achieving just two stars for value for money with some survey respondents reporting concerns that it was becoming more expensive, but performed better for online shopping with a score of 71%.

Sainsburys achieved 63% for its in-store offer and 69% for online shopping, but customers awarded it only two stars for value for money in both categories.

Morrisons won the highest scores of the Big Four at 64% for in-store shopping and 70% for online but was let down by the two-star rating of its own-label products.

(Which?/PA)

Iceland came second to bottom in the ranking with a score of 57% for in-store shopping. However the popularity of its online offer took it to second place only to Ocado with a score of 79%.

Waitrose topped the table for in-store shopping, receiving five-star ratings for store appearance, queuing time, staff availability and range of product but achieved just two stars for value for money.

Which? Magazine editor Harry Rose said: Our survey shows that while the Big Four are failing to consistently give customers the high-quality experience they deserve, both in-store and online, no supermarket is getting everything right.

People today have more choice than ever on where to do their food shop and staying loyal to one supermarket has become a thing of the past. The big supermarkets really need to up their game if theyre going to keep their customers coming back.

An Asda spokesman said: Whilst were disappointed to see that some Which? readers havent had a good experience with us, other independent surveys, such as YouGov, rate Asda as the second most recommended supermarket and our own measures show that Asda shoppers are enjoying shopping with us more and more each year.

Which? surveyed more than 12,000 of its members in October and November.
The meeting was attended by Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley, Congress leader Azad and Omar Abdullah among others.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday briefed the opposition leades over the IAF strike at terror camps deep across the Line of Control.(Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: The Centre on Tuesday briefed the opposition parties over the Indian Air Force strikes on terror camps across the Line of Control (LoC).

After the meeting, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said the opposition parties extended full support to the government and security forces in the fight against terror.

Another good thing is that it was a clean operation in which no civilian died and terror camps were specifically targeted, said Azad.

Emerging from the all-party meet, Swaraj said, I am happy that all parties in one voice praised the security forces and supported the Government's anti-terror operations.

We had called an all party meet on the IAF strike, I am happy that all members congratulated Indian Air Force and supported all investigations initiated against terror attacks, said Swaraj.

Post the all-party meet with various leaders, Swaraj added that everyone is united against terror.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj briefed the opposition leaders at the all-party meeting held at Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan in New Delhi. The meeting was attended by Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley, Congress leader Azad and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah among others.

In the last all-party meeting convened in the wake of Pulwama attack, the opposition had said they supported the government to take all necessary actions in the aftermath of the attack.
Teeth-whitening products available over the counter could potentially be damaging teeth, new research suggests.

Some products available on the high street were found to reduce the hardness of enamel, according to early findings published in the British Dental Journal.

Consumers have been urged by the British Dental Association (BDA) to exercise caution and not gamble with the health of their smiles.

Five non-hydrogen peroxide whitening products from Boots and Superdrug were tested as part of the study.

The researchers found three of the products had an active ingredient of sodium chlorite, which they said reduced the hardness of teeth when acid was present.

It also increased the chances of future surface abrasions.

Bruce Willis attending the Glass European Premiere held at the Curzon Mayfair, London.

Not all bleaching products are the same and not all bleaching products are safe, lead author Dr Joseph Greenwall-Cohen, from the University of Manchester Dental School, said.

It is essential that the public realise this and undertake more caution in selecting the bleaching or whitening products they apply to their teeth.

The BDA also warned that many over the counter products containing hydrogen peroxide, used by dentists to whiten teeth, are ineffective.

It is illegal for the amount of hydrogen peroxide to be above 0.1%, but the BDA said it is too weak at this level to make a difference.

Professor Damien Walmsley, the BDAs scientific adviser, said: At best, people may be wasting their money buying over the counter and online products to whiten teeth.

Home whitening kits are likely to take longer and be less effective than treatment from the dentist.

While hydrogen peroxide, as used in dental practices, is the gold standard for whitening teeth, the lack of clarity over chemicals used in over the counter and online products means you could be gambling with your teeth.

The British Dental Bleaching Association said: We are concerned that the over the counter products included in the study may be harmful to teeth and advise the general public to see their dentist if they are considering having their teeth whitened.
Fresh funding has been announced by the Scottish Government in a bid to shorten waiting times for people receiving medical procedures.

Health boards have been allocated around 27 million in initial investment as part of a 850 million stategy to tackle the issue.

The Waiting Times Improvement Plan was announced in October last year and aims to substantially and sustainably improve waiting times for outpatient and inpatient appointments, as well as day cases, by Spring 2021.

One of the recipients of funding, the Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Clydebank, has indicated its use of the money will help to increase its workforce, purchase new equipment and create additional clinics in the evenings and at weekends.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman announced the initial allocation of funding during a visit to the hospital.

Ms Freeman said: I want to stop anyone from waiting too long for treatment, and that is why I launched our new 850 million Waiting Times Improvement Plan in October last year.

The initial funding was announced by Health Secretary Jeane Freeman (Peter Byrne/PA)

The immediate focus of the improvement plan is to reduce waits for patients whose treatment is urgent, who have a suspicion of cancer, and those who have waited longest for an appointment.

This initial funding to health boards will help improve performance with recruitment of additional nursing staff, new equipment, staff cover and further weekend and evening clinics.

We will continue to work with boards to ensure the additional funding available delivers the substantial and sustainable improvements needed.

Golden Jubilee chief executive, Jann Gardner, said that the funds would allow the hospital to carry out a significant number of additional procedures.

She said: This direct investment to patient care at the Golden Jubilee will make a significant impact on waiting times across Scotland.

In 2019/20, the investment will allow Golden Jubilee specialists to carry out at least an additional 200 general surgery operations, 200 joint replacements, 600 eye procedures and 1,200 endoscopies and colonoscopies.

Our additional CT Scanner is now treating patients earlier than planned and will have carried out an extra 1,300 procedures by the end of March 2019.

This will benefit patients, including those on a cancer treatment pathway, helping them receive faster diagnosis and treatment.
The family of Islamic State bride Shamima Begum have written to the Home Secretary asking for his help to bring her newborn son to Britain.

The letter to Sajid Javid said the baby boy was a true innocent who should not lose the privilege of being raised in the safety of this country.

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 son.

Shamima Begums eldest sister Renu has written to Home Secretary Sajid Javid (Laura Lean/PA)

Her sister Renu Begum, writing on behalf of the family, asked how they could help the Home Secretary in bringing my nephew home to us.

The family said they have had no contact with Ms Begum and had only learned she had given birth to a boy through media reports.

They made clear that they were shocked and appalled at the vile comments Ms Begum had recently made to the media.

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.

Her familys letter said they had made every fathomable effort to block her from entering IS territory.

That year we lost Shamima to a murderous and misogynistic cult, her sister wrote.

My sister has been in their thrall now for four years, and it is clear to me that her exploitation at their hands has fundamentally damaged her.

The Home Secretary revoked Ms Begums 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.

Appealing to the Home Secretary, the family said: We are sickened by the comments she has made, but, as a family man yourself, we hope you will understand that we, as her family cannot simply abandon her.

We have a duty to her, and a duty to hope that as she was groomed into what she has become, she can equally be helped back into the sister I knew, and daughter my parents bore.

We hope you understand our position in this respect and why we must, therefore, assist Shamima in challenging your decision to take away the one thing that is her only hope at rehabilitation, her British citizenship.

Shamimas status will now be a matter for our British courts to decide in due course.

Ms Begum earlier 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 removal of her citizenship 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.

Sajid Javid has been criticised for removing Shamima Begums citizenship (Dominic Lipinski/AP)

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.

The Begum familys lawyer Tasnime Akunjee 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.

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.
One in 13 young people in the UK experiences post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) before the age of 18, the first study of its kind suggests.

Meanwhile, almost a third (31%) have gone through a traumatic childhood experience, the Kings College London research found.

Senior researcher Professor Andrea Danese said the findings should serve as a wake-up call, with many young people failing to get the support they need.

The study, published in journal The Lancet Psychiatry, looked at more than 2,000 children born in England and Wales between 1994 and 1995.

In total, 7.8% experienced PTSD before reaching the age of 18.

However only one-fifth (20.6%) of this group said they had received help from a mental health professional in the last year.

The extent of trauma and PTSD in young British people has been exposed (David Cheskin/ PA)

Symptoms of the condition include distressing memories or nightmares, avoiding things which remind them of their trauma, and feelings of guilt, isolation and detachment.

It is believed to be the first comprehensive study examining trauma exposure and PTSD in young British people.

Our findings should serve as a wake-up call  childhood trauma is a public health concern, yet trauma-related disorders often go unnoticed, Prof Danese said.

Young people with PTSD are falling through the gaps in care and there is a pressing need for better access to mental health services.

Child and adolescent mental health services need to make more resources available to address the needs of traumatised young people.

Those who were exposed to a traumatic event before the age of 18 were twice as likely as their peers to have a range of mental health disorders, the researchers said.

Traumatic experiences included direct experience of assault, injury or sexual violation, but also network trauma  events which affected someone the young people knew, but which they did not witness in person.

Almost a third (29.2%) had a major depressive episode, 15.9% experienced alcohol dependence, and 8.3% had attempted suicide, the study found.

Many of those who had PTSD also presented with other mental health problems, with one in five (20.1%) attempting suicide and 54.7% experiencing a major depressive episode.

Dr Tim Dalgleish, from the University of Cambridge, said the results of the landmark study were sobering.

Of particular concern is the relatively small proportion of affected youth who go on to access formal support or mental health services and the findings are a further wake-up call that service provision in the UK for children and adolescents dealing with the aftermath of trauma is woefully inadequate, he said.
Bernardo Silva wants Manchester City to develop the habit of defending trophies year after year.

City are bidding to retain the Carabao Cup as they face Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday, a feat they have never previously achieved in any competition.

Manchester City are hoping to retain the Carabao Cup they won last year (Nick Potts/PA)

City are also hoping to win successive Premier League crowns and, with the Champions League and FA Cup in their sights, too, there could be more opportunities to go back to back next season.

That is one of our main goals  not only winning it once but to keep winning and winning, said Silva, looking ahead to this weekends showpiece event.

We know we have the squad to do that but our opponents are very strong and it wont be an easy job. We will do our best to try.

Silva is wary of the threat posed by Chelsea despite being part of the side that thrashed the Londoners 6-0 when they met at the Etihad Stadium less than a fortnight ago.

The Portugal midfielder says that result will count for little at Wembley.

The 24-year-old said: To be honest we should forget that match because it wont happen again. We are not expecting the same result.

We are playing against one of the best sides in the world, even though lately their results are not the best for them.

Chelsea were humiliated at the Etihad Stadium earlier this month, losing 6-0 to City (Martin Rickett/PA)

Against those kinds of players you can never relax, and if you give them time to think, time to play and time to decide they will destroy you. So, we have to play with the same intensity and try to win another trophy.

City were given a reminder on Wednesday of how difficult opponents at the elite level can be.

Pep Guardiolas men needed late goals from Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling to snatch a dramatic 3-2 win over Schalke in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie in Germany.

Tough game but an important result! Sunday theres a trophy to win! Come on @ManCity  pic.twitter.com/edtBtVZ3TE  Bernardo Silva (@BernardoCSilva) February 21, 2019

Silva said: I think we know how good the teams are in the Champions League.

When you play Champions League you know you are playing against the best teams, the best players and the best crowds, so we were not expecting an easy game and thats what happened.

We were very happy with the result and now we want to finish the job and go through to the quarter-finals.
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.
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.

US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said on Thursday she believes Stone would pose a danger to others in the case if she did not institute the order.

Judge Jackson ordered Stone to court to show why she should not 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.
Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclays Brussels talks have been hailed by the Government as productive after European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker delivered a pessimistic take on the EU withdrawal situation.

Mr Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox will again meet EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier next week to continue discussions on the contentious Northern Ireland backstop.

The move follows comments by Mr Juncker that he is not very optimistic that a no-deal Brexit can be avoided.

Mr Juncker said UK withdrawal from the EU without a deal would have terrible economic and social consequences.

However, Mr Barclay struck a more upbeat note as the UK continued to seek guarantees that the backstop arrangements will be temporary.

A Brexit department spokesman said the Brussels meeting had been productive, adding: They discussed the positions of both sides and agreed to focus on what we can do to conclude a successful deal as soon as possible.

It was agreed that talks should now continue urgently at a technical level.

The Secretary of State and the Attorney General will discuss again with Michel Barnier early next week.

Chancellor Philip Hammond said he would keep working to prevent a no-deal Brexit as long as he felt he could influence the outcome (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

The Attorney General will also explore legal options with the commissions team.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Philip Hammond described Brexit as a large black cloud hanging over the UK economy and said a no-deal departure would be extremely bad for Britain.

In an interview with BBC Ones Breakfast a day after three Tory MPs resigned from the party over Brexit, the Chancellor was repeatedly asked whether he would quit the Cabinet if Mrs May went for no-deal.

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 UKs best interests, Mr Hammond said: No, definitely not.

Speaking to the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels on Thursday, following a meeting with Theresa May the previous evening, Mr Juncker said he was recovering from his talks with the Prime Minister and had Brexit fatigue.

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 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.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also met Mr Barnier in Brussels, stating after the talks that there was real concern on the EU side about the prospects of a no-deal break.

Jeremy Corbyn outside EU headquarters in Brussels (Virginia Mayo/AP)

The threat of no deal is something that has deeply exercised people throughout the European Union. They are very worried about the consequences of it, he told reporters.

That was conveyed to us in no uncertain terms during the meetings. That is why we are determined to get no deal off the table.

Mrs May is eager to get movement on the backstop before the Brexit issue returns to the Commons for a series of votes on February 27, when MPs are expected to mount a bid to delay Brexit beyond March 29.

(PA Graphics)

Mr Hammond said the PMs ability to put her deal to another meaningful vote ahead of the next Commons showdown will depend on (the) progress that is made over the next few days.

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.

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.
The SDLP and Fianna Fail have issued a joint statement urging pro-remain parties across Ireland to form an alliance.

The statement, which was issued by party leaders Colum Eastwood and Micheal Martin, 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.

Micheal Martin (left) and Colum Eastwood unveiled the agreement (Niall Carson/PA)

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 partys 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 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.

Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills (Lisa Cornwell/AP)

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.
The film industry applauds the Indian Air Forces surgical strike on terror camps across LoC.

Following the surgical strike, several Indian celebrities saluted the efforts of the Indian Air Force.

Indian Air Force conducted an air strike on Jaish-E-Mohammad training camps in Balakot region of Pakistan. The attack was in response to the suicide attack in Pulawama on 14th of February when 42 CRPF jawans were martyred. The Ministry of External Affairs also confirmed that they had reliable evidence that many more attacks were in various stages of planning. Following the surgical strike, several Indian celebrities saluted the efforts of the Indian Air Force.

Kangana Ranaut, who in the past has been vocal about taking action against terrorism and the countries harbouring terrorists, said, We salute Indian Air Force for striking back like true heroes, and thank Honourable Prime Minister for taking decisive actions, our fight against terrorism has begun. The actress was all praise for Prime Minister of India for taking such a decisive action post the Pulwama attack which has sent out a message a loud and clear message to mess with the country, will be given a befitting reply by the Indian Armed Forces.

Several Bollywood celebs took to social media to salute the action. Abhishek Bachchan wrote, Namaskar karte hai in Hindi. TV and film producer Ekta Kapoor retweeted a tweet about the surgical attacks and wrote, Yayyyyyy!!! May d force be with the INDIAN FORCES!

Akshay Kumar said, Proud of our #IndianAirForce fighters for destroying terror camps! Quiet no more! #IndiaStrikesBack.

Total Dhamaal star Ajay Devgn tweeted, Mess with the best, die like the rest. Salute #IndianAirForce.@narendramodi.

Anupam Kher said, Today will be a good day to start saluting Prime Minister@narendramodi too.

Actor Paresh Rawal who played the role of Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, in recently released Uri: The Surgical Strike, said, A TRULY BEAUTIFUL GOOD MORNING. THANKS @narendramodi SIR AND BRAVEHEARTS OF OUR ARMY. JAI HO.
A teenager has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a policeman was stabbed in the back near a childrens playground in a drugs-related incident.

The officer was in Stamshaw Park, Portsmouth, Hampshire, when the incident occurred just after midday on Thursday.

He was rushed to hospital by air ambulance, though his injuries are said to be non life-threatening.

A Hampshire police spokesman confirmed that a 19-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

The spokesman refused to comment on reports that the officer was working undercover.

Superintendent Steve Burridge said: It goes without saying that our thoughts are with our officer and his family this evening. He is currently in a stable condition in hospital.

A police officer was stabbed near a playground in Portsmouth (Yui Mok/PA)

The support we have had from the public so far has been overwhelming, so I would like to thank everyone for their messages of support as I know this will be a huge comfort to the officer, his loved ones and our wider police family.

At this stage we believe that this incident is connected to drugs supply and officers were in the area following an incident last night.

Our investigation in the neighbourhood continues, so residents will see officers carrying out enquiries and conducting searches, in particular for the weapon used.

If anyone has any concerns or believe they may have found something that could be the weapon, please speak to us or call us on 101 and quote 44190063033.

Anyone with footage of the incident should also contact us.

Portsmouth City Council said the playground in Stamshaw Park had been closed until further notice.
A no-deal Brexit threatens to push Ireland into a budgetary deficit, Irelands deputy premier has warned.

Simon Coveney said the economy would be impacted if the UK crashes out of the EU on March 29 because the Irish government would have to borrow money to fund and protect vulnerable sectors.

Mr Coveney made the comments during a parliamentary committee meeting on Thursday on the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.

Nobody should pretend that we can have such a comprehensive contingency plan in place that a no-deal Brexit can be managed easily, Mr Coveney said.

Its nonsense. It will have an impact on our economic growth.

Part of a former smuggling route covering both sides of the Irish border (Michael McHugh/PA)

It will have an impact on jobs that otherwise would have be created.

He added: It will mean that we will probably have to operate on the basis of a deficit again for another year or two rather than surplus because undoubtedly we may have to borrow money to fund and protect vulnerable sectors.

The Irish Exchequer recorded a budget surplus last year for the first time since the financial crisis.

A budget surplus of 106 million euro was posted in 2018.

In January the government said it expected to run another surplus this year.

Mr Coveney described the possibility of Britain imposing tariffs on Irish products post-Brexit as crazy.

He said the possibility of milk thats produced in Northern Ireland but is processed in the Republic being subject to a potential tariff of about 40% would be a bad situation for everyone involved.

About 40% of milk produced in Northern Ireland is processed south of the border.

It would be crazy and we cant allow it to happen, he said.

I dont believe it will happen but we dont control all the levers.

Working with @MichelBarnier as ONE TEAM on #Brexit - nobody should doubt EU solidarity.  pic.twitter.com/77NTI6CYlS  Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) February 18, 2019

Mr Coveney added that this was one of the reasons they were planning for a worst case scenario.

The Irish Government will publish its no-deal Brexit legislation on Friday.

The committee heard the Tanaiste reiterate that the best and only way to ensure an orderly withdrawal of the UK from the EU is to ratify the Withdrawal Agreement.

He said the Irish government remained convinced the backstop is absolutely necessary, adding that at present there was no credible alternative arrangement being put forward by the UK Government.

We have to try and find a way to provide the reassurance that many in the British parliament in Westminster are seeking before they can ratify this deal.

Were trying to do that in a way that doesnt undermine the effectiveness of a guarantee insurance mechanismto reassure people that they will never face the re-introduction of physical border infrastructure between the two jurisdictions on this island.

He added: Alternative arrangements may well emerge, we have to have an open mind on that.
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.

The route will resume on Wednesday February 27, with Loganair using a 49-seat Embraer 145 jet aircraft.

Loganair is to take over the route (Roddy Scott/AP)

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.
The Scottish Parliament has formally approved the Governments tax and spending plans for 2019-20 in the budgets final vote at Holyrood.

The minority SNP administration was able to ensure it passed after securing a deal last month with the Greens.

MSPs voted by 66 to 58 in favour of the budget, with the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats voting against.

 The @ScotParl has approved the 2019-20 @ScotGov Budget which provides 42.5 billion of investment in Scotlands public services and economy.



Find out what @DerekMackaySNP's #ScotBudget delivers for Scotland. https://t.co/hsPoL5Gu3C pic.twitter.com/xCFgg35UkB  Scot Gov Economy (@scotgoveconomy) February 21, 2019

The controversial arrangement will mean local authorities can raise council tax by almost 5% in the coming year.

Councils are also being given powers to introduce a workplace parking levy or a new tourist tax on hotel stays.

The income tax divide between Scotland and the rest of the UK will grow from April, when taxpayers south of the border will benefit from an increase in the threshold for the higher rate of the charge.

In the rest of the UK, the 40p rate will only apply to earnings over 50,000, but in Scotland people will be charged income tax at 41p when their salary goes above 43,430.

Speaking in the budget debate, Finance Secretary Derek Mackay said the tax and spending plan safeguards Scotland as best as we can.

He warned the budget is based on an orderly Brexit resulting from a deal with the EU and would not apply in event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal, which he said is increasingly likely.

Mr Mackay said: We will have no choice in this parliament but to revisit the spending proposals and priorities to limit the economic self-harm being imposed upon Scotland by Westminster.

With all the best will in the world, devolution and the current limited powers will not be enough to mitigate the economic catastrophe thats coming our way.

Mr Mackay said the budget provides a fair financial settlement for local government, with councils overall spending power potentially up by some 620 million and ensures Scotland remains the lowest taxed part of the UK.

How local authorities use a workplace parking levy is up to each individual council, he added, but he said in England, where councils already have this power, only Nottingham City Council has introduced the tax.

He added: The passage of the budget today provides 42.5 billion of investment in our public services and our economy to the benefit of the people of Scotland.

Mr Mackay said the Greens were the only party to have engaged constructively on the budget, adding: This year, unionist parties may have been in the room  credible budget alternatives were absent.

The SNP have pushed through plans for a Car Park Tax.



This is a regressive tax that will cost 500 a year and hit the poorest hardest. #ScotBudget #StoptheCarParkTax pic.twitter.com/FC78y8vw9b  Scottish Conservatives (@ScotTories) February 21, 2019

Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser branded it an omnishambles budget and said the ludicrous plans for car park tax could cost workers up to 500 a year.

He said instead of moves to boost productivity, we have an SNP Government that would rather hike up taxes for working families, penalise the poorest with a regressive car park tax and at the same time slash our public services.

Scottish Green party co-convener Patrick Harvie said criticism of the workplace parking levy was `dismal (Jane Barlow/PA)

Green co-convener Patrick Harvie criticised the dismal reaction to the workplace parking levy.

He said: This is a proposal legislated for down south by a Labour government, used by a Labour council, proposed by Scottish Labour councillors, supported by Lib Dem MSPs and councillors in the past, voted for by Tory councillors in the past.

The fact that theyve decided that it is an intolerable policy when we propose it, but now when they proposed it, is simply a mark of shameless political opportunism.

Scottish Labour MSP James Kelly said: The SNP have ignored calls for a fair budget, awarded tax cuts to high earners, imposed cuts on councils that will reduce jobs, close services and hit vulnerable people hardest.

He added: The reality of this budget is youve got cuts, cuts, cuts all over the country.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said his party has been prepared to work with the SNP but said there is no way we could support a budget of a government determined to drive forward yet another divisive independence referendum.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said the Labour leadership is ready to address issues which have led eight of the partys MPs to switch to the new Independent Group in Parliament.

Mr McDonnell acknowledged that criticisms raised by Labour MPs such as Ian Austin were valid and urged anyone considering resignation to stay in the party and help hold the family together.

He said Labour had not been severe enough in dealing with complaints of anti-Semitism and he wanted to see tougher sanctions, including a lifetime ban from membership.

He said there would be an appropriate sanction if complaints were upheld against former Militant leader Derek Hatton, who was suspended from the party two days after being readmitted following a 33-year exclusion.

Following the first resignations on Monday, Mr McDonnell promised a mammoth listening exercise to address criticisms.

Speaking to the Press Association during a visit to Willenhall in the West Midlands, he said: What well do now is listen to the criticisms of those whove left. Of course we will, and well deal with them.

John McDonnell acknowledged that criticisms raised by Labour MPs such as Ian Austin were `valid (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Thats what unfortunate, because if theyd have stayed they could have helped us deal with them, but that door now closes.

Dudley North MP Ian Austin, a long-time critic of Jeremy Corbyns handling of anti-Semitism complaints, has said he is considering very carefully whether to follow his former colleagues out of the party.

Mr McDonnell said: If Ian Austin is considering leaving, my message to him is, Dont go, stay with us, youve raised valid concerns, you can help us sort this out.

The shadow chancellor said he was happy to meet Mr Austin to discuss his concerns.

Im happy to meet whoever, and Ive been meeting the last couple of days large numbers of Labour MPs  individuals and in groups  talking it through, he said.

He said he thought there might be a couple of other Labour MPs considering defection, but insisted: We can sort out the problems that theyve raised.

I think were a family, the Labour Party is a family. Well hold the family together and well be effective in terms of our opposition to the Tories Brexit deal, which will destroy our economy.

Asked if there was a way back for MPs who quit the party, he replied: Theres always a possible way back, course there is.

I was brought up in the Catholic tradition. Im a great believer in the powers of persuasion.

Addressing concerns about the handling of anti-Semitism complaints, Mr McDonnell said: Weve got to deal with it. We havent been quick enough, I dont think weve been severe enough.

Were going to look at sanctions  they havent been hard enough and individual MPs have raised cases where the sanction hasnt fitted the crime. So what we need to do is make sure those sanctions are severe enough.

My view (is) if there is someone who is an anti-Semite and is regularly offending, they should be not just barred from the party, but barred for life.

Mr Hatton was suspended on Wednesday pending an investigation into a 2012 tweet which allegedly implied that every Jew was responsible for the actions of the Israeli government  something which is explicitly covered in the international definition of anti-Semitism adopted by Labour last year.

Asked about the former Liverpool council leaders readmission to the party, Mr McDonnell said: Anyone can apply for the Labour Party and goes through the normal process, thats what hes done.

The one thing that prevents you even having your application considered is if you stood for another political party, and he hasnt for a number of years.

So hes come through, theres been a complaint come in  thatll be investigated and therell be an appropriate sanction

But, again, I just repeat, we do not want anti-Semites in our party. Full stop.
A dangerous driver has been jailed for nine years for killing a Police Community Support Officer during a 105mph chase after smoking cocaine.

Darren Ogom led officers on a 14-minute pursuit  driving through three red lights, on the wrong side of the road and hitting the central reservation on January 22.

Police deployed a stinger device to try to stop him but Ogom continued and collided with PCSO Holly Burkes vehicle at the Hagley Road junction in Bearwood, West Midlands, the CPS said.

Darren Ogom killed PCSO Holly Burke in the 105mph chase (West Midlands Police/PA)

The 28-year-old, who was off-duty at the time, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ogom, of Longdales Road in Kings Norton, admitted smoking crack cocaine less than two hours earlier, and was beckoned to pull over by officers at around 11.25pm after they became suspicious.

He was not insured to drive the car  his partners Renault Megane Scenic  and only had a provisional licence.

The 42-year-old was clocked at speeds of 90mph in a 50mph zone and 70mph in a 30mph area.

The pursuit was abandoned at 11.40pm but a police dog unit spotted the car travelling towards Hagley Road, before it crashed into the drivers side of Ms Burkes Ford Fiesta.

Ogom was taken to hospital after being found slumped across the passenger seat and after treatment he was charged with causing death by dangerous driving, failing to stop for police and driving a motor vehicle without insurance or a licence.

He admitted all charges and was jailed at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday, as well as being banned from driving for 16 years, West Midlands Police said.

#JAILED| This is Darren Ogom, a crack cocaine addict whose dangerous driving led to the death of much-loved PCSO Holly Burke. Today he has been jailed for nine years. Details here: https://t.co/Ub7jJQopBj pic.twitter.com/7KSpzZFHxN  West Midlands Police (@WMPolice) February 21, 2019

Judge Melbourne Inman QC described Ogom as a dangerous offender who posed a serious risk to the public.

Nicola Heath from the CPS said: This is a shocking case where the offender failed to stop for 15 minutes and continued to drive dangerously by putting road users at risk.

The offender also admitted to having smoked crack cocaine earlier in the evening which increased the seriousness of the offence. In addition to this, CCTV footage of the incident was also presented by the CPS to reflect the seriousness and assist the court in considering a higher sentence.

As a result, the offender will now face the consequences of his actions. My sympathies are with the family and friends of the victim.

Detective Sergeant Alan Wood, from West Midlands Polices Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: This was a shocking case of dangerous driving and one that ended with the devastating death of a much-loved member of our policing family.

Ogom put many other road users and pedestrians in danger that night and he had plenty of time to consider his actions, pull over and bring the matter to a safe conclusion.

Our thoughts remain with Hollys family and friends at this time.

Chief Superintendent Kenny Bell, Birmingham East commander, said: No outcome at court could ever compensate for the devastating and tragic loss of a life that Darren Ogom was responsible for.

I hope he takes the time to consider what he has taken away from Hollys family and friends, from the communities that Holly was so proud to work in, and from the wider West Midlands Police family.

Weve been really grateful for the response from the community, who have been sharing their experiences working with Holly, and we continue to keep her family, friends and colleagues in our thoughts.
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.

Surveillance video shows two people of interest in an attack on Empire actor Jussie Smollett (Chicago Police Department via AP)

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.

Chicago Police Supt Eddie Johnson speaks during a press conference (Teresa Crawford/AP)

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.
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.

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.

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.

Pathologist John Williams told the court Alesha had 117 separate injuries, and a post-mortem examination he conducted indicated she had died from significant and forceful pressure to her neck and face.

He agreed the injuries to her private parts were catastrophic  more severe than any he had ever seen before  and were at least partially inflicted while she was still alive.
Scotlands largest teaching union has rejected an improved pay deal from employers, moving schools across the country closer to possible strike action.

Leaders of the EIS trade union will hold talks on Friday to consider their next steps after members voted against the deal by 57% to 43%.

The local government body Cosla is offering a 9% increase, with a further 3% next year, to be funded with Scottish Government cash.

More than fourth fifths (81%) of eligible members took part in the ballot, with the union having demanded a 10% rise.

EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said union members have voted, by a very clear majority, to reject this pay offer.

He added: They have also expressed their willingness to move to a ballot for industrial action in pursuit of an improved pay settlement for Scotlands teaching professionals.

Although this was not a strike ballot, both the turnout and the number indicating a willingness to move to industrial action would have exceeded the strict thresholds set by the UK Government in its restrictive Trade Union Act.

The result of the ballot was announced shortly after leaders of the SSTA teaching union revealed its members had voted in favour of the deal.

Almost two thirds (64%) of STTA members voted to accept the pay rise, on a turn out of 76%.

But its general secretary Seamus Searson said: The Government must not see this decision as a boost to teacher morale as many members were voting to get a pay rise that has been long overdue.

EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan. (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Thousands of teachers and their supporters marched through Glasgow in October as part of their campaign for a larger pay hike.

With the EIS executive committee due to meet on Friday, Mr Flanagan said they were still open to further negotiations.

But he was clear: Failing an improved offer, we will be initiating the process towards strike action.

Labour education spokesman Iain Gray said: Nobody wants to see industrial action in our schools but this is a result of the SNPs mismanagement of schools over the years, and a failure to listen to legitimate concern of teachers over the erosion of pay and the increase in workload.

He demanded Education Secretary John Swinney start listening properly to teachers now, and come up with an acceptable offer which shows he really does value teachers and that education actually is this Governments top priority.

Liberal Democrat education spokesman Tavish Scott meanwhile called on ministers to recognise the pressures on teachers, adding: This is not just about pay. It is about the reality of classrooms the length and breadth of Scotland.

That is why I have long argued for a full independent review of teachers terms, conditions and the demands placed upon them.

Scottish Greens education spokesman Ross Greer said: Industrial action is not something teachers would take lightly but the ball is now back in the governments court to avoid it. A deal is clearly within reach.

Gail Macgregor, education spokeswoman at Cosla, said the offer that had been rejected by the EIS was at the absolute limits of what councils could afford.

She stated: We absolutely value the education of our young people and throughout these negotiations have re-iterated the value we place on our teachers and the work that they do.

That is why a very fair offer, at the absolute limits of what we could afford, was presented to our teachers and I am disappointed with todays rejection.

Ms Macgregor added: Industrial action in our schools is in nobodys interests and it is for this reason we will continue to engage as positively as we can with Government and the trade unions.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: The offer put to teachers is the best pay deal in the UK for any public sector worker.

A large number of teachers voted to accept the offer which clearly demonstrates the advantages they saw in the deal.

This strong offer remains on the table. Industrial action in any of our schools would not be in the interest of teachers, young people or parents.
The 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.

Adrian Hoare, the mother of three-year-old Alfie Lamb (Met Police/PA)

Afterwards, 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.

CCTV of Stephen Waterson and Adrian Hoare with Alfie Lamb (Met Police/PA)

The defendants had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

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.

The Audi convertible in which Alfie was crushed (Met Police/PA)

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.

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 (Met Police/PA)

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.

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 fled the scene and Hoare spun a web of lies, claiming she had been in a taxi.

Court sketch of Stephen Waterson and Adrian Hoare during their trial (Elizabeth Cook/PA)

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 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 sisters 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 Alfies injuries.

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC told jurors both played a part in Alfies 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 didnt and he is dead.

Responding to the verdict, 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.

Mr Harding added: 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 wellbeing. Its clear from her actions on that day she really did not have concerns.

Following the verdicts, Mr Justice Kerr discharged the jury.

Mr Atkinson asked for seven days for the Crown to decide whether to seek a retrial for Waterson on the manslaughter charge.
Ironically, Ali ends the post by imploring his fans to respect his privacy.

A baffling video featuring Ali Fazal appeared on social media on Monday morning. It features the distressed-looking actor telling the world that his nude pictures have been leaked on the internet and that they are indeed him and not an impersonator. Ironically, Ali ends the post by imploring his fans to respect his privacy.

The entire exercise smells of publicity for Ali Fazals next release the ill-fated Milan Talkies, which was tossed for years from one actor (Imran Khan) to another (Shahid Kapoor) until it finally landed in Fazals lap. Since its completion, the films makers and director Tigmanshu Dhulia have been desperately trying to create some buzz around their product. But to no avail.

A friend of Ali Fazal debunks the conspiracy theory. He has not mentioned any leaked nudes to us. Even if there were such leaks, by talking about them you are only attracting more attention to what you claim to be a breach of your privacy. The minute Ali says his nude pictures have been leaked, people will try to find them online. That seems to be the strategy to create some interest in his new film. There are nudes of Fazal on the net. So, relax.

Sad that a good actor like Ali Fazal has to resort to cheap gimmicks to get noticed.
Theresa May could be propped up by the Independent Group if she agrees to a second Brexit referendum, one of the breakaway MPs said.

Former Labour MP Gavin Shuker said if Mrs May agreed to a public vote on the Withdrawal Agreement it would be in the national interest to make sure there was a period of stability to allow that to happen.

Mr Shuker said he had made a similar offer while he was still in the Labour Party before Mondays dramatic announcement of the split from Jeremy Corbyns party.

He suggested a confidence and supply agreement would be conditional on support for a referendum along the lines of the compromise plan set out by Labour backbencher Peter Kyle, which would see MPs back the Withdrawal Agreement but the public then be given the final say.

The Luton South MP told HuffPost UKs Commons People podcast: We need a general election like a hole in the head right now, were 900 hours to Brexit and were going to crash out without a deal unless something replaces that.

I think the most sensible way forward is for the Government to adopt whats become known as the Kyle amendment because it would do exactly what I said before there.

And in those circumstances I think the national interest would be served by seeing a period of stability to get that referendum done.

Meanwhile the Prime Minister appeared to step up efforts to prevent further defections from the Tory ranks by meeting two prominent Conservative supporters of a second referendum.

Her invitation to Phillip Lee and Justine Greening followed warnings the party was destroying itself.

Sarah Wollaston, one of the three Conservatives who quit to join the Independent Group (TIG) this week, suggested 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 BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

Certainly I think that a third of the Cabinet, Im pretty clear, would walk if they were looking at a no-deal Brexit.

In a letter to Dr Wollaston, and to Anna Soubry and Heidi Allen, who also quit the party, Mrs May said she was saddened by their decision to leave.

However she strongly rejected their claims the party had shifted to the right and was now in the grip of hard line Brexiteers.

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 wrote.

In a sign of the unrest in the Tory ranks, former Cabinet minister Ms Greening and ex-attorney general Dominic Grieve have both indicated they would leave the party if the Government backed a no-deal Brexit.

It is something that I have considered, but I have reached a different conclusion for the moment, Ms Greening told Today.

Her invitation to meet Mrs May came after repeated requests.

Dr Lee was also in Downing Street to lobby the Prime Minister about the Right to Vote campaign  which he chairs  and its call for a pause in the Brexit process to allow a public vote.

The Bracknell MP quit the Government over Brexit and has been the subject of speculation about his future.

Downing Street was forced to defend Mrs Mays approach to tackling immigration after Anna Soubry, another of the Conservative defectors, accused her of having a personal problem with immigration.

Ms Soubry told BBC2s Newsnight: The only reason why she will not agree to the single market is because of free movement of people I look at the evidence, and I think shes got a problem with immigration.

Mrs Mays official spokesman said: The Prime Minister is focused on delivering an immigration system post-Brexit which allows us to take back control of our borders and ensures this country continues to allow in the brightest and best.

Immigrants make a huge contribution to our public services and economy and thats going to continue after Brexit.

Ms Soubry also revealed that ex-prime minister David Cameron had pleaded with her, Dr Wollaston and Heidi Allen to stay on the Conservative benches.

She told The Times Red Box podcast that Mr Cameron sent them a text saying: Is it too late to persuade you to stay?

Mr Corbyn urged the TIG MPs to stand down and fight by-elections under their new banner, which he dismissed as the failed business-as-usual politics of the past.

We will deliver the change the people of this country need and deserve. pic.twitter.com/17NRn222s4  Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) February 20, 2019

Responding to the accusations of defecting MPs like Luciana Berger that he had failed to tackle anti-Semitism in Labour ranks, Mr Corbyn said he was utterly determined to root out anti-Semitism from our party and our country.
Almost 60% of children aged one to four did not see an NHS dentist last year, figures show.

NHS Digital data analysed by the Faculty of Dental Surgery (FDS) at the Royal College of Surgeons shows that 57.7% of young children did not see a dentist in 2018.

Among all those aged 17 and under, 41.4% of children did not see an NHS dentist.

In the five to nine age group the figure was 32.7%, and 27.6% for those aged 10 to 14.

Professor Michael Escudier, dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery, said the figures were disappointing.

He added: 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.

The majority of children aged four and under have not seen an NHS dentist in the last year (PA).

This is partly because extensive damage to the baby teeth can cause abscesses that harm the permanent teeth developing inside the gums.

Its so important that a childs 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.

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.

Therefore, we strongly advise that children have their first check-up before they turn one.

The faculty says parents should register their child with a dentist once their first teeth appear.

After an initial check-up before a first birthday, children should then see the dentist at least once every 12 months.

Prof Escudier added: 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 childrens oral health in Scotland and Wales.

Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen, chairman of General Dental Practice at the British Dental Association, said: Any government that claims to value prevention should not be letting nearly 5 million children miss out on free check-ups.

The UK has pioneered policies that are transforming childrens oral health. Sadly while countries from Chile to Israel are seeing the benefits, kids in England have been left with a second class system, without a penny of new investment behind it.

Its not inevitable that a child born in Pendle will arrive in primary school with 20 times the levels of decay as one born in Surrey. It is a direct consequence of years of inaction at Westminster.

An NHS England spokesman said: NHS dental care is free for anyone under 18, and its really important for long-term health that parents bring their children to the dentist as early as possible.

Overall more than nine in 10 people who need a dentist appointment can get one, and while 90,000 additional children saw their dentist in the past year, NHS England is working with the dental profession to help even more young people under five get a check.
The worlds largest bee has been rediscovered, more than 160 years after it was first seen on a tropical Indonesian island.

The giant insect is as long as an adults thumb, and not a single one of them had been seen since 1981.

Known as Wallaces giant bee, a team of scientists found a single live female during an expedition to Indonesias North Moluccas islands in January.

They filmed and photographed the creature, which is described as being four times larger than a European honeybee.

Named after the scientist who made the discovery, the insect was first seen in 1858 by British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace on the tropical Indonesian island of Bacan.

Several specimens of the bee were next found in 1981, but it had not been seen since until the 2019 expedition.

It is approximately four times larger than a European honeybee (Clay Bolt/PA)

Clay Bolt, one of the scientists on the expedition, described seeing the flying bulldog of an insect in the wild was breathtaking.

Eli Wyman, who joined Mr Bolt on the trip, added: 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.

Photographer Clay Bolt snaps a living Wallaces giant bee at its nest (Simon Robson/PA)

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.

The trip was supported by environmental group Global Wildlife Conservation, which has launched a worldwide hunt for 25 lost species.

They include the Fernandina Galapagos tortoise, last seen in 1906, and the Sinu parakeet, last seen in 1949.
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.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid took action after Ms Begum said she wanted to return to Britain (PA)

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.
Four men who were in an out-of-control stolen lorry which killed a pedestrian as it ploughed into three cars and a house have been given jail sentences of between 10-and-a-half and 13 years.

The men were sentenced following the death of mother-of-two Jacqueline Wileman, 58, who died instantly when she was hit by the eight-tonne tractor unit in the village of Brierley, near Barnsley, on September 14 last year.

Judge Jeremy Richardson QC told Sheffield Crown Court that Mrs Wileman was a wholly innocent victim who had been taking her usual power walk through the village when she was struck by the lorry which was travelling at 55mph.

Judge Richardson said the men had spent the day riding in the lorry, laughing and joking as the HGV was driven dangerously around South Yorkshire for hours.

He 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 whilst you executed what you thought was a caper but, in truth, was an exceptionally malevolent course of conduct which had an inevitable disastrous and catastrophic conclusion.

The judge told them: You killed an innocent pedestrian and nearly killed a cyclist in the dreadful events in the village of Brierley.

It is nothing short of chance that more people were not killed or maimed by your conduct.

The driver of the vehicle, Karn Hill, 23, of East View, Cudworth, South Yorkshire, admitted causing death by dangerous driving before the trial and was jailed on Thursday for 10 and a half years.

Three other men denied the same charge but were found guilty by a jury on Wednesday.

Jacqueline Wileman was killed after a collision with a lorry (South Yorkshire Police/PA)

David Mellor, 48, of Bank End Road, Worsbrough Dale, South Yorkshire, was jailed for 13 years.

Alan Mawhinney, 53, of Calder Crescent, Kendray, South Yorkshire, was jailed for 12-and-a-half years.

Wayne Carroll, 29, of Chestnut Street, Grimethorpe, South Yorkshire, was also jailed for 12-and-a-half years.

The judge heard that Carroll has a previous conviction for causing death by dangerous driving.

The trial jury heard that the lorry had been stolen days earlier by Mellor from his employers.

On the day of Mrs Wilemans death, three of the men had taken it on a joyride around various locations, stealing fuel from garages as they went. Carroll joined them later.

Judge Richardson said: During the morning, all three of you were involved in stealing fuel and encouraging Hill to drive exceptionally badly.

I accept all of the evidence that has been adduced in the trial that you were all laughing and joking.

SENTENCING: Four men sentenced for almost 50 years following Barnsley lorry smash which killed 58 year old Jaqueline Wileman. Read more here - https://t.co/F553g7zzFh pic.twitter.com/WkQXULOBhH  South Yorkshire Police (@syptweet) February 21, 2019

Each one of you was enjoying what you thought was a joyride in a very large HGV tractor unit.

I make it clear, there was nothing joyful about your criminal conduct.

The court heard that, as the lorry approached the village, it was spotted by a police officer who began to follow it.

But the judge said the officer was not chasing the vehicle and attached no blame to the police.

Three of the four defendants tried to flee the scene but were detained, some with the help of angry locals who were praised by Judge Richardson.

The newly-built house in which the lorry became embedded has had to be demolished.

The jury was shown graphic CCTV footage of what prosecutors described as the utter carnage in the village.

The court heard that Carroll had been jailed for 27 months in 2015 for causing the death of a 25-year-old pedestrian who was crossing a road in the village of Havercroft, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

(Clockwise from top left) Karn Hill, Wayne Carroll, David Mellor and Alan Mawhinney (South Yorkshire Police/PA)

Mellor also had a conviction for dangerous driving and assaulting a police officer relating to a five-mile police chase in 2010.

Judge Richardson referred to another case he dealt with earlier this year involving a crash in the Darnall area of Sheffield in which four people were killed.

He said that, as with that case, his sentencing power was restricted by the current 14-year maximum for death by dangerous driving.

He noted that this maximum was currently under review by the Transport Secretary but added that it was a matter for Parliament not the judiciary.

Outside court, Mrs Wilemans brother, Johnny Wood, accepted that the judges hands were tied and said he agreed with moves to change the maximum sentence to life imprisonment.

It cant come soon enough, he said.

Theyre terrorists, theyre terrorising the community. And its time the Government were listening to the public and listening to police officers.

He said: We need these people off the streets. Theyre not fit for society. Theyre not fit to breathe the same air as you or me.

Mr Wood also criticised Government police cuts, saying South Yorkshire Police had been looking for the truck for two days before the crash but were limited by officer numbers.
Celtic fans have been attacked with batons, riot shields and rubber bullets by police in Valencia, it has been claimed.

People as young as 15 were allegedly hurt before the clubs Europa League game against the Spanish club on Thursday.

Witnesses on Wednesday night said they did not see any signs of provocation.

Davy Macnamara was with his 15 and 21-year-old sons at St Patricks Bar in the city, the youngest of whom he said was struck with a baton as they ran from police.

He said his son heard of a friends sister who was beaten black and blue with truncheons and is now looking for a flight to get home before the match takes place on Thursday evening.

Sky News reported police in Valencia, the Jefatura Superior de Policia, told them six Celtic fans have been arrested following altercations, five detained for disorderly conduct and one for alleged drug trafficking.

It was terrifying to be involved in, its just horrible to be here as a dad stuck in an apartment, scared to go out in the streets in case it kicks off again, Mr Macnamara, 47, told the Press Association.

Scott Tobin was at the same bar and said he saw an elderly man being beaten with a baton and also heard of a 15-year-old girl being taken to hospital.

It was quite scary, they were chasing us down the street with their riot gear on, the 26-year-old from Glasgow said.

We didnt know what would happen if they caught us.

Several fans shared images on social media of bruises they said were sustained from guns with rubber bullets.

I had never seen one in my life and its horrifying to be faced with that, Mr Macnamara, a roofer from Dunfermline, Fife, said.

Celtic supporters outside St Patricks bar in Valencia (Ronnie Esplin/PA)

He added fans were filled with joy in the bar and didnt see one bit of trouble but outside there were riot police waiting for them with some fans in handcuffs.

Police ushered them up one street to a crossroads where there were more Celtic fans running from police, he said.

I said to my boys theres no point in running, weve not done anything and theres more police back the way we came but then the police started marching towards us in a line, Mr Macnamara added.

We stood in the middle of the street with our hands up and they charged us, and as we ran my 15-year-old son was struck in the back with a baton.

He said another man near him was hit to the ground after a policeman struck his legs.

Mr Macnamara said he and his sons ran down the street to escape the crowd, turning their jerseys inside out so that they would not be recognised as Celtic supporters and managing to escape the police shortly after.

Some @CelticFC fans outside St Patricks bar in Valencia today. Claims of heavy-handed policing there last night. pic.twitter.com/B37rUBwbaW  Ronnie Esplin (@RonnieEsplin) February 21, 2019

Ive been to Seville, Portugal and all different countries to watch Celtic and I wouldnt have brought a 15-year-old if I had thought there was going to be any trouble, he said.

I never even saw a Valencia fan and you would have thought there would have been troubles and riots.

Im absolutely gutted, there was no need for it and tonight will be even worse.

If Celtic had rioted and broken glasses I might understand but I didnt see anything, we were singing and happy.

Im here to make memories with my two boys and its the wrong memories.

I should be enjoying the sunshine with my fellow Hoops supporters.

Daniel McKenna, 20, filmed a policeman apparently hitting a fan with a baton while they were lying on the ground before crushing their headphones underfoot.

Their presence was expected as deterrents if anything did happen but it seemed as if they were looking for trouble themselves, the University of Strathclyde student said.

On Thursday, Valencia said in a statement they have closed their match day ticket office due to fan safety concerns.

The Press Association contacted local police for comment but they had not responded with a statement by the time of publication.
Prosecutions in England and Wales have fallen to a record low, official statistics show.

In the year to September, 1.37 million defendants were proceeded against, a drop of 4% on the previous 12 months.

The total number of individuals formally dealt with by the criminal justice system, including by cautions and penalty notices, also fell, by 5%, to 1.59 million.

In both cases, these were the lowest numbers recorded since records started in 1970, the Ministry of Justice confirmed to the Press Association.

(PA Graphics)

The decreases come at a time when the number of crimes reported to police, including violent offences, are on the rise.

Over the same period, forces in England and Wales logged just over five million offences, excluding fraud, which was an 8% increase on the previous year.

The rise was fuelled by jumps in recorded violence against the person, robbery and sexual crimes.

An MoJ report published on Thursday said the increase in recorded crime is believed to be associated with improved recording among police forces and victims greater willingness to report crimes.

It noted that the separate Crime Survey for England and Wales showed little change year-on-year, estimating that there were 6.2 million incidents of crime over the 12 months to September, excluding fraud and computer misuse.

The criminal justice statistics show the fall in prosecutions was most pronounced for indictable offences, with the number of individuals proceeded against dropping 12% to 245,892.

Falls were recorded in most categories, including violence against the person, sexual offences, theft and drug crimes, but there was a slight uptick in possession of weapons cases.

(PA Graphics)

The overall findings are in line with separate crime outcomes statistics, which showed a fall in the number of crimes dealt with by charge or summons, according to the MoJ paper.

Diana Fawcett, chief officer at charity Victim Support, said: Its concerning to see the number of people going through the criminal justice system and the number of prosecutions declining in the same period that we have seen recorded crimes go up.

These figures could have a negative impact on public opinion and, ultimately, trust in the criminal justice system.

John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said some crimes are screened out at a very early stage due to resourcing constraints.

He added: The cuts have also made it more difficult for police to respond to emergencies in numbers and in a timely manner, which can result in a loss of evidence at an early stage potentially undermining a potential prosecution.

The police service needs long-term financial investment to pull it back from the brink so that we can start being more proactive again, ploughing more resources back into things that matter to the public, and helping to secure prosecutions for those whose criminality blights our communities.

There were also decreases in the numbers of cautions, penalty notices for disorder and community resolutions.

The report stated that the decrease in out of court disposals followed a number of policy changes relating to police practice and availability of the sanctions.

Nearly 1.2 million offenders were convicted in the year ending September 2018, a 3% decrease on the previous year.

However, the conviction ratio increased to 87%, the highest in a decade.

An MoJ spokesman said: Under this government the most serious offenders are more likely to go to prison, and for longer.

Criminals are also being convicted at the highest rate for a decade, helping protect the public and keep communities safe.

Sentencing is a matter for independent courts, who take into account the full facts of each case.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokeswoman said: The CPS is a demand-led service.

We can only prosecute cases which are passed to us by police and this drop reflects the overall fall in caseload numbers.

A National Police Chiefs Council spokesman said: Policing has experienced a reduction in police numbers, naturally this will mean a reduction in case numbers referred to the Crown Prosecution Service.

As a result, forces have had to focus resources where there is greatest harm, and progressing cases to the CPS for charging decisions where we can secure positive outcomes.

Alternative tools are used where appropriate to prevent further offending, he added.

Last year Home Secretary Sajid Javid announced a cash boost for police that could total nearly 1 billion.
Introducing a so-called latte levy could raise significant funds for local authorities across Scotland, it has been suggested.

The Scottish Greens have urged Scottish ministers to adopt a tax of 25p on all disposable coffee cups, rising by 5p each year to 2025.

It is part of an action plan published by the party which aims to tackle plastic waste and includes proposals to ultimately phase out use of disposable cups.

As part of its 2019/20 Budget deal with the Greens, the Scottish Government agreed it would consider the introduction of the charge.

Similar proposals have previously been rejected by the UK Government, which suggested last year it would be better for shops to offer voluntary discounts to customers using their own cups.

"Plastic pollution has become an environmental emergency in Scotland and around the world. It threatens wildlife, litters our beaches and cities, contributes to climate change and places enormous costs on local councils." says @markruskell https://t.co/39zfBpxk53  Scottish Greens (@scottishgreens) February 21, 2019

Scottish Greens environment spokesman Mark Ruskell said: The UK Government failed to introduce its much-hyped coffee cup tax, so Scotland has a chance to lead the way and show we are serious about tackling the scourge of plastic pollution.

The Scottish Greens have called for the levy to be introduced (Yui Mok/PA)

Being a leader on this issue is not only the right thing to do but it will create opportunities for innovative Scottish businesses to develop sustainable alternatives.

Plastic pollution has become an environmental emergency in Scotland and around the world. It threatens wildlife, litters our beaches and cities, contributes to climate change and places enormous costs on local councils.

We have already seen great success with the 5p levy on single-use carrier bags reducing their use by 80% in the first year. Bold action on other plastics is clearly required.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: As part of the Programme for Government 2017-18, we established an expert panel to advise on the use of charging to reduce single use disposable drinks cups.

We will consider the recommendations of the panel  which are due in the coming months  and bring forward proposals in 2019-20 for legislation and other measures to implement the panels recommendations.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - The nuclear deal with world powers once buoyed the political fortunes of Iran's President Hassan Rouhani and his trusted Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Now it threatens to sink them.

Facing growing political and economic pressure after President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw America from the atomic accord, Zarif resigned suddenly Monday night and Rouhani now faces renewed calls from hard-liners to do the same.

While Rouhani has yet to accept Zarif's resignation, the relatively moderate cleric has hardened his tone toward the West. The fallout has also exposed inner tensions within Iran's theocracy, where both elected officials and paramilitary forces answer to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

___

WHAT HAPPENED?

Late Monday, Zarif posted a picture on Instagram honoring Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, as Iranians commemorate her birth Tuesday. He wrote in the caption: "I sincerely apologize for inability to continue service and for all the shortcomings during my service." Minutes later, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency confirmed through a spokesman that Zarif, 59, had resigned.

FILE - In this Jan. 19, 2016 file photo, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, left, and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif talk while waiting to welcome then-Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for a meeting in Tehran, Iran. The nuclear deal with world powers once buoyed the political fortunes of Rouhani and Zarif. Now it threatens to sink them. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

__

WHY NOW?

That remains unclear. Zarif on Tuesday morning reportedly told diplomats his resignation would further empower the Foreign Ministry against those who encroach on it. The remarks came after Syrian President Bashar Assad was received by Khamenei and Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of an elite force within the Revolutionary Guard. Photographs of the meetings released by state media showed no sign that Zarif attended.

___

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

Zarif was the main negotiator of the 2015 nuclear deal, which he hammered out during several rounds of talks with then-Secretary of State John Kerry. He was also seen as the face of Iran's growing outreach to the West, frequently tweeting in English.

His resignation comes amid growing criticism of that approach. Iranians celebrated the signing of the nuclear deal, which promised to lift crippling sanctions in exchange for Tehran curbing its uranium enrichment. But the agreement was cast into doubt with Trump's election, and he withdrew from it and restored sanctions last year.

As a result, most Iranians saw no benefit from the deal, or from Rouhani and Zarif's outreach. Iran's currency has tanked over the past year, wiping out people's life savings and sending prices soaring. Sporadic protests have broken out, and Rouhani has recently adopted a stronger tone toward the West.

___

WHO IS IN CHARGE?

The supreme leader has final say on all state matters and serves as the country's commander in chief. Iranian presidents serve four-year terms and are subordinate to the supreme leader but still wield considerable influence over both domestic policy and foreign affairs. Iran also has an elected parliament.

Within its elected government, politicians are roughly divided into reformists who seek to change Iran's political system from within; hard-liners, who believe the supreme leader is God's chosen representative and want a more confrontational approach to the West; and moderates, who chart a middle path.

But there's also the Revolutionary Guard, which answers directly to the supreme leader. The Guard's political and economic influence has ballooned in recent years, and Soleimani has emerged as a national hero over his role in leading its military interventions around the region. Many Iranians say they trust the Guard more than the civilian government, suggesting it should take on an even greater role.

___

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Rouhani must now decide whether to accept or reject Zarif's resignation. Analysts and others say this is Zarif's third resignation in the last year, but the first to become public. It's also likely Zarif spoke first with the supreme leader to get his permission, which would further pressure Rouhani to accept it.

If Rouhani accepts his resignation, the choice of Zarif's successor will signal the president's future approach to the West. U.N. inspectors say Iran is still complying with the nuclear deal. But as it continues to unravel, Iran may decide it has more to gain by withdrawing from the agreement, or threatening to do so.

Either way, Rouhani could be the next to go, as hard-liners increasingly speak about impeaching him.

___

Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap .

FILE - In this Feb. 8, 2016 file photo, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, left, and his Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif pose for a photograph after Zarif was awarded a "Medal of Merit" in a ceremony in Tehran, Iran. The nuclear deal with world powers once buoyed the political fortunes of Rouhani and Zarif. Now it threatens to sink them. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

FILE - In this July 14, 2015 file photo, Iranians celebrate following a landmark nuclear deal in Tehran, Iran. The nuclear deal with world powers once buoyed the political fortunes of Iran's President Hassan Rouhani and his trusted Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Now it threatens to sink them. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
BEIJING (AP) - Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman hailed relations with China as trouble-free, during talks Friday with President Xi Jinping in Beijing aimed at strengthening relations in the face of criticism from the West over the kingdom's human rights record and its war in Yemen.

Citing a 33 percent increase in bilateral trade last year, the crown prince said high-level contacts were paying off in areas from commerce to security and defense.

"Saudi Arabia's relations with China can be traced back a very long time in the past," Prince Mohammed told Xi at their meeting in the hulking Great Hall of the People in the heart of the Chinese capital.

"Over such a long period of exchanges with China, we have never experienced any problems with China," he said.

His visit come five months after the crown prince came under intense pressure in the U.S. and elsewhere following the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. In the U.S. Congress, criticism has also been building for months over the kingdom's handling of the war in Yemen, where it is accused of causing widespread casualties and suffering among civilians.

The crown prince earlier Friday presided at a China-Saudi cooperation forum that concluded with agreements on cooperation in fields ranging from petroleum and the chemical industry to investment, renewable energy and counter-terrorism. Saudi Arabia is one of China's top crude oil suppliers and an important market for its exports, including military drones.

Prince Mohammed also pledged Saudi Arabia's backing for China's gargantuan "belt and road" infrastructure project, saying he was willing to link it with the kingdom's Vision 2030 plans- a blueprint put forth by the crown prince to wean the kingdom off its reliance on oil, particularly as sustainable sources of energy become cheaper and more popular.

The Crown Prince's visit follows trips to India and Pakistan, which send millions of laborers to Saudi Arabia and are seeking closer economic ties. He is also due to visit industrial powerhouse South Korea on his Asian tour.

China has refrained from faulting Saudi Arabia over issues such as the war or killing of the journalist, in keeping with its long-held tradition of non-interference in other countries' affairs.

For its part, Saudi Arabia has avoided criticizing China's authoritarian communist government over its treatment of its Muslim minority groups as part of a wide-ranging crackdown on religion and minority languages that includes the detention of an estimated 1 million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims in internment camps.

That's despite the ruling Al Saud family's image of itself as the defender of Muslims across the world and protector of Islam's two holiest shrines.

The hush-hush approach reflects how China and Saudi Arabia have grown close over the past decade based on complementary economic interests, said Michael Clarke of Australian National University's National Security College.

"Basically, in the Saudi case there seem to be very clear incentives for it to not rock the boat in service of the Uighur issue," Clarke said.
On February 22, Sebi ruled that Motilal Oswal Commodities and IIFL Commodities were not "fit and proper" to be granted registration.

New Delhi: Market regulator Sebi has said that Anand Rathi Commodities and Geofin Comtrade are not "fit and proper" to act as commodity derivatives brokers in connection with the Rs 5,600 crore scam at the now defunct National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL).

Passing two separate orders, the watchdog has rejected the applications of Anand Rathi Commodities (ARCL) and Geofin Comtrade for registration as commodity derivatives brokers.

Both ARCL and Geofin Comtrade have also been directed to "cease to act, directly or indirectly" as commodity derivatives brokers, as per the two orders dated February 25.

On February 22, Sebi ruled that Motilal Oswal Commodities and India Infoline Commodities were not "fit and proper" to be granted registration to operate as commodity derivatives brokers.

The orders have come against the backdrop of the payment scam at the National Spot Exchange (NSEL) that came to light in 2013; and subsequently, many entities, including brokers, have come under the scanner of Sebi and other probe agencies.

In the separate but similarly-worded orders, Sebi said Anand Rathi Commodities and Geofin Comtrade, by virtue of being a broker, have facilitated transactions in the said paired contracts for its clients on the NSEL platform.

Both entities by their own admission allowed themselves to become a channel and instrument for NSEL to promote paired contracts amongst its clients, the watchdog noted.

The regulator said the allegations that they are not fit and proper rests on twin basis. One is the alleged violation of various laws and circulars with respect to the NSEL matter, and the second is the existence of various adverse observations by various courts/ authorities regarding the transactions in paired contracts on the spot exchange.

"We have noted Sebi's order related to ARCL. Sebi has observed that courts and authorities have made serious adverse observations against NSEL and paired contracts," Anand Rathi Commodities said in a statement.

"It states that even though such observations (against NSEL) are yet to established in a court of law, but by mere association of ARCL in the capacity of a broker with NSEL, the reputation of ARCL is affected and therefore the certificate of registration has been denied.

"We are examining the order and will take necessary legal steps to file appeal against the order. ARCL and its clients and employees are in fact victims of this fraud perpetrated by NSEL," it said, adding that the order rejects the application of registration of ARCL and has no impact on other businesses of the group.
NEW DELHI (AP) - India says it is building dams to stop its share of water from flowing into Pakistan-controlled Kashmir as it seeks to punish its longtime rival for an attack on paramilitary soldiers last week that left 40 dead.

Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari said that India will harness its share of unused water from three rivers to help Indian states.

Pakistan, a country of 200 million people with a largely agriculture-based economy, fears that India may tamper with the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, brokered by the World Bank, which calls for the unimpeded flow of three other rivers through Kashmir and farther into Pakistan proper.

The treaty has worked despite three wars between the two countries since 1947.

"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 late Thursday.

Public pressure is mounting on the Indian government to consider revoking the water treaty if Pakistan did not accept its demand to stop training and arming insurgent groups fighting for Kashmir's independence or its merger with Pakistan.

Pakistan denies the charge and says it offers only moral and diplomatic support to insurgent groups and accuses India of human rights violations in the Indian portion of Kashmir.

On Friday, Pakistan's Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda said that according to the Indus Water Treaty, India has eastern river waters and "they can't even tap that.'"

"So think about that, thinking of doing something to us is irrelevant and a joke. India is playing blame game for its elections which is not our weakness,'" Vawda tweeted.

India's national elections are to be held by May and Prime Minister Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party is trying to secure another five-year term in power.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a television interview early this week said that Indian leaders "have shown extreme irresponsible behavior by blaming Pakistan without going into investigation about the incident."

He said that the Indian government had threatened to review the Indus Water Treaty. Talking of holding up waters from rivers coming to Pakistan, Qureshi said, "This is an act of war and after seeing all these irresponsible statements of Indian leaders, I have written a letter to the secretary-general of the United Nations apprising him of Indian threats."

India withdrew the most favored nation trade status to Pakistan after last week's attack. India has vowed a "jaw-breaking response" to the suicide bombing, which was the worst attack on Indian forces since the start of the Kashmir insurgency in 1989.

Since independence from Britain in 1947, Pakistan and India - both nuclear-armed nations - have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, which is divided between the two but claimed by each in its entirety.

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Associated Press writer Zarar Khan in Islamabad contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. Ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft is emerging as the front-runner to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is backing Craft for the post, and she also has the support of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. They say President Donald Trump has been advised that Craft's confirmation would be the smoothest of the three candidates he is considering to fill the job last held by Nikki Haley.

Craft, a Kentucky native, was a member of the U.S. delegation to the U.N. General Assembly under President George W. Bush's administration. She is also friends with McConnell's wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, and thanked Chao for her "longtime friendship and support" at her swearing-in as ambassador.

As U.S. ambassador to Canada, she played a role in facilitating the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, a revamp of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Trump's first pick to replace Haley, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, withdrew over the weekend.

Trump is also considering U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell and former U.S. Senate candidate John James of Michigan for the post.

FILE - In this Oct. 23, 2017, file photo, United States Ambassador to Canada Kelly Knight Craft speaks after presenting her credentials during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP)

Nauert's weekend withdrawal from consideration came amid a push within the administration to fill the position given a pressing array of foreign policy concerns in which the United Nations, particularly the U.N. Security Council, is likely to play a significant role. From Afghanistan to Venezuela, the administration has pressing concerns that involve the world body, and officials said there had been impatience with the delays on Nauert's formal nomination.

Trump said Dec. 7 that he would pick the former Fox News anchor and State Department spokeswoman for the U.N. job, but her nomination was never formalized. Notwithstanding other concerns that may have arisen during her confirmation, Nauert's nomination had languished in part due to the 35-day government shutdown that began Dec. 22 and interrupted key parts of the vetting process.

With Nauert out of the running, officials said Pompeo was keen on Craft to fill the position. Although Pompeo would like to see the job filled, the vacancy has created an opportunity for him and others to take on a more active role in U.N. diplomacy. On Thursday, for example, Pompeo was in New York to meet with U.N. chief Antonio Guterres.

Three other officials said both Pompeo and Bolton favor demoting the U.N. position to a sub-Cabinet level position, and Grenell has suggested he isn't interested in a non-Cabinet role. The officials were not authorized to discuss internal personnel deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Haley had been a member of the Cabinet and had clashed repeatedly with former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and others during the administration's first 14 months. Bolton was not a Cabinet member when he served as U.N. ambassador in President George W. Bush's administration, and neither he nor Pompeo is eager to see a potential challenge to their foreign policy leadership in White House situation room meetings, according to the officials.

Chris Sands, director of the Center for Canadian Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, describes Craft as warm and gracious and said she is often underestimated.

"She's always, 'Oh, you know, I'm not the policy expert.' But she has a disarming quality. She's not a policy intellectual, but she's more emotionally astute and so I think she is more effective than she comes off," Sands said.

Craft is married to billionaire coal-mining executive Joe Craft, and they are major Republican donors.

Craft has been ambassador during a low point in relations. Last year Trump called Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau weak and dishonest, words that shocked Canadians.

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Associated Press writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.
HAVANA (AP) - After a tornado slammed Havana in late January, Mijail Ramirez complained on Twitter that authorities were threatening to evict him from his damaged home. A week later he said the government had changed its mind and would help him rebuild the house.

Jorge Luis Leon used the official Twitter account of a Cuban vice president to request that hospital waiting rooms have seating for family members, while a group of young people launched "Sube," a ride-hailing app for the aging American sedans that ply the streets of Havana.

In the 2 1/2 months since Cuba allowed its citizens internet access via cellphones, fast-moving changes are subtle but palpable as Cubans challenge government officials online, post photos of filthy school bathrooms and drag what was one of the world's least-connected countries into the digital age. Communist authorities, in turn, are having to learn how to deal with more visible pressure coming from outside of party-controlled popular and neighborhood committees.

"Life has changed," said Alberto Cabrera, 25, who is part of the team that developed the Sube app. "You see it when you walk down the street. The other day, looking from the roof of my house I could see that a neighbor had mobile internet service, as did the person in front and the person beyond him. You never saw that before."

In the first 40 days after Dec. 6, when people could start buying internet access packages for 3G service, 1.8 million Cubans on this island of 11 million purchased the services. A government report last week said about 6.4 million residents use the internet and social networks.

Previously, nearly all Cubans could use mobile phones to link only to their state-run email accounts unless they connected to the internet at a limited number of government-sponsored Wi-Fi spots.

A man holds his phone showing the app "Sube," a ride-hailing app for the aging American sedans on the streets of Havana, in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. In the 2 1/2 months since Cuba allowed its citizens internet access via cellphones, fast-moving changes are subtle but palpable as Cubans challenge government officials online, post photos of filthy school bathrooms and drag what was once of the world's least-connected countries into the digital age.(AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

"We are in a process of learning about how to use the data" packages, said Claudia Cuevas, 26, a university professor and member of the Sube team. "Before you went to the park (with Wi-Fi zones) once a week to communicate with your family."

The history of the internet in Cuba has been rife with tensions and suspicions since it began in the 1990s. Cuba's government accused Washington of blocking its access to the fiber optical cables near the island, forcing it to use an expensive and slow satellite service. It was only in 2011 that Cuba got access to a submarine cable with the help of Venezuela. And it wasn't until 2015 that the general population gained access through the opening of Wi-Fi points in hundreds of parks.

Critics of the communist government said it resisted giving Cubans free access to the internet because it feared a free inflow of information. Government supporters said it was fighting efforts by Washington to undermine Cuba's communist system and revolution.

"For a while, the internet generated fear among Cuba's leaders and there was a long wait," said Harold Cardenas, a pro-revolutionary blogger and Cuba specialist who now resides in the United States. "It was collateral damage from the dynamics of the Cold War prolonged in Cuba for decades."

Cardenas said that what Cuba can expect is "more citizen participation, incorporation into global digital trends and challenges for the new president."

People questioned by The Associated Press agreed that using the internet has become more practical since the recent arrival of cellphone access. Cubans are moving from state telephone company ETECSA to WhatsApp, searching for information on the internet and reaching out to government officials through Facebook and Twitter.

Julio Aguirre Lusson, 25, a DJ who has had a YouTube channel called TecnoLikeCuba for a year, says he has noticed the impact.

"Previously, the country with the most subscribers to my channel ... was Spain, followed by the United States, and Cuba third. Now the highest number are Cubans," he said.

Aguirre said, however, that there are still many limitations from both outside and inside Cuba. For example, there are obstacles facing local developers who want to enter their products in places like Google Play store. And in Cuba, developers face a paralysis in the delivery of operating licenses so they can work within a legal framework.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel opened a Twitter account prior to December and recently ordered all his ministers and senior leaders to do the same. But many of them only retweet official messages or propaganda slogans without providing their own content or answering citizens' questions.

Diaz-Canel has repeated the importance of the internet and says Cuban authorities are working on websites and platforms to provide government services, such as requesting a birth certificate or being able to fill in government forms that now must be done out by hand.

An example of the growing use of the internet and social media was the reaction via Facebook and Twitter to the tornado that devastated half of Havana in late January. Residents used the platforms to assess the damage and organize solidarity.

The combination of internet access and social networks "is a channel that people can use to say things as they are directly: 'We need this or this is happening.' It cannot be blocked and people must see it as a way to express themselves and say what they think," said Cuevas.

In this Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019 photo, Julio Aguirre Lusson, 25, a DJ who has had a YouTube channel called TecnoLikeCuba for a year, poses for a photo in his house in Havana, Cuba. "Previously, the country with the most subscribers to my channel ... was Spain, followed by the United States, and Cuba third. Now the highest number are Cubans," he said. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - Bangladesh police said Friday that they were seeking up to a dozen suspects in connection with a fire in the oldest part of the capital and could charge them with negligence over the blaze that killed at least 67 people.

The case involves between 10 and 12 people wanted on suspicion of "causing death through negligence" in the Wednesday night fire in Dhaka's Chawkbazar district, said Ibrahim Khan, a deputy commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police. He declined to give details.

"Upon investigation we will be able to disclose everything," he told reporters.

Relatives of a 19-year-old killed in the blaze have filed a separate case with police accusing the owners of a building where chemical products were stored and that caught fire of "death by negligence, sabotage and damage of goods," Abdul Halim, a police investigator in Chawkbazar, told The Associated Press. He said no arrests had been made.

Workers were removing charred vehicles, twisted bits of metal and other debris from Chawkbazar on Friday, while others hosed down the road to clean ashes as investigators inspected the burned buildings to determine what caused the blaze.

The area in what is known as Old Dhaka is crammed with apartments, shops and warehouses and firefighters struggled to reach the fire because of the neighborhood's narrow alleyways. Officials and activists have suggested the storage of flammable materials as well as overcrowding played a part in the blaze.

A crowd gathers at the site of Wednesday night's fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Feb. 22, 2019. Police on Friday were seeking up to a dozen suspects in connection with a fire in the oldest part of Bangladesh's capital that killed scores of people. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu )

"Cans of deodorant and lighter refilling fuel were stored in the buildings. These are flammable chemicals that helped spread the fire quickly," Lt. Col. S.M. Julfiqar Rahman, a director of the Fire Service and Civil Defense, told reporters.

Meanwhile, authorities were collecting DNA samples from family members searching for missing relatives.

Of the 67 victims, 21 remained unidentified, according to Rumana Akter, an officer in the Dhaka police's criminal investigations unit.

Forensic doctors and lab technicians at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital took blood and cheek swabs in a crowded room outside the hospital morgue to be compared to teeth, hair and other samples taken from the dead.

Mohammed Razu Ahmed, 19, gave a blood sample hoping it would help find his father, Jafar Ahmed, a plastic supplier who went to Chawkbazar to pick up raw materials. Several family members including Ahmed examined 30 bodies but none of them was him.

"We have been calling on his phone since Wednesday night," Ahmed said. "They told us they will let us know."

A team of civil engineers, members of Dhaka's fire department and government officials were expected to suggest ways to prevent similar tragedies.

After a fire in a neighboring district at a building storing flammable chemicals killed 123 people in 2010, authorities promised to bring the buildings into compliance with zoning regulations and close warehouses.

Dhaka-based environmental activist Abu Naser Khan said calls to address dangerous overcrowding and chemical storage after the 2010 fire fell on deaf ears.

"The landlords in Old Dhaka are influential - financially and politically," Khan said. "The people who have chemical and plastic businesses have strong associations that work as a pressure group."

When authorities attempted to evict hundreds of illegal tenants in Old Dhaka last May, business owners protested, foiling the drive, Khan said.

People gather outside the site of Wednesday night's fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Feb. 22, 2019. Police on Friday were seeking up to a dozen suspects in connection with a fire in the oldest part of Bangladesh's capital that killed scores of people. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu )

A boy stands by the charred vehicles in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Feb. 22, 2019. Police on Friday were seeking up to a dozen suspects in connection with a fire in the oldest part of Bangladesh's capital that killed scores of people. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu )

The burnt interior of a room is seen after a fire raced through the area on Wednesday night in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Feb. 22, 2019. Police on Friday were seeking up to a dozen suspects in connection with a fire in the oldest part of Bangladesh's capital that killed scores of people. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu )

People wash a street after a fire swept through the area on Wednesday night in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Feb. 22, 2019. Police on Friday were seeking up to a dozen suspects in connection with a fire in the oldest part of Bangladesh's capital that killed scores of people. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu )

A man walks on charred cans at the site of Wednesday night's fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Feb. 22, 2019. Police on Friday were seeking up to a dozen suspects in connection with a fire in the oldest part of Bangladesh's capital that killed scores of people. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu )
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A preliminary federal report says the pilot whose plane broke up and crashed into a Southern California home was warned before takeoff that he was heading into bad weather.

The two-page National Transportation Safety Board report released Thursday doesn't explain why the Cessna came apart mid-flight on the afternoon of Feb. 3. Investigations into the cause of a crash typically take months.

Pilot Antonio Pastini died along with four people on the ground when the wreckage struck and burned a house in suburban Yorba Linda, south of Los Angeles.

The NTSB says Fullerton Municipal Airport officials informed pilots that developing rain required the switch from navigation by sight to navigation by instruments. The report doesn't say if Pastini went to instrument navigation.

The crash happened just minutes after takeoff.
BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) - Maine prosecutors say New Hampshire will have first dibs on a man who is accused of being married to three women in different states.

Forty-three-year-old Michael Middleton is being held in Ohio while awaiting extradition to New Hampshire, where he's charged with bigamy. Officials say he married a New Hampshire woman while also being married to women in Alabama and Georgia.

But Maine prosecutors tell the Journal Tribune he's also wanted in Maine for charges of domestic violence assault and violation of a protective order in York County. They say he's also wanted for failure to pay a fine for operating under the influence and operating without a license in Presque Isle.

Middleton was arrested in Franklin County, Ohio. It's not known if he has an attorney.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The father of an Alabama woman who joined the Islamic State in Syria filed suit against the Trump administration Thursday in an effort to allow her return to the United States.

Ahmed Ali Muthana argues in the suit filed in federal court in Washington that his 24-year-old daughter, Hoda Muthana, is an American citizen by birth and should be allowed to come back to the U.S. with her toddler son.

Hoda Muthana is now in a Syrian refugee camp with the 18-month-old boy after fleeing the remnants of the Islamic State.

Her lawyers said in a statement that she expects to be charged with providing material support to terrorism if she is allowed to return to the U.S.

"Ms. Muthana has publicly acknowledged her actions and accepted full responsibility for those actions," the lawyers said. "In Ms. Muthana's words, she recognizes that she has 'ruined' her own life, but she does not want to ruin the life of her young child."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that the young woman is not a citizen and will not be admitted to the country.

Hassan Shibly, attorney for Hoda Muthana, the Alabama woman who left home to join the Islamic State group in Syria, speaks on a phone before a news conference Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, in Tampa, Fla. United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Muthana is not a U.S. citizen and will not be allowed to return to the United States. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

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.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - The Latest on a cold-case arrest in the killing of a girl in California (all times local):

7:20 p.m.

California authorities have released a decades-old photo of a suspect in the 1973 killing of an 11-year-old girl in the hopes of jogging the memory of potential witnesses.

Officials in Orange County said Thursday that the photo may depict what James Neal looked like around the time Linda O'Keefe was killed. They're asking anyone who saw him around then to come forward. The photo shows a smiling Neal with bushy hair and a mustache.

The 72-year-old was in court in Colorado on Thursday. A judge scheduled a Feb. 28 hearing on his extradition.

Neal was arrested this week in Colorado Springs in the killing the girl in Newport Beach, California.

This undated photo provided by the Orange County District Attorney's Office shows James Neal. California authorities have released a decades-old photo of a suspect in the 1973 killing of an 11-year-old girl in the hopes of jogging the memory of any potential witnesses. Officials in Orange County said Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019 that the photo may depict what James Neal looked like around the time Linda O'Keefe was killed. James Neal, a Colorado man arrested after DNA tied him to the 1973 killing of an 11-year-old California girl has yet to decide if he will fight extradition. (Orange County District Attorney's Office via AP)

Linda was seen July 6, 1973, walking home from summer school, and her body was found the next day.

Authorities say Neal lived in Southern California in the 1970s.

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3:50 p.m.

A Colorado man arrested after DNA tied him to the 1973 killing of an 11-year-old California girl has yet to decide if he will fight extradition.

The Colorado Springs Gazette reports 72-year-old James Neal, of Monument, nodded at his crying relatives as he was led into court for a brief appearance Thursday. A judge scheduled a Feb. 28 hearing, where Neal could say if he will fight extradition to California to face a murder charge.

Neal was arrested in Colorado Springs on Tuesday for investigation of killing 11-year-old Linda O'Keefe in Newport Beach, California.

Linda disappeared July 6, 1973. She was seen walking home from summer school, and her body was found the next day.

Authorities say Neal lived in Southern California in the 1970s.

Several members of James Alan Neal's family leave El Paso County's Terry R. Harris Judicial Complex on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019 in Colorado Springs, Colo. Neal, 72, was arrested Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019, in Colorado Springs, Colo., and charged with murder with special circumstances in the death of Linda O'Keefe, who was found strangled in 1973, a case that has long shaken the seaside community of Newport Beach, Calif., Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. (Dougal Brownlie/The Gazette via AP)

Several members of James Alan Neal's family leave El Paso County's Terry R. Harris Judicial Complex on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019 in Colorado Springs, Colo. Neal, 72, was arrested Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019, in Colorado Springs, Colo., and charged with murder with special circumstances in the death of Linda O'Keefe, who was found strangled in 1973, a case that has long shaken the seaside community of Newport Beach, Calif., Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. (Dougal Brownlie/The Gazette via AP)

Several members of James Alan Neal's family leave El Paso County's Terry R. Harris Judicial Complex on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019 in Colorado Springs, Colo. Neal, 72, was arrested Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019, in Colorado Springs, Colo., and charged with murder with special circumstances in the death of Linda O'Keefe, who was found strangled in 1973, a case that has long shaken the seaside community of Newport Beach, Calif., Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. (Dougal Brownlie/The Gazette via AP)

This undated photo provided by the Newport Beach Police Department shows James Neal. Neal, 72, was arrested in Colorado Springs, Colo., and charged with murder with special circumstances in the death of Linda O'Keefe, who was found strangled in 1973, a case that has long shaken the seaside community of Newport Beach, Calif., Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. (Newport Beach Police Department via AP)

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, a case that has long shaken the seaside community of Newport Beach, Calif., Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. (Newport Beach Police Department via AP)
ANAHUAC, Texas (AP) - A judge has thrown out a felony record-tampering indictment against the first black woman elected sheriff in Texas.

Jefferson County Sheriff Zena Stephens had been indicted last April on a state jail felony indictment of record tampering, along with two misdemeanor campaign finance violations. However, state District Judge Randy McDonald of neighboring Chambers County noted Thursday that Stephens' two 2016 campaign opponents were charged only with misdemeanor campaign finance violations.

McDonald wondered aloud "why one is being charged with a felony when the other two aren't." So he granted a defense motion for dismissal of the felony count against Stephens.

All three still face trial on the misdemeanor campaign finance violations.

The Texas Attorney General's Office, which has been prosecuting the case, says it may appeal.
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) - Amandla Stenberg brought the audience to their feet as she talked of being protected by the ancestors.

KiKi Layne evoked tears as she talked about having the comfort of black women during an exciting but "terrifying" time.

Regina Hall kept people in stitches as she cracked jokes and celebrated her longevity in Hollywood. And Jenifer Lewis commanded everyone to honor those who came before them- while seemingly alluding to the arrest of Jussie Smollett for allegedly concocting a hoax about being attacked.

The actresses honored by Essence at the Black Women in Hollywood luncheon all riveted the room, albeit for different reasons, in front of a crowd that included Angela Bassett, Oscar-nominees Regina King and Spike Lee, Ava DuVernay, Diddy, Maxine Waters, Anita Hill and a host of other luminaries.

The annual event, hosted by Kelly Rowland, put the spotlight on black women as Hollywood prepares for its biggest night - the Oscars - in an industry where black women still can find themselves struggling to be heard and seen.

Layne is one of the lucky ones who hit a home run with her first movie, "If Beale Street Could Talk." Her co-star in that movie, King, lovingly introduced the statuesque star by saying she felt Layne could be her daughter. When King began to tear up, she said: "I'm crying like I really am your mama!"

Amandla Stenberg attends the 12th Annual ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

The tears didn't stop when Layne accepted her trophy. She recounted praying that she would be featured in Essence magazine, and then, when they put her on the cover, she worried she wasn't ready.

"(Then) it hit me that it was the perfect time for me to receive this honor because it is the very beginning for me, and being here in this room, receiving this award, it's showing me that I'm not by myself in all of this," she said.

"People ask me all the time, 'How has all of this been' or 'your life is changing.' I mean it's extremely exciting, I'm so very grateful, but it's also completely terrifying," Lanye said, as she started to softly cry.

As the audience cheered her on, she reflected on how her success has encouraged others with "my chocolate skin and natural hair. . being represented in a way that this industry that we all know doesn't always (tend) to represent us."

"The Hate U Give" star Amandla Stenberg evoked the ancestors in her speech - from the grandmother that she never met, but felt a connection to, to others unknown that she said lift black women up daily.

"Sometimes it may feel like we carry a lot of weight, but it is because we have been given roots that run deep into the earth," she said. "The love and protection of our ancestors envelops us and transcends time itself. No matter what we face, we are wrapped in that protection."

Not all of the speeches were heavy. Hall, who also starred with Stenberg in "The Hate U Give" and drew raves for her role in "Support the Girls," had the audience in stitches as she recalled her 20-year journey in Hollywood, which started with a psychic who stopped her and told her she would be very successful - but years later.

"At 29 ... you feel like the time is now. As women you feel like you have a clock," she said. "I was like, 'First of all, you are unsolicited!' "

She added: "I never had a quantum leap that was overnight. But there is so much that you learn in the journey, and so I'm grateful for that."

Hall celebrated the friendships that helped her make it through, including with Sanaa Lathan, who co-starred with her in "The Best Man" and became one of her closest friends. She joked about the time Lathan told her she was going to get a job offer, but to keep it secret. When the offer never came, she called to find out what happened - and found it was for Regina King.

Hall talked so much so that Lathan jokingly tried to leave the stage. The afternoon's final honoree, "black-ish" star Lewis, got up and shouted, "Sit your (butt) down!" That drew even more laughter.

Lewis, dubbed the "mother of Black Hollywood" combined comedy and wisdom in a poignant speech where she talked about overcoming the extreme poverty of her childhood, being molested and learning to live with being bipolar.

"I asked for help, and I got it, and now, as you can plainly see, in my skin. HAPPY! FREE! RICH! FAMOUS! I'M SO AMAZING!" she shouted to the cheers of the crowd.

While she was introduced by longtime friends Loretta Devine and Sheryl Lee Ralph, her award was given to her by her daughter, whom she adopted after being a mentor to her.

Lewis beamed as she looked at her: "I did something right!"

The Essence luncheon occurred the same day "Empire" star Smollett was in court to face allegations he concocted a hoax about being the victim of a racial and homophobic attack, and it was part of the chatter on the red carpet leading up to the event.

While Lewis never mentioned Smollett, she said, she was asked "what do you think" on the carpet and told reporters that she would have no comment.

But on stage, she began singing a song with the lyrics: "Before you lie to us, remember Rosa sat on that bus; before you tell your tale, remember Mandela sat in that jail," and implored the audience to "remember the shoulders you stand on."

Jenifer Lewis attends the 12th Annual ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Kiki Layne attends the 12th Annual ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Angela Bassett attends the 12th Annual ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Regina King attends the 12th Annual ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Kelly Rowland attends the 12th Annual ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Rep. Maxine Waters, D - Calif., attends the 12th Annual ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - A man who drove a stolen car into lunchtime crowds in downtown Melbourne and killed six people was sentenced to life imprisonment Friday in what the judge described as "one of the worst examples of mass murder in Australian history."

James Gargasoulas, 29, showed little emotion when sentenced in Victoria state's Supreme Court. Under the terms of his sentence, he will spend at least 46 years in prison before he's eligible for parole.

Families of the victims filled the courtroom for Justice Mark Weinberg's ruling. Gargasoulas was in a drug-induced psychosis in January 2017 when he killed the six people and injured dozens more in the busy Bourke St. Mall.

His victims included a 3-month-old baby who was thrown 60 meters (200 feet) from his stroller and a 10-year-old girl.

"Your actions were both callous and cowardly," the judge said. "You have shown no genuine remorse."

The judge described in detail the events of the "terrifying rampage," noting each victim killed as well as those left with broken bones, head injuries, internal bleeding and other lasting damage.

James Gargasoulas, center, leaves the Victorian Supreme Court after sentencing, in Melbourne, Australia Friday, Feb. 22. 2019. The man who drove a stolen car into lunchtime crowds in downtown Melbourne and killed six people was sentenced to life imprisonment Friday in what the judge described as "one of the worst examples of mass murder in Australian history." (David Crosling/AAP Image via AP)

"You left a trail of destruction," the judge said. "The horror of what you did has profoundly impacted the lives of those who were present that day."

Crime Stoppers Victoria ambassador George Halvagis said he thinks Gargasoulas should die in jail.

"He should never, ever, get out of there," he told reporters after the sentencing.

Grieving relatives earlier told the court of their pain. The brother of Japanese victim Yosuke Kanno, 25, said he will continue suffering until he dies.

In a letter read to the court, Gargasoulas insisted he was not evil and blamed "government oppression" for the murders. He also said he was the Messiah and was acting on the wishes of God on the day of the rampage, but was in a "bad headspace."

Gargasoulas has treatment-resistant paranoid schizophrenia but was found fit to stand trial. He pleaded not guilty. In November, a jury found him guilty of the six murders and 27 counts of reckless conduct endangering life.

He had been using drugs and committing crimes in the weeks before the attack and was on bail. The judge noted he was meant to face court on the day of the massacre. Police had tailed the stolen Holden Commodore for some of its journey into downtown Melbourne before the rampage.

"Your crimes have had a shattering effect on countless lives," Weinberg said.

Gargasoulas will be eligible to apply for release in 2063, when he's 73.
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) - Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said Thursday he will restart talks with his opponents, seven months after the last round of dialogue broke down and the government unleashed a round of arrests.

Ortega said he hopes to start the new round of talks Wednesday, though he didn't say who might attend.

The president said he wants to "install a negotiating table to consolidate peace, a new path to improve conditions" in the Central American nation.

The previous round, from May 16 to July 9, was attended by student, business and civic groups organized in the Civic Alliance. Many of the leaders of the 2018 protests that led to the talks have been arrested or gone into hiding or exile.

Ortega said the talks "will not be with that crowd," referring to the alliance.

The Civic Alliance said in a statement that it planned to participate in the talks and that it had four initial demands, the first of which would be the freeing of "political prisoners."

FILE - In this Sept. 5, 2018 file photo, Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega and his wife and Vice President Rosario Murillo, lead a rally in Managua, Nicaragua. Ortega said Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, that he will restart talks with his opponents, more than six months after breaking off the last dialogue and unleashing a round of arrests. (AP Photo/Alfredo Zuniga, File)

Azahalea Solis, one of the alliance's proposed delegation, estimates at least 770 government opponents have been imprisoned.

The alliance is also demanding freedom of speech, after government raids on media outlets. Opponents also want freedom to hold protests, which the government has effectively banned since September.

Opponents also want electoral reform, after Ortega effectively co-opted courts and electoral bodies, and justice for those who died during last year's protests. More than 300 people have been killed since the protests began in mid-April triggered by cuts to the social security system.

The previous talks were mediated by the Roman Catholic Church. The talks broke down over the government's demand that protesters remove about 140 highway blockades. The government later violently cleared the roadblocks.
HOUSTON (AP) - The Latest on the legal wrangling over the Trump administration's policy to separate immigrant families who crossed the border illegally (all times local):

5 p.m.

A San Diego federal judge is considering expanding a landmark immigrant family separation case after a watchdog report found the Trump administration's zero-tolerance policy was started as far back as July 2017.

Judge Dana Sabraw told the court Thursday that he would issue his ruling soon.

The government has acknowledged taking more than 2,700 children from their families last spring and has reunited most of them. But a watchdog report last month found that thousands of other children were separated and released before the June 26 order.

The American Civil Liberties Union wants the court to hold the government accountable for those children as well.

FILE - This Aug. 9, 2018, file photo, provided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, shows a scene from a tour of South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. Months after the Trump administration ended the general policy of separating parents and children, advocates and members of Congress are questioning the treatment of children who cross the U.S.-Mexico border with other relatives - grandparents, uncles and aunts, and adult siblings. (Charles Reed/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via AP, File)

The government told the judge that would be a huge burden and dramatically change the case.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration, which abruptly announced in December that it was pulling out of Syria, said Thursday that it will keep 200 U.S. troops in the country for now.

"A small peace keeping group of about 200 will remain in Syria for period of time," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a one-sentence statement.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who had harshly criticized Trump's decision to pull U.S. forces out of Syria, applauded the president's decision to leave a few hundred as part of an "international stabilizing force."

Graham said it will ensure that Turkey will not get into a conflict with Syrian Democratic Forces, which helped the United States fight Islamic State militants. Turkey views Kurdish members of the SDF as terrorists.

Moreover, Graham said leaving a small force in Syria will serve as a check on Iranian ambitions and help ensure that IS fighters do not try to return.

"A safe zone in Syria made up of international forces is the best way to achieve our national security objectives of continuing to contain Iran, ensuring the enduring defeat of ISIS, protecting our Turkish allies, and securing the Turkish border with Syria," Graham said.

FILE - In this Feb. 7, 2019, file photo Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Capitol Hill in Washington. Graham, who had harshly criticized President Donald Trump's decision to pull U.S. forces out of Syria, is applauding the decision to keep a small contingent of troops there to act as a "stabilizing force." (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Trump's decision to pull 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria, which he initially said would be rapid but later slowed down, shocked U.S. allies and angered the Kurds in Syria, who are vulnerable to attack by Turkey. It also prompted the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and drew criticism in Congress. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, called the decision a "betrayal of our Kurdish partners."

The SDF is currently involved in a standoff over the final sliver of land held by IS in eastern Syria, close to the Iraq border.

Many believe the IS threat won't end with the pocket's recapture and 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.

It's unclear where the 200 remaining U.S. troops will be stationed.

The U.S. military has a limited network of bases inside Syria. Troops work mostly out of small camps in remote parts of the country's northeast.

Also, U.S. troops are among 200 to 300 coalition troops at a garrison in southern Syria known as al-Tanf, where they train and accompany local Syrian opposition forces on patrols to counter the IS group. Al-Tanf is on a vital road linking Iranian-backed forces from Tehran all the way to southern Lebanon - and Israel's doorstep.

Trump spoke Thursday with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"On Syria, the two presidents agreed to continue coordinating on the creation of a potential safe zone," the White House said in a statement about the call.

The White House also said acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford will be hosting their Turkish counterparts in Washington this week for further talks.

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Associated Press writer Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.
MANTORVILLE, Minn. (AP) - The Minnesota Attorney General's office will review the case of a woman accused of killing her husband in southern Minnesota, then fleeing to Florida and killing a woman there.

Lois Riess has not been charged in the fatal shooting of her husband, 54-year-old David Riess, at the couple's home in Blooming Prairie last March. Dodge County Sheriff Scott Rose says his investigators were at a "standstill" waiting for a handgun recovered from Lois Riess' hotel room after her arrest in Texas to be released by Florida authorities for ballistic testing in Minnesota.

Rose says testing by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension indicates the shell casings found at David Riess' homicide matched the handgun.

Authorities say Lois Riess went to Fort Myers, Florida, met Pamela Hutchinson while there and killed her to assume her identity. She remains jailed in Florida in Hutchinson's death.
A federal judge has scheduled a change-of-plea hearing for a former Louisiana prison guard accused of watching as other guards pepper-sprayed handcuffed, kneeling inmates.

Former Lt. Christopher Loring is the last of five former guards at Richwood Correctional Center accused in the case.

On Thursday, Judge Terry Doughty scheduled Loring's hearing March 13 in Monroe, online court records showed. Loring had been scheduled to face trial April 15.

Loring is charged on four counts of the seven-count indictment: conspiracy to violate the inmates' civil rights; conspiracy to obstruct justice; depriving the inmates of their rights by standing by while the others sprayed the inmates' eyes and faces; and lying to the FBI.

Five inmates sued the guards and prison officials in 2017, saying that in October 2016, they had been strip-searched and questioned about tattoos, allowed to put their clothes back on, and later were lined up on their knees and sprayed with "mace" while their hands were cuffed behind their backs.

The guards were indicted in April 2018.

The other four defendants all have pleaded guilty to conspiracy and have acknowledged spraying at least one inmate. Prosecutors agreed to drop other charges against them.

Former Capt. Roderick Douglas pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the inmates' civil rights, while the others - former Officers Quintail Credit and David Parker, and former Sgt. Demario Shaffer - pleaded guilty to plotting to conceal the wrongdoing.

Each could get up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Doughty scheduled sentencing on May 1 for Shaffer, May 15 for Parker, May 1 for Credit and June 5 for Douglas.

Richwood Correctional Center is a 1,100-inmate, medium-security prison operated by LaSalle Corrections in Richwood, a Ouachita Parish town just outside Monroe in northeast Louisiana.

Douglas' signed statement, filed with his guilty plea, is the most detailed account of what happened. It said he used pepper spray on two kneeling, handcuffed inmates, and then handed the can to other guards to use.

All five officers filed false reports to explain why the inmates needed medical treatment, the indictment says.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has signed legislation banning people under 21 from buying tobacco and nicotine products, a measure enacted in a state known historically for its tobacco production.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports the bill, signed Thursday, received bipartisan support as well as backing from Altria, the nation's largest tobacco company.

The law's restrictions apply to cigarettes and liquid nicotine used in vaping devices and exempts active-duty military personnel. It curtails sales of tobacco and nicotine products from vending machines considered accessible to people under 21.

Chesterfield Republican Sen. Amanda Chase voted against the bill, saying it strips decision-making power from people who are legally adults.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids says six other states and more than 400 localities have raised the minimum age to buy tobacco to 21.

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Information from: Richmond Times-Dispatch, http://www.richmond.com
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - U.S. prosecutors have charged an IRS employee with leaking banking records of President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen that flagged suspicious activity, the U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco said Thursday.

John C. Fry, an investigative analyst for the IRS, acknowledged releasing information to attorney Michael Avenatti, according to the affidavit by Linda Cieslak, a special agent with the U.S. Department of Treasury.

Avenatti represents adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who says she had an affair with Trump that he denies.

Fry was charged on Feb. 4 with unlawful disclosure of suspicious activity reports. Banks must file such reports when transactions are spotted that raise questions about possible financial misconduct.

One of the reports that Fry downloaded listed numerous suspicious payments to a bank account affiliated with Cohen, including $500,000 from a company connected to a Russian oligarch who donated money to Trump's inauguration fund, according to the affidavit.

Other payments came from AT&T and pharmaceutical giant Novartis, it said.

FILE - In this Dec. 12, 2018, file photo, attorney Michael Avenatti speaks outside court about Michael Cohen's sentencing in New York. Federal prosecutors have charged an IRS employee with leaking banking records of President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, the U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco said Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. John C. Fry, an investigative analyst for the IRS's law enforcement arm, was charged on Feb. 4 with unlawful disclosure of suspicious activity reports, prosecutors said. He acknowledged releasing the information to attorney Michael Avenatti, the affidavit says. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

The report was filed by First Republic Bank, where Cohen's company, Essential Consultants LLC, maintained an account.

Fry is free on $50,000 bond and expected to be arraigned next month. A message left for his attorney Gail Shifman was not immediately returned.

Fry, 54, of San Francisco has worked for the IRS since 2008.

Avenatti used a Twitter account to disclose the banking information in May, the affidavit says. He has refused to say how he got the material.

Asked for comment Thursday by email, Avenatti referred to two of his tweets. In one, he said he did nothing wrong or illegal with the financial information.

Details from the banking report appeared in the Washington Post and New Yorker.

The affidavit includes online messages between Fry and a New Yorker reporter who wrote about motives behind the leak. The magazine said the law enforcement official who released the report had grown concerned after he was unable to find two other reports on Cohen's financial activity and worried the missing data might indicate an effort to cover up payments.

At a hearing in May, U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, pressed Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin about whether his department would also look into whether there had been any "inappropriate interference" with the documents alleged to be missing.

The affidavit by Cieslak says access to the two reports that concerned Fry was restricted because they were connected to a "sensitive open investigation."

Fry also told investigators the New Yorker reporter contacted him to verify information, according to the affidavit.
HOUSTON (AP) - The Latest on the fallout following a deadly drug raid in Houston (all times local):

5:45 p.m.

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.

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

The cases are under review following last month's raid that left five officers wounded and two residents dead.

The district attorney's office says Jacobs' case was dismissed because she'd been in jail for four months and prosecutors were not ready to go to trial. A lawyer for Jacobs says prosecutors informed him the case would be dropped, and he believes Goines' involvement was "a factor."

The district attorney's office says none of the cases are being dismissed merely because of Goines' involvement.

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5 p.m.

A Houston officer who the police chief says lied in an affidavit that led to a deadly drug raid has been discharged from the hospital.

Officer Gerald Goines' attorney, Nicole DeBorde, says Goines was discharged Thursday from Memorial Hermann Hospital.

Police Chief Art Acevedo says Goines lied in the affidavit that justified the warrant for the Jan. 28 raid on a home in which a 59-year-old man and a 58-year-old woman died. Four officers, including Goines, were shot as they forcefully entered the home.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office is reviewing more than 1,400 cases Goines has worked in his 34 years with the Houston Police Department, and the FBI has begun investigating whether the two slain residents' civil rights were violated.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - President Donald Trump could miss out on being on the 2020 ballot in New Jersey if he doesn't disclose his tax returns under a bill now advancing.

The Democratic-led state Senate passed legislation Thursday inspired by the Republican president's failure to disclose his tax returns.

The measure requires presidential and vice presidential candidates to release five years of federal tax returns to appear on the state's ballot.

Trump broke with decades of tradition by refusing to release his income tax filings during his 2016 campaign. He said it was because he is being audited.

Democrats have used the issue to raise questions about what might be in the documents.

The bill goes to the Democratic-led Assembly. If the measure is passes there, it would head to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

Republican Gov. Chris Christie previously vetoed the legislation.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Eversone of several governors to come into office this year calling for a pause to school choice expansionis taking a step toward fulfilling that promise.

Wisconsin is home to the nations first, modern-day voucher program , which was created almost three decades ago by a Democratic lawmaker from Milwaukee.

Evers, a Democrat, now aims to cap voucher use statewide and freeze new charter school openings in his two-year budget proposal, according to the Associated Press.

He also wants to do away with a program where consistently failing schools in Milwaukee can be converted into charters.

Although school vouchers have generally been less popular with Democratic lawmakers, charter schools have for a long time enjoyed much more bipartisan supportuntil recently.

Democratic opposition to charter schools has gained momentum since President Donald Trump appointed Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, a long-time donor to both the Republican Party and to school choice initiatives.

That opposition continued through the 2018 midterm elections. Teachers unions in particular sought to capitalize on DeVos unpopularity among Democrats by aggressively tying charter schools and their supporters to the secretary and to an agenda of a corporate takeover of public education.

Evers, a former teacher and state education chief, ousted incumbent Republican and school choice supporter Scott Walker . Newly-elected Democratic governors from California, to Illinois, to New Mexico have called for temporary moratoriums on charter schools.

Evers has more plans for vouchers, too, including additional regulation and transparency.

His budget, which will be released Thursday, will call for teachers in private schools that receive voucher money to have the same licensing as public school teachers. Evers will also propose a plan to include information on property tax bills that detail how much of residents tax dollars are going toward school vouchers.

Evers plans will meet stiff opposition in the legislature, which is still controlled by Republicans.

Related stories:
WASHINGTON (AP) - Two sons of notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman have been indicted on drug conspiracy charges, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Joaquin Guzman Lopez, 34, and Ovidio Guzman Lopez, 28, are charged in a single-count indictment that was unsealed last week in Washington.

Prosecutors allege the two brothers conspired to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana into the U.S. from Mexico and elsewhere in the world from 2008 to 2018. They are both believed to be living in Mexico and remain fugitives.

Their father was convicted earlier this month on drug and conspiracy charges in New York. During a trial that lasted more than three months, prosecutors portrayed El Chapo as the calculating leader of a bloodthirsty smuggling operation that funneled tons of cocaine and other drugs into American cities. The offenses could put him behind bars for the rest of his life.

Prosecutors have said Guzman, who twice escaped from prison in Mexico and was extradited to the U.S. last year for his trial, had amassed a multibillion-dollar fortune smuggling tons of cocaine and other drugs in a vast supply chain that reached well north of the border.

His lawyers raised concerns of potential juror misconduct after a juror told VICE News that several members of the panel looked at media coverage of the case and followed Twitter feeds of reporters, against a judge's orders, making them aware of potentially prejudicial material that jurors weren't supposed to see.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - 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.

FILE- In this July 30, 2008 file photo, Jeffrey Epstein is shown in custody in West Palm Beach, Fla. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra ruled Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, that federal prosecutors violated the rights of victims by secretly reaching a non-prosecution agreement with Epstein, a wealthy financier accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls. (AP Photo/Palm Beach Post, Uma Sanghvi, File)

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.

U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Oversight Subcommittee, said in a prepared statement that the Justice Department should reopen its non-prosecution agreement so Epstein and anyone else who abused these children are held accountable.

"Jeffrey Epstein is a monster and his victims deserve justice," Sasse said. "I'm relieved that the court agrees that it was wrong to hide this child rapist's pathetically soft deal from his victims, in violation of federal law. The fact that it's taken this long to get this far is heartbreaking and infuriating."

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.

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Follow Curt Anderson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Miamicurt
HOUSTON (AP) - Former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling has been released from federal custody.

Skilling was discharged Thursday after serving 12 years in prison and six months in a halfway house after being convicted for his actions that led to one of the worst corporate meltdowns in history.

The 65-year-old was initially sentenced in 2006 to 24 years in prison and fined $45 million for multiple counts of securities fraud, conspiracy and other crimes. In 2013, the sentence was reduced to 14 years.

Houston-based Enron collapsed into bankruptcy in 2001 after years of illicit business deals and accounting tricks that put more than 5,000 people out of work, eliminated over $2 billion in employee pensions and rendered worthless $60 billion in Enron stock.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday that he's not launching a primary challenge against President Donald Trump unless the president's political standing within his own party weakens dramatically.

Hogan, who was elected to his second term last fall, has emerged as the new best hope of a small group of so-called Never Trump Republicans now seeking a prominent GOP official to fight Trump for his party's presidential nomination in 2020. In a Thursday interview with The Associated Press, the 62-year-old Republican raised serious concerns about Trump's leadership but said he had no interest in a "kamikaze mission."

"My goal is not to just make the incumbent president lose in the general election. I'm not going to do that," Hogan said. "If they're looking for someone just to be a spoiler or to throw myself on a grenade to help someone else, that's not me. Somebody else might be motivated that way. But I've got a state to run."

Hogan's position is consistent with a handful of prominent Republican Trump critics, including former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who have lashed out at the substance and style of the Trump presidency but have been unwilling to challenge Trump so long as he remains overwhelmingly popular within his own party. Roughly 8 in 10 Republicans approve of Trump's job performance, though his standing among all voters has hovered at or below 40 percent for most of his presidency.

The one Republican exception, so far, is former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, a 73-year-old who has been out of office for more than two decades and who served as the vice presidential nominee on the Libertarian ticket in 2016. Weld launched a Republican exploratory committee earlier in the week.

While Hogan declared he was not "actively" forming a primary bid of his own, he left open the possibility should Trump's standing change. He pointed to the upcoming release of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation as a possible catalyst.

FILE - In this Jan. 30, 2019, file photo Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan delivers his annual State of the State address to a joint session of the legislature in Annapolis, Md. Hogan says he's not launching a primary challenge against President Donald Trump unless the president's political standing within his own party weakens dramatically. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

"I don't have the inside scoop on what it's going to say," Hogan said. "But if there was damaging information, if ... some serious charges come out or it becomes worse than it is today, and he took a hit in the polls, then I think all bets are off."

Hogan, along with most of the nation's governors, was set to meet with Trump in Washington this weekend for a gathering of the National Governors Association.

The meeting "should be interesting," Hogan said with a chuckle, indicating he would tell Trump directly, if asked, that he was not ruling out a primary challenge.

Hogan will likely accept an invitation to appear in the key early voting state of New Hampshire once Maryland's legislative session is over later in the spring, an aide confirmed. The Republican governor noted that he has been meeting with donors along with other Republicans encouraging him to take on Trump.

Pressed on a timeline for a potential run should Trump's situation change, Hogan said that "most successful launches are late summer or in the fall."

Even if he doesn't run, he vowed to be a vocal Trump critic when circumstances called for it.

"There are very few Republicans willing to speak out," he said. "And now I'm willing."

Primary challengers to incumbent presidents have never been successful at stealing the nomination in the modern era, but embarrassing intraparty contests have proved to be the making of one-term leaders, seeding weaknesses that were later exploited by a general-election rival.

Pat Buchanan's Republican campaign against President George H.W. Bush in 1992 focused in part on highlighting Bush's broken pledge not to raise taxes, a vulnerability that dogged Bush throughout the campaign. In a show of party unity, Buchanan was awarded the opening-night keynote at that year's GOP convention. He delivered a "culture war" speech that Bush loyalists believed contributed to his loss.

Trump's campaign has taken extraordinary steps in cementing control over the Republican National Committee and the broader nomination process as it seeks to minimize the risk of any potential challenger doing the same to the president. That state-by-state effort has included weighing in on local party races and the convention delegate selection process. The campaign is also closely monitoring discussions in some states, including South Carolina, to do away with their 2020 Republican primary contests entirely.

"I've never seen anything like it, and I've been around a long time," Hogan said, seizing in particularly on calls to cancel the South Carolina primary. "It's undemocratic."

He continued: "Why go to these great lengths unless they're really worried that something might happen?"
CHICAGO (AP) - Two brothers who played central roles in what Chicago police say was a staged racist and homophobic attack on Jussie Smollett are, compared to the "Empire" actor, so far walking away legally unscathed.

Police outlined their case against the 36-year-old actor at a news conference Thursday, saying he paid the brothers $3,500 to help stage a bigoted attack against him early on Jan. 29 in downtown Chicago. Police say Smollett sought to drum up publicity for himself and was unhappy about his salary.

Smollett is charged with felony disorderly conduct for allegedly choreographing the hoax and filing a false report. A conviction carries a maximum three-year prison term. A Cook County judge admonished Smollett in bond court Thursday and set bond at $100,000.

As for 25-year-old Abimbola "Abel" and 27-year-old Olabinjo "Ola" Osundairo, the city's police chief said they aren't considered suspects and he gave no indication any charges against them are pending.

Here's a look at why they may be off the hook:

Q: DIDN'T THE BROTHERS COMMIT A CRIME DURING THE ALLEGEDLY STAGED ATTACK?

"Empire" actor Jussie Smollett leaves Cook County jail following his release, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Chicago. Smollett was charged with disorderly conduct and filling 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, a police said. (AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski)

A: Not necessarily. However odd it might be, it wouldn't be breaking the law to agree to pretend to beat someone up. If that was as far it went, there would be no victims. It becomes a crime if one of the participants reports the fake beating to police as real. Authorities say that's what Smollett did. The victims would include police, who wasted their time investigating the phony attack.

Smollett, who is black and gay, had reported that two masked men beat him, used racist and homophobic slurs, doused him in a chemical substance and draped a noose around his neck before fleeing. He also said they yelled "This is MAGA country" - an apparent reference to President Donald Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."

The American-born brothers of Nigerian descent are bodybuilders and have both done some acting. A Thursday court filing by prosecutors said Abimbola Osundairo was a close friend of Smollett's.

The filing also said text messages "revealed Abel was a source of designer drugs" for Smollett. It mentions ecstasy. Smollet's attorney, Mark Geragos, declined comment on that issue. A message left for Abimbola Osundairo's lawyer Thursday evening was not returned.

Q: COULD ANYTHING THE BROTHERS DID BEFORE OR AFTER THE ATTACK BE A CRIME?

A: Possibly, said Gal Pissetzky, a Chicago-based defense attorney.

If the brothers knew in advance that Smollett planned to call police to pass off the hoax as real and knew the aim was to pressure Smollett's employers for a higher salary, Pissetzky said that could open them up to a charge of conspiracy.

But prosecutors may see such a charge as overkill for an incident that didn't result in major damages or injuries, even if it generated negative publicity for Chicago. Police say scratches on Smollett's face were likely self-inflicted.

"I don't think they are going to bother spending resources on charging them," Pissetzky said of the brothers. "They would rather get the big fish, Smollett."

Q: IS THE BROTHERS' COOPERATION A FACTOR IN THEM NOT FACING CHARGES?

A: Authorities haven't said if they promised the brothers they would not be charged if they cooperated. However, police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said Thursday much of the evidence that made it possible to charge Smollett came from interviews with the brothers. That cooperation is almost certainly a main reason they haven't been charged.

It's also possible police broached allegations about Abimbola Osundairo being a source of designer drugs to apply additional pressure.

The brothers' lawyer, Gloria Schmidt, told reporters earlier Thursday that her clients weren't motivated by promises about anything.

"There was a point where this story needed to be told, and they manned up," Schmidt said. "Plea deal, immunity, all of that - they don't care about that."

As she suggests, they didn't open up to police right away.

According to Johnson, the brothers left for Nigeria shortly after the staged attack and were detained Feb. 13 upon arriving back in Chicago. It was only after more than 45 hours behind bars that they agreed to talk, later admitting they helped stage the attack and offering details on how it was done.

Johnson said that if the brothers had held out and refused to speak for another few hours, reaching their 48th hour in custody, police would have had to release them and authorities might still not have reached the stage of charging anyone.

Q: WHAT ABOUT THEIR GRAND JURY TESTIMONY?

A: Police said the brothers were taken before a grand jury Wednesday just hours before the charge against Smollett was announced so their testimony could be "locked in." That refers to the practice of taking witnesses - especially reluctant ones - before a grand jury to get them to say everything they know under oath before they can even think about changing their minds.

Bringing the Osundairo brothers before the grand jury accomplished at least two things for prosecutors, explained Pissetzky.

First, it gives them the option of charging or threatening to charge the brothers with lying to a grand jury if it ever looks like they might try to recant their statements about Smollett. Secondly, if they do recant, say, at a future Smollett trial, prosecutors could be permitted to read their grand jury testimony to trial jurors to discredit the contradictory testimony.

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Follow Michael Tarm on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mtarm

Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson speaks during a press conference at CPD headquarters, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Chicago, after actor Jussie Smollett turned himself in on charges of disorderly conduct and filing a false police report. The "Empire" staged a racist and homophobic attack because he was unhappy about his salary and wanted to promote his career, Johnson said Thursday. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)

This Feb. 21, 2019 photo released by the Chicago Police Department shows Jussie Smollett. Police say the "Empire" actor turned himself in early Thursday 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. (Chicago Police Department via AP)
DALLAS (AP) - 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 Attorney's 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 attorney's office said Jacobs' case was dismissed because she'd 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' defense 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."

Houston Police Department Chief Art Acevedo holds up a letter from the FBI announcing the bureau's civil rights investigation related to the deaths of two people during the no-knock raid by narcotics officers that killed two people and injured five police officers last month, during a press conference from Houston City Hall, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019.

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 attorney's 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.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee was 17 when he joined the Kappa Alpha fraternity at Auburn University, which every spring held an "Old South" party where he and other members dressed in Confederate uniforms.

The fraternity has since ended the tradition, and Lee, four decades removed from his undergraduate days at the Alabama university, says he regrets attending and wearing the uniform, and has come to see his participation in the event differently.

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 Republican governor said.

The scandal involving two Virginia politicians 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, who was sworn in as governor in January, spoke to the AP briefly about how he has come to view his actions. He later 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.

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)

Kappa Alpha's annual "Old South" parade at Auburn ended in 1992, said university spokesman Preston Sparks. The fraternity's national organization, meanwhile, prohibited the use of Confederate flags at any chapter in 2001 and the wearing of uniforms and parades in 2010, a spokesman told the AP.

In the 1980 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. 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."

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."

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.

Kemp did not respond to the AP survey.

Alabama 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.

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Associated Press writers Meghan Hoyer in Washington; Ben Nadler in Atlanta; Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama; and Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville contributed to this report.
Democratic politicians and celebrities called it a shocking instance of Trump-era racism and hate. Republicans now depict it as yet another example of liberals and mainstream media rushing to judgment while disparaging the president's supporters as bigots.

The case of "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett encapsulates the polarized state of political discourse in America.

With Smollett now accused of staging a racist, anti-gay attack on himself , the case seemed to inflame political tensions even more while creating potentially damaging consequences for genuine hate crime victims in the future.

"The danger is that it will cause people to respond with skepticism whenever they hear reports of hate violence, even though the overwhelming majority of those reports are completely true," said Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Smollett, who is black and gay, is accused of filing a false police report last month asserting that he was attacked in Chicago by two men who beat him, targeted him with slurs, and yelled "This is MAGA country" - an apparent reference to President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan.

Democratic presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Cory Booker were among those who sided with Smollett early on and called the incident a "modern-day lynching." They soon found themselves under attack from the right as Smollett's story began to fall apart.

This Feb. 21, 2019 photo released by the Chicago Police Department shows Jussie Smollett. Police say the "Empire" actor turned himself in early Thursday 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. (Chicago Police Department via AP)

Trump initially called reports of the attack "horrible." On Thursday, he tweeted, "what about MAGA and the tens of millions of people you insulted with your racist and dangerous comments!?"

Harris tweeted Thursday that she was "sad, frustrated and disappointed" at Smollett's alleged staging of the attack.

Editor and commentator Jarrett Stepman of The Daily Signal, an online publication of the conservative The Heritage Foundation, faulted left-of-center pundits and politicians for seizing immediately on Smollett's claims in a bid to score political points.

"Instead of just treating this as a serious crime, it was used as a political bludgeon to malign large swaths of Americans," he said. "There was a rush to find a story to attack half the country."

However, Stepman said he shared concerns that the case might have unfortunate consequences for real victims who deserve support and compassion.

"Heinous hate crimes do exist in this country, but it's the 'boy who cried wolf' thing," Stepman said. "People become cynical, and that's not a healthy thing for American society."

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson had a hard time holding back his frustration over the allegation that a gay black man like Smollett would concoct such a story given the real struggles in the city with racial divisions and hate crimes.

He expressed similar concerns about how hate crimes are handled in the future because of this case while recognizing how his city became a participant in a national political debate.

"Celebrities, news commentators and even presidential candidates weighed in on something that was choreographed by an actor," said Johnson, who is black and grew up in Chicago.

In the debate over the Smollett case, critics of Trump have pointed out that hate crimes have soared since his election, but the statistics are nuanced.

The most recent official figures from the FBI show that there was a 17 percent spike in hate crimes in 2017. But that data isn't complete because it's based in part on voluntary reporting by police agencies across the country.

Non-government researchers have come up with a variety of findings. The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism in Cal State San Bernardino looked at hate crimes in the nation's 10 biggest cities and found a 12 percent increase in 2017. There were similar annual increases during the Obama administration.

Shannon Minter said hate crimes already are underreported, and worried that the Smollett case would aggravate that problem.

However, Minter said he was heartened by some recent moves across the political spectrum to address racism and hate violence. He cited efforts by the Southern Baptist Convention, a generally conservative denomination, to acknowledge its past legacy of racism.

Robin Valeri, a psychology professor at St. Bonaventure University who has researched hate crimes, said the Smollett case reminded her of the 1987 case involving Tawana Brawley, a black teenager from New York state who falsely alleged that she was abducted and raped by a gang of white men.

"These cases make people skeptical," Valeri said. "The assumption is going to be, 'Oh, they're just making it up.'"

Among the black activists who championed Brawley's case before it unraveled was civil rights leader Al Sharpton.

Speaking Thursday on MSNBC, Sharpton called the hoax claims against Smollett "horrific" and said the actor, if proven guilty, "ought to face accountability to the maximum."

Alvin Tillery, a political science professor who directs Northwestern University's Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy, said racial hoaxes - including the Brawley case - have a long history in the United States.

"The Smollett case is likely to have an even larger impact on our politics and culture than those infamous hoaxes because of Mr. Smollett's celebrity status and our deeply troubling political climate," said Tillery, who is black.

The wall-to-wall media coverage that the case generated also left some people frustrated.

"There's a lot of racial and anti-Semitic violence in this country that we didn't even know about," said Heidi Beirich, who heads the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project. "It outweighs one sensational fake crime."

The Chicago police chief began his news conference Thursday by acknowledging the throng of reporters in front of him and declaring, "I just wish that the families of gun violence got this much attention."

___

Check out the AP's complete coverage of the Jussie Smollett case.

"Empire" actor Jussie Smollett leaves Cook County jail following his release, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Chicago. Smollett was charged with disorderly conduct and filling 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, a police said. (AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski)
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico's Senate voted unanimously Thursday to approve a more civilian-oriented version of the militarized National Guard that the government wants to use to combat a rising wave of crime.

Senators want to avoid militarizing law enforcement, but President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wants a force with military discipline. Since taking office Dec. 1, Lopez Obrador has entrusted the army and navy with a wide range of tasks ranging from distributing fuel to building an airport.

Opponents of the plan say the military is ill-suited for police work and they worry the creation of a National Guard could delay a much-needed building of trustworthy civilian police departments.

But some Mexicans feel the military is the only government institution that can handle violent gangs in a country hit by a record 33,341 homicides in 2018 - a 15.5 increase over 2017 and equivalent to about 27 killing per 100,000 inhabitants. The military still commands widespread trust in Mexico, although it also has been implicated in severe human rights abuses.

The Senate adopted changes to the bill passed earlier by the lower house, so the legislation will apparently have to return to a conference committee.

The Senate managed to arrive at a rare consensus to place the new guard under the civilian Public Safety Department. But its members will initially come from the federal police and military police units and will have joint military-civilian command and training. Members of the Guard would preserve their military ranks and benefits, but would be tried in civilian courts for any abuses.

FILE - In this Jan. 9, 2019 file photo, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during a press conference in Mexico City. Lopez Obrador announced on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, a $3.9 billion bailout for the cash-strapped state-owned Pemex oil company. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

The legislation also sets a five-year limit on using the military for police duties. It was not clear what would happen after those five years, though presumably the National Guard would replace army and navy units in policing. The military turns over all suspects and evidence to civilian prosecutors.

The bill was the product of an odd coalition of forces. Opposition parties that were steam-rolled by Lopez Obrador's crushing 2018 election victory had been wary of the creation of the Guard, but opposition party state governors who have to deal with violent cartels were ardent supporters of the new force. Unlike the U.S. National Guard, governors won't command the force in Mexico but can request it be deployed to their states.

Lopez Obrador has resisted weakening the military discipline for the new corps, and the lower house has indicated it is also loath to water it down.

"There isn't much point in approving a corps that won't give the country the ability to confront violence," said Rep. Mario Delgado, leader in the lower house for Lopez Obrador's Morena party.

"I like the model that we (the lower house) approved, precisely because it was a militarized police, it imbued the best values of the army in the Guard, with a mixed command," Delgado said.

But he indicated there could be flexibility, saying, "In constitutional reforms there have to be negotiations and one doesn't always get everything one wants in negotiations."

Because the bill involves constitutional changes, it also will have to be approved by a majority of state legislatures.
NEW YORK (AP) - Claims of jury misconduct in the trial of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman have drawn new attention to the digital-age challenge courts face in preventing jurors from scouring media accounts or conducting their own research before rendering a verdict. It's a phenomenon that has been called the "Googling juror."

"Everyone has the world at their fingertips," said Guzman defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman. "Twenty years ago, you didn't have to worry about that."

Lichtman told The Associated Press on Thursday that there are now serious questions surrounding Guzman's conviction this month on drug-smuggling and conspiracy charges, and that he plans to ask U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan to bring in all 12 jurors and six alternates to question them about reports several flouted admonitions to avoid media accounts of the case.

One juror anonymously told VICE News this week that at least five members of the panel followed media reports and Twitter feeds during the three-month-long trial and were aware of explosive - and potentially prejudicial - material that had been excluded from the proceedings.

"It's clear we have to get them back into court and get some answers about some massive misconduct," Lichtman said.

The U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn declined to comment Thursday.

FILE - In this Monday Feb. 4, 2019 courtroom sketch, Judge Brian Cogan upper right, gives instructions to jurors in the trial of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in New York. On Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, El Chapo's lawyers raised concerns of potential juror misconduct and said they were reviewing "all available options" after a juror at the notorious Mexican drug lord's trial told a news website that several jurors looked at media coverage of the case against a judge's orders. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

In some cases, similar jury shenanigans have been deemed prejudicial enough to warrant a new trial, a possibility experts say can't be ruled out in Guzman's case.

"This is a question about fundamental fairness," said former federal prosecutor Duncan Levin. "It's presumptively prejudicial for a juror to have this information, and it's a step more outrageous for them to have accessed it when the judge specifically told them not to."

Shy of sequestering jurors, stripping them of their electronics and repeatedly warning them, judges are limited in the steps they can take to prevent outside sources of information from infecting deliberations.

"The jury system depends on people being honest in what they say and what they do," said Rock Harmon, a former prosecutor in Alameda County, California. "There's just no way to prevent this except to stress what they need to do."

In El Chapo's case, the anonymous jurors were not sequestered but were escorted by U.S. marshals to court, where they were required to give up their phones. They were allowed access to their devices at any other time, though the judge gave them a standard instruction each day not to view news or social media about the case.

Still, the juror who spoke with VICE News said five jurors involved in the deliberations and two alternates had heard about child rape allegations that had been made against Guzman and covered by the news media but not admitted into the trial. The juror also described an instance in which a juror used a smartwatch to look up a news story just moments after Cogan met with them privately to ask them whether they had been exposed to any recent media coverage.

"This is a growing phenomenon, and courts are struggling with how to address it," said Thaddeus Hoffmeister, a University of Dayton law professor whose research has focused on juries. "You're dealing with people today who have more faith in Google than the witnesses being called to testify."

The best remedy, Levin said, is for jurors to uphold their oath or face repercussions. In El Chapo's case, he said, if they acknowledge having disregarded Cogan's instructions, they should be held in contempt of court.

But convincing Cogan that the misconduct was real and that it is enough to order a new trial is a long shot, said former federal prosecutor Michael J. Stern.

"The judge will have to decide whether there was a reasonable possibility that the information could have affected the jury's verdict," Stein said.

Either way, Lichtman said, the revelations surrounding the panel that convicted his client are "sad and distressing."

Guzman, who is facing a mandatory life sentence, "is going to die in jail," he said. "That's why I repeatedly asked the jury to just give him a fair trial. It turns out that was too much to ask."
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico's congress has voted to expand the number of crimes subject to pre-trial detention without bail.

Congress expanded the list of crimes not eligible for bail to include corruption, electoral crimes, fuel theft, armed robbery, weapons possession and others.

Currently, pre-trial detention is mandatory only for the most serious crimes like murder, kidnapping and treason. The changes to the Constitution must still be approved by a majority of Mexico's state legislatures.

Rights groups criticized the move, while business groups praised it Thursday.

Business groups say they have been hit by a rising wave of robberies.

But the United Nations said bail should be considered on a case-by-case basis, and rejected excluding it automatically.
ATLANTA (AP) - The Latest on a push for new voting equipment in Georgia (all times local):

5:00 p.m.

A Georgia House committee has approved legislation that would move the state to new touchscreen voting machines that print a paper ballot, just hours after it was approved by a subcommittee.

The fast-moving legislation, approved Thursday, will go before the full House for a vote next.

Several county election directors testified earlier this week in favor of the electronic ballot markers, saying they're easiest to use. But cybersecurity experts, election integrity activists and several concerned citizens testified that hand-marked paper ballots are cheaper and more secure.

The bill was approved by a vote of 13 to 6 along party lines, with Republicans in support.

Democrats say the wide-ranging bill makes some good changes to election law, but they want hand-marked paper ballots over electronically marked ones.

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10:10 a.m.

Voters in Georgia could soon get new electronic touchscreen voting machines that print a paper ballot under legislation approved by a House subcommittee Thursday.

The nearly seven hours of testimony leading up to the vote was at times raucous, with a packed room of citizens and activists often cheering or hissing at speakers.

Several county election directors testified in favor of electronic ballot markers, saying they're easier to use. But cybersecurity experts, election integrity activists and several concerned citizens testified that hand-marked paper ballots are cheaper and more secure.

House minority leader Bob Trammell, a Democrat, tried several times to enter amendments to the Republican drafted bill.

One that was voted down stipulated that scanners tabulate only human readable marks, meaning a voter's selections couldn't be encoded in a barcode.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Google said Thursday it will no longer require that its workers settle disputes with the company through arbitration, responding to months of pressure from employees.

The change will take effect March 21 and will apply to current and future employees. Employees that have settled past disputes won't be able to re-open their cases.

Google said last year it would end forced arbitration for sexual harassment and assault cases, and Thursday expanded that practice to all worker disputes. Google's parent company, Mountain View, California-based Alphabet Inc., has its nearly 100,000 employees.

The updated practices only apply to Google employees, and employees of Google projects such as Deep Mind and Access. Other Alphabet subsidiaries, such as Waymo, are not included.

Mandatory arbitration requires employees to settle their disputes with the company privately and outside of court. The practice, widespread in U.S. employment contracts, can lend itself to secrecy and has faced criticism recently.

Google workers who staged a walk out late last year have continued to press the tech giant to drop forced arbitration requirements. Protest organizers commended Google for Thursday's announcement, but wrote in a Medium post that they would not officially celebrate until the changes went live in employee agreements.

FILE - This Oct. 20, 2015, file photo, shows signage outside Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Google said Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, it will no longer require that its workers settle disputes with the company through arbitration, responding to months of pressure from employees. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

Google won't make all employees re-sign their work contracts, it said, but will post the policy change internally and update its contracts for new employees.

The company also said it would extend the change to its agreements with contract workers. But it will not require vendors to change their own contracts, meaning some workers could still be held to the previous standard.

Other tech companies including Facebook, Uber and Microsoft have recently ended forced arbitration for sexual assault and harassment claims.

Google Walkout organizers who are focused on forced arbitration issues said they would continue working on ending the practice at other companies. Members of the group plan to meet with lawmakers in Washington, D.C., next week to advocate for a federal law against forced arbitration.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Republican leaders in Oklahoma said Thursday they want to join at least five other states in automatically banning abortions if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns its landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.

GOP Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat said a bill will be drafted and considered next week that would make Oklahoma the sixth state with a "trigger" abortion ban. The Republican governor in neighboring Arkansas signed a similar measure this week, and comparable laws are on the books in Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Abortion opponents are more hopeful the nation's high court will overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision since President Donald Trump has appointed two more conservatives.

"When Roe v. Wade is overturned, which is all of our hope and desire in the Republican caucus, the law that was in place pre-1973 that made abortion a felony in Oklahoma would be reinstituted," Treat said while flanked by several Senate GOP leaders.

The only exception to Oklahoma's previous ban on abortion was to save the life of the mother, he said.

Abortion rights supporters immediately denounced the proposal as an attempt to return Oklahoma to a time when abortions were dangerous and unsafe.

"The bottom line is that these types of trigger laws to ban abortion only ban safe abortions," said Tamya Cox-Toure, a policy director for Planned Parenthood Great Plains. "That's why Roe v. Wade was enacted in the first place. Abortions were still happening and women were losing their lives due to unsafe abortions."

Treat also announced a separate bill to make it a felony to perform an abortion in Oklahoma would not be given a hearing.

That bill, endorsed by a group of abortion opponents who want to completely outlaw the procedure despite the high court's ruling, was criticized Thursday by officials with the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, one of the state's most politically powerful religious groups.

In an open letter to Oklahoma Baptists, several of the group's leaders said the proposal would likely be immediately invalidated by the courts, a sentiment Treat echoed.

"Senate Bill 13, in my estimation, is fatally flawed," Treat said. "It is unenforceable and unconstitutional on its face."

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Follow Sean Murphy at www.twitter.com/apseanmurphy
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - North Carolina's elections board Thursday ordered a new election in the nation's 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 favor 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 I've listened to over the past three days, I believe a new election should be called," Harris 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."

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

Mark Harris, Republican candidate in North Carolina's 9th Congressional race, prepares to testify during the fourth day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

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 board's 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 someone's 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 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,'" 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 son's 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.

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 .

Mark Harris, Republican candidate in North Carolina's 9th Congressional race, prepares to testify during the fourth day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

John Harris, the son of Mark Harris, testifies during the third day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

Mark Harris, Republican candidate in North Carolina's 9th Congressional race, fights back tears at the conclusion of his son John Harris's testimony during the third day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

Mark Harris, Republican candidate in North Carolina's 9th Congressional race, fights back tears at the conclusion of his son John Harris's testimony during the third day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the NC Republican Party, talks with Mark Harris, a Republican candidate in North Carolina's 9th Congressional race, during a break in the third day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP)

Marc Elias, an attorney for Democratic congressional candidate Dan McCready, questions a witness during the third day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP)

Andy Yates, a political consultant and founder of Red Dome Group, delivers testimony during the third day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

Mark Harris, Republican candidate in North Carolina's 9th Congressional race, listens to testimony during the third day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

Beth Harris, the wife of Mark Harris, a Republican candidate in North Carolina's 9th Congressional race, listens to testimony during the third day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Travis Long//The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

Mark Harris, Republican candidate in North Carolina's 9th Congressional race, listens to testimony during the third day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)
AURORA, Ill. (AP) - Police say all five of the officers who were wounded last week in a deadly shooting at a warehouse in suburban Chicago have been released from the hospital.

The (Aurora) Beacon-News reports that four of the officers hurt were released by Sunday, and the fifth was released Thursday.

The officers were injured Friday in an exchange of gunfire with a man who had been fired from Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora. Five employees were killed .

The gunman, 45-year-old Gary Martin, died in the shootout.

The officers' names haven't been released. They suffered gunshot wounds and shrapnel injuries and ranged in age from 24 to 53.

Aurora police said Thursday that they're "hoping for a swift and full recovery for all."

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)
SPINDALE, N.C. (AP) - 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 Sheriff's 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.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - 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 honorable is "categorically false."

Klarides says the flag was donated by State Capitol Police to honor 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.

McGee's change in tone came after he met with the head of the state Fraternal Order of Police, John Krupinsky, who says people don't 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.
Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, claimed this week that members of Congress are opposing President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration because they dislike the president.

Trump announced the declaration last week to help finance a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, a move that House Democrats are expected to try to block through a resolution Friday.

During a podcast interview with a conservative North Dakota blogger, Cramer described presidential national emergency declarations as routine and said Trump's proclamation is more controversial simply because "it's the president."

Cramer pointed to a national emergency declaration issued under President Barack Obama to further illustrate his point.

A look at his claim, made during a podcast posted Tuesday:

CRAMER: "Barack Obama declared a national emergency to fight swine flu and we didn't have a single case of it in the United States."

FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018 file photo, Republican Senate candidate Kevin Cramer, flanked by his wife Chris, right, and other members of his family, talks to supporters at his election night victory rally in Bismarck, N.D. Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, claimed this week that members of Congress are opposing President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration because they dislike the president. Cramer is wrong. More than 1,000 people had died in the U.S. from the flu strain known as H1N1, commonly called the swine flu, by the time Obama declared a national emergency over the outbreak Oct. 23, 2009, according to reporting by The Associated Press.(AP Photo/Bruce Crummy, File)

THE FACTS: Cramer is wrong. More than 1,000 people had died in the U.S. from the flu strain known as H1N1, commonly called the swine flu, by the time Obama declared a national emergency over the outbreak Oct. 23, 2009, according to reporting by The Associated Press.

The first swine flu death in the U.S. was reported in April 2009. By the time of Obama's declaration, widespread flu activity was reported in 46 states.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates the flu strain was linked to more than 274,000 hospitalizations and 12,000 deaths in the U.S. between April 2009 and April 2010, according to final figures released in 2011. The 2009 swine flu was particularly devastating for people younger than 65, according to a 2012 CDC report .

The 2009 national emergency allowed the Health and Human Services secretary to activate emergency operational plans, such as moving emergency rooms offsite to keep those infected with the virus away from other emergency room patients. The declaration did receive bipartisan support. Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said in an ABC television interview a day after the declaration was announced that he supported giving the Obama administration even more help, if necessary.

Obama declared 12 national emergencies during his eight years in office, according to the Brennan Center for Justice . All of them, except for the flu pandemic national emergency, were intended to protect interests in foreign countries including Ukraine, Venezuela, South Sudan and Libya.

In a statement to The Associated Press on Thursday, Cramer reiterated that "swine flu was a national emergency then, the southern border is a national emergency now."

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Find AP Fact Checks at http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd . Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United Nations says North Korea's government has asked for help from international humanitarian groups to combat food shortages.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Thursday that food production figures provided by North Korea show "there is a food gap of about 1.4 million tons expected for 2019, and that's crops including rice, wheat, potato and soybeans."

Dujarric says the U.N. has "expressed and will continue to express our concern about the deteriorating food security situation" in North Korea.

He says the U.N. "at various levels" is consulting with the North Korean government "to further understand the impact of food security on the most vulnerable people, in order to take early action to address the humanitarian needs."
PHOENIX (AP) - An Islamic State follower asked a Phoenix-area sheriff's sergeant during a violent encounter six weeks ago to shoot him after he threw rocks at the officer and walked toward him with a knife in hand, according to a court document authorities were forced to release Wednesday.

The probable-cause statement from the investigation of Ismail Hamed was released after The Associated Press and other news organizations protested an effort by Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery's office to keep videos and other records from the Jan. 7 attack under seal. Body-camera video from the encounter and recordings from 911 calls that Hamed made before the attack were released last week.

Hamed, 18, is accused of striking the sergeant with rocks and wielding a knife in a parking lot of a sheriff's substation in suburban Fountain Hills, 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Phoenix.

Investigators say Hamed ignored warnings to drop the knife and instead continued walking toward the sergeant with the weapon in his hand. Eventually, the officer shot Hamed, who fell to the ground but ultimately survived gunshot wounds to his abdomen and right shoulder.

In the 911 recordings, Hamed professed allegiance to the Islamic State. He also told a 911 operator that he was armed with a knife and rocks and wanted to speak with a sheriff's deputy as part of a protest over people suffering in the Middle East.

The probable-cause statement explains comments made by Hamed on the video that were hard to discern because of the low volume of his comments.

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office shows Ismail Hamed, who authorities say threw rocks at a sheriff's sergeant in metro Phoenix six weeks ago and wielded a knife toward the officer. A court record that authorities were forced to release this week alleges Hamed asked the sergeant to shoot him during the violent encounter. Hamed, who was shot by the sergeant, has pleaded not guilty to assault and terrorism charges. (Maricopa County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)

"Shoot me," the court document quoted Hamed as saying.

The county sheriff's office said it was examining whether Hamed was intending to die by what is known as "suicide by cop" and whether Hamed had contacts with members of the Islamic State.

A woman at the office of Hamed's attorney, Faisal Ullah, said the law firm had no comment.

The probable-cause record said the officer feared for his life when Hamed wielded the knife, leading the officer to shoot Hamed to stop the threat.

Hamed has pleaded not guilty to the aggravated assault and terrorism charges.

The FBI has characterized the encounter between Hamed and the sergeant as a "lone wolf" attack.

Sheriff Paul Penzone had previously said he doesn't think there was an indication that Hamed planned to carry out other attacks.

Hamed remains jailed on a $500,000 bond.

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Follow Jacques Billeaud at twitter.com/jacquesbilleaud
PHOENIX (AP) - The editor of USA Today apologized Thursday for an image portraying blackface that was published in the Arizona State University yearbook on her watch.

Nicole Carroll said in an editorial published in the newspaper that it was recently brought to her attention "that I was involved in publishing such a photo when I was in college."

Carroll says she edited the 1988-89 ASU yearbook that included a photograph of two people, at a fraternity's Halloween party, wearing black makeup as boxer Mike Tyson and actress Robin Givens.

"It is horrible, and of course the photo should not have been published," she wrote. "I am sorry for the hurt I caused back then and the hurt it will cause today."

Carroll said the image was discovered during a review of yearbooks from that time by Gannett Co.'s USA Today and its newspaper network. She says she was shocked and had no memory of the photo.

The yearbook survey was launched after the recent disclosure that a photograph of one unidentified person in blackface and another wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood was published on the 1984 medical school yearbook page of Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam. The scandal involving Northam's page has sparked calls for the governor's resignation and has led to widespread reflection over the past use of blackface and other racist images in the United States.

USA Today reported that its extensive search of hundreds of yearbooks from the 1970s and 1980s around the country turned up photographs of students dressed in Klan robes and blackface, mock lynchings and other displays of blatant racism. Other photos show students saluting in Nazi uniforms or wearing Native American costumes.

Arizona State University said in a statement that the blackface photograph in its own college yearbook "is a sad reminder that this kind of insensitivity was all too common in past decades."

"Things are changing for the better, for which we at ASU are grateful, but that doesn't take away the possibility that the picture caused or will cause pain. For that we are sorry," the statement added.

Carroll wrote: "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."

Carroll wrote that when she was editor of The Arizona Republic from 2015-2018, "our newsroom held frequent meetings with diverse communities, asking them to critique our work and help us do better."

She said she continues to champion diversity and inclusion in the USA Today newsroom and the paper's news coverage.
WASHINGTON (AP) - 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 didn't institute the order.

Jackson ordered Stone to court to show why she shouldn't 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.

Former campaign adviser for President Donald Trump, Roger Stone, leaves federal court Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Washington. 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. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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 shouldn't 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 coordination between Russia and Donald Trump's 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 coordination between Russia and Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson wants Stone to show why she shouldn't 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."

This courtroom sketch shows former campaign adviser for President Donald Trump, Roger Stone talking from the witness stand as Judge Amy Berman Jackson listens during a court hearing at the U.S. District Courthouse in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Berman Jackson issued a broad gag order forbidding Stone to discuss his criminal case with anyone and gave him a stinging reprimand over his posting of a photo of the judge with what appeared to be crosshairs of a gun. (Dana Verkouteren via AP)

This courtroom sketch shows former campaign adviser for President Donald Trump, Roger Stone talking from the witness stand as prosecution attorney Jonathan Kravis, standing left, Stone's attorney Bruce Rogow, third from right, and Judge Amy Berman Jackson listen, during a court hearing at the U.S. District Courthouse in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Berman Jackson issued a broad gag order forbidding Stone to discuss his criminal case with anyone and gave him a stinging reprimand over his posting of a photo of the judge with what appeared to be crosshairs of a gun. (Dana Verkouteren via AP)

This courtroom sketch shows former campaign adviser for President Donald Trump, Roger Stone talking from the witness stand as prosecution attorney Jonathan Kravis, standing left, Stone's attorney Bruce Rogow, third from right, and Judge Amy Berman Jackson listen, during a court hearing at the U.S. District Courthouse in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Berman Jackson issued a broad gag order forbidding Stone to discuss his criminal case with anyone and gave him a stinging reprimand over his posting of a photo of the judge with what appeared to be crosshairs of a gun. (Dana Verkouteren via AP)

Former campaign adviser for President Donald Trump, Roger Stone, center left, walks to his vehicle as he leaves federal court Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Washington, between members of the media, security, and protesters. 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. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Former campaign adviser for President Donald Trump, Roger Stone, leaves federal court Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Washington. 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. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Former campaign adviser for President Donald Trump, Roger Stone accompanied by his wife Nydia Stone, left, arrives at federal court in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Stone was ordered to appear in court over a Instagram post he made about U.S. Judge Amy Berman Jackson. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Former campaign adviser for President Donald Trump, Roger Stone leaves the federal court in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, as his daughter Adria, Stone walks in front of him. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
ROME (AP) - An elementary school teacher in central Italy who told his students a black classmate was "ugly" is learning about the outrage his action caused.

Several parents complained after their children told them the teacher directed the boy to turn his back to the the class and then instructed the other students to "look how ugly he is."

The teacher told Italian state TV he was conducting a social experiment.

Italian Education Minister Marco Bussetti condemned the incident in a public school in Foligno, a town in the Umbria region, as "very grave." Bussetti tweeted Thursday that urgent measures would be taken to address it.

Immigration to predominantly white Italy is a relatively recent phenomenon. The anti-migrant League, one of the two parties in government, issues statements associating foreigners with crime.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - 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.

Moore's 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.

FILE - In this June 20, 2018, file photo, Michael Scott Moore, author of "The Desert and the Sea: 977 Days Captive on the Somali Pirate Coast," poses for a portrait at Los Angeles Public Library in Los Angeles. Abdi Yusuf Hassan, a U.S. citizen who has been charged with kidnapping and other counts for his alleged role in the abduction of Moore. He was held for nearly three years before his family paid a ransom for his release. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

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 journalist's 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 didn't 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
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - 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 didn't 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 armory, 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 agency's 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 plant's 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 doesn't believe the immigration status of the plaintiffs is relevant to the lawsuit and won't be discussing that. The lawsuit mentions that one plaintiff is "legally authorized to live and work in the United States," but doesn't 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 plant's working conditions.

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.
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) - An investigative team from state and federal agencies will visit Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona over concerns about uranium exposure.

Park officials said in a news release Thursday that a group of health and safety experts will visit in the coming weeks.

A June 2018 audit found three 5-gallon (19-liter) buckets of uranium rock samples at the park's Museum Collection building. They were subsequently moved to a restricted area.

The Grand Canyon's safety director told The Arizona Republic newspaper that the buckets could have been potentially harmful to the public and employees for years. People who toured the Museum Collection by appointment would have been in their vicinity.

Results of the review are expected to be completed within 90 days.
TIMMONSVILLE, S.C. (AP) - During a trip to what's been called the "Corridor of Shame," an area that for years has been home to some of South Carolina's most underperforming school districts, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said Thursday that she's impressed with developments after intervention from state officials.

"I applaud the direction that the school and the district have taken to really meet the needs of individual students and to be willing to meet those needs," the nation's top education official said after a tour of a technical school in Florence.

Accompanied by State Education Superintendent Molly Spearman, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and U.S. Rep. Tom Rice, DeVos' visit comes amid ongoing debate about how to improve South Carolina's education system, with legislative leaders and the governor saying they're placing a priority on the issue this session. On Thursday, a House subcommittee unanimously voted to send an education overhaul bill to the full Education Committee.

Gov. Henry McMaster, who has asked officials for a study of the decades-old formula that determines how districts are funded, pledged in his State of the State address last month that "the words 'Corridor of Shame' will be a distant memory," recalling the phrase coined in a 2005 documentary that depicted decrepit conditions and deteriorating buildings.

The area for a time became a pilgrimage site of sorts for public officials as an example of the need to make reforms to the state's schools. In 2007, then-Sen. Barack Obama toured a school, a portion of which was still in use and dated to the late 19th century.

Dozens of rural districts were part of a decades-old lawsuit over education funding. In a 1999 ruling, justices coined the phrase "minimally adequate education," immediately bothering many people who thought South Carolina should aspire to being more than adequate at something as important as public education.

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, seated, tours a technical college in Florence, S.C., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, with state Education Superintendent Molly Spearman, left, and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, right. DeVos made a trip to the state to visit an area once known as the "Corridor of Shame" where officials say dramatic improvements have been made in schools since state officials took over their control last year. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)

The state Supreme Court, which ruled in 2014 that rural schools had violated the South Carolina Constitution by failing to provide each student with quality education, ultimately closed the case, ruling that officials had resolved the overarching dispute.

Some improvements in the area have come at the behest of the state Education Department, which in recent years has taken control of several districts in attempt to get them on firmer financial footing. On Thursday, DeVos said she was encouraged to see improvements like a more diverse curriculum that have come since last year, when Spearman declared a state of emergency in Florence School District Four and took over its management.

"The course correction that's been made has been terrific," DeVos said.

Officials say administrative costs in the district had been more than $1.2 million annually. By sharing some services with neighboring districts, state officials say they've saved over $600,000 in the struggling district's budget. Officials are hopeful that educational successes will continue to grow once the district is on surer financial footing.

In a sprawling complex of buildings that houses several Florence Four schools, DeVos and the other officials spent time with students in several classrooms and observed a demonstration of the drone club in the gymnasium. Bryan McFadden, a Timmonsville High School senior whose older siblings have already graduated, said he knows he's getting opportunities that weren't available to them in years past.

"There's certainly more stuff that they offer now," said McFadden, who will be able to get his drone certification by the time he graduates. "I never thought that my senior year I'd be in the drone club."

"There are so many things that I didn't think about when I was in school," Evette said. "You know more than just how to fly it. You know how it works."

"We didn't have drones," DeVos added, with a laugh.

Thanking DeVos for bringing attention not just to the state's struggles but also its efforts to improve, Spearman said she's optimistic South Carolina's education system will keep making strides, although the process will be a tough one.

"We have a great need, but we have great potential," Spearman said. "We're willing to put extra money in areas that are willing to collaborate."

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos talks with students at Brockington Elementary School in Timmonsville, S.C., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. DeVos made a trip to the state to visit an area once known as the "Corridor of Shame" where officials say dramatic improvements have been made in schools since state officials took over their control last year. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Rural state lawmakers are pushing a plan to allow the Kansas Farm Bureau to offer health insurance coverage to members without having to comply with federal Affordable Care Act mandates in hopes that the influential agriculture group can offer a lower-cost product.

But the proposal is drawing strong criticism from Democrats and health groups because the Farm Bureau would not be required to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions. The Farm Bureau also would face relatively little regulation, and critics of the bill worry that the group could lure healthy individuals away from other, more-regulated plans, making them less affordable.

The state Senate approved the bill Wednesday on a 28-11 vote , sending it to the House. The bill's support came mostly from Republicans, who see it as an opportunity to give consumers a choice after spikes in health insurance rates that they blame on the 2010 federal health overhaul championed by former President Barack Obama, a Democrat.

The Kansas bill also was inspired by a long-standing law in Tennessee and new ones in Iowa and Nebraska.

"The goal has been stated many times, to increase the number of Kansans with coverage," said state Sen. Elaine Bowers, a Concordia Republican. "Let's allow Farm Bureau members across the state to help reach these people, who find the ACA plans unaffordable."

The bill would allow the Kansas Farm Bureau to provide "benefit coverage" to members and their dependents to cover their health costs.

In this Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019 photo, Kansas state Sen. Gene Suellentrop, R-Wichita, asks a question about a health coverage bill during a meeting of GOP senators at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. The bill, supported by Suellentrop and other Republicans, allows the Kansas Farm Bureau to offer health coverage to its members without having to comply with federal Affordable Care Act mandates. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

While its coverage might work like health insurance, the measure, like the Iowa law enacted last year, declares that the coverage "shall not be considered insurance." That would effectively exempt it from federal mandates and most state insurance regulations.

Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat and Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt, a Republican, have not yet taken a public position on the legislation.

The Kansas Farm Bureau has about 100,000 members, and the Senate vote was a testament to its political clout, particularly with rural Republicans. All but one GOP senator - Majority Leader Jim Denning, an Overland Park Republican - supported the bill.

Farm Bureau officials said they expect about 42,000 people eventually to take its coverage if the law passes and that rates will be significantly lower than plans that comply with Affordable Care Act mandates. They said their coverage would be targeted to individuals who either have no coverage now or people who are struggling to find or pay for individual coverage.

Kansas has seen the number of individual coverage plans offered through the federal ACA marketplace decline to 23 for 2019 from 42 in 2016, according to the Kansas Insurance Department. While average rate increases for 2019 were smaller than in past years, they've sometimes previously topped 25 percent, according to the department's annual reports .

House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said the bill has appeal among GOP lawmakers outside rural areas because, "a lot of people look at that as a free market thing, giving people choice."

But Democrats noted that people don't have to be farmers or work in agriculture to join the Farm Bureau, only pay a $50 annual membership fee. Also, the bill requires only that Farm Bureau file a certified statement of its coverage plan's reserves annually with the Kansas Insurance Department.

And they honed in on how Farm Bureau would be able to set higher rates or reject coverage for people who have pre-existing medical conditions, a feature of the Iowa law . Groups including the American Diabetes Association, the Cancer Action Network and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society have opposed the bill for that reason.

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, proposed an amendment to require the Farm Bureau's plan to cover pre-existing conditions. But it was voted down, 24-15 , with Republicans arguing that such a requirement would eliminate the flexibility Farm Bureau needs to offer an affordable product.

"Consumers with pre-existing conditions will almost certainly surely be turned away or offered excessive prices," said Sen. Tom Hawk, a Democrat from Manhattan, where the Kansas Farm Bureau has its headquarters.

___

Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna .

In this Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019 photo, Kansas state Sens. Rick Wilborn, left, R-McPherson, and Dan Goddard, right, R-Parsons, confer during a debate on a bill allowing the Kansas Farm Bureau to provide health coverage for its members, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Both senators support the bill, which allows the Farm Bureau to offer the coverage without complying with federal Affordable Care Act mandates. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Opposition intensified Thursday against Texas' new election chief as a key lawmaker said he won't back Gov. Greg Abbott's nominee, who called into question the U.S. citizenship of 95,000 voters using faulty data.

A Senate committee punted on advancing Secretary of State David Whitley's nomination for a second consecutive week, and civil rights groups stood in front of the Texas Capitol and called on Democrats to block his confirmation.

The sustained pressure comes nearly a month after Whitley's office gave the inaccurate list to election fraud prosecutors , which stoked new unsubstantiated claims by President Donald Trump of rampant illegal voting.

Abbott's office hasn't publicly wavered on Whitley, who must win Senate confirmation by the end of the legislative session to stay in the job. But his future after just three months on the job is looking increasingly tenuous as he loses the support of Senate Democrats, including the party's caucus leader in the chamber, Jose Rodriguez.

His opposition is significant because Whitley likely cannot be confirmed without Democrats. It takes a two-thirds vote of senators present to confirm a nomination, and Republicans hold 19 of the 31 seats (61 percent).

That gives Democrats a rare position of power in the Texas Legislature, where anger among Hispanic lawmakers lingers over Republicans spending the last decade defending gerrymandered voting maps and a voter ID law.

FILE - In this Feb. 7, 2019 file photo, Secretary of State David Whitley, left, arrives for his confirmation hearing in Austin, Texas, where he addressed the backlash surrounding Texas' efforts to find noncitizen voters on voter rolls. A key Texas Democrat says he won't back Whitley, Gov. Greg Abbott's embattled choice for secretary of state, whose job is in peril over an inaccurate list of 95,000 voters flagged as possible non-U.S. citizens. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

"Only in extreme circumstances would I not defer to the Governor's choices. In this case, however, the damage has been done," Rodriguez said in a statement. "Many Texans mistakenly believe evidence of voter fraud has been found. Many now fear to vote, even though they are eligible"

Abbott spokesman John Wittman said in an email that the governor remains "100%" behind Whitley, who was an aide to Abbott prior to his appointment in December.

Governor appointees seldom have their nominations challenged in Texas. But Whitley's path has been in peril since his office released the list in January, saying at the time that 58,000 of the names were shown to have voted in at least once election since 1996. Within days, however, the state began quietly telling local elections officials that thousands of people were wrongly flagged.

Whitley last week apologized , telling lawmakers that more time should have been spent vetting the names. But that has not satisfied the ACLU and other civil rights groups, who have accused the state of voter suppression and have asked federal courts to stop Texas from being kicking anyone off the voter rolls.

Texas officials say they matched registered voters against records of noncitizens with state IDs. But they failed to exclude scores of people who legally cast ballots only after becoming U.S. citizens.

___

Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pauljweber
WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal judge issued a broad gag order forbidding Roger Stone to discuss his criminal case with anyone and gave him a stinging reprimand Thursday over the longtime Trump confidant's posting of a photo of the judge with what appeared to be crosshairs of a gun.

She promised to throw him behind bars if he violates the court order in any way.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said that it would be "foolhardy" for her not to take any action over the Instagram post and that Stone would "pose a danger" to others in the case if the conditions of his release weren't modified to include a gag order.

"Roger Stone fully understands the power of words and the power of symbols and there's nothing ambiguous about crosshairs," the judge said. "How hard was it to come up with a photo that didn't have a crosshairs in the corner?" she quipped at one point.

Stone has pleaded not guilty to charges he lied to Congress, engaged in witness tampering and obstructed a congressional investigation into possible coordination between Russia and Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. The charges stem from conversations he had during the campaign about WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group that released material stolen from Democratic groups, including Hillary Clinton's campaign.

The political operative and self-described dirty trickster is the sixth Trump aide or adviser charged in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. He was arrested last month and has remained free on a $250,000 personal recognizance bond. Stone has maintained his innocence and blasted the special counsel's investigation as politically motivated.

Former campaign adviser for President Donald Trump, Roger Stone, leaves federal court Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Washington. 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. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

During Thursday's tense and animated hearing in federal court in Washington, Stone took the witness stand to try to explain his Instagram post and apologize to the judge, repeatedly telling her he had made an egregious and inexcusable mistake.

"Thank you, but the apology rings quite hollow," she shot back before instituting the gag order.

The judge said she doubted Stone had learned his lesson and it was clear he needed "clear boundaries" about what he can and can't say to prevent potential jurors from being prejudiced.

She said she was not reassured by "the defense suggestion that Mr. Stone is all talk and no action and this is all a big mistake."

Jackson told Stone that he made "deliberate choices" to post the photo of her and created a very real risk.

"No, Mr. Stone, I am not giving you another chance," she said.

The 66-year-old Stone said the image had been selected by a volunteer who was working for him, though he couldn't say who picked the photo or list the five or six volunteers who have been working for him when he was asked by prosecutors.

He said he had several photos to choose from and posted the image himself to his profile.

"You had a choice?" the judge interjected.

Stone said he picked the photo "randomly," a suggestion the judge almost immediately dismissed.

"It was an egregious mistake. I obviously wish I could do it over again, but I cannot," Stone said. "I recognize I let the court down, I let you down, I let myself down. ... It was a momentary lapse in judgment."

He has said the photo was "misinterpreted," the symbol was actually the Celtic cross, not crosshairs of a gun, and he was not trying to threaten the judge.

Last week, Judge Jackson had implemented a limited order that prevented Stone from discussing his case near the courthouse and generally prohibited his lawyers, prosecutors and witnesses from making public comments that could "pose a substantial likelihood" of prejudicing potential jurors. But that order stopped short of imposing a broad ban on public comments, as Thursday's order does.

After Stone posted and then deleted the photo on Instagram, the judge ordered him to return to Washington and appear in court for Thursday's hearing. He and his lawyers filed a notice with the court that said they recognized the photo was "improper and should not have been posted."

Stone's lawyers argued, unsuccessfully, that placing any limits on his public comments would infringe on his constitutionally protected right to free speech.

His attorney, Bruce Rogow, said Stone's post was inexcusable but argued his client should have another chance to comply with the judge's initial gag order.

Special counsel Mueller's team has been dwindling in recent weeks and lawyers from the U.S. attorney's office in Washington were assigned to Stone's case from the beginning, which could be an indication that Mueller is planning to hand off the investigation.

Former campaign adviser for President Donald Trump, Roger Stone accompanied by his wife Nydia Stone, left, arrives at federal court in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Stone was ordered to appear in court over a Instagram post he made about U.S. Judge Amy Berman Jackson. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Former campaign adviser for President Donald Trump, Roger Stone arrives at federal court in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Stone was ordered to appear in court over a Instagram post he made about U.S. Judge Amy Berman Jackson. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Former campaign adviser for President Donald Trump, Roger Stone leaves the federal court in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, as his daughter Adria, Stone walks in front of him. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania man who admitted to the rape, murder and dismemberment of a 14-year-old girl has been taken to the hospital for high blood pressure, and his plea hearing was interrupted again.

Jacob Sullivan was in the courthouse Thursday when he complained of a headache. Medical personnel rushed him to the hospital after finding his blood pressure was high.

Prosecutors say Sullivan raped and killed Grace Packer in a plot with her adoptive mother. Sara Packer's lawyer says she intends to plead guilty in the case.

Sullivan first entered a guilty plea on Tuesday , but was hospitalized several hours into the proceeding with high blood pressure. A winter storm closed the courthouse on Wednesday.

A judge must accept Sullivan's plea for it to become official. Prosecutors are seeking a death sentence.
NEW YORK (AP) - Rita Moreno plays one of TV's best villains. Or is she one of its snidest heroines? Either way, her sassy grandmother on the Netflix reboot of "One Day at a Time" is truly a funny concoction.

Her Lydia wears makeup to bed, has a gun on hand and still is seductive in her 80s. "I came out of the womb wearing stilettos," she purrs in a Cuban accent. The show has retooled Norman Lear's old sitcom for a Latin family.

Moreno, one of the rare EGOT winners, is enjoying a purple creative patch lately with the show's third season and an upcoming role in the Steven Spielberg-led remake of "West Side Story," for which Moreno won an Oscar as Anita in 1961.

The Puerto Rican-born actress recently spoke to The Associated Press about her brassy Netflix role, the regrets she had doing the original "West Side Story" and her thoughts on the #MeToo movement.

AP: You're clearly having too much fun with this Netflix character. In one scene, you try to hit on your own daughter's boyfriend.

Moreno: She's shameless. This woman, Lydia, is absolutely shameless. She's vain. She's a bit of a liar when it's convenient. The interesting thing about this character is that she has a lot of negatives on her side but people love her. People love her because of her foibles.

FILE - This July 29, 2018 file photo shows actress Rita Moreno, a cast member of the Netflix series "One Day at a Time" posing for a portrait during the Netflix portrait session at Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)

AP: After the role was offered, you asked for something, didn't you?

Moreno: I did ask a favor. I said, 'I know she's a grandmother and I know she's supposed to be in her late 70s, but she has to be sexual. Otherwise I'm not interested.' And they loved the idea. So now they've really taken advantage. Sometimes I say, 'You really want me to say that?'

AP: Why was her sensuality important to you?

Moreno: I think it's because it's not seen enough on television and because people have an odd notion of what a woman of 80 - well actually I'm 87. I'm playing younger. She's supposedly about 77, 78 something like that. And you don't see that but it exists. And that's why I insisted that she be a sexual being.

AP: Are there any drawbacks to playing her?

Moreno: The difficult part of playing this particular role is that she's very big. She's very theatrical. She's a diva and it's very easy to go too far with that. So I'm always constantly on the look-out and I'm always saying 'I don't think she'd say that' to the writers. 'That just seems arbitrary' or whatever. And then we have to have a discussion about that. Sometimes they agree with me. And sometimes they'll play along with me.

AP: You'll soon revisit "West Side Story." Any regrets about the original, particularly the way they handled the racial aspect?

Moreno: Puerto Rico was colonized by the French, the Dutch and the Spanish and so we are many colors. I am one and I really resented it when they put very dark makeup on me because that's not my color. I thought the Sharks should have all of their own natural colors. Some were dark, some were copper skin, some were fair.

AP: Your skin was darkened, too, right?

Moreno: I remember one time saying to the makeup man who was making me up, 'I really hate this color because this isn't the color I am.' And he actually said to me 'What, are you racist?' I was so stunned that I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say. That's really also how little people know about Puerto Ricans.

AP: You have fund-raised for Puerto Rico storm relief and support Meals on Wheels and a non-profit clinic. What motivates you to act?

Moreno: Anything that involves hunger, particularly food banks. I just can't imagine being hungry all the time and I can't imagine how anyone can function properly if they're hungry. So that's my thing. Everyone has their particular interest and, for me, it's hunger, always.

AP: Are you encouraged by the #MeToo movement? It feels like change has come, but only after years of sitting on our hands.

Moreno: I think we were sitting way, way, way too long. But I also come from an era when you had to be nice to men. I remember my mom saying that to me. She said, 'You be a nice girl and if a man tells you to do this or that, you do it. OK?' And let me tell you, that has its effect. It's lasting. It took me a very, very, very long time to feel independent. I would tell you until about 10 years ago. Why are you surprised? That's how I was raised, really. And it is surprising and it's shocking, but I didn't know how to even write a check for the longest time. My husband did that. Things have changed so quickly and I'm so happy about that.

___

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

FILE - This July 29, 2018 file photo shows actress Rita Moreno, a cast member of the Netflix series "One Day at a Time" posing for a portrait during the Netflix portrait session at Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - This July 29, 2018 file photo shows actress Rita Moreno, a cast member of the Netflix series "One Day at a Time" posing for a portrait during the Netflix portrait session at Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - This July 29, 2018 file photo shows actress Rita Moreno, a cast member of the Netflix series "One Day at a Time" posing for a portrait during the Netflix portrait session at Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - A school board in Virginia said Thursday that it won't take any immediate action to overturn its transgender student bathroom ban, making what appeared to be a change in course after several community members urged the board to keep the ban in place.

Just a few days ago, the Gloucester County School Board was talking about possibly ending the four-year ban. A new policy was proposed that could help settle the discrimination lawsuit filed by Gavin Grimm, a former student who's become a national face for transgender rights.

But then the board held a public meeting on Tuesday. Some people showed support for the proposal. Many did not, quoting passages from the Bible and saying that too many students would feel uncomfortable for the sake of a few.

Two days later, the board said in a statement that it "has not set a time frame for when any action will be taken or when any further discussion will be held regarding the resolution."

The school board, which represents a somewhat rural community east of Richmond, declined to comment further.

In response, Grimm and his attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union promised to fight on.

FILE - In this March 6, 2017, file photo, Gloucester County High School senior Gavin Grimm, a transgender student, listens to a speaker during a news conference in Richmond, Va. Grimm is continuing to sue the Gloucester County School Board in Virginia over a policy that banned him from using the boys' bathrooms. He's now trying to amend the suit to include the matter of his unchanged transcripts. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

"It's disappointing that the board is choosing to prolong the suffering of trans youth in Gloucester County Public Schools, but we will see this fight through no matter how long it takes," Grimm, 19, said in a statement.

ACLU attorney Joshua Block added he is "confident that Gavin will ultimately prevail. The federal courts are there to protect individuals from discrimination when politicians refuse to do so."

The new policy the board had proposed would allow high school students to use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity.

Block, the ACLU attorney, said the measure was discussed during a recent settlement hearing between both sides in an effort to resolve the case.

"The proposed policy is not something we would affirmatively support," he said Tuesday. "But it is acceptable as part of a negotiated settlement."

Meanwhile, a trial for Grimm's lawsuit is scheduled for July in U.S. District Court.

The federal judge has already shown signs of support for Grimm's cause. Last year, Judge Arenda Wright Allen declined the board's request to dismiss, writing that the board's policies "singled out and stigmatized Mr. Grimm."

Kim Hensley, a former school board member who attended Tuesday night's meeting, noted afterward that the community is divided over the bathroom issue. But she said support has grown for transgender students.

When the bathroom ban was put in place in 2014, she said there was "landslide" support for it.
CINCINNATI (AP) - 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 Trump's 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 defense."

Sandmann's 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 cooperative to "retract and correct" what his letter asserts are "defamatory statements." Sandmann also provided his version of the events.

The One Franklin Square Building, home of The Washington Post newspaper, in downtown Washington, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. 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. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

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 Sandmann's 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. Sandmann's 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.

___

AP National Writer Hillel Italie contributed to this report.

FILE - This Jan. 19, 2019 file photo shows an exterior view of Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Ky. Nicholas Sandmann, the Covington Catholic High School teen at the heart of an encounter last month with a Native American activist, is suing The Washington Post for $250 million. He is also threatening legal action against The Associated Press and other news organizations. 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." (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston, File)

FILE - This Jan. 20, 2019 file photo shows the grounds of Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Ky. Nicholas Sandmann, the Covington Catholic High School teen at the heart of an encounter last month with a Native American activist, is suing The Washington Post for $250 million. He is also threatening legal action against The Associated Press and other news organizations. 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." (AP Photo/Lisa Cornwell, File)

The One Franklin Square Building, home of The Washington Post newspaper, in downtown Washington, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. 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. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
GREENBELT, Md. (AP) - The latest on the case against a Coast Guard Officer accused of stockpiling guns and compiling a hit list of prominent Democrats (all times local):

2 p.m.

A Coast Guard lieutenant accused of being a white supremacist who stockpiled guns and compiled a hit 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.

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."

This image provided by the U.S. 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. Prosecutors say that Hasson, a Coast Guard lieutenant is a "domestic terrorist" who wrote about biological attacks and had a hit list that included prominent Democrats and media figures. He is due in court on Feb. 21 in Maryland. Prosecutors say Hasson espoused extremist views for years. Court papers say Hasson described an "interesting idea" in a 2017 draft email that included "biological attacks followed by attack on food supply." (U.S. District Court via AP)

Prosecutors say federal agents found 15 firearms and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition inside Hasson's Maryland apartment.

___

Noon

Federal authorities say a Coast Guard officer who espoused white supremacist views and dreamed of mass murder drew up a computer-spreadsheet hit list of Democratic politicians and TV journalists.

Lt. Christopher Paul Hasson, who worked at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington as an acquisitions officer on a program to equip the agency with advanced new cutters, faces a federal court hearing Thursday on gun and drug offenses.

But prosecutors say those charges are just "tip of the iceberg."

The 49-year-old Hasson was arrested last week.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Police have released the name of the Bristol man killed in a rash of shootings in Hartford.

Authorities say 46-year-old Richard Kinoshita was shot at least once Tuesday night and brought to a hospital where he later died.

Another shooting victim was found around the same time near St. Francis Hospital. Police are looking into whether the shootings are connected.

Authorities say Joseph Goiangos, of Middletown, was killed in a shooting earlier in the day Tuesday.

He was found dead in an apartment complex parking area with a gunshot wound to the chest.

There have been four homicides in the city this year.
GENEVA (AP) - A Swiss military official says a verdict is expected Friday in the trial of a former sergeant accused of jeopardizing Switzerland's 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.

Cosar's 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 country's long-vaunted neutrality.

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

Camelin said Cosar's cousin also is on trial.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, visited the Senate intelligence committee's offices on Thursday, meeting with his lawyers in preparation for three days of congressional testimony next week.

Cohen and one of his lawyers, Lanny Davis, each declined to say why they were there as they left separately. Davis wouldn't say whether they were reviewing documents, but it is not unusual for witnesses or their lawyers to want to review confidential committee materials before a hearing or interview.

Davis, who left before Cohen did, told reporters that Cohen and his lawyers had not spoken with Senate staff.

"I just can tell you we had discussion among ourselves, that's all I can say," Davis said.

Davis said Cohen was prepared to talk about "everything" over the course of three days of testimony, though not all of that will be public. Cohen is scheduled to talk to the Senate intelligence panel behind closed doors on Tuesday, a day before he testifies publicly before the House Oversight and Reform Committee. On Thursday, he will go back behind closed doors to talk to the House intelligence committee.

The Oversight hearing will be Cohen's first major public appearance since he turned on his former boss and since he was sentenced to three years in prison. Trump's fixer-turned-foe pleaded guilty last year to lying to both intelligence committees in 2017 and to campaign finance violations. He has also cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, leaves Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The Senate intelligence committee will interview Cohen behind closed doors on Feb. 26, according to a person familiar with the matter. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

While Cohen is expected to address that investigation in his closed-door interviews with the intelligence panels, the chairman of the Oversight panel, Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, has set a scope for questioning in an effort not to interfere with Mueller's probe. That scope includes the campaign finance violations, Trump's business practices and compliance with tax laws and "the accuracy of the president's public statements," according to a committee memo. The scope does not include matters related to Russia.

Cohen pleaded guilty to the campaign finance violations for his involvement in payments to two women who allege they had affairs with Trump. Federal prosecutors in New York have said Trump directed Cohen to arrange the payments to buy the silence of porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal in the run-up to the 2016 campaign. Trump denies the allegations.

Cohen also pleaded guilty to lying to both of the intelligence committees after telling them in a written statement in 2017 that he had abandoned a Trump business proposal in Moscow in January 2016. Cohen later acknowledged he continued pursuing it for months after that.

Cohen was scheduled to speak to the three committees earlier this month, but rescheduled all of those appearances for different reasons. He said he needed to recover from surgery and also was concerned about threats to his family from Trump and the president's attorney spokesman, Rudy Giuliani.

House intelligence committee Chairman Adam Schiff postponed Cohen's appearance before that committee saying it was "in the interests of the investigation," with no additional detail.

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Sisak reported from New York.

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, leaves Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The Senate intelligence committee will interview Cohen behind closed doors on Feb. 26, according to a person familiar with the matter. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, leaves Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The Senate intelligence committee will interview Cohen behind closed doors on Feb. 26, according to a person familiar with the matter. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
BASSETT, Va. (AP) - More than 16 years after the still-unsolved slayings of the Short family, their Virginia home has burned to the ground.

The Martinsville Bulletin reports that the former home of Michael, Mary and Jennifer Short was destroyed by fire early Wednesday morning. Collinsville Volunteer Fire Department Chief Tyler Beam says the house appeared unoccupied.

Michael and Mary Short were found dead in that house on Aug. 15, 2002, each with a gunshot wound to the head. Their 9-year-old daughter, Jennifer, was found dead with a gunshot to the head six weeks later in Rockingham County, North Carolina, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of her home.

Henry County Sheriff Lane Perry says his office is waiting for the fire marshal's findings to see how the fire could affect the murder investigation.

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Information from: Martinsville Bulletin, http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com
WASHINGTON (AP) - A major Democratic group on Thursday announced plans to spend at least $100 million in battleground states during the 2020 election in hopes of denying President Donald Trump a second term.

Surveys conducted by Priorities USA suggest Trump is vulnerable in many of the same Rust Belt states that sealed his victory in 2016, such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, as well as Florida. Their research indicates antipathy toward Hillary Clinton drove some of the party's traditional voters to Trump and third-party candidates like Jill Stein, while others simply did not turn out.

To win in 2020, Democrats say they must lure those voters back, get more people to cast ballots and hammer Trump with a consistent message that can withstand the daily uproars that have helped define his time in the White House.

Trump frequently takes credit for the overall good health of the economy. But Priorities operatives argue that the prosperity hasn't trickled down to average Americans - which will be a major theme of their attacks.

"There is a lot of anxiety around the cost of living going up despite the fact that wages have remained fairly stagnant," said Priorities USA executive director Patrick McHugh. "Our job is to connect this anxiety people are feeling ... directly to the decisions and actions that Trump and the administration are taking."

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

McHugh would not say how much Priorities, which is one of the largest outside Democratic groups, plans to spend during the 2020 election. But he said it expended about $200 million during the 2016 cycle.

Earlier this month they announced a separate $30 million initiative that will finance court challenges to restrictive Republican-backed voter laws.

The research released Thursday shows there is a path to reclaim Midwest battlegrounds they lost to Trump in 2016 that were once referred to as the Democrats' "Blue Wall."

They found in many of those states that more Democrats than Republicans voted for third-party candidates and that Democrats also accounted for a bigger block of registered voters who did not go to the polls.

"We expect that in 2020 it will be the highest turnout ever in a presidential race," McHugh said. "It's something we are going to have to dedicate resources and time and energy to."
BERLIN (AP) - Germany's parliament has approved legislation to loosen, but not scrap, a ban on doctors "advertising" abortions.

The dpa news agency reported Thursday parliament voted for the compromise measure proposed by the country's governing parties.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's junior partner, the center-left Social Democrats, wanted to remove the ban from Germany's criminal code but Merkel's center-right party insisted it should stay.

Under the new measure, the ban will formally remain in place but doctors and hospitals will be able to say on their websites that they perform abortions, which they previously couldn't.

They will not, however, be allowed to give more detailed information. The plan also calls for the German Medical Association to establish a central list of doctors and clinics performing abortions.
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) - 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.

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Information from: Daily News, http://www.bgdailynews.com
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - An official in Burundi says the withdrawal of 1,000 Burundian soldiers from the African Union regional force in Somalia has begun.

The military official in Burundi, who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press, said Thursday that about 200 soldiers boarded a flight from Somalia to Burundi's capital, Bujumbura, in the afternoon.

More soldiers are expected to be flown back from Burundi in the coming weeks.

The African Union says it plans to withdraw the 21,500 troops that it has in Somalia by the end of 2020. The AU force, made up of soldiers from several African countries, has for years tried to secure the Horn of Africa country against the Islamic extremist rebels of al-Shabab.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A judge has set a March 8 sentencing date for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on his Virginia conviction for hiding millions of dollars from the IRS that he earned advising Ukrainian politicians.

The order issued Thursday by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III means Manafort will face sentencing in Virginia before he does in the District of Columbia. His sentencing in the District has already been set for March 13.

In Virginia, a jury convicted Manafort on eight felonies related to tax and bank-fraud charges. In the District, Manafort pleaded guilty to illegal lobbying.

Virginia prosecutors have said sentencing guidelines call for the 69-year-old Manafort to serve nearly 20 years and possibly up to more than 24 years.

Manafort's lawyers are expected to file their sentencing memorandum in Virginia by March 1.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The peace agreement signed earlier this month by the Central African Republic's government and 14 rebel groups "could be a turning point" in the history of the conflict-torn country despite persistent dangers, the U.N. envoy for the impoverished nation said Thursday.

Parfait Onanga-Anyanga told the U.N. Security Council that there is reason "to rejoice" at the first agreement reached in face-to-face negotiations, but cautioned "we must be vigilant because the situation remains grave."

"We all know - Central Africans first and foremost - that this is just a first step," he said. "The most difficult lies before us. The true test will be the comprehensive, implementation in good faith of the agreement."

Onanga-Anyanga, in his last briefing to the council before stepping down, urged all parties "to scrupulously honor all their commitments" and engage in dialogue - not violence.

Central African Republic has seen deadly interreligious and intercommunal fighting since 2013, when predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the capital and mainly Christian anti-Balaka militias fought back, resulting in thousands of people killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.

A period of relative peace followed in late 2015 and 2016, but violence since then has intensified and spread. The 30-page peace pact, negotiated in Sudan and signed on Feb. 6, is the eighth since fighting began in 2013 and the first where armed groups, who control around 80 percent of the impoverished country, held direct talks with the government.

The agreement focuses on four main points: victims, justice, peace and national reconciliation.

It commits armed groups to respecting the legitimacy of the country's institutions, and renouncing the use of arms and violence against the country's defense and security forces, U.N. personnel, and humanitarian workers.

Smail Chergui, the African Union commissioner for peace and security, told the council that the agreement's provisions aim "to transform those who are carrying weapons today into people who serve the security of the country in the future."

He said the direct negotiations and discussion of the deep-rooted causes of the crisis in Central African Republic, including poverty, the absence of justice and unfair distribution of national wealth, provided a new approach to the eventual agreement.

The rival groups heard "that some people are drinking the water alongside the animals in some regions of the country," he said. "How do we respond to the needs of the people? In certain parts of the country, people don't know what civilization is, don't know what roads are, health care, hospitals."

Chergui made "a solemn appeal" to the council and friends of Central African Republic "to try to find means for immediate action - and I do stress that word immediate - so that we can implement the agreement, but above all so that we can give hope to people" given the level of suffering and very difficult humanitarian situation in the country.

"There's also a need to respect the unity and territorial integrity of this country and to set aside religious or ethnic disagreements so that finally we can make progress and can address the main enemy, which is poverty - the main enemy of development," he said.

Chergui and Onanga-Anyanga both stressed the importance of support from the Security Council, neighboring countries and the international community to ensure implementation of the peace agreement.

"We don't have any illusions," Chergui said. "This approach will not work unless friends of Central Africa and partners unite their efforts in response."
WASHINGTON (AP) - To hear the Americans tell it, the Chinese have gone on a commercial crime spree, pilfering trade secrets from seed corn to electronic brains behind wind turbines. China has stripped the arm off a T-Mobile robot, the U.S. says, and looted trade secrets about robotic cars from Apple.

The alleged victims of that crime spree are individual American companies, whose cases lie behind the Trump administration's core complaint in the high-level U.S.-China trade talks going on in Washington: That Beijing systematically steals American and other foreign intellectual property in a bid to become the world's technology superstar. Yet the odds of a resolution to the trade dispute this week - or anytime soon - appear dim, in part because China's drive for technology supremacy is increasingly part of its self-identity.

The seven-month standoff has upset financial markets and likely weakened the global economy. The United States has imposed taxes on $250 billion in Chinese imports; Beijing has lashed back by taxing $110 billion in American products.

Determined to attain dominance in cutting-edge fields from robotics to electric cars, U.S. officials charge, Beijing is not only stealing trade secrets but also pressuring American companies to hand over technology to gain access to the vast Chinese market.

U.S. intelligence officials told Congress last month that China poses the biggest commercial and military threat to the United States. A separate report said Beijing will steal or copy technologies it can't make itself.

Geng Shuang, a spokesman for the China's Foreign Ministry spokesman, retorted that it's "totally unreasonable to make random accusations."

Beijing counters that the United States is just trying to suppress a rising competitor.

U.S. business groups broadly support the Trump administration's decision to confront China over its strong-arm tech policies. But they mostly object to the administration's weapon of choice: Steep tariffs, which are taxes on importers and are usually passed on to consumers to pay.

Rooting out theft could prove impossible. Beijing typically doesn't dispatch spies on missions of commercial espionage. Rather, it encourages Chinese who study and work abroad to copy or steal technology and rewards them when they do. So U.S. companies might have no reason to suspect anything - until a Chinese employee leaves and the employer discovers that trade secrets have been compromised.

Most U.S. companies are reluctant to voice specific complaints about their encounters in China. Rather, most choose to speak through trade groups to avoid retribution from Chinese regulators. Last year, for example, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China found that one in five foreign companies says it feels compelled to transfer technology to the Chinese as the price of market access.

Individual examples tend to surface only when the complaints wind up in court - often in cases brought by U.S. prosecutors. Consider:

- Federal prosecutors charged in an indictment unsealed last month that the Chinese tech giant Huawei stole trade secrets from U.S. cellphone company T-Mobile and offered bonuses to employees who managed to swipe technology from other companies.

U.S. authorities said Huawei was obsessed with a T-Mobile robot nicknamed Tappy that could detect problems in cellphones by mimicking how people use them. T-Mobile was letting Huawei engineers into the Tappy lab to test their phones. In 2013, according to the indictment, a Huawei engineer spirited a Tappy robot arm out of the lab in a laptop bag. Questioned by T-Mobile, he returned it the next day. Prosecutors allege that the Chinese company hungered for T-Mobile technology to use on its own phone-testing robot.

- Apple would collect less revenue without China, the country where its iPhone is assembled and the market that accounts for the most sales of that device outside the U.S. But a secretive project that could become a future gold mine has been infiltrated by thieves trying to steal driverless car technology for a Chinese company, according to criminal charges filed in Silicon Valley. The FBI seized the latest suspect, Apple engineer Jizhong Chen, this month after he bought a plane ticket to China.

Chen and the other suspect charged in July, Xiaolang Zhang, were part of an Apple project focused on self-driving cars, according to the sworn affidavits from FBI agents. The two are accused of using their access to labs where only 1,200 of Apple's 140,000 employees were allowed to enter to steal trade secrets.

Chen took dozens of photos of confidential work on an iPhone 6 Plus, according to court records. One photo was taken last June just a week after Chen attended Apple's secrecy training seminar for employees, the court records show.

Zhang stored Apple's trade secrets on various devices before being caught by the company's security team last spring, the FBI alleged.

The alleged theft occurred while Zhang was preparing to defect to Xiopeng Motors, or XMotors, a Chinese startup specializing in electric cars and self-driving technology. XMotors' backers include Alibaba Group, China's largest e-commerce company, and Foxconn, one of Apple's major contractors in China. Zhang was arrested last year as he prepared to board a flight to China in San Jose, California, the FBI said.

The FBI also alleged that Chen was stealing Apple's trade secrets while interviewing for a job at a Chinese company that wasn't named in the court documents.

Daniel Olmos, an attorney for both Chen and Zhang, has declined to comment on the allegations. Apple has said it's working with U.S. authorities on the cases.

- In November, the Justice Department charged a government-owned Chinese company, Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co., and co-conspirators with stealing trade secrets from the U.S. semiconductor company Micron Technology. According to the indictment, the Chinese hoped to break into the market for a technology called dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, that's used in computer electronics.

"China, like any advanced nation, must decide whether it wants to be a trusted partner on the world stage or whether it wants to be known around the world as a dishonest regime running a corrupt economy founded on fraud, theft and strong-arm tactics," then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions said at the time.

The U.S. has barred Fujian Junhua from importing U.S. components, an action that threatens to put the Chinese company out of business.

- A year ago, a Chinese company, Sinovel Wind Group, was convicted in a federal court in Wisconsin of stealing technology -the electronic brains that run wind turbines - from its American partner, AMSC, formerly known at American Superconductor Inc.

"We believe that over 8,000 wind turbines - an estimated 20 percent of China's fleet - are now running on AMSC's stolen software," CEO Daniel McGahn told U.S. government investigators. "AMSC has not been compensated for its losses."

The damage from that betrayal was severe: American Superconductor stock lost $1 billion in value, and the company slashed 700 jobs, more than half its global workforce. It was, McGahn said, a case of "attempted corporate homicide."

- A Chinese businessman, Mo Hailong, who had been caught rummaging through an Iowa cornfield was sentenced to three years in prison in 2016 for pilfering trade secrets from U.S. seed corn companies. Five years earlier, DuPont Pioneer security guards had caught Mo and other Chinese men digging in a cornfield that contained test plots of new seed corn varieties. The other suspects fled the United States before they could be arrested.

Prosecutors said Mo had traveled to the Midwest while working for Kings Nower Seed, a subsidiary of the Chinese conglomerate Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group Co., to acquire corn seed and ship it to China so scientists could try to reproduce its genetic traits.

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Liedtke reported from San Francisco. AP Business Writer Joe McDonald in Beijing contributed to this report.

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Follow Paul Wiseman on Twitter at https://twitter.com/PaulWisemanAP
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 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, 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.

Survivor of sex abuse Francesco Zanardi, right, listens to Mark Rozzi, Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, during a press conference at the Italian Lower Chamber press hall in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. 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. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

"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.

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 haven't done anything," Zanardi said.

He and Rozzi embraced in a symbolic joining of forces to change that.

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Frances D'Emilio is on twitter at www.twitter.com/fdemilio.

From left, Italian radical party lawmaker Riccardo Maggi, Mark Rozzi, Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Italian survivor of sex abuse Francesco Zanardi, Anne Barrett Doyle, of Bishop Accountability, and Tim Lennon, of SNAP, attend a press conference at the Italian Lower Chamber press hall in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. 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. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Maine's highest court has upheld the murder conviction of a man who was sentenced for the 1980 death of a 16-year-old in a case that stymied investigators for decades.

Philip Scott Fournier was convicted and sentenced last year to 45 years for the killing of Joyce McLain in East Millinocket. Lawyers asked Maine's supreme court to toss the verdict. They argued that Fournier's trial was plagued with mistakes, such as the exclusion of evidence of an alternative suspect and exclusion of relevant testimony.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court published an opinion on Thursday that it is affirming the conviction of murder. The opinion states the court "did not abuse its discretion" in the way it handled evidence and testimony in the case. Fournier was indicted in 2016.
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) - Tens of thousands of people are rallying across Slovakia to mark the anniversary of the slayings of an investigative reporter and his fiancee.

Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova were shot dead in their home on Feb. 21 2018. Slovak authorities believe it was a contract killing linked to Kuciak's work. He was investigating possible government corruption and ties between politicians and Italian mobsters.

Four suspects have been charged but the mastermind is believed to be still at large.

The killings triggered major street protests and a political crisis that led to the dismissal of the national police chief and the government's collapse.

People at the rally on Thursday pressed for answers from the investigation.

Organizer Karolina Farska said: "We want to know the names of those who ordered this horrible crime."

People gather on a square during a rally to mark one year anniversary of the slayings of an investigative reporter and his fiancee, in Bratislava, Slovakia, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova were shot dead in their home on Feb. 21 last year. People used the anniversary on Thursday to press for the investigation to be completed. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

People place light tributes during a rally to mark one year anniversary of the slayings of an investigative reporter and his fiancee, in Bratislava, Slovakia, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova were shot dead in their home on Feb. 21 last year. People used the anniversary on Thursday to press for the investigation to be completed. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Candles sit in front of a photo of journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee during a rally to mark one year anniversary of the slayings of Kuciak and his fiancee, in Bratislava, Slovakia, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova were shot dead in their home on Feb. 21 last year. People used the anniversary on Thursday to press for the investigation to be completed. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

People gather on a square during a rally to mark one year anniversary of the slayings of an investigative reporter and his fiancee, in Bratislava, Slovakia, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova were shot dead in their home on Feb. 21 last year. People used the anniversary on Thursday to press for the investigation to be completed. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
URBANDALE, Iowa (AP) - Is the "ugly produce'" trend already reaching the end of its shelf life in supermarkets?

Walmart and Whole Foods in recent years tried selling some blemished fruits and vegetables at a discount, produce they said might otherwise be trashed because it's not quite the right size, shape or color. But the two chains and others quietly ended their tests, suggesting dented apples and undersized potatoes may not be all that appealing in stores where better looking fruits and vegetables are on display.

"Customers didn't accept it as much as we had hoped," said Mona Golub of Price Chopper, a grocery chain in the Northeast that also discontinued its offering of ugly produce.

Still, some stores and home delivery startups haven't given up on the idea of selling less-than-perfect produce to reduce food waste and say they're doing well.

At a Hy-Vee store in Iowa, a recent display of "Misfits" produce included packs of apples, lemons and oranges that were either too big or small, or otherwise substandard in appearance. A sign explained that "6 million pounds of fresh produce goes unused each year," though the packages didn't specify why the produce might have otherwise been thrown away.

"I like the cost savings and it is good to help and not throw so much away," said shopper Brian Tice, who bought a pack of small oranges.

In this Friday, Jan. 18, 2019, photo, Jamie Shae, of Grimes, Iowa, talks about the lemons she found in the imperfect produce section at the Hy-Vee grocery store in Urbandale, Iowa. She didn't realize there was anything special about the fruit. "I happened to see the bags of lemons," said Shae, who was in a rush and grabbed two bags. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Another shopper, Jamie Shae, said she didn't realize there was anything special about the fruit

"I happened to see the bags of lemons," said Shae, who was in a rush and grabbed two bags.

Shopper Joan Hitzel, who was browsing other produce nearby, said she thought the Misfits were a good idea given the tons of food that gets thrown away, but didn't plan to buy any that day.

The supplier of the Misfits produce to supermarkets, Robinson Fresh, said about 300 grocery locations still sell the fruits and vegetables, including the Hy-Vee stores. Kroger also said it still plans to introduce its "Pickuliar Picks" this spring.

But among other regional chains that have stopped carrying ugly produce are Meijer in the Midwest, Hannaford based in Maine and Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle, which cited "inconsistent customer interest" for pulling the plug on its "Produce with Personality."

Walmart no longer offers the damaged "I'm Perfect" apples it introduced in Florida in 2016.

The efforts channeled growing interest in reducing food waste. Government agencies say the best way to reduce waste is to stop producing too much food. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 31 percent of the 430 billion pounds of the nation's food supply goes uneaten. That does not include the fruits and vegetables that get tossed at the farm level, before foods reach stores.

For fruits and vegetables that don't meet supermarket standards, some may get processed for products like juices and some go to food banks. Startups delivering ugly produce say there's so much they're not taking from food banks.

Shopper preferences may not be the only challenge for ugly produce in supermarkets.

"Retailers really prize their produce sections," said Imperfect Produce CEO Ben Simon, whose company had partnered with Whole Foods on a test at the chain. Grocers might worry that cheaper produce will cannibalize sales of regular produce, or give off a bad image, he said.

Delivery startups say they're seeing interest in their services. But they are up against shoppers who inspect the fruits and vegetables they buy and those who worry about all the packaging.

"I've been food shopping online, and I started thinking about all the boxes, all that cardboard," said Nyasha Wilson, a New York City resident who carefully selects apples for ripeness at a farmer's market.

The companies say they might at least change shoppers' views on discarded produce. Evan Lutz, CEO of the startup Hungry Harvest, said most of it is just too small or slightly discolored.

"The vast majority that would go to waste isn't really that ugly," he said.

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Choi reported from New York.

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Follow Scott McFetridge at www.twitter.com/smcfetridge and Candice Choi at www.twitter.com/candicechoi .

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

In this Friday, Jan. 18, 2019, photo, lemons are seen on display in the imperfect produce section at the Hy-Vee grocery store in Urbandale, Iowa. Some stores and home delivery startups haven't given up on the idea of selling less-than-perfect produce to reduce food waste. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

In this Friday, Jan. 18, 2019, photo, assistant produce manager Dave Ruble stocks the imperfect produce section at the Hy-Vee grocery store in Urbandale, Iowa. After enjoying a brief spotlight in supermarket produce sections, blemished fruits and vegetables may already be getting tossed back in the trash. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

In this Friday, Jan. 18, 2019, photo, potatoes are seen on display in the imperfect produce section at the Hy-Vee grocery store in Urbandale, Iowa. Big U.S. companies like Walmart and Whole Foods in recent years tried selling some blemished fruits and vegetables at a discount, produce they said might otherwise be trashed because it's not quite the right size, shape or color. But the two chains and others quietly ended their tests, suggesting dented apples and undersized potatoes aren't all that appealing in stores where better looking fruits and vegetables are on display. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

In this Friday, Jan. 18, 2019, photo, a misfits vegetable display is seen in the imperfect produce section at the Hy-Vee grocery store in Urbandale, Iowa. The supplier of the Misfits produce to supermarkets, Robinson Fresh, said about 300 grocery locations still sell the fruits and vegetables, including the Hy-Vee stores. But other regional chains including Meijer in the Midwest and Price Chopper in the Northeast said they stopped carrying Misfits. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

In this Friday, Jan. 18, 2019, photo, Brian Tice, of Urbandale, Iowa, looks at the imperfect produce display at the Hy-Vee grocery store in Urbandale, Iowa. "I like the cost savings and it is good to help and not throw so much away," said Tice, who bought a pack of small oranges. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

FILE - This Nov. 13, 2018 file photo shows a carrot at Imperfect Produce in Severn, Md. The company delivers fruit and vegetables that have been rejected by grocery stores for not fitting cosmetic standards. (Joshua McKerrow/The Baltimore Sun via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Robert Mueller's 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 Mueller's 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 coordination between Trump associates and Russia's 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 Mueller's.

Some key questions:

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE INVESTIGATION ENDS?

Mueller will have to turn in a report of some kind when he's 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.

FILE - In this June 21, 2017, file photo, special counsel Robert Mueller departs after a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. Robert Mueller's Russia probe 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 last 20 months could end up disappointed. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

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 Trump's lawyers in the past two months. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller, is expected to leave the Justice Department in mid-March. That's a likely indication that Rosenstein expects the special counsel's 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 HE'LL 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 Mueller's 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 Mueller's 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?

Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has said the president's legal team wants to review any report before it's 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.

It's not clear whether the president's lawyers will get an advance look at Mueller's 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 Comey's public move.

"If you're not going to indict someone, you don't 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 they're not charged with a crime, we don't hold up that information for the public to look at. We either charge them with a crime or we don't."

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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 ABC's "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 country's 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 isn't confidential and should be immediately provided to them as well.

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Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - The Latest on the political crisis in Venezuela (all times local):

7:00 p.m.

A U.S. envoy is heading to Colombia as part of a mission to send food and other emergency supplies to neighboring Venezuela amid a deepening political and economic crisis there.

The State Department says Special Representative Elliott Abrams will lead a U.S. government delegation transporting humanitarian supplies from Florida to Colombia in military aircraft.

The delegation leaves Saturday from Homestead Air Reserve Base south of Miami.

The U.S. appointed Abrams as part of an effort to pressure embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down and turn over power to the opposition head of the National Assembly.

FILE - In this Dec. 5, 2018 file photo, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin greet each other outside the Novo-Ogaryovo residence in Moscow, Russia. Russia is an ally of the Venezuelan president, who is under challenge from opposition leader Juan Guaido in a resurgence of the country's political crisis after declaring presidential authority and vowing to oust the socialist leader. (Maxim Shemetov/Pool Photo via AP File)

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11:55 a.m.

A Russian deputy foreign minister has met with his Venezuelan counterpart as tensions roil the South American country.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and Venezuela's Ivan Gil met Thursday in Moscow in a session that the Russian Foreign Ministry said was held in a constructive atmosphere.

"The Russian side expressed solidarity with the friendly people of Venezuela, firm support for the policy of its government aimed at preventing destabilization in the country and supported the idea of holding a national dialogue to overcome the differences in Venezuelan society," the ministry said in a statement.

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1:15 p.m.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro is ordering the border with Brazil closed as opposition leaders plan to bring in foreign humanitarian aid from neighboring nations.

Maduro said on state television Thursday he's also considering a closure of Venezuela's border with Colombia.

Opposition leaders say they plan to mount caravans to bring aid into Venezuela from Colombia and Brazil. Maduro says the aid meant to undermine and overthrow him and says Venezuela needs no such shipments.
GREENBELT, Md. (AP) - 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 MSNBC's Chris Hayes and Joe Scarborough and CNN's 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.

This image provided by the U.S. 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. Prosecutors say that Hasson, a Coast Guard lieutenant is a "domestic terrorist" who wrote about biological attacks and had a hit list that included prominent Democrats and media figures. He is due in court on Feb. 21 in Maryland. Prosecutors say Hasson espoused extremist views for years. Court papers say Hasson described an "interesting idea" in a 2017 draft email that included "biological attacks followed by attack on food supply." (U.S. District Court via AP)

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. However, Hasson's 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.

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.

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. That's 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 didn't slack off. "He portrayed in a very professional manner. He was honorable. ... 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.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The Latest on labor unions' lawsuit challenging Wisconsin Republicans' lame-duck law (all times local):

2:30 p.m.

The Wisconsin Democratic Party is filing a federal lawsuit challenging Republican-authored lame-duck laws that limit Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul's powers.

The party filed the lawsuit Thursday in Madison. It alleges that the law violates the U.S. Constitution's guarantees of a republican form of government, free speech and equal protection.

The law prohibits Evers from ordering Kaul to withdraw Wisconsin from lawsuits and requires Kaul to get permission from lawmakers before agreeing settlements. It also shifts settlement awards from Kaul's office to the state's general fund.

A group of liberal-leaning organizations and a coalition of labor unions have filed separate lawsuits challenging the law in state court.

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11 a.m.

Wisconsin's Democratic attorney general says he won't defend a lame-duck law that Republicans passed to limit his powers in a lawsuit that labor unions filed this month challenging the measure.

Attorney General Josh Kaul's assistants filed court documents Feb. 15 saying his office has a substantial interest in the case's outcome and that this creates a conflict. The documents say Kaul's office believes the law is unconstitutional.

Republicans have already selected a private attorney.

The law prohibits Gov. Tony Evers from ordering Kaul to withdraw from lawsuits without the Legislature's permission and requires Kaul to get the Legislature's budget-writing committee's permission before agreeing settlements.

A coalition of labor unions filed a lawsuit this month challenging the law, naming Evers and Kaul as defendants. Evers filed an affidavit Wednesday saying he agrees with the unions.

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8:55 a.m.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers says a judge should suspend Republicans' lame duck law limiting his powers.

Labor unions filed a lawsuit this month challenging the law, which prohibits Evers from pulling the state out of lawsuits without legislative approval and requires state agencies to take down publications explaining how they interpret state law by July unless they send the documents through a public comment period. The unions want a temporary restraining order blocking the law.

The lawsuit names Evers as a defendant, but on Wednesday he filed an affidavit saying he supports the unions.

Evers argues the law violates separation of powers principles and hampers his ability to direct litigation. He also contends state agencies won't be able to update their publications by July 1 and many documents will disappear.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A Nebraska sheriff's 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 sheriff's 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 didn't 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, he'd had sex with two girls who may have been under the legal age of consent. He also said he'd had sex with women who'd slept heavily or passed out after drinking alcohol.

Bridgmon's boss, Sheriff Michael Vance, said Thursday that Bridgmon was given a polygraph test before his hiring in November 2015. He doesn't know what questions the two polygraph operators asked or what questions may have tripped up Bridgmon on the state patrol exam.

This undated booking photo released by Johnson County Sheriff's Office shows Nicholas Bridgmon. The Nebraska sheriff's deputy charged with sexually assaulting a woman more than a decade ago now is linked to at least five other victims before he joined the department in 2015. Court records tie Bridgmon, a Seward County deputy, to the additional women but he hasn't yet been charged in those cases. The investigation began when a polygraph test administered by another department he was seeking to join showed deception on his part. (Johnson County Sheriff's Office via AP)

A lie test isn't fail-proof, Vance said, but it can be useful in making hiring decisions.

"It helps, especially with people you don't 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 couldn't share what questions the patrol polygraph operator asked.

The court affidavit includes a woman's 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 kilometers) south of Omaha.
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Francis' high-stakes sex abuse prevention summit is meant to call attention to the crisis as a global problem that requires a global response.

His decision was sparked by the realization that in many parts of the world, bishops and religious superiors continue to deny or play down the severity of the scandal and protect their priests and the reputation of the church at all costs.

Much of the developing world has largely escaped a public explosion of the scandal, as have conflict zones and countries where Catholics are a minority.

But even majority Catholic countries have lagged. Just this week, the online resource BishopAccountability listed Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, Congo and a handful of other heavily Catholic countries as places where the church leadership has failed to respond adequately when priests rape and molest children.

Some countries where the scandal has played out visibly in recent years:

ARGENTINA

FILE - This Jan. 16, 2019 photo shows Oran city, Argentina. Pope Francis' high-stakes sex abuse prevention summit is meant to call attention to the crisis as a global problem that requires a global response. Francis' home country is beginning to see an eruption of the scandal, with some cases even implicating the pontiff himself. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, file)

Francis' home country is beginning to see an eruption of the scandal, with some cases even implicating the pontiff himself.

As Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Francis played a decisive and divisive role in Argentina's most famous abuse case, commissioning a four-volume, 2,000-plus page forensic study of the legal case against a convicted priest that concluded he was innocent, that his victims were lying and that the case never should have gone to trial.

Despite the study, Argentina's Supreme Court in 2017 upheld the conviction and 15-year prison sentence for the Rev. Giulio Grassi, a celebrity priest who ran homes for street children across Argentina.

More recently, an Argentine bishop close to Francis, Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, was placed under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct. Francis had brought Zanchetta to the Vatican and given him a high-ranking job after he resigned suddenly from his post in 2017. The Vatican insists no allegation of sexual abuse was lodged until last year, but local church officials said they raised the alarm about inappropriate behavior in 2015.

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AUSTRALIA

Australia's Catholic Church has a horrific abuse record, which in part prompted the government to launch a four-year national investigation into all forms of institutional abuse - Catholic and otherwise.

The landmark survey found 4,444 people were abused at more than 1,000 Catholic institutions between 1980 and 2015.

The Royal Commission investigation, Australia's highest form of inquiry, deduced that 7 percent of Catholic priests in Australia between 1950 and 2010 had been accused of sexually abusing children.

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CHILE

Francis discovered first-hand just how pervasive clerical sex abuse is - and how effectively it has been covered up by the Catholic hierarchy - when in January 2018 he branded as "calumny" accusations of cover-up against a Chilean bishop he had strongly defended.

After realizing his error, Francis did an about-face: He ordered a Vatican investigation, apologized in person to the victims he had discredited, and strong-armed the entire Chilean hierarchy to tender their resignations.

It wasn't enough. Chilean criminal prosecutors have staged a series of raids on the church's secret archives to seize documents. They have opened more than 100 investigations into abusive priests and have questioned the current and former archbishops of Santiago about allegations they covered up the crimes.

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FRANCE

One of France's most prominent cardinals, Philippe Barbarin, went on trial this year on charges he covered up for a known pedophile. Prosecutors, however, have asked for the case to be dropped since the statute of limitations has expired.

Barbarin and five other French defendants were accused of knowing that the Rev. Bernard Preynat sexually abused young scouts but didn't report him to police. Preynat, now in his 70s, has confessed in letters to victims' parents and meetings with his superiors, including Barbarin.

Barbarin, 67, has admitted to "mistakes" in the management and nominations of priests, but has denied any attempt to cover up the Preynat case.

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GERMANY

In September, the German Catholic Church released a devastating report that concluded at least 3,677 people were abused by clergy between 1946 and 2014.

More than half the victims were 13 or younger and most were boys. Every sixth case involved rape and at least 1,670 clergy were involved. Some 969 abuse victims were altar boys.

While the report was an effort at transparency, the researchers who compiled it complained they didn't have access to original files, and said there was evidence that some files were manipulated or destroyed.

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IRELAND

Judge-led investigations have produced four mammoth reports since 2005 into the church's wretched record in dealing with predator priests, helping to dismantle the Catholic Church's once- dominant influence in Irish society and politics.

The reports have detailed how tens of thousands of children suffered wide-ranging abuses in church-run workhouse-style institutions, how Irish bishops shuttled known pedophiles throughout Ireland and to unwitting parishes in the U.S. and Australia, and how Dublin bishops didn't tell police of any crimes until forced by the weight of lawsuits in the mid-1990s.

One of the final investigations, into the diocese of Cloyne, found that officials there were still shielding suspected pedophiles from the law until 2008 - more than 12 years after the Irish church unveiled a policy requiring the mandatory reporting of all suspected crimes to police.

That policy, however, was rejected by the Vatican in 1997 as undermining canon law - a position that, combined with the Vatican's refusal to cooperate in the Irish fact-finding probes, prompted the Cloyne inquiry to find the Vatican itself culpable in promoting the culture of cover-up.

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ITALY

Clergy sex abuse in the Vatican's backyard has long been a taboo subject, but that is beginning to change.

Earlier this month, Italy was taken to task for its failure to properly police the Catholic Church by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child. 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.

In Italy, there is no legal requirement for clergy to report suspected sexual abuse to police.

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UNITED STATES

After the abuse scandal erupted in Boston in 2002, U.S. bishops adopted the toughest anti-abuse norms in the Catholic Church, a "one strike and you're out" policy that removes any priest from ministry if he commits a single act of abuse that is admitted to or established.

The norms require dioceses to report allegations to police and have a lay-led review board to receive and assess claims.

The U.S. scandal was revived in June with revelations that one of the cardinals who drafted the 2002 policy, the retired archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, himself had been accused of molesting at least two minors as well as adult seminarians.

Just last week, Francis defrocked McCarrick after a Vatican tribunal found him guilty of misconduct with minors, adults and soliciting sex during confession. He hasn't commented on his conviction.

The scandal exploded anew in August with the Pennsylvania grand jury report finding some 300 priests sexually abused at least 1,000 children in six dioceses since the 1940s. Since then, prosecutors in more than a dozen U.S. states have announced similar investigations.

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VATICAN CITY

While only a few hundred people live in the world's tiniest sovereign state, Vatican City's criminal jurisdiction covers the Holy See's global diplomatic corps, and two priestly diplomats have faced trial in recent years.

In 2018, the Vatican tribunal convicted Monsignor Carlo Capella of possession and distribution of child pornography and sentenced him to five years in prison. Capella admitted to viewing the images during a period of "fragility" and interior crisis sparked by his job transfer to the Vatican Embassy in Washington.

In 2013, the Vatican charged its then-ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Monsignor Jozef Wesolowski, with sexually abusing young boys. Wesolowski was defrocked by the Vatican's church court, but he died before a criminal trial got underway.

Just last week, a third diplomat was placed under investigation in France for alleged "sexual aggression." The Vatican has acknowledged seeing reports of the investigation into its ambassador to France, Archbishop Luigi Ventura, but has not commented further.

The Vatican City State has no policy on its books to protect children or require reporting of sex crimes to police.

FILE - In this April 8, 2010 file photo a cross sits on top of a church in Berlin, Germany. In September 2018, the German Catholic Church released a devastating report that concluded at least 3,677 people were abused by clergy between 1946 and 2014. Pope Francis' high-stakes sex abuse prevention summit is meant to call attention to the crisis as a global problem that requires a global response. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

FILE - In this May 18, 2018 file photo, pigeons are fed in front of the Santiago Cathedral, in Santiago, Chile. Pope Francis' high-stakes sex abuse prevention summit is meant to call attention to the crisis as a global problem that requires a global response. Francis discovered first-hand just how pervasive clerical sex abuse is - and how effectively it has been covered up by the Catholic hierarchy - when in January 2018 he branded as "calumny" accusations of cover-up against a Chilean bishop he had strongly defended. (AP Photo/Luis Hidalgo, file)

FILE - In this Feb. 16, 2019 file photo, a group with Catholic Laity for Orthodox Bishops and Reform gathers to pray the rosary outside the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See in Washington. Pope Francis' high-stakes sex abuse prevention summit is meant to call attention to the crisis as a global problem that requires a global response. After the abuse scandal erupted in Boston in 2002, U.S. bishops adopted the toughest anti-abuse norms in the Catholic Church, a "one strike and you're out" policy that removes any priest from ministry if he commits a single act of abuse that is admitted to or established. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaste, file)

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2019 file photo, French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin waits for the start of his trial at the Lyon courthouse, central France. Pope Francis' high-stakes sex abuse prevention summit is meant to call attention to the crisis as a global problem that requires a global response. One of France's most prominent cardinals, Philippe Barbarin, went on trial earlier this year on charges he covered up for a known pedophile. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File)
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - 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 Dion's 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.

FILE - In this Aug. 27, 2014 frame grab from security video showing an armed robbery at a Wendy's restaurant in Omaha is displayed during a news conference at police headquarters in Omaha, Neb. The City of Omaha is on trial in the fatal shooting by police of a television crew member who worked on the law enforcement show "Cops." Sound technician Bryce Dion was killed in August 2014 when police responded to an armed robbery in an Omaha restaurant. A lawyer for Dion's family said Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019 that officers fired at robbery suspect Cortez Washington as many as 39 times. One of those bullets inadvertently hit Dion. (Omaha Police via AP)

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 Washington's weapon was a pellet gun.

The police department's 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
WASHINGTON (AP) - A criminal investigation into whether former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe made false statements during an internal probe into a news media disclosure remains open, his attorney said Thursday.

"We've had dealings with the U.S. attorney's office" in Washington that has been handling the case, said lawyer Michael Bromwich, who accompanied McCabe to a wide-ranging interview session with reporters. "We are in continuing communication with them."

The Justice Department inspector general last year referred for investigation and possible prosecution allegations that McCabe lied under oath when questioned about the source of information in a 2016 Wall Street Journal story about an FBI inquiry into the Clinton Foundation. McCabe has acknowledged that he permitted subordinates to speak to the reporter to correct what he said was a false narrative, but he has denied that he lied to investigators.

He has called his March 2018 firing, which arose from the false-statement allegations, politically motivated. Bromwich said Thursday that McCabe will soon sue the Justice Department over his firing.

McCabe is a frequent target of President Donald Trump's wrath and has just published a book, "The Threat: How The FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump," that is highly critical of the president.

The investigation into the news media disclosure exposed a rift between McCabe and former FBI Director James Comey.

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 told the inspector general's office that he told Comey after the article was published that he had allowed the officials to share particular information and that Comey responded that it was a "good" idea to rebut a one-sided narrative. But Comey is quoted in the report as saying McCabe never told him he had approved sharing details of the call and, in fact, had left him with the opposite impression.

Asked about his current relationship with Comey, McCabe replied tersely, "We don't really have a relationship now."

McCabe also defended the FBI's handling of the early steps of the Russia investigation, including the 2016 decision to seek a secret warrant to monitor the communications of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

McCabe denied having ever told Congress that the warrant would not have been sought without information from a dossier compiled by a former British spy, Christopher Steele, who was investigating potential ties between Trump and Russia. He called that claim, contained in a House Republican memo issued last year, a "fundamental misrepresentation" of what he had said privately to the committee.

"I'm confident that any review of the process that we went through to get that (warrant) that's been publicly released will conclude that the process was entirely appropriate and lawful, and we did the work we should have done," McCabe said.

He also repeated his assertion that the FBI had good cause to investigate, after Comey's firing by Trump in May 2017, whether Trump was working, wittingly or not, as a Russian agent. And he said he believed that special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, which so far has produced several dozen criminal charges, has validated the FBI's early concerns about the Trump campaign and Russia.

"It's a remarkable investigation, and it's one that's produced tangible meaningful results," McCabe said. "And I think that alone justifies and validates certainly our initial fears and concerns, and I think it validates the process that Mueller and his team have gone through to get here."
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - 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 favor to abolish laws that criminalize homosexual behavior.

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 society's 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.

FILE-- In this file photo of Thursday Feb.22, 2018. Members of the public fill the courtroom as the High Court in Kenya begins hearing arguments in a case challenging parts of the penal code seen as targeting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, at the High Court in Nairobi, Kenya. Extortion, human rights violations ranging from assaults, physical, sexual and verbal, denial of access to state services, forceful evictions, harassment, being disowned by family members among other challenges, may become a thing of the past for the Kenyan gay community if a court rules on Friday Feb. 22, 2019, in their favour to abolish laws that criminalize homosexual behaviour.(AP Photo/Ben Curtis-File)

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 percent" 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 favor of the petitions over LGTBQ rights.

Kenyan judges in April 2015 ordered a government agency to register a human rights group representing the country's 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 Kenya's 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."

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."
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The Wisconsin Democratic Party filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging a lame-duck law Republicans passed to limit Gov. Tony Evers' powers is meant to retaliate against his supporters in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

The party filed the lawsuit in federal court in Madison. The action is the fourth legal challenge to the lame-duck measure since former Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed it into law in December, including a union lawsuit that Evers joined.

"(The law) was bald-faced undermining of the incoming administration," the Democratic Party's chairwoman, Martha Laning, told reporters on a conference call. "The will of the people is the law of the land and it's about time Republicans start respecting that."

Assembly Republican Speaker Robin Vos said during a luncheon in Madison that he wasn't surprised Democrats were filing another lawsuit challenging the law.

"I am confident when a court, a fair court, has an opportunity to look at it we are going to win," Vos said.

Republican lawmakers passed the law in a messy all-night session in December. The measure prohibts Evers from ordering Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul to withdraw Wisconsin from lawsuits without legislative permission, a move designed to ensure Evers can't yank the state out of a multistate lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act.

FILE- In this Jan. 22, 2019, file photo Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers addresses a joint session of the Legislature in the Assembly chambers during the Governor's State of the State speech at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis. The Democratic Governor says a judge should suspend Republicans' lame duck law limiting his powers. Labor unions filed a lawsuit this month challenging the law, which prohibits Evers from pulling the state out of lawsuits without legislative approval and requires state agencies to take down publications explaining how they interpret state law by July unless they send the documents through a public comment period. (AP Photo/Andy Manis, File)

The law also prohibits Kaul from settling lawsuits without legislative approval and shifts money won in settlements from Kaul's office to the state's general fund. It also allows legislators to intervene in cases using their own attorneys, unshackling GOP lawmakers from any Kaul stances they don't approve.

Other provisions limit the window for early in-person voting and require state agencies to take down publications explaining state law by July unless they send all the documents through a new process that includes a public comment period.

The new lawsuit names Democratic campaign workers as well as a voter who supported Evers and Kaul as plaintiffs. The filing names as defendants a host of GOP lawmakers, including Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, as well Evers and Kaul.

The lawsuit alleges the lame-duck law violates the U.S. Constitution's free speech and equal protection guarantees. The statutes amount to retaliation against the Democratic workers and voters for their political viewpoint, eliminating their ability to enact policies they support through Evers and Kaul and diluting their votes, the filing argues.

"(The law's) discriminatory terms and application serve no compelling, content-neutral government interest," the lawsuit said.

Five labor unions, including the Service Employees International Union, and a group of liberal-leaning organizations led by the League of Women Voters filed separate lawsuits challenging the law in state court last month.

The unions argue that the law steals power from the executive branch and transfers it to the Legislature in violation of the separation of powers doctrine. They also contend that state agencies won't be able to update their guidance documents by July 1, resulting in tens of thousands of publications explaining everything from how the Division of Motor Vehicles works to forms laying out child support eligibility. The liberal groups allege the Legislature improperly convened to pass the law.

Evers and Kaul are named as defendants in each of those lawsuits. Evers on Wednesday filed an affidavit in the union lawsuit saying he agrees with their position and calling the law a "transparent and rushed attempt to stymie the incoming administrations." The governor hasn't taken a position yet on the liberal groups' lawsuit.

Kaul has declined to defend the state in both lawsuits. He says his office has a substantial interest in the outcome and that there's a conflict if he represents the law's Republican authors. His spokeswoman, Gillian Drummond, didn't immediately respond to an email asking if he'll take the same position in the Democratic Party's lawsuit.

Republicans have hired their own attorneys to defend them in the lawsuits.

Liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now persuaded U.S. District Judge James Peterson in January to strike down sections of the lame-duck law that restricted early in-person voting. The ruling came as part of a larger lawsuit challenging Republican-authored voting laws. The case is currently before the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

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Associated Press writer Scott Bauer contributed to this report.

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Follow Todd Richmond on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trichmond1 .

Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sbauerAP .
CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) - Moldova's president said Thursday the former Soviet republic needs good relations with Russia, amid uncertainty about the future of the European Union.

President Igor Dodon said in an interview with The Associated Press that Moldova depends on Moscow for energy, exports and to solve a frozen conflict in its pro-Russian breakaway republic of Trans-Dniester, where Russia has 1,000 troops and 500 peacekeepers stationed.

Russian officials say they need to stay there to ensure peace and protect huge Soviet-era ammunition depots located in the area, but Moldova's government has called them a destabilizing presence.

Speaking ahead of parliamentary elections on Sunday, Dodon, a government opponent, argued Moldova needed "an open market for our products.... we need energy resources (and), we have more than 500,000 citizens," in Russia, he said, speculating that the figure was even higher. Russian official statistics however, put the figure much lower.

Relations with Russia deteriorated after Moldova signed an association agreement with the EU in 2014. Russia then placed an embargo on some Moldovan goods.

Located between Romania and Ukraine, Moldova, with a population of 3.5 million, is one of Europe's poorest countries. Its workers sent home $1.3 billion last year, or some 12 percent of the gross domestic product, a huge boost to the economy.

Moldova's President Igor Dodon listens to a question during an interview with the Associated Press in Chisinau, Moldova, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Dodon says the former Soviet republic needs good relations with Russia, amid uncertainty about the future of the European Union. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

The country currently gets about 95 percent of its natural gas from Russia, although, in an effort to lessen its dependence, last year it signed a deal with a Romanian gas transporter to supply it with Romanian gas.

While saying he also wanted ties with the EU - now the market for 70 percent of Moldovan exports- Dodon, who was elected in 2016, noted uncertainty about the bloc's future and development.

"I don't know what'll happen to the EU in 10 to 15 years from now," he told the AP. "Why should we have objectives and make promises?" he said, pointing to Britain's scheduled departure from the 28-nation bloc and anti-European sentiments in some EU member states.

Dodon's former Socialists' Party, the leading opposition group, is expected to win the most votes in Sunday's ballot, amid anger with the nominally pro-European government over endemic corruption and falling living standards.

Dodon, 44, warned about possible unrest if elections were rigged. He pointed a finger at Vladimir Plahotniuc, leader of the Democratic Party- the main group in the ruling coalition- claiming the party "never hid that it's them that in fact control all the state institutions," excluding the presidential office.

The race is a three-way contest between Dodon's Socialists, the Democratic Party, and the pro-EU opposition ACUM, a coalition led by Former Education Minister Maia Sandu and protest leader Andrei Nastase.

The country has enjoyed growth thanks to investment and remittances since a 2014 crisis, when $1 billion was plundered from three banks ahead of parliamentary elections. Last year, however, the EU froze aid amid allegations of fraud in the Chisinau mayoral election.

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Alison Mutler in Bucharest, Romania contributed to this report.

Moldova's President Igor Dodon listens to a question during an interview with the Associated Press in Chisinau, Moldova, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Dodon says the former Soviet republic needs good relations with Russia, amid uncertainty about the future of the European Union. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

A man walks by electoral posters advertising the candidates of the the Show party, led by Israeli born Modovan businessman Ilan Shor, in Chisinau, Moldova, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, ahead of parliamentary elections taking place on Feb. 24. Moldova's president says the former Soviet republic needs good relations with Russia, amid uncertainty about the future of the European Union. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A man rides a bicycle by electoral posters advertising the Communist party in Chisinau, Moldova, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, ahead of parliamentary elections taking place on Feb. 24. Moldova's president says the former Soviet republic needs good relations with Russia, amid uncertainty about the future of the European Union. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A woman pushes a baby stroller by electoral posters advertising the candidates of the Socialists' Party, in Chisinau, Moldova, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, ahead of parliamentary elections taking place on Feb. 24. Moldova's president says the former Soviet republic needs good relations with Russia, amid uncertainty about the future of the European Union. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A man walks by electoral posters advertising the candidates of the Socialists' Party, in Chisinau, Moldova, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, ahead of parliamentary elections taking place on Feb. 24. Moldova's president says the former Soviet republic needs good relations with Russia, amid uncertainty about the future of the European Union.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

A girl walks by electoral posters advertising the candidates of the Socialists' Party in Chisinau, Moldova, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, ahead of parliamentary elections taking place on Feb. 24. Moldova's president says the former Soviet republic needs good relations with Russia, amid uncertainty about the future of the European Union. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) - A suburban Kansas City 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 (26 kilograms) and suffering from open bed sores, according to court records.

Raymond McManness, 51, of Olathe, Kansas, 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. Zach Thomas, an attorney for McManness, declined to comment Thursday.

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.

This Jan 24, 2019 booking photo released by Johnson County Sheriff's Office shows Raymond McManness. Court records say the suburban Kansas City man told investigators he didn't seek medical care for his ailing mother before she died weighing just 58 pounds and suffering from open bed sores. The Kansas City Star reports that the records were released Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, in the case against 51-year-old McManness, of Olathe, Kan. (Johnson County Sheriff's Office via AP)

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.

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Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The Latest on a hearing outlining a ballot fraud investigation in an undeclared North Carolina congressional race for which a winner hasn't been finalized (all times local):

4:05 p.m.

North Carolina's elections board has ordered a new election in the nation's 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 November's 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 absentee-ballot irregularities.

Mark Harris, Republican candidate in North Carolina's 9th congressional race, makes a statement before the state board of elections calling for a new election during the fourth day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th congressional district voting irregularities investigation Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

Harris said Thursday during the hearing that he thought a new election should be called.

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2:55 p.m.

The Republican in the country's last undecided congressional race is ending his bid to be declared a winner and calling for a new election.

Mark Harris told the state's elections board Thursday that he was ending his fight to be declared the winner in the 9th congressional district.

Harris said he was still struggling from health problems caused by a blood infection that landed him in a hospital and led to two strokes. Harris said he was suffering from confusion but that he could see there were substantial doubts about fairness and that a new election is necessary.

Harris made the surprising reversal after his lawyers argued in recent legal filings to the board that he should be certified the winner.

Harris held a slim lead over Democrat Dan McCready after the election in November. But the state refused to certify the election as allegations of ballot fraud began to surface.

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12 p.m.

The Republican claiming victory in the country's last undecided congressional election says he believed the word of a local political operative that his incredible vote-collecting results were legal despite multiple warnings from the candidate's son.

Mark Harris said Thursday he never independently confirmed claims by Leslie McCrae Dowless and Bladen County officials who'd used his services that Dowless' workers never touched ballots.

Harris told a special state elections board hearing he took Dowless' word despite data his son provided showing that probably wasn't true.

Harris says he also never checked how consultants were managing and paying Dowless. Harris said he was shocked to learn his campaign paid Dowless about $115,000 without requiring expense receipts or proof that work was performed.

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10:30 a.m.

A lawyer for the Republican narrowly leading the country's last undecided congressional election admits documents weren't turned over to the elections board until testimony showing the GOP candidate had multiple warnings a political operative might be illegally manipulating ballots.

GOP candidate Mark Harris' campaign attorney told North Carolina's elections board Thursday that communications involving the campaign manager and other key staffers weren't reviewed when they received a subpoena from the board.

The elections board could declare Harris the 9th congressional district winner or order a new election.

A new text message reveals Harris wanted the political operative at the core of ballot fraud allegations because he produced results. The March 2017 message from Harris to a political ally in rural Bladen County says Harris wanted to meet Leslie McCrae Dowless because of the incredible results he delivered for a GOP rival the year before.

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1:15 a.m.

The Republican narrowly leading the country's last undecided congressional election wants North Carolina elections officials to overlook ballot manipulation in a rural county and declare him the winner. But Mark Harris will have to overcome testimony from a compelling witness - his son.

The GOP congressional candidate is expected to tell the state elections board on Thursday that it should certify his November victory and send him to Washington. Democrat Dan McCready's lawyers contend the race was tainted and a new election should be ordered.

Harris has said he was surprised by the allegations that his campaign used a Bladen County political operative who collected ballots by the bundle and turned them in when he wanted. But the candidate's son testified Wednesday he'd warned his father about Dowless' operation since mid-2016.

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This story has been corrected for the item that moved at 10:30 - it incorrectly described a communication as an email. It was a text message.

Mark Harris, Republican candidate in North Carolina's 9th Congressional race, prepares to testify during the fourth day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

Kim Westbrook Strach, executive director of the Bipartisan State Board of Elections & Ethics Enforcement, questions Mark Harris during the fourth day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th congressional district voting irregularities investigation Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

Mark Harris, Republican candidate in North Carolina's 9th Congressional race, prepares to testify during the fourth day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)
MILAN (AP) - Fendi paid understated tribute Thursday to Karl Lagerfeld, who died this week and was the Rome-based fashion house's creative director for 54 years.

The fashion house said in notes for its Milan Fashion Week show that the Fall/Winter 2019-2020 collection "is the final collection designed by Karl Lagerfeld, representing a lifetime of dedication and creation from 1965 until today."

Reproductions of five of Lagerfeld's sketches accompanied the notes, summing up the looks. A small card came printed with his signature and the Fendi "F'' that had a heart forming the cross-stroke. The date of the designer's death was on the back: 19-02-2019.

A video recorded before his death showed Lagerfeld being asked to draw himself as he appeared on his first day at Fendi.

"Well, that's prehistoric," the designer said. "In the 1960s, we didn't hold back."

His personal Fendi preview look: a Cerruti hat over his long hair, dark sunglasses, a printed Lavalliere tie, a yellow-and-red English hunting jacket in Scottish tweed, French-style culottes and a bag that he had found in Milan.

A video presentation showing the late designer Karl Lagerfeld and his association with Fendi is shown after the Fendi women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

"That was my style. Disreputable," the late designer told the camera in French.

Other highlights from the second day of Milan Fashion Week:

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LAGERFELD'S FENDI FINALE

Karl Lagerfeld's grand finale at Fendi emulated the designer's signature style, with striking high collars and the models wearing ponytails at the nape.

The opening look featured a huge bow tie and a double-breasted jacket with white accents, worn with a mini-skirt showing off Fendi tights. That look was elaborated on to show the same jacket as a long overcoat, then paired with wide-legged pleated trousers with white stripe accents. A neat, point-collared shirt buttoned to the top unified the outfits. .

A series of wide-pleated skirts in shiny finishes or sheers, as well as structured dresses with pagoda shoulders, pointy collars and cinched waists feminized the collection.

Coats were luxurious furs with the elegant double-F logo in cursive - known as Lagerfeld's curling "Karligraphy" - and laser-cut leather with zippers that opened the sleeves and the back. Shiny leather coats were shaped like capes and had open-zip arms and fur collars.

Beyond neutral tones, Lagerfeld included flashes of daffodil yellow, seafoam green and tangerine. The looks were finished with fur riding caps, the Fendi Peekaboo bag with perforated detailing or the updated Baguette bag with a multi-strap harness.

Gigi Hadid closed the show in a diaphanous mango dress with a snug Fendi-logoed bodysuit. A big bow floated on the back.

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FENDI'S PUBLIC FAREWELL

Silvia Venturini Fendi, who was a child when Lagerfeld joined Fendi and revolutionized fur at her family's fashion house, thanked the fashion crowd and took a bow, then clenched her fists and stepped backstage.

A screen descended: Backstage was kept private.

Venturini Fendi in a note said the bond between Lagerfeld and Fendi "is fashion's longest love story."

"When we called just a few days before the show, his only thoughts were on the richness and the beauty of the collection," she wrote. "It's a true testament to his character. He shall be so missed."

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MAX MARA CELEBRATES THE POLITICS OF GLAMOR

Max Mara dedicated its collection to the "boss lady," a nod to the women who have strode to power in their luxury outerwear and business attire.

The show title, "the politics of glamor," was also a not-so-hidden reference to the brick-red "Fire Coat" that U.S. House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi wore to a White House showdown with President Donald Trump. A flurry of social media attention prompted the fashion house to reissue the high-neck coat.

Most of the looks in the latest collection for next fall and winter were for serious day dressing, with a focus on short skirts or longer versions that appeared cut from trousers, but with deep slits to show off knee-high, faux croc boots.

Outwear varied from ankle-length sleeveless coats with oversized pockets and to poncho coats with furry collars. Zips and pockets gave a sense of utility.

Max Mara punctuated its trademark neutral monotones with trios of colors and prints, opening the show with identical mini-skirt, business looks in an emerald green, sky blue and canary yellow. The outfits were topped with large, enveloping alpaca cardigans.

Wools mixed with technical fabrics, leathers and fur for contemporary styling. Neutral monotones in ivory, camel and caramel toast gave way to animal prints and heritage prints with heart motifs.

Accessories included an innovative bag that draped around the neck like a scarf and incorporated two compartments on each end, or a small clutch attached to the body with a harness.

Eva Herzigova closed the show with a black mini with the slightest golden sheen, worn with a black granite textured coat that was mined from the depths of fashion. Kaia Gerber rocked a layered off-white look with a rich, furry overcoat and single-button suit coat.

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EMPORIO ARMANI FOR EVERY AGE

Emporio Armani is Giorgio Armani's line for youthful dressers, but the designer sent an older model down the runway to emphasize that age is not the defining measure.

For this collection, shapely legs certainly were. The looks included shorts that looked like skirts, or mini dresses with swinging hemlines. Armani included a low kitten heel on booties or knee-high evening sock boots, because "the low heel gave a sense of freedom."

He said a faux crocodile jacket could give an older woman an edgier touch at a price tag not out of this world.

The Emporio Armani freestyle styling included a sweatshirt with a new gold-embossed EA logo pairs with fluid, elegant trousers. An off-shoulder jumpsuit with a deconstructed jacket top projected a day-to-evening derring-do. Pretty dresses were paired with latex-effect leggings.

For Armani, the limits of fashion are defined by "good taste."

The collection included a series of red looks, perhaps a tribute to the growing Chinese market.

Red, along with black and white, "resets everything you see around, that is so much, too much," Armani said.

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PRADA EXPLORES LOVE AND WAR

Prada's collection for next fall and winter explores the dichotomy between war and romance, the tug between better and baser impulses.

The collection veers from military looks in Loden textiles with combat boots but softened with furry backpacks to romantic styles with dresses strewn with floral appliques or layered with lace accents.

"It is about romance, but romance and fear," the designer said after the show. "In the sense that the two forces I feel at the moment are fear and danger, but at the same time romance is the solution. So these are pieces of love stories, introducing good in a world that has a lot of bad.

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THE PRICE IS RIGHT AT MOSCHINO

Jeremy Scott staged a tongue-in-cheek Moschino game show to show off his collection of slinky dresses and gold lame on women with 1970s bouffants.

The collection fully embraced the early television era, with handbags shaped as TV dinners, toothpaste tubes and champagne bottles, reflecting the reality of home cuisine, a major TV-era advertising force and the millionaire dreams of the television audience.

Models shimmied up against a red Ferrari, a grandfather clock, kitchen appliances and a La-Z-Boy recliner -- the latter of which boasted price tags below most present-day luxury brand apparel.

Scott basked in the irony, taking a star turn under a shower of big gold confetti.

EDS NOTE: NUDITY - Models Bella Hadid, left, and Gigi Hadid, second from left, wear creations as part of the Fendi women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A video presentation showing the late designer Karl Lagerfeld and his association with Fendi is shown after the Fendi women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Models wear creations as part of the Fendi women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Fendi women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Fendi women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Fendi women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Fendi women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Fendi women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Fendi women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Fendi women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Fendi women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Fendi women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Model Gigi Hadid wears a creation as part of the Fendi women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Model Kaia Gerber wears a creation as part of the Fendi women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Model Gigi Hadid wears a creation as part of the Fendi women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Model Gigi Hadid wears a creation as part of the Fendi women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

EDS NOTE: NUDITY - Model Bella Hadid wears a creation as part of the Fendi women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

EDS NOTE: NUDITY - Model Bella Hadid wears a creation as part of the Fendi women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Model Bella Hadid wears a creation as part of the Max Mara women's Fall-Winter 2019-20 collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Model Eva Herzigova wears a creation as part of the Max Mara women's Fall-Winter 2019-20 collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Max Mara women's Fall-Winter 2019-20 collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Max Mara women's Fall-Winter 2019-20 collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Max Mara women's Fall-Winter 2019-20 collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Max Mara women's Fall-Winter 2019-20 collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Model Bella Hadid wears a creation as part of the Max Mara women's Fall-Winter 2019-20 collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Max Mara women's Fall-Winter 2019-20 collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Model Grace Elizabeth wears a creation as part of the Max Mara women's Fall-Winter 2019-20 collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Model Bella Hadid wears a creation as part of the Max Mara women's Fall-Winter 2019-20 collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Model Eva Herzigova wears a creation as part of the Max Mara women's Fall-Winter 2019-20 collection, unveiled during the Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Designer Giorgio Armani, centre, poses with models after the Emporio Armani women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Emporio Armani women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Emporio Armani women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Emporio Armani women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Emporio Armani women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Emporio Armani women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Emporio Armani women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Emporio Armani women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Emporio Armani women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Emporio Armani women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Emporio Armani women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Emporio Armani women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Models wear creations as part of the Emporio Armani women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Designer Giorgio Armani, centre, poses with models after the Emporio Armani women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Emporio Armani women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Models wear creations as part of the Prada women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Model Cara Delevingne wears a creation as part of the Prada women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Models wear creations as part of the Prada women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Model Cara Delevingne wears a creation as part of the Prada women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A model wears a creation as part of the Prada women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Models wear creations as part of the Moschino women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Models wear creations as part of the Moschino women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Moschino women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Models wear creations as part of the Moschino women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Models wear creations as part of the Moschino women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Models wear creations as part of the Moschino women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Models wear creations as part of the Moschino women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Model Kaia Gerber wears a creation as part of the Moschino women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Models wear creations as part of the Moschino women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Moschino women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Moschino women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Models wear creations as part of the Moschino women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Moschino women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Moschino women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Moschino women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A model wears a creation as part of the Moschino women's Fall-Winter 2019-2020 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb.21, 2019. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - The Latest on a teachers' strike in Oakland, California (all times local):

12:35 p.m.

Thousands of teachers, parents and students holding picket signs are rallying outside City Hall in Oakland, California, on the first day of a teachers' strike.

Picketers chanted "We are Oakland!" and some held signs saying "Kids Deserve Better."

Forty-nine-year-old Laravian Battle, a math teacher at Soujourner Truth alternative high school was among Thursday's protesters. She was named Oakland Unified's Teacher of the Year in 2016-17.

Battle blamed district mismanagement for budget cuts that have affected schools.

Teacher Estefana Ramos yells with teachers, parents and supporters outside of Manzanita Community School in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Teachers in Oakland, California, went on strike Thursday in the country's latest walkout by educators over classroom conditions and pay. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Bret Harte Middle School math teacher Lakiesha Golden, who is 49, says Oakland teachers work in one of the most challenging districts with the lowest pay.

District spokesman John Sasaki says officials boosted their offer to teachers on Wednesday and are waiting for a counteroffer from the union.

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11:05 a.m.

An Oakland Unified School District spokesman says negotiations with striking teachers will resume Friday and that school administrators hope to get a counter proposal from the union.

Spokesman John Sasaki says the district on Wednesday increased its proposal to a 7-percent raise over four years and a one-time 1.5 percent bonus. Its previous offer was 5 percent over 3 years.

He says it's now up to the teachers union to respond.

Sasaki says the district is already making cuts worth $22 million and that its financial situation makes it difficult "to make any more movement."

The city's 3,000 teachers went on strike Thursday to demand a 12-percent retroactive raise covering 2017 to 2020.

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10:05 a.m.

Oakland kindergarten teacher Kaki Blackburn says she is striking to demand a smaller class size and higher wages. Teachers went on strike Thursday seeking higher wages and smaller classes.

They are the latest in the U.S. to go on strike in recent months. Teachers in West Virginia, Denver and Los Angeles have staged walkouts over the last year.

Blackburn says her class has 29 children and that on the first day of school, there weren't enough desks for all the kids.

Blackburn was one of dozens of teachers outside Manzanita Community School, an elementary school, carrying signs saying "On strike For a Living Wage."

Manzanita Principal Eyana Spencer says 14 of the school's 450 students turned up for school Thursday.

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8:05 a.m.

Teachers in Oakland, California, have gone on strike demanding smaller class sizes and a 12 percent retroactive raise.

They are the latest in the U.S. to go on strike in recent months. Teachers in West Virginia, Denver and Los Angeles have staged walkouts over the last year.

The city's 3,000 teachers are demanding a 12 percent retroactive raise covering 2017 to 2020 to compensate for what they say are among the lowest salaries for public school teachers in the expensive San Francisco Bay Area.

They also want the district to hire more counselors to support students and more full-time nurses.

The walkout is expected to affect 36,000 students at 86 schools.

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7:40 a.m.

The leader of the union representing Oakland's teachers says teachers are being forced to go on strike because administrators refused to listen to their demands for two years.

Oakland Education Association president Keith Brown spoke Thursday ahead of a strike set to start at 8 a.m.

Brown says the union has been negotiating with the school district "to make our students a priority over outside consultants and central office administrators."

He adds "it's time for them to listen to the voices of the community."

The teachers want smaller class sizes, more counselors and full-time nurses, and a 12 percent retroactive raise.

Oakland educators will be the latest in the nation to go on strike. Teachers in West Virginia, Denver and Los Angeles have gone on strike in the last year.

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7 a.m.

Teachers are picketing in Oakland, California ahead of the country's latest strike by educators over classroom conditions and pay.

About 40 teachers are walking in a circle outside Oakland Tech High School holding green signs that read "On Strike Against Unfair Labor Practices."

The teachers are demanding a 12 percent raise and smaller class sizes.

The Oakland Educators Association called for the strike Wednesday after rejecting a proposal from the district for a 7 percent raise over four years and a one-time 1.5 percent bonus.

The walkout expected to start when school bells ring at 8 a.m. will affect 36,000 students at 86 schools.

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12 a.m.

Teachers in Oakland, California, plan to raise picket signs Thursday for the country's latest strike by educators over classroom conditions and pay.

The city's 3,000 teachers are demanding a 12 percent retroactive raise covering 2017 to 2020 to compensate for what they say are among the lowest salaries for public school teachers in the exorbitantly expensive San Francisco Bay Area.

They also want the district to hire more counselors to support students and more full-time nurses.

The walkout is expected to affect 36,000 students at 86 schools.

The Oakland Educators Association called for the strike Wednesday after rejecting a proposal from the district for a 7 percent raise over four years and a one-time 1.5 percent bonus.

Roxana De La O Cortez, teacher at Manzanita SEED Elementary School, marches with other teachers and supporters in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Teachers in Oakland went on strike Thursday in the country's latest walkout by educators over classroom conditions and pay. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Garrick Ruiz, union member with United Teachers of Los Angeles, center, yells while teachers and supporters march outside of Manzanita Community School in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Teachers in Oakland went on strike Thursday in the country's latest walkout by educators over classroom conditions and pay. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Oakland Education Association President Keith Brown, center left, yells after speaking outside of Manzanita Community School in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Teachers in Oakland, California, went on strike Thursday in the country's latest walkout by educators over classroom conditions and pay. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Alexis Ozuna, teacher at Manzanita Community School, marches with other teachers and supporters in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Teachers in Oakland, California, went on strike Thursday in the country's latest walkout by educators over classroom conditions and pay. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., center, marches with Oakland Education Association President Keith Brown, center right, along with teachers and supporters outside of Manzanita Community School in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Teachers in Oakland, California, went on strike Thursday in the country's latest walkout by educators over classroom conditions and pay. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Esperanza Martinez, union member with United Teachers of Los Angeles, gestures while teachers and supporters march outside of Manzanita Community School in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Teachers in Oakland, California, went on strike Thursday in the country's latest walkout by educators over classroom conditions and pay. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Teachers and supporters march outside of Manzanita Community School in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Teachers in Oakland, California, went on strike Thursday in the country's latest walkout by educators over classroom conditions and pay. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Teachers, parents and supporters march outside of Manzanita Community School in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Teachers in Oakland, California, went on strike Thursday in the country's latest walkout by educators over classroom conditions and pay. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia voters could soon get new electronic touchscreen voting machines that print a paper ballot under fast-moving legislation approved Thursday by a House subcommittee and then by the full committee.

The full committee vote split 13 to 6 along party lines, with Republicans in support.

Nearly seven hours of public testimony preceding the votes was at times raucous, with a packed room of citizens and activists often cheering or hissing at speakers, and the chairman pausing proceedings several times.

The proposal comes three months after a highly contentious race for Georgia governor between Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, the winner. Issues including long voter lines, reports of malfunctioning voting machines, and high rates of rejected absentee ballots shook voter confidence and cast national attention on the race.

The bill's author, Republican state Rep. Barry Fleming of Harlem, said he believed electronic ballot markers better captured voter intent, citing the possibility of stray marks throwing off tabulation of hand-marked paper ballots. Fleming also said electronic ballot markers are the only real way to accommodate all Georgians, including disabled voters, with one system.

But cybersecurity experts, voting integrity activists and many concerned citizens favor hand-marked paper ballots.

FILE- This May 22, 2018 file photo, shows a voter access card inserted in a voting reader during voting in the Georgia primary in Kennesaw, Ga. Voters in Georgia could soon get new electronic touchscreen voting machines that print a paper ballot under legislation approved by a House subcommittee Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. (AP Photo Mike Stewart, File)

Systems using electronic ballot markers include touchscreen computers where voters make their selections, then print a paper ballot that's counted after being scanned. Setups from different vendors vary, but voter selections can either be spelled out in human-readable form, encoded in a barcode or both.

Hand-marked paper ballots are simply ballots filled out with pen on paper.

Initial cost estimates approach $150 million for electronic ballot markers, the same amount included in bond funding in Kemp's 2020 budget proposal. Initial costs for hand-marked paper ballots approach $30 million.

Georgia Tech computing professor Richard DeMillo testified Wednesday that hand-marked paper ballots were the most secure option.

DeMillo, along with 23 other cybersecurity experts around the country, sent a letter to lawmakers urging for hand-marked paper ballots in January. He disputed Fleming's claim that electronic ballot markers better capture voter intent.

"What we're concerned with is that some unobservable piece of technology will get between ... an intention in the voter's mind and the indelible transfer of that intention to a piece of paper. That is where the hack occurs," DeMillo said. "A hand marked paper ballot imposes no intermediate technology. What you see is literally the best evidence of voter intent."

Election officials from two of Georgia's most populous counties, Fulton and Cobb in the Atlanta metro area - favor electronic ballot markers.

Fulton County board of elections director Richard Barron and Cobb County board of elections director Janine Eveler said recently that electronic ballot markers would be the easiest and most cost effective for counties to administer, citing printing and storage costs of a paper ballot system.

Some propoponents of hand-marked paper ballots project they would actually save counties on ongoing operating costs.

The wide-ranging legislation also would tweak the state's strict standard for verifying voter registrations and clarify when polling places can be closed or moved, measures proposed earlier by Democrats.

During Thursday's meeting of the full House Governmental affairs committee, House minority leader Bob Trammell, a Luthersville Democrat, asked why the bill couldn't be broken up. Trammell said Democrats support many parts, but are against the electronic ballot markers.

"Well Mr. Trammell, I'm trying to get you to vote for the bill," Fleming said, acknowledging the package sought to sway Democrats into accepting the voting machines.

Fulton County voter Stacey Hopkins said earlier this week that she liked some of the proposed changes in the legislation "except for the machines." She said people had lost trust in the election system and officials who ran it.

A federal lawsuit filed by election security advocates and individual voters that challenges Georgia's use of paperless electronic voting machines remains pending. A letter sent Monday by Bruce Brown, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, to lawyers for the state says the electronic ballot-marking machines authorized by the bill "will not provide secure or auditable elections or resolve the issues raised in the litigation."

Trammell tried several times to enter amendments to the Republican-drafted bill.

One that was voted down Thursday morning stipulated that scanners tabulate only human readable marks, meaning a voter's selections couldn't be encoded in a barcode.

Republican Rep. Shaw Blackmon of Bonaire later entered an amendment that the paper ballot must contain human-readable text that spells out a voter's selections. The amendment was accepted.

Trammell told the full committee the difference between the two amendments centered on what was actually being tabulated. Under his amendment, only human-verifiable text would be able to be tabulated. But Shaw's amendment allows a barcode to be what's actually tabulated, so long as the paper ballot also contained human-readable text selections.

The legislation could quickly move to the full House next for a vote.

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Associated Press writer Kate Brumback contributed from Atlanta.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Poland's 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 party's regional candidates in southwestern Poland's 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 Poland's 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 party's 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.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - 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.

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.

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)

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.

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This story has been corrected to show the transmission line would start in Beattie Township, not Mount Beattie Township, on the Canadian border.
BERLIN (AP) - The deputy speaker of Germany's parliament rebuked members of a far-right party Thursday for reportedly suggesting women aren't fit to be lawmakers.

Green party lawmaker Britta Hasselmann had noted during a speech on gender equality in politics that women make up only a small share of Alternative for Germany's parliamentarians, to which an unidentified member of the party reportedly replied: "Natural selection."

Deputy speaker Claudia Roth called on the party, known as AfD, to respect parliamentary protocol.

Separately, German public broadcaster ARD reported Thursday that the far-right party submitted an incorrect list of donors who it claimed had given money to co-leader Alice Weidel ahead of 2017 national elections.

ARD reported that several of the people named on the list Alternative for Germany submitted to parliament denied giving money to Weidel.

AfD did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment on both issues.
(ANSAmed) - ROME, FEBRUARY 26 - UAE authorities are ''mistreating and denying adequate medical care to a terminally ill 42-year-old Emirati woman and denying her regular contact with her family'', Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday. ''Family members who have seen and spoken to her say that the authorities have her hands and feet shackled to her hospital bed at all times,'' HRW added.



The woman, ''Alia Abdel Nour, was convicted of terrorism in 2017 in a case marred by due process violations. After her arrest in 2015, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Hospital doctors have stated that she has refused treatment. Her family denies that and says she was forced to sign a document stating that she was refusing chemotherapy. Abdel Nour has also said that security forces have subjected her to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. Given her current condition, Emirati authorities should release her from detention,'' HRW said.



(ANSAmed).


MIAMI (AP) - Four remaining dolphins at an Arizona facility where four other dolphins have died have moved into a new home in the Caribbean.

Coral World Ocean Park in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, announced the arrival of the four Atlantic bottlenose dolphins late Wednesday.

In a statement , the park said the dolphins are being cared for in a 69,000-square-foot (6,410-square-meter) ocean habitat enclosed by a mesh barrier that extends over 20 feet (6 meters) down to the ocean floor.

The animals are healthy and exploring their new environment, Lee Kellar, Coral World's general curator, told The Associated Press on Thursday.

All four dolphins were born in captivity, so this is their first exposure to natural sea water, waves, currents and squids and fish swimming with them.

They had been living at Dolphinaris Arizona. Four dolphins have died at the Scottsdale, Arizona, facility since it opened in 2016. It closed temporarily this month as experts investigate what caused the marine mammals' deaths.

The relocation was a joint decision with Dolphin Quest, which owns two of the dolphins, so the animals could maintain the bond they developed over the last two years, Dolphinaris Arizona spokeswoman Jen Smith said in an emailed statement.

"The seaside sanctuary at Coral World mirrors our habitats (in Hawaii), so our dolphins will be very familiar with this enriching environment. The other two dolphins have the benefit of acclimating to their new home with dolphins in their family who are very familiar with this type of natural environment," said Rae Stone, Dolphin Quest's marine mammal veterinarian, in an emailed statement.

Animal rights advocates have criticized the Arizona facility, saying that putting dolphins in pools in the desert was tantamount to animal cruelty.

"It was imperative for these dolphins to get out of that situation because something wasn't right," Kellar said.

"The folks who have been caring for these animals were doing everything right. Their track record with other dolphins in other facilities is stellar. It's just that that particular place is not good for dolphins," he said.

The dolphins are the first at the St. Thomas park. Kellar said the "sea sanctuary" has been in the works with private funding for seven years and meets federal requirements under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Animal Welfare Act.

Coral World trainers will spend the next several months getting the animals used to their new home before introducing them to the public. How close park visitors will get to the dolphins will depend on how the animals adapt, Kellar said.

"We're excited we can provide them a home, but also start looking at what it takes for dolphins to go from the pool environment to adapting to a sea sanctuary," Kellar said.

Animal rights advocates have called for all marine mammals in captivity to be moved to seaside sanctuaries. SeaWorld and other institutions keeping marine mammals have rejected that idea, saying the animals are safest in their current displays, where they help educate the public about marine life in the wild.

The National Aquarium in Baltimore swam against the industry current, however, and announced plans in 2016 to move its pod of dolphins into an ocean enclosure by the end of 2020.

Smith said the Scottsdale facility plans to reopen without dolphins but still focused on ocean conservation and education.
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Winter storms in the U.S. Southwest brought snow to places it rarely falls, dusting casino marquees on the Las Vegas Strip and sticking at very low elevations on the foothills around Southern California.

"No need to panic Los Angeles - the LAPD is on snow watch," the city's police department tweeted, along with video of a light flurry.

Snow fell in the Santa Monica Mountains above the Malibu coast. In the nearby celebrity haven of Calabasas, actor Jerry O'Connell recorded video of himself as snow fell on his car and quickly melted. "It is snowing in Calabasas - crazy," he said.

The National Weather Service had said the snow level could lower to 1,000 feet (305 meters).

Earlier, the storm coated large areas of desert northeast of Los Angeles, temporarily halting traffic on various state routes.

The rare snowfall at low levels in Nevada prompted revelers to erect a snowman near the famous "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign.

A man, who declined to give his name, takes a picture of a small snowman at the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign along the Las Vegas Strip, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is getting a rare taste of real winter weather, with significant snowfall across the metro area in the first event of its kind since record keeping started back in 1937. (AP Photo/John Locher)

The weather service reported the first significant snowfall at McCarran International Airport in a decade with 0.8 inches (2 centimeters) falling by Thursday afternoon.

"We don't have snowplows," airport spokeswoman Christine Crews said as she tallied about 100 flight cancellations because of snow and ice. "But we have airfield maintenance vehicles and sweepers ready to go."

Some suburban foothill areas near Las Vegas were white after getting several inches of snow. On the casino-lined Las Vegas Strip, the snow was fleeting, melting faster than a bad gambler's luck.

"We expected cold, but not snow," tourist Lila de Guerrero said after taking a photo at the Las Vegas sign wearing a puffer coat and hat.

De Guerrero, who is visiting from El Salvador, said it was the first time she had ever seen snow.

German tourist Daniela Huber said she was surprised that her vacation to the desert wasn't much of an escape from winter.

"We thought it was strange because we came from Germany, where it snows all the time," she said.

Outside the city, authorities closed portions of the main routes from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and Phoenix because of snow, ice and limited visibility.

The California snow arrived with a very cold storm that added even more precipitation in a wet winter that has almost eliminated drought conditions statewide.

The emergency management office in St. Paul, Minnesota, tweeted advice to Los Angeles residents on how to safely walk on ice and snow.

"It's beautiful," said Kate Porter, a resident of the desert community of Joshua Tree.

A foot of snow (30 centimeters) was reported in that area at Pioneertown, the National Weather Service said. Similar amounts were reported in the upper elevations of the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains.

Rare "thundersnow" was observed at Big Bear in the San Bernardino range, where road closures were being reported.

Snow closed heavily traveled Interstate 5 in Tejon Pass north of Los Angeles until Caltrans crews could clear the roadway, allowing traffic to resume under Highway Patrol escorts. To the east, Interstate 15 over Cajon Pass remained open but with some slowing because of conditions.

Snowstorms also blanketed other parts of the Southwest, forcing the closure of Interstate 40 and an airport in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Barney Helmick, director of the Flagstaff Pulliam Airport, said its only runway closed when the visibility level hit zero. Intense snow also forced the closure of schools and businesses in the region.

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AP writers Regina Garcia Cano in Las Vegas, Terry Tang and Paul Davenport in Phoenix, and Christopher Weber and John Antczak in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

A dusting of snow covers an area along the Las Vegas Strip, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Las Vegas. A winter storm is expected to drop up to 3 inches (8 centimeters) of snow on Las Vegas' southern and western outskirts while other parts of the metro area will get rain mixed with snow. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Snow falls on the Luxor hotel and casino Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, in Las Vegas. A winter storm is expected to drop up to 3 inches (8 centimeters) of snow on Las Vegas' southern and western outskirts while other parts of the metro area will get rain mixed with snow. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A man walks near accumulated snow along the Las Vegas Strip, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Las Vegas. A winter storm is expected to drop up to 3 inches (8 centimeters) of snow on Las Vegas' southern and western outskirts while other parts of the metro area will get rain mixed with snow. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Snow accumulates on a median along the Las Vegas Strip at the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is getting a rare taste of real winter weather, with significant snowfall across the metro area in the first event of its kind since record keeping started back in 1937. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A man walks near accumulated snow along the Las Vegas Strip, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Las Vegas. A winter storm is expected to drop up to 3 inches (8 centimeters) of snow on Las Vegas' southern and western outskirts while other parts of the metro area will get rain mixed with snow. (AP Photo/John Locher)

James Minner, of Las Vegas, left, and Candace Reid, of Albuquerque, N.M., watch as snow falls around the overlook at the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area outside of Las Vegas on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

A landscape photographer takes a photo with a view camera at the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, west of Las Vegas Thursday, Feb. 21, 2018. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

Libby McClellan, of the San Francisco Bay Area, takes a selfie with her father Kevin at the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, west of Las Vegas, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2018. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

Valentina Gonzalez, 7, laughs after falling during a snowball fight with her family at the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation, west of Las Vegas Thursday, Feb. 21, 2018. In the background is her father Omar Gonzalez and her brother Omar Jr. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

Tomek Pleskaczynski moves his camera while taking pictures during a winter storm at Red Rock National Conservation Area, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, near Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Framed by a Joshua tree, Nancy Knapp visits Red Rock National Conservation Area after a winter storm dropped several inches of snow, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, near Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

This photo provided by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department shows a snow covered entrance sign to Joshua Tree National Park on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Forecasters say a cold weather system could bring snow to extremely low elevations of Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley. (Sgt. Daniel Hanke/County Sheriff's Department via AP)

A train rolls along the snow covered hills in the Cajon Pass near Highway 138 in Phelan, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. (Watchara Phomicinda/The Orange County Register via AP)

Mountains are blanketed with snow as traffic makes its way slowly through Cajon Pass on the I-15 near Hwy 138 in Phelan, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. (Watchara Phomicinda/The Orange County Register via AP)

This photo provided by Kate Porter shows a fresh layer of snow fall outside of a home in Joshua Tree, Calif. on Thursday, Feb. 2'1, 2019. Forecasters say a cold weather system could bring snow to extremely low elevations of Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley. (Kate Porter via AP)
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - After initially ordering a New York woman who mimicked Virginia's 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 doesn't 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 didn't understand the charge stemmed from a political protest when he ordered Sutherland jailed Tuesday.

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

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Information from: Richmond Times-Dispatch, http://www.richmond.com
HELSINKI (AP) - Balloting has started for next month's 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 Estonia's 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 Estonia's 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 nonprofit groups in six European countries, not including Estonia, ahead of the EU parliamentary elections in May.

FILE - In this file photo dated Sunday, March 1, 2015, people fill their ballot papers in voting booths at a polling station in Tallinn, Estonia. Estonia has moved away from traditional balloting, with online voting starting Thursday Feb. 21, 2019, for next month's general election, amid tight protective measures. (AP Photo/Liis Treimann, FILE)

The U.S. tech company urged politicians and authtorities to keep in mind that cyberattacks and hacking aren't limited to election campaigns but have targeted groups dealing with democracy, electoral integrity, and public policy.

Many Estonian experts don't expect neighboring Russia to meddle with the former Soviet state's election as Moscow isn't seen gaining much from such activity.

Estonia's governing Center Party, which is led by Prime Minister Juri Ratas and caters to the country's 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 Estonia's 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.
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - A fire in Bangladesh that killed at least 67 people in the oldest part of the capital shows the lapses in public safety that still plague the South Asian country despite its rapid economic growth.

While the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina touts the garment factories and gleaming office towers in Dhaka's north side as signs of progress, illegal shops and overcrowding in Chawkbazar, one of the city's many warren-like southern districts, impeded firefighters' ability to put out Wednesday night's blaze, illustrating the country's uneven development.

The government has zoning laws and regulations on the books, but has met public resistance when it tried to enforce them, Bangladesh planning experts said Thursday.

Business owners in old Dhaka routinely bribe government employees responsible for building oversight, they said.

After a warehouse storing flammable material caught fire in 2010 in Nimtoli, a district near Chawkbazar, killing at least 123 people, authorities promised to bring the area into compliance with building codes, and evict chemical warehouses from buildings where people lived.

Industrial facilities can't legally exist in areas that are zoned residential, said Mohammed Manjur Morshed, an assistant professor of urban planning at Khulna University of Engineering and Technology.

In this Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, photo, firefighters and local people help douse a fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A devastating fire raced through at least five buildings in an old part of Bangladesh's capital and killed scores of people. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

"This type of thing happens, there's a big initiative to move everything out, and then after some time people forget about it and the government is really not interested any more. It's like that," Morshed said.

"Corruption buys building permits, and then there's very little oversight to see whether anyone is building according to the submitted plan," he said.

In 2014, three people were killed and three others severely burned when a perfume warehouse on the third floor of a building in Chawkbazar caught fire. The following year, a fire gutted eight plastic factories.

Morshed said government regulations are sufficient, but are routinely flouted in Chawkbazar.

The contrast between new and old Dhaka - the city's north and south sides - is stark, said Shafiq-Ur Rahman, an urban planning professor at Jahangirnagar University in Dhaka.

"As the area was developed continuously, there is very high population density and haphazard growth," he said. "You need to consider preservation to maintain the heritage, but this is not the first time. We have an unfortunate history, and we need in redevelopment to figure how to provide services, like access for firefighters."

Denizens of the Muslim-majority nation throng to Chawkbazar each year for Mughal foods to celebrate iftar, when Muslims break their fast during Ramadan.

In the festive atmosphere, makeshift stalls and itinerant vendors sell spices, sweets, minced mutton, kebabs and other delicacies in tight passageways teeming with the faithful.

Thousands of animals are slaughtered in the open during Eid-ul-Azha, a sacrificial festival, near Chawkbazar Shahi Mosque.

A government eviction drive in 400-year-old Chawkbazar and other areas of dld Dhaka to clear makeshift stalls from walkways was met with protests last May on the eve of Ramadan by business owners and residents.

According to local reports, some 500 illegal stands were evicted from the narrow streets. In response, hundreds of legal shops closed in protest.

It was not clear whether the death toll from Wednesday's blaze would affect the status quo in Dhaka.

Fire officials had initially reported that 81 people died, but later lowered the number to 67.

Russel Shikder, a fire department duty officer, said first responders had counted each body bag taken to the morgue as one victim, but that some bags contained only body parts, prompting a recount.

On Thursday afternoon, shops had opened and the streets were crowded in much of Chawkbazar, except for within a police cordon where authorities continued to comb through the destruction left by the blaze.

The fire was about 500 meters (550 feet) away from Dhaka's 18th-century Central Jail, a former Mughal fort where ex-Prime Minister and opposition leader Khaleda Zia has been held since February last year on corruption charges. Since 2016, the jail has only been used to hold opposition figures, and Zia is currently the only inmate. It was not threatened by the fire.

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Schmall reported from New Delhi.

Locals and firefighters gather around buildings that caught fire late Wednesday in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. A devastating fire raced through at least five buildings in an old part of Bangladesh's capital and killed scores of people. (AP Photo/Rehman Asad)

Firefighters work to douse flames in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. A devastating fire raced through at least five buildings in an old part of Bangladesh's capital and killed scores of people. (AP Photo/Zabed Hasnain Chowdhury)

Flames rise from a fire in a densely packed shopping area in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. A devastating fire raced through at least five buildings in an old part of Bangladesh's capital and killed scores of people. (AP Photo/Zabed Hasnain Chowdhury)

An unidentified Bangladeshi cries by the site of a fire that broke out late Wednesday in closely set buildings in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. A devastating fire raced through at least five buildings in an old part of Bangladesh's capital and killed scores of people. (AP Photo/Rehman Asad)

Rescuers stand at the site of a late Wednesday night fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. A devastating fire raced through at least five buildings in an old part of Bangladesh's capital and killed scores of people. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu )

The wrangled and charred remains of rickshaws lie at the site of a late Wednesday night fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. A devastating fire raced through at least five buildings in an old part of Bangladesh's capital and killed scores of people. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu )

A Bangladeshi boy cries as he carries the coffin of a relative who died in a fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. A devastating fire raced through at least five buildings in an old part of Bangladesh's capital and killed scores of people. (AP Photo/Rehman Asad)

A Bangladeshi woman mourns the death of a relative in a fire, outside a morgue in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. A devastating fire raced through at least five buildings in an old part of Bangladesh's capital and killed scores of people. (AP Photo/Rehman Asad)

A woman displays a photograph of a relative who died in a fire, outside a morgue in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. A devastating fire raced through at least five buildings in an old part of Bangladesh's capital and killed scores of people. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu )
BRUSSELS (AP) - The British government acknowledged Thursday that trade deals with major countries such as Japan and Turkey will not be in place by the planned Brexit day of March 29, while the European Union's chief said he remains downbeat about Britain avoiding a chaotic departure from the bloc.

Britain's international trade secretary, Liam Fox, claimed in 2017 that by the day the U.K. left the EU, the country would be in a position to continue the trade deals with 70 other nations it has as an EU member.

But only a handful of the deals have been finalized, including one with the tiny Faroe Islands.

As for the rest, Britain's Department for International Trade said Thursday "it remains our priority to conclude trade continuity agreements with these countries by exit day or as soon as possible thereafter."

The most significant of the pending deals is with Japan. A Japan-EU free-trade agreement took effect at the beginning of February, removing hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) in duties paid by EU exporters to the Asian nation.

A proposed U.K.-EU divorce agreement includes a 21-month transition phase that would keep Britain operating under EU rules while the government works out future trade arrangements.

Protestors in costume and wearing Union and EU flags demonstrate about the process of Brexit outside EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and British Prime Minister Theresa May met Wednesday for their latest negotiating session to seek an elusive breakthrough in Brexit negotiations. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Britain's Parliament has rejected the deal, and the government has failed to win concessions from the EU that lawmakers demanded.

EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Thursday that despite constructive talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday night, he doesn't have much hope a divorce agreement will be in place by March 29.

A no-deal Brexit "will have terrible economic and social consequences both in Britain and on the continent," Juncker said at a EU conference, adding he was doing his utmost so "the worst can be avoided."

But he said, "I am not very optimistic when it comes to this issue."

Without a deal, British businesses will face tariffs and other barriers to trade with both the EU and third countries. May and Juncker said after their meeting that negotiators would urgently seek a way to prevent Britain from withdrawing out of the Brexit quagmire to prevent Britain from withdrawing without a smooth transition.

The Confederation of British Industry said the government must rule out a "no-deal" Brexit.

"Many companies are unaware it is not just their relationships with EU customers at risk from a no-deal Brexit, but those across the globe," said the group's director of international trade and investment, Ben Digby.

"Individual businesses trading with markets outside the EU would face tariffs worth millions of pounds being slapped on them instantaneously."

British Prime Minister Theresa May arrives for a meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and British Prime Minister Theresa May meet Wednesday for their latest negotiating session to seek an elusive breakthrough in Brexit negotiations. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys)

British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, right, and shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmar leave EU headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 21 2019. Corbyn is in Brussels to meet European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker attends an event at the EU Charlemagne building in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 21 2019. EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says that despite constructive talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May he remains downbeat on the prospect of avoiding a chaotic exit of Britain from the bloc next month. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

British Prime Minister Theresa May, left, is greeted by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker prior to a meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and British Prime Minister Theresa May meet Wednesday for their latest negotiating session to seek an elusive breakthrough in Brexit negotiations. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, right, speaks with British Prime Minister Theresa May prior to a meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and British Prime Minister Theresa May meet Wednesday for their latest negotiating session to seek an elusive breakthrough in Brexit negotiations. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys)

British Prime Minister Theresa May, left, walks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker prior to a meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and British Prime Minister Theresa May meet Wednesday for their latest negotiating session to seek an elusive breakthrough in Brexit negotiations. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, left, attends an event at the EU Charlemagne building in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 21 2019. EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says that despite constructive talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May he remains downbeat on the prospect of avoiding a chaotic exit of Britain from the bloc next month. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

British Prime Minister Theresa May, left, is greeted by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker prior to a meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and British Prime Minister Theresa May meet Wednesday for their latest negotiating session to seek an elusive breakthrough in Brexit negotiations. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys)

British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, right, speaks with the media outside EU headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Corbyn is in Brussels to meet European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, right, and shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmar leave EU headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 21 2019. Corbyn is in Brussels to meet European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
TIRANA, Albania (AP) - Thousands of protesters supporting Albania's opposition surrounded the parliament building Thursday and demanded the government step down, claiming it's corrupt and has links to organized crime.

Hundreds of police and rolls of barbed wire are protecting the parliament building in downtown Tirana, the capital, from the protesters. Thursday's parliament session was cancelled and the protest ended peacefully after three hours.

Opposition lawmakers, led by the center-right Democratic Party of Lulzim Basha, have signed letters of resignation from parliament and are demanding an early election.

Supporters of the opposition gathered in front of the parliament building with anti-government posters and slogans. Basha invited all demonstrators to follow him to the main offices of the parliament, where he handed over the lawmakers' resignation letters.

Then they moved to the party headquarters, where Basha called for nationwide protests.

"We will now lead a civic, peaceful and democratic battle to restore legitimacy and democracy in Albania," Basha told The Associated Press before the start of the rally.

Policemen are seen behind barbwire placed to secure the Parliament building as opposition supporters gather to participate in an anti-government rally in capital Tirana, Albania, on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2019. Albania's opposition supporters have surrounded the parliament building Thursday, asking for the resignation of the government which they allege is corrupt. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

The governing Socialists, who hold 74 seats in the 140-seat parliament, did not comment.

Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama considered the Democrats' move as "political suicide," adding their hand of cooperation and dialogue remained was always there.

"This governing majority will continue the works for Albania because what happened loads us with greater accountability," he said in a 30-minute speech posted on his Facebook page.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn denounced the opposition lawmakers' decision to resign as "counterproductive." They said the lawmakers "go against the democratic choice of Albanian citizens and undermine the progress the country has made on the European Union path."

Albania is hoping to launch full EU membership negotiations later this year.

"This is an attack which may result fatal on the launch of the membership negotiations with the EU," Rama said.

The U.S. embassy in Tirana urged opposition supporters "to peacefully exercise their right of assembly and reject violence" and the government "to practice restraint."

At last week's rally, protesters tried to force their way into Rama's office but police used tear gas to keep them away.

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Follow Llazar Semini on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lsemini
VATICAN CITY (AP) - 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.

Sex abuse survivor Alessandro Battaglia, right, is hugged by survivor and founding member of the ECA (Ending Clergy Abuse), Denise Buchanan, during a twilight vigil prayer near Castle Sant' Angelo, in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. 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. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

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.

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More AP coverage of clergy sex abuse at https://www.apnews.com/Sexualabusebyclergy

Pope Francis prays at the opening of a sex abuse prevention summit, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The gathering of church leaders from around the globe is taking place amid intense scrutiny of the Catholic Church's record after new allegations of abuse and cover-up last year sparked a credibility crisis for the hierarchy. (Vincenzo Pinto/Pool Photo via AP)

Pope Francis arrives for the opening of a sex abuse prevention summit, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The gathering of church leaders from around the globe is taking place amid intense scrutiny of the Catholic Church's record after new allegations of abuse and cover-up last year sparked a credibility crisis for the hierarchy. (Vincenzo Pinto/Pool Photo via AP)

Sex abuse survivor Alessandro Battaglia, right, is hugged by survivor and founding member of the ECA (Ending Clergy Abuse), Denise Buchanan, as he speaks during a twilight vigil prayer near Castle Sant' Angelo, in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. 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. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis arrives for the opening of a sex abuse prevention summit, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The gathering of church leaders from around the globe is taking place amid intense scrutiny of the Catholic Church's record after new allegations of abuse and cover-up last year sparked a credibility crisis for the hierarchy. (Vincenzo Pinto/Pool Photo via AP)

Survivors of sex abuse hold a cross as they gather in front of Via della Conciliazione, the road leading to St. Peter's Square, visible in background, during a twilight vigil prayer of the victims of sex abuse, in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019 during a twilight vigil prayer near Castle Sant' Angelo, in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. 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. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Members of the ECA (Ending of Clergy Abuse) organization and survivors of clergy sex abuse pose for photographers outside St. Peter's Square, at he Vatican, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. Organizers of Pope Francis' summit on preventing clergy sex abuse will meet this week with a dozen survivor-activists who have come to Rome to protest the Catholic Church's response to date and demand an end to decades of cover-up by church leaders. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Chilean survivor Juan Carlos Cruz talks to journalists at the end of a meeting with organizers of a summit on preventing sexual abuse, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. A dozen survivors of clergy sexual abuse met with organizers of Pope Francis' landmark summit on preventing abuse and protecting children. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

From left, sex abuse survivors Pedro Salinas, Francoise Devoiz, Pietro Zanardi and Peter Isley leave at the end of their meeting with organizers of the summit on preventing sexual abuse at the Vatican, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. A dozen survivors of clergy sexual abuse met with organizers of Pope Francis' landmark summit on preventing abuse and protecting children. Chilean survivor Juan Carlos Cruz, who was asked by the Vatican to invite survivors to the meeting, told reporters Wednesday that Francis would not be attending, as had been rumored. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Copenhagen's Bishop Czesaw Kozon, center, leaves from the Sant'Uffizio gate to the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, during a four-day sex abuse summit called by Pope Francis. The gathering of church leaders from around the globe is taking place amid intense scrutiny of the Catholic Church's record after new allegations of abuse and cover-up last year sparked a credibility crisis for the hierarchy. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Sex abuse survivors and members of the ECA (Ending Clergy Abuse) hold their organization banner as they talk to journalists, as some of their representatives are meeting with organizers of the summit on preventing sexual abuse at the Vatican, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. A dozen survivors of clergy sexual abuse met with organizers of Pope Francis' landmark summit on preventing abuse and protecting children. Chilean survivor Juan Carlos Cruz, who was asked by the Vatican to invite survivors to the meeting, told reporters Wednesday that Francis would not be attending, as had been rumored. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis greets a Vatican Swiss guard as he arrives for the opening of a sex abuse prevention summit, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The gathering of church leaders from around the globe is taking place amid intense scrutiny of the Catholic Church's record after new allegations of abuse and cover-up last year sparked a credibility crisis for the hierarchy. (Vincenzo Pinto/Pool Photo via AP)

Pope Francis goes to greet a Vatican Swiss guard as he arrives for the opening of a sex abuse prevention summit, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The gathering of church leaders from around the globe is taking place amid intense scrutiny of the Catholic Church's record after new allegations of abuse and cover-up last year sparked a credibility crisis for the hierarchy. (Vincenzo Pinto/Pool Photo via AP)

Pope Francis prays during the opening of a sex abuse prevention summit, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The gathering of church leaders from around the globe is taking place amid intense scrutiny of the Catholic Church's record after new allegations of abuse and cover-up last year sparked a credibility crisis for the hierarchy. (Vincenzo Pinto/Pool Photo via AP)

Journalists wait outside the Sant'Uffizio gate to the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, before the start of a four-day sex abuse summit called by Pope Francis. The gathering of church leaders from around the globe is taking place amid intense scrutiny of the Catholic Church's record after new allegations of abuse and cover-up last year sparked a credibility crisis for the hierarchy. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

FILE - In this March 1, 2016 file photo, a group gathers to protest with placards outside an inquiry into child sex abuse in Sydney. Pope Francis' high-stakes sex abuse prevention summit is meant to call attention to the crisis as a global problem that requires a global response. Australia's Catholic Church has a horrific abuse record, which in part prompted the government to launch a four-year national investigation into all forms of institutional abuse - Catholic and otherwise. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, file)

Demonstrators wear shirts as they stand outside St. Peter's Square on the day of the opening of a sex abuse within the Catholic church prevention summit, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. 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. (Giuseppe Lami/ANSA via AP)

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, right, leaves at the end of the first day of a sex abuse within the Catholic church prevention summit, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2019. 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 (Giuseppe Lami/ANSA via AP)

From left, Malta's Archbishop Charles Scicluna, theologian Hans Zollner, one of the founding members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, and Brisbane's Archbishop Mark Coleridge arrive to a media briefing in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, after the opening session of a four-day sex abuse summit called by Pope Francis. The gathering of church leaders from around the globe is taking place amid intense scrutiny of the Catholic Church's record after new allegations of abuse and cover-up last year sparked a credibility crisis for the hierarchy. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Activists in Poland pull down a statue of a prominent deceased priest, Father Henryk Jankowski, who allegedly abused minors sexually, in Gdansk, Poland, on Thursday Feb. 21, 2019. The activists said it was an act of protest against the Polish Catholic Church for failing in resolving the problem of clergy sex abuse. The protest comes as Pope Francis has gathered church leaders from around the world at the Vatican to grapple with the church's sex abuse crisis. (AP Photo/Bartek Sabela/Gazeta Wyborcza)

Survivors of sex abuse hold a cross as they gather in front of Via della Conciliazione, the road leading to St. Peter's Square, visible in background, during a twilight vigil prayer of the victims of sex abuse, in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019 during a twilight vigil prayer near Castle Sant' Angelo, in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. 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. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Sex abuse survivor Alessandro Battaglia, right, is hugged by survivor and founding member of the ECA (Ending Clergy Abuse), Denise Buchanan, as he speaks during a twilight vigil prayer near Castle Sant' Angelo, in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. 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. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
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.

Children ride in the back of a truck that is part of a convoy evacuating hundreds out of the last territory held by Islamic State militants, in Baghouz, eastern Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. The evacuation signals the end of a week long standoff and opens the way to U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) recapture the territory. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

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.

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Associated Press writer Zeina Karam in Beirut contributed reporting.

A U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Humvee stands by as a truck that is part of a convoy evacuating hundreds out of the last territory held by Islamic State militants, passes in Baghouz, eastern Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. The evacuation signals the end of a week long standoff and opens the way to U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) recapture the territory. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Children ride in the back of a truck that is part of a convoy evacuating hundreds out of the last territory held by Islamic State militants, in Baghouz, eastern Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. The evacuation signals the end of a week long standoff and opens the way to U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) recapture the territory. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

A boy rides in the back of a truck that is part of a convoy evacuating hundreds out of the last territory held by Islamic State militants, in Baghouz, eastern Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. The evacuation signals the end of a week long standoff and opens the way to U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) recapture the territory. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Men ride in the back of a truck that is part of a convoy evacuating hundreds out of the last territory held by Islamic State militants in Baghouz, eastern Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. The evacuation signals the end of a week long standoff and opens the way to U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) recapture the territory. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Latest on the Vatican's conference on dealing with sex abuse by priests (all times local):

5:45 p.m.

A Colombian cardinal has warned fellow Roman Catholic bishops at a Vatican summit they could be imprisoned for covering up crimes if they don't properly deal with clergy sex abuse cases.

In a remarkable speech at the abuse prevention summit, Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez on Thursday also denounced how bishops tend to believe priests over people reporting abuse allegations.

Salazar, the archbishop of Bogota, also blasted the confidentiality agreements often attached to Catholic Church financial settlements with victims as an attempt to "buy their silence."

Salazar proposed an obligatory code of conduct that outlines clear norms and penalties when bishops fall short in their handling of sexual abuse, an astonishing proposal from a cardinal of a country where the scandal hasn't erupted in full.

Pope Francis, standing at the bottom second from right, prays at the start of a sex abuse prevention summit, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The gathering of church leaders from around the globe is taking place amid intense scrutiny of the Catholic Church's record after new allegations of abuse and cover-up last year sparked a credibility crisis for the hierarchy. (Vincenzo Pinto/Pool Photo via AP)

U.S. bishops proposed a similar code of conduct after their credibility was undermined by the scandal last year.

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4:40 p.m.

A Polish survivor of clergy sex abuse says a meeting with Pope Francis and the kiss the pontiff planted on his hand shows Francis' good will in addressing the problem of priests molesting children.

Have No Fear foundation founder Marek Lisinski told Poland's TVN24 channel he could see "true sadness and concern" and even tears in the pope's eyes during Francis' meeting with Polish activists on Wednesday.

They gave Francis a report listing hundreds of alleged cases of priests sexually abusing children in Poland.

Lisinski says abuse survivors in Poland are still waiting for redress from the Roman Catholic Church.

But he says the Vatican meeting and Francis' unexpected kissing of his hand was a "great, great thing in my life in which I place great hope."

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3:40 p.m.

Pope Francis has issued 21 proposals to stem the clergy sex abuse around the world, calling for specific protocols to handle accusations against bishops and for lay experts to be involved in abuse investigations.

Francis distributed the list on Thursday as he opened his high-stakes abuse prevention summit at the Vatican. The four-day event brings together some 190 bishops and religious superiors for tutorials on preventing abuse and protecting children.

The aim is to show pedophile priests a global problem and therefore require a global response.

The pope's proposals draw heavily from existing best practices, including establishing rules for transferring seminarians and priests.

Another idea suggests a basic handbook showing bishops how to investigate cases.

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3:25 p.m.

An Italian victim of clergy sexual abuse says his country should renegotiate a 90-year-old treaty with the Vatican that he says lets offending priests off the hook.

Francesco Zanardi, who heads an Italian survivors' group, told reporters in Parliament on Thursday that unlike in countries such as France, bishops in Italy are not obliged to report cases of abuse to authorities because of a "legislative gap."

Zanardi said part of the problem stems from the privileges granted to the Catholic Church in Italy in the 1929 Lateran Pact. He called for a revision of the treaty, which was signed by fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

Earlier this month the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child criticized Italy for its failure to properly police the Catholic Church and called for an independent inquiry into what it said was the abnormally low number of investigations into child sex abuse committed by Catholic priests in Italy.

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12:15 p.m.

Catholic Church leaders attending a landmark Vatican summit on preventing clergy sex abuse have heard videotaped testimony from victims of the trauma of their abuse and the cruel indifference shown to them by bishops and religious superiors.

One woman from Africa told the summit that the priest who began raping her at age 15 forced her to have three abortions, and beat her when she refused him sex.

A survivor from Chile told the bishops and religious superiors they had inflicted even more pain on victims by discrediting them and protecting the priests who abused.

He 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."

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11:35 a.m.

The Vatican's leading sex crimes investigator has told bishops they must protect their flocks at all cost from sexually abusive priests, telling them they must investigate sex abuse crimes and prevent pedophiles from entering the priesthood.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna repeatedly cited Pope Benedict XVI in giving a point-by-point tutorial on preventing abuse at a summit of church leaders Thursday. Pope Francis called them to the Vatican to respond to the global sex abuse and cover-up crisis that has undermined credibility in the church.

Scicluna told the bishops that the people of God "should come to know us as friends of their safety and that of their children." He vowed: "We will protect them at all costs. We will lay down our lives for the flocks entrusted to us."

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10:05 p.m.

A leading Filipino cardinal has told his brother bishops at the start of a historic sex abuse summit at the Vatican that each of them must take personal responsibility to heal the wounds caused by the scandal in their communities.

Manila Cardinal Luis Tagle choked up several times as he delivered the keynote speech Thursday to the unprecedented gathering of bishops and religious superiors summoned to the Vatican for a four-day tutorial.

He told them the wounds the clergy abuse scandal had caused among the faithful recalled the wounds of Christ on the cross. He demanded church leaders no longer run in fear or turn a blind eye to the harm caused by abuses and their cover-ups.

He said: "Faith that would like to close its eyes to peoples' suffering is just an illusion."

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9:20 a.m.

Pope Francis has warned bishops and religious superiors summoned to a landmark sex abuse prevention summit that the Catholic faithful around the world are demanding more than just condemnation of the crimes but concrete action to put an end to the scandal.

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.

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9 a.m.

Pope Francis has opened a high-level summit of church leaders on preventing clergy sex abuse, 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.

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7:30 a.m.

Activists in Poland have pulled down a statue of a disgraced late priest after increasing allegations that he sexually abused minors.

They acted under cover of night early Thursday to protest the failure of the Polish Catholic Church to deal with the problem of sex abuse by priests.

Video footage shows 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. Jankowski was a prominent priest in the Solidarity pro-democracy movement in the 1980s who died in 2010.

The private broadcaster TVN24 reported the three were arrested.

Their action comes as Pope Francis gathers church leaders from around the world at the Vatican to grapple with the sex abuse crisis in the church.

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More AP coverage of clergy sex abuse at https://www.apnews.com/Sexualabusebyclergy

Bishops attend the opening of a sex abuse prevention summit, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The gathering of church leaders from around the globe is taking place amid intense scrutiny of the Catholic Church's record after new allegations of abuse and cover-up last year sparked a credibility crisis for the hierarchy. (Vincenzo Pinto/Pool Photo via AP)

Pope Francis arrives for the opening of a sex abuse prevention summit, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The gathering of church leaders from around the globe is taking place amid intense scrutiny of the Catholic Church's record after new allegations of abuse and cover-up last year sparked a credibility crisis for the hierarchy. (Vincenzo Pinto/Pool Photo via AP)

FILE - In this March 1, 2016 file photo, a group gathers to protest with placards outside an inquiry into child sex abuse in Sydney. Pope Francis' high-stakes sex abuse prevention summit is meant to call attention to the crisis as a global problem that requires a global response. Australia's Catholic Church has a horrific abuse record, which in part prompted the government to launch a four-year national investigation into all forms of institutional abuse - Catholic and otherwise. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, file)

Pope Francis prays at the opening of a sex abuse prevention summit, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The gathering of church leaders from around the globe is taking place amid intense scrutiny of the Catholic Church's record after new allegations of abuse and cover-up last year sparked a credibility crisis for the hierarchy. (Vincenzo Pinto/Pool Photo via AP)

Pope Francis arrives for the opening of a sex abuse prevention summit, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The gathering of church leaders from around the globe is taking place amid intense scrutiny of the Catholic Church's record after new allegations of abuse and cover-up last year sparked a credibility crisis for the hierarchy. (Vincenzo Pinto/Pool Photo via AP)

Pope Francis greets a Vatican Swiss guard as he arrives for the opening of a sex abuse prevention summit, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The gathering of church leaders from around the globe is taking place amid intense scrutiny of the Catholic Church's record after new allegations of abuse and cover-up last year sparked a credibility crisis for the hierarchy. (Vincenzo Pinto/Pool Photo via AP)

Pope Francis speaks with Rev. Federico Lombardi, left, the former Vatican spokesman who is moderating the summit, at the opening of a sex abuse prevention summit, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The gathering of church leaders from around the globe is taking place amid intense scrutiny of the Catholic Church's record after new allegations of abuse and cover-up last year sparked a credibility crisis for the hierarchy. (Vincenzo Pinto/Pool Photo via AP)

Pope Francis, right, prays at the opening of a sex abuse prevention summit, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The gathering of church leaders from around the globe is taking place amid intense scrutiny of the Catholic Church's record after new allegations of abuse and cover-up last year sparked a credibility crisis for the hierarchy. (Vincenzo Pinto/Pool Photo via AP)

A prelate holds the liturgy booklet at the opening of a sex abuse prevention summit, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The gathering of church leaders from around the globe is taking place amid intense scrutiny of the Catholic Church's record after new allegations of abuse and cover-up last year sparked a credibility crisis for the hierarchy. (Vincenzo Pinto/Pool Photo via AP)

FILE - In this April 8, 2010 file photo a cross sits on top of a church in Berlin, Germany. In September 2018, the German Catholic Church released a devastating report that concluded at least 3,677 people were abused by clergy between 1946 and 2014. Pope Francis' high-stakes sex abuse prevention summit is meant to call attention to the crisis as a global problem that requires a global response. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

FILE - In this March 21, 2010 file phtoo, Roman Catholics listen to Bishop Noel Treanor during mass at St. Peter's Roman Catholic Cathedral, in West Belfast, Northern Ireland. Pope Francis' high-stakes sex abuse prevention summit is meant to call attention to the crisis as a global problem that requires a global response. Judge-led investigations have produced four mammoth reports since 2005 into the church's wretched record in dealing with predator priests, helping to dismantle the Catholic Church's once- dominant influence in Irish society and politics. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison, file)

Czech Cardinal Dominik Duka leaves, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the end of the opening session of a four-day sex abuse summit called by Pope Francis at the Vatican. The gathering of church leaders from around the globe is taking place amid intense scrutiny of the Catholic Church's record after new allegations of abuse and cover-up last year sparked a credibility crisis for the hierarchy. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

FILE - In this May 18, 2018 file photo, pigeons are fed in front of the Santiago Cathedral, in Santiago, Chile. Pope Francis' high-stakes sex abuse prevention summit is meant to call attention to the crisis as a global problem that requires a global response. Francis discovered first-hand just how pervasive clerical sex abuse is - and how effectively it has been covered up by the Catholic hierarchy - when in January 2018 he branded as "calumny" accusations of cover-up against a Chilean bishop he had strongly defended. (AP Photo/Luis Hidalgo, file)

Demonstrators wear shirts as they stand outside St. Peter's Square on the day of the opening of a sex abuse within the Catholic church prevention summit, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. 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. (Giuseppe Lami/ANSA via AP)
TUNIS - Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, in a speech during the 40th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, said his country's initiative for gender equality in inheritance "will mark a turning point in the history of modern Tunisia".



"We want this initiative to be a second social revolution for the new Tunisia, consecrating dignity, equality, and justice," Essebsi said.



He said the bill presented in November 2018 in parliament "conforms to the provisions of the second Constitution of the Republic".



"These courageous initiatives could bring controversy and be rejected by a fringe of Tunisian society," he said.



"Human rights are a sine qua non for progress in societies and aren't the exclusive purview of the West but also of the Arab-Muslim world," he said.



Essebsi emphasised the need to improve the status of women in the Arab-Muslim world and assert their right to full emancipation.



"There is no democracy without equality and there is no true progress without the abolition of discrimination between men and women," he said.



In response to those who call the presidential initiative "unconstitutional based on Article 1 of the Constitution", Essebsi said the fundamental law of Article 21 establishes that the State must reach equality between men and women at all levels, including on the topic of inheritance.(ANSAmed).


BARCELONA, Spain (AP) - Protesters backing Catalonia's secession from Spain clashed with police and blocked roads across the northeastern region Thursday during a student and worker strike over the trial of a dozen separatist leaders.

Regional police said four people were arrested when officers met resistance while trying to clear groups of protesters who had stopped traffic. The regional emergency service said 37 people were treated for minor injuries.

Twelve officers were also injured in the clashes, according to police. Protesters threw rocks at police lines and burned tires on some highways.

Regional transportation authorities said the protests disrupted traffic on main thoroughfares in Barcelona and affected travel on a half-dozen major highways and train lines elsewhere in Catalonia.

The general strike was organized by small unions of pro-independence workers and students. On paper, they were demanding improved social policies, including a 35-hour work week and a higher minimum wage.

However, the protesters carried pro-secession flags and chanted slogans for the release of the 12 separatists who are on trial in Spain's Madrid-based Supreme Court for their roles in a 2017 independence declaration.

Demonstrators march along the street, during a protest in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Protesters backing Catalonia's secession from Spain clashed with police and blocked major roads and train tracks across the northeastern region on Thursday during a strike called to protest the trial of a dozen separatist leaders. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

The major labor unions in Catalonia did not back Thursday's strike, which appeared to have a limited impact on businesses.

In Barcelona, the region's capital, students in favor of secession held a mid-day march attended by 13,000 people, according to city police.

Tens of thousands more joined an evening march behind a banner that read "Self-determination is not a crime." A grassroots pro-secession group, ANC, organized the march.

The Spanish government says regions cannot independently secede, according to the Constitution.

The 12 Catalan separatists are charged with sedition and other alleged crimes for their roles in Catalonia's failed 2017 secession attempt. Three were scheduled to testify in court on Thursday.

Their trial is in its second week and is expected to last three months.

Election results and polls indicate that Catalonia's 7.5 million residents are divided down the middle over the secession issue.

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AP journalist Aritz Parra contributed to this report from Madrid.

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More AP coverage of Catalonia at https://apnews.com/Catalonia

Demonstrators march along the street, during a protest in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Protesters backing Catalonia's secession from Spain clashed with police and blocked major roads and train tracks across the northeastern region on Thursday during a strike called to protest the trial of a dozen separatist leaders. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Demonstrators block a train rail at the subway, during a general strike in Catalonia, Spain, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Protesters backing Catalonia's secession from Spain clashed with police and blocked major roads and train tracks across the northeastern region on Thursday during a strike called to protest the trial of a dozen separatist leaders. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Catalan police officers clash with demonstrators outside a subway after blocking a train rail, during a general strike in Catalonia, Spain, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Protesters backing Catalonia's secession from Spain clashed with police and blocked major roads and train tracks across the northeastern region on Thursday during a strike called to protest the trial of a dozen separatist leaders. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A man eats inside a coffeeshop with a glass painted with a graffiti reading in Catalan: "strike", during a general strike in Catalonia, Spain, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Protesters backing Catalonia's secession from Spain clashed with police and blocked major roads and train tracks across the northeastern region on Thursday during a strike called to protest the trial of a dozen separatist leaders. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Catalan police officers remove demonstrators blocking a road leading to Barcelona city, during a general strike in Catalonia, Spain, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Strikers advocating for Catalonia's secession from Spain are blocking major highways, train lines and roads across the northeastern region. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Police officers try to remove burning tires, set by demonstrators to block a highway in protest of the imprisonment of pro-independence political leaders during a general strike in Catalonia, Spain, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Teachers in Oakland, California, went on strike Thursday, part of a national wave of discontent by educators over classroom conditions, pay and other issues. Recent walkouts have taken place in West Virginia, Los Angeles and Denver.

The city's 3,000 teachers want a 12 percent retroactive raise covering 2017 to 2020 to compensate for what they say are the among the lowest salaries for public school teachers in the expensive San Francisco Bay Area. They also want the district to hire more counselors to support students and more full-time nurses.

Kindergarten teacher Kaki Blackburn, 30, was among dozens picketing outside Manzanita Community School with signs saying "On strike For a Living Wage."

Blackburn, who has 29 kids in her class, said her main concerns were class size and wages. She said her salary makes it impossible to afford an apartment on her own.

"There's no way I'd be able to live here without a roommate," she said. "This is not what I went to Brown University to get a master's for."

The union leader said the educators were forced to strike because administrators did not listen to their demands for two years.

Roxana De La O Cortez, teacher at Manzanita SEED Elementary School, marches with other teachers and supporters in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Teachers in Oakland went on strike Thursday in the country's latest walkout by educators over classroom conditions and pay. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

"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," said Oakland Education Association President Keith Brown.

The district initially offered a 5 percent raise covering 2017 to 2020, saying it is squeezed by rising costs and a budget crisis.

In negotiations Wednesday aimed at averting a strike, the district increased its proposal to a 7 percent raise over four years and a one-time 1.5 percent bonus. The offer went higher than the recommendation of an independent fact-finding report that suggested a compromise 6 percent retroactive raise.

But union officials rejected the offer.

Oakland Unified School District spokesman John Sasaki said school administrators hope to get a counter proposal from the union when negotiations resume Friday.

"We haven't heard any proposal since last May so we're hoping they have something for us when we meet tomorrow," Sasaki said.

Teachers have been working without a contract since 2017 and have said their salaries have not kept up with the cost of living.

A starting salary in the district is $46,500 a year and the average salary is $63,000, according to the union. In neighboring Berkeley, a starting teacher makes $51,000 a year and the average salary is $75,000, the union said.

The walkout affects 36,000 students at 86 schools.

The district said schools would remain open, staffed by non-union employees and substitute teachers. However, parents should not expect teaching as usual, it said.

Manzanita Principal Eyana Spencer said 14 of the school's 450 students turned up for school Thursday and were placed in one classroom to play games.

Thousands marched to city hall for a rally, chanting "We are Oakland!" Some held signs saying "Kids Deserve Better."

"If teachers are worried about how to pay their bills how can they focus on a lesson plan?" said Viviana Rodriguez, whose fifth-grade son joined her at the protest.

Nearly 600 teachers left their jobs at Oakland public schools last year, according to the union, which has said the district cannot retain teachers or attract experienced new teachers.

The union has also called for the district to scrap plans to close as many as 24 schools that serve primarily African-American and Latino students. The union fears further students will be lost to charter schools that drain more than $57 million a year from the district.

Recent strikes across the nation have built on a wave of teacher activism that began last spring. Unions for West Virginia teachers, who staged a nine-day walkout last year, ended another two-day strike Wednesday. Last week, teachers in Denver ended a three-day walkout after reaching a tentative deal raising their wages.

Teachers in Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest school district, staged a six-day strike last month that ended when they settled on a 6-percent raise with promises of smaller class sizes and the addition of nurses and counselors.

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Rodriguez reported from San Francisco.

Garrick Ruiz, union member with United Teachers of Los Angeles, center, yells while teachers and supporters march outside of Manzanita Community School in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Teachers in Oakland went on strike Thursday in the country's latest walkout by educators over classroom conditions and pay. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Oakland Education Association President Keith Brown, center left, yells after speaking outside of Manzanita Community School in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Teachers in Oakland, California, went on strike Thursday in the country's latest walkout by educators over classroom conditions and pay. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Alexis Ozuna, teacher at Manzanita Community School, marches with other teachers and supporters in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Teachers in Oakland, California, went on strike Thursday in the country's latest walkout by educators over classroom conditions and pay. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., center, marches with Oakland Education Association President Keith Brown, center right, along with teachers and supporters outside of Manzanita Community School in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Teachers in Oakland, California, went on strike Thursday in the country's latest walkout by educators over classroom conditions and pay. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Esperanza Martinez, union member with United Teachers of Los Angeles, gestures while teachers and supporters march outside of Manzanita Community School in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Teachers in Oakland, California, went on strike Thursday in the country's latest walkout by educators over classroom conditions and pay. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Trial should begin in early 2020 for the suspect in a Florida high school massacre that left 17 people dead last year, a judge said at a hearing Thursday.

Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer said she intends to set a definitive trial date soon for 20-year-old Nikolas Cruz, who faces the death penalty if convicted. No exact date has yet been set, and even aiming for the first part of 2020 would be quick for such a high-profile murder case.

But Scherer told lawyers that would prevent things from getting bogged down.

"I'm asking both sides to take that into account. Pace yourselves," she said. "I just ask you to keep that in mind as a goal moving forward."

Assistant State Attorney Jeff Marcus said prosecutors and defense attorneys are working as rapidly as possible to identify and interview witnesses, sort through evidence and begin planning what would likely be the biggest trial in recent Broward County history - if not ever.

"It does give us a place to work toward," Marcus said of the 2020 goal.

Parkland school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz sits in the courtroom for a status hearing at the Broward Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer said at a brief hearing that she intends to set a definitive trial date soon for 20-year-old Nikolas Cruz, who faces the death penalty if convicted. Cruz is accused of killing 17 and wounding 17 in the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool

Cruz is accused of killing 17 and wounding 17 in the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. He is also accused of assaulting a jail corrections officer while in custody.

Cruz's attorneys have said he will plead guilty in return for a life prison sentence, but prosecutors have refused that offer. Investigators say Cruz confessed to the shooting the day he was arrested and prosecutors released cellphone video of Cruz describing beforehand exactly what he planned to do at the school.

With the issue of guilt in little doubt, the trial would likely focus more on Cruz's mental and emotional problems and fascination with violence, guns and death. Those issues also would play a central role in whether a jury chose to impose the death penalty.

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Follow Curt Anderson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Miamicurt

Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer addresses prosecutors during a status hearing for Parkland school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz at the Broward Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer said at a brief hearing that she intends to set a definitive trial date soon for 20-year-old Nikolas Cruz, who faces the death penalty if convicted. Cruz is accused of killing 17 and wounding 17 in the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool

Parkland school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz enters the courtroom for a status hearing at the Broward Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer said at a brief hearing that she intends to set a definitive trial date soon for 20-year-old Nikolas Cruz, who faces the death penalty if convicted. Cruz is accused of killing 17 and wounding 17 in the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool
SAN DIEGO (AP) - 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 started breaking up immigrant families as far back as 2017 and is still doing so.

In San Diego, a federal judge on Thursday indicated he was considering a request by the American Civil Liberties Union to hold the government accountable for the separation of potentially thousands more children after a watchdog report revealed the government's policy was implemented as far back as July 2017.

Judge Dana Sabraw, who ordered the administration to end to the family separation policy on June 26, 2018, and reunify 2,700 children being held in government custody at the time, said that date is now arbitrary in light of the inspector general's report that found the family separation policy started as a pilot program in El Paso in 2017.

Sabraw said the public has the right to know what the government did and the scope of it. He asked why wouldn't the case "include everyone who has been allegedly unlawfully separated? Why would it be tethered to an arbitrary date of June 26, 2018?"

He said there may be thousands more parents and children who were separated.

"We simply don't know," Sabraw said. "There was no tracking. That's the harsh reality."

FILE - This Aug. 9, 2018, file photo, provided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, shows a scene from a tour of South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. Months after the Trump administration ended the general policy of separating parents and children, advocates and members of Congress are questioning the treatment of children who cross the U.S.-Mexico border with other relatives - grandparents, uncles and aunts, and adult siblings. (Charles Reed/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via AP, File)

Department of Justice attorney Scott Stewart objected, saying it would be a "significant burden" on the government to add the other families and "blow the case into some other galaxy" after the administration has "done all things to correct the wrong."

The judge says he will issue his ruling soon.

The Texas Civil Rights Project, meanwhile, released a report Thursday indicating the government is still separating immigrant families. The report 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.

"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.

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Merchant reported from Houston. Associated Press journalists Colleen Long in Washington and Adriana Gomez Licon and Josh Replogle in Miami contributed to this report.
SALEM, Ore. (AP) - 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 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.

The Oregon housing shortage is getting worse because of a big influx of people moving to the state - lured by the state's 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.

FILE - In this April 12, 2017 file photo, supporters of a bill to ban most no-cause evictions of home renters in Oregon demonstrate on the Capitol steps in Salem, Ore. A committee of the Oregon House of Representatives debated a bill that would make Oregon the first state to impose mandatory rent controls statewide. The committee on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, rejected proposed amendments that would make certain parts of the state exempt from the bill. (AP Photo/Andrew Selsky, File)

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.

"We've 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. "We're going to be leading the nation now with this legislation."

Oregon's 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 percent above the annual change in the consumer price index.

Landlords can terminate tenancies only with 90 days' written notice and payment of one month's 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 group's 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 percent over five years. Meanwhile, his rent has increased 66 percent. 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 percent.

"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 state's 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 percent of Oregon's new arrivals come for jobs or because they're 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 committee's 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

FILE - This April 22, 2017 file photo shows For Rent signs in front of a house in Salem, Ore. A committee of the Oregon House of Representatives debated a bill that would make Oregon the first state to impose mandatory rent controls statewide. The committee on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, rejected proposed amendments that would make certain parts of the state exempt from the bill. (AP Photo/Andrew Selsky, File)
JERUSALEM (AP) - The two main challengers to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined forces Thursday in a united front ahead of April elections, a dramatic move that upended the campaign and suddenly created the most serious threat to the Israeli leader's decade-long grip on power.

Retired military chief Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid party, appeared together on live TV late Thursday to announce their partnership, saying they were putting aside their personal rivalry in a shared goal to oust Netanyahu.

"Something went wrong this past decade. Israel has lost its way," Gantz said. "Instead of separation, we offer unity. Instead of extremism, we offer patriotism. Instead of incitement, we offer national reconciliation."

Opinion polls on Israeli TV stations showed the new "blue and white" alliance jumping ahead of Netanyahu's Likud Party. Netanyahu, taking to the airwaves later Thursday, dismissed his challengers as "leftists" who will destroy the country.

Netanyahu is pursuing a fourth consecutive term, and opinion polls have forecast another Likud victory in the April 9 election.

But Gantz, a popular political newcomer, has emerged as a potent challenger since announcing his candidacy late last month. Both he and Lapid hold similar views on a host of issues popular with centrist Israeli voters, ranging from the economy to the Palestinian issue.

Retired Israeli military chief Benny Gantz, left, smiles with Yair Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid party as they launch joint list for the upcoming Israeli elections in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Israel's primary centrist challengers to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday announced they were joining forces ahead of April elections - a dramatic move that shook up the country's political system and created the first credible alternative to Netanyahu's decade-long rule. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Gantz has the added attraction of being a former military chief, a key credential with the security-obsessed electorate. He also has enlisted two other former military chiefs, Moshe Yaalon and Gabi Ashkenazi, to join their ticket.

The two leaders reached their agreement after concluding that joining their two parties together would win more votes than if they ran separately.

"A winning team needs to be led. I wouldn't be standing here today if I didn't believe that Benny Gantz could lead us to victory and then lead the country," said Lapid, who put his own ambitions of becoming prime minister on hold to form the partnership.

Under their arrangement, the two agreed to a rotation leadership should they come to power. Gantz would first serve as prime minister and would then be replaced by Lapid after two-and-a-half years.

Opinion polls showed Gantz and Lapid leapfrogging over Likud, forecasting as many as 36 seats in the 120-seat Parliament for their new alliance.

But even if the joint list emerges as the largest party, it does not guarantee victory unless it can form a parliamentary majority with smaller partners. Thursday night's polls showed Netanyahu's right-wing nationalist bloc and the center-left alliance in a deadlock.

Netanyahu responded on live TV by branding his opponents "leftists" who planned to make concessions to the Palestinians and novices who will destroy the economy.

"Whoever votes for Lapid and Gantz votes for the left," he said.

He went on to list a series of his accomplishments, including building a wall along the Egyptian border to halt the flow of African migrants, lowering unemployment, and forging new diplomatic alliances, including in the Arab world. He also said he had helped persuade the Trump administration to scuttle the international nuclear deal with Iran and recognize contested Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

"They say the country is in a bad condition," he said. "It's never been in a better condition."

He 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.

The two addresses laid out the contours for what is sure to be a nasty final stretch of the campaign.

Netanyahu will try to position himself as tough on security and the only man capable of leading the country at a challenging time, while his opponents will target his character and the hard-line religious and nationalist agenda he has promoted at home.

"For the first time since 2009, we have a competitive race for the premiership and this is the result of the emergence of this new centrist force," said Yohanan Plesner, a former lawmaker and president of the non-partisan Israel Democracy Institute.

"There are now, as a result of this unification, two, I would say, legitimate major parties ... (but) it's not a done deal," Plesner said. "I think Netanyahu is still more likely to win and to emerge as prime minister at the end of this election campaign, but it is a competitive race."

After a decade without a serious challenger, Netanyahu suddenly appears vulnerable.

Israeli police have recommended that Netanyahu be indicted in a series of corruption allegations. The country's attorney general is expected to soon make a decision on whether to file charges - a move that would throw the campaign into turmoil.

Netanyahu has indicated he will not step down if indicted, but some allies could put pressure on him to step aside as he fights the charges.

Netanyahu also faced heavy criticism for his decision to form an alliance with a small extremist faction that is inspired by the banned Kahanist movement, which dreamed of turning Israel into a Jewish theocracy and promoted a racist agenda that called for the forced removal of Palestinians.

Netanyahu has said smaller parties that do not have enough support to enter Parliament on their own should band together under his leadership to ensure Likud's continued rule.

Netanyahu's courting of such forces drew sharp condemnations from much of the Israeli mainstream, with Gantz accusing him of losing touch "with his Zionism and with his dignity."

Retired Israeli military chief Benny Gantz, left, smiles with Yair Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid party, attend the launch of joint list for the upcoming Israeli elections in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Israel's primary centrist challengers to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday announced they were joining forces ahead of April elections - a dramatic move that shook up the country's political system and created the first credible alternative to Netanyahu's decade-long rule. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures as he delivers a statement in Ramat Gan, Israel, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)
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.

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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.

FILE - In this April 29, 2015, file photo, a snack and fruit vendor waits for customers near the advertisement board of a shopping mall and apartment building in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Vietnam, the location of U.S. President Donald Trump's 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. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, File)

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.

People shop at a well-stocked convenient in Hanoi, Vietnam, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Vietnam, the location of President Donald Trump's next meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has come along way since the Us abandoned its war against communist North Vietnam in the 1970s. (AP Photo/Minh Hoang)

People visit a supermarket in Hanoi, Vietnam, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Vietnam, the location of U.S. President Donald Trump's next meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has come along way since the Us abandoned its war against communist North Vietnam in the 1970s. (AP Photo/Minh Hoang)
BOSTON (AP) - The inside of a tank was Clarence Smoyer's home, and the crew was his family.

In that sense, the 95-year-old veteran returned home Wednesday for the first time since World War II. One of the last surviving WWII tank gunners, Smoyer was surprised with a ride through the streets of Boston in a Sherman tank.

Smoyer fought with the U.S. Army's 3rd Armored Division, nicknamed the Spearhead Division. In 1945, he defeated a German Panther tank near the cathedral in Cologne, Germany - a dramatic duel filmed by an Army cameraman that was seen all over the world.

Author Adam Makos tells Smoyer's story in the book "Spearhead," which was released Tuesday. Smoyer would make offhand comments to Makos about how he'd like to get aboard his old Sherman tank one last time. Makos started making calls and Smoyer started doing physical therapy, in case it worked out.

Smoyer, who lives in Allentown, Pennsylvania, had expected a taxi to take him from his hotel to the USS Constitution Museum for a book signing Wednesday. Instead, he found a 32-ton (33 metric ton) Sherman tank from 1944 waiting outside.

A huge smile flashed across Smoyer's face when he walked outside and saw the tank, saying it was a shock to see it.

World War II tank gunner Clarence Smoyer poses for a portrait near the Charlestown Naval Shipyard in Boston, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. The 95-year-old veteran was surprised with a ride through the streets of Boston in a Sherman tank, one of the tanks most widely used by the U.S. during the war. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

"That tank saved my life," he said.

The American Heritage Museum in Hudson, Massachusetts, sent the tank and reenactors representing infantrymen to walk alongside for the short trip to the museum. Service members from the USS Constitution and onlookers came outside to salute Smoyer and the tank as it rolled down the street.

After Smoyer was drafted in 1943, he served on a Sherman tank, first as the person responsible for loading ammunition and later as a gunner.

Smoyer was such a crack shot that his crew was given one of the Army's state-of-the-art Pershing tanks. That meant they would always go first into battle against German tanks that often were better equipped. Pershing tanks were rushed to Europe after the bloody Battle of the Bulge.

"My tank commander, Bob Earley, used to smoke a pipe and when he'd go for a briefing in the morning, he'd come back and the pipe was jumping in his mouth," Smoyer recalls. "He was nervous because he knew we'd be leading and up in the front again."

Smoyer said he was always scared of rounding a corner and running into the crosshairs of a German tank. He would tell himself to shoot straight and fast before the enemy got his shot in.

On March 5, 1945, Smoyer heard the company commander say over the radio, "Gentlemen, I give you Cologne. Let's knock the hell out of it." They charged into the city.

Smoyer said he traded fire with a German tank, then shot at a building and toppled it onto the Germans. Eighteen-year-old German tank gunner Gustav Schaefer and his tank commander abandoned their tank and surrendered.

Smoyer advanced and encountered the German Panther by the cathedral. The Panther had just knocked out two American Sherman tanks, killing three men.

"We pull out into the intersection and the driver saw the tank. We were looking right into the barrel," Smoyer said. "I fired once. Hit them. Sparks were flying. I fired another one, back more toward the engine compartment. I fired the third shot."

Smoyer set the tank on fire so the German crew couldn't fire back. American forces advanced to the Rhine River. Smoyer and his crew were photographed victoriously climbing out of their tank.

Smoyer returned to Pennsylvania in August 1945, married and had three children. He worked at an industrial plant. Few knew that he took out five German tanks during the war.

Makos met Smoyer through a friend in 2012. In 2013, they traveled to Cologne so Smoyer could meet Schaefer, the German tank gunner.

The two veterans shook hands in front of the cathedral and put roses on the grave of a German woman who was killed in their crossfire. They kept in touch through Christmas cards, letters and Skype until Schaefer died at age 90 in 2017.

"Spearhead" is the story of how their lives collided. Makos organized the surprise tank ride to show his appreciation for Smoyer.

"He did great things for this country and took great risks," Makos said. "Now we're giving him a last salute."

It was a bit of a struggle to get in and out of the tank at his age, Smoyer said - "It used to go a lot better when I was younger" - but it took his breath away to see it.

As for the book, he said, he hopes readers "understand what the fellas went through during the war. War is hell."

"War is hell."

World War II tank gunner Clarence Smoyer smiles as he admires a tank near the Charlestown Naval Shipyard in Boston, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. The 95-year-old veteran was surprised with a ride through the streets of Boston in a Sherman tank, one of the tanks most widely used by the U.S. during the war. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

World War II tank gunner Clarence Smoyer sits atop a tank as he passes the historic frigate U.S.S. Constitution at the Charlestown Naval Shipyard in Boston, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. The 95-year-old veteran was surprised with a ride through the streets of Boston in a Sherman tank, one of the tanks most widely used by the U.S. during the war. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

World War II tank gunner Clarence Smoyer admires a tank near the Charlestown Naval Shipyard in Boston, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. The 95-year-old veteran was surprised with a ride through the streets of Boston in a Sherman tank, one of the tanks most widely used by the U.S. during the war. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Sailors stationed with the historic frigate U.S.S. Constitution doff their caps as World War II tank gunner Clarence Smoyer enters the Charlestown Naval Shipyard in Boston, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. The 95-year-old veteran was surprised with a ride through the streets of Boston in a Sherman tank, one of the tanks most widely used by the U.S. during the war. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

World War II tank gunner Clarence Smoyer smiles as he admires a tank near the Charlestown Naval Shipyard in Boston, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. The 95-year-old veteran was surprised with a ride through the streets of Boston in a Sherman tank, one of the tanks most widely used by the U.S. during the war. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The country's last vacant congressional seat will stay that way for months after North Carolina's election board, hearing evidence of ballot fraud and testimony that the Republican ignored warning signs, ordered a new election.

GOP candidate Mark Harris gave up his fight Thursday to be declared winner of November's 9th congressional district race, saying serious public doubts about the contest's fairness revealed in testimony this week warrant a new election.

Harris had struggled during testimony at a special state elections board hearing to explain why he was being truthful in saying publicly since Election Day he'd never been warned about a North Carolina's felon's vote-getting efforts despite repeated data-based red flags from his son dating to mid-2016.

WAS THIS AN EXAMPLE OF BALLOT FRAUD?

North Carolina's elections director said this week that a local political operative in a rural corner of the 9th district conducted an illegal and well-funded ballot-harvesting operation during the 2018 election cycle while working for Harris. Leslie McCrae Dowless' workers in Bladen County testified 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.

WERE CRIMES COMMITTED?

Mark Harris, Republican candidate in North Carolina's 9th Congressional race, prepares to testify during the fourth day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

It's a felony under North Carolina law for anyone other than a guardian or close family member to handle a mail-in ballot because it poses the risk that they could be altered or discarded. The means ballot-harvesting - efforts to collect completed ballots - are illegal. A similar ballot-collection effort by Dowless and others was investigated by the state elections board after the 2016 elections. The findings were shared with federal prosecutors, who took no action. The district attorney in the state's capital city continues to weigh charges over the 2016 ballot fraud case.

WHEN ARE ELECTIONS?

The election board will establish dates for new elections, starting with the filing deadlines for primary elections. A state law approved in December - after the absentee voting irregularities surfaced - requires that both party primaries and a general election be held. State and federal deadlines and ballot requirements mean the general election may not occur until late summer or early fall.

WHO WILL RUN?

McCready is certainly running for the seat again and has been assembling a new campaign staff. His campaign finance report showed McCready raised $487,000 during the final five weeks of 2018, an amount which should stave off other well-known Democratic competitors. His campaign sent out a campaign funding plea late Thursday, citing the new election. Harris didn't say Thursday whether he'd run in the new election, and state Republican Party Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse said it was too early to say what Harris' political future would be. Several other Republicans are likely to enter the race for the GOP-leaning 9th District. The most recent 9th District incumbent, Republican Robert Pittenger, declined to comment Thursday but said in December he wouldn't run if a new election were held.

WHO WILL WIN?

The demographic and partisan data favor a Republican in the 9th District, which a Republican has held for more than 50 years. McCready enjoyed a large fundraising advantage over Harris and a national Democratic wave last fall for an extremely close race. It's unclear if any GOP nominee would be punished at the polls for Dowless' alleged misdeeds and apparent inability of Harris or Republican Party leaders to stop him, said Thomas Mills, a Democratic consultant and ex-congressional candidate: "I don't know if people will pay a price for it." Veteran Republican consultant Carter Wrenn said he doesn't know what to think: "About all that you can say for sure is that it's a mess."

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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 .

Mark Harris, Republican candidate in North Carolina's 9th congressional race, makes a statement before the state board of elections calling for a new election during the fourth day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th congressional district voting irregularities investigation Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

Marc Elias, an attorney for Democratic congressional candidate Dan McCready, expresses frustration after new documents were entered into evidence during the fourth day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP)

David Freedman, an attorney representing, Republican candidate Mark Harris, listens to testimony during the fourth day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP)

Board of Elections member Jeff Carmon listens to testimony during the fourth day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th congressional district voting irregularities investigation Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

Kim Westbrook Strach, executive director of the Bipartisan State Board of Elections & Ethics Enforcement, questions Mark Harris during the fourth day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th congressional district voting irregularities investigation Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

Josh Lawson, chief counsel for the state Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement, left, hands Mark Harris, Republican candidate in North Carolina's 9th congressional race, a document during the fourth day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th congressional district voting irregularities investigation Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)

Bob Cordle, state board of elections chairman, asks questions about new documents entered into evidence during the fourth day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP)

Marc Elias, an attorney for Democratic congressional candidate Dan McCready, expresses frustration after new documents were entered into evidence during the fourth day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP)

John Branch, an attorney for the Mark Harris campaign committee, explains why he submitted new documents into evidence during the fourth day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP)
In a story Feb. 19 about a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency over a proposed copper-nickel mine in Minnesota, The Associated Press erroneously reported the name of the group filing the lawsuit. It is Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, not Protecting Employees Who Protect Our Environment.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Environmental group seeks EPA documents on Minnesota mine

A Minnesota environmental group is suing the Environmental Protection Agency to force it to release concerns that EPA specialists have expressed about a copper-nickel mine in the northeast of the state

By IVAN MORENO

Associated Press

A Minnesota environmental group filed a federal lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday, seeking to force it to make public the concerns its specialists have expressed about a copper-nickel mine in the northeast of the state.

Environmentalists worry PolyMet Mining's planned $1 billion mine, which would occupy 19,000 acres in the St. Louis River basin, will create a permanent pollution source from the river into Lake Superior. More than 900 acres of wetlands would also be destroyed, the lawsuit from WaterLegacy alleges.

WaterLegacy attorney Paula Maccabee has said documents she obtained through an open records request showed regional EPA staffers said last fall they had "substantial questions" about the project, before the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued final water and air permits for the mine in December. Maccabee said the EPA never filed formal comments about the project, even though they had expressed a desire to do so.

Environmentalists say they have been unable to obtain the EPA's finalized comments that weren't submitted, despite a Freedom of Information Act request. The lawsuit pushed for the release of those documents.

The EPA said in an emailed statement that it does not comment on pending litigation.

Maccabee said the permits issued "would not limit toxic pollutants that would then be discharged into the headwaters of the Lake Superior basin."

The Maryland-based group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, also known as PEER, filed Tuesday's lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., on behalf of WaterLegacy, which wants to use the EPA's unpublished objections in its litigation challenging the permits for the project, known as the NorthMet mine.

"EPA apparently wants to ensure there is no paper trail evidencing the very real concerns of career professional staff," said Kevin Bell, an attorney for PEER.

Environmentalists say that since President Donald Trump's election, EPA officials have been forbidden from submitting written comments to state regulators about approving air and water permits. The EPA staffers now read their comments over the phone, according to notes taken during calls by employees at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

The EPA is concerned about excess mercury discharge and inadequate monitoring, among other things, according to the MPCA notes, the lawsuit states.

Last month, the matter captured the attention of Minnesota U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, who issued a statement saying she found it "remarkable" that the EPA did not formally weigh in before the MPCA issued the water and air permits. McCollum, who chairs an appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the EPA, said last month she would ask the EPA to publicly release any PolyMet-related comments.

Construction on the project could start as early as this spring. However, the water and air permits that were granted are being appealed to the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
Council of Europe urges France to suspend use of LBDs Rubber bullet launchers used against Yellow Vest protesters

(ANSAmed) - PARIS, FEBRUARY 26 - The Council of Europe is calling on France to suspend the use of rubber bullet launchers known as LBDs, a non-lethal weapon that French police have used against Yellow Vest protesters in recent months.



The so-called "flash balls" have caused numerous injuries, and the appeal to suspend their use came in a memorandum addressed to the government of French President Emmanuel Macron by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic.



In the document, Mijatovic calls on France to "show more respect for human rights", to "refrain from introducing excessive restrictions to freedom of peaceful assembly", and to "suspend the use" of the controversial LBDs (Lanceur de Balles de Defense), which replaced the previous flash balls supplied to French police officers.



The memorandum also appeals to the government to "publish more detailed figures on the wounded and to review the doctrine on the use of intermediate weapons as soon as possible".



During the past three months of protests, the anti-riot LBD weapons with 40mm rubber bullets have caused numerous injuries, including the loss of an eye or a hand, setting off heated public opinion protests.



However, in recent weeks the French Council of State rejected the idea of suspending the use of these weapons.



Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said law enforcement "need" the weapons.



"If they didn't have them, the only alternative would be body-to-body or the use of a service weapon," Castaner said.



"In the current context, you can well understand where that could lead us," he said. The Commission for Human Rights is an independent institution of the Council of Europe, the organism of 47 member states based in Strasbourg, not to be confused with the European Union.



(ANSAmed).




Analysts fear an independent Chuuk would turn to China, stoking tense competition between Beijing and Washington in the Pacific

A referendum next month on independence for the Micronesian state of Chuuk has been postponed, officials in the Pacific nation said Friday, defusing an issue seen as a potential flashpoint between China and the United States.

The vote to decide if Chuuk should secede from the Federated States of Micronesia was scheduled to be held alongside national elections on March 5.

But chief legal counsel for the Chuuk state legislature Eliesa Tuiloma, said the vote, which was originally supposed to take place in March 2015, had been put off again until a date yet to be determined.

"Yes, it's been delayed," he told AFP. "This will allow us to look more closely at the constitutional implications".

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) consists of more than 600 islands in the northern Pacific scattered over thousands of kilometres (miles) but containing a combined landmass of only 700 square kilometres (270 sq. miles).

Chuuk is the largest of the FSMs four states and, with about 50,000 people, has around half the country's population.

Some locals have long been resentful the national capital Palikir is in Pohnpei state and believe they do not receive a fair share of government resources, leading to a push for independence.

FSM government spokesman Richard Clark said secession as proposed in the referendum was currently illegal and would need constitutional amendments to proceed.

"One reason for the delay is to allow more time for public education on what the referendum would mean, and another is to allow more time for legal experts and others to complete their work," he said

- Heightened tensions -

A major complicating factor is that the resource-poor country is in a compact of free association with the United States, meaning grants from Washington prop up most of its services.

Citizens also get the right to live and work in the United States.

Independence advocates say if a new nation of Chuuk was formed, they would simply negotiate a new compact with Washington, but US officials have said this is unlikely to happen.

If the United States did play hardball and refuse a new compact, analysts fear Chuuk would turn to China -- further heightening already tense competition between Beijing and Washington in the Pacific.

"Chuuk would find in China a new source of financing to substitute for the abandoned compact, while Beijing could cultivate a new ally in the Pacific," research group Fitch Solutions said in a briefing note on the situation this week.

"Indeed, China could even assume responsibility for Chuuk's defence and foreign policies, especially if it establishes a military presence in the archipelago," it said.

The prospect of a Chinese military base on Chuuk would set alarm bells ringing in Washington and for its allies in the region.

The state's major feature is Chuuk lagoon, also known as Truk lagoon, an immense body of water more than 60 kilometres (37 miles) across created by a barrier reef, offering an ideal shelter for ships.

It has already demonstrated its military usefulness, when Japan based one if its fleets there in World War II.

The lagoon contains the wrecks of more than 50 Japanese ships bombed by the US in 1944 and is renowned as one of the world's best diving spots.
Vietnamese veteran and caretaker Duong Van Dau has looked after the tombstones of North Korean pilots killed in aerial battles since 2000

A caretaker tends to the headstones of 14 North Koreans killed fighting in the Vietnam War, carefully sweeping around the plaques honouring Pyongyang's little-known contribution to Hanoi's anti-American crusade.

The bodies of the 12 fighter pilots and two technicians were buried here before they were repatriated in 2002 but the rarely-visited graveyard, bordered by rice paddy fields, remains a symbol of an era when Hanoi relied on Pyongyang for help.

Today Vietnam is one of Asia's fastest growing economies and counts the US and South Korea among its closest allies -- two countries technically still at war with North Korea.

Hanoi also maintains ties with Pyongyang and will next week host the second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

There is no word on whether Kim plans to visit the small, tidy memorial that caretaker and former soldier Duong Van Dau has looked after since 2000.

"They are martyrs who died for our country, so I have the responsibility to protect them," Dau told AFP, standing before the headstones in northern Bac Giang province.

He sometimes visits the site to light incense or clean the headstones, all of which face northeast toward the fighters' homeland.

- 'Vengeance!' -

Pyongyang sent about 80 fighter pilots to support North Vietnam during the war between 1966 and 1969, when American bombers were pounding the north as part of the Rolling Thunder campaign.

The North Koreans never came face-to-face with any of the estimated 300,000 South Koreans -- including several dozen taekwondo specialists -- fighting alongside the Americans in the south.

But they dispatched psychological warfare personnel and propaganda experts, some of whom targeted South Koreans with anti-American leaflets.

Though the North Koreans are believed to have shot down several American planes, their overall contribution to the conflict was marginal and they gained a reputation for being tough but not especially effective

"South Korean soldiers in Vietnam! Seek hundred, thousand vengeances against the American imperialist aggressors!" read one.

Though the North Koreans are believed to have shot down several American planes, their overall contribution to the conflict was marginal and they gained a reputation for being tough but not especially effective.

"They fought very bravely in the aerial battles, (but) 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," said Vietnamese pilot Vu Ngoc Dinh, cited in Istvan Toperczer's book "MiG-21 Aces of the Vietnam War".

Though Vietnam today quietly honours Pyongyang's wartime contribution, leader Kim Il Sung's reasons for joining the fight in the aftermath of the Korean war were not totally selfless.

"By sending North Korean pilots and other elements to Vietnam, he was helping Vietnam stay in the fight and to keep the American forces tied down," Jiyul Kim, assistant history professor at Oberlin College, told AFP.

- Crumbling ties -

As the war started winding down, relations began to sour.

Pyongyang initially resented North Vietnam's willingness to negotiate with the US, and the allies continued to grow apart as Vietnam gradually embraced the West.

Relations hit a low in 1992 after Hanoi established diplomatic ties with Seoul, followed by a quarrel in 1996 over an unpaid rice shipment from Hanoi to North Korea at the height of its famine.

Some Vietnam veterans hope the memorial will keep the memory of North Korea wartime involvement alive

It took decades for either side to public acknowledge North Korea's wartime contribution.

For Vietnam, ignoring this little-known chapter offered a more courageous narrative.

"It's much more glorious to have beaten the Americans alone," Balazs Szalontai, an expert on North Korean studies and Cold War history, told AFP.

It was only around 2000 that news of North Korea's help in the war emerged and later that year a senior North Korean official visited the memorial during a trip to Vietnam.

The bodies were brought back two years later and remain in a war cemetery in North Korea along with others who fought in the Vietnam War.

In the years since diplomatic ties have gradually grown closer -- though trade trickled under UN sanctions -- a once-isolated Vietnam now stands as a potential economic model for Pyongyang.

Some Vietnam veterans hope the memorial will keep the memory of North Korea wartime involvement alive.

"When we are gone, the young ones won't know anything about what the North Koreans did for us," said 90-year-old Tran Van Nguyen, who lives near the site.
Many have fled life under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, where the insurgents control more territory than at any time since 2001

Ali Ahmad Alizai has no choice but to obey when the Taliban come knocking on his door demanding food, shelter or a slice of his hard-earned harvest to fund their insurgency.

"The Taliban run a dictatorship here. They have their own laws. We have some security, but no freedom," the farmer told AFP by telephone from a militant-controlled district of Afghanistan's southern Helmand province.

Alizai is one of millions living under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, where the group controls more territory than at any time since being toppled in 2001 by US-led forces.

As momentum for peace talks builds, with a fresh round of negotiations between the Taliban and Washington set to begin in Doha on Monday, testimonies from Afghans like him paint a picture of what life might be like should the militants return to power if the US exits its longest war.

In some ways Taliban governance appears to have evolved, with the insurgents open to some small compromises as Afghans refuse to part with their hard-won freedoms.

But zeal for the harsh brand of Islamic justice that defined their former regime is unwavering, and remains pivotal to enforcing obedience today in countryside under its influence.

Abdul Bari, who abandoned his home in an insurgent fiefdom in Uruzgan province three months ago, spoke darkly of life under the white flag of the Taliban.

"They would stage public executions from time to time," the 66-year-old told AFP in Kandahar, where he fled with his family.

"Their fighters would decide the fate of people."

- 'People are terrified' -

Taliban courts preside over justice in huge swathes of the country -- even areas ostensibly under government control, said Ashley Jackson, a research associate with the Overseas Development Institute.

Verdicts under their own strict interpretation of Sharia law are swift, and punishments severe, from limbs amputated for theft to condemned prisoners hung by roadsides as a warning.

Human rights experts say it is "ridiculous and harmful" to suggest the Taliban will soften their stance on women

"People are terrified of them," said Sayed Omar, who escaped Taliban brutality in Uruzgan.

"They have not changed, they are the same as they were during their rule."

Mohammad Qasem, a shopkeeper who spoke to AFP by phone from another Taliban bastion in Kandahar, said the militants had banned smartphones and confined women to the home -- effectively reversing the clock to 1996, when they stormed to power.

But they were "a bit easier" on men having shorter beards -- a floggable offence under their former regime.

The Taliban have told AFP they want to establish "an Islamic system" as opposed to the democracy built since 2001, but that they have modified their stance on some issues including dropping a ban on the education of women and girls.

AFP was unable to speak to any women currently living under Taliban rule.

Human Rights Watch senior researcher Heather Barr said in some areas the militants now allow girls to attend primary school, "if it was segregated by gender, the teachers were female, and the Taliban controlled the curriculum".

Researchers say the militants now allow girls to attend primary school if segregated by gender and the Taliban controls the curriculum

However, it was "ridiculous and harmful" to suggest that proved the Taliban had softened their stance on women, she said.

"Limiting girls to primary education is an extreme form of misogyny ... Too many men are in a rush to argue that a Taliban deal will be fine for women. Women know better -- but is anyone listening to them?"

Qasem said the restrictions were unpopular. Times have changed since the Taliban were deposed, he added.

"This time, if they don't change, it might create a backlash," he told AFP.

There are some signs the insurgents are listening.

Phone use is permitted during the day and televisions watched without fear of punishment, a far cry from the violent Taliban purges against technology in the past.

"What they say is don't listen to music, listen to sermons and religious programs. But there is no smashing of TV sets anymore," Thomas Ruttig, from the Afghanistan Analysts Network, told AFP.

- Carrot and stick -

The Taliban are also keen to show they can govern a modern nation.

In territory where control is split with the government, the militants ensure teachers and clinic staff show up for work and prod electricity providers to fix power outages.

Jackson said this Taliban "shadow government" exists partly to embarrass corrupt local politicians, but also to exert soft power and demonstrate competence.

"It's both carrot and stick. I think they realise they have to provide... some tangible benefit," Jackson said.

Mullah Rauf, a former Taliban commander, said the insurgents had evolved.

Many Afghans want to know the Taliban's intentions once foreign troops leave

"They can't have a hardline government anymore. Nowhere in the world do such governments exist," he told AFP by telephone from Panjwaee, a Taliban district in Kandahar.

As America pushes for a peace deal, many Afghans want to know the Taliban's intentions once foreign troops leave.

The militants say they do not want to rule by force, but share power with other parties.

Taliban justice is one area "where compromise will be the hardest", Jackson said.

Ruttig said the militants had not abandoned their ideology, but know "they cannot rule against the population", and therefore might be open to some compromise.

"But whether that's good enough for most Afghans -- who now have tasted completely different freedoms than what they had under the Taliban -- that will be up to the Afghan population," Ruttig said.
The attack at the Bourke street mall, a popular shopping area, rocked Australia's second largest city, with a three-month-old baby, a 10-year-old girl and a Japanese student among the victims

A driver who killed six people in a rampage along a Melbourne shopping street was sentenced to life Friday for what a judge described as one of Australia's worst mass murders.

The January 2017 attack at Bourke Street mall, a popular shopping area, rocked Australia's second-largest city, with a three-month-old baby, a 10-year-old girl and a Japanese student among the victims.

James Gargasoulas, 29, also injured dozens of people when he drove his car into shoppers, in a killing spree that police determined was not terror-related.

Witnesses described "bodies flying through the air" and people running out of the path of the speeding vehicle.

At the Supreme Court in Victoria state, Gargasoulas was handed life sentences for six counts of murder and told he would serve a minimum of 46 years in prison.

Despite being in a "drug-induced psychosis" under the effects of methamphetamine, Judge Mark Weinberg said he was fully aware of his actions on the day of the killings.

"This was one of the worst examples of mass murder in Australian history," he said.

A jury last July took less than an hour to convict Gargasoulas, who was also found guilty of 27 counts of reckless conduct endangering life.

During the trial, the killer apologised "from the heart".

"But that's not going to fix anything if I say sorry. Neither will a lengthy sentence fix what I've done," he said.

However, Weinberg found Gargasoulas was not "genuinely remorseful" for his crimes, adding that it was "enormously fortuitous" he did not kill more people.

"You were also well aware of the likelihood that by driving through the crowds in the way that you did, you would kill, or at least seriously injure, those that you struck," he said.

"You left a trail of destruction behind you."
Captured marine mammals seen from above in enclosures at a holding facility in Srednyaya Bay in the Far Eastern town of Nakhodka

Dozens of orcas and beluga whales captured for sale to oceanariums have brought Russia's murky trade into the spotlight, but efforts to free them are blocked by government infighting.

Russia is the only country where orcas, or killer whales, and belugas can be caught in the ocean for the purpose of "education". The legal loophole has been used to export them, especially to satisfy demand in China's growing network of ocean theme parks.

The practice sparked a global outcry after pictures surfaced of an unprecedented number of the marine mammals -- a total of 11 orcas and 87 belugas -- crammed into small enclosures at a secure facility in the Far Eastern town of Nakhodka.

"There have never been that many animals caught in one season and kept in the same facility before anywhere in the world," said Dmitry Lisitsyn, head of the Sakhalin Environmental Watch group who has emerged as a point person in the campaign to release the whales captured last summer back into the wild.

Nearly 100 killer and beluga whales were captured last summer for sale to oceanariums, especially the Chinese market

Under public pressure, Russian investigators launched two probes into poaching and cruel treatment of the whales, while Russia's environmental watchdog said it has refused to issue permits to export them.

But the investigations and any potential court case could drag on for months.

And a major hurdle remains in the Russian government which is split between the environment ministry that says the animals must be urgently released, and the fisheries agency that defends their capture as part of a legitimate industry.

- 200 orcas left -

The captured killer whales belong to the rarer seal-eating, or transient, population of the species, which does not interbreed or interact with fish-eating orcas.

The environment ministry has tried to list the seal-eating type as endangered, ministry representative Olga Krever said.

"This population has only 200 adult animals" in Russian waters, she said.

But the agriculture ministry, which controls the fisheries agency and oversees non-protected sea species, views orcas as a dangerous competitor for Russia's fish stocks and doesn't believe they are under threat, Krever said, calling the dispute a "big problem."

Efforts to free the captured marine mammals are blocked by a split in the government between the environment ministry and the fisheries agency, which says the industry is legitimate

The heads of the two ministries could sit down and decide the fate of the Nakhodka animals quickly as "this needs a political solution," she said.

But while marine mammal researchers say there are good chances of a successful release, the fisheries agency told AFP that releasing the captured animals "carries high risks of their mass death".

"Neither orcas nor belugas are endangered," and are simply a resource that can be used according to existing legislation, agency representative Sergei Golovinov said.

The high-profile clash became heated at a Moscow conference last week where Alexander Pozdnyakov, a fishing lobbyist tied to firms keeping the animals in Nakhodka, suddenly linked it to Russia's geopolitical struggle with the United States.

"Today there is a battle for the Chinese market," Pozdnyakov said. If the Nakhodka animals are not delivered there, "this market will be taken over by American companies."

- 'Stars of the shows' -

What he failed to mention is that catching wild orcas stopped in both the United States and Canada in the 1970s due to public opposition.

There are 74 operational ocean theme parks in mainland China featuring whales and dolphins, according to the China Cetacean Alliance, which monitors the industry. More are under construction.

"Orcas are like the cherry on the cake" for new Chinese venues, said Greenpeace Russia campaigner Oganes Targulyan at a recent protest against whale capture.

Greenpeace activists and supporters rally in Moscow, demanding the release of the orcas and beluga whales back into the wild

"They are the stars of the shows."

All 17 killer whales that Russia has exported since 2013 -- valued at over $1 million each by customs -- have gone to China, according to CITES wildlife trade figures.

Though the animals in Nakhodka are unlikely to get green-lighted for export, their fate is unclear: it could be up to President Vladimir Putin to make the political decision on their release, campaigner Lisitsyn said.

In the West, there is widespread opposition to keeping the highly intelligent marine mammals in parks like the US chain Sea World, but in Russia public opinion is not so certain.

Companies that caught the animals are not giving up. At the weekend, they launched a new Instagram account, praising the Nakhodka facility and defending the oceanarium industry.

- 'Lobbyist muscle' -

On Saturday, dozens of pro-industry supporters disrupted a rally to free the whales. They showed up with signs reading "Each orca is 10 jobs" for the crews hired to catch them, and only left when police arrived on the scene.

Dmitry Lisitsyn (R), head of Sakhalin Environmental Watch, says companies involved in capturing whales 'are using their lobbyist muscle'

"We see that the capturing companies are putting up a fight," Lisitsyn said. "They are using their lobbyist muscle."

Researchers meanwhile are already starting to organise to prepare for a potential release of the animals.

"There has never been so many animals released in the past," said Dmitry Glazov, a beluga whale researcher at the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution in Moscow.

He said a project of that scale would certainly require international expertise and funding. The whales, which have been fed dead fish, would need to go through an adaptation period to make sure they can rely on their natural food sources.

"For science, releasing this many animals would be invaluable," he said. "But there needs to be a decision first."
The chaos that has followed Kadhafi's downfall has seen Libya's southern desert borderlands increasingly become a haven for jihadists, traffickers and rebels

In the southern Libyan city of Oubari, shops are shuttered and tension is palpable, as residents fear an imminent incursion by forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar.

We "dread the repercussions of military operations that are unfolding on the edge of town", said 22-year-old hospital administrator Ali Senoussi, speaking on behalf of his Tubu community.

Many residents in Oubari -- some 900 kilometres (560 miles) south of Tripoli -- are Tubu.

The ethnic group fears vengeance by Arab communities that have joined an offensive by Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), which is on the outskirts of the city.

Long marginalised, Tubus live in the Tibesti region, which straddles Libya, Chad and Niger, an area long at the mercy of roaming rebel groups, traffickers and jihadists.

"We are residents of this region. Our support and love for it is immense", said 22-year-old Senoussi, clothed in a traditional head robe to screen desert sun and wind.

"We cannot accept being involved in wars with Arab tribes that fight alongside Haftar", he insisted, sipping tea in the courtyard of a hospital where he works as an administrator.

The LNA says it is seeking to purge "terrorist and criminal groups", and some accuse the Tubus of supporting Chadian rebels.

But Senoussi dismisses the offensive as "a threat to the social peace of the whole region".

Tubu lawmakers even allege that ethnic cleansing is under way.

- Ethnic quarrels -

The community was among the first to join the 2011 uprising that ousted and killed Moamer Kadhafi.

The self-styled Libyan National Army is carrying out an offensive in the south of the country, leading to fears of persecution within the marginalised Tubu community

But the former dictator's downfall by no means improved Tubus' standing in Libya.

Despite being home to some of the country's biggest oilfields, the region is regularly hit by shortages of all kinds -- petrol, electricity, gas cylinders and even bread.

Prices have rocketed on the black market.

Senoussi said the lack of fuel had forced him to leave his car at home and walk to work.

"Most public sector workers prefer to walk" to avoid long queues that have become a fixture of daily life at gas stations, he said.

The intensified chaos of recent years means that the southern border areas are more than ever a haven for jihadists, traffickers and rebels.

These groups exploit a security vacuum that is exacerbated by an ongoing power struggle between a UN-backed Government of National Accord in Tripoli and a rival administration loyal to Haftar in northeastern Libya.

Tribal and ethnic quarrels between the Tubus, Tuaregs and Arab groups over trafficking have added fuel to the fire.

"We are Muslims, but we have a culture and language that we share with our cousins from Chad, Niger and Sudan," explained Ali Yahyia, a Tubu expert on his community.

But this does not undermine "our support for the Libyan homeland", he insisted.

- 'Doctors fear for lives' -

The LNA launched its ongoing military campaign in mid-January and on Wednesday night entered Murzuk, another southern Libyan city home to many Tubus.

Strongman Khalifa Haftar leads the Libyan National Army, which has the support of an administration in eastern Libya that rivals a UN-backed government in Tripoli

Renowned for a fortress that dates back more than seven centuries, much of the historic settlement now resembles a ghost town.

Murzuk's windswept streets are littered with garbage.

Like Oubari, shops are closed and people are scared to circulate.

Even bakers -- hit by a lack of flour -- cannot raise their blinds.

"The city faces numerous problems at the service level, particularly at the hospital where we have only one doctor", deplored municipal councillor Ibrahim Omar.

"With the military operations that are ongoing, the doctors refuse to come, fearing for their lives", he said.

If the situation persists, "food stocks will in the end be exhausted".
Senegal has known two peaceful power transfers, in 2000 and 2012, and no coup d'etat

Senegal goes to the polls Sunday in a presidential contest that incumbent Macky Sall, facing unusually few challengers in a country fond of vigorous political debate, is confident of winning in the first round.

His two biggest rivals -- popular Dakar ex-mayor Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade, the son of the previous president -- were disqualified after being convicted of corruption in trials questioned by rights groups.

"Victory in the first round is indisputable," a Macky Sall told a recent Dakar campaign rally.

Sall faces competition from four opposition rivals -- lesser-known perhaps, but campaigning hard against the president's plans for a second phase in a controversial infrastructure project called "Emerging Senegal."

The giant scheme is Sall's legacy, but critics deride it as a waste of taxpayers' money, out of touch with needs -- and a potential debt dinosaur if much-promised investment fails to emerge.

Senegal's presidential candidates

"If I am elected, I will throw his Senegal debt plan in the trash," one of Sall's election challengers, tax inspector-turned MP Ousman Sonko, has vowed.

Sall's other three rivals are former prime minister Idrissa Seck, Issa Sall of the Unity and Assembly Party (PUR), and former justice and foreign minister Madicke Niang.

The president is not related to either Khalifa or Issa Sall.

The five-horse race leaves voters with a limited choice compared to 2012, when 14 candidates vied for the top post, and 2007, when 15 battled it out.

- Stability above all -

A new system approved by parliament last year despite opposition party resistance, requires candidates to demonstrate they have the support of a minimum number of citizens and regions.

Ex-president Abdoulaye Wade has called for the burning of election materials and attacks on voting stations

Once the new regulations were applied, only seven candidates made the cut, two of whom were then disqualified.

"I can't be bothered to deal with politics," said shopkeeper Astou Fall of Bambey, in central west Senegal.

"May the best win and peace continue, we value our national stability," he said, reflecting a commonly-voiced sentiment.

Both Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade -- his SDP party's only presidential candidate -- have claimed their criminal convictions were engineered to rule them out of the race.

Supporters of the convicted men have staged demonstrations to call for free and fair elections, while rights group Amnesty International last year spotlighted "unfair trials" in Senegal, and a "lack of independence" by the judiciary in Khalifa Sall's case.

Some 6.7 million Senegalese are registered to vote

Senegal, which has known two peaceful power transfers, in 2000 and 2012, and no coup d'etat, is held up by some as a model of stability in West Africa.

But election campaigns are typically marred by accusations of corruption, disinformation and sometimes violence.

Just last week, clashes between supporters of rival parties left two dead at Tambacounda, about 420 kilometres (261 miles) east of Dakar.

Ex-president Wade has called for the burning of election materials and attacks on voting stations, prompting the government to denounce an "attitude of subversion".

The country, with a 90-percent Muslim population, is reputed for religious tolerance, and has been spared the jihadist attacks plaguing other countries in the region.

But it has been reinforcing security and laws, sometimes at the cost of freedom, according to rights organisations.

Opposition rallies have recently been banned and pre-trial detention for people suspected of "terrorism" extended from 48 hours to 12 days.

Some 6.7 million people in a population of around 16 million are registered to vote.

Senegal compared to neighbouring countries on key indicators

Preliminary results are expected soon after polling closes at 1800 GMT on Sunday, but will only become official a day or two later.

A candidate must get more than 50 percent of the votes cast to prevent a second-round runoff.

If no-one garners more than half the votes on Sunday, March 24 is the provisional date for a second voting round, though the exact timing will be determined by how long it takes to officially proclaim the results from the first round, and whether these are then challenged.
The popularity of temper clinics, also known as rage rooms, has taken off in Asia in the past decade

Armed with crowbars and wearing protective gear, three women assembled at a Jakarta stress clinic survey the cluster of bottles they're about to smash to pieces.

"I feel relieved. It's like something I have been holding inside is finally released when I smashed those bottles," Genta Kalbu Tanjung, a 20-year-old university student, told AFP as blaring rock music pulsated in the background.

Tanjung and her two friends paid 125,000 rupiah ($8.85) each to unleash their pent-up rage at the Temper Clinic, which also lets clients bust up old televisions and printers for a slightly higher price.

Genta Kalbu Tanjung, a 20-year-old student, armed with a crowbar releases frustrations with a session at the Temper Clinic in Jakarta

Inside a bare smash room, one wall is covered with a written reminder: "Holding on to anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die."

Aliya Dewayanti Senoajie wanted to use the students' half-hour session to channel her frustrations as a school holiday quickly comes to an end.

"The break is over -- it was too short and I'm not ready to go back to school," Senoajie said, declaring her bust-it-up session a success.

"It was really fun. My adrenaline was pumping."

The clinic opened last summer in a posh Jakarta neighbourhood after co-owner Masagus Yusuf Albar returned from an overseas holiday where he saw similar businesses sprouting up.

The first dedicated space for such destruction therapy opened in Japan in 2008, with a view to helping stressed salarymen relieve their pent up frustrations.

It has spread in popularity and temper clinics, also known as rage rooms, can be found in most key US and European cities.

The trend has taken off in Asia in the past two years with similar ventures opening in China, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

But the service might not immediately make sense for a place like Indonesia -- its citizens regularly rank high among the world's least-stressed people.

That wasn't lost on Albar, who conceded that life in places like Bali or jungle-clad Sumatra was pretty relaxed.

But not so in Jakarta, a city of 10 million plus with hours-long traffic jams that can drive the most patient mad and where school and work are becoming increasingly competitive.

A 2017 survey done by dry cleaning firm Zipjet found Jakarta was one of the world's most stressful cities based on criteria including traffic, air and noise pollution and unemployment.

"Try to go anywhere on Friday night and it's very annoying. My friend once got caught in the traffic and she ended up crying. That's how bad it was," Albar told AFP.

"Customers find this cathartic," he said.

But smashing things up to let off steam is not necessarily risk free, warned Jakarta-based psychologist Liza Marielly Djaprie.

She suggested that regularly using such rooms could simply condition the body to need an aggressive release whenever tensions rise.

Djaprie explained: "I don't usually encourage patients to destroy things just so it won't become a habit. We need to learn about our anger -- and anger management."
A statue of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was earlier this month found guilty of trafficking over 130 tons of drugs into the US by a New York jury

Two sons of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman -- both on the run in Mexico -- have been charged with drug trafficking by US authorities, the Department of Justice said Thursday.

Joaquin Guzman Lopez, 34, and 28-year-old Ovidio Guzman Lopez, were accused last year of conspiring to distribute cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine from Mexico and other countries into the US between 2008 and 2018.

The indictment was revealed Thursday, having only been unsealed last week to protect the investigation and witnesses.

If convicted, the pair face a minimum sentence of 20 years and up to life in prison.

"El Chapo" was earlier this month found guilty of trafficking over 130 tons of drugs into the US by a New York jury. Facing a mandatory sentence of life behind bars, which will be announced on June 25.

Another of his sons, Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, was charged with several drug trafficking offenses in 2014 and remains on the DEA's 10 most wanted list.

Another son, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, was also implicated in drug trafficking by Mexican authorities.

"El Chapo" has several children with different women. The youngest, seven-year-old twin girls, attended several of their father's court hearings and one day of his trial at a Brooklyn federal court alongside their mother, former beauty queen Emma Coronel.
China is Australia's biggest trading partner and coal is the resources-rich country's most valuable export

Canberra on Friday denied reports Australian coal was being blocked from entering China, as the government sought to quell fears that worsening diplomatic tensions are damaging the nations' crucial trading relationship.

Industry experts have noted recently that China appeared to be delaying customs clearances for Australian coking coal used in steel-making, but a report late Thursday that ports in the northern city of Dalian had banned the shipments sent the Aussie dollar plunging.

China is Australia's biggest trading partner and coal is the resource-rich country's most valuable export.

Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said there was "no basis to believe that there is a ban" on Australian imports.

"We believe and understand that these are simple import quotas, consistent with what China has applied before and continues to apply and apply equally to all countries," Birmingham told reporters.

"This is not the first occasion where Australian coal exports to China have slowed in terms of the pace at which they are processed or assessed and let into the country... It is unlikely and unhelpful to try to conflate other unrelated issues."

He added that officials were seeking reassurances from Beijing that Australia was not the only country being targeted.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said earlier that regulatory rather than political issues were at play and stressed there was "no evidence" any hold up of imports was related to other issues between the two nations.

There has been speculation about whether the delays have been about addressing domestic pressures, or retribution over Canberra's decision to ban Chinese communications giant Huawei's 5G equipment over security risks.

Canberra and Beijing have sparred diplomatically in recent months over the 5G ban, China's growing drive to increase its influence in the Pacific and the expulsion of a Chinese billionaire who donated to local political parties.

- 'Knee-jerk headlines' -

Central bank governor Philip Lowe said Friday it would be "concerning" if the diplomatic spats were spilling into the trading arena, but added that it would be prudent to "wait and see" what the motivations were behind the Chinese actions.

Lowe, echoing analysts, said it was also important to note that the current amount of coal reportedly blocked by Dalian was small.

China's foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said late Thursday that Chinese customs were "conducting risk detection and analysis work on imported coal to ensure their safety and quality".

"The objective of this is to better protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese importers and to protect the environment," he said.

Coal shipped from Australia to Dalian Ports accounts for about 10 percent of Australia's exports of the commodity to China, and only two percent of overall exports.

Westpac senior currency strategist Sean Callow told AFP that while the Australian dollar dropped one percent to 70.90 US cents following the initial reports Thursday, the market was calmer early Friday.

"Those knee-jerk headlines of 'Australia's number-one export destination has a ban on Australia's number-one export' were enough to knock the Aussie lower," Callow said.
Oxfam says Yemeni crisis forcing child brides for food Due to rising food prices. Appeal for a ceasefire

(ANSAmed) - ROME, FEBRUARY 26 - The exponential increase in food prices since the start of the war in Yemen four years ago, along with the lack of sources of income, is driving people to desperate measures for survival, said Oxfam on Tuesday as countries meet in Geneva to pledge aid for the humanitarian crisis.



It said the crisis is a true humanitarian catastrophe that has left almost ten million people one step away from famine and whose primary victims are young girls. Oxfam said hungry and isolated families who fled their homes in Amran Governorate in the north have been forced to marry off their young daughters, in one case a three-year-old, to buy food and shelter to save the rest of the family. It said although early marriage has long been a practice in Yemen, it is now reaching shocking proportions and methods, and the world is showing indifference. "The donor meeting today in Geneva is essential for ensuring the people of Yemen food, water and medicine," said Paolo Pezzati, policy advisor for humanitarian emergencies at Oxfam Italy.



"But only an end to the conflict can halt the downward spiral of desperation that is forcing thousands of families to make dramatic choices. All warring parties and their backers need to commit to a nationwide ceasefire and take concrete steps towards a lasting peace," he said.(ANSAmed).




The House education committee has backed legislation that would provide about $100 billion for school infrastructure .

Tuesdays vote in favor of the Rebuild Americas Schools Act signalled committee Democrats willingness to work quickly on one of their top declared priorities for this CongressRep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., the committee chairman, and other Democrats introduced the bill less than a month ago. The committee voted 26-20 to report the bill to the full House for consideration; however, their relatively quick work of the bill is far from a guarantee that its prospects are bright.

The Rebuild Americas Schools Act would provide $70 billion in direct federal spending for school modernizations, renovations, repairs, and similar work, and another $30 billion in tax-credit bonds. School districts receiving aid under the law, under competitive-grant programs run by the states, would also have to prioritize infrastructure projects at schools that serve the highest shares of students receiving free and reduced-price meals under the National School Lunch Act.

In remarks before the vote, Scott said public schools in the U.S. are at a literal breaking point and noted that one estimate found that school infrastructure is shortchanged by $46 billion every year. Republicans countered that the bill would only layer more regulations and bureaucracy on a problem local communities are better equipped to handle.

States would also have to create public, searchable databases of the state of each schools infrastructure, including the age of things like its heating, plumbing, air conditioning, roofs, and other components. These databases would also have to show whether a school is close to a toxic site or particularly vulnerable to natural disasters.

In committee, lawmakers adopted an amendment from Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., to ban Rebuild Americas Schools Act money from being directed to for-profit charter school operators.

However, they rejected an amendment from Rep. Rick Allen, R-Ga., to amend the legislation to prohibit the federal government from denying funds to schools that have decided to arm their teachers or other school personnel. Read more about the controversial subject of arming teachers from last summer here .

The U.S. education secretary would have the power to approve a state application for these funds.

While President Donald Trump and Democrats alike have talked up the prospect of a big infrastructure spending program, turning the talk into action has proven difficult, to say the least. For one thing, the Trump administration has not pushed for schools to get any specific piece of the pie in their infrastructure proposals (although a $1.5 billion slice of a previous plan from the Trump team could in theory have gone to schools). And while fixing up HVAC units and shoring up leaky roofs might be popular in the House, which is controlled by Democrats, the GOP-run Senate could easily decide to ignore the legislation.

The bill has 164 co-sponsors in the House, and all of them are Democrats, although Scott said when he introduced the bill that he believes the proposal has bipartisan appeal.

Its important to remember that the legislation only authorizes the spending on school infrastructure; Congress would still need to provide the funding through the appropriations process.

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . And follow the Andrew Ujifusa half of Politics K-12 @AndrewUjifusa.
Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan was the Pentagon's number two until Jim Mattis quit in December 2018

The US military is about to pull most troops out of Syria, seems set to slash its Afghanistan presence, and is engaged in a contentious mission on the border with Mexico.

Yet the job of overseeing these momentous policies remains vacant -- and President Donald Trump's interim pick is under fire from Republican lawmakers.

The role is being filled by Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, a former Boeing executive who was the Pentagon's number two until Jim Mattis quit in December over Trump's Syria withdrawal decision.

Shanahan has made no secret that he'd like to be the next full-on "SecDef" -- as defense secretaries are known in the Pentagon -- but nearly two months into the job, his prospects were called into question this week amid reports of a spat with top US senators over Syria.

According to The Washington Post, influential Republican Senator Lindsey Graham asked Shanahan at a Munich security summit if he had told European allies the US troop presence in Syria would be zero by April 30.

"Yes, that's been our direction," Shanahan reportedly said.

"That's the dumbest fucking idea I've ever heard," Graham responded.

Shanahan wanted to convince allies to maintain a troop presence in Syria after the US pulls out, but struggled to persuade other countries why they should risk their forces with America gone.

Graham went on to tell Shanahan that if Trump's Syria withdrawal policy endured, "I am now your adversary."

A US official told AFP that Graham's outrage was aimed more at Trump's Syria withdrawal plans than it was at Shanahan himself.

- 'Shared interests' -

Graham is well-known for his rhetorical flourishes and selective indignation, and Shanahan on Thursday insisted he thinks of him as an "ally."

"We have shared interests, he is a problem solver and I am very confident we will come together with solutions for Syria," Shanahan told Pentagon reporters.

Senator Jim Inhofe, another senior Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, has also expressed reservations about Shanahan, and his lack of foreign policy chops got him in hot water with the late Senator John McCain.

At Shanahan's confirmation hearing, a testy McCain said a lack of detail in some of his foreign policy answers was "almost insulting."

Despite all this, experts predict Shanahan, 58, will end up as Trump's nominee for defense secretary anyway.

"Last man standing," Loren Thompson, an expert at the Lexington Institute think tank in Virginia, told AFP.

"Once you eliminate all the other candidates, it's Shanahan by default."

Several high-profile names have been floated in Washington circles, including Graham and fellow Republican Senator Tom Cotton.

But why give up a powerful Senate seat when you've seen Trump chew up then spit out a string of top-level officials -- including former secretary of state Rex Tillerson, former attorney general Jeff Sessions and former White House chief of staff John Kelly?

Additionally, running for a senior government position requires appointees to cut business ties and divest themselves of any stocks that might be seen as causing a conflict.

For many an aspiring SecDef, it's simply not worth it.

"There are both personal and structural uncertainties associated with taking the Pentagon's top job," Thompson noted.

"The president's personality might lead him to lose his affinity" for a Pentagon chief, he added.

For now, Shanahan remains in Trump's good books in part because he is not like his predecessor Mattis, who often pushed back against the president.

Shanahan (L), Vice President Mike Pence (C) and former defense secretary Jim Mattis (R) are seen outside the Pentagon

While critics have said Shanahan may to be too much of a rubber stamp for Trump, being a faithful advocate for the president's policies will help him stay in the job.

And besides, the defense secretary's role is to implement a president's agenda.

"If you're part of a cabinet and you have views that you can't reconcile with the executive .... you have two choices," David Johnson, an analyst at the RAND Corporation, told AFP.

"Either you change your perspective or you resign -- and that's what Mattis did."
The election in Africa's most populous country has been marred by logistical problems and fears of fraud

Nigeria makes a second attempt to hold presidential and parliamentary elections this weekend, after a last-gasp postponement that angered voters and stoked the political temperature.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will on Saturday try again to stage Africa's biggest vote, at which President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking a second, four-year term.

Challenging him in what is expected to be a close race is Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president.

INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu has faced calls to resign since he announced the one-week delay just hours before polling was due to begin last Saturday.

Reactions to last week's postponement ranged from dismay and fury to suspicions of skulduggery

But he has since tried to calm nerves, insisting the body remains "on course" to overcome the logistical problems that hampered delivery of election materials.

"I want to reassure you that elections will hold on Saturday," he told a news conference in Abuja on Thursday. "There won't be another postponement."

- Suspicions -

All eyes will be on the nearly 120,000 polling stations when they open at 0700 GMT to see if the correct ballot boxes, papers and results sheets have been delivered -- and on time.

IT specialists have worked round-the-clock to reconfigure some 180,000 machines that are needed to check biometric identity cards, and allow people to vote.

Ready? Voting staff check portable readers of biometric identity cards ahead of Saturday's postponed election

Just over 84 million voters have been registered this year, although INEC said 11.2 million (13.7 percent) had failed to pick up their permanent voters' cards (PVCs).

There are more people with cards than at the last election. However, the uncollected cards will likely add to fears about a lower turn-out and do little to alleviate persistent fears of fraud.

Nigerian presidential election: key candidates

Many Nigerians travel from commercial centres such as Lagos to their home towns and villages. Fewer people are expected to be able to afford to do so again -- or want to.

At the last elections in 2015, there were 67.4 million registered voters. Buhari, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), won 15.4 million of the 28.5 million valid votes cast.

Repeated delays in the distribution and collection of identity cards this time have led to suspicions of skullduggery and conspiracy between the parties and INEC.

Both the APC and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been accused of trying to buy the cards, with a view to rig the result.

Message on a bottle: A woman holds a brand of water called Buhari Vendors, bearing pictures of President Mohammadu Buhari and running mate Yemi Osinbajo

At governorship elections in southwest Nigeria last year, it was claimed the APC and PDP were offering 3,000 to 5,000 naira ($8-13, 7-12 euros) per card.

Thousands of PVCs and card readers have been destroyed in three suspicious fires at separate INEC offices in central and southeast Nigeria.

Yakubu has said there is "no evidence that the commission has been sabotaged", despite a whirlwind of accusations that INEC has been compromised that could hit the vote's credibility.

- Security fears -

Nigeria's voters

At 76 and 72, Buhari and Abubakar are the oldest of 73 presidential candidates and are standing in what could be the last elections of their long political careers.

Both have been fixtures on Nigeria's political landscape for decades, through the turbulent decades of military rule to the return to civilian rule in 1999.

Just over half of all registered voters are aged 18-35, reflecting the country's increasingly young population. No date has been given for the results, but an announcement is expected from early next week.

Buhari, a former military ruler, has again positioned himself as the candidate to tackle multiple security challenges, including Boko Haram Islamists, and endemic corruption.

He also wants another four years to complete much-needed road and rail infrastructure projects and expand social mobility schemes, including micro-finance for the poorest.

Abubakar, meanwhile, is seen as a pro-business free marketeer, whose main pledges have been to privatise state-run companies and float the embattled naira currency.

The past has come back to haunt both candidates, with Abubakar dogged by his alleged links to corruption cases in the United States and Buhari claims of creeping authoritarianism.

Refugee: Malkohi camp in Jimeta houses thousands of Nigerians who have fled the Boko Haram insurgency

Earlier this month he suspended Nigeria's chief justice after he was charged with corruption.

But with the Supreme Court he presides over likely to rule on any election petition, many suspected a political motive.

Uppermost in many voters' minds on Saturday will be on safety, with tensions running high that increases the chance of violence, particularly in swing states.

Buhari this week said he had ordered the police and the military to be "ruthless" with vote-riggers and ballot-snatchers.

The army, which is not responsible for election security, has backed Buhari but Abubakar has said "the era of dictatorship and military rule."
Masood Azhar, pictured here, founded Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the militant group which has claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack in three decades in Indian-held Kashmir

For eight days in 1999 the world watched in horror as hijackers diverted an Indian Airlines flight to Afghanistan and held the passengers hostage, the drama ending only when Delhi agreed to release three Kashmiri militants.

Nearly 20 years later, India is still paying the price for that decision.

One of the militants freed was Masood Azhar, who later went on to found Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the militant group which claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack in three decades in Indian-held Kashmir.

More than 40 Indian paramilitaries were killed in the suicide blast on February 14, kindling a fresh diplomatic crisis between nuclear-armed arch-rivals India and Pakistan.

Based in Pakistan, JeM is one of several anti-Indian militant groups fighting in Kashmir which are officially outlawed in the country, but which are allegedly used by Islamabad as proxies in India.

Azhar -- who has never been declared a terrorist by the international community -- is also believed to be in Pakistan.

The US Treasury Department website still gives his home address as a location in the province's Bahawalpur district, although his exact whereabouts remain shrouded in mystery.

- Motivator and recruiter -

He was born the son of an elementary school teacher in Punjab province in 1968, according to Amir Rana, a security analyst who has carried out extensive research on Pakistani militant groups.

Azhar originally entered Indian-held Kashmir on a Portuguese passport, security officials there told AFP, and established contact with numerous militant groups.

A common figure in the streets of Srinagar, he was known for his fiery speeches, and for mediating between the many groups flocking to the insurgency.

"His greatest value for the militant groups was as a motivator and recruiter, but more significantly he displayed a good capacity to reconcile their differences," one retired official told AFP.

Azhar was detained by Indian authorities on terrorism charges in 1994. He reportedly bragged to his jailers that they would not be able to keep him in custody.

At one point, another security official told AFP, he and other militants dug an escape tunnel, and when the moment came, Azhar insisted on going first.

"But he got stuck in the narrow tunnel because of his bulky physique and the whole attempt was thwarted," the official said.

He remained in prison until the Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi was hijacked on Christmas Eve in 1999, eventually landing in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, at the time under Taliban rule.

One of the hijackers, Ibrahim Athar, was reported to be Azhar's younger brother.

- 'Lack of evidence' -

Azhar reportedly met with Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and Taliban founder Mullah Mohammed Omar in Afghanistan after he was freed, Rana said.

He formed JeM in 2000, the analyst said, and a year later the group was blamed for a brazen attack on the Indian parliament in which militants killed 10 people, bringing India and Pakistan to the brink of war.

Azhar was detained and placed under house arrest, but a court in the Punjab provincial capital of Lahore ordered his release in 2002, citing "lack of evidence".

As homegrown Pakistani militant groups turned their guns on the state after 9/11, Rana said Azhar was one of the few who kept a low profile.

The group struck again in 2016, with Delhi blaming them for an infamous attack on a military base in Indian-held Kashmir that left seven soldiers dead and once more sent tensions spiralling.

Azhar was again taken into "protective custody", but never formally charged.

Last July he addressed supporters in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-held Kashmir, by telephone from an undisclosed location, claiming he had hundreds of militants ready to fight to the death.

The speech prompted Indian authorities to tighten security at airports in anticipation of another hijacking.

Azhar, meanwhile, has not been directly heard from since.

- Chinese wall -

As well as Pakistan, JeM is also banned by the United Nations and India, while the US State Department lists it as a terrorist organisation.

However, Azhar has not been declared a terrorist, despite New Delhi and others trying several times to get the UN Security Council to name him as one, with the move blocked each time by Pakistan's ally China.

Diplomats told AFP this week that France, Britain and the US were considering a fresh push at the Security Council to place Azhar on the UN terror list -- but once more face opposition by China.
A line of US military vehicles drive through a checkpoint of the Internal Security Forces in Manbij as they head to their base on the outskirts of the northern Syrian city on December 30, 2018

The US military will keep around 200 troops in Syria after President Donald Trump's pullout from the war-torn country, the White House said Thursday.

"A small peace-keeping group of about 200 will remain in Syria for a period of time," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

The announcement comes amid fierce criticism of Trump's decision to withdraw America's 2,000 or so troops from Syria by April 30, with members of his own Republican Party blasting the move.

In December, Trump declared victory over the Islamic State group in Syria, even though thousands of jihadists remain and fighting continues around their last holdout.

Critics have decried a number of possible outcomes from a precipitous withdrawal, including a Turkish attack on US-backed Kurdish forces and a resurgence of IS.

Sanders did not provide additional details, but the troops' "peace-keeping" designation could pave the way for European allies to commit forces for such a mission.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan visited Europe last week where he attempted to convince allies to maintain a troop presence in Syria after the US pulls out.

But he struggled to persuade other countries why they should risk their forces with America gone.

Trump earlier Thursday spoke with Turkish President Recep Erdogan, and the two men discussed Syria, according to a White House summary.

"The two presidents agreed to continue coordinating on the creation of a potential safe zone" in Syria, the readout said.

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 save for a tiny sliver of around half a square kilometer (a fifth of a square mile) in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are working towards evacuating civilians remaining in the holdout, so they can polish off the dying IS "caliphate" whether through an assault or a surrender deal.

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 Thursday that the diplomatic status of the father of Alabama woman Hoda Muthana means she is not a US citizen.

It came after a lawyer for the family of a teenager who fled London to join the jihadists when she was 15 said Britain was revoking her citizenship.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has refused to apologise over comments he made accusing Poles of being anti-Semitic

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Thursday refused to apologise for allegations he made that Poles are anti-Semitic and many of them collaborated with the Nazis during World War II.

Senior Polish officials on Tuesday demanded Israel apologise for the comments in a row that led Warsaw to pull out of a Jerusalem summit.

Katz on Sunday said "Poles suckle anti-Semitism with their mothers' milk" and "there were many Poles who collaborated with the Nazis".

On Thursday the Israeli foreign minister was in no mood for apologies.

"I regret none of what I said. My parents knew the Holocaust, as the son of Holocaust survivors I have to tell the truth," he told the private television channel 13.

"Many Polish people collaborated with the Nazis in the Holocaust. Before and during the Second World War there was anti-Semitism in Poland," he insisted.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sought to save face after a summit with four central European nations was cancelled over the dispute with Poland, instead holding meetings with the remaining three leaders.

The dispute dented Netanyahu's attempts to forge deeper links with all four countries as part of his strategy to build alliances with governments that strongly back Israel within the European Union.

Netanyahu frequently lashes out at what he calls the EU's "hypocritical and hostile attitude", referring to the bloc's criticism of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.

The holding of a summit of the Visegrad group -- Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic -- in Jerusalem had been seen as a coup for Netanyahu's efforts.

The United States has backed Poland in the diplomatic dispute.

"Between close allies, like Poland and Israel, there is no room for such offensive comments" US ambassador to Warsaw Georgette Mosbacher tweeted in Polish on her official page on Tuesday.

Poland was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany during WWII and six million of its inhabitants died during the conflict, including three million Jews.
A South Korean driver checks sacks of flour bound for North Korea before crossing the inter-Korean border in Paju, north of Seoul

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.
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.

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.
Hoda Muthana, a 24-year-old woman from Alabama who joined the Islamic State group, wants to return home

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.

Syrian men ride a motorcycle past a destroyed building in the Islamic State group's former Syrian capital of Raqa in northern Syria

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 -

Alabama teenager turned Islamic State militant Hoda Muthana's world was transformed through social media

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 -

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visits the United Nations

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."
Roger Stone, a former advisor to Donald Trump, was slapped with a gag order by a judge after posting a picture on Instagram of her with crosshairs in the background

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.

Roger Stone, a former advisor to US President Donald Trump, leaving court after being issued a 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.

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.
For decades R. Kelly has faced lawsuits and accusations over child pornography, sex with minors, operating a sex cult and sexual battery

Two more women on Thursday accused R. Kelly of sexually assaulting them as teens, the latest in a slew of lurid allegations against the R&B superstar.

Latresa Scaff, 40, and Rochelle Washington, 39, told journalists in New York they met Kelly at a show's after-party in Baltimore in the 1990s, giving them alcohol and drugs before cornering them in his hotel room and demanding sex.

They were unable to pinpoint the year of the concert but said it was either 1995 or 1996, adding Kelly's security picked them out of the arena's crowd.

At the after-party they were given cocaine, marijuana and alcohol and invited to Kelly's hotel room, according to Scaff, who said a man with a walkie-talkie told them: "R. Kelly is getting ready to enter the room. Pull up your dresses."

The artist, now 52, then came in wearing a shirt and jeans but with his genitals exposed.

Washington refused his advances and hid in the bathroom, but Scaff gave him oral sex and then had intercourse with him, "even though I did not have the capacity to consent," she said.

The pair, represented by high-powered feminist lawyer Gloria Allred, were scheduled to speak with the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York later Thursday.

Scaff said she decided to speak out "because of all of the other victims," and encouraged others to come forward.

Allred is representing a number of women who have made allegations against Kelly.

Michael Avenatti -- the lawyer representing porn star Stormy Daniels in her legal battle with US President Donald Trump -- is also defending multiple clients with ties to the artist.

Without providing further detail, Allred said some women she is representing fear video or audio recordings of their relations with Kelly may be circulating.

For decades the artist -- real name Robert Sylvester Kelly -- has faced lawsuits and accusations over child pornography, sex with minors, operating a sex cult and sexual battery.

"You have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide," Allred said, referring to Kelly. "You have been able to get away with your predatory misconduct for far too long."
(ANSAmed) - ROME, FEBRUARY 26 - The South Aegean region has been named the 2019 European Region of Gastronomy by the International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism (IGCAT), according to a statement released by the Greek tourism board, which called it a "great honour not only for the South Aegean but for all of Greece".



The South Aegean has 50 different islands, all with different characteristics and traditions that make up its gastronomic culture. The events and activities planned for 2019 as part of the award are the result of an effort that began in January 2017, when the authorities of the region began planning together with chefs in the island groups of the Cyclades and the Dodecanese.



Their work spanned two years, through innovative activities that mobilised the entire local community, covering a vast range of sectors directly linked to nutrition and gastronomy, such as education, health, tourism, culture, and small and medium enterprises.



The entire country of Greece jumped into action to help the South Aegean region to promote its gastronomic wealth, culture, and local products on the islands, all of which are a part of European gastronomic culture and heritage.



The objective was twofold: to highlight the link between gastronomy, tourism, and culture; and to favour local products and their placement in foreign markets.



This year is therefore the year of the South Aegean, with a series of events in Greece, Europe, and the United States planned by the region to show its gastronomic wealth, culture, and traditional products from its islands.(ANSAmed).


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 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.

A dozen Venezuelan opposition supporters cheered and sang their national anthem as the plane touched down after flying from Miami

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.
This undated image released by the US Attorney's Office shows weapons seized at the Silver Spring, Maryland, home of US Coast Guard officer Christopher Paul Hasson, a self-described white nationalist arrested on firearms and drug charges

A US judge on Thursday ordered a Coast Guard officer who espoused white supremacist views and drafted a hit list of Democratic politicians and prominent media figures to remain behind bars.

Christopher Paul Hasson, 49, an admirer of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, was arrested last week on firearms and drug charges.

At a court hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland, judge Charles Day granted a request by prosecutors to keep Hasson in jail but said he may reconsider in 14 days if more serious charges are not filed against him.

Hasson was arrested on Friday and a powerful cache of weapons was seized from his home in a Washington suburb, according to court documents.

US District Attorney Robert Hur told reporters after the hearing that Hasson represented a "very significant threat to the safety of our community" given the arsenal and the "disturbing nature of his writings."

Hur, in a written motion seeking that Hasson be detained until trial, said the Coast Guard lieutenant planned to "murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country."

"The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct," Hur said.

In a draft email obtained by prosecutors, Hasson wrote that he was "dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on earth" and pondered how he could obtain biological weapons.

Fifteen guns and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition were recovered from Hasson's basement apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland, along with 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."

- Internet searches for Democratic politicians -

Hasson routinely perused portions of the "Breivik manifesto" on amassing firearms and how to compile a list of targets, prosecutors said.

US Attorney Robert Hur (C) addresses reporters after a hearing for a Coast Guard officer accused of plotting to kill Democratic politicians and media personalities

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 performed internet searches for "what if trump illegally impeached" and "civil war if trump impeached."

Hasson, prosecutors said, routinely perused "pro-Russian, neo-fascist and neo-Nazi literature."

Hasson 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.

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.
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has won every presidential election since 2004 with more than 80 percent of the vote

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.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has demanded Israel rescind its freeze on tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority

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".
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump during their first meeting in Singapore in June 2018: they will have another one-on-one meeting in Vietnam

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.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the Syrian family has faced "unbelievable tragedy"

Canada is looking to quickly bring over siblings of a Syrian refugee distraught over the loss of her seven children in a Halifax house fire, the prime minister said Thursday.

"The immigration minister is seized with this particular case," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said when asked if Ottawa would fast-track the immigration or asylum process to bring the woman's brothers to Canada in order to provide her with family support.

The family was among tens of thousands of Syrian refugees welcomed by Canada over the past four years.

"We're looking at what can be done within our (immigration and refugee) system to give this family a little solace in a time of unbelievable tragedy," Trudeau said during a trip to Halifax.

Kawthar Barho, 30, and her family had fled the northern Syrian city of Raqa, where Islamic State militants had established their de facto capital.

They settled in the Atlantic port city of Halifax in 2017. A video posted on social media showed a small crowd cheering their arrival at the airport.

Neighbors said they heard an explosion in the middle of the night Tuesday before seeing flames ravage the family's two-storey house.

Barho remains in hospital, and has been reportedly repeating the name of her youngest child, Abdullah, who was only four months old.

Ahmed, 15, Rola, 12, Mohammed, 10, Ghala, 8, Hala, 4, and Rana, 3, also died in the blaze -- which police are continuing to investigate.

Her husband Ebraheim suffered severe burns and is fighting for his life.

Wednesday night, Trudeau attended a vigil in Halifax for the young victims.

Officials would not comment on the specific case, citing strict privacy laws, but said Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen has discretion to fast-track asylum or immigration cases, including security and medical screenings, in special circumstances.

Locals have been grieving with the mother.

"For the past year and a half, the children have been able to enjoy life as kids should be able to: going to school, riding bicycles, swimming, having friends, running in the yard, celebrating birthday parties and hanging out with the neighbors on their porch swing," the Heart Society, the non-profit group that sponsored the family, said in an online post.

"They loved every minute of it, and it seems impossible we won't hear their laughter and feel their hugs again," it said.

Millions of Syrians have fled years of civil war that have left more than 360,000 people dead.
Israel's first spacecraft will be launched by the US-based private firm SpaceX

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.

It was backed notably by businessman and philanthropist Morris Kahn, who financed the development of a craft. "Make us proud," he said Thursday.

Israel's first lunar mission

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."

A scientist shows the time capsule containing a Bible, children's drawings, Israeli songs, memories of a Holocaust survivor and the blue-and-white Israeli flag that will be carried to the Moon by the Beresheet spacecraft

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.
In this image from the US Air Force, an OC-135 Open Skies aircraft prepares to take off in September 2018, from Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska: the US military is conducting a surveillance flight over Russia as part of an international agreement

The US military is conducting a surveillance flight over Russia as part of an international agreement, the Pentagon said Thursday.

The flight falls under the Open Skies Treaty, an international accord aimed at promoting military transparency through reciprocal, unarmed observation flights over each of the 34 signatory countries' terrains.

Due to tensions with Russia, this is the first Open Skies flight there since November 2017, Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jamie Davis said.

"Russia is aware of the flight," he said.

"Six Russian Federation observers are on board the US aircraft to monitor all phases of the flight."

The flight, which is due to end Friday, is being conducted with an unarmed OC-135B aircraft.

In December, the US and other nations conducted an "extraordinary" Open Skies flight over Ukraine in a mission to show support for Kiev following Russia's seizure of three Ukrainian naval vessels in the Sea of Azov.

The Open Skies Treaty has 34 national members and gives countries "the right to gather information about the military forces and activities of other" signatory countries, the Pentagon said.
Water works? Bottled water bearing the image of Nigeria's President Mohammadu Buhari and his vice president ahead of Saturday's rescheduled elections

Nigeria's rescheduled presidential and parliamentary elections will take place this weekend, the electoral commission said on Thursday, as resumed campaigning ended.

Last Saturday, just hours before the polls were to open, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced a one-week postponement, triggering widespread anger.

The delay was blamed on logistical issues in delivering ballot papers and election material, leading to a scramble to be ready in time for the new date.

Speaking to reporters in the capital Abuja, INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu said the commission was "fully on course" to push ahead with the vote this weekend.

Election materials had already been delivered to 19 of Nigeria's 36 states and would be in all states except one by the end of the day, he said.

"I want to reassure you that elections will be held on Saturday," he said.

"There won't be another postponement."

- Rigging, sabotage -

Nigeria

Just over 84 million people are registered to vote in Saturday's election when President Muhammadu Buhari will seek a second term at the helm of Africa's most populous nation.

Of that number, 11.2 million people had still not collected their permanent voter cards (PVCs), Yakubu said.

The biometric identity cards are scanned by hand-held devices at polling stations when voters come to cast their ballots, with the aim of preventing fraud.

Nigeria's main political parties have been accused of trying to rig the vote by a variety of means, which includes buying up voters cards, and each has accused the other of conspiring with INEC.

The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of seeking to use the identities of dead voters and foreigners and of manipulating the electoral roll.

INEC itself has denied there was any political interference, with Yakubu saying there was no sense that the vote had been the victim of "sabotage".

After the initial vote was postponed, there were calls for the election chief to quit, which he brushed off on Thursday, saying: "I see no reason to even contemplate resigning."

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 any vote-riggers and ballot box-snatchers.

Buhari and the APC have said the move was aimed at curbing violence, with the measure backed by military Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai.

But the PDP denounced it as a "recipe for crisis", with its candidate Atiku Abubakar saying Buhari's order brought back memories of "the era of dictatorship and military rule".

Acknowledging the issue, INEC's Yakubu said the police would be responsible for election security although the military could be called in at their request.

- Final message -

Nigeria's police force will have the main responsibility for securing Saturday's rescheduled election, although they can call in the military if needed, election officials say

As resumed campaigning drew to a close on Thursday night, Buhari and Abubakar made their final appeals to the electorate before heading to their home towns to vote.

With fears of a low turn-out -- and possible violence -- Buhari said the postponement should not prevent people from exercising their civic right.

"I urge all Nigerian voters to brave the challenges and ensure they cast their votes," said the 76-year-old, who is campaigning on an anti-corruption and security platform.

"Your votes will count," he said.

Abubakar, 72, recalled that in 2015, the electorate -- "armed only with" their voting cards -- had voted the last president out of office for the first time in Nigeria's history.

"This Saturday, we will have the opportunity to do so again," said the former vice-president, who has positioned himself as a free-market, pro-business candidate.

Buhari's office meanwhile said anti-corruption investigators had told him that huge amounts of foreign currency had flooded into Nigeria.

The money was "intended to influence the general elections beginning on Saturday", his office said, indicating it amounted to "millions of United States dollars".
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says that the diplomatic status of the father of a US-born woman who joined the Islamic State group means she is not a citizen

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.

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' -

Hoda Muthana, a 24-year-old woman from Alabama, is appealing to return to the United States

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.
(ANSA) - Vatican City, February 26 - The Catholic Church must "rebuild, repair and pacify" Italy and Europe, Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) chief Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti told Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano on Tuesday.

In an interview marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Italian People's Party, the precursor of the Christian Democrat (DC) party, Bassetti said "now is the time of sowing, for the Church.

"It's time to rebuild, repair and pacify Italy and Europe.

"Above all it's time for the laity to assume an awareness of its role and mission. To be the salt of the earth in every sphere of social action, also in the political one".


Forces loyal to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar said they have seized Murzuk as part of an ongoing operation against "terrorists" and gangs across southern Libya

A force loyal to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar announced Thursday it had taken control of a key oil field in the conflict-wracked country's south.

Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) "have peacefully taken control of the Al-Fil field", spokesman Ahmad al-Mesmari said on Facebook.

Al-Fil currently produces about 73,000 barrels a day and is managed by Mellitah Oil and Gas, a joint venture between Italy's Eni and Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC).

The North African country has been torn between rival administrations, myriad militias and jihadists since the overthrow and killing of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

The Tripoli-based Government of National Accord is recognised by the international community, but a parallel administration in eastern Libya is backed by the LNA.

Since mid-January the LNA has been conducting a military operation in the south aimed at rooting out "terrorists" and foreign fighters.

It already controls most of the important oil terminals in the country's east, and earlier this month it seized the Al-Sharara field some 900 kilometres (560 miles) south of Tripoli.

It entrusts the management of those sites to the NOC -- which tries to juggle ties with the rival camps.

In a separate incident in the country's south, armed men murdered a security official in the town of Murzuk, the UN-backed government said, a day after LNA forces entered.

General Ibrahim Mohamad Kari was killed Wednesday by "an outlawed armed group", the government said, calling the killing a "cowardly crime" and vowing to bring the culprits to justice.

Libyan media said Kari, a member of the minority Tubu community, was killed when armed men raided his home in Murzuk.

On Wednesday night, Haftar's LNA said it had entered and taken control of Murzuk as part of the offensive launched in January.

Haftar's forces have accused some Tubu of supporting the Chadian rebels.

Murzuk is a stronghold of the Tubus, many of whom are opposed to Haftar's offensive, and lies in a region where tensions run high between them and Arab tribes, who have largely joined LNA ranks.
Children were among those trucked out of Baghouz in a convoy of vehicles led by US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces

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.

The sun sets as Syrian Democratic Forces fighters keep watch on a hilltop near the embattled village of Baghouz

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.

Suspected Islamic State group fighters who surrendered to Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are trucked out of the jihadists' final pocket of territory

"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.

IS group foreign fighters and returnees

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.

The Syrian Democratic Forces are backed by air strikes by a US-led coalition against the jihadists

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.
Pope Francis opened the child protection summit in prayer, later stressing that concrete measures to address the crisis were critical

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 scandals have escalated into a crisis which has touched many countries across the globe, with recent cases affecting Chile, Germany and the US.

In the latest case, a group supporting victims of paedophile priests in Poland on Thursday released a report documenting nearly 400 cases of sex abuse by clerics in the staunchly Catholic country.

In Rome, the 82-year-old pontiff hopes to raise awareness about abuse through prayers, speeches, working groups and testimonies from victims.

- 'Turning evil into opportunity' -

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".

Vatican sex abuse summit

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 described the horrors of being forced to undergo three abortions after being raped by a priest.

The summit aims to educate 114 senior bishops 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.

The Vatican summit groups 114 bishops from around the world with the aim of educating them about how to spot and deal with abuse and paedophilia

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.

- 'Vulnerable' -

Scicluna had said ahead of the meeting 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, the co-director of BishopAccountability.org, a public database that documents cases of proven or suspected sex crimes by clerics.

Pope Francis told delegates that "concrete" action was crucial for tackling the scourge of paedophilia within the Catholic Church

"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.

Colombian Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez told the meeting that those most responsible for the crisis, "are among us. We must recognise that the enemy is within us."

Scicluna insisted that summoning Church leaders from across the globe to Rome "is, in itself, a very important message".

Outside the Vatican, victims from the international association ECA (Ending Clerical Abuse) held a vigil to support each other.

"My presence here is a cry for help on behalf of African victims who remain silent," said Benjamin Kitobo, who now lives in the United States.
Firefighters were hampered by the narrow streets and a lack of water to fight the inferno

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.

Firefighters have been searching for bodies in the charred buildings

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.

The fire started in one building where chemicals for deodorants and other household uses were illegally stored

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.

Bangladesh fire

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.

Hundreds of people have rushed to the hospital looking for missing relatives but most of the dead are charred beyond recognition

"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 fire spread rapidly and engulfed four nearby apartment blocks

"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.
Chinese trade envoy Liu He smiles during talks in Washington

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.

China-US trade in goods

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!' -

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

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."

US President Donald Trump speaks with China's Vice Premier Liu He

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.
Federal Liberal candidate Warren Mundine says he'll step down next week as chairman of a firm which is the preferred tenderer for government indigenous employment services.

A Senate estimates committee hearing in Canberra was told Mr Mundine - the Liberal candidate for the NSW seat of Gilmore - chairs RISE Ventures, a successful employment service which covers many remote areas of the country.

During the hearing, where Labor quizzed minister Nigel Scullion over the matter, a note was passed to a senior official confirming Mr Mundine had agreed to resign from the position on February 25.

The official, Ray Griggs, told the hearing there was an "absolute perception of conflict of interest".

"Whether it's a real conflict is another matter," he said.

Labor senator Jenny McAllister also sought answers on why Mr Mundine had last year been granted $200,000 to produce a Sky News television show, Mundine Means Business.

Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet official Clare Sharp told the committee Mr Mundine had approached Senator Scullion about the program idea.

But Senator Scullion said he could not recall the genesis of the idea.

Senator McAllister said the problem was clear.

"What has actually taken place is that a person who was known to be very close to the prime minister - is sitting on the prime minister's indigenous advisory council - receives a direct grant which no other person was able to apply for to develop a television program to raise his profile," she said.

"And then that person nominates as a candidate for the Liberal Party."

Senator Scullion said the program had gone ahead because Mr Mundine is "a high profile, very articulate, very smart, Aboriginal man who is providing leadership in this area".

He said it would not have been possible to know last year that Mr Mundine, a former Labor Party national president, "would somehow end up on our side of politics".
Four men dubbed "tinnie terrorists" have been jailed for their roles in a plot to sail a fishing boat from northern Australia to help overthrow the Philippines government.

But a Melbourne court was told on Friday one of the men could be freed in days.

Two other Melbourne men will be sentenced in the coming months after admitting their parts in the 2016 plot.

Murat Kaya, now 28, could be free as early as next Wednesday after spending more than 1000 days in custody over plans for five men to sail to the southern Philippines in a small fishing vessel.

He was arrested in terror raids in Melbourne in May 2016, shortly after the arrest of his younger brother Kadir Kaya, associates Paul James Dacre, Antonio Alfio Granata, Shayden Jamil Thorne and ringleader Robert "Musa" Cerantonio.

They were picked up by Australian Federal Police driving near Cairns, towing a seven-metre fishing boat they intended to sail from Cape York in what Supreme Court Justice Michael Croucher on Friday predicted would have been a "doomed voyage".

Murat Kaya had originally intended to travel with them, but pulled out and was not part of plans the men had for their wives and children to later join them.

All six pleaded guilty to a charge of engaging in conduct in preparation for incursions into foreign countries for the purpose of engaging in hostile activities, aiming to overthrow the Philippines government.

Murat Kaya was sentenced to a maximum three years and eight months behind bars while Dacre, 33, Granata, 28, and Murat Kaya's younger brother Kadir Kaya, 24, were all sentenced to four years with a three-year non-parole period.

Justice Croucher said he believed allowing their release on parole at the earliest possible opportunity would foster rehabilitation and better protect the community in the long-term.

If the attorney-general supports that view, Murat Kaya could be released as early as February 27 - next Wednesday - and Dacre, Granata and Kadir Kaya from May 10 this year.

Thorne was the last to plead guilty, on Friday morning, meaning the previous confessions of his co-conspirators could be made public. He is due to face a pre-sentence plea hearing next week.

Cerantonio, described by Justice Croucher as the "charismatic and persuasive" ringleader, will face a plea hearing in March.
The detection of the Ross River virus in mosquitoes in Sydney's west and south-west has prompted a warning from health authorities for residents to protect themselves against mosquito bites.

Mosquito trapping at Deepwater Park, Bankstown and Sydney Olympic Park identified insects carrying the virus for which there is no treatment.

Residents living around or visiting the Georges River area are also urged to be take care to avoid the virus, which is caused by a viral infection, transmitted through mosquito bites.

Residents living around or visiting the Georges River area (pictured) are urged to take care to not get bitten

NSW Health environmental health director Richard Broome said while Ross River infection was rare in Sydney, high numbers of mosquitoes at this time of year mean people should be cautious.

People who enjoy outdoor activities such as camping or fishing in areas with high mosquito numbers are especially urged take precautions.

'There is no treatment for Ross River. The best way to protect yourself is to avoid getting bitten,' Dr Broome said.

'There is no treatment for Ross River. The best way to protect yourself is to avoid getting bitten,' Dr Richard Broome said

'NSW Health continues to monitor notified cases of Ross River and other mosquito-borne virus infections to determine the number of cases and whether the infection was acquired locally or elsewhere.'

Symptoms of the virus include tiredness, rash, fever and sore and swollen joints - typically within three weeks of being bitten.

Anyone who has any of the symptoms is urged to see their doctor.

High numbers of mosquitoes at this time of year mean people need to be cautious (stock image)
NSW Opposition leader Michael Daley has promised business leaders he will not lead a chaotic government as premier in an election pitch centred on "fairness and certainty".

Mr Daley told a Committee for Economic Development of Australia forum on Friday that the last eight years had been a period of "squandered opportunity" and criticised the government's spending priorities.

The Labor leader singled out the NSW government's handling of the delayed Sydney CBD light rail.

"If you treated your shareholders' money like that there would be a royal commission," Mr Daley told the Shangri-La Hotel ballroom, packed with business leaders.

Mr Daley criticised the Baird/Berejiklian government's privatisation of $80 billion worth of public assets, including "that beautiful big electricity company" Ausgrid.

He reiterated the opposition's promise to stop any further privatisation of state assets, including the water utility.

Mr Daley said while the coal industry had "many years" ahead of it, he added investment in coal-fired power stations was all-but finished.

"It is highly unlikely indeed that anyone will invest in new coal-fired power stations in NSW in the foreseeable future," Mr Daley said.

Instead, the Labor leader said his government would invest in renewable energy if elected, which would stoke private interest.

"Industry will invest. You know industry will invest in leadership and certainty," he said.
A NSW woman has become the 14th person in less than two months to be diagnosed with measles with health authorities urging people to be alert for symptoms of the condition.

The woman, aged in her 40s and who though she had been vaccinated as a child, became ill after returning home to Sydney from an overseas trip last week, NSW Health said in a statement on Friday.

She is the 14th person to be diagnosed with the infectious disease since Christmas.

The woman, who is now isolated at home, visited Pyrmont's Social Brew Cafe on February 15, and on February 16 took bus 389 into Sydney CBD, visited the NSW Art Gallery and the Queen Victoria Building.

NSW Health's communicable diseases branch director Vicky Sheppeard urged anyone who was at the same locations at the same times to be alert for symptoms until March 6.

"If you develop symptoms please call ahead to your GP so that you do not wait in the waiting room with other patients," Dr Sheppeard said in a statement.

"Most people in their 40s assume they are immune to measles, however if you don't have documentation of two doses of measles vaccine, it's smart to have a free shot before you travel."

Outbreaks of measles in popular tourist destinations in South and Southeast Asia means the risk for measles being imported into Australia at the moment is high, the department says.
It's Oscar time and you are super excited, right?

It's OK the Academy couldn't find a host for Monday's (AEDT) ceremony.

It's OK the Academy wanted to announce the cinematography, editing and some other categories in a broom closet out the back of the Dolby Theatre.

It's OK not one Australian actor was nominated.

Actually, that is not OK.

An Academy Awards without a Kidman, Robbie, Jackman, Rush or Watts is not OK and deserves an angry #AussiesWereRobbed social media campaign.

Don't despair, patriotic Aussies.

The anti-Australian Academy Awards will be worth tuning in.

There will be some shock winners in major categories and I'm here to offer you a foolproof guide to pick the winners.

I have a 100 per cent success rate in picking Oscar winners.

Just like Donald Trump, I am a stable genius who has never lied.

Let's get to it.

BEST PICTURE:

The frontrunner is Roma, but it will not win.

I refuse to believe the opening scene of a best picture winner can involve washing dog doo doo and wee wee off a driveway.

And despite the Academy aggressively expanding its membership to dilute the dominance of old white fogeys, there's still lots of old white fogeys in the Academy.

The old white fogeys tend not to appreciate disruptive streamers like Netflix dropping a film like Roma in theatres to qualify for the Oscars and then quickly making it available online.

Check out Steven Spielberg's recent comments at the Cinema Audio Society's awards.

Roma will get a chunk of votes, but so will Black Panther with plenty in the Academy keen to celebrate the landmark Marvel film.

The Favourite received 10 nominations (equal with Roma) so will pick up best picture votes and the awesome Bohemian Rhapsody will also take a slice.

With the votes spread around it opens the way for Green Book, like Winx coming around the final bend and accelerating up the straight, to score the win.

Green Book deals with Academy members' favourite themes of racism and mateship, is set in the turbulent early 1960s and is a damn fine movie.

The Best Picture winner is ... Green Book.

BEST ACTRESS:

I thought Lady Gaga would be a shoo-in ... until I saw A Star Is Born and realised she was just playing herself.

Olivia Colman is brilliant as Queen Anne in The Favourite and is worthy of a gold statuette.

The winner is ... Glenn Close for The Wife.

This is Close's seventh Oscar nomination and she is yet to win.

If the 71-year-old misses out again she will hold the dubious record of being the actress with the most nominations and no wins.

The Academy may have made some silly decisions in recent months but it will not leave Close out in the cold again.

BEST ACTOR:

Christian Bale (Vice), Viggo Mortensen (Green Book), Willem Dafoe (Heaven's Gate), Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born) and Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody) are all worthy.

Academy members love it when an actor gets fat for a role and Bale chubbed up to play former US vice president Dick Cheney.

Mortensen was excellent as a Bronx thug.

The winner is ... Malek.

For decades Aussie and UK actors have put on American accents and stole Hollywood's best roles, so it is only fair a Los Angeles-born actor playing British rock god Freddie Mercury wins.

And Malek had fake bucked teeth for the role.

The Academy loves fake teeth.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Simple.

Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk.

SUPPORTING ACTOR:

It's a done deal too.

Mahershala Ali will receive his second supporting actor Oscar in three years for Green Book.

DIRECTOR/CINEMATOGRAPHY:

Roma will be snubbed for Best Picture, but the Academy likes to make up for snubs by handing out a trophy in other categories.

Alfonso Cuaron will pick up directing and cinematography gongs.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

Cuaron will not pick up original screenplay because he is not an Aussie.

No, I'm not biased.

Actually, I am, but Aussie screenwriter Tony McNamara for The Favourite has this in the bag.

PRODUCTION DESIGN:

It's also Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi in this category with Fiona Crombie all over this one.

Unreliable sources tell me the Academy has already etched her name on the trophy.

THE OTHERS:

Animated Feature will go to Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse ... Lady Gaga will get her gong for Original Song ... and Spike Lee and his co-writers will take Adapted Screenplay.
It's late on Thursday afternoon in Australia but in the Swiss city of Basel, Troy Thornton is barely awake on what will be the last full day of his life.

The career firefighter from Victoria is going to spend it with a man he just met, Australia's so-called Dr Death, Philip Nitschke, who has led a years-long campaign for assisted dying laws in Australia.

They will spend his last day taking in the sweeping expanse of the Rhine River that snakes through the northwest medieval city, before heading to the snow-covered peaks of the Alps.

In the evening, Troy and his wife Christine will sit down for a last supper with a life-long friend who he's entrusted to escort her safely home to their two teenage children.

By then his ashes will be in an urn.

The 54-year-old hasn't slept well since he arrived in Switzerland less than a week ago, waiting for his date with death late on Friday, Australian time.

But when he does sleep his son Jack, 17, and daughter Laura, 14, who he farewelled in Australia on Sunday, are there in his dreams.

"The hardest thing I've ever had to do is say goodbye to them. It just destroyed me," he tells AAP, his voice weary from an incurable disease, overlaid with stress, emotional trauma and jet lag.

He is still dealing with the grief of leaving them behind with their grandparents, on a one-way trip to the same euthanasia clinic where Australian scientist David Goodall ended his life last year.

For Goodall, at the age of 104, it was all about choice. He was tired, he said, of being old. He simply did not want to go on, having outlived so many of his friends and family members. He was choosing to die on his terms.

And so it will be for Troy when he keeps his own appointment with death, because for him, the alternative is unfathomable.

He admits to a strange mix of gratitude, sadness and an inevitable fear about presenting his arm to Swiss doctors who will administer the lethal injection.

But there's no less fear associated with the alternative: his choice, dignity and freedom slipping away as his disease, multiple system atrophy, ultimately reduces him to a "vegetable".

With no treatments for his disease, let alone a cure, the 54-year-old doesn't see his decision to end his life as brave, rather, as pragmatism.

"It's so surreal and sometimes I do think what the hell am I doing here? Why did I make this decision? But then you see what you've got and it's not going away. I'm lucky to be here because the alternative is pretty ugly."

Troy ended up in Switzerland after realising he would not meet the criteria for Victoria's voluntary assisted dying laws, which take full effect from the middle of this year.

He applauds those laws, even though they haven't been of any help to him.

He could not find two doctors who would say, with certainty, that his neurodegenerative disease would kill him within 12 months, a requirement of the Victorian laws.

"Doctors have always told me that you don't die of it, you die with it. You can live for quite a few years, but severely disabled I might add. You end up being a vegetable.

"After a while it attacks different systems, breathing, swallowing. I'd end up drowning in my own mucous, that's what happens."

When Troy speaks to AAP he has about 24 hours left to live, give or take, but he chooses to spend one of those hours explaining why Victoria's laws must be the start of the conversation about euthanasia in Australia and not the end.

He says the danger is people will think the issue has been resolved, "but what the guy in the street doesn't understand is that those laws don't help people like me who are also suffering. These laws need to evolve.

"The focus is on being terminal is wrong. It's about the right to choose how you die, no matter how old you are, no matter what sickness, or non-sickness you've got. If you are of sound mind - and that's important - you should be able to choose."

Troy will die late on Friday, Australian time, with Christine holding his hand, but says "it would just be perfect" if his children, and all of his family and friends could be with him too.

"My friend's dad, he was 85, died recently. He had his whole family there. They were watching footy and he died with them all around him. That's really nice, that's how you want to go out.

"But I am lucky I've got my wife here. And I'm fortunate I have the means to do this. There are so many people that die a pretty bad death because they don't have the means to go to Switzerland."

In the four years since Troy was diagnosed, he and his family have had a lot of time to come to terms with his planned death.

"There's been a lot of grieving already. We've prepared, my wife and children they know what's coming," he says.

He adds that it might sound like "a bit of a wank" but believes he's also worked out the meaning of life, which comes down to two things.

"The first one's a no-brainer. We're here to propagate, to evolve the species, to reproduce. The second one is that you're here to inspire.

"Fundamentally, those two things underpin relationships and life is about people."

With several strangers asking him if they could join him on Friday, Troy says he told them, "the more the merrier".

"Just to be surrounded by human beings when you take your last breath, it's a nice thought."
The Reserve Bank of Australia will physically audit its gold stocks this year, for the first time since 2013.

Australia owns 80 tonnes of gold, worth about four billion dollars, which is stored at the United Kingdom's Bank of England.

RBA Deputy Governor Guy Debelle has told a parliamentary committee the authority leases gold to other countries but it rarely leaves the vault.

That's because moving gold reduces its weight and therefore its value.

"Absolute minute fragments come off," Mr Debelle said.

The RBA's holdings were last weighed in 2013 and are checked every six years, meaning it will be audited again this year.

The authority says it has no intention to buy (more) or sell any of its holdings.
Former Queensland union boss David Hanna has been jailed for at least three years for raping a drunk woman.

The former CFMEU state president was found guilty on Friday of raping the younger woman three times when she was too drunk to give consent in March 2017.

Hanna met the woman at a Fortitude Valley bar then went home with her in a taxi after she had been kicked out of the venue for intoxication.

He knocked down her townhouse door, because she had lost her keys, and followed her into her Taigum home, in Brisbane's north, and raped her.

He was found guilty by a Brisbane District Court jury of three counts of rape and another charge of recording in breach of privacy after he filmed and photographed moments of the bedroom encounter.

"(It) appears to me that she was out cold," Justice Julie Dick said of one of the photographs, depicting her on her bed, in sentencing.

Hanna was handed a six-year jail sentence and will not be eligible for parole until February 2022.

While there was no dispute the pair had sex, prosecutors argued she lacked the cognitive capacity to consent due to her high level of intoxication or gave no consent at all.

In giving evidence, Hanna had insisted she willingly participated in sex acts.

"(She was) in a vulnerable state," crown prosecutor Michael Lehane in sentencing submissions.

"He chose to take advantage of his position of dominance."

The court has heard the woman has suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression since the incident.
Pope Francis has promised concrete action against child sexual abuse by priests, but an Australian victims' advocate remains sceptical about whether a landmark summit will deliver the necessary changes.

Pope Francis told 190 church leaders to "hear the cry of the little ones who plead for justice" over the scourge of child sexual abuse committed by clergy.

"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," he said in opening the four-day meeting.

Australian victims' advocate Dr Cathy Kezelman said the summit was a big step but survivors needed to see a roadmap for systemic cultural changes within the church's structure, governance and processes.

"The fear is that this may feel like a tick - we've done the four-day summit," the Blue Knot Foundation president told AAP on Friday.

"Hopefully it's the beginning of a roadmap, we're going to all see that roadmap and we're going to see the changes that that roadmap institutes, and it's going to be monitored, scrutinised, reported on by external bodies."

Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge said he was moved by the videos of five victims played during the summit's opening day.

"I was far more moved by what I heard this morning than I expected to be. I was surprised at the way tears, as it were, welled up," the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president told a media conference in Rome.

"It's not that I hadn't heard these voices before, I have, but I had never heard them in the extraordinary context of this gathering and frankly in the presence of the Pope."

Archbishop Coleridge earlier told reporters "the time for words is long, long past".

"We are dealing with a global emergency, and I don't think the language is too strong," he said.

"A global emergency that requires a global response."

Pope Francis issued a list of 21 "reflection points" designed to protect children.

Dr Kezelman said the list still contained some fairly entrenched approaches to the problem.

"It should no longer be up to the clergy to make decisions about cases," she said.

"This is a crime and it needs to go through the appropriate civil authorities."
Village Roadshow says it has pulled out of its downward spiral and its finances have stabilised, but now will be looking to replace its chief executive of 31 years.

The company said on Friday was executing a turnaround, having reduced its debt by $122 million, to $216.4 million, and refinanced all of it.

It said it had made $12.8 million first-half profit and its earnings had more than doubled to $30.2 million.

The company hailed longtime chief executive Graham Burke as it announced he would retire at the end of the year, adding that the company's balance sheet had strengthened.

Village Roadshow last fiscal year lost $7.3 million, with its Australian theme parks hurt by a 2016 fatal accident at its competitor Dreamworld and its DVD business impacted by the transition to digital.

"With a dedicated team and a clear strategy, we continue to 'right the ship'," Village Roadshow said.

It sold Wet'n'Wild Sydney in October for $37 million and sold and leased back its Coburg, Melbourne, drive-in site in January, gaining $11 million.

The company said good weather, higher ticket prices and an 18-month strategy to differentiate its Gold Coast theme parks from Dreamworld was paying off.

It said its DVD and Blu-Ray business was being more selective about acquiring titles to counter the "Netflix effect".

Roadshow's earnings from physical titles was down 46 per cent, while its digital revenues have increased 33 per cent and now almost equal its physical sales.

The company distributes movies and TV programs for sale and rent via iTunes, Foxtel, Telstra Bigpond and other online platforms, as well as supplying and licensing films to the Foxtel movie channels, Stan and Netflix.

The company said it would reinstate dividends at the full year if its performance continues.

Village Roadshow said it would conduct a global search for an external candidate to replace Mr Burke, who has been with the company for 63 years.

Clark Kirby, chief executive of Village Roadshow Theme Parks, will be an internal candidate for the job.

Mr Burke started working for Roc Kirby, Village Roadshow's founder, at the age of 14 as a ticket collector and floor sweeper at a cinema in rural Victoria.

He became managing director of the company at age 23 and was its inaugural chief executive when it listed on the ASX in 1988, leading it into its theme park investments.

"Graham is a giant of our industry and has been an integral part of Village Roadshow," executive chairman Robert Kirby said.
A bushfire that damaged one home and destroyed four sheds, four vehicles and a harvester in Western Australia's South West region has been contained but the threat remains.

A watch and act alert is in place for parts of Southampton and Cundinup in the Shires of Donnybrook-Balingup and Nannup.

The blaze has also caused stock losses and damage to fences, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services said on Friday.

About 3300 hectares have been burnt since the fire started on Tuesday, and 80 firefighters are working to strengthen containment lines and mop up.

A watch and act alert is also in place for two other bushfires, including a fast-moving and out-of-control blaze in the western part of Kambalda in the Shire of Coolgardie, in WA's Goldfields region.

Meanwhile, a lightning-sparked blaze in the northern part of Cape Le Grand National Park in the Shire of Esperance, in WA's Great Southern region, has burnt about 40 hectares since Thursday and the campground is closed.
Powerhouse Penrith prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard insists he'll carry no mental demons into his return from a second jaw break in Saturday night's NRL trial against South Sydney.

After missing six weeks last year while his jaw was wired shut following a brutal collision with Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Campbell-Gillard was injured again in training in December.

This time it was courtesy of friendly fire from James Fisher-Harris in a ruck session at training but no surgery was required and he's fit in time to return to the end of the Panthers' pre-season.

But despite the two blows in one year, Campbell-Gillard is confident he's managed to erase any lingering concerns before taking on Souths at Redfern.

It's just one of those things that happens," he told AAP.

"This one was a lot easier. I obviously know how to handle a setback whereas the first one was tougher, having your mouth wired shut and having to eat through a straw.

"But I'm over it and Fish has got me a few times."

The damage cost Campbell-Gillard a spot in NSW's last two State of Origin matches as the Blues reclaimed the Shield.

And while the 25-year-old doesn't want to use that pain as motivation, he's determined to return to the Origin arena to attend to unfinished business.

"It's a goal again. I don't think it's a walk-in type job," Campbell-Gillard said.

"I don't think it's motivation but it definitely sucked. I think every kid grows up dreaming to do that.

"Don't get me wrong the first game was awesome. I set myself a goal to play and get the opportunity so early you don't take it for granted.

"But I think each year I will be setting my goal to play for it again."
Veteran Victorian firefighter Troy Thornton will die in a Swiss euthanasia clinic late on Friday, but before he goes, he has a powerful message for Australian politicians and voters.

He wants the nation to think deeply about the concept of dying well, and to challenge the notion that choosing death is somehow wrong.

The 54-year-old is scheduled for a lethal injection late on Friday, Australian time. His wife Christine will be there to hold his hand, but he will die without his two teenage children by his side.

Mr Thornton desperately wishes he could legally end his life at home in Australia, with all those he loves around him.

But despite Victoria becoming the first state to legalise voluntary assisted dying, he doesn't qualify.

His disease - multiple system atrophy - is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder. There are no treatments and there is no prospect of recovery but death can take years.

That's where the Victorian laws fall down, Mr Thornton explains.

He could not find two doctors willing to say with absolute certainty that he would die within 12 months, which in his case is a condition to access the legislation.

That has left him with Switzerland as a solution to end his suffering, albeit without his children, his extended family and his loyal circle of friends.

"Doctors have always told me that you don't die of it, you die with it. You can live for quite a few years, but ... you end up being a vegetable," he tells AAP from the Swiss city of Basel.

"After a while it attacks different systems, breathing, swallowing. I'd end up drowning in my own mucous, that's what happens."

He calls his disease a "beast": one that takes everything away slowly.

"First you can't swim, then you can't run, walk, kick the footy with your children, you can't surf, drive; eventually it takes your career. Then you end up being a vegetable.

"It's a pretty grim way to go out."

He says every day is "like Groundhog Day" - filled with incessant vertigo, double vision and nausea.

"I've just had enough, but unfortunately the laws, while they are a huge step in the right direction, they don't help me. They discount a lot of people."

He wants Australian voters to tell their politicians what they want when it comes to end of life choices.

"When it's our life, we should have control. We should be able to choose if we are of sound mind. That's what I'd like to say."
A young man who raped a drunk woman "in a most degrading way" with a mate after they had been trusted by her relative to drive her home has been sentenced to four years and two months in a West Australian prison.

The 20-year-old man, who was 17 at the time and cannot be named, lured the 19-year-old woman into a vehicle under the pretext of offering her a lift home after a night out in Karratha, in the state's north, in January 2016.

The father-of-one was sentenced in the WA District Court this week after he was found guilty of two counts of aggravated sexual penetration without consent.

Judge Ronald Birmingham said although the victim did not know the offender, her relative did and instructed him to "make sure you take her home".

During the drive, the offender put his hand up her dress but she resisted and moved to the far side of the vehicle after two other people were dropped off.

Judge Birmingham said the woman felt trapped and began to pass out, then the offender raped her.

A second man opened the door on her side of the vehicle and sexually assaulted her at the same time in what the judge described as a "most degrading act".

She protested and pulled away, saying she had a boyfriend, but the offender laughed and encouraged the other man to rape her again, the court heard.

The woman cried at a park, then went home and felt ashamed she had not fought back, Judge Birmingham said.

"This was a forcible, degrading sexual penetration of a vulnerable young woman and it was done in company with others and where you encouraged others to participate."

Months later, she recognised the offender on social media and reported the crime to police but he tried to deflect blame, the court heard.

After his conviction, the offender wrote a letter in which he apologised, but Judge Birmingham said it would have been more meaningful if it had come before the trial so the woman could have avoided the trauma of reliving what happened.
Australia is getting a new $20 note.

The design was released on Friday ahead of its launch into circulation in October.

The new note will keep the portraits of two significant Australians - ex-convict, entrepreneur and philanthropist Mary Reibey and the Reverend John Flynn, who set up the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

It will have the same world-leading security features as the other new notes, the Reserve Bank of Australia said.

It will also have three raised bumps along each edge to assist people who are blind or have low vision.
Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe is not expecting the Australian economy to be derailed by the blocking of some coal exports to China.

A major Chinese port banned imports of coal on Thursday, but Dr Lowe says he understands only two months worth of exports between Australia and China will be impacted.

"It's entirely possible that if it cannot enter China, it can go to other markets...we'll find another market, perhaps at a lower price," he told a parliamentary hearing in Sydney on Friday.
Nick Kyrgios has lost his second-round clash to Radu Albot at the Delray Beach Open in a match marred by more on-court antics by the Australian.

Struggling with an apparent knee injury, Kyrgios was sent packing from the ATP event in Florida after suffering a 6-2 3-6 6-3 loss to the Moldovan in an hour and 26 minutes.

The Australian world No.64 snapped back at a spectator who apparently questioned his effort, attempted an inside-out serve on set point and later danced to Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal at the change of ends.
One of NSW's most notorious killers, convicted of murdering Sydney nurse Anita Cobby, has died in jail.

Michael Murphy, 66, was one of five men - including his brothers Leslie and Gary - found guilty of raping and killing the 26-year-old in a paddock in western Sydney in 1986.

He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

A Corrective Services NSW spokeswoman confirmed Murphy died at Long Bay Hospital 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 told AAP on Friday.

"All deaths in custody are subject to a coronial inquest, including deaths resulting from natural causes."
A cyclone watch for Queensland's southern coast has been cancelled but category one Oma is still making its presence felt as it sits offshore.

Forecasters say the weather system will continue to bring high winds and dangerous surf conditions to parts of the Queensland and northern NSW coast in coming days.

Early on Friday, Oma was about 700km east, northeast of Brisbane.

It's slowly moving south and is expected to re-intensify to a category two storm later in the day, before making a u-turn on Saturday and heading north again.

"Although the centre of Oma is going to stay a fair way off the coast, it is still going to be quite windy," Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Jonty Hall has told ABC radio.

"There is still the potential for some damaging wind gusts in the order of 90, 100km/h."

Dangerous winds, surf and abnormally high tides will continue into the weekend from about Fraser Island down to the NSW border.

The same conditions are expected as far south as Yamba in northern NSW.
New Zealand has reportedly rejected resettling asylum seekers in Australian offshore processing, contradicting Prime Minister Jacinda Adern's public position.

News Corp reports senior New Zealand departmental officials privately told former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull they weren't open to resettling single asylum seeker men from Manus Island.

Ms Adern had publicly offered to settle at least 150 refugees being held on Nauru or Manus Island but was rebuffed by Mr Turnbull and his successor Scott Morrison.

Meanwhile, Almost 60 asylum seekers on the islands have failed character assessments since the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade began screenings in response to new medical transfer laws, according to The Australian.

The coalition government has attacked the new regime, arguing there's a loophole that prevents people from being sent back to Manus Island and Nauru once they have been transferred to Australia for treatment.

But Labor, who teamed up with crossbench MPs to pass the laws, rejects the claims and has vowed to return asylum seekers once doctors advise they have completed medical treatment.

Under the new regime, two doctors can recommend asylum seekers currently on Manus Island or Nauru be transferred to Australian territory for treatment.

The government intends to send people to the reopened Christmas Island detention centre, off Western Australia, rather than the mainland.
Crazy Rich Asians star Constance Wu just revealed the real reason she chose to wear the controversial color yellow to the 91st Academy Awards on Sunday.

'I chose this color because it made me happy,' the 36-year-old Golden Globe nominee - who boasts 1M followers - wrote on Instagram.

'And also was inspired by [director Jon M. Chu's] moving letter to @coldplay about our movie's closing song cover of "Yellow" in @crazyrichasians.'

'It made me happy': Crazy Rich Asians star Constance Wu just revealed the real reason she chose to wear the controversial color yellow to the 91st Academy Awards on Sunday

Last summer, the 39-year-old filmmaker shared the letter which convinced the British band to give him the rights to have The Voice #10 contestant Katherine Ho perform a cover of their 2000 hit song.

'From being called [yellow] in a derogatory way throughout grade school, to watching movies where they called cowardly people yellow, it's always had a negative connotation in my life,' wrote Chu.

'That is, until I heard your song...It immediately became an anthem for me and my friends and gave us a new sense of pride we never felt before. We could reclaim the color for ourselves and it has stuck with me for the majority of my life.'

Jon continued: 'It will give a whole generation of Asian-Americans, and others, the same sense of pride I got when I heard your song.'

The 36-year-old Golden Globe nominee wrote on Instagram: 'I was inspired by [director Jon M. Chu's] moving letter to @coldplay about our movie's closing song cover of "Yellow" in @crazyrichasians'

'Yellow always had a negative connotation in my life': Last summer, the 39-year-old filmmaker shared the letter which convinced the British band to give him the rights to have The Voice #10 contestant Katherine Ho perform a cover of their 2000 hit song

Chu wrote: 'It immediately became an anthem for me and my friends and gave us a new sense of pride we never felt before. We could reclaim the color for ourselves'

The Virginia-born daughter of Taiwanese immigrants looked breathtaking in the custom Atelier Versace marigold-silk gown featuring a Swarovski-embellished neckline selected by stylist Micaela Erlanger.

Constance wore the dress onstage Hollywood's Dolby Theatre to present the trophy for best original song to Lady Gaga for Shallow alongside Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman.

On Tuesday, Wu Insta-storied the beautiful bouquets of roses and orchids she received from the designer, Donatella Versace.

Princess moment: The Virginia-born daughter of Taiwanese immigrants looked breathtaking in the custom Atelier Versace marigold-silk gown featuring a Swarovski-embellished neckline

Pretty presenter: Constance wore the dress to present the trophy for best original song to Lady Gaga for Shallow alongside Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman (L)

'Thank you!' On Tuesday, Wu Insta-storied the beautiful bouquets of roses and orchids she received from the designer, Donatella Versace

Awards season isn't over either as the SUNY Purchase grad 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.

The Verizon brand ambassador also just got cast as an exotic dancer out for revenge opposite Jennifer Lopez in STXfilms drama The Hustlers at Scores, which begins filming in March - according to Deadline.

And fans can currently catch Constance as 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.

Who will win? The SUNY Purchase grad 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
Bella Thorne made waves when she admitted she had both a boyfriend and a girlfriend in a October 2018 LA Times profile.

But it looks like things have fizzled out between the Paradise City actress, 21, and YouTuber Tana Mongeau, 20.

Responding to fan queries on Twitter, multi-hyphenate Bella wrote: 'Tana and I aren't together anymore, pls stop asking. We love U guys.'

Parting ways: Bella Thorne made her split from girlfriend Tana Mongeau public via Twitter on Tuesday

Asking for space: The multi-hyphenate also requested people 'stop asking' about the split

While Bella's tweets seemed to suggest things ended amicably, Tana took a more somber tone in her messages.

'I love her forever don't get that twisted. she changed my life forever. don't rly wanna talk on it.. there's no negativity at all,' the vlogger, who boasts over 3.8million subscribers, tweeted.

When a fan replied saying 'love you both as long as you're happy', the viral sensation admitted she heartbroken, writing: 'I'm not fully. this obviously breaks my heart. i will be though. as long as she is.'

Though Tana and Thorne's relationship has run its course, Bella still appears to be going strong with musician beau Mod Sun.

Still going strong: Though Tana and Thorne's relationship has run its course, Bella still appears to be going strong with musician beau ModSun

End of an era: The pair had been linked for a little over a year and their relationship saw three people involved

Three's company! Bella made waves when she admitted she had both a boyfriend (Mod Sun) and a girlfriend (Tana) in a October 2018 LA Times profile (pictured together)

Heartbroken: While Bella's tweets seemed to suggest things ended amicably, Tana took a more somber tone in her messages

Healing: The YouTuber admitted she was 'not fully' happy with the decision on Twitter

Open book: News of the split comes a little less than a month after Bella opened up about her relationships for her Gay Times cover story

News of the split comes a little less than a month after Bella opened up about her relationships for her Gay Times cover story.

'I don't think anybody will really understand the bonds that I share with Mod or Tana,' Thorne told the outlet.

'Yeah, we joke around about poly, but we aren't in the sense that we don't put a word, a box or label too many things. It is what it is.'

She also got candid about her bisexuality, sharing: 'It seems like no one understands bisexuality at all. In this world its like youre either gay or youre straight; theres no in between.'

Actress Bella and YouTuber Tana first sparked things around a year after the later joked that she wanted to 'date' Bella before even having met the movie star.

First kiss: Bella and Tana began their relationship after meeting at Life Is Beautiful Festival in Las Vegas in 2017 (above)

Tripping out: Throughout their union the pair seemed almost inseparable, frequently posting PDA-packed social media and sharing photos from their lavish trips together

Then, destiny brought the pair together when they met just days later at Las Vegas' 2017 Life Is Beautiful music festival.

After spending a whirlwind weekend together, the pair shared a photo of a kiss on their social media and the rest was history.

From there on the pair seemed almost inseparable, frequently posting PDA-packed social media and sharing photos from their lavish trips together.

Tana was candid about the couple's pairing in January vlog titled 'The truth about my relationships, break ups, and sexuality.'

'For me, it was very much instant love, instant infatuation, instant obsession, and my entire life became Bella, Bella, Bella,' Tana effused.
She is known for her sensational figure-hugging gown on the red carpet.

But Salma Hayek, 52, put on an uncharacteristic style display as she stepped out to the Saint Laurent A19/20 during Paris Fashion Week on Tuesday.

Posing alongside her husband Francois-Henri Pinault, the actress turned heads in a red velvet blazer, with a coordinating black-trimmed fedora atop her head.

Stylish: Salma Hayek, 52, put on an uncharacteristic style display as she stepped out to the Saint Laurent A19/20 during Paris Fashion Week on Tuesday

The Frida actress made a style statement as she opted to team the bold pieces with a bright green star print blouse.

The eye-catching top featured a pussybow neck tie, which Salma accessorised with a dazzling diamond encrusted star-shaped brooch.

Keeping the lower half of her ensemble much more muted, the award-winning star slipped into a sleek pair of grey button-up trousers.

Hot couple: Posing alongside her husband Francois-Henri Pinault, the actress turned heads in a red velvet blazer, with a coordinating black-trimmed fedora atop her head

Trendy: The Frida actress made a style statement as she opted to team the bold pieces with a bright green star print blouse

Looking good: The eye-catching top featured a pussybow neck tie, which Salma accessorised with a dazzling diamond encrusted star-shaped brooch

The mother-of-one's long raven tresses were styled into a thick braid, which she draped over her shoulder, with the long chain strap of her handbag slung over the other.

Francois-Henri, who is the CEO of fashion brand Kering, looked handsome in a black top which he teamed with a navy suit.

Salma and her husband Francois-Henri began their relationship in 2006 and were engaged less than a year later.

Work it: Keeping the lower half of her ensemble much more muted, the award-winning star slipped into a sleek pair of grey button-up trousers

Mane attraction: The mother-of-one's long raven tresses were styled into a thick braid, which she draped over her shoulder

Dapper: Francois-Henri, who is the CEO of fashion brand Kering, looked handsome in a black top which he teamed with a navy suit

Love: Salma and her husband Francois-Henri began their relationship in 2006 and were engaged less than a year later. The pair wed in Paris on Valentine's Day in 2009

The actress gave birth to their daughter Valentina, now 11, in September 2007 in Los Angeles.

The pair wed in Paris on Valentine's Day in 2009, they put on a second wedding ceremony in Venice in April of the same year.

Salma also shares a stepdaughter, Mathilde Pinault, 18, and stepsons Augustin Evangelista, 12, and Francois Pinault, 21, with her husband.

Fan favourite: Salma was in good company as she blew at kiss at her fans
She usually favours a more sophisticated and glamorous look.

But Elizabeth Hurley, 53, proved she can do dressed down just as well, stepping out in London on Tuesday night in a low-key look.

The actress donned a pair of figure-hugging, wet look leggings and a statement fluffy jacket for her evening out at the Women for Women International #SheInspiresMe Dance event at Proud Embankment.

Looking good: Elizabeth Hurley, 53, proved she can do dressed down just as well, stepping out in London on Tuesday night in a low-key look

Elizabeth looked years younger than her age in her cool and quirky attire, which she teamed with coordinating black boots.

She sported a simple black T-shirt with a neon pink logo and carried her valuables in a tiny clutch bag.

The Royals star wore her brunette locks down in perfect ringlets and accentuated her pout with a slick of gloss.

Covering up: The actress donned a pair of figure-hugging, wet look leggings and a statement fluffy jacket at the Women for Women International SheInspiresMe Dance event

Stylish as ever: Elizabeth looked years younger than her age in her cool and quirky attire, which she teamed with coordinating black boots

Taxi! Following a fun-filled evening, the star looked ready to head home for some rest

High spirits: The British beauty put on an animated display as she hit the town

Elizabeth looked ready to call it a night following a fun-filled evening, hailing a cab in the street.

Guests at the event were treated to Casamigos Mint Fizz.

The star recently shared a sizzling Instagram clip from her trip to Milaidhoo Island in the Maldives.

Elizabeth ensured all eyes were on her as she slipped her youthful-looking frame into a white two-piece while enjoying a dip in the ocean.

Wow-factor! The star recently shared a sizzling Instagram clip from her trip to Milaidhoo Island in the Maldives

Commanding attention, the screen star displayed her ample bust and slender midsection in a strapless bikini top and matching briefs.

The Aria star appeared in high spirits as she emerged out of the water stating: 'Maldives, Milaidhoo!'

With her tresses styled into a straight fashion, Liz's showcased her naturally radiant complexion in minimal make-up, and accessorised with radiant-tinted sunglasses.

She's got it! The Royals actress, 53, ensured all eyes were on her as she slipped her youthful-looking frame into a white two-piece while enjoying a dip in the ocean

Working it! Commanding attention, the screen star displayed her ample bust and slender midsection in a strapless bikini top and matching briefs

Having fun: The Aria star appeared in high spirits as she emerged out of the water stating: 'Maldives, Milaidhoo!

Elizabeth is mother to son Damian, 16, from her brief relationship with American businessman Steve Bing, 53.

The mother and son were most recently in India, where they rang in the new year alongside several of the Bedazzled star's friends.

Damian, who has six godfathers including actor Hugh Grant and Sir Elton John and his partner David Furnish, is often rubbing shoulders with his mum's celebrity pals, as she insists she has an 'open house' policy in order for her son to meet her friends.

Family: The screen star is mother to son Damian, 16 (far left in India), who she regularly brings on her travels

Elizabeth has previously confessed she often ropes Damian into taking photographs of her - including her bikini-clad snaps she posts to social media.

On their relationship, she told YOU magazine: 'Damian is a great photographer, and he instinctively knows what younger people want to see, but thats all...

'Our downtime together is usually spent watching something scary on Netflix or Vikings on Amazon Prime. By default we spend a lot of time together and we are utterly comfortable in each other's company.'
Forced to cancel her comedy tour due to severe sickness, it's clear Amy Schumer is not finding pregnancy easy.

And in a preview of her new Netflix special, Growing, she jokes about women who have the perfect pregnancy- saying she hopes their cars 'flip over'.

'If you had a good pregnancy, like if you're someone who enjoyed being pregnant, I just hope your car flips over,' she said, pausing for laughter. 'That's what I wish for you.'

Humor: Amy Schumer jokes 'if you enjoyed being pregnant I hope your car flips' in new Growing Netflix special

After joking about her ill wishes for other pregnant women, Amy also made fun of her pregnancy habits, pretending she was still 'drinking'

After joking about her ill wishes for other pregnant women, Amy also made fun of her pregnancy habits, pretending she was still 'drinking'.

'Here's the thing,' she said of being pregnant. 'You don't change who you are. You don't stop being you. You don't stop working...'

She then paused for comic effect, before adding to laughter 'Or drinking.'

In the trailer for Growing, which hits Neflix March 19, Amy also addresses her thoughts on finally getting married in her late 30s to chef Chris Fischer, saying she hopes it will mean she's finally done with bridesmaid duty.

Baby on board: Growing hits Neflix March 19

Now 38, the comedienne explained: 'Everybody got married. I was the last one.

'I think I don't have to be a bridesmaid anymore. When you get to your late 30s there's no dignity to it. It's me in a Cocahelloa flower halo, hoping I'm not the bridesmaid with the biggest arm.'

While Amy looked happy and healthy while filming her special to a packed house in Chicago, she has since had to cancel the remainder of her comedy tour.

The 37-year-old is suffering 'complications from hyperemesis' during the third trimester of her pregnancy.

While for many the severe form of morning sickness clears up as their pregnancy progresses, Amy has not been so lucky.

Unwell: While for many the severe form of morning sickness clears up as their pregnancy progresses, Amy has not been so lucky, sharing her struggles on social media

She wrote on Instagram: 'Due to complications from hyperemesis I am not cleared to fly for the next couple weeks. I am going to cancel the remainder of my tour. Refunds are available at point of purchase.'

The Trainwreck star went on to assure her fans that both she and her impending arrival are 'healthy', but she couldn't risk flying and performing on stage when she needs to put the wellbeing of herself and her tot first.

She continued: 'The baby and I are healthy and everything looks good. But I am in my third trimester and I am still nauseous all the time and vomiting. I vomit mostly every time i ride in a car even for 5 minutes.

No more flower crowns: Amy joked that one of the benefits of getting older (and married) was no more bridesmaid flower crowns; she made her own bridesmaids wear the headgear

'I have a pretty good attitude about it and some days I feel good for a couple hours. But mostly it's sucks. I wanted to push through and do my shows.

'Because I hate letting people down and I love stand up and money! But more than that I have to think about my health and the baby. I know you guys get it and people are like. B***ch are you ok? Take it easy but it's still embarrassing to have to cancel.'
They had numerous elaborate weddings and receptions in India back in December.

And Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas looked more than happy to be back in the place their union was made official.

The 36-year-old actress took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a cute selfie photo of herself cuddling up with the 26-year-old hunk after arriving back in Delhi, India.

They're back! Priyanka Chopra took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a cute selfie photo of herself cuddling up with Nick Jonas after arriving back in Delhi, India

The happy couple had big smiles on their faces in the snap the Baywatch star, wearing a Madiyah Al Sharqi duster, captioned: Best travel buddy ever..hello Delhi.. so good to be back.. @nickjonas.'

Back in December, Nick and Priyanka had one of their numerous wedding receptions in New Delhi which is an urban district of Delhi and serves as the capital of India.

The beaming couple were the picture of marital bliss as they held hands and gazed adoringly at one another while taking photographs alongside their families.

Priyanka looked absolutely breathtaking wearing a dazzling silver lehenga with white roses tucked into her hair.

The couple were surrounded by loved ones as they took photographs upon a platform containing a floral backdrop with their initials in gold.

Man and wife: Back on December 4, Nick and Priyanka had one of heir numerous wedding receptions in New Delhi

In the honeymoon phase! Priyanka looked absolutely breathtaking wearing a dazzling silver lehenga with white roses tucked into her hair as they posed for cute snaps together

Nick's brother Joe Jonas and his fiancee Sophie Turner posed proudly beside the groom's father Paul Kevin Jonas Sr. and mother Denise.

Priyanka's mother Madhu and brother Sidharth had also joined the couple on stage for photographs.

Even after a full weekend of festivities, the newlyweds still had plenty of energy left as they continued celebrating their special day with loved ones.

But friends and family were not the only ones wishing the newlyweds well, as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also arrived to give his congratulations.

Nick and Priyanka exchanged vows twice over a weekend in December in Christian and Hindu ceremonies.
Peaky Blinders Steven Knight has vowed that season five of the crime drama is 'the best one yet,' after recently revealing he has begun writing series six.

Speaking to the Radio Times the TV favourite revealed that the show will go from strength to strength with the latest instalment, adding that it will 'move on' after Tom Hardy departed the show last season.

It comes after Steven confirmed that he plans to end Peaky Blinders after its seventh series despite recent claims it would end after season five, explaining he wants the 'tale of two families' to conclude with the country on the eve of World War Two.

Exciting: Peaky Blinders Steven Knight has revealed that season five of the crime drama is 'the best one yet,' adding that the show will 'move on' after Tom Hardy's departure (above)

He said: 'I personally believe  and I think everybody involved believes  that this is the best series yet, for all sorts of reasons. Theres a lot going on, theres a lot of bells ringing, theres a lot of conflict happening.

'Its like when [series one and two star] Sam Neill was no longer in it. That felt like a loss, but you move on. You have to.'

Tom Hardy sadly departed Peaky Blinders last series after his character Alfie Solomons was brutally killed off.

Here we go again! It comes after Steven confirmed that he had already started writing for series six, after filming for series five wrapped last month

It comes after Steven recently told Slate that he's about to start work on the scripts for series six, admitting he's full of momentum to continue the story of Thomas Shelby (Cillian Murphy) and co.

Explaining why the BBC show is so important to him, Knight explained: 'Peaky is a very personal thing for me because its based on stories that I was told as a kid by my parents. At the very beginning, I tried to have other writers involved but it just didnt work.

'Theres no writers room, or any other writer involved. I write everything from beginning to end. Maybe its just me not being able to let go of something, especially with Peaky. I cant let it go.'

Knight, who also co-created quiz show Who Wants to be a Millionaire, continued: 'Im about to start writing season 6 now and if all the wheels fall off, or it goes horribly wrong, theres probably people that will say something. But at this moment, it has its own logic and momentum. Right now, it feels as if the characters are just writing themselves.'

Writing: Knight explained: 'I'm about to start writing season 6 now... at this moment, it has its own logic and momentum. Right now, it feels as if the characters are just writing themselves'

It had been rumoured Peaky Blinders' fifth series could be its last, with Deadline reporting the upcoming series will see the story of the Shelby clan 'come to a conclusion'.

However, Knight confirmed in May last year, that the gangster drama will come to a close after the seventh season.

He told Digital Spy: 'My ambition is to make it a story of a family between two wars, so always I've wanted to end it with the first air raid siren in Birmingham in 1939. It'll take three more series [to reach that point].'

It's a wrap: A post on the BBC drama's official Twitter account on January 17 confirmed that filming fro series would conclude the next day, with the post accompanied by a moody photo of show star Cillian Murphy and director Anthony Byrne

There's also been rumours of a big screen outing for the series, as one of the show's director's claimed it is being made into a movie.

Otto Bathurst, who directed three episodes in season one of the gritty gangster drama, said Knight is currently writing a script.

A post on the BBC drama's official Twitter account on January 17 confirmed that filming would conclude the next day, with the post accompanied by a moody photo of show star Cillian Murphy and director Anthony Byrne on day one of production.

Sneak peek: An explosive look at the show's new season was given in a gritty trailer released earlier this month

The caption read: 'Tomorrow we wrap filming series 5 of #PeakyBlinders. Heres a throwback to Cillian and director Anthony Byrne on the first day of filming, all those months ago. #ThrowbackThursday.'

The drama is set to be released at some point in 2019 - with show bosses keeping coy over the exact air date.

Fans quickly went wild over the news, and flocked to social media to share their delight.

One wrote: 'IM SO EXCITED OMG' while another added: 'best series ever made!'

Comeback: Fans quickly went wild over the news, and flocked to social media to share their delight

Another added: 'Just hurry up already' with one fan writing: 'been waiting too long!'

With a flurry of excited memes, another follower wrote: 'I'm ready for it, can't come soon enough!'

While the drama is set in Birmingham, filming has taken place across Manchester in recent months.

Series five is set in the aftermath of the 1929 Wall Street Crash, with creator Steven Knight revealing: 'The story of the Peaky Blinders and of the Shelby family gets woven into the political fabric of Britain and Europe as the 1920s end and the thirties begin.

'Tommy Shelby faces the darkest force he has ever faced and his struggle is as relevant today as it was then.'

Peaky Blinders fans were given their first look at season five in a BBC drama trailer which aired on New Year's Day ahead of an expected Spring 2019 air date.

While the one minute clip featured snippets of Killing Eve, Line of Duty and Luther, it was the brief but explosive tease of Peaky Blinders which has really got fans talking.

Line up: Series five is set in the aftermath of the 1929 Wall Street Crash (pictured Joe Cole, Cillian and Paul Anderson)

Cillian Murphy, who plays Thomas Shelby in the BBC One series, is seen in a number of blink and you'll miss it scenes in the trailer, including the aftermath of what looks like a deadly car explosion.

Seconds after a shot of a burning car is shown, Tommy is seen looking distraught as he appears to cradle a body in his arms.

Annie Harrison-Baxter will produce the new series, which sees the welcome return of a host of familiar characters following a vicious gang war.

There will also be some new faces joining the cast, including Sam Claflin and Split actress Anya Taylor-Joy.

The drama will also make the big move from BBC Two to BBC One following the huge success of the first four series.
Chloe Green and her hot felon fiance Jeremy Meeks have had a tearful bust up in Dubai, a family source has told MailOnline.

The Topshop heiress, 27, is said to have jetted to her home in Monaco alone while her model beau, 35, has been partying in LA.

Sources have also pointed out that Chloe, daughter of billionaire Sir Philip Green, has posed in two pictures on Instagram without her rumoured engagement ring in a pointed message to the ex-con that their 18-month relationship is strained.

Romance woes: Chloe Green and her hot felon fiance Jeremy Meeks have had a tearful bust up in Dubai, a family source has told MailOnline

The pair had a public row on February 19 at the Cavalli Club in Dubai where Meeks stormed out of the venue, leaving Chloe on her own.

Speaking to MailOnline, a source close to the pair said: These ups and downs are part of every relationship but they are usually settled, particularly when one of the parties is worth so much money. I expect them to sort it out.

A party-goer at the launch of streetwear clothes label EXTREMEDY in Dubai, where Meeks was modelling, said the couple  who were sitting at a table with Bella Hadids property developer father Mohammed  smiled for the cameras but appeared to be tense in each others company as the night wore on.

Jeremy was in his element, they said. The real life and soul of the party and socialising with the other guests. Chloe was barely noticeable and in his shadows most of the night.

Oh no! Sources have also pointed out that Chloe, daughter of billionaire Sir Philip Green, has posed in two pictures on Instagram without her rumoured engagement ring in a pointed message to the ex-con that their 18-month relationship is strained

Separate: The Topshop heiress has jetted to her home in Monaco alone while her model beau has been partying in LA

'Heated exchange':The pair had a public row on February 19 at the Cavalli Club in Dubai (pictured) where Meeks stormed out of the venue, leaving Chloe on her own

They were all smiles posing for the pictures for the photographers but things turned sour later in the night.

They were spotted having a heated exchanged and Jeremy walked out of the club without Chloe.

You couldnt hear what they were saying but it was obvious they were having a row from their body language. Chloe tried to shrug it off but you could see she was upset and she left with a friend shortly after.

She had her engagement ring on in Dubai and now its clearly missing from her Instagram shots. In one photo she is displaying both of her hands in a clear message to him that their relationship is in trouble.

Socialite Chloe, is believed to have flown back to Monte Carlo where she has a 7 million penthouse apartment.

Speaking to MailOnline, a source close to the pair said: These ups and downs are part of every relationship but they are usually settled, particularly when one of the parties is worth so much money. I expect them to sort it out

Heading back: Socialite Chloe, 27, who has a ten-month-old baby son Jayden with Meeks, is believed to have flown back to Monte Carlo where she has a 7 million penthouse apartment

Across the pond: Meeks jetted to the US where he was turned away from Beyonce and Jay-Z's Oscar after-party at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles on Sunday because he wasnt on the guest list (Pictured September 2018)

Meeks jetted to the US where he was turned away from Beyonce and Jay-Z's Oscar after-party at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles on Sunday because he wasnt on the guest list.

They are spending some time apart to think things through, said the source. Chloe was very upset and hurt by what happened in Dubai and is trying to work out what she wants.

However, another source has told MailOnline that 'there hasn't been a bust-up. Jeremy is in LA, Chloes in Monaco and they are fine.

The source also added: 'They arent engaged and they never have been There are no plans to get married.'

Meeks is an American model and former gang member who found fame thanks to a flattering mugshot picture, which saw him nicknamed 'the hot felon'.

The former gang member received a 27-month jail term in 2015 after being charged with illegally possessing firearms and ammunition, carrying a loaded firearm in public and criminal street gang activity.

All is well: However, another source has told MailOnline that 'there hasn't been a bust-up. Jeremy is in LA, Chloes in Monaco and they are fine'

Viral fame: Meeks is an American model and former gang member who found fame thanks to a flattering mugshot picture, which saw him nicknamed 'the hot felon'

He was released from prison in 2016 saying that he had 'found God', before quickly securing a six-figure modelling job.

His wife Melissa claimed to have been blindsided when pictures emerged of him kissing Miss Green on a yacht in Turkey in June 2017.

Since then he and Chloe have been inseparable jet-setting all over the world and spending time on her fathers 115 million mega-yacht Lionheart in Monaco.

Meanwhile her mother Tina, and retail tycoon Sir Philip, 66, worth an estimated 5 billion, have reportedly been busy planning their daughters wedding.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have been mocked for 'pretending to be poor' and 'using the lower and middle class as some type of aesthetic.'

The couple, who are worth a cool $350million shared a throwback snap of themselves having a simple breakfast in a low-key kitchen on Instagram on Tuesday.

38-year-old Kim's image showed Kanye, 41, eating from a bowl, a plastic bottle of milk in front of him, as she sat with her legs on her chair, watching her husband in the 1950s-style kitchen.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West eat breakfast together as they spend some low-key couple time away from the family mansion

She simply captioned the snap, taken in 2017, 'morning' but fans seemed to find it all a little ridiculous, given that the photoshoot wasn't taken in their kitchen.

The reality star shared a series from this 'collection' of images from more than two years ago.

They were taken in music producer Rick Rubin's Shangri La Malibu recording studio and are worlds away from the setting of Kim and Kanye's lavish Calabasas mansion.

There's no place like home: Kim first shared images from the low-key home (with a nostalgic filter) on Instagram over two years ago as she played house with husband Kanye

Intimate: Another showed a simply-dressed Kim relaxing on a sofa in a minimal room as she kept a watchful eye over her children

Father and son: There was another snap of Kanye and Saint sitting on the sofa in a grainy snap

Rubin is an icon in the industry and has not only worked with Kanye but several top-tier talent including Adele, Lady Gaga, Jay Z, Johnny Cash, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Justin Timberlake.

Fans posted in the comments: 'Using the lower and middle class as some type of aesthetic.. keep it classy '@kimkardashian & Ye.'

'I wish I could pretend being poor instead of actually being it.'

Can't get enough: Kim and Kanye posted more images from the 'series' back in 2017 - they were shared by Sylvia Obell

'Whos house did you rent this time to play middle class in kim?' [sic]

'Yall really borrowed some poor peoples kitchen for pictures @kimkardashian?'

'Probably set up a photo shoot as a poor couple leaving their poor life'

And: 'Love it when you pretend to be middle class lmao.'

Iconic: Kim and Kanye were in the home of 53-year-old superproducer Rick Rubin - pictured in LA back in February 2015

Compare and contrast: Back in 2014, Zane Lowe gave a tour of the iconic recording studio in a YouTube clip for BBC Radio 1

Others were OK with it and wrote: 'They want to show us that you can be poor and still be happy together....that is my thought.

'Good to see you in a pedestrian, regular ol kitchen, its quite refreshing.'

'Cute kitchen.'

Aww: North is seen here hugging her baby brother in another throwback image

Memories: Another showed Kim with her son Saint when he was just a baby

Family: Kim certainly likes to be creating when it comes to her social media account

However the new image is clearly a throwback, as Kim was in Montreal, Canada, for a fashion event on Monday evening.

The mother-of-three modeled a dress by Thierry Mugler at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art's tribute to the French designer.

The visit came after Kim made a brief trip to Palm Springs, with her sister Khloe following the drama surrounding her cheating boyfriend Tristan Thompson.

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians siblings headed to the California desert town as Khloe processed how her partner had cheated on her with sister Kylie Jenner's best friend Jordyn Woods.

A source told People magazine: 'Kim took Khloe to Palm Springs one night before the weekend so she could have a relaxing getaway. She's doing okay... Her family continues to support her. Everyone is trying to cheer her up and be around to help.

'They all still talk a lot about what happened. Their opinion hasn't changed - what happened between Tristan and Jordyn is inexcusable.'
Javier Bardem is a man of many talents.

And the Spanish actor proved that once again when he visited Jimmy Kimmel's late night show on Monday to promote his new film Everybody Knows which co-stars his wife Penelope Cruz.

After a brief chat, the 49-year-old star got up and did an impressive performance of Mick Jagger dancing as the band played Sympathy For The Devil.

Hot feet: Javier Bardem did an impression of Mick Jagger dancing when he visited Jimmy Kimmel's late show on Monday

The real deal: Here the Rolling Stones rocker, 75, is seen on stage for the No Filter tour at Twickenham Stadium in June

The big party where he cut loose: Bardem and George Clooney with Sarah Larson at an Oscar after party in 2008. Javier said he danced on a table that night

When Javier was asked how he felt about presenting at the Academy Awards on Sunday, he said it was fun.

Then he was next asked how long ago it was that he won an Oscar. Bardem said it was 11 years ago.

He won the Best Supporting Actor award in 2008 for his turn in No Country For Old Men. He has also been nominated for 2001's Before Night Falls and 2011's Biutifil.

Party boy: 'I can't remember anything about the after party. I know I was up on a table doing an impression of Mick Jagger dancing to Sympathy For The Devil,' he said of having fun in 2008 at a post Oscar party

Bonded: The movie star seemed to bond nicely with Kimme's sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez, 48

Bardem says he had many pals with him at the show in 2008. 'I don't know how I was able to bring all my friends onto the show, my agent helped me with that,' said Javier who described a party atmosphere.

'I can't remember anything about the after party. I know I was up on a table doing an impression of Mick Jagger dancing to Sympathy For The Devil.'

Javier becomes instantly animated as he then says 'go' to the orchestra and gets up out of his seat.

He made the show this year too: The star wore all blacl as she walked on stage with Angela Bassett who was in hot pink

Javier started clapping then really got into it as Kimmel smiled.

It was not long before he was looking like a Jagger clone.

The actor's arms extended out and his hands twisted in what is one of Jagger's signature moves.

Bardem also belted out the song, nailing the lyrics.

He then walked back and forth across the stage before taking his seat again with a big smile on his face.

Bardem was prepared for the dance as he had on white sneakers that clashed with his black suit and pink shirt.

Before he got into his suit: Bardem walking toward Kimme's studio in Hollywood

'So many hidden talents I didn't know about,' says Jimmy. 'Wow, that's something else.'

'And with not one drop of alcohol now,' said Javier.

When Jimmy says that he doesn't need alcohol, Javier does not miss a beat: 'No, I need a psychiatrist.'

Kimmel then shares a photo of Bardem with Greenpeace on a boat. He went with John, a marine biologist, to check out the sea for conservation reasons.

The actor went down 600 meters and was two hours in a small submarine where he fell asleep. 'It as so nice, it was so warm and it was dark,' he said, then added John had to wake him up.

The star said he saw a transparent snake with feet and black eyes and the experience was mesmerizing.

Meanwhile, his wife made a stunning debut for the Atelier Swarovski Jewelry Campaign for spring and summer 2019 last month.

Spectacular: Penelope Cruz was seen in new images on Friday for the Atelier Swarovski Jewelry Campaign for spring and summer 2019

Cruz wrote on her Instagram account, 'Excited to reveal our 2019 @atelierswarovski campaigns wearing my collection for #atelierswarovski #consciousluxury @mertalas and @macpiggot with art direction by #stephengan.'

According to the website, Cruz worked on the look.

'Atelier Swarovski deepens its commitment to conscious luxury with a new fine jewelry collection created in collaboration with Penelope Cruz, which was unveiled by the actress on the red carpet on the opening night at Cannes film festival.

'Set with Swarovski Created Diamonds, Genuine Topaz, Created Gemstones and crafted in 18-karat Fairtrade Gold, the collection showcases the sustainability and innovation at the heart of Swarovski.

The Spanish star glowed as she wore a white dress with layers of necklaces as well as bracelets and earrings.

The Vicky Cristina Barcelona actress also had on a plunging strapless black dress with a sweetheart neckline.
Nicollette Sheridan is leaving the Dynasty reboot.

The announcement was made on Tuesday by The CW and CBS Television as well as the star.

'Working on the Dynasty reboot and reprising the iconic role of Alexis has been thoroughly enjoyable, but the chance to spend precious time with my terminally ill mother is more important to me right now,' the Hollywood vet said to TV Line.

Sad time: Nicollette Sheridan is leaving the Dynasty reboot. The announcement was made on Tuesday by The CW and CBS Television as well as the star

Done: 'Working on the Dynasty reboot and reprising the iconic role of Alexis has been thoroughly enjoyable, but the chance to spend precious time with my terminally ill mother is more important to me right now,' the Hollywood vet said to TV Line. Seen with Grant Show, Ana Brenda Contreras, Elizabeth Gillies

The first show: The blonde beauty played Alexis Carrington, a role that was originated in the 1980s by iconic actress Joan Collins, left. Also seen are John Forsythe and Linda Evans

The 55-year-old actress will be tending to her 72-year-old mother Sally Sheridan who has been ill.

She added, 'I am profoundly grateful to Mark Pedowitz (The CW) and David Stapf (CBS) for graciously allowing me to return to Los Angeles to be with her, and I wish them and everyone associated with the show nothing but continued success.

'I am hopeful that my fans will embrace my successor with as much passion as they embraced me.'

Her mama: The 55-year-old actress will be tending to her 72-year-old mother Sally Sheridan who has been ill. Seen in 1977 with Telly Savalas

New turn: She was seen about to board a private jet with her friends on Monday

The CW and CBS said: 'Nicollette Sheridan will be leaving Dynasty in order to focus on some personal family responsibilities. She was a valuable asset to the show and we wish her continued success in the future.'

The blonde beauty played Alexis Carrington, a role that was originated in the 1980s by iconic actress Joan Collins.

It is not know who will next play Alexis.

Her last big hit: The beauty was also on Desperate Housewives with Teri Hatcher

Dynasty has already been renewed for a third season at The CW.

Her exit comes after the departures of Nathalie Kelley and James Mackay.

Sheridan joined Dynasty midway through season one. It was her first major TV role since leaving Desperate Housewives in 2009. She is also known for her role on the hit series Knots Landing.

Close: Sheridan and a male friend at the 6th Annual Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild Awards at The Novo by Microsoft on February 16 in Los Angeles

This comes after Sheridan took to Twitter to shoot down claims that she left her former husband Harry Hamlin for Michael Bolton.

The drama started after Lisa Rinna, who has been married to Harry since 1997, talked about the actress during an episode of the Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills.

Nicollete was tagged on Twitter with a clip of the scene and she responded with: 'FAKE NEWS! Harry and I ended our marriage nose to nose in Canada... Michael was a long time friend that was invited to our wedding... Happy Harry found happiness with housewife @lisarinna @slice_tv.'
Katie Piper has revealed she is recovering well after undergoing treatment in a hospital in Pakistan.

The charity campaigner and presenter, 35, flew out to the country to have an operation with her surgeon, Dr Muhammad Ali Jawad.

Katie's devoted husband Richard Sutton is staying at her hospital bedside while she recovers from her facial surgery.

Brave: Katie Piper has revealed she is recovering well after undergoing treatment in a hospital in Pakistan

A spokesperson for Katie told MailOnline: 'Katie has travelled to Pakistan to have an operation by her long-standing surgeon who is now based there.

'Katie is currently recovering in hospital and Richie her husband is by her side.

'She sends her love and thanks to everyone who has sent well wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery.'

On Tuesday, the mother-of-two posted a video to her followers explaining she was receiving treatment abroad which was why she had been absent from social media.

Candid: The star also shared a photo from her hospital room, showing her wearing surgical stockings and a tracksuit while her husband Richard Sutton posed in the background

Friend: Katie's doctor, Mohammed Jawad, was in charge of the star's reconstruction surgery after she was attacked with sulphuric acid in 2008

She said: 'Hi guys, I'm currently in hospital in Pakistan in Mr Jawad's clinic hence why I've been quiet on the story but I'm recovering now.'

Referring to her recent television appearance on Famous and Fighting Crime, she said: 'Thanks for all your messages that you've sent me about famous and fighting crime obviously haven't been on her a lot.'

'It's great to read your feedback and response. Sorry I can't reply to everybody individually but it's really good to hear your feedback.'

The star also shared a photo from her hospital room, showing her wearing surgical stockings and a tracksuit while Richard posed in the background.

Treatment: The charity campaigner and presenter, 35, posted a video to her followers explaining she was receiving treatment abroad

Latest surgery: The charity campaigner and presenter, 35, flew out to the country to have an operation with her surgeon, Dr Muhammad Ali Jawad

Fighting crime: Katie explained why she was absent from social media as she returned to promote to her show; Famous and Fighting Crime (pictured L-R with Marcus Brigstocke, Sandi Bogle, Jamie Laing and Penny Lancaster)

She wrote: 'First day in my clothes. Gotta keep these stockings on!'

The pair share two children, Belle, four, and Penelope, one.

Katie's doctor, Mohammad Jawad, was in charge of the star's reconstruction surgery after she was attacked with sulphuric acid in 2008.

The acid, some of which Piper had swallowed, blinded her in her left eye, and caused partial thickness and full thickness burns.

Pioneering surgery: Katie's doctor, Mohammad Jawad, was in charge of the star's reconstruction surgery after she was attacked with sulphuric acid in 2008 (pictured 2009)

Harrowing ordeal: Katie's ex-boyfriend Daniel Lynch organised Stefan Sylvestre to carry out the acid attack in London in March 2008 (pictured 2007)

Dr Jawad and his team of surgeons completely removed the skin of Katie's face, and replaced it with a skin substitute, Matriderm, to build the foundations for a skin graft.

This pioneering procedure was the first of its kind to be done in a single operation.

Dr Jawad previously told The Guardian: 'When I first saw Katie, I was deeply concerned, her face was swollen and an orange-brown colour from the acid.

'Her eyes were welded shut, at first we didn't know whether she had been hit with an acid or an alkali substance  the latter can actually have more devastating results  so we used litmus paper to determine which it was.

'Then we put her through an eight-hour extensive washing programme, with her eyes being particularly irrigated.'

Sylvester (left) was given a minimum six-year life term in 2009 after attacking Katie in Golders Green, North London, on the orders of her obsessive ex-boyfriend Daniel Lynch (right)

After the operation, Katie was put into an induced coma for 12 days. She has since been through more than 200 surgical operations to treat her injuries.

Writing in the National Geographic last year, she said: 'Its been a decade since I survived a sulfuric acid attack that left me with severe burns across my face, in the following years, Ive worked to redefine my sense of identity.

'With injuries such as mine, your face can be so damaged that your expressions may not convey how you feel, and you may even lose your ability to smile.

'It can be an isolating experience, you feel one way on the inside but look completely different on the outside, after more than 200 surgeries since my attack, Ive accepted that my old face is gone.'

Katie's ex-boyfriend Daniel Lynch organised Stefan Sylvestre to carry out the acid attack in London in March 2008.

Daniel, an obsessed fan who had a brief relationship with Piper, raped the aspiring model and presenter and ordered Sylvestre to attack her with acid.

After a trial the following year, Lynch was jailed for life with a minimum of 16 years at the age of 33. Sylvestre, then 20, received life with a minimum of six years.

Sylvestre has been walking free since he was released from behind bars last year in October when Katie was competing on Strictly Come Dancing.
Gemma Arterton was pictured leaving the Dior show in Paris on Tuesday, which was held at the Musee Rodin.

The 33-year-old had joined the likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Jenna Coleman and Karlie Kloss to watch the show from the FROW.

Stepping out into the sunshine after the event, she looked lovely wearing a khaki green polo neck which she had tucked into a floral midi skirt.

Hard and soft: Gemma Arterton was pictured leaving the Dior fashion show wearing floral skirt and chunky boots in Paris on Tuesday

All eyes on her: Gemma looked incredible wearing a polo neck and floral skirt

She wore a caped black coat which came down to her ankles.

She added some edge to her ensemble with a pair of chunky military boots which laced up at the front.

And of course, she carried a mini black Dior saddle bag in her hand as she posed for snaps inside the historic building.

Acclaimed: She posed for a snap with Dior designer Maria Grazia Chiuri who appeared happy and relaxed despite all that was going on

She posed for a snap with Dior designer Maria Grazia Chiuri who appeared happy and relaxed despite all that was going on.

The catwalk show was awash with red and black checked designs fashioned into blanket coats, rain hats and mini buttoned-up dresses.

A series of ballgowns were teamed with rain hats in every colour, with a red organza dress and clashing leopard print hat stealing the show.

Walking tall: The catwalk show was awash with red and black checked designs fashioned into blanket coats, rainhats and mini buttoned-up dresses

Catwalk creations: A series of ballgowns were teamed with rain hats in every colour

Rock and roll: A red organza dress and clashing leopard print hat stole the show

It's been a busy week for Gemma and on Saturday, she attended the Giorgio Armani show during Milan Fashion Week.

Gemma shot to fame starring in comedy St Trinians in 2007, before scoring worldwide stardom for her turn as Strawberry Fields in Quantum Of Solace a year later in 2008.

The actress has since admitted the early stages of her career were more about her learning what roles she didn't want to take on.

Speaking in an interview with The Guardian newspaper earlier this week, she explained: 'The first six years of my career were all about me learning what I didnt want to do.

'If Id been really strong-minded back then, I would have turned them down. But I wasnt, so I own that. I think self-belief is very rare in young actors.
Mario Falcone and Georgia Steel became embroiled in a furious Twitter spat on Tuesday, after he hit out at the Love Island star for 'savagely' rejecting a suitor on Celebs Go Dating.

In a clip posted to E4's social media account, the 20-year-old cheekily stole a drink from a love interest, and proceeded to speak to his pal instead.

New father Mario, 31, was left unimpressed by her actions as he tweeted: 'She is just an awful little girl.'

Bitter spat: Mario Falcone (L) and Georgia Steel (R) became embroiled in a furious Twitter spat on Tuesday, after he hit out at the Love Island star for 'savagely' rejecting a suitor on Celebs Go Dating

In Georgia's typically bold fashion, the York native turned down a potential suitor on the dating series as she said: 'Your blue T-shirt makes me feel like I'm looking up at the sky, it's that bloody blue. I'll have that [drink] and I'll talk to your mate!'

The reality star quickly regretted her decision as she made an attempt to retract her comments, stating: 'Oh god, that was a bit savage wasn't it? Sorry babe!'

Less than pleased with her comments, CBB star Mario wrote on his widely-followed Twitter account: 'She is just an awful little girl...It amazes me... she is one of the most awful people I have seen on tv.'

'I'll talk to your mate instead!' In a clip posted to E4's social media account, the 20-year-old cheekily stole a drink from a love interest, and proceeded to speak to his pal instead

Not a fan: New father Mario, 31, was left unimpressed by her actions as he tweeted: 'She is just an awful little girl

TV personality Charlie King appeared to agree with his former co-star's opinion as he responded: 'I mean - what makes her think she is so special ?? Baffles me ....'

Georgia didn't take Mario's remarks lightly as she branded the hunk, who welcomed son Parker Jax with fiancee Becky Miesner in November, 'fake'.

She penned: 'Mario you are so fake, to my face you say hello and all nice yet but behind a your phone screen you chuck abuse my way. Lets not forget your a grown man with a family and Im a 20 year old girl that has just stepped into the industry. So just leave me alone.

Not impressed: The TV personality didn't take Mario's remarks lightly as she branded the hunk 'fake'

'as its not the first time you have decided to go for me. And to be honest Im fed up of it go find a new topic to talk about', the honey-blonde beauty added.

Mario continued to lash out at Georgia, as he reaffirmed his comments: 'You really think you are something special... you are on tv, if you act the way you do, people will have an opinion... my opinion is you arent particularly nice.

'I said hello to you as you walked by as I am polite and you were with people I respect. Grow up & be nice to people', he went on.

Made up: Despite their war of words, things appeared to take a turn for the better later on

Despite their war of words, things appeared to take a turn for the better as former drama student Georgia wrote: 'Its unfortunate that you felt the need to publicly write your opinions about me instead of coming to me directly if you had an issue. We are both in the same industry and its not good to tear each other down.'

In a bid to put an end to their feud, Mario responded: 'I think you are a girl that a lot of younger girls look upto. Just remember that when you talk to people the way you do. Manners cost nothing Georgia. All the best x.'

Georgia recently signed up to the sixth series of Celebs Go Dating after splitting from her Love Island beau Sam Bird last year.

Break-up: Georgia recently signed up to the sixth series of Celebs Go Dating after splitting from her Love Island beau Sam Bird last year
Rob Kardashian has insisted he and Blac Chyna are 'actively coparenting'.

He took to Twitter to clarify the pair's status on Tuesday, following reports he was preparing to return to court to fight for increased custody of his daughter Dream.

'Angela and I are both actively co-parenting and there are no pending or active custody cases,' wrote the 31-year-old.

In a rare show of unity, Blac Chyna, real name Angela Renee White, reposted the tweet, adding: 'Robert and I only concern is what's in the best interest of our daughter that we both equally love. Additionally, Robert is a wonderful father to our Dreamy!'

Statement: Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna insist they are 'actively co-parenting' after reports he wanted increased custody of daughter Dream, seen here

Rare show of unity: In a rare show of unity, Blac Chyna, real name Angela Renee White , reposted Rob's tweet, adding her own comments

The former reality stars currently splits custody of their two-year-old 50/50, after a highly contentious split a month after the child's birth, and resultant custody battle.

Rob's tweet follows reports he was 'very worried' about Dream's safety while she is in her mother's care.

According to The Blast, Rob felt Chyna is not always 'in good enough shape' to tend to Dream and intends to claim that 'violence, substance abuse, and neglect' are all issues.

Daddy daycare: Rob was said to be taking the move as he is 'very worried' about Dream's safety while she is in her mother's care

Legal move: Rob was alleged to have tasked celebrity lawyer, Laura Wasser, with fighting for a more formal child custody agreement

He was said to have tasked his celebrity lawyer, Laura Wasser, with fighting for a more formal child custody agreement.

Rob and Chyna have long had an intense, strained relationship.

Despite co-parenting their child, they no longer have any direct contact, with Dream's nannies handling all drop offs.

Last month Chyna was visited by police after an anonymous caller claimed she was drunk and neglecting Dream.

Heading back to court; Chyna with daughter Dream in a recent social media image; the 30-year-old currently has joint custody of the two-year-old

After investigating the situation, it was determined that no one at the home was drunk and that Dream had been properly cared for, which included a nanny on site for extra help.

Then Chyna took a vacation to Hawaii with Kid Buu during her scheduled time with Dream, without informing her ex.

He is said to have only discovered she was out of town as he prepapred to drop off their daughter.

Chyna insisted she had intended for Dream to be cared for by her nannies.

However Rob countered that by the terms of the couple's custody agreement, he should first have been offered the chance to care for their daughter, if her mother was out of town.

Rob is said to currently pay Chyna $20,000 a month in child support, however this figure was selected before he dropped out of the public eye.

Should he have more time with the child, the payment could be vastly reduced.
She has lived in a stunning mansion in California since 2014 and Patsy Palmer has been spending the last few weeks in the UK.

The former EastEnders star, 46, best known for playing Bianca Jackson in the soap, was pictured heading out for a walk in the sunshine.

She nailed the latest 'boilersuit' trend, teaming the navy ensemble with a pair of high-top Vans trainers after taking her son to the store for a spree the day before.

Trendy: Ex EastEnders star Patsy Palmer nailed the 'boilersuit' trend as she enjoyed the sunshine during a lovely stroll in London on Tuesday

Short stay? She has lived in a stunning mansion in California since 2014 and Patsy has been spending the last few weeks in the UK

Her flame-red locks were perfectly blow-dried and she wore a pair of dark sunglasses as she draped her coat over her shoulder.

Carrying a shopping bag in hand, as well as a tote from a book shop, it was clear that Patsy was enjoying a bit of 'me-time.'

Patsy recently showed her gratitude to her husband of 19 years, Richard Merkell, in a gushing Instagram post which she shared with fans the day before Valentine's day.

Fun: Carrying a shopping bag in hand, as well as a tote from a book shop, it was clear that Patsy was enjoying a bit of 'me-time'

Ricckkkkaay! Patsy is best known for playing Bianca Jackson in EastEnders, (pictured in 2010)

Sharing a snap of them kissing, she wrote that that's all they had to do to start their happy family life.

Gushing about her man in the post, she wrote: 'This created!!!! .... that !!! 20 years of creating these beautys @richardmerkell and all we have to do is that.

'What a result, keep kissing .. cant wait to kiss my @fentonmerkell today .. we have missed you.

Patsy moved to America with Richard in 2014 alongside her three youngest children Fenton, 18, Emilia, 17, and Bertie, 8.

Her 26-year-old son Charlie Palmer Rothwell - who Patsy had during her relationship with boxer Alfie Rothwell - stayed in the UK to pursue a career in acting.

The red-haired beauty recently admitted she did not miss her acting career four years after saying goodbye to the character of Bianca, in a recent chat with Lorraine Kelly.

She said: 'It was a little bit strange getting used to the idea you're not 'on show' everywhere you walk about, you don't have to be ready to speak to someone about EastEnders.

'You can go out and just completely be yourself, it's kind of weird, it is something you probably need therapy for, though I haven't gone down that route since I've been here but everyone does.'

Grateful: Patsy shared a gushing tribute to her husband of 19 years Richard Merkell, the day before Valentine's day, and praised him for helping her raise their children

Family life: Patsy moved to America with Richard in 2014 alongside her three youngest children Fenton (second right) Emilia (left) and Bertie (centre)

Doting mum: Her 26-year-old son Charlie (top left) - who she shares with boxer Alfie Rothwell - stayed in the UK to pursue a career in acting, but they often see each other
Lindsay Lohan was accused of 'doing all the drugs' by a VIP host she fired from her Greek beach club.

The latest episode of Lindsay's Lohan's Beach Club on MTV ended with the 32-year-old actress showing off the dance moves that sparked the #DoTheLiLo dance challenge when it first went viral on Instagram last year.

But the build-up got ugly as Kailah Casilas, 26, called the star 'cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs' and snapped after getting fired: 'Continue doing all the drugs you do, Lindsay.'

After firing one of her VIP hosts on Monday night's episode Lindsay Lohan was accused of 'doing all the drugs' by the dumped employee

A lot to say: Kailah Casilas, 26 called Lindsay 'cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs' after she was fired

Lindsay, 32, was already 'p***ed off' with Kailah for being confrontational with other staffers on a yacht, saying: 'She was mean  she was a mean girl.'

'I don't get that option when I'm making a movie,' she insisted. 'I didn't get the part in Mean Girls by bringing people down.'

The actress then took revenge when she saw her on her phone when she should be working, taking to the loudspeaker and saying so everyone could hear: 'Kailah, you're not actually doing anything  you're just chilling.'

'I live a life where everybody tends to watch me all the time,' she explained. 'If they're going to look at me and judge me, why shouldn't these VIP hosts be hosts as well? It's basically an audition for them and they have to keep their s*** together.'

Lindsay, 32, was already 'p***ed off' with Kailah for being confrontational with other staffers on a yacht, saying: 'She was mean  she was a mean girl.'

'I don't get that option when I'm making a movie,' she insisted. 'I didn't get the part in Mean Girls by bringing people down.'

Lindsay finally surprised them at the house in Mykonos, saying 'what's up bitches?' as she arrived  and then flipping out at how messy it was.

'I used to live like that, and then Oprah taught you gotta like organize your life in order to have one, and if they can't do that, how can they work for me?' she said.

After she warned that she wanted to 'fire everyone tonight,' Kailah asked: 'Because my things are not in order? '

Kailah said later to camera: 'What the heck does our rooms being messy have to do with the beach club and our work ethic?

'Lindsay is cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. Like Lindsay lost her marbles a long time ago, probably back when The Parent Trap was going on.'

Lindsay finally surprised her team at their house in Mykonos, saying 'what's up bitches?' as she arrived  and then flipping out at how messy it was

Tense: After Lindsay warned that she wanted to 'fire everyone tonight,' Kailah asked: 'Because my things are not in order?'

As she fought back, Lindsay complained that her disrespect was 'a f***ing problem' that 'p***es me off,' walking off saying: 'She wants her own show.'

'Pack your things and get out. You're fired,' she told Kailah

As she fought back, Lindsay complained that her disrespect was 'a f***ing problem' that 'p***es me off,' walking off saying: 'She wants her own show.'

'Pack your things and get out. You're fired,' she told her.

Lindsay admitted later: 'Kailah became really cross and I saw red. I went dark  I was worse than a vampire. I will not only eat you but I will kill you.'

Before storming away, Kailah shocked everyone by snapping: 'Continue doing all the drugs you do, Lindsay.'

Lindsay admitted later: 'Kailah became really cross and I saw red. I went dark  I was worse than a vampire. I will not only eat you but I will kill you.'

Before storming away, Kailah shocked everyone by snapping: 'Continue doing all the drugs you do, Lindsay.'

'Lindsay is cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. Like Lindsay lost her marbles a long time ago, probably back when The Parent Trap was going on.'

'She's a ****, now you see it,' Lindsay told the other staff: 'You wanna throw shame at me? Nobody's perfect, life is a struggle, but the last thing that someone does to someone is throw their past back in their face.

'I've already gone to jail bitch, what are you gonna do now?

'I've been bullied half my life. It's taken me a long time but now my life is great. Don't f*** with it.'

Kailah, meanwhile, said later: 'Lindsay is a different breed of human and I don't think we're ever gonna understand exactly what's going through her head... I don't want to understand it.'

'You wanna throw shame at me? Nobody's perfect, life is a struggle, but the last thing that someone does to someone is throw their past back in their face.' Lindsay explained to the rest of the team

'Lindsay is a different breed of human and I don't think we're ever gonna understand exactly what's going through her head... I don't want to understand it.'

'She can s*** my d***': There were some flashbacks of times that Kailah bad mouthed Lindsay

The drama came as the staff prepared for a big Pride party  with Lindsay in a silver pantsuit surprising them by showing off her unexpected dance moves onstage.

Her routine was first revealed on Instagram last year, sparking the viral dance challenge to imitate it.

'I decided they need to really let loose and show them what Mykonos is all about and how fun it can be,' Lindsay said.

'If I took time worrying about what everyone has said about me in my years of being in the public eye I would actually probably be dead. Because people judge me every second. So it's not a bad thing to go out and have fun.'

The drama came as the staff prepared for a big Pride party  with Lindsay in a silver pantsuit surprising them by showing off her unexpected dance moves onstage

'I decided they need to really let loose and show them what Mykonos is all about and how fun it can be,' Lindsay said.

Before the party, Brent Marks made repeated jabs at Aristotle Polites, accusing him of being a closeted gay man  and was made to wear drag, with a pink wig, in revenge.

Bisexual barman Mike Mulderrig was worried about coming across 'too feminine' on cameras at his first Pride since accidentally coming out to his parents five months earlier.

'Just don't make a fool out of yourself,' his dad had asked him earlier, with Mike saying he also asked not to be 'the gay one' on the show.

But he eventually fully embraced the event, dancing shirtless onstage to Lindsay's own song, Rumors. 'I have to stop worrying about who I let see the real me,' he said, calling the party 'such a big high.'

Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club returns on MTV next Monday.

'If I took time worrying about what everyone has said about me in my years of being in the public eye I would actually probably be dead. Because people judge me every second. So it's not a bad thing to go out and have fun.'

Brent Marks made repeated jabs at Aristotle Polites, accusing him of being a closeted gay man  and was made to wear drag, with a pink wig, in revenge
She confirmed her engagement to art gallery director Cooke Maroney earlier this month after a whirlwind romance.

And Jennifer Lawrence proudly displayed her huge ring as she arrived at the Dior autumn-winter Paris Fashion Week presentation at Musee Rodin in the French capital on Tuesday afternoon.

The Oscar-winning actress, 28, looked delighted as she flashed her diamond for the cameras while sitting front row at the show alongside supermodel Cara Delevingne, 26, marking her first public event since announcing her engagement.

Lucky lady! Jennifer Lawrence proudly displayed her huge ring as she arrived at the Dior autumn-winter Paris Fashion Week presentation at Musee Rodin on Tuesday afternoon

Bling: The actress and art gallery director Cooke, 34, had been dating for eight months when he proposed

The Silver Linings Playbook star looked chic in a charcoal grey tweed collared skater dress, which was belted at the middle to showcase her slim waist.

Jennifer teamed the garment with monochrome plaid kitten heels and a black patent leather Dior handbag.

The talented actress threw on dark shades and a stylish black fedora as she arrived at the presentation alongside a star-studded crowd.

Jennifer and Cara seemed to be having a blast as they sat on the front row, laughing and joking as they chatted away before the show started.

The star's high-profile Parisian appearance marks her first event since announcing her engagement earlier this month.

New bling! The Oscar-winning actress, 28, looked delighted as she flashed her diamond for the cameras while sitting front row at the show alongside supermodel Cara Delevingne

High profile: The Dior show marked Jennifer's first public event since announcing her engagement to art gallery director Cooke Maroney earlier this month

The actress and art gallery director Cooke, 34, had been dating for eight months when he got down on one knee and popped the question.

The happy couple are believed to have been introduced by Jennifer's best friend, Laura Simpson.

Cooke works at New York's Gladstone Gallery, which represents artists including Lena Dunham's dad, Carroll Dunham, as well as Richard Prince, Anish Kapoor, and Bjork's ex, Matthew Barney.

While he is now very much part of the New York social scene, Cooke, like his new fiancee grew up in the countryside, spending his childhood on his parent's farm in Vermont.

Elegant: The Silver Linings Playbook star looked chic in a charcoal grey tweed collared skater dress, which was belted at the middle to showcase her slim waist

J'adore Dior! Jennifer teamed the garment with monochrome plaid kitten heels and a black patent leather Dior handbag

Hot ticket! The Dior showcase took over the iconic Musee Rodin in the French capital

His father was an art dealer in Manhattan and previously served as the Head of American Paintings at Christie's before the family decided to move to the country.

While neither Jennifer or Cooke have spoken publicly about their relationship, insiders have gushed about their chemistry, with a source telling People in August: 'She is smiling like I have never seen her do with any of her previous boyfriends.'

The relationship begun just months after Jennifer split from Mother! director Darren Aronofsky, 49, in November 2017 after a year of dating.

It was claimed their age gap caused problems with their romance, and the actress admitted they were never able to switch off from talking about work after meeting on the set of the widely-panned horror movie.

City of light: The talented actress threw on dark shades and a stylish black fedora as she arrived at the presentation alongside a star-studded crowd

Catching up: Jennifer and Cara seemed to be having a blast as they sat on the front row, laughing and joking as they chatted away before the show started (pictured with Karlie Kloss)

Prior to her relationship with the film-maker, Jennifer enjoyed a romance with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, 41, beginning in August 2014, just five months after his ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow, 46, filed for divorce.

The A-list couple dated for four months before they broke up the first time in October of that year.

They reunited in December and parted ways once again, this time for good, in August 2015.

Jennifer's longest relationship was with her co-star Nicholas Hoult, 29, enjoying a on/off five-year relationship after meeting on the set of X-Men First Class in 2010.

Loved up: The star's high-profile Parisian appearance marks her first event since announcing her engagement earlier this month

Hat's the way to do it! Leather bucket hats, plaid material, flowing skirts and chunky boots seemed to be a key feature of the Dior presentation

The Kentucky-born actress and British star were together for three years before a brief split in 2013.

The couple reunited both off and onscreen in X-Men: Days Of Future Past, but called it quits for good in August 2014.

In November 2015, the actress reflected on the relationship, which ended around the same time she wrapped her hit Hunger Games film franchise.

She said in an interview with ABC News: 'I was also in a relationship with somebody for five years and we broke up around the same time I wrapped the movies.

'Being 24 was this whole year of, "Who am I without these movies? Who am I without this man?"'

Wedding bells: Jennifer has been open about her journey to finding the one in past interviews, telling Vogue in 2015: 'I can't wait to be married

A-list: The Dior show kicked off Paris Fashion Week with a very star-studded start

Nicholas welcomed a child with his lingerie model girlfriend Bryana Holly last year.

Stepping out in style: The American beauty put her best foot forward as she headed out in Paris

While many of her past relationships have been conducted under the gaze of the world, Jennifer and Cooke have enjoyed their romance away from the public eye, taking low-key trips to Europe and being spotted on dinner dates in New York.

While they haven't walked a red carpet together, in September Jennifer took Cooke to the New York Film Festival premiere of The Favourite, which stars her ex Nicholas Hoult and her close friend Emma Stone.

Also in attendance was the actress' other ex Darren Aronofsky.

Jennifer has been open about her journey to finding the one in past interviews, telling Vogue in 2015: 'I can't wait to be married.

'I feel like if I find that one person who I want to spend the rest of my life with, who I want to be the father of my children, that I would absolutely not f**k it up.'

Looking good: The blonde beauty was elegantly clad in her cute skater style dress
Actress Jenna Coleman put on a very leggy display when she arrived at the Dior fashion show in Paris on Tuesday, which was held at the iconic Musee Rodin.

The 32-year-old wore a stunning short tweed suit from the fashion house's 2019/2020 A/W collection.

She wore a russet coloured polo neck under the suit jacket which perfectly matched the court shoes she was wearing.

Smart look: Jenna Coleman put on leggy display in short tweed suit as she attended the Dior Fashion Week show in Paris at Musee Rodin on Tuesday

Hues: She wore a russet coloured polo neck under the suit jacket which added a pop of autumnal colour

Adding a splash of colour, The Cry star carried one of the coveted Dior saddle bags which was in a distinctive floral print.

Her brunette locks were styled into soft waves as she posed for snaps before joining the likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Olivia Culpo and Cara Delevingne inside.

The catwalk show was awash with red and black checked designs fashioned into blanket coats, rain hats and mini buttoned-up dresses.

Iconic: Adding a splash of colour, The Cry star carried one of the coveted Dior saddle bags which was in a distinctive floral print

Starry: Her brunette locks were styled into soft waves as she posed for snaps before joining the likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Olivia Culpo and Cara Delevingne inside

In good company: Bar Refaeli and Jenna Coleman sat together in the FROW

A series of ballgowns were teamed with rain hats in every colour, with a red organza dress and clashing leopard print hat stealing the show.

Jenna's outing comes after she gave a rare insight into life with her boyfriend and Victoria co-star Tom Hughes, during an interview with The Weekend Australian.

She said Tom is always a consummate professional when they work together and never breaks out of character.

Wow-factor! Cara Delevingne (L) and Jennifer Lawrence (R) opted for typically stylish displays as they attended the fashion event

Walking tall: The catwalk show was awash with red and black checked designs fashioned into blanket coats, rainhats and mini buttoned-up dresses

Catwalk creations: A series of ballgowns were teamed with rain hats in every colour

Rock and roll: A red organza dress and clashing leopard print hat stole the show

In the series, Jenna plays a young Queen Victoria while Tom Hughes plays Prince Albert.

Jenna said: 'What's incredible about him is he's always completely authentic when he comes to set. There's never a moment when I don't see Prince Albert.'

The pair, both aged 32, began dating in 2016, when they met on the set of the British drama.

'There's never a moment when I don't see Prince Albert': Jenna recently said her real-life love Tom Hughes (left) never breaks character when they work together on Victoria
Jennifer Lopez 'whispered' advice into Bradley Cooper's ear to calm his pre-Oscars performance nerves.

The On The Floor hitmaker revealed she told the 44-year-old actor he had nothing to 'worry' about moments before he went on stage at The Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

The actor performed Shallow off of the A Star Is Born soundtrack with co-star Lady Gaga.

Helpful! Jennifer Lopez says she whispered some helpful advice to a nervous Bradley Cooper before his much talked about Oscars performance with Lady Gaga

Speaking on her partner Alex Rodriguez's Instagram Live backstage at the ceremony on Sunday, Jennifer said: 'He seemed so nervous.'

'I just whispered "The song is so beautiful, when they hear the first few notes they're going to start applauding. So, don't worry. Just deliver the song.""

The Second Act actress said Bradley replied: 'I got it. I got it.'

Afterwards, Jennifer gushed about the 'amazingly beautiful, intimate performance.'

'He seemed so nervous:' Jennifer said the Oscar nominee was a bundle of nerves before taking the stage with Gaga

'I just whispered "The song is so beautiful, when they hear the first few notes they're going to start applauding. So, don't worry. Just deliver the song.""

Telling Alex: 'To have a front row seat to that was so special.'

Shallow was crowned Best Original Song at the star-studded bash.

Meanwhile, Gaga also revealed that Bradley advised her to make sure she felt the 'joy' during their magical performance.

Speaking to E! News, she said: 'What I would like to say is one of the hardest things in life is to be brave enough to be yourself. I wish to everyone that is going to that celebration to feel a joy inside of them.'

Big winner: Shallow was crowned Best Original Song at the Academy Awards

Critically acclaimed: Jennifer gushed about the 'amazingly beautiful, intimate performance.'

Adding: 'That's actually what Bradley said to me yesterday right before we did our last rehearsal for this performance of Shallow. He said, "Let's just drop a little bit of joy."'

The Million Reasons hitmaker added that the pair aim to 'spread love' when they duet together.

'That's all that you can hope for,' Gaga said. 'You can only pray that blessing of what you made can reach into the world and spread love.'

Loving: Gaga said that the pair aim to 'spread love' when they duet together

Shallow wins: 'My family is here, I love you, mom and dad. Bradley, there is not a single person on the planet that could've sung this song with me but you. Thank you for believing in us, thank you so much.'

'Of all things that we can spread, that's the most beautiful that we possibly could,' she added.

Gaga thanked her co-star and the movie's director during her acceptance speech, insisting there was 'not a single person on the planet' other than Bradley she could have duetted with on the hit song from the movie.

She said: 'My family is here, I love you, mom and dad. Bradley, there is not a single person on the planet that could've sung this song with me but you. Thank you for believing in us, thank you so much.'
Tyga's failure to pay for his flashy vehicles may have been the reason he got booted from Floyd Mayweather's 42nd birthday on Saturday night.

The Taste tapper, 29, was reportedly confronted by a group of men over a Maybach he had leased from them which was later repossessed after he fell behind on his $6k a month payments.

Things quickly escalated and after Tyga threatened the group, security came to escort the ex of Kylie Jenner out of the club.

Then, Tyga tried to remove his security guard's gun from the holster during the melee, as seen in a clip obtained by TMZ.

Fury: Tyga's failure to pay for a flashy vehicles may have been the reason he got booted from Floyd Mayweather's 42nd birthday on Saturday night, seen above being taken by security

The reason: The Taste tapper, 29, was reportedly confronted by a group of men over a Maybach he had leased from them which was later repossessed after he fell behind on his $6k a month payments

The video shows a burly security guard trying to stop Tyga taking his weapon outside Jadelles in Hollywood after the aggressive exchange with a fellow clubgoer got Tyga kicked out of the venue.

Tyga, seen dressed in black leather waistcoat and hoodie, initially reacted angrily during a face-to-face exchange with a group of men inside the party.

While other members of the hip-hop star's team attempted to break the pair up, it was a bouncer who manhandled the rapper out of the bash.

He was dragged into the street by his middle but then brushed off his clothes and composed himself.

It's now revealed that moments after the exchange had died down, Tyga tried to grapple for a weapon.

Repeat offender: This is the second time he's had a flashy Maybach repossessed, seen above in the ride

Blocked: Tyga tried but failed to pull his security guard's gun out of the holster later that night

Trouble: Tyga was dragged out of the venue by his chest in a furious row

Calming down: In the background, a member of staff keeps one hand on his gun at all times

When his attempts were repeatedly blocked by the security guard, Tyga fled the scene with another man.

MailOnline has contacted Tyga's representatives for further comment.

Tyga doesn't have the best track record when it comes to luxury vehicles.

This is the second time he's had a flashy Maybach repossessed, and back in 2016 he also had a Ferrari taken from him.

Uh oh: Tyga, real name Micheal Ray Stevenson, was left shocked as he was approached aggressively by a fellow clubgoer, who appeared to make a grab for the musician at the Los Angeles venue

Shock: The Make It Nasty hitmaker has been celebrating the success of his hit single Taste, which peaked at number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming the artist's first entry on the Hot 100 in three years

The Make It Nasty hitmaker - real name Micheal Ray Stevenson - had been celebrating the success of his hit single Taste.

The single peaked at number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming the artist's first entry on the Hot 100 in three years.

The musician is set to take to the stage at The Lawn venue in Bali, Indonesia, on Sunday.

Tyga's appearance comes after his ex Blac Chyna reportedly called it quits with Soulja Boy following a short-lived romance.

Anger: However, his fun-filled night was cut short when the angered man grabbed Tyga by his clothing

Distance: During their raging argument, members of the hip-hop star's team attempted to break the pair up, before a security guard stepped in and escorted Tyga out of the venue

Pain: The star appeared distressed during the shock incident

The demise of the former stripper's relationship with the rapper, 28, comes amid allegations that their romance was a hoax to get back at her ex, Tyga.

According to TMZ, Chyna and Soulja 'got into a huge argument about Tyga, in which they started bickering about each other's true intentions in their relationship.'

It has also been reported by the online publication that as well as Faded hitmaker Tyga, the pair were 'not on the same wavelength' - with the Kiss Me Thru The Phone artist allegedly favouring 'group hangs' in comparison to Blac's 'Netflix and chill vibe.'

Disagreement: The reveller continued his hostile display as he grabbed the father-of-one by the neck

Drama: The musician is set to take to the stage at The Lawn venue in Bali, Indonesia, on Sunday

Tense: The pair kept extremely close during the heated row

Meanwhile, Blac - who shares son King Cairo with her ex-fiance Tyga - hit out at the Ayo rapper earlier this month, claiming he doesn't pay her child support and she's 'sick of that s**t'.

The reality star, 30, was on a mission to clear her name during a now-deleted Instagram Live rant earlier this month, where she claimed her exes, Tyga and Rob Kardashian, don't give her anything.

Chyna, who shares Dream, two, with Rob, 31, and son King Cairo, six, with Tyga, also targeted her mother Tokyo Toni, who recently claimed Rob should have sole custody of Dream because the star's personal life is on a 'downward spiral.'

Confusion: Tyga looked puzzled as he was lifted out of the venue

'F**k Toni, f**k Tyga, f**k Rob, f**k everybody else. I never asked Tyga for child support, Rob for child support, whatever, and then we just went to court,' she said in her rant.

'I try to squash s**t, which I did, but none of that comes out. It's only negative s**t with Chyna I never wanted no money from Rob because it was never about that. Period,' she said.

'I came from the strip club, my momma was a stripper, my daddy, I didn't know him.

Off they go: After a tense night, the group jumped into a red car as they headed to their next destination

Star-studded: Tiffany Haddish and French Montana were also in attendance

Close: The comedian and rapper engaged in a cosy conversation during the glitzy event

'I have kids by two guys that f**king tricked me or whatever and don't give me s**t. No child support, and I'm sick of that s**t. Cut that child support s**t out. Just cut it out. Period.'

The Rack City artist dated the glamour model from 2011 till 2014, and embarked on a romance with KUTWK star Kylie Jenner later that year.

Tyga and the make-up mogul, 21, called it quits after in April 2017 after a three-year romance, with the reality star moving on with rapper Travis Scott, with whom she shares daughter Stormi, one.

The Compton native has since been romantically linked to Instagram sensation Demi Rose and fitness enthusiast Tammy Hembrow.

Exes: The musician dated former stripper Blac Chyna from 2011 till 2014 (pictured in 2013). The pair share son King Cairo, six
She made a stunning appearance at the Vanity Fair Oscars party on Sunday night.

And the following day, Kate Beckinsale was back to looking casually cool as the 45-year-old actress grabbed some lunch with a friend in Los Angeles.

Kate had just been to the gym and changed into some PVC pants and a white shirt with cropped bomber jacket.

Hollywood beauty: Kate Beckinsale is pictured out in Los Angeles on Monday meeting a pal for lunch

She added a few inches to her 5ft 7in frame in some suede booties and wore her chestnut locks up in a youthful ponytail.

The Serendipity star finished the look with some stylish black sunglasses.

The actress was recently reported to be dating Ariana Grande's ex-fiance Pete Davidson, 25, after they were pictured holding hands as they left the Largo comedy club in Los Angeles on February 2.

Prior to that, they were spotted cosying up and flirting all night long at a Golden Globes afterparty on January 6.

Turning heads: Kate, 45, accentuated her toned legs in some skintight PVC leggings which she teamed with towering suede booties

Style icon: Kate teamed the sexy pants with a white shirt and a cropped bomber jacket

However, last week, Pete was spotted hanging out with his ex-girlfriend Carly Aquilino backstage at The Paramount in New York, hinting that his flirtation with Kate was short-lived.

Pete has just come out of a whirlwind engagement to pop star Ariana, while Kate was snapped kissing Jack Whitehall in a karaoke bar in November.

Kate is mom to daughter Lily, 20, who she shares with ex partner Michael Sheen who she was with from 1995 until 2003.
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They're no strangers to dazzling on camera and at high-profile events in show-stopping ensembles.

And Cara Delevingne and Jennifer Lawrence opted for typically stylish displays as they attended Dior's Fall/Winter 2019-2020 presentation at the Musee Rodin during Paris Fashion Week on Tuesday afternoon.

Catwalk queen Cara, 26, shunned her signature edgy look in favour of a softer appearance as she slipped into a pink pleated halterneck dress, featuring a deeply plunging neckline.

Wow-factor! Cara Delevingne (L) and Jennifer Lawrence (R) opted for typically stylish displays as they attended Dior's Fall/Winter 2019-2020 presentation at the Musee Rodin during Paris Fashion Week on Tuesday afternoon

Ensuring all eyes were on her, the model twirled along the French venue to showcase her flirty number's criss-cross backless detail.

The Paper Towns star commanded attention during the star-studded event as she boosted her 5'8'' physique in pointed nude heels.

Exuding elegance during her sighting, the blonde beauty accessorised with a pair of sophisticated pearl drop earrings.

Cara added length to her blonde 'do, which she styled into a stunning side-parted braid, and complemented her out-of-this-world beauty with lashings of mascara, shimmery silver eyeshadow and matte foundation.

All eyes on her: Catwalk queen Cara, 26, shunned her edgy style in favour of a softer appearance as she slipped into a pink pleated halterneck dress, featuring a deeply plunging neckline

Star-studded: The model and the newly-engaged actress, 28, appeared in great spirits as they took to the FROW at the showcase

Striking: Ensuring all eyes were on her, the model twirled along the French venue to showcase her flirty number's criss-cross backless detail

Standing tall: The Paper Towns star commanded attention during the star-studded event as she boosted her 5'8'' physique in nude pointed heels

Looking good: Exuding elegance during her sighting, the blonde beauty accessorised with a pair of sophisticated pearl drop earrings

Pink princess: Cara added length to her blonde 'do, which she styled into a stunning side-parted braid, and complemented her out-of-this-world beauty with lashings of mascara, shimmery silver eyeshadow and matte foundation

X Men star Jennifer, 28, displayed her sartorial flair as she rocked a grey tweed skater dress, putting her enviably lean legs on full display.

Highlighting her slender physique, the Red Sparrow actress teamed her eye-catching ensemble with a chic black waist belt. The screen star ditched her signature stilettos for a pair of sophisticated checked strappy kitten heels.

Upping the style ante, Jennifer maintained her trendsetting ways as she accessorised with reflective cat-eye sunglasses, embellished with glittery frames.

Turning heads: The X Men star displayed her sartorial flair as she slipped into a grey tweed skater dress, putting her enviably lean legs on full display

All in the details: Highlighting her slender physique, the Red Sparrow actress teamed her eye-catching ensemble with a chic black waist belt

Iconic: The A-list turnout packed out the iconic French museum building

Watch it sparkle! The blonde beauty turned heads with her new statement accessory as she sported her glittery diamond engagement ring

Fancy footwear: The screen star ditched her signature stilettos in favour of a pair of sophisticated checked strappy kitten heels

The blonde beauty turned heads with her new statement accessory as she sported her glittery diamond engagement ring.

With her tresses styled into loose waves, the American Hustle star complemented her striking features with light strokes of blush, winged eyeliner and faint pink lipstick.

Also in attendance was actress Jenna Coleman, who put on a very leggy display in a stunning short tweed suit from the fashion house's 2019/2020 A/W collection.

Chic: Upping the style ante, Jennifer maintained her trendsetting ways as she accessorised with reflective cat-eye sunglasses, embellished with glittery frames

Radiant: With her tresses styled into loose waves, the American Hustle star complemented her striking features with light strokes of blush, winged eyeliner and faint pink lipstick

Hot ticket! The Dior showcase took over the iconic Musee Rodin in the French capital

Time off: The famous pair beamed with delight as they watched the quirky presentation

Helping hand: Cara proved to be a girl's girl as she appeared to fix Jennifer's wavy tresses during their appearance

She wore a russet coloured polo neck under the suit jacket which perfectly matched the court shoes she was wearing.

Adding a splash of colour, The Cry star, 32, carried one of the coveted Dior saddle bags which was in a distinctive floral print.

Her brunette locks were styled into soft waves as she posed for snaps before joining the likes of Olivia Culpo, Gemma Arterton and Eva Herzigova inside.

At the start of the presentation, Italian artist Bianca Menna, also known as Tomaso Binga, paid homage to the late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.

In full force: Their Finest's Gemma Arterton (left), supermodel Eva Herzigova (centre) The Vampire Diaries' Kat Graham (right) were all in attendance at the starry event

She's got it! Jenna Coleman put on a very leggy display in a stunning short tweed suit from the fashion house's 2019/2020 A/W collection

Bold: The Cry star, 32, wore a russet coloured polo neck under the suit jacket which perfectly matched the court shoes she was wearing

Making a statement: Karlie Kloss showed off a low-key sense of style in a T-shirt with the words Sisterhood Global emblazoned across the front, which was tucked into high-waisted trousers

Stepping out: The 26-year-old wore a chic pair of semi-sheer high heeled court shoes and draped a casual denim jacket across her shoulders

She greeted guests with a message, read both in French and English: 'In homage to the alchemist of elegance and beauty, Karl Lagerfeld.'

Chanel's creative director Karl passed away from pancreatic cancer aged 85 earlier this month. Chanel sources confirmed he had died in Paris after looking increasingly frail in recent seasons, and had suffered extremely ill health in recent weeks.

The catwalk show was awash with red and black checked designs fashioned into blanket coats, rainhats and mini buttoned-up dresses.

A series of ballgowns were teamed with rainhats in every colour, with a red organza dress and clashing leopard print hat stealing the show.

In good company: Natalia Vodianova wowed in a fringed shirt dress as she joined younger sister Kristina (left), and partner Antoine Arnault at the event

Sheer ensembles: Caroline Daur (left), Tanya Burr (centre) and Olivia Culpo (right) all flashed their legs in see-through numbers

Dazzle: I Feel Pretty actress Olivia, 26, rocked a black sheer dress from the label, made up of a high neckline and a short skirt wrapped in layers of tulle for a gown-like effect

Elegance: Mick Jagger's former wife Bianca (left) stunned in a monochrome floral ensemble, model Camille Rowe (centre) and style maven Olivia Palermo (right) dazzled in maxi dresses

Smitten: The businesswoman, 32, beamed as she joined hunky husband Johannes Huebl, 41, at the presentation

Meanwhile, Jennifer confirmed her engagement to New York art gallery director, Cooke Maroney, 34, earlier this month, following an eight-month romance.

The happy news came after the couple were spotted dining together in New York at Raoul's, with Jennifer seen showing off a 'giant rock' on her finger.

A source who witnessed the scene told PageSix the two and their pals were definitely celebrating something.

'It was a giant rock. They seemed like they were celebrating and people were talking about it,' said the source.

Showing off their style: Blogger Aimee Song (left) looked sensational in a tulle skirt and red blazer, while Charlotte Le Bon (right) took to the event in a nude shift dress, teamed with chunky trainers

Legs for days: Russian model Elena Perminova displayed her lean legs in quilted shorts and a matching jacket

Fashion savvy: Bar Refaeli (left) and Bianca Brandolini (right) commanded attention in their structured ensembles

'The ring was very noticeable. They were sitting back in a corner. She was wearing a cute black dress with white polka dots.'

Cooke currently works at New York's Gladstone Gallery, which represents artists including Lena Dunham's dad, Carroll Dunham, as well as Richard Prince, Anish Kapoor, and Bjork's ex, Matthew Barney.

He is also known on the art party scene and previously worked at the prestigious Gagosian Gallery.

In good spirits: Model Bar and screen star Jenna also took to the FROW at the fashion-forward presentation

'The alchemist of elegance and beauty': At the start of the presentation, Italian artist Bianca Menna, also known as Tomaso Binga, paid homage to the late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld

Eccentric: The venue was complete with mirrored ceilings for the fashion-forward presentation, which was also decked out in walls of nude figures

Quirky: The catwalk show was awash with red and black checked designs fashioned into blanket coats, rainhats and mini buttoned-up dresses

Diverse: A series of ballgowns were teamed with rainhats in every colour, with a red organza dress and clashing leopard print hat stealing the show

Striking: The collection mixed streetwear with sophistication as they teamed the hats with stunning floor-length gowns
Holly Willoughby made the most of the lovely sunshine on Tuesday when she and This Morning co-host Phillip Schofield filmed the show outside.

The 38-year-old looked incredible as she sat next to Phillip wearing a blue mini skirt and a matching top.

Looking leggy, she added some inches to her height with a pair of cream heeled ankle boots from high-street store Office, which had a snakeskin heel.

She's a star: Holly Willoughby soaked up the sun as she filmed This Morning outside on Tuesday wearing a mini skirt and matching top

Golden girl: Holly filmed alongside her trusty co-star Phillip Schofield

Holly shielded her eyes from the sun wearing a pair of sunglasses as she read from her cue cards.

She posted the details of her outfit on Instagram after the show. Her mini is from Sandro and her top was from Warehouse.

Phillip, 56, also wore a pair of sunglasses as he sat beside his pal during the show, wearing a green shirt and a pair of black skinny jeans.

Loving life: Holly got into a fit of giggles as Phillip entertained her during a break

Shady: The TV pair wore matching sunglasses as they enjoyed the mild weather

Looking lovely: Holly tweaked her hair a little as she was handed some more cue cards

They were joined on the show by Gok Wan and his brother Kwoklyn, with the pair getting involved in a cooking segment.

Holly was left pulling her sleeve over her face in disgust as Phillip sampled some Spam, as she said she wasn't a fan of the tinned meat.

Doctor Who star Alex Kingston also made a guest appearance and revealed she was initally unsure about Jodie Whittaker's casting as the first ever female Doctor.

Back to set: Holly's Sandro skirt suited her figure perfectly

There he is: They were joined by Gok Wan for an al fresco fashion segment

Jodie famously took over the role from Peter Capaldi, with her first full series airing in late 2018.

Alex told Phil and Holly: 'To be honest, at first I was a little conflicted because I just thought, "All those little boys, how are they going to handle it?"

'But then I thought when Peter Capaldi played the Doctor, I thought, "Oh my gosh, how are those young kids going to be able to relate to  sorry Peter  somebody who could be their grandfather?"

'But, they all totally embraced him and it's because he is the Doctor and Jodie is the Doctor because it's the same spirit inside so it doesnt matter.'

Family: Once inside, Gok and his brother Kwoklyn shared their secrets to cooking chinese food at home
He recently enjoyed his first family holiday with his partner Anne-Marie Corbett and her daughters.

But it was back to work for a cheery Ant McPartlin as he joined presenting pal Declan Donnelly at a management meeting in London on Tuesday.

The Britain's Got Talent star, 43, looked relaxed and happy as he and Dec, 43, made a jovial exit from the meeting, clutching onto bags and papers as they strolled to a waiting taxi.

Post Abu Dhabi: It was back to work for a cheery Ant McPartlin as he joined presenting pal Declan Donnelly at a management meeting in London on Tuesday

Ant looked casually cool in a navy t-shirt paired with a matching peacoat and chinos.

The star shielded his eyes from from the sun with a pair of black shades and carried a duffel bag to the car.

Dec, 43, donned a royal blue shirt with slate grey chinos as he too cracked a radiant smile and headed to his next appointment.

Back at it: The Britain's Got Talent star, 43, looked relaxed and happy as he and Dec, 43, made a jovial exit from the meeting, clutching onto bags and papers as they strolled to a waiting taxi

Cool: Ant looked casually cool in a navy t-shirt paired with a matching peacoat and chinos

Ant returned from his first family holiday over the weekend, enjoying some quality time with Anne Marie and her two daughters in Abu Dhabi.

Over the weekend Ant was looking equally relaxed as he strolled through duty-free with Anne-Marie and her daughters.

The holiday was the couple's third since they got together last year, but their first with Anne-Marie's children.

Preparing to fly back to Heathrow, the group waited for the flight, with an insider telling MailOnline: 'He was laughing with the kids and with his girlfriend. He smiled at passersby. They looked really happy and comfortable and he hugged the older girl.'

Work: The star shielded his eyes from from the sun with a pair of black shades and carried a duffel bag to the car

Dapper: Ant looked dapper as he headed to a waiting car

BFFs: Dec, 43, donned a royal blue shirt with slate grey chinos as he too cracked a radiant smile and headed to his next appointment

Ant and Anne-Marie went public with their romance last year and have since looked incredibly loved-up at every turn, with their holiday being the next step.

An onlooker told the Mirror: 'Ant was chuckling and smiling with his family, but also seemed keen to keep his head down and get on the plane as quickly as possible'.

Ant previously credited girlfriend Anne-Marie for 'saving his life', after battling addiction, a drink-drive conviction and divorce.

The former PA has been throwing her support behind Ant, travelling around the UK while he films for the upcoming series of BGT. His return to BGT for auditions has firmly marked his return to TV since last year's troubles.

Casual: The stars looked focused as they returned to work together

Looking good: Ant looked healthy and happy as he strolled to the car

Smile: Saturday Night Takeaway star Dec cracked a jolly smile as he climbed into a car

Outing: Ant returned from his first family holiday over the weekend, enjoying some quality time with partner Anne Marie Corbett and her two daughters in Abu Dhabi

After first seeking rehab treatment for his addiction to prescription drugs and alcohol in 2017, Ant then pleaded guilty to drink-driving in April last year after being involved in a three-car collision.

The series of incidents led to the star checking in for rehab treatment, while he also stepped away from his co-presenting gigs with sidekick Declan Donnelly.

Ant has credited Anne-Marie for guiding him on the straight and narrow, telling The Sun On Sunday: 'Shes a beautiful soul. Were very happy. Im in the best place Ive been in my life, to be honest with you. Its great.'

He split from wife of 11 years, Lisa Armstrong, in January 2018.
Her schedule has been non-stop during Fashion Week season.

So it was only natural for Gigi Hadid to want to let her hair down on Tuesday when she visited the bars of Paris with a group of friends.

The model was seen looking very merry as she left Cesar bar in the French capital, wrapping her arm around a female friend.

Fashion Week fun: Gigi Hadid to want to let her hair down on Tuesday when she visited the bars of Paris with a group of friends

Gigi looked like she'd had a great night, wrapping her arm around her pal as they headed off at midnight.

The model of the moment couldn't keep the smile off her face as she prepared to keep the party going.

Earlier in the evening, she was seen rocking the same understated look when she hit the town for her evening of fun.

Living it up: The model was seen looking very merry as she left Cesar bar in the French capital, wrapping her arm around a female friend

Party pals: Gigi looked like she'd had a great night, wrapping her arm around her pal as they headed off at midnight

Mobbed by excited French fans, the blonde beauty appeared to be loving every moment in the picturesque city.

Gigi had enjoyed a lunch outing earlier in the day at Marco Polo's restaurant.

The American beauty showcased her model frame in a slim-fit turtleneck and a smart blazer which she paired with her trendy sunglasses and cowboy boots.

Busy: Gigi looked like she was having the time of her life as she continued on about her day

Putting her best foot forward: She ensured her chic boots were the focal point of the look

Leaving her dangerously high stilettos on the runway, Gigi ambled along in knee-high cowboy boots with tan markings and a very steep heel.

With her fringe swept off her make-up enhanced features, the catwalk queen tidied her golden mane into a neat bun.

Gigi kept to the trendiest catwalk looks as she accessorised her smart casual ensemble with micro-sunglasses.

Slave to style: Earlier in the day, Gigi looked fashionable in micro-sunglasses and cowboy boots as she headed out for lunch

Busy season: Gigi kept to the hottest catwalk trends as she accessorised her smart casual ensemble with micro-sunglasses

Stand-out supermodel: Leaving her dangerously high stilettos on the runway, Gigi ambled along in knee-high cowboy boots with tan markings and a very steep heel

The model has been conquering the catwalk alongside her stylish sister Bella as well as the likes of Irina Shayk, Kaia Gerber and Candice Swanepoel.

Gigi's outing comes after she paid her respects to 'King' Karl Lagerfeld at the preview of his final Fendi collection.

The model had paid tribute to the 85-year-old's 'genius mind' and 'indescribable presence' after his passing in Paris on Tuesday.

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.

Polished looks: With her fringe swept off her make-up enhanced features, the catwalk queen tidied her golden mane into a neat bun

Noticed: The model has been conquering the catwalk alongside her stylish sister Bella as well as the likes of Irina Shayk, Kaia Gerber and Candice Swanepoel

Social butterfly: The model smiled and waved to her adoring fans when she made the most of her trip to the city of love

So sad: Gigi's outing comes after she paid her respects to 'King' Karl Lagerfeld at the preview of his final Fendi collection

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.'

'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.'

Touching down: Her sister Bella Hadid was spotted arriving at Charles de Gaulle airport for Fashion Week
Alex Kingston admits she was initially unsure about the prospect of Doctor Who introducing its first female Time Lord after the BBC show made the ground-breaking decision to choose Jodie Whittaker.

Whittaker was brought in to replace outgoing twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi in 2017, dividing fans and prompting a furious backlash from those who believe the role is exclusively male.

And Alex, who played side-kick River Song for fifteen episodes over a seven year period before leaving the show in 2015, admits she too had misgivings about Whittaker before warming to the idea.

Opening up: Alex Kingston admits she was initially unsure about the prospect of Doctor Who introducing its first female Time Lord after the BBC show made the ground-breaking decision to choose Jodie Whittaker

Speaking to Tuesdays edition of This Morning, the 55-year old compared the controversial casting to that of Capaldi, who was brought in to play the Doctor at the age of 57 after a string of younger actors helped breathe new life into the franchise.

'At first I was conflicted,' she explained. 'I just thought, "all those little boys, how are they going to handle it?"

'But then I thought when Peter played the Doctor how will those young kids be able to relate to - sorry Peter - someone who could be their grandfather?'

Fresh face: Whittaker was brought in to replace outgoing twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi in 2017, dividing fans and prompting a furious backlash from those who believe the role is exclusively male

Unsure: Alex, who played side-kick River Song for fifteen episodes over a seven year period before leaving the show in 2015, admits she too had misgivings about Whittaker

So many questions: 'At first I was conflicted,' she told Tuesday's edition of This Morning. 'I just thought, "all those little boys, how are they going to handle it?"

She added: 'They totally embraced him because he's the Doctor and Jodie is the Doctor because it's the same spirit inside so it doesnt matter.'

Despite being killed off four-years ago, Alex admitted she is still open to the idea of returning as River Song.

'I'm always up for that,' she said. 'I feel like I've never left. Even though I'm not filming I'm recording a lot of the audio clips. I still feel like I'm living the character.'

Old times: Despite being killed off four-years ago, Alex admitted she is still open to the idea of returning as River Song

The actress had previously suggested, albeit inadvertently, that she was returning to the show after appearing in a shot with Whittaker after the Broadchurch star was announced as the new Doctor.

Appearing on verified Twitter account Doctor Who on BBC America, the shot was posted with the caption: 'Jodie Whittaker meets the Doctor's wife, Alex Kingston at #SDCC #DoctorWho.'

The post prompted a wave of speculation from fans, and Alex admitted they did discuss the possibility of her returning.

'I did meet her,' she added. 'We chatted about me coming back to Doctor Who. I love the character, and I think that, my gosh, there are wonderful potential opportunities down the road. But it's not my decision.'
They tied the knot in 2013 after six years together and share daughters Delta, four, and Lincoln, five.

And Kristen Bell, 38, and Dax Shepard, 44, have revealed they've already had the 'birds and the bees' talk with their eldest child during an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Monday.

Veronica Mars star Kristen and her husband left the 61-year-old host shocked when they detailed their candid discussion, but admitted Lincoln was 'bored to death' during the chat and decided to play outside instead.

A bit early? Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard have revealed they've already had the 'birds and the bees' talk with their daughter Lincoln, five, during an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Monday

When asked about their conversation, the Frozen actress shared: 'Well she asked where babies come from!'

Parenthood actor Dax added: 'We were both like: "OK, it's real talk, sit down". We went through the anatomy; penis, vagina, ovum and sperm.

'But when we got right to the good part, she's was like: "OK, I got to go outside", and just left!'

The House Of Lies star chimed in: 'She bailed, she knows all the organs now, but we bored her to death.'

Family first: The Veronica Mars star, 38, and her husband, 44, tied the knot in 2013 after six years together and share daughters Lincoln and Delta, four

All laughs: The pair left the 61-year-old host shocked when they detailed their candid discussion, but admitted Lincoln was 'bored to death' during the chat and decided to play outside instead

Elsewhere in the interview, the cute couple promoted their brand new venture in baby care.

The duo have dipped their toes into the retail market with a new line of plant-based products, Hello Bello.

Dax enthused to presenter Ellen: 'For two years we've been working on this product line. My wife knows everything that's good for babies and I don't!'

Kristen added: 'I'm a label reader, I like everything to be on the package. We're a bit pre-occupied and have a lot of family in the Midwest, so we can't find the same standard of things we want to use on our children in 'healthy' California.

Hilarious: 'But when we got right to the good part, she's was like: "OK, I got to go outside", and just left!', Parenthood actor Dax revealed

'We've been working on this for two years': Elsewhere in the interview, the cute couple promoted their brand new venture in baby care, Hello Bello

'So we created Hello Bello. It includes premium-plant based ingredients that will not break your budget', the actress added.

The line will include items such as diapers, baby lotion, sunscreen and laundry detergent.

Sharing her inspiration behind creating the line, Kristen explained: 'As a mom of two, I know how beautifully messy parenthood can be, and that's why we created Hello Bello - a line of premium, super-effective baby care products to take care of your kids from head-to-butt-to-toe.

Our products are fresh and fun. More importantly, we use plant-based ingredients and organic botanicals that are better for our kids and better for our world', she explained.
Her businessman beau popped the question during their first family holiday in January, eight months after welcoming their first child.

And Casey Batchelor has discussed the proposal from beau Dane Goodson for the first time, as she shared a beautiful snap from the moment she got engaged in Dubai.

Sipping on a glass of bubbly as she sat at a beautiful rose petal laden table, the brunette beauty, 34, showed off her diamond sparkler for the first time.

Sparkler: Casey Batchelor has discussed the proposal from beau Dane Goodson for the first time, as she shared a beautiful snap from the moment she got engaged in Dubai

Family: Her businessman beau popped the question during their first family holiday in January, eight months after welcoming their first child

She captioned the photo: 'So....... Im ENGAGED.

'Yes Ive had a few people ask me and the rumours are true! Back in January Dane asked me and I balled my bloody eyes out!

'I literally could not be happier. We didnt announce the news straight away as we wanted to keep it between us for a while. But now the secrets out.'

Speaking to Closer Magazine, the former Celebrity Big Brother contestant said stationery and printing company owner Dane, 32, had surprised her on their first holiday with baby daughter Florence.

Cute: Speaking to Closer Magazine , the former Celebrity Big Brother contestant said stationery and printing company owner Dane, 32, had surprised her on their first holiday with baby daughter Florence

He got down on one knee at a poolside restaurant, where he treated her to her favourite drink, Dom Perignon Rose which he had specially shipped over.

Admitting the proposal hadn't 'sunk in' the star said the couple's baby girl had originally been part of the proposal.

When they were taken to the petal strewn table, she said: 'Flo was really grumpy and I spent ages getting her off to sleep.

'When she dropped off Dane said: "Flo has just ruined something for me!" and he got out a little bib which said 'Will you marry my daddy?' I just burst into tears and he said some lovely things. I was so shocked.'

Cute: He got down on one knee at a poolside restaurant, where he treated her to her favourite drink, Dom Perignon Rose which he had specially shipped over

The couple plan to tie the knot after they have added to their family, with Casey saying she would like one or two children, and would love another baby 'this year.'

Casey previously admitted she was considering freezing her eggs if she was still single at 35.

She said: ''I did think it would never happen to me. I'd kind of accepted I'd always be single. I felt like it was always my friends getting engaged and having babies, so it feel so special to be a mum and now a fiancee.'

Casey gave birth to Florence in May 2018, and has since been revelling in new motherhood.

Parents: Admitting the proposal hadn't 'sunk in' the star said the couple's baby girl had originally been part of the proposal

Happy: The couple plan to tie the knot after they have added to their family, with Casey saying she would like one or two children, and would love another baby 'this year'

She previously admitted she couldn't wait to get engaged to Dane, branding him her 'best friend, soulmate and partner'.

'I didnt think any of this would happen for me. I thought all men were just idiots, but hes amazing', she told OK! magazine.

She told MailOnline last year she was 'waiting for the ring' and was hoping things would fall into place.

'We definitely want to get married. I'm waiting for the ring! Cough, cough! It's definitely going to happen.

'When you've got children and everything, it's just when really, when we fit it in. We definitely want to!'

The duo first went public with their relationship in February 2017, choosing to initially keep their romance secret for 18 months.

She said at the time: 'There is someone new. I havent spoken to anybody about him yet.

'He owns a stationery and printing company, completely different to what I do.'

Businessman Dane owns a stationery and printing company and is the former boss of pen salesman and Love Island champ Jack Fincham.
A former MAFS star Scarlett Cooper accused him of using the show as a platform to promote his boat business.

Now Bronson Norrish, 35, has hit back at his fellow former reality star, accusing her of making up a 'fake' story just for her own personal gain.

Taking to Facebook on Tuesday, Bronson shared a private chat he had with the fiery blonde, where she asked for a free ticket to his boat cruise.

'When someone makes up a fake story' MAFS' Bronson Norrish hits back at his Scarlett Cooper... after she revealed messages which suggested he only went on the show to promote his boat business

'The whole thing, fake or not, people believe it. Well if there's a ticket I will come and say hi, because I go back to Sydney and then LA,' she wrote to him.

She continued: 'If there's a ticket and you don't mind I'll come and say hi, or I'll say hi after you dock? Would be good to meet you Bronson!'

Bronson then posted the slew of private comments along with an insightful comment.

'When its your birthday and you try to be nice. When someone asks for free ticket... and its still not good enough so they make up a fake story?' he wrote

'When its your birthday and you try to be nice,' he wrote.

'When someone asks for free ticket... and its still not good enough so they make up a fake story?' he added.

It comes after Scarlett accused Bronson of using the show as a platform to promote his boat business.

Scarlett, who appeared on season four of MAFS, did not name the woman who Bronson allegedly sent the jaw-dropping message to

In an Instagram post on Tuesday, Scarlett, posted a Facebook exchange that allegedly took place between Bronson and a former flame.

In the messages, Bronson, appeared to confirm that he was only on the show to promote his boat business - Party Boat Charters.

'Not doing it for meeting someone. Just the publicity for my boats. #cheeky. And yes I know I am definitely missing out on someone great here,' Bronson allegedly wrote.

Shocking: Bronson appears to have admitted he only went on MAFS for publicity in this Facebook exchange that Scarlett posted to Instagram

Scarlett, who appeared on season four of MAFS, did not name the woman who Bronson allegedly sent the message to.

'Not his ex, another victim of Bronson (laughing emoji). Will the real Bronson please stand up,' Scarlett wrote on the Facebook post.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Bronson Norrish for comment.
James Argent looked as though he didn't have a care in the world when he was pictured leaving home on Tuesday.

The 31-year-old was seen for the first time since his girlfriend Gemma Collins dumped him after he shared (and deleted) a humiliating clip of her snoring in bed.

James has since been accused of sending a string of abusive texts in the wake of the break-up to Gemma, saying she has 'more rolls than Greggs'.

Happy? James Argent smiled as he was pictured for the first time since his split from Gemma Collins on Tuesday... after 'he said she had 'more rolls than Greggs' in abusive texts

Really? Gemma had broken up with James after he posted a clip of her snoring in bed but he has reportedly responded by sending her abusive fat-shaming messages

Arg has been accused of calling his ex 'an embarrassment' and 'a fat horrible lump' in a series of abusive messages seen by The Sun.

According to Dan Wootton, the messages said: 'You are a fat joke of a woman. An absolute car crash! You're nearly 40 f***ing years old, you embarrassment.'

In another, he said: 'You fat horrible lump. Nasty mean woman. Who the f*** do you think you are? You've got more rolls than Greggs.'

Big shot: James had styled himself for the outing, wearing his Burberry mac, Gucci loafers and carrying his Gucci bag in hand

Having a good day? James appeared to be in great spirits despite his own personal dramas

No more: No doubt Gemma is trying her best to move on with her life following the upsetting furore

Meanwhile, the reality star was in one of his favourite outfits as he headed out in his Burberry mac and clutching his Gucci bag as he headed into a waiting car.

James, who previously dated Lydia Bright, had been seen begging Gemma to let him in the house on Monday after sge kicked him out.

In pictures obtained by The Sun, the TOWIE star can be seen outside Gemma's home, just hours after she had broken up with him.

Gemma's parents then arrive and let Arg in, only for the reality star to emerge back outside moments later.

'Humiliated': According to reports, the TOWIE diva, 38, decided to ends things because she was so 'embarrassed' over the candid Instagram story post

Bombarded: After kicking James out of her house last week, Gemma is said to have faced a barrage of nasty messages from her boyfriend

A source told The Sun Online: 'Gemma ended things really quickly with Arg  she immediately locked him out of the house, and then a scrapyard van turned up to pick up his scooter.

'He turned up shortly afterwards to find himself locked out and was hammering on the door asking her to let him in.'

The source continued: 'Then Gemma's parents turned up and went in with him  and almost immediately Arg came back out.

Taking her mind off things: Gemma tried to ignore the drama on Monday night, as she stepped out in Alderley Edge

Girls' night: Gemma partied with Real Housewives Of Cheshire stars Dawn Ward and Ester Dee

What split? Gemma seemed determined to move past the nastiness

'Her dad went out to speak to Arg for a while, then her mum sat with him in the car talking to him.

'Then a mate pulled up in a car and gave him a lift  and Gemma's parents went back inside.'

Representatives for Gemma Collins, James Argent and TOWIE have been contacted by MailOnline for comment.

The source went on to suggest that Arg had turned 'nasty' after Gemma's profile soared on ITV's Dancing On Ice because he 'couldn't handle her fame'.

Heartbreak: Insiders believe Arg turned nasty after Gemma's profile soared on Dancing On Ice

Their relationship seemed to hit a new low when Arg posted a clip of Gemma snoring on his social media profile.

And on Monday, it was claimed that 'humiliated' Gemma felt like she had 'no choice' but to dump him.

Moving vans were then seen at her house, prompting speculation that he had been asked to leave.

Just as news of the text drama emerged on Monday night, Gemma seemed determined to move past it - instead enjoying a girls' night out with Real Housewives Of Cheshire stars Dawn Ward and Ester Dee.

Fellow TOWIE star Chloe Sims previously accused Arg of bombarding her with nasty text messages last April when she waded into their relationship.

In a revelation aired on the series in 2018, Chloe warned Gemma that Arg wasn't ready for fatherhood, which didn't go down well with him.

She said at the time: 'I really don't want to ruin Arg, but I'm gong to be honest with you, after our conversation I was bombarded with messages and calls from him digging me out.'

Arg also once faced the wrath of Lucy Mecklenburgh on The Only Way Is Essex for sending abusive messages to his ex-girlfriend Lydia Bright.

Lucy lashed out in one 2012 scene claiming to have seen texts he sent Lydia calling her a 'sl*t' for sleeping with someone else.

Gemma and Arg met on TOWIE on 2011, but their relationship only became romantic following his split from Lydia.

But it wasn't long-lived and resulted in a confrontation, with Gemma saying the iconic line during an episode of TOWIE: 'You're never going to get this candy!'

The duo finally got together once again in 2017, when Arg declared his love for Gemma, yet it soon ended.

Going all out: Just last week, Arg pulled out all the stops for Valentine's Day, revealing Gemma had demanded their stay in a suite at The Dorchester Hotel, he also serenaded her

Not going strong: Gemma and Arg's relationship had gone from strength-to-strength since they rekindled their romance last year (pictured in 2017)

With Gemma appearing on Celebs Go Dating in 2018, but later in the year, they got back together.

Notoriously on and off, the couple have seemingly been stronger than ever in the last year, regularly discussing their plans to start a family.

He recently supported her through a tumultuous time on the ice - picking her up when she injured herself on live TV and speaking up for her in a clash with judge Jason Gardiner about her 'diva' behaviour.

Drama: Arg has supported the reality star during her tumultuous time on Dancing On Ice, after hitting headlines for her clashes with judge Jason Gardiner and her 'diva' behaviour

On and off: Gemma and Arg met in 2011 on TOWIE, but only became romantic in 2012 following his split from former co-star Lydia Bright (pictured in 2012)

It even seem like their romance was heading for a proposal just last week, on Valentine's Day.

Arg pulled out all the stops, with an overnight stay at The Dorchester Hotel and showering her with a designer handbag and roses.

Speaking on This Morning, after serenading her with a rendition of My Girl, he said: 'We've got a room at the Dorchester hotel, her favourite, she demanded it!

'She picked a few presents for herself,' he explained. 'A new bag is on way, roses and a beautiful hotel room. Oh yeah, she picked it all!'

The GC: But it wasn't long-lived and resulted in a confrontation, with Gemma saying the iconic line: 'You're never going to get this candy!' (pictured in 2012)

During a recent appearance on Good Morning Britain, Gemma gushed about the dynamic of her and Arg's romance, insisting the age difference wasn't an issue.

Speaking to GMB host Piers Morgan, 53, she admitted she previously thought she would prefer a man in his age bracket.

She confessed: 'I thought I wanted a silver fox like yourself, but the older I get, the younger I want them!'

Flirtatious Gemma then suggested that a man of Piers' age could help her out in more intimate ways as she reasoned: 'Someone like yourself can educate me!

'But when you're older than the man, you can be in control. He [Arg] likes both, it depends what mood he's in.
She forged a successful career in modelling.

So it's no wonder Lisa Snowdon looked amazing at the 2nd Annual Restaurant Association Gala Dinner hosted at The Savoy Hotel, in London on Monday.

The actress, 47, shimmered in a glistening silver maxi dress which was gathered at the waistline with a drawstring design.

Looking fabulous: Lisa Snowdon, 47, shimmered in a stylish silver maxi dress as she attended glitzy gala dinner, in London on Monday

Equipped with her own beauty skills, Lisa applied her own defining touches of make-up to her looks for the glitzy bash.

Gigantic silver heels elevated her lofty height of 5'8" when she meandered through the night streets on the way to the party.

Lisa styled her chocolate shade locks in tidy curls which tumbled down her back and she toted a snow-white clutch bag.

Standing tall: Gigantic silver heels elevated her lofty height of 5'8" when she meandered through the night streets on the way to the party

Got her glam on: Lisa styled her chocolate shade locks in tidy curls which tumbled down her back and she toted a snow-white clutch bag (pictured with Melissa Hemsley)

The model, who dated George Clooney for five years, documented her look on Instagram with her 213,000 followers.

She wrote: 'Did my own make up last night for the Restaurant Association Gala Dinner, but had a lot of help with my hair!'

Fresh from her getaway, Lisa is back on home turf after she returned home from her trip to Abu Dhabi in recent weeks.

One for Instagram: Equipped with her own beauty skills, Lisa applied her own defining touches of make-up to her looks for the glitzy bash

At the top of the modelling game spanning two decades, the radio presenter has turned to cosmetic acupuncture touted as a natural alternative to Botox.

The painful-looking therapy involves the customer having up to 100 needles inserted into the face and ears.

It is claimed to improve skin moisture balance, elasticity and cellular turnover, and to reduce inflammation from skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis and dermatitis.

Raunchy: Gizzi Erskine flashed some serious skin as she put her underwear on display in a sheer mesh dress

Acupuncture, a Chinese remedy dating back more than 2,000 years, is used to treat everything from backache to migraines and fertility problems.

Some acupuncture  though not cosmetic  is even funded by the NHS.

Cosmetic acupuncture claims to work by targeting pressure points with the needles to release energy and endorphins.

What a night! Michel Roux Jnr. joined forces with glam Gizzi inside the venue
He's cemented his status as one of the most beloved chefs on Australian television.

Now, Woman's Day has reported Manu Feildel, who has appeared on My Kitchen Rules for the past 10 years, might be saying au revoir to the show after the latest season wraps up.

the 44-year-old chef has sparked fears among contestants that he may be quitting the program as he's expecting a 'new baby' with wife, Clarissa Weerasena, an insider told the magazine this week.

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'He wouldn't give a definitive no!' MKR judge Manu Feildel (left) sparks rumours he might QUIT the Channel Seven cooking series as he's expecting a 'new baby' with wife Clarissa Weerasena (right)

'A lot of contestants kept asking him whether or not he was going to have another baby. Babies were a hot topic around the table,' the source explained.

The insider went on to explain the family chatter also extended to betrothed MKR couple, Ash Keillah and Stacey Allen.

'Ash and Stacey kept being asked if they'd be having kids soon too.'

Shock exit? Woman's Day has reported, the French-born judge, who has appeared on the cooking series for the past 10 years, might be saying au revoir to My Kitchen Rules after season 10 concludes. Manu (right) pictured alongside co-star judge Pete Evans (left)

'Manu wouldn't give a definitive no, which got everyone convinced a new baby could be on the way. Manu is always gushing about his wife and kids. He's a real family man,' the insider claimed.

The source also added Manu is likely ready to exit the drama-filled program for other reasons, namely testing contestants and long shooting days.

Manu and Clarissa became engaged back in November 2013, but it took four years for the couple to tie the knot.

'Manu is always gushing about his wife and kids,' the insider claimed to Woman's Day this week. Manu (left) pictured with wife, Clarissa Weerasena (right)

Family affair: The wedding, which featured Manu's 14-year-old son, Jonti as a groomsman and the couple's three-year-old daughter Charlee as a flower girl, who they welcomed in April, 2015

The smitten pair married in a secret ceremony in late January last year.

The wedding, which featured Manu's 14-year-old son, Jonti as a groomsman and the couple's three-year-old daughter Charlee as a flower girl, was a long time coming for the bride and groom.

The food connoisseur and his ex, Ronnie Morshead, separated in 2009 and share son Jonti.

Despite Woman's Day reporting last year that the couple wed in Adelaide, Manu and Clarissa's nuptials reportedly actually took place in the exclusive Elandra Resort in Far North Queensland.
He raised eyebrows on Monday after he was caught out reusing a three-year-old Instagram photo that showed himself waiting at the airport for an international flight.

However, it seems MAFS' Bronson Norrish, 35, has in fact taken some much needed time off, after sharing a photo poolside in Bali a day later.

Taking to Instagram on Tuesday, Bronson showed off his muscular legs while he lounged on a sunbed poolside at the luxurious The Mulia Bali resort.

Are you really on holiday, Bronson? MAFS' groom Norrish shares a poolside snap from Bali... after bizarrely reusing an old Instagram photo of himself travelling overseas

'One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching': Taking to Instagram on Tuesday, Bronson showed off his muscular legs while he lounged on a sunbed poolside at the luxurious The Mulia Bali resort

'One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching,' he wrote and used hashtags 'Enjoy everyday' and 'Every day's a gift'.

It comes after the former stripper shared a photo taken at an unnamed airport, showing off his passport while implying he was going overseas.

However, Bronson originally shared the same photo three years ago, in July 2016.

That looks familiar! On Monday, the former stripper shared a photo taken at an unnamed airport, showing off his passport and indicating he was going overseas

The 'new' photo shows Bronson in fluffy bear slippers, with a beer, his passport, sunglasses and ticket sitting on the bar of an airport lounge.

He captioned that post: 'Rocking the international traveler look #holidaymode #timetorelax #uggs'.

The original 2016 photo, which still appears on his Instagram feed, showed the same scene, except for a glimpse of what appears to be a female companion.

Double trouble: The original 2016 photo (pictured), which still appears on his Instagram feed, showed the same scene, except for a glimpse of what appears to be a female companion

The woman sitting beside him is wearing a ring, and has a phone and a glass of beer in the table in front of her.

It's unclear why Bronson decided to crop out his travel companion when he posted the image for a second time.

The original snap was tagged as being taken at Perth Airport, and was captioned: 'Built for comfort, not speed ;) #comfyasf**k #friskmebaby #customsgotnothingonme'.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Bronson Norrish for comment.
Jesse Williams stepped out with his new girlfriend, actress Taylour Paige, during Jay-Z and Beyonce's Oscar party.

The 37 year old actor hit the red carpet at the Vanity Fair party solo, but they were spotted heading into Jay and Bey's bash later that night.

Williams also hit the red carpet at the Macro Pre-Oscar party on Thursday by himself, but inside the party, he posed with Paige in two Instagram photos.

New girlfriend: Jesse Williams steps out with new girlfriend Taylour Paige at Jay-Z and Beyonce's Oscar party

Williams was wearing a sharp grey pinstriped suit, trading a tie for a gold chain that dangled over his black dress shirt.

Paige rocked an elegant full-length black dress with gold floral designs, with a big slit up the right leg.

Williams and Paige were seen holding hands as they made their way into Jay and Bey's party, which was held at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.

Solo: The 37 year old actor hit the red carpet at the Vanity Fair party solo, but they were spotted heading into Jay and Bey's bash later that night

In Paige's Instagram post from Thursday, she stated, 'We had funnnnn. God damnit these people are beautiful,' although she didn't tag Williams or mention him in her post.

She also thanked her, 'sweet cherub' Avery Plewes, 'for overnighting me this blazer from our favorite @vspconsignment so I could actually participate in the fun this weekend.'

She was standing next to Williams in both photos, and it seemed he had his arm around her in the second snap.

Instagram post: In Paige's Instagram post from Thursday, she stated, 'We had funnnnn. God damnit these people are beautiful,' although she didn't tag Williams or mention him in her post

Pre-Oscar bash: She was standing next to Williams in both photos, and it seemed he had his arm around her in the second snap

Williams and Paige were first spotted together at the Sundance Film Festival in January, wearing slightly matching coats.

Williams was at the Park City, Utah festival for the world premiere of his new film Selah and the Spades.

Paige signed on in October to star in A24 drama Zola, where she portrays the title character, a stripper who goes on a road trip to Florida.

Williams has starred as Dr. Jackson Avery on the hit ABC series Grey's Anatomy since the sixth season in 2009.

He also has a number of films in post-production such as a a remake of the 1990 thriller Jacob's Ladder with Michael Ealy, and Random Acts of Violence with Jordana Brewster and director-star Jay Baruchel.

Paige also stars in the upcoming TV series The Baxters with Roma Downey.
She said 'I do' to former Today show host, Karl Stefanovic at the One&Only Palmilla in Los Cabos, Mexico in December, last year.

And it appears, Jasmine Yarbrough, 34, is still sporting that newlywed glow just months after she tied the knot with the This Time Next Year presenter, 44.

The Mara & Mine shoe designer looked like the cat the got the cream as she flashed her $120,000 diamond engagement ring and wedding band during an outing in Sydney on Monday.

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That newlywed glow! Jasmine Yarbrough (pictured) looked like the cat that got the cream as she flashed her diamond engagement ring and wedding band during an outing in Sydney on Monday

Jasmine's lavish sparkler was on full display as she nonchalantly slung her favourite maroon designer handbag over her forearm.

According to Woman's Day last year, the three-carat ring was designed by celebrity jeweller Patrick Nader, who also made engagement rings for Jesinta Campbell and Sylvia Jeffreys.

The Sydney-based jeweller is also close friends with Karl's manager, Sharon Finnigan.

Designer rock: Jasmine's lavish sparkler was on full display as slung her favourite maroon designer handbag over her forearm. According to Woman's Day last year, the three-carat engagement ring was designed by celebrity jeweller Patrick Nader

Meanwhile, Jasmine nailed the low-key chic look as she donned a pair of trendy ripped jeans, fastened with a $480 Gucci leather belt.

She continued her effortlessly stylish display as she rolled up the sleeves of her black blazer, which she layered over a simple, white T-shirt.

The blonde completed her smart, casual look by sweeping her highlighted locks into a slick ballerina bun.

Jasmine recently reflected on her wedding to Karl in a sweet post she shared to Instagram on New Year's Eve.

Sharing a snap from the couple's lavish four-day wedding celebration, Jasmine wrote on the photo app: '2018 was dream town.'

'We were surrounded by so much love I still have butterflies in my tummy thinking about it. Sending all our friends love, light and laughter for 2019,' she gushed.

Newlyweds! Jasmine married Karl at the lavish One&Only Palmilla in Los Cabos, Mexico on December 8, 2018

It's been a challenging few months for Karl, with the veteran TV host being axed from the Today show while on his Aspen honeymoon with Jasmine.

Father of three Karl - who is still under contract with Nine - is set to make his television comeback soon, with studio time booked for late February.

According to The Daily Telegraph, the 44-year-old will head to Sydney's Fox Studios later this month to film his show This Time Next Year.
Australian actor Hugh Jackman played Marvel's Wolverine for almost 17 years.

And Hugh is set to pay homage to many of his most famous roles during his upcoming world tour: The Man. The Music. The Show.

During a special tour announcement in Sydney on Tuesday, the Hollywood star said: 'It's an incredible privilege and I pinch myself every single day. I never thought in a million years this would happen. I am very, very lucky.'

'I never thought in a million years this would happen!' Hugh Jackman, 50, announces Australian dates for his world tour and says he's working hard on sneaking in a Wolverine song

The Man. The Music. The Show kicks off in Europe in May, heads to America in June and July, and will then travel to Australia and New Zealand in August.

While Hugh will perform songs from The Greatest Showman, Les Miserables, The Boy From Oz, and other scores from films and Broadway shows he's been part of, he says fitting Wolverine into the lineup has been on his mind.

'I have tried, and I will keep trying, to somehow get a Wolverine kickline into the repertoire. It just doesn't seem to work,' Hugh said.

When Andy Lee, who was hosting a Q&A panel at the event, asked if he would be taking his top off on stage during the tour, he laughed it off, replying: 'No. It remains on. Well I am 50, it's a little embarrassing at some point.'

'I will keep trying, to somehow get a Wolverine kickline into the repertoire': The Australian actor played Marvel's Wolverine for almost 17 years (PICTURED: 2014)

'Unlike working on a movie set where they have to hang around and be quiet, on a show like this they really enjoy it': Hugh said his children - Oscar, 18, and Ava, 13 - were looking forward to joining him on tour

'I'm kind of the strict one of the two, so when I'm on stage they like hanging around, because they can do what they want': Hugh claimed he was the strict parent (Pictured with wife Deborra-Lee Furness)

Hugh said he was excited to be taking his children- Oscar, 18, and Ava, 13 - and wife Deborra-Lee Furness on tour with him, as it's a different experience than working on a film set.

'Unlike working on a movie set where they have to hang around and be quiet, on a show like this they really enjoy it.'

'They'll (his children) be coming in and out for a bunch of it. They actually weirdly like it and they enjoy it. I'm kind of the strict one of the two, so when I'm on stage they like hanging around, because they can do what they want.'

Speaking highly of how supportive his family is, Hugh pointed out that his wife Deborra was FaceTiming in to the Sydney event via a member in the audience.

'I can't tell you happy I am about that!' The Sydney event was to formally announce Hugh's The Greatest Showman co-star Keala Settle (who plays the beaded lady) would be joining him on his Australian and New Zealand leg of his world tour

The Sydney event was to formally announce Hugh's The Greatest Showman co-star Keala Settle (who plays the beaded lady) would be joining him on his Australian and New Zealand leg of his world tour.

'She's a great friend of mine, a colleague I've known for five to six years... She's going to be with me on that tour of Australia and New Zealand and I can't tell you happy I am about that!'

Tickets for Hugh Jackman's Australian leg will be on sale from March 7 on Ticketek
She rung in her 26th birthday on February 19.

And after a few busy weeks, Victoria Justice finally found a moment to celebrate with her friends and family.

The beauty was a vision as she arrived at popular Japanese restaurant, Roku, for a private feast on Sunday night in West Hollywood.

Birthday girl! Victoria Justice struggled to wipe the smile off of her face when she stepped out to celebrate her 26th birthday on Sunday

Victoria stunned in a cropped lace black top underneath a blazer for the evening.

She teamed the look with wide legged army green trousers that were belted at the waist.

The former Nickelodeon star teamed the look with peep-toe heels that let her blue pedicure shine through.

Gorgeous: Victoria stunned in a cropped lace black top underneath a blazer for the evening

Colorful: The former Nickelodeon star teamed the look with peep-toe heels that let her blue pedicure shine through

Chic: She teamed the look with wide legged army green trousers that were belted at the waist

Victoria struggled to wipe her signature smile off of her face as she walked into the venue.

The stunner kept her brunette tresses out and styled slick and accessorised with a few dainty necklaces.

Her glam was dewy with a sweep of blush and complete with a red glossy lip.

Happy days: Victoria struggled to wipe her signature smile off of her face as she walked into the venue

All eyes on Victoria: The beauty was a vision as she arrived at popular Japanese restaurant, Roku, for a private feast on Sunday night in West Hollywood

At one point in the evening, the Victorious star was seen posing alongside her best friend/sister Madison Grace.

'Favorite girl,' captioned Madison.

Victoria recently made a guest appearance on the ABC Comedy, American Housewife. The actress played Harper, a trophy wife who was not so well accepted by the neighborhood wives.

Next up, she'll star in the coming-of-age comedic drama, Summer Nights.
They usually share loved-up and envy-inducing snaps of beach getaways in far-flung and exotic places.

But on Monday, Love Island's Dom Thomas detailed an unfortunate trip to the hospital with girlfriend Tayla Damir.

Unable to control her laughter from behind the camera, Tayla took to her Instagram story to detail the mishap, writing: 'Off to hospital we go'.

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Beach mishap! Love Island's Dom Thomas detailed an unfortunate trip to the hospital with girlfriend Tayla Damir

The pair spent the night at St Vincent's hospital in Sydney after Dom fell and cut himself on the rocks at a beach.

Pointing the camera towards her injured boyfriend, Tayla asked: 'Are you going to listen to me next time I say don't play on the rocks?'

The 22-year-old brunette continued to film as the doctor took a look at Dom's injuries, noting the wound on his toe was 'deep'.

Injured! The pair spent the night in hospital after Dom fell and cut himself on the rocks at the beach. At one point, he held his hand up to the camera, revealing scratches to his palm (left)

Ouch! Dom, too, lamented the scenario he found himself in and also took to Instagram, saying: 'It's going to be a long night'

However, Tayla appeared unable to hold back her laughter as her blue-eyed beau recoils in pain and holds his hands over his head.

She then turns the camera around, shaking her head and eye-rolling at the series of events.

Dom, too, lamented the scenario he found himself in and also took to Instagram, saying: 'It's going to be a long night'.

By midnight, the couple had spent close to five hours in the hospital.

At one point, he held his hand up to the camera, revealing scratches to his palm.

Not very sympathetic! Pointing the camera towards her injured boyfriend, Tayla asked: 'Are you going to listen to me next time I say don't play on the rocks?'

'This is fun': By midnight, the couple had spent close to five hours in the hospital

Earlier in the month, the pair enjoyed a trip to Bali to celebrate Dom's birthday, with Tayla paying tribute to her beau in a gushing Instagram post.

'Happy birthday my Dommy Bear. From the day you entered my life its been nothing but smiles (besides a few tantrum on my behalf here and there when Im hungry),' she wrote alongside a picture of the duo sharing a passionate kiss.

Tayla and Dom confirmed that they were dating on Instagram mid-October by sharing sponsored images taken for Temple Farmhouse in Byron Bay.

Still going strong! The 22 year-old brunette shared a passionate kiss with Dom, 27 during a romantic trip to Bali earlier this month as the pair celebrated his birthday

Beach-loving pair: Earlier in the month, the pair enjoyed a trip to Bali to celebrate Dom's birthday, with Tayla paying tribute to her beau in a gushing Instagram post

Their relationship followed her split with ex-flame Grant Crapp, just two weeks after they won $50,000 on the 9Go dating show.

After she discovered Grant had a 'secret girlfriend,' Lucy Cartwright, outside of the hit reality show, she decided to end their whirlwind five-week romance.

Choosing to split the money during the July 5 finale, the exes both walked away with $25,000 each.
She has a role to play in the 11th and final Madea film from Tyler Perry.

And on Monday night, actress Ciera Payton pulled out all the stops for the New York premiere of A Madea Family Funeral.

The actress, 33, showed up in a strapless pink blush dress and shiny silver heels.

Gorgeous: She has a role to play in the 11th and final Madea film from Tyler Perry. And Monday night, actress Ciera Payton pulled out all the stops for the premiere of A Madea Family Funeral

Payton showed plenty of skin in her revealing outfit.

The sweetheart neckline flaunted her bosom while the side slit showed off her shapely legs.

The New Orleans native wore her brunette locks in ringlets and styled to one side.

Dared to bare: The actress, 33, showed up in a strapless pink blush dress and shiny silver heels with the side slit showing off her shapely legs

Shapely: The dress's sweetheart neckline flaunted her bosom and the New Orleans native wore her brunette locks in ringlets and styled to one side

In her last big screen outing, Madea and her family are faced with unexpectedly having to plan a funeral for a loved one.

But their trip to the backwoods of Georgia ends up threatening to reveal some tangled family secrets leading to what distributor Lionsgate describes as 'a hilarious nightmare.'

In an interview to publicize the film, Perry observed: 'Ive been to a lot of funerals myself and though they are always sad and moving occasions, there are also a lot of hilarious things that happen at funerals.'

'In some ways, theres nothing funnier than some of the things Ive seen go on at a black funeral. So I thought there was no better way to poke some fun at those rituals than to imagine Madea planning a big funeral. I mean, who would let Madea plan a funeral?' he told UrbanBridgez.com.

'Hilarious nightmare': Tyler Perry stars as Madea for the final time on the big screen and this time around the larger than life character is tasked with planning a family funeral

Pretty: Lovely, 51, looked like her name in a beige gown with gold collar and cuffs and gold diamond-shaped motif at the navel. She added shiny heels and large sparkly hoop earrings

Cool: Davis, 54, covered up in a striking blue and gray poncho worn over black leggings and with black and white sneakers

Cassi Davis and Patrice Lovely return to reprise their roles as Aunt Bam and Hattie.

Lovely, 51, looked like her name in a beige gown with shiny gold collar and cuffs and gold diamond-shaped motif at the navel.

She added shiny heels and large sparkly hoop earrings.

Davis, 54, covered up in a striking blue and gray poncho worn over black leggings and with black and white sneakers.

Castmember KJ Smith turned heads in a fuchsia jumpsuit.

The one-sleeve outfit hugged the actress's curves and featured a ruffle across the asymmetrical neckline and flared trousers.

Eye-catching: Castmember KJ Smith turned heads in a fuchsia jumpsuit. The one-sleeve outfit hugged her curves and featured a ruffle across the asymmetrical neckline and flared trousers

Classy: Jen Harper who is also in the movie opted for a full-length monochrome patterned gown with long sleeves

Wow: Co-star Quin Walters, 36, was stylish in a black velvet dress with low-cut pink silk bustier. The drop sleeves bared her shoulders and she added perspex heels with black ankle straps

Jen Harper, who is also in the movie, opted for a full-length monochrome patterned gown with long sleeves.

Co-star Quin Walters, 36, was stylish in an on-trend black velvet dress with low-cut contrasting pink silk bustier.

The drop sleeves bared her shoulders and she added perspex heels with black ankle straps.

Also on hand for the screening were guests Cathy Kelley, Britne Oldford and Kelly Killoren Bensimon.

A Madea Family Funeral opens in theatres on March 1.

Night out: Also on hand for the screening were guests Cathy Kelley (left, Britne Oldford (center) and Kelly Killoren Bensimon (right)
It appears Married At First Sight's relationship expert John Aitken hasn't experienced much success counselling couples on the show.

But that isn't stopping him hosting his own 'rescue your relationship' retreats for strained lovers in the real world.

However, with a price tag of $15,000 for a three day program hosted in Sydney, John may struggle signing people up.

Worth the money? MAFS' relationship expert John Aitken (pictured) charges $15,000 for a three-day 'rescue your relationship' retreat despite a string of bad Google reviews, it was revealed on Tuesday

His official website states: 'This is an exclusive retreat for one couple only, that need immediate intensive one-on-one training with John.'

The program promises to provide 'hands-on practical techniques' to couples to 'empower' and 'transform' their relationships.

According to the website, the retreat entails John taking the pair 'through a variety of specifically tailored science-based relationship exercises and activities'.

'This is an exclusive retreat for one couple only, that need immediate intensive one-on-one training with John,' reads the official website while promoting the Sydney-based retreat

Not many celebrity testimonials! If the price didn't deter potential customers, John's lack of success with MAFS couples may do so. John is pictured with with MAFS' Mark Scrivens (left) and Ning Sura (right)

The event is hosted at the Intercontinental Hotel in Sydney's swish Double Bay, although it is unclear if the couples get a room included in their fee.

Despite having more than 20 years of experience as a relationships expert, John's lack of success with couples on MAFS may be hindering his career.

In recent weeks, the TV personality has received several one-star Google reviews.

One star: Despite having more than 20 years of experience as a relationships expert, John's lack of success with couples on MAFS may be hindering his career, as evidenced by one less-than-stellar review on Google (above)

'Might as well go to a fortune teller,' wrote one man, who claimed he had previously turned to John for advice with his wife.

'I realise John doesn't use real science or evidence-based practice, just buzzwords. He's a celebrity, not a therapist,' they added.

The man, however, did appear to have a sense of humour about the experience, writing: 'At least me and my wife have bonded over the experience, and things are going great!'
Bronson Norrish has been accused of using Married At First Sight as a platform to promote his boat business.

In an Instagram post on Tuesday, former MAFS 'bride' Scarlett Cooper, 31, posted a Facebook exchange that allegedly took place between Bronson and a former flame.

In the messages, Bronson, 35, appears to confirm that he was only on the show to promote his boat business - Party Boat Charters.

'It's just for publicity for my boats': Former MAFS star Scarlett Cooper revealed bombshell messages by Bronson Norrish (2-L) on Tuesday which suggest he only went on the show to promote his business

'Not doing it for meeting someone. Just the publicity for my boats. #cheeky. And yes I know I am definitely missing out on someone great here,' Bronson allegedly wrote.

Scarlett, who appeared on season four of MAFS, did not name the woman who Bronson allegedly sent the jaw-dropping message to.

'Not his ex, another victim of Bronson (laughing emoji). Will the real Bronson please stand up,' Scarlett wrote on the Facebook post.

Bombshell: Scarlett (left), who appeared on season four of MAFS, shared the Facebook exchange which allegedly took place between Bronson and a former flame. Pictured right is Scarlett's ex Michael

Shocking: Bronson appears to have admitted he only went on MAFS for publicity in this Facebook exchange that Scarlett posted to Instagram

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Bronson Norrish for comment.

It comes after it was revealed that the former stripper began 'dating' Perth-based pole dancer, Melissa Dobson, after filming the show last year.

Melissa went public with their romance on Monday night, sharing an intimate selfie of the pair on Instagram captioned, 'Worth the wait' - before quickly deleting it.

Hidden agenda? Bronson (right) allegedly admitted that he wasn't really looking for love on the show, despite claiming otherwise in his introduction video. Pictured left, Ines Basic

A source close to Bronson said: 'He's known Mel for years and there's always been a slight spark between them.

'Once he returned to Perth after filming MAFS they reconnected and started dating.'

Bronson left MAFS during Sunday's commitment ceremony.

During his time on the show, he was in a toxic 'marriage' to Ines Basic, 28, who had an 'affair' with another 'groom', Sam Ball, 26, behind his back.

After their betrayal was exposed, Bronson, Ines, Sam and his 'wife' Elizabeth Sobinoff, 27, all chose to leave the show.
Gina Stewart is the glamour model granny who shot to fame by sharing saucy photos of herself on Instagram.

But now the World's Hottest Grandma is taking things to the next level, selling completely naked images and videos of herself through the subscription-based service Patreon.

However, seeing the 48-year-old in all her glory doesn't come cheap, with Gina charging a whopping $500 per MONTH for her nude content.

Expensive taste! The World's Hottest Grandma Gina Stewart, 48, is selling naked content of herself on Patreon for $500 per MONTH

For fans who are willing to settle for topless content only, the price is a little more affordable at $100 a month.

Promoting her raunchy $500 tier, Gina wrote to potential members: 'I'm a worldwide media sensation and a celebrity. Only a rare few people get to access me on this level.

'You not only get ALL my Patreon content, but you also get ALL my online store content! Right here in one place! All my topless videos, photo-sets, mystery images and posters!

'PLUS, I'll will be creating some very special, very intimate content exclusively for the my Patreon Diamond Tier.'

'I'm a worldwide media sensation and a celebrity,' wrote the mother-of-four. 'Only a rare few people get to access me on this leve'

Outside of Patreon, the mother-of-four is also selling a topless video of herself for $50 via her official website.

Gina shot to fame early last year after posting sexy, non-nude photos of herself on Instagram.

Her profile soon skyrocketed, with the Gold Coast grandmother quickly picking up over 100,000 followers and making it onto Maxim's Hot 100 list.

She also became an in-demand media figure, appearing on Sunday Night, The Kyle and Jackie O Show and more.

More affordable: Outside of Patreon, Gina is selling a topless video of herself for $50 via her official website

Gina is a single mother to four children - James, 28, Casey, 25, Cody, 23, and five-year-old daughter Summer.

She also has one grandchild, which led to her being dubbed the World's Hottest Grandma.

Last year, the bombshell announced plans to remove her 'toxic' EE-cup breast implants after claiming that they made her sick.

Claim to fame: Gina shot to fame early last year after posting sexy, non-nude photos of herself on Instagram

''There is no implant out there that is safe,' she said. 'They are all toxic, they are all poison.'

Aside from her chest, Gina is all natural and says she's never had fillers or Botox.

The busty model has previously stated that she believes in 'ageing gracefully' and has urged young girls to stay away from plastic and cosmetic surgery.

She also leads a 'chemical-free lifestyle,' which includes never drinking from plastic bottles and only using natural underarm deodorant and eating organic foods.
Oscar-winning filmmaker Spike Lee on Monday reacted to President Trumps criticism of his acceptance speech at the awards ceremony on Sunday.

Well, its okee-doke, you know, Lee told Entertainment Weekly.

They change the narrative.

Trump accused Lee of a racist hit when the filmmaker urged voters to be on the right side of history when casting ballots for next years presidential election.

The president tweeted on Monday: 'Be nice if Spike Lee could read his notes, or better yet not have to use notes at all, when doing his racist hit on your President, who has done more for African Americans (Criminal Justice Reform, Lowest Unemployment numbers in History, Tax Cuts,etc.) than almost any other Pres!'

Spike Lee did not seem too bothered by President Trump's tweet accusing the Brooklyn-born filmmaker of a 'racist hit'

Trump accused Lee of a racist hit when the filmmaker urged voters to be on the right side of history when casting ballots for next years presidential election

Lee did not seem too bothered by Trump's tweet.

They did the same thing with the African-American players who were kneeling, trying to make it into an anti-American thing, an anti-patriotic thing, and an anti-military thing, Lee said.

But no ones going for that.

Just one day after winning his first competitive Oscar, Lee left Los Angeles in style, smiling and signing autographs for fans.

Instead of heading back to his hometown of New York City, the 61 year old filmmaker revealed in an Instagram video on Monday that he's heading to Thailand to shoot his new movie, Da 5 Bloods.

It was revealed he would direct Da 5 Bloods earlier in February, with Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman attached to star.

Spike at LAX: Spike Lee leaves Los Angeles at LAX airport, after winning his first Oscar

Spike on Instagram: Spike Lee takes to Instagram to reveal he's heading to Thailand to shoot his new film Da 5 Bloods

Spike was seen arriving at LAX, decked out in a camouflage Nike jogging suit with a white t-shirt underneath.

The filmmaker was wearing a pair of black glasses while wearing a pair of black and red retro Air Jordan sneakers.

He completed his outfit with a white Air Jordan bag that was hanging from his shoulders as he greeted fans at LAX.

Autograph time: Spike was seen arriving at LAX, decked out in a camouflage Nike jogging suit with a white t-shirt underneath

Spike to fans: 'I'm on my way to LAX airport. I'm going to Thailand to shoot my new film, Da 5 Bloods,' Lee said while pointing to a white hat with the title of his film

'I'm on my way to LAX airport. I'm going to Thailand to shoot my new film, Da 5 Bloods,' Lee said while pointing to a white hat with the title of his film.

'BlacKkKlansman, that's over,' he continued. 'Like Jay-Z says, "Onto the next." Da 5 Bloods. I'll be gone for two months.'

'Brooklyn, what's up? See you soon, Lee concluded his Instagram video, before presumably heading to LAX where he was spotted with fans.

Nike gear: The filmmaker was wearing a pair of black glasses while wearing a pair of black and red retro Air Jordan sneakers

Onto the next: 'BlacKkKlansman, that's over,' he continued. 'Like Jay-Z says, "Onto the next." Da 5 Bloods. I'll be gone for two months'

Lee won his first Oscar in his illustrious career on Sunday night, winning Best Adapted Screenplay for BlacKkKlansman.

His award, which he shared with Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott, was announced by his longtime collaborator Samuel L. Jackson.

When he got to the stage, Lee literally jumped into Jackson's arms to give him a hug, which was one of the night's most memorable moments.

First Oscar: Lee won his first Oscar in his illustrious career on Sunday night, winning Best Adapted Screenplay for BlacKkKlansman

Big moment: His award, which he shared with Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott, was announced by his longtime collaborator Samuel L. Jackson

Da 5 Bloods follows a group of Vietnam veterans who make their way back into the jungle several years later, to 'reclaim their lost innocence,' according to the Variety report from earlier this month.

Chadwick Boseman stars alongside Jean Reno, Delroy Lindo and Jonathan Majors, with Lee directing from a script he co-wrote with Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo, with a rewrite from Matthew Billingsley.

The project will be Lee's first feature film for Netflix, who he had previously written and directed the series She's Gotta Have It for, based on his 1986 film.

New project: Da 5 Bloods follows a group of Vietnam veterans who make their way back into the jungle several years later, to 'reclaim their lost innocence,' according to the Variety report from earlier this month
They have been posting a slew of bikini-clad snaps during their sun-soaked holiday in Sri Lanka.

And TOWIE's Chloe Meadows and her best pal Courtney Green didn't disappoint as they uploaded their latest sizzling swimwear posts after exploring the coastline of Unawatuna on Monday.

The blonde Essex beauty, 26, showcased her incredible physique in a mismatched two-piece while Courtney, 23, rocked an embellished bikini top and satin pink shorts.

Island baby: TOWIE's Chloe Meadows showcased her incredible physique in a mismatched bikini as she explored Sri Lanka's coastline with Courtney Green on Monday

Resting against a palm tree, Chloe flaunted her washboard abs in the busty black bikini top which she teamed with leafy tie-string bottoms.

The reality starlet not only showed off her toned physique but her natural beauty as she decided to go make-up free for their beach jaunt.

She captioned the snap: 'Island baby.'

Stunner: Courtney, 23, displayed her eye-popping cleavage in a an embellished bikini top as she posed against a rockery in her own sizzling snap

Courtney also kept her strong social media following updated as she shared her own bikini-clad snap.

Dressed in a pink halterneck top with jewel embellishment on the straps, the Essex star showcased her jaw-dropping assets as she stood in front of a rockery.

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.

Incredible: TOWIE's Chloe showed off her jaw-dropping figure in a yellow floral bikini after a surfing session

After riding the waves, Chloe captioned one snap holding a surfboard: 'So I have no make up on, wet messy hair, bruises on my legs and red knees and tummy from being on this surf board for hours! But I can officially surf!'

In another snap Chloe larked about as she climbed a tree with Courtney.

Pals: The Essex beauty has been documenting her sunny break with co-star Courtney Green, with the pair posting a slew of snaps from the Sri Lankan landscape

Loving it: Chloe also took to her Instagram Stories to post a hilarious video of her riding a wave, as she learned to surf in the stunning Asian landscape

Flawless: In some of the snaps Chloe has been showcasing her flawless natural complexion along with her waved tresses in the humid climes

Due to the hot and humid climes, Chloe hasn't held back from sharing some snaps of her beautiful make-up free complexion, with one selfie from her safari trip also displaying her natural waved tresses.

Another epic post from the break also shows Chloe in a more daring situation as she perches on the outside of a moving train, with her caption joking: 'My mum is having a heart attack at home, so for that Im sorry mumma.'

The blonde beauty documented her journey down the railway with plenty of posts from the track itself, oozing hippy chic with her boho-inspired outfits.

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

Stunning: The amazing landscapes of the Asian country were on full display in the series of posts shared by Chloe and Courtney

Cute: Chloe also seemed to encounter some adorable baby turtles on the beach during her beach-side outings

Meanwhile Courtney has also posted a slew of snaps from the sunny break, including a gorgeous selfie with pal Chloe.

The captioned read: 'Best of both worlds loving my trip with my bestie love that I get to travel the world with you #noregrets.'

Chloe and Courtney's break comes after they dodged the so-called cast cull ahead of TOWIE's newest series, as it was confirmed that Amber Turner, Myles Barnett, Jon Clark, Chris Clark, Chloe Lewis, Dean Ralph, Jordan Wright and Adam Oukhellou would not be returning for the new series.

Friends: Their amazing complexions took centre stage in the selfies, some of which came from Courtney

Dressed to impress: In one post in the heart of the jungle Courtney joked that she was one of the most glamorous explorers

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
She showed off her love of Thierry Mugler's designs when she showed off two of his dresses at an exhibit of his work.

On Monday, Kim Kardashian modeled a flowing pink gown and golden breastplate created by the French fashion designer.

The 38-year-old reality star also wore a white corset-style dress later in the day.

Sultry look: On Monday, Kim Kardashian, 38, modeled a flowing pink gown and golden breastplate created by French designer Thierry Mugler before rocking a white corset dress

The 5ft3in brunette beauty first displayed herself wearing the sheer, pale pink dress on her Instagram stories.

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star seemed to be channeling Wonder Woman with the dress' golden breastplate and her fabric cuff bracelet on one arm.

Kim rocked a sultry bedhead look as she tied her hair up in bun, leaving a few strands to cover one eye.

Gorgeous: Kim showcased her final look on her Instagram account for her fans

Icon: The model is visiting Canada for the Montreal Museum of Fine Art's tribute to French designer Thierry Mugler's fashion

Glam: Kim's glam was kept simple with a contoured complexion and overlined nude pout

Here for the art: The exhibition, Thierry Mugler: Couturissime, includes 140 of his outfits, plus Thierry's (above) sketches and dozens of fashion photographer shots of his work

The sometimes-model was visiting Canada for the Montreal Museum of Fine Art's tribute to the French designer's fashion.

The exhibition, Thierry Mugler: Couturissime, includes 140 of his outfits, plus his sketches and dozens of fashion photographer shots of his work.

Veteran model Pat Cleveland and RuPaul's Drag Race winner Violet Chachki also appeared in Mugler's couture for the preview event.

Warm welcome: Kim was greeted by the man of the hour whilst on the carpet

Outfit change: The reality star also wore a white corset-style dress later in the day, also designed by Mugler

Pretty in pink: The 5ft3in brunette beauty first displayed herself wearing the sheer, pale pink dress on her Instagram stories

Making an entrance: Kim made quite a stir as she arrived at the museum exhibit already wearing the sheer dress

Revealing outfit: The pink dress featured a clasp over its sole shoulder

Strong woman: The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star seemed to be channeling Wonder Woman with the dress' golden breastplate and her fabric cuff bracelet on one arm. Kim rocked a sultry bedhead look as she tied her hair up in bun, leaving a few strands to cover one eye

After modeling her pink gown, Kim had a quick costume change.

The wife of Kanye West posted photos of herself being styled on the fly after switching over to a form-fitting white dress.

The dress' torso was done up in tight pleats.

The bust-lifting outfit looked like a corset, though it extended below her waist.

While she filmed, backstage helpers twisted her hair into thick tendrils.

Good company: Veteran model Pat Cleveland and RuPaul's Drag Race winner Violet Chachki also appeared in Mugler's couture for the preview event

Figure-hugging: After modeling her pink gown, Kim had a quick costume change

Fashionista: Kim's second look featured a shell like top that flared out into a rectangular base to emphasize her curves

Hot mama! Kim once again took to social media to showcased her impressive look, ensuring all eyes were on her ample cleavage

Personal tour guide: Thierry was seen leading Kim into one of the various showrooms during the evening

Figure-hugging: The wife of Kanye West posted photos of herself being styled on the fly after switching over to a form-fitting white dress

Tight squeeze: The dress' torso was done up in tight pleats. The bust-lifting outfit looked like a corset, though it extended below her waist

New 'do: While she filmed, backstage helpers twisted her hair into thick tendrils

The Strasbourg-born designer is perhaps best known for creating the iconic black black dress worn by Demi Moore in the 1993 film Indecent Proposal.

The outfit featured a spider-like web of straps over the shoulders and bust that were reminiscent of the 1998 vintage Mugler dress recently worn by Kim Kardashian.

The racier variation featured straps that showed off Kim's breasts, compared to the earlier, more chaste variation.

Putting on a show: The racier variation featured straps that showed off Kim's breasts, compared to the earlier, more chaste variation

Inspired: Kim as seen taking in all the designs

Classic style: The Strasbourg-born designer is perhaps best known for creating the iconic black black dress worn by Demi Moore in the 1993 film Indecent Proposal. The outfit featured a spider-like web of straps over the shoulders and bust that were reminiscent of the 1998 vintage Mugler dress recently worn by Kim Kardashian

Last Tuesday, Kim took to her Instagram to public call-out rapid fashion house Fashion Nova, which had introduced an affordable copy of her black Mugler dress less than 24 hours after she wore it.

She lambasted the organization for stealing the work of the designers she collaborates with and for misleading followers into thinking the dresses are readily available.

She went a step further by suing fast fashion house Missguided USA for 'damages in excess of $10 million,' according to TMZ.

The legal filing cited Missguided's practice of using photos of Kim wearing the original dress in their complaint that customers might mistakenly believe she was working with the fashion company.

Rapid: Kim Kardashian filed a lawsuit against another 'rapid' fashion company, Missguided USA, on Wednesday

Before: On Tuesday, Kim took to her Instagram and Twitter to hit back at fast fashion companies after Fashion Nova advertised a copy of the 1998 Thierry Mugler vintage gown she wore on Sunday

Slam: 'Only two days ago, I was privileged enough to wear a one-of-a-kind vintage Mugler dress and in less than 24 hours it was knocked off and thrown up on a site - but it's not for sale. You have to sign up for a waitlist because the dress hasnt even been made to sell yet
She's been a Dior beauty muse for the last seven years.

And, looking flawless at 45, Eva Herzigova made the perfect ambassador at Dior Addict's Stellar Shine party during Paris Fashion Week on Monday.

The veteran model showcased her lithe figure in a black bodysuit and feathered skirt, exuding elegance at the beauty bash.

Fashion darling: Eva Herzigova attended the Dior Addict party during Paris Fashion Week on Monday night

She stuck to a classic black palette, flashing her dark undergarments in a semi-sheer skirt.

The model layered a calf-grazing cape over her shoulders for the perfect Parisian feel and carried off a pair of dainty pointed heels to perfection.

Eva, who has been modelling for Dior's beauty campaigns since 2012, displayed her flawless complexion in a parred back beauty look.

Glamorous: Her skin was positively glowing at the Paris Fashion Week event

Daring in Dior: The fashion model wore a bodysuit underneath her feathered dress Eva Herzigova

Showing her shape: Eva draw attention to her gorgeous hourglass underneath a cape

Her make-up look was minimal, allowing her radiant skin stand out with just a slick of the new shimmer lipstick on to dress up the look.

Meanwhile, the new face of Dior Addict's Stellar Shine lipstick range was also representing the brand at Monday's event.

Named the new ambassador last December, Cara Delevingne pulled out a stunning ice blue ballgown to steal the show.

Black beauty: The model left the venue in her sleeveless cape, looking chic

Elegant: She exuded elegance in a pair of pointed heels and a black cape

Flawless: The veteran model looked gorgeous as she left the venue

British beauty Cara put her own spin on it, fanning out her delicate pleated skirt to reveal heavy-duty black boots beneath.

She wore a strapless corseted bodice that boosted her cleavage, where she wore a collection of layered chains.

And the dress left her arms bare, drawing attention to her colourful tattoos, including an elephant on her right forearm and a tiger illustration on her left.

Belles of the ball: Cara Delevingne (left) joined Olivia Culpo (right) were also among the guests

Fan-tastic: The model fanned out her elegant party dress to reveal her edgy boots

Olivia Culpo brought the 'stellar shine' to the event in a Dior dress design that sparkled in a nude hue.

She went braless in the super-plunging nude dress and accessorised it with glamorous pearlised shoes and a Dior handbag.

Following the close of Milan, Paris Fashion Week kicked off on Monday with the Christian Dior runway show scheduled for the following day.

Party ready: It was a strapless gown with a fitted corset design

Acting up: The model couldn't stop playing with her glamorous full skirt

Decorated: In the strapless gown, Cara put her collection of colourful tattoos on display

Sheer delight: Olivia sparkled in her semi-sheer dress, flashing her under garments beneath

Dior darling: She carried a Dior handbag into the beauty event
Porsha Williams was the lady in red for her baby shower Sunday with fellow Bravo reality stars.

The 37-year-old actress donned a long-sleeved crimson maxi maternity dress for the celebration.

The Real Housewives Of Atlanta star accessorized with large hoop earrings and her engagement ring from fiance Dennis McKinley, 42.

Baby shower: Porsha Williams wore a red maxi maternity dress Sunday at her baby shower

Dennis wore a matching red The North Face hoodie and kissed Porsha at the baby shower.

While they matched up in red, guests were encouraged to wear white.

Former RHOA star Kenya Moore, 48, stunned in a dress by LSO Designs by Linda Stokes.

The couture dress featured a plunging neckline and geometric print.

Tender moment: The 37-year-old reality star kissed her fiance Dennis McKinley, 42, as they both wore red to the party

Kenya shared a snap on Instagram and wrote in the caption: 'I did not come to play'.

Cynthia Bailey, 52, also looked typically stunning in an ivory gown.

She posted a photo of herself along with frequent RHOA guest Shamea Morton, 36, as they both accessorized with giant hoop earrings.

Not playing: Kenya Moore stunned in a white dress by LSO Designs by Linda Stokes as guests were encouraged to wear white to the baby shower

Hoop earrings: Cynthia Bailey and Shamea Morton both donned white dresses and hoop earrings

The Real Housewives Of Potomac star Monique Samuels, 35, also shared a photo on Instagram of herself heading to the baby shower with RHOA friend Tanya Sam and main cast member Eva Marcille, 34.

'A fab time with some beautiful ladies,' she wrote in the caption.

Eva got the big hoop earrings memo and also accessorized with the popular jewelry.

Beautiful ladies: Monique Samuels, Tanya Sam and Eva Marcille all looked fabulous in white

Porsha revealed last September that she was pregnant and Dennis proposed October 1.

The moment was captured by RHOA cameras with Lil Mo serenading the couple as Dennis dropped to a knee and popped the question.

Porsha during a reveal party in October announced they were expecting a daughter.
Just four days after her divorce to her third husband was finalized, Danielle Staub is already getting back out there, sharing a new photo of her kissing a mystery man.

'Mystery solved,' Staub said, presumably without a hint of irony on Instagram on Monday afternoon at Nikki Beach at Saint Barth.

The 'mystery' she's referring to is likely what's at the end of a rainbow, since the rainbow in the background 'ended' at his face, but the mystery of his identity has been solved, with US Weekly revealing he is Oliver Maier.

Mystery man: Danielle Staub shares a photo of her kissing a mystery man, four days after her divorce was finalized

Maier is a businessman, with a source telling US Weekly that, 'They are dating and very much in love.'

Staub, 56 (born Beverly Ann Merrill), had been married to her latest husband, Marty Caffrey, who she was married to for just three months before they announced they were getting a divorce in August.

As for the new mystery man, she wouldn't reveal his identity, they are apparently already quite serious.

'We fell in love,' Staub told People in a brief statement.

Soaking up the sun: A few hours earlier, she shared another photo from Cheval Blanc St-Barth Isle de France with her laying out and soaking up the sun in a negligee

A few hours earlier, she shared another photo from Cheval Blanc St-Barth Isle de France with her laying out and soaking up the sun in a negligee.

'Living my best life! In #stbarths @ChevalBlancSt-Barth merci beaucoup,' Staub said in the Instagram caption.

She also shared a number of other shots from the resort, including a new selfie of her on the beach.

Beach life: She also shared a number of other shots from the resort, including a new selfie of her on the beach

After her last marriage that spanned just nine months, including six months of separation before the divorce was finalized, Staub admitted to TMZ that she was already looking for a new man, with one stipulation.

'I've been dipping already baby,' Staub said, before adding, 'But nowhere in New Jersey. Jersey boys are not for me.'

'I never took his name for a reason ... because who wants to be called Caffrey,' she added about her third husband's name. 'Staub is my name, don't forget it.'

New man: After her last marriage that spanned just nine months, including six months of separation before the divorce was finalized, Staub admitted to TMZ that she was already looking for a new man, with one stipulation

Both Staub and Caffrey agreed to an uncontested split in front of a Bergen County court judge on Thursday, in a hearing that lasted an hour.

'Danielle is very much looking forward to moving on to the next chapter of her life and is excited to see what that will look like, Staubs spokesperson, Steve Honig, said.

'She is incredibly grateful for all the support she has received from her children, family and friends.'

The US Weekly source added that they 'barely looked at each other' during the court hearing and 'did not look happy.'

Caffrey told US Weekly that he's still 'cordial' with Staub and they're still living in the same house, adding that he doesn't know who this new beau is.

'I dont know him. Danielle still lives here,' he said. 'They couldnt be dating any more than a week or two, but that doesnt matter to me.

'I hope hes the one to write the check and buy my house and contents and pay her outstanding debt to me,' he added

'Itll save me the trouble of selling in the market. In fact, Ill shake his hand and thank him. If shes happy, Im happy for her. Weve both been dating.'
It didn't take long for Cobie Smulders to find a new gig after the cancelation of her Netflix series Friends From College.

On Monday, it was revealed that the 36-year-old How I Met Your Mother alumna has already signed on to star in a pilot for an ABC adaptation of the comic series Stumptown.

Unlike the superhero fare she's become known for, Stumptown is a detective comic centered around a private investigator.

New project: On Monday, it was revealed that the 36-year-old How I Met Your Mother alumna has already signed on to star in a pilot for an ABC adaptation of the comic series Stumptown; pictured February 24 at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills

The British Canadian actress will star as Dex Parios, a private detective based in Portland, Oregon.

The strong-willed and quick-witted military veteran has a hard-driving lifestyle and is more concerned with the problems of others, rather than her own issues.

In the first volume of the comic series, Dex is tasked with finding the missing daughter of a local casino magnate.

However, her gambling addiction and massive debt has complicated various business relationships.

Film noir homage: The British Canadian actress will star as Dex Parios, a private detective based in Portland, Oregon

Dark story: In the first volume of the comic series, Dex is tasked with finding the missing daughter of a local casino magnate; pictured with husband Taran Killam, 36, on February 24

Stumptown began as a four-issue limited series in 2009, followed by a second limited series in 2012.

In 2014 the title returned, this time as an ongoing comic.

It was created by Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth, who served as the writer and artist, respectively.

Stumptown also shares minor characters with Rucka's other comic works, leaving the option open for a larger universe if the series is successful.

Gone too soon: Cobie previously starred in Netflix's comedy series Friends From College, in an ensemble featuring Keegan-Michael Key and Fred Savage. The series released its second season on January 11, but Netflix announced it had cancelled the program a month later

Critical bomb: The show failed to drum up excitement among critics and was one of the streaming giant's worst-reviewed shows; pictured February 2

Cobie previously starred in Netflix's comedy series Friends From College, in an ensemble featuring Keegan-Michael Key and Fred Savage.

The series released its second season on Jan. 11, but Netflix announced it had canceled the program a month later.

The show failed to drum up excitement among critics and was one of the streaming giant's worst-reviewed shows.

What she does best: She'll continue her comic book trend when she reprises her role as S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Maria Hill in Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home; shown with Taran Killam in October

In addition to her upcoming return to network television, the Vancouver-born actress and wife of SNL veteran Taran Killam, 36, has a busy year ahead in film.

The Marvel Studios star recently lent her voice to The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, in which she played Wonder Woman, one of the flagship characters for rival comics empire DC.

She'll continue that comic book trend when she reprises her role as S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Maria Hill in Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home.

Avengers: Endgame will be released nationwide on April 26, and Spider-Man: Far From Home will hit theaters July 5.
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Never mind Britannia or John Bull. The true symbol of British spirit is a middle-aged misery guts. Yes it is, don't argue with me, now stop answering back and turn that ruddy radio down.

Short-tempered curmudgeons have been the backbone of comedy since Tony Hancock was grouching about East Cheam, moaning about teddy boys and traffic wardens.

'Stone me, I don't know why I bother,' he constantly grumbled, a phrase that should be our national motto  carved above the Lion and the Unicorn crest, instead of that French mumbo-jumbo about 'honi soit qui mal y pense'.

Down the years, we've so often saluted his type: Leonard Rossiter as Rigsby the spiteful landlord in Rising Damp; Martin the petty-minded spouse played by Richard Briers in Ever Decreasing Circles; the insufferable Victor Meldrew (Richard Wilson) of One Foot In The Grave.

Martin Clunes plays driving instructor Warren Thompson in the new BBC show. Clunes, already well-loved as the humourless GP who faints at the sight of blood in Doc Martin, was perfect casting

Warren is a stepdad to two teenagers, one idle and the other swotty, while his frustrated partner Anne is sweet, nervous and desperate for a bit of affection

But we haven't seen a classic example of the species for years until Martin Clunes pulled up in his Renault Clio as a mean-minded, bullying, tight-fisted driving instructor in Warren (BBC1). Within ten minutes, it felt like we'd known him all our lives.

Clunes, already well-loved as the humourless GP who faints at the sight of blood in Doc Martin, was perfect casting. He's got the physical presence, a truculence that feels intimidating because of his sheer height. When he cut a driving lesson short and threw his student out of the car, it was entirely believable.

But we also know he's a coward  and when he was caught fly-tipping on a country lane, the angry glare of a farmer had him cringing and bent double.

This first episode spent a lot of time doing the introductions, which weren't really needed since the situation was so traditional. Warren is a stepdad to two teenagers, one idle and the other swotty, while his frustrated partner Anne is sweet, nervous and desperate for a bit of affection.

Anyone who remembers Wendy Craig in Butterflies will know every nuance of that set-up. Meanwhile, the people next-door have got pots of money and love flashing it around  they've just bought a hot-tub, the show-offs. Sitcom-land is full of neighbours like that.

This is the sort of comedy that Auntie Beeb makes while holding her nose. There's no political message, no right-on characters, no urban edge. There are, however, plenty of straightforward laughs. If you still chuckle at repeats of George And Mildred, you'll enjoy Warren.

Child Genius

Rating:

There's more to enjoy about Child Genius (C4), too, since the arrival of Richard Osman as questionmaster. This quiz for under-13s is still as difficult as ever, but the cruelty has gone.

Osman excels at coaxing and reassuring the youngsters. 'I love your sparkly shoes,' he told one anxious girl. 'I'm wearing a pair just like that behind this desk.'

The children continue to amaze. William, 11, learned the Zulu language in three weeks. Dan, nine, could effortlessly spell 'churrigueresque' and 'epyllion'

Richard Osman is the new presenter of Channel 4's Child Genius which is as tricky as it has always been, but less cruel

It's an improvement on the original format, which seemed to sneer at the children, whether they displayed unfeasible knowledge or forgot everything they knew under the TV lights.

There's less outright mockery of the parents, too. A few are clingy, even eccentric, but we had none of the overbearing control freaks from previous years.

The children continue to amaze. William, 11, learned the Zulu language in three weeks. Dan, nine, could effortlessly spell 'churrigueresque' and 'epyllion'.

Whether such prodigious intelligence survives into adulthood, no one seems to be able to say. One 11-year-old girl had been the brightest toddler in the world, with an IQ of 161 aged two.

Yet she was the first to be eliminated from this contest. Work that out.
EastEnders' Ruby Allen faced a horrific night when she was shockingly arrested for sexual assault during Monday's episode.

The character, played by Louisa Lytton, had been having a disastrous night so far at the party for restaurant Walford East, which she had organised.

After previously convincing sisters Iqra and Habiba to do the PR for the event, events organiser Ruby had been hoping the night would go without a hitch.

Arrested: EastEnders' Ruby Allen faced a horrific night when she was shockingly arrested for sexual assault during Monday's episode

But things got off to a bad start for Stacey Fowler's best pal as she upset Iqra after posting a picture of her on the restaurant's social media account.

With Iqra clearly upset about having her picture online, she raged at Ruby and subsequently flung her out of the event.

Eventually after calming her sister down, Habiba allowed Ruby back in to continue with the party.

But things got worse for the brunette beauty as she was then groped by sleazy potential client Lewis.

Big shock: Ruby was stunned when DS Todd interrupted the party and arrested her for sexual assault

Shambles: The character, played by Louisa Lytton, had been having a disastrous night so far at the party for restaurant Walford East, which she had organised

The character proceeded to throw Lee out of the bash, making a huge scene in the process.

With Ruby's big night turning into a disaster, the final nail in the coffin came as the police came knocking for her.

Initially believing they were there to discuss her ongoing rape case, after her assault last year at the hands of two of Martin Fowler's friends, Ruby refused to step outside with them.

But she and the rest of the party-goers were soon stunned when DS Todd then arrested her for sexual assault.

Bad move: Things got off to a bad start for Stacey Fowler's best pal as she upset Iqra after posting a picture of her on the restaurant's social media account

Out of order: Things got worse for the brunette beauty as she was then groped by sleazy potential client Lewis

Nightmare: With Ruby's big night turning into a disaster, the final nail in the coffin came as the police came knocking for her

Ruby protested her innocence, shouting 'I haven't done anything wrong', while mate Stacey chimed in, ranting: 'You can't be serious? This is a joke!'

Later at the police station, Ruby discovered that the allegation of assault came from a former colleague called Blake Turner.

Following her release from custody, she revealed to Stacey that she won't let the allegation deter her from pushing forward with the rape case against her attackers.

She defianlty declared: 'Stace, I'm gonna see this rape case through.

No way: Initially believing they were there to discuss her ongoing rape case, after her assault last year at the hands of two of Martin Fowler's friends, Ruby refused to step outside with them

Innocent: Ruby protested her innocence, shouting 'I haven't done anything wrong', while mate Stacey chimed in, ranting: 'You can't be serious? This is a joke!'

'I'm sick of being pushed around by everyone. I'm not sitting back anymore. I'm gonna fight fire with fire!'

Did Ruby's attackers have anything to do with her shock arrest?

And just how far will Ruby - the daughter of notorious gangster Johnny Allen - go to ensure justice is finally served?

EastEnders continues Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays on BBC One.
Let child tinker - the act of making some small changes to something, in an attempt to improve it or repair in a casual or desultory way, often to no useful effect. Why?

Opinion: What is the value of tinkering? It helped develop Stephen Hawking's creativity, and we should encourage it in our children http://bit.ly/2SnezwM pic.twitter.com/55DDDBSLza

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tinker Dictionary result for tinker
Iggy Azalea has persistently denied having butt implants and insists that the only plastic surgery she has had is breast implants and a nose job.

However, one leading plastic surgeon suspects that the Fancy hitmaker may have undergone a Brazilian butt lift.

Plastic surgeon to the stars, Michael Salzhauer (aka Dr. Miami), who has not operated on the rapper, told Daily Mail Australia this week that Iggy's 'shape' is a dead giveaway.

Is this the secret to Iggy Azalea's stunning curves? Plastic surgeon to the stars Dr. Miami claims rapper may have had a Brazilian butt lift... after she said she's only had 'breast implants and a nose job'

'...Her shape and personal history makes me think she has,' he said, adding that telltale signs of a Brazilian butt lift include: 'A very small waist and big buttocks. Also, tiny scars in the lower buttocks creases, they are usually very hard to find.'

A Brazilian butt lift is a form of buttock augmentation, which enhances the size and shape of a patient's bottom using a fat transfer from other areas of the body.

Iggy, who is often hailed by fans for her womanly curves, previously told Sway Calloway on Sway in The Morning that her bottom is completely natural.

Expert opinion: '...[Iggy's] shape and personal history makes me think she has,' Dr. Miami said adding that telltale signs of a Brazilian butt lift include: 'A very small waist and big buttocks. Also, tiny scars in the lower buttocks creases, they are usually very hard to find'. Pictured in 2016

Before and after: Iggy is pictured (left) in the 2011 music video for her song Pussy and (right) in May 2018

'Of course the butt is mine. I heard it's not a real butt, I've heard it's a number of things. I heard sometimes it's my underpants. I heard it's implants. All kinds of crazy things,' she said in 2013.

'It's my flesh, it's my butt.'

In 2016, Iggy defended her decision to have a nose job, telling Elle Canada: 'I think, in 2016, people should be more accepting of the fact that both famous and non-famous women are having cosmetic procedures'.

Boob job: In 2016, Iggy posted this photo with Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, Dr. Ashkan Ghavami. The caption read: 'Caught up with @DrGhavami today!!!! Incase you were curious... 1. he is hilarious 2. He is my Greek yogurt soul mate 3. He is the reason I have Fabulously perky boobs... (LOL)'

In March 2015, she told Vogue: 'Four months ago, I got bigger boobs! I'd thought about it my entire life.'

Last year, leading UK-based plastic surgeon Mark Ho-Asjoe shared similar sentiments to Dr. Miami and claimed photos of Iggy suggest that she may be the victim of botched surgery.

'Iggy's work looks botched to me,' he reportedly told Closer magazine.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Iggy Azalea for comment.

Hitting back: In 2016, Iggy defended her decision to have a nose job, telling Elle Canada : 'I think, in 2016, people should be more accepting of the fact that both famous and non-famous women are having cosmetic procedures'

Butt augmentations are said to be on the rise in Australia, with many patients inspired by the natural shapes of stars like Iggy and Kim Kardashian.

In 2015, The Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery estimated that Aussies spend $1 billion each year on cosmetic treatments.

While some patients seek cheaper alternatives abroad, particularly in parts of Asia, Dr. Miami believes this is a huge risk.

Natural curves: Iggy, who is often hailed by fans for her womanly curves, previously told Sway Calloway on Sway in The Morning that her bottom is completely natural. 'Of course the butt is mine. I heard it's not a real butt, I've heard it's a number of things. I heard sometimes it's my underpants. I heard it's implants. All kinds of crazy things,' she said in 2013

'The difficulty lies in doing proper background research about a surgeon in a foreign country,' he said.

'If you don't speak the language it's hard to assess qualifications.

'If things go badly how will that be handled if you are thousands of miles from home? As with anything in life you often get what you pay for. Ultimately, each person has to decide for themselves if the risk is worth the savings.'

Celebrity patient: The surgeon, who has operated on various celebrities including former Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham (pictured), recently launched The World Association of Gluteal Surgeons to promote safer surgery

The surgeon, who has operated on various celebrities including former Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham, recently launched The World Association of Gluteal Surgeons to promote safer surgery.

'The Brazilian Buttlift AKA the 'BBL' is a wonderful operation that dramatically changes a person's body shape and is in very high demand,' he said.

'The purpose of the organisation is to promote patient safety and education with regards to gluteal surgery. We provide resources and training to gluteal surgeons so that they can perform this surgery safely with excellent results.'
Justin Theroux has battled with a neighbor in his West Village apartment building for years with new domestic violence accusations reaching quite the boiling point.

The 47-year-old ex-husband of actress Jennifer Aniston was seen riding his bicycle in the city on Monday as a Page Six report detailed his years-long legal tangle over building renovations with a neighbor, where the bold allegations stem from.

Theroux kept warm in a puffy black coat with dark blue jeans and black leather sneakers as he rode, donning dark sunglasses while sporting a thick beard.

The latest: Justin Theroux, 47, was seen riding his bicycle in the city on Monday amid reports he's accusing a neighbor in New York City's West Village of beating his wife

The Leftovers star said in documents submitted to a Manhattan civil court that he's seen and heard alarming things coming from his downstairs neighbors - an attorney named Norman Resnicow and his wife Barbara - that point to domestic violence.

'Because my apartment is directly above the Resnicows' apartment, I have had the misfortune over the years of personally overhearing Mr. Resnicow frequently scream at and berate Mrs. Resnicow, with some of those instances resulting in calls to 911,' The Girl on the Train actor said.

Theroux told the court he contacted the authorities Feb. 10 after hearing Norman shouting at Barbara. Building officials subsequently witnessed Barbara with a black eye days later, Theroux said.

'Although I cannot know for certain that Mrs. Resnicow's injury stems from the Sunday night altercation 2 days earlier,' Theroux said, 'I am bringing this to the Court's attention because, by all outward appearances, earlier attempts to go through the police have not been effective.'

City life: Theroux kept warm in a puffy black coat with dark blue jeans and black leather sneakers as he rode

Midas touch: The American Psycho actor's bike and watch were both golden in color

Both of the Resnicows deny Theroux's accusations in their court statements with Barbara claiming she tripped and fell on a sidewalk.

'This resulted in a bruise below my left eye,' she said - two days before Theroux initially contacted police, in addition to text messages communicating the news to her husband.

'On the preceding Friday, Feb. 8, while returning to my office from the gym at lunchtime, I tripped and hit the side of my face on the sidewalk while admiring a cute toddler,' she said in court docs.

Barbara has 'never feared for [her] safety while alone with Norman' and believes the domestic violence allegations are 'Theroux's attempt to gain an advantage' in the renovation rift.

Norman said that he often has to raise his voice so his wife can hear him, as she has hearing problems.

Focused: The actor seemed attentive as he turned a corner in the busy street

No love lost: Norman Resnicow told DailyMailTV last year that he and Theroux were friendly at one time, until the actor ceased to care 'about the people who live downstairs'

Theroux and his lawyer Eric Sherman 'owe Norman Resnicow an apology,' Resnicow's lawyer Peter Levine said in the response.

Theroux, who appeared in last year's Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic On the Basis of Sex, has been in litigation with Resnicow for years, filing a harassment suit in 2017 about renovations he was making to his home, according to the paper. Theroux has past accused Resnicow of trespassing and spying on him.

Resnicow told DailyMailTV last year that he and Theroux were friendly at one time, until the actor ceased to care 'about the people who live downstairs.'

Theroux split with Jennifer Aniston a year ago after more than two years of marriage.
The ballgowns may have been beautiful on the Oscars red carpet - but some had to be saved for Paris Fashion Week.

Cara Delevingne pulled a stunning ice blue ballgown out of the closet for Monday night's Dior Addict Stellar Shine party, where she made sure to stand out in edgy black boots.

And Olivia Culpo brought the sparkle in a shimmering tulle dress to mark the first day of shows in Paris.

Belles of the ball: Cara Delevingne (left) joined Olivia Culpo (right) at the Dior Addict party during Paris Fashion Week on Monday night

British beauty Cara put her own spin on red carpet glamour, fanning out her delicate pleated skirt to reveal her heavy-duty black footwear.

She wore a strapless corseted bodice that boosted her cleavage, where she wore a collection of layered chains.

And the dress left her arms bare, drawing attention to her colourful tattoos, including an elephant on her right forearm and a tiger illustration on her left.

Fan-tastic: The model fanned out her elegant party dress to reveal her edgy boots

Party ready: It was a strapless gown with a fitted corset design

Acting up: The model couldn't stop playing with her glamorous full skirt

Decorated: In the strapless gown, Cara put her collection of colourful tattoos on display

Cara was named the face of the new Dior Addict's lipstick range last December - and it will launch in March.

Meanwhile, Olivia was representing the brand in a scene-stealing Dior dress design that flashed her fitted bodice beneath.

She went braless in the super-plunging nude dress and accessorised it with glamorous pearlised shoes and a Dior handbag.

Sheer delight: Olivia sparkled in her semi-sheer dress, flashing her under garments beneath

Dior darling: She carried a Dior handbag into the beauty event

All that glitters: Her ravishing display was completed with a flawless Dior beauty look

Olivia and Cara were joined by veteran model Eva Herzigova, who showcased her lithe figure in a black bodysuit and feathered skirt.

Following the close of Milan, Paris Fashion Week kicked off on Monday with the Christian Dior runway show slated for the following day.

Saint Laurent will close Tuesday's shows with Lanvin, Kenzo and Isabel Marant scheduled in the coming days.

Daring in Dior: Eva Herzigova wore a bodysuit underneath her feathered dress

Glamorous: Her skin was positively glowing at the Paris Fashion Week event

That's a wrap! Cara covered up with a sleeveless cape as she made her depature

Heading home: Following a dinner with fellow models, the beauty made her departure

Bootylicious: Cara added her own spin to the ensemble in her rocker boots

Black beauty: The model left the venue in her sleeveless cape, looking chic

Elegant: She exuded elegance in a pair of pointed heels and a black cape
While Hollywood's finest attended a blitz of after-parties following the Oscars, Olivia Colman celebrated her Best Actress win by taking a group of friends on a trip around Los Angeles on a midnight party bus.

The actress, 45 - who took home the award for her role as Queen Anne in The Favourite - took five of her friends on the late-night trip on Sunday to celebrate her win, reports The Sun.

In a video obtained by the publication, the film star can be seen boarding the bus which is decked out with neon lights and dark furniture as her friends join her for their night on the town.

Party: Olivia Colman, 45, celebrated her Best Actress win by taking her and a group of friends on a trip around Los Angeles on a midnight party bus

MailOnline has contacted Olivia's representative for comment.

The Broadchurch star was overjoyed as she accepted the gong, during which she reached out to little girls everywhere in an inspiring and sweet speech.

She said: 'Any little girl who's practicing your speech on the telly, you never know! I used to work as a cleaner and I spent quite a lot of my time imagining this.'

While she grew tearful and emotional during, the overwhelmed Peep Show star was urged to wrap up her speech by Academy bosses - yet hilariously blew a raspberry and made a crass gesture at the teleprompter.

Celebration: The actress took five of her friends on the late-night trip to celebrate her win, reports The Sun

Olivia's speech was laden with emotion as she paid tribute to her many aides and supports however she tickled audiences when she made the crass gesture.

She was up against Glenn Close for The Wife, Yalitza Aparicio for Roma, Lady Gaga for A Star is Born and Melissa McCarthy of Can You Ever Forgive Me?, said: 'It's genuinely quite stressful. This is hilarious. I got an Oscar'.

Olivia added the Oscar to her stream of earlier wins for her roles at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and National Society of Film Critics for the role in the period drama.

Honoured: Olivia was overjoyed as she accepted the gong, during which she reached out to little girls everywhere in an inspiring and sweet speech

An emotional Olivia thanked her agent who took her on 20 years ago, and her children - and admitted she wasn't sure if they were watching at home.

'My kids who are at home and watching, look!' she exclaimed. 'If you're not, then, kind of well-done, but I sort of hope you are. This is not going to happen again.'

'To my husband Ed, my best friend, I love you so much. 25 years, you've been my best supporter and... he's gonna cry,' which got another big laugh from the audience, before adding, 'I'm not.'

'Thank you so much, Fox, everybody, the cast the crew,' even turning to presenters Francis McDormand and Sam Rockwell, thanking them, before turning to Best Actress nominees Gaga and Melissa.

She turned and blew a kiss at her fellow nominees, as Lady Gaga blew a few back at her in one of the night's most memorable moments.
She enjoyed a glam kid-free evening at the Vanity Fair Oscars Party on Sunday night.

But Behati Prinsloo, 30, was back to her routine come Monday, spotted out and about in Beverly Hills with her daughter Dusty Rose, two.

The pair enjoyed some bonding time doing some retail therapy and Barney's New York before hitting the park.

Mother-daughter time: Behati Prinsloo was back to being a doting mom on Monday, following her big night at the Vanity Fair Oscars after party on Sunday night

Behati kept things casual in an oversized cream colored cropped sweater for the outing.

She teamed the look with a pair of mid-rise mom jeans that were distressed and frayed around the knee.

The Victoria's Secret Angel completed her look with sneakers and kept a low profile with some trendy shades.

Dressed down: Behati kept things casual in an oversized cream colored cropped sweater for the outing

Park day: The mom-of-two under two, also took to social media to share a clip pushing Dusty on a swing at the park

Behati styled her brunette tresses up into an easy top knot and appeared to be wearing no makeup.

The mom-of-two under two, also took to social media to share a clip pushing Dusty on a swing at the park.

'The morning after,' she wrote.

It takes an army: Behati also shared a photo of her glam and team hard a work ahead of the coveted after party

Fashionista: Sunday saw the Namibian beauty opt for a Dole & Gabanna leopard print ensemble or the Vanity Fair event following the Oscars

Behati also shared a photo of her glam and team hard a work ahead of the coveted after party.

Sunday saw the Namibian beauty opt for a Dole & Gabanna leopard print ensemble or the Vanity Fair event following the Oscars.

She wore a buttoned-up blazer with a sheer maxi skirt of the same material.

Behati's tresses were styled up voluminously and her makeup featured a smokey cat-eye and overlined nude pout.

Her husband Adam Levine did not appear to be at the party with her, continuing to keep a low profile after his Super Bowl half-time performance earlier in the month.
On Sunday evening she was seen out in a glamorous white gown for Vanity Fair's Oscars Party.

Nina Dobrev was far more practically dressed when she was spotted running errands in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon.

The gorgeous 30-year-old looked casual chic in a black turtle neck sweater with matching skin-tight leggings and black designer slip-on loafers.

Casual style: Nina Dobrev showed off her slender pins in lowkey black leggings that she teamed with a black sweater, black slip-on shoes and a denim jacket on Monday in Los Angeles

Fabulous gown: Nina donned this cream shear dress at Vanity Fair's Oscar party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills

She completed her outfit with a pale blue denim jacket and carried a dark red purse across her body.

Not seen with the brunette beauty was her new beau, wannabe screenwriter and director Grant Mellon.

'Even though the relationship is still hush-hush, Nina refers to Grant as her boyfriend among her inner circle of friends,' a source reportedly told E! News.

He is even said to have earned the thumbs up from best pal Julianne Hough, 30.

Beautiful brunette: The gorgeous 30-year-old also carried a dark red Chanel purse on a chain across her body and carried a phone

Checking things out: Vampire Diaries alum went through the things she was hlding

Nina was previously in a long-term relationship with her Vampire Diaries co-star, Ian Somerhalder, 40, and Scream Queens actor Glen Powell, 30.

She currently stars as Clem in the TV series, Fam.

Next up for the actress is a starring role in the action-crime film, Lucky Day.

Then, Nina will join Damian Lewis and Ben Platt in the drama, Run This Town.

The film follows the 'inner workings of a city seen through the eyes of the interns and assistants that run it,' according to IMDB.

It's due out on March 9 at the South By Southwest Film Festival which kicks off in Austin, Texas on March 8 and runs until March 17.
Bronson Norrish wasted no time moving on from 'ex-wife' Ines Basic.

Daily Mail Australia can reveal the former stripper, 35, started 'dating' Perth-based pole dancer Melissa Dobson after filming Married At First Sight.

Melissa went public with their romance on Monday night, sharing an intimate selfie of the pair on Instagram captioned, 'Worth the wait' - before quickly deleting it.

EXCLUSIVE: Moving on! MAFS' Bronson Norrish finds love with Perth pole dancer Melissa Dobson after ending 'marriage' to Ines Basic

A source close to Bronson says: 'He's known Mel for years and there's always been a slight spark between them.

'Once he returned to Perth after filming MAFS they reconnected and started dating.'

The insider joked that Melissa has 'no problem' with Bronson's racy past a stripper, working as a professional pole dance instructor in Western Australia herself.

'He's known Mel for years': A source close to Bronson told Daily Mail Australia that the beauty is an old friend and they 'reconnected' after he finished filming MAFS

'Worth the wait': Melissa gushed over Bronson in their first couple selfie on Monday night - before quickly deleting the post

Although it is unclear why Melissa removed their selfie from Instagram, she hashtagged the phrase 'cat's out of the bag' on the post.

The tag was presumably referencing how they've had to keep their romance secret in recent months, until his 'marriage' to Ines ended on-screen.

She tagged the location of their selfie in Bali, shortly after Bronson had shared a picture in an airport to his own Instagram with the caption, 'Holiday mode'.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Bronson, Melissa and Nine for comment.

Racy! The insider joked that Melissa has 'no problem' with Bronson's racy past a stripper, working as a professional pole dance instructor in Western Australia herself

Lots in common! Melissa will surely find Bronson's flexibility a lot more impressive than his 'ex-wife' on Married At First Sight, Ines Basic

Bronson left Married At First Sight during Sunday's commitment ceremony.

During his time on the show, he endured a disastrous marriage to Ines Basic, who had instigated an 'affair' with Sam Ball behind his back.

After their betrayal was exposed, Bronson, Ines, Sam and his 'wife Elizabeth Sobinoff all chose to leave in a mass exodus - with four intruders replacing them on Monday.
Viewers saw 'intruder' couple Billy Vincent and Susie Bradley tie the knot on Monday's Married At First Sight.

But it looks like the couple may have already split, with Billy openly admitting to eyeing other brides during the 'experiment' in an interview on Tuesday morning.

The couple appeared on Nova's Fitzy and Wippa, where the 28-year-old shamelessly confessed to fancying Heidi Latcham - leaving his 'wife' Susie stunned.

Over already? MAFS intruders Billy Vincent and Susie Bradley hinted at a split on Tuesday after Billy openly admitted to having a wandering eye during the filming of the show

'After the weeks developed, my eye kinda strayed here and there,' said the aspiring actor and model.

He quickly added: 'I didn't cheat! It's not cheating if it's in the mind.'

When Fitzy suggested that he'd be a good match with Mike Gunner's wife Heidi, a clearly chuffed Billy responded: 'I wouldn't say no, let's just say that!'

'After the weeks developed, my eye kinda strayed here and there,' said the aspiring actor, who didn't seem to mind that his wife was in the room during the candid admission

When Fitzy suggested that Billy would be a good match with Mike Gunner's wife Heidi Lactham, a clearly chuffed Billy responded: 'I wouldn't say no, let's just say that!'

Susie was then forced to defend rumours that she's seeing disgraced Rugby star Todd Carney, after the pair were photographed out together and exchanged flirty messages on Instagram.

Clearly flustered, the busty blonde said that she and Todd were only together 'in passing,' but claimed there was nothing more.

By the end of the interview, Fitzy exclaimed: 'They're obviously not together!'

Off the market? Susie was also forced to defend rumours that she's seeing disgraced Rugby star Todd Carney

Instead of refuting him, both Billy and Susie burst out laughing, as if the whole thing was one big joke.

The couple make up two of the four new intruders that were added to Married At First Sight after the show's most dramatic couples exited the experiment early.

The other intruder couple is Tamara Joy and Daniel Webb, who also got fake married on Monday's episode.
They're have all been branded My Kitchen Rules 'villains'.

And now contestant Karolina Borkovic has slammed her rivals, Christian brothers Josh and Austin Bonwick, in an extraordinary rant.

The outspoken 46-year-old said the pair are like 'a bad toothache' and called them 'childish' in a podcast interview this week.

'They're so childish!' MKR's Karolina Borkovic (pictured) has slammed villains Josh and Austin Bonwick in a podcast interview

Appearing on Real Talk With Holly & Ali, Karolina said that while she's in a different cooking group to the brothers, she's met them, and her first impressions weren't great.

'I find them terribly difficult to grasp on the whole ''you look like this and that.'' I just find that so childish,' she said, presumably in reference to the boys constantly comparing castmates to other people or characters.

'I don't get it. I don't understand,' she added.

'I find them really difficult': Appearing on Real Talk With Holly & Ali , Karolina said that while she's in a different cooking group to the brothers, she's met them, and her first impressions weren't great.

Karolina suggested that the boys should showcase their funny sides instead.

'You know I actually feel a little bit disappointed for them because I actually think there's more to them,' she added.

Josh, 25, and Austin, 21, have been branded 'villains' thanks to their controversial antics on the show.

Earlier this month, they shocked their rivals when they asked at the dinner table who had had cosmetic surgery.

They've got no filter! Josh, 25, and Austin, 21, have been branded 'villains' thanks to their controversial antics on the show

'Who on this table has had amendments to their bodies?' Josh asked.

Ruby, 39, said: 'I do Botox and fillers.'

Josh then callously asked her: 'So you're proud to be plastic?'

Romel took offence to Josh's question and scolded him, asking: 'How can you say that to someone?'

Causing a stir: Earlier this month, they shocked their rivals when they asked at the dinner table who had had cosmetic surgery

Romel said that he has never had work done, before Austin chimed in and joked that he looked like Woody from the animated movie, Toy Story.

He then hit back at Austin, saying: 'Well you look like Cousin Itt [from The Addams Family] to me, but I'm not going to tell everyone that. Cousin Itt that is receding!'

Meanwhile, Daily Mail Australia understands that the brothers have caught the attention of reality TV bigwigs in America.

According to industry sources, the home-schooled Christian brothers have been contacted by several reality TV production companies keen to cast the bad boys for drama.

Josh and Austin already have American citizenship, which allows them to work freely in the States.

With their unique backstory and unfiltered opinions, producers believe that the duo could add some serious spice to their shows.
She's the Instagram sensation who ditched her law career to become a full-time bikini model and enjoy luxury holidays.

And on Monday, Pia Muelehnbeck took a moment to weigh in on the politics of pop culture after Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga's Oscars performance went viral.

While it is unclear whether the social media influencer actually knows the A-list stars, she urged her 2 million Instagram followers not to 'disrespect' Bradley's long term partner Irina Shayk, with comments about the actor's chemistry with Gaga.

'Don't disrespect them': Instagram model Pia Muehlenbeck (pictured) slams rumours surrounding Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper because the actor 'has a partner and child'

'Guys, Bradley Cooper has a partner and child,' she wrote on Instagram story.

'Please don't disrespect them with comments about how he's carrying on with Gaga.

'What you are seeing at the Oscars is two exceptional actors doing their job very well. Imagine being his girl and having to see that all day.'

Weighing in: While it is unclear whether the social media influencer actually knows the A-list stars, she urged her 2million Instagram followers not to believe romance rumours

Rant: The post was in response to A Star Is Born actors Gaga and Bradley's electric performance of the song Shallow at the Oscars on Sunday

The post was in response to A Star Is Born actors Gaga and Bradley's sizzling performance of the song Shallow at the Oscars on Sunday.

Bradley's girlfriend, Irina, who is also the mother of his child, proudly watched on from the crowd.

Pia married her longtime partner Kane Vato in a lavish Byron Bay ceremony in December last year.

In 2017, the former lawyer revealed the motivation behind her decision to ditch her legal career and launch her own business, slinkii swimwear.

'I decided a few months in that I really always wanted to start my own business and challenge myself in that way. Because I was really early on in my legal career, I decided that it was now or never,' she said on The Morning Show.

Entrepreneur life: In 2017, the former lawyer revealed the motivation behind her decision to ditch her legal career and launch her own business, slinkii swimwear

'It's a lot of hard work, which people don't really realise. A lot of the time you're negotiating and dealing with clients and getting briefs for different campaigns.'

While fans are often in awe of her seemingly glamorous lifestyle, she previously told Modus Liberty that there's actually a lot of behind-the-scene work involved.

'People look at my Instagram and think I'm just lying on the beach the whole time but in reality there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes,' she said of her activewear business, SLINKII.

'It's a lot of hard work and dedication. I spend a lot of time working on logistical aspects of the business and making everything run.

She added: 'When you do a bunch of different things it makes it really difficult to maintain a routine but I do try to uphold some constants in my life  primarily so I don't forget about taking time for myself and my health.'
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The official photos for the Celebrity Apprentice for Comic Relief have been released and show the willing participants posing in front of the BBC show's infamous London skyline backdrop.

Britain's Got Talent star Amanda Holden, 48, and X Factor judge Ayda Williams lead the line-up of 10 celebrities who will face Lord Sugar's wrath all in the name of charity.

The show will air ahead of Red Nose Day as a two-part special on Thursday 7 and Friday 8 March, 9pm on BBC One and live and on-demand on BBC iPlayer.

Show time: Ten stars will face Lord Sugar and battle it out to raise as much money as possible for Comic Relief on Celebrity Apprentice: Back row (L-R): Rachel Johnson, Tameka Empson, Kelly Hoppen, Richard Arnold, Omid Djalili, Russell Kane Middle row (L-R): Amanda Holden, Ayda Williams, Sam Allardyce, Rylan Clark-Neal Front (L-R): Karren Brady, Lord Sugar, Claude Littner

The group, who all struck a pose with the iconic red nose, are to be split into two teams - boys and girls.

The new images show Amanda looking lovely in a baby pink midi dress, while Ayda stuns in a white pinstriped suit.

Joining them are EastEnders star Tameka Empson, 41, interior designer Kelly Hoppen, 59, and journalist Rachel Johnson, 53.

Meanwhile, over on the boys team, Big Brother presenter Rylan Clark-Neal, 30, is pictured looking dapper in a black blazer, shirt and skinny jeans.

He's joined on his team by former England manager Sam Allardyce, 64, and showbiz presenter Richard Arnold, 49. Completing the boys team are comedians Russell Kane, 43, and Omid Djalili, 53.

MEET THE LADIES... AMANDA HOLDEN, 48 Occupation: TV presenter and actress Britains Got Talent judge Amanda will have to get used to being on the other side of the table as she faces-off with Lord Sugar in the boardroom. How will the glamorous actress cope rolling up her sleeves to cater for their guests? She said: 'Im ready to take a step away from the judging panel to compete, and Im thrilled to be taking part. Im sure the girls' team will be victorious!' AYDA WILLIAMS, 39 Occupation: Actress and TV personality Not only is Ayda Williams a successful actress, television personality and talent judge on the X Factor  she is also married to popstar Robbie Williams and a mother of three. She said: 'Im thrilled to be part of this years Celebrity Apprentice for Comic Relief. Ive always been a fan of the show and I cant wait to take on the boys to raise some money for an incredible cause!' KELLY HOPPEN, 59 Occupation: Interior designer Kelly was awarded an MBE by the Queen in 2009 for Services to Interior Design, so the girls team should have an advantage when it comes to dressing their venue. She proved her entrepreneurial credentials during her stint on Dragons Den  but will her business skills ensure the girls come out on top? She said: 'Its amazing to be on a team with such strong, powerful women, raising money for an incredible cause. All I can say is, watch out Lord Sugar, here come the girls!' TAMEKA EMPSON, 41 Occupation: Actress Since 2009, actress Tameka has played vicious and bubbly Kim Fox on EastEnders. Swapping Albert Square for the boardroom, will she be able to avoid any drama and make it through to the final credits? She said: 'Like my EastEnders character Kim, Im putting my best foot forward and preparing to throw myself into the task  and raise money for Comic Relief I am ready to prove to Lord Sugar that Im someone not to be messed with when it comes to a business challenge!' RACHEL JOHNSON, 53 Occupation: Journalist With her successful reputation as a journalist and broadcaster, Rachel could be the one-to-watch when it comes to impressing Lord Sugar. However, never being one to zip her lip, will she be able to stay on the right side of The Apprentice boss in the boardroom? She said: 'Im a huge Apprentice fan but have always wondered if Lord Sugar is as mean as he appears on screen I fear Im going to find out!' Advertisement

As ever, the teams will be watched over by Lord Sugar's trusted advisers Baroness Karren Brady, 49, and Claude Littner, 69.

They too posed for promotional shots alongside Lord Sugar, 71, with the trio showing off their humorous sides by posing with red noses.

The new Celebrity Apprentice comes 12 years after the first charity special, which featured Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan, 54.

MEET THE MEN... RICHARD ARNOLD, 49 Occupation: Journalist and TV presenter As a TV presenter, Richard has been at the forefront of breaking news in the entertainment world  but will he be able to stay ahead of the pack in the boardroom? He said: 'When it comes to big business, I cant tell a spread sheet from a bed sheet but I am prepared to take on the battle of the boardroom with all the bombast of a seasoned showbiz veteran of 25 years. Its that, or find myself over Piers Morgans knees on GMB. Hell enjoy it too much' RYLAN CLARK-NEAL, 30 Occupation: TV presenter Rylan has proven he has a head for (show)business, rising through the ranks from reality TV contestant to one of the UK's most loved presenters. Can he do the same with The Apprentice? He certainly has the gift of the gab, but will he entertain his fellow candidates or lead them to distraction? He said: 'As a massive fan of The Apprentice, I cant wait to experience it from the other side of the screen as a candidate. I probably wont be saying that for long though!' SAM ALLARDYCE, 64, Occupation: Ex-football manager Previous England and Everton Manager, Sam is an experienced leader having managed seven Premier League clubs. But will he be able to whip his team into shape and score in the boardroom? He said: 'Im hoping my managerial experience will help me off the field and Ill be looking to outwit the girls team, but Im fully prepared for them to be competition' RUSSELL KANE, 43 Occupation: Writer and comedian The award-winning comedian is no stranger to The Apprentice, having appeared on the panel of BBC Twos The Apprentice: Youre Fired! to give his opinion about the candidates successes and failures. He said: 'Watching us try and work together will probably be funny and Im sure Ill cringe watching it back, but its going to be a unique experience and for an amazing cause' OMID DJALILI, 53 Occupation: Comedian and actor Omid will have to get used to not being centre stage and work as a team player to make sure their event goes smoothly. However, having also appeared in smash-hit films such as Gladiator, will he fight to the death when he faces Lord Sugar in the boardroom and bring an extra sprinkle of stardust for the boys team? He said: 'In the movie The Mummy, a strange and angry beetle burrowed under my character's flesh and tried to eat me from the inside... and may I say what a pleasure it will be to work with Lord Sugar again' Advertisement

The inaugural 2007 series featured a motley crew of stars alongside Piers - Alastair Campbell, Cheryl Cole, Danny Baker, Jo Brand, Maureen Lipman, Ross Kemp and Trinny Woodall, not forgetting Karren Brady herself.

Sport Relief Does The Apprentice followed in 2008, with contestants including Phil Tufnell, Nick Hancock, Lembit Opik, Kelvin MacKenzie, Hardeep Singh Kohli, Lisa Snowdon, Jacqueline Gold, Louise Redknapp, Clare Balding and Kirstie Allsopp.

The last series to grace our screens in 2009 starred Alan Carr, Jack Dee, Gerald Ratner, Jonathan Ross, Gok Wan, Michelle Mone, Patsy Palmer, Fiona Phillips, Carol Vorderman and Ruby Wax.

The Celebrity Apprentice is set to air on Thursday March 7 and Friday March 8 at 9PM on BBC One.
Richard Gere has admitted he found the experience of filming BBC's MotherFatherSon 'too long' and doesn't think he will film a TV series again.

The actor, 69, stars as Max, a media tycoon who has a difficult relationship with his son Caden which is picked apart as the series progresses.

Richard told the Radio Times he was drawn to the project because of the script, but found the shooting schedule quite intense.

Honest: Richard Gere, 69, has admitted he found the experience of filming BBC's MotherFatherSon 'too long' and doesn't think he will film a TV series again

He told the publication: 'It was six months shooting, like doing four indie movies back to back but playing the same character. Its too long. I dont think Ill do it again.'

While he has a lead role on the show, Richard admitted he watches hardly any TV except for the news, but did cite Game of Thrones and The Sopranos as shows he enjoys.

He said: 'I dont really watch much television except the news. I have a very full life and, honestly, TV is not high on my priority list.'

While he might not have plans to return to television anytime soon, Richard is confident the show will be a success.

New role: The actor stars as Max, a media tycoon who has a difficult relationship with his son Caden which is picked apart as the series progresses

Richard said: ''It was six months shooting, like doing four indie movies back to back but playing the same character. Its too long. I dont think Ill do it again'

He said: 'I thought it was great and would work on so many different levels. Its a family drama, a mother, father, son, albeit a divorced family but thats our world, isnt it?

'Its about politics, media, big stuff in our lives. Its honest and smart.'

Richard and his wife Alejandra Silva, 69, welcomed their first child together, a son, earlier this month in New York City, according to Spanish magazine Hola!

Their baby news comes after they tied the knot in April 2018 after four years together.

Family: Richard and his wife Alejandra Silva, 69, welcomed their first child together, a son, earlier this month in New York City (pictured in 2017)

Madrid-based daily newspaper ABC broke the news of Geres wedding to the pretty Spaniard, 33 years his junior, last year.

Pretty Woman star Gere tied the knot with Alejandra at a civil ceremony in Spain last April before celebrating the occasion with friends and family at his home near New York the following month.

Richard met wife Alejandra back in 2014 at a luxury Italian boutique hotel Alejandra bought with her former husband and was managing at the time.

MotherFatherSon begins airing on Wednesday March 6 at 9pm on BBC2.
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Daredevil Bear Grylls has revealed the derring-do adventures that have shaped his life - including his closest brush with death.

Here are some extracts from next month's Lonely Planet magazine where the fearless adventurer opens up about his most epic missions, which have taken him from the highs of Mount Everest to Oman's barren desert.

Way up in a far corner of India, squeezed in tight between Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan, is the state of Sikkim. It catches the eastern rise of the Himalaya and is full of some of the most extravagant natural beauty you'll ever witness. And, in 1992, it changed my life forever.

Daredevil: In this photo, taken in 2007, Bear is seen paramotoring over Everest under cloudless blue skies

Bear seen celebrating with his best friend Gilo Cardozo after their quirky paramotoring flight above Everest. The thrill-seeker said: 'This photo is special to me. It marked the end of a high-risk endeavour that could so easily have gone wrong. Gilo was the true hero, having designed and built the most powerful paramotor to that date'

Bear tests out a powered paraglider in a wind tunnel before the Everest flight. He explained: 'Mira is a vehicle-testing facility where it's possible to get blasted by very strong winds at low temperatures. We were so exhausted by the end, we had to be helped from our rigs'

Sikkim was closed to tourists and travellers at the time, but a contact in the Indian Army worked his magic and granted a friend and me unprecedented access.

Our only guide was a battered old Lonely Planet book, and we spent many weeks having the best offbeat adventure that any 19-year-old could wish for.

We rode on train roofs, swam in glacial lakes, and stood and stared in silence outside hilltop Buddhist monasteries.

Of all the experiences on that trip, there were two that transformed me completely.

First was meeting the local people. Their warmth and welcome left lasting impressions on me.

As we shuffled into one village after another, the people of Sikkim demonstrated vital lessons that I've held onto ever since: they gave without asking, they never judged and they offered strangers like us the very best of their kindness.

The survivalist pictured skydiving in June 1996 with buddies in Africa before he had a major accident. He says of the image: 'This photo tells a story of innocence where I felt I was invincible - note no goggles or helmet. We always jumped with little concern for our own safety in those days. I broke my back in three places when the canopy malfunctioned, and I spent many months in military rehabilitation back in the UK. The accident changed my life'

Bear pictured in October 2004 climbing in Oman on a trip with his wife Shara before they had their three boys. The adventurer mused: 'This was taken in a remote wadi, and was a special time - just her and me'

Bear says that this photo shows the first thing he ever did on TV. He explained: 'It was a pilot three minute taster shoot for Channel 4 and Discovery Channel. They asked for any ideas to shoot something around survival, and I suggested jumping into a frozen lake. We had no safety, and zero idea what we were doing in terms of TV. On the back of this taster, Man vs. Wild was born'

Those kindnesses have stayed with me ever since. They've shaped everything from how I approach my adventures to the sort of people I choose to work with.

Kindness is about a lot more than courtesy: it's about valuing people and seeing their worth, no matter how different they appear.

And then there was the time that I headed off for a high-mountain adventure on my own. I made my way northwest, into the foothills of the lower Himalaya.

I had none of the right gear with me, and was woefully ill-prepared and under-equipped in every way. But it felt like something was drawing me in.

I kept climbing and hiking higher and higher every day. When dawn broke one morning and I found myself staring across the distant horizon at Mount Everest, I knew that one day I would attempt to climb the peak.

Of course, travel isn't always perfect. And it shouldn't be.

Pictured is the adventurer arriving at the Thames after circumnavigating the UK on jet skis in July 2000. He said: 'This expedition was to raise money for the RNLI, and it was one of my first expeditions after climbing Everest. The first 50 miles were flat seas and fine, but three and a half weeks later, after having made it through some epic seas off Scotland and Ireland, we had forearms like Popeye!'

This image shows Bear aiming for the coast of Greenland in a rib. He said: 'As leader of this Arctic expedition, I believed that we'd used too much fuel because of the storms we had hit, and so were never going make it there. In the end we did, but literally on vapour. It's an expedition I'm very grateful we survived, and am, to his day, so proud of the enduring friendships made'

Brave: Another photo from the expedition to Greenland in a rib that nearly landed him in troubled waters

I have, on occasions, got horribly lost and, over the years, have come far too close to death and not making it home.

And then there are the bouts of diarrhoea and malaria, sometimes so crippling that I thought I'd never stand again.

But I've found that the tough moments of any adventure are often just as pivotal as the spectacular ones. When they're all over, they're often the times we laugh hardest about.

Experience has now taught me to prepare well. One of my favourite parts of my job is being Chief Scout, and I love that at the heart of the Scouts is this life-changing wisdom: 'Be Prepared'. It is a genius motto.

It is so much easier, nowadays, to prepare: we can carefully carry out our research before we even leave home, and prepare effective communications and good medical packs (all packed in waterproof bags, of course).

All these preparations help to keep us safe, although sometimes the best safety tips don't require anything beyond old-fashioned common sense, such as letting people know where you're going, how you're planning on getting around and when you're due to arrive.

Adventurous spirit: Bear, above, has carved out a career as a TV survivalist after working for many years as a SAS soldier

Bear pictured during his travels through Morocco and the North African desert in October 2002. He said: 'It is worth befriending the locals. I was posted there a couple of times during my military service, and camels were a regular part of the scenery'

This picture shows Bear packing away a paraglider in the Venezuelan jungle before a failed attempt to fly over Angel Falls. He said: 'We were woefully unprepared for this trip, as new paraglider pilots who underestimated the intense humidity, heat and downpours'

Then, if there is ever an issue or you are injured, you know someone will soon be aware that something is wrong.

Safety matters. We want our life to be a series of epic adventures, rather than just one! But we mustn't let caution kill adventure. Like so much in life, it's all a balance.

Some people say there's nowhere left to explore. They say that we've already mapped and studied it all, so why bother?

But travel is about so much more than maps, or ticking off a series of locations, or bragging about stamps in a passport. We travel because it betters us, it broadens and enriches us. And ultimately, it unites us.

The best-travelled people I know are almost always the most tolerant. When we are exposed to all the things that make us different, we see more of what unites us.

I've had so many different adventures over the years, in all different parts of the world. But if there's one thing they have in common, it's this: whenever we step off the beaten path and go beyond the normal, things get interesting.

When we're prepared to risk entering into the unknown, we open ourselves to the experiences and people that so often shape our futures.

And that's where real wealth in life is found.

Bear said of this image: 'This was taken in northern Canada - we were trying to find a route through and across a glacier. In those times we tended to just gun it and go! But they made me so grateful for our Man vs. Wild crew, which remained the same for several years'

Bear said of this snap: 'Travel with the family is often the best adventure we can have. This is with [my wife] Shara, travelling in New Zealand just after we were married. There is something so powerful about being surrounded by nature with those you love'

Bear has guest edited the 10th anniversary issue of Lonely Planet, which is available from February 28

The 10th anniversary issue of Lonely Planet magazine, guest-edited by Bear Grylls, is available from February 28.

Exclusive MailOnline offer, valid until May 2: Try 5 issues for 5. After your first five issues youll pay 20 every six issues  still saving 26 per cent on the shop price. Visit buysubscriptions.com/LPMAIL19
Your Apple Watch may soon be able to tell you how to get a better night's sleep.

The iPhone maker has been testing a sleep-tracking feature at its Cupertino, California headquarters that could arrive in the fifth-generation Apple Watch in 2020, Bloomberg reported, citing sources close to the situation.

It comes as Apple has increasingly signaled that it hopes to position the Watch as a health and fitness device.

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Apple is reportedly developing a sleep-tracking feature that could land in the Apple Watch as soon as next year. Pictured is the Apple Watch Series 4, which was released in 2018

Apple currently sells sleep-tracking technology on its website, though it's limited to a sleep tracking sensor, placed under the user's bed.

The technology is manufactured by Beddit, a Finnish startup that Apple acquired in 2017.

Users can also track their sleep by using third-party apps, such as AutoSleep or Sleep+.

But they're limited by the Apple Watch's comparatively short battery life.

The Apple Watch can be used for a full day before the battery needs to be charged overnight.

Meanwhile, other wearables, such as the Fitbit Versa fitness tracker, can last weeks on a single charge.

Fitbit devices have come equipped with sleep tracking features for several years now.

In order for Apple to release sleep tracking features, it would have to make some changes to the Watch.

Apple currently sells sleep-tracking technology on its website, though it's limited to a sleep tracking sensor (pictured), placed under a bed. The technology is manufactured by Beddit

Apple could increase the Watch's battery life or devise a way to be able to run a sleep tracking feature in low-power mode, so that it doesn't require so much battery power, according to Bloomberg.

The Silicon Valley giant has already moved to establish the Watch as a health device by introducing an ECG monitor in the Series 4 last year.

Additionally, CEO Tim Cook signaled that he's doubling down on health-related services.

'If you zoom out into the future, and you look back, and you ask the question: "What was Apple's greatest contribution to mankind?", it will be about health,' Cook said in a recent interview.

'We're democratizing it. We're taking what has been with the institutions and empowering the individual to manage their health.'
Tinder is making it easier for users to find their next fling on vacation.

The dating app on Tuesday launched 'Spring Break Mode,' which lets users post where they're going for vacation and connect with potential matches that are going there too.

Spring Break Mode will include 20 different destinations and is available for Tinder U users.

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Tinder on Tuesday launched 'Spring Break Mode,' which lets users post where they're going for vacation and connect with potential matches that are going there too

Among the destinations are Cabo, Lake Havasu, Las Vegas, Miami, New Orleans, Puerto Rico, Puerto Vallarta and San Diego, among others.

'You can join us in the ultimate pre-game where you can match with others headed to the same vacation destination as you,' the company wrote in a blog post.

'...We're just here to help you find fellow Spring Breakers while your decision-making skills are still in topnotch form.'

To activate the feature, users can open up the app and look for the Spring Break Mode card.

From there, users can select their destination, which will then be displayed as a badge on their profile.

For example, in Spring Break Mode, a user's profile will say where they go to college, along with a badge in the upper right corner that notes their vacation destination, such as Miami.

Tinder said it decided to roll out Spring Break Mode after finding that user activity spiked around this time of year. For example, swipes increased by 100x year-over-year in some cities

Tinder will display which other users are headed to the same destination with the hopes that it increases the chance they find a potential hookup.

And since not everyone can afford to jet off to a tropical beach over their mid-semester time off, Tinder even has a 'Staycation' badge for people who are staying home.

The firm says it rolled out Spring Break Mode after finding that user activity spiked around this time of the year.

Specifically, South Padre Island in Texas saw a 100x increase in activity in March last year, compared to the year before, while Panama City experienced a 10x increase.

'Spring Break, like Tinder, is a staple for many college students across the country,' Jenny Campbell, chief marketing officer at Tinder, said in a statement.

'We've historically seen huge upticks in Tinder usage during Spring Break in these destinations, and we are excited to give users the unique experience to connect before they pack their bags.'

Spring Break Mode badges can be displayed on a user's profile between March 4th and March 31st.
Californians are all, by now, well aware of the risks posed by the states more hostile natural forces; from earthquakes to wildfires and landslides, officials have spent decades preparing the public for possible disasters.

But, experts say theres one major threat theyve largely been sleeping on: volcanoes.

According to a new report from the US Geological Survey, volcanic eruptions are about as common in California as the largest earthquakes along the San Andreas Fault, though they receive far less attention.

Experts warn the seven active volcanoes positioned throughout the state, including Mount Shasta and the Salton Buttes, have potential to affect hundreds of thousands of people in the event of an eruption.

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According to USGS, California has experienced at least ten eruptions in the last 1,000 years, making future events inevitable. The map above highlights the seven volcanic areas that pose a considerable threat, with the highest threats shown in red

In the new volcanic risk assessment from the USGS, researchers say California is home to eight volcanic areas that fall within the 'moderate,' 'high,' or 'very high' threat range.

A staggering seven of these have been put on their watch list, including Medicine Lake volcano, Mount Shasta, Lassen Volcanic Center, Clear Lake volcanic field, the Long Valley Volcanic region, Coso volcanic field, and Salton Buttes.

And, nearly 200,000 people live, work, or pass through a California volcanic hazard zone on a daily basis, the report warns.

According to USGS, California has experienced at least ten eruptions in the last 1,000 years, making future events inevitable.

Other activity could include toxic gas emissions, ground movement, and the emergence of hot springs and geothermal systems.

According to the new report, nearly 200,000 people live, work, or pass through a California volcanic hazard zone on a daily basis, the report warns. The graphic above shows how different forms of activity would affect the surrounding areas

The most recent eruption occurred in 1914-17, when northern Californias Lassen Peak blew in an explosive series of events that sent ash raining down on areas as far as 200 miles away.

Based on the record of volcanic activity over the last five millennia, the probability of another small- to moderate-sized eruption in California in the next 30 years is estimated to be about 16 percent, according to the report.

Mount Shasta can be seen in the background amid destruction from a 2014 wildfire

This is similar to the forecast for a magnitude 6.7 or greater earthquake specific to the San Andreas Fault in the San Francisco Bay region, which is estimated to be about a 22 percent probability in 30 years, starting from 2014.

Despite the well-documented risks, however, the researchers say the threat from Californias volcanoes still stands as a nearly forgotten hazard.

The states potentially hazardous volcanoes are under constant observation by the USGS California Volcano Observatory (CalVO) in Menlo Park., where researchers monitor GPS receivers, seismometers, and multi-gas spectrometers for signs of impending activity.

Ground deformation, seismicity, and gas emissions can all point to a possible eruption on the way.

Lava isn't the only threat posed by volcanic eruptions. Other activity could include toxic gas emissions, ground movement, and the emergence of hot springs and geothermal systems, USGS says. A diagram of a volcano is shown

WILL VOLCANOES PRODUCE THE NEXT 'BIG ONE' IN CALIFORNIA? According to a new USGS risk assessment, 'an average of 199,235 people live, work, or pass through a California volcanic hazard zone on a daily basis.' The largest potentially-affected populations surround: Mount Shasta (103,885 people)

Long Valley volcanic region (63,523)

Clear Lake volcanic field (17,910)

Lassen Volcanic Center (9,888) The map shows numerous volcanic hazard zones throughout California, with risks coming from ash, lava flows, and other forms of volcanic activity Other regions that could be affected by volcanoes include those around: Medicine Lake volcano (5,209)

Salton Buttes (2,518)

Ubehebe Craters (111) There are seven active volcanoes on the USGS' watch list: Medicine Lake volcano, Mount Shasta, Lassen Volcanic Center, Clear Lake volcanic field, the Long Valley Volcanic region, Coso volcanic field, and Salton Buttes. According to USGS, California has experienced at least ten eruptions in the last 1,000 years, making future events inevitable. Advertisement

But even with that insight, these events remain difficult to predict, and can have catastrophic outcomes.

The ever-present threat means Californians must include the possibility of volcanic eruptions in their emergency plans, USGS says.

Although volcanic activity can sometimes be forecast, eruptions, like earthquakes or tsunamis, cannot be prevented, the report says.

Understanding the hazards and identifying what and who is in harms way is the first step in mitigating volcanic risk and building community resilience to volcanic hazards.
When your phone rings, theres about a 50 percent chance its a spam robocall.

Thats not probability  its what the U.S. government agency regulating telecommunications says. U.S. mobile phone users received 48 billion robocalls in 2018 alone  more than 100 calls per line.

Raymond Huahong Tu, a computer scientist at the University of Maryland who has researched the technologies and practices of robocalling, explains more about these annoying parts of everyday life  and why theyre so hard to avoid.

It doesnt matter if youve signed up with the federal Do Not Call Registry, though companies that call numbers on the list are supposed to be subject to large fines. The robocallers ignore the list, and evade penalties because they can mask the true origins of their calls. Stock image

THE TOP U.S. AREA CODES TARGETED BY SPAM CALLERS 214 - Dallas, Texas 817 - Fort Worth, Texas 210 - San Antonio, Texas 512 - Austin, Texas 832 - Houston, Texas 404 - Atlanta, Georgia 205 - Birmingham, Alabama 713 - Houston, Texas 407 - Orlando, Florida 903 - Tyler, Texas Advertisement

1. Why does everyone get so many robocalls?

Advanced automatic dialing systems make it easier and cheaper for small operations to generate huge numbers of calls.

Robocalling computer programs can dial many phone numbers at once, and play a prerecorded or computer-generated voice message to anyone who answers.

A person running a robocall operation just has to set up the system and let it run.

The program will call mobile phones, homes landlines, businesses and just about any other number  either randomly, or from massive databases compiled from automated web searches, leaked databases of personal information and marketing data.

It doesnt matter if youve signed up with the federal Do Not Call Registry, though companies that call numbers on the list are supposed to be subject to large fines.

The robocallers ignore the list, and evade penalties because they can mask the true origins of their calls.

The autodialing programs encode Caller ID information that makes the robocall look like its from a local number, the Social Security Administration or even your employers head office.

That means its harder to ignore the calls  and much more difficult to identify whos actually calling.

The calls keep coming because robocallers make money. Partly thats because their costs are low.

Most phone calls are made and connected via the internet, so robocall companies can make tens of thousands, or even millions, of calls very cheaply.

Many of the illegal robocalls targeting the U.S. most likely come from overseas  which used to be extremely expensive, but now is far cheaper.

Each call costs a fraction of a cent  and a successful robocall scam can net millions of dollars.

That more than pays for all the calls people ignored or hung up on, and provides cash for the next round.

Casting an enormous net at low cost lets these scammers find a few gullible victims who can fund the whole operation.

2. Why is it so easy to fake the Caller ID info?

The current Caller ID system relies on the phone  or computer system  placing the call to tell the truth about its own phone number.

This is an artifact from the early 1990s, when Caller ID services began.

At that time, the telephone network in the U.S., as in most countries around the world, was a closed system served only by a small number of trusted telephone companies like AT&T and MCI.

Each call costs a fraction of a cent  and a successful robocall scam can net millions of dollars. Stock image

Today, of course, the phone system is open to the entire world, with thousands of companies offering telephone service over the internet.

The international telecommunications standards, though, havent kept up and dont yet offer a way to police a system in which mutual trust is not enough to guard against Caller ID abuse.

My own research has worked to develop a standard method of authenticating the Caller ID information.

That system would let call recipients be more confident scammers werent disguising their phone numbers.

In the meantime, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has been asking U.S. phone companies to filter calls and police their own systems to keep out robocalls.

It hasnt worked, mainly because its too costly and technically difficult for phone companies to do that.

Its hard to detect fake Caller ID information, and wrongly blocking a legitimate call could cause them legal problems.

3. What can I do to stop getting robocalls?

The best approach is to protect your phone number the way you do your Social Security and credit card numbers.

Dont give your phone number to strangers, businesses or websites unless its absolutely necessary.

Of course, your phone number may already be widely known and available, either from telephone directories or websites, or just because youve had it for many years. In that case, you probably cant stop getting robocalls.

My advice for dealing with them is to stay vigilant. Dont assume the Caller ID information that pops up for an incoming call is accurate.

You could, for instance, not answer the call and see if the person leaves a voicemail.

Or you could ignore the call and dial the number it came from yourself  connecting you to the real person or organization the call pretended to come from.

Lastly, if you do answer the phone, dont assume the caller is telling the truth. Ask questions to help you determine that theyre legitimate  or not.

And hang up if you have any doubt at all.
SpaceX's Starship rocket has been tapped to one day take man to Mars.

But, before it can do that, billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk believes the 120-foot-tall spacecraft could also be used to ferry supplies, and eventually humans, to the moon, where we could build a lunar base.

NASA has long expressed its hope to establish a permanent human presence on the moon, with administrator Jim Bridenstine eyeing a lunar base within the next decade.

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SpaceX's Starship rocket has been tapped to take man to the moon and Mars. But, before it can do that, Elon Musk believes the spacecraft (pictured) could also be used to build a moon base

'I think Starship will also be good for creating a base on the moon,' Musk said in an interview with Popular Mechanics.

'We'll probably have a base on the moon before going to Mars.'

SpaceX is in the early stages of constructing the Starship rocket, which was previously referred to as the BFR (Big F***ing Rocket).

A prototype of the spacecraft is currently being built at a SpaceX campus near Brownsville, Texas.

In January, the company revealed images of its fully-assembled Starship hopper test rocket.

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk hopes to bring 'space tourists' to the moon by 2024, along with other plans to use Starship to reach the red planet sometime in the future

'This is for suborbital VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) tests,' Musk said in a tweet last month.

'Orbital version is taller, has thicker skins (won't wrinkle) & a smoothly curving nose section.'

The model he shared is expected to be used for testing short launches and landings.

Musk hopes to conduct a manned mission with tourists to the moon by 2024.

Completing a successful mission to the moon would mark an incremental step in Musk's other vision of traveling to Mars.

He said it's possible that they could create a simulated Mars base on the moon.

'It would be quite a bit different because the gravity on the moon is much less, and the moon has an atmosphere,' Musk told Popular Mechanics.

When pressed further about how humans would fare on the red planet, he said it would be 'quite manageable.'

In January, the company revealed images of its fully-assembled Starship hopper test rocket. The model Musk shared is expected to be used for testing short launches and landings

Musk says this spacecraft will perform suborbital flights and a taller version with 'thicker skins' will take passengers to Mars. The prototype (or hopper) experienced some major setbacks last month when it was toppled by strong winds in Texas

'If you got there and you're alive, the hard part is accomplished,' Musk said.

He believes humans on Mars can cultivate food through hydroponics, or growing plants without soil and instead using a nutrient rich solution, wherein the roots make direct contact with water.

'You essentially have solar power - unfoiled solar panels on the ground, feed that to underground hydroponics, either underground or shielded by wires, dirt,' Musk told Popular Mechanics.

'So then you can be sure that you don't have to worry about excessive ultraviolet radiation or a solar storm or something like that.'

He also envisions some sort of 'park' for Mars residents to enjoy an 'outdoorsy, fun atmosphere.'

'For having an outdoorsy, fun atmosphere, you'd probably want to have some faceted glass dome, with a park, so you can walk around without a suit,' Musk said.

'Eventually if you terraform the planet, then you can walk around without a suit. But for say, the next 100-plus years, you'll have to have a giant pressurized glass dome.'

Musk has previously said humans could 'terraform' Mars to make it more livable.

In his view, terraforming the red planet would involve dropping thermonuclear bombs on the ice at Mars' poles, with the belief that it could transform Mars into an Earth-like planet.

Some experts have disputed the idea that humans could terraform Mars, pointing out that it could create unseen, negative consequences.

Musk believes humans on Mars can cultivate food through hydroponics, or growing plants without soil. Pictured is a mock up of an astronaut using hydroponics to grow food on Mars

Musk has previously said humans could 'terraform' Mars to make it more livable. This would involve dropping a thermonuclear bomb on Mars to make it into an 'Earth-like' planet

Additionally, Musk said in the interview that humans could create fuel on Mars via a methane-oxygen system, by harnessing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and combining that with H2O.

The main challenge, however, would be finding enough ice to take water from.

Musk said he believes 'little miner droids' could one day be tasked with bringing back ice for fuel on the red planet.

'If you can land somewhere near a glacier, where there's only a small amount of dirt with the ice, that would be quite helpful,' Musk told Popular Mechanics.

'...The logical thing to do is basically outfit one of the ships as a propellant plant itself, and just land it on the planet as a working propellant plant.

'And then you just need little miner droids to go dig up ice and bring it back and unfurl the solar panels,' he added.
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A cameraman has taken backyard photography of the night sky to the next level by creating a stunningly clear image of the moon that combines 50,000 separate snaps.

Andrew McCarthy, from Elk Grove, California, took the stunning 81 megapixel shot that shows half the moon shrouded in darkness while the other is illuminated.

Rather than using high-tech equipment costing tens of thousands, Andrew simply used two regular cameras to capture the different parts of the moon, then stitch them together using computer software.

The final image is a whopping 81 megapixels in size - around three times higher resolution than found in cutting edge 8K TV sets - because of this unique approach.

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The image, created by stitching images together on Photoshop and measuring 81 megapixels, shows half the moon shrouded in darkness while the other half is clearly illuminated

Two regular cameras caught different parts of the moon. This is a slightly closer shot of the 81 megapixel stunning image, which is around three times higher resolution than found in cutting edge 8K TV sets

Sections of the moon were captured in what Mr McCarthy calls 'tiles' - images stitched together using Photoshop - before the best and clearest shots were chosen, averaging out factors like blurring.

This is a similar technique used in modern smartphone cameras that are powered by AI, which take multiple pictures at once and combine them for the best result.

The lit part of the moon in the picture above was made up of 25 'tiles', each consisting of 2,000 images.

Of these 2,000 images, the best 50 per cent were selected to make up the stack for that section of the image that were then joined together.

About the results, Mr McCarthy said: 'The closer you look, the more you see. Every pocket of the night sky has virtually endless complexity and beauty, even the parts that appear empty.

'The moon is simply a closer example of the beauty that exists everywhere in this universe, and we are lucky to have it.

'The way it hangs there in space is a constant reminder of the powerful physics at play that maintain our very existence. It is quite humbling.'

As well as the above picture, Mr McCarthy has received plaudits in the past for his other space photographs, shown below.

Mr McCarthy has also taken several other pictures of the moon that highlight its dips and craters. This image, created late last year, is a flipped illumination of the moon based on an earlier photo that he took

This image, also created last year, is the one above before it was flipped. Andrew said: 'Every pocket of the night sky has virtually endless complexity and beauty, even the parts that appear empty'

This picture is a 13 panel mosaic of the 98 per cent waning gibbous moon, which highlighted the moon's texture and colours, made earlier this year. Mr McCarthy said he'd over-saturated the image to show the different types of colours present

Speaking of the reaction his giant shot of the moon has received, he said: 'The reaction has been nothing short of overwhelming.

'I have been inundated with praise from thousands of people. It has been an extremely rewarding and validating experience.

'My goal from my photos has been to impart a sense of wonder onto others that I experienced when I first looked through a telescope.

'In my opinion, many of our petty problems in this world could be solved by simply having a more global perspective, one that could be found simply by appreciating our unique place in this world.'

This composite image of the moon has been enhanced with earthshine to make it clearer. Mr McCarthy said that since he started posting pictures of the moon on Instagram he has been 'inundated with praise from thousands of people'

This shows the blood moon which appeared earlier this year between January 20 and 21
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The world's oceans remain something of a mystery.

And, to prove it, one photographer has revealed some of the multi-colour creatures that make up 'biological soup' in pitch-black depths of the Pacific waters near Hawaii.

From spiny lobsters to swimming windowpanes and purpleback flying squid, the stunning collection also comprises of orange octopus, black cusk eels and so-called sea butterflies.

Phyllosome and pelagia: A Spiny lobster (right) riding a Purple jellyfish (left) at night in surface waters of the deep ocean off Kailua Kona, Hawaii, USAThe larval crustacean uses its cnidarian host both as a food source and as a defensive weapon

The collection, entitled 'Blackwater ID', is the nocturnal work of Jeff Milisen.

He said: 'For the uninitiated, an abundant layer of animals live their days very deep in an area called the mesopelagic, where it is too dark to be seen.

'But there isn't much food down there, so every night, they climb to the surface to feed. The layer of animals is so thick that it appears as a false bottom on sonar equipment.

'I refer to the nighttime open ocean as a biological soup.'

The 37-year-old, from Kona, Hawaii, said: 'Everyone expects the open ocean to be filled with megafauna like tuna and sharks. [But ]ninety-nine percent of everything shot on blackwater is a macro subject, so the smaller the items you are looking for, the more incredible animals you will find.'

The above image shows a spiny lobster (right) riding a purple jellyfish at night in surface waters of the deep ocean off Kailua Kona.

The larval crustacean uses its cnidarian host both as a food source and as a defensive weapon - by spinning it around to deter predators with the stinging tentacles of the jellyfish, according to the Nature Picture Library.

Meanwhile, the below shows a hippocampus fisheri: commonly known as the Hawaiian seahorse.

Hippocampus fisheri: Commonly known as Fisher's seahorse, or the Hawaiian seahorse, this beautiful creature of one of the ocean's most majestic and is a species of fish of the family Syngnathidae. It is native to Hawaii.

Lamprogrammus: Otherwise known as the Black Cusk, this creature - a cusk eel - actually appears blue and yellow when moving against the oil-black backdrop of the late-night waves

Brachioteuthis: This is a type of 'neon' squid that emits bright colours when photographed in certain lights. This species is widely distributed and is native to many parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the Mediterranean and Black Seas

'These are a rare treat,' Milisen says. 'They look and act much like seahorses with young developing inside the father's characteristic pound. Unlike normal seahorses, however, these are free swimming animals that migrate vertically like many other mesopelagic organisms. Look for them cruising just under the water's surface.'

Another of the creatures he caught on film is the Lamprogrammus. Otherwise known as the Black Cusk, this creature - a cusk eel - actually appears blue and yellow when moving against the oil-black backdrop of the late-night waves.

A similar-looking critter is the Brachioteuthis. This is a type of 'neon' squid that is widely distributed and is native to many parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the Mediterranean and Black Seas.

They share the waves with cavolinia, otherwise known as Sea Butterflies (pictured below).

Cavolinia: Otherwise known as Sea Butterflies, these creatures are pelagic marine gastropod molluscs in the family Cavoliniidae and have a wide distribution: from European waters and the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean

Cheilopogon: This bright, young thing is a genus of flyingfishes. These can be recognised by their huge pectoral fins, which are seen in the image stretching out behind its colourful body.

Physophora hydrostatica: Commonly called the hula skirt siphonophore, this species has a gas-filled float with a deep red-pigmented cap. They are up 20 mm in height, flimsy, with no apparent ridges.

These creatures are pelagic marine gastropod molluscs in the family Cavoliniidae and have a wide distribution: from European waters and the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean.

Cheilopogons also appear in the pictures. These bright, young things are a genus of flyingfishes. These can be recognised by their huge pectoral fins, which are seen in the image stretching out behind its colourful body.

Following suit are siphonophores - which are deceptive, Milisen says.

'They may look superficially like a single organism when in fact they are a free swimming colony of them. They drift planktonically with tentacle-like structures splayed out in a web of stinging cells to capture the small pelagic animals that comprise its prey.

'When disturbed, the siphonophores we see quickly reel in their webs and move remarkably fast.'

Sthenoteuthis oaualaniensis: AKA the purpleback flying squid or purpleback squid, it's a species of cephalopod in the family Ommastrephidae. Like many of its contemporaries, it resides at a deep layer of the ocean - down 1000metres.

Thysanoteuthis rhombus: Thysanoteuthis rhombus, also known as the diamond squid or diamondback squid, is a large species of squid growing to 100 cm in mantle length and a maximum weight of 30 kg

Sthenoteuthis tug o war: This is a genus of squid, part of the subfamily Ommastrephinae - and commonly referred to as the 'flying squids' because they appear to glide through the waters with little effort

Callistoctopus: Aptly called the Orange Octopus, these animals are readily identifiable by their reddish coloring; the white papillae that line their bodies; and their long tentacles - as seen in this image

Bothus thompsoni: This juvenile flounder are sometimes encountered near the surface at night. These swimming windowpanes are enthralling partly because they are so strange, partly because they are so recognisable

The sthenoteuthis oaualaniensis - AKA the purpleback flying squid or purpleback squid - is no less impressive.

Like many of its contemporaries, include the similar diamond and flying squid, it resides at a deep layer of the ocean - down 1000metres - and,a s the name suggests, exudes a striking hue.

Milisen also caught sight of the aptly-named Orange Octopus, which are readily identifiable by their reddish coloring; the white papillae that line their bodies; and their long tentacles.

These are dramatically different to the 'swimming windowpanes', which are enthralling partly because they are so strange, partly because they are so recognisable.

Nomeid in Cephea: Marine experts refer to this beautiful species as a giant nomad jellyfish, which is often seen snorkeling in the tropical warm waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Since 1970's it has been also found in Mediterranean Sea.

Lophiodes fimbriatu: Also called Goosefish, these are anglerfishes in the family Lophiidae found in the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, where they live on sandy and muddy bottoms more than 1,000m deep

Bathypterois longipes: The abyssal spiderfish, Bathypterois longipes, is a species of deepsea tripod fish, a demersal fish living on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. They are widely scattered throughout the Pacific.

The Pacific depths also contain nomeid in cephea: AKA the giant nomad jellyfish.

Pictured above, these are often seen snorkeling in the tropical warm waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, but - since the 1970s - it has been also found in Mediterranean Sea.

Hirsute-looking goosefish also make an appearance before the camera - which is rare considering they prefer the sea bed alongside the abyssal spiderfish, Bathypterois longipes, which are scattered throughout the Pacific.
Droughts contributed to the demise of a prehistoric American settlement one thousand years ago, ancient faecal matter suggests.

The Cahokia were a tribe that flourished near Illinois around 1200 AD, with a population of 20,000 people at its peak. But their ancient city was mysteriously abandoned by 1400 AD.

Now, scientists believe human faecal molecules washed into a nearby lake show evidence of a severe drought.

Information from from the waste matter was dated by how deep it was found in the lakes' sedimentation.

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Cahokia, found in Illinois in the US, was a major political and cultural centre with a population in the tens of thousands by 1050 - but then disappeared. A mound (pictured) show its site today. Ancient poo grains from a nearby lake allowed researchers to conclude that droughts were likely a factor in the demise of the prehistoric American settlement a thousand years ago

The ancient city stood near St. Louis, Missouri, and was the largest prehistoric settlement in Americas north of Mexico.

Studying lake sediments from a lake next to Cahokia, researchers at California State University concluded there was a shift towards lower summer rainfalls levels in A.D 1150.

Among other elements, they looked at faecal stanols, molecules present in grains, peanuts and vegetable oils, which are eliminated in feces.

The more people who lived and defecated there, the more stanols evident in lake sediments, so stanols can be used as a tag population size and movement.

Cahokia was the largest and most influential urban settlement in the Mississippian culture which developed advanced societies across much of what is now the central and southeastern United States, beginning more than 1000 years before European contact. Its population was at its peak in the 1200s, an estimated 20,000, would not be surpassed by any city in the United States until the late 18th century

AJ White, lead author on the study from Wisconsin-Madison, said: 'The way of building population reconstructions usually involves archaeological data, which is separate from the data studied by climate scientists'.

'Because the sediments of a lake accumulate in layers, they allow scientists to capture snapshots of time throughout the history of a region through sediment cores.

'Deeper layers form earlier than layers found higher up, and all of the material within a layer is roughly the same age.'

Archaeologists know that around the year 900, people in the area began to cultivate maize and their population exploded, shown by the number and size of buildings and structures that sprang up in the region.

The data from the study showed that summer precipitation likely decreased around the onset of Cahokia's decline.

This could have affected the ability of people to grow their staple crop maize.

The latest changes are thought to have concurred with a major flooding event around the same period from the Mississippi River.

Consecutive years of summer droughts followed by a major flooding would have put severe pressure on the settlement's agricultural system and could explain why the city was suddenly abandoned.
World War Two bombs rusting at the bottom of the sea and poisoning sea-life could be made safe using bacteria, experts say.

Scientists at Kiel University hope to use microbes to break down 300,000 metric tons of explosives dumped by US, UK, Soviet and German troops.

The safe disposal of the bombs would protect humans and sea-life from toxic effects as the ageing devices start to come apart, researchers claim.

The UK, US, Soviets and Germans all dumped bombs on the Baltic seafloor. The UK and US would fill ships with ammunition's and sink them

The ammunition's are gradually breaking down, rusting on the seafloor and poisoning the waters around them with TNT metabolites, which are adversely affecting sea-life

The plan is to use TNT-eating bacteria to seal the explosives - some so close they're still visible from public beach Kolberger Heide - in a cage of membrane coated with millions of microbes, according to The Times.

Within this casing the bacteria would get to work, breaking down the toxic TNT into carbon dioxide and water.

Edmund Maser, professor of toxicology at Kiel University, told the newspaper: 'If this method works even the lowest concentrations of TNT derivatives could be removed from the marine ecosystem.'

Dr Matthias Brenner, a marine scientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute, told MailOnline that this is just an idea at present.

'It is known that bacteria can degrade explosives and as far as I know chemical warfare weapons.

'However it is completely unknown that this would work or not. This is a proposal for funding.'

Mussels were placed in areas where explosives were dumped by the DAIMON project to check if there was any contamination of the water affecting animals. The mussels picked up some TNT metabolites

The bombs at the bottom of the Baltic could be removed by TNT-eating bacteria, which would turn them into carbon dioxide and water

This map shows where chemical munitions have been dumped in the Baltic sea. There are major large sites at Bornholm Basin and Gotland Deep

The common dab fish, a sensitive flat fish in the area, has also suffered an increased number of liver tumours in the area, possibly due to the TNT breakdown

The trick now is to 'build' a microbe that can do this deep below the Baltic sea, sometimes in near freezing temperatures.

The bombs, scattered across the Baltic by Soviet, US, UK, and German troops, have caused damage to the sea environment according to evidence found by the Decision Aid for Marine Munitions (DAIMON) project.

When mussels were placed in the waters at Kolberger Heide they accumulated TNT metabolites, a clear signal the old bombs are still releasing toxic substances.

The common dab fish, a sensitive flat fish species which lives in the area, has also shown signs of being badly effected.

Individuals in the area have more liver tumours than those from others waters, showing the TNT is causing the cancer.

Dr Matthias said the bombs 'were unused during World War Two, collected by the Allies, and then dumped.

The Soviets got rid of leftover World War Two ammunitions by dumping them in the sea by hand. Pictured: Metal canisters being dumped into the sea by a warship

The British and Americans, on the other hand, got rid of leftover bombs by packing them onto ships and then sinking them in the Baltic and other areas

'The British and Americans used old ships, packed them with munitions and dumped them in the sea. There are at least 38 ships lying down there.

'Then we have the dumping in Bonn where the Soviets dumped German chemical warfare agents and this was dumped by hand with everything thrown overboard; this was scattered with some here, some there.

'There was dumping by German ships because they were afraid of the Russians coming in, and then we have allied bombs left over from bombing German cities and stuff like that.'

A ship is sunk here as part of the operation to dispose of bombs

Bacteria have been found that eat nitroglycerin, a key component of TNT, before.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison sequenced the genes of two Pseudomonas bacteria to get the flavoprotein enzymes to break down TNT.

'Others have found bacteria that can degrade nitroglycerin, but this is the first time anyone has purified and characterised the enzymes that can take the initial step in breaking down TNT,' said project leader Glenn Chambliss at the time.

'Flavoproteins are common to many soil-dwelling bacteria.'

'As a group, these yellow enzymes appear to help bacteria protect themselves from natural chemicals in the soil. Many flavoproteins can degrade a range of different chemicals.'
NASA has released the clearest images yet of a Kuiper Belt object four billion miles away.

The New Horizons spacecraft approached object 2014 MU69, nicknamed Ultima Thule, in the early hours of New Years Day, capturing a close look at the furthest object a spacecraft has ever visited.

In a remarkable feat, the mission team now says it successfully met its ambitious stretch goal, with a series of stunningly detailed images obtained just minutes before New Horizons closest approach.

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At a resolution of roughly 110 feet (33 meters) per pixel, they now offer the best opportunity yet to study the distant objects surface features. And, theyve exposed a number of features that were previously hidden from view. This includes a series of bright spots and dents

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT ULTIMA THULE SO FAR? New Horizons first captured images of the dual-lobed space rock, located more than a billion miles from Pluto, when it reached it on New Year's day. It is about four billion miles from Earth and looks like a reddish snowman. Based on the New Horizons observations so far, the scientists say Ultima has a very regular rotation period, at about 15 hours. But, it spins end-over-end like a propeller. The latest images upended the initial assumptions, showing it isnt actually made up of spheroidal segments, as first thought  instead, its two lobes are flat like pancakes. Advertisement

According to lead investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), New Horizons close-up images of MU69 marks a bullseye accomplishment.

Getting these images required us to know precisely where both tiny Ultima and New Horizons were  moment by moment  as they passed one another at over 32,000 miles per hour in the dim light of the Kuiper Belt, a million miles beyond Pluto.

These stretch goal observations were risky, because there was a real chance wed only get part of even none of Ultima in the cameras narrow field of view, Stern said.

But the science, operations, and navigation teams nailed it, and the result is a field day for our science team! Some of the details we now see on Ultima Thules surface are unlike any object ever explored before.

The newly-released images were captured by New Horizons Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) six-and-a-half minutes before the closest approach to MU69 at 12:33 a.m. EST on Jan 1.

At a resolution of roughly 110 feet (33 meters) per pixel, they now offer the best opportunity yet to study the distant objects surface features.

And, theyve exposed a number of features that were previously hidden from view.

This includes bright, circular spots and a series of small, dark pits near the boundary between the dark and sunlit sides.

According to lead investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), New Horizons close-up images of MU69 marks a bullseye accomplishment

Its yet unclear what is responsible for these nicks in the surface.

Whether these features are craters produced by impactors, sublimation pits, collapse pits, or something entirely different, is being debated in our science team, said John Spencer, deputy project scientist from SwRI.

New Horizons is now nearly 4.13 billion miles (6.64 billion kilometers) from Earth, NASA says  but, its still alive and well.

Transmissions from the faraway spacecraft take six hours and nine minutes to reach the antennas of NASAs Deep Space Network.
Disgraced cardinal George Pell will spend tonight behind bars for the first time after he was convicted of 'utterly brazen' sex attacks on two choirboys.

The 77-year-old priest, who was third in command of the Catholic Church and once considered a pope in waiting, was in December convicted of molesting two choirboys in 1996.

Pell is appealing his conviction but said today he will not apply for bail until after he is sentenced on March 13, meaning he will spend his first night in jail as a convicted child sex offender tonight.

At a pre-sentencing hearing in Melbourne today, Crown prosecutor Mark Gibson said Pell deserved to be jailed immediately.

'As we know, five or six minutes of abuse can last a lifetime,' he said.

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Convicted: George Pell hobbled into court on Wednesday after he was found guilty of molesting two choirboys

Pell is pictured surrounded by police officers and camera crews. The disgraced cardinal is likely to spend Wednesday night behind bars after withdrawing his bail application

Prosecutors said Pell, Australia's highest-ranking Catholic, committed 'utterly brazen' sex assaults against vulnerable children

At the end of proceedings around 3.20pm, Pell was removed from the courtroom.

He got up, bowed to Chief Judge Peter Kidd before walking through the courtroom door with prison guards as everyone in the gallery turned their heads to watch his exit in eerie silence.

Pell had remained staunch throughout the pre-sentence hearing, glaring at anyone who stared at him in the dock.

The cardinal is expected to spend some time in the cells below the court before being transported to prison and placed into protective lockdown.

His lawyer Robert Richter QC said he will be 'extremely vulnerable' in jail and will likely be kept in isolation when he gets to prison tonight.

Mr Richter said Pell was vulnerable 'not just as a convicted child sex offender' but because he 'has also been portrayed in the media and everywhere else as the incarnation of evil in the Catholic Church.'

Earlier in the pre-sentencing hearing at the County Court of Victoria, Crown prosecutor Mark Gibson said the cardinal should be jailed immediately for his 'humiliating and degrading' attack on 'vulnerable children'.

'In his mind, he thought he could get away with it... he possessed a notion of impunity.'

Chief Judge Peter Kidd asked what Pell was thinking when he attacked the two boys in St Patrick's Cathedral in east Melbourne.

There were chants of 'maggot', 'monster', 'you are filth', 'you are the devil', 'go to hell' as Pell walked into court

Pell was found guilty by a jury in December of raping a 13-year-old choirboy in 1996 and molesting another at St Patrick's Cathedral in east Melbourne

'What I want to address is what he was thinking at the time, what motivated him and why he did this in such brazen circumstances,' he told Mr Gibson.

The prosecutor could give no explanation but said: 'He at least thought he was going to get away with it.'

Mr Gibson said Pell, as Archbishop of Melbourne at the time, was in a position of power.

'There's a degree of callousness... there has been a breach of trust,' he said.

'There's an unlikelihood of him being questioned because of his position of power.'

Mr Gibson described Pell as a remorseless sex offender who was owed no discount on his ultimate sentence.

'The prisoner has shown no remorse or insight into his offending. He has not taken responsibility for his actions. There remains no explanation,' he said.

Mr Gibson accepted the assaults were likely 'spontaneous and unplanned' and that the 22-year gap before he was charged ought to mitigate his sentence.

'It's an isolated event of which there is no explanation,' Mr Gibson said.

Mr Gibson finished by saying Pell's crimes warranted immediate imprisonment.

Pell, who has been on bail since he was charged in June 2017, may be taken into custody after the pre-sentencing hearing on Wednesday

Left: Robert Richter QC, lawyer for George Pell. Right: Crown Prosecutor Mark Gibson

Judge Kidd said he regarded Pell's prospects of rehabilitation as very good and believed he was unlikely to reoffend, in part because of his age.

Defending, Robert Richter QC said that several people including former Prime Minister John Howard had submitted character references which detail Pell's 'kindness and generosity', and his 'life devoted to service'.

'These people love him; none of them believe he is capable of these offences,' Mr Richter said.

This is no more than a plain vanilla sexual penetration case

One of the testimonials is from Mr Howard, who became prime minister in 1996, the same year Pell committed his crimes.

Mr Richter said Pell had a great sense of humour and was a man of the 'highest character'.

'He relates to everyone from a prime minister to street beggars,' Mr Richter said of his client.

'He is a person of the highest character, putting aside the convictions that were recorded.'

Pell's lawyer explains in a statement why he did not apply for bail Cardinal George Pell has not applied for bail today. He believes it is appropriate from him to await sentencing. An appeal has already been lodged to be pursued following sentence. Despite the unprecedented media coverage, Cardinal Pell has always and continues to maintain his innocence. Like any person he has the right to pursue his legal rights and will do so. Advertisement

Another one of the references came from Greg Craven, the vice-chancellor of Australian Catholic University.

In further submissions, Mr Richter said Pell's offending was spur of the moment.

'This is no more than a plain vanilla sexual penetration case where a child is not volunteering or actively participating,' he said.

But Chief Judge Peter Kidd hit back, labelling Pell's crimes callous and brazen.

'He engaged in some shocking conduct toward two boys,' the judge said.

'At the moment, I see this as callous, brazen offending. Blatant.'

Asked why Pell committed the crimes, Mr Richter said he was in a difficult position as Pell's lawyer because his client maintained his innocence.

'The cardinal's position is that he is innocent. I'm not in a position to say why he did something he says he didn't do,' he said.

Judge Kidd said he did not accept Pell didn't think about what he was doing.

'People don't go and do what he did without thinking about it... people make choices,' he said.

Judge Kidd warned Mr Richter that Pell could expect a significant jail sentence.

'How did he think he was going to get away with it... There was an element of brutality to this assault. It was an attack.'

Dozens of protesters waited for Pell as he appeared at court for a pre-sentencing hearing

Chief Judge Peter Kidd warned that Pell could expect a significant jail sentence

During Pell's trial, Mr Richter said 'only a mad man' would have done what Pell did.

But Judge Kidd said there was no evidence Pell was crazy, and that he could only accept Pell thought he would escape justice because he was the 'king of the castle'.

Mr Richter reiterated that Pell maintained his innocence and suggested he could only have had a 'temporary loss of judgement'.

'He did what he did and on analysis it was incredibly risky,' he said.

'He was carried away by some overpowering impulse to do it.'

Mr Richter said the children Pell molested had been entrusted to the choir and not his client.

He described the victims as 'naughty children' who should not have been in a position to be abused by Pell in the first place.

'The notion of breach of trust in the traditional sense must not be used to impact on sentence,' he said. 'There was no abuse of power.'

Judge Kidd questioned his suggestion.

'I think it's completely irrelevant the boys were doing something wrong,' he said.

The judge said the children were under Pell's care and supervision the moment their parents dropped them off at the cathedral.

Mr Richter did not object to a compulsory forensic sample being taken from his client, who will also be registered as a serious sex offender.

He urged Judge Kidd not to be persuaded by the hysteria in the general community surrounding his client's conviction.

'This is a court of law, not a court of morals,' he said.

Pell (pictured in 2003) has always vehemently denied the sex attacks against the two choirboys happened, but a jury found otherwise

Pope Francis (right, with Pell) banned him from saying Mass in public and from going near children until his appeal against the conviction is over

The Vatican's spokesman confirmed in a tweet last night that Pell was no longer working with the Pope

This morning Pell hobbled into court to a barrage of abuse from protesters.

Surrounded by police officers and camera crews, he very slowly staggered into the courthouse using a stick after a double knee replacement.

There were chants of 'maggot', 'monster', 'you are filth', 'you are the devil', 'go to hell.'

Pell's barrister was also the target of abuse over the court lunch break.

Mr Richter was pelted with abuse as he left the County Court of Victoria, which caused Judge Kidd to offer them a stern warning.

'An assault on Mr Richter is an assault on the court,' he said.

Judge Kidd said anyone caught abusing Pell's barrister would be prosecuted for contempt of court.

'This is not a game,' he warned.

Several people have been spoken to by security throughout today's hearing after being heard heckling Mr Richter and the judge.

Pell has been on bail since he was charged in June 2017.

The Pope said last night he will not take any permanent disciplinary action against Pell until the appeal is over.

He said Pell remains banned from exercising public ministry and from having any voluntary contact whatsoever with minors.

Pell was found guilty by a jury in December of raping a 13-year-old choirboy in 1996 and molesting another at St Patrick's Cathedral in east Melbourne.

He had been newly appointed Archbishop of Melbourne when he committed the crimes.

Pell's victims were two 13-year-old boys on scholarships to the prestigious St Kevin's College.

The pair 'nicked off' after a Sunday solemn mass in late 1996 and were caught swigging sacramental wine in the priest's sacristy by Pell, newly installed as Archbishop of Melbourne.

Pell (pictured on Wednesday) was found guilty by a jury in December of raping a 13-year-old choirboy in 1996 and molesting another at St Patrick's Cathedral in east Melbourne

Australia's highest-ranking Catholic, the Vatican treasurer was granted extra time on bail over the festive season to have double knee replacement surgery in Sydney. Pictured: Cardinal George Pell's lawyer Robert Richter

Pell scolded the boys then exposed his penis from beneath his ornate ceremonial robes, and molested the pair. He forced one to perform oral sex on him, the court was told.

The jurors returned a unanimous verdict after of a retrial following a hung jury in September.

The media was unable to report the conviction until a second trial was abandoned on Tuesday morning.

Australia's highest-ranking Catholic, the Vatican treasurer was granted extra time on bail over the festive season to have double knee replacement surgery in Sydney.

He had become increasingly frail and had difficulty walking unassisted throughout his trial.

Lawyers for Pell, who maintains his innocence, have lodged an application for leave to appeal the convictions.

The historical offences each carry a maximum 10-year prison sentence.

FROM ALLEGATIONS TO CONVICTION: A TIMELINE OF THE CARDINAL GEORGE PELL CASE 1996 - Pell appointed Archbishop of Melbourne by Pope John Paul II - Pell sexually abuses two 13-year-old choirboys after a Sunday solemn mass at St Patrick's Cathedral - A second indecent act is committed by Pell against one of the choirboys in a corridor at the Cathedral. 2016 - The Herald Sun reports Pell is being investigated by Victoria Police's Sano taskforce for 'multiple offences' committed while he was a priest in Ballarat and Archbishop of Melbourne - Pell says the allegations are 'without foundation and utterly false' and calls for an inquiry into how the police investigation became public - Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton asks the anti-corruption watchdog to investigate the leak, but denies it came from police Cardinal George Pell, 77, is known as the Vatican's treasurer and had been granted a leave of absence while facing trial over child sex offences in Australia. He has surrendered his passport - Pell gives evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse's inquiry into abuse in Ballarat - Under Vatican rules, Pell gives Pope Francis his resignation on his 75th birthday, as is customary. It is not accepted - Victoria Police investigators hand over to the state's Office of Public Prosecutions a brief of evidence on allegations of sexual abuse by Pell - Officers travel to Rome to interview Pell over the abuse claims. He voluntarily participates in the interview. 2017 - Police present their final brief of evidence to the Office of Public Prosecutions to consider charges - Prosecutors give police the green light to charge Pell. JUNE 2017 - Pell is charged with multiple counts of historic child sex offences - He denies the charges and vows to clear his name - Lawyers for Pell appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court - Pell takes leave from his Vatican finance chief role to fight the charges. JULY 2017 - Pell returns to Australia - He hires top barrister Robert Richter QC - Supporters set up a fund to help Pell fight the charges. MARCH 2018 - Prosecutors drop one of the charges against Pell - A month-long committal hearing begins to determine if Pell will face trial - Prosecutors withdraw more charges - Mr Richter claims police conducted a 'get Pell operation' and accuses magistrate Belinda Wallington of bias. She refuses to disqualify herself from the case. MAY 2018 - Magistrate Belinda Wallington orders Pell stand trial on some charges, but throws out others - Pell formally pleads 'not guilty' - Two trials are ordered, separating the 1970s and 1990s allegations - A Victorian County Court employee is sacked for looking up information on the Pell case. AUGUST 2018 - The 1990s 'cathedral trial' begins in the Victorian County Court in Melbourne - Pell pleads not guilty again to one charge of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four of indecent acts with a child, over incidents involving two 13-year-old choirboys at St Patrick's Cathedral in 1996. SEPTEMBER 2018 - The jury is discharged, unable to reach a verdict following a week of deliberation. Some jurors weep. NOVEMBER 2018 - A retrial begins. The jury aren't told of the previous hung jury. DECEMBER 2018 - Pell is found guilty on all charges by an unanimous jury - Mr Richter says Pell will appeal - Suppression orders prevent Australian media reporting the verdict but it spreads through international media within hours. FEBRUARY 2019 - Hearings begin ahead of the second trial. Prosecutors drop another charge - An appeal is filed against the cathedral trial conviction - A County Court judge deems vital evidence inadmissible - Prosecutors withdraw all remaining charges against Pell and drop a second trial over allegations Pell indecently assaulted boys in Ballarat in the 1970s when he was a parish priest - Pell is due to be taken into custody on Wednesday February 27 as the plea hearing begins. MARCH 2019 - Pell is due to be sentenced by County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd. Australian Associated Press Advertisement
A Republican congressman took a page from Donald Trump's book Tuesday by accusing the president's former fixer Michael Cohen, without evidence, of having multiple affairs - on the eve of the ex-attorney giving blockbuster public testimony when he will call his former boss a liar, a criminal and a racist.

GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz said in a Tuesday afternoon tweet that Cohen's wife, Lauren, and her father should talk to the disgraced attorney, suggesting in a tweet that he was hiding more than one illicit relationship from his family.

'Hey @MichaelCohen212 - Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if shell remain faithful when youre in prison. Shes about to learn a lot...' he tweeted.

Just over an house later a Democratic member of the committee, New Jersey congressman Bill Pascrell, demanded that Gaetz be investigated for attempting to intimidate a witness.

Trump has said publicly that journalists should look into Cohen's father-in-law, Fima Shusterman and hinted that he is in some way involved in fraud.

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A Republican congressman took a page from Donald Trump's book and accused the president's former fixer, without evidence, of having multiple affairs

Family: Michael Cohen and his wife Lauren (right) share two children, Samantha (left) and Jake (second from left)

Cohen's testimony on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to the Senate Intelligence Committee was classified. He'll be grilled publicly on Wednesday by lawmakers who sit on House Oversight.

When he left the Senate committee he did not address the cheating claims but said: 'At this point in time I really appreciate the opportunity that was given to me to clear the record, to tell the truth and I look forward to tomorrow to be able in my voice to tell the American people my story and I'm going to let the American people decide exactly who is telling the truth.'

In an phone interview with the Daily Beast after his tweet, Gaetz, who is not on Oversight, insisted he's not attempting to intimidate Cohen.

He said said he was merely 'challenging the veracity and character of a witness' before Cohen's public testimony.

'We do it everyday. We typically do it during people's testimony,' he said. 'This is what it looks like to compete in the marketplace of ideas.'

Gaetz insisted that he was not directed to issue the tweet by the Trump or anyone inside the administration. He did not tell the Daily Beast how he knew about Cohen's alleged philandering, either.

He told the publication he believes that Cohen's marriage is fair game, because it speaks to the 'veracity' of the congressman's testimony. One of Cohen's admitted crimes is deceit.

Cohen apologized to senators on Tuesday for lying in previous testimony as he started three days of testimony on Capitol Hill, where the topics will include racist remarks he's heard from the president and allegations of criminal activity on the part of Trump.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein told DailyMail.com that Cohen - who pleaded guilty to lying to Congress - appeared credible to lawmakers and apologized to them.

'He appeared credible to me today, and he apologized, he said he was going away, you know, he understands, and I think he made efforts to be absolutely truthful,' she said.

Video attack: Republican released this YouTube advert mocking Cohen before he heads to federal prison

Mockery: This is a still image from the GOP video which the party hopes will help discredit the long-time Trump fixer

Exit: Michael Cohenleft Capitol Hill Tuesday after the first of three days of blockbuster hearings saying that he had told the truth and would do so Wednesday

Aide: Michael Cohen was accompanied by Lanny Davis (left), the long-term Clinton advisor who is acting as his personal attorney

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein told DailyMail.com that Cohen - who pled guilty to lying to Congress - appeared credible to lawmakers and apologized

Same time: Donald Trump arrived in Hanoi for a summit with Kim Jong Un exactly as the former fixer he has branded a liar arrived on Capitol Hill

Cohen's credibility has been questioned given his admission he lied to lawmakers when he appeared before the House and Senate intelligence committees in 2017.

Feinstein declined to offer specific details on what Cohen, who was known as Trump's fixer, discussed with committee members.

'The part I was in, which is about two hours, umm, he answered questions, he was really  it's classified, so I can't tell you much. I think that most of us know that this is very complicated picture,' she said.

Cohen's appearance on Tuesday was behind closed doors so lawmakers could grill him on a variety of matters, including Trump's business dealings with Russia.

Additionally Cohen will offer senators a document that he claims shows the president engaged in criminal conduct around the hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, it was revealed Tuesday.

The document will refute a claim by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani that Cohen used a $35,000 monthly retainer from the president as reimbursement for paying off Daniels, a source close to Cohen told Politico.

Giuliani has said Cohen used a monthly retainer made for legal services in reimbursement as repayment for the $130,000 given to Daniels in exchange for her silence.

The documents will show who signed the checks to Cohen, the Daily Beast reported.

As he gave evidence Cohen also learned that he was disbarred in New York because of his felony conviction in a ruling which prevents him practicing law. He had not attempted to fight the move.

It's over: How Michael Cohen was formally barred from being an attorney in New York

Cohen pleaded guilty to violating campaign-finance laws by facilitating payments to Daniels.

Cohen will also discuss the BuzzFeed report that Trump ordered him to lie to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow deal. The article earned a rare - if carefully worded - denial from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office.

'He'll explain exactly why he lied and how he came to lie,' said the source told Politico.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins told reporters Cohen was receiving an 'extensive grilling' from the intelligence panel.

But the White House voiced anger at the ex-fixer's high-profile session.

'It's laughable that anyone would take a convicted liar like Cohen at his word, and pathetic to see him given yet another opportunity to spread his lies,' Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

Cohen arrived on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning to the flash of cameras lights and shouted questions but he didn't say a word as he walked into the Senate hearing room with Lanny Davis, the former Bill Clinton advisor who is acting as his attorney, and begins the first of three days of hearings.

He arrived 30 minutes before his time before senators was set to begin and is expected to be behind closed doors all day.

Senators trickled into the hearing room after his arrival but few spoke about what they wanted to ask the president's former fixer.

Some, however, offered hints at what they were looking for.

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden told reporters outside the hearing room he's interested in following the money when it comes to Cohen's work on Trump Tower Moscow.

But one issue he wouldn't touch was whether Cohen  who plead guilty to lying to Congress  can be trusted to tell the truth in this appearance.

'I'll leave it at that,' Wyden said when asked that question.

Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich, as he entered the hearing room, said he was looking for 'the truth.'

In his testimony, Cohen also intends to reveal information about Trump's financial statements, an anonymous source told the network.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the ex-fixer would accuse Trump of using racist language, recount times when the president questioned the 'intelligence' and criticized the 'lifestyle choices' of black people.

The fixer-turned-felon will say he witnessed 'lies, racism and cheating,' it reported.

He was on his way to raise his hand before the Senate Intelligence Committee to kick off a three-day, back-to-back trio of appearances on Capitol Hill where he will face multiple grillings from lawmakers on his relationship with President Donald Trump and his guilty plea to lying to Congress.

Cohen's closed-door testimony is a prelude to his public appearance on Wednesday before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, to be followed by a second private session on Thursday before the House Intelligence Committee.

Wednesday's public hearing will overshadow the others merely by the presence of TV cameras, to which both Cohen and the lawmakers will be playing to as they engage in a verbal parley on a variety of issues, including the building of Trump Tower Moscow, the payoffs to women during the 2016 campaign, Trump's business dealings, and donations to the president's inaugural committee.

Lawmakers are also girding to ask him questions about a planned Moscow tower project that he pursued well into the 2016 presidential campaign. He plans to tell lawmakers Trump asked him about it 'several times.'

He further plans to talk about Trump's 'lies, racism and cheating as a private businessman,' according to the account.

Trump and his legal team have repeatedly branded Cohen as a liar, and say he cooperated with prosecutors and furnished false information to get a reduced jail sentence.

But one topic not the public agenda: Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and any possible collusion between Trump's team and Moscow.

Oversight panel chairman Elijah Cummings coordinated with his counterpart on the House Intel panel, Adam Schiff, and the two agreed the Russia conversation will happen discussed behind closed doors at the intelligence session while Trump's business dealings will be the focus of the public hearing, according to a memo released Sunday by the Oversight panel.

Lawmakers can dismiss the chairman's guidance and ask whatever they chose, but Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, also said his client cannot talk about the Russia probe in public.

Senators, meanwhile, are eager to have Cohen in their crosshairs on Tuesday.

'I think the reason you have him back is, when somebody lies to Congress in an investigation like this, the questions you might have asked the next witness don't get asked. Somebody you might have called doesn't get called,' Senate intelligence panel member Sen. Roy Blunt said Sunday on CBS' 'Face the Nation.'

Inside man: Michael Cohen was with Trump for a decade and took part in his campaign - standing with (from left) Karen and Mike Pence, Omarosa Manigault - then a Trump aide, now being sued by his campaign for her memoir - and Don King during a campaign stop at the New Spirit Revival Center church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, in September 2016

However, Republicans are already preparing to cast doubts on Cohen's credibility - one of Trump's legal team's major arguments against the president's former personal attorney.

'I don't know that we believe him this time,' Blunt noted.

Republicans will be just as hard on Cohen as Democrats, particularly those closed tied to the president.

Republican Reps. Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows, two of Trump's staunches allies on Capitol Hill, sent a letter to Cohen's attorneys last week saying they intend to press the president's former personal lawyer on his questionable business dealings, his lies to Congress, his work for foreign entities, and even 'the fake Women for Cohen social media initiative he commissioned.'

One person who won't be in town for the show is President Trump, who jetted off to Vietnam on Monday for his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But he will have the ability to tweet even with the 12 hour time difference.

This week marks Cohen's first time before lawmakers since he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the timing of talks concerning the building of a Trump Tower Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Lawmakers have indicated that will be a major topic of interest.

'Well, a great deal starting with why the false statements before our committee when he first appeared. Did they go beyond what he told us about Moscow Trump Tower into other areas as well?,' House Intelligence panel chair Rep. Adam Schiff said on ABC's 'This Week' on Sunday.

Democratic Rep. Jim Himes, who also sits on the Intelligence panel, said he wants to know the same.

'Well, you know, Michael Cohen is going to jail for lying to my committee. So obviously, step one is to re-ask him the questions that he felt he needed to lie to us about, when he testified in the last Congress. So we're going to want to get to the truth, allow him to correct the record. And then, of course, the question is, okay, now that we know the truth, what are the follow-ups? It's going to be an interesting week in that regard,' he said Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press.'

Democratic Reps. Elijah Cummings (left) and Adam Schiff (right) will chair Wednesday's and Thursday's House hearings respectively

Himes also said Cohen could be more forthcoming behind closed doors than in Wednesday's public circus.

'I don't think he's going to say a lot that is classified. But he may have some things that he doesn't feel comfortable saying publicly that he then wants to say either to the Senate or to the House Intelligence Committees, in closed session,' he said.

Last week, Cohen got a two-month reprieve from his deadline to report for his three years in jail, with a judge giving him until May 6. One of the reasons cited was his upcoming congressional testimony.

Cohen received a three-year sentence in December for bank and tax fraud, lying to Congress and violating campaign finance laws.

Even though Cohen can't talk about in public what he told Robert Mueller in the 70 hours he spent talking to that team for the special counsel's Russia investigation, he will speak publicly about his relationship with the president.

Cohen attorney Lanny Davis said last Tuesday his client will reveal how Trump is 'bigoted,' 'treats people badly,' and talk about he's heard the president say disparaging things about black people behind closed doors.

'I believe the issue in 2020 which Michael Cohen can speak to better than anyone is the man lacks character,' Davis told ABC's 'The Investigation' podcast. 'He speaks in bigoted words in private, which Michael Cohen will tell you. He treats people badly. 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.'

But Davis said Cohen will be able to talk about 'what did you do for Mr. Trump for all those years and why.'

Trump's legal team has already made their case against Cohen by painting him as an unreliable witness.

Both Trump's lawyers and the president himself have pushed back against any comments Cohen may have made to Mueller or will make in public by labeling him as a rat and turn coat who can't be believed.

Davis conceded that Cohen knows he has a 'deep hole to climb out' of in terms of credibility.

But he argued his client has seen the light and wants to make amends for his past work for the president.

'He wouldn't take a pardon if Trump pleaded with him to take it. Why? Because it would be dirty,' Davis told ABC News.

Cohen has been cooperating with the special counsel's probe of Russia's role in the 2016 election. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York was the lead federal prosecutor earlier this year when Cohen pled guilty to eight counts, including tax fraud and campaign finance violations - that stemmed from the special counsel's investigation.

Cohen also has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the timeline of conversations he had with Russian officials about building a Trump Tower Moscow as part of separate investigation by Mueller's team.

He was sentenced to three years in prison and is free on bail until that time.

Cohen's guilty pleas included a charge of lying to Congress about a Trump Organization real estate project that was slated for Moscow, Russia and discussed through the fall of 2016 while the president was running for office.

He testified in a closed congressional interview that the project he pursued on Trump's behalf was abandoned by the time of the Iowa Caucuses in January 2016; that would be consistent with Trump's 'political messaging.'

Mueller later filed documents revealing Cohen said he discussed the proposal with Trump on multiple occasions and with members of the president's family, later in the year  even after Trump became the Republican nominee for president.

Cohen said he lied out of loyalty to Trump.

Cohen also played a role in hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels (left) and former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal (right)

'I made these misstatements to be consistent with Individual 1's political messaging and out of loyalty to Individual 1,' Cohen said at his plea hearing late last year.

'Individual 1' is Mueller's name for Trump in the investigation.

Cohen was also the central figure in a plot to buy the silence of pornographic actress Stormy Daniels, who claimed that she had an affair with Trump in 2006.

Daniels signed a nondisclosure agreement in exchange for $130,000 from Cohen, a transaction that he admitted was a violation of campaign finance laws since it amounted to an illegally large contribution benefiting Trump's White House hopes.

He said in court that Trump directed him to make the payment, suggesting the president was guilty of a crime.

In August he pleaded guilty to eight separate charges related to tax dodges, falsifying bank documents and the campaign finance violations involving Daniels and another woman, former Playboy magazine model Karen McDougal.

Cohen claims that at Trump's request, he arranged for the publisher of The National Enquirer to pay McDougal  another self-described past Trump paramour  for the exclusive rights to her life story. The magazine never published anything, engaging in a practice known as 'catch and kill' in order to help Trump avoid new scandals in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign.

Trump has denied ever having a sexual relationship with either Daniels or McDougal.
A jury convicted a New Jersey man Tuesday of strangling a former high school classmate and throwing her body off a bridge so that he could get her inheritance money.

The panel reached its verdict a day after deliberations began in the trial of Liam McAtasney.

McAtasney was convicted of murder, robbery and other counts including desecration of human remains. He faces life in prison.

Michael Stern, the victim's father, described sitting in court and watching McAtasney express no emotion during the trial.

ABC's 20/20 will revisit the tragic murder this Friday at 9pm in a two-hour documentary that will feature McAtasney's shocking confession caught on tape.

It will also feature interviews with Liams defense attorney; the rideshare drivers who came across Sarahs abandoned car the night of her disappearance; Belinda Souza, Sarahs childhood friend; and others.

Liam McAtasney (seen above in Monmouth County Superior Court in New Jersey on Friday) was convicted on Tuesday of strangling his high school classmate and throwing her body off a bridge

In December 2016, McAtasney and an alleged accomplice, Preston Taylor, threw Sarah Stern's (above) body off a bridge before leaving her car there to make it look like the 19-year-old killed herself. Her body has never been found

'To think that somebody that pretended to be her friend did that to her without any remorse was painful, sad and beyond anything I've experienced before in my life,' he said.

'It was sickening.'

Jurors had asked to review a secretly recorded conversation in which McAtasney talked about Sarah Stern's death.

In the video, he described how it took her a half-hour to die and he had timed it on his phone.

The video was filmed just days before McAtasney and his alleged accomplice, Preston Taylor, were charged in 2017 with killing the 19-year-old girl.

Monmouth County prosecutors allege that the 21-year-old McAtasney strangled the 19-year-old Stern during a December 2016 robbery and then, with Taylor's help, dumped her body off the Route 35 bridge in Belmar, leaving her car on the bridge to make it appear that she killed herself.

Liam McAtasney was caught on a secretly recorded video (above) telling his friend, who was working with investigators, about how he killed 19-year-old Sarah Stern for her inheritance in New Jersey back in 2016

'I pretty much hung her,' McAtasney said to his friend Anthony Curry in the footage.

'I picked her up and had her dangling off the ground. It took me a half hour to kill her. I set a timer.'

McAtasney says in the video that he then shoved a shirt down her throat and placed his finger on her nose.

He said the biggest problem was Stern's dog but it just 'laid there and watched as I killed her.'

McAtasney went onto tell his friend that he needed Taylor's help dumping Stern's body off the Route 35 bridge because he didn't realize how heavy she would be.

Jurors were shown the disturbing video, which was caught on a hidden camera planted by police, during McAtasney's murder trial earlier this month. He is pictured in court on February 5

The conversation was filmed just days before McAtasney (left) and alleged accomplice, Preston Taylor right), were arrested and charged with the murder of 19-year-old Sarah Stern

In the video, McAtasney also talks about he thought he was going to get $100,000 by robbing Stern of her inheritance after killing her, but that he only got $8,000.

'The worst part of it is I thought I was going to come out $50,000 to a $100,000 in my pocket. She had one safe that she took money out, and she only had $10,000,' he said.

'And this money, I don't know if it was burnt or something, it's f*****g old money. Terrible quality. I don't even know if I can put any of it in the f*****g bank.'

McAtasney can also be heard telling Curry that Taylor would kill him if he snitched.

He claimed that Curry was the only person to know about Stern's death besides Taylor.

'I don't feel any different, I really don't think about it,' McAtasney said. 'You always think you're going to try all these new things and change, but it just doesn't do anything. It's weird.

Curry replied: 'It's a f****** movie, man.'

McAtasney replied: 'It's your life. You might as well make it one. What are you going to live some boring a** life?'

Curry came forward to authorities in January 2017 after his father contacted a retired officer from the Bradley Beach department.

He testified earlier this month that McAtasney first told him of his plans to strangle Stern on Thanksgiving in 2016.

At the time, he hadn't thought much of the conversation but grew worried when he learned that the woman had been reported missing on December 3, 2016.

Curry had attended high school with both Stern and McAtasney.

Both Stern and McAtasney had been in the victim's home in Avon-by-the-Sea when she found a shoebox full of cash that had belonged to her deceased mother.

'He told me he was going to meet up with Sarah, she had found this money,' Curry said in court.

'They were going to count it together. He was going to choke her, choke her out. Bring her to the bridge, throw her off and Preston was going to drive the escape vehicle. And they were going to bury the money, and leave the keys in the ignition and make it look like she killed herself.'

After Stern's disappearance, Curry said that he and McAtasney corresponded on Snapchat because of its ability to get rid of messages. Curry videotaped the contents from those messages.

Authorities said McAtasney and Taylor threw Stern's body off a bridge before leaving her car there to make it look like she killed herself. Police later found her abandoned car on the bridge (pictured above)

Alleged accomplice Preston Taylor admitted to his role in the killing and testified against McAtasney on the first day of the trial

The messages led Monmouth County Prosecutors to obtain a warrant for consensual recording.

McAtasney's attorney has argued that the video is not a confession and that McAtasney made up a story to impress his friend.

'The statement to Anthony Curry is not a confession,' Carlos Diaz-Cobo said.

'It's an elaborate lie, it's an audition. It's a script. It's not true. ... A young, immature boy decided he was going to use this unfortunate disappearance and make up this story.'

Curry admitted, during cross examination, that his friend had a tendency to share fabricated stories with him and that the two often talked about movies together.

The defense claims there is no physical evidence to support the accusations.

Stern's body has never been found.

Diaz-Cobo told jurors in his closing argument Friday that there was reasonable doubt that the victim was dead, since her body has never been found.

Diaz-Cobo also called the secretly recorded conversation an elaborate lie McAtasney told to impress the amateur horror filmmaker with whom he was conversing.
Jewish Labour MPs reacted with fury last night after their party came out against Sajid Javids decision to ban anti-Israel terror group Hezbollah.

Despite its claims to be tackling anti-Semitism, Labour said there was no sufficient evidence that the organisations political wing should be proscribed.

Hezbollah wants to see the elimination of the State of Israel and has carried out deadly terror attacks against Jews.

Yet a Labour spokesman suggested the ban was only being introduced to bolster the Home Secretarys leadership ambitions.

Jeremy Corbyn famously described members of the murderous organisation as his friends and he has been pictured in front of a Hezbollah flag at a pro-Palestinian rally.

Labour revealed it would not be supporting the Government just a day after Mr Corbyn told Labour MPs he was taking the partys anti-Semitism crisis seriously.

Last night three Jewish Labour MPs  Margaret Hodge, Louise Ellman and Ruth Smeeth  said: Only last summer we had terrorist flags on the streets of London on Al Quds Day, and the police said they could not take action because Hezbollah was not fully proscribed. Labour should therefore support the Governments proposal to proscribe Hezbollah in its entirety.

But a Labour spokesman suggested the ban was only being introduced to bolster the Home Secretarys leadership ambitions. Picture shows the second Hezbollah man Corbyn was addressing when he said 'my friends in Hezbollah' - Dyab Abou Jahjah. He admits he was a member of Hezbollah and received training from them. Here he is as a younger man posing with an AK-47

Yesterday, the Leader of the Labour Party promised he would try and rebuild relations with the Jewish community.

But his action today demonstrates yet again that this is a man who says one thing but does the complete opposite. Hardly a way to start rebuilding relations.

The Lebanon-based groups military wing is already outlawed in the UK, but Mr Javid said on Monday that the ban will be extended to its political arm. The move was due to be approved on the nod by the Commons last night, but Labour made it clear that even if it had gone to a vote it would not have imposed a three-line whip.

A party spokesman said: The Home Office has previously ruled that there was not sufficient evidence that the political wing of Hezbollah fell foul of proscription criteria. The Home Secretary must therefore now demonstrate that this decision was taken in an objective and impartial way, and driven by clear and new evidence, not by his leadership ambitions.

Three Jewish Labour MPs  Margaret Hodge, Louise Ellman and Ruth Smeeth  said: Labour should support the Governments proposal to proscribe Hezbollah in its entirety.' Jeremy Corbyn speaking at the Al Quds rally in London in support of Palestine (above)

Tory Party deputy chairman James Cleverly said: Jeremy Corbyns refusal to back our decision to ban the anti-Semitic terrorist organisation Hezbollah is yet another example of why even ex-Labour MPs think he is not fit to lead the Labour Party, let alone the country.

Euan Philipps, spokesman for Labour Against Anti-Semitism, said: It is unsurprising that Labour have been unable to provide their backing, given Jeremy Corbyns alleged close relationship with them.

Danny Danon, Israels ambassador to the UN, tweeted: Jeremy Corbyn, friend to Hamas and Hezbollah, must believe that Hezbollahs underground tunnels and arsenal of missiles in Lebanon are for regional peace and not to attack Israel.

In 2009, Mr Corbyn was filmed telling the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign: Tomorrow evening it will be my pleasure and my honour to host an event in Parliament where our friends from Hezbollah will be speaking. He also shared a platform with Hezbollah supporter Dyab Abou Jahjah.

In 2012, he was pictured in front of the Hezbollah flag.
George Pell remained third in command of the Catholic Church for almost two years after he was charged with sexually assaulting choirboys.

Charges were brought against Pell in June 2017 and he was immediately given leave from his duties as treasurer in the Vatican.

But he was never sacked and his role only officially ended three days ago when his five-year contract expired.

Pope Francis (right, with Pell) banned him from saying Mass in public and from going near children until his appeal against the conviction is over

The Vatican's spokesman confirmed in a tweet last night that Pell was no longer working with the Pope

The Vatican's spokesman confirmed in a tweet last night that Pell was no longer working with the Pope.

'I can confirm that Cardinal George Pell is no longer the Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy,' wrote Alessandro Gisotti.

Pell had been told some time ago that his contract would not be renewed.

It comes as Pell will take one last shot at freedom by requesting to stay on bail as he appeals his conviction for molesting two choirboys.

Australia's highest-ranking Catholic will face County Court at 10am on Wednesday for a pre-sentence hearing before he is likely sent to jail next month.

He was convicted of one count of sexually penetrating a child and four counts of committing an act of indecency in December in a verdict made public on Tuesday.

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' jail.

Cardinal George Pell will take one last shot at freedom by begging to stay on bail while he appeals his conviction for molesting two choirboys

Victorian County Court chief judge Peter Kidd said Pell, 77, would be remanded in custody after the hearing until his sentence.

However, Pell's lawyers filed a bail application at the court of appeal for 2.30pm on Wednesday, hoping to keep him out of jail until his appeal is heard.

It was not clear whether Pell would be forced to spend the few hours in between in a holding cell.

The Court of Appeal can grant bail at its discretion while it reviews an application to quash a conviction, which can take months.

Should the court end up overturning Pell's conviction, prosecutors would have to decide whether to re-try the case in the County Court.

Investigations related to Pell during the Royal Commission into sex abuse in institutions would remain sealed until his appeals were exhausted.

Judge Kidd wanted to have Pell thrown in jail immediately after the verdict, but let him stay free so he could have a double knee replacement.

Pell is the most senior Catholic clergyman to face trial over sexual offences anywhere in the world. He has been ailing in recent months

A suppression order against making the conviction public was only lifted on Tuesday after prosecutors abandoned a second case against him.

Two boys had claimed Pell molested them in a Ballarat swimming pool in the 1970s when he was a parish priest there.

Australian media was forced to report Pell had stepped down from his role as the Vatican's chief financial officer due to old age.

In reality, he was sacked by Pope Francis immediately after his conviction.

Pope Francis also banned Pell from saying Mass in public and from going near children until his appeal against the conviction is over.

Acting Holy See spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said Pope Francis was pained by Pell's conviction and knows it has shocked many people in Australia.

But Francis also noted that Pell 'has reiterated his innocence and has the right to defend himself', Gisotti said.

Acting Holy See spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said Pope Francis was pained by Pell's conviction and knows it has shocked many people in Australia

REACTION TO CARDINAL GEORGE PELL'S GUILTY VERDICT THE VICTIMS 'At some point, we realise that we trusted someone we should have feared and we fear those genuine relationships that we should trust.' - surviving victim

'This conviction is a reminder to survivors of abuse to feel empowered to tell their stories. Justice has prevailed and the nation is finally listening and addressing your pain.' - lawyer Lisa Flynn, who represented child sexual assault victims

'I'm utterly devastated about it ... There was no one for them at the bar table today.' - lawyer Ingrid Irwin after a second trial which involved Pell and two of her clients was dropped PELL'S LAWYER 'Cardinal George Pell has always maintained his innocence and continues to do so.' - lawyer representing Pell, Paul Galbally The two boys were molested in 1996 after a mass Pell conducted at St Patrick's Cathedral (pictured) in Melbourne THE CHURCH 'While acknowledging the judgment of the jury, I join many people who have been surprised and shaken by the outcome of the second trial.' - Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli

'We pray for all those who have been abused and their loved ones and we commit ourselves anew to doing everything possible to ensure that the Church is a safe place for all, especially the young and the vulnerable.' - Archbishop Mark Coleridge, President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

'The institution has been brought to its knees. It has lost its credibility, frankly. It is still struggling to come to terms with that.' - Francis Sullivan, former boss of the council that co-ordinated the church's royal commission response COMMUNITY 'Catholics today in Victoria, in Australia, vote with your feet. Have some backbone, walk out of the church house. They won't change.' - child sexual abuse survivor advocate, Michael

'To date, within the Catholic Church, it has been anything but fair, just, humane or moral.' - Cathy Kezelman, president of the Blue Knot Foundation for adult survivors of child trauma

'This is is a momentous event, as part of the continuing drama of the Catholic catastrophe.' - former Catholic priest turned child abuse victims advocate Professor Des Cahill

'Thank you to some of the bravest men in Australia and their families for trusting me.' - investigative journalist Louise Milligan

'You're going to burn in hell. Burn in hell, Pell.' - a bystander as Pell left court

'Cardinal Pell's behaviours have not met the standards we expect of those we honour as role models for the young men we educate.' - St Patrick's College headmaster John Crowley, having removed Pell's name from a building which had been named in his honour Pell has always maintained his innocence and has lodged an appeal against his convictions POLITICIANS 'Like most Australians, I am deeply shocked at the crimes of which George Pell has been convicted. I respect the fact that this case is under appeal, but it is the victims and their families I am thinking of today, and all who have suffered from sexual abuse by those they should have been able to trust, but couldn't.' - Prime Minister Scott Morrison

'My thoughts are with the victims - their pain is a tragedy, their bravery an inspiration. They've been betrayed and so have good people of faith across Victoria.' - Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews

'(I'm) absolutely shocked and disgusted by the details I've read today and I think everybody would feel the same. There are no words to describe how horrible those incidents were.' - NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian

'Finally, the good news is that now George Pell's decades of predatory behaviour is out there for all to see.' - Senator Derryn Hinch

'It is truly wonderful to live in a country where no one is above the law, where any person can seek access to justice and to see that justice done.' - Deputy Labor Leader Tanya Plibersek Advertisement

The two 13-year-old boys were on scholarships to the prestigious St Kevin's College in late 1996 and were caught swigging sacramental wine in the priest's sacristy by Pell, newly installed as Archbishop of Melbourne.

Pell scolded the boys, then exposed his penis from beneath his ornate ceremonial robes, and molested the pair including forcing one to perform oral sex on him.

'You're in trouble,' he told them before the assaults.

One of the boys said he was sexually assaulted again by Pell a month or so after he was raped, recalling that he was pushed against a cathedral wall.

'He shoved me against the wall violently and squeezed my genitals,' the court heard.

The cardinal's barrister Robert Richter QC argued the allegations were a 'far-fetched fantasy', that Pell was always accompanied after mass and that his cumbersome robes would have prevented him revealing his genitals.

Pell's lawyer Robert Richter (pictured) filed a bail application at the court of appeal for 2.30pm that day, hoping to keep him out of jail until his appeal is heard

The Court of Appeal (pictured) can grant bail at its discretion while it reviews an application to quash a conviction, which can take months

'This is painful news': The Vatican's full statement on the Pell verdict The Holy See agrees with the statement issued by the President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference regarding the sentence of guilt in the first instance concerning Cardinal George Pell. This is painful news that, as we are well aware, has shocked many people, not only in Australia. As already expressed on other occasions, we have the utmost respect for the Australian judicial authorities. Out of this respect, we await the outcome of the appeals process, recalling that Cardinal Pell maintains his innocence and has the right to defend himself until the last stage of appeal. While awaiting the definitive judgement, we unite ourselves with the Australian bishops in praying for all victims of abuse, and reaffirm our commitment to do everything possible so that the Church might be a safe home for all, especially for children and the most vulnerable. In order to ensure the course of justice, the Holy Father has confirmed the precautionary measures which had been imposed by the local Ordinary on Cardinal George Pell when he returned to Australia. That is, while awaiting the definitive assessment of the facts, as is the norm, Cardinal George Pell is prohibited from exercising public ministry and from having any voluntary contact whatsoever with minors. Advertisement

'Only a madman would attempt to rape boys in the priest's sacristy immediately after Sunday solemn mass,' he told the jury.

Pell's surviving victim thanked his family for their support, saying the process of bringing Pell to justice was stressful and not over yet.

'Like many survivors I have experienced shame, loneliness, depression and struggle. Like many survivors it has taken me years to understand the impact upon my life,' he said.

'At some point we realise that we trusted someone we should have feared and we fear those genuine relationships that we should trust.'

Pell's other victim died of a heroin overdose.
A former newsreader has stood by disgraced Cardinal George Pell throughout his trial for sexually abusing teenage boys.

Pell, 77, was found guilty of four counts of indecent assault and one count of rape by a Melbourne jury last December. The dramatic verdict could only be revealed after a court gag order was lifted on Tuesday.

Pell's loyal friend and executive adviser for the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney Katrina Lee was by his side as he walked from court in Melbourne to cries of 'rot in hell' after the verdict became public.

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Former newsreader Katrina Lee (left) has stood by disgraced Cardinal George Pell (right) throughout his trial for sexually abusing teenage choirboys

Ms Lee worked as a newsreader for Channel Ten from 1978 until 1987 and then again from 1991 to 1994

Ms Lee worked as a newsreader for Channel Ten from 1978 until 1987 and then again from 1991 to 1994.

She was married to legendary crime journalist Harry Potter until his death in 2014.

Ms Lee was by Pell's side throughout his trial, occasionally chatting to him while the pair sat in court.

Before his conviction, Ms Lee conducted a series of interviews with Pell for the church which were posted to YouTube.

In the interviews, Ms Lee spoke to Pell about the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in 2013.

In that same year, Ms Lee replied to sexual abuse victim Peter Blenkiron's mother three years after she wrote to her about allegations the church paid hush money to shield senior members.

Mr Blenkiron's mother Clare Linane said the timing of the reply was 'offensive' as it came just before Pell was due to give evidence at an inquiry into how churches handled sexual abuse.

Ms Linane wrote to Ms Lee in April 2010, but it wasn't until May 2013 that she received a response.

Ms Lee (pictured) was by Pell's side throughout his trial, occasionally chatting to him while the pair sat in court

Before his conviction, Ms Lee conducted a series of interviews with Pell for the church which were posted to YouTube

Ms Lee praised Pell in her reply to Ms Linane, The Age reported.

'He said many times that helping victims and ensuring they are heard, believed and treated with compassion and respect must be the church's first priority,' Ms Lee wrote.

Ms Linane said the letter made her feel cynical and that she did not believe Ms Lee or Pell.

'[Pell] doesn't act like a man of God,' she said.

Pell's victims were two 13-year-old boys on scholarships to the prestigious St Kevin's College.

The pair 'nicked off' after a Sunday solemn mass in late 1996 and were caught swigging sacramental wine in the priest's sacristy by Pell, newly installed as Archbishop of Melbourne.

Ms Lee (left) has supported Pell (right) throughout his trial for the sexual assault of two teenage boys

Pell's victims were two 13-year-old boys on scholarships to the prestigious St Kevin's College

Pell scolded the boys, then exposed his penis from beneath his ornate ceremonial robes, and molested the pair. He forced one to perform oral sex on him, the court was told.

Pell had repeatedly and vehemently denied the accusations against him and Pope Francis had granted him a leave of absence to return to Australia to defend himself. He has lodged an appeal of his conviction.

One of the victims, now in his 30s, brought the allegations to police after years of having struggled to understand what he'd experienced.
'Despite the political controversy of the past few weeks at Westminster, I believe the United Kingdom remains firmly on course to leave the European Union with a deal  if MPs hold their nerve'

Despite the political controversy of the past few weeks at Westminster, I believe the United Kingdom remains firmly on course to leave the European Union with a deal  if MPs hold their nerve.

On January 29, the House of Commons expressed its support for that outcome, provided there were legal changes to the Northern Ireland backstop to prevent it operating indefinitely.

When the Government set out to secure those changes, I did not know what the response in Europe would be.

But in the discussions I have had with the leadership of the European Union and the leaders of every EU member state, I have found a real determination to find a way through which allows the UK to leave with a deal.

That engagement has already begun to bear fruit.

The UK and EU are working towards a joint work-stream to develop alternative arrangements to ensure the absence of a hard border in Northern Ireland, in parallel with our negotiations on the future relationship.

We are doing our own ministerial-led work  supported by civil service resources and with 20 million of government funding  to help develop, test and pilot proposals which can form part of these alternative arrangements.

We are also continuing to hold detailed discussions on the legal changes that are required to guarantee that the Northern Ireland backstop cannot endure indefinitely.

But securing the necessary changes to the backstop is not the only thing the Government is doing to build support for the deal across the House of Commons.

We are developing detailed plans to give Parliament a clearer and stronger role in the next phase of the negotiations, in which the UK and the EU will agree the detail of our future relationship. We are discussing with the EU what additions or changes can now be made to the political declaration outlining that future relationship that will increase peoples confidence in the ambition of both sides to agree to it as soon as possible.

Securing the necessary changes to the backstop is not the only thing the Government is doing to build support for the deal across the House of Commons

And to protect workers rights, a concern for many MPs as we leave the EU, we will give Parliament a vote on whether it wishes to follow suit whenever the EU changes its standards. The UK leads the way on workers rights, environmental protections and health and safety  as we leave the EU, we will continue to enhance them.

I firmly believe that a deal is within our grasp.

Yesterday I committed in Parliament to give MPs a second meaningful vote on the withdrawal agreement by March 12 at the latest. I am confident that we can win that vote. But because many MPs are worried that if we lose that vote Parliament would not have time to make its voice heard on the next steps, I gave two other assurances.

If the Government has not won a meaningful vote by March 12, we will ask MPs if they support leaving the EU on March 29 without a Withdrawal Agreement.

If the House rejects leaving on March 29 without a deal, the Government will bring forward a motion on whether Parliament wants to seek a short limited extension to Article 50.

And if the House votes for an extension, we will seek to agree one with the EU and bring forward the necessary legislation.

But I do not want to see Article 50 extended.

Our absolute focus should be on working to get a deal and leaving on March 29. Doing so would give businesses and citizens the certainty they deserve.

By committing Labour to holding a second referendum, despite promising to implement Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn has shown once again that he cannot be trusted to keep his promises. His cynical political games would take us back to square one.

Instead, Parliament should do its duty so that our country can move forward.

We want to leave the EU with a deal that gives us the best of both worlds: a close relationship with our nearest neighbours and the chance to make the most of our talents and resources by building new relationships with growing economies around the world.
(Image source from: Twitter.com/RadioPakistan)

Pakistan Rejects India's Attack On Balakot Terrorist Camp:- Indian Air Force took on Pakistan border's Balakot terrorist camp and destroyed the entire camp which is said to have killed over 300 terrorists. Though the number is not official, some of pictures and videos destroying the camp are floated across social media circles. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country is secured and he will not let the country bow down. Pakistan's National Security Council met today and the meeting has been chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan. He called the entire incident 'fictitious and self-serving'. All the top military and civil leaders attended the meeting along with Army Chief General Qamar Jawed Bajwa and ministers of defence and foreign affairs.

Pakistan Government formed a committee to take action against the violations of Line of Control by Indian Air Force. Imran Khan called for a special meeting tomorrow which will discuss about the key decisions to be taken. He said that the people of Pakistan along with the Armed Forces should be ready for the eventualities. National Command Authority and Pakistan Foreign Minister is in plans to take this issue to all the International forums. Pakistan during their early morning updates after the incident revealed that Indian Air Force violated Line of Control but they soon returned back after Pakistan Air Force scrambled.
Students who feel theyre working like a dog now have a four-legged friend to pour out their troubles to.

Sausage dog Jimmy Chipolata is believed to be the UKs first in-house university therapy dog, providing psychological support  and snuggles  for undergraduates in times of stress.

Owner Debra Easter, 45, works alongside her pet at Nottingham Trent University Employability, which provides help for students looking for work placements and careers advice.

Sausage dog Jimmy Chipolata is believed to be the UKs first in-house university therapy dog

He provides psychological support for undergraduates at Nottingham Trent University in times of stress

She said Jimmy loves being in the limelight, adding: Lots of our staff and students wellbeing can improve just by stroking Jimmy and giving him a fuss.

Students really like having Jimmy around. He helps them when they [have] presentations or assignment deadlines.

But Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, branded it pseudo-psychology and said snowflake students needed to toughen up, adding: If theyre getting to 18, 19 and 20 and need a dog to cheer them up then theyve got a real problem.

Owner Debra Easter, 45, works alongside Jimmy with the employability team - which provides help for students looking for work placements and careers advice

But Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, branded it pseudo-psychology and said snowflake students need to toughen up

Jimmy, rescued by Mrs Easter two years ago, often shows off outfits including a cap and gown and a bowtie on campus.

Mrs Easter said: While he might not be on the payroll here  he knows how to work a room and strut up and down the office.'
Ohio Sonic workers have abandoned ship after their restaurants were sold to new owners.

Customers that visited their local Sonic in Circleville, Ohio said they were shocked to be greeted by a handwritten note taped to the restaurants front door saying 'the whole store has quit'.

'Warning: Due to terrible management, the whole store has quit. The company has been sold to people that dont give a f*uck about anyone but themselves,' the letter that was shared on social media said.

'Sorry for the inconvenience, but our team refuses to work for a company that treats their employees like s**t when they have put everything into this story,' it added.

The staff at a Circleville, Ohio Sonic quit at the same time and posted this sign saying: 'The company has been sold to people that don't give a f**k'

The note was signed 'F**K YOU. Sincerely, ex-Sonic crew'.

The incident took place at the Circleville location and it turns out they werent alone. The entire staff at the Grove City and Lancaster Sonics also quit, according to the Scioto Post.

The Lancaster location bid adieu to the restaurant by posting a sign that said: 'Goodbye and Thank you'.

They also printed out an email from the restaurants previous owners then smeared them as 'the most trashiest company we have ever seen'.

According to the Post, the Sonic locations' ownership was sold to SRI Operating Company, which is an affiliate of Sonic that operates its restaurants.

'Circleville, Lancaster, and Grove City crews have all walked out and quit after the franchise was bought out by corporate,' the source said.

The new management took over eight Sonic locations in the Ohio area and allegedly slashed workers' already near minimum wage pay to tipped employee wages at $4.00 an hour. The Circleville Sonic pictured above

'The regional director, two district managers and four general managers have all been let go. All of which have been working for the company in management for 7+ years,' the source added.

Not only is the new ownership shaking up Ohio Sonic employees, but the new ownership allegedly cut the in-restaurant workers' pay from minimum or 'near-minimum' wage to tipped employee wages at approximately $4.00/hr.

Eight Sonic locations were involved in the new management takeover, all of which will be reopening on Monday with the new ownership.

Two other Sonic restaurants in the area are closing permanently.

Sonic released a statement in light of the new man agent.

'Under new management, guests and the community can look forward to improved service and the famous food, beverages and treats for which SONIC is known,' a Sonic spokesperson told WSYX.

'Employees working for the local drive-in can look forward to fun, fast-paced work on which they can build a career, if they choose. Most current employees will have the opportunity to continue to work at the drive-in under the new ownership,' the statement added.
A Massachusetts police officer has been accused of raping a 13-year-old boy in a park during a Grindr-related encounter.

Officer Carlos Vieira, 49, of Lawrence, Massachusetts was in court Tuesday to plead not guilty to two counts of statutory aggravated rape of a child and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 after allegedly meeting the eighth grader through the dating app last summer.

Assistant Essex District Attorney Kim Faitella said that the 13-year-old boy, who is not being named, claimed he rode his bike to Mount Vernon Park to met Vieira  a father and Marine Corps veteran  at 10pm one summer night.

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Twenty-year police veteran Carlos Vieira, 49, pleaded not guilty to charges that he raped a 13-year-old boy he met through the Grindr dating app over the summer

Court documents stated that the alleged rape occurred in the back of Vieira's black SUV and that after the incident, the boy attempted to access Vieira's Grindr profile, but that he could not longer view it, according to the Boston Herald.

Faitella told the judge that at the time of the alleged rape, the boy 'did not know that the person was a police officer'.

It wasn't until September 13, 2018, that the boy realized the his alleged attacker was a cop, after seeing and recognizing Vieira who was directing traffic at an intersection, while in a car with his aunt.

The boy said he 'became nervous and was shocked that he was a police officer', Faitella said, adding that the boy then ducked out of sight and pretended to tie his shoe.

The boy didn't tell his mother about the alleged rape until January. When she finally learned about what happened, she consulted a lawyer who then reported the alleged rape to the DA instead of police, according to CBS Boston.

During the month-long investigation, the boy was said to have '100 per cent' identified Vieira from an array of photos.

Faitella said that 'some items were recovered' from Vieira's home after search warrants were executed on Monday and his vehicle was seized for processing.

Vieira's lawyer that said that police arrested the wrong man and that there is no forensic evidence against Vieira. Vieira is a decorated, 20-year police veteran and a former Marine

The 13-year-old said that he had ridden his bike to meet Vieira at Massachusetts' Mount Vernon Park at 10pm one summer night and that he was then raped there

The boy said that he did not know Vieira was a police officer until he saw him directing traffic at this intersection later in the year. His mother was unaware of the alleged rape until January

Vieira is said to have a black 2010 Chevrolet Suburban registered under his name.

The judge ordered that Vieira remain in custody while awaiting a dangerousness hearing scheduled for March 1. He is being held without bail.

During a taped interview on Monday, Vieira was said to have admitted to having used Grindr in the past, as well as to having been on duty on the day that the supposed victim claimed to have recognized him directing traffic.

Vieira's lawyer, Gil Nason, said the wrong man was arrested for the alleged rape.

Vieira, who has a daughter, has been 'a police officer for 20 years, has had numerous commendations, including valor, where he saved people.

Hes also been named Cop of the Year at least twice,' Nason said after the arrangement, according to the Boston Herald.

Nason said that to his knowledge there was no DNA or forensics evidence in the case and that it's 'just and I.D. of somebody saying something,' noting that 'identification is going to play a major role' as the investigation continues.

He also said that 'This will play out' and called it 'an accusation.'

Meanwhile, Nason said that he is concerned about Vieira's safety while he's being held, as 'Probably half the people in Middleton (Jail) he may have put there.'

Vieira has been placed on administrative leave pending the results of the investigation, but, if the accusations are 'determined to be true, 'we will act quickly to remove the officer involved,' Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera said in a statement obtained by NBC 10.
Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris said 'yes,' she believes President Donald Trump is a racist.

She cited his comments on the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, a report from last year that the president referred to some African nations as s***hole countries, and his descriptions of immigrants in her reasoning.

'Well look, when you talk about his statement on (Charlottesville), when you talk about him calling African countries s-hole countries, when you talk about him referring to immigrants as rapists and murderers, I don't think you can reach any other conclusion,' Harris said in an interview with The Root published Tuesday.

The California senator was asked if she agreed that the president is a racist.

'I do. Yes, Yes,' she replied.

Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris said 'yes,' she believes President Donald Trump is a racist

President Trump has repeatedly defended himself from such allegations and has said he is not a racist

Her remarks are her most declarative to date on the president.

She was critical of Trump's response to the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, when the president noted there 'very fine people' on both sides of the issue, but she had stopped short of branding him a racist.

'Racism is real in America, sexism, anti-Semitism, transphobia, homophobia - these things exist in America,' she said at CNN town hall meeting in Iowa shortly after she announced her presidential bid. 'We have seen when Charlottesville and a woman was killed that we've had a president who basically said, well, there were equal sides to this.'

Trump has used harshly critical language of immigrants on the campaign trail as he has advocated for his border wall.

In his May 2016 presidential campaign rally he called undocumented Mexican immigrants 'rapists', 'murderers' and 'criminals.'

'When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best, they're not sending you,' he said when he announced his presidential bid. 'They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us,' he continued. 'They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.'

Trump has repeatedly defended himself against the allegation he's racist.

'No, No. I am not a racist,' he said in January 2018 after his comments about calling African nations s***hole countries was revealed.

'I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed. That I can tell you,' he told reporters at the time.

He was also accused of making racist comments by his former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman.

In her book 'Unhinged,' Newman alleged Trump was caught on tape using the n-word on the set of 'The Apprentice,' the reality show where they met.

She wrote on her 'growing realization that Donald Trump was indeed a racist, a bigot and a misogynist' during her time in the White House.

The White House charged Newman with lying and called her 'disgruntled former White House employee.'

Trump, himself, called her a 'lowlife.'

But race relations will likely be a repeated topic in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.

Cory Booker (left) was careful in his comments on Trump and race but Bernie Sanders (right) was more blunt

Trump has called immigrants 'rapists' and 'criminals'

Sen. Cory Booker, the other African American candidate in the race, was cautious in his characterization of the president.

'I don't know the heart of anybody,' he said on the day he announced his presidential campaign. 'I'll leave that to the Lord.'

'I know there are a lot of people who profess the ideology of white supremacy that use his words. And I believe his failure to condemn bigotry and racism, I believe that when he makes comments on African countries, when he challenges and demeans the ability for federal judges to do their job because of ancestry - that's bigoted language,' he noted.

But other contenders, like Bernie Sanders were much more blunt in their assessment of the president.

He is 'a pathological liar, a fraud, a racist, a sexist, a xenophobe and someone who is undermining American democracy as he leads us in an authoritarian direction,' Sanders said of the president in his announcement video.
An elderly woman has been found not guilty of manslaughter after her husband drowned in their backyard pool with two 3.1kg dumbbells tied around his waist.

Hazel Spenceley, 79, was accused of killing her husband of 57 years, Peter Spenceley, 80, after claims she pushed him into the pool at their Perth home in December 2016.

She has been on trial in the WA Supreme Court since last week but on Tuesday gasped and sobbed when she was acquitted after about four hours of jury deliberations.

'I did not do anything to assist my husband. He was the most wonderful man in this world. I've got to learn to live without him,' she said outside the court.

Prosecutor Simon Freitag told the court that on the night of his death, Mrs Spenceley told three witnesses, including a police officer and a paramedic, she had shoved him in.

An elderly woman has been found not guilty of manslaughter after her husband drowned in their backyard pool with two 3.1kg dumbbells tied around his waist (pictured)

Hazel Spenceley (pictured) was found not guilty of manslaughter after her husband drowned in December 2016

What happened the night Peter Spenceley died? Mr Spenceley was sitting at the edge of the deep end and had a bag containing two 3.1kg dumbbells tied around his waist. Prosecutors argued he drowned in water (2m deep) after he was pushed. Defendant claim he could of suffered from a heart attack or stayed under water deliberately Mrs Spenceley tried to use a pole to get her husband out of the pool before running next door to get help. Prosecutor claims she told three witnesses she has pushed him in but later denied it. The neighbour performed CPR on him until paramedics arrived. Advertisement

'She was the difference between life and death. Without her push he was not in the water,' the prosecutor said.

Mrs Spenceley's lawyer Justine Fisher said her client was 'distressed, crying, frantic, trying to get assistance' when he drowned and when she said 'my f***ing son has caused this'.

Ms Fisher said she had meant she'd pushed him metaphorically, not literally and their was no evidence Mrs Spenceley knew he had tied weights around his waist.

The father-of-two was in the early stages of prostate cancer and she said this could have been a reason why he stayed under the water, even though he wasn't a strong swimmer.

Ms Fisher said Mrs Spenceley wasn't responsible if the 80-year-old had kept himself under the water.

Mrs Spenceley had tried to use a pole to get her husband out before running next door to get help.

While experts concluded the deceased had succumbed to immersion, Ms Fisher said he may also have suffered a sudden heart attack, given he had signs of heart disease.

Mr Freitag said he was not claiming that Mrs Spenceley had the intention of killing her husband, but told the court the act of pushing itself was a crime because it led to his death.
A British pharmacist locked up in northern Syria for treating Islamic State jihadi fighters said last night that he wants to come back home  and bring his teenage wife and two children with him.

Mohammed Anwar Miah, 40, who renamed himself Abu Obayda al-Britani, inside the group's caliphate, left Birmingham in September 2014 to sneak into territory held by IS.

In his first newspaper interview, he claimed he never swore allegiance to the group and had gone there, illegally, for 'humanitarian work'.

Miah lived in the town of Mayadin under IS rule for four years. He claimed to have worked there as an assistant orthopaedic surgeon, learning from a book as he went.

Mohammed Anwar Miah, a pharmacist from Birmingham, is a suspected jihadi in a Kurdish prison in northern Syria

He was detained after escaping from Mayadin last August on a motorbike with his Syrian wife, whom he will not name, and their nine-month-old daughter, Mariam.

He has never met his second child because he was separated from his wife, who was five months pregnant, and daughter after they were picked up by the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Miah does not know where they are now, but he said his children are British citizens and he wants them to come back to the UK with him.

Miah is one of six suspected jihadi Britons being held by the Kurdish-led SDF, along with two members of the notorious 'Beatles' gang responsible for beheading British hostages.

Speaking at an intelligence building in Al-Hasakah province a short drive from his prison, he said: 'I want to go home. I'm proud to be British. Britain has got good human rights and that is a good thing.

'In an ideal situation I would like to take my wife and my children back to Britain with me and just live a normal life. If she can live there and she's not allowed health care OK so be it. I've never claimed any benefits in my life. I've always worked for a living and paid taxes.'

He was caught by Kurdish-led SDF forces (arrest pictured) who are holding him along with two members of the notorious 'Beatles' gang who beheaded British hostages

Wearing a grey djellaba, a loose robe, Miah said Britain had a responsibility to take all its citizens back and rehabilitate them. His comments came after Jack Letts, 23, the Oxford-born Muslim convert known as 'Jihadi Jack', said he wanted to go home and missed his mother. Letts is being detained in Syria.

A row broke out earlier this month over what should happen with foreign fighters and their jihadi wives after Shamima Begum, 19, who left her home in east London aged 15, was found in a Syrian refugee camp begging to be allowed back into Britain.

After she expressed 'no regret' for travelling to Syria and marrying an IS fighter, Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped her of her British citizenship.

Miah claims he is innocent of any crimes. 'I'm not a danger to the public,' he said. 'But if they feel that I am a danger I am more than happy to enter into any rehabilitation programme.

'If they want to punish me, they can punish me. If they want to monitor me I have no problem. I am in remorse for coming to Syria and if I could go back in time I wouldn't come to Syria.'

Like Begum, Miah was born in Britain but his mother was born in Bangladesh. He said he would rather stay in prison than be sent to Bangladesh: 'I have been to Bangladesh two or three times in my life.

I don't have a Bangladesh passport, I only have one nationality  British.' Miah was left jobless in 2013 after he was struck off the pharmacist register for inventing 'phantom' employees, which enabled him to work more hours in contravention of EU legislation.

He told his mother he was going on 'holiday' for three weeks and never returned. He has not spoken to her since.

He crossed the border from Turkey in September 2014, 27 days after British executioner Jihadi John beheaded US journalist James Foley. A video of the killing was published on the internet.

But Miah claimed he had not heard of any of the extreme violence before he set off  despite the barbaric murder sparking headlines across the globe.

Although he was unable to speak Arabic when he arrived, Miah said he worked in a hospital for nearly four years in Mayadin, which was constantly being bombed.

The town, in eastern Syria, was the scene of a string of executions under IS control while Miah was there, another fact he claims to be largely unaware of.

He claimed that even as Mayadin was on the verge of destruction, with all civilians having fled, he never knowingly treated an IS fighter  though when pushed he admitted he 'probably' did.

'You would get people coming in who were probably fighters but they would come in as a normal civilian who needed medical care and you would just treat them,' he said.

When Miah was detained by the British and US-backed SDF, footage showed him blindfolded and handcuffed as he told his captors that he was a 'doctor'.

In early 2017, he married a Syrian whom he met at the hospital. It was customary under IS for members of the caliphate to be 'gifted' their pick of younger brides.

But Miah insisted: 'I married her because I felt she was a nice person and a good person. She is nothing to do with IS. My wife would have given birth now. I don't know if it is boy or girl. I don't know where they are.'
This is the heartwarming moment a young woman in Argentina is reunited with her pet dog after it had been missing for a month.

China, a miniature pinscher, was reported missing January 23 by her owner Jessica, after the small pooch ran out to the street near the home in Villa Crespo, a middle-class neighborhood in Buenos Aires.

The young woman, with the assistance of her friends and family members, posted posters in the neighborhood and set up a social media campaign seeking China's return.

Jessica is reunited with 'China', her miniature pet pinscher a month after the dog disappeared

'China' escaped from her owner's home in Villa Crespo, a neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A $30,000 Argentine pesos [almost $800] was offered for her return

Jessica (pictured with her pet dog 'China') set up posters in her neighborhood and created a Facebook page called Buscando A China [Looking For China]

We are both happy again. I dreamed of this moment thousands of times and the wish was fulfilled,' Jessica said. Miriam who found the pooch is pictured above

She even created a Facebook page called Buscando A China [Looking For China], sharing the notice that offered a $30,000 Argentine pesos ($880) reward.

On Saturday afternoon, weeks after worrying and wondering about whether she would ever get to see her pet companion again, Jessica received a phone call from a woman named Miriam, who had been safeguarding China after her disappearance.

Jessica requested a number of photos to confirm that it was indeed 'China', before she broke down into tears with her co-workers.

The pair agreed to meet Sunday near a police station in a Buenos Aires neighborhood.

Jessica, who was accompanied by her boyfriend and a friend, asked for police assistance to handle the exchange.

It was absolute happiness, a thankful Jessica wrote on a Facebook page.

We are both happy again. I dreamed of this moment thousands of times and the wish was fulfilled.'
Theresa May today urges Parliament to do its duty and vote through her Brexit deal.

Writing in the Daily Mail, she says she is close to winning concessions from the EU that could persuade Eurosceptic MPs to back her.

Mrs May yesterday faced a mass walkout by Remainer ministers and was forced to offer MPs a vote to delay Brexit beyond March 29 if she cannot get her plans through the Commons.

But in an upbeat assessment of her talks with Brussels and European leaders, she said: I have found a real determination to find a way through which allows the UK to leave with a deal. That engagement has already begun to bear fruit.

Theresa May today urges Parliament to do its duty and vote through her Brexit deal

Amber Rudd, David Gauke and Claire Perry leave the weekly cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street

Parliament should do its duty so our country can move forward.

The Prime Ministers decision to sanction a possible Brexit delay prompted a furious row in Cabinet yesterday, with Amber Rudd, David Gauke, Greg Clark and Claire Perry facing a backlash for forcing the PMs hand on a postponement by publicly threatening to resign.

The key votes Analysis by Jack Doyle, Associate Editor for the Daily Mail MARCH 12: The vote on the PMs deal By this date Mrs May must return to the Commons with her deal and put it before MPs. After multiple delays, this really will be D-Day. She lost the first vote by 230 votes in January. She now has two clear weeks to secure whatever concessions she can eke out of Brussels on the Northern Ireland backstop and put an amended deal back before the Commons. To secure victory, she will need to win over the Northern Irish DUP, and at least some of the hardline Eurosceptics on the Tory Right. If  and its a big if  she succeeds, Britain could leave the EU with only a short delay after March 29 to pass essential Brexit legislation. MARCH 13: The No Deal Vote If the Prime Minister cannot get her deal through on or before March 12 then the following day she will table a motion asking MPs if they support leaving without a deal. The Commons is likely to reject No Deal overwhelmingly as it has already indicated its opposition to this form of Brexit. Mrs May refused several times yesterday to say if she would vote against a No Deal Brexit  or if the Government would whip the vote, thereby instructing its MPs how to vote. She insisted: The absolute focus should be on working to get a deal and leaving on 29 March. MARCH 14: The Delay Brexit Vote If the Commons rejects leaving without a deal, the Government will table a motion the following day asking if MPs want to ask the EU for an extension to Article 50 beyond March 29. This is likely to pass. Again, No 10 would not say yesterday if the vote would be subject to a whip. What happens afterwards remains unclear. MPs will, in all likelihood, force her to ask the EU for a delay. This would fray Tory unity, embolden the supporters of a second referendum and put a huge question mark over Brexit happening in any form. Any Article 50 extension would need to approved by other EU leaders. A three-month extension, dragging out the process until the end of June, has been suggested. There remains the awkward issue of European elections in May but the new European Parliament is not scheduled to sit until July. Thus the outgoing parliament, including its British members, may still need to ratify a Brexit deal. Advertisement

In a counterblast today, former Brexit secretary David Davis accuses Mrs May of capitulating to blackmail and warns that opening the door to a delay sends the wrong message to Brussels.

Also writing in the Mail, Mr Davis is scathing about mutineer ministers encircling the Prime Minister.

He writes: The Prime Minister should ignore those ministers currently having a panic attack about the prospects of No Deal. Their fears are exaggerated. While No Deal might  might  be economically difficult, no Brexit would be a democratic disaster.

As a cross-party group led by Labours Yvette Cooper and Tory Sir Oliver Letwin dropped plans to force a vote on letting Parliament seize control of Brexit:

The pound surged to a 21-month high against the euro as traders predicted that Mrs Mays move had made No Deal less likely;

Ministers were forced to publish a secret Cabinet paper warning No Deal would lead to shortages of fruit and vegetables in supermarkets;

DUP leader Arlene Foster, who held talks with the Prime Minister yesterday, warned against a delay;

Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom turned on Cabinet Remainers for going public with their threats to quit;

Jeremy Corbyn faced a backlash over his decision to back a second referendum, despite claiming to respect the result of the first;

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox held talks with EU officials on ways to ensure the controversial Irish backstop cannot endure indefinitely.

Mrs Mays decision to open the door to a Brexit delay appeared to have averted the threat of an immediate rebellion last night.

At least 15 ministers had threatened to resign to vote for the proposal put forward by Miss Cooper, which would have allowed Parliament to force Mrs May to seek an extension of Article 50 if the PM had not achieved a deal by the middle of next month.

Instead, Mrs May set out a new timetable which would achieve a similar effect. She confirmed that MPs would get a second meaningful vote on her Brexit deal by March 12. The first last month led to a record government defeat. If the deal fails to pass again MPs would vote the next day on whether to back No Deal.

If No Deal is formally rejected MPs would have the chance to vote on extending Article 50 the following day.

Mrs May said any delay should be as short as possible.

But Jacob Rees-Mogg, a leading Tory Brexiteer, said a short delay would mean the cliff edge is simply moved back. He added: This effort to play call-my-bluff is not going to change peoples minds to back her deal.

Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the CBI, said: Moves to avert No Deal in March are essential. To avoid a hammer blow to firms and livelihoods, delay cannot simply be an extension of stalemate. Compromise is the only way.

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Greg Clarke leaves 10 Downing Street

PM: Plan is simples just like meerkat ad The Prime Minister quoted the Compare The Market slogan to her bemused colleagues Theresa May raised eyebrows yesterday after saying the options for Brexit were simples, in reference to the meerkat stars of a TV advert. The Prime Minister quoted the Compare The Market slogan to her bemused colleagues. SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford had claimed she was running down the clock by offering only her deal or no deal. Mrs May retorted: If he wants to end the uncertainty... then he should vote for a deal. Simples. Labour MP Liz McInnes tweeted: Theresa Meerkat is now in charge.' Advertisement

Yes, we will leave EU with a deal - if MPs hold their nerve

By Theresa May

'Despite the political controversy of the past few weeks at Westminster, I believe the United Kingdom remains firmly on course to leave the European Union with a deal  if MPs hold their nerve'

Despite the political controversy of the past few weeks at Westminster, I believe the United Kingdom remains firmly on course to leave the European Union with a deal  if MPs hold their nerve.

On January 29, the House of Commons expressed its support for that outcome, provided there were legal changes to the Northern Ireland backstop to prevent it operating indefinitely.

When the Government set out to secure those changes, I did not know what the response in Europe would be.

But in the discussions I have had with the leadership of the European Union and the leaders of every EU member state, I have found a real determination to find a way through which allows the UK to leave with a deal.

That engagement has already begun to bear fruit.

The UK and EU are working towards a joint work-stream to develop alternative arrangements to ensure the absence of a hard border in Northern Ireland, in parallel with our negotiations on the future relationship.

We are doing our own ministerial-led work  supported by civil service resources and with 20 million of government funding  to help develop, test and pilot proposals which can form part of these alternative arrangements.

We are also continuing to hold detailed discussions on the legal changes that are required to guarantee that the Northern Ireland backstop cannot endure indefinitely.

But securing the necessary changes to the backstop is not the only thing the Government is doing to build support for the deal across the House of Commons.

We are developing detailed plans to give Parliament a clearer and stronger role in the next phase of the negotiations, in which the UK and the EU will agree the detail of our future relationship. We are discussing with the EU what additions or changes can now be made to the political declaration outlining that future relationship that will increase peoples confidence in the ambition of both sides to agree to it as soon as possible.

And to protect workers rights, a concern for many MPs as we leave the EU, we will give Parliament a vote on whether it wishes to follow suit whenever the EU changes its standards. The UK leads the way on workers rights, environmental protections and health and safety  as we leave the EU, we will continue to enhance them.

I firmly believe that a deal is within our grasp.

Yesterday I committed in Parliament to give MPs a second meaningful vote on the withdrawal agreement by March 12 at the latest. I am confident that we can win that vote. But because many MPs are worried that if we lose that vote Parliament would not have time to make its voice heard on the next steps, I gave two other assurances.

If the Government has not won a meaningful vote by March 12, we will ask MPs if they support leaving the EU on March 29 without a Withdrawal Agreement.

If the House rejects leaving on March 29 without a deal, the Government will bring forward a motion on whether Parliament wants to seek a short limited extension to Article 50.

And if the House votes for an extension, we will seek to agree one with the EU and bring forward the necessary legislation.

But I do not want to see Article 50 extended.

Our absolute focus should be on working to get a deal and leaving on March 29. Doing so would give businesses and citizens the certainty they deserve.

By committing Labour to holding a second referendum, despite promising to implement Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn has shown once again that he cannot be trusted to keep his promises. His cynical political games would take us back to square one.

Instead, Parliament should do its duty so that our country can move forward.

We want to leave the EU with a deal that gives us the best of both worlds: a close relationship with our nearest neighbours and the chance to make the most of our talents and resources by building new relationships with growing economies around the world.
Bodybuilding legend Jeff Everson has been found dead in his bed at age 68.

Everson's body was discovered on Monday at his home in Los Angeles by his roommate and former fiancee, who had just returned from a work trip, according to TMZ.

Authorities reportedly believe that he may have died days earlier of natural causes as there were no signs of foul play and it did not appear that he had taken his own life.

Family members told TMZ that Everson had recently complained of pain in his legs and feet, which he suspected was merely the result of years of powerlifting - not something more serious.

The competitive bodybuilder had been open about his steroid use in the past, but loved ones say he stopped using years ago.

Bodybuilding legend Jeff Everson was found dead at age 68 in his bed at his home in Los Angeles on Monday. He is seen above on a 1999 issue of Planet Muscle, a magazine he founded

Authorities reportedly believe Everson may have died days earlier of natural causes as there were no signs of foul play and it did not appear that he had taken his own life. He is seen in an undated photograph with his ex-wife Cory Everson-Donia, a renowned female bodybuilder

Everson is best known for founding Planet Muscle magazine and for his marriage to Cory Everson, a six-time Ms Olympia champion widely regarded as one of the greatest female bodybuilders in history.

At the peak of his career in 1992, Everson won the Masters Nationals - NPC bodybuilding competition and placed 6th in the masters division of the Mr Universe competition.

Sports medicine pioneer Dr Robert Goldman confirmed Everson's death in a Facebook post Tuesday afternoon, writing: 'Huge Loss for the Body Building world. Our dear friend and Icon Jeff Everson just passed away.

'Jeff was a real innovator in everything from the body building sciences, to nutrition, to publishing and former husband of 7X Ms Olympia Cory Everson-Donia.

'Jeff was brilliant, innovative, creative and a true force in the field who touched many lives. He was my good friend, colleague and body building fitness brother and will be greatly missed by all.'

At the peak of his career in 1992, Everson won the Masters Nationals - NPC bodybuilding competition and placed 6th in the masters division of the Mr Universe competition
The wife of a public servant falsely claimed she was single in order to fraudulently obtain $137,000 in Centrelink benefits.

Justine McMahon, 48, told the Department of Human Services she was not in relationship and lived by herself when the opposite was true.

Her husband worked at the Department of Home Affairs and they lived together while she made false Centrelink claims for eight years from 2009 until 2017.

The wife of a public servant falsely claimed she was single in order to fraudulently obtain $137,000 in Centrelink benefits (stock image)

McMahon's husband made $520,000 during her offending, and she received $137,000 in stolen benefits, the Canberra Times reported.

Overwhelmed with guilt, McMahon contacted Centrelink and told them she had been obtaining benefits without being entitled to them.

She pleaded guilty to obtaining a financial advantage by deception in the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court at Canberra in February.

McMahon was sentenced to two years in prison and will serve seven months full time.

She was also ordered by Justice David Mossop to pay back to $137,000 she stole.

McMahon said she started stealing from Centrelink after the birth of her second child.

Justine McMahon pleaded guilty to obtaining a financial advantage by deception in the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court (pictured) at Canberra in February

The boy was born premature, and the judge accepted this made life difficult for McMahon and her husband.

'I accept her evidence that at the time she first made false representations she was feeling overwhelmed by her life and that this contributed to her offending conduct,' Justice Mossop said.

'I accept that the financial insecurity of her own childhood and her desire to avoid that for her own children was a motivating factor in starting on the course of offending that she did.'

Justice Mossop said although McMahon had no criminal history and accepted responsibility, a prison sentence was appropriate for the crime.
(Image source from: Twitter.com/ANI)

IAF Strikes: Cabinet Committee Meets At Narendra Modi's Residence:- The Union Cabinet Committee about the security today met at the residence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Indian Air Force carried strikes on Pakistan. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman attended the meeting chaired by Narendra Modi. Top security officials along with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval too were present for the meeting. Indian Air Force took on Pakistan's Balakot region and conducted air strikes.

A major terrorist camp located at the border has been destroyed completely by the Indian Force. Narendra Modi and his cabinet met today to discuss about the further plans and about the developments. The whole country lauded Indian Air Force for the move and Narendra Modi too has been appreciated for the surprise attack. Pakistan confirmed that Indian Air Force crossed the Line of Control (LoC) but did not issue any clarification about the attack on the terrorist camps in Balakot.

(Video Source: Times Now)
Nearly 6,000 unaccompanied migrant children say they have been sexually abused and harassed while held in US custody over the past four years, according to federal data released Tuesday.

The cases include allegations of inappropriate touching, staff members allegedly watching minors while they bathed and showing pornographic videos to minors.

Some of the allegations included inappropriate conduct by minors in shelters against other minors, as well as by staff members, the Health and Human Services Department data shows.

Republican Ted Deutch released the information, which spans both the Obama and Trump administrations, during a hearing on the Trump administration's policy of family separations at the border.

He said the data were clearly alarming, adding: 'Together, these documents detail an unsafe environment of sexual assaults by staff on unaccompanied minors.

'These HHS documents detail a staggering number of sexual assaults on unaccompanied children in their custody. Clearly this administration is not equipped to keep these children safe inside their facilities.'

Scroll down for video.

Children are seen at a tent city set up to hold immigrant children separated from their parents or who crossed the U.S. border on their own in Tornillo, Texas in October last year

Thousands of unaccompanied migrant children say they have been sexually abused while held in US custody over the past four years according to federal data released Tuesday

The figures, first reported by Axios, show that from October 2014 to July 2018, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a part of Health and Human Services, received 4,556 complaints.

The Department of Justice received an additional 1,303 complaints, including 178 allegations of sexual abuse by adult staff.

More than 2,700 children were separated from their parents over the summer at the border, and were placed in shelters but most of the children in government custody crossed the border alone.

Children are placed in government custody until they can be released to sponsors, usually a parent or close relative, while awaiting immigration proceedings. The shelters are privately run under contracts with the government.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement manages the care of tens of thousands of migrant children, who are being held for increasingly longer periods of time.

Health and Human Services officials said the vast majority of allegations weren't substantiated, and they defended their care of children.

Jonathan White, a Health and Human Services official who was in charge of the effort to reunify children with their parents, testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.

He said: 'We share the concern. Any time a child is abused is one time too many. We abide fully with the laws this Congress has passed, and we are very proud of our outstanding track record of full compliance including referring every allegation for investigation. The vast majority of investigations prove to be unsubstantiated.'

From October 2014 to July 2018, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a part of Health and Human Services, received 4,556 complaints. The Department of Justice received an additional 1,303 complaints

U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Commander Jonathan White testifies on the Trump administration's separation policy involving migrant families

The House Judiciary Committee hearing on the Trump administration's separation policy involving migrant families on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday

As of the first week of February, more than 11,000 migrant toddlers, children and teens were in federal custody as unaccompanied minors, up from about 2,500 detained children three months after Trump took office. Tens of thousands of children cycle through the system each year.

Sexual abuse allegations are reported to federal law enforcement, though it's not clear whether anyone was charged criminally. In many cases, staff members were suspended and eventually fired.

Health and Human Services officials say all allegations must be reported to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, child protective services and the FBI, and all allegations involving adults to local law enforcement.

The department must cooperate with all investigations.

Facilities must provide training to all staff, contractors and volunteers. Background checks are completed on potential employees, and facilities are prohibited from hiring anyone who has engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior.

Last year a youth care worker at an Arizona facility for immigrant children was charged with 11 sex offenses after being accused of molesting at least eight boys.

Authorities alleged Levian Pacheco abused the teenage boys over a one-year period at one of the Southwest Key shelters in Mesa, Arizona.
Cardinal George Pell walked into court with Australia' worst paedophile priest who assaulted 65 children in the hope his support would lessen the pervert's sentence.

Walking shoulder to shoulder in footage broadcast around the country, Pell accompanied Gerald Ridsdale to Melbourne Magistrates Court in May 1993.

The image sat uneasily with Australians because it suggested the church was more interested in protecting itself and its priests than the innocent young victims who were abused.

Twenty five years later, Pell walked into court again - this time for his own despicable crimes.

Cardinal George Pell will take one last shot at freedom by begging to stay on bail while he appeals his conviction for molesting two choirboys

Pell, Australia's highest-ranked Catholic, was in December convicted of raping one choirboy and assaulting another in a verdict made public on Tuesday.

During a royal commission into child sex abuse within Australia's Catholic Church in 2016, he admitted it was a 'mistake' to support Ridsdale all those years ago.

'I had some status as an auxiliary bishop and I was asked to appear with the ambition that this would lessen the term of punishment, lessen his time in jail,' he said.

Australia's worst paedophile priest: Gerald Ridsdale is now 84 and still in jail - but will be eligible for parole from April this year

Pell claimed he had a Christian duty to support Ridsdale, a Ballarat priest who assaulted children including his own nephew in his church, his home and his car.

'I walked with him following the Christian conviction that it's an appropriate activity to be kind to prisoners,' Pell said.

'The separation of the sheep from the goats is their acts of kindness we do to people, including those who are prisoners and those who are at the bottom of the pile like Ridsdale,' he said.

'I now realise that was a mistake.'

In that appearance in 1993, Ridsdale was charged with 30 incidents of indecent assault on nine boys aged between 12 and 16 between 1974 and 1980.

With Cardinal Pell at his side, he was sentenced to 12 months jail with parole after three months.

Pell testified in the hearing that he shared a house with Ridsdale while they were assistant priests at St Alipius' Church in the 1970s. Pell denied knowing about any of Ridsdale's crimes.

After Ridsdale's face was broadcast to the nation, police stations were inundated with calls from his other victims.

Over the course of several court appearances from 1993 to 2017, Ridsdale was convicted of assaulting 65 children, some as young as four, making him Australia's worst paedophile priest.

Walking shoulder to shoulder in footage (pictured) broadcast around the country, Pell accompanied Gerald Ridsdale to Melbourne Magistrates Court in May 1993

He is now 84 and still in jail - but will be eligible for parole from April this year.

It comes as Pell is set to take one last shot at freedom by requesting to stay on bail as he appeals his conviction for molesting two choirboys.

Pell will face County Court at 10am on Wednesday for a pre-sentence hearing before he is likely sent to jail next month.

Pell is the most senior Catholic clergyman to face trial over sexual offences anywhere in the world. He has been ailing in recent months

He was convicted of one count of sexually penetrating a child and four counts of committing an act of indecency in December in a verdict made public on Tuesday.

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' jail.

Victorian County Court chief judge Peter Kidd said Pell, 77, would be remanded in custody after the hearing until his sentence.

However, Pell's lawyers filed a bail application at the court of appeal for 2.30pm on Wednesday, hoping to keep him out of jail until his appeal is heard.

It was not clear whether Pell would be forced to spend the few hours in between in a holding cell.

The Court of Appeal can grant bail at its discretion while it reviews an application to quash a conviction, which can take months.

Should the court end up overturning Pell's conviction, prosecutors would have to decide whether to re-try the case in the County Court.

Investigations related to Pell during the Royal Commission into sex abuse in institutions would remain sealed until his appeals were exhausted.

Judge Kidd wanted to have Pell thrown in jail immediately after the verdict, but let him stay free so he could have a double knee replacement.

A suppression order against making the conviction public was only lifted on Tuesday after prosecutors abandoned a second case against him.

Two boys had claimed Pell molested them in a Ballarat swimming pool in the 1970s when he was a parish priest there.

Australian media was forced to report Pell had stepped down from his role as the Vatican's chief financial officer due to old age.

In reality, he was sacked by Pope Francis immediately after his conviction.

Pope Francis also banned from saying Mass in public and from going near children until his appeal against the conviction is over.

Acting Holy See spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said Pope Francis was pained by Pell's conviction and knows it has shocked many people in Australia.

But Francis also noted that Pell 'has reiterated his innocence and has the right to defend himself', Gisotti said.

Pope Francis (right, with Pell) banned from saying Mass in public and from going near children until his appeal against the conviction is over

Acting Holy See spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said Pope Francis was pained by Pell's conviction and knows it has shocked many people in Australia

REACTION TO CARDINAL GEORGE PELL'S GUILTY VERDICT THE VICTIMS 'At some point, we realise that we trusted someone we should have feared and we fear those genuine relationships that we should trust.' - surviving victim

'This conviction is a reminder to survivors of abuse to feel empowered to tell their stories. Justice has prevailed and the nation is finally listening and addressing your pain.' - lawyer Lisa Flynn, who represented child sexual assault victims

'I'm utterly devastated about it ... There was no one for them at the bar table today.' - lawyer Ingrid Irwin after a second trial which involved Pell and two of her clients was dropped PELL'S LAWYER 'Cardinal George Pell has always maintained his innocence and continues to do so.' - lawyer representing Pell, Paul Galbally The two boys were molested in 1996 after a mass Pell conducted at St Patrick's Cathedral (pictured) in Melbourne THE CHURCH 'While acknowledging the judgment of the jury, I join many people who have been surprised and shaken by the outcome of the second trial.' - Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli

'We pray for all those who have been abused and their loved ones and we commit ourselves anew to doing everything possible to ensure that the Church is a safe place for all, especially the young and the vulnerable.' - Archbishop Mark Coleridge, President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

'The institution has been brought to its knees. It has lost its credibility, frankly. It is still struggling to come to terms with that.' - Francis Sullivan, former boss of the council that co-ordinated the church's royal commission response COMMUNITY 'Catholics today in Victoria, in Australia, vote with your feet. Have some backbone, walk out of the church house. They won't change.' - child sexual abuse survivor advocate, Michael

'To date, within the Catholic Church, it has been anything but fair, just, humane or moral.' - Cathy Kezelman, president of the Blue Knot Foundation for adult survivors of child trauma

'This is is a momentous event, as part of the continuing drama of the Catholic catastrophe.' - former Catholic priest turned child abuse victims advocate Professor Des Cahill

'Thank you to some of the bravest men in Australia and their families for trusting me.' - investigative journalist Louise Milligan

'You're going to burn in hell. Burn in hell, Pell.' - a bystander as Pell left court

'Cardinal Pell's behaviours have not met the standards we expect of those we honour as role models for the young men we educate.' - St Patrick's College headmaster John Crowley, having removed Pell's name from a building which had been named in his honour Pell has always maintained his innocence and has lodged an appeal against his convictions POLITICIANS 'Like most Australians, I am deeply shocked at the crimes of which George Pell has been convicted. I respect the fact that this case is under appeal, but it is the victims and their families I am thinking of today, and all who have suffered from sexual abuse by those they should have been able to trust, but couldn't.' - Prime Minister Scott Morrison

'My thoughts are with the victims - their pain is a tragedy, their bravery an inspiration. They've been betrayed and so have good people of faith across Victoria.' - Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews

'(I'm) absolutely shocked and disgusted by the details I've read today and I think everybody would feel the same. There are no words to describe how horrible those incidents were.' - NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian

'Finally, the good news is that now George Pell's decades of predatory behaviour is out there for all to see.' - Senator Derryn Hinch

'It is truly wonderful to live in a country where no one is above the law, where any person can seek access to justice and to see that justice done.' - Deputy Labor Leader Tanya Plibersek Advertisement

The two 13-year-old boys were on scholarships to the prestigious St Kevin's College in late 1996 and were caught swigging sacramental wine in the priest's sacristy by Pell, newly installed as Archbishop of Melbourne.

Pell scolded the boys, then exposed his penis from beneath his ornate ceremonial robes, and molested the pair including forcing one to perform oral sex on him.

'You're in trouble,' he told them before the assaults.

One of the boys said he was sexually assaulted again by Pell a month or so after he was raped, recalling that he was pushed against a cathedral wall.

'He shoved me against the wall violently and squeezed my genitals,' the court heard.

The cardinal's barrister Robert Richter QC argued the allegations were a 'far-fetched fantasy', that Pell was always accompanied after mass and that his cumbersome robes would have prevented him revealing his genitals.

Pell's lawyer Robert Richter (pictured) filed a bail application at the court of appeal for 2.30pm that day, hoping to keep him out of jail until his appeal is heard

The Court of Appeal (pictured) can grant bail at its discretion while it reviews an application to quash a conviction, which can take months

'This is painful news': The Vatican's full statement on the Pell verdict The Holy See agrees with the statement issued by the President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference regarding the sentence of guilt in the first instance concerning Cardinal George Pell. This is painful news that, as we are well aware, has shocked many people, not only in Australia. As already expressed on other occasions, we have the utmost respect for the Australian judicial authorities. Out of this respect, we await the outcome of the appeals process, recalling that Cardinal Pell maintains his innocence and has the right to defend himself until the last stage of appeal. While awaiting the definitive judgement, we unite ourselves with the Australian bishops in praying for all victims of abuse, and reaffirm our commitment to do everything possible so that the Church might be a safe home for all, especially for children and the most vulnerable. In order to ensure the course of justice, the Holy Father has confirmed the precautionary measures which had been imposed by the local Ordinary on Cardinal George Pell when he returned to Australia. That is, while awaiting the definitive assessment of the facts, as is the norm, Cardinal George Pell is prohibited from exercising public ministry and from having any voluntary contact whatsoever with minors. Advertisement

'Only a madman would attempt to rape boys in the priest's sacristy immediately after Sunday solemn mass,' he told the jury.

Pell's surviving victim thanked his family for their support, saying the process of bringing Pell to justice was stressful and not over yet.

'Like many survivors I have experienced shame, loneliness, depression and struggle. Like many survivors it has taken me years to understand the impact upon my life,' he said.

'At some point we realise that we trusted someone we should have feared and we fear those genuine relationships that we should trust.'

Pell's other victim died of a heroin overdose.
The House of Representatives will hold a vote this week on a pair of background check bills that the White House has already recommended the president veto, if they pass.

Gabby Giffords, a former Arizona congresswoman who nearly perished from a gun shot wound to the head, is pushing hard for the first of the gun bills, one mandating universal background checks, that will come to the floor on Wednesday.

She urged lawmakers at a Capitol Hill presser on Tuesday morning to have the 'courage' to pass the legislation that would require checks to take place before any firearm sale can be legally processed.

'Stopping gun violence takes courage. The courage to do what's right, the courage of new ideas. I've seen great courage when my life is on the line. Now is the time to come together, be responsible -- Democrats, Republicans, everyone,' she said.

Gabby Giffords, a former Arizona congresswoman who nearly perished from a gun shot wound to the head, is pushing hard for the first of the gun bills, one mandating universal background checks, that will come to the floor on Wednesday

'We must never stop fighting. Fight fight fight, be bold, be courageous, the nation is counting on you,' she said outside the U.S. Capitol.

Rep. Mike Thompson is sponsoring both background check bills in the House. He said at the presser that lawmakers would vote tomorrow on the first bill, which would cover 'most' transfers, in addition to sales.

Thursday the House will vote on another bill that 'fixes some of the problems' with background checks, he stated.

'It's a new day,' he said of Democratic rule in the House that allowed his measures to come to the floor. 'It's a great day for everybody who wants to have safer communities and understands the importance of gun violence prevention.'

Thompson's second bill has a Republican co-sponsor, Steve King of New York.

Still, the bills are likely to pass long party lines in the House but fail in the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate.

The White House's Office of Management and Budget recommended Monday in a statement of administrative policy that Trump veto both of them.

OMB said that the universal background checks bill, H.R. 8, 'would impose burdensome requirements on certain firearm transactions' and 'impose permanent record-keeping requirements and limitless fees on these everyday' gun sales between individual buyers.

The legislation as written would provide 'very narrow exemptions from these requirements, and these exemptions would not sufficiently protect the Second Amendment right of individuals to keep and bear arms,' the policy arm of the White House said.

'For example, unless an exemption applies, both the act of leaving a weapon in the temporary care of a neighbor while traveling and the act of later retrieving that weapon would require processing by a licensed entity,' the statement argues.

The White House's Office of Management and Budget recommended Monday in a statement of administrative policy that Trump veto Giffords' bill and another one

Domestic violence victims could also be hurt by the new restrictions, as they would be 'prohibited from borrowing a firearm for self-defense without first having the transaction go through such a licensed entity' and their background check processed.

The administration opposes the secondary background check bill, H.R. 1112, on similar grounds.

It contends that it 'would effectively prohibit some firearms purchases from being processed because the initiated background check would be considered invalid before the end of the second ten-business-day waiting period' it would require.

Such a 'bureaucratic delay would undermine the Second Amendments guarantee that law-abiding citizens have an individual right to keep and bear arms,' the White House said.

'If H.R. 8, or H.R. 1112, are presented to the President, his advisors would recommend he veto the bill.'

Republicans opposing the bills are concerned that the bills will pave the way for a federal gun registry.

GOP Rep. Liz Cheney said at Tuesday presser that Democrats are putting the bills on the floor 'under the guise' of addressing gun violence, even though neither piece of legislation would have prevented recent tragedies.

'But what they would do is very clearly provide law abiding citizens from having access to firearms,' she said.

Cheney said it's the 'first step' toward a federal gun registry, even though the bill doesn't create one directly.

'We would see as these bills, if they were to pass and become law, a situation where they couldn't be enforced ultimately without a federal gun registry,' she warned.

'We must never stop fighting. Fight fight fight, be bold, be courageous, the nation is counting on you,' she said at a Capitol Hill presser on Tuesday

The Wyoming legislator said, 'We believe its very important we do everything possible to keep weapons away from criminals, to make sure that the laws are enforced, but we won't be part of something that prevents law abiding citizens from having access to firearms, from having access to what they need to protect themselves.'

Democrats have enough votes to pass the bill in the House, but its future is less certain in the upper chamber, where Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell controls the docket.

John Cornyn of Texas, a top Republican in the Senate, told reporters Tuesday that he didnt know if the gun bill would make it to his chamber as he boarded an elevator on his way to his partys weekly policy luncheon.

Sen. Joe Manchin, one of two original sponsors of a failed Senate bill that would have expanded background checks after the Sandy Hook shooting, said he would like to see Congress pass a bill that 'makes sense and protects gun owners rights and the Second Amendment' like the one he tried to pass several years ago.

But since we havent ever done anything, he said, now we have something coming that youre gonna probably deem too extreme and too far-reaching.

He said that the House bill should serve as a starting point for a Senate debate. If they're sending one over, since weve had a hard time getting one jump-started here, again, since we have no Republicans on it, maybe we can take that one and look that over and see if we can live that one.

Manchin said they should give his bill another look, because its the one that upward of 70 percent of gun owners say theyre not threatened by.

Well never take the rights away from law-abiding gun owners. But basically, through commercial transaction, there should be identification of who the person is. Pretty simple,' he stated.

Gun groups want something more aggressive than that bill now that Democrats control House, however.

Maybe Republicans should look at it in a more conciliatory manner and find a balance, which Ive always tried to find,' he suggested.

To get any background check bill passed, though, he acknowledged: I need some Republican help.
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A portly rat carrying some extra winter weight managed to get stuck in a drain cover and had to be rescued by nine firefighters.

The rotund rodent was spotted by two young girls in the town of Bensheim, Germany, on Sunday afternoon who then called the emergency services.

Nine firefighters and animal rescuers arrived at the scene to prise the chubby rat from the tight squeeze.

When rescuers arrived they were greeted by the unfortunate flabby animal wriggling and squeaking in the manhole cover, trying to free itself from the tiny gap.

A firefighter used a animal capture noose to grab hold of the rat as other rescuers lifted up the cover with crowbars.

Help: The distressed rat was discovered when Bensheim resident, Knut, was on his way back home to his wife Juliana and his two daughters

Nine firefighters and Michael Sehr of Professional Animal Rescue Rhein-Neckar, attempted to rescue the rat stuck in the manhole cover. Its dangling legs and tail can be seen poking though one side of the hole

They managed to free the struggling the distressed creature by wedging the manhole cover open to push the rat through.

As the cover was pulled up, the rat's dangling legs and tail could been in a video taken by firefighters.

Once the rodent was freed, the firefighters dropped it back down the sewer.

Michael Sehr, an animal rescuer in Rhein Neckar was first on the scene but could not free the chunky rodent and so called on firefighters to finished the job.

He told German broadcaster DW: 'She had a lot of winter flab and was stuck fast at her hip - there was no going forward or back.

'Even animals that are hated by many deserve respect.'

Local resident, Knut, was on his way back home to his wife Juliana and his two daughters when he suddenly spotted the rat in the manhole cover on the middle of the road.

Firefighters during the rescue mission used a capture rod to hold the rat as the drain cover was wedged open to push the struggling animal through

Juliana said: 'When my husband came home, he thought that the rat was just sitting there at first.'

Only after taking a closer look did he realise that the chubby rat was in fact stuck inside the cover.

Images show the rat stuck in a drainage hole in a manhole cover, appearing to cry to for help.

Juliana said: 'At first we tried to free the animal ourselves. We took leather working gloves and tried to carefully twist it out of the hole.

'It was terrified, screamed terribly, and bit into the glove.'

Even though Juliana thought it would be easier to pull out the rat once it had bitten its teeth firmly into the glove, they still did not manage to release it.

The family called in the help of Mr Sehr of the Professional Animal Rescue Rhein-Neckar.

Once the rat was freed from the tiny hole in a drain cover following the three minute-long rescue, firefighters dropped it back down then sewer

Mr Sehr immediately informed a friend from the local fire brigade, who also came to the scene with nine firefighters.

He added: 'When the manhole cover was completely raised, I was able to free the rat with a twisting motion. It immediately dashed back to the sewers.'

It reportedly took Mr Sehr and the firefighters just three minutes to rescue the rat.

Mr Sehr said the rat, which normally can weigh up to 650 grams (22 ozs), was one of the heavier ones he had ever encountered and said that the large rat had lots of 'winterspeck' or 'winter fat' on its body.

And even though the rescue mission would normally be billed at 120 (103) nobody had to pay for it.

Mr Sehr said: 'It was an unbureaucratic act on a Sunday. Since we have no contract with the municipality, we have simply acted under the Animal Welfare Act and saved the animal.

'The guys from the fire department are good buddies, they simply handled it with me.'

As a reward, the two daughters aged two and seven of Juliana and Knut made some drawings of the rat, surrounded by hearts, and gave them to Mr Sehr and the firefighters.

When the pictures and video of the rescue were posted on Facebook, they were praised for helping the animal which is often killed by pest exterminators.
The Republican candidate whose apparent victory in a congressional election in North Carolina was thrown out amid fraud accusations announced Tuesday he will not take part in a new race.

Mark Harris, 52, led Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes in November's election for the US House of Representatives seat from North Carolina's 9th congressional district.

Allegations quickly emerged, however, of electoral fraud by a man hired by Harris's campaign and the five-member state board of elections unanimously called last week for a new vote.

Harris, citing health concerns, said he would not take part in the special election, whose date has not yet been set.

Backing: Mark Harris, who has quit the race for the 9th district in North Carolina after it was tainted by election fraud, met Trump days before the 2018 election which is now to be re-run

On the stand: Mark Harris pushed for his election to be validated but a hearing on election fraud ended when he conceded that the result was tainted. Now he is bowing out of the re-run

'Given my health situation, the need to regain full strength and the timing of this surgery the last week of March, I have decided not to file in the new election for Congressional District 9,' he said in a statement.

Harris said he hoped a new Republican candidate for the special election would be 'a solid conservative leader' who will be able to 'articulate the critical issues that face our nation.'

During a hearing last week before the state elections board, Harris said he has recently suffered two mild strokes.

In dramatic testimony at the hearing, Harris's own son, federal prosecutor John Harris, testified that he had warned his father about hiring the operative accused of ballot tampering.

McCready, a Marine Corps veteran, has said he plans to run again in the special election.

Democrats seized control of the House of Representatives in November's midterm vote, dealing a major blow to Republican President Donald Trump's ability to push his legislative agenda through Congress.

The contest in North Carolina's 9th congressional district is the last undecided House race.

North Carolina criminal investigators are seeking phone and bank records as they dig into the ballot fraud allegations.

Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said Tuesday the search warrants and what agents collected remain sealed from the public.

Court clerks records show the State Bureau of Investigation collected financial records for an unidentified suspect in December and sought phone records last month.

Judges both times agreed the name of the suspect and details of the Bladen County case should be kept secret.
This is the shocking moment a man hops off a motorcycle and aims a gun at a woman's head before he and his sidekick speed off with her cell phone.

A CCTV camera captures the woman walking down the street, unaware that two men are driving up behind her on a bike.

The gunman grabs the woman and places her in a chokehold with his left arm and points the firearm at the side of her head.

The shaken victim then reaches into her bag and tosses the cell phone at him.

The woman was mugged Monday afternoon by a gun-toting suspect in the middle of a street in Buenos Aires, Argentina

CCTV camera captures the moment a male suspect hops off a motorcycle with his gun drawn before he surprises a woman and steals her cell phone

The shocking daylight mugging took place Monday in the middle of a street in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The video, acquired by Argentine news outlet Cronica, shows the woman quickly walking away before the mugger hops on the back of the bike and escapes.

The surveillance camera shows the woman in a state of anguish as she places her hand over her face.

No arrests have been reported.
The 'Kayak Killer' fiancee reveals four years after his death that she's out on parole, has found God, and has no regrets in his drowning death.

Angelika Graswald, 39, was convicted and jailed for two-and-a-half years for killing her fiance Vincent Viafore on April 19, 2015, by unplugging the drain plug in his kayak to make him drown as they were on the Hudson River.

Despite taking a plea deal and claiming she was tired of his 'sex demands', Graswald insists she's innocent.

'I don't think back. I look forward.... I dont regret what happened. I dont think "What if" anymore,' the Latvian immigrant said in an interview with Elle Magazine. 'Thats the beauty of being a Christian. You know you have a bright future.'

'Kayak Killer' Angelika Graswald, 39, is out on parole in Orange County, New York after serving 31 months behind bars in the death of her fiance Vincent Viafore (pictured together)

In July 2017 she pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide after she was accused of intentionally unplugging the drain plug of his kayak, leading him to drown on April 19, 2015

In an interview with Elle Magazine she says she has no regrets in the accident, has found God in jail, and believes Viafore died for her adding 'he saved me'

Speaking on that night where it all went wrong - Graswald says she won't relive Viafore's final moments.

'Bottom line, Im the only living person whos still here, and Im the only one who knows. So its just between me and God. Well just leave it at that. I dont care what anybody else thinks,' she said to the magazine.

'I was naive enough to think that I could help him. I was wrong on that one, too. Ive been in these situations on the Hudson before, where it was dangerous, and I always got out of it, so I felt like that night I could, too. You know how you get careless? I was careless. So was he. We both were. It cost him. It cost him his life,' she added.

The outdoor and adventurous couple were wrapping up a day of kayaking and sightseeing at Batterman's castle in Dutchess County, New York when suddenly Viafore's kayak started to sink in the choppy waters as evening fell.

Witnesses said she pulled Viafore's paddle away from him to assure he couldn't stay afloat.

Graswald is now defending herself saying that never happened and she picked up the paddle when it drifted towards her.

The two seemed like a perfect match for each other. Both twice married, both loved partying, exploring the outdoors and snapping pictures of one another.

She was an immigrant from Latvia who came to the U.S. when she was 20 and took up various jobs as an au pair and bartender. He was a project manager with NYS Office of General Services Design and Construction Department.

She was intensely interrogated by police where she revealed she was sick of their sex life where he pushed her to engage in threesomes and dominant-submissive role-playing.

She maintained she didn't kill him but shocked investigators when she said: 'I wanted him dead and now hes gone. And I'm okay with that.'

'Vince had mentioned that he would die for me if need be, and I feel like he did so I could live. He saved me in a way,' she said to the magazine

She reveals she's now a Christian and doesn't regret the 2015 kayaking incident that took her fiance's life, saying: 'I don't think back. I look forward.... I dont regret what happened. I dont think "What if" anymore'

'I grew up around police, and Ive trusted them, so that was my fault. I was naive. Very naive,' she now says reflecting on that interrogation. 'I was just being honest. They said it was therapy.'

Cops were suspicious that a motive in his death could have been to get her hands on some of his life insurance money that had a combined value of $550,000. Following her release she ended up winning an undisclosed portion of his life insurance payout.

Despite Viafore's death, Graswald insists the two had a loving relationship and that even in his death he 'saved' her.

'Vince loved me. I loved him. He had mentioned that he would die for me if need be, and I feel like he did so I could live. He saved me in a way,' she said to Elle.

Graswald pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide in his death and was sentenced to up to four years in prison.

However, she was released less than two months after she was sentenced, as her two-and-a-half years spent in jail during the ongoing court case counted towards her sentence.

She spent 31 months in Orange County Jail then one month in Bedford Hills Correctional Facility and was released on parole.

Following her release, she's now living in a small cabin in Orange County, working for a room and board at a small camp connected to her church.

She reveals she's kayaking again, still loves taking photos, and is a born again Christian and was just baptized in September.

The 39-year-old, she says her family is desperate for her to return to Latvia so she'll head to D.C. to sort out her immigration papers after her parole is finished

Graswald pictured above at Batterman's Castle where the two had visited earlier in the day before the kayaking incident took place. Following her release, Graswald still maintains her innocence in Viafore's death

She received much flack from the public and police for seeming uncaring following her fiance's death, if not happy, as she posted a picture of herself cartwheeling after the kayak incident.

Two and a half months after Viafores death, Graswald was evaluated by a forensic psychologist who said she showed signs of paranoid ideation and hypomaniac trends and her profile suggested 'elated moods and euphoria' despite the killing.

'She is manic, inflated, and grandiose. She is impulsive and lacking in judgement,' the report said, providing an explanation to her calm and bizarre behavior following her fiance's death.

She says she appeared to be dismissive of Viafore's death because of her upbringing.

'Russian woman are not meant to be seen crying or as weak or broken,' she explained to the magazine.

'Im more vulnerable now, and Im okay with it. Before, I wasnt...I didnt want to show my weak parts at all. Now Im like, So what? Thats who I am,' adding that her new Christian faith has helped her show emotion more.

She says Christianity helped her cope with Viafore's death.

'I just read the Bible, and it teaches you not to dwell on the past,' she said. 'I dont have any more fear. Period. God didnt give us a spirit of fear. Right out of the Bible.'

When asked by the interviewer, 'You're good with God?' she replied, 'No, he's good with me.'

As for what's next for the 39-year-old, she says her family is desperate for her to return to Latvia so she'll head to D.C. to sort out her immigration papers once her parole time is over.

But she said before returning home, she wants to visit the Grand Canyon and Batterman's Castle, where the drowning incident took place, one more time.
One of four victims to be brutally stabbed on London's streets in the space of just eight hours was attacked with a 'zombie knife' as bystanders filmed on Snapchat, witnesses have said.

It marks yet another bloody chapter of violence plaguing the capital, with a schoolboy, left for dead in the street, the youngest among the victims.

The Met Police were called to the four separate incidents from 1.50pm on Tuesday.

A man in his 20s was killed outside of Ilford train station in east London shortly before 9pm. He was declared dead at the scene and no arrests have been made.

A schoolboy was seen lying 'face down on the ground' after he was stabbed in the stomach outside of South Ruislip Underground station. He was taken to a major trauma centre as a 'priority'.

An 18-year-old man in Romford was taken to hospital suffering stab injuries. Doctors say his wounds are serious but not life threatening.

A man in Enfield, believed to be aged in his 30s, suffering a stab wound to his thigh was taken to hospital  he has since been discharged.

The four, making it six stabbings in the past nine days, highlight the knife crime epidemic gripping London, following last year's horrific series of attacks - the bloodiest in almost a decade - as the number of homicides reached 135 by year end.

There have been 12 fatal stabbings in London in 2019 so far.

Police at the scene of a stabbing outside Ilford Station in London where a man, believed to have been in his 20s, was stabbed on Tuesday night

A police forensic officer arrives at the scene of a stabbing outside Ilford Station

Enfield: A man in believed to be aged in his 30s, suffering a stab wound to his thigh was taken to hospital  he has since been discharged

South Ruislip: The victim has been rushed to a major trauma centre while the station, west London, was closed and the surrounding area has been cordoned off as police investigate

Romford: An 18-year-old man in was taken to hospital suffering stab injuries. Doctors say his wounds are serious but not life threatening

Ilford (pictured last night): A man in his 20s was killed outside of Ilford train station in east London shortly before 9pm. He was declared dead at the scene and no arrests have been made

Four people have been stabbed in London since lunchtime during an ongoing day of violence

A Met Police spokesperson said they were called at 20.48pm on Tuesday to a man stabbed in Ilford.

The victim, named locally as Alwi Jamal, 20, was stabbed in the chest by Ilford train station, east London last night.

Witnesses have said the victim was 'slashed in the face' outside a betting shop before chased down and murdered.

Paramedics rushed to the scene at around 8.50pm, but the man died at the scene half-an-hour later.

A local teenager said: 'Alwi was slashed in the face - then they chased him towards the station. They chased after him, two people with knives - zombie knives black with a silver blade.

'They stabbed him in his chest. There was two of them - I've also seen the Snapchat video. It was a fight over money and drugs.'

Police sealed off the station in Ilford after another knife attack in the capital city on Tuesday

Another local, 19, said he first learnt of the attack after watching a video on photo sharing app Snapchat.

He said: 'He was run up on near the station and stabbed, the video was going round.

'It was in the chest, one time, close to where his arm started.'

A Met Police spokesperson said: 'A murder investigation has been launched after a man suffered fatal stab injuries.

Police chiefs speak out after string of knife deaths in London and Birmingham A slew of stabbings across London and Birmingham has prompted police chiefs to call for the public's help to stop the bloodshed. There have been 17 homicides in London so far this year, six of which happened in nine days. In Birmingham three teenagers have died in knife attacks in the space of two weeks, and 269 knife crimes have been recorded so far this year. Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Payne from the West Midlands Police homicide team, said: 'Knife crime and violence is not an issue we can tackle on our own. 'We need help from partners, parents, schools and the wider community to tackle this growing issue. 'We all need to be having heart-to-heart conversations with children in an attempt to steer them away from knives and help prevent more lives from being ruined. 'We all feel the heartbreak of the loss of anyone so young - and a death at the hands of a knife is such a waste of life.' In the capital there were five stabbings on Tuesday, one of which was fatal - a 20-year-old man near Ilford train station. Commander Dave Musker said: 'Every death or injury is a tragedy and will have a lasting impact on those who knew and were close to the victims. 'The public play a key role in helping to both prevent and detect crime in London. We are asking communities to support us.' John Poyton from Redthread, an anti-knife crime charity that works in A&E departments, said 'all sectors of society' have to take responsibility for stopping violence. 'It is always devastating to hear of someone losing their life to violence. Sadly, these deaths are just the tip of the iceberg - emergency departments are seeing a steady increase in young people coming in having been caught up in youth violence. 'There is an urgent need to address the trauma some young people experience in their communities which perpetuates further violence.' Advertisement

A 20-year-old man was found suffering serious stab injuries. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 9.19pm.

'His next of kin have been informed. A post-mortem examination and formal identification will be arranged in due course'.

Among the most harrowing of attacks was the schoolboy left for dead on Tuesday.

The victim was rushed to a major trauma centre as 'a priority' while South Ruislip station, west London, was closed and the surrounding area cordoned off as police investigated.

A terrified witness said: 'I saw a school boy in uniform stabbed in the side and he didn't look in a good way. He was face down on the pavement and was shaking. Think he was in shock.'

Another told MyLondon: 'A schoolboy was stabbed, my daughter was there when he fell to the floor.'

British Transport Police confirmed a 'young man' was taken to hospital after being stabbed at about 4.30pm.

His injuries are not thought to be life threatening.

A spokesman added: 'At 4.24pm today (26 February) British Transport Police were called to South Ruislip Underground station following reports of a disturbance.

'Officers attended the scene, alongside colleagues from the London Ambulance Service, and a young man was taken to hospital with what is believed to be a stab wound to his abdomen.

'His injuries are not thought to be life threatening. Officers investigating the incident are appealing for witnesses to get in touch.

An investigation into the stabbing is ongoing and no arrests have been made.

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: 'We sent an ambulance crew, two medics in fast response cars and an incident response officer to the scene. We also dispatched London's Air Ambulance.

'We treated a person at the scene and took them by road to a major trauma centre as a priority.'

In Enfield police were called to reports of an altercation and found a man in his 30s with a stab wound to the thigh on Tuesday.

Police say was taken to hospital and has since been discharged from hospital.

One man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of GBH and taken into custody where he remains.

Finally, police were called to a stabbing in Romford along with the London Ambulance Service who treated at 18-year-old man for stab injuries.

The wounds are considered serious but non life-threatening.

A young boy was seen lying 'face down' after being stabbed at South Ruislip Station

Police are fighting a knife crime crisis on the streets of London after the number of homicides in the capital reached 135, last year.

In 2019, two people were killed in the first few hours. many of those killed have been stabbed to death.

Those killed this year also include teenagers Jaden Moodie, 14, Nedim Bilgin, 17 and Lajean Richards, 19, who were all stabbed.

This month Aliny Mendes, 39, was stabbed to death outside a school in Cheam, Surrey, Greater London.

A 19-year-old, who has not been formally identified, was fatally shot and stabbed in Wood Green, north London, over the weekend.

Bright Akinleye, 22, (pictured left) died after stumbling into the Wesley Hotel near Euston station with a stab wound on Monday night. Glendon Spence, 23, (pictured right) was fatally stabbed at the Marcus Lipton youth centre in Brixton

Jayden Moodie, 14, (pictured left and right) who lived with his mother, is thought to have moved to the capital from Arnold in Nottingham - friends said he was a 'humble' boy

A woman looks at floral tributes near the scene in Waltham Forest after the 'targeted attack'

Charlotte Huggins (above) was the first stab victim of 2019 after being stabbed in Camberwell

Birmingham blighted by knife crime as three stabbed to death in 12 days: Hazrat Umar, 17, was on his way to the gym when he was attacked in the Bordesley Green area Police in Birmingham are also battling to stop knife crime across the city after three teenagers were fatally stabbed in just 12 days. Student Hazrat Umar, 17, died after being knifed in Cherrywood Road, Bordesley Green, at around 2pm on Monday. Hazrat Umar, 17, who is the nephew of the former chief prosecutor, was knifed to death on his way to the gym in the Bordesley Green area of the city. West Midlands Police have revealed a 16-year-old youth has now been arrested on suspicion of murder. The killing comes five days after 16-year-old Abdullah Muhammad was discovered fatally wounded near a park in Small Heath, on February 20. A post mortem examination found that the student, of Lindale Avenue, Hodgehill, died as a result of an assault. He was stabbed in the chest and back. Another teenager, Mohammed Sidali, also 16, died in hospital on 15 February after being attacked outside Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College in Highgate. A knife arch was placed outside McDonald's in nearby High Street, with officers also using stop and search powers following the deaths. Speaking in Birmingham Home Secretary Sajid Javid said he is 'very concerned' about stabbings in Birmingham. A group of women, one identified as the mother of the victim (right) arrive at the scene of a fatal stabbing in Birmingham Police have sealed off parts of Bull Street after the teenager was knifed in a British Heart Foundation store - which has a large blood stain on the carpet inside (pictured) A 16-year-old boy was taken to hospital after he was knifed in the leg in Birmingham city centre on Tuesday afternoon. Police sealed off parts of Bull Street following the stabbing in a British Heart Foundation store - which has a large blood stain on the carpet inside. Shoppers crowded around the scene while police searched bushes in the area after being called to the incident at around 5.30pm today. A West Midlands Police spokesperson said: 'Police have been called to a stabbing at a shop in Bull Street, Birmingham city centre, around 5.30pm today (Tuesday 26 February). 'A 16-year-old boy has been taken to hospital with a leg injury. 'Enquiries are at an early stage and anyone with information is asked to contact police.' Advertisement

The knives killing London's youth: Shocking pictures show the scores of gruesome weapons seized in the capital in just two weeks

Machete, meat cleaver and hunting knife among 50 pictures of seized weapons

Police have shared the chilling images online which include a 20-inch sword

Weapons recovered in raids, stop and search and test purchasing operations

This chilling series of photos shows the sheer volume of knives, swords and other bladed weapons police have seized from the capital's streets in just two weeks.

A machete, meat cleaver and hunting knife are among the 50 pictures London officers have shared online.

One image shows a crook's attempt to conceal a razor sharp knife in a plastic shopping bag, while in another pic PCs say they discovered a discarded weapon lying by a walkway on the Tower Gardens Estate in north Tottenham.

An image of a machete recovered after a moped chase in Catford, south London, shows it to be at least 25 inches long - almost twice the length of the computer keyboard it is laid against - while other blades were seized from children as young as 15.

Machetes and meat cleavers (pictured) were among the blades seized here for Waltham Forest officers in east London and Camden police in the north-west of the capital

The chilling series of photographs shows an array of weaponry - all of which was seized in just two weeks

This hunting knife - complete with finger grips on the handle - was confiscated in Camden, north-west London

Flick-knives were recovered alongside massive blades in a series of stop and searches and raids across London

This 9cm blade was seized in Hillingdon, west London, and was shared on Twitter by police attempting to show how many weapons are on the capital's streets

In one incident in Camden, north London, three knives were taken from the same man after he decided to use a meat cleaver as a weapon.

And a sickening picture Tweeted by officers in Islington shows a 20-inch sword a man was carrying along with several bags of cannabis.

Affluent areas like Notting Hill and Highgate - home to celebrities including Kate Moss and Jude Law - aren't free from those who choose to carry blades.

Rival gangs all over London are fighting turf wars to control drugs and prostitution in their areas with Waltham Forest's among the most bloody

One was unearthed on a Highgate street on January 16 while officers attending a disturbance in Notting Hill took a kitchen knife, baseball bat and a rolling pin from a group of three men.

On Kensington and Chelsea Police's Twitter account, a Tweet reveals how a Batman-shaped knuckle duster was discovered on the Dalgarno Estate during a stop and search for driving offences. Many of the weapons are discovered alongside drug finds.

As part of Operation Sceptre, police found a hunting knife on the Bethnal Green Estate in east London.

This blade - known as a Wolverine - was loose in Hillingdon until police seized the weapon in west London

It wasn't just knives and swords seized on the capital's streets, police also found this bizarre knuckleduster shaped like the Batman logo also surfaced

Swords and knives clearly meant for combat are among the blades that were circulating until police intervened

They Tweeted: 'Large hunting knife found in bushes in Coopers Close, E1. This is part of the Met's ongoing Operation Sceptre. Thanks to our Special Constable colleagues who were patrolling on our ward. Also small drug bags/scales found hidden in Bethnal Green Estate, E2.'

Sceptre was launched in July 2015 to try and reduce knife crime in the city. It was brought in to coincide with new legislation that means that those convicted of carrying a knife for the second time will face a mandatory custodial sentence.

In October 2016, 399 knives were taken off the streets, the highest number since the initiative began.

Kensington and Chelsea police intercepted a kitchen knife (right) in west London as others carried smaller blades in the capital alongside cannabis (left)

This double-ended knife was recovered in Lambeth, south London, during the sweeps police conducted in the capital

Police are seizing blades meant for household use as they stop and search suspects on the streets of London

In total the force has conducted 5,791 weapon sweeps and 700 test purchase operations in shops that sell knives, while 4,565 stop and searches were carried out.

And the operation has resulted in a total of 2,294 arrests, 473 of which were for possession of a knife or weapon and the recovery and removal of 1,435 weapons from the streets. Last year was one of the worst in recent years for murders in London.

Figures show the number of people killed hit a 10-year high with more than a fifth of victims teenagers or children.

Officers have shared on social media the chilling results of their raids across the capital, which included this knife

Kitchen knives appeared alongside hunting blades in the shocking series of photographs uploaded to Twitter

The 134 homicides recorded by the Metropolitan Police included 24 where the victims were aged 19 or under. Of those, 18 were stabbed, five were shot and one woman was killed by a head injury.

It was London's highest homicide total since 2008, which saw 154 people killed, and a 15 per cent rise year-on-year.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick had named street violence as her 'number one priority' and acknowledged that 2018 was 'challenging'.

Knife crime campaigners have welcomed the ongoing work to remove weapons and praised police for putting the images on their Twitter accounts.

Patrick Green, of the Ben Kinsella Trust, said: 'It's really important to take knives off the streets.

Officers in Camden, north-west London, hauled in these five blades, including a massive sword on the right

Yet another sword dwarfs a keyboard, showing the huge size of some of the weapons that are being taken off the streets of London

A rusty, dirty meat cleaver shows the chilling reality that faces Londoners on the streets of the capital today

'Some of the work the Metropolitan Police have been doing extends beyond stop and search - we know that they are now doing sweeps of parks and public areas.

'That's really an important piece of work for us because we know that habitual knife carriers who are fearful of being stopped will place knives in locations so they can go to that location and retrieve them so the work being done by the police there is really welcomed.

'We have also seen that they are doing a lot of those searches in conjunction with members of the public or community groups so there is a sense of helping other members of the community support to them in their work.

'That's good because local people have a lot of intelligence about where things might be hidden.

'Targeted use of stop and search done in an intelligence led way we are happy with - it's an important police tactic.

'We are really pleased to see the police take a proactive stance however as good as the measures the police take are, they will not on their own solve the knife crime problem.

'Part of the issue we have got to address is the step before someone carries a knife. Preventative work and early intervention is as important as everything the police do.'

Dr Mark Prince runs the The Kiyan Prince Foundation, which works with young people to end violence.

His son Kiyan, 15, was stabbed to death on May 18, 2006, receiving a single lethal knife wound as he intervened to stop the bullying of another teen.

Dr Prince said: 'Work like this does make a difference because every area has to be responsible for the part that they play and for enforcing the law.

'You could have been on the way to using that knife and because you've been caught you've saved a life, so there is sense behind the enforcement and we need that. It's collective - everybody needs to be doing their part.'

East Ham MP Stephen Timms, who was stabbed at one of his constituency surgeries in May 2010, added: 'I'm pleased the Met is putting so much emphasis on confiscating knives. But we also need to stop people getting them in the first place. That means tackling the online platforms which supply them.'

The Met Police were approached for comment but have not responded.
Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney for President Donald Trump, has been disbarred, the New York courts announced on Tuesday.

The decision was announced in documents released by Manhattans Appellate Division, First Department and the Attorney Grievance Committee, which were posted online by a reporter for CourtHouse News.

The judgement came as Cohen was behind closed doors in Washington D.C. testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee. He was seen checking his phone during a break in questioning.

Michael Cohen has been disbarred in New York

The news came as he is in Washington DC to testify before the Senate

It's over: How Michael Cohen was formally barred from being an attorney in New York

Lawyers face automatic disbarment in New York for a felony conviction. In December, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight felony counts, including bank fraud, tax evasion and campaign violations.

Cohen appeared to accept the bar's decision and did not fight it.

'He has failed to submit a response,' the disbarment document noted of Cohen's actions after he was sent the disbarment motion.

Cohen can file for reinstatement in seven years - or sooner if pardoned by the governor of New York - if he isn't convicted of anything else in that time period.

But there is no guarantee the New York bar would reinstate him.

Lanny Davis, who's serving as one of Cohen's attorneys, told ABC News last week that Cohen was worried about how he would make a living after his three year jail sentence has been served.

Cohen got a two-month reprieve last week which delayed his prison reporting date until May 6.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins told reporters Cohen was receiving an 'extensive grilling' from the intelligence panel.

Cohen will offer the senators a document that he claims shows the president engaged in criminal conduct around the hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, it was revealed Tuesday.

The document will refute a claim by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani that Cohen used a $35,000 monthly retainer from the president as reimbursement for paying off Daniels, a source close to Cohen told Politico.

Giuliani has said Cohen used a monthly retainer made for legal services in reimbursement as repayment for the $130,000 given to Daniels in exchange for her silence.

The documents will show who signed the checks to Cohen, the Daily Beast reported.

Arrival: Michael Cohen arrived on Capitol Hill Tuesday for the first of three days of blockbuster hearings

Aide: Michael Cohen was accompanied by Lanny Davis, the long-term Clinton advisor who is acting as his personal attorney

Arrival: Michael Cohen arrived on on Capitol Hill at precisely the same time as Donald Trump, his former boss was touching down in Vietnam

Same time: Donald Trump arrived in Hanoi for a summit with Kim Jong Un exactly as the former fixer he has branded a liar arrived on Capitol Hill

Cohen pleaded guilty to violating campaign-finance laws by facilitating payments to Daniels.

Cohen will also discuss the BuzzFeed report that Trump ordered him to lie to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow deal. The article earned a rare - if carefully worded - denial from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office.

'He'll explain exactly why he lied and how he came to lie,' said the source told Politico.

Cohen arrived on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning to the flash of cameras lights and shouted questions but he didn't say a word as he walked into the Senate hearing room with Lanny Davis, the former Bill Clinton advisor who is acting as his attorney, and begins the first of three days of hearings.

He arrived 30 minutes before his time before senators was set to begin and is expected to be behind closed doors all day.

Senators trickled into the hearing room after his arrival but few spoke about what they wanted to ask the president's former fixer.

Some, however, offered hints at what they were looking for.

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden told reporters outside the hearing room he's interested in following the money when it comes to Cohen's work on Trump Tower Moscow.

But one issue he wouldn't touch was whether Cohen  who plead guilty to lying to Congress  can be trusted to tell the truth in this appearance.

'I'll leave it at that,' Wyden said when asked that question.

Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich, as he entered the hearing room, said he was looking for 'the truth.'

In his testimony, Cohen also intends to reveal information about Trump's financial statements, an anonymous source told the network.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the ex-fixer would accuse Trump of using racist language, recount times when the president questioned the 'intelligence' and criticized the 'lifestyle choices' of black people.

The fixer-turned-felon will say he witnessed 'lies, racism and cheating,' it reported.

He was on his way to raise his hand before the Senate Intelligence Committee to kick off a three-day, back-to-back trio of appearances on Capitol Hill where he will face multiple grillings from lawmakers on his relationship with President Donald Trump and his guilty plea to lying to Congress.

Cohen's closed-door testimony is a prelude to his public appearance on Wednesday before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, to be followed by a second private session on Thursday before the House Intelligence Committee.

Wednesday's public hearing will overshadow the others merely by the presence of TV cameras, to which both Cohen and the lawmakers will be playing to as they engage in a verbal parley on a variety of issues, including the building of Trump Tower Moscow, the payoffs to women during the 2016 campaign, Trump's business dealings, and donations to the president's inaugural committee.

Lawmakers are also girding to ask him questions about a planned Moscow tower project that he pursued well into the 2016 presidential campaign. He plans to tell lawmakers Trump asked him about it 'several times.'

He further plans to talk about Trump's 'lies, racism and cheating as a private businessman,' according to the account.

Trump and his legal team have repeatedly branded Cohen as a liar, and say he cooperated with prosecutors and furnished false information to get a reduced jail sentence.

But one topic not the public agenda: Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and any possible collusion between Trump's team and Moscow.

Oversight panel chairman Elijah Cummings coordinated with his counterpart on the House Intel panel, Adam Schiff, and the two agreed the Russia conversation will happen discussed behind closed doors at the intelligence session while Trump's business dealings will be the focus of the public hearing, according to a memo released Sunday by the Oversight panel.

Lawmakers can dismiss the chairman's guidance and ask whatever they chose, but Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, also said his client cannot talk about the Russia probe in public.

Senators, meanwhile, are eager to have Cohen in their crosshairs on Tuesday.

'I think the reason you have him back is, when somebody lies to Congress in an investigation like this, the questions you might have asked the next witness don't get asked. Somebody you might have called doesn't get called,' Senate intelligence panel member Sen. Roy Blunt said Sunday on CBS' 'Face the Nation.'

However, Republicans are already preparing to cast doubts on Cohen's credibility - one of Trump's legal team's major arguments against the president's former personal attorney.

'I don't know that we believe him this time,' Blunt noted.

Republicans will be just as hard on Cohen as Democrats, particularly those closed tied to the president.

Republican Reps. Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows, two of Trump's staunches allies on Capitol Hill, sent a letter to Cohen's attorneys last week saying they intend to press the president's former personal lawyer on his questionable business dealings, his lies to Congress, his work for foreign entities, and even 'the fake Women for Cohen social media initiative he commissioned.'

One person who won't be in town for the show is President Trump, who jetted off to Vietnam on Monday for his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But he will have the ability to tweet even with the 12 hour time difference.

This week marks Cohen's first time before lawmakers since he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the timing of talks concerning the building of a Trump Tower Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Lawmakers have indicated that will be a major topic of interest.

'Well, a great deal starting with why the false statements before our committee when he first appeared. Did they go beyond what he told us about Moscow Trump Tower into other areas as well?,' House Intelligence panel chair Rep. Adam Schiff said on ABC's 'This Week' on Sunday.

Democratic Rep. Jim Himes, who also sits on the Intelligence panel, said he wants to know the same.

'Well, you know, Michael Cohen is going to jail for lying to my committee. So obviously, step one is to re-ask him the questions that he felt he needed to lie to us about, when he testified in the last Congress. So we're going to want to get to the truth, allow him to correct the record. And then, of course, the question is, okay, now that we know the truth, what are the follow-ups? It's going to be an interesting week in that regard,' he said Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press.'

Democratic Reps. Elijah Cummings (left) and Adam Schiff (right) will chair Wednesday's and Thursday's House hearings respectively

Cohen has been cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller

Himes also said Cohen could be more forthcoming behind closed doors than in Wednesday's public circus.

'I don't think he's going to say a lot that is classified. But he may have some things that he doesn't feel comfortable saying publicly that he then wants to say either to the Senate or to the House Intelligence Committees, in closed session,' he said.

Last week, Cohen got a two-month reprieve from his deadline to report for his three years in jail, with a judge giving him until May 6. One of the reasons cited was his upcoming congressional testimony.

Cohen received a three-year sentence in December for bank and tax fraud, lying to Congress and violating campaign finance laws.

Even though Cohen can't talk about in public what he told Robert Mueller in the 70 hours he spent talking to that team for the special counsel's Russia investigation, he will speak publicly about his relationship with the president.

Cohen attorney Lanny Davis said last Tuesday his client will reveal how Trump is 'bigoted,' 'treats people badly,' and talk about he's heard the president say disparaging things about black people behind closed doors.

'I believe the issue in 2020 which Michael Cohen can speak to better than anyone is the man lacks character,' Davis told ABC's 'The Investigation' podcast. 'He speaks in bigoted words in private, which Michael Cohen will tell you. He treats people badly. 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.'

But Davis said Cohen will be able to talk about 'what did you do for Mr. Trump for all those years and why.'

Trump's legal team has already made their case against Cohen by painting him as an unreliable witness.

Both Trump's lawyers and the president himself have pushed back against any comments Cohen may have made to Mueller or will make in public by labeling him as a rat and turn coat who can't be believed.

Davis conceded that Cohen knows he has a 'deep hole to climb out' of in terms of credibility.

But he argued his client has seen the light and wants to make amends for his past work for the president.

'He wouldn't take a pardon if Trump pleaded with him to take it. Why? Because it would be dirty,' Davis told ABC News.

Cohen has been cooperating with the special counsel's probe of Russia's role in the 2016 election. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York was the lead federal prosecutor earlier this year when Cohen pled guilty to eight counts, including tax fraud and campaign finance violations - that stemmed from the special counsel's investigation.

Cohen also has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the timeline of conversations he had with Russian officials about building a Trump Tower Moscow as part of separate investigation by Mueller's team.

He was sentenced to three years in prison and is free on bail until that time.

Cohen's guilty pleas included a charge of lying to Congress about a Trump Organization real estate project that was slated for Moscow, Russia and discussed through the fall of 2016 while the president was running for office.

He testified in a closed congressional interview that the project he pursued on Trump's behalf was abandoned by the time of the Iowa Caucuses in January 2016; that would be consistent with Trump's 'political messaging.'

Mueller later filed documents revealing Cohen said he discussed the proposal with Trump on multiple occasions and with members of the president's family, later in the year  even after Trump became the Republican nominee for president.

Cohen said he lied out of loyalty to Trump.

Cohen also played a role in hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels (left) and former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal (right)

'I made these misstatements to be consistent with Individual 1's political messaging and out of loyalty to Individual 1,' Cohen said at his plea hearing late last year.

'Individual 1' is Mueller's name for Trump in the investigation.

Cohen was also the central figure in a plot to buy the silence of pornographic actress Stormy Daniels, who claimed that she had an affair with Trump in 2006.

Daniels signed a nondisclosure agreement in exchange for $130,000 from Cohen, a transaction that he admitted was a violation of campaign finance laws since it amounted to an illegally large contribution benefiting Trump's White House hopes.

He said in court that Trump directed him to make the payment, suggesting the president was guilty of a crime.

In August he pleaded guilty to eight separate charges related to tax dodges, falsifying bank documents and the campaign finance violations involving Daniels and another woman, former Playboy magazine model Karen McDougal.

Cohen claims that at Trump's request, he arranged for the publisher of The National Enquirer to pay McDougal  another self-described past Trump paramour  for the exclusive rights to her life story. The magazine never published anything, engaging in a practice known as 'catch and kill' in order to help Trump avoid new scandals in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign.

Trump has denied ever having a sexual relationship with either Daniels or McDougal.
The moment a cruise ship left a hapless couple behind has been caught on video.

The incident occurred on February 15, while the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Symphony of the Seas was calling on Nassau, Bahamas.

It was the sixth day of a seven-day cruise, and the ship's last port before returning to Miami.

According to a person who shot the video from the deck of the nearby Norwegian Bliss, the all-aboard call came at 3.30pm.

At 4.15pm, workers began removing the gangway and closing the hatch.

The couple wave frantically as the Symphony of the Seas leaves them on February 15

Other passengers look on from their balconies as the ship leaves port in Nassau

About five minutes later, the clueless couple showed up, arms laden with shopping bags from their excursion on shore.

At first frantic and waving, the couple quickly sink into dejection as the ship's propellers begin to churn the water.

Other passengers on the Symphony of the Seas can be seen looking on complacently from their balconies as the ship pulls away from the stranded couple.

The couple are seen speaking to several dockworkers as the ship pulls away.

The couple were stranded at the last port of call on the seven-day Caribbean cruise

The forlorn couple watch as the cruise ship pulls out to sea without them

The Symphony of the Seas is the largest passenger ship in the world (file photo)

Forlorn, the couple walk down the pier as the ship pulls away, looking across the water after it.

The passengers' fate depends upon why they were late. If they were late while on a tour booked through the cruise line, Royal Caribbean may have offered them assistance in getting home.

However, if they were late while on a tour booked independently in port, or a self-guided excursion, the passengers would have had to find their own way home.

One-way plane tickets from Nassau to Miami run about $180 apiece.
(Image source from: Twitter.com/BJP4India)

Surgical Strike: Modi Says That India Is In Safe Hands:- In a surprising move, Indian Air Force took on Pakistan during the early hours of today and destroyed several terror camps located at the border. The camps are working for Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. As many as 300 terrorists got killed in the attack revealed sources. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high profile meeting today along with the Cabinet Committee which went on for three hours. The incident took place after two weeks after the deadly Pulwama attack against Indian CRPF personnel.

Narendra Modi addressed a rally in Rajasthan and he said that the country is in safe hands. He also said that he will not allow someone to hurt the people of the country. "Today is a day to pay homage to India's brave hearts. I want to assure you that the country is in safe hands. I will not allow the country to bow down at any cost" said Modi during his speech. The whole country is delighted for the surgical strike 2 on Pakistan.

The border region is on high alert and Indian Air Force is prepared for any counter attack by Pakistan. A statement has been issued that no leave will be granted for Air Force personnel during this crucial time.

(Video Source: Times Now)
A California herbalist has been sentenced to four months in prison in the death of a diabetic 13-year-old boy who was denied insulin in the days before his passing.

Timothy Morrow, 84, on Monday pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of child abuse likely to produce great bodily injury in the 2014 death of Edgar Lopez.

The teen passed away in August of that year, after Morrow told his mother, Maria Madrigal, to deny him insulin in favor of herbal oils he supplied and not to take the boy to hospital as he was dying, according to prosecutors.

A week earlier, Morrow, the self-described 'master herbalist' and founder of the company Common Sense Herbs, was convicted of practicing medicine without a license following an often emotional two-week trial.

Self-described 'master herbalist' Timothy Morrow, 84 (pictured in court during trial, left), has pleaded no contest to child abuse in the 2014 death of Edgar Lopez, 13 (right)

Prosecutors argued that the diabetic boy died after Morrow (pictured) told his mother to deny him insulin and not to take him to the hospital during his final days

As part of his two sentences stemming from the guilty verdict and the no contest plea, Morrow will have to serve 120 days in prison, followed by four years of probation.

He also will be required to undergo child abuse counselling for a year; pay a $5,000 fine and restitution to Lopez's family for all funeral expenses; remove all videos that advocate the use of herbs instead of medical advice or medicine, and include a clear warning label on all of his herbal products.

The defendant was warned at his sentencing that if he continues such acts and they cause or lead to the death of another human being, he can be charged with murder.

Morrow touted the healing powers of natural remedies that helped him beat prostate cancer without chemotherapy or radiation

Morrow is scheduled to surrender on March 22 to begin serving his prison term.

This case underscores the serious health and safety risks of taking medical advice from someone who lacks a license and the proper training that goes with it, Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer said in a statement. These convictions send a strong message that my office will continue to hold accountable those whose actions place lives in danger.

In 2014, Morrow, who touted the healing powers of natural remedies that helped him beat prostate cancer without chemotherapy or radiation, began to treat Lopez for his diabetes by prescribing herbs instead of the insulin the victims pediatrician had prescribed, according to the City Attorney's Office.

In August, Morrow came to the familys Harbor Gateway home to treat the 13-year-old boy after he became extremely ill due to complications from his Type-1 diabetes.

Shortly before Lopez died, Morrow told the victims parents not to give him insulin but instead to administer the herbs that he was selling. The child suffered a cardiac arrest and died the next day.

The medical examiner determined the victim would have lived had he received proper medical treatment.

During Morrow's trial, his defense attorney, Sanford Perliss, asked Lopez's mother, who first met Morrow when she attended his seminars about herbs, 'Did he put a gun to your head and tell you not to give Edgar insulin?'

Morrow, the founder of the company Common Sense Herbs, was convicted last week of practicing medicine without a license

Morrow's defense argued that the herbalist (left) did not force Edgar (right) to reject insulin

Madrigal said that she was brainwashed by Morrow, who she said she often referred to as 'Dr. Morrow.'

'He told me that everything I got from the doctors were things from the devil,' Madrigal said.

In closing arguments, the prosecution accused Morrow of convincing Lopez's family to give him herbs instead of insulin and assuring them that the boy was going through a 'healing crisis.'

On his part, Perliss, the defense attorney, argued that nobody forced Madrigal to deny her son insulin, and that she did what she wanted to do.
British holidaymakers have been left stranded in Mexico for two days after their Thomas Cook flight back was cancelled twice due to engine and timing problems.

Barbara, 65 and Jim Hollingworth, 67, were among several hundred passengers due to fly home from their 7,500 two-week holiday in Cancun last Sunday evening until their captain announced early on in the flight that they were turning back.

They were told that the Airbus A380 had engine problems and that he didnt feel safe continuing over the Atlantic.

They didnt get back to a hotel for the night until later that evening.

Then when the engine problems had apparently been fixed the next day they spent all of last night again trying to get home - only to be told once they were through airport security that theyd run out of time for the flight.

Barbara, 65 and Jim Hollingworth, 67, were among several hundred passengers due to fly home from their 7,500 two-week holiday in Cancun last Sunday evening

Thomas Cook announced that within 15 minutes they would be leaving at around midnight to get their flight home on Monday night instead. But this second flight was also cancelled

After numerous meetings with the tour operator Thomas Cook, they have finally been informed today that theyll be flying home tonight to arrive back in Manchester Airport in the early hours of tomorrow morning  two fraught days later than scheduled.

Barbara told Mail Online: When we found out we were being turned back again last night children were crying and their parents were begging to go home. There must have been at least three hundred of us queuing at the airport. It was outrageous.

Weve just had a brilliant five-star holiday in paradise. Now weve been up all night for one and a half nights, with no drinks laid on for us until weve got back to our resorts. And we havent even begun our eight-hour flight back yet. Were exhausted.

Jim and Barbara Hollingworth (pictured) say they will never use Thomas Cook to book a holiday again after the confusion ruined their trip

We keep having meetings, but no one until now has been able to tell us all what matters, when were actually going home.

Thomas Cook have behaved outrageously throughout. We spent a fortune on our fortnight away. Now this has completely ruined it.

The Hollingworths, pensioners from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, left the all-inclusive Hyatt Zilara resort, on the Yucatan Peninsula in the Caribbean Sea, where theyd been holidaying for the last fortnight last Sunday lunchtime. It wasnt until much later that evening that they were able to go to a hotel closer to the airport, the Moon Palace in Cancun, to sleep.

Then Thomas Cook announced that within 15 minutes they would be leaving at around midnight to get their flight home on Monday night instead. Again it wasnt until 6am this morning that they were able to get their heads down after being taken back to the same hotel again when the flight was cancelled for a second time.

Barbara continued: This has done nothing for our fraught nervous systems.

Holidaymakers in Cancun were not impressed by the delay caused by a failure in their plane's engine which left the pilot feeling unable to cross the Atlantic

Barbara and Jim are relieved that theyve been told that theyll be arriving back home in the early hours of Wednesday morning. But they still cant believe that Thomas Cook put people through such an unnecessary ordeal for a second night in a row

We understand that with engine problems we had to turn back initially. But was there really any need to go through all that we went through again last night when there was clearly only such a small window for us making our flight? How can Thomas Cook allow this to happen?

Its the lack of information thats infuriating when weve been left so tired and so dehydrated two nights in a row. We were initially relying on rumours from other passengers that we might be flying back tonight at all as no one in authority was telling us anything until we were told officially this morning.

Barbara and Jim are relieved that theyve been told that theyll be arriving back home in the early hours of Wednesday morning. But they still cant believe that Thomas Cook put people through such an unnecessary ordeal for a second night in a row.

Barbara added: Ill be complaining to Thomas Cook when I finally get home. And we wont be spending our savings to go on holiday with them again after this.

A Thomas Cook Airlines spokeswoman said: Our flight from Cancun to Manchester was delayed due to a technical fault and our crew running out of their legal operating hours. The safety of our customers and crew is our first priority and we are very sorry for the inconvenience caused by this long delay.

All customers were provided with accommodation, transfers, food and drink and will be compensated for the length of the delay. The flight is scheduled to depart Cancun at 18:00 local time and land in Manchester at 08:30 local time on Wednesday 27 February.
Nigel Farage has said that he would not campaign or even bother to vote in a second referendum if the choice was between Remain or Theresa May's deal - which he slammed as 'Brexit in name only'.

The former UKIP leader, who quit the anti-EU party in December last year, said he would rather go on holiday than cast his ballot because a 'clean Brexit' would not be on offer.

Speaking to Sky News's All Out Politics, the 54-year-old said: 'Honestly, if we are offered Brexit in name only or Remain, why on Earth would I vote? I would go on holiday. It would be an outrage.

Nigel Farage (pictured speaking for the campaign group Leave Means Leave) is a long-time critic of the EU and played an active part in the 2016 Brexit referendum

'Remain shouldn't even be on the ballot paper, but if we are forced to this, it would have to be Remain or a clean Brexit.'

The arch-Eurosceptic who campaigned for Leave in the 2016 referendum suggested that a fresh poll would be invalid if similarly disgruntled Brexiteers also boycotted the vote.

He told Sky's Adam Boulton: 'You have to have a certain level of turnout for any referendum to be valid.'

Although Mr Farage was shunned by the designated Vote Leave campaign group in 2016 he played an active part in the unofficial Grassroots Out movement.

This saw him go head-to-head with then Prime Minister David Cameron in an ITV audience debate and travel around the country to mobilise Brexit supporters.

The former UKIP leader suggested a second vote could be invalid if disgruntled Leave voters boycotted it

Mr Farage is still a Member of the European Parliament where he leads the Eurosceptic group, Europe for Freedom and Democracy

Mr Farage's comments come after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn finally threw his party's weight behind a second referendum.

He told a meeting of his MPs last night that backing another vote would be better than a 'damaging' Tory deal.

Mr Corbyn said: 'The Prime Minister is recklessly running down the clock, in an attempt to force MPs to choose between her botched deal and a disastrous No Deal we cannot and will not accept.

'Last week, after our visit to talk to EU officials and leaders in Brussels and Madrid, no one can be in any doubt Labour's alternative Brexit plan is serious and credible.'

He added: 'We will also be backing the Cooper-Letwin amendment to rule out a No Deal outcome.

'One way or another, we will do everything in our power to prevent No Deal and oppose a damaging Tory Brexit based on Theresa May's overwhelmingly rejected deal.

This week Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that his party would back another referendum - with Remain on the ballot paper - if their Brexit plan was voted down by MPs

'That's why, in line with our conference policy, we are committed to also putting forward or supporting an amendment in favour of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country.'

Labour will press ahead and campaign for the fresh poll if their preferred Brexit plan based on a permanent Customs Union with the EU is voted down in Parliament.

But the Prime Minister has repeatedly ruled out going to the country in a second referendum and is currently trying to negotiate a deal with the 27-member bloc which MPs can swallow.

Theresa May has now delayed the Commons vote on her deal - which could be tabled as late as March 12 - as she meets with EU leaders to try to secure concessions on the Irish border backstop.

And she is also trying to squash a potential cabinet rebellion after several Government ministers threatened to resign if the prospect of no-deal is not completely dismissed tomorrow.

Theresa May has refused to accept the Labour plan - insisting it compromises the referendum result - but it has been backed in Brussels as a possible escape route

Labour leader Mr Corbyn will hope the dramatic move will stop any more MPs quitting to join the new Independent Group of MPs (pictured today at their first meeting)

Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer said Labour would back a referendum if its plan for Brexit was rejected by MPs on Wednesday night - something almost certain to happen
British D-Day veterans who helped liberate Normandy during the Second World War have been awarded Frances highest honour.

The four former Royal Navy servicemen, now in their 90s, were given Legion d'honneur medals on board HMS Belfast in London on Tuesday.

The ceremony, attended by Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and French ambassador Jean-Pierre Jouyet, was held with 100 days to go until the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

(Pictured, from left to right, are: French Ambassador Jean-Pierre Jouyet, Royal Navy veterans Dennis William Haley, John George Nicholls, Charles Henry Kavanagh and Patrick John Reardon with Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and Director-General of IWM Diane Lees)

A number of commemorative events for D-Day 75 are planned in the UK and France this summer.

John Nicholls, 93, a leading seaman who was born in Greenwich, served on HMS Argonaut, which fired on and destroyed German gun batteries in Normandy.

He drove landing craft from ship to shore delivering troops and supplies for the invasion.

He remembered only being told of the D-Day plan with four hours to go and arriving in France to see 'all hell' break loose.

'You were so sort of busy doing bits and pieces you didn't really have time to wander, have a cup of tea and talk about it,' he said.

'I looked at some of those troops, and as they were going in, I thought, 'I wonder how many of them are going to come back'.

'I don't only think of them on Remembrance Day, they're going through my mind all times of the year.'

Mr Nicholls said he lost 65 percent of his hearing from the noise of explosions during the battle.

'I've come out of it with just half of my hearing gone, but those poor devils... they lost their lives. I think of them all the time.'

Denis Haley, 92, was a signalman aboard HMS Southward Ho, which towed parts of a temporary portable harbour to Arromanches in France on June 7 1944, and remained at the beach as part of a flotilla of small ships fitted with smokescreen-making equipment.

British D-Day veterans who helped liberate Normandy during the Second World War have been awarded Frances highest honour. The four former Royal Navy servicemen, now in their 90s, were given Legion d'honneur medals on board HMS Belfast in London on Tuesday

Patrick Reardon, 93, served as a seaman in Royal Navy Combined Operations aboard HMS Sheffield. He volunteered for Forward Observation Bombardment, landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day and arriving in Caen some weeks later.

Charles Kavanagh, 92, an able seaman, helped land tanks on Sword beach and was involved in landing supplies for the US Army on Omaha beach.

Mr Jouyet said it was a 'very great honour' for his country to express its 'full appreciation and gratitude to soldiers who helped liberate France during the Second World War'.

'At a time when Europe was dominated by a terrible dictatorship, France was able, from the first few hours of the war, to count on the support of its closest partner,' he said.

'The commitment to the law and democratic principles on which our societies are based inspired a shared battle for freedom. Long live Franco-British friendship.'

Mr Williamson said: 'Today is a reminder of why this June we must show our special generation that we will never forget the debt we owe for the peace and freedom we now enjoy.

'To meet those veterans today, to talk with them, to listen to some of their stories, is truly inspiring. I think its fair to say there weren't many dry eyes in the house when we actually saw them get that amazing award.'

Some 156,000 Allied troops landed on five invasion beaches on June 6 1944 as part of D-Day operations, sparking an 80-day campaign to liberate Normandy involving three million troops and costing 250,000 lives.

London landmark HMS Belfast was the flagship for part of the allied armada and fired on German positions.

The French government has been awarding the Legion d'honneur to D-Day veterans for the last five years to honour those who fought to secure France's liberation.

Since June 2014, more than 6,000 medals have been awarded, with applications being processed by the Ministry of Defence and the French government.

The Legion d'honneur was established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte to recognise military and civilian merit.

Portsmouth, the base for many of the D-Day landing forces, will be the focal point of the UK's D-Day 75 commemorations and will host a UK national event on June 5.

A specially chartered ship will carry D-Day veterans to commemorations in Portsmouth and Normandy in June.

The Imperial War Museum, working in partnership with Daks Over Normandy, is organising a mass flight display at Duxford airfield, culminating in a cross-Channel flight and parachute landing in Normandy on June 6.

Mr Williamson said: 'The real people who are at the centre of those commemorations and celebrations about how we liberated Europe are going to be those veterans who were willing to give everything for the freedoms that we enjoy today.'
A little girl lay cowering and covered in blood on a pile of rubble burying her sister's corpse after President Bashar al-Assad's jets reigned down terror.

Air strikes have been stepped up against rebel-held northwestern Syria, the last major stronghold of opponents to the president.

Thousands of civilians were forced to flee the town of Khan Sheikhoun, war monitors said on Tuesday.

One little girl looked shell-shocked, as dried blood was smeared across her face and hands, while she lay beside the lifeless corpse of her sister.

A wounded Syrian girl awaits rescue from under the rubble next to the body of her sister whose dusty hands protrude from the rubble in the town of Khan Sheikhoun

A Syrian man weeps as he cradles the body of his daughter who was killed following reported shelling in northwestern Syria

Air strikes reigned terror down on civilians in Khan Sheikhoun on Tuesday in an area near the Turkish frontier which is supposed to be under ceasefire - in an agreement brokered last year by Russia and Turkey, who have been backing the rebels

The distraught father gazes upwards as he clutches the corpse of his young child on the street

A father kisses his daughter's feet as her corpse is carried away from the rubble in the rebel-held province

A father was seen covered in chalky dust, with blood running over his hands as he sobbed clutching his daughter's corpse on the ground.

A 'White Helmet' rescue worker took hold of the girl to take her to the morgue, as her inconsolable father kissed her feet.

The area near the Turkish frontier is under a ceasefire brokered last year by Assad's main battlefield ally Russia, and Turkey, one of the main supporters of rebels who have fought to topple him for eight years.

Hundreds of thousands of people who fled other parts of Syria are sheltering in the enclave, protected by the truce which was aimed at averting an all-out government assault.

Any suggestion that the ceasefire is under new strain is closely watched by the warring parties and their allies.

Rami Abdulrahman, the director of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said government forces had intensified artillery shelling and air strikes, which have been ramping up over the past ten days.

'The bombing is focused mainly on towns along the Damascus-Aleppo international road,' he said. 'Khan Sheikhoun has turned into a ghost town.'

Members of the White Helmets evacuate the wounded child after she was found clutching at the corpse of her sister

The father's blood soaked face is torn in anguish as he is helped by rescuers in the shell battered town

The distraught father sits in the rubble after an air strike smashed through his home in the town

A youth tears away for cover as an explosion erupts from a shell which has struck buildings

An injured civilian is carried on a stretcher into an ambulance after an air strike on Tuesday

A map showing the current regions of control in Syria, with Assad's forces in red and the Syrian Democratic Forces in the north west, controlling the largest swathes of territory

The 'White Helmets' rescue organisation that operates in opposition areas of Syria said five people were killed by shelling and air strikes on Tuesday, including three children.

According to a senior data analyst at Hala Systems, which operates an early warning system for aerial bombardment called Sentry, 13 strikes had been observed in Idlib and northern Hama on Tuesday.

'This is the third straight day in which a significant increase in air strikes has been observed. The pace of attacks seems high and certainly unusual compared to the last few months,' the analyst, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.

Syrian state media said insurgents had fired rockets at several towns in the northern part of Hama province, killing one civilian and wounding seven others in what it said was a violation of the ceasefire.

Under the agreement brokered by Russia and Turkey, the enclave in the northwest includes a demilitarised zone that must be kept free of all heavy weapons and jihadist fighters.

A man is frozen on his scooter as plumes of smoke from a shell dropping on the town rise into the air

A member of the Syrian Civil Defence (also known as 'The White Helmets') checks the rubble at a building that was hit by shelling in the town of Saraqib, Idlib

The White Helmets dig through rubble after an air strike on location targeted by government forces, in Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib

The White Helmets carry someone on a stretcher through a bombed out house in Khan Sheikhoun

Moscow has complained about escalating violence in Idlib and said that militants who used to belong to the Nusra Front, Syria's former chapter of al Qaeda, are in control of large swathes of territory.

Syria's conflict began in 2011 after Assad's security forces used force to crush mass demonstrations against his rule.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced in the conflict, which has drawn in world powers.

Meanwhile on the other side of the country, a brutal siege is raging between the US-backed SDF forces and the last remaining ISIS soldiers at Baghouz.

The SDF screened and treated truckloads of suspected jihadists and their families on Tuesday as more were carted away from the town, where the 'caliphate' makes its last stand.

Women wearing the niqab walk through strong winds with their children and baggage after being transported to a holding centre in the Deir Al Zor province after leaving ISIS' last stronghold at Baghouz

A man prays as those suspected of being IS fighters wait to be searched by members of the Kurdish-led SDF after leaving the IS group's last holdout of Baghouz

Civilians gather at an SDF outpost near the frontline village of Baghouz

A woman holds her child as she waits to be screened by the US-backed forces on neutral ground away from Baghouz

They struggled to cope with the flow of people exiting the very last shred of a once-sprawling proto-state that claimed dominion over millions of people.

Several thousand of them are believed to remain in a last redoubt which has been shrunk to about half a square kilometre on the edge of the Euphrates.

The women formed a queue to be searched before heading to a distribution point where baby formula, diapers and bread were being handed out.

Overwhelmed fighters from the Kurdish-led SDF were still treating some of the more than 2,000 people who were trucked in the previous day.

Kurdish fighters there said 30 people, mostly women, had already been sent on to other facilities for treatment, and that a total of 300 had received emergency care.

An SDF soldier keeps the sights of his truck-mounted machine gun trained on heavily shrouded women as they are screened following their surrender to the US-backed forces

An alleged Islamic State group fighter who has fled from the front-line sits in the back of a truck after being taken into custody by the SDF

Suspected jihadists sit in the back of a truck after being taken into custody by the SDF near the Omar oil field

Civilians step off the back of a truck after being carted away from the besieged town

Their accounts of the makeshift camp in Baghouz where the SDF says around 5,000 people remain describe a death trap of disease and starvation.

The number of people trapped in the last IS pocket near the Iraqi border has exceeded all estimates from a month ago, when SDF forces looked poised to complete their takeover.

The SDF, which has spearheaded the fight against IS in Syria since 2015, has complained that the burden was too heavy and urged the world to scale up its humanitarian effort.

Many of the civilians and fighters emerging from the ruins are foreigners whose countries of origin are reluctant to repatriate.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, around 50,000 people have quit the last IS pocket in the Euphrates Valley since December 2018.

Among them are up to 5,000 suspected IS members, while most of the rest are their relatives.

After being vetted, women, children and men not suspected of belonging to the extremist group are transported north to the Kurdish-run camp of Al-Hol, while suspected jihadists are sent to SDF-held detention centres.

Women and children walk through the scanning area after they were evacuated from the Islamic State's last bastion

A line of women and their children, with bags full of their belongings await screening by the majority Kurdish SDF forces

Women sit with their children, they appear to have been provided loaves of bread and other supplies

An SDF soldier approaches a group of children who stand in safety from the siege at their former home of Baghouz

Save the Children observed the children at the Al-Hol camp and described serious psychological damage.

'Children are showing signs of psychological distress, including nervousness, withdrawal, aggression, nightmares and bedwetting, especially among children aged 10 to 14 years old,' said Save the Children.

Infants who fled IS-held areas were 'likely to have witnessed acts of brutality and lived under intense bombardment and deprivation in the last enclave held by the group', it said.

'Many will likely need long term mental health and psychosocial support to recover from their experiences,' the charity said in a statement.

One of the children cited in the report was an 11-year-old named Mai who recalled witnessing beheadings and other acts of violence.

'Whenever they saw a woman talking with a man they would stone them, and they would behead prisoners in front of their family,' she was quoted as saying.

'I always tried not to look when there were beheadings. I would hide behind my mum.'

Save the Children reported that children who had been evacuated from Baghouz were showing distressing levels of psychological damage - here a mother carries blankets in the screening area as she is followed by a youngster

A mother carries two children through the countryside where the SDF soldiers screened them in safety - Save the Children said those they had spoken to were suffering nightmares and bedwetting

Save the Children said that some of the children who had been evacuated from Baghouz reported witnessing beheadings

An Algerian woman in full face veil, who joined the Islamic State group four years ago, walks in the screening area under the watchful gaze of SDF militia men

At the Al-Hol camp, Save the Children said it had set up recreational spaces for children, as well as a centre to deal with unaccompanied children.

But 'much more needs to be done to help these children recover,' said Save the Children's Syria response director, Sonia Khush.

More evacuations are likely in the coming days but SDF forces, with backing from the US-led coalition and its aerial might, are then expected to move in and flush out any diehard IS fighters.
Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos topped the U.S. list of biggest philanthropists of 2018  but overall contributions by the nation's wealthiest donors was nearly half of 2017's total.

Altogether, the donors on the Chronicle of Philanthropy's annual list of people who gave the most totaled more than $7.8 billion in 2018, down from $14.7 billion donated, collectively, by the top philanthropists in 2017.

The drop off in giving coincides with new limits on charitable tax deductions but those changes only affect small donors who gave less than the standard deduction ($12,000 for an individual or $24,000 for a married couple)  not professional philanthropists.

Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos made the list for the first time with a gift of $2 billion that is predominately dedicated to helping homeless and low-income families.

Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos were first on the Chronicle of Philanthropy's annual list of biggest charitable donors. The couple, shown here in April 2018 in Berlin, announced their separation last month

Jeff Bezos announced his intention to become a big donor in 2017. In 2018 he and his wife pledged $2 billion to charity, putting the now-separated couple at the top of the list of biggest charitable donors

The couple, who announced their divorce last month, launched the Bezos Day One Fund in 2018 to support homeless families and education in under-served communities.

'I'm thinking I want much of my philanthropic activity to be helping people in the here and now  short term  at the intersection of urgent need and lasting impact,' Bezos wrote in a 2017 Twitter post seeking philanthropic ideas.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was the second biggest donor in America in 2018, with $767 million in giving

Bezos is estimated to have a net worth of $134.8 billion, making him the richest man in the world.

His contribution was more than twice the $767 million that former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave to charity in 2018, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy's annual list of biggest givers.

In second place, Bloomberg dedicated his giving to the arts, education, the environment, health and other causes. The effort moved him up from his fifth place spot in 2017, when he donated $702 million to various causes.

The founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. financial services and media company, Bloomberg's net worth was estimated at $51.8 billion in 2018, making him the eighth richest person in America and 11th richest person in the world.

The founders of eBay, Pierre and Pam Omidyar, came in third place on the list, with $392 million in gifts to nonprofits that focus on promoting democracy, citizen activism and other causes.

The couple has committed over $1 billion to various causes in recent years, coming in ninth place last year for $257.5 million in charitable giving.

Founders of eBay, Pierre and Pam Omidyar, in 2011 in New York City. The couple ranked third on the list of biggest charitable donors in America

Stephen Schwarzman ranked fourth on the list with $390 million in donations to higher education. Schwarzman is shown (left) in New York City in May, 2018. Paul Allen, a Microsoft billionaire gave more than $261.4 million to charity in 2018. Allen is shown (right) in Seattle, 2014.

Steve and Connie Ballmer, shown in Paris in 2011, donated $295 million to charity in 2018, landing them in fifth place on the list of America's biggest donors

Stephen Schwarzman, the chairman and CEO of private equity firm, The Blackstone Group, ranked fourth on the list with $390 million in donations to higher education.

Last year Schwarzman, whose worth is estimated at $12.5 billion, announced that he would give $350 million to fund a new college at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that will focus on artificial intelligence.

The program will start operating this fall. He also pledged millions to other educational institutions, including $25 million to Abington High School, a public school in suburban Philadelphia. Schwarzman did not make last year's list of top donors.

Microsoft billionaire Steve Ballmer and his wife, Connie, ranked fifth on the list with $295 million in giving to multiple causes, with a focus on lifting U.S. children and families out of poverty.

The former CEO of the Seattle tech company is estimated to have a net worth of $43.3 billion. The Ballmers did not make last year's list of top donors.

Paul Allen, also a Microsoft billionaire, came in sixth on the list with more than $261.4 million in charity toward artificial intelligence and medical research through the institutions he founded: the Allen Institute for Brain Science; the Institute for Artificial Intelligence; and the Institute for Cell Science.

Top 10 Givers of 2018 1. Jeff & MacKenzie Bezos - $2 billion 2. Michael Bloomberg - $767 million 3. Pierre & Pam Omidyar - $392 million 4. Stephen Schwarzman - $390 million 5. Steve & Connie Ballmer - $295 million 6. Paul Allen - $261.4 million 7. Mark Zuckerberg & Priscilla Chan - $213.6 million 8. John & Laura Arnold - $204.3 million 9. Jay Alix - $200 million 10. Edward Bass - $160 million Advertisement

He was also known for donating to education, wildlife and environmental conservation and the arts. Last year Allen ranked 28 on the list of most charitable givers with his donation of $91 million to the University of Washington and other groups.

Allen had an estimated net worth of $20.3 billion when he died in October 2018.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, came in seventh on the list of biggest donors, with $213.6 million in giving in 2018.

Last year Zuckerberg's financial investment company  The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative  announced a $30 million grant to the Harvard Graduate School of Education and MIT's Integrated Learning Initiative. The five-year initiative is focused on building a web-based screening tool to donate reading problems early on in a child's development.

The couple also gave money to causes that support biomedical research, income inequality in the U.S. and criminal justice reform. The couple ranked second on the list last year, with donations of more than $2 billion.

Zuckerberg's net worth is estimated at $60.3 billion.

John and Laura Arnold came in eighth on the list, with $204 million in charitable giving.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, came in seventh on the list of biggest donors, with $213.6 million in giving in 2018. The couple is shown here in Berlin in 2016

John and Laura Arnold came in eighth on the list of most charitable donors, with $204 million in charitable giving

Jay Alix (left) pledged $200 million the Mayo Clinic's School of Medicine in 2018. He ranked ninth on the list of America's most generous donors. Edward Bass (right) ranked 10th with a $160 million gift to the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale

John Arnold is a former hedge fund manager who made his billions in natural gas trading before founding the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, which focuses on a variety of causes, including: reforming the criminal justice system; promoting evidence-based public policy; and health care.

The couple also held the eighth-place rank last year, with $285 million in giving in 2017. Arnold is worth an estimated $3.3 billion.

In ninth place was Jay Alix, with $200 million to higher education. The founder of Alix Partners, a consulting firm that specializes in turning around struggling businesses, Alix is worth an estimated $1.2 billion.

Last year he pledged the full $200 million to what has since been renamed the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine. The money will be focused on scholarships, establishing a professorship and further curriculum innovations.

Alix did not make the Chronicle of Philanthropy's list last year.

Edward Bass, a Texas-based businessman best known for funding the Biosphere 2 project in the late 1980s, rounded out the top ten list of the biggest U.S. donors.

His 2018 gift of $160 million gift went toward renovating the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale. Bass' net worth is estimated at $2.3 billion. He did not make the list last year.

Last year's first-place donors  Bill and Melinda Gates  did not crack the top 10 this year. The couple gave $4.8 billion to charity through their Seattle-based foundation in 2017.
A Connecticut man has challenged a ticket he was issued for distracted driving and argued that the police officer mistook his hash brown for a cellphone.

Jason Stiber stopped at McDonald's on his way to work and says he was eating a hash brown that was mistaken for a cellphone.

He was pulled over in Westport on April 11 last year for allegedly driving while talking on his mobile phone and was issued with a $300 fine.

Jason Stiber (left) has challenged a ticket he was issued for distracted driving and argued that the police officer mistook his hash brown for a cell phone. He is seen here with his attorney John Thygerson (right)

Stiber stopped at McDonald's on his way to work and says he was eating a hash brown (left) that the police officer apparently mistook for a cellphone (stock image right)

Stiber, 45, claims that Westport Police Department Cpl. Shawn Wong mixed up his black cellphone with a hash brown wrapped in white McDonald's paper he was eating.

A magistrate convicted Stiber, who represented himself, last August and upheld the fine.

Connecticut law allows drivers, if they're unhappy with a magistrate's ruling, to take the matter to a trial judge.

Stiber's lawyer John Thygerson told ABC7 that his client is telling the truth following an appeal hearing on Tuesday.

'I don't blame the cop for misinterpreting what he thought he saw, but the fact of the matter is there was no cellphone use and we have cellphone records to establish that fact.

Stiber, 45, has spent $1,000 fine challenging the $300 ticket in court in Connecticut

'I have had a boatload of clients who have decided to fight the hard fight because they feel a right, rather than take the path of least resistance and just pay the small fine,' Thygerson said.

Stiber has so far spent around $1,000 in legal fees fighting a ticket that carries a $300 fine.

Thygerson claimed they have phone records to show Stiber wasn't talking at the time he was pulled over.

Westport Police Department Cpl. Shawn Wong testified that he saw Stiber holding a black cellphone with the screen illuminated and his mouth was moving

He also has a receipt for the hash brown and caramel frappe purchased at McDonald's that morning as he made his way to work.

Thygerson argued that Stiber's car and phone are also hooked up to a hands-free Bluetooth.

It would therefore be unnecessary for him to hold a phone even if he were chatting, according to his defense.

Cpl. Wong Won testified that he saw Stiber holding a black cellphone with the screen illuminated and his mouth was moving.

But Thygerson told NBC News: ' The cop says he saw my client's lips moving  my client's lips were moving because he was chewing on his hash brown.

'He's fighting this because he didn't do anything wrong.'

The judge will now decide an outcome and will deliver her verdict on or before April 5.
A doctor in charge of a hospice center in Buffalo, New York, has said long-lost loved ones frequently appearing in our dreams may predict that death is looming, according to his study of patients in their final days and weeks.

Hospice Buffalo Chief Medical Officer Dr. Christopher Kerr and his team have been documenting the dreams of dying patients for a decade, he told CBS.

'It's life affirming, I can tell you that,' Kerr said, noting that the dreams seem to make passing away less scary for this patients.

'Instead of having this fear of death, it almost transcends the fear of death to something bigger.'

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Dr. Christopher Kerr of Buffalo, New York has said long lost loved ones appearing in our dreams may predict when we will die, according to his study of patients in their final days and weeks

Kerr and his team said they have documented the finals weeks of life of 1,400 hospice patients over the last 10 years.

Of those 1,400 people, 80 percent reported dreams or visions leading up to their deaths.

Those vision are typically of loved ones they've been missing who passed away before them, and often involved travel or some kind of packing.

One patient named Paul described a dream about a loved one, saying 'She wanted me to pack up some things for her, so I had this crazy dream, Im packing goods.'

A woman named Jeannie shared seeing both her immediate and extended family, in vivid detail.

Hospice Buffalo Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kerr and his team have been documenting the dreams of dying patients for a decade. One such patient named Maggie (pictured) reported her pre-deceased sister telling her in a dream, 'Soon well be back. Well be back together'

'I remember seeing every piece of their face,' she said. 'I mean, I know that was my mom and dad and uncle and my brother-in-law.'

She later added: 'I felt good. I felt good to see some people.'

Another patient named Maggie said her pre-deceased sister came to her in a dream.

'I said, "Beth, youve got to stay with me. Im alone, stay with me,"' Maggie said.

'She says, "I cant. Not now." And then she says, "Soon well be back. Well be back together."'

One patient, Gregg Liebler, whose sister works at Hospice Buffalo as a nurse, described seeing the people who he said loved him and nurtured him the most.

Kerr said 80 percent of the patients he's talked to, like Gregg Liebler (pictured), report the dreams, which are said to feel especially real and increase in frequency closer to death

Liebler (left), whose sister Karen Paciorkowski (right) works at Hospice Buffalo as a nurse, described seeing the people who he said loved him and nurtured him the most

'He was really close with my moms parents,' his sister said. The two are pictured as children with those grandparents. Less than three weeks after reporting the dreams, Leibler died

'He was really close with my moms parents,' his sister, Karen Paciorkowski, said.

'My grandmother and grandfather are both passed,' Liebler said.

When Kerr asked, 'Have you had any dreams of them?' Liebler answered, 'Yes. I see them often.'

'But it feels good?' Kerr asked. Liebler replied, 'It sure does.'

Less than three weeks later, Leibler was also gone.

The dreams are also said to increase in frequency leading up to one's dying day, according to Kerr's study, and feel more and more authentic.

'What's clear is people are universally saying, "This feels more real and different than any dream I've had before,"' Kerr said.

The dreams people are having differ in other ways, too, Kerr said.

'What's clear is people are universally saying, "This feels more real and different than any dream I've had before,"' Kerr said.

And for children, or young people who haven't experienced much loss within their families, the dreams tend to center around pets, he said.

A girl named Jessica said, 'I dream about my old dog Shadow, that has passed away.'

For children, or young people who haven't experienced much loss within their families, the dreams tend to center around pets, he said. A girl named Jessica (pictured) said, 'I dream about my old dog Shadow, that has passed away'

Kerr shared the story of how he was first alerted to the phenomenon when he treating a patient who he thought could live longer if given intravenous fluids, but a nurse informed him otherwise.

'I walked in and the nurse didnt even look up,' Kerr told the room from the stage at a TEDx Talk in Buffalo.

'And she said, "No, no, hes dying," and I said, "Why are you saying that?" And she said, "Well, hes seeing his deceased mother," and I was like [laughing noise] "Yeah, right."'

But as time went on, the doctor found that others were able to accurately predict the end of life while Kerr couldn't, with his focus firmly on prolonging it.

'Everybody but me was able to prognosticate death in part based on what people were seeing or experiencing,' Kerr said.

Finally, after seeing it in front of his eyes time and again, the doctor began his years-long study that turned him into a believer.

Kerr said the happenings can't be explained, as far as he knows, by science, religion or spiritually, but he's not sure he even cares to try.

'When [dying patients] wake up crying because theyve been so deeply moved by something, that just should be respected,' Kerr said. 'Period.'
The Government admitted 200,000 firms that trade with the EU are not ready for a no deal Brexit tonight in a damning report with just 31 days to exit day.

The study from the Brexit department also found citizens are ignoring no deal warnings and failing to make sure they are ready for a no deal.

It said no deal would cause delays at the border - potentially meaning shortages and prices rises for some food, particularly fresh produce not in season in Britain.

The report warns panic buying could fuel shortages in foods that are shipped across the Channel.

Ahead of the publication of tonight's report Theresa May admitted it would be an 'honest assessment' of the 'serious challenges' facing Britain after no deal.

But she told MPs: 'I believe that if we have to, we will ultimately make a success of a No Deal.'

The Prime Minister made a screeching U-turn today and admitted no deal could only happen if MPs voted for it - and said MPs could demand a delay to Brexit instead.

Independent Group MP Chuka Umunna said tonight's report showed the 'disastrous' impact no deal would have on Britain.

Ahead of the publication of tonight's report Theresa May (pictured today in the Commons) admitted it would be an 'honest assessment' of the 'serious challenges' facing Britain after no deal

Independent Group MP Chuka Umunna (pictured yesterday in Westminster) said tonight's report showed the 'disastrous' impact of no deal on Britain

The shock Government paper took a swipe at businesses trading with the EU, saying just a sixth of firms trading with EU states had obtained a vital document.

What does the new report on no deal say? The Government tonight published a report on Britain's no deal preparedness with just 31 days to go. It says: Just 40,000 of 240,000 exporting businesses that trade only with the EU are ready

Businesses face an extra 13billion in costs as they deal with customs controls for the first time

Citizens have ignored warnings to get ready and could face huge queues at airports

Fresh food imported from the EU could see shortages and price rises

Panic buying could make the situation even worse

EU tariffs could add 70 per cent to the cost of imported beef and 45 per cent to the cost of lamb

Northern Ireland would be hit harder and for longer by no deal chaos

Major industries - particularly car making - would hit hard by delays in the arrival of parts amid queues at Dover Advertisement

After Brexit they will require an Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI) number to continue to export as the UK will become an external so-called 'third party' state.

In a damning statement the paper lays the situation bare, saying: 'As an EORI number registration is one of the most basic and straightforward parts of the process most businesses would need to undertake to prepare for no deal, this is assumed to be a generous indicator of overall readiness.

'As of February 2019 there had only been around 40,000 registrations for an EORI number, against an estimate of around 240,000 EU-only trading businesses.

'In practice, the UK's approach is based on, in the short-term, allowing hauliers to pass through the border without stopping, but they would be stopped if taking goods into France without the right paperwork.

'The lack of preparation for EU controls - of which this is an example - greatly increases the probability of disruption.'

However it also said that the Government can process up to 11,000 EORI applications per day, so there is time for firms to act before March 29.

Consumers could face a bun fight over fresh fruit and vegetables as shortages of some foods kicks off a surge in prices - and are made worse by greedy consumers stockpiling them, the paper revealed.

It said no deal would cause delays at the border - potentially meaning shortages and prices rises for some food, particularly fresh produce not in season in Britain (pictured are lorries queuing at the Port of Dover)

There will not be an 'overall' food shortage, it revealed, with less than a tenth of 'foods items' 'directly affected by any delays' across the Channel - but there could be shortages or prices rises on imported goods

Some 30 per cent of UK food comes from the EU and it added: 'Although our food supply is diverse, resilient, and sourced from a wide variety of countries, the potential disruption to trade across the Short Channel Crossings would lead to reduced availability and choice of products.'

There will not be an 'overall' food shortage, it revealed, with less than a tenth of 'foods items' 'directly affected by any delays' across the Channel.

But it continued: 'However, at the time of year we will be leaving the EU, the UK is particularly reliant on the Short Channel Crossings for fresh fruit and vegetables.

'In the absence of other action from Government, some food prices are likely to increase, and there is a risk that consumer behaviour could exacerbate, or create, shortages in this scenario.

'As of February 2019, many businesses in the food supply industry are unprepared for a no deal scenario.'

Tonight's report warns Britons could be stuck in queues at airports as many have failed to complete basic 'administrative tasks' to prepare for a no-deal Brexit

Car manufacturing could also be hit as just-in-time supply chains are hurt by delays at the border (pictured is the Nissan plant n Swindon facing closure)

The paper also took a swipe at UK citizens for failing to complete basic 'administrative tasks' to prepare for a no-deal Brexit - because they are not worried it will happen.

It cited passport renewal, applying for an international driving permit and obtaining a 'car insurance green card' as things which people either visiting or living in EU states needed to complete.

It said: 'As of February 2019, despite a public information campaign encouraging the public to seek out the Government's advice on preparing for a 'no deal', noticeable behaviour change has not been witnessed at any significant scale.

'Based on DExEU survey data from January 2019, 55% of UK adults did not expect to be affected by a no deal exit.

'Government judges that the reason for this lack of action is often because a no deal scenario is not seen as a sufficiently credible outcome to take action or outlay expenditure.'

The Government document stated that the introduction of tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade in the case of a no-deal Brexit can be expected to have a 'very severe' impact on some UK industries.

The EU would introduce tariffs of around 70% on beef and 45% on lamb exports and 10% on motor vehicles. The impact on UK businesses 'would be compounded by the challenges of even modest reductions in flow at the border', said the document.

The document warned that 'the cumulative impact from a 'no deal' scenario is expected to be more severe in Northern Ireland than in Great Britain, and to last for longer'

It was 'impossible to accurately predict the ability of businesses to adapt', but the risk of no deal is 'of major concern' for the car industry, both because of tariffs and disruption to just-in-time supply chains.

The document stated that 'the cumulative impact from a 'no deal' scenario is expected to be more severe in Northern Ireland than in Great Britain, and to last for longer'.

It warned: 'In a no-deal scenario there is an expectation of disruption to closely interwoven supply chains and increasing costs that would affect the viability of many businesses across Northern Ireland.

'There is a risk that businesses in Northern Ireland will not have sufficient time to prepare. This could result in business failure, and/or relocation to Ireland with knock-on consequences for the Northern Ireland economy and unemployment.'

Independent Group MP Chuka Umunna said: 'These documents - which The Independent Group of MPs have forced this Government to publish - paint a disastrous picture of the catastrophe which would befall our country if there is a no-deal Brexit.

'In light of what she knows, it is utterly irresponsible for the Prime Minister to keep a no-deal Brexit on the table given the extreme damage it will do.

'These papers set out how food prices will rise, we may see panic buying, there will be severe disruption at the border, and jobs and livelihoods would immediately be put at risk.'

...and care system could collapse, too, says leaked Whitehall report Millions of vulnerable pensioners would be put at risk in the event of a No Deal Brexit, Whitehall officials have warned. A leaked document from the Department of Health warned firms which provide home helps and manage care homes could collapse because of council cuts and a shortage of staff. It warned that any Brexit-related disruption to food distribution could have a disproportionate effect on the elderly. And it said significant failings in social care would have a devastating impact on GPs and hospitals  leading to a sharp increase in bed blocking and longer waiting lists. Worryingly, the document reveals that officials held a special exercise last week to test government responses because Brexit may cause multiple providers to fail simultaneously. Health Secretary Matt Hancock has already warned of problems in the supply of medicines. The report said the Department of Health wanted to minimise the negative impacts of No Deal Brexit on vulnerable people. If it is impossible to ensure uninterrupted provision we want to support local authorities to meet their statutory duties to ensure continued provision of social care to vulnerable people. The paper was drawn up by the Department for Healths EU exit delivery board. Barbara Keeley, Labours social care spokesman, said: This is an extraordinary admission from the Government that the catastrophic No Deal Brexit which this reckless Prime Minister is driving the country toward could endanger the lives of vulnerable people. Advertisement

Remainer ministers lashed over 'kamikaze tactics' in furious Cabinet row over May's screeching U-turn that Brexit CAN be delayed by two months if her deal fails

A furious Cabinet row saw Remainer ministers lashed for 'kamikaze' tactics today as Theresa May set out a screeching U-turn and admitted Brexit could be delayed.

Amber Rudd, Greg Clark and David Gauke were slammed for going public with their demands for no deal Brexit to be ruled out in a newspaper article on Saturday.

Chief Secretary Liz Truss slammed the 'kamikaze' approach while Commons leader Andrea Leadsom reportedly shouted in anger, the Spectator reported.

The brazen defiance of Mrs May's insistence that Brexit cannot be delayed and no deal must be on the table came ahead of the PM abandoning both positions today.

After briefing her Cabinet and with negotiations deadlocked in Brussels, the PM told the Commons no deal would only happen with 'explicit consent' and it will get a chance to extend Article 50 within a fortnight.

Mrs May tried to soothe angry Eurosceptics by insisting that a delay could only be a 'one-off' and was not something she wanted to do. She stressed she will never cancel the Brexit process altogether, arguing that the UK could make a 'success' of no deal if it has to.

But the concession leaves Tory hardliners with a stark choice of either backing Mrs May's plan in the next showdown, which will happen by March 12, or accepting an almost inevitable delay to the UK's departure.

Under the new timetable, a vote effectively ruling out no deal would then be staged on March 13, and a vote on an extension the following day - March 14. Mrs May refused to say whether the government would back the delay.

Without revoking Article 50 no delay to Brexit can last forever - meaning MPs would have to agree a deal eventually. Unless Britain takes part in European Parliament elections in May, a delay cannot extend past the end of June.

Brexiteer ringleader Mr Rees-Mogg warned a delay could not be cover for cancelling Brexit - insisting it would be a 'grievous error' that would 'undermine democracy'.

On the Remain side, Tory Nick Boles and Labour's Yvette Cooper questioned whether the PM could be trusted to abide by her word - but this afternoon abandoned their plan to change the law to force a vote on delaying Brexit if there is no deal.

Theresa May is scrambling to avert mass resignations by ministers who are determined to rule out no deal in crunch votes tomorrow

With negotiations deadlocked in Brussels and the clock running down, the PM (pictured in the Commons today) told the Commons no deal would only happen with 'explicit consent' and it will get a chance to extend Article 50 within a fortnight

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the PM was continuing to run down the clock on Brexit with just a month until exit day

The PM again drew a blank after a frantic round of Brexit talks with EU counterparts at a summit in Egypt over the past two days.

What will happen next in the unfolding Brexit drama? February 27 Votes are being held on Theresa May's approach to Brexit - although not on her deal, which is still being reworked. Downing Street is trying to head off a Tory Remainer mutiny by promising MPs will get another set of votes within a fortnight, with the potential for Article 50 to be extended. March 12 Theresa May has said a so-called 'meaningful vote' on her revised Brexit deal will take place by this date. March 13 If Mrs May's deal is defeated or does not get put to the House, there will be a vote on whether to go ahead with no deal. March 14 Assuming MPs do not agree to go ahead with no deal, there will be a vote on whether to delay Brexit by a couple of months. March 21-22 The PM will attend a scheduled EU summit in Brussels where any agreement approved by the Commons could be signed off - as well as any potential Brexit delay. 11pm, March 29 The UK is due to leave the EU with or without a deal, unless the Article 50 process is extended with approval from the bloc's leaders, or revoked to cancel Brexit altogether. Advertisement

EU council chief Donald Tusk heaped pressure on the PM by urging her to take the 'rational solution' of an extension.

One proposal favoured in Brussels is a 21-month delay, which would essentially replace the transition period.

However, the PM suggested a postponement would only be possible for around two months, up to the European Parliamentary elections.

Mrs May said: 'Let me be clear, I do not want to see Article 50 extended.

'Our absolute focus should be on working to get a deal and leaving on 29 March.

'An extension beyond the end of June would mean the UK taking part in the European Parliament elections.

'What kind of message would that send to the more than 17 million people who voted to leave the EU nearly three years ago now?

'And the House should be clear that a short extension  not beyond the end of June  would almost certainly have to be a one-off.

'If we had not taken part in the European Parliament elections, it would be extremely difficult to extend again, so it would create a much sharper cliff edge in a few months' time.

'An extension cannot take no deal off the table. The only way to do that is to revoke Article 50, which I shall not do, or agree a deal.'

Mrs May refused to say how she would order her MPs to vote on March 13 and 14 despite emotional pleas from MPs.

Remain supporter Labour's Jess Phillips said she felt 'so enraged' about the 'complete and utter lack of bravery to do the right thing for our country',

Will Brexit EVER happen? As MPs prepare for another crucial round of votes and second referendum talk mounts, here is how a crucial few weeks for Brexit could unfold

MPs are voting again on Brexit tomorrow night as the countdown to exit day gets ever louder.

After a raft of ministers have warned the votes are high noon to take no deal off the table Theresa May finally shifted her position today.

In a mammoth U-turn she promised if she has not got her deal agreed by MPs on March 12, she will allow the Commons to vote first on accepting no deal on March 13 and then delaying Brexit on March 14.

Whether it is enough to stem a rebellion inside Government will only be known for certain tomorrow night.

But with just 32 days to go it sets up yet another crunch vote on March 12.

MPs vote again on Brexit tomorrow night amid mounting talk of a second referendum and while Theresa May (pictured yesterday in Egypt) tries to renegotiate her deal

What is happening tomorrow?

MPs are voting again on the state of the Brexit negotiations. May is expected to ask them to endorse her plan to renegotiate the backstop.

It is not a new 'meaningful vote' to approve or reject the Brexit deal.

Backbench MPs are likely to put forward amendments containing alternative plans - but whatever happens, the stage is set for another showdown on March 12.

This is the third time since the 'meaningful vote' on January 15 MPs have voted on Brexit. May promised the votes would happen as a concession to rebels while she negotiated to stop them taking no deal off the table.

What amendments might there be?

Formal amendments have not yet been tabled but they are expected to include:

Labour's Yvette Cooper and Tory Oliver Letwin want to change the law to order the PM to delay Brexit if there is no deal in place by March 13. This would mean suspending the normal rules of the Commons to allow backbench MPs to introduce legislation. Tories Simon Hart and Andrew have a similar amendment that makes a statement the PM should delay Brexit if there is no deal by March 13. There may be a second referendum amendment. Labour has said it will back one as an alternative to no deal or the Tory deal. Tory Alberto Costa is separately pushing an amendment seeking more guarantees for EU citizens in Britain in the event of no deal. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will table his usual amendment setting out Labour promises for a Brexit based on a permanent customs union with the EU. It will fail. SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford will table an amendment - usually one complaining about Brexit. It will fail.

Will any of them carry?

Amendments for delaying Brexit or a second referendum could pass - but all options look likely to depend on what happens at the second meaningful vote by March 12.

May's concessions today on votes on March 12, 13 and 14 make it less likely any of the rival plans will pass tomorrow.

The Corbyn and Blackford amendments will definitely fail.

What is the second meaningful vote?

To get her deal into law, May has to win a specific vote approving her deal. She has tried once before on January 15 and lost by 230 votes.

The PM has promised this will happen no later than March 12. If she wins then, she has said Brexit should happen on time and the Government will scramble to get the necessary laws in place.

What happens if May loses the second vote?

May has told MPs they will then have to choose between delaying Brexit for further negotiations or leaving the EU without a deal if the reject the deal by March 12.

On March 13, there will be a vote for MPs to say yes or no to no deal.

If they say no, on March 14 MPs will be asked to say yes or no to delaying Brexit.

If the House also votes no to delay, backbench MPs - backed by Jeremy Corbyn and most Labour MPs - will probably try to push for a second referendum.

Why do people say there needs to be a second referendum?

Theresa May's Brexit deal has no majority in Parliament - and it is not clear any other deal has a majority either, even if one could be negotiated.

Passing the question back to voters is seen by some as a way to end the impasse and give a clear instruction to politicians on what to do.

Some campaigners also say the 2016 referendum was not an informed choice because too many of the implications of Leave were unknown.

Britain's view on whether it should Leave or Remain in the EU is little changed in the more than three years since the referendum. Pictured are the dozens of polls since June 23, 2016

What do critics think?

Many people - led by the Prime Minister herself - say a new vote on Brexit would betray the people who voted Leave in 2016. They insist there was a clear order from the public to Leave the EU and politicians must follow it, working out the details for themselves.

Unionists also complain that accepting a new referendum on Brexit would pave the way for another referendum on Scottish independence, threatening the future of the UK.

Some politicians also feel it would simply reopen the wounds from the 2016 battle without really deciding anything more clearly.

What needs to happen for a referendum to happen?

Parliament would need to pass a new law for a referendum to be held. This process alone would take weeks and would likely be very controversial.

Before that can even happen, for political reasons there would probably have to be some kind of moment creating a 'mandate' for a new referendum as it is something neither of the main parties promised at the last election.

This might be a simple vote of MPs after Mrs May's deal has been rejected. The Government could call such a vote at any time. Labour also has some opportunities to call a vote - though winning such a vote would have less power.

It could even be a whole general election where one or more sides puts a new referendum in their manifesto.

What would the question and be who decides?

Nobody knows for sure - and this is probably the hardest question of all.

Some say it should be a simple repeat of last time, with Leave or Remain on the ballot paper. Others say it should be Remain versus Mrs May's Brexit deal.

Others advocate a two stage referendum - between Remain and Leave, followed by Mrs May's deal versus No Deal if Leave wins.

Still others say there could be multiple questions on the ballot paper, possible using a ranking system known as alternative vote.

The Electoral Commission would make a recommendation and MPs would make the final decision on what the question would be.

As MPs wrestle with Brexit inside Parliament outside protesters from both sides are picketing the gates of the Commons (pictured today on Parliament Square)

Would exit have to be delayed from March 29?

Yes. On the shortest timescale imaginable, a referendum would take almost six months from the point the decision was taken - something which has not happened yet. Exit day is just 32 days away.

How long does it take to call and fight a referendum?

There is no fixed schedule but former Cabinet minister Justine Greening has set out a 22 week timetable - just under six months start to finish

This assumes about 11 weeks to pass the necessary laws and another 11 weeks for the campaign - both a preliminary period to set up formal campaigns on each side and then a main short campaign.

This would in theory allow a referendum by late 2019 - more than three years after the last one.

Lots of factors could cause delays and short of sweeping political agreement on the rules of a campaign almost no way to speed up the process.

Would the result be any more decisive?

Probably not. Unlike last time, the referendum law could make the result legally binding and the question could be more specific than last time.

But polls suggest the country remains just as divided as in 2016 - suggesting the result could be just as close as the 52% to 48% Leave win next time.
Professor Ian Swingland, 72, was stripped of his OBE following his conviction in March 2017

A world-renowned scientist who claimed to have influence over former PM Gordon Brown was spared jail for his role in a 60m tax evasion scam, it can be revealed.

Professor Ian Swingland, 72, took part in a scheme which helped wealthy investors avoid tax on 170m worth of income by using schemes tackling climate change and the spread of HIV.

Swingland founded the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology in 1989 at the University of Kent, which is now a world-leading research facility into biodiversity, communities and sustainable development.

He was given his OBE in the 2007 birthday honours for services to conservation and claims to have guided Gordon Browns policies towards businesses tackling climate change.

Swingland maintained his innocence but was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation following a trial at Southwark Crown Court.

The shamed scientist was handed a two-year sentence suspended for 18 months in March 2017.

Swinglands conviction can finally be reported after reporting restrictions in a tax evasion case involving John Banyard, 70, and financial planner Martin King, 56, were finally lifted.

Ethical Trading and Marketing Ltd company director Anthony Blakey, 68, and finance director Banyard enticed wealthy people to invest in the scheme with the promise of avoiding tax by supporting tree planting in the Amazon and research into a HIV cure.

Anthony Blakey (pictured leaving court) was convicted for his involvement in a scheme that 'sheltered' investors' money so they could avoid paying the higher tax bracket

The pair were convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud and cheating the public revenue.

Blakey was jailed for seven and a half years, later increased to nine by the Court of Appeal, while Banyard was jailed for four and a half years, later revised to five and a half years at the Court of Appeal.

They set up a Mauritius-based company called Carbon Research and Development Ltd (CRD) to carry out environmental contracts worth millions - but the flow of money was simply used to claim huge amounts of tax relief from HMRC.

Swingland was awarded an OBE in 2007s New Year Honours for services to conservation but he was stripped of the honour following his conviction in 2017.

Prosecutor Julian Christopher QC had told jurors: The central allegation in this case is that these defendants were all involved in different ways in the promotion of a series of dishonest tax schemes.

They were opportunities to invest in research designed to counter-act the effects of climate change and to find a cure for HIV.

They were designed to be attractive to people who had a large amount of income that they would rather not pay tax on.

Prof. Swingland was handed a two year suspended sentence in March 2017

The prosecution allegation is that the tax advantages were entirely dependant on a false account being given to HMRC and the prosecution allege that each of these defendants knew that the tax advantages were dependant on a false account being given.

The defendants used lies and deceit as they tried to hoodwink HMRC by sheltering investors money so they could avoid the then 40% income tax rate.

Jurors heard Swingland made himself available for a retainer of 10,000 and took on a supervisory and reviewing role for CRDs plans and proposals.

Mr Christopher said: Ian Swinglands connection to the schemes was a valuable asset to Anthony Blakey who could use his name to add credibility to the idea that CRD was a research company of substance.

Ian Swingland had portrayed himself as being in a position to influence Gordon Brown, then the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to adopt a supportive attitude towards businesses addressing environmental problems.

The court heard CRD was nothing actually more than a bank account operated by a management services company.

The prosecution suggests that it appears to have been operated on the instructions of Mr Blakey and Mr Banyard, said Mr Christopher.

Sentencing Blakey, Banyard and Swingland back in March 2017, Judge Jeffrey Pegden QC, said:

The offences required significant planning and the fraudulent activity was over a sustained period. You were all involved in different ways in dishonest tax schemes.

Antony Blakey, you lay at the very heart of these schemes, playing a part in devising them and ensuring their sale, and then lying to Her Majestys Revenue and Customs over a prolonged period.

Swingland, of Canterbury, Kent, was handed a two-year sentence suspended for 18 months for one count of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation in March 2017.

Blakey, of Littlehampton, West Sussex, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years, later increased to nine years, for two counts of cheating the public revenue and one of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.

Banyard, of Horsham, West Sussex, was originally jailed for four and a half years, later increased to five and a half years in 2017 for two counts of cheating the public revenue.

He admitted income tax evasion of 207,000 on Monday and received a concurrent 21 months sentence.

King, of Beckenham, Kent, admitted fraudulent evasion of 235,000 income tax and was given an 18 month sentence, suspended for two years on Monday.

Simon York, director of Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: This was a calculated and cynical crime carried out by men who had no shame in using a worthy cause like HIV research to mask their criminality.

In doing so, they attempted to steal millions of pounds from the taxpaying public - money that ultimately pays for vital public services like the NHS.

Promoting tax avoidance schemes is bad enough and were making it a priority to go after those who market them, but for these men that was just a first step in establishing an elaborate criminal operation that included offshore accounts, fake transactions and blatant lies.

To those who would follow in their footsteps, I would say this case sends a clear message that no matter how well you think youve covered your tracks, no one is beyond our reach and you will face justice.
Almost 51 years to the day after Lt. Richard 'Tito' Lannom's fighter plane went missing over Vietnam, his family will finally get to lay him to rest.

The flight officer and his unnamed pilot were declared missing in action on March 1, 1968 after flying their A-6A Intruder over Vietnamese islands known to have light anti-aircraft artillery.

Lannom's family was forced to wait five decades to find out what happened to their lost loved one.

U.S. Navy flight officer Lt. Richard 'Tito' Lannom's remains were found on the remote Vietnamese island of Tra Ban in 2017 after he was declared missing in action 49 years prior

In 2017, a Vietnamese excavation team led by Col. Nguyen Van Thuong found the remains of at least one U.S. veteran at a crash site on the Vietnamese island of Tra Ban after a two-and-a-half hour climb up the island's steep cliffs, CBS News reported.

The U.S. Department of Defense's POW/MIA Accounting Agency confirmed the remains were Lannom's on September 25, 2018 after a forensic analysis was conducted.

Thanks to their efforts, Lannom's body will be laid to rest with full military honors in his home town of Union City, Tennessee next week.

Charlotte Shaw, left, married Lannom, right, two years before he departed on his fatal mission in Vietnam in 1968

The discovery of Lannom's remains have given a chance of closure for his wife Charlotte Shaw, who he married two years before embarking on his fatal mission.

'It was the most overwhelming, unbelievable, astounding news,' Shaw, who later remarried, told CBS News about the day she was informed her late husband's body had been discovered.

'I just want him to know how proud that I have been all of these years, to have been his wife. We were there for each other. And we were just, we were just one. And soul mates. And we still are. Two-and-a-half years were worth everything. Because it was worth that price of love. I would just like to be able to tell him.'

Shaw (right), who later remarried, plans to attend her late husband's military funeral in Union City, Tennessee next week

Lannom was one of 58,220 U.S. soldiers killed during the Vietnam War, according to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

He had been sent to attack enemy targets northeast of Haiphong.

His name is etched on both the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. and the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, which honors soldiers unaccounted-for who fought in Vietnam.

The DPAA said a rosette will be placed next to Lannom's name to indicate he has since been accounted for.

'It's our job to make sure that that story is continued to be told, decades from now,' said Lt. Col. Adam Points, who leads the U.S. POW/MIA Accounting Agency in Hanoi.

'We owe it to the family members. No one story will be forgotten.'
Investigators have solved the cold case murders of a woman and a girl in the 1970s using the same familial DNA technique that identified the suspected Golden State Killer.

Joseph Holt, a real estate agent who died of a heart attack in 2014, was named on Monday as the killer of 27-year-old Brynn Rainey and 16-year-old Carol Andersen in South Lake Tahoe, California.

Holt had no known criminal record, and his surviving family members had no idea was a killer, according to the El Dorado County District Attorney.

The two murders were not previously known to be linked, until a DNA analysis revealed a connection.

Brynn Rainey, 27, (left) was killed in 1977 and 16-year-old Carol Andersen (right) in 1979. Both died in South Lake Tahoe, California in cases that have now been solved

Joseph Holt, a real estate agent who died in 2014, was named on Monday as the killer. He died of a heart attack in 2014 and had never been suspected of a crime during his lifetime

Rainey was last seen alive on July 24, 1977. The young woman had just moved to Lake Tahoe from Ohio, and was working as a Keno caller at a casino just over the state line in Nevada.

She would often hitchhike or ride a bus to work, and was on her way in for a graveyard shift starting at 2am when she disappeared.

Horseback riders discovered Rainey's body the following month in a shallow grave near the Stateline Stables. Though the coroner couldn't be certain, he speculated that the cause of death was strangulation.

Two years later, Carol vanished while on her way to a party on June 30, 1979.

Brynn Rainey had recently moved to Lake Tahoe from Ohio and worked at a casino

The teen's body was found on the side of a road hours later, with signs of strangulation and ligature marks indicating that she had been bound.

For decades, the cases went unsolved despite the best efforts of investigators.

Carol Andersen was on her way to a party when she disappeared in 1979

Then in 2017, there was a break in the case, when more sensitive DNA analysis was able to determine that the same man had left a blood stain on Raineys shirt and DNA recovered from Carol's body during her autopsy.

A search of the FBI's national criminal database returned no matches, however.

In 2018, the county's cold case task force partnered with Parabon Nanolabs to construct a family tree from the suspect DNA in the case.

The same technique led detectives in the Golden State Killer investigation to suspect James DeAngelo last year.

El Dorado County investigators decided to try the approach, using public the public genealogy database GEDMatch.com to zero in on three brothers, all deceased.

A DNA sample from one brother's son, as well as DNA from a toothbrush he had used before he died, identified Joseph Holt as the killer.

Holt was born in 1947 and grew up in San Jose, graduating from Cupertino High School and UC-Berkley.

He moved to South Lake Tahoe in 1974 and began a career in real estate. He lived about a six minute walk from where Carol was last seen, and a mile and a half from where Rainey's body was dumped.

Last month, police executed a search warrant of a garage where some of Holt's property had been stored since his death, and found chilling evidence of other crimes, according to the Mountain Democrat.

One suspicious item was a newspaper clipping about a 1975 shooting in Los Gatos. After two men confronted a car burglar who was in the process of breaking into a vehicle, the burglar shot one of them and fled.

This suspect sketch from a 1975 shooting in Los Gatos strongly resembles Holt. A newspaper clipping referencing the shooting was found among his belongings in storage

The shooting victim survived and provided police with a detailed description, which a sketch artist used to create a likeness. The sketch strongly resembles Holt.

The handgun used in the crime was also found to have been stolen from a cab driver in South Lake Tahoe, where Holt was living.

Holt lived his life outside of the suspicion of law enforcement, working quietly in real estate in Lake Tahoe.

Holt was 66 at the time of his death in South Lake Tahoe in April 2014. He died of a heart attack and other complications according to his death certificate.

Investigators said that Holts surviving family members had no idea he was a killer, and fully cooperated with law enforcement during the investigation.

'He was a pretty successful predator,' District Attorney Vern Pierson said at a press conference.

Pierson believes there is a high likelihood that Holt was involved in other crimes, and urged anyone with information to come forward.
Almost 2,000 human bones from ancient Native American burial sites are among thousands of artifacts discovered in an Indiana man's home.

An FBI investigation determined that homeowner, Don Miller, may have knowingly and unknowingly collected objects in violation of several treaties and federal and state statutes.

Miller, who died in 2015 aged 90, collected artifacts from around the world, particularly during his time as an engineer during World War II and also from his missionary work in Haiti.

Don Miller, (pictured) may have knowingly and unknowingly collected objects in violation of several treaties and federal and state statutes

An estimated 42,000 items, including pre-Colombian pottery, an Italian mosaic, and items from China including jewelry from 500 BC are included in the collection

The majority of the bones were dug up reportedly by Miller from ancient Native American burial sites. Pictured is Chinese jewelry from the collection

Experts concluded that the remains found at Miller's residence were likely dug up from ancient Native American burial sites in North Dakota, similar to the one pictured above

Before his death, Miller agreed to let the FBI seize some 5,000 artifacts so they could be returned to their countries of origin.

But disturbingly, about 2,000 human bones were discovered among the collection, primarily from Native American burial sites in North Dakota.

The 42,000 artifacts hoarded by Miller represent what is believed to be the largest-ever seizure from a private collection.

Tim Carpenter, who heads the FBI's art crime unit, told CBS News: 'To the best of our knowledge right now, those 2,000 bones represent about 500 human beings.

'It's very staggering,' Carpenter said. It was previously reported that the items, stored in several buildings on the property about 35 miles southeast of Indianapolis

Asked how the bones came into Miller's position, Carpenter replied: ' I don't know. I truly don't know.'

Over the years, Miller had willingly showed his collection to reporters, residents, and even local Boy Scout troops. This is what alerted the FBI to the case.

Experts concluded that the remains found at Miller's residence likely came from Native American tribes including the Arikara.

Holly Cusack-McVeigh, a professor of archaeology told CBS News: 'This comes down to a basic human right.

Don Miller, (pictured), collected artifacts from around the world particularly during his time as an engineer during World War II and also from his missionary work in Haiti

'We have to think about the context of: Who has been the target of grave robbing for centuries?

'Whose ancestors have been collected for hobby?. And this comes down to racism. They aren't digging white graves.'

In North Dakota, tribal official Pete Coffey is working with the FBI to return to their rightful resting place.

He explained: 'All too often here we have been treated as curiosities rather than a people here.

'They could very well be my own great, great, great, great grandfather, or grandmother, you know, that had been  I characterize it as being ripped out of the earth, you know.'

The monetary value of the entire collection has not been determined but experts said their cultural value artifacts is immeasurable. Pictures is C

Miller had willingly showed items from his collection to reporters, residents, and even local Boy Scout troops

Miller admitted that he had gone on digging expeditions in foreign countries and in the U.S. for decades. Pictured is pre-Colombian pottery from the collection

FBI photos have been released and provide a snapshot of the vast collection

FBI photos have been released and provide a snapshot of the vast collection.

Included are an estimated 42,000 items, including pre-Colombian pottery, an Italian mosaic, and items from China, some that Miller labeled 'Chinese Jewelry' from 500 BC.

Miller had admitted that he had gone on digging expeditions in foreign countries and in the U.S. for decades which was in violation of antiquities laws.

Tim Carpenter, (pictured) who heads the FBI's art crime unit, told CBS News that Miller was aware he had taken protected items illegally

Carpenter added: 'When I first went into his house and saw the size of the collection, it was unlike anything we'd ever seen.

'Not only me, but I don't think anybody on the art crime team.

'Roughly half of the collection was Native American, and the other half of the collection was from every corner of the globe,' Carpenter added.

The FBI has already returned items from Miller's collection to several countries, including Cambodia, Canada, Colombia, and Mexico.

A Chinese delegation will go to Indianapolis this week to claim artifacts.

They have already returned some Native American ancestral remains to tribes in the South Dakota region and are planning a large-scale repatriation of remains to other tribes in the coming months.

Carpenter said returning the remains of Native Americans to their rightful home is now a priority for the FBI.

He added: 'You have to treat these people with dignity. These are human beings and people.

'It matters. It has meaning to people today, it has meaning to our children and their children.'
A resolution terminating President Donald Trump's border emergency passed the House 245-182 on Tuesday evening, mostly along party lines as a rebuke from Democrats.

Thirteen Republican lawmakers joined their colleagues in voting Trump's emergency down, however, including Michigan's Justin Amash, Kentucky's Thomas Massie and Washington's Jaimie Herrera Beutler.

It fell short of the 290 votes that would be needed to override a veto, but its passage in the House ensures that it will be sent to the U.S. Senate, where at least three Republicans have said they will support it.

Others have indicated they are seriously considering a break with the president over his use of emergency powers, as well.

President Trump - who arrived in Vietnam Tuesday - could see Congress debunk his national emergency declaration

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis on Monday night said he'd vote to block the president's move

Trump has vowed to use the power of his presidential veto if the measure winds up on his desk, which would be the first veto of his presidency.

The GOP is in a tough spot on the matter because many Republican lawmakers had privately warned the president against using emergency powers although several don't want to rebuke him publicly.

'I am very worried, prudential, about the slippery slope that could occur,' Sen. Ted Cruz told reporters Tuesday afternoon, pausing to carefully consider his next words, 'emboldening future presidents to implement radical policies, contrary to law and contrary to the Constitution.'

Cruz told DailyMail.com that he had spoken to the president about the national emergency resolution and 'time will tell' whether the White House will be able to swing enough Republican lawmakers to sustain a veto.

He said that the GOP had a 'robust and productive conversation' at a meeting with the vice president that he'd just come from.

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis on Monday night joined fellow GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins to say he'd vote to block the president's move.

With all 47 Democrats also voting 'aye,' plus those three, it would only take one more Republican to secure passage. Those 51 votes would not be enough to over ride Trump's expected veto, which takes a two-thirds majority of both chambers.

Tillis told reporters Tuesday, as he entered the Senate GOPs weekly luncheon, that he agrees with Trump on the border wall but cannot support his use of executive action to construct it, having opposed former President Barack Obamas power grabs in 2014 when he ran for office.

Republicans rebelled to vote down Trump's 'national emergency' declaration in the House on Tuesday

I want to make it clear though, that about half of what the president is allocating to the southern border, without the executive emergency action, I completely agree with, he explained. In fact, I agree with the need for about $25 billion to go down there. I just dont think this is the right, sustainable path.

Asked if hes worried that Trumps declaration will set a dangerous precedent, he said he is always concerned about the long-term consequences of executive action.

You always worry about that. And thats why I think its time for us to support the president, but do it in the right way, he stated.

The House is expected to pass the measure terminating Trump's national emergency proclamation when they vote on it Tuesday evening.

Democrats have argued it's a constitutional issue.

'This isn't about the border. This is about the constitution of the United States,' Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday evening.

She said she will send the measure to the Senate as soon as it passes the House.

Trump has made it clear he expects his party to back him on the matter.

'I hope our great Republican Senators don't get led down the path of weak and ineffective Border Security,' he tweeted on Monday. 'Without strong Borders, we don't have a Country - and the voters are on board with us. Be strong and smart, don't fall into the Democrats 'trap' of Open Borders and Crime!'

But several Republican senators were coy when asked how they'd vote.

Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford said that hes waiting for the legal justification and the line items of where, exactly, Trump plans to get his money.

I have not even seen what the presidents asking for yet. Its really fascinating to me, were disapproving of something that no ones actually read. Because no ones actually seen it, the Republican senator said. The House certainly hasnt seen it yet. So theyre disapproving of something that currently doesnt exist.

Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Senate GOP leadership team, said the larger issue is that Congress has delegated its authority to the White House in hundreds of instances  and this is just one example.

I think we need to have a bigger conversation about the separation of powers, and whether we want to delegate all this authority to the next president, as well as this president.

He suggested that the resolution to terminate Trumps emergency would pass, but the president would veto it, and Democratic lawmakers in the House would not be able to muster enough support to cancel it.

I think were looking at a veto, and then a veto-override vote, failed veto override vote in the House, the Texas Republican asserted.

Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrats who sometimes breaks rank to side with Republicans, said he's voting for his party's resolution. He wasn't confident that Democrats could come up with a large enough coalition in the Senate to override a presidential veto.

'That I don't know. I feel very strongly that it's not constitutional,' he said.

GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski (left) and Susan Collins (right) said they would vote against Trump's national emergency declaration

House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (above), will vote to block the president's move to build his border wall on Tuesday night

The White House is working hard to limit Republican support for the measure. Vice President Mike Pence attended the Senate Republican luncheon on Tuesday, where the resolution was a key topic.

The battle in Congress is the latest chapter in a long-running war between Trump and Democrats over border security, immigration policy and the 'great, great wall' that Trump has pledged to build since becoming a presidential candidate.

He originally promised that Mexico would pay for it, but after Mexico refused, he asked U.S. taxpayers to foot the bill for the project, which Democrats call unneeded and ineffective.

In his first two years in office, Trump's Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress, which under the U.S. Constitution holds the national purse strings, but lawmakers failed to provide the funding Trump wanted for his border barrier.

When Congress, with the House now controlled by Democrats, refused in recent weeks to provide the money he wants, Trump declared an emergency and vowed to divert funds toward the wall from accounts already committed by Congress for other purposes.

That set up a test of the constitutional separation of powers between Congress and the presidency that will likely lead to a court challenge after lawmakers deal with the resolution.

A coalition of 16 U.S. states led by California has already sued Trump and top members of his administration in an attempt to block his emergency declaration.

Trump declared the emergency after Congress declined his request for $5.7 billion to help build the wall.

Congress this month appropriated $1.37 billion for building border barriers following a battle with Trump, which included a 35-day partial government shutdown - the longest in U.S. history - when agency funding lapsed on Dec. 22.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, is refusing to dub Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro a 'dictator,' in stark contrast to the Trump administration's position.

Sanders declined to call Maduro a dictator and bestow the title of president upon Juan Guaido, the elected leader of the nation's national assembly, in a Univision interview last week.

Given a second opportunity on Monday evening during a CNN town hall to promote his candidacy for the American presidency, Sanders resisted again.

'It's fair to say that the last election was undemocratic, but there are still democratic operations taking place in that country,' he explained.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, is refusing to dub Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro a 'dictator' in stark contrast to the Trump administration's position

Sanders said he backs the U.S. position that a free and fair election, with international monitoring, should take place in Venezuela. He said that he supports democracy around the world.

'My record is to be concerned about democracy all over the world. So we've got to do everything we can,' he asserted. 'But at the end of the day, it's going to be the people of Venezuela who determine the future of their country, not the United States of America.'

He further drew a contrast between his policy and that of Donald Trump's, pointing out that the Republican president has not pushed for regime in other countries with authoritarian systems of government.

'And I do find it interesting that Trump is very concerned about what goes on in Venezuela, but what about the last election that took place in Saudi Arabia? Oh, there wasn't any election in Saudi Arabia? Oh, women are treated as third-class citizens?' he said. 'So I find it interesting that Trump is kind of selective as to where he is concerned about democracy.'

The senator's position not only puts him at odds with the Trump administration but other top Democrats who say Maduro has assumed the role of a dictator and must relinquish power.

Sen. Bob Menendez, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, said Tuesday morning on CNN that Sanders is wrong.

'Absolutely, dictatorship is dictatorship whether it comes from the right or the left,' he said. 'Dictatorship oppresses their people. I'm really surprised that Sen. Sanders could not at least call him a dictator.'

Sanders, who embraces socialist policies as a concept but wants to enact them through democratic processes, was first faced with the question of Maduro's legitimacy on Univision last week, following the announcement of his candidacy for president.

Asked if he believes Guaido is the legitimate president of Venezuela, Sanders told anchor Jorge Ramos, 'No.'

'There are serious questions about the recent election. There are many people who feel it was a fraudulent election,' he said.

But that doesn't mean that Guaido, who the U.S. recognizes as the acting president of the country, should be treated as such.

He would not call Maduro a dictator.

'I think clearly he has been very, very abusive,' Sanders said. 'That is a decision of the Venezuelan people, so I think, Jorge, there's got to be a free and fair election.'

Sanders warned against American interventionism.

'But what must not happen is that the United States must not use military force and intervene again as it has done in the past in Latin America, as you recall, whether it was Chile or Brazil or the Dominican Republic or Guatemala,' he asserted.

The Trump administration has not supported Guaido's revolution with military force, but it has slapped sanctions on Maduro and is providing humanitarian aid to the nation's people.

Vice President Mike Pence met Monday in Colombia with Guaido, whom Maduro ordered not to leave the country and may, therefore, be sent to jail when he returns.

'We got a long way to go. I made it clear to President Guaido were going to continue to press on. Were going to continue to call allies join with us. Were going to continue to isolate the Maduro economically and diplomatically until democracy is restored,' Pence told reporters after their talk.

The vice president has unapologetically called Maduro a dictator on behalf of the Trump administration. He told world leaders on Monday that it's time for them to do the same.

'To the leaders around the world, we also say its time  there can be no bystanders in Venezuelas struggle for freedom,' Pence said in Bogota. 'The day is coming soon when Venezuelas long nightmare will end and Venezuela will once more be free.'
This is the astonishing moment a female store clerk in South America stands her ground in the face of a knife-wielding robber and attacks him with a beer bottle.

The courageous employee was nearing the end of her Sunday shift alongside a male co-worker at a market in the Argentine resort city of Mar de Plata when a young man in his 20s entered the store at 11pm and was acting strangely.

'He asked for juice and a few things. It seemed strange,' said the clerk, who did not provide her name, in an interview with Mar de Plata Channel 10.

A female store clerk (pictured) in Mar de Plata, Argentina, fought back against a robber

The suspect is shown on a CCTV preparing to strike the female employee with his knife

'I told him the juice was over there and pointed to it. He then asked me for bananas.'

A CCTV camera captured the moment the suspect places an item on the counter shortly after another customer leaves the store.

The culprit then walks to a refrigerator and paces back to the counter before walking around to the cash register area. He then threatens her with a knife.

The brave woman fights back and managed thwart the thief's demands by grabbing a knife from inside the store to defend herself and push him away.

The brave woman fights back and managed thwart the thief's demands by grabbing a knife from inside the store to defend herself and push him away

Thinking about it today, I wouldnt do it again. Not even if I was crazy, the woman said. She is seen fighting back against her attacker

A struggle immediately ensues and he tries to slice the woman's face.

The fierce young woman then smashes his face with a beer bottle and her colleague throws another at the man before he flees the store.

'He told me, 'give me the money, give me the money.' I told him, 'I am not going to give you anything. I have a camera. I don't think I am going to give you any,' she recalled.

She continued: I didnt think. I [acted on] impulse at the time.

Thinking about it today, I wouldnt do it again. Not even if I was crazy.

No arrests have been made.
Confessing to police Moronez said: 'I can't take kids that constantly cry'

Nancy Moronez, 61, pleaded guilty to three counts of homicide by reckless conduct in Milwaukee on Monday at the start of her trial

A Wisconsin woman has pleaded guilty to drowning her infant son then killing two other toddlers she was babysitting in the 1980s.

Nancy Moronez, 61, pleaded guilty to three counts of homicide by reckless conduct in Milwaukee on Monday, the same day her trial was to start.

She killed her 18-day old son Justin Brunka in 1980 by drowning him in the bathtub, according to prosecutors.

She continued her baby-killing spree by using a blanket to suffocate two other children she was babysitting: six-month-old Brad Steege in 1984 and three-month-old Katie Kozeniecki in 1985.

Investigators initially attributed the deaths of the infants to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and the cases were closed.

Then in 2015 Moronez' adult daughter Ami Brunka reported her mother to police saying she had confessed to killing baby Justin by suffocating him with a plastic bag. The true cause of death was later determined to be by drowning.

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She's accused of killing her 18-day-old son in 1980 then killing two infants she babysat in 1984 and 1985. Moronez pictured above in court in 2018

She was reported to police by her adult daughter Ami Brunka in 2015 after she confessed to killing her newborn son Justin

Brunka was born in 1981, a year after her brother was killed. She said her mother acted strangely when she inquired about her brother.

Finally in March 2015 she pressed her mother and she confessed to killing him. She had no prior criminal history.

'I grabbed a hold of her and started shaking her and said, "What did you do!"' Brunka said to Fox6. 'She didnt care. There was no emotion there. That is what made me so angry that day.'

Police in the Milwaukee suburb of Franklin, where Justin died, reopened the case in March 2015 and it was determined the boy had been killed.

In their investigation they learned of the two other infant deaths that took place in her Milwaukee home and in an interview in February 2018, she told police she was responsible for all three deaths, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

In her chilling confession she said: 'I can't take kids that constantly cry.'

Brunka is now left wondering why she was spared from her mother's cruelty.

'I dont know why Im here, thats one thing Im having a real hard time with,' she said, adding her mother should have been charged a long time ago.

Moronez, seen in a family photo, allegedly told investigators that she drowned her own son in 1980, when the newborn baby was just 18 days old

In February 2018 Moronez was finally charged with three counts of second-degree murder for the killings. That sentence was reduced to homicide by reckless conduct as a part of a deal with prosecutors.

'I don't understand why they couldn't figure that out. One, two, three, I mean, come on,' Brunka said. 'I mean I'm not a rocket scientist, but wow.'

The children's autopsies were performed by officials with the Milwaukee County Medical Examiners Office and Milwaukee Childrens Hospital and were mistakenly ruled as the result of SIDS.

Authorities didn't seem to grow suspicious of Moronez after three children were found dead in her care.

Kevin Magno, the Franklin officer who led the reopened investigation, told the AP last year that several factors likely contributed to the children's deaths being mischaracterized and pointed out that police wouldn't have had cause to dig deeper once it was determined each infant died of natural causes.

Her crimes went unnoticed until she confessed to killing her newborn Justin in 2015 to her adult daughter Ami Brunka, who reported her to police

There was also a lack of communication between the authority units looking into each case. The last two deaths took place in Milwaukee so police would have not known of the first death in Franklin.

Magno says that paper records from back then would have made it further more difficult to link the deaths.

He also explained that the first autopsy could have mistaken drowning for SIDS because unlike adults, drowning infants don't always suck water into their lungs.

In the 1980s, SIDS was often the default cause of death when an infant showed no sign of abuse or trauma, he added.

'Three babies spread out over several years. Two different entities doing autopsies. Two different jurisdictions and communication wasn't as fast as it was now,' Magno said.

Moronez has been free on $35,000 bail since March and was allowed to remain on bail until sentencing.

Moronez is due to be sentenced on May 3 and faces up to five years in prison on each count.
A victim of the IRA pub bombings in Birmingham gave away a 'lucky charm' to a friend at the bar on the night of the blast, an inquest has heard.

Hearings into the deaths of 21 people in the 1974 bombings got under way this week after a 44-year wait for the bereaved families.

Among them was Michael Beasley, who was sat at the bar among friends when the bomb inside the Mulberry Bush exploded.

The inquest heard how he found a luxury charm bracelet on the bus as he made his way to the pub, where he gave it to the wife of the licensee.

Coroner Sir Peter Thornton told jurors they would hear evidence of how two bombs ripped apart two pubs on what was a 'perfectly ordinary evening' on November 21.

Glass from the pub's shattered windows was blown out over the pavements by the explosion

This picture shows the Mulberry Bush pub reduced to rubble following the bombing in 1974

The twin blasts, detonating in 'massive explosions' minutes apart inside the Mulberry Bush and the Tavern in the Town, brought 'devastation', jurors heard.

Jurors heard that friends Michael Beasley, James Caddick, Stan Bodman, Trevor Thrupp, John Clifford Jones and John Rowlands were stood at their usual spot, by the serving hatch at the end of the bar in the Mulberry Bush.

Mr Beasley, known as Mick, was a regular at the pub on the ground floor of the famous Rotunda.

The 30-year-old, a stock controller from Sparkbrook, was a film enthusiast and was allowed in the projector room at the Odeon a few dozen yards away from the pub.

The inquest heard that not much was known of Mr Beasley, but his interests and life had been pieced together from other sources and survivors.

Peter Skelton QC, for the coroner, read the tribute, including an account from one of the last to see him alive.

He said: 'In the Mulberry Bush, Michael spoke to Mary Jones, the wife of the licensee.

'He told her he'd found a lucky Cornish pixie charm on the bus on the way to town that night and gave the charm to her.

'Mary kept the charm and always carried it with her, following that evening.'

Family members said the dead - from every walk of life including a post office worker, shop managers and electricians - were 'cruelly robbed' of their lives in 'the carnage of that night'.

More than half of the victims were under 30. L-R: Stephen Whalley, 21, Jane Davies, 17, Maureen Roberts, 20, and Eugene Thomas Reilly, 23, lost their lives in the atrocity

L-R: Pamela Palmer, Desmond Reilly, James Craig, and Maralyn Nash were killed that night

Today, loved ones read pen-portrait tributes to the victims during emotional scenes in the courtroom.

The youngest victim was Neil Marsh, aged 16, who had come from Jamaica to be with his mother.

His cousin, Danielle Fairweather-Tipping, read the tribute to the teenager, known as Tommy, who had 'died as a child', nine days before his 17th birthday.

She said he was 'charming, full of life and vibrant', and would have been 62 now and 'probably got married and had children'.

She added: 'His death has been a devastation to our family and words really can never explain this.

'A young man, full of life's joys and ambitions, considerate and loving - our love for you will never die.'

Neil's friend, 17-year-old Paul Davies, was with him when they were caught in one of the blasts.

Sir Peter Thornton QC, the coroner in charge, successfully argued last year it was not for him to investigate who was really responsible for the bombings

His daughter Michelle Sealey and son Paul Bridgewater paid tribute to their reggae-loving father who would 'never be forgotten'.

Ms Sealey said her father had 'loved martial arts and Bruce Lee' and would practice his moves at home.

She added: 'After hearing stories about him, I remember I would daydream about him being around, and what kind of relationship we would have had.'

Father of two Mr Rowlands, who served in the Second World War with the Fleet Air Arm, was an electrician in peacetime and a 'bit of a card and a joker', his son Paul Rowlands said.

He said: 'On night of his death, he died with his friends as they stood around the bar. I knew exactly where he stood when he died.

'If he had lived, I know my life would have been very different from what it was. He would have been there to protect me and care for me.

'I wish I had known him as an adult and a man.'

Mr Thrupp, a 33-year-old father and railway guard, had an 'infectious' laugh, and was the 'life and soul of the party', his son Paul told jurors.

He said: 'The day dad died was like yesterday.'

He said his two sisters, Diane and Dawn, were asleep in bed 'when the terrible truth unfolded'.

Mr Bodman was a 'larger-than-life' character, a father-of-three, and an electrician who had served with the RAF in wartime, his son Paul said.

His father reassured him there was no danger of the IRA bombing campaign targeting that pub 'because the targets in those days were thought to be political or military targets, not public'.

Julie Hambleton, whose sister Maxine was killed in the Birmingham Bombing, poses beside supporters carrying placards in St. Philip's Cathedral Square

He added: 'The carnage that night will never be forgotten and as a family we hope the inquest will finally bring some answers.'

Mr Caddick, 56, and also a father-of-three, was a porter at the nearby Birmingham markets.

Mr Skelton told the court he was 'in the company of friends' when the bomb went off.

Mr Jones, known as Cliff, was 'modest and unassuming', and a post office worker who worked moving mail off the trains at New Street station.

He had been gravely wounded by machine gun fire in Belgium in 1945, but survived only to be taken 'in a cruel and barbaric way' in 1974, his son George Jones said.

Cliff Jones, 51, was known for 'putting himself forward' with bravery, and in early 1974 had dragged a passenger clear of the rail tracks.

After two weeks leave, he returned to work and, while on a break from a late shift, went to the pub to 'catch up with a group of six friends who were regulars'.

George Jones said: 'They always stood in the same position at the end of the bar, next to the serving hatch, having a drink and enjoying each other's company as they normally did.

'Little did they know that they were standing just feet from a bomb that killed all of the group along with other innocents, leaving many badly injured and traumatised.'

The inquests continue.
The woman who was imprisoned for 32 years after attempting to assassinate Gerald Ford in 1975 is heading back behind bars for violating the conditions of her lifetime parole.

Sara Jane Moore, 89, was taken into custody at New York City's JFK Airport Saturday by federal authorities after she flew back from a trip to Israel.

Authorities told Fox News that Moore failed to tell her parole officer about the international trip, violating the terms of the lifetime parole she was granted in 2007 for having served 32 years of a life sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California.

Sara Jane Moore, 89, was taken into custody at New York City's JFK Airport Saturday (pictured) by federal authorities after she flew back from a trip to Israel

Moore supposedly fell ill while in Israel, causing her to stay in the country longer than she had anticipated, a source told the cable news network.

Following Moore's arrest, she was expected to appear before a judge and then meet with a parole commission this week.

Prison records revealed Tuesday that Moore is still being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Moore, a self-styled radical, became the second woman ever to attempt to assassinate a sitting US president on September 22, 1975, when she tried to kill then-President Gerald Ford while he was visiting San Francisco, where she lived at the time.

She said she wanted his death to trigger a new, violent revolution in the country in the aftermath of the Vietnam War.

Moore attempted to assassinate then-President Gerald Ford in 1975 in San Francisco. She is pictured here in a US Marshal's car after the shooting

In early 1974, the single mother, who was also operating as an FBI informant at the time, volunteered to be the Symbionese Liberation Army's (SLA) bookkeeper.

The SLA was an American left-wing militant organization that operated between 1973 and 1975 and was behind a string of bizarre crimes in Northern California including two murders and bank robberies. The group famously kidnapped newspaper magnet Randolph Hearst's daughter, Patricia Hearst in 1975.

The FBI ultimately cut her loose following interviews she did in which she revealed she was an informant - an attempt for her to establish radical credentials.

Four months after being cut loose by the FBI, Moore stood across the street from the St. Francis Hotel with other onlookers, waiting for Ford to exit the hotel.

When Ford moved towards his waiting car, Moore pulled a .38 handgun out of her handbag and fired it at the president, sending Secret Service into motion and hustling Ford into his car, which then drove off to safety.

Moore, then 45 years old, only missed hitting the president because her aim was thrown off when disabled former Marine Oliver Sipple, who was standing near her, grabbed her arm.

Photos from the dramatic incident reveal the moment when Ford winced and ducked after hearing the gunshot and when Sipple reached out and held Moore's arm as others nearby ran away and authorities rushed towards her.

Disabled former Marine Oliver Sipple (left) is seen here at the moment when he grabbed Moore's arm as she tried to shoot Ford in 1975. Moore is seen behind the pole

President Ford is seen here as he hears the sound of Moore's gunshot from across the street

Moore (in 2009) was given a lifetime parole in 2007 after serving 32 years in federal prison. Ford (in 2000) died at age 93 in December 2006

Moore was taken into custody and pleaded guilty to attempting to assassinate Ford in January 1976. She was sentenced to life in prison.

At her sentencing hearing, Moore expressed some remorse for attempting to the kill the 38th president.

'Am I sorry I tried? Yes and no,' she was reported as having said. 'Yes, because it accomplished little except to throw away the rest of my life. And, no, Im not sorry I tried . . . because at the time it seemed a correct expression of my anger.'

According to a 1975 New York Times report about the incident, police had actually confiscated Moore's .44-caliber gun, which she had been planning to use on Ford.

Police at the time claimed she had told them that if she had still had her .44, she would've 'caught him.'

Instead, she had been forced to go obtain and use the .37-caliber weapon that failed to hit her mark.

On December 31, 2007, she was released from prison due to an old federal law that mandated parole for federal inmates who have served out at least 30 years of their life sentences without getting into trouble, SF Gate reported. The parole loophole was closed in 1987.

During a 2009 interview on TODAY, Moore was quoted as explaining the assassination attempt by reminding viewers that 'it was a time that people dont remember.'

'You know we had a war . . . the Vietnam War, you became, I became, immersed in it,' she said. 'We were saying the country needed to change. The only way it was going to change was a violent revolution. I genuinely thought that [shooting Ford] might trigger that new revolution in this country.'

The last US troops were withdrawn from Vietnam on March 29, 1973.

Moore also revealed during the interview about her decision to try to kill Ford that 'if I hadnt done it, someone else wouldveThat was the tenor of the time. There was more talk about it than people realize'.

Three weeks before Moore attempted to assassinate Ford, Charles Manson acolyte Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme became the first woman to try to kill a sitting US president when she made an assassination attempt against Ford during his appearance in Sacramento, California.

Fromme, who pulled out her handgun, but didn't manage to squeeze off a shot, was also given a life sentence. She was released on parole in August 2009, after serving 34 years.

Ford died at age 93 in December 2006.
A female army cadet was found hanged at Sandhurst military academy after being told off for failing to return to her barracks following a party, an inquest heard.

Olivia Perks had attended a party on February 6 this year but was later found dead in her room.

It was understood that the 21-year-old had been spoken to after failing to return to her barracks following a weekend-long party on the base at the elite academy, where all British and Foreign Army officers are taught the responsibilities of leading soldiers in a 44-week course.

However, aside from the minor disciplinary incident, there was no suggestion of further wrongdoing.

Olivia Perks was found dead at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst (pictured above) after receiving a minor diciplinary

Opening the inquest in Reading, Berkshire, Heidi Connor, Senior Coroner for Berkshire, told Ms Perks' father who was present, that she was sorry to meet him under such terribly tragic circumstances.

Mrs Connor said: 'Ms Perks was found deceased in her room on February 6 2019. This is deliberately not yet listed for inquest so we can investigate to determine the size of the case. Interested parties will be notified of that date in due course.

The military base (above) where all British and Foreign Army officers are taught the responsibilities of leading soldiers in a 44-week course

'This is of course a tragic loss of a promising young woman. I would like to record my sincere and heartfelt condolences for family and friends and all who knew her.'

Attempts to resuscitate Ms Perks by paramedics were unsuccessful the case was handed over to Thames Valley Police to investigate on behalf of the coroner.

It was reported widely at the time of her death that Ms Perks had taken part in a disciplinary action described by Army colleagues as 'the walk of shame.'

Ms Connor said that Ms Perks' only address had been the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article then you can call the Samaritans on 116 123, alternatively you can visit the website at by clicking here.
Complex Astronomical and Astrological Systems Detailed on Ancient Assyrian Tablets

Archaeologists studying a group of five unique stone tablets dating to the first millennium in Babylonia and Assyria have announced that they reveal a hitherto unknown level of astronomical understanding.

Events and appearances in the night sky have been recorded for thousands of years. Following the solar and lunar cycles allowed people to predict seasonal change which enhanced outdoor survival. But in Ancient Mesopotamia, however, new evidence proves that sky watching was taken to a whole new level of complexity. It has been found that both observational astronomy and interpretive astrology were central practices not only in time keeping, but also in religious practices and the structure of ritual and ceremonial calendars.

This collection of tablets is providing scientists with what is being called "the earliest prose descriptions of the celestial constellations ." According to a report in Yale News , all of these tablets are currently being studied in the Yale University Babylonian Collection. "Three of them [tablets] were discovered in the sacred city of Uruk in southern Iraq and four of the tablets are newly discovered" and all were written in cuneiform script and in the Babylonian language.

Detailed images, copies and translations of these astronomical tablets have been assembled in a new book called The Cuneiform Uranology Texts: Drawing the Constellations, co-authored by Frahm, Paul-Alain Beaulieu, Wayne Horowitz, and John Steele. The name "Uranology" is the word used by the ancient Greeks to describe the study of the sky.

What Do the Tablets Tell Us About Ancient Sky Watching?

Yale Assyriologist Eckart Frahm said stars and other heavenly bodies were worshipped as deities and "The ancient stargazers were so intrigued by the mechanics of the heavens - and the possibility of being able to make predictions from what they saw in the night sky - that, from the 8th century to the 1st century BC, they observed very closely on a daily basis the movements of the stars to determine what exactly was happening in the sky, and documented these observations on clay tablets."

The ancient Babylonians studied the night skies for at least seven centuries, which Frahm claims is the longest lasting scholarly science project that ever existed and added that "no other civilization had ever done anything like it." The contents of the tablet are described as a "unique juxtaposition of heaven and earth". On one side are detailed descriptions of celestial constellations such as "Cancer, Pisces, Pegasus, Perseus, and many others" describing their parts and relating them to animals, fish, vehicles and tools. On the other side is the topography of Uruk with all its "temples, canals, enclosure walls, and other features."

In a culture where the stars and planets were associated with events on earth, being able to precisely predict events such as lunar or solar eclipses was thought of as being a matter of life and death. Eclipses in particular were thought to be especially problematic and they became archetypal for the presence of evil.

Because seventh century Mesopotamians held such strong beliefs in the power of astrological omens, a special ritual was performed on lunar eclipses known as the "substitute king". According to Frahm, "The real-life king actually stepped down for up to 100 days pretending to be a farmer." During this time a "substitute king" became ruler in the king's absence. In a cruel twist of fate, rather than celebrating having been chosen to be the substitute king, the destiny of the poor puppet was to be sacrificed on the return of the real king.

Two of the three Yale "Uranology" tablets are being displayed in the forthcoming exhibition opening on April 6 titled Ancient Mesopotamia Speaks: Highlights from the Yale Babylonian Collection " at the Yale Peabody Museum, 170 Whitney Ave.
Germany's intelligence agency illegally announced it was monitoring the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, a court has ruled.

The Administrative Court in Cologne said the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) overstepped its mandate when it announced that the party was a so-called Prueffall, or a review case, in January.

Declaring the entire party as a case for heightened monitoring 'conveyed a negative effect to the public', it was ruled.

Germany's spy agency - Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) - illegally declared the entire Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as a case for heightened monitoring

Such infringements to the rights of a political party can be made only if there is explicit legal authorisation, the court noted.

The intelligence service's move was therefore 'unlawful and disproportionate,' it ruled.

The decision came after the AfD filed for expedited proceedings, ahead of the May 2019 European elections and three German state polls to be held in September and October.

The five-year-old AfD or Alternative for Germany, the country's biggest opposition party, opposes multiculturalism, Islam and the immigration policies of Chancellor Angela Merkel, whom it labels a 'traitor'.

Declaring the entire party as a case for heightened monitoring, the BfV 'conveyed a negative effect to the public'

In its January 15 decision to step up monitoring of the AfD, the BfV said it had 'first indications of AfD's policies that go against free-democratic fundamentals.'

But the agency shied away from immediate full surveillance of the entire party, as details gathered so far were deemed insufficient to warrant blanket monitoring including phone and email taps, the use of undercover informants and collection of personal data on MPs.

The BfV can place under surveillance individuals and groups, including politicians and parties it considers 'extremist' and threatening to the state's liberal democratic order.

It has in the past placed under surveillance some lawmakers of the far-left opposition Die Linke party, which emerged in part from the former East Germany's communist party.
A man who sued a North Carolina police department after being beaten by officers last year has been found dead of a suspected drug overdose one day after he received an $83,000 settlement.

Kyron Hinton was awarded the hefty settlement on Friday in connection with the brutal assault caught on video last April.

He was pronounced dead at around 7pm the following day after emergency crews were called to a home in East Raleigh, according to the Wake County Sheriff's Office.

The cause of death has not been determined, but family members reported that the 30-year-old had long suffered from alcohol and drug addiction as well as mental illness.

Kyron Hinton (above) received an $83,000 settlement on Friday in a lawsuit he filed after being brutally beaten by North Carolina law enforcement officers last April. The 30-year-old was found dead of a suspected drug overdose one day after the settlement was awarded

Two state troopers and a Wake County sheriff's deputy were accused of using excessive force against Hinton on April 3, 2018, after responding to 911 calls about a man acting erratically and possibly armed with a gun. Hinton is seen with cuts and bruises after the attack

Hinton filed a lawsuit against former Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison and deputy Cameron Broadwell after he was beaten in East Raleigh on April 3, 2018, by officers responding to multiple calls about a man acting erratically and possibly armed with a gun.

Dashcam and bodycam video showed Hinton standing in a road, moaning, as officers surrounded him and Broadwell approached with a canine.

Broadwell ordered Hinton to get on the ground, and when he didn't comply, the deputy released the dog, allowing it to lunge at Hinton and bite him.

Hinton was then pulled to the ground by Broadwell, where at least one other officer can be seen punching him while others held his legs, trying to subdue him.

He allegedly suffered a broken eye socket, broken nose, multiple cuts on his head, 'probably 20 bite marks' and memory loss in the beating.

Video of the assault led to criminal charges against Broadwell, who was placed on administrative duty, and two North Carolina State Highway Patrol troopers, Michael Blake and Tabithia Davis, who were subsequently fired.

Hinton filed the lawsuit in July, in which his lawyers accused the troopers of inflicting 'severe mental and emotional distress' through their 'extreme and outrageous conduct'.

Hinton filed a lawsuit in July, in which he claimed to have suffered a broken eye socket, broken nose, multiple cuts on his head, 'probably 20 bite marks' and memory loss in the beating

Criminal charges were filed against Deputy Cameron Broadwell (left) and North Carolina State Highway Patrol troopers Michael Blake (center) and Tabithia Davis (right)

Hinton had at least two brushes with law enforcement after the assault.

He was cited for assaulting a sheriff's deputy in June after police were called to the scene of a suspected shooting in Raleigh. No shooting victim was found, but deputies determined Hinton should be taken to a hospital.

In the ambulance, Hinton allegedly became 'combative and resisted treatment'.

Three months later in September, Hinton was charged with assaulting a law enforcement officer, damaging government property, resisting police and second-degree trespassing following an incident at a grocery store.

Wake County court records show Hinton was scheduled to appear in court on charges related to that incident on March 15.

Hinton's cause of death has not yet been determined, but family members reported that the 30-year-old had long suffered from alcohol and drug addiction as well as mental illness

Family members say Hinton struggled with mental illness as well as alcohol and drug addiction, according to Raleigh's News & Observer.

His mother Vicki Hinton, who raised him and his two brothers at a mobile home park in southern Wake County, said her son dropped out of school in the sixth grade and began dealing drugs.

'I have been trying to get help for him since he was nine,' Vicki Hinton told the News & Observer last summer.

Four months after he turned 14, Hinton was tried as an adult and convicted on four counts of armed robbery in May 2003. He served four years in prison and was released in 2007.

Adam Kline, the owner of a Grand Rental Station in Cary where Hinton worked for three weeks in 2015, described him as a 'good employee' but said: 'He definitely had family issues.'

'We tried to give him every break,' Kline told the News & Observer. 'I know he was having some major, major family problems.'

Three days before Hinton left the company, his wife filed for a restraining order against him, accusing him of domestic abuse.

At a gathering the day after Hinton died, community leaders urged the public to remember him not as a victim of police brutality, but as a father, son and friend

A gathering was held on Sunday where community leaders issued public statements about Hinton's death outside the The Light House center in Raleigh, according to WRAL.

Speakers urged the public to remember Hinton not as a victim of police brutality, but as a father, son and friend.

Diana Powell, the director of the advocacy group Justice Served NC, broke down in tears as she addressed the crowd, saying: 'Remember Kyron's mother. I had a chance to talk with her this morning, and she is in crisis.'

Nancy E Petty, a pastor at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church who first met Hinton months after the assault, said of the late 30-year-old: 'He was a bright young man, and he is a son to us all.

'When we continually fail our sons and daughters in the way we failed Mr. Hinton, we need to really take stock in who we are as a community.'
Argentina's chief rabbi was badly injured after a suspected anti-Semitic attack in his own home that left him in hospital with a punctured lung and broken ribs.

Several assailants entered the Buenos Aires home of Rabbi Gabriel Davidovich on Monday and beat him before stealing cash.

Davidovich was in a hospital on Tuesday with several broken ribs and a punctured lung. The assailants also took money and some belongings, according to the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA).

The attackers allegedly shouted, 'We know you are the rabbi of the AMIA', before launching the assault.

Moments before the attack the thugs referred to the AMIA, one of the country's most prominent Jewish groups, which reported details of the attack.

Rabbi Gabriel Davidovich, speaking at the AMIA Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in November last year

The incident has alarmed authorities both in the South American nation and in Israel, who raised concerns on Tuesday that it could have been prompted by anti-Semitism.

Argentine President Mauricio Macri sent a tweet repudiating the attack and vowing aid to find the attackers.

His human rights secretary, Claudio Avruj, said that Argentina needs to build a society 'where there are no signs of anti-Semitism, and we cannot be indifferent.'

Israeli President Reuven Rivlen phoned Davidovich 'to find out how you are and to express my concern about the safety of the large Jewish community you lead,' according to a statement from his office.

Chief Rabbi of Argentina, Gabriel Davidovich, holding a menorah at the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in December last year

'The State of Israel will do everything necessary to protect Jews wherever they choose to live and will take any steps to protect us from danger. We will not allow those who seek our harm us to pursue us,' he added.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also expressed wishes for the rabbi's recovery, saying, 'We must not let anti-Semitism rear its head. I strongly condemn the recent acts of anti-Semitism and call on the international community to take action against it.'

Davidovich, 62, has been the chief rabbi for Argentina's extensive Jewish community since 2013, working at the AMIA headquarters building that itself was the target of the country's worst terrorist attack in 1994 - a bombing that killed 85 people and injured hundreds.

Prosecutors have blamed on officials of the Iranian government, which has denied involvement and refused to turn over suspects.
Under pointed questioning from senators, the top U.S. general for homeland defense said Tuesday that he sees no military threat coming from the southern border with Mexico, but his focus in on 'very real' threats from China and Russia in the north.

Air Force Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy, commander, U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, told a Senate committee that proposed barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border could increase security against any potential military threats coming from the south. But he said Russia's advancements in training and capabilities, and its intent to hold the U.S. at risk, present an urgent threat to America.

President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency along the southern border to fund his proposed wall, and he plans to use Defense Department funds from military construction and counter-drug programs to pay for it. Members of Congress are challenging that.

Air Force Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy, commander, U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, made the declaration

Democratic senators on the Senate Armed Services Committee peppered O'Shaughnessy with questions about the need to divert the money from existing projects and questioned the validity of a national emergency declaration.

'I'm concerned, very frankly, that this administration is politicizing our military and militarizing our immigration policy - in effect, using the troops under your command as political props, both in terms of declaring a fake emergency but also compromising our potential security by diverting them away from other assignments and missions that are absolutely necessary,' said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.

The meeting comes as the Democratic-controlled House was planning a vote Tuesday to revoke Trump's emergency declaration, and send legislation to the Republican-held Senate, where it would take only a handful of GOP defections to pass it.

O'Shaughnessy, who visited the southern border on Saturday with Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, was careful to defer any assessment of the southern threat to the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection. He said that those agencies believe that more fencing can impact the movement of drugs across the border.

Said proposed barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border could increase security against any potential military threats (stock)

But declared Russia's advancements in training and capabilities, and its intent to hold the U.S. at risk, present an urgent threat to America. Also advised that China was a problem

O'Shaughnessy said he would defer to DHS 'on the character of the threat,' adding that Northern Command is trying to 'be a good partner' as the other agencies take on the drug trafficking challenge. Asked if it is a national emergency, he said, it is a 'national issue' that requires a 'whole-of-government approach.'

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., questioned whether Congress should allow Trump to use Pentagon money for a non-defense emergency.

'The threat isn't military, and still we'll take $6 billion out of the defense budget to deal with it?' said Kaine. 'If we set that precedent, I certainly can foresee a day when a president is going to say 40,000 gun deaths a year are an emergency, and why don't we take money out of the Pentagon budget to deal with that?'

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, argued that the shipment of illegal drugs from Mexico into the U.S. has caused tens of thousands of deaths, and that it constituted an emergency. But he also endorsed O'Shaughnessy's assertion that Russia's expanding fleet of icebreakers in the Arctic present a serious threat, and the U.S. needs to increase its capabilities there.

The U.S. Coast Guard currently has one working Polar-class icebreaker ship, but there's funding in the Defense Department budget to begin building more. Sullivan said the poor condition of the U.S. ship is a disgrace, and the U.S. needs more ability to counter Russia and China in the arctic.
A Chinese woman was shocked to be told a live leech had lived up her nose for months.

The worm, said to be about six centimetres (2.3 inches) long, was wriggling when a surgeon pulled it out of the patient's nostril, footage from Chinese media shows.

The leech had lived in the woman's nose for up to five months, a doctor claimed.

Footage of yesterday's surgery shows a doctor pulling the 2.3in leech out of the woman's nose live and the dark worm wriggling around when the doctor holds it with a pair of tweezers

A 15-second video shows the procedure taking place at a hospital in Kunming, southern China's Yunnan Province.

A male surgeon is seen prodding the squelchy-looking worm with a metal rod before using tweezers to grab and remove it.

It is said that the patient is a farmer and the leech could have got into her nose as an egg when she had contact with contaminated water in the fields.

Dr. Liu Yasu (right) and her colleagues discovered the worm in the woman's nose after the patient went to the doctor claiming she had had repeated nosebleeds for about two months

ARE LEECHES DANGEROUS? Contrary to popular belief, most leeches dont rely on drinking blood to survive. Some eat other small animals and some feed off decomposing bodies. Blood-sucking leeches only suck about a teaspoon of blood and when theyre full they naturally fall off. For humans, blood loss from a single leech would not be significant enough to be harmful, and their bites are not very painful becuase their saliva contains a numbing agent. Bites may bleed after the leech has gone because the saliva stops blood clots, but this usually heals on its own. Leech bites may cause infection in some circumstances but this should be easily treatable. Source: Mehdi Leech Therapy Advertisement

According to Chinese video news site Pear, the woman went to the doctor after suffering from regular nosebleeds.

Dr. Liu Yasu, who treated the unnamed woman, said the patient's nose had bled repeatedly for at least two months.

Upon examination, Dr. Liu and her colleagues discovered a leech in the patient's nasal cavity.

'When the leech first entered her body, it could have been an egg.

'Because leeches grow by feeding on human blood, therefore when we found it, it was already five to six centimetres (1.9-2.3 inches) long,' Dr. Liu told Pear.

Dr. Liu warned members of the public not to drink unclean water or swim in rivers.

A leech is a type of segmented worm which has suckers at both ends of its body, one of which contains the mouth and is used to suck blood for the creature to feed on.

Leeches can range in size from minuscule to 20 centimetres (eight inches) or longer when stretched out, and are found all over the world.

Leeches feed on blood by making small cuts in their prey's skin then covering it in their saliva which numbs the area and increases blood flow.
A federal appeals court panel on Tuesday upheld Robert Mueller's appointment as special counsel after his authority was challenged by a witness who had refused to appear before a grand jury related to the Russia investigation.

The case was brought by Andrew Miller, an aide to longtime Trump campaign adviser and confidant Roger Stone. Prosecutors wanted Miller to testify as part of Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and ties to President Donald Trump's campaign.

Miller's attorneys claimed Mueller's appointment was unconstitutional, making the grand jury subpoena invalid.

They argued that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein did not have the authority to appoint Mueller to lead the investigation.

Head to head: Robert Mueller ordered Andrew Miller to testify to a grand jury but the ex-Roger Stone associate went to court to challenge the special counsel's lawful authority. He has now been told to testify by a federal appeals panel

Andrew Miller is seen here with President Donald Trump's longtime adviser Roger Stone dressed in '70s-themed clothing

The court found that Rosenstein was authorized to appoint Mueller because he technically became head of the Justice Department - for the Russia probe - after then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from overseeing the investigation.

The opinion by a three-judge panel was written by Judge Judith Rogers, who was nominated to the court by President Bill Clinton.

Four separate federal judges have upheld Mueller's appointment.

A federal judge ordered Miller to be jailed in August for contempt for refusing to testify, but the order was put on hold while he pursued an appeal.

In a statement, Miller's attorney Paul Kamenar said he was disappointed with Tuesday's ruling and was considering appealing to the full appellate court or the Supreme Court.

Kamenar noted that the court took longer to rule on Miller's appeal than it did on another challenge to a grand jury subpoena. That one, by an unidentified foreign corporation, is now before the Supreme Court.

'The fact that the court took over three months to decide this appeal after oral argument compared to the three days it took in December to decide another challenge to a Mueller subpoena issued to an unnamed foreign corporation, demonstrates that this was a serious and substantial challenge,' he said.

Stone was arrested last month and has pleaded not guilty to charges he lied to Congress, engaged in witness tampering and obstruction. The charges stem from conversations he had during the campaign about WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group that released material stolen from Democratic groups, including Hillary Clinton's campaign.

After Stone's indictment, Kamenar said prosecutors still want Miller to appear before a grand jury as part of the investigation.

Miller was found in contempt in November after refusing to appear as a witness before a grand jury convened as part of Mueller's Russia probe.

Miller's refusal to comply with the subpoena from Mueller's office prompted a sealed hearing before a federal judge, who then made the ruling.

In November U.S. District Chief Judge Beryl Howell found Miller in contempt but stayed the order pending appeal.
An 11-year-old boy in south-west China has drained his grandfather's retirement savings by using the man's phone to tip live-streaming hostesses.

The pensioner, surnamed Li, in Sichuan province was horrified to discover that 40,000 yuan (4,520) had vanished from his bank account in the span of three days, according to Chinese reports.

After checking his transactions records, Li found out that almost all of his money had been paid to iQiyi, one of the largest online video websites in China.

The grandfather found out that all his money had been paid to iQiyi, one of the largest online video websites in China. Above, one of the live-streaming hostess that the boy had tipped

The 11-year-old boy in south-west China's Sichuan province had drained his grandfather's retirement savings by using the man's phone to tip live-streaming hostsses (file photo)

The grandfather was trying to withdraw money at a bank in Dujiangyan city on January 28 when he was told there was only 600 yuan (67) left in his account, according to Huaxi City Daily.

The boy, nicknamed Xiaowei, then admitted he had spent his grandparent's money to tip and buy presents for his favourite female video game live-streamers on iQiyi.

Li, who lives with his daughter and son-in-law, rarely supervise the child's online behaviour.

'He likes to play on my mobile phone and knows the password to my online cash account,' Li said, adding that he had given the pin number to his grandson so the boy could pay for food.

Bank statements released by Cover News show that the boy had completed 54 transactions on iQiyi, where the cash would be converted to 'Qidou', a virtual currency

Online celebrities Fei Fei and Fang Fang set up a live-stream webcast at an exhibition in Kaifeng city, Henan in Oct 2017. The pensioner, surnamed Li, was horrified to discover that 40,000 yuan (4,520) had vanished from his bank account in the span of three days

Images of bank statements released by Cover News show the boy had completed 54 transactions on iQiyi, where money would be converted to 'Qidou', a virtual currency for members to tip hosts, purchase videos or play games.

In addition to tipping, Xiaowei also admitted to using the money to play video games.

Li told reporters that the 40,000 yuan is his retirement income for the entire year.

The family has reported the case to iQiyi. The company said it would offer a refund to the grandfather following an investigation, according to Cover News.

Anyone under the age of 18 is deemed a minor in China and has limited capacity for civil conduct.

The news is the latest in a series of similar cases in China, which see children spending large amounts of money on live-streaming shows and video games without their parents' knowledge

The news is the latest in a series of similar cases in China, which see children spending large amounts of money on live-streaming show hosts and video games without their parents' knowledge.

In most cases, the children complete such transactions through mobile phones.

A recent study reveals nearly 70 per cent of children in China have their own smartphones and nearly half of the children aged between seven and nine are given access to the internet.

Last October, a girl in central China's Hubei province splurged more than 110,000 yuan (12,380) of her parents' money in six months tipping live-streaming hosts.
Private Geoff Gray, 17, from Hackney, east London, died after he suffered two gunshot wounds to the head in September 17, 2001

Surrey Police have opened an investigation into misconduct claims at Deepcut, as soldiers told the father of another recruit who died at the barracks not to 'let this lie, it could be one of us next', an inquest heard.

Private Sean Benton, 20, was the first of four soldier to die at the Princess Royal Barracks in Deepcut Barracks, Surrey, between 1995 and 2002.

He was found with five bullet wounds to his chest shortly after he was discharged from the Army in 1995.

Having assessed evidence which came out of the soldier's inquest, Surrey Police decided to investigate a 'number of allegations'.

In the days before his death, Pte Benton was found to be kicked and punched by an instructor.

Surrey Police said: 'Following the conclusion of the inquest into Private Sean Benton's death last year, Surrey Police reviewed the findings documented by the coroner and the Benton family's request for a new criminal investigation into allegations including assault and misconduct in public office at the Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut.

'This review was completed and a criminal investigation is underway into a number of allegations. As this remains a live investigation, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.'

Sean Benton is pictured with his parents before his death aged 20 in June 1995

Meanwhile, an inquest has also reopened into Private Geoff Gray, 17, from Hackney, east London, who died after he suffered two gunshot wounds to the head in September 17, 2001, after he had been on guard duty at the Surrey base.

The boy's father, also called Geoff, told a fresh inquest into his son's death he was approached by soldiers at his son's funeral who said they 'passed the spot where he was found and he was not there'.

Private Sean Benton (pictured), of Hastings, East Sussex, was found with five bullet wounds to his chest in June 1995 while undergoing training at the barracks in Surrey

Mr Gray, who was sitting in front of a picture of his son in his military uniform, told Woking Coroner's Court: 'One or two of them said they had searched for Geoff and he wasn't there.'

Mr Gray said the recruits looked 'uncomfortable' and seemed to be unable to talk as there 'always seemed to be an officer within earshot'.

In a previous statement read at the inquest, Mr Gray said other soldiers told him 'don't let this lie, it could be one of us next'.

A statement read on behalf of Pte Gray's mother Diane said: 'My son blossomed into a man I was proud of. I feel I have been robbed of seeing our son grow up.

'Geoff signed up to serve our country. It's about time our country served him and let the truth be told.'

Two weeks before his son died, Mr Gray said his son had been home and was 'living the dream' and had 'no depression' or worries in the world.

An open verdict was recorded by the coroner at the first inquest into Pte Gray's death in 2002.

A new inquest has been launched after Attorney General Jeremy Wright QC ruled he believed there was new evidence which may help solve the case. Pictured: Geoff Gray and Diane Gray

A new inquest has been launched after Attorney General Jeremy Wright QC ruled he believed there was new evidence which may help solve the case.

Coroner Peter Rook QC told the opening hearing: 'The relevant facts will be investigated again. I stress this will be a full, thorough and fresh investigation.'

At the pre-inquest hearing last year, Mr Rook was told the main reason for re-opening the case was to find out 'who pulled the trigger'.

Pte Gray's mother Diana Gray made fresh claims that her son was murdered, ahead of the new inquest - and said she knew the identity of his killer.

Mrs Gray said she had been left shocked by what she had been shown after viewing private material from Surrey Police - but said she was unable to reveal the information under a legal order.

John Cooper QC, representing the Gray family, told the pre-inquest hearing that another trainee may have been responsible.

Four young soldiers died at the Deepcut barracks between 1995 and 2002

There were 'systematic failings' at Deepcut barracks, Cooper said, and allegations of a 'lack of procedure and lack of protection for these young recruits'.

The inquest, with no jury, will hear from 91 witnesses and will last until early May.

Pte Gray was among four soldiers to die at the Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut, between 1995 and 2002 amid allegations of bullying and abuse.

Among the dead include Privates Sean Benton, 20, Cheryl James, 18, and James Collinson, 17, all who died from gunshot wounds at the base.

Surrey Police said officers launched a new criminal investigation into allegations including assault and misconduct in public office at the barracks after the conclusion of Pte Benton's inquest last year.

Peter Rook QC, delivered a damning five-hour narrative verdict of suicide last June, describing the harsh treatment the soldier was subjected to at the barracks.

He said: 'There was a toxic culture at Deepcut at which Sean was frequently the recipient of actions.' He added that Private Benton was often on the receiving end of punishments by senior officers.

The court heard that the recruit was ordered to carry out degrading exercises by one non-commissioned officer in particular, Sergeant Andrew Gavaghan, who has repeatedly denied allegations of abusive behaviour.

This included Private Benton having to perform press-ups on top of a female lance corporal as a punishment in front of hundreds of other recruits.

The court heard how a week before the death in June 1995, Sergeant Gavaghan kicked the soldier as he did press-ups.

Judge Rook added: 'At times he [Sergeant Gavaghan] did lose control of himself.'

Mr Rook said Private Benton was not subject to endemic bullying but that his instructor went beyond his legitimate authority and had on occasion used inappropriate force.

The coroner noted that Private Benton was told he was due to be discharged from the Army after a series of disciplinary problems and his feelings of shame had contributed to his state of mind.

His original inquest was held a month after his death and recorded a verdict of suicide.

But Private Benton's family wanted the fresh inquest after allegations of bullying and a cover-up emerged at Deepcut.

The coroner also described a litany of failures with the original 'woefully inadequate' police inquiry. Shortly after the inquest began, the Army apologised and said there were 'a number of things that could and should have been better'.

The hearing continues.
Louella Fletcher-Michie, who grew up in a 1.2million Islington home, was found dead after taking 2CP at the Bestival site in 2017

The daughter of Holby City actor John Michie who died at a music festival might not have been saved even if she had received earlier medical help, a court heard today.

Louella Fletcher-Michie's boyfriend Ceon Broughton is accused at Winchester Crown Court in Hampshire of being responsible for the 24-year-old's death.

The yoga and dance teacher took class A party drug 2-CP at Bestival at the Lulworth Estate in Dorset on September 10, 2017 and died in woodland an hour before her 25th birthday.

Broughton, 30, of Enfield, North London, denies manslaughter by gross negligence and supplying the drug.

The prosecution claims Broughton failed to take reasonable action to get medical help for Miss Fletcher-Michie.

The court has heard Miss Fletcher-Michie is understood to be the first person to have died after taking the drug.

Giving his closing speech, Broughton's barrister Stephen Kamlish QC told the jury a lack of medical information about the effects of the drug meant it was 'impossible' to tell whether any action taken by the defendant could have prevented her death.

Ceon Broughton, pictured arriving at Winchester Crown Court today, denies manslaughter

Holby City actor John Michie arrives with his wife Carol Fletcher this morning for the trial

He added the toxicology report was inconclusive about the amount of the drug Miss Fletcher-Michie had taken.

Mr Kamlish said the prosecution expert, Professor Charles Deakin, a consultant in cardiac anaesthesia and intensive care, had changed his opinion on the chances of survival.

He said Mr Deakin first of all gave a cut-off point that she could have survived after 9.10pm.

Mr Kamlish said the expert had changed this after a request for clarity from police and said she had, on the balance of probabilities, a 90 per cent chance of survival with medical intervention after taking the drug.

CCTV footage showing Miss Fletcher-Michie in a grey hooded top and Broughton in fluorescent trousers (circled) walking together at Bestival in Dorset in September 2017

He said: 'There is a possibility that, even Professor Deakin himself acknowledged, that she might have taken so much that she could not have been saved while it was in her system, which means Ceon cannot be held to blame, however bad you find his behaviour.

Mr Michie at Winchester Crown Court today

'Why is someone being prosecuted for the death of someone who may never have survived?'

Mr Kamlish added: 'No-one says he intended to cause her harm, they were going to have a good time, it was her birthday, she chose to take that drug.

'Something was different that day, she had never reacted that way before, you can't be sure, like Professor Deakin can't be sure, that she hadn't taken too much.'

He added: 'He (Ceon) didn't want to leave her alone in the forest, he didn't think she was going to die, he didn't want to leave someone alone having a bad trip, you are not going to leave them alone in the forest until you think there is a risk of them dying.'

Mr Kamlish concluded: 'To criminalise him for this would not be just.'

The jury was also played two video clips of Broughton and Miss Fletcher-Michie together at Bestival before her death. Before the clips were played the public gallery, where her family has been watching the trial, cleared.

A bag containing white powder found in Broughton's phone case which was shown in court

Mr Kamlish suggested the couple had been in love, that her family had initially acknowledged this and that Broughton could not have supplied the 2C-P with which Miss Fletcher-Michie overdosed because he had earlier 'lost' any drugs he had.

Finishing his speech, the barrister told jurors: 'Ceon says in [one of] the videos he lost everything, which must mean his drugs.'

Describing her family's reaction when Broughton was arrested, he said: 'The family made a statement saying this was a strange prosecution. They said Louella loved Ceon and most agreed he loved her, though some members are no longer sure.

'Carol Michie describes this as the best relationship [Miss Fletcher-Michie] had ever had, that Louella was happier with Ceon than anyone else and they never argued.'

The trial continues.
Shocking footage shows a teenager falling through a skylight at a school gymnasium as a wrestling tournament was taking place.

Children were competing in one of the final matches of the District 1-3A tournament at Buchholz High School in Florida when a young man came tumbling down through the high ceiling of the gym.

In the video footage, cracking can be heard as kids compete on the court and a 19-year-old falls 40 feet to the ground seconds later.

Shocking footage shows a teenager falling through a skylight at a school gymnasium as a wrestling tournament was taking place

Police say the teenager was among eight teens who were trespassing at the school when one of them threw a cellphone onto the gyms roof.

One man walked across the skylight and subsequently fell to the ground, Alachua County Sheriffs Office told 4News.

Sharyn Gonzalez, whose son was competing for Fleming Island High School, witnessed the incident and recorded it on her cellphone.

She told New4Jax: 'We just started hearing some cracking sounds. A couple people thought it sounded a little like gunshots.

'I didn't think that, but all of a sudden you just see this boy fall from the ceiling through the skylight.

Gonzalez said an ambulance and the police were called, and she stayed at the scene to make sure rescue workers and officers could see her video in case it helped with the boy's treatment or the investigation.

The footage first shows kids competing in one of the final matches of the District 1-3A tournament at Buchholz High School in Gainesville

Footage then shows the shocking moment the teenager came crashing through the skylight on to the gymnasium floor

'A friend of mine, her son also wrestles, shes a paramedic and she tried to help but the trainers, they said they had it handled.

'They didnt really want the help. But she could see from the way he had a bulge on his back that his back was probably broken.

'I'm sure with the impact, because of the way he fell on his legs, I mean, Im not a doctor, but Im sure it was more than just his back.'

She said there was at another person on the roof looking down through the hole in the ceiling after it happened.

The teen had trespassed at the school and had walked across the skylight to retrieve a cellphone. Footage shows broken glass in the skylight (pictured)

Sharyn Gonzalez, whose son was competing for Fleming Island High School, recorded the incident and showed it to emergency staff and investigating officers

Bonnie Lowe, the grandmother of the boy who fell who said his name was Chadd, said that he broke several bones.

She claimed that Chadd had to undergo a six hour surgery. He is still bed-bound but is alert and talking. They hope that he will be discharged from hospital in a couple of days.

Alachua County deputies made six trespassing arrests of four boys who were students at Buchholz. Two others were from nearby schools including Chadd.
For the growing number of fans of the sport, you cant get enough of pickleball  or pickleb
Police are hunting for a father who has gone missing after being released from prison for kidnapping his baby daughter and leaving her in Libya.

Maher Belaid was jailed for stealing baby Talia from her mother Mal Szymanowicz and fleeing to North Africa before returning to Britain without her.

Belaid, who had been released from prison on licence, has now gone missing from his home Hatfield, Hertfordshire, a High Court judge has been told.

Judge Justice MacDonald heard on Tuesday as he was overseeing the latest stage of family court litigation launched by Talias Polish mother, Ms Szymanowicz.

Maher Belaid pictured with baby Talia who he kidnapped from her mother Mal Szymanowicz and fleeing to North Africa before returning to Britain without her

The desperate mother hopes to bring Talia, now seven, back home after she has remained in Libya and now calls her paternal grandmother 'mum'.

The mother came to Britain from Poland in 2002 and met Libyan national Belaid, who was working in a pizza takeaway, and they got married and had a child together.

Their marriage - the only thing which allowed Belaid to stay in the UK - broke down soon after Talia was born when Belaid spent three weeks in Libya with his family.

Ms Szymanowicz, had left Talia, who was three months old, with Belaid in November 2012 while she shopped near her home in Cardiff, judges have heard.

Belaid, who was living with Talia and her mother at the time, said he was going to a coffee shop.

Instead, he abducted Talia and took her to his mother in Libya.

Ms Szymanowicz (left) came to Britain from Poland in 2002 and met Libyan national Belaid, who was working in a pizza takeaway, and they got married (right) and had a child together

Talia, who will turn seven in July, has remained in North Africa and Ms Szymanowiczs only contact with her has been via Skype.

In 2014, Belaid was arrested after returning to South Wales and was convicted of child abduction and was handed a four-year jail term.

He was released on licence in August 2017 and had been living in Hatfield.

Ms Szymanowicz, who is now separated from Belaid, subsequently launched a fresh round of litigation in a family court in the hope of getting Talia back to Britain.

Barrister Mark Jarman, who represents Ms Szymanowicz, outlined developments to Mr Justice MacDonald at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

Mr Jarman said Belaid could be returned to prison, for breaching the terms of his release on licence, when found.
Twenty-five primary school pupils had to be rushed to hospital in Turkey after a bullied student put glue in their water bottles during an act of revenge.

The plotting nine-year-old sneaked into the classroom when the other children went outside for a PE class at the school in the Yildirim district.

He unscrewed the tops from all of their water bottles, dripped liquid glue inside, and then replaced the lids.

Twenty-five primary school pupils had to be rushed to hospital in Turkey after a bullied student put glue in their water bottles during an act of revenge. Pictured: One of the sick kids

Ambulances were called to the school after the children drank the contaminated water

Later, his thirsty classmates - at the school in the western Turkish province of Bursa - returned from PE and went straight for their bottles.

Twenty-five of them were then rushed to the Bursa Training and Research Hospital to be treated.

One parent said: 'One of the pupils put glue in the water bottles of our children, the paramedics are checking them, luckily it seems they're all OK.'

The child - known only as Z.A. has reportedly admitted what he had done and told teachers he was getting his own back on classmates who had bullied him.

The nine-year-old boy is said to have carried out the attack because he was being bullied. Pictured: One of the parents

Hospital spokesman Dr Efrail Atici said none of the youngsters were seriously ill and they all managed to return home safely.

It is not reported whether education officials are investigating the incident which happened in the Yildirim area of the city.

Police are unlikely to be involved as Z.A. is under the age of criminality which is 14 in Turkey.
Theresa May mimicked a cartoon meerkat today, telling her opponents that clearing up the increasing mess of Brexit was 'simples'.

The Prime Minister used the jarring phrase - popularised by a series of slapstick TV ads for price comparison website Compare the Market - after announcing that MPs would get a chance to vote on postponing Brexit beyond March 29.

Her response to the SNP's Westminster leader Ian Blackford did not go down with opposition politicians or watching commentators.

The meerkats, led by Aleksandr Orlov, have been a feature of Compare the Market's advertising campaign for 10 years, bringing his 'simples' catchphrase into everyday use

He had accused her of wasting nine days of parliamentary time and 'running down the clock' before departing from the EU by holding a series of votes, culminating in a vote on extending Article 50 on March 14.

Responding to him, Mrs May said: 'We are in talks with the EU and we're talking about the issues this House required.

If he wants to end the uncertainty... then he should vote for a deal. Simples.'

The word, which has since slipped into everyday speech, was a staple in a series of adverts for Compare The Market that have run for the past decade.

They focused on a family of computer-animated versions of the distinctive African grassland dwellers and centered on 'Russian' meerkat Aleksandr Orlov.

He runs the the fictitious Compare the Meerkat website which tries to outdo the deals available on its real almost namesake, with ploys that he believes are always 'simples'.

The phrase was also used in the Inbetweeners comedy series around the same time.

It is not the first time an MP has used a phrase from an advert in the Commons.

In 2011 Mrs May's predecessor David Cameron was accused of sexism after telling a female MP to 'calm down dear' during an NHS debate.

That phrase came from an insurance advert starring the late restaurant critic and film director Michael Winner.

Labour politicians said they were 'stunned' by Mrs May's comment, with Labour MP Rupa Huq tweeting: 'Theresa Meerkat just stunned the Commons by Maybot malfunction in stating it's her deal or no deal then concluding 'simples'.'

Theresa may at the Dispatch Box in the Commons, where she unveiled a series of votes would take place if her Brexit deal does is voted down again by MPs

Labour MP Liz McInnes said on Twitter: 'Yes, Theresa May did just respond 'Simples' in the Brexit statement. Theresa Meerkat is now in charge. God help us.'

Sharon Hodgson, a Labour MP, said: 'Really can't believe the PM has just said her Brexit plan is 'Simples!' Well that's one word for it!'

Compare the Market were quick to jump on the remark, tweeting: 'We welcome the Prime Minister's commitment to keeping life Simples.

'Whilst we are not experts on her deal, we are preparing a new deal on energy bills which we will be putting to the people in the near future. #Simples'
Spain has said that it will prosecute the Ryanair passenger who unleashed a racial tirade at a Windrush pensioner.

Authorities in Spain have now launched proceedings against David Mesher, 70, from Birmingham, after he was filmed calling 77-year-old Delsie Gayle, an 'ugly black b*****d' during a row on a plane in Barcelona last October.

The announcement comes a day after the UK confirmed it would not be pressing charges against the pensioner.

Today Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau confirmed that Spain would continue with legal action against the Ryanair passenger.

David Mesher, 70, was filmed hurling abuse at Delsie Gayle, 77, as she sat next to him on the Ryanair flight last year

Following her encounter with Mesher, Ms Gayle (pictured with her daughter, Carol, on Good Morning Britain) said that the abuse she suffered left her feeling depressed

Ms Colau told The Huffington Post: 'In October, when everything happened, we denounced the situation to the prosecutor and he believes there is a case, so hes actually prosecuting the case. The case is open.

'The judiciary here in Spain goes slow  so this will not happen quickly.

'Barcelona City Council has provided the prosecutor with the information regarding the victim and the testimony; he has everything in his hands and has reaffirmed to us today that there is a case and he will go on with it.'

Yesterday Essex Police, who had presented the evidence they had to the CPS, said that they were in communication with Spanish legal authorities if the country wished to proceed with prosecution.

The incident, which took place on October 19 last year during a flight from Barcelona to Stansted, saw David Mesher hurl vile abuse at Ms Gayle as she sat on a seat next to him.

The shocking incident was filmed by another passenger before it was put up on social media

During the footage, passengers are left watching on in horror as Mesher shouts at Ms Gayle

Ryanair flight attendants were unable to stop the verbally abusive tirade hurled by David Mesher

But Mesher later claimed he was not racist and said he lost his temper during a dispute over seats on the aircraft.

A fellow passenger filmed him abusing the east Londoner and flight staff then reported him to Essex Police when the flight touched down at Stansted.

The shocking video showed him shouting 'don't speak to me in a f****** foreign language'.

West Midlands Police then interviewed Mesher at his sheltered housing complex in Birmingham.

After a four-month UK police probe, Mirror Online revealed yesterday that the investigation had been shelved because lawyers ruled the offence could only be prosecuted in Spain.

It is understood that Spanish police were passed a file to prosecutors in the country after Essex Police said that it sought advice from the Crown Prosecution Service.

Windrush pensioner Mrs Gayle, who lives in Leyton, said in the aftermath of her ordeal that she felt 'really depressed about it', adding: 'I go to my bed and say: "What have I done?"

Ms Gayle was left fighting back tears as she offered tearful interviews about her experience on the flight

'I havent done anything for you to attack me. Because of the colour of my skin I was abused like that.'

Mesher appeared on Good Morning Britain shortly after the row and insisted that he was not racist.

'I'm not a racist person by any means and it was just a fit of bad temper at the time,' he said.

Addressing Mrs Gayle, he said: 'I apologise for all the distress you've had there and since.'

He said he lost his temper as a result of Mrs Gayle not seeming to want to get up when he needed to reach the window seat.

'I said Ive got to get to the window seat and there didnt seem to be any response,' he said.

'And then I asked her again, I said I have to get to the window seat and she didnt seem to want to get up..or she didnt seem to ...then I probably lost my temper a bit and I ordered her to get up.'

In an interview with Good Morning Britain, Mesher (pictured) told the general public that he was not a racist

In her interview with Good Morning Britain, Delsie Gayle (pictured) said nobody helped her while she was being shouted at by Mesher

Mrs Gayle (pictured with her daughter, Carol) was subjected to vile racist abuse on a plane in Barcelona in October last year

Appearing on Good Morning Britain alongside her daughter, Carol, Mrs Gayle was asked if she accepted Mesher's apology and responded: 'I don't think so'.

'You must forget and forgive but it's going to take a long time,' she said. 'I was so depressed all I've been doing just crying I cant sleep.'

They accused the airline of trying to 'sweep it under the carpet' and claimed to have had no contact from them and Carol says they are pursuing 'legal action'.

As Mrs Gayle claimed 'nobody' helped her during the tirade, Carol added: 'More people could have intervened and especially the gentleman - the flight attendant. He (Mesher) should have been taken off the plane, or moved, something should have been done.'

Ryanair said at the time that the airline only became aware of the incident the following day, when they saw the video.

But in the clip a flight attendant can be seen near Mesher during the row. It also shared a letter and email addressed to Mrs Gayle apologising for the incident.

Head of Communications Robin Kiely told MailOnline: 'We again extend our very sincere apologies to this passenger for the regrettable, and unacceptable remarks that were made to her by an adjacent passenger, and we believe that by reporting this matter immediately to the Essex Police and by apologising in writing to this customer early on Sunday morning, Ryanair treated it with the urgency and seriousness it warranted.'

The row sparked anger when the video went viral online, with social media users slamming Mesher's apology and Ryanair's handling of the matter.
Most taxpayers can count on their state getting more back from the federal government than its residents pay out in taxes  but 10 states are losing out, according to a new analysis.

Each state's residents pay federal taxes, but 40 states get more back than they paid for through federal government expenditures  which can include Social Security payments to individuals, contracts for local governments, wages for federal workers and sub-contracting work.

The balance can add up to major economic activity for the majority of states that get bigger returns on their residents' tax dollars, according to a new report by the SUNY Rockefeller Institute of Government.

This graphic illustrates how much each state is giving - and getting - in per capita dollars. The pink section illustrates how much per person was paid in federal taxes, while the green shows how much each state got back per person in federal spending

The 11 states losing out on federal taxes State Connecticut New Jersey Massachusetts New York North Dakota Illinois New Hampshire Washington Nebraska Colorado California Deficit $4,000 $2,368 $2,343 $1,791 $720 $363 $234 $185 $164 $95 $12 Advertisement

However some states  particularly those with very high earners  actually lose out in the equation as billions of dollars go back and forth between the state and federal governments, according to the Rockefeller Institute, an Albany, New York-based think tank.

'It matters because  there's always the argument of whether you are getting back as much as you're spending,' Rockefeller Analyst Michelle Cummings told Dailymail.com. 'There is always an argument on what is the best and fairest way to distribute money.'

Overall, the federal government is running a net negative balance of payments to states  a major factor contributing to the national deficit of roughly $1 trillion this year.

Ultimately that means the 10 states that are losing out on a federal-state surplus are the only ones that aren't contributing in this way to the federal deficit.

HowMuch.net created a visualization using the Rockefeller Institute's data that illustrates exactly which states won and lost in the federal tax game. While the numbers are calculated per state resident, they represent billions of dollars in state and federal spending, overall.

This map illustrates the balance between how much residents in each state paid (per capita) in federal taxes and the federal dollars spent in each state. States in orange received less than they paid out, while states in green and blue received a surplus in federal spending. California, in grey, had a nearly zero balance between federal taxes paid and expenditures in that state

Connecticut fared the worst, with taxpayers collectively contributing $15,462 per capita to the federal government, only to receive $11,462 per capita back through the federal government  a $4,000 per-person deficit.

New Jersey followed, collectively paying out the equivalent of $13,215 per person for a $10,847 per person return from the federal government, for a $2,368 deficit.

Both New Jersey and Connecticut are home to many people who work in New York City's financial, entertainment and tech industries - high earners who pay big tax bills each year, contributing to the outflow of dollars to the federal government.

Similarly, Massachusetts, is home to many high-paid workers. That state came in third, collectively paying out $13,820 per person to receive just $11,477 per capita in return, a $2,343 deficit.

New York was in fourth place, with taxpayers collectively paying the feds $12,906 only to receive $11,115 per capita in federal expenditures, for a $1,791 deficit.

'It's a progressive (federal) tax system,' Cummings said. 'We know that (New York) residents at the federal level pay a higher percentage of taxes generally because (their) personal income is higher per capita.'

The per capita deficits shrink from there: North Dakota came in at $720, followed by Illinois ($363); New Hampshire ($234); Washington ($185); Nebraska ($164); Colorado ($95); and California ($12).

At the other end of the spectrum, Virginia fared the best  getting a whopping $20,872 per person in federal expenditures after its residents paid out $10,571 per person in taxes  amounting to a $10,301 per person surplus over taxes paid.

States without an income tax The nine states without an income tax outperform the nine states with the highest taxes on personal income in job creation and population growth, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council. Alaska Florida Nevada New Hampshire South Dakota Tennessee Texas Washington Wyoming Advertisement

It's worth noting that much of Virginia's surplus is due to the large number of federal employees living and working there  but it still represents an overall return for the state that translates into economic activity.

States with low-income residents also tend to see greater return for their investment in federal taxes.

Kentucky is one example of that, paying only $6,752 per person in taxes only to receive $15,897 per person back in federal spending, for a $9,145 surplus.

New Mexico came in third, getting the equivalent of $15,167 per capita in federal spending in return for just $6,475 per person spent on federal taxes  for a surplus of $8,692.

New Mexico is home to two major federal research centers, which contribute to that state's surplus.

West Virginia ranked fourth, with a $7,283 per person surplus, followed by Alaska ($7,048); Mississippi ($6,880); Alabama ($6,693); Maine ($5,572); Hawaii ($5,270) and Arkansas ($5,080).
Jussie Smollett has been granted permission to leave Illinois to travel to California to meet with his legal team ahead of his next court appearance.

The 36-year-old Empire star had to surrender his passport as part of his bail agreement last week.

Smollett had been ordered to stay in Illinois but a Chicago judge on Monday granted him permission to leave the state so that he can work with his lawyer Mark Geragos.

He paid $10,000, ten percent of his $100,000 bond that was set by Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr.

Jussie Smollett, pictured leaving county jail last week, will be allowed to travel to California from Illinois to meet with his lawyer

It is not clear if it is the same judge who granted him permission to travel. Judge Lyke also set R. Kelly's $1million bond this week.

Geragos, who is based in Los Angeles, has represented Colin Kaepernick, Chris Brown, Michael Jackson and Winona Ryder in the past.

He is now leading Smollett's team of attorneys to fight the disorderly conduct charge he was hit with last week.

He has not responded to repeated requests for comment nor has Anne Kavanaugh, the Chicago-based crisis manager Smollett hired last month.

Police say they have overwhelming evidence Smollett paid two Nigerian brothers to attack him on January 29 in a staged hate crime because he wanted a higher salary.

Smollett maintains he is innocent and says he was attacked by homophobic, racist assailants who shouted: 'This is MAGA country!' while beating him, putting a noose around his neck and pouring bleach on him.

Smollett's legal team is being headed up by celebrity-favorite Mark Geragos (shown) who is based in Los Angeles. A judge granted the Empire actor permission to travel to L.A. to visit him on Monday

Newly-unearthed tweets from a Twitter account used by brothers - Ola and Abel Osundairo - in 2013 where they make homophobic remarks may also be used as evidence in the case.

'Why you following Frank Ocean  you know that n***a gay right,' Ola tweeted at a man in 2013.

Another tweet read: 'YOU'RE GAY THATS WHO YOU ARE.' It's unclear who Ola was referring to in that tweet.

The actor's explanation for a $3,500 check he gave one of the brothers, which they say was payment for the hoax, is that he was paying him for personal training.

Smollett's bond was set last week by Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke (pictured). It is unclear who gave him permission to go to California

Smollett, according to prosecutors, had previously bought drugs off from one of the brothers and knew them because they had appeared on Empire as extras.

On January 29, the day of the attack, he called them an hour before it happened and an hour afterwards, according to prosecutors.

He also spoke to them when they were in Nigeria for two weeks afterwards.

Smollett has not entered a plea yet.

He is charged with one count of filing a false police report, a Class 4 felony which carries a maximum sentence of three years imprisonment and a $25,000 fine.

After being released on bond last Thursday, he went immediately to the Empire set to tell his colleagues he was innocent.

On Monday, Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson appeared on Good Morning America to defend the Chicago Police Department's investigation into the attack and double down on his condemnation of Smollett.

Nigerian brothers, Ola (right) and Abel Osundairo (left) who allegedly attacked Jussie Smollett last month made homophobic statements on Twitter that could be used in the Empire star's defense

Tweets (pictured) from a Twitter account used by brothers Ola Osundairo, 27, and Abel Osundairo, 25, surfaced on Monday as the controversy surrounding Smollett's alleged attack continues

He batted away the Empire actor's claim that a $3,500 check for the brothers he allegedly paid to attack him was for personal training and said there was surveillance footage, physical evidence and testimony that proves it was a hoax which is yet to be presented.

'He still has the presumption of evidence and he'll get his opportunity in court if he chooses to go that route,' Johnson said, rejecting Smollett's lawyers claim that he has been unfairly vilified by the police department and prosecutor's office.

'I can tell you this, there's a lot more evidence that has not been presented yet that does not support his version of the incident.

Smollett will return to court on March 14, a day after Empire returns to screens.

He has already filmed seven episodes of the popular 20th Century Fox show which will air as planned but he will not feature in the final two episodes.

The cast was filming those two episodes when he was arrested. The studio, which had been standing by him, said last week it was now 'considering its options'.
Anglican priest Jesus Antonio Castaneda Serna, 51, was arrested Sunday for allegedly sexually abusing at least three of his congregants at Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe in Fresno, California

A California priest who allegedly manipulated his followers into letting him masturbate them to 'cure' them of their sins has been arrested.

Jesus Antonio Castaneda Serna, 51, headed the Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe Anglican Church in Fresno.

He was taken into custody on Sunday after a 13-month investigation and charged with multiple counts of sexual battery, battery, and attempted sexual battery.

Police say he assaulted at least three of his congregants, aged 54, 45, and 43.

Fresno detectives said at least 19 more people have told church officials they were abused by Serna, but there could be hundreds more.

Many of the alleged victims already identified were undocumented immigrants who investigators say Serna targeted because they feared being arrested.

Serna was charged with multiple counts of sexual battery, battery, and attempted sexual battery after a 13-month investigation. He is pictured here kissing the feet of an unidentified worshiper in a picture from Facebook

'Serna preyed on the undocumented because he knew they would be reluctant to talk to the police,' Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer told the Fresno Bee.

'He used his position as a religious leader to convince these victims to be spiritually right with God... It's our hope that as we progress that we'll be able to interview all of the 22 victims and we hope other people to come forward.'

Authorities said Serna told his victims they were cursed or had sinned and that their semen needed to be 'examined'.

Serna allegedly claimed a healing ritual he learned in India required him to rub and masturbate his victims with a 'sacred oil', detectives said.

Authorities said Serna targeted undocumented immigrants for sexual abuse because they were less likely to call police, telling his victims they were cursed or had sinned and that their semen needed to be examined before they could be healed

Fresno detectives said at least 19 more people have told church officials they were abused by Serna, but that they fear hundreds more could have been targeted

This isn't the first time Serna has been accused of sexual misconduct.

The Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin said in a statement that Serna joined their diocese in 2008.

But he was 'stripped of all priestly roles, privileges, and standing' on November 24, 2017, after he was credibly accused of committing sexual misconduct against adults in the diocese, KFSN-TV reported.

The incident was reported to police. It's unclear whether Serna was charged for the incident.

'On November 24, 2017, [Serna] informed the bishop he would not contest the accusations, and he consented to be deposed from priestly ministry in the Anglican Church,' the San Joaquin Diocese said in its statement.

'[Serna] was then stripped of all priestly roles, privileges, and standing, and Bishop Menees began lending day-to-day pastoral care and oversight to [Serna's] former congregation.'

Investigators found that Serna also served as a Catholic priest in Yakima, Washington from 1997 to 2006, according to Dyer.

The accused clergyman faces up to 11 years in prison if found guilty of all current counts, according to Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp, who said anyone else who may have been abused by Serna should not be afraid to come forward, regardless of their immigration status.

Smittcamp said victimized undocumented immigrants may apply for a U-visa, which grants legal protections to those who have suffered mental or physical abuse, allowing them to aid law enforcement in an investigation.

Alleged victims are urged to call the Fresno Police Department at 559-621-7000.
A Great Dane in Arizona has give birth to an enormous litter of 19 healthy puppies.

Cleo, the mother, delivered the litter by Caesarian section on Saturday morning at Kingman Animal Hospital.

It is unusual for larger dog breeds to have C-sections, and it took 11 staff members to successfully deliver the puppies in a 40-minute operation.

The hospital posted a series of photographs, taken before and after the procedure in the treatment area (rather than the surgical room), on its Facebook page.

The super-sized litter is shown nestled against one another in a large crate and sleeping against their exhausted mother.

Cleo, the mother, delivered 19 healthy puppies at Kingman Animal Hospital in Kingman, Arizona

All 19 puppies and their mother are healthy and happy, the animal hospital said on its Facebook page

But Cleo and all nineteen of her puppies were in good health after post-op, the animal hospital wrote alongside the photos.

'Thank you all for the kind words and congrats to the momma dog and our hard working staff that came in for this emergency,' it added.

Cleo is owned by breeders who brought her along to the animal hospital after noticing she was extremely tired.

The hospital's office manager Cassie McEuen told KTVU that generally 13 would be considered a large litter, so to have 19 was something extraordinary.

The tiny puppies will grow into enormous Great Danes, a breed best known for their size and for being gentle giants

The puppies were photographed being checked over after the successful surgery in the veterinary hospital's treatment area

The owners are said to be looking into whether Cleo's litter constitutes a record among Great Danes

Mceuen added that the owners were inquiring as into whether Cleo might have broken a Guinness world record with her delivery.

The largest known litter of puppies for any dog is 24, born on November 9 2004 to Tia, a Neopolitan mastiff, in Cambridgeshire, England.

Tia's litter of nine females and 15 males were also born by Caesarian section, but one was still born, and three died in the first week.

Great Danes are best known for their size - the tallest dog ever recorded, a male Great Dane called Zeus, reached 44 inches (111.8cm) from paw to shoulder.
Kim Jong-un's armoured limousine was flanked by a circle of jogging bodyguards as it made its way to North Korea's embassy in Vietnam today.

The North Korean leader is in the capital Hanoi ahead of his second summit with President Donald Trump, who arrived aboard Air Force One a short time later.

Trump exited the jet alone before walking down a gangway between an honour guard of Vietnamese soldiers, in contrast to Kim who is flanked by a large security team wherever he goes.

Security guards dressed in dark suits ran alongside the dictator's blacked out limo as it left Hanoi's Melia Hotel and headed to the embassy on Tuesday afternoon.

Kim Jong-un's armoured limousine was flanked by a circle of jogging bodyguards as it made its way to North Korea's embassy in Vietnam today

Men dressed in dark suits ran alongside the dictator's blacked out limo as it left Hanoi's Melia Hotel and headed to the embassy

About a dozen bodyguards briefly ran alongside Kim's car as he set off for the two-hour journey to Hanoi, smiling and waving to children lining the route from his limousine

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un leaves the North Korean embassy today flanked by officials

Kim is flanked by bodyguards and his aides as he leaves the embassy in Hanoi

Motorcycle outriders then escorted Kim's vehicle on the short journey before more bodyguards took up positions to form a human shield as he entered the compound.

The 35-year-old and Trump are both in Vietnam on the eve of their second summit at which they will tackle how to implement a joint pledge to 'denuclearize' the Korean peninsula.

Trump touched down in Hanoi just before 9pm after a flight that included two stops for refueling in the UK and Qatar.

The president waved to a small crowd that gathered for his arrival, before slowly walking down a staircase to greet Vietnamese dignitaries.

He stepped onto a red carpet and chatted with attendees of the sedate diplomatic ceremony before getting into his motorcade.

Kim arrived by train early in the day after a three-day, 1,850-mile journey from his capital, Pyongyang, through China. He completed the last stretch from a border station to Hanoi by car.

The two leaders, who seemed to strike up a surprisingly warm relationship at their first summit in Singapore last June, will meet for a brief one-on-one conversation on Wednesday evening, followed by a dinner, at which they will each be accompanied by two guests and interpreters.

They will meet again on Thursday, White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters.

Their talks come eight months after the historic summit in Singapore, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.

President Donald Trump is flanked by a Vietnamese dignitary after arriving at Noi Bai Airport ahead of his summit with Kim Jong-un

The president waves to greeters as he disembarks from Air Force One at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi

President Trump walks by a Vietnamese soldier as he arrives for summit talks with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un

President Trump then jumped into his own armoured limousine - nicknamed The Beast, and which Kim admired during their previous meeting - before heading for his hotel

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Vietnam's Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh while accompanying President Trump on his visit

While the first meeting was all about breaking the ice after decades of war and bitter animosity between their countries, this time there will be pressure on both to move beyond the vaguely-worded commitment they made in Singapore to work toward the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Trump and Kim Jong Un's Hanoi itinerary Tuesday evening: Trump spends the night in his hotel in Hanoi Wednesday: Trump meets the president of Vietnam Signs trade documents with Vietnamese Holds a photo-op with Vietnamese pime minister Expanded meetings and working lunch with prime minister Wednesday evening: Trump meets one-on-one with Kim for a brief greeting Social dinner with Kim accompanied by Mike Pompeo and Mick Mulvaney Thursday: Further summit meetings. No details yet released by White House Advertisement

Trump's critics at home have warned him against cutting a deal that would do little to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions, urging specific, verifiable North Korean action to abandon the nuclear weapons that threaten the United States.

In return, Kim would expect significant US concessions such as relief from punishing sanctions and a declaration that the 1950-53 Korean War is at last formally over.

Vietnamese officials were on hand to greet Kim at the station in Dong Dang town after he crossed the border from China. He got a red-carpet welcome with honour guard, military band and fluttering North Korean and Vietnamese flags.

Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, who has emerged as an important aide, arrived with him.

A dozen bodyguards briefly ran alongside Kim's car as he set off for the two-hour journey to Hanoi, smiling and waving to children lining the route from his limousine.

The security team have become a prominent feature of past summits, including Kim's previous meeting with Trump and his meeting with South Korean president Moon Jae-in April last year.

A team of around 100 bodyguards arrived in Hanoi two days ago, according to Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, after arriving by plane.

However, Kim preferred to take his family's armoured train to the summit, because he is fearful of being assassinated and sees flying as an unnecessary risk.

An amusing moment as Kim arrived in Vietnam had an aide sprinting down a runway (top right) to be beside the leader as he greeted waiting Vietnamese dignitaries

Kim made the journey from Pyongyang to Vietnam by armoured train, taking 70 hours to get there. He avoids flying over fears of being assassinated while in the air

The American and North Korean flags are waved in front of Kim's motorcade as the North Korean dictator arrives in Hanoi

Arrival in Hanoi: Kim's motorcade rolls up after the journey from Dong Dang, where he had traveled by train

As he departed the train in the border city of Dong Dang on Tuesday morning, one of his entourage frantically scrambled to get by his side as he shook hands with a waiting dignitary.

The man was initially reported to be one of Kim's bodyguards, but may have in fact been his translator.

Roads were closed with Vietnamese security forces in armoured-personnel carriers guarding the route to the city's Melia hotel where he is staying.

Vietnamese authorities have been tight-lipped about the summit and have yet to announce where the two will meet.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also arrived on Tuesday and met Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh for talks.

Kim's black limousine was seen departing the Vietnamese capital's Melia Hotel on Tuesday evening flanked by bodyguards. The convoy was escorted by motorcycle outriders as curious spectators and journalists looked on

Upon arriving at the embassy a short drive away, more bodyguards took up positions alongside his car. Loud cheers could be heard as he entered the compound

The motorcade carrying North Korea leader Kim Jong Un leave the North Korea embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam today

Blowing off steam! Kim Jong-un enjoys a cigarette break during 70-hour train ride from North Korea to Vietnam for his summit with Trump Running a country can be stressful - so it's perhaps no surprise that Kim Jong-un needed to blow off some steam while on his way to meet Donald Trump in Vietnam. During his mammoth 70-hour train journey from Pyongyang to Vietnam, the North Korean dictator stopped at Nanning station, in southern China, for a cigarette break. Kim was spotted walking along the platform around 3.30am during a half-hour stop when he smoked a cigarette or two alongside some of his most trusted aides. Kim is well-known as a smoker, and in 2017 he was pictured enjoying a cigarette in front of a liquid-fuelled ballistic missile, despite the risk of a catastrophic explosion Kim was accompanied by some of his closest aides as he smoked, including a man who appeared to be top diplomat Ri Yong-ho (left) Wife Ri Sol-ju was seen talking to another woman on the platform, while Kim held discussions with his top diplomat Ri Yong-ho. His sister Kim Yo-jong was also seen carrying a large crystal ashtray for the dictator to stub his cigarettes in. After the brief stop Kim and his entourage climbed back on board the heavily armoured train and were taken to Dong Dang, in northern Vietnam. From there, Kim swapped the train for his limousine which drove him to Hanoi, where he arrived on Tuesday morning. He is thought to be staying at the Melia Hanoi hotel located in the city center ahead of his summit with President Trump, who is en route to the country. While Kim travelled to his previous summit in Singapore by plane, the North Korean prefers to travel by train where possible, so fearful is he of being assassinated. The North Korean dictator took a mammoth 70-hour train journey to reach Vietnam from Pyongyang. He prefers not to fly for fear of being assassinated Kim Yo-jong, the leader's sister, was on hand carrying a large crystal ashtray for him to stub his cigarettes out in Kim Jong-un stopped for a cigarette break at Nanning station in southern China around 3.30am on Tuesday while on his way to Vietnam Advertisement

Trump told reporters before he left he and Kim would have 'a very tremendous summit'.

Tweeting on Monday, he stressed the benefits to North Korea if it gave up its nuclear weapons. 'With complete Denuclearisation, North Korea will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse. Without it, just more of the same. Chairman Kim will make a wise decision!' Trump said.

In a speech late on Sunday, Trump, however, appeared to play down the possibility of a major breakthrough, saying he would be happy as long as North Korea maintained its pause on weapons testing.

'I'm not in a rush,' he said. 'I just don't want testing. As long as there's no testing, we're happy.'

North Korea conducted its last nuclear test in September 2017 and its last intercontinental ballistic missile test in November 2017.

Kim Jong Un crossed into Vietnam on Tuesday after a 2,800-mile journey from Pyongyang on his olive-green train

His journey from Pyongyang was shrouded in secrecy but numerous sightings of the train were made over the past few days

Schoolchildren waving North Korean flags and a military guard of honor greeted Kim as he stepped onto the platform, draped in a red carpet

Kim Jong-un has had 421 officials 'purged' and executed - with victims fed naked to animals, blown up with anti-aircraft guns or burned alive, South Korean report claims Kim Jong-un is using barbaric methods to 'purge' his officials and cling onto power, according to a damning South Korean investigation. The dictator has had 421 officials executed and exiled since seizing power in 2011, with victims being fed naked to hunting dogs, blown up with anti-aircraft guns, burned alive with flamethrowers and hanged, the report claims. In some cases, entire families of officials have been executed while others were imprisoned in concentration camps and 'erased from society'. Kim is also said to have ordered the execution of his own family members, including his uncle Jang Song Thaek, who was executed in 2013, and his half-brother Jong-nam, who was assassinated at a Malaysian airport in 2017. Kim Jong-un (pictured in Vietnam ahead of his summit with Donald Trump) has purged 421 officials since seizing power in 2011, including his own family members, according to a damning South Korean report When the North Korean leader had his uncle Jang killed, 'more than 15 people were killed and 400 others were purged,' according to the collection of accounts from high-ranking defectors. Titled 'Executions and Purges of North Korean Elites: An Investigation into Genocide Based on High-Ranking Officials' Testimonies', the report was researched by the Seoul-based North Korean Strategy Centre (NKSC). It combined the accounts of 14 North Korean elite group defectors, six North Korean officials in China and five other defectors who witnessed executions. The investigation found that Kim ordered the execution of his uncle because Jang 'sold the country's resources to foreign countries at a low price.' The dictator (waving on arrival at Dong Dang Station, flanked by his security) has had victims fed naked to animals, blown up with anti-aircraft guns, hanged and burned alive with flamethrowers, the report claims It also claims officials faced death or imprisonment for minor infractions such as slouching at an event attended by the supreme leader. The report lists the full names of more than 50 purged victims, while confirming that hundreds more were executed but never named. Moon, a former student at Pyongyang Commercial College, said in the report he'd witnessed a 12-man public execution by soldiers using four anti-aircraft guns. He said that, one-by-one, four guns were aimed blew up the victims, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA), before armored vehicles were used to crush their remains. Moon said he suffered from PTSD following the killings. The report was analysed at a Human Rights panel discussion in Washington last Friday. Jared Genser, a member of Human Rights in North Korea's (HRNK) International Advisory Council, explained that these methods were to strike fear into the hearts of the entire population, from the average citizen to high ranking officials Kim's half-brother Jong-nam, who was assassinated in 2017 by two women who attacked him with a nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia 'They need to instill fear into people working for the authoritarian leader, and they need to keep people at bay by making them very fearful that anything they say or do could result in torture, extrajudicial killing, arbitrary detention and so forth,' Genser said, RFA reports. He issued a plea to US President Donald Trump to raise human rights with Kim as they discuss nuclear disarmament at their summit in Hanoi today. 'Read this report that has hard evidence of the facts, and they're corroborated. Know your counterpart, who he is. The single most important issue when dealing with him is not denuclearization. It is the human rights issue,' said Kang. Advertisement

Analysts say the two leaders have to move beyond summit symbolism.

'The most basic yet urgent task is to come to a shared understanding of what denuclearisation would entail,' said Gi-Wook Shin, director of Stanfordas Asia-Pacific Research Center.

'The ambiguity and obscurity of the term 'denuclearisation' only exacerbates the scepticism about both the U.S. and North Korean commitments to denuclearisation.a

While the United States is demanding North Korea give up all of its nuclear and missile programmes, North Korea wants to see the removal of the U.S. nuclear umbrella for South Korea.

Hewavily armed riot officers and police captains secure the route of Kim Jong-un's motorcade in Hanoi as he arrives for the summit

An armored vehicle equipped with a gun turret was part of Kim Jong Un's security package. It parked itself near a hotel where Kim is staying for the summit

A Vietnamese soldier stands guard at a street in Hanoi ahead of the second U.S.-North Korea summit

People wait for the motorcade with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ahead of the US-North Korea summit in Hanoi

A South Korean presidential spokesman told reporters in Seoul the two sides might be able to agree to a formal end of the Korean War, which was concluded with an armistice not a peace treaty, a move North Korea has long sought.

Protesters in Seoul tore up photographs of Kim and threw them to the ground to highlight their dismay that North Korea's grim human rights record was not expected to figure in talks.

Amnesty International said Trump had disregarded human rights to gain favour with Kim.

'His silence in the face of relentless and grave human rights violations has been deafening,' it said.

President Donald Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un, seen here at their first summit in Singapore in July
This is the moment a burger-chomping student performed a 'Mr Miyagi' style straw catch in a fast food restaurant.

High school student Jonas Wendling, 19, captured the moment his girlfriend Sophie Heine, carried out the impressive ninja-like move.

As she munched on her burger Jonas blew on and fired the paper straw cover at her face but in an incredible reaction move she blocked his shot and captured it between her index and middle finger.

Strawly not: Sophie Heine looks as though she can't believe it when she realises she has managed to catch the paper straw cover

Ms Heine is seen to go into an almost meditative state as she closes her eyes.

She then quickly raises her hand to her face before catching the paper straw cover.

Once she realises what she has done her eyes bulge in shock.

Mr. Miyagi mentors the characters Daniel LaRusso and Julie Pierce in the film franchise Karate Kid. Morita earned an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance

The move has been compared with Mr Miyagi, Karate Kid's fictional karate master, played by Japanese American actor Pat Morita.

Mr Wendling, from Rantzwiller, north east France, said: 'I've seen videos of other couples doing the same thing and decided to film me firing a straw on my girlfriend's face as a memory.

'I was so impressed with her reaction and I laughed while I filmed it.

'Of the people who have seen it online, 95% have been really impressed at my girlfriend's reflexes. Some thought it was an edited video, but this is the raw footage.'
















A questionable amount of racist, neo-Nazi and white supremacist publications have been found available for sale on Amazon. Interestingly, these materials are only available in certain areas of the business, while they are banned or regulated in others. For instance, a t-shirt having a racist inscription might be difficult to sell on the site, but a book containing even more racist thoughts and ideas could be sold easily on the site because unlike t-shirts, the sitepolicy does not require the company to ban books that hold questionable viewpoints.

An excerpt from its guidelines on books, quoted on Quartz, reads, as a bookseller, we provide our customers with access to a variety of viewpoints, including books that some customers may find objectionable. The same guidelines make a provision for Amazon, to refuse to sell certain content, such as pornography or other inappropriate content. When asked what constitutes inappropriate content however, the company could not provide any details.

Quartz list a number of questionable publications' that can easily be bought off Amazon. They include;

The manifesto by the White Rabbit Three Percent Illinois Patriot Freedom Fighters Militia, a hate group responsible for bombing a mosque in Minnesota. Its just one of the episodes that prompted calls for Amazon to get rid of hateful publications. The manifesto is still on the site, where it sells for $6.75.

The Turner Diaries, a 1978 novel by neo-Nazi leader William Luther Pierce that has inspired extremists from Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh to Idaho domestic terrorist group The Order, according to the FBI. The story portrays the violent overthrow of the US government, beginning with the bombing of FBI headquarters in Washington, DC. The Turner Diaries, which is banned in Germany, has been reviewed 353 times on Amazon, with an average rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars.

A whole lot of other publications by white nationalist and neo-Nazi titles are still sold on Amazons website, long after they were exposed by activists. There is also a lot of racist material which is sold by both Amazon and third-party sellers, and most are created through Amazons self-publishing platform.

Examples of such books include George Lincoln Rockwell, a Holocaust denier and the founder of the American Nazi Party. Rockwells 1966 tract, White Power, sells for $13.95 in paperback, $24.99 in hardcover, and $6.45 for the Kindle version. Amazon described this book as, The last and most powerful book written by the founder of the American Nazi Party, George Lincoln Rockwell.

It is equally disturbing that these books have an audience who seem to enjoy them. According to the article, one verified purchaser of White Power gave the book a 5-star review, writing that the Jews employ psychological devices to bring about the complete destruction of a once honourable people, namely whites, and added, Anybody who has the European spirit flowing through their veins should read this bookShow the world that there is nothing wrong with loving the white race and embracing its inherent power. Interestingly, seventy-eight people found that review helpful, according to Amazons site.
One of the country's top state secondary schools is going to switch to a four-and-a-half day week because it will lead to a 'happier, more productive school'.

Forest Gate Community School in Newham, east London is rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted and hit the headlines in 2017 after one of its pupils was accepted into Eton College.

Former student Kaashif Kamaly was accepted into Eton with a scholarship after achieving 13 As and A* while studying at the London school.

Now, the school has announced plans to stop lessons just after midday every Friday afternoon in a bid to increase productivity and foster a happier atmosphere.

Kaashif Kamaly was accepted into Eton with a scholarship after achieving 13 As and A* while studying at Forest Gate Community School

The change comes following a similar experiment at a financial company in New Zealand, where switching to a four day week led to a 20 per cent boost in productivity. as well as a happier workforce.

The school will remain open until 5pm for supervised study and talks from guest speakers though attendance is optional, a letter to parents confirmed this week.

They say staff will be given training to manage the shorter timetable ahead of the introduction of the new policy at the start of the next academic year.

Pay, holiday entitlement and benefits for teachers will remain unchanged, according to the school.

Staff will have the option of finishing early or spending the afternoon improving their teaching at professional development training.

It comes after Perpetual Guardian, a New Zealand financial services company, announced a 20 per cent rise in productivity and happier staff after moving to a four-day week.

Forest Gate executive headteacher Simon Elliott says despite the changes the school will maintain the high academic standards which have seen them ranked in the Top 50 schools nationally for GCSE results three years in a row.

Headteacher Simon Elliott says the school will maintain the high academic standards which have seen them ranked in the Top 50 schools nationally for GCSE results three years in a row

Mr Elliot said: 'When you are a top performing school with consistently among the best GCSE results in the country you cannot rest on your laurels, you must always look at ways in to improve.

'We have looking into this long before the successful trials in New Zealand and are now convinced it will lead to a happier, more productive school.

'This is something we are undertaking in the knowledge that we have recruited the committed, talented and passionate teachers who will help us make this a success.

'It is about placing confidence in your staff and your managements capacity to employ the right types of personalities.

'We are confident that the introduction of a shorter timetable will not impact on our capacity to continue to achieve among the very best results in the country.

'On the contrary, with believe happier, less stressed staff who feel valued will help create the type of learning environment to improve productivity.'

Mr Elliott says the move will also help lift the burden on increasingly overworked staff and improve the quality of teaching.

The school will remain open until 5pm for supervised study and talks from guest speakers, though attendance is optional, a letter to parents confirmed this week

He said: 'This about moving away from a culture that has developed in the teaching profession of over burdening staff with excessively long hours.

'It is about teaching them to focus on the most important aspect of their profession which is engaging the hearts and minds of the young people they teach.

'The benefit to the students is that they we will be able to recruit, train and most crucially retain the very best teachers which means better quality of teaching in the classroom.'

He added: 'We will be using Friday afternoons to invite in special guest speakers who can talk to our students about areas of study they are passionate about.

'This will not be compulsory but will offer students the opportunity to take their learning beyond what can be taught in the classroom.

'We will need some teachers to remain on Friday afternoons in a supervisor capacity but, again, that will be optional.'

Former pupil Kaashif is a notable success story of the school, after getting into Eton following his GCSEs.

The son of a Bangladeshi immigrant, Kasshif got 13 A* and A grades, which earned him a sixth form scholarship to Eton.

The student said: 'I'm relieved with what I got, what I have in front me: it's opened a gateway. To say it's a victory for myself is an injustice. I would say it's 80 per cent down to the school. They have really pushed me. It's a debt that can't be repaid.'
A baby suffered serious head injuries after being dropped by a flight attendant at the end of a low-cost airline flight.

The five-month-old girl fell out of her child carrier as the crew member brought her down the Boeing 737 steps at Surgut Airport in Russia.

The girl 'suffered serious head injuries' including internal bruising leading to concussion and a broken nose.

A five-month old girl fell out of her carry cradle a crew member carried her down the Boeing 737 (pictured) steps at Surgut Airport in Russia

The girl 'suffered serious head injuries' including internal bruising leading to concussion and a broken nose - and was rushed to hospital in a Surgut ambulance (pictured)

She was rushed to hospital after the accident at the end of a flight by Pobeda, a low-cost operator owned by state carrier Aeroflot. The child is being checked by specialists including neurologists.

The airline issued an abject apology after the incident following the incident.

'We are very sorry,' said a spokesperson, clarifying the accident was on the plane's steps in subzero temperatures after landing.

'A very careful investigation is being conducted now, and we will inform about the details later.

'The air carrier will fully compensate all the expenses associated with the treatment of the child.'

One version was that the flight attendant - believed to be male - tried to help the mother who was loaded with bags.

One version was that the flight attendant - believed to be male - tried to help the mother who was loaded with bags. Pictured: A crew member performs a safety demonstration on a Pobeda a plane. There's no suggestion this was the attendant who dropped the child

But he failed to realise the child was not strapped properly into the carry cradle. The baby then 'fell out crashing her head on the steps'.

An airline source said the attendant 'sincerely wanted to help the customer' - the child's mother.

Afterwards the cabin crew member had gone on his own initiative to the hospital to check on the condition of the baby but was rebuffed for 'privacy' reasons, according to reports.
Conservative commentator Andrew Bolt says he 'just can't accept' Cardinal George Pell's conviction for sexually abusing two 13-year-old boys.

In a lengthy opinion piece aired on Sky News on Tuesday night, Bolt said he has 'serious misgivings' about the verdict that was handed down in December and finally made public on Tuesday.

'I just can't accept it, based on what I consider is the overwhelming evidence of this trial,' Bolt said.

'Pell it seems to me could well be a man who's been made to pay for the sins made by his church.'

Andrew Bolt has said the he has 'serious misgivings' over the guilty verdict that was handed to Cardinal George Pell (pictured)

Bolt said he based his opinion on 'how many times George Pell has been accused of crimes and sins he clearly did not do'.

He also recalled when he previously interviewed Pell and said his demeanour and attitude did not fit the description of a child abuser.

'The man I know, seems not just incapable of this abuse, [he's] so intelligent and cautious, it seems unbelievable to me that he would risk his brilliant career and his name on such an assault on two children, in such a public place with an open door,' he said.

Bolt also listed ten reasons why he believed Pell's conviction does not add up.

In the list he included that one of the victims, who has since died, initially denied the incident.

He said the location of the assault was in a public area and Pell would have known 'that someone was bound to walk in'.

Bolt made sure to state that religion did not play a part in the forming of his opinion.

'I'm not a Christian, this is not me defending my church,' he said.

In a lengthy opinion piece aired on Sky News on Tuesday night, Bolt said he has 'serious misgivings' about the verdict

A Melbourne jury in December found Pell guilty of five charges - one of sexually penetrating a child and four of committing indecent acts with children

Bolt finished the piece by saying Pell had 'survived so many wrong allegations. Now it is up to a higher court whether this is one more'.

Pell's verdict was made public on Tuesday after months of procedural secrecy and the abandonment of a second trial over separate allegations.

A Melbourne jury in December found Pell guilty of five charges - one of sexually penetrating a child and four of committing indecent acts with children.

Since the verdict was made public on Tuesday, Pope Francis has confirmed 'precautionary measures' have already been taken against Pell, including a ban on his saying Mass and 'as is the rule, contact in any way or form with minors.'

10 REASONS PELL CLAIMED HE WAS INNOCENT 1. He couldn't have got back to the sacristy when they said he did 2. He was never alone to molest them 3. There were too many witnesses for it to have happened 4. Someone would have seen the boys abruptly leave after mass or arrive late to choir practice right after 5. Organists would have seen them sneaking off as they had a good view of the route to sacristy 6. Pell's robes were too complex for him to rape the boys while wearing them 7. Victims said he caught them drinking sacramental red wine but only white was available 8. Only a madman would molest the boys in that setting 9. The second incident couldn't have happened when claimed because church was under renovations 10. The victims stayed silent for many years and told no one Advertisement

Pell maintains complete innocence and his lawyer Robert Richter QC filed an application with the Court of Appeal last week against his conviction.

Only months before the assaults, Pell launched the Melbourne Response for dealing with abuse claims in the archdiocese.

He claimed an Australian first in developing the world-leading protocol, though it was criticised for re-traumatising victims and low compensation payouts.

Late on Tuesday, the Vatican made its first response to the conviction, spokesman Alessandro Gisotti told reporters it was 'painful' for many but that Pell had proclaimed his innocence and has the right to 'defend himself until last level' of judicial process.

He said Pope Francis has confirmed 'precautionary measures' already taken against Pell, including a ban on his saying Mass and 'as is the rule, contact in any way or form with minors.'
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Work continues at the site of mass grave in Belarus where the remains of over 1,000 Jewish people slain by the Nazis were found.

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.'

Work is being continued at the site of mass grave in Belarus where the bones of men, women and children, who were slain by the Nazis, were found

Servicemen of the Belarusian Army 52nd Separate Special Search Battalion continued their work at the excavation site today

Up until now around 600 skeletons have been unearthed by the Belarus soldiers who have been deployed to undertake the excavation work

Soldiers keep the bones to one side as they continue to uncover the skeletons of Jews executed by the Nazis during the Second World War

A serviceman places one of the remains into a clear plastic bag as excavation work continues at the Belarus mass grave site

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.

A soldier from the Belarus Army is seen working at the excavation site where around 600 skeletons have already been discovered

A soldier carefully places the remains of those who are believed to have been executed by the Nazi's into a clear bag

A soldier in Belarus collects the remains of those believed to have been killed by the Nazis during the Second World War and places them in a storage room

Soldiers continue work at the mass grave site that lies on the Polish border, with city official Anna Kondak predicting the number of victims will go over the 1,000 figure

Two soldiers from the Belarusian Army wear masks and gloves as the carefully unearth the remains of those who were killed during the Second World War

Soldiers sit in small ditch at the excavation site in Belarus and place the remains of those who were killed into plastic bags

The excavation site has been cordoned off as work continues to unearth prisoners who were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust

Soldiers carefully place the remains of prisoners at the Brest Ghetto into trays as work continues at the mass grave site

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.

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.

The site in Brest where excavation work is currently taking place was a Second World War ghetto created by the Nazis during their reign of terror

Soldiers are seen using their spades to continue excavation work at the site in Brest where the remains of hundreds of Jews have been found

A member of the Belarus Army carefully extracts the remains of those believed to have been killed by the Nazis during the Second World War

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 remains of at least 1,000 suspected Jewish victims of the Holocaust were discovered close to the site of the 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

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

'Workers came to dig graves early in the morning,' said their account.

'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.

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
Eight Chinese women living in Florida have been arrested in connection with the international sex-trafficking sting that resulted in New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft being charged with two counts of solicitation.

Lan Yun Ma, 49, and Yaping Ren, 27, of Orlando, Lixia Zhu, 48, of Stuart, Yan Xu, 51, of Sebastian, and Ruimei Li, 48, Hua Zhang, 58, and Lei Wang, 39, all of Jupiter have all been arrested as a result of an eight-month-long investigation into a human trafficking operation.

Marin County Sheriff William Snyder said that authorities were in the process of seizing $2 million to $3 million in assets related to the trafficking scheme, and that investigators had been following as much as $20 million moving in and out of China.

'The tentacles of this go from here to New York to China, in Florida from here [Marin County] to Orange County,' Snyder told USA Today.

Multiple spas in Florida have now been closed, and at least 100 men and 200 people in total have been implicated in the probe which authorities said was tied to prostitution through massage parlors where women were being treated as victims rather than paid sex workers.

The women, who largely speak only Mandarin or Cantonese and no English, are believed to have come to the US on temporary work visas, finding themselves indebted to the the brokers who helped them reach America under the false belief that legitimate work awaited them.

Eight Chinese woman have all been arrested and hundreds of men have been charged as a result of an eight-month-long investigation into a human trafficking operation based in Florida. The charges include racketeering, deriving support from proceeds of prostitution and engaging in prostitution. Lan Yun Ma, 49 (right), and Yaping Ren, 27 (left), of Orlando are pictured

The investigation began in July, when the Health Department tipped of a detective that there appeared to be human trafficking taking place at a massage parlor in Hobe Sound, Florida.

Another tip of the same kind expanded the investigation in October, in Orlando.

'It was clear that multiple women were working and living inside the spas. They were cooking on the back steps of the business,' Snyder said.

'They were sleeping in the massage parlor on the massage tables.'

Vero Beach Police Chief David Currey said: 'These girls are there all day long, into the evening. They can't leave and they're performing sex acts.

'Some of them may tell us they're OK, but they're not. We know that even though we may have charges on some of them, we'd rather them be victims.'

Officials have now said that a total of 13 Mandarin interpreters were speaking with the various women in the parlors.

Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter

Multiple spas in Florida have now been closed, and at least 100 men and 200 people in total have been implicated in the probe which authorities said was tied to prostitution through massage parlors where women were being treated as victims rather than paid sex workers. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft (pictured with Tom Brady on Monday) has been charged with two counts of soliciting prostitution at a parlor in Jupiter, related to the sting, which he has denied. The NFL says it will handle the sex solicitation case involving Kraft as it would any other issue under the league's conduct policy. Owners are subject to the same rules as players, which can includes a fine and/or a suspension

Tom Brady leans in to give Bob Kraft a hug after the two arrived at Boston's Logan Airport on Monday. The two have been close for 20 years

Hua Zhang, 58 (left), and Lei Wang, (right) 39, were arrested in connection with alleged activities at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, where Kraft is accused of paying for oral and non-penetrative sex

Zhang and Wang were arrested in connection with alleged activities at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, where Kraft is accused of paying for oral and non-penetrative sex.

The Jupiter Police Department released a list of all men charged in relation to the ring, including first and last names and dates of birth, which showed Kraft as implicated.

A spokesperson for Kraft said: 'We categorically deny that Mr. Kraft engaged in any illegal activity.

'Because it is a judicial matter, we will not be commenting further.'

Meanwhile the NFL has said it will handle the sex solicitation case involving Kraft as it would any other issue under the league's conduct policy.

Owners are subject to the same rules as players, which can includes a fine and/or a suspension.

The Palm Beach County parlor was described as providing sex acts, massages and body rubs for pay from Asian women on internet forums, in posts from February 2015 to March 2018.

Video showed sex acts being undertaken inside the spa and investigators retrieved evidence of bodily fluids from within the establishment.

At least 24 other men have been charged with solicitation of prostitution at that location, alone.

At least 24 other men have been charged with solicitation of prostitution at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa of Jupiter (pictured) alone

Mark Patrick Spero, 24 (left), of Sebastian, and Jonathan Cort Beatty, 42, of Indian River County have been charged with soliciting prostitution

Carl William Guidice, 58 (left), of Golden Oak and Juan Manuel Dasilva, 60 (right), of West Melbourne, have been charged with soliciting prostitution

Robert Craig Grimm, 38 (left), of Palm Bay and Maneul Esquivel, 19 (right), of Fort Pierce have been charged with soliciting prostitution

The Jupiter Police Department released a list of all men charged in relation to the ring, including first and last names and dates of birth, which showed Kraft as implicated

East Spa & Massage and Rainbow Spa in Orlando

It was another routine inspection at the East Spa & Massage parlor that began the unraveling of this arm of alleged international trafficking ring.

A health inspector noticed clothing, suitcases, food, bedding and other indicators that people were being housed at the spa, and reported that information to authorities in October.

Ma, whose address was listed as Grand Central Parkway, off John Young Parkway in Orlando, was seen by authorities buying food, water and condoms for East Spa & Massage in Winter Park, which has been closed, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

She was also captured on camera taking money from and performing sexual acts on customers, authorities said.

It was a routine inspection at the East Spa & Massage parlor (pictured) in Indian River County that began the unraveling of this alleged international trafficking ring

In November, police had placed surveillance cameras in the establishment where Ma is believed to have been responsible for day-to-day operations.

Ma is also accused of transporting women to the spa 'for the purpose of sexual servitude.'

Beyond Ma and her sister, who remains at large, 'none of the other woman employed at East Spa have been allowed to leave the spa on their own on a daily basis,' authorities said.

Ma is married to Yongzhang Yan, whose address is listed as the East Spa & Massage location, but he is not yet facing charges.

Vero Beach Police Chief Currey said on Thursday that the continued investigation 'hopefully will produce charges for [Yan],' who was seen with Ma and Ren taking luggage and other items into the spa on December 31.

Ren was captured on camera performing at least 10 sex acts, authorities said.

Officials have described Yaping Ren (left) as a manager at the Rainbow Spa, which is located near downtown Orlando. A woman named Junhua Dong, 50 (right), of Vero Beach has also been charged with racketeering, deriving support from proceeds of prostitution and engaging in prostitution

The owners of East Spa & Massage and Rainbow Spa were also found to have paid for Backpage.com listings, which is a site known to advertise sex work. Both locations have been closed. Rainbow Spa near downtown Orlando is pictured

Officials have described Ren as a manager at the Rainbow Spa, which is located near downtown Orlando.

The owners of East Spa & Massage and Rainbow Spa were also found to have paid for Backpage.com listings, which is a site known to advertise sex work. Both locations have been closed.

At just those two locations, Vero Beach Police Department reported at least 140 sex acts being performed for money between November 30 and January 10.

Ma has been charged with deriving support from the proceeds of prostitution, engaging in prostitution and unlawful transportation for the purpose of prostitution. She also faces a racketeering charge.

Ren has been charged with engaging in prostitution, deriving support from prostitution and racketeering.

A woman named Junhua Dong, 50, of Vero Beach has also been charged with racketeering, deriving support from proceeds of prostitution and engaging in prostitution.

Additional massage parlor locations in Florida

Lixia Zhu, 48 (left), of Stuart, and Ruimei Li, 48 (right), of Jupiter, have also been arrested and charged. Li and Zhu are accused of running implicated spas, with four in Marin County and one in Jupiter

Another woman, Yan Xu, 51, of Sebastian has also been charged with racketeering, deriving support from proceeds of prostitution and engaging in prostitution

Li and Zhu are accused of running implicated spas, with four in Marin County and one in Jupiter.

Another woman, Yan Xu, 51, of Sebastian has also been charged with racketeering, deriving support from proceeds of prostitution and engaging in prostitution.

The Indian River County Sheriff's Office, Orange County Sheriffs Office, Orlando Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security, and the 19th Judicial Circuit State Attorneys Office worked together throughout this ongoing investigation.

To report a tip or get help, the confidential National Human Trafficking Hotline is 1 (888) 373-7888. The hotline is available 24/7 and in more than 200 languages.
Fresh evidence into the death of Kirsty Maxwell in Benidorm could suggest she clung onto a 10th floor balcony before she plunged to her death.

Newlywed Kirsty, 27, died on April 29, 2017, while on a friend's hen party in the Spanish resort town.

Just seven months after her own nuptials Kirsty was found dead at Payma Apartments following a night out with friends.

Initially it was believed she was in an apartment occupied by five men from Livingston, Nottingham.

Kirsty Maxwell plunged to her death from the 10th floor of a hotel in Benidorm. Pictured with her husband Adam

Kirsty, who married Adam only last September, fell 100ft to her death from the hotel Balcony in Benidorm, Spain. Pictured: The balcony in the room where she was staying

It is unknown how Kirsty fell to her death from the tenth floor of the budget hotel room. She was on the tenth floor. Pictured: Balcony below where newlywed fell from

Joseph Graham, who was in the flat at the time, was arrested on suspicion of homicide but was later released without charge.

However, it has now been suggested she scaled the barrier of the balcony and clung on to it before losing her grip, say her family.

A Spanish judge is set to review the new evidence originally released in 2018 from biomechanics expert Mike Brown, the Daily Record reports.

Now, one of the UK's most experienced forensics scientists will look further into the circumstances surrounding the young woman's death.

Kirsty was in Benidorm on holiday for a friend's hen party seven months after her own wedding

Speaking to BBC Scotland's The Nine programme, Kirsty's dad Brian Curry said: 'We've got people on board and the team is getting bigger.

Kirsty Maxwell, who was killed when she plunged from a balcony during a hen party in Spain, with her husband Adam

'We've got velocity fall experts, forensics experts, because we need every piece of back-up to take it to the judge.

'We're coming up for two years this April and we never thought we would be here. We thought this would be done and dusted.

'We were obviously very naive about that and how judicial wheels turn.

'Even now, we know we've got a lot of things we want to progress with and we realise we can't do this all at once.

'It's still frustrating but we know this can't be sorted overnight.

'We've got a goal and the goal is to find out some truth and answers.

'We've always been positive that we're doing the right thing. As long as we are here, we'll keep pushing on.

'This is a big fight. We're not under any illusions that it's going be easy - we never have been. But it is a fight that we will go on with.'
Amanda Knox joked about her time in prison and posed as the suspect in another stabbing as she shared pictures from a Victorian-themed murder mystery party.

The 31-year-old, whose real-life murder mystery gripped the world when she was charged with killing British student Meredith Kercher in Italy, played a British countess accused of stabbing the owner of a priceless artwork.

Joking that she had been accused of murder once again, Ms Knox said her character had been exonerated in four hours, adding: 'Better than four years'.

Ms Knox, from Seattle, Washington, spent four years in an Italian prison after she and her ex-boyfriend were jailed for the November 2007 murder, but she was found not guilty in 2011.

Amanda Knox (left) poses with her fiance Christopher Robinson (right) during a murder mystery game four years after the end of her Italian ordeal

Ms Knox (second right) joked that it had taken only four hours to clear her. She is seen with her fiance Christopher Robinson (far left), his writing partner Gavin Kovite (second left) and another friend, production designer Jordin Mitchell (right)

Amanda Knox, left, was initially convicted of murdering British exchange student Meredith Kercher, right, in Italy in 2007 but she was later cleared of the killing

Posting the pictures on Instagram, she said: 'Victorian London: A priceless painting goes missing and the owner is found both poisoned and stabbed.

'And would you believe it, I, the Countess of Lovelace, am accused. Also acquitted, all in 4 hours. Better than 4 years.'

She appeared to be playing Ada Lovelace, a 19th-century British mathematician who worked on a very early form of computer programming.

One of the other party guests was her fiance Christopher Robinson, a novelist who proposed to Ms Knox with an elaborate sci-fi-themed display last November.

During the proposal he took her into their front yard where he had staged a fake meteor, which contained a 'data crystal' describing their 'coalescence'.

They have been dating since February 2016 and Ms Knox made the relationship public with a change in her Facebook status later that year.

The couple met after Ms Knox - who became known as Foxy Knoxy during her ordeal - had reviewed Robinson's book, War of the Encyclopaedists, on her blog.

Ms Knox and her partner, Christopher Robinson (pictured together) have been dating since 2016, having met when Amanda reviewed his novel for a local magazine

Amanda Knox, now 31, and her novelist fiance, Christopher Robinson became engaged last year. They are seen here in Leavenworth, Washington, last December

The loved-up pair shared images from their trip to Los Angeles in December last year

Among the other murder mystery guests was Robinson's writing partner Gavin Kovite, an Iraq veteran who worked with Ms Knox's fiance on Encyclopaedists.

Another guest, production designer Jordin Mitchell, shared one of the same pictures on his own account, saying: 'Nothing like a good ol' fashioned Victorian mystery to kick off the weekend... everyone was so fun to play with.'

The body of Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found by police in the flat she shared with Ms Knox on November 2, 2007.

Officers discovered her throat was slashed and she had been sexually assaulted.

Ms Knox and her then boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were arrested and later convicted of murder and sexual assault in 2009.

The couple maintained their innocence, insisting that they had spent the evening together at Mr Sollecito's home watching a film, smoking marijuana and being intimate.

Describing her ordeal earlier this year, she said: 'I was interrogated for 53 hours over five days, without a lawyer, in a language I understood maybe as well as a ten-year-old.

'When I told the police I had no idea who had killed Meredith, I was slapped in the back of the head and told to 'Remember!'

'I trusted these people. They were adults. They were authorities. And they lied to me.'

Ms Knox, then 21, is led from a court in Perugia after a hearing in 2008. She served four years in an Italian prison after she was wrongly convicted

Ms Knox and her then boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito (pictured together in November 2007) were arrested and later convicted of murder and sexual assault in 2009

Two years later, the Perugia Court of Appeal acquitted the pair of the more serious charges, but upheld Ms Knox's conviction for malicious accusation.

After three years in custody, Ms Knox was released and left Italy for the United States.

Ms Knox challenged the malicious conviction, but the Court of Cassation quashed her acquittal in 2013 and referred the case back to the Assize Court of Appeal.

That court re-sentenced her to more than 28 years in prison for complicity in sexual assault and murder, and three years for malicious accusation.

Ms Knox launched another appeal, and in 2015 she and Mr Sollecito were acquitted of sexual assault and murder by Italy's highest court, but Ms Knox was not cleared of the malicious accusation charge.

Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivorian, is serving a 16-year sentence for Ms Kercher's murder.

Earlier this year a European court awarded Ms Knox 18,400 ($20,000 or 15,800) in damages after finding that Italian authorities had 'violated her human rights'.

Heading home: Amanda Knox at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci Airport in October 2011 as she prepared to return to Seattle following her acquittal
Halal meat from animals slaughtered without having been stunned cannot be labelled organic on 'welfare grounds', a top European Union court has ruled.

The way the meat is slaughtered 'fails to observe the highest animal welfare standards', according to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

The case came to the court after the OABA, a French association promoting animal welfare in abattoirs, urged ministers to ban the labelling of such meat as organic.

French campaigners brought the case to court, arguing that slaughtering animals without stunning them - such as with halal meat - failed to meet organic standards

French courts initially dismissed the OABA's case before passing it up to the CJEU for a definitive ruling.

'The Court recalls that scientific studies have shown that pre-stunning is the technique that compromises animal welfare the least at the time of killing,' said an CJEU statement Tuesday.

Producers have to meet the highest animal welfare standards to qualify for the EU's organic label, the court noted.

So while the ritual slaughter of animals was allowed on grounds of religious freedom, if they were not first stunned then that did not meet the highest standards.

The meat from such animals could not then qualify as organic.

The case will now go back to the Court of Appeal in Versailles for a definitive ruling.
Cardinal George Pell will take one last shot at freedom by requesting to stay on bail as he appeals his conviction for molesting two choirboys.

Australia's highest-ranking Catholic will face County Court at 10am on Wednesday for a pre-sentence hearing before he is likely sent to jail next month.

He was convicted of one count of sexually penetrating a child and four counts of committing an act of indecency in December in a verdict made public on Tuesday.

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' jail.

Victorian County Court chief judge Peter Kidd said Pell, 77, would be remanded in custody after the hearing until his sentence.

However, Pell's lawyers filed a bail application at the court of appeal for 2.30pm on Wednesday, hoping to keep him out of jail until his appeal is heard.

Cardinal George Pell will take one last shot at freedom by begging to stay on bail while he appeals his conviction for molesting two choirboys

It was not clear whether Pell would be forced to spend the few hours in between in a holding cell.

The Court of Appeal can grant bail at its discretion while it reviews an application to quash a conviction, which can take months.

Should the court end up overturning Pell's conviction, prosecutors would have to decide whether to re-try the case in the County Court.

Investigations related to Pell during the Royal Commission into sex abuse in institutions would remain sealed until his appeals were exhausted.

Judge Kidd wanted to have Pell thrown in jail immediately after the verdict, but let him stay free so he could have a double knee replacement.

Pell is the most senior Catholic clergyman to face trial over sexual offences anywhere in the world. He has been ailing in recent months

A suppression order against making the conviction public was only lifted on Tuesday after prosecutors abandoned a second case against him.

Two boys had claimed Pell molested them in a Ballarat swimming pool in the 1970s when he was a parish priest there.

Australian media was forced to report Pell had stepped down from his role as the Vatican's chief financial officer due to old age.

In reality, he was sacked by Pope Francis immediately after his conviction.

Pope Francis also banned Pell from saying Mass in public and from going near children until his appeal against the conviction is over.

Acting Holy See spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said Pope Francis was pained by Pell's conviction and knows it has shocked many people in Australia.

But Francis also noted that Pell 'has reiterated his innocence and has the right to defend himself', Gisotti said.

Pope Francis (right, with Pell) banned from saying Mass in public and from going near children until his appeal against the conviction is over

Acting Holy See spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said Pope Francis was pained by Pell's conviction and knows it has shocked many people in Australia

REACTION TO CARDINAL GEORGE PELL'S GUILTY VERDICT THE VICTIMS 'At some point, we realise that we trusted someone we should have feared and we fear those genuine relationships that we should trust.' - surviving victim

'This conviction is a reminder to survivors of abuse to feel empowered to tell their stories. Justice has prevailed and the nation is finally listening and addressing your pain.' - lawyer Lisa Flynn, who represented child sexual assault victims

'I'm utterly devastated about it ... There was no one for them at the bar table today.' - lawyer Ingrid Irwin after a second trial which involved Pell and two of her clients was dropped PELL'S LAWYER 'Cardinal George Pell has always maintained his innocence and continues to do so.' - lawyer representing Pell, Paul Galbally The two boys were molested in 1996 after a mass Pell conducted at St Patrick's Cathedral (pictured) in Melbourne THE CHURCH 'While acknowledging the judgment of the jury, I join many people who have been surprised and shaken by the outcome of the second trial.' - Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli

'We pray for all those who have been abused and their loved ones and we commit ourselves anew to doing everything possible to ensure that the Church is a safe place for all, especially the young and the vulnerable.' - Archbishop Mark Coleridge, President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

'The institution has been brought to its knees. It has lost its credibility, frankly. It is still struggling to come to terms with that.' - Francis Sullivan, former boss of the council that co-ordinated the church's royal commission response COMMUNITY 'Catholics today in Victoria, in Australia, vote with your feet. Have some backbone, walk out of the church house. They won't change.' - child sexual abuse survivor advocate, Michael

'To date, within the Catholic Church, it has been anything but fair, just, humane or moral.' - Cathy Kezelman, president of the Blue Knot Foundation for adult survivors of child trauma

'This is is a momentous event, as part of the continuing drama of the Catholic catastrophe.' - former Catholic priest turned child abuse victims advocate Professor Des Cahill

'Thank you to some of the bravest men in Australia and their families for trusting me.' - investigative journalist Louise Milligan

'You're going to burn in hell. Burn in hell, Pell.' - a bystander as Pell left court

'Cardinal Pell's behaviours have not met the standards we expect of those we honour as role models for the young men we educate.' - St Patrick's College headmaster John Crowley, having removed Pell's name from a building which had been named in his honour Pell has always maintained his innocence and has lodged an appeal against his convictions POLITICIANS 'Like most Australians, I am deeply shocked at the crimes of which George Pell has been convicted. I respect the fact that this case is under appeal, but it is the victims and their families I am thinking of today, and all who have suffered from sexual abuse by those they should have been able to trust, but couldn't.' - Prime Minister Scott Morrison

'My thoughts are with the victims - their pain is a tragedy, their bravery an inspiration. They've been betrayed and so have good people of faith across Victoria.' - Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews

'(I'm) absolutely shocked and disgusted by the details I've read today and I think everybody would feel the same. There are no words to describe how horrible those incidents were.' - NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian

'Finally, the good news is that now George Pell's decades of predatory behaviour is out there for all to see.' - Senator Derryn Hinch

'It is truly wonderful to live in a country where no one is above the law, where any person can seek access to justice and to see that justice done.' - Deputy Labor Leader Tanya Plibersek Advertisement

The two 13-year-old boys were on scholarships to the prestigious St Kevin's College in late 1996 and were caught swigging sacramental wine in the priest's sacristy by Pell, newly installed as Archbishop of Melbourne.

Pell scolded the boys, then exposed his penis from beneath his ornate ceremonial robes, and molested the pair including forcing one to perform oral sex on him.

'You're in trouble,' he told them before the assaults.

One of the boys said he was sexually assaulted again by Pell a month or so after he was raped, recalling that he was pushed against a cathedral wall.

'He shoved me against the wall violently and squeezed my genitals,' the court heard.

The cardinal's barrister Robert Richter QC argued the allegations were a 'far-fetched fantasy', that Pell was always accompanied after mass and that his cumbersome robes would have prevented him revealing his genitals.

Pell's lawyer Robert Richter (pictured) filed a bail application at the court of appeal for 2.30pm that day, hoping to keep him out of jail until his appeal is heard

The Court of Appeal (pictured) can grant bail at its discretion while it reviews an application to quash a conviction, which can take months

'This is painful news': The Vatican's full statement on the Pell verdict The Holy See agrees with the statement issued by the President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference regarding the sentence of guilt in the first instance concerning Cardinal George Pell. This is painful news that, as we are well aware, has shocked many people, not only in Australia. As already expressed on other occasions, we have the utmost respect for the Australian judicial authorities. Out of this respect, we await the outcome of the appeals process, recalling that Cardinal Pell maintains his innocence and has the right to defend himself until the last stage of appeal. While awaiting the definitive judgement, we unite ourselves with the Australian bishops in praying for all victims of abuse, and reaffirm our commitment to do everything possible so that the Church might be a safe home for all, especially for children and the most vulnerable. In order to ensure the course of justice, the Holy Father has confirmed the precautionary measures which had been imposed by the local Ordinary on Cardinal George Pell when he returned to Australia. That is, while awaiting the definitive assessment of the facts, as is the norm, Cardinal George Pell is prohibited from exercising public ministry and from having any voluntary contact whatsoever with minors. Advertisement

'Only a madman would attempt to rape boys in the priest's sacristy immediately after Sunday solemn mass,' he told the jury.

Pell's surviving victim thanked his family for their support, saying the process of bringing Pell to justice was stressful and not over yet.

'Like many survivors I have experienced shame, loneliness, depression and struggle. Like many survivors it has taken me years to understand the impact upon my life,' he said.

'At some point we realise that we trusted someone we should have feared and we fear those genuine relationships that we should trust.'

Pell's other victim died of a heroin overdose.
Maryland Delegate Mary Ann Lisanti, 51, has been accused of using the N-word when referring to Prince George's County - where 62 percent of the population is black - during an after-hours meeting with fellow lawmakers at a cigar bar last month. The Harford County Democrat is pictured

A white Maryland lawmaker accused of referring to a county as a 'n***** district' has apologized to leaders of the state's Legislative Black Caucus.

Delegate Mary Ann Lisanti allegedly used the racial slur to describe Prince George's County while talking to a white colleague who campaigned in the district at an after-hours gathering at an Annapolis cigar bar.

The population of Prince George's County is 62 percent African American, according to the US Census Bureau.

Members of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland confronted the Democrat from Harford County over the allegations on Monday night, according to The Washington Post.

Caucus chair Del Darryl Barnes, a fellow Democrat from Prince George's County, said Lisanti appeared 'contrite' when asked about her remarks, which he described as 'really disturbing'.

'She apologized several times,' Barnes told the Post. 'She recognizes how she has hurt so many within the caucus, and she hoped to repent from this.

He added: 'She said that she doesnt remember fully what happened, but she recognizes what happened.'

Lisanti allegedly made the remark at Annapolis Cigar (pictured) late last month in front of a small, racially mixed group of colleagues

Lisanti apologized to the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland on Monday night. Caucus chair Del Darryl Barnes (third from the left with other caucus leadership), a fellow Democrat from Prince George's County, said that Lisanti appeared 'contrite' when asked about her remarks

Lisanti allegedly made the remark at Annapolis Cigar late last month in front of a small, racially mixed group of colleagues.

According to the Post, the following lawmakers were in attendance: Del Jay Walker (D-Prince George's), House Majority Whip Talmadge Branch (D-Baltimore City); Dels Theresa E Reilly (R-Harford), Warren E Miller (R-Howard) and Carl L Anderton Jr (R-Wicomico); and state Sen Brian J Feldman (D-Montgomery).

The Post had questioned Lisanti about the incident N-word earlier this month, to which she responded: 'I don't recall that... I don't recall much of that evening.'

When pressed further about whether she had ever used the N-word, the lawmaker said: 'I'm sure I have... I'm sure everyone has used it.

'I've used the f-word. I used the Lords name in vain.'

Lisanti did not return requests for comment following the Monday meeting.

The allegations against her came on the heels of disturbing racist revelations out of Virginia, where Gov Ralph S Northam and Attorney General Mark R Herring, both Democrats, admitted to using blackface decades ago.

When asked about her alleged use of the N-word earlier this month, Lisanti told the Post: 'I don't recall that... I don't recall much of that evening'

The allegations against Lisanti came on the heels of disturbing racist revelations out of Virginia, where Gov Ralph S Northam (left) and Attorney General Mark R Herring (right), both Democrats, admitted to using blackface decades ago

A number of fellow lawmakers from Maryland have expressed concern over Lisanti's alleged comments.

House Speaker Michael E Busch issued a statement on Monday urging Lisanti to apologize to her colleagues and 'face the consequences of her behavior'.

'There is no place in the House of Delegates for any racial slurs  or slurs of any kind in society in general,' the Democrat of Anne Arundel said.

Barnes told the Post that he thinks Lisanti should undergo sensitivity training, and said: 'I do think that someone who uses the word, its a reflection of whats in their heart.'

Del Sheree Sample-Hughes, who was at the meeting Monday night, said hearing about Lisanti's use of the slur was 'very disheartening and frustrating'.

When Sample-Hughes asked her whether she grew up in a household where that word was used, Lisanti 'didn't give a direct response', the Democrat from Wicomico said.

Prince George's County Executive Angela D Alsobrooks publicly invited Lisanti to come visit the county, calling reports about her comments 'disturbing and offensive'.

'I would love for her to come here and visit so I can show her the true Prince Georges County,' Alsobrooks said, according to the Post.

Lisanti is a second-term lawmaker and serves on the House Economic Matters Committee. She is also chair of the unemployment insurance subcommittee.
















CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research and home to theworlds largest and most powerful particle accelerator, became really popular for their revolutionary supercollider and its mind-boggling experiments; creating temperatures 100,000 times hotter than the core of the Sun, creating new particles, black holes, anti-particles, and new forms of matter. They have a good number of fans who admire these experiments, however, a lot of skeptics also abound who view every experiment carried out by CERN, as masking a darker purpose.

The Skeptics Society Forum quotes a couple of scientists, who spoke on how powerful they believed CERNs experiments to be. The God particle found by CERN could destroy the universe, Stephen Hawking wrote in the preface to a book, Starmus, a collection of lectures by scientists. The Higgs Boson could become unstable at very high energy levels and have the potential to trigger a catastrophic vacuum decay which would cause space and time to collapse and we would not have any warning to the dangers.

Astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson is known to have said on a radio program that the experiment could literally cause the planet to explode.

Otto Rossler, a German professor had in 2008, filed a lawsuit against CERN with the European Court of Human Rights, claiming that he believed the facility could trigger a mini black hole that could get out of control and annihilate the planet.

Sergio Bertolucci, former Director for Research and Scientific Computing of the facility, got a lot of attention when he said in an interview with a British newspaper that the supercollider could open other worldly doors to another dimension...

CERN also came under attack by skeptics who are worried about a photograph that was taken of the sky above CERN. This photograph was posted on June 24 by a Facebook user, Joelle Rodrigue who had taken a photo of a storm above the research center.

An internet publication called Freedom Fighter Times, quoted of sputniknews, has several articles about CERN, named "the CERN files," in the "science from hell" section of its website.

In May, this publication accused CERN of opening the portals to hell.

"CERN is directly responsible for weather manipulation and the opening of portals, under an operation called The CLOUD Experiment. Strange 'coincidences' are popping up surrounding CERN that may make you think twice about things," they wrote.

They supported their allegations with the photo of the storm captured by Rodriguez.

"CERN is notorious for opening portals and then denying it; something very strange was captured in the clouds above the Large Hadron Collider just recently," they wrote.

"Below is a photo of an isolated storm captured by Joelle Rodrigue on June 24th. The cloud looks to be rotating in a circular motion and some have claimed to see a face in the lightning filled cloud. Last year we reported that there were clear images of demons in the pictures of CERN's beams. Could this be an outer manifestation of one?"
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South Africa: Key infrastructure designs for SKA completed

All essential infrastructure designs required for the first phase of the world's most powerful radio telescope - the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) - have been completed.

The SKA is a collection of thousands of antennas spread over 3 000km which will work together as one gigantic, virtual instrument creating a radio telescope at least 50 times more powerful and 10 000 times faster than any other radio telescope currently in existence.

The telescope will be made up of many large antennas and other types of radio wave receivers that will be linked together via optic fibre cables which are constructed in South Africa and Australia.

For the last five years, engineers have been hard at work at their sites in Murchison, Western Australia and the Northern Cape designing all the essential infrastructure required for construction of this complex global project.

Following the successful review of the key infrastructure components, the project will now move on to the bridging phase, the Department of Science and Technology said on Monday. This phase will bring together all the individual detailed designs of elements of the SKA and integrate them on a system level.

A system critical design review will be conducted in December after which the project will enter the procurement phase, followed by construction once the establishment of the SKAO as an intergovernmental organisation has been concluded.

Minister of Science and Technology, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane has welcomed the progress made by the teams.

"I am proud of the sterling work by our engineers who are part of the SKA project.

I have no doubt the expertise and best practice developed during the delivery of this precursor telescope enabled the INSA [Infrastructure South Africa] consortium to meet the SKA Organisation's stringent standards for infrastructure design," the minister said.

The minister went on to wish the SKAO well for the system critical design review at the end of 2019, and the development of the construction proposal for approval by the intergovernmental organisation.

South Africa's Department of Science and Technology has already invested more than R760 million in infrastructure for the MeerKAT radio telescope, which was completed in July last year in Carnarvon, the Northern Cape.

Kubayi-Ngubane said she looks forward to her official visit to Rome next month for the signing of the SKA Convention, following four rounds of negotiations over the last few years.

Italy, which led the multilateral negotiation process, was the first country to initial the document. The Minister will then proceed to the SKA Global Headquarters in Manchester, UK.

Once completed, the radio astronomers will use the SKA to understand how stars and galaxies formed, how they evolved over time; what the so-called "dark-matter" is that occupies 95% of the universe; how magnetic fields formed and evolved in the universe and how they influence astrophysical processes; to investigate the validity of Einstein's theory of relativity, and perhaps detect life elsewhere in the universe.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-02-26. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Teachers and school principals are increasingly being forced to take out restraining orders against parents.

Stalking and intimidation numbers have soared in recent years, according to new research conducted into the working conditions of staff at schools.

The most recent Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey found 45 per cent of principals experienced threats of violence in 2018.

Teachers and school principals are increasingly being forced to take out restraining orders against parents

A further 38 per cent were subjected to physical violence, The Australian reported.

The most common perpetrators of these attacks were parents and pupils.

Government primary schools reported the highest instances of violence and threats at 49 per cent.

Federal Education Minister Dah Tehan said the government needed to prioritise making the education sector a safer environment for employees.

'Improving the working conditions of teachers and principals will lead to better results for our school kids,' he said.

Staff have reported being punched, kicked, spat on, bitten and stabbed while on school grounds while others recollected instances in which they have been 'stalked and tailgated' while heading home.

Stalking and intimidation numbers have soared in recent years, according to new research conducted into the working conditions of staff at schools

Another said he developed post-traumatic stress disorder after a student pointed a gun at him.

Restraining orders and trespass orders are available when needed, with some community leaders saying principals and teachers should always consider executing the full extent of the law to keep safe.

Australian Primary Principals Association president Malcolm Elliott, who worked as a principal for 18 years, said: 'Principals have to be willing to use [the orders] in the interests of people's safety. Its a right available to them under the law.'
Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro detained Univision's news team led by Jorge Ramos after being shown images of civilians digging for food in a garbage truck, the anchor has revealed.

The veteran journalist questioned the embattled leader over the lack of democracy and widespread claims of political prisoners that allegedly have been tortured in Venezuela.

Ramos quizzed him about comments made by a former government aide who said Maduro was responsible for the deaths of about 100 people that died while protesting his regime in 2017, and the humanitarian crisis that has engulfed the Latin American region.

But President Maduro didn't take a liking when Ramos asked what title he wished to be referred to when the cameras started rolling.

Ramos said in a Facebook video: '[I told him] that I couldn't call him president, that millions of Venezuelans consider that he is a dictator.'

Maduro thought Ramos reached the tip of the iceberg when the Univision lead anchor showed him a video clip of starving Venezuelans digging for food.

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Univision lead anchor Jorge Ramos showed the president images of Venezuelans in the capital city of Caracas digging through a garbage truck for food

President Maduro, who has been under intense pressure from the international community to voluntarily step down, tried to shut down Ramos' iPad before ordering him and the rest of his staff to be detained for more than two hours at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on Monday evening.

'They say that they did not authorize the interview,' Ramos said during a special network segment after he and his co-workers were released.

'It is a total violation of freedom of expression, a violation of human rights, a violation of the principles of every journalist. They believe that the interview is theirs.'

On Tuesday morning, Ramos and the Spanish-language network staffers headed to the airport to catch a Miami-bound flight after they were deported by the Venezuelan government.

President Maduro reportedly tried to shut down Ramos' iPad before ordering him and the rest of his staff to be detained for more than two hours at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas

Jesus (pictured) told Jorge Ramos that he could not longer continue to eat food from garbage trucks. The images of Jesus and two other men picking through a pile of garbage to feed themselves infuriated Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Monday night

A trio of Venezuelan men pluck out food from a garbage truck near the presidential palace

They were led to the airport in Caracas by personnel from the United States and Mexican embassies, but were also followed by Maduro's security agents.

Ramos and the Univision staffers arrived in Venezuela Saturday ahead of his one-on-one sit-down with the Venezuelan president.

On Sunday, Ramos visited a hospital where he spoke to a couple of people who were tending to their loved ones, including one woman whose family member had just passed away.

He also met another woman who said she has been forced to seek medical supplies on her own because of the crippling state of the country's health care system.

Ramos (center) leaves his hotel Tuesday morning to board a Miami-bound flight

Jorge Ramos (fourth from left) and his co-workers from Univision were accompanied to the airport in Caracas, Venezuela, by personnel from the Mexican and United States embassies

Univision anchor Jorge Ramos (left) was detained at the presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, after interviewing President Nicolas Maduro (right)

Ramos would later come across three men eating crumbs of food they had picked from from a garbage truck near the presidential palace.

As Ramos filmed, a man who identified himself as Jesus, 35, said: 'We need to remove the president and we want to take him out. We can't live like this eating from garbage.'

These pictures were later shown to the president by Ramos, apparently sparking his fury.

But Venezuela's information minister Jorge Rodriguez told the network that Ramos called the Venezuelan president an assassin and a dictator.

The interview lasted 17 minutes before Maduro abruptly terminated it.

According to Ramos, their cameras and equipment were confiscated by Maduro's security team.

Ramos and network producer Maria Guzman were taken into a dark room by the agents and were interrogated. They were ordered to give up the passwords to their cell phones and were also threatened with being taken to another site.

'They were interviewing @NicolasMaduro but he didn't like the questions. Their technical equipment was also confiscated,' the Spanish-language US television network tweeted.

Guzman later said from the airport: 'I was very angry because I am a Cuban-American and when you leave a communist country like Cuba, I didn't think this would happen to me again.

'As a journalist it's frustrating, it's amazing that you have to endure being robbed of your work.'

'They were interviewing @NicolasMaduro but he didn't like the questions. Their technical equipment was also confiscated,' the Spanish-language US television network tweeted. Ramos (right) is seen before being detained on Monday

Ramos speaks to reporters after landing in Miami. He says the team's cameras and equipment were confiscated by Maduro's security team

After their release, the Venezuelan president's security team wanted Ramos and his colleagues to board a bus but they refused and later left in their own vehicles.

Ramos said Maduro's security agents were still outside the hotel while he was telling his story via the phone.

'We have written permission from them to come and interview Nicolas Maduro,' Ramos said.

'They gave us permission to come. They invited us to the Miraflores Palace. They chose the place. But the questions are ours. They've stolen our work. Imagine, if this happens to international correspondents, then what's happening with Venezuelans.'

He added: 'What I told him was that leaving and not answering the questions was not something presidents did, it's what dictators did.'

A television station's newsrooms were raided January 23 by Venezuelan authorities. The station was shut off the air and reporters were arrested.

Agents ransacked the site and broke equipment.

Jorge Rodriguez, Venezuela's information minister, told the network that Ramos called the Venezuelan president an assassin and a dictator

According to CNN, executives at Univision were able to find out what happened because 'Jorge managed to call us'.

But in the middle of their conversation, 'they took his phone away'.

Univision immediately contacted the US State Department.

In response to Univision's claims, Rodriguez tweeted that the government had in the past welcomed hundreds of journalists to the Miraflores presidential palace, but it did not support 'cheap shows'.

The incident unfolded on the same day that US Vice President Mike Pence met with Juan Guaido in Bogota, Colombia.

Pence arrived in the Colombian capital for an emergency summit of regional leaders to discuss the deepening crisis and immediately met with Guaido, who the US and 50 other nations recognize as Venezuela's rightful leader.

Venezuela was marred by clashes this weekend after the National Guard and police forces loyal to Maduro blocked trucks from crossing near the Brazilian and Colombian borders

The Trump administration on Monday announced new sanctions on allies of Maduro's as it struggles to find new ways to boost his opponent Guaido after an effort to deliver humanitarian aid to the economically devastated nation faltered amid strong resistance from security forces who remain loyal to the socialist leader.

In a speech to the group, Pence urged regional partners to freeze oil assets controlled by Maduro, transfer the proceeds to Guaido and restrict visas for Maduro's inner circle.

He said the US was imposing more sanctions on four pro-government governors, including a close Maduro ally who negotiated the release of an American in jail more than two years.

'It's time to do more,' said Pence. 'The day is coming soon when Venezuela's long nightmare will end, when Venezuela will once more be free, when her people will see a new birth of freedom, in a nation reborn to liberated.'

Pence's appearance before the Lima Group comes at an important crossroads for the coalition of 14 mostly conservative Latin American nations and Canada that has joined forces to pressure Maduro.

Security forces on the borders with Colombia and Brazil fired tear gas and buckshot on activists waving Venezuelan flags while escorting trucks with emergency medical and food kits

Four people have been reported killed and at least 300 wounded, although only a few were hospitalized

A month after Guaido declared himself interim president at an outdoor rally, hopes that support for Maduro inside the military would quickly crumble have faded.

Venezuela was marred by clashes this weekend after the National Guard and police forces loyal to Maduro blocked trucks from crossing near the Brazilian and Colombian borders.

Security forces on the borders with Colombia and Brazil fired tear gas and buckshot on activists waving Venezuelan flags while escorting trucks with emergency medical and food kits.

Four people have been reported killed and at least 300 wounded, although only a few were hospitalized.

While Colombian authorities said more than 160 soldiers deserted their posts and sought refuge across the border over the weekend, the highest-ranking among them was a National Guard major.

No battalion or division commanders have come forward to challenge Maduro despite almost-daily calls by Guaido and the US to do so.

That's left many asking what Guaido and the US can do to break the stalemate.

For now, the US is showing no signs it is considering a military intervention to remove Maduro.
The family of an original Disney Mouseketeer cast member has finally joined the search for him after learning of his disappearance six months after he went missing.

Friends, neighbors and police in Phoenix, Oregon, have been looking for Dennis Day, 76, since he was reported missing by his husband and partner of 46 years, Ernest Caswell in late July 2018.

But, it wasn't until one of Day's relatives, who also lives in Oregon, saw a local news report in early January that the rest of his California-based family was alerted to the fact that Day had vanished.

Former Mouseketeer Dennis Day, 76 (left), was reported missing in July 2018 by his husband Ernest Caswell (right). Day's family only discovered he had vanished in January 2019

Day, an actor, was cast as an original Disney Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeer in 1955

The relative 'saw it on the news broadcast and called us immediately,' Day's sister, Nelda Adkins, told Dateline.

'I called Phoenix Police Department the very next day, and weve been working on it ever since. The whole family got in on it.'

Adkinds said that police told her that Caswell had reported Day  an actor who got his big break after being cast on the Mickey Mouse Club cast alongside Annette Funicello in 1955  missing six months prior.

Day was last seen walking down his driveway on foot, saying he was going to visit friends

Caswell had been in the hospital at the time, receiving treatment for dementia, when 'he realized Dennis hadnt come to visit him in a few weeks' and asked a hospital staffer to call police, Adkins said.

Day's California family wasn't notified at the time because Caswell couldn't remember their contact information.

Adkins said that although she and her brother were close as children  even auditioning for the Mickey Mouse Club together  they didn't speak to each other often as adults, so it wasn't a surprise that she hadn't heard from him in several months.

Adkins said police told her that a man who was living at Day and Caswell's home at the time Day went missing had said that on the day he was last seen, Day had left the home on foot, stating he was going to go visit friends.

'Dennis had a car, but the car was left behind,' Adkins said. 'He left his dog and his cat behind, too  he loved them dearly, just like children.'

Police told KOBI 5 that Day's car was initially missing, but it was soon found on the Oregon coast. Two people were said to have been in the car, although neither Day nor Caswell appeared to be familiar with them.

Day (left) and Caswell (right) have been partners for 46 years. Caswell suffers from dementia and was unable to give police Day's family's contact info at the time he went missing

Day's sister Nelda Adkins (pictured with Day) said that she and her brother don't talk too often, so it was not unusual that she hadn't heard from him in several months

Police think Day may have voluntarily left town, but his niece Denise Norris (pictured with Day) and neighbors don't believe that's true as he rarely traveled and left his beloved pets behind

Day (front row, far right) appeared in the first two seasons of the Mickey Mouse Club. He was part of the original cast, alongside Annette Funicello (front row, far left)

The driver of the car is said to have told police that Day had given him permission to use the car, a 1996 Ford Escort wagon, according to the Mail Tribune.

'There was no evidence of a crime there, there was no evidence of a crime in the car,' Phoenix Police Department Lt. Jeff Price told the news station, noting that it was possible that Day left town voluntarily.

Day's niece, Denise Norris, told Dateline that Day 'doesn't even leave his house to travel anywhere' and last left Phoenix 12 years ago to attend his mother's funeral. She said that Day had been constantly at Caswell's side following Caswell's colon cancer and dementia diagnosis.

'Hes not the type of person who would just disappear. Especially with his significant other being in the hospital  he was very dedicated to him,' Norris said.

Day's neighbors also doubt that he would have just left town.

'When I found out his dog had been found roaming the street that was the moment that I said, 'Oh, no,' Day and Caswell's neighbor, Allie Jensen told KOBI 5.

Adkins said that over the six months since Day was reported missing, police have searched his home and a nearby graveyard and creek. Cadaver dogs were also used at one point, but did not find any signs indicated a crime had occurred.

None of Day's bank accounts or credit cards appear to have been used since he went missing and police have not been able to track his cell phone because he only had a prepaid phone.

Police said that a letter, supposedly written by Day and found at a neighbor's home, implied that the man who was living with Day and Caswell at the time had assaulted Day once, but police said there wasn't any evidence to back up the claim.

Since Day's disappearance, Caswell has been released from the hospital and is being taken care of at an assisted living facility.

A missing person poster featured on the Facebook page set up by Day's friends describes him as being a 5'7" white male, weighing about 150 pounds with grey/brown hair.

Anyone with information about Day's disappearance or whereabouts is asked to call Lt. Jeff Price of the Phoenix Police Department at (541) 535-1113, ext. 309 or the anonymous tip line at (888) 960-6450.
More than four years after a 20-year-old woman was found shot dead inside her boyfriend's home in Illinois, the man has walked into a police station in Indiana and confessed to killing her.

Danville police said 24-year-old Connor Scott made the admission on Sunday night, telling officers that he shot Kaylyn Whitaker in Martinsville, Illinois, on Halloween in 2014.

Her shooting death was originally considered a suicide, but the manner of death was ruled a homicide about 10 months later.

Cold case confession: Connor Scott, 24 (left), on Sunday confessed to killing his then-girlfriend, 20-year-old Kaylyn Whitaker (right), in October 2014

The couple had been together for nearly two years when on Halloween 2014, Whitaker died of a gunshot wound to the head

Scott, who has lived in Danville for the past six months, is being held in the Hendricks County Jail awaiting extradition to Illinois to face murder charges in Whitaker's death.

According to a statement from the Illinois State Police, on October 31, 2014, officers responded to a rural home in Martinsville after getting a call about Whitaker's death.

Scott, Whitaker's boyfriend of nearly two years, told police the 20-year-old college student had shot herself, and her death was initially classified as a suicide.

'During the investigation, suspicious circumstances led Investigators to turn the case from the initial report of a suicide, to a homicide investigation,' according to the statement.

Whitaker's parents never believed Scott's version of events and expressed their frustration with the lack of progress in the investigation in a December 2018 interview.

'We deserve closure. We deserve peace. This is a homicide case and it has been since 2015 and I am angry. Very angry,' Whitaker's mother Leslie Roberts told WTHI at the time.

Police say Connor initially claimed that Whitaker took her own life inside his home, but 10 months later her death was ruled a homicide

Less than three weeks before his confession, Scott (pictured left with a knife) had his guns taken away because he was said to be suicidal

Then at around 8.30pm on Sunday, Scott made his way inside the Danville Metropolitan Police Department headquarters and confessed to the 2014 murder of his then-girlfriend.

The Illinois State Police later interviewed Scott and obtained a videotaped confession from him, leading to his arrest.

It is unclear at this time what might have prompted the 24-year-old suspect to come clean when he did, but WTHR reported that on February 6, police confiscated Scott's firearms after his current girlfriend expressed concern that he was suicidal.

An arrest warrant for Scott was issued on Monday with a $1million bond.

The motive behind Whitaker's slaying remains unknown.
A large pile of dead coyotes has been discovered behind a subdivision in a North Carolina city, and a wildlife officer thinks they were brought from a different location after a hunt.

North Carolina wildlife enforcement officer Sampson Parker said on Monday that 73 carcasses were piled in a heap on the ground next to a ditch which leads to a stream in Charlotte.

Two residents found them last Thursday on the site of an old wastewater treatment plant. The city bought the property and locked it up.

'So we were walking back there  at first it looked like a whole bunch of deer or raccoons or something,' resident Mark Liebner told WBTV.

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Charlotte resident Mark Liebner (above) found the pile of dead coyotes on Thursday

Authorities say the 73 dead coyotes were killed in several hunts and improperly dumped

'We got closer and closer and it was just literally a pile of just dead coyotes. All piled up, had tags on them.'

'It was a really gnarly site. Smelled really bad,' Liebner said.

Mecklenburg County workers say there is no evidence the carcasses impacted the water.

An access road leads to the abandoned water treatment site where the coyotes were dumped

Officer Parker says an investigation shows someone from nearby Rowan County brought the coyotes from a large hunt.

'It wasn't just Mecklenburg County where this came from,' said Parker.

'Several different counties so far that where these coyotes came from. It looks like one individual got a hold of all these coyotes and unfortunately just made a bad decision to dispose of them not properly,' Parker added.

Coyotes are considered nuisance animals and there is no bag limit or closed season on hunting them in North Carolina.

However, Parker says the dead coyotes should have been taken to a landfill, though he notes not all landfills will accept animal carcasses.

Authorities say that littering charges are possible in the case.
Zaharie Ahmad Shah (pictured) was the pilot of the doomed flight

DID THE PILOT HIJACK HIS OWN PLANE?

Pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah planned mass murder because of personal problems, locking his co-pilot out of the cockpit, closing down all communications, depressurising the main cabin and then disabling the aircraft so that it continued flying on auto-pilot until it ran out of fuel.

That was the popular theory in the weeks after the plane's disappearance.

His personal problems, rumours in Kuala Lumpur said, included a split with his wife Fizah Khan, and his fury that a relative, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, had been given a five-year jail sentence for sodomy shortly before he boarded the plane for the flight to Beijing.

But the pilot's wife angrily denied any personal problems and other family members and his friends said he was a devoted family man and loved his job.

This theory was also the conclusion of the first independent study into the disaster by the New Zealand-based air accident investigator, Ewan Wilson.

Wilson, the founder of Kiwi Airlines and a commercial pilot himself, arrived at the shocking conclusion after considering 'every conceivable alternative scenario'.

However, he has not been able to provide any conclusive evidence to support his theory.

The claims are made in the book 'Goodnight Malaysian 370', which Wilson co-wrote with the New Zealand broadsheet journalist, Geoff Taylor.

It's also been rumoured that Zaharie used a flight simulator at his home to plot a path to a remote island.

However, officials in Kuala Lumpur declared that Malaysian police and the FBI's technical experts had found nothing to suggest he was planning to hijack the flight after closely examining his flight simulator.

And there are also theories that t he tragic disappearance may have been a heroic act of sacrifice by the pilot.

Australian aviation enthusiast Michael Gilbert believes the doomed plane caught fire mid-flight, forcing the pilot to plot a course away from heavily populated areas.

IF NOT THE PILOT, WAS THE CO-PILOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MYSTERY?

Co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27, again for personal problems, was suspected by rumour-spreaders to have overpowered the pilot and disabled the aircraft, flying it to its doom with crew and passengers unable to get through the locked cockpit door.

Theorists have put forward the suggestion that he was having relationship problems and this was his dramatic way of taking his own life.

But he was engaged to be married to Captain Nadira Ramli, 26, a fellow pilot from another airline, and loved his job. There are no known reasons for him to have taken any fatal action.

There have been a series of outlandish theories about the disappearance of the plane

Others have suggested that because he was known to have occasionally invited young women into the cockpit during a flight, he had done so this time and something had gone wrong.

Young Jonti Roos said in March that she spent an entire flight in 2011 in the cockpit being entertained by Hamid, who was smoking.

Interest in the co-pilot was renewed when it was revealed he was the last person to communicate from the cockpit after the communication system was cut off.

DID THE RUSSIANS STEAL MH370 AND FLY THE JET TO KAZAKHSTAN

An expert has claimed the missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 was hijacked on the orders of Vladimir Putin and secretly landed in Kazakhstan.

Jeff Wise, a U.S. science writer who spearheaded CNN's coverage of the Boeing 777-200E, has based his outlandish theory on pings that the plane gave off for seven hours after it went missing, that were recorded by British telecommunications company Inmarsat.

Wise believes that hijackers 'spoofed' the plane's navigation data to make it seem like it went in another direction, but flew it to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which is leased from Kazakhstan by Russia.

However, Wise admits in New York Magazine that he does not know why Vladimir Putin would want to steal a plane full of people and that his idea is somewhat 'crazy'.

Wise also noted there were three Russian men onboard the flight, two of them Ukrainian passport holders.

Aviation disaster experts analysed satellite data and discovered - like the data recorded by Inmarsat - that the plane flew on for hours after losing contact.

Careful examination of the evidence has revealed that MH370 made three turns after the last radio call, first a turn to the left, then two more, taking the plane west, then south towards Antarctica.

MH370 WAS USED BY TERRORISTS FOR A SUICIDE ATTACK ON THE CHINESE NAVY

This extraordinary claim came from 41-year-old British yachtsman Katherine Tee, from Liverpool, whose initial account of seeing what she thought was a burning plane in the night sky made headlines around the world.

On arrival in Thailand's Phuket after sailing across the Indian Ocean from Cochin, southern India with her husband, she said: 'I could see the outline of the plane - it looked longer than planes usually do.There was what appeared to be black smoke streaming from behind.'

Ms Tee's general description of the time and place was vague and she lost all credibility when she later stated on her blog that she believed MH370 was a kamikaze plane that was aimed at a flotilla of Chinese ships and it was shot down before it could smash into the vessels.

Without solid proof of the satellite data, she wrote on her blog, Saucy Sailoress, the plane she saw was flying at low altitude towards the military convoy she and her husband had seen on recent nights. She added that internet research showed a Chinese flotilla was in the area at the time.

While the debris proved the plane went down in the Indian Ocean, the location of the main underwater wreckage  and its crucial black box data recorders  remains stubbornly elusive.

THE JET LANDED ON THE WATER AND WAS SEEN FLOATING ON THE ANDAMAN SEA

On a flight from Jeddah to Kuala Lumpur that crossed over the Andaman Sea on March 8, Malaysian woman Raja Dalelah, 53, saw what she believed was a plane sitting on the water's surface.

She didn't know about the search that had been started for MH370. She alerted a stewardess who told her to go back to sleep.

'I was shocked to see what looked like the tail and wing of an aircraft on the water,' she said.

It was only when she told her friends on landing in Kuala Lumpur what she had seen that she learned of the missing jet. She had seen the object at about 2.30pm Malaysian time.

She said she had been able to identify several ships and islands before noticing the silver object that she said was a plane.

But her story was laughed off by pilots who said it would have been impossible to have seen part of an aircraft in the water from 35,000ft or seven miles.

Ms Raja filed an official report with police the same day and has kept to her story.

'I know what I saw,' she said.

THE AIRCRAFT SUFFERED A CATASTROPHIC SYSTEMS FAILURE AND CRASH-LANDED ON THE OCEAN

A catastrophic event such as a fire disabling much of the equipment resulted in the pilots turning the plane back towards the Malaysian peninsula in the hope of landing at the nearest airport.

Satellite data, believable or not, suggests the aircraft did make a turn and theorists say there would be no reason for the pilots to change course unless confronted with an emergency.

A fire in a similar Boeing 777 jet parked at Cairo airport in 2011 was found to have been caused by a problem with the first officer's oxygen mask supply tubing.

Stewarts Law, which has litigated in a series of recent air disasters, believes the plane crashed after a fire - similar to the blaze on the Cairo airport runway - broke out in the cockpit.

After an investigation into the Cairo blaze, Egypt's Aircraft Accident Investigation Central Directorate (EAAICD) released their final report which revealed that the fire originated near the first officer's oxygen mask supply tubing.

The cause of the fire could not be conclusively determined, but investigators pinpointed a problem with the cockpit hose used to provide oxygen for the crew in the event of decompression.

Following the 2011 fire, US aircraft owners were instructed to replace the system - it was estimated to cost $2,596 (1,573) per aircraft. It was not known whether Malaysia Airlines had carried out the change.

If either pilot wanted to crash the plane, why turn it around? So the turn-around suggests they were trying to land as soon as possible because of an emergency.

THE US SHOT DOWN THE AIRCRAFT FEARING A TERROR ATTACK ON DIEGO GARCIA

The Boeing 777 was shot down by the Americans who feared the aircraft had been hijacked and was about to be used to attack the U.S. military base on Diego Garcia atoll in the Indian Ocean. So conspiracy theorists claim.

And former French airline director Marc Dugain said he had been warned by British intelligence that he was taking risks by investigating this angle.

There is no way of checking whether Dugain received such a warning or why he believes the Americans shot down the plane.

But adding to the theory that the aircraft was flown to Diego Garcia, either by the pilot Zaharie or a hijacker, was the claim that on the pilot's home flight simulator was a 'practice' flight to the island.

Professor Glees said: 'The Americans would have no interest in doing anything of the kind and not telling the world.

'In theory, they might wish to shoot down a plane they thought was attacking them but they wouldn't just fire missiles, they'd investigate it first with fighters and would quickly realise that even if it had to be shot down, the world would need to know.'
Heavily armed officers have stormed a Byron Bay motel room looking for two men wanted for questioning over a Melbourne shooting that left a man fighting for life.

Mark Dixon, 30, and Jack Harvey, 26, are believed to be in the Byron Bay area and Victoria Police have issued warrants for their arrest.

They are wanted over the shooting of 53-year-old former detective Sid Morgan, who was gunned down at Point Cook in Melbourne's west on February 21 after an argument in the street.

The Sydney man, who became a real estate agent after he was acquitted of shooting dead a paedophile, remains in hospital with life-threatening injuries.

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Mark Dixon (left), 30, and Jack Harvey (right), 26, are believed to be in the Byron Bay area and Victoria Police have issued warrants for their arrest

They are wanted over the shooting in the head of a 53-year-old Sid Morgan at Point Cook on February 21 after an argument in the street

Two Point Cook men, aged 29 and 30, were arrested on Saturday but released without charge.

Officers involved in the raid on the motel on Wednesday came up empty handed when they found the room was vacant.

Dixon is described as 180 cm tall, with a medium build, short brown hair, a fair complexion and speaks with an Irish accent.

Harvey is described as having a slim build, short brown hair, a goatee beard and also speaks with an Irish accent.

Police said anyone who sees either of the men should phone triple zero and do not approach them.

The victim, Mr Morgan, who previously went by the name Said, was detective in the NSW police force in the 1990s.

In 1995 he shot Mansour Suha, his brother-in-law, after hearing accusations he was molesting three young girls, two of which were his relatives.

He emptied his service revolver in the shooting which was described in court as a 'Clint Eastwood notion of justice,' according to The Age.

The police scene after the shooting in Point Cook, Melbourne

Detectives released an image of a ute they believe is connected to the attack

He was cleared of wrongdoing by a Crown jury in August 1997 who found that he had not acted out revenge but rather fear for the safety of children in the future.

NSW Police refused to reinstate him and he started a career as a Sydney real estate agent.

He told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2005 that he had 'worked hard and built a new life for himself.'

His real estate agency recently ran into financial trouble and he was declared bankrupt in 2014, according to The Daily Telegraph.

He remains in hospital in a serious condition.

Police working the crime scene the day after the shooting occured on February 21




A celebrity chef who starred on the BBC's Great British Menu has pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife in a Wetherspoon pub, despite his partner begging police not to put him in the dock.

Mark Poynton, 38, appeared in court today to admit the attack on Shauna McGuinness at The Regal in Cambridge.

The star chef, whose food was praised on the BBC show in 2014 by Michelin-starred Marcus Wareing, had worked at Alimentum restaurant in Cambridge before leaving last June.

He was prosecuted despite his wife Ms McGuinness pleading for the case not to be taken, insisting she 'was not a victim of domestic abuse'. She attended Huntingdon Magistrates' Court today in support of her husband.

The court heard the couple had been out drinking together to discuss their marriage after Poynton found out his wife had been having an affair with a doctor.

CCTV from The Regal pub on January 3 this year showed the defendant pushing his wife twice, once when she was seated on a stool, which he kicked, and another time in the back as the pair were leaving, it was said.

Ms McGuinness was not injured and had hit her husband in the ribs in a bar before the incident, the court heard today.

Great British Menu chef Mark Poynton, 38, appeared in court today to admit assaulting his wife Shauna McGuinness (pictured together today) at a pub in Cambridge on January 3 this year

Poynton (left) was prosecuted despite his wife Shauna McGuinness (together right) pleading with police not to take the case to court, insisting she 'was not a victim of domestic abuse'

Poynton, 38, is pictured with Marcus Wareing on the BBC's Great British Menu show

The former head chef at Alimentum, which closed in October, previously pleaded not guilty but today admitted the assault. He was sentenced to a three-month conditional discharge. He was also ordered to pay 85 in costs.

Mark Poynton's defence lawyer Gillian McGivern said: 'The fact is Mr Poynton was a man of impeccable good character. It is absolutely right to say you should know this case has turned both his and his wife's life upside down.

'She is at the back of the court today and was two weeks ago. There were private issues in their marriage. I made mention of the fact this is the second appearance. When he appeared the case was adjourned because he was a man of impeccable character.

'She tried everything she can to persuade police that she did not support prosecution. She spoke to previous prosecution at length. I do with the greatest respect draw that aspect to this case.

'She has been made to feel the victim and will continue to feel that hereafter. She has sent an email to the Crown and has raised many issues.

'Her world crumbled around her. She said she pleaded with officers and at the time she was not the victim.'

The court heard the couple had been out drinking together to discuss their marriage because they were having issues, after Poynton found out his wife (pictured) had been having an affair with a doctor

'She said she is not a victim of domestic abuse. She goes on to stress this matter. She confirms they were upset on the night in question. She said her husband pushed her but not with the intention to hurt her. Her husband was very remorseful for his actions and is not a threat to her or anyone else's well-being.

'She went to explain it had been a very difficult year for her husband's business and how that can add to this situation.

'Before the guilty plea put in today, Mr Poynton was a man of impeccable character.

'The charitable work he has done would take up too much time for me to mention than this court has today.

'He has done a huge amount of charity work in this country along with other celebrity chefs.

'He left his last very high profile job some months ago.

'He has a number of business ventures in hand which will come into venture in the next few months.

The magistrate said: 'Don't let it happen again, I am sure it won't.'

Poynton was given a three-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay 85 in court costs.

A statement from Mark Poynton and Shauna McGuinness said: 'I think the sentencing given today outlines the fact this case did not need to be brought to court and the fact the (magistrate) even described it as "a minor assault, if it could even be called an assault at all" shows that.'
A subway escalator in Manhattan malfunctioned at peak time on Monday morning, detaching itself from its track and shredding chunks of metal.

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority is investigating the incident at the Fifth Avenue/53rd Street station, which saw people falling over each other as they tried to get to safety.

The escalator appeared to buckle and cave in on itself at around 9am, when the station was packed with commuters.

The escalator at Fifth Avenue/53rd Street subway station in Manhattan buckled and caved in on itself at around 9am on Monday

Lyana Fernandez posted a photograph of the damage on Twitter, writing: 'Still shaking. I heard a loud crash while I was coming up the escalator at 5thAv/53rd St and saw this right in front of me.

'Could've shredded someone's foot. @MTA @NYCTSubway you are playing with people's safety.'

MTA workers quickly cordoned off the top of the escalator, but Fernandez said it agency was lucky somebody was not seriously injured.

'Somebody could have died,' she told ABC. 'Somebody could have had their leg chopped off.'

Witness Lyana Fernandez posted a photograph of the damage on Twitter and said that it could have taken somebody's leg off

'I was lucky to have been on the working escalator when this happened.

'I saw people stumbling over the top of the escalator. The people that were on that particular escalator must be counting their blessings right now.

'I can't imagine having this happen under your feet.'

MTA said in a statement: 'This is a very rare and troubling thing to see, we're glad there are no reported injuries, and a full investigation is underway.'
Longtime Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen said he is looking forward to Wednesday's public hearing where the American people will get to hear his story and have the opportunity to decide 'exactly who is telling the truth.'

Cohen briefly addressed the media after he spent nine hours behind closed doors Tuesday answering questions from senators.

'First of all I want to thank all of you for sticking around and waiting for me. At this point in time I really appreciate the opportunity that was given to me to clear the record, to tell the truth and I look forward to tomorrow to be able in my voice to tell the American people my story and I'm going to let the American people decide exactly who is telling the truth,' he said.

Cohen will speak in public Wednesday for the first time since he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress when he is grilled by the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

Michael Cohen said he is looking forward to Wednesday's public hearing where the American people will get to decide 'exactly who is telling the truth'

Michael Cohen leaves the Senate Intelligence Committee after spending nine hours behind closed doors with lawmakers

Tuesday's private session with senators on intelligence panel kicked off the first of his three days of testimony on Capitol Hill, where the topics will include racist remarks he's heard from the president and allegations of criminal activity on the part of Trump.

He did not answer any questions after his 30 second statement.

'It's been a long day,' said his attorney Lanny Davis.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein told DailyMail.com that Cohen - who pled guilty to lying to Congress - appeared credible to lawmakers and apologized to them in Tuesday's closed session.

'He appeared credible to me today, and he apologized, he said he was going away, you know, he understands, and I think he made efforts to be absolutely truthful,' she said.

Arrival: Michael Cohen arrived on Capitol Hill Tuesday for the first of three days of blockbuster hearings

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein told DailyMail.com that Cohen - who pled guilty to lying to Congress - appeared credible to lawmakers and apologized

Aide: Michael Cohen was accompanied by Lanny Davis, the long-term Clinton advisor who is acting as his personal attorney

Arrival: Michael Cohen arrived on on Capitol Hill at precisely the same time as Donald Trump, his former boss was touching down in Vietnam

Same time: Donald Trump arrived in Hanoi for a summit with Kim Jong Un exactly as the former fixer he has branded a liar arrived on Capitol Hill

Cohen's credibility has been questioned given his admission he lied to lawmakers when he appeared before the House and Senate intelligence committees in 2017.

Feinstein declined to offer specific details on what Cohen, who was known as Trump's fixer, discussed with committee members.

'The part I was in, which is about two hours, umm, he answered questions, he was really  it's classified, so I can't tell you much. I think that most of us know that this is very complicated picture,' she said.

Cohen's appearance on Tuesday was behind closed doors so lawmakers could grill him on a variety of matters, including Trump's business dealings with Russia.

Additionally Cohen will offer senators a document that he claims shows the president engaged in criminal conduct around the hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, it was revealed Tuesday.

The document will refute a claim by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani that Cohen used a $35,000 monthly retainer from the president as reimbursement for paying off Daniels, a source close to Cohen told Politico.

Giuliani has said Cohen used a monthly retainer made for legal services in reimbursement as repayment for the $130,000 given to Daniels in exchange for her silence.

The documents will show who signed the checks to Cohen, the Daily Beast reported.

As he gave evidence Cohen also learned that he was disbarred in New York because of his felony conviction in a ruling which prevents him practicing law. He had not attempted to fight the move.

It's over: How Michael Cohen was formally barred from being an attorney in New York

Cohen pleaded guilty to violating campaign-finance laws by facilitating payments to Daniels.

Cohen will also discuss the BuzzFeed report that Trump ordered him to lie to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow deal. The article earned a rare - if carefully worded - denial from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office.

'He'll explain exactly why he lied and how he came to lie,' said the source told Politico.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins told reporters Cohen was receiving an 'extensive grilling' from the intelligence panel.

But the White House voiced anger at the ex-fixer's high-profile session.

'It's laughable that anyone would take a convicted liar like Cohen at his word, and pathetic to see him given yet another opportunity to spread his lies,' Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

Cohen arrived on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning to the flash of cameras lights and shouted questions but he didn't say a word as he walked into the Senate hearing room with Lanny Davis, the former Bill Clinton advisor who is acting as his attorney, and begins the first of three days of hearings.

He arrived 30 minutes before his time before senators was set to begin and is expected to be behind closed doors all day.

Senators trickled into the hearing room after his arrival but few spoke about what they wanted to ask the president's former fixer.

Some, however, offered hints at what they were looking for.

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden told reporters outside the hearing room he's interested in following the money when it comes to Cohen's work on Trump Tower Moscow.

But one issue he wouldn't touch was whether Cohen  who plead guilty to lying to Congress  can be trusted to tell the truth in this appearance.

'I'll leave it at that,' Wyden said when asked that question.

Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich, as he entered the hearing room, said he was looking for 'the truth.'

In his testimony, Cohen also intends to reveal information about Trump's financial statements, an anonymous source told the network.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the ex-fixer would accuse Trump of using racist language, recount times when the president questioned the 'intelligence' and criticized the 'lifestyle choices' of black people.

The fixer-turned-felon will say he witnessed 'lies, racism and cheating,' it reported.

He was on his way to raise his hand before the Senate Intelligence Committee to kick off a three-day, back-to-back trio of appearances on Capitol Hill where he will face multiple grillings from lawmakers on his relationship with President Donald Trump and his guilty plea to lying to Congress.

Cohen's closed-door testimony is a prelude to his public appearance on Wednesday before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, to be followed by a second private session on Thursday before the House Intelligence Committee.

Wednesday's public hearing will overshadow the others merely by the presence of TV cameras, to which both Cohen and the lawmakers will be playing to as they engage in a verbal parley on a variety of issues, including the building of Trump Tower Moscow, the payoffs to women during the 2016 campaign, Trump's business dealings, and donations to the president's inaugural committee.

Lawmakers are also girding to ask him questions about a planned Moscow tower project that he pursued well into the 2016 presidential campaign. He plans to tell lawmakers Trump asked him about it 'several times.'

He further plans to talk about Trump's 'lies, racism and cheating as a private businessman,' according to the account.

Trump and his legal team have repeatedly branded Cohen as a liar, and say he cooperated with prosecutors and furnished false information to get a reduced jail sentence.

But one topic not the public agenda: Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and any possible collusion between Trump's team and Moscow.

Oversight panel chairman Elijah Cummings coordinated with his counterpart on the House Intel panel, Adam Schiff, and the two agreed the Russia conversation will happen discussed behind closed doors at the intelligence session while Trump's business dealings will be the focus of the public hearing, according to a memo released Sunday by the Oversight panel.

Lawmakers can dismiss the chairman's guidance and ask whatever they chose, but Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, also said his client cannot talk about the Russia probe in public.

Senators, meanwhile, are eager to have Cohen in their crosshairs on Tuesday.

'I think the reason you have him back is, when somebody lies to Congress in an investigation like this, the questions you might have asked the next witness don't get asked. Somebody you might have called doesn't get called,' Senate intelligence panel member Sen. Roy Blunt said Sunday on CBS' 'Face the Nation.'

However, Republicans are already preparing to cast doubts on Cohen's credibility - one of Trump's legal team's major arguments against the president's former personal attorney.

'I don't know that we believe him this time,' Blunt noted.

Republicans will be just as hard on Cohen as Democrats, particularly those closed tied to the president.

Republican Reps. Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows, two of Trump's staunches allies on Capitol Hill, sent a letter to Cohen's attorneys last week saying they intend to press the president's former personal lawyer on his questionable business dealings, his lies to Congress, his work for foreign entities, and even 'the fake Women for Cohen social media initiative he commissioned.'

One person who won't be in town for the show is President Trump, who jetted off to Vietnam on Monday for his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But he will have the ability to tweet even with the 12 hour time difference.

This week marks Cohen's first time before lawmakers since he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the timing of talks concerning the building of a Trump Tower Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Lawmakers have indicated that will be a major topic of interest.

'Well, a great deal starting with why the false statements before our committee when he first appeared. Did they go beyond what he told us about Moscow Trump Tower into other areas as well?,' House Intelligence panel chair Rep. Adam Schiff said on ABC's 'This Week' on Sunday.

Democratic Rep. Jim Himes, who also sits on the Intelligence panel, said he wants to know the same.

'Well, you know, Michael Cohen is going to jail for lying to my committee. So obviously, step one is to re-ask him the questions that he felt he needed to lie to us about, when he testified in the last Congress. So we're going to want to get to the truth, allow him to correct the record. And then, of course, the question is, okay, now that we know the truth, what are the follow-ups? It's going to be an interesting week in that regard,' he said Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press.'

Democratic Reps. Elijah Cummings (left) and Adam Schiff (right) will chair Wednesday's and Thursday's House hearings respectively

Himes also said Cohen could be more forthcoming behind closed doors than in Wednesday's public circus.

'I don't think he's going to say a lot that is classified. But he may have some things that he doesn't feel comfortable saying publicly that he then wants to say either to the Senate or to the House Intelligence Committees, in closed session,' he said.

Last week, Cohen got a two-month reprieve from his deadline to report for his three years in jail, with a judge giving him until May 6. One of the reasons cited was his upcoming congressional testimony.

Cohen received a three-year sentence in December for bank and tax fraud, lying to Congress and violating campaign finance laws.

Even though Cohen can't talk about in public what he told Robert Mueller in the 70 hours he spent talking to that team for the special counsel's Russia investigation, he will speak publicly about his relationship with the president.

Cohen attorney Lanny Davis said last Tuesday his client will reveal how Trump is 'bigoted,' 'treats people badly,' and talk about he's heard the president say disparaging things about black people behind closed doors.

'I believe the issue in 2020 which Michael Cohen can speak to better than anyone is the man lacks character,' Davis told ABC's 'The Investigation' podcast. 'He speaks in bigoted words in private, which Michael Cohen will tell you. He treats people badly. 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.'

But Davis said Cohen will be able to talk about 'what did you do for Mr. Trump for all those years and why.'

Trump's legal team has already made their case against Cohen by painting him as an unreliable witness.

Both Trump's lawyers and the president himself have pushed back against any comments Cohen may have made to Mueller or will make in public by labeling him as a rat and turn coat who can't be believed.

Davis conceded that Cohen knows he has a 'deep hole to climb out' of in terms of credibility.

But he argued his client has seen the light and wants to make amends for his past work for the president.

'He wouldn't take a pardon if Trump pleaded with him to take it. Why? Because it would be dirty,' Davis told ABC News.

Cohen has been cooperating with the special counsel's probe of Russia's role in the 2016 election. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York was the lead federal prosecutor earlier this year when Cohen pled guilty to eight counts, including tax fraud and campaign finance violations - that stemmed from the special counsel's investigation.

Cohen also has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the timeline of conversations he had with Russian officials about building a Trump Tower Moscow as part of separate investigation by Mueller's team.

He was sentenced to three years in prison and is free on bail until that time.

Cohen's guilty pleas included a charge of lying to Congress about a Trump Organization real estate project that was slated for Moscow, Russia and discussed through the fall of 2016 while the president was running for office.

He testified in a closed congressional interview that the project he pursued on Trump's behalf was abandoned by the time of the Iowa Caucuses in January 2016; that would be consistent with Trump's 'political messaging.'

Mueller later filed documents revealing Cohen said he discussed the proposal with Trump on multiple occasions and with members of the president's family, later in the year  even after Trump became the Republican nominee for president.

Cohen said he lied out of loyalty to Trump.

Cohen also played a role in hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels (left) and former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal (right)

'I made these misstatements to be consistent with Individual 1's political messaging and out of loyalty to Individual 1,' Cohen said at his plea hearing late last year.

'Individual 1' is Mueller's name for Trump in the investigation.

Cohen was also the central figure in a plot to buy the silence of pornographic actress Stormy Daniels, who claimed that she had an affair with Trump in 2006.

Daniels signed a nondisclosure agreement in exchange for $130,000 from Cohen, a transaction that he admitted was a violation of campaign finance laws since it amounted to an illegally large contribution benefiting Trump's White House hopes.

He said in court that Trump directed him to make the payment, suggesting the president was guilty of a crime.

In August he pleaded guilty to eight separate charges related to tax dodges, falsifying bank documents and the campaign finance violations involving Daniels and another woman, former Playboy magazine model Karen McDougal.

Cohen claims that at Trump's request, he arranged for the publisher of The National Enquirer to pay McDougal  another self-described past Trump paramour  for the exclusive rights to her life story. The magazine never published anything, engaging in a practice known as 'catch and kill' in order to help Trump avoid new scandals in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign.

Trump has denied ever having a sexual relationship with either Daniels or McDougal.
Get AfricaFocus Bulletin by e-mail! Format for print or mobile USA/Africa: From Wakanda to Reparations, Part 2 AfricaFocus Bulletin

February 26, 2019 (190226)

(Reposted from sources cited below) Editor's Note Just as cotton, and with it slavery, became key to the U.S. economy, it also moved to the center of the world economy and its most consequential transformations: the creation of a globally interconnected economy, the Industrial Revolution, the rapid spread of capitalist social relations in many parts of the world, and the Great Divergencethe moment when a few parts of the world became quite suddenly much richer than every other part. - Sven Beckert Part 1 of this AfricaFocus Bulletin series, available at http://www.africafocus.org/docs19/usa1902a.php, featured excerpts from several thought-provoking commentaries on the film Black Panther. This second part features brief descriptions of links to longer non-fiction articles and books exploring the historical questions raised in greater depth. What you will find below is a select list, with brief descriptions, of key readings on the US-African relationship in world historical context, centering race and the impact of the last 500 years of world history on the present. The list includes four new paradigm-shifting histories, as well as four classic works that have centered the same themes. It also includes several recent readings on slavery, the genocidal conquest of the Americas, the slave trade, and the issues of reparations or redress for historical crimes. Although reparations has long been a demand of activists (see https://www.ncobraonline.org/reparations/ for background), it is now beginning to enter a much wider public debate. These readings will help put this growing debate in context. For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on the USA and Africa, visit http://www.africafocus.org/country/usa-africa.php Recent articles on reparations in public debate include: Washington Post, Three 2020 Democrats say yes to race-based reparations  but remain vague on details, Feb. 22, 2019

http://tinyurl.com/y3axvl2u William J. Barber II, How Ralph Northam and others can repent of Americas original sin, Washington Post, Feb. 7, 2019

http://tinyurl.com/y245x3kv Text of the most recent version of H.R. 40 (Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act), introduced on January 3, 2019, by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and 23 co-sponsors.

http://tinyurl.com/y2mev8e6 ++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++ Four New Histories If you want well-written path-breaking overviews of US history placing it in the context of race and the last 500 years of world history, these four recent books should be at the top of your reading list. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, 2015.

https://bookshop.org/a/709/9780807057834 This may well be the most important US history book you will read in your lifetime. If you are expecting yet another new and improved historical narrative or synthesis of Indians in North America, think again. Instead Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz radically reframes U.S. history, destroying all foundation myths to reveal a brutal settler colonial structure and ideology designed to cover its bloody tracks. Here, rendered in honest, often poetic words, is the story of those tracks and the people who survivedbloodied but unbowed. Spoiler alert: the colonial era is still here, and so are the Indians. Robin D. G. Kelley +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Paul Ortiz, An African American and Latinx History of the United States, 2018.

https://bookshop.org/a/709/9780807005934 [From review by Catherine Lizette Gonzalez in Colorlines, Feb. 2, 2018 http://tinyurl.com/y4hw6bcf] Dominant narratives about United States history will usually wax nostalgic for the patriots who fought for liberty and egalitarianism during the American Revolution. But, arguably, those liberal ideals were never really meant to serve anyone but White settlers. Even today, ideas of American exceptionalismlike President Donald Trumps America First agendaare largely weaponized against communities of color. In his new book, An African American and Latinx History of the United States, historian Paul Ortiz challenges these dominant narratives by placing African Americans and Latinx people at the center of U.S. history. Ortiz illuminates how Black and Brown people built multiracial movements through the 1700s to the 21st Century to achieve civil and democratic rights. In the book, the author and professor of history at the University of Florida, argues that African American and Latinx activists were inspired by what hes coined as emancipatory internationalism or the longstanding rejection of Eurocentric philosophies of liberty in exchange for the freedom struggles of the Global South. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Nikhil Pal Singh, Race and Americas Long War, 2017.

https://bookshop.org/a/709/9780520318304 Nikhil Pal Singh argues that the United States pursuit of war since the September 11 terrorist attacks has reanimated a longer history of imperial statecraft that segregated and eliminated enemies both within and overseas. Americas territorial expansion and Indian removals, settler in-migration and nativist restriction, and African slavery and its afterlives were formative social and political processes that drove the rise of the United States as a capitalist world power long before the onset of globalization. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Daniel Immerwahr, How to Hide an Empire: A Short History of the Greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr, 2019.

https://bookshop.org/a/709/9780374172145 The author explains briefly in an Feb. 15 article in The Guardian ( http://tinyurl.com/y6nk7x63). What this map shows is the countrys full territorial extent: the Greater United States, as some at the turn of the 20th century called it. In this view, the place normally referred to as the US  the logo map  forms only a part of the country. A large and privileged part, to be sure, yet still only a part. Residents of the territories often call it the mainland. On this to-scale map, Alaska isnt shrunken down to fit into a small inset, as it is on most maps. It is the right size  ie, huge. The Philippines, too, looms large, and the Hawaiian island chain  the whole chain, not just the eight main islands shown on most maps  if superimposed on the mainland would stretch almost from Florida to California. Four Classic Works These four books feature structural analysis and foreground resistance as well as oppression, providing clear alternative frameworks to understanding African, global, and U.S. History. All of these are still in print, and available in Kindle as well as paperback editions. If your public or school library does not have copies, encourage it to make sure they get these fundamental works. C. L. R. James, A History of Pan-African Revolt, 1938/1969. https://bookshop.org/a/709/9781604860955 Eric Williams, Capitalism and Slavery, 1944. https://bookshop.org/a/709/9780807844885 W. E. B. Du Bois, The World and Africa, 1946. http://amzn.to/2oZAjCX Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, 1972. https://bookshop.org/a/709/9781788731188 Slavery in the United States The catchphrase of slavery as "America's original sin" is commonplace. The role of slavery in shaping the contours of American society and the global economy, now commonly recognized by scholars, is much less widely acknowledged. But the effects of slavery are definitely not only in the past, as noted by the Southern Poverty Law Center in the report quoted below. The remaining links here provide entry points to the work of Sven Beckert, Edward E. Baptist, and Daine Ramey Berry, three leading scholars whose recent publications are shaping the current understanding of how slavery led not only to the poverty of those who were enslaved but also built the wealth now disproportionately held by a small minority. As Beckert in particular stresses, the systemwas not only national but global. Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Teaching the Hard History of American Slavery, January 2018. https://www.splcenter.org/20180131/teaching-hard-history It is often said that slavery was our countrys original sin, but it is much more than that. Slavery is our countrys origin. It was responsible for the growth of the American colonies, transforming them from far-flung, forgotten outposts of the British Empire to glimmering jewels in the crown of England. And slavery was a driving power behind the new nations territorial expansion and industrial maturation, making the United States a powerful force in the Americas and beyond. Slavery was also our countrys Achilles' heel, responsible for its near undoing. When the southern states seceded, they did so expressly to preserve slavery. So wholly dependent were white Southerners on the institution that they took up arms against their own to keep African Americans in bondage. They simply could not allow a world in which they did not have absolute authority to control black laborand to regulate black behavior. The central role that slavery played in the development of the United States is beyond dispute. And yet, we the people do not like to talk about slavery, or even think about it, much less teach it or learn it. The implications of doing so unnerve us. ... Understanding American slavery is vital to understanding racial inequality today. The formal and informal barriers to equal rights erected after emancipation, which defined the parameters of the color line for more than a century, were built on a foundation constructed during slavery. Our narrow understanding of the institution, however, prevents us from seeing this long legacy and leads policymakers to try to fix people instead of addressing the historically rooted causes of their problems. Sven Beckert, "Slavery and Capitalism," Chronicle of Higher Education, December 12, 2014. https://www.chronicle.com/article/SlaveryCapitalism/150787 Sven Beckert, Empire of Cotton: A Global History, 2014. https://bookshop.org/a/709/9780375713965 For too long, many historians saw no problem in the opposition between capitalism and slavery. They depicted the history of American capitalism without slavery, and slavery as quintessentially noncapitalist. Instead of analyzing it as the modern institution that it was, they described it as premodern: cruel, but marginal to the larger history of capitalist modernity, an unproductive system that retarded economic growth, an artifact of an earlier world. Slavery was a Southern pathology, invested in mastery for masterys sake, supported by fanatics, and finally removed from the world stage by a costly and bloody war. Some scholars have always disagree with such accounts. In the 1930s and 1940s, C.L.R. James and Eric Williams argued for the centrality of slavery to capitalism, though their findings were largely ignored. Nearly half a century later, two American economists, Stanley L. Engerman and Robert William Fogel, observed in their controversial book Time on the Cross (Little, Brown, 1974) the modernity and profitability of slavery in the United States. Now a flurry of books and conferences are building on those often unacknowledged foundations. They emphasize the dynamic nature of New World slavery, its modernity, profitability, expansiveness, and centrality to capitalism in general and to the economic development of the United States in particular.  Just as cotton, and with it slavery, became key to the U.S. economy, it also moved to the center of the world economy and its most consequential transformations: the creation of a globally interconnected economy, the Industrial Revolution, the rapid spread of capitalist social relations in many parts of the world, and the Great Divergencethe moment when a few parts of the world became quite suddenly much richer than every other part. The humble fiber, transformed into yarn and cloth, stood at the center of the emergence of the industrial capitalism that is so familiar to us today. Our modern world originates in the cotton factories, cotton ports, and cotton plantations of the 18th and 19th centuries. The United States was just one nexus in a much larger story that connected artisans in India, European manufacturers, and, in the Americas, African slaves and land-grabbing settlers. It was those connections, over often vast distances, that created an empire of cottonand with it modern capitalism. Edward E. Baptist, The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism, 2014. https://bookshop.org/a/709/9780465049660 Baptist argues that our understanding  or misunderstanding  of slavery has policy implications for the present. (In that way, the book is complementary reading to Ta-Nehisi Coates much talked about Case For Reparations). If slavery was outside of US history, for instance  if indeed it was a drag and not a rocket booster to American economic growth  then slavery was not implicated in US growth, success, power and wealth, Baptist writes. Therefore none of the massive quantities of wealth and treasure piled by that economic growth is owed to African Americans. Anyone who believes that, his book aims to show, really hasnt heard the half of it. Braden Boyette, Huffington Post, Oct. 23, 2014, A Short Guide To The Half Has Never Been Told" - http://tinyurl.com/y4o569po Daina Ramey Berry, The Price for Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, from Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation, 2017. https://bookshop.org/a/709/9780807067147 n life and in death, slaves were commodities, their monetary value assigned based on their age, gender, health, and the demands of the market. The Price for Their Pound of Flesh is the first book to explore the economic value of enslaved people through every phase of their livesincluding preconception, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, the senior years, and deathin the early American domestic slave trade. Covering the full life cycle, historian Daina Ramey Berry shows the lengths to which enslavers would go to maximize profits and protect their investments. Illuminating ghost values or the prices placed on dead enslaved people, Berry explores the little-known domestic cadaver trade and traces the illicit sales of dead bodies to medical schools. This book is the culmination of more than ten years of Berrys exhaustive research on enslaved values, drawing on data unearthed from sources such as slave-trading records, insurance policies, cemetery records, and life insurance policies. Writing with sensitivity and depth, she resurrects the voices of the enslaved and provides a rare window into enslaved peoples experiences and thoughts, revealing how enslaved people recalled and responded to being appraised, bartered, and sold throughout the course of their lives. Reaching out from these pages, they compel the reader to bear witness to their stories, to see them as human beings, not merely commodities. Conquest of the Americas European colonization of Americas killed so many it cooled Earth's climate, Guardian, Jan. 31, 2019

http://tinyurl.com/y7pg5x66 Settlers killed off huge numbers of people in conflicts and also by spreading disease, which reduced the indigenous population by 90% in the century following Christopher Columbuss initial journey to the Americas and Caribbean in 1492. This large-scale depopulation resulted in vast tracts of agricultural land being left untended, researchers say, allowing the land to become overgrown with trees and other new vegetation. The regrowth soaked up enough carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to actually cool the planet, with the average temperature dropping by 0.15C in the late 1500s and early 1600s, the study by scientists at University College London found. The great dying of the indigenous peoples of the Americas resulted in a human-driven global impact on the Earth system in the two centuries prior to the Industrial Revolution, wrote the UCL team of Alexander Koch, Chris Brierley, Mark Maslin and Simon Lewis. The UCL researchers found that the European colonization of the Americas indirectly contributed to this colder period by causing the deaths of about 56 million people by 1600 [leaving only about 1 in 10 of the pre-colonization population]. The study attributes the deaths to factors including introduced disease, such as smallpox and measles, as well as warfare and societal collapse. Full study available at http://tinyurl.com/yceyeqbj The Atlantic Slave Trade The transcontinental scope of slavery is most clearly visible in the Atlantic slave trade, which over centuries brought over 10 million enslaved Africans to the Americas. Strikingly, the vast majority were brought not to the United States but to Brazil and the Caribbean, as illustrated in the map below and related links. The Atlantic Slave Trade in Two Minutes Animated map: 315 years. 20,528 voyages. Millions of lives.

http://tinyurl.com/p3npfu5 Slave Voyages: Introductory Maps

http://www.slavevoyages.org/assessment/intro-maps Among the host of books on the slave trade, The Atlantic Slave Trade (2010, https://bookshop.org/a/709/9780521182508) by Herbert Klein provides an accessible summary of current scholarship. Joseph Miller's Way of Death: Merchant Capitalism and the Angolan Slave Trade, 1730-1830 (1988, https://amzn.to/2J5T93R) is a dense read, but an unequalled account of how the intertwined economies reaching from Angola to Brazil, Portugal, and England extracted profits from the lives and deaths of those enslaved. Reparations Reparations for slavery and the slave trade is often debated in simplistic terms, as if it were only a question of the feasibility of payments to individuals and as if it only applied to the United States. And while reparations is most frequently and legitimately used to refer specifically to slavery and the slave trade, given the magnitude of those centuries-long crimes, the concept is also a more general one in human rights discourse, applicable to more recent crimes perpetrated on specific living individuals and communities. The following five readings are useful to expand the discussion. Two focus on the United States, while two expand the discussion beyond the borders of the United States. And a fifth, on redress for historical crimes against Native American communities, stresses that monetary compensation is much too limited a concept to cover the actions needed. Ta-Nehisi Coates, "The Case for Reparations," The Atlantic, June 2014.

http://tinyurl.com/h9lezog And so we must imagine a new country. Reparationsby which I mean the full acceptance of our collective biography and its consequencesis the price we must pay to see ourselves squarely. The recovering alcoholic may well have to live with his illness for the rest of his life. But at least he is not living a drunken lie. Reparations beckons us to reject the intoxication of hubris and see America as it isthe work of fallible humans. Wont reparations divide us? Not any more than we are already divided. The wealth gap merely puts a number on something we feel but cannot saythat American prosperity was ill-gotten and selective in its distribution. What is needed is an airing of family secrets, a settling with old ghosts. What is needed is a healing of the American psyche and the banishment of white guilt. What Im talking about is more than recompense for past injusticesmore than a handout, a payoff, hush money, or a reluctant bribe. What Im talking about is a national reckoning that would lead to spiritual renewal. Reparations would mean the end of scarfing hot dogs on the Fourth of July while denying the facts of our heritage. Reparations would mean the end of yelling patriotism while waving a Confederate flag. Reparations would mean a revolution of the American consciousness, a reconciling of our self-image as the great democratizer with the facts of our history. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Flint Taylor "How Activists Won Reparations for the Survivors of Chicago Police Department Torture," In These Times, June 26, 2015.

http://tinyurl.com/y29xexv9 The 20-year reign of police torture that was orchestrated by Commander Jon Burgeand implicated former Mayor Richard M. Daley and a myriad of high ranking police and prosecutorial officialshas haunted Chicago for decades.  Finally, on May 6, 2015, in response to a movement that has spanned a generation, the Chicago City Council formally recognized this sordid history by passing historic legislation that provides reparations to the survivors of police torture in Chicago.  Over the course of the struggle, the movement had once again looked internationally both for support and for examplesChile, Argentina and South Africa, to name three. The examples here in the U.S. were precious few: Japanese-Americans who were interned during World War II, the descendants of the African-American victims of the deadly 1923 race riot in Rosewood, Florida and the victims of the mass sterilizations in North Carolina. The movement was also inspired by the continuing struggle for reparations for enslaved African Americans, the movement to fully document and memorialize lynchings in the South, by Black People Against Police Torture and the Midwest Coalition for Human Rights, and, most importantly, by the survivors of Chicago police torture and their families. While full compensation for the pain suffered at the hands of the torturers was not (and could not be) obtaineda reality that was pointed out in a Sun-Times editorial that otherwise commended the historic accomplishmentthe reparations package is both symbolically and in fact substantial and unique, particularly given that the survivors had no legal recourse. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Lord Anthony Gifford, "The Legal Basis of the Claim for Reparations," Paper presented to Pan African Congress on Reparations, Abuja, Nigeria, April 27-29, 1993.

http://www.shaka.mistral.co.uk/legalbasis.htm See also the Abuja Declaration from that Congress at http://tinyurl.com/yynw8sne [summary of points] The enslavement of Africans was a crime against humanity International law recognises that those who commit crimes against humanity must make reparation There is no legal, barrier to prevent those who still suffer the consequences of crimes against humanity from claiming reparations, even though the crimes were committed against their ancestors The claim would be brought on behalf of all Africans, in Africa and in the Diaspora, who suffer the consequences of the crime, through the agency of an appropriate representative body The claim would be brought against the governments of those counties which promoted and were enriched by the African slave trade and the institution of slavery The amount of the claim would be assessed by experts in each aspect of life and in each region, affected by the institution of slavery The claim, if not settled by agreement, would ultimately be determined by a special international tribunal recognised by all parties +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Ana Lucia Araujo, Reparations for Slavery and the Slave Trade: A Transnational and Comparative History, 2017.

http://amzn.to/2FE5pJV Slavery and the Atlantic slave trade are among the most heinous crimes against humanity committed in the modern era. Yet, to this day no former slave society in the Americas has paid reparations to former slaves or their descendants. European countries have never compensated their former colonies in the Americas, whose wealth relied on slave labor, to a greater or lesser extent. Likewise, no African nation ever obtained any form of reparations for the Atlantic slave trade. Ana Lucia Araujo argues that these calls for reparations are not only not dead, but have a long and persevering history. She persuasively demonstrates that since the 18th century, enslaved and freed individuals started conceptualizing the idea of reparations in petitions, correspondences, pamphlets, public speeches, slave narratives, and judicial claims, written in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. In different periods, despite the legality of slavery, slaves and freed people were conscious of having been victims of a great injustice. This is the first book to offer a transnational narrative history of the financial, material, and symbolic reparations for slavery and the Atlantic slave trade. Drawing from the voices of various social actors who identified themselves as the victims of the Atlantic slave trade and slavery, Araujo illuminates the multiple dimensions of the demands of reparations, including the period of slavery, the emancipation era, the post-abolition period, and the present. Bradford, William, "Beyond Reparations: An American Indian Theory of Justice" (2004). Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi). 217.

https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/aprci/217 A significant element in the slavery reparations claim is the lost value consequence of the unpaid labor extracted from slave ancestors, and thus it is logical that, with few exceptions, proponents of slavery reparations equate the remedy with financial compensation. Although money cannot undo history, it can ameliorate the socioeonomic conditions of the descendants of former slaves, and money is the lodestar of most reparationists. However, justice is not a one-size-fits-all commodity ... Slavery is not the sole, nor the first, nor even, arguably, the most egregious historical injustice for which the U.S. bears responsibility.

 Although compensation may well be the proper form redress should assume in relation to the crime of African American slavery, reparations is ill-suited as a remedy around which to construct a theory of justice for Indians, not because of the social resistance it would be likely to engender, but because money simply cannot reach, let alone repair, land theft, genocide, ethnocide, and, above all, the denial of the fundamental right to self-determination. Only a committed and holistic program of legal reformation as the capstone in a broader structure of remedies, including the restoration of Indian lands and the reconciliation between Indian and non-Indian peoples, can satisfy the preconditions for justice for the original peoples of the U.S. For a broader view of international developments on the rights of indigenous people, including the roles of redress and compensation, see The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions. Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 2013. http://tinyurl.com/y4cvv766 AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus Bulletin is edited by William Minter. AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at africafocus@igc.org. Please write to this address to suggest material for inclusion. For more information about reposted material, please contact directly the original source mentioned. For a full archive and other resources, see http://www.africafocus.org
Theresa May's (pictured in Egypt yesterday) Cabinet ministers have agreed in principle to paying huge tranches of the 39billion divorce bill whatever happens in the talks

Britain is preparing to pay billions of pounds to the EU whether it gets a deal or not in time for exit day, it emerged today.

Cabinet ministers agreed in principle to paying huge tranches of the 39billion divorce bill whatever happens in the talks, the Telegraph revealed.

Under the plans, a law for the payment plan will tabled in Parliament in the final days of the negotiations next month.

Britain is obliged under existing treaties to pay much of the divorce bill regardless of whether it gets a deal - despite claims crashing out would slash the cost.

Chunks of the money relate to payments the UK has already agreed to pay while a member of the bloc.

The EU has said it expects full subscriptions from Britain for the rest of 2019 whatever happens - around 6billion for the period from April to December.

Britain is under acute pressure to pay for 2020 as well - another 10billion - to help smooth any disruption from a no deal Brexit.

Whatever happens it will also have to cover its share of pensions, loan guarantees and other payments hanging over from the 40-year UK membership of the EU.

The revelation came as Mrs May faces a titanic Cabinet battle over Brexit today amid signs she is ready to surrender to a Remainer revolt.

The PM is gathering her senior team as tensions hit new heights, with negotiations deadlocked in Brussels and just weeks to go until the UK is due to crash out.

Cabinet sources told MailOnline there were 'encouraging' signs that Mrs May is now ready to delay Brexit to avert mass resignations by ministers who are determined to rule out no deal in crunch votes tomorrow.

The EU - coordinated by Council President Donald Tusk (pictured in Egypt yesterday) has said it expects full subscriptions from Britain for the rest of 2019 whatever happens - around 6billion for the period from April to December.

But the expected concession will cause fury among Eurosceptics who have been adamant the option of leaving without an agreement must be kept on the table.

Ministers are bracing for stormy clashes during the crucial session in Downing Street this morning, with Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom likely to be among those resisting the shift.

Mrs May again drew a blank after a frantic round of Brexit talks with EU counterparts at a summit in Egypt over the past two days.

EU council chief Donald Tusk heaped pressure on the PM by urging her to take the 'rational solution' of an extension. One proposal favoured in Brussels is a 21-month delay, which would essentially replace the transition period.

However, the PM's aides have suggested she is only likely to hold out the prospect of a shorter two-month postponement.
Most people would want to move out of the way of a moving vehicle.

But not this furious pedestrian who deliberately walked slowly in front of a vehicle in a park for seven minutes to stop it using the road.

The vehicle was perfectly entitled to use the road in Middleton Park, Leeds, but that didn't stop the unidentified woman mounting a protest.

The clip, uploaded to social media by Mark Smith, shows her ambling directly in front of the vehicle and occasionally turning round to berate the driver.

A woman in Middleton Park, Leeds, took issue with a driver who she thought shouldn't be allowed on the park road

The man behind the wheel keeps his cool throughout and provides a commentary on the woman's antics.

The clip has racked up more than 1.6 million views since it was uploaded.

Mr Smith, who identifies himself as the driver, captioned the clip: 'Some mothers do have them. Obviously she doesn't realise I was permitted to drive here.

'But how stupid can a woman get, that was her little child and she was willing to walk and made sudden stops in front of a moving vehicle!'

Mr Smith is seen driving in the park with the woman and a small child walking ahead of him on the path.

He can be heard saying: 'This woman just doesn't want to come off the road, she's very irate.'

Mark Smith, the driver of the vehicle, is allowed to drive in the park as he works for a community group

But the woman did not back down, walking slowly in front of the vehicle and berating him for ruining her walk

He then tells her to move to the side as other people in the park get out of his way.

The woman then turns around and shouts: 'It's a park, it's for walking on, it's not for you driving in. I have come to have a nice walk.'

As Mr Smith tries to calm her down, she says: 'I'd appreciate it if I didn't have cars driving past.'

He then replies: 'It's for cars as well sweetheart.'

He tries to overtake her at an wider space of the park, but she refuses to budge.

Mr Smith says: 'You just need to step out the way.'

She replies: 'It isnt a f****** road.'

She can then be seen stopping directly in front of the van for several moments before walking off again, which she does several times in the original seven minute version of the clip.

Mr Smith uploaded the video to Facebook and said 'How stupid can a woman get?'

She stopped in front of the vehicle so it was unable to move. She said: 'It's a park, it's for walking on, it's not for you driving in'

Leigh Hines commented on the video: 'Even the three-year-old had the common sense to move to the side of the road.'

Natasha Parry Walton commented: 'I cringe at people like this, those poor children, she's embarrassing herself and them, respect to the driver for being so calm and polite.'

Gordon Livsey said: 'So there's speed bumps, which clearly means vehicles travel on this road/path (whatever you want to call it), an access road for commercial vehicles travelling around the park area. Clearly an utter roaster.'

Leeds City Council said that although Mark doesn't work for them, the group he does work for is allowed to drive in the park.

A spokeswoman said: 'He is involved with a local enthusiasts/community group whose members have permission to drive through the park, as long as they adhere to agreed rules including giving way to other park users.

'Vehicles are only allowed to drive through the park with permission which is granted by the council.'
A cargo of 90,000 bottles of vodka apparently intended for Kim Jong-un's regime have been impounded by Dutch customs officials.

The haul of Russian vodka was intercepted in a Rotterdam port under an aircraft fuselage in a Chinese container ship.

Customs officials in the Netherlands the liquid cargo was being smuggled to North Korea in breach of United Nations sanctions.

Kim Jong-un has just arrived in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi ahead of the much anticipated second summit with US President Donald Trump.

A cargo of 90,000 bottles of vodka (pictured) apparently intended for Kim Jong-un's regime have been impounded by Dutch customs officials

The haul of Russian vodka was intercepted in Rotterdam port under an aircraft fuselage in a Chinese container ship

Kim Jong-un (pictured today) has just arrived in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi ahead of the much anticipated second summit with US President Donald Trump

The container was discovered under an aircraft fuselage (pictured) in a Chinese container ship

Officials spotted the shipment after noting suspicious activity in the route it was taking after being originally sent from Russia.

They decided to check when it arrived at the Port of Rotterdam, Europe's largest harbour, and eventually discovered the bottles of cheap vodka.

Reports said the bottles were of the brand Stolbovaya - which in Russian means 'Of Distinguished Descent'.

A 0.5-litre bottle of Stolbovaya can be bought in Russia for just over 1 - a surprisingly low amount given Kim Jong-un's reported appreciation for expensive French cognac, cheese and other high-end products.

Some 3,000 boxes were found - containing 30 bottles each - in a container aboard the freighter which reportedly belongs to a Chinese shipping company.

The shipment was illegal because sanctions forbid the export of luxury goods including alcohol to the North Korean regime.

The ship was set to make a stop in Rotterdam on its way to China after it picked up cargo in Hamburg, Germany. The container containing the alcohol was originally from Russia, it is reported.

Customs officials in the Netherlands suspect it was being smuggled to North Korea in breach of United Nations sanctions

Officials spotted the shipment after noting suspicious activity in the route it was taking after being originally sent from Russia

Some 3,000 boxes were found - containing 30 bottles each - in a container aboard the freighter which reportedly belongs to a Chinese shipping company

Director of risk assessment at the Rotterdam Customs Arno Kooij said: 'A few days earlier we got the information of all incoming and outgoing containers of a ship. Our computer systems check that data.

'If for example something weird happens, or if a strange route has been taken or after we receive a tip, the system will select the container for a check.'

Kooij said 'we had the suspicion that this container fell under the sanctions regime against North Korea'.

'We had the suspicion that this vodka would not go to China, but to North Korea,' he added.

When Kooij and his colleagues contacted the shipping company involved, they were told that checking the container would be difficult as the fuselage of an aeroplane was stored on top of it.

Kooij said: 'The ship's owner said that it would be next to impossible to take the fuselage off the ship without it getting damaged.'

But Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Sigrid Kaag eventually gave customs workers the all clear to try to take the container out.

An official investigation into the vodka shipment has been started. Initial laboratory tests have concluded that the liquid inside the bottles is indeed vodka.
Teresa Lynne Roth (pictured), 34, is accused of faking her son's disability in order to claim benefits

A Georgia mother has been accused of faking her son's illness and forcing him through unnecessary medical treatment in order to claim disability benefits.

Teresa Lynne Roth, 34, made her five-year-old son sit in a wheelchair and take needless medication for almost two years, police believe.

The mother, from Gainesville, Georgia, was arrested on Thursday after medics at a children's hospital became suspicious last October.

She has now been charged with first-degree child cruelty while the child has been taken away, WSB-TV reported.

The child was in the care of both his parents and charges against his father could follow, it is claimed.

The parents allegedly drew disability checks while the boy was in a wheelchair and eating through a feeding tube.

Scott Ware of the Hall County sheriff's office said: 'It's messed up, you know? It's not normal.'

The allegedly bogus medical treatment had caused the boy 'unnecessary physical and mental pain by subjecting him to undergo unnecessary medical treatments and medications, jeopardizing his well-being,' he said.

The boy is now recovering while the disability checks to the parents have been canceled, it is reported.

Police are also investigating whether the woman could have suffered from 'Munchausen syndrome by proxy', according to AJC.

It is described by medics as a 'rare form of child abuse' when a parent 'exaggerates or deliberately causes symptoms of illness' in their child.

It takes its name from Munchausen syndrome, in which people pretend to be ill or make themselves sick.

The condition is named after Baron Munchausen, a fictional German character known for boasting of his unlikely exploits.
E-commerce giant Alibaba's chairman Jack Ma () has become the richest Chinese person in the world, according to a rich list published today.

The 54-year-old self-made tycoon, who started his business empire with 45,000 borrowed funds, now boasts an impressive fortune of 260 billion yuan (29.4 billion, $38.8 billion) and ranks as the 22nd richest man globally.

Tencent's 48-year-old CEO Ma Huateng, also known as Pony Ma, grabbed the top chair in 2018, but he has dropped to the second place this year with a net worth of 255 billion yuan (28.8 billion, $38 billion).

Jack Ma, who is worth 260 billion yuan (29.4 billion) is the richest Chinese person in the world

Jack Ma founded Alibaba, one of the world's largest e-commerce companies, in 1999

Jack Ma was once a cash-strapped Chinese entrepreneur and former English teacher.

A fan of Michael Jackson and kung fu films, Ma already became the richest man in mainland China last year, but the new Hurun Global Rich List ranks him the wealthiest among all people of Chinese origin in the world.

His competitors include Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing, who was previously not ranked on rich lists in mainland China. Li, the former chairman of CK Hutchison, bought mobile network Three and Northumbrian Water in the UK.

Interestingly, Ma, a successful capitalist, is a member of the Communist Party of China and was awarded by the Chinese President Xi Jinping in a ceremony last year for his 'outstanding contributions' to the country.

Jack Ma impresses his staff with his imitation of Michael Jackson at a company meeting

Jack Ma (right) and applauds alongside Ma Huateng, the CEO of Tencent, as they are awarded by the Communist Party last December for their 'outstanding contributions' to the country

The third richest Chinese man on the list is property titan Xu Jiayin, 61, who is the chairman of China Evergrande Group and is worth 250 billion yuan (28.3 billion, $37.3 billion).

Two Hong Kong business magnates, 90-year-old Li Ka-Shing and 89-year-old Lee Shau-kee, take the fourth and fifth spot with 200 billion yuan (22.6 billion, $29.9 billion) and 180 billion yuan (20 billion, $26.8 billion) fortune respectively.

It is found that a large portion of Chinese billionaires work in the industries of real estate, investment, manufacturing and retail.

The list was released by Hurun Report, which has been billed as the Chinese equivalent to Forbes and specialises in ranking key players in the Chinese business world by their wealth.

Ma Huateng (pictured), or Pony Ma, was the richest Chinese person on the planet last year

The third place is taken by property titan Xu Jiayin, 61, who owns the China Evergrande Group

According to the list, China has the most number of people in the world whose personal fortune is greater than $1 billion (757 million). The list claims the figure to be 658, which is 74 more than the second place, the United States.

Meanwhile, Beijing has been branded as the 'world's capital of billion dollar tycoons'. Out of the 21 million residents, 103 people have personal assets worth more than $1 billion - 11 more than New York and 38 more than London.

The list also assesses the fortune of businessmen outside of China.

The three richest men in the world, according to the list, are in order Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.

While the richest man in Asia is Mukesh Ambani, who ranks eighth globally. A Mumbai-based energy mogul, Ambani's wealth increased by 20 per cent last year to 370 billion yuan (41.9 billion, $55.3 billion), according to the report.
Floodgates could be opened for ISIS supporters coming back to the UK if Shamima Begum gets back and it will cost millions of pounds to watch her 24/7, a former counter-terrorism police chief has warned today.

Scott Wilson, who helped lead the Met's response to the 2017 London Bridge attack, said the security services and police would 'never be able to take their eye off' the jihadi bride if she did return.

It would also leave the taxpayer with a surveillance running into millions, he said.

Begum, who left her east London home to join ISIS in Syria in 2015, wants to return to the UK for the sake of her newborn third child, but has been stripped of her British citizenship.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid made the move on advice that she qualified for Bangladeshi citizenship through her mother, although authorities there have said they will not let her enter the country.

ISIS bride Shamima Begum has been stripped of her British passport but still wants to return with her baby - but experts say the risks of allowing that are huge

Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped Shamima Begum of her British citizenship for heading to Syria to join the terror group

Mr Wilson, who was UK National Counter Terrorism Co-ordinator for Protect and Prepare until last summer, said: 'When you look at all the background to her going out there, I know they are trying to say she was a groomed child, but there was a lot of planning that went in with her and her group to get herself out there.

'It's not just the bringing her back, the deradicalisation programme; the security services will end up spending years monitoring her.

'They will never be able to take their eye off her for the simple reason that they don't know what could happen. If she did do something in the UK, the Government and the security services would get the blame for it.

'It's the millions of pounds of monitoring that it's going to cause, not just the bringing her back and putting her through a deradicalisation programme.'

Last week, Oxford-born terror suspect Jack Letts, known as Jihadi Jack, said he wants to return to the UK, and misses his mother, pasties and Doctor Who.

It was also reported that Abu Hamza's son, Sufyan Mustafa, 23, is fighting the decision to revoke his British passport.

Mr Wilson believes a slew of suspected IS supporters will want to return to the UK if Begum succeeds in doing so.

'I don't think the British Government should give her the way to get her out of Syria and get her back here, that's the point,' he said. 'If she gets back here then it's on their plate to deal with it.

'If you start making a free way for them to get back then where do you stop?

'I can see floodgates opening. I don't think we should make it easy. If you make it easy then you're just opening the floodgates for it and suddenly you're monitoring people forever.

'I don't sound very sympathetic because I just see the consequences. I dealt with London Bridge on the streets.

'When you see the consequences of this, I just think this country can be too sympathetic at times. She made the decision so she will have to stick to the decision she made.'

Jack Letts, nicknamed Jihadi Jack by media after running away to Syria in 2014, wants to return to the UK (ITV News/PA)

Begum's father, Ahmed Ali, said his 19-year-old daughter should face justice in Britain despite previously appearing to back the removal of her citizenship.

The teenager, who married Dutch IS fighter Yago Riedijk, had two older children who both died.

Mr Ali told ITV News: 'I don't think he's (Sajid Javid) done the right thing because she is a British citizen, and if it turns out she has committed any crimes, then she should face justice in the UK.

'She belongs to this country, she belongs to England. My daughter was a little child, she made a mistake, she didn't properly understand.'
Liu, a 21-year-old woman in Taiwan, has been arrested for drowning her newborn son and dumping his body in maggot-infested bushes

A 21-year-old woman has been arrested in Taiwan for drowning her newborn son and dumping his body in maggot-infested bushes.

Police found the remains of the seven-day-old infant in a red plastic bag outside a temple near the woman's home in the western county of Miaoli last Saturday, according to reports.

The boy's entire body had been fed on by maggots, leaving only a foot and several organs for medical examiners to use in DNA identifications tests.

Prosecutors believe that the woman, surnamed Liu, wanted to take revenge on her ex-boyfriend who broke up with her after she told him about the pregnancy, according to Apple Daily.

Police found the remains of the seven-day-old baby in a red plastic bag outside a temple near the woman's home in the western county of Miaoli last Saturday, according to reports

The ex-boyfriend had refused to help raise the child and left her, according to the report.

Liu gave birth to the boy on December 15 at a clinic and drowned him in a sink seven days later at the Taoist Tudigong temple 150 feet from her home before discarding his body in the bushes, it is alleged.

Police and social workers arrived at the woman's home on February 23 after she was found to have violated Taiwan's Household Registration Law, which states that all children must be registered within 60 days of birth.

Authorities said Liu at first denied having given birth, claiming that she went to the clinic for a tumour removal instead, according to Apple Daily.

Liu gave birth to the boy on December 15 at a clinic and drowned him in a sink seven days later at the Taoist Tudigong temple near her home before discarding the body in the bushes

The Taoist Tudigong temple where the baby's body was found in nearby bushes

Liu added that she could not afford to raise the child and did not want her parents to know she had gotten pregnant before marriage. Above, the bushes where the infant's body was found

She later admitted to drowning her newborn as revenge against her ex-boyfriend, who left her when she told him she was pregnant, police said.

Liu added that she could not afford to raise the child and did not want her parents to know she had gotten pregnant before marriage, prompting her to commit the crime.

Miaoli police revealed that Liu gave birth to another boy at the age of 17, but the child was handed over to her then-boyfriend's family to raise.

She was detained a day after the revelations and faces murder charges, the report added.
Migrants are paying thousands of pounds to reach British shores because they believe they will not be sent away, with some even calling emergency services from their boats rather than trying to sneak it, it has been revealed.

In the past 72 hours, 35 people including a baby made the crossing, adding to the hundreds - mostly Iranian nationals - who have reached Britain in recent months.

Such is the optimism among migrants that many willingly hand over 5,000 to fixers who arrange the journey, with prices dependent on the level of risk involved.

In what is seen as a significant shift, the migrants are now actively seeking out authorities. with some even dialling 999 from their boats, as opposed to attempting to slip into the country undetected.

Steve Rodhouse, director-general of operations at the National Crime Agency, said: 'People are actively seeking being caught or engaging with UK authorities because rightly or wrongly, they don't fear being returned.

'That, I think, is something that is a significant player in the issue here.'

Iranians are bought ashore at Dover Marina yesterday as the Channel migrant crisis continues

Home Secretary Sajid Javid previously sparked controversy by questioning whether those attempting to cross the Channel are genuine asylum seekers.

A report published last month claimed that fewer than half of failed asylum seekers are removed from the UK.

Mr Javid declared a 'major incident' and ordered two Border Force boats to be redeployed to the Channel following an increase in attempted crossings.

The figures comes on the same day it was revealed that the UK's most senior police and border officials were called to Parliament to explain how they are tackling the crisis.

Kent Chief Constable Alan Pughsley told MPs on the Commons Home Affairs Committee - who have called an inquiry into the spike in incidents - admitted there was an ongoing incident off Dover this morning.

He said that the UK Border Force was bringing in a boat carrying around 13 migrants 'as we speak' and the hearing was told migrants heading to the UK are now 'wanting to be found and helped' in a shift away from 'clandestine' trips of the past.

Kent Chief Constable Alan Pughsley (right) said a boat was being taken into Dover 'as we speak' while appearing in front of MPs with National Crime Agency director Steve Rodhouse (left) and Julie-Anne Wood (centre), head of operations at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency

Mr Pughsley was appearing in front of MPs with National Crime Agency director Steve Rodhouse and Julie-Anne Wood, head of operations at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

Mr Rodhouse, a former Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner, said 500 had made the trip in the past year - 80 per cent of those journeys were in the past two months.

More than 100 people have made the 21-mile journey across the Channel in 2019 - down from 250 in December.

Kent Police said they were informed of today's crossing just before 5am on Tuesday.

The Border Force cutter HMC Seeker and the Coastal Patrol Vessel Speedwell were deployed to intercept and took 13 people on board, 10 adults and three children including a baby.

A force spokesman said: 'At 4.59am Kent Police was made aware of a vessel transporting 13 suspected migrants in the middle of the English Channel.

'The vessel was intercepted by Border Force and brought safely back to Dover, where those on board were taken to a Home Office facility.'

Just yesterday 15 Iranian migrants were caught just hours after a family of seven were picked up.

At 9am and 12pm two boats were spotted off the Kent coast.

Border Force officials transferred the group to immigration officials for interview, and arrested four on suspicion of facilitating illegal entry to the UK, the Home Office confirmed.

While five were transferred to immigration officials for interview, the sixth man was arrested on suspicion of facilitating illegal entry to the UK.

The group of 15 men, were seen wearing life jackets and covered in blankets as they were brought ashore at Dover Marina from a Border Force cutter this afternoon.

Men are bought ashore at Dover Marina, following a small boat incident in the English Channel. A group of men wearing life jackets and covered in blankets were seen being brought ashore at Dover Marina from a Border Force cutter

A Border Force spokesman said: 'Border Force have dealt with two incidents involving small boats in the Channel today.

'At approximately 9am, Border Force was alerted to a small vessel in the Channel.

'HMC Vigilant and coastal patrol vessel (CPV) Speedwell were sent to the scene and nine males were brought to Dover.

'Six males were transferred to immigration officials for interview. The remaining three males have been arrested on suspicion of facilitating illegal entry to the UK.

'The investigation is being dealt with by Immigration Enforcement Criminal and Financial Investigation officers.

'At approximately 1200, Border Force was alerted to a sighting of a second small vessel off the Kent coast.

'It was located and the six males on board were transferred to coastal patrol vessel (CPV) Alert and brought to Dover.

'Five males were transferred to immigration officials for interview.

'The sixth man has been arrested on suspicion of facilitating illegal entry to the UK.

'The investigation is being dealt with by Immigration Enforcement Criminal and Financial Investigation officers.

'All 15 presented themselves as Iranian and were found to be medically well.'

On Sunday a family of seven was found near Kingsdown after an empty dinghy was spotted in the Channel.

Border Force officials transferred 11 men to immigration officials for interview, and arrested four on suspicion of facilitating illegal entry to the UK, the Home Office confirmed

The mother, father and five children were handed over to immigration officials.

At the time a Home Office spokesman said: '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 people attempting to cross the Channel dropped from roughly 250 in December to 90 in January, with about half of the January attempts being intercepted in France before reaching British waters, the spokesman added.

A week ago a group of 34 men, women and children were detained after cutters and a coastal patrol boat intercepted a dinghy.
MPs are voting again on Brexit tomorrow night as the countdown to exit day gets ever louder.

After a raft of ministers have warned the votes are high noon to take no deal off the table Theresa May finally shifted her position today.

In a mammoth U-turn she promised if she has not got her deal agreed by MPs on March 12, she will allow the Commons to vote first on accepting no deal on March 13 and then delaying Brexit on March 14.

Whether it is enough to stem a rebellion inside Government will only be known for certain tomorrow night.

But with just 32 days to go it sets up yet another crunch vote on March 12.

MPs vote again on Brexit tomorrow night amid mounting talk of a second referendum and while Theresa May (pictured yesterday in Egypt) tries to renegotiate her deal

What is happening tomorrow?

MPs are voting again on the state of the Brexit negotiations. May is expected to ask them to endorse her plan to renegotiate the backstop.

It is not a new 'meaningful vote' to approve or reject the Brexit deal.

Backbench MPs are likely to put forward amendments containing alternative plans - but whatever happens, the stage is set for another showdown on March 12.

This is the third time since the 'meaningful vote' on January 15 MPs have voted on Brexit. May promised the votes would happen as a concession to rebels while she negotiated to stop them taking no deal off the table.

What amendments might there be?

Formal amendments have not yet been tabled but they are expected to include:

Labour's Yvette Cooper and Tory Oliver Letwin want to change the law to order the PM to delay Brexit if there is no deal in place by March 13. This would mean suspending the normal rules of the Commons to allow backbench MPs to introduce legislation. Tories Simon Hart and Andrew have a similar amendment that makes a statement the PM should delay Brexit if there is no deal by March 13. There may be a second referendum amendment. Labour has said it will back one as an alternative to no deal or the Tory deal. Tory Alberto Costa is separately pushing an amendment seeking more guarantees for EU citizens in Britain in the event of no deal. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will table his usual amendment setting out Labour promises for a Brexit based on a permanent customs union with the EU. It will fail. SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford will table an amendment - usually one complaining about Brexit. It will fail.

Will any of them carry?

Amendments for delaying Brexit or a second referendum could pass - but all options look likely to depend on what happens at the second meaningful vote by March 12.

May's concessions today on votes on March 12, 13 and 14 make it less likely any of the rival plans will pass tomorrow.

The Corbyn and Blackford amendments will definitely fail.

What is the second meaningful vote?

To get her deal into law, May has to win a specific vote approving her deal. She has tried once before on January 15 and lost by 230 votes.

The PM has promised this will happen no later than March 12. If she wins then, she has said Brexit should happen on time and the Government will scramble to get the necessary laws in place.

What happens if May loses the second vote?

May has told MPs they will then have to choose between delaying Brexit for further negotiations or leaving the EU without a deal if the reject the deal by March 12.

On March 13, there will be a vote for MPs to say yes or no to no deal.

If they say no, on March 14 MPs will be asked to say yes or no to delaying Brexit.

If the House also votes no to delay, backbench MPs - backed by Jeremy Corbyn and most Labour MPs - will probably try to push for a second referendum.

Why do people say there needs to be a second referendum?

Theresa May's Brexit deal has no majority in Parliament - and it is not clear any other deal has a majority either, even if one could be negotiated.

Passing the question back to voters is seen by some as a way to end the impasse and give a clear instruction to politicians on what to do.

Some campaigners also say the 2016 referendum was not an informed choice because too many of the implications of Leave were unknown.

Britain's view on whether it should Leave or Remain in the EU is little changed in the more than three years since the referendum. Pictured are the dozens of polls since June 23, 2016

What do critics think?

Many people - led by the Prime Minister herself - say a new vote on Brexit would betray the people who voted Leave in 2016. They insist there was a clear order from the public to Leave the EU and politicians must follow it, working out the details for themselves.

Unionists also complain that accepting a new referendum on Brexit would pave the way for another referendum on Scottish independence, threatening the future of the UK.

Some politicians also feel it would simply reopen the wounds from the 2016 battle without really deciding anything more clearly.

What needs to happen for a referendum to happen?

Parliament would need to pass a new law for a referendum to be held. This process alone would take weeks and would likely be very controversial.

Before that can even happen, for political reasons there would probably have to be some kind of moment creating a 'mandate' for a new referendum as it is something neither of the main parties promised at the last election.

This might be a simple vote of MPs after Mrs May's deal has been rejected. The Government could call such a vote at any time. Labour also has some opportunities to call a vote - though winning such a vote would have less power.

It could even be a whole general election where one or more sides puts a new referendum in their manifesto.

What would the question and be who decides?

Nobody knows for sure - and this is probably the hardest question of all.

Some say it should be a simple repeat of last time, with Leave or Remain on the ballot paper. Others say it should be Remain versus Mrs May's Brexit deal.

Others advocate a two stage referendum - between Remain and Leave, followed by Mrs May's deal versus No Deal if Leave wins.

Still others say there could be multiple questions on the ballot paper, possible using a ranking system known as alternative vote.

The Electoral Commission would make a recommendation and MPs would make the final decision on what the question would be.

As MPs wrestle with Brexit inside Parliament outside protesters from both sides are picketing the gates of the Commons (pictured today on Parliament Square)

Would exit have to be delayed from March 29?

Yes. On the shortest timescale imaginable, a referendum would take almost six months from the point the decision was taken - something which has not happened yet. Exit day is just 32 days away.

How long does it take to call and fight a referendum?

There is no fixed schedule but former Cabinet minister Justine Greening has set out a 22 week timetable - just under six months start to finish

This assumes about 11 weeks to pass the necessary laws and another 11 weeks for the campaign - both a preliminary period to set up formal campaigns on each side and then a main short campaign.

This would in theory allow a referendum by late 2019 - more than three years after the last one.

Lots of factors could cause delays and short of sweeping political agreement on the rules of a campaign almost no way to speed up the process.

Would the result be any more decisive?

Probably not. Unlike last time, the referendum law could make the result legally binding and the question could be more specific than last time.

But polls suggest the country remains just as divided as in 2016 - suggesting the result could be just as close as the 52% to 48% Leave win next time.
Britain is one of the least racist countries in Europe, according to a new study which has found prejudice against immigrants to be 'rare' in the UK.

High levels of tolerance is typical of wealthy, English-speaking countries and prejudice is more common in poorer nations, according to analysis of the largest international surveys of beliefs and values.

British levels of prejudice against immigrant workers and people 'of a different race' were found to be 'relatively low' as was bias against Hindus, Jews, Gipsies, and Muslims.

In Bulgaria and Latvia, around 20 per cent would shun neighbours of a different religion. Prejudice against foreign workers in Europe was found to be worst in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, and Slovakia.

Britain was found to be one of the least racist countries in Europe according to analysis of prejudice against foreign workers and those of a different religion (pictured: crowds on Oxford Street in central London)

Spain, Italy, Finland, and Germany were all found to be 'a little more prejudiced' regarding religion than the UK.

Only around 10 per cent of Britons would rather not have neighbours of a different religion.

Fifteen per cent of Britons would object to having migrants as neighbours, with around 10 per cent objecting to neighbours of a different race. Both France and the USA were more tolerant of having neighbours of a different race.

The UK was found to have ordinary levels of anti-immigrant worker prejudice for its level of socioeconomic development.

Poland and Hungary were among the most tolerant of the poorer countries, showing low levels compared with nations that have a similar GDP.

The findings, published in the Frontiers in Sociology journal, did reveal that Gipsies face more prejudice than any other group.

More than 60 per cent of Slovaks would object to a Gipsy neighbor, as would over 60 per cent of Lithuanians and Italians.

Nearly 40 per cent of Britons would object to having a Gipsy neighbour, which almost double to number who would object to a Muslim neighbour.

The findings challenge prevailing attitudes on Brexit, the nature of prejudice, and the social impact of modernisation.

Study co-author Professor Mariah Evans, of the University of Nevada, Reno, in the United States, said pundits have been wrong to associate the UK's vote to leave the EU with prejudice.

The UK was found to have low levels of prejudice relating to a variety of identity groups (pictured, shoppers in central London)

'In the media turmoil surrounding Brexit, many pundits have seized on the prejudice angle, but these data demonstrate that is not actually what makes the UK different from the Continent,' she said.

'Prejudice against immigrant workers or minority ethnic and religious groups is rare in the UK, perhaps even slightly rarer than in equivalently developed EU countries.

'Even though only a small minority is prejudiced, in a large population that still makes many people - enough to show up in anti-immigrant demonstrations or to mobilise letter-writing campaigns to MPs.'

With half a million combined respondents, Prof Evans said the World and European Values Surveys provide a large, cross-sectional view of people's attitudes, beliefs and opinions in 100 countries.

The researchers analysed responses from these and the European Quality of Life surveys, to found out how ethnic and religious prejudices vary between nations at different stages of socio-economic development.

Specifically, they compared the prevalence of prejudice in the UK to that in its global culture group and other EU countries at around the same level of development.

Prof Evans said: 'We found a high level of tolerance for ethnic and religious diversity is typical of prosperous European and Anglophone nations, whereas ethnic and religious prejudice is much more common in poor countries.

'In this respect, the UK is "stock standard" given its GDP per capita: just like their wealthy EU peers, around 15 per cent of Britons would object to having immigrants as neighbours, around 10 per cent would object to neighbours of a different race, and 10 per cent would rather not have neighbours of a different religion.'

The analysis also showed that across all nations, prejudice tends to be either against all minority ethnic and religious groups or against none.

Study co-author Dr Jonathan Kelley, Director of the International Social Science Survey, said: 'We show that a single root prejudice - that all the feelings about specific groups spring from a single generalised feeling of tolerance or intolerance towards diversity in ethnicity and religion - holds across the whole globe.

'There is not a specific British or Japanese or Mexican pattern - rather prejudices are linked together in the same way everywhere.

'For example, people who would shun immigrants as neighbours would also shun neighbours of a different religion and neighbours of a different race.

'People who are good with one group as neighbours tend to be good with all. Prior researchers have suspected this, but this is the first time it has been demonstrated.'

The researchers said they recognised the limitations of a survey-based approached.

Dr Kelley said: 'Being scientists, we would always love better measurement. For example, ratings of prejudice on a five- or seven-point scale, and breakdown by region, would have provided a more accurate picture than yes/no responses at the national level.

'Also, of course, the situation is rapidly evolving, so data even a few years old may be light-years away from rapidly evolving and unstable ethnic and religious group relations.'

But they said the figures provide a much more 'rational and accurate' barometer of public opinion than do anti-immigrant demonstrations or political rhetoric.

Dr Kelley said: 'There are many ways in which Britain is known to be 'exceptional' in the European context, but prejudice against immigrants is clearly not one of them.'

Professor Evans added: 'Spillover in attitudes about different groups means that events and examples that lead people to feel more warmly towards one minority will also increase their warmth towards others.

'For example, a well-publicised act of personal heroism by a Buddhist would likely ever so slightly increase the general public's positive feelings towards Buddhists, but also towards immigrant workers, towards people of African descent, towards Muslims, and, indeed towards all minority ethnic and religious groups.

'Equally promising, the strong gradient of prejudice decreasing with national development - economic growth and institutions that support personal freedom and markets - suggests that contrary to fashionable belief, modernisation is a powerful force for good as far as tolerance for diversity is concerned.'
As the Willamette Angel Fund celebrates a decade of success, three students are embarking on a journey to replicate its model. Nathan Foos JD/MBA19, Himalaya Rao-Potlapally MBA19, and Natasha Torres JD/MBA20 are creating a new, Oregon-based angel fund  aptly named Oregon Angel Partners. They will partner with angel groups throughout the West Coast to find emerging entrepreneurs and invest alongside seasoned angels. These groups do an incredible job of finding high quality deals, but they operate locally. Partnering with existing groups throughout the West Coast lets us diversify geographically without sacrificing quality, Himalaya said. OAP expects to launch the fund later this year and is currently building a group of core investors to shape the direction of the fund.

Nathan and Himalaya are current members of the Willamette Angel Fund. Together, they have evaluated dozens of startup companies and coinvested alongside multiple angel groups in Oregon, Washington, and California. Himalaya and Natasha are also the founders of CarBar, which went from concept to launch in just eight months by partnering with the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network Startup Series. Going through the OEN program really opened our eyes to the impact the angel world has on startup companies, which is something we want to bring to the table ourselves, Natasha said. A successful fund means more resources to develop the startup ecosystem and support aspiring entrepreneurs. Oregon Angel Partners aims to invest in the development of entrepreneurship in Oregon and the West Coast, while actively engaging and educating new and seasoned investors in the private market. To this end, Oregon Angel Partners is currently hosting an investor education series.

The inspiration for Oregon Angel Partners came during a trip to Southern California, when Nathan was attending a meeting with the Pasadena Angels. A handful of investors came up to my partner and I, asking if they could invest in Willamettes fund, Nathan said. They were interested in our collaborative model and the opportunity to gain exposure to other groups. After a decade of success, its clear Willamettes model has attracted attention.

The Willamette Angel Fund invests in companies following an effectual model of entrepreneurship. Effectuation is extensively studied and practiced by Professors Rob Wiltbank and Stuart Read, two of the leading scholars on entrepreneurship and angel investing. Effectual entrepreneurship emphasizes a bottom-up approach using decision-making processes statistically correlated with new venture success. Effectual companies are customer-centric and capital efficient, coalescing around stakeholder commitments to increase their likelihood of success, and rapidly pivoting in response to changing market dynamics; all while stretching every dollar as far as possible.

The Willamette Angel Funds investment thesis has paid off, with evidence suggesting investing in effectuation is a winning proposition. Over the last decade, it has invested $630,586 into a total of 67 companies, some directly and some through other angel funds. Already, returns show Willamettes direct investments into effectual companies outperform its passive investments made through other funds. However, because the Willamette Angel Fund is managed by full-time students with many other obligations, it is limited in the number of investments it can make and the number of angel groups it can partner with. Our goal is to move faster, invest more frequently, and partner with more groups to achieve greater diversification and maximize our opportunities for success. The Willamette Angel Fund has shown investing in effectuation works, and we want to expand even further, Himalaya said.

Oregon Angel Partners will offer investors the opportunity to diversify their portfolio across a spectrum of geographies and industries. By making investments based on academic research and embracing opportunities for co-investment, Nathan, Himalaya, and Natasha want to increase the resources available to investors and entrepreneurs throughout the West Coast. To learn more about core investor benefits and eligibility, or to join us at an upcoming investor training workshop, connect with Oregon Angel Partners at one of the emails listed below.

Nathan: nfoos@oregonangelpartners.com

Himalaya: hrao@oregonangelpartners.com

Natasha: ntorres@oregonangelpartners.com
Kim Jong-un is using barbaric methods to 'purge' his officials and cling onto power, according to a damning South Korean investigation.

The dictator has had 421 officials executed and exiled since seizing power in 2011, with victims being fed naked to hunting dogs, blown up with anti-aircraft guns, burned alive with flamethrowers and hanged, the report claims.

In some cases, entire families of officials have been executed while others were imprisoned in concentration camps and 'erased from society'.

Kim Jong-un (pictured in Vietnam ahead of his summit with Donald Trump) has purged 421 officials since seizing power in 2011, including his own family members, according to a damning South Korean report

The dictator (waving on arrival at Dong Dang Station, flanked by his security) has had victims fed naked to animals, blown up with anti-aircraft guns, hanged and burned alive with flamethrowers, the report claims

Kim is also said to have ordered the execution of his own family members, including his uncle Jang Song Thaek, who was executed in 2013, and his half-brother Jong-nam, who was assassinated at a Malaysian airport in 2017.

When the North Korean leader had his uncle Jang killed, 'more than 15 people were killed and 400 others were purged,' according to the collection of accounts from high-ranking defectors.

Titled 'Executions and Purges of North Korean Elites: An Investigation into Genocide Based on High-Ranking Officials' Testimonies', the report was researched by the Seoul-based North Korean Strategy Centre (NKSC).

It combined the accounts of 14 North Korean elite group defectors, six North Korean officials in China and five other defectors who witnessed executions.

The investigation found that Kim ordered the execution of his uncle because Jang 'sold the country's resources to foreign countries at a low price.'

It also claims officials faced death or imprisonment for minor infractions such as slouching at an event attended by the supreme leader.

The report lists the full names of more than 50 purged victims, while confirming that hundreds more were executed but never named.

Moon, a former student at Pyongyang Commercial College, said in the report he'd witnessed a 12-man public execution by soldiers using four anti-aircraft guns.

He said that, one-by-one, four guns blew up the victims, according to Radio Free Asia (RFA), before armored vehicles were used to crush their remains.

Moon said he suffered from PTSD following the killings.

The report was analysed at a Human Rights panel discussion in Washington last Friday.

Jared Genser, a member of Human Rights in North Korea's (HRNK) International Advisory Council, explained that these methods were to strike fear into the hearts of the entire population, from the average citizen to high ranking officials.

The report claims Kim had his uncle Jang Song Thaek - the vice chairman of the National Defense Commission - in 2013 because he 'sold the country's resources to foreign countries at a low price'

'They need to instill fear into people working for the authoritarian leader, and they need to keep people at bay by making them very fearful that anything they say or do could result in torture, extrajudicial killing, arbitrary detention and so forth,' Genser said, RFA reports.

He issued a plea to US President Donald Trump to raise human rights with Kim as they discuss nuclear disarmament at their summit in Hanoi today.

'Read this report that has hard evidence of the facts, and they're corroborated. Know your counterpart, who he is. The single most important issue when dealing with him is not denuclearization. It is the human rights issue,' said Kang.

Kim crossed into Vietnam with fanfare and a red carpet on Tuesday  as an attendant scurried looking like his life depended on it to catch up to be by the absolute leaders side.

Kim's half-brother Jong-nam, who was assassinated in 2017 by two women who attacked him with a nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia

The North Korean dictator later drove to Hanoi after a 2,800 mile train journey, accompanied by dozens of security guards who sprinted to surround him as he entered the Hotel where he will stay until his summit with President Trump.

Included in his lengthy motorcade that snaked its way through the Vietnamese capital was an armored vehicle complete with a mounted gun turret on top.

It later parked itself around the corner from Kim's hotel, while locals on scooters made their way through the city's packed streets.

As he reached his final destination, Kim's team of protective agents jumped out of a line of black SUVs to enter Kims hotel. They could be seen riding with vehicle doors open, then rushing to the heavily-guarded leader.
Kim Jong Un's red-carpet arrival in Hanoi didn't turn out so well for members of the White House press corps, who were prohibited from using a planned media center in the hotel where the North Korean dictator ended up staying.

During the flurry of Kim's arrival Tuesday, some were told they couldn't walk on a red carpet rolled out for him or snap photos of the leader who traveled to Hanoi by train to hold summit talks with President Donald Trump.

American media members who closely cover the president had been preparing to make use of a media center set up by White House aides, who had spent days organizing it.

The facility even included podium for potential press briefings with four American flags.

Reporters said they weren't allowed to step on a red carpet laid out for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inside his Hanoi hotel. A media center was set up in the same hotel where Kim ended up staying. Here the North Korean leader is welcomed on arrival at Dong Dang Station on February 26, 2019 in Dong Dang, Vietnam

The entire location was scrapped, at least temporarily, with Kim's arrival, and several prominent reporters vented about the unexpected switch online.

It turned out that Kim had booked the same hotel that was to have been used as a base of operations for reporters who cover the White House.

Vietnam's ministry of foreign affairs tweeted Tuesday morning: 'The American Media Center will be relocated' from the hotel where Kim was staying to a nearby International Media Center.

Network producers and correspondents, who shipped their equipment to the location from North America anticipating camera set-ups, were told they had to relocate.

CNN's Jim Acosta tweeted that press members were 'booted out' of a media center planned for their use

NBC's Peter Alexander wrote that he was asked not to walk on a red carpet intended for Kim's arrival

BOTTLED UP: A Washington Post reporter tweeted an image of a media center set up with four American flags that was no longer being made available to reporters

No pictures: Guards told media members not to take photographs inside the hotel where some of them were staying

Body Guards of North Korea leader Kim Jong Un stand guard during a visit outside the North Korea embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, receives bouquets on his arrival at the Dong Dang railway station in Dong Dang, a Vietnamese border town Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019. Flowers also awaited him in Hanoi

Media members work at the International Media Center during its first 24-hour opening day ahead of the DPRK-USA Hanoi Summit on February 26, 2019 in Hanoi, Vietnam. A separate media center for White House reporters got scrapped with the arrival of Kim Jon Un and a 'tense standoff' involving a North Korean official

Tweeted CNN's Jim Acosta after the Vietnamese government announcement: 'Translation: The US press is being booted out of the hotel where we have spent days setting up our workspace.'

The Washington Post quoted a person inside the hotel who witnessed a 'tense standoff' between a North Korean official who chewed out Vietnamese security and hotel staff, demanding journalists not take pictures from the lobby.

NBC's Peter Alexander shared his 'reporter's notebook from *inside* Kim Jong-uns Hanoi hotel, where Im staying, before I was ordered to clear out of the lobby...'

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is seen after visiting the North Korean Embassy on February 26, 2019 in Hanoi, Vietnam. North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un arrived in Vietnam for the first time as preparations continue for the summit with U.S. President Donald Trump

Then he revealed that officials told him to keep off a red carpet rolled out for the North Korean leader  who also had a red carpet when he de-boarded his train upon entering the country  only to have a panicked-looking aide spring after him.

Wrote Alexander: 'This reporter was ushered out of the [hotel] hotel lobby less than an hour before Kim Jong-uns arrival here. Along with two other members of the White House press corps, I was directed to the stairs and asked to go to the workspace on the 7th floor. The elevator was not an option, we were told, because that would require our stepping on the red carpet that had been rolled out moments earlier.'

He said he was locked down with 20 others for a period of time inside the press filing area. 'The elevators have been shut down to stop us from traveling freely,' he wrote.

'Unable to witness the arrival seven stories below me, I wound up parked in front of a TV in the nearly-vacated workspace watching it on CNN.'

He wrote that a North Korean representative told him: 'I have no information on that.'

A DailyMail.com reporter who was able to witness the arrival saw Kim's motorcade pull up to the hotel, with more than a dozen sprinting security guards running after him, and an armored vehicle equipped with a gun and turret as part of the security package.

Bloomberg's Margaret Talev tweeted: 'Quite a scene at the #Hanoi [hotel]. Theyve rolled the red carpet from the front door to elevator awaiting KJU and cleared all guests out of the lobby. All window shades pulled down and those of us ushered into the restaurant ordered to take no photos.'

She added: 'Security forces prohibited us from taking pictures from inside the hotel though we could see (state?) camera rolling on him as his entourage came thru. Guards were literally right up on us saying no cameras.'
A First World War prisoner of war was treated so well by his captors that his fiancee was allowed to visit him so they could marry.

Rowland Harper, from Lancaster, was a chief petty officer in the Royal Naval Air Service and was among the first servicemen to use an armoured vehicle in combat against the Germans.

He was seriously injured in battle in September 1914 while on a Rolls Royce, which had been adapted for the battlefield.

Rowland Harper pictured with his wife Mabel Meanock. The pair were allowed to see each other while Harper was in a Prisoner of War camp

The hospital the solider was being treated at was overrun by Germans and he was taken prisoner.

By 1916, both the British and the Germans had so many prisoners of war that camps oculd not cope, so 60,000 men were sent to internment villages in neutral Switzerland, where they could sit out the rest of the war.

One such place was Chateau-d'Oex in south west Switzerland which housed 700 sick and wounded British PoWs, including Rowland.

A 'time capsule' discovery of documents from his time have been found by his relatives more than 100 years on.

In an old leather briefcase belonging to Rowland, they found letters belonging to the soldier which showed that his fiancee Mabel Meanock was allowed to visit him for two months in 1918.

Another of the items found in his briefcase was a copy of the couple's Swiss marriage certificate, dated August 20, 1918.

Locals had even given Rowland a Swiss-made pocket watch as a wedding present. The archive has now sold at Capes Dunn auctioneers of Manchester for 1,000.

Rowland Harper during his time as a Chief Petty Officer in the Royal Naval Air Service (left) and Mabel Meanock, the fiancee of Rowland Harper (right)

Before the war, Rowland was an engineer with British naval aviation pioneer Air Commodore Charles Rumney Samson's 3 Squadron of the RNAS based at Eastchurch, Kent.

Rowland was involved in early action during WWI and with the Armoured car section at Morbeque, Cassel, Aniche and Lewarde before being wounded near Douai in northern France.

He was among the first prisoners of war which arrived at Chateau-d'Oex on May 30, 1916.

A Swiss watch that was gifted to Rowland Harper by his captors as a wedding present

One of the letters in the archive is headed 'British Prisoners Of War Interned in Switzerland' and is dated May 23, 1918.

It was sent to the British Military Permit Office in London from the British Legation (embassy) in Berne.

It states: 'Permission has been given for Miss M. Meanock to proceed to Switzerland for the purpose of marrying C.P Officer R.Harper who is interned at Chateau d'Oex.'

Another letter dated July 10, 1918 from the Swiss ambassador in London to Mabel states: 'Your fiance has successfully applied for permission for you to stay there during two months. I shall be pleased to grant you a corresponding Visa.'

A spokesman for Capes Dunn said: 'It is an amazing archive which was consigned to us by a family member.

'It was all brought in to us in a leather case, like a time capsule.

'Rowland Harper was captured early on in the war and was interned in this chateau in Switzerland.

Marriage documents declaring the marriage of Rowland Harper and Mabel Meanock. The pair were married in Switzerland, where Harper was held as a prisoner of war

'There was sort of a gentlemen's agreement in place that the prisoners would be well looked after if they didn't try and escape.

'Loved ones were allowed to visit and, as confirmed by the correspondence in this archive, were even given special permission to marry.'

The archive that sold at auction included Rowland's medals that were made up of the 1914 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal with Mentioned in Dispatches oak leaf and a long service medal.
Kamali Gabbidon-Lynck, 19, was stabbed to death in a hair salon after being ambushed by thugs armed with knives, guns and a samurai sword

This is the teenager stabbed to death in a hair salon after being ambushed by thugs armed with knives, guns and a samurai sword.

Kamali Gabbidon-Lynck, 19, and another man ran for their lives as they were chased by up to a dozen masked attackers on bicycles before he was knifed in front of terrified customers, including young children.

His 20-year-old friend was stabbed and shot in the head, but survived and is being treated in hospital.

Speaking to MailOnline Gabbidon-Lynck's grandmother, who did not want to give her name, said: I just want this senseless killing to stop. Its happening to one family after another. He was a young father with a baby girl.

Another relative said: The talking needs to stop, we need action to stop this now.

Police were called to Wood Green at around 8.10pm on Friday following reports of a fight

Forensic officers on Vincent Road, Wood Green, north London, where a teenager was shot and stabbed by a gang riding bikes

Police and paramedics were called to reports of a group of young men fighting in Wood Green just before 8.10pm on Friday.

Mr Gabbidon-Lynck and his pal were found with stab wounds at the Koffe an Kreem and were rushed to hospital - but the teenager was pronounced dead shortly after 3am on Saturday.

Detective Chief Inspector Katherine Goodwin, of the Met Police, said the armed attackers were riding bikes.

She said: "My team has established that the attackers were armed with at least one firearm, knives and a samurai sword. Some, or possibly all, were riding bikes.

"I know that people may be reluctant or afraid to speak with police, but making a single call could help to remove dangerous, violent individuals from your area and all information provided will be treated in the strictest confidence."

No arrests have been made. The incident took place in Vincent Road, a short distance from Wood Green station.

The road was closed and a police cordon was put in place while officers investigated. A damaged car was found at the scene.

A friend of Mr Gabbidon-Lynck said he had been targeted by a gang from Tottenham, who have been involved with a long-running deadly feud with those from Wood Green.

Detective Chief Inspector Katherine Goodwin said a gang who were riding bikes were armed with at least one firearm, knives and a samurai sword

The road was closed and a police cordon was put in place while officers investigated following the incident

She added that a call to Crimestoppers would allow callers to maintain their anonymity

The murdered teen had recently been released from prison after he had admitted to a number of drug offences at Lewes Crown Court in Sussex in 2017.

He was given a 32 month custodial sentence at a young offenders institute.

His friend added: He used to hang around by McDonalds by the cinema in Wood Green and on Friday night, a large number of youths came round the corner on bikes. Theyd come from Tottenham.

Kamali and another guy were picked out and chased.

Hed been in prison recently but he didnt deserve that. Everyone is really down about this.

The Tottenham-Wood Green feud has been going on for way too long.

An eyewitness told MailOnline how he saw two young men running for their lives.

He said: The first was a young black man, quite stocky and about 6ft tall and he rushed past me.

About five or ten seconds later another black man, aged around the same age 19 or 20, but smaller ran past.

They were running for their lives and were followed by about eight other young men on bikes.

They were all wearing black with hoods pulled up over their heads and their jackets pulled up over their face up to the nose.

I had to move aside to avoid them. As I looked back two of the gang had huge knives, more like Samurai swords.

One was holding the sword across the handlebars while the other had it tucked inside his trousers but was already pulling the blade out slightly.

There have been at least 12 fatal stabbings in London since January 1, 2019

The violence around here has always been bad but its getting worse.

Another eyewitness, who was too frightened to give her name, said: One of the youths was on the floor and was trying to crawl away but every time he did so, he they attacked him.

There was a gunshot a short while later and he was left lying by a metal barrier that leads into the car park by the flats.

The other man had been dragged into the hairdressers for his own safety.

I havent been able to sleep since it happened. I just want to move far away from here.
This is the moment a bumbling lion proves why it's lionesses that do the hunting.

A stealthy lioness is stalking her prey on the banks of the Crocodile River, opposite Marloth Park in South Africa.

As she goes in for the kill on an impala she is thwarted by a rookie lion who gets in her way and slows her down so the impala runs free.

The footage was filmed by Peter Craig-Cooper who told the story to Latest Sightings.

He said: 'A pride of lion was frequenting an area of the Crocodile River in the Kruger National Park, opposite Marloth Park.

'So we were always on the lookout for them.

'There was one day, when we found the lions on the riverbank and spotted a herd of impala nearby!

'We watched as the unsuspecting herd of impala headed towards the river, right near the lions.

A stealthy lioness is stalks her prey on the banks of the Crocodile River, opposite Marloth Park in South Africa before being intercepted by a bumbling lion

The two creatures collide causing the lioness to slow down and letting the impala escape

'As the herd of impala finally crept close enough for an ambush by the lions, a female started stalking them.

'Her head can be seen in the grass at the start of the video.

'The male then decided to help out in the catch, rookie mistake!

'All of a sudden pandemonium broke.

'The male chasing from the top and the female from the bottom of the bank.

'The two lions collided as the impala made its escape.

'As the watch the herd of impala run to freedom, they look bewildered by their botched attempt at the hunt that they put in so much energy to attempting.
A shop owner has spoken of her anger after she was given a 300 fine for having a Walnut Whip wrapper in her shop - because the council 'classed it as trade waste'.

Cathy Roberts, 54, who owns Literally bookshop in New Brighton, Merseyside said she was 'shocked and outraged' after receiving the penalty from the Wirral Council litter enforcement team.

She claims she was handed the fine when a member of the team visited her shop and discovered the wrapper, sandwich packaging and a newspaper on her counter.

Despite her telling the officer she would dispose of the items, she was hit with a fine because she did not have a licence for trade waste at her business.

Cathy Roberts, 54, who owns Literally bookshop in New Brighton, Merseyside said she was 'shocked and outraged' after receiving the huge penalty from the Wirral Council litter enforcement team

She said she was also told that she needed a waste agreement licence for her business.

Cathy and her partner, Pete, were given a 300 fine and asked to produce a waste agreement plan within 14 days.

She said that the council rescinded the fine after she made persistent calls to it.

Cathy said: 'A man entered our shop, dressed all in black with a clipboard in his hand, and began having a conversation with Pete, claiming he was from the council.

'We were telling him about our storytelling bookshop, mainly selling kids books and inviting in the local community, when Pete noticed his Kingdom badge.

'He handed us a yellow enforcement letter and asked us to produce proof of our waste agreement all the way back to the previous 12 months.

'We asked who he was and that he should leave our shop but he asked what Pete was going to do with his newspapers and what I would be doing with the sweet wrapper and that by putting it in the bin it would become trade waste.

'We were so furious so we asked him to get out as we had customers in the shop at the time.'

Cathy claims she is not the only one to be targeted on the street with another 12 businesses thought to have received the same fine as part of new waste rules

Cathy claims she is not the only one to be targeted on the street with another 12 businesses thought to have received the same fine as part of new waste rules.

Cathy claims after being slapped with the fine she later received a letter reinforcing it, addressed from 'Barnet Council', a London Borough over 200 miles away from her shop.

Despite the further letter, Cathy was then told by Wirral council she will not receive a fine, and to 'ignore' all further letters regarding penalties.

She claims that she was handed the fine when the team visited the shop despite telling them she would dispose of the wrapper at home. She is pictured holding a letter she received from Wirral Council's litter enforcement team

Cathy said: 'They had clearly copied and pasted the letter and just shows how much they have taken care with this issue.

'There has been a huge push to get people back to their local high streets and it is already tough for small businesses without this added fine.

'It all seems like a money-making scheme.

'I'm not sure the council really knew what was going on.

'When you put a business together no matter how big it is, you are investing money, time and effort and you hope for the council to help and support you.

'Even local councillors were unaware of this policy coming into place.'

A spokesperson for Wirral Council said: 'We suspended enforcement of trade waste legislation whilst we carried out a review of our approach to this issue and we apologise to the confusion that has been caused.

'Based on the significant number of businesses who have advised they were not aware of their legal obligations in this area, the council has on this occasion made the decision to rescind all notices issued. Businesses which have already paid a fixed penalty notice will be refunded.

'The emphasis going forward will be that the Council expects all businesses to have plans in place to be compliant with the legal duty of care obligations as set out in the Environmental Protection Act 1990.'
Donald Trump paid a secret flying visit to Britain last night on his way to meet Kim Jong-un in Asia.

Air Force One touched down at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk at around 11.40pm and spent around an hour on the Tarmac while the US President's jet was refuelled.

White House staff posed with US Air Force personnel in front of the famous blue and white Boeing 747 but Trump appears to have stayed on board.

RAF Mildenhall is known as 'Little America' because it houses 3,100 American airmen and their families and is the US Air Force's main refuelling base in Europe.

President Trump is flying to Hanoi in Vietnam to meet Kim with both sides under pressure to agree a denuclearisation deal at their second historic summit.

After stopping in Britain he flew to Doha where Air Force One refuelled again before flying non-stop to its final destination.

Air Force One carrying Donald Trump touched down at RAF Mildenhall in where US military personal stationed at the base posed with White House staffers while the president stayed on board

President Trump jetted off to Vietnam from Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, for what he predicted will be a 'very productive summit'

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wound down his window to wave at the thousands gathered outside as he headed to Hanoi, where

Trump and his team are crossing the globe for crunch talks with the North Koreans

Earlier today Kim Jong Un stepped off his armoured train in a Vietnamese border town and into his limousine ahead of his second nuclear summit with the US president.

Mr Kim, dressed in his trademark dark Mao suit, shook hands with officials as Vietnamese troops stood at attention on a red carpet beneath large North Korean and Vietnamese flags at the Dong Dang railway station on the China-Vietnam border.

A crowd gathered along the road near the station to wave North Korean flags and bouquets of flowers as the North Korean leader stepped into a black limousine that was then surrounded by bodyguards who ran alongside their leader as he left the station.

Mr Kim was then driven to Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, ahead of his Wednesday meeting with Mr Trump where he went to the North Korean embassy.

The leaMr Kim's arrival comes as Vietnamese officials scramble to finish preparations for a rushed summit that is meant to deal with one of Asia's biggest security challenges: North Korea's pursuit of a nuclear programme that stands on the verge of viably threatening any target on the planet.

Although many experts are sceptical Mr Kim will give up the nuclear weapons he likely sees as his best guarantee of continued rule, there was a palpable, carnival-like excitement among many in Hanoi as the final preparations were made for the meeting.

Officials in Hanoi said they only had about 10 days to prepare for the summit - much less than the nearly two months Singapore had before the first Trump-Kim meeting last year - but still vowed to provide airtight security for the two leaders.

'Security will be at the maximum level,' Vietnamese deputy minister of foreign affairs Le Hoai Trung told reporters.

Kim Jong-un stopped for a cigarette break at Nanning station in southern China around 3.30am on Tuesday while on his way to Vietnam

Schoolchildren waving North Korean flags and a military guard of honor greeted Kim as he stepped from his personal train, on to the platform, draped in a red carpet

North Korean bodyguards run along a limousine transporting North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un upon his arrival at the border town with China in Dong Dang, Vietnam

The American and North Korean flags are waved in front of Kim's motorcade as the North Korean dictator arrives in Hanoi

The ultra-tight security will be appreciated by North Korean authorities, who are extremely vigilant about the safety of Mr Kim, the third member of his family to rule the North with absolute power.

Vietnam has announced an unprecedented traffic ban along a possible arrival route for Mr Kim.

The Communist Party's Nhan Dan newspaper quoted the Roads Department as saying the ban will affect the 105-mile stretch of Highway One from Dong Dang, on the border with China, to Hanoi.

There are high expectations for the Hanoi summit after a vague declaration at the first meeting in June in Singapore that disappointed many.

In a meeting with senior aides in Seoul, South Korean president Moon Jae-in said that the Trump-Kim talks would be a critical opportunity to achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Mr Moon, who met Mr Kim three times last year and has lobbied hard to revive nuclear diplomacy between the US and North Korea, is eager for a breakthrough that would allow him to push ambitious plans for inter-Korean engagement, including lucrative joint economic projects that are held back by US-led sanctions against the North.

'If President Trump succeeds in dissolving the world's last remaining Cold War rivalry, it will become yet another great feat that will be indelibly recorded in world history,' Mr Moon said.

Mr Trump, via Twitter, has worked to temper those expectations, predicting before leaving for Hanoi a 'continuation of the progress' made in Singapore but adding a tantalising nod to 'Denuclearisation?'

He also said that Mr Kim knows that 'without nuclear weapons, his country could fast become one of the great economic powers anywhere in the World'.
A British-American conservationist is facing execution in Iran over spying charges, it has emerged.

Morad Tahbaz, who holds a UK passport, was arrested along with seven others last year amid claims they were spying on the countrys missile programme for the CIA.

They had been working on a project to monitor endangered cheetahs and leopards. But officials in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard claimed camera traps they were using were for espionage.

Charges for four of the group - including Tahbaz and Niloufar Bayani, a 31-year-old former United Nations employee educated in Canada - have been upgraded to 'sowing corruption on earth', punishable by hanging in Iran.

British-American conservationist, Morad Tahbaz (pictured), is facing execution in Iran over spying charges, it has emerged

Mr Tahbaz has previously been described as a wealthy businessman and board member of the wildlife NGO Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, which was running the conservation project.

Iran does not recognise dual nationals and treats them purely as Iranians, denying them certain consular services.

Tahbaz comes from a wealthy family who made their fortune before the 1979 revolution and once owned the renowned Kayhan newspaper, which is now controlled by the Islamic authorities, AFP reported last year.

In February 2018, a ninth environmentalist, Iranian-Canadian Kavous Seyed Emami - a 63-year-old professor and renowned environmentalist allegedly committed suicide in prison, a fortnight after his arrest. His family has disputed the suicide claim.

Charges for four of the group - including Tahbaz and Niloufar Bayani (pictured), a 31-year-old former United Nations employee educated in Canada - have been upgraded to 'sowing corruption on earth', punishable by hanging in Iran

In February 2018, a ninth environmentalist, Iranian-Canadian Kavous Seyed Emami (pictured) - a 63-year-old professor and renowned environmentalist allegedly committed suicide in prison, a fortnight after his arrest. His family has disputed the suicide claim

Recently, a row is said to have broken out between Iran's intelligence ministry - which says the group are innocent - and the Revolutionary Guard, which accuses them of espionage.

According to the Times, conservationists have slammed the spying claims as 'absurd', pointing out that the camera traps have a range of just 45ft.

Ms Bayani is said to have told a judge she had been tortured into a confession, activists from Human Rights Watch said.

'If you were being threatened with a needle of hallucinogenic drugs above your arm, you would also confess to whatever they wanted you to confess,' she said, according to the group.

It said the the trial of the eight suspects started on January 30. Along with Bayani and Tahbaz, they were named as Houman Jokar, Sepideh Kashani, Amirhossein Khaleghi, Sam Rajabi, Taher Ghadirian and Abdoreza Kouhpayeh.

'The gravity of due process violations against these activists over the past year, and the recent allegation of torture and forced confessions, has reinforced the reality that the judiciary is a tool of repression and a symbol of injustice,' said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

'The highest-ranking authorities should immediately investigate this allegation of torture, immediately call for the release of these activists, and end the grave abuses against them.'
A Pennsylvania mother and her teenage daughter are in custody for allegedly murdering five members of their family, including three children between the ages of nine and 13.

Shana Decree, 45, and Dominique Decree, 19, were charged with five counts of homicide and one count each of conspiracy after police found them in an apartment with the bodies of five relatives they had allegedly killed on Monday. At least two of the victims were reportedly choked to death.

Shana told police that 'everyone at the apartment ... wanted to die' and talked about suicide, including the children, according to court documents.

Her daughter claimed that one of the victims, her aunt Jamilla Campbell, 42, killed one of her own twin daughters, aged nine, before she herself was slain.

Shana Decree, 45 (left), and her 19-year-old daughter, Dominique Decree (right), have been charged with killing five of their relatives, among them three children

Late Tuesday the Bucks County District Attorney's Office photo released these booking photos, showing marks on Dominique's neck

Crime scene tape is seen Tuesday at the Robert Morris Apartments in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, where police found five dead bodies Monday

An investigator steps out from the Robert Morris Apartments in Morrisville

Investigators carry out items from the crime scene during an ongoing homicide investigation

Among the deceased are two other children of Shana Decree - Naa'Irah Smith, 25, and Damon Decree Jr, 13.

Also killed were Jamilla Campbell's twin daughters, Imani and Erika Allen, aged nine.

Police did not say how all five victims died.

Matt Scott, Dominiques ex-boyfriend, told DailyMail.com on Tuesday: It's f***ing sick how she could do that, and it doesn't make any sense. Her and her mother were amazing people.

He did say, however, that he has not spoken to Dominique since they split up in 2017 after about two and a half years of dating.

Her family were very close,' Scott said. 'I don't see how this could have happened, especially with the mother: she was very religious.

Every family has their struggles but they always stood together as a team, from what I could tell.

I was in shock, I was like, "This isnt f***ing real. They were so f***ing close." I would have never expected this, or even thought of it. They were all so f***ing nice.

Everyone is shocked about this; no one would have expected this, and the kids were so f***ing sweet...Im just horrified, its scary shocking.

The bodies were found on Monday inside the unit at the Robert Morris Apartments in the Philadelphia suburb of Morrisville after Bucks County child welfare officials showed up unannounced and got no response when they knocked on the door.

A maintenance worker opened the door and found Shana and her daughter Dominique in a 'disoriented' state, according to court documents.

Shana (left) told police that 'everyone at the apartment ... wanted to die' and talked about suicide. Dominique initially said she did not know what happened

Both the mother and daughter (pictured together) allegedly admitted to their involvement in the killings

Police responded at 4pm and found all five bodies in a bedroom. The apartment was in 'disarray,' according to Police Chief George McClay, with broken drywall and broken glass, overturned furniture, and other clutter.

Damon, Shana's teenage son, was found lying face up on the bed with his right foot jammed through the wall into the adjacent bedroom.

Shana was arraigned early Tuesday morning, while her daughter made her initial court appearance later in the afternoon.

Neighbors had grown concerned for the family when nobody saw them outside the house for several days, NBC reported earlier.

One friend of the victims said she had tried knocking on the door multiple times on Friday but received no answer.

She said: 'I saw the landlord and said, what's going on?

'And she said, "we are doing a welfare check because trash is piled up out there for awhile to see if they are alright".

'Nobody answered the door so the maintenance guys went in.'

Both suspected killers received medical treatment at a hospital before they were taken into custody yesterday. They agreed to speak to the police without a lawyer present.

Dominique, who had injuries to her neck, initially denied knowing what had happened inside her family's apartment. She asked if her relatives were alive and talked about her desire to die, according to the documents.

Victims: Shana Decree's sister Jamilla Campbell (left) was one of the family members killed in Pennsylvania, along with Decree's daughter, 25-year-old Naa'Irah Smith (right)

Shana's 13-year-old son, Damon, was among the dead inside the family's apartment (pictured)

Her mother Shana also pleaded ignorance and claimed that her sister Jamilla's boyfriend and two other men came into their apartment and killed everyone, only leaving her and Dominique alive.

Investigators went back to Dominique and told her that her mother has named a potential suspect.

The 19-year-old then also pointed a finger of blame and her aunt's boyfriend and two other men.

Dominique, however, later changed her story, telling police that her mother killed one of her sister's twins, her own son, and daughter, Naa'irah Smith; that her aunt Jamilla choked her other twin daughter, and that Dominique herself choked Jamilla to death.

Thai Hall, 24, of Bristol, Pennsylvania, said she attended Morrisville High School with Smith and spoke with her about three months ago. Hall, whose mother lives in a neighboring apartment, said Smith was attending cosmetology school. She remembered Smith warmly.

'She was a happy person, happy person and cared for people,' Hall said.

Shana Decree allegedly killed her son Damon (pictured together, left) and her daughter Naa'irah (right)

Dominique (right) told police she choked to death her aunt Jamilla (right)

Bucks County's District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said at a press conference: 'This is a terrible tragedy.

'I just spoke with the family of all five of the deceased and we're all heartbroken. I wish I had better news to report.

'The people who committed these atrocious acts are now in custody and will be made to pay for their crimes.'

Detectives are still investigating how the victims died and it was 'premature' to suggest a motive, he said.

Authorities who had been looking for Campbells 17-year-old son Joshua found him in Willingboro, New Jersey, where he was staying with friends, McClay said.

Weintraub earlier stressed the teen is not a suspect, saying authorities just want to 'ensure his safety.'
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Australian clothing brands are using garment factories in countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam where their workers are being paid as little as 55 cents an hour.

Retailers in Australia's $23 billion fashion industry are using a 'system of entrenched exploitation' that is trapping millions of workers in poverty, a study by charity Oxfam Australia claims.

Labels such as Cotton On, Target, and Kmart have made commitments towards paying a 'living wage' to garment workers, however, progress in actual conditions across the supply chain is slow, the charity says.

Australian clothing brands are using garment factories in countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam where their workers are being paid as little as 55 cents an hour (pictured; Anju a garment worker earning poverty wages in Bangladesh)

A study by Oxfam claims Australian clothing brands are exploiting workers (pictured; Nahida, a sewing machine operator, helps her daughter, Rafsana, with her homework inside their home in Dhaka, Bangladesh)

A living wage means enough money is earned to cover basic needs such as food, housing, education and healthcare.

Oxfam also claims other Australian garment manufacturers will not reveal the factories where their clothes are made.

The report claims nine out of 10 garment workers in Bangladesh and over two-thirds in Vietnam, most of them women, struggle to pay for basics like food and medicine.

'If we don't see changes soon, we will continue to see a fashion industry that is perpetuating and fueling a system of poverty,' said Oxfam Australia's advocacy manager Joy Kyriacou.

'We will continue to see women who are running out of food and skipping meals every month, women who can't live with their children because they can't afford any childcare,' she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Sydney.

A spokesman for Kmart and Target said they had been working with suppliers, workers, and national governments to address the issue but did not give details.

Cotton On did not reply to a request for comment.

The report claims nine out of 10 garment workers in Bangladesh struggle to pay for basics like food and medicine (pictured; a textile factory in Savar, in the suburbs of Dhaka, Bangladesh where about six thousands employees work)

Oxfam is pushing for retailers to commit to ensuring a 'living wage' for workers meaning enough money is earned to cover basic needs such as food, housing, education and healthcare

Australia last month became only the second country in the world to bring in an anti-slavery law, requiring companies with a turnover of more than A$100 million to report on modern slavery risks in their supply chains.

The study said despite Australian firms' pledge to improve workers' rights, they put pressure on garment owners to drive wages down by using practices such as fierce price negotiation and short-term contracts.

The charity has released a 'report card' that rates the efforts being made by Australian fashion companies to provide a 'living wage' to garment workers.

Tania, a 21-year-old single mother in Bangladesh, told Oxfam she worked up to 12 hours a day for a $169 monthly wage, or about 55 cents an hour, and could only see her daughter, who lives with her parents in a village, twice a year.

Clothes manufacturers in Bangladesh, the world's second largest garment exporter, agreed to raise wages after a week of protests (pictured; garment workers shout slogans as they block a road during a demonstration to demand higher wages, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on January 9, 2019)

President of the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation, Babul Akter, urged the government to ensure decent treatment for its workers.

'Since there's a lot of competition among Bangladeshi factories internally, Australian buyers or any other buyers use this to their advantage and as a result give owners low prices that in turn affects the workers,' he said.

Clothes manufacturers in Bangladesh, the world's second largest garment exporter, agreed to raise wages across 6 of the 7 pay grades in January after a week of violent protests, but it left the minimum wage unchanged at 8,000 taka ($95) a month.
Washington, D.C.  U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced $1,422,591 for West Virginia through the Federal Emergency Management Agencys (FEMA) public assistance grant program. Funding will assist the West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) with repairs to roadways in Wetzel County that was damaged as a result of storms in April 2018.

I am grateful that the WV Division of Highways has received this funding. Senator Manchin said. In recent years, our state has endured multiple weather-related disasters that continue to impact our roadways across West Virginia. The funding provided by FEMA to WVDOH will help repair and clear roadways that have been damaged by severe storms, flooding, mudslides, and landslides for safer travel. As a member of the Appropriations committee, I will continue to fight for the funding that West Virginia needs.
A former City banker has traded in his six-figure salary career for a more 'simple life' in the middle of the Nicaruguan jungle.

Alex Cain, 30, originally from Bexley, south east London turned his back on banking and a comfortable life earning 10,000-a-month to set up the hippy commune in central America.

Now he aims to grow the hilltop healing community - called Colina de la Luna which translates from Spanish as 'Hill of the Moon'- where 14 people live without clean running water, electricity, permanent housing or roads.

After years of working in banking, including his final job that paid a whopping 120,000 annual salary before bonuses, Alex decided to pursue his real passion and flew off to the jungle to set up his hippy camp.

Alex, pictured with his girlfriend Emmi Ekegren, 30, at Colina de la Luna. The former banker from London left his high-flying lifestyle behind to pursue his true passion in Nicaragua and has set up a small commune in the jungle

People sleep in a collection of tents and hammocks or an 'indigenous hut' called a 'cabana' made from up-cycled pallets and a corrugated metal roof, supported by fallen trees at its corners

Alex, pictured with a friend while still working in banking, is now almost unrecognisable from his days in suits

Alex said he now can't imagine any other life - despite the hardships of living off the land - because he gets to spend every day helping the local community, alongside girlfriend Emmi Ekegren.

People sleep in a collection of tents and hammocks or an 'indigenous hut' called a 'cabana' made from up-cycled pallets and a corrugated metal roof, supported by fallen trees at its corners.

The jungle settlement also has a 30ft open sided cabana used as a communal area and cook on open fires and gas canisters they fill up at the local town.

Alex said: 'At Colina de la Luna, we are a family - we grow together and anybody is welcome.

'It's a space for people to be free with no judgement, no rules and no pressure but with respect, love and complete honesty.

Alex Cain, 30, originally from Bexley, south east London (right) left his life as a city banker to set up a commune in Nicaragua

'There's no noise or light pollution and no distractions and it's a time to really reconnect with yourself and nature.

'We grow avocado, oranges, papaya, tomatoes, watermelon and then we also have banana and coconut trees.

'Everything is very young at the moment, but it is all in the ground waiting to be matured.'

Before he went travelling, Alex struggled with what he wanted from life having left school to join Bank of Nova Scotia, then HSBC and the Bank of America. Pictured: Walking a tightrope in Nicaragua where he's made his home

The jungle settlement also has a 30ft open sided cabana used as a communal area and cook on open fires and gas canisters they fill up at the local tow

Before he ended up in South America, Alex struggled with what he wanted from life having left school to join Bank of Nova Scotia, then HSBC and the Bank of America.

But doubts first surfaced when he quit his job at the Bank of America to travel the world aged 21.

In his first round-the-world trip, Alex travelled to America, New Zealand, Australia, south east Asia, India and Fiji.

In his first round-the-world trip, Alex travelled to America, New Zealand, Australia, south east Asia, India and Fiji (pictured with a a dog on the commune)

Alex spent three months teaching at an American summer camp in Pennsylvania before making his way towards South America where he planned to explore the continent

When he returned to London to work in the City, Alex felt down, and after two years he set off to travel again.

He said: 'I felt uncomfortable with the lifestyle I was born into - it was full of greed and a desire to posses things.

'After living such a privileged life I decided to start giving back.'

Alex met Emmi, a former social worker from Finland, in Mexico and together the pair of them decided to set up the hippy commune

Alex spent three months teaching at an American summer camp in Pennsylvania before making his way towards South America where he planned to explore the continent.

He met Emmi, 30, a former social worker from Finland, in Mexico and together the pair of them decided to set up the hippy commune.

Now in Nicaragua, the couple have launched their own charity - Aiding the Cessation of Suffering (ACS) which aims to improve access to food and clean water, clothing, housing, employment and education in the local community.

In total, 14 people and nine 'pups' people live on the commune - but Alex says 'anyone is welcome'

Those living in the commune contribute to daily tasks including upkeep of buildings

Those living at Colina de La Luna also donate ten per cent of finances from their communal money pot to the charity which has been used to buy water filters.

Alex said: 'We are also in the process of building some toilets as many locals have overflowing pit toilets and it causes sickness.

'A lot of them are forced to use overflowing latrines which run into rivers and contaminate the water which people then drink from.

'We are really small at the moment but we are helping.

'Education is the main objective but that takes the most funding but we are hoping in the future we can really make an impact here.'
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The new Red Arrows pilots were spotted doing their dramatic corkscrew manoeuvre in the blue skies over Lincoln, East Midlands, on Monday.

Photographer Claire Hartley captured incredible pictures of the planes perfecting their synchronised moves as the unseasonably warm weather provided perfect flying conditions.

The planes were also seen practising their palm split flying formation, with their white vapour trails leaving a stunning picture in the sky. In another photo a plane can be seen silhouetted against the bright sun.

The Red Arrows are busy training for the 2019 display season, which will be their 55th campaign since 1965.

Training for the new season will last until late-May and include a combination of flying in the UK, at the teams base at RAF Scampton, and also overseas, where more settled, better weather allows focused preparation. Pilots fly up to three times a day, five days a week.

The new season is expected to include a combination of domestic displays and a tour of North America, where the team - which is the public face of the RAF - will aim to support important UK interests across areas such as business, trade, education and defence.

For the latest season, the Red Arrows will be commanded by Wing Commander Andrew Keith and the nine-aircraft formation led by Red 1, Squadron Leader Martin Pert - who is entering his second year as the Team Leader.

The Red Arrows perform spectacular corkscrew manoeuvre over Lincolnshire on Monday afternoon as they continue their winter training before displaying in the UK, US and Canada this summer

The Red Arrows have performed almost 5,000 times in 57 countries since 1965 and are one of the worlds premier aerobatic display teams

Flying nine BAE Systems Hawk fast-jets, the Arrows represent the best of British and the excellence of the Royal Air Force

The North America Western Hawk 19 tour is expected to begin in Canada on August 8, one of eight dates on the trip

The planes were also seen practising their palm split flying formation, with their white vapour trails leaving a stunning picture in the sky

Previous tours including the Middle and Far East, have been used to generate investment and sales for a range of UK sectors

UK International Trade Secretary Dr Liam Fox said: 'Their tour of North America will provide an invaluable opportunity to deepen the partnership with some of our closest allies and trading partners'

The Red Arrows will display at the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, England, between July 19 and July 21. They will then take a short while for maintenance and preparation before departing for their North America tour

North America tour dates include several in Canada and on both the east and west coasts of the United States, more events are expected to be announced

The Red Arrows performing corkscrew manoeuvre captured from a different angle leaving dynamic contrails in the bright February sky

Last March the Red Arrows endured a fatal crash at the RAF Valley in Anglesey, north Wales. David Stark ejected himself to safety but Jonathan Bayliss was killed instantly after Hawk T1 burst into flames
Foul-mouthed Detective Constable Claire Fitzpatrick, 44, is accused of repeatedly using the C-word and telling one motorist he was 'driving like a c***'

A female detective is facing the sack for breaking wind on duty and asking a junior officer if he wanted an affair with a 'fatter, ugly, older woman'.

Foul-mouthed Detective Constable Claire Fitzpatrick, 44, is accused of repeatedly using the C-word and telling one motorist he was 'driving like a c***'.

Det Con Fitzpatrick is fighting to save her job at a misconduct hearing by saying her antics were part of 'a culture of banter' inside her village police station in Bedwas, south Wales.

She told the police force disciplinary hearing that she would often speak in silly voices 'like the character Borat' and would use the phrase 'Rather out than in'.

Gwent Police officer Fitzpatrick, who had been promoted to a temporary sergeant, is accused of 25 counts of inappropriate behaviour, amounting to gross misconduct.

She insists that swearing 'was just the nature of the place' and that the C-word 'had replaced the F-word as the swear word of choice'. She denies misconduct after 22 years service in the Welsh force.

Mother-of-two Fitzpatrick allegedly asked a male PC if he had a girlfriend and whether he wanted an affair with 'an older woman'.

Det Con Fitzpatrick is fighting to save her job at a misconduct hearing by saying her antics were part of 'a culture of banter' inside her village police station in Bedwas, south Wales

When he said no, she allegedly replied: 'I'll be gentle, I promise.'

But Fitzpatrick insisted she was joking and told the panel: 'I met the officer a couple of months before. There was a bit of banter.

'I don't know how the conversation started but we started speaking about whether he had a girlfriends or children.

'I said: "Well if you ever fancy an affair with a fatter, ugly, older woman who wears glasses I have a number."

The junior officer responded 'No thank you' to which Fitzpatrick 'pretended to throw up in her mouth'.

Fitzpatrick said: 'I thought instantly that I had said the wrong thing at the wrong time. I went over to him, put my hand on his shoulder and said that I didn't mean it, that he didn't know my sense of humour and that I was sorry.

Bedwas Police station is pictured where Fitzpatrick admitted breaking wind outside the sergeant's office at the station - but said: 'It wasn't deliberately'

'He kind of acknowledged that. He knew I wasn't serious.'

She also admitted breaking wind outside the sergeant's office at the station - but said: 'It wasn't deliberately'.

She said: 'I would joke about it. Sometimes I would speak like the character Borat, or use a silly voice to say "Rather out than in".'

The misconduct hearing at Gwent Police Headquarters in Cwmbran was told Fitzpatrick would regularly swear and once arrested a motorist telling him: 'You're driving like a c***'.

She told the panel: 'The officer with me said "Sergeant, you can't say that to him."

Mother-of-two Fitzpatrick allegedly asked a male PC if he had a girlfriend and whether he wanted an affair with 'an older woman'

'I took a deep breath with my head in my hands, and said I'm sorry to the driver.

'The driver also apologised for his driving and his manner towards us.'

Fitzpatrick also asked another woman officer if she 'had any cream for thrush' while inside the packed police station.

She accepted saying it but denied it was done in a 'bullying' manner.

She said: 'I wasn't suffering from thrush at the time, so I wasn't asking her some literally.

'It was just another example of stupid, inappropriate things being said.'

Fitzpatrick - who has been a detective for 12 years - denies bullying and inappropriate behaviour.

Fitzpatrick also asked another woman officer if she 'had any cream for thrush' while inside the packed police station

Her representative, Nick Gedge, asked her whether she engaged in inappropriate and offensive behaviour.

She replied: 'That isn't an activity that I engage in.'

The panel also heard officers and colleagues had complained about Det Con Fitzpatrick's frequent use of the same four-letter C-word around Bedwas police station.

'That was just the nature of the place,' said Det Con Fitzpatrick.

'It replaced the F-word as the swear word of choice.'

The hearing continues on Thursday.
A married man and his alleged mistress were last week bound to a tree naked and publicly shamed in China.

The couple were punished in the extreme manner after the man's wife caught them cheating, according to Chinese media citing accounts from the locals.

Police claimed the incident was caused by 'emotional disputes' and have launched an investigation.

The incident took place in the county of Huishui in southern China's Guizhou Province last Wednesday, reported Chinese news outlet btime.com.

Footage filmed by an onlooker shows the pair who were not wearing any clothes tied to a tree side by side by ropes.

Dozens of passersby are seen gathering around the couple and police officers on site to control the crowd.

The video became viral after being uploaded onto the Chinese social media platform WeChat last Friday.

Footage filmed by an onlooker shows the pair who were not wearing any clothes tied to a tree side by side by ropes. Dozens of people have gathered and police are on site to keep order

Police said they had to send officers to the scene at around 5pm that day to rescue the woman bound to the tree.

Officers untied her, covered her with clothes before taking all relevant persons to the police station, police claimed.

A statement from the Huishui County Public Security Bureau said that the event was caused by the 'excessive reaction' from the man's wife after the couple had 'emotional disputes'.

The police did not explain the relation between the man and the woman who had been punished with him.

Further investigation is in under way.
The Eurostar will continue to run as normal even in the event of a No Deal Brexit, French rail bosses have promised.

Guillaume Pepy, the head of France's SNCF railway company - which has a 55 per cent stake in Eurostar - said there may be a few 'details' to iron out but claimed the 'fundamentals' will remain the same.

Pepy told French media that it was working to ensure smooth travel 'whatever the [Brexit] scenario'.

The Eurostar will continue to run 'smoothly' even in the event of a No Deal Brexit, the head of France's SNCF railway company has promised

His comments come amid fears the cross-Channel train service could be affected or even halted if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal on March 29.

Last week, the Department of Transport warned a no deal scenario could cause huge queues at at London's St Pancras International in the event of No Deal.

A Government document, seen by The Financial Times, revealed there could be queues of up to 15,000 people a day at the station.

But Pepy reassured customers that would not be the case. He told reporters in France: 'Things are now very, very concrete so that, whatever the (exit) scenario, Eurostar will be able to travel correctly.

His comments come after the government warned of transport chaos if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal on March 29

'We are well aware that the devil will be in the details so we are working on the details.

'And then, in concrete terms, we shall have to see how things are organised at Gare du Nord (in Paris) and Saint Pancras (in London) regarding identity and customs checks.'

He added that if new controls brought delays then they would either hold back the train a few minutes to let passengers on or 'send people on their way in the following train'.
A Florida state senator has filed a bill that would make jail time mandatory for the so-called 'johns' who pay for sexual acts from victims of human trafficking.

Gayle Harrell filed the proposal in mid-January, after local police wrapped up an investigation that saw arrest warrants issued for 300 men.

Those charged with soliciting prostitution include New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and billionaire GOP donor John Childs (both have denied any illegal activity.)

Florida State Senator Gayle Harrell, R- Stuart, has put forward a bill that would make 30-day prison terms mandatory for 'johns' convicted in human trafficking cases

Harrell's legislation now aims to tackle sex trafficking by putting more emphasis on what she calls the 'demand side' of the industry.

The Senate Bill 370 would force anybody convicted of soliciting prostitution from a victim of the sex trade to spend 30 days in prison, as well as any other penalties a court might impose.

'Maybe they would think twice,' Harrell told the Editorial Board of TCPalm/Treasure Coast Newspapers.

Currently, there is no guarantee that johns will get jail time, even if they are found guilty.

Penalties for soliciting prostitution in Florida include a mandatory $5,000 civil fine and a criminal fine of up to $1,000.

Johns may also be forced to undergo an sexually transmitted disease test, an eight-hour human trafficking course, and 100 hours of community service.

Billionaire GOP donor John Childs (left) and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft (right) have been charged with soliciting prostitution - both deny all wrongdoing

The issue regarding Florida's treatment of johns came to a fore earlier this year, when police concluded the months-long investigation of day spas that were thought to be holding Chinese woman in 'sexual servitude'.

The probe resulted in 300 arrest warrants being issued for men in Palm Beach County, the Treasure Coast and the Orlando area, putting the spotlight on johns who keep the sex trafficking industry in business.

Harrell's bill faces challenges including timing, because 'prostitution cases are usually quick to dispose, and human trafficking cases are usually lengthy,' Florida state attorney for the 15th Circuit Dave Aronberg said Monday. This would make linking the sentences for the two crimes difficult.

Aronberg added that in many human trafficking cases language barriers and Stockholm syndrome mean they victims are slow to cooperate.

Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, one of several businesses targeted in a human trafficking and sex investigation in Florida

However he said that he wants to work with Harrell and Toby Overdorf - the bill's House co-sponsor - to improve the legislation and make it more effective.

'Anything to go after modern-day slavery is a step in the right direction,' Aronberg said.

If approved by the State Legislature, which convenes next week, the bill would take effect October 1.
Britain is refusing to reveal the location of the Skripals to Russia as part its 'duty to protect them' as it demanded Moscow reveal what it knows about the Salisbury poisoning.

Sir Laurie Bristow, Britain's ambassador to Russia, confirmed that Novichok victims Sergei and Yulia Skripal are both alive amid media claims that they could be dead.

He revealed that neither party was interested in talking to Russian officials despite repeated attempts on behalf of Moscow to meet with them.

He also pointed the finger at Russia and insisted they 'know' who was behind the assassination attempt on British soil in March 2018.

They have been previously named as Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga, who used the aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov on a trip to Salisbury last year.

Sergei and Yulia are currently in a 'safe place' back in their native country but are believed to only be in contact with British officials.

Sergei Skripal (pictured with his daughter Yulia) has suffered a deterioration in his health and is under close medical supervision at his home, a well-informed intelligence source said

Two Russian nationals have been accused of travelling to the UK to try to murder Mr Skripal with Novichok (Pictured left Ruslan Boshirov and right Alexander Petrov)

Novichok poisoning suspects Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov are shown on CCTV on Fisherton Road, Salisbury

Sir Laurie also said Britain believed the ex-spy and his daughter along with fatality Dawn Sturgess were poisoned in a murderous attack by agents of Vladimir Putin's GRU military intelligence agency.

Of the Skripals, he told Interfax: 'I can confirm that they are alive. I can confirm that the request for a meeting from the Russian embassy has been passed to them.

'They do not want to meet representatives of the Russian embassy.

'I don't think it's difficult to understand why they might not want to see representatives of the Russian state. It is their choice.'

He said: 'If they wish, we will make that happen, if they don't wish to, we are not going to make them see members, employees of the Russian state.'

Moscow has complained that Sergei, 66, has not been seen at all since the attack, while his daughter has not been since last summer.

But Sir Laurie said: 'Of course, they are in the safe place now. Our duty is to protect them.'

Sir Laurie Bristow (pictured with Vladimir Putin) spoke out following repeated Russian media claims that one or both of the Skripals could be dead

The Novichok poisoning claimed the life of Dawn Sturgess (pictured left with Charlie Rowley right) who fell ill in Amesbury months after the incident

In an interview in Russian ahead of the anniversary of the 4 March attack, the ambassador said a major British police investigation was underway - and that key details had not been disclosed.

He also ruled out a repeated Russian requests for a joint investigation into the Skripals' poisoning which Moscow blames on British secret services.

But he invited Moscow to forward to London details of its complicity in the Novishok attack.

Sir Laurie said the police and Crown Prosecution Service had identified two suspects - who he did not name.

'Both of them are from Russia. We consider them to be active GRU employees,' he said. 'Of course, the investigation is in progress.

'Now the case has been re-qualified into a murder as a British citizen, fully innocent Dawn Sturgess, was killed by a chemical weapon.'

Contractors are pictured as they work on the property of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in January

The British aim was to bring suspects to court in Britain, he said, even though it is clear Russia will never extradite the suspects.

They have been previously named as Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga, who used the aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov on a trip to Salisbury last year.

'Naturally, we have got much more information,' he said.

We are not going to publish this information in the media as it could could be prejudicial to the court hearing.

'Regarding the Russian state, as I have said before, we are not interested in a joint investigation.

'We are confident that we know who those people are. We are also confident that the Russian government knows who those people are.

'If the Russian government wants to forward us information about its involvement or involvement of its employees, we will welcome this, but we are not intending to hold a joint investigation.'

He said: 'Our aim to bring all suspects to court in Britain. If the police identifies other suspects, they will be also made responsible.'
Shamed MP Fiona Onasanya arrived home today after serving just 28 days of her three-month jail term for lying about a speeding ticket.

Following her release from prison, where Onasanya still took home her 5,500-a-month taxpayer-funded salary, two police are set to open investigations into 'racist, despicable and threatening' emails and letters sent to Onasanya whilst behind bars.

Onasanya was sentenced to three months in jail at the end of January for perverting the course of justice, but is being let out as part of an early-release scheme.

The MP for Peterborough, 35, who is also a solicitor, was swept out of HMP Bronzefield in Surrey early this morning after 28 days in custody.

Police and Ms Onasanya's communications team have today confirmed an investigation is underway after threatening emails and letters were sent to the MP.

MP Fiona Onasanya arrived back at her Peterborough home this afternoon after being released from prison earlier today

Shamed MP Fiona Onasanya smiled as she walked free from prison today after just 28 days behind bars

Onasanya, 35, a solicitor, was swept out of HMP Bronzefield in Surrey early this morning after 28 days in custody, where she still earned her 77,000 MP's salary

Ms Onasanya's communications officer Matt Turner said: 'Many of these emails & letters have a disgusting racial element to them.

'This despicable and threatening behaviour is unacceptable and we welcome an investigation.'

South Yorkshire Police said they were 'aware of malicious communications sent to an individual in the Cambridgeshire area on 29 January 2019' and that they enquiries were ongoing into the matter.

Onasanya sat in the back of a white Sodexo-branded Vauxhall with the closest window to her covered by a hi-vis jacket as it drove past photographers at speed.

The MP will be forced to wear an electronic tag and obey a curfew but will otherwise be at liberty. She will appeal her conviction.

How jailed MP kept her job and 77,000 salary - but could face a by-election within months Fiona Onasanya arrives at the Old Bailey where she was convicted of perverting the course of justice Fiona Onasanya's critics are demanding a by-election in her Peterborough seat - one of the country's most marginal. An MP is automatically removed from Parliament only if he or she is sentenced to 12 months or more in prison. Onasanya received three months - meaning she could keep her job and salary while behind bars. But under laws introduced in 2015 the disgraced Labour MP's three-month sentence means a petition will eventually be triggered, paving the way to a parliamentary race. The petition can be started only once Onasanya's appeal against her conviction has finished  a process that could take several months. Once the petition is initiated it will remain open for six weeks, with the MP losing her seat and a by-election triggered if 10 per cent of the electorate add their names. This means about 7,000 voters in the Peterborough constituency will need to sign the register in order for another parliamentary race to go ahead. Labour's Peterborough branch said it would select a new candidate after a 'robust' procedure involving the party's national executive committee. The Conservatives already have an eye on the constituency, having chosen Paul Bristow as a candidate last October. Onasanya won the seat by only 607 votes in 2017. Advertisement

She could even come back to the House of Commons to speak  and vote  in the crunch Brexit debate tomorrow.

Labour has kicked Onasanya out of the party, but she has continued to collect her 77,000 salary while behind bars.

If she had been jailed for a year or more, she would have been forced to give up her Peterborough seat, but the three-month sentence means she will face a by-election only if 10 per cent of her constituents sign a 'recall petition'.

She is also appealing against her conviction.

It also emerged on Tuesday that police are investigating reports of emails and letters with a 'disgusting racial element' directed at Ms Onasanya on the day she was jailed.

Officers in Cambridgeshire and South Yorkshire said they are investigating following 'reports of malicious communications' sent on January 29.

Her spokesman Matt Turner said: 'Many of these emails and letters have a disgusting racial element to them ... This despicable and threatening behaviour is unacceptable and we welcome an investigation.'

Calls for the sentence to be extended were dismissed yesterday after the Government's most senior law officer decided it was not unduly lenient. Onasanya was jailed at the Old Bailey on January 29.

The following day several complaints were received by the Attorney General that the sentence was too short.

But a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office said: 'A referral under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme to the Court of Appeal can only be made if a sentence is not just lenient but unduly so, such that the sentencing judge made a gross error or imposed a sentence outside the range of sentences reasonably available in the circumstances.

'The threshold is a high one, and the test was not met in this case.'

If the sentence had been deemed unduly lenient, it would have been sent to the Court of Appeal for a decision on whether it should be increased.

Jurors in Onasanya's trial heard that the MP colluded with her brother Festus, 34, after her car was clocked doing 41mph in a 30mph zone in the village of Thorney, near Peterborough, in July 2017.

CCTV footage showing Fiona Onasanya speeding 41mph in a 30mph zone in the village of Thorney near Peterborough

The court was told she was sent a 'Notice of Intended Prosecution' to fill out, but it was sent back naming the guilty driver as Aleks Antipow, an acquaintance of her brother, who was in Russia at the time. Her brother received ten months in prison after admitted three counts of perverting the course of justice relating to speeding offences, including the July 24 incident.

Festus Onasanya, Fiona's 33-year-old brother, was also jailed over the conspiracy

At the trial, Mr Justice Stuart-Smith described Onasanya's decision to deceive police as 'disastrous'. He added: 'You have not simply let yourself down; you have let down those who look to you for inspiration, your party, your profession and Parliament.'

He said the politician 'stupidly' chose to become embroiled in a scam hatched by her brother. The MP has refused to confirm she was driving at the time, despite a court ruling that she was.

Mr Justice Stuart-Smith said the sentence was the shortest possible and drew attention to Onasanya's 'exemplary character'. He added: 'You do not accept the correctness of the conviction; but I have to sentence on the basis that the disaster which has befallen you is self-inflicted.'

Between January and June last year, the number of inmates freed under home detention curfews, which allows them to be released with a tag, soared by 50 per cent from 2,196 to 3,304.
The Chinese government may have funded research into creating the world's first gene-edited babies, it is claimed.

Documents seen by medical news site STAT suggest that Chinese scientist He Jiankui may have received money from three separate government institutions in China.

The documents, including a presentation prepared by Dr He's team, patient consent forms and China's clinical trial registry, showed that grants were issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission, which is part of the municipal government, and Southern University of Science and Technology, where Dr He had worked.

It is not clear, however, whether the institutions knew how their grants would be used, according to STAT. It is possible Dr He had used money that had been given to his lab for earlier research for the gene-editing study.

Documents seen by medical news site STAT suggest Chinese scientist He Jiankui (pictured in Hong Kong on Nov 28) may have received money from three separate government institutions in China. It is not clear whether the institutions knew how their grants would be used

This image shows a microplate containing embryos that have been injected with Cas9 protein using the gene editing tool CRISPR. The image was taken at Dr He's laboratory in Shenzhen

The science ministry and the Shenzhen innovation commission both funded Hes pre-clinical research that tested the CRISPR technology without establishing pregnancies in humans, the report said.

CRISPR is the gene-editing technology He later used to alter the genes of a pair of twin girls.

The scientist sparked global criticism in November when he announced in a YouTube video that he had successfully modified the embryonic genes of the babies born that month.

One of the mothers gave birth to twins nicknamed 'Lulu' and 'Nana'. Another woman is still carrying a gene-edited foetus. Xinhua reported that all three would remain under observation.

A preliminary investigation by Chinese authorities in January concluded that Dr He had organised and handled funding for the experiment on his own in violation of national guidelines.

He Jiankui guides a laboratory staff member at the Direct Genomics lab on August 4, 2016 in Shenzhen. The scientist sparked global criticism in November last year when he announced that he had successfully used gene-editing technology to alter the embryonic genes of twin girls born that month

This graphic reveals how, theoretically, an embryo could be 'edited' using the powerful tool Crispr-Cas9 to defend humans against HIV infection

It also said that Dr He had forged an informed-consent form and violated scientific ethics and Chinese regulations, according to Xinhua citing the Guangdong provincial health commission.

The Southern University of Science and Technology in the city of Shenzhen, said in a statement on its website following the investigation that Dr He had been fired.

'I dont think He Jiankui could have done it without government encouragement,' Nie Jing-Bao, a bioethicist at the University of Otago in New Zealand told STAT, adding that the government wanted Dr He to be the scapegoat 'so that everybody else can be vindicated.'

'It's unlikely that He acted alone,' Lei Ruipeng, executive director of the Centre for Bioethics at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, told STAT.

The science ministry told STAT that 'based on the preliminary investigation, it did not fund Hes activities of human genome editing.'

Some Chinese researchers say that He may have untruthfully listed some of the government grants to lend himself credibility.

An embryo receives a small dose of Cas9 protein and PCSK9 sgRNA in a sperm injection microscope in a laboratory in Shenzhen in southern China's Guangdong province

'I would be very surprised if government agencies officially funded the CRISPR babies project,' Mu-ming Poo, director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai told STAT, adding that it is possible that Dr He used other government grabs of his to fund the CRISPR babies work.

Researches called for institutional reforms and better regulations regardless of whether the government had funded the project.

'While its important to penalise the individuals, the focus should not be why they behave so badly, but why good people do bad things, and why the system has let that happen,' Nie said.

'China should turn this medical scandal into positive institutional reforms to prevent similar incidents from happening again,' Lei added. 'Let's hope it will not be a missed opportunity.'

Gene editing for reproductive purposes is effectively banned in the US and most of Europe. In China, ministerial guidelines prohibit embryo research that 'violates ethical or moral principles.'

The chief of the World Health Organization said last year his agency is assembling experts to consider the health impact of gene editing.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said gene editing 'cannot be just done without clear guidelines' and experts should 'start from a clean sheet and check everything.'
An elderly couple who flouted planning laws in a decade-long dispute over their 'dream home' watched in horror as it was torn down.

Ken and Barbara Mead stood arm-in-arm as they witnessed the digger rip into the building, first smashing the roof before knocking down the breeze block walls. To make matters worse, they had been forced to pay for the demolition themselves after losing the row.

The pair are now living on a canal boat nearby paid for by their children after they spent their 250,000 life savings - and even received criminal convictions - battling the council over the home.

The row began in 2016 when Mr and Mrs Mead, 81 and 77, from Macclesfield, bought the plot of land with the intention of building a bungalow where they could enjoy their retirement.

But permission was refused by Cheshire East Council as the land fell within the greenbelt.

By 2012, in the hope of finding some use for the land, the pair gained permission to build a warehouse.

However, when they failed to find a tenant and fed up of living on a canal boat, they moved in, contravening the agreement.

Despite the council having said they made the regulations 'very clear', the couple said it gave them incorrect information when they applied for their original planning permission, and had been inconsistent in its advice.

Barbara and Ken (pictured above) watch on as their home is demolished in Maccesfield, Cheshire. Barbara said it was their 'dream' and that she was 'devastated' at the outcome'

The couple (pictured above) show a photo of what the property looked like before it had to be torn down

What the property looked like before the demolition. The couple had built it as a warehouse but had been living in it since 2015

The council sent enforcement notices to the couple (left) stating that they would have to demolish the property as they had broken the rules (right pipes being pulled from the grounds of the property)

Following the dispute with the council the house was demolished and the couple were forced to move into a house boat

Images shows the house in Macclesfield being demolished as the roof is smashed through, the couple had to pay for the demolition to take place with their own funds

Following the dispute, the grandparents, who both suffer from high blood pressure and heart problems, had to sell their furniture and keepsakes to fund the battle.

They claim the ordeal has 'broken' them after they were left with criminal records for contravening planning law.

In January, Ken and Barbara pleaded guilty at Crewe Magistrates Court of their failure to comply with the requirements of the notices given by the council.

The council issued the pair with enforcement notices in 2016, instructing them to demolish the property.

One year later the order was upheld by a government inspector, who found that the building had been constructed 'from the outset as a dwelling'.

The report cited the building's plastered walls, 'domestic style' bathroom, doors and windows and 'luxury' under floor kitchen heating.

'It seems to me that the structure would be entirely unsuited to use as a warehouse,' it said.

Speaking to the BBC Barbara added: 'It was our dream really. I'm devastated that it's come to this because we didn't have anywhere else to go'.

The elderly couple had been living on the ground floor of the property on a sofa bed and the council said it was clear that it had been intended to have been used as a home, rather than a commercial warehouse

Ken, a former builder, said: 'The last five years have been five years of hell, it's been devastating.

'Neither of us are particularly healthy, we've both got ongoing health problems and dealing with this has definitely put me into in hospital once with a suspected heart attack because of how stressful it's been.

'We've spent all our savings on legal fees and arguing with the council. I can't put it into words how painful it's been.

'Cheshire East Council has completely ruined our lives, we're completely devastated.'

The bathroom in the property (pictured above) which the couple were using while living in the house. The council sited the 'domestic style' bathroom in their report

Ken and Barbara (pictured) walk about the demolition site pointing out parts of their former home which they say the council gave full permission for them to build

Ken (left) and Barbara (right) are now permanently living on a canal boat after their home was demolished. They had previously stated that they had been 'fed up' of living on a canal boat, which is why they decided to move into the property

The couple, who have two children and four grandchildren, originally bought the land in 2006 with the aim of building a small bungalow to retire to.

Planning permission for them to build a bungalow was subsequently knocked back by Cheshire East Council in 2008 and again in 2010, before they were eventually given permission to develop the land into a warehouse for commercial use in 2012.

The council have said that the land lies within the greenbelt, however Ken and Barbara argue that the land is brownfield because it was formerly used for commercial activities and claim the council originally approached the then-owner in 1986 to buy it as a potential car park.

But Ken and Barbara say they were unable to find a tenant for the warehouse because the council allegedly said that the building was unauthorised, even though they had issued a completion certificate for the building to be used as a warehouse.

The couple then moved into the warehouse and began to use it as a home in October 2015 after their health deteriorated, living on the building's ground floor on a sofa bed and using the bathroom and kitchen.

The family had also stated that they had moved into the property after being 'fed up' with living on a house boat, after legal fees swallowed all of their savings.

The couple lost the battle with the council and now have criminal records following the proceedings at Crewe Magistrates Court

In 2016 council bosses said this contravened the original planning notice and ordered the warehouse to be demolished - at the couple's own expense of 4,000.

An inquiry in June 2017 by a government planning inspector upheld the council's view and the couple pleaded guilty to contravening planning law at a hearing at Crewe Magistrates Court in January 2019, meaning they now have criminal records.

The demolition was completed last week on February 23, with Ken and Barbara moving onto a 58ft-long house boat bought for them by their family on the canal that adjoins the site, but which they have difficulty accessing.

They also had to downsize and sell their possessions - furniture including bed, shelves, chairs and tables - in order to move onto the boat.

Sarah Taylor, 50, Ken and Barbara's daughter said: 'They have nothing. My parents will never recover from this.

'We want them to have some dignity but they've been painted as criminals. I can't even describe how painful and heartless this has been.

'The canal boat is only a short-term solution.

'It's inaccessible for people of their age with mobility issues so they need somewhere more suitable where people of their age can live in peace.'

Ken (third in) and Barbara Mead (second in) from Macclesfield, with daughter, Sarah (right) and her husband Arron Taylor (left). Daughter Sarah has said that her parents' current living situation is only a 'short term solution' due to the their age and issues with mobility

Ken and Barbara's son-in-law, Aaron Taylor, 45, added: 'There has been absolutely no compassion, nor regard for the human element in making an elderly couple homeless.

'We're absolutely furious. Had the council held their hands up and admitted they got things wrong and had they talked to Ken then they could have found a resolution, but they haven't done that.

'This has been going on for more than 10 years. Ken and Barbara have worked hard all their lives and are good people, so to see the council relentlessly victimising them over this is just heartbreaking.

'We were told in a meeting with the council in November 2017 that the warehouse can be rebuilt tomorrow, it's mad.

'They've depleted them of their life savings and their dignity, they're broken. They've destroyed them.'

Barbara (left) and Ken (right) have said the council have made them homeless and 'ruined their lives'

Barbara added: 'It's been over a decade of torment and heartache. They've treated us terribly and our health has suffered.

'The council made us homeless. I've survived a brain hemorrhage, a leaky heart valve, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and severe arthritis.

'Ken, also suffers from high blood pressure, has an enlarged prostate gland, diabetes and ischaemic heart disease and was even rushed to hospital last year after he collapsed.

'The council has completely ruined our lives. They've basically left us to fend for ourselves and be homeless, I don't know where else they would have expected us to go.'

A spokesperson for Cheshire East Council said: 'On 26 October 2016, the council issued two enforcement notices in relation to the erection of an unauthorised dwelling and an unauthorised material change of use of land to residential use at The Wharf, Sutton.

Ken (pictured above) looks through the small amount of belongings he was able to bring to the canal boat after the council said that the couple chose to 'ignore the advice' and move into the property

'Prior to the issue of the notices, the council had made it very clear to the owners that there was no planning permission for the erection of a dwelling and the building, which they had constructed, fell outside the scope of a permission for a warehouse.

'The owners chose to ignore the council's advice and moved into the unauthorised dwelling.

Planning permission rules in the UK In the UK you are required to obtain planning permission if you want to build something new, make a major change to your property - such as a building an extension, or if you want to change the use of your building, in this case turning a warehouse into a home. If your project requires planning permission and you do the work without getting the correct permissions then you can receive an 'enforcement notice', which would order you to undo all of the changes made, or in this case - demolish the building. Getting permission to build on Greenbelt land is notoriously hard and can only be obtained if the development is deemed appropriate, and even then it could be subject to 'very special circumstances' and 'exceptional circumstances'. Greenbelt land is a policy and zone which is used in planning to retain areas of largely underdeveloped, wild, or agricultural, surrounding or neighboring urban areas. This is while brownfield land is a term used in urban planning to describe any land which has previously been developed on that is not in use. Advertisement

'It was acknowledged by the owners' agents as early as June 2013, that the building under construction fell outside the scope of the permission for a warehouse and, as such, may be the subject of formal action by the council.

'The site lies within the green belt, which has strict rules limiting development that can take place. The owners had already been unsuccessful on two occasions, when they applied for planning permission to erect a dwelling on the site.

'The council's decision to issue the enforcement notices and the requirements of the notices were tested at appeal by an independent planning inspector, appointed by the secretary of state. The inspector found the council's enforcement notices to be sound and fully justified.

'The appeal was dismissed. The inspector's decision also made it very clear that evidence showed that the intention of the owners was always to use the building as a dwelling and not as a warehouse.

'On 15 January 2019, the owners pleaded guilty in court to their failure to comply with the requirements of the notices.

'Failure to comply with the requirements of an enforcement notice is a criminal offence.'

Ken and Barbara's family are raising money for them on GoFundMe. You can donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/ken-and-barbara-mead and the family has also launched a petition which can be found here.
Foxes are known as cunning creatures - but one animal ended up looking quite stupid after apparently face-planting into the ground during a hunt.

This female fox was photographed outside the city of Gnesta, in southern Sweden, while trying to hunting for voles to feed to her family.

But one well-timed photo made it appear as if she had smashed face-first into the ground, when in fact she was diving down warrens in search of her prey.

Per Karlsson, 53, a packing engineer and amateur photographer, captured these images of a female fox hunting for voles outside Gnesta, in southern Sweden

The vixen was diving down vole warrens in search of dinner for her young when Karlsson managed to capture these images

In one well-timed photograph the fox appears to smash into the ground head first, but in fact she is only looking for dinner

The fox's hunting tactic paid off as she trotted away with a mouthful of voles to feed her family

Packaging engineer Per Karlsson, 53, from Sodertalje, was responsible for capturing the moment on camera.

Mr Karlsson said: 'I saw her on a field and slowly approached her to get some shots of the hunt. It was impressive to see her devotion and dedication to the hunt.

'Even though she sometimes had up to four voles in her mouth, she put them all down if she heard a vole in the ground and would try to catch that one as well.'

Mr Karlsson has been dabbling in photography since the 1990s, and said he started taking it seriously in 2016, taking inspiration from nature and animals.

He added: 'I was able to capture her acrobatic stunts for several hours, including her walk back to her waiting cubs.

'This is a magical encounter with a female fox.'

The fox prowled around the fields outside Gnesta searching for a vole warren amid the grass

Having found a warren she lined up her shot before prancing into the air and diving down

The fox tucks her front paws under her chin as she plunges into the warren in search of food
This is the moment an anti-fox hunt drone is blasted out of the sky by a gun-wielding 'hunt supporter' with shots seen whizzing past the camera.

A masked gunman fires at least three times on the 750 drone as saboteurs filmed a hunt on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, on Saturday.

Harry Blackhurst, 31, claims the footage shows a team of at least four terrier-men attempting to dig out a fox that he believes had been illegally 'hunted to ground'.

He believes it was the Ashford Valley Tickham Hunt.

A team of horses and terriers are filmed from above by a drone controlled by an anti-fox hunting drone

A gunman hiding in the bushes away from the hunt appears to try and shoot down the drone

Mr Blackhurst said: 'We couldn't believe it. There's never been an incident like this with a drone being shot down.'

As the Kent Hunt Saboteurs captured footage from an estimated height of 50m, a lone gunman began shooting at their drone with a shotgun firing cartridges of shot.

Despite missing twice, he eventually hit his target and smashed the lens, causing at least 500 worth of damage.

Mr Blackhurst, a recruitment consultant, believes the hunters have taken to using firearms to hide activities that he believes they don't want the saboteurs to catch on camera.

He said: 'I think it's worth mentioning the seriousness of the offence they have committed.

'It's caused at least 500 worth of damage.

'But luckily I was able to get the footage and the drone back.'

His team of saboteurs had been tipped off about the hunt taking place and decided to track their activities, worried they were fox hunting.

In the UK, fox hunting has been illegal since 2004 and many hunts now follow a scent trail instead.

However, hunt saboteurs claim many organised hunts still chase foxes.

The Ashford Valley Tickham Hunt on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent have denied illegal hunting and digging out the fox from the ground

Hunt saboteurs believed illegal hunting was taking place and they wanted to record their actions which have now been reported to police

Mr Blackhurst said: 'We noticed that terrier-men were digging out the fox that they'd hunted to ground.

'The hounds had chased the fox illegally into the ground and the terrier-men were digging it out.

'I'm 100 per cent sure that's what they were doing.'

'We had some people on the ground in a field nearby and they saw them take a body out. They then shot it.

'As soon as they realised the drone was there the shooter took two shots at it before eventually shooting it.

'We do this to make sure what they're doing is legal.

'We're a voluntary organisation and a replacement will come from money that was donated.

'We've already ordered a new one and we will be hopefully repair the other one, but we're not doing anything to it yet in case the police need it for evidence.'

The gunman aims at the drone filming the hunt and a shot can be seen flying past

The unnamed gunman hides in the bushes away from the hunt as he misses with his second shot

Third time lucky: The drone's screen is cracked as it is sent crashing to the ground, causing an estimated 500 damage

Harry claims they reported the shooting incident to police along with an assault later that afternoon, both of which he claims police failed to turn up to.

Harry said: 'We've now passed the footage onto the police to investigate.

'We try to prevent hunters from killing wildlife and if we can't do that, then we monitor their illegal activity to report it.

'This whole incident with the drone being shot down happened at 1pm. The hunt didn't stop until 5pm.

'That whole time they continued hunting and the police didn't turn up.

'They came to try and assault us. One of our team has damage to his legs, but by and large he's okay.'

Kent Police claim both matters are currently under investigation after receiving two reports on the same day.

A spokesperson from Kent Police said: 'Police were contacted shortly before 2pm on Saturday, 23 February 2019 following a report that a drone had been damaged on the Isle of Sheppey.

'At around 4pm on the same day Kent Police received a further report that a man had been assaulted.

'It is said the victim was pushed in the incident. Both matters are under investigation and enquiries are ongoing.'

A spokesperson from the Ashford Valley Tickham Hunt said: 'The Ashford Valley Tickham Hunt conducts legal hunting activities to comply with the Hunting Act 2004.

'The hunt does not condone illegal behaviour even in the face of extreme provocation by animal rights extremists.

'Hunt officials and our professional staff work hard to ensure good relationships with members of the public as well as landowners and other authorities.

'We will of course assist the police should there be an investigation following any allegations about our hunting activities.'
A driver threatened to kill an elderly woman after she called him out for parking illegally for the 94th day in a row.

Ashok Kumar, 52, tried to bash his 72-year-old neighbour's door down with a wooden object after she reminded him it was illegal to park outside a garage at their Narwee unit complex in Sydney's south on December 14.

Kumar began screaming at his neighbour and pounded on her door in separate attacks after he read a note saying: '14/12/18, still here, as usual, illegally parked again'.

'Come out here, you b****h, I'm going to kill you,' the accused yelled out, St George Shire Standard reported.

Ashok Kumar, 52, has threatened an elderly woman who called him out for parking illegally for the 94th day in a row (stock image)

The 72-year-old had to lean against the door because she believed Kumar could have used force to break it down.

Kumar initially told police he wasn't at the unit during the attack.

But officers found video footage of the incident via Facebook Messenger when they searched his phone.

'I don't like to scare her, she's like my mother,' the accused stated after he was asked if he had spoken to the victim about the note she left.

Police said the incident left the victim fearful he could try to get into her apartment.

The accused pleaded guilty to one charge of intimidation, sentenced to a two-year community corrections order and fined $2,000 at Sutherland Local Court.
World-renowned holiday advice website TripAdvisor has named its top ten beaches in Australia.

While Sydney's Manly beach takes the top spot thanks to its glorious sandy shores and prime location, the world-famous Bondi beach doesn't even scrape the top five.

TripAdvisor announces the Travellers' Choice beach awards every year and they are based on the quality and quantity of traveller reviews and ratings gathered over a 12-month period.

Scroll down to see the full list of the top 10 Australian beaches according to the review website.

1. Manly Beach

Manly Beach topped the TripAdvisor list, and it's no surprise the iconic beach bagged the top spot, thanks to its glorious sandy shores and prime surfing location

Manly Beach topped the TripAdvisor list.

Nestled among the Northern Beaches of Sydney, Manly has plenty of activities for visitors to enjoy, from picnics on the promenade to surfing and snorkelling in the sea.

The curved shape of the beach, which touches on a submerged reef, creates perfect waves for surfers.

The well-renowned beach was even host to the first-ever world surfing contest in 1964.

2. Surfers Paradise

Surfers Paradise, the sunny seaside resort situated on Queensland's Gold Cost, is second on the list

Surfers Paradise, the sunny seaside resort situated on Queensland's Gold Coast, is second on the list.

The beach is just moments away from a high-rise skyline, which creates an incredible Instagram-worthy shot of a city overlooking the beachfront.

The beach is famed for its iconic 3km long stretch of golden sand, which is just a stone throw away from a vibrant strip of shops, restaurants and bars  making it the perfect blend of beach and city life.

It attracts surfers, swimmers and tourists all year round thanks to the city's almost perfect weather in every season.

3. Turquoise Bay

Turquoise Bay, which is already counted as one of Western Australia's best beaches, makes the top three.

Turquoise Bay, which is already counted as one of Western Australia's best beaches, completes the top three.

The beautiful bay, 60km south of Exmouth, is an excellent spot for snorkelling thanks to its marine life.

The pristine water is home to plenty of coral, fish and other sea creatures, which can be spotted just metres away from the shore.

The bay sea can sometimes experience a moderate to strong current so anyone wanting to immerse themselves in the beautiful waters is advised to be wary.

4. Mooloolaba Beach

Mooloolaba Beach, a curving, northeast facing beach which lies on the sheltered side of Point Cartwright

Next up is Mooloolaba Beach, a curving, northeast facing beach which lies on the sheltered side of Point Cartwright.

The beach is surrounded by a whole host of well-renowned seaside destinations on the Sunshine Coast.

The dreamy sandy shores are a short walk away from award-winning restaurants, hotels and bars, which makes this the idyllic setting for holidaymakers.

The long stretch of coast has a gentle beach break, which makes it the most relaxing place to dip your toes into the immaculate waters.

5. Whitehaven Beach

The Whitehaven Beach is a 7km stretch of pure perfection, located on the Whitsunday Island

The Whitehaven Beach is a 7km stretch of pure perfection, located on the Whitsunday Island.

The stunning shores have drawn in crowds from across the world, thanks to its breathtaking views.

The little piece of heaven can be accessed by boat, seaplane or helicopter from Airlie Beach.

The untouched beach boasts brilliant white sand which is among the purest in the world.

Visitors can sink their feet into the glistening sand, lap up the warm waves as they make the most of the tranquil surroundings.

6. Bondi Beach

Bondi Beach is one of the country's most iconic beaches, thanks in part to the notorious Bondi Rescue

Bondi Beach is one of the world's most iconic beaches and is the scene of the Bondi Rescue show, which documents the days of its buff lifeguards.

Situated just 7km from Sydney's Central Business District, Bondi offers city-dwellers the chance to pitch up an umbrella and enjoy the beach in exchange for a short commute.

Trendy cafes, bars and restaurants litter the surrounding streets, which are popular with hip Sydneysyders and backpackers alike.

The famous clifftop Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk is a favourite with tourists and offers some of the most stunning views in the country.

7. Noosa Main Beach

Noosa Main Beach, situated on the Gold Coast, is one of the very few beaches along the coastline that faces north

Noosa Main Beach, situated on the Gold Coast, is one of the very few beaches along the coastline that faces north.

The gentle waves make it the ideal location for beginner surfers to learn their craft as they won't have to contend with the bigger waves.

Just a short walk away is the local national park, which offers hours of wondrous scenery to be explored.

And across the broadwalk is the bustling Hastings Street which is a favourite destination for tourists hoping for a bite to eat or a spot of shopping.

8. Burleigh Heads Beach

Burleigh Heads Beach is located between Surfers Paradise and Coolangatta, and falls under a protective corner

This beautiful beach is located between Surfers Paradise and Coolangatta, and is popular with both those who like to have a dip in the Queensland sea and surfers.

The beach falls under a protective corner, and while every other part of the coast may see some choppy waters, this part remains notably peaceful.

To add to its beauty, Burleigh foreshore is home to towering fragrant pine trees which line the coast.

And if the area wasn't perfect enough there's plenty of places to sit, relax and enjoy a picnic or barbecue.

9. Cable Beach

Cable Beach is a 22km stretch of white sandy beach on the eastern Indian Ocean in Broome, Western Australia

Cable Beach is a 22km stretch of white sandy beach on the eastern Indian Ocean in Broome, Western Australia.

The relatively untouched beach remains uncrowded even in peak season, between May and October, and visitors can always find a quiet stretch of sand to relax on.

It is also home to a spectacular ocean sunset, which seas the skies light up in colours ranging from purples and golds to fiery reds.

10. Mindil Beach

Mindil Beach, which is situated a stone's throw away from Darwin's Central Business District

Completing the top ten is Mindil Beach, situated a stone's throw from Darwin's Central Business District.

Many visitors are surprised to find such a picturesque tropical beach so close to a built up city.

The beach is host to the Sunset Markets, which runs through the Dry season every year, and boasts plenty of food options as well as craft stalls.

It is known for viewing beautiful sunsets which radiates the evening sky with a blend of orange, yellow and red colours.
Dr Kieron Timothy Moriarty, 57, from Daventry, Northamptonshire, shocked colleagues with his comments

An Oxford-educated gynaecologist has been accused of telling a patient awaiting an abortion that 'not all women are put on this earth to have babies' before joking that 'just because Muslims come over here and try to bomb us back to the dark ages, it doesn't change anything.'

Dr Kieron Timothy Moriarty, 57, from Daventry, Northamptonshire, shocked colleagues ahead of the procedure at an abortion clinic with his comments, before adding: 'It's a woman's choice and don't feel guilty about it.'

Colleagues also claimed at a tribunal that Moriarty described himself as the doctor 'tasked with looking after all the fallen women', in a series of inappropriate jokes made in front of female staff at the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, where he was the only man on the team.

He was suspended in July 2017 after a midwife, who he worked with at the BPAS clinics in Northampton and Milton Keynes, complained that his jokes were 'vile' and 'made her skin crawl.'

She also claimed that Moriarty suggested she would need a sex toy after he learned that her husband was going abroad.

He allegedly told her: 'You need to get your rabbit out then.'

The same midwife added that Moriarty threw a temped tantrum when he was unable to find a piece of equipment.

Moriarty left his job in February 2018, following ten years in the post.

He has admitted to making some of the remarks but deny they were inappropriate and claims that he was the victim of a 'witch-hunt.'

None of the women who worked alongside Moriarty have been identified and are instead referred to as Miss A, B or C.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal service was told the complaints against Moriarty began in 2017 after he and the midwife, known only as Miss B, repeatedly disagreed over correct procedures, patient numbers and rest periods.

Moriarty was suspended in July 2017 after a midwife who he worked with at the BPAS clinics in Northampton and Milton Keynes complained that his jokes were 'vile'

Peter Horgan, lawyer for the General Medical Council, told the Manchester hearing: 'They disagreed on some of the processes she had brought into play. There's was the sort of relationship that was on the back foot before they had ever met.

'Thereafter, Miss B worked with Dr Moriarty two days a week. They had a meeting at which there was a discussion between the two on a professional basis, wherein they sat down together to try and sort things out. There was an email between Miss B and Dr Moriarty where she said some concerns she had. Dr Moriarty replied to that making efforts to speak about things but their relationship continued to break down.

'She stated Dr Moriarty wanted to do things his way rather than by policy or procedure but the doctor has a different view about that.'

The hearing heard that Moriarty had 'gone mad' in May 2017 when unable to find a medical sieve required in a procedure.

As an assistant known as Mis A looked on he said: 'Where did you f****** hide them, the sieves aren't there, why does she always f****** do this'.

Mr Horgan added: 'Miss A describes being made to feel very little and that doctors shouldn't speak to her in this way. Miss A informed Miss B and went to speak to Dr Moriarty but he was angry and continued using similar words. Miss B told Dr Moriarty that he was making them feel uncomfortable and told him to calm down, which he did. He apologised thereafter.

'But in or around June 2017 and in the presence of Miss C around the reception desk, he said: ''I'm Doctor Moriarty and I look after all the fallen women in Milton Keynes''. Miss C describes the doctor as not serious and he seemed to be joking, so she didn't say anything. She didn't report the matter as she had come across worse doctors.

'But the GMC alleges this was an inappropriate comment to make in these circumstances and in his capacity as a doctor. Later Miss B and a healthcare assistance were in the theatre with a patient. Miss B states that Dr Moriarty said something along the lines of: ''Don't feel guilty about it, the Muslims come here and try to bomb us back to the dark ages, not all women are put on this earth to have babies''.

'The patient was upset at the time as she was having a termination. Such comments were wholly inappropriate and the nurses didn't know what to make of the comment. That same month it was alleged further inappropriate comments were made to Miss B.

'She alleged whilst working together during a conversation where Dr Moriarty was present, he asked Miss B whether or not her husband was around or abroad, and she informed him he was abroad until mid September, to which he said: 'you need to get your rabbit out then'. The GMC allege that such a comment in this context was inappropriate.

'The witness states she found it inappropriate and vile and she felt disgusted. She replied that she didn't have one and the doctor said he would 'sort her out' or words to that effect.

'This was further inappropriate comments demonstrated by the doctor and described by Miss B that such comments made her skin crawl. She recognised this was told as a joke comment, but left her disgusted and she found it to be unprofessional.'

Giving evidence Miss B told the hearing: 'Sometimes when you're upset about things you don't talk about it, I got upset. I was shocked about what Dr Moriarty had said, the discussion about sex toys and him offering himself to me.

'I was in tears in the phone to the Director of Nursing, I broke down.There was no sexual jokes or sexual banter on our unit. He was the only male on our team, the rest of the staff were women, we didn't joke about sexual matters.

'Dr Moriarty was quite dismissive, if I didn't understand something he would make me feel very small. He wanted things done in his own way, there was no bending. We needed to resolve things, and we did get on, but he started to revert back to how he was before. I couldn't work with him because of the way he made me feel. There was disharmony in the unit.'

Cross examined by Moriarty who is unrepresented she added: 'You would make comments about my uniform or my shoes. Things just built up to the point I had to sit down with you and have a conversation to try and understand how we were going to get on.

'I found your behaviour to be unreasonable. I explained to you that you made us feel uncomfortable with your outbursts. I didn't do anything to deliberately make you angry. You were raising your voice. It's not appropriate to be swearing to anybody.

'I don't believe that Muslims bomb us - that's a generalisation. The patient didn't make a comment when you said this but I was in shock and the healthcare assistant appeared to be staring into space.

'When we were discussing my husband being abroad, I never mentioned sexual frustration. You asked me if I had a vibrator and I said I don't have things like that.i wanted to shut the conversation down.

'There were various reasons why I raised the grievance, some of the things you said and the way you spoke to me. My first grievance was that you were shouting and swearing, another was the manner in which you spoke to me.

'We had a meeting to try and solve our issues but it didn't work out.'

Moriarty denies misconduct. He claims Miss B stated it would be 'better for the organisation if he wasn't there' and says there was a 'deliberate plan and a conspiracy' to force him out.

The hearing continues.
President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will break bread for a second time to kick off their nuclear summit in Hanoi  with a smaller entourage than their last six-course extravaganza for more than a dozen aides.

The two leaders will meet for a 'social dinner' on Wednesday, the White House revealed, providing one of the few set events for a summit itinerary that is either shrouded in secrecy or still being developed.

The two men ate together for the first time at a 'working lunch' during their Singapore summit in June, accompanied by a large assortment of aides, and a menu that featured delicacies including octopus, prawn's cocktail, and stuffed cucumber.

On Wednesday, Trump will be joined by his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, as well as acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

LET'S EAT: President Donald Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un will hold a 'social dinner' with a quarter of advisors

Kim will reportedly be joined by general and senior advisor Kim Yung Chol, who hand-delivered a letter from Kim to Trump in advance of the summit. He will also be accompanied by another aide, rounding out the quartet. Translators will be there as well.

Before dinner, the two men will have a brief one-on-one encounter.

Trump's other events on Wednesday will involve his Vietnamese hosts. He meets the president of Vietnam, has a photo event with the prime minister, and expanded meetings on trade.

COUNT ME IN: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will join in the meal

UPGRADE: In June, the leaders held a 'working lunch.' Now they are having a 'social dinner' with a more intimate group

The menu in Singapore was an elaborate arrangement

There were seven participants listed on the U.S. side

North Korea brought eight people to the lunch

The lunch began with a prawn's cocktail with avacado salad

In Singapore, the two delegations were served green mango kerabu, a Malaysian rice dish, with honey lime dressing & fresh octopus, a tribute to the city state hosting the event, in a menu that drew notice for its bounty, given North Korea's experience with famine.

For a main course, the delegations were served beef short rib confit, along with potato dauphinois and steamed broccolini. Red wine sauce was served on the side.

Another dish was a sweet & sour crispy pork and Yangzhou Fried Rice combination with homemade XO chili sauce.

The menu released by the White House had Korean names for some of the dishes, including 'Daegu jorim,' for soy Braised cod fish with Radish, Asian Vegetables.

Images showed a group of more than 14 attended the 'working lunch.' Included were National Security Advisor John Bolton and White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.

Trump was accompanied by 11 policy aides aboard Air Force One as he headed for Hanoi.

'Get a good picture everybody so we look nice and handsome and thin. Perfect,' Trump told photographers and a government TV crew from Singapore at the start of the June lunch.

His journey from Pyongyang was shrouded in secrecy but numerous sightings of the train were made over the past few days
New recruits to the United States Marine Corps are being taught about what happened during the 9/11 attacks because many were not alive when the horrific attack took place.

As the war in Afghanistan enters its 18th year, Marine Corps commanders are noticing an increasing number of the young recruits were not even alive when the attack by terrorist group al-Qaeda on the World Trade Center took place in 2001.

Now as the post September 11 graduates board the bus to boot camp this summer, they will be expected to attended a mandatory history class about the terrorist attack, its aftermath and America's war with Afghanistan.

New recruits wishing to join the United States Marine Corps are being taught about what happened during the 9/11 attacks. (Stock image)

Marine commanders are finding that an increasing number of new recruits were not alive during the terrorist attack in 2001. (Stock image)

Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, Michael M Phillips, spent time with the 200 recruits from the Bravo Company at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Parris Island, South Carolina, this month and described the history lesson all recruits had to undertake.

As the new recruits entered the lecture hall at the military intallation, Mr Phillips described how Staff sergeant Charles Gamblin narrated the the chilling events leading to the attack in America more than a decade ago.

Staff sergeant Charles Gamblin described how 2977 innocent Americans lost their lives during the terrorist attack and showed a photo of the bullet-riddled corpse of the man behind the attack-Osama bin Laden.

Mr Phillips writes how Staff sergeant Charles Gamblin told the recruits: 'There were people who took their kids to school, not knowing that that was going to be the last time they kissed their kids goodbye and watched them get on the school bus.'

As recruits step down from the bus at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Parris Island, South Carolina, they will all have to take a mandatory history lesson. (Stock image)

The lesson will involve the chilling events that led up to the attack and a history of America's war with Afghanistan. (Stock image)

During his lecture, more than half-a-dozen men raised their hands when asked if they were born in 2001-further evidence of why the history lesson was vital for the young recruits.

Speaking to one of the recruits, Juan Tellez, who decided to join the marines at the tender age of 15, Mr Philips writes about the boy's emotional decision to join the war effort and how his mother cried when he told her her wanted to serve his country.

He told Mr Phillips: 'I hope we can soon reach a time of peace. But if I make it as a Marine, I will answer that call.'

Recruits who decide to enter the boot camp at Parris Island are put through a relentless series of tests from the moment they step off the bus.

After collecting their uniform and having their heads shaved they are put through 13 weeks of highly charged and pressurized drills aimed at seeing whether they have what it takes to serve their country.

Parris Island saw the first marines arrive to the area through the Port Royal Harbor in 1861 and it was used as an important base for the Union Navy throughout the Civil War.

It is now used for the training of both male and female recruits all across the United States.
Andrea Leadsom leaves her London home today after an explosive row in cabinet with her remainer colleagues after the PM agreed to a vote to delay Brexit

Theresa May's warring Cabinet came to verbal blows over Brexit and senior Tory Andrea Leadsom 'went off like a firework' before accusing her remainer rivals of 'appalling and disloyal' behaviour, MailOnline can reveal today.

The Prime Minister was forced to step in to quell the row between factional ministers after she bowed to a rebellion by Amber Rudd, David Gauke and Claire Perry who threatened to quit unless she took no deal off the table.

Mrs May also agreed to a vote to delay the Brexit date beyond March 29 if her own deal fails to get through Parliament on March 12 - sparking a vicious row between her own ministers yesterday.

One insider said Andrea Leadsom 'went off like a firework' and 'could barely conceal her anger' towards the remainer cabal.

Mrs Leadsom, Leader of the Commons and an arch-Brexiteer, said she was dismayed by the disgraceful decision of fellow ministers to go public with their concerns about no deal.

One source claimed that an exasperated Claire Perry then leaned back in her chair and muttered: Oh, for Gods sake, Andrea'.

Treasury chief secretary Liz Truss was equally forthright, describing the decision to demand a delay as a Kamikaze move.

Sources said Miss Rudd, Mr Gauke and Mr Clarke stood their ground' - while Chancellor Philip Hammond leapt to their defence saying he regretted the use of the word disloyalty.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said speaking out against No Deal had totally undermined the PMs negotiating position in Brussels and her ability to deliver her deal successfully', adding: 'Extending Article 50 will hurt our prospects of getting the EU to move on the backstop'.

Britain's Attorney General Geoffrey Cox (pictured today leaving No 10) as Theresa May is scrambling to avert mass resignations by ministers who are determined to rule out no deal in crunch votes tomorrow

Amber Rudd, David Gauke and Claire Perry leave the weekly cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street yesterday where they helped force the PM into agreeing to take no deal off the table

The meeting began at 9.30am as normal, with Mrs May outlining what she would say in her statement to the House  including the promise of a vote on delaying Brexit if her deal doesnt pass on March 12.

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox and Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay updated ministers on progress in Brussels.

The key votes Analysis by Jack Doyle, Associate Editor for the Daily Mail MARCH 12: The vote on the PM's deal By this date Mrs May must return to the Commons with her deal and put it before MPs. After multiple delays, this really will be D-Day. She lost the first vote by 230 votes in January. She now has two clear weeks to secure whatever concessions she can eke out of Brussels on the Northern Ireland backstop and put an amended deal back before the Commons. To secure victory, she will need to win over the Northern Irish DUP, and at least some of the hardline Eurosceptics on the Tory Right. If  and it's a big if  she succeeds, Britain could leave the EU with only a short delay after March 29 to pass essential Brexit legislation. MARCH 13: The 'No Deal' Vote If the Prime Minister cannot get her deal through on or before March 12 then the following day she will table a motion asking MPs if they support leaving without a deal. The Commons is likely to reject No Deal overwhelmingly as it has already indicated its opposition to this form of Brexit. Mrs May refused several times yesterday to say if she would vote against a No Deal Brexit  or if the Government would 'whip' the vote, thereby instructing its MPs how to vote. She insisted: 'The absolute focus should be on working to get a deal and leaving on 29 March.' MARCH 14: The 'Delay Brexit' Vote If the Commons rejects leaving without a deal, the Government will table a motion the following day asking if MPs want to ask the EU for an extension to Article 50 beyond March 29. This is likely to pass. Again, No 10 would not say yesterday if the vote would be subject to a 'whip'. What happens afterwards remains unclear. MPs will, in all likelihood, force her to ask the EU for a delay. This would fray Tory unity, embolden the supporters of a second referendum and put a huge question mark over Brexit happening in any form. Any Article 50 extension would need to approved by other EU leaders. A three-month extension, dragging out the process until the end of June, has been suggested. There remains the awkward issue of European elections in May but the new European Parliament is not scheduled to sit until July. Thus the outgoing parliament, including its British members, may still need to ratify a Brexit deal. Advertisement

Then, said one source, the real fireworks began.

Mrs Leadsom, who was first to speak, did not hold back. She said the rebels had breached collective responsibility  the rule that ministers must stick to government policy or resign their posts.

Their appalling behaviour was, she suggested, a betrayal and they were playing into the EUs hands because Brussels now thinks we are not going to leave without a deal.

The Government had lost credibility with Tory backbenchers and if we carry on like this we will damage the party, she fumed.

When it was her turn to speak, Claire Perry hit back, saying it was the fault of Brexiteer backbenchers that the Government was in this mess because they had refused to vote for Mrs Mays plan.

She added that so-called Remainers were the most active in defending the Prime Minister in public while Brexiteers had sat on their hands.

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox and Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay updated ministers on progress in Brussels. Then, said one source, the real fireworks began.

Chancellor Philip Hammond and Miss Rudd urged Mrs May to use any delay to explore options for a softer Brexit if her deal is defeated again.

A source said: They were both very clear that any extra time needs to be used to find a new compromise that can get through Parliament.

Julian Smith, the Chief Whip, said he understood the concerns of the anti-No Deal ministers but argued they should not have gone public.

Other angry ministers included Communities Secretary James Brokenshire, Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright and education supremo Damian Hinds.

There was also a warning to Mrs May  from Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns  that any extension to Article 50 could last for far longer than intended.

He pointed to the example of the Northern Ireland Assembly, saying: Stormont was only supposed to suspended for a month.

At the end of the meeting, Mrs May stressed the importance of ministers speaking with one voice.

And in an attempt to focus minds, she set out the twin purpose of her Government  to deliver Brexit and to stop Jeremy Corbyn from gaining power.

After a brief banging of the tables, the meeting broke up shortly after 12.15pm.

After briefing her Cabinet and with negotiations deadlocked in Brussels, the PM told the Commons no deal would only happen with 'explicit consent' and it will get a chance to extend Article 50 within a fortnight.

With negotiations deadlocked in Brussels and the clock running down, the PM (pictured in the Commons today) told the Commons no deal would only happen with 'explicit consent' and it will get a chance to extend Article 50 within a fortnight

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the PM was continuing to run down the clock on Brexit with just a month until exit day

Mrs May tried to soothe angry Eurosceptics by insisting that a delay could only be a 'one-off' and was not something she wanted to do. She stressed she will never cancel the Brexit process altogether, arguing that the UK could make a 'success' of no deal if it has to.

But the concession leaves Tory hardliners with a stark choice of either backing Mrs May's plan in the next showdown, which will happen by March 12, or accepting an almost inevitable delay to the UK's departure.

Under the new timetable, a vote effectively ruling out no deal would then be staged on March 13, and a vote on an extension the following day - March 14. Mrs May refused to say whether the government would back the delay.

Without revoking Article 50 no delay to Brexit can last forever - meaning MPs would have to agree a deal eventually. Unless Britain takes part in European Parliament elections in May, a delay cannot extend past the end of June.

Brexiteer ringleader Mr Rees-Mogg warned a delay could not be cover for cancelling Brexit - insisting it would be a 'grievous error' that would 'undermine democracy'.

On the Remain side, Tory Nick Boles and Labour's Yvette Cooper questioned whether the PM could be trusted to abide by her word - but this afternoon abandoned their plan to change the law to force a vote on delaying Brexit if there is no deal.

The PM again drew a blank after a frantic round of Brexit talks with EU counterparts at a summit in Egypt over the past two days.

What will happen next in the unfolding Brexit drama? February 27 Votes are being held on Theresa May's approach to Brexit - although not on her deal, which is still being reworked. Downing Street is trying to head off a Tory Remainer mutiny by promising MPs will get another set of votes within a fortnight, with the potential for Article 50 to be extended. March 12 Theresa May has said a so-called 'meaningful vote' on her revised Brexit deal will take place by this date. March 13 If Mrs May's deal is defeated or does not get put to the House, there will be a vote on whether to go ahead with no deal. March 14 Assuming MPs do not agree to go ahead with no deal, there will be a vote on whether to delay Brexit by a couple of months. March 21-22 The PM will attend a scheduled EU summit in Brussels where any agreement approved by the Commons could be signed off - as well as any potential Brexit delay. 11pm, March 29 The UK is due to leave the EU with or without a deal, unless the Article 50 process is extended with approval from the bloc's leaders, or revoked to cancel Brexit altogether. Advertisement

EU council chief Donald Tusk heaped pressure on the PM by urging her to take the 'rational solution' of an extension.

One proposal favoured in Brussels is a 21-month delay, which would essentially replace the transition period.

However, the PM suggested a postponement would only be possible for around two months, up to the European Parliamentary elections.

Mrs May said: 'Let me be clear, I do not want to see Article 50 extended.

'Our absolute focus should be on working to get a deal and leaving on 29 March.

'An extension beyond the end of June would mean the UK taking part in the European Parliament elections.

'What kind of message would that send to the more than 17 million people who voted to leave the EU nearly three years ago now?

'And the House should be clear that a short extension  not beyond the end of June  would almost certainly have to be a one-off.

'If we had not taken part in the European Parliament elections, it would be extremely difficult to extend again, so it would create a much sharper cliff edge in a few months' time.

'An extension cannot take no deal off the table. The only way to do that is to revoke Article 50, which I shall not do, or agree a deal.'

Mrs May refused to say how she would order her MPs to vote on March 13 and 14 despite emotional pleas from MPs.

Remain supporter Labour's Jess Phillips said she felt 'so enraged' about the 'complete and utter lack of bravery to do the right thing for our country',

The PM spent the morning locked in talks with ministers before heading to her latest House of Commons grilling

Mrs May refused to say how she would order her MPs to vote on March 13 and 14 despite emotional pleas from MPs

Labour's Jess Phillips (pictured in the Commons today )said she felt 'so enraged' about the 'complete and utter lack of bravery to do the right thing for our country'

She said she spent last week 'trying to put out the burning injustices that the Prime Minister's Government has started' in her area, adding: 'I will not sit one more day and listen to her crow about employment going up where where I live employment is falling and hunger is rising.

Furious Cabinet rows as Remain ministers lashed for 'kamikaze' approach to no deal Cabinet had a furious row today as Theresa May laid out her plans to give MPs a veto on no deal. In the first meeting since Amber Rudd, Greg Clark and David Gauke went public on their opposition to crashing out, the trio were met with furious objections from colleagues, reports suggest. Chief Secretary Liz Truss accused the Remain supporting ministers of taking a 'kamikaze' approach after they defied convention to publicly demand no deal was stopped. Meanwhile Commons leader Andrea Leadsom reportedly shouted in anger as a string of ministers lashed the trio for speaking out over no deal. They were also slammed by Brandon Lewis, Julian Smith, Jeremy Wright, Damian Hinds and James Brokenshire. Mrs Leadsom was joined by Liam Fox and Gavin Williamson in questioning the wisdom of Mrs May's new approach, the Specator reported, but none of the Brexiteer ministers are quitting. Advertisement

'I have one midwife for the entirety of my constituency currently. There are people in my constituency living in hotels and they have to move out because Crufts is coming to Birmingham.

'Will the Prime Minister do a brave thing and do once what is best for the country, not what is best for any of us - will she be brave and at least answer the question of my colleague, will she at least vote herself against no-deal?'

Labour MP Owen Smith - who backs a new referendum - said the Prime Minister had carried out a 'screeching U-turn' in allowing MPs to have a chance to vote against no-deal, asking: 'Could she be clear - because she hasn't been thus far - if we have that vote on March 12 or 13, will her Government be voting in favour of no-deal or against it?'

Tory former attorney general Dominic Grieve, who opposes no deal, accused the PM of 'brow-beating' MPs into backing her deal, saying she should consider putting it to a public vote.

He said an extension of Article 50 would not change the Parliamentary arithmetic, which is not in favour of her Withdrawal Agreement, as it is a 'second-rate outcome for our country'.

A group of 23 Tory rebels met secretly at the Commons last night to discuss how to stop Britain leaving the EU without an agreement on March 29, with as many as 15 said to be ready to resign.

In an article for the Mail today, three of the ministers involved said they were prepared to back a Commons move tomorrow to force the Prime Minister to seek a Brexit delay if her deal is voted down.

Labour MP Yvette Cooper and Tory Sir Oliver Letwin said Mrs May's concession today was enough for them to withdraw their attempt to change the law to block no deal

Polls have suggested the public's views on Brexit have not shifted dramatically since 2016

Industry minister Richard Harrington, digital minister Margot James and energy minister Claire Perry 'implored' Mrs May to concede that Article 50 could be extended.

They warned bluntly that if she did not they 'will have no choice other than to join MPs of all parties and fellow ministers in acting in the national interest to prevent a disaster in less than five weeks that we may regret forever'.

The manoeuvring came as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was accused of 'cynical betrayal' after performing a U-turn and backing a second referendum  breaking a manifesto vow by his party.

This morning the Cabinet discussed the proposals for extending Article 50 if the PM's deal is voted down by MPs again.

Mrs May then formally unveiled the plan in a statement to Parliament this afternoon.

There would be two votes on March 12 - one on whether to proceed with no deal, and another on whether to extend Article 50.

It is not yet clear if the move will stave off the mass rebellion by ministers and avert a looming Commons defeat tomorrow over the motion put forward by Labour's Yvette Cooper and Tory Sir Oliver Letwin.

Their amendment would empower Parliament to force a Brexit delay on the Government.

Justice Secretary David Gauke (pictured right today) is thought to be ready to resign if the government does not rule out no deal. Liz Truss (left) is one of the Brexiteers in the Cabinet

Leading Remainers Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd (left) and Business Secretary Greg Clark (right) were at Cabinet this morning

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured at his London home today) has upped pressure on Mrs May by lining up behind a second referendum

As many as 15 ministers could resign and vote for the motion unless Mrs May provides assurances on No Deal today, including anti-Brexit Cabinet ministers Amber Rudd, David Gauke and Greg Clark.

Other Tories believed to be on the brink of resigning to stop No Deal include Scottish Secretary David Mundell, Defence minister Tobias Ellwood, Solicitor General Robert Buckland and Disabilities minister Sarah Newton. All are thought to have attended yesterday's Commons meeting.

Up to 25 Tory backbenchers are also threatening to back tomorrow's revolt. It means around 40 Tory rebels could vote against the Government which, with Opposition support, is more than enough to defeat Mrs May.

Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom (left) is likely to resist any effort to delay the Brexit date. Education Secretary Damian Hinds (right) is a May loyalist

Brexiteer Penny Mordaunt was also at the gathering in Downing Street this morning

Industry minister Richard Harrington (left), digital minister Margot James (right) and energy minister Claire Perry 'implore' Mrs May to say that if there is no deal agreed by Parliament by March 13 then she must seek a way to extend Article 50

Other Tories believed to be on the brink of resigning to stop No Deal include Defence minister Tobias Ellwood, left. Energy minister Claire Perry, right, 'implores' Mrs May to say that if there is no deal agreed by Parliament by March 13 then she must seek a way to extend Article 50

At the weekend, Miss Rudd, Mr Clark and Mr Gauke made clear in the Mail that they opposed a No Deal departure and Brexit must be delayed unless there was a breakthrough on Mrs May's deal this week.

Tomorrow's vote would empower Parliament to force a Brexit delay on the Government if Mrs May has failed to get a deal passed by March 13.

The Prime Minister remains unconvinced that a delay to Brexit will help the process, warning yesterday that an extension of Article 50 'doesn't deliver a decision in Parliament and it doesn't deliver a deal.'

Speaking at an EU summit in Egypt where she held emergency Brexit talks with fellow leaders, Mrs May said progress was being made and a deal to take the UK out on March 29 remained 'within our grasp'.

But she refused to explicitly rule out a Brexit delay. One ally of the PM said: 'It's either accept the possibility of a delay or face a potentially heavy defeat in parliament and have it forced on you anyway.

'It isn't taking No Deal off the table  you still have to get a deal to do that.'

Another senior Tory said: 'If 20 ministers have to resign to force this through then they will, but it would have a catastrophic impact on the Government.'

One leading Remainer last night said: 'I don't want to resign but if I don't get the assurances I need from the PM then I will. The Government is not ready to leave without a deal next month  it would be irresponsible.

'There are enough of us who feel that way to get the Cooper amendment through and everyone knows that.'
This is the moment a Christian preacher was handcuffed and arrested outside a London underground station and accused of being racist.

Police snatched the elderly man's Bible from him outside Southgate station on Saturday and when he complained one officer said: 'You should have thought about that before being racist.'

Video shows two officers approach the man as one warns that he will be arrested for breach of the peace if he does not leave the scene in Enfield, North London, voluntarily.

The man says he will not go, adding: 'I need to tell them the truth because Jesus is on the way'.

One of the officers told him 'nobody wants to listen to that' after the preacher waved his hand in front of the other officer's face while shouting.

The officer tells him 'I don't want to listen to that' and the evangelist shouts 'you will listen when you are dead', at which point he is arrested.

As he is being handcuffed, one of the officers takes his Bible and when the preacher says 'don't take my Bible away' the police officer responds: 'You should've thought about that before being racist'.

Friends of the man claimed passers-by complained to police that he was being 'Islamophobic'.

Officers arrived just before 2pm and began arguing with the flat-cap wearing Christian preacher who told them 'I am preaching'.

One officer told him: 'You're causing problems, you're disturbing people's days and you're breaching people's peace. If you won't go away voluntarily, I will have to arrest you.'

The preacher, wearing a headpiece microphone, talks about Jesus before the officer adds 'nobody wants to listen to that, they want you to go away'.

This police officer told the preacher that nobody wanted to listen to him before arresting him while he was shouting and waving his hands

Ambrosine Shitrit, who recorded the video, and is the co-founder of the pressure group Eye on Anti-Semitism, said: 'The police told him the arrest was because members of the public had said he was being Islamophobic. We're actually collecting donations now to help with with his legal costs.'

The clip she took does not show the police officer accusing the preacher of 'Islamophobia'.

Outraged viewers of the video have argued that the Christian preacher was treated differently by the police than Muslims who read from the Koran in public places.

Lawyers from the Christian Legal Centre - which has previously helped to get charges against Christian street preachers dropped - are working to help the man.

Anglican clergyman and former chaplain to the Queen, Rev Dr Gavin Ashenden, said: 'Perhaps the Archbishop of Canterbury and the House of Church of England bishops might like to protest in favour of the poor and marginalised street preacher at the hands of policemen who neither know nor apply the law?'

Church of England priest in Hereford, Fr Matthew Cashmore said that the arrest was 'deeply, deeply concerning' and said the officers should be 'ashamed of themselves'.

He added: 'The way his bible was removed is horrendous.'

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the preacher was later released without charge.

They said: 'Police were called to Southgate Underground Station at 1.52pm on Saturday, 23rd February in response to concerns raised about a man's behaviour.

'An arrest was made to prevent a breach of the peace. The man was then de-arrested and no further action was necessary.'
Running a country can be stressful - so it's perhaps no surprise that Kim Jong-un needed to blow off some steam while on his way to meet Donald Trump in Vietnam.

During his mammoth 70-hour train journey from Pyongyang to Vietnam, the North Korean dictator stopped at Nanning station, in southern China, for a cigarette break.

Kim was spotted walking along the platform around 3.30am during a half-hour stop when he smoked a cigarette or two alongside some of his most trusted aides.

Kim Jong-un stopped for a cigarette break at Nanning station in southern China around 3.30am on Tuesday while on his way to Vietnam

Kim Yo-jong, the leader's sister, was on hand carrying a large crystal ashtray for him to stub his cigarettes out in

Wife Ri Sol-ju was seen talking to another woman on the platform, while Kim held discussions with his top diplomat Ri Yong-ho.

His sister Kim Yo-jong was also seen carrying a large crystal ashtray for the dictator to stub his cigarettes in.

After the brief stop Kim and his entourage climbed back on board the heavily armoured train and were taken to Dong Dang, in northern Vietnam.

From there, Kim swapped the train for his limousine which drove him to Hanoi, where he arrived on Tuesday morning.

He is thought to be staying at the Melia Hanoi hotel located in the city center ahead of his summit with President Trump, who is en route to the country.

While Kim travelled to his previous summit in Singapore by plane, the North Korean prefers to travel by train where possible, so fearful is he of being assassinated.

The North Korean dictator took a mammoth 70-hour train journey to reach Vietnam from Pyongyang. He prefers not to fly for fear of being assassinated

Kim was accompanied by some of his closest aides as he smoked, including a man who appeared to be top diplomat Ri Yong-ho (left)

Kim is well-known as a smoker, and in 2017 he was pictured enjoying a cigarette in front of a liquid-fuelled ballistic missile, despite the risk of a catastrophic explosion

He also travels surrounded by bodyguards, 12 of whom were seen running alongside his limousine as he arrived in Dong Dang, as they have at previous summits.

In one comical moment, a bodyguard was seen sprinting off Kim's train to stand beside the leader as he shook hands with a Vietnamese dignitary, having apparently left his leader unguarded for a moment.

Trump is expected to arrive later on Tuesday ahead of his first one-on-one meeting with Kim on Wednesday evening.

The pair will then share a dinner alongside two guests and their interpreters before more formal meetings are held on Thursday.

Trumps previous summit with Kim, held in Singapore in June, resulted in a vague joint statement that critics blasted for lacking specific measurable steps.

However, the pair did sign a joint pledge to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

This summit will attempt to flesh out that commitment and define what 'denuclearization' means for both sides.

Kim took his armoured train as far as Dong Dang, on the Vietnam-China border, before swapping it for a limousine to take him the rest of the way

Kim was flanked by bodyguards as he departed the train in Dong Dang, before driving the rest of the way to Hanoi in his limousine

Twelve bodyguards run alongside Kim's limousine, as they have done at previous summits, ready to defend their leader should anyone try to kill him

Trump set an optimistic tone on Twitter as prepared to head east: Meeting for breakfast with our Nations Governors - then off to Vietnam for a very important Summit with Kim Jong Un.

'With complete Denuclearization, North Korea will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse. Without it, just more of the same.

'Chairman Kim will make a wise decision!'

Other steps under consideration will be declaring an official end to the Korean War, which began in 1950 and has never officially ended.

South Korea has already hinted that a peace accord may be one outcome of the summit, but it is yet to be seen whether Trump and Kim will agree to it.

Kim looks at the camera as he departs Dong Dang railway station for Hanoi on Tuesday
An almost naked man with a knife embedded deep in his back walked out of a hospital's accident and emergency department - to have a cigarette.

The patient, Vladimir, 34, is bleeding from his wound and only returns inside when he is warned he is risking his life and told: 'You are about to die'.

He then walks back inside to the treatment room at the hospital in the Russian city of Kazan.

Vladamir, 34, is only wearing his boxers as he stumbles out of Zelenodolsk District Hospital in Kazan, Russia, with a knife plunged into his back

He goes outside to have a cigarette, in temperatures of -10C, and only returns when a doctor says: 'You are about to die'

A nurse filmed the man's extraordinary mission for a smoke - in only his underwear - as shocked staff tried to reason with him.

The man got wounded in a 'drunken fight' but the exact details are not known.

The knife was plunged so deep that only the handle was visible.

Ambulance staff who rushed to the scene managed to put a dressing around the wound without risking taking out the knife.

Hospital staff were undressing him when he told them he had 'something to do' and he started his walk.

A female nurse is heard on the video asking him: 'Vladimir, are you mad?'

As he walks through the hospital - stooping from pain and at one point clutching a railing for support - she asks him: 'How far are you going?

'It is winter outside. Come back'

He turns and tells her he is going 'for a smoke'.

She points out he has no cigarettes and calls him a 'fool' - but despite this he continues outside where snow is seen on the ground and the temperature was around minus 10C.

Then a male doctor sternly warns Vladimir: 'Young man, you are going to die now.'

The medic says: 'Let's go, have an injection and you go home.'

He evidently hoped to get a cigarette from another smoker outside the hospital's door - but in vain.

As the knife victim gives up and decides to go back inside, the nurse says: 'Yes, we'll make one injection and let you go home.

'Come on, come with me. Go, go. Keep going. Go and lie down!'

The regional health authority in Tatarstan said the man had been admitted to Zelenodolsk District Hospital.

A spokesman confirmed Vladimir had undergone surgery to remove the knife and was in a 'stable' condition.
Ted Cordery was described as a 'hero'

A D-Day veteran brought the nation to tears this morning as he broke down on live television, recalling the death of friends in the Second World War.

Ted Cordery, 91, described to GMB hosts Kate Garraway and Charlotte Hawkins how he worked on the HMS Belfast during the brutal Normandy Landings.

The brave former seaman who was just 18 during the terrifying conflict was tasked with bringing the bodies of mutilated men from the beaches onto the British cruiser ship.

On June 6, 1944, he manned a crane which lifted pallets carrying dying and injured men onto the Belfast after they were dragged back to the beaches.

What unfolded that day changed his life forever.

However, when described as a hero he disagreed.

Mr Cordery appeared on GMB twice after the Royal British Legion asked him to be one of 300 veterans to sail back to Normandy on the 75th Anniversary of the D-Day landings on June 5, this year, on the MV Boudicca.

He had such an impact on the audience he began trending on Twitter, so was brought back on.

He described how on the morning of the Landings the Belfast sailed towards France and opened fire at 6am.

The former torpedoman helped to bring in the injured while his friends in the gunnery fired onto land.



He said: 'I was a crane driver and I was up the crane.

'These wounded soldiers could have been wounded a mile or two miles inland. They were put on a cart brought down to the beach, then put on a pallet.

Through tears he continued: 'When I landed those men on there...

'The wounds were terrible. Terrible. Most of them never made it. They were taken to sick bays where most of them died.

Ted Cordery was just 18 when he was conscripted

'(It) Annoys me when most films are bang bang bang about war and you never see the real side.

'I'm sorry...

'I lost many friends since the war ended I lost ship mates who I served with. I've seen their ashes go over the side of the Belfast.

'It's such a waste of young life. I try to imagine how they suffered from a mile inland until they were lifted on the ship.

'You couldn't have worse.'

Ten thousand allied troops were wounded or killed on June 6, 1944.

Ted began trending on Twitter as viewers 'sobbed' at home watching the man they called a 'true hero'.

One woman wrote: 'Just watching a Ted Cordery on @GMB he may not feel a hero but he is! So much love and respect. thank you Sir.'

Presenters Charlotte Hawkins and Kate Garraway interviewed Ted Cordery and Nichola Rowlands on 'Good Morning Britain' from the Royal British Legion

Another added: 'What a man just dont know what to say other than thank you very much sir 'Ted Cordery'.

Another user wrote: 'It's plain and simple, Ted Cordery you're a hero. I will be thinking of you and the others who lost their lives when I go to Normandy in October. Thank you for all that you did and continue to do.'

A woman named Victoria said: 'Powerful & emotional interview with Ted Cordery, the D-Day Veteran telling his story on GMB this morning. What a warm, courageous & dignified gentleman. We owe such a lot to men like him.'

But Mr Cordery said he does not see himself as a hero.

He said: 'When you join the service you're part of them you do as you're told.

'You get on with it. I don't necessarily agree with that (hero comments).

'Arctic convoys 3,000 men (were) lost on the convoys.

'I'm not a hero they're the heroes.

'You can't do more than give your life up  you can't do more than that.'

The Duke of Cambridge (right) with Ted Cordery (left) and John Harrison during a visit to the Imperial War Museum in London

The Royal British Legion is taking 300 veterans and carers over to Normandy on a specially chartered ship for the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

The voyage will take veterans who helped liberate France during the Second World War, plus a relative or carer, to a series of commemorative events on both sides of the Channel at no cost to them.

The journey is being funded by the Royal British Legion's LIBOR grant, in conjunction with the Ministry of Defence and Arena Travel.

The vessel will depart from Dover on June 2, taking in the UK commemorative events in Portsmouth and Poole before crossing the English Channel and arriving in Normandy, on 6 June, exactly 75 years after the D-Day Landings.

Mr Cordery said: 'I feel very very grateful to the British Legion for the opportunity.

'When the good lady gave me the opportunity to go I grabbed it with both hands.

'I appreciate it very much indeed.

'I'd like to go back and stand and remember

'There's nothing I can do to help but I can stand and see the graves and it brings home to me the terrible consequences of war

- There are still places for Normandy Vets to go over. For more information click here.
A devout Christian has avoided jail for attacking his wife after the couple agreed to use the code word 'Pineapple' to stop any future bust-ups.

Patrick Wilde, 53, was quizzed by police after he became aggressive towards pub landlady Sheila Wilde during a row over the running of their bar.

Mrs Wilde was forced to flee to a hotel after she no longer felt safe in the house and the couple split up, a court heard.

But the couple from Oldham, Greater Manchester, got back together after he sought help and they decided to use the word 'Pineapple' as a trigger word if ever they got into more arguments.

Patrick Wilde (left), 53, was quizzed by police after he became aggressive towards pub landlady Sheila Wilde (right) during a bust up over the running of their bar

The code word 'stops the couple in their tracks' and they are able to quash any rows, a court heard.

And now the couple, who wed two years ago, are already looking to renew their marriage vows and went away together to Turkey.

At Tameside magistrates court, Wilde, who works for a double glazing company pleaded, guilty to common assault and was conditionally discharged for 12 months.

His wife who runs the Rifle Range pub in Chadderton was in court to support him.

The couple, who are thought to be members of the Salvation Army, often argued about the pub which wasn't turning over profit, a court heard.

But Mr Wilde, who had an alcohol problem, has now sought help and is on the 'straight and narrow'.

Prosecuting, Nick Smart, said: 'On this occasion, the situation turned regrettably for the worst. The party's both entered into an argument and there was overt aggression from him.

Mrs Wilde (pictured) was forced to flee to a hotel in Oldham after she no longer felt safe in the house and the couple split up, a court heard

'He became abusive towards the lady and, during the course of the quarrel, they decided to go their separate ways. The lady left the property as she no longer felt safe in the premises and she went to an hotel in Oldham.

'She rang her daughter to tell her what happened who then called the police. He was arrested and interviewed and he said he didn't assault her by putting his hands on her as he would never want to hurt her in any way.

'A compromise has been reached and he has changed his plea. On this occasion, the lady has indicated that she does not wish to take out a restraining order so there will be no application for that. He is a man of hitherto good character.'

In mitigation Paul Green, said: 'He is a man of good character and he has been married to his wife since 2016. This marriage has gone through some difficulties.

'In 2016, they took over a pub called the Rifle Range Inn in Oldham, but it was not a successful move for the couple.

Mr Wilde, who had an alcohol problem, has sought help and is on the 'straight and narrow', a court heard

The couple, who are thought to be members of the Salvation Army, often argued about the pub which wasn't turning over profit, a court heard

'It was a strain on their marriage, it wasn't turning a profit and it resulted in a lot of arguments between the two of them. It led to the incident he is here for today.

'What I can say is that he wasn't in a great place at the time. He had a problem with alcohol which he is now seeking help for. He wants to get on the straight and narrow.

A court heard Mr Wilde suffers from anxiety and was under a lot of pressure when the argument flared.

But now the couple are seeking to make amends and are starting to go back to church.

Green, said: 'He has saught to address the alcohol problem and they are doing well together. They have a word they use when they get into a fight and that is 'pineapple.'

'If one of them mentions this word, then it stops them in their tracks. If tempers are flaring, then they just mention this word and it is a word that is known between the two of them as significant.

'They are also going to renew their wedding vowels and they are starting to go back to church - the Salvation Army church.'

Wilde was also ordered to pay 120 in court costs and an 85 victim surcharge. He and his wife declined to comment after the hearing.


A Russian anaesthetist has been jailed for raping a patient as she recovered from plastic surgery on her breasts.

Married Dr Yury Chernikov, 60, offered his victim a bar of chocolate and an emergency postcoital contraceptive after the brutal sex attack.

Victim Erika Bykova, 33, a fashion designer, waived her right to anonymity to publicly demand punishment for the grandfather who claimed the hospital sex was consensual even though she was under anaesthetic and could not talk.

Erika Bykova, 33, was raped by an anaesthetist in a hospital bed as she recovered from having breast surgery

The fashion designer was under anaesthetic and could not talk as the 60-year-old forced himself on her

Dr Chernikov was jailed for three years and two months, a reduced sentence after he paid his patient 11,600 in compensation.

Prosecutors at the court in the Russian city of Samara had demanded five years prison.

After the trial, the victim hailed the verdict as her personal victory in overcoming Russian taboos about exposing and convicting rapists.

The mother-of-one - who had the surgery to 'improve the shape' of her breasts - denied to a TV audience ahead of the doctor's trial that she had agreed to sex moments after surgery.

'I was moaning,' she said. But I was moaning because I couldn't scream. It was the very first surgery in my life.

'I saw him before the surgery. He came to my ward to talk about the results of my pre-operation checks.

Married Dr Yury Chernikov, 60, offered her a bar of chocolate and an emergency postcoital contraceptive after the brutal sex attack

Ms Bykova preserved his semen and handed it to police so they could catch the predator

'My husband was against the surgery - he believed that I was beautiful enough already.

'I was shaking crazily after the operation, and I heard a voice telling me: "Girl, everything will be okay, everything will be fine".

'He was touching me, it was the anaesthetist's voice. Then he allowed himself to do things that a doctor must not do.

'He was commenting on what he was doing. He raped me.

'I was in a helpless state. At that moment I could understand everything but my eyelids were very heavy, I even couldn't open them fully.

'I tried to push him away with my legs but I couldn't do that.'

She was unable to scream for help, and they were alone in an ante-room to the operating theatre, she said.

'I absolutely trusted the doctor. I trusted him with my life and body.

'For a long time I couldn't pull myself together and talk to my husband about it.'

The mother-of-one - who had the surgery to 'improve the shape' of her breasts - denied to a TV audience ahead of the doctor's trial that she had agreed to sex moments after surgery

But she had preserved the anaesthetist's sperm which she later handed to police.

'I am sorry for sharing these details (but) I am speaking out to help women in the same situation who cannot talk about it to anyone.'

Ahead of the trial, the doctor told state-funded NTV channel: 'Yes, there was sexual intercourse.

'There was ejaculation. I constantly controlled my actions, all the touching and licking.

'I was asking her, "Erika, are you feeling good, am I not hurting you?" And she answered: 'Yes, I'm feeling good'.'

He said that he gave her oral sex and 'she kept her legs spread - she didn't try to say a word or stop it'.

The doctor admitted: 'Obviously, five minutes after everything happened, I was terrified.

'And I realised my children, my grandchildren, my wife would never forgive me. At that moment I hadn't been thinking about anything.

Dr Chernikov was jailed for three years and two months, a reduced sentence after he paid his patient 11,600 in compensation

'Another organ was doing the thinking.'

In court testimony he claimed that after he finished the woman told him she 'hadn't felt so good in a while'.

He also claimed his victim loved him.

Following the trial, Ms Bykova said on social media that women rape victims in Russia had to 'stop hushing up' sexual attacks and demand laws are used to convict guilty men.

She claimed many sex attacks go unpunished and believes if she had not gone public, the doctor would walked free.

'No crime should remain without punishment,' she said.

'It is important to stop hushing up. There are enough laws, but the problem is different.

'Often, women do not have a clue that they are protected by the law, but even when they know about it, they are confronted with customs that exist in society preventing them from defending their rights.

'Women protect rapists, not daring to speak out loud that she was raped, since stereotypes of public opinion prohibit her from doing so.

'Her silence multiplies the risk of new rapes.

'But if she can break the silence, then the rapist will be ashamed, who will know now that the crime has not gone unnoticed, that he will be tried and sentenced.

'This will completely change the situation.'

Ms Bykova said that he gave her oral sex and 'she kept her legs spread - she didn't try to say a word or stop it'

Ms Bykova said: 'In this case, the anaesthetist is a sick person. But the people covering it are the worst criminals.

'I learned a lot about people around me, my friends, enemies, and yet the main thing I learned about myself.

'I turned out to be a warrior in a skirt seeking justice for my soul.'

Ms Bykova claimed Chernikov put her under pressure - and even her own lawyers were reluctant to take her case, fearing disapproval from the authorities.

She said the anaesthetist had told her he would pay her compensation and 'find the best gynaecologist' for her if she did not take legal action.

The day after the attack brought her 'a chocolate bar and a postcoital contraceptive', she revealed.

The way a society deals with violence against women shows its 'level of morality' and wellbeing of people, she said.

'Keeping silent helps rapists.'

The anaesthetist's wife Tatiana said: 'He is not a rapist, that's for sure.

'He just showed weakness. He showed weakness as a man.'
Mother Zanythe Harrison, 38, groomed a 14-year-old girl to perform webcam sex shows

The teenager who raped and murdered six-year-old Alesha MacPhail was allegedly linked to a convicted sex offender in the months before the killing.

Aaron Campbell, 16, was said to have been in regular contact with Zanythe Harrison, 38, who groomed a 14-year-old girl on the Isle of Bute to perform webcam sex shows for paedophiles.

The mother-of-four avoided jail in 2008 after admitting directing the shows involving a 14-year-old girl at a flat.

A source close to Harrison told the Daily Record that Campbell, who also lived on Bute, often came into contact with her thanks to a mutual acquaintance before he killed Alesha last July.

One Bute resident told the newspaper: 'Obviously Campbell was obsessed with dark things on the web and I'm sure he would have known about Zanythe's convictions.

'He maybe thought sex offenders don't get that much of a punishment. This could have played a part in his twisted crime if he thought he would get away with it.'

Aaron Campbell (left), 16, raped and murdered six-year-old Alesha MacPhail (right) last July

Harrison, who was a ballet dancer, received three years' probation after plying the girl with alcohol and making her perform the sexually explicit shows.

She claimed at Greenock Sheriff Court that a man from England, 'Mr X', was actually the culprit and had been threatening her. She was put on the sex offenders' register.

Last Friday, Campbell was unmasked as the teenage killer of Alesha after a judge lifted a ban on revealing his identity.

Campbell lived on the same road as Alesha's grandparents on the Isle of Bute, where he snatched the schoolgirl from her bed and raped her last July.

Alesha was days into her summer holiday on the island when her body was found dumped in nearby woodland with more than 100 injuries.

Campbell was a fifth year Rothesay Academy pupil, who lifted weights, played computer games and had his own YouTube channel.

YouTube clips featuring the 16-year-old show him performing somersaults on a trampoline, saying to the camera: 'I'd like to welcome you guys to the channel.'

In another he addresses viewers: 'Yo, it's Aaron Campbell here.'

A nine-day trial at the High Court in Glasgow heard Campbell drank alcohol, used cannabis, and hosted a party of around 15 friends at the home he shared with his housekeeper mother earlier on the night he abducted Alesha.

CCTV footage from his mother's own security system provided the evidence detectives needed to prove he had left the property in Rothesay at the crucial time.

She had contacted police herself, hoping the footage would eliminate her son from the investigation.

Campbell was captured coming and going from his home several times in the early hours of July 2, removing items of clothing and retrieving a torch.

Alesha's mother Georgina Lochrane (left) and father Robert MacPhail (right) outside Glasgow High Court last week. Both of the girl's parents were present during the nine-day trial

He had earlier tried to contact Alesha's father Robert MacPhail and his partner Toni McLachlan, thought to have been seeking to buy cannabis as he had done from Mr MacPhail in the past.

A jury found Campbell guilty of rape and murder unanimously on Thursday. Media organisations then applied to have a ban on revealing his identity lifted.

Scots law prohibits the naming of under 18s who are the subject of criminal proceedings. Lord Matthews opted to lift the ban in the case which he said had caused 'such revulsion'.

Alesha's mother Georgina Lochrane was at Glasgow High Court to hear the judge's decision on Friday. Campbell will be sentenced on March 21.

Lord Matthews warned the teenager, currently being held at Polmont Young Offenders Institute, that he may never be released from custody.
Fifty Labour MPs are threatening to derail Jeremy Corbyn's plan to back a second referendum.

The Labour leader has shifted to support a second referendum and Labour said no deal would not be on the ballot paper.

But the surprise move sparked a furious confrontation at his shadow cabinet meeting yesterday.

Labour chairman Ian Lavery was described as 'very angry' and said the shift in policy was 'political suicide', as reported by The Sun.

MP John Mann warned Labour would face a furious backlash in the Midlands and the North where the party's supporters backed Brexit in their millions.

He blasted Labour would meet the same fate as Nick Clegg's Lib Dems after their u-turn on tuition fees - an electoral wipe out in 2015.

Mr Mann and two other northern MPs estimate between 45-50 MPs would defy Mr Corbyn and not back a second referendum.

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured in the Commons today) was warned the 'voters won't have it today' after he shifted to support a second referendum and Labour said no deal would not be on the ballot paper

Labour MP John Mann (file image), who represents Bassetlaw, warned that backing a referendum would be a 'catastrophe'

Mr Corbyn's dramatic leap toward a new public vote last night has escalated the civil war inside his party.

Labour says the question should be a 'credible' Leave and Remain option - but Labour is deeply opposed to Mrs May's deal and has ruled out ever supporting no deal.

Labour is thought likely to table a Commons amendment which would mean a referendum on whatever deal finally gets through Parliament.

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry insisted the other choice on the ballot paper would be Remain  meaning the vote could overturn the result of the 2016 referendum.

Outlining the plan today, shadow Brexit secretary Sir Kei Starmer told Sky News: 'The basic choice needs to be between a credible Leave option and Remain.

'So that means if the prime minister gets a deal through, that should be subject to the lock of a public vote.'

But that position is seemingly not shared by aides close to Mr Corbyn, who suggested there could be three options and Mrs May's deal would not be one of them.

Remainer Labour MPs were delighted at the developments, with one boasting: 'There's no turning back for Jeremy now.'

But the move was described as a 'betrayal' of Labour's 2017 election manifesto promise to respect the referendum result, with Leave campaigners calling it 'cowardly'.

Mr Corbyn was also accused of cynically announcing the move in a desperate effort to stem the tide of defections to the newly-formed Independent Group, which supports a second referendum.

And some in Labour fear that the decision could be disastrous in Leave-dominated constituencies in the North.

Labour defections to the Independent Group, pictured having dinner together at Nando's last night, have increased pressure on Mr Corbyn

Mr Mann, who represents Bassetlaw, told BBC Radio 4's Today: 'Voters won't have it.

'The last person to renege on their manifesto was Nick Clegg, it didn't end very well for him on tuition fees.

'Our manifesto was unambiguous, we would accept the result of the referendum.

'A second referendum doesn't do that and the voters - in very, very large numbers - will not accept that.'

Labour uncertainty and u-turns over Brexit Labour's Brexit stance has undergone so many changes it can be difficult to keep track. Even during the referendum in 2016 Jeremy Corbyn was accused of half-hearted campaigning and hedging his bets - admitting he was only '7 out of 10' in favour of Remain. Since then the leadership has been trying to maintain 'constructive ambiguity' so it can keep hold of heartland voters who often back Brexit - without alienating the party's largely Remainer members and MPs. The 2017 Labour manifesto promised that Labour accepted the result of the referendum and obtain a deal that 'works for every community in Britain' It also said it would have 'fresh negotiating priorities that have a strong emphasis on retaining the benefits of the Single Market and the Customs Union.' But shortly after the election on June 11, 2017, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told ITV: 'Let's be clear: we are respecting the decision of the referendum. We are democrats. I think people will interpret membership of the single market as not respecting that referendum.' This was swiftly followed by Brexit spokesman Sir Keir Starmer a week later in June of that year who said Labour wanted to 'retain the benefits of the single market and the customs union. Formal membership, full membership is only available to EU member states.' In late June three shadow ministers were sacked by Mr Corbyn and a fourth resigned after they and 45 other Labour MPs defied the party and backed a Queen's Speech amendment calling for Britain to remain in the single market and customs union. However, the following September Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson said single market membership was possible 'if the European Union wanted to talk about reform of freedom of movement rules'. Jeremy Corbyn has also faced similar divisions in his own party as Theresa May has in hers Numerous backbenchers have said they want to see a second referendum on a Brexit deal. By conference 2018 internal debate over a second referendum prompted more than 150 different motions on the issue. Labour delegates approved a motion that would keep all options - including a new referendum - if a Brexit deadlock occurred. Senior Labour figures have even been split on what any second referendum should mean - with some, such as Len McCluskey and John McDonnell insisting remaining in the EU cannot be on the ballot - but Sir Keir Starmer has said the motion means it could be. Mr Corbyn will hope the dramatic shift will stop any more MPs quitting to join the new pro-Remain Independent Group of MPs. Advertisement

The move would be 'catastrophic to Labour in the Midlands and the north', Mr Mann said.

At the Parliamentary Party meeting last night, Mr Mann told Mr Corbyn: 'In the Midlands and North of England this decision today will stop you from being prime minister.'

Colleague Caroline Flint said there will 'never be' unity in the party if a second referendum goes ahead, and Lucy Powell warned that 25 Labour MPs will vote against another referendum.

John Longworth, chairman of Leave Means Leave, lambasted 'a cowardly decision from a man who should never be trusted with the premiership of this country.' Labour MP Stephen Kinnock said: 'I have deep reservations about having a referendum.

'I think it is going to be deeply divisive. I think it would have a corrosive impact on the role and sovereignty of Parliament.'

Mr Corbyn is known to be lukewarm to the idea of a second vote, but has been under immense pressure from Remainers MPs and activists.

One MP said that when the leader read out the statement: 'It was a bit like watching a hostage read out a ransom note.'

It is believed Labour will call for a Commons vote on a second referendum on March 12, two weeks before the planned date of Brexit.

Ms Thornberry said last night: 'We will have a referendum on whatever deal there is and Remain. There will be no Tory Brexit without there being a public vote.

'I think it's in Britain's interest for us to remain in the EU  if there is a vote then I will be backing remain. So will Jeremy Corbyn.'

However, a senior Labour source then said that although Remain would be on the ballot paper, Mrs May's deal would not.

He would not say what the other option would be  and even suggested there could be three options. No Deal would not be an option, however.

At the PLP meeting, Mr Corbyn told MPs that Labour will also back an attempt to block no-deal Brexit, saying he will do everything in his power to prevent Britain leaving the EU without a deal, and will back the Cooper-Letwin amendment to take the option off the table.

And he said Labour is 'committed to also putting forward or supporting an amendment in favour of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit'.

He said Labour will seek to enshrine the party's five Brexit demands in law by tabling an amendment to the Government's Brexit motion which is due to be debated on Wednesday.

The demands include a permanent and comprehensive customs union with the EU and close alignment with the single market, as well as a dynamic alignment on rights and protections and commitments on participation in EU agencies and funding programmes. If the plan is rejected, Labour will then support a second referendum.

Mr Corbyn said: 'One way or another, we will do everything in our power to prevent No Deal and oppose a damaging Tory Brexit based on Theresa May's overwhelmingly rejected deal.

'That's why, in line with our conference policy, we are committed to also putting forward or supporting an amendment in favour of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country.'

Remainers were delighted. Labour MP Peter Kyle, who supports a second vote, said: 'There's no turning back for Jeremy now.'

Colleague David Lammy said: 'Jeremy Corbyn is today taking the first step to reunite our party by showing he is listening to our voters and members.' Around 60 per cent of Labour voters supported Remain in 2016 and members are strongly in favour of staying in the EU.

Tory party chairman Brandon Lewis said: 'Corbyn's Labour have ripped up their promise to respect the referendum result and are now pursuing a divisive second referendum that would take us back to square one. Jeremy Corbyn is using Brexit to play his own political games.'
Two officer cadets today denied assaulting a colleague at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

Edward Wright, 24, and Jonathan Cox, 25, spoke only to confirm their names and deny one count of battery each, when they appeared before a court martial.

The charges follow an investigation by the Royal Military Police into an alleged waterboarding incident at the training centre in Camberley, Surrey.

The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst training centre in Camberley, Surrey (file picture)

Bulford Military Court in Wiltshire today heard that the two cadets are accused of attacking Edward Flower at Sandhurst in August last year.

Assistant Judge Advocate Alistair McGrigor adjourned the case against the two cadets for a week-long trial to take place on June 10.

He told Wright: 'The particulars of the offence are that you and Jonathan Cox on the seventh day of August, 2018, assaulted Edward Flower by beating him.'

A case review was also listed to take place on April 29. Telling the pair to stand, Judge McGregor added: 'I'm going to give the same warning to both of you.

'I have to say to you that if your defence case statement is not sufficiently detailed that may count against you.

Prince William (left) and Prince Harry (right) together at RMA Sandhurst in September 2006

'Failure to attend your trial is a separate offence in which case the matter may go ahead in your absence and the trial may continue.'

An Army spokesman said previously: 'Following a Royal Military Police investigation two service personnel have been charged with battery in relation to an incident at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.

'This case is now with the Service Prosecuting Authority and it would be inappropriate to comment further.'

Sandhurst is where all officers in the British Army are trained. Prince Harry entered in 2005 for a 44-week training course during which he was called Officer Cadet Wales.

His brother Prince William was commissioned as an officer in the British Army after graduating from Sandhurst in 2006, in a ceremony watched by the Queen.
Historians have uncovered the true cost of Queen Anne's lavish lifestyle, which set back taxpayers' more than 12million in today's money in the span of just three years.

Interest into the activities of the 18th century royal have peaked after British actress Olivia Colman picked up and Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Anne in The Favourite.

The monarch's extravagances have been revealed new documents found at Blenheim Palace, which gives a glimpse into her outgoings between 1708 and 1711.

Queen Anne (on the wall) and Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough, come face to face once more at Blenheim Palace

Stunning 300-year-old documents have revealed the cost of the Privy Purse between 1708 and 1711

Blenheim Archivist Dr Alexa Frost (left) The Favourite author Ophelia Field (right) and TV historian Dr Janina Ramirez with the rediscovered account book

Documents have lifted the lid on spending from the Privy Purse, the private allowance provided to royalty with personal spending money.

Queen Anne's full spending from the Privy Purse between 1708 and 1711 Thanks to a discovery of the hand-written notes of Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough, we are able to see the spending of Queen Anne from the Privy Purse between 1708 and 1711. Among some of the more lavish buys include: 10 5s (around 2,250 today) to a 'mad Spaniard'

1,000 (or 220,000) to a 'Mr M' for 'secret service'

32 5s (or 7,050) to Mr Galliard for 'making an anthem on thanks giving day'

50 (11,000 today) on drinking chocolate

1,000 (220,000) to the Duchess of Marlborough as a two-year allowance for keeping the Great Park at Windsor

3,166 (690,000) to the Duchess of Marlborough as payment for her role as Privy Purse keeper

537 (118,000) to the 'Queen's own hand) Credit: The Times Advertisement

Between 1702 and 1711, the person in charge of recording royal spending was Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough, who is played by Rachel Weisz in The Favourite.

It was Churchill's job to document outgoings and curb Queen Anne's spending habits, although official hand-written documents showed she had her work cut out.

A payment of 1,000 - or 220,000 in 2019 - was paid to 'Mr M' for his 'secret service' - more than 200 years before Ian Fleming created a similar character in his James Bond books.

Among some of the quirky and flamboyant entries into the 300-year-old diary includes a fee of 10 and 15 shillings, which amounts to 2,250 today, as a payment logged only to a 'mad Spaniard'.

Queen Anne is also recorded as paying 50 - or 11,000 today - on drinking chocolate in May 1709. A payment of 32 and five shillings, worth 7,000, was made to Mr Galliard for 'making an anthem on thanks giving day'.

The Duchess of Marlborough and Queen Anne's friendship is known to have deteriorated in the years up to 1711, as depicted in the new Hollywood blockbuster.

It follows the trials and tribulations their friendship suffered. In 1707, the Duchess discovered her poor cousin, Abigail Masham, played by Emma Stone in The Favourite, had become friends with the Queen behind her back.

After a number of fall-outs, the Duchess also found the Queen had given Abigail 2,000 from the Privy Purse, which she was not informed of.

Olivia Coleman wins the best actress Oscar for her acclaimed portrayal of Queen Anne, a fascinating newly discovered document at Blenheim Palace reveals her very private account's

Olivia Colman poses with the Academy Award for Best Actress during the 2019 Vanity Fair Oscar Party

Queen Anne also promised the Duchess of Marlborough her children would take over her roles at court, but in 1711, the Queen removed her from the post and made Abigail the keeper of the Privy Purse.

Alexa Frost, a historian who found the accounts following a trawl through Blenheim Palace, told The Times the Duchess was revolutionary in her insistence that 'every penny was accounted for'.

Speaking of the chocolate transaction made by the Queen, Frost said: 'Both were extremely costly but even taking that into account it does appear to be a large sum to pay.'

Who was Queen Anne, the monarch who united Britain? Queen Anne (16651714) was the last of the Stuart monarchs, remembered for achieving the union of England and Scotland in 1707 and for bringing the War of the Spanish Succession to a conclusion. Anne never enjoyed good health, and the almost constant pregnancies that ended in miscarriages did not help. She became pregnant 17 times, but only one child lived, William, who became the Duke of Gloucester. Unfortunately he died aged 11, it is thought of hydrocephalus. Queen Anne is perhaps best known as the monarch who united England and Scotland Anne was 37 years old when she became queen in 1702. At her coronation she was suffering from a bad attack of gout and had to be carried to the ceremony in an open sedan chair with a low back, so that her six-yard train could pass to her ladies walking behind. The friendship between Anne and Sarah Churchill is well documented. They were inseparable, and when they were apart they corresponded using fanciful names. Sarah was Mrs Freeman and Anne, Mrs Morley. Later, Churchill was second favourite in Annes affections by a cousin of hers, Abigail Hill. She had caught the Queens attention during Sarahs frequent absences from Court, and the Duchess was never again to be the Queens closest confidant. The United Kingdom of Great Britain was created during her reign by the Union of England and Scotland. Britain became a major military power and the foundations were laid for the 18th centurys Golden Age during her reign. She died after suffering a stroke on Sunday 1st August 1714 at the age of 49. Credit: historic-uk.com Advertisement

The new queen of Hollywood! Tearful Olivia Colman melts hearts with inspiring speech as she wins Best Actress for The Favourite - and sticks two fingers up at the Academy when she is told to 'hurry up'

Olivia Colman has become the new queen of Hollywood after taking home the Best Actress award at Sunday evening's 91st Academy Awards for her role as troubled Queen Anne in The Favourite.

The 45-year-old British actress was overjoyed as she accepted the gong, during which she reached out to little girls everywhere in an inspiring and sweet speech. She said: 'Any little girl who's practicing your speech on the telly, you never know! I used to work as a cleaner and I spent quite a lot of my time imagining this.'

While she grew tearful and emotional during, the overwhelmed Peep Show star was urged to wrap up her speech by Academy bosses - yet hilariously blew a raspberry and made a crass gesture at the teleprompter.

Reigning supreme: British actress Olivia Colman won best actress for her role in The Favorite at the Academy Awards on Sunday night

Olivia's speech was laden with emotion as she paid tribute to her many aides and supports however she tickled audiences when she made the crass gesture.

She was up against Glenn Close for The Wife, Yalitza Aparicio for Roma, Lady Gaga for A Star is Born and Melissa McCarthy of Can You Ever Forgive Me?, said: 'It's genuinely quite stressful. This is hilarious. I got an Oscar'.

In the heartwarming speech, she graciously gave a nod to her colleagues: 'I have to thank lots of people. Yorgos [Lanthimos], my best director and the best film with Emma [Stone] and Rachel [Weisz], the two loveliest women to fall in love with and go to work with every day. You can imagine it wasn't a hardship.'

Olivia was stunned as she beat out the category favourite Glenn, who was widely expected to win her first Oscar for her role in The Wife - after a record seven unsuccessful nominations. She gazed at Close in the audience and said: 'You've been my idol for so long and this is not how I wanted it to be.'

Haha! While she grew tearful and emotional during the speech, the overwhelmed Peep Show star was urged to wrap up her speech by Academy bosses - yet hilariously blew a raspberry and made a crass gesture at the teleprompter

Overwhelmed: Olivia could not contain her glee as she gushed to her co-stars and her fans during the speech

'This is quite stressful': The first time nominee was close to tears as she delivered a charming speech

Over the moon: Colman added the Oscar to her earlier wins at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and National Society of Film Critics for the role

She can't believe it! Behind-the-scenes, it seemed Olivia would not let go of the golden award as she rubbed shoulders with her fellow stars in a delighted display, while also pulling a number of silly faces

Glenn's nods remain the most without a win than any other living actor. The actress, 71, came into the end of awards season riding a wave of momentum that included wins at the Golden Globes, SAG Awards and Independent Spirit Awards.

Olivia added the Oscar to her envious stream of earlier wins for her roles at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and National Society of Film Critics for the role in the period drama. An emotional Olivia thanked her agent who took her on 20 years ago, and her children - and admitted she wasn't sure if they were watching at home.

'My kids who are at home and watching, look!' she exclaimed. 'If you're not, then, kind of well-done, but I sort of hope you are. This is not going to happen again.'

A winning performance: Her role as Queen Anne won hearts and awards all over the globe (pictured with co-star Rachel Weisz, who starred as Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough in the movie)

WOW: Olivia was stunned after beating out Yalitza Aparicio, Glenn Close, Lady Gaga and Melissa McCarthy for the Oscar

Happy days: An emotional Colman thanked her agent who took her on 20 years ago, and her children, who she wasn't sure if they were watching at home

Gracious Close: She gazed at Close in the audience and said, 'You've been my idol for so long and this is not how I wanted it to be' as Close smiled and laughed

'To my husband Ed, my best friend, I love you so much. 25 years, you've been my best supporter and... he's gonna cry,' which got another big laugh from the audience, before adding, 'I'm not.'

'Thank you so much, Fox, everybody, the cast the crew,' even turning to presenters Francis McDormand and Sam Rockwell, thanking them, before turning to Best Actress nominees Gaga and Melissa.

She turned and blew a kiss at her fellow nominees, as Lady Gaga blew a few back at her in one of the night's most memorable moments.
A man has been stabbed to death in the fifth suspected murder in London in just eight days.

Police say a man in his mid-twenties or early thirties was found with multiple stab wounds in the East End yesterday afternoon following reports of a fight.

Officers were called by paramedics at 2.35pm on Monday to an address in Globe Road, Bethnal Green, following reports of a fight 'in progress.'

According to reports from the scene the violent clash took place in a former care home which is used by squatters.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene in Bethnal Green. His death is being probed as violent crime on the capital's streets escalates.

The victim is the fifth man to be killed in the capital in just eight days, four of whom have been stabbed, and it is the sixteenth murder inquiry to be launched by the Met Police this year.

The man who has not been identified was stabbed to death in Globe Road, Bethnal Green

Bright Akinleye, 22, was fatally stabbed in a street near Euston station before staggering into a hotel lobby where he collapsed and died last Monday night.

The following day 69-year-old Brian Wieland died in a fire at a house in Chingford, east London. A woman has been arrested on suspicion of murder

Glendon Spence, 23, was fatally stabbed at a youth club in Brixton, south London, last Thursday. A teenager has been charged with murder.

Police are fighting a knife crime crisis on the streets of London after the number of homicides in the capital reached 135, last year.

In 2019, two people were killed in the first few hours. many of those killed have been stabbed to death.

Officers have not yet made any arrests after what has been described as a fatal fight in London

The crime scene at Globe Road in Tower Hamlets this morning where a man was killed

Those killed this year also include teenagers Jaden Moodie, 14, Nedim Bilgin, 17 and Lajean Richards, 19, who were all stabbed.

This month Aliny Mendes, 39, was stabbed to death outside a school in Cheam, Surrey, Greater London.

A 19-year-old, who has not been formally identified, was fatally shot and stabbed in Wood Green, north London, over the weekend.

Detectives are appealing for witnesses to the latest murder. There have been no arrests.

Bright Akinleye, 22, (pictured left) died after stumbling into the Wesley Hotel near Euston station with a stab wound on Monday night. Glendon Spence, 23, (pictured right) was fatally stabbed at the Marcus Lipton youth centre in Brixton on Thursday evening

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: 'A man, thought to be aged in his mid-20s or early 30s, was discovered suffering from stab wounds.

'Despite the efforts of paramedics, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

'At this early stage there have been no arrests.

'A crime scene is in place and enquiries into the circumstances are ongoing.

'Officers from the Homicide and Major Crime Command have been informed.
A militant vegan activist who allegedly snuck into a farm to show how pigs are treated has been charged with trespassing.

James Warden streamed live on the Direct Action Everywhere social media page on Sunday night from inside the GD pork farm near Pinjarra, south of Perth.

His latest stunt was less than two weeks after a farmer in Harvey, Western Australia, confronted him outside his property before firing a shotgun twice into the air.

James Warden streamed live on the Direct Action Everywhere social media page on Sunday night from inside the GD pork farm near Pinjarra, south of Perth

The 25-year-old was arrested in Perth early on Tuesday morning as police raided his home after seeing the 80-minute video.

Warden was charged with two counts of trespass for Sunday night's alleged break in and another incident in Mundijong on February 6.

Commander Allan Adams said vegan activists were warned there was a 'line in the sand' and police would lay charges if they crossed it.

'There has certainly been an increase in profile with the use of social media to raise protester positions on particular matters,' he said.

'Certainly over the past four weeks activists have been more targeting of the primary industry, particularly around their care for livestock.

'We send a very clear message to those participating in that activity that if you do cross the line, evidence by the search warrant this morning and the subsequent charging of a person, police take that very seriously.'

Dressed in white forensic gear, Warden and his associate Kat complained about the cramped conditions pig were kept in at the farm

Western Australian Pork Producers Association president Dawson Bradford welcomed the 'appropriate' charges against a 'public nuisance'.

'Australia has world class animal welfare standards and the recent spate of activist activity has been very unwarranted,' he said.

Mr Bradford earlier said activists like Warden should be arrested when they invaded farmers' property.

'It's important that those engaging in this type of activity are held accountable not only for the illegal activity but also for the misleading, sensational, and selective footage that is not reflective of how the industry operates,' he said.

'These are the standard conditions these animals are kept in, subjugated and enslaved,' he said to 50,000 viewers around the world in the 80-minute video

The video showed open wounds and bruises on the pigs that were left untreated as they sat in their 1.5m by 2m pens

Dressed in white forensic gear, Warden and his associate Kat complained about the cramped conditions pig were kept in at the farm.

'These are the standard conditions these animals are kept in, subjugated and enslaved,' he said to 55,000 viewers around the world.

'Kept in small cages where they're barely able to move. They'll be keep confined their entire lives until they're three to five years old and then they will be murdered.'

The video showed open wounds and bruises on the pigs that were left untreated as they sat in their 1.5m by 2m pens.

'They have pressure wounds on their shoulders from where they rub against the bars for weeks. It's absolutely sad and sickening,' Warden said.

'If this was done to a dog the owner would be thrown in jail and made to pay a hefty fine but because it's another species, it's fine.'

Warden said the video was made to show consumers what went in to making their food in the hope it would make them join his cause

'Kept in small cages where they're barely able to move. They'll be keep confined their entire lives until they're three to five years old and then they will be murdered,' he said

Warden then moved to a disturbing pile of dead piglets who he said were either crushed to death in cages or killed for being too small.

Their tails and genitals were cut off and teeth pulled out so they wouldn't hurt each other in the cramped conditions.

Nearby was an adult pig lying on the ground with what looked like a bullet hole in its head and its intestines hanging out.

Warden then moved on to another shed on the farm where pregnant pigs were kept until they gave birth.

He said the video was made to show consumers what went in to making their food in the hope it would make them join his cause.

'We're showing people the suffering these animals are enduring. All of these beautiful sentient beings are going to be murdered for people's food,' he said.

'Animal love resides inside everyone, people don't know where their food comes from.'

Nearby was an adult pig lying on the ground with what looked like a bullet hole in its head and its intestines hanging out

It was not clear how and why the dead animal came to be in such a state

Warden's Facebook feed received death threats after the video, such as: 'Come and visit my farm tomorrow ya little p***k, I dare you'.

'Only a matter for time break into the wrong farm and cop a shotgun to the face,' another declared.

'You won't be around long, enjoy what's left of your life sweetheart you'll break into the wrong farm soon enough, pigs make sort work of bodies,' a third wrote.

Warden said he received 4,600 abusive messages, including death threats, from farmers and others following his encounter with the farmer in Harvey.

Farmer Jason Parravicini approached Warden and Kat, who were parked outside the property.

A violent clash between vegan activists and a farmer who fired two blasts from his shotgun into the air has been captured on video (pictured)

The farmer repeatedly asked the pair to stop taking photos of his cattle and to leave his property, but the activists refused to budge and continued to film him.

'Take the camera out of my face,' Mr Parravicini said, while pointing his finger toward Kat, who was recording the conversation.

Not willing to back down, the activists continued to film the farmer, who then gave the pair a fiery ultimatum.

'I'll give her one minute to get rid of that (camera) or I'll remove it from you,' Mr Parravicini said, before he yelled out 'call the cops' to someone else nearby.

'This is ridiculous, move on mate,' he said.

Western Australian Pork Producers Association president Dawson Bradford said activists like Warden should be arrested

Warden said he received 4,600 abusive messages, including death threats, from farmers and others following his encounter with the farmer in Harvey

The farmer then tried to grab Warden's car keys from the ignition, resulting in punches being thrown between the pair through the open car window.

'Get the f*** out of my place,' Mr Parravicini screamed at the activists.

'You two, out! You are tormenting Harvey. Get the hell out of it.'

Mr Parravicini then went back inside his property and emerged with a shotgun, which Warden said he fired in the air twice to 'intimidate' them.

'These farming communities are an echo chamber for this type of violence and it does not surprise me whatsoever that they are now targeting and acting in violence towards human beings,' Warden said.
A promising young DJ who admitted to drink driving down the wrong side of the freeway claims she only got behind the wheel to escape a 'Tinder date from hell'.

Estelle Lahausse, from Pakenham, 56km southeast of Melbourne, pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated down the Princes Freeway near Werribee on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old is believed to have narrowly avoided crashing into oncoming traffic, in the incident which occurred in September 2018.

Estelle Lahausse (pictured) from Pakenham, 56km southeast of Melbourne, pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated down the Princes Freeway

After driving about 18km down the highway, she was apprehended by police who found a 700ml vodka bottle on the front seat of her Holden Barina.

She was then subjected to an alcohol test, and police allege she blew more than four-times the legal limit.

Her defence lawyer told the court she had only driven the vehicle to get away from a group of 'sleazy drunken men', who she had met earlier that evening.

The court heard that Lahausse had been 'feeling lonely', when she decided to meet the unidentified man via the dating app Tinder.

After driving approximately 18km down the Princes Freeway (pictured) she was apprehended by police

According to Lahausse, after she joined the man and some of his mates at his home, the situation took a worrying turn.

She alleges after a two-hour drinking session the men tried to persuade her into having group sex with them.

In a bid to flee the distressing scene, Lahausse got into her car to drive home.

Lahausse (pictured) has since vowed to 'stay single' for the rest of her life

She has since vowed to 'stay single' for the rest of her life.

Her lawyer told the court she was 'so ashamed' of her actions that night.

But he admitted she had very little memory of the nights events and therefore couldn't account for how she ended up on the wrong side of the highway.

While Magistrate Michelle Mykytowycz said she accepted the accused had experienced a 'tinder date from hell', she said it will still a very serious case of dangerous driving.

Ms Mykytowycz noted that Lahausse was lucky she 'didn't kill herself or others', according to The Herald Sun.

Lahausse's lawyer also told the court that she had witnessed a car mow down a pedestrian in 2017 and has since been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

He also added that since she was charged by police she had attended a road trauma session and began attending a drug and alcohol programme.

(File picture) The court heard that Lahausse had been 'feeling lonely', when she decided to meet the unidentified man via Tinder

Lahausse was sentenced to 300 hours of community work and ordered to undergo an alcohol abuse and mental health treatment.

She was also disqualified from driving for 29 months.

While handing down the sentence Ms Mykytowycz admitted it had been a difficult judgement to 'exercise'.

'If you had just one driving charge of another nature I would have considered jailing you but you have come to this court as someone of otherwise good character.

'[And] I have come to the conclusion that by the thinnest of margins the sentencing principles in this instance can be met by a community corrections order,' she said.
Pakistan's top military chiefs are due to meet to discuss a response to a bombing raid by India - and have alluded to the country's own nuclear capabilities.

India said its warplanes killed 'a very large number' of fighters when they struck a militant training camp inside Pakistan on Tuesday.

Pakistan has threatened its own 'surprise' after India claimed jets had bombed 'a very large' number of militants in its arch rival's territory.

Officials in New Delhi said overnight airstrikes had pounded a 'terror camp' belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in the Balakot region of Pakistan.

The raids took place after the jihadist group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed dozens of troops in Indian Kashmir earlier this month.

The strike raised the risk of conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours, although Pakistan officials denied there had been casualties.

Pakistan said it would respond at a time and place of its choice, with a military spokesman even alluding to its nuclear arsenal, highlighting the escalation in hostile rhetoric from both two sides since a suicide bombing in Kashmir this month.

Warplanes pounded a camp belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad, the group that claimed a suicide bombing that killed dozens of troops in Indian Kashmir, the country's Foreign Secretary claimed. Pictured: Trees damaged by the raid today

India's Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers patrol along the fenced border with Pakistan in Ranbir Singh Pura sector near Jammu today

The spokesman said a command and control authority meeting, which decides over the use of nuclear weapons, had been convened for Wednesday, adding: 'You all know what that means.'

The air strike near Balakot, a town 30 miles (50km) from the frontier, was the deepest cross-border raid launched by India since the last of its three wars with Pakistan in 1971 but there were competing claims about the damage it caused.

The Indian government, facing an election in the coming months, said the air strikes hit a training camp belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the group that claimed the suicide car bomb attack that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir on February 14.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said 'a very large number' of militants were killed in the strikes in northeast Pakistan.

'The existence of such training facilities, capable of training hundreds of jihadis, could not have functioned without the knowledge of the Pakistani authorities,' Gokhale said. Pakistan denies harbouring JeM.

Pakistani protesters burn an Indian national flag during a demonstration in Peshawar today in the wake of the overnight airstrikes

The airstrikes took place in the Balakot region in Pakistani territory just days after a suicide bomb attack in Indian Kashmir

A Kashmiri man paddles his boat in Dal Lake in Srinagar today. Indian warplanes breached Pakistani airspace in a move that sent tensions over disputed Kashmir spiralling

A senior Indian government source said that 300 militants had been killed in the strikes and that the warplanes had ventured as far as 80 km (50 miles) inside Pakistan. But no evidence was provided to back up the claims of casualties.

The government said the action was ordered as India said it had intelligence that Jaish was planning more attacks.

Pakistani officials dismissed the Indian claims, saying the Indian aircraft had dropped their bombs in a wooded area, causing no damage or casualties.

Villagers near the town of Balakot were shaken from their sleep by the air strikes. They said only one person was wounded in the attack and they knew of no fatalities.

'We saw fallen trees and one damaged house, and four craters where the bombs had fallen,' said Mohammad Ajmal, a 25-year-old who visited the site.

A resident, who did not want to give his name, said there was a nearby madrasa Islamic college run by Jaish, though most villagers were guarded in talking about any militant neighbours.

JeM is a primarily anti-India group that forged ties with al Qaeda and has been on a U.N. terrorist list since 2001. In December 2001, Jaish fighters, along with members of another Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, attacked India's parliament, which almost led to a fourth war.

An India's Border Security Force (BSF) soldier keeps vigil during patrol along the fenced border with Pakistan in Ranbir Singh Pura sector near Jammu

Pakistani reporters and troops visit the site of an alleged Indian airstrike in Jaba, near Balakot, Pakistan. Pakistan said India launched an airstrike on its territory early on Tuesday that caused no casualties, while India said it targeted a terrorist training camp

An Indian police officer fires a teargas shell at Kashmiri Muslim protesters amid simmering tensions in the Kashmir region today

There has been mounting impatience in India to avenge the February 14 attack, which was the most deadly seen in Kashmir during an insurgency that has last three decades, and as news of the raid broke, celebrations erupted across the country.

'I want to assure you our country is in safe hands,' Prime Minister Narendra Modi said to cheers at a rally in western India hours after the raid. 'I won't let the country down.'

Pakistan's top civilian and military leaders rejected India's comments that it had struck a 'terrorist camp' inside Pakistan, warning that they would retaliate.

Pictures have emerged supposedly showing the remains of a payload released by Indian jets overnight in Balakot, Pakistan

Pakistan's National Security Committee (NSC), comprising top officials including Prime Minister Imran Khan and army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, said Khan would 'engage with global leadership to expose irresponsible Indian policy'.

It also warned that 'Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing' to Indian aggression.

China, Pakistan's long-time ally, and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged both countries to exercise restraint.

Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said she had spoken to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Indian diplomats met foreign ambassadors to assure them no escalation was planned.

But as fears grew that the conflict could escalate, hospitals in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province were ordered to set a quarter of beds aside for 'a national cause', officials said.

'We put all hospitals in the province on high alert due to the present situation on the border with India and issued directives to all heads of the hospitals to be prepared for any sort of emergency,' provincial secretary health Dr Farooq Jameel told Reuters.

Indian and Pakistan troops exchanged gunfire along several sectors of their contested border in Kashmir later on Tuesday and local officials on the Pakistani side said at least four people had been killed and seven wounded.

Giving the Pakistan military's account of the Indian incursion, spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said Pakistani aircraft were patrolling and identified Indian jets on the Indian side of the border near Okara and Lahore in Punjab as well as Muzaffarabad where they crossed and were engaged. They left Pakistani airspace after only four minutes.

He denied the incursion had caused any damage, saying there was no debris, 'not even a single brick' and no casualties.

'You have proved you are not a democracy, you have chosen the path of war,' he said, addressing his remarks to India.

The move worsens tensions between India and arch-rival Pakistan over disputed Kashmir. Pictured: Indian security forces in disputed Kashmir today

Tensions: Pakistani protesters shout anti-Indian slogans in Hyderabad, Pakistan, today

Amid deteriorating relations between the two neighbours, Pakistan this morning denied there had been casualties while President Arif Alvi warned against 'brinkmanship that can lead to war'.

Khan called India's claims 'self- serving, reckless and fictitious' before Major General Ghafoor warned it is now Islamabad's turn for a 'surprise', adding: 'Now it is your turn to wait for our response'.

New Delhi says Pakistani soldiers are firing mortar shells and small-arms fire along the boundary separating Pakistan's and India's sector of control in the disputed region.

China and the EU this morning called for restraint from both Islamabad and New Delhi to prevent a larger crisis.

Lt. Col. Devender Anand, an Indian army spokesman, says Pakistani troops are carrying out an 'unprovoked' violation of the 2003 cease-fire along the so-called Line of Control by firing at the Nowshera, Poonch and Akhnoor sectors.

Anand said Indian soldiers are 'strongly and befittingly' responding to the multiple Pakistani attacks along the highly militarised de-facto frontier.

Pakistan's army did not immediately comment on India's claim. Both countries regularly accuse one another of initiating skirmishes.

Prime Minister Imran Khan called India's claims 'self- serving, reckless and fictitious' before army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor (pictured in 2017) warned it is now Islamabad's turn for a 'surprise', adding: ' Now it is your turn to wait for our response'

Indian Hindu Sena organisation members in New Delhi staged an anti-Pakistan protest as they celebrated the overnight strikes

Supporters of India's ruling Bhartiya Janata Party shout slogans as they celebrate reports of Indian aircrafts bombing Pakistan territory, in New Delhi

Shakir Ahmed, a resident of Poonch in Indian-controlled Kashmir, said people were hearing loud sounds of shelling. He says 'people are afraid, it's getting dark. We pray it doesn't escalate into war.'

Earlier, a Indian government source claimed 300 fighters had been killed in the airstrikes amid fears more suicide attacks were 'imminent'.

But Pakistan denied there had been casualties, admitting only that jets had crossed into its airspace over the ceasefire line in the Himalayan region and dropped payloads.

This morning, Pakistan President Arif Alvi warned India had created 'hysteria' in the wake of the suicide attack in the disputed Kashmir region on February 14.

Addressing an international conference on media and conflict, Alvi warned that rhetoric 'can lead to war.' He did not address the overnight incursion by Indian fighter jets but warned that 'we know how to defend ourselves.'

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan described India's claims as 'fictitious'.

'Once again, the Indian government has resorted to a self- serving, reckless and fictitious claim,' he said and added that the statements from India were 'for domestic consumption' in the run-up to elections.

He says India risks 'putting regional peace and stability at grave risk' and summoned a meeting of the Parliament for Wednesday.

The Indian foreign secretary said the camp was located in the Pakistani village Balakot

Pakistan's president Arif Alvi (right, meeting Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman earlier this month) has warned against 'brinkmanship that can lead to war' after India claimed to have bombed 'a very large' number of militants preparing to carry out suicide attacks. Pakistan Prime Minster Imran Khan watches on in the background

According to the statement, Khan said that 'India has committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing.'

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, said his country is in 'safe hands' and that 'today is a day to pay homage to India's brave hearts,' - an apparent reference to 40 Indian soldiers killed in the Valentine's Day suicide bombing.

'I vow that I will not let the country bow down,' he said.

Earlier, India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said it launched the overnight strikes because New Delhi believed suicide attacks were 'imminent'. JeM is a primarily anti-India group that forged ties with al-Qaeda and has been on a UN terror list since 2001.

'A very large number of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen (suicide) action were eliminated,' he told a media briefing.

India and Pakistan: A history of conflict over Kashmir India and Pakistan have fought two wars and countless skirmishes over Kashmir, the Himalayan region claimed in full by both nuclear-armed rivals. But rarely have ground troops or air forces crossed the heavily militarised de facto border between the two foes, known as the Line of Control (LoC), in Kashmir. Here are some of the major clashes between the South Asian enemies over the flashpoint mountainous territory. 1947 - The first war breaks out over Kashmir after partition divides the subcontinent into India and Pakistan. The maharaja of Kashmir, the local ruler, accedes to India as tribal fighters from Pakistan launch attacks. 1965 - India and Pakistan fight a second brief war over Kashmir before a ceasefire is declared. 1971 - India and Pakistan fight another war, not over Kashmir but over Islamabad's rule in then East Pakistan, with New Delhi supporting Bengali nationalists seeking independence for what would become Bangladesh. India's air force conducts bombing raids inside Pakistan. 1984 - Indian forces seize the Siachen Glacier, a remote and uninhabited territory high in the Karakoram Range also claimed by Pakistan. The first of many battles are fought over the high-altitude stretch, until a ceasefire is signed in 2003. 1999 - Pakistan-backed militants cross the disputed Kashmir border, seizing Indian military posts in the icy heights of the Kargil mountains. Indian troops push the intruders back, ending the 10-week Kargil conflict which costs 1,000 lives on both sides. 2016 - India launches what it calls 'surgical strikes' on targets in Pakistani Kashmir in September, less than two weeks after a militant attack on an Indian army base leaves 19 soldiers dead. Pakistan denies the strikes took place. In November, seven Indian soldiers are killed after militants disguised as policemen storm a major army base near the frontier with Pakistan. 2019 - India vows retaliation after at least 40 paramilitaries are killed in a suicide attack in Kashmir territory it controls. New Delhi blames the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) for the attack. In the early hours of February 26, Indian conducts air strikes against what it calls JeM's 'biggest training camp', killing 'a very large number' of militants. Advertisement

Pakistan's military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted that the Indian Air Force had violated the Line of Control, the de facto border between Indian-and Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

Pakistan Air Force jets were scrambled in response to the incursion, he said.

'Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force (the Indian aircraft) released payload in haste while escaping near Balakot. No casualties or damage.'

The Indian foreign secretary also said the camp was located in Balakot.

There was confusion among analysts over the location, as Balakot town is in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, some 25 miles northeast of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

A strike that deep in Pakistani territory, and not in a disputed region like Kashmir, would be a major escalation, analysts said.

In a later tweet, however, the Pakistani spokesman said the incursion was 'within AJ&K' - referring to the formal name of Pakistani Kashmir - and just three to four miles over the LoC.

New Delhi had vowed retaliation after a Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed a suicide attack that killed dozens of troops in Indian Kashmir

Ghafoor did not clarify what he meant by 'payload', which can refer either to bombs and missiles, or more generally to items carried which are not needed for the aircraft to fly.

The military spokesman also tweeted images of what he said was the payload dropped by Indian planes, showing what appeared to be pieces of metal and displaced soil in a heavily forested area.

Private Indian broadcaster CNN News 18 said: 'Top government sources said that there were nearly 200 casualties from the (Indian Air Force) strike.'

Meanwhile, separate Indian media reports claimed that New Delhi received intelligence that JeM had shifted many of its militants to the Balakot base - which was described as a 'five-star resort style camp'.

The Hindustan Times reported that Indian military were essentially provided with a 'sitting duck target' for their strikes.

A source is said to have claimed more than 25 trainers were killed at the seven-acre camp, which was said to have had a swimming pool, cooks and cleaners.

New Delhi had threatened to retaliate after the February 14 attack, the deadliest in three decades in Kashmir, killed more than 40 Indian paramilitaries.

Top Indian government officials said that Tuesday's strike displayed the country's determination to act against Pakistan - which New Delhi accuses of using militants as proxies against it.

Indian people celebrate the Indian Air Force's air strike across the Line of Control (LoC) near international border with Pakistan, with posters of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in Bhopal, India

'They say they want India to bleed with a 1,000 cuts. We say that each time you attack us, be certain we will get back at you, harder and stronger,' said foreign affairs minister of state, Vijay Kumar Singh, a former head of the Indian army.

Cabinet member Prakash Javadekar, the human resources minister, told journalists: 'This is incredible. A necessary step for the country's security.'

Islamabad has said it had nothing to do with the latest bombing in Kashmir, and has warned it will retaliate if attacked by India.

Pakistani military analyst Hasan Askari called Tuesday's incursion a 'dangerous move'.

'If such actions continue, it can escalate into major conflict, which will not serve any purpose but to plunge the region into serious crisis,' he said.

Tensions are the highest since 2016, when Pakistan-based militants launched a pre-dawn assault on an Indian army camp in Kashmir that killed 19 soldiers.

In response, India launched what it called 'surgical strikes' on Pakistani territory. Pakistan denied the strikes ever took place.

Kashmir has been claimed by both India and Pakistan since independence in 1947. They have fought two of their three wars over the Himalayan territory.

Pakistan's interior ministry announced last week that authorities had seized control of a complex in Punjab believed to be the JeM headquarters.
A gang member suspected of brutally murdering a 15-year-old boy outside a Bronx bodega turned up to court on Monday with a true crime book about a prosecutor's murder.

Kevin Alvarez, 19, is one of 14 believed Trinitarios gang members who dragged Lesandro Guzman-Feliz out of a New York convenience store and stabbed him to death in the street, in June 2018.

Appearing at the Bronx Supreme Court on the same day as nine others of his purported co-murderers, Alvarez was pictured carrying a book titled 'In Plain Sight: The Kaufman County Prosecutor Murders'.

Written by Kathryn Casey, the book details the brutal the murders of two Texas prosecutors, carried out by a former lawyer who enacted revenge on those responsible for convicting him of theft.

Kevin Alvarez, 19, one of 14 believed Trinitarios gang members who dragged Lesandro Guzman-Feliz out of a New York convenience store and stabbed him to death in the street, appeared at the Bronx Supreme Court on Monday

Clutching the book 'In Plain Sight: The Kaufman County Prosecutor Murders' behind his back, Alvarez directed the front cover towards the prosecution bench

Prosecutors haven't responded as to whether they believe Alvarez's display was a threat. They are currently under a gag order issued by the judge

Alvarez smugly displayed the book's front cover behind his back on Monday morning, directing it towards the prosecution bench.

Prosecutors at the Bronx District Attorney's office have refused to speculate as to whether the defendant was trying to threaten them or send a message, according to the NY Daily News.

All lawyers involved with the case, including Alvarez's, are under a gag order issued by Judge Robert Neary, who has forbidden them from interacting with the media.

The Judge administered the order to ensure a fair trial and an uncompromised jury, he said.

Feliz's mother was present in the courtroom on Monday, escorted in and out of the premises by a police officer and two members of New York's famous Guardian Angels vigilante group.

'I want justice for Junior,' she told press outside the courtroom. 'I hope they give them 300 years.'

Lesandro 'Junior' Guzman-Feliz (above) was murdered in June last year by a knife and machete-wielding gang outside a New York bodega

Prosecutors say it's Alvarez who can be seen dragging Feliz from the bodega door (as seen above)

Written by Kathryn Casey, the book details the brutal the murders of two Texas prosecutors in 2013

CCTV footage captured the frenzied attack that took place outside Zesarina Grocery located on East 183rd Street, in the Belmont section of The Bronx on June 20, 2018.

Prosecutors say it's Alvarez who can be seen dragging Feliz from the bodega door, as another gang member can be seen slashing at the defenseless teen with a machete.

Police say the alleged killers are members of the Trinitarios subset 'Los Sures' and they believed Lesandro to be a member of rival gang 'Sunset'.

'They allegedly drove to the territory of the Sunset group, came upon Junior and chased him into a bodega in the Belmont section, where he tried to hide,' Bronx DA Darcel Clark said last year.

The footage shows the pack of men forcibly dragging Guzman-Feliz by the hood of his jacket out of the bodega and frantically stabbing and slashing him with a machete before fleeing on foot.

Feliz's mother was present in the courtroom on Monday, escorted in and out of the premises by a police escort and two members of New York's famous Guardian Angels vigilante group. Pictured: Leandra Feliz (center) attends court in July 2018

Officers said with his dying breath, the 15-year-old asked for some water. He had aspirations to become a police officer, family say

After a few seconds, Guzman-Feliz is seen standing on the street corner with blood pouring from a wound in his neck.

He then runs across the street, heading towards the nearby St Barnabas Hospital.

According to police, the mortally wounded boy never reached the hospital and collapsed a block away.

He suffered a slash to his throat, police say was caused by a machete.

Officers said with his dying breath, the 15-year-old asked for some water, according to ABC 7 New York.

Investigators said he had told his mother he was going to the bodega a block away from his house to either repay a debt, or lend $5 to a friend. He never made it home that night.

Feliz was a member of the NYPD Explorers' Program, a group for children interested in pursuing a career in law enforcement.

Alvarez and all other suspects have pleaded not guilty to Feliz's murder.
The embattled president of Venezuela says the United States is concocting a crisis as a way of starting a war in South America over oil.

Nicolas Maduro was defiant as he spoke to ABC News on Monday in his first interview with American television in years.

The dictator slammed President Trump for recognizing the opposition's leader Juan Guaido as the country's ruler and criticized the new sanctions placed on his inner circle.

Everything that the United States government has done has been doomed to failure, Maduro told ABC News.

They are trying to fabricate a crisis to justify political escalation and a military intervention in Venezuela to bring a war to South America.

Maduro spoke to ABC News from the presidential palace in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.

In his first interview with American television in years, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused the Trump administration of 'fabricating a crisis to start a war in South America'

Maduro on Monday said Pences trip to Bogota was part of the politics to attempt to establish a parallel government in Venezuela.

The president said the Americans want Venezuela's oil and are willing to go to war for that oil.

The extremist Ku Klux Klan government that Donald Trump directs wants a war over oil, and more than just oil, Maduro told ABC News.

He said Venezuela is a pacifist, humble nation which has the right to peace and has legitimate institutions.

Maduro urged Trump to fix your Venezuela policy.

I, as President of Venezuela, am prepared for a direct dialogue with your government and with you to look for, like the Americans that we are, he told ABC News.

We are South Americans, you are North Americans.

To look for 21st century solutions not Cold War solutions.

The Cold War should stay behind.

Maduro added: We cannot have this war of are you a communist, are you anti-communist, inter-communist, anti-communist - that is not of this century.

We are Democrats that believe in a new type of socialism and we have the right to the diversity of criterion and ideology.

And so President Trump should always be ready to see Venezuelas truth - the other side of the coin and rectify and start a new path.

Maduro denied claims by human rights groups that his government has engaged in widespread repression.

The Trump administration on Monday announced new sanctions on allies of Maduro as it struggles to find new ways to boost his opponent after an effort to deliver humanitarian aid to the economically devastated nation faltered amid strong resistance from security forces loyal to the socialist leader.

Vice President Mike Pence arrived in the Colombian capital for an emergency summit of regional leaders to discuss the deepening crisis and immediately met with Juan Guaido, the opposition leader the U.S. and 50 other nations recognize as Venezuelas rightful president.

Maduro lashed out at Vice President Mike Pence, who was is seen far right with Colombian President Ivan Duque (center) and Venezuela's self-proclaimed interim president, Juan Guaido

In a speech, Pence urged regional partners to freeze oil assets controlled by Maduro, transfer the proceeds to Guaido and restrict visas for Maduros inner circle.

He said the U.S. was imposing more sanctions on four pro-government governors, including a close Maduro ally who negotiated the release of an American jailed for more than two years.

Its time to do more, Pence said. The day is coming soon when Venezuelas long nightmare will end, when Venezuela will once more be free, when her people will see a new birth of freedom, in a nation reborn to libertad.

Hours later, Venezuelas government issued a statement accusing the U.S. and the Lima Group countries of conducting a ferocious campaign to oust Maduro by trampling on basic international human rights.

Pences appearance before the Lima Group comes at an important crossroads for the coalition of mostly conservative Latin American nations and Canada that has joined forces to pressure Maduro.

A month after Guaido declared himself interim president at an outdoor rally, hopes that support for Maduro inside the military would quickly crumble have faded.

Venezuelan security forces clashe with supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on the Venezuelan side of the Francisco de Paula Santander International Bridge, as seen from Cucuta, Colombia, on Monday

Over the weekend, security forces on the borders with Colombia and Brazil fired tear gas and buckshot on activists waving Venezuelan flags while escorting trucks with emergency medical and food kits.

Four people were killed and at least 300 wounded, although only a few were hospitalized.

While Colombian authorities said more than 160 soldiers deserted their posts and sought refuge across the border over the weekend, the highest-ranking among them was a National Guard major.

No battalion or division commanders have come forward to challenge Maduro despite almost-daily calls by Guaido and the U.S. to do so.

Thats left many asking what Guaido and the U.S. can do to break the stalemate.

The Lima Group, in an 18-point declaration signed by 10 nations and Guaido, reiterated their call on the Venezuelan military to recognize the opposition leader as their commander in chief, urged the International Criminal Court to declare Maduros aid blockade a crime against humanity and pressed the United Nations to play a bigger role in resolving the crisis.

For now, the U.S. is showing no signs it is considering a military intervention to remove Maduro.

During his visit, Pence repeated Trumps threat that 'all options are on the table' but gingerly avoided talking about the potential for military action.
Christopher Clark in 2003. He was killed in a shooting early on Sunday in Hayden, Idaho

A man who was shot to death outside a northern Idaho bar last weekend was a drug smuggler whose story was told in the movie 'Kid Cannabis.'

The Kootenai County Sheriff's Office on Monday identified the victim in Sunday's shooting in Hayden as Michael Christopher Clark, who became famous smuggling marijuana from Canada into the United States.

The 45-year-old Clark was gunned down about 1:45am Sunday outside The Tipsy Pine bar.

Scott M. White, 33, of Coeur dAlene, was arrested in connection with the shooting. He faces a charge of second-degree murder.

Witnesses told deputies the two men were fighting inside the bar when the altercation erupted outside in the parking lot, where White shot Clark. White was detained until deputies arrived.

The shooting happened about 1:45am Sunday outside The Tipsy Pine bar in Hayden, Idaho

Christopher Clark was played by Kenny Wormald in the 2014 film Kid Cannabis

The sheriff's office confirmed that Clark, who went by 'Topher,' was portrayed in a 2005 Rolling Stone article and 2014 movie which chronicled the drug empire created by Clark and friend Nate Norman.

Kid Cannabis is a 2014 movie that profiles the true story of two Coeur d'Alene residents, Nate Norman and Topher Clark, who smuggled marijuana across the Canadian border and sold millions of dollars worth of drugs before being caught and sentenced to prison.

Their drugs empire grew after the pair bought marijuana in Canada and sold it in Idaho, making an exorbitant amount of cash.

The two were indicted in 2003 along with 22 others on federal drug charges and served time in prison.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is under threat from an oil spill after a cargo ship became stuck on a reef in the south of the Solomon Islands.

The MV Solomon Trader ship was chartered by Indonesian mining company Bintan to transport bauxite from their mine on the island of Rennell in early February.

Operators were attempting to load the ship when it when it was caught on a reef by the remote island.

The MV Solomon Trader ship was chartered by Indonesian mining company Bintan to transport bauxite from their mine on the island of Rennell in early February

Rennell is the largest raised coral atoll in the world and East Rennell is heritage listed with many endemic species.

Wild weather from Cyclone Oma stopped the ship from being salvaged, allowing it to continue leaking oil in the ocean.

Around 60 tonnes of oil was spilled with a further 600 tonnes on board the ship, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.

Oil can be seen leaking and spreading across the reef, raising alarms that the heritage-listed East Rennell could be under threat.

'Australia is extremely concerned at the scale of this disaster,' High Commissioner to the Solomon Islands Rod Brazier said, the ABC reports.

'The impact of this oil spill will have a devastating effect on the surrounding environment, including potentially on a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as the livelihood of the people of Rennell.'

The boat can not move under its own power and will be stuck leaking oil until it's towed away.
Tony Abbott is spending more than $700,000 in a desperate bid to stop a world champion skier from snatching his blue-ribbon Liberal electorate at the next federal election.

Winter Olympian Zali Steggall stands a good chance of winning the former Prime Minister's affluent seat of Warringah, on Sydney's lower north shore and northern beaches.

In a bid to stop this happening, the Liberal Party in Warringah has raised $730,000, The Australian Financial Review has reported.

Tony Abbott (pictured) is spending more than $700,000 in a desperate bid to stop a world champion skier from snatching his blue-ribbon Liberal electorate at the next federal election

Ms Steggall has hit back at the Liberal Party, after it accused her of being a front for left-wing activist group GetUp!.

'It is rather ironic that after spreading rumours that I am funded by GetUp!, from whom I don't receive a cent, Mr Abbott has such a "war chest", without disclosure of how much is from far-right extremist groups,' she told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday.

'My grassroots campaign is purely relying on community support via public donations.

'I don't have anywhere near that amount of funding, but I do have huge community engagement and support.'

Winter Olympian Zali Steggall (pictured) stands a good chance of winning the former Prime Minister's affluent seat of Warringah, on Sydney's lower north shore and northern beaches

While Mr Abbott kept his seat at the 2016 election, his primary vote was dramatically slashed to just 51.6 per cent after he suffered a 9.2 per cent swing against him on first preferences.

His 25-year career in federal politics could come to an end if his primary vote falls below 50 per cent.

This would enable Ms Steggall, an independent, to potentially win his seat with preferences from Labor, the Greens and other independent candidates.

The 44-year-old world champion skier is campaigning on the issue of climate change, and is the third independent candidate to declare her hand.

She won a bronze medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics at Nagano in Japan and is now a barrister attempting the win the votes of disaffected Liberal Party voters, disenchanted with Mr Abbott's conservative stance on global warming and gay marriage.

The 44-year-old world champion skier (pictured with husband Tim) is campaigning on the issue of climate change, and is the third independent candidate to declare her hand

'Having talked to many people in the electorate over the past month, there is clear excitement for a fresh new voice for Warringah,' she said.

Indigenous broadcaster Susan Moylan-Coombs and Alice Thompson, who advised former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on infrastructure, are also in the race as independents.

In the July 2016 election, former Australian Idol host James Mathison polled 11.4 per cent of the vote as an independent.

He came fourth behind Labor and the Greens but his following ate into the Liberal Party's primary vote.

Across Sydney Harbour, former Australian Medical Association president Dr Kerryn Phelps won Mr Turnbull's old eastern suburbs seat of Wentworth, after scoring 29 per cent of the primary vote and winning on preferences, in an October by-election.

Those circumstances have seen the Liberal Party amass war chests to spend in usually safe seats like Warringah, seeing it outlay more than than usual $50,000.

The Liberal Party's Federal Electorate Councils in safe seats on Sydney's north shore and northern beaches traditionally divert funds to the party's marginal seats in western Sydney.
A woman who urinated on a public bus 'begged' the driver to pull over, according to witnesses.

The anonymous woman relieved herself on a packed bus en route to a Six60 concert in Auckland last Saturday night, leaving fellow passengers horrified.

But as she faces the possibility of hundreds of dollars worth of fines, a witness has rushed to her defence, saying she gave the driver every opportunity to let her off.

The woman who urinated on a packed public bus was overheard 'begging' the driver to pull over

The commuter, who requested to remain anonymous, told NewsHub the woman made it very clear she needed to get off.

The onlooker said she went up to the driver and told she was about to 'wet herself'.

'She asked the female driver several times, even saying that she didn't have to pull over, just open the doors for her to get out - but the driver refused.'

The bus was stationary at the time due to a build-up of traffic, the witness added.

In a video shared to Facebook, the woman squats in the middle of the bus, in front of a glass door, and urinates on the floor, exposing herself to people walking past.

The witness said pedestrians yelled at the woman, telling her she should be 'ashamed'.

She urinated in front of the middle door of the bus, exposing herself to pedestrians

Since traffic was banked back, pedestrians were walking past the bus constantly.

Auckland Transport, who on Sunday described the incident as 'not acceptable', said the woman needed to be held accountable.

A spokesperson for the public transport provider said the bus was a 'special event' schedule due to the concert, meaning absolutely no stops.

They also said there was a bus every five minutes, and the woman should have chosen to catch another if she needed to use a restroom.

New Zealand Police may now choose to fine the woman as much as $200 for public urination.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said on Monday that the wealthy, including himself, are not paying enough taxes.

'The wealthy are definitely undertaxed relative to the general population,' Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, told CNBC television on Monday.

'As we get more specialized, the rich will get richer,' he continued.

'The question is: How do you take care of a guy who is a wonderful citizen whose father died in Normandy and just doesnt have market skills?

'I think the income tax credit is the best way to address that.

'That probably means more taxes for guys like me, and Im fine with it,' he said.

Warren Buffett, the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, thinks wealthy people such as himself do not pay enough taxes

Buffett, 88, spoke after Charlie Munger, his 95-year-old business partner and Berkshire vice chairman, told CNBC earlier this month that states like California and Connecticut have been 'stupid' for driving rich people away.

After regaining control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections, some Democratic lawmakers have been calling for higher taxes on the wealthy.

They include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York City, who has proposed a 70 percent marginal tax on incomes over $10 million to bridge the growing wealth gap between the rich and poor.

Ocasio-Cortez's plan is just one of many emerging proposals to force the wealthy to pay more.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren has proposed a 'wealth tax' that slaps a 2 per cent tax on households worth $50 or more, and 3 percent for those with a fortune worth $1 billion or more.

But Buffett's good friend, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, warned earlier this month that plans like those floated by Ocasio-Cortez wouldn't actually target the vast wealth of many of the nation's richest people.

Gates noted that many very wealthy people's earnings subject to income taxes make up a tiny fraction of their overall wealth  a 'rounding error of ordinary income' as he put it.

After regaining control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections, some Democratic lawmakers like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (above) have been calling for higher taxes on the wealthy

'I believe US tax rates can be more progressive,' he said.

'Now, you finally have some politicians who are so extreme that Id say, No, thats even beyond.

'You start to create tax dodging and disincentives, and an incentive to have the income show up in other countries and things.'

'Certainly, the idea of government being more effective in terms of how it runs education or social programs, there's a lot of opportunity for improvement there,' Gates said in a podcast on The Verge website.

'In terms of revenue collection, you wouldn't want to just focus on the ordinary income rate, because people who are wealthy have a rounding error of ordinary income.'

He noted that hedge funders and other wealthy people are able to structure their finances in such a way that ordinary income is only a part of the picture.
An IGA worker pinched the bottom of his female co-worker during a promotional Christmas photo-shoot for ham said he did it because it was 'in the Christmas spirit.'

The female co-worker, 61, who worked with Brent Stowell Marshall, 56, at Wonthella Supa IGA in Western Australia, retaliated by punching him in the stomach.

Marshall, a meat section worker, pleaded guilty to pinching the woman's bottom but was given a spent conviction after his lawyer told the magistrate that 'he was close to retiring anyway.'

Brent Stowell Marshall, a meat worker at Wonthella Supa IGA in Western Australia, pinched the bottom of a female co-worker while promoting Christmas ham did it 'in the Christmas spirit'

Marshall's lawyer, Kate Fry, stated that her client was friends with the victim and only pinched her on the bottom because it was 'in a sort of Christmas spirit.'

Ms Fry suggested that Marshall should avoid a conviction because 'he's very close to retirement and is unlikely to commit such an offence again,' The West Australian reported.

'He is very remorseful. He intended no malice whatsoever,' Ms Fry told the magistrate.

Magistrate Chris Miocevich gave Marshall a spent conviction because Marshall had no previous criminal record.

The magistrate did not give Marshall a conviction because he had no prior criminal record after Marshall's lawyer argued that he was 'close to retiring anyway'

Marshall is required to pay $205 in costs and be put on an eight-month $400 conditional release order.

Marshall is rumoured to still be working at Wonthella Supa IGA in the meat section while the woman he assaulted has transferred to another store.

Daily Mail Australia contacted the store for comment.
Sunglasses brand owner Leigh Pickering has had her brand name 'Happy To Sit On Your Face' banned by the New Zealand Companies Office.

Ms Pickering took issue with the refusal of her name insisting that the brand name was appropriate as sunglasses are designed to sit on your face.

The brand's owner from Christchurch, New Zealand said the name relates directly to a good pair of sunglasses, as an comfortable pair need to be happy to sit on your face.

Ms Pickering is currently allowed the use 'Happy To Sit On Your Face' in branding just not as the official name

Sunglasses company owner Leigh Pickering said the name was suited to sunglasses and was only offensive in specific cirsumstances

The name was created as 'something that makes you laugh because life is hard' she told 1NewsNow.

The Companies Office further explained 'an internet search on the words clearly shows it's offensive'.

Ms Pickering said that the name was only offensive in specific contexts.

Currently she is free to use the phrase when advertising the product such as slogans and catch phrases as long as it is not the brand's official name.

The Companies Office has said considering the context of the brand name, if she adds the 'sunglasses' to the make it 'Happy To Sit On Your Face Sunglasses' they would allow the name.

That is not good enough for Ms Pickering who plans to keep fighting the decision and said it is unfair for her to have to add the name of the product on the title when others brands do not have to.
A Penrith mother has told how she is being forced to move somewhere cooler after another blistering summer.

Sophie Coombs, 47, has lived in Penrith with her family for 10 years but the past three years have been among the hottest on record.

'In the summer you can't leave the house until about 5pm,' she told ABC News.

'It's hard keeping a toddler inside for that long and if you don't have air-conditioning...it's pretty bad.'

A Penrith mother has told how she is being forced to move somewhere cooler after another blistering summer

Penrith (pictured) residents are being forced from their homes for cooler climes as the average maximum temperature in the area has increased over the last 25 years

Ms Coombs says she struggles to find shade when takes her young son Asher out to play as the area is so overdeveloped.

Bureau of Meteorology data shows that since 1995 January and February temperatures in Penrith have gradually increased, with the hottest January being recorded in 2019.

The 1996 mean maximum for Penrith in January was 28C which has increased to 34.6C in 2019.

According to the data January 2019's mean maximum of 39.9C is now the highest mean maximum for Penrith.

Residents have claimed over-development and the cutting down of swaths of trees has impacted the local temperature with more trees set to be moved on Mulgoa Road (pictured) to make way for a road widening

Long-term Penrith resident Lisa Harrold, who has lived in the area for 40 years, said that some days it was too hot to even step outside.

'We find with the increased density of houses [and] road systems, it doesn't cool down overnight,' she said.

'They're removing trees faster than they can potentially ever replace them and to exacerbate that issue, the green spaces are disappearing too under a mountain of concrete.'

Ms Harrold has also hit out at the Roads and Maritime Service's plan to remove more mature trees to make way for roadworks on Mulgoa Road.
A convicted member of the notorious 'Evil 8' paedophile ring has been released from prison only three years into his sentence.

Troy Phillip Milbourne was sentenced to five years and three months in Western Australian prison for his involvement in the molestation of a young girl in 2016.

He had pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual penetration of a child under 13 and four counts of indecent dealings with a child under 13.

'Evil 8' paedophile Troy Milbourne (pictured) has been released from jail on conditional parole

Milbourne was released on parole in December under strict conditions.

One condition of his release is that he not be left unsupervised with girls under the age of 16, WAtoday reported.

Milbourne was one of eight men arrested in 2015 after police discovered a father pimping out his 12-year-old daughter to other men.

Before sentencing, Milbourne told a court he thought the girl was 17 or 18 years old at the time.

But the judge who jailed him said he was confident the crimes were committed with Milbourne's full knowledge the girl was under 16.

The girl's father, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty to a myriad of charges. He was sentenced to 22-and-a-half years jail.

He appealed the sentence, saying it was too excessive, but lost.

Milbourne was sentenced to more than five years, but released after three-and-a-half

Five other men who took turns sexually abusing the young girl pleaded guilty to their involvement, with sentences ranging from three to nearly 13 years.

Alfred John Impicciatore was the final member of the ring to be sentenced.

He was found guilty of four child sex abuse offences in a judge-alone trial.

He was jailed for nine-and-a-half years, but is currently appealing the conviction and sentence.
A Queensland politician dumped by his own party over sexual harassment allegations has branded the claims as a 'malicious' attempt to derail his career.

Whitsunday MP Jason Costigan was expelled from the Liberal National Party (LNP) for alleged sexual misconduct in January, but on Tuesday, he vehemently defended his name.

Mr Costigan, 47, claimed he is being targeted by his former party, after speaking out about the their inability to win seats and gain political traction in north Queensland.

Whitsunday MP Jason Costigan (pictured) was expelled from the Liberal National Party for alleged sexual misconduct in January

Mr Costigan, 47 (pictured), claimed he is being targeted by his former party, after speaking out about the their inability to win seats and gain political traction in north Queensland

His former colleagues used their parliamentary privilege to air the details of the allegations on the first sitting day of 2019, ABC News previously reported.

A series of allegations against the MP included stalking, sexual assault, and sending sexually charged, inappropriate text messages to a 16-year-old.

LNP's Steve Minnikin also addressed the house, saying 'the people of Whitsunday deserve to know the facts.'

'The comments made in this place by members of the Opposition made me sick,' Mr Costigan told parliament on Tuesday.

The MP said the accusations are 'misleading, exaggerated, deceptive, extremely hurtful' and a deliberate attempt to sabotage his career.

'I do not believe I did anything wrong whatsoever.

'I shall be taking the strongest possible action against the person or persons involved in what can only be described as a malicious attempt to destroy someone's career,' he said.

Mr Costigan said up to 40 LNP members from north Queensland branches had deserted the party since he was expelled in January.

Queensland's Deputy Premier Jackie Trad previously commented on a photo of Mr Costigan (pictured) and a bikini-clad woman, saying, 'What a sleazebag'

He claimed more and more members of the party have disappeared in recent months and alleged it was no secret the party wanted certain people gone.

Mr Costigan first came under fire after posing with two bikini-clad tourists last year and posting the photos and video to Facebook.

At the time, Queensland's Deputy Premier Jackie Trad commented on Mr Costigan's photos, lashing out at his actions.

'Did you get a good look?' she wrote.

'You wouldn't know it, but this lad is Jason Costigan  the LNP Member for Whitsunday.

'It's 2018. He's an elected official. He's being paid by the taxpayer.'

Mr Costigan said on Tuesday he was sorry if he has offended anyone, but added he never 'proclaimed to be perfect' and would fight to clear his name.

'I will take up the fight to clear my name Mr Speaker, and stare down anyone who tries to tarnish it. And guess what, I have no intention of going anywhere,' he said.
Two young Aboriginal brothers have both been found dead in a river after they went missing from their home.

Barak, five, and Jhulio, three, were discovered submerged in the Ross River near Cranbrook in Townsville just before 7am on Tuesday.

The boys were seen alive for the last time in chilling CCTV footage, the eldest wearing his school uniform, as both walked towards the river.

Their mother Leeann Eatts made a series of desperate posts to social media asking for help finding her boys before their bodies were discovered.

Scroll down for video

Two young Aboriginal brothers Barak (left) and Jhulio (right) have both been found dead in a river after they went missing from their home

The boys were seen alive for the last time in chilling CCTV footage, with Barak wearing his school uniform (in red shirt on the right)

An amber alert was issued by police on Monday after the boys went missing from their home in the suburb of Cranbrook about 5.30pm

An amber alert was issued by police on Monday after the boys went missing from their home in the suburb of Cranbrook about 5.30pm.

The boys' heartbroken mother Leeann Eatts desperately asked for help before her children were found dead.

'Mum is missing you boys so much,' she posted to Facebook.

'F**k me man my two babies have been missing since 5.45. I got eight police cars at my house and everyone on foot looking for them please keep a close eye out for them on the streets... they just walked off. Please help Townsville.

'I am so tired and empty.'

Just before their bodies were found, their mother thanked those involved in the search for her 'two wonderful boys'.

The boys' heartbroken mother Leeann Eatts (left) took to social media after the disappearance of her children

The boys' heartbroken mother Leeann desperately asked for help before her children Barak (left) and Jhulio (right) were found dead

Senior Sergeant Ian Wilkie said a member of the public saw the boys swimming in the river.

He said the deaths appeared to be the result of a 'tragic accident'.

'Where they'd been jumping in swimming, it's quite deep and it's got a steep bank and there are weeds and other debris in that area,' he told Sunrise.

'They looked like they were having fun and it's turned to tragedy. Our hearts and thoughts go out to the family.'

Senior Sergeant Wilkie said the boys were found next to each other, and the deaths have hit especially hard given the region's residents were recently battered by destructive weather and floods.

Leeann Eatts posted desperate pleas for help (pictured) to her Facebook page on Monday night

'We all know it has been a challenging month for Townsville as it is and the entire community pitched in to search for these boys,' he told The Today Show.

'It is certainly distressing for us and we can only imagine what the families are going through and our heart and thoughts are going to them. The grief I could imagine would be unbearable for them.

'We hoped for a better outcome. Unfortunately that wasn't to be... the community came out in force last night. We were hearing stories of dozens of people searching in various areas, going and buying batteries for torches. We do thank them for the assistance in this.

'Unfortunately, it wasn't to be.'

Police were tipped off late on Monday night by a member of the public that the boys were seen jumping into the Ross River.

The two boys, aged three and five, were discovered lying in the Ross River near Cranbrook in Townsville on Tuesday morning

The bodies of the brothers were removed from the Ross River on Monday morning (pictured)

A man who helped search for the boys is pictured near a tribute left for the children

Tributes to the boys were left on the banks of the Ross River in Queensland where their bodies were found on Tuesday

Before the boys were found, Senior Sergeant Wilkie said a search for the two children was being carried out by more than 60 police officers with assistance from fire crews and State Emergency Services volunteers.

Senior Sergeant Wilkie said the boys often played at Cranbrook Park but they did not come home at their usual time.

Their bodies were eventually found close to the park.

A police helicopter joined the search for the children overnight, as officers on motorbikes drove up and down the Ross River looking for the boys.

'We do believe that the boys, given their age, are quite possibly frightened and that they are small, they are curled up somewhere,' Senior Sergeant Wilkie said.

Senior Sergeant Wilkie said the boys' family was 'distraught and upset' after the two went missing.

The two boys were seen walking towards the Ross River on a CCTV camera on Monday afternoon.

Police officers were seen at the Ross River in Queensland where the two boys were found dead

About 100 Cranbrook residents helped with the search overnight, with some saying they couldn't sleep without knowing where the boys were.

Townsville MP Scott Stewart said the deaths were an 'absolute tragedy'.

'My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of these kids - I can't imagine what they are going through, the anguish, the heartbreak,' he told the ABC.

He commended those who turned out in droves to help with the search.

'It's that Townsville strong spirit that we have... we band together, we look after one another, and this is where we stand strong together and this is where we rely on the community to get us through these tough times,' he said.

Townsville deputy mayor Les Walker said the death sent 'shockwaves' through the community.

'It is just horrific to wake up and find out two little boys are dead. It is a tragedy,' he told the Brisbane Times.
The devastated aunt of two young Aboriginal brothers who were found dead in a river has revealed how the pair went missing from their family home.

Barak Austral, five, and Jhulio Sariago, three, were discovered submerged in the Ross River near Cranbrook in Townsville just before 7am on Tuesday.

The boys were seen alive for the last time in chilling CCTV footage, the eldest wearing his school uniform, as both walked towards the river.

Their aunt Ros Eatts said the pair were playing in their backyard when they wandered off.

'Everyone's in shock and total devastation. I'm totally gutted - Leeann, the mum, is inconsolable,' she told the Courier-Mail.

Barak Austral (left), five, and Jhulio Sariago (right), three, were discovered submerged in the Ross River near Cranbrook in Townsville just before 7am on Tuesday

The boys were seen alive for the last time in chilling CCTV footage, with Barak wearing his school uniform (in red shirt on the right)

The bodies of the brothers were removed from the Ross River on Monday morning (pictured)

'Little Jhulio was three years old - I used to call him little Dumbo, I used to tell him one day he could fly one day with his ears - now I think, ''fly with the angels''.'

The brothers were captured on a private CCTV camera on Monday afternoon walking from their home towards the Ross River where their bodies were eventually found.

The boys' aunt said Leeann could see the boys playing downstairs in the backyard but at 5.30pm she went down and couldn't find them.

'As soon as she couldn't see them she ran straight down to the bridge which is a street away and she was just screaming and screaming,' she said.

The boys' mother Leeann Eatts made a series of desperate posts to social media asking for help finding her boys before their bodies were discovered.

An amber alert was issued by police on Monday after the boys went missing from their home in the suburb of Cranbrook about 5.30pm.

Two young Aboriginal brothers Barak (left) and Jhulio (right) have both been found dead in a river after they went missing from their home

An amber alert was issued by police on Monday after the boys went missing from their home in the suburb of Cranbrook about 5.30pm

The boys' heartbroken mother Leeann Eatts desperately asked for help before her children were found dead.

'Mum is missing you boys so much,' she posted to Facebook.

'F**k me man my two babies have been missing since 5.45. I got eight police cars at my house and everyone on foot looking for them please keep a close eye out for them on the streets... they just walked off. Please help Townsville.

'I am so tired and empty.'

Just before their bodies were found, their mother thanked those involved in the search for her 'two wonderful boys'.

The boys' heartbroken mother Leeann Eatts (left) took to social media after the disappearance of her children

Senior Sergeant Ian Wilkie said a member of the public saw the boys swimming in the river.

He said the deaths appeared to be the result of a 'tragic accident'.

'Where they'd been jumping in swimming, it's quite deep and it's got a steep bank and there are weeds and other debris in that area,' he told Sunrise.

'They looked like they were having fun and it's turned to tragedy. Our hearts and thoughts go out to the family.'

Senior Sergeant Wilkie said the boys were found next to each other, and the deaths have hit especially hard given the region's residents were recently battered by destructive weather and floods.

Leeann Eatts posted desperate pleas for help (pictured) to her Facebook page on Monday night

'We all know it has been a challenging month for Townsville as it is and the entire community pitched in to search for these boys,' he told The Today Show.

'It is certainly distressing for us and we can only imagine what the families are going through and our heart and thoughts are going to them. The grief I could imagine would be unbearable for them.

'We hoped for a better outcome. Unfortunately that wasn't to be... the community came out in force last night. We were hearing stories of dozens of people searching in various areas, going and buying batteries for torches. We do thank them for the assistance in this.

'Unfortunately, it wasn't to be.'

Police were tipped off late on Monday night by a member of the public that the boys were seen jumping into the Ross River.

The two boys, aged three and five, were discovered lying in the Ross River near Cranbrook in Townsville on Tuesday morning

A man who helped search for the boys is pictured near a tribute left for the children

Tributes to the boys were left on the banks of the Ross River in Queensland where their bodies were found on Tuesday

Before the boys were found, Senior Sergeant Wilkie said a search for the two children was being carried out by more than 60 police officers with assistance from fire crews and State Emergency Services volunteers.

Senior Sergeant Wilkie said the boys often played at Cranbrook Park but they did not come home at their usual time.

Their bodies were eventually found close to the park.

A police helicopter joined the search for the children overnight, as officers on motorbikes drove up and down the Ross River looking for the boys.

'We do believe that the boys, given their age, are quite possibly frightened and that they are small, they are curled up somewhere,' Senior Sergeant Wilkie said.

Senior Sergeant Wilkie said the boys' family was 'distraught and upset' after the two went missing.

The two boys were seen walking towards the Ross River on a CCTV camera on Monday afternoon.

Police officers were seen at the Ross River in Queensland where the two boys were found dead

About 100 Cranbrook residents helped with the search overnight, with some saying they couldn't sleep without knowing where the boys were.

Townsville MP Scott Stewart said the deaths were an 'absolute tragedy'.

'My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of these kids - I can't imagine what they are going through, the anguish, the heartbreak,' he told the ABC.

He commended those who turned out in droves to help with the search.

'It's that Townsville strong spirit that we have... we band together, we look after one another, and this is where we stand strong together and this is where we rely on the community to get us through these tough times,' he said.

Townsville deputy mayor Les Walker said the death sent 'shockwaves' through the community.

'It is just horrific to wake up and find out two little boys are dead. It is a tragedy,' he told the Brisbane Times.
A Brexit deal is desperately needed to avoid the disastrous consequences for the NHS, a leading medical journal has warned.

In a blistering editorial, the respected Lancet publication says any form of Brexit will negatively impact the NHS - but no-deal is to be avoided at all costs.

Departing Europe will leave hospitals struggling to fill jobs and provide medicines, it says - and politicians are yet to come up with a solution.

For the NHS and health, almost any deal must be better than a no-deal, the Lancet says.

It adds: There is no good news for the NHS - or for health.

In all scenarios, depletion of the NHS workforce is inevitable, care for UK nationals living in the EU is uncertain, and access to medicines, vaccines, and devices hangs in the balance.

With a No-Deal Brexit scenario, the UK will be free to establish its own trade agreements with non-EU countries, but such negotiations are in early stages, and there is no foreseeable plan for provisions to bridge any temporary gap.

The current version of the Withdrawal Agreement (to which the UK Parliament has not agreed) provides some continuity until December, 2020, but negotiations over the Northern Ireland backstop are precarious at best, and the long-term relationship with the EU remains unknown.

UK politics is peering over the precipice into an abyss of deep uncertainty.

Departing the EU will leave NHS hospitals struggling to fill jobs and provide medicines, The Lancet says - and politicians are yet to come up with a solution

In a separate 10-page paper, adademics at the universities of Oxford, Sheffield, and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine among others, set out the ramifacations of the different Brexit scenarios.

The authors, who are leading experts in public health and law, warn that little evidence exists that the UK is prepared for any of the eventualities set out in their analysis.

For instance, the NHS ten-year plan published last month ran to 136 pages, with only two mentions of Brexit, neither of which offered any detail about what it might mean, or how any threats would be addressed.

They said recruitment and retention of the NHS workforce represents a major challenge post-Brexit.

Theresa Mays withdrawal agreement provides reciprocal arrangements and mutual recognition of professional qualifications up to 2020.

But no provisions for health care workers have been made in the wording of the backstop or political declaration.

Under a no-deal Brexit, the Immigration White Paper proposes a minimum salary threshold of 30,000 per year which could seriously limit immigration of many health workers to the UK.

Under Mrs Mays withdrawal agreement, the continuity of legal provisions will secure supply chains for medicines, vaccines, medical devices and equipment until 2020.

But under a no-deal Brexit, the absence of a legal framework for imports and exports would have an immediate and drastic effect on supply chains, they said.

Professor Martin McKee, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: Some people will dismiss our analysis as Project Fear.

But with just over a month to go to Brexit, we need to move beyond slogans.

We have set out the problems in detail, based on the best available evidence.

If others disagree, then they owe it to the British people to say why. It just isnt good enough to keep saying that something will work out without any details of exactly how. Professor Tamara Hervey, of the University of Sheffield, said: Its critical to be clear about the practical effects of disentangling over 40 years of legal integration.

This is not something that can be done hastily without potentially jeopardising peoples health.

Future legal relations will have quite different effects on the NHS: these should be taken into account when the UK Government, advised by Parliament, makes its post-Brexit choices.
Univision said on Monday that a news team led by its anchor Jorge Ramos was detained at the presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, while interviewing President Nicolas Maduro.

'They were interviewing @NicolasMaduro but he didn't like the questions. Their technical equipment was also confiscated,' the Spanish-language US television network tweeted.

Univision and the US Department of State had called on Maduro to release the journalists.

Univision said on Monday that a news team led by its anchor Jorge Ramos (right, before being detained) was detained at the presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, while interviewing President Nicolas Maduro (right)

'They were interviewing @NicolasMaduro but he didn't like the questions. Their technical equipment was also confiscated,' the Spanish-language US television network tweeted. Ramos (right) is seen before being detained on Monday

According to CNN, executives at Univision were able to find out what happened because 'Jorge managed to call us'.

But in the middle of their conversation, 'they took his phone away'.

Univision immediately contacted the US State Department.

'We insist on their immediate release; the world is watching,' tweeted Kimberly Breier, assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs.

In response to Univision's claims, Venezuela's information minister Jorge Rodriguez tweeted that the government had in the past welcomed hundreds of journalists to the Miraflores presidential palace, but it did not support 'cheap shows'.

Univision later said their team had been released, but the Venezuelan government kept their camera equipment. The crew also lost the recording from the interview.

'Jorge Ramos and his team have been released and are on route to their hotel,' a tweet from Daniel Coronell, Univision's president of news, read.

Univision also shared a photo of Ramos on the phone in his hotel room.

Ramos' daughter, Paola, tweeted shortly after the incident that she had spoken to her father.

'He is safe. He told me that 15 mins into his interview, Maduro stopped him & then forced him & his team into a dark room for 2.5 hours,' her tweet read.

In response to Univision's claims, Venezuela's information minister Jorge Rodriguez tweeted that the government had in the past welcomed hundreds of journalists to the Miraflores presidential palace, but it did not support 'cheap shows'

Univision later said their team had been released, but the Venezuelan government kept their camera equipment

Trump spars with Univision reporter Ramos before his 'Make America Great Again Rally' at the Grand River Center in Dubuque, Iowa, in August 2015

The incident unfolded on the same day that US Vice President Mike Pence met with Juan Guaido in Bogota, Colombia.

Pence arrived in the Colombian capital for an emergency summit of regional leaders to discuss the deepening crisis and immediately met with Guaido, who the US and 50 other nations recognize as Venezuela's rightful leader.

The Trump administration on Monday announced new sanctions on allies of Maduro's as it struggles to find new ways to boost his opponent Guaido after an effort to deliver humanitarian aid to the economically devastated nation faltered amid strong resistance from security forces who remain loyal to the socialist leader.

In a speech to the group, Pence urged regional partners to freeze oil assets controlled by Maduro, transfer the proceeds to Guaido and restrict visas for Maduro's inner circle.

He said the US was imposing more sanctions on four pro-government governors, including a close Maduro ally who negotiated the release of an American in jail more than two years.

'It's time to do more,' said Pence. 'The day is coming soon when Venezuela's long nightmare will end, when Venezuela will once more be free, when her people will see a new birth of freedom, in a nation reborn to liberated.'

Pence's appearance before the Lima Group comes at an important crossroads for the coalition of 14 mostly conservative Latin American nations and Canada that has joined forces to pressure Maduro.

Venezuela was marred by clashes this weekend after the National Guard and police forces loyal to Maduro blocked trucks from crossing near the Brazilian and Colombian borders

Security forces on the borders with Colombia and Brazil fired tear gas and buckshot on activists waving Venezuelan flags while escorting trucks with emergency medical and food kits

Four people have been reported killed and at least 300 wounded, although only a few were hospitalized

A month after Guaido declared himself interim president at an outdoor rally, hopes that support for Maduro inside the military would quickly crumble have faded.

Venezuela was marred by clashes this weekend after the National Guard and police forces loyal to Maduro blocked trucks from crossing near the Brazilian and Colombian borders.

Security forces on the borders with Colombia and Brazil fired tear gas and buckshot on activists waving Venezuelan flags while escorting trucks with emergency medical and food kits.

Four people have been reported killed and at least 300 wounded, although only a few were hospitalized.

While Colombian authorities said more than 160 soldiers deserted their posts and sought refuge across the border over the weekend, the highest-ranking among them was a National Guard major.

No battalion or division commanders have come forward to challenge Maduro despite almost-daily calls by Guaido and the US to do so.

That's left many asking what Guaido and the US can do to break the stalemate.

For now, the US is showing no signs it is considering a military intervention to remove Maduro.
Colin Theaker (left) accidentally shot and killed Scott Hetherington (right) when they were on deployment helping train local soldiers to fight Islamic State in 2017

The mother of a soldier who was shot dead in Iraq has forgiven his 'broken' best friend who fired the bullet - as he pleads guilty to manslaughter.

Colin Theaker accidentally shot and killed Scott Hetherington when they were on deployment helping train local soldiers to fight Islamic State in 2017.

The pair had been 'playing around' with a service pistol in their accommodation on January 2 when a single fatal shot was fired at Lance Corporal Hetherington, a court heard.

The victim's mother, Anne, previously described how fellow Lance Corporal Theaker had been overcome with guilt after the friendly fire accident, the Telegraph reported.

She said: 'He couldn't grasp why I didn't hate him or want him dead, too.

'He was totally broken. He still is. He is a broken soul. Colin has gone from a strong soldier to a little boy again who needs looking after. I could never walk away.'

LCpl Theaker, appearing via. videolink from Weeton Barracks, pleaded guilty to manslaughter by gross negligence at a hearing at Catterick Garrison court martial centre on Monday.

During the incident, a nearby soldier allegedly heard LCpl Hetherington say 'no, no don't do that' before the gun was fired, the court heard.

LCpl Theaker, in a statement read out by defence barrister Ben Knight, said his best friend's death was a 'terrible accident'.

Anne Hetherinton with her son Scott. She said yesterday she forgives the friend who killed him

The pair had been 'playing around' with a service pistol in their accommodation on January 2 when a single fatal shot was fired at Lance Corporal Hetherington (right), a court heard

Lance Corporal Scott Hetherington's coffin is carried from All Saints and Martyrs Church in Middleton, Greater Manchester, after his military funeral

LCpl Hetherington, a vehicle commander in the Force Protection Platoon, became the first British solider to have been killed in Iraq since 2009. He was buried with full military honours in Middleton, Greater Manchester three weeks after his death.

A coroner heard the soldier died as a result of a 'negligent discharge of a weapon by another soldier,' the Manchester Evening News reported.

It is expected LCpl Theaker will be sentenced on March 8, Vice-Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces Michael Hunter said.
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Kim Jong Un crossed into Vietnam with fanfare and a red carpet Tuesday  as an attendant scurried, looking like his life depended on it, to catch up to the absolute leaders side.

The North Korean dictator later drove to Hanoi after a 2,800 mile train journey, accompanied by dozens of security guards who sprinted to surround him as he entered the hotel where he will stay until his summit with President Trump.

Included in his lengthy motorcade that snaked its way through the Vietnamese capital was an armored vehicle complete with a mounted gun turret on top. It later parked around the corner from Kim's hotel, while locals on scooters made their way through the city's packed streets.

As he reached his final destination, Kim's team of protective agents jumped out of a line of black SUVs to enter Kims hotel. They could be seen riding with vehicle doors open, then rushing to the heavily-guarded leader.

ALL ALONE: Kim Jong Un arrives in Vietnam after a marathon train journey from North Korea without anyone by his side

HIT IT! An attendant sprints down the red carpet to accompany the North Korean dictator

People hold the national flags of North Korea, US, and Vietnam as they wait for the motorcade in Hanoi

An administration official was unable to identify the sprinting North Korean, but noted to DailyMail.com: 'He's fast.'

Vietnamese military and police blocked off streets for hours before his arrival, with onlookers bearing Vietnamese, U.S., and North Korean flags waiting to catch a glimpse of the leader of the hermetic nation.

Kim's arrival turned out to be inconvenient for traveling American media, who had been preparing to make use of a media file set up by the White House travel office, who had spent days organizing it  even setting up a podium for potential press briefings with four American flags. The entire location was scrapped, at least temporarily, with Kim's arrival.

It turned out that Kim had booked the same hotel that was to have been used as a base of operations for reporters who cover the White House.

Vietnam's ministry of foreign affairs tweeted: 'The American Media Center will be relocated' from the hotel where Kim was staying to an International Media Center.

Tweeted CNN's Jim Acosta in response: 'Translation: The US press is being booted out of the hotel where we have spent days setting up our workspace.'

The Washington Post quoted a person inside the hotel who witnessed a 'tense standoff' between a North Korean official who chewed out Vietnamese security and hotel staff, demanding journalists not take pictures from the lobby.

The odd image of an aide rushing to Kim's side jumped out at the culmination of his two and a half day rail journey, which may have been chosen to evoke memories of his grandfather, Kim Il Sung. On the way to the Singapore summit, Kim was seen exiting an American-made Air China 747 jet.

On Wednesday evening, President Trump is set to hold his first meetings with Kim since their June summit in Singapore.

They are scheduled to have a brief one-on-one greeting, followed by a 'social dinner,' where Trump will be joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney. Kim is expected to be accompanied by Kim Yung Chol, the general and senior leader who delivered a letter to Trump from Kim, as well as by another associate.

Translators also will be there.

Arrival in Hanoi: Kim's motorcade rolls up after the journey from Dong Dang, where he had traveled by train

The American and North Korean flags are waved in front of Kim's motorcade as the North Korean dictator arrives in Hanoi

Vietnamese policemen escort North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's motorcade in Hanoi on Tuesday ahead of the summit

An armored vehicle equipped with a gun turret was part of Kim Jong Un's security package. It parked itself near a hotel where Kim is staying for the summit

North Korean bodyguards run along a limousine transporting North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un upon his arrival at the border town with China in Dong Dang, Vietnam

Outriders escort a limousine transporting North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un past the Opera House in Hanoi

An armored police vehicle drives behind North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's motorcade in Hanoi today

The motorcade of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un travels enroute to his hotel

Trump took off for Hanoi Monday facing new pressure to demonstrate he can secure concrete pledges from Kim Jong-un after repeatedly gushing about the riches that await if the North Korean dictator backs away from his nuclear weapons program.

Trumps previous summit with Kim, held in Singapore in June, resulted in a vague joint statement that critics blasted for lacking specific measurable stapes  it pledged the two sides would work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Trump set an optimistic tone on Twitter as prepared to head east: Meeting for breakfast with our Nations Governors - then off to Vietnam for a very important Summit with Kim Jong Un. With complete Denuclearization, North Korea will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse. Without it, just more of the same. Chairman Kim will make a wise decision! Trump wrote.

He also mocked his critics  including security experts who have raised alarms Trump will make concessions on the diplomatic front without requiring much of substance of Kim in return other than the continued cessation of missile launches.

Kim Jong Un crossed into Vietnam on Tuesday after a 2,800 mile journey from Pyongyang on his olive-green train

The official train had previously been used by Kim Jong Il before his death. It's bulletproof and has an average speed of 37 mph

His journey from Pyongyang was shrouded in secrecy but numerous sightings of the train were made over the past few days

Schoolchildren waving North Korean flags and a military guard of honor greeted Kim as he stepped onto the platform, draped in a red carpet

Hundreds of onlookers and Vietnamese soldiers lined a pathway for Kim on Monday

The 35-year-old wound down his window to wave at the thousands gathered outside as he headed to Hanoi

North Korean bodyguards run along a limousine transporting North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un upon his arrival at the border town with China in Dong Dan

North Korean security escorting a car carrying Kim Jong-Un at Dong Dang railway station near the border with China

So funny to watch people who have failed for years, they got NOTHING, telling me how to negotiate with North Korea. But thanks anyway! Trump tweeted Sunday.

A senior administration official acknowledged as recently as Friday the two sides had yet to agree on what denuclearization even means.

Kim arrived in Vietnam after train journey that took him through China ahead of his second historic showdown with President Trump.

His bulletproof olive green train pulled into the Vietnamese station of Dong Dang following a two-and-a-half-day secrecy-shrouded odyssey from Pyongyang.

Schoolchildren waving North Korean flags and a military guard of honor greeted Kim as he stepped from his carriage onto the red carpet-draped platform.

The 35-year-old is the first North Korean leader to visit Vietnam since his grandfather Kim Il Sung in 1964.

Security around the station was extremely prevalent, as armed guard and soldiers surrounded the area

People wait for the motorcade with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ahead of the US-North Korea summit in Hanoi

Kim's arrival brought out the young and old, with this child carrying the North Korean and American flags

Vietnamese authorities blocked off streets and roped off pedestrians to allow for Kim's arrival in Hanoi

An armored vehicle accompanied the motorcade

This scooter is outfitted with the U.S., Vietnamese, and North Korean flags

A Vietnamese soldier stands guard at a street in Hanoi ahead of the second U.S.-North Korea summit

Security across the Vietnamese city is fervent, with legions of armed soldiers and police surrounding the train station.

Kim emerged from the train station doors issuing the cheering crowd a beaming smile and a series of waves, before being shepherded into a black limousine.

A 170 km stretch of highway has been completely closed off by authorities, which Kim and his entourage will travel on to get to Hanoi for Wednesday's meeting.

An entourage secret service agents jogged alongside the dictator's black-out car as it set off on its two hour journey.

President Trump opted for a more conventional means of travel as he boarded Air Force one on Monday afternoon. He's expected to arrive late on Tuesday.

Before his departure, the President offered an optimistic tune regarding the week ahead.

'I think we could have a very good summit,' he told the nation's governors during their meeting at the White House on Monday morning. 'I think well have a very tremendous summit. We want denuclearization, and I think hell have a country that will set a lot of records for speed in terms of an economy.'

He also tweeted from inside the presidential plane that he was looking forward to a 'productive' meeting with Kim.

President Trump jetted off to Vietnam for what he predicted will be a 'very productive summit' with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

Air Force One touched down in Mildenhall, England on Monday evening for a refueling stop. Sarah Sanders posed for a photo with US military personal stationed at the base

A Vietnamese soldier uses a metal detector at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi ahead of the arrival of Donald Trump

The media sets up inside the Palace of Culture and Friendship in Hanoi on the eve of the summit between Trump and Kim

Two models unveil a commemorative stamp released ahead of the summit, displaying a Vietnamese flag top left, and North Korean and American flags in the shape of hands shaking on the right

Women are seen at Vietnam-North Korea Friendship kindergarten, founded by North Korean Government in Hanoi, as they prepare for a show during the summit

Vietnamese security personnel stand guard outside the North Korean embassy in Hanoi. The city is on high alert after the arrival of Kim Jong-un and ahead of the arrival of President Trump

The President touched down in Mildenhall, England late Monday night to refuel at a Royal Air Force Base.

Trump's press secretary Sarah Sanders posed for a photo in front of Air Force One with a large contingent of US military personnel stationed at the Suffolk base.

'Got off AF1 for a refuel stop at RAF Mildenhall. Thankful for the amazing men and women in our military,' his Instagram caption read.

He still has another 12 hours left on his journey and will likely land in Hanoi at 7pm local time on Tuesday.

24 hours earlier, Trump hosted the Governor's Ball in the White House's State Dining Room where he sought to cool expectation ahead of the summit.

'What's going to happen, I can't tell you,' Trump teased.

'I'm not in a rush, I don't want to rush anybody, I just don't want testing.

'As long as there's no testing, we're happy.'

The president has been promoting denuclearization - expected to be the main topic on the agenda of his sit down with Kim - as a way for North Korea to become an 'Economic Powerhouse.'

'Chairman Kim realizes, perhaps better than anyone else, that without nuclear weapons, his country could fast become one of the great economic powers anywhere in the world,' Trump tweeted on Sunday.

'Because of its location and people (and him), it has more potential for rapid growth than any other nation.'

The Government Guest House, in Hanoi, which will likely play host to Trump and Kim during part of their summit

President Trump touted the economic benefits of denuclearization as he prepares to jet off to Vietnam for his second summit with Kim Jong Un

President Trump and Kim will meet on Wednesday and Thursday in Hanoi, Vietnam as they sit down for the second time to discuss nuclear disarmament and the possibility of the US lifting sanctions on North Korea

The summit wasn't the only thing on the President's mind during the flight. He tweet in angst against the democrats blocking a late-term abortion bill in the Senate

Trump's enthusiasm is in contrast to his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who said Sunday there may have to be a third summit because Trump and Kim 'may not get everything done this week.'

'There may have to be another summit,' he said on 'Fox News Sunday. 'We may not get everything done this week. We hope we'll make a substantial step along the way.'

While President Trump tweeted about the possibility of denuclearization on Sunday, his secretary of state offered a more measured set of expectations for the second meeting between the two leaders this week in Hanoi, Vietnam.

'The U.N. Security Council has demanded, not the United States, but the U.N. Security Council has demanded that Chairman Kim give up these weapons systems. It's in the best interest of his country and I hope we can make a real substantive step forward this week. It may not happen but I hope that it will,' Pompeo said.

President Donald Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un, seen here at their first summit in Singapore in July

Kim Jong Un's mammoth journey from Pyongyang to Hanoi took a staggering two-and-a-half days

Trump and Kim will meet Wednesday and Thursday in Hanoi. Kim left for their summit via train while Trump flies out Monday.

On the agenda is denuclearization.

Washington is looking for concrete steps from North Korean that progress has been made on that front after Kim pledged to eliminate his country's nuclear weapons' program at his and Trump's first summit in Singapore last summer.

Trump said last week that North Korea must do 'something that's meaningful' on denuclearization before he would consider lifting economic sanctions.

North Korea has pushed for those sanctions to be reduced before it makes major changes to its nuclear program.

But Pompeo cautioned real progress on denuclearization could take time.

Mike Pompeo arrived shortly after Kim. In interviews this week, the Secretary of State appeared less enthusiastic than Trump in his expectations for the summit

He told Fox News there might be another summit because Trump 'may not get everything done this week'

'We have always known this would take time and it would be a step forward, and slower than the world has demanded, right? This is a U.N. Security Council resolution that we're attempting to achieve by getting North Korea fully denuclearized,' he said Sunday on CNN's 'State of the Union.'

'I'm hopeful that, when President Trump and Chairman Kim get together, they will make a big step towards realizing what Chairman Kim promised. He promised he would denuclearize. We hope he will make a big step towards that in the week ahead,' he added.

He declined to get into the specifics of what the U.S. wanted from Pyongyang.

'There are many things he could do to demonstrate his commitment to denuclearization. Our negotiating team was on the ground the last three days. And they will be on the ground again today. I will be there tomorrow to continue these discussion,' Pompeo said.

'I don't want to get into the details of what's being proposed, what the offers and counteroffers may be. But a real step, a demonstrable, verifiable step is something that I know President Trump is very focused on achieving,' he added.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper also called out Pompeo for contradicting President Trump on whether or not North Korea remains a nuclear threat.

'Do you think North Korea remains a nuclear threat?,' Tapper asked Pompeo when the secretary of state appeared on 'State of the Union.

'Yes,' Pompeo responded.

'But the president said he doesn't,' Tapper pointed out.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper also called out Pompeo for contradicting President Trump on whether or not North Korea remains a nuclear threat

After his first summit with Kim in Singapore, Trump claimed 'there is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea.'

'Just landed - a long trip, but everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office,' Trump tweeted last June. 'There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea. Meeting with Kim Jong Un was an interesting and very positive experience. North Korea has great potential for the future!'

Pompeo took issue with Tapper's characterization of Trump's remarks.

'That's not what he said,' Pompeo noted.

'He tweeted: 'There's no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea,'' Tapper said in response.

'What he said was that the efforts that had been made in Singapore, this commitment that Chairman Kim, may have substantially taken down the risk to the American people. It's the mission of the secretary of state and the president of the United States to keep the American people secure. We're aiming to achieve that,' Pompeo argued.

'OK. I mean, that's just a direct quote, but I want to move on,' Tapper said.

Harry Kazianis of the Center for the National Interest said Trump and Kim need to take 'at least one step forward on denuclearisation' in Hanoi.

'Nothing would be worse than for either side to come out of the meeting as if it was a waste of time,' he said.
Employment in the gig economy has surged during the past year, thanks to the legalisation of Uber driving.

CommSec chief economist Craig James said Uber drivers were largely behind the creation of 75,000 new businesses during the previous financial year.

'A big factor behind the lift in business numbers was the growth of the "gig" economy  notably share drivers such as Uber drivers,' he said.

Employment in one sector of the economy has surged during the past year, thanks to the legalisation of Uber driving (stock image of a driver in Canberra)

Gig economy jobs are a major growth area in Australia with official figures showing 'taxi and other road transport' rising by 39.1 per cent during the 2017/18 financial year.

The 'other transport support services' category rose by 29.4 per cent, Australian Bureau of Statistics data on Counts of Australian Businesses showed.

Mr James said it was likely an increasing number of Australians who already had jobs were driving Ubers to fund their lavish lifestyles.

'People have elected to take perhaps a little bit more of an expensive or lavish lifestyle that stretches them,' he told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday.

'Everyone wants everything today - their overseas holiday, they want to have their Netflix subscription and their mobile phone so you've got to generate the income.

'To be able to meet that, they may have to go down the route of Airbnb and Uber.'

Gig economy jobs are a major growth area in Australia with official figures showing 'taxi and other road transport' rising by 39.1 per cent in one year (Uber app pictured)

Home owners are also increasingly renting out their houses on Airbnb, with non-traditional property leasing surging by 23,000 during the past five years.

The Australian Capital Territory in 2015 became the first area of Australia to legalise Uber driving, with the other states and territories following over the next three years.

Australia's unemployment rate stands at a seven-and-a-half year low of five per cent, with 2.3million businesses putting people in work.

Wages growth, however, remains subdued as many Australians, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, battle to pay off hefty mortgages.

The Reserve Bank of Australia this month acknowledged the frustration of weak wages growth amid lower-than-usual unemployment.

'Tightening labour market conditions were expected to put upward pressure on wages, although to date wages growth in Australia and elsewhere had been slower to pick up than in previous expansions,' it said in the minutes of its February board meeting.
A former grammar school pupil who joined Islamic State has been freed from detention in Syria, it was revealed yesterday.

Shabazz Suleman, 23, was handed over to a charity in Syria after a court ruled there was not enough evidence to sentence him. His whereabouts are now unknown.

Suleman, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, was escaping IS territory in October 2017 when he was caught by the rebel Free Syrian Army. He was tried by a Syrian opposition-run court in the city of Jarablus, but despite admitting joining the terror group, he was found not guilty, an FSA spokesman said.

Suleman (pictured), from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, was escaping IS territory in October 2017 when he was caught by the rebel Free Syrian Army

Rebel commander Abu Sleiman told The Daily Telegraph: Shabazz was with our guys that handled the Daesh (IS) file and then he went to court, he was released and handed over. That was about a month ago. He was given to the organisation he had worked for before.

He criticised the UK Government for taking no interest in Suleman, pictured. It comes after jihadi bride Shamima Begum, 19, from Bethnal Green, east London, was stripped of her passport despite wanting to return to Britain with her newborn son.

A former pupil at the Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe, Suleman claimed he had volunteered with the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), a Turkish non-governmental organisation, before joining Islamic State in Syria in 2015. An IHH spokesman told the Telegraph yesterday that they were unaware of Suleman.

It comes just a week after US President Donald Trump urged the British Government and other European countries to take responsibility for their citizens who fought for IS and try them in their home country.

Four British IS suspects are being held by rebels in Syria, including Jack Letts, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey, as well as seven British women.

A former pupil at the Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe (pictured), Suleman claimed he had volunteered with the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), a Turkish non-governmental organisation, before joining Islamic State in Syria in 2015

Britain says security concerns are behind its decision not to allow IS fighters to return to the UK and be put on trial.

A senior Government official told the Telegraph that Britain wanted the jihadis to face justice where they were caught.

In an interview with Sky News in 2017, Suleman said: When I saw IS fighting the Syrian regime and gaining results and the propaganda they were sending out to young Muslims like us at the beginning it was more romantic jihad, protecting civilians  it wasnt about beheading or killing.

I was there to defend the Syrians  honestly, I came here for that first, but IS changed. Four or five months into IS, I wanted to leave.

Suleman added: I take responsibility. I was with IS, I was with a terrorist organisation. But I didnt kill anyone, I hope I didnt oppress anyone. I did have a Kalashnikov and a military uniform, but I didnt hit anyone, I didnt oppress anyone. I was in the office.
The Prime Minister was wearing steel toe-caps. Think butch Bond baddie Rosa Klebbs poisoned-tipped pumps in From Russia With Love.

Perhaps shed slipped them on to keep Jean-Claude Juncker in check. For the European Commission president has had an unnerving habit recently of putting his slimy paws all over her in public.

The doddery old lizard managed to behave himself yesterday but Theresa May had the good sense to meet him before lunch.

Prime Minister Theresa May (pictured during a press conference at the EU-League of Arab States Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt) looked like a woman in need of a bit of protection

Facing reporters in the desert, the PM certainly looked like a woman in need of a bit of protection.

She spoke of constructive talks and making progress but it was plain from her crotchety manner that nothing was further from the truth. After two trying days, they had clearly given her nada, niet, nichts, rien.

The PM appeared twitchy. She spoke in strained, squawk-like tones. Her skin is becoming of such a pallor that Farrow & Ball should consider naming a new colour after her. May Day Gray?

Moments before she appeared, European Council president Donald Tusk had already done his best to ridicule her at a separate news conference at the EU-League of Arab States Summit in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.

He spoke in favour of extending Article 50  as if this was a generous offer of a stay of execution  describing it as the rational solution to the UK leaving the EU without a deal. He added: But Mrs May still believes she is able to avoid this scenario.

Mrs May spoke of constructive talks and making progress but it was plain from her manner that nothing was further from the truth

Dressed in one of his customary taut little suits, the Pole delivered that last line with his beady gaze fixed to the floor. Theres no doubt whatsoever hes convinced Mrs May is on Death Row.

His manner was akin to a vet who feels insulted when his advice to put down a familys beloved pet is wilfully ignored.

For her part, Mrs May was undoubtedly irritated by the man who told her predecessor, David Cameron, that it was dangerous, even stupid to call the referendum. Any delay is a delay, she insisted  not a soundbite that will make the Oxford Dictionary Of Political Quotations. Leaving on March 29, she argued is within our grasp.

Mrs Mays dagger eyes flickered from side-to-side in exasperation.

European Council president Donald Tusk (pictured) had already done his best to ridicule her at a separate news conference at the summit as he spoke in favour of extending Article 50

Shes rarely at her best at these foreign summits.

More questions on Brexit. Such as: would she sack any of her ministers who vote for a delay?

To this, she refused to engage.

After a quick question from an Egyptian reporter, our Sphinx-like PM sped from the room, her powder pink coat flailing behind her while a pair of dark-suited heavies struggled to keep up.

Doubtless she was keen to get the heck out of there pronto  and who could blame her?

Two days holed up in 28-degree temperatures with Messrs Tusk, Juncker et al would be more than enough for any of us.

Not that Mrs May can expect to find life much cooler back in Westminster. Not only because the Met Office predicts the hottest February temperatures on record in Britain over the next 24 hours.

She is facing an extraordinary mass revolt by ministers and last night it appeared she was preparing to rule out a No Deal Brexit.

Theresa May might want to keep wearing those bovver boots.
Actor and activist Peter Egan has criticised the Crufts dog show for using pets 'as circus animals'.

The animal rights campaigner and star of Downton Abbey has attacked the selective breeding enforced on competition dogs, and damage to animals in the search for perfect specimens.

Egan has also criticised the pageant format which he sees as harmful to women and children who also compete to fit a physical ideal.

He has branded children's beauty pageants abusive, and the adult competitions degrading to women.

Peter Egan in a publicity picture for Downton Abbey, appearing as his character Shrimie

The actor believes that Crufts perpetuates pure breeding, which leads to harmful genetic conditions, with the dog's health secondary to its appearance.

Writing in Radio Time magazine, Egan said: 'We are so used to seeing these shows and it is so traditional that we don't even stop to consider whether it is right or not.

'How long are we going to continue to use our pets as circus animals?

'For me, the problem with Crufts is that it offers the pursuit of physical perfection in a way that is damaging, and one that I would compare to child beauty pageants and beauty contests.

'Beauty contests, in my opinion, do a disservice to women, while child beauty pageants are literally a rejection of childhood and a form of parental abuse that does emotional as well as physical damage to the child.

'In my view it's the same with Crufts.

'The dogs suffer the physical degenerative decay that inbreeding creates in order to achieve the perfect specimen imposed on the poor participants.

Peter Egan, Downton Abbey actor with his black Labrador Cassie on Good Morning Britain

'If Crufts were a trade fair for the best and latest model in the car industry it would fail at every turn.'

The Crufts dog show is held each year in Birmingham, with fierce competition from owners to secure the Best In Show award.

The full opinion piece by Egan can be read in Radio Times magazine, out on Tuesday.

He has previously come out against the testing of animals in laboratories, encouraging people to sign a petition against the impending slaughter of six labradors in a university in Gothenburg, Sweden.

He joined Ricky Gervais in speaking out against the killing of the dogs who have been tested on extensively.

Venus, Milia, Mimosa, Luna, Lotus and Zuri are due to be killed at the end of this month so that studies can be carried out on their tissues and blood after being used for dental experiments.

In November last year he threw his weight behind a campaign to ban foie gras pate being served around Christmas - citing the damage the process of obtaining it does to the goose.

It is not illegal in the UK so Egan used his voice to urge restaurant owners to impose a self ban on the food.
The Pope has ordered Cardinal George Pell to stay away from children after the Catholic clergyman was convicted of rape and sex assault against two young boys.

Pell, the third most-senior member of the Catholic Church, has also been banned from saying Mass in public until his appeal against the conviction is over.

Acting Holy See spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said Pope Francis is pained by Pell's conviction and knows it has shocked many people in Australia, where he preaches.

Pope Francis has ordered Cardinal George Pell to stay away from children and banned him from saying Mass in public after he was convicted of rape and sexual assault against two boys

Pell (pictured at court today), the world's third highest ranking Catholic official, was found guilty in December of raping a choirboy in the 1990s and molesting another

But Francis also noted that Pell 'has reiterated his innocence and has the right to defend himself', Gisotti said.

The 77-year-old priest, who serves as the Vatican's treasurer, could be jailed within weeks after being found guilty of four counts of indecent assault and one count of rape by a Melbourne jury last December.

The trial and verdict could not be reported until now due to a suppression order issued because Pell was due to face another trial on separate child abuse charges.

But those additional charges have now been dropped, and a judge was able to lift the reporting restrictions.

Pell's victims were two 13-year-old boys on scholarships to the prestigious St Kevin's College.

The pair 'nicked off' after a Sunday solemn mass in late 1996 and were caught swigging sacramental wine in the priest's sacristy by Pell, newly installed as Archbishop of Melbourne.

'What are you doing here, you're in trouble,' Pell scolded their boys.

The jury was told Pell exposed his penis from beneath his ornate ceremonial robes, and molested the pair.

Pell had repeatedly and vehemently denied the accusations against him and Pope Francis had granted him a leave of absence to return to Australia to defend himself. He has lodged an appeal of his conviction.

One of the victims, now in his 30s, brought the allegations to police after years of having struggled to understand what he'd experienced.

The boy said he was sexually assaulted again by Pell a month or so after he was raped, recalling that he was pushed against a cathedral wall by the now-Cardinal.

Pell sexually assaulted two choir boys in a cathedral in Melbourne, Australia, in the late 1990s. He had vehemently denied the incidents happened, but a jury found otherwise

The cardinal was named the Vatican's Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy in 2014, making him the third highest-ranking cleric in Rome. He is pictured with Pope Francis

'He shoved me against the wall violently and squeezed my genitals,' the court was told.

Pell's other victim died in 2014 in accidental circumstances.

Top defence barrister Robert Richter QC represented Pell in the trial, and during an earlier trial in which the jury was discharged after failing to reach a verdict.

Mr Richter failed to convince the latest jury that the cathedral's processes were so seamless that two boys simply could not have 'nicked off' unseen.

He argued the allegations were a 'far-fetched fantasy', that Pell was always accompanied after mass and that his cumbersome robes would have prevented him revealing his genitals.

'Cardinal Pell was portrayed as the Darth Vader of the Catholic Church ,' his lawyer, Robert Richter QC said during the trial

'Only a madman would attempt to rape boys in the priest's sacristy immediately after Sunday solemn mass,' he told the jury.

Pell, who was physically ailing during the trial and on crutches before a double knee replacement over Christmas, remains on bail.

Pell limped out of court on Tuesday morning to a media frenzy, with a man screaming out 'burn in hell, Pell'.

In a statement, one of Pell's victims said today: 'Like many survivors, I have experienced shame, loneliness, depression and struggle.

'Like many survivors it has taken me years to understand the impact upon my life.

'At some point we realise that we trusted someone we should have feared and we fear those genuine relationships that we should trust. '

THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST CARDINAL GEORGE PELL PROSECUTION - KEY ARGUMENTS Director of Public Prosecutions Kerri Judd QC, senior crown prosecutor Mark Gibson SC and crown prosecutor Angela Ellis told the court: * There were opportunities for Cardinal George Pell, newly-installed as Archbishop of Melbourne, to sexually abuse two choirboys in the late 1990s. Evidence that the boys slipped away unnoticed from the post-mass procession because of 'mischief' and were 'caught' by Pell while drinking wine in the priest's sacristy, withstood defence arguments. * Pell used the priest's sacristy to vest and disrobe during Sunday mass because of renovations which rendered the Archbishop's sacristy unusable. There were times Pell was left alone while still robed. It was still possible for Pell to expose his penis to the boys while robed because of slits in the alb, an under-tunic, which were designed to access pockets. * Neither victim reported the abuse at the time but that does not mean it didn't happen. Mr Gibson quoted the surviving complainant who said it 'took a courage much later in life' to even consider speaking out. He feared jeopardising his scholarship to the prestigious St Kevin's College, making things difficult for his parents and struggled to understand what had happened and if it was 'normal'. DEFENCE - KEY ARGUMENTS Barristers Robert Richter QC and Ruth Shann told the court: * The prosecution timeline relied on 10 'independently impossible' events involving 40 or more people occurring within the same 10-minute window in order for the events to have happened and gone unnoticed. That includes: the two 13-year-old boys slipping away from the middle of the post-mass procession without being seen; Pell being alone and robed in the sacristy and not on the cathedral steps; and there being no other priests or altar servers moving between the sanctuary and priest's sacristy as was their practice after mass. * It would have been 'inhumanly possible' for Pell to expose his penis to the boys while wearing the Archbishop's robes. The ensemble was made up of the alb, an ankle-length white under-tunic which included two slits to allow access to pockets, locked into place around the waist with a knotted rope cincture. A decorative chasuble was worn over top and, on special occasions a dalmatic as well. Pell required help robing and disrobing and Pell's master-of-ceremonies recalled only twice in five years not assisting. * The surviving complainant's memories aren't of real events, but are a far-fetched fantasy that he, now aged in his 30s, may have come to believe as the truth. Mr Richter pointed to the fact neither victim came forward immediately, that the complainant who has since died denied being abused when asked directly by his parents, and that after the first incident involving both boys the surviving complainant did not warn his friend when he was later abused again. Advertisement

The jury was told Cardinal Pell scolded the two victims after they 'nicked off' from Sunday solemn mass to drink wine. He exposed himself and then molested them, the court was told

Pell's appearances at court have been accompanied by enormous crowds of media and lines of police officers

He will return to the County Court for a plea hearing on February 27. Chief Judge Peter Kidd is due to sentence him in March.

The victims, both students at St Kevin's College in Toorak, an inner suburb of Melbourne, were both in the choir at St Patrick's Cathedral.

The abuse took place after Pell introduced a compensation scheme for clerical sexual abuse victims known in Australia as the 'Melbourne Response', which he established in 1996.

An earlier trial resulted in a hung jury in June but the case was heard again in the County Court of Victoria resulting in the guilty verdicts.

The cardinal was committed to stand trial in May when a magistrate dismissed other charges.

Pell was removed from Pope Francis's inner circle of nine clergymen, the Council of Cardinals, following the verdict in December.

Australian media could not explain why Pell had been dumped at the time.

His downfall brings to the heart of the papal administration a scandal over clerical abuse that has ravaged the Church's credibility in the United States, Chile, Australia and elsewhere over the last three decades.

Pope Francis, leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, ended a conference on sexual abuse on Sunday, calling for an 'all-out battle' against a crime that should be 'erased from the face of the earth'.

He remained as the Vatican's treasurer, having been granted a leave of absence by Pope Francis.

The Holy See has not commented on whether he will remain in the position during his appeal.

The judge who heard Cardinal George Pell's case has continued a gag order on details of the cardinal's trial and guilty verdicts being published in his homeland. He is pictured in Rome

Pell is the most senior Catholic clergyman to face trial over sexual offences anywhere in the world. He has been ailing in recent months

Pell has surrendered his passport as part of his bail conditions and is not permitted to leave Australia.

The cardinal was named the Vatican's Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy in 2014, making him the third highest-ranking cleric in Rome.

Before being called to the Vatican, Pell served as Archbishop of Sydney from 2001 to 2014 and was Archbishop of Melbourne from 1996 to 2001.

He was ordained in 1966 and made a cardinal in 2003.

Victorian police charged Pell with the sexual assault offences in June last year when he was in Rome.

Pell, who was represented by attorney Robert Richter, QC, stated at a press conference at the time he would return to Australia to answer the charges and he was 'looking forward, finally, to having my day in court'.

'I'm innocent of those charges,' he said at the time. 'They are false.'

'I'm looking forward, finally, to having my day in court,' George Pell said in June last year. 'I'm innocent of those charges. They are false.' He is pictured at court in Melbourne on Tuesday
A pervert who drove to meet a '13-year-old girl' for 'kisses and cuddles' in a van packed with blankets and a mattress was snared by paedophile hunters outside a Toby Carvery.

Imran Majeed, 36, was on his way to meet what he thought was a child called Karen who he had groomed online and asked for naked pictures.

But months of contact with 'Karen', including showing her photographs of oral sex and offering nude photos of himself, ended in arrest when the paedophile was duped by a Christmas sting operation in Harlow.

Imran Majeed, 36, was on his way to meet what he thought was a child called Karen who he had groomed online and asked for naked pictures. But he avoided jail when he was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court (stock picture) yesterday

Majeed, who is on a visa from Pakistan, was intercepted in a station car park outside the Toby Carvery restaurant in Harlow by a vigilante group called Justice for the Innocent (JFTI) who had set up the decoy's social media account.

Majeed, from Austin Road, Gravesend, Kent, had sent 'Karen' a friend request on Facebook on October 21 last year and quickly began talking to her on WhatsApp despite being she was only 13.

The messages became more explicit over time and the 36-year-old shared sexual material with the decoy, including a photograph of two adults hugging topless and later a photograph of two adults performing oral sex.

This was all in the build up to meeting the 'child' which was scheduled for December 28 at the Galleria shopping centre in Hatfield, Hertfordshire.

He told 'Karen' that the two of them would hug and kiss but that if she wanted penetrative sexual activity he would be 'prepared to do that'.

Armed with a van stuffed with 'blankets and mattress', Majeed set off to meet 'Karen' but was instead greeted by JFTI members.

The group had previously tried to meet Majeed before, but he had not turned up, so they set up a second adult decoy to lure him.

The pervert, from Gravesend, Kent, was snared outside a Toby Carvery in Harlow Town station car park

He was intercepted in Harlow Town station outside a Toby Carvery and confronted by the paedophile hunters who live-streamed the sting.

Majeed protested his innocence on camera but later plead guilty to two serious child sex offences in court.

He had originally refused to comment during police interviews, however, he confessed at Chelmsford Crown Court on January 21 this year.

Yesterday, Majeed stood in the dock of the same court to hear his sentence.

The court heard how he obtained a masters in human resources management and was working at the time of the offences.

The defendant had moved to the UK in 2006 from Pakistan but is due to leave the country soon following 'visa issues' and will return to his native country for an arranged marriage.

He claims to be sorry for his actions and Judge Charles Gratwicke heard how certain members of his family 'won't accept him anymore'.

His uncle and cousin, however, sat in the public gallery to support him.

The hearing took an hour, with the judge rising to his chambers to think about Majeed's sentence for 20 minutes.

Judge Gratwicke said: 'Young children and young girls should be protected from people such as you from preying upon them.'

Majeed was sentenced to 18 months in prison for one count of attempting to meet with a girl under the age of 16 years following grooming and the same for one count of attempting to incite a child aged 13 to 15 to engage with sexual activity.

Both sentences were suspended for two years and seven months and ordered to run concurrently.

Majeed denied a charge of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, which the judge ordered to lay on file.

He was ordered to complete 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days, 150 hours unpaid work and to pay 200 a month for the total of 1,200 in costs, as well as, pay a victim statutory surchage.

Majeed was given an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and he has already signed the sex offender's register.


Every primary school will have to teach pupils about periods by the age of 11 from next year.

New Whitehall guidance published yesterday says all children must learn about menstruation.

It is understood the content will be age appropriate and head teachers will use their discretion to decide which age groups receive the lessons.

From next year, health education, including mental health, will be compulsory in all primary and secondary schools. It is understood the content will be age appropriate [File photo]

While many primary schools already provide such information, the new rules mean every school is now obliged to do so.

It is hoped the menstrual health lessons will better prepare young girls for puberty, including how to spot any issues.

For example, one in ten women in the UK suffer with endometriosis, a painful condition in which tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows elsewhere in the body. Many do not realise they have it, and suffer in agony for years.

Endometriosis sufferer Alice Smith, 23, welcomed the guidance, saying it will enable girls to know from a much younger age what is normal.

She said she would have gone to the doctor for diagnosis sooner if she had realised what endometriosis was.

From next year, health education, including mental health, will be compulsory in all primary and secondary schools.

In addition, relationship education will be compulsory in all schools and sex education will be compulsory in all secondaries.
Six officers received medical treatment following a small riot involving 40 inmates at a maximum security prison.

An elite enforcement squad was scrambled to HMP Whitemoor late yesterday afternoon after staff were reportedly beaten by pool cues and had pool balls hurled at them.

Prison officers were rushed to hospital after the 'serious' incident at the prison in March, near Cambridgeshire.

The Category A prison is a maximum security facility with three wings, which houses more than 400 of Britain's most dangerous male prisoners. It is one of eight high security prisons in the UK (stock image)

Others reportedly received treatment in the prison's on-site health facilities.

An officer was given a split nose and the other hit with a 'flying pool ball', a source told Cambs Times, the local newspaper.

One 'got hit straight in the eye' according to the source.

All six were reportedly taken to hospital with 'bad bruises and numerous injuries', the paper reported.

The shocking disturbance in the prison's C wing was finally brought under control after two hours, according to reports.

The Category A prison is a maximum security facility with three wings, which houses more than 400 of Britain's most dangerous male prisoners.

It is one of eight high security prisons in the UK.

Just last week, Mark Fellows, the hitman convicted of killing the gangster Paul Massey, was airlifted out of the prison to hospital after being slashed with a weapon made from a razor blade.

In October, it was reported that the prison's use of solitary confinement was in breach of a UN torture protocol.

A report by the prison's Independent Monitoring Board found it was locking inmates in isolation for more than 23 hours a day, with 'little meaningful human contact'.

Shadow justice minister, Imran Hussain, tweeted: 'Very concerned to hear about the disturbance at HMP Whitemoor which has left prison officers requiring hospital treatment.

'Prison officers don't go to work to be attacked and abused, but years of Tory cuts to staff has left them vulnerable and has created an emergency in our prisons.

'Earlier this month I raised serious concerns about inexperience in high security prisons following staff cuts.

'In 2010, just 8 per cent of Whitemoor's staff had less than three years' experience, but this has risen to 28 per cent'.

A Prison Service spokesman said: 'Staff at HMP Whitemoor successfully resolved an incident on one wing of the prison this afternoon.

'We do not tolerate violence in our prisons and, where incidents like this occur, will always push for the strongest possible punishment for those involved.'
Terror group Hezbollah, which Jeremy Corbyn has referred to as his friends, is due to be banned this week, the Government has announced.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said the Lebanon-based groups political arm will be proscribed just like its military wing because of its attempts to destabilise the fragile situation in the Middle East.

It is expected that membership of the organisation could be a criminal offence carrying a maximum sentence of up to ten years from this Friday.

A Hezbollah fighter holding an Iranian-made anti-aircraft missile on the border with Israel, in Naqoura, south Lebanon. The British government will make inciting support for Hezbollah a criminal offense as senior officials accused the Iran-backed organization of destabilizing the Middle East (file photo)

The restriction would bring Britain in line with other countries including the US which regard the whole of Hezbollah as a terrorist group. One of its key aims is to see the elimination of the State of Israel.

However, the ban will only come into effect if it is passed in the Commons later this week. Last night there was silence from Labour over whether it will support the measure.

Party leader Mr Corbyn has been accused of having close links with members of the organisation.

In 2009, Mr Corbyn was filmed telling the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign that he had invited Hezbollah to a meeting in Parliament, saying: Tomorrow evening it will be my pleasure and my honour to host an event in Parliament where our friends from Hezbollah will be speaking. The Home Secretary has the power to proscribe an organisation if he believes it is concerned in terrorism. Hezbollah  or the Party of God  is a Shia Muslim movement which emerged in the early 1980s with financial backing from Iran. Mr Javid said: We are no longer able to distinguish between their [Hezbollahs] already banned military wing and the political party.

MPs from across the political spectrum have said Mr Corbyns links with the group showed why he should not be let near Downing Street

Because of this, I have taken the decision to proscribe the group in its entirety.

MPs from across the political spectrum have said Mr Corbyns links with the group showed why he should not be let near Downing Street.

In 2012, he attended the annual Al Quds rally against Israel in London, where he was pictured in front of people carrying the flag of Hezbollah. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said the move to ban Hezbollahs political wing was long overdue. He added: I wrote to the previous home secretary Amber Rudd and to Sajid Javid to raise my deep concerns about the support shown for Hezbollah at the annual Al Quds march in London.

In 2001, ministers banned its external security organisation. Seven years later, the proscription was extended to Hezbollahs military wing.

Mr Corbyn voted against the move. He was joined by John McDonnell and Diane Abbott.

Mr Javid said protecting British people was his priority. As part of this, we identify and ban any terrorist organisation which threatens our safety and security, he added.
The mother of a 21-year-old woman who took her own life says she believes her daughter was 'coerced' into killing herself or was murdered.

The woman, from Ipswich, was found dead from an apparent suicide on Saturday, but her family has claimed she had been in 'fear for her life,' minutes before she died.

The mother revealed her daughter was a victim of domestic violence and that her body had been covered in 'bruises and bite marks' before her death, the Courier Mail reported.

A 21-year-old woman from Ipswich was found dead from an apparent suicide on Saturday, but her family has claimed she could have been murdered saying she had been in 'fear for her life,' minutes before she died

She allegedly told her mother that an unknown man had threatened to 'choke her last living breath out of her.'

She was found dead 39 minutes later.

'He has either killed my baby sister or he pushed her to the point to where she did it herself,' the woman's brother told the Courier Mail.

Sisters Inside CEO Debbie Kilroy, who provided support services to the troubled woman, revealed she had posted a 'concerning' Facebook message that night

The woman, who had been released from jail just eight weeks earlier, had a troubled past and previously received support from women's organisation, Sisters Inside.

CEO Debbie Kilroy revealed the woman had also posted a 'concerning' Facebook message that night.

In a now-deleted post, the woman wrote that she 'was bashed on Saturday night by someone close to her' and was 'very worried for her safety,' Kilroy claimed.

Kilroy also pointed out that the manner of suicide was 'very unusual for a woman.'

Those sentiments were echoed by Betty Taylor, the CEO of Red Rose Foundation and a member of the Queensland Domestic Violence Death Review Tribunal, who said the process was not common among females.

Taylor said it is possible the woman was driven to taken her own life explaining that victims of abuse 'may go down this path as they see it as their only way out.'

The woman had just turned 21, days earlier.

Police, however, said they investigated the death 'quite heavily' and did not suspect any foul play.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Sisters Inside for comment.

For confidential support call the Lifeline 24-hour crisis support on 13 11 14
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili will pay an official visit to Azerbaijan on February 27, according to the Georgian Embassy in Azerbaijan.

During the two-day visit, the Georgian PM will hold a number of meetings with the countrys officials, including Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, to discuss relevant issues of bilateral cooperation.

It will be the first regional visit after Zurabishvilis election as President.
The future of a US military base constructed on a British territory in Mauritius has been thrown into doubt after a United Nations ruling on Monday.

The UN's high court has ordered the United Kingdom to give the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius after an investigation revealed they'd been seized under illegal pretenses during the 1960s and 70s.

This could, however, also cause a huge issue for the US too, as the territory's largest atoll, Diego Garcia, has been home to a sizable US military base for the past five decades.

The Chagos base was constructed after the UK ousted more than 2,000 island natives from their homes and leased the grounds to the US.

The US base on Diego Garcia (pictured) was constructed in the 1960s after the UK evicted 200 natives from the Chagos Islands

The UN's high court ordered the United Kingdom to give the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius on Monday, after an investigation revealed they'd been seized under illegal pretenses

In return, the US government is understood to have offered the UK a sizable discount on the Polaris nuclear submarine system - the country's first underwater nuclear weapons network - as collateral.

In the time since, the base has provided the US Military with a vital central hub from which to command the Indian Ocean.

One of the largest of its kind, the base can house more than 2,000 troops and 30 warships at a time. It also has two bomber runways, a satellite spy station and facilities enabling the use of nuclear-armed submarines.

The situate at Diego Garcia was the also military's main pivot for its bombing raids of Afghanistan and Iraq during the height of the war in the Middle East.

For years the base was rumored to be a CIA black site, and in 2015 Diego Garcia was revealed to have been used by intelligence agencies to temporarily house and interrogate terror suspects, in the wake of 9/11.

Lawrence Wilkinson, a former White House aide, described a litany of 'nefarious activities' that allegedly took place on the Island, and added it was 'difficult to think' the UK weren't complicit in the plans.

Lawrence Wilkinson (right), a former White House aide revealed in 2015 that the site at Diego Garcia was used by intelligence agencies to temporarily house and interrogate terror suspects (pictured: with former CIA veteran Paul Pillar in 2006)

The decision to use the base as a CIA black site was make by the Bush administration after 9/11, Wilkinson said

Ministers claimed the island was used just twice as a refueling stop for extraordinary rendition flights  where terror suspects are moved to secret prisons for torture.

But they insist no detainees set foot on the atoll  a claim seriously undermined by Wilkerson, who was US secretary of state Colin Powell's chief of staff between 2002 and 2005.

He said he received the information about interrogations on Diego Garcia from four well-placed CIA and intelligence sources, including a veteran of the renditions programme and an official who was 'very much plugged in to what was going on at the CIA' after he retired.

Wilkinson said that evidence suggests nobody was permanently detained on the Island, but 'for a month, or two weeks, or whatever' intelligence agencies would carry out 'nefarious activities there.'

One of the largest of its kind, the base can house more than 2,000 troops and 30 warships at a time. It also has two bomber runways, a satellite spy station and facilities enabling the use of nuclear-armed submarines

Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in The Hague, said on Monday that the UK's detachment of the islands and their incorporation into the British Indian Ocean Territory was 'unlawful'.

The UK's ongoing administration is a 'wrongful act', according to an advisory opinion given by the court, which is not binding.

The Chagos Islands were first conceded to Britain in 1965 during Maurituis' campaign for independence - which was granted in 1968.

But Mauritius claims it was forced to give up the islands and the ICJ has advised the UK to hand back control.

The ICJ said: 'The court finds that the process of decolonization of Mauritius was not lawfully completed when that country acceded to independence and that the United Kingdom is under an obligation to bring to an end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible.'

The UK agreed a package including 3 million with Mauritius for the detachment of the archipelago in 1965.

Chagossians were forcibly removed between 1967 and 1973 to make way for a US military facility on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the group.

Mauritius, which gained independence in 1968, maintains the islands are its own and Chagossians have also brought cases in British courts for the right to return.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: 'This is an advisory opinion, not a judgment. Of course, we will look at the detail of it carefully.

'The defense facilities on the British Indian Ocean Territory help to protect people here in Britain and around the world from terrorist threats, organised crime and piracy.'

The situate at Diego Garcia was the also military's main pivot for its bombing raids of Afghanistan and Iraq during the height of the war in the Middle East

It's also provided the military a vital pivot from which to control the Indian Ocean

Since their eviction, Chagossian natives have protested for their right to return home

The ICJ said the opinion the UK should ends its administration was given with a majority of 13 votes to one.

Another part of its advisory opinion which said 'member states are under an obligation to co-operate with the United Nations in order to complete the decolonization' was given with the same majority.

'After recalling the circumstances in which the colony of Mauritius agreed in principle to such a detachment, the court considers that this detachment was not based on the free and genuine expression of the will of the people concerned,' the ICJ said.

The resettlement of Mauritian nationals on the islands should be 'addressed by the General Assembly' during the completion of decolonization, it added.

About 2,000 people were evicted from the islands, with many resettling in Britain, Mauritius and Seychelles.

The UK has said the islands will be returned to Mauritius when the need for military facilities ends.

Rosa Curling, a solicitor with law firm Leigh Day, who represents Solange Hoareau, a Chagossian woman fighting a legal battle to return, said: 'We are considering the judgment carefully with our client, but clearly the UK should stop breaching international law.

'The time has come to allow the islanders to return home.'
Social media is fuelling a surge in the number of children seeking treatment to change gender, a director at Englands only specialist NHS clinic for youngsters said yesterday.

Dr Polly Carmichael also admitted the service was under pressure from lobby groups to fast-track children into transitioning without giving them proper advice.

Her comments come after another director quit his role at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust following a damning internal report saying the service was not fit for purpose.

The number seeking referrals has risen from 97 in 2009 to 2,519 in the year to April 2018 and children are now having to wait up to 20 months for an initial appointment. File photo

Psychotherapist Marcus Evans stepped down after 30 years, saying he has serious concerns with what is going on in the gender identity world.

He said that offering children the quick solution of allowing them to begin medical treatment to change gender was exactly the opposite of what needs to be done.

In response to his comments Dr Carmichael, a director of the trusts Gender Identity Development Service, admitted: I think weve been under pressure for many, many years by people who feel perhaps that we should go faster and offer earlier physical intervention.

Without a doubt there has been huge change over the last few years with many more young people coming forward and in that context the service has had to grow very quickly.

She said the reason behind the rise was greater acceptance and awareness of transgender issues, and added that in some ways its a very positive thing.

Asked on BBC Radio 4s Today programme whether social media is pushing children into changing gender when they may not have initially considered it, she said: I think were all influenced by things around us and by social media.

I also think probably that social media has a big influence in that young people can get information, talk to each other. She added in a statement to the Daily Mail: Social media can be a source of support and information for young people.

We are also aware that it can be a source of misinformation or raise unrealistic expectations. The Gender Identity Development Service is currently experiencing an unprecedented increase in referrals, according to a statement on waiting times posted on its website.

The number seeking referrals has risen from 97 in 2009 to 2,519 in the year to April 2018 and children are now having to wait up to 20 months for an initial appointment.

The service, based in London and Leeds, has previously been criticised for not treating young people more quickly by pro-trans groups such as the Mermaids charity.

Following the internal report into the service, a letter was signed by 25 clinicians at the trust who are upset at how the concerns it raised had been handled. The trust said it had now made several recommendations on areas of improvement following the report and these would be discussed at a meeting next month.
Married At First Sight intruder Daniel Webb is due to face court this week over his alleged involvement in an elaborate phone scam.

The reality TV figure is due to face Brisbane Magistrate's Court on Friday, charged with aggravated fraud.

He's alleged to have cold called 600 people and manipulating them to invest in a 'boiler room scam' with co-accused police detective Michael Featherstone.

Married At First Sight star Daniel Webb (pictured) will face court for fraud charges this week

Webb (pictured with MAFS' Tamara Joy) is alleged to have cold called thousands of people

Police allege the 35-year-old Webb coerced people into becoming 'puppet directors' of 12 scam companies in early 2014.

The victims were allegedly asked to pay between $500 and $1000 for a four-day trial of software, then made to sign year-long contracts, The Gold Coast Bulletin reports.

To encourage people to invest, the alleged masterminds behind the scam would showcase fake reports of profits and sustainability.

They would demonstrate 'betting and investment software'.

The alleged scammers, including Featherstone and his wife Zoei Charissa Keong, netted between $15-$20million.

All accused have said they will fight the charges.

Ms Keong, however, was found dead on Christmas Day last year under non-suspicious circumstances.

Her friends remembered her as 'sensitive' and not deserving of the ongoing court case.

Co-accused Zoei Keong (pictured) was found dead in her home last Christmas

She was charged alongside her husband and son in 2016 after a 20-month Crime and Corruption Commission probe.

Defence lawyer Daniel Hannay said Featherstone 'fundamentally denies the allegations' and would fight charges of aggravated fraud and money laundering.

Webb made his way onto MAFS as an 'intruder' on Monday night's show.

Channel Nine has not commented on whether his involvement on the show will be ongoing through the trial.

For confidential support call the Lifeline 24-hour crisis support on 13 11 14
A Brazilian man has been caught travelling more than 115km/h over the speed limit in Sydney's south west.

Police allege the man, 29, was travelling on a motorbike at speeds of 195km/hr along a two-lane highway in Catherine Fields where the speed limit was 80km/hr.

Traffic and Highway Patrol officers pulled over the driver at 10.50am on Monday.

A Brazilian man , 29, has been charged after he was allegedly caught speeding 195km/h in a 80km/h zone

He was arrested and taken to Narellan Police Station.

The Brazilian national was charged with driving recklessly or furiously in a dangerous manner. His NSW driving privileges were withdrawn and his motorcycle was seized.

He's due to appear at Picton Local Court on March 12.
GUILTY: Cardinal George Pell (seen today), the world's third highest ranking Catholic official, was found guilty of raping a choirboy in the 1990s and molesting another

Cardinal George Pell, Australia's highest ranking Catholic, has been found guilty of raping a choirboy and molesting another in the 1990s.

Pell, 77, is the Vatican's treasurer and is the most senior Catholic clergyman to be found guilty of child sex offences anywhere in the world.

He was found guilty of four counts of indecent assault and one count of rape by a Melbourne jury last December, following three days of deliberations.

The dramatic verdict could only be revealed after a court gag order was lifted on Tuesday.

His conviction has led some Australian institutions to strip him of honours and titles, with a Ballarat school scratching 'Pell' off a building named in his honour.

Pell, who is unwell, today limped from court surrounded by a brigade of yellow-vested police officers, with a passerby screaming for him to 'rot in hell'.

He is expected to lose his freedom on Wednesday, with a judge saying his bail will be revoked following a pre-sentence hearing.

It can now be revealed that Pell's victims were two 13-year-old boys on scholarships to the prestigious St Kevin's College.

The pair 'nicked off' after a Sunday solemn mass in late 1996 and were caught swigging sacramental wine in the priest's sacristy by Pell, newly installed as Archbishop of Melbourne.

Pell scolded the boys, then exposed his penis from beneath his ornate ceremonial robes, and molested the pair. He forced one to perform oral sex on him, the court was told.

The Pell verdict can finally be revealed after a second trial over allegations Pell indecently assaulted boys in regional Victoria in the 1970s was abandoned. That result meant a gag order preventing the verdict from being published in the Australian media was finally lifted after more than two months.

Pell had repeatedly and vehemently denied the accusations against him and Pope Francis had granted him a leave of absence to return to Australia to defend himself. He has lodged an appeal of his conviction.

One of the victims, now in his 30s, brought the allegations to police after years of having struggled to understand what he'd experienced.

Pell sexually assaulted two choir boys in a cathedral in Melbourne, Australia, in the late 1990s. He had vehemently denied the incidents happened, but a jury found otherwise

The cardinal was named the Vatican's Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy in 2014, making him the third highest-ranking cleric in Rome. He is pictured with Pope Francis

The boy said he was sexually assaulted again by Pell a month or so after he was raped, recalling that he was pushed against a cathedral wall by the now-Cardinal.

'He shoved me against the wall violently and squeezed my genitals,' the court was told.

Pell's other victim died in 2014 in accidental circumstances.

Top defence barrister Robert Richter QC represented Pell in the trial, and during an earlier trial in which the jury was discharged after failing to reach a verdict.

'Cardinal Pell was portrayed as the Darth Vader of the Catholic Church ,' his lawyer, Robert Richter QC said during the trial

Mr Richter failed to convince the latest jury that the cathedral's processes were so seamless that two boys simply could not have 'nicked off' unseen.

He argued the allegations were a 'far-fetched fantasy', that Pell was always accompanied after mass and that his cumbersome robes would have prevented him revealing his genitals.

'Only a madman would attempt to rape boys in the priest's sacristy immediately after Sunday solemn mass,' he told the jury.

Pell, who was physically ailing during the trial and on crutches before a double knee replacement over Christmas, remains on bail for the next 24 hours.

But he will be remanded in custody after a pre-sentence hearing on Wednesday.

Pell limped out of court on Tuesday morning to a media frenzy, with a man screaming out 'burn in hell, Pell'.

In a statement, one of Pell's victims said today: 'Like many survivors, I have experienced shame, loneliness, depression and struggle.

'Like many survivors it has taken me years to understand the impact upon my life.

'At some point we realise that we trusted someone we should have feared and we fear those genuine relationships that we should trust. '

Meanwhile, Pell's office issued a statement which said he 'has always maintained his innocence and continues to do so' and will await the outcome of his appeal.

The jury was told Cardinal Pell scolded the two victims after they 'nicked off' from Sunday solemn mass to drink wine. He exposed himself and then molested them, the court was told

SEXUAL ABUSE V 'A FAR FETCHED FANTASY': THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST CARDINAL GEORGE PELL PROSECUTION - KEY ARGUMENTS Director of Public Prosecutions Kerri Judd QC, senior crown prosecutor Mark Gibson SC and crown prosecutor Angela Ellis told the court: * There were opportunities for Cardinal George Pell, newly-installed as Archbishop of Melbourne, to sexually abuse two choirboys in the late 1990s. Evidence that the boys slipped away unnoticed from the post-mass procession because of 'mischief' and were 'caught' by Pell while drinking wine in the priest's sacristy, withstood defence arguments. * Pell used the priest's sacristy to vest and disrobe during Sunday mass because of renovations which rendered the Archbishop's sacristy unusable. There were times Pell was left alone while still robed. It was still possible for Pell to expose his penis to the boys while robed because of slits in the alb, an under-tunic, which were designed to access pockets. * Neither victim reported the abuse at the time but that does not mean it didn't happen. Mr Gibson quoted the surviving complainant who said it 'took a courage much later in life' to even consider speaking out. He feared jeopardising his scholarship to the prestigious St Kevin's College, making things difficult for his parents and struggled to understand what had happened and if it was 'normal'. DEFENCE - KEY ARGUMENTS Barristers Robert Richter QC and Ruth Shann told the court: * The prosecution timeline relied on 10 'independently impossible' events involving 40 or more people occurring within the same 10-minute window in order for the events to have happened and gone unnoticed. That includes: the two 13-year-old boys slipping away from the middle of the post-mass procession without being seen; Pell being alone and robed in the sacristy and not on the cathedral steps; and there being no other priests or altar servers moving between the sanctuary and priest's sacristy as was their practice after mass. * It would have been 'inhumanly possible' for Pell to expose his penis to the boys while wearing the Archbishop's robes. The ensemble was made up of the alb, an ankle-length white under-tunic which included two slits to allow access to pockets, locked into place around the waist with a knotted rope cincture. A decorative chasuble was worn over top and, on special occasions a dalmatic as well. Pell required help robing and disrobing and Pell's master-of-ceremonies recalled only twice in five years not assisting. * The surviving complainant's memories aren't of real events, but are a far-fetched fantasy that he, now aged in his 30s, may have come to believe as the truth. Mr Richter pointed to the fact neither victim came forward immediately, that the complainant who has since died denied being abused when asked directly by his parents, and that after the first incident involving both boys the surviving complainant did not warn his friend when he was later abused again. Advertisement

Pell will return to the County Court for a plea hearing on February 27. Chief Judge Peter Kidd is due to sentence him in March.

The abuse took place after Pell introduced a compensation scheme for clerical sexual abuse victims known in Australia as the 'Melbourne Response', which he established in 1996.

Pell was today stripped of an honorary position at Richmond Football Club following his conviction. The club on Tuesday removed Pell as club vice patron, a largely symbolic role which he has held since 1997.

'While acknowledging his right to appeal, the club has formed a view that his association is no longer tenable or appropriate,' the Tigers said in a statement.

Pell was signed as a ruckman by the club in 1959, playing for the reserves side before entering the priesthood. He went on to become archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney before joining becoming the Vatican's No.3 man.

Pell's appearances at court have been accompanied by enormous crowds of media and lines of police officers

Meanwhile, St Patrick's College in Ballarat has removed Pell's name off a building which had been named in his honour.

Pell attended the boarding school from 1949 to 1959 and was later inducted a 'legend of the school'.

'The jury's verdict demonstrates that Cardinal Pell's behaviours have not met the standards we expect of those we honour as role models for the young men we educate,' headmaster John Crowley said.

'The college aims at every opportunity to fulfil our mission of raising fine boys to the status of great men.'

Pell Wing will be renamed Waterford Wing, while a line will be struck through his name on a college honour board.

WHY CARDINAL GEORGE PELL'S CONVICTION COULD NOT BE REPORTED ON UNTIL NOW Australian media outlets were banned from reporting Cardinal George Pell had been found guilty under the terms of a court suppression order. The order banned newspapers, TV stations and online news outlets like Daily Mail Australia from reporting the jury verdict last December. The suppression order was approved by the court to 'prevent a real and substantial risk of prejudice to the proper administration of justice'. That risk was a second trial Pell was facing relating to allegations of sexual abuse, which has since been abandoned. The court order failed to stop media outlets worldwide, from the Washington Post to the BBC, from reporting on the Pell news outside Australia. Local news outlets could only tease that there was an 'incredible story' about a 'prominent Australian' that could not be printed. Victoria, the state where the suppression order was granted, is considered the gag order capital of Australia. Concerns about violating stringent contempt of court laws led to a best-selling book about Pell to be withheld from sale. Advertisement

The judge who heard Cardinal George Pell's case has continued a gag order on details of the cardinal's trial and guilty verdicts being published in his homeland. He is pictured in Rome

An online petition has also garnered more than 500 signatures calling for the Council for the Order of Australia to revoke Pell's appointment as a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2005.

Pell was removed from Pope Francis's inner circle of nine clergymen, the Council of Cardinals, following the verdict in December.

Australian media could not suggest the verdict may have been responsible for the dumping at the time.

Pell has remained as the Vatican's treasurer, having been granted a leave of absence by Pope Francis.

The Holy See has not commented on whether he will remain in the position during his appeal.

REACTION TO CARDINAL GEORGE PELL'S GUILTY VERDICT THE VICTIMS 'At some point, we realise that we trusted someone we should have feared and we fear those genuine relationships that we should trust.' - surviving victim

'This conviction is a reminder to survivors of abuse to feel empowered to tell their stories. Justice has prevailed and the nation is finally listening and addressing your pain.' - lawyer Lisa Flynn, who represented child sexual assault victims

'I'm utterly devastated about it ... There was no one for them at the bar table today.' - lawyer Ingrid Irwin after a second trial which involved Pell and two of her clients was dropped PELL'S LAWYER 'Cardinal George Pell has always maintained his innocence and continues to do so.' - lawyer representing Pell, Paul Galbally THE CHURCH 'While acknowledging the judgment of the jury, I join many people who have been surprised and shaken by the outcome of the second trial.' - Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli

'We pray for all those who have been abused and their loved ones and we commit ourselves anew to doing everything possible to ensure that the Church is a safe place for all, especially the young and the vulnerable.' - Archbishop Mark Coleridge, President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

'The institution has been brought to its knees. It has lost its credibility, frankly. It is still struggling to come to terms with that.' - Francis Sullivan, former boss of the council that co-ordinated the church's royal commission response COMMUNITY 'Catholics today in Victoria, in Australia, vote with your feet. Have some backbone, walk out of the church house. They won't change.' - child sexual abuse survivor advocate, Michael

'To date, within the Catholic Church, it has been anything but fair, just, humane or moral.' - Cathy Kezelman, president of the Blue Knot Foundation for adult survivors of child trauma

'This is is a momentous event, as part of the continuing drama of the Catholic catastrophe.' - former Catholic priest turned child abuse victims advocate Professor Des Cahill

'Thank you to some of the bravest men in Australia and their families for trusting me.' - investigative journalist Louise Milligan

'You're going to burn in hell. Burn in hell, Pell.' - a bystander as Pell left court

'Cardinal Pell's behaviours have not met the standards we expect of those we honour as role models for the young men we educate.' - St Patrick's College headmaster John Crowley, having removed Pell's name from a building which had been named in his honour POLITICIANS 'Like most Australians, I am deeply shocked at the crimes of which George Pell has been convicted. I respect the fact that this case is under appeal, but it is the victims and their families I am thinking of today, and all who have suffered from sexual abuse by those they should have been able to trust, but couldn't.' - Prime Minister Scott Morrison

'My thoughts are with the victims - their pain is a tragedy, their bravery an inspiration. They've been betrayed and so have good people of faith across Victoria.' - Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews

'(I'm) absolutely shocked and disgusted by the details I've read today and I think everybody would feel the same. There are no words to describe how horrible those incidents were.' - NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian

'Finally, the good news is that now George Pell's decades of predatory behaviour is out there for all to see.' - Senator Derryn Hinch

'It is truly wonderful to live in a country where no one is above the law, where any person can seek access to justice and to see that justice done.' - Deputy Labor Leader Tanya Plibersek Advertisement

Pell is the most senior Catholic clergyman to face trial over sexual offences anywhere in the world. He has been ailing in recent months

Pell has surrendered his passport as part of his bail conditions and is not permitted to leave Australia.

The cardinal was named the Vatican's Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy in 2014, making him the third highest-ranking cleric in Rome.

Before being called to the Vatican, Pell served as Archbishop of Sydney from 2001 to 2014 and was Archbishop of Melbourne from 1996 to 2001.

He was ordained in 1966 and made a cardinal in 2003.

During a nationwide inquiry into child sexual abuse in 2016, Pell said he was 'too ill' to travel from Rome to Australia, citing heart problems.

Artist Tim Minchin released a protest song called 'Come Home (Cardinal Pell)' that was nominated for a top industry award.

He eventually fronted the royal commission by video link.

Victorian police charged Pell with the sexual assault offences in June last year in Rome.

Pell, who was represented by attorney Robert Richter, QC, stated at a press conference at the time he would return to Australia to answer the charges and he was 'looking forward, finally, to having my day in court'.

'I'm innocent of those charges,' he said then. 'They are false.'

'I'm looking forward, finally, to having my day in court,' George Pell said in June last year. 'I'm innocent of those charges. They are false.' He is pictured at court in Melbourne on Tuesday
Botswana is moving towards culling elephants by lifting its wildlife hunting ban after a group of the country's ministers endorsed the idea, but the proposal has drawn heavy criticism.

The southern African country's President Mokgweetsi Masisi had previously tasked a government subcommittee with reviewing the hunting ban - which had been put in place by his predecessor Ian Khama in 2014.

The committee decided to recommend lifting the ban last Thursday, and the country's minister of local government and rural development Frans Solomon van der Westhuizen advocated 'regular but limited elephant culling', NPR reports.

Elephant meat canning - including for pet food production purposes - was also recommended by some.

Konstantinos Markus, a Member of Parliament who spearheaded efforts to eliminate the ban, argued that the 'expansion of the elephant population in Botswana has impoverished communities.'

A Botswanan Defence Force colonel near the marked remains of an elephant killed in the Chobe national park area

According to reports Markus said rural citizens of Botswana have grown hostile toward elephants, especially in the north where he said the animals have cut maize yields by nearly three-quarters.

Botswana is reportedly home to 130,000 elephants, according to the Great Elephant Census, but concern has been rising regarding the 'growing conflict between humans and wildlife'.

The country's Government has also said pinpoiting the precise elephant population is difficult partly because herds can roam across borders into other countries.

Botswana's consideration of lifting the ban has drawn heavy criticism.

The Telegraph reported that an elephant conservationist who works with the country's government called the proposed cull 'short sighted'.

One Twitter user said she was 'devastated' to hear that the country was considering lifting the ban

The conservationist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the paper: 'Botswana does have too many elephants, and there is huge elephant human conflict.

'But this is not economically viable and it doesn't take into account the reputational damage to the country. Better exploitation of sustainable tourism is a far better model.'

Online campaign group Elephants DC, which advances anti-poaching and anti-smuggling policies and has 35,000 Facebook folloewers, said: Botswana in the news for all the wrong reasons. America should help NOW defend future impending poaching slaughters of the elephants. This nation is largest last haven of African elephants, many now whom are refugees after fleeing conflict elsewhere, in the world.'

One Twitter user said:'DEVASTATED to hear that @OfficialMasisi is considering lifting the ban on hunting elephants. It has even been proposed that the slaughtered elephants be made into 'pet food'.

'Please let Masisi know that if this is authorised, tourism to Botswana will dramatically decrease.'

African bush elephants in Botswana may lose their protection from the 2014 law

Regarding the idea that the African democracy could be set to cull the animals, one Twitter user said: 'Conservationists around the world must join forces to ensure that this ludicrous idea never happens. Elephants are the most majestic of creatures. Thousands have been slaughtered for their ivory, now this shocking development. Elephants will become extinct.'

Another said: 'Guys gonna pls stop the savagery against the elephants... everybody likes elephants - they connect us into the history of life itself. The Queen and Prince Philip like to feed them bananas too. Cheers.'

But one social media user took a different approach, saying: 'Do you know the struggle of someone in Shakawe who's has to face this animals every other day? Have you ever had you crops completely erased by elephants. What really is your mandate?'

Last year, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Bill Oddie, Peter Egan, and a cross-party group of MPs rallied against proposals to lift the ban, claiming that allowing hunting could force the species to the point of extinction.

When the 2014 ban was imposed, the government had said it was moved to act after indications of 'several species in the country' showing declines.

The ban permitted hunting in registered and private game ranches.

The country's Government published a press release clarifying that 'no decision has been taken' regarding the hunting ban

Bush elephants populate much of the Chobe national park and river which border with Zambia

Some have argued that the rules may have been a detriment to the animals and people alike.

NPR reports that a spokesperson for conservationist non-profit organisation Elephants Without Borders said: 'Some people are worried that elephants have recovered in greater numbers than the environment can sustain, and there is significant concern over increasing human-elephant conflict.

'During the past 20 years the elephant range in Botswana has expanded by 53%, causing increasing concern about the impact of elephants on biodiversity, the viability of other species and the livelihoods and safety of people living within the elephant range.'

Botswana's Government published a statement on Twitter outlining how it had not taken a decision regarding the committee's recommendations.

It read: 'The Government of Botswana wishes to inform members of the public that no decision has been taken with respect to the recommendations contained in the Sub Committee of Cabinet Report on the hunting ban that was presented to His Excellency Dr. Mokgweetsi E. K Masisi, President of the Republic of Botswana recently by the chairperson of the said sub-committee.

Pictured: A herd of elephants gather with their young for a drink at a Botswanan water hole

Conservationists set Botswana's elephant population at 130,000, but lawmakers claim the actual figure is much higher than this

'As members of the public may recall, the moratorium on hunting was introduced in 2014 by Government and it was not meant to be a permanent decision. It is against this background that in June 2018, Government decided to consult with key stakeholders on the hunting ban in view of the increased human/wildlife conflict.

'In this regard, a Cabinet Sub Committee on the Hunting Ban was established to conduct a nationwide consultative process that covered, holding kgotla meetings, consulting with individuals, local authorities, researchers and other key stakeholders.

'Members of the public are reminded that consultation/therisanyo is the bedrock of out democratic dispensation as a nation. The long-standing peace, democracy and good governance experience that Botswana is often cited for, promotes social cohesion, unity in various communities, freedom of expression and equality before the law.

'Therefore Government wishes to assure members of the public that it will uphold this principle and continue to engage with other important stakeholders before a decision regarding the recommendations is made.'

The statement was attributed to Carter N. Morupisi, Permanent Secretary to the President and Secretary to the Cabinet.

Botswana, which is roughly the size of France, has a population of around 2.3 million people and contains vast tracts of remote wilderness that make it a magnet for foreign tourists who want to view wildlife.

International tourism could generate 160m for Botswana this year, rising to 280m by 2021 - more than trophy hunters spend across the whole of southern Africa.
A headmaster at a leading comprehensive has banned his pupils from using fake tan in an attempt make it 'the best school in the county'.

Matthew Hardwick informed parents at the 1,300-pupil Ulverston Victoria High School in Cumbria that any unnaturally tanned students will be breaching uniform policy.

One 18-year-old pupil said: 'Quite a lot of girls in the lower school are fairly orange. The school wanted them to tone it down a bit.'

Matthw Hardwick, headmaster of Ulverston Victoria High School in Cumbria, has warned that any unnaturally tanned students will be breaching uniform policy

But Mr Hardwick, who took charge on January 1 with a mission to improve the school, has faced criticism online for his hardline policy.

Some parents have accused the school of potentially damaging girls' self-esteem, particularly in an age where fake tans are so common on programmes like Love Island.

Gill Turner posted: 'Lots of kids have total body confidence issues, if a bit of fake tan makes them feel better about themselves then surely this helps with concentration?'

Inevitably, another claimed: 'What about a person's human rights... Ridiculous'

The oversubscribed school, which teaches children from 11-18, yesterday defended the ban.

Assistant head Richard Butler said: 'Some pupils had gone beyond what was acceptable and we wanted to reinforce our no make-up policy, which includes fake tan. We have had support from parents and there have been no objections lodged.'

The school, which was once in special measures, is rated 'good' by Ofsted and received 'outstanding' ratings.
Vigilantes have issued death threats and publicly posted the address of a young couple accused of carrying out a 'barbaric' attack against police officers.

Mother Kayla Potts, 25 and her fiance Jack Houldcroft, 27, were both arrested after the fight with two officers in St Kilda, Melbourne about 3am on Sunday.

Senior police described the shocking group attack as 'animalistic' and 'barbaric' and the state premier slammed the footage as 'disgusting'.

Mr Houldcroft's Facebook page was inundated with aggressive messages as people left threats on photos of himself with Ms Potts' mother and brother.

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Vigilantes have issued death threats and publicly posted the address of young couple Jack Houldcroft (left) and Kayla Potts (right) who are accused of carrying out a 'barbaric' attack against police officers

Mr Houldcroft's Facebook page was inundated with aggressive messages as people left threats on photos of himself with Ms Potts' mother and brother (pictured)

Another person said Ms Potts' mother should be 'sent a message' after she hid her daughter's face while leaving Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday (pictured)

'Is this where they live' one person asked after being told he had the wrong address for the couple, news.com.au reported.

Another person said Ms Potts' mother should be 'sent a message' after she hid her daughter's face while leaving Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday after being granted bail.

A friend of the couple told people to stop harassing them.

'Posting their bloody addresses and family is not your business... get a grip... how dare you jeopardise their family members and safety,' the friend said.

Another friend said those posting on Mr Houldcroft's Facebook page were 'keyboard heroes'.

'None of you are any better sitting there acting tough and posting their families (sic) addresses and profiles up like a witch hunt... leave their families alone you pathetic grubs,' the friend of Mr Houldcroft's said.

A previous address for the couple was posted to Facebook, and some said the people who live there now would be targeted as a result.

'Some poor family is gonna cop hell because stupid c**ts like this think they know something because it was on Facebook,' one person said.

'Hunting down someone on Facebook just to slander them over what you see on TV is gutless in itself,' another said.

A previous address for the couple was posted to Facebook, and some said the people who live there now would be targeted as a result. Pictured: Kayla Potts

Arrested and charged: Kayla Potts (left) 25, and fiance Jack Houldcroft, 27, (right) were allegedly involved in a brawl with two friends and two police officers in St Kilda, Melbourne early on Sunday morning

Kayla's brother Trent Potts (left) 26, and friend Phillip O'Donnell (right) 38, were also arrested. The four friends were celebrating a 30th birthday party when they allegedly got into an argument upon leaving the venue

Three other people - including Potts' brother Trent, 26, her friend Phillip O'Donnell, 38, and a 26-year-old St Kilda man - have since been charged over the attack.

The group has been charged with two counts of assaulting a police officer, affray, violent disorder, and other assault charges.

If convicted, all parties face a mandatory six months in jail for assaulting an emergency worker.

Kayla Potts - a childcare worker - was released on bail from the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday.

She was seen leaving the court shielding her face.

The Melbourne Magistrates Court heard that Potts, her brother Trent, Houldcroft and O'Donnell had been attending a 30th birthday party in St Kilda when they allegedly got into an argument upon leaving the venue.

A transgender woman intervened in the alleged dispute but Trent Potts allegedly kicked the Good Samaritan in the genitals.

Police were called and arrived on the scene just as the group were about to get into a taxi.

At that point, Mr Potts allegedly fled on foot and a police chase ensued.

Senior Constable Darren Shepherd, however, tripped on the gutter while Senior Constable Adam McKenzie caught up with Potts.

Mr Potts allegedly tried to fight the cop before his sister showed up and lunged at him.

A court heard Kayla Potts allegedly attacked an officer after her brother Trent tried to fight him. The officer then allegedly bashed her with a torch, splitting her head open

The officer allegedly hit her with a torch, splitting her head open.

She then unleashed a tirade against the officer, swearing at him repeatedly.

Video footage showed Mr O'Donnell and Mr Houldcroft beating the officers.

Mr O'Donnell is accused of tackling Shepherd from behind, slamming his head repeatedly into the pavement.

Mr Houldcroft punched and kicked McKenzie as he lay on the ground.

Shepherd was admitted to the hospital with a ruptured bicep and required surgery.

The other officer suffered cuts and bruises to his face as well as a fractured cheekbone, a detective told the court.

Video footage captured the four friends in a brawl that saw a police officer's head slammed onto the concrete

Police will allege Mr O'Donnell smashed the officer's head into the concrete during the fracas. He is expected to seek bail on Tuesday, The Australian reported.

Officers are seeking a man who was seen spitting on an injured officer and two women involved in the brawl.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the violence was a 'disgusting incident' and that police should use the 'full force' of the law.

'We've got no time for this, no tolerance for it, and I'm confident Victoria Police will be doing the work necessary to see those people face the full force of new laws that I'm very proud to have written,' he said.

Sickening footage showed a man repeatedly slamming a police officer's head into the ground

Victoria Police deputy commissioner Shane Patton said the attack was 'disgusting and unprovoked'.

'The outrage - I can't explain the outrage that I felt when I saw the footage yesterday that all members of executive command saw, and how we felt,' he said.

'That type of attack, that type of barbaric behaviour, just cannot be tolerated.'

Mr Patton said police were searching for three other people involved in the incident.
Motorists in Sydney are set to be hit with five more toll roads as experts reveal they already pay the most expensive road charges in the world.

Sydney has nine toll roads, with 15 toll points in place and six more due to be installed by 2023.

Chinh Ho, senior lecturer with the Institute of Transport Logistics at the University of Sydney, said it was the most extensive network in the world.

'In terms of the kilometres of tolls in the urban area, Sydney has the most in the world,' he told ABC News.

'The question is more to do with whether or not people are willing to pay for them, or whether we head down the right track and bring in infrastructure not based on tolls.'

Motorists in Sydney are set to be hit with six more toll points as experts reveal they already pay the most expensive road charges in the world

Toll fees at current points range from as little as $1.67 for cars to $7.45, while the new toll points for WestConnex will range from $4.93 to $7.89, but will be capped out at $9.30.

Claims by the government that toll points help ease traffic congestion were shot down by University of Technology Sydney Transport Research Centre director Dr Michelle Zeibots.

Dr Zeibots told the publication that congestion is not reduced by toll points and that more extensive public transport was the only way to reduce traffic.

Claims by the government that toll points help to ease traffic congestion were shot down by UTS Transport Research Centre director Michelle Zeibots

'The reason why governments continue to build them is that they are put under enormous pressure by the tollway industry and individuals sometimes within their own party, who I would suggest are there to see tollway businesses make a lot of money,' she said.

In December 2018 the state government announced a toll and registration relief scheme it hoped would appease motorists.

From July 1, 2019, drivers who spend $15 or more a week on tolls will be eligible for half-priced registration. Drivers who spend $25 or more a week on tolls will continue to receive free registration.

Senior lecturer with the Institute of Transport Logistics Studies at the University of Sydney Chinh Ho said Sydney has the largest network of toll points in the world

The program is available for all standard privately registered cars, utes, four-wheel drives and motorcycles.

NSW Roads Minister Melinda Pavey said the program would be backdated, so eligible motorists will be able to count their toll spend from 1 July 2018.

'This is about putting money back into the pockets of hardworking motorists,' Mrs Pavey said.

The program will not include heavy vehicles or for business vehicles using the toll points.
Low-paid contractors who moderate offensive posts for Facebook say their job is so psychologically stressful that to cope they have sex with each other during the workday, smoke weed, drink alcohol, and tell offensive jokes about suicide and racism, it has been reported.

Facebook employs some 1,000 contractors who work from the offices of Cognizant Technologies in Phoenix, Arizona.

Their job is to sift through posts that were flagged for potentially offensive content and determine if it breaches the social networks guidelines.

Moderators reported being traumatized at having to watch beheadings, murders, stabbings, instances of bestiality, and racist memes, according to The Verge.

Content moderators working for Facebook say the demands of the job leave them traumatized to the point where they need drugs, alcohol, and even sex to get through the workday

The psychological strain of sifting through offensive content prompted Cognizant to provide counselors and a hotline.

The company also gave employees the option of doing yoga and other therapeutic activities to help alleviate the stress.

But the moderators say this isnt enough.

One way workers let off steam is sexual intercourse. Employees were found having sex in bathroom stalls, stairwells, the parking garage, and a room reserved for lactating mothers.

Because the company forbids its employees from discussing the nature of their work with family and friends, the moderators lean on each other in what is called trauma bonding.

You get really close to your coworkers really quickly, a former moderator told The Verge.

If youre not allowed to talk to your friends or family about your job, thats going to create some distance.

You might feel closer to these people.

Workers also turn to marijuana and alcohol - both during and after the workday - to help cope.

I cant even tell you how many people Ive smoked with, a former moderator, Li, told The Verge.

Its so sad, when I think back about it - it really does hurt my heart.

Wed go down and get stoned and go back to work. Thats not professional.

Knowing that the content moderators for the worlds biggest social media platform are doing this on the job, while they are moderating content 

Employees also described a culture of fear in the office where a few mistakes could cost someone their job.

Moderators who are judged by accuracy in striking down posts that do not adhere to Facebook guidelines often disagree with decisions made by their bosses, who are known as quality assurance (QA) personnel.

If a moderator falls below a certain threshold by incorrectly ruling on certain posts, they are in danger of losing their job.

The stress that comes with the prospect of being fired often times leads to moderators angrily confronting QAs at the end of the workday.

They would confront me in the parking lot and tell me they were going to beat the s*** out of me, Randy, a former QA, told The Verge.

There wasnt even a single instance where it was respectful or nice.

It was just, You audited me wrong! That was a boob! That was full areola, come on man!

When a number of fired employees threatened to return to the office and do harm to their former colleagues, Randy said he began bringing a concealed gun to work out of fear for his safety.

About a dozen former moderators working for Cognizant Technologies in Phoenix (whose offices are seen above) spoke about their experiences

Moderator Li also said that employees would compete with one another to see who would send the most offensive and racist memes and jokes - even at his expense.

Li said he took no offense to it because he understood this particular brand of office humor was a therapeutic release for the moderators.

We were doing something that was darkening our soul - or whatever you call it, he says.

What else do you do at that point? The one thing that makes us laugh is actually damaging us.

I had to watch myself when I was joking around in public. I would accidentally say [offensive] things all the time  and then be like, Oh s***, Im at the grocery store. I cannot be talking like this.

The job of moderating Facebook posts also took a psychological toll on the employees.

Several moderators told The Verge they have fallen victim to secondary traumatic stress - which is defined as trauma endured as a result of seeing or hearing horrific events that happened to people firsthand.

The symptoms are similar to those of post-traumatic stress, including anxiety, sleep loss, loneliness, disassociation, depression, anger, suicidal thoughts, and others.

Randy told The Verge that a video of a stabbing, in which a man is seen crying for his mother as he bled to death, left him traumatized.

Every day I see that, I have a genuine fear over knives, Randy says.

I like cooking - getting back into the kitchen and being around the knives is really hard for me.

He said he was diagnosed with PTSD and generalized anxiety disorder.

Im f****d up, man, Randy says.

My mental health  its just so up and down.

One day I can be really happy, and doing really good.

The next day, Im more or less of a zombie. Its not that Im depressed. Im just stuck.

I dont think its possible to do the job and not come out of it with some acute stress disorder or PTSD.

Former moderators said their colleagues began to embrace conspiracy theories, like the '9/11 truth' theory which says that the September 11 attacks were an 'inside job' and that the earth was really flat

Another worrying sign, according to moderators, is that they were beginning to believe many conspiracy theories that they were exposed to by virtue of their job.

One moderator said they began to warm up to trutherism - the conspiracy which alleges that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated by the United States government.

Others have been reported to doubt aspects of the Holocaust - with one moderator referring to it as Holohoax.

There are moderators who said they were beginning to accept the idea that the earth may be flat.

Even though the moderators are working for Facebook, they are paid far below the standard wage, The Verge reported.

The average Facebook employee earns $240,000 a year, but the contractors working in Phoenix make just $28,800 per year - or about $15 an hour.

The work conditions for the contractors are also not nearly as comfortable as they are for Facebook staffers.

While Facebook employees at the spacious headquarters in Menlo Park, California, get perks like an on-site arcade, a barber shop, dry cleaning, and valet parking, the Cognizant office in Phoenix forces hundreds of employees to share just one urinal and two stalls in the mens room.

The womens room has just three stalls, according to contractors who spoke to The Verge.

The employees in the office are also limited to two 15-minute breaks and a 30-minute lunch - all of which are monitored by management through a browser extension on their computers.

Since management knew when an employee began their break, every minute was precious.

The workers also get nine minutes a day of wellness time, which is intended for use if the job becomes too emotionally stressful.

But management then ordered workers to stop using the wellness time to go to the bathroom. Two Muslim employees were also reprimanded for using wellness time to pray. They were told to use their break time instead for worship.

Facebook responded to the article, saying it was standard industry practice to monitor employees break times.

In September, a California woman sued Facebook claiming that her job as a content moderator left her with PTSD, according to Motherboard.

Selena Scola, who worked for a contractor known as Pro Unlimited, Inc., says her mental health was damaged by 'constant and unmitigated exposure to highly toxic and extremely disturbing images at the workplace.'

She alleged that Facebook failed to provide adequate services to improve employees' mental health.

In a statement in response to the lawsuit, the company said: 'We recognize that this work can often be difficult.

'That is why we take the support of our content moderators incredibly seriously, starting with their training, the benefits they receive, and ensuring that every person reviewing Facebook content is offered psychological support and wellness resources.

'Facebook employees receive these in house and we also require companies that we partner with for content review to provide resources and psychological support, including onsite counseling - available at the location where the plaintiff worked - and other wellness resources like relaxation areas at many of our larger facilities.'
Irans Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi has called on India and Pakistan to show restraint amid reports of heightened tension between the two sides.

Ghasemi said that Tehran calls on the two countries to do more to reduce tension and resolve disputes and problems peacefully through dialogue.

He added that Iran, as one of the victims of terrorism in the world, believes that the only way to fight terrorism and extremism is all-out and unbiased cooperation between all countries of the world, Mehr news agency reported.

Ghasemi's comments came after India said it had conducted "preemptive" airstrikes against a militant training camp inside Pakistan, shortly after the Pakistani military accused New Delhi of violating its territory in the Kashmir region.
A woman with a multiple personality disorder has given evidence at a child abuse trial against her father.

Jennifer Haynes, the alleged victim of one of the worst cases of child sex abuse ever documented in Australia, spoke at a Sydney courthouse on Monday afternoon.

When she took the stand to give evidence against Richard Haynes, lawyers were mindful of which of her six personalities was giving evidence.

Jennifer Haynes (pictured) alleges her multiple personality disorder was brought about by years of sexual abuse at the hands of her father

Her condition was brought about by years of alleged sexual abuse, Seven News reported.

Ms Haynes, who has bravely waived her right to anonymity, told the court how the abuse began when she was just four years old.

'This is my chance to tell,' she said.

'I have no problem if the whole universe was in here.'

Throughout her testimony her father smirked as she told how she had been tortured for seven years inside an inner-west home.

The allegations are so serious that the case is a judge-only trial because it was feared a jury could be left psychologically traumatised.

Lawyers had to identify which of Ms Haynes' six personalities was giving evidence at court (pictured) on Monday

Ms Haynes referred to the accused as 'Daddy', her mother as 'Mummy' and her pet dog as 'Doggy' in court.

Though her terms were child-like, she was able to describe her allegations in fine details.

She claims her father threatened to hurt her mother, sister and pets if she made noises, saying she was 'scared people would die'.

The trial is expected to last five weeks, due to the 80 allegations made against Mr Haynes.
Three New Zealand university students have finally won their battle with an electricity giant after they were wrongly overcharged on their final bill.

Roommates Lani McNamara, Ashley O'Neil and Sidney Hing signed a 12-month contract with Trustpower for internet, phone, electricity and the Neon streaming service last year.

The three girls asked to cancel their deal earlier this year when they decided to move to another house.

However, the company sent them a final bill of $400 - nearly four times the amount they had expected to pay.

'I read through the terms and conditions and I knew that wasn't right,' Lani told 1 News Now.

New Zealand roommates Ashley O'Neil (left) Sidney Hing (center) and Lani McNamara (right) were wrongly charged $400 on their final bill with Trustpower

The three university students had signed up for a 12-month contract of internet, phone, electricity, and Neon streaming service, last year. The company accidentally charged them an early exit fee for a 24-month deal

The friends were aware they would have to pay an early exit fee which they understood to be $95.

When they notified the company of the mistake, Trustpower said their records showed they had signed up for a longer deal and charged them a termination fee for the 24-month contract.

Lani said she asked the company for proof they had signed up for that deal, accusing them of breaching consumer rights.

Despite several attempts to get them to correct the error, Trustpower was adamant the fee had been correctly added to the bill.

Frustrated, the girls decided to go to New Zealand consumer affairs programme Fair Go, to tell their story.

Trustpower has since apologised and blamed the mistake on 'human error.' The company also took care of the final bill which was worth $800

Shortly after, Trustpower apologised admitting the mistake was due to staff using the wrong product code when the girls signed up.

'We failed to provide the service we should have. Her exit fee should have been reversed,' they told the news outlet.

Trustpower claimed staff 'let system data drive their action rather than use common sense.

'Put simply, we let Lani down.

'We do our best at Trustpower to get it right, but sometimes we get it wrong.

'There is no good reason we didn't make contact with Lani earlier, and we are profusely sorry,' the company said.

Trustpower ultimately wiped the entire final bill, which was worth about $800 total.
Wisconsin Gov Tony Evers has ordered the state's National Guard troops to withdraw from the border with Mexico.

Former Republican Gov Scott Walker ordered troops to Arizona in June to assist with administrative duties along the border.

Evers, a Democrat, issued an executive order Monday withdrawing them. Evers announced the order late Monday afternoon.

The governor said about 112 troops are currently serving in Arizona but keeping the borders safe and protecting immigrants seeking asylum is the US Customs and Border Patrol's job.

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Wisconsin Gov Tony Evers has ordered the state's National Guard troops to withdraw from the border with Mexico. Evers announced the order late Monday afternoon

Evers said there's not enough evidence to support President Donald Trump's declaration that a national emergency exists and there's no justification for Wisconsin troops (file image) to remain

He said there's not enough evidence to support President Donald Trump's declaration that a national emergency exists and there's no justification for Wisconsin troops to remain.

'I cannot support keeping our brave service men and women away from their families without a clear need or purpose that would actively benefit the people of Wisconsin or our nation,' Evers said.

Adam Kinzinger, a Republican congressman from Illinois, tweeted on Monday that he is a member of the Wisconsin National Guard and criticized Evers for his decision.

In a series of tweets, he said he was sent to the border as a member of the Wisconsin National Guard and his crew caught a man crossing the border with 70 pounds of methamphetamine.

'Wonder the damage that would do in Milwaukee ...' he tweeted.

'I cannot support keeping our brave service men and women (file image) away from their families without a clear need or purpose that would actively benefit the people of Wisconsin or our nation,' Evers said

He went on to claim that he and his crew 'captured a few coyotes, who prey on desperate migrants' and he came across a woman alone in the desert and helped the border patrol rescue her.

He tweeted that stopping illegal immigration is an honorable mission and asked Evers whether his decision to withdraw was a political one. He also asked Evers to reconsider.

Kinzinger echoed those sentiments during an appearance on Fox News, criticizing Evers for not visiting the troops on the border.

He accused the governor of lacking the courage to announce the withdrawal earlier in the day.

Kinzinger represents 14 counties in northern Illinois.

His spokeswoman, Maura Gillespie, said he flies the RC-26 surveillance plane for the Wisconsin Air National Guard, the closest unit to Kinzinger's home that uses the plane.

A Wisconsin National Guard spokeswoman didn't respond to an email asking whether Kinzinger would face any military discipline for criticizing Evers, the Wisconsin National Guard's commander in chief.
A former detective once accused of shooting dead a paedophile remains in a critical condition after being shot in the face in a suspected revenge hit.

Said 'Sid' Morgan, 53, is on life support at The Royal Melbourne Hospital after he was shot on Spraypoint Drive, Point Cook in Melbourne's west about 11pm on Thursday.

A close associate of Mr Morgan has now revealed the 53-year-old is a 'wheeler and dealer' who is in constant financial strife.

Said 'Sid' Morgan, 53 (pictured), who was acquitted of shooting dead a paedophile, remains in a critical condition after being shot in the face in a suspected revenge hit

Mr Morgan was shot on Spraypoint Drive in Point Cook (pictured) in Melbourne's west about 11pm on Thursday

'I know he owed people a lot of money  he got himself into a lot of trouble,' the associate told The Daily Telegraph.

The former police detective shot an alleged paedophile six times at a home in Oakhurst in Sydney's west in 1995.

He was acquitted of murder after the Supreme Court found that he had acted out of fear for the future safety of the girls who were allegedly abused by the paedophile, The Daily Telegraph previously reported.

Mr Morgan, who now works as a real estate agent, is alleged to have racked up multiple debts from several failed business dealings.

The associate described how the 53-year-old is 'constantly living living on the edge financially' and had previously 'gone bust a few times'.

Mr Morgan was also the director of six failed businesses, including three property companies, a legal firm and a marketing agency, the publication reported.

He was declared bankrupt in 2014 - shortly after most of his buisnesses were deregistered - and other records show he owes $66,167 to four creditors.

'He had an attitude that it was OK to owe money,' the associate said. 'He owed money for ads, to suppliers, vendors'

Witnesses told police they heard an argument on the street before a shot was fired and a ute was seen speeding off moments later.

Neighbours also told the publication cars - including a ute similar to the one that sped off on February 21 - were often parked out the front of Mr Morgan's home.

Mr Morgan (pictured), who now works as a real estate agent, is alleged to have racked up multiple debts from several failed business dealings

One witness, Suhair Bdeiwe, told 9News she heard the gunshot and ran to her balcony where she saw a white ute speeding away from the scene.

'I saw a big white ute driving badly,' Ms Bdeiwe said.

Security cameras captured a similar ute heading in the same direction as the one Ms Bdeiwe claimed to have witnessed.

Three white cars parked out the Point Cook home were each dusted for prints to see whether they could lead to persons of interest.

Two men, both from Point Cook in Melbourne's south-west, were arrested on Saturday morning.

Witnesses told police they heard an argument on the street (pictured) before a shot was fired and a ute was seen speeding off moments later

CCTV footage captured a ute speeding erratically from the scene of the crime (pictured)

A 30-year-old was arrested in Point Cook, the suburb where the alleged shooting took place.

The second suspect, 29, was taken into custody at Nagambie, more than 150km from the crime scene.

Both men are assisting the Homicide Squad.

Despite the associate's claims, police are yet to reveal the motive for the crime or how many suspects were involved.
Michael Cohen will raise his hand before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday to kick off a three-day, back-to-back trio of appearances on Capitol Hill where he will face multiple grillings from lawmakers on his relationship with President Donald Trump and his guilty plea to lying to Congress.

Cohen's closed-door testimony is a prelude to his public appearance on Wednesday before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, to be followed by a second private session on Thursday before the House Intelligence Committee.

Wednesday's public hearing will overshadow the others merely by the presence of TV cameras, to which both Cohen and the lawmakers will be playing to as they engage in a verbal parle on a variety of issues, including the building of Trump Tower Moscow, the payoffs to women during the 2016 campaign, Trump's business dealings, and donations to the president's inaugural committee.

Michael Cohen kicks off a three-day, trio of Capitol Hill appearances on Tuesday

Michael Cohen was spotted on Capitol Hill last week to prepare for his testimony

President Trump will not be in town for Cohen's appearances, having left Monday for Vietnam

But one topic not the public agenda: Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and any possible collusion between Trump's team and Moscow.

Oversight panel chairman Elijah Cummings coordinated with his counterpart on the House Intel panel, Adam Schiff, and the two agreed the Russia conversation will happen discussed behind closed doors at the intelligence session while Trump's business dealings will be the focus of the public hearing, according to a memo released Sunday by the Oversight panel.

Lawmakers can dismiss the chairman's guidance and ask whatever they chose, but Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, also said his client cannot talk about the Russia probe in public.

Senators, meanwhile, are eager to have Cohen in their crosshairs on Tuesday.

'I think the reason you have him back is, when somebody lies to Congress in an investigation like this, the questions you might have asked the next witness don't get asked. Somebody you might have called doesn't get called,' Senate intelligence panel member Sen. Roy Blunt said Sunday on CBS' 'Face the Nation.'

However, Republicans are already preparing to cast doubts on Cohen's credibility - one of Trump's legal team's major arguments against the president's former personal attorney.

'I don't know that we believe him this time,' Blunt noted.

Republicans will be just as hard on Cohen as Democrats, particularly those closed tied to the president.

Republican Reps. Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows, two of Trump's staunches allies on Capitol Hill, sent a letter to Cohen's attorneys last week saying they intend to press the president's former personal lawyer on his questionable business dealings, his lies to Congress, his work for foreign entities, and even 'the fake Women for Cohen social media initiative he commissioned.'

One person who won't be in town for the show is President Trump, who jetted off to Vietnam on Monday for his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But he will have the ability to tweet even with the 12 hour time difference.

This week marks Cohen's first time before lawmakers since he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the timing of talks concerning the building of a Trump Tower Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Lawmakers have indicated that will be a major topic of interest.

'Well, a great deal starting with why the false statements before our committee when he first appeared. Did they go beyond what he told us about Moscow Trump Tower into other areas as well?,' House Intelligence panel chair Rep. Adam Schiff said on ABC's 'This Week' on Sunday.

Democratic Rep. Jim Himes, who also sits on the Intelligence panel, said he wants to know the same.

'Well, you know, Michael Cohen is going to jail for lying to my committee. So obviously, step one is to re-ask him the questions that he felt he needed to lie to us about, when he testified in the last Congress. So we're going to want to get to the truth, allow him to correct the record. And then, of course, the question is, okay, now that we know the truth, what are the follow-ups? It's going to be an interesting week in that regard,' he said Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press.'

Democratic Reps. Elijah Cummings (left) and Adam Schiff (right) will chair Wednesday's and Thursday's House hearings respectively

Cohen attorney Lanny Davis was spotted on Capitol Hill last week with his client

Himes also said Cohen could be more forthcoming behind closed doors than in Wednesday's public circus.

'I don't think he's going to say a lot that is classified. But he may have some things that he doesn't feel comfortable saying publicly that he then wants to say either to the Senate or to the House Intelligence Committees, in closed session,' he said.

Last week, Cohen got a two-month reprieve from his deadline to report for his three years in jail, with a judge giving him until May 6. One of the reasons cited was his upcoming congressional testimony.

Cohen received a three-year sentence in December for bank and tax fraud, lying to Congress and violating campaign finance laws.

Even though Cohen can't talk about in public what he told Robert Mueller in the 70 hours he spent talking to that team for the special counsel's Russia investigation, he will speak publicly about his relationship with the president.

Cohen attorney Lanny Davis said last Tuesday his client will reveal how Trump is 'bigoted,' 'treats people badly,' and talk about he's heard the president say disparaging things about black people behind closed doors.

'I believe the issue in 2020 which Michael Cohen can speak to better than anyone is the man lacks character,' Davis told ABC's 'The Investigation' podcast. 'He speaks in bigoted words in private, which Michael Cohen will tell you. He treats people badly. 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.'

But Davis said Cohen will be able to talk about 'what did you do for Mr. Trump for all those years and why.'

Trump's legal team has already made their case against Cohen by painting him as an unreliable witness.

Both Trump's lawyers and the president himself have pushed back against any comments Cohen may have made to Mueller or will make in public by labeling him as a rat and turn coat who can't be believed.

Davis conceded that Cohen knows he has a 'deep hole to climb out' of in terms of credibility.

But he argued his client has seen the light and wants to make amends for his past work for the president.

'He wouldn't take a pardon if Trump pleaded with him to take it. Why? Because it would be dirty,' Davis told ABC News.

Michael Cohen seen with his arm in a sling

Cohen has been cooperating with the special counsel's probe of Russia's role in the 2016 election. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York was the lead federal prosecutor earlier this year when Cohen pled guilty to eight counts, including tax fraud and campaign finance violations - that stemmed from the special counsel's investigation.

Cohen also has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the timeline of conversations he had with Russian officials about building a Trump Tower Moscow as part of separate investigation by Mueller's team.

He was sentenced to three years in prison and is free on bail until that time.

Cohen's guilty pleas included a charge of lying to Congress about a Trump Organization real estate project that was slated for Moscow, Russia and discussed through the fall of 2016 while the president was running for office.

He testified in a closed congressional interview that the project he pursued on Trump's behalf was abandoned by the time of the Iowa Caucuses in January 2016; that would be consistent with Trump's 'political messaging.'

Mueller later filed documents revealing Cohen said he discussed the proposal with Trump on multiple occasions and with members of the president's family, later in the year  even after Trump became the Republican nominee for president.

Cohen said he lied out of loyalty to Trump.

Cohen also played a role in hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels (left) and former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal (right)

'I made these misstatements to be consistent with Individual 1's political messaging and out of loyalty to Individual 1,' Cohen said at his plea hearing late last year.

'Individual 1' is Mueller's name for Trump in the investigation.

Cohen was also the central figure in a plot to buy the silence of pornographic actress Stormy Daniels, who claimed that she had an affair with Trump in 2006.

Daniels signed a nondisclosure agreement in exchange for $130,000 from Cohen, a transaction that he admitted was a violation of campaign finance laws since it amounted to an illegally large contribution benefiting Trump's White House hopes.

He said in court that Trump directed him to make the payment, suggesting the president was guilty of a crime.

In August he pleaded guilty to eight separate charges related to tax dodges, falsifying bank documents and the campaign finance violations involving Daniels and another woman, former Playboy magazine model Karen McDougal.

Cohen claims that at Trump's request, he arranged for the publisher of The National Enquirer to pay McDougal  another self-described past Trump paramour  for the exclusive rights to her life story. The magazine never published anything, engaging in a practice known as 'catch and kill' in order to help Trump avoid new scandals in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign.

Trump has denied ever having a sexual relationship with either Daniels or McDougal.
A Yosemite National Park visitor was killed by falling rock and ice on Sunday.

Xuan Wang, 56, from Cupertino, California, was hiking on the Mist Trail in the park when she was struck by the ice rock.

The National Park Service said Wang succumbed to her injuries a short time later. According to the park, the incident occurred around 12.30pm Sunday afternoon.

Xuan Wang, 56, from Cupertino, California, was hiking on the Mist Trail in Yosemite National Park (file image) when she was killed by falling ice and rock on Sunday afternoon, park officials said

The Mist Trail, a popular trail from Yosemite Valley to the top of Vernal Fall, is closed this time of year due to icy and hazardous conditions.

'The trail closure is clearly marked and there is a gate on the trail reminding visitors of the closure,' National Park Service said in a statement

'Wang ignored the signs, went around the gate and the incident happened on the trail leading to Vernal Fall,' the statement continued.

Park officials said they are investigating Wang's death.

It's unclear if Wang was hiking the trail alone, but no other injuries were reported.

No further information will be released from park officials until the investigation is completed.
President Trump on Monday lashed out at Democrats in the Senate for blocking a Republican proposal on abortion.

'Senate Democrats just voted against legislation to prevent the killing of newborn infant children,' the president tweeted late Monday.

'The Democrat position on abortion is now so extreme that they dont mind executing babies AFTER birth....'

Trump continued: 'This will be remembered as one of the most shocking votes in the history of Congress.

'If there is one thing we should all agree on, its protecting the lives of innocent babies.'

Trump reacted to the vote while en route to his summit in Vietnam with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

President Trump (seen Monday at the White House) slammed Democrats over their stance on abortion

'Senate Democrats just voted against legislation to prevent the killing of newborn infant children,' the president tweeted late Monday

'The Democrat position on abortion is now so extreme that they dont mind executing babies AFTER birth,' Trump tweeted

Senate Democrats on Monday blocked a Republican bill that would have threatened prison for doctors who don't try saving the life of infants born alive during abortions.

The measure seemed doomed from the start but offered the GOP a chance to appeal to conservative voters.

The vote was the latest instance in which Republicans have tried to go on offense on the issue and put Democratic abortion-rights lawmakers in an uncomfortable position.

Supporters said the measure presented lawmakers with a simple, moral choice.

'I want to ask each and every one of my colleagues whether or not we're OK with infanticide,' said the measure's chief sponsor, Sen. Ben Sasse, a Republican fro Nebraska.

Opponents, noting the rarity of such births and citing laws already making it a crime to kill newborn babies, said the bill was unnecessary.

They said it is part of a push by abortion opponents to curb access to the procedure and intimidate doctors who perform it, and said late-term abortions generally occur when the infant is considered incapable of surviving after birth.

Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, a leading Democrat on health issues, said the measure would force women to accept 'care that may directly conflict with your wishes at a deeply personal, often incredibly painful moment in your life - because politicians in Washington decided their beliefs mattered more than yours.'

Senators voted 53-44 for Sasse's bill - seven votes short of the 60 needed to end Democratic delaying tactics aimed at derailing the measure.

Democratic Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Doug Jones of Alabama and Joe Manchin from West Virginia were the only lawmakers to cross party lines as Democrats demonstrated anew that even in the minority, they can derail abortion-related bills.

Several dozen House Republicans, led by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, stood on the Senate floor during the vote, just as a contingent of House Democrats did last month during a crucial vote on ending the government shutdown.

Republicans control the Senate by 53-47.

Only 1 percent of all abortions occur after 21 weeks of pregnancy, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights.

Abortions during the final weeks are rarer still.

Doctors' and abortion-rights groups say it is extremely unusual for live infants to be born during attempted late-term abortions, which they say usually occur when the baby is extremely deformed or deemed unable to survive after birth.

In such cases, families sometimes decide they want to induce labor so they can spend time with the infant before it dies.

'It only happens in instances in which we know that the baby will not ultimately survive, and a choice has been pre-made to provide just comfort care' to the baby so the parents can be with it, said Dr. Colleen McNicholas, a fellow with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Senate Democrats on Monday blocked a Republican bill that would have threatened prison for doctors who don't try saving the life of infants born alive during abortions. The bill's chief sponsor was Senator Ben Sasse (above) of Nebraska

If an infant is born alive during an abortion, Sasse's bill would require doctors to render 'the same degree' of care used for any birth.

The baby would have to be immediately sent to a hospital.

Doctors who violate those requirements and other medical staffers who don't report violations could face fines and up to five years in prison.

Doctors who intentionally kill a child born alive after an abortion would face prosecution under federal murder statutes - potentially a death penalty or life in prison.

Republicans in the Democratic-run House plan to try forcing a vote on a similar measure this spring.

They will employ a seldom-used tactic, a petition requiring signatures from most House members to succeed.

The GOP is expected to fall well short of the 20 Democratic supporters they'd need.

Republicans, eager to put congressional Democrats from swing states in an uneasy political spot, have been pouncing on the issue since it arose earlier this year in Virginia and New York.

Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a pediatric neurologist, spoke favorably in January about state legislation to ease restrictions on late-term abortions.

He said 'a discussion would ensue' between doctors and the family over what to do if an infant is born who is badly deformed or incapable of living.

Northam has since faced pressure to resign over a racist photo that appeared in his 1984 medical school yearbook.

Trump has criticized a new abortion law in New York that permits abortions of a viable fetus after 24 weeks of pregnancy if the mother's life is in danger - codifying conditions specified by U.S. Supreme Court rulings.
Students have stampeded across a road to reach a McDonald's and KFC which recently opened next to their school.

The pupils ran across the busy road, ignoring a pedestrian crossing, to reach the newly opened fast food restaurants in Sippy Downs near Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

Parents whose children attend Chancellor State College are worried that one of the youngsters could be seriously hurt or die.

Students stampeded across a busy road after a McDonald's and KFC opened next to their school in Sippy Downs, Queensland

Elise Stalder, a mother-of-three, was trying to turn into the school campus when she saw the large group of children running across the busy road, frozen drinks and fast food in hand.

'I was positive someone was going to get hit,' she said to the Sunshine Coast Daily.

'I thought someone was going to die.'

'I thought someone was going to die': Mother-of-three Elise Stalder thought a child could be seriously hurt as they ignored road safety rules to get to the fast food restaurants near their school (pictured)

Teachers were standing along the road once school had finished to try to direct the children so that they would stop making the dangerous dash across the road.

Chancellor State College P&C president Kylie McDonald said the school would discuss implementing new safety measures and rules for children crossing the road.

The school has asked KFC and McDonald's to refuse service to children wearing school uniforms during school hours.
An after-school care worker who raped two girls and abused another two while they were in his care continued to work and was not investigated for four years.

The 31-year-old man, who worked at a school in the Northern Territory capital of Darwin, was jailed for 16 years earlier this month for rapes and abuse he committed from 2012 to 2013.

He pleaded guilty to luring two girls, aged six and seven, into a school shed and also inappropriately touching two other girls, aged eight and nine, inside a classroom.

Despite the horrific nature of the sex attacks and multiple reports by concerned parents and a school teacher, police didn't start investigating until January 2017.

A 31-year-old after-school care worker raped two girls in 2012 to 2013 but was not investigated by police until 2017 (stock image)

According to the NT News, investigations were not conducted by police despite multiple reports to school authorities and child protection services from 2013.

The first report of the man's sexual abuse was made by one of the girl's mothers to child protection services as early as November 2013.

But because there was no complaint the matter was not referred to police, the Supreme Court heard earlier this month.

Another of the young victims told her teacher in November 2014 the school worker had touched her genitals, but the matter progressed no further than an official report, the court heard.

For a third time in April 2016, another of the girls told her parents she had been abused by the school worker but they decided not to go further with the complaint.

He has pleaded guilty to luring two girls aged six and seven into a shed and touching two other girls aged eight and nine inappropriately in a classroom (stock image)

One of the victims is scared and afraid she will be raped again, while another has attempted suicide and now keeps a knife under her bed for protection.

In a scathing judgement handed down during sentencing, Justice Anthony Graham slammed school authorities and police for their 'failure' to act on warning signs.

'Effectively he shattered their innocence and now he has to pay the price,' Justice Graham said.

National Association for Prevention of Child abuse and Neglect deputy chief executive, Leesa Waters told NT News that organisations which care for children need to ensure they put youngsters' needs first when they hire staff.

'We need to make sure that our staff understand how to prevent child abuse, and we need to listen to children and most importantly act on the information,' Ms Waters said.
A grandfather has interrupted his grandson's court appearance to insists the Australian constitution does not apply to him because he is indigenous.

The grandfather, whose grandson cannot be named for legal reasons, approached the bar table at the Townsville Magistrate Court on Monday with a printed copy of the constitution and remained there when Magistrate Richard Lehmann entered the room.

The grandfather argued that the constitution had no authority over indigenous Australians.

The grandfather argued that the constitution had no authority over Indigenous Australians (stock pic)

'Sir  step away from the bar table please  step away from the bar table,' Magistrate Lehmann said.

Waving the document in his hand, the grandfather refused to step away, Townsville Bulletin reported.

After another warning, Mr Lehman called security to remove the man.

His grandson has pleaded guilty to four charges, including one count of receiving tainted property and contravention of a domestic violence order.

Police Prosecutor Darren Cassidy said the man's offending towards his then-partner could only be described as a 'drunken tirade'.

The grandson was outside of the woman's home and threatened to pour petrol on and bomb her home, according to police reports.

The court heard the terrified woman locked herself in the bathroom at 1am before calling police.

On September 18, 2018, The accused also received a stolen iPhone 8, watches, speakers and keys from a victim, Mr Casson said.

Mr Casson said on September 18, 2018 the man received a stolen iPhone 8, as well as watches, speakers and keys from a victim.

Remote communities such as Baggot Community in the Northern Territory (above) have also suffered from spates of domestic violence recently

Defence lawyer Tracy Brown said the 20-year-old was intoxicated when he threatened his former partner.

The court heard the man mixed with the 'wrong crowd' and his drinking escalated after moving from Townsville to the small community of Palm Island.

'He made decisions which he was not proud of and resulted in things like criminal history slowly increasing,' Ms Brown said.

Mr Lehmann said he would take into account the 158 days spent in pre-sentence custody and the man was sentenced to nine, three and five months imprisonment to be served concurrently.

The domestic violence order was also extended for another five years until 2024.

The parole eligibility date was set for February 25.

Convictions were recorded.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has not formally accepted the resignation of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian President's chief of staff Mahmoud Vaezi said.

"Reports claiming that the president of the republic [of Iran] has accepted Zarif's resignation are categorically refuted," Vaezi wrote on Twitter late on Monday.

Earlier Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif went to Instagram in order to announce his resignation, apologizing "for all the shortcomings during the service".

The move was confirmed by Deputy spokesman of Foreign Ministry Seyyed Abbas Mousavi. He said that the ministry's personnel was unaware of Zarif's resignation or the possible reasons behind it, stressing that Zarif's Instagram account was official and it had not been hacked.

A source said that the Iranian parliament will debate on the resignation of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at Tuesday's session, Sputnik reported.
This grainy photograph captured the moment a teenage stowaway with wanderlust fell to his death from a Japan Airlines flight.

Sydney-born Keith Sapsford was only 14-years-old when he hid inside the wheel-well of the Japan-bound flight in 1970.

But the compartment of the DC-8 plane opened mid-air and the boy plummeted 60 metres (200ft) to the ground below near Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport.

An amateur photographer accidentally caught a photo of a 14-year-old boy falling from the sky

Amateur photographer John Gilpin captured the remarkable image while taking pictures of planes during take-off 49 years ago this week. His image has been shared on Reddit this week.

Mr Gilpin had no idea he had tragically recorded the youngster's last moments until he developed the pictures a week later.

The boy and his family had just been on a trip around the world to try to satisfy the schoolboy's thirst for travel, according to articles published at the time.

'All my son wanted to do was to see the world. He had itchy feet. His determination to see how the rest of the world lives has cost him his life,' his father, Charles Sapford said in a reported by Associated Press from February 23, 1970.

His father described him as a wanderer who had an 'urge to keep on the move'.

But after they returned to their home in Randwick, Keith remained restless.

Charles decided to send him to a Roman Catholic Institution called Boys' Town in south Sydney to 'straighten him out' after Keith ran away from home multiple times.

Keith Sapsford, a boy with an insatiable hunger for travel, hid in the wheel-well of a plane. Pictured, file image.

Boys' Town had a reputation for specialising in troubled children, with Mr Sapsford hoping they could calm his son down.

But Keith ran away from the association after only a fortnight and travelled to Sydney airport.

He managed to get onto the runway and climb into the open undercarriage of a Japan Air Lines plane bound for Tokyo, stowing himself in the same compartment where the wheel is tucked away after take-off. He remained there for several hours before take off.

Technicians believe the boy - who was dressed only in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt - was unaware the latch would reopen after take-off to bring the wheel back inside, which is when he fell. Experts later found hand and footprints as well as threads from his clothes in the compartment.

Doctors believe he would have most likely died on the journey even if he hadn't have fallen due to freezing altitude temperatures and a lack of oxygen. Mr Sapsford, a lecturer in mechanical and industrial engineering at the University of New South Wales, believed his son may have been crushed by the retracting wheel.

The boy ran from a boarding school to Sydney Airport in 1970 (airport pictured in 2017)

In the weeks following Keith's death, Mr Sapsford said his son had been specifically warned of the dangers of stowing away on a plane.

They had spoken about a Spanish boy who had also died when hiding in a plane's undercarriage only months earlier.

Mr Sapsford died in October 2015 at the age of 93.
Nearly 87 percent of Cuban voters approved a new constitution that preserves the island's single-party socialist system and centrally planned economy while updating some financial, electoral and criminal laws, authorities said Monday.

The margin of victory was relatively low for a country where opposition parties and campaigns are illegal and official proposals routinely receive higher than 90 percent approval.

Cuba's National Electoral Commission said 7,848,343 people voted Sunday on the new charter, which was widely promoted as a vehicle for continuity in one of the world's last communist nations, whose founding generation of olive-clad revolutionaries is ceding the spotlight to a new class of middle-aged bureaucrats.

Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel votes during a referendum to approve or reject the new constitution in Havana, Cuba

Army General and former Cuban President Raul Castro (R) voting in the referendum on the new Constitution in Havana, Cuba, 24 February 2019

The commission said 6,816,169 people voted in favor of the new constitution. Some 300,000 votes were counted as invalid because they were blank or defaced, while 706,400 people voted against the new constitution.

The current constitution was approved by 97.7 percent of voters in a referendum in 1976, the peak of a system dedicated to displays of national unity.

Both President Miguel Diaz-Canel and his predecessor, Raul Castro, received 94 percent approval in their last elections.

In recent weeks, Diaz-Canel's government waged a non-stop campaign promoting a 'yes' vote and tarring those voting 'no' as counterrevolutionaries and enemies of the state. Aside from a few independent websites, all Cuban media is state-run and the airwaves were filled with messages urging people to vote 'yes' for the sake of continuity on the island.

A man casts his vote at a polling station for constitutional referendum in Havana, Cuba

More than 25,000 polling stations opened their doors in Cuba to vote in the referendum on the new Constitution - which ratifies communism and recognizes private property

Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel and his wife Lis Cuesta wait at a polling station during a referendum to approve or reject the new constitution in Havana

The new constitution recognizes private and cooperative businesses alongside state ones, creates the posts of prime minister and provincial governor, and introduces the presumption of innocence and habeas corpus to the justice system.

'This constitution establishes the best for the country, for the future of the Cuban people,' said Miguel Alvarez, a 57-year-old technician for the Havana water utility. 'It eliminates past mistakes and points us toward the future.'

In recent days, the government's messages were mixed with words of support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as tensions rise between Cuba's main ally and the Trump administration, along with Latin American allies who support the Venezuelan opposition and its attempt to force aid into the country.

The 'no' campaign was amplified by the rapid spread of mobile internet across Cuba in recent months. Some 2 million Cubans on the island have contracted mobile data service since it was offered for the first time in December.

The largest block of 'no' votes was expected to come from the growing ranks of evangelical Christians in Cuba, who object to language that eliminates a requirement for marriage to be only between a man and woman, paving the way for a future legalization of gay marriage.

Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel prepares to vote during the referendum

Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel talks to the press after voting in the referendum to approve or reject the new constitution in Cuba

Laura Vives, 10, waits for voters at a polling station during the constitutional referendum

More than eight million citizens were called to vote - and at least 700,000 voters dissaproved
A cafe in Spain has taken the concept of being pet friendly to a new level.

Visitors to the Doger Cafe in Madrid can sit down and enjoy a coffee or brunch with friends before going home with a new pet.

Roberto Alaez and his business partner Javier Alcazar, both 28, opened up The Doger, an e-commerce site in June 2018, as a one-stop site for dog owners.

Aside from carrying an ample stock of food for pooches, it also offered dog-loving owners a wide range of services such as dog walkers, veterinarians and dog trainers.

Roberto Alaez (pictured) partnered up with a longtime friend to open up an e-commerce site in Spain called The Doger catering to animal-lovers. It was expanded to The Doger Cafe in Madrid which allows customers to enjoy coffee and adopt a dog at the same time

There are currently four dogs at The Doger Cafe that will soon have a new home. Two dogs are pictured catching up on sleep

The Dodger Cafe allows customers to visit the shop with their own pets, like the one pictured

Looking to expand their market place, the longtime friends started reaching out to dog shelters to advertise the possible adoption of abandoned dogs on their site.

It started with just two shelters but it quickly grew.

But it wasn't until late last year when they entertained the idea of opening up a cafe where customers could hang out with their own pets while also hosting abandoned pooches looking for a new home.

It's the only cafe in Spain that offers such services.

A young boy (pictured) plays with four dogs. Since January 2, when The Doger Cafe first opened its doors, there have been 12 dog adoptions

A cafe in Madrid doubles up as a dog adoption center. A second location will open its doors in Barcelona with a third to follow in Madrid. The owners have also tapped into South America and are in the final stages of introducing their business concept in Peru

While visiting The Doger Cafe, customers can order from a menu that contains coffee and food

Since The Doger Cafe first opened its doors January 2, business has been a boom - for the dogs that is.

There is a separate area at the cafe where the dogs are kept. They interact with visitors and prospective adopters for about 15 minutes, and get to cool down with a two-hour nap period.

There have been 12 adoptions in a month and a half. Another four dogs already are on their way to new homes in the coming days.

Typically the dogs spend about three to four weeks at the cafe as they're eased back in to socializing with humans while they overcome their anxiety.

The center handles vaccinations too. By the third vaccination, the dogs are cleared to leave with their new owners.

'We are adopting more than many shelters in such a short time, and above all we are transmitting consciousness to the people with great communication,' Alaez told DailyMail on Monday.

A visitor plays gets cozy with three puppies while visiting The Doger Cafe in Madrid

'In addition to creating this community for the world of pets, the awareness reduces abandonment in a remarkable way.'

Alaez and his business associate already are looking to opening up another cafe in Barcelona and also have planned a second location in Madrid.

They'll take this innovative concept across the Atlantic and will set up shop in Peru in the near future, too.
The top U.S. envoy for peace in Afghanistan met a senior Taliban leader in Qatar on Monday as the two sides resumed talks to end 17 years of war despite the insurgents' continued refusal to deal with the Kabul government.

Zalmay Khalilzad, named last year to lead the U.S. peace effort, met Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban and the movement's political chief, for the first time in Doha. Talks were expected to run for at least four days.

'Just finished a working lunch with Mullah Baradar and his team. First time we've met. Now moving on to talks,' Khalilzad tweeted.

Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad is meeting with senior Taliban leaders, including one of the group's founders in Qatar for another round of talks

Mullah Baradar, head of the Taliban in Pakistan was recently released from a Pakistani prison. His presence in Qatar is thought to improve the chances of a deal

Even with peace talks under way, the war in Afghanistan killed almost 4,000 civilians in 2018, including a record number of children, making it the single deadliest year for Afghan civilians since the United Nations began documenting casualties a decade ago.

Baradar arrived in Doha on Sunday, but sources said it was not clear whether he would attend all the meetings, which diplomats in Kabul said were expected to focus on clinching a ceasefire before the onset of warmer spring weather prompts an escalation of fighting, as in previous years.

The last round of talks ended in Qatar in January.

Dr. Mutlaq Bin Majid Al-Qahtanithe, is the mediator of talks between the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, and the Deputy Commander of the Taliban Movement for Political Affairs, Mulla Abdul Ghani Berader, right, in an undisclosed place in Doha, Qatar

Special representative Zalmay Khalilzad said he held a working lunch with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, pictured, before 'moving on to talks'

Baradar, a veteran fighter and figure of considerable influence within the Taliban, was released from a Pakistani jail last year. His appointment was widely seen as a fresh effort by the Taliban to emerge from the political and diplomatic shadows.

Last week the Taliban said that Baradar had named a 14-member team for the talks and would not go to Qatar, but his plans changed on Sunday.

'There was much confusion whether Mullah Baradar should travel to Qatar or not. Some of our people wanted him to go there but avoid participation in the peace talks. Others wanted him to go and supervise the peace talks,' said a senior Taliban leader in Afghanistan.

American negotiators, who have held multiple rounds of talks with Taliban leaders since last year, want Baradar to attend the talks to be able to resolve key sticking points: the timing of a ceasefire and the possible withdrawal of foreign forces.

A group of suspected militants, some of whom are from the Taliban, are pictured here. The conflict, known as America's longest war, has spanned over 17 years, and cost more than 2,400 American lives as well as billions of dollars

Fighters with Afghanistan's Taliban militia stand on a hillside at Maydan Shahr in Wardak province, west of Kabul (file phot)

'What was the point of Baradar's release if he wants to stay away from the talks?' said a senior diplomat in Kabul, adding that U.S. negotiators had to provide assurances to lift a travel ban on some Taliban leaders to get Baradar to travel to Qatar.

Last week, the United States and Russia agreed to explore options to revoke a U.N. travel ban on Taliban negotiators, one of the key demands of the group.

Taliban officials have so far rejected the Afghan government's offer to hold direct talks but Kabul is planning to hold a grand council of tribal elders and political leaders next month to discuss how to end the Taliban insurgency.

Sohail Shahin, a Taliban spokesman, said U.S. and Taliban officials are expected to focus on the details of a framework deal reached in principle last month - American troops would withdraw from Afghanistan in return for a Taliban guarantee that Afghan territory would never be used by militants.

'The ceasefire is one of the big issues that will be discussed at the last stage of this round of peace talks,' said Shahin. 'We are optimistic about the ongoing talks which can end with good progress...It is possible that the Taliban do not refresh or announce their spring offensive.'
Foreign ISIS fighters could face Nuremberg-style trials in Iraq as Western countries refuse to allow them to return to their homelands.

The Kurdish government in Syria said if Britain and other European countries will not take back their jihadi citizens, then international tribunals similar to the ones used to convict Nazi's after the Second World War could be set up to deal with the problem.

It comes as Iraq announced a group of 13 French citizens accused of fighting for ISIS are to be tried in the country rather than face charges in their home country.

All Islamic State group militants who committed crimes against Iraq will be put on trial in that country, Iraq's president said on Monday.

The group including 13 suspected French militants have been transferred to Iraq from Syria.

Iraqi President Barham Saleh said during a two-day visit to France that the French citizens were handed over from Syria, where troops with US-led coalition forces detained them.

The 13 will be prosecuted in accordance with Iraqi laws, he said.

French president Emmanuel Macron (right) greets Iraqi President Barham Saleh before a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Monday

Women walk with their belongings near the village of Baghouz, Deir Al Zor province, Syria, on Tuesday

Civil defence forces carry an injured person on stretcher through rubble, after an air strike on location targeted by government forces, in Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib, Syria, on Tuesday

The announcement by the Iraqi government comes as many Western counties try to decide what to do with its citizens returning from fighting with the so-called Islamic State as the militant group's remaining strongholds collapse.

In Britain, the authorities have been dragged into legal wrangling and soul-searching over the fate of jihadi bride, Shamima Begum, and her newborn son.

Despite begging to be allowed to return to Britain after fleeing to the so-called caliphate from Bethnal Green, east London, aged 15, she was stripped of her citizenship by Home Secretary Sajid Javid.

Donald Trump urged European countries to take back their suspected fighters and try them in their own countries, threatening that otherwise US-backed forces in Syria would release the militants.

The Kurds also want foreign nations to repatriate their citizens and jail them in their lands, but are willing to make compromises if the international community will provide the funding and security for new prisons.

Dr Abdulkarim Omar, the head of the foreign affairs commission for the Kurdish-led authority in north-east Syria, told the Telegraph: 'If Europe and the coalition countries don't want to take back their citizens, then one alternative is the establishment of an internationally sponsored tribunal like Nuremberg.'

Members of the Syrian Civil Defence - also known as 'The White Helmets' check the rubble at a building that was hit by shelling in the town of Saraqib in Syria's mostly rebel-held northern Idlib province

Women sit with their children near the village of Baghouz, Deir Al Zor province, Syria, on Tuesday

Heavy smoke rises from a building after an air strike on location targeted by government forces, in Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib

Trump threatened to release some 800 fighters held by Syrian forces into Europe if Turkey begins attacking Kurdish held areas of Syria.

According to the Home Office around 900 British citizens went to Syria and Iraq to join the so-called caliphate, with around two dozen thought to be in custody in Kurdish-controlled north-east Syria.

Dr Omar told Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten: 'Everyone must be aware that these prisoners are a threat to us Kurds because of their large numbers.

'The situation in northern Syria is anything but stable, neither political nor military. Turkey threatens us. In an attack, we can guarantee nothing.

'The danger of escape of these jihadists is great, and if it comes to a confrontation with Ankara, then the ISIS fighters will again be an active threat to Europe and the West.

'We call for an international conference to discuss this issue that we Kurds can not solve on their own. The establishment of an international tribunal led by the UN would be a solution.'

The fighters, who were turned over to Iraq after being seized by Syrian Kurdish forces, 'will be judged according to Iraqi law,' Saleh told a news conference after talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.

Fighters with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stand guard as people queue at a scanning area for those fleeing from ISIS's holdout of Baghouz, during an operation to expel IS jihadists from the area

Iraqi President Barham Saleh was on a two-day visit to France with a focus on the country's security and the fight against the Islamic State group in the region

Saleh said: 'Anyone who is accused of committing crimes against Iraq, against Iraqi installations and against Iraqi personnel, we definitively are seeking them. And seeking to try them, of course.'

At a news conference with Saleh, French President Emmanuel Macron said he would not identify the French citizens nor comment on their cases.

He said it's Iraq's sovereign decision to decide whether the alleged militants should face the criminal justice system in the Mideast country.

An intelligence official said the Iraqi government has 13 French IS militants in custody after they were transferred from Syria a month ago.

An Iraqi security official confirmed the report on Monday and said the militants will be put on trial for crimes committed inside Iraq.

There were no details on their identities. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

The US has called for countries to take back and try their own nationals. France's official position states that French 'terrorist' fighters 'must be tried wherever they committed their crimes,' according to the French foreign affairs ministry.

Women and children walking in a line fleeing ISIS as jihadis are being cleared from the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor

British jihadi bride Shamima Begum with her week-old son, Jerah, in al-Hawl refugee camp for captured ISIS wives and children in Kurdish-controlled Syria

The issue of captured foreign fighters in Syria poses a major conundrum for countries whose nationals have been imprisoned in the country.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces is holding more than 900 foreign fighters in prisons it runs in the country's north, many of them Iraqis and Europeans.

According to an Iraqi government statement issued Monday, about 280 Iraqi IS militants have been handed over by the SDF to Iraq in two successive batches last week, out of an estimated more than 500.

Also last week, a French diplomatic official and a SDF official said they were 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.

Macron insisted France will keep supporting Iraq as it faces security and stability challenges while rebuilding in areas that had been controlled by IS.

Both countries also are seeking to strengthen their economic cooperation.

France remains militarily involved in Iraq through training and logistical support of Iraqi forces and intelligence missions.

A woman evacuated from the Islamic State group's stronghold of Baghouz, carrying a child as she walks toward a zone held by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)

Saleh told a news conference after talks with President Macron in Paris that the 13 fighters, who were turned over to Iraq after being seized by Syrian Kurdish forces, 'will be judged according to Iraqi law'

An Iraqi government source in Baghdad said on Monday that 14 French fighters had been brought to Iraq by the US-backed forces trying to dislodge IS jihadists from their last bastion in Syria.

France has long maintained that any of its nationals caught in Syria or Iraq should be tried locally, a stance which critics say could leave them facing the death penalty, which is outlawed in France.

Macron reiterated this position Monday, saying that 'it is up to the authorities of these countries to decide, sovereignly [sic], if they will be tried there'.

'These people are entitled to benefit from our consular protection, and our diplomatic service will be mobilised,' he added.

Macron also said he would visit Iraq in the coming months, after France announced in January that it would provide one billion euros ($1.1 billion) in reconstruction funds for the war-ravaged country.
Authorities arrested two men suspected of robbing a television news crew and shooting its security guard on Sunday.

Journalists working for Oakland's CBS affiliate KPIX-TV were covering the Oakland teachers strike before 5pm on Sunday night at the Oakland Library when a car carrying two suspects pulled up and the driver pulled a gun, demanding their camera.

The crew surrendered the equipment and began walking away.

The suspect then shot the guard, Matt Meredith, in the leg, the news station said.

KPIX-TV reporter Joe Vazquez said on Twitter that Meredith, a retired Berkeley police officer, exchanged gunfire.

Matt Meredith, who works as a security guard for KPIX-TV, is on the ground after he is shot by suspected armed robbers in Oakland on Sunday

Joe Vazquez (right), a reporter for KPIX-TV, and photographer John Anglin (left) were the victims of a robbery. They were not harmed

The robbery and shooting took place as the news crew was gathering interviews at Oakland Library about the teachers strike. The security guard is seen above being evacuated to hospital after he was shot

Meredith was rushed to Highland Hospital, where he is listed in stable condition, KPIX-TV reported.

An Alameda County Sheriff spokesman says that a 21-year-old man with several gunshot wounds walked into a nearby hospital just 15 minutes after the robbery and shooting.

Oakland police arrested the man on suspicion of shooting the news crew's guard.

Just before 7pm local time, the second suspect was arrested after he crashed his car during a high speed chase through a residential neighborhood.

Surveillance footage shows police giving chase after a Lexus sedan which was believed to have been traveling close to 100mph.

The chase ended when the suspect's car crashed onto a sidewalk in East Oakland.

Robberies of television news crews and still photographers have plagued the San Francisco Bay Area in recent years. The image above shows the scene of the robbery and shooting. The yellow triangles indicate bullets

Witnesses said the suspect hit at least four cars before coming to a full stop.

The driver of the Lexus initially refused to get out of the car. Witnesses said that police had their guns drawn and ordered passersby to take cover indoors.

Despite the speed of the chase and the collision involving multiple vehicles, witnesses said the driver of the Lexus was the only one who suffered injuries.

The driver was arrested. It has also been reported that Oakland police have detained several other individuals linked to the robbery.

Assaults on routine assignments became so commonplace in recent years that some television stations have hired armed guards to ride with news crews.

No other information - including what time the robbery took place - was immediately released.

Just before 7pm local time, the second suspect was arrested after he crashed his car during a high speed chase through a residential neighborhood

It's not the first time the station has been the target of theft.

In November 2012, a group of men punched a KPIX cameraman while he was filming in front of an Oakland high school and fled with his camera while it was still recording.

Robberies of television news crews and still photographers have plagued the San Francisco Bay Area in recent years.

The Associated Press tallied five robberies in 2012, two in 2013, three in 2014 and at least three in 2015 plus several burglaries of vehicles.

'We don't know what the market is for these cameras,' San Francisco Police Sgt. Michael Andraychuk told The Associated Press in 2015.

Even though the cameras can cost upward of $50,000 each, it is specialized equipment that can't be easily sold on the black market, Andraychuk said, and none of the stolen cameras have turned up on Craigslist, eBay or any other online marketplace.
Scientology is a 'prison of beliefs,' based on a 'toxic world view' in which pregnant Sea-Org members are isolated, punished and pushed into having abortions and victims of sexual assault are blamed for their suffering.

These are just some of the claims made today by a former member of Scientology's elite 'clergy' the Sea Org who fled the church just four months ago.

In an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV, Bree Mood, 27, has told how she was indoctrinated into the church at the age of seven and worked for the organization for more than a decade.

During that time she ran up more than $40,000 of debt for church 'services', had two abortions under duress, endured hard labor for the 'crime' of wanting to keep her baby and was told she was to blame for the sexual abuse she suffered as a child.

Now she has told how she finally escaped her former life and traveled almost 2,000 miles from California to Minnesota with the help of a stranger she met on Reddit.

Bree Mood, 27, left the Church of Scientology just four months ago and sat down with DailyMailTV to describe her 20-year stay in the church

Bree's Scientology ID from the Sea Organization shows she used Binah as her name, rather than Bree, and Greisen, which was her married name

Bree said, 'There are people whose lives have been ruined financially because they donated so much money [to Scientology] but there are people who didn't donate and just grew up within a toxic world view that you are responsible for every bad thing that's ever happened to you in your life.

'That's almost as dangerous as the financial aspect. It's the way people remain trapped.

'I worked for the church from when I was 15 until 27, four months ago and I was miserable the entire time. I was suicidal multiple times and I stayed with it as long as I did because I truly believed that if I was unhappy it was because I did something wrongand leaving the church wouldn't fix that because I'm the problem.'

Today Bree shakes her head at just how entrenched those feelings were. She entered the church at the age of seven when her mother, divorced from her biological father, married a church member and started working for the local Scientology church in their home in San Fernando Valley.

She and her younger brother, Nishan saw their father on weekends.

While her father struggled to find jobs, home with her mother and stepfather was relatively stable. According to Bree, it was easy for her mother to paint her father as the 'crazy' one.

She said, 'My mom and stepdad were constantly giving to the church. They cashed in my stepdad's 401K, we never had college funds or anything like that.'

Bree attended a local elementary school but switched to a Scientology middle school. She said, 'That really when I went into the bubble.'

Her teenage years were defined by Scientology 'services' such as 'auditing' - a sort of primitive talk therapy/interrogation in which the recipient lists all their transgressions in a bid to reach a higher level of consciousness - and time spent at the church where her mother worked for little pay as a chaplain.

She graduated school at 15 and immediately went to work for the church in its equivalent of human resources.

Bree is picture on the far right with other Sea Org Missionaries at the Grand Opening of Silicon Valley Org, just days before she fled the California base for Minnesota

Bree is pictured with her younger brother Nishan, who is still in Scientology. This photo is the last time she saw her brother, apart from when he raced to Minnesota to try to get her back into the church

Bree's mother, stepfather and brother have entirely disconnected from her since she fled from the church. She's pictured in a baby photo before she joined Scientology at age seven

Scientologists believe that we have all lived many past lives and are really millions of years old. Children are not children they are simply ancient beings housed in small bodies.

So, Bree explained, at 15 she was counseling middle-aged church members about their personal and professional lives.

She said, 'I was responsible for making sure parishioners got their ethics handling. So you'd have people coming in and they'd be chronically late for work and I'd have to sit them down and have them work out their life and schedules.

'Or they'd chronically watch porn and masturbate [forbidden by the church] so, let's get a child block on your computer.'

For Bree it was embarrassing and stressful. She felt out of her depth but any unhappiness she put down to her own failings because that is what she had been brought up to believe.

Nowhere was that culture of self-blame more extreme than in her own experience when, at the age of 8, she told her mother she had been sexually molested by a family member.

Bree is pictured working in the Sea Organization just days before she 'escaped' in October

She recalled, 'He pretty intensely molested me over a period of four or five years and when I came forward and told my mom about it she immediately took me upstairs and sat me down and had me write down every single time it happened and what I had done to be responsible to cause it.'

Today Bree views that as 'probably one of the most extreme examples of how toxic Scientology is.'

And so she suppressed her unhappiness and threw herself into working long hours for as little as $20 a week.

Bree was 17 when she met Eric, a fellow Scientologist three years her senior and a member of her local church.

She said, 'Within a few months we were engaged. We were engaged for like three years because we both worked full time for the church so we still lived with our parents.'

Eric cut his church hours to take on a second job in a bid to earn enough to move into an apartment of their own.

But Bree had doubts about the relationship. She said, 'I was just desperately unhappy but it wasn't as simple as [saying] 'I'm going to leave either the relationship or the job.' It was, 'If working here makes me desperately unhappy I must be doing bad things. If I commit more maybe I can turn it around.

'I was already working long hours for less pay than Sea Org members make.'

Looking back it seems perverse to her but Bree saw joining the Sea Org as an 'escape route' from both her state of penury and her relationship.

She knew that Eric was desperate to have children and that being a Sea Org member prohibited that.

She said, 'He wanted kids really badly and I had already brought up the subject multiple times and knew he wouldn't join with me.

'There's a lot of complex emotions - it's not something I've really been able to unravel fully for myself at this point because looking at it logically it doesn't make any sense.'

Another factor in Bree's thinking was that she owed upwards of $40,000 for Scientology services that are free if you work for the church but must be paid back if you break your contract.

She said, 'So I signed the [billion year Sea Org] contract, came home and told him and we had a screaming fight that lasted two or three days and finally I broke off the engagement and gave him back the ring. I said, 'Best of luck to you. I'm going into the Sea Org. Go live your life. Go have kids with someone else.'

A day or so later Eric came back and made what seemed to 20-year-old Bree a grand romantic gesture 'straight out of the movies.'

She said, 'He said, Thank you for making me confront the fact that I actually do want to join the Sea Org and I want to do it with you.'

Text message exchanges between Bree and her mother show a damaged relationship since Bree fled from Scientology four months ago

Her mother Sylvia insists Bree come back to properly 'route out' or leave Scientology, but Bree insists that the church members would try to control and punish her for leaving

Sylvia doesn't seem to understand why her daughter made her escape, claiming that she should come back and leave in a way that would typically mean Bree would have to pay money in compensation to the church

They married at the courthouse, signed up and a few days later Eric was sent to Florida for two years of training.

Bree moved onto the church's LA base known as 'Big Blue,' and just accepted that communicating with her new husband by email a couple of times a week and telephone once a week was normal.

Certainly she could not voice any discontent or unhappiness, she said, for fear of 'repercussions' that could be anything from a stern talking to, to docked meal breaks or some menial labor such as scrubbing pots and pans.

But when Eric returned to LA it was not a happy reunion. How could it be when they had married so young, she reflected, and were so unable to communicate with each other?

Perhaps the starkest example of this came when Bree discovered that she was pregnant in March 2015.

Bree described how she was made to have i two abortions after getting pregnant with her husband's child

She said, 'It was an accident. I was on birth control. The reality is that in the Sea Org if anyone gets pregnant they're expected to get an abortion immediately.'

The church has always vehemently denied allegations of forced abortions.

But Bree explained, 'Let's talk about peer pressure; in the real world that manifests with alcohol, cigarettes, sleeping around or not sleeping around.

'If you're a very dedicated Christian and you get caught having premarital sex you know you're going to get shunned, you're going to get ostracized, people are going to talk about you behind your back.

'You know you're going to get judged, you're going to lose friends, you'll have this label. It's very similar.

'If you get pregnant in the Sea Org the expectation is that you will terminate it and remain in the Sea Org.

'The alternative is to keep the baby, pull your husband out of Sea Org and go raise a child with no job skills, or life experience or anything and be ostracized from all of Scientology and live life as a failure.'

It wasn't even something she felt she could discuss with her husband because to do so would be tantamount to discussing leaving - a crime in the church's eyes.

Bree said, 'You actually get declared [suppressive] for that.'

Instead, when she told Eric, it was to say, 'I'm pregnant. I'm having an abortion. I already took the pill. Don't talk to me for two days, just let me do this.'

They never talked about it again.

Then, that October Bree began experiencing morning sickness. She tried to pass it off as flu but eventually she took a test that confirmed her fears.

She said, 'The same as last time I went to my boss and said, 'I'm pregnant again. I f***d up. It's my bad. I'll get it taken care of.'

Bree's best friend was getting married that weekend - she was to be Maid of Honor. But when she mentioned this to her boss she was told, 'No. You're not allowed to go to the wedding because you're pregnant.' It wouldn't be appropriate.'

Her best friend - who by then knew Bree's situation - never spoke to her again.

She said, 'I have a streak in me which is very stubborn and I object to injustice and unfairness.'

Bree got the pill but didn't take it. Two days later, she said, she emerged and said 'It didn't work' and that she was keeping the baby.

She claims, 'I was immediately ostracized and put in isolation. They moved [Eric] out of our room in the middle of the day without telling me. I came home that night and all his stuff was gone.'

She and Eric had no communication for two weeks. When they did, she said, 'He did not talk me into getting an abortion. He still badly wanted kids. He badly wanted to stay in the Sea Org. He was just in pain. And so he just said, 'I'll support you. Whatever you decide.'

Suffering from terrible morning sickness Bree was subjected to daily 'Security Checks.'

Within a couple of days of fleeing from California, Bree's brother Nishan turned up to try to get her to come back home. She called the police, seen in a report obtained by DailyMailTV

A few days after the first incident, her brother Nishan again came to where Bree was staying to try to convince her to come home. Bree said he was tracking her through her electronics

She explained, 'The aim was to find out why you wanted to leave the Sea Org - regardless of the pregnancy that's what actually matters to them.'

She says she was also subjected to physically hard jobs in the kitchens and her only respite was being allowed to study a few hours a day - reading things that backed up the notion that getting rid of the baby would be for the greater good.

Eventually, she recalled, a female executive whom Bree liked and trusted took her aside and said she had been in a similar position in the past.

Bree said, 'She said just realize you've had so many past lives where you've had kids. It's not necessary to have them in this lifetime. And you know it would be causing so much harm to the Sea Org and to Scientology if you leftyou will be doing this really bad, evil, awful thing.'

Finally Bree caved but she was too far along in her pregnancy to simply take a pill this time.

She said, 'They put me out, did the procedure and I woke up in excruciating pain.

''I was in shock for a couple of days. I was so cold. I was freezing.'

There was no emotional support when she got back to the base. 'Why would there be? 'Bree said,' I had done 'the right thing.'

Old photos show a younger Bree while she was deep in Scientology. Bree began working for the church when she was 15 and continued until she left at age 27

At the age of eight, (pictured here as a baby with her grandmother) Bree told her mother she had been sexually molested by a family member

Bree said her mother made her write down what she had done to cause the sexual abuse, something Bree called 'one of the most extreme examples of how toxic Scientology is' (Bree is pictured as a baby with her biological father)

Bree claims she was forced to take part in the Estates Project Force - something she refers to as a 'lite' version of Scientology's Rehabilitation Project Force.

She was on it for a month - at points literally digging ditches in a bid to get her 'back on track' spiritually.

At first the 'reprogramming' seemed to work - partly because Bree was kept under close supervision on the base.

According to Bree, life on the base was strictly controlled and monitored. Cell phones were prohibited unless issued by the church. Internet access on these phones - all of which went through one LA server - was blocked, and texts and emails from work computers were read along with search histories.

Rooms were searched regularly and randomly - turned over for any signs of contraband pornography, computers.

And any hint of negative publicity about Scientology that made it through this cyber shroud was dismissed as 'Black PR' or Fake News.

Meanwhile the church's own PR machine was going strong - artificially boosting any Tom Cruise movie figures by buying thousands of tickets for Scientologists and busing them to see his Mission Impossible and Jack Reacher franchises often multiple times.

Bree said, 'Tom Cruise was a God in the lower ranksevery time a Tom Cruise movie came out they'd buy all his tickets. It could be 500, 1000 up to 2500 people. I'm not kidding.'

About a year after graduating from EPF Bree was told she was being sent on a mission outside the base.

She said, 'That was their fatal mistake.'

Sent to San Diego Bree began experiencing little freedoms that she had never known. Meal times were not so rigid. Wifi access could not be strictly controlled.

When her Scientology issued cell broke and a lay church member gave her an old one of theirs they unwittingly handed her the keys to her prison.

Bree started watching little YouTube videos and listening to podcasts. She was careful to avoid anything negative about Scientology but she struck up conversations on Reddit and began getting some sense of the life of her peers in the outside world.

She said, 'I became jealous of my friends who I met online and had normal lives and personal agency and freedoms I didn't have.

'Then we got a call saying, 'You're almost done with your mission. You're going to be coming back to LA shortly.'

Bree has started a new life in Minnesota with her new boyfriend Cory (pictured). The couple live together and have no plans of going to California to confront the Church of Scientology

Photos from after Bree left California show her with died blue hair and a spunky shorter cut and shave

Bree knew that she could not do this so she took a chance. She shared her plight with a guy she had spoken to on a Reddit sub-thread.

She said, 'I told him everything and that I need your help to run away.

'After about a day of deliberating he was like, 'Okay I'll help you but I'm not going to fund any of it.'

On his advice Bree took out a loan and got a $500 prepaid credit card from the meager savings she had managed to accumulate.

She bought plane ticket by phone on her lunch break for that Saturday morning, a 5am flight to Minneapolis (where the guy from Reddit lived).

She said, 'I just had to get though Friday without being caught. I erased all traces of anything off computers. I had been thinking of escaping so I had bought a backpack from Amazon a couple of weeks prior.'

She packed what little she could, waited for the colleague with whom she shared an apartment to go to the gym then headed to the airport on Friday night. Thankfully he did not realize she was gone until he went to wake her the following morning.

She said, 'I spent the night there and when I got off the plane I had about 6000 missed calls.'

Within a couple of days Bree's brother Nishan turned up to try to get her to come back home. She thinks her laptop must have been bugged because he only appeared after she went online to start sending her resume to places to get a job.

She said, 'I came home and my brother's waiting for me in the parking lot and as I'm walking up to the door he comes sprinting up and grabs me.

'I knew he had been sent. He was almost crying, saying, 'You disappeared, you weren't answering our calls, we're so worried about you, we thought you were dead.'

'And I was like, you're laying it on a bit thick.'

Today Bree would welcome a conversation with her brother but then, so newly out the door, she didn't trust that she would be able to hold firm to her resolve. She reported him to police - police reports seen by DailyMailTV back up her account - and would not return with him.

With financial and practical help from the Aftermath Foundation - set up for former Scientologists - Bree got a job in the service industry and managed to put a down payment on a car and clothes and food while waiting for her first paycheck.

The guy from Reddit, she said, tunred out to be no knight in shining armor - she says he stole from her - but he gave her a vital stepping stone to the freedom she is now embracing.

Now she has a supportive new boyfriend, Cory, whom she met on Tinder where her profile has the tagline - 'Recently escaped a cult.'

She admitted, 'I get some interesting replies!'

Leaving Scientology is, she said, 'like getting out of prison.' It is 'joyous' but also overwhelming and it is also accompanied by huge loss.

Bree's mother, stepfather and brother have entirely disconnected from her.

Bree said she hopes to hear from her family, but her mother won't take her calls and told her through text, 'you don't have a mom'. She said she wants her family to have a moment of realization by being 'exposed to enough of the outside world and seeing for yourself that Scientology is a lie'

She said, 'I would love to hear from them. I reached out to my mom a couple of weeks ago and she wouldn't take my calls but she responded to a couple of text messages. I said, I love you and I still want you to be my mom and part of my life even.

'I'll respect your choice of religion but I need you to respect that fact that I'm not a Scientologist anymore.'

Her mother told her that she would have to come back and 'route out' properly - basically hard labor and security checks.

Bree said, 'No I'm not going to put myself through that. And she said, 'Well then you don't have a mom.'

Now Bree is looking for a therapist and trying to assimilate to life on the outside.

She said, 'It's hard for me to be angry about what I was put through because I know that those people who put me through hell thought they were helping me.

'They're just as trapped as I was. They're just as unhappy as I was. They're stuck in a prison of belief, because that is what it really is. So I'm sad that it happened but mostly I just feel bad for them.

'I hope they have their own moment of realization because that's really the only way it happens. It's not something you can be talked into.

'It's just being exposed to enough of the outside world and seeing for yourself that Scientology is lies.'

She added, 'Scientology is dwindling and dying and it will collapse someday. I just hope that happens soon enough that I do get my mom back and my brother.'
Cardinal George Pell, the highest ranking Australian clergyman in the Catholic Church, has been found guilty of sexually abusing two choir boys in the late 1990s.

Pell, 77, is the Vatican's treasurer and is the most senior catholic clergyman to be found guilty of child sex offences anywhere in the world.

He was found guilty of four counts of indecent assault and one count of rape by a Victorian jury last December following three days of deliberations.

The verdict can finally be revealed after a gag order restricting the publication of Pell's identity in his homeland was lifted on Tuesday.

Cardinal George Pell, the Catholic Church's third most senior cleric, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two choir boys in a cathedral in Melbourne, Australia, in the late 1990s

Pell is the most senior Catholic clergyman to face trial over sexual offences anywhere in the world. He is pictured last week in Melbourne, Australia, where he was found guilty by a jury

Cardinal George Pell, 77, is known as the Vatican's treasurer and had been granted a leave of absence while facing trial over child sex offences in Australia. He has surrendered his passport

The order, which was applied for by prosecutors, was granted to 'prevent a real and substantial risk of prejudice to the proper administration of justice.'

The order did not stop news organisations around the world and even Wikipedia from publishing the news.

Pell had repeatedly and vehemently denied the accusations against him and Pope Francis had granted him a leave of absence to return to Australia to defend himself.

Pell, who will appeal the convictions, was the Vatican's financial chief when he was accused of sexually abusing the boys back while he was archbishop of Melbourne.

The victims, both students at St Kevin's College in Toorak, an inner suburb of Melbourne, were reportedly in the choir at St Patrick's Cathedral and were abused by Pell inside the church.

The abuse took place after Pell introduced a compensation scheme for clerical sexual abuse victims known in Australia as the 'Melbourne Response', which he established in 1996.

The judge who heard Cardinal George Pell's case has continued a gag order on details of the cardinal's trial and guilty verdicts being published in his homeland. He is pictured in Rome

An earlier trial resulted in a hung jury in June but the case was heard again in the County Court of Victoria resulting in the guilty verdicts.

The cardinal was committed to stand trial in May when a magistrate dismissed other, more serious charges.

Pell was removed from Pope Francis's inner circle of nine clergymen, the Council of Cardinals, following last year's verdict.

But he remained as the Vatican's treasurer, having been granted a leave of absence by Pope Francis.

The cardinal was named the Vatican's Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy in 2014, making him the third highest-ranking cleric in Rome. He is pictured with Pope Francis

Pell has surrendered his passport as part of his bail conditions and is not permitted to leave Australia.

The cardinal was named the Vatican's Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy in 2014, making him the third highest-ranking cleric in Rome.

Before being called to the Vatican, Pell served as Archbishop of Sydney from 2001 to 2014 and was Archbishop of Melbourne from 1996 to 2001.

He was ordained in 1966 and made a cardinal in 2003.

Victorian police charged Pell with the sexual assault offences in June last year when he was in Rome.

Pell, who was represented by attorney Robert Richter, QC, stated at a press conference at the time he would return to Australia to answer the charges and he was 'looking forward, finally, to having my day in court'.

'I'm innocent of those charges,' he said at the time. 'They are false.'
A candle-lit vigil has been held for a British mother who has been in an Iranian jail for the past 800 days as her supporters claim she is being used as a 'political pawn'.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian charity worker, was arrested and jailed for allegedly seeking to overthrow the government in 2016.

She has consistently denied all allegations, insisting she was on holiday to introduce her daughter to her family.

Today a vigil was held outside the Foreign Office in London where friends and family members lit 800 candles for Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe on her daughter Gabriella's fourth birthday.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband, Richard (pictured), attended the vigil outside the Foreign Office in London today

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian charity worker, was arrested and jailed for allegedly seeking to overthrow the government in 2016. Gabriella was able to visit her mother in prison today to celebrate her birthday

800 candles were lit to mark the 800 days Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe has spent in jail. The candles said 'happy birthday Gabriella'

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband Richard, from West Hampstead, London, said: 'Part of the reason we're here in front of the Foreign Office is just to say "listen, this is still going on. Please find a way to solve this."'

He said they have been seeking diplomatic protection for Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe from Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

He added: 'There are clearly things going on between UK and Iran's relationship. That means that we are a political bargaining chip - partly because we're so high-profile.'

Mr Johnson walked past the vigil, waving at supporters as he went into his office.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe had hoped she would be granted temporary release from prison, where she is serving a five-year prison sentence, to celebrate the birthday, but the application was refused.

Instead she was able to spend Gabriella's birthday with her in prison. Friends and family members also sang happy birthday to her daughter over Skype at the vigil.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband Richard, from West Hampstead, London, said: 'Part of the reason we're here in front of the Foreign Office is just to say "listen, this is still going on. Please find a way to solve this"'

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson walked past the vigil, waving at supporters as he went into his office

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's sister-in-law, Rebecca (left), attended the vigil where Hampstead and Kilburn MP Tulip Siddiq gave a speech

She is facing a further hearing accused of an unspecified security charge and her husband believes she will be accused of spreading propaganda against Tehran's Islamist regime.

Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian human rights lawyer, former judge and human rights activist, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her efforts to promote democracy and human rights, called for the mother-of-one to be released.

She said: 'Yes, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is being used as a political pawn but it is not just her.

'There are currently over 30 dual nationals that are being held in Iran, so pressure must be put on the Iranian government in that regard.

'Any trade agreements must be conditional on the release of these dual nationals.'

Hampstead and Kilburn Labour MP Tulip Siddiq gave a speech at the vigil in which she said she has written to Prime Minister Theresa May about the issue.

She said: '(The PM) needs to meet Richard and realise that this is a normal family from West Hampstead who haven't seen their child and haven't been together in years.'
Donald Trump's demands for a new 'jumbo' Iran nuclear deal will be 'very, very difficult' to achieve, Boris Johnson warned today.

The Foreign Secretary voiced deep scepticism over the chances of securing the beefed-up US terms - which are intended to rein in Tehran's destabilising influence in the Middle East.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has unveiled a list of 12 requirements Iran must meet to avoid sanctions threatened to be 'the strongest in history'.

They include an end to uranium enrichment, 'unqualified access' for inspectors, a halt to support for Houthi rebels in Yemen, the withdrawal of all forces from Syria, removal of backing for ally Hezbollah and no more threats to Israel.

Boris Johnson (pictured in Buenos Aires yesterday) has warned that Donald Trump's demands for a new 'jumbo' Iran nuclear deal will be 'very, very difficult' to achieve

Iran must also 'release all US citizens' missing in Iran or being held on 'spurious charges', said Mr Pompeo, in his first major speech as Secretary of State.

Speaking shortly before the speech in Washington, Mr Johnson cautioned that the 'jumbo' deal which Mr Trump is now seeking will not be achievable within a reasonable timescale.

Washington appeared to be planning to fold all of its issues of contention with Tehran into 'a giant negotiation, a new jumbo Iran negotiation, a new treaty', said the Foreign Secretary.

And he warned: 'I don't see that being very easy to achieve, in anything like a reasonable timetable.

'The advantage of the JCPOA was that it had a very clear objective. It protected the world from an Iranian nuclear bomb, and in return it gave the Iranians some recognisable economic benefits. That was at the core of it.

'The Americans have walked away from that.'

Mr Johnson said the US approach would be discussed at the meeting of foreign ministers of G20 countries which he was attending in Argentinian capital Buenos Aires on Monday.

'I think we will be discussing, not in the session but we'll certainly be discussing it with friends and colleagues today, how to take it forward,' he told reporters.

'But the prospect of a new jumbo Iran treaty is going to be very, very difficult.'

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (pictured today) unveiled a list of 12 requirements Iran must meet to avoid sanctions threatened to be 'the strongest in history'

There have been tensions between the US president (right) and Theresa May (left at the Chelsea Flower Show today) over the Iran nuclear deal

Mr Trump's decision to pull the US out of the 2015 agreement - which eased economic sanctions in return for Iran stopping efforts to build nuclear weapons - has created one of the biggest political spats between London and Washington since his election as president.

The UK has joined European states including Germany and France in reaffirming their commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Mr Johnson insisted he was 'not totally pessimistic about the situation', saying: 'In the end, there is a deal to be done that gives Iran a greater economic access to the West, but also constrains it.

'That's what we want to work on with the Americans. They have some ideas; we have some ideas. I think in the end, we will get back to the kind of additions to the JCPOA that we initially envisaged - but it may take a long time.'

Mr Johnson said the UK was taking measures to attempt to protect British companies with business interests in Iran from being caught by any new US sanctions.

'We're going to do everything we possibly can,' he said.

'One of the difficulties is that American legislation means that if a UK business in any way touches the electric fence, or touches the wire of the American banking system, they get zapped.

'So it's a question of finding a way of avoiding that.'
A nationwide march was held in Baku today to commemorate the 27th anniversary of Khojaly genocide. The march was attended by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, First-Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva and family members.

The nationwide march, which involved ten thousands of people, was intended to draw the world community's attention to this crime against humanity committed by the Armenian nationalist illegal armed groups, to pay tribute to victims of Khojaly tragedy.

With President Ilham Aliyev and First Vice-President, first lady Mehriban Aliyeva in the front row, the marchers started moving from the Azadlyg Square in the direction of the Khojaly memorial in Khatai district.

Thousands of young people gathered along the avenues and streets that the marchers are moving. They hold portraits of innocent victims of the bloody event  slaughtered children, women and elders  photos depicting abominable scenes of slaughter, placards demanding to bring to account and punish perpetrators of the tragedy and to recognize this genocide at an international level, as well as placards with names and surnames of victims.

'The world must recognize Khojaly genocide', 'Justice for Khojaly', 'Do not forget Khojaly', 'No to Armenian fascism', 'Khojaly genocide -27' and other slogans are displayed on large monitors along the streets, and on placards on building walls and balconies.

A ceremonial guard of honor was lined up around the memorial. President Ilham Aliyev put a wreath at the memorial and paid tribute to Khojaly victims. First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva, Prime Minister Novruz Mammadov, Speaker of the Milli Majlis Ogtay Asadov, Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva, Arzu Aliyeva laid flowers at the monument.

State and government officials, members of the Milli Majlis, ministers, heads of committees and companies, representatives of the diplomatic corps, heads of religious confessions, as well as Khojaly genocide survivors also placed flowers at the memorial.

Later, Ilham Aliyev was interviewed by Rossiya-24 TV channel`s correspondent.
Derivatives deal: The agreement is between the Bank of England and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Britain and the US have agreed a deal that will ensure trading in the multi-billion-pound derivatives market continues no matter the outcome of Brexit talks.

The agreement, between the Bank of England and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, ensures regulatory certainty by replicating the current arrangements between the US and the EU.

It will begin on March 29 when the UK leaves the European Union. Dubbed a 'bridge over Brexit', it will apply even if the UK leaves without a deal.

It comes after EU regulators said earlier this month it would allow UK clearing houses to continue to provide services to firms based in the bloc, even if there was a No Deal Brexit.

US Commodity Futures Trading Commission chairman, Christopher Giancarlo, said the agreement underlined London's status as a global financial centre, both now and 'for a long time to come'.

Derivatives are contracts that are widely used by companies to hedge themselves against unexpected moves in currencies, raw materials prices or borrowing costs.

Bank of England governor Mark Carney said: 'Market participants can be confident that the clearing and trading of derivatives between the UK and US will maintain the high standards of today when the UK leaves the EU.'
Legal and General has appointed Michelle Scrimgeour as chief executive of its investment management arm

Legal & General has added another woman to its senior team with the appointment of a chief executive to run its investment management arm.

The company poached Michelle Scrimgeour from Columbia Threadneedle where she was chief executive for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The 55-year-old will take over as boss of Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), which is the UKs largest asset manager and looks after 985billion of savings. Her staff will include Helena Morrissey, LGIMs head of personal investing and former boss of asset manager Newton.

The appointment of Scrimgeour means four of L&Gs seven divisions are led by women, with Laura Mason head of institutional retirement, Cheryl Agius leading general insurance and Claire Singleton running the mature savings unit.

L&G chief executive Nigel Wilson has said in the past that as a father of five daughters he is very conscious of the fact many women are not achieving their full potential. I have a vested interest, its true, he said in a recent interview.

Of course I want them to be treated equally. I want the same for other peoples daughters.

Scrimgeour has worked in the asset management industry for 30 years since the Big Bang era of the late 1980s, when the finance industry was transformed by sudden rule changes that relaxed regulations.

She previously worked at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, Blackrock and M&G before joining Columbia Threadneedle in April 2017.

Cheryl Agius, left, runs L&G's General insurance division while Laura Mason (right) is boss of Institutional retirement

Claire Singleton heads the L&G's Mature Savings unit while Helena Morrissey is in charge of Personal Investing

Her appointment follows a wide-ranging, six-month search process to replace outgoing LGIM chief Mark Zinkula, who has been chief executive since 2011 and announced last year he would be leaving.

Zinkula will work closely with Scrimgeour until he departs in August, L&G said.

It is thought that her experience in fixed income investing and risk management helped her clinch the role.

Wilson, who has been chief executive since 2012, welcomed her appointment.

Morrissey, another high-profile figure who has championed womens success in finance, will report to Scrimgeour.

Author of A Good Time To Be A Girl and a mother of nine, Morrissey founded the 30 per cent Club in 2010 to encourage FTSE 100 boards to adopt a minimum target of being 30 per cent female.

The percentage of women on FTSE 100 boards by 2018 was 29 per cent, up from 12.5 per cent when the 30 per cent Club was launched.

Mason has been chief executive of L&Gs institutional retirement business since January 2018, while Agius has been the boss of general insurance since December 2016. Singleton was promoted to lead the mature savings unit last July.

All three were promoted from within the company.
Travellers can often save more than a fifth on return flights by making two separate bookings instead of one return trip, new research claims.

Adding an extra step into the flight booking process - and potentially flying back with a different airline - can lead to big savings, data from Kayak's flight hacker guide shows.

The travel search engine analysed data from its website to find the top 'hacker fare' destinations  places where holidaymakers can get the most for their money  and found that Tel Aviv and New Orleans topped the list with savings of up to 21 per cent.

However, This is Money's research revealed that this doesn't always work and people should make sure they check carefully before booking, as flights we found to new Orleans in March with Virgin and BA cost potentially thousands more.

Holidaygoers can save up to a fifth on their flights when making separate flight bookings

UK travellers can expect to pay around 242 in total for a return trip to the Israeli city of Tel Aviv when making two separate flight bookings instead of one return booking.

The average fare for those travelling to New Orleans, Louisiana, is 507 for two separate flights.

Both of these examples are 21 per cent cheaper than booking a return trip altogether, Kayak claims.

It compiled the results through searches made on the website between January 2017 and December 2018 for flights departing Britain in 2018.

It defines a hacker fare as one where outbound and return flights are booked completely separately.

The top hacker fare destinations were taken from the 500 destinations worldwide that had the highest number of flight searches and are those with the biggest savings when booking two one-way economy class tickets as opposed to one return economy flight.

The data showed the best hacker fare prices for most destinations can usually be found two months ahead of the departure date.

BEST HACKER FARE DESTINATIONS AND SAVINGS Destination Potential Hacker

Fare savings Median Hacker fare Month in advance to book

for best Hacker Fare savings Tel Aviv, Israel 21% 242 2 New Orleans, US 21% 507 2 Dallas, US 20% 524 4 Minneapolis, US 10% 554 1 Edinburgh, UK 9% 83 1 Fort Lauderdale, US 8% 400 3 Alexandria, Egypt 6% 396 n/a Atlanta, US 5% 538 1 Source: Kayak

It also discovered that savings can be found most regularly for long-haul destinations - with five out of the top eight hacker fare destinations in the US.

Dallas, Texas, has savings of up to 20 per cent with hacker fares, costing on average 524 for a hacker fair whilst Minneapolis, Minnesota, has savings of up to 10 per cent with a median hacker fare of 554.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida has savings of up to eight per cent, costing 400 for a median fare whilst Atlanta, Georgia had potential savings of up to five per cent, costing 538 on average.

However, there are also good deals for those looking to travel closer to home with Edinburgh seeing savings of up to nine per cent when making two bookings.

Alexandria, Egypt, also saw savings of up to six per cent, with the average hacker fare coming in at just 396.

Those traveling to Tel Aviv, Israel, can save up to 21% when booking two flights separately

Compare: Graph highlighting the median airfare prices to Tel Aviv from Kayak's database

John-Lee Saez, managing director for Kayak Europe, said: 'Hacker fares are a great example of a travel search engine doing the hard work for you; saving you time and money due to the comprehensive flight data that's available.

'We play matchmaker, finding two tickets that together make the best option, it might even be with the same airline that has you in the system as two one-ways.

Have you had success? Have you managed to bag a cheaper flight using the separate booking trick as outlined by Kayak? Or do you have any other flight savings tricks? Let us know in the comments below, or email: editor@thisismoney.co.uk

'Our hacker fares sit alongside other results - they're not always available and not always cheaper - but at times they're the best results and can make for serious savings for long-haul trips.

'Further, for top destinations, we see that potential savings are often highest when booked one or two months before departure.

'Late planners often rush to lock in a trip, but the data shows that it can pay to slow down and be open to making one extra step.'

Kayak uses smart technology and its data of all possible flight options to put together the best combinations and show users if a hacker fare is available which could then save them money on a trip.

But it doesn't always work...

In some instances, booking flights separately can save you money - but it isn't always the case. It is worth having a play around on comparison websites to see if it works.

This is Money tested the theory by seeing how much it would be to buy two separate flights from London to New Orleans, US and compare that to how much it would cost to buy a return flight to the same destinations.

On British Airways, when booking a return flight from Saturday 23 March to come back on Saturday 30 March, the cheapest options mean travellers could fly to New Orleans for a total of 937 overall (with the flights listed as 533 out and 404 back).

However, when opting for two separate flights, with the same dates, the price increases to 1,634 one way to get from London to New Orleans and then $3,030 - equivalent to 2,317.77 - for the flight back, a whopping 3,951.77 in total.

This is a huge difference of 3,014.77.

Flights from London to New Orleans can cost as little as 937 when booked as a return

Hike: When opting to choose two separate flights through BA, the price goes up dramatically

Similarly, when looking for flights from London to New Orleans with Virgin Atlantic, the company are offering return flights for 2,858.76 on Sunday 24 March, returning on Wednesday 27 March.

However, when looking for two separate single flights, the outward bound journey on the Sunday costs 1,626.56 whilst the flight back on the Wednesday costs $3,036.70 - equivalent to 2,324.44 - a massive 3,951 in total.

It is advisable to check both return flights and individual flights to see which could save you the most money.
Crowdfunding platforms have opened up the opportunity to invest in exciting early stage businesses to many more investors.

But if you are tempted to try to back the next Monzo, Revolut or Brewdog, what do you need to watch out for.

Luke Lang, co-founder of crowdfunding platform Crowdcube and an investor himself, gives us some tips.

Digital bank Monzo raised 20million from crowdfunding last December

In less than two-and-a-half days last December, digital bank Monzo raised 20million from 36,000 of its account holders.

The funding round was the largest in UK crowdfunding history.

Four months earlier, it was revealed that crowd investors, of which I was one, who backed Revolut another digital bank that also has a valuation of over 1billion, had realised returns of around 19 times on their original investments.

We now live in a world where the majority of us have the opportunity to participate in the extraordinary wealth creation brought about by technology and market economies.

The platforms throwing open access to investment opportunities have been instrumental to this.

According to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, the UKs alternative finance industry market reached 6.19billion in 2017  35 per cent larger than a year earlier.

The democratisation of investment is here to stay, and that means everyday investors now have a golden opportunity - at a time of deep political uncertainty - to back the businesses that drive the UKs economy.

Luke Lang is the co-founder of crowdfunding site Crowdcube, he says investors should get to know the risks before they dive in

How the EIS scheme works for crowdfunding

For a quarter of a century, UK investors have been supported by the same government scheme that has bolstered our industry: the Enterprise Investment Scheme, and its younger sibling, the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme.

Launched in 1993, EIS helps smaller, higher-risk companies raise finance by offering a tax relief to investors, with SEIS targeting even smaller businesses.

Since the inception of EIS, almost 30,000 qualifying companies have raised over 18billion. Over 316million has successfully been raised on Crowdcube by businesses that qualify for EIS, and 38million by SEIS-eligible start-ups.

This is a government initiative that has proved a dynamo for small business - the UKs economic lifeblood which accounted for 99.3 per cent of all private sector businesses at the start of 2018.

For investors, EIS offers income tax relief of 30 per cent on investments of up to 1million in a given tax year, meaning a maximum tax reduction of 300,000.

Shares are free from capital gains tax if they are held for at least three years, and income tax relief was claimed on them.

If shares are disposed of at a loss, the investor can elect that the amount of the loss, less income tax relief given, can be set against income of the year in which they were disposed or, on income of the previous year instead of being set of against any capital gains.

If you have maxed out your Isa allowance, you can still take advantage of EIS, which can be utilised via an EIS fund, venture capital trust, or you can pick the businesses you want to invest in and do so direct via a crowdfunding platform.

Over 316million has successfully been raised on crowdfunding platform Crowdcube by businesses that qualify for EIS, and 38million by SEIS-eligible start-ups

The risks of investing in early stage companies

Of course, investing in early-stage businesses comes with risks.

EIS and SEIS investments are designed to limit some of those risks, but that also means they are fairly illiquid.

You must, for example, hold your shares for three years in order to receive the tax relief. If your shares are sold before then (for instance, if the company exits), you will have to inform HMRC and repay any income tax relief you have claimed.

What's more, your stake in a company can be diluted. This does not always mean your shares will do down in value, however.

My ownership stake in Revolut has reduced because the company has raised more capital, but the value of my shares has gone up 19 times over.

EIS investments enable you to be more adventurous with a small portion of a diversified portfolio, giving you the opportunity to invest in some of the UKs most exciting companies, from Monzo, to Mr & Mrs Smith and BrewDog.

Be careful with valuations - and ask questions?

Crowdfunding platforms have really allowed EIS to come into its own.

Our investors are usually from the UK and Europe with a healthy household income. Many of them live in London or the South East, and tend to work in finance, professional services or in tech.

Not only can we offer them access to deals previously the preserve of high net-worth individuals, but we can make the information and processes around those investments, including how they are structured and how they can develop, transparent and straightforward for anyone to follow.

One area where it is vital to do this is regarding valuations.

Valuations are not an exact science  valuing a business can be difficult, and doing so will impact future returns for investors, and a businesss ability to raise further capital.

But communicating these factors in a transparent way has never been more important. Investors and potential investors need to understand the thinking and processes behind valuing a business.

Crowdfunding platforms enable an open dialogue between investors and the company fundraising.

Seeking investment from the crowd: Monzo, to Mr & Mrs Smith and BrewDog are some of the UKs most exciting companies that have raised business capital through crowdfunding

Often, and particularly with later-stage start-ups and businesses, valuations will be set by a lead investor or venture capitalist firm also participating in the funding round.

Leading crowdfunding platforms place an open, forum-based discussion between investors and companies at the heart of what is offered - a world away from the traditional closed-door discussions of investment banks and other ivory tower financial institutions.

We find that companies seeking to raise business capital on our platform will explain the rationale behind their valuation if asked, and take on board feedback.

Crowdfunding has democratised valuations: now, it is the retail investor who decides if the valuation is right.

Supporting UK businesses now is not just about responding to a rallying cry in the face of Brexit. For investors, they prove their mettle.

E-Car Club, Camden Town Brewery, Mettrr Technologies, BrewDog, Bidstack, Movem and Revolut are just some of the (now far larger) companies that crowdfunded with us and delivered multiple returns to investors.

UK investors should remember that, in EIS and SEIS, they have a unique boon  one which they should be making the most of.
The Government body that looks after the records of more than 48million motorists made nearly 17million selling drivers' details to private parking companies last year, data shows.

Meanwhile, data analysed by the RAC Foundation predicts 6.8million drivers would have their keeper records sold to car parking firms in the 12 months to April 2019, a 20 per cent increase on the same period a year previous.

Companies that are members of one of two accredited bodies may apply to the DVLA to request someone's details for 2.50 a pop in order to charge them for 'breaching' their contract.

Firms do not have to explain why they are asking for them, and This is Money is currently campaigning to make it harder for the details to be flogged off.

Private parking: The DVLA made nearly 17m last year selling drivers' details to private firms (stock image)

We wrote previously: 'Deprived of the ability to sell personal details, it would become much harder for private parking firms to contact the registered keeper of a vehicle demanding money  often with the threat of a charge increasing if they appeal, despite those drivers not having breached the Highway Code.'

Our campaign is also backed by the AA president Edmund King, who wrote to Transport Secretary Chris Grayling calling for government intervention to 'restore the principle of deterrence in the enforcement of parking and moving traffic offences  instead of the harvesting of charges at every opportunity.'

A Freedom of Information request by The Sunday Times found that the DVLA earned 16.3million from handing out driver details to third parties last year, slightly more than predicted in our story in November.

We have previously worked out that it would only require a private parking company to claw back a 60 charge from one in every 24 drivers to break even on the cost of buying your details.

In the second quarter of 201819, the DVLA sold 1.71million sets of vehicle keeper records to parking management companies, up from 1.43million a year earlier.

This works out at 570,000 over the course of a 30-day month, or 19,000 sets a day.

The introduction of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 has coincided with the rise in the number of private parking tickets being issued, according to the RAC Foundation.

The act lets private parking companies pursue the recorded keepers of vehicles for parking infringements when the driver cannot be identified.

Many charges are for 60 or 70 and are routinely turned down when those charged appeal to the private parking firms, with many seemingly not choosing a common sense approach.

Drivers can then choose to take it to POPLA  an independent appeal body  but if it is unsuccessful, the charge can head to 100 or beyond, which along with the threat of bailiffs often deters many from appealing.

A private members bill sponsored by Conservative MP Sir Greg Knight that is designed to clamp down on the actions of private parking companies is currently making its way through the House of Lords.

What is This is Money's campaign? This is Money began its campaign against the private parking sharks last October after being inundated with emails from affected readers. In short, we call for common sense, after some shocking cases that have seen motorists chased, bullied and harassed over private parking charges for dubious and minor infringements. We are calling for three simple changes in our 'stop the private parking sharks' campaign: 1. To give drivers the option to stop the DVLA allowing private firms to buy their details for 2.50 a pop; 2. The independent appeal process to be made fairer; 3. The DVLA to investigate when large numbers of applications are made for a specific location frequently to see if the charge is fair.

The bipartisan Parking (Code of Practice) Bill would require firms to adhere to a set of rules approved by a minister and would also establish a single independent appeals service.

It is supported by the British Parking Association, whose chief executive Andrew Pester said: 'The BPA has been calling for better regulation of the private parking sector, and the common Code of Practice provided by this Bill is good for the motorist and the sector.'

The RAC's head of roads policy Nicholas Lyes told This is Money: 'Sharp practices by some private parking operators are the reason drivers' confidence in the sector is at rock bottom.

'A Bill currently going through Parliament will introduce a new national code of practice and will mean a single, independent appeals' process and better, more consistent standards across the sector.

'The RAC has long called for this and the truth is that it cannot come soon enough for many drivers.'

The DVLA told The Sunday Times that it is allowed to disclose details of a vehicle's keeper under data protection laws, and that without such data-sharing motorists would be able to drive or park anywhere they wanted, without being responsible for their actions.

It added to This is Money: 'The DVLA does not profit from the release of information from its registers. The 2.50 fee is set to recover the cost of providing the information.'
'Inundated': Carolyn Goodman has had hundreds of nuisance calls a year after a couple of minor prangs

A dossier of evidence from Money Mail readers today suggests new laws to stop nuisance calls are not fit for purpose.

Dozens of you got in touch last week to tell of your cold-call torment after we reported how driver Kevin Johnson was inexplicably bombarded with more than 100 calls following a car park prang. Readers told how the deluge of calls has caused them distress and misery, too.

One reports receiving 20 calls a week for six months, while another has been plagued by unsolicited calls for nine years.

A new law introduced in September was supposed to put a stop to uninvited claims calls. Under the Financial Guidance and Claims Act 2018, businesses are prohibited from making claims marketing calls without prior consent.

But reader Paul Sings logged 27 unsolicited calls in the month after the new law came into effect. The web developer, 38, says: 'Firms clearly aren't abiding by the rules.'

Paul first started receiving the calls on his landline and mobile after a car crash in the New Forest in March last year.

He adds: 'It just seems very shady to me. There doesn't seem to be enough deterrent when it comes to selling on your personal data in this way.'

A law was also passed in April 2013 that banned firms from receiving referral fees in personal injury cases.

It was meant to put an end to rising claims and the 'compensation culture' that had pushed up insurance premiums, as well as stop nuisance calls.

A law was passed in April 2013 that banned firms from receiving referral fees in personal injury cases. It was meant to put an end to rising claims and the 'compensation culture'

But former magistrate Carolyn Goodman, 66, says she still gets weekly calls on her mobile and landline after two minor prangs in which her husband, Peter, was involved through no fault of his own more than two years ago.

Carolyn, of Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex, says: 'They are making money somehow, or they would not still be doing this.

When it happened, we were inundated. We had hundreds of calls. Somebody is giving out data. In this day and age, it should be stopped.'

Nurse Carol Smith's Toyota Yaris was hit in a car park in Stockport in April last year, and the calls started while her vehicle was being repaired in a garage.

No jail for data dealers Insurance insiders who made 18,000 by stealing customer data and selling it to a claims management company have avoided prison. AXA Insurance worker Shane Jerman, 29, took photographs on his mobile phone of around 100 pieces of data a week in 2015 and sent them to former colleague Stuart McGill, 30, in exchange for payments of up to 650. McGill then sold the data to Jack Greenwood and Andrew Franks who exploited it for their claims firm, Mid North West Ltd. The four men pleaded guilty to bribery charges and, on Friday, were sentenced at Preston court. All four received suspended prison sentences and each was ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid work.

The 56-year-old says she is still regularly receiving calls on her mobile phone. She adds: 'I find it incredible that any law was passed regarding this disgusting sharp practice. It obviously had no affect whatsoever and these companies do it with impunity.'

Yet none of our readers knows exactly how the nuisance callers got hold of their details.

Theories have suggested rogue garage mechanics, call centre staff, third-party insurers and vehicle recovery agencies.

But as many firms are typically involved in processing a claim, it is hard to pinpoint the leak.

Unscrupulous personal injury claims firms will often use underhand methods to get hold of your information.

Money Mail has previously reported how their dirty tricks include bribing staff in insurance company car parks and posing as the policyholders or their representatives to call centre staff.

The Data Protection Act 2018 was introduced to ensure firms use your information in a fair, transparent and lawful way.

But motorist Linda Morgan, 71, says she has received around 50 calls since an accident in Reading, Berkshire, last June.

She says: 'It makes me feel angry that my phone number and accident details are given to strangers. It makes the data protection law laughable.'

Readers also reported that some callers tried to persuade them to feign injury to get a compensation payout.

Peter Le Fevre, 70, says he was contacted by 'duplicitous' claims firms after his Jaguar F-Type was damaged while parked outside a friend's house.

Targets: Unscrupulous personal injury claims firms will often use underhand methods to get hold of your information

He says he was bombarded with more than 30 nuisance calls persuading him to claim for injury compensation, even though he wasn't in the car at the time of the prang in Basildon in 2017.

Money Mail has sent all of your complaints, with personal details removed, to the Information Commissioner's Office, which is now investigating.

A spokesman says: 'Nuisance calls made by rogue operators blight people's lives. We are now looking into these reported calls to identify those responsible and take formal enforcement action.'

James Heath, president of the Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL), says the industry is concerned the ban on referral fees has been 'ineffective'.

He adds: 'The ban needs greater enforcement. The use of referral fees is still rampant, yet hidden under new guises to avoid detection, and is therefore not being robustly policed.'

The Civil Liability Act, due to come into force in April 2020, will cap maximum payouts for whiplash and personal injury claims and put a stop to settling claims without medical evidence.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is also due to take over the Claims Management Regulator from April.

Industry experts say that this will make it tougher for rogue firms to become regulated to operate in the first place.

A spokesman for the Association of British Insurers (ABI) says: 'The ABI pushed for the original ban on referral fees back in 2013 and, since then, it has become clear further action is needed to curb firms that bombard people with nuisance calls.'

The Government says that complaints about nuisance calls dropped 35 per cent from 2016-17 to 2017-18. It also introduced new powers in December to fine bosses of nuisance call firms up to 500,000.

Digital minister Margot James adds: 'We are stamping out this menace and ridding society of the plague of nuisance calls. New measures mean company directors are now liable for breaching the law and rogue bosses could be hit with fines of up to 500,000.'

Report any concerns to the ICO at ico.org.uk/concerns.

b.wilkinson@dailymail.co.uk
Theres currently a huge focus on Korean and Japanese beauty. And now were adding A-beauty to the K and J mix: Australian. Yes, theres an influx of great Aussie beauty brands alongside their fellow citizens already leading the global wellness trends (see Kayla Itsines and Sweat, James Duigan and Bodyism, Elle Macpherson with her WelleCo). Not to mention the coolest bathroom brand Aesop, supermodel Miranda Kerr and her Kora Organics beauty line, and the excellent rebranding and packaging of Dr Roebucks, which is run by two sisters, Kim and Zoe.

Part of the ever-growing trend of wellness is skin health, and Australian beauty really speaks to this, coming from a country that is incredibly skin conscious because of the climate and outdoor lifestyle, says Margaret Mitchell, buying director at Space NK. All that outdoor and health focus also means its a big market on the clean beauty front and Cult Beauty says its focusing on a multitude of Australian brands for that reason.

Australia is an ideal place to look for labels that address natural beauty and skin health, adds Margaret Mitchell. Particularly because we are seeing many super-ingredients from Australia, such as eucalyptus, kakadu plum, papaw, quandong, lilly pilly, lemon myrtle and local clays from the rivers and outback.

The brands to buy now

Nude by Nature is a mineral make-up range from down under. We rate its Highlighter Stick, 18, nudebynature.co.uk.

Jurlique herbal recovery Signature Serum, 55, jurlique.co.uk, available from 1 September, is intensely hydrating and contains organic botanic extracts including red clover flower, which boosts the efficacy of hyaluronic acid.

Dr Roebucks Nuddy Ultra Hydrating and Repair Creme, 35, and byron 2-in-1 mask and scrub, 25, both spacenk.com, are clean products that feel light on the skin.

We love the Good Vibes Only Candle, 50, spacenk.com, by Melbournes cool soy-based slogan candle brand Damselfly.

Frank Body is the Aussie coffee-based range  we love its Peppermint Coffee Scrub, 13.95, frankbody.com.

Most unusual fragrance note

Gunpowder  yes, honestly. Its part of Blazing Lily, one of eight in the new McQueen collection of luxury fragrances from Alexander McQueen. Under the guidance of the brands creative director of fashion, Sarah Burton (of Duchess of Cambridge wedding dress fame), this slightly sulphuric note brings an unusual and powerful element to the classic and delicate lily. See the full collection exclusively at Harrods, 175, harrods.com.

Our new lip lust

The California-based vegan brand Lime Crime has its first bricks-and- mortar counter at Selfridges, London, so you can try before you buy. There youll find its top-selling, long-lasting liquid lip Matte Velvetines, the new-generation Lip Plushies (both 18)  still matt but a sheerer effect which can be more flattering to the less youthful mouth, and (drum roll) its first Velvetines Lip Liner (15), launched after much consumer demand. selfridges.com
Within seconds of our meeting, Dr Edith Eger has taken my hand and is giving me a whirlwind tour of her seaside home in La Jolla in San Diego, California. A psychologist who is internationally acclaimed for her work with war veterans, she treats patients at her home  a stunning house crammed with artworks featuring ballet, an abiding childhood passion. Though 90, she is hard to keep up with, zipping around and stopping only to admire the ocean view. I am so blessed to be here, she says.

Considering Ediths early life, blessed isnt the first word that comes to mind. Growing up in Hungary in a Jewish family, her dreams of being an Olympic gymnast were cut short during the Second World War when, at the age of 16, she, her parents and sister Magda were taken to Auschwitz, the concentration camp in occupied Poland. There she lost both her parents at the command of Dr Josef Mengele, the infamous Angel of Death. She remained in Auschwitz for a year where she endured beatings, starvation and the threat of rape. When, in 1945, American troops finally liberated the camp she had been moved to, she was found barely alive among a pile of corpses.

The former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau is now a memorial and museum

Edith today, left, and aged 19, right, and today, left. Growing up in Hungary in a Jewish family, her dreams of being an Olympic gymnast were cut short during the Second World War when, at the age of 16, she, her parents and sister Magda were taken to Auschwitz

After the war, aged 19, she married Jewish businessman Bela Eger and the couple moved to the US, though she struggled for decades both with survivors guilt and with life as an immigrant. She now works as a therapist, specialising in patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a subject she knows all too well. Im very grateful that I was able to find my inner strength in Auschwitz, she says. They could beat me and torture me, but they could never murder my spirit.

Immaculately dressed and perfectly made-up, Edith speaks softly, with a broad Hungarian accent, despite almost 70 years in the US. She smiles constantly and cries just once when recounting her story  one she has told in her remarkable memoir, The Choice. I was at my book club this morning and the father of one of the women was liberated at the same time as me, in Gunskirchen [Austria]. I call Auschwitz my cherished wound because it taught me compassion. But I dont live there [in my head] any more.

Edith had never even heard of Auschwitz when, on a chilly April morning in 1944, soldiers came and transported her family to the camp  only Ediths elder sister Klara escaped as she was studying music in Budapest at the time. Once at Auschwitz, Edith and her eldest sister Magda were separated, first from their father Lajos and then from their mother Ilona, on orders from Mengele, who told them, Youre going to see your mother very soon. Shes just going to take a shower. Its a moment that has haunted Edith ever since. I give lectures all over the world on the subject of PTSD, yet I still have it myself  I still have nightmares about that time.

From left: sisters Klara, Edith and Magda in 1946. I saw people being shot right in front of me, Edith says. When people tried to flee, they were electrocuted in the barbed wire

Edith and her husband Bela became American citizens in 1955

That first evening, Mengele searched the camp for inmates to entertain him. Edith, forced to dance, performed so well that as a reward, he tossed her a loaf of bread, which she shared with her fellow prisoners. It was an act that was later to save her life.

Her descriptions of life in Auschwitz are horrifying. I saw people being shot right in front of me, she says. When people tried to flee, they were electrocuted in the barbed wire. Worse in some ways was the cruelty administered by some inmates upon each other. One girl, spying Edith as she was admitted to the camp, pointed to the smoke rising from the chimneys and told her: Your mother is burning in there. I just had to keep telling myself that if I could survive today, then tomorrow, Id be free, says Edith, even though I was told that the only way I would get out was as a corpse.

Edith and Bela in 1947 with their newborn daughter Marianne. Bela was a Slovakian camp survivor, whose own mother had been killed during the war

Beatings were commonplace and the threat of worse was never far away. On one occasion, after watching Edith washing, Mengele ordered her to follow him naked into his office. But a phone ringing in the next room disrupted his plans. I didnt know anything about sex, she says. Id had a boyfriend, Eric [before Auschwitz], but I was a complete innocent. I sensed that I was in trouble, so when the phone rang, I ran away. I always wanted to believe there is a God and in that moment, I felt it. I found God in Auschwitz despite the horror. She also found pockets of joy there, such as the competition the young women prisoners held to see who had the best boobs (I won!) and the irrepressible Magda who flirted with a young French prisoner while still captive. She never lost her sense of self.

In spring 1945, Edith and her fellow prisoners were moved from camp to camp during an enforced death march. So weak that she almost collapsed, Edith was carried by the same prisoners with whom shed shared the bread thrown to her by Mengele. They remembered and they carried me so I wouldnt die, she says.

Edith ended up at the camp in Gunskirchen and after it was liberated, she and Magda were sent to stay with a German family to recuperate. Yet even here the horror didnt end. One night a drunken GI liberator forced his way into Ediths room with the intention of rape, until some unknown force stopped him. He came back the next day and apologised, says Edith. He kept coming back and brought me food, taught me how to walk again [during her incarceration, she had broken her back] and how to do the jitterbug, too.

Edith and Marianne on holiday in Atlantic City, 1952 (left), and four years later in El Paso

After the sisters returned home to Hungary, where they were reunited with their sister Klara, Edith started to recover physically, yet the mental scars proved more difficult to heal. I was suicidal after Auschwitz, she admits. My parents were gone, my boyfriend Eric had gone [he had died in Auschwitz just one day before liberation] and I felt I had nothing to get up for in the morning. It took time but I decided that if I lived, then it had to be for something, rather than against something.

Soon after, she met and married Bela Eger, a Slovakian camp survivor, whose own mother had been killed during the war, and in 1949 they moved to the States. At times, Ediths recollections of her life as an immigrant are painful to hear. On one occasion, after boarding a bus in Baltimore and forgetting to pay, she heard the conductors shouts and was instantly transported back to the camp where aggression was the norm, throwing herself down to the floor in incomprehension and fear. I couldnt bear shouting or the sight of barbed wire and even today I still feel those triggers. But now its fleeting.

Edith in the early 80s. In 1980 she returned to Auschwitz to perform the rite of grief that has eluded me all my life

As she and Bela settled into family life with their three children, they never told anyone about their past horrors, burying their pain but finding themselves more psychologically imprisoned than before as the past continued to rear its head. Remembering his months of starvation in the camps, Bela would hoard food. If I asked him to buy two potatoes, hed buy 10lb  we always had to have enough food. Im the other way  Im very careful with what I order in a restaurant. Ill finish everything on my plate and if you dont finish yours, Ill take it home with me as leftovers.

It was during the 1960s, while Edith was studying for a psychology degree, that she reached a turning point. Given a copy of Mans Search for Meaning  a memoir by fellow Auschwitz survivor Viktor Frankl  Edith was struck by its message: that everyone has the freedom to choose their attitude in any set of circumstances. It was a real wake-up call for me to reclaim myself and not be a prisoner of my past.

Josef Mengele, the Nazi camp doctor known as the Angel of Death

She gained a PhD in clinical psychology and became a therapist, using her experiences to help others and encouraging her patients to feel the feelings, as you cant heal what you dont feel. I create an atmosphere with them where they are safe to feel everything. I cry with my patients and I meet them where they are.

In 1980 she returned to Auschwitz to perform the rite of grief that has eluded me all my life. Magda told me I was an idiot for returning, but I wanted to be free. I needed to go back to the lions den and stop running from the lion. When I was there, I saw a man in a uniform and thought he was a Nazi, but then I reached in my pocket and saw my American passport and began to recognise that I didnt have to live there in my mind. I could choose to be free.

Edith still had one more choice to make: whether or not to forgive herself. As a young girl entering Auschwitz with her mother and sister, she saw the women being ushered into two separate lines  the one to the left for those over 40 and under 14; the rest turning to the right. When Mengele asked Edith if Ilona was her mother or sister, she replied: Mother and Ilona was immediately sent to the line on the left, for those sentenced to death. For decades Edith tormented herself with the thought, however unfounded, that if only she had replied: Sister, her mum might have survived.

Have I forgiven myself? Im still working on it, she smiles. Not only did I have survivors guilt, I also had survivors shame  but no one else was doing that to me. I was. We are our own worst enemies. Im much better now, but Im yet to arrive [at self-forgiveness]. As humans, says Edith, We grieve not over what happened but what didnt happen. I remember buying my granddaughter a dress for a dance and starting to cry. I couldnt understand why until I realised it was because I never went to a dance when I was a young girl.

Now, though, Edith dances to her hearts content with her sprightly 93-year-old boyfriend of three years, Eugene. We go swing dancing every Sunday. Bela [who died in 1993] and Edith had divorced and then remarried each other. The first time I married him was as a girl. The second time, I was a woman.

Edith tries to live in the present. I dont get into the coulda, shoulda, wouldas of life. I just say: what now? But I do believe Ill see Eric again, she smiles. I still think about him. And Ill see my parents, too. What will she say to her mum? Oh, I dont need to think about that, she replies. My mum is always with me.

The Choice by Edith Eger will be published in paperback on Thursday by Rider, price 8.99. To order a copy for 7.19 (a 20 per cent discount) until 30 August, visit mailshop.co.uk/books or call 0844 571 0640; p&p is free on orders over 15
Jack Farthing refuses to show me his stomach. Stop that! says the Poldark star, laughing. Im very happy that my character keeps all his clothes on  and puts on lots of lovely hats and coats too.

Farthing is a striking young man, with high cheekbones and piercing eyes  and looks as if he probably does have a six-pack under the T-shirt and jeans hes wearing today  but were much more used to seeing him suited and booted in high-18th-century style, as the villainous George Warleggan in the BBCs Sunday night drama. Unlike Georges lifelong rival, the heroic former soldier Ross Poldark, played by Aidan Turner, who is forever whipping off his top.

The show soared in popularity when a toned Poldark stripped to the waist to scythe in the sun, setting social media on fire. Is Farthing jealous of that torso? George definitely is. No doubt about that. There is a huge amount of jealousy between them.

Jack Farthing on George Warleggan: 'Hes a self-made man with new money, a pretend aristocrat'

Farthing makes even the scheming Warleggan attractive, in a dark way, but insists that he doesnt envy Turners heart-throb status. I much prefer thinking about my acting, as opposed to worrying about whether or not a picture of my torsos going to be looked at all over the world.

Isnt there something troubling about his fellow actor being objectified in this way? Yeah, there is, says Farthing. But Aidan seems very sanguine about it, and takes it with a pinch of salt. He is confident enough in his credentials as an actor.

The Poldark producers have been keen to exploit Turners appeal, starting the current series by having him stride out of the surf in nothing but a wet pair of breeches. But if they had asked Farthings friend Eleanor Tomlinson  who plays Poldarks spirited wife Demelza  to do that, she would refuse, surely? Of course. Yeah. He thinks for a moment and tries to defend his employers.

I guess this is a result of a much longer period through which women were objectified, so this has taken off because of the feeling, Right, we need to redress the balance. 

But its a half-hearted defence from an actor who is glad to keep his clothes on  and who is at the centre of the action as the fourth series comes to a climax tonight. We see George at his absolute highest and lowest. Hes tested as a human. Its definitely a huge end for him. It couldnt really get bigger.

Currently, Parliamentarian Poldark is struggling, while Warleggan is thriving as a wealthy landowner. George is as high as he can get in life. Hes right on top of the mountain. I dont know where you can go from there

George and his wife Elizabeths alliance is now strong after a shaky start. But he can no longer ignore the fact that his son, Valentine, looks an awful lot like Ross

Farthing smiles because the answer is obvious: down. The actor reveals that his character is heading for a fall at last. The end of this series really ramps things up. He thought hed put the rivalry with Ross to bed, but its totally crept back in.

George and his wife Elizabeths alliance is now strong after a shaky start. But he can no longer ignore the fact that his son, Valentine, looks an awful lot like Ross. And there is a further bombshell to come regarding Elizabeth that will tear Georges world apart.

People love to hate, dont they? But nobody spits at me or boos me

At the age of 32, Farthing finds himself at the centre of the action in one of the most popular shows on television, playing a character with a massive chip on his shoulder about class. A bag of chips. Hes a self-made man with new money, a pretend aristocrat. His grandfather was a blacksmith, but George now owns a great part of Cornwall and sits in Parliament. Hes hugely driven and ambitious. Machiavellian. Ruthless.

Farthing admits his own early life was one of privilege: Ive been so lucky. Im not blind to it. The son of two doctors, he went to Westminster School then Oxford University to read art history, before studying drama at Lamda. So how does he answer the accusation that acting is only for posh kids these days?

Access to training is where it starts. Becoming an actor is expensive because you dont earn money immediately, you have to work for free and its expensive to train. Thats hard for most people. You just have to find ways to make it possible for people who cant afford theatrical training to be given those opportunities.

Farthings next project is a film with Keira Knightley called Official Secrets, but in the autumn he will return to Bristol and Cornwall for six months to film a fifth series of Poldark. Rumour has it that he and Turner keep away from each other. Thats not true. It would be good if it was. We do speak to each other, and theres a lot of fun to be had with their characters ridiculous rivalry.

The Poldark producers have been keen to exploit Aidan Turners appeal, starting the current series by having him stride out of the surf in nothing but a wet pair of breeches

Now that Poldark is so popular, do people recognise him? Yeah, but they are totally lovely. Really? But hes playing one of the most hated men in Britain.

People love to hate, dont they? I get a lot of people saying, Ooh! You wrong un! But nobody spits at me or boos me.

Farthing smiles to himself, knowing that millions of people are about to be gripped by the Poldark finale. That would sort of be lovely if you had people spitting at you, wouldnt it? It would mean you had really got under their skin.

Poldark is on BBC1 tonight at 9pm
ANOTHER FINE MESS by Tim Moore (Yellow Jersey 14.99, 368 pp)

ANOTHER FINE MESS

by Tim Moore (Yellow Jersey 14.99, 368 pp)

Reactions to Donald Trumps election as U.S. President varied, but Tim Moore is almost certainly the only person to have greeted the news by deciding to drive across the U.S. in a 1924 Ford Model T  the car that launched the American Dream.

Moore has founded his literary career on eccentric journeys and, true to form, his transit of the States, along an exclusively Republican-voting route, is alarmingly full of incident, very funny  and even mildly transformative.

He doesnt like President Trump any better by the time he completes his journey, but the gritty hardship he encounters, together with the old-fashioned virtues of kindness and self-sufficiency that still survive in small-town America, change some of his ideas about Trump voters.

LADY SINGS THE BLUES by Billie Holiday (Penguin 9.99, 192 pp)

LADY SINGS THE BLUES

by Billie Holiday (Penguin 9.99, 192 pp)

Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was 18, she was 16 and I was three. The startling first line of Billie Holidays autobiography reveals a good deal about the book and its author.

In a 2015 study, the academic and author John Szwed pointed out that Billies mother was actually 19 when she was born, her father was 17 and her parents never married.

But, despite claims of inaccuracies, the book is a wrenchingly authentic account of Holidays turbulent trajectory from abused child to jazz genius and her later drug addiction and imprisonment.

Co-written with the New York Post journalist William Dufty, who based his account on detailed conversations with Billie, it recounts in her own voice the extraordinary highs and lows of her life: I became a celebrity. When that happens, watch out.

INTO THE GREY ZONE by Dr Adrian Owen (Faber 9.99, 320 pp)

INTO THE GREY ZONE

by Dr Adrian Owen (Faber 9.99, 320 pp)

One day in 1997, a colleague of Dr Adrian Owen at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, told him of the distressing case of Kate, a 26-year-old nursery school teacher.

She had caught a bad cold, which turned into a much more serious viral condition that left her in an apparently vegetative state. But a PET scan of Kates brain showed her responding to stimuli as though she were healthy.

Eventually, she recovered sufficiently to describe her experiences in the grey zone of consciousness between life and death.

Dr Owens research into vegetative patients convinced him consciousness can survive  even in patients who seem entirely unresponsive.

One day, he predicts, sophisticated technology will mean that the voiceless will speak again, and those who we thought were gone for ever . . . will exercise their right to be treated as real people.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who abruptly submitted his resignation late Monday, said he did so to defend the integrity of the country's Foreign Ministry, Iran's official government newspaper reported. His shock announcement roiled Iranian markets Tuesday.

As Washington Post writes in the article Iran's Rouhani refuses to accept his top diplomat's resignation, unverified reports suggested that Zarif was angered by his exclusion from a high-level meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, attended by Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Hassan Rouhani. Assad was making his first public visit to Iran since the Syrian conflict began in 2011

I sincerely apologize for my lack of ability to continue my service and for all of the shortcomings, Zarif, a U.S.-educated diplomat, said in an Instagram post Monday.

On Tuesday, he said he felt no remorse and did not need anyone to console me, state media reported.

The pro-reform news site Entekhab reported Monday night that Zarif said he had no credibility in the world as a foreign minister after images of the meetings were published.

Zarif, who negotiated the nuclear pact with world powers, has come under pressure from hard-liners in Iran in the months since the United States withdrew from the deal and reimposed far-reaching sanctions on Iran. His resignation could upend Irans foreign policy at a critical time for the Islamic republic.

More than 150 parliamentarians signed a letter calling on Rouhani to keep Zarif as chief diplomat. And in public remarks Tuesday at the Central Bank of Iran, Rouhani thanked Zarif  who negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal  for his role in confronting the United States.

Rouhani, a relative moderate and pragmatist, has not yet officially accepted Zarifs resignation. Rouhani's influential chief of staff, Mahmoud Vaezi, posted an undated photo of the president and Zarif together on an airplane.

Rouhani is fully satisfied with Zarif, Vaezi said before the foreign minister's statement Tuesday. According to Dr. Rouhani, the Islamic Republic of Iran has only one foreign policy and a secretary of state, he wrote.

Michael Singh, managing director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said Zarifs resignation is not surprising because the policies he championed have fallen out of favor since the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The supreme leader has been very critical of the JCPOA and outreach to the West after the U.S. withdrawal, Singh said. And Zarif is the poster boy for the JCPOA and engagement with the West.

Singh said Zarifs departure may be rooted in domestic issues, rather than foreign policy, because there are no significant prospects for negotiations on either Irans nuclear program or on the issues of concern to Europeans and Americans. He noted that Rouhani has been involved in a power struggle with hard-line elements in the government and that Zarif may be the casualty. Absent Rouhani stepping down  which would be very significant, to end his presidency early  Zarif is bearing the brunt of this and is ultimately the one whos lost his job over this, Singh said.
An Oregon mother-of-one is suing four clinics, five doctors and a nurse for allegedly dismissing her brain tumor symptoms as just a migraine.

Between 2010 and 2017, 29-year-old Erica Fletes, of Eugene, was suffering from head pain, blurred vision and neck pain.

A brain scan in 2012 revealed the tumor, but the doctor who interpreted the results allegedly missed it.

It wasn't until a visit to an eye doctor in May 2017 that the tumor was found - and had grown double in size.

Fletes filed the suit on February 15 in Lane County Circuit Court, asking for $10 million in damages, reported the Register-Guard.

Mother-of-one Erica Fletes, 29 (left and right), of Eugene, Oregon, was experiencing head pain, blurred vision and neck pain since at least 2010. She underwent a brain scan in 2012, which showed a tumor, but a radiologist allegedly missed it

In May 2017, Fletes's eye doctor told her to go visit a neuro-ophthalmologist. An MRI was performed, revealing a brain tumor that had grown nearly double in size since 2012. Pictured: Fletes's brain tumor before surgery in May 2017 (top left), after surgery in May 2017 (bottom left) and in December 2018 (right)

According to the Register-Guard, the lawsuit states that Fletes had been suffering from migraines since at least 2010 and reported symptoms to her primary care physician Dr Donald Mackay.

He had Fletes undergo a brain scan in 2012 at Peacehealth Medical Center at Riverbend.

The scan showed a mass on her brain - 2.2 centimeters by 1.1 centimeters - but radiologist Dr Stephan Thiede allegedly missed it, according to the Register-Guard.

Fletes continued to suffer the same symptoms and said she was having a 'daily headache that felt like a sledgehammer hitting her in the back of the head and radiating around to the front of the head', the lawsuit says.

She described the symptoms to family medicine physician Dr Galen Griffin at Oregon Medical Group in 2014.

The Register-Guard reports that he didn't order a brain scan and instead prescribed her muscles relaxers in 2015.

But the symptoms were relentless and, in February 2017, Fletes said she visited the emergency room at McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center in Springfield.

The lawsuit states that she complained of sensitivity to light, throbbing headaches, nausea, numbness in her right face and both arms, and foggy vision in her right eye.

She was seen by emergency medicine physician Dr Eric Spencer and registered nurse Rebecca Hope.

Fletes was evaluated for stroke symptoms, but she was told she had an atypical migraine and was allowed to go home, according to the lawsuit.

The Register-Guard reports that doctors didn't order MRIs, CT scans or PET scans.

That same month she went to visit her primary care doctor, Dr Mackay, to discuss her ER visit.

According to the lawsuit, Dr Mackay acknowledged Fletes's symptoms, but did not order any brain scans as he had before, nor did he refer her to a specialist.

She returned one month later, in March, complaining of pain in her shoulders and upper spine, but no scans were ordered or referrals given, the Register-Guard reports.

Fletes visited internal medicine specialist Dr Kantee Karki at Oregon Medical Group in April.

She described headaches and a 'pressure-like sensation' in her beck, but Dr Karki did not issue a referral or order brain scans, according to the lawsuit.

Surgery removed about 80 percent of the mass, but Fletes now has permanent hearing loss in her right ear and paralysis on the right side of her face (pictured)

Fletes (left and right) filed a lawsuit on February 15 against four clinics, five doctors and one nurse seeking $10million

During an eye appointment in May, her ophthalmologist noticed something was wrong with Fletes's optic nerve, which sends impulses from the brain to the back of the eye.

She was referred to a neuro-ophthalmologist, who ordered an MRI, and discovered the mass on her brainstem - which was nearly double its size.

The lawsuit states that another doctor viewed the 2012 scan images and said the mass was visible then.

Additionally, Fletes's attorneys say the head pain, blurred vision, neck pain and nausea she experienced are all classic symptoms of a brain tumor and warranted further investigation.

In late May, Fletes had surgery to remove the tumor, which removed about 80 percent of it, she wrote in a post on Facebook.

The lawsuit states that, as a result, she suffered permanent hearing loss in her right ear and cannot completely close her right eyelid.

'Being told that I had a brain tumor was the hardest thing I had to deal with,' she wrote on Facebook.

'In the beginning I wanted it to be over already and I didn't know how long I was going to be able to take it.

'I'm ready to push through recovery with my head held high and not letting anything get in my way.'

Although the tumor is continuing to shrink, Fletes still suffers from paralysis on the right side of her face and headaches and will need follow-up medical care, according to the lawsuit.

DailyMail.com reached out to Fletes's attorney, Grant Cook of Lafky & Lafky, requesting comment, but did not receive an immediate response.
About a month after getting over the flu, five-year-old Brysen Mills began complaining of leg pain.

His mother, Lesley, didn't think the two incidents were connected and assumed the kindergartner was just suffering from growing pains.

But in mid-January, when it got to the point that Brysen could not sit up or walk at all, Lesley rushed him from their home in Paris, Illinois, to his pediatrician's office in Terre Haute, Indiana, reported the Indianapolis Star.

When the pediatrician couldn't figure out what was wrong, Brysen was taken by ambulance to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.

MRIs, X-rays and spinal taps over four days produced no answers, until one neurologist asked if Brysen had been sick a few days before symptoms began.

Lesley told the neurologist about the flu and stomach bug Brysen had contracted in early December.

That's when he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare disorder often preceded by an infectious illness - and in which the immune system attacks the peripheral nervous system, paralyzing parts of the body.

In early December, Brysen Mills, five (left and right, with his dad), from Paris, Illinois, contracted the flu and then a stomach bug. Just a few weeks later, he complained of leg pain and was soon unable to sit up or walk

After spending five days at Riley's Hospital for Children in Indiana, doctors diagnosed Brysen with Guillain-Barre syndrome. Pictured: Brysen, right, with Riley Children's physical therapist Kristina Davey

The exact cause of Guillain-Barre syndrome is unknown, but it is often preceded by a respiratory infection or a virus like the stomach flu.

Dr Deborah Sokol, a pediatric neurologist at Riley Children's, told the Indianapolis Star that the hospital sees about 10 cases a year.

'What we know is that when there's flu season, you can be sure we are going to see more cases of Guillain-Barre,' she told the newspaper.

WHAT IS GUILLAIN-BARRE SYNDROME? Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is a disorder in which your body's immune system attacks your peripheral nervous system. Weakness and tingling in the extremities are the first symptoms. These sensations can quickly spread, eventually paralyzing your whole body. The exact cause of GBS is unknown. The disorder usually appears days or weeks after a respiratory or digestive tract infection. GBS is rare with between 3,000 and 6,000 developing the disease every year in the US, according to the CDC. Signs and symptoms: Prickling or tingling sensations in your fingers, toes, ankles or wrists

Weakness in your legs that spreads to your upper body

Unsteady walking or inability to walk or climb stairs

Difficulty with eye or facial movements, including speaking, chewing or swallowing

Difficulty breathing

Rapid heart rate

Low or high blood pressure Treatment: There is no cure for GBS but treatment can reduce the disease's severity and speed recovery. 1) Plasma exchange: Plasma, part of your blood, is separated from the red blood cells. The red blood cells are then put back into your body to rid the plasma of harmful antibodies 2) Intravenous Immunoglobulin Therapy: Immunoglobulin containing healthy antibodies from blood donors is given through a vein and blocks harmful antibodies from contributing to damage Recovery: Recovery can take months or even years but sufferers generally experience this timeline: After the first signs and symptoms, the condition progressively worsens for about two weeks

Symptoms reach a plateau within four weeks

Recovery usually lasts between six to 12 months, though it can take longer Source: Mayo Clinic Advertisement

Guillain-Barre syndrome is rare, affecting about one in 100,000 people and fewer than 20,000 cases per year, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

After the first symptoms of Guillain-Barre syndrome, sufferers' conditions usually worsen for about two weeks before plateauing around the four-week mark.

The recovery period can last as little as a few weeks and as long as a few years, but about 30 percent of those diagnosed have a residual weakness after three years.

Most who have Guillain-Barre syndrome make full recoveries, but some are left with tingling sensations in the arms and legs.

According to the Indianapolis Star, Brysen spent most of his first week in the hospital curled up in a ball in his hospital bed.

His father, Josh, was deployed with the Indiana Air National Guard in Qatar and received permission to end his tour early to return to his family.

Brysen's first step in treatment at Riley Children's was to receive Intravenous Immunoglobulin Therapy (IVIG).

When you have Guillain-Barre syndrome, the immune system produces harmful antibodies that attack the nerves.

IVIG is a treatment made from donated blood that contains healthy antibodies to block the harmful ones from continuing their damage.

According to the Indianapolis Star, Brysen was so weak that doctors feared they would have to put him on a ventilator to help him breathe.

However, by the next day, the IVIG seemed to be working and the family was told he would now have to undergo rigorous physical therapy.

During this time, Brysen had dropped from 44 pounds to 36 pounds, so he needed to gain back weight and muscle tone, reported the Indianapolis Star

Kristina Davey, a physical therapy at Riley Children's, said that when she first began working with Brysen, he couldn't sit up or walk.

'He was so bent up, his knees and hips up tight in a ball, and he hated to be extended because it hurt,' she told the hospital in an interview.

For three hours a day five days a week, the kindergartner underwent physical and occupational therapy.

Guillain-Barre syndrome is a rare disorder in which the body's immune system attacks its peripheral nervous system, paralyzing parts of the body. Pictured: Brysen, right, during physical therapy with his father, Josh

Brysen underwent two weeks of physical and occupational therapy before he was declared well enough to go home, where he will continue to undergo outpatient physical therapy. Pictured: Brysen, right, during physical therapy with his father, Josh

His parents also participated in the exercises, which included bouncing and kicking a ball, tapping his toes and walking.

Within two weeks, Brysen was declared well enough to go home and back to school.

His mother, Lesley, said he was particularly excited to be reunited with his two older brothers, ages nine and 15, who hadn't been able to visit him in the hospital.

'He didn't want to stop hugging them,' she told Riley in an interview. 'It was so nice to have all five of us under the same roof together.'

Brysen will continue to undergo outpatient physical therapy at home and his expected to make a complete recovery.
Paralympic snowboarder Amy Purdy has to decide whether to save her leg or her kidney after developing a blood clot.

Purdy, 39, was 19 when she had both legs amputated below the knee, her spleen removed, both kidneys removed and one kidney transplanted - donated from her father - to save her life from meningitis and sepsis.

Thanks to prosthetics, Las Vegas-born Purdy was able to get back on the slopes and triumph on the global stage, winning a Paralympic bronze in 2014 and silver in 2018.

But now, her reliance on her prosthetics had led to a blood clot in one of her thighs, which may require removing the entire leg - a move that would take years to accustom to.

Doctors are trying to save the leg, but in doing so they are putting strain on the transplanted kidney, which she needs to prevent another transplant or a life on dialysis.

Purdy, 39, had her legs amputated below the knee and both kidneys removed during a battle with sepsis and meningitis at 19. Now she faces losing her entire leg or her kidney

Thanks to prosthetics, Las Vegas-born Purdy was able to get back on the slopes and triumph on the global stage, winning a Paralympic bronze in 2014 and silver in 2018

'I have been hit down multiple times in my life but this time by far has been the hardest,' Purdy wrote on Facebook on Sunday.

'I went from snowboarding 6 hours a day, working out & traveling the world to what I thought was just a simple mechanical issue with my left leg. When I entered the hospital this weekend with my leg cramping we found out that it's a much bigger problem [than] that.'

The Catch-22 situation boils down to contrast dye.

The dye is key for doctors to use in MRI scans and surgery as they locate the clot to treat, monitor and remove it.

But that dye can prove toxic to transplanted or diseased kidneys, raising the risk of two rare, serious disorders: CIN and NSF.

CIN (contrast-induced nephropathy) only affect two percent of the population, but it can trigger a sharp decline in kidney function within as little as three days. In some cases, it can cause irreparable damage to the blood vessels and heart.

NSF (nephrogenic systemic fibrosis) can be fatal. It triggers a burning reaction in the skin, joint stiffness, and muscle weakness. Worryingly, it can take up to three months to appear.

Purdy rides during a training session on December 16, 2013 in Copper Mountain, Colorado

The Catch-22 situation boils down to contrast dye. The dye is key for doctors to use in MRI scans and surgery as they locate the clot to treat, monitor and remove it. But that dye can prove toxic to transplanted or diseased kidneys, raising the risk of two rare, serious disorders: CIN and NSF

Purdy said her doctors are operating on her leg in hopes to remove the clot without damaging the kidney, but it's touch-and-go.

'They had to use contrast [dye] but promised me it was a small amount so fingers crossed that my kidney powered through like the powerhouse it is. My dad reassured me that before he gave it to me he put it through much worse,' Purdy wrote.

She added: 'As you can imagine, all of this has once again shifted my perspective.

'Our bodies are so strong yet so delicate at the same time. Being an athlete and having prosthetic legs, I have conditioned myself to power through so much.

'That is what has led me to where I'm at in my life but that's the paradox because it also led me here.

'Although I had zero symptoms until a few days before, I realize the pressure I've been putting on this leg for quite some time. Just a reminder to listen to those little whispers and put our health and self-care first! '
More than a third of women in the Armed Forces are infertile - compared to one in 10 in the general US population, a report reveals.

The findings, based on interviews with 800 active-duty and veteran women, have raised questions about whether experiences in the military hamper fertility.

One Army aviation retiree told the Service Women's Action Network (SWAN), which published the report, that she blames the total loss of her ovaries at aged just 21 on her exposure to chemicals used to strip aircraft parts. She claims the military refused to cover or offer her IVF treatment.

Another said she spent years handling fuel before finding out she was infertile, and that she struggled to get coverage for IVF through the military.

SWAN, an advocacy group for servicewomen, said these stories are far from anomalies, presenting scores more testimonies from women.

They call for broader access to fertility treatment (the full spectrum is only offered at five military centers) and subsidies, sparking a war of words with the Department of Defense.

But above all, they call for research to identify why military service appears to impact female fertility.

The findings, based on interviews with 800 active-duty and veteran women, have raised questions about whether experiences in the military hamper fertility (file image)

The report explains that military women who have impaired fertility are entitled to free fertility treatment through the military.

However, it requires them traveling to one of just five centers in the United States: in Houston, Texas; Honolulu, Hawaii; Bethesda, Maryland; San Diego, California; and Tacoma, Washington.

They all have waiting lists.

In order to get treatment at one of those centers, women must prove their infertility is linked to their service.

For some, that wasn't too hard. One woman who suffered a series of abdominal hernias was able to get a doctor's verdict that her ill-fitting uniform was to blame.

For others, it is murky.

The SWAN report says this obstacle is impossible for many women to overcome without more research into what the possible links could be.

'This data clearly cries out for more research to pinpoint the high levels of infertility,' the report authors write.

'In the interim, military women who present with fertility problems which are likely a result of military service should be afforded access to all available infertility testing and procedures at no cost.'

Those who are refused treatment or cannot access those centers can go to civilian centers using Tricare insurance, which covers certain tests but does not cover IVF.

Women in the SWAN report said they had paid between $15,000 and $20,000 for one cycle of IVF - the same as they would if they weren't in the military.

Ellen Haring, CEO of SWAN, spoke to one woman who paid $30,000 for IVF to have twins.

Later this year, it is likely we will have more answers to Haring's questions. RAND Corporation is in the midst of rolling out a survey to as many current and former servicewomen as possible to assess fertility, pregnancy, family issues, and injuries.

DailyMail.com has contacted the Department of Defense for a comment.
The world's smallest surviving baby boy ever born in Japan has been allowed home after a lengthy hospital stay.

The newborn - who has not been named - arrived last August weighing just 0.59lbs (268g) - less than a block of butter and the same as an onion.

He was born via emergency C-section at Keio University Hospital in Tokyo after doctors noticed he was not growing during a 24 week scan and worried his life may be in danger.

The world's smallest surviving baby boy (pictured) ever was born via an emergency C-section in Keio University Hospital in Tokyo in August weighing just 0.59lbs (268g)

He was born via emergency C-section at Keio University Hospital in Tokyo after doctors noticed he was not growing during a 24 week scan and worried his life may be in danger

The baby, who could fit into his doctors' hands, was treated at a neonatal intensive care unit, which helped get his weight up to 7.14lbs (3.2kg).

He left hospital last Wednesday - two months after his due date.

The boy was kept in hospital while doctors managed his breathing and weight gain, with him eventually being able to breastfeed, Kyodo News reported.

The paediatricians who treated the newborn hope his success story will give hope to families whose children are born too small or too soon.

'I want people to know that babies can return home vigorous even if they are born small,' Dr Takeshi Arimitsu said.

After spending seven months in hospital, the youngster's weight got up to 7.14lbs (3.2kg). He is pictured just before he was finally sent home last Wednesday - two months after his due date

The baby, who could fit into his doctors' hands, was treated at a neonatal intensive care unit, which helped get his weight up to 7.14lbs (3.2kg). Pictured recently

The past record holder for smallest surviving baby boy went to a newborn in Germany, who arrived at 24 weeks in 2009 weighing 0.6lbs (274g), according to the University of Iowa's Tiniest Babies register.

The smallest girl - also from Germany - was born at 25 weeks in 2015 weighing 0.56lbs (252g).

According to the register, only 23 babies have been born prematurely weighing less than 0.66lbs (300g) and survived, of which just four were boys.

The register collects information from medical journals, media reports and cases that have been self-reported by a family member alongside verification from a healthcare professional.

Around 90 per cent of babies born in Japan that weigh less than 2.2lbs (1,000g) survive, however, very few under 0.66lbs make it.

The paediatricians who treated the newborn hope his success story will give hope to families whose children are born too small or too soon

'I want people to know that babies can return home vigorous even if they are born small,' said Dr Takeshi Arimitsu, who treated the boy
A quadruple amputee who survived a shooting has fought and won another battle: breast cancer.

Julie Dombo, 64, of Derby, Kansas, said one of her daughters was giving her a shower in November 2017 when she found a lump.

After 15 months of chemotherapy and radiation, doctors finally declared Dombo cancer-free, reported KSNW.

Despite the many struggles she's faced since her hands and feet were amputated three-and-a-half years ago, Dombo says she wants to share her story to inspire others and show that they can live full lives post-amputation.

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO

Julie Dombo, 63, of Derby, Kansas - a quadruple amputee who survived a shooting - rang a bell last week signalling the end of treatment for breast cancer (pictured)

In August 2015, Dombo (left and right) was shot several times in the arm and in one of her lungs during a robbery gone wrong. She was rushed to the hospital and was in a coma for six days

Dombo said that when the biopsy confirmed her breast cancer diagnosis - she couldn't believe it, especially after all the trials and tribulations she'd been through.

'When I got down and out thinking: "God why are you doing this to me? Cancer too?"' she told KSNW.

'But I just think God has been with me through all the amputations, and he is going to be with me through the cancer too,' she says.

In August 2015, Dombo's world was completely changed in a robbery gone wrong.

She was on her daily walk when she stopped by an AT&T store to get her phone fixed before heading home, according to the Wichita Eagle.

Dombo was near the exit when a gunman fired at her after demanding money from clerks behind the counter. She was shot several times in the arm and in one of her lungs.

'I fell to the floor, and I just said: :Please don't let me die", ' she told the newspaper. 'I just didn't want to die.'

Dombo was rushed to the hospital and was in a coma for six days.

When she awoke, she realized she was on a ventilator and that both of her hands had turned black.

'I was like: "Uh-oh, I am in trouble", ' she said. 'I didn't know if [my hands] could be saved or not.'

Doctors told Dombo's family that oxygen deprivation to her hands and feet had damaged the tissue and all four limbs would have to be amputated. Pictured: Dombo in a coma

Dombo was in the hospital for nearly four months where she performed arduous physical therapy, learning how to navigate life in a wheelchair and how to use her prosthetic legs. Pictured: An insurance company representative examines Dombo

However, her insurance company - Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas - refused to pay for a pair of bionic hands, which were viewed as 'luxury items'. Picture: Dombo, right, and her husband John before the shooting

Doctors told her family that oxygen deprivation to her hands and feet had damaged the tissue and that all four limbs would have to be amputated.

The gunman, James Michael Phillips, fled the crime scene but was later arrested by police.

In December 2016, he was sentenced to 31 years in prison on nine criminal counts, including attempted first-degree murder.

At the same time, told The Guardian she was in the hospital for nearly four months where she performed arduous physical therapy, learning how to navigate life in a wheelchair and how to use her prosthetic legs.

However, her insurance company - Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas - refused to pay for a pair of bionic hands, which were viewed as 'luxury items'.

Around Christmas 2016, a pair of generous donors gifted her with the $260,000 hands.

They allow Dombo to grab and pick things up, dress herself, go to the bathroom on her own and even drive a car.

But tragedy struck yet again when, just one year later, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

In December 2016, a pair of generous donors gifted Dombo (left and right) with the $260,000 hands. Tragedy struck yet again when, in November 2017, she was diagnosed

After 15 months of undergoing radiation and chemotherapy, Dombo (left) was declared cancer-free

The average US woman has a 12 percent chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime, according to the National Cancer Institute.

In a Facebook post, Dombo revealed she underwent radiation therapy until July 2018 and received her final chemotherapy treatment last week.

Accompanying the post, she shared a photo of herself ringing a bell, which many clinics have survivors do to mark the end of cancer treatment.

'There is a little paragraph underneath the bell that talks about all the people before you who rang it,' Dombo said.

'I started thinking about all the cancer survivors that rang that bell, and I got emotional. It was pretty emotional to ring that bell, and it felt really good.'
Campaigners today spoke of their delight after the opt-out organ donation system cleared its last hurdle in Parliament.

Prime Minister Theresa May announced the plans - which presumes organ donation consent unless a person chooses not to - last summer.

Max and Keira's Law, named after a boy who received a heart transplant from a girl who donated it, cleared the House of Commons last year.

The landmark move passed its final hurdle today in the House of Lords, paving the way for the Queen to formally agree to the law in the next few days.

Max and Keira's Law, named after a boy who received a heart transplant from a girl who donated it, cleared the House of Commons last year. Max Johnson (left) was saved by a heart transplant - given to him by nine-year-old donor Keira Ball (right) following her death in 2017

Lord Philip Hunt, sponsor of the bill alongside MPs Geoffrey Robinson and Dan Jarvis, told the Mirror it will be 'the law of the land' within days.

The Bill, tabled by Labour's Geoffrey Robinson in the Commons last year, passed without much scrutiny.

The bill today had a third and final reading in the Lords. It is believed the system may be in place from April 2020.

Dr John Chisholm, BMA medical ethics committee chair, said: 'We are delighted that the Organ Donation Bill in England has cleared its last hurdle in Parliament today.

'The BMA has been at the forefront of the campaign to move towards an opt-out system for nearly two decades.

'We firmly believe that an opt-out system, as one part of a broader strategy, is the best way to increase donation rates.

'This shift will allow us to build on the improvements that have already been made to the organ donation system, in order to maximise the number of lives that can be saved and transformed by an organ transplant.

He added: 'It is now essential that attention is given to publicising the forthcoming change so that people have the opportunity to think about their wishes and to opt out of donation if they wish to do so.

'We also need to ensure that the NHS is given the resources needed to make this potential increase in donation a reality.'

WHAT IS AN OPT-OUT ORGAN DONATION SYSTEM? What is an opt-out organ donation system? Such a system presumes adults consent to donating their organs, unless they explicitly choose not to. How is it different to the current system? Max and Keira's Law, as it is to be named, is the polar opposite of the current system in England. Currently, adults in England have to sign-up to a national register if they wish for their organs to be taken after their death. Will people be able to defy the law? Under the new opt-out system, family members are still given a final opportunity to not go ahead with the organ donation. It is believed the rule only applies to those who are deemed mentally capable of giving consent. Will the whole of the UK move to the opt-out system? Wales became the first country in the UK to adopt the system in 2015, which was deemed a 'significant' and 'progressive' change. Scotland is edging ever closer to passing the same opt out organ donation bill and Northern Ireland is expected to follow suit. Why will an opt-out system help? Campaigners have long argued such a system would increase the number of organs available. Figures estimate that around 6,000 patients are on the waiting list for an organ. Such lists can be as long as five years. Advertisement

Jacob West, healthcare innovation director at the British Heart Foundation, said: 'This change in the law is a historic moment that will provide a lifeline for the hundreds of patients waiting for a heart transplant across England.

'Tragically there is a drastic shortage of organ donors, meaning thousands of people are living with life-limiting illnesses and an uncertain future.

'This new law now offers them much needed hope that a donor will be found before it is too late.

'The law change will be a vital first step, but what really matters now is for it to be given the right resources and infrastructure to work effectively, and save thousands of lives in the process.

'We look forward to the Government making this final commitment.'

John Forsythe, medical director of organ donation and transplantation for NHS Blood and Transplant, praised the bill yesterday, before it was discussed in the Lords.

He told The Mirror: 'It looks as if the new "Opt Out" legislation in England will become law in the next few days.

'We very much hope that once this new law comes into force in Spring 2020, we will see similar results to those we have witnessed in Wales.'

Mr Forsythe explained how more people and families have agreed to donation since the law was passed in Wales four years ago.

He added: 'We will work closely with the Government to ensure that the introduction of the new opt-out approach is implemented successfully.

'Between now and then we will carry out an information campaign to make sure everyone knows about the change in the law.'

Currently, adults in England have to sign-up to a national register if they wish for their organs to be taken after their death.

Under the new opt-out system, family members are still given a final opportunity to not go ahead with the organ donation.

It is believed the rule only applies to those who are deemed mentally capable of giving consent.

Wales became the first country in the UK to adopt the system in 2015, which was deemed a 'significant' and 'progressive' change.

Scotland is edging ever closer to passing the same opt out organ donation bill and Northern Ireland is expected to follow suit.

Prime Minister Theresa May announced the plans - which presumes organ donation consent unless a person chooses not to - last summer

Max Johnson, 11, was saved by a heart transplant - given to him by nine-year-old donor Keira Ball following her death in 2017.

He had spent seven months waiting for a donor heart before undergoing the nine-hour operation, filmed by camera crews in a UK first.

Max, from Winsford, Cheshire, suffers from cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle that affects its size, shape and structure.

Max underwent the life-saving procedure in 2018. Before that, he had spent seven months hooked up to a pump which was keeping him alive.

His father, Paul, 45, praised the bill. He said: 'It's been a privilege to have been involved in such a noble cause. It is a wonderful legacy for Max and Keira. It will make a difference.'

Keira died when her familys Vauxhall Vectra hit a Ford Ranger 4x4 on the A361 in Devon. It also left her mother and brother fighting for their lives.

Her organs saved four lives in total. Max was given her heart, while a man in his 30s was given her kidney.

A woman in her 50s who had been waiting more than nine years was given Keira's other kidney. Her pancreas and liver went to another little boy.

Figures indicate there are more than 5,000 people in the UK currently on the waiting list for an organ transplant.

However, a shortage of organs means that three people die every day while awaiting a transplant.

Professor Chris Rudge, a leading transplant surgeon, previously said he would opt out on the grounds that the State should not presume to take a citizen's organs without permission.

Professor Rudge, a former national director for transplantation at the Department of Health, said in October: 'No one knows better than me the problems of thousands of people waiting for a transplant.'
The arrival of a new baby is often met with parents proudly proclaiming it has their eyes, nose or mouth.

But research suggests children may even inherit how responsible they are from their mother and father.

A study of more than 700 siblings suggests DNA may influence the moral compass of the young more than their upbringing.

Scientists found closely-related siblings are more similar to their parents, even if their step brothers and sisters grew up in the same home.

The researchers stress, however, our genes just 'give us potential' and we can still 'shape who we become'.

Children may inherit how responsible they are from their mother or father (stock)

The research was carried out by The Pennsylvania State University and led by Amanda Ramos, a PhD candidate from the department of psychology.

'A lot of studies have shown a link between parenting and these virtuous traits, but they haven't looked at the genetic component,' Ms Ramos said.

'I thought that was a missed opportunity because parents also share their genes with their children, and what we think is parents influencing and teaching their children these characteristics may actually be due, at least in part, to genetics.'

To uncover the role of genetics, the researchers analysed 720 pairs of siblings aged 12-14.

These included identical and fraternal twins, brothers and sisters from both divorced and intact families, half siblings, and step brothers and sisters.

By including a range of different types of siblings, who varied in how related they were, the researchers could get to the bottom of how big a role genetic and environmental factors play in influencing personality traits.

For example, identical twins share the same DNA, while step-siblings are unrelated but often live together.

BEING HYPERACTIVE MAY BE IN YOUR DNA Being hyperactive may be in your DNA, research suggested last November. Scientists identified more than 300 genetic mutations that raise the risk of the mental disorder by 19 per cent. The mutations are thought to affect a sufferer's central nervous system, which then influences their brain development and nerve cell signalling. The findings - made by a team at SUNY Upstate Medical University in New York - may debunk critics who argue ADHD is just an excuse for bad behaviour. Advertisement

'If identical twins are more similar than fraternal twins, for example, it's assumed there's a genetic influence,' Ms Ramos said.

'Including multiple degrees of relatedness can give you more power to disentangle the genetic influences from the shared environment.'

The researchers measured how exposed the siblings were to 'parental positivity' - such as responsiveness and praise - as well as negativity, like shouting and conflict.

When the participants reached 25-27 years old, the scientists then looked at how responsible and conscientious they were.

Results - published in the journal Behavior Genetics - revealed that while positive parenting was associated with children being more responsible and conscientious overall, the effects were stronger in the more closely-related siblings.

'Essentially, we found that both genetics and parenting have an effect on these characteristics,' Ms Ramos said.

'The way children act or behave is due, in part, to genetic similarity and parents respond to those child behaviours.

'Then, those behaviours are having an influence on the children's social responsibility and conscientiousness.'

Study author Jenae Neiderhiser, distinguished professor of psychology and human development and family studies, believes their study helps explain how parents shape their children's character.

'Most people assume that parenting shapes the development of virtuous character in children via entirely environmental pathways,' she said.

'But our results suggest there are also heritable influences.

'This doesn't mean that if parents are conscientious their children also will be regardless of how the children are parented.

'It does mean, however, that children inherit a tendency to behave in a particular way and that this shouldn't be ignored.'

Despite finding a genetic link to personality traits, the researchers stress your upbringing and surroundings also shape who you are.

'Genes simply give you a potential,' Ms Ramos said. 'People still make their own choices and have agency in shaping who they become.'
A widespread change in political views could be to blame for people increasingly turning their backs on vaccines, researchers have suggested.

More people are being found to have anti-vaccine views in countries where populist politics are growing in popularity.

Populism - practised by US president Donald Trump and UKIP - is politics claiming to be based around the concerns of average people and not 'elite' wealthier people, who traditionally have more power.

Low vaccination rates are believed to have contributed to measles outbreaks across Europe and the US this year, and the movement is growing larger online.

Anti-vaxxers fear jabs are ineffective or may make their children ill  neither of which have been proven to be true.

Parents across Europe and the US are turning down potentially life-saving vaccines because they fear they don't work or could make their children unwell (stock image)

Scientists at Queen Mary University in London looked at countries in western and northern Europe for their research.

They compared the numbers of people who voted for populist parties in 2014 European elections with a survey of how many people do not believe vaccines work.

Countries where populist voting was higher, they found, also had higher rates of people sceptical about immunisation, The Guardian reports.

'We talk about populism and what happens in politics,' said Dr Jonathan Kennedy, the study author.

'But when you look at what is behind the rise of populism, it is the broad trend of lack of trust in elites and experts.

'That impacts on academia and public health and issues like climate change and vaccine scepticism.'

Italy, where a right-wing populist government was voted into power last year, has the highest level of anti-vaccine sentiment, the research showed.

And the country also suffered a spike in measles cases last year  alongside France and Greece, which both also have high numbers of populist voters.

Measles  which can be fatal for children  hit its highest levels in 10 years in Europe last year.

Some 82,596 people caught the infection and 72 died, according to the World Health Organisation.

The number of cases is the highest for 10 years, 15 times higher than the record low in 2016 and three times as many as in 2017.

Researchers found a link between the proportion of people voting for populist parties and the proportion who don't believe vaccines are safe  France, where more than four in 10 people were sceptical about immunisation, also had around one in four voters as populists

In the research, Italy, where people voted a populist party into government last year, also had the highest proportion of people who did not believe vaccines worked

Ukraine reported the highest number of cases in Europe last year, while more than 90 per cent of cases were in 10 countries, including France, Italy and Greece.

Public Health England revealed there were 913 measles diagnoses in England and Wales between January and October 2018.

While more children in Europe are being vaccinated against measles than ever before, progress has been uneven between countries and individual countries have some patches where vaccine take-up is low, the WHO said.

Dr Kennedy and his colleagues suggest rising numbers of populist voters could provide countries with a warning of vaccination levels falling and pre-empt possible disease outbreaks.

He added: 'The trouble is we do need to have some basic trust in experts to survive as a human society.

'To prevent measles outbreaks, it is necessary to have 95 per cent of children vaccinated.'

The research was published in the European Journal of Public Health.
Less than half of American doctors speak another language in addition to English and many of them turn to Google Translate to instruct patients who have a different first language.

Communicating instructions like when and how to take medications is essential to patients' recovery but - especially in emergency departments - there may not always be a physician available and equipped to do so.

A new study from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) found that about 60 percent of discharge instructions made by Google translate were accurate, an encouraging stat for tech-reliant doctors.

But four percent were way off - and their inaccuracies could prove dangerous, if not fatal, to patients.

Doctors in the US periodically use Google Translate to supplement their lackluster skills in languages than English. A new University of California study suggests it works fairly well, but reveals that sometimes the mistakes are downright dangerous

Over 20 percent of Americans do not speak English as their first language, and about half of those primarily speak Spanish at home.

And Latino men and women in the US are twice as likely as the general American population to go to an emergency room for non-emergencies.

Nearly 40 percent of Latinos said they 'rely' on the ER, according to consumer healthcare nonprofit FAIRHealth.

So the population that looks to the ER for the largest proprotion of their medical needs is also the one that physicians there are less likely to be able to clearly and effectively serve.

Americans on the whole and doctors in particular are becoming more multilingual, with 42 percent of doctors in California now reporting that they are fluent in at least one language besides English.

But, internationally, 56 percent of medical graduates report speaking other languages, compared to just 37 percent here.

Translation AIs, like Google Translate, offer tools to bridge that gap, and while they might be better than nothing, they may also lull doctors and patients into a false sense of security that everyone is on the same page.

'Google Translate is more accurate than a lot of clinicians believe, and I think it's definitely more useful than not providing anything at all,' said first study author Dr Elaine Khoong, a primary care researcher at UCSF.

The new UCSF research, published in JAMA Internal Medicine today, revealed just how useful Google's translation tool is, as well as how dangerous it may be when the AI misses the mark.

Dr Khoong and her team analyzed how Google Translate converted instructions from 100 ER discharge papers into either Spanish or Chinese.

The app is a bit more adept at Spanish, and was about 92 percent accurate in interpreting English instructions for Spanish speakers.

In Chinese, the translations were only about 81 percent accurate.

Some of the results the AI spit out were comical, while others were downright scary.

Translated to Chinese, the simple instruction to 'skip a meal' became 'jump over a meal.'

It's something we'd never say in seriousness in our own language, but one might logically work it out - or otherwise start jumping the dining table at home, with the excuse, 'doctor's orders.'

Less humorous was the result of 'hold the kidney medication,' as in, 'stop taking it for now.'

When Google attempted to translate the phrase to Chinese, it came out 'keep taking the medication.' In Spanish, it became 'keep the medication.'

Either way, the UCSF team decided these were 'life threatening' instructions.

The more casually, complexly or jargon-heavily doctors spoke or wrote in English, the more perplexed Google got.

One ER discharge paper said, in English: 'Please return to the emergency department for worsening abdominal pain, inability to eat or drink due to vomiting, bloody diarrhea, if you pass out or any other concerning symptom.'

A barely intelligible Chinese version read: 'If you pass, vomiting, bloody diarrhea, unable to eat or drink or any other symptoms; come back to the emergency department for treatment.'

'It confused the machine because the sentence structure was so complicated,' Dr Khoong said.

'It's certainly an argument for doctors to check themselves when they are writing instructions. We get used to communicating in these very complicated sentences.'

The researchers saw that as far from ideal, but not a fatal error.

In a perfect world, a tool like Google's should be used in conjunction with a translator or at least a friend or family member with some second language skills.

The researchers suggested instead that maybe doctors should give patients for whom English is a second language an English copy of the discharge order as well as the Google Translated one, so the could ask English speaking friends of family to clarify anything that seemed strange.

Still, they gave Google Translate a tepid endorsement: 'We cautiously support its use,' the authors wrote.
Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced his resignation unexpectedly yesterday.

"Many thanks for the generosity of the dear and brave people of Iran and its authorities over the past 67 months. I sincerely apologise for the inability to continue serving and for all the shortcomings during my service. Be happy and worthy," he wrote on his Instagram page.

He gave no specific reasons for his decision, Reuters reported.
CRISPR, the groundbreaking and controversial gene-editing technique, has been used in a patient with a debilitating blood disease, scientists revealed today.

The US and Swiss companies behind the venture claim to be the first ever to use CRISPR on a human, disregarding the use of it on cancer patients in China.

The unidentified patient in the clinical trial has beta thalassemia, a hereditary condition that turns off a crucial gene, hampering their ability to make hemoglobin, which is needed to push oxygen around the body.

Sufferers spend their lives on blood transfusions to offset the defect.

But Swiss biotech company CRISPR Therapeutics, backed by Boston's Vertex Pharmaceuticals, has attempted to cure the disease using the experimental DNA-editing technique CRISPR to switch the defective gene back on.

The firms say they are soon to do the same with another patient who has sickle cell anemia, a blood condition that causes excruciating pain.

The scientists hope the treatment - which involves collecting certain stem cells from the blood, editing DNA in the stem cells with CRISPR-Cas 9, and infusing it back into the patient - will be a one-and-done cure.

While it's still too early to tell, the attempt alone sent the company's stock price soaring on Monday afternoon.

The US and Swiss companies behind the venture claim to be the first ever to use CRISPR on a human, disregarding the use of it on cancer patients in China

'Treating the first patient in this study marks an important scientific and medical milestone and the beginning of our efforts to fully realize the promise of CRISPR/Cas9 therapies as a new class of potentially transformative medicines to treat serious diseases,' Samarth Kulkarni, chief executive of CRISPR Therapeutics, said.

Dr David Altshuler, Chief Scientific Officer at Vertex, added: 'Beta thalassemia and sickle cell disease are serious, life-threatening diseases, and we are evaluating ex vivo treatment with CTX001 with the goal of creating a one-time potential curative therapy.'

WHAT IS CRISPR?

CRISPR Cas9 is a powerful tool that can spot defective genes, cut them out, leaving space for a healthy gene to be inserted.

It is a natural tool found inside certain viruses, used to recognize and destroy their enemy: bacteria. These viruses carry 'mugshots' of their nemesis bacteria, and when they see them, they splice them in two, destroying them.

Scientists discovered this in the 1980s, and in the 1990s Jennifer Doudna realized it could be repurposed as a tool for medicine. They could replace the bacteria mugshot with a DNA mugshot, sending the virus to chase and destroy the defect at hand.

Once there's a gap in a chain of DNA, all you need to do is throw a healthy gene in the vicinity, and an army of clean-up enzymes will hurry to slot it into place.

In the case of CTX001, they extract stem cells from the patient, which contain the defective genes. These stem cells are edited using CRISPR, and those edited cells are infused back into the patient.

FROM LAB TO HUMANS - FIRST IN CHINA, AND NOW IN THE U.S.

Once CRISPR-Cas 9 was discovered, it was clear the potential was huge - both positive and sinister.

But until last year, there was general consensus (or, hope) that human applications were a distant prospect.

Regulators banned its use, even in clinical trials, while scientists, theologians and public health officials tried to reach an ethical consensus.

Then it emerged that oncologists in China's Hangzhou Cancer Hospital, just west of Shanghai, were trying it in clinical trials with cancer patients. Scientists across the world were quietly concerned, but intrigued to see the findings.

That calm was derailed when Dr He Jiankui of the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen told a conference last November that he had used CRISPR-Cas 9 to edit embryos.

In twin girls, Lulu and Nana, he had used the technique to remove the gene CCR5. As a result, he said, they did not inherit their father's HIV. And he said he has more patients lined up.

Predictably, the global medical and science communities panicked. The latest came last week: neuroscientists who study CCR5 found evidence that editing the gene can impact the brain - adding yet more fuel to the fire.

And weeks later, it emerged the Shanghai oncologists had lost track of the patients in their trial - meaning they may never know the long-term impact of their tweaks.

WHY THE NEW CLINICAL TRIAL IS SAFER THAN 'ROGUE' TRIALS

There are two ways you can edit genes: somatic and germ-line.

Somatic gene-editing involves editing one gene, one time, in a way that is not heritable.

Germ-line gene-editing would affect all cells, and would be passed on to future generations.

The fear with Dr He's work is that it could be germ-line, meaning its effects might not be clear for generations, and we may not know how to reverse if the results are disastrous.

The new therapy by CRISPR Therapeutics and Vertex, dubbed CTX001, is somatic, which is regarded as safer and earned the green light from regulators.

News of the new clinical trial sent shares soaring 25 percent on Monday, an injection of relief for investors in the technology after another team, Sangamo Therapeutics, posted disappointing results last week.
A drug manufacturer says the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for helping to spark the opioid epidemic.

Edwin Thompson, a drug manufacturer of more than 40 years, says the very agency that is supposed to approve and regulate powerful painkillers was responsible for more people getting their hands on OxyContin, a powerful narcotic.

He told 60 Minutes a label change in the early 2000s allowed the drug to be broadly marketed for patients experiencing chronic pain, which allowed more pills to be sold.

More than 47,000 people died from overdoses involving opioids in 2017, and Thompson says that number will only continue to rise unless the FDA stops approving and marketing opioids for long-term use.

A drug manufacturer says the FDA is responsible for the opioid epidemic after it began broadly marketing OxyContin for those with long-term chronic pain management (file image)

Fingers have been pointed in all directions when it comes to placing the blame for the US opioid crisis.

Although Thompson has been a vocal critic of what he says is the FDA's role, he feels he's not completely faultless.

'I wish I was smart enough to have seen this epidemic before - before I got three or four years into it,' he told 60 Minutes. 'But once you find out that it's not correct, you have to do the right thing.'

He says the root of the problem began in the 1990s when OxyContin, the brand name for the opioid oxycodone, first hit the market.

Purdue Pharma, a privately-held pharmaceutical company, developed OxyContin. It was approved by the FDA in 1995 and made available in 1996.

At the time, it was believed there would be less potential for abuse with OxyContin because it's absorbed slowly and does not give users an immediate 'high'.

Thompson told 60 Minutes that when the FDA approved the drug, it was based on research that showed it was effective for 'short-term' use.

But, in July 2001, the FDA changed the label and broadened OxyContin use for those with more moderate and long-term pain such as arthritis.

The insert clearly states the the drug 'is used to manage pain severe enough to require daily around-the-clock, long-term treatment...when other pain treatments...do not treat your pain well enough or you cannot tolerate them.'

Thompson, the president of a Pennsylvania pharmaceutical company, said this allowed drug manufacturers to sell more pills at higher doses than they were before.

'A drug's label...determines whether somebody can make $10 million or a billion dollars because it allows you to then promote the drug based on the labeling,' he told 60 Minutes.

Dr David Kessler, the former FDA commissioner, left before the label change - and says it was a huge mistake.

'There are no studies on the safety or efficacy of opioids for long-term use,' he told 60 Minutes. 'The rigorous kind of scientific evidence that the agency should be relying on is not there.

According to a 2005 study from the Washington University School of Medicine, by 2004, OxyContin became the most prevalent abused prescription opioid.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse says oxycodone abuse has slightly decreased in the US, but not by much.

Dr Andrew Kolodny, an addiction specialist at Brandeis University and FDA critic, says that, from the beginning, opioids like OxyContin should have been marketed for short-term uses or end-of-life pain management

'If you're taking them around the clock every day, quickly, you become tolerant to the pain-relieving effect,' he told 60 Minutes.

'In order to continue getting pain relief, you'll need higher and higher doses. As the doses get higher, the treatment becomes more dangerous and the risk of death goes up.'

However, new court documents show that Richard Sackler, a former executive at Purdue Pharma and a member of the family that owns the company, worked to make sure that OxyContin would not be perceived as an end-of-life drug like morphine or as a cancer drug, reported The Wall Street Journal.

The 2015 deposition, from a case in Kentucky that has since been resolved, shows Sackler feared the drug would be stigmatized and cause a decline in sales.

It seems, however, that the FDA may be taking steps to rectify past 'errors'.

On Monday, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced the agency is requiring drug companies to conduct studies on the safety of prescription drugs already on the market, according to The Washington Post.

'We are going to impose a mandate on existing products...to answer the question that people have been posing for years: whether you have declining efficacy, and whether that declining efficacy can lead to addiction,' Gottlieb told the newspaper.
Every new parent knows to expect sleepless nights with a screaming baby.

But the bad news is that six years later you will still be missing out on sleep.

First-time mothers are deprived of 22 minutes of sleep a night even when their child has started school, a study has found, with fathers losing 14 minutes.

Unfortunately older children still get up in the night, fall ill and have nightmares.

Even when they do not wake up, the worries and strains of parenthood can make it harder for adults to switch off and fall asleep.

New parents face six years of sleepless nights, research suggests (stock)

Researchers led by the University of Warwick found women are far more likely to be kept awake by their children than men.

Among more than 4,600 parents, mothers lost more than an hour of sleep in the three months after giving birth, while men sacrificed only 13 minutes of slumber.

Women were more sleep-deprived right up until their child turned six, as society still requires them to do more of the household duties and child-rearing.

Dr Sakari Lemola, of the University of Warwick, who led the study, said: We did not expect to see people sleeping less even when their children were six years old.

Of course there are childcare demands, and children can become unwell at night. However, it is also likely that there are long-term effects of having children related to increased responsibilities as a parent.

Before having a child, one is only responsible for oneself and then one becomes responsible for a child and family.

'While having children is a major source of joy for most parents, it can also bring worries, stress and strains which make it harder to sleep at night.

'TUMMY TIME' HELPS BABIES SLEEP Babies who spend a lot of time lying on their tummies get more shut eye, research suggested last November. A study of 22 six-month-olds found those who have more 'tummy time' during the day are more active, which tires them out. 'While we dont have evidence yet that tummy time directly affects sleep, it increases physical activity,' lead author Dr Janet Hauck, from New Michigan State University, said. 'So, parents who feel their baby isnt sleeping enough could promote tummy time during the day to boost their babys physical activity level.' Advertisement

Researchers asked 2,541 women and 2,119 men who had children between 2008 and 2015 about their sleeping patterns.

In the first three months, when babies are at their peak for crying, women lost 62 minutes of sleep a night compared to before pregnancy. Men lost 13 minutes on average during the same period.

Breastfeeding meant an average 14 minutes of additional lost sleep for mothers forced to get up for night feeds, but even without this, women still lost more rest than men.

Over the first four to six years with their first child, women missed out on 41 minutes of sleep, while men sacrificed just 14 minutes a night.

The study, published in the journal Sleep, states that in most industry countries mothers, including working women, still have more household and child-rearing responsibilities and spend more time on these tasks compared with fathers.

Dr Lemola said: In our society it is still true that women are more often the primary caregivers. It is more often the mother who goes to look after the child when they are crying, who makes more sacrifices.

Of course there are couples where it is the other way round, but the reality is that they are still in the minority, and this may explain why women lose out on more sleep.

Parents lose out on similar amounts of sleep regardless of their age, wealth or whether they own their own home, the study of German parents found.

The worst period for sleeplessness in parents is the first three months.
Breakfast cereals still contain 'unacceptable' amounts of sugar and supermarkets' own-brand products are the worst offenders, campaigners have warned.

The NHS last summer urged manufacturers to change what they put in cereals or face a mandatory sugar tax like the one on soft drinks.

But Action on Sugar found nearly half still contain large amounts of sugar, with a way to go for companies to meet Public Health England's target of cutting sugar content by 20 per cent.

The worst offending cereal  Malt-O-Meal's Marshmallow Mateys  was found to be 40 per cent sugar.

The campaign group now say it is 'immoral' to have colourful cartoon packaging aimed at children, and are now calling for it to be banned.

The cereals with the most sugar per 100g are (clockwise from top left) Marshmallow Mateys (40.2g), Morrisons Choco Pillows (36.1g), Sainsbury's Frosted Flakes (34g), Morrisons Choco Crackles (32.1g), Tesco Choco Snaps (32.1g), Asda Choco Snaps (32g), Aldi's Harvest Morn Honey & Nut Clusters with Milk Chocolate (30g), and Sainsbury's Choco Hazelnut Squares (29.7g)

Many cereals can provide children with a third of their daily sugar allowance in a single bowl before they even leave for school in the morning, the research showed.

NHS guidelines recommend children consume no more than 19g of sugar each day between four and six years old, rising to 24g for under-10s and 30g for over-11s.

Eating too much sugar can increases children's risk of becoming obese, developing type 2 diabetes later in life, and suffering from tooth decay.

Marshmallow Mateys contain 40.2g of sugar per 100g, which works out at 12.2g in an average bowl, the research found.

Other cereals containing more than 30g per 100g included Morrisons Choco Pillows (36.1g), Sainsbury's Frosted Flakes (34g) and Morrisons Choco Crackles (32.1g).

Supermarket own-brand cereals dominated the 20 most sugar-filled options, taking 18 of the places.

After Marshmallow Mateys  made in the US  the worst offending brand-name cereal is Kellogg's Coco Pops Rocks in 20th place, with 27g of sugar per 100g.

Action on Sugar carried out the research on cereals being sold in the UK alongside Action on Salt, finding many products also contain worrying levels of salt.

Only two cereals out of the 77 in the survey  Morrisons Super Smooth Porridge and Sainsbury's Puffed Wheat  were deemed to have healthy levels of sugar and salt.

'Breakfast cereals should be a healthy choice as they contain fibre and are fortified with vitamins and minerals,' said Kawther Hashem, a nutritionist and campaign lead at Action on Sugar.

'However, our study shows that cereals with packaging that may appeal to children often contain unacceptable amounts of sugar.

'Why arent all cereal manufacturers reducing sugar levels as per Public Health Englands evidence-based recommendations and actively marketing healthier (those with green traffic lights for fat, salt and sugar) breakfast cereals to parents and children?

'It is time they used their creative minds to sell their products responsibly.'

The campaign group split the cereals into red (more than 22.5g of sugar per 100g cereal), amber (5g to 22.5g sugar) and green (less than 5g sugar).

HOW MUCH SUGAR IS TOO MUCH? The amount of sugar a person should eat in a day depends on how old they are. Children aged four to six years old should be limited to a maximum of 19g per day. Seven to 10-year-olds should have no more than 24g, and children aged 11 and over should have 30g or less. Meanwhile the NHS recommends adults have no more than 30g of free sugars a day. Popular snacks contain a surprising amount of sugar and even a single can of Coca Cola (35g of sugar) or one Mars bar (33g) contains more than the maximum amount of sugar a child should have over a whole day. A bowl of Frosties contains 24g of sugar, meaning a 10-year-old who has Frosties for breakfast has probably reached their limit for the day before they even leave the house. Children who eat too much sugar risk damaging their teeth, putting on fat and becoming overweight, and getting type 2 diabetes which increases the risk of heart disease and cancer. Source: NHS Advertisement

Almost half of all the cereals  38 out of 77  were rated red for sugar, while 37 were amber.

Last year, chief executive of NHS England Simon Stevens warned sugary breakfast cereals should be treated in the same way as fizzy drinks to fight childhood obesity.

Mr Stevens said food manufacturers will have to change the way they produce breakfast cereals if the Government's obesity strategy is to succeed.

Giving evidence to the Commons Health and Social Care Committee, he said it was concerning that products marketed as healthy often contained large amounts of sugar.

'On average children are having the equivalent of three sugar lumps at breakfast,' he said at the time.

Packaging often featuring animals and bright colours add to cereals' appeal to children, experts fear, and critics say companies should be stopped from using them.

Professor Graham MacGregor, chairman of both Action on Sugar and Action on Salt, said: 'This survey shows that companies that make packaging of unhealthy products targeted at children are completely irresponsible.

'It is immoral that breakfast cereals companies can get away with it, it is time we made it easier for parents and only allow those cereals which carry a green label to be allowed to feature cartoons on packaging which may appeal to children.

'In our view the government needs to ban use of such packaging on unhealthy products.'

Salt is also a problem, campaigners said, with 65 of the cereals in today's research receiving an amber warning, meaning they contained more than 1.6g per 100g of cereal.

NHS guidelines recommend children consume no more than 2g of salt each day as toddlers, 3g daily between the ages of four and six, 5g between seven and 10, and 6g per day for over-11s.

For salt, Marshmallow Mateys was again the worst offender and the only cereal to receive a red rating for its 1.6g  more than is in a bag of ready salted crisps.

Director of Action on Salt, Katharine Jenner, said: 'As a parent, it is frustratingly hard to try and find food and drink products that are both nutritionally balanced and appeal to your children.

'Instead we have something of a "Sophies Choice", where we have to decide between high sugar products  putting our children at risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes and tooth decay, or high salt products  putting our children at risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease later in life. It is ridiculous.'
Chocolate lovers have gone into meltdown after Cadbury have launched a block version of the iconic Creme Egg into Australian supermarkets.

The limited edition bar boasts the legendary flavours of a gooey Creme Egg centre, encased in a traditional Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate block.

'I need this in my life,' one enthusiastic fan posted on Facebook about the creation.

Chocolate lovers have gone into meltdown after Cadbury have launched a block version of the iconic Creme Egg (pictured) into Australian supermarkets

The limited edition bar boasts the legendary flavours of a gooey Creme Egg centre, encased in a traditional Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate block (pictured)

'This is going to be the best block ever. Stock up!,' another added.

'Absolute heaven in just one picture,' one fan wrote.

The Cadbury Dairy Milk Creme Egg block is available in Coles and Woolworths stores across Australia for just $4.79.

While Easter is still a couple of months away, Cadbury have clearly been thinking about their celebratory options (pictured: their regular Creme Egg)

While Easter is still a couple of months away, Cadbury have clearly been thinking about their celebratory options.

And this bar gives families and chocolate fans the opportunity to enjoy two Cadbury icons at the same time.

'We're excited to give Australians a new way to enjoy and share the legendary Cadbury Creme Egg,' the Marketing Director for Chocolate, Australia and New Zealand, Paul Chatfield, said.

Reaction on social media has been almost uniformly positive, where people have described the gooey creation as an 'absolute game changer' (pictured: one comment)

'If I find these, don't expect normal food in the fridge. Our grocery budget goes to this,' one person wrote (pictured)

The reaction has been almost uniformly positive (pictured), however there have been a few people who have not been so positive about the marrying of the two snacks

Reaction on social media has been almost uniformly positive, where people have described the gooey creation as an 'absolute game changer'.

'I need to get my mouth on this,' one person wrote.

'If I find these, don't expect normal food in the fridge. Our grocery budget goes to this,' another added.

However, not everyone has been positive about the marrying of the two snacks, with one person writing: 'Holy moly, I think I'd rather die'.
When Pope Francis was elected he won our hearts when he washed the feet of beggars, chose to live in a simple hostel rather than sumptuous Papal apartments, and opted for a second-hand car - a far cry from his predecessor who wore beautiful hand made slippers costing thousands of pounds.

We wanted Pope Francis to signal a new set of values for the Catholic Church, but sadly that has not turned out to be the case.

Six years on, Francis has just hosted the first Papal conference into sexual abuse, and at the end of four days, you might well ask - why did he bother?

Given that these scandals extend back more than 30 years, the Church has consistently denied the true scale of the problem.

Now, thousands of allegations relating to nuns being raped and young boys forced to carry out sex acts with bishops and priests have surfaced in every country where the Catholic Church has a presence.

Australia's most senior Catholic Cardinal George Pell in Melbourne, Australia. He was found guilty on five charges of child sexual assault after an unanimous verdict on 11 December 2018, the results of which were under a suppression order by the judge until being lifted on Tuesday

Pope Francis, flanked by cardinals and bishops, attends a closing Mass of 'The Protection Of Minors In The Church' meeting at the Regia Hall on Sunday

In Australia, Cardinal Pell - formerly one of the Papal inner circle of nine and number three in the Vatican hierarchy - has just been found guilty of rape and sexual abuse and will be sentenced this week.

Some of the allegations are extremely troubling - in Italy and Argentina a report in the Washington Post claimed that dozens of children in Catholic schools for the deaf have been abused - one man has pleaded guilty and thirteen more have been arrested.

The blog Hear Our Voices- the Gay Catholic Priests' blog, claims that the Roman Catholic diocese in San Francisco has paid out $87 million to silence victims of sexual abuse by priests in the last 15 years.

The 1.3 billion Catholics who fund the church and regard Francis as their spiritual leader on earth are worth more than this shoddy treatment, which is both arrogant and perverted.

Francis called the conference and said he would 'spare no effort' to clean up the church, but ended by telling the assembled 190 Bishops and Cardinals that the majority of sexual abuse takes place within the family, with relatives, parents or teachers.

George Pell when he was Archbishop of Melbourne as he arrives at St. Patricks Cathedral for a farewell mass in his honour in April 2001

Victims and relatives of children who claim they were sexually abused by the Catholic Church hold placards outside the venue for Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney, Australia, in 2016

He said that sex tourism and freely available pornography online had made the abuse worse.

This argument doesn't hold up - the vast majority of sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church consist of old men forcing themselves on young boys, and 'celibate' heterosexual priests raping very young girls.

Put simply, men who claim to be acting on behalf of God are using their power to destroy the lives of innocents. Does any crime get much worse than that?

Francis has consistently dragged his feet over allegations of cardinals and bishops he knew personally - it took years to get Cardinal Pell to return to Australia, where he was Bishop of Melbourne and then Sydney from 1996 to 2014.

Prosecutors have opened an investigation into alleged 'sexual aggression' by Catholic priest Luigi Ventura at Paris City Hall (pictured)

There have been scores of allegations from survivors but the Pope has consistently remained silent.

The Vatican envoy to France is currently being investigated, accused of sexually molesting a young man at Paris City Hall. In Chile, Bishop Juan Barros was accused of covering up abuse by one of his priests.

The Pope refused to condemn Barros (a friend) and said he was convinced he was innocent.

In the US, after allegations of sexual assault of a teenager by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick were found to be credible, dozens more cases emerged. He finally resigned in July 2018.

The Pope has drawn up 21 'reflection points' for his Cardinals to consider as they attempt to draw up a way of tackling allegations of sexual impropriety.

But how can the Catholic Church be trusted to police itself if some of the perpetrators are the same men in power? It's too little, too late. The Pope promises a battle but has no rules of engagement, no master plan.

He's also unable to stem all the allegations of financial misconduct, tax evasion and shadowy financial manipulation which dog the Church.

The Vatican bank has been consistently accused of being involved (whether knowingly or not) in money laundering.

There is a convoluted management structure and the Pope is outmanoeuvred by the teams of cardinals and advisers who have been in place for decades.

Pope Benedict XVI (right) looks at Australia's senior Catholic cleric, Cardinal George Pell, at an inter-faith meeting during World Youth Day in Sydney July 2008

Cardinal George Pell leaves the County Court in Melbourne on Tuesday after the suppression order was lifted by the judge

Only recently, the bank was ordered by the EU to repay 4 billion for misusing tax breaks on property.

The former president of the bank for 20 years to 2009 is accused of disposing of real estate and the Vatican is seeking over 50 million in compensation!

A US charity was asked to give a sum 100 times larger than normal towards a Vatican funded hospital.

Following an investigation, 24 people from the hospital management have been indicted for money laundering.

It's clear that the Catholic Church can't be trusted to get it's own house in order.

Francis needs to set up an external inquiry into child sexual abuse, as has happened in countries like the UK, chaired by independent lawyers who gather evidence before handing cases over to the judiciary in the relevant countries.

As for the Vatican businesses and banks, the time has come to bring in external auditors and force through a forensic investigation into corruption.

Priests take a vow of celibacy - and yet 50,000 children of priests have signed up to a global network to discuss their situation.

Should Francis force through a decree allowing priests to have sex? It won't get rid of the paedophiles but it at least might help these children, many of whom do not know their fathers.

Pope Francis can't sit back and continue to play the humble outsider any longer. The Catholic Church is a disgrace. I'm almost glad I was raised an Anglican.
Queen Mathilde of Belgium looked elegant in a tweed ensemble today as she joined her husband King Philippe, 58, for a visit to Antwerp.

The royal couple were meeting members of the public during their visit to the city of Herentals.

Evidently enjoying the sunshine, Queen Mathilde, 46, showed off her sartorial prowess in a knee-length tweed coat dress.

The stylish beige ensemble is taken from Belgian designer Natan's FW17 couture collection and was teamed with a pair of brown suede kitten heels and a matching clutch bag.

Adding more class to the look was a pair of brown and green drop earrings, which were tucked under her well-coiffed blonde bob.

Queen Mathilde of Belgium looked elegant in a tweed ensemble as she joined King Philippe to bask in the Belgian sun during a visit to Herentals, Antwerp on Tuesday

The mother-of-four was all smiles as she greeted well-wishers who came out to see the monarch and his wife.

Creating in a sea of Belgian flags, hundreds of children waved at the couple who received gifts and shook hands with fans.

Sporting a classic make-up look and peach lips, the Queen wore her hair in a side-parting sporting a sophisticated look.

Colour coordinating with his wife, King Philippe wore a dark brown overcoat with stand-out green trimmings.

Under the coat, Philippe added a pop of colour to his suit in a bright orange tie with polka dots.

The royal looks ecstatic to meet crowds of well-wishers, who greeted her with a sea of Belgian flags during a visit to Herentals, Antwerp on Tuesday

Showing off her sartorial prowess, Mathilde complemented her blazer dress with brown suede shoes and a matching clutch bag during a visit to Herentals, Antwerp on Tuesday

Not unlike his wife, King Philippe wore a dark brown overcoat with stand-out green trimmings during a visit to Herentals, Antwerp on Tuesday

Philippe added a pop of colour to his suit in a bright orange tie with polka dots during a visit to Herentals, Antwerp on Tuesday

Holding hands as they spoke to supporters, the married couple looked as loved up as ever as they met the public.

At one point, the Queen, who had been handed a stunning bouquet of flowers, crouched down to speak to a young girl, who appeared shy as she turned away to hug a police officer.

Later the ruling family looked animated as they spoke to artists.

This royal engagement marks the start of busy few months for Mathilde, who will attend the opening session of the World Resources Forum in Antwerp this week.

The Queen crouched down to speak to a young girl, who appeared shy as she turned away to hug a police officer during a visit to Herentals, Antwerp on Tuesday

Later the ruling family looked animated as they spoke to artists in the province of Antwerp during a visit to Herentals on Tuesday

The royal engagement marks the start of busy few months for Mathilde, who is in Antwerp for the opening session of the World Resources Forum on Tuesday

The event will see international experts from the circular economy, scientific world, private sector and civil society all come together.

Mathilde will be in attendance as she is an advocate of The Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, which aims to promote sustainable production and consumption patterns through the efficient use of raw materials and energy.

She will also be a prominent speaker at the 'rebalancing power in global mental health' symposium on Friday 22nd March.

There, she will hope to achieve more equal knowledge exchange between countries in Global Mental Health.
Jimmy Choo is known for it's luxury shoes, handbags and accessories.

The British Fashion House is a favorite of celebrities who walk the world's most famous red carpets, so it comes as no surprise that the high-end label is set to release a Red Carpet Collection in the spring.

While the line is not yet available to the public, Beyonce and ten other celebs have already been putting their best foot forward in what we're sure will be the most popular style from the collection, the 'Shiloh'.

Out in April: Jimmy Choo is launching a Red Carpet Collection in the spring, that stars like Beyonce have already been spotted in

The perfect sandal: Known for their classic designs that exude timeless elegance, the soon-to-be-released 'Shiloh' is in line with traditional Jimmy Choo offerings

Known for their classic designs that exude timeless elegance, the soon-to-be-released 'Shiloh' is in line with traditional Jimmy Choo offerings.

Available in four colorways, the glamorous sandal features a high stiletto heel, a rhinestone encrusted thin wraparound ankle strap and toe strap. It will retail for $1,295.00.

A true showstopper, the style is begging to be paired with a mini dress, a la Beyonce, Hailee Steinfeld and Winnie Harlow.

'This Is Us' star Mandy Moore and Cuban actress Ana de Armas put the exquisite footwear on full display in gowns featuring thigh-high slits, as did 'The Crown' star Claire Foy while attending the EE British Academy Film Awards gala dinner.

Choices: The glamorous sandal comes in four colorways

Details: It features a high stiletto heel, with a rhinestone encrusted thin wraparound ankle strap and toe strap

'This Is Us' star Mandy Moore put the exquisite footwear on full display in a gown featuring a thigh-high slits

Let them show: A true showstopper, the style is begging to be seen

Rock on: The 'Shiloh' was a popular shoe choice at the Grammy's with Dua Lipa wearing them to The Recording Academy and Clive Davis' 2019 pre-award show gala, and Heidi Klum donning them on the red carpet at the Staples Center

The 'Shiloh' was a popular shoe choice at the Grammy's with Dua Lipa wearing them to The Recording Academy and Clive Davis' 2019 Pre-award Show Gala, and Heidi Klum donning them on the red carpet at the Staples Center.

While the dazzling shoes make a glamorous statement on their own, they are also very versatile and won't overpower a look.

Both Amy Adams and Pom Klementieff completed their already sparkly ensembles with the 'Shiloh'.

While the footwear added the perfect amount of glitz to style icon Kate Bosworth's tulle Jason Wu dress at the Learning Lab Ventures 2019 Gala.

Subtle: Both Amy Adams and Pom Klementieff completed their already sparkly ensembles with the 'Shiloh'
Documentary maker Stacey Dooley has been bombarded with messages for not meeting up with a group who criticise the 'white savior complex' while on a charity trip to Uganda.

The journalist, 31, arrived in Uganda five days ago and has posted pictures on Instagram of local women dancing and children she's met while filming a series of documentaries with Comic Relief about neonatal clinics and malaria.

But activists for the 'No White Saviours' group, who criticise the white savior complex, have pleaded her to meet them while she's in the country, claiming that they can 'educate her'.

One commenter urged her to see the 'truth' that 'Africa is riddled with middle class do-gooders and the harm they do'.

The row comes after Comic Relief vowed in 2018 to stop using celebrities such as Ed Sheeran and Eddie Redmayne for 'poverty porn' appeals that reinforce white saviour stereotypes.

Documentary maker Stacey Dooley has been criticised for not meeting up with a No White Saviours group while on a charity trip to Uganda

Stacey, 31, is currently filming with Comic Relief about neonatal clinics and malaria in Uganda

Activists for the 'No White Saviours' group have commented on Stacey's pictures on Instagram while she's in the country

Liz Warner, CEO of Comic Relief, said the organisation had taken its 'first steps' towards change after David Lammy MP slammed the charity for portraying Africa as a continent of poverty-stricken victims and stereotypes.

Aid watchdog SAIH also criticised a video of pop star Sheeran meeting a street boy in Liberia and offering to pay for his housing.

Ms Warner said Comic Relief had replaced celebrity storytellers with Africans, following a record-breaking 24-hour telethon that raised 55.4million in 2016.

Now activists have bombarded Stacey's Instagram posts with comments, asking her to meet up with the group before she leaves the country.

The activist have bombarded her Instagram posts with comments asking her to meet up with the group before she leaves the country

One comment said: 'Please go and visit @nowhitesaviours before you leave. If you're going to continuing making documentaries it's really important to learn about how damaging White Saviourism is!! Love you but we all have a lot of learning to do.'

Others mentioned that the group have asked to meet her for a coffee, with one commenter saying: 'How gracious of them. You really should take this opportunity to learn and do better.'

'It is imperative we spend everyday unlearning White supremacy, particularly the white savior complex. Please reach out to them before you leave Uganda.'

The group No White Saviours have even posted messages on her Instagram saying: 'We have invited you to meet - we are not cruel people, But when you come to our country and decide to perpetuate a certain narrative we really want to help you understand why this is harmful.'

The group post on their website and social media about white saviorism - linking to articles about white mothers adopting African children, and criticising charity workers who have a white savior complex.

The activist for No White Saviours group have bombarded her Instagram posts with comments asking her to meet up with the group before she leaves the country

Stacey hasn't responded to the group on Instagram and there is no inclination as to whether she will meet up with them when she's in the country.

Stacey started her career as a documentary maker in 2009 with her series Stacey Dooley investigates, looking at subjects such as sex trafficking in Cambodia and homelessness.

She went on to appear in last years Strictly Come Dancing, where she won the show with dance partner Kevin Clifton.

Stacey arrived in Uganda 5 days ago, posting pictures of women dancing, children she's met and pictures of her filming

Stacey started her career as a documentary maker in 2009 with her series Stacey Dooley investigates, looking at subjects such as sex trafficking in Cambodia and homelessness

Her year has already got off to a busy start with a UK tour of Strictly and an announcement that she'll be a contributing editor at Grazia magazine.

The BBC also announced earlier in the year that she'll be presenting reality show Glow Up: Britain's Next Make-up Star.

She also released her paperback version of her book Stacey's On The Front Line this month, which takes a look at some of the people she's met during her time as a documentary-maker.
The proud dad of a little girl with Down's syndrome has received a heart-warming message from Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.

Jason Kneen from Wiltshire uploaded an adorable photograph of his beaming daughter Rosie playing in the woods, and captioned it: 'My child has Down's syndrome, what should I expect? This. 100 per cent this.'

He then went onto explain how much she loves the film Moana, in which The Rock voices the character Maui, and how it had helped them both get through a spell in hospital when she had pneumonia

'Rosie I and became thick as thieves over that time and watched Moana together many times and EVERY SINGLE DAY,' he explained. 'Thanks @TheRock for teaching me all the songs. Rosie was so brave, and so strong.'

He shared a photo of Rosie in hospital with a breathing tube, watching the film, which prompted a reply from the Hollywood actor.

'Look at this lovely cookie,' he wrote. 'Stay strong Rosie! Uncle Maui loves ya. What can I saaaaayy except you're welcome.'

Jason Kneen from Wiltshire uploaded this adorable photograph of his daughter Rosie and captioned it: 'My child has Down's syndrome, what should I expect? This. 100% this.'

Rosie, pictured in hospital as she battled pneumonia, would watch her favourite film Moana multiple times a day. And she received a message from Dwayne Johnson who voiced Uncle Maui after he saw this picture.

When Jason went on to explain how much Rosie loved the film Moana, in which The Rock voices the character Maui, the movie star got in touch: 'Look at this lovely cookie. Stay strong Rosie! Uncle Maui loves ya. What can I saaaaayy except you're welcome,' he replied

Jason posted the cute snap of his little girl smiling and after it went viral he revealed more information about his life with Rosie.

'I was totally NOT ready for a child like Rosie. It was a shock when she was born and Im ashamed to say I didnt take it well initially,' he explained.

'Part of that was the matter-of-fact process that happens where youre bombarded with documentation and booklets and basically manuals on whats wrong and going to go wrong with your child".

'Its devastating to hear how your childs life has already been predicted and mapped out. All children are different  how can ANYONE predict their future?

After receiving the message from Dwayne (above), the proud father's post has been liked over 89, 000 times and has received 8,500 Retweets

Dad Jason uploaded a series of photographs. He captioned this one: 'I was totally not ready for a child like Rosie. It was a shock when she was born and Im ashamed to say I didnt take it well initially

He continued to explain that part of the reason he wasnt ready was because of the matter-of-fact process that happens when youre bombarded with documentation and booklets on whats going to go wrong with your child

Quickly I realised that ANY child can be slow to talk; slow to walk; have learning difficulties, and ANY child can be brilliant and wonderful and amazing.

Like any child Rosie has been through it  wed been through febrile convulsions with 2 before Rosie was born, and whilst she avoided that, she suffered badly with Bronchiolitis and was in hospital for a couple of weeks in 2015.

'Just before Christmas 2017 she was taken into hospital again with the same, but that also turned into Pneumonia.'

'Rosie's mother was in hospital with her for the first few days, but the couple also had a newborn at home and it wasn't practical for them all to be in hospital.

'So, I took over, as I can work from anywhere, and stayed with Rosie over Christmas and New Year  we all made the best of it with FaceTime and hospital visits from family.'

Uploading another smiley photo of Rosie, Jason penned: Its devastating to hear how your childs life has already been predicted and mapped out. All children are different  how can anyone predict their future'

In a further heart-warming snap he shared of his precious daughter Rosie, the proud dad penned: Quickly I realised that any child can be slow to walk, have learning difficulties, and any child can be brilliant and wonderful and amazing'

He revealed how they watched Moana together multiple times a day, and posted a snap of Rosie watching the film, which attracted the Rock's attention.

Jason told the BBC it was 'crazy' and 'really cool' watching the tweets go viral. The post has since been liked over 89, 000 times and has received 8,500 retweets.

He also revealed that apart from the movie star, he has been inundated with messages of thanks from others who had recently found out they were expecting a baby with Down's syndrome.

'We were told by doctors and nurses on the day of her birth how her life would go,' he said.

'It was like her whole life had been mapped out in front of you. It was distressing, shocking and upsetting.

'[But] you can't predict how your child's life is going to be. You can't tell anyone what's going to happen. We just got on with it. She's amazing.'

He added: 'We've been through some difficulties like anybody, but she makes up for it every day when she smiles at you like that and wants to watch Moana all the time.'
A majority of parliamentarians in Iran signed a letter to President Hassan Rouhani asking that Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif continue in his job, according to a member of parliament.

Spokesman for parliaments National Security and Foreign Policy commission Ali Najafi Khoshroodi said he had signed the letter and was collecting additional signatures, IRNA reported.

Earlier, Zarif went to Instagram in order to announce his resignation, apologizing "for all the shortcomings during the service".

The Iranian President's chief of staff Mahmoud Vaezi said earlier that Rouhani has not formally accepted Zarif's resignation.
James Middleton and his girlfriend took advantage of the rare sunny weather today as they enjoyed a strolled around London with his three dogs.

James, 31, and girlfriend Alizee Thevenet, 29, were spotted making their way along the Thames as they enjoyed the unseasonable sunshine that hit the capital.

Both dressed down casually in gym gear, the couple were seen crossing the road with their canine companions, while James waved to say thank you to a driver who stopped to let them go past.

James Middleton and Alizee Thevenet stopped traffic as they crossed the road with their dogs in central London

James Middleton and his girlfriend strolled along the Thames earlier today and enjoyed the February sunshine with four of James' beloved dogs

The couple, who have been dating for just over six months, were dressed for the sunny weather in shorts and t-shirts.

James, brother to both Kate and Pippa Middleton, was sporting a black t-shirt, shorts and also wore a cap.

Alizee, a financial expert, who works in the city, was wearing a pink t-shirt and black gym leggings with a blue jumper round her waist, in case it got chilly.

The couple were both wearing trainers, as they pounded the pavements with four of James' beloved dogs.

Thank you! James waved to a driver who had stopped to let them cross the road with his dogs

Instead of using a crossing the couple decided to make a dash for it as they crossed the road near the Thames today

Alizee Thevenet held one of James' dogs on the lead and clutched her mobile phone in her other hand as she enjoyed a sunny walk with her boyfriend

James, who runs personalised greeting card company Boomf, was first spotted with Alizee during a Middleton family holiday in St. Bart's over Christmas.

According to her father, Jean-Gabriel Thevenet, she was won over by James' British charm and is 'deliriously happy' with the businessman - and the pair are said to be 'serious' about each other.

Alizee, who met James in a bar, speaks three languages and has been living and working in London for around six years, her father added.

James Middleton thanked a car which stopped for him and his girlfriend Alizee Thevenet (right) and his dogs

Canine companions! James assessed the busy London road before he crossed with his dogs as he enjoyed the unseasonal sunshine in London with his girlfriend and pets

The couple were pictured today walking James' dogs in central London, when they attempted to cross a busy road

My daughter Alizee is very happy with James, they are very much in love, Mr Thevenet told MailOnline last month.

Alizee holds a masters degree in investment and finance from Queen Mary, University of London, and did her undergraduate degree in accounting and finance in Brussels.

It emerged last year that, as well as running his company Boomf, James had taken a job as a guide at a Scottish hotel owned by his sister Pippa's father-in law.

The youngest Middleton took a job as a host at Glen Affric Lodge near Loch Ness which is owned by David Matthews, father of Pippa's hedge fund manager husband.

James Middleton (left) put his trainers to good use as he ran across the central London road, closely followed by his French girlfriend

The couple, James Middleton and Alizee Thevenet, were out in London and enjoyed a rare spell of good weather in February
Beatrice proved herself to be a very passionate princess as she delivered a speech in Barcelona on Tuesday.

The 30-year-old took to the stage at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in her role as Vice President of Partnerships and Strategy at Afiniti in New York.

Speaking at the Women4Tech keynote and diversity panel diversity panel entitled 'Scaling your Business for Success', Beatrice spoke of 'overcoming gender norms' when she first entered the work place.

Beatrice is responsible for the management of the strategic Afiniti partnerships as well as company growth through unique initiatives and client development.

Addressing her audience today she said: 'It was not until I entered the work place that the role that women play in businesses suddenly dawned on me.

'Slowly the gender norms started to make themselves known, and in doing so created an uncomfortable environment for my passionate, problem-solving determination.

Princess Beatrice delivered an impassioned speech at the Women4Tech keynote and diversity during 4YFN Connecting Startups as part of GSMA Mobile World Congress

Fantastic @Women4Tech Keynote at @4YFN_MWC. Princess Beatrice of York and VP Partnerships & Strategy at Afiniti spoke of the necessity of inclusion to ensure true growth. Empowering women is essential for creating jobs, growth and innovation. #MWC19 #4YFN19 #GSMA #WeAreJDR pic.twitter.com/QZM2O9lMV1  JDR Marketing Group (@JDR_Marketing) February 26, 2019

She continued: 'This started to make me think how working for a technology company I could begin to make a difference in challenging gender norms especially when it comes to technology an area that has a reputation for being a boys' club.

'Empowering women is essential when it comes to jobs growth and innovation.'

The Queen's granddaughter opted for an elegant black and white ensemble as she delivered her speech this afternoon.

She paired her simple black blouse with a flared skirt in the same shade decorated with a cream knot pattern.

Prince Andrew's eldest completed her ensemble with a pair of trendy black ankle boots and wore her iconic auburn hair loose for the occasion.

She paired her simple black blouse with a flared skirt in the same shade decorated with a cream knot pattern

Beatrice was speaking in capacity as her role as Vice President of Partnerships and Strategy at Afiniti

The royal began her career as a research analyst at a boutique private wealth firm having received a degree in History and History of ideas from University of London, Goldsmiths College.

Beatrice was last spotted on Monday night with her boyfriend Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, 34, as they made a rare public outing together.

The couple were pictured getting into a taxi together at 2.30am after enjoying a date at the Chiltern Firehouse.

The pair reportedly started dating property developer and father-of-one Edo in early October.

Following the conference Beatrice posed for photographs with other attendees this afternoon

Edo, who is father to a two-year-old son Wolfie, is thought to have been an acquaintance of Beatrice for years, before their friendship evolved into a romance.

Edo is the stepson of ex-Prime Minister David Cameron's late friend Christopher Shale.

Beatrice and Edo went public when they attended the annual gala for the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture in New York in December.

The pair reportedly met in 2019 on Lamu, a tranquil island off Kenya, where Edo's family own a coastal estate.

Princess Beatrice split with previous boyfriend Dave Clark in 2016 after 10 years of dating.
Selma Blair has revealed that her shock multiple sclerosis diagnosis actually came, in part, as a relief because it finally provided her with an answer to questions about her health that she had been asking for years.

The 46-year-old actress, who opened up about her ongoing battle with the chronic disease in a new interview with GMA anchor Robin Roberts, recalled the moment that she was told she had MS, after spending years living 'in pain' with an undiagnosed condition that doctors simply passed off as the result of her being an 'exhausted single mother.

'I cried, I had tears,' she said of her reaction to the diagnosis. 'They weren't tears of panic. They were tears of knowing I now had to give in to a body that had loss of control.

'And there was some relief in that. Cause ever since my son was born, I was in an MS flare-up and didn't know, and I was giving it everything to seem normal.'

Pain: Actress Selma Blair has spoken out her multiple sclerosis in a candid new interview, revealing that she felt some 'relief' after being diagnosed with the chronic disease

Ignored: The 46-year-old said she spent years being ignored by doctors, who would tell her that her symptoms were just the result of her being an 'exhausted single mother'

That struggle to seem normal, Selma admitted, involved self-medicating whenever she was not around her son Arthur, now seven, as well as drinking heavily in order to cope with the pain and exhaustion that she was struggling to combat.

'I was self-medicating when [Arthur] wasn't with me,' she said. 'I was drinking, I was in pain.

'I wasn't always drinking, but there were times when I couldn't take it. And I was really struggling with how am I going to get by in life.'

WHAT IS MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS? Multiple sclerosis (known as MS) is a condition in which the immune system attacks the body and causes nerve damage to the brain and spinal cord. It is an incurable, lifelong condition. Symptoms can be mild in some, and in others more extreme causing severe disability. MS affects 2.3 million people worldwide - including around one million in the US, and 100,000 in the UK. It is more than twice as common in women as it is in men. A person is usually diagnosed in their 20s and 30s. The condition is more commonly diagnosed in people of European ancestry. The cause isn't clear. There may be genes associated with it, but it is not directly hereditary. Smoking and low vitamin D levels are also linked to MS. Symptoms include fatigue, difficulty walking, vision problems, bladder problems, numbness or tingling, muscle stiffness and spasms, problems with balance and co-ordination, and problems with thinking, learning and planning. The majority of sufferers will have episodes of symptoms which go away and come back, while some have ones which get gradually worse over time. Symptoms can be managed with medication and therapy. The condition shortens the average life expectancy by around five to 10 years. Advertisement

Selma's years-long struggle to deal with the symptoms of what was then an undiagnosed chronic illness came after she tried to seek help from multiple doctors, who refused to 'take her seriously'.

The actress, who first revealed in October that she had been diagnosed with MS, explained that some of the medical experts she saw simply passed off her symptoms as being the result of her being 'exhausted' and a 'single mother', with others even blaming her 'hormones' for her physical struggles.

It reached a point when Selma was so tired, she was unable to stay awake in between dropping her son, whose father is her ex Jason Bleick, off at school and going to work.

'I got to the point where I said, "I need to go to work and I have to stay awake." I would drop my son off at school a mile away, and before I got home I would have to pull over and take a nap,' she revealed.

'And I was ashamed, and I was doing the best I could. And I was a great mother, but it was killing me.'

She was, however, able to find a source of support and advice in the form of fellow actor Michael J. Fox, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's - a neurodegenerative disorder - in 1991.

Selma explained that she reached out to Michael - whom she had never met before - via email before being diagnosed with MS, because she thought it was possible that she had Parkinson's.

'I said, "I don't know who to tell but I'm dropping things... I'm doing strange things,"' Selma wrote to the actor, who is now 57.

'He got in touch with me, and we began a conversation. So he really helped me. Plus I have Michael J. Fox's email now, like I'm pretty cool, I'm cooler than I thought!

'But really he gives me hope.'

When it came to telling her son about her diagnosis, which she did shortly after the MRI that confirmed it, Selma said it wasn't a difficult conversation - and revealed that the pair had actually already been joking about her symptoms.

Struggle: Selma revealed that she was 'self-medicating' when she wasn't around her son Arthur, now seven, in order to deal with the symptoms of her condition before being diagnosed

'He gets it': The mother-of-one recalled talking to Arthur (pictured with his mom) about her diagnosis, explaining that his biggest fear was that Selma was telling him she was dying

Looking forward: The Cruel Intentions star spoke to GMA while she was going through a 'flare-up' of her symptoms, which caused many of them to worsen, particularly her speech

'[It wasn't difficult] at all,' she recalled. 'I always want him to feel safe and never responsible for me.

'But he had already seen that I was falling and doing things, and I was always laughing, and he would imitate me and I'd be like, "That's fine but don't do that out of the house, people will think you're a jerk!"'

Her son's only fear, Selma recalled, was that his mother's disease might be killing her.

'I did have to tell him after the MRI,' she told Roberts.

'I said, "I have something called multiple sclerosis", and he nearly cried and said, "Will it kill you?" And I said, "No, I mean we never know what kills us Arthur. But this is not the doctor telling me I'm dying."

'And he was like, "Oh, OK!'

When the interview took place, Selma was suffering a 'flare-up' of her 'aggressive' multiple sclerosis, an attack that is also often referred to as an 'exacerbation' or a 'relapse', and which can cause new symptoms to appear, as well as the worsening of old symptoms.

For Selma, that impacted her speech in particular, with the actress explaining that she was suffering spasmodic dysphonia as a result of the attack, a condition that causes the muscles which generate the voice to into spasm, resulting in shaking, stilted speech.

But while Selma admitted that the worsening of her symptoms made her 'scared' to speak on camera, she did so in the knowledge that her appearance on the show might help others to better understand the disease and what life is like for sufferers.

'It is interesting to put it out there, to be here to say, "This is what my particular case looks like right now,"' she said, before adding: 'I was a little scared of talking [but] even my neurologist said, "No, this will bring a lot of awareness."

'Because nobody has the energy to talk when they're in flare-up. But I do. Because I love a camera!'

Looking ahead to the future - both near and far - Selma says her outlook is incredibly positive, adding that she has learned to accept the limitations that her condition creates, without feeling as though she is giving up or giving in to the disease.

Support: Her appearance on GMA aired less than two days after she attended the Vanity Fair Oscars party with her cane - her first red carpet event since her diagnosis

Emotional: The actress broke down in tears at the event, later explaining that she was overcome with the emotion of what it meant to her to have made it to the party

Memorable moment: In an Instagram post shared on Monday, Selma said she 'sobbed' and 'appreciated every single second' at the event

'I get in bed and I don't move,' Selma said of her reaction when she is having a 'difficult day'. 'You just have to, you can't do it all! It's fine to feel really cr***y and say, I gotta.

'And my son gets it, and now I've learned not to feel guilty.'

Although she was going through a particularly aggressive flare-up during her GMA appearance, Selma said her doctor has told her that she could well recover 90 per cent of her abilities 'within a year'.

But even if that doesn't happen, Selma says she will consider it 'good enough' if she is still able to sit down and have a conversation, adding that she wants to do another similar sit down in 12 months to 'see for other people and see for me where I am'.

And in the meantime, the Cruel Intentions star is determined to make the most out of her current condition - focusing on positive aspects like being able to enjoy a conversation, while also appreciating light-hearted moments whenever they come up.

Even during the interview, Selma joked to Robin about her physical limitations, saying as they walked past the swimming pool at the actress's home: 'Wouldn't it be funny if I fell in? Not really...!'

She has even added some fashionable flair to the cane she uses to help her walk.

'How can we make canes chic?' she said while proudly showing off her own cane to Robin. 'Mine is in fact patent leather with a real pink diamond!'

That diamond was added, along with a monogram, before Selma made an appearance on the red carpet at the Vanity Fair Oscars party - her first red carpet event since she was diagnosed with MS.

The milestone moment saw her breaking down in tears while posing for photographers, an emotionally-charged reaction that Selma addressed in an Instagram post the following day.

'There are moments that define us. This is one of those indelibly watermarked in my heart. This is #troynankin; my former publicist turned manager, best friend, and fake husband. We joke,' she began her post, which featured an image of herself and her manager Troy on the red carpet.

Fun times: The actress joked that she later 'pushed' her way into a family photo with Diana Ross, her children Tracee Ellis Ross and Evan Ross, and her daughter-in-law Ashlee Simpson

Mingling: Selma was seen catching up with Mindy Kaling, who attended the party with her former Office co-star B.J. Novak

Custom: Ahead of the event, Selma revealed a 'monogram and a real pink diamond' were placed on her cane

'I have become a different woman in the last few years, through struggles and the intense pride of motherhood. @vanityfair has always been a champion of mine, like Troy. And yet, I have not fully realized my capabilities as an actress.'

Selma said she wanted to make an appearance at the red carpet event to remember the first time she attended the Vanity Fair Oscars party in 2000 with her 'not yet famous friend' Jake Gyllenhaal.

SELMA'S INSTAGRAM POST IN FULL There are moments that define us. This is one of those indelibly watermarked in my heart. This is Troy Nankin; my former publicist turned manager, best friend , and fake husband. We joke. I have become a different woman in the last few years, through struggles and the intense pride of motherhood. Vanity Fair has always been a champion of mine, like Troy. And yet, I have not fully realized my capabilities as an actress. I wanted to be at this red carpet to remember my first time attending with a not yet famous friend, Jake Gyllenhaal. I believed in him and his career and wanted him there. And I kept going because it was always a night in Hollywood that was full of Hollywood dreams with all the talent present in their glory. I loved to watch. I was invited this year. I am featured in March issue . Thank you @radhikajones @kristasmith @samiranasr #juliemiller @cassblackbird. So this was a streak of light. To say I am here. I am still in an exacerbation so there was some nervousness. I dont do anything the way I was once able. I will though. I can regain much. Mommas gotta work. And I will be able to do so much more on my own, But this man. Until that comes ...This man and a host of others light the way and hold the moon. @thetexastroya was a hero. Wanting me to shine brightly in a time that can be so challenging. He knew I wanted to be able to stand proudly as the woman I have become and hope to be. To be a part of something so special when my body wont move clearly yet. And then I felt the love from the photographers who have watched me goof around on red carpets since I was in my twenties. I felt the warmth of the bulbs. The strength of my gown. His attentive touch. And still I hoped my brain could send signals for the remainder of my time there. And I sobbed. And I appreciated every single second. Every surprising tear, he was there. As he has always been. And that is the reason I could. Thank you Troy. We got me just where I wanted to be. For a night. And I later pushed my way into a family photo with Diana Ross (omg) . So much to post but not before this one. True love. Right here. Forever. Advertisement

'I believed in him and his career and wanted him there,' she explained. 'And this dinner always symbolizes so much. And I kept going because it was always a night in Hollywood that was full of Hollywood dreams with all the talent present in their glory. I loved to watch.'

The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story star, who appears in the March issue of Vanity Fair, explained she was invited to the magazine's annual Oscars party this year but was concerned about attending because she has been experiencing a flare-up of MS symptoms.

'So this was a streak of light. To say I am here. I am still in an exacerbation so there was some nervousness,' she wrote.

'I dont do anything the way I was once able. I will though. I can regain much. Momma's gotta work. And I will be able to do so much more on my own.'

Selma looked stunning in a multi-colored dress by Ralph and Russo and a thick choker featuring an attached floor-length cape.

She completed her ensemble with a large ring on her left finger and a black cane that she has been walking with since her MS diagnosis.

At one point, she was overcome by emotion and broke down in tears, saying, 'It took so much to come out here,' as the crowd of photographers cheered her on.

After wiping the tears away, she continued to walk the red carpet with the help of her cane before entering the party.

The actress opened up about the emotional moment, writing: 'To be a part of something so special when my body wont move clearly yet. And then I felt the love from the photographers who have watched me goof around on red carpets since I was in my twenties.

'I felt the warmth of the bulbs. The strength of my gown. His attentive touch,' she continued. 'And still I hoped my brain could send signals for the remainder of my time there. And I sobbed. And I appreciated every single second. Every surprising tear, he was there. As he has always been. And that is the reason I could.'

Selma ended her post by once again thanking Troy for being there for her when she needed him.

'We got me just where I wanted to be. For a night. And I later pushed my way into a family photo with @dianaross (omg),' she said. 'So much to post but not before this one. True love. Right here. Forever.'

While enjoying the bash, she happily shared a photo of herself with Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes.

'I have arrived,' she began. '@shondarhimes @VanityFair Oscar dinner. Congratulations to all the amazing talent.'

Doing good: When she returned home after her night out, she took to Instagram Stories to make a plea for her 867,000 followers to support the Leuser Ecosystem in Indonesia

Mother and son: Selma, who dedicated a tree to her son, Arthur, asked her friends Sarah Michelle Gellar and Kris Jenner to do the same

When she returned home after her night out, she took to Instagram Stories to make a plea for her 867,000 followers to support the Leuser Ecosystem in Indonesia.

In the series of videos, she explained that her friend Pink nominated her to join designer Stella McCartney's #ThereSheGrows campaign by dedicating a tree to help save the endangered forest.

Selma, who dedicated a tree to her seven-year-old son, Arthur, asked her friends Sarah Michelle Gellar and Kris Jenner to do the same while raising awareness for the Leuser Ecosystem.

'The Leuser Ecosystem is an endangered forest in Indonesia and it is home to the endangered Sumatran orangutan and it desperately needs our help and attention,' the actress explained.

'You can join with us by dedicating your own tree on Instagram and nominate your own friends with the hashtag #ThereSheGrows.'

Selma revealed in October that she had been diagnosed with MS a few months before, after living with symptoms for years.

Her diagnosis has not stopped her from working, and she was recently cast in the upcoming Netflix series Another Life.

She also has appeared in two movies that are in post-production, After with Meadow Williams and Jessica Beals and The Great Illusion with Ireland Baldwin.
Meghan and Harry's baby is yet to be born but already experts predict it will have a huge impact on Britain's shopping habits.

The Kate and Meghan effect is already firmly in place with shoppers dashing out to get their hands on the Duchesses latest wears, the new addition to the royal family is expected to have a similar impact.

Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the Centre for Retail Research, told Hello! that the baby could bring a huge boost to the UK economy.

Bamfield predicts that sales in children's clothing and products will increase by 1.125bn over a two-year period.

Meghan and Harry's baby is predicted to bring a 1.25billion boost to the UK economy when it arrives in the spring. Pictured: Meghan in Morocco on Sunday

Speaking to Hello! he said: 'Meghan is known to have a keen sense of style and she will want to follow a distinctive line in baby products, shawls, baskets, infant clothes and even what toys are being used by her child.'

'As the child gets older, what he or she wears will be adopted by many other parents, photographed thousands of times and shared with others across the world.'

In a report from Brand Finance last year it was revealed that the country's economy as a whole is boosted by 1.76bn by the royals every year so the royal baby boost should have a considerable impact.

Meghan previously told fans she is due to give birth to her firstborn with Prince Harry between late April and the beginning of May.

Professor Joshua Bamfield says that parents are likely to emulate the look of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's first child. Pictured: The royal couple in Morocco on Sunday

Bamfield said that Meghan is likely to opt for 'distinctive' brands that can be easily copied by royal fans. Pictured: The parents-to-be in Morocco on Monday

Fans have speculated as to whether the Duke and Duchess might be expecting a girl after footage of Meghan's $500,000 baby shower at the Mark Hotel in New York emerged.

It showcased the 'dessert buffet' on offer to guests which was designed by illustrator Darcy Miller, and featured four macaron towers from Laduree, which cost a total of $460.

Almost everything on display was pink which has seen royal fans guess that Meghan might be expecting a daughter.

However, Meghan has said the gender of her first child's gender is going to be a surprise.

Earlier this month, the Duchess of Sussex was captured talking to a guest about her unborn child at the Endeavor Awards.

'We don't know,' she says in the clip shared by the royal fan Instagram account @harry_meghan_updates. 'Yes, we decided to keep it a secret, and then that way... it's one of those things, like, no matter what it is, it's still going to be a surprise.'

Royal commentator Victoria Arbiter recently stated that it is 'royal philosophy' to keep the baby's gender a secret until the day of the birth.

'Theres a belief that there are so few surprises left in life why not save the biggest one for the moment a child is born,' she told Honey.nine.com. 'This is not just a royal philosophy, many parents across the UK choose not to find out.'
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These stunning vintage snaps offer a glimpse behind the curtain at one of Paris' most famous cabaret acts.

The Bluebell Girls were founded in 1932 by Irish dancer Margaret Kelly Leibovici and continue to delight audiences today.

In one of these black and white photos, Margaret, known as 'Miss Bluebell', can be seen waiting backstage with her dancers ahead of a performance.

Other shots show the women high-kicking in the halls, flicking through dressing room magazines and zipping each other into their frilly, feathered and bejewelled stage costumes.

Margaret ensured her girls stood out by casting only the tallest dancers, with an average height of 5ft 11in. She sought out classical dancers who had grown too tall to become professional ballerinas.

During the Second World War, Margaret's work was halted and she was briefly interned at a camp in eastern France. Her husband, Jewish-Romanian pianist Marcel Leibovici, escaped from a different camp and spent years in hiding, with Margaret risking her life to smuggle him food.

Once the war was over Margaret, with the help of American choreographer and producer Donn Arden, secured a residency at Paris Le Lido Club - where the Bluebell Girls still perform today.

Margaret was awarded the legion d'honneur, France's top civilian award, in 2000. She died in 2004.

Dazzling dancers: A Bluebell Girl followed by a French showgirl make their way way back to their dressing rooms at Le Lido club in Paris after one scene in 1951. The Bluebell Girls were founded in 1932 by Irish dancer Margaret Kelly Leibovici

Costume change: Dancer Denise Carpenter of Bristol picks out one of her costumes for the second half of the revue at Le Lido in 1951, left. Right, Dawn Herbert of Southend limbers up before a show at Le Lido in 1951. Margaret ensured her girls stood out by casting only the tallest dancers, with an average height of 5ft 11in

Practise makes perfect: Bluebell Girls (left-right) Pamela Risbey, 20, from Middlesex; Mavis Wray, 20, from Romford, Essex, Zoe Columbine, 19, and Liliane Marcus, 21, rehearse a floor portion of their routine ahead of a performance in Brussels. While the Bluebell Girls are based in Paris, Margaret saw demand grow for their shows and sent out troupes across Europe

Teasing the crowd: Bluebell Girls performing at Boeuf sur le Toit, Brussels, Belgium, in 1951. While the girls did perform topless, Margaret ensured they maintained a respectable distance from the audience at all times

Sisterhood: Three cheeky Bluebird Girls looking out of their dressing room backstage at Le Lido, Paris, left. Right, Joyce Rogers of Bayswater, London, gives Denise Carpenter, of Bristol, a little assistance with the zip fastener on her costume

Keeping a close eye: Margaret, known as 'Miss Bluebell', can be seen waiting backstage with her fellow dancers ahead of a performance at Le Lido in 1951. Margaret was famously protective over her dancers and took a keen interest in them

Final touches: A French hairdresser attends to the hair of Margaret Oxon of Minehead, Somerset, in the dressing room of Le Lido in 1951, left. A Bluebell Girl admires herself in the mirror before taking to the stage of the Paris club. The sense of respectability that Margaret brought to the Bluebell Girls meant securing a dancer as a wife had a social cachet

All together now! Seven English Bluebell Girls and one French dancer rehearse a new high kick routine ahead of a performance in Brussels in 1951. Margaret sought out classically trained girls who were too tall to become ballerinas

Killing time: Rita Keen of Stockwell, London, Dawn Herbert of Southend, Essex, and Joyce Rogers of Bayswater, London, take it easy in their dressing room between the first and second parts of the revue at around 1am, during a 1951 performance at Le Lido. The Bluebell Girls started at another club but Margaret secured a residency at Le Lido after the Second World War

Proud founder: Margaret, known as 'Miss Bluebell', is surrounded by a group of her dancers in costumes in the dressing room at the Boeuf sur le Toit in Brussels in 1951. The women are studying a program of the show

Front and centre: Margaret poses for a photo with a group of Bluebell Girls at Le Lido, Paris, in 1951. Long after her official retirement in 1986, she continued to return to the club a couple of times a week to watch the shows and talk to the new generation of Bluebell Girls

Leading by example: Miss Bluebell Margaret Kelly, whose nickname arose from her blue eyes, teaches a new routine to dancers during a performance in Brussels, in 1951. Margaret first started performing with Scottish dance troupe Hot Jocks

Downtime: Margaret Oxon, Dawn Herbert, Rita Keen, Denise Carpenter and Joyce Rogers (kneeling) pose for a photo with Denise's puppy in the dressing room of Le Lido in 1951. The Bluebell Girls perform at the club today
A skin expert who boasts Meghan Markle among her A-List clientele has revealed the secrets to achieving the perfect complexion.

London based celebrity facialist, Nichola Joss, treats a whole host of famous faces such as Kate Moss, Natalie Dormer, Scarlett Johansson, Margot Robbie, Gisele Bundchen and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Her biggest coup, however, is the Duchess of Sussex who previously dubbed her one of her 'favourite aestheticians.'

Nichola, who has worked on fashion shows including Henry Holland, Erdem, and Burberry, is renowned for her signature facial massage technique, which involves sculpting your face from the inside out.

It is proven to aid the detoxification of the body, the regeneration of skin tissue, boost the body's immune system and have anti-aging effects.

Here, the facialist to the stars (and royalty) offers her top tips on how you can achieve flawless skin...

Nichola has not only worked with a whole bunch of celebrities, but a royal face, too. She counts The Duchess of Sussex amongst her famous clients. Above, Meghan pictured departing after visiting the Bristol Old Vic on February 1, 2019

FACIAL MASSAGE

I always encourage people to massage their skin morning and night. Facial massage is so beneficial because it allows you to remove tension from the muscle and the skin.

When your muscle holds tension, it also holds toxins. This can lead to ageing, congestion, break outs and dullness.

Facialist to the stars, Nichola Joss, who has years of experience in the beauty industry, has revealed the secrets to achieving model skin - including daily massages and grabbing a power nap

Massage also stimulates the lymphatic system, helping to clean and create new, healthy, bouncy skin.

It's also really easy to incorporate a massage technique into your routine, just a few minutes twice a day when you apply your moisturiser will do wonders.

STAY HYDRATED

It can be easy to forget to keep yourself hydrated throughout the day, especially when running from A to B. Models have hectic schedules, but so do we all.

Dehydration can affect the health of your skin, as well as its overall appearance, often making fine lines and wrinkles more prominent.

Current conversations around sustainability mean that most of us now have a reusable water bottle in our bag, which can only be a good thing for our complexions.

It's one of the most simple and underrated ways to achieve glowing skin.

CLEANSE THOROUGHLY

Whether you wear a lot of make up or not, a thorough cleanse twice a day is essential for keeping the skin healthy and glowing.

Dirt, grime and pollutants build up on the skin's surface throughout the day, clogging pores and ultimately leading to break outs.

Nichola's bespoke treatments include her signature facial massage technique, which involves sculpting your face from the inside out. Above, with Kendall Jenner back in 2004

Nichola is renowned for working in the film, television, beauty and fashion industries and has even worked with actress Gwyneth Paltrow. Above, the Hollywood actress on February 19, 2019

Margot Robbie (pictured in January) also visits skin expert Nichola Joss to achieve her glowing complexion

Other well known faces Nichola has worked with include Kate Moss (pictured in Paris in January)

Using a cleansing brush like the FOREO LUNA will exfoliate to remove any dead skin cells, unclog pores of make up residue and leave skin feeling refreshed. There is even an anti-ageing mode which helps produce a glow.

PRIORITISE SLEEP

Sleep can be underrated when it comes to its impact on the appearance of your skin.

When you're in bed your skin is rejuvenating itself. Our hectic lifestyles mean that getting a full eight hours every night can often be unrealistic, but there's no shame in grabbing a power nap whenever you get a moment. Every minute of shut eye will make a difference.

Skin expert Nichola advises to strip back your skincare routine and not to get carried away with too many products - as that can sometimes cause skin to flare up

GO BACK TO BASICS

If you're on a quest to improve the look of your skin, it can be all too easy to fall into the trap of using too many products.

When there are so many confusing messages out there, it can be hard to know whether you should be adopting a ten-step Korean routine, or perhaps embracing a humble two product regime.

If you are feeling overwhelmed, it's often best to focus on a few tried and trusted active ingredients, targeted to your particular concern.

For instance if you want to achieve more of a glow, head for a product that includes Vitamin C. Hyaluronic acid will do the trick if you're tired and dehydrated, or retinol will target ageing concerns.

This approach, paired with facial massage and the use of an effective cleansing device, will leave your skin glowing and healthy.
BBC presenter Rachael Bland's widower has poignantly revealed that their son, three, doesn't understand his mother is dead.

Steve Bland, from Cheshire, lost his wife Rachael, 40, six months ago following a two-year battle with primary triple-negative breast cancer.

Appearing on today's Lorraine to discuss the memoir she wrote for their son Freddie, three, before her death, he revealed that the youngster is coping well, but hasn't fully grasped that he's lost his mother.

'He doesn't understand anything about what's happened. He still speaks about Rachael in the present tense,' Steve explained.

'When he is sort of five, six, seven, maybe I'll start to read bits to him, when he starts to have some sort of grasp on what's happened,' he said.

He added: 'He started pre-school the week after she died. He's come on leaps and bounds. He's a really happy little boy full of mischief and adventure.

Steve Bland, pictured on Lorraine this morning, has revealed that Freddie, three, doesn't understand that his mother Rachael passed away

Rachael penned a memoir for her son Freddie, pictured together with Steve in December 2017, to share with him her experiences before he was born and words of advice

Steve said he hopes to read passages from the book to Freddie once he gets older and begins to grieve

'That's what I've been told, his grief will come and go and it's probably when he's four, five or six we will start to see more how it's affected him.'

Rachael began to write the book at the end of June last year, with the intention of documenting her life before she had her son Freddie, the advice and memories she wanted him to treasure, and her parting words.

Between the end of June and her death at the start of September, she wrote 85,000 words, which Steve says show off her personality, humour, and spirit.

He added: 'It's not angry, it's not bitter, there's no resentment. It's all of her personality and humour and spirit. It's not about cancer, it's not a sad book, it's a happy book.'

Speaking about the booked, titled For Freddie, today, Steve said: 'It's not angry, it's not bitter, there's no resentment. It's all of her personality and humour and spirit. It's not about cancer, it's not a sad book, it's a happy book'

Rachael died six months ago at age 40 following a two-year battle with primary triple-negative breast cancer. Before her death she launched the podcast You, Me and The Big C, which documented her journey

Steve admitted that at the time Rachel was writing her memoir, it was 'painful' and 'heartbreaking' to watch her commit her feelings to paper.

Steve added: 'It was painful reading it while she was writing it. It was heartbreaking to see her have to write that sort of thing. But I've read it so many times now now I want to smile when I read it'

'But I've read it so many times now now I want to smile when I read it,' he said. 'I hear her saying the words to me. It's beautiful,' he said.

After her diagnosis, Rachael launched the podcast You, Me and The Big C, which documented her journey from initial diagnosis, to being told it was incurable, to being told she had just days left.

Just six weeks after she passed away, the podcast won the Best New Show award at the Audio, Radio and Industry Awards (ARIAs).

Speaking so openly about her diagnosis and struggles with her husband helped him cope with her premature death.

He added: 'It's a big hole that will never be filled obviously. We will be just fine, we told her we would be fine, so we will be.

'Because we had talked so openly about it. I felt as ready as you can ever be.

'Now we are six months on, some of the things that made me cry are making me smile now, her favourite song, watching clips like we've just done it's nice hearing her voice. makes me very happy to hear her voice and see her face.'

Freddie is coping well, and even started pre-school just the week after she died. Steve said the toddler has come on 'leaps and bounds' and is full of adventure
She has carved out her own style since joining the Royal Family, but it would seem the Duchess of Sussex still turns to sister-in-law for wardrobe ideas.

Mother-to-be Meghan, 37, stepped out in several Kate-inspired looks as she joined Prince Harry, 34, on their royal tour of Morocco over the weekend.

From a sweeping cream evening gown to a classic Breton top, Meghan sported key pieces that have previously been seen on the stylish Duchess of Cambridge.

Despite carving out her own style as a royal, Kate-inspired looks have worked their way into Meghan's wardrobe. The Duchess of Sussex wore a custom-made Dior gown during the royal tour or Morocco, left. Kate wore a similar dress designed by Alexander McQueen for a black tie dinner at the Royal Palace in Norway in February 2018. She was pregnant with Louis at the time

Meghan kicked off the royal tour of Morocco in a red Valentino dress.

The bold red dress had cape detailing and effortlessly skimmed over her blossoming bump.

She teamed the dress with simple nude heels - a favourite of Kate's who is often sporting a simple beige court shoe.

Kate, 37, who works with stylist Natasha Archer Jackson, has also stepped out in bold scarlet hue.

She wore a similar red gown by Alexander McQueen at the British Ambassador's residence in Berlin for a belated celebration of the Queen's 91st birthday in July 2017.

And the similarities don't stop there.

On her last day of engagements, Meghan stunned in a Carolina Herrera custom dress as she joined her husband Prince Harry for a meeting with King Mohammed VI, left. During a visit to Stockholm in January 2018 the Duchess of Cambridge, then six months pregnant with Prince Louis, donned a similar blue printed dress with flared sleeves by Erdem

On the second day of the Morocco tour, Meghan wore a custom made Dior gown for a reception hosted by the British Ambassador to Morocco in Rabat.

The ivory kaftan-style gown featured stunning embellished sleeves. She teamed the floor-sweeping dress with diamond earrings and a matching clutch.

The Duchess of Cambridge wore a similarly striking dress in February last year, when she was pregnant with Prince Louis, during a gala dinner at the royal palace in Norway.

Kate's blush pink gown featured silver embellishment and had a cape detail.

She accessorised the floaty chiffon dress, also by Alexander McQueen, with diamond earrings and the bracelet the Queen wore on her wedding day.

Meghan's dressed down look in Rabat was very Kate-inspired, left. The mum-to-be dressed her bump in a stripy tee, skinny jeans and black heeled boots. Kate is a fan of a breton-striped tee and skinny jean combo and is often spotted in the look. Pictured at the Beaufort Polo Club in Gloucestershire in June 2015 (right)

For the third day in the North African country, Meghan opted for a more dressed down look that was very Kate-inspired.

The mum-to-be dressed her bump in a stripy tee, skinny jeans and black heeled boots.

A breton-striped tee and skinny jean combo is one of sister-in-law Kate's staple looks. She has been spotted in the classic look several times including at the Beaufort Polo Club in Gloucestershire.

A royal newbie, it's no surprise Meghan would take fashion inspiration from Kate who has had a lot more experience on dressing for royal engagements.

A royal insider told Elle.com: 'Kate has been on hand to help guide Meghan with advice about certain designers and royal protocol.'

According to the insider, Meghan's stylist Jessica Mulroney reportedly 'keeps an eye' on Kate's style and believes she is a 'great role model'.

Meghan, 37, kicked off the royal tour of Morocco in a red Valentino dress. The bold red dress had cape detailing and effortlessly skimmed over her blossoming bump. Kate has also donned the bright red hue, wearing this off-the-shoulder gown by Alexander McQueen in Berlin in July 2017

On her last day of engagements, Meghan stunned in a Carolina Herrera custom dress as she joined her husband Prince Harry for a meeting with King Mohammed VI.

Meghan, who is around seven months pregnant, wore the flowing patterned blue dress with frilled sleeves for a private audience at the monarch's residence in Rabat on Monday evening.

The dress featured a drop waist, showing off her blossoming bump.

During a visit to Stockholm when Kate was six months pregnant with Prince Louis, the Duchess of Cambridge donned a similar blue printed dress with flared sleeves by Erdem.
The Duchess of Sussex pulled off a 'perfect' curtsy for King Mohammed VI of Morocco this week - just a year after she was criticised for first attempt at a bob.

Meghan, who is thought to be seven months pregnant, performed her first public curtsy in December 2017 at St. Mary Magdalene church in Sandringham.

Commentators said the former actress had not adhered to royal protocol because she failed to plant her right foot behind her left leg properly.

Without the stable base, she couldn't perform a deep enough curtsy while maintaining balance, it was said - but the royal has had no such trouble since then.

But the Duchess of Sussex had no such problems in front of King Mohammed VI of Morocco yesterday. The mother-to-be met with the monarch ahead of a private audience at his residence in Rabat

The Duchess of Sussex (then known as Meghan Markle) was criticised for not curtsying low enough for the Queen at Sandringham in December 2017, five months before her wedding

Having evidently practised since her faux pas in 2017, the mother-to-be dipped incredibly low after shaking hands with King Mohammed VI in Rabat on Monday evening.

The duchess met with the monarch ahead of a private audience at his residence in the Moroccan capital on the last night of the couple's north Africa visit.

Speaking to MailOnline, former royal butler Grant Harrold said: 'It is clear that the Duchess of Sussex has perfected her curtsy over the last few years.

'We first saw her curtsy to HM the Queen at Sandringham Church when she attended the Christmas service in 2017 with the rest of the Royal Family, which was not as perfect as it now is.'

Pictured: Meghan with King Mohammed VI at his residence on the third and final day of their tour of Morocco on Monday evening. The couple left Rabat on Tuesday morning

Meghan curtsies to King Mohammed VI this week. Former royal butler Grant Harrold told FEMAIL: 'It is clear that the Duchess of Sussex has perfected her curtsy over the last few years'

Meghan gave a deeper curtsy at Sandringham last Christmas, pictured. Former royal butler Grant Harrold told FEMAIL: 'It is clear that the Duchess of Sussex has perfected her curtsy over the last few years'

Mr Harrold added that the duchess would have been polishing up her curtsy with the help of advisers, the Duchess of Cambridge, and her husband Prince Harry.

After joining The Firm in May, Meghan had the chance to finesse her skills at the Trooping the Colour flypast in June.

She gave a deep curtsy, but only after she appeared to sweetly double-check with her husband on when she was expected to do so.

Then in October on her first royal tour, Meghan gave a short but deep curtsy in front of Tonga's King Tupou VI and his wife Queen Nanasipau'u.

And a year after her first public attempt in front of Her Majesty, Meghan nailed her curtsy on the steps at Sandringham in Norfolk.
A mother who has had three children in three years has revealed how she's transformed her home from chaotic to perfectly organised on a budget.

Rhianna Hebbard, 26, from Newport, Queensland, moved into her house with her husband in February, 2015, when they had just had their first baby.

The house was built in 1986 so the pair have been renovating it slowly while transforming the interior to cater to their growing family.

And while Mrs Hebbard's organisation tricks are relatively simple, satisfying photos of the results have wowed hundreds of savvy parents on social media.

Rhianna Hebbard, 26, from Newport, Queensland, moved into her house with her husband in February, 2015, when they had just had their first baby (pictured with her three kids aged four, two-and-a-half and one)

She spent $300 creating this storage space using cubes from IKEA before neatly stacking all of her kids' toys and books inside to make for easy organisation

'When it comes to organising, I am very time poor. I either do it when they've all gone to bed or I get them involved,' Mrs Hebbard, a beauty therapist, told FEMAIL.

'If I spend all my nights organising and cleaning it means I miss out on the only time I get with my husband so I do try to get the kids involved during the day and make it fun for them.'

Mrs Hebbard decided to really overhaul the home storage in 2018 after shed had given birth to her third child.

'A year ago when I had just had my third baby my house was chaos and it really started to get me down when I couldn't keep on top of it all,' she recalled.

Mrs Hebbard decided to really overhaul the home storage in 2018 after shed had given birth to her third child (pictured is the chest of drawers she sorted in order of each child)

She uses $3 carry cases from Kmart to store her children's puzzles to avoid pieces flying everywhere (bottom left) and $8 2.4 litre containers from Kmart for small toys (top right)

What are Mrs Hebbard's top tips for organising the home on a budget? * Do your research when buying something. I look around a lot and look at all the options and search reviews online before I buy anything, even something small. * Sometimes cheapest is not always best. If you always just automatically buy the cheapest option available without doing research, you may end up spending a lot more in the long run constantly replacing cheap items that end up breaking. * Don't give it to fad items that will be used once or items that you have lived your whole life without needing. Good marketing will make you feel like you need this new popular item - I can almost guarantee you don't need it and you can in fact save your money. Advertisement

To help, she started minimising the items they had in the house and organised it in a way that was maintainable for herself and the rest of the family

She used $3 glass carafes and $8 glass jars from Kmart to organise her laundry as well before sitting them on a stylish corkback placemat in 'swirl' which costs $1.50 from the budget store

'I really struggled with my mental health at that time and I couldn't keep up with the demands of all three kids constantly needing me. I also couldn't keep up with the housework that seemed to pile up on top of me no matter what.'

To help, she started minimising the items they had in the house and organised it in a way that was maintainable for herself and the rest of the family.

To do this she went through room-by-room and used items from budget stores like Kmart and IKEA to declutter and sort.

One of the standout spaces is the playroom organisation, where Mrs Hebbard spent $300 using cubes from IKEA to perfectly stack and organise the children's toys, books and puzzles.

'I've taught the kids that they're welcome to pull whichever toys out they like and they can make a mess, but before they move on to the next toys or pull something else out they need to pack up what they were first playing with,' she said

What are the products Mrs Hebbard swears by? Custom vinyl pantry labels from eBay: $11 for 12 Clear carry case from Kmart: $3 each 2.4 litre push close containers from Kmart: $8 each Glass jars from Kmart: $8 each Glass carafes from Kmart: $3 each Corkback placemats (swirl) from Kmart: $1.50 each Advertisement

She also used $3 carry cases from Kmart to store the puzzles to ensure pieces didn't fall out and added pink and black IKEA cubes to the shelves for storage.

'I've taught the kids that they're welcome to pull whichever toys out they like and they can make a mess, but before they move on to the next toys or pull something else out they need to pack up what they were first playing with (with my help, of course),' Mrs Hebbard said.

'When we have a toy room clear out I explain to the girls that some toys that they don't play with anymore we will donate to other kids who may not have many toys as well.

'It is so satisfying for me starting the day with the house clean for the kids,' she said (pictured is the freshly organised toy kitchen space)

'My house is most definitely still chaos! But now it's organised chaos... most of the time,' she said (pictured with her three children)

'Some toys we sell on marketplace, my eldest (four) will help me take photos and when people come to pick them up and pay she gets to keep the money in her little purse. When we go to the shops I let my girls pick something new to buy.'

Mrs Hebbard said that while her home is more organised than ever she still has days where everything is a mess.

'There's no way for me to get everything done, but I'm slowly learning to let the kids make some mess while they play and let them have fun and not stress about it every now and then,' she said.

'It is so satisfying for me starting the day with the house clean for the kids, it definitely makes the start to the day a lot smoother for everyone.

'My house is most definitely still chaos! But now it's organised chaos.. most of the time.'
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev made a phone call to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today, according to statement posted on the Azerbaijani presidential website.

Ilham Aliyev congratulated President Erdogan on his birthday and wished him new successes in his activity for the development of brotherly Turkey and robust health.

The Turkish head of state thanked President Aliyev for his attention and congratulations, AzerTAc reported.

The two presidents expressed their confidence that the friendly and brotherly ties between the two countries will continue to develop successfully and strengthen.
It's no secret that the Kardashian clan are collective fans of the Australian label, Bec & Bridge.

In the past, Kim, Kendall and Kourtney have worn the Sydney-based best friends Becky Cooper and Bridget Yorston's designs.

But now, Kendall has taken things one step further and donned the Aussie brand for Madonna's famous Oscars after party.

Kendall Jenner (pictured with Khloe and Kourtney) opted for a red leather dress by Australian label Bec & Bridge for Madonna's Oscars after party on Sunday night

Kendall rocked the yet-to-be-released Disco Inferno Dress (pictured), which is set to drop in Bec & Bridge stores and online from 20 April

Kendall rocked the yet-to-be-released Disco Inferno Dress, which is set to drop in Bec & Bridge stores and online from 20 April.

The red leather dress is similar to the Slick Rick style by the same brand, which she wore to Kylie Jenner's 21st birthday bash.

Kendall accessorised the strapless zip-back number with sheer stockings, white PVC stilettos and matching gloves.

She posted her party look alongside Khloe and Kourtney who opted for semi sheer sequinned outfits for the celeb-studded bash.

Kendall accessorised the strapless zip-back number with sheer stockings, white PVC stilettos and matching gloves (pictured)

She posted her party look alongside Khloe and Kourtney who opted for semi sheer sequinned outfits for the celeb-studded bash (all pictured together)

'Kendall's outfit is flawless,' one enthusiastic commenter posted online.

'Kendall looks like a goddess,' another added.

Of course, this isn't the first time Kendall has worn Bec & Bridge.

After she was spotted on the streets of New York wearing the label's sheer French Kiss shirt without a bra in 2017, Kendall sent the Internet into a spin.

In fact, co-designer Becky Cooper even admitted that because 'Kendall's wardrobe is in such high demand' they had since been inundated by requests to buy the daring item since.

'We love working with Kendall because she has an amazing sense of style and always puts our pieces together so well,' she said at the time.

The red leather dress is similar to the Slick Rick style by the same brand, which she wore to Kylie Jenner's 21st birthday bash (pictured)

'Kendall's outfit is flawless,' one enthusiastic commenter posted online - while another commenter called her a 'goddess' (all pictured together)

The friends' feminine luxe styles have earned them the embrace from other A-listers too, including Kim Kardashian West, Bambi Northwood-Blyth, Nadia Fairfax and Natasha Oakley.

Their label is also sold in more than 500 global retailers.

'Running your own business is a 24/7 job however we wouldn't have it any other way. It's also very rewarding and humbling seeing your designs on women all around the world,' the designers previously told Daily Mail Australia.

'The key now is to keep moving forward, to stay on our A-game and not get complacent.

'The fashion industry is so fast paced and fickle. There is no time for resting on your laurels.'

After Kendall (pictured) was spotted on the streets of New York wearing the label's sheer French Kiss shirt without a bra in 2017, Kendall sent the Internet into a spin

The Bec & Bridge story of how they got together as designers is so fortuitous it's almost folkloric.

After the pair met while studying fashion design at the University of Technology in Sydney, they were asked to customise a pair of their friend's jeans.

'We don't have a picture of that first pair of jeans we made unfortunately,' the women joked to Daily Mail Australia.

But a Gold Coast supplier offered the women a deal for 200 pairs of the distressed trousers and fifteen years later, the rest is history.

Bec and Bridge (both pictured) met while studying fashion design at the University of Technology in Sydney, and were asked to customise a pair of their friend's jeans

The friends' feminine luxe styles have the embrace from other A-listers too, including Kim Kardashian West, Bambi Northwood-Blyth, Nadia Fairfax and Kaia Gerber (left in Bec & Bridge)

Bec & Bridge themselves are both mothers (with five children between them), meaning juggling their full-time jobs with parenthood is full-on:

'It really is a juggle! The key for us has been having a strong partnership - this has allowed us to each take the reigns at different times when we have both had our babies,' they said.

'Having children has forced us to be more organised and more decisive. There is no time for dilly dallying.'

With more than fifteen years in the industry the friends admit they've seen the business evolve over time as trends come and go.

But their core mission to outfit women in the sleekest of styles remains the same.

'We've always had so much mutual respect for one another and we trust each other with every decision,' they added.
The Duchess of Sussex wore clothing totalling more than 110,000 during her Morocco tour, MailOnline can reveal.

Meghan, who spent three days in the north African country, hit the eye-watering figure thanks to a mixture of high street, off-the-peg designer and haute couture pieces including a custom made Dior gown.

MailOnline understands the duchess, who is around seven months pregnant, requested at least two custom-made pieces for the royal visit, with many of her outfits needing alterations to accommodate her growing baby bump.

The total value of her tour wardrobe, not including an unidentified pair of diamond earrings, is an estimated 110,700.89 - thanks to a kaftan-style Dior gown believed to be worth as much as 90,000.

Meghan, who is around seven months pregnant, wore a flowing blue dress with frilled sleeves for a private audience at the monarch's residence in Rabat on Monday evening. It is believed to be a custom version of a 3,222 chiffon gown from Herrera's AW19 collection

Meghan also showcased new pieces from designers including Stuart Weitzman, Gianvito Rossi, and close friend Misha Nonoo, who attended her lavish baby shower last week in New York.

It is almost as much as the cost of her entire Pacific tour wardrobe, which saw her wear pieces totaling 118,000 over the course of 16 days as she visited Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga in October 2018.

For the royal tour, the Duchess mixed a variety of glamorous pieces including a red Valentino dress, believed to have cost 600, with more casual looks, such as a breton top and skinny jeans, which she wore to visit an equine centre in Rabat on Monday morning.

On Sunday, she also opted for a dressed-down ensemble for her first day of engagements, including a 395 Alice + Olivia blazer and a 170 black cashmere jumper designed by her pal Misha Nonoo.

This kaftan-style Dior gown, worn for a reception at the British Ambassador's residence in Rabat on Sunday evening, is believed to be worth as much as 90,000

Meghan wore an old J.Crew jacket in Rabat on Monday, teamed with a pair of Stuart Weitzman boots, skinny jeans from Rag + Bone, and a chic Breton top from Equipment

Meghan's casual outfit for her first day of engagements included a 395 Alice + Olivia blazer and a 170 Misha Nonoo black cashmere jumper

The Duchess of Sussex arrived in Morocco in a custom Valentino dress which cost a reported 600, teamed with a 1,360 Valentino calfskin crossbody bag, Gianvito Rossi leather pumps costing 510, 1,341 earrings and 405 gloves

There were also a handful of recycled pieces, including a J.Crew jacket and a pair of Birdies slippers.

Before marrying Harry, Meghan, who amassed a 3.8 million fortune as an actress in Suits, paid for clothes herself and received 'gifts' from brands who wanted her to wear their items.

Now that she's a duchess, like all British royals, she is prevented by royal protocol from accepting 'freebies'.

Luckily, since entering into The Firm, she doesn't have to worry about how she pays for her extensive wardrobe money as her husband is worth an estimated 30 million.
Last month, the model posed alongside her male friend in an impromptu photo shoot that saw the pair posing fully nude

She regularly fights back on social media, posting nude or revealing photos to her Instagram page as she promotes body positivity

The plus-size model has previously come under fire for her weight

In an accompanying caption, Tess revealed that she uses the 'hate' people throw her way as fuel to keep chasing her dreams

The clip shows the mother-of-two carrying out a number of exercises at the gym

The 33-year-old took to Instagram to share the video on Saturday, February 23

Tess Holliday has shared a video showing her fitness regime to Instagram, as she says her favorite workout is 'proving her critics wrong'.

The plus-size model, 33, took to Instagram on Monday, February 25, to share the video, which sees her carrying out a number of exercises while wearing skin-tight workout gear.

In her caption, the Mississippi-native said that she uses the 'hurt' people throw at her as her fuel to keep chasing her dreams.

Positive: Plus-size model Tess Holliday, 33, has shared a video showing her fitness regime that shows her performing a number of different exercises in a gym

Work it out! The mother-of-two took to Instagram on Saturday, February 23 to share the video, which saw working out

Get it! In the video Tess can be seen carrying out different exercises, most of which focused on working out her arms, including lifting weights

Strength: Captioning the video, Tess revealed that she uses the 'hurt' people throw her way as fuel to continue chasing her dreams

The full caption read: 'Proving my critics wrong is my favorite workout.

'I use the hurt people throw my way as fuel to keep chasing my dreams, and you can do the same - Dont let anyone tell you what you are capable of.

'Youre better than that,' she added.

Working hard: The plus-size model also revealed that her favorite 'workout' is proving her critics wrong

The video begins as Tess works out using battle ropes, before moving on to show her throwing a ball against a wall and performing a squat each time she catches it.

Next, the 33-year-old can be seen doing a variety of exercises that are mainly focused on working out the arms, including using a weight rowing machine.

Tess, who is from Laurel, Mississippi, uses dumbbells to work her biceps as she performs a number of weight-lifting reps while alternating between standing and sitting.

Next, the mother-of-two successfully does a number of weight raises, working her triceps.

She can then be seen using the battle ropes again, this time using only one hand at a time to work each of her arms.

Since the plus-size model posted the video, she has received dozens of supportive comments from her 1.8 million followers.

One user commented on the video, saying: 'Gurl, you train like a beast in these vids! Get it gurl! Those are some serious weights you were rowing.'

Risque! Last month, the model posted a photo with her friend Brad Walsh that saw the pair posing nude while Tess had her backside to the camera while Brad rested his head on her leg

Raunchy! The model isn't shy when it comes to stripping down, as she often poses in revealing photos with the aim of helping to spread body positivity among others

Another follower added: 'Thanks for this.. Hopefully you will encourage more plus size people to do training.'

A third user commented on the post, saying: 'You inspired me to get to the gym. Thanks!!! You look awesome!'

Fighting back: Last week, Tess posted a photo hitting back at her critics with the caption 'BRB, promoting obesity'

And it isn't the first time Tess has hit back at critics of her plus-size figure.

The 33-year-old has been criticized for her figure in the past. Some have even criticized the model for 'promoting obesity'.

And hitting back at such critics, Tess posted a photo last week that showed her drinking a small Starbucks Frappuccino drink.

The caption for the photo read: 'BRB, promoting obesity.'

Tess often uses her social media platform to promote body positivity and break down any societal perceptions about being a plus-size model.

Back in January, the body positive activist posted a photo to Instagram that saw her posing fully nude with a friend.

The 33-year-old flaunted her backside in the picture, as her friend Brad Walsh, who was also nude in the photo, rested his head on her bare thigh with an arm around her leg.

'When friendship & whiskey becomes art #effyourbeautystandards,' Tess wrote in the accompanying caption.

Similarly, she posed in a racy photo in December that saw her wearing a sexy bodysuit that featured cut outs and black lace.

Beautiful: Tess (pictured in a no-makeup selfie) has previously said that she uses social media to encourage others to 'be yourself' and 'own it'

Confident: Tess (pictured during New York Fashion Week this year) has been a vocal advocate for self-love and body positivity for a number of years

Her caption for the photo, which garnered over 100,000 likes, read: When I looked at this image I shot this morning, I thought about Maya Angelous words: "You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, Ill rise."

'I know that my body offends so many, my existence makes some so uncomfortable, but yet each day, I get up & walk through the fire, because I have no choice but to keep going.

'The power you have once you realize that you can thrive in a world hell bent to knock you down is something that no one will ever be able to take from me... because still, like air, Ill rise.'

The model previously revealed that she likes using her social media platform to encourage others to be comfortable in their own skin and embrace their bodies.

When she appeared on Busy Philipps' talk show, Busy Tonight, back in November, Tess said: 'I use my social media to tell people to stop hiding, stop listening to society... Just be yourself and own it.'

She was chosen to appear on the cover of Cosmopolitan UK in October 2018.

The shoot saw Tess posing in a green one-piece, while blowing a kiss to the camera. In the photo, Tess proudly displayed her curves and tattoos.
A mummy blogger recreated Kim Kardashian's very daring Thierry Mugler dress at home - with hilarious results.

Armed with scissors, Laura, who goes by the name Knee Deep in Life and is believed to be from Hampshire, tore holes in a black top to roughly copy the cut outs on Kim's dress, which she wore in Los Angeles earlier this month.

She completed the look with watch straps and swimming goggles, which she wrapped around her wrists to replicate the fashion-forward accessories worn by the reality TV star.

Kim Kardashian caused a stir when she attended a Los Angeles awards show in a vintage Thierry Mugler dress earlier this month. The cutout creation left very little to the imagination

Mummy blogger Laura, who goes by the name Knee Deep in Life and is believed to be from Hampshire, tore holes in a black top to roughly copy the cut outs on Kim's dress

Laura has won followers with her comedy videos and photos that mock celebrities and advertising campaigns.

Sharing her latest side-by-side comparison, she wrote: ' GOOGLE GOALS..... FASHION.... When they tell you it's on backwards and you say, B**** PLEASE!! This is fashion,' she wrote on Facebook, mocking the dress worn by the celebrity.

'Sometimes it's about accepting budgetary constraints meant you couldn't afford the whole dress, so you just work with what you got and pray your left tit doesn't pop out and start mopping the floor as you make pack lunches.'

The response to her 'real-life' attempt at the Kardashian dress was well-received on Facebook.

The post was a hit with followers, with many left shocked at Kim's original daring garment

Her post has received almost 9,000 likes and more than 1,000 comments since it was uploaded on 19 February.

'Omg I just love you, just brilliant! Please don't ever stop being the amazing woman you are x,' someone wrote.

Another wrote: 'Heading to London with the kids for Spring Break. I was wondering what you gals in England are wearing these days so I fit in while sightseeing! Now I know! I'll be sure to pack myself into a 6 year old boy's wrestling suit! LOL.'
Kids say the darndest things.

And while parents find most of the remarks amusing, some are just downright eerie.

Here, Daily Mail Australia readers share the spookiest things young children have said to them - and it's enough to send shivers down your spine.

Grandmother Susan said her then-three-year-old grandson Freddie used to 'always' talk about his 'imaginary friend Shane' who would visit him in his bedroom.

'Shane was an adult man who owned a white van,' Susan recalled her grandson saying to her at the time.

'Once when we were playing in Fred's bedroom. He stopped playing and was distracted. He was staring down the hall. I asked him "what's up?" He said it was just Shane. He's leaning up against his mum and dad's bedroom door.

'When Freddie was five, his family moved house. I asked about Shane. He said "don't be silly Granny, Shane lives at our old house and anyway, he's dead".'

Daily Mail Australia readers share the spookiest things children have said to them - and it's enough to send shivers down your spine (stock image)

Michael said he and his siblings - all aged under nine - were asleep in bed, when their father would hear footsteps in the hallway while he was in the bathroom.

'He heard light footsteps running along the corridor outside the bathroom. The footsteps stopped outside the bathroom door and the door handle rattled,' he said.

'He called out but heard the footsteps run away. He got out of the bath and checked all of us kids but we were all fast asleep. This happened again a few days later, but this time he shot out of the bath straight away and no one was there.

'Again, he checked all of us and again we were all fast asleep in bed.'

Go back to sleep mum, there isn't anything under your bed. He is behind you now

Mother Pamela recalled her physician husband going into hospital late one evening when her son said to her: 'Go back to sleep mum, there isn't anything under your bed. He is behind you now'.

'I said "who?" He said "the little boy". He described his "imaginary" friend, saying: "He sits on my bed and waits for his mum. He's not allowed to go home by himself because of his arm".

'I asked "what happened to his arm?", and he said: "His mum ran him over when he was drawing with chalk. That's why he's always crying, because he doesn't like being dead". Still haven't gotten over that one and I just shiver at the memory.'

Growing up, Katy said she recalled having a so-called 'invisible friend' who would visit her in her bedroom every now and then.

'Apparently I had an "invisible friend" who would come sit at the end of the bed, just stare at me and "talk funny",' she said.

I had an invisible friend who would come sit at the end of the bed, just stare at me and 'talk funny'. It took months of me fearing going to bed until we visited some family in Spain and I pointed the man out in a photo. It was my mum's Spanish dad who had died

'It took months of me fearing going to bed until we visited some family in Spain and I pointed the man out in a photo. It was my mum's dad who had died when she was little, at the age I was at the time - we looked almost identical.

'He'd been "speaking funny" as it was Spanish, there had been no photos of him up at home and needless to say I spooked all my Spanish family who started doing a load of hail Mary's.'

Mother Caroline said she recalled waking her then-eight-year-old daughter up for school camp when she made a chilling comment.

'When my daughter was sitting down having breakfast, she asked who was the woman standing behind you when you came in my room? No one else was here,' Caroline said.

'My daughter later asked me who the woman was laying on my bed one evening. We were the only ones in the house.'

Many shared stories about dead 'imaginary friends' and ghostly encounters in the bedroom (stock image)

Caroline said her daughter made another remark about a man she noticed.

'After finishing dinner one night, my daughter went to her room, and came back out. She said there is a man sitting on my chair watching a war show on TV,' she said.

'She went on to describe the man, and she perfectly described my dad who had passed away when she was a baby. She described his black and white flannel shirt, the way he sat and what he looks like.'

We woke to find our five-year-old son singing a song in Spanish... He sang the song again to our Spanish father-in-law - and he translated it into: 'a man is watching over you...'

Mother Christine said she and her husband woke up to find their then-five-year-old son Anthony singing a song in Spanish.

'We thought he had learned it in school or from a friend because we only speak English in our home,' she recalled.

'When we asked him where he had learned it, he said an old Spanish man talked to him in his dream and taught him the song. Interestingly enough, my husband is of Cuban and Puerto Rican descent.

'Anthony sang the song again for my father-in-law who is 100 per cent Spanish - and he translated it loosely into: 'A man is watching over you...'

Carole said she was spooked out after her daughter Danielle who was four years old at the time, made several comments about a mystery 'blue lady'.

'We were at the bottom of our road in the car and she told me to be careful of the blue lady in the middle of the road - there was no lady,' Carole recalled.

'Another day at the same time in the same place, she asked why the blue lady was crossing the road without a coat on. Another time, always the same place, she said "the blue lady looked to be very wet". The road was just opposite a graveyard.'
A single mother-to-be from New Zealand is fighting to keep herself and her unborn baby alive after discovering she had aggressive breast cancer when she was four months pregnant.

Charlotte, who is now six months pregnant with her first baby, is battling the disease via a treatment regime designed to stop the stage three cancer from spreading without harming her unborn child.

The 35-year-old from Devonport, Auckland, recalled the shocking moment she found a lump on her breast shortly after celebrating the news she was going to be a mum for the first time.

'At first, I thought it was my fault. I wondered what I had done to deserve this,' Charlotte told FEMAIL.

Charlotte (pictured) was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was four months pregnant

'My life has always been a bit like that, something good happens, then I'm confronted with a big challenge.'

It's a situation that is currently pushing Charlotte to her limits, however, despite her struggles, she's determined to find a way to recover her health for the sake of her boy - a son she has named Luka.

'The scary stage is now gone. There is no more space for fear or giving up. It's now all about Luka and being positive.'

The 35-year-old said everything she's currently undertaking in a bid to regain her health is to ensure her 'miracle child' has the best shot at life possible.

Recalling the harrowing moment she was diagnosed, Ms Santiago said even as her oncologist was explaining to her she had cancer, she could only think of Luka's well being.

'I wasn't even thinking about myself because all I could think about was my baby,' she said.

I believe if I wasn't pregnant, I might not be as willing to fight for my life.

'I was so worried the treatment was going to hurt him. My mind was entirely focused on someone I hadn't even met.

'I believe if I wasn't pregnant, I might not be as willing to fight for my life.'

Currently, Charlotte is on a specialised form of radiation treatment which is aimed at slowing the growth of her cancer as well as protecting her unborn child.

Her diagnosis also means medical experts want to bring forward Luka's due date from May to allow her to undergo chemotherapy. It's hoped this course of action will give the new mum the best chance of survival.

To improve her health, Charlotte is also working with naturopaths in Australia who are offering her specialised treatment designed to boost her immune system.

Charlotte has been flooded with donations of baby clothing, toys and services from her community (pictured)

As well as struggling to recover her health, the mum-to-be is also having to manage the demands of covering medical costs and providing for herself.

As she is originally from France she has no family in New Zealand. As a result she had been working two jobs to support herself.

One a cafe job, which saw her start work at 5.30 am in the morning, and a second, a nanny job, which ran from 3pm to 6pm.

She recently left her cafe job to focus on her health but she is still holding on to her nannying job because she loves the family she works for.

Her plight is one that recently caught the attention of a local who used to regularly visit Charlotte during the time she worked at the cafe.

Those concerned about the single mum have donated items including this baby bassinet

To help, Samantha Reynolds created a website to raise money that will go towards Ms Santiago's medical bills as well as provide for her financially when her new baby comes.

Others from her community have made donations in the form of massages, pregnancy yoga and photos, bottles, nappies, a rocking chair, a bassinet, and a wealth of homemade meals.

Charlotte said she's absolutely amazed by the support she's been given and said it's 'the most beautiful thing I've ever experienced'.

The expectant mum has also been given bags of new clothing and toys for her son and says she now has so much she wants to pass on the extras to others who might be in need.

'I sit here and think I don't deserve all of this help. Someone out there is in a worse situation than me and must need it more,' she said.

Charlotte says being grateful, and looking forward to a future with her son helps

Although her future is uncertain, the 35-year-old maintains the last thing she wants is for people to feel sorry for her.

'There is always hope and I believe things will be okay in the end,' she said.

'And because I am young and positive, there is a good chance I will be able to be with my son.'

While her predicament is one only a few could imagine, Ms Santiago says being grateful, and looking forward to a future with her son helps.

'When you are healthy you can do anything. And if I wake up with a smile on my face thinking about my son, I know everything will be fine.

'Everyday I battle, I get one step closer to kissing my baby boy on his cheek. And I can't wait!'

If you would like to make a donation to support Charlotte Santiago, please visit Give a Little for Charlotte
The Church of England is planning to hold five days of prayer to mark Britains departure from the EU.

Does the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, know something we dont? The way things look right now, were not going anywhere.

Anti-democratic, hardline Remainers are moving Heaven and Earth to stop even a weak-as-dishwater Withdrawal Agreement getting through the Commons.

Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is a committed Remainer, who said recently that a no-deal Brexit would be not only a political and practical failure, but a moral one

They are determined to prevent us leaving, no matter what. Some of them think they can kill Brexit stone dead, even without a second referendum.

Just as well the Archbishop is on the case. We might need divine intervention if were ever going to get out of Europe in one piece.

Still, it got me wondering just what form a special Brexit service might take.

Welby himself is a committed Remainer, who said recently that a no-deal Brexit would be not only a political and practical failure, but a moral one.

Will he be able to maintain the necessary neutrality to bring both sides of our bitterly divided society together? Lets find out by crossing over live to Westminster Abbey, where the Archbishop is about to address his congregation. Heres the order of service.

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here together to celebrate/mourn (please delete as appropriate) Britains exit from the European Union.

This has been a painful process and our thoughts go out to the bereaved, who still havent come to terms with the fact that they lost fair and square.

We should also take a moment to console all those 17.4 million Leave voters who thought their prayers had finally been answered, only to discover that they have been cruelly betrayed.

Let us pray . . .

Our father, who art in Brussels,

Juncker be thy name

Thy kingdom runs

Thy will be done

In London as it is in Strasbourg.

Give us this day

A customs union

And forgive us our referendum

As we will never forgive those who voted against us.

And lead us not out of the backstop

But deliver us from Ukip

For the EU is the kingdom

The power and the gravy train

For ever and ever

Amen.

May The Lord be with you. We shall now sing Hymn No 94, All Things Bright And Beautiful, which has been updated by the General Synod to accommodate all shades of opinion in the hope that we can reconcile ourselves to whatever fate has in store for us.

All things bright and beautiful

And free movement for all

All things wise and wonderful

The EU made them all.

Each towring butter mountain

Each lake of sparkling wine

Each rule and regulation

And gleaming wind turbine.

All things bright and beautiful

And free movement for all

All things wise and wonderful

The EU made them all.

They gave us straight bananas

And lots of different cheese

And mass youth unemployment

In Italy and Greece.

All things bright and beautiful

And free movement for all

They even helped the Germans

Bring down the Berlin Wall.

They gave us open borders

And everlasting peace

And another million migrants

From across the Middle East.

All things bright and beautiful

And free movement for all

All things wise and wonderful

The EU made them all.

They took away our fish stocks

And gave them all to Spain

Yet still we want a Peoples Vote

So we can choose Remain.

All things bright and beautiful

And free movement for all

Whats the EU ever done for us?

Frankly, bugger all.

At this juncture, I had planned to ask the verger, Mr Umunna, to read some relevant passages from the Book Of Common Fisheries, adapted from St Peters original Latin version. But I am informed that he has decided to leave our congregation to join a new independent church, along with several members of the choir, including our lady soprano Mrs Soubry, who sadly has suffered a fit of the vapours.

Does the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, know something we dont? The way things look right now, were not going anywhere

Unfortunately, we are not able to offer Holy Communion today. It would appear that Mr Farages prayer group drank all the wine.

So please join me in a moment of silent reflection and dont forget to give generously when the collection plate comes round. We are hoping to raise somewhere in the region of 39 billion to facilitate a smooth Brexit.

And may the Lord have mercy on your souls.

Fry could be so good for you

Diners believe food is better for them if the restaurant menu is handwritten, rather than printed.

Researchers have discovered that even a traditional fry-up can pass as the healthy option if presented in this fashion.

Customers apparently assume the food has been sourced locally if the ingredients are scribbled by hand on the menu.

Not for the first time, I couldnt help thinking here was another example of life imitating Minder, in particular an episode starring the late Mike Read, rerun on ITV4 the other night.

He plays Vernon, freelance muscle hired by Arthur while Terrys arm is in plaster. Vernon fancies himself as a bit of a gourmet and during his few days on the payroll eats Arthur out of house and home at a series of expensive restaurants.

At the end of the episode, Arthur, Terry and Des (played by the great George Layton), take Vernon to a typical greasy spoon.

Dont tell me, says Vernon. This is one of those grotty caffs that actually serves fantastic food. Richard Burton comes here, at dawn, for egg and chips, right?

When the congealed Full English is put in front of him, Vernon wonders why the others arent having the same.

He only makes one of those a day, does George, Des explains.

Whats these little black bits on the eggs here? Vern asks. Truffles?

Nah, nothing nasty like that, Vern, says Arthur. Its burnt fat.

Ive been trying to figure out who that SNP muppet waving at the camera in the House of Commons reminded me of  you know, the one who starred centre stage in Fridays column.

Then the penny dropped. He looks like Gordon, the gay boyfriend, in BBC Scotlands hilarious comedy Two Doors Down.

Ive since heard from Mail reader Paul Kelly with an even better likeness. If you put him in a red and white bobble hat, its Wheres Wally!
Esther Cepeda: True democracy is loving your country enough to criticize it
@ChescoCourtNews on Twitter

Michael P. Rellahan has been a staff reporter and editor at the Daily Local News since 1982. He has covered all kinds of news over the years but is now assigned to report on court and legal news, as well as Chester County government news and politics.
The Rev. Dr. Greg Stovell, Lead Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of West Chester.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who took part in the nationwide march in Baku today to commemorate the 27th anniversary of Khojaly genocide, was interviewed by Rossiya-24 TV channel`s correspondent.

The head of state thanked the Russian TV correspondent for coning and expressing attitude to this tragic date in the history of the Azerbaijani people.

"This is the unhealing pain of our people, the genocide committed against our people, the greatest crime of the last century. Innocent people  the elderly, women, children  died because they belonged to the Azerbaijani nation," Ilham Aliyev said.

"The Azerbaijani people will never forget this tragedy, will always remember it. It will live forever in our memory," he stressed.

"The most important thing is to ensure that such tragedies should never repeated, that monstrous acts of genocide or extermination on a national basis against any nation should never committed. The Azerbaijani state and people sacredly keep the memory of the dead, mourn for them, their memory is sacred for us. All those who escaped on that tragic night will forever remain for us people who survived the most terrible tragedy, who suffered physical injuries and moral trauma," Ilham Aliyev noted.

"We do everything to relieve the plight of these people. The state helps them and will continue to do it. I want to say once again that everyone should strive to avoid such tragedies in the history of mankind," the President of Azerbaijan concluded.
Tredyffrin Township

Fire in a building under construction presents issues

Firefighters face difficult factors batting a fire in a building under construction

The building was set to open soon as a retirement community
Sunbury, PA (17801)

Today

Except for a few afternoon clouds, mainly sunny. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 94F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Ashland, KY (41101)

Today

Generally sunny despite a few afternoon clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 91F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A few clouds. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable.
Armenia has started purchasing offensive weapons, Armenian Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan said.

According to him, psychology is changing; approaches are changing. The minister noted that defending armies are always defeated.

"We are not going to remain in defensive positions. If there is a threat that hostiles will resume, Armenian armed forces will not linger," the minister said in an interview with the Public Television of Armenia.

When asked if that means that the Armenian army will go on the offensive, the defence minister replied, "Why not?"

Tonoyan added that Armenia cannot compete with Azerbaijan in terms of demography and economy; therefore, qualitative changes in the armed forces are necessary.

The Armenian defence minister said Armenia needs another $100 million loan provided by Russia for purchase of arms.
Diane Pineiro-Zucker has been a reporter at the Daily Freeman since April 2013. Pineiro-Zucker worked as a reporter in the Freemans Rhinebeck bureau in the early 1980s, left to become executive editor at Taconic Newspapers in Dutchess County.
Kingston

Radio station gets OK to expand, renovate
PINE PLAINS, N.Y.  Shannon Kent, who had an affection for horses, picked up Spanish as a teenager so she could speak with stable hands.
KINGSTON, N.Y.  Nine people have resigned from the city Republican Committee, which has had little success in Kingston elections over the las
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.
Azerbaijan and Russia have strong ties in the military sphere, Russian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mikhail Bocharnikov said at an event dedicated to Defender of the Fatherland Day.

The diplomat expressed gratitude to the Defense Ministry and the General Staff of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces for their cooperation with Russian colleagues.

"We have strong ties [in the military sphere]," the Ambassador said.

According to him, military diplomacy plays an important role in strengthening the ties.
Whitfield County Animal Shelter Director Diane Franklin feeds a struggling kitten with a syringe. Franklin said people bring in and leave kittens and puppies on an almost daily basis. She has asked the members of the county Board of Commissioners to pass a law requiring pet owners to spay or neuter their animals to reduce the unwanted pet problem.
American journalist Nurit Greenger wrote an article "In the Republic of Azerbaijan They Also Say 'Never Again'!" published in News Blaze.

The author wrote that on 26 February 1992, the Khojaly Massacre, the Khojaly tragedy, took place. In this horrendous tragedy some 600 innocent ethnic Azerbaijani civilians, among them some 300 women, children and elderly, from the Azerbaijan town of Khojaly, were murdered by Armenian armed forces. Approximately 1000 Azerbaijanis were captured by the invading Armenians and were held in torture camps.

The author stressed that according to the Azerbaijani side, as well as the Memorial Human Rights Center, Human Rights Watch and other international observers, the Massacre was committed by the ethnic Armenian armed forces, with the help of some military personnel of the 366th CIS regiment.

Armenia was not satisfied with the Khojaly Massacre, in 1994, 20% of Azerbaijans sovereign land became illegally occupied by Armenia. As a result of the conflict, as many as 800,000 Azerbaijanis have become Internally Displaced People (IDP) in their own country.

UN Security Council condemned this occupation and ethnic cleansing with four resolutions, demanding Armenian troops to withdraw from the areas of Azerbaijan they occupy. Till today, the UNSC resolutions were ignored by Armenia, and the UN did nothing to compel Armenia to implement these legally binding resolutions.

The author noted that in 2008, Leyla Aliyeva embarked on the 'Justice for Khojaly' campaign. This week, Azerbaijan Consul General Nasimi Aghayev held a commemoration evening dedicated to honor the victims of the Khojaly Massacre of 27 years ago, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Los Angeles, the article reads.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- The joint venture between Germany's Volkswagen and China's ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing has reportedly settled in Jiading District, Shanghai, according to Chinese media outlets.

Dubbed Shanghai Juzhong Automotive Technologies Co.,Ltd, the joint venture was founded in December 2018 with a registered capital of RMB64 million. According to the record on qichacha.com, a Chinese company information searching platform, Volkswagen (China) Investment Co., Ltd holds 40% stake in the joint venture, while the other 60% stake belongs to Didi's affiliate Huidi (Tianjin) Business Service Co. Ltd.

In accordance to relevant agreement, Volkswagen can buy another 10% stake based on the business development presence and make the joint venture 50/50 controlled by two parent companies.

Although Volkswagen will be the only shareholder of Shanghai Juzhong in addition to Didi Chuxing, both parties agree that there could be more resources to purchase cars aside from the German auto giant.

Volkswagen stated that it builds the joint venture with Didi is to explore and develop fleet operation business. The joint venture will focuse on fleet operation, fleet sales, fleet management, repair and maintenance services. Besides, it is going to explore fleet leasing business and conduct extensive discussion with industry leading companies in smart mobility field.

It is previously reported that the joint venture is going to build a massive car-sharing fleet with around 100,000 vehicles, among which 60,000 NEVs would come from Volkswagen. Besides, the new company will get involved in DiDi's deployment and services for globalization, while won't work on the ride-hailing giant's current businesses.
Staff reports

The Daily American

The following students from Somerset County were named to the Saint Francis University presidents list for the fall 2018 semester. Jared Ohler of Windber, Haley Thomas of Hooversville, and Makenna Topka of Central City.

To achieve this list, a minimum quality point average of 4.000 must be earned on 12 or more credits.

* * *

McKenzie Mitchell, Somerset, was named to the deans list for the biomedical engineering program at Duquesne University.

College Notes news

The Daily American prints items of news interest about county residents at an institution of higher learning.

News item submissions for the college notes are accepted only from the college and not from individuals.

If your university does not send announcements to the newspaper, but does send notifications to the student, we will accept a copy of the announcement if its on official university letterhead.
Weather Alert

...The Flood Advisory is extended for the following rivers in Illinois... Kankakee River near Wilmington affecting Will, Kankakee and Grundy Counties. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... These forecasts are based on observed precipitation as well as forecast precipitation 24 hours into the future. Changes to the rainfall forecast, or any additional rainfall after 24 hours, may cause changes to these river forecasts. A Flood Advisory means water levels near flood stage are imminent or may already be occurring. Water may overtop low stream banks in some areas. Persons in the advisory area should use caution and avoid flood waters. Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Additional information is available at www.weather.gov/Chicago and water.weather.gov The next statement is expected around 1215 PM CDT Monday afternoon. && ...The Flood Advisory is now in effect until early Thursday morning... The Flood Advisory continues for the Kankakee River near Wilmington. * Until late Wednesday night. * At 8:45 PM CDT Sunday the stage was 5.8 feet. * Action stage is 5.0 feet. * Flood stage is 6.5 feet. * Forecast...The river is expected to fall to 3.4 feet Sunday evening. * Impact...At 5.0 feet, Minor lowland flooding begins in areas immediately adjacent to the river. &&
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 
Yesterday, in the framework of the international Justice for Khojaly campaign, the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow hosted an event to commemorate memory of Khojaly tragedy victims organized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the Azerbaijani Embassy in Russia and the Azerbaijan Youth Association of Russia (AMOR).

Speaking at the event, head of the administrative and military legislation department of the Milli Majlis (the Azerbaijani Parliament), international law expert Nizami Safarov said that 27 years ago the civilians who had not participated in hostilities  the elderly, women, children  have been systematically exterminated in the city of Khojaly just for being Azerbaijani natives.

"This act of genocide is nothing but a continuation of the policy of genocide and ethnic cleansing, which was constantly carried out against the Azerbaijani population. On December 22, 1941, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, shocked by the atrocities of the nazi troops advancing to the east, said in a speech broadcast: "We are in the presence of a crime without a name." This name appeared in 1948, when the UN adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The purpose of the Convention was to prevent genocide and punish the perpetrators. Unfortunately, it was not enough to prevent the mass killing of Azerbaijanis," Nizami Safarov said.

He noted that the perpetrators of the massacre are still not punished: "The international community responded eagerly to the events in Yugoslavia by establishing an international tribunal; to events in Rwanda, on which a special tribunal was also set up; the tribunals for Sierra Leone, for Lebanon were established later. In 2005, a special tribunal for Lebanon was established, the jurisdiction of which was limited to one crime of terrorism related to the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. Azerbaijan as a state that suffered from international terrorism, condemns any such act. But look - a special tribunal is established to investigate the killing of one person, but no action has been taken to punish those responsible for the genocide, those responsible for the massacre!"

According to Nizami Safarov, there are quite a few cases in law enforcement agencies of the Azerbaijan Republic related to the Khojaly genocide: "But unfortunately, we have witnessed double standards here when criminals are not extradited to Azerbaijan to bring them to a fair trial. The establishment of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in 1998 with jurisdiction over genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity hardly helps in this matter as well. The problem is that the courts jurisdiction applies only to those acts that took place after July 1, 2002. In order to bring the perpetrators to justice, Azerbaijan needs broad international cooperation. In this case, the establishment of a special tribunal for Nagorno-Karabakh consisting of Azerbaijani and international judges, or the establishment of special chambers with international jurisdiction, as it was done in the courts of Cambodia 25 years after the Cambodian genocide, could be a significant help.

Nizami Safarov expressed confidence that those guilty of committing the Khojaly massacre will be put on trial, because the oblivion law does not apply to such crimes: "The international law has a number of legal instruments - the UN Convention on the non-applicability of statutory limitations to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Sooner or later, murderers should be punished. [One of the main organizers of the Holocaust, head of the department responsible for Jewish affairs] Adolf Eichmann, guilty of the design and implementation of Final Solution of the Jewish Question, could not even imagine that the State of Israel, which did not exist during the hostilities, would achieve that, in accordance with the verdict of the Jerusalem District Court, he would be found guilty, hanged and his ashes scattered in the Mediterranean Sea outside Israeli territorial waters. I am sure that justice will prevail."
The global oil industry is expected to ratchet up spending on new oil and gas projects this year, with the number of new final investment decisions (FIDs) soaring compared to the past few years. As Oil Price writes in the article Against The Odds, Big Oil Doubles Down On Megaprojects, the number of new FIDs could triple compared to 2018 totals, according to Rystad Energy, and that figure excludes the wave of investment in U.S. shale. Shockingly, the oil industry is also returning to large-scale, long-lived projects that seemed to be a thing of the past.

We expect global FID volumes in 2019 to triple over last year, and 2019s megaproject awards could lead to billions of subcontracting dollars in coming years, Rystad Energy upstream research analyst Readul Islam said in a statement.

After the 2014 oil market downturn, oil companies around the world slashed spending and cancelled projects, particularly the megaprojects that had shown a track record of cost blowouts and years of delays. Low oil prices  the lower for longer mantra  seemed to spell the end to megaprojects. Oil markets were volatile and nobody knew if prices would ever rebound, so expensive projects that took years to develop fell out of favor. Many companies, including the oil majors, sold off assets and turned to shale, where wells take a matter of weeks to drill and complete.

More importantly, the longevity of oil demand is entirely up in the air. Most analysts see oil demand peaking within a decade or two. Some even say it could happen sooner. Against that backdrop, pouring billions of dollars into greenfield projects that will take years to come online and even longer before they pay off seems very risky.

Nevertheless, oil companies are becoming aggressive again. According to Rystad estimates, the oil industry is set to approve projects targeting 46 billion barrels of oil equivalent this year, three times the amount from 2018.

The only supply segment likely to shrink this year is the oil sands, whereas deepwater, offshore shelf and other conventional onshore developments are all poised to show substantial growth, Rystads Readul Islam said. From a geographical perspective, all regions are headed for robust growth except Europe and North America, still bearing in mind that shale plays are not included in these numbers.

Asia and the Middle East, unsurprisingly, account for a major portion of the new projects. But South America, unlike in recent years, sees a major uptick in investment. Guyana and Brazil stand out as intense areas of focus for oil majors.

Its notable that even as the industry returns to megaprojects, Canadas oil sands still remains out of favor. In the short- and medium-term, oil sands face pipeline constraints and volatile pricing. But over the long-term, if any assets are going to be left stranded in a carbon-constrained world, oil sands have to be a top candidate.

Rystad said the new wave of investment is driven by a few key trends.

First, LNG is a main focus going forward for the industry, as gas takes on a larger role worldwide, particularly in China where coal is facing a gradual phase out. Of the 46 billion barrels of oil equivalent receiving the go-ahead this year, LNG will capture a third of that total.

Another reason for the sudden uptick in new projects is that the industry is playing catchup after the 2014-2016 market bust, which saw massive project cancellation. These delayed projects account for nearly a quarter of new FID volumes in 2019, Rystad says.

Finally, Saudi Arabia alone is spearheading three massive new projects offshore. Saudi Aramcos new projects account for a fifth of total FID volumes.

While Rystads numbers suggest the oil industry is getting more aggressive, the forecast may not come to fruition if even a handful of projects are not given the greenlight. The huge wave of new projects, measured in volumes, is incredibly top-heavy, Rystads Readul Islam cautioned. [D]elays to a few megaprojects currently expected to be approved in the second half of 2019 could turn the volume down significantly.
Two new publications put out by George Washington Universitys Central Asia Program tackle an understudied population in Central Asia: youth. Although more than half of Central Asians are younger than 29, we know relatively little about young peoples attitudes and preferences compared to other countries in Eurasia.

The Diplomat reports in its article In Central Asia, Politics By Way of Social Media that Daniyar Kosnazarov, an analyst and the editor-in-chief of an independent digital media outlet in Kazakhstan, explores how Kazakhstani youth relate to politics through social media. Kosnazarov argues that young people are using social media in the traditional sense  posting selfies, reading the news, liking memes  as well as to consume political content created by other young people. They are reshaping what politics means and using social media in new ways to foster interest in civic involvement and activism.

Another recent paper, by Emil Nasritdinov, Zarina Urmanbetova, Kanatbek Murzakhalilov, and Mametbek Myrzabaev lays out the results of a major study in Kyrgyzstan to understand trends in young peoples resilience to religious radicalization. The authors find that grievances, broadly defined, and social isolation make young people especially vulnerable to radicalization. They argue that young people in Kyrgyzstan feel they have limited opportunities to engage in formal politics, a sphere they see as dominated by older generations despite quotas for young people in parliament.

This contrasts with the results of a Public Opinion Institute and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung survey that shows young Kazakh citizens are fairly disengaged from politics and are not interested in taking part in civic initiatives. Kosnazarov explains that younger generations are distrustful of various institutions in Kazakhstan, while simultaneously supportive of the financial and social stability that have come to define Nursultan Nazarbayevs presidency.

This tension between trust and wariness of the state, as well as engagement and disinterest in politics appears in the digital realm as well. Kosnazarov focuses on four popular content creators to get at this tension and explore the innovative channels young people are using to reinterpret what counts as political and foster civic engagement.

Whereas older generations are spending time on Facebook, young people in Kazakhstan are Instagram and YouTube obsessed. Gakku, a Kazakh music channel and one of the countrys most popular YouTube accounts, has more than 1.5 million subscribers  equivalent to more than 7 percent of Kazakhstans population.

Dmitry Dubovitsky and Dmitry Khegai, founders of popular YouTube channel Za nami uzhe vyekhali, pose difficult questions that traditional media outlets do not ask powerful politicians or corporate players. Dubovitsky and Khegai are careful not to frame themselves as activists or pursuing any explicitly political agenda, however.

This hesitation to identify as political makes sense, given the various means authoritarian regimes in the region have pursued to undermine political opposition. Central Asian leaders have dabbled in both repression and co-optation of digital dissent. Last December, Turkmenistans authorities forbade university students from using their cell phones during winter break, while Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan blocked certain social media sites or even shut off internet access entirely.

Social scientists are debating the efficacy of virtual civil society, but it is important not to rush to securitize Central Asias youth bulge against the backdrop of internet connectivity and social media usage in the region. Some have argued that youth bulges  having a burgeoning youth population  lead to unemployment, grievances, and potentially civil conflict.

Rather than focusing on the destabilizing potential of the youth bulge or social media, a less functionalist approach is needed to unpack the meanings and implications of how young people relate to politics. To what extent are young activists simply being strategic when they claim not to be interested in or practicing politics? Or does this generations distance from all things political reflect a novel understanding of politics altogether?
The following are recent arrests released by the Bridgeport Police Department on Feb. 26, 2019.

Feb. 22

A 37-year-old Dover Street woman was charged with use of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance. illegal possession of less than 0.5oz of cannabis, second-degree breach of peace, interfering with an officer, and two counts of first-degree failure to appear.

A 30-year-old Cheshire man was charged with third-degree assault, second-degree breach of peace, third-degree robbery, and third-degree larceny.

Feb. 23

A 29-year-old Lourmel Street man was charged with second-degree criminal trespassing, second-degree threatening. and disorderly conduct.

Feb. 24

A 37-year-old Norwalk man was charged with use, possession, or delivery of drug paraphernalia, possession with the intent to sell, and illegal possession of a controlled substance.

A 50-year-old Birmingham Street man was charged with second-degree burglary, second-degree criminal trespassing, and fifth-degree larceny.

A 40-year-old Benham Avenue man was charged with third-degree assault and disorderly conduct

Feb 25

A 20-year-old Glen Place man was charged with illegally carrying a pistol without a permit, risk of injury to a child, interfering with an officer, stealing a firearm, criminal possession of a firearm, violation of conditions of release, violation of protective order, and third-degree assault.

A 25-year-old Whitney Avenue man was charged with criminal attempt/first-degree assault, two counts of conspiracy to commit a crime/first-degree assault, second-degree breach of peace, and conspiracy to commit a crime/illegal discharge of a firearm.

A 27-year-old Barnum Avenue man was charged with illegal possession of a controlled substance, illegal operation of a motor vehicle under suspension, and second-degree failure to appear.

A 78-year-old Main Street man was charged with third-degree assault and disorderly conduct.

A 47-year-old Park Avenue man was charged with carrying a dangerous weapon, sixth-degree larceny, and second-degree breach of peace.

Feb. 26

A 18-year-old Bird Street man was charged with first-degree sexual assault, first-degree reckless endangerment, third-degree strangulation, second-degree assault, and first-degree unlawful restraint.

A 47-year-old Stratford Avenue man was charged with second-degree burglary, first-degree criminal mischief, interfering with an officer, and second-degree breach of peace.

As of January 2019, Hearst Connecticut Media does not include names in online police blotters.
In that famous New York City borough located just east of Manhattan, you'll find the Brooklyn Steam Center, a tech education center that focuses on STEAM (short for "science, technology, engineering, arts and math"). What's interesting about the center is that with the education it offers, the lines between high school education and startup life are actually a little blurry.

The reason is that, first, students from public high schools in New York City come to the center to meet in conference rooms and learn to give 30-second elevator pitches. And, second, the center is located at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where more than 400 companies are already based and potential future employers are just one office over. See what I mean by "blurry"?

For those of us already in the startup game, we rarely learned our first lessons in pitching in such a formal setting. Our stakes were always high, and if we messed up, there was no friendly teacher to offer gentle guidance. Yet I stll see a similarity between my startup education and that of these Brooklyn students because, in many ways, starting a company is just like walking into high school as a freshman: Youre excited (and terrified) about all that awaits you.

Both educational paths also require a painstaking amount of reading, note-taking and retention of loads of new information. Further, the social challenges can make even the most confident person second-guess every decision.

Back to school

In school, some classes are harder than others -- and often those you thought youd love actually suck. This is another thing high school and entrepreneurship have in common: You enter both with preconceived ideas about what youre going to like and dislike. (For me, economics class was a huge disappointment; in business, I've found the same to be true of hiring and firing.)

In high school, answering every extended relatives query about what you wanted to be when you grew up was annoying. But once you're in startup land, its your investors asking, and your answer could mean the difference between your raising your next round of funding and running out of money.

Related: 7 Tips for Early-age Startups to Get Traction that Multiplies!

Then, theres the social comparison game. Things can look so easy for the popular kids (or, in business, founders using their dads' money), and someone else always seems to be doing better, faster. While youre desperately trying to keep up your grades (revenue, net profit, valuation), people all around you are being recognized for their accomplishments.

If your footing feels shaky in these early stages, remember this: Entrepreneurship is just as unpredictable as high school. But, even if your first company fails, if you put in the hard work and build some self-awareness, you'll find the right path. You just need to be dedicated.

Often, that "wallflower" surprises everyone.

Some of the most successful business owners run companies that dont fit the standard mold. And chances are, they approached high school the way they approach business: doing their own thing their own way.

Think about Richard Bransons case: He left school at 15 to run his own magazine. His eye was (and still is) on building great companies. And while that magazine ultimately failed, the mail-order record business he launched to make money on the side definitely took off; its now Virgin Records. Bransons dyslexia also made school difficult for him, but he used his unique capabilities to hone his passions.

The most important lessons a successful high school career can offer are often overlooked. But whatever your previous experience might be, you have the opportunity now to effectively manage the critical startup period with the following classroom lessons for success:

1. Embrace your status.

Starting a company, like starting as a freshman in high school, requires thick skin. Most days wont go as you thought -- some will be better, while some will be worse. But with no alternative (high school is mandatory to some point) you must figure out how to handle it all.

Startups are no different, so reading about other entrepreneurs experiences can help you understand what youre in for before you start. For the first few years in business, I was overwhelmed by the number of difficult problems I shouldered. It took resiliency to tackle them, and sometimes, I went home utterly discouraged. I knew we were growing and doing well, but I couldnt understand why I had to face new problems every day.

I later came to understand that "problems" are normal. As the CEO, you see the most difficult challenges fall on your desk. With this realization, I began taking these issues less personally and instead focused more on finding solutions quickly and effectively so I could be ready for future challenges.

Related: Why Some Startups Succeed (and Why Most Fail)

2. Lean on your best friends.

In high school, theres nothing like having a best friend -- someone to walk with you through those tumultuous years, celebrating the highs andgrieving the lows. Starting a company is similarly hard, and again you need supportive people around to make it through.

If you have co-founders, then, dont take them for granted. Having someone whom you can be fully transparent with (and someone who cares about your business as much as you do) is a lifesaver when times get tough. Having a person there to keep you accountable is invaluable, too. In fact, research by social psychologist Bob Cialdini has shown that when you have someone holding you to your goals, youre more likely to reach that next milestone.

Meanwhile, you can join entrepreneur groups such as Young Entrepreneur Council or Entrepreneurs Organization to find like-minded people with whom you can discuss challenges and share advice. Outside perspective is always helpful, whether its about what software is working best or how to downsize a company when times get tough.

A quick read through EOs testimonials reveals how beneficial these resources can be. You can build a valuable network, find mentors and educational events, reach goals more consistently with accountability groups and enjoy a social network. Kind of like that great crowd you hung out with in high school, right?

3. Be a good friend whenever possible.

By providing value to everyone around you, youll inevitably rise. In high school, no one liked the mean girl who suddenly turned friendly right before the homecoming queen vote. So, be genuine: A positive public image can help your business, but it must be real. In the early days of networking, center your conversations on how your offerings can improve peoples lives or businesses. And follow that path.

Related: The 9 Growing Pains Entrepreneurs Need to Overcome

Then, as you reach a more senior position in the entrepreneurial "high school" landscape, reach out to "underclassmen," and help them tackle challenges youve already overcome.

Foundations such as those created by Spanx and Nasty Gal dont view other women as competitors to beat; they understand that investing in others success helps all women in business. Building positive connections and partnerships can only help you in the long run, whether thats with your current business or the future endeavors you pursue.

Looking back, I can see that true success in high school wasnt about being popular or even getting the best grades. Real success meant pushing through the awkwardness and insecurities to figure out who you wanted to be and what you wanted out of life. As an entrepreneur, achieving success isnt about knowing all the answers -- its about moving through uncertainty to find your footing and build something meaningful. Just as you did in high school.

Related:

Entrepreneurship Is a Lot Like Reliving Your High School Days: Here's Why

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Five Top Tips For Creating a Successful Resume



Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter

Two Kerala students who had been arrested in connection with posters about Kashmir got bail from the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court at Malappuram today. The students who had been charged with sedition told media persons on Monday that the posters were not written by them.

Human rights activists had taken a strong stance against the arrest of two students in Malappuram in connection with posters about Kashmir. A joint statement signed by the group of activists, lawyers, journalists etc pointed out that the Supreme Court had stated earlier in several similar cases that sedition should not be charged for pasting posters or raising slogans without any immediate violent results. The statement condemned the present situation in the country in which individuals, especially students, are charged with sedition for raising their voice against the government. Stamping the independent expression of opinions and political activism as anti-national would harm the integrity of campus politics and democratic set-up. At a time when countries like Britain have repealed their sedition laws, there should be serious thought on repealing Section 124 (A) from the Indian Penal Code, it added. The statement also requested the college authorities and the government to go back from the act of denying freedom of expression and political activism. The statement was signed by activists in different fields such as A Vasu, V Prabhakaran, Dr TT Sreekumar (EFLU, Hyderabad), Dr Jenny Rowena (Delhi University), Dr MH Ilyas (MG University), Adv Tushar Nirmal Sarathi, Reny Ayline (NCHRO), Adv Abdul Kabeer, AM Nadwi (Minority Rights Watch), Kamalsi Najmal, Waseem RS, PK Sadiq etc.

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Two students of the Government College, Malappuram,  Rinshad, doing second-year B.Com, and Muhammed Haris, doing first year BA Islamic Studies  were arrested on Thursday and charged with Section 124(A) accusing them of pasting posters related to Kashmir. The posters advocated freedom for Kashmir, Nagaland and Palestine and to condemn the Sangh attack on Kashmiris after the Pulwama attack. The college principal complained to the police about the posters and the students were arrested from their homes, according to reports. The posters were pasted under the banner of the Radical Students Forum, a recently-formed student organisation with leftist leanings which used to hold talks and studies on different matters including the Sangh atrocities nationwide.
Its hard to imagine that just a few years ago, no one outside of the hard-core cannabis community knew about CBD. Today, its the one of hottest health products on the market. In 2018, sales of CBD hit nearly $600 million, and theyre projected to grow to $22 billion in just a few years more.

CBD, or cannabidiol oil, is the nonpsychoactive chemical in cannabis plants. CBD wont get you high, unlike its cousin, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Thats important because it means CBD has been granted some privileges at the federal level refused so far to THC.

The most important of those was passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, which decriminalized the agricultural production of hemp, one of the main sources of CBD. Just a few months before that, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved Epidiolex, the first CBD-based drug, for the treatment of seizures. That in turn led to the Drug Enforcement Administration moving CBD to the Schedule V drug list, making it the same as cough syrup and antidiarrhea medicine, rather than heroin and methamphetamines as it was previously under the Schedule I category.

Related: These 6 Coffee Marketing Tricks Are a Perfect Blend for Your Cannabis Brand

All these shifts basically make CBD the Trojan horse of cannabis  meaning, CBD is welcomed in places THC cant go, like the Estee Lauders Origins makeup line, Amazons warehouses and the aisles of Petco. In fact, CBD products can be sold even in states where THC-laden cannabis remains under prohibition. Companies will be able to establish relationships with retailers, build brand awareness with consumers and be ready to add THC to their product lineup when it eventually becomes legal at the federal level.

The first step to creating a brand is making sure your product finds its audience. But thats hard to do when your product is illegal in some (or all) forms in different parts of the country. Witness the recent controversy over Acreage Holdings attempt to buy a Super Bowl ad featuring people who had been helped by cannabis. If you cant advertise on TV (or in print or online in some places) its incredibly challenging to build a brand. People who want to know more about cannabis have to seek out dispensaries, if theyre even available in that state, and educate themselves about different brands.

CBD is finding ways around those problems. Tilray Inc. recently signed a $100 million deal with Authentic Brands, whose portfolio includes Juicy Couture, Nine West and Jones New York, to develop and distribute cannabis products. Initially, that will mean CBD items such as foot creams and mints in retail stores and malls across the country. Eventually, it could mean those same brands expand into THC products. Companies like Constellation Brands, makers of Corona beer, and tobacco giant Altria are also getting into the CBD game with billion-dollar investments.

Related: 5 New Cannabis Trends You Need to Know

Deals like these are helping CBD producers build the necessary infrastructure, such as sales and distribution networks, which can be exploited for products that contain THC once its legal at the federal level. The same is true of production and retail spaces, which can even be built in places where cannabis is illegal, then repurposed once prohibition is lifted.

CBD also is leading the way in breaking down any remaining stigma associated with cannabis in the mind of the general public. As more and more CBD products find their way to shelves across the country, mainstream consumers are gaining a greater familiarity with CBD and its properties and uses. That growing ease with cannabidiol oil is leading to a rethinking of cannabis itself. Its evolving from a slightly shady recreational drug to a useful lifestyle product and superfood that relieves pain, fights inflammation and lessens the effects of cancer treatments. Ultimately, as the last of the stigma fades away, more consumers will enter the market, and having become experienced users of CBD, it will be easy to expand their palate to include a trusted CBD brands new THC products.

Thats just the beginning. There are myriad more subtle ways that CBD is helping to normalize cannabis. Thanks to the 2018 Farm Bill, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is now allowed to fund hemp research with government grants. Growers are eligible for federal crop insurance to protect their investments, and in some cases, even to federally subsidized crop insurance. States are offering tax incentives to CBD companies to build or renovate factory spaces. All these financial relationships are setting the stage for a time when the prohibitions against THC are lifted.

Related: Here's the Medical Cannabis Super Bowl Ad CBS Refused to Run

The growth of CBD could also lead to easing of financial restrictions on cannabis. Right now cannabis producers cant work with banks, which means much of the business still takes place using cash. But it likely wont be long before hemp growers and CBD producers can walk in and open a bank account  or buy an online ad. Facebook, Instagram and Google ban cannabis ads on their platforms.

Over the next few years, consumers will start discovering their favorite CBD brands, which eventually will make them natural customers of that brands THC products.

Related:

CBD Is Taking the Cannabis Industry Mainstream

Simple Ways to Educate Yourself When Purchasing CBD Products

Why Cannabis Oil Is Big Business (and How to Capitalize on It)



Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
The adage, you get what you pay for, doesnt always hold true. When it comes to video advertising, Wistia, a video software company, found other factors drive impact more so than the production cost.

In their recently released report, Does Production Quality Matter in Video Advertising?, the Wistia team concluded that large and small businesses alike need to consider more than price before they assume video advertising exceeds their market budget.

Research Method

Wistia wanted to answer the following question: Do companies have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on video production to get a return or can they use something as simple and low-cost as an iPhone to create compelling ads that engage viewers?

To find out, they worked with Sandwich Video to create three two-minute videos for Wistias video creation tool, Soapbox. They used similar audience targeting and ad copy for each and launched the ads on YouTube and Facebook. However, each of the three videos was produced for a very different price: $1,000, $10,000, and $100,000.

The research focused on two key performance indicators (KPIs). There were Cost Per Install and Cost Per 25 percent View. These KPIs provided a way to calculate the return on investment (ROI) as easily as possible plus directly relates to a companys bottom line.

The advertising budget for this study was split across three ad types that included direct response video ads, sequential ads and video carousel ads. For example, with sequential advertising, a person viewed the $1,000 ad, then they would be shown the $10,000 ad next, and so on. They also used the Facebook carousel ad format, which allowed all three videos appear at once so that viewers could watch and compare each one.

In terms of targeting, Wistia used two core targets on Facebook, which were lookalike audience based on a customer match and an engagement audience targeting those audience members who tended to watch less than 75 percent of another video.

With YouTube, the targeting strategy varied from the one used for Facebook due to the more complex nature of this video platform. The focus was in-market audiences who previously searched for advertising, marketing, or video software in Google; custom intent based on non-brand search terms; topics related to marketing, sales, and video software; and remarketing in terms of those audience members who previously interacted or watched a Wistia video on YouTube.

Key Findings

Heres what they discovered after conducting the research:

Storytelling means more: Results showed that the $10,000 video performed twice as well as the other two videos. The Wistia team thought originally that the $10,000 version had the best narrative and product alignment. According to viewers, the $10,000 resonated the most in terms of feeling authentic and meaningful versus the $100,000 ad that appeared to be too polished. According to one viewer, the most expensive ad felt more like a company was selling them something versus the other ads that felt more like a small business who wanted to connect with them.

Just recently, two UK ads for the holidays demonstrated a similar result. More people connected with a John Lewis ad made for 50 pounds (about $65) versus the Elton John ad that cost more than seven million pounds (about $9.1 million) to produce. Although numerous viewers found the Elton John ad to be emotional, more were touched by the other ad because they could relate more to the person in the ad than a celebrity.

In returning to results from the Wistia videos, the $10,000 video delivered the best performance across all factors, including targeting, advertising type and ad copy. For example, the $10,000 video had a Cost Per Install on Facebook fo $23.57 versus the $100,000 video which had a Cost Per Install of $77.54.

Video production doesnt need to be polished: The results showed that the iPhone ad performed just as well and sometimes better than the video that included Hollywood actors and film crew.

For example, Wistia spent $1.09 on Facebook to get one viewer to watch 25 percent of the $1,000 ad and $1.53 to get the same impression for the $100,000 ad. Therefore, the average Cost Per Install for the $1,000 ad was 30 percent less than the $100,000 ad. There was a slight advantage for the $100,000 ad on YouTube. The conclusion was that there isnt enough return on the investment to necessarily justify spending $100,000.

What this means for businesses of all sizes.

The good news for small and large companies alike is that they dont need to figure out how to create a huge budget for their video advertising campaigns. Overall, the $10,000 video performed the best, and there wasnt much difference in results between the $1,000 and $100,000 videos. Instead, all businesses should focus on developing compelling stories for their target audiences versus production quality.

This is especially positive for small business owners who previously assumed video advertising was not financially feasible. And, the lesson here for big companies is that throwing money at a marketing tactic isnt the best solution.

Related: 4 Keys to Creating the Video Ad Your Business Needs

Key recommendations for video advertising in 2019.

With that in mind, Wistia shared some advice for how to approach video advertising in 2019:

Start with a small video advertising budget and focus on creating the content over the production cost.

Consider hiring an in-house video producer who can manage the video advertising process and own a companys brand voice.

Split test variants rather than just the variables that deal with targeting and ad copy support.

Look at video as a mechanism for driving more action from prospects, leveraging direct response, conversion-focused video ads.

Create a series of video ads to take advantage of Facebooks sequential ad and video carousel formats.

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A Business Perspective on the Impact of Production Quality on Video Advertising

Spike Jonze Directed a MedMen Commercial About Cannabis. And It's Pretty Epic.

7 Ways to Use YouTube Marketing to Improve Your E-commerce Sales (Infographic)



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With nearly half a billion people watching from Earth on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. Thats one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind, he famously said.

Armstrong passed away from heart complications on Aug. 25, 2012. Today, he would have turned 86. To celebrate his birthday, here are five facts you may not know about the famous astronaut:

Related: 50 Inspirational Quotes to Motivate You

1. He paid for his first flying lesson with money he made doing odd jobs.

When Armstrong was 10 years old, he made $1 mowing the local cemetery. He would then work at a drug store.

Through these odd jobs, Armstrong was able to pay for flight lessons, which at the time, costed about $9 an hour.

2. He could fly more than 200 types of aircraft.

Armstrong was the ultimate pilot. He flew more than 200 different types of aircraft during both his civilian and military life.

Not only did he fly the Apollo Lunar Module, but he has flown jets, rockets, helicopters and gliders.

3. He had a pilots license before a drivers license.

While most teenagers are itching to be able to get behind the wheel of a car on their 16th birthdays, Armstrong set his sights higher -- literally.

On Aug. 5, 1946, Armstrong got his pilots licence and did his first solo flight later that month, all before he got his drivers license.

Related: Buzz Aldrin Wants You to Know -- the Sky Is Not the Limit

4. He served in the Korean War.

Armstrong attended Purdue on a Navy scholarship and in 1949 was called on to serve in the Korean War.

He flew in almost 80 combat missions and received three medals for his service.

5. He was a proud Eagle Scout.

Armstrong was an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America. He was so proud of his background in boy scouts that he carried his World Scout Badge when he went to the moon.

A high percentage of astronauts are involved in Boy Scouts, according to the Boy Scouts of America

Related:



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
DERBY  A controversial, million-gallon water tank that Ansonia and Derbys fire chiefs say is needed has won approval from the Regional Policy Board of the South Central Connecticut Water Authority.

The storage tank, which will serve 13,000 customers in Ansonia, Seymour and Derby  and particularly Giffin Hospital  is planned for a wooded section at the far end of the Derby High School and Middle School complex near Coon Hollow Road. It would be bordered by the schools, the Public Works facility, the shuttered VARCA building and Osborndale Park.

The need for the tank was clearly established by the record and testimony (during the Boards January public hearing), said former Ansonia Mayor Thomas Clifford, III, who chairs the Regional Policy Board. He said the boards unanimous approval addresses public safety concerns raised by fire chiefs and Griffin Hospital regarding low water pressure during peak demand times.

But before shovels go into the ground, the Derby Planning and Zoning Commission must sign off on the project.

Ted Estwan Jr., the commissions chairman, said Tuesday that officials of the South Central Regional Water Authority told him they will file an application for Planning and Zonings March 19 agenda.

If that happens in time for legal notices to go out, Estwan said, a public hearing would begin that night and probably continue into our April meeting.

Pressure solution

Clifford said his board must consider approval of $5.1 million in bonding for the project. If approved, a final project design would be completed this spring with construction to run until next winter, much of it taking place after school ends in June.

Its a good location, said Carmen DiCenso, a former Board of Aldermen president and current economic development consultant to Mayor Richard Dziekan. Its doesnt impact any neighborhood or houses. ... This is well-needed in that area which lacks water pressure.

DiCenso recalled a fire in a three-family home nearby where pumpers had to be sent because the hydrants lacked water pressure.

Meanwhile, Charles Sampson, who heads Derbys Board of Aldermen, called the Policy Boards approval good news.

This is a benefit to the city and the surrounding area, said Sampson, who once served as Derbys fire chief and still volunteers at Hotchkiss Hose.

One of the biggest concerns I have had is with the low water pressure in that area, he said. This tank will resolve that.

Ansonia Fire Chief Michael Eheman, Derby Fire Chief Robert Laskowski Jr. and Dziekan were among those who urged the 21-member policy board to approve the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authoritys proposal to begin building the tank this year.

Considering appearance

Mary Motasky, a resident who lives in the 70-unit Summit condominiums on Coon Hollow Road, expressed concerns about aesthetics of the tank.

We are going to clear trees around the tank but not the entire parcel, said Ted Norris, who with Rose Gavrilovic, presented the Authoritys proposal to the board in January. He said the tank would be 50 feet tall with a 60-foot diameter. Once completed, the Authority plans to surround it with trees.

We do not anticipate blasting, Gavrilovic said. A small portion of rock will have to be removed and well flatten the area. But we dont anticipate blasting.

This marks the second time in seven years that the Regional Water Authority sought permission to build a storage tank in Derby.

Plans to build a 2 million-gallon tank on Telescope Mountain on Summit Street were withdrawn after city officials and neighbors complained about the impact of blasting and the aesthetics of a water tank in a residential area.

The new site was chosen from 105 others because of its wooded location, its proximity to a water main and the lands availability.

The Authoritys proposal involves leasing 2.15 acres on the north portion of Nutmeg Avenue from Derby for $1 for 99 years with the option for two 99-year extensions.

The Authority also is planning to fund the citys purchase of 1.25 acres of adjacent land owned by St. Peter and St. Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church in Ansonia. The nearby parcel would be used as a construction staging area. Afterward, a portion would be paved for the city to use as a parking lot for the VARCA building. The churchs Board of Directors this week approved a negotiated sale of the land.
A 23-year-old Bridgeport man faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty Monday to one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on Sept. 13, 2018, Timithy Staton fled from Bridgeport police officers outside of his Bridgeport residence. During the pursuit, Staton removed a Glock 43 9mm handgun and threw it to the ground.
The Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA) marked the occasion of Arab Tourism Day with a special celebration at Vatel Hospitality and Tourism Business School in Al Jasrah on February 25.



Held under the patronage of the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Zayed Bin Rashid Al Zayani, the event was attended by the chief executive officer of BTEA, Shaikh Khaled bin Humood Al Khalifa, several dignitaries in the tourism sector as well as several representatives from the tourism sector, including hotels and restaurants.



During the ceremony, two panel discussions were held. The first focused on Ecotourism: Mangroves and Pearl Diving Projects", in which the director of the Research Department at the Office of the First Deputy Prime Minister, Hamad Al Mahmeed; the head of the Species Conservation Department at the Supreme Council for Environment, Ali Mansoor Abbas; and the director of Tourism Marketing and Promotions at BTEA, Yousef Al Khan took part in.



The second panel discussion focused on Hospitality Sector: Sustainable Human Resources, in which the director of Vatel, Julian Lescott; managing director of Bahrain Hotels Company, Mohammed Buzizi; and the Community Engagement manager at Tamkeen, Ahmed Janahi, participated in.



Through celebrating Arab Tourism Day, we aim to highlight the cultural and tourism landmarks in the Arab countries, within the sustainable development through various programs that come within the objectives of the Arab Ministerial Council for Tourism and the Arab Tourism Organization," said the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Zayed Bin Rashid Al Zayani.



"We will be launching the amphibious buses by mid-2019 to facilitate the movement of visitors and residents in the Kingdom, he said.



The event was held under the slogan "Tourism and Sustainable Development", in response to the invitation of the Arab Tourism Organization to celebrate the birth of Arab traveller Ibn Battuta, which falls on February 25.



Our annual celebration of Arab Tourism Day comes in line with the Authority's strategy to develop the tourism sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain, which is an important sector that contributes to the GDP, further increasing employment rates and supporting the national economy, said Shaikh Khaled.



The BTEA has been keen to celebrate and recognise various regional events and initiatives and seeks to achieve sustainability under the guidance of the wise leadership while implementing the 2030 Economic Vision, thereby contributing to strengthening the status of the Kingdom of Bahrain as a leading tourist destination at both regional and international levels, he added.



Shaikh Khaled also announced the latest tourist developments in Bahrain, which included an unprecedented growth rate in 2018 with the total number of visitors reaching 12 million, an increase of 5.9 per cent compared to 2017. The number of international tourists coming to Bahrain reached 13.7 million in 2018, an increase of 7.6 per cent compared to 2017. The average length of stay for each tourist was 2.9 nights in 2018, an increase of 3.8 per cent compared to the previous year, while the tourist nights amounted to 12.8 million nights in 2018, an increase of 3.7 per cent compared to 2017.



The BTEA has been keen to celebrate and recognise various regional events and initiatives and seeks to achieve sustainability under the guidance of the wise leadership while implementing the 2030 Economic Vision, thereby contributing to strengthening the status of the Kingdom of Bahrain as a leading tourist destination at both regional and international levels, he added.



This year, the theme of the Arab Tourism Day aims to implement the principles of sustainable development in different tourism destinations, to ensure their long-term sustainability without compromising the specific environmental, cultural, social and economic components of each country in addition to establishing guidelines for sustainable development and sustainable management practices applicable to all forms and aspects of tourism in all destinations, including mass tourism and other tourist patterns. - TradeArabia News Service


GREENWICH  Transportation-and-logistics specialist XPO Logistics has confirmed that it will offer nearby jobs to all of its hourly employees at a Memphis, Tenn., facility that is scheduled to close in April.

The warehouse  an iPhone-box processing center that is also the subject of employee allegations of pregnancy discrimination and sexual harassment  is closing due to what XPO describes as an overall business model change by the plants customer, which is believed to be Verizon. All of its approximately 375 hourly workers will be able to get new jobs  at the same wage levels and without having to apply again  at 11 other Memphis-area distribution centers, XPO said.

The company is holding special office hours to assure that all employees receive the additional information directly and will make every effort to accommodate employees preferences while transferring them to another position, the company said in a statement.

XPO said it is also working to find other jobs in the company for the complexs 60 salaried workers.

In addition, XPO plans to hire 80 for a new warehouse scheduled to open in May across the street from the facility that is closing.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters union  which does not represent any of the centers workers, but is a vocal critic of XPOs labor practices  has described the shutdown as retaliation.

XPO said it has a strict no-retaliation policy in place that applies to the company, as well as individuals. We encourage employees to voice concerns  including anonymously  without any fear of reprisal.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who is helping to lead a Senate investigation of the companys workplace environment, welcomed the jobs guarantee, while still expressing concerns about the closing.

I will continue to follow the implementation of XPOs re-employment plan to ensure that this transition does not financially harm its workers or impede the exercise of their rights, Blumenthal said in a statement Tuesday. I remain concerned that the way this particular facility was closed sends a chilling message to workers engaged in organizing and speaking out against unfair and unacceptable labor standards.

As the scrutiny of the Memphis facility grew, the company announced in early December a new policy for the care and support of pregnant workers that includes paid family leave, pregnancy and postpartum benefits, and flexible working arrangements. Eligible workers would receive their regular base wages while they used their accommodations and would still qualify for pay increases during that time.

Earlier this month, XPO announced a program for U.S. employees and their families that gives them mobile-app access to a network of more than 1,400 health practitioners across 20 specialties, including fertility, lactation, infant sleep, nutrition and mental health. Employees can also sign up with a personal care coordinator to support them during and after pregnancy.

Now all eyes are on XPO and its clients like Verizon to confirm it's implementing those policies and creating a safer environment for all its workers, not just shuffling them around, International Brotherhood Teamsters General President James Hoffa said, in part, in a statement.

pschott@scni.com; 203-964-2236; twitter: @paulschott
DevOps and the cycle of continuous integration and continuous delivery have become common software development practices. But the integration of development and operations still often leaves security as an afterthought tacked onto the end. This has led to the creation of the DevSecOps concept.

DevSecOps aims to integrate security into every stage of the development processes, meaning everyone is involved in ensuring applications are secure. This can, however, be a hard sell for developers and business leaders who are more interested in results and moving into production.

Telecom giant Verizon is one such company looking to combine its DevOps practices with a secure-by-design approach. To encourage that culture change, the company created a developer dashboard  a project that earned Verizon a CSO50 award for security innovation.

Driving culture change

Verizon is the second largest telecom company in the U.S., boasting revenues of $131 billion in 2018 and over 140,000 employees worldwide. Originally formed from the breakup of the AT&T Corporations Bell System Corporation, today the company offers a range of telecom hardware, services, and infrastructure to consumers and businesses.

Verizon Manah Khalil, IT director  application security, Verizon

As Verizon IT worked to implement DevOps processes and move more applications to the cloud, the AppSec team needed a way to facilitate secure DevOps practices and help drive a culture change within the company. We needed something that is more sustainable that can help us build a larger influence of our centralized team, and at the same time, not burn the IT application team by keep dumping more work on their to-do list, explains Manah Khalil, IT director of application security.

Khalil and his team are responsible for application security across all of Verizons businesses and IT portfolios. Khalil's team also handles security education and awareness among the companys developers.

To help drive DevSecOps adoption and nurture a security culture, Verizon created the developer dashboard program. It combines technical aspects of vulnerability management with individual accountability to help instill a security mindset among the companys developers.

Finding insights in developer data

The developer dashboard is a centralized, real-time record of how vulnerabilities are introduced into applications within Verizons business. It keeps track of scanning frequency and results, as well as the types and density of vulnerabilities within any one of the 2,100 applications being monitored (measured per 10,000 lines of code). It provides a view of where in the development lifecycle that vulnerability was introduced and by whom.

The dashboard also ties in with learning management systems (LMS) and organizational charts and responsibilities. This provides insight into whether certain teams or individuals are spread too thin across too many applications or projects, are repeatedly making the same kinds of errors, and have had or need more education and training.

Typically, in a software, you can measure the number of vulnerabilities, you can measure the density, but how does it relate to the culture? says Khalil. You have so many dashboards out there; dashboards that are looking at your build quality, at your code quality, how often are you generating new builds, testing it, deploying, etc, he says. But those are more meant as a to-do list; the achievements that you've done and your technical debt, and by when you can achieve a certain set of milestones and deliverables. We're trying to use this as a way to look for the change and the culture change.

The dashboard pulls information from a variety of sources:

Asset management to provide context around the applications age and who owns it

LMS to provide intel on the fields and level of expertise of those responsible for those applications

Version control and information around technologies used on that application

Static and dynamic code analysis

Integrated developer environment (IDE) tools

Open-source vulnerabilities

Third-party scanning tools

Configuration data

Network vulnerability scanners

Web and firewall logs

Computer incident response teams (CIRTs)

If we want to see the influence of the culture, it has to be quantifiable. If we are injecting a change, we need to see if that change is steering us in the right direction; does it have the intended impact or not. Everything we built in the in the developer dashboard was designed so that we can make a change and then quantify that change.

How the dashboard improves security

The developer dashboard provides a centralized view of Verizons vulnerability risk and gives near real-time feedback to developers on the risks they may be introducing to the business. It also is designed to help create more long-term changes for both the individual and the organization.

We're not looking for 'you still have seven vulnerabilities; you gotta finish them by end of the week', says Khalil. That is not sustainable and is only going to help us in the short term and we haven't really made any significant change longer term.

The tool can help highlight why vulnerabilities are being introduced. Perhaps the team is working on a hard-to-update legacy application, or they lack training on a newer programming language or technology. Maybe individuals need training to stop introducing the same types of vulnerabilities repeatedly. If there is no easily identified reason, perhaps the team is not taking security seriously as a priority.

You'll see that, perhaps, all the applications managed by the same manager have in general high vulnerability density, and then you can look at the cluster from a technology perspective, says Khalil. Is this limited to the .Net or Java or the new Groovy source-code base? Did the training really not get through to a team as I see that only 5 percent of a team has completed their training? Do we not have enough experienced people in the technology, or at the organization level they just haven't received the email that security is important to us?

Leveling up on ownership and accountability

While some developers might be wary of a tool that allows superiors to call them out individually for vulnerabilities being introduced into code, Verizon looks at it as a way to increase ownership and opportunity for developers to be better and improve their skills. We believe that the best way to attack change is at the individual level and bring more accountability, says Khalil. You throw a line of code into the repository, you scan it, you find it's vulnerable, we give you that feedback instantaneously. If you do this repeatedly, you know that we are tracking and then eventually you're going to ask yourself, What am I doing wrong? How can I get better?

There is also a gamification element: Developers can earn shields and medallions on their profiles for introducing code without vulnerabilities over a certain number of days, while managers can earn them for their teams doing the same.

Khalil says his team has seen seen a significant increase in the adoption in a relatively short period of time, and the company has almost all its IT team fully onboarded. The main reason why weve seen the increase in the adoption is that it was not an overhead; we integrated directly with their source control, integrated already with their DevOps pipeline. We have centralized everything. They can see the results and they're not going to the individual tools, so its a positive thing to integrate with us and to adopt the tool.

The dashboard has also helped encourage executives and management engage more in security. I've never seen as many executive directors and above looking at their own KPIs like we've now seen through the developer dashboard, says Khalil. When was the last time a senior VP would ask how many vulnerabilities you have, and how long they've been in production or in the source repository?

Designed to be open

The project is around two-and-a-half years old, and initial development took around six months to build. The dashboard is powered mainly through APIs and connectors that turn all the disparate data sources into a generic format that the dashboard can understand, with the aim of being flexible and open to the addition of further tools in the future.

The model is pretty generic in the repository, and then you have these adapters that can connect to a source and then translate from their native format to our format, says Khalil. So, rather than go put more work into coding specifically for tool A vs. tool B, we built these adapters in between. When we consume the data, we do the conversion into our own format assuming that in the future we may need a specific tool because the existing one doesn't cover a specific technology.

Verizon plans to release the developer dashboard to the open-source community in the future. Khalil says the codebase is stable and April is the current goal for releasing the project to the community. It will include adaptors for the tools Verizon uses internally and connectors to other tools during the dashboards proof-of-concept development.

There are still several data points that we want to integrate with, around the privacy and protection of the customer data, says Kahlil. We want to see if we can potentially link some of the incident response [data] so you can have a better oversight of the system.
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
Q. My family doctor prescribed Prilosec, and I took it for several years. I quit taking it after I read that PPIs are associated with hip fractures.
Mexico's RCD Hotels has appointed BizGate Marketing & Consultancies as its exclusive representative in the Middle East region.



BizGate Marketing & Consultancies, based in Dubai since 2008, will support the groups sales and marketing efforts for luxury resort properties in Florida, including Eden Roc Miami Beach Resort and Nobu Hotel Miami Beach, as well as throughout Mexico and the Dominican Republic, including Hard Rock Hotel Punta Cana, in addition to four Mexico properties -Hard Rock Hotel Cancun, Hard Rock Hotel Vallarta, Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya, and the UNICO 2087 Hotel Riviera Maya, the first of a new luxury all-inclusive concept.



While the Middle East market is quite familiar with US and the number of visitors is growing every year, Mexico and Dominican Republic remain new and undiscovered destinations. Visa-free travel for UAE nationals to Dominican Republic and embassies of Mexico and Dominican Republic in Abu-Dhabi facilitate travel for both Emiratis and expats residing in UAE. New upcoming Emirates flights to Mexico will make the destination and whole Caribbean region more accessible to travellers from GCC countries.



The Middle East is a very important market for us, and it was very crucial to establish a permanent presence in Dubai. We are looking forward to a successful future work relationship with BizGate, said Arturo Cruz, corporate director of Sales Europe  Asia of RCD Hotels.



We are proud to bring to the Middle East another great hospitality brand operating such amazing properties. We are very confident that this unique product will complement travel offering in the region, said Mohamad Masri, managing director of BizGate Marketing & Consultancies. - TradeArabia News Service
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Williams Advanced Engineering, the Formula One racing team's technology and engineering services business, has teamed up with JPA Design to revolutionise future aircraft interiors through the application of F1-derived technology and world-class cabin design from JPA.

As airlines invest in new, lighter aircraft made of composite materials, such as carbon fibre in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350, there is still great potential to make a step-change in cabin layout, passenger comfort, fuel-saving and carbon emission reductions, compared to existing, traditional approaches, through the application of new interior design and lightweight materials. This partnership looks to capitalise on this potential by using proprietary technologies from both parties to save weight, whilst increasing comfort and space.



Further details about the partnership will be revealed at the Passenger Experience Conference (April 1) and the Aircraft Interiors Expo 2019 (April 2-4) in Hamburg, Germany.



Ben Orson, managing director of JPA Design London and Stu Olden, senior commercial manager of Williams Advanced Engineering, will speak at the conference. Subsequently, the companies will showcase an example of the innovative new technology on offer to airlines and their passengers at the Expo on the ADS stand, 3UA10 in the UK Pavilion, Hall B3 Upper of the Hamburg Messe.



Our work with Williams Advanced Engineering will deliver truly revolutionary advances to the air travel industry, both onboard new aircraft and retrofitted to existing aeroplanes, said James Park, founder and principal of JPA Design. The fruits of this partnership will offer our customers better use of the space in their cabins, enhanced comfort and functionality for their passengers and a boost to airline profitability. This is all delivered through reduced cost of ownership due to weight savings onboard together with lower installation and maintenance costs.



The partnership between the two companies aims to create a UK capability for aircraft interior products to be delivered worldwide through the application of Formula One-derived technology from Williams and the cabin design experience of JPA Design. Airlines will benefit through the more efficient use of space onboard and lighter interior equipment to enhance further the reduction in fuel consumption offered by modern aircraft. Passengers will benefit through a more spacious cabin and enhanced comfort for their journey due to the innovative design of the interior and seating.



The innovative use of lightweight materials, rapid product development and the maximisation of available space is very much at the heart of the work we do commercialising Formula One-derived technology, said Craig Wilson, managing director of Williams Advanced Engineering. We are very much looking forward to unveiling to the world further developments from our work with JPA Design in Hamburg in April. Airlines and their passengers everywhere will benefit from this exciting new partnership between the best of British design and engineering. - TradeArabia News Service
Never has the Prime Minister been more desperate for a deal. And it is still possible that she may get one that can pass the Commons by March 29. That would surely require changes to the text of the Withdrawal Agreement itself in relation to the backstop.

But today, it is reported that she will ask the Cabinet this morning to support moves that would bring about a delay to the implementation of Article 50, and the seeking of an extension  thereby ruling out a No Deal Brexit on March 29. It is difficult to see why this would make the EU more likely to agree a deal. Admittedly, it would perhaps still prefer to strike a bargain with Theresa May before March 29 rather than seek one with her afterwards. For in the event of an extension, the manoeuvres will be complex but the politics clear: a quantum of power will pass from the executive to the legislature. That would be constitutional unknown country, and the EU might be wary of it.

However, it is possible that a delay would harm such a deal rather than help it. Why should the EU continue to work with a weak  and from its point of view inconstant and untrustworthy  government? Wouldnt it be better off agreeing a very long extension, and waiting for Brexit to unravel completely, as MPs slowly come round to holding a second referendum  as Jeremy Corbyn is being manoeuvered into doing? Or else watch the Commons settle instead for some form of Nick Boles Norway Plus plan, which offers a softer form of Brexit than Mays deal?

At any rate, the most pressing consequence of any such U-turn by May would be internal to her Government and leadership rather than external to the EU and the negotiation. If she proposes ruling out a No Deal Brexit on March 29, or seeking an extension, or both, she will do so primarily to head off Amber Rudd and company voting for the Letwin-Cooper amendment tomorrow. In which case, it will be proven that she is unwilling to sack them if they do so. In which event, too, it will be clear that she has lost what control was left to her of her Cabinet and Ministers: Claire Perry and Margot James join the open rebellion this morning.

A moral of such a story will be that Brexit-backing Ministers resign from Cabinet when they disagree with Government policy: David Davis, Boris Johnson, Esther McVey, Dominic Raab. And that its Remain-leaning Ministers do not. Instead, they stay  and give the Prime Minister two fingers. But there would be a deeper lesson, and one that is painful to grasp. It is that nothing than May says about her Brexit policy can be trusted. Only yesterday, she was insisting that an extension to Article 50doesnt deliver a decision in parliament. The words of Gordon Brown to Tony Blair echo in our ears: there is nothing that you could say to me now that I could ever believe.

As recently as February 7, she was insisting that I am going to deliver Brexit, I am going to deliver on time. But a U-turn on extension would only be the latest of a long series  over seeking a general election in 2017; controlling migration during transition; extending transition; putting her deal to the Commons in December; opposing a regulatory border in the Irish Sea. (Check out her Road to Brexit video where she warned that this would keep Northern Ireland in parts of the Single Market. That would would break up the UK economically, and creating new barriers to our own internal market.)

It would be pointless to list them all. Mays loss of authority is understood by everyone from Cabinet members through Conservative MPs through party members to voters and our readers. It may just be that the claims of an about-turn from the Prime Minister on extension are mistaken (though for better or worse we have been predicting the move since the New Year). But assuming that they are correct, what should happen next? Obviously, the coalition of Cabinet ministers that stretches from Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid through to Andrea Leadsom and Penny Mordaunt should contest the policy this morning and mull their positions.

But as Esther McVey discovered last year, there are no votes in Cabinet. The Prime Minister sums up and controls the minutes. And resignations would not in themselves help to deliver Brexit on time. Indeed, they would probably have the opposite effect, as these harder Brexiteers were disproportionately replaced by softer ones. There is no prospect of a leadership change. Nor is one practicable scarcely more than a month from March 29. Even a general election might not deliver an improvement. Rather, one couldnt rule out a Marxist Government emerging from it. And if it did deliver a Conservative majority, the divisions within the Parliamentary Party would endure.

The only advice we can offer to Tory MPs is that if a deal is eventually placed before them which sorts the backstop problem, then they should vote for it. If it doesnt, then they shouldnt. And either way, they should vote against any motion proposing extension. For all our reservations about No Deal, we recall the Conservative Manifestos pledge: No Deal is better than a bad deal. Extension or no extension, Tory MPs should battle for that commitment in the TV studios and on Twitter and in the Chamber and the lobbies. They should fight for it by every means available, save one: namely, not backing the Government in a vote of confidence, thus risking a Marxist Government under Corbyn and John McDonnell (and a second referendum in any event).

All else they can do is wait for time and chance to deliver a new leader: a Boris Johnson or an Esther Mcvey or a Dominic Raab or a Priti Patel or a Tom Tugendhat. In other words, someone not implicated in and tarnished by this long rout.

If that seems too stark a conclusion, they might want to ponder these questions. If May backs off No Deal once, why wouldnt she do so again? Once one extension is sought, why not a second later? Is her commitment to oppose a second referendum solid?
Shailesh Vara is MP for North West Cambridgeshire and former minister of state for Northern Ireland. Suella Braverman is MP for Fareham and former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union.

Tomorrow, Parliament will vote on the wrecking amendment that is Cooper-Letwin. Make no mistake, the sole intention of its creators is to block Brexit. They must not succeed. It would leave a poisonous constitutional legacy and will break the solemn commitments made in the 2017 Conservative manifesto.

At this moment of heightened tension, it a crucial time to focus on what actually unites our Government, our party and our country.

The Brexit prize is in sight. We may all have been so worn down weve lost focus on what we believe and what we can achieve.

There has been a lot of jargon on backstops, on Malthouse Compromises and meaningful votes. But what do we actually all want?

We want to deliver what record numbers of Britons voted for, namely taking back control over our borders, laws and money. We want to keep our manifesto commitments that Brexit will be delivered on time and that the UK will leave the customs union and single market. We want to protect the integrity of the Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Above all, we all want an orderly exit from the European Union.

So how does that all come about? We are reassured that this week the Prime Minister reiterated her desire to honour our 2017 manifesto commitments on Brexit. We are further reassured that she says she wants to secure legally binding changes to the backstop to ensure that the will of Parliament prevails and that we can secure a unilateral exit mechanism from the backstop or a final date for our exit from it.

So the important thing to focus on now is to secure those ends from the negotiations and bring a better deal back to Parliament. If the Prime Minister achieves this, she can be assured of the support of her party in Parliament. The successful passing of the Brady amendment showed that the will is there in Parliament and a majority can be achieved. This is in our national interest, and provides the benefit of uniting our party after a difficult few days where we have unfortunately lost three of our colleagues.

In delivering our manifesto commitments and honouring the public mandate, we feel that the Prime Minister is owed loyalty and support. Our sense is that the Party  whether voters, members or MPs  wants to come together to get Brexit over the line and take the fight to Corbyns Labour Party. We all want Brexit over and done with now, but the deal has to be the right one for our country. As Martin Howe QC, the distinguished constitutional lawyer, wrote recently, the acid test must be whether it gives the UK a clear and unconditional legal right to break out of the backstop if the negotiations fail.

Frankly, labels are unhelpful at the present time. If the right deal is secured it really does not matter what group people belong to or how their views are labelled. Secure the best Brexit and we will all rally to the cause.

Then we can move on to discussing the real prize of Brexit: our future trading relationships with the EU and the rest of the world. There is no reason at all why we cannot secure the optimum deal with the EU of a Canada-style Free Trade Arrangement. We can also simultaneously negotiate similar FTAs with countries across the globe, delivering the global Britain the British people voted for.

The Conservative Party is united in searching for the best solution to take us out of the EU on the 29th March 2019. The backstop has to go in its present form, we must not be in the customs union thereby enabling us to agree far reaching global trade deals, and thus honouring our commitment to the referendum vote on the 23rd June 2016. We can all support the Prime Minister in this endeavour.

We very much hope that we will be able to support the Prime Minister in her effort to unify the party around a deal it can support. We are sure she will take account of the clearly expressed wishes of the House of Commons and deliver the Brexit the British people voted for. That would offer the optimistic future the British people deserve and deliver the feel-good factor of honouring promises and fulfilling peoples hopes. Lets be positive and seize the moment to negotiate the deal we all want.
Alan Mak is the MP for Havant and is the Chairman of the APPG on the Fourth Industrial Revolution. His NHS Fax Machines and Pagers Bill is presented in Parliament today.

Conservatives have a long and proud record of supporting and investing in our NHS. As Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, said when launching the new NHS Long Term Plan last month, the Health Service is one of our proudest achievements as a nation, and for over 40 of the NHS 70 years it has been under the care of Conservative Ministers.

Our Party has nurtured the NHS to serve generations of patients and the 20.5 billion a year delivered by the Long Term Plan is the biggest ever cash injection in its history. This means more investment in our hospitals, more doctors and nurses, and more resources to tackle major diseases. But extra funding alone wont secure the NHSs future. To boost productivity and improve patient care and safety, Conservatives must ensure that the NHS seizes the opportunities presented by new technologies too.

We have a duty to prepare the NHS for radical technological change, and in so doing, an electoral opportunity to strengthen our Partys standing on the NHS by being the patients champion  harnessing technology to drive up clinical standards and improve patient care. That was the argument I made in my NHS technology report published last year by the Centre for Policy Studies and launched by the then Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. By adopting the new technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in the Health Service we can put patients at the heart of a reformed digital-first NHS.

Rightly, the Long Term Plan shares this ambition and sets out the Governments vision for a modern NHS that uses digital tools to improve patient care and safety. This means pushing forward with an unabashed desire to change the culture of a large public service organisation that has not always been the quickest to adapt to innovation. Decades of underinvestment in our digital health infrastructure has left the NHS at risk of being unable to take full advantage of the new waves of technological breakthroughs that are already revolutionising healthcare  and indeed other aspects of our society and economy. Fuelled by artificial intelligence, Big Data, wearable devices and personalised medicines, these 4IR innovations are set to turbocharge our fight against cancer, heart disease, dementia and other diseases and illnesses.

The Long Term Plan includes a welcome commitment for the NHS to become fully digital and paperless within the next decade. This digital-first NHS would see seamless interactions between GPs, hospitals, and community care; patients not having to wait for appointment confirmations in the post; and an end to health records being lost through human error. Embedding 4IR technologies into the NHS would also drive improvements in detection rates, pioneer new treatments and ultimately deliver better patient outcomes. Meanwhile, precision medicines, personalised for each patient and taking into account an individuals genetic profile, can be at the forefront of treating disease in the years ahead, becoming a staple in the doctors toolbox. Put simply, the future of healthcare is exciting  and has the potential to catch-up with the smartphone era and patients digital expectations if we give the NHS the right tools.

But holding back the NHS from achieving these outcomes is a stubborn reliance, in some areas, on ageing technology such as pagers and fax machines. While the Long Term Plan clearly sets out a desire to axe the fax, there remain 8,000 of them in use across the NHS making the Health Service the largest consumer of fax machines worldwide. These archaic machines cause patients to miss appointments, hospitals to lose records, and cost NHS Trusts millions of pounds in paper storage each year, as well as being slow, unwieldy, and hard to maintain.

Meanwhile, the pager, which reached the height of its popularity in the mid-1990s, provides doctors and nurses with a limited amount of information, sometimes no more than a bleep, as they tackle a multitude of complex situations on hospital wards. This has led to 97 per cent of doctors admitting in a British Medical Journal survey that they use instant messaging services such as WhatsApp as an alternative, despite these being banned due to concerns over patient confidentiality. Of the one million pagers believed to be left in use worldwide, around ten per cent of them are used in our Health Service.

Yet there are cheap and easy-to-use alternatives available to NHS Trusts. As the Health Secretary has rightly pointed out, e-mail could be used as a way of communicating without the need for paper. And instead of relying on pagers, there are several specialist WhatsApp-style messaging systems available to the NHS. These include Medic Bleep, an app which when trialled at West Suffolk Hospital was found to save 4.5 million worth of staff time largely because doctors and nurses dont have to wait by a landline phone to respond to pager bleeps. I visited the Hospital to see Medic Bleep in action first hand (see film above) and witnessed its obvious versatility when compared to old-fashioned pagers. If replicated across the 227 NHS Trusts in England new digital messenger systems that replace pagers could potentially save the Health Service more than 1 billion every year which can be redirected to frontline services.

The availability of modern replacements, and the need to rapidly upgrade the Health Services technology base, are the reasons Im introducing new legislation in Parliament today that would ban fax machines and pagers in our NHS by 2021. My National Health Service (Prohibition of Fax Machines and Pagers) Bill can be a firm foundation on which to build a digital-first NHS that fully harnesses the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution that is taking place in healthcare, consigning fax machines and pagers to the scrapheap of history.

Equally importantly, I hope the Bill also sends a clear message that we Conservatives are serious about renewing our NHS for the future, coupling serious financial investment with determined renewal of the tools that our doctors and nurses use and the care patients receive. By investing in the best technology  and phasing out the worst  we can ensure our NHS continues to serve us well for the next 70 years and beyond.
Andrew Carter is Chief Executive of Centre for Cities

In recent weeks, we have seen a surprising shift in political debate. While much political attention remains focussed on the Brexit high-drama of Westminster, there is now an increasing sense that some politicians are beginning to look at issues closer to home once again.

Earlier this month, James Brokenshire lauded the Local Government Finance Settlement as paving the way for a fairer, more self-sufficient and resilient future for local government. After ten years of very large spending reductions this is long overdue. While the belt tightening introduced in 2010 has undoubtedly made local authorities leaner and more efficient, all the evidence now indicates that they are unable to take any further restrictions without it significantly limiting their ability to provide the public services that many residents depend on and expect. This was evident in the responses by MPs on both sides of the House to the Secretary of States parliamentary statement setting out the 2019 Settlement.

Urban authorities have felt this pressure most acutely. Centre for Cities annual Cities Outlook analysis found that Britains urban areas have borne nearly three quarters of all real-term local government funding reductions since 2009/10, despite being home to just 54 percent of the population. This is equivalent to a 386 fall in spending for every city dweller, compared to 172 per person living elsewhere.

The social care crisis adds to this problem. A decade ago, just four cities, out of the 62 we studied, spent the majority of their budget on social care; now half of them do. Barnsley now ranks as both the city that has seen the largest fall in spending since 2009/10 (a 40 percent reduction), and also the place that dedicates the largest share of its budget to social care (62 percent of its budget). This is no coincidence.

These funding pressures are not just bad news for public services, but also bad news for the British economy. The UKs 63 biggest cities account for around 60 percent of all the UKs jobs, business starts, and total GVA. Therefore, anything that hampers their development is a handicap to UK plc. In the past decade, strategically important services have seen significant spending reductions in cities. For example, spending on activities to improve their economic performance has fallen in cities by 43 percent. If this continues it will not bode well for the UKs long-term economic performance. As noted by the National Audit Office recently, cuts to planning services over the last decade means the likelihood of hitting the governments target to build 300,000 homes per annum is much less likely. As ever thus, a decision taken in one part of government has knock on effects for another part, often in a perverse way.

While the forthcoming Spending Review is an opportunity for the Government to address these challenges, it would be overly optimistic to expect significant amounts of extra funding for local government. Despite the Secretary of States warm words, the Local Government Finance Settlement still deals councils a further reduction to their central government grant. However, the good news is that some of the policies that would support city finances to be more sustainable in the long-term could be delivered at minimal cost to HM Treasury.

First, the Government should scrap the current rules stipulating that money raised through council charges in one area can only be spent in the same area. It makes little sense that councillors struggling to keep libraries open or roads maintained are prevented from accessing funds raised in other areas, such as through parking charges. Local leaders are best placed to make decisions about need in their area and the Government should give them the tools to do so.

Second, while it may be controversial, we need to examine the idea of giving cities powers to introduce localised taxes. Following the passing of the Scottish Governments recent budget, and with significant public support, Edinburgh became the first British city to implement a 2 per night tourist tax. Enabling cities across the country to follow suit would bring them in line with places such as Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin. It would also raise money to spend on public services without a cost to local taxpayers.

Finally, the Government should reform the current local government finance rules that stipulate that councils can only set single-year budgets. This rule encourages short-term thinking in local government and restricts councils capacity to reform public services, and fund the up-front revenue costs associated with developing the major strategic housing or infrastructure projects that drive the economy forwards.

There are signs that we are heading in the right direction. Brokenshire has just reaffirmed the Governments belief in the merits of city devolution in rejecting the One Yorkshire campaign proposals. Local government minister, Rishi Sunak, has also indicated that the government is open-minded about devolving fiscal power to cities. In the next Spending Review, the Chancellor should move this one step further and unlock cities economic potential. It is vital for our future prosperity that he takes this opportunity.
Brexit 1) Extension U-turn today? Prime Minister willing to seek a delay if her deal is voted down

May is marching on but doesnt have a map  Rachel Sylvester, The Times

The PM must hold her nerve  Leo McKinstry, Daily Express

Britain needs to stop playing the EUs game and take a harder line  Yanis Varoufakis, Daily Telegraph

Offer to take no-deal exit off the table aimed at quelling Europhile rebellion  Financial Times

Option of No Deal alive for later in the year  The Sun

EU officials plotting to delay Brexit until 2021  Daily Express

Theresa May is ready to rule out a No Deal Brexit after an extraordinary mass revolt by ministers, the Daily Mail can reveal. A group of 23 dissidents met secretly at the Commons last night to discuss how to stop Britain leaving the EU without an agreement on March 29, with as many as 15 said to be ready to resign. In an article for the Mail today, three of the ministers involved say they are prepared to back a Commons move by rebel MPs tomorrow to force the Prime Minister to seek a Brexit delay if her deal is voted down. Industry minister Richard Harrington, digital minister Margot James and energy minister Claire Perry implore Mrs May to say that if there is no deal agreed by Parliament by March 13 then she must seek a way to extend Article 50.  Daily Mail

>Today:

>Yesterday:

Brexit 2) About-turn faces challenge in Cabinet

The prime minister is also expected to face fierce opposition from Brexiter ministers at Tuesdays cabinet; some ministers claim the country could flourish after a no-deal exit, in spite of some early disruption. Mrs Mays allies hope that business leaders will rally behind the prime minister as she rules out a cliff-edge exit on March 29; the prospect of a disorderly exit has alarmed and infuriated corporate Britain. Its taken a lot of hard work to get this far, said one cabinet colleague. We need a wall of support for the PM to get this through the cabinet. Another minister said that an explosion is guaranteed from Tory Brexiters when they are confronted with Mrs Mays new strategy, which will ramp up pressure on Eurosceptics to back the prime ministers tweaked exit deal. Under Mrs Mays plan, to be presented to cabinet, MPs would be given a meaningful vote on a revised exit deal by March 12. Mrs May is trying to win assurances from Brussels that a contentious backstop plan for the Irish border will not turn into a permanent UK/EU customs union.  Financial Times

Brexit 3) Labour backs a second referendum (but on what terms?)

A sickening betrayal of Leave voters and reversal of his manifesto pledges  Leader, The Sun

Labour policy has more questions than answers  Leader, Daily Telegraph

A wake-up call to Tory Brexiteers to get behind Theresa Mays deal  Leader, The Times

It could definitively end Jeremy Corbyns chances of becoming PM  Tom Harris, Daily Telegraph

Its a diversion tactic  Camilla Tominey, Daily Telegraph

Brexit 4) A deal could prompt early elections in Ireland

Jeremy Corbyn has announced that Labour will back a second referendum as he attempted to stem the tide of defections over Brexit. The Labour leader told MPs that he will commit to a second vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit after nine MPs quit his party. He also said Labour will support a backbench bid to take a no-deal Brexit off the table by forcing the Prime Minister to request an extension of Article 50. Peter Kyle, a Labour MP who is leading a backbench bid to force a second referendum, said on Monday night that there was no turning back for Jeremy now. However, Mr Corbyns attempt at unity appeared to immediately prompt a new split amid a backlash from Labour MPs in Leave constituencies. Caroline Flint, the MP for Don Valley, warned that there will never be unity in the party if it backs a second referendum.  Daily Telegraph

Cracks in the alliance that underpins Leo Varadkars minority government in Ireland have raised the prospect of an early election if a resolution to Brexit is agreed. The taoiseachs Fine Gael party signed a pact in 2016 with the largest opposition party, Fianna Fail, enabling Mr Varadkar to conduct difficult Brexit talks  which present multiple dangers for Ireland  without the risk of his administration falling. But a hospital spending row has soured ties between the two parties, leading government and opposition figures to say that an election could be called if there is clarity on Britains EU exit.  Financial Times

Brexit 5) Costa may be sacked as a PPS

Rebellion to force the Government to recognise legal rights of EU nationals in UK  Daily Telegraph

Brexit 6) Government plans to pay over billions even if there is no deal

Theresa May faces a new government departure today and a rebellion involving dozens of her own MPs. Her plans for EU citizens in a no-deal Brexit scenario has been criticised by Alberto Costa, a loyalist MP who works as a parliamentary private secretary for David Mundell, the Scottish secretary. Mr Costa will table a motion to protect the right of three million EU citizens in the UK and one million UK citizens in the event of no deal.  The Times

The Government is making plans to pay billions of euros to Brussels to settle large parts of the 39bn Brexit divorce bill even in the event of a no deal, the Telegraph can reveal. Ministers signed off the in-principle decision on Monday at a meeting of the Brexit no deal preparedness cabinet committee, according to senior Whitehall sources. Under a plan agreed on Monday, the Government will table an executive order, or Statutory Instrument, in the final days of the Brexit negotiations to create the legal foundations for future payments to Brussels.  Daily Telegraph

Brexit 7) Hub in Belgium to maintain medical supplies

Brexit 8) SNP want control of EU development funds

The government has created a logistics hub in Belgium where vital medical supplies will be stockpiled to stop the NHS running short of equipment if there is a no-deal Brexit. Stents, implants and other products needed to ensure that patient care is not disrupted will be stored at the hub, the exact location of which has not been disclosed. The Department of Health and Social Care has also arranged to get NHS supplies  including drugs  into Britain using seven new ferry routes, to bypass the chaos that is widely expected in and around Dover in the event of no deal.  The Guardian

The SNP has accused the UK Government of preparing the ground for a nine-figure cash-grab from the Scottish Parliament in a growing row over the future of EU investment funds after Brexit. UK ministers plan to replace EU development funds worth 800 million to Scotland over six years with a Shared Prosperity Fund. However, a consultation on the new system, which will come into force in 2021, has not been published despite a commitment to seek views by the end of last year.  The Scotsman

Brexit 9) Poll shows boost for independent Group

Breakaway group of MPs have dinner at Nandos  The Sun

Shuker is elected as convener  BBC

The Lib Dems should join the Independent Group  David Boyle, The Guardian

Labours support has fallen below the combined total for the new Independent Group and the Liberal Democrats. A YouGov poll for The Times asked people how they would vote if they could support the Independent Group (TIG) in their constituency. The poll found the Tories on 36 per cent, down two points from last week and Labour on 23 per cent, down three points. TIG received a four-point boost, at 18 per cent, with the Lib Dems on 6 per cent, down one. The result means that TIG and the Lib Dems, which support a second referendum, are on a combined 24 per cent, one point ahead of Labour, underlining the potential scale of the challenge to Labour from pro-referendum parties.  The Times

>Yesterday: LeftWatch: Can Labour out-Europhile The Independent Group with this second referendum pledge?

Brexit 10) Hague: The Tories need to stick together

The best approach for a cohesive governing party in this situation is to keep its collective nerve for another few weeks, extract a change to the legal durability of the Irish backstop allowing the deal to be voted through, and delay Brexit for only as long as needed to pass the legislation to implement it. That unity may actually be easier to achieve now that the opposition seems to be discussing a second referendum more seriously. We could then proceed to deliver Brexit, enter the transition period, open negotiations on a free trade agreement with the EU, and provide the country in the meantime with a steady government.  William Hague, Daily Telegraph

>Yesterday: Stephen Booth on Comment: Brexit and the economy. There are ups, there are downs. But whatever happens, our fundamentals remain strong.

Davis hints at bid to succeed May

Poulter wins libel damages over assault claims

David Davis today fired the starting gun on the race to succeed Theresa May  hinting he will run to be PM. The ex-Brexit Secretary suggested he is the best candidate to lead the country as he declared himself the last of the great romantic radicals. Mr Davis is the first candidate to publicly express an interest in taking over since Mrs May announced shell quit in time for the next election. He has previously run for the Tory leadership twice  losing to Iain Duncan Smith in 2001 and David Cameron in 2005. In an interview in the April issue of Tatler, Mr Davis said he has the right qualifications to take over from Mrs May. He said: If this were an application for a job as a chief executive, I would probably win it. But it isnt. And that isnt the way the decision is done. Mr Davis added that he was the PMs favourite minister before he resigned over Brexit last year.  The Sun

The Conservative MP Dan Poulter has won substantial libel damages from the Sunday Times after it published claims that he had sexually assaulted three female MPs. The newspaper accepted there was no truth to its claims that the politician, who is also a practicing doctor, had put his hand up the skirts of colleagues. The allegations were made in two Sunday Times articles published at the height of the #MeToo scandal in late 2017, during which several MPs were accused of inappropriate behaviour. The articles were based on accusations made by Andrew Bridgen, a fellow Conservative MP, who alleged he had gone to the Tory whips office about Poulter in 2010 and that no action had been taken.  The Guardian

Javid announces ban on Hezbollah

Labour may oppose the ban  Daily Telegraph

All UK supporters of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group will face up to 10 years in prison from next month after Sajid Javid announced a new blanket ban. Currently the political wing of the Lebanese extremist group  who Jeremy Corbyn has branded friends  is not on the list of banned terror groups. But it was among a handful of Islamist groups Home Secretary Sajid Javid included in a new list of proscribed organisations in the UK. If approved by Parliament, the step will bring Britain in line with countries including the US in regarding the whole of Hezbollah as a terrorist group. From Friday, membership will be a criminal offence carrying a maximum sentence of up to 10 years.  The Sun

>Yesterday: Natasha Hausdorff on Comment: The proscription of Hezbollah is welcome  though overdue

Protest over state takeover of sex education

Ministers have mounted a state takeover of relationship and sex education in schools that denies parents a choice, according to the organiser of a 106,000-strong petition calling for parents to have an automatic right to opt out of the lessons. Kate Godfrey-Faussett, a chartered psychologist, said the government was increasingly taking over and encroaching into parenting. She added: We are talking about intimate relationships and personal education for which it is a fundamental right of parents to take responsibility.In the Commons, a number of Tory backbenchers also challenged education secretary Damian Hinds on the opt out rights.  Daily Telegraph

Loss of support from ethnic minorities threatens Tories electoral prospects

MP could sit in Parliament with an ankle tag

Sharp rises in support for Labour among minority ethnic voters at the last general election and the increasing diversity of Conservative constituencies mean the Tories face a tough challenge to maintain power the next time Britain goes to the polls, research published on Monday suggests. Labour increased its traditionally loyal support from minority ethnic voters in 2017, with 77% of those who voted choosing Jeremy Corbyns party, up from two-thirds in 2010, according to research by Runnymede, a race equality think tank. By contrast, the Conservatives managed to win only 16 seats where 30% or more of the electorate were from an ethnic minority, losing support it had gained in 2010 when it won 27 such seats.  The Guardian

Disgraced MP Fiona Onasanya will reportedly be freed today after less than a month in jail  and could sit in Parliament with an ankle tag. The politician, 35, has spent just 28 days behind bars for lying to dodge a speeding ticket. She is set to be freed from HMP Bronzefield in Surrey under an early-release scheme. The ex-solicitor, who has refused to resign her Peterborough seat, could return to Parliament for tomorrows Brexit vote.  The Sun

Watson to personally monitor anti semitism cases

Kim arrives in Vietnam for summit with Trump

Tom Watson has said he will take personal charge of antisemitism and bullying complaints made by MPs to bring them to the attention of the Labour leadership, telling colleagues he will hold the partys management of the complaints to account. In a separate attempt to stop further defections, the Guardian understands that Labour could delay the start of re-election battles. Labour is set to put back the start of the formal MP selection process, due to begin in a few weeks, which could have led to vast numbers of MPs facing deselection.  The Guardian

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has arrived in Vietnam ahead of a summit with US President Donald Trump. The second US-North Korea summit follows a historic first round of talks last year in Singapore. Ceremonial guards and flag-waving crowds had lined a red carpet laid out for him as he arrived at Dong Dang border station in the morning. He then took a car in the capital city of Hanoi where heavy security and flag-waving crowds were waiting for him.  BBC

Sandbrook: Labours threat to school standards

News in brief

The dramatic shift in the prime ministers no-deal Brexit position  Robert Peston, The Spectator

Only genuinely free markets will save capitalism from the far left  Douglas Carswell, CapX

Delaying Brexit with an extension to Article 50 means Remaining in the EU -Steven Woolfe MEP, Brexit Central

The chances of another referendum are slim  Stephen Bush, New Statesman

The trading relationship between Britain and the EU is flourishing. No Deal shouldnt change that  Daniel Johnson, The Article

Jeremy Corbyn has promised that if Labour win power, he will ban future academies, scrap free schools and grammar schools, and take all existing academies back into full state control. In effect, Mr Corbyn wants to turn back the clock to the state-mandated progressive chaos of the Seventies. And as so often, he and his friends do not care whom they hurt, and how many childrens lives they blight, in pursuit of their perverted ideological ambitions. No wonder, then, that in an interview yesterday, Alan Johnson admitted that he does not want Jeremy Corbyn to become Prime Minister. For as his radio series shows, the casualties would not merely include Britains wealth creators, savers, homeowners and taxpayers. They would also include the children betrayed by Mr Corbyns dogmatic hatred of authority, order and high achievement.  Dominic Sandbrook, Daily Mail
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella seems to agree with Apple CEO Tim Cook when it comes to privacy, calling this a fundamental human right.

Microsoft CEO: Privacy a 'human right'

Despite the lack of a successful smartphone franchise, Microsoft is still very much part of todays industry with a range of services across the mobile ecosystem. Thats probably why Nadella is such an active attendee at Mobile World Congress 2019.

Whats really interesting about what he said during a speech at the show is the extent to which his thinking aligns with what Apple is doing around privacy. For example:

Nadella shared a vision of intelligence at the edge, securely and privately accessed through multiple user interfaces, touch, speech, vision and more. Apples vision aligns to this.

The Microsoft CEO also looked at how artificial intelligence (AI) is being woven into multiple services  this goes way beyond Siri, but Apples platforms also support emerging business intelligence systems  look at Salesforce. AI is being infused into every experience, Nadella said.

Like Cook, Nadella also warned of the unintended consequences of technological advances.

Like Apple, Microsoft is working to protect customers against such consequences. We ask difficult questions like not what computers can do, but what computers should do, Nadella said.

Microsoft and Apple retain very distinct identities, of course, but that the manufacturers of the worlds two most distributed operating systems agree on the value and necessity of privacy is refreshing.

Towards the end of surveillance capitalism?

Thats why we believe privacy is a fundamental human right, the Microsoft boss said. Thats why we prioritize cybersecurity, not just for the largest of companies, but for small businesses and consumers, who are often the most vulnerable to cyber attacks.

This isnt the first time Nadella has said something like this. He made similar statements in 2018 when discussing the EUs GDPR legislation.

Apples Cook warned European data regulators of the cost and consequence of the erosion of privacy in 2018. When he did, he noted the evolution of an unregulated surveillance economy, warning this is surveillance.

Since that speech, Apple has ramped up its offensive against data surveillance companies by progressively eradicating the tools they use to spy on what people and organizations do online, which is why it is deprecating the Do Not Track tech inside of the Safari browser.

Toward a bill of digital rights

Cook has also described what he sees as the four tenets of a new bill of digital rights he believes should become law in the digital age:

Cook has called for legislation to protect four key rights:

Personal data collected should be minimized.

Users should be able know what data is being collected.

They should have the right to access or change that data.

The responsibility of companies to keep such data securely should be enshrined in law, and users should have control over what happens to their information.

Nadella's Microsoft seems to be moving in a similar direction as the old guard of more responsible technologists join forces to combat the unintended consequences of tech firms who have moved fast and loose in their treatment and support for user privacy.

Ultimately, its all about trust.

Cook has said, Technologys potential must be rooted in the faith people have in it.

Nadella has a similar slant, telling the audience in Barcelona, Spain, that his company is committed to instilling trust in technology across everything that we do.

I imagine that any company that develops solutions that do not prioritise trust on either Apple or Microsofts platforms must now consider themselves warned.

Change is coming.

Please follow me on Twitter, or join me in the AppleHolics bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.
Facebook emerged from 2018 bruised from a series of revelations that undermined trust in the popular social media platform and raised questions about its commitment to privacy.

There were the Cambridge Analytica revelations last March, security bugs later in the year that compromised data for millions of users, and a host of smaller privacy concerns. Perceptions of the company  and its stock price  took a beating.

At the same time, the company continued to push its Workplace by Facebook enterprise software, touting ease of use and familiarity as selling points for companies looking to get their employees better connected.

Its not clear yet how high-profile troubles on the social media side of things might spill over to the companys collaboration suite. But theyre likely leading to greater scrutiny by at least some customers, analysts said.

Facebooks privacy and data issues have cast a long shadow over the Workplace business, which is trying to move further into the sunlight, said Wayne Kurtzman, a research director at IDC.

Enterprises have to weigh user trust, corporate trust, and ease of use in the platform, knowing the platform itself may keep some users from adopting it. Meanwhile, other enterprises have made the jump quite successfully.
The UAEs Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) has announced that September 25, 2019 will be the launch date of the first Emirati Arab astronauts trip to the International Space Station (ISS).



The announcement came during a press conference held by MBRSC that featured Yousuf Hamad Al Shaibani, director general of MBRSC; and Salem Al Marri, assistant director general for Scientific and Technical Affairs and head of the UAE Astronaut Programme at MBRSC. Hazzaa Al Mansoori and Sultan Al Neyadi, the first two Emirati astronauts from the UAE Astronaut Programme, also attended the event.



Al Shaibani said that one of the astronauts will fly to ISS on Wednesday, September 25 for an eight-day Russian space mission to ISS aboard a Soyuz-MS 15 spacecraft and will travel back aboard a Soyuz-MS 12. The second astronaut will continue training for future missions.



Al Marri noted that the date of the flight was postponed from April to September 2019 following a launch accident of the Soyuz-MS 10 spacecraft in October.



"The astronauts safety is at the top of our list of priorities, so the date was postponed to 25 September. We are pleased that the mission to ISS will take place this year, despite the obstacles faced by our partners at the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said Al Marri.



Al Marri highlighted that this will be the first time that an astronaut will present an introductory tour in Arabic at ISS. In the introductory tour, he will explain the components of the station, the equipment on board and methods of conducting experiments in zero gravity. The astronaut will be conducting earth observation and imaging experiences, and interacting with ground stations, sharing information and experiences, as well as documenting the daily lives of astronauts at the station



Al Marri confirmed that the visual content of these tours will serve as an Arabic reference and will be available for all those interested in the space sector from the Arab region.



Al Marri noted that the astronaut's schedule at ISS will be very busy as he has tasks assigned to him every hour of the day.



The astronaut will conduct research in various fields to be shared with the international scientific community to show the effect of zero gravity on research experiments, compared to gravity on Earth. For example, research will be conducted on the reaction of vital indicators of the human body at ISS, in comparison with Earth, before and after the trip. This is the first time this kind of research will be done by an astronaut from the Arab region. The results of this study will later be compared with research conducted on astronauts from other regions, he explained.



Al Marri added that the Emirati astronaut will also be assigned on existing scientific missions in the ISS laboratories, according to the timing and duration of his stay, in addition to the research he will conduct for the UAEs schools and universities.



Al Mansoori and Al Neyadi were selected from a total 4,022 candidates who applied to the UAE Astronaut Programme after a series of advanced medical and psychological tests as well as personal interviews conducted according to the highest international standards.



ISS is one of the most unique human innovations ever created. The use of space science and technology on the space station has enabled scientists and astronauts to complete ground breaking research that would not be possible on Earth. ISS is in a fixed low Earth orbit and travels at 28,000 km/hour, which means it takes just 90 minutes to complete an entire orbit of our planet.



An international crew of six people call ISS their home at any one time, spending several hours each per week, conducting in-depth research across various disciplines, ranging from space and physical sciences to biological and earth sciences, from the microgravity laboratory. Since the year 2000, the space station has been continually occupied, with over 220 people spending time there from 17 countries. Now, for the first time, an Emirati will join the crew on the space station, which will further cement the position of the UAE among the top space nations in the world.  TradeArabia News Service
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On February 26, FAW-Volkswagen officially launched its third sub-brand dubbed Jetta in Wolfsburg, Germany.

Adopting an all-new logo, the new brand will reportedly be introduced into China this year and will be sold and produced by FAW-Volkswagen. Besides, it plans to roll out three new models in 2019, including one sedan and two SUV models. The first model is going to hit the market in the third quarter of the year. Based on the Volkswagen Group MQB platform, two SUV models will draw some inspiration from SEAT models and boast the upgrade in car-borne connectivity function.

Vehicles under the new brand will be manufactured at FAW-Volkswagens plant in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, and is planned to target Chinas market at early stage. Capacity for the new brand will reach up to 500,000 units on an annual basis. Moreover, a welding workshop specifically designed for Jetta-branded models started production at the end of 2018.

The automaker will build an independent marketing system for Jetta with its sales team enlarged to 200 people in the future from 100. In 2019, the new sub-brand is ready to have over 200 sales dealers nationwide and two showrooms in Beijing. Meanwhile, Jetta is allowed to use the after-sale service system with the joint venture's Volkswagen brand.
Cross-border finance has become a new growth point of ICBC (Asia)

Cross-border finance is developing rapidly thanks to the opening up of Chinas capital market, opportunities brought by Belt and Road Initiative, and the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Take Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) as an example. ICBC (Asia) started its cross-border RMB business in 2013. By the end of 2017, the bank had established partnership with more than 500 enterprise customers, supported the settlement of near 20 currencies, processed more than CNY36 trillion RMB settlement, had more than CNY30 billion total deposit, and achieved double-digit growth in relevant businesses.

ICBC (Asia) is a licensed bank incorporated in Hong Kong and now has 57 retail outlets, serving as the flagship of overseas banking business of ICBC Group. The total assets of ICBC (Asia) amounted to HK$898.1 billion at the end of 2017. By persisting in the business strategy of Taking Root in Hong Kong, Connecting with Mainland China, Spanning Across Asia Pacific, and Facing the World, ICBC (Asia) seizes the favorable opportunities of Hong Kong being the offshore RMB centre, and keenly exploring RMB businesses and cross-border banking services. In the future, ICBC (Asia) will provide diverse low-cost, cross-border financing (covering IPO and bond issuing), all-around cross-border RMB, and cross-border assets management services to promote the establishment of global assets management platforms in Hong Kong.

Technologies serve businesses and create value

Cross-border finance is developing rapidly, and customers needs on Internet finance and new payment methods increase drastically. This brings great opportunities to ICBC (Asia)s cross-border finance business as well as challenges to ICBC (Asia)'s business systems and its ICT infrastructures. For example, customers may require the bank to deliver high-quality cross-border services in different modes.

By adhering to the objective of Technology Serving Business, Technology Creating Value ICBC (Asia) gradually explores a path to develop innovative applications using biometric recognition, blockchain, Big Data, AI, and cloud computing technologies. To better serve its customers, ICBC (Asia) understands customers need with providing VIP recognition service, precise sales and marketing strategies, customized products recommendation, and differential pricing. Smart risks prevention and control helps detecting transaction frauds, credit risks and operating risks. In addition, the "management dashboard" supports decision-making, abnormal capital flows warnings, incidents prevention and risks management.

In 2016, ICBC (Asia) started to plan and deploy innovative systems by using the latest ICT technologies like virtualization, Big Data, cloud computing, and DevOps. With the help of new architectures, ICBC (Asia) secured an advantageous position for future market competition. Based on ICBC (Asia)s business and technology development requirements, Huawei provided a number of cutting-edge solutions, such as the Digital Multimedia Banking Solution, the Safe Financial Cloud Solution, and the CloudFabric Cloud Data Center Network Solution.

Improving customer experience in cross-border finance

To address the cross-border service mode issue, ICBC (Asia) developed mVTM system based on Huawei's IP Contact Center (IPCC) Solution, allowing customers to have video conferences with their financial advisors via the ICBC(Asia) apps,and getting professional financial advice anytime and anywhere. The solution has many unique features, such as multimedia access, automated service processes, and an intelligent routing platform that can assign incoming calls to the most appropriate agents. With the above unique features, the IPCC will provide text messaging, voice call, and even video interaction services. This not only greatly improves customer experience, but also enables service back tracking to ensure the service provided fulfilled regulatory compliance.

In the future, ICBC (Asia) will develop a 24/7 omni-channel intelligent customer service system to answer customers' enquiries. This Chatbot system will be able to process voice commands in Mandarin, Cantonese (the principal language of Hong Kong), and English, improving ICBC (Asia)'s service operating efficiency and customer service quality.

Focusing on both security and agility

Banks are in constant pursuit of security and agility, while these two needs were somehow conflict in the past. Take document encryption and internet safety as examples, cyber-attacks threaten banks intranets and sensitive data while daily work data sharing to third party may lead to confidential information leakage that these will bring significant loss to both the bank and its customers. For this case, ICBC (Asia) worked with Huawei to improve employees' working experience and protect internal sensitive information security at the same time. Huawei is the only vendor in the industry to provide holistic ICT solutions that cover from desktop cloud protocol software, to virtualization software, servers, storage units, firewalls and networks. Huawei deployed more than 100,000 desktop cloud accounts internally, served 180,000 of its employees, and accrued extensive experience during the process.

With Huawei's assistance, ICBC (Asia) achieved fine-grained security management (by user, region, and resource), security authentication and verification, as well as sliced data transmission and storage. Huawei's comprehensive "Cloud-Pipe-Device-Control" security protection system improves service systems' reliability in management nodes and user connections. The new O&M system features rich functions and simplified wizard operations, maximizing O&M efficiency and lowering relevant costs.

ICBC (Asia) staffs can back up important files and data to Onebox regularly for easy data protection. This is the first trial of the cloud office infrastructure transformation which dramatically improved security and efficiency of ICBC (Asia)'s office works. In the near future, Huawei will use desktop virtualization technology to help ICBC (Asia) isolate browsers from service systems and the intranet from the Internet. This will effectively protect ICBC (Asia)s ICT systems from cyber-attacks and prevent disclosure of sensitive data (such as customer cross-border financing data and global assets data).

Building a strong neural network system

The growth of cross-border finance introduced higher requirements on the data storage reliability, data center network speed, and overall system stability. Statistics show that Chinas large commercial banks and insurance companies have an average of more than 100 TB data in their databases. To address the Internet finance challenge, financial institutions are now using data to drive business innovation. Data centers, once served banks as support centers, now shoulder the responsibilities of creating value and profits.

ICBC (Asia) built its service systems based on traditional data centres and classified service sectors by business, formulated complicated security strategies. The rapid increase of service types and capacities brings new requirements on flexible deployment, dispatching, migration, and management of service resource pools. The traditional network architecture becomes a choke point that hinders business development. ICBC (Asia) leverages standard, open network technologies, and new data centre architectures to set a solid foundation for a strong neural network system.

ICBC (Asia) breaks the constraint by replacing non-standard technologies. Its existing data centre and production backbone network used traditional solutions and closed private technologies like EIGRP and PVST+. At the network equipment aspect, Huawei provides CloudEngine, USG Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW), and other devices that feature open architectures, standard network control protocols, and standard interfaces.

At the controller aspect, Huawei deploys its Software Defined Network (SDN) controller and Agile Controller based on the open-source architectures, such as Open Network Operating System (ONOS) and OpenDaylight (ODL). ICBC (Asia) used Huaweis Agile Controller to replace its existing private network architecture and protocols. This protects ICBC (Asia) from vendor lock-in and allows more top-notch ICT companies to participate in the bank's network development. ICBC (Asia) is now able to access the OpenStack-based cloud platform, share computing resources and value-added services across data centers, enjoy multi-service convergence, and flexibly expand and upgrade its solution in the near future.

Based on existing equipment, Huawei developed the data center network that supports linkage with virtual platforms and evolution towards cloud-network collaboration. With Huawei's solution in place, ICBC (Asia) can upgrade its network and retain many of its legacy network devices. This maximizes the return on ICBC (Asia)'s historical investment, meeting the bank's requirements on long-term development.

Huaweis solution, based on the spine-leaf architecture, uses the Agile Controller and CE Series Switches to help ICBC (Asia) smoothly complete cloud computing evolution. The project is carried out phase by phase and will not involve mass software or hardware replacement. In the future, ICBC (Asia) can choose to reshape its data centre network and build an SDN. Should this happen, service systems will be able to share network hardware resources. That is to say, these systems will be logically isolated from each other to ensure security, and share IT resources to improve resource usage and service deployment efficiency.

Tang Bin, General Manager of IT department of ICBC (Asia), said that ICBC (Asia) recognized Huaweis technologies and product quality, and was satisfied with Huaweis support and service abilities. Huawei helped ICBC (Asia) build more open and stable ICT infrastructures, Tang Bin said, it allows the Banks business departments to work safer and easier. With Huaweis solution in place, ICBC (Asia) achieved a major breakthrough in the diversity of DC network products, laying a solid foundation for private cloud transformation in the future. ICBC (Asia) looks forward to more extensive cooperation with Huawei in cloud computing, Big Data, and other sectors.

ICBC (Asia) is using scientific innovation and the latest technology to drive business upgrades and development, and promote the extensive convergence of modern information technology, and banking business operations and development. Hong Kong is now actively developing FinTech. ICBC (Asia) will seize this opportunity, work hard to build its ICT systems into its core strength and important support in offering financial services. With Huawei's technological support, ICBC (Asia) is confident to achieve all-around improvement in management, services, and innovation, also to meet the increasing needs on customer services, internal management, and external regulatory compliance. ICBC (Asia) will continue its endeavor on improvement and strives to become your preferred bank in cross-border finance.

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Danville, IL (61832)

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Showers and thundershowers this evening followed by a few lingering showers overnight. Low near 70F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

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Showers and thundershowers this evening followed by a few lingering showers overnight. Low near 70F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
Columbia, MO (65201)

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Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies and rain overnight. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%..

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Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies and rain overnight. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.
Etisalat, one of the worlds leading telecom groups in emerging markets, and Huawei, a leading global provider of ICT infrastructure and smart devices, have announced a strategic partnership to deploy end-to-end 5G network in UAE in 2019.



The announcement was made during ongoing Mobile World Congress, being held in Barcelona, Spain, which kicked off on February 25 and will conclude on February 28.



This partnership is in line with Etisalats continuous efforts to enhance its digital experience and provide innovative solutions and services to its customers with the utilisation of its 5G network, said a statement.



Etisalat will be able to deliver innovative solutions and services targeting various sectors including education, healthcare, and transport among others. This will enable the use of advanced technologies, high-speed services, cutting-edge and innovative applications, it said.



As part of the agreement, Huawei will offer its latest state of the art network solutions including 5G wireless, 5G service oriented core and 5G ready transport network to facilitate smooth 5G technology adaption, it added.



Saeed Al Zarouni, senior vice president, Mobile Networks, said: Etisalat continues to focus on digital innovation to Drive the digital future to empower societies leading to investments in superior and state-of-the-art technology solutions on the network.



5G is considered a major enabler for the next generation of broadband service and the Internet of Things, which is growing exponentially due to the global adoption of connected devices, he said.



5G service availability will provide high data rates with ultra-low latency, providing unlimited access to all kinds of innovative applications and services and will drive efficiency and productivity to a wide range of business across industrial sectors of the UAE. With its implementation, there will be immense potential for future technologies like AI, robotics, advanced 4K gaming, AR and VR enhancing the overall digital experience for all consumers, he added.



Peng Xiongji, president of Huawei Etisalat Global Key Account, said: Etisalat and Huawei have been collaborating for over a decade to launch innovative technologies and services.



Building on our long-term relationship, Huawei is committed to supporting Etisalats 5G digital transformation. 5G offers great potential for Etisalat to offer enriched broadband experiences, new services and explore new B2B markets, he added.



Etisalats major achievement in deployment of 5G was the launch of the first commercial 5G network on C-band in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region in early May 2018.



The implementation of the 5G network will help transform an open cloud platform to allow much faster time to install new services to provide superior experience and reliability, it stated.  TradeArabia News Service
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The Pattee and Paterno Library opened its African American Literacies and the Underground Railroad exhibition on Feb. 11 in honor of Black History Month.

The exhibition is located on the first floor of the Pattee Library in the mall entrance case.

Rebecca Bayeck, a Blockson collection graduate assistant and dual Ph. D candidate in learning design and technology and comparative international education, researched, curated and put together this exhibition, inspired by her own curiosity and research, she said.

The name of the exhibition, African American Literacies and the Underground Railroad, was inspired by the unique ways African Americans had to communicate in the times of slavery and during the fight to freedom through the Underground Railroad.

Whenever you think of what literacy [is] we have usually this kind of traditional definition of literacy, which is literacy being to ability to read and write, but during that time they were not allowed to read or write, it was even forbidden, Bayeck said.

So Im using a more contemporary definition of literacies, the New London Group defines literacies as the ability to producing sense or producing meaning, so the different modes and means that you use to produce meaning, or to communicate.

Some of these methods of communication that are displayed in the exhibition are the use of drums, quilt patterns, songs and storytelling. These ways of communication were a kind of secret language used by African American slaves that only they could only understand, Bayeck said.

So these spiritual, gospel songs actually have this kind of double voiced-ness, so you will hear like the slave masters thought they were just singing, but it was a way of communicate among them, Bayeck said.

One of them that I remember off the top of my head is Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, so when they sung that it was for them to know, it was a secret code, to say, hey, get ready we are leaving....when you think about the songs meaning, but how they using it in that time to not only keep them alive, but also get them to the place where they felt like they wanted to go.

The exhibitions topic is set around the Underground Railroad because through it, this secret type of language was utilized in this period of seeking freedom.

The Underground Railroad is kind of a network of people that were leaving the enslaved South to go to the North where there was freedom, Bayeck said.

Nobody really knows when it started, so some historians say that maybe in the 1800s, something like 1806, but nobody really has a specific date for when it started.

One of the songs that was used to help direct people escaping enslavement was the Follow the Drinking Gourd, Bayeck said.

The lyrics of the song helped give directions through the journey from the South to the North.

The Gourd itself alludes to the stars of the big dipper, so they followed the stars to help direct them to the North as well as the position of moss that grew on dead trees, Bayeck said.

Bayeck said she is amazed by the creativity and intelligence these people had in such circumstances and wants to give insight to that in this exhibition.

So in their own way they knew astronomy or they had their own GPS...its still a mystery to me, but again Im just amazed, and this is a level of intelligence that's one thing that I feel like definitely needs to be captured out there that they may have been looked down upon, but these people were really extremely smart, Bayeck said.

Clara Drummond, curator and exhibitions coordinator in the special collections, said she was happy with how Bayeck was able to connect books to the story of the Underground Railroad.

People always think Oh they're just old books, they dont have voices, they dont speak, but what you [Bayeck] did so well in that exhibition was to bring out the voices in the books, to bring the stories that they tell to life, Drummond said.

Bayeck said she read and curated books and the materials used for the exhibition from Penn State Libraries Blockson collection of African-Americana and African Diaspora.

The display has a spot of information featuring Charles Blockson himself, a former Penn State student, who is an expert on the Underground Railroad and gifted Penn State with the Blockson collection that includes over 10,000 artifacts he collected.

Blockson started collecting books when he was a child when one of his teachers told him that black people dont have history upon asking her for information on their history in class.

What is really interesting is that the first book he collected was a book about the Underground Railroad and in that book he had a family member that was mentioned in that book and thats how he started collecting, Bayeck said.

This display does not only have close ties with Penn State because of the Blockson collection, but also because of the rich history the State College area has in relation to the Underground Railroad.

Sylvia A Owiny, a social sciences librarian at Penn State, helped contribute to the exhibition by providing Bayeck with some background information, including this local history.

In Bellefonte, there are four documented stops of the Underground Railroad, including a home of a white family that kept slaves who fled from the South in their basement safe from slave traders.

Bellefonte is very rich, these were really people they fought against slavery in their own ways because at times people just see one face, but not knowing that there were many people, both black and white, that really fought against slavery in different ways, Owiny said.

The African American Literacies and the Underground Railroad exhibit will continue to be on display until March 15.

I think one thing that I hope students will learn from the exhibit is smartness, intelligence, is not based on your ways, Bayeck said

So matter who you are, no matter where youre coming from you have something, you have something to give to the world, something to share with people.
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An employee scans a customer's purchases at a Walmart Inc. store in Secaucus, New Jersey, U.S., on Wednesday, May 16, 2018.

Walmart is changing its job requirements for front-door greeters in a way that will likely disproportionately affect workers with disabilities, according to a report by NPR.

The company reportedly plans to remove 1,000 greeter positions. Greeters with disabilities told the outlet they are expecting to lose their jobs on April 25 or 26.

The removal of greeter positions is making way for the company's new position of "customer hosts," which ups the physical job requirements. Workers must be able to lift up to 25 pounds, collect carts, and stand for long periods of time, according to NPR, which can be difficult for workers with disabilities or elderly employees.

The change is part of a 2016 plan and will be implemented by the end of April. It has reportedly already impacted 1,000 stores.

One Walmart employee said he's facing job loss after 10 years with the company, since he has trouble lifting the 25-pound requirement.

A spokesman for Walmart told CNBC on Tuesday that they will be extending the transition period for employees with disabilities.

"We've recently shared our plans to change the responsibilities of the people greeter role in some stores and that involves associates with disabilities in some cases," said spokesman Justin Rushing. "We recognize that our associates with physical disabilities face a unique situation. With that in mind, we will be extending the current 60-day greeter transition period for associates with disabilities while we explore the circumstances and potential accommodations, for each individual, that can be made within each store. This allows these associates to continue their employment at the store as valued members of the team while we seek an acceptable, customized solution for all of those involved."

NPR reported that several people are filing complaints against Walmart with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission along with one lawsuit. Reportedly all have been filed by employees with disabilities who lost jobs due to the requirement change.

The Americans With Disabilities Act allows for companies to change their job requirements but companies still have to make reasonable accommodations for workers on an individual basis.
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb on Tuesday blamed high drug prices in part on the "wacky" system where pharmaceutical companies discount their medications but patients don't see those savings.

Drugmakers negotiate discounts, known as rebates, with pharmacy benefit managers in order to secure a spot on their formularies. Employers typically use these rebates to lower premiums for employees across the board rather than giving them to the patients who are paying for the drugs.

"[Patients are] spending money to subsidize everyone else's premium," Gottlieb said in an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box." "The sick people are helping to subsidize the healthy people. That's not how insurance is supposed to work. So we've got a wacky system where the discounts aren't flowing to the people."

Lawmakers are set to grill executives from seven drugmakers  AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Pfizer and Sanofi  on Tuesday at a Senate Finance Committee hearing. They are sure to ask about high list prices. Drug companies say these prices are merely starting points and that few people really pay list price.

Rebates are a favorite target of drug companies, who say pharmaceutical benefit managers extract huge discounts but keep them for themselves instead of sharing the savings with patients. The PBMs say it's drugmakers alone who set high prices.

The Trump administration has proposed that PBMs pass on an estimated $29 billion in rebates to consumers. Gottlieb said that by removing the middlemen's payments, the administration hopes drugmakers will cut list prices for drugs.

He said lawmakers could come together on legislation to address high drug prices.

"I think we're seeing a consensus emerge in Washington for some kind of bipartisan action," he said.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in a separate interview said there's a "very good opportunity" for "bipartisan results and bipartisan legislation" to come out of the hearing.
U.S. trade negotiators hope to convince Beijing to lower tariffs on ethanol, putting American farmers in a position to capitalize on rising demand for the corn-based biofuel in China.

The Trump administration's trade team has made the request, but their Chinese counterparts have yet to respond, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told reporters on Tuesday.

"They are engaged in conversation, they listen and hear us, but we are at this stage unable to determine the willingness factor," Purdue said, according to a Reuters report.

China once represented a bright opportunity for American corn farmers and ethanol producers, but their prospects have faded in recent years.

In 2016, China was the third biggest market for U.S. ethanol, accounting for nearly 20 percent of U.S. exports and drumming up over $300 million in revenues, according the Renewable Fuels Association. But after two years of rising trade tensions, China took just 4 percent of U.S. ethanol exports in 2018, RFA says.

Trade first dropped off after China put a 30-percent charge on U.S. ethanol in 2017. Last year, China increased the tariff to 45 percent after the Trump administration put new duties on foreign aluminum and steel.

Under a new deal, Beijing would ideally set the import tax on ethanol below 15 percent, Perdue said on Tuesday.

That would potentially allow U.S. ethanol suppliers to take advantage of Beijing's plans to introduce E10  a gasoline blend containing 10 percent ethanol  across the country next year.

To achieve that goal, China needs to source 15 million tons of ethanol per year, a nearly sevenfold increase from the country's current consumption, according to IHS Markit. Today, China only has enough capacity to produce about 3 million tons per year.

Clearing a path for more U.S. biofuel exports would be a boon to President Donald Trump, who has had a tense relationship with the ethanol industry and agricultural states. The Trump administration has upset Big Corn by handing out hardship waivers to small refineries, which allow them to circumvent U.S. requirements to blend ethanol into gasoline.

The Trump administration has also considered changes to U.S. biofuel policy that ethanol producers worry would shrink domestic demand for their product.

Correction: This story has been revised to correct the dollar amount of U.S. ethanol exports to China in 2016. The correct amount is over $300 million.
Indian warplanes launched strikes on three militant camps that killed a "very large" number of fighters preparing an attack, in a move that worsens tensions with arch-rival Pakistan over disputed Kashmir, said media reports.



Pakistan's military earlier announced Indian jets had crossed into its airspace over the ceasefire line in the Himalayan region and dropped payloads, although it said there were no casualties.



The escalation comes in the wake of a suicide bombing that killed dozens of troops in Indian Kashmir and sent tensions soaring. New Delhi had vowed retaliation after a Pakistan-based militant group claimed the attack.



India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said the raid was launched on a camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) -- the group that claimed the Kashmir bombing -- because New Delhi believed suicide attacks in India were "imminent".



"A very large number of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen (suicide) action were eliminated," he told a media briefing.



Pakistan's military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted that the Indian Air Force had violated the Line of Control, the de facto border between Indian- and Pakistani-administered Kashmir.



Pakistan Air Force jets were scrambled in response to the incursion, he said.



"Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force (the Indian aircraft) released payload in haste while escaping near Balakot. No casualties or damage."



The Indian foreign secretary also said the camp was located in Balakot.



There was confusion among analysts over the location as Balakot town is in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir.



A strike that deep in Pakistani territory, and not in a disputed region like Kashmir, would be a major escalation, analysts said.



In a later tweet, however, the Pakistani spokesman said the incursion was "within AJ&K" - referring to the formal name of Pakistani Kashmir -- and just three to four miles over the LoC.



Ghafoor did not clarify what he meant by "payload", which can refer either to bombs and missiles, or more generally to items carried which are not needed for the aircraft to fly.



The military spokesman also tweeted images of what he said was the payload dropped by Indian planes, showing what appeared to be pieces of metal and displaced soil in a heavily forested area.



Private Indian broadcaster CNN News 18 said: "Top government sources said that there were nearly 200 casualties from the (Indian Air Force) strike."



No casualties have been reported in Pakistan.



New Delhi had threatened to retaliate after the February 14 attack, the deadliest in three decades in Kashmir, killed more than 40 Indian paramilitaries.



Top Indian government officials said that Tuesday's strike displayed the country's determination to act against Pakistan -- which New Delhi accuses of using militants as proxies against it.



"They say they want India to bleed with a 1000 cuts. We say that each time you attack us, be certain we will get back at you, harder and stronger," said foreign affairs minister of state, Vijay Kumar Singh, a former head of the Indian army.



Cabinet member Prakash Javadekar, the human resources minister, told journalists: "This is incredible. A necessary step for the country's security."



Islamabad has said it had nothing to do with the latest bombing in Kashmir, and has warned it will retaliate if attacked by India.



Pakistani military analyst Hasan Askari called Tuesday's incursion a "dangerous move".



"If such actions continue, it can escalate into major conflict, which will not serve any purpose but to plunge the region into serious crisis," he said.
Mike Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City, speaks to media after touring the Wind Technology program at Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny, Iowa, December 4, 2018.

U.S. President Donald Trump would be "quietly worried" if former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg ends up running for president in the 2020 elections, said former White House official Anthony Scaramucci.

Bloomberg has not declared his candidacy for the 2020 race, but fellow billionaire Warren Buffett told CNBC he would support the former New York mayor for president. Bloomberg, who served three terms as mayor for New York as a Republican and then an independent, registered as a Democrat last year.

"I think the one that the president would be quietly worried about ... would be the mayor, Mike Bloomberg," Scaramucci told CNBC's "Capital Connection" on Tuesday.

Scaramucci said Bloomberg has the "mental discipline" to handle possible challenges posed by Trump, who has in the past resorted to name-calling to throw off his political competitors.

"The president recognizes that [Bloomberg] has that New York toughness, he's very, very rich," said Scaramucci, who worked briefly as a former White House communications director under Trump. "Whoever runs against President Trump will have an internationally recognized nickname for the rest of their lives, so I think someone like Mike Bloomberg is prepared for that and has the mental discipline to handle it."
A worker at the t-shirt store of Truong Thanh Duc dry the newly printed t-shirts with the portraits of U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on February 21, 2019 in Hanoi, Vietnam. Linh Pham | Getty Images

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are meeting in Vietnam this week for the second time in less than a year, in a bid to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. But experts say they don't have high expectations from this week's meeting, set to take place in Hanoi on Wednesday and Thursday. Washington has demanded that Pyongyang abandon all its nuclear and missile programs, while North Korea wants crippling sanctions to be removed as part of denuclearization negotiations. "So far, North Korea seems only willing to take measures that limit its nuclear and missile capabilities, it has no indications that it wants to roll back or undercut its existing nuclear arsenal or missile arsenal," Tong Zhao, a fellow at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, told CNBC on Tuesday. However, the meeting will be timely for the two sides to negotiate some meaningful progress so that Pyongyang is held back from taking "risky and destabilizing nuclear postures," said Zhao. Measures that could yield some results include capping further development of nuclear weapons, he told CNBC. "The only way that North Korea can be reassured about its own security is for the U.S.-(North Korea) bilateral relationship to be fundamentally transformed from a hostile one to a friendly one," said Zhao.

Denuclearization

Following their historic meeting in Singapore last June, key issues remain: The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, as well as sanctions on Pyongyang which have taken a toll on the North's economy. "I don't think the two sides are close at all in terms of what they mean by denuclearization," said Zachary Abuza, a Professor at the National War College. He added that U.S. intelligence has shown that Pyongyang continued its development of nuclear arms and the systems to deliver those weapons after their last meeting. North Korea conducted its last nuclear test in September 2017 and last tested an intercontinental ballistic missile in November 2017. "For any arms control to really work effectively, we have to have a full inventory of what they have, their different labs and it's very hard to see the North Koreans actually coming clean and revealing all this to the United States," said Abuza. "We might get some very vague commitment in terms of their commitment to denuclearization but actual reversal of their program and dismantling of it is very unlikely," he said.

Iran nuclear deal

Complicating the picture is the fact that Washington pulled out of the nuclear deal with Iran which the previous U.S. administration under Barack Obama brokered. "If you're in the North Korea position, and you see Americans walking away from a commitment that they signed very quickly and (are) willing to do so unilaterally without the support of their key European allies, that should send very clear signals to the North Korean advisors to Kim Jong Un, that anything they sign with the United States might not be held long," said Abuza. With the North Koreans watching U.S. political developments, it's important that Trump gets bipartisan support for any agreement he reaches with Kim, said Abuza, adding that the deal will also need the support of North Korea's allies China and Russia, as well as neighboring Japan and South Korea.

Ending the Korean War
The Senate Finance Committee's probe into high drug prices won't stop at pharmaceutical companies, Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley told CNBC on Tuesday.

The Iowa Republican spoke hours before his committee members get a chance to grill executives from seven drugmakers  AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Pfizer and Sanofi. Grassley said there needs to be more transparency about how drug prices are set.

"I think there is not enough information available about how prices are arrived at," Grassley said on "Squawk Box." "There seems to be a great deal of secrecy. For me, on a lot of legislative issues, particularly my oversight works, transparency brings accountability, so we need to get some transparency into it."

He wants explanations on how list prices are set for drugs and what's actually being paid for the drugs. Pharmaceutical companies negotiate discounts, called rebates, with pharmacy benefit managers. Rebates are a favorite target of the pharmaceutical industry, which blames PBMs on hoarding the savings instead of passing them on to patients.

Grassley said the committee's investigation won't stop with drugmakers and will include PBMs, as well as other players in the supply chain.

On Tuesday, six CEOs and one top executive will appear before the committee: AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez, AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot, Bristol-Myers Squibb CEO Giovanni Caforio, Johnson & Johnson's Janssen unit Executive Vice President Jennifer Taubert, Merck CEO Ken Frazier, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and Sanofi CEO Olivier Brandicourt.

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb shares Grassley's concerns about rebates, telling "Squawk Box the "wacky" system keeps prices high for patients at the pharmacy counter.

Grassley and ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., earlier this month invited seven of the largest pharmaceutical companies to testify about drug prices. Grassley stepped down as chairman of the judiciary committee after the 2018 election in order to head the finance committee with the stated goal of tackling drug prices.

Last week, the chairman and Wyden launched a bipartisan probe into insulin prices. The pair sent letters to the three leading insulin manufacturers, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi, asking their executives to explain why prices for diabetes drug prices have soared dramatically in recent years.

"He is somebody who has been as a Republican the go-to guy on prescription drug reform," said former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D. "He has been willing in the past to sit down and actually introduce bipartisan legislation."

Earlier this month, Grassley joined with Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to reintroduce the Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples (CREATES) Act, which would allow generic drug makers to go to court to obtain samples for developing biosimilar drugs, or copycat versions of complex biologic treatments. Last fall, he also co-sponsored drug pricing bills with Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill. Klobuchar is among those running for president in a crowded Democratic field.

"Republicans are angry. Democrats are angry  it's really everyone at this point," said Ipsita Smolinski, managing director at Capitol Street, a health policy consultancy. She added that pharmaceutical companies "are very aware of the environment."

Health care was the top issue for voters in the 2018 election. While Democrats and Republicans remain divided when it comes to the Affordable Care Act, Medicare for All and other health insurance policies, analysts say drug prices are one area where there is increasing bipartisanship.

Wells Fargo analyst David Maris sees a possibility of bipartisan regulatory and legislative action on drug prices this year as a real threat for the drug industry.

"The Republican Party is really interested in this topic, more so than they've been in previous cycles," Maris said. "There's a new openness on both sides. A lot of that has to do with the president and his administration trying to attack root causes."

Correction: This story was revised to correct that the Senate hearing is Tuesday.
The president of Silicon Valley's most prominent start-up incubator says that artificial intelligence will probably replace most of the jobs people do today, but should pave the way for more personalized jobs and a massive increase in "material abundance" that could boost the size of the global GDP by 50 percent a year within decades.

Sam Altman is the leader of Y Combinator, and has also been engaged with projects to predict and shape the long-term future of technology.

Speaking at the New York Times' New Work Summit on Monday night, Altman's optimism about the future of AI was striking after a couple years in which Silicon Valley's best known companies have been blamed for everything from violating user privacy and supporting oppressive regimes to a profound lack of diversity.

But optimism has always been a defining feature of tech start-up culture  nobody creates a successful business without a profound belief in themselves and the future  so it's not surprising that Altman exhibited that spirit.

"Entire classes of jobs will go away and not come back," Altman said at the event, which was held in Half Moon Bay, California. "Human radiologists are already much worse than computer radiologists. If I had to pick a human or an AI to read my scan, I'd pick the AI."

However, Altman remains extremely confident about the future if we actually do create "super-intelligence" with AI. Altman cited something that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told him some years ago:

"There is in some true sense right now  we don't have nearly enough people for all the jobs," Altman said. "It'd be great if every student had an individual teacher. It would be great if every time you go into a doctor's office you'd never be waiting. I do think we'll see a lot more jobs like that. Sort of human to human jobs."

In addition to these more meaningful jobs, Altman suggests we could see an "almost unimaginable" increase in material goods, reflected in gross domestic product.

"We have to be ready for a world where global GDP goes up 50 percent a year for a couple of decades," he said. "So there will be less jobs but the amount of global wealth will just skyrocket. There's a lot of things we have to figure out, how people find meaning, community, but a lack of material abundance will not be a problem."

When pressed whether AI still had a dark side, Altman acknowledged the dangers, but emphasized the positive aspects.

"It can be great, we have the potential to eliminate poverty, solve climate change, cure a huge amount of human disease, educate everyone in the world phenomenally well."

Altman was an early participant in OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research project funded by Elon Musk and other tech luminaries. They were concerned about the possible dangers of AI and wanted to ensure that research on the subject would be shared and published rather than hoarded by big companies like Google. He's also been a proponent of universal basic income, the idea that the government should pay everybody a set amount to cover basic living costs as technology eats into jobs.

WATCH: Important we upgrade AI capabilities in all sectors, says former Obama Chief Tech Officer
Michael Cohen, former personal lawyer to U.S. President Donald Trump, arrives to a House Oversight Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019.

President Donald Trump is in Vietnam to hold nuclear talks with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, so it will be up to his Republican allies on Capitol Hill to defend him in hearings with his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.

With Cohen expected to tell lawmakers this week about alleged criminal conduct committed by Trump while in office, GOP lawmakers plan to push back on his claims by attacking Cohen's credibility and trustworthiness.

Cohen, 52, is set to head to prison for a three-year sentence starting in May, after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations and criminal tax evasion brought by federal prosecutors in Manhattan, as well as a charge of lying to Congress lodged by special counsel Robert Mueller as part of his ongoing Russia probe.

But before his incarceration, Cohen will appear before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday for a public hearing, where he will reportedly share evidence alleging that Trump committed criminal conduct since becoming president.

Cohen will also discuss Trump's finances, including Trump's alleged involvement in a hush-money deal brokered by Cohen before the 2016 election to silence porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims she had a brief affair with Trump years earlier, a source with knowledge of Cohen's preparations told NBC News. Trump denies the affair.

Cohen will also testify behind closed doors before the Intelligence Committees of the Senate and House on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.

Democrats on the committees are reportedly expected to grill Cohen on a variety of topics over the course of the week, including Mueller's probe of Russian election interference and possible Trump-campaign collusion. That could encompass the scrapped Trump Tower Moscow dealings or the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer.

"He's the only person that I know of who has accused this president of a crime," House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said of Cohen. "And so I think it's only fair to the president and to Michael Cohen and to the public that he come forward so that they'll have an opportunity to observe his demeanor, Republicans will be able to ask him questions, just like in a cross examination, and then they can make their own judgments."

His committee's Republican members, however, aren't planning on learning much of anything from Cohen.

Rather, the panel's GOP members are mainly poised to attack Cohen's credibility during the Wednesday hearing, a congressional aide familiar with the committee's minority told CNBC.

Those lawmakers are likely to highlight the Southern District of New York's sentencing memo in Cohen's case, the aide said, in which prosecutors challenged the former Trump Organization executive's defense that he had cooperated extensively with law enforcement and had reformed his outlook.

"For all of Cohen's outward rectitude, he has lived a double life," prosecutors argued in that memo. "While Cohen has submitted letters describing his good nature, the evidence collected and witnesses interviewed in this investigation paint a decidedly different picture  a picture of someone who was threatening and abusive when he wanted to get his way."

The Republicans will further argue that Cohen's presence before the committee in a public hearing  among the first such events since Democrats took majority control in January  damages the credibility of the panel.

"Cummings promised us fact-based oversight, and we're bringing in a convicted felon," the aide said. "It kind of makes us not have as much credibility as we started out with."

The aide added that the minority panel wasn't especially interested in probing new facts from Cohen, whom they sought to establish as not credible. "As far as GOP members gleaning new information from Mr. Cohen, he's someone that we don't really trust and we can't really believe anything that he has to say," the aide said.

After FBI agents raided Cohen's properties in April, Trump decried the treatment of his once-loyal fixer, tweeting at the time that Cohen was "a fine person with a wonderful family" who "I have always liked & respected."

But after Cohen cut a deal with prosecutors, Trump's view of him soured.

Trump TWEET If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don't retain the services of Michael Cohen!

In December, Trump tweeted that Cohen was a "Rat" who was "just trying to get his sentence reduced."

There were no insults or denunciations from Trump's Twitter account when Cohen arrived on Capitol Hill for his first closed-door testimony Tuesday morning, however. Trump had just arrived in Vietnam for a meeting in Hanoi with Kim.

Hopes are high that Trump's second summit with Kim could push the ball forward on denuclearizing the isolated state or possibly lead to a declaration that formally ends the 1950-53 Korean War.

Trump TWEET Meeting for breakfast with our Nation's Governors - then off to Vietnam for a very important Summit with Kim Jong Un. With complete Denuclearization, North Korea will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse. Without it, just more of the same. Chairman Kim will make a wise decision!

With Trump himself focused on Kim, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement bashing Cohen before his Senate testimony.

"Disgraced felon Michael Cohen is going to prison for lying to Congress and making other false statements. Sadly, he will go before Congress this week and we can expect more of the same," Sanders said in a statement. "It's laughable that anyone would take a convicted liar like Cohen at his word, and pathetic to see him given yet another opportunity to spread his lies."

The Senate committee's GOP majority echoed that stance ahead of Cohen's hearing.

Manu Raju TWEET Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr on what he wants to hear from Michael Cohen, and he said: "The truth." Asked if he could trust Cohen, and Burr noted Cohen's questionable track record.

 CNBC's Dan Mangan contributed to this report.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) said it has signed three framework agreements with leading Korean energy companies Korea Gas Corporation (Kogas), Korea National Oil Company (KNOC) and GS Energy, an independent Korean energy company.



The agreements will explore upstream exploration and production opportunities, potential downstream investments and bunkering opportunities for both crude oil and liquified natural gas (LNG), said a statement from Adnoc.



The announcement comes during the official Korean visit of HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.



Kogas, the worlds second largest buyer of LNG, has conducted a feasibility study on LNG bunkering at Fujairah port in the northern emirate.



KNOC, which has a 30 per cent stake in Adnocs Al Dhafra Petroleum company, is seeking to increase oil storage in Korea by 24 million barrels until 2025; while GS Energy, an independent Korean energy company, boasts a 10 percent stake in Al Dhafra Petroleum and 3 per cent stake in Adnoc Onshore.



The agreements were signed by Dr Sultan bin Ahmad Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of State and Adnoc Group CEO, and Kogas CEO Kim Young Doo; KNOC CEO Yang Su Yeong and GS Energy CEO Huh Yongsoo.



Commenting on the deals, Dr Al Jaber said: "The UAE, Abu Dhabi and Adnoc have enjoyed excellent business relationships with Korea and the growing links between Adnoc and Korean companies are a testament to the depth and importance of those relationships, which the leadership of the UAE is keen to enhance."



"Our discussion explored domestic and international growth opportunities across a range of areas, including oil and LNG bunkering, meeting the Koreas growing energy demands and attracting investment to our expanding upstream exploration and development operations and our downstream and gas expansion plans," he stated.



"As we successfully deliver our 2030 smart growth strategy, we will continue to work with partners who enable us to unlock and maximize value, contribute technology and help us secure access to the new centers of global demand," he added.



South Korea was the worlds eighth-largest energy consumer in 2017. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), it imported about three million b/d of crude oil and condensate, making it the fifth-largest importer in the world.



It is highly dependent on the Middle East for its oil supply, and the region accounted for more than 82 percent of its 2017 crude oil imports, of which 11 per cent was supplied by Adnoc.



As part of Koreas efforts to become a major liquids storage and trading hub in northeastern Asia, KNOC, through joint ventures with other firms, has been building the countrys first commercial terminals for crude oil and petroleum products at Yeosu and Ulsan, which will hold a total capacity of 36.6 million barrels.



The company operates nine state-run strategic storage facilities with 146 million barrels of capacity. As of March 2018, KNOC held 96 million barrels of strategic reserves, and about 27 million barrels of inventories are stored as international stockpiles under agreements between the Republic of Korea and other governments.-TradeArabia News Service
Pakistani residents walk on a bridge in the mountainous area of Balakot where the Indian Air Force (IAF) launched a raid, on February 26, 2019.

Indian jets conducted air strikes against a militant camp in Pakistani territory on Tuesday, India's foreign secretary said, and a Indian government source said 300 militants had been killed, but Pakistan denied there had been any casualties.

The airstrikes hit a training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), the group that claimed credit for a suicide car bomb attack killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir on Feb. 14, ratcheting up tensions between the two nuclear armed neighbors.

The action was ordered as India said it had intelligence that Jaish was planning more attacks.

"In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary," Vijay Gokhale, India's top diplomat, told reporters.

"The existence of such training facilities, capable of training hundreds of jihadis could not have functioned without the knowledge of the Pakistani authorities," Gokhale said.

Pakistan denies harbouring JeM, a primarily anti-India group that forged ties with al Qaeda and has been on a UN terror list since 2001. In December 2001, Jaish fighters, along with members of another Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, launched an attack on India's parliament, which almost resulted in the two countries going to war for a fourth time.

Gokhale said "a very large number" of militants were killed in a strike on a training base in Balakot, a town in a remote valley in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, but did not provide a precise figure for the casualties.

The commander of the camp was Maulana Yusuf Azhar, a brother-in-law of JeM leader Masood Azhar, Gokhale said.

A senior Indian government source said that 300 militants had been killed in the strikes. But no details were provided.

Pakistan downplayed the severity of airstrike, saying its own warplanes had chased off the Indian aircraft, which had released their "payload" in a forested area, causing no casualties and no serious material damage.

"Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzaffarabad sector," Pakistani military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said on Twitter early on Tuesday, referring to an area in the Pakistan-held part of Kashmir.

Tweet: Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage.

Tweet: Payload of hastily escaping Indian aircrafts fell in open

Ghafoor said "facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force", the Indian aircraft "released payload in haste, while escaping, which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage".

Saying that more information would be released, Ghafoor tweeted four pictures of the alleged site where Indian aircraft dropped a payload near Balakot, purportedly showing a bomb crater in a forest area but no serious damage.

Pakistani villagers in the area where the Indian jets struck said they heard four loud bangs in the early hours of Tuesday but reported only one person was wounded.

"We saw fallen trees and one damaged house, and four craters where the bombs had fallen," said Mohammad Ajmal, a 25-year-old who visited the site.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Tuesday that "better sense" should prevail, warning India not to challenge Pakistan.

While Gokhale did not comment on the status of the camps, India's minister of state for agriculture, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, said on Twitter on Tuesday they had been "completely destroyed".

Indian television networks reported the airstrikes took place at 3.30 am.

Mohammed Iqbal, a resident of Mendhar, on the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC), told Reuters that he heard jets flying through the night.

Balakot is about 50 km (30 miles) from LoC, the ceasefire line that is the de facto border in Kashmir, a Himalayan region that has been the cause of two of the three wars India and Pakistan have fought since the end of British colonial rule in 1947.

Analysts have alleged Pakistani militants have their training camps in the area, although Pakistan has always denied the presence of any such camps.
A truck used to carry sand for fracking is washed in a truck stop in Odessa, Texas. Getty Images

Oil futures steadied on Tuesday on signs that OPEC plans to maintain production cuts despite pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, whose comment criticizing rising crude prices sent the market into a tailspin a day earlier. Prices slid on Monday, when many traders were out of the office attending International Petroleum Week, a series of industry events in London, after Trump called on OPEC to ease its efforts to boost the oil market. Prices were "getting too high," the president said. An OPEC source told Reuters on Tuesday OPEC would stick to its agreement to tighten crude supplies regardless of Trump's recent tweet. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude ended Tuesday's session roughly flat, settling 2 cents higher at $55.50. WTI plunged more than 3 percent in the previous session.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose 45 cents, or just over a half percent, to $65.21 on Tuesday. Brent lost 3.5 percent on Monday. "The market has started to realize that Donald Trump can't tweet more oil out of the ground, or out of OPEC," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. "OPEC really wants to get the supplies ... back in line," Flynn said. Oil is up about 20 percent since the start of the year, when OPEC and non-member producers, such as Russia, began cutting production in an effort to reduce a global glut. The OPEC source said the cartel, along with non-member producers, would continue its supply-cut agreement to balance the market until they see inventories fall to their five-year average. "There is no doubt we will continue with our reduction as planned," the OPEC source said. The so-called OPEC+ alliance agreed in December to cut supply by 1.2 million barrels per day from Jan. 1 for six months. U.S. sanctions against OPEC members Iran and Venezuela have also contributed to gains and are providing a floor for prices, analysts say.
More details are emerging about a production partnership between Netflix and Barack and Michelle Obama.

The company, called Higher Ground Productions, is already staffed by veterans of MTV, ESPN and FX Networks and will produce projects that empower "new and diverse voices." The Obamas announced last year they signed a multiyear deal with Netflix for scripted and unscripted films and series.

Priya Swaminathan and Tonia Davis will serve as co-heads of the company, joined by creative executive Qadriyyah "Q" Shamsid-Deen.

"They're masterful storytellers. They're veterans in the industry. And they not only bring their unique perspectives and life experiences to every project, but they're committed to finding new voices who have their own stories to tell," President Barack Obama said in a statement. "Michelle and I couldn't be more excited about the team we're assembling."

"Our goal isn't just to make people thinkwe want to make people feel and reach outside of their comfort zone," Michelle Obama said in the statement. "With their thoughtfulness, creativity and empathy, we know that Priya, Tonia and Q will find the common thread within every story to inspire us to be something more. I'm thrilled about this team as professionalsand as people. They're wonderful."

WATCH: How streaming companies are battling for your living room
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump where they will try to reach an agreement on a North's Korean pledge to give up its nuclear weapons program.

Trump is due to arrive in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, on Tuesday evening.

Trump will meet Kim for a brief one-on-one conversation on Wednesday evening, followed by a social dinner, at which they will each be accompanied by two guests and interpreters, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters on Air Force One.

She said that would be followed by more meetings between the two leaders on Thursday.

Their talks come eight months after their historic summit in Singapore, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.

While there is no real expectation that the second meeting will bring a final deal on ridding North Korea of nuclear weapons that threaten the United States, there are some hopes it could lead to a declaration that the 1950-53 Korean War is at last formally over.
Pro-EU supporters outside the British Parliament buildings in London on Dec. 12, 2018. Mike Newberg | CNBC

British Prime Minister Theresa May has promised U.K. lawmakers a vote on delaying the U.K.'s exit from the European Union, if her Brexit divorce agreement is rejected again next month. May made a statement to MPs Tuesday afternoon, saying they will be given a chance to vote on a no-deal Brexit or delaying the U.K.'s departure. These votes will only come if they reject her withdrawal deal at a vote on March 12. It means the U.K. will only leave the EU on March 29 without a deal if lawmakers vote for that option. It therefore reduces the possibility of the U.K. crashing out of the bloc, but does introduce a new layer of uncertainty and complexity into the proceedings. Earlier on Tuesday, May held a meeting with her cabinet following media reports that she was "ready to rule out" a no-deal departure from the EU on March 29. British newspaper The Daily Mail reported early Tuesday that "a group of 23 dissidents met secretly at the (House of) Commons last night to discuss how to stop Britain leaving the EU without an agreement on March 29, with as many as 15 said to be ready to resign." Three of the ministers cited by the newspaper said they are prepared to back a move by MPs  in key parliamentary votes on Brexit on Wednesday  to force the prime minister to seek a delay to the U.K.'s departure if her parliament has not approved a deal by March 13 - a day after parliament is due to have a "meaningful vote" on whether or not to approve May's Brexit deal. WATCH: Brexit explained: What you need to know about the UK's big gamble

Labour demands

May is not only facing ultimatums from members of her own Cabinet but from the opposition Labour party too, ahead of parliamentary votes on "amendments" to May's Brexit deal taking place Wednesday  and which could determine the direction Brexit takes next. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn made the shock announcement Monday evening that the party would back an another Brexit referendum if it's own proposals for what form Brexit should take are rejected. Corbyn said Labour would "put forward or support an amendment in favor of a public vote" to prevent what he called "a damaging Tory Brexit being forced upon the country," he said in a statement released by Labour. He also said that the party would back an amendment, being proposed by Labour's Yvette Cooper and Conservative Oliver Letwin, that would force the prime minister to delay Britain's departure from the EU if parliament has not approved a deal by mid-March, taking a 'no deal' departure on March 29 off the table. This amendment is widely seen as allowing parliament to take control of Brexit as it gives MPs a say on whether the U.K. can leave the EU without a deal. Lastly, Corbyn said Labour will again be tabling an amendment in favor of its own alternative (and already proposed) Brexit plan for a "comprehensive customs union" and "close alignment" with the single market. Amendments are expected to be tabled by a handful of members of parliament (MPs) and parties and are essentially proposals on what they think should happen next in the Brexit process. It gives MPs the chance to influence government policy and if enough of them approve or reject an amendment, can essentially force the government's hand on the course of Brexit. Experts say parliament is getting jittery about the direction Brexit is taking just four weeks ahead of the departure date and a "meaningful vote" (parliament's vote on May's Brexit deal) on March 12. "Although May has promised MPs another vote on the deal by 12 March, her move has failed to halt the momentum towards the (House of) Commons seizing the initiative to rule out a no-deal exit," Mujtaba Rahman, managing director of Europe at Eurasia Group, said in a note Monday. "Many Tory MPs who have previously given May the benefit of the doubt until now are increasingly worried about a cliff-edge departure and ready to allow Parliament to seize control of the Brexit process," he noted, saying that there was a "very real prospect" that MPs will support the amendment proposed by Cooper and Letwin to force May to seek an extension of the deadline to 'Article 50' (the EU departure process). "May might yet be forced to swallow a referendum to keep her deal alive, despite her strong opposition to the idea," Rahman noted, adding that as time runs short, even the most euroskeptic MPS are keen to avoid a "no-deal" Brexit.

No no-deal
It's going to be "a while" before self-driving cars become mainstream, the CEO of Arm Holdings told CNBC Tuesday. "It is a phenomenally hard problem to anticipate what a car could do under absolutely any set of circumstances," Simon Segars, who was speaking at CNBC's Karen Tso at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, added. "I think you're going to start to see early services, in quite a constrained way, quite soon over the next couple of years," he added, explaining that there was "some way to come" before the technology was "completely mainstream." Over the last few years, the development of technology has led to several trial runs of autonomous vehicles.

In August 2018, for example, the Hyundai Motor announced that the first journey by an autonomous truck on a South Korean highway had taken place. The firm's Xcient truck, which has a maximum load capacity of 40 tons, drove around 40 kilometers between Uiwang and Incheon.



The vehicle used an autonomous driving system that allowed it to accelerate, decelerate, steer and maneuver through traffic without needing input from a human, although one was on board to take control as and when required.



Back in Barcelona, Arm Holdings' Segars gave an insight into the technology required for autonomous vehicles.



"Self-driving cars have  racks of servers in them, that's great for prototyping, but if you want to make millions of them then you've got to shrink it down, so there has to be a pathway to get all of that technology into very low cost, very power efficient chips."
Having spent over two decades at Microsoft, which led to him heading up the software giant in 2014, CEO Satya Nadella has had a lot of time to discover what it means to be a good leader. Speaking at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona this week, Nadella explained how he has refined his thoughts on good leadership down to three main areas. And for the CEO, he not only looks for this level of leadership in those he works with, but in himself too  something he admits is not always easy to maintain every day. Here are the three traits that Nadella looks for in a leader:

1) Provide clarity

In times of crisis or chaos, the people who are often looked up to, are those who are able to offer clarity and help ease a difficult situation.

Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella (R) and Daimler AG and Mercedes Benz chairperson Dieter Zetsche (C) hold a panel discussion at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona on February 25, 2019. LLUIS GENE | AFP | Getty Images

"Leaders have this amazing, uncanny capability of bringing clarity into a situation where none exists," he said during a keynote Monday. "You can't call yourself a leader by coming into a situation that is by nature uncertain, ambiguous  and create confusion," he stated in Barcelona, adding that to be a leader, you "have to create clarity, where none exists." In the past, Nadella has highlighted that this is the "most important attribute" that any kind of leader should have, yet it can often be underestimated.

2) Generate energy

While offering precision and clarity is extremely useful in times of uncertainty, it's not the only attribute a leader should embody. For Microsoft's chief executive, having genuine passion and enthusiasm for what you do will be important when pursuing leadership qualities. "Leaders create energy," Nadella said Monday, adding that if a person comes up to you and says "'I'm great, my team is great, everybody else around me sucks.' That person is not a leader." "You have to create energy all around you," said Nadella, building upon comments he made in Chicago last year, where he explained that you have to "be at your evangelical best. You have got to have followership all around you."

3) Drive success  in any condition
Michael Cohen, former personal lawyer to U.S. President Donald Trump, center, arrives to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee in Washington, DC, U.S., on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019.

President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen is expected to tell lawmakers this week about alleged criminal conduct Trump committed while in office, NBC News reported, citing a knowledgeable source.

Cohen starts a three-day gauntlet of congressional appearances on Tuesday by giving a closed-door interview to the Senate Intelligence Committee. He is expected to detail what he claims to know about Trump's contacts with Russia, hush payments made before the 2016 election and other sensitive matters.

Cohen arrived on Capitol Hill on Tuesday morning just as Air Force One delivered Trump to Vietnam, where the president was set to hold high-stakes talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, adding more of a symbolic charge to an already historic moment.

Cohen is expected to provide evidence of alleged criminal conduct by Trump since he became president, NBC News said. In addition to his testimony, Cohen will reveal information about Trump's financial statements, according to NBC, citing a source who declined to be named.

The former Trump lawyer and fixer, who is slated to report to federal prison May 6, will also testify in a closed-door hearing with the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday. The main event of the week will happen Wednesday, however, as Cohen is scheduled to testify in public before the House Oversight Committee.

The White House pre-emptively trashed Cohen's testimony, calling him a "disgraced felon."

"Sadly, he will go before Congress this week and we can expect more of the same," Trump press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. "It's laughable that anyone would take a convicted liar like Cohen at his word, and pathetic to see him given yet another opportunity to spread his lies."

In his testimony , Cohen is prepared to describe behind-the-scenes anecdotes about Trump that include lies, racism and cheating as a private businessman when Cohen worked for him for 10 years, NBC News said, citing the source.

Likewise, Cohen plans to tell lawmakers that Trump asked him several times about a proposed skyscraper project in Moscow long after he secured the Republican presidential nomination, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Cohen's assertion that Trump was inquiring about the project as late as June 2016, if true, would show Trump remained personally interested in a business venture in Russia well into his candidacy. Cohen, scheduled to report to prison in May after pleading guilty to charges including lying to Congress, has already said he briefed Trump on the project in June 2016.

WATCH: Trump underreported payments to Cohen in official disclosures
Republican Mark Harris will not run in a special U.S. House election in North Carolina brought about by allegations of election fraud against an operative his campaign employed last year, he announced Tuesday.

The pastor cited his health in declining to run for Congress again in North Carolina's 9th District. Harris said he has a "necessary surgery" scheduled in March. He has suffered from health issues, including a blood infection in January. Harris appeared weary during four days of hearings last week on voting irregularities.

"Given my health situation, the need to regain full strength, and the timing of this surgery the last week of March, I have decided not to file in the new election for Congressional District 9," he said in a statement Tuesday.

Democrat Dan McCready, who trailed Harris in November's general election before the state ordered a new race, has already declared his candidacy in the special election. The North Carolina State Board of Elections has not yet set new dates for primary or special elections. The 9th District race is the country's last undecided House contest from last year.

The accusations of absentee-ballot tampering against McCrae Dowless, who worked for the Harris campaign, could have dragged on the pastor's campaign in a new election. In announcing he will not run, Harris endorsed Union County Commissioner Stony Rushing for the seat.

The nonpartisan elections handicapper Cook Political Report considers the district a toss-up.

The state elections board unanimously ordered a new election on Thursday. Earlier that day, Harris surprisingly called for another race after his lawyers argued North Carolina should certify his victory. It followed testimony from Harris' son, who said he warned the candidate against hiring Dowless.

"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," the elder Harris said on Thursday.

The North Carolina race has reignited conversation about fraud in U.S. elections. Asked about the North Carolina race last week, Trump said he condemns fraud "of any kind, whether it's Democrat or Republican." He again pointed, without evidence, to a claim that a "million fraudulent votes" were cast in California.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell used the North Carolina race to criticize Democrats on Tuesday. He conflated the election fraud allegations against Dowless  which involved people who work for him collecting and sending in empty or incomplete absentee ballots  with fraud carried out by the voters themselves.

"We were hit with left-wing talking points insisting that voter fraud wasn't real. 'Never happens,' they said. That fraud just didn't happen," McConnell said. "That modest efforts to ensure that voters are who they say they are and are voting in a proper place were really some sinister right-wing plot to prevent people from voting."

Democrats have indeed criticized Republican voter identification efforts as an effort to disenfranchise Americans, particularly minority voters. A federal appeals court struck down one GOP voter identification law in North Carolina in 2016, which it said would "target African-Americans with almost surgical precision." The Supreme Court declined to reinstate it in 2017.

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"What happened in New York with the movement led by AOC is disgraceful and wrong," Cooperman, who was born in the Bronx, told CNBC's Leslie Picker from the Forbes SHOOK Top Advisor Summit on Tuesday. AOC refers to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY. "We have to make sure the country does not move to the left."

Leon Cooperman , a billionaire investor and the founder of Omega Advisors, is worried the U.S. may be steering too far left, especially after Amazon opted against opening a second headquarters in New York City.

Earlier this month, Amazon scrapped its plans to open its so-called HQ2 amid opposition from local leaders. The opposition mainly revolved around the nearly $3 billion in incentives the city and state promised Amazon if the multibillion-dollar company set up shop in Long Island City, a neighborhood in Queens.

One of those opponents was Ocasio-Cortez. In November, Ocasio-Cortez said in a series of tweets: "Amazon is a billion-dollar company. The idea that it will receive hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks at a time when our subway is crumbling and our communities need MORE investment, not less, is extremely concerning to residents here."

Tweet

Cooperman's comments come as the issue of wealth inequality gains steam at a national level. Several lawmakers, including presidential hopefuls Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, are pushing for higher taxes on the wealthy.

"What we have is a bunch of candidates running on the Democratic ticket that are left-leaning, and that's, in my opinion, very counterproductive and destructive," said Cooperman, who has signed The Giving Pledge, meaning he agreed to donate most of his wealth to charitable causes.

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Correction: A previous version of this story mistakenly said Ocasio-Cortez's district included Long Island City.
Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Steel has achieved Dh7.5 billion ($2.04 billion) in revenue in 2018, an increase of 15 per cent as compared to Dh6.6 billion ($1.8 billion) in 2017.



Emirates Steel is the only integrated steel plant in the UAE, and a subsidiary of the General Holding Corporation (Senaat).



In addition, Emirates Steel has delivered an incredible 44 per cent increase in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). EBITDA in 2018 reached Dh1 billion ($272.23 million), as compared to Dh678 million ($184.57 million) in 2017, said a company statement.



Also, Emirates Steel reduced its debt to equity ratio by 9 per cent, from 56 per cent in 2017 to 47 per cent in 2018, it said.



During an annual media briefing held today at Emirates Steels headquarters, Engineer Saeed Ghumran Al Remeithi, chief executive officer of Emirates Steel, said: Despite the challenges faced by the metals and steel industry globally last year, our results for 2018 were positive. I believe this is a testament to the success of our resilient business model and our sustainable growth strategy.



With this year on year growth, we are continuing to enhance our position as a world class steel manufacturer adept at delivering the highest quality products, services and comprehensive solutions to our customers, he said.



Al Remeithi continued: While we foresee challenges in 2019, including the slowdown of the regional construction sector, surge in iron ore prices, drop in sales prices, market volatility, market protectionism, we remain focused on increasing sales revenues and reducing direct and indirect costs to further improve our financial performance.



We are aiming to achieve this through the further development of our product range and by driving efficiencies across the business, focus on customer retention, and customer satisfaction. The success of our strategy and our ability to deliver the highest quality products is increasingly evident through the growing demand for Emirates Steels products in international markets, he added.



Production performance and efficiencies

In 2018 Emirates Steels export sales to more than 40 countries accounted for 20 per cent of total volumes, with the remaining 80 per cent being consumed within the UAE where the company maintains a 60 per cent share of the rebar market and 69 per cent share of the section market. It is worth mentioning that the steel market dropped significantly in second half of 2018, nevertheless the company managed to maintain its sales.



Emirates Steel produced 3.1 million tons of finished products in 2018, in line with the volumes achieved in 2017. Emirates Steels presence is solid in the domestic market where it sold 2.514 million tons of finished products, with exports accounting for the remaining 631,000 tons.



Emirates Steels reinforcing bars production accounts for roughly 2.1 million tons of the companys overall production. In addition, the company manufactured 500,000 tonnes of wire rod and 600,000 tonnes of heavy sections.



In November of 2018, Emirates Steel signed a four-year (2018-2021), high value contract with Vale, the worlds largest producer of iron ore and iron ore pellets, to supply iron ore pellets for its steel production. Emirates Steel has an iron ore pellet requirement of around 6 million tonnes per year, and the four-year contract and strategic partnership with Vale provides the company with a flexible source of iron ore at competitive, stable and long term prices.



As part of its efforts to implement best practices to achieve the highest levels of efficiency, reliability and production availability, in July 2018 Emirates Steel signed a 10-year contract with Phoenix Services for a Dust Agglomeration Project.



The contract includes collecting Emirates Steels by-products (Mill-scale, FTP Dust, IOP & DRI Fines, DR Sludge), and converting them into pellet, and then re-releasing those pellets back into the furnace in our SMP plants.



As part of this contract, Phoenix Services will build a plant in Phase 2, which is expected to be completed in the middle of Q2 2019. This project will not only be beneficial from an environmental stand point, but also from an efficiency and cost perspective.



In addition, Emirates Steel has partnered with DuPont to enhance its health and safety performance. The company has launched Aman Safety Excellence Program to maintain its safety performance at or exceeding the highest international standards, further strengthening its safety culture.



A total of 21 per cent of Emirates Steel workforce is representative by UAE Nationals, with 70 per cent of the executive management lead by UAE Nationals. The company plans to increase its overall Emiratisation ratio to 23 per cent by the end of 2019, providing UAE Nationals with an opportunity to contribute to its growth and to the Economic Vision of the nation.



Currently, Emirates Steel employs more than 2,200 personnel across all divisions and facilities, with approximately 500 of the them being UAE Nationals.



In line with its commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the Year of Zayed, Emirates Steel implemented a number of initiatives in 2018 to engage with the community and add value to society.



In collaboration with Emirates Red Crescent, Emirates Steel sponsored a Ramadan Iftar tent for 3000 people in Musaffah during the month of Ramadan.



Emirates Steel launched a we Give You A Smile initiative during which the company distributed Ramadan food supplies to more than 300 needy families in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, it stated.  TradeArabia News Service
Jared Kushner, a senior White House advisor and son-in-law to U.S. President Donald Trump, is traveling through the Middle East this week reportedly to gauge support for an American attempt to strike a deal in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

According to one expert on the region, however, Kushner is likely to face a challenge in getting Gulf nations to support such an agreement.

"Politically, there is just not a lot of daylight, there's not a lot of hope for something to happen, economically is where there is some chance, and I think that that's really the focus of Jared Kushner's trip this week  it's trying to get some economic buy-in from these Gulf states to try and help shore up the Palestinian economy," Emily Hawthorne, Middle East and North Africa analyst at geopolitical intelligence firm Stratfor, told CNBC's "Capital Connection" on Monday.

Kushner's trip was set to include visits to Oman, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, according to Al Jazeera.

Little is known about the Trump administration's plan for a potential Israeli-Palestinian deal, but Hawthorne noted that that has been an intentional strategy on the part of the U.S. officials.

"We know that Jared Kushner and others ... have been working on this for two years and have really been working to try and keep any leaks from going to the press  they clearly want the stakeholders of the deal, which include the Arab Gulf states, to be sort of the first to really see the plan," she said. "They want to have regional stakeholders really buy into the plan so that they can make sure if the plan is going to even fly at all."

Whether the regional stakeholders can get on board with the Trump plan remains to be seen, but Hawthorne noted that any reported details of Kushner's work have elicited condemnations from both Israeli and Palestinian quarters.

"It's very difficult, any time that there is any sort of tiny little leak that comes out of the process over the last two years, we see Palestinian and Israeli sources say, 'I don't think this is going to work,'" she told CNBC.

In December of 2017, Trump announced he would move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, breaking with decades of U.S. policy and officially recognizing the city as the Israeli capital, a move met by swift criticism from the international community. The embassy's inauguration in May saw violent clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli troops, with more than 50 Palestinians killed.

Multiple reports suggest that details of the Trump administration's plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be revealed only after Israel's April elections.

CNBC's Natasha Turak contributed to this report.
Chinese markets are having their best quarter in years.

The Shanghai Composite has surged 20 percent since the beginning of the year and is on track for its best quarter since 2014. That would also mark its first quarterly gain in six.

Kevin O'Leary, chairman of O'Shares ETFs and co-host of "Shark Tank," says exposure to the Asian markets is essential, during good times and bad.

"It's so hard to catch the knife with China," O'Leary said Monday on CNBC's "ETF Edge." "The volatility is twice what our market is, basically, and what I've learned is as an investor is you've got to suck it up and take the pain. If you want to have 5, 10, 15 percent in the Asian markets, which you should, you've just got to get ready for volatility in your portfolio. And it hurts."

The FXI China ETF, for example, moved 25 percent lower from its 52-week high set last February to the year's lows in October. Since then, it has rallied 17 percent.

"If you didn't have an allocation through this whole volatility to emerging markets, specifically Asia, you're now going to underperform the global index by a material amount," said O'Leary. "Having no exposure to emerging markets is always a mistake over a five-year period. That's what I've found. So you have to take the pain on volatility."

Tim Seymour, CIO of Seymour Asset Management, says sharp sell-offs last year have made for attractive valuations in Chinese stocks.

"In the short term, I actually think that Chinese stocks are not only cheap but technically, you have the Shanghai through the 200-day [moving average] for the first time in over a year, you've got a lot of important technical factors that is their wind at the back," Seymour said on Monday's "ETF Edge."

The FXI ETF holds 50 of the largest Hong Kong-listed stocks, including PetroChina and the Bank of China. The MSCI China ETF (MCHI) holds Hong Kong-listed, mainland China-listed and U.S. stocks, most notably Baidu and Alibaba.

"They are sort of correlated," said O'Leary. "The point is, if you want to own China, own them both because frankly, they're not that different and if you want to get every name, these are the two that captures them. But there's so many state-owned enterprises in there. That's funky chicken stuff. That's the problem."

The FXI ETF is up 13 percent this year, while the MCHI China ETF has increased 16 percent.

"I like FXI because I think a lot of the Chinese banks are particularly cheap and a lot of them look to be most vulnerable on the credit side in terms of a world where you're starving them from liquidity," added Seymour.

Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank."
IBM appointed Admiral Michelle J. Howard, the first African American woman to command a U.S. Navy ship, to its board, the company announced Tuesday.

A former U.S. Navy officer, Howard was the first woman to become a 4-star admiral in addition to becoming the first African-American woman to command a U.S. Navy ship, according to IBM's announcement. In July 2014, she became the first woman and African-American to be named Vice Chief of Naval Operations, IBM said, and she retired from her 35-year career in December 2017.

Howard now teaches cybersecurity and international policy at George Washington University, according to the release.

Howard's board appointment will be effective March 1.

IBM CEO Ginni Rometty said in a statement in the release, "Admiral Howard is a groundbreaking leader with a distinguished career in military service. Her leadership skills, international perspective and extensive experience with cybersecurity and information technology will make her a great addition to the IBM Board."

Here is the full release from IBM:

The IBM (NYSE: IBM) board of directors today elected Admiral Michelle J. Howard to the board, effective March 1, 2019.



Admiral Howard, 58, is a former United States Navy officer and the first woman to become a 4-star admiral. She was the first African-American woman to command a ship in the U.S. Navy (the USS Rushmore). Admiral Howard was also the first African-American and the first woman to be named Vice Chief of Naval Operations when she was appointed to that role by the President in July 2014. She retired in December 2017 as the commander of U.S. Naval Forces in Europe and Africa and the Allied Joint Forces Command in Naples, Italy, after a distinguished 35-year career.



Admiral Howard is currently the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Visiting Professor of International Affairs at George Washington University, where she teaches in the areas of cybersecurity and international policy.



Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer, said: "Admiral Howard is a groundbreaking leader with a distinguished career in military service. Her leadership skills, international perspective and extensive experience with cybersecurity and information technology will make her a great addition to the IBM Board."

Admiral Howard graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1982, and from the United States Army's Command and General Staff College in 1998 with a master's degree in military arts and sciences. She was the first female graduate of the Naval Academy to be promoted to flag officer.

She has received honorary degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, American Public University and North Carolina State University, and is the recipient of many honors, including the NAACP Chairman's Image Award, the French Legion of Honor and the KPMG Inspire Greatness Award.

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Watch: Watch CNBC's full interview with IBM Chairman and CEO Ginni Rometty
An internal investigation by HSBC into Huawei Technologies' connections to a suspected front company in Iran found that the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker maintained close financial ties to the firm years after purportedly selling the unit, documents reviewed by Reuters show.

The HSBC probe of Huawei came in late 2016 and 2017 as the bank was trying to get the U.S. Department of Justice to dismiss criminal charges for the bank's own misconduct involving U.S. sanctions.

The bank's findings, which have not been made public, were given in a series of presentations in 2017 to the DOJ. The department used them to help bring its current criminal case against Huawei's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou.

She is accused of conspiring to defraud HSBC and other banks by misrepresenting Huawei's relationship with the suspected front company, Skycom Tech. Huawei has said Skycom was a local business partner in Iran, while the United States maintains it was an unofficial subsidiary used to conceal Huawei's Iran business. Huawei and Skycom are also defendants in the U.S. case, accused of bank and wire fraud, as well as violating U.S. sanctions on Iran.

U.S. authorities allege Huawei used Skycom to obtain embargoed U.S. goods and technology in Iran and to move money out of the country via the international banking system. As a result of Huawei's deception, U.S. authorities allege, HSBC and other banks cleared more than $100 million of transactions related to Skycom through the United States that potentially violated economic sanctions Washington had in place at the time against doing business with Iran.

Huawei declined to comment for this story. The company has denied the charges in the case.

Robert Sherman, a spokesman for HSBC, said, "Information provided by HSBC to the Justice Department was provided pursuant to formal demand, including grand jury subpoena or other obligation to provide information pursuant to a Deferred Prosecution Agreement or similar legal obligation."

He added, "The U.S. Department of Justice has confirmed that HSBC is not under investigation in this case."

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.

Meng, the daughter of Huawei's founder, was arrested in Vancouver in December. She remains free on bail while the U.S. government tries to have her extradited to face bank and wire fraud charges. The case comes at a time of heightened trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, and amid concerns by the United States that Huawei's equipment could be used for Chinese espionage. The Shenzhen-based company, the world's largest maker of telecommunications networking equipment, has repeatedly denied such claims.

Meng has maintained she is innocent of the allegations made against her.

Reuters reported in December that HSBC  which is referred to in the indictment only as "Financial Institution 1"  figured prominently in the Huawei case. HSBC's internal probe of Huawei is reported here for the first time.

The HSBC documents contain new financial details about Huawei's relationship with Skycom and the company that Huawei claims it sold Skycom to in 2007, Canicula Holdings. All three firms previously had bank accounts at HSBC, with the Skycom and Canicula accounts part of what the bank internally called the "Huawei Mastergroup."

The HSBC probe found numerous ties between the three firms that suggested Huawei controlled both Skycom and Canicula long after the purported sale, the documents show. For example, Canicula's address was "c/o Huawei Technologies."

The probe also found that Huawei financed Canicula's purchase of Skycom, lending Canicula about 14 million euros in a deal the documents show didn't close until December 2009. Canicula repaid Huawei a year later using funds from Skycom.

After HSBC asked Huawei in 2013 to close the Skycom and Canicula accounts, Huawei employees assisted the bank. At Huawei's request, the remaining funds in the Skycom account were transferred to a Huawei bank account, according to the documents.

HSBC's move to close the accounts followed stories by Reuters in 2012 and 2013 about Huawei, Skycom, Canicula and Meng. The articles  which are cited in the HSBC documents as well as the indictment  reported that Skycom had offered to sell at least 1.3 million euros worth of embargoed Hewlett-Packard computer equipment to Iran's largest mobile-phone operator in 2010. Reuters also reported that Meng had served on Skycom's board of directors between February 2008 and April 2009.

The indictment alleges that banks in part relied on Huawei's false statements in the Reuters stories  that it hadn't violated sanctions on Iran and that Skycom was a local partner  to continue doing business with Huawei and Skycom.

HSBC had its own sanctions issues. In 2012, it paid $1.92 billion and entered into a five-year deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department for disregarding rules designed to prevent money laundering and processing transactions that violated sanctions.

Under the deal, HSBC agreed to strengthen its sanctions and anti-money laundering programs and to cooperate with the Justice Department in any investigations. To conduct its probe of Huawei, it hired the law firm Latham & Watkins.

The law firm did not respond to requests for comment.

According to the HSBC documents, investigators conducted more than 100 interviews, reviewed more than 292,000 emails and analyzed years of financial transactions. At least four presentations were made to the Justice Department between February and July 2017. The criminal charges against the bank were dismissed in December 2017.

The bank's Huawei probe found that in August 2013, at Huawei's request, HSBC's then deputy head of global banking for the Asia Pacific region, Alan Thomas, met with Meng. According to the HSBC documents, Meng later provided Thomas with a PowerPoint presentation in English that stated that Huawei had sold its shares in Skycom and that she was no longer on its board. The presentation described Skycom as a Huawei "business partner" in Iran. That presentation  which the United States alleges contained "numerous misrepresentations"  plays a central role in the U.S. case against Meng.

Thomas, who retired in 2017, declined to comment.

In the months after the meeting with Meng, HSBC considered whether to retain Huawei as a customer, the documents show. The bank initially concluded the reputational risks were acceptable and kept on Huawei. But, according to the indictment, HSBC told Huawei around 2017 that it was terminating the relationship.

The HSBC probe also uncovered financial transactions by Canicula that referenced Syria or involved a Syrian bank. Reuters reported last month that until 2017 Canicula operated in Syria, where it was connected to Huawei. Like Iran, Syria has been subject to U.S. sanctions.

Two people familiar with Canicula's operations in Syria have since told Reuters that Huawei used the company to circumvent sanctions there.

HSBC also told the Justice Department that it was aware of another company linked to Skycom in Iran. In August 2016, the HSBC documents say, the bank was notified by a British engineering recruitment company, Matchtech Group Ltd, that a Matchtech subsidiary had provided contractors to support telecommunications projects in Iran from 2010 to 2016.

The subsidiary, Networkers International, had contracted with Skycom and Huawei, and had received payments in U.S. dollars from Skycom, the HSBC documents state. The payments totaled about $7.6 million, the documents show. Networkers terminated its Iran-related contract with Skycom in October 2016, Matchtech told HSBC.

Matchtech is now known as Gattaca. A spokesman for Gattaca declined to comment.
Company name recognition and lavish perks, like free meals and nap rooms, all help attract younger workers  but the biggest selling point is still pay.

Silicon Valley giants like Apple and Google continue to be dream employers for most millennials, thanks to their many six-figure salary positions.

When Glassdoor examined which employers received the largest number of applications from millennials in reply to their job listings, it found that the tech industry dominates, followed by business services and finance. All of the top five companies Gen Y wants to work for are in the tech industry, though many also aspire to work at some non-tech companies, like staffing firm Robert Half and accounting company Deloitte. And while not all 10 are in the same industry, they do share the ability to offer workers jobs that pay more than $100,000 a year at growing businesses.

Below are the 10 companies millennials most want to work for, as well as examples of each company's most common roles and that job's average annual salary, excluding bonuses:
French car brand Peugeot will be making a return to the North American market, parent Groupe PSA announced Tuesday morning, though the exact timing of the relaunch is uncertain and could be pushed out as late as 2026.

Peugeot was one of a number of European brands that pulled out of the American market during a severe industry downturn in the early 1990s, a list that included Fiat before it bought Chrysler and French rival Peugeot. The parent company has been exploring ways to return for several years and has already launched several mobility services ventures in the U.S. Groupe PSA had been exploring which of its various marques would spearhead its return and has settled on the flagship Peugeot.

"This is another step in a multi-step return to the market," Groupe PSA North America CEO Larry Dominique said in an interview with CNBC.

The exact timing for relaunching Peugeot in the U.S. has yet to be determined, Dominique, a former Nissan executive, emphasized, noting that it could stretch out as late as 2026 though it will more likely happen sooner.

"This is not about speed. It's about getting things right," Dominique said. "The good news for us is PSA is not dependent on me to sell a single car. The idea is to build the brand the right way."

The roots of Groupe PSA stretch back 208 years and the company today has operations in a variety of fields, including culinary goods, watches and bicycles, though automobiles constitute the largest source of its 74 billion euros in revenue in 2018.

Groupe PSA sold 4.1 million vehicles in 2018, a 3.8 percent decline, according to the Global Auto Database, positioning it as the world's ninth largest automotive group. The numbers include not only the group's largest brand, Peugeot, but also Citroen, DS and Opel/Vauxhall  the latter purchased from General Motors which has exited the European market.

The Paris-based company first signaled plans to return to the U.S. in April 2016, announcing that it would begin a decade-long effort to begin with a push into mobility services. It said it could take several more years to determine which of the various group car brands would then be re-launched in North America.

Several mobility service ventures are already in operation, including the Free2Move Carsharing service launched in Washington, D.C. late last year. The goal is to roll that out in major cities across the U.S. and Canada over the next few years.

For the time being Free2Go is offering two Chevrolet products, the Chevrolet Equinox SUV and Chevy Cruze sedan, but the goal is to add Peugeot products over the next few years. That is likely to happen even before PSA re-launches its retail sales network, Dominique previously told CNBC, and would serve as a way to gauge consumer reaction to its products.

PSA also is rolling out a service that will allow users of its Free2Move smartphone app to schedule multi-modal travel  everything from bicycle rentals to train tickets and car-sharing. And the group now operates parking service at airports in Los Angeles and other cities allowing customers to rent out their own vehicles while traveling, something known as a peer-to-peer car-sharing service.

Those operations aim to take advantage of what many analysts see as a dramatic shift in personal transportation likely to take place over the coming decade, some experts predicting that millions of Americans may abandon personal vehicle ownership in favor of car and ride-sharing, as well as mass transit.

That could play a major role in shaping the way the Peugeot brand itself comes back to the North American market, said Michelle Krebs, executive automotive analyst with Cox Automotive.

But she cautioned that even then, "It will be no cakewalk. The North American market isn't going to grow a lot."

Krebs expects that the cars Peugeot brings back to North America will also reflect another major, ongoing shift: the growth of electrification. Most major manufacturers have announced plans to introduce hybrids, plug-ins and pure battery-electric vehicles, or BEVs, to their fleets. Rival Volkswagen AG, for example, expects to have more than 50 different BEVs, as well as dozens of hybrids, on sale by 2025.

While Dominique wouldn't say precisely what approach PSA will take, it has already begun adding electrified models and they are expected to play at least something of a role in the Peugeot brand's American revival.
The Federal Communications Commission, as part of a crackdown on the billions of unsolicited robocalls every year, is warning phone providers to implement technology to stop the scammers or face new government rules, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Tuesday

"Recently I told the industry, 'Look, we need to adopt call authentication, essentially a digital fingerprint, for every single phone call this year. We need to have it now or otherwise it's going to be regulatory intervention,'" Pai told CNBC's Jon Fortt, in a "Squawk Box" interview from the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain.

Hiya, a startup aiming to reduce telemarketing calls, estimates that Americans got 26.3 billion robocalls last year, a 46 percent increase from 2017. The average U.S. consumer received 10 spam calls per month last year, Hiya's Robocall Radar report shows.

The National Do Not Call Registry is still operational, and the Federal Trade Commission suggests that Americans looking to reduce the number of unwanted calls sign up. The FTC said consumers who still get scam calls can file a complaint.

Pai, whose agency works with the FTC to prevent robocalls, said telemarketing calls are the No. 1 complaint at the FCC and the top consumer protection priority. "We really beefed up our enforcement efforts. The largest fines in the FCC's 85-year history have been imposed on robocallers who have been bombarding American consumers with these scam calls."

The FCC said the enforcement of its Truth in Caller ID Act, which prohibits the transmission of misleading or inaccurate caller ID information with the intent to defraud, resulted in over $200 million in fines issued in 2018 alone. On Feb. 14, the agency proposed new rules banning illegal spoofed text messages and international calls.

"Because of the internet we can get all of these calls from abroad [and] they seem to be coming from a local source," Pai said. "We empowered some of the carriers to block calls that obviously spoofed; so the same area code, the next three digits are same. We want to empower them to take action."
Far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, greets supporters outside the Old Bailey after his case was adjourned on September 27, 2018 in London, England.

Facebook pulled the official page and Instagram account belonging to British far-right activist Tommy Robinson, citing its policies around hate speech.

The firm said in a blog post Tuesday that Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, had posted content that "uses dehumanizing language and calls for violence targeted at Muslims."

Robinson, who formerly led a right-wing political organization called the English Defense League, has gained notoriety for his vocal criticism of Islam. The EDL has been known to stage violent demonstrations against the religion, and has been accused by many of Islamophobia.

"He has also behaved in ways that violate our policies around organized hate," Facebook said. "As a result, in accordance with our policies, we have removed Tommy Robinson's official Facebook Page and Instagram profile."

The company added: "This is not a decision we take lightly, but individuals and organizations that attack others on the basis of who they are have no place on Facebook or Instagram."

He currently serves as a political advisor to the U.K. Independence Party, or UKIP, a euroskeptic political party that has waned in popularity following the 2016 Brexit vote. UKIP was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

Robinson was jailed May last year for contempt of court, after he made video recordings about a trial related to child molestation. He was subsequently released following an appeal, with judges raising procedural concerns at the time. The case has since been referred to the U.K. attorney general.
European stocks closed higher on Tuesday as investors digested strong data from the U.S. and reacted to political developments in the U.K.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended the session 0.5 percent higher, with most sectors in positive territory, after spending much of the day in the red.

Sentiment was helped by events in the U.S. Wall Street pared earlier losses as better-than-expected consumer confidence numbers offset weak Home Depot earnings and a big drop in housing starts.

In Europe, retail was the best performer, up 2 percent. Reports revealed that British high street chain Marks & Spencer was in talks with Ocado to create a full online food delivery service. Shares of Marks & Spencer were up 3.2 percent during afternoon trade, while Ocado shares gained almost 12 percent and soared towards the top of the index.

Travis Perkins rose to the top of the index, up by 12.5 percent, seeing its best trading day in nearly 10 years, according to Reuters. The U.K.'s biggest supplier of building materials reported a higher-than-expected pretax profit, supported by its cost-cutting plan.

Meanwhile, Standard Chartered fell 0.6 percent, after the bank posted a lower-than-expected net income margin. Also, shares of British Airways owner IAG slipped over 3 percent after index provider MSCI decided to exclude it from Spain's main benchmark.

Elsewhere, Brexit remains at the front and center of European politics. On Monday, the British opposition Labour party indicated that it would back calls for a "People's vote" on the U.K.'s impending departure from the European Union, if Parliament vetoed the party's alternate Brexit proposal.

Speaking in Parliament Tuesday, May confirmed that lawmakers will be able to vote on her deal a second time by March 12. If that fails, Parliament will vote on ruling out a no-deal by March 13; and then a possible vote to extend Article 50 by March 14. Sterling rose more than 0.6 percent against the dollar as the possibility of a no-deal Brexit was reduced slightly.
A worker holds a new model of P18K POP Energizer phone, with 18,000mAh battery, at the Mobile World Congress wireless show, in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019.

Forget phones that fold. A company called Avenir Telecom is building a phone with a comically large battery that lasts for 50 days in standby on a single charge. It also appears to be incredibly heavy.

The Energizer P18K Pop  the Energizer brand was licensed by Avenir  was revealed at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona this week.

As you can see in the pictures, it's a brick of a phone that's almost entirely battery, with an 18,000mAh power pack inside. By comparison, the Apple iPhone XS has a 2,658mAh battery. The Energize P18K Pop also has a 6.2-inch screen and three cameras on the back.

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Avenir says the phone can play videos for 2 straight days, or make phone calls for nearly 4 days. If you don't use it, the phone can last for up to 50 days in standby mode. Despite the huge battery, it's actually not that efficient compared with an iPhone XS, which lets you chat for up to 20 hours or play video for 14 hours.

Paris-based Avenir Telecom will begin delivering the phone to customers sometime this summer.
Coatings leader Sherwin-Williams said it had recently completed one of the most complex projects at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, where it faced the challenge of installing one of the largest expanses of flooring in a single project.



The volume of epoxy terrazzo flooring supplied by Sherwin-Williams - 140,000 sq m of pigmented epoxy resin - involved the shipping of pre-mixed marble aggregates from Italy to complete the design for the main floor areas consisting of three colours, primarily dark grey with pure black or white epoxy terrazzo, said a statement from Sherwin-Williams.



The epoxy terrazzo was poured in situ as the 16,000 workers from various countries navigated their way around the 5,500-acre site and ground and polished the flooring to a high finish, bringing with it major environmental benefits.



Thin set epoxy conforms to the EUs solvents and Volatile Organic Compounds Emissions Directive, said the company.



The installation process itself also meant there was very little waste  the terrazzo prepared for installation was measured accurately to allow as much or as little to be used in application, it added.



Now, almost 10 years later, the epoxy terrazzo flooring is still shining brightly providing a dazzling welcome to visitors to the airport, described as the gateway to Qatar and the hub for its world-class airline Qatar Airways with the capacity to serve 8,700 passengers per hour and 30 million every year.



Vik Vithlani of Sherwin-Williams, said: "This was quite a challenge and proved the aesthetic and environmental value of terrazzo. This demonstrated how we can meet the demands of architects and specifiers with longer-lasting products with ever-greater green credentials."



We can create truly bespoke options in terms of both colour and aggregates such as glass, marble, granite and mother of pearl," he stated.



Terrazzo has its roots in technology hundreds of years old, but for those looking to specify correctly from the outset, with longevity in mind as well as return on investment and aesthetics, it remains a thoroughly modern choice, said Vithlani.



Sherwin-Williams has successfully supplied terrazzo flooring to a number of major projects including the Greenwich Visitor Centre at the Old Royal Naval College in London, Salford Royal NHS Trust and Central Library, Manchester.



Terrazzo flooring is a composite  a mix of resin with aggregates which give the product such variety in its design. Intended to be a durable, hard-wearing and highly decorative flooring solution, the resin is mixed with coloured marble, granite chips or other approved aggregates such as glass.



In the US, terrazzo flooring systems are commonly utilised, and the large, high specification developments of the Middle East can commonly be found featuring bespoke terrazzo systems,. he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Egypt's foreign minister praised economic reforms underway in the country, stressing that the country's president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, remained the right man for the job amid continued threats to security and stability. "Of course the president has been effective in creating security and stability and economic progress, implementation of economic reform," Sameh Shoukry told CNBC's Hadley Gamble on Monday during the EU-Arab League Summit in Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt. "And we are seeing the first returns of that reform." Shoukry listed a number of major investment projects underway, including the construction of new cities and transport infrastructure for the country's booming population. The president is overseeing "doubling of road networks, 12 cities that are being erected, incredible amounts of almost two million units," he said. Sisi, who took power in 2014 following a military coup that overthrew and arrested the democratically-elected President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, is likely to win constitutional changes allowing him to dramatically extend his tenure in power. Egyptian lawmakers are pushing ahead for a change to the country's constitution that would enable Sisi to stay in power until 2034. Currently, the former armed forces chief is due to stand down after completing two four-year terms in 2022. Asked if Sisi was the right man for the job, Shoukry replied, "He is and continues to be."

An Egyptian youth walks past a polling station in the capital Cairo's western Giza district on March 25, 2018 ahead of the vote scheduled to begin the following day, decorated on the outside with giant privately-sponsored electoral posters depicting incumbent President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and giant pieces of cloth stacked together to show the colors of the Egyptian flag. MOHAMED EL-SHAHED | AFP | Getty Images

Supporters of the constitutional changes say Sisi needs to remain in power in order to maintain stability in the country of 98 million and continue implementing the economic reforms currently underway. Constitutional changes require approval of two-thirds of parliamentarians and a subsequent referendum. Egypt's 596-member parliament overwhelmingly backs the president. "There are discussions related to amend the constitution that might allow, there are issues that are still under construction and there is public debate, decision is finally that of two-thirds of parliament," Shoukry said.

Combatting terrorism

Major threats remain for the country, which continues to see sporadic terror attacks, though stability has significantly increased in recent years. Egypt needs to continue working to "eliminate terrorism attacking both our military and our civilians, most recently our pilgrims in the Western desert -- security forces have achieved a lot," Shoukry said. "Overall, Egypt still is a phenomena that needs to be addressed by more cooperation by the international community." Egypt is the world's second-highest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, at $1.4 billion annually, second only to Israel.

Controversy over presidential term extensions

Sisi was re-elected in April of last year with 97 percent of the vote, in a contest widely labeled a sham. The former general faced little competition as his opponents either dropped out or were arrested. The 64-year leader is described by many as a dictator for his heavy crackdown on civil liberties and opposition groups. Critics in and outside of Egypt have signaled alarm at what they say is blatant authoritarianism and yet another affront to democracy. In the five years of Sisi's rule, more than 60,000 people have been arrested or charged by Egyptian security forces, according to Human Rights Watch.

More than a year ago, in an exclusive interview with CNBC in November 2017, Sisi said he was committed to the limits set out by the current constitution. "I am with preserving two four-year terms and not to change it ... I am not for any amendments to be made to the constitution in this period," he said at the time, adding that any changes would have to be determined "by the Egyptian people."

Macroeconomic progress
Another day, another potentially key Brexit date.



On her way to an EU-Arab League summit over the weekend, Prime Minister Theresa May announced she would not provide British parliamentarians with a meaningful vote on an altered Brexit deal perhaps until March 12. Lawmakers wanted that opportunity this week. Instead, the embattled leader has again sought to delay proceedings as she battles to guarantee a supportive majority in the House of Commons.



Officials in Brussels, and businesses on both sides of the English Channel, have been quick to express their dismay at her decision, as a "no deal" deadline looms ever closer. And after a visit last week with a logistics firm that has recently opened a new fulfilment center in Southampton, thanks in part to the Brexit-related uncertainty about Britain's future trading relationship, it is possible to understand the context for that apparent frustration. It seems particularly acute in the freight and transportation sector.



PFS U.K. is a subsidiary of a large U.S. e-commerce company that employs more than 2,600 people worldwide and provides shipping and operations support to a slew of brands. It first expanded to Europe almost 20 years ago, and its operations on this side of the Atlantic have for some time been headquartered in the Belgian city of Liege, just an hour or so from the political heart of the European Union.



But late last year, after several clients requested that PFS offer them a separate, U.K.-specific fulfilment location, the company took control of a vast new warehouse space on the English south coast. General Manager Lisa Cooley moved from Tennessee to take charge, and explained quite candidly how much work had been required in such a tight span of time. "It's a little chaotic in the beginning," she acknowledged, before underlining that thanks to next-day delivery expectations, time is rarely on the side of her consumer retail clients.



The costs associated with separate shipping capacities, extra warehousing space, and an expanded workforce to combat the potential challenge of cross-border trading tariffs will all eat into the margins of companies like PFS, forcing them to pass the higher expenditure on to their clients, and then in turn to the end consumer.



"Those costs have already been incurred as a contingency measure," explains Alex Veitch from the Freight Transport Association, who previously worked inside a no-deal Brexit planning team at the U.K.'s tax authority when it consisted of fewer than a dozen people. But he says it is only the larger businesses that can afford to devote time and money to this kind of no-deal planning.



The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) says its members have continued to hold off on this kind of spending, and says many would need between six weeks and two months to get ready for a no-deal Brexit. According to Craig Beaumont, an external affairs director at the FSB, many such firms have now, "simply run out of time to prepare."



Political allies and opponents of May have repeatedly requested that she remove the possibility of "no deal," and in recent days European leaders like Donald Tusk and Angela Merkel have discussed with her a postponement of the March 29 deadline. But once again after the summit in Egypt ended, the British leader refused to bend  publicly, at least  to those demands. Tick tock, tick tock.
Then South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley speaks during the dedication of Boeing Co.'s $750 million final assembly plant in North Charleston, S.C. on Friday, June 10, 2011.

Boeing announced Tuesday the nomination of former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley for election to the company's board of directors.

Haley served as ambassador to the U.N. under President Donald Trump from January 2017 until December, when she resigned.

"It's an honor to have the opportunity to contribute to Boeing's continued success as a cutting edge industry leader and a great American company," Haley said in a statement.

Boeing Chairman and CEO Dennis Muilenburg welcomed her nomination, saying in a statement that "Haley brings to Boeing an outstanding record of achievement in government, industry partnership, and successfully driving economic prosperity."

WATCH: How Airbus and Boeing dominate the skies
Sen. Bernie Sanders pledged his support for Pennsylvania workers who started striking Tuesday following the spinoff of a General Electric unit.

About 1,700 employees at an Erie, Pennsylvania, locomotive plant  represented by the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America union  started their strike early Tuesday. The workers were unable to come to terms with Wabtec, the western Pennsylvania-based rail transport company that took over the facility in its merger with GE Transportation. GE announced the more than $11 billion merger deal last year as part of a broad restructuring.

Sanders, a Vermont independent who routinely rails against companies that he says give workers a raw deal, said he was "proud to stand" with the workers. In a tweeted statement Tuesday, Sanders said, "Americans are sick and tired of corporate America and their wealthy CEOs ripping off working families."

Sanders tweet

The senator has built a political following in part due to his broadsides against corporations and business leaders such as Amazon and its CEO, Jeff Bezos. He has frequently pushed American corporations such as McDonald's and Walmart to boost minimum wages and offer better benefits.

His involvement in the Wabtec fight brings more political intrigue than usual.

Sanders recently launched a 2020 presidential campaign as a Democrat. The strike takes place in a state carried by President Donald Trump in 2016 that Democrats may need to win in order to take back the White House. By slamming free-trade deals and attempting to revise them, Trump has tried to appeal to disillusioned manufacturing workers in areas similar to Erie, a city on the northwestern edge of Pennsylvania.

Read more: Top Bernie Sanders strategists split with his 2020 campaign over creative differences

Sanders' support for the striking workers has "absolutely" nothing to do with his presidential ambitions, his spokesman Josh Miller-Lewis said. The senator has "stood with working people and against the greed of large, profitable corporations his entire life," he added.

The union, known as UE, has a history with Sanders. It endorsed the senator in 2016 in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Last week, Sanders wrote a letter to Wabtec CEO Raymond Betler in part arguing that Wabtec is "not a poor company" and "is not going broke."

Sanders Wabtec tweet

UE says it was "not able to convince [Wabtec] to negotiate an acceptable short-term agreement that preserves the wages, benefits, and working conditions negotiated with GE" after the merger became official Monday. The plant had employed GE workers for about 80 years before the industrial giant's overhaul.

UE has several grievances with the new employer at the Erie plant. The union says Wabtec's terms "include the introduction of mandatory overtime and arbitrary schedules, wage reductions of up to 38 percent for recalled and newly-hired workers, and the right to use temporary workers for up to 20 percent of the work in the plant."

In response to the criticism, Wabtec pointed to an opinion piece written by executive Greg Sbrocco. He wrote that Wabtec's proposal would keep current wages of $35 per hour, a rate that he said went "beyond anything in this region."

He wrote that the company would continue to offer competitive benefits. Sbrocco also said the proposal falls in line with conditions and benefits seen at a facility it runs in Wilmerding, a borough near Pittsburgh where its headquarters is located. He also noted that Wabtec finished negotiations with four separate unions except UE.

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Major Asian stock markets closed lower on Tuesday, as investors sought clarity on the U.S.-China trade front a day after President Donald Trump postponed a closely watched tariff deadline in early March. In a volatile session Tuesday, mainland Chinese stocks slipped on the day after registering strong gains on Monday. The Shanghai composite fell 0.67 percent to around 2,941.52 while the Shenzhen component declined 0.499 percent to about 9,089.04. The Shenzhen composite shed 0.486 percent to approximately 1,549.71. The moves came after Chinese stocks saw explosive gains on Monday on the back of optimism on the U.S.-China trade negotiations, which saw the Shanghai composite surge more than 5 percent into bull market territory. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.65 percent, as of its final hour of trade.

US-China trade

One analyst expressed caution over the sharp rise in shares seen in China on Monday. "If you look at how China performed relative to the rest of Asia, most Asian markets performed much less, I mean, less than 1 percent gains in most other Asian markets including Hong Kong," Vasu Menon, OCBC Bank's vice president of wealth management, told CNBC's "Street Signs" on Tuesday. Menon said the large gains could have been a result of retail investors jumping in as well as speculation amid the "euphoria." "I'm not saying the China market is frothy. I'm just saying that, you know, what happened yesterday seemed to be a bit ... misplaced," Menon said. Others questioned what a trade deal between the U.S. and China would look like. Kathy Lien, managing director of foreign exchange strategy at BK Asset Management, said in a note that "its important to understand that a final trade agreement could take many forms." "The US could promise to keep tariffs where they are (with no further increases) and review them in a few months / years or they could abolish them completely," Lien added. "There's also a possibility that a deal 'might not happen at all' according to Trump but he's motivated to get it done," she said.

Asia trading day

Powell goes to Capitol Hill
High school and college students camped out in front of the U.S. Supreme Court Feb. 25, two days ahead of scheduled arguments in American Legion v. American Humanist Association and Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission v. American Humanist Association. Tucker Higgins

WASHINGTON -- About two dozen high school and college students are being paid to hold places in line for Wednesday's blockbuster dispute at the U.S. Supreme Court over whether a colossal WWI memorial cross in Maryland will be permitted to remain standing. The students, who are first in line, set up their camp site on Monday morning, a full 48 hours before arguments are set to begin. They said they were not allowed to disclose who was paying them or how much they were getting paid, but that the pay was decent.

"Makes it worth it for the amount of time we sit here," said David Alexander, a 20-year-old member of the group who said that he was on break from college. He said he would like to attend arguments himself, but he needs the money. Read more: Justices to consider whether giant World War I memorial cross can stay Line-standing has become something of a court tradition, thanks to the court's prohibition on television cameras and the relatively tight space available in the historic building. Only about 250 seats are available to the public, according to the court's historical society. "We are all with the guy with the beard in the chair," Alexander explained. "He has organized all of us to hold spots in the line, because organizations pay us to hold spots in line. The morning of, they take our spot and we get paid." WATCH: Why college is so expensive in America
Elon Musk is aiming for Mars with the massive new rocket SpaceX is developing but, along the way, the company's founder thinks it may be useful for one of NASA's goals: Building a sustained human presence on the Moon.

SpaceX is in the early stages of manufacturing the rocket, called Starship.

"Starship will also be good for creating a base on the moon," Musk said in an interview with Popular Mechanics published Monday.

"We'll probably have a base on the moon before going to Mars," Musk added.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told CNBC earlier this month that he expects NASA will return to the moon soon, saying "the goal is to have the first human lander on the surface of the moon in 2024." Bridenstine said NASA's lunar plans are also "likely to be a public-private partnership," meaning the government agency will partner with companies like SpaceX to achieve this goal.

Starship is being built at the company's facility near Brownsville, Texas. Musk's company is currently working on a prototype of the rocket. The test version of Starship is shorter than the final version will be. Musk has said the test version is for low altitude "hop" flights (known as VTOL, or Vertical Take Off and Landing), which will not reach orbit.

SpaceX is building Starship to transport humans and cargo beyond Earth's orbit. Musk has advertised Starship as being able to transport up to 100 people to Mars.

The company is also deep in development of the Raptor engine that will power Starship. Earlier in February, Musk showed off a photo and videos of the company test firing Raptor in a series of tweets. A few days later Musk said Raptor passed a key milestone, achieving the "power level needed" to lift the company's Starship rocket. Starship will have seven Raptor engines on board, and the "Super Heavy" booster that launches it will have 31 Raptor engines.

Read the full interview by Popular Mechanics here.

WATCH: How taxpayers have boosted Elon Musk and Tesla
"David and Susan have been outstanding university citizens for decades," CMU President Farnam Jahanian said. "Their latest act of generosity that will benefit the Carnegie Mellon community promises to advance one of our leading programs  one that is driving manufacturing innovations for our modern world."



The inspiration for the gift began on the Coulters' ranch outside of Bozeman, Montana, where David Coulter saw the need for workers with high-tech skills to operate and maintain modern machinery related to the local mining and agriculture economy. Following a conversation with Carnegie Mellon Provost Jim Garrett, then dean of the College of Engineering, he began working with the NextManufacturing Center, part of the college's advanced manufacturing initiative, which includes additive manufacturing or 3D printing, as it is commonly known.

There, the center's leadership, including Sandra DeVincent Wolf, Jack Beuth and Anthony Rollett, helped Coulter evolve his initial vision of vocational training into an expansive idea that combines traditional skill development with new technology such as additive manufacturing. A facility where locals will be able to train for manufacturing careers at the leading edge of the new economy is now under construction in Montana.



The positive collaboration between the Tepper School of Business alumnus and mechanical engineering faculty became the foundation for the Coulters' generous gift.



"At Carnegie Mellon, we often speak about how our strengths in deep disciplinary knowledge truly take flight when we collaborate across disciplines," Coulter said. "I feel like we're doing that real-time with this project, and I see our involvement as an alumni prototype for these cross-disciplinary projects. We're proud to support both the Tepper School of Business as well as the College of Engineering, and am excited to see what the Mechanical Engineering Department will achieve."



From left, Farnam Jahanian, Susan Coulter, David Coulter and James Rohr at the Coulter Welcome Center.



The Coulters' commitment to a new Scaife Hall follows a lead grant from the Allegheny Foundation in October. When complete, the new building will more than double the size of the existing building, and will include expanded, technology-rich labs; modern, flexible classrooms; and spaces that facilitate formal and informal collaborations. Following demolition of the current building, the $75 million facility will be constructed on an expanded footprint at the same location on Frew Street, near Flagstaff Hill on the CMU campus.



"Mechanical Engineering is a leader in emerging fields such as soft robotics and advanced batteries. We need world-class facilities in the department to support the exceptional work of our faculty and students," said Allen Robinson, department head and professor. "We are so grateful for David and Susan's extraordinary generosity, which will impact the department for decades to come."

Robinson, who will become the first Coulter Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, will continue to hold the Raymond J. Lane Distinguished Professorship in Mechanical Engineering.



The Coulters' past CMU support includes a $5 million contribution to the recently completed first building on the David A Tepper Quadrangle. The David and Susan Coulter Welcome Center, housed in the Tepper Quad building, is the new front door to campus, a one-stop destination for all visitors, including prospective students and their families.



A 1971 alumnus of the Graduate School of Industrial Administration, now the Tepper School of Business, David Coulter is a special limited partner with Warburg Pincus LLC in New York City. Previously, he was vice chairman of JPMorgan Chase and Co. and chairman and CEO of Bank of America Corp. In 2018, he was honored with the Tepper School Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award.
MAG Lifestyle Development (MAG LD), the property development arm of MAG Group Holding, recorded sales worth Dh100 million ($27.2 million) at the launch of MAG City, the first phase of MAG Eye, a fully-gated townhouse and residential community in Mohammed Bin Rashid City in Meydan District 7.



MAG Lifestyle Development launched 400 units for sale as part of the inaugural phase of MAG City at an exclusive sales event attended by more than 500 people. The company also announced an attractive payment plan that appealed to investors, further enhancing the sales.



CEO Talal Moafaq Al Gaddah said: "The strong response to the launch of the first residences in MAG City, an integral part of our MAG Eye master-planned development, underlines the demand for exceptionally designed residences in central locations in the city."



"Under the convenient 60-month payment plan, customers of MAG City did not have to make any down payment. They only had to pay Dh7,100 per month for a studio starting at Dh475,000," he noted.



"Those interested to purchase a two or three-bedroom townhouse, can get their hands on a unit with zero-down payment for Dh14,800 monthly with prices starting at Dh1.577 million and instalments to be paid within 96 months," stated Al Gaddah.



MAG Eye, he said, was one of the most sought-after residential communities in Dubai for its cost-competitive pricing in a central location with all amenities in close proximity.



Located in Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City Meydan District 7 - close to both Dubai International Airport and Downtown Dubai  MAG Eye will feature 4,717 studios or one-bedroom apartments and 694 three or four-bedroom townhouses.



"The impressive sales also highlight the trust of investors in the quality standards that we uphold and our commitment to timely delivery," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
CLINTON [mdash] George W. Leslie, 99, of Clinton IA, passed away Thursday, June 17, 2021 at home. There will be no visitation or funeral. George was born October 27, 1921 to Beulah and George Leslie in Jones County, IA. He graduated from Oxford Junction High School in Oxford Junction, IA. Fo
The 2019 ACFE Fraud Conference Middle East concluded in Abu Dhabi, UAE yesterday (February 26), with the third and final day of the forum comprising a full day workshop on the investigation of shell companies.



It explored their role as facades for money laundering and fraud, both of which are areas of focus for assurance experts, fraud examiners and compliance professionals.



Hosted by the Abu Dhabi Accountability Authority (ADAA), the Conference ran featured keynote addresses, breakout sessions, presentations and discussion panels with some of the worlds leaders in compliance, anti-corruption, ethics and cybersecurity.



With technology continuously evolving, fraud can no longer be looked at as a local problem for any organisation or government; it is an international issue that merits international solutions. Weve worked with ADAA to bring hundreds of attendees together from the Middle East and from around the world in order to begin important conversations about the current reality of fraud, and to share anti-fraud knowledge and resources, said ACFE president and CEO Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA.



ADAA was delighted to facilitate the 2019 ACFE Fraud Conference Middle East in Abu Dhabi for the second consecutive year, said Hamad Al Hurr Al Suwaidi, chairman of ADAA.



Public and private sector organisations across the world are facing threats which are growing in scale and complexity as the technological landscape changes  it all adds up to the fight against fraud which has never been more important than it is today, with new forms of deterrence and defence needed as ill-practices and the perpetration of violations evolve and become more diversified. As a premium anti-fraud platform, the 2019 ACFE Fraud Conference Middle East has attempted to explore the latest trends in the areas of fraud and corruption, and to discuss and present the most effective and proven means to counter its effects, he added.



The worlds largest anti-fraud organisation, ACFE supports two main strands for its community of members: the Law Enforcement and Government Alliance (LEGA) and the Corporate Alliance. The former focuses on bridging the gap between the financial and investigative worlds for law enforcement agencies and government entities, while the latter helps companies make a firm statement to employees, investors, clients and the media regarding their organisations stance against fraud.  TradeArabia News Service
Culinary Kids Camp will be held every morning from 9 a.m. to noon. July 5 through July 9 at StoneWater in Highland Heights. Betty Buns and the StoneWater staff will teach lessons in cooking and baking.
Rotunda Rumblings

Sherrod Brown, centrist: Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, is pitching a more centrist economic message during his presidential campaign flirtation. The Columbus Dispatchs Jack Torry asks if thats a navigable path for Brown as other contenders embrace far more liberal policies.

Selma: Brown will travel to Selma, Alabama, this weekend and speak at several events for the anniversary of the Selma Bridge Crossing by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for voting rights. Browns campaign theme of the dignity of work comes from a King speech. Other Democratic presidential hopefuls, including Sens. Cory Booker and Bernie Sanders, will also be in Selma over the weekend.

Ohio rules trump Trump: A Trump administration drive to relax regulations on payday lenders wont put the brakes on Ohios newly adopted protections for payday lending customers, though it will reduce the protections Ohio consumers receive under federal law. Payday lending regulations that Ohio adopted last year are more stringent, in many respects, than rules that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) adopted in 2017 to keep low-income borrowers from being trapped in a cycle of debt, former CFPB director Richard Cordray told cleveland.coms Sabrina Eaton.

Marijuana moola: Total marijuana sales from the first day dispensaries opened, Jan. 16, through Sunday was nearly $1.2 million, according to figures from the state, with 159 pounds sold.

Speed freak: The Ohio Department of Transportation wants permission to apply speed changes to highways at any time, per the Associated Press. Right now, the state only has the authority to change the speed limit on certain roads during certain conditions, such as snowstorms. The proposed rule change would apply variable speed limits across the state.

Off message: At the same time Republicans are talking about implementing an 18-cents-a-gallon tax hike on gas in the state, GOP Senate President Larry Obhof is saying he wants another income tax cut. Per Ohio Public Radios Karen Kassler, Obhof said he wants to try and cut or eliminate one of Ohios seven tax brackets.

Travel tips: Want to know where your representative is traveling to or how its being paid for? Tough. As the Cincinnati Enquirers Jessie Balmert writes, figuring out how much each lawmaker travels and who pays for those trips is far from easy. Thats after former House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger got swept into an FBI investigation over questions about his travel.

And another one: Peter Quinn, the former Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation employee accused of bid-rigging IT contracts, resigned last week from his spot with New York City schools amidst a probe he misappropriated New York Department of Education funds, per the New York Post. The New York DOE launched its investigation of Quinn after the Ohios inspector general audit accused him of fixing $469,000 in state contracts.

Office Space: Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said he is thinking about re-opening the states office in Washington, D.C., the Dispatchs Jessica Wehrman reports. The office was closed by DeWines predecessor, John Kasich.

Full Disclosure

Five things we learned from the April 9, 2018, financial disclosure of state Rep. Thomas West, a Canton Democrat.

1. West reported earning from $0 to $999 from his position on the Canton City Council (he left in January 2017 to become a state representative) and from $3,000 to $30,996 spread out between four rental properties. West earned $60,584 in legislative pay.

2. He reported investments with the Public Employee Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System.

3. At some point in 2017, he owed more than $1,000 to Navient, CSE Credit Union and the law firm Roderick Linton Belfance.

4. At some point in 2017, Gloria Norris, LeErika Lawson, Cantonian LLC and ABLE Inc. owed West at least $1,000.

5. West received $6427.77 in travel reimbursement, including $4596.80 from the state of Ohio, $833.15 from SIX Legislative Conference, $425.40 from the Public Leadership Institutes Strategy Forum, $296.40 from the Blue Green Alliance and $276.02 from the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.

On The Move

Stephanie Ranade Krider will be Ohio Right to Lifes vice president and executive director, positions shes previously held with the organization. Most recently, Ranade Krider was policy and legislative affairs director for Jon Husted when he was Ohio secretary of state.

Birthdays

State Rep. Niraj Antani

Straight From The Source

Youre ridiculous.- Naomi Liebson to Cincinnati Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot over his response about universal health care during one of Chabots first public town hall meetings in five years. Chabot initially told Liebson if she felt strongly about universal coverage, she should vote for Democrats.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The University of Akron on Monday released a Presidential Prospectus with desired attributes of its next president.

Among them are stability and the ability to guide UA through financial troubles. Three people have led the university in the past five years, and officials expect $15 million in cuts in the next budget.

The search committee consists of the entire Board of Trustees, including student trustees and advisory trustees, as well as the elected leaders of six university groups. The search is expected to remain confidential.

UA is one of the three Northeast Ohio universities searching for a new president. Kent State University President Beverly Warren plans to step down in July. Northeast Ohio Medical University President Jay Gershen will retire in September.

Officials put together the Presidential Prospectus after a series of community meetings about the presidential search.

Candidate applications are due in May for candidates. Officials begin reviewing them in June.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the prospectus:

The president needs to lead a new capital campaign expected to begin in 2020, the year UA is set to celebrate its 150th anniversary. The previous campaign, which ended in 2014, raised more than $1.2 billion.

UA will launch a new renewed brand and identity effort based off a new direction determined by the new president. The intent is to make UAs identity more distinctive and change its image nationally and internationally.

The new president faces a list of financial challenges. UAs enrollment dropped 7 percent this year, as expected. Trustees approved a Three-Year Action plan to increase student recruitment, though specifics of how officials intend to do that arent public. UA also carries debt from major construction over the past 20 years.

The president should have street smarts and a disposition that will gain support from the state government and keep a good relationship with the city of Akron. The document describes a candidate who knows how to bring in money and support to the university.

The ideal candidate will have a doctorate or other terminal degree or comparable experience or credentials. Applicants should also have experience in making important decisions that govern a university or institution and have a collaborative leadership style.

Read the full Presidential Prospectus on UAs presidential search site here.
AKRON, Ohio  A man narrowly escaped serious injury after shots were fired at his vehicle as he left a business in the Kenmore neighborhood, according to police.

Police say the 35-year-old man was in his car and pulling out of the driveway of a business on the 800 block of West Wilbeth Road at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday when he saw a black Chevrolet Impala driving toward him. The man tells police shots were being fired from the Impala.

Bullets hit the victims car and the man suffered minor cuts to his head, but its unclear if he was grazed by a bullet or cut by shattered glass.

Meanwhile, police say a bullet hole was later found on the front porch of a home on the 2300 block of 18th Street SW, which is about a half-mile from the first shooting. Police say the shootings might be connected, but did not offer details.

Anyone with information can call detectives at 330-375-2490 or 330-375-2TIP, or the Summit County Crimestoppers Inc. at 330-434-COPS. Tips also can be sent by texting TIPSCO to 274637 (Crimes). Callers can remain anonymous.

To comment on this story, visit Mondays crime and courts comments page.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  An Akron woman has accused the father of her child of firing a shot at her in her vehicle after getting into a fight with the mans girlfriend, police say.

Now officers are searching for Corey E. Spragling, 25, of Akron, who is wanted on charges of felonious assault, domestic violence and criminal damaging.

According to police, the 25-year-old female victim called police to West Bartges Street in downtown at 3 a.m. Saturday. The woman told police she had been in a physical fight with the current girlfriend of her childs father, Spragling.

She said after the fight, she received text messages from Spragling threatening to shoot up her home.

She tells police she was driving north on Raymond Street just west of downtown when saw Spragling driving toward her. Both stopped and began arguing, police say, and the woman accuses Spragling of waving a gun outside the car before firing a shot into the back window on the drivers side. The woman then drove to a relatives house, police say.

Spragling is 5-foot-7, 165 pounds and should be considered armed and dangerous, according to police.

Anyone with information should call detectives at 330-375-2490 or 330-375-2TIP, or the Summit County Crimestoppers Inc. at 330-434-COPS. Tips can be sent by text to TIPSCO at 274637 (Crimes). Callers can remain anonymous.

To comment on this story, visit Mondays crime and courts comments page.
MEDINA,Ohio -- Medina City Council had a lengthy discussion about a joint-courthouse proposal between the city and Medina County, which would include the Medina Municipal Court and the Medina County Common Pleas Court.

County Commissioner Bill Hutson and Medina Municipal Court Judge attended the finance committee meeting to discuss the project's cost, the design and functionality of the project and the affect the new building will have on the square. Preliminary plans were presented to council, but there are no construction plans set in stone.

Much discussion was had about the price of the project, and how much of the project the city would pay for. Council President John Coyne asked Hutson how much square footage the city would use, and said that if the city's cost went over $8 million they would have to have a smaller portion of the space used by the city.

"$8 million is our limit," Coyne said. "If it's over that then we have to get a smaller court."

Council Representative Bill Lamb expressed concern over the preliminary designs of the courthouse, saying the current design would change many historic aspects of the building, and would affect the square.

"We are the guardians of the past," Lamb said. "That is what we have a responsibility to do, and that's the reason that we've been so successful as a community."

Hutson said at the meeting that the reason for the drawings that have been made were to see if the municipal court and common pleas court could fit in the same building. Hutson said the preliminary plans are a starting point to see if the county and city could afford to build a courthouse, before the two parties go forward with the planning.

"Our project was solely geared around trying to figure out how much space is needed, and how much it's going to cost to construct it," Hutson said. ""Next phase of this is too actually engage an architect to design a building."

Hutson said the county spent an excess of $250,000 ten years ago to come up with plans for a joint-courthouse, and so the drawings being made now are to gauge the cost before designing the building. Currently, he said the county has paid approximately $50,000 to commision architects to create the preliminary plans and study the space.

Mayor Dennis Hanwell said both the county's and city's courthouses are in need of a new facility, because neither is up to security guidelines set by the Ohio Supreme Court. As of now, both courthouses have defendants, employees, judges and any other visitors in the courthouse use the same corridors, stairways and elevators.

"It is not working," Hanwell said. "It is unsafe for the people that are in the county courthouse right now, everyday. It does not any of the (Ohio) Supreme Court guidelines. What we're doing next door (at the Municipal Courthouse) is equally unsafe and ill-designed."

Municipal Court Judge Gary Werner, who is on the Facilities Task Force that worked on the discussed plans, said he is willing to defer the decisions of appearance to others, as he is most worried about the functionality of the courthouse. Werner reiterated Hanwell's comments about the security of the buildings, but also said that more space is needed to deal with the volume of cases both courts are facing.

"After discussion with some of the common pleas judges, I know that the problem they have with the volume of the cases, just like we have (at the municipal court) can't be addressed until we have a facility to address it with," Werner said.

Werner also said that $4 million dollars has been saved as carry forward funds to help fund the project. Councilman Coyne said that those $4 million are part of the $8 million the council was planning on spending.

The finance committee did vote to approve the budget for the Medina Recreation Center's expansion. The rec center will spend received the approval to spend $800,000 on a fitness room addition it has been planning for a few years.

Recreation Director Mike Wright said after saving more carry forward funds, the rec center found they could afford a larger addition, and so the old design is two-thirds the current design. The rec center will still leave $1.2 million in its carry forward funds after paying for the project.

The council also passed an ordinance to commend Captain Larry A. Codding of the fire department on his retirement. Codding worked for the department for 36 years, and was promoted to captain in 2004.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Once again, home sales in Ohio dipped as prices climbed in January.

Thats according to the Ohio Association of Realtors monthly report on new and existing home sales, which is based on data from multiple listing services across the state. Sales were down 5 percent last month from January 2018 as average sales price increased 4.5 percent over that time period, according to the groups latest report.

The start of a new year shows Ohios housing sector showing positive gains [in] pricing and a pace of sales reflective of a traditional marketplace, one that exhibits ebbs and flows, said Anjanette Frye, president of the statewide association, in a statement.

Fourteen of the 18 markets captured in the report posted average sale-price increases over last January, while only five of those markets saw an annualized increase in sales activity. Across Ohio, the average sales price for a home rose to $167,766, up from $160,501 the same month the year before.

The trends were similar in Northeast Ohio last month, but price gains were higher and sales did not drop as sharply. The average sales price for a home in the region rose 9 percent over January 2018, to $162,941, The Plain Dealer reported earlier this month. Meanwhile, sales were down about 1.4 percent year over year.

Nationally, January home sales dipped 1.2 percent from December and 8.5 percent from last January, while the median, or middle, home price was up 2.8 percent from January 2018, according to the National Association of Realtors, which only tracks sales of existing homes.

NAR notes that this is the third consecutive month home sales have declined, and that out of the countrys four major regions, only the Northeast experienced an increase in sales activity last month. January marked the 83rd consecutive month of year-over-year price gains, NAR reported.

Although sales trended downward, NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said he does not expect further dips in the coming months.

Existing home sales in January were weak compared to historical norms; however, they are likely to have reached a cyclical low, he said in a statement. Moderating home prices combined with gains in household income will boost housing affordability, bringing more buyers to the market in the coming months.

The U.S. housing market has long struggled with inventory, meaning there arent enough homes on the market to keep up with demand. January saw some modest improvement in this area, with inventory up over both January and December 2018. Still, the lack of housing stock remains a challenge, according to NAR.

In particular, the lower end of the market is experiencing a greater shortage, and more home construction is needed, Yun said.

In the Midwest, existing-home sales were down 2.5 percent from December and 7.9 percent from a year prior. The median price in the Midwest was $189,700, up 1.4 percent from the previous January.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Dont stay home from Severance Hall this week on account of a little program change.

The Cleveland Orchestra may no longer be memorializing shuttle astronauts, but with innovative French conductor Francois-Xavier Roth on the podium, the group still has a great deal of interesting work to do.

I feel I am a very old musician, from a time when all these boxes between old and new music didnt exist, said Roth, founding director of the eclectic ensemble Les Siecles, by phone from his Cleveland hotel.

I like to conduct music from all periods, and our time. We have to trust the idea of who we are and who we want to be.

Sadly, Roth wont have the chance to showcase who we are this week. On Monday, citing illness, violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja canceled her scheduled performance of Peter Eotvoss Seven, a musical memorial to the victims of the 2003 Columbia shuttle disaster. In her stead will be pianist Javier Perianes, performing Ravels G-Major Piano Concerto.

That leaves the program rooted entirely in the past, a musically conservative situation Roth said he ordinarily wouldnt enjoy. His preference is to make room on concerts for modern works that already have had their world premieres, thereby giving contemporary scores second lives.

But this program is different. Eotvos may be gone, but Roths plate this week still includes the U.S. premiere of Reve [Dream], a reconstructed work by Debussy, and Stravinskys ballet Petrouchka, a piece for which Roth is a self-described fanatic.

You have such an amazing tradition [for Stravinsky] here, Roth said, recalling that when the late Pierre Boulez would return to France from performances in Cleveland, he would love to me such amazing stories about the way they make music here.

Roths objective here will be to put a fresh twist on that tradition. His goal will be to conjure some semblance of the ensemble Stravinsky heard in 1947, when nations had distinct musical identities and orchestras around the world still had what Roth called their own personalities, like a signature.

I have it in my being, my soul, my heart, that experience of these instruments, and I hope I can make other orchestras sound a little bit different, said Roth, referring to the string, woodwind, and brass instruments of the early 20th century.

The Debussy, meanwhile, may be the next best thing to Roths beloved contemporary music. The original suite from which its drawn may have been penned in 1884, when Debussy was still a student, but the re-discovery and orchestration of the music by Roths colleague Philippe Manoury all took place in the 21st century.

With or without a truly 21st-century work at its side, Reve is a fascinating glimpse of a 22-year-old composer still finding his voice but already developing into a musical thinker destined for immortality.

Its young Debussy, but also an extremely mature Debussy, and very fresh, Roth said of the piece. Im so glad to have contact like this with such great composers. Its one of the great honors of my life.

PREVIEW

Cleveland Orchestra

What: Francois-Xavier Roth conducts Ravel, Debussy, and Stravinsky

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28 and 8 p.m. Saturday, March 2.

Where: Severance Hall, 11001 Euclid Ave., Cleveland.

Tickets: $21-$165. Go to clevelandorchestra.com or call 216-231-1111.
The strongest data privacy law in the country may be about to get sharper teeth, and lobbyists representing the tech industry think its a disastrous idea.

Companies that amass user data could be the target of mass class-action litigation from California consumers if theyre accused of violating the California Consumer Privacy Act, under a proposed amendment to the law filed Feb. 22.

The measure would allow consumers to sue such companies, including Facebook Inc. and Google Inc., for monetary damages should they be accused of breaking the law. If approved, the measure would dramatically raise the stakes of adhering to the statute and shape the conversation around federal regulations being considered by Congress.

In its unaltered form, the statute would give violators a 30-day window to cure any alleged malfeasance before facing consequences mostly limited to regulatory penalties.

This proposal eliminates that get out of jail free card if plaintiffs are suing for monetary damages, as described by the bills sponsor, Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, a Democrat from Santa Barbara.The tech industry, by its very nature, has been very much opposed to any form of regulation, she said in an interview about the CCPA. Its an industry thats reincarnated the Wild West; no rules, no limits, no regulation. Weve reached the tipping point.

Former Governor Jerry Brown signed the CCPA into law in 2018, with an effective data of July 2020. That leaves 2019 for parties to tighten or loosen the screws on an internet privacy law likened to Europes General Data Protection Regulation.

The bill is one of a handful of proposed amendments to the CCPA filed ahead of the states Feb. 22 deadline that lay the foundation for intense negotiations between industry lobbyists and privacy advocates. Other proposals include:

requiring data brokers to register with the attorney generals office

requiring companies to inform users if their data may be sold to third-parties

requiring companies to disclose the monetary value of users data

allowing consumers and business to continue engaging in loyalty programs that otherwise may have been viewed as discriminatory under the CCPA

Industry advocates see the right to sue amendment as an unnecessary complication to an already intricate law that survived detailed negotiations on enforcement mechanisms before it was passed last year. It already includes a narrow right for consumers to sue over data breaches.Proposing a broader right to private action, as the broader measure to sue is described, could threaten to destabilize established business models in tech, insurance, retail and advertising, according to the bills opponents.

A private right of action on a law that is not yet cooked would be a disaster, said Sarah Boot, a lobbyist for the California Chamber of Commerce. It would be a class-action bonanza, she testified at a hearing on Feb. 20 about the CCPA.

That may be an overstatement. The lack of a state right to sue didnt stop consumers from suing Facebook over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which the personal information of millions of Americans was transferred to the political consulting firm hired by President Donald Trumps 2016 campaign. The admission by Facebook led to federal investigations and class-action claims by shareholders and consumers who alleged negligence and violations of Californias unfair competition laws.

The public backlash against Facebook over the ways in which its platform was used to influence the 2016 presidential election was a catalyst for data privacy advocates and lawmakers including Jackson. They argue that penalties should be harsher when a company collects then improperly discloses the data of 50 million people.

The amendment will be reviewed in legislative committees, where parties will testify about its viability before it may proceed for a vote. The proposal is also likely to be the subject of intense negotiations on the final rules of CCPA before the end of the year.

The law is already being used by other states as a model for data privacy regulation, and could serve as a standard for any legislation to be considered by lawmakers.

Both sides of the debate in California are aware of whats at stake in Sacramento, since whatever happens here will almost undoubtedly shape the direction of the debate in Washington, according to Nicole Ozer, Technology and Civil Liberties Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of California.

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.
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Technology dominates lives, and technological developments have had an incredibly positive effect on the healthcare sector. Health technology has profoundly influenced the improvement of human health and increasing life expectancy.

Technological developments have influenced the progress made in cancer research and more extended survival rates. Health technology played a role in saving 1.2 million lives between 1991 and 2009 thanks to progress in the treatment and detection of cancer. Diseases such as heart disease and Alzheimers can now be significantly reduced by stem cell research, and surprisingly, all these advancements have been on the back of technological advancementbig data, data analytics, AI/ML, robotics, advancements in imaging, genomics research, and IoT.

Assistive technologies, mobile applications, and robotics have assisted the disabled community  Apple watch has been in the news after its launch for all the right reasons in saving lives. Robots are helping the elderly in Japan; they are also assisting Paralytics patients.

Few Healthcare Solution Companies (Accumen, ClaimTek Systems)

Big data, the gold or oil of the 21st century, will also play a vital role in the healthcare industry. Endpoint users will benefit from earlier disease prediction, better diagnosis, and analysis of the problems and, of course, better health statistics coverage across different departments.

The tracking of a persons health has become much easier thanks to the many gadgets and wearables now available. For example, the Guardian Connect system is a package that helps people with diabetes and who take insulin regularly. Not only can these technologies track body data in real time, but they also alert advanced alerts based on predictive technology.

Health sensors also make their way to various gadgets and scenarios. One can now find smartphones and smart clocks that track heartbeat and blood pressure. These sensors should reach other areas such as driverless cars and clothes that people wear. Its idea is to keep the person under these sensors.

Gadgets are also helpful for the community of doctors. A doctor can obtain a comprehensive overview of a persons health by looking at a simple smartphone application. This would make the diagnosis as easy as possible. Hospitals would surely be able to use and integrate the health sensor data to create an electronic medical recourse in the future.

There are concerns about data protection and security, especially given that private companies are entering this game. Each country now needs strong laws and frameworks to maintain the ethical application of technology in the health sector. Even the widespread nature of artificial intelligence is now regarded as a danger.

Technological advancements in the healthcare industry are welcome, and the baton of progress should be taken forward, but under government and citizen oversight.

Top Healthcare Solution Companies
In some industries, the use of artificial intelligence is a fairly new development. Thats not the case when it comes to government. For many years now, the U.S. federal government has made widespread use of AI in defense, intelligence and public safety applications, along with various other applications that improve government accessibility and efficiency.

Today, many federal agencies, along with growing numbers of state and local entities, are capitalizing on the opportunity to put AI to work to reduce administrative burdens, resolve resource allocation problems, and accelerate complex and timeconsuming tasks. These initiatives make the government more efficient at serving its constituents while freeing employees for higher-value work.

Heres one example of the gains made possible with AI. In the 1990s, the U.S. Postal Service started using machine vision methods to recognize handwritten addresses and automatically route letters. The modern version of this technology now helps sort 25 billion letters per year, saving hundreds of millions of dollars in operational costs.1

Today, government agencies are exploring creative ways to use AI in countless other applications, from identifying and managing chronic and pandemic diseases to improving food security and sustainable agriculture. In many ways, the potential use cases for AI in government services are limited only by resource constraints and the reach of the human imagination.

In a sign of this trend, government spending on cognitive and AI solutions is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 54.3 percent through 2021, followed by ongoing year-over-year growth for the next several years, according to IDC. These investments, the firm says, will be driven by long-term public sector goals of reducing spending and improving citizen services.2

Common use cases

The potential use cases for AI in government are as broad as the functions of government itself. Here are some examples of the way governmental entities are capitalizing on artificial intelligence and the power of high performance computing.

Public safety  In times of public safety emergencies, AI systems can greatly improve access to information for emergency responders. Emergency responders, for example, can use image and data processing capabilities in AI systems to more accurately pinpoint danger zones and to more effectively target responses to catastrophic weather events, natural disasters and other threats to public safety. In one such application, U.S. governmental entities are now piloting an AI-driven system called AUDREY to assist first responders in synthesizing high-level data while at the scene of an emergency. This human-like reasoning system provides insight that first responders may not have in the crucial moments of an emergency, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.3

 In times of public safety emergencies, AI systems can greatly improve access to information for emergency responders. Emergency responders, for example, can use image and data processing capabilities in AI systems to more accurately pinpoint danger zones and to more effectively target responses to catastrophic weather events, natural disasters and other threats to public safety. In one such application, U.S. governmental entities are now piloting an AI-driven system called AUDREY to assist first responders in synthesizing high-level data while at the scene of an emergency. This human-like reasoning system provides insight that first responders may not have in the crucial moments of an emergency, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.3 Customer service  Conversational AI platforms, such as chatbots and virtual customer assistants, can greatly improve access to information for both the public and governmental employees, while automating timeconsuming customer-service functions. These tools can help users get questions answered quickly, without clicking through complex websites or spending time on hold waiting for a customer-service agent to become available. A case in point: The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency operates a chatbot named Emma. This computer-generated virtual assistant answers questions based on users own words, in English or Spanish. Emma provides immediate responses to questions about services, guides users through the agencys website, and finds information based on the users questions and search terms.4

 Conversational AI platforms, such as chatbots and virtual customer assistants, can greatly improve access to information for both the public and governmental employees, while automating timeconsuming customer-service functions. These tools can help users get questions answered quickly, without clicking through complex websites or spending time on hold waiting for a customer-service agent to become available. A case in point: The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency operates a chatbot named Emma. This computer-generated virtual assistant answers questions based on users own words, in English or Spanish. Emma provides immediate responses to questions about services, guides users through the agencys website, and finds information based on the users questions and search terms.4 Information searches  National, state and local governments strive to make public information readily available to citizens. AI systems can make it happen. They can quickly categorize and search through massive amounts of documents and images to help people find the information they seek in real time. One example: A paper from the Harvard Ash Center cites the case of a state government that uses AI to help users search more than a million pages of documents.5 Tasks like that would be all but impossible to do manually.

 National, state and local governments strive to make public information readily available to citizens. AI systems can make it happen. They can quickly categorize and search through massive amounts of documents and images to help people find the information they seek in real time. One example: A paper from the Harvard Ash Center cites the case of a state government that uses AI to help users search more than a million pages of documents.5 Tasks like that would be all but impossible to do manually. Social services  With the ability to search through and make sense of massive amounts of unstructured information, all the way down to handwritten notes, AI systems can help predict the need for case-worker interventions to protect vulnerable individuals, improve child welfare and decrease substance abuse. In another benefit for social service agencies, AI systems can ease the administrative burdens on case workers, which contribute to high staff turnover rates. A Deloitte study notes, AI-based technologies can be put to use in human services to help agencies alleviate the considerable administrative burden on caseworkers, free up time for more critical tasks, improve decision-making, and deliver better, faster services.6

 With the ability to search through and make sense of massive amounts of unstructured information, all the way down to handwritten notes, AI systems can help predict the need for case-worker interventions to protect vulnerable individuals, improve child welfare and decrease substance abuse. In another benefit for social service agencies, AI systems can ease the administrative burdens on case workers, which contribute to high staff turnover rates. A Deloitte study notes, AI-based technologies can be put to use in human services to help agencies alleviate the considerable administrative burden on caseworkers, free up time for more critical tasks, improve decision-making, and deliver better, faster services.6 Translation  National, state and local governments have a constant need for language translation  from local agencies that need to communicate with immigrants to intelligence and law enforcement operations that need to search through documents in many languages. With the language-processing capabilities available in todays AI systems, governments can greatly reduce their translation burdens. As Deloitte notes in its study on AI-augmented government, Machine translation has obvious implications for international relations, defense, and intelligence, as well as, in our multilingual society, numerous domestic applications. 6

 National, state and local governments have a constant need for language translation  from local agencies that need to communicate with immigrants to intelligence and law enforcement operations that need to search through documents in many languages. With the language-processing capabilities available in todays AI systems, governments can greatly reduce their translation burdens. As Deloitte notes in its study on AI-augmented government, Machine translation has obvious implications for international relations, defense, and intelligence, as well as, in our multilingual society, numerous domestic applications. Facial recognition  With todays computer vision capabilities, AI systems can help government and police agencies recognize faces to verify identities and spot suspected criminals in crowds. In New York State, for example, a Department of Motor Vehicles facial recognition technology program has identified tens of thousands of possible cases of identity theft, helping the state crack down on fraud, identity theft and other offenses.7

 With todays computer vision capabilities, AI systems can help government and police agencies recognize faces to verify identities and spot suspected criminals in crowds. In New York State, for example, a Department of Motor Vehicles facial recognition technology program has identified tens of thousands of possible cases of identity theft, helping the state crack down on fraud, identity theft and other offenses.7 Fraud detection  Governments can use AI systems to search through complex financial documents and datasets to detect suspicious patterns and questionable data that could be indicators of fraudulent activities, from tax evasion to the filing of benefit claims for deceased people. In these efforts, AI systems can run checks against diverse datasets and apply thousands of rules to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate activities.

 Governments can use AI systems to search through complex financial documents and datasets to detect suspicious patterns and questionable data that could be indicators of fraudulent activities, from tax evasion to the filing of benefit claims for deceased people. In these efforts, AI systems can run checks against diverse datasets and apply thousands of rules to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate activities. Cybersecurity  Government networks, computer systems and software programs are continually subject to threats from bad actors  from cyber-criminals seeking personal information on public websites to rouge states focused on espionage. AI systems are helping governments fight back by analyzing millions of data points in real time, continually searching for vulnerabilities and identifying suspicious behaviors. Even better, they can be trained to automatically block suspicious traffic in real time.

 Government networks, computer systems and software programs are continually subject to threats from bad actors  from cyber-criminals seeking personal information on public websites to rouge states focused on espionage. AI systems are helping governments fight back by analyzing millions of data points in real time, continually searching for vulnerabilities and identifying suspicious behaviors. Even better, they can be trained to automatically block suspicious traffic in real time. National defense  AI is now one of the essential keys to defending our nation against foreign and domestic threats. From analyzing drone footage and protecting forces on the ground to guiding combat systems more accurately, AI has applications throughout the military. In an indication of the growing importance of AI to national defense, a U.S. Defense Department agency plans to invest up to $2 billion over the next five years toward new programs advancing artificial intelligence.8

A DoD case study

MIT Lincoln Laboratory supports research and development work aimed at solutions to problems that are critical to the United States. The research conducted at the federally funded Department of Defense R&D center spans a wide range of fields that increasingly use AI technologies, including space observations, robotic vehicles, communications, cyber security, machine learning, sensor processing, electronic devices, bioinformatics and air traffic control. MIT Lincoln Laboratory takes projects from the initial concept stage, through simulation and analysis, to designing and building working prototypes.

Key takeaways

National, state and local leaders are focused on creating more efficient, secure and responsive government. In these efforts, artificial intelligence is one of the keys to success. With AI, governments can reduce administrative burdens, improve services, cut costs and solve some of the really hard problems we face  like protecting our nation from a growing range of threats.

Ready to learn more?

For a close-up look at the use of supercomputing resources at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, read the Dell EMC case study Petaflop Performance. To learn more about unlocking the value of data with artificial intelligence systems, explore Dell EMC AI Solutions.

___________

1 Reflections on the status and future of artificial intelligence, Eric Horvitz, Hearing before the Committee on Commerce Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness, United States Senate, November 30, 2016.

2 IDC, U.S. Government Cognitive and Artificial Intelligence Forecast, 20182021: Federal and State and Local Should See Moderate Growth, March 2018.

3 Department of Homeland Security, Snapshot: Public Safety Agencies Pilot Artificial Intelligence to Aid in First Response, October 16, 2018

4 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Meet Emma, Our Virtual Assistant.

5 Hila Mehr, Harvard Ash Center Technology & Democracy Fellow, Artificial Intelligence for Citizen Services and Government, August 2017.

6 Deloitte, AI-augmented human services, October 18, 2017.

7 New York State, Governor Cuomo Announces Major Facial Recognition Technology Milestone with 21,000 Fraud Cases Investigated, August 21, 2017.

8 The Washington Post, Defense Department pledges billions toward artificial intelligence research
Each year we talk with tech leaders about the biggest problems theyll face in the near future, and were starting to see some subtle and not-so-subtle shifts from the worries of 2018.

Data overload, a major concern 12 months ago, has evolved as new data-hungry tools and AI help make sense of data and drive business decisions. This year CIOs say theyre more concerned with how to protect that data, as organizations grapple with new privacy regulations.

As the economy continues to improve, CIOs are less hampered in 2019 by tightening budgets. And worries about moving to the cloud are less of an issue, since many companies have already made the jump. Executives put more emphasis now on securing their cloud-based assets across multiple cloud environments.

Read on to see what experts from the C-suite, recruiters, and those in the trenches say are todays top-of-mind concerns  and how to deal with them.

1. New security threats

Headline-grabbing recent events may spark surprising new security threats, says Rick Grinnell, founder and managing partner of Glasswing Ventures.

The government shutdown helped contribute to a great cyber threat to the U.S. government, critical infrastructure and other public and private organizations, Grinnell says. With the shutdown, many of the security professionals watching for threats at a national level were not on duty, creating a bigger hole for attackers. Time will tell if a month of lowered defenses will have deeper repercussions in 2019 and beyond.

Tech leaders are also gearing-up for next-generation, AI-driven cyber attacks.

Security professionals must be extra vigilant with detection and training against these threats, says John Samuel, CIO at CGS. This year, companies will need to introduce AI-based protection systems to be able to contain any such attacks introduced by this next-gen tech.

Grinnell says AI wasnt a factor in the most notable attacks of the last year, but he expects that to change.

I believe 2019 will bring the first of many AI-driven attacks on U.S. companies, critical infrastructure and government agencies, he says. Lets hope Im wrong.

2. Data protection

Forward-thinking organizations are now implementing privacy by design in their products, but making sure those efforts meet GDPR standards is an ongoing concern. Google, for example, just saw a record fine by French regulators over how the company collects data.

U.S. businesses will need to consider a GDPR-type policy to protect citizens even before any regulations are enacted, Samuel says. Ultimately, there must be international guidelines to ensure customer privacy and protection on a global scale to allow for easier compliance.

Jacob Ansari, senior manager of Schellman and Co., says IoT security got a lot of attention last year, but it led to little practical change in the industry.

The makers of IoT devices still use vulnerable software components, poor network and communication security, and are unable to supply software updates in the field, says Ansari. Theyre still making essentially all of the mistakes everyone else made in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Oh, and your voice-activated home device is spying on you and the company that makes it will give your data to the wrong person by accident with little oversight or accountability. This also suggests that better data privacy legislation  at least in the U.S.  is a potentially hot topic for 2019, particularly in light of the events of recent elections. Nobody loved implementing GDPR in Europe, but its protections for ordinary people are decent."

3. Skills gap

More than one of our sources mentioned the much-discussed skills gap in IT, but with a twist  some tech leaders now see the problem more self-inflicted than intractable.

If you're only looking at college graduates with computer science or electrical engineering degrees from the top ten universities in the U.S. then yes, there are hardly any candidates, and most of them are going off to the five largest employers, says Tod Beardsley, director of research at Rapid7. But the potential talent pool is so, so much larger than this, and companies would do well to explore this space a little more liberally.

Sandra Toms, vice president and curator of the RSA Conference, says IT departments would help themselves by plugging their skills gap with more diverse employees, and not just in terms of race and gender. Most IT hiring groups fail to look at diversity in life experiences, religion, backgrounds, sexual orientation, and education. Viewing diversity in a more holistic manner should open up a broader field of candidates and lead to higher levels of productivity."

For a more in-depth look at the hiring market, see "IT skills gap: Facts vs. fictions."

4. Multi-cloud security

When exploring new cloud-based services, CIOs now need to ask about security across multiple platforms, says Laurent Gil, security product strategy architect at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

Traditionally, multi-cloud leads the enterprise to manage many different, often incompatible and inconsistent security systems, Gil says. We think that selecting cross-cloud, cloud-agnostic security platforms is now fundamental in ensuring consistency, and most importantly completeness of securing enterprise-wide assets regardless of where these assets are living.

Find out the "7 secrets to a successful multi-cloud strategy."

5. Innovation and digital transformation

According to Gartner data, about two-thirds of business leaders think their companies need to speed up their digital transformation or face losing ground to competitors.

Most companies will continue on the same path until theyre forced to do otherwise, says Merrick Olives, managing partner at cloud consulting firm Candid Partners.

Tying IT spend to strategic business capabilities and answering the question How will this make us more competitive? is essential, Olives says. Value stream-based funding models as opposed to project-based funding are becoming more and more effective at tying board-level objectives to budgetary influences. The cost structures and process efficiencies of legacy vs. a nimble digital capability are much different  nimble is less expensive and much more efficient.

See also "6 secrets of highly innovative CIOs" and "Insider tips on how to get digital transformation right."

6. Finding new revenue streams

Ian Murray, vice president of telecom expense management software firm Tangoe, says that while the business landscape is ever evolving, the basic premise of making a profit is the same.

The process to finding and exploiting revenue opportunities hasnt fundamentally changed  find a problem that we can solve that is common, prevalent and that people will pay to solve, Murray says.

What has changed is the emphasis on direct revenue generation landing in the CIOs lap, says Mike Fuhrman, chief product officer of hybrid IT infrastructure provider Peak 10 + ViaWest.

Maybe Im old school, but I dont think the CIO should be worried about directly generating revenue, Fuhrman says. Im starting to see this pop up more and more among my peers. To stay relevant as a CIO, many are working to try and productize themselves. While there are benefits to thinking that way, I think it can also be a recipe for defocusing the team and the boardroom. When it comes to revenue-generating opportunities, the place the CIO belongs is focusing on those projects and digitizing the business into an automated platform at scale. We need to stay focused on driving costs out of the business and scaling from a go-to-market perspective. Thats how a CIO should focus on revenue.

For more insights, see "6 secrets of revenue-generating CIOs."

7. Lack of agility

Organizations that aim to incorporate agile methods sometimes end up limping along in a sort of hybrid model that incorporates agile practices but also more linear waterfall methods. In short, the worst of both worlds.

Tangoes Murray lays it out: Developers are coding to specific spec sheets with little conceptual understanding of how this button or feature fits within the overall user experience. A disciplined approach is needed to pull this off, where the solution to specific problems are addressed within a certain release. Each release is then coordinated for a set of sprints so that a comprehensive solution that adds to the UX is achieved with every release and not just a collection of requested features that may or may not support one another.

See also: "5 misconceptions CIOs still have about agile."

8. Outsourcing risks

The skills gap will lead many organizations to seek outside help. But these sometimes-necessary solutions can lead to concerns with reliability and security.

Our main focus is to deliver on the promises we make to each customer, says Sanchez. You build your reputation and business on this one critical thing. In outsourcing your work, the quality of the deliverable is sometimes at the mercy of the firm you outsourced to. Given the sensitive nature of the projects we manage, we utilize strict third-party vendor assessments to evaluate partners in the event a project requires us to consider outsourcing some or all of the required tasks.

In addition to quality concerns, outsourcing opens up security threats that are well known. The specific threats for CIOs that should be top of mind are the insider and the contractor, says French Caldwell, chief evangelist with MetricStream and a former White House cybersecurity advisor. Until we move away from passwords for credentials, humans will continue to be the biggest threat.

For more, see "11 keys to a successful outsourcing relationship."

9. Business results

Matt Wilson, chief information security advisor at BTB Security, says theres a disconnect between whats set aside for the IT budget and measurable results for the business.

Most organizations haven't taken a hard, brutally honest, look at their current spend, Wilson says. There's often too much momentum behind the way things are currently done, the solutions already acquired, and the processes built over a decade to allow for any meaningful change. Instead, organizations may cobble together partial solutions that can't ever fully address the root of the IT challenge  for example, Equifax not patching a known vulnerability. We live with IT pain. We waste dollars. We frustrate our talented resources with solvable problems that are rendered completely impossible in our companies by momentum. For 2019, we should refuse to be captive to history.

See also: "The new rules of IT-business alignment in the digital era."

10. Tools for a digital native workforce

Christian Teismann, SVP of global enterprise business at Lenovo, argues that a new workforce of employees who grew up with digital technology demands new ways of working that will boost the bottom line.

Gen Z, for instance, expects control over the types of technology available to them, Teismann says. They favor the technology they grew up with and use in other spheres of their lives in the workplace  as well as a recognition of personal and cultural elements. Tech-enriched, assistive spaces that are configurable and flexible will continue to trend.

11. Rebuilding trust

Isaac Wong, software engineering manager at Retriever Communications, calls 2018 a bad year for IT publicity, based on a number of well publicized hacks of large companies and questionable sharing of customers online habits.

Issues such as privacy, security and device addiction must be addressed immediately by big and small players in the industry, Wong says. As a sector we have to be responsible corporate citizens. We need to show that we care about the people we claim to be serving and act in their best interest. People trusted us and we should be very respectful in honoring that.
ERP definition

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a system of integrated software applications that standardizes, streamlines and integrates business processes across finance, human resources, procurement, distribution, and other departments. Typically, ERP systems operate on an integrated software platform using common data definitions operating on a single database.

ERPs were originally designed for manufacturing companies but have since expanded to service industries, higher education, hospitality, health care, financial services, and government. Each industry has its own ERP peculiarities. For example, government ERP uses contract lifecycle management (CLM) rather than traditional purchasing and follows government accounting rules rather than GAAP. Banks have back-office settlement processes to reconcile checks, credit cards, debit cards, and other instruments.

The benefits of an ERP system

ERP systems improve enterprise efficiency and effectiveness in a number of ways. By integrating financial information in a single system, ERP systems unify an organizations financial reporting. They also integrate order management, making order taking, manufacturing, inventory, accounting, and distribution a much simpler and less error-prone process. Most ERPs also include customer relationship management (CRM) tools to track customer interactions, thereby providing deeper insights about customer behavior and needs. They can also standardize and automate manufacturing and supporting processes, and unifying procurement across an organizations disparate business units. An ERP system can also provide a standardized HR platform for time reporting, expense tracking, training, skills matching, and the like, and greatly enhance an organization's ability to file the necessary reporting for government regulations, across finance, HR and the supply chain.

Properly operating ERP systems enable enterprises to reduce the time required to complete virtually every business process. They also promote collaboration through shared data organized around common data definitions, resulting in better decision-making. The standardization and simplification that ERP systems offer result in fewer rigid structures, thereby creating a more agile enterprise that can adapt quickly while increasing the potential for collaboration. An ERP systems centralized database, while being a bigger target, is easier to secure than data scattered across hundreds of systems.

4 key features of ERP systems

The scale, scope, and functionality of ERP systems vary widely. However, most ERP software features the following characteristics:

Enterprise-wide integration. Business processes are integrated end to end across departments and business units. For example, a new order automatically initiates a credit check, queries product availability, and updates the distribution schedule. Once the order is shipped, the invoice is sent. Real-time (or near real-time) operations. Since the processes in the example above occur within a few seconds of order receipt, problems are identified quickly, giving the seller more time to correct the situation. A common database. A common database enables data to be defined once for the enterprise with every department using the same definition. Some ERP systems split the physical database to improve performance. Consistent look and feel. Early ERP vendors realized that software with a consistent user interface reduces training costs and appears more professional. When other software is acquired by an ERP vendor, common look and feel is sometimes abandoned in favor of speed to market. As new releases enter the market, most ERP vendors restore the consistent user interface.

Types of ERP solutions

ERP systems are categorized in tiers based on the size and complexity of enterprises served. Typical tiers include:

Tier I ERPs support large, global enterprises and handle all internationalization issues, including currency, language, alphabet, postal code, accounting rules, etc. For decades, Oracle and SAP have been considered Tier I. Microsoft and Infor are more recent competitors but are frequently categorized as Tier I as well.

support large, global enterprises and handle all internationalization issues, including currency, language, alphabet, postal code, accounting rules, etc. For decades, Oracle and SAP have been considered Tier I. Microsoft and Infor are more recent competitors but are frequently categorized as Tier I as well. Tier I Government ERPs support large, mostly federal, government agencies. These vendors support the nuances of government accounting, HR, and procurement. Oracle, SAP and CompuServes PRISM are considered Tier I with Infor and CGIs Momentum close behind.

support large, mostly federal, government agencies. These vendors support the nuances of government accounting, HR, and procurement. Oracle, SAP and CompuServes PRISM are considered Tier I with Infor and CGIs Momentum close behind. Tier II ERPs support large enterprises that may operate in multiple countries but lack global reach. Tier II customers can be standalone entities or business units of large global enterprises. Most of these ERPs have some internationalization but lack Tier I breadth. Depending on how vendors are categorized there are 25 to 45 vendors in this tier.

support large enterprises that may operate in multiple countries but lack global reach. Tier II customers can be standalone entities or business units of large global enterprises. Most of these ERPs have some internationalization but lack Tier I breadth. Depending on how vendors are categorized there are 25 to 45 vendors in this tier. Tier II Government ERPs focus mostly on state and local governments with some federal installations. Tyler Technologies and UNIT4 fall in this category.

focus mostly on state and local governments with some federal installations. Tyler Technologies and UNIT4 fall in this category. Tier III ERPs support mid-tier enterprises. Most handle a handful of languages and currencies but only a single alphabet. Depending on how ERPs are categorized, there are 75 to 100 Tier III ERP solutions.

support mid-tier enterprises. Most handle a handful of languages and currencies but only a single alphabet. Depending on how ERPs are categorized, there are 75 to 100 Tier III ERP solutions. Tier IV ERPs are designed for small enterprises and often focus on accounting.

Over the past few years, ERP vendors have created new systems designed specifically for the cloud, while longtime ERP vendors have created cloud versions of their software. Cloud ERP is becoming increasingly popular, and fall into two major types:

ERP as a service . With these ERPs, all customers operate on the same code base and have no access to the source code. Users can configure but not customize the code.

. With these ERPs, all customers operate on the same code base and have no access to the source code. Users can configure but not customize the code. ERP in an IaaS cloud. Enterprises that rely on custom code in their ERP cannot use ERP as a service. If they wish to operate in the cloud, the only option is to move to an IaaS provider, which shifts their servers to a different location.

For most enterprises, ERP as a service offers three advantages: The initial cost is lower, upgrades to new releases are easier, and reluctant executives cannot pressure the organization to write custom code for their organization.

For more on cloud ERP, see:

Top ERP software

Choosing an ERP system is among the most challenging decisions IT leaders face. In addition to the above tier criteria, there is a wide range of features and capabilities to consider. With any industry, it is important to pick an ERP vendor with industry experience. Educating a vendor about the nuances of a new industry is very time consuming.

To help you get a sense of the kinds of decisions that go into choosing an ERP system, check out The best ERP systems: 10 enterprise resource planning tools compared, with evaluations and user reviews of Acumatica Cloud ERP, Deltek ERP, Epicor ERP, Infor ERP, Microsoft Dynamics ERP, NetSuite ERP, Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne ERP, Oracle Peoplesoft Financial Management and SAP ERP Solutions.

ERP implementation

Most successful ERP implementations are led by an executive sponsor who sponsors the business case, gets approval to proceed, monitors progress, chairs the steering committee, removes road blocks, and captures the benefits. The CIO works closely with the executive sponsor to ensure adequate attention is paid to integration with existing systems, data migration, and infrastructure upgrades. The CIO also advises the executive sponsor on challenges and helps the executive sponsor select a firm specializing in ERP implementations.

The executive sponsor should also be advised by an organizational change management executive, as ERP implementations result in new business processes, roles, user interfaces, and job responsibilities. Organizational change management can help everyone in the enterprise understand the impact ERP will have on their work. In many cases, an organizational change management firm, rather than an internal executive, provides this support.

Reporting to the programs executive team should be a business project manager and an IT project manager. If the enterprise has engaged an ERP integration firm or an organizational change management specialist, their project managers should be part of the core program management team.

See also: How to assemble a winning ERP team

ERP implementation: The 5 major steps

Most ERP practitioners structure their ERP implementation as follows:

1. Gain approval

The executive sponsor oversees the creation of any documentation required for approval. This document, usually called a business case , typically includes the following:

Problem definition

Description of the programs objectives and scope

Assumptions

Implementation costs

Implementation schedule

Development and operational risks

Projected benefits

Once the business case is complete, the executive sponsor presents the business case to the appropriate group of senior executives for formal approval to spend money and direct staff to implement the ERP.

2. Plan the program

The high-level timeline created for the business case is then refined into a work plan, which should include the following steps:

Finalize team members. Key internal individuals should be identified by name. Other required staff should be identified by role. External partners need to be selected. Typical partners include: ERP implementation specialists, organizational change management specialists and technical specialists.

Key internal individuals should be identified by name. Other required staff should be identified by role. External partners need to be selected. Typical partners include: ERP implementation specialists, organizational change management specialists and technical specialists. Complete contracts. Contracts for new software, technology, and services should be finalized.

Contracts for new software, technology, and services should be finalized. Plan infrastructure upgrades. On-premises ERP systems frequently require faster processors, additional storage, and improved communications. Some organizations can minimize infrastructure upgrades by using a cloud ERP. But even cloud ERPs can require infrastructure upgrades.

On-premises ERP systems frequently require faster processors, additional storage, and improved communications. Some organizations can minimize infrastructure upgrades by using a cloud ERP. But even cloud ERPs can require infrastructure upgrades. Create a work plan and timeline. Tasks, dependencies, resources, and timing need to be made as specific as possible.

3. Configure software

This is the largest, most difficult phase. Major steps include:

Analyze gaps. Understanding the gaps in current business processes and supporting applications helps the project team determine how to change business processes to conform to the software.

Understanding the gaps in current business processes and supporting applications helps the project team determine how to change business processes to conform to the software. Configure parameters. Parameters in the ERP software are set to reflect the new business processes.

Parameters in the ERP software are set to reflect the new business processes. Complete required programming . Ideally, no changes are needed for the ERP software. However, some programming may be required for interfaces to other systems or for data migration.

. Ideally, no changes are needed for the ERP software. However, some programming may be required for interfaces to other systems or for data migration. Migrate data. The team standardizes data definitions and examines existing files for data completeness, quality, and redundancy. Finally, existing data is cleansed and migrated to the new ERP.

The team standardizes data definitions and examines existing files for data completeness, quality, and redundancy. Finally, existing data is cleansed and migrated to the new ERP. Test system. The system is tested to ensure it delivers the needed functionality and required responsiveness.

The system is tested to ensure it delivers the needed functionality and required responsiveness. Document system. Required functional and technical documentation is created. Typically, the vendor has documentation that can be tailored to enterprise standards.

Required functional and technical documentation is created. Typically, the vendor has documentation that can be tailored to enterprise standards. Upgrade infrastructure. Complete any required upgrades.

4. Deploy the system

Prior to the final cutover when the new system is in production, multiple activities have to be completed. These include:

Train staff. All staff need to be trained to operate the system and be given access rights.

All staff need to be trained to operate the system and be given access rights. Plan support. A support team will be needed to answer questions and resolve problems after the ERP is operational.

A support team will be needed to answer questions and resolve problems after the ERP is operational. Test the system. The new system must be thoroughly tested to ensure it is secure, responsive, and delivers the functionality described in the business case.

The new system must be thoroughly tested to ensure it is secure, responsive, and delivers the functionality described in the business case. Make the Go live decision. Once the executive sponsor is confident the new ERP is ready, the enterprise needs to switch from the old system to the new system.

5. Stabilize the system

Following ERP deployment, most organizations experience a dip in business performance as staff learn new roles, tools, business processes, and metrics. In addition, poorly cleansed data and infrastructure bottlenecks will cause disruption. All impose a workload bubble on the ERP deployment and support team.

For more on ERP implementation, see:

Hidden costs of ERP

The four factors that are commonly underestimated during project planning include:

Business process change. Most people are content to work within the current environment unless they are a systems analyst or worked for a different enterprise with better systems. Once teams see the results of their improvements, most feel empowered and seek additional improvements. Success breeds success often consuming more time than originally budgeted.

Most people are content to work within the current environment unless they are a systems analyst or worked for a different enterprise with better systems. Once teams see the results of their improvements, most feel empowered and seek additional improvements. Success breeds success often consuming more time than originally budgeted. Organizational change management . Although process improvements make enterprises more efficient and effective, change creates uncertainty at all organization levels. A formal organizational change management program reassures staff and helps them accept the changes. With many executives unfamiliar with the nuances of organization change management, the effort is easily underestimated.

. Although process improvements make enterprises more efficient and effective, change creates uncertainty at all organization levels. A formal organizational change management program reassures staff and helps them accept the changes. With many executives unfamiliar with the nuances of organization change management, the effort is easily underestimated. Data migration . Prior to an ERP implementation, enterprises frequently have overlapping databases and weak editing rules. The tighter editing required with an ERP system increases data migration time. The time required is easy to underestimate, particularly if all data sources cannot be identified.

. Prior to an ERP implementation, enterprises frequently have overlapping databases and weak editing rules. The tighter editing required with an ERP system increases data migration time. The time required is easy to underestimate, particularly if all data sources cannot be identified. Custom code. Although enterprises have customized ERPs for years, it remains a bad practice. Customization increases implementation cost significantly as users demand additional features. It voids the warranty; problems reported to the vendor must be reproduced on unmodified software. It makes upgrades difficult; the custom code usually requires changes every time the vendor issues a new release. Finally, most enterprises underestimate the cost; even enterprises that estimate the initial cost rarely include the cost of migrating to new releases.

For more on ERP costs, see:

Why ERP projects fail

ERP projects fail for many of the same reasons that other projects fail. The most common cause is an ineffective executive sponsor who cannot command respect throughout the organization, is not interested in the project, or is distracted by other responsibilities. Other ways to fail include poorly defined program goals, weak project management, inadequate resources, and poor data cleanup.

There are several causes of failure that are closely tied to ERPs. Specifically:

Inappropriate package selection. ERPs, particularly Tier I ERPs, are very complex with many options. Many enterprises believe a Tier I ERP is by definition best for every enterprise. In reality, only very large, global enterprises will ever use more than a small percentage of the functionality available in a Tier I ERP. Enterprises that are not complex enough to justify Tier I, may find implementation delayed by feature overload. Conversely, large, global enterprises may find that Tier II or Tier III ERPs lack sufficient features for complex, global operations.

ERPs, particularly Tier I ERPs, are very complex with many options. Many enterprises believe a Tier I ERP is by definition best for every enterprise. In reality, only very large, global enterprises will ever use more than a small percentage of the functionality available in a Tier I ERP. Enterprises that are not complex enough to justify Tier I, may find implementation delayed by feature overload. Conversely, large, global enterprises may find that Tier II or Tier III ERPs lack sufficient features for complex, global operations. Internal resistance. While any new program can generate resistance, this is more common with ERPs. Remote business units frequently view the financial or other standardization imposed by an ERP as an effort by headquarters to increase control over the field. Even with an active campaign to explain the benefits of the new system, it is not uncommon to find people in the field slowing implementation as much as possible.

Even groups who support the ERP can become disenchanted if the implementation team provides poor support or is perceived to be rude or unresponsive. Disenchanted supporters can become vicious critics when they feel they have been taken for granted and not offered appropriate support.
Quebec's immigration minister says province will continue processing applications until Bill 9 is passed into law

Quebec judge orders province to continue processing Skilled Worker Program applications Quebec's immigration minister says province will continue processing applications until Bill 9 is passed into law

Quebec judge orders province to continue processing Skilled Worker Program applications Quebec's immigration minister says province will continue processing applications until Bill 9 is passed into law

Quebec judge orders province to continue processing Skilled Worker Program applications Quebec's immigration minister says province will continue processing applications until Bill 9 is passed into law CIC News Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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A Quebec Superior Court judge has ordered the provincial government to continue processing a backlog of around 18,000 pending applications to the Quebec Skilled Worker Program that the government wants to cancel.

The ruling by Justice Frederic Bachand granted a 10-day temporary injunction in response to arguments by an immigration lawyers group that the move to dismiss the backlog was completely illegal and would have devastating consequences for affected applicants.

The Coalition Avenir Quebec government proposed terminating all pending Quebec Skilled Worker Program applications submitted prior to August 2, 2018, in legislation tabled February 7.

The legislation, known as Bill 9, said the termination order was to take effect immediately.

In a news release issued Monday night, Quebecs Immigration Minister, Simon Jolin-Barrette, said the province would respect the Quebec Superior Court ruling and will continue processing applications until Bill 9 is passed into law by Quebecs National Assembly.

This is great news, and great news for Quebec society, Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, president of the Association quebecoise des avocats et avocates en droit de limmigration (AQAADI), told Canadas French-language public broadcaster, Radio-Canada.

The injunction request was made by AQAADI in the name of Seeun Park, a South Korean nurse whose application to the Quebec Skilled Worker Program for a Quebec Selection Certificate (CSQ) was one of those affected by the governments move.

A CSQ must be granted by the Government of Quebec before a Quebec Skilled Worker Program (QSWP) candidate can apply for Canadian permanent residence.

AQAADI asked the court to order the government to continue processing CSQ applications at the usual pace until Bill 9 is adopted.

The association argued that Quebecs Immigration Minister is required by law to issue decisions on the pending applications and does not have the discretionary authority to refuse to do so.

AQAADIs injunction request called the situation urgent and noted that the 18,000 applications represent tens of thousands of individuals when spouses and dependent children are factored in.

Groups ranging from the Canadian Bar Association to the Conseil du Patronat, which unites top business leaders in Quebec, have also voiced concerns about the CAQs move to dismiss the application backlog.

The CAQ governments proposal has been widely criticized as unfair given the length of time that many applicants have been waiting for a decision on their file and the fact thousands are already living and working or studying in Quebec as temporary residents.

The government says affected applicants will instead have to create a profile using the provinces new online Expression of Interest system, which was introduced last August to manage the pool of candidates for the QSWP.

The applications the government wants to terminate were submitted when the QSWP accepted paper-based applications on a first-come, first-served basis.

When the proposed legislation was introduced, Jolin-Barrette said the Expression of Interest system is a better fit for the CAQ governments efforts to tailor the selection of skilled workers to labour shortages in regions around the province.

When Bill 9 was introduced, Jolin-Barrette said dismissing the application backlog was necessary so the government could focus on selecting candidates in the Expression of Interest pool and reduce processing times from 36 months to six months.

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U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw will both be part of a national conference of conservative leaders in Maryland this week, joining President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and other national Republicans over four days.

While Cruz has frequently been a top draw during the Conservative Political Action Conference, Crenshaw, a Houston Republican, will be making his first appearance, leading a session on Wednesday morning about leadership.

At #CPAC2019 he'll share what it really means to serve your country and why America will always be worth fighting for, CPAC organizers said on social media promoting Crenshaw who is fast becoming a big draw in GOP circles nationally.

Last week, Crenshaw was a guest of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy at a GOP fundraiser in McCarthys hometown of Bakersfield, California. And the National Republican Congressional Committee this week featured Crenshaw in a mass fundraising email that emphasizes his background as a retired Navy SEAL.

MORE TEXAS POLITICS: Federal officials say delayed $4B in Harvey aid will be tied up until May, only on HoustonChronicle.com

Ive fought for the past 12 years to protect our nation  first as a Navy SEAL, and now as a Congressman, Crenshaw is quoted in the letter saying. Im not backing down on the fight to keep America safe. I hope you dont either.

Cruz, meanwhile, will be featured on Friday morning during a session on border security with the National Reviews Rich Lowry. The Cruz session is sandwiched between sessions featuring White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway and Pence.

Cruzs speech will be livestreamed on his Facebook page starting at 8:20 a.m.

TEXAS TAKE: Catch the political news you need every weekday at HoustonChronicle.com.
Beto ORourke is closing in on making a decision about whether hell run for president.

For weeks, ORourke has said he could make his decision as soon as the end of the month. With just days left in February and at least 10 Democratic contenders having already jumped into the race, the El Paso Democrat has told reporters that a decision is near.

"I'm trying to figure out how I can best serve this country, where I can do the greatest good for the United States of America, so yeah, Im thinking through that, and it, you know, may involve running for the presidency, it may involve something else," O'Rourke said in El Paso last week.

Here are four reasons ORourke might want to join the race, and four reasons he might skip it:

Four reasons ORourke would stay out:

1. Children. The list starts with the issue he explained to Oprah Winfrey earlier this month. For me, it will really be family, ORourke said after Winfrey asked him point blank what might stop him from running. He and his wife Amy have three young children whose routines would be dramatically changed if he began campaigning for the White House, not to mention what happens if he wins.

2. Texas Democrats need him more. There is no shortage of Democrats running for president. But in Texas, there has been a dearth of well-financed Democrats for other statewide offices like governor. If ORourke set his sites on running for governor, lieutenant governor or U.S. Senate again in a fast-changing state, he could give the party its best shot at winning a statewide office  something that hasnt happened since 1994.

3. Experience. ORourke has 12 years in elective office between the city council in El Paso and his 6 years in Congress. It would be one of the lightest political resumes for a Democratic nominee for President in the last 100 years. Since World War I, only one Democratic nominee for president had not previously served in the Senate, as a governor or as a vice president. In 1924, West Virginia's John W. Davis ran against Calvin Coolidge, though Davis had never been a governor or a U.S. Senator. His only previous elected office was winning two terms in the U.S. House.

4. Primary War. When he ran against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018, ORourke never had to out-Democrat other Democrats in a primary. He had primary opposition, but hardly anyone noticed because none of the opponents were well-known or well-financed. That would not be the case this time. For ORourke to take on President Donald Trump, hed first have to contend with the likes of Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and, potentially, Joe Biden. That means having to possibly go left and then shoot back to the middle in a general election, something ORourke benefited from not having to do in 2018. That is not to say ORourke is foreign to primary battles. In 2012, he famously took out a sitting incumbent in a Democratic Primary in El Paso to win a seat in Congress.

Four reasons ORourke would jump in:

1. The Moment. In presidential politics, the hot hand is temporary. If ORourke doesnt run now, it may be his only shot at being president. Consider Sen. Barack Obama, who took his shot despite having just two years in the U.S. Senate under his belt when he announced. Or think of Mario Cuomo in 1992, who was considered a potential favorite but passed on running for the White House. Cuomo was never considered a serious contender for the White House after that. ORourke is polling near the top of the field even before even confirming he's in the race.

2. The Money. In raising $80 million for his U.S. Senate campaign, ORourke didnt just set records for a Senate race  his haul also ended up being closer what a presidential candidate might raise. In 2016, legitimate contenders like Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio combined to raise $76 million, according to the Federal Election Commission. In other words, ORourke could certainly raise the money to legitimately contend in the early states if he can just get his past donors to believe in him again.

3. Hes not 70. With Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren all in their 70s or soon to be, ORourke, 46, would give Democrats a more dramatic contrast with President Donald Trump, who is also in his 70s. That alone could inspire younger voters to get more involved and help drive a new generation of voters to the ballot box that a Biden vs. Trump match might struggle to do. While he doesnt have the political experience of many of the other candidates in the field, his relative youth could give him an advantage.

4. Early Texas. The primary calendar could be ideal for ORourke. If ORourke can replicate his frenetic pace of grassroots campaigning in Texas in smaller states like Iowa, he could be in a prime position to win early momentum. If he survives the early four states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, Texass massive haul of delegates would be next up on Super Tuesday on March 3, 2020. Assuming he wins at least one early state, Texas could be in a position to give him a big boost that candidates from smaller states would be hard pressed to match in their home states. Of course, he doesnt have a free path to those Texas votes, given the national profile of other contenders and Julian Castro, another native Texan already in the race.
It will be at least another three months of waiting before Texas sees more than $4 billion in Hurricane Harvey aid money that has been tangled in red tape for more than a year.

U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson told reporters on Monday that his agency is still working on the rules that will dictate how the disaster mitigation money can be used in Texas to help homes and neighborhood brace for future storms. He said those rules are scheduled to be done by May. Then Texas would start working on a plan for how to comply with those rules, which would require yet more HUD approvals.

Carson said on Monday at a press conference in Washington, D.C., with Gov. Greg Abbott that he knows funding can never come fast enough after a disaster, but assured reporters that his agency is responding as quickly as it can.

We feel the urgency to get this done and we will, he said.

HUD has been working on the rules since February 2018 when Congress first appropriated $4.3 billion for Texas to mitigate against future storms. That long wait has frustrated elected officials in Texas. Members of the Congressional Delegation from Texas have written letters pushing Carson and his agency to pick up the pace, while Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush wrote President Donald Trump in January asking him to step in to help cut the red tape. Bushs agency is the lead organization in distributing housing relief in Texas following Harvey.

On Monday in Austin, Bush expressed his frustration again with members of the Texas Senate.

Their money is guided by their conditions and their rules, which has hamstrung the process, Bush said of HUD during a Texas Senate Intergovernmental Relations Committee meeting.

There are other pools of HUD money already flowing in Texas aimed at repairing homes damaged by Harvey. For instance, more than $5 billion has now been sent to Texas, including more than $1.1 billion for Harris County and $1.2 billion for Houston. Another $2.7 billion went to the other 48 counties hit by Harvey. On Monday, Carson and Abbott used their press conference to mostly celebrate an additional $652 million that has been approved for Texas, which will bump up the spending in Houston and Harris County by another $179 million for fixing damaged homes.

That is in addition to $1.2 billion in housing aid the Federal Emergency Management Agency has distributed to more than 170,000 Harvey victims since the storm hit in August 2017.

HUD Funding For Texas The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has already sent nearly $5.7 billion to Texas since Hurricane Harvey hit and another $4.3 billion is expected to be coming soon. Here is more detail on those sources of funding who is getting that funding. $5.7 billion already approved by HUD for housing repairs. Funding originally passed by Congress in September 2017, including $1.3 billion for the City of Houston and $1.2 billion for Harris County. $4.3 billion for housing mitigation to better prepare neighborhoods against future storms. Funding approved by Congress in February 2018. Funding yet to be released to Texas. Source: The Texas General Land Office See More Collapse

The $4.3 billion that has been stalled is for a completely different and new program. That funding is for improvements to low and moderate income homes and neighborhoods to make sure they are not perpetually damaged in future storms. HUD officials have stressed that spending is for a completely new kind of program that requires new rules and regulations that will dictate how it will run.

While Texas waits for that funding, the state has been granted another disaster declaration for storms that ravaged central Texas last year. President Trump announced Monday he was granting the disaster declaration for 33 counties hit by severe storms and flooding from Sept. 10 to Nov. 2 in 2018.

jeremy.wallace@chron.com
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.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On February 23, Great Wall Holdings Group signed an agreement with Pinghu Municipal Government to build a complete vehicle base, a R&D center and a mobility service operator at National Level Pinghu Economic-technological Development Zone, Zhejiang Province.

According to local media outlets, the newly-inked program involves a total investment of RMB11 billion and cover an area of 1,200 mu (800,000 square meters). The complete vehicle base, which is to start operation in 2021, is designed to manufacture new energy vehicles and fuel burning vehicles with a maximum annual capacity of 180,000 units.

The R&D center will be Great Wall Motor's R&D base at the Yangtze River Delta and plans to pour more than RMB 1billion in the construction of such R&D modules as styling, core auto parts, autonomous driving & intelligent connectivity.

As to the mobility service project, Great Wall Motor will develop hourly car rental business, ride-hailing and long-/short-term car leasing businesses with Pinghu as the headquarters and starter of the Yangtze River Delta region.

Just three days ago, Great Wall Holdings Group and Taizhou government of Jiangsu Province reached an agreement for a new complete vehicle program. Besides, they also planned some supporting businesses like automobile finance, automobile insurance and car-sharing service for the new base to build a complete automotive industry chain there.
San Antonio police confirmed Monday that detectives have opened an investigation into a former part-time Community Bible Church employee after church officials said he admitted to inappropriate behavior with juveniles.

According to a preliminary police report, the former employee contacted up to eight underage boys using Snapchat. Church officials said the employee may have had physical contact with one teenager, but that it did not occur at the church or during a church event.
A 1-year-old girl died after an alleged drunken driver struck the shopping cart she was in Monday afternoon on the South Side.

The driver, identified as 25-year-old David Fuentes, was charged with intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault, according to the San Antonio Police Department.

At about 3 p.m., the infant was in the baby seat of a shopping cart as a woman with her was loading groceries in the back of a parked vehicle outside a Dollar General store at 319 Moursund Boulevard, according to a police report.

The woman with the baby was not identified in the report.

FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox

A blue Ford Ranger pulled into the parking lot at high speed, taking a wide turn as it drove in, investigators said.

The pickup struck the cart, causing the baby to fly out of her seat, police said.

Another woman also loading her groceries was struck as the pickup hit a second vehicle parked nearby, according to the report.

EMS took the baby and the injured woman to a nearby hospital for treatment, according to the report.

RELATED: Drunken driving blamed in high-speed crash that killed San Antonio woman

The baby died at the hospital, police said. The woman who was struck was reported to have suffered serious bodily injury.

Investigators said that Fuentes was found to be intoxicated at the scene.

Fuentes booking photo and bail information was unavailable because he was still processed through the Bexar County Central Magistrates office.
Joe Cuba is going to need a bigger mailbox.

Birthday cards from around the world have been pouring into Brookdale Midwestern retirement community in Wichita Falls  all for the WWII veteran pushing the century mark.

Last week, Cuba held a sign from his wheelchair saying he wanted to receive 100 birthday cards for his 100th birthday on March 2. Since then, staff members say more than 10,000 cards have been delivered to the home, as well as gifts that Cuba will soon open.

Cassandra Gore, the resident programs coordinator at the home, said Cuba has received gifts from countries including Australia, Italy, Germany, Poland and Ireland.

"Joe continues to be amazed with everyone's generosity," read a recent post on the home's Facebook page. "Keep the cards coming as we celebrate a 100 years with GI Joe."

The initial post featuring Cuba's sign on Feb. 19 has been shared more than 2,100 times on Facebook.

Stephanie Veitenheimer, the sales manager for Brookdale Midwestern who took the photo, told the Wichita Falls Times Record News that she's been handling calls from Fox News, military organizations and teachers asking how they can help Cuba celebrate.

Medical equipment companies have also reached out to Cuba to see if he needs any equipment for his birthday, according to the Record News.

Anyone interested in sending Cuba a birthday card can use this address:

Joe Cuba

918 Midwestern Parkway

Wichita Falls, Texas 76302

>>> Click through the slideshow above to see Cuba's massive deliveries.

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 Houston man arrested on weapons charges over the weekend previously has been affiliated with white supremacist groups, according to civil rights organizations and records in U.S. District Court in North Carolina.

Joffre James Cross III, 33, was arrested Saturday on two counts of a felon in possession of a weapon and unlawful possession of body armor by a felon. During his probable cause hearing, prosecutors said a federal search warrant at his home revealed 11 Kevlar ballistic helmets and three sets of ceramic plate carriers.

Prosecutors also alleged that he illegally possessed a firearm at multiple gun ranges in the Houston area. Law enforcement obtained a video in October 2018 of Cross using a rifle at one range, prosecutors said. At another range, Athena Gun Club, Cross filled out a liability form saying he's not a convicted felon, prosecutors said.

RELATED: Hate groups on the rise in US and Texas, civil rights center finds

Cross was identified as one of two Army paratroopers at Fort Bragg in North Carolina who were accused of selling drugs and body armor to undercover FBI agent in 2007, according to court records. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 72 months in federal prison in that case, records show.

After his release, he was on probation until October 2017, prosecutors said.

Additional records in that case referred to evidence that Cross and the other paratrooper "have some affiliation, interest, and/or association with white supremacist groups."

"This evidence is in the form of statements [Cross] made on the internet, and documents and items seized from his residence," according to a motion filed in the case, which did not provide any additional details.

Court records show Cross has not yet retained or been appointed an attorney for his new charges. Chron.com made multiple attempts to reach Cross about the allegations but was unsuccessful.

After his arrest, the Southern Poverty Law Center published a story about Cross' alleged ties to white supremacist groups. The story identified him as a member of the white supremacist group Patriot Front, which the SPLC describes as a Neo-Nazi organization. It also said he has ties to Aryan Renaissance Society, another white supremacist group.

Cross previously listed various Nazi officers as his heroes on his Myspace page, according to the story. He also posted antisemitic slurs and photos of Nazi paraphernalia on the Russian social media site VK, the story says.

Additionally, in 2016, the Anti-Defamation League said Cross "appeared to be providing security for [white nationalist Richard Spencer]" during a speaking event at Texas A&M University.

Cross has been living in the Houston area for most of his life, according to the public defender at his probable cause hearing. He posted his $5,000 bail for each weapons charge, and his next hearing is scheduled for March 29 in Harris County's 230th District Court.

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 Southern Baptist Convention committee on Monday announced that "no further inquiry" was needed for seven of the 10 churches called out this month for greater scrutiny in the wake of a sex abuse scandal.

Of the three churches remaining, two are in Texas, including one in Houston. They face the risk of losing membership in the SBC.
The extensive and complicated repairs to the popular Waterway Square Fountain in The Woodlands are underway and officials expect the fountain to be back in working order by the beginning of June.

John Powers, assistant general manager for Community Services for the township, gave a brief presentation on the project to the township Board of Directors on Thursday, Feb. 21, telling the seven member board that repairs had finally begun in January and that the timeline for completion of the project and the fountain to be spurting water again is June 1.

In January, preliminary work started. It was going to take four to six months for it to occur, Powers said. Hopefully, by Memorial Day, itll be back online.

The repairs to the signature fountain have been debated and probed for more than a year, as the fountain stopped functioning in February 2018. Because of the massive nature of the fountain, as well as the unique computerized operating program that ran the complex water spurts and light display, township officials had difficulty finding an acceptable contractor to do the repair work.

After months of wrangling, the township in December, approved a repair project costing $431,152 and hired contractor Fountain Works to do the repairs under the supervision of engineering firm Moffet Nichol. The current cost of the project is more than eight times what township officials had originally expected  a initial estimate cost was listed at $55,840  however preliminary repairs and during an examination of the structural damage the fountain had incurred, it was discovered there was more extensive damage than thought.

The fountain had significant damage to the overall structure, including broken and cracked water piping, a cracked ellipse floor, a cracked main axis point and additional voids, cracks and leaking pipes, a township report stated.

The repairs to the fountain are significant and will take time to remedy. Overall, the internal components of the fountain (ellipse) are being completely replaced along with new programming/computer equipment to drive the shows, the report stated. Staff will work with the contractor to ensure minimal interruptions of the various community events at the Square. Please note that there may be impacts to this schedule based on weather.

On Monday, Feb. 25, Nick Wolda, the townships communications director and president of Visit The Woodlands tourism board, said repair work was going well so far.

Waterway Square Fountain Repair Timeline Mid-February, 2019: Demolition of internal elements of the Ellipse Mid-March: Installation of piping and electrical Mid-April: Forming/pour structural slab Mid May: Install jets, nozzles, and computer equipment June 1: estimated completion date - Source: The Woodlands Township See More Collapse

We started (work) last week, Wolda said. They should be finished with removing the floor this week and then next week they will be removing the internal pipes and sand.

jeff.forward@chron.com
Ever since Hurricane Ike blew through the Houston area in 2008, leaving many of Pasadenas municipal buildings damaged, the citys courts havent stayed too long in one place.

The most recent move for municipal court proceedings was to a city facility at 1001 Shaw following repairs to damages caused by Hurricane Harvey.

But the days of moving for the citys court facilities should change soon, with a ground-breaking ceremony set for April on a $7.3 million courthouse. Funding for the project was approved by council in January 2018, with Horizon Group International LLC serving as contractor.

Designed by Johnston, LLC, in association with the Labiche Architectural Group, the courthouse is scheduled to be completed during the first half of 2020.

The 24,000-square foot building will be at 1114 Davis Street between Harris and Southmore.

The planned building, with its close proximity to City Hall, will mean that all government offices will be centralized.

The project complements (Mayor Jeff Wagner's) vision for a municipal services complex that will allow residents to find many local government services more easily, city spokeswoman Laura Branch Mireles said.

The citys old municipal services building is slated for demolition soon to make room for the new development, which will encompass five acres and is envisioned as enhancing the areas appearance.

The new building will feature a classic brick facade and domed cupola creating a distinctive landmark element, Branch Mireles said. The interior of the building boasts a two-story public concourse with clerestory windows that will allow natural light to radiate through the space.

The design features two courtrooms, a jury assembly room and a centralized waiting area. Branch Mireles said there are also plans to move toward an eco-friendlier record-keeping system.

Court staff are currently in talks to switch to a paperless system for a cost-saving and environmentally friendly record-keeping option, she said.

Also planned is parking space for 172 public spaces and 54 staff slots.
WASHINGTON  A Republican group opposed to President Donald Trump's emergency declaration to fund a wall along the U.S. Mexico border is running a new ad on "Fox and Friends" Tuesday using sound bites from Texas Republicans Ted Cruz and John Cornyn opposing former President Barack Obama's 2014 order protecting eligible illegal immigrants from deportation.

The ad, funded by the group Republicans for the Rule of Law, will run as the Democratic-led U.S. House is scheduled to vote on a resolution introduced by San Antonio Democrat Joaquin Castro opposing Trump's executive order.

The 30-second ad features Cruz calling Obama "an unaccountable monarch" in November, 2014, after his administration expanded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to cover additional illegal immigrants.

"If this president can impose his own immigration laws unilaterally, we stop having a constitutional system of checks and balances," Cruz said in a snippet retrieved by the Republican group. "It's the power of a monarch or an emperor."

Only on HoustonChronicle.com: Federal officials say delayed $4B in Harvey aid will be tied up until May

The ad also makes use of a 2014 Cornyn sound bite accusing Obama of "abusing executive authority."

Cruz and Cornyn's Senate offices had no immediate comment Monday. But Cornyn told a Politico reporter Monday that he "probably" won't support disapproval resolution of national emergency declaration.

Cornyn has expressed misgivings about an emergency declaration, but has not broken from the White House, suggesting that the president is "using existing authorities that Congress has given him to get access to reprogram other funds."

Cruz, a strong backer of Trump's wall proposal, has made no explicit statement about Trump's declaration, saying only that he wants to see the underlying legal justifications.

The Republicans for the Rule of Law ad follows an earlier campaign by a coalition of conservatives who sought to block congressional interference in the special counsel investigation of alleged Trump campaign collusion with Russia.

The group has now turned its attention to Trump's emergency declaration, which could come up for a Senate vote in the coming weeks.

"Declaring an emergency in the absence of one is an affront to the rule of law," said Chris Truax, a spokesman for the group. "No president should ever be allowed to invoke 'emergency' powers simply because he can't get what he wants through the normal political process. That is a gross abuse of the Office of the Presidency and sets a dangerous precedent for future presidential administrations."

More on Texas politics: Four reasons Beto shouldn't run for president, and four reasons he should

Democrats have accused the administration of manufacturing a sense of crisis on the border. "He is taking duly appropriated funding intended for the military, law enforcement, and many other priority areas in order to follow through on his campaign promise," said U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, who has identified nearly $520 million worth of military projects in Texas that he says are at risk.

Cuellar, who represents the border city of Laredo, was among the lawmakers who negotiated a $1.37 billion border security package, which helped avert another partial government shutdown. Trump, who has sought more than $5.7 billion for the wall, has indicated he will redirect funds from the military and other parts of the government.

Castro, rallying Democrats on the eve of Tuesday's House vote, made a plea for bipartisan support. "We are asking all members of Congress to respect the Constitution with us," he said. "I hope that they will vote their conscience."

Some Republicans have argued that Democrats are forcing Trump's hands by holding back on wall funding.

"The question about our nation's border security is not whether there is a crisis; there is," Texas Republican Roger Williams wrote in an essay in the Austin American-Statesman. "The question is, do we have the political courage to do something about it?"

At least 16 states have sued to block Trump's move. Meanwhile, dozens of former senior national security officials and 26 Republican former lawmakers have written separate letters rejecting the president's national emergency declaration.

TEXAS TAKE: Catch the political news you need every weekday at HoustonChronicle.com.
Several robbery suspects are in custody after a daytime jewelry store heist, pursuit and manhunt in north Houston.

The suspects held up the Zales jewelry store inside Willowbrook Mall around 12:30 p.m., breaking display cases and making off with an undisclosed amount of jewelry, according to the Houston Police Department.

Shay Khan works at a nearby store in the mall and described a chaotic scene as the suspects starting smashing the jewelry cases.

"We heard what sounded like gunshots," Khan said. "It was actually the sound of glass breaking. When we heard that, all the stores that were around us ... shut their doors right away."

Since the store he works at had a lot of customers and music playing, he wasn't sure what was going on right away. He said he turned to the entrance of the store and saw a sea of shoppers and employees running away from the sounds.

HPD officers rushed to the scene and began pursuing the suspects, who led police on a chase to a neighborhood near the North Freeway and West Gulf Bank Road.

That's where officers, assisted by several K9 officers and a police helicopter, took all the suspects into custody.

The exact number of suspects who were taken into custody was not clear as of Monday afternoon.

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
After a Harris County misdemeanor judge testified before a grand jury on Monday, he was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in a police investigation of allegations that he grabbed two women in his courtroom.

However, a woman the judge was accused of forcefully clutching by the crook of her arm, and a witness who apparently was also grabbed, were available to testify to the grand jury but were not called, according to the alleged victims attorney, Thuy Le.

What happened today reeks of a one-sided system in which the prosecutors continued to protect those in power and ignore and silence crime victims, said Le. I'm saddened and disappointed that (the prosecutor) allowed the aggressor to testify in front of the grand jury without calling either victims to present their testimony.

Criminal Court at Law #10 Judge Lee Harper Wilson, who took the bench after a Democratic sweep last year and presides over misdemeanor criminal cases, was investigated by the Houston police for allegedly assaulting the legal assistant of a defense attorney in his courtroom on Jan. 29.

Lee was accused of walking down from the bench and physically grabbing the woman as he told her she was not allowed in an area in the courtroom typically reserved for attorneys.

The incident left the woman with bruises on her arm, according to Le. Le criticized prosecutors for allowing only the judge to testify before the grand jury, but not the alleged victims.

The second woman, a courthouse staffer, told authorities that the judge lightly took hold of her forearm, in the moments before he grabbed the second woman, according to court records. Neither woman is a lawyer and the judge was apparently telling both that only lawyers were allowed in the area immediately in front of the judges bench, called the well.

Le said both women and other witnesses were willing to come forward to testify about what they saw that day, but were not called.

A spokesman for the district attorneys office said the grand jury made its own decision. Grand jury proceedings are secret, so what the grand jurors heard or saw is confidential.

Because this involved a public official, we took this directly to a grand jury to decide whether any incident rose to the level of a crime and grand jurors said no, said spokesman Dane Schiller. I can tell you that in every grand jury proceeding, grand jurors are made aware of all the evidence and any witnesses who could come talk to them. Grand jurors can decide what they want to consider and whose testimony they want to hear. They are independent and secret for a reason.

James Stafford, Wilsons attorney, said the judge did not hurt or intend to hurt the legal assistant and took a lie detector test to prove it. Stafford also said an eyewitness testified in the grand jury. The lawyer said he believes the eyewitness testimony was consistent with an earlier statement that the judges actions did not look malicious or violent.

What he did was not intended to harm her, he was just trying to get her attention, Stafford said about the allegations. Its really sad that an innocent act can get you in so much trouble when you didnt intend to do any harm.

He said pictures taken after the incident showed a small red bruise. Immediately after the incident, other witness said she was upset and visibly shaken by how angry the judge had appeared, court records show.

I think she reacted the way she did was because it happened in open court, in front of some of their clients and the judge was stern with her, Stafford said. One of the witnesses said he looked like a grumpy old man, but he always looks like a grumpy old man.

Stafford confirmed that the judge gave testimony to grand jurors about his encounter with the legal assistant.

The judge did not intend to cause her any emotional stress, and were still puzzled about why she had the reaction she did, Stafford said.

He said the judge learned a lesson to let the bailiffs enforce court rules, like making sure only attorneys are beyond the barrier that separates the gallery.

The judge, who has been on the bench since the alleged incident, has declined to comment on the matter.

brian.rogers@chron.com
Northborough shooting

A man has been charged in connection with a shooting early Monday morning at a Greenspoint apartment at Northborough and Forest Edge, according to Houston police.

Jose Perez, 28, has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Paris, TX (75460)

Today

Partly cloudy skies during the evening giving way to a few showers after midnight. Low 72F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies during the evening giving way to a few showers after midnight. Low 72F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
A victim of a car theft was able to identify a suspicious vehicle in the area and helped lead Fort Bend County Sheriffs Office deputies to the arrest of a trio of suspects.

According to the Sheriffs Office, at 1:15 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 23, Fort Bend County Sheriffs Office deputies were dispatched to the 1300 block of Pecan Lane in the Katy area to investigate a burglary of vehicle.

The victim had left their vehicle unlocked and unattended for about 15 minutes and discovered property missing upon their return, the Sheriffs Office reported. Before becoming aware of the missing property, the victim reported seeing a red Ford Mustang driving in the area.

About an hour and a half later, the Fort Bend County Sheriffs Office was notified a red Mustang was seen in the parking lot of the Whataburger in the 1100 block of Main Street in Katy. Deputies found a red Mustang in the parking lot and, after an investigation, were able to recover the victims property out of the Mustang and return it to the owner.

The three suspects allegedly confessed to their involvement in the offense.

Keano Jimmy Travis, 18, of Katy; Connor Simpson Bartling, 17, of Katy; and Leon Nogueira, 17, of Fulshear were all charged with burglary of vehicle. The suspects were taken into custody and assigned bonds totaling $2,750 each.

Terrific job done by our detectives and patrol, said Sheriff Troy Nehls. Now of course we want to continue to remind folks to be vigilant by locking your doors and not leaving valuables inside your vehicle.

Burglary of a vehicle is a Class A misdemeanor in Texas. A conviction on a Class A misdemeanor offense can carry a punishment of up to a year in a county jail and a fine of up to $4,000.

rkent@hcnonline.com
Campuses in the Oak Ridge feeder zone are the first in the Conroe Independent School district to become certified by a commercial educational research firm as high reliability schools.

At the time, with over 4,000 kids and 300 teachers, how do I guarantee that every kid is getting a good education? Tommy Johnson, the principal of Oak Ridge High School, said about his inspiration to start this process three years ago.

The high school had before been involved in professional learning communities, a model in which educators who teach the same subject collaborate. Yet, Johnson said his campus wasnt getting all that they needed from the existing program.

The problems we faced in the past have been how do you do things that are very complicated with thousands of children? We were doing them, but we werent doing them as effectively as we could, Johnson said.

Johnson said he realized that the high reliability Marzano Research framework had the system and methods he needed to make sure his school was one where all students could learn and get a quality education.

Its a good to great issue. We were really good, but I wanted to be great and becoming a high reliability school would do that, Johnson said.

Thats when they started the certification program put forth by Marzano Research, a company based on decades of educational research. Schools across the nation are working through the reliability certification, which is marked by a five-level framework designed to help schools proactively ensure student success.

Johnson then became the driving force to ensure that feeder zone students in grades K-12 and their teachers have access to the same educational systems, focusing on the first three levels: safe schools, high-quality teachers and high-quality curriculum.

Its really philosophical, its not because were going to get some certification. Its more ensuring we have valid and effective teaching practices K-12, Johnson said, adding that the certification process is funded from his campus budget.

Though this did not have to be approved by the Conroe ISD school board, the districts Superintendent Curtis Null said that this process is a way to ensure every student is receiving the highest quality of education in every classroom.

Were confident thats the case in the Oak Ridge feeder. This process allows outside eyes to help us verify that. It also brings a common language throughout the feeder zone, Null said. I applaud the feeder for making this extra efforttheyre willing to question their practices and open themselves up for opportunities to grow.

While all campuses are traditionally rated in the district by both the state and nonprofit groups such as Children at Risk, Null said this certification process had nothing to do with the feeder zones campus ratings.

I dont believe itll have any effect on school ratings, but I do believe as we become better and develop more effective strategies, our students will achieve more, Null said.

For now, the Oak Ridge feeder zone is the pilot for this process.

As far as the future goes, well have to see if its something well move through other feeder zones as well, Null said.

According to Marzano Researchs website, three campuses in the Oak Ridge feeder zone are Level 1 certified, and one campus is Level 2 certified. Before certification can happen, the process starts with a survey of staff and students provided and analyzed by the company.

Tara Vandermark is Vogel Intermediates current principal and Suchma Elementarys soon-to-be principal. Both schools are also in the Oak Ridge feeder zone.

Once you get your data back, you look at the leading indicators in each level and start compiling evidence and look at what youre doing to meet each of those indicators, Vandermark said. If youre lacking in those areas, you look at improving systems and procedures.

For example, the main criteria to reach a level one certification is whether the staff members perceive that the campus is safe. The campus collects evidence such as the frequency and scope of emergency safety drills and the schedule of staff on-duty for arrival and dismissal times.

A big piece of all these levels is getting input from all contributors to the program. If they want to submit feedback anonymously, they can do that. Or they can do a panel (of participants) so they all feel like theyre part of it, Vandermark said.

Johnson said theyre also looking for integrity in the classroom. When they have 10 geometry teachers, they look at tests, curriculum and remediation across all classrooms to make sure all students have access to high quality instruction.

This is a key in reaching the Level 2 certification, all about effective teaching, which Oak Ridge High School has done. Johnson said it has also prompted the campuses to adopt Marzanos mode of instruction, giving the campuses a specific teaching system to follow.

Were really excited were able to make a difference in kids lives every day, and now in a systemic way it has given us confidence as true professionals to make sure we have effective teaching in every classroom, Johnson said.

The confidence boost may also be in part because the professional development for teachers is focused on implementing these instructional practices.

We can take really good teachers and make them better, and take beginning teachers and make them effective with all students  not just high-level kids but struggling students as well, Johnson said.

One way theyve done this is to facilitate vertical instructional rounds, during which a teacher from an intermediate school may spend time observing how a high school teacher instructs their students. The collaboration continues across all teaching levels.

Vandermark said that the big distinctive in this for the feeder zone campuses is that the community members are all on the same page.

Were all using the same vocabulary, talking with the teachers the same way, and because of that the goal is to improve learning and add value to every student, Vandermark said. We all have the same shared vision, which is improved learning for the kids.

While its too early yet to examine the data to prove those results, both principals say theyve noticed a change in the kids due to these systems.

Vandermark said that because the kids have more say on whats going on in the classroom, they feel safe on campus to speak upwhich has a powerful effect. Johnson echoed that.

The kids and the staff have embraced it and theyre enjoying it. They see success, and the kids and teachers are having more success because of that, Johnson said.

jane.stueckemann@chron.com
Ed Shackelford joins AEI Engineering

Michael A. Kurzy, P.E., President of AEI Engineering, has recently announced the addition of Ed Shackelford, P.E. to the firm as Associate Vice President and Director of Water Resources Engineering.

Shackelford brings a broad array of high-level engineering management experience to Houston-based AEI Engineering. His background spans leading positions with local and county government as well as private consulting for organizations such as North Harris County Regional Water Authority, Harris County Precinct 4, and a number of municipal utility districts and cities.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University and is a licensed professional engineer.

Shackelfords professional and community affiliations include board and committee service with Texas Water Conservation Association, Texas Municipal League, Association of Water Board Directors Advisory Council, Texas Public Works Association, North Houston Association, Leadership North Houston, Klein ISD Education Foundation, and Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Lone Star College presented with the 2018 Spirit of Scouting Award

The Tall Timbers District, serving the Boy Scouts of America in Conroe ISD, presented Lone Star College with the 2018 Spirit of Scouting Award. The award is given for exceptional and unusual service to young people in hard-to-reach communities over a long period of time.

I am honored that Lone Star College was recognized for this award, said Stephen C. Head, Ph.D., LSC chancellor. Part of our culture is to build strong partnerships to promote student and community success.

The award was presented during the citizen participation portion at the February LSC Board of Trustees meeting. Stuart Schroeder, Tall Timbers District vice chairman, noted that Lone Star College has made facilities and equipment available at LSC-Montgomery to the Tall Timbers District and its predecessor George Strake for over 15 years for their annual Merit Badge University.

The Tall Timbers District serves scouting units in Conroe ISD which serves The Woodlands, Oak Ridge and Shenandoah area. The Tall Timbers District is part of the Sam Houston Area Council, Boy Scouts of America.

I can think of no more important partnership than the one we enjoy with the Tall Timbers District, said Head.

Texas Renaissance Festival announces new CEO

The Texas Renaissance Festival, the nations largest and most acclaimed Renaissance-themed event, has named Joseph Bailey as its new Chief Executive Officer and General Manager. Bailey joined the festival on Feb. 4, after serving as Senior Manager of Service Transition Planning and Support for Motorola Solutions in Schaumburg, Illinois.

I am delighted to welcome Joseph as our new CEO, said George Coulam, owner and founder of the Texas Renaissance Festival. Joseph has demonstrated consistent success leading large teams globally to deliver solutions and grow revenue for his stakeholders. I believe he is just the person to lead the Texas Renaissance Festival at this point in our history

A native Houstonian, Mr. Bailey graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. After a few years working as an engineer in various positions in the telecommunications industry, Joseph transitioned into business leadership and change management. For the last 15 years, he has led major corporate programs and promotions in enhancing the customer experience, site maintenance and improvement, and business efficiency.

The Texas Renaissance Festival will celebrate its 45th season in the fall of 2019, with nine themed weekends beginning Saturday, Oct. 5, and running through Sunday, Dec. 1. In 2018, the Festival welcomed over 640,000 guests and anticipates an even larger attendance this year as people from Houston and around the region join in the festivities to celebrate its sapphire anniversary. For more information, please visit www.texrenfest.com.
Dance at the J presents an exhilarating evening with Koresh Dance Company at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 9, at the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC.

Renowned for their powerful stage presence, Philadelphias Koresh Dance Company has been hailed as a vital force to both national and international stages. Koresh Dance Company was founded in 1991 by Israeli born choreographer and artistic director Ronen (Roni) Koresh and his brother, executive director Alon Koresh. The company presents a repertory which includes more than 60 works by Roni Koresh as well as works by many guest choreographers.

The best part of me is that I love what I do. I live it. I sleep with it. It is what I am, said Roni Koresh. Koresh is a choreographer, teacher, and collaborator whose unique blend of ballet, modern and jazz leaves audiences dazzled by the raw passion that is infused into his movement.

Koresh Dance Company will perform Inner Sun which features the stunning choreography of Artistic Director Roni Koresh to commissioned music pairing composer John Levis and poet Karl Mullen. John Levis, Middle Eastern chords and compelling rhythms drive the movement while multi-disciplinary artist Karl Mullens poetry provides a pulse for the dancers. The result is a delicious buffet of potent rhythmic music and dance, that forces the audience to both clap along and sit captivated in turn, as the performance unfolds to this eclectic score. The dancers invite you to a space of playfulness and celebration through heartfelt vignettes and powerful group work. Inner Sun illuminates the stage with joy as the dancers move from sweeping circles to strong stage formations using body percussion, gestures and rhythms drawn from Koreshs folk roots and the human experience.

Inspired by the parallel between the earth's core and that of the human body, the human spirit  this work celebrates the human spirits ability to create the warmth and power that drives our journeys. Koresh Dance Company astonishes again with Inner Sun, wrote the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Tickets for the evening concert are $20 member, $30 public and $15 students/senior adults. Visit www.erjcchouston.org/dance or call 713-551-7215 to purchase tickets.

Dance at the J is funded in part by the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC Patrons of the Arts, a grant from the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, Dance Source Houstons Production Grant program, and RBC Wealth Management. Marriott Houston Westchase is the official hotel for Dance at the J.

Dance community outreach, audience expansion and professional artistic development are continuing goals of Dance at the J. Dance concerts take place in the Kaplan Theatre, I W Marks Theatre Center, The Gerald Rauch Cultural and Performing Arts Wing at the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC.

Visit www.erjcchouston.org for more information about programs and services.
A woman claimed she was blocked from leaving a parking lot and was assaulted, now the Harris County Sheriffs Office is seeking the publics help in identifying the alleged suspect.

Investigators with the Violent Crimes Unit have release a photo from store surveillance in the hopes it leads to identifying the suspect. The suspect is described as a black female, 20 to 25 years old, 5 feet 3 inches to 5 feet 4 inches in height and weighing about 130 to 140 pounds. She has short dread locked hair. She was wearing a red-colored short-sleeved polo style shirt.

On Friday, Jan. 25, Harris County Sheriffs Office District 4 deputies responded to a call for service at the Family Thrift Center in the 6700 block of south Highway 6 in west Harris County.

According to deputies, the 33-year-old female complainant told deputies she was in her vehicle and was attempting to back out of a parking space. A green-colored Toyota four-door sedan with a Texas temporary plate of 25411PA reversed and blocked the females exit.

MEMORIAL VILLAGES: Police Department weekly report

The complainant reportedly told the suspect that she was trying to back out when the female exited the vehicle and began screaming at the victim.

According to the complainant, the suspect punched the woman several times in the face and spat on her. She then entered the green-colored sedan and drove north on Highway 6.

Anyone with information on the female in the photo is urged to call the Harris County Sheriffs Office Violent Crime unit at 713-274-9100.

Crime Stoppers will pay up to $5,000 for information leading to the charging and/or arrest of the suspect in this case. Information may be reported by calling 713-222-TIPS (8477) or submitted online at www.crime-stoppers.org. Tips may also be sent via a text message by texting the following: TIP610 plus the information to CRIMES (274637). All tipsters remain anonymous.

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.

Investigators with the Harris County Sheriff's Office Violent Crime Division is seeking the public's help in identifying a suspect in an assault on Friday, Jan. 25, 2019, at the Family Thrift Center located in the 6700 block of south Highway 6 in west Harris County.

rkent@hcnonline.com
The 2nd Annual Kolache Factory Challenge 5K will be held on Saturday, March 9, in the Energy Corridor.

Participating runners will have a chance to take on the challenge of eating three kolaches halfway through the race.

Proceeds from the 5K will benefit Memorial Assistance Ministries (MAM), a nonprofit with a mission to assure that families have the means to meet their basic needs. The proceeds will go to MAMs general operating fund that supports nine different programs and over $1 million in financial assistance for families.

Martha Macris, President and CEO of MAM, noted that the partnership between MAM and Kolache Factory evolved because MAM makes it a point to have relationships with businesses in the Memorial area.

When MAM can come in and support these families that are working in these businesses, it then helps the businesses as well, Macris said. The ripple effect of the organizations of MAM is unmeasurable.

Kolaches, a dough pastry stuffed with either sweet or savory fillings, were brought over to Texas by Czech immigrants.

A lot of the immigrants settled in West, Texas, and they traditionally made them with fruit and cream cheese fillings. We have Americanized them by adding things like sausage and cheese, Dawn Nielsen, Kolache Factory Chief Operational Officer, said. Some people can be opinionated on what to put in one, but we say its all good.

According to Nielsen, Kolache Factory was putting together a two-year plan to improve the company both internally and externally. More than anything, Nielsen had wanted their own named walk.

Coincidentally, two weeks after completing our plan, I had an old contact reach out, saying he was heading up fun runs and asked if I was interested in doing one. It ballooned from that. We had our first walk in a matter of months, Nielsen said.

Nielsens contacts had worked with MAM previously, but Nielsen had not, and she thought it was a great idea to work with somebody new in the community.

For those who do not think their stomach is up to the challenge of eating mid-race, there is the casual registration option, where participants can enjoy the kolaches after the run.

Awards and a $100 Kolache Factory gift card will be given to the male and female winners, and winners will be awarded in age groups in both Challenge and Casual categories. All participants must finish within 90 minutes.

There is also a Kolache Kids Fun Run 1K for ages 12 and under, and a Virtual Run, for people who want to sleep in and run the race on their own time.

Challenge and Casual runners begin the race at the same time and receive a timed bib, race tech shirt and commemorative medal. All participants can enjoy kolaches, courtesy of Kolache Factory, at the finish line along with other refreshments including Katz Coffee and one free St. Arnold beer for participants over 21.

The race will be held in the Energy Corridor, starting at the Addicks Park and Ride at 8:30 a.m. The Kids 1K starts at 8 a.m. Registration is $44.75 through March 8, and $49.75 on race day and $19.75 for the Kids 1K. Registration for the virtual race $39.75.

About the race, Macris said, We work together with people in our hometown, and we just like to have fun. We have staff running in the race too. I love this race because it is the whole package.

Nielsen hopes that this will be a great community event for friends and families to enjoy together.

This is something that is a little more social and unique and at the end of the day we think our food is fun and we think this run is fun, Nielsen said.

For more information about the Kolache Factory Challenge 5K, and to register, visit https://runsignup.com/Race/TX/Houston/KolacheChallenge5K. For more information about MAM, visit https://www.maministries.org.

rebecca.hazen@chron.com
A new take on the beloved "National Beer of Texas" hits Houston shelves on Tuesday, according to a news release.

"Lone Star 24|7" is now available in the Bayou City, Austin, Dallas, Forth Worth and San Antonio, and will roll out to the rest of the state in the upcoming weeks.

The American-style light lager with a golden malt color and bubbly effervescence, comes in an eye-catching bright gold can or bottle complete with Lone Star's signature shield.

It offers beer lovers a crisp, smooth, fresh flavor at 2.1% ABV and only 68 calories.

Also on shelves: Ghost in the Machine, more Louisiana brews available in Houston

"Texans are looking for lighter beers that they can enjoy while coming together and spending time outdoors, gathering with friends and family, or maintaining an active, more health-conscious lifestyle," Lone Star Beer brand manager Elkin Vasco said in the release. "We are thrilled to launch Lone Star 24|7 and feel Texas beer advocates will be too."

In November, Pabst Brewing Company, which produces 21 beer labels including Lone Star, won a legal battle against MillerCoors. The latter, under contract to brew all of Pabst's labels, was not looking to extend the deal past its 2020 expiration, according to the Houston Chronicle. The two parties reportedly reached an amicable agreement.

Lone Star Brewing Company originally launched in 1940. Over the years, Lone Star Beer achieved iconic status, even being featured in the 1980 film "Urban Cowboy" starring John Travolta.

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
A March 2 grand opening ceremony is planned for Katy Fire Department Station No. 2 at 25420 Bell Patna Drive, Katy.

The ceremony is set to begin at 10:30 a.m.

Fire Chief Russell Wilson said he will welcome visitors and guests and introduce participants. The program will include a prayer, a cornerstone dedication by the Katy Masonic Lodge 1439, remarks by Katy Mayor Chuck Brawner and the Katy Veterans of Foreign Wars doing a flag-raising ceremony at the station. Refreshments will be served.

Adding this station location has already proven to be optimal when it comes to disaster, said Wilson. Not only is it our choice for staging our resources, but also the choice for staging of the National Guard, for several FEMA strike teams that came in and countless other rescuers that responded to Harvey.

The department will move its high-water rescue vehicle to the station. Its proven to be an optimal location for deployment of resources during major flooding, said Wilson.

City officials broke ground for the three-bay, roughly 13,000-square-foot fire station in December 2017 near restaurants off Katy Mills Circle. The station includes dormitory facilities, a kitchen and exercise room.

The station will house the departments Quint 2, a ladder/pumper combination, and will be manned by four people per shift for each of the three shifts.

A $2.2 million Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response grant awarded in 2017 allowed the department to field 16 new firefighters for the station near Katy Mills Mall.

District 10 U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, played a role. Wilson said McCaul or someone from his office has been invited. He was very supportive of the grant in staffing the station, said Wilson. I would like for him to be there.

Wilson added, The Quint was bought a couple years ago for that station.

The truck will be part of a ceremonial push back. Wilson explained its a long-standing tradition that dates to old steam engines drawn by horses. When the company would return to the station, they would wash down the horses and push the cart back into the stall, said Wilson.

The station also will house medic 2, which will be staffed by two firefighters each shift, said Wilson.

Completion of the station is the long-awaited culmination of the project that started years ago and is a point of pride with all firefighters and the fire department, said Wilson.

Ultimately, well be able to serve the citizens better and provide a more safe and secure city for our citizens and thats what were all about, said Wilson. Were excited to do it (the opening) and to be part of it. Its something that will be long remembered and part of our history and its exciting to be part of it.

Contractor was Bass Construction of Rosenberg. The contract totaled more than $3.65 million. Slattery Tackett Architects LLP designed the station.

When the station was designed, David Slattery of Slattery Tackett Architects explained that it contains pods for each company within the department. For example, emergency medical responders and the ladder company each would have a pod.

The city used funds from a 2014 $5 million bond to pay for the fire station and a new fire truck.

Funds from a 2007 bond election allowed the city to expand and renovate Katy Fire Station No. 1 at 1417 Ave. D.

A consultant hired by the city recommended a second station in order for the city to maintain its ISO rating of 2.

The Insurance Service Office evaluates fire departments taking into consideration various factors including equipment and training. The rating a department receives can impact the home insurance premiums paid by residents protected by the department. Ratings range from 1, which is the best, to 10.

Station No. 2 originally was proposed near Kingsland Boulevard and Pin Oak Road. That site was abandoned after Tax Day floods in 2016 inundated the area after heavy rains. That was among events that delayed the station, which officials at one time had talked of opening as early as 2017.

More recently, the Oct. 1, 2018-Sept. 30, 2019 City of Katy budget talked of fire station No. 2 being completed in December 2018. That budget also funds three firefighting positions and one fire investigator.

karen.zurawski@chron.com
Responding to his constituents, Katy Ward B Councilman James C. Jimmy Mendez Jr. on Monday tagged appointment of a police chief and urged the vote be postponed until after the May election.

Tagging of the appointment didn't delay the council from going into 75 minute executive session at the end of the meeting to talk about the appointment and interview the top applicant  Texas Ranger Noe Diaz, who lives in Katy. Ward A Councilman Frank O. Carroll III said Diaz was the top candidate among five finalists, all from the Katy area.

People who filled the City Council chambers on Feb. 25 applauded after Mendez tagged the appointment. Three people from the crowded meeting also spoke in support of delaying action until after the May election when voters will elect a mayor a new Ward B councilman and a Ward A councilman. Carroll is running for election unopposed. Mendez is term-limited and cannot run for re-election.

Tagging, however, only delays the vote until the next meeting, said Mendez, who added that support exists on City Council to name a police chief next month. A motion to delay the appointment until after the election failed in a 3-2 vote with only Mendez and Councilman Chris Harris voting for the delay. The next regular City Council meeting is March 11.

The top job in the department opened Jan. 15, the retirement date of Bill Hastings, who had served the department for 32 years and as police chief since 2008. He had announced his retirement in mid-December and the position was posted for a nationwide search on Dec 31, said Carroll. Assistant Police Chief Tim Tyler, whose 27th anniversary with the department is in July, was appointed interim police chief. Tyler applied for the police chief position, but so did 75 other candidates, said Mendez and Carroll.

After the meeting, Mendez figured he had received probably 100 calls from people relative to the appointment of a police chief who favored waiting until after the election on May 4.

"I did what the constituents asked me to do," he said.

Supporting Mendez were residents Andy Wohlgemuth, Adrienne Davitz and Robert Wolfe, who spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting. Davitz and Wolfe discussed the issue, too, while council was in executive session. Wohlgemuth and Davitz also posted comments on the City of Katy Residents Forum website.

"I have real concerns about filling the position before the election," said Wolfe. "It doesn't pass the smell test for me."

He said he understood the preferred candidate was someone from outside the department.

"We do not need someone coming in and telling the Katy Police Department how to run their department," Wolfe said. "The chief of police should not be a training position."

But Carroll said that council advised the mayor that "whoever the candidate is has to have deep ties to the community." The councilman noted that Diaz has had an office at the Katy Police Department for more than 20 years as a trooper and then as a ranger.

According to LinkedIn, Diaz has worked more than 23 years with the Department of Public Safety, the last 11 years as a Texas Ranger. His public safety career began in 1986 when he worked as a correctional officer for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for 8 years. He worked 18 months as a Harris County Precinct 5 deputy constable before joining the DPS.

Diaz earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Houston-Downtown in criminal justice/police science and a master's degree in criminology from Lamar University.

The Management Connection Inc., a consulting firm based in Bryan-College Station, assessed leadership skills of the finalists, said Katy Mayor Chuck Brawner. The firm performed a similar evaluation for the municipal positions of city administrator and fire chief, he added.

The city's screening process included a five-member panel with four members of the Houston Area Police Chiefs Association and Brawner, a retired Spring Branch Independent School District police chief. That panel questioned finalists on various topics from leadership to policing philosophy and problem solving inside and outside of the department, said Carroll.

"Notes were taken and scores given by each individual member of the assessment panel on all questions," said Carroll. "Those scores were compiled together and candidates ranked in order according to the assessments. City Council last night was provided with the assessment scores. Noe Diaz scored the highest of the candidates that were ranked in order."

The peer panel to assess chief candidates in the law enforcement field is used across the country as a suitable process to screen applicants, added Brawner.

At the meeting, Davitz said she understood that the chief already had been chosen and had already introduced himself at the police department.

"I'm concerned if that is true; it happened before the vote," Davitz said. "It happened before city council exercised due diligence."

Wohlgemuth, like Mendez, pointed out that it took the city three years to fill the position of fire chief and questioned why there was such a push to appoint a police chief before the election.

Brawner said the filling of the fire chief and police chief vacancies is different. He said he wasn't mayor when the fire department was rebuilding under an interim fire chief.

"I wanted to have a quick and thorough process in the selection of a new chief," continued Brawner. "An issue for employees is to have a sense of security and understand where they fit in the organization. I wanted to have a sound foundation of what the staff of the police department was to expect."

In his forum post, Wohlgemuth wrote, in part, "The building uproar surrounding the current mayor's rush to install a replacement for Chief Hastings highlights that the community in all likelihood, would like that decision delayed until after the election.

"After being intricately involved and an active participant in delaying a permanent replacement (the delay being something in excess of 3 years) for chief Jordan, suddenly our Mayor is desperate to replace our police chief before the next mayoral election.

"We get varying stories about hiring boards who have been appointed, met, and already made a choice. There is even a name of a selectee and his background being discussed.

"Requests for information and policy positions posed to the city council have been met with denials, claims of ignorance, bald-faced obfuscation, pleas for patience, and sickenly sweet patronizing assurances that we will all have our answers in due time."

Carroll said that there is no prohibition in any ordinance, charter or written rule against making an appointment during a mayoral election. If it is an unwritten rule, there is no way to confirm it, said Carroll, who added, that he did not rely on unwritten rules.

"We have outstanding six positions to be filled at the police department," continued Carroll. "That's approximately 10 percent of the force. The next police chief should have input on who is hired. I think that's fair that the next police chief be part of what is the largest expansion of personnel since the year 2000."

karen.zurawski@chron.com
The play "Vietgone" rattled the theater world when it premiered in 2016. Written by Vietnamese-American writer Qui Nguyen, it presented a comedy/love story about the Vietnam War from a Vietnamese perspective -- showing the experience of a war hero being forced to relocate, unwillingly, to a government camp in the U.S.

Now, the largest theater company in Houston -- a city boasting one of the largest Vietnamese populations in the U.S. -- has announced it will bring the play here.
Three missing Connecticut children who were allegedly taken by their non-custodial mother may be in the Houston area, Texas and Connecticut authorities said. The children were taken during a supervised visit Feb. 19.

According to a poster put out by the organization which tracks and assists missing children cases, the three children, Maddison Mcgrath, 7; Dylan Mcgrath, 5; and Maryah Mathew, 2, may be in the Houston area. They were reported missing to Waterbury police on Feb. 19, which issued alerts in Connecticut at the time. Sealy was the last place the suspects were heard from.
Oil steadied after falling the most in almost a month on Monday, when President Donald Trump called on OPEC to temper prices.

Futures traded above $55 a barrel in New York after sliding 3.1 percent on Monday. While crude is still about 25 percent below the four-year high reached in October, the U.S. president tweeted on Monday that prices are rising too much and called on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to relax and take it easy. Oils recovery in 2019 has been propelled by output curbs by OPEC, with top member Saudi Arabia making the deepest cuts.

The market was due a correction and Trumps tweet did the trick, said Ole Sloth Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank A/S in Copenhagen. With the markets almost crazy focus on the potential for a trade deal, the negative growth momentum cannot be ignored.

PREVIOUSLY: Crude plummets as President Trump warns against high prices

Last year, the Saudis obliged when Trump urged OPEC to open its taps as his administration sought to shrink Iranian exports to zero through sanctions. Prices subsequently slumped when the U.S. unexpectedly eased its hard-line demand that the Persian Gulf states customer halt all purchases.

That dealt a blow to the economies of OPEC members and they arent likely to repeat the mistake, according to two oil officials in the Gulf region who asked not to be identified. Still, investors are wary over whether OPEC will be able to defy Trump, who could enforce legislation that shakes the organization to its foundations. The Saudis, meanwhile, havent fully escaped the political backlash in the U.S. for the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

West Texas Intermediate for April delivery traded at $55.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 4 cents, at 10:17 a.m. in London. The contract decreased $1.78 to $55.48 on Monday, the biggest loss since Jan. 28 to the lowest level since Feb. 14.

TWEET: Trump Attacks OPEC Again, Warning Against High Oil Prices

Brent for April settlement advanced 35 cents to $65.14 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract dropped $2.36 to $64.76 on Monday. The global benchmark crude traded at a $9.59 premium over WTI.

OPEC and its allies including Russia began output cuts last month to prevent booming American shale-oil output creating a glut amid fragile global fuel demand. While thats helped prices, growing optimism about a trade deal between the U.S. and China as well as Americas sanctions on Iran and Venezuela have also boosted crude. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said this week, before Trumps intervention, that Brent may take a fleeting trip to $70-$75 a barrel.

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Cryptocurrency firms were fined by state regulators and told to offer repayment to Texas investors for what the state alleges were illegal cryptocurrency-mining investments, the Texas State Securities Board said Friday.

It was the first enforcement action taken by a state against a cryptocurrency firm that resulted in both a fine and a full refund offer for investors.

Utah firms NUI Social LLC, Mintage Mining LLC and other related companies, that are controlled by Darren Olayan, a self-described "entrepreneur, visionary and motivational speaker," settled a complaint by the state alleging that the companies illegally sold unregistered investments and misled Texas investors.

The firms paid a fine of $25,000 to the state and are in the process of identifying the number of investors and associated damages that they must repay, according to a spokesperson with the Texas State Securities Board. The securities sold in Texas totaled less than $100,000, according to the firms.

VIRTUAL CONVERSATION: Is cryptocurrency the future of money, or just a sucker's bet?

The companies did not admit guilt in the settlements. NUI disputes the allegations of fraud and misleading investors.

Olayan said in a statement that his company strives and will continue to abide by all relevant laws and regulations. Moving forward, the company will not offer any cryptocurrency mining products in Texas, he said.

"We are committed to doing things the right way," Olayan said. "With so many factors affecting today's crypto space, it's important that we take the best steps to protect our company, our members and our products."

The state regulatory agency has issued 18 orders regarding cryptocurrency or cryptocurrency mining offerings to investors since it first began concentrating on the growing industry after the price of Bitcoin, the poster child of cryptocurrencies, skyrocketed in late 2017. At the time, the agency noticed a concerning flurry of misleading cryptocurrency investment advertisements on social media in dozens of Texas cities.

Texas was the first state to take enforcement action against promoters offering cryptocurrency-related investments.

"Despite the fluctuations in the price of Bitcoin, the majority of these scams continue to be pitched to investors in Texas," said Bob Elder, spokesperson for the Texas State Securities Board. "It's seen as a new exciting technology, but investors need to do their due diligence."

The Nui settlement, which states that two of the company's products were not registered as securities with the state, replaces an emergency cease and desist order that was issued in 2018. The state initially alleged widespread violations of Texas securities law, including making deceptive claims to the public.

Advertisements by Mintage Mining claimed the company could generate returns of up to 250 percent annually by mining cryptocurrencies, but the state alleged that there was no credible evidence of how those returns would be achieved. And, the state alleged, Olayan and Mintage Mining told investors that they were in compliance with the law, while neither were registered to sell securities in Texas.

NUI Social, a marketing company, attracted investors by signing up individuals who received commissions for recruiting investors.

"NUI disagrees with the legal conclusion that the (Texas State Securities Board) reached, but is pleased that the matter is now behind them," a company statement read.

RELATED: Is it time to reconsider cryptocurrencies like bitcoin?

One of the more recent enforcement actions taken by the state against fraudulent cryptocurrency firms has now led to an FBI investigation. In January, the state took emergency action against BitConnect, a public company based in England that issued its own currency.

Regulators found it was fraudulently offering cryptocurrency-based investment programs. After the emergency order, the company closed its lending program and its stock market value, which had previously reached a high of $2.6 billion, lost 98 percent of its value.

BitConnect was delisted from all cryptocurrency exchanges in September.

Elder encouraged investors in Texas to educate themselves about the companies they are investing in and to check whether the company is registered with the state to sell securities to prevent themselves from investing in fraudulent cryptocurrency companies.



"There aren't many people outside a computer science lab that can really fully explain the world of cryptocurrency," Elder said. "We're continuing to investigate suspicious cryptocurrency offerings and taking action, but investors also really need to practice self-defense."

Nui said it will make a refund offer to Texas residents who purchased the products "in the near future."

erin.douglas@chron.com

Twitter.com/erinmdouglas23
World Court says Britain must return Indian Ocean islands to Mauritius

The World Court on Monday told Britain to give up control over the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, and said it had wrongfully forced the population to leave in the 1970s to make way for a US air base.

Britain split the archipelago off from its colonial island territory of Mauritius in 1965, three years before granting independence to Mauritius  minus the islands.

In the early 1970s, it evicted almost 2,000 residents to Mauritius and the Seychelles to make way for the base on the largest island, Diego Garcia, which it had leased to the United States.

In a non-binding advisory opinion, the top United Nations court for inter-state disputes said Britain had acted unlawfully in the decolonisation process and should relinquish control over the islands, which it calls the British Indian Ocean Territory.

Although the court was not asked to issue an opinion on sovereignty, Monday's decision in effect urged Britain to hand the islands, which it has controlled since 1814, over to Mauritius.

But Presiding Judge Abdulqawi Yusuf said in a summary of the decision that Britain was 'under obligation to bring to an end the administration of Chagos Islands as rapidly as possible'.

The case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), as the World Court is officially known, is seen as a test of the legitimacy of deals struck between great powers and small states at the end of the colonial era.

For years Chagossians have lobbied London to let them return. In 2016, Britain extended the United States' lease of Diego Garcia until 2036 and said expelled islanders could not go back.

'Historic moment'

Mauritian prime minister Pravind Jugnauth said it was 'a historic moment for Mauritius and all its people, including the Chagossians who were unconscionably removed from their homeland and prevented from returning for the last half century'.

'Our territorial integrity will now be made complete, and when that occurs, the Chagossians and their descendants will finally be able to return home.'

The UN General Assembly asked the court in February 2017 to advise on whether the process of decolonisation had been concluded lawfully.

In his summary, Yusuf said: 'The court having found that the decolonisation of Mauritius was not conducted in a manner consistent with the right of peoples to self-determination, it follows that the United Kingdom's continued administration of the Chagos Archipelago constitutes a wrongful act entailing the international responsibility of that State.'

Mauritius argued that it had been forced to give up the archipelago to gain independence from Britain. Britain maintained that Mauritius had given up the islands willingly.

By 13 votes to one, the judges backed the decision, which is not binding but carries weight under international law.

Diego Garcia has played an important role in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan since 1991, acting as a launch pad for U.S. long-range bombers. The United States and Britain both voted against the U.N. resolution seeking the court's opinion.

Philippe Sands, a member of the Mauritius legal team at the ICJ, said the next step would be for Britain and Mauritius to sit down and work out a handover:

'A way will be found to move this forward, safeguarding the interests of everyone but recognising what the court has said.'
The unexpected challenge of the Parable of the Pounds

Every so often, a new look at an old story opens our eyes to a new meaning.

One of these old stories is the Parable of the Ten Minas in Luke 19, also known as the Parable of the Pounds; in Matthew 25:14-30 the 'minas' are 'talents' (a talent was worth 60 minas).

Anyone who has been going to church for a while will have heard a sermon on this. It's about the gifts God has given to us and the importance of using them wisely rather than burying our 'talent' in the ground.

Well, perhaps; but there's another way of looking at this.

In his book Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, Kenneth Bailey points out the significance of what the ruler said before he left on his journey abroad. He gives 10 minas  the equivalent of about 100 days wages  to 10 of his servants and says, 'Put this money to work until I come back.'

What Bailey  a biblical scholar and linguist who lived in the Middle East for many years  points out is the meaning of the words often translated 'until'. 'En ho' in Greek literally means 'in which'. It can mean 'until', but it can also mean 'because'.

So Bailey suggests reading the master's command as: 'Engage in trade in a situation in which I am coming back.'

In the real world in which the parable is set, King Herod the Great had undertaken a journey from Judaea to Rome in his succesful quest to be made king. His son Archelaus had also made that journey, but unsuccessfully. In the parable, enemies follow the ruler and brief against him.

The picture is of an unstable, dangerous political situation in which the smart thing to do would be to bury the money and lie low until it's clear who's come out on top.

So when the ruler tells his servants to 'Engage in trade in a situation in which I am coming back,' he is asking them to demonstrate their loyalty to him and their trust in him. He is not really interested in whether they make money, but in whether they are faithful.

And Bailey tells of how when he worked for with the Lutheran Church of Latvia at its seminary in Riga, he asked them what questions they put to those who applied to study there. 'They told me, "The most important question is, when were you baptized?" And I asked, "Why is the date of baptism such an important question?" They answered, "If they were baptized during the period of Soviet rule, they risked their lives and compromised their futures by being baptized. But if they were baptized after liberation from the Soviets, we have many further questions to ask them about why they want to become pastors.'

Seeing the Parable of the Minas, or Talents, like this makes us ask a different question of ourselves. It's not, 'Am I dutifully using the gifts I have been given?' but, 'Do I really believe in the One who gave them?' And  at a time when in the West at least the currents of our culture are running against the Christian faith  am I prepared to risk everything for him?

'Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes' is published by IVP.
The 'cult of relentless negativity' really hacks me off

Did you realise you are almost certainly a member of a sinister mind-controlling cult?

But it's true, my friend  it's true. And what's more  you've probably never even realised it. This sinister network has no formal name or structure, but we could accurately call it 'the cult of relentless negativity'  and its tentacles are everywhere, including in the Christian world.

For the 'cult of relentless negativity' is the system of thinking that almost all of us have unwittingly bought into. See it on Twitter; see it on Facebook  the sarcastic comments, the knee-jerk negativity, the relentless tribalism where 'we' are always right and 'they' are always wrong. It's putting the worst possible spin, the bleakest interpretation, on the motives and actions of others  while presenting ourselves as the enlightened ones, the saints and heroes, who alone can see things clearly.

Hear it on the radio when pointlessly adversarial interviews are staged with two opposite views  because a negative clash is deemed more likely to engage listeners than a reasoned debate. All it does is leave both interviewees looking foolish  and the presenter as righteous ring-master. Hear it when interviewers constantly interrupt or harangue their interviewees, leaving an impression that the person being interviewed is stupid or inept.

Watch it on television when news reporters conclude their package with a phrase such as 'But critics will say...' without naming anyone, or indeed offering any evidence they have even spoken to such 'critics'. And there's that other lazy, negative journalistic sign-off  'But many questions remain unanswered'  leaving the impression that whatever person or event has just been reported on, there's probably some sort of cover-up or incompetence yet to be exposed.

Observe it in politics in the nastiness between Democrats and Republicans in the US. See it likewise in Britain: witness the way people on both sides of the Brexit debate have spoken of the other. Or hear Labour MP John McDonnell who said he could never, ever be friends with a Tory  as though they are to be regarded as some separate species of human.

And sadly, of course, the cult of relentless negativity is in the church too. Read Angela Tilby's likening of Anglican evangelicals to Labour's hard-left 'Momentum' grouping in last week's Church Times. Why undertake any serious comment when you can just smear a whole group in this way? Meanwhile an 'inclusive' and influential Anglican website carries an article in which every member of the Church of England's 'Living in Love and Faith' sexuality project is declared 'guilty' on six counts (yes, six!) of 'evil' by the writer, namely 'prejudice, silence, ignorance, fear, hypocrisy, prejudice and misuse of power'. Quite some indictment!

More conservative Christians can be the same. There are websites purporting to offer objective comment on Anglicanism which seem dedicated, relentlessly, to reporting and reinforcing a 100 per cent negative view. One wonders what it does to those who churn the stuff out. Some of the loudest online critics of the Church of England have alienated potential allies by relentlessly disparaging anyone who does not see things exactly as they do. How easy it is, as the puritan Richard Baxter observed, 'to tear our brethren as heretics before we understand them'.

At times all this makes me feel physically sick. The American Christian writer Preston Sprinkle summed it up well recently when he wrote on Twitter of 'the inability to humbly listen to the other side, the other tribe  those you are told are the enemy; the posture of seeing the world in black & white, good people & bad people, & refusing to love your enemy.' He was speaking, he indicated, of both 'conservatives' and 'liberals'. Whether he had in mind theology or politics (or indeed both), he was absolutely right.

Of course, it's easy to see this in others, but I know that if people were to work through every online word I have ever uttered I would have plenty of this sort of thing to answer for too. I guess some might even feel some of my words above are guilty of exactly what I am criticising. If that is the case, I apologise. We all have logs in our eyes. So what are we to do?

One of the most astute and wise attempts I have seen to counter 'the cult of relentless negativity' is found in the 'about' section of a blog entitled 'Gentle Reformation' which has writers from both sides of the Atlantic. It wants to encourage a way of speaking, especially online, which is, firstly:

'persuasive rather than polemical (seeking to avoid the condescending pride that is, sadly, too often seen... among those who, of all people, should be able knowledgeably to say "by the grace of God I am what I am")'

And which, secondly, seeks to:

'speak in a tone that is pastoral rather than pejorative (though Biblical faithfulness demands that we cry "Wolf!" on occasion (see Matthew 7:15; Acts 20:29-31), we will be sure to do it only when warranted and not so often that we start sounding like that proverbial boy)'  in other words, the boy in the children's fable who cried 'wolf' falsely so often that when a real wolf did appear, no-one paid any attention to him.

That sounds like a good start to me. Dr Heath Lambert, executive director at the Association of Certified Biblical Counsellors, the largest biblical counselling organization in the world, also writes wisely, it seems to me, when he states: 'The reality is that, for most of us, our words are wrong before they ever even leave our mouths because they are generated from an arrogant, self-exalting heart. My ideas are correct; yours are wrong. My motives are pure; yours are suspect. My plans are wise; yours are foolish. When words are drawn out of this poisonous well they will not be spoken in love even if they are technically accurate because love does not envy or boast, and is not arrogant or rude.'

May God grant all of us the grace and humility to learn how to apply these things first and foremost to ourselves.

David Baker is a former daily newspaper journalist now working as an Anglican minister in Sussex, England. Find him on Twitter @Baker_David_A
New poll reveals dramatic shift towards the pro-life position among Americans

As Democrats continue their radical push for abortion up to birth, a new poll has found that more Americans are embracing the pro-life perspective.

The Marist poll of 1,008 adults revealed a significant double-digit shift, with the number of Americans identifying as pro-life and pro-choice now equal at 47 per cent each.

It's the first time in a decade that support for and against abortion has been level.

The poll was carried out earlier this month on behalf of the Knights of Columbus after New York state relaxed laws on terminations up to the moment of pregnancy, a move that several other states, including Virginia, have tried to copy.

But the findings represent a dramatic step towards the pro-life stance on abortion by a 17 per cent margin after a separate poll conducted in January found that Americans were more likely to identify as pro-choice than as pro-life (55 to 38 per cent respectively).

Significantly, the shift in perspectives has also occurred among Democrats, with those identifying as pro-life rising from 20 per cent in January to 34 per cent in February. Similarly, the proportion who said they were pro-choice fell from 75 per cent to 61 per cent.

There was also a sizable swing to the pro-life camp among younger Americans, with under-45s who identifying as pro-life rising from 28 per cent in January to 47 per cent a month later while pro-choicers fell from 65 per cent to 48 per cent.

'Current proposals that promote late-term abortion have reset the landscape and language on abortion in a pronounced  and very measurable  way,' said Barbara Carvalho, director of The Marist Poll.

'The recent legal changes to late-term abortion and the debate which followed have not gone unnoticed by the general public.

'In just one month, there has been a significant increase in the proportion of Americans who see themselves as pro-life and an equally notable decline in those who describe themselves as pro-choice.'

Late-term abortions have been thrust into the public debate following a row over a failed bill in Virginia to legalise abortion up to the moment of birth and incendiary comments defending the proposal by state governor Ralph Northam.

He told WTOP-FM radion station: '[Third trimester abortions are] done in cases where there may be severe deformities. There may be a fetus that's nonviable. So in this particular example, if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen.

'The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated, if that's what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.'

The Marist poll found overwhelming opposition to late-term abortions across the political divide, with 71 per cent of Americans agreeing that third trimester terminations should be generally illegal.

This majority included 60 per cent of Democrats, 72 per cent of Independents and 85 per cent of Republicans.

Eighty per cent of Americans said abortion should be limited to the first three months of pregnancy, an increase of five points from January. The majority includes 65 per cent of those who identified as pro-choice and 64 per cent of Democrats.

'Arguments in favor of late-term abortion are simply not convincing the American people,' said Carl Anderson, CEO of the Knights of Columbus.

'If anything, since these proposals have been unveiled, people are moving noticeably in the pro-life direction. It is now clear that these radical policies are being pursued despite the opposition of the majority of Americans of both parties.'

Despite the level of opposition, Democrats in the Senate blocked legislation on Tuesday to protect the lives of babies born alive during attempted abortions.

The outcome was condemned by President Donald Trump, who has vowed to support the pro-life cause.

'Senate Democrats just voted against legislation to prevent the killing of newborn infant children. The Democrat position on abortion is now so extreme that they don't mind executing babies AFTER birth....' he tweeted.

Vice President Mike Pence also criticised the vote: 'To see Senate Democrats vote against legal protection for born-alive infants is a disgrace.'
George Pell case: How a bad week for the Vatican just got worse

Cardinal George Pell, Vatican treasurer, has been found guilty of sexual offences against children. He is the highest-ranking Catholic figure to have been convicted.

Cardinal Pell was charged in June 2017 and was given leave of absence from his work as the Vatican treasurer to defend himself in court.. The Holy See stressed at the time that the Secretariat for the Economy and the Vatican bank would continue to function as normal in Pell's absence.

Before leaving for Australia, Pell made a highly emotive, almost angry, public statement at the Vatican Press offices. He said that he had been subject to a 'relentless character assassination' that were the outcome of media leaks of an investigation two years previously. He even went so far as to say, 'I'm looking forward to finally having my day in court.'

The Holy See also commented at this time. It began by alluding to the 'charges filed in Australia against Cardinal George Pell for decades-old actions that have been attributed to him.' The Holy See was keen to seem to cooperate with the Australian justice system but also stated that 'it is important to recall that Cardinal Pell has openly and repeatedly condemned as immoral and intolerable the acts of abuse committed against minors.' It listed Pell'srecord in supporting the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and implementing systems and procedures to provide assistance to victims of abuse in his time as the Bishop of Melbourne.

In March 2018, Pell's supporters believed that the case was unravelling when some charges were dropped. Evidence was withdrawn from two accusers due to medical issues and death of a victim. At this time, Pell's barrister, Robert Richter QC, accused Magistrate Belinda Wallington of bias.

What became known as the 'cathedral trail' (cases leading back to the 1990s) began in August 2018 at the County Court of Victoria, Melbourne. Pell was charged with one act of sexual abuse and four indecent acts with two choirboys aged 13. The incidents are all said to have taken place at St Patrick's Cathedral Melbourne in 1996. Pell pleaded not guilty. Suppression orders were in place to prevent the Australian media reporting the verdict; however, leaks made it public within a matter of hours.

At the beginning of this month, hearings began before the start of the second trial. Again, one charge was dropped, leaving supporters hopeful. This second trial would have brought forth cases from the 1970s when Pell was a parish priest in Ballarat, but it was suddenly dropped. Justin Quill, a media lawyer and frequent analyst on both 9News Australia and Sky News has reported that 'Cardinal Pell went into a private room with Robert Richter, his lawyer, and come back out five minutes later'. Rather than apply for an immediate appeal, which was the assumed next move, Richter told the court that they were 'withdrawing their application for the suppression order' and that "effectively we could report the guilty finding'.

Since this guilty verdict was officially released, the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference has released a statement, saying, 'The Bishops agree that everyone should be equal under the law, and we respect the Australian legal system.' They also said that they will 'pray for all those who have been abused and their loved ones'. Pell himself has said very little. A statement read on his behalf outside the court read, 'Cardinal George Pell has always maintained his innocence and continues to do so', and that he would await the outcome of his appeal before speaking.

The announcement of this verdict could not have come at a worse time for the Vatican, which has yet to make a statement as of Tuesday morning Rome time. Only yesterday it concluded an international meeting to discuss clerical sexual abuse: over 190 bishops and senior clergy had met in Rome for a seemingly urgent meeting to discuss the protection of minors in the Catholic Church.

Yesterday, Pope Francis ended this historic meeting with mass, in which he insisted that the church needed to protect children from 'ravenous wolves'. This closing speech was devoid of practical outcomes, which visibly outraged the victims that had been present during the meeting. The Catholic community globally had assumed when this meeting was called in September 2018 that there would be active and concrete policy change. The best that the media had as an outcome was from Rev Hans Zollner, president of the Centre for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He said that the church has addressed the 'systematic roots' of the scandal, but warned that it would take time to 'turn a big ship around'.

The Catholic church, already bruised by independent inquiries, accusations, and historical cases takes another step in the wrong direction today. Victims, their families, and Catholics in parishes around the world continue to see the pain and suffering of their brothers and sisters, but still no change. The divide between the pontificate and the people widens as the church globally wait for the Vatican's next move.

Nina Mattiello Azadeh studied music and philosophy and was a Faith in Politics media intern in 2016. She has a keen interest in interfaith relations, social action and is a classical ballet dancer. Follow her on Twitter @Ninamataz
Church leader tells Scottish parliamentarians to build a society that cares for all

The Moderator of the Church of Scotland General Assembly has told MSPs that too many people are having to rely on foodbanks to get by.

Delivering the Scottish Parliament's Time for Reflection this week, the Rt Rev Susan Brown warned that many people in Scotland were being 'left to live on thin air' because of delays to their benefits.

As Scottish parliamentarians continue to debate the future of Scotland post-Brexit, Mrs Brown appealed to them to shape a 21st century society that would 'truly care for all'.

'Whatever side of the fence you sit personally and politically, over these next few months and years you will be responsible for shaping a new look UK,' she said.

'At times that will be exciting while at other times it will be daunting, if not terrifying.

'Be assured of the prayers of many people of all faiths, as you plan and make decisions.

'But please put at the forefront of all your thinking, the most vulnerable among us.'

Mrs Brown was invited to deliver the reflection at the start of the business week for the Scottish Parliament ahead of meetings with party leaders to discuss issues like child poverty, refugee settlement and climate change.

She told MSPs that some families in Scotland were struggling to feed their children during the school holidays while homeless people had limited access to support networks.

'And I have met far too many children needing fed during school holidays,' she said.

'I have heard far too many stories of families and individuals left to live on thin air while their benefits are sorted out.

'I have talked to too many people who are homeless and because they are, they have no access to the help they need whether that be mental health services or other support networks.

'Then there are those who are trying to help but who have to cope with uncertain funding and futures.

'Let's make sure that in 21st century Scotland, we truly care for all.'
Christian parliamentarians call for Venezuela's Maduro to go

Christian parliamentarians from Latin America have intervened in the Venezuelan political crisis, describing the government of beleaguered President Nicolas Maduro as 'illegitimate' and calling for new elections.

A statement from the Ibero-American Union of Christian Parliamentarians (IAUCP) signed by parliamentarians from Uruguay, Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru refers to the 'grave humanitarian situation' in the country.

Oil-rich Venezuela has seen its economy collapse through mismanagement. There are high levels of unemployment and health and education services have failed. Widespread food shortages have led to a warnings of a hunger crisis. Attempts to bring in relief supplies from the US and Colombia have been blocked by the Maduro government, which denies the existence of a problem. Several countries have now recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as the legitimate president.

The IAUCP statement, reported by Evangelical Focus, calls on members of the Organisation of American States to contribute to the 'prompt restoration of the Venezuelan democratic order' through new elections, to address humanitarian needs and recognise Guaido as the country's leader.

Maduro has so far resisted intense international pressure to step down from power, badging it as Western colonialism. While there is no appetite in the US or among neighbouring states for military intervention, there are growing fears of a regional humanitarian crisis.
Cardinal George Pell: Dramatic fall from grace of Vatican treasurer

For two decades, George Pell was the dominant figure in the Catholic Church in Australia  a boy from a gold mining town whose ambition, intellect and knack for befriending influential people propelled him to become the third-most senior official in the Vatican.

That came crashing down in December, when a court found Pell, 77, guilty of five charges of child sex offences committed in a Melbourne cathedral 115 km (70 miles) from his home town of Ballarat. The verdict had been subject to a court order that prevented reporting of the case until the judge lifted the restrictions on Tuesday.

He had been due to face a second trial for alleged offences committed during the 1970s. However, this was abandoned when prosecutors said they had insufficient evidence for it to proceed.

He will be sentenced tomorrow.

Pell is the most senior Roman Catholic official to be convicted of sexual offences, bringing a rolling abuse scandal that has dogged the church worldwide for three decades to the heart of both the Vatican and Australian civic life.

Pell spent most of his first three decades as a priest in Ballarat, an old gold mining town in the state of Victoria, about 120 km (75 miles) from Melbourne.

State and federal inquiries would later find it to be one of the Catholic dioceses worst-affected by cases of abuse, though none of the complaints against Pell stem from his time there.

It was after Pell left his hometown to become Archbishop of Melbourne, in 1996, that he committed offences against two choirboys in the city's St Patrick's Cathedral for which he was found guilty by the 12-person jury.

It was not until 2016 that the complaints against Pell were first made public, with charges laid in 2017, and in the meantime he continued to rise through Australia's Church hierarchy.

By the time Pell became Archbishop of Sydney, the country's top-ranking Catholic position, in 2001 he was a polarising national figure  revered by many conservative Catholics but criticised by liberals for his outspoken views.

At a 2002 World Youth Day event in Toronto, Pell made headlines by saying 'abortion is a worse moral scandal than priests sexually abusing young people' since abortion was 'always a destruction of human life'.

In a short statement outside the court on Tuesday, after Pell departed in a waiting car, Pell's lawyer, Paul Galbally, said: 'Cardinal Pell has always maintained his innocence and continues to do so.' He said an appeal had been filed.

Financial role

In meetings among cardinals before the conclave that elected Pope Francis in 2013, the Australian stood out not only for his imposing height and broad shoulders, but also for his command of financial matters.

Hoping to end Vatican financial scandals, the pope moved Pell to Rome and in 2014 he was appointed to run a new ministry, the Secretariat for the Economy.

Meanwhile, in Australia, a state inquiry into institutional abuse began airing accounts of child abuse and cover-ups in Ballarat and elsewhere over generations, triggering a more powerful, comprehensive Federal Royal Commission inquiry.

Pell was not named as an alleged perpetrator at either inquiry. When he was called to give evidence at the Royal Commission it was only in relation to his knowledge of others' conduct, and the question of whether he was present when church leaders decided to move offending priests between parishes.

In testimony to the commission in March 2016, Pell said that he did not know of the sexual abuse of children in Ballarat by another priest in the 1970s until his conviction in 1993, although the commission had heard testimony from others that the priest's behaviour was an open secret in the diocese.

'It's a sad story and it wasn't of much interest to me,' he told that inquiry. Pell also said the Church made 'catastrophic' choices by minimising its response to, and covering up, abuse complaints.

When the global wave of abuse allegations reached Pell in June 2017, some of the country's most powerful people stood by him, including former conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott, himself a devout Catholic, who told a newspaper 'the George Pell I have known is a very fine man indeed'.

Pell's successor as Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, also told media at the time that 'the George Pell I know is a man of integrity in his dealings with others, a man of faith and high ideals, a thoroughly decent man'.

Abbott and Fisher did not immediately respond to requests for comment after the verdict was made public.

Mark Coleridge, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, said the conviction had shocked people around Australia and the world, including the bishops.

'We pray for all those who have been abused and their loved ones, and we commit ourselves anew to doing everything possible to ensure that the Church is a safe place for all, especially the young and the vulnerable,' he said in statement.

Pell took leave from his Vatican finance role to fight the charges but he still officially held that job through his trial.

Pope Francis and the Vatican made no statement on the guilty verdict when delivered in December, which was reported by some international media at the time, saying they would respect the Australian legal process and suppression order.

A day after the December verdict, Pell was one of three cardinals the pope removed from his group of close advisers. No reason was given at the time.

Some victims' advocates say the conviction of so high profile a figure could encourage other survivors of clerical abuse to speak out.

'A lot of people, particularly survivors, are scared to come forward because they think "no one's going to believe me, the court's not going to believe me",' said Philip Nagel, who went to a Ballarat school where Pell was a priest in the 1970s and testified against another clergyman who has since been jailed.

'Not getting justice is probably as damaging as the offences being committed, so this will give more people more courage to come forward.'
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Weve mentioned in the past on BreakPoint about zombie abortion arguments. You know, those arguments that just wont die? They continue to be repeated long after they should have been dead and buried. Like zombies in movies, these arguments continue shuffling along, seemingly impervious to the reality that they are dead.

Abortion isnt the only issue confused by zombie arguments. Theres a whole host of should-be-dead-by-now ideas having to do with so-called overpopulation. I say so-called because virtually every dire prediction Paul Ehrlich made fifty years ago in his book The Population Bomb was wrong. Spectacularly wrong, in fact. Yet Ehrlichs ideas remain an article of faith among manyand I mean that literally.

In The Walking Dead, the only sure way to dispatch a zombie is with a headshot. Well, a new book should be the headshot for Ehrlichs ideas. Unfortunately, many peoples worldviews harden to the point of becoming ideological kevlar helmets.

The book of which I speak is Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline by Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson.

To be clear, theres far more than one shock described in Empty Planet, but all of them flow from a single reality. Contrary to what people have been taught to believe for decades, We do not face the challenge of a population bomb but of a population busta relentless, generation-after-generation culling of the human herd.

As the Canadian duo documents, an increasing number of demographers around the world believe that the UNs estimates, that human population will peak at 11 billion in 2100, are far too high. The more likely outcome, they suggest, is that the planets population will peak at around nine billion sometime between 2040 and 2060, and then start to decline. According to Bricker and Ibbitson, Once that decline begins, it will never end.

Their argument is scarily plausible. They are not exaggerating when they call this decline the great defining event of the twenty-first century and one of the great defining events in human history.

We talk a lot on BreakPoint about the decline of fertility rates in the industrialized world: Western Europe, Japan and the United States. We have described the dire economic and social consequences of this decline.

What Empty Planet makes clear is that this decline isnt limited to the usual suspects. South Korea is headed down the same road to demographic catastrophe as Japan. Even more ominously, similar trends are emerging in the developing world. By the middle of this century, Brazil, Indonesia, China, and even India will begin to see their populations decline.

The reasons behind the decline are, not surprisingly, mostly cultural. In a brilliant bit of analysis, the authors point out that as societies become more modern and urban, friends and co-workers replace siblings, parents, and uncles and aunts. Families may put subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle pressure on young people to get married and have kids, but friends rarely do.

And then, theres this well-established link between religiosity and fertility, something weve talked about before on BreakPoint.

Population decline is going to be a nasty shock, especially in the economic realm. Ideally, there should be about six workers for every retiree. Thanks to increased life expectancy and low birth rates, it is projected to drop to about three by 2050 and about two by 2100. We may live longer but there will be fewer of us, and our societies will be less dynamic, entrepreneurial, and creative.

Despite these realities, the myth of overpopulation refuses to die. Efforts to combat fertility and population growth, whether governmental policies or cultural incentives, are terrible ideas that threaten to make victims of us all.

Still, unlike Bricker and Ibbitson, I refuse to give up hope. Faith, especially Christian faith, is still strong in many parts of the world. And while that persists, theres still a chance to avoid some of the shocks they describe in Empty Planet.

Otherwise a different, but no less real, zombie apocalypse awaits us.

Resources

Bugs in the Overpopulation Theory: Panic-Fed Policy, John Stonestreet | BreakPoint.org | July 1, 2015

More than Voles: Humans, Creativity, and Overpopulation, Eric Metaxas | BreakPoint.org | October 2, 2013

Originally posted at Breakpoint.
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There is no spin that can be put on this. No justification. No explanation that softens the blow. On February 25, 44 Democrat senators, including all 6 declared presidential candidates, voted against the Born Alive Protection Act. Put another way, they voted for infanticide.

As reported on the National Review, All six of the Democratic senators currently running for the 2020 presidential nomination voted against the bill: Cory Booker (N.J.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Kamala Harris (Calif.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), along with Independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

The Democrats truly have become the party of death, joined enthusiastically by far-left Bernie Sanders.

But none of this is surprising at all. When the god of abortion is threatened by affirming the sanctity of a babys life, inside or outside the womb, the Democrats will opt for death.

Here is the most relevant part of the bill which these leftists voted against. It is unambiguous in its language.

 1532. Requirements pertaining to born-alive abortion survivors

(a) Requirements For Health Care Practitioners.In the case of an abortion or attempted abortion that results in a child born alive:

(1) DEGREE OF CARE REQUIRED; IMMEDIATE ADMISSION TO A HOSPITAL.Any health care practitioner present at the time the child is born alive shall

(A) exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age; and

(B) following the exercise of skill, care, and diligence required under subparagraph (A), ensure that the child born alive is immediately transported and admitted to a hospital.

(2) MANDATORY REPORTING OF VIOLATIONS.A health care practitioner or any employee of a hospital, a physicians office, or an abortion clinic who has knowledge of a failure to comply with the requirements of paragraph (1) shall immediately report the failure to an appropriate State or Federal law enforcement agency, or to both.

(b) Penalties.

(1) IN GENERAL.Whoever violates subsection (a) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both.

(2) INTENTIONAL KILLING OF CHILD BORN ALIVE.Whoever intentionally performs or attempts to perform an overt act that kills a child born alive described under subsection (a), shall be punished as under section 1111 of this title for intentionally killing or attempting to kill a human being.

There you have it.

Should a baby survive an abortion, the health care practitioner shall exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age.

Failure to do so would be a violation of the law.

Thats it.

Nothing about abortion itself. No statement about the immorality of killing a baby in the womb.

Not a syllable.

This bill simply guarantees the protection of a baby born alive despite attempts to slaughter it in the womb.

End of subject.

As Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell stated plainly before the vote was taken, It isnt about restrictions on abortion. It isnt about changing the options available to women. Its just about recognizing that a newborn baby is a newborn baby, period.

And he asked, Can the extreme far-left politics surrounding abortion really have come this far? Are we really supposed to think that its normal that there are now two sides debating whether a newborn, whether newborn living babies deserve medical attention?

The answer is, yes, we have come this far. Infanticide is now up for debate. After all, if the mother (or parents) want to terminate the life of their child, they should have the right to, even if it survives the abortion. That baby must die!

Under no conceivable circumstances should any person of conscience vote against a bill designed to protect a living baby outside the womb. And that means to vote against such a bill is to betray a woeful lack of conscience.

How, then, did these Democrats justify their vote?

According to Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, the bill is carefully crafted to target, intimidate, and shut down reproductive health care providers.

That is utter nonsense (and note that Schumer was careful to speak of reproductive health care providers rather than refer to abortion providers).

He claimed that the bill would impose requirements on what type of care doctors must provide in certain circumstances, even if that care is ineffective, contradictory to medical evidence, and against the familys wishes.

Nonsense again, unless, of course, its up to the family to decide whether their newborn baby should live. Or whether medical evidence would mandate letting the baby die without care.

In short, 44 Democrats, along with Bernie Sanders, including all declared presidential candidates, cast their vote for infanticide.

May we never forget.
Roe v. Wade should be overturned because it's a scientific and logical disaster, UNC prof. says

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In a sometimes testy debate with controversial Christian abortionist Dr. Willie Parker on whether abortion is a moral wrong, conservative University of North Carolina professor Mike Adams says he believes the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide deserves to be overturned because it's a scientific and logical disaster.

That decision was a scientific and logical disaster and that is why it absolutely must be overturned, Adams argued after Parker cited the decision in his defense of a womans right to choose whether she wants to carry her baby to term or not.

The debate between Parker, who believes he's doing Gods work by performing abortions, and Adams, a professor of criminology, took place Thursday night at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, where Adams works. It was sponsored by Summit Ministries, an organization working to help rising generations influence culture by understanding the Bible, refuting false worldviews, promoting the value of life, and championing economic and political freedom.

I am here this evening to defend a very simple logical syllogism. The major premise or the first premise is that it is wrong to intentionally kill an innocent human being. My minor premise, second premise, is that abortion does in fact intentionally kill an innocent human being and my conclusion is that therefore abortion is wrong, Adams began in his opening remarks.

He then proceeded to defend his second premise by citing studies in embryology that state that life begins at conception because pro-choice supporters sometimes try to deny that abortion kills an innocent human being.

Citing excerpts from Parkers book, Lifes Work: A Moral Argument for Choice, Adams argued that the abortionists position that life is a continuous process is absolutely preposterous because Parker doesnt clearly define when life begins.

He (Parker) likes to say life is this continuous process. And he suggests that there is this continuous life process between the mother and the offspring. Thats absolutely preposterous. Dr. Willie Parker has performed over 10,000 abortions. And I ask you a simple question, in any of those 10,000 abortions, did he accidentally abort a mother?

"Of course he didnt because he sees two distinct living and whole human beings in front of him and there is absolutely no confusion about which one is which, Adams said.

He continues on page 150 and he says that between 22 and 25 weeks, that life is in a vague state. So in other words he is agnostic on whether we have a life between 22 and 25 weeks after conception. Now thats bizarre because in the previous paragraph, also on page 150, he said that a human life is viable at 22 weeks. How do you become a human life that is viable at 22 weeks and then suddenly for three weeks float between this vague state between life and not life? It is absolutely preposterous. It is absolute junk science, Adams said.

The UNC professor then argued after showing a video clip of aborted babies that it is wrong to intentionally kill a human being because everyone has a basic human nature which gives them value. He said the pro-life position is inclusive of all human life while the pro-choice position is not.

Parker, he said, couldnt decide what gives human value and suggested that value starts to build when a baby becomes viable at 22 weeks but has performed abortions at 25 weeks.

It is wrong to intentionally kill a human being and abortion kills an innocent human being therefore making it wrong, Adams declared.

Parker, in making his case, said while abortion kills a human being, it doesnt kill a person and insisted that life begins before conception.

In order to have a conception you have to have a live sperm and a live egg. You cant get a live conception with a dead sperm and a dead egg. So that means that life, if youre going to use it as a definition of animation and procreativity and the ability to do so, it means that life had to begin before conception. So are you talking about life as an event or  life as a process of interrelated events? he asked.

I think Dr. King said when we pose tensions between science and religion, he describes it best. He said, science gives humankind knowledge which is power. Religion gives humankind wisdom which is control. Science deals with facts, religion deals with values, he said.

Parker argued that the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision on abortion made it clear that because there is no consensus on when life begins, abortion is should be a matter of choice between a woman and the abortionist.

Women dont give birth to puppies. Fetuses are human beings but they are not people. And if a fetus is not a person and a woman is a person, they may both have moral weight but that moral weight is not equal. And the question becomes, given that the fetus is inside of a woman, how do you give rights to a fetus that you dont take away the rights of a woman that its inside of? he asked.

He argued that conferring the definition of personhood on a fetus with the intention of taking away that right from a woman is problematic and it was on that basis that the Supreme Court made their decision.

I think people have heard [of] Roe v. Wade but I dont think they know what it actually says, Parker said before sharing a bit of the thinking behind the Roe v. Wade decision as delivered by former Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun.

Justice Blackmun said we need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins, when those trained in their respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary at this point in the development of mans knowledge is not in the position to speculate about that answer. In other words, there is no clear consensus on when life begins even if you hold that deeply from the religious text you hold authoritative, Parker said. the formal position on abortion is that it is a matter of conscience.

I have the position, that as someone for the first 12 years of my career as an OB/GYN did not provide abortion care for women, my position about not doing so was, until I was clear on what it meant for me to provide that care, I chose not to, he said.

He explained that what changed his mind was a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King about what made the Good Samaritan good.

Adams argued, however, that the Roe v. Wade decision was just simply absolutely wrong in two ways.

First of all, it said that there was no scientific consensus on when life begins, the fact of the matter is that there was scientific consensus, he said.

Roe v. Wade gave states the ability to ban abortions after viability but the very same day Doev. Bolton was issued by the Supreme Court and it said that if a woman had a health interest it could trump the states interest in stopping that abortion, he said.

And they defined that health loophole in such a way that you could drive a Mack Truck through it. The health reasons didnt just stick to life or just physical things but emotional problems and psychological problems so that if a woman eight months pregnant was simply stressed out by the prospect of having a child, then she could trump the states interest in killing a viable innocent human being, he said.

Adams argued that Roe v. Wade is inextricably bound to the question of when life begins but explained that it is because of this lack of consensus that is stated why the decision should be overturned.

Guess what? That means you dont know the parameters of a womans right to choose. That decision was a scientific and logical disaster and that is why it absolutely must be overturned, he said.

He further argued that the parable of the Good Samaritan is a pro-life parable and it was obscene for Parker to use it to defend abortion.

You notice something about that parable. When someone was robbed and beaten and lying by the side of the road you know what the Good Samaritan didnt do? The Good Samaritan didnt stop by the side of the road and slit his throat and slowly and methodically dismember him. I believe that the Good Samaritan parable is a pro-life parable. And I dont appreciate it being hijacked in the name of God, that is obscene, he said.

And so are you, someone shouted from the crowd.
Can pro-life state constitutional amendments help end abortion?

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Last November, voters in Alabama and West Virginia passed state constitutional amendments that denied that there existed a right to an abortion.

The Alabama State Abortion Policy Amendment, also known as Amendment 2, passed with the support of nearly 60 percent of voters.

"... it is the public policy of this state to recognize and support the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children, most importantly the right to life in all manners and measures appropriate and lawful; and to provide that the constitution of this state does not protect the right to abortion or require the funding of abortion," read Amendment 2.

West Virginias Amendment 1 passed with about 52 percent of voters in favor. The amendment added a section to the state constitution that read, "Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of abortion."

Mallory Quigley of the national pro-life group the Susan B. Anthony List hailed the results of the two states' referenda, telling The Christian Post that they represented a tremendous victory.

Victories in West Virginia and Alabama show that putting life right on the ballot and letting voters decide can be a valuable means of achieving greater protections for the unborn, said Quigley.

Alabama and West Virginia joined Arkansas, Colorado, Rhode Island, and Tennessee in having state constitutional amendments that deny a right to an abortion.

Nothing in this section shall be construed to grant or secure any right relating to abortion or the funding thereof, reads Article I, Section 2 of Rhode Islands constitution.

With mounting speculation that the U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade is close to being overturned, several states are considering legislation either to expand or restrict abortion access.

Amid the strategies by pro-life groups and politicians, could more states look toward passing pro-life constitutional amendments in the near future?

Different states will pose different opportunities, replied Quigley.

The Christian Post interviewed pro-life activists and leaders at both the state and national level to get their opinion on the potential future of anti-abortion state constitutional amendments.

Possible guidance after Roe

Paul Linton, an attorney who formerly served as general counsel for Americans United for Life, told CP that he found the Alabama and West Virginia amendment vote results very encouraging.

Other states will likely consider similar measures, particularly Iowa, where a one-sentence neutrality amendment has already been introduced, and Kansas, in the event the state supreme court recognizes a right to abortion, Linton said.

When asked how effective pro-life state amendments could be in banning abortion, Linton responded that he believed it would depend upon the precise language of the amendment.

I do not think that state constitutional amendments are typically used to define and punish criminal conduct, which is more a matter for the legislatures to decide, he explained.

On the other hand, a strong statement of pro-life principle in a state constitution may act as a restraint on a legislature enacting a liberalized abortion law.

Linton referenced neutrality amendments as an example, which state that the constitution does not protect the right to an abortion, noting that they would enable states to enforce pre-Roe laws prohibiting abortions or possibly to enact new laws prohibiting abortion.

Elizabeth Slattery, legal fellow with the Heritage Foundation, explained that such amendments could provide guidance if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated a federally recognized right to abortion.

The U.S. Constitution provides the floor for rights, and the Supreme Court has interpreted the Constitution to protect a right to abortion. States can provide more, but not less, protection for a federally-recognized constitutional right due to the Supremacy Clause, explained Slattery.

Thus, these state constitutional amendments are preemptive and would only take effect if the Supreme Court eliminated the federally recognized right to abortion.

Slattery warned that this may take a while, as the Supreme Court cant pluck an issue, like whether abortion should be legal, out of the news and decide to rule on it.

The Supreme Court only decides cases that are brought to it and oftentimes wont tackle a major constitutional issue until numerous lower courts have had the opportunity to rule on it."

Measured, prudent steps

Wanda Franz, Ph.D. of West Virginians for Life, which campaigned for Amendment 1, attributed last Novembers success to several factors.

Primarily, I believe we have a state with people who are primarily religious and are strongly pro-life. Our amendment affected the issue of funding and, therefore, we could ask the public to support something that has the highest level of support by the public in general. In WV, it is more than 60 percent against tax-payer funding of abortion, explained Franz.

Weve also had an impact in the state because we have passed many pro-life pieces of legislation, including the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and the Dismemberment Abortion Ban. Most of the leaders in the state are pro-life, and many of them talked about the importance of passing the amendment during their election campaigns.

Franz also acknowledged the aid they received from the national group the SBA List, which launched a $500,000 campaign in support of Amendment 1.

Some measures are not as successful. In 2014, for example, North Dakota voters considered but ultimately rejected a personhood amendment known as Measure 1 that would have amended the state constitution to provide for the inalienable right to life at all stages of human development.

Opponents claimed that the amendment was attempting to add fetal development as a stage of life. They also argued that the measure was poorly written, too vague and too broad, therefore the amendment could have affected access to birth control, IVF and abortion, recalled Medora Nagle, executive director at North Dakota Right to Life.

I think that if it wouldve been written with more detail, it may have had a chance, but its still unlikely in my opinion that it wouldve passed due to the fact that so many people have a different opinion of when life begins.

Nagle explained that her organization works with legislators to advance pro-life legislation. Nagle is part of a pro-life caucus that meets about every two weeks to discuss any proposed pro-life legislation.

We, NDRL, would definitely support any and all pro-life legislation that would be brought, whether that is in the form of an amendment to the constitution or as a bill going through the House and the Senate, Nagle said.

I do believe that passing pro-life amendments to state constitutions are very important to helping our country to become abortion-free. Unfortunately, we are now seeing more and more states passing extreme laws allowing abortion to happen until birth and even during labor. Im not sure there is a lot of hope for these pro-abortion states like New York.

Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, told CP that past success in the state legislature meant that they had not initially seen an amendment as part of our strategy.

However, because of current litigation before the state Supreme Court over whether abortion is a right, they may need to pass such an amendment soon.

Culp explained that the potential amendment would contrast with other pro-life state amendments in that it would be more centered on making sure courts cannot control the issue.

Were just going to be asking the public, asking them we want your elected representatives to be able to regulate this issue, not the courts, not our state supreme court,' said Culp.

Other state-level pro-life groups have likewise focused on legislative efforts rather than constitutional amendments.

For example, Texas Right to Life Director Elizabeth Graham explained that her organization has the strategy of taking measured, prudent steps to extend legal protection to as many innocent human lives as possible.

Graham spoke of incremental legislation that must include three fundamental aspects: that the proposed legislation must actually save lives, center the debate on the humanity of the preborn child and the barbarism of abortion, and must undermine the faulty logic upon which Roe v. Wade was established.

Prudent incrementalism is the most realistic mechanism to end abortion in Texas, Graham stated, citing the Preborn NonDiscrimination Act (PreNDA) as an example of their gradual process.

Listed as a priority by Texas Right to Life for the current legislative session, the PreNDA would, among other things, ban abortion on the basis of race, sex, or suspected disability.

"Justice and equality are values that both Republicans and Democrats can rally behind in PreNDA, noted Graham. The measure has wide grassroots support; 91 percent of delegates voted to add the policy to the 2018 Republican Party of Texas Platform.

A repeat of history?

From 1998 to 2012, voters in 30 states approved state constitutional amendments that defined marriage as only being between one man and one woman.

Despite the broad support among the electorate for these bans, a series of court decisions struck down most of these constitutional amendments, with the United States Supreme Court striking the final blow with a 5-4 ruling in 2015.

When asked if she thought a similar fate could meet the pro-life state constitutional amendments, Quigley of SBA List believed that they were safe due to the rising trend of support for the pro-life cause as well as the changes to the Supreme Court roster since the Obergefell decision.

We are hopeful that the new majority on the Supreme Court will respect the consensus views of the American people and leave policymaking to the voters and their representatives, which is good news for the pro-life movement, stated Quigley.

Linton noted that while state constitutional amendments barring the public funding of abortion have run afoul of the courts due to federal measures like the Hyde Amendment, amendments rejecting a right to abortion are not subject to federal constitutional challenge.

A state constitution need not protect a right to abortion merely because the federal constitution does. So neutrality language is entirely permissible, said Linton.

And the pro-life language in two state amendments  Arkansas and Alabama  do not, by their own terms, prohibit abortion, so they are not subject to challenge either.
UK schoolkids to be taught LGBT ideology, question religious beliefs; parents may be overruled

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Students as young as five will receive lessons about LGBT relationships and gender reassignment  and head teachers can overrule parents who want to opt their children out of sex education classes, according to a new guidance issued by the U.K. Department of Education.

The guidance also tells teachers to encourage students to question their religious beliefs about homosexuality.

The new guidelines, published Monday, say that primary and secondary students should understand that some people are LGBT, that this should be respected in British society and that the law affords them and their relationships recognition and protections, the Sunday Times reports.

Pupils growing up in families with LGBT members, or who are beginning to understand that they are or may be LGBT themselves, should feel that relationships education and RSE [relationships and sex education] is relevant to them, it said.

Head teachers will be ordered to implement the new sex education classes when they are rolled out nationally next year, but have been given discretion over timing based on the age and development of their pupils.

Parents may opt out of any sex education element of relationships education in primary school; in secondary school, they may only withdraw their children from lessons until the age of 15.

However, at that stage, a student can request to have lessons alongside their classmates regardless of their parents views  and in exceptional circumstances, head teachers can overrule parents.

Teachers are also expected to talk to parents who wish to exclude their child from these lessons, "discussing with the parents the benefits of receiving this important education and any detrimental effects that withdrawal might have on the child, reports the BBC.

According to the new guidelines, children aged nine to 10 want to talk about topics including masturbation, and about how people can get diseases including HIV, from sex and how they can be prevented.

Questions to ask this age group include: Can people of the same sex love one another? Is this ok? What are the different kinds of families and partnerships? What do the words lesbian and gay mean?

Questions to ask children aged 11 to 13 include, What is the difference between transvestite and trans-sexual? and, My religion says that being gay or having sex before marriage is wrong, what should I think?

At 16, pupils should be taught how to disclose positive HIV status to a sexual partner, family and friends," the guidelines state.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds said the new curriculum is sensitive and inclusive and appropriate to pupils age, but children needed to be helped to come to terms with the world around them.

Although sex education is only mandatory to teach at secondary, it must be grounded in a firm understanding and valuing of positive relationships and respect for others from primary age, he said in a Commons statement.

The new lessons will also cover pregnancy, sexual consent, honor-based abuse, female genital mutilation, grooming, forced marriage, and domestic abuse.

The move has seen opposition from conservative Christian, Jewish, and Muslim parents, who say the new guidelines undermine their religious beliefs. In a statement, Colin Hart, chairman of the Coalition for Marriage, called the lessons completely unacceptable.

No one objects to the Government trying to make children safer online by teaching them about internet trolls and about the dangers of social media, however, the plan to downgrade marriage  and sideline parents whilst doing it  is completely unacceptable, he said.

The Department for Education is sidelining traditional marriage, the most stable form of relationship for raising children and forcing them to learn about every other form of relationship under the sun, even when it is not age-appropriate. The law should encourage traditional marriage, not undermine it.

Hart said the new guidelines evidence that the Department for Education believes that traditional marriage no longer matters and marginalizes those who do not support political correctness for religious reasons.

But even those keen to promote other forms of family life have been unable to deny that evidence shows that children do best when they are raised by their mother and father, he said.

It also ignores that marriage, the life long union between one man and one woman, despite all the rhetoric and spin is the most stable form of relationship. This is why rather than downgrading marriage we should be doing more to celebrate its many societal and personal benefits.

Meanwhile, a petition requesting parents be allowed to opt their children out of the lessons has received over 107,000 signatures.

We have grave concerns about the physical, psychological and spiritual implications of teaching children about certain sexual and relational concepts proposed in RSE and believe that they have no place within a mandatory school curriculum, Dr. Katherine Sarah Godfrey-Faussett, the petitioner, stated.

We believe the above factors have not been given enough consideration and that many of the RSE resources being produced by lobby groups and external organizations will actually cause more harm than good, particularly when child development and psychological factors are considered.
Southern Baptist group clears 6 churches of violating sex abuse standards

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Just days after the president of the Southern Baptist Convention called for an evaluation of 10 churches that were highlighted in a recent investigation on sex abuse, six of those churches were cleared of acting indifferently toward abuse.

While condemning the abominable horror of child sexual abuse, the SBC Executive Committee bylaws workgroup stated in a report released Saturday that in virtually all reported cases, the abuse and cover-up of abuse were criminal acts undertaken by a few individuals within a church. The church body rarely knew about these actions and even more rarely took any action to endorse or affirm the wrongful acts or the actors themselves.

Among the six churches that the workgroup found no evidence of showing disregard for sexual abuse is Second Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, one of the largest churches in the country.

It appears that the church has had, and continues to have, significant, detailed procedures and policies in place to prevent abuse and properly respond to charges of abuse. We believe no further inquiry is warranted based on that information, the report said of the Houston megachurch.

In response to the report, The Warburg Watch  led by two women who reveal disturbing trends within Christendom"  believes that ultimately, no reforms will be made within the SBC in regard to sex abuse.

The new and improved SBC is still the same old SBC. Theyll just get some SBC sanctioned child protection rules in place. And then they will figure out how to exonerate any church which screws up, it said.

Last week, SBC President J. D. Greear proposed an amendment to the church bodys constitution that would allow for disfellowshipping or cutting ties with churches that do not give assurances that they have taken the necessary steps to to correct their policies and procedures with regards to abuse and survivors.

Churches that show clear indifference to sexual abuse  by employing a convicted sex offender, allowing a convicted sex offender to work as a volunteer with minors, continuing to employ a person who unlawfully covered up sex abuse, or willfully choosing not to report child abuse to authorities  would warrant disfellowshipping.

Greear specifically asked the bylaws workgroup to look further into the 10 churches named in a Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News investigation to determine if they should continue as an SBC church. That investigation had revealed at least 700 victims of sex abuse over the past two decades at the hands of hundreds of SBC leaders and volunteers.

The amendment on cooperating churches is one of 10 reforms Greear proposed to make churches safer.

SBC leaders have stressed that its church body is not like other denominations where its run from the top down. Rather, its more than 47,000 churches are all autonomous cooperating churches. Thus, implementing reforms in the body prove to be more difficult.

The bylaws workgroup emphasized in its Saturday report that no individual possesses the authority to declare a church to be under a Convention inquiry of any kind.

The workgroup also said it believes the SBC should not disrupt the ministries of its churches by launching an inquiry until it has received credible information that the church has knowingly acted wrongfully in one of the four ways (mentioned above) described in the proposed amendment.

It is also our opinion that the Executive Committee did not intend for every allegation that a church has demonstrated indifference to establish guilt which would then have to be disproved  in effect, a presumption of guilt which the Executive Committee should view as untenable and unscriptural, the workgroup added.

After reviewing information that Greear provided about each of the 10 churches, the workgroup determined that only three needed further inquiry.

Those three include Bolivar Baptist Church in Sanger, Texas; Cathedral of Faith in Houston, Texas; and Sovereign Grace Church in Louisville, Kentucky.

Information provided by the president states that a registered sex offender leads the church. We believe further inquiry is warranted, the workgroup said of Cathedral of Faith.

The workgroup said it will send letters of inquiry to the three churches.

Along with Second Baptist Church, other churches requiring no further inquiry include: Arapaho Baptist Church in Garland, Texas; Brentwood Baptist Church in Houston; Eastside Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia; Trinity Baptist Church in Ashburn, Georgia; and First Baptist Church in Bedford, Texas. Turner Street Baptist Church in Springdale, Arkansas, was determined to not be a Southern Baptist church.

Regarding First Baptist in Bedford, though the church had allowed Charles Adcock  who had been charged in 2015 in Alabama with 29 counts of rape and sodomy against a teen girl he met at a church  to volunteer as a music minister despite being aware of his arrest, the SBC workgroup determined that the church already took corrective action. Not only did Adcock stop serving at the church but those who allowed Adcock to volunteer were also removed from their positions.
South Africa: Controversial pastor under fire after 'raising man back from the dead' at funeral

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A controversial pastor in South Africa who claimed to have performed an astounding miracle, resurrecting a dead man in Jesus name, has retracted his story after undertakers threatened to sue him for malicious damage to our image.

Congolese televangelist Alph Lukau, pastor of Alleluia Ministries International church, made headlines over the weekend after footage of a funeral he officiated went viral.

In the video, a man dressed in a white suite can be seen lying still in a coffin, surrounded by dozens of people, as the pastor prays over him. After the pastor calls out Jesus name and waves his hands, the man, identified as Elliot, bolts upright, looking astounded by what had happened. According to the family, Elliot had died two days prior to the incident.

At the time, the pastor insisted the resurrection was real, declaring: An astounding miracle took place in the House of God this morning. A dead man came back to life as the church of God prayed.

But the stunt sparked backlash, with Kings and Queens Funerals, the funeral parlor which transported the mans presumed dead body at the time, vowing to take legal action.

We would like to distance ourselves from the supposed resurrection of a deceased man by Alleluia Ministries who allegedly was at our mortuary, the company said in a statement, Daily Mail reports.

We did not supply the coffin neither did we store the deceased at our mortuary and no paperwork was processed by Kings and Queens Funerals, the parlor said. As a funeral services provider we do not offer services without documentation neither do we repatriate bodies without any paperwork. We are in the process of taking legal action for this malicious damage to our image.

At the same time, the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities also said it would be investigating the incident.

"As a commission, we need to get to the root of this. Unless we do that, South Africans are taken for a ride and their intelligence is insulted, the commission's deputy chair David Mosoma said, according to EWN Eyewitness News.

Amid criticism, the church's spokesperson Busi Gaca claimed that Elliots family had noticed movement in the coffin after stopping at the church while on their way to Zimbabwe for the burial.

"Before Pastor Alph (Lukau) was informed, the family already confirmed that there was movement in the coffin, which the family said was noticed immediately when they drove onto the premises of the church, he said, according to JacarandaFM.

"By the time Pastor Alph got to the hearse, and the coffin was opened, he saw and mentioned on camera that the man in the coffin was breathing. We could all see that his chest was moving up and down. His mouth wide open and tongue moving as he was gasping for some air. Whether his mouth and eyes were wide open while he was in the coffin or not, we don't know. We only saw him once the coffin was opened," Gaca said.

This was a spiritual instruction from the prophet of God, not an indication of raising up someone from the dead, he concluded. "Pastor Alph (Lukau), never claimed to have raised him from the dead. He said God has answered the faith of the family and raised their loved one from the dead. We all celebrated the testimony of the family.

Established in 2002, Alleluia Ministries International houses thousands of people across the country, the continent, and the world, according to the church website, with branches in various parts of South Africa, Zambia, Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Europe and in South America.

The Sunday Times notes that Lukau, who claims to possess the power to heal HIV/Aids, TB and other illnesses, has previously come under scrutiny for his lavish lifestyle.

In addition to wearing Armani suits, the pastor owns a 12-seater jet, Range Rover, a Bentley, a Lamborghini, a Rolls Royce, a Ferrari, and a three-wheeler custom bike. A prosperity gospel preacher, Lukau regularly flaunts his wealth on his Instagram page.

Two other South African pastors who also promote the prosperity gospel, Prophet Shepherd Bushiri and Timothy Omotoso, have faced criminal charges for profiting from so-called miracle healings.

Last year, Pastor Lethebo Rabalago was found guilty of assault for spraying his followers with a household insecticide which he falsely claimed could heal cancer and HIV.

In 2013, South African pastor Thuso Kewana told The Christian Post that the prosperity gospel is not only unbiblical, but it is also used by wolves in sheep's clothing to prey on vulnerable Christians desperate for a better life. Such pastors, he added, take advantage of those in their congregations who cannot read and "really depend on the person behind the pulpit." According to statistics, about half of the country's residents are illiterate.

"The greed for worldly wealth, huge church membership numbers, and fame form the cornerstone of such dissatisfaction engulfing the congregants and encouraging them to leave the church of God. Pastors are involved in all sorts of ungodly behaviors, he said.
Comedian reveals what led him to reject atheism and embrace God

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Comedian Jeff Allen has long been making audiences roar with laughter, but those who have gotten to know the funny mans personal story have also walked away totally inspired. Allen, who broke into the standup world decades ago, once struggled with drugs and alcohol before leaving that life behind, rejecting his atheistic worldview and embracing God.

Today, Allen  a fixture on the Make Comedy Great Again tour  is well-known for his safe, family-friendly routines. But he was once not so buttoned up, revealing on a recent episode of The Pure Flix Podcast that he started cleaning up his language years ago after his son got in trouble at school for cursing.

READ ALSO: 13 Clean, Christian Comedians Who Will Make You Laugh Right Now

The comedian, who has starred in PureFlix.coms Pure Flix Comedy All-Stars and Apostles of Comedy, realized that his sons reprimand meant that he, too, needed to come up with a plan to watch what was coming out of his own mouth.

I started paying [my son] a quarter for every cuss word he heard come out of my mouth, Allen said, noting that he got tired of paying him and eventually decided to watch his mouth.

That was all part of Allens journey to cleaning up his act and finding faith  with the latter part of the process taking him seven or eight years to complete. Listen at the 4:50-mark to hear Allen reveal what led him out of atheism and into belief:

Someone asked me once, What did you do before you had a family? Allen said. And I said, Well, I starved. I basically talked about alcohol and drugs because that was basically what I did.

Allen said his problem with alcohol led him to struggle to function in his 20s, recalling how he couldnt get up for work.

READ ALSO: Love and Laughter: Enjoy Date Night with These Clean Comedy Shows

I had a problem with it since I started. I had blackouts from the minute I started drinking, he said. I started at 14 or 15 and by the time I was 20, 21, I knew I was different from my friends.

By the time he reached 29 or 30, he was seeing a therapist. He told her that drinking ran in his family and she told him, Well, youve seen the movie. Thats where youre headed.

That warning inspired Allen to think deeper about how to fix himself, though he still struggled with drugs. Eventually, he started a 12-step program and found himself grappling with the concept of a higher power.

They said to pray. I said, To what? Allen said. I didnt believe in God.

But he soon started to see what a relationship with God did for people and he wanted that for his own life. Eventually, after exhausting self-help ideals, New Age philosophy and Buddhism, Allen finally embraced Christianity.

Now, as a clean comic, hes inspiring other performers to think deeper about the words they incorporate into their acts.

I tell young comics today, Get a thesaurus  we have an amazing language, Allen said.

READ ALSO: 5 Reasons You'll Love 'Pure Comedy'

Hes now working on the Make Comedy Great Again tour, which he said isnt what youd expect. While clearly a play on President Donald Trumps famed, Make America Great Again slogan, the tour has nothing at all to do with politics.

If youre interested in watching Allens comedy in action, tune in right now to PureFlix.coms Pure Flix Comedy All-Stars and Apostles of Comedy.

--

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.
Non-Christians want to talk faith, but don't see Christians as good listeners, Barna finds

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When Christians attempt to engage in conversation with non-believing friends and family, they should not rush the effort to evangelize, says a study by the Barna Group.

The study found that for non-Christians who are willing to talk about faith with their Christian peers, their preferences for dialogue often fall short of their experiences.

Barna posted a sample of their report Reviving Evangelism on their website on Feb. 19, which included a survey of what non-Christians prefer to have in their conversations with their Christian friends.

The survey found that while 62 percent of non-Christian and lapsed Christian respondents wanted to talk with a practicing Christian friend or family member who listens without judgment, only 34 percent said that this practice was found among practicing Christians they know personally.

Likewise, 50 percent of non-Christian and lapsed Christian respondents said they wanted to dialogue with someone who does not force a conclusion, however only 26 percent said that applied to practicing Christians they knew.

The data came from a nationally representative study that interviewed 1,001 U.S. adults who met Barnas criteria for being either a lapsed Christian (someone who has not attended church in more than a month) and a non-Christian (someone who identifies as not being Christian), with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Brooke Hempell, senior vice president of research at the Barna Group, told The Christian Post that the findings showed that as we find popular culture increasingly distanced from Christianity, non-Christians may need a lot more time to digest and come to terms with what the Gospel proposes or offers them.

Not everyone may be ready to go from A to Z in a single conversation, and pressing the topic forward may feel forced to the non-Christian  to the point of turning them away, said Hempell.

Allowing the other person to draw their own conclusions leaves open the possibility that they may leave the conversation without making a decision for Christ  by some evangelistic measures, that conversation would be a failure.

Hempell cited her own personal experience, explaining to CP that before she became a Christian, she required a listening ear and many conversations.

Ultimately it landed me with an incredibly solid commitment to my faith  I believe stronger for having taken the time to wrestle with certain points, noted Hempell.

We have to go slow! Take the time to build familiarity and appreciation of the non-believer's context first, then build trust, then discuss  not just lecture.

Earlier this month, Barna released research which found that nearly half of millennial-aged Christians, born between 1984 and 1998, feel that it is wrong to evangelize.

"Almost half of Millennials (47%) agree at least somewhat that it is wrong to share ones personal beliefs with someone of a different faith in hopes that they will one day share the same faith. This is compared to a little over one-quarter of Gen X (27%), and one in five Boomers (19%) and Elders (20%)," read the report.

"Younger Christians tend to be more personally aware of the cultural temperature around spiritual conversations. Among practicing Christians, Millennials report an average (median) of four close friends or family members who practice a faith other than Christianity; most of their Boomer parents and grandparents, by comparison, have just one."
Hundreds to attend Gods Voice conference aimed at stopping LGBT agenda in churches

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A group of theologically conservative Christians will hold a conference in Oklahoma centered on preventing what organizers believe to be an effort by LGBT activists to influence evangelical churches.

Known as Gods Voice, the conference is expecting at least 300 attendees and will be held Feb. 22-23 in Edmond, Oklahoma.

The multiday event was created in response to the Revoice gathering, which was held July 26-28, 2018 at Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Missouri.

Revoices official mission was to encourage and support gay, lesbian, same-sex-attracted, and other LGBT Christians so they can flourish while observing the historic, Christian doctrine of marriage and sexuality."

Although Revoice's organizers and speakers affirmed a traditional understanding of human sexuality, critics argued that their views were trying to push LGBT agenda items into evangelical churches.

Stephen Black, executive director with First Stone Ministries and part of the Gods Voice Committee, told The Christian Post on Wednesday that their message contrasts with Revoice in that they do not accept the premise of LGBT Christians or queer ideology.

Our desire is to bring the clarity of the Word of God. Gods Word promises Gods grace which has the power to bring souls to a sincere, born again experience and to Gods transforming power, explained Black.

The Revoice and LGBTQ+ Christian movement leaves souls stuck in bondage to lust, and they promote a word construct which merges sinfulness with Christian identity, i.e. gay Christian and thus they bring defilement to the entire church, keeping souls in an internal orientation toward acceptable unnatural lust.

Black viewed hope as a key point for the Gods Voice conference, telling CP that the grace of God does not leave you stuck in bondage to sin and that we all must surrender to His Lordship.

We also hope people will come away with a clear understanding of the history and the whys? behind the queering of the church and why main evangelical churches in America are embracing this new wave of LGBTQ+ Christianity in false compassion, added Black.

In addition to Black, scheduled speakers for Gods Voice include Peter LaBarbera, founder and president of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality; David H. Pickup, a licensed therapist and board member of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality; widely-syndicated Christian talk show host Janet Mefferd; the Rev. Al Baker of the Presbyterian Church in America; and Southern Baptist evangelist the Rev. Thomas Littleton.

Black was one of many critics of Revoice when it was announced last year. Others, including Wesley Hill, associate professor of New Testament at the Trinity School for Ministry, defended Revoice.

One of the keynote speakers for the Revoice gathering, Hill told CP in an interview last year that he was "deeply saddened" by the controversy over Revoice.

Hill felt that the criticism failed to recognize that Revoice had "a sizable, vocal group of LGBT people who want to try to live inside the traditional Scriptural view of marriage and sexuality."

"Whatever disagreements other conservatives may have with us, surely that should be celebrated as a striking instance of radical discipleship," Hill told CP at the time.

Gods Voice will be held at Fairview Baptist Church of Edmond, Oklahoma. Paul Blair, pastor at Fairview, told CP in an interview that his church was happy to host this conference.

Over the past 50 years, we have witnessed the erosion of sexual morality in America. Whether it be the sexual revolution, no fault divorces or abortion on demand, the American Church has conformed to the culture rather than engaging the moral decline head on with the hope of repentance and revival, said Blair.

No person is forced to follow Biblical teaching. However, we cannot deny Scripture or twist Scripture and still claim to obey the Bible or claim to be a follower of Christ.

Blair explained that Fairview Baptist has had a working relationship with Black and LaBarbera for some time, having collaborated on other projects in the past.

When asked by CP what he hoped attendees would take away from the Gods Voice conference, Blair responded truth.

Truth is true for all people at all times and in all places. There is no black truth or white truth, gay truth or straight truth, there is just truth, continued Blair.

Jesus is truth and the Word of God is truth. Our goal is to expose all attendees to the Biblical and evidential truth about the issue of human sexuality.
God's design for the church can end human trafficking, author says

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Raleigh Sadler believes that everyone, regardless of age, gender, or social status, can help prevent human trafficking  and he speaks from experience.

Sadler, founder of Let My People Go, a nonprofit organization aimed at helping churches fight human trafficking, told The Christian Post that recently, he received a phone call from Nathan, a pastor in Ridgewood, Queens.

Nathan, who had started a small church plant in a neighborhood with a large immigrant population, told Sadler how, while handing out coats to those in the local community, he met a young woman from Central Asia. In broken English, the woman told him she had gotten a job right next to the church at a massage parlor.

I was excited for her, and I said, I'm looking forward to seeing you again, glad that you're in the neighborhood, and here's your coat, Nathan responded.

A few months later, Nathan saw the woman again  but not in the way he had anticipated.

Someone from the community called him and said, there is a brothel owner community Facebook page, Sadler shared. So he clicked the link and he sees, in a provocative pose, the woman to whom he gave a coat.

Unsure of what to do, Nathan called Sadler: I just pushed him and encouraged him. I said, You need to contact your precinct and tell them everything, Sadler recounted.

Nathan took his advice, and police responded by parking a car out in front of the massage parlor: They said if it's not a brothel it won't hurt business. But if it is a brothel, sex buyers will not come in if they see the car, Sadler explained.

Fast forward several months, and because of that single engagement, 24 illicit massage parlors in Ridgewood, Queens, were shut down by police that year.

This was just one small church plant just trying to keep the lights on and reach their community, Sadler told The Christian Post. And they were able to see their community change because they started focusing on vulnerable people.

God's design for the church to end trafficking, I firmly believe, is through vulnerable people like you and me, loving other vulnerable people because Christ was made vulnerable for us, he added. Throughout Scripture, Jesus was always present with vulnerable populations  and so that's what they did, and they saved countless lives as a result.

According to the Global Slavery Index, an estimated 40.3 million men, women, and children were victims of modern slavery on any given day in 2016. Of these, 24.9 million people were in forced labor and 15.4 million people were living in a forced marriage. Women and girls are vastly over-represented, making up 71 percent of victims.

In his new book Vulnerable: Rethinking Human Trafficking, Sadler shares his own experience fighting human trafficking and encourages Christians to get involved in long-term ministry  both personally and through their church.

This book is written to help people understand that you, as God has made you at this moment, are equipped to serve the people that traffickers target, he explained.

Traffickers target vulnerable people, and as Christians, we understand that these are the very people we've been called to protect," he continued. "I wrote this book to show people that the very thing that they think disqualifies them to love people is the actual thing that qualifies them to do anything in the first place.

In his book, Sadler identifies practical steps  an appendix called "100 Ways You Can Fight Human Trafficking Today"  readers can take to fight trafficking in their local communities. These include: Reading a book on the subject; setting a Google alert for human trafficking in your community; plugging the human trafficking hotline number into your phone (888) 373-7888; and getting to know your vulnerable neighbor.

Sadler pointed out that thanks to social media, people are more connected than ever  and are thus able to fight modern-day slavery like never before.

There are a lot of well-meaning Christians who want to do something about human trafficking, especially after they hear about it, he said. But when they hear that millions of people are held in modern-day slavery around the world, it's very easy to feel overwhelmed. So rather than doing something, they do nothing. We empower them to make a meaningful change.

Sadler started Let My People Go in 2012 after he felt God calling him to fight human trafficking at a 2012 Passion conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Through the organization, he educates churches and individuals about exploitation and introduces them to ways they can love the people around them who are vulnerable to trafficking. He also teaches churches how to collaborate with local stakeholders in their community, like social services, local NGOs, or local law enforcement.

The local church, he said, has an obligation to take notice of those who are most at risk of exploitation in their communities. And fighting human trafficking, he explained, begins with relationships: It's not just rescuing them and getting them from point A to point B, he said. That doesnt solve the whole problem. It's a relational solution, its identifying the vulnerable in our community and getting to know them.

There are so many churches I work with that are doing great ministries, but I always ask the question: How many of those people in that ministry are coming to your church? he continued. And they all say little to none. Churches don't change until they start looking like the people theyre trying to reach. And I feel like if the church actually begins to look like the people theyre trying to reach, and those people feel comfortable there, then they'll feel included.

God, Sadler concluded, calls on His people to love the neighbor of His choosing  not the neighbor of our choosing.

"So often, we choose to love only those who look or act like us," he said. "We need to see beyond our social, political, or even our spiritual lens and realize sometimes those most vulnerable neighbors arent those we expect.

To learn more about Vulnerable, visit raleighsadler.com/vulnerable.
Community Bible Church pastor pissed after worker confesses inappropriate behavior with multiple children

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Lead Pastor Ed Newton of Community Bible Church, which draws some 27,000 worshipers each week in San Antonio, Texas, said Sunday that he was pissed after learning that a youth ministry worker who has already been fired and reported to authorities, confessed to inappropriate behavior with multiple minor children.

In his third weekend message to the church on Sunday, Newton explained that the news of the former employees behavior is not something he wanted to share with the church but he believed he needed to be transparent to ensure that the victims would be heard.

I was angry and disappointed and heartbroken when I received this news. Im still angry, disappointed and heartbroken now, but to take it a step further, Im going to go off my notes for just a second, Im pissed. Im absolutely pissed. And that would be an understatement, Newton, who first began telling his church of the firing of the unidentified employee on Saturday.

In an abbreviated statement on the situation posted to the churchs website, Newton said the fired part-time employee, who was not named due to an ongoing police investigation, confessed to Executive Pastor Scott Kindig. Newton told the church that he was informed of the confession on Feb. 17.

We believe that this was limited to less than 10 victims, but clearly, even one victim is too many. Our thoughts and prayers are with all involved in this tragedy. We immediately notified law enforcement authorities, and the detectives limited what we can say at this time due to their ongoing investigation, Newton said.

However, what I can share is that the acts involving all but one of the reported victims involved inappropriate electronic communication on electronic devices through social media platforms. One victim who was identified in the employees confession involved more than electronic communication. But whether it is inappropriate electronic communication or inappropriate physical contact, it is wrong and illegal and will not be tolerated at all! Newton noted.

Let there be no misunderstanding, this part-time employee was immediately fired from our staff upon learning of this information; this person has been issued a trespassing warrant, so as to prevent access onto our campus or attend any CBC related event."

While the fired employee was not named in the statement, both Newton and Kindig said the individual had gone through a thorough background check prior to being added to their team.

The perpetrator has to remain nameless due to the ongoing investigation at this time. But, as I said, this person was a part-time employee. Prior to hiring this person, our church conducted a full background investigation, references were interviewed and numerous interviews of the potential employee were conducted. There was absolutely no reason to believe that this person posed a risk, Newton said.

The pastor urged prayers for both the victims and the fired staff member and assured congregants that he will continue to be transparent about issues at the church  good or bad.

Truth and transparency is something I believe in wholeheartedly on and off this stage  we dont choose to operate in transparency by measuring potential fallout. We operate in transparency because every person in this church matters to us and me and you deserve honesty from this pulpit, he said.

Personally, Ive shared the darkest parts of my soul from this stage. In light of my depression, my anxieties, my battles, my insecurities. Ive shared our CBC financial struggles, our force reduction  I will not ever change my leadership style from this stage or off this stage, just because the news got bad, he said to cheers and a standing ovation from some.

If youre standing for anything right now, you are standing for victims. They will be heard. They will have a voice. It will not be tolerated in this house."
If you can bring people together in safe spaces where they get to know each other as people and not as issues, you can see a lot of change.

Image: Vineyard Columbus

Not too long ago I talked with Rich Nathan, senior pastor of Vineyard Columbus in Columbus, Ohio. We had a great discussion and I wanted to share it with you. I will be doing a few interviews and stories like this, looking at churches that are doing good in the name of Christ, following up on some of the themes in my new book, Christians in the Age of Outrage . Most of these interviews are conversations I did for the book, but I wanted to share more information in a full interview.

Ed: Give me an example of when Christians in your community have done good things that were surprising or that undermined the perceptions unbelievers had about who Christians are and what they do.

Rich: One of the places that we've really stepped into is immigration. We set up immigration counseling services. We're one of two immigration non-profits in central Ohio. There are only a few in the state of Ohio, but we're one of them. We pay for the attorney, and we handle DACA cases through the immigration counseling services.

At a time when evangelicals are the least likely to support comprehensive immigration reform of any religious group, we've stepped in. As a result of that, weve been able to build relationships with the Muslim, Hispanic, and African communities here in Columbus.

We not only are doing direct legal services, but we're also helping people get citizenship, so we do citizenship classes. We have a couple hundred people coming in for English as a second language. We have an apartment that we rent out in an apartment complex that is filled with immigrants, and we do after school tutoring there as well.

Many of the folks coming in to our immigration programs are coming from the Somali community, which is a really insular community. This is their first time stepping into a church building, and they're encountering Christians. So, for the first time just this year, several Somalis have come to the Lord.

That's been the fruit of about 15 years of work. Women are wearing hijabs and walking into our community center. We're taking care of their kids in our after-school program; we have about 120 kids in the after-school program doing tutoring work, and many of the kids are Somali kids.

We very explicitly ask parents, "Is it okay if we teach them Bible?" Many of the parents say, "Yes." And so their kids are learning the Bible. The people we are able to serve are seeing Christians in a different light than media portrayal or the face of what evangelicalism has popularly been.

Ed: Your church is about half white, and then a diverse mix. But clearly, the vast majority of white evangelicals supported President Trump, who has been more anti-immigration than past presidents. How do you handle that in your congregretation?

Rich: Yeah, we've been pretty out front regarding immigration. Had we started in 2016, I think it would be really difficult to start the conversation on immigration because it's so loaded up now with security concerns, and the nativist stream in the Republican Party has really taken the party over. But we've been having the conversation about immigration for about a dozen years, since probably 2005. So that has led to a celebration of our diversity.

We still get pushback. I did a message on refugees a little over a year ago, and in the current political climate with things said about immigrants, there still is pushback. But I've written a lot. I do congregational emails.

We do an international women's breakfast every month. We do a huge international celebration every year with about 1,500 or 2,000 internationals. Diversity is a highlighted part of our church. And so if you're not comfortable with diversity, you're probably not going to stay. But we have lost some Anglo Caucasians. We certainly have. They've gone to other places.

Ed: How do you deal with the safety questions? Its common for people to think, "Well, these Muslims are terrorists." How do you help people to see the reality that's a little different than what they've seen on TV?

Rich: Yeah, one of the things that we've done that's really been helpful is trying to bring people together in safe places, safe spaces. We really believe in the social contact theory that sociologists have worked out for decades. A lot of our fears and prejudices break down when we actually get to know people.

And when we stop arguing about issues, and when people stop being issues and they start becoming people, that changes everything. What we've done to foster that is we've brought people together in safe places.

We rent out a Muslim restaurant on a regular basis. Tuesday night, when business is slow, they're just delighted to have some group come in and say, "Hey, we want to rent the whole place." We bring Muslims together with Christians over dinner, and they just talk.

A friend of mine, who is as conservative a Republican as they come, was absolutely classically fearful about Muslims. Muslims are coming in and they're going impose Sharia law in Ohio, and all of it. But she was invited, and because her dear friend was going, she reluctantly went, met with lovely Muslim women, and they became friends. Now she regularly volunteers in that ministry.

So, social contact can be so powerful. Our community center's been a great place for safe relationships. If you can bring people together in safe spaces where they get to know each other as people and not as issues, you can see a lot of change.

And I know that was true in my own life, too. My wife Marlene and I, we moved into an inner-city neighborhood with a community of Christians around 37 years ago. It was a community that was half African American, half Appalachians. Connecting with people in that neighborhood broke down a lot of our stereotypes, a lot of our fears, and people are no longer issues.

The Appalachia family next door to us had four kids by four different men. One of their girls would hang out on our porch because she was just lost in the shuffle. She showed up at church four years later. She was 15-years-old, and she was holding out a little baby, and she goes, "Look, Marlene, I became a mama," to my wife. I almost burst into tears. I just thought, This little thing had no chance.

That, for me, was a life lesson that when we're no longer talking about the issue of teen pregnancy, but we're talking about Lisa, who just never had a chance. There's just something different that happens. So, that's what we're trying to do. We try to help people to connect with other people and in an environment that is safe. Then in that context, people talk and they meet, and they change.

Ed: What advice would you give to Christians who want to break through some of the fear and anger, and really be people living on a mission?

Rich: Part of it is that the senior pastor has to lead. I don't think that you can farm out or hand off issues, particularly on issues like diversity or immigration. I've seen that in a lot of white suburban churches. They realize, Oh, there's a call in Scripture toward breaking down dividing walls. We need to do it. Hey, you know what we're going to do? We're going to hire an African American worship leader. And part of their portfolio will be to grow that segment of the church.

No, that's not going to happen. And it's going to be a negative experience for the worship leader. It needs to come from the heart of the church and the heart of the senior pastor if they want to change the face of the church. To engage some tough issues, it's going to take pastoral involvement, but also pastoral courage, because you will get pushback. Not only are there cultural intimidators, but there are religious intimidators.

I was just reading the story of David and Goliath this morning, and David gets pushback not just from Goliath but from his own family. So, pushback's going to come from the church itself, and a pastor needs to have conviction that I'm going to do this regardless of the pushback because its biblical, because this is the kingdom, and were going to press ahead.

So, I would say to any church that really wants to take some risky steps and risky faith, that this is a matter of pastoral courage.
Historian Mark Nolls prophetic call in The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind launched a thousand more laments about the shallowness of evangelical scholarship and thinking.

The judgment remains accurate as far as it goes. American evangelical Christians are American Christians, and Americans have never valued the life of the mind as much as they might. But where Nolls 1994 volume lamented the dearth of intellectual commitment among evangelicals, he now wonders if there is much evangelical thinking among the evangelicals committed to the life of the mind.

In a recent lecture, he said that institutions like Christianity Today and Wheaton College, among others, sustain Christian seriousness about intellectual life. He went on to say, however, that among the high level of evangelical learning on display among leading educational institutions and publications, not much of it seems particularly evangelical, but displays learning that draws on broadly Christian sources, like Reformed Protestantism or Roman Catholicism.

That work is often obviously Christian, but with incredible variety, reflecting a huge melange of influences, he said. For tracing broad trajectories of historical development, the word evangelical is probably still useful. But for contemporary evangelical effort, not so much.

At the same conference at which Noll spoke, James K. A. Smith of Calvin College went on to argue that evangelical scholars should abandon the attempt to discover and explore the evangelical mind as such, but instead to draw on these broadly Christian resources to shore up their intellectual efforts.

I basically agree with Smiththat is, I believe Christian ...

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Partly cloudy skies during the evening giving way to a few showers after midnight. Low 72F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

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Partly cloudy skies during the evening giving way to a few showers after midnight. Low 72F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
Women Should be Part of Draft and Forced into War, Judge Rules Share Tweet

A federal judge ruled Friday that a male-only draft violates the U.S. Constitution in a decision that could lead to women being drafted for a future war.

The case involves the requirement that men, upon reaching age 18, register with Selective Service, which is a list of U.S. citizens eligible for the draft.

The National Coalition For Men had filed suit against the government, arguing that permitting women to avoid Selective Service violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. U.S. District Judge Gray Miller agreed, and ruled that if women are allowed in combat roles  the Obama administration lifted that restriction  then they also should be required to sign up for Selective Service.

Women are now eligible for and have been integrated into combat units, Miller wrote. Thus, although Congress was previously concerned about drafting large numbers of people who were categorically ineligible for combat, this concern factually no longer justifies the [Selective Service].

Miller, who was nominated by President George W. Bush, said Congress could have compared the average physical ability of men and women and concluded that it was not administratively wise to draft women. But Congress did not make such a case, he said.

Instead, at most, it appears that Congress obliquely relied on assumptions and overly broad stereotypes about women and their ability to fulfill combat roles, he wrote.

Further, Miller ruled, the government appears to be arguing that requiring women to register for the draft would affect female enlistment by increasing the perception that women will be forced to serve in combat roles.

However, this argument smacks of archaic and overbroad generalizations about womens preferences, he wrote.

The relevant question is not what proportion of women are physically eligible for combat, Miller wrote. It may well be that only a small percentage of women meets the physical standards for combat positions. However, if a similarly small percentage of men is combat-eligible, then men and women are similarly situated for the purposes of the draft and the discrimination is unjustified.

The National Coalition for Men argued that men still face prison, fines, and denial of federal loans for not registering or for not updating the government of their whereabouts. Women, the coalition said, should face the same repercussions as men for any noncompliance."

Christian leaders have long urged the military to leave combat roles to men.

Glenn T. Stanton, director of global family formation studies at Focus on the Family, said that a virtuous nation and good soldiers protect women and children."

They don't send their women off to battle," Stanton said. The real issue here is the draft. There are highly skilled women serving in the military at very high levels and doing very important and dangerous tasks. A mother here at Focus has a daughter who is one of the Air Force's leading pilots of their biggest cargo planes. She rocks! But she chose to serve her country this way and she is making incredible contributions.

Requiring women to register to defend their country is not virtuous, Stanton said. Rosie the Riveter served her country heroically, but she didn't need to be drafted into the military to do it.

Owen Strachan, associate professor of Christian theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo., told the Christian Examiner that drafting women presents multiple problems. Strachan also is senior fellow of the Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood.

Men are best able, on average, to bear the brutal responsibilities and duties of warfare, he said. Women, by contrast, have struggled in limited samples to perform the minimal physical tasks necessary to battlefield survival. We know why: God made men differently than He made women  male and female He created them (Genesis 1:27). Men are made to use their greater strength to risk their lives for women and children. This is clear in the example of the great Davidic warriors, the 'mighty men' of Israel (see 2 Samuel 23). These men put their lives on the line for those God called them to protect, provide for, and lead.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, previously asked: What kind of nation forces its sisters, daughters, and granddaughters onto a battlefield against their will? That's not progress. It's the worst kind of cowardice. And what good is "equality" if it's only setting women up for disaster and failure?

The Center for Military Readiness argues there are practical reasons Selective Service should be limited to men.

It is true that some women can meet minimal standards, but this is not a sufficient reason for deciding that all civilian women should be ordered to register for possible induction, the organization says. Women are free to volunteer for combat positions, but the physiological reality is that most women cannot meet those standards while most men can.

In view of these realities, Congress could reasonably, rationally, and appropriately determine that it would not make sense for Selective Service to cull thousands of female draftees just to find the few who might meet ground combat arms standards. Such a policy, in a time of political crisis, would be an administrative nightmare that would weaken Americas defenses at the worst possible time.

Michael Foust is a freelance writer. Visit his blog, MichaelFoust.com.

Photo courtesy: Pixabay
Sign A Declaration for Life: Rolling Back the New Wave of Abortion and Infanticide Share Tweet

I still find it hard to shake that image of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York legislators ghoulishly celebrating the signing of a bill that could allow the killing of babies right up to the point of birth for any reason.

Then, just days later, a Virginia legislator introduced a similar bill. And now-disgraced Governor Ralph Northam defended it on live radio, implying that babies with disabilities could be left to die after birth if the mother so chose. Thank God the Virginia assembly shelved that idea.

What you may not have heard is that legislators in Rhode Island, Vermont, New Mexico, and Illinois are preparing similar no-restriction abortion laws.

Lets be clear. Something is happening here. This is a crucial moment. In addition to demonic activity, its clear that radical abortion advocates are motivated by fearthat the Supreme Court may soon overturn Roe v. Wade. They want to ensure their states will allow abortion at any time for any reason.

Christians, who believe that human life is sacred from the moment of conception until natural death, need to answer this new flurry of threats to life. We must put our prayers, skills, resources, and time to work on behalf of the most vulnerable victims in our society.

Which is why I want to tell you about a new campaign just launched by my friends at Focus on the Family. Its called See Life Clearly. The very first thing to do is to sign their statement A Declaration for Life.

As Focus on the Family President Jim Daly announced recently, the See Life Clearly Campaign will culminate on May 4 in New York City. On that date, Lord willing, Focus on the Family will broadcast live 4-D ultrasound images on a massive digital marquee in Times Square in the heart of New York City. The event will also be simulcast worldwide. Theyre calling it Alive from New Yorkyou might catch the reference.

In other words, in the heart of Manhattan, where the nations most radical and cruel abortion law is now in effect, people will see with their own eyes that what the abortion movement so often hides as a choice or a clump of cells is indeed a precious life.

One way you can support this effort is to put your name to A Declaration for Life. You will be affirming that you believe that abortion is the taking of a human life, that science and Scripture affirm that life in the womb should be protected at every stage and is wonderfully and fearfully made, that with these new laws our states have reached a tragic new low point, and finally, that abortion is incompatible with the virtues of compassion, freedom, and equality that characterize a just society.

Now, its a good and vital thing to sign your nameto make a public declarationthat you support human life in the womb. In fact, its a great thing. But the Declaration for Life asks us to make an additional commitment: to WORK to defend life in the womb.

All of us who sign the Declaration are committing:

1) to advocate for pro-life legislation at the state level, including a ban on late-term abortions and those targeting babies on the basis of disability, sex or race; 2) to promote the end of government funding of the abortion industry; 3) to vote for candidates who respect the sanctity of life; 4) to urge the appointment of constitutionalist judges who will protect the fundamental right to life; 5) to support both women in unplanned pregnancies and their babies through the good work of Pregnancy Resource Centers; 6) to encourage and promote the beauty of adoption; and 7) to pray fervently for a nationwide reawakening to the value and sanctity of every human life.

Until that day comes, the Declaration concludes, we will push back against the culture of death. This is the moment we unite with one voice and proclaim, No more.

Amen. Ive already signed on. I hope you will do so as well. And while youre at it, consider joining us for the Alive from New York event May 4 in Times Square.

Come to BreakPoint.org, click on this commentary, and I will link you to A Declaration for Life.

BreakPoint is a Christian worldview ministry that seeks to build and resource a movement of Christians committed to living and defending Christian worldview in all areas of life. Begun by Chuck Colson in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on todays news and trends via radio, interactive media, and print. Today BreakPoint commentaries, co-hosted by Eric Metaxas and John Stonestreet, air daily on more than 1,200 outlets with an estimated weekly listening audience of eight million people. Feel free to contact us at BreakPoint.org where you can read and search answers to common questions.

John Stonestreet, the host of The Point, a daily national radio program, provides thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.

Publication date: February 26, 2019

Photo courtesy: Irina Murza/Unsplash
Killing of Christians Continues in Run-up to National Elections in Nigeria Share Tweet

JAGINDI, Nigeria, February 25, 2019 (Morning Star News)  Nigerian Christians this month prayed that national elections would bring leaders who can stop Islamist attacks on them following killings by Boko Haram extremists and Muslim Fulani herdsmen.

In the wake of a Muslim herdsmen attack on a church wedding that killed 12 Christians Kaduna state in December and Boko Haram attacks that left several Christians dead in Adamawa state this month, the Rev. Samson Olasupo Ayokunle, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) urged Christians to pray from Feb. 10 to Feb. 22 for free and fair elections and the release of Christian high school student Leah Sharibu and others from Boko Haram kidnappers.

We are to pray for all Christians contesting for one post or the other for the will of God to be done concerning their ambition, and that the powerful in our nation will not be able to manipulate the election and edge them out, said Ayokunle, also president of the Nigerian Baptist Convention. We are to pray that the general elections should be free, fair and credible, and without violence or any bloodshed.

Ahead of elections that began on Saturday (Feb. 23), he said Nigeria has been impoverished by visionless leaders, resulting in the suffering of the masses.

We are to praythat God should use the process to give the country good and godly leaders at all levels, and that every evil plan against Nigeria be frustrated, he said. That God should stop all groups behind the killings in Nigeria and their financiers, and that 2019 should be a new dawn for Nigeria.

On Wednesday (Feb. 20), hundreds of Christian women from Jagindi, in Jemaa County in Kaduna State, took to the streets of Jagindi and Godogodo towns to protest the killing of 12 Christians at a wedding reception in the Jagindi suburb of Ungwan Pa Gwandara on Dec. 16. They said that after the slaughter, soldiers and police of the Muslim-controlled government in Kaduna arrested Christian leaders without cause.

At about 9 p.m., there was a marriage feast that was going here at Ungwan Pa Gwandara. From behind the hill overlooking this village emerged armed Fulani herdsmen who shot indiscriminately at Christians from various churches here at the venue of the feast, Siman Markus, a 42, a parishioner at St. Johns Catholic Church in Jagindi, told Morning Star News. Twelve Christians who are members of various churches were shot dead instantly, while another five Christians were injured.

Yohanna Dauda, 47, a parishioner at St. Andrews Anglican Church, Jagindi, corroborated the account, saying it was devastating to area Christians. Dauda and Markus said eight Catholics, two Baptists and two Anglicans were killed. Six of those killed were children.

Markus identified the Catholic victims as Samuel Markus, 28; Glory Bala, 12; Chore Garba, 12; Beyan Avong, 12; Kasham Manasseh, 22; Tanania Francis, 25; Murna Irimiya, 38; and Victoria Solomon, 22; Baptists killed were Bathsheba Emmanuel, 35, and Yohanna Filibus, 12; and Anglicans slain were Friday Yohanna, 13, and Oyo Dauda, 10.

Those wounded were Catholics Francis Markus, 25; Boyi Kyau, 45; Akwaru Danladi, 30; Samaila Bala, 17; Veronica Clement, 23; Golon Sam, 20; Ishaku Boyi, 14; Briskila Solomon, 7; Felicia Solomon, 9 months; Kato Kadima, 14; Wawa Kadima, 12; and Judith Samuel, 2; Anglicans Esther Dauda, 50; Charity Samaila, 20; Samaila Garba, 41; and Janet Shadrach, 22; Baptists Precious Emmanuel, 6, and Paul Akore, 17.

Boko Haram Attack

In Adamawa state in Nigerias northeast, Boko Haram jihadists on Feb. 12 invaded four Christian communities in Madagali County, killing several Christians and displacing many others, sources said.

The attacks on Madagali, Gulak, Magar and Shuwa took place at about 8 p.m. and were the third onslaught on these areas in 10 days, following attacks on Feb. 4 and 11. Officials speculated that they were designed to make residents too fearful to vote.

Ruth Gauje, 32, of Shuwa village, told Morning Star News by phone that he saw a fellow Christian shot dead as she fled.

I saw a man who I know to be a Christian and a member of the Church of the Brethren in Shuwa, my home town, shot to death, she said. Also, Bulama, a community leader in Madagali, was shot dead alongside many Christians.

The number of those killed was unknown; in the Feb. 4 attack, three people were reportedly killed, and one civilian and one solider were reportedly killed in the Feb. 11 assault. Local press reported that soldiers killed most of the Boko Haram rebels in the Feb. 12 attack, citing civilian and military sources.

Christians make up 51.3 percent of Nigerias population, while Muslims living primarily in the north and middle belt account for 45 percent.

Nigeria ranked 12th on Open Doors 2019 World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the most persecution.

Both presidential candidates in the national elections are Muslims: Incumbent Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Abubakar Atiku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

While both candidates were promising to rein in violence, Muslim Fulani herdsmen in the past two weeks attacked Christian communities in Kaduna, Nasarawa, Benue, and Plateau states. Attacked were Kajuru and Jagindi in Kaduna state, Agatu and Gwer in Benue state, Kadarko, Udege, Ugya, and Gadabuke in Nasarawa state, and Barkin Ladi and Riyom in Plateau state.

The United Nations Refugee Agency recently reported said that more than 2.4 million persons have been displaced due to Boko Haram attacks in Nigerias northern states.

The Rev. Benebo Fubara-Manuel, vice president of the Christian Council of West Africa, also urged peaceful elections.

Peace is important," he said in a press statement. If we kill ourselves because of elections, in the end, who are we going to lead?

If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit http://morningstarnews. org/resources/aid-agencies/ for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.
At the end of last November, a former registered church leader Elder Ji Jianhong in an interview with Gospel Times, a Chinese Christian daily news website, talked about the challenges facing the Chinese church.

The former chairman of the national seventh TSPM and executive vice president of Nanjing Union Theological Seminary, Elder Ji started working for the Chinese church in 1950 and was engaged in church ministries while focusing on theological education.

Ji stated that the Chinese church was in a radically changing process as China was transforming and growing, different than it used to be. A group of co-workers had a burden to making Christianity into "real Christianity" in the Chinese context.

The key was to have a self-contained Chinese theology.

At the root of it, Christianity in China in the past was "western Christianity in the country", whose theology, management, and administration were from the West and had many denominational and national backgrounds. Although the Three-Self Patriotic Movement was launched in 1954, "Christianity is still western-styled" owing to its association with denominations.

He said that the task of the tenth national Chinese Christian conference of the China Christian Council (CCC) & Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) held in late Nov. 2018 was to establish a Chinese theology. Despite the content not being clearly concrete, he believed that was a new beginning.

The actual challenges confronted by the church in China could not be measured by foreign standards. Apart from Buddhism, there was no theoretical foundation for the previous Chinese religion, Ji explained. Meanwhile, the Buddhist theory was only mastered by afew people. Similarly, the faith life of average Buddhists included burning incense, worshiping Buddha, and praying for peace. It was the same for Protestants and Catholics.

He concluded that pastors and preachers should do the work. In general, most shepherds didn't need to study theology because their congregations were simple without theological foundation."In order to intellectually build a competent Chinese Christianity, it's necessary to form a self-sustaining Chinese theology. Then go back and build Chinese Christianity with this system. This is the problem faced by Chinese Christianity."

However, it has remained an issue since the "Jinan Conference" convened in 1998 in which the construction of a theological ideology was put forward.

It was comforting that the expression of the "sinicizing of religion" had changed to the "the orientation of sinicizing China's religions".



In regards to the adaptation of religions to the socialist society, the political, religious, and academic circles followed the trendy topic of "the sinicization of Christianity" with interest. There were many approaches mentioned including the combination of Christianity with Confucianism and Taoism.

Asked what he though of this topic, Ji said that various approaches brought up were not odd and that some things would be removed or some established in a long process. He clarified the difference between "the sicinization of Christianity" and "the sinicizational direction of Christianity". The "sicinization" was a political term that generally was equated with Marxization, Leninization, and socialization. The "sinicizing orientation" (Christianity must be Chinese in orientation) included both Marxism, Leninism, and other ideologies and would progress as would the social development. It was a comfort to him that many preferred the second wording.

Other challenges



Elder Ji also mentioned other challenges. For example, a grassroots believer told him that the gathering place where he attended was closed because non-Christian locals said that they were out of step with society. After research, the local congregation argued that they couldn't get along with non-Christians because "the latter were reckoned as children of the devil'.

Another case concerned social and economic engagement with society. Some Christians only made prayers and waited for the work of the Lord without any other participation, believing that any involvement in worldly things would make them lose their love for God and be enticed by the devil.

Thus, Ji expected the younger generation to relate their faith to their careers and to enable faith to be the driving force of the involvement in social engagement. "This is also what we call 'testimonies of life'. Life is not only theoretical, but also about real action. The construction of the Chinese church requires pastors and preachers to improve their levels and help believers change their concepts and behaviors in order to be fully engage life."

Other challenges included the gap between Chinese seminaries and non-Christian universities, cultural challenges and pastoral issues, and the appeal of western things to young people.

Courtesy of China Christian Daily
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If youve seen The Favourite, you got a highly entertaining look at the life and reign of the Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch. Yorgos Lanthimoss film received no fewer than 10 Academy Award nominations. Olivia Colman, who played the lead, won Best Actress for her portrayal of Anne.

As war rages with France in the countryside, we get a look at another battle inside the palace  this one between the queens two closest advisers. In the end, a favorite named Abigail emerges as Annes preferred maid while Sarah, wife to the Duke of Marlborough, gets banished from court.

Its a fascinating story that involves an unexpected love triangle, among other things. Heres a look at which aspects of the film match the historical record, and which do not.

Queen Anne ruled from 1702 until her death in 1714.

Before digging any deeper, viewers can be assured that Anne, daughter of King James II and sister of Mary, became queen when Marys husband William died in 1702. (Marys death in 1694 had put Anne in line for the throne.)

As portrayed in the movie, Queen Anne died childless after a series of miscarriages, still-born babies, and children lost at early ages. William, her last surviving son, passed away in 1700 at the age of 11. He was the 18th child Anne had (and lost) with Prince George, who does not factor at all into the plot of The Favourite.

Sarah Churchill, wife of Marlborough, was a trusted minister.

Rachel Weisz and Olivia Colman in The Favourite | Fox Searchight

Queen Anne definitely leaned on the advice of Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (played by Rachel Weisz) and a key player in court. As in the film, the two had a falling-out later in her reign, but prior to that Sarah was her favorite.

Churchills husband, the Duke of Marlborough, was a leading military figure (a general) during Annes reign. With that in mind, its not difficult to see how Sarah had such a prominent influence on the queen.

Wars raged on both sides of the Atlantic throughout Annes reign.

As Marlborough and Englands allies fought The War of Spanish Succession (1701-14) against France and Bavaria in Europe, another war raged on in the colonies. That conflict bore the name Queen Annes War

(1702-13) and lasted almost the entirety of her reign.

While multiple factions and monarchs engaged in the European war, England and France were the key players in North American fighting. It ended with England (by then Great Britain) acquiring territories from France.

In Sarahs absence, Anne grew close to an uneducated chambermaid.

Best Actress winner for The Favourite Olivia Colman reacts after winning her Oscar during the 91st Annual Academy Awards on February 24, 2019. | VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images

Several key political developments came during Queen Annes reign. In 1707, England and Scotland unified. That made Anne the first queen of Great Britain. Meanwhile, the emergence of the two-party system (Whigs vs. Tories) further complicated things.

During these tumultuous times, Sarah Churchill had much business to attend to on Annes behalf. As a result, her absences became longer from the queen and the palace. Abigail (Emma Stone), an uneducated maid who was friend with Sarah, became Annes favorite during this period.

Rumors of a sexual relationship between Anne and Abigail circulated at the time.

As for the love triangle viewers get in The Favourite, rumors definitely abounded on the subject during the reign of Queen Anne. In her 2014 biography on the queen (cited by Esquire), Anne Somerset reprinted a song the queens opponents wrote about Abigail (referred to as the slut of state).

Oh! Abigail that was her name She starched and stitched full well But how she pierced this royal heart No mortal man can tell However, for sweet service done And causes of great weight Her royal mistress made her, Oh! A minister of state.



Somerset notes that Sarah Churchill helped spread the rumors of, in the queens words, these shocking things about her. On the one hand, that point makes it likely that Sarah and Anne never had any sexual relationship.

Still, it does not substantiate the rumor about Anne and Abigail. Nonetheless, if you were going to take liberty with a historical account, this topic would be one considered fair-game for filmmakers.

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Kristen Bell is best known for her talent on the big screen. She has starred in movies such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and as the voice of Anna in Disneys Frozen. Now, shes stepped out of the screen and into a new business venture: A plant-based line of baby goods. But when she made the big announcement, people were quick to criticize. Heres why some are boycotting the line.

| Walter McBride/Getty Images

Kristen Bell launched Hello Bello with husband Dax Shepherd

Bell and Shepherd wanted to start a baby line that was good for the environment but also affordable for everyday parents. In an interview with Today, the couple explained why they wanted to dive into baby products. A lot of people have to choose whats good for their baby or whats good for their budget, and we just generally didnt think thats fair, Bell said on the show. Although Bell and Shepherd could easily afford high-end baby products, they wanted to make life easier for all of the other parents who arent in the same position.

The line features all plant-based products

The line, called Hello Bello, features only plant-based baby products. Products include diapers, wipes, lotions, washes, and sprays for parents of young children who want quality products without the crazy price tag. Since baby supplies are so expensive, Bell and Shepherd wanted to change the market a bit. Their products are reportedly one third of the price of similar baby products in stores today, according to USA Today. The baby lotion retails for just under $6, while a 180-count pack of wipes retails for $5.64. The line will be sold exclusively at WalMart  and the public liked everything about it up until that fact.

Critics slammed Bell for selling the line exclusively at WalMart

Bell and Shepherd partnered with WalMart for their new line, but fans and critics alike were quick to slam the actor and actress for their decision. WalMart has been at the center of some major issues in the past, including poor treatment of employees and not paying employees enough.

Why Walmart? One of the worst companies in America would LOVE this if it wasnt linked to them, one user wrote. The comment received more than 260 likes along with plenty of replies from others agreeing with them. Same, one user replied, I was super curious until they said that, and now its a nope. Some said they wouldnt buy at WalMart but would buy online through the Hello Bello website.

Bell hasnt commented on the negativity, and some are supporting her new venture

Bell didnt reply to any of the negative comments about where the couple chose to market the items. And despite the criticism, there were others who loved the idea and supported Bell and Shepherds decision to sell at WalMart. If you want to actually get a healthy product into all hands, you work with Walmart, one user wrote. The couple had been working on the project for a few years, and the workaround of buying the products on the website rather than at WalMart should satisfy everyone.

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Making a Murderer can easily be described as one of the most compelling docuseries of the decade. The documentary tells the story of Steven Avery; A man who was wrongfully convicted of a crime in 1985 and spent 18 years out of a 25-year sentence in prison when new DNA evidence surfaced that cleared Avery of the crime. Then, just two years later, he and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, were arrested and put back in prison for the murder of a photographer named Teresa Halbach.

What makes this series so intriguing is the fact that the documentary was recorded in real time. The camera crew was there when Avery was released from prison the first time, and the audience was able to share their surprise when he was convicted for the murder of an Auto Trader photographer.

Since the show first aired, the country has been divided on whether the Wisconsin man and his nephew are innocent or guilty. There have been many protesters that have shown up at some of Averys court dates to show their support of him. However, since his ex-fiancee told the public how he had acted and treated her during their relationship, many people are starting to doubt Steven Averys innocence. Because the documentary is trying to paint Avery as a completely innocent man, there are rumors that he may be released from prison as early as this year.

No one except for Steven Avery knows what happened the night Teresa Halbach tragically passed away. It is hard for the public to decide if he is innocent or guilty because the documentary seems to only tell one side of the story. In order to help you make a better decision about the Steven Avery case, here are a few facts that the documentary left out.

Steven Averys DNA was found on Teresas car keys

Making a murderer talked a lot about the fact that Teresas car keys were found in Averys home. They had focused more on the fact the keys were found by a Manitowoc County officer a few days after the initial search of Averys home was conducted. Their argument was that if the keys were out in the open, why didnt law enforcement find them sooner? This had helped to confirm what many were already speculating: The evidence was planted by law enforcement because they were angry that Avery was suing the county for his wrongful conviction in 1985.

However, the documentary didnt really cover the fact that Averys dried sweat was found on the keys. If the car keys were planted a few days after they had arrested Avery, how were they able to also plant Averys DNA on the keys without anyone knowing? That is a hard question to answer, so apparently, the creators of the documentary thought it was best if they just left that piece of information out.

Steven Avery had requested Teresa Halbach to come to his house

Dawn Pliszka, a receptionist that worked with Teresa Halbach at Auto Trader, had testified in court the day Teresa had died that Steven Avery called and said he wanted the same photographer that had been to his property before (Teresa) to come back that day to take more pictures.

Requesting the same photographer to come to take pictures of different vehicles that you are selling does not mean you are guilty of murder, but it does seem odd the documentary would choose not to mention that tiny piece of evidence.

Is Steven Avery guilty of murder?

Steven Avery, 42 of Two Rivers, Wis., spent 18 years in prison for a rape he didnt commit. | David Trotman-Wilkins 00238760A LINEUP

As we have mentioned before, no one knows what happened on that day except for Steven and Teresa. Although the director of the documentary has admitted to leaving out some of the evidence, that still isnt enough to go on to decide whether he is guilty or not. After all, Steven Avery himself had no say in what pieces of evidence made the docu-series and what pieces didnt. We just hope that one day the truth will come out so that the Halbach family can finally have some closure and peace.

In the latest news, Steven Avery and his lawyer won a motion to appeal, so Avery will get his day again in court to argue over the bones given to Teresa Halbach. His lawyer would like to test the bones to determine if they are indeed Halbachs.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle just finished a royal tour of Morocco. Fans have been following every aspect of the trip, from what Meghan wore to the places the couple visited. It was noticed, however, that Meghan is now sporting an intricate design on her hand, which has left many people wondering if our beloved Duchess has taken the plunge and gotten a tattoo like another famous Duchess.

Meghan Markle celebrates a Moroccan tradition

Samira, 17, has lived in @EFAMorocco in Asni for 6 years  one of five boarding schools in the town  and will be making a henna flower on Meghans right hand to celebrate her pregnancy as per Moroccan tradition #RoyalVisiteMorocco pic.twitter.com/Bc0CIgaWIZ  Russell Myers (@rjmyers) February 24, 2019

As it turns out, the tattoo is not permanent (reminiscent of Kate Middletons semi-permanent tattoo she received from a girl when speaking with Young Asian Voices last year). Like Kates, Meghans tattoo is also a henna tattoo, which is a tradition in the Moroccan culture that celebrates a womans pregnancy. The lovely flower design starts at the tip of Meghans index finger and goes a few inches past her wrist, and most can agree that its quite flattering.

Sitting next to Prince Harry, Meghan happily received the tattoo during a visit to the Education for All Boarding House in the Atlas Mountains, where the Henna ceremony was held to mark Meghans seventh month of pregnancy.

What is the significance of a henna tattoo for pregnant women?

A henna tattoo symbolizes good luck for the mother and the baby and is quite popular in the Moroccan culture. It is applied during times of happiness and celebration, so its only fitting for Meghan to receive the honor during her visit to the country. The Duchess patiently sat while the design was painted onto her hand, and was quite pleased with the finished result.

Meghan Markles tattoo | Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage

How else are Meghan Markle and Prince Harry celebrating her pregnancy?

The royal couple is no doubt delighted to welcome their first child this spring! Meghan recently celebrated with friends at a lavish New York City baby shower that was hosted by her pal Serena Williams. It remains to be seen if another gathering will take place back home at Kensington Palace, this time with members of the royal family, including Kate Middleton, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, and of course, the queen.

Is the royal family excited to welcome the newest member?

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry at the residence of King Mohammed VI of Morocco | Yui Mok  Pool / Getty Images

They certainly are! Kate Middleton told fans that her children are extremely excited to be welcoming their new cousin, and she and Prince William are most definitely bursting with joy over welcoming a new royal niece or nephew. Prince Charles is said to be delighted, as is his wife, Camilla. Queen Elizabeth is likely one of the most excited members of the family, as she dotes on all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and Meghan and Harrys child is a welcome addition.

What is next for Meghan and Harry?

Their trip to Morocco is to be the last one they will take before the arrival of the new baby. Their visit was for the purpose of promoting gender equality, something that is close to Meghans heart. She seemed to have a great time during the visit, interacting with locals, and taking part in local customs.

What else have Meghan and Harry done in Morocco?

The royal couple has had a packed schedule during their time in Morocco. They made a stop at the Moroccan Royal Federation of Equestrian Sports, as well as a visit to the town of Asni, where they learned about an organization which builds boarding houses for young girls. Fans in the country were delighted to meet and spend time with the royal couple, and celebrate the upcoming arrival of the new royal baby!
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has scheduled a public meeting for March 6, at the request of the Tennessee Valley Authority, to discuss proposed changes to Confirmatory Orders issued in 2009 and 2017. The meeting will also address safety conscious work environment issues at TVAs three nuclear power plants.



The meeting is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., in Classroom 4A at the NRC Technical Training Center, located in the Osborne Office Center, 5746 Marlin Road, in Chattanooga.



The NRC Order issued in 2017 contained a list of corrective actions agreed upon by TVA officials to address the work environment issues at Browns Ferry in Alabama, and Sequoyah and

Watts Bar in Tennessee.



The 2017 Order was a result of NRC inspections conducted beginning in 2014 through 2016. Inspectors found that TVA failed to properly implement a process to ensure that adverse employment actions at the Watts Bar plant complied with employee protection regulations and that the actions would not negatively impact the safety conscious work environment.



The public will have the opportunity to observe the meeting and to communicate with the NRC staff following the business portion of the meeting. A toll-free teleconference line will also be provided for those unable to attend. Anyone wanting to participate by phone should contact Manuel Crespo at

404-997-4733 or Manuel.Crespo@nrc.gov by March 4.
A Fund for Excellence at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga will be created through a $15 million bequest that will support facilities, equipment, research and scholarship, thanks to a donor who wishes to remain anonymous.



The private funds will establish an endowment held and managed by the University of Chattanooga Foundation that the UTC chancellor may allocate for equipment and technology needs; facility enhancement, renovation or expansion; support for scholarly research; undergraduate and graduate student scholarships; and experiential learning opportunities for students.



This extremely generous donation will have transformational impact on the University and our ability to provide an excellent, high-quality educational experience for our nearly 12,000 students, said UTC Chancellor Steven Angle. We are deeply grateful to the longtime and steadfast UTC supporter who has made this commitment and for the impact it will have on current and future generations of UTC students.



Kim White, CEO of River City Co. and chair of the University of Chattanooga Foundation, noted the donation is third-largest in UTC history.



Gifts of this size to higher education are rare, regardless of the institution, and at $15 million, this is the third-largest single private gift ever for UTC, said Ms. White, also a member of the system-wide UT Board of Trustees. What an amazing example of investing in higher education through philanthropy.



Private support for UTC has risen dramatically in the last five years, according to University of Chattanooga Foundation Executive Director Bryan Rowland.



This marks the second eight-figure commitment made to UTC in the last eight months, Mr. Rowland said. From capital investment in our facilities to an emphasis on experiential learning, Chancellor Angle has the University on an amazing trajectory, and our alumni and friends are supporting his vision.



The University of Chattanooga Foundation was created in 1969 when the former University of Chattanooga joined the statewide UT System of higher education. Fifty years later, the foundation today manages total assets of nearly $250 million and is governed by a board of directors comprised of local and regional leaders.



In 2018, private giving to UTC totaled $57.3 million, the highest annual total in UTC history.
FreightWaves, a provider of data and news for global freight markets, Monday announced that it has raised $21 million in a Series B financing round, bringing its total funding to $40 million. The round was led by 8VC, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm that has participated in FreightWaves capital raises beginning with its seed round in late 2017, when the company began commercial operations.

This round was entirely opportunistic and was initiated because we had a great deal of strategic interest from very important partners, said Craig Fuller, founder and CEO of FreightWaves. Our cash position was very healthy before the round, boosted by the growth of our operating cash flow due to the performance of the business over the past year. Our SONAR SaaS product continues to grow at monthly double-digit rates as clients experience the value of fast data and increasing visibility into the transportation and freight markets.

Most notably, this round of financing saw participation from new, large strategic investors, including Hearst Ventures, the venture capital arm of leading global, diversified media, information and services conglomerate, Hearst; and Prologis Ventures, the venture capital arm of Prologis, Inc., the global leader in logistics real estate with operations in 19 countries across four continents.

Hearst has decades of experience in using data and editorial content to drive subscription-based recurring revenue offerings for clients in transportation and financial markets. FreightWaves operates at the intersection of commercial transportation and financial markets and will benefit from the related expertise at Hearst to develop more sophisticated models, content and distribution.

FreightWaves combines powerful industry-specific data and analytics with fresh commentary, unique insights and risk management solutions that help decision-makers across the freight ecosystem make better operational decisions, said Hearst Ventures Managing Director David Famolari.

Prologis Ventures has been making venture investments since 2016 with a focus on next-generation solutions for addressing how the future flow of goods will affect global supply chains and the evolving needs of logistics customers. Other potential areas of investment include sustainability and construction, business intelligence and real estate technology.

Prologis Ventures has been working closely with the FreightWaves team to map out electronic logging device (ELD) location data, said Prologis Ventures managing partner Will ODonnell. We expect to leverage this data to understand how logistics facilities can operate more efficiently by improving the interaction of trucking companies, shippers and warehouse operators across the many facets of the modern supply chain.

Revolutions Rise of the Rest Seed Fund also participated in the latest round of financing. The ROTR Seed Fund first invested in FreightWaves when the company won the Rise of the Rest pitch competition in Chattanooga in May 2018. Revolutions Rise of the Rest Seed Fund invests in high-growth companies that, like FreightWaves, are scaling outside of the coastal tech hubs.

In the Third Wave of the internet, entrepreneurs seeking to disrupt major real-world industries will focus on scaling in cities where that sector expertise resides," said Steve Case, chairman and CEO of Revolution and founder of Rise of the Rest. "They will also rely on key partnerships to provide credibility and industry guidance. FreightWaves embodies both of these concepts by combining Chattanoogas history of logistics expertise with data from collaborations with some of the most important participants in the transportation ecosystem.

Bob Corker, former U.S. Senator for Tennessee and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also participated in the round as an investor.

Chattanooga is a transportation and logistics hub, and I am proud to see another homegrown company that is already making an impact in the world of freight, said Mr. Corker. I am excited for Craig Fuller and his team and wish them great success as they continue to build their company.

Mr. Fuller believes that the companys business model is relevant on a global basis.

Supply chains are increasingly globally connected, and we are just starting to understand how one market or mode impacts another, said Mr. Fuller. Consumers care less and less about where products are sourced or how they get them, so long as they are responsibly and transparently sourced and transported. Our goal is to combine modal-agnostic freight data from sources all over the world and provide market context.

The round also included every institutional investor that has previously participated, including Fontinalis Ventures, the mobility venture fund founded by Bill Ford; Pritzker Group Venture Capital; Ascend Venture Capital; Story Ventures; and Engage Ventures. Kelvin Beachum, offensive tackle for the New York Jets, also continued his investment in FreightWaves with additional participation.

The company will deploy the funds to expand data and transparency products beyond trucking to include air, rail, maritime, port, warehousing, and global expansion.




High School sophomores and juniors in the Chattanooga area are invited to attend the Coast-to-Coast College Fair on Tuesday, March 5, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Chattanooga Convention Center.

For 25 years, the Coast-to-Coast Fair has hosted an array of schools in higher education, colleges and universities that represent the full spectrum of college options. Over 100 colleges and universities  public and private, large and small, rural and big city  from California to Washington, DC, and states in between, will have admission representatives present, eager to introduce their schools and enthusiastically answer students questions, officials said.

While students are introducing themselves to college representatives and gathering information about their favorite schools, parents may attend one of two financial aid workshops presented by Eric Farmer from the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation.



Officials said, "Join friends, bring parents, and broaden horizons at the Coast-to-Coast College Fair."

Students should register and check out the full list of colleges attending the fair at the Coast-to-Coast College Fair website.

Sponsoring schools are Baylor School, Girls Preparatory School, McCallie School and St. Andrews-Sewanee School.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Geely Auto Group recently adjusted its marketing structure by adding the yet-to-be-launched Geely New Energy into its brand lineup, according to local media.

Geely New Energy will be operated as an independent sub-brand with its own logo, parallel to the other four brands, namely, Geely Auto, Lynk & Co, Proton Cars and Lotus Cars.

Yang Xueliang, vice president of Geely Auto Group, revealed last month that the company is going to build an independent sales company for Geely New Energy, which will run as an independent brand. After the latest adjustment, the automaker will sell models under three independent sub-brands in China, namely, Geely Auto, Lynk & Co and Geely New Energy.

Yang said consumers' understanding about new energy vehicle (NEV) is updating and the NEV consumption scenarios and marketing modes have been essentially changed, thus the brand construction, marketing modes as well as consumers experience must be upgraded at the same time. Featuring all-new brand position, technologies and sales channel, Geely New Energy reportedly will sell vehicles based on some NEV sales channels akin to shop-in-shop derived from Geely's existing channels and other independent NEV-specific marketing channels.

In 2018, Geely Auto and Lynk & Co launched several NEV models, including the Emgrand EV450, the Emgrand GSe, the Borui GE and the Lynk & Co 01PHEV. As part of the Blue Geely Initiative, Geely New Energy is ready to roll out three new models in 2019, namely, the GE11 all-electric sedan, the new Emgrand PHEV and a plug-in hybrid MPV. It is worth mentioning that Geely Energy vehicle also plans to release range-extended EV models.
Chip Mong Insee Cement Corp opens 9.8MW solar power plant

26 February 2019

Cleantech Solar has completed building an on-site solar PV system for Chip Mong Insee Cement Corp (CMIC) in Cambodia. The whole system includes a 2.8MW floating solar power plant deployment on CMIC's reservoir and the remaining 7MW installed across multiple rooftops of the facility.



Through a long-term partnership agreement, the project is expected to generate 297GWh of clean energy, avoiding 197,000t of CO 2 emissions in the system's lifetime. The system will contribute to CMIC's sustainability efforts by meeting a share of the large plants electricity demand with solar PV. This will also help CMIC reduce operating costs without having to make the capital investment, nor having to take the performance risk of the solar system.



In addition, the deployment of the floating solar system will shield the reservoir from wind and the direct hot midday sun, which is expected to reduce water loss through evaporation, contributing to CMIC's water conservation efforts.



Meng Leang, chairman of Chip Mong Insee Cement Corp, said: "Here at Chip Mong Insee Cement, we are committed to be a trusted company that is both environmentally and socially responsible. Producing cement in Cambodia to substitute imports creates jobs and opportunities for Cambodians and adopting solar is an additional important step for us to help meet our energy requirements whilst at the same time reduce our CO 2 emissions. We have selected Cleantech Solar based on their extensive track record, strong technical as well as financial capabilities. This, together with our shared values on safety and quality, has delivered a very successful solar project and solidified our partnership with Cleantech Solar."

Raju Shukla, Cleantech Solar founder and executive chairman, said: "It is very satisfying to see the state-of-the-art Chip Mong Insee Cement production plant now benefitting from our high-quality solar PV solution that combines rooftop and floating elements. In addition to environmental and social benefits, such as cutting emissions and promoting corporate social responsibility, the economic benefits of sourcing renewables will also include cost savings, long-term price stability and security of supply. We will like to extend our hearty congratulations to Chip Mong Insee Cement on achieving another milestone in their sustainability journey."

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South Africa's construction sector unlikely to recover before 2021

26 February 2019

Following Finance Minister Tito Mboweni's first budget, economist Dr Azar Jammine has raised hopes for a "major recovery" in the South African economy, but he warned it was unlikely to happen before 2021.



Speaking at AfriSam's 2019 National Budget Breakfast in Sandton on Thursday, Dr Jammine told a diverse audience of more than 200 people from the construction sector that 2019-20 would remain very difficult. Planned government investment in infrastructure, for instance, was expected to rise only four per cent, spelling a continued slump for civil engineering.



He said one of the key drivers of recovery would be restoring the tax-collecting capacity of the South African Revenue Services, which had fallen about ZAR40bn (US$2.88bn) short of target in the last financial year. He also hoped that government expenditure would be made more effective if the challenges at the State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) were addressed and the more than 34 per cent of the tax revenue being spent on the civil service was reduced significantly.



Construction sector

Focussing on the state of the construction sector and its prospects, Industry Insight senior economist, David Metelerkamp, painted a sombre picture for most segments. The hard-hit civil sector would see some light from the 14 per cent increase in planned government expenditure in transport and logistics infrastructure. Mr Metelerkamp noted that this was off a low base from last year, moderating its likely impact.



The building industry looked better than civils, he said, especially the residential segment. This was mainly in demand for flats and townhouses, where square metres completed grew considerably in 2018. Demand for 'luxury homes' was down. The future held promise for large mixed-use developments, of which over 30 were on the table, said Mr Metelerkamp. Ten of these were expected to launch in this financial year, and 14 more in FY20-21. He noted that the shopping centre 'boom' was over and that an oversupply now existed.



Cement oversupply

Referring to the oversupply in the cement sector, AfriSam sales and marketing executive, Richard Tomes, said AfriSam was now in a better position to cope with current market conditions after a period of right-sizing its business.



Mr Tomes added that despite the impact of the lack of infrastructure spend on the construction sector, he remains confident that some level of stability will return to the industry once the 2019 national elections have taken place and the newly elected government will have been mandated with a new five-year term to address issues around policy uncertainty and fix the state-owned entities.



He concludes,that to strengthen the construction industry and country, South Africans must all the heed the presidents call of 'Thuma Mina' made during his inaugural state-of-the-nation address  a call for all South Africans to 'lend a hand' and be of service to the nation.

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Cristina Lizardo, a former senator from the province of Santo Domingo, said it was time to prove that what is...
David Carroll and Avery Davis-Roberts, director and associate director of the Carter Centers Democracy Program, hope to hold more conferences that bring together election officials and Native American voting rights advocates.

Kim Wyman, secretary of state in Washington, addresses the conference as Deb Haaland, one of the first two Native American women elected to the U.S. Congress, and Jocelyn Benson, secretary of state in Michigan, listen. (Photos: The Carter Center/ M. Schwarz)

Their ancestors were the first to live on the land that came to be known as America, and yet many still have trouble exercising the most basic of American rights  the right to vote.

Native Americans face a variety of barriers on their way to the polls, some of which seem almost unbelievable in 2019.

They are sometimes forced to drive more than 100 miles round-trip to cast a ballot; others are denied the chance to even register because they have non-traditional mailing addresses  rural route numbers, for example, or post office boxes.

The Native American Voting Rights Coalition conducted field hearings on or near tribal lands in seven Western states in early 2018, interviewing more than 125 voters and would-be voters about their election-related experiences. The coalition gave the first presentation on its findings at a conference about Native American participation in U.S. elections that The Carter Center organized in December. In addition to barriers related to geographical isolation and mailing addresses, the coalition noted other issues that suppress voter turnout, including:

Poverty: Native Americans have the highest rate of poverty of any population group, which results in higher-than-average rates of homelessness and illiteracy and exacerbates transportation issues.

Language barriers: More than a quarter of single-race Native Americans and Alaska Natives speak a language other than English at home, but many jurisdictions dont translate voting materials into Native American dialects or hire enough bilingual poll workers.

Lack of broadband and internet access: Less than 10 percent of people on tribal lands have broadband access, which means they often miss out on voting information and have no ability to register online.

The coalitions findings came as a surprise to many conference attendees who work in election administration: I was shocked that were talking about solving problems that I thought were solved 40 years ago, said Kim Wyman, Washingtons secretary of state and co-chair of the Carter Center meeting. I believed wed gotten rid of these barriers.

Because her state conducts all voting by mail, she said, she thought it was doing a good job dealing with these issues. But what she heard during the conference made her realize that election officials need to do more to ensure that obstacles are effectively addressed.

For her part, Natalie Landreth of the Native American Rights Fund said that hearing from the election officials at the conference made her aware that activists need to work harder to educate the public about these barriers.

Too often, Native American voting activists and election officials only meet in the courtroom, said Avery Davis-Roberts, an associate director in the Carter Centers Democracy Program. We wanted to give them a chance to connect and exchange ideas in a neutral environment.

Though Native Americans win about 95 percent of their election-related cases, according to one expert, lawsuits cant entirely break down voting barriers.

We cannot litigate our way out of this problem, said Virginia Davis of the National Conference on American Indians. Its an important tool, but its too expensive and not available to everyone. It doesnt build relationships on the ground. We need diplomacy.

Participants agreed that more meetings like this one are needed.

Democracy Program Director David Carroll said The Carter Center hopes to make that happen: A lot of people told us that theyd made helpful connections at the conference. We want to do whatever we can to help those connections grow, because The Carter Center believes that the right to vote should be available to all.
Antoinette Sainfabe (right) lives with her daughter and niece, as well as two sons, in her rebuilt home in Leogane, Haiti. The house replaced the one that collapsed on top of Sainfabe during the 2010 earthquake. (Photos: The Carter Center)

A woman wants to feel beautiful, to feel dignity, and shoes are part of it, she said. We have to buy two sizes of shoes  or buy one size and bear with the pain.

Sainfabe contracted lymphatic filariasis (LF) from the bites of infected mosquitoes. In 1993, the disease caused her legs to swell irreversibly to almost twice their normal size, which makes it hard to walk, hard to get and hold a job, and hard to avoid being stigmatized. Its practically impossible to find shoes that fit, so she, like the other women in the Hope Club, her lymphatic filariasis support group, improvises with strips of Velcro to extend her sandal straps.

Antoinette Sainfabe, about 40, lives in a destitute section of Leogane, the epicenter of the catastrophic earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010. She was buried under the rubble of her home for three days; a diagonal scar across her forehead serves as a reminder of the trauma. Sainfabe and her children lived beneath a banana tree for three years until a relief organization built her a new home beside the ruins of the crumbled one. Her children love her signature beans-and-rice dish, but her part-time cleaning job doesnt pay enough for her to buy fresh food every day.

Life is hard enough in Haiti, with its profound poverty, natural disasters, and troubled political history. Add to the mix an insidious tropical disease that causes permanent disfigurement, and the result is misery that defies description.

During a lymphatic filariasis Hope Group meeting at LHopital Ste Croix in Leogane, Haiti, Antoinette Sainfabe shows how she has modified her shoe to accommodate her severely swollen foot.

Despite her troubles, the first thing people notice about Sainfabe is not her big legs, its her signature smile, which she generously shares, especially with the Hope Club, part of the Carter Center-supported Hispaniola Initiative, a joint effort by the governments of Haiti and the Dominican Republic to eliminate both LF and malaria on their shared home island.

The Hope Club meets regularly at Leoganes Hopital Sainte Croix, the only hospital in Haiti that houses a specialized LF clinic. On the same campus is the office of Dr. Luccene Desir, the Carter Centers representative in Haiti and the Dominican Republic; his sister Martha Desir, a registered nurse, oversees an affiliated vocational training center for LF patients located one block north.

I love Miss Martha! Sainfabe exclaimed during a meeting in a sweltering room at the hospital, all the window and doors closed for privacy.

The women talked about the importance of gathering to share their experiences, clothes, and children, as well as stigma and charlatans.

A Voodoo priest applied smelly potions and hot tongs to my legs, Sainfabe said. It was very painful, and it cost me a lot of money, and it didnt help at all. In fact, I think the potions made it worse.

She said after she started visiting the hospital and receiving proper care, she told the priest he should send LF patients there instead of treating them himself. He ignored her, because he liked getting paid, she laughed.

One priest came in for treatment on his own leg, Desir said, but he kept treating other patients to make money.

The Hope Club recently qualified for a Task Force for Global Health grant to study how the kind of support the club provides affects patients mental wellness and attention to self-care.

At the vocational center, LF patients learn marketable skills such as sewing and silk flower arranging. Just as important, many participants form strong personal bonds.

On a steamy summer day in Leogane, members of the flower-arranging class were grieving the recent death of a classmate and fellow LF sufferer, Yvette Milord, from an unrelated illness. Milords classmates created a beautiful blue wreath for the funeral. The funeral procession, led by a traditional brass band, plodded slowly down a dirt road, accumulating hundreds of well-dressed mourners along the way. Several limped on LF-swollen legs behind the hearse, the blue wreath they had made clearly visible atop it among the other flowers.

That evening, Sainfabe was back at home with her children and the niece who lives with her. They adore her and accept her, unlike many others who cruelly taunt her because of her swollen legs.

I love my mommy for the way she takes care of me, and she sends me to school, declared daughter Salma, 11.

I love everything about my mom, said son Arnoldson, 20. Shes a good cook, and she is always with me in everything.

Sainfabes advice to other lymphatic filariasis sufferers is to resist discouragement, avoid isolation, and see beauty in themselves.

See me as I am, she said, head held high. I am living.
Changan wanted to do things their way, and it took them six years; but good things come to those who wait because theyve finally shown the ...
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.

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Modified On Apr 05, 2019 12:34 PM By Raunak for Citroen C5 Aircross

Citroen cars and powertrains to be locally manufactured in Tamil Naidu

Update: Scheduled to launch in 2020, the C5 Aircross will be Citroen's first offering in India. Read more about it here.

Citroen will manufacture cars and powertrains in Tamil Naidu.

Citroen plans to launch highly localised mass market cars in India.

First car could be launched before the end of 2021; likely to be a mid-size SUV.

Citroen is currently testing the C5 Aircross mid-size SUV in India.

If launched, it will rival the Hyundai Tucson, Volkswagen Tiguan and the upcoming Skoda Karoq.

Groupe PSA first entered India with the Peugeot brand in the mid-90s

Groupe PSA has announced that it will introduce the Citroen brand in India before the end of 2021 as part of its strategic plan called Push To Pass. This will make Citroen the third new car manufacturer to enter India after Kia and MG, both of which are set to launch their first product later this year. The announcement was made during the presentation of Groupe PSAs FY2018 financial results today (February 26).

Last year, Groupe PSA announced that it will partner with the CK Birla group to manufacture its cars at the latters facility in Tamil Nadu. Groupe PSA will also start manufacturing BSVI engines in the country under its joint-venture with CK Birlas AVTEC soon.

The carmaker plans to launch highly localised mass market cars in the country. It has already started testing the C5 Aircross on our soil. Check out the spy shots and details of this mid-size SUV here. Groupe PSA is also expected to launch DS, Citroens luxury marque, in the country. Apart from Citroen and DS, the French conglomerate comprises of Peugeot, Opel and Vauxhall brands as well.
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One in three Australian teachers leave within their first five years, a crucial issue at the heart of a federal government inquiry into the status of teaching in Australia in 2019. Keeping teachers is now a factor in the looming teacher shortage all education authorities are tackling. Submissions to a federal inquiry holding public hearings in Brisbane next week reveal a host of complaints, from pay packets to an "obsession" with testing. State Education Minister Grace Grace agreed the high proportion of teachers departing was a major problem. Queensland is faring better than the national average on that front, with one in six teachers leaving the profession before five years. "Analysis by the Queensland College of Teachers indicates that around 14 per cent of new teachers leave the profession within four years," she said. "There are many reasons, both professional and personal, why a teacher may choose to leave the profession after such a short time." Ms Grace said Education Queenslands retention rate was better than national figures. "The Department of Education is an employer of choice because we recognise and support our teaching staff throughout their career and offer diverse and interesting career and geographical placements in some of the most beautiful locations the state has to offer." The Queensland College of Teachers, in its submission, reported scholarly articles showing "between 30 per cent and 50 per cent of Australian teachers leave the profession within the first five years". The "perception" of the teaching profession was the problem. "The importance of extended high-quality induction and [career] mentoring for reducing early-career teacher attrition is well known," the QCT submission noted. "Instead, it is likely that deeper change targeting perceptions and mindsets about the profession and education is needed." Earlier this year Queensland Teachers Union president Kevin Bates said 7000 new teachers were needed within a decade because enrolments in Queensland were increasing by 6 per cent, almost double the average increase. He said Queensland teaching authorities "had to remain focused" as several issues combined to create "almost a perfect storm". "I agree that we have some things in place, but when you look at the southern states they have just gone down the path of introducing minimum entry standards for teachers," he said. More than 80 submissions had been made to the inquiry, from organisations including the union and teachers college, the University of Queensland and Australias Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel, a former Chancellor of Monash University. Many submissions noted a challenge was the perception of the career, while others asked for help with student discipline. The QTU added that wages at the introductory levels in teaching needed to lift to keep the less-experienced among Queenslands 46,000 teachers. It expressed concern at the declining percentage of male teachers, particularly noting that many female teachers left to start families. Australia-wide, male teachers in secondary schools dropped from 55 per cent in 1980 to 40 per cent in 2016. In primary schools, the percentage of male teachers dropped from 30 per cent in 1980 to 18 per cent in 2016. In Queensland, by August 2018 only 14 per cent of primary school teachers were men. Queensland Estimates hearings in 2018 heard of 50,000 teachers: 842 Queensland state school teachers had resigned, 832 teachers had retired and 14 staff were sacked in 2017-18. That is equivalent to about 3.4 per cent of the profession in 2017-18, or about 14 per cent over the past four years. The Queensland Teachers Union's submission argued there was a perception teachers were undervalued and overworked. Teachers are subject to many negative perceptions which impact not only how others see them but how they see themselves, the QTU noted. Their work is often undervalued and the perception that teachers are overworked and underpaid serves as a career disincentive for some. The union listed "micromanagement of teachers", an obsession with "standardised testing that undermines professional expertise" and an "overwhelming tendency to report negatively on the profession" as major perception problems. The growing tendency to appoint first-time teachers on a contract basis was another concern. "It often takes several years to secure a permanent position," the QTU submitted. "This is detrimental to the teachers involved, especially given they face the least job security of their teaching career at a time when they are most financially vulnerable  as recent university graduates." Dr Finkel told the inquiry there needed to be more recognition of professional qualifications for science, technology and mathematics to encourage the status of teachers. "All jurisdictions require teacher professional learning to align to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, but there is no national requirement for teachers of STEM subjects to undertake a minimum amount of professional learning in discipline-specific content," Dr Finkel wrote.

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St. Johnsbury, VT (05819)

Today

Rain showers in the morning with thunderstorms developing in the afternoon. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 89F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds light and variable.
One of Chinas top financial regulators said the authorities are looking at ways to help local governments cope with the mountains of debt theyve accumulated off the books over the years. That could be good news for Zhenjiang, one of the most indebted cities in the country.

Zhenjiang, a port city in the eastern province of Jiangsu known for producing fragrant black vinegar, had racked up interest-bearing liabilities of 393.4 billion yuan ($58.8 billion) at the end of 2017 through its local government financing vehicles (LGFVs), nearly 14 times the citys general fiscal revenue that year, according to analysts at Guoseng Securities. Thats the highest among all cities in Jiangsu, which itself is one of the most debt-laden provincial-level regions in China, they estimated in a report in August. Jiangsu has the largest amount of outstanding urban construction investment bonds through special purpose financing vehicles out of all the countrys regions, they said.

These local government financing vehicles (LGFVs) are companies set up specifically to raise money through bonds and loans which local governments themselves are banned from taking on. Local authorities keep the debts of the vehicles off their books although they have often guaranteed them or are liable for repaying them.

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) will deal with all indebted cities under the One City One Policy principle, Wang Zhaoxing, a vice chairman of the agency, told Caixin on Monday when asked about the commissions plans for Zhenjiang. Support will be tailored to suit the conditions of each city with the aim of strengthening their ability to pay the money they owe and dealing with their borrowing problems, he said.

Debt-to-bond swaps

He outlined several options, including one that allows some projects to put up additional collateral for their borrowings. Another is to permit some LGFV debt to be swapped into local government bonds, Wang said after a briefing. The swaps often come with strings attached, including the requirement that creditors forgive some of the original debt.

Another possibility would be to let some local governments increase sales of special-purpose bonds to strengthen their finances, he added. Special-purpose bonds, which were introduced in 2015, are meant to be repaid with income generated by the projects they are invested in, as opposed to general bonds, which are paid back using fiscal revenue. They were created to bring more transparency to local government debt.

The central government started efforts to clean up local government debt back in 2013, after a monetary and fiscal stimulus announced in 2008 to cushion the country from the impact of the global financial crisis saddled the economy with one of the highest debt burdens in the world when measured against gross domestic product (GDP).

Chinas total debt-to-GDP ratio jumped to 253.1% as of June 2018 from 138.4% at the end of 2008, data from the Bank for International Settlements show, while total credit to the government sector stood at 47.6%, up from 27.1% at the end of 2008. But the International Monetary Funds latest Article IV report on China estimates that government debt could be as high as 67.5% of GDP when LGFV liabilities, and debt tied to special construction funds and government guided funds are included.

Wang told Mondays briefing that the debt-to-GDP ratio of the local government sector has started to decline, although he did not provide figures, and said efforts will continue to further reduce the debt.

Zhou Liang, another CBIRC vice chairman, said at the same briefing that preventing risks in one region from spilling over into the financial system as a whole will be a priority for regulators as they continue to tackle local government debt.

(We) must not allow regional risks to spark systemic risks. This is a bottom-line that regulators must ensure, he told reporters.

The regulators comments echo President Xi Jinpings speech on Friday in which he reiterated that preventing systemic financial risks is the fundamental task of all financial work. Xi spoke at a study session of the Politburo on deepening financial supply side reform and enhancing the financial sector's ability to serve real economy.

Caixin reporters Yu Hairong and Zhang Yu contributed to this report

Contact reporter Fran Wang (fangwang@caixin.com)
Jesse Revolt, 29, of Copemish is facing various charges associated with an assault after he was arraigned recently in Manistee County\'s 85th District Court.
Entrepreneurs and those interested in trying out life as a startup founder will gather in Cork, March 29th-31st for Techstars Startup Weekend. Techstars Startup Weekend, powered by Google for Startups is the worlds biggest learning programme for entrepreneurs.

The 54-hour programme runs from a Friday night to Sunday afternoon and brings together designers, developers, entrepreneurs, and experts from all domains.

The event aims to help startups experience the highs, lows, fun and pressure that make up life at a startup. Attendees will learn how to create a real company and will meet mentors, investors, co-founders and sponsors.

Since starting in 2009, Techstars Startup Weekend has run in more than 150 countries with over 4000 individual events for more than 250,000 participants. This years event will take place at Corks city centre innovation campus, REPUBLIC OF WORK. It is a completely volunteer organised, not-for-profit event.

Speaking about the event, CEO and Co-founder of REPUBLIC OF WORK, DC Cahalane said, "Techstars Startup Weekend is a brilliant opportunity for anyone who ever wondered what running their own business would be like. For 54 hours you face the challenges of developing an idea, making real business decisions, presenting and pitching your business and dealing with the multitude of challenges that face new businesses. We are encouraging anyone whos ever fancied the idea of building a startup to come along and join us."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Irish law firm, FLAC yesterday welcomed President of Ireland Michael D Higgins to its new head office at Dorset Street Upper in Dublin 1 to officially open the new facility.

The opening coincides with FLACs 50th anniversary, which it will mark throughout 2019. FLAC was established in Dublin in 1969 by law students David Byrne, Denis McCullough, Vivian Lavan and Ian Candy, who were looking to use their legal knowledge to provide advice and information to those who could not afford the fees involved.

Last year, it dealt with over 25,000 requests for legal information and advice to its telephone information line and advice clinics. Housing and homelessness have continued to dominate its recent case load, with other issues such as privacy emerging.

It is also concerned about access to justice for disadvantaged groups, such as members of the Traveller and Roma communities, and it is seeking to make the courts more accessible for people with disabilities and lay litigants.

In his address yesterday, President Higgins paid tribute to FLAC's work promoting universal access to legal aid. He said, "At the very roots of democracy lies a respect for all citizens and a refusal to foster a culture of privilege and advantage for those who can afford it. If we are to achieve a Republic in its fullest sense, both institutional and experiential, it must be founded on a profound spirit of generous humanity and a necessary inclusiveness."

He added, "It is such a spirit that led to the establishment of FLAC fifty years ago and has seen it grow and develop to an organisation that today provides legal advice and information directly through sixty-six clinics across the country. The demand for FLACs services continues to increase and I was most impressed to learn that, in 2018, you provided legal information or advice to 25,238 members of the public.

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Members of opposition parties in Pakistan raised slogans against Paksitan PM Imran Khan after the India Air Force (IAF) conducted major strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) region on early Tuesday. As a group of 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets entered Pakistan and smashed several JeM terror camps in the Balakot region -- a town in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province -- Pakistani House met amid calls for strong retaliatory action. Balakot is about 80 km from the Line of Control and near Abbotabad where Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was killed in hiding by the US forces.

As per media reports, opposition parties started shouting "shame, shame" against Pak PM Imran Khan and his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) over the reports of India's strikes on its territory.

Also Read: Surgical Strike 2.0 LIVE: 300 terrorists killed as IAF hits terror camps in PoK; won't let India down, says PM

During the National Assembly proceedings, former Pakistan defence minister Khawaja Asif also urged all parties to put up a "united front" against India. "Our country, our sovereignty, our integrity are being threatened," Asif said, reported Dawn, adding that "It is the need of the hour that we show solidarity with the Army." Urging his fellow members to show united front, he said India should be sent a message that all of them are "one in the matter of Kashmir".

Meanwhile, India has confirmed that the Air Force conducted the "intelligence-led operation" on the Pakistan-based terror group's biggest training camp in Balakot.

"Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose," Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.

In the face of imminent danger of another suicide attack in India, a pre-emptive strike became "absolutely necessary", the foreign secretary said.

"In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated," he said.

(Edited by Manoj Sharma)

Also Read: IAF attacks terror camps in PoK: All you need to know about the Mirage 2000
Finally, it may have taken barely between Rs 1.68 crore to Rs 2.2 crore for India to deliver the killer punch at terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad deep inside the Pakistani territory.

More than Rs 2,568 crore worth of airborne Indian assets entered the Pakistani territory to deliver 1,000 kg of bombs worth Rs 56 lakh each in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakothi areas, eliminating between 200-300 terrorists before returning safely to airbases in early hours of Febuary 26.

Another Rs 3,686 crore worth of assets were on watch as India gave a glimpse to the world of the might of the Indian Air Force. A Rs 1,750 crore AWACS (Airborne Warning And Control System) took off from Bhatinda airbase to keep a 360 degree surveillance on Pakistani air space to warn against scrambling of jets or retaliatory attack. A Rs 22 crore Illyushin mid-air refueling tanker took off from Agra and IAF's Rs 80 crore Heron surveillance drone took off from a secret airfield. At the same time 3 Russian made Sukhoi Su-30MKI air superiority aircraft each worth Rs 358 crore ($50million each) were airborne within Indian territory, ready to retaliate, during the 21 minute mission. Another 5 MiG 29s-each worth Rs 154 crore--were on scramble-alert on the ground at Adampur during the entire mission.

These are all over and above the fuel costs incurred, the high state of readiness of the three forces as well as the command and control centres on ground.

Also read: Surgical Strike 2.0 LIVE: 350 terrorists killed as IAF hits terror camps in PoK; won't let India down, says PM

Twelve Indian Air Force Mirage 2000 aircraft-each worth Rs 214 crore--took off from the Gwalior airbase armed with 225 kg GBU-12 conventional laser guided bombs kitted with American-built precision guidance. Each GBU 12 Paveway II (Guided Bomb Unit) which were introduced by the US in 1976 carries a 225 kg warhead worth $20,000-$21,000 (costing between Rs 14-14.7 lakh). With IAF Mirages delivering 1000 kg of bombs it's likely that the IAFs used between 4 to 5 bombs in each of the three locations worth between Rs 56 lakh to Rs 73.5 lakh. GBU 12 Paveway II can be fired with precision from up to 15 kms away.

With the IAF using so few bombs for precision and to avoid collateral damage, it indicates not all Mirages were on bombing mission alone even though all may be armed. Some of the Mirages were also armed with Matra Magic close combat missile to retaliate any possible Pakistan Air Force response during the mission. While others may be providing cover in anticipation of a dog-fight if Pak Air Force scrambled its jets.

Also read: PM Modi in Churu: 'India is in safe hands,' says prime minister after IAF strikes terror camps in PoK

At 3.30 am as Mirage pilots flew low over Pakistani territory, they conducted final checks on the targets. As they got the final go ahead from command centre, the pilots used laser pods to 'paint' targets. Finally the bombs were delivered between at 3.45 am and 4:04 am and the mission lasted about 21 minutes. It was a very small price to pay to deliver a big message that India won't hesitate to cross the border to chase down terrorists and if they do dare to attack, they may now have no place to hide.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and three top ministers monitored the Indian Air Force operation in Balakot targeting the Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camps from the situation room located at the South Block on Tuesday.

Not only was the PM at South Block this morning when the air strikes were conducted, but he also briefed both the President and Vice-President about the Indian air strikes on the JeM terror camps, according to sources.

The blueprint of the air operation was also discussed with the Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her recent meeting with all the 3 service chiefs in New Delhi.

Modi government reportedly was quite satisfied with the operation and called the mission '100 percent successful' as IAF crossed the Line of Control and completely destroyed 3 JeM terror camps.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale while briefing the media said, "A large number of Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, trainers, senior commanders were eliminated in largest JeM camp in Balakot. The camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, the brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar."

Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force is on high alert along the international border and LoC to respond to any possible action by Pakistan Air Force. Air defense systems have also been activated to track any intrusion along the international border and the LoC.

( Edited by Rupa Burman Roy)

Also Read: IAF strikes terror camps in Pakistan: What has happened so far?

Also Read: Sensex extends losses after IAF attack in PoK, Nifty nears 10,740
Indian Air Force on Tuesday conducted air strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) reportedly killing over 200-300 terrorists. This was in response to the attack earlier this month on CRPF jawans in Pulwama which left over 40 Indian army personnel dead.

Pakistan Armed Forces spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor said that the Indian Air Force had violated the Line of Control. "Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," he tweeted.

Also Read: IAF strikes across LoC LIVE: Mirage jets drop 1,000kg bombs; JeM terror camps destroyed in Surgical Strike 2.0

The mention of Balakot in Ghafoor's tweet to led to some confusion because there are two areas with the same name in PoK. In fact, former CM of Jammu & Kashmir Omar Abdullah gave an insight into both the areas in his tweet.

If this is Balakote in KPK it's a major incursion & a significant strike by IAF planes. However if it's Balakote in Poonch sector, along the LoC it's a largely symbolic strike because at this time of the year forward launch pads & militant camps are empty & non-functional. - Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 26, 2019

However, Ghafoor's tweet with reference to Muzzafarabad seems to be indicative that the Balakot that the Indian Air Force targeted was the one deep within the PoK and not the one in Poonch sector that Abdullah highlighted in his tweet. The Balakot that has been attacked is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Balakot is around 190 km away from Pakistan's capital Islamabad and is infamous for having several terror training camps of Jaish-e-Mohammed. The area falls about 50 km from the LoC and 81 km away from Uri, Jammu and Kashmir.

Click here to Enlarge

(Edited by Vivek Dubey)

Also Read: IAF attacks terror camps in PoK: All you need to know about the Mirage 2000
The Indian Air Force jets that dropped the 1,000 kg bombs on terrorist camps across the LoC early this morning were the Mirage 2000 aircraft. This multirole combat fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation of France - the makers of the much talked about Rafale jets, too - had proven to be a game changer during the Kargil War. The IAF calls it the Vajra, or thunderbolt, for its proven effectiveness as a precision bomber in addition to its interceptor capabilities.

Here's all you to know about Mirage 2000:

The single-engine aircraft, according to Dassault, boasts a maximum speed of over Mach 2.2 - 2495 km per hour or twice the speed of sound - and a maximum climbing speed of 60,000 feet per minute. It reportedly boasts nine hardpoints for weapons carriage and a combat range of 1850 km. It is also tasked with a nuclear weapon delivery role.

Also read: IAF strikes across LoC LIVE: Mirage jets drop 1,000kg bombs; JeM terror camps destroyed in Surgical Strike 2.0

According to a retired IAF Group Captain, during the Kargil war the Mirage 2000 aircraft were hurriedly fitted with an Israeli kit, enabling it to drop bombs with exact precision from a greater height, which was a necessity given the terrain this war took place in as well as the surface-to-air missiles boasted by the intruders. The surgical strikes by these fighter jets using laser-guided bombs went on to destroy a major re-supply base in the Batalik sector and help the army retake crucial positions such as Point 5140 near Tololing and Tiger Hill.

The Mirage 2000 has come a long way since then. In July 2011, India approved a $3 billion upgrade to IAF's fleet of 51 such aircraft, bringing them to the Mirage-2000-5 standards. The first of two upgraded Mirages were handed over to the IAF in 2015. With this upgrade, the Mirage 2000, which entered service with the IAF way back in 1985, is good to go for another 30 years.

The 'new' Mirage 2000, redesignated the Mirage 2000 I, was much advanced compared to the original jet thanks to a host of new systems onboard. Like the new Thales RDY 2 radar, which allows for very long-range engagement of targets in the air, automatic tracking of targets, mapping of targets on the ground using Doppler beam-sharpening techniques, and the ability to track and engage targets which are moving on the ground. The other upgrades included a night vision goggle-compatible glass cockpit, advanced Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system and fully-integrated electronic warfare suite.

Most importantly, it packed a host of new weapons, including the MICA air-to-air missile a state-of-the-art missile that is capable of engaging targets at beyond visual ranges and also at close ranges. Think of it as one missile for two jobs.

The remaining Mirage 2000s were to be upgraded with extensive French technical assistance by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) but progress has been pretty slow. The IAF reportedly has 7 such upgraded Mirage 2000s currently.

With PTI inputs

Also read: India destroys JeM terror camps: Where exactly is Balakot?

Also read: Indian Air Force attack on PoK: From Rahul Gandhi to Akhilesh Yadav, here's how politicians reacted
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday said it would infuse Rs 25,000 crore into the banking system through open market operations during the first fortnight of March 2019.

"RBI has decided to conduct the purchase of government securities under Open Market Operations (OMOs) for an aggregate amount of Rs 12,500 crore on February 28," the central bank said in a press release.

The RBI will conduct purchase of government securities through multi-security auction using the multiple price method.

The decision on OMO is based on review of the evolving liquidity conditions and also of the durable liquidity needs going forward, RBI said.

The auction dates and the Government securities to be purchased in the respective auctions would be communicated in due course, it added.

The OMO amount stated above is indicative and RBI retains the flexibility to change it, depending on the evolving liquidity and market conditions, the central bank said.

The RBI further said that liquidity conditions will continue to be monitored and depending on the assessment, it will consider further liquidity operations and the choice of instruments.

Also Read: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates the largest Bhagavad Gita in the world

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar
26 Feb 2019, 10:44 AM

Relief for Paytm, Amazon Pay, other mobile wallets! RBI extends deadline for completion of KYC by 6 months

In a much needed respite to e-wallet companies, the Reserve Bank of India Monday extended deadline for completion of Know Your Customer (KYC) norms for prepaid payment instrument (PPI) issuers by six months. As per RBI directions, PPI issuers were required to complete the KYC process by February 28, 2019.

Twitter public policy head Colin Crowell appears before parliamentary panel; given 10 days to provide answers

Social networking service Twitter has been given 10 days to reply to Parliamentary Committee on Information Technology's questions in a written format. The panel meet will take place on 6th March now. Twitter's Head of Public Policy, Colin Crowell today appeared before the panel chaired by BJP MP Anurag Thakur who asked him to ensure that the upcoming Indian elections are not undermined and influenced by foreign entities

Robert Vadra drops hint at joining active politics in FB Post, BJP jeers on Twitter

Close on the heels of his wife entering active politics, businessman Robert Vadra, the husband of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra yesterday indicated in his facebook post that he was open to "larger role in serving the people" inviting ridicule from the BJP. Vadra took to the social media site to express his desire to enter active politics following the footsteps of his wife.

Adani Group forays into aviation space; bags 5 out of 6 airports put up for privatisation

Making its first major move into the airport business, the Adani group pipped up to seven contenders to emerge the highest bidder for five Airports Authority of India (AAI)-run airports put for privatisation by the government last year. In November, the Centre had cleared a proposal for carrying out operations, management and development of six airports on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis for 50 years. This is part of an initiative to provide world-class infrastructure and services to stakeholders. The Adanis were the highest bidder for the Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Lucknow, Mangaluru and Jaipur airports

NIA identifies vehicle used in Pulwama terror attack, owner on the run

In a major breakthrough in Pulwama terror attack, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday identified the Maruti Eeco minivan used by suicide bomber Adil Dar that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel, India Today has reported. According to an NIA spokesman, the vehicle was bought by a Jaish-e-Mohammed operative, identified as Sajjad Bhat, just 10 days before the February 14 strike.

Maruti Suzuki expands pre-owned sales network to 200 outlets

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Monday said it has expanded its pre-owned sales network to 200 outlets in 132 cities across the country. The company had relaunched upgraded True Value network with new brand and retail identity 19 months ago. The auto major sells all its pre-owned models from True Value outlets.

Baba Ramdev likely to head India's first Vedic board; Patanjali promises fund of Rs 21 crore

Yoga guru Baba Ramdev is likely to head the country's first government-recognised board on Vedic education. The trust Patanjali Yogpeeth's bid to set up the proposed Bharatiya Shiksha Board (BSB) was judged the best by a selection committee on Saturday. The governing council of the Maharshi Sandipani Rashtriya Vedavidya Pratishthan (MSRVP) will consider the five-member panel's recommendation this week. The MSRVP, headed by HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, has been given the responsibility of appointing a private sponsoring body to see that the BSB is set up. The MSRVP has also been working on the promotion of 'Ved vidya'.
The night raid on Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps in Balakot, Khyber-Pakthunkhwa, by the Indian Air Force has once again shattered the myth that nuclear weapons can help protect Pakistan from India's punitive actions. The bitter truth for Islamabad is that it simply cannot afford to take on the might of the Indian armed forces.

At 3:45 am on February 26, a formation of 12 Mirage-2000 fighter bombers entered Pakistan, dropped bombs on their pre-designated targets in Balakot - only a few minutes flying time from the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbotabad - and returned to their bases in India. The operation lasted 21 minutes. Balakot residents later told the BBC they heard five loud explosions. Between 300 and 350 terrorists are believed to have been killed.

The Pakistan Air Force ordered a scramble, but it was merely symbolic as pursuit would have been suicidal. The release of flares by the PAF jets during takeoff suggests the Pakistani pilots knew they were being 'painted' by enemy radar, indicating that plenty of Indian fighter aircraft were providing protective top cover to the 12 Mirages. The simultaneous presence of an IAF Embraer radar aircraft on patrol along the border also must have freaked out the Pakistani pilots, who would have experienced the fishbowl effect - the feeling of constantly being observed by the enemy.

ALSO READ: Surgical Strike 2.0 Live: 'It's your turn to get ready for our surprise,' says Pakistan Army to India after IAF destroys Jaish terror camps in Balakot

Providing top cover through combat air patrol (CAP) for the Mirages would have been either the Sukhoi Su-30MKI or the MiG-29 (NATO codename Fulcrum). Had the Pakistani jets come within striking distance of the Mirages, the Indian jets on CAP would have blasted them out of the skies via their long-range air-to-air missiles.

Kargil blitz

Balakot isn't the first time the IAF has used air power to expose Pakistan's vulnerability in a straight contest -as opposed to terror strikes in which Islamabad enjoys a huge advantage. According to a Strategy Page report, during the 1999 Kargil War and the 2002 border standoff the PAF's "psyche took a big beating" because of the IAF's aggressive deployments.

While a number of IAF aircraft took part in the Kargil campaign, it was the cover provided by the MiG-29 Fulcrum armed with beyond visual range (BVR) missiles that exposed the PAF's plight. "Analyses by Pakistani experts revealed that when the rubber met the road, PAF simply refused to play any part in support of the Pakistan Army, angering the latter," says the report.

"While PAF fighters did fly combat air patrols during the conflict, they stayed well within Pakistani air space. On occasions, IAF MiG-29s armed with the deadly R-77 BVR air-to-air missiles were able to lock on to PAF F-16s, forcing the latter to disengage. In the absence of a PAF threat, the IAF was able to deliver numerous devastating strikes on intruder positions and supply dumps."

The situation changed little during the 2002 border crisis between India and Pakistan. Strategy Page adds: "One Pakistani military expert observed that the PAF's perceived inability to defend Pakistan's airspace and even put up a token fight against the IAF was the biggest driver for Pakistani leaders' warnings that any Indian attack would lead to an immediate nuclear strike by Pakistan. It would be no exaggeration to say that after the Kargil and 2002 experiences, PAF's psyche took a big beating."

ALSO READ: Balakot air strike: Will Pakistan retaliate? Here's what's going on in Islamabad

In the report "Airpower at 18,000 feet: IAF in the Kargil War" published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Benjamin Lambeth explains in detail how the IAF ground down both the Pakistan Army and the PAF: "Throughout the campaign, whenever IAF reconnaissance or ground attack operations were under way in the immediate combat zone, Western Air Command ensured that MiG-29s or other air-to-air fighters were also airborne on combat air patrol stations over the ground fighting on India's side of the LoC to provide top cover against any attempt by the PAF to enter the fray in a ground attack role. PAF F-16s to the west typically maintained a safe distance of 10 to 20 miles (16-32 km) on the Pakistani side of the LoC, although they occasionally approached as close as 8 miles (12.8 km) away from the ongoing ground engagements."

Lambeth quotes Air Marshal (retired) Vinod Patney, the then head of Western Air Command: "I think my insistence to mount CAPs across the (command's entire area of responsibility) at different heights and times to give the message that I was ready and angling for an enlarged conflict helped. It was akin to throwing a glove, but it was not picked up."

Although IAF fighters never fired at the PAF F-16s due to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government's strict injunction that Indian forces not cross the LoC, years later Air Chief Marshal (retired) Anil Tipnis recalled he had "personally authorised his escorting fighter pilots to chase any Pakistani aircraft back across the LoC in hot pursuit were those pilots to be engaged by enemy fighters in aerial combat".

Operation Vijay

It was when an IAF reconnaissance aircraft sustained a direct hit from a Chinese made Anza shoulder-fired surface to air missile launched by Pakistani intruder, that the IAF launched Operation Vijay to clear the Himalayan peaks. On June 24, 1999, in the first-ever combat use of laser-guided bombs by the IAF, two Mirage-2000s struck and destroyed the Northern Light Infantry's command and control bunkers in Skardu in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. According to Lambeth, "For this pivotal attack, the IAF waited until the encampment had grown to a size that rendered it strategically ripe for such targeting."

The IAF reported that it resulted in as many as 300 enemy casualties within just minutes. The Northern Light Infantry comprised nearly 2,700 soldiers and it is believed all of them perished as a result of the air strikes. Radio intercepts by Indian intelligence revealed severe shortages of rations, water, medical supplies and ammunition, as well as an inability of the occupying enemy units to evacuate their wounded, writes D.N. Ganesh in 'Indian Air Force in Action'.

The effectiveness of the IAF's operations can be measured by the fact that Pakistan's then Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz, rushed to New Delhi on June 12, 1999 and implored the IAF to "stop its air strikes." You don't get more desperate than that.

ALSO READ: It took a mere Rs 1.7 cr of bombs to teach JeM, Pak a lesson; Rs 6,300 cr of assets deployed

However, the most telling statement on the war was made by India's then defence minister George Fernandes. In January 2000, he observed that in precipitating the Kargil War, Pakistan "had not absorbed the real meaning of nuclearisation - that it can deter only the use of nuclear weapons, but not all and any war".

Endgame

As in Kargil, in Balakot too, the IAF seems to have given the Jaish recruits ample time to congregate in the hilly forests. The loud explosions and screams of the dying as recounted by a Khyber-Pakthunkhwa resident to the BBC is proof that the strategy worked brilliantly.

There will certainly be card carrying left liberals who will argue that attacking Pakistan will lead to nuclear war in South Asia. Indeed, ever since Pakistan acquired the atom bomb in the late 1980s, it has been quite vocal about its low nuclear threshold. However, according to Subhash Kapila, an international relations and strategic affairs analyst, Pakistan's low nuclear threshold is a myth - perpetuated and planted by Western academia and think tanks. This suits the West in whose eyes India is a long-term rival and Pakistan a useful, if unreliable, ally. Unfortunately, for decades India's political leadership, media and academia bought into this myth.

"Nuclear warfare is not a commando raid or commando operation with which Pakistan is more familiar," says Kapila. "Crossing the nuclear threshold is so fateful a decision that even strong American Presidents in the past have baulked at exercising it or the prospects of exercising it." Pakistan cannot expect India would sit idle and suffer a Pakistani nuclear strike without a massive nuclear retaliation."

Having failed to sway the current Indian political leadership with its nuclear scare tactics, and unable to match India in conventional weapons, Pakistan has very few militarily options left. For the moment, Islamabad is like a deer caught in the headlights, its stature greatly diminished.

ALSO READ: Did IAF kill Masood Azhar's brother-in-law Yousuf Azhar in Balakot today?

The post-Uri surgical strike and the Balakot raid are symptomatic of a new India that has clearly jettisoned its Gandhian aversion to war and is ready to retaliate with deadly force. Other countries such as Russia (in Ukraine and Syria) and the US (in Afghanistan and Iraq) have used the full extent of their military power to defeat whom they regard as enemies. Sadly, many Indians still carry the atavistic traits of nonviolence inherited from previous generations weaned on fake secularism. Since we are dealing with an enemy that is possessed by an implacable hatred of India and is responsible for all major terror strikes in the country, disproportionate retribution is justified and necessary.

(The author is a New Zealand-based defence and foreign affairs analyst.)
Shares of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), a state-owned aerospace and defence company, surged over 3 per cent in intraday trade on Tuesday in an otherwise weak market where movements of most of stocks remained fragile due to escalated tensions between India and Pakistan.

Early today, Indian Air Force carried out air strikes and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps across the Line of Control in Pakistan, in response to the Pulwama attack of February 14 that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF jawans.

The operation was carried out using Mirage-2000 fighter jets, which has been manufactured by Dassault Aviation along with Thales of France and upgraded by state-owned HAL. Hindustan Aeronautics has undertaken upgradation of 47 jets with extensive French technical assistance in Bangalore as part of a Rs 17,547 crore contract finalised in 2011-2012.

The upgrade program includes installation of new mission computers, pulse doppler radars, advanced navigation and electronic warfare systems, advanced communication systems and identification systems.

Following the announcement, shares of defence company gained as much as 3.31 per cent and touched an intra-day high of Rs 674.10 apiece, against previous closing price of Rs 652.50. The stock opened marginally lower at 650 level, but buying kicked up a gear on late morning deals after report claimed that the surgical strike was carried out using Mirage-2000 fighter jets.

In a similar trend, stocks soared as much as 3.94 per cent to 676.95 level on the national stock exchange. Retreating from day's high, the shares were currently trading at Rs 658.65, up 1.14 per cent.

The aerospace major, who had taken an overdraft from the bank for paying its employees, had registered a profit of Rs 7,334 crore since 2015-16 to September 2018. On Monday, the competent authority has granted its approval for enhancement of HAL's working capital limit to Rs 7,300 crore from Rs 6,050 crore as sanctioned by SBI and other consortium banks.

HAL spent an average of Rs 358.33 crore every month in 2017-18 and another Rs 1,000 crore on procurement. HAL had 29,035 employees as on March 31, 2018.

Also Read: Surgical Strike 2.0 LIVE: 350 terrorists killed as IAF hits terror camps in PoK; won't let India down, says PM

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar
Congress president Rahul Gandhi Tuesday lauded the pilots of the Indian Air Force after air strikes on Pakistan.

"I salute the pilots of the IAF," he tweeted.

I salute the pilots of the IAF. - Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 26, 2019

Gandhi also put out the Indian flag along with his tweet.

The Congress also tweeted, lauding the role of the Indian Air Force in keeping Indians safe with its consistent and determined effort.

Also read: IAF strikes across LoC LIVE: Mirage jets drop 1,000kg bombs; JeM terror camps destroyed in Surgical Strike 2.0

"We salute the @IAF_MCC for their consistent & determined effort to keep Indians safe. Jai Hind," the Congress said on its official Twitter handle.

Besides, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday saluted the pilots of the Indian Air Force (IAF) after it carried out air strikes in Pakistan.

"I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan," Kejriwal said in a tweet.

I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan - Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 26, 2019

India is believed to have carried out air strikes inside Pakistan early Tuesday and targeted terror camps, sources said.

The strikes involving several fighter jets of the Indian Air Force successfully destroyed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the sources said.

The Pakistan Army on Tuesday alleged that the Indian Air Force violated the Line of Control (LoC) in Muzaffarabad sector.

"Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzaffarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the army, said in a tweet in Islamabad.

"Indian Air Force violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft gone back," he tweeted.
As the nation is lauding the surgical air strike by Indian Air Force against terrorist launch pads on Pakistani soil, Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Churu, Rajasthan to address public rally on Tuesday. "You seem to be in a different mood today," PM Modi said as he opened his speech.

"I assure you that the nation is in safe hands. I swear I won't let India slow down and bow down," PM Narendra Modi said addressing a public rally in Churu, Rajasthan

With the leaders across political parties and rest of India praising the latest strike on terror outfits operting out of Pakistan, PM Modi revisited his government's decision to roll out One Rank, One Pension for retired defence personnel.

ALSO READ: IAF air strikes across LoC LIVE: India confirms fighter jets destroyed biggest JeM terror camps in Balakot

"Thousands of families in Rajasthan, along 20 lakh families across the nation have availed the benefits of One Rank, One Pension. We have disbursed Rs 35,000 crore to families of retired soldiers after the implementation of OROP," PM Modi said.

He also praised the soldiers in Indian defence forces who hail from Rajasthan, mentioning how the recently inaugurated National War Memorial is special for the people of the state due to its contribution to the wings Indian armed forces.

In a politically charged scenario ahead of the 2019 General Elections, PM Modi targeted the Congress-led Rajasthan state government for delay in handing over the list of marginalised and small farmers for inclusion in the PM-KISAN scheme.

ALSO READ: Brother of martyred Pulwama CRPF jawan lauds IAF attack on JeM camps; says wants more pressure on Pakistan

"I am glad that two days ago the biggest scheme for farmers was rolled out. With the click of one button, the first instalment of Rs 2,000 has been credited to bank accounts of more than one crore farmers and work is underway to send it to the rest of beneficiaries. 50 lakh farmers from Churu are also part of this scheme. It is unfortunate though, that not a single farmer family from Churu is among the one crore beneficiaries who received the first tranche of benefits under PM-KISAN. This has happened because the Rajasthan government has not send the list of beneficiaries to the Centre yet," PM Modi said.

The Prime Minister further added that no beneficiary from Rajasthan has been reported among the 13 lakh patients who received the benefits under Ayushman Bharat scheme.

"We are acheiving targets that were not even imaginable earlier," PM Modi said.
The Pakistan Army has cordoned off the entire area of Balakot and are clearing away evidence such as dead bodies so that they can deny India's claims of the latest IAF strike wiping 300 militants in the area, a source has told India Today.

In the wake of the pre-dawn strike by the Indian Air Force on Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Balakot, across the Line of Control, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan had convened a special meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) to review the security situation and a response to India. The ruling party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has taken to Twitter to report the outcome of the meeting.

Also read: Did IAF kill Masood Azhar's brother-in-law Yousuf Azhar in Balakot today?

"Forum strongly rejected Indian claim of targeting an alleged terrorist camp near Balakot and the claim of heavy casualties. Once again Indian government has resorted to a self serving, reckless and fictitious claim," the party tweeted on its official Twitter handle just minutes ago.

The high-level meeting was reportedly attended by Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Finance along with senior military officials. "This action has been done for domestic consumption being in election environment, putting regional peace and stability at grave risk. The claimed area of strike is open for the world to see the facts on ground.For this domestic&international [sic] media is being taken to the impact site," read another tweet.

Interestingly, this was an identical stand taken by Pakistan post the 2016 surgical strikes by India in order to "debunk" India's claims.

Also read: Surgical Strike 2.0 LIVE: Won't let India down, says PM Modi as IAF bombs JeM terror camps in Pakistan

According to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, the NSC meeting concluded that "India has committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing". That, too, is a throwback to the Uri strike. Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, then the Director General of Military Operations, had said that the Army reserves "the right to respond to any act of the adversary at the time and place of our own choosing" a day after to the Indian Army's stand a day after the JeM attack that left 18 soldiers dead and over two dozen injured.

Khan in a statement released after the meeting "directed the elements of national power, including the armed forces, and the people of Pakistan to remain prepared for all eventualities". He added that Pakistan "has decided to engage with global leadership to expose irresponsible Indian policy in the region".

Earlier in the day, Pakistan Armed Forces Major General Asif Ghafoor had tweeted that the IAF violated the LoC and "Under forced hasty withdrawal aircrafts released payload which had free fall in open area. No infrastructure got hit, no casualties."

Also read: PM Modi in Churu: 'India is in safe hands,' says prime minister after IAF strikes terror camps in PoK

Meanwhile, China has appealed to India and Pakistan to "exercise restraint" and asked the Modi government to carry out its fight against terrorism through international cooperation. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told the media in Beijing that the country has "taken note of relevant reports", PTI reported.

"I want to say that India and Pakistan are both important countries in South Asia. A sound relationship and cooperation between the two serves the interests of both the countries and peace and stability in South Asia," said the spokesman. "We hope that both India and Pakistan can exercise restraint and do more to improve mutual their bilateral relations."

(With PTI inputs)
Indian Air Force has carried out surprise air strikes on militant camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Twelve Mirage 2000 jets struck Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) terror launch pads at around 3:30 am early on Tuesday. The air strikes successfully destroyed the terrorist camps in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Muzaffarabad, Chakothi. Watch the live coverage of the surgical air strike on India Today TV.

Indian Mirage fighters destroy PoK terror camps: Sources. Live updates #ITLivestream https://t.co/74mCXdRJty - India Today (@IndiaToday) February 26, 2019

ALSO READ: IAF strikes across LoC LIVE: India confirms Mirage fighter jets destroyed biggest JeM terror camps in Balakot

The attack comes amid tensions that peaked after the Pulwama attacks on Feb 14 in which more than 40 CRPF personnel were killed. Indian government has confirmed the air strikes. "Air Force carried out aerial strike early morning today at terror camps across the LoC (Line of Control) and Completely destroyed it," minister of state for agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said on Twitter.

Union minister Prakash Javadekar has said, "It was a necessary step by Air Force".This is the first time India's Air Force has crossed into Pakistan territory since 1971.The Pakistan army has alleged that Indian Air Force has violated the Line of Control.

ALSO READ: India destroys JeM terror camps: Where exactly is Balakot?

Balakot, a town in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan, is about 50 km (31 miles) from the Line of Control (LoC), which acts as a de facto border between the two countries. The first surgical strike of this nature took place in 2016 after militants attacked the Army's Uri base camp and killed 19 unarmed soldiers in September 2016.

ALSO READ: Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale confirms IAF airstrikes on 'biggest' JeM terror camp in Pakistan
Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out an aerial strike on major terror camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). Around 3:30 am on Tuesday, the air strike was carried out by 12 Indian fighter jets in Pakistan's Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad . The IAF has also destroyed control rooms of Pakistan-based terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed, which had claimed the attack in Pulwama on 14 February. A group of Mirage 2000 Indian F9 Indian Fighter jets dropped 1000 kg bombs on terror camps across the Line Of Control (LOC).

Also read: IAF strikes across LoC LIVE: Mirage jets drop 1,000kg bombs; JeM terror camps destroyed in Surgical Strike 2.0

Also read: India destroys JeM terror camps: Where exactly is Balakot?

Pakistan Armed Forces Major General Asif Ghafoor claimed that IAF violated the LoC and the aircraft intruded from Muzafarabad sector.

Indian Air Force violated Line of Control. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircrafts gone back. Details to follow. - Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 25, 2019

Indian aircrafts' intrusion across LOC in Muzafarabad Sector within AJ&K was 3-4 miles.Under forced hasty withdrawal aircrafts released payload which had free fall in open area. No infrastructure got hit, no casualties. Technical details and other important information to follow. - Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019

We are bombing our own territory temporarily called PoK. So no international law broken but it is in self defence - Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) February 26, 2019

Radio Pakistan: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has summoned an emergency meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan. The meeting will discuss the security situation. (File pic) pic.twitter.com/G2pPKna28u - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

Subramanian Swamy responded by saying India is bombing its own territory...no international law is broken."Meanwhile, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has summoned an emergency meeting in Islamabad.Politicians across parties lauded the IAF's operation across the LoC.

Congres President Rahul Gandhi lauded the IAF retaliation by giving a salute to the pilots.

I salute the pilots of the IAF. - Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 26, 2019

, , Air Force carried out aerial strike early morning today at terror camps across the LoC and Completely destroyed it ! .. ...#Balakot #Surgicalstrike2 pic.twitter.com/fqYJgWxuqX - Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (@gssjodhpur) February 26, 2019

Balakot which is quite far out into the LOC is a deep strike and purportedly where Hafeez Saeed gives a lot of his addresses. If IAF penetrated that deep without casualties it's a highly successful mission. - Abhishek Singhvi (@DrAMSinghvi) February 26, 2019

Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer's Welfare, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, reiterates dialogue from the recent Bollywood hit Uri: The Surgical Strike. "This is new India, this will enter your home, and kill you too."Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi also appreciated the major air strike by IAF by saying,"Balakot which is quite far out into the LOC is a deep strike and purportedly where Hafeez Saeed gives a lot of his addresses. If IAF penetrated that deep without casualties it's a highly successful mission."Delhi CM and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal also applauded the bravery of pilots.

Akhilesh Yadav congratulated the Indian Air Force for this major operation.

I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan - Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 26, 2019

Amid such reactions, former CM of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah started a debate over the geographical location of Balakot - one of the terror camps.

Abduallah has said that there are two Balakotes and that it is unclear on which Balakote the strike has taken place. In his tweet Abdullah asked, "If this is Balakote in KPK it's a major incursion & a significant strike by IAF planes. However if it's Balakote in Poonch sector, along the LoC it's a largely symbolic strike because at this time of the year forward launch pads & militant camps are empty & non-functional."

If this is Balakote in KPK it's a major incursion & a significant strike by IAF planes. However if it's Balakote in Poonch sector, along the LoC it's a largely symbolic strike because at this time of the year forward launch pads & militant camps are empty & non-functional. - Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 26, 2019

Unless we know which Balakote is being talked about by the Pakistani generals it's pointless speculating about what we may have hit & what fallout the airstrike will have. - Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 26, 2019

So it is Balakote in KPK. That's a strike deep inside Pakistan & is hugely embarrassing for them. Regardless of what the other side may claim was or wasn't hit the planes crossed over, dropped their payload & flew back completely unscathed. - Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 26, 2019

Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale also spoke on Indian air strike and revealed that a large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders were eliminated in largest JeM camp in Balakot. "The camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, the brother-in-law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar."
Air Force strikes in PoK: The Indian Air Force dropped multiple 1,000 kg bombs on Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps across the Line of Control (LoC) in Muzafarabad in retaliation for the Pulwama terror attack that claimed the life of 40 CRPF jawans. "At 0330 hours on 26th February, a group of Mirage 2000 Indian Fighter jets struck a major terrorist camp across the LoC and completely destroyed it," reported ANI.

Follow the live coverage of the event, along with expert opinions on Aaj Tak.

Following the attacks the who's who of Indian politics, cinema, business took to social media to congratulate the Indian Air Force for its operation. As many as 12 Mirage 2000 jets partook in the operation that has completely destroyed all terror camps of JeM across Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan.

However, Pakistan army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor claims that the Indian Air Force faced "timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force" and that it "released the payload in haste while escaping". "Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," he tweeted.

Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer's Welfare, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, reiterates dialogue from the recent Bollywood hit Uri: The Surgical Strike. "This is new India, this will enter your home, and kill you too."

The Indian Air Force has put all air defence systems along the international border and LoC on high alert to respond to any possible action by Pakistan Air Force.

Follow the LIVE blog here: Mirage 2000 jets drop 1,000 bombs across LoC; JeM camps destroyed in Surgical Strike 2.0
Gujarat and Punjab have put their borders on high alert in the wake of the Indian Air Force (IAF) air strike across the Line of Control (LoC) at the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camps in Pakistan.

Gujarat Police has cancelled a crime-related conference which was to be held at the Police Bhavan in Gandhinagar.

Also read: Surgical Strike 2.0 LIVE: 350 terrorists killed in Balakot strike, Pakistan vows to respond

High alert has been issued across the border districts of Kutch, Banaskantha and Patan, said Director General of Police (DGP) Shivanand Jha. Coastal districts have also been put on high alert, Jha added.

Moreover, District Superintendents of Police and Range Inspector Generals have been asked to remain stationed at their respective headquarters.

Also read: It took a mere Rs 1.7 cr of bombs to teach JeM, Pak a lesson; Rs 6,300 cr of assets deployed

Besides Gujarat, several districts of Punjab have been put under high alert. Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh has ordered spate of measures to deal with any contingency in view of the latest developments at the LoC.

Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani declared the urgency of high alert in a public meeting at Kalawad town in Saurashtra region. "We have put all police personnel on the duty and their holidays have been cancelled," said Rupani.

Also read: Did IAF kill Masood Azhar's brother-in-law Yousuf Azhar in Balakot today?

Gujarat and Punjab share a long international border with Pakistan.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) at pre-dawn on Tuesday carried out an aerial strike on major terror camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). Around 3:30 am, the air strike was carried out by 12 Indian fighter jets in Pakistan's Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad . The IAF has also destroyed control rooms of Pakistan-based terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed, which had claimed the attack in Pulwama on 14 February.

Also read: A day after Pulwama attack, IAF was ready with plan to strike Jaish camps in Balakot, PoK: Here's a timeline

(With inputs from PTI)
In swift retaliation to the dastardly Pulwama terror attack, the Indian Air Force breached Pakistani air space in the early hours on Tuesday and dropped 500kg and 1000kg laser-guided bombs on terror launch pads in Balakot, Chakothi and Muazaffarabad in Pakistan. The target in Balakot was the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed, the outfit which claimed responsibility for the Pulwama suicide bombing. This location was being run by Yousuf Azhar, brother-in-law of Jaish-e-Mohammed's chief Masood Azhar, who was killed in the bomb run by IAF's Mirage 2000 fighter jets.

"In an intelligence-led operation in the early hours of today, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot... This facility in Balakot was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar (alias Ustad Ghouri), the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar, chief of JeM," Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said in his briefing earlier today.

ALSO READ: IAF air strikes across LoC LIVE: India confirms fighter jets destroyed biggest JeM terror camps in Balakot

However, Gokhale did not say if Yousuf was killed in the attack or not. Azhar was one of the terrorists who hijacked the Indian Airline flight IC 814 to Kandhar in 1999. In 2000, Interpol issued a red corner notice against him after the hijacking on request from the CBI. His name was in the list of 20 fugitives New Delhi handed to Islamabad in 2002.

ALSO READ: IAF strikes terror camps in Pakistan: What has happened so far?

Moreover, the training camps hit today were jointly run by Jaish-e-Mohammed, Laskar-e-Toiba and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and housed terrorists in numbers. In his briefing, Gokhale said "a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated" in the bombing of Balakot training camp. While the government is waiting for IAF to confirm the exact number of terrorists killed in the action, sources have reported that the casualties can run in the range of 200-300. Gokhley further assured that the targets were selected to minimise civilian casualties.

ALSO READ: Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale confirms IAF airstrikes on 'biggest' JeM terror camp in Pakistan

"The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties. The facility is located in thick forest on a hilltop far away from any civilian presence. As the strike has taken place only a short while ago, we are awaiting further details," he said.
After the Indian Air Force's air strikes on the terrorist camps of Jaish-e-Mohammed in the early hours of February 26, the countries have continued to engage in a war of words. While India said that around 350 terrorists were killed, Pakistan refuted the claims. The Director General (DG) of Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), Major General Asif Ghafoor refuted details of the air strike altogether but added that Pakistan would retaliate and that India should brace for a surprise.

"Now it's our time to respond. The response will come at the time and place of our choosing," he added. The DG also challenged India to try and spend 21 minutes in the Pakistani airspace. "They are claiming that they remained in the Pakistani airspace for 21 minutes and killed 350 terrorists. They claim that the second strike was in Muzaffarabad and the third in Chakothi. Allah almighty is the greatest and we should not make tall claims, but come and try to spend 21 minutes in Pakistani airspace," the DG said. "Indian claim is totally false and fabricated, media will be taken to the site to show them the truth," he added.

The DG also said that they were observing the movements of the Indian forces, adding that safeguards were in place on land. "So if they had tried an on-ground incursion, they would have met the response that we had planned," he added. DG Ghafoor said that the Indian Air Force was seen approaching the border but the Combat Air Patrol team approached and challenged them, following which they refrained from crossing the border.

Also follow the LIVE blog here: 'It's your turn to get ready for our surprise,' says Pakistan Army to India

"As per the SOP (standard operating procedure), when the first team got committed there, the next CAP team automatically was airborne. During this, another one of their formation was picked in Bahawalpur sector. The second standby team went down south and challenged it. We then observed that the heavier of their teams was approaching Muzaffarabad sector from Kiran Valley. When our third CAP team challenged them, they had crossed the LoC. Their approaching of the border, the challenge and their return took four minutes," he said.

Blaming the Modi government, the DG said that India deliberately targets civil population and that if they India had engaged the armies, then their soldiers were ready to retaliate. "They wanted to target a place where civilians could have died, so they could claim that they targeted a terrorist camp," he said. The DG said that the job of the ground troops is to ascertain if anything has fallen but when the Indian Air Force left they found that there were no strikes.

"They are claiming that they killed 350 terrorists; I say even if they had killed 10, what about their bodies, their funerals, their blood... the spot is open for anybody and everybody: for ambassadors, defence attaches, UN military observer group in Pakistan," the Major General concluded.

Also read: It took a mere Rs 1.7 cr of bombs to teach JeM, Pak a lesson; Rs 6,300 cr of assets deployed

Also read: Balakot air strike: Will Pakistan retaliate? Here's what's going on in Islamabad

Also read: A day after Pulwama attack, IAF was ready with plan to strike Jaish camps in Balakot, PoK: Here's a timeline
Hours after Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out retaliatory strikes across terror camps in Pakistan in early Tuesday morning, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale held a press conference giving out details of the audacious operation by the IAF.

Gokhale confirmed the daring strikes by IAF on Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) hideout terror camps in Pakistani territories of Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad. Balakot is believed to be the biggest JeM hideout in Pakistan.

"In an intelligence led operation, India struck the biggest Jaish facility in Balakot on early hours of Tuesday, in which top leaders have been eliminated. India calls it non-military pre-preemptive action to counter multiple potential fidayeen attacks." Gokhale said.

"In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commander and Jihadis were eliminated," he said.

Also Read: IAF strikes in PoK LIVE: Indian jets drop 1,000kg bombs across LoC; JeM camps destroyed in Surgical Strike 2.0

Asking Pakistan to take more steps against terror camps operating from its soil, the Foreign secretary further stated, "India expects Pakistan to dismantle all terror camps, including those of JeM."

Earlier in the day, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi met within hours of the air strikes by Indian Air Force (IAF) at Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) training camps in Pakistani territories of Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad.

The CCS meet was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Also Read: IAF attacks terror camps in PoK: All you need to know about the Mirage 2000

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other top officials of the prime minister's office and the security apparatus were also present at the meeting, official sources said.

12 Mirage 2000 jets dropped around 1,000 kg bombs on the training camps of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), the terror outfit behind the suicide attack on the CRPF personnel in Pulwama on February 14.

Pakistani Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public relations (ISPR) which is the media wing of the Pakistani army also confirmed the attacks in a tweet. "Indian aircraft intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," he tweeted.

"Indian Air Force violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft gone back," he said in the official tweet.]

Also Read: Indian Air Force attack on PoK: From Rahul Gandhi to Akhilesh Yadav, here's how politicians reacted
While India was fast asleep, the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out an air strike in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakothi in Pakistan. Before the break of dawn, 12 Indian Air Force Mirage 2000 aircraft took off from the Gwalior airbase armed with 225 kg GBU-12 conventional laser guided bombs kitted with American-built precision guidance and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's camps in Pakistan, thus avenging the Pulwama attack.

ALSO READ: Surgical Strike 2.0 Live: 'It's your turn to get ready for our surprise,' says Pakistan Army to India after IAF destroys Jaish terror camps in Balakot

Given that the Mirages were carrying a payload of 500 pound (225 kg) bombs, it's likely that the IAF used between 4 to 5 bombs in each of the three locations. So what is the kind of damage that a 225 kg bomb can cause?

According to the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), the Mk 82 serves as the warhead for the GBU-12 and a standard Mk 82 bomb body boasts a lethal area of approximately 2,400 sq mts. Some experts put it differently, pegging the GBU-12's "casualty radius" of 60-91 metres, within which 50% of people will be killed.

ALSO READ: It took a mere Rs 1.7 cr of bombs to teach JeM, Pak a lesson; Rs 6,300 cr of assets deployed

According to a research paper by two students at University of California, Berkeley, analysing the impact of US bombing on Vietnam, the crater from a general purpose bomb like the MK 82 was "typically 30 feet in diameter and 15 feet deep", but obviously varied greatly with the terrain. "Shrapnel is important over a zone about 200 feet in diameter. Simple shelters (sandbags, earthworks, even bamboo) protect against all but close hits," added the study.

The GBU-12 and other precision guided munitions had played a decisive role in the Gulf War, too. And given that it was the first war to be televised live, the world got to see exactly how Iraqi bunkers were targeted and destroyed by this family of bombs.

ALSO READ: Mirages over Balakot: Why Pakistan cannot defend its airspace

Edited by Sushmita Choudhury Agarwal
US President Donald Trump said on Monday he may soon sign a deal to end a trade war with Chinese President Xi Jinping if their countries can bridge remaining differences, saying negotiators were "very, very close" to a deal. Markets rallied after Trump said on Sunday he would delay an increase in U.S. tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods and extend his March 1 deadline for a deal. Trump's decision avoided another escalation in a trade war between the world's two largest economies that has cost both countries billions of dollars and roiled global financial ...
To address growing health and social disparities in India and around the globe, Yale University has partnered with the CoWrks Foundry to launch the Sustainable Health Initiative to facilitate startups working on innovative solutions in healthcare.

Sustainable Health Initiative (SHI) is a six-month, interdisciplinary accelerator programme that will be facilitated through the Yale Institute for Global Health for young and early stage startups.

Up to 10 startups will be chosen per year, over a five-year period.

Each startup will receive USD 70,000 in seed funding, mentorship from the faculty and alumni at Yale, as well as benefits from a network of Indian industry experts.

In addition, the programme includes structured sessions to help startups evolve a sustainable and scalable business model, refine their go-to market strategy and build a global network. Startups applying to the programme will be evaluated on whether their solution is robust, affordable and addresses pressing healthcare challenges in India and other growing economies.

"As the first signature programme of the Yale Institute for Global Health, we are very excited to launch new and cost-effective solutions that will have a significant impact on the health of communities in India, the US and around the world," Sten Vermund, Dean, Yale School of Public Health, said.

"SHI will be a unique opportunity to nurture fresh ideas and provide real support to innovative approaches and business opportunities that will address our most pressing health challenges," Vermund added.

Bangalore-based CoWrks Foundry is a business accelerator for early stage businesses in the fields of urban technology, enterprise technology and social enterprise.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan will turn into a graveyard if it dared to retaliate against air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force on Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps, senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya said Tuesday.

Expressing happiness at the IAF air strikes, the BJP general secretary said the act had put India in the league of nations like United States and Israel which resort to cross-border action to avenge misadventures against its forces.

Addressing a function at the stone-laying ceremony of a 300-bedded Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) hospital here, Vijayvargiya said, "I was watching the on my mobile phone on my way to this programme. Some people were saying (after the IAF action on the terror camps across the border), will Pakistan (counter) attack?"



Speaking on such an eventuality (of Pakistan hitting back), the BJP leader said, "Now, there is a small graveyard (due to the air strikes). But if Pakistan will carry out an attack (retaliatory), then India's military power is such that it will turn all of Pakistan into a graveyard."



He further stressed that Pakistan was not in a position to hit back at India.

Hailing the IAF, he said, "Only two-three countries like America and Israel can dare to carry out a successful strike in the enemy's territory and return safely. India has joined the league of these countries today."



IAF Mirage fighter jets in the early hours of Tuesday dropped bombs on JeM's biggest terror camp in Pakistan's Balakot area, killing almost 350 terrorists.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Leaders of different political parties on Tuesday congratulated the at an all-party meeting here on operation targeting a terrorist camp in Pakistan, with the saying that it will support security forces in their endeavour to finish coming into from outside.

External Affairs Minister briefed the leaders, who included CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury, TMC's Derek O'Brian, of Conference and Bhartruhari Mahtab from BJD, on the air strike carried out in the early hours.

Union ministers and Arun Jaitley, both members of the like Swaraj, were also present in the meeting.

Azad told reporters after the meeting that political parties lauded the IAF strikes to destroy terror camps in a "clean" operation as there were no civilian casualties.

"We will support our security forces in their endeavour to finish coming into Indian from outside. The good part was that it was a very clean operation," he said.

NCP's Praful Patel, BSP's Satish Mishra and BJP ally Ramdas Athawale also attended the meeting.

In a swift and precise air strike, bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in early Tuesday, killing over 350 terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, less than two weeks after the terror outfit carried out the suicide attack in Pulwama in which 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives.
The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam would stage a demonstration by waving black flags in case Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes to Kanaykumari on March 1 to launch the BJP's poll campaign in the state, MDMK chief Vaiko said Tuesday.

Vaiko made the remarks here a day after Union Minister of State for Finance and Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan reportedly appealed to the MDMK chief not to wave black flags at the Prime Minister as he had done in the past.

"Radhakrishnan is a sweet and long-time friend of mine. It is his responsibility to appeal to me to abstain from protests.

But, headed by me, a black flag protest would take place if Modi comes to Kanyakumari on March 1," Vaiko told reporters.

Last month, Vaiko had staged a black flag demonstration when the prime minister arrived at Madurai to lay the foundation stone for the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

MDMK cadres released black balloons and raised slogans against Modi alleging that he had betrayed the interests of Tamil Nadu on Cauvery and other issues.

The MDMK has claimed that the Centre had accorded "permission to projects like neutrino and hydrocarbon extraction" which, according to the party, would have an adverse impact on the livelihood of farmers and also affect the common people.

Radhakrishnan and BJP's Tamil Nadu unit president Tamilisai Soundararajan had condemned the MDMK for staging the protest.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri Tuesday said the government has spent six times the money used for urban rejuvenation in the 10-year UPA rule and asserted that it is not going to stop at just 100 smart cities.

Addressing the "Second National Apex Conference of CEOs of Smart Cities", the Union minister of state for housing and urban affairs said that the rapid rate of progress of the mission is an answer to the "cynics and naysayers who doubted what we are doing".

"The amount spent on urban rejuvenation in the 10-year UPA rule, from 2004 to 2014... It's around Rs 1.5 lakh crore. The money spent between June 2015 and February 2019 is six times that amount. It's around Rs 8.6 lakh crore. That's the difference in terms of scale and intensity," he said.

"Till September 2017, projects worth Rs 21,500 crore were tendered. The value of the projects tendered since then is Rs 1.22 lakh crore," he said and claimed that India's Smart City Mission is one of the fastest implemented projects in the world.

"This is only the beginning. As we become a USD 10-trillion economy by 2030, we are not going to stop at 100 cities, we cannot. These 100 cities will become the template that this is how you do it," Puri said.

On the Swachh Bharat mission, he said the government achieved the target of constructing five lakh community and public toilets well before the October 2, 2019 deadline.

The minister added that the goal of constructing 67 lakh individual household toilets would be accomplished by next month.

"We were told one crore additional dwelling units were needed to be built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana by 2022. As of February 2019, we have sanctioned 79 percent of them," Puri said.

He also stressed the need for people to make behavioural changes, saying smart cities need smart citizens.

"Smart cities at the end of the day need smart people and smartness in terms of people depends on behavioral changes," he said while expressing disappointment over commuters not using a helmet in smart cities like Surat and Rajkot.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In the wake of IAF's preemptive air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan, the Western Naval Command here is on a high alert and "fully prepared" to tackle any eventualities, an official said on Tuesday.

The Police are also on a high alert following the air strikes, the official said.

"After the air strikes carried out by the (IAF) on a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp in in the early hours on Tuesday, the security agencies have put the city on high alert," the official said.

"The Western Naval Command remains alert 24X7. Now, it is fully prepared to deal with any untoward situation in the wake of the air strikes in Pakistan," he said.

The Western Naval Command, headquartered in Mumbai, is one of the three formations of the

Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, has been one of the most preferred targets for terrorist organisations. The metropolis has witnessed a series of terror attacks, including explosions in suburban trains in July 2006, and the unprecedented attacks of 26 November 2008, when two of the prime hotels, a landmark train station, and a Jewish Chabad house, in South Mumbai, were attacked and sieged.

In a swift and precise air strike following the Pulwama attack, bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, officials said.
The Western Naval Command here is on "high alert and fully prepared" to tackle any eventuality after India's air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan, an official said here Tuesday.

Police in Gujarat, which borders Pakistan, also issued a "high alert" across the state following the air strikes.

The Mumbai Police are also on a high alert following the air strikes, the official said.

"The Western Naval Command remains alert 24X7. Now, it is fully prepared to deal with any untoward situation in the wake of the air strikes in Pakistan," he said.

Celebrations were held in Mumbai and adjoining Thane after the air strikes.

In Mumbai, Muslims gathered in suburban Bandra to celebrate the air strikes. In Thane, people distributed sugar to passersby to express their happiness over the attacks.

Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, has been one of the most preferred targets for terrorist organisations and has witnessed several terror attacks, including explosions in Mumbai suburban trains in July 2006, and the unprecedented attacks of 26 November 2008, when two prime hotels, a landmark train station, and a Jewish Chabad house were attacked.

Gujarat police Tuesday issued a "high alert" across the state after India's air strikes.

Director General of Police Shivanand Jha cancelled a conference on crime-related issues and asked all officers who reached here to attend it to return to their headquarters in view of the alert sounded in the state.

"In view of the action on terrorists across the border by IAF, all establishments have been put on high alert," a message from DGP's office to the district headquarters said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Chinese EV battery provider Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL) announced on February 25 that it has signed a five-year agreement to deepen the cooperation with BAIC BJEV and Beijing Pride Power System Technology Limited (Pride Power).

According to the announcement, CATL and Pride Power will provide BAIC BJEV with power battery systems in the next five years. Besides, Pride Power should offer the products to the EV maker at a bargain price and CATL need to supply an agreed monthly volume of battery, while BAIC BJEV is supposed to give CATL and Pride Power some procurement shares no less than a certain percentage of its annual battery procurement volume in 2019.

The agreement also says if CATL satisfies BAIC BJEV's battery needs on an monthly basis, the EV maker and Pride Power agree to prepay certain amount of money to CATL during the strategic cooperation period based on some conditions approved by all three parties. This prepayment should be fully offset against the money payable by the end of December every year.

Moreover, under the strengthened collaboration, CATL and BAIC BJEV will jointly build a R&D team to work on developing new types of power battery.

Earlier this month, CATL claimed that it will build the world's biggest battery factory in Erfurt, Germany and planned a capacity of up to 100GWh. In addition, during the Spring Festival, the battery manufacturer announced a partnership with Honda, saying it will offer 56GWh of lithium ion power battery to the Japanese automaker by 2027.
"I feel this action will give peace to the martyred soldiers," is how a Pulwama attack victim's wife reacted to India's air strikes killing a large number of terrorists and trainers of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pakistan on Tuesday.

Kalavathi, whose husband H Guru from Karnataka was among the 40 CRPF jawans who died in the February 14 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, is grieving her loss but said she is proud of the Indian armed forces.

Guru's native village Gudigere in Mandya district, about 100 km from here, burst into jubilation on hearing about the Indian Air Force's early morning attack on the terror camp. Villagers took out a march and a tricolour was unfurled atop his house as a mark of respect.

With tears in her eyes, Kalavathi told reporters: "I salute the Indian armed forces.I am happy with this action. I feel that this action will give peace to the martyred soldiers. I am proud of my Indian armed forces."



Guru's father Honnaiah insisted that the time to give peace a chance was gone and "the anti-India forces should be completely destroyed".

"They should tremble with fear or else, they should be wiped out. They have no idea about the citizens of India. We have been insisting on peace but peace is not a solution anymore. They have to be completely destroyed.

"My son will rest in peace only if they are wiped out entirely," said Honnaiah.

As the spread about India's retaliatory action for the Pulwama attack, villagers in Gudigere took out rally shouting 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Shahid Guru Amar Rahe'.

Guru was among the 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel killed in the February 14 suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India said any member of the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee can use the veto to block and kill a proposal for want of unanimity, describing as "complex" and "contentious" the issue of veto which has been repeatedly used by China to block India's bid to designate Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

Participating in the informal meeting of the Plenary on the Intergovernmental negotiations on the question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said that by a procedural stratagem, veto has been expanded to all members of subsidiary bodies of the Security Council, rather than being subject to restraints.

He said in the UNSC Sanctions Committee, any "member can block or object or place on hold, any request of a Member State, thereby in effect killing the proposal on grounds that unanimity is required".

"The use of the veto has been extended to the subsidiary bodies of the Security Council, eg, the Sanctions Committees. In these bodies, the veto has been extended to all 15 members of the Committees," Akbaruddin said here Monday.

Akbaruddin said the issue of veto is complex, complicated and contentious, but "then we cannot also allow the veto to have a veto over the process of Council reform itself".

The Indian Ambassador's remarks on the veto in the Security Council's Sanctions Committee comes against the backdrop of China, a permanent member of the Security Council, repeatedly using its veto to block India's bid to designate Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed's chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

In the wake of the Pulwama terror attack by JeM against India's security forces, France is expected to soon move a proposal in the Sanctions Committee 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, India moved by itself a proposal to designate Azhar. This was followed in 2016 when India moved the proposal with the P3 - the United States, the United Kingdom and France in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of attack on the air base in Pathankot in January, 2016. In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again. However, China always blocked the proposal from being adopted by the UN.

Akbaruddin provided a quick review of the record of the use of veto that indicates the States' approach to the veto. He said since the creation of the Security Council in 1946 till today, at least 238 vetoes were cast. As many as 59 vetoes were to block applications for membership to the UN. Vietnam's application was vetoed 9 times; Italy's 6 times; Japan, Sri Lanka, Portugal, Ireland, Republic of Korea and Jordan 4 times; Austria and Finland 3 times; and Nepal, Libya, Laos and Cambodia 2 times; and Angola, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Mauritania, Mongolia and Spain 1 time each.

"These Member States are now widely regarded as significant participants in maintaining international peace and security rather than threats to international peace and security, as was perceived when their initial applications for membership were vetoed," he said.

Further, no less than 18 vetoes were cast to block resolutions against the apartheid regime in South Africa, and 22 vetoes have been cast on Middle East issue, including Palestine.

"Given the history of such use of the veto, a number of Member States have called for abolition of the veto," he said.

Akbaruddin noted that the names and suggestions calling for abolition of the veto or limiting or curtailing its use to the extent possible, are part of July 2015 document that lists positions and proposals of UN member states on Security Council reform.

The position of a number of Member States supporting voluntary restrictions on the use of veto in situations such as genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and gross human rights violations are also listed in the document.

On the issue of Categories of Membership, a total of 113 Member States, out of 122 who submitted their positions in the Framework Document, support expansion in both of the existing categories.

"In short, more than 90% of the written submissions in the document are in favour of expansion in both permanent and non-permanent categories of membership of the Council.

"We have heard many refer to the need for respect for democratic expressions. Will those who are speaking of democracy be ready to accept this democratic expression listed in a GA (General Assembly) document," he said.

Similarly, on the issue of Regional Representation, India noted that the majority of Member States have called in their submissions for equitable geographical representation and need for addressing the non-representation and under-representation of some regions in the permanent and non-permanent category.

Akbaruddin cited the example of the Asia-Pacific group, where 52 states are vying for 2 non-permanent seats, while in the West European & Other Group states there are 25 members in the pool vying for 2 seats.

"Put another way, there are more than 3 billion of we the people' from Asia-Pacific seeking representation through 2 seats with a 2-year term, while people' from no other region face such daunting challenges in seeking to be represented equitably, he said.

Akbaruddin reiterated India's support for representation of Africa in the Council in both categories of UNSC membership as well as support for further consideration of cross-regional representation arrangements to ensure that Small Island Developing States (SIDS) find adequate avenues for representation in a reformed Council.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The United States military says it has killed 20 fighters from the al-Shabab extremist group with an airstrike in central Somalia, a day after another airstrike in the area killed 35.

The US military command for the African continent says the attack occurred on Monday near Shebeeley in the Hiran region and targeted a training camp used as a staging area for attacks.

The US has dramatically increased airstrikes against the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab, Africa's deadliest extremist group, since President Donald Trump took office.

The US has carried out 23 strikes this year.

Authorities and experts acknowledge that it will take more than airstrikes to defeat the extremist group, which holds large parts of rural central and southern Somalia and carries out deadly suicide attacks in the capital, Mogadishu.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster Tuesday met Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal here and discussed an array of issues, including business, connectivity and organic cultivation.

The Ambassador said that considering the vibrant petroleum and natural gas sector of the state, the USA can help Assam in providing state-of-the-art technology for exploring the sectors economically.

He also said that both US and Assam can have their bilateral ties in organic farming, healthcare, digital economy.

Taking note of the location of Assam and its proximity with the South East Asian countries, Juster said that Assam can play the role of prime-mover in auguring business relations with South East Asian nations.

He advocated for robust regional connectivity and that US can provide a helping hand in this regard.

The chief minister told Kenneth Juster about the investor friendly ambience created in the state by his government and that Rs 50,000 crore has been invested in the state both by the private and public sector companies to reap rich dividends of the prolific industrial sector of the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The British government has called on India and Pakistan to pursue diplomatic solutions in the wake of the Pulwama terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir.

UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt held telephonic conversations with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said in a statement.

"The Foreign Secretary highlighted the UK's concern about the enduring threat to regional stability from terrorism.

"He encouraged Pakistan and India to improve cooperation and find diplomatic solutions that will create greater stability and trust in the region," the FCO said hours before Indian fighter jets struck Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest camp in Pakistan in a pre-dawn attack.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side in a pre-dawn strike, 12 days after the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

Hunt condemned the Pulwama terror attack and expressed condolences to all those affected, it said.

The FCO statement came amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan after the February 14 suicide attack by JeM terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers in Pulwama.

The FCO said that the UK minister reiterated with both Indian and Pakistani counterparts that Britain was committed to working with both India and Pakistan as well as international partners at the United Nations to ensure that those responsible for the attack are held to account.

"The UK has been, and continues to be, in close contact at senior levels in both countries and will be promoting international efforts to tackle the threats of terrorism and improve regional stability," an FCO spokesperson said.

Hunt had come under pressure in the immediate aftermath of the Pulwama attack for referring to "India-administered Kashmir" in his Twitter statement while expressing his condolences to the victims.

Indian-origin Opposition Labour Party MP Virendra Sharma wrote to him to protest that "Jammu and Kashmir have been an integral part of the Indian state" and that the minister's use of the "deeply offensive" phrase had upset Indians and British Indians.

"I hope that you will withdraw this phrase and demure from using it again in the future due to the connotations this seemingly innocuous phrase contains," wrote Sharma, Chair of the Indo-British All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG).

His letter was followed by APPG Vice-Char, Conservative Party MP Bob Blackman, also writing to the UK foreign secretary to point out his "factually incorrect" statement on Twitter.

"Your language may offend and again, I suggest retracting this phrase," he wrote in the letter, which also asked the minister to clarify the support the UK is providing to "our friends in India in their ongoing battle against terrorists".

India launched a major diplomatic offensive against Islamabad after the attack and highlighted Pakistan's role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

India asked Pakistan to take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control.

New Delhi also announced the withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation status for Pakistan and hiked the customs duty by 200 per cent on goods originating from Pakistan.

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A married couple was killed and one other injured after their motorcycles collided near Paniyara Maniri village in Koch area of Uttar Pradesh's Jalaun district, police said Tuesday.

Vinay Narayan (40) and his wife Kiran (36) were killed while Chhedalal, who was on other bike, was seriously injured in the accident that took place on Monday night, they said.

The injured was rushed to hospital where his condition was stated to be stable, police said.

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Telecom regulator will release its recommendations on the regulatory framework for over-the-top (OTT) services in couple of months, its chairman R S Sharma said Tuesday.

"We already have a paper on (over-the-top). We will come out with appropriate recommendations and regulations in near future. Couple of months from now," Sharma told at the Mobile World Congress 2019 here.

The telecom sector at MWC has been displaying technology and sharing their plans around 5G services. The business of 5G will be dominated by data-related business which is expected to blur differences between services provided by companies and telecom service providers.

The sector has been talking about same set of rules for companies providing similar services.

Last week, global industry body Association Director General Mats Granryd said globally telecom companies should be regulated at par with firms as they are planning to move beyond providing just connectivity to adopt data-centric business model with "intelligent connectivity" with 5G coming in.

He said is the only country that has announced to gradually end mobile call termination rates -- a move that will end price arbitrage between online players providing calling and messaging service and telecom operators.

Talking about evolution of new technologies and impact on regulatory jurisdictions, Sharma said, "Regulatory systems will continue to develop as technology develops. Our approach is regulator should not become hindrance."



Besides this, Sharma said all telecom operators will have to put in place blockchain based system to curb pesky call and messaging menace from March 1 and no extension will be granted to them.

Indian enterprise messaging firm Tanla Solutions announced here that it has installed first system to stop pesky calls and mesaging system as per rule on network that has gone live from Tuesday onwards.

"This initiative would perhaps be the largest use case for Blockchain in the world with potential transactional volumes of above 10 billion per month. We are confident that it will empower the billion plus mobile users," Uday Reddy, CMD, Tanla Solutions said.

(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.)
Cardinal George Pell, the third-ranking official in the Vatican, has been found guilty of child sex crimes in Australia, becoming the most senior Catholic cleric ever convicted for child sexual abuse, court officials reported Tuesday.

Pell, 77, was found guilty by a trial jury in December of sexually assaulting two choirboys in the sacristy of Melbourne's Saint Patrick's Cathedral in the 1990s.

A wide-ranging gag order issued by the Melbourne court in May had prevented media from reporting Pell's conviction or even the existence of his trial.

The order was lifted on Tuesday.

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Cardinal George Pell, one of the most powerful men in the Roman Catholic Church, has been found guilty of child sexual assault in Australia in a verdict which has sent shockwaves through the Vatican and around the world.

Each of the five charges of which he was found guilty carries a maximum 10 year jail term.

The 77-year-old Vatican treasurer Cardinal, a trusted advisor of the Pope, was found guilty of orally raping one choirboy and molesting another in Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral 22 years ago.

Pell, Australia's most senior Catholic cleric, will be sentenced after the end of a five-week trial in the Victorian County Court and over three days of deliberations by the jury.

The Cardinal was Archbishop of Melbourne when he abused the two 13-year-old boys and was managing the church's response to widespread child abuse by priests through the "Melbourne Response", which he designed, The Age reported.

One of the victims, now in his 30s, testified against Pell during the trial while other victim died in 2014 in accidental circumstances.

He was found guilty in a retrial last December, with the verdict sending shockwaves through the Vatican and around the world.

A jury in an earlier trial was discharged, in September, when it was unable to reach a verdict. His legal team will appeal against the conviction, the paper reported.

County Court chief judge Peter Kidd has revoked the suppression order that prevented media from reporting the results of the trial and retrial.

The verdict was made public on Tuesday in Melbourne's County Court and extensively covered by Australian media after a suppression order was lifted as a second trial, over allegations that he abused boys in a swimming pool in Ballarat in the 1970s, was abandoned due to lack of admissible evidence.

In 1996, Pell was the newly-appointed Archbishop of Melbourne and had just given mass one Sunday when he assaulted two 13-year-old boys who were found having sacramental wine in the priest's sacristy.

Pell scolded them, exposed his genital from beneath the ornate ceremonial robes, and molested them.

A Melbourne jury in December found Pell guilty of five charges - one of sexually penetrating a child and four of committing indecent acts with children.

However, Pell has maintained his innocence and his lawyer Robert Richter told Chief Judge Peter Kidd that he had filed an application with the Court of Appeal last week against the conviction.

"There's a very strong public interest that the media now cover the plea hearing and the sentence. It's powerful, now, that public interest," Kidd said.

The surviving victim, in a statement issued by his lawyer on Tuesday, noted the stressful and ongoing legal process.

"Like many survivors, I have experienced shame, loneliness, depression and struggle. Like many survivors, it has taken me years to understand the impact upon my life. At some point we realise that we trusted someone we should have feared," he said.

The guilty finding, on December 11, came after a first trial ended with a hung jury.

Pell, who is likely to be sentenced in the fortnight, will be the highest ranking Catholic figure in the world to be jailed for child sex abuse.

Judge Kidd has said Pell will be remanded in custody after a pre-sentence hearing.

Meanwhile, The Age reported that Director of Public Prosecutions Kerri Judd this month sent over 100 letters to reporters, editors and media organisations indicating journalists are likely to be prosecuted for breaching the suppression order, sub judice contempt, scandalising the court and aiding and abetting contempts by overseas media.

"It is my opinion that the above publication breaches the suppression order, has a definite and real tendency to interfere with the administration of justice and therefore constitutes sub judice contempt, is contemptuous by reason of it scandalising the Court, and aided and abetted contempts by overseas media.

"At present, I intend to institute proceedings for contempt against you," Judd said.

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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami Tuesday lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for India's air strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan, commending him for his "bold" efforts against terrorism.

Modi was tasting success in rooting out terrorism, which was threatening the entire world, the chief minister said in a statement and lauded him on behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu.

"I extend my greetings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi due to whose bold functioning, a successful air strike has been carried out which has demolished terror camps in Pakistan," Palaniswami said.

India conducted a major preemptive strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders



The strike comes amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan following the February 14 suicide attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group in Kashmir's Pulwama district that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

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thyssenkrupp Industries India Tuesday said it has inked a pact with Babcock & Wilcox for renewable energy technology for India and neighbouring countries that would help reduce pollution.

The agreement has been signed for B&W Enterprises Inc's water-cooled vibrating grate technology for biomass boilers for India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan, thyssenkrupp Industries said in a statement.

It signed an exclusive licence agreement with Babcock & Wilcox Vlund A/S (B&W Vlund), Denmark in this regard.

The company is part of the Industrial Solutions business area of thyssenkrupp.

"Burning of crop waste in the field has been one of the primary reasons for pollution in northern India during winter. Through this agreement...we will be able to find a sustainable solution to this issue by utilising this crop waste for clean energy generation," Vivek Bhatia, CEO and MD of thyssenkrupp Industries said.

The water-cooled vibrating grate technology for biomass boilers can address various biomass fuels, even those with high alkali and chlorine content, he added.

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Three more people have been arrested in connection with the death of NRI businessman Jayaram Chigurupati, police said Tuesday.

Early this month, the 55-year-old businessman was found dead in a parked car under mysterious circumstances on a highway in Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh.

With this the total number of arrests in the case has gone up to five.

Police had earlier arrested Kavakutla Rakesh Reddy and his aide Dunne Srinivas.

Vislawath Vishal, Nenavath Nagesh and Lakshmireddy Subash Chandra Reddy were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the case, a police release said.

The initial investigation was conducted by Andhra Pradesh police. However, the case was transferred to Hyderabad on grounds of jurisdiction.

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Chiefs of the three armed forces Tuesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to brief him on the security situation following IAF's air strike targeting a JeM terror camp inside Pakistan.

Sources said the chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Force met the prime minister this evening to brief him on the security situation along the border.

The meeting comes against the backdrop of Pakistan threatening retaliation.

Pakistan has said it will "respond at a time, place of its choosing".

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had held a meeting of the National Security Committee that included the chiefs of all three armed forces.

There, however, was no official word on what transpired in the nearly 30-minute-long meeting.

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British Prime Minister Theresa May made a dramatic shift in her Brexit strategy on Tuesday and offered MPs the chance vote for a delay to the March 29 exit deadline if her deal failed to clear the House of Commons next month.

In a statement to Parliament, May announced that her government would table a "meaningful vote" on the final withdrawal agreement reached with the European Union (EU) on March 12.

If that vote fails to be passed by MPs, May said she would table an amendment the following day, March 13, for MPs to vote on whether they are prepared to leave the EU without any deal in place.

In the event that MPs reject such an amendment, which is widely expected, a vote will be held on March 14 for MPs to have their say on an extension to the Article 50 process to delay the Brexit deadline. The government would thenbring forward the necessary legislation to change the exit date by a "short limited" period.

"Let me be clear, I do not want to see Article 50 extended. Our absolute focus should be on working to get a deal and leaving on March 29," May said in her Commons statement.

"An extension cannot take no deal off the table. The only way to do that is to revoke Article 50, which I shall not do, or agree a deal," she said, effectively offering the UK Parliament a stark choice between her deal, no deal or a delayed Brexit.

The move came as there was mounting rebellion within her own Conservative Party ranks, with ministers within her Cabinet calling for her to take a chaotic no-deal Brexit off the table. Her statement came soon after a Cabinet meeting during which Brexiteer ministers reportedly accused their anti-Brexit colleagues of undermining the Prime Minister and attempting to push her into ruling out no deal.

May's latest set of amendment offerings for next month avoids a defeat for the government on Wednesday, which could see MPs voting to take control of the Brexit process when a series of votes will be held in the Commons.

The British prime minister, who has remained stubbornly opposed to any delay to the Brexit deadline, warned on Tuesday that an extension to the Article 50 process beyond the end of June would mean the UK taking part in the European Parliament elections, which are scheduled for May 23.

She said: "What kind of message would that send to the more than 17 million people who voted to leave the EU nearly three years ago now?And the House should be clear that a short extension not beyond the end of June would almost certainly have to be a one-off.

"If we had not taken part in the European Parliament elections, it would be extremely difficult to extend again, so it would create a much sharper cliff edge in a few months' time."



The government's strategic shift came as the Opposition Labour Party also made a significant change in its policy and announced that it would back a second referendum on Britain's membership of the EU.

Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said Labour will get behind another referendum if the party can't get its own Brexit proposals of staying within a common EU Customs Union through Parliament on Wednesday. He also said that if May's Brexit deal did get through Parliament next month, Labour would want such a deal to also be put to a public vote with remaining in the EU as the other option.

"The prime minister continues to say it is her deal or no deal, but this House has decisively rejected her deal and has clearly rejected no deal. It is the prime minister's obstinacy that is blocking a resolution," he told the Commons on Tuesday.

With just a month to go before the March 29 deadline, the UK Parliament remains deeply divided over the nature of Britain's exit from the 28-member economic bloc.

The biggest stumbling block to a withdrawal agreement acceptable to a majority of British MPs remains the Irish backstop insurance policy, put in place by the EU to ensure there would be no hard border between its member-state Ireland and the UK under any future trading arrangements.

However, Brexiteers fear such an insurance policy gives the EU too much power to hold Britain captive to its rules even after it has left the economic bloc.

Any delay to the Article 50 process, triggered in the wake of Britain's referendum in favour of Brexit in June 2016, would have to be backed by all 27 remaining EU member-states. The EU side has indicated its willingness to consider such a prospect if the need arises.

May said her government was preparing for every eventuality and published a paper assessing the country's readiness for a no-deal Brexit and the "very serious challenges" it would pose.

"I believe that if we have to, we will ultimately make a success of a no-deal," she said.

"But this paper provides an honest assessment of the very serious challenges it would bring in the short-term and further reinforces why the best way for this House to honour the referendum result is to leave with a deal," she added.

Opponents of May who support another EU referendum said she had failed to completely rule out a no-deal Brexit.

Newly-formed breakaway Independent Group MP Anna Soubry, who quit the Conservatives in protest of May's Brexit policy, said it was a "shameful moment" and "nothing has changed".

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Following is the text of the statement by India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale on the strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed's training camp:



"On 14 February 2019, a suicide terror attack was conducted by a Pak based terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammad, leading to the martyrdom of 40 brave jawans of the CRPF. JeM has been active in Pakistan for the last two decades, and is led by MASOOD AZHAR with its headquarters in Bahawalpur.

This organization, which is proscribed by the UN, has been responsible of a series of terrorist attacks including on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 and the Pathankot airbase in January 2016.

Information regarding the location of training camps in Pakistan and PoJK has been provided to Pakistan from time to time. Pakistan, however, denies their existence. The existence of such massive training facilities capable of training hundreds of jidhadis could not have functioned without the knowledge of Pakistan authorities.

India has been repeatedly urging Pakistan to take action against the JeM to prevent jihadis from being trained and armed inside Pakistan. Pakistan has taken no concrete actions to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its soil.

Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary.

In an intelligence led operation in the early hours of today, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot.

In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated.

This facility at Balakot was headed by MAULANA YOUSUF AZHAR (alias USTAD GHOURI), the brother-in-law of MASOOD AZHAR, Chief of JeM.

The Government of India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to fight the menace of terrorism.

Hence this non-military preemptive action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp.

The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties. The facility is located in thick forest on a hilltop far away from any civilian presence. As the strike has taken place only a short while ago, we are awaiting further details.

The Government of Pakistan had made a solemn commitment in January 2004 not to allow its soil or territory under its control to be used for terrorism against India.

We expect that Pakistan lives up to its public commitment and takes follow up actions to dismantle all JeM and other camps and hold the terrorists accountable for the actions.

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The tension was palpable in Kashmir on Tuesday after Indian Air Force fighter jets struck terror camps deep inside the territory of the neighbouring country.

Residents of Srinagar and other major towns in the valley could be seen discussing in small groups the fallout of the IAF's pre-dawn strikes inside the Pakistani territory.

"We hope that it ends here and there is no more escalation. If there is an escalation in hostilities, it will be the people on either side of the Line of Control who will suffer the most," Abdul Gani Dar (80), who has witnessed all wars between India and Pakistan, said.

Many residents, including former chief minister Omar Abdullah, took to social media to express their fears about the possibility of a full-blown confrontation between the two nuclear powers.

"The problem now becomes PM Imran Khan's commitment to his country - 'Pakistan will not think about responding, Pakistan WILL respond'. What shape will response take? Where will the response be? Will India have to respond to Pakistan's response?" Abdullah wrote on his Twitter handle.

Residents of Kashmir had gone on a hoarding spree after the government launched a crackdown on separatists and Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir cadres last week.

The move was followed by the deployment of 100 additional companies of paramilitary forces in the valley.

Governor Satya Pal Malik had on Sunday allayed fears of the people, saying it was only an election-related exercise and there was no reason to panic.

In an apparent dig, Abdullah said the reports about an Indian Air Force C17 Globemaster III flying over Jammu and Kashmir was about election duty and had nothing to do with the air strikes in Pakistan.

"It's sitting in Srinagar offloading paramilitary forces to deal with internal security & election duty. Has nothing to do with the airstrike in to Pakistan this morning," the Conference leader said.

Meanwhile, the officials said security forces have been asked to remain on alert as the NIA is carrying out raids on residences of some top separatist leaders and their sympathisers.

Security forces have been deployed in strength in vulnerable areas of the city as officials expect protests against the raids.
It is telling that no country, including China, has spoken out in favour of Pakistan after India's air strike on a terror camp in the country, a former Pakistani envoy to the US said Tuesday, asserting that it was reflective that the world's patience on terrorist safe havens is running thin.

India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 80-km from the Line of Control (LoC) early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders.

The strike was the first by the Indian Air Force (IAF) inside Pakistan after the 1971 war.

"It is telling that no country has spoken out in Pakistan's favour after the Indian air strike," Husain Haqqani, the former Pakistani Ambassador to the US, told PTI.

"Even China called for restraint on both sides instead of supporting Pakistan in protesting India's violation of Pakistan's air space," Haqqani said in response to a question.

Haqqani has been at odds with the powerful Pakistan Army and very frequently receives threats from radical groups in Pakistan.

Currently, director of South and Central Asia at the Hudson Institute think-tank, his latest book is "Reimagining Pakistan: Transforming a Dysfunctional Nuclear State".

"Hyper-nationalist sentiment in Pakistan may not want to recognise it but the world's patience on terrorist safe havens is running thin and that is not good for Pakistan," Haqqani said.

Another Pakistani scholar Moeed Yusuf, often considered to be close to the establishment, agreed that the global opinion was not with Pakistan.

"Given that global opinion is with India, whether a skirmish occurs in Pakistani or Indian airspace doesn't matter as much. So Pakistan will do its best to absorb this strike and not escalate," Yusuf told PTI.

"Of course, the paradox is that the more successful an Indian strike, the more difficult it is for Pakistan to look the other way," he said.

Currently, associate vice president of the Asia Center at the US Institute of Peace, a scholar with the US Institute of peace, his latest book "Brokering Peace in Nuclear Environments" talks about relationship between the two South Asian nuclear neighbours in the event of terrorist activities from across the border.

"Bottom line: we are headed for a serious crisis if Pakistan feels compelled to respond or if India tries a repeat. And this will be a disaster because India and Pakistan know how to enter a crisis, they have never de-escalated without relying on third parties like the US," he said.

Yusuf sought the US lead in reducing the tension.

"If I were Washington, I'd be in overdrive making phone calls and signaling that it wants tensions to be de-escalated now. The risks of letting this play out are too great," he said.

The air strike came 12 days after the JeM carried out a suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

India launched a major diplomatic offensive against Islamabad after the Pulwama attack and highlighted Pakistan's role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

The international community led by the US pressed Pakistan to deny safe haven to terror groups operating form its soil and bring the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack to justice.

India has asked Pakistan to take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control.

New Delhi also announced the withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation status for Pakistan and hiked the customs duty by 200 per cent on goods originating from Pakistan.

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Congress leaders in Telangana Tuesday discussed selection of candidates for the coming Lok Sabha elections and also the MLC polls in the state.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy, MLC Mohd Ali Shabbir and other leaders attended the deliberations.

The party had earlier invited applications from those aspiring for tickets to contest the Lok Sabha polls.

The leaders would continue consultations with the party leadership in Delhi to finalise the candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, party sources said.

The party leaders on Tuesday also discussed the candidates for the MLC polls -- to be elected by MLAs and graduates.

Reddy said in a release that former minister Sunitha Laxma Reddy has been appointed as chairman of a party panel which will decide strategy for MLC elections from the teachers' quota.

MLA D Sridhar Babu has been appointed as the members of the committee that willl decide the party strategy for MLC elections from graduates' quota.

The ruling TRS (four) and its ally AIMIM (one) have filed nominations for the five vacancies (to be elected by MLAs) for which elections would be held on March 12.

Congress has 19 members in the 119-member house and it requires the support of two members of TDP. Congress had fought the recent assembly elections in the state in alliance with TDP and others.

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The Tamil Nadu government Tuesday sought the Centre's intervention for the release of three fishermen from the state detained in Iran last month.

Chief Minister K Palaniswami wrote to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, seeking her intervention in the matter.

It was reported that the three fishermen from Kanniyakumari district were employed as fishing labourers in a mechanised fishing boat belonging to a Saudi Arabian national, he said.

"They (fishermen) seemed to have ventured for fishing from Tharine fishing base of Saudi Arabia on January 2, 2019. While fishing in the sea, they were reportedly abducted by smugglers, who abandoned them off the coast of Busher in Iran on January 7," he said.

The abandoned fishermen were rescued by the Iranian Coast Guard and 'detained' in Busher, he said.

"I request you to direct the Embassies of India in Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to ensure the immediate release and repatriation of these poor innocent Indian fishermen to India," Palaniswami told Swaraj.

He also called for steps to ensure that the fishermen received their just and due wages from the Saudi owner.

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The Delhi Police and Maruti Suzuki India Limited Tuesday announced the launch of automated Red Light Violation Detection and Speed Violation Detection System in the national capital, in a bid to use efficient technology for traffic rules' compliance, officials said.

The initiative was launched by Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal, along with Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik, Maruti Suzuki Chairman RC Bhargava, and Kenichi Ayukawa, Managing Director & CEO, Maruti Suzuki, they said.

Launching the initiative, Baijal appreciated the efforts of the Delhi Police and Maruti Suzuki to improve the road safety scenario in the city.

"The project displayed the effective use of technology for better enforcement and creating a culture of compliance of traffic rules. The system will reinforce safety for motorists as well as pedestrians along with enabling smooth flow of traffic and bringing down accidents," Baijal said.

The initiative aims to provide safe driving experience to motorists, help pedestrians in crossing the road safely and improve compliance with road traffic rules, police said.

Maruti Suzuki has invested around Rs 16 crore in setting up the system. From its launch, the high-tech system will be under the charge of the Delhi Police while Maruti Suzuki, along with its implementation partners - DIMTS and Aabmatica, will maintain it for two years, they said.

The completely automated system, from violation-capturing till issuance of an e-challan, is expected to strengthen the rule enforcement with transparency, police said.

The new system has sophisticated 3-D radars and over 100 high resolution cameras to track presence of vehicles and violation of traffic rules. The cameras capture multiple offences-Red Light Violation Detection (RLVD); Speed Violation Detection (SVD), Stop Line Violation, Wrong-Side Violation along with the registration number of the violating vehicle, they said.

The system automatically encrypts and transfers the data of violation to the centralised server at Delhi Traffic Police Headquarters in Todapur, near Naraina. The system will generate e-challans, along with photo evidence, and will send it to the violators through SMS/email/post, they added.

According to police, the high technology automated system is expected to instill a culture of discipline amongst motorists and promote adherence of traffic rules.

The system is capable of 24x7 operation and will specially benefit road users at night, they said.

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External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj Tuesday spoke to her counterparts in the US, China, Singapore, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and briefed them about the pre-dawn strike on the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistan, official sources said.

In her telephonic conversation with US Secretary of Mike Pompeo, Swaraj explained the reasons behind the strike and conveyed that the action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp.

She also spoke to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and apprised him about the "non-military, pre-emptive air strikes", the sources said.

They said she also briefed her counterparts from Singapore, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on the strike.

Separately, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale apprised the envoys of all major countries including from the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom, the sources said.

Envoys of Sri Lanka, Maldives, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Turkey and Indonesia were also briefed about the air strike.

The MEA's respective divisions looking after relations with specific countries briefed their envoys on the strike.

"The diplomatic corps feel very satisfied for the quick and organised manners in which the Ministry of External Affairs briefed all heads of missions," Hans Dannenberg Castellanos, Dean of Diplomatic Corps said.

"We received the information that it was a direct attack to limited and specific objectives with no military and civilian casualties," he said.

The envoy of the Dominican Republic said India conveyed to heads of the missions that it has "no intention to escalate" tension with Pakistan, and will act responsibly.

Hours after the strike, Gokhale told the media that a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated.

"Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
External Affairs Minister Tuesday spoke to her counterparts in the US, China, Singapore, and and briefed them about the pre-dawn strike on the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistan, official sources said.

In her telephonic conversation with US Secretary of Mike Pompeo, Swaraj explained the reasons behind the strike and conveyed that the action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp.

She also spoke to Chinese Foreign Minister and apprised him about the "non-military, preemptive air strikes" , the sources said.

They said she also briefed her counterparts from Singapore, and on the strike.

Separately, the Foreign Secretary apprised the envoys of all major countries including from the United States, Russia, China, and the United Kingdom, the sources said.

Envoys of Sri Lanka, Maldives, Afghanistan, Bhutan, and were also briefed about the air strike.
External Affairs Minister left for on Tuesday night to attend a meeting of foreign ministers of Russia, and

Her visit comes in the wake of growing tension between and after carried out strikes on a terror camp in in a pre-dawn operation.

She is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with the foreign ministers of and and discuss the issue with them.

"Counter-terrorism on the agenda. EAM @SushmaSwaraj departs for Wuzhen, #China for the 16th Foreign Ministers Meeting of Russia, & China #RIC. Apart from attending the trilateral meeting, EAM will also hold bilateral discussions with Russian and Chinese Foreign Ministers," spokesperson tweeted.

Besides the air strike, the Pulwama terror attack and the listing of Pakistan-based chief as a global terrorist by the UN are expected to figure prominently at the Russia, India and China (RIC) Foreign Ministers' meeting on Wednesday.

Besides attending the annual trilateral meeting, Swaraj would also hold bilateral talks with her Chinese and Russian counterparts on the sidelines of the meeting in which the listing of Azhar by the UN's 1267 committee is expected to figure.

Besides Swaraj and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, the meeting would be attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Kumar said.

China, an "all-weather" ally of and a veto-wielding member, has stonewalled all efforts by the four countries by putting technical holds since 2016.
Jute sector trade unions in West Bengal have deferred a proposed strike from March 1 by two weeks, as the state government sought more time to look into their demands and resolve the impasse.

At a tripartite meeting on Tuesday in presence of West Bengal Labour Minister Moloy Ghatak, the 21 trade unions decided to postpone the strike to March 15.

Bengal Chatkal Mazdoor Union leader Anadi Sahu told PTI that Ghatak has been urging the unions to call off the strike.

"There has been some progress in talks with the government... we have resolved to defer the strike for two weeks," Sahu said.

All trade unions in the sector, barring Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress, have agreed to join the strike to press for their demands, including wage revision and implementation of Minimum Wages Act.

The jute industry employs over two lakh workers in more than 60 mills in the state.

The West Bengal government had on January 17 decided to give an interim relief of Rs 70, raising the workers' wage to Rs 327 per day till a new wage agreement was finalised.

Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA) sources had earlier said mills will not be able to pay anything more than the revised wage of Rs 327 per day.

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Standard Chartered's pre-tax profit surged to USD 3.9 billion in 2018, the bank said Tuesday, after previously warning it had set aside nearly USD 1 billion for regulatory fines in the US and Britain.

The UK-based bank has been stalked for years by probes on both sides of the Atlantic including over alleged violations of United States sanctions against Iran, investigations related to foreign exchange trading and financial crime control breaches.

Last week the bank said it had put aside USD 900 million to deal with those probes, the first time it had put a figure on the penalties and an attempt to draw a line under the issue ahead of its earnings report.

In a Tuesday filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange, the emerging markets lender said its pre-tax profit was up 28 percent at USD 3.9 billion. But that figure dropped to USD 2.5 billion "after provision for regulatory matters and restructuring and other items" were taken out, a rise of 5.5 percent on 2017's results.

The headline profit was some USD 120 million lower than a consensus forecast compiled by the bank, Bloomberg reported. But analyst Dickie Wong of Kingston Securities said the earnings were "in line with expectations".

Standard Chartered has been bracing for a possible US fine related to past dealings with Iran dating back as far as the late 2000s.

Last month it settled a currency trading investigation and said it had received notice from British regulators that it faced a USD 133 million fine over historical financial crime controls -- although it is still weighing its options over that penalty.

Wong told AFP the fines were "definitely not something good but won't affect its overall business or dividend policy".

Chief Executive Officer Bill Winters took over in 2015 and set about cleaning up a balance sheet saddled by bad loans. The Asia, Middle East and Africa focused bank has since returned three successive years of profit growth.

But Winters is under pressure to convince investors he can continue to cut costs while reviving longer-term earnings growth and profitability.

On Tuesday the bank announced a three-year plan that would aim for some USD 700 million in savings as well as restructure operations in "low returning markets" including India, South Korea and Indonesia.

The filing did not say whether those savings would be made through a headcount reduction.

"Over the last three years we have fundamentally overhauled the bank," Winters said in a statement attached to the filing.

"It is now a solid platform off which we can grow profitably and sustainably to deliver a double-digit return on tangible equity by 2021," he added.

The bank's shares ended up 1.5 percent in Hong Kong trade after the announcement.

On global issues for the year ahead the bank identified trade tensions between Washington and Beijing as well as China's economic slowdown as key uncertainties faced by the bank that had "high potential impacts". Brexit, it said, had a "low potential impact".

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Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal Tuesday hailed the Indian Air Force for carrying out air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan.

In a statement Sonowal thanked the Indian Air Force personnel for carrying out air strikes in Pakistan to neutralise militant outfits that are operating to carry subversive activities on India soil.

He said "130 crore people of India are today elated in response to the courage and conviction shown by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in carrying out offensive against the anti-India forces hell bent to create disturbances in the country."



Sonowal said "The entire nation is today proud of the actions of the Indian Air Force for the timely actions undertaken to defend the motherland.

In a pinpointed and swift air strike that lasted less than two minutes, India pounded Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing up to 350 terrorists and trainers who were moved there for their protection after the Pulwama attack.

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The family of Sudip Biswas, one of the 40 CRPF jawans killed in the Pulwama terror attack by Jaish-e-Mohammed, hailed the air strike that bombed the outfit's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, and demanded more such attacks.

The Indian Air Force's air strike on the JeM camp at Balakot coincided with the 'sraddha' ritual of Sudip.

"I am very happy for the attacks. I have heard that 300 militants were killed by Indian Air force. They should kill more terrorists. I pray for peace in India," Sudip's father Sannyashi Biswas said at their home here in Nadia district.

His mother Mamata Biswas was also pleased with the attack on this very day.

"Today is the sraddha of my son. The killing of terrorists on this very day makes me profoundly happy. They have snatched my son. India should kill more terrorists," she said.

Sudip's sister Jhumpa Biswas said, "India should launch more such attacks so that Pakistan is vanished from map."



Relatives have gathered at Sudip's home for the sraddha. They garlanded a photograph of his in CRPF uniform.

A national flag was found attached to the white cloth that covered the marquee erected to observe the sraddha ritual.

In a pinpointed air strike that lasted less than two minutes, India pounded Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing up to 350 terrorists and trainers who were moved there for their protection after the Pulwama attack, officials said.

The pre-dawn air strike, described as "non-military" and "preemptive", killing up to 350 terrorists and trainers who were moved there for their protection after the Pulwama attack.

Meanwhile, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)'s West Bengal unit Tuesday distributed sweets among people to celebrate the air strike by the IAF in Pakistan.

Carrying placards hailing the Indian armed forces, VHP activists took out processions in the city, shouted slogans and waved national flags.

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Punjab has its put its six border districts on high alert in the wake of the Indian Air Force's strikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Pakistan, officials said.

As part of the state's preparedness to deal with any contingency in view of the IAF strike, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh chaired a high-level law and order review meeting and ordered a spate of measures.

The meeting arrived at the conclusion that there was no need to panic and decided against evacuating the border areas, an official spokesperson said.

However, six districts -- Ferozepur, Tarn Taran, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Fazilka -- were put on high alert, the spokesperson said.

They said the deputy commissioners and the police chiefs of the border districts have been asked to put in place all contingency plans to ensure the protection and safety of the citizens.

As a confidence-building measure, the chief minister will himself visit the border areas from Pathankot to Ferozepur by road tomorrow, the spokesperson said.

The Chief Minister discussed all aspects of the current situation with the top brass of the police and civil administration, including Personal Secretary Suresh Kumar, Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, Home Secretary NS Kalsi, DGP Dinkar Gupta and DGP (Intelligence) VK Bhanwara.

Amarinder Singh's media Advisor Raveen Thukral, who was also present at the meeting, said the CM directed the officials to monitor the situation closely and remain alert.

The state government was in touch with the Union home and defence ministries to remain abreast of the situation, he said.

The government was fully prepared to deal with any eventuality, Thukral added.

The Chief Minister, who spoke to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, on the situation, earlier tweeted his full support for the strikes.

"Great job by the #IndianAirForce. The #IAFStrikes have sent the much needed signal to Pakistan and the terrorists it's harbouring - don't think you can get away with acts like the #PulwamaAttack. Bravo to the #IAF men and my full support for the action," he wrote.

Immediately after the deadly Pulwama attack on a CRPF convoy, Amarinder Singh, a former Army captain, had made it clear that he was in favour of a strong retaliatory action and that the Congress would support any action taken by the central government.

"They have killed 41, we should kill 82 of theirs," he had said.

An emotional Amarinder had also said if Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan could not arrest the JeM chief, who operates from the Pakistani soil, then "we will do it for him".

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The benchmark BSE Sensex Tuesday ended 240 points lower as investor sentiment weakened after the India carried out air strikes on a terrorist camp in Pakistan.

Weak cues from global equities and selling pressure on financials and realty stocks too weighed on market mood here.

After cracking nearly 500 points, the 30-share Sensex pared some losses but ended 239.67 points, or 0.66 per cent, lower at 35,973.71. It hit a low of 35,714.16 and a high of 36,172.52.

The gauge surged 342 points in Monday's trade.

The 50-share Nifty also fell 44.80 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 10,835.30 after hovering between 10,729.30 and 10,888.75.

Losses were more pronounced in banking, realty and PSU counters.

"Indian indices traded lower mainly due to two factors first, the indications of weakness from all major Asian markets since their opening; and second, the strike carried out by the Indian Air Force against terrorist camps located inside Pakistan," said Joseph Thomas, Head Research, Emkay Wealth Management.

While the former may be considered reflective of the evolving broader global perspective, the latter may have limited or transient impact on the market direction, he said, adding that markets may remain quite volatile in the coming days, especially, in the light of the fast approaching general elections.

The Indian Air Force struck Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest camp in Pakistan early Tuesday in a major "preemptive" action, killing a large number of terrorists and trainers of the Pak-based terror group preparing to carry out suicide attacks in India.

The move came 12 days after JeM carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

Meanwhile, the rupee which depreciated 38 paise to 71.35 against the US dollar in early trade, recovered partially to quote at 71.06 in late afternoon trade at the forex market, and was still trading 9 paise lower over its previous close of 70.97.

Fresh round of selling by domestic institutional investors (DIIs) also dampened market sentiment here, brokers said.

DIIs sold shares worth Rs 1,764.4 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 2,134.35 crore on Monday, provisional data showed.

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In a bizarre development, a former UP minister and senior Samajwadi Party leader has called the air strike by Indian Air Force on a Jaish terrorist camp inside Pakistan "false".

"BJP leaders are liars. Is the surgical strike anything new? TV channels were airing it today. This (that an air strike will happen) was known for 10 days," SP leader Vinod Kumar, who is also known as Pandit Singh, told party workers at a programme in Gonda Tuesday.

"It was known for five days that they (the government) have colluded with Pakistan and decided to drop a couple of bombs on an abandoned house. And then issue a statement (to the media)," he claimed, adding the air strike was "false".

The SP leader also accused the BJP of "spreading terror".

"By forming government in Jammu and Kashmir with Mehbooba Mufti, they proved that they had no hesitation in joining hands with those who supported terrorism," Singh claimed.

Officials said the Indian Air Force bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp inside Pakistan, killing over 350 terrorists, trainers and senior commanders.

The swift and precise "preemptive" air strike was conducted early Tuesday, they said.

The BJP had formed a political alliance with Mufti's PDP in J&K, but it pulled out after three years in June 2018, amid worsening security challenges in the state.

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday transferred the probe into the killing of rationalist M M Kalburgi to the SIT investigating the murder case of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh after Karnataka government said there were common links in the two cases.

Kalburgi, a former vice-chancellor of Hampi University and well-known epigraphist, was shot dead at his residence in Kalyan Nagar in Dharwad, Karnataka, on August 30, 2015.

Born in 1938, he was a Sahitya Akademi award-winning writer of old Kannada literature.

The state Crime Investigation Department was probing Kalburgi's killing and the SIT was investigating the murder of Lankesh in September 2017 in Bengaluru.

During the hearing, the top court said the SIT probe into Kalburgi's killing will be monitored by the Dharwad bench of the Karnataka High Court.

A bench of justices R F Nariman and Vineet Saran said if killings of Kalburgi, Lankesh and social activist Govind Pansare and rationalist Narendra Dabholkar are linked, it should be probed by one agency and monitored by one high court.

Advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing for Karnataka government, said there is already an SIT probing the Lankesh case, while a Maharashtra Special Investigation Team was probing the killing of Pansare in 2015.

He said the CBI was probing Dabholkar's killing on August 20, 2013.

The apex court's order came on a plea by Kalburgi's wife, who had alleged that there was a common link between the murder of her husband and that of Dabholkar and Pansare, and hence the probe should be done by CBI.

On January 25, the top court had termed the plea "very serious case".

On December 11 last year, the court had favoured a CBI probe into the murders of Kalburgi, Pansare and Lankesh, if there appeared any "common thread" in these incidents.

The killings of all these three activists happened within a period of five years.

The top court had asked the CBI to inform it whether it would like to investigate these three murder cases as it is already probing the killing of Dabholkar.

Karnataka police in its status report had told the top court that there appears to be an "intimate connection" between the killings of Kalburgi in 2015 and Lankesh in 2017.

The court had observed that one probe agency should investigate all the four cases if prima facie it appears that there is a "common thread" in the murders.

The top court on November 26 last year had pulled up Karnataka government for "doing nothing and just fooling around" with the investigation and indicated it may transfer the case to the Bombay High Court.

The apex court on January 10 last year had sought the response of probe agencies NIA and CBI and the two state governments on the allegation of Uma Devi that no substantial investigation has been carried out so far in the murder case.

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The Supreme Court Tuesday agreed to hear in open court the petitions seeking review of its December verdict that dismissed pleas challenging the deal between India and France for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, in its chamber hearing, allowed the prayer of former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie as also activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan that the review pleas be heard in open court.

"The prayer for open Court hearing is allowed", said the bench which also considered the review petition filed by AAP MP Sanjay Singh through lawyer Dheeraj Singh.

Besides two review petitions, the top court is also seized of some applications including the one filed by Sinha, Shourie and Bhushan seeking perjury prosecution of government officials for allegedly misleading the court on the issue of pricing and procurement process.

A day after the December verdict, the Centre had moved the apex court seeking correction in the judgement where a reference was made about the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report and Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), saying "misinterpretation" of its note has "resulted in a controversy in the public domain".

On December 14, 2018, the apex court had dismissed various pleas challenging the deal for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets by India from France, saying that there was no occasion to "really doubt the decision making process" warranting setting aside of the contract.

It had rejected the pleas seeking lodging of an FIR and the court-monitored probe alleging irregularities in the Rs 58,000 crore deal, in which both the countries have entered into an inter-governmental agreement (IGA).

Sinha, Shourie and Bhushan, have claimed in their review plea that the top court had relied upon "patently incorrect" claims made by the government in an unsigned note given in a sealed cover in the court.

They have claimed that the judgement was based on "errors apparent on the face of the record" and non-consideration of subsequent information which has come to light would cause a grave miscarriage of justice.

In its last year verdict, a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had dealt with "three broad areas of concern" raised in the petitions -- the decision making process, pricing and the choice of Indian offset partners (IOP) -- and said there was no reason for intervention by the court on the "sensitive issue" of purchase of 36 jets.

It had said the Indian Air Force (IAF) needs advanced fighter jets as the country cannot afford to be "unprepared" or "under prepared" in a situation where adversaries have acquired fourth and fifth generation fighter aircraft, "of which, we have none".

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The Supreme Court Tuesday directed former Ranbaxy promoters, Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, to appear before it on March 14 in connection with the pleas relating to sale of controlling stakes of Fortis Healthcare by them to Malaysian IHH Healthcare Berhad.

The apex court said its earlier order asking to maintain status quo on the sale of controlling stakes in Fortis Healthcare to Malaysian IHH Healthcare Berhad would remain in force till the next date of hearing.

"The court would like to have the personal presence of respondent nos. 2 and 4 (Malvinder and Shivinder Singh) in in SLP(C) No... along with their affidavits on the next date fixed that is March 14," said a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Navin Sinha and Sanjiv Khanna.

The apex court had earlier refused to pass any interim order on pleas relating to the sale of controlling stakes of Fortis Healthcare to Malaysian IHH Healthcare Berhad and had listed the matter for final hearing for today.

The apex court was hearing the plea of Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo which is seeking to recover Rs 3,500 crore, awarded to it by a Singapore tribunal in its case against Malvinder and Shivinder Singh.

The Japanese firm, which has filed the contempt plea against the Singh brothers in the apex court, has said that it was promised some shares of Fortis Healthcare by the Singh brothers.

The apex court, on December 14 last year, had ordered status quo with regard to the sale of controlling stakes of Fortis Healthcare.

"Status quo with regard to sale of the controlling stake in Fortis Healthcare to Malaysian IHH Healthcare Berhad be maintained," the bench had said.

The top court had also issued notices to the Singh brothers asking them to explain as to why contempt proceedings be not initiated against them for allegedly violating its earlier order by pledging the shares.

The board of Fortis Healthcare had approved in July a proposal from IHH Healthcare to invest Rs 4,000 crore by way of preferential allotment for a 31.1 per cent stake.

The Malaysian IHH Healthcare Bhd became the controlling shareholder of Fortis Healthcare Ltd by acquiring a 31.1 per cent stake in the company.

Daiichi had bought Ranbaxy in 2008. Later, it had moved the Singapore arbitration tribunal accusing that the Singh brothers had concealed information that Ranbaxy was facing probe by the US Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Justice, while selling its shares.

Daiichi had to enter into a settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice, agreeing to pay USD 500 million penalty to resolve potential, civil and criminal liability.

The company had then sold its stake in Ranbaxy to Sun Pharmaceuticals for Rs 22,679 crore in 2015.

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the contending parties in the politically sensitive Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute in Ayodhya to seriously consider mediation for a permanent solution even if there is "one per cent chance" of success.

Observing it was looking at the possibility of "healing relations" between the parties, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi also said it would pass an order on March 6 on whether to refer the dispute to a court-appointed mediator.

The suggestion for another round of mediation, however, drew a mixed response from the parties to the decades-old dispute.

The proposal was mooted by one of the judges, Justice S A Bobde, during the hearing when both the Hindu and the Muslim litigants were sparring over the veracity of documents related to the case which were translated by the Uttar Pradesh government and filed with the apex court registry.

"We are considering it (mediation) very seriously. You all (parties) have used the word that this matter is not adversarial. We would like to give a chance to mediation even if there is one per cent chance," said the bench, also comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S A Nazeer.

"We would like to know your (both parties) views on it. We do not want any third party to make a comment to jeopardise the entire process."



"This, we have done keeping in mind that the period of eight weeks that we have allowed to the parties to go through the translations of the oral and documentary evidence could be effectively utilised to try and resolve the issues in the manner indicated above," the bench said.

"We have suggested to the parties that during the interregnum a court appointed and court monitored mediation with utmost confidentiality could be initiated to bring a permanent solution to the issues raised in the cases," it observed.

The bench noted in its order that lawyers representing the legal heirs of original litigants M Siddiq and Mohd Hashim and Nirmohi Akhara are "in broad agreement" with the suggestion of the court about mediation while counsel appearing for Sri Ram Lalla Virajman, Mahant Suresh Das and Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha have "not concurred" with it.

"Do you seriously think that the entire dispute for so many years is for property? We can only decide property rights but we are considering the possibility of healing relations," it said.

"Keeping in mind that the mediation suggested by the court is in terms of the mandate under section 89 of the CPC and in an appropriate case it will always be open for the court to invoke its power, we deem it proper to observe that the mediation suggested is only to effectively utilize the time of eight weeks that would be taken to make the cases ready for hearing," the bench said in its written order.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for M Siddiq, said they were agreeable to the "very important suggestion" of mediation but said the court should fix a time frame for mediation as the dispute was a "knotty issue".

"We will also have to fix the time frame after talking to the mediator," the bench said.

Senior advocate C S Vaidyanathan, appearing for Ram Lalla Virajman, said they did not agree for "another round of mediation" as such attempts have failed in the past.

"In the earlier mediation, it was accepted that Lord Rama was born in Ayodhya but not at this (disputed) site. Mediation has been tried not once but several times," he said.

Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for one of the parties, said things have not worked during earlier round of mediation and "everybody wants that the matter should be decided by the Supreme Court".

"Mediation is not possible so this court should decide the matter," Kumar said.

Dhavan referred to the mediation held between 1991-93 and said, "In the larger interest, this court is saying do it (mediation) again. From our side, we are agreeable".

At the outset, the apex court said it can proceed with the hearing if there is consensus among the parties with regard to the veracity of the translated documents.

The bench referred to a report filed by the secretary general of the apex court on the status of documents pertaining to the case which said that "the record consists of 38,147 pages of which 12,814 pages are in Hindi, 18,607 pages are in English, 501 pages are in Urdu, 97 pages are in Gurmukhi, 21 pages are in Sanskrit, 86 pages are in other language scripts, 14 pages contain images and 1,729 pages are in combination of more than one language script".

The report, which was shared with the parties in the court, said 11,479 pages were required to be translated and if all eight official translators of the apex court are asked to do the job, it is likely to take about 120 working days to make the case ready for hearing.

Vaidyanathan, however, said the exercise of translation has already been conducted and the parties had raised no objections with regard to their veracity earlier.

He said it was "not appropriate" for the other side to now raise this issue as translated documents were verified and accepted by all parties in December 2017.

Dhavan said they have not examined the translated copies of the documents filed by the Uttar Pradesh government and they have a right to examine its veracity.

"I am insisting on my right to examine it (documents)," he said, adding, "This kind of accusation (from the other side) that we do not want to argue the case is not right. We do want to argue the case. Apart from authenticity, we will also examine the documents for its relevance".

However, the bench said, "So dispute is arising between the parties about the authenticity of translated documents. We are not going to waste our time if the parties have dispute over this."



The bench said that after the hearing commences in the matter, it does not want a situation where any of the parties raises objection about veracity of the documents.

"....we are of the view that to proceed with the hearing of the cases it is necessary to have on record translation of the depositions as well as the Exhibits on which no controversy can be raised at a later point of time to derail the hearing once the same commences."



Fourteen appeals have been filed in the apex court against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya be partitioned equally among the three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

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South Africa's ruling African National Congress said on Tuesday that two party spokesmen would step down just three months before elections over separate sexual misconduct allegations.

In December ANC spokesman Pule Mabe was accused by his former assistant of being emotionally abusive and cutting her monthly salary substantially to USD 1,082 after she rejected his alleged sexual advances. Last week allegations of rape surfaced against Zizi Kodwa, who was acting spokesman while Mabe's case was being investigated.

Speaking at the party headquarters in Johannesburg, ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule told journalists that the two senior party members had chosen to step down while the claims were investigated.

"The ANC has therefore accepted their request to voluntarily step aside while dealing with the matters," the party said in a statement.

"The ANC is committed to fighting gender-based violence wherever it occurs and takes allegations against any person with the seriousness it deserves." Although internal investigations cleared Mabe of any wrongdoing earlier this month, his accuser is understood to have made a criminal complaint to police.

Both men deny any wrongdoing.

The party is no stranger to sex scandals.

Before taking office, former president Jacob Zuma was put on trial for rape in 2016 in a case that dismayed many South Africans.

Zuma said the sex with the 31-year-old family friend was consensual and he was subsequently acquitted.

Both Mabe and Kodwa, high-profile figures in the party of Nelson Mandela, will remain members of the National Executive Committee (NEC), the body responsible for day-to-day decision-making.

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Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani Tuesday chaired a high-level meeting to review the security situation in the state after IAF's air strikes on terror camps Pakistan as the state shares both land and sea border with the neighbouring country.

Post the pre-dawn air strikes, the state was put on high alert and orders were issued to step up vigil at public places and important sites like the Somnath Temple and the Statue of Unity, he said.

Defence forces and the Gujarat police are coordinating security arrangements, the chief minister said.

Rupani also congratulated the Indian Air Force (IAF) for the successful operation, which targeted a camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Pakistan-based terror group which had taken responsibility for the February 14 Pulwama suicide bombing that killed 40 CRPF personnel.

"I congratulate the Indian Air Force for successful air strikes and destroying of camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pakistan," he told reporters after the meeting.

"After the Pulwama terror strike, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to avenge the loss of lives. He has delivered what he had promised.

"Earlier also our nation had faced such attacks but the air force has avenged this by destroying a big (terror) camp by going deep inside the enemy territory," he added.

"We had held a security meeting today as Gujarat shares land and sea border with Pakistan," Rupani said.

"The Army, IAF, BSF, Coast Guard, local police and all security establishments are coordinating things. They are on vigil and all arrangements have been made (for security)," he said.

"Security has been stepped up at places like Somnath Temple, the Statue of Unity and other important installations," he said.

Earlier in the day, DGP Shivanand Jha asked district police headquarters to remain on high alert and directed Superintendents of Police (SPs) to reach their respective headquarters.

Senior police officers, including district SPs, had assembled in Gandhinagar for a conference which was later cancelled.

"In view of the IAF's action against terrorists across the border, all establishments have been put on high alert," a message from DGP's office to the district headquarters said.

Top bureaucrats, police and intelligence officials attended the security meeting chaired by the chief minister.

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Police say three Iraqi workers have been killed in a roadside bomb explosion in the western city of Fallujah.

A local officer says the blast occurred Tuesday when a device exploded near a vehicle carrying construction workers in the Naimiya district. He says three others were wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Baghdad declared victory over the Islamic State group in late 2017 following a three-year war that ended with the liberation of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city.

The Iraqi army, however, continues to wage frequent operations against IS "sleeper cells", which officials say are still active in certain parts of the country.

The extremist group has claimed numerous operations in recent weeks.

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Residents in the quake-prone Balakot town in Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province Tuesday said they were woken by "loud explosions" and thought a fresh tremor must have hit the region when Indian Air Force jets pounded a large terror training camp.

Balakot town in Pakistan's north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was destroyed during the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and was rebuilt with assistance from Saudi Arabia.

Residents in the mountainous area town told BBC Urdu they were woken by loud explosions.

Residents in several towns near Balakot reported hearing explosions early on Tuesday.

Mohammad Adil, a farmer in Jaba village, said he and his family were woken at about 03:00 by "a huge explosion".

He said they thought an earth quake must have hit the region.

"Then we heard jets flying over. We went to the place in the morning. There was a huge crater and four or five houses were destroyed," he said.

In a pinpointed and swift air strike that lasted less than two minutes, India pounded Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing up to 350 terrorists and trainers who were moved there for their protection after the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

The pre-dawn operation, described as "non-military" and "preemptive", struck a five-star resort style camp on a hilltop forest.

Pakistan Army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor, however, said the strikes caused no casualties. He tweeted that Pakistani jets were scrambled and forced the Indian fighter planes to make a "hasty withdrawal", dropping their payload in an open area.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The families of CRPF personnel who got martyred in Pulwama attack 13 days ago have welcomed the air strike against terror camps at Balakot across LoC by Indian Air Force.

Five of the 40 CRPF jawans who lost their lives in the February 14 terror attack belonged to Rajasthan.

"We were expecting a solid response to Pakistan from India and it has been given now. Our loss is irreparable but we are satisfied with what the government has done, Mahesh Gurjar, a cousin of martyr Narayan Lal Gurjar said.

Narayan Lal, a native of Binol village in Rajsamand district, is survived by his wife, two minor children and other family members.

Vikram, the younger brother of martyr Jeet Ram said there is a satisfaction after the air strike on Pak terror camps.

"A step has been taken but we want the terror menace to be ended for once and all," he said.

Hailing from Sundarwali of Bharatpur district, Jeet Ram is survived by his wife, two young daughters, father and a brother.

In Shahpura town of Jaipur district, the people celebrated the IAF's strike by bursting crackers at the funeral site of martyred soldier Rohitash Lamba.

There is a satisfaction among the people of the country. The government's decision is appreciable as the action was within 13 days of the terror attack. People have celebrated air strike in the village by bursting crackers, Jitendra Lamba, younger brother of Rohitash said.

In a swift and precise air strike following the Pulwama attack, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders.

The operation, described as a "non-military, preemptive strike", was welcomed by the entire political spectrum and military experts who had been advocating retribution after the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama claied by JeM.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress president Rahul Gandhi Tuesday visited a hospital here to meet two persons, who were injured in the violence that broke out in Itanagar recently, over granting Permanent Residence Certificate (PRC) to non-natives in Arunachal.

The doctors informed Gandhi that both the patients were undergoing treatment for compound fractures.

The Congress chief, who was here to address a public rally, travelled to the hospital soon after landing at the LGB International Airport here.

He also spoke to the attendants of the patients.

"We will look into it," he told them while speaking about the violence in Itanagar.

"The doctors here are looking after them properly... Don't worry," the Congress president told them.

Assam Congress president Ripun Bora and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Takbam Sanjoy accompanied Gandhi to the hospital.

Arunachal Pradesh witnessed massive violence since Friday in protest against a recommendation of the Joint High Power Committee granting permanent resident certificates to six communities who are not natives of the state, but have been living in Namsai and Changlang districts for decades.

The communities are the Deoris, Sonowal Kacharis, Morans, Adivasis, Mishings and Gorkhas.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Richwood, TX (77531)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early then becoming cloudy with periods of rain late. Low 77F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early then becoming cloudy with periods of rain late. Low 77F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi Tuesday lauded the pilots of the after air strikes on Pakistan.

"I salute the pilots of the IAF," he tweeted.

Gandhi also put out the Indian flag along with his tweet.

The Congress also tweeted, lauding the role of the in keeping Indians safe with its consistent and determined effort.

"We salute the @IAF_MCC for their consistent & determined effort to keep Indians safe.

Jai Hind," the Congress said on its official Twitter handle.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi spoke to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other foreign diplomats Tuesday and apprised them about the Line of Control "violation" by the Indian jets.

In his telephonic conversation with Pompeo, Qureshi said India is "jeopardising the peace in South Asia for its political purposes and elections", state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

He said that Pakistan is desirous of peace in the region, but will not compromise on its territorial integrity.

Qureshi told Pompeo that the Indian "aggression can disturb joint efforts to establish peace in Afghanistan" as he expressed hope that US will play its role in the region.

India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 80-km from the Line of Control (LoC), early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders.

The air strikes came 12 days after the JeM carried out a suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

Last week, US National Security Adviser John Bolton told his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval that America supports India's right to self-defence as both sides vowed to work together to ensure that Pakistan ceases to be a safe heaven for JeM and other terror groups.

Qureshi also briefed the members of the diplomatic corps about the Indian "violation" of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Foreign Office said in a statement that the foreign minister "strongly rebutted the Indian purported claims of having targeted a large terrorist camp and resultant causalities is completely absurd and is based on a false narrative designed to placate domestic audience."



He said that Pakistan reserves its right to respond against Indian "aggression.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi spoke to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Tuesday and apprised him about the Line of Control "violation" by the Indian jets, a media report said.

In his telephonic conversation with Pompeo, Qureshi said India is "jeopardising the peace in South Asia for its political purposes and elections", state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

He said that Pakistan is desirous of peace in the region, but will not compromise on its territorial integrity.

Qureshi told Pompeo that the Indian "aggression can disturb joint efforts to establish peace in Afghanistan" as he expressed hope that US will play its role in the region.

India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 80-km from the Line of Control (LoC), early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders.

The air strikes came 12 days after the JeM carried out a suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

Last week, US National Security Adviser John Bolton told his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval that America supports India's right to self-defence as both sides vowed to work together to ensure that Pakistan ceases to be a safe heaven for JeM and other terror groups.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
ThePunjab Democratic Alliance has reached a consensus on fielding candidates on nine out of 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state to provide a "clean third alternative to the corrupt traditional parties", an alliance member said Tuesday.

The PDA comprising Punjab Ekta Party, BSP, Lok Insaaf Party and Punjab Manch decided to field candidates on nine Lok Sabha seats at its meeting in Jalandhar late Monday, Punjab Ekta Party chief Sukhpal Singh Khaira said here.

The meeting decided BSP will contest Anandpur Sahib, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha seats, leaving Bathinda and Fardikot for Punjab Ekta Party, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Fatehgarh Sahib for Lok Insaaf Party and Patiala for suspended AAP MP Dharamvira Gandhi's Punjab Manch.

The remaining four seats to be contested by the alliance would be decided shortly, Khaira said.

Khaira said the alliance has been forged to "liberate" Punjab from the "clutches of corrupt traditional parties Congress, SAD and BJP which have looted the state by turn for the past many decades".

On behalf of the alliance, Khaira said as a result of the "misrule" by the traditional parties, Punjab has been facing a colossal debt of Rs 2.5 lakh crore, leaving farmers and farm labourers to commit suicides and rendering lakhs of youth jobless and pushed into the vicious cycle of drugs.

He said traders and industrialists are facing the wrath of discriminatory policies of successive Central governments with all types of mafia "ruling the roost" in Punjab.

The alliance leaders claimed they stand committed to "issue-based, clean and accountable politics" and their aim is to sharing not only Lok Sabha seats but to work for the betterment of Punjab.

The PDA will continue their struggle for long-pending demands of Punjab, be it the river waters, the territorial disputes, the rightful claim to the capital city of Chandigarh or a true federal system with more powers and autonomy to the states, Khaira said.

Khaira said it was unfortunate that the Akali Dal Taksali, a breakaway outfit from Shiromani Akali Dal unilaterally announced their candidate for the Anandpur Sahib seat while deliberations were still underway on seat sharing.

He said the PDA strived for complete unity of the opposition ranks and urged the Akali Dal Taksali leaders to withdraw their candidate from Anandpur sahib and join the alliance in the larger interest of Punjab.

The PDA also called upon all like-minded parties and forces that maintain equidistance from "corrupt traditional parties" Congress, SAD and BJP to join hands with them.

He said those present at the meeting included Punjab Manch MP Dharamvira Gandhi, BSP's Punjab unit president Rashpal Singh Raju and incharge Randhir Singh Beniwal and Lok Insaaf Party president Simarjit Singh Bains among others.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
European auto major PSA Groupe Tuesday said it will launch Citroen brand in India, with the first model expected to be rolled out before the end of 2021.

PSA Groupe Chairman of the Managing Board Carlos Tavares, during the presentation of 2018-19 financial results, confirmed the group's intention to launch Citroen brand in India.

"Citroen will be back to India no later than 2021. We have selected Citroen as a brand that we are going to use to come back to India. We have already invested, we have already created a manufacturing footprint in India.

"We have a powertrain plant in India, we have a vehicle plant in India, we have a partner and we are now building a network to support the launch of this new brand in the country," Tavares said.

The brand will soon announce a family of disruptive international products which would also be used in the Indian market, he added.

In 2017, PSA Groupe had announced a partnership with CK Birla Group to re-enter the Indian market and earmarked an initial investment of 100 million euros to set up plant for vehicle and powertrain manufacturing in Tamil Nadu.

The tie-up entailed two joint venture agreements between the groups.

"We are very proud to launch Citroen in India, one of the fastest growing markets in the world. Building on the brand's success in Europe with five consecutive years of growth, I am convinced that Citroen's selling proposition of unique styling, eco-friendly and comfortable cars at the heart of the market has all the potential to satisfy Indian customers," Citroen CEO Linda Jackson said.

CK Birla Group Chairman CK Birla said the announcement of Citroen brand for its vehicle JV in India, soon after the inauguration of the powertrain JV greenfield facility at Hosur in late 2018, is a major milestone for the long-term partnership of the two groups.

"It is truly an exciting brand for the Indian consumers seeking international eco-friendly products designed for and made in India with unique styling and comfort," he added.

In 2018, the Citroen brand sold 1.05 million vehicles in over 90 markets.

PSA Groupe, which sells three brands -- Peugeot, Citroen and DS -- is no stranger to India, having entered into a partnership with the erstwhile Premier family resulting in JV Peugeot PAL India. However, it pulled out from the JV in 2001.

The group had made repeated attempts to return to the Indian market. In 2009, it decided to go slow on plans to kick off operations in India due to a global economic slowdown.

Later, in 2011, it announced plans to re-enter the Indian market with a mid-sized sedan, ten years after it had exited the country. The plan, however, did not materialise.

The CK Birla Group is better known for the now discontinued iconic Ambassador car that was manufactured by group firm Hindustan Motors. It has presence in technology and automotive, home and building, and healthcare and education sectors.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Congress high command has appointed Pradyot Kishore Debburman as the new president of Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC), a party leader said here Tuesday.

AICC general secretary K C Venugopal issued a statement on Monday evening stating that that Congress president Rahul Gandhi has appointed Pradyot Debburman as the new Tripura Congress president, TPCC vice president Tapas Dey said.

The statement also said that Congress party appreciates the contribution of outgoing Tripura PCC president Birajit Sinha.

Debburman at present is the working president of TPCC. He is a member of of Tripuras erstwhile royal family the Manikya's.

Debburman thanked Rahul Gandhi for appointing him the new TPCC president.

"Thank you @RahulGandhi! I hope to ensure that an era of clean and honest is brought about in Tripura," he tweeted.

"There was misrule in CPI (M) led Left Front regime and there is misrule in BJP-led incumbent governments tenure as well. I want to bring clean and honest and want educated, young people to join the party and appeal to those who left Congress to return, Debburman told reporters here Tuesday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy Tuesday hailed the pilots of Indian Air Force (IAF) for carrying out air strikes on the terror camps inside Pakistan.

"I salute our Indian Air Force for their attack on terrorist camps inside Pakistan. The country is proud of you (pilots of IAF)," he said in his twitter handle.

India Tuesday carried out pre-dawn air strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan and is believed to have destroyed terrorist targets.

The strike comes amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan following the February 14 suicide attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group in Kashmir's Pulwama district that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

Strikes involving several fighter jets of the IAF successfully destroyed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was up all night as he monitored the operation to destroy a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Pakistan, relaxing only after all the pilots returned safely home, government sources said Tuesday.

After congratulating all those involved in the operation around 4.30 am, he got busy with his daily routine as he prepared for a full day's schedule, including the meeting of the at his residence around 10 am.

He then rushed to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, where President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2015-2018. Later, Modi flew to Rajasthan for a rally and returned to New Delhi to attend an ISKCON event.

"The prime minister did not sleep a wink all night and remained intimately involved in the operations," said one source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Modi attended a News18 television channel conclave at the Taj Palace hotel on Monday night, and left for home at 9.15 pm. After reaching his 7 Lok Kalyan Marg residence in 10 minutes, he took a light meal and became involved in the operation, going through the preparations for the air strike on the training camp, the source said.

It is not clear if he was at home or at some other location where a control room monitored the historic events about to unfold.

The prime minister was in touch with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Air Force Chief B.S. Dhanoa before, during and after the operation, the source, who is close to the prime minister, said.

Once the operation ended, he checked with officials about the well-being of the pilots involved. the source said.

When it was clear everyone was safe, the prime minister withdrew and turned his attention to other matters, he said.
In his first public address after air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday said the country is in safe hands and that he will not let the country down.

The prime minister stressed that nothing was above the nation.

"Today is a day to pay homage to India's bravehearts. Today, from the land of Churu, I want to assure the people of the country that the country is in safe hands," he said at a public rally here.

The prime minister, however, did not make a direct reference to the strikes.

In a swift and precise air strike following the Pulwama attack, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders.

The operation, described as a non-military, preemptive strike, was welcomed by the entire political spectrum and military experts who had been advocating retribution after the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama claimed by JeM.

Recalling his address at the 2014-Vijay Shankhnad Yuva Sangam, the prime minister said today was the day to reiterate the sentiments.

"My soul says today is the day to reiterate what I had expressed in 2014. I swear by my land I won't let my country be destroyed. I will not let the country stop. I will not let the country bow down. I pledge to the motherland that I will not let her head down," he said.

The prime minister began the address by asking the people to raise slogans of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' and said he understood very well the sentiment, excitement and enthusiasm of the people present here.

Nothing is above the nation. Those who serve the nation, everyone who is engaged in nation building, Pradhan Sevak once again greets them, he said.

Modi said he had promised to implement the one rank one pension scheme. It has been implemented and more than 20 lakh families have been benefitted and Rs. 35,000 crore disbursed.

Your pradhan sevak is able to do this work because for us, the party is above self and the nation is above the party.We are engaged in public service and moving ahead with the sentiment of 'Jai jawan Jai kisan Jai vigyan', he said.

The prime minister also acknowledged the contribution of Churu, Sikar and Jhunjhunu in the armed forces, saying soldiers from here are guarding the nation's borders.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh Tuesday sought from the Odisha government, the list of the state's 32 lakh farmers, eligible for benefits under the Centre's PM-KISAN scheme.

Hitting out at chief minister Naveen Patnaik for the delay in furnishing of the data, Singh said at least 12 lakh farmers from the state will be benefitted under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme.

However, the state government has provided a list of only eight lakh farmers and there is no information about the rest, Singh said here after inaugurating a Kisan Mela and several research facilities at the National Rice Research Institute.

If the bank details of the farmers are not shared with the Centre, how can they benefit, Singh rued.

Therefore, the state government should share the complete data with the centre to ensure that the farmers are not deprived of the benefits, he said.

Shedding its initial hesitation, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government had on February 21 decided to be part of the PM-KISAN scheme and extended support for its implementation in the state.

Taking a dig at the state government, the agriculture minister said that it did little for the farming community of Odisha and can not hoodwink it any longer.

Stating that the BJP-led government at the centre was committed to the welfare of the farmers, Singh said all measures have been taken to double farmers' income by 2022.

Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who joined the programme as a guest of honour, also came down heavily on the Naveen Patnaik government alleging that landless farmers and share croppers in the state were deprived of several welfare schemes run for them by the Centre.

As the state government has not been able to prepare the list of landless and share croppers till date, lakhs of such poor people of Odisha are deprived of cash-transfer benefits under NREGS and other welfare schemes, Pradhan said.

At least 3000 farmers from various parts of the country attended the Kisan Mela here, which was also attended among others by ICAR DG Dr Trilochan Mohapatra.

On the occasion, the Union ministers dedicated to the people, a refurbished Cuttack Railway Station, boasting of more passenger facilities.

They also announced the additional stoppage of Visakhapatnam-Amritsar- Visakhapatnam Hirakud Express and Puri-Ajmer-Puri Express at Naraj Marthapur Railway Station on the occasion.

A Rs 10 cr redevelopment project for the Cuttack Railway Station was approved by the Ministry of Railways to provide the passengers a "feel good factor" and a memorable experience.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday briefed Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on the scale and effectiveness of the IAF's preemptive air strikes on terror camps run by Jaish-e-Mohammed across the Line of Control in Pakistan, sources said.

The Prime Minister spoke to Naidu over phone while the Finance Minister visited



the Vice President's residence at Maulana Azad road in Lutyens' Delhi during lunch time and briefed him about the anti-terror air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force during the wee hours Tuesday.

The Prime Minister also earlier briefed President Ram Nath Kovind about the air strikes.

In a swift and precise air strike following the Pulwama attack, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, officials said.

The operation, described as a non-military, preemptive strike, was welcomed by the entire political spectrum and military experts who had been advocating retribution after the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama claimed by JeM.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the media the "intelligence-led operation" on the Pakistan-based terror group's biggest training camp in Balakot became "absolutely necessary" as it was planning more suicide attacks in India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Jubilant people came out on streets and marches were held on Tuesday as the of the IAF's strike on a JeM terror camp in Pakistan was welcomed across the country, with political leaders as well as general public lauding the armed forces for the action which came in the aftermath of the dastardly Pulwama attack.

The sentiment echoed in state assemblies with the legislatures in Haryana, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh passing resolutions prasing the IAF action.

In Jammu and Kashmir, youths came out on the streets to celebrate in Kathua, Samba, Poonch, Rajouri and Udhampur.

A large number of BJP workers and supporters unfurled the tricolour at different places in Jammu city and raised slogans of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'.

"I feel this action will give peace to the martyred soldiers... I salute the Indian armed forces," said Kalavathi, whose husband H Guru from Karnataka was among the 40 CRPF jawans who died in the February 14 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.

Guru's native village Gudigere in Mandya district, about 100 km from Bengaluru, burst into jubilation on hearing about the Indian Air Force's early morning attack on the terror camp. Villagers took out a march and a tricolour was unfurled atop his house as a mark of respect.

The family members of slain CRPF jawan Narayan Lal Gurjar, a resident of Rajasthan, said they feel satisfied after the air strike.

"We were expecting a solid response and reply to Pakistan from India and this has been done now. Our loss is irreparable but we are satisfied with what the government has done," Mahesh Gurjar, a cousin brother of Narayan Lal Gurjar, said.

The Delhi Assembly gave a standing ovation to the Indian Air Force for carrying out the pre-dawn air strike.

While Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Nivas Goel congratulated the IAF for the strikes, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia dedicated the budget to the soldiers who lost their lives in the February 14 Pulwama terror attack.

In the Maharashtra Assembly, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis passed an unanimous resolution congratulating the IAF for carrying out the air strike on terror launch pads in Pakistan.

The Haryana Assembly congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the armed forces for the "surgical strike" across the Line of Control.

Assembly's parliamentary affairs minister Ram Bilas Sharma moved a resolution in the assembly congratulating the armed forces for the strike and showing bravery and valour.

In a pinpointed and swift air strike that lasted less than two minutes, India pounded Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing up to 350 terrorists and trainers who were moved there for their protection after the Pulwama attack, officials said.

The pre-dawn operation, described as "non-military" and "preemptive", struck a five-star resort style camp on a hilltop forest that provided Indian forces with a "sitting duck target" and caught the terrorists in their sleep, sources said.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath praised Modi and said he is the only one who could "make an impossible task possible".

"The Indian Air Force has killed more than 400 terrorists. Hitting the enemy in its den can be done only by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"If anyone tries to commit any audacious act in the state, not only that person, but even the seeds of the audacious act will be eliminated," Adityanath said while addressing a public meeting in Hardoi.

The Jammu and Kashmir BJP said the air strike was a revenge of the Pulwama terror attack.

"Our IAF struck across the border in the wee hours and taught Pakistan a lesson in the language it understands. The attack left Pakistan bloodied as hundreds of terrorists and their trainers were done to death and their bodies blown to pieces," State BJP president Ravinder Raina told reporters here.

He said this is New India and it will not tolerate terror attacks.

The Jammu and Kashmir Congress said, "We congratulate the IAF for the successful pre-emptive air strike against terrorists camps in PoK. The nation feels proud of our armed forces."



Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and BJP leader Jai Ram Thakur in a tweet said "the strikes have again proved that India is secure under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Political leaders cutting across party lines in Karnataka Tuesday hailed India's pre-emptive strikes on terror camps in Pakistan, with Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy offering his "salute" to the Indian Air Force.

"My Salute to the Indian Airforce. Jai Jawan. Jai Hind. #IndiaStrikesBack #IndianAirForce," Kumaraswamy said in a tweet.

India conducted a major preemptive strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.

India's action comes close to the Pulwama incident in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed in one of the deadliest terror strikes in decades in Jammu and Kashmir.

Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara commended the efforts of the Indian Air Force pilots who risked their lives for the country.

"Salute the @IAF_MCC for the massive show of strength. Commendable feat by Indian armed forces and our pilots who risked their lives for the country.

Jai Hind!" Parameshwara tweeted.

Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge welcomed India's retaliatory action and said it was not a decision taken by the government, but of the armed forces 'that keep taking such decision from time to time.

The entire country should support their action," he said.

Kharge said all the governments carry out similar strikes and the same has been followed now.

"All governments have been carrying out cross firing at the border in the interest of the nation. Our government too carried out similar attacks six times. The same is being followed now," he told reporters at Afzalpur in Kalaburagi district in north Karnataka.

Kharge said Congress had already stated it would support whatever steps the armed forces take in the interest of the nation and to protect the boundaries. There was no 'second thought that the party continues to support them, he said.

Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah, calling it surgical strike 2, termed the action as a "big lesson" for Pakistan.

"My salute to #indianairforce for carrying out #Surgicalstrike2 on terror camps.

A big lesson for Pakistan about how to handle terror groups in their own backyard," Siddaramaiah said in a tweet.

Karnataka BJP workers celebrated the action by the Indian Air force and central government by bursting crackers, near the party head quarters here.

"It's a day to salute our braves. India has struck the biggest Jaish-e-Muhammad terrorist camp in Balakote.

This is#NewIndia, How's the Josh ?" state BJP chief and former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa tweeted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Various political parties in Karnataka Tuesday hailed India's preemptive strikes on Jaish-e-Mohammed's terror camps in Pakistan, with Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy offering his "salute" to the Indian Air Force.

"My Salute to the Indian Airforce. Jai Jawan. Jai Hind. #IndiaStrikesBack #IndianAirForce," Kumaraswamy, a senior Janata Dal (S) leader, said in a tweet.

India struck Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest camp in Pakistan early Tuesday in a major "preemptive" action killing a large number of terrorists and trainers of the Pak-based terror group preparing to carry out suicide attacks in this country, a top official said.

Giving details of the "intelligence led operation" at a conference here, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said credible intelligence was received that the JeM was planning to carry out other suicide attacks in India after the Pulwama bombing on a CRPF convoy 12 days ago that killed 40 jawans.

Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara commended the efforts of the Indian Air Force pilots who risked their lives for the country.

"Salute the @IAF_MCC for the massive show of strength. Commendable feat by Indian armed forces and our pilots who risked their lives for the country. Jai Hind!," Parameshwara tweeted.

Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah, calling it surgical strike 2, termed the action a "big lesson" for Pakistan.

"My salute to #indianairforce for carrying out #Surgicalstrike2 on terror camps.

"A big lesson for Pakistan about how to handle terror groups in their own backyard," Siddaramaiah said in a tweet.

Karnataka BJP workers celebrated the action by the Indian Air force by bursting crackers near the party headquarters here.

"It's a day to salute our braves. India has struck the biggest Jaish-e-Muhammad terrorist camp in Balakote.

"This is #NewIndia, How's the Josh ?," state BJP chief and former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa tweeted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India's pre-emptive strikes on terror camps in Pakistan were hailed Tuesday by leaders of various political parties, with the BJP asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's political will has made the difference while Congress chief Rahul Gandhi lauded the

"Every Indian who had the pain and anguish of the martyrdom of our forces is greatly relieved and delighted this morning. Salute to the Air Force for a meticulous operation. Our forces are world class anyway. It is the political will of our PM and team that made all the difference," BJP general secretary Ram Madhav said.

Amid speculation over terror camps in whether Balakote in PoK or the one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provice were targeted, Madhav tweeted that it was the latter.



ALSO READ: Indian armed forces shoot down Pakistani drone near border in Gujarat

"By the way no doubt about which Balakot it was; it is the one in Manshera district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa," he tweeted.

Lauding the pilots of the after air strikes on Pakistan, Gandhi tweeted, "I salute the pilots of the IAF."



Every Indian who had d pain n anguish of d martyrdom of our forces is greatly relieved and delighted this morning. Salute to d Air Force for a meticulous operation. Our forces r world class anyway. It is d political will of our PM n team that made all d difference.  Ram Madhav (@rammadhavbjp) February 26, 2019

The Congress also tweeted, hailing the role of the in keeping Indians safe with its consistent and determined effort.

BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javdekar told reporters that people of Indian stood solidly behind their armed forces as he described the IAF strikes as an act of great valour.

People have faith in Modi's leadership, he said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also hailed the Indian Air Force (IAF) for carrying out air strikes in Pakistan.

"IAF also means India's Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind," Banerjee tweeted.

Congress leader and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh hailed it as a great job by the Indian Air Force.

"The IAF strikes have sent the much-needed signal to Pakistan and the terrorists it's harbouring - don't think you can get away with acts like the Pulwama Attack. Bravo to the IAF men and my full support for the action," he said.
Leaders cutting across the political divide Tuesday came together to hail the Indian Air Force's strikes on a terrorist camp in Pakistan, with Prime Minister asserting that the country is in safe hands and he will not let the nation down.

While opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, kept their reactions to praising the IAF, BJP leaders and their allies used what is being seen as Indian retaliation following the Pulwama attack to laud Modi's decisive leadership and political will which, they asserted, have driven the response from armed forces.

Following an all-party meeting called by the government to brief leaders on the operation, the asserted that it will support security forces in their efforts to finish terrorism coming into from outside as parties praised the IAF for its action.

The prime minister appeared at three public events and hinted at the IAF operation to loud applause from his audiences, even though he did not make any direct reference to the action.

"My soul says today is the day to reiterate what I had expressed in 2014 that I won't let my country down. I pledge to the motherland that I will not let her head bow. Today is a day to pay homage to India's bravehearts. I want to assure people of the country that the nation is in safe hands," said at a rally in Churu in

In a pinpointed and swift air strike, pounded Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in early Tuesday, killing up to 350 terrorists and trainers who were moved there for their protection after the Pulwama attack, officials said.

As the news came out, tweeted his praise for the IAF. "I salute the pilots of the IAF," he said.

Trinamool chief and West Bengal Chief Minister echoed the view, saying "IAF also means India's Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind."



Joining in, supremo Mayawati offered her salute and respect for the IAF but added that had the government given a free hand to the armed forces earlier terrorist attacks in Pulwama, Pathankot and Uri would have been avoided.

The BJP was quick in seizing on the issue to project Modi's "strong and decisive" leadership at a time when security has emerged as an important political plank in the run up to the Lok Sabha election.

Its said the IAF strikes on terrorist camps in underscore the will and resolve of a new and it has shown that the country is safe under Modi's strong and decisive leadership.

"I congratulate and salute the bravery and valour of our armed forces. Today's action further demonstrates that India is safe and secure under the strong and decisive leadership of PM Nrendra Modi," he said.

People had demanded that such a response be given that the enemy thinks 10 times before repeating something like the Pulwama attack, Shah said at an event in

"The entire country is celebrating Diwali after the air strikes on terrorist camp," he said.

Top BJP leaders and Union ministers echoed a similar view. Union minister said India stood firmly behind Modi.

Its ally and said the stringent action against terrorism is a victory of Modi's skilful leadership.

Taking a dig at opposition parties, he said it shows the country needs a strong government and not a helpless one.

BJP's ideological mentor and Hindutva organisation congratulated the government and the Indian Air Force, saying they have translated into action the angry feelings of Indians following the Pulwama attack.

Several State governments also lauded the IAC strikes.

The assembly in the Congress-ruled saw Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, BJP legislative party leader Dharamlal Kaushik and other members of the saluting the valour of Indian soldiers.

"The state assembly hails the bravery and courage of The entire is with our forces," Speaker Charandas Mahant said.

In the assembly, an unanimous resolution was passed congratulating the IAF for carrying out the air strike on terror launch pads in

The assembly congratulated Modi and the armed forces for the "surgical strike" across the Line of Control.

Hindutva leader and Chief Minister praised Modi and said he is the only one who could "make an impossible task possible".



"The has killed more than 400 terrorists. Hitting the enemy in its den can be done only by Prime Minister Modi," he said addressing a public meeting in Hardoi.

Conference leader said the strike signifies a "totally new ballgame" as it was first time that air power was used during peace time to hit terrorist targets in the neighbouring country.

"We've entered a whole new paradigm with the Balakote air strike. The post Uri strike was to avenge our losses, Balakote was a 'preemptive strike to prevent an imminent JeM attack'. Totally new ballgame," Abdullah tweeted.
Various political parties Tuesday hailed India's preemptive strikes on Jaish-e-Mohammed's terror camps in Pakistan, with the BJP asserting the country is safe under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decisive leadership and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi lauding the Indian Air Force for its action.

The Indian Air Force's strikes on terrorist camps in Pakistan underscores the willpower and resolve a new India, BJP president Amit Shah said, asserting that it has shown that the country is safe under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's strong and decisive leadership.

"I congratulate and salute the bravery and valour of our armed forces. Today's action further demonstrates that India is safe and secure under the strong and decisive leadership of PM Nrendra Modi," he said.

"Our New India will not spare any acts of terror and their perpetrators and patrons," Shah added.

Opposition leaders also hailed the IAF for its valour.

Lauding the pilots of the Indian Air Force Rahul Gandhi tweeted, "I salute the pilots of the IAF." The Congress also tweeted hailing the role of the Indian Air Force in keeping Indians safe with its consistent and determined effort.

Senior BJP leader Ram Madhav said, "Every Indian who had the pain and anguish of the martyrdom of our forces is greatly relieved and delighted this morning. Salute to the Air Force for a meticulous operation. Our forces are world class anyway. It is the political will of our PM and team that made all the difference."



BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javdekar told reporters that people of India stood solidly behind their armed forces. "People have faith in Modi's leadership," he said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted, "IAF also means India's Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind."



Lauding the Indian Air Force, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawatisaid had the Modi government given a free hand to the armed forces earlier, incidents like the ones in Pulwama, Pathankot and Uri would have been avoided.

"Salute and respect for the bravehearts of the Indian Air Force for their bold action against Jaish terrorists," she said.

"The Prime Minister has now given a free hand to the army to take revenge for the martyrdom of soldiers in Pulwama. If this decision was taken earlier by the Modi government, the most sad and worrisome incidents like Pathankot, Uri and Pulwama would not have happened and neither would so many jawans have been martyred," she said in Hindi on Twitter.

Congress leader and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said Indian Air Force has done a great job. "The IAF strikes have sent the much needed signal to Pakistan and the terrorists it's harbouring - don't think you can get away with acts like the Pulwama attack. Bravo to the IAF men and my full support for the action," he said.

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, "I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan."



National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said the strike signifies a "totally new ball game" as it was first time that air power was used during peace time to hit terrorist targets in the neighbouring country.

"We've entered a whole new paradigm with the Balakote air strike. The post Uri strike was to avenge our losses, Balakote was a 'preemptive strike to prevent an imminent JeM attack'. Totally new ballgame," Abdullah tweeted.

Reacting to the developments, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti hoped that "objectives" of both New Delhi and Islamabad had been served.

"Post pre-dawn strikes carried out by IAF, conflicting reports coming in. Official communique by FS claims that terror training camps were bombed while Pak denied this and said that the planes made a hasty retreat after being spotted. Hope objective of both sides has been served," she tweeted.

Punjab minister and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu tweeted, "In the war of right and wrong, you cannot afford to be neutral, The war against terror outfits is spot on...Bravo Indian Air Force @IAF_MCC. Jai Hind."



Sidhu was under fire for his utterances following the Pulwama attack that an entire nation cannot be blamed for terror acts of a handful of people.

Former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal saluted the Indian Air Force fighter pilots for carrying out the "brave and effective air strikes deep inside Pakistan".

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot also congratulated the Indian Air Force. "I salute your (IAF) bravery. The nation is proud of you. Jai Hind." Gehlot tweeted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ailing Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was Tuesday discharged from the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) near here, where he was admitted on Saturday, a senior official said.

Parrikar, 63, was admitted to the GMCH for treatment of his pancreatic ailment.

"The CM has been discharged from the GMCH. He has gone to his residence at Dona Paula," the official from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.

Parrikar was treated by a team of doctors from the New Delhi-based All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), as well as doctors from the GMCH, the official added.

Parrikar has been ailing for the last one year and has undergone treatment in the US as well as at AIIMS Delhi, besides hospitals in Mumbai and Goa.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami and DMK President M K Stalin, among others, Tuesday hailed India's early morning air strikes in Pakistan, where IAF fighter jets destroyed terrorist launch pads.

Veteran star Rajinikanth and actor-politician Kamal Haasan also hailed the strikes,which struck Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest camp in Pakistan early Tuesday in a major "preemptive" action.

A large number of terrorists and trainers of the Pak-based terror group preparing to carry out suicide attacks in India were killed in the attack.

Palaniswami lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the air strikes, commending him for his "bold" efforts against terrorism.

Modi was tasting success in rooting out terrorism, which was threatening the entire world, the chief minister said in a statement and lauded him on behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu.

"I extend my greetings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi due to whose bold functioning, a successful air strike has been carried out which has demolished terror camps in Pakistan," Palaniswami said.

Stalin, also leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu assembly, hailed the Indian Air Force pilots for their valour.

"Proud of our #IndianAirForce pilots for their exceptional act of valor!," he said in a tweet.

AMMK leader and RK Nagar MLA, TTV Dhinakaran, greeted the IAF pilots "for showing Pakistan India's strength."



"The terrorists have paid the price for the death of our jawans in Pulwama, including two from Tamil Nadu," he said on Twitter and urged people to stand united as Indians against terrorism.

DMDK founder Vijayakant appreciated the 'befitting response' given by India to Pakistan by way of the air strikes.

"We extend our greetings and thanks to the IAF, Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for IAF's befitting response to Pakistan," he said in a statement.

The attacks would come as a "big relief" to the families of Indian jawans who had lost their lives in such Pak-trained terrorists' attacks and today's air strikes have proven that the Indian army was no less to anyone, he added.

Haasan, Makkal Neethi Maiam (MNM) President welcomed the air strikes carried out by the IAF and 'saluted' the valour of the "heroes."



"Our 12 (apparently fighter jets) return safely home after wreaking havoc on terrorist camps in Pakistan. India is proud of its heroes. I salute their valour," he said.

Actor Rajinikanth took to Twitter to express his feelings.

"BRAVO INDIA," he tweeted.

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Pakistan Army confirmed that Indian fighter jets dropped "four bombs" during an operation on Tuesday but downplayed its significance, saying the Indian attack was repulsed and while going back the aircraft "jettisoned their payload."



Army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor also said Pakistan will "surprise" India with its response that will be in all domains including "diplomatic, political and military."



"Prime Minister Imran Khan told the army and people that get ready for any eventuality. Now it is time for India to wait for our response. We have decided. Wait for it," Ghafoor said.

His remarks came hours after India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 80-km from the Line of Control, early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders.

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Hailing air strikes on Pakistan-based terror camps, industry leader Sunil Bharti Mittal Tuesday said that no body should take India as a soft power.

He also said the government will take an appropriate action as it has now taken whenever its people are attacked.

"India has to ensure that we are not taken lightly by any external forces; and what India needs to do, it will do... in that sense as a citizen of India, (I) will always be wanting India's position on the world stage be held high. Nobody should be able to take India as a soft power. Whenever such issues will arise, obviously the govt will take appropriate action as it is taking," Mittal told reporters here reacting to reports of air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan by the Indian Air Force fighter jets across the Line of Control (LoC).

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Pakistan on Tuesday summoned India's acting High Commissioner here and condemned the "violation of its territorial sovereignty" by Indian fighter jets.

In a statement, the Foreign Office said that at "approximately 02:54 hours (local time), 8 Indian aircraft were effectively intercepted by the Pakistani Air Force jets and forced" to return.

The Indian jets "randomly released their ordinance which landed in an uninhabited remote area," it added.

"The Acting Foreign Secretary summoned the Indian Acting High Commissioner and strongly condemned the Indian violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity," it said.

It said that the "baseless, reprehensible Indian claims of targeting a large terrorist camp and resultant causalities to placate Indian domestic audience and electioneering were strongly rebutted."



The Acting Foreign Secretary categorically stated that Indian "aggression was a threat to regional peace and stability and would get a befitting response by Pakistan at a time and place of its choosing."



The official also condemned the "baseless" Indian allegations against Pakistan's involvement in the Pulwama terror attack.

India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 80-km from the Line of Control, early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, officials said in New Delhi.

The air strikes came 12 days after the JeM carried out the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria was called to New Delhi for consultations in the wake of the attack.

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Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday said India has committed "aggression" by violating the LoC and Islamabad has "right to respond".

His remarks came after combat jets of the (IAF) bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side in a pre-dawn strike.

Prime Minister was chairing an "important meeting" to discuss the situation, sources here said.

India's air strikes came 12 days after the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

In Islamabad, Foreign Minister Qureshi said India has violated the LoC and has right to respond.

"First, they committed aggression against today. It is a violation of the LoC. I consider it a violation of the LoC, and Pakistan his right to give a suitable response in self defence," he told reporters after an "emergency meeting" with high-level officials at the Foreign Office (FO) for consultations.

Qureshi briefed Prime Minister Khan after the meeting at the FO.

Earlier, the alleged that the (IAF) violated the Line of Control (LoC) in Muzafarabad Sector.

"Indian aircraft intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said in a tweet.



Payload of hastily escaping Indian aircrafts fell in open. pic.twitter.com/8drYtNGMsm  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019

Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage.  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019

" violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft went back," he tweeted.



Indian Air Force violated Line of Control. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircrafts gone back. Details to follow.  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 25, 2019

Senator Sherry Rehman, a leading opposition leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, said that "Indian incursion" across the LOC is strategically "ill-advised and tactically pointless".

"Such moves only ratchet up tensions in a region bristling with anger.

"Obvious that (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi's election wardrums make prospects for talks collateral damage. India's ruling party sees no other way to win the elections hence, itching for war," Rehman said in a tweet.

Meanwhile, Pakistani media was reporting that the Indian government has staged a symbolic intrusion due to domestic pressure.

Prime Minister Khan has not commented on the issue.
The army Tuesday resorted to heavy mortar shelling on 55 forward areas in Jammu, Rajouri and districts after IAF jets struck a JeM terror camp across the LoC, army sources said.

The army used heavy weaponry, firing 120 mm mortars targeting civilian hamlets and forward posts since 1730 hours Tuesday, an army officer told

They fired from small, automatic and heavy weaponry in Krishna Gati, Balakote, Khari Karmara, Mankote, Tarkundi ( district), Kalal, Baba Khori, Kalsian, Laam and Jhangar areas (Rajouri) and Pallanwala and Laleali (Jammu), the officer added.

There was no injury or loss of life in the ceasefire violations, the officer said, adding that Indian troops gave a "befitting reply" to the firing.

According to officials, more than a dozen ceasefire violations took place on Tuesday-- the fourth consecutive day of shelling and firing on Indian posts.

Earlier in the day, Pakistan violated the ceasefire in Nowshera sector along the Line of Control (LoC), the officer said, adding that locals in the border areas have been asked to not venture out.

Panic has gripped the border areas and some locals have left their homes and moved to safer areas, reports said.

Since last Wednesday, Pakistan has violated the ceasefire everyday barring Friday, the officer said.

The Nowshera sector witnessed unprovoked firing from the Pakistan side for three consecutive days on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

The Pakistani guns remained silent on Friday but on Thursday ceasefire was violated in sector while on Wednesday, they initiated unprovoked shelling in Kalal sector of Rajouri district.

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 tensions between and Pakistan following the and increasing ceasefire violations, the people along the LoC and the International Border (IB) in the region are living under intense fear.
Pakistani media gave extensive coverage to the Indian Air Force's (IAF) pre-dawn operation to destroy a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in the country and most of them stuck to the official line that the Indian fighter jets entered the Pakistani territory by 3 to 4-km without doing any damage.

Hours after the strike, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the media in New Delhi that a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated.

Official sources also said the IAF jets used a number of laser-guided bombs, each weighing over 1,000 kg, to destroy the the JeM training facility in Balakot, around 80-KM from the Line of Control.

All major Pakistani TV channels, including the state-run PTV, Geo, Dawn, Express, SAMAA, ARY broadcast throughout the day that Indian jets violated the Line of Control in early hours of Tuesday, but did not talk much about India's claim of having destroyed JeM camps in the Balakot valley.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side in a pre-dawn strike, 12 days after the Pakistan-based terror group JeM carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

There was no other in the Pakistani media since 11 am on Tuesday except the "Indian aggression". Interestingly, the Pakistani media picked up the official line that the Indian planes entered the Pakistani territory by 3 to 4-km and no damage was done.

All the channels gave live coverage to the National Assembly session where leaders of the main opposition parties PMLN and PPP talked of unity in the face of "Indian aggression".

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senior leader Khursheed Shah and former foreign minister Khwaja Asif said that the Indian planes entered 30-km inside Pakistan, putting a question mark on the official claim of the Pakistani government that the aircraft entered only 3 to 4-km. The media censored this statement of 30-km.

Talking to C24 News, senior journalist Iftikhar Ahmed questioned if the Indian planes only violated Pakistan's air space by 3-km, then why the Imran Khan government took more than 12 hours to clarify on it.

After his comment, the channel took him off the air.

Another senior journalist Anjum Rashid said Pakistani media should not create an environment of "war hysteria" as it would serve no good.

"We should take up this matter with international community to put pressure on India," he said.

"Why did not we shoot down the intruding Indian fighter jets?" questioned senior journalist Ansar Abbasi.

"Indian Air Force attack is intelligently planned. They don't hit actual targets but they derive political advantage at home. It establishes an incursion below threshold putting Pakistan in an awkward situation as it has no cause to respond," said GNN TV anchor Moeed Pirzada.

"It was tragic that Foriegn Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi convened an emergency metting at the Foreign Office six hours after Indian aircraft came into our territory. Even a tortise can move faster," said anchor Syed Talat Hussain.

Known Geo TV anchor Hamid Mir put a question mark on the Indian claim of having destroying the terror camps of JeM.

Most media anchors, journallists and security experts also followed this line.

Some TV channels also ran the footage of the locals of Balakote, claiming that no unsual activity took place in their area.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
France announced Tuesday the death of one the few surviving members of the legendary unit of French resistance soldiers who fought alongside American and British troops on the D-Day invasion of Normandy in June 1944.

Jean Masson died on Saturday aged 95, meaning only three members of the original First French Marine Rifles Battalion led by the Free French commander Philippe Kieffer are still alive, the D-Day Overlord website said.

When World War II broke out Masson quit France and was imprisoned for a time in Spain before being able to reach England.

After joining Free French recruits for training in Scotland, the Kieffer Commando unit stormed the Sword Beach sector at Colleville-sur-Orne, where Masson was seriously injured by a mortar shell.

"He nevertheless returned to keep fighting in the Netherlands and into Germany," the Armed Forces Ministry said in a statement.

"I had to swim while holding my rifle out of the water before my feet could touch the ground," Masson recalled in a French television interview.

"But I hadn't come all that way to stay in the hold." The 177 commando members were the first French uniformed troops to set foot on French soil since Paris capitulated to Germany in June 1940.

Yet they were only granted France's highest award, the Legion of Honour, 60 years later in 2004 - General Charles De Gaulle had long considered them a British unit.

Historians have suggested De Gaulle may have been miffed at being largely excluded from D-Day plannings by British and American military leaders.

"In tribute to this brave soldier. My condolences to his family and relatives," secretary of state for the armed forces Genevieve Darrieussecq said on Twitter.

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Odisha government Tuesday signed an MoU with Nabkisan Ltd, a subsidiary of NABARD, for access to collateral free loan facilities by Farmers' Producer Organisations (FPOs) from financial institutions, officials said here.

The MoU encompasses creation of a Rs 10 crore Credit Guarantee Fund by Odisha government which will be administered by Nabkisan and pave the way for providing collateral free loans by the state's financial institutions to the FPOs.

As per the MoU, loans given by Public Sector Banks and Nabkisan to the FPOs will be guaranteed under the Credit Guarantee Fund, officials said.

It is a fallout of the State FPO Policy, 2018, launched by the state government in coordination with NABARD.

This is also as a sequel to an earlier MoU executed between NABARD and Department of Agriculture for promotion and nurturing of FPOs with a view to address the problems of small and marginal farmers of the state who constitute nearly 92 per cent of the farming community in the state, officials said.

The MoU was signed by Bijay Ketan Upadhyay, Director, Directorate of Horticulture, and Neeraj Verma, CEO, Nabkisan Ltd., Mumbai, in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

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The Odisha government Tuesday congratulated the Indian Air Force for carrying out air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan.

A resolution congratulating the Indian Air Force was passed at the Cabinet meeting here chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, chief secretary A P Padhi told reporters.

The state Cabinet started its business by lauding the efficiency and ability of the IAF, Padhi said.

Earlier, the chief minister had praised the IAF over its successful air strike inside Pakistan.

"Salute the #IndianAirForce for pre-dawn air strike on terror camps in defence of our Nation. #JaiHind," Patnaik tweeted.

As television channels informed about the IAF air strike inside Pakistan, there was celebrations across the state including at the villages of two Odia CRPF personnel who were among the 40 killed in the Pulwama terror attack.

The residents of Shikhar village assembled to celebrate the attack.

"I am happy that India has attacked the terror camps. The people indulged in violence should be taught a lesson. We want more attacks," said 18-year-old Roni whose father CRPF Havildar Prasanna Kumar Sahoo laid down his life in Pulwama incident.

Similar was the scene at Niali, the village of slain CRPF constable Manoj Kumar Behera, who also died in Pulwama attack. As the came, people also thronged Beheras house to inform their family abut the incident.

"I came to know about the air strike on Pakistan terror camps. India should demolish all such terror camps operating in Pakistan. If they (Pakistan) are not demolishing, India should do it for the sake of peace," said Sabitri Behera, the mother of Manoj Kumar Behera.

In a pinpointed and swift air strike that lasted less than two minutes, India pounded Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing up to 350 terrorists and trainers who were moved there for their protection after the Pulwama attack.

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Makkal Needhi Maiam Tuesday announced that non-members would be allowed to seek party tickets to contest the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Speaking to reporters here, the party president Kamal Haasan said applications can be procured from February 28 to March 7 at a cost of Rs 10,000 each.

"This is not just for MNM members. But people also should take part. Non-members can also recommend a prospective candidate from a district or zone if they think the person would come out as a best MP," he said.

Talking to reporters here, Haasan asserted that his party would join hands only with like-minded parties.

"We are not going to join hands with those with whom we are having differences of opinion. Having such concurrence with allies is very important, that is why we are not hurrying on fixing an alliance," he said, adding talks were going on.

Asked if there was a change in his stand on contesting alone, Haasan said, "Earlier we had said if there is a necessity we would contest alone. If there is a circumstance like that now we would be going alone and are ready for it."



The MNM's 'election committee' would review the applications and hold a formal interview at the party's headquarters in Chennai after March 7 to shortlist its candidates, the party said.

Early this month, the actor-politician had said his Makkal Needhi Maiam would contest all the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu on its own in the coming Lok Sabha polls, indicating a shift in its policy to forge alliances.

"We are trying to serve good for the people with clean hands. We are trying to keep our hands clean by not allying with any of the Dravidian parties," he said.

Asked whether his party would contest all the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and one in neighbouring Puducherry, he said, "yes, we have taken such a decision".

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Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad on Tuesday commended the Indian Air Force for carrying out a successful operation against terrorist camps across the LOC.

Spontaneous celebrations erupted in many parts of the state while bereaved family members of the two CRPF personnel from Bihar, who were among those killed in the dastardly Pulwama terror attack, said it felt like balm on our wounds.

Such a step was warranted in view of the public anger against terrorism that was prevailing in the country. A beginning has been made and the Centre must take all steps that are required to wipe out terrorism, Kumar told reporters here.

Congratulations to our great Air Force for a successful operation. Jai Hindi Jai Bharat, tweeted Prasad, who is in Ranchi serving sentences in fodder scam cases.

Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, who belongs to the BJP, said in a statement it was on Bihars soil during his February 17 visit that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had remarked that he felt the same fire in himself that was raging in the hearts of the people after the Pulwama attack. The entire nation is with the PM and the Indian Air Force in this proud moment.

Lok Janshakti Party heir apparent Chirag Paswan, who had recently shot off an impassioned letter to the Prime Minister urging him to launch a drive against terrorism which should not be discontinued until a single terrorist was alive, tweeted our Air Force has avenged the Pulwama terror attack by destroying the hideouts of Jaish. Salutations to the armed forces for this courageous expedition.

Patna Sahib MP Shatrughan Sinha, in mostly for his outbursts against the BJP leadership and the Modi government, tweeted Honourable PM Sir! The entire nation is with @narendramodi in this hour. We are all with you and you have our fullest support. Salutes to the great Indian Air Force.

RLSP supremo Upendra Kushwaha tweeted big salute to the pilots of air strikes. Armed forces ki jai.

Hindustani Awam Morcha president Jitan Ram Manjhi said in a statement I salute the armed forces who have made India proud world over by their act of valour.

In Masaurhi block of rural Patna, slain CRPF head constable Sanjay Kumar Sinhas family members say it feels like balm on our wounds which are still raw. There could not have been a better tribute to him a day ahead of his shraddh (ceremony held 13 days after cremation).

In Bhagalpur, CRPF constable Ratan Thakurs father Ram Niranjan Thakur said despite having lost my son at an early age I had said I would not hesitate in sending my younger son in service of the nation. I say so again and with pride.

Youngsters, carrying tricolours and chanting patriotic slogans, came out on the streets of the Bihar capital to celebrate the IAF action. Residents of Nawada district lit earthen lamps at Waris Aliganj Chowk saying the occasion was like Diwali for them.

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The National Investigation Agency on Tuesday carried out searches at premises of separatists, including Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, in connection with a case related to funding to terror and separatists groups in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

The NIA team, accompanied by local police and CRPF personnel, swooped at residences of some of the separatist leaders, including the Mirwaiz, Naseem Geelani, son of pro-Pakistan separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and chairman of Tehrek-e-Hurriyat Ashraf Sehrai, they said.

There was no word about the recoveries made from these residences during the day-long searches.

Besides these, the houses of JKLF leader Yaseen Malik, Shabir Shah, Zaffar Bhat and Masarat Alam were also raided.

Barring the Mirwaiz and Sehrai, all other leaders were inside jail for quite some time now.

The NIA had questioned two maternal uncles of the Mirwaiz Maulvi Manzoor and Maulvi Shafat and his close aides last year. Both of them are retired senior government officers.

The NIA probe seeks to identify the chain of players behind the financing of terrorist activities, including those who pelted stones on security forces, burnt down schools and damaged government establishments.

The case names Hafeez Saeed, Pakistan-based chief of Jamaat-ud Dawah, the front for banned Lashker-e-Taiba, as an accused, besides organisations such as the Hurriyat Conference (factions led by Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq), Hizbul Mujahideen and Dukhtaran-e-Millat.

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The National Investigation Agency has filed a charge sheet against six alleged sympathisers of terror group ISIS in Coimbatore, officials said here on Tuesday.

It is alleged that these members of the proscribed terror group were part of a criminal conspiracy to target "Hindu leaders/ activists at Coimbatore" who are critical of the ISIS and of religious terrorism, an NIA spokesperson said in a statement.

The agency has filed a charge sheet against Mohamed Ashiq A, Ismail S, Samsudeen, Mohammed Salauddin S, Jafar Shadik Ali and Shahul Hameed before special court in Chennai, the official said.

Ashiq, Ismail, Samsudeen, Mohammed Salauddin, Shadik were arrested on September 1, last year by state police when they had assembled with the intention of conducting further preparations and carrying out terrorist attacks targeting the leaders in Coimbatore.

The case was re-registered by NIA on October 30, 2018 and investigation taken from Tamil Nadu Police, the spokesperson said.

"?NIA investigation has revealed that the arrested accused persons had got radicalized on the violent extremist ideology of the proscribed terrorist organization ISIS/ Daish and they had been propagating the same ideology over the social media," the official said.

The agency said the alleged sympathisers had organised themselves into a terrorist gang since June, 2018 and furthered the activities by targeting the leaders.

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In another twist to the politically sensitive Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid land case in Ayodhya, the Supreme Court Tuesday asked the contending parties to explore the possibility of amicably settling the decades old dispute through mediation, saying it may help in "healing relations".

Even if there is "one per cent chance" of settling the dispute amicably, the parties should go for mediation, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi suggested.

The top court said it would pass an order on March 5 on whether to refer the matter to a court-appointed mediator.

The suggestion for mediation was mooted by one of the judges, Justice S A Bobde, during the hearing when both the Hindu and the Muslim sides were sparring over the veracity of documents related to the case which were translated by the Uttar Pradesh government and filed with the apex court registry.

"We are considering it (mediation) very seriously. You all (parties) have used the word that this matter is not adversarial. We would like to give a chance to mediation even if there is one per cent chance," said the bench, also comprising Justices Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S A Nazeer.

"We would like to know your (both parties) views on it. We do not want any third party to make a comment to jeopardise the entire process," the bench said.

While some of the Muslim parties agreed to the court's suggestion on mediation, some Hindu bodies including the Ram Lalla Virajman opposed it, saying several such attempts have failed in the past.

"Do you seriously think that the entire dispute for so many years is for property? We can only decide property rights but we are considering the possibility of healing relations," the bench said.

The bench, which posted the main matter for hearing after eight weeks and directed its registry to provide translated copies of documents to the parties within six weeks to check their veracity, said it wanted to explore the possibility of mediation to utilise the time till the next date of hearing.

Senior advcoate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for the legal heirs of original litigant M Siddiq, said they were agreeable to the "very important suggestion" of mediation but said the court should fix a time frame for mediation as the dispute was a "knotty issue".

"We will also have to fix the time frame after talking to the mediator," the bench said.

Senior advocate C S Vaidyanathan, appearing for Ram Lalla Virajman, said they did not agree for "another round of mediation" as such attempts have failed in the past.

"In the earlier mediation, it was accepted that Lord Rama was born in Ayodhya but not at this (disputed) site. Mediation has been tried not once but several times," he said.

Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for one of the parties, said things have not worked during earlier round of mediation and "everybody wants that the matter should be decided by the Supreme Court".

"Mediation is not possible so this court should decide the matter," Kumar said.

Dhavan referred to the mediation held between 1991-93 and said, "In the larger interest, this court is saying do it (mediation) again. From our side, we are agreeable".

At the outset, the apex court said it can proceed with the hearing if there is consensus among the parties with regard to the veracity of the translated documents.

The bench referred to a report filed by the secretary general of the apex court on the status of documents pertaining to the case which said that "the record consists of 38,147 pages of which 12,814 pages are in Hindi, 18,607 pages are in English, 501 pages are in Urdu, 97 pages are in Gurumukhi, 21 pages are in Sanskrit, 86 pages are in other language scripts, 14 pages contain images and 1,729 pages are in combination of more than one language script".

The report, which was shared with the parties in the court, said 11,479 pages were required to be translated and if all eight official translators of the apex court are asked to do the job, it is likely to take about 120 working days to make the case ready for hearing.

Vaidyanathan, however, said the exercise of translation has already been conducted and the parties had raised no objections with regard to their veracity earlier.

He said it was "not appropriate" for the other side to now raise this issue as translated documnents were verified and accepted by all parties in December 2017.

Dhavan said they have not examined the translated copies of the documents filed by the Uttar Pradesh government and they have a right to examine its veracity.

"I am insisting on my right to examine it (documents)," he said, adding, "This kind of accusation (from the other side) that we do not want to argue the case is not right. We do want to argue the case. Apart from authenticity, we will also examine the documents for its relevance".

However, the bench said, "So dispute is arising between the parties about the authenticity of translated documents. We are not going to waste our time if the parties have dispute over this."



The bench said that after the hearing commences in the matter, it does not want a situation where any of the parties raises objection about veracity of the documents.

Fourteen appeals have been filed in the apex court against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya be partitioned equally among the three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.
Nepal's key Madhesi party Rastriya Janata Party Tuesday organised a rally to protest the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 Indian soldiers.

Forty Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed on February 14 in Jammu and Kashmir when a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into their bus in Pulwama district, sparking outrage in the country.

The cadres of Rastriya Janata Party (RJP) organised a rally in Birgunj, a southern Nepal town bordering Raxaul of India, to express solidarity with India in its action against JeM.

Hundreds of cadres and students belonging to the fourth largest party in the Parliament of Nepal organised the rally in Birgunj expressing solidarity with government of India in its action against the terrorist outfit, said Rakesh Mishra, joint secretary of the RJP.

The party slammed Pakistan for allegedly providing shelter to the terrorist outfit.

The protestors carried placards with slogans reading "We are with India in its action against terrorists" and "Down with the country sheltering terrorists".

"People of the world should unite against terrorism and we organised the rally to protest against those who support and provide shelter to the terrorists," said RJP general secretary Rajesh Man Singh.

Madhesis are mostly of Indian-origin.

The party also organised a motorcycle rally to show solidarity with India.

India launched a major diplomatic offensive against Islamabad after the Pulwama attack and highlighted Pakistan's role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

The international community led by the US pressed Pakistan to deny safe haven to terror groups operating form its soil and bring the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack to justice.

India has asked Pakistan to take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control.

New Delhi also announced the withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation status for Pakistan and hiked the customs duty by 200 per cent on goods originating from Pakistan.

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Union Minister Jitendra Singh Tuesday accused erstwhile Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of giving away Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to the neighbouring country on a platter under the influence of Sheikh Abdullah.

He also held the Congress and its allies responsible for the present situation in Kashmir and claimed that past governments' mistakes would be redeemed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Under the influence of Sheikh Abdullah, erstwhile Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru gave away PoK to Pakistan on a platter," said Singh.

"The Congress and its allies are responsible for the present situation in Kashmir," he added.

"The mistakes committed by the past governments, however, will be redeemed by the Modi government," he asserted.

Addressing a BJP workers meeting at Dayalachak in Kathua district, Singh referred to events post-Pulwama terror attack and accused Kashmir-centric mainstream parties and their leaders of being apologetic about terror outfits like Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) instead of condemning it by name.

He said it is appalling to note that at a time when the whole nation is complimenting the Indian Air Force for its feat, some of the Kashmir-centric leaders have crossed "all limits of sensibility and sanity" by speaking in a disconcerting voice.

Singh said India is safe under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and those who are uncomfortable with this the enemies of the country and disloyal to its citizens.

"India under Prime Minister Modi will never let down its security forces," said Singh, saying when the Indian Army was just on the verge of capturing Muzaffarabad and Kotli etc from Pak occupation, Nehru let down the security forces by announcing a ceasefire without even taking his senior-most Cabinet colleague and Home Minister Sardar Patel into confidence.

On the occasion, a get-together of the beneficiaries of the Centre's various welfare schemes was also held.

Several beneficiaries narrated their experiences to the gathering and expressed their gratitude to Prime Minister Modi for rolling out the first-ever incredible schemes like Ujjwala, Ayushman Bharat and PM Kisan Yojana.

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Neanderthals -- often depicted as having poor posture -- walked upright just like modern humans, say scientists who suggest that the prehistoric cavemen may have been more similar to us than many assume.

Researchers at University of Zurich in Switzerland virtually reconstructed the pelvis and spine of a very well-preserved Neanderthal skeleton found in France.

An upright, well-balanced posture is one of the defining features of Homo sapiens. In contrast, the first reconstructions of Neanderthals made in the early 20th century depicted them as only walking partially upright.

These reconstructions were based on the largely preserved skeleton of an elderly male Neanderthal unearthed in La Chapelle-aux-Saints, France.

Since the 1950s, scientists have known that the image of the Neanderthal as a hunched over caveman is not an accurate one.

Their similarities to ourselves -- both in evolutionary and behavioral terms -- have also long been known, but in recent years the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction.

However, a virtual reconstruction of the skeleton from La Chapelle-aux-Saints has now delivered evidence to the contrary, according to a statement.

The computer-generated anatomical model show that both the individual in question as well as Neanderthals in general had a curved lumbar region and neck -- just like the humans of today.

When reconstructing the pelvis, the researchers discovered that the sacrum was positioned in the same way as in modern humans.

This led them to conclude that Neanderthals possessed a lumbar region with a well-developed curvature.

By putting together the individual lumbar and cervical vertebrae, they were able to discern that the spinal curvature was even more pronounced.

The very close contact between the spinous processes -- the bony projections off the back of each vertebra -- became clear, as did the prominent wear marks that were in part caused by the curvature of the spine.

Wear marks in the hip joint of the La Chapelle-aux-Saints skeleton also pointed to the Neanderthals having an upright posture similar to that of modern humans.

"The stress on the hip joint and the position of the pelvis is no different than ours," said Martin Haeusler from the University of Zurich, who led the study.

This finding is also supported by analyses of other Neanderthal skeletons with sufficient remnants of vertebrae and pelvic bones.

"On the whole, there is hardly any evidence that would point to Neanderthals having a fundamentally different anatomy," said Haeusler.

"Now is the time to recognize the basic similarities between Neanderthals and modern humans and to switch the focus to the subtle biological and behavioral changes that occurred in humans in the late Pleistocene," he said.

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The NCLAT Tuesday dismissed a petition of the resolution professional of debt-ridden Monnet Power Company against an NCLT order, which had directed the firm to reconsider claims of its operational creditor state-owned BHEL.

A two-member National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) bench headed by Justice S J Mukhopadhaya asked the RP to act in accordance with the directions passed by the Mumbai bench of the NCLT on October 12, 2018, directing it to re-examine the claims of BHEL.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Mumbai had said RP of Monnet Power Company had "wrongly disallowed the substantial claim in its entirety" of BHEL, an operational creditor of the company.

"... we are not inclined to interfere with the impugned order dated October 12, 2018 passed by the adjudicating authority (NCLT). The 'Resolution Professional' is directed to act in accordance with the directions of the Adjudicating Authority," the appellate tribunal said.

"The appeal is dismissed with aforesaid observations and directions," it said further.

In the ongoing corporate insolvency resolution process of Monnet Power Company, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) had filed an application before the resolution professional to admit the entire claim of Rs 977.49 crore along with interest.

Navneet Kumar Gupta, the RP, did not accept part of the claim, which was contested by BHEL before the NCLT Mumbai.

NCLT Mumbai, while determining inventory cost etc held that RP had wrongly disallowed BHEL's substantial claim and directed him to re-examine the claim on the basis of the accounts and evidence of PSU.

It also said "if the evidences corroborated the claim, the same should also be taken into account while finalising the total claim of BHEL".

This NCLT order was challenged by the RP before NCLAT, which, in turn, rejected.

Monnet Power owes around Rs 6,000 crore to a consortium of lenders, including State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank.

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NASA scientists have recreated the conditions in which life formed deep in the Earth's ocean four billions years ago, which may offer insights into possible habitats in the cosmos which could host alien life.

Astrobiologist Laurie Barge and her team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, are working to recognise life on other planets by studying the origins of life here on Earth.

Their research focuses on how the building blocks of life form in hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor.

To re-create hydrothermal vents in the lab, the team made their own miniature seafloors by filling beakers with mixtures that mimic Earth's primordial ocean.

These lab-based oceans act as nurseries for amino acids, organic compounds that are essential for life as we know it. Like Lego blocks, amino acids build on one another to form proteins, which make up all living things.

"Understanding how far you can go with just organics and minerals before you have an actual cell is really important for understanding what types of environments life could emerge from," Barge said in statement.

"Also, investigating how things like the atmosphere, the ocean and the minerals in the vents all impact this can help you understand how likely this is to have occurred on another planet," said Barge, lead investigator of the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Found around cracks in the seafloor, hydrothermal vents are places where natural chimneys form, releasing fluid heated below Earth's crust.

When these chimneys interact with the seawater around them, they create an that is in constant flux, which is necessary for life to evolve and change.

This dark, warm fed by chemical energy from Earth may be the key to how life could form on worlds farther out in our solar system, far from the heat of the Sun.

"If we have these hydrothermal vents here on Earth, possibly similar reactions could occur on other planets," said Erika Flores, of JPL.

Researchers used ingredients commonly found in early Earth's ocean in their experiments. They combined water, minerals and the "precursor" molecules pyruvate and ammonia, which are needed to start the formation of amino acids.

They tested their hypothesis by heating the solution to 70 degrees Celsius -- the same temperature found near a hydrothermal vent -- and adjusting the pH to mimic the alkaline

They also removed the oxygen from the mixture because, unlike today, early Earth had very little oxygen in its ocean. The team additionally used the mineral iron hydroxide, or "green rust," which was abundant on early Earth.

The green rust reacted with small amounts of oxygen that the team injected into the solution, producing the amino acid alanine and the alpha hydroxy acid lactate.

Alpha hydroxy acids are byproducts of amino acid reactions, but some scientists theorise they too could combine to form more complex organic molecules that could lead to life.

"We've shown that in geological conditions similar to early Earth, and maybe to other planets, we can form amino acids and alpha hydroxy acids from a simple reaction under mild conditions that would have existed on the seafloor," said Barge.

This line of research is important as scientists study worlds in our solar system and beyond that may host habitable environments.

Understanding how life could start in an ocean without sunlight would assist scientists in designing future exploration missions, as well as experiments that could dig under the ice to search for evidence of amino acids or other biological molecules.

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The Nagaland government has passed a resolution in the assembly, rejecting the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, amid a walkout by 26 opposition MLAs.

The resolution, passed on Monday, outrightly rejected the bill, stating it cannot be implemented in Nagaland as the proposed legislation will impact the "unique history and status of the Nagas under the Constitution".

It was moved by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Saturday.

The resolution also expressed solidarity with the states and communities of the Northeast in opposing the bill, as it has the potential of "changing the demographic profile, which will be against the interest of indigenous tribes and can divest them of their constitutionally guaranteed political, cultural and economic rights".

The opposition MLAs, however, walked out of the assembly, saying they would not support the resolution in its present form.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, passed in Lok Sabha on January 8, seeks to provide citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India.

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The Nagaland Assembly has passed a resolution, rejecting outright the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, amid a walkout by 26 opposition MLAs.

The resolution, passed on Monday, denounced the bill, stating it cannot be implemented in Nagaland as the proposed legislation will impact the "unique history and status of the Nagas under the Constitution".

It was moved by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Saturday.

The resolution also expressed solidarity with the states and communities of the Northeast in opposing the bill, as it has the potential of "changing the demographic profile, which will be against the interest of indigenous tribes and can divest them of their constitutionally guaranteed political, cultural and economic rights".

The opposition MLAs, however, walked out of the assembly, saying they would not support the resolution in its present form.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, passed in Lok Sabha on January 8, seeks to provide citizenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India.

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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.
Politicians including Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath and his predecessor Shivraj Singh Chouhan Tuesday hailed the air strike by Indian armed forces on terror launch pads in Pakistan.

India struck Jaish-e-Mohammed's(JeM) biggest camp in Pakistan early Tuesday in a major "preemptive" action killing a large number of terrorists and trainers of the Pak-based terror group preparing to carry out suicide attacks in this country.

"I congratulate the brave soldiers of Indian Air Force for the massive strike on terrorists' camp. My party and I are always with you for every move initiated in the country's interest," Kamal Nath tweeted.

In his tweet, Chouhan, said, "The drive to eliminate terrorism has begun. Anybody with ill intention against India will meet the same fate as the Jaish terrorists".

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The Madhya Pradesh cabinet Tuesday passed a resolution praising the Indian Air Force (IAF) for destroying terrorist training camps in Pakistan.

The cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Kamal Nath passed the resolution, an official said.

"The resolution said the IAF has made the whole country proud with the air strikes," he added.

The resolution called for strongest means to deal with the scourge of terrorism, the official said.

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The air strikes carried out by India on terror camps in Pakistan echoed in the Haryana Assembly Tuesday, with Health Minister Anil Vij telling the opposition members that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown his "56-inch chest".

In a swift and precise air strike following the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders.

Firebrand BJP leader Vij told the House that Modi has shown to the whole world that terrorism cannot be tolerated and those who sponsor it will also be taught a lesson.

"What Modi says, he does. He has shown that terrorism cannot be tolerated... Pakistan has been taught a lesson, we have hit them inside their home. This is called 56-inch chest. This is called a lion's chest," Vij said.

Vij intervened when Congress MLA Raghubir Singh Kadian was participating in a debate on the Budget, which was presented in the state assembly by Finance Minister Abhimanyu on Monday.

Kadian had claimed that constitutional and autonomous bodies have come under "attack" during the Narendra Modi-led dispensation.

As other Congress members also supported Kadian, Vij hit back, asking the opposition members, "which attack are you talking about? Don't raise baseless things here".

Vij said, "Today, attack has been carried out across the border".

The Ambala Cantt MLA then told Congress members they too should praise India's step taken in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, which left 40 CRPF personnel dead.

"It is time for entire nation to feel proud that India has hit back," said Vij.

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The Mizoram government has lodged a complaint with the Defence and the Home ministries over the deployment of a large number of Indian troops along the Mizoram-Myanmar border without informing the state government, a senior official said Tuesday.

The complaint, lodged by state Chief Secretary Lalnunmawia Chuaungo, mentioned that law and order is a state subject and the Centre "should not take such steps" without informing the government, the official said.

"Even if the Centre sent the troops to meet the external challenges in the border areas... it should inform the state government," the complaint said.

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The Mirage 2000 aircraft used in Tuesday's strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Pakistan was chosen because of its ability to hit long-range targets with "pin-point" accuracy and drop a range of bombs and missiles including laser-guided ones, sources said.

India inducted the Mirage jets some 30 years ago but the upgraded version is a "very potent platform .. it is a game changer in the air", a former Mirage pilot told PTI.

He said the upgraded Mirage is a generation ahead of the older version and about half a generation ahead of the Sukhoi Su30MKI, which was a second choice for the attack on the camp.

But Mirage might have been selected because of its "proven capability." It was also used in Kargil for similar strikes. "Mirage squadrons train day in and day out for this kind of mission", said the pilot, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

Also, the Russian Su30 is slower in the air with a maximum speed of 2,120 kmph or twice the speed of sound, Mach 2. The French-designed Mirage can travel at more than twice the speed of sound, or at Mach 2.2 (2,336 kmph).

"And the best thing is, it is a joy to fly", said the pilot.

Su30 is also heavier, which makes it less nimble than the Mirage, a distinctive aircraft with its delta wings. The fighter jets have been and are being upgraded at a cost of around Rs 20,000 crore at HAL. The multi-role, single engine jet is usually a single-pilot fighter with a variable flying range depending on its payload, the altitude it is flying at and whether it is carrying additional, external fuel tanks.

In any case, the Mirage can easily fly to Balakot and return home, even if it not refuelled in mid air, which it is capable of. The Mirage can carry three additional fuel tanks -- two each under the wings and one on the belly.

It is capable of flying at an altitude of 59000 ft (17km). A commercial jetliner usually flies at 35,000 to 40,000 feet.

Indian Air Force sources said the aircraft was preferred as it is capable of long-range engagement of targets and the assessment was that it can record 100 per cent success rate.

The Mirage also is fitted with the state-of-the art Thales RDY 2 radar system, which has a better look down and look up capabilities. It also can track more objects at the same time and has a longer range.

The Mirage comes with a fly-by-wire flight control system with a Sextant VE-130 HUD, or Head Up Display that allows the pilot to see all the flight, navigation, target and weapons information in a virtual display array on a screen just in front of the windshield.

However, in an operation like this, the pilot is most likely to be looking at the display panel below and not so much on the HUD.

India currently has around three squadrons of Mirage 2000 fighter jets manufactured by HAL under licence from French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, which also will deliver Rafale fighters to India soon. The Mirage squadrons are based in Gwalior.

The sources said the Mirage 2000 multi-role aircraft was chosen for the strike for its capability to hit targets with "pin-point" accuracy. A number of other assets and platforms of the IAF were also used in the operation, first inside Pakistan after the 1971 Indo-Pak war.

The sources said India will have a much wider choice of aircraft to carry out precision strikes when Rafale jets are inducted into the IAF as they are capable of hitting targets at longer range. India is procuring 36 Rafale jets at a cost of Rs 58,000 crore and the first aircraft is scheduled to be delivered in September.

It is not clear whether the fleet of Mirage 2000s flew directly from Gwalior or they took off from other bases to carry out the strike.

The Mirage 2000 was first commissioned in 1985, when it was given the name Vajra, or thunderbolt. India initially bought 36 single-seater Mirage 2000 and 4 twin-seater Mirage 2000 after Pakistan bought F-16 fighters manufactured by Lockheed.

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A fleet of Mirage 2000 deep-penetration fighter jets was chosen for the pre-dawn strike on the biggest terror camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror outfit in Pakistan due to the combat aircraft's capabilities of hitting long-range targets with "pin-point" accuracy and dropping a range of bombs and missiles including laser-guided ones, government sources said.

The JeM had taken responsibility for the February 14 suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

India currently has around three squadrons of Mirage 2000 fighter jets manufactured by French aerospace major Dassault Aviation. The squadrons are based in Gwalior.

The Mirage 2000 is a French multi-role, single-engine fighter jet which is capable of dropping a range of bombs and missiles including laser-guided bombs.

The sources said the Mirage 2000 multi-role aircraft was chosen for the strike for its capability to hit targets with "pin-point" accuracy. A number of other assets and platforms of the IAF were also used in the operation, first inside Pakistan after the 1971 Indo-Pak war.

The Mirage 2000s are fitted with Thales RDY 2 radar which can strike at targets with 100 per cent accuracy, said an IAF official on condition of anonymity.

The aircraft was preferred as it is capable of long-range engagement of targets and the assessment was that it can record 100 per cent success rate.

India had inducted the Mirage jets around 30 years back and they are being upgraded at a cost of around Rs 20,000 crore.

The sources said India will have a much wider choice of aircraft to carry out precision strikes when Rafale jets are inducted into the IAF as they are capable of hitting targets at longer range. India is procuring 36 Rafale jets at a cost of Rs 58,000 crore and the first aircraft is scheduled to be delivered in September.

It is not clear whether the fleet of Mirage 2000s flew directly from Gwalior or they took off from other bases to carry out the strike.

In a statement, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot and that a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated.

"This facility at Balakot was headed by Maulana Yosuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghouri, the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar, chief of JeM," he said.

Though there is no official confirmation, sources indicated that Yosuf Azhar was killed in the strike along with 350 other terrorists. He is understood to be involved in the hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight IC-814 in December 1999.

"The Government of India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to fight the menace of terrorism. Hence this non-military preemptive action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp," said Gokhale.

"The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties. The facility is located in thick forest on a hilltop far away from any civilian presence," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
It "makes sense" to rethink the "renewable-only" energy future because in the process of aiming too high, the countries run the risk of missing their targets of socially acceptable energy transition, said Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl Tuesday.

"It makes sense to rethink the 'renewable-only' energy future, if I may put it like that. I hope I won't be completely misunderstood but this is a little bit of thought-provoking approach," Kneissl said here.

"If we aim too high, we run the risk to miss our target, mainly a socially acceptable energy transition. We have to take into consideration the technical and economic constraints, not to mention social ones. Gas might be important bridge fuel, maybe clean gas with the help of new technologies," she added.

Talking about various new technologies related to renewable energy which are being studied across the word, she said "they still need research and they need time".

Kneissl was speaking on the topic of "The future of Global Energy in-between Oil, Gas and Renewables" at an event organised by the Observer Research Foundation.

She said, "I hope that we will spend more of our political energy, in particular in Europe, on research and innovation and not waste time and money and nerves on other topics that are currently on top of our agenda."



Dozens of shops were ransacked and cars burned in Paris and other cities in France during the weekly Saturday "yellow vest" protests that erupted in mid-November over high fuel taxes and low living standards.

The Austrian foreign minister said, "French government introduced additional taxes on petrol to reduce CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions, but suddenly, the French men could no longer afford to drive to work, to bring the children from school everyday.

Stating that every year Austrians pay around 800 million euros as "green electricity gas" taxes, the minister added, "It amounts to around 800 euros per capita... Otherwise, the renewable energy sources would not be available for the same extent".

"This is a considerable for consumers and economy. For an average family of about four people, we talk of about 3,600 dollars per year. So Austria, a highly industrialised country can barely afford the energy transition, the obvious question is how will others manage to do it?" she added.

"Without affordability, there won't be public acceptance. Without public acceptance, energy transition can't happen," she added.

The minister said the world needs a "bridge fuel" even as it moves toward sustainable energy.

"Until renewable efficiency measures, storage possibilities and new technologies are developed sufficiently to reach climate goals and are affordable for the broader public, the answer and I have already underlined this might lay in natural gas as an alternative," she said.

"Natural gas is the bridge fuel for the future. There are many different technologies that are being explored these days that might help make it even cleaner and a proper solution when it comes to emissions," she said.

A total of 74.79 GW of renewable energy capacity has been installed in India as on December 31, 2018, which includes 25.21 GW from solar, 35.14 GW from wind, 9.92 GW from biopower and 4.52 GW from small hydro power.

India's total installed power generation capacity is of around 350 GW.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Maharashtra government Tuesday assured a probe into Monday's incident of lathi charge by police on hearing-impaired agitators in Pune and action against the guilty.

The government also accepted many demands of protesters pertaining to their education, and promised that priority would be given to the differently-abled persons in jobs.

Responding to Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil's demand for a strict action against police officials for ordering lathicharge, Pune Guardian Minister Girish Bapat of BJP told the Legislative Assembly the incident would be probed and action taken.

Vikhe Patil demanded that officials concerned be suspended immediately.

Scores of hearing-impaired youth who were staging a demonstration for their pending demands were injured in the incident.

The agitators had alleged police baton charged them despite protesting in a peaceful manner while police claimed they used only mild force, as protesters blocked roads and disrupted traffic for immediate resolution of their demands.

Minister of State for Home Ranjit Patil told the House police resorted to lathi charge because protesters broke barricades.

He said two students and five police officials were injured in the incident.

Social Justice Minister Rajkumar Badole said demands of the protesting students have been discussed at the government level and meetings were held with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

He said demands pertaining to of differently-abled students have been accepted.

"Currently, there is one higher secondary school in each of five divisions in the state. Directives have been issued to startmore schools in Nashik and Latur divisions," the minister said.

He said representatives of thedifferntly-abled would be taken into confidence while appointing a competent authority to manage such schools.

"Two representatives of the organisations of the differently-abled students will be inducted into the expert committeefor creation of posts in schools," Badole said.

The minister also promised appointment of sign language experts in ITIs (Industrial Training Institutes) in the state.

"They (the differently-abled) would also be given driving license after being checked by competent medical officers. They would also be given priority in jobs," Badole said.

He said a meeting will be organised betweenthe chief minister and representativesof the differently-abled before the end of the current session.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Maharashtra Legislature Tuesday congratulated the Indian armed forces for carrying out air strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan.

India struck Jaish-e-Mohammed's(JeM) biggest camp in Pakistan early Tuesday in a major "preemptive" action killing a large number of terrorists and trainers of the Pak-based terror group preparing to carry out suicide attacks in this country.

In the Assembly, a resolution was moved by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who lauded the Indian Air Force for its bravery. It was passed unanimously.

"We feel proud of our armed forces which did not allow martyrdom of our jawans to go in vain. We proved our might," he said.

Alluding to possible retaliation by Pakistan, Fadnavis said, "Mumbai is always on high alert and citizens need not panic".

The Legislative Council also unanimously passed a resolution congratulating the armed forces for conducting the air strikes.

The motion was moved by House leader Chandrakant Patil (BJP), who said not only India but the whole world was moved by the scale of the terrorist attack in Pulwama.

"The entire world wanted revenge for the Pulwama terror attack," he added.

Congress MLC Sharad Ranpise hailed former prime minister Indira Gandhi's role in the 1971 Indo-Pak war which led to the formation of Bangladesh.

Gandhi was firm on her decision to "liberate" Bangladesh despite the US warning of action against such a move, he said.

"Similarly, India should help separate Balochistan from Pakistan," he said. Referring to Gandhi as the Iron Lady, the MLC said such "iron steps" need to be taken.

Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde (NCP) said "killing of around 300 terrorists and destruction of the launch pads of Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hizbul Mujahideen and LeT is only a trailer, and the whole picture will be released when Indian forces decide to do so".

Shiv Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe hoped democracies across the world will support the air strike. "Our fight against terrorism will continue," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Maharashtra government Tuesday expressed regret over the police baton-charge on disabled students in Pune.

Several thousand deaf youth were protesting in front of the Social Welfare Commissionerate in Pune on Monday afternoon when the police action took place, resulting in injuries to 35 students.

Replying to a demand by Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde to suspend the errant policemen, state Revenue Minister Chandarakant Patil said an inquiry had been instituted into the incident.

The Shiv Sena, a constituent of the Devendra Fadnavis-led government, demanded a judicial probe.

Patil, who is the leader of the Upper House, said Dilip Kamble, minister of state for social justice, would meet the students.

"The demands of the students are being discussed. We are positive about fulfilling them. Arrangements are being made to bring the students here. Action would be taken against those responsible (for the lathicharge)," Patil told the House.

NCP leader Munde said if demands of the students were fulfilled at the district level itself, the protest need not have happened.

He alleged that the government was busy issuing advertisements while the youth were demanding jobs.

Shiv Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe demanded a judicial probe into the incident, claiming that the police would suspend some of its personnel who would then approach the MAT (Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal) and resume office.

This way, she alleged, the real culprits would go unpunished and the innocent would be targeted.

She also demanded that the transfer of Balaji Manjule, State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, be cancelled.

NCP legislator Vidya Chavan attacked the government saying that while it used terms like "divyang" for people with disabilities, the police was attacking them.

"The chief minister, who also holds the Home portfolio, should come to the House and apologise," she said, adding that police should not be made scapegoats in the issue.

Protesting students in Pune were demanding the right to quality education, provision of trained interpreters for deaf students and stopping fraudulent distribution of disability certificates to able-bodied persons.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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



Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.
The Maharashtra Assembly on Tuesday passed a unanimous resolution congratulating the Indian armed forces for carrying out air strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan.

The resolution was moved by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who lauded the Indian Air Force for its bravery.

"We feel proud of our armed forces which did not allow martyrdom of our jawans to go in vain. We proved our might," he said.

Mumbai is always on high alert and citizens need not panic, he said, adding that political parties all over the country are firmly behind the armed forces.

The resolution was supported by Ajit Pawar (NCP), Mohammed Arif Naseem Khan (Congress), Ganpatrao Deshmukh (PWP), Subhash Sabne (Shiv Sena) and Abu Asim Azmi (Samajwadi Party).

Ajit Pawar said Indians will not tolerate any attack on its people.

"We need to set aside political differences on this issue," he said.

Naseem Khan said, "Indira Gandhi (former prime minister) divided Pakistan in two parts and now time has come for another division."



Abu Azmi said the military strike has eased the pain and anger of Indians since the February 14 Pulwama terror attack on CRPF personnel.

"Such strikes should continue till Pakistan doesn't stop anti-India activities," he said.

Sabne said after hearing the of the military action, every Indian is feeling he has a "56-inch chest".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
London's black cab drivers on Tuesday lost their High Court battle to get Uber's licence to operate in the British capital revoked.

The United Cabbies Group (UCG), which operate the city's metered taxis, had claimed the decision to give Uber a 15-month permit in June last year was "tainted by actual or apparent bias" of Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London.

Dismissing the case, Chief Justice of the High Court Lord Ian Burnett said the judge who granted the licence was not biased.

"Having ascertained all the circumstances bearing on the suggestion that the judge was biased, we consider that those circumstances would not lead a fair-minded and informed observer to conclude that there was a real possibility that the judge was biased in this case," the judgment declared.

It said that the list of "tenuous connections unearthed" by the black cab drivers' complaint fell "well short of evidence that would begin to give a fair-minded observer even pause for thought".

Incidentally, Arbuthnot is the judge who presided over the trial of liquor baron Vijay Mallya last year and ruled in favour of his extradition to India to face charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to an alleged Rs 9,000 crores.

Mallya has since filed an application seeking to appeal that decision in the High Court.

In the Uber case, Arbuthnot had issued a shorter licence with strict conditions in order to allow Uber to continue to operate while improving the safety standards of its service.

However, in August last year, she stepped down from hearing future cases involving Uber following a newspaper report about alleged financial connections between her husband Lord Arbuthnot and the American ride-hailing company.

At a hearing in London earlier this month, lawyers for UCG acknowledged Lady Arbuthnot was unaware of the links.

But they said she should have "checked for any potential conflicts of interest" before making her decision on Uber's licence.

They also argued the decision was not open to her because Uber did not meet the "fit and proper person" criteria necessary for holding a licence.

However, the High Court did not agree with their arguments.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Legislators from various parties attending the Delhi Assembly budget session gave a standing ovation on Tuesday to the Indian Air Force for carrying out pre-dawn air strikes on terror camps inside Pakistani territory.

While Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Nivas Goel congratulated the Indian Air Force for the strikes, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia dedicated the budget to the soldiers who were martyred in the Pulwama attack.

"We are proud of our armed forces and I would like to dedicate our budget to the jawans who sacrificed their lives in the Pulwama terror attack," he said in his budget speech. I am presenting the budget at a time when the country is proud of the IAF strike after the Pulwama attack.

"This budget is to fulfil the dream of the martyrs, for their families and their children who can gain better education," he said.

Amid chants of 'Inquilab Zindabad, Bharat Mata ki Jai and Vande Matram', BJP legislators were marshalled out by the speaker for chanting pro-Modi slogans instead of hailing the Indian Air Force.

The Speaker said the BJP MLAs chanted "Modi Zindabad" instead of hailing the Indian Air Force.

The opposition parties, however accused the Speaker of not giving time to laud the strikes.

The Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side, 12 days after the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Madras High Court Tuesday stayed further proceedings in the case relating to the February 2009 clash between lawyers and police here, pending before a lower court.

Justice AD Jagdish Chandira stayed the proceedings in the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court for CBI cases, on a petition by 31 advocates, who were summoned recently by the trial court to appear before it and receive the copies of the interim charge sheet filed by the investigating agency.

The judge also issued notice to CBI and adjourned the matter for a period of four weeks.

The aggrieved advocates sought to quash the interim final report filed by the CBI in the lower court.

The petitioners alleged that though the high court has directed the CBI to probe the allegations against both the police and advocates, the central agency has filed charge sheet only against lawyers and the probe against police was still pending.

They termed the CBI probe as "tainted, biased, shabby and highly unsatisfactory."



On February 19, 2009 clashes broke out between police and a section of lawyers in the high court premises here.

The clashes left many people, including advocates and policemen injured.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump arrived in Hanoi Tuesday, ahead of a second summit closely watched for concrete steps to dismantle Pyongyang's nuclear programme.

After an initial historic meeting in Singapore in June that produced only a vague statement about denuclearisation, analysts say the second date must deliver more in the way of tangible progress.

The summit itself is shrouded in secrecy and there was still no official word even on the venue when Trump touched down in Air Force One late Tuesday. The two leaders were expected to have an informal dinner on Wednesday before more formal talks on Thursday.

Trump made no comment to reporters on his aircraft but had previously tweeted his hopes for a "very productive" meeting, reiterating that North



Korea could enjoy economic riches if it gave up its nuclear weapons.

"With complete Denuclearization, North Korea will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse," tweeted Trump. "Without it, just more of the same."



"Chairman Kim will make a wise decision!" Relations between the two mercurial leaders have undergone a dramatic turnaround, from flinging personal insults and threats of destruction to Trump declaring he had fallen "in love" with Kim through an exchange of letters.

But many North Korea watchers dismissed the Singapore summit as political theatre that failed to produce a concrete roadmap to denuclearisation and stressed the Hanoi meeting must deliver more.

"The window for diplomatic progress with North Korea will not remain open indefinitely. The second summit... must emphasise substance over pageantry," said Kelsey Davenport from the Arms Control Association.

Even so, Trump appeared to lower US demands for Pyongyang in the run-up to the summit, repeatedly saying there was no rush to rid the North of its arsenal as long as missile and nuclear tests stopped.

"I don't want to rush anybody. I just don't want testing. As long as there's no testing, we're happy," Trump said at the weekend.

He also hinted more summits could follow the Hanoi meeting, reducing expectations of a dramatic breakthrough in the Vietnamese capital.

In contrast to Trump's direct route to the summit, Kim embarked on a two-and-a-half day, 4,000 kilometre (2,500 mile) odyssey through China by train.

He was greeted at the normally sleepy Vietnamese border station of Dong Dang early Tuesday by a military guard of honour in pristine white uniforms, who presented arms as he strolled down the red carpet waving and grinning, surrounded by a phalanx of aides and security personnel.

Student Nguyen Thu Uyen who handed Kim flowers on his arrival said meeting the leader was her "most memorable" moment.

"Kim Jong Un is very friendly and especially attractive," she said, after Kim became the first North Korean leader to visit fellow one-party state Vietnam since his grandfather Kim Il Sung in 1964.

Kim was greeted in Hanoi by cheering crowds and after a few hours' rest at his hotel, made a 50-minute jaunt to the North Korean embassy -- echoing the summit in Singapore, where he took in the sights on an unscheduled sortie.

Diplomatic progress since Singapore has stalled over the definition of denuclearisation, with Stephen Biegun, the US special representative for North Korea, admitting there was no "shared agreement" of what that means.

The United States has repeatedly demanded the North give up its nuclear arsenal in a final, fully verifiable way.

But Pyongyang sees denuclearisation more broadly, seeking an end to sanctions and what it sees as US threats -- usually taken to include the American military presence in South Korea, and sometimes in the wider region.

Pyongyang insists it has already taken major steps, by not testing ballistic missiles or nuclear weapons for more than a year, and blowing up the entrances to its atomic test site.

The North also wants increased security guarantees, which could come in the form of a declaration of an end to the 1950-53 Korean War -- that culminated with an armistice instead of a full peace treaty -- or opening liaison offices.

Opening liaison offices would signal the first stage of normalising US-North Korean relations, said Go Myong-hyun of the Asan Institute of Policy Studies, and would be an ideal "politically symbolic step" rather than prematurely agreeing to sanctions relief.

Harry Kazianis of the Center for the National Interest said: "Nothing would be worse than for either side to come out of the meeting as if it was a waste of time.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the White House press corps booked the same hotel. Guess who won? The White House reporters, cameraman and photographers were set to be using a filing center at the Melia Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam's capital, for Kim's meeting with President Donald Trump.

But on Tuesday, Vietnam's Foreign Minister said they were being relocated to an international media filing center about a seven-minute walk away.

The White House did not say why the move was made and it was unclear who booked first.

A few hours after the move was announced, Kim's motorcade rolled up to the hotel.

When security started to tighten at the hotel on Monday, reporters were in disbelief that the Western press corps was going to be amassed at the same place as the reclusive North Korean leader.

People lined the streets to greet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as his limousine rolled up to the hotel in Vietnam's capital where he's staying for his second summit with President Donald Trump.

A fine mist of rain fell on the crowd as his motorcade arrived behind security cars with loud sirens. As it passed, they cheered and waved Vietnamese, North Korea and American flags. They didn't see Kim's face, only his car, which had darkened windows.

Seventeen-year-old Hung Nguyen, who walked outside his high school to see Kim, says he thinks Kim is truly serious about giving up his nuclear weapons.

Asked about a possible declaration ending the Korean War, he said if the war was indeed over, governments could spend more on hospitals and technology.

Japanese TV footage has shown North Korean leader Kim Jong Un taking a pre-dawn smoke break at a train station in China hours before his arrival in Vietnam for his summit with President Donald Trump.

The video broadcast by TBS on Tuesday shows Kim taking a drag on a cigarette and talking with North Korean officials at China's Nanning rail station. A woman who appears to be his sister Kim Yo Jong is seen holding a crystal ashtray.

Kim arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday after an almost 70-hour train ride that cut through southern China. Kim is frequently seen with a cigarette in his hands. North Korean TV even showed him casually smoking in front of one of his liquid-fuel ICBMs in 2017.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: The CPI(M)-led LDF government in Kerala has convened an all-party meeting on March 14 to discuss the issue of regulating hartals.

The meeting, in which leaders of both ruling and opposition parties are expected to participate, would be held at the conference hall of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at the Secretariat here, an official statement said here Tuesday.

The Chief Minister had recently assured the state assembly that an all-party meeting would be called against the frequent hartals, it said.

When legislators had pointed to the widespread violence during the back to back hartals called in connection with the Sabarimala women's entry issue, Vijayan had informed the House that his government was open to discuss the matter with political parties.

The Kerala High Court had on January 7 banned calling of flash hartals and had said a seven day notice was mandatory for declaring hartals.

The court had issued the order while hearing a petition moved by the Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Thrissur-based NGO 'Malayala vedi against hartals' against shutdowns in the state.

Condemning the practice of calling flash strikes, a division bench of the court had observed that if prior notice was not given,people can approach the court and the government can take adequate measures to deal with the situation.

In their petition, the chamber alleged that Kerala witnessed 97 strikes in 2018, which affected business and the livelihood of people, leading to huge economic loss.

In December, over 35 trade organisations came together against rampant strike calls by various political parties in the state and decided to observe 2019 as an 'anti-hartal year'.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is keeping a tab on developments in the country post the Pulwama terror attack and the government response to it in form of air strikes, a top poll panel official said Tuesday.

Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa, speaking to reporters here, said the ECI is duty-bound to carry out the mandate given to it by the Constitution.

Lavasa was replying to a query on whether the ECI's schedule for general elections would be affected after the February 14 Pulwama bombing and subsequent government response to it.

The poll officials held a press conference here after reviewing preparedness in Maharashtra for the Lok Sabha elections.

The press meet was held hours after the Indian Air Force conducted air strikes against terror camps in Pakistan.

"The Election Commission does keep a watch on all the developments which take place. And we are duty-bound to carry out our mandate which has been given by the Constitution," Lavasa said.

He said Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) would be used at all the polling booths along with EVMs machines in the state.

VVPT is an independent printer system attached with EVMs that allows the voters to verify that their votes are cast as intended.

Asked if the the ECI is seriously mulling imposing a ban on print media on taking advertisements on election day, Lavasa said the issue of applying a 'silence period' 48 hours ahead of voting is being deliberated for some time now.

"Even in the conference of political parties held last year, this issue had come up. The ECI, after due consultation and examination, had made recommendations to the government for making an amendment in the Representation of the People Act to cover print media in the 48 hours silence period," Lavasa said.

Representatives of political parties have apprised the poll panel about duplication in electoral-roll and sought a scrutiny to ensure a purified E-roll, he said.

On the claim by the Congress of duplication of voter IDs, Lavasa said the ECI has already instructed Maharashtra's Chief Electoral Officer to initiate a scrutiny and they should be able to submit a report about it in the next 15 days.

He said some parties have voiced concern for people who are unable to get themselves enrolled in voters' list due to lack of residence proof as they stay either in rented houses or temporary shelters in the city.

"Political parties also mentioned that all newly registered voters should be helped in getting their photo identity cards as quickly as possible," he said.

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Actor turned politician Kamal Haasan Tuesday met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal here and discussed prevailing political situations in the country, party leaders said.

AAP MLA Somnath Bharti said Haasan had a courtesy meeting with Kejriwal.

Hasan launched his party Makkal Needhi Melisma in Tamil Nadu last year. Kejriwal was one of the political leaders who attended launch of Haasan's party in Madurai. Also, the Delhi chief minister had visited Haasan earlier coaxing him to join

Sources said, the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) is in touch with Haasan over possibility of supporting his party in Tamil Nadu.

The AAP could extend support to Haasan in Tamil Nadu or may also have an alliance with his party, they claimed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Makkal Neethi Maiam (MNM) President Kamal Hassan Tuesday welcomed air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force on terror launch pads in Pakistan, and 'saluted' the valour of the "heroes."



The country was "proud of its heroes," he said in a tweet.

"Our 12 (apparently fighter jets) return safely home after wreaking havoc on terrorist camps in Pakistan. India is proud of its heroes. I salute their valour," he said.

India Tuesday carried out pre-dawn air strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan and is believed to have destroyed terrorist targets.

The strike comes amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan following the February 14 suicide attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group in Kashmir's Pulwama district that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

Strikes involving several fighter jets of the Indian Air Force successfully destroyed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Astronomers have spent decades looking for something that sounds like it would be hard to miss: about a third of the "normal" matter in the Universe. New results from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory may have helped them locate this elusive expanse of missing matter.





From independent, well-established observations, scientists have confidently calculated how much normal matter -- meaning hydrogen, helium and other elements -- existed just after the Big Bang. In the time between the first few minutes and the first billion years or so, much of the normal matter made its way into cosmic dust, gas and objects such as stars and planets that telescopes can see in the present-day Universe.

The problem is that when astronomers add up the mass of all the normal matter in the present-day Universe about a third of it can't be found. (This missing matter is distinct from the still-mysterious dark matter.)

One idea is that the missing mass gathered into gigantic strands or filaments of warm (temperature less than 100,000 Kelvin) and hot (temperature greater than 100,000 Kelvin) gas in intergalactic space. These filaments are known by astronomers as the "warm-hot intergalactic medium" or WHIM. They are invisible to optical light telescopes, but some of the warm gas in filaments has been detected in ultraviolet light.

Using a new technique, researchers have found new and strong evidence for the hot component of the WHIM based on data from Chandra and other telescopes.

"If we find this missing mass, we can solve one of the biggest conundrums in astrophysics," said Orsolya Kovacs of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Where did the universe stash so much of its matter that makes up stuff like stars and planets and us?"

Astronomers used Chandra to look for and study filaments of warm gas lying along the path to a quasar, a bright source of X-rays powered by a rapidly growing supermassive black hole. This quasar is located about 3.5 billion light years from Earth. If the WHIM's hot gas component is associated with these filaments, some of the X-rays from the quasar would be absorbed by that hot gas. Therefore, they looked for a signature of hot gas imprinted in the quasar's X-ray light detected by Chandra.

One of the challenges of this method is that the signal of absorption by the WHIM is weak compared to the total amount of X-rays coming from the quasar. When searching the entire spectrum of X-rays at different wavelengths, it is difficult to distinguish such weak absorption features -- actual signals of the WHIM -- from random fluctuations.

Kovacs and her team overcame this problem by focusing their search only on certain parts of the X-ray light spectrum, reducing the likelihood of false positives. They did this by first identifying galaxies near the line of sight to the quasar that are located at the same distance from Earth as regions of warm gas detected from ultraviolet data. With this technique they identified 17 possible filaments between the quasar and us, and obtained their distances.

Because of the expansion of the universe, which stretches out light as it travels, any absorption of X-rays by matter in these filaments will be shifted to redder wavelengths. The amounts of the shifts depend on the known distances to the filament, so the team knew where to search in the spectrum for absorption from the WHIM.

"Our technique is similar in principle to how you might conduct an efficient search for animals in the vast plains of Africa," said Akos Bogdan, a co-author also from CfA. "We know that animals need to drink, so it makes sense to search around watering holes first."

While narrowing their search helped, the researchers also had to overcome the problem of the faintness of the X-ray absorption. So, they boosted the signal by adding spectra together from 17 filaments, turning a 5.5-day-long observation into the equivalent of almost 100 days' worth of data. With this technique they detected oxygen with characteristics suggesting it was in a gas with a temperature of about one million degrees Kelvin.

By extrapolating from these observations of oxygen to the full set of elements, and from the observed region to the local universe, the researchers report they can account for the complete amount of missing matter. At least in this particular case, the missing matter had been hiding in the WHIM after all.

"We were thrilled that we were able to track down some of this missing matter" said co-author Randall Smith, also of CfA. "In the future we can apply this same method to other quasar data to confirm that this long-standing mystery has at last been cracked."

A paper describing these results was published in The Astrophysical Journal on February 13, 2019, and is available online.

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The pre-dawn strike by the IAF on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camp inside Pakistan on Tuesday sparked jubilation in Jammu as people hailed the armed forces for the action.

Youths also came out on the streets to celebrate the airstrike across the border in Kathua, Samba, Poonch, Rajouri and Udhampur, officials said.

"The splendid strike by the IAF is the biggest tribute to the martyrs especially 40 CRPF personnel who laid down their lives in the service of the nation on February 14," Dogra Front chairman Ashok Gupta said.

Gupta, who led a large group of activists at Rani Park here to celebrate the strike, said the entire nation was seeking revenge for the Pulwama attack.

The activists were carrying the tricolor and a photograph of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and raised slogans before dispersing off peacefully.

Gupta, however, was highly critical of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and said "we are nationalist and cannot shun the national flag".

"She claims that nobody is going to lift the national flag if the Article 35A and Article 370 are revoked. I want to convey to her that as long as we are alive we will continue to hold the tricolor whatever the case," he said.

A group of Jammu University students also raised slogans outside the varsity complex in praise of the IAF for its action.

BJP activists and supporters also unfurled tricolor at different places and raised slogans in favour of India and its forces.

Right-wing Rashtriya Bajrang Dal, VHP and Shiv Sena also gathered at different parts of the city and hailed the IAF for the airstrikes.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hotel Leeleventure said Tuesday JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (JMFARC) has filed an insolvency petition with the Mumbai bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) against the company.

The application has been filed under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, Hotel Leelaventure said in a filing to BSE.

"The company is continuing to engage with prospective investors for a resolution," it added.

On June 30, 2014, the erstwhile corporate debt restructuring lenders with exposure of 95.6 per cent of the CDR debt had assigned their debt to JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd and one lender with exposure of about 1 per cent of the CDR Debt to Phoenix ARC Private Ltd.

Shares of Hotel Leeleventure closed at Rs 10.41 on BSE, down 6.55 per cent from the previous close.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Taking a jibe at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Union minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday said he may keep repeating Rafale, but what it means is actually "Rahul fail".

He also said the Congress' accusation that the Narendra Modi government had failed to create jobs in its tenure was "baseless" and went on to claim there was no right system to measure employment creation in the country.

Javadekar said the Centre was creating a new mechanism to tabulate the creation of jobs so that a true picture emerged for the public.

"They (Congress) will still keep saying Rafale, Rafale, Rafale. Why do you (Congress) keep saying Rafale, Rafale. Rafale means Rahul fail," Javadekar said.

He claimed the Prime Minister Narendra Modi dispensation at the Centre was the "first government" where not a single minister was named in any corruption scandal.

Speaking on constant attacks on the Centre over lack of jobs for the country's youth, Javadekar said, "We do not have the right process to measure how much employment has been created. The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) visits 100 houses and creates data. This data is not right."



The Union minister for Human Resources Development claimed several indicators have shown that jobs were created during the tenure of the NDA government in the past five years.

He cited indicators like payroll data of the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), addition of new transport vehicles, tourism and food delivery services to bolster his point.

"We are preparing a new system of statistics in which jobs will be mapped and a true picture will come up before the public. We do not have a system of registration of employment which we are going to do (now)," Javadekar said.

He added that an actual job crisis, like the one being alleged by the opposition parties, would have caused protests across the country, something that had not happened so far.

Speaking on Tuesday's India's "preemptive" airstrike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp in Pakistan, Javadekar said PM Modi's foreign visits had helped India get diplomatic support from the international community for such cross-border action.

"Countries world over have accepted that every country has the right to self defence. And therefore, no country has opposed us. This is a big political, diplomatic win and an achievement of the last five years," he said.

The minister was addressing an 'intellectuals meet' organised here by the BJP.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Maulana Masood Azhar, the chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed group, whose terror academy in Balakot faced a blitzkrieg from Indian Air Force jets early Tuesday, is a fugitive released by India in exchange of passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC-814 in 1999 and has since been a blue-eyed boy of Pakistan's external snooping agency ISI.

Nearly 20 years after his release, during which he staged some audacious terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and hinterland, his Balakot camp was in the cross hairs of Mirage 2000 jets which clinched spectacular air attack on the resort-like facility, where he trained terrorists to be sent to India to carry out Pulwama-like attacks.

Azhar, who was in the custody of Indian forces, was not a hard nut to crack. A former police officer, who interrogated Azhar after his arrest in 1994, said he got shaken up on the first "slap" from an army jawan prompting him to blurt out details of his movements.

He was arrested in Anantnag in South Kashmir in February 1994 after he had entered into India on a Portuguese passport through Bangladesh. "It was a chance arrest. He along with Sajjad Afghani were travelling in an auto when it was stopped by armymen at Khanabal.

"Both ran from the autorickshaw prompting the army men to nab them. Army men were happy to find Sajjad Afghani and had a little knowledge about the other," former Director General of Sikkim Police Avinash Mohananey, who interrogated Azhar many a times during his two-decade tenure in the Intelligence Bureau, told PTI.

The 50-year-old Azhar, son of a retired school headmaster from Bhawalpur in Pakistan, always felt his custody in India was shortlived and attempts will be made for his release, he had said during his first meeting with Mohnaney at Kot Balwal jail in Jammu, immediately after his arrest.

The attempts were made indeed -- the first one within 10 months of his arrest when some foreigners were kidnapped from Delhi in February 1994 and demanded his release.

The plot failed with the arrest of Omar Sheikh, who would be eventually released in exchange of the passengers of the hijacked flight, and was later involved in the gruesome beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan.

Another attempt to release him was made by a shadow group of Harkat-ul-Ansar, Al-Faran, which demanded his release in exchange of five foreigners kidnapped in Kashmir in July 1995.

A tunnel was dig in Kot Balwal jail in 1999 to ensure his escape but Azhar could not move out because of his unusual body structure. However, in the process, Sajjad Afghani was killed.

Finally, he was released by the BJP-led NDA government in 1999, along with Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar alias 'Latram', in exchange of the passengers of the flight IC-814.

The Kathmandu-New Delhi plane was hijacked and taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan by Masood Azhar's men.

After the negotiations with hijackers failed, the government succumbed to their demands and the then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh took the three terrorists to Kandahar in Afghanistan in a special plane to ensure the release of passengers of the hijacked plane.

Thus began a new chapter of terror in Jammu and Kashmir as well as rest of India.

After his release in 1999, Azhar formed the Jaish-e-Mohammed and scripted many audacious terror strikes in India and went on to became a blue-eyed boy of the ISI.

The Azhar-led Jaish-e-Mohammed announced its arrival in the Valley in 2000 by carrying out a suicide car bombing attack at the gate of Badamibagh cantonment in Srinagar, the headquarters of the Army's 15 Corps. Two armymen were killed in the attack.

Later, it was involved in the attack on the Parliament House, the Pathankot air force base, the army camps in Jammu and Uri, and the latest suicide attack on CRPF in Pulwama which claimed the lives of 40 personnel.

In the custody, the intelligence agencies did not have to do much work on Azhar and he gave insights into the functioning of terror groups operating from Pakistan, the officer said.

"I had never been slapped by my father but for the first time in my life an Army jawan did so even before asking me any question," the officer remembered Azhar telling him. "He was an easy man to handle and the slap had shaken him completely."



Azhar shared information about recruitment process and functioning of terror groups in Pakistan at a time when intelligence agencies were still grappling to understand the proxy-war unleashed by Pakistan's espionage agency ISI, Mohananey, a 1985-batch IPS officer, who headed the Kashmir desk in the agency at that time, had said.

Azhar gave the Indian agencies vital insights into diversion of Afghan terrorists into the Kashmir Valley and the merger of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (HuJI) into Harkat-ul-Ansar, represented by him as its general secretary, he said.

The Jaish chief, during his stint as a journalist with 'Sada-e-Mujahid', a tabloid published from Karachi, had travelled in 1993 with a group of Pakistani scribes to some countries drumming up support for "Kashmir cause', he had said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Masood Azhar, the Jaish-e-Mohammed's chief whose terror academy in Balakot faced a blitzkrieg from Indian Air Force jets early Tuesday, is an overweight fugitive released by India in exchange for passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999 and has since been a blue-eyed boy of Pakistan's external snooping agency ISI.

Nearly 20 years after his release, during which he staged some audacious terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and hinterland, his Balakot camp where he trained terrorists to carry out suicide attacks, was in the cross hairs of Mirage 2000 jets, which achieved a spectacular success by destroying the resort-like facility and possibly killing up to 350 inmates.

For all his reputation, Azhar was not a hard nut to crack when he was in the custody of Indian forces, according to officials. A former police officer, who interrogated Azhar after his arrest in 1994, said he got shaken up on the first "slap" from an army jawan, prompting him to blurt out details of his movements.

He was arrested in Anantnag in South Kashmir in February 1994 after he had entered into India on a Portuguese passport through Bangladesh. It was a chance arrest. He along with Sajjad Afghani were travelling in an auto when it was stopped by armymen at Khanabal.

"Both ran from the autorickshaw prompting the army men to nab them. Army men were happy to find Sajjad Afghani and had a little knowledge about the other," former Director General of Sikkim Police Avinash Mohananey, who interrogated Azhar many times during his two-decade tenure in the Intelligence Bureau, told PTI.

The 50-year-old Azhar, son of a retired school headmaster from Bhawalpur in Pakistan, always felt his custody in India was going to be short-lived and that attempts would be made for his release, he had said during his first meeting with Mohnaney at Kot Balwal jail in Jammu, immediately after his arrest.

Attempts were indeed made - the first one within 10 months of his arrest when some foreigners were kidnapped from Delhi in February 1994 and demanded his release. The plot failed when U.P. and Delhi Police managed to get the hostages freed from captivity in Sahranpur.

During that raid on Saharanpur raid, police arrested another militant, Omar Sheikh, who would eventually be released along with Azhar in exchange for the passengers of the 1999 hijacked flight IC814. Sheikh late became well known after he beheaded Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan.

Another attempt to release him was made by a shadow group of Harkat-ul-Ansar, Al-Faran, which demanded his release in exchange of five foreigners kidnapped in Kashmir in July 1995.

A tunnel was dug in Kot Balwal jail in 1999 to his escape but Azhar could not move out because of his unusual body structure -- he was overweight and had large belly that was too big to be squeezed through the tunnel. However, in the process, Sajjad Afghani was killed.

Finally, he was released by the BJP-led NDA government in 1999, along with Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar alias 'Latram', in exchange of the passengers of the flight IC-814.

The Kathmandu-New Delhi plane was hijacked and taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan by Masood Azhar's men.

After the negotiations with hijackers failed, the government succumbed to their demands and the then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh took the three terrorists to Kandahar in Afghanistan in a special plane to ensure the release of passengers of the hijacked plane.

Thus began a new chapter of terror in Jammu and Kashmir as well as rest of India.

After his release in 1999, Azhar formed the Jaish-e-Mohammed and scripted many audacious terror strikes in India and went on to became a favourite of the ISI.

JeM announced its arrival in the Kashmir Valley in 2000 by carrying out a suicide car bombing attack at the gate of Badamibagh cantonment in Srinagar, the headquarters of the Army's 15 Corps. Two armymen were killed in the attack.

Later, it was involved in the attack on Parliament, the Pathankot air force base, army camps in Jammu and Uri, and the latest suicide attack on CRPF in Pulwama which claimed the lives of 40 personnel.

While in custody, intelligence agencies did not have to do much work on Azhar and he gave insights into the functioning of terror groups operating from Pakistan, the officer said.

"'I had never been slapped by my father but for the first time in my life an Army jawan did so even before asking me any question'," the officer remembered Azhar telling him. "He was an easy man to handle and the slap had shaken him completely."



Azhar shared information about recruitment process and functioning of terror groups in Pakistan at a time when intelligence agencies were still grappling to understand the proxy-war unleashed by Pakistan's espionage agency ISI, Mohananey, a 1985-batch IPS officer, who headed the Kashmir desk in the agency at that time, said.

Azhar gave the Indian agencies vital insights into diversion of Afghan terrorists into the Kashmir Valley and the merger of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (HuJI) into Harkat-ul-Ansar, represented by him as its general secretary, he said.

The Jaish chief, during his stint as a journalist with 'Sada-e-Mujahid', a tabloid published from Karachi, had travelled in 1993 with a group of Pakistani scribes to some countries drumming up support for "Kashmir cause', he aid.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Railway's ticket booking mobile application and the Chhattisgarh government's 'Khanij online' are among 14 such IT projects that have been chosen for this year's National e-Governance Awards, officials said Tuesday.

The IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) Rail Connect mobile application was launched in January 2017 to facilitate booking of train tickets in a faster and easier way and it was later re-designed to enhance its overall booking capacity, according to the citation of the award.

It provides a platform to citizens for easy and quick booking of tickets, along with the option to use new payment modes like BHIM (Bharat Interface For Money), it said.

The Railways collected a revenue of over Rs 5,800 crore in 2018-19 (till December) through the App.

The application has been chosen for the special jury award for excellence in government process re-engineering for digital transformation.

The National e-Governance Awards will be presented by Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh on Wednesday.

Another winner of the award is 'Khanij Online', portal of the Mineral Resources Department of the Chhattisgarh government.

The core objective of this project is to develop an integrated and effective management of mines and minerals systems in the state.

Some of the key features of the project include "online auto-approval for all daily discharges of the mining stakeholders using digital signature certificate," the citation read.

Haryana's Bhiwani district administration will be awarded for its ultra-resolution Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)/drone-based Geo ICT-enabled property tax management system.

"The National e-Governance Award recognises outstanding contributions made by individuals, institutions, central and state government organisations, among others, which have simplified governance and processes for the benefit of the citizens," V Srinivas, Additional Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), said.

He said the digital landscape of India has changed and that is why, today, what we see are digital ministries and virtual private networks, among others.

"Various digital practices/innovations have reached up to village-levels, and thus transformed governance, ended corruption and brought in transparency," Srinivas told PTI.

Giving details of the awards, Joint Secretary, DARPG, Kiran Puri said 411 nominations were received for the 2019 awards.

"Of these, 256 were initially shortlisted. After further scrutiny, 100 of them were selected for spot study by a screening committee. After the spot study of these shortlisted projects, 46 of them were finally chosen," she said.

Puri, who headed the screening committee, said that a jury comprising experts from academia and others, under the chairmanship of the additional secretary (Srinivas), finally selected 14 winners.

Others chosen for the award include a digital land (comprehensive system of land management) project of the Board of Revenue, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

It is an integrated and inter-operable solution for extending e-services related to rural areas of Uttar Pradesh.

All 7.65 crore revenue plots of Uttar Pradesh have been assigned a unique 16-digit code under this project which benefits all rural land owners, revenue officials and others.

Umang, a unified platform to provide major government services, by the National e-Governance division of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, 'MahaRERA' (Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority) and the National Scholarship Portal 2.0 by the NIC, New Delhi, are also among the award winners.

The Mussorie Dehradun Development Authority, Dehradun, which has developed an online map approval system, Hello Doctor 555 by the office of the district magistrate of Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, which has implemented an information technology-based system for seamless delivery of healthcare services, and Punarvas, Srikakulam district administration, Government of Andhra Pradesh, have also been selected.

A wind power forecasting service for the whole state of Tamil Nadu by the National Institute of Wind Energy, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, government of India, and the "targeted intervention to expand and strengthen TB-control among the tribal population under RNTCP, India" by the National JALMA Institute for Leprosy and Other Mycobacterial Diseases, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, are also among the winners.

Gujarat-based Giribala Creative Ventures Private Ltd has been chosen for 'innovative use of information and communication technology in e-governance solutions by startups'.

It has implemented a B2B online platform for construction chemicals, waterproofing products and services, according to its citation.

An 'iStart Rajasthan' project by the Department of Information Technology and Communication, government of Rajasthan, will be awarded under the 'excellence in adopting emerging technologies' category.

iStart Rajasthan is an end-to-end online platform for startups across the country.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Iran on Tuesday banned reformist newspaper Ghanoon for publishing an article about a meeting between Iran's supreme leader and visiting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the semi-official ISNA agency reported.

"Ghanoon daily has received notification and its publication has been halted due to its (front page) headline on Tuesday," ISNA said.

The order stating that Ghanoon would be "temporarily banned" was delivered to the paper's management by Tehran's culture and media court, it added, without saying how long the ban would remain in place.

Assad met Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani on Monday during a surprise visit to the Islamic republic, his first since the start of the Syrian conflict.

The agency did not elaborate on the article about their meeting, but the online version of the story was headlined "Uninvited Guest".

Ghanoon also published a front-page photo of Assad and the supreme leader embracing each other.

The reformist publication has been banned twice before in recent years.

One occasion was over a caricature deemed "offensive to governmental organisations", and the other was due to a report on an Iranian prison headlined "24 Damned Hours," according to Tasnim agency.

Iran has been a key ally supporting Assad as he has battled to maintain his grip over Syria during nearly eight years of conflict in which more than 360,000 people have been killed.

Assad's visit to Tehran also coincided with Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif's shock resignation announcement via an Instagram post.

According to ISNA, Zarif was not present at any of the meetings.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An Indian-origin man has pleaded guilty to orchestrating a long-running multi-million dollar immigration scheme in which more than 100 people were falsely told they could secure immigration status in the US.

Hardev Panesar, 70, pleaded guilty before US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel last week to counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, false impersonation of a federal officer, and structuring financial transactions.

Panesar is scheduled to be sentenced in May and faces more than 20 years in prison on all charges.

Panesar also pleaded guilty to a separate count of failing to appear in court, resulting from his decision to jump bail and flee to in June 2018, where he remained a fugitive for two months.

According to his plea agreement, Panesar admitted that from at least 2012 through May 2017, he defrauded immigrants and aliens by inducing them to pay money to him based on fraudulent claims that he and his co-conspirators could obtain legal status in the for the victims and their families.

Panesar managed to defraud the victims by, in part, impersonating an official from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and claiming that he had the power to stop deportation proceedings.

In order to trick his victims, Panesar repeatedly showed fake agency credentials, provided immigration applications, and took fingerprints of victims. He often demanded more money to speed up the process or guarantee the immigration documents by a certain date.

Panesar and his co-conspirators never delivered on their promise to provide immigration documents, despite collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars from victims. As part of the plea agreement, Panesar agreed to pay approximately USD 2.5 million in restitution to his many victims.

He also admitted that in June 2018 he fled to Tijuana, Mexico, the day before a hearing scheduled in this case. Panesar remained a fugitive, hiding in Mexico, until August last year when he was arrested by Mexican authorities and expelled back to the Panesar has been in custody ever since, pending trial.
In a swift and precise air strike following the Pulwama attack, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, officials said.

The operation, described as a non-military, preemptive strike, was welcomed by the entire political spectrum and military experts who had been advocating retribution after the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama claimed by JeM.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the media the "intelligence-led operation" on the Pakistan-based terror group's biggest training camp in Balakot became "absolutely necessary" as it was planning more suicide attacks in India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi briefed President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu about Tuesday's strike.

Though Gokhale did not make it clear if the strike was on Balakote in Pakistan occupied Kashmir or Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, defence sources said it was the latter. Balakot is about 80 km from the Line of Control and near Abbotabad where Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was killed in hiding by covert US forces.

Gokhale also did not give details of how the attacks were carried out but the defence sources said a group of Mirage 2000 jets was used to drop bombs in the operation, which also included various other aircraft.

"Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose," Gokhale told the media.

In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became "absolutely necessary", the foreign secretary said.

Addressing the media at 11.30 am, he said the strike had been carried out by a "short while ago" and further details were awaited.

"In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated," he said.

The facility at Balakot, located in a thick forest on a hilltop far away from civilian presence, was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar, alias Ustad Ghouri, the brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar, he said, reading out from a statement.

The statement did not say if Yousuf Azhar was among those killed.

"The Government of India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to fight the menace of terrorism," the foreign secretary said.

The selection of the target, he said, was conditioned by the desire to avoid civilian casualties.

India, Gokhale said, expects Pakistan to dismantle all terror camps, including those of the JeM.

" India has been repeatedly urging Pakistan to take action against the JeM to prevent jihadis from being trained and armed inside Pakistan. Pakistan has taken no concrete actions to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its soil," he said.

Earlier in the day, government sources said Mirage 2000 combat jets of the Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control in the Pakistani side. They said jets pounded the camps in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakoti.

However, there was no independent confirmation of these reports and Gokhale made it clear that only one camp was struck in Balakot without mentioning the Mirage 2000 jets.

The JeM has been active in Pakistan for the last two decades and has its headquarters in Bahawalpur in Pakistan's Punjab province, Gokhale said in the statement.

He pointed out that the organization is proscribed by the UN and has been responsible of a series of terrorist attacks, including on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 and the Pathankot airbase in January 2016.

"Information regarding the location of training camps in Pakistan and PoJK has been provided to Pakistan from time to time. Pakistan, however, denies their existence. The existence of such massive training facilities capable of training hundreds of jidhadis could not have functioned without the knowledge of Pakistan authorities," he said.

Though India has repeatedly urged Pakistan to take action against the JeM to prevent jihadis from being trained and armed inside Pakistan, Islamabad has taken no concrete action "to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its soil", Gokhale said.

In Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi called an "emergency meeting" at the Foreign Office for consultations, sources said.

Qureshi will meet Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan after the meeting in which he will discuss the security situation with high-level officials, they said.

In an early morning tweet, Major General Asif Ghafoor, director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said Indian aircrafts intruded from the Muzaffarabad sector.

"Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," Ghafoor said in a tweet.

"Indian Air Force violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft gone back," he claimed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India Tuesday successfully test-fired two indigenously developed Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air missiles (QRSAM) from a test range off Odisha coast, officials said.

The trials were conducted by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from Launch Complex 3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near here, defence sources said.

Describing the launch as "fully successful", a DRDO official said all the mission objectives were met during the trial.

The two missiles were tested for different altitude and conditions. The test flights successfully demonstrated the robust control, aerodynamics, propulsion, structural performance and high manoeuvring capabilities thus proving the design configuration.

"Radars, Electro Optical Systems, Telemetry and other stations have tracked the Missiles and monitored through the entire flights. All the mission objectives have been met," a defence statement said.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated the DRDO for the achievement.

"Smt @nsitharaman congratulates @DRDO_India and the Defence Industry for successful test-firing of two indigenously-developed Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missiles(QRSAM). The missile have radars with search on move capability. The project was sanctioned by the govt in July 2014," her office tweeted.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also congratulated the DRDO for the success.

"Congratulate @DRDO_India for successful test flight of quick-reaction surface-to-air missile off the coast of #Odisha. It will help in strengthening Indian Armys strike capability and nations military might," he said on twitter.

The state-of-the-art missile with a strike range of 30 km is capable of engaging multiple targets. The all-weather weapon system is capable of tracking and firing with precision, said a DRDO source.

This was third developmental trial conducted by the DRDO for the Indian Army.

The first trial was conducted on June 4, 2017 and the last was on July 14, 2018. Both the tests were conducted successfully from the same base.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
(WB) President Trump seemed unaware on Wednesday of his administrations own global initiative calling on nations to decriminalize homosexuality.

Trump was apparently unaware the initiative during a gaggle with news reporters in the Oval Office with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, whos visiting the United States.

A reporter asked Trump about the global initiative, which is being spearheaded by U.S. ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, the highest ranking openly gay person in the Trump administration.

At first, Trump seemed not to understand the question, asking the reported to repeat it.

Say it? Trump said.

When the reporter referenced the push to decriminalize homosexuality across the globe, Trump professed unawareness and said something about reports in his administration.

I dont know which report youre talking about, Trump said. We have many reports.

The Washington Blade placed a request in with the White House seeking clarification on whether Trump is aware of his administrations own initiative and supports it.

Vice President Mike Pence, who has a long anti-LGBT history, supports the initiative, a spokesperson for his office told the Washington Blade.
India and Italy Tuesday discussed ways to increase cooperation in areas such as machinery, infrastructure, engineering, and agriculture to promote trade and investments between the countries.

These issues were discussed during the meeting of 20th India-Italy Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation (JCEC) here.

It is an institutional mechanism for bilateral trade engagement held at the level of the Minister of Commerce and Industry of the two countries.

"Both India and Italy are looking towards the development of bilateral economic and trade relations through facilitating dialogue and enhancing cooperation in a wide range of sectors like machinery, infrastructure, engineering, digitalisation, agriculture and IPR," the commerce ministry said in a statement.

The two-day session is being co-chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu and by Deputy Minister of Economic Development Michele Geraci from the Italian side.

The 19th JCEC meeting was held in Rome in May 2017.

The bilateral trade between the countries has increased to USD 10.41 billion in 2017-18 from USD 8.8 billion in 2016-17.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India conducted a major preemptive strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest camp early Tuesday to prevent suicide attacks being planned by the Pakistan-based terror group, killing a large number of terrorists and trainers, Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.

He said credible intelligence was received that the JeM was planning to carry out other suicide attacks in India after the Pulwama bombing on a CRPF convoy 12 days ago that killed 40 jawans.

"India conducted non-military pre-emptive strikes on the biggest JeM terror camp," Gokhale said.

It was not clear if the strikes were on Balakote in PoK or Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

A large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and group of jehadis were eliminated in the operation, the foreign secretary told the media, hours after broke out that IAF Mirage aircraft were deployed to unleash a wave of bombings on terror camps.

In the face of imminent danger, a preventive strike became "absolutely necessary", he said, adding that India is firmly committed towards taking all measures to fight terrorism.

India, Gokhale said, expects Pakistan to dismantle all terror camps, including those of the JeM.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India struck Jaish-e-Mohammed's(JeM) biggest camp in Pakistan early Tuesday in a major "preemptive" action killing a large number of terrorists and trainers of the Pak-based terror group preparing to carry out suicide attacks in this country, a top official said.

Giving details of the "intelligence led operation" at a conference here, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said credible intelligence was received that the JeM was planning to carry out other suicide attacks in India after the Pulwama bombing on a CRPF convoy 12 days ago that killed 40 jawans.

"Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary.

"In an intelligence led operation in the early hours of today, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot," Gokhale said.

"In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated."



Junior Agriculture minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat also tweeted about the strike. "Air Force carried out aerial strike early morning today at terror camps across the LoC and Completely destroyed it," he said.

It was not clear if the strikes were on Balakote in Pakistan occupied Kashmir or Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Gokhale also did not give details of how the attacks were carried out or confirm earlier reports by sources that Mirage aircraft were used to drop bombs in the operation.

Earlier in the day, Indian government sources said Mirage 2000 combat jets of the Indian Air Force(IAF) bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control(LoC) in the Pakistani side. They said jets pounded the camps in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakoti.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said India has committed "aggression" by violating the Line of Control(LoC) and Islamabad has "right to respond".

The facility at Balakot, located in a thick forest on a hilltop far away from civilian presence, was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar, alias Ustad Ghouri, the brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar, Gokhale said, reading out from a statement.

The statement did not say if Yousuf Azhar was among those killed.

In the face of imminent danger, a preventive strike became "absolutely necessary", he said, adding that India is firmly committed towards taking all measures to fight terrorism.

India, Gokhale said, expects Pakistan to dismantle all terror camps, including those of the JeM.

Hours after the strike, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security(CCS) which was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

The pre-emptive strikes were hailed by leaders of various political parties with the BJP asserting that Prime Minister Modi's political will has made the difference while Congress chief Rahul Gandhi lauded the IAF and saluted its pilots.

"Every Indian who had the pain and anguish of the martyrdom of our forces is greatly relieved and delighted this morning. Salute to the Air Force for a meticulous operation. Our forces are world class anyway. It is the political will of our PM and team that made all the difference," BJP general secretary Ram Madhav said.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said the strikes carried out by the IAF on JeM camps is a "totally new ball game" as it was for the first time that air power was used during peace time to hit terrorist targets in the neighbouring country.

In Islamabad, Qureshi briefed Prime Minister Imran Khan after an "emergency meeting" with high-level officials at the Foreign Office (FO) for consultations.

"First, they committed aggression against Pakistan today. It is a violation of the LoC. I consider it a violation of the LoC, and Pakistan his right to give a suitable response in self defence," he told reporters.

Earlier, the Pakistan Army alleged that the IAF violated the LoC in Muzafarabad Sector.

"Indian aircraft intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said in a tweet.

"Indian Air Force violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft gone back," he tweeted.

At his conference at 1130 am, Gokhale said credible intelligence was received that the JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. "In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary,"Gokhale said.

Hours after the strike, the Indian Army tweeted a Hindi poem which says that "if you are docile and polite before the enemy, he may consider you as a coward, the way Kauravas treated Pandavas".

The poem by Hindi poet Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' was tweeted by Additional Director General, Public Information on its official handle.

Peace overtures, the poem says, are possible only when you are in a powerful position and capable to win.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India conducted a major preemptive strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.

He said the "intelligence-led operation" on the Pakistan-based terror group's biggest training camp in Balakot became "absolutely necessary" as it was planning more suicide attacks in India. JeM claimed responsibility for the February 14 Pulwama attack on a CRPF convoy in which 40 soldiers were killed.

Sources told PTI that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has briefed President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu about Tuesday's strike.

It was not clear if the strike was on Balakote in Pakistan occupied Kashmir or Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Gokhale also did not give details of how the attacks were carried out or confirm earlier reports by sources that Mirage aircraft were used to drop bombs in the operation.

"Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose," Gokhale told the media.

In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became "absolutely necessary", the foreign secretary said.

Addressing the media at 11.30 am, he said the strike had been carried out by a "short while ago" and further details were awaited.

"In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated," he said.

The facility at Balakot, located in a thick forest on a hilltop far away from civilian presence, was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar, alias Ustad Ghouri, the brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar, he said, reading out from a statement.

The statement did not say if Yousuf Azhar was among those killed.

"The Government of India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to fight the menace of terrorism," the foreign secretary said.

The selection of the target, he said, was conditioned by the desire to avoid civilian casualties.

India, Gokhale said, expects Pakistan to dismantle all terror camps, including those of the JeM.

" India has been repeatedly urging Pakistan to take action against the JeM to prevent jihadis from being trained and armed inside Pakistan. Pakistan has taken no concrete actions to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its soil," he said.

Earlier in the day, government sources said Mirage 2000 combat jets of the Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control in the Pakistani side. They said jets pounded the camps in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakoti.

However, there was no independent confirmation of these reports and Gokhale made it clear that only one camp was struck in Balakot without mentioning the Mirage 2000 jets.

The JeM has been active in Pakistan for the last two decades and has its headquarters in Bahawalpur in Pakistan's Punjab province, Gokhale said in the statement.

He pointed out that the organization is proscribed by the UN and has been responsible of a series of terrorist attacks, including on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 and the Pathankot airbase in January 2016.

"Information regarding the location of training camps in Pakistan and PoJK has been provided to Pakistan from time to time. Pakistan, however, denies their existence. The existence of such massive training facilities capable of training hundreds of jidhadis could not have functioned without the knowledge of Pakistan authorities," he said.

Though India has repeatedly urged Pakistan to take action against the JeM to prevent jihadis from being trained and armed inside Pakistan, Islamabad has taken no concrete action "to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its soil", Gokhale said.

In Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi called an "emergency meeting" at the Foreign Office for consultations, sources said.

Qureshi will meet Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan after the meeting in which he will discuss the security situation with high-level officials, they said.

In an early morning tweet, Major General Asif Ghafoor, director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said Indian aircrafts intruded from the Muzaffarabad sector.

"Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," Ghafoor said in a tweet.

"Indian Air Force violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India on Tuesday apprised the envoys of all major countries about its air strike on the Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest terror training camp in Pakistan, official sources said.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and and other Secretaries have been briefing foreign envoys, including from the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom, they said.

It is learnt that Gokhale briefed the envoys of the P-5 countries.

Envoys of Sri Lanka, Maldives, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Turkey and Indonesia were also briefed about the air strike.

"We are very happy that the Indian government has informed us in a quick and informed way about what happened. We are informing our capitals and our capitals will decide what opinion has to be formed," said Hans Dannenberg Castellanos, Dean of Diplomatic Corps in India after meeting Gokhale.

He further said, "The information is that they did not affect any civilian or any Pakistani military installation."



In a swift and precise air strike following the Pulwama attack, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, officials said.

The operation, described as a non-military, preemptive strike, was welcomed by the entire political spectrum and military experts who had been advocating retribution after the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama claimed by JeM.

Gokhale told the media the "intelligence-led operation" on the Pakistan-based terror group's biggest training camp in Balakot became "absolutely necessary" as it was planning more suicide attacks in India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Combat jets of the Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control on the Pakistani side in a pre-dawn strike on Tuesday, 12 days after the Pakistan-based terror group, Jaish-e-Mohammed carried, out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir, government sources said.

They said the Mirage 2000 fighter jets pounded JeM terror camps in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakoti in the well-planned strike, destroying the camps.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the operation.

Hours later, Prime Minister Modi chaired a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security which was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Sitharaman.

The sources said significant damage has been inflicted on the ground on the Pakistani side.

A source indicated that the operation was carried out between 3:50 AM and 4:05 AM.

In Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi called an "emergency meeting" at the Foreign Office for consultations, sources said. Qureshi will meet Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan after the meeting in which he will discuss the security situation with high-level officials, they said.

In an early morning tweet, Major General Asif Ghafoor, director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said Indian aircrafts intruded from the Muzaffarabad sector.

"Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," Ghafoor said in a tweet.

"Indian Air Force violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft gone back," he claimed.

India had put all IAF bases in the western sector on maximum alert after the Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

After the Pulwama attack, Modi announced that the armed forces have been given full freedom to respond to the strike.

Hours after the strike, the Indian Army tweeted a Hindi poem which says that "if you are docile and polite before the enemy, he may consider you as a coward, the way Kauravas treated Pandavas".

The poem by Hindi poet Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' was tweeted by Additional Director General, Public Information on its official handle.

Peace overtures, the poem says, are possible only when you are in a powerful position and capable to win.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The government Tuesday extended the deadline to impose retaliatory customs duties on 29 US products, including almond, walnut and pulses, till April 1.

As discussions are going on between and the US for a proposed trade package, the commerce ministry had asked its finance counterpart to again defer the implementation of a notification to impose high duties on US products.

A notification said that implementation of increased customs duty on specified imports originating in USA has been postponed from March 2, 2019 to April 1, 2019.

In June 2017, decided to impose retaliatory tariffs after the US imposed high customs duties on certain and aluminium products.

As part of the imposition of higher import duties, has notified higher tariffs on several products. While import duty on walnut has been hiked to 120 per cent from 30 per cent currently, duty on chickpeas, Bengal gram (chana) and masur dal will be raised to 70 per cent, from 30 per cent currently. Levy on lentils will be increased to 40 per cent, from 30 per cent.

Senior officials of and the US are in discussions to finalise a kind of trade package. Both sides are holding two track discussions -- to increase trade in short and medium term, and identify long-term trade potentials.

India is pressing for exemption from high duty imposed by the US on certain and aluminium products, resumption of export benefits to certain domestic products under their generalised system of preferences (GSP), greater market access for its products from agriculture, automobile, automobile components and engineering sectors.

On the other hand, the US is demanding greater market access through cut in import duties for its goods, dairy products, medical devices, IT and communication items.

India's exports to the US in 2017-18 stood at USD 47.9 billion, while imports were USD 26.7 billion. The trade balance is in favour of India.
India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) Tuesday said it has revised the outlook of Vedanta Ltd to stable from positive.

"The revision in outlook reflects the delay in deleveraging in FY19 and FY20...as against Ind-Ra's expectations, due to acquisition outflows and higher-than-expected dividend distribution," it said in a statement.

Ind-Ra, a Fitch Group company, affirmed its long-term issuer rating at 'IND AA', the statement said.

Instruments with rating 'IND AA' are considered to have high degree of safety regarding timely servicing of financial obligations. Such instruments carry very low credit risk.

The rating agency further said that it expects the Vedanta's Ebitda to grow to USD 4.1-4.2 billion in FY20, driven by volume growth at oil, aluminium, zinc (international) and zinc (India), and cost savings at the aluminium division.

Ind-Ra further said it expects the aluminium division's cost of production to ease in FY20, with a substantial improvement in local bauxite and linkage coal mix.

Additionally, Ind-Ra expects cost of production in zinc (India) to decline in FY20, as the volume ramps up.

Vedanta Ltd is a diversified natural resources company. Its business primarily involves producing oil & gas, zinc, lead, silver, copper, iron ore, aluminium and commercial power. It is the Indian subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Plc.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Tuesday advised people in the state to stay calm and not to believe in rumours in the aftermath of the Indian Air Force's strikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed's terror camp in Pakistan.

Anxious residents of Srinagar and other major towns in the Kashmir valley could be seen discussing the latest developments amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan following the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.

"We hope that it ends here and there is no more escalation. If there is escalation in hostilities, it will be the people on either side of the Line of Control who will suffer the most," Abdul Gani Dar (80), who has witnessed all wars between India and Pakistan, said.

Many residents, including former chief minister Omar Abdullah, took to social media to express their fears about the possibility of a full blown confrontation between the two nuclear powers.

"The problem now becomes PM Imran Khan's commitment to his country - 'Pakistan will not think about responding, Pakistan WILL respond'. What shape will response take? Where will response be? Will India have to respond to Pakistan's response?" Abdullah wrote on his Twitter handle.

Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam Tuesday asked people to remain stress free and go about their normal activities.

"In case there is anything to be communicated regarding people's safety and security, the government will do so directly, through media," Subrahmanyam said in a brief statement without mentioning the air strike.

"The people are urged to be calm and not to believe in rumours circulating on WhatsApp or other social media," he said.

Residents of Kashmir had gone on a hoarding spree after the government launched a crackdown on separatists and Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir cadres last week.

The move was followed by the deployment of 100 additional companies of paramilitary forces in the valley.

In an apparent dig, Abdullah said the reports about an Indian Air Force C17 Globemaster III flying over Jammu and Kashmir was about election duty and had nothing to do with the air strikes in Pakistan.

"It's sitting in Srinagar offloading paramilitary forces to deal with internal security & election duty. Has nothing to do with the airstrike in to Pakistan this morning," the National Conference leader said.

Meanwhile, the officials said security forces have been asked to remain on alert as the NIA is carrying out raids on residences of some top separatist leaders and their sympathisers.

Security forces have been deployed in strength in vulnerable areas of the city as officials expect protests against the raids.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The government has convened an all-party meeting Tuesday evening where External Affairs Minister will brief the leaders of opposition parties on the pre-dawn air strike operation by the Indian Air Force against Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) terror camps in Pakistan, sources said.

They said the meeting has been convened at 5 PM at Jawahar Bhawan which houses the ministry of External Affairs. Leaders of various parties are expected to participate.

In a swift and precise air strike following the Pulwama attack, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, officials said.

Giving details of the operation at a news conference here, Foreign Secretary said credible intelligence was received that the JeM was planning to carry out other suicide attacks in India after the Pulwama bombing on a CRPF convoy 12 days ago that killed 40 jawans.

"Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary.

"In an intelligence-led operation in the early hours of today (Tuesday), India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot," Gokhale said.

"In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated.
(AP) The office of Serbia's openly gay Prime Minister Ana Brnabic says her partner has given birth to a baby boy.

A brief statement says the delivery on Wednesday went well and both the mother, Milica Djurdjic, and the baby are "doing fine."

Brnabic has earlier postponed a planned visit to Brussels.

Brnabic became Serbia's first ever female and gay prime minister in 2017, in a surprise move in the Balkan country where gay people often face harassment and attacks.

Serbia has not legalized gay marriages.

Brnabic, a U.S. and U.K.-educated business and marketing professional, is an ally of Serbia's populist president Aleksandar Vucic.
As India struck a JeM training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, Twitter transformed into nothing less than a social media battleground with users deploying Bollywood references, clever words, humour and other arrows in their arsenal to make their point.

Both Indians and Pakistanis jumped at the opportunity to get down to action on the micro-blogging site, and in no time hashtags like #surgicalstrike2, #indiastrikespakistan, #indiastrikesback were topping the trending list.

Memes, videos and one-liners came thick and fast.

One of the most popular tweets from this side of the border was a tweaked version of a dialogue from the Bollywood film "Uri: The Surgical Strike".

"How's the Jaish?/Dead Sir," several twitter users wrote and many others retweeted.

The oft-quoted dialogue from the hit film is, "How's the josh? High Sir."



A tweet by Pakistan Defence posted Tuesday midnight -- "Sleep tight because PAF is awake. #PakistanZindabad" -- also became the butt of jokes for India's twitterati.

"PAF: Sleep tight because PAF is awake. Reply from IAF: 3:30am, Jaag ke kya ukhaad liya? (What did you achieve by being awake?) #Surgicalstrike2."



Even politician Omar Abdullah couldn't help but join in.

Retweeting Pakistan Defence's post, he wrote, "This one will be filed under 'tweets we wish we hadn't put out but can't delete now'. Don't worry we all have them just not on this scale perhaps."



Some tweets also took a jibe at Pakistan's rejection of India's claim over destroying a terror camp.

"When America killed Osama, they claimed that Osama wasn't in Pakistan. When India killed the terrorists of 26/11 attack, they claimed that they were not Pakistanis. When India took surgical strike, They claimed/claiming that nothing has happened. #surgicalstrike2," a tweet read.

Famous scenes from Bollywood films also came in handy for Twitterati who used them as memes to express their pride and excitement over the IAF's achievement.

A tweet by Aam Aadmi Party's handle shared an iconic scene from "Border" where Sunny Deol is seen giving a thumbs up to pilot Jackie Shroff flying the fighter aircraft.

Users also posted a scene from the Salman-Govinda starrer 'Partner' to convey their "itni khushi" -- a famous dialogue in the film.

Videos of celebrations in Kolkata and Gujarat showing people distributing sweets and bursting crackers were doing the rounds on social media.

Pakistanis also mocked India's claim that the strikes in Balakot allegedly killed around 350 terrorists.

A large number of tweets circulated pictures of bombing shared by Major General Asif Ghafoor, director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, captioned, "Payload of hastily escaping Indian aircrafts fell in open."



According to these tweets, what the Indian Air Force bombed was not a terror camp but simply trees.

"My name is tree and I am not a terrorist. #Surgicalstrike2," a tweet read.

Sharing the same images, a user wrote, "#SurgicalStrike2 my foot Indian's April Fool day."



Another post read, "Are you sure! that ..these trees are terrorist...?????? #Surgicalstrike2"



The pinpointed and swift air strike, lasting less than two minutes, was a "preventive" operation, officials in India said.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said it became "absolutely necessary" as the Pakistan based JeM was planning more suicide attacks in India after the February 14 Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 soldiers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan Tuesday praised the Air Force for the strike on a terror camp in Pakistan and equated the operation to the mythical tale of Lord Hanuman returning safely after setting Lanka ablaze, as mentioned in the epic Ramayan.

Mahajan also congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the strikes, saying the action sent a strong message to Pakistan that it should not look at India with evil eyes.

"Pawan putra Hanuman returned after torching Lanka. Our air force displayed bravery like Lord Hanuman. Now the entire country is confident of terrorism being eliminated," the MP from Indore said.

She said the operation was so swift that Pakistan appeared clueless about what happened.

"Our air warriors returned unscathed after taking action against the terrorists' hideouts but the neighbouring country is still clueless about what happened," she said.

In an air strike that lasted less than two minutes, India pounded Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing up to 350 terrorists and trainers who were moved there for their protection after the Pulwama attack, officials said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indian Air Force carried out a pre-dawn air strikes on terror camps across the Line Control in the Pakistani side, 12 days after Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group carried out the dastardly Pulwama attack in Kashmir, government sources said.

They said the IAF jets pounded terror camps Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakoti in the well-planned strike involving a fleet of IAF jets and other military jets.

There is no official word on the attack. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefed by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the operation.

Hours later, Prime Minister Modi chaired a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security which was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Sitharaman.

The extent of the damage inflicted on the ground is not immediately known but the sources claimed the Pakistani side sustained significant losses.

In Islamabad, the Pakistan Army alleged that the Indian Air Force violated the Line of Control (LoC) in Muzafarabad sector.

"Indian aircraft intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said in a tweet.

"Indian Air Force violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft gone back," he tweeted.

The development comes amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan after the February 14 suicide attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The pre-dawn strike by the Indian Air Force on a Jaish terror camp in Pakistan on Tuesday prompted jubilation from many people in Delhi, with the North Delhi mayor along with a group of people from the area's civic body celebrating it and some autorickshaw drivers distributing sweets.

India struck Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest camp in Pakistan in a major "preemptive" action killing a large number of terrorists and trainers of the Pak-based terror group preparing to carry out suicide attacks in this country, a top official said.

The air strike dominated the headlines and broadcast on various channels, prompting celebration from a few quarters.

"North Delhi Mayor Adesh Gupta led a group of North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) employees in holding a celebration at the Civic Centre to mark the air strike by the IAF," a senior NDMC official said.

They held the celebrations on the Civic Centre's premises and also lit candles at one place and distributed sweets, saluting the pilots.

Deepak Kumar, a 50-year-old rickshaw driver was elated to learn about the air strike.

"My father was a subedar in the Army and worked at Fort Williams in Calcutta. Later, he was transferred to Jammu and Kashmir too. Today, I felt very happy that IAF struck at a terror camp. I distributed sweets," he said.

Kumar, who hails from Bihar's Muzaffarpur, said many other autorickshaw drivers also distributed sweets.

"The two countries should not go to war. But, we hope Pakistan will be warned now to not allow any terror activities on its soil," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hundreds of suspected jihadists and their relatives exited the last Islamic State group holdout in eastern Syria aboard 11 trucks on Tuesday, an AFP reporter said.

The huge double-trailer trucks snaked towards a screening point manned by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces across the plain from Baghouz, the last hamlet still held by IS.

Women could be seen spilling out of the trucks as SDF fighters prepared to screen yet another batch of survivors from the last speck of the jihadist "caliphate".

On Monday alone, 46 such trucks left the IS pocket, bringing to around 50,000 the number of people who quit jihadist-held territory since December.

Among them were thousands of suspected jihadists who tried to blend in with civilians in a desperate attempt to save their lives before a final assault by the Kurdish-led SDF.

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Over 500 patients, their family members and health activists from across the country formed a human chain at Jantar Mantar here demanding an end to "malpractices, gross overcharging and violation of patients' rights" in private hospitals.

Representatives of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, All India Patients Rights Group, Mahila Pragati Manch, People for Better Treatment, National Campaign for Right to Public Health, and Delhi Network of Positive People (DNP+) addressed the gathering and pledged to launch a nationwide campaign to uphold patients' rights and stop "exploitative practices" in private hospitals.

Women from low income communities, patient victims, people living with HIV, health professionals and activists from Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and other states participated in the protest and formed a human chain to uphold Patients' Rights and end malpractices in private hospitals immediately.

The participants shared their heart-rending stories of rampant profiteering, unaccountability and exploitation of ordinary patients which prevails in most private hospitals across India.

They demanded immediate implementation of National Human Rights Commission's Charter for Patient Rights, drafted by the Union Health Ministry, regulation of rates in private hospitals and creation of a patient-friendly grievance redressal mechanism to deal with complaints in private hospitals.

The meeting concluded with the consensus and strong commitment of the six networks to launch a national campaign to ensure patients' rights, while taking forward the agitation demanding that the Union health minister must immediately adopt the complete charter of patients' rights without bowing to pressure from the private medical lobby.

Deepa from Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, Delhi demanded that the Charter of Patients rights which has been formulated by NHRC and displayed on the Health Ministry's website for over 6 months, must be implemented immediately.

Dr Abhijit More from Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, Maharashtra, said the Union Health Ministry must notify the standards for all levels of hospitals, which have been "languishing on their website for over five years".

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Huawei's chairman said Tuesday that the United States has "no evidence" that its equipment to build next-generation 5G wireless networks could be used as a vehicle for Chinese spy operations.

In a keynote address at the mobile industry's biggest annual global event in Barcelona, Guo Ping reiterated his company's position that there are no "backdoors" in its technology that could allow Beijing to spy on countries.

"The US security accusation against our 5G has no evidence. Nothing. The irony is that the US Cloud Act allow their entities to access data across borders," he said at the Mobile World Congress.

"We don't do bad things. Let me say this as clear as possible. Huawei has not and we will never use backdoors and we will never allow anyone to do so in our equipment. We take this responsibility very seriously," he added.

US President Donald Trump's administration has in recent months ramped up efforts to block Huawei, the leader in 5G, by urging allies to avoid the Chinese powerhouse, claiming that national security interests are at stake.

Washington considers the matter urgent as countries around the world prepare to roll out fifth-generation or 5G networks that will bring near-instantaneous connectivity, vast data capacity and assist futuristic technologies such as self-driving cars.

Network operators seeking to quickly deploy the new wireless networks are in a bind as Huawei's 5G equipment is seen as being considerably more advanced than that of its rivals such as Sweden's Ericsson or Finland's Nokia.

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HomeLane.com, an online home interiors brand, Tuesday said it has raised Rs 33 crore from JSW Ventures, Accel Partners and Sequoia Capital.

The company will deploy the bridge round funding for expansion of its experience centres in existing and new markets, it said in a statement.

A part of the funds will also be utilised to boost technology and for brand strengthening, it added.

"HomeLane's strategic focus has always been to provide a seamless home designing and furnishing experience to urban Indian home buyers...We will also be leveraging a part of this (funding) for brand strengthening and to boost our technology platform, which has aided our customers and designers immensely," HomeLane.com co-founder and CEO Srikanth Iyer said.

HomeLane.com currently operates in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi-NCR. It has nine experience centres and over 500 designers on its platform.

The company aims to double the number of experience centres across India by the end of 2019, the statement said.

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The Haryana Assembly on Tuesday witnessed acrimonious exchanges between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress benches over many issues including one related to incidents of violence during reservation agitation in the state in February 2016.

There were heated exchanges between the treasury benches and Congress MLAs when BJP MLA Aseem Goel, who opened the Budget debate in the House, trained guns on the opposition members telling them they were responsible when "Haryana burnt" during incidents of violence which broke out during the Jat reservation agitation.

"You are responsible for this, you hatched the conspiracy," Goel alleged during his one-hour speech on the Budget.

Former Minister and Congress MLA Geeta Bhukkal took a swipe at the ruling BJP MLAs, saying on every issue they put the blame on previous Congress government and make "baseless allegations".

Pointing towards Congress benches, Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar said, "Rohtak, Jhajjar, Beri burnt (during the February 2016 agitation) because of you. Everyone knows who burnt Haryana," said Dhankar, who drew support from his ministerial colleague Manish Grover.

Grover claimed that some Congress members could not tolerate when he became MLA from Rohtak in 2014 assembly polls.

"People are waiting to teach you lesson for your misdeeds," Dhankar said.

Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Bhukkal, Raghubir Singh Kadian, Anand Singh Dangi, Karan Singh Dalal and Shakuntala Khatak of the Congress told the BJP members not to level "baseless charges".

As BJP members continued with the offensive, Kadian demanded a CBI probe into the allegations made by the party in connection with incidents of violence during the reservation agitation in 2016, which left over 30 people dead and scores injured.

"That is the only way to find out who burnt Haryana," said Kadian.

Kadian at the outset of his speech, raised objection over "non-tabling of CAG reports in the Assembly before the Budget debate opened".

"Past precedent is that CAG reports are tabled before the budget debate gets underway. But that has not been done this time," he said.

Kadian found support other Congress and INLD members as well, who claimed that CAG report had not been tabled as per the precedence.

However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ram Bilas Sharma said the opposition MLAs had not checked their bags given to them after Finance Minister Abhimanyu's Budget speech in the Assembly on Monday.

However, Hooda told Sharma, "we have checked our bags, these are statistical reports, economic survey document, but CAG report is missing".

"We know that elections are near and you have things to hide, which is why you have not followed the precedence of tabling CAG report before the budget debate," Hooda told the ruling BJP benches.

Congress and INLD MLAs also took objection to ruling BJP member opening the budget debate, claiming that the government has not followed precedence in this too and this debate is always started by an opposition member.

When Leader of Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala participated in the Budget debate, Congress' Geeta Bhukkal took exception to presence of very few members of the ruling party.

"Leader of Opposition is speaking, but chief minister is not present, the Finance Minister has also gone away, even in the officers' gallery most officers are not present," said Bhukkal.

Earlier during the Zero Hour, Finance Minister Abhimanyu and Independent MLA Jai Prakash had heated exchange when the latter claimed that the government has not taken care of a martyr's dependents, who hail from a village in Gulha.

"I have served in the armed forces, I know pain of the soldiers. But we don't do dirty like you do," said Abhimanyu hitting back at Jai Prakash.

Abhimanyu also said that during the past four-and-a-half years the state government has given jobs to 273 dependents of martyrs.

In the Zero Hour, Congress Legislature Party leader Kiran Chowdhary said five of her Calling Attention Notices pertaining to various issues that she wanted to raise had been rejected by the Speaker without assigning any reason.

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The State Level Association of the Deaf (SLAD), which had been spearheading a protest in Pune since Monday over issues related to hearing impaired youths, Tuesday called off the agitation after the Maharashtra government accepted some of its key demands.

Maharashtra Minister of State for Social Justice Dilip Kamble Tuesday met the agitators in Pune, and told them that the state government has decided to accept their key demands pertaining to education and jobs.

Several hearing-impaired youths, who were staging a demonstration on Monday outside the Social Welfare Commissionerate in Pune for their pending demands, including the right to quality education and provision of trained interpreters for deaf students, were injured after police lathi-charged them.

After the lathi-charge, the protesters continued with their protest outside the Social Welfare Commissionerate.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Kamble said, "Chief Minister Devandra Fadnavis said in the (legislative) assembly today that a decision on the key demands will be taken immediately and on February 28, a meeting in the presence of CM will be held in which all the officials from Social Welfare Ministry and departments will participate."



SLAD secretary Pradip More announced that the agitation has been called off and the next course of action will be decided after a meeting with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on February 28.

"We are partially happy, but need to see how things unfold in the coming days. We are hopeful that our all the demands will be accepted by the government," he said.

SLAD president Manoj Patwari said they were told that Fadnavis would hold a meeeting with them on Thursday.

"If all the demands are not met during that meeting, we will not back off...we will boycott voting in the coming elections," he said.

"We need to see whether the assurance given by the government is going to be implemented or not," Patwari added.

Kamble said, "Majority of their demands, such as getting a driving licence, appointment of sign language interpreters in various departments, setting up special education institutes from Class I to Class XII in Nashik and Latur and preferences to specially-abled people, including deaf, in jobs, have been accepted."



Kamble also said that an inquiry committee has been formed to probe the lathi-charge incident.

"After receiving the inquiry report, a decision will be taken...There is a fear among the youth that cases will be registered against them, but I would like to assure that no such cases will be registered against them," he said.

The agitators had alleged that police baton-charged them despite their peaceful protest, while the police claimed they used only mild force as protesters blocked roads and disrupted traffic for immediate resolution of their demands.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Maharashtra government expressed regret in the state Legislative Council over the police baton-charge on the hearing impaired students.

Replying to a demand by Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde to suspend the errant policemen, Revenue Minister Chandarakant Patil said an inquiry had been instituted into the incident.

The Shiv Sena, a constituent of the Devendra Fadnavis-led government, demanded a judicial probe.

Patil, who is the leader of the Upper House, said, "The demands of the students are being discussed. We are positive about fulfilling them. Arrangements are being made to bring the students here. Action would be taken against those responsible (for the lathi-charge)."



NCP leader Munde said if demands of the students were fulfilled at the district level itself, the protest need not have happened.

He alleged that the government was busy issuing advertisements, while the youth were demanding jobs.

Shiv Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe demanded a judicial probe into the incident, claiming that the police would suspend some of its personnel who would then approach the MAT (Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal) and resume office.

This way, she alleged, the real culprits would go unpunished and the innocent would be targeted.

She also demanded that the transfer of Balaji Manjule, State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, be cancelled.

NCP legislator Vidya Chavan attacked the government saying that while it used terms like "divyang" for people with disabilities, the police was attacking them.

"The chief minister, who also holds the Home portfolio, should come to the House and apologise," she said, adding that police should not be made scapegoats in the issue.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Sikkim High Court on Tuesday



restrained opposition Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) and its president Prem Singh Tamang from going ahead with its proposed bandh on February 28 or any procession or rally.

A division bench of Chief Justice Vijai Kumar Bist and Justice Meenakshi Madan Rai passed the interim order on a writ petition filed by Anita Sharma and others.

The SKM had given a call for statewide bandh on February 28 alleging that the Pawan Kumar Chamling government "failed" to implement its charter of demands which includes representation of Limboo and Tamang communities in the state assembly, restoration of Assembly seats for the Sikkimese- Nepalese community and regularisation of all temporary jobs.

The petitioner requested the court to declare the proposed bandh



as illegal and unconstitutional, saying it will cause large-scale inconvenience to the students writing Class 10 examination and general public due to the likely disruption in road traffic.

The petitioner quoted media reports that the SKM president had called upon the people of Sikkim to support the bandh and, in the event of not doing so, threatened with dire consequences.

Taking serious view of the documentary evidences submitted by the petitioner, the court said, "it is the duty of the state government to ensure law and order and also ensure life of citizens are not disturbed."



Passing the interim order, the court said, "Considering all these facts we restrain respondent (SKM) from going ahead with the call of bandh on February 28 next from what has been reported in the newspapers."



"We also direct the respondent (PS Tamang) not to go ahead with any peaceful procession or rally on February 28 next," the bench said in a terse order.

The court directed the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police of the state to ensure that if anybody is involved in giving effect to any kind of bandh and intends to disrupt the normal life and also affect the law and rule of the state, then such persons be booked under necessary provisions of the law.

"In the event of failure, we make it clear that appropriate action will be taken against the CS and the DGP," the court warned the top two officials of Sikkim.

It further said that in case any public or private property getting damaged and if any person being prevented from moving from one place to another necessary action be taken against those persons found involved do and they shall be liable to pay compensation as directed by the court.

The court posted the matter for final hearing on April 1.

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The Delhi Tuesday asked the Centre as to how it gave retrospective effect - from July 2015 - to the black money law which was enacted in April 2016 to deal with undisclosed foreign income and assets.

The petition has been filed by Gautam Khaitan, a lawyer who has contended that action was being taken against him under the Act for assets which ceased to exist before the law came into force.

"How does it have retrospective effect," a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal asked the and the (ITD) on the plea challenging the legality of various provisions of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015.

Khaitan, represented by senior advocates P V Kapur and Siddharth Luthra, has also challenged a central government notification which gave retrospective effect, from July 2015, to the black money law which was enacted in April 2016. Khaitan is one of the accused in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper scam.

In the petition, filed through advocate Pramod Kumar Dubey, Khaitan has also challenged the I-T department's January 22 order granting sanction to lodge a criminal complaint against him under section 51 of the Act which provides for jail term between 3 to 10 years if found guilty of wilfully attempting to evade tax.

His lawyers urged the bench to stay the sanction order, but the court declined to grant the relief saying it was not going to interfere in the matter at this stage and listed the matter for further hearing on April 10.

During the hearing, Kapur and Luthra contended that before issue of show cause notice and grant of sanction, tax assessment has to be carried out for the years in question which has not been done in the instant case as the assessment year was 2019-20.

However, the tax department opposed the contention saying that when there was an undisclosed foreign asset, there was no need to wait for completion of the assessment.

Khaitan, in his plea, has sought a declaration that under the black money law, the assessing officer was "not entitled to charge tax on a foreign undisclosed asset, which ceased to exist prior to the Act coming into force, only on the ground that such asset came to the notice of the assessing officer after the Act came into force".
The Madras High Court Tuesday ordered a Tamil Nadu MLA, who was disqualified by the Supreme Court, to refund Rs 21.58 lakh which included the salary and allowances received by him as a legislator.

Justice V Parthiban gave the order dismissing a petition by P Veldurai against a notice issued by the state assembly secretary seeking refund of salary and allowances which he had received between 2006 and 2011 as an MLA and a penalty, totalling Rs 21.58 lakh.

The judge directed the former MLA to refund the amount within four weeks.

Veludurai, elected from Cheranmahadevi constituency in the 2006 assembly election, was disqualified as MLA by the Supreme Court in April 2011, on the ground that he was a government road contractor at the time of filing nomination and hence, barred from contesting polls..

His disqualification came towards the fag end of his term.

Following the court order, the assembly secretary issued the notice seeking refund of Rs 21.58 lakh, which included penalty of Rs 500 per day for the 201 days Veldurai had attended the House proceedings.

Dismissing the petition, Justice Parthiban said the disqualification sets in from day one of the election. In fact, his candidature itself was struck down.

"If so, he cannot and could not have become a member of the House. That being so, all the emoluments received by him as such member is not legitimate sums in his hands. It is not liability or penalty imposed on him," he said.

The judge also rejected the contention of the petitioner that since he had earned the salary and allowances for his participation in the proceedings of the assembly, the question of refund of the money earned by him would not arise at all.

Concurring with the submissions of Additional Advocate General S R Rajagopal, who appeared for the state government, he said no MLA or MP stands in an election to get elected to the 'post' for the 'salary' on offer.

Unlike a government servant, who joins employment for livelihood and thus is dependent on the salary for his services, a member of the assembly or Parliament who is also a public servant will not belittle his position for the economic benefit available while occupying the seat, he said.

Even if the nomenclature "salaries" is used for elected members, it was different and distinct from salary paid to employees, Justice Parthiban held.

The judge also said the delay in dispensation of final verdict ought not to endure to the benefit of the disqualified member.

"Such disqualified individuals can make full use of the judicial rigmarole and come out unaffected and unscathed, notwithstanding his eventful disqualification achieved through the judicially protracted route," he said.

In case of a legal delay, the petitioner ought not to be allowed to have the last laugh at the justice delivery system much to the chagrin of public trust and faith reposed in him when he was voted to represent the public cause, Parthiban said.

In a case of this nature, the effect of adverse order should not be symbolic or notional, but it should be real, tangible and exemplary, the judge said.

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The Delhi High Court sought response of the AAP government, police and the fire department on Tuesday on a PIL it has initiated to look into the recent fire at a hotel here which claimed 17 lives.

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao issued notice to the Delhi government, police, fire department, North Delhi Municipal Corporation and Hotel Arpit Palace, where the incident occurred, and sought their replies on whether the establishment in question was functioning in violation of licensing norms.

The court decided to take up the issue as a PIL after it received a letter from Tushar Sahdev and Raman Kalra, who had claimed that the hotel, located in Karol Bagh area of the national capital, was not complying with the Supreme Court directions to have more than one exit and entry point.

They have contended in their letter that there was only one entry/exit point.

Apart from that, they have also said the hotel was located on a narrow road as against the requirement in the Master Plan that such establishments be set up near roads with a minimum width of 80 feet.

The letter has also questioned how a license to operate was granted to the hotel by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation and Delhi Police despite these limitations.

The court listed the matter for further hearing on August 5.

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The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday dismissed a public interest litigation challenging the decision of the state government to change the name of Allahabad as Prayagraj.

The PIL filed by Allahabad Heritage Society and others was dismissed by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Yogendra Kumar Srivastava.

"The material which has been placed before us giving the reasons for change of name by the state government cannot be said to be without basis, and the same clearly reflects a policy decision of the state government," the court observed.

"The petitioners have not been able to place on record any material to demonstrate that the decision taken in this regard is wholly unreasonable, arbitrary and is based on irrelevant considerations, or that the same is violative of any constitutional or statutory provision, so as to bring the same within the parameters of the limited scope of judicial review in such matters," it said.

There is also nothing on record to demonstrate as to how the larger public interestwould be affected by a mere change of name, the court observed while dismissing the petition.

Home Ministry officials had said earlier the central government had given its consent for renaming of Allahabad as Prayagraj about two months after the state government, headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, took a decision in this regard.

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/ -- Southeast Asia's Leading Super app Grab, with close to 200 employees in Bangalore, has taken the 2nd spot among the world's 50 most innovative companies this year by Fast Company



Grab, the leading super app in Southeast Asia with a global R&D centre in Bangalore, has been ranked as a top transportation company and second overall on Fast Company's 'Most Innovative Companies' list for 2019. The list honors the businesses making the most profound impact on both industry and culture around the world. Grab in Bangalore currently employs almost 200 and has plans to double this workforce in the next 12-18 months. In giving Grab the No. 2 rank, Fast Company described it as a 'transactional super app' that brings together various lifestyle services that connect hundreds of millions of customers to local businesses in South East Asia.

Grab's Bangalore based employees are an integral part of the company's most innovative and exciting projects across the region and play a critical role in developing the company's next generation technologies. "We are proud to be recognized as a top innovator by Fast Company. These are exciting times for Grab employees in Bangalore who are currently working on some of our most innovative and cutting-edge initiatives in the region," said Vikas Agrawal, Chief Technology Officer and Head of Engineering, Grab Financial Group. "Our teams here are focused on using state-of-the art-technologies to solve the biggest everyday challenges for millions of people across the South-east Asian region - whether its safe and affordable transport or financial inclusion and access to the cashless economy. It is a huge opportunity and responsibility, and one that we take seriously," added Agrawal.

Grab set up its Bangalore R&D centre in 2017 and today employs almost 200 engineers. The company has grown its India workforce by 300% in the past year and has further plans to ramp-up its hiring in the next 12-18 months.

Grab is the leading provider of ride-hailing, fintech and marketplace services in Southeast Asia, operating in 336 cities across 8 countries, supported by 7 global R&D centers located in Singapore, Beijing, Bangalore, Seattle, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City and Kuala Lumpur. From advancing its leadership in transportation technology, to expanding its delivery, digital payments and financial services offerings, to launching an open platform 'GrabPlatform' to support other local developers and services, Grab is providing solutions for Southeast Asians' everyday needs in one convenient app. Leading the digitization of Southeast Asia's economy, to date, Grab has served over 3 billion rides, the Grab app has been downloaded over 138 million times, and the Grab platform empowers over 9 million micro-entrepreneurs. To learn more about Grab in India visit https://grab.careers/blog/



About GrabGrab is one of the most frequently used O2O mobile platforms in Southeast Asia, providing the everyday services that matter most to consumers. Commute, eat, deliver shopping - and pay with one e-wallet. Grab believes that every Southeast Asian should benefit from the digital economy, and the company provides access to safe and affordable transport, food and package delivery, mobile payments and financial services. Grab currently offers services in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia. For more information, please visit http://www.Grab.com.

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The government on Tuesday suspended a telecom department (DoT) official who had asked the Delhi police to take action against an individual for posting an "incendiary" video on You Tube.

A DoT order dated February 26 said, "Competent Authority In excercise of powers ...hereby places the said Shri Ashish Joshi an SAG officer ...posted as Controller of Communication Accounts, Uttarakhand, under suspension with immediate effect."



The DoT order did not specify any reason for the suspension of Joshi.

Joshi on Monday had written to Delhi Police Commissioner for action against a person in the name of Kapil Mishra alleging that he has circulated a highly incendiary video, provoking people to attack some citizens on You Tube and Twitter in violation to IT Act and Indian Penal Code.

He had mentioned that licence conditions bar carriage of objectionable obscene, unauthorised or any other content, messages or communications in any form in the network and asked telcos to take immediate action against customers/subscribers for sending such messages as it is also a violation of customer declaration in customer application form.

Joshi on February 19 had also issued an orderto telecom operators to crack down on offensive or obscene messages to people and set up a helpline to receive complaints against such customers.

The order was issued in the wake of some TV journalists filing complaints against receipt of abusive messages on their cellphones from some mobile subscribers.

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The Maharashtra Legislative Council Tuesday witnessed uproar over reservation for the Dhangar community with opposition parties alleging that the government was "playing politics" on it.

The state government, however, said Dhangars would be given quota without it affecting the reservation provided to Scheduled Tribe communities in Maharashtra.

Leader of Opposition in the Council Dhananjay Munde demanded a resolution on Dhangar quota through a point of propriety but it was disallowed by Council chairman Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar.

Following this, several opposition MLCs rushed to the Well of the House demanding that a resolution be brought to provide quota to the community.

Cornering the government on not providing reservation to Dhangars under the ST category, Congress MLC Harisingh Rathod said the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena combine was fooling the community and was playing

Replying to the opposition, state Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil said the Dhangar community would be given reservation without touching the existing ST quota.

"A proposal in this connection will be tabled in the state legislature after which it will be sent to the Centre," Patil said, adding that state Advocate-General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni was preparing this proposal.

Munde accused Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of not fulfilling his promise of giving quota to Dhangars and said the ruling BJP at the Centre did table any bill in Lok Sabha for this either despite being in power since 2014.

"They (BJP) did not do it (providing quota)in order to keep the issue alive for electoral gains," Munde alleged.

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Markets and educational institutions remained shut in the mining belt of Goa on Tuesday as part of a bandh called by a group demanding resumption of iron ore extraction activities in the state.

The Goa Mining People's Front (GMPF), an umbrella group of mining dependents whose livelihood has been affected, earlier gave the call for the day-long bandh in those areas where iron ore extraction was held before the suspension of such activities.

GMPF president Puti Gaonkar said markets and schools and colleges in the mining-dominated areas of Bicholim (North Goa district), and Quepem, Sanguem and Dharbandora talukas (all in South Goa district) remained closed since morning.

Public transport and pharmacies were exempted from the bandh, he said.

"No one was forced to shut their establishments. People have seen the negative impact of suspension of mining and they voluntarily participated in the protest. Everyone wants mining to resume," Gaonkar said.

The mining operations, a key source of revenue to the government, came to a standstill in March last year following a Supreme Court order which quashed 88 mining leases.

The BJP-led state government earlier requested the Centre to amend the existing mining laws during the recently concluded session of Parliament so that leases get extended.

The GMPF had in December last year staged three-day protests in New Delhi demanding resumption of mining activities in the state.

BJP parliamentarians from Goa and GMPF representatives recently met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah in New Delhi over the issue.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar during a cabinet meeting earlier this month said the BJP-led state government will itself have to work out a solution to the mining crisis.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Leaders of different political parties in Goa Tuesday praised the Indian Air Force (IAF) for carrying out air strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan.

In a statement issued here, BJP MP Narendra Sawaikar said the strike into PoK shows that India will not tolerate any terror activity in its area.

"Pakistan has been trying to create instability in the country and demoralise the armed forces. With our action today, we have shown that we will not keep quiet," he said.

"Under the leadership of our PM, we had carried out a surgical strike earlier and this is a similar attack. We congratulate the PM and we are with him," Sawaikar added.

Goa Legislative Assembly Speaker Pramod Sawant tweeted, "Actions speak louder than words! Our AirForce has reaffirmed the same with a befitting response in destroying the terror camps in PoK! Jai Hind!"



Assembly Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo also took to Twitter to praise the IAF.

"Salute the #IndianAirForce for the exceptional bravery. Now the world will know not to mess with India. Jai Hind," he tweeted.

In his tweet, state Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said, "Saluting the bravery of the #IndiaAirForce for striking and destroying the terror targets across LOC. This is the kind of retaliation needed to destroy the terrorist base camps being set up by Pakistan."



Former Goa Chief Minister and Congress MLA Digambar Kamat tweeted, "Salute to Indian Air Force and Congratulations to the brave pilots for their valour. Jai Hind."Shiv Sena's Goa unit vice president Rakhi Prabhudesai Naik said the bravery of Indian armed forces' is unparallelled.

"We have shown that we won't take any terror attacks lying down," she said.

In a swift and precise air strike following the Pulwama attack, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders.

The JeM had taken responsibility for the February 14 suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

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Infrastructure Limited has emerged as the highest bidder overtaking and Doit Smart Infrastructure for the proposed greenfield Bhogapuram airport project near Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, a senior state government official said Tuesday.

The financial bids were opened by officials of the Airports Development Corporation (APADCL), a government nodal agency, on Monday.

"We have opened the price bid. emerged as the highest bidder. It has quoted a passenger fee of Rs 303. There were totally three bidders who participated in the bidding - GMR, and Doit Smart," principal secretary, Energy, Infrastructure & Investments of Ajay Jain told

He said offered Rs 207 while DOIT offered Rs 261 fee per passenger, he added.

"Now that the price bid has been open, it has to get the approval of the board, then it will go to the government and later to the and law departments. Ultimately, it will go to the cabinet which has to approve the agreement. It will take a minimum of 30 to 45 days," the official added.

The project involves an investment of around Rs 2,700 crore, according to sources.

The state government has created a special purpose vehicle Bhogapuram International Airport Corporation Ltd for the project.

The current proposal is for phase-I of the airport where the airstrip would be developed for operation of Airbus-A380 type of aircraft.

The government wanted to construct a new alternative airport to Visakhapatnam in the neighbouring Vizianagaram district.

The state government had earlier cancelled bidding process after emerged as the winner with being the unsuccessful bidder.

Then, the government decided to invite fresh bids with new terms, including development of a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), and training facilities.
French prosecutors have dropped a preliminary investigation into the allegations of rape against filmmaker Luc Besson.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the public prosecutor's office said on Monday that the investigation was dropped due to lack of evidence.

In May 2018, Besson, known for movies like "Leon: The Professional," and "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets", was accused of raping a woman in France.

The complaint was filed by actor Dutch-Belgian actor Sand Van Roy at a Paris police station, saying that she had been repeatedly raped by the 59-year-old director during an on-off relationship.

The filmmaker's lawyers also confirmed the

"Mr. Luc Besson has satisfactorily noted the decision of the Prosecutor to dismiss the charges brought by Ms. Sand Van Roy, which he has always formally denied. This decision comes after a very thorough survey conducted by the prosecutor with which he fully cooperated," they said.

Besson had previously "flatly" denied the allegations.

Following Roy's accusation, eight other women had alleged sexual abuse and harassment at the hands of Besson.

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France has condemned the "terrible" Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 Indian soldiers and asked Pakistan to put an end to the terrorist groups operating from its soil.

Forty Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed on February 14 in Jammu and Kashmir when a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into their bus in Pulwama district, sparking outrage in the country.

"France most firmly condemns the terrible attack perpetrated on February 14 against Indian security forces in Pulwama, for which the terrorist group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, has claimed responsibility," said the acting spokesperson of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs.

"France recognises India's legitimacy to ensure its security against crossborder terrorism and asks Pakistan to put an end to the operations of terrorist groups established on its territory," the official said in a statement.

France, which stands by India in the fight against terrorism in all its forms, is fully engaged in mobilising the international community to sanction the terrorists responsible for this attack and freezing their financing networks, it said.

The statement came days after a senior French source told PTI that France will be moving a proposal at the UN to ban Masood Azhar, chief of the UN-proscribed JeM which has claimed responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack.

"France solemnly calls on India and Pakistan to exercise restraint so as to avert any risk of military escalation and preserve strategic stability in the region," the statement said.

The resumption of bilateral dialogue between Islamabad and New Delhi is necessary to initiate a peaceful settlement of differences, it said.

India launched a major diplomatic offensive against Islamabad after the Pulwama attack and highlighted Pakistan's role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

The international community led by the US pressed Pakistan to deny safe haven to terror groups operating form its soil and bring the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack to justice.

India has asked Pakistan to take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control.

New Delhi also announced the withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation status for Pakistan and hiked the customs duty by 200 per cent on goods originating from Pakistan.

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Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has said he forged an alliance with the BSP so that his father Mulayam Singh Yadav can win with "record votes" from whichever seat in Uttar Pradesh he chooses to fight the Lok Sabha polls.

His comment came days after SP patriarch Mulayam Yadav -- popularly known as 'netaji' -- expressed "displeasure" over his son's decision to enter into a tie-up with the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

"I have made the alliance with the BSP so that 'netaji' can win with record votes in the state from wherever he contests the Lok Sabha polls," Akhilesh told PTI in an interview.

Mayawati and Akhilesh had jointly announced the alliance in January, saying the BSP and the SP will contest 38 parliamentary seats each out of the 80 in Uttar Pradesh.However, when the parties released the list of seats shared between them, the SP got 37 seats and the BSP 38.

When asked about Mulayam Yadav's statement last week in which he sought to know the basis for "giving away" 38 seats to the BSP, Akhilesh said, "When I was going to address a press conference to announce the alliance with the BSP, I had met 'netaji' and took his blessings."



"I had informed that in the alliance we will be getting half of the seats," he said.

Following the seat-sharing announcement, SP patriarch Mulayam Yadav had said,"Now, we have only half the seats left. Our party was stronger."



On the distribution of tickets, Akhilesh said, "The seats which we are going to contest is final. Now, the list of party nominees will be finalised soon. We have already identified candidates. There is no problem in it."When asked about reports of some SP members being disgruntled over not being considered for ticket, he said the party has been making preparations for the past one year on all seats and its leaders were asked to work on the ground in their respective areas and support whoever is given a ticket.

"We all are united and contest with full force," the SP president said.

Several times, decisions in are taken keeping in mind equations. "Our ticket selection was on for a year, and we got 40 applications, the maximum, from those interested to contest from Amroha, 32 candidates applied for Jaunpur seat.We will take a decision accordingly," he said



The SP leader said two seats -- Raebareli and Amethi -- have been left for the Congress and two for the RLD.

"I have left Mathura seat for the RLD as they had field their candidate in the bypolls in Kairana from a SP ticket. This is an understanding between the SP and the RLD," he said



On the SP-BSP alliance's objective, Akhilesh said, "Our fight is to save the Constitution and fight those who have taken two oaths, one of government and the other of the RSS. We decided on an alliance as our goal was one -- to remove the BJP and change the prime minister."



He alleged that BJP was finishing institutions and said "its high time people should discard them".

"People are alert and they know what is happening. They are waiting for a chance to change the prime minister," Akhilesh said.

Asked about his decision to contest in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand in alliance with the BSP, he said the reason is the same -- "to counter BJP".

Attacking the BJP government in the state, Akhilesh said the lathicharge on students in Allahabad has sent an adverse message and it has proved that the government is "anti-students".

"The government is using the official machinery to settle political scores. Now, the same students and youths of the state will give a reply to the BJP," he said.

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Five Army soldiers were injured and two houses damaged as Pakistani army resorted to heavy mortar shelling on 55 forward areas in Jammu, Rajouri and Poonch districts on Tuesday, officials said, hours after IAF jets struck a JeM terror camp across the LoC.

The Pakistani army used heavy weaponry, firing 120-mm mortar targeting civilian hamlets and forward posts since 5.30 pm Tuesday, they said.

They fired from small, automatic and heavy weaponry in Krishna Gati, Balakote, Khari Karmara, Mankote, Tarkundi areas in Poonch district; Kalal, Baba Khori, Kalsian, Laam and Jhangar areas in Rajouri; and Pallanwala and Laleali sub sectors in Jammu, officials said.

In Akhnoor sector, five soldiers were injured and have been hospitalized, they said.

In Mankote sector of Poonch, two houses were damaged, they said.

The officials said Indian troops gave a "befitting reply" to the firing.

According to officials, more than a dozen cease-fire violations took place on Tuesday the fourth consecutive day of Pakistan shelling and firing on Indian posts.

Earlier Tuesday, Pakistan violated ceasefire in Nowshera sector along the Line of Control (LoC), an officer said, adding that locals in the border areas have been asked to not venture out.

Panic gripped the border areas and some locals have left their homes and moved to safer areas, multiple reports said.

Authorities have ordered a temporary closure of educational institutions in a 5-km radius along the LoC in Rajouri and Poonch districts on Wednesday.

Since last Wednesday, Pakistan has violated ceasefire everyday, barring Friday, the officer said.

The year 2018 had witnessed the highest number of ceasefire violations numbering 2,936 by Pakistani troops in the last 15 years along the Indo-Pak border.

Pakistan continues to violate the 2003 ceasefire agreement with India, despite repeated calls for restraint and adherence to the pact during flag meetings between the two sides.

Amid mounting tensions between the two countries, following the Pulwama terror attack on Feb 14 and an Indian air strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed camp inside Pakistan Tuesday, people along the LoC and the International Border are living in fear.

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Actor Felix Mallard has joined Netflix's adaptation of "Locke & Key" in a recurring role.

According to Variety, Mallard will play Lucas Caravaggio, a charming teenager in the town of Matheson whose exposure to magic leads to serious complications.

The actor currently features in CBS comedy "Happy Together".

"Locke & Key" also stars Petrice Jones, Jackson Robert Scott, Connor Jessup, Emilia Jones, Griffin Gluck, Darby Stanchfield, and Laysla De Oliveira.

It is based on the comic book franchise of the same name by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez.

The story revolves around three siblings who move to their ancestral home after their father is gruesomely murdered. However, once there, they discover the house contains magical keys that give them a vast array of powers and abilities.

But they did not know, an evil demon also wants to lay its clutches on the keys, and will stop at nothing to attain them.

Netflix has ordered a 10-episode first season for the hour-long series.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress President Rahul Gandhi Tuesday set a target of winning at least 20 out of 25 seats across the Northeast in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing the Congress' district and block unit chiefs of all the Northeastern states here, Gandhi said the party will fight the polls in the region focussing on three to four major issues, including contentious Citizenship Bill and "shoddy" implementation of the NRC.

"I am expecting 20 plus seats in Northeast from Congress party, nothing less than that. But I think you should try to win 22," Gandhi told the party workers.

After winning the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress members should work towards bringing back the party to power in all the states, from where it was thrown out in a "wrong way", he added.

"The Congress will fight elections on three-four different aspects in India and Northeast. One is the Citizenship Bill. The Congress stand is clear that we oppose this Bill. Congress party stood for the Northeast and stopped the Bill from coming to Rajya Sabha," Gandhi said while giving credit to the widespread agitation against the Bill.

He also criticised the government for "shoddily" implementing the update of National Register of Citizens (NRC) and said that job crisis is a huge issue.

"Corruption is also a big issue. Whenever I mention the word 'Chowkidar', all say 'Chowkidar chor hain'. I apologise to all the 'chowkidars' in this country for putting their credibility at risk, but I am saying only one 'Chowkidar is chor'," Gandhi said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Setting a target of bagging at least 20 seats out of a total 25 from the Northeast, Congress president Rahul Gandhi Tuesday asserted that his party will win the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and nobody can stop it.

Addressing party's district and block unit chiefs from all Northeastern states here, Gandhi said the Congress will fight the polls focussing on three to four major issues, including job crisis, farm distress and corruption.

"In 2019 elections, Congress party is going to win. It is a reality and no one can stop that," he told the gathering.

"I am expecting 20 plus seats in Northeast from Congress party, nothing less than that. But I think you should try to win 22," he added.

The Congress had won eight seats in the Northeast in 2014. It got three in Assam, two in Manipur, one each in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram.

The BJP had won seven Lok Sabha seats in Assam and one in Arunachal Pradesh, represented by Union Minister of State for Home Kiran Rijiju.

After ruling the region for years, the Congress lost its last bastion in Northeast as BJP ally Mizo National Front (MNF) wrestled Mizoram in December last. The entire Northeast is now ruled by either BJP or its allies in the NEDA (North East Democratic Alliance).

Gandhi said after winning the Lok Sabha polls, Congress members should work towards bringing back the party to power in all the states, from where it was thrown out in a "wrong way".

"The Congress will fight elections on three to four different aspects in India and the Northeast. One is the Citizenship Bill. The Congress stand is clear that we oppose this Bill. Congress party stood for the Northeast and stopped the Bill from coming to Rajya Sabha," Gandhi said while giving credit to the widespread agitation against the Bill.

He also criticised the government for "shoddily" implementing the update of National Register of Citizens (NRC) and said that job crisis is a huge issue.

The Congress chief said that there is a massive agrarian crisis across the country and the youths are not getting proper education.

"Narendra Modi is not bothered and he is not interested in the problems of the people. We want to make Northeast a hub for education.

"Corruption and Rafale are massive issues. Rs 30,000 crore was given to Anil Ambani. Whenever I mention the word 'Chowkidar', all say 'Chowkidar chor hain'. I apologise to all the 'chowkidars' in this country for putting their credibility at risk, but I am saying only one 'Chowkidar is chor'," Gandhi said.

Claiming that Rs 3.5 lakh crore loans of big corporates were waived off and mentioning that five airports have already been handed over to "Modi's friend", the opposition leader said handing over of the country's resources to a few industrialists in "wholesale" is a massive issue in the Lok Sabha polls.

Besides, Gandhi alleged that BJP is trying to "crush" the regional identities as they do not understand the "Northeast culture and idea".

"Northeast will not tolerate this nonsensical idea of imposing the Nagpur culture... Do not fight the polls with hatred. You talk love and brotherhood, which will defeat BJP's hatred," Gandhi added.

Earlier, Gandhi also held a close-door meeting of the Northeast Congress Coordination Committee (NECCC), comprising all state unit chiefs, former chief ministers and senior leaders from all states in the region and discussed strategies for the upcoming polls.

"I have made it very clear in the meeting that we are not a party like BJP that imposes one idea only. Northeast is a unique region with different types of languages, religions and tribes. It is important for us that issues of Northeast are discussed and represented," he said.

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The EU on Tuesday called on New Delhi and Islamabad to exercise "maximum restraint" after Indian warplanes attacked a militant camp in Pakistan, sending tensions soaring between the nuclear-armed arch-rivals.

"We remain in contact with both countries and what we believe is essential is that all exercise maximum restraint and avoid further escalation of tensions," EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic told reporters.

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The Delhi government on Tuesday proposed a budget of Rs 49 crore for implementation of schemes, programmes and projects of the Tourism department, allocating a major chunk of the fund for beautification of entry points and creation of entry gates of the city.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is also Delhi's Finance Minister, presented a Rs 60,000 crore budget for 2019-20 in the Delhi Assembly laying emphasis on the education, health and transport sectors.

"Our government has prepared a concept plan for beautification of entry points and creation of entry gates of Delhi. The beautification of entry points in Delhi will give an aesthetic look to the commuters entering Delhi," he said.

Five entry points have been identified for taking up the beautification and makeover in phase-I at Gurugram Border, Tikri Kalan Border, Ghazipur Border, Apsara Border and Anand Vihar border near Kaushambi, Sisodia said.

Seven more entry points will be identified for beautification in the second phase during 2019-20, he said.

The government has prosed a budget of Rs 25 crore for fiscal year 2019-20 for beautification and creation of entry gates, the deputy chief minister said.

He said the government intends to develop Yamuna as a world class tourist destination for international and domestic tourists, particularly by developing area around the Signature Bridge.

"The development of this tourist place will be eco-sensitive. Tourist amenity and information centre will also be provided with shuttle service and guided tour of the Signature Bridge and the viewing gallery," he added.

A consultant/transaction advisor is being appointed for preparatory work for development of river front of Yamuna, the minister said.

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Asserting that the families of martyred jawans must be feeling relieved, BJP chief Amit Shah on Tuesday praised the Modi government after the Indian Air Force struck a Jaish terrorist camp in Pakistan, saying the entire country is celebrating Diwali now.

Addressing a Kamal Jyoti Sankalp Abhiyan event of BJP here, Shah said the air strike inside Pakistan must have brought relief to the families of soldiers killed in Pulwama attack. Forty CRPF jawans died in the attack carried out by a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber on Feb 14.

"You go to your homes and light a lamp with a pledge to re-elect Modi Ji," the BJP president said. "The entire country is celebrating Diwali after the air strike on terrorist camps."



Shah, later visited the residence of a beneficiary of central government schemes and lit a lamp, symbolising "development" brought to the poor under the Modi dispensation.

He had taken a boat to visit Gaurhat village, which was recently electrified.

At the event in Ghazipur, the BJP chief said people were demanding action after the Pulwama terrorist attack "so that the enemy thinks 10 times before committing such an act... Today in a pre-dawn attack, the Indian Air Force killed the terrorists who were hiding (in Pakistan)."



Shah said the Modi government has adopted a zero-tolerance approach towards terrorism.

Posing questions to his audience, Shah asked, "Who can ensure safety and security of the country, the people of 'gathbandhan' or Modi?" To which the audience said, "Modi".

He was referring to the proposed grand alliance of opposition parties against BJP.

"Who can give a befitting reply to Pakistan?" Shah went on. The crowd said, "Modi".

"Who can eliminate terrorism?" The public said, "Modi".

"Who can make India a global superpower?" The people shouted, "Modi!".

"Who can enable the pride of India to touch the sky across the world?" The audience shouted, "Modi!".

"All these things can be done by a single person, he is our dear leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi," the BJP chief said.

Shah asked the people whether they will bring back BJP to power and make Modi prime minister against after 2019 Lok Sabha polls with an absolute majority, the audience said, "Yes!"



He also asked the audience whether it will strengthen Modi, to give a befitting reply to Pakistan, accelerate the anti-terrorism drive, to which they said in unison,"Yes".

"The zero tolerance towards terrorism which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has, no one has in the world. The menace of terrorism, which the country is facing since 1990, the place responsible for spreading it was destroyed, was destroyed by the IAF," he stressed.

Shah went on to say, "In reply to Uri, there was a surgical strike, and today in self-defence, there was the air strike. This shows that the Government of India and its jawans can go to any extent for the country's security. This has also boosted the confidence of 125 crore Indians."



The BJP chief said while the air strike took place inside Pakistan, people residing in Varanasi, Ghazipur and on the banks of Gomti river were feeling relieved and experiencing peace.

Shah also elaborated the welfare programmes his party's government has initiated in the past four and a half years. He said the BJP gave houses to 2.5 crore families in the country.

"By 2022, every family in the country will have its own home, and the BJP has made such an arrangement."



Hitting out at the Congress, he said, "The Congress ruled the country for 55 years, but it did no do anything for the welfare of the poor. The SP-BSP, which supported the Congress, only talked about poverty, but did not do anything to eradicate the pain of poor people. The household of the poor was deprived of electricity, toilets. There was no health services for them. There were no facilities like the Mudra Yojana."



He also urged the 22 crore families who benefited from various schemes of the Centre to light a lamp.

"Most of the promises made by Modi Ji in 2014 Lok Sabha elections have been fulfilled, and the BJP will bring him among you to seek your blessings. If benefits are to be sent to each and every poor household, then the BJP government should be formed once again," he said.

Later in the evening, the BJP chief lit a lamp under Kamal Jyoti Sankalp Abhiyan at the residence of Rudraprasad in Gaurhat Taitarpur area.

In a tweet, Shah said, "This deep symbolises development, faith and various welfare works going on under the leadership of Modii ji. You (party workers) also share your photos with #BJPKamalJyoti."



He said, "Enjoyed gur-chana (jaggery and grams) at the home of Rudraprasad. Thank his family and all villagers for the love and hospitality."



Union minister Manoj Sinha was also present on this occasion.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Despite worries of possible evictions from their homes in border areas, Punjab villagers Tuesday appeared to be in high spirit after the IAF's pre-dawn strikes at terror camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Hailing IAF's action, Parkash Singh of border village Chandiwala said, "Jo vi kitta army ne, bilkul theek kita. Sanu vi de do bandookan, asi jake jeet laiye Lahore (Whatever has been done by the Indian Air Force is absolutely right. We request the government to provide us few guns so that we could win Lahore for them).

Kashmir Singh of village Mehdipur said, "It should have been done earlier. It is the right step of the government. It has given a stern message to Pakistan."



Meanwhile, with border area villagers getting wary of possible eviction from their homes amid the escalating Indo-Pak tension, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has decided to camp in border areas for the next three days to reassure them.

Officials said the chief minister would camp in villages as part of the state government's confidence-building measures post the air strikes, officials said.

The chief minister will leave for Pathankot Wednesday morning and will travel by road to villages in border areas and have a night stay at Amritsar, they said.

He would visit the Tarn Taran region the next day and spend the night at Faridkot, before returning to Chandigarh on Friday after visiting border areas of Ferozepur district, they said.

Amarinder Singh decided to visit the border villages even as his Cabinet colleague Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa Tuesday visited villages on international border at Dera Baba Nanak.

Exhorting villagers of Chandu Wadala, Rosa and Dostpur villages not to be afraid of anything, Randhawa assured them of the state government's commitment to their security and welfare.

Though not new to the trials and tribulations of residing in border areas amid the frequent, unsettling experience of relocating, many border villagers could be seen having the worries writ large on their faces.

Several hapless residents of villages situated along the zero line in Punjab seemed apprehensive of being rendered homeless amid the escalating tensions between the two countries.

The residents of Hazarasingh Wala, Rahimke, Tindiwala, Gatti Rajoke and other villages in Ferozepur district, who have faced similar turbulence in the past, appeared concerned over the prospects of bearing the burnt of hostilities between the neighbours.

The marginal farmers appeared more worried as they find it difficult to relocate, leaving their livestock, belongings and the standing crops behind.

"For us, it's like one step forward and ten steps back as each time such a situation occurs, we tend to lose whatever little assets we have created," said Resham Singh of Tindiwala.

"These circumstances are not new to us. We have seen it all in 1965, 1971 besides during the Kargil conflict," he said.

They face frequent relocations not merely during escalating tensions, but flooding of their lands by a swollen Sutlej almost every year.

"We have neither the intention nor the resources to leave this place permanently said Gurdev Singh, adding they have lived here since ages and would die here only.

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Delhi government has proposed construction of reservoirs on Yamuna flood plains to store flood water to meet the increasing demand for water in the national capital, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Tuesday.

Announcing a slew of initiatives to augment water supply in the national capital in his budget speech, Sisodia announced an allocation of Rs 2,370 crore in 2019-20 for implementation of schemes, programmes and projects of Delhi Jal Board and Rs 467 crore for a 20 KL free lifeline water subsidy scheme.

He also proposed an outlay of Rs 215 crore for 2019-20 for implementation of various schemes and projects of the Irrigation and Flood Control Department.

"For improving ground water level and water sustainability in national capital construction of reservoir in Palla Yamuna Floodplain for storage of flood water in 1,000 acre of area and rejuvenation of irrigation minors, canals, abandoned for storage and harvesting of Flood water are proposed to be implemented," he said.

Later in a press conference, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal explained how entire Delhi would have water all throughout the year if this initiative came into being.

"Haryana and Delhi have water dispute over only 125 to 150 cusec water. During rains 6 lakh cusec water is released by Haryana and Delhi also releases it.

"A new scheme (has been proposed) where we will create lakes in Yamuna floodplains and this will be stored there. It is an ambitious project and if this happens we will be self sufficient," Kejriwal said.

Sisodia said consultants are being appointed for these projects.

Sisodia also proposed two new schemes -- "Rejuvenation of Drains" with an outlay of Rs 100 crore for improving the ground water and 'rejuvenation or preservation and maintenance of water bodies with outlay of Rs 25 crore.

DJB in a pilot project, has taken up rejuvenation of 159 existing water bodies and creation of five new water bodies, he said.

In his budget speech, Sisodia said the government has made a plan to make Delhi self-reliant for water.

Delhi is getting 900 MGD water from the Ganga, Yamuna and ground water, whereas, the total requirement is 1,125 MGD.

"Delhi government has made a plan in which availability of water supply in Delhi will be more than its demand in next few years," Sisodia said.

Elaborating further, he said the plan has three main components -- first, by constructing underground reservoirs for storing additional rain water and flood water of river Yamuna, second, storing rain water at different parts of Delhi which would enhance the ground water level and third, treating sewage water at different places and stored at local ponds.

Further, the project - "Rejuvenation of Najafgarh Supplementary, Shahdara and associated link drains" is also under process, he said.

To augment the water supply in Delhi, a new 50 MGD water treatment plant is proposed to be constructed at Dwarka, Sisodia said.

The raw water for this plant shall be arranged through displacement by taking the treated effluent from coronation pillar to the 12 KM upstream of Wazirabad pond. Delhi would get additional 246 MGD water from these efforts and move forward to become self-reliant, Sisodia said.

Another Water Treatment Plant at Wazirabad at a cost of Rs 2,200 crore having capacity of 120 MGD is being constructed.

"Water pipeline has been provided in 406 unauthorized colonies in last 4 years and work is in progress in 142 unauthorized colonies.

"Along with this, 127 km old distribution water pipeline network has been replaced in 2018-19 to prevent water contamination," he said.

For Yamuna cleaning, the innovative project of interceptor sewer has been completed to the extent of 92 per cent and about 110 MGD waste water flow have been trapped from the drains are now being treated at the Sewage Treatment Plants.

Further to improve the carrying capacity of the sewer lines, rehabilitation of around 167 Kms of peripheral sewer line have been taken up with trenchless technology to increase the life span of the old sewer lines by more than 50 years.

"The work is in progress and 20 per cent of the work has been completed," he said.

"DJB has taken up Yamuna Rejuvenation scheme with a budget of Rs 75 crore provided in 2019- 20, under which, the drains flowing into river Yamuna are to be taken up for comprehensive cleaning and management of sewage, solid waste, sludge and septage," he said.

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Delhi government Tuesday announced an allocation of Rs 7,485 crore for the health sector in its budget, with Rs 588 crore being proposed for construction of new hospitals and re-modelling of existing ones.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia presented a Rs 60,000 crore budget for 2019-20 in Delhi Assembly laying emphasis on the education, health and transport sectors.

"I propose a total outlay of Rs 7,485 crore on the health sector for 2019-20. This includes revenue budget of Rs 6,462 crore and capital budget of Rs 1,023 crore. An amount of Rs 3,737 crore is earmarked for implementation of various schemes, programmes and projects under the health sector," Sisodia said.

He said the Drugs Control Department has adopted a "zero-tolerance" approach towards pharmaceutical drug abuse and taken stringent action against defaulters.

"The department has cancelled or suspended 386 drug licenses of manufacturing units and sales premises till December 2018, who were found violating norms," he said.

The proposed outlay of Rs 3,737 crore in 2019-20 for various projects is 45.07 per cent higher than the revised estimates of Rs 2,576 crore in the health sector in 2018-19, he said.

The budget also said 189 Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinics have been set up and 333 more such clinics will be set up by the end of June 2019.

About 40 lakh persons have availed health services at 'Mohalla Clinics' in the current financial year up to December 2018, Sisodia said.

"Our target is to set up 1,000 'mohalla clinics'. Similarly, 25 polyclinics are in operation and 94 more dispensaries are being remodelled to start polyclinics to provide specialised health care to citizens. An outlay of Rs 375 crore is proposed for 'mohalla clinics' and Polyclinics in 2019-20," Sisodoa said.

An outlay of Rs 588 crore has also been proposed for construction of new hospitals and re-modelling of existing Delhi government hospitals, the deputy chief minister said.

"To enhance the total bed strength from 10,000 beds to 20,000 in hospitals, the work on construction of a 600-bed hospital at Ambedkar Nagar and an 800-bed hospital at Burari, will be completed shortly.

The construction of a 1,241-bed hospital at Dwarka is at an advance stage," according to the budget.

Projects for remodelling of existing hospitals - RTRM Hospital, Acharya Shree Bhikshu Hospital, Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital, Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Hospital, Dr Baba Sahib Ambedkar Hospital and Guru Govind Singh Hospital, and other facilities, at a cost of Rs 963 crore have been sanctioned, Sisodia pointed out.

This expansion and remodelling of existing hospitals will add 2,601 new beds, he added.

The city government has ensured availability of free medicines to patients visiting dispensaries and government hospitals. Around 20 lakh patients get benefitted every month from this scheme, he said.

"Delhi government launched the scheme for medical treatment of road accident victims and fire burn victims. Total expenses incurred on such treatment are being borne by the Delhi government. More than 3,000 such victims have been treated under this scheme, Sisodia said.

He observed that good samaritans who help road traffic accident victims to reach hospitals for medical care are given a financial incentive of Rs 2,000 along with a certificate of appreciation. He said an outlay of Rs 2 crore is proposed for this scheme in 2019-20.

Under the scheme of conducting high-end radiology test - MRI, CT Scan, ultrasound, at private centres, an outlay of Rs 49 crore is proposed in 2019-20, the budget said.

Radiological diagnostic services for 11 tests are being provided to people at 23 empanelled diagnostic centres on referral from city government health centres.

Similarly, free services for 52 kind of surgeries are also being provided at 48 empanelled hospitals after due referral of the patients from city-run hospitals, he said.

Services of First Responder Vehicle (FRV) on motorcycle manned by trained manpower and equipped with mobile data terminal/GPS devices has been started in East Delhi to reach inside narrow streets of congested areas within shortest possible time.

Construction on phase-II of the Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences will be completed by March 2019 which will add 25 new beds at the institute.

Two new courses -- Dental Hygiene and Diploma Course for two years and Dental Operation Room Assistant certificate course for one year, are also proposed to be started, the budget said.

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Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia Tuesday announced an allocation of Rs 100 crore for providing Minimum Support Price (MSP) to farmers as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission.

Presenting Delhi government's annual budget for 2019-20, Sisodia said Delhi is the first state in the country to implement the Swaminathan Commission report on farming sector.

"To provide 1.5 times of MSP to farmers of Delhi, as per Swaminathan Commission report, the 2019-20 budget allocates Rs 100 crore," he said presenting budget in the Delhi Assembly.

The Deputy Chief Minister also announced a new 'Smart Agriculture Scheme' for farmers in Delhi.

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Moving ahead with implementing its e-vehicle policy, the Delhi government announced Rs 100 crore for a state electric vehicle fund in its 2019-20 budget, presented in the assembly on Tuesday.

Presenting the budget, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia proposed an outlay of Rs 1,807 crore for implementation of various schemes, programmes and projects of the transport department in 2019-20.

"This allocation is almost double the revised estimate of 2018-19," Sisodia, who also holds the finance portfolio, said.

He said vehicles contribute to approximately 40 per cent emission of PM 2.5 in Delhi.

Working to resolve the problem, the government has formulated a draft electric vehicle policy to promote the use of battery electric vehicles (BEV) in Delhi, Sisodia said.

"Under this policy, our efforts are to have 25 per cent share of BEVs among newly registered vehicles by 2024. I am proposing Rs 100 crore for constituting the State Electric Vehicle Fund in 2019-20," he said in the House.

The Delhi government has also earmarked Rs 50 crore from the fund of environment compensation charge for the state electric vehicle fund, he said.

The deputy chief minister said the government is endeavouring to strengthen the public transport system by inducting 4,000 new buses, including 1000 e-buses, under the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and the cluster scheme run by the Delhi Integrated Multi Modal System.

The process to procure 1,000 low-floor AC electric buses has started, Sisodia said.

"I am happy to inform that these buses will be operational in different phases from the next financial year," he said.

Currently, the DTC runs 3,882 buses on 557 routes carrying about 31 lakh passengers per day. Over 12 lakh passengers used 1,789 cluster buses daily.

The budget also allocated Rs 150 crore for construction of bus depots and terminals and Rs 50 crore for 1397 new bus queue shelters in the city.

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Delhi Metro's Phase IV, which has become a bone of contention between the city government and the Centre, was allocated Rs 500 crore in the budget presented on Tuesday.

Presenting the Delhi government's budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 in the Assembly, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, proposed fund for the long-awaited Metro project.

The 104-km-long Metro Phase-IV project was estimated to be completed by 2021 after Delhi government's in-principle approval to it in February 2016. It has yet to start despite approval of the Delhi cabinet.

"Our government has approved the proposal of Phase-IV of Delhi Metro project comprising six corridors with the length of 103.93 km. With the completion of the phase-IV project, total length of the Delhi Metro will become 453.93 km. I propose Rs 500 crore in the budget 2019-20 for Metro Phase-IV project," Sisodia, who is also Delhi's Finance Minister, said in his budget speech.

Union Housing and Urban Affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri in January accused the AAP government of having a behavioural pattern of "creating hurdles" in response two conditions imposed by Delhi government while clearing the project.

The Housing and Urban Affairs ministry is looking into the conditions imposed by the Delhi government.

The Delhi cabinet while clearing Metro Phase IV in December, 2018, had imposed conditions that the operational losses of the project should be shared on 50-50 basis by it and the Centre.

It had also put the condition that it will not have any liability on loan provided by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to fund the project.

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Villagers of Malkapur in Maharashtra's Buldhana district Tuesday had a special reason to smile after the pre-dawn air strikes on Jaish-e-Mohammed's terror camps in Pakistan.

CRPF trooper Sanjay Rajput who was among the 40 personnel killed in the February 14 Pulwama terror attack was a resident of Malkapur village, over 500 kilometres from here.

Heart-wrenching gloom had descended on the village following Rajput's martyrdom and Tuesday's strikes, in which an estimated 350 Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists perished, has brought back the smiles on villagers' faces.

Several of them distributed sweets and slogans like "Bharat Mata ki Jai" continued to rent the air periodically amid drums setting a celebratory beat in the village.

Calling the air strikes an apt reply, a villager said such action was needed from time to time to ensure Pakistan and terror groups operating from its soil stay in line and don't dare any misadventure against India.

Advocating an iron-fisted response to terrorism, the villager said, "We are proud of the Indian Air Force for the air strikes. If Pakistan kills one of ours, we should kill a hundred of their soldiers. Our village lost one hero in the Pulwama attack and we were in deep shock. But now we believe his martyrdom was not in vain."



Rajput (49) had been a trooper with the paramilitary force for 23 years.

He is survived by his wife Sushma and two sons.

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Not satisfied with the responses of ED, a Delhi court has asked the probe agency's three senior officials to apprise it in person of the details of ongoing investigation in an over Rs 6 crore money laundering case against former Haryana chief minister O P Chautala.

Special Judge Kamini Lau sought presence of ED's Joint Director Rajeshwar Singh, Assistant Director D D Negi and Joint Director D S Siddhu before it on March 7 and give details about the status of the investigations, including the role of Chautala's family members, and the manner in which the proceeds of crime were generated and the evidence relating to structuring and layering.

The court noted in its recent order that when it asked the ED's special Public Prosecutor and the investigating officer to provide details regarding generation of proceeds of crime, structuring, layering and projection of the alleged proceeds as legal, they were unable to satisfy it.

It asked the officers to point out the material or evidence related to identification of the properties which are under investigation and the date on which they were projected as "untainted" or legally acquired and its termination date.

The probe agency has been asked to give details of the role of Chautala's wife Sneh Lata and two sons Abhay Singh Chautala and Ajay Singh Chautala and the status of the investigation against them.

The court also asked ED to furnish the status of further investigations relating to remaining immovable properties.

Chautala, not present in the court, sought exemption from personal appearing for the day on the ground that he was 84 years old and was admitted in Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon, claiming to be suffering from lower respiratory tract infection.

The court had in January granted bail to Chautala in the money laundering case and imposed various conditions on him, including surrendering his passport before it.

The bail application was opposed by ED's special public prosecutor N K Matta who had said that further examination of the accused was required for identifying the money trail and other suspected beneficiaries in the case.

Chautala, who is out on three-week parole, is serving a 10-year jail term in a separate case related to teachers' recruitment scam.

ED has sought Chautala's prosecution under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The agency had earlier informed the court that disproportionate assets worth Rs 6.09 crore were "illegally generated" by Chautala between May 1993 and May 2006, through corruption and were projected as untainted property by utilising them in the construction and in acquiring movable assets.

Chautala is serving imprisonment for illegally recruiting 3,206 Junior Basic Trained (JBT) teachers in Haryana in 2000.

The CBI had on March 26, 2010 named Chautala in a charge sheet, indicting him for allegedly possessing assets worth Rs 6.09 crore. The ED had filed a separate case based on the CBI's FIR.

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A 43-year-old man attempted suicide by setting himself on fire at the office of the Ahmednagar superintendent of police, an official said Tuesday.

Abu Bakar Bagwan set himself ablaze near the gate of the office of the SP using some inflammable substance and ran inside Monday evening, the official said.

The SP's office is located in Camp area of Ahmednagar, around 245 kms from here.

Police personnel at the gate rushed after Bagwan and doused fire, a police official said, adding that the SP was not present at the office at the time of the incident.

Bagwan was rushed to hospital with burn injuries. He is out of danger now, the official added.

Prima facie, Bagwan was upset with progress of investigation by police into a family dispute case, and demanding arrest of a person, he added.

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The opposition Congress on Tuesday urged Arunachal Pradesh's governor to announce a compensation of Rs two crore to the families of those killed in police firing recently during violent protests over granting of permanent residency to six non-native communities in the Northeastern state.

In a memorandum to Governor Brigadier (retd) B D Mishra, president of Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committte Takam Sanjoy said the party was committed to help restore normalcy in the Northeastern state, but it felt it will take time to die down in the larger social consciousness of the peaceful state after the "unprovoked killings, injuries and the damages thereof".

"Therefore, we would like to place before you the following compensation demands for your kind consideration and subsequent recommendation to the state government for timely implementation.

"Rs two crore each to the families of the deceased killed by paramilitary forces with one regular government job to a family member, Rs 50 lakh each to those who sustained bullet injuries and Rs 5 lakh each to the ones with minor injuries," he said.

Three persons were killed and several others injured during the violent protests over granting the permanent residence certificate (PRC) to six non-Arunachal Pradesh Scheduled Tribe (APST) communities living in Namsai and Changlang districts -- Deoris, Sonowal-Kacharis, Morans, Adivasis and Mishings -- and to the Gorkhas living in Vijaynagar.

Most of these communities are recognised as Scheduled Tribes in neighbouring Assam.

Sanjoy also appealed for full compensation to private individuals and establishments for the damages of movable and immovable properties, including buildings, commercial establishments, vehicles.

The Congress leader said full compensation to the artists who came to perform on the 'Statehood Day' for the damages of their equipments, instruments and other high value accessories.

"Withdrawal of all pending cases booked against the individuals and groups involved in the PRC protests in the twin capitals and other parts of the state," Sanjoy said.

Curfew was clamped in Itanagar and adjoining Naharlagun town on Saturday, but it did not deter protesters from venturing into the troubled streets that were scene of pitched battles with security forces over the next two days.

No major incident of violence has been reported from anywhere since Monday morning as Arunachal Scouts, an infantry regiment of the Army trained in mountain warfare, marched through the streets of the two towns to instill confidence among people and ward off possible violence, officials said.

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The Congress and BJP in Telangana Tuesday hailed the pre-emptive air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan, with TPCC suggesting the Army carry out a surgical strike on them, the way U.S. did to eliminate Osama Bin Laden.

"The way Osama Bin Laden was killed by the US army in Pakistan, we feel that it is appropriate that the Indian Army should also carry out such (surgical) operations against Pakistan aided terror outfits," Telangana Pradesh Congress president Uttam Kumar Reddy, a former IAF fighter pilot, said.

He said Pakistan was undoubtedly supporting terror outfits like JeM and LeT to carry out a covert warfare against India. The whole nation appreciates the surgical strike carried out by the Indian Army, he said.

"As a former @IAF_MCC fighter pilot, my heart swells with pride at the skill & valour of the Mirage 2000 pilots who destroyed Pakistani terror camps across the LOC. Congratulations to the Air Warriors!#IndianAirForce," he tweeted



I salute our @IAF_MCCs brave Air Warriors who have effectively carried out the air strike.#IndianAirForce should also strike down terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammeds (JeM) Headquarters in Bahawalpur & send a strong message against Cross Border Terrorism," he said in another tweet.

BJP state president K Laxman that the air strikes were a matter of pride for the entire country



"It was surgical strikes earlier. The strikes happened again today...It is a matter of pride for us," he said, addressing a meeting organised by BJP Mahila Morcha (womens wing) with NGOs.

Laxman also hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi appointing a woman Nirmala Sitharaman, as the Defence Minister.

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The opposition parties have decided to drop the formulation of the Common Minimum Programme as the agenda for their meeting on Wednesday and will now discuss the strikes against the terror camps in Pakistan instead, sources said.

Senior leaders in the opposition confirmed that in a discussion with the Congress, the CPI(M) and the CPI said that they will only be part of the meeting if Common Minimum Programme is off the table.

With the change in agenda, sources said Left parties are now on board.

Opposition leaders who are set to attend meeting are Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, among others.

Sources indicated that through out the day Congress was in two minds about the meeting as they felt that it would be bad optics to criticise the government or Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon after the strikes in Pakistan which even the opposition parties have lauded.

"The problem is that not holding the meeting would also mean receding space to the BJP. From the beginning we were saying that let the opposition meeting be on Pulwama," said an opposition leader.

The Trinamool Congress said that Banerjee's book launch event here has been cancelled.

After the February 13 meeting of opposition leaders, the decision to formulate a Common Minimum Programme was mooted, which would act as a roadmap for them to fight the Lok Sabha elections against the BJP.

The Left parties had maintained that forging a national-level tie-up should be taken up after the elections and so should be the Common Minimum Programme.

They feel that the priority should be to forge state-level alliances and the primary objective of the opposition parties at the national-level should be to defeat the BJP.

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The Tamil Nadu government Tuesday sought the Centre's intervention to secure the release of 46 Indian fishermen and 26 boats from Sri Lankan custody.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said fishermen from Thanjavur, Ramanathapuram, Pudukkottai and Nagappattinam districts were apprehended in nine different incidents by the Sri Lankan Navy in the last two months.

Describing their arrest as unfortunate, Palaniswami said the fishermen's prolonged incarceration in Lankan Jails was subjecting them and their families back home to untold misery besides pushing the families into abject poverty.

The Chief Minister expressed concern over the latest incident of the Lankan Navy apprehending seven fishermen from Nagapattinam early this month.

Palaniswami reiterated the state government's demand for restoration of traditional fishing rights of Indian fishermen in the Palk Bay by annulling the Indo-Sri Lankan agreements of 1974 and 1976, through which the Katchatheevu islet was ceded to the island republic.

He said the constitutional validity of these agreements has been challenged on "extremely valid and legal grounds" in the Supreme Court, referring to the late J Jayalalithaa moving the apex court on the matter in 2008.

Palaniswami urged the Centre to prevail upon Sri Lanka to release the 26 boats of the fishermen which have been kept in Lankan custody for long periods leading to their ruin.

He also requested the Central Government to act decisively to find a solution and permanently resolve the long standing issue.

Palaniswami urged Modi to immediately direct officials concerned in the External Affairs Ministry to take concrete action through diplomatic channels to secure the immediate release of 46 fishermen and 26 fishing boats.

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Amid reports about growing discontent among JD(S) legislators and workers about party not empowering them, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has appointed nine partymen as heads to state run boards and corporations with cabinet rank.

The move ahead of announcement of the Lok Sabha poll schedule is seen as an attempt by the JD(S) to quell dissidence within, and to arrest any bid by the BJP to poach its legislators.

Among nine appointed, eight are MLAs.

The JD(S) move comes more than a month after appointment of Congressmen to the posts that came under its share as per coalition arrangement.

Those appointed include MLAs- Naganagouda Kandkur to Karnataka Slum Development Board, Raja Venkatappa Nayaka to Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation,D C Gowri Shankar to Mysore Sales International Limited and B Satyanarayana to Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation;



Legislators Nisarga Narayana Swamy L N to Bangalore International Airport Area Planning Authority, K Annadani to Devaraj Urs Backward Classes Development Corporation, K M Shivalinge Gowda to Karnataka Housing Board, K Mahadev to Karnataka State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation.

JD(S) national general secretary Mohammed Zafrulla Khan has been appointed to the Karnataka Minorities Development Corporation.

While senior JD(S) leader from north Karnataka and former MLA N H Konaraddi has been appointed as political secretary to the Chief Minister, MLA Devanand Fulasing Chavan has been made parliamentary secretary to primary and secondary education department held by Kumaraswamy.

The appointments cleared by the chief minister also include, JD(S) MLAs K Srinivasamurthy and M Srinivas as parliamentary secretaries to Animal husbandry and Cooperation ministers respectively and MLC K A Thippeswamy as parliamentary secretary to PWD minister.

It has been a long standing demand within the JD(S) to appoint partymen to key positions in the government, and the chorus gained momentum after the Congress appointed its people to boards and corporations coming under its share in January.

JD(S) has also kept two berths in the cabinet from its share vacant.

According to party sources, the JD(S)leadership decided to appoint partymen and legislators to boards and corporations with an intention to quell any kind of disgruntlement that may emerge ahead of Lok Sabha polls.

Though Kumaraswamy has cleared most names suggested by Congress from its side to boards and corporation, he had put on hold appointment of Doddaballapur MLA T Venkataramanaiah as chairperson of Karnataka Road Development Corporation (KRDCL) and Chikkaballapur MLA K Sudhakar as Karnataka Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) chairperson.

JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy had earlier clarified that Sudhakar's appointment was opposed as the Supreme Court guidelines had specified a certain qualification for the post.

Venkataramanaiah's appointment to KRDCL is said to have been opposed by Gowda's son and PWD Minister Revanna, stating that it came under his department.

However, Venkataramaiah's name has now been cleared by Kumaraswamy for Karnataka State Forest Industries Corporation Limited, along with another Congress MLA Bheema Naik to Karnataka Thanda Development Corporation.

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China on Tuesday urged India and Pakistan to "exercise restraint" and asked New Delhi to carry out its fight against terrorism through international cooperation, hours after Indian fighter jets struck Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest camp in Pakistan in a pre-dawn attack.

When asked for China's response to India's air strikes on terrorist camps in Pakistan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told the media here that "we have taken note of the relevant reports."



"I want to say that India and Pakistan are both important countries in South Asia. A sound relationship and cooperation between the two serves the interests of both the countries and peace and stability in South Asia," he said.

"We hope that both India and Pakistan can exercise restraint and do more to improve their bilateral relations," he said.

India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, officials said in New Delhi.

On India's assertion that it was a "non-military pre-emptive strikes" directed against training camps of the terrorist groups who are carrying out violent acts in India, Lu said, "as for India's claim on taking action against terrorism, well fighting terrorism is a global practice.

"It needs necessary international cooperation. India needs to create favourable condition internationally for the same," he said.

To another question, he said Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Muhammad Qureshi has spoken to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.

"During the phone call, Wang listened carefully to Pakistan foreign minister's notification and proposals on the issues and reaffirmed his opinion that the two sides need to advance their cooperation in the counter terrorism for peace and stability in the region," the spokesman said.

Lu's comments came ahead of Russia, India and China (RIC) Foreign Ministers' meeting at Chinese city of Wuzhen on Wednesday in which External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is due to take part.

The Pulwama terror attack and India's air strikes on the terrorists training camps were expected to figure in the her talks with Wang and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Levrov.

The issue of listing of JeM chief Masood Azhar in the UN 1267 committee was also expected to figure in their talks.

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The Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly Tuesday lauded the Indian armed forces for carrying out air strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan.

Assembly Speaker Charandas Mahant, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, BJP Legislative Party leader Dharamlal Kaushik and other members of the House said they salute the valour of Indian soldiers.

"The state assembly hails the bravery and courage of Indian Air Force (IAF). The entire House is with our forces," Mahant said.

Baghel said, "Indian forces are the best in the world and the entire nation is with our forces which have yet again proved their supremacy."



People of Chhattisgarh also feel proud of our brave soldiers like others, he added.

Earlier, Baghel said in a tweet, "We salute to Indian Army. We are proud of bravery and valour of our jawans of the country. Now time has come to uproot terrorism in the country."



As the Question Hour began in the Assembly, Kaushik said India has not only avenged the Pulwama terror attack, but also fulfilled the wish of crores of countrymen who had been eagerly waiting for this moment.

The jawans have given befitting reply to Pakistan-sponsored terrorsand retaliated in style after Uri surgical strike, he said, congratulating the armed forces.

Strike involving several fighter jets of the IAF successfully destroyed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province early Tuesday.

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It was business as usual on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road on Tuesday as 70 trucks crossed the LoC between Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir at Kaman Post, hours after IAF pounded Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camps in Pakistan.

As many as 35 trucks carrying goods from Salamabad Trade Facilitation Centre at Uri entered PoK as part of the cross-Line of Control trade between the divided parts of the state, officials said.

They said an equal number of trucks arrived from the other side at the trade facilitation centre on the Indian side.

The exchange of goods, which is held on barter basis, takes place from Tuesday to Friday every week. The trade on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road was started in October 2008 as a confidence building measure as part of the composite Indo-Pak dialogue.

The trade has been suspended several times in the past whenever there was any tension between the two countries like in the aftermath of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

In a swift and precise air strike following the Pulwama attack, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, officials said earlier in New Delhi.

The operation, described as a non-military, preemptive strike, was welcomed by the entire political spectrum and military experts who had been advocating retribution after the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama claimed by JeM.

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Britain's main opposition Labour Party has said it could support a second Brexit referendum as the European Union opened the door to postponing the country's exit from the bloc beyond the March 29 deadline.

Britain remains as divided as ever over Brexit, which a narrow majority of voters backed in a June 2016 referendum and speculation that London will ask for more time to negotiate its withdrawal has gathered steam in recent days.

British Prime Minister Theresa May suggested Sunday that parliament may not be able to vote on her Brexit deal until March 12, just 17 days before Britain leaves the EU, provoking alarm at home.

European Council President Donald Tusk said he had discussed the "legal and procedural context of a potential extension" when he met May on Sunday on the sidelines of an EU-Arab summit in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh.

"I believe in the situation we are in, an extension would be a rational solution but Prime Minister May still believes she's able to avoid this scenario," Tusk told a closing summit press conference.

The EU has been watching with growing concern the possibility that Britain will crash out of the bloc without a deal, risking chaos on both sides of the Channel.

Speculation is mounting that lawmakers will in a series of votes this week move to delay Britain's withdrawal to avoid a no-deal Brexit.

The opposition Labour Party on Monday raised the pressure, saying it would put forward its own plan for Brexit, which calls for Britain to stay in the EU customs union, as part of those votes.

Labour then said if its plan was rejected, it would lend its support to an amendment on holding a second referendum on EU membership -- without specifying a date.

"We are committed to... putting forward or supporting an amendment in favour of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country," Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said in a statement.

Corbyn, a lifelong eurosceptic who supports Brexit, has been highly ambiguous throughout the negotiations even though many of his MPs support a second referendum.

The Times described Corbyn's decision "a significant moment" but added that much would depend on the details of the new policy.

"A second referendum risks deepening the divisions in what is already a deeply divided country. It would prolong Brexit uncertainty for much of the rest of the year. And whatever the outcome, it would not settle the troubled question of Britain's relationship with the EU," it said in an editorial.

On currency markets, sterling rose further on speculation that May could push back the March 29 deadline in a bid to avert a painful no-deal divorce.

Adding to her woes, the Daily Mail reported that a group of 23 dissidents met secretly to discuss how to stop Britain leaving the EU without an agreement, with as many as 15 said to be ready to resign.

Taking a united stand, the EU and its remaining 27 countries have repeatedly rebuffed May's efforts to reopen the Brexit deal struck with her government in November.

Since British lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected her withdrawal deal last month, the Conservative prime minister has sought to address their concerns about the text's so-called "backstop" arrangement.

London wants the "backstop" -- the clause binding Northern Ireland into the EU customs union if a new deal to keep the Irish border open is not found -- to be time-limited or to be allowed to unilaterally end it.

The EU opposes any changes to an arrangement designed to keep the border between British Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland flowing. It also sees the "backstop" as an insurance policy for the peace process in the UK province of Northern Ireland.

Brussels however is not budging, though it is offering political reassurances.

Tusk said he told May that "no matter which scenario, all 27 (EU countries) will show maximum understanding and goodwill".

During a press conference Monday in Sharm El-Sheikh, May said she believes she can still deliver Brexit on time.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm leading the Brexit negotiations, is still working on the assumption that Britain will leave the bloc on March 29, commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva told reporters earlier in Brussels.

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BJP MLAs were marshalled out of Delhi Assembly Tuesday for chanting pro-Modi slogans instead of hailing the Indian Air Force for carrying out pre-dawn air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan, speaker Ram Niwas Goel said.

The Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control on the Pakistani side, 12 days after the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group carried out the dastardly Pulwama attack in Kashmir, government sources said.

The speaker was accused by the Opposition parties of not giving time to laud the strikes to which Goel said the BJP MLAs chanted "Modi Zindabad" instead of hailing the Indian Air Force.

The BJP MLAs were marshalled out of the Delhi Assembly amid chants of "Bharat Mata ki Jai" and "Vande Matram".

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(WB) Prosecutors presented autopsy photos on Tuesday in D.C. Superior Court of the gunshot wound to neck that took the life of D.C. transgender woman Deeniquia Dee Dee Dodds, 22, in a July 4, 2016, shooting incident during the final week of the trial of two men charged with her murder.

The trial, which began over three weeks ago, has included testimony from multiple witnesses that prosecutors with the U.S. Attorneys Office say have provided convincing evidence that defendants Monte Tyree Johnson, 23, and Jolonta Little, 28, were responsible for Dodds murder as part of an armed robbery.

The lead prosecutors in the case, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ahmed Baset and Thomas Saunders, told the jury in opening arguments and subsequent questioning of witnesses that the evidence would show that Johnson, Little, and two other men targeted at least eight trans women, including Dodds, for robbery in the early morning hours of July 4, 2016, in different locations.

Court records show that shortly after Little was arrested on Sept. 9, 2016, and after Johnson was arrested on Feb. 9, 2017, the two were charged with first degree murder while armed and 15 additional charges, including conspiracy bias related (hate) crime, armed robbery, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence and assault to commit robbery while armed.

The prosecutors said evidence that the men were targeting trans women for the robberies prompted prosecutors to classify the attack against Dodds as a hate crime, which could lead to an enhanced sentence if Johnson and Little are convicted.

The other two men  Shareem Hall, 25, and his younger brother, Cyheme Hall, 23,  were also charged with first degree murder while armed in connection with Dodds death.

But according to the Washington Post, prosecutors disclosed at the start of the trial that the Hall brothers were cooperating with police and prosecutors and would be testifying at the trial as government witnesses. The Post reported that the two reached a plea bargain deal with prosecutors in which they would plead guilty to a lesser charge of second degree murder.

In dramatic testimony earlier this month Cyheme Hall told the jury he and Johnson jumped out of a car carrying guns and rushed to where Dodds was standing along a street in Northeast D.C. near where she lived and demanded her money, according to an account by the Post.

But unlike their holdups of the other trans women that night, Dodds fought back, Hall testified. He told the jury that Johnson pointed his gun to her face and that Dodds grabbed the barrel of the gun with both hands, the Post reported.

Hall testified that Johnson fired his gun after which the two men took Dodds purse and cellphone as she was bleeding while sprawled on the sidewalk, the Post reported, adding that Hall testified that the plan was never to kill anyone.

The plan was just to rob a person, the Post quoted Hall as telling the jury. I was in shock. He shot a person for nothing.

Johnsons attorney, Kevin Irving, and Littles attorney, Brandi Harden, have argued that their clients are innocent of the murder and the Hall brothers are lying to deflect the blame from them to Little and Johnson.

During the trial on Tuesday before the jury entered the courtroom Harden raised strong objections to the hate crime designation of the murder charge against her client, saying the designation would be unfairly prejudicial in the eyes of jurors. She said she would argue that the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that hate was involved in her clients involvement in a robbery case.

She has argued that Little was driving the car in which the men who allegedly were committing robberies used but claimed he was unaware that the others were committing robberies when they got out of the car.

Also on Tuesday Saunders and Baset presented their final two witnesses. Zachary McMenanin, who was identified as an investigative analyst, testified on the methods police and investigators used to track the cell phone calls and cell phone locations of the four defendants on the day Dodds was shot.

Charging documents filed by homicide detectives at the time Johnson and Little were arrested show that investigators used GPS tracking from cell phone signals to place the defendants at the locations where the robberies and the murder took place.

The other government witness testifying on Tuesday was Dr. John Stash, an assistant medical examiner for the state of Maryland, who said he performed the autopsy on Dodds after her death on July 13, 2016, nine days after she was shot.

Although Dodds lived in D.C. she was taken to Prince Georges County Medical Center for emergency care at the time of the shooting.

In response to questions by Baset, Stash described in detail the location of the bullet lodged in Dodds neck and how it severed a blood vessel to her brain that ultimately resulted in her death.

It was during Stashs testimony that Baset brought out graphic photos of Dodds body lying on the autopsy table so that Stash could point to the location of the gunshot wound and describe how it resulted in Dodds death. He said the death was officially listed as being caused by complications from a gunshot wound to the neck.

The trial is expected to end in the coming days.
The BJP and the Congress in Telangana Tuesday hailed the Indian Air Force air strike on a terror camp in Pakistan while activists of the saffron party, students and others took out rallies at different places in the state lauding the defence personnel.

State BJP president K Laxman and his Congress counterpart N Uttam Kumar Reddy welcomed the air strikes.

"The way Osama Bin Laden was killed by the US army in Pakistan, we feel that it is appropriate that the Indian Army should also carry out such (surgical) operations against Pakistan aided terror outfits," Telangana Pradesh Congress president Uttam Kumar Reddy, a former IAF fighter pilot, said.

"As a former @IAF_MCC fighter pilot, my heart swells with pride at the skill & valour of the Mirage 2000 pilots who destroyed Pakistani terror camps across the LOC. Congratulations to the Air Warriors!#IndianAirForce," he tweeted.

Laxman said the air strikes were a matter of pride for the entire country



"It was surgical strikes earlier. The strikes happened again today...It is a matter of pride for us," he said, addressing a meeting organised by BJP Mahila Morcha (women's wing) with NGOs.

The ruling TRS MP B Vinod Kumar also hailed the defence forces.

"As a patriot, everybody will defend our country. So, definitely, we support the initiative of the defence forces in safeguarding the Indian territory," he told PTI here.

BJP workers organised a rally at Mahabubnagar, hailing the defence personnel.

Students of different colleges in Hyderabad also organised events on the occasion.

In a pinpointed and swift air strike that lasted less than two minutes, India pounded Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing up to 350 terrorists and trainers who were moved there for their protection after the Pulwama attack, officials said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
West Bengal Finance minister Amit Mitra Tuesday said that the state was focusing on labour-intensive growth in GDP with the view to create jobs.

Handing over land allotment letters to 25-odd tanneries from Kolkata, Kanpur and Chennai here at Calcutta Leather Complex (CLC), Mitra said that already three to 1.5 lakh jobs had been created directly and indirectly in the place.

"We want to see that at least six to seven lakh jobs are generated here, direct and indirect", Mitra said.

The state government handed over land allotment letters to 12 tanneries from Kanpur, same number from Kolkata and one from Chennai.

Mitra said that the state government would spend to create the necessary infrastructure to create the complex as largest leather cluster in the country.

Presently, 300 tanneries and 40 leather manufacturing goods are located in the CLC.

He said the complex was located on 230 acres of land.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Balakot-based Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM) terror camp destroyed by the Indian Air Force(IAF) Tuesday was used for "battle inoculation" and its trainers were retired officers of the Pakistan Army, government sources said.

Located on the banks of Kunhar river in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, the camp was also used by another terror group Hizbul Mujahideen.

The sources said at least 325 terrorists and 25 to 27 trainers were at the camp, the biggest operated by the JeM which had claimed responsibility for the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 40 jawans.

The camp also offered aquatic training to its inmates, the sources added.

The camp, located 20 km from the Balakot town, was an important training centre for the JeM and other terror organisations and it had several structures to accommodate new recruits and facilities to train them, the sources said. Several "inspirational lectures" were delivered by JeM founder and terror mastermind Masood Azhar and other terrorist leaders on several occasions.

Masood Azhar's relatives and cadres were trained at Balakot in advanced weapons and tactics and before the inception of JeM, the camp was also used by the Hizbul Mujahideen, the sources said.

Yousuf Azhar, who headed the Balakot camp, is wanted by the CBI in the IC-814 hijacking case with a pending Interpol red corner notice against him since 2000. He is the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar.

In the Balakot camp, the terrorists were imparted the advanced 'Daura-e-Khaas' training in weapons, explosives and field tactics, attack on convoys of security forces, planting and making of IEDs, suicide bombing, rigging vehicles for suicide attacks and survival tactics in high altitudes and extreme-stress situations, the sources said.

The JeM specialises in fidayeen actions and gives immense importance to religious indoctrination and ideological brainwashing, they said.

India struck the Balakot camp in a major "preemptive" air strike killing a large number of terrorists and trainers of the Pakistan-based terror group preparing to carry out suicide attacks in this country.

Giving details of the "intelligence led operation" at a conference, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said credible intelligence was received that the JeM was planning to carry out other suicide attacks in India after the Pulwama bombing on a CRPF convoy 12 days ago that killed 40 jawans.

"In an intelligence led operation in the early hours of today, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot," Gokhale said.

"In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Pulwama terrorist attack and the listing of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN is expected to figure prominently at Russia, India and China (RIC) Foreign Ministers' meeting being held here on Wednesday.

Besides attending the annual trilateral meeting, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj would also hold bilateral talks with her Chinese and Russian counterparts on the sidelines of the meeting in which the listing of Azhar by the UN's 1267 committee is expected to figure.

Swaraj's meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi assumes significance as it is the first high-level interaction between the two countries after the Pulwama terror attack that left 40 CRPF personnel dead.

China, a veto-wielding member, has consistently blocked India, the US, the UK and France's efforts to list Azhar as a global terrorist since 2016 but endorsed a scathing statement issued by UN Security Council on February 21 on the Pulwama attack.

The UNSC statement on the the Pulwama attack stated that "the members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir, which left 40 Indian paramilitary forces dead and dozens wounded on February 14, 2019, for which Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility.

But after endorsing the statement in which JeM has been named, China the next day in an apparent attempt to placate Pakistan sought to play it down, saying that the mention of JeM in the statement was only in general terms and does not represent a judgement.

The issue of listing of Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN is expected to come up before the 1267 committee of the UN Security Council again as France, also a veto-wielding member of the high-power UN body, said it would move the resolution again.

The issue is also expected to figure prominently in Swaraj's talks with Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov.

This is the 16th meeting of the RIC Foreign Ministers.

During the 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, Chinese Foreign Minister Geng Shuang told a media briefing in Beijing on February 20.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Australia on Tuesday urged India and Pakistan to "exercise restraint" and engage in dialogue to ensure issues are resolved peacefully even as it asked Islamabad to take "urgent and meaningful" action against terrorist groups including JeM operating from its soil.

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne's statement came hours after Indian fighter jets struck Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)'s biggest terror camp in Pakistan in a pre-dawn attack.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side in a pre-dawn strike, 12 days after the Pakistan-based terror group JeM carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

The Australian government is concerned about the relations between India and Pakistan, Payne said.

"Australia urges both sides to exercise restraint, avoid any action which would endanger peace and security in the region and engage in dialogue to ensure that these issues are resolved peacefully," she said.

"The Australian government is concerned about relations between India and Pakistan following the horrific terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 14 February, which Australia has condemned.

"Pakistan must take urgent and meaningful action against terrorist groups in its territory, including Jaish-e-Mohammed which has claimed responsibility for the 14 February bombing, and Lashkar-e-Taiba," Payne said.

She also took note of the reports that India has stated it has now conducted operations targeting terrorist groups based in Pakistan.

"Pakistan must do everything possible to implement its own proscription of Jaish-e-Mohammed. It can no longer allow extremist groups the legal and physical space to operate from its territory," the minister said.

These steps would make a substantial contribution to easing tensions and resolving the underlying causes of conflict, Payne added.

There is heightened tension between India and Pakistan, the two nuclear-armed arch-rivals after the February 14 suicide attack by JeM that killed at least 40 CRPF soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

India launched a major diplomatic offensive against Islamabad after the attack and highlighted Pakistan's role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

India asked Pakistan to take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control.

New Delhi also announced the withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation status for Pakistan and hiked the customs duty by 200 per cent on goods originating from Pakistan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Australia on Tuesday asked Pakistan to take "urgent and meaningful" action against terrorist groups including JeM and said it can no longer allow extremist groups the legal and physical space to operate from its territory.

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne's statement came hours after Indian fighter jets struck Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)'s biggest terror camp in Pakistan in a pre-dawn attack.

She also urged India and Pakistan to "exercise restraint" and engage in dialogue to ensure issues are resolved peacefully.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side in a pre-dawn strike, 12 days after the Pakistan-based terror group JeM carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

The Australian government is concerned about the relations between India and Pakistan, Payne said.

"Pakistan must take urgent and meaningful action against terrorist groups in its territory, including Jaish-e-Mohammed which has claimed responsibility for the 14 February bombing, and Lashkar-e-Taiba," she said.

The minister said that Pakistan must do everything possible to implement its own proscription of JeM.

"It (Pakistan) can no longer allow extremist groups the legal and physical space to operate from its territory," the minister said.

She also took note of the reports that India has stated it has now conducted operations targeting terrorist groups based in Pakistan.

"Australia urges both sides to exercise restraint, avoid any action which would endanger peace and security in the region and engage in dialogue to ensure that these issues are resolved peacefully.

"The Australian government is concerned about relations between India and Pakistan following the horrific terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 14 February, which Australia has condemned," Payne said.

These steps would make a substantial contribution to easing tensions and resolving the underlying causes of conflict, she added.

There is heightened tension between India and Pakistan, the two nuclear-armed arch-rivals after the February 14 suicide attack by JeM that killed at least 40 CRPF soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

India launched a major diplomatic offensive against Islamabad after the attack and highlighted Pakistan's role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

India asked Pakistan to take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control.

New Delhi also announced the withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation status for Pakistan and hiked the customs duty by 200 per cent on goods originating from Pakistan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Lauding the armed forces for their 'powerful act of bravery' in carrying out air strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan, Union minister Prakash Javadekar Tuesday said such a step was needed for India's security.

India conducted a major preemptive strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) training camp early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.

"We congratulate our military for such a powerful act of bravery..people trust Modiji. The armed forces carried out a very strong and necessary step for the defence of our country...it was an act of 'maha parakram' (great valour)," Javadekar told reporters here.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a free hand to the armed forces to take necessary action after the Pulwama terror strike left 40 CRPF personnel dead on February 14, he said.

"The entire nation stands behind the armed forces," he said, outlining various steps by the Indian government after the Pulwama attack.

"Conspirators of the Pulwama attack were killed within 100 hours and Pakistan's 'most favoured nation' status was withdrawn. Besides, 200 per cent duty was imposed (on import of goods from Pakistan), a decision was taken to withdraw the security provided to separatists and it was also decided to stop India's share of water to Pakistan," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan has a long history of harbouring terrorists and America should not give Islamabad even a dollar until it corrects its behaviour, Indian-American former US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley has said as she praised the Trump administration for wisely restricting financial assistance to the country.

Haley, who has founded a new policy group 'Stand America Now' that will focus on how to keep the US safe, strong, and prosperous, wrote in an op-ed that when the US provides aid to nations, "it is more than fair to ask what the U.S. gets in return for our generosity" but instead Pakistan routinely opposed the US position at the UN on several issues.

"In 2017, Pakistan received nearly USD 1 billion in US foreign aid, the sixth most of any country. Much of the aid went to the Pakistani military. Some went for road, highway, and energy projects to assist the Pakistani people," Haley wrote in the op-ed 'Foreign Aid Should Only Go To Friends'.

"On all key votes at the UN, Pakistan opposed the American position 76 per cent of the time. Much more troubling, Pakistan also has a long history of harbouring terrorists who have killed US troops in Afghanistan," she said.

Haley, the former Governor of South Carolina, added that the Trump Administration has "already wisely restricted assistance to Pakistan, but there is much more to be done."



Haley, who had stepped down as the US envoy to the UN at the end of last year, has previously strongly criticised Pakistan for continuing to harbour terrorists that turn around and kill American soldiers while taking billions of dollars in foreign aid from the US.

In an interview to US magazine 'The Atlantic' in December, Haley had said the US did not need to give money to countries that wish harm to America, go behind its back and try and "stop us from doing things".

"The one example I'll give you is, look at Pakistan. Giving them over a billion dollars, and they continue to harbour terrorists that turn around and kill our soldiers that's never okay. We shouldn't even give them a dollar until they correct it. Use the billion dollars. That's not a small amount of change," she had said.

Last September, the Trump administration cancelled USD 300 million in military aid to Islamabad for not doing enough against terror groups active on its soil. Trump had defended his administration's decision to stop hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Pakistan, saying Islamabad does not do "a damn thing" for the US and its government helped late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden hide near its garrison city of Rawalpindi.

Haley's new policy group aims to promote public policies that strengthen America's economy, culture, and national security.

The group will provide information to grassroots Americans, to highlight the dangers and the opportunities they face domestically and internationally. It will advocate the policies that strengthen the US at all levels of government and in the broader media and culture.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The RBI Tuesday lifted lending curbs on two more public sector banks (PSBs), Allahabad Bank and Corporation Bank, by removing them from its weak-bank watch list after the government infused capital in them.

Private sector Dhanlaxmi Bank too has been taken out of the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) Framework.

Earlier on January 31, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra and Oriental Bank of Commerce were taken out of the PCA Framework.

In a statement, the RBI said the Board for Financial Supervision (BFS) reviewed the performance of banks under PCA and noted that the government has infused fresh capital on February 21 into various banks including some of the banks currently under the PCA framework.

Of these banks, Allahabad Bank and Corporation Bank had received Rs 6,896 crore and Rs 9,086 crore, respectively.

Capital infusion, the RBI said, has shored up their capital funds and also increased their loan loss provision to ensure that the PCA parameters were complied with.

The RBI further said the two banks have made the necessary disclosures to the stock exchange that post infusion of capital, the capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR), tire-1 capial equity, net NPA and leverage Ratios are no longer in breach of the PCA thresholds.

The banks also apprised RBI of the structural and systemic improvements put in place to maintain these numbers.

"Accordingly, based on the principles adopted by the BFS in its earlier meeting dated January 31, 2019, it was decided in the meeting held on February 26, 2019 that Allahabad Bank and Corporation Bank be taken out of the PCA Framework subject to certain conditions and continuous monitoring," RBI said.

Commenting on the development, Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar said turnaround of public sector banks continues.

"Both (the banks) need to continue to maintain better performance & improved prudential controls for clean banking," he said in a tweet.

The net non-performing assets (NPA) of Corporation Bank stood at 11.47 per cent of the advances at the end of December quarter of this fiscal, up from 10.73 per cent in the same period of previous fiscal.

For Allahabad Bank, the net NPA rose to 8.97 per cent from 8.65 per cent a year ago.

The RBI further it has also been decided to take Dhanlaxmi Bank out of the PCA Framework, subject to certain conditions and continuous monitoring, as the bank is found to be not breaching any of the Risk Thresholds of the PCA Framework.

Dhanlaxmi Bank's net NPAs declined to 2.93 per cent of the advances, from 4.08 per cent at the end of the third quarter of 2017-18.

The RBI also it will continuously monitor the performance of the banks under various parameters," the central bank said.

Five public sector banks -- United Bank of India, UCO Bank, Central Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank and Dena Bank -- are still remain under PCA framework, which imposes lending restrictions and prevents them from expanding, among other curbs.

The PCA framework was one of the contentious issue between the government and the RBI. The government wanted the central bank to align the PCA framework to the global norms.

The PCA framework kicks in when banks breach any of the three key regulatory trigger points -- namely capital to risk weighted assets ratio, net non-performing assets (NPA) and return on assets (RoA).

Globally, PCA kicks in only when banks slip on a single parameter of capital adequacy ratio, and the government and some of the independent directors of the RBI board, like S Gurumurthy, are in favour of this practice being adopted for the domestic banking sector as well.

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(WB) Transgender troops and Trump administration officials are set to testify before Congress on February 27 about President Trumps transgender military ban, the Washington Blade has learned.

The House Armed Services Committee announced on Tuesday as part of it weekly scheduling announcement the personnel subcommittee, newly chaired by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) under the Democratic majority, will hold a hearing on that date on Transgender Service Policy.

Set to testify are transgender members of the armed forces  Army Capt. Alivia Stehlik, Army Capt. Jennifer Peace, Army Staff Sgt. Patricia King, Navy Corpsman Petty Officer 3rd Class Akira Wyatt and Navy Lt. Cmdr. Blake Dremann. (Two of these witnesses  Peace and Dremann  were among the transgender service members lawmakers invited to the State of the Union address earlier this year.)

The Trump administration officials set to testify on Trumps ban are James Stewart, whos performing the duties of under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, and Vice Adm. Raquel Bono, director of the Defense Health Agency. Theyll likely face questions from the subcommittee why on the Pentagon is seeking to ban transgender people from the armed forces and whether there is a medical need to do so. (The American Medical Association has concluded there is not.)

Also set to testify is Jesse Ehrenfeld, a combat veteran who deployed to Afghanistan and is now a professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

During the Obama administration, Ehrenfeld questioned then Defense Secretary Ashton Carter during a military town hall in Kandahar after transgender military policy. The process toward implementing openly transgender military service started shortly afterward.

Trump later sought to reverse this policy change by announcing on Twitter transgender people will no longer be able to serve in the military in any capacity. Although courts have until recently issued orders blocking implementation of Trumps policy, the U.S. Supreme Court issued stays on those injunctions, essentially allowing the ban to go into effect.

(Technically, one injunction against the ban issued by a federal court in Maryland remains standing, but the order isnt expected to last long. The U.S. Justice Department is seeking to have it dissolved following the green light from the Supreme Court.)
Pakistan on Tuesday "strongly rejected" India's claim" of targeting terrorist camp near Balakot and causing heavy casualties even as it vowed to respond "at the time and place of its choosing" to what it called India's "uncalled for aggression".

At a special meeting of the National Security Committee hours after Indian air strikes in Balakot inside Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan asked the armed forces and the people of Pakistan to remain prepared for all eventualities.

India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, officials said in New Delhi.

"Forum (NSC) strongly rejected Indian claim of targeting an alleged terrorist camp near Balakot and the claim of heavy casualties. Once again Indian government has resorted to a self serving, reckless and fictitious claim," said a statement issued after the NSC meeting in Islamabad.

It claimed that the "action has been done for domestic consumption being in election environment, putting regional peace and stability at grave risk."



It also invited the world media to see the facts on ground and proposed a visit to the site.

"Forum concluded that India has committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing," it added.

To take the nation on board, the government has decided to requisition a joint session of the Parliament, the statement said.

Khan will also engage with global leadership to "expose irresponsible" Indian policy in the region.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Jammu and Kashmir the Congress Tuesday congratulated the IAF for the "successful" air strikes across the Line of Control, asserting that the nation was "proud" of its armed forces.

"We congratulate the IAF for the successful pre-emptive air strike against terrorists camps in PoK. The nation feels proud of our armed forces," JKPCC Chief Spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said.

He saluted the valour of the Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots and said that they deserved all the praise for their brave action.

"The nation is united against terror and to protect its sovereignty," he said, adding that the Union government must deal firmly with Pakistan sponsored terrorism.

The strikes involving several fighter jets of the IAF successfully destroyed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

After the air strikes, the Cabinet Committee on Security met here at the residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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The pre-dawn air strikes by the IAF at Balakot terror camps across the LoC on Tuesday have given "solace" to the families of four CRPF jawans from Punjab killed in Pulwana terror attack along with 36 others.

Darshan Singh, the father of CRPF jawan Kulwinder Singh of Rupnagar district expressed satisfaction over the Indian Air Force strikes at terror camp in Pakistan.

"It gave solace to the family," he said.

He, however, said had this action been taken before the Pulwama attack, the lives of 40 CRPF jawans would have been saved.

He said it is "very satisfying" that killers of his son were punished.

Harbhajan Kaur, mother of martyr Sukhjinder Singh from village Gandiwind from Tarn Taran said, Today the IAF's befitting reply has given relief to my heart. It is a suitable revenge by the Indian forces.

Singh's father Gurmail Singh said, The attack by the Indian forces is fully justified. It was the need of the hour. The IAF action would encourage youths to join Indian Army to serve the nation.

The martyr's brother Gurjant Singh said, The moment I came to know that Indian government has taken the revenge for my brother's killing, it gave me great solace".

"I understand my brother Sukhjinder would never come back but at least his killers were given a befitting reply that would also uplift the morale of our forces, he said.

Satpal Attri, father of martyr Mandeep Singh of Dinanagar in Gurdaspur district said such strikes should be carried in future as well if Pakistan does not mend its ways.

Praising the government, he said it was a revenge taken by the armed forces for the martyrdom of soldiers in the Pulwama terror attack.

Moga'sJaimal Singh's father Jaswant Singh said the air strike by the IAF has given solace to his family members.

Four CRPF personnel from Punjab were among the 40 security personnel who attained martyrdom in the Pulwama terror attack.

Jaimal Singh from village Kot ise Kham (Moga), Sukhjinder Singh from village Gandiwind (Tarn Taran), Kulwinder Singh from village Rauli (Anandpur Sahib) and Maninder Singh Attri from village Arya nagar (Gurdsapur) attained martyrdom in the terror attack on convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Maharashtra Congress president Ashok Chavan Tuesday lauded the IAF for conducting air strikes on terror camps inside Pakistan and said words are not enough to describe the valour of personnel involved in the operation.

He said the Indian Army should now target Masood Azhar, the founder of Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e- Mohammed (JeM) which had claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in Pulwama that killed 40 CRPF personnel.

"The air strike was a matter of pride and happiness of each and every Indian. Our soldiers not only destroyed terror camps but also returned safely," the former chief minister said.

"Pakistanwill know once againwhat the Indian might is. In 1971, the Indian Armyshowed its bravery against Pakistan which led to the creation of Bangladesh. As many as 91,000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered," Chavan said.

The Lok Sabha MP from Nanded said the time has come to "crush" Pakistan for harbouring anti-India elements.

"The Indian Army should now target terrorist Masood Azhar and even crush Pakistan so that the neighbouring country does not dare again to shelter anti-India elements," he said.

In a pre-dawn operation Tuesday, Indian Air Force jets pounded Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan, killing up to 350 terrorists and trainers, officials said.

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Family members of the CRPF personnel, who lost their lives in Pulwama attack, on Tuesday said they have found some solace in the airstrike against Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists but pressed for efforts to wipe out the menace of terrorism "once and for all".

We were expecting a strong response to Pakistan from India and this has been done now. Our loss is irreparable but we are satisfied with what has been done, said Mahesh Gurjar, a cousin of slain CRPF soldier Narayan Lal Gurjar.

Narayan Lal, a native of Binol village of Rajsamand district, is survived by wife and two minor children. He was among the five victims from Rajasthan who lost their lives in the February 14 attack by Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Vikram, younger brother of another victim Jeet Ram, said, "A step has been taken but we want that the menace of terrorism should be ended once and for all.

Hailing from Sundarwali of Bharatpur district, Jeet Ram has two young daughters.

In Shahpura town of Jaipur district, people burst crackers at the cremation site of CRPF soldier Rohitash Lamba, who was bid a tearful adieu by thousands of mourners less than two weeks back.

There is satisfaction among the people of the country. Government's decision is appreciable as the action was within 13 days of the terror attack, said Jitendra Lamba, younger brother of Rohitash.

Slain CRPF jawan H Guru's native village Gudigere in Mandya district, about 100 km from here, too burst into jubilation on hearing about the Indian Air Force's early morning attack on the JeM terror camp. Villagers took out a march and a tricolour was unfurled atop his house as a mark of respect.

"We have been insisting on peace but peace is not a solution anymore. They have to be completely destroyed.

"My son will rest in peace only if they are wiped out entirely," said Guru's father Honnaiah.

With tears in her eyes, Guru's wife Kalavathi told reporters: "I salute the Indian armed forces. I am happy with this action. I feel that this action will give peace to the martyred soldiers. I am proud of my Indian armed forces."



Darshan Singh, father of CRPF jawan Kulwinder Singh of Rupnagar district in Punjab, said the IAF action "gave solace to the family".

He, however, said had this action been taken before the Pulwama attack, the lives of 40 CRPF jawans would have been saved.

Harbhajan Kaur, mother of Pulwama victim Sukhjinder Singh from village Gandiwind from Tarn Taran said, It has given relief to my heart. It is a suitable revenge by the Indian forces.

Singh's father Gurmail Singh said, The attack by the Indian forces is fully justified. It was the need of the hour. The IAF action would encourage youths to join Indian Army to serve the nation.

The jawan's brother Gurjant Singh said, The moment I came to know that Indian government has taken revenge for my brother's killing, it gave me great solace".

"I understand my brother Sukhjinder would never come back but at least his killers were given a befitting reply that would also uplift the morale of our forces, he said.

Satpal Attri, father of Mandeep Singh of Dinanagar in Gurdaspur district, said such strikes should be carried out in future as well if Pakistan does not mend its ways.

Four CRPF personnel from Punjab were among 40 security personnel who died in the Pulwama suicide terror attack by JeM on February 14.

In a swift and precise air strike, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing over 350 terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, according to officials.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The AAP government Tuesday presented a Rs 60,000 crore budget for 2019-20 laying emphasis on the education, health and transport sectors and said it is "two times more" than the one presented in 2014-15.

Presenting the budget in the Delhi Assembly, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the budget is dedicated to soldiers martyred in the Pulwama attack.

The Delhi Assembly session began with a standing ovation to the the Indian Air Force for carrying out pre-dawn air strikes on terror camps inside Pakistani territory.

"I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan," Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a tweet.

"The budget estimates for 2019-20 are pegged at Rs 60,000 crore which is two times more than the budget presented in 2014-15," Sisodia said.

Sisodia announced an allocation of Rs 100 crore for providing Minimum Support Price (MSP) to farmers as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission.

Sisodia said Delhi is the first state to implement Swaminathan Commission report on farming sector.

"For providing 1.5 times of MSP to farmers of Delhi, as per Swaminathan Commission report, the 2019-20 budget allocates Rs 100 crore," he said.

The AAP government also allocated over Rs 15,000 crore to education sector for 2019-20.

Allocation for entrepreneurship plans, introduction of family business curriculum, setting up of a teachers training university and an applied science university are among the various initiatives announced in the budget.

The deputy chief minister said the free wifi project of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government would start in the next financial year.

The AAP claimed that the budget of 2014-15 was Rs 30,940 crore while last year a budget of Rs 53,000 crore was presented.

He also advocated full statehood for Delhi, saying it was denied by the Centre, leading to the problems of recruitment of teachers, doctors and other employees, opening schools and hospitals.

He said Jan Lokpal would have been appointed if Delhi had full statehood.

Under the doorstep delivery programmes, 100 services would be brought under it, Sisodia said adding that Rs 500 crore has been allocated in the budget for the CCTV project.

There has been an increase of 73 per cent in the budget for infrastructure projects and in transport sector, Sisodia said adding that 4,000 new buses are being procured by the government which would materialise by the next financial year.

The deputy chief minister said Rs 100 crore has been allocated for a state electric vehicle fund. An amount of Rs 7,485 has been allocated for the health sector, he said adding that a new scheme will also be launched to provide financial help to differently abled parents for marriage of their daughters.

The deputy chief minister said Rs 600 crore has been allocated for development work in unauthorised colonies while the total outlay for the transport sector has been kept at Rs 1,807 crore, which is twice than the last fiscal.

Elaborating about the environment sector, he said a new policy would be started to ensure that 80 per cent of trees that has to be cut to set up a business has to be replanted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Five students were caught while trying to enter the examination hall carrying mobile phones on the first day of the higher secondary examinations Tuesday, an official of the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary said.

The Council had warned students that their registration number could be cancelled if they carry mobile phones in examination halls.

While four of the students are from Malda, another one is from Howrah district, the official said adding while the five will not be allowed to sit for any other papers, steps were also being taken to cancel their registration.

Three of the candidates are girls all sitting from a particular school in Malda, while the fourth one was from a boy's school in the same district. The fifth candidate was from a boys' school of Howrah.

Examinations of first language papers, including those of Bengali, Hindi, English, Nepali, Urdu were held on the first day of the Higher Secondary examination (class 12 board exams) which was held peacefully across the state amidst strict measures by the Council.

The official said of the total centres, 500 were put under stricter surveillance to prevent any malpractices.

Council President Mohua Das in a statement expressed satisfaction over smooth progress of the examinations on the first day.

A total of 8,16,243 students appeared for the Higher Secondary examinations this year.

After question papers of class 10 state board examination were "leaked" on social media, the Council had warned students that their registration number could be cancelled if they carry mobile phones in examination halls.

Das had said the venue supervisor and the special council nominee will carry mobile detectors at the entrance to check if anyone was entering the examination hall with mobiles. In addition, there will be a special invigilator who will check if any candidate was carrying mobile inside the hall.

There were reports that images of question papers were circulated on a social media platform within 30 minutes of start of examinations on all seven days of the just concluded class 10 state board examinations (Madhyamik). Images of six of the seven question papers tallied with the original.

Madhyamik examinees had also been barred from carrying mobile phones in the examination hall.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An official says 29 bodies have been found after new fighting in central Nigeria between farmers and herdsmen.

The official says the bodies with gunshot and machete wounds were recovered after Tuesday's attack in Maro village in Kaduna state. A policeman was killed while trying to calm the violence.

The official, close to a government team that went to the area, spoke to



The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

The Kaduna governor's spokesman confirmed the "sad of renewed attacks in Kajuru and Kachia local government areas" but gave no death toll.

Southern Kaduna state has seen a series of clashes over increasingly scarce water and land.

The government last week said 130 people had been killed in Kajuru.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Fifteen years ago, the major terrorist training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot in Pakistan found a mention in a purported secret US Defence Department file leaked by WikiLeaks.

The memorandum talks about a Pakistani national Hafez K. Rahman, a Guantanamo Detainee, who was 20 years old and born in Gujrar, Pakistan, who turned out to be a jehadi.

The January 31, 2004 document, signed by Major General Geoffery Miller of the US Army says Rahman received training in Balakot, Pakistan, a location known to house a "training camp that offers both basic and advanced terrorist training on explosives and artillery."



It says Rahman has admitted to volunteering to fight jihad against the US and its allies, remaining after the events of September 1lth to continue to fight, and receiving training from the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

The JEM espouses Jihad against the US and is directly supported by Al-Qaida, Gen. Miller wrote.

It says Rahman was influenced by extremist Mullahs in Pakistan and decided he would go to Jihad in support of the Taliban.

"Detainee traveled to Zahir, Pakistan, and attended a training camp run by the JeM," he wrote.

Miller also described JeM as a Tier 1 terrorist group, especially those with state support, that have demonstrated the intention and the capability to attack US persons or interests.

After completing basic training, Rahmand travelled along with a larger group of JeM fighters to the area around Konduz, Afghanistan.

He was captured by the Northern Alliance and turned over to US forces. He was subsequently transported to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba, on February 7, 2002 because of his knowledge of the Moaskar training camp in Balakot, Pakistan, and his affiliation with the Taliban as a foreign fighter, the US Defence Department memorandum says.

Thousands of sensitive diplomatic cables, especially those of the US State Department and Department of Defence, were published by the secretive site WikiLeaks, which has established a reputation for publishing sensitive material from governments and other high-profile organisations.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, an Australian national, took asylum in the embassy of Ecuador in the UK in 2012. The US government has sought his extradition from the UK for publishing US diplomatic and military secrets.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
(AP) The U.S. had more hate groups last year than at any point in at least the past two decades, according to an organization that tracks white supremacists and other far-right extremists.

The Southern Poverty Law Center said Wednesday that the 1,020 groups it counted in 2018 is the most since 2011 and the highest number since the center broadened its survey of such groups in the 1990s. Last year's tally also represents a 7 percent increase over the 954 groups that the Alabama-based law center counted in 2017.

Heidi Beirich, director of the law center's Intelligence Project, said the count reflects an "enlivened American hate movement" that has been growing for the past four 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," she said. "In the three years prior to that, during the waning years of (Barack Obama's) presidency, hate groups were actually on the decline."

Some organizations on the list have criticized or even sued over the hate-group labels, accusing the law center of political bias.

The law center, based in Montgomery, Alabama, defines a hate group as an organization that attacks or maligns an entire class of people. Beirich said the law center stands by its designations and denied its list unfairly targets conservative groups.

"I've never thought of it as a conservative position to defend, for example, defaming gay men as being child molesters or pedophiles. The kind of speech that we call out is of that nature. It's defamatory. It's negative propaganda," she said.

Liberty Counsel Inc., a Florida-based legal advocacy organization, sued after a website that maintains a charity database flagged it and 45 other nonprofits for being labeled as hate groups by the law center. A federal judge in Virginia threw out that lawsuit. A federal magistrate in Alabama recommended the dismissal of a separate lawsuit that accused the law center of defaming a Florida-based evangelical ministry by designating it as a hate group.

The number of white nationalist groups counted by the law center increased from 100 chapters in 2017 to 148 in 2018. But the number of Ku Klux Klan chapters dropped for the third year in a row, falling to 51 chapters in 2018 from 130 in 2016, according to the law center's report.

"The KKK has not been able to appeal to younger racists, with its antiquated traditions, odd dress and lack of digital savvy. Younger extremists prefer Fred Perry polo shirts and khakis to Klan robes," the report adds.

___

This story has been edited to correct the time element to Wednesday.
The US targeted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government and imposed sanctions on four state governors.

According to a statement issued by the US Department of the Treasury on Monday, the sanctioned officials were targeted for alleged involvement in "endemic corruption and in blocking the delivery of critical humanitarian aid, thereby exacerbating the ongoing humanitarian crisis", Xinhua news agency reported.

The US move came amid an aid standoff in which Washington and other countries in the region, in coordination with the Venezuelan opposition, declared a plan to deliver humanitarian aid to Venezuela.

Denying the existence of a humanitarian crisis, the Venezuelan government refused to let the aid cross the border and called the aid operation a US-orchestrated show leading to an eventual invasion.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the Treasury "is targeting four state governors aligned with former President Maduro for standing in the way of severely needed humanitarian assistance."

The US Treasury said it was imposing sanctions on Omar Jose Prieto, governor of the northwestern state of Zulia; Rafael Lacava, governor of Carabobo state; Ramon Carrizalez, governor of the state of Apure and a former Defence Minister; and Jorge Garcia Carneiro, governor of Vargas state and former head of the army.

The move bans them from financial or commercial transactions with US citizens or entities. The action coincides with US Vice President Mike Pence attending a meeting of the Lima Group in Colombia to discuss the situation in Venezuela with regional nations.

The Trump administration recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the nation's "interim president" on Jan. 23, days after Maduro was inaugurated for a second term as Venezuelan president.

In response to Washington's support for Guaido, Maduro announced he was severing "diplomatic and political" ties with the United States, ordering all the US diplomatic and consular personnel to leave Venezuela in 72 hours.

On Friday, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez announced the closure of three bridges connecting the country with Colombia.

Maduro announced on Saturday the severance of his country's diplomatic and political relations with Colombia, following the latter's support for Venezuela's opposition and military defectors.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
North Korea's top leader Kim Jong-un on Tuesday arrived in Vietnam for a summit with US President Donald Trump later this week.

He is headed on the final leg of his journey here by car, the BBC reported.

Kim's green and yellow train pulled into Dong Dang station in Vietnam's Lang Son province, the last station on the line before the Friendship Pass border crossing with Pingxiang, Guangxi in China.

Ceremonial guards and flag-waving crowds lined a red carpet laid out for him at the station.

The second US-North Korea summit follows a historic first round of talks in 2018 in Singapore.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Uttar Pradesh political leaders from across party lines lauded the Indian Air Force (IAF) for its operation conducted in Pakistan-administered Kashmir early on Tuesday.

Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma said it was a great moment for the country as the "final assault against the terror groups has begun".

He also pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the wake of the Pulwama attack on a CRPF convoy that left 40 troopers dead, had made it clear that those who carried it out, committed the biggest mistake of their lives and would be paid back with interest.

"Traditionally we are a nation who never strikes first but when meddled with does not allow the enemy to get off scot-free," he said.

Former Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav lauded the IAF personnel for the air strikes but heaped no praise on the political leadership.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati welcomed the action but said that had this been done much earlier, sad incidents like Uri and Pulwama would not have happened.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief spokesperson in Uttar Pradesh, Vaibhav Maheshwari also greeted the IAF personnel and applauded their action.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US President Donald Trump arrived at the Noi Bai International Airport of Hanoi on Tuesday evening for the two-day second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

After disembarking from Air Force One, Trump shook hands with officials who were at the airport to greet him, before heading for hotel, Xinhua news agency reported.

Trump and Kim are scheduled to meet on Wednesday and Thursday.

Issues like a roadmap for denuclearisation, lifting of sanctions and a war-ending declaration would be the focal points of the summit.

During his stay, Trump will also meet Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Wednesday, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Top retired military brass have hailed the Tuesday morning bombing of terrorist bases in Pakistan by the Indian Air Force (IAF) as a move "long overdue", while cautioning that Islamabad, unable to escalate militarily, may react by intensifying terrorist activities in India.

The IAF bombed Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp at Balakot in early hours of Tuesday, inflicting heavy casualties. Within hours, Pakistan threatened a "befitting response". The air raid came 12 days after a JeM suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF troopers near Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir.

"It was an appropriate and calibrated response by India. I must compliment the government for taking the decision and the IAF for executing it. It was a necessary step, because at one point a stage is reached when the camel has that one last straw on its back, and you have to respond," former Army Chief Ved Prakash Malik told IANS.

He said though Pakistan has the option of escalating militarily, it is more likely to respond by intensifying terrorist activities in India "like it did after Kargil War". "The way Pakistan is downplaying India's attack, military action seems a less likely response," he said.

Former IAF Chief A.Y. Tipnis called the attack an "excellent achievement" by the Indian Air Force. "This was a very credible, high order, real-time attack. Because terrorists have this doctrine, they never stay at one place. Now, this was deep embedded training centre... therefore, having real-time intelligence, and acting upon it in time and space, is an outstanding achievement," he said.

Pointing out that there was "every possibility" of escalation of tension between the two countries, the former Air Chief said, "I hope voices of sanity are heeded. There are lot of such voices among them, but the question is whether the ruling junta will listen to them."

Former Vice Chief of the Army Arvinder Singh Lamba termed the attack "very successful" and said it was "warranted and long expected". Lamba advised the Indian government to "expect a retaliation in different forms" and therefore "prepare" in advance.

"There will definitely be a spike in attempts of terror attacks. They will try to convey the message 'you struck our sensitive targets, now we strike yours'. Now it's up to us, how we protect ourselves," Lamba said.

(Vishal Narayan can be contacted at vishal.n@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.)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami, superstar-turned-politician Rajinikanth and DMK chief M.K. Stalin hailed the Indian Air Force (IAF) for striking the Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp at Balakot in Pakistan.

Palaniswami thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu for his daring actions to eradicate terrorism and also congratulated the IAF for destroying the terror camps operating inside Pakistan through the aerial strikes that were carried out early Tuesday morning.

According to Palaniswami, Modi is scoring several victories with his actions.

In a two word tweet, Rajinikanth said: "Bravo India."

Stalin said in a tweet: "Proud of our #IndianAirForce pilots for their exceptional act of valour!"

As celebrations erupted across India, Foreign Secretary Vijay K. Gokhale told the media that "in an intelligence-led operation in the early hours of today, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot.

"In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The aerial strike by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on terror camps inside Pakistan on Tuesday elated the family of Karnataka's martyred CRPF trooper H. Guru, as it came on the 13th day of his death, his younger brother Madhu said.

"All in the family and in the village are 'khush' (happy) and relieved that India struck the terrorists in Pakistan. This counter attack will give peace to my brother's soul and we feel he will be liberated to go swarga (heaven)," Madhu, 26, told IANS from Guru's native village Gudigere in Mandya district, about 100km from here.

Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Constable (General Duty) Guru, 29, was one of the 40 troopers who died in a terror attack while going to Srinagar from Jammu in a convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14.

"Coincidentally, the attack by India was on an auspicious day for us, as we performed Guru's last death ceremony (vaikuntha samradhane) when a departed soul is sent to heaven for liberation. We feel 'dharma' (justice) has been done to him," said Madhu, a lineman in the state-run electricity distribution firm.

The news of the aerial strike came when the family members, including Guru's father Honnaiah, mother Chikka Thayamma, widow Kalavathi, his youngest sibling Anand and other relatives were reading to perform the last rituals at home.

"We are proud of the government for avenging the death of Guru and other CRPF troopers and several people, including soldiers in the line of duty. We hope India will win the proxy war by eliminating all terrorists hiding in Pakistan so that we can live in peace," said an emotional Madhu.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hawks will give a very tough time to doves. That's how a Pakistani official captured the sentiment as India struck at terror camps in Pakistan on Tuesday in retaliation for the February 14 attack in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir.

The pre-dawn air strike by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest terror camp in Balakot in Pakistan is being lauded by Indians.

What is the mood on the other side of the border?

"The general view in Pakistan is that it's all happening because of Indian elections (upcoming Lok Sabha elections). So it is expected that things may improve after May. But till then we'll go back many years in time as far as bilateral ties are concerned. The warming of relations after Kartarpur seems to have disappeared already. Hawks will give very tough time to doves here," the Pakistani government official told IANS on condition of anonymity.

Just days before the Pulwama attack which left 40 CRPF troopers dead, it was announced that a team from Pakistan would visit India on March 13 to discuss and finalise the modalities for the visit of pilgrims to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahab through the Kartarpur corridor.

Pakistan on Tuesday reacted strongly to the IAF strike, with its leaders threatening a "befitting response" to India and Prime Minister Imran Khan directing the country's armed forces and citizens to "remain prepared for all eventualities".

In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday told citizens that the country is in safe hands and he will never let it down.

"May good sense prevail on both sides," Fakhr Alam, actor, musician, pilot and former Sindh Censor Board Chairman, told IANS.

"The future of our children is at stake. War is never a solution, only dialogue is. But if war is imposed, then every peaceful nation will rally to take on any threat. I hope India doesn't get consumed by this hate and war rhetoric. It seems domestic political pressure in India is unnecessarily risking regional peace and stability.

"I hope for the true interest of people on both sides this drumming of war hysteria is contained and the media focuses on bringing important issues to the forefront like corruption, healthcare, education, poverty alleviation and so forth. Peace is a very valuable commodity and we should all work to protect it," added Alam.

Film trade and cultural exchanges have already taken a beating.

Indian film associations have instructed producers to avoid working with Pakistani talent as well as not to release their films there. Indian music labels have been asked to pull down songs featuring Pakistani talent and Indian talent like Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Rekha Bhardwaj and Harshdeep Kaur, who were to visit Pakistan for cultural events, cancelled their plans in the wake of the Pulwama attack.

All through, Pakistani artistes, who have found a lot more fame via Indian films, failed to condemn any attack against India.

Actress Mahira Khan, who has acted in Bollywood film "Raees" and found popularity with the show "Humsafar", however, after India attacked terror camps on Tuesday, tweeted: "Nothing uglier. Nothing more ignorant than cheering for war. May sense prevail.. Pakistan zindabad."

(Radhika Bhirani can be contacted at radhika.b@ians.in)

--IANS

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Priceless royal jewels which once adorned some of the most powerful Hyderabad Nizams, bear testimony to the sheer grandeur of the Asaf Jahi dynasty rulers. Open in Delhi third time now, a public exhibition has displayed 173 dazzling pieces of jewellery, including one of the world's biggest diamonds -- the Jacob Diamond.

"Jewels of India: The Nizam's Jewellery Collection", a temporary exhibition at the National Museum, has the Jacob (or Imperial) Diamond as its centerpiece, amid panels of richly-studded crown jewels, "sarpechs" headbands, waistbands, necklaces, rings, earrings and other jewellery.

The collection of jewels has come to the museum after 2001 and 2007. They were purchased in 1995 by the Indian government for Rs 218 crore from the last Nizam's trusts, the National Museum said.

The Jacob Diamond is deemed as the seventh largest in the world, it said. Mined from South Africa in the late 1800s, the oval diamond was cut and polished to its present weight of 184.5 carats.

As the legend goes, jeweler Alexander Malcolm Jacob, after whom the invaluable stone is named, sold it to the sixth Nizam, Mahboob Ali Khan -- a deal which ended up in a criminal lawsuit. Having brought much conflict to the Nizam, the diamond was tossed in an old rag.

It was found stashed in an old slipper and used as a paperweight by the last Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, who continued to rule Hyderabad till he signed the Instrument of Accession in 1948. The state merged with the Union of India after over 200 years of rule by a single dynasty.

Such was the splendour of the Nizams that jewellery worn by royal men and women now represent some of the finest jewels and cultural heritage globally.

Now temporarily housed in a highly-protected chamber of the Museum, the studded rubies, emeralds, diamonds and pearls dating back to 18th-20th centuries, glitter in dim light.

As one walks through the chamber wowed, the fine "navratna" bracelets or exceptionally large turban ornaments only add to the surprise.

"These are not just examples of opulence, but of the fine artistry and rich craftsmanship we've had since the very beginning. It's a matter of pride that India's rich heritage is being displayed," a US-based IT professional Sridhara Sen, who was visiting with her mother, told IANS.

A work to particularly look for is the "Padak Almas Kanval", a 95-gram gold and silver pendant set with diamonds and rubies. Styled as a large diamond surrounded by smaller ones, the pendant has two parrot-like bird motifs with ruby-diamond beaks perched atop.

A mesmerising "Kanthi" necklace, comprising three rows of around 57 pearls and as many diamonds is also on display.

What also interests visitors is early photographs of the royal Nizam families, posing with their fine jewellery and costumes, that we see replicated in films, television and theatre.

The people are long gone after the last Nizam died in 1967, but have left a rich legacy for the country. On view till May 5 here, the precious exhibits tell tales about rich Indian artistry and a lifestyle unmatched.

Exhibition fee: Rs. 50

Days: Open except Mondays and national holidays

Time: 10 a.m-6 p.m

(Siddhi Jain can be contacted at siddhi.j@ians.in)

--IANS

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Heightened geopolitical tensions in the sub-continent after India struck terrorist training camps in Pakistan dragged the domestic equity market lower on Tuesday.

However, the slide triggered a burst of value buying which was supported by easing US-China trade tension and soothing crude oil prices.

The benchmark Sensex shuttled over 450 points during a highly volatile trade session, as it fell steeply to hit an intra-day low of 35,714.16, following reports of strikes by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Subsequently, a late afternoon recovery was triggered due to a favorable movement in the crude oil prices and healthy gains in select stocks.

The S&P BSE Sensex closed 239.67 points or 0.66 per cent lower at 35,973.71, while the Nifty settled 44.80 points or 0.41 per cent down at 10,835.30.

"Although, we can see index closing in the red, the V-shaped recovery from lower levels was quite encouraging. In fact, there were plenty of individual stocks that had a remarkable day," said Sameet Chavan, Chief Analyst - Technical and Derivatives, Angel Broking.

Among the top gainers was Tata Motors, which surged over 4 per cent, followed by Coal India, TCS, Tata Motors(DVR) and Axis Bank.

HCL Tech, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Infosys and State Bank of India closed lower.

"Despite fear of an escalation in geopolitical tensions, market recouped some losses and stayed range bound awaiting further developments in the wake of air strikes. Rupee, in line with equities weakened as investors don't rule out the possibility of heightened tension," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

"Market movement is likely to be cautious until further clarity over cross-border threat."

According to Foreign Secretary Vijay K. Gokhale, in an intelligence-led pre-emptive operation in the early hours of Tuesday, India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in Balakot.

Gokhale added that the operation has eliminated a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis.

This development is seen as an escalation of tension vis-a-vis already tense India-Pakistan ties in the backdrop of February 14 Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF troopers which may further spook investors in the sessions to come.

--IANS

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ANNAPOLIS (February 25, 2019)To fight back against substance use disorders and the opioid epidemic, Maryland officials unveiled a new mobile wellness vehicle where individuals can seek education, treatment and recovery Tuesday morning.



Fifty percent of individuals in need of treatment for substance use disorders aren't getting it due to fears of stigma or depression holding them back, said Fran Phillips, deputy secretary of public health services for the Maryland Department of Health.



"This is a lifesaving vehicle that moves people into treatment when they're ready, and when they're ready, this is a vehicle that can start them on the pathway to drive home that kind of recovery into wellness," Phillips said.



The vehicle, a custom Farber 38-foot specialty bus outfitted to the specifications of the state health department, will be staffed by a certified registered nurse practitioner, registered nurse and peer support specialist, along with a driver.



It also features a client intake and reception area, two clinical exam rooms and a private blood work and discussion area.



The vehicle will be open for service on Tuesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the parking lot of the Arundel House of Hope in Glen Burnie, Maryland, said Billie Penley, the acting health officer for the Anne Arundel County Health Department.



Located in the northern part of the county, the area most in need of accessibility to such services, according to Penley, the Arundel House of Hope is a nonprofit organization that works to provide different types of housing to the poor or homeless.



The goal of the Maryland Mobile Wellness Initiative is to start by supporting Anne Arundel County's services by offering easily accessible prevention measures and treatment, along with setting up individuals seeking help with more consistent care and rehabilitation services.



While only functioning in Anne Arundel right now, Steve Schuh, executive director of the Opioid Operational Command Center, said he hopes that the practice will be duplicated by other jurisdictions.



As of September, there had been 194 alcohol and drug intoxication deaths so far this year in Anne Arundel County, the jurisdiction with the third highest number in the state following Baltimore City and Baltimore County.



While the state has made some progress with overdose fatalities related to prescription opioids and heroin, deaths from the use of synthetic drugs like fentanyl have been rising, said Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford, R.



The number of unintentional intoxication deaths in Maryland as of September was just over 1,800, about double the number in 2015, according to data from the Maryland Department of Health.



Eighty percent of the overdose fatalities statewide are fentanyl-related, and more result from fentanyl and cocaine mixed together, not fentanyl and heroin, according to Rutherford.



In March 2017, Gov. Larry Hogan, R, issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency in response to the opioid, heroin and fentanyl crisis across the state.



The mobile clinic will primarily focus on the northern part of Anne Arundel County, but may expand down toward the city of Annapolis and other surrounding areas, Penley said.



The vehicle will hopefully serve as a model for the rest of the state, along with bridging the gap between treatment for both substance use and mental health disorders in a non-threatening environment, Rutherford said.
Following the air strike on Pakistan by the Indian Air Force, the security forces, including BSF, Army and IAF, deployed in border areas of Rajasthan have been put on high alert, defence sources said.

"The IAF fighter combats are patrolling western borders of the state. The border cities of Jaisalmer, Barmer, Bikaner and Shri Ganganagar have been kept on high alert," an official said.

A strict vigil is being kept on activities in border villages, officials said. However

Meanwhile, the defence sources said there is no need to worry. "We are ready to tackle all situations," said a senior defence officer.

--IANS

arc/rs/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked businessmen Malvinder Singh and Shivender Singh to be present in court on March 14 in connection with a plea by Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo seeking Rs 3,500 crore from them.

"The Court would like to have the personal presence (of Malvinder Singh and Shivender Singh), along with their affidavits on the next date fixed (March 14)", the bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Navin Sinha and Justice Sanjiv Khanna said in their order.

The court ordered the presence of two brothers, who are logger-heads, with each other on a plea by the Japanese drug maker which is seeking the enforcement of Singapore-based arbitration tribunal's award asking the two and other family members to pay it Rs 3,500 crore in a dispute related to Daiichi's acquisition of their family pharma company Ranbaxy.

The court also indicated that it may lift the corporate veil to ascertain the truth.

Senior counsel Fali Nariman, appearing for the Japanese firm, said that the brothers have sold their stakes in Fortis Health Care to Malaysia's IHH Health and were also liquidating their other assets to escape the liability to pay Rs 3,500 crore to Daiichi.

However, it was contended by the other side that the stakes were not sold by two warring brothers but by the company and they were, in no way, beneficiaries of the sale of assets.

--IANS

pk/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Lending major State Bank of India (SBI) will meet key stakeholders of the beleaguered Jet Airways to take the proposal to convert a part of the company's loans into shares forward and iron-out any difference over the plan, sources said on Tuesday.

According to sources, the lending major will meet Jet Airways' Chairman Naresh Goyal and Tony Douglas, Chief Executive Officer Etihad Airways, which is another key stakeholder in the airline on Wednesday.

Other lenders in the consortium are also expected to be a part of the meeting which is to be held at bank's headquarters here.

On February 25, in a joint statement both Goyal and Douglas said: "Jet Airways, its principal shareholders including Etihad Airways, and key financial stakeholders are working towards the finalisation and subsequent implementation of the Bank-led Provisional Resolution Plan (BLPRP), to ensure that the carrier emerges as a financially strong and resilient airline."

"As we move forward, we are confident that once the BLPRP is finalised and implemented, Jet Airways will reemerge as a viable and robust airline to reclaim its rightful place as airline of first choice for its customers."

Last week, Jet Airways' shareholders had approved a the BLPRP. As part of this, public sector lenders will become the largest equity owners of the airline, virtually making it a nationalised carrier.

The proposal, an attempt to relieve the financial strain on the passenger carrier, was put forth to the shareholders at the Extraordinary General Meeting held here on last Thursday.

The shareholders' approval came after Jet Airways Board approved the BLPRP on February 14.

"The BLPRP currently estimates a funding gap of Rs 8,500 crore (including proposed repayment of aircraft debt of Rs 1,700 crore) to be met by appropriate mix of equity infusion, debt restructuring, sale or sale and leaseback or refinancing of aircraft, among other things," the company said in a regulatory filing to the BSE on February 14.

As part of a provisional resolution plan, the airline's Board has agreed to allot 11.4 crore shares at an aggregate value of Re 1 to the lenders' consortium led by the State Bank of India, according to the airline.

Recently, Jet Airways reported Rs 587.7 crore as standalone net loss for the third quarter ended December 31, 2018. It had reported a net profit of Rs 165.25 crore during the year-ago period.

The private carrier on January 1 defaulted in paying interest and instalments on loan repayments due to banks, following which rating agency ICRA downgraded both short and long-term credit facilities of the airline.

--IANS

rv/prs

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday urged India to refrain from plunging the region into war after the IAF struck the Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan.

Following the development, Sharif called on the Indian leadership to "rethink its war strategy" and warned that if India initiated a war, then Pakistan would hoist its flag in New Delhi, Geo News reported.

"The Indian leadership should come to its senses and act responsibly and should not (plunge) the people of South Asia into war," Sharif said.

"It will be a significant mistake on the Indian side to mistake Pakistan's stance as weakness," said the Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly.

Tuesday's attack came after a suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF troopers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district. The attack was claimed by the JeM.

--IANS

soni/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday postponed the foundation stone laying programme for a BSF accommodation in Tripura as he was busy with the developments following the IAF's strike on terrorist training camps in Pakistan.

A Tripura Home department official said Singh was scheduled to lay the foundation stone through a video conference from Delhi.

The facility is meant for the Border Security Force (BSF) troopers providing security at the Integrated Check Post along the India-Bangladesh frontiers in Akhaura, near Agartala.

"In view of the Home Minister's urgent busy schedule in Delhi following the IAF's strike in Pakistan, the programme has been deferred," an official of Tripura's Home department said.

Meanwhile, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said: "I salute the courage and valour of our fearless armed forces."

--IANS

sc/pgh/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan has warned that it will respond to the Indian air strikes but the sense in New Delhi is that Islamabad has limited options to retaliate.

Sources said that India's strike was only against terror pads and civilians and military installations were carefully avoided during the bombing.

Pakistan can only retaliate by mobilizing its army, which cannot be done overnight. It will take a lot of courage for the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) to hit back considering the fact that there are no terror camps operating in India.

A strike against civilian and military targets in India will be an uneven response to what India has done which was strictly against terror infrastructure.

While confirming the aerial strike, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale had kept the focus only on Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

However, Indian armed forces are on a high alert to deal with any response from Pakistan, sources said.

An official said that India's response has been a paradigm shift in its policy on dealing with Pakistan-sponsored terror strikes.

--IANS

gd/vd/prs

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan on Tuesday summoned the Acting Indian High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia to the Foreign Office to loge its protest over the Indian Air Force (IAF) strikes on terrorist training camps across the Line of Control (LoC), the media reported.

Citing the Foreign Office, the Pakistani media reported a protest demarche was also handed over to Ahluwalia.

Earlier in the day, a special meeting of Pakistan's National Security Committee (NSC) chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan decided to take up the matter at all international fora.

Pakistan admitted the IAF planes struck Balakot, but claimed they returned when it scrambled its war planes and that there were no losses on the ground. However, within hours of the strike, Pakistan threatened a "befitting response".

Twelve days after a JeM suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF troopers, India on early Tuesday struck the Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp at Balakot, killing "a very large number" of terrorists and their trainers.

Foreign Secretary Vijay K. Gokhale told the media "in an intelligence-led operation in the early hours of Tuesday, IAF struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot."

A large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jehadis being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated. "This facility at Balakot was headed by Maulana Yusuf Azhar (alias Ustad Ghouri), brother-in-law of (JeM leader) Masood Azhar," he said.

--IANS

pgh/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Pakistan Air Force failed to detect the presence of the Indian fighter jets as it was already too late for them as their surveillance system had been jammed by the IAF during its raid at Balakot militant camp early on Tuesday, sources said.

The Indian package had at least two jets mounted with electronic warfare (EW) system that helped jam the Pakistani radars.

A "package" in military terms refers to grouping of various types of jets with different functions. A package typically consists of EW jets, the bombers and the protector jets that secure the bombers from enemy jets as bombers themselves are not in a position to effectively retaliate thanks to heavy payload.

A package usually consists of a minimum of 10-12 and maximum of 39-40 fighter jets, depending upon the requirements of the operation at hand.

In the Tuesday's "non-military preemptive" strike, the IAF used 10-12 Mirage 2000 multi-role aircraft of which at least three were bombers.

In the Indian package, usually Su-30 and Mig 29 jets are used as protectors. But they were possibly not used in Tuesday's opration as Mirage is a multirole aircraft that can act as a bomber, protector and an EW carrier.

The Mirage 2000 bombers used guided bombs with GPS coordinates fed into them to strike with precision and avoid any collateral damage.

The Mirage jets were chosen for the mission as this particular guided bomb system can be used with Mirage only, sources said.

Later, at an all-party meet in the national capital on Tuesday evening, the leaders cutting across party lines praised the Indian Air Force for its precision and professionalism as it hit the terrorist launch pad without incurring any loss to civilian life or hitting any Pakistani military target.

Sources in the Defence Ministry said that Pakistan has "very limited" options to retaliate short of inciting a fullfledged war which it can possibly not afford.

"Clearly, they cannot hit back in a similar way as they have no targets on our side of LoC. We don't have any terror camps here which they can hit. If they hit an Indian military target, they would have no jus ad bellum (a set of criteria that are to be consulted before engaging in war in order to determine whether entering into war is permissible, that is, whether it is a just war). It would mean sparking a fullfledged war," a senior official told IANS on condition of anonymity.

"Pakistan may resort to terror strikes, but in that case it cannot take the ownership. That means it cannot tell its people that it has done that. Also, it will again invoke a retaliatory action from India," the official said.

"One of the achievements of this strike is, apart from destroying a terrorist launch pad and avenging Pulwama attack, India has driven home the point that it can act with 'conventional' means against subconventional warfare by Pakistan," he added.

He said that at most Pakistan could perhaps scale up firing at Line of Control (LoC).

True to India's asseasment, Pakistan on Tuesday evening resorted to heavy firing and shelling in Akhnoor, Nowshera and Krishna Ghati sectors along the LoC in ceasefire violation.

--IANS

mak/prs

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over phone that India's "aggressive posture" could affect joint efforts for peace in Afghanistan, Qureshi's office said.

Qureshi's remarks came at a time when the Taliban and the US officials are holding talks in Qatar, Xinhua news agency reported.

Qureshi spoke with Pompeo on Tuesday and apprised him of the violation of Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir by India and the sentiments of Pakistani government, parliament and the people, a spokesman for Qureshi said.

India said Tuesday its fighter jets bombed a camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad group, which was blamed for the suicide attack in Kashmir earlier this month that killed 40 Indian paramilitary troopers.

"Indian aggression can disturb joint efforts to establish peace in Afghanistan," Qureshi was quoted as telling Pompeo.

"India is jeopardizing the peace in South Asia for its political purposes and elections," said the Pakistani Foreign Minister.

He added that Pakistan is desirous of peace in the region, but will not compromise on its territorial integrity.

--IANS

vin/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Pakistan army said on Tuesday that before Indian Air Force (IAF) jets breached the Line of Control (LoC) in the Muzaffarabad sector, there were two other teams that approached the border in the Sialkot-Lahore and Okara-Bahawalpur areas but went back after they were challenged by Pakistan Air Force (PAF) combat air patrols.

Director General Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asir Ghafoor, who first broke the news about the LoC breach by Indian fighters in the morning, held a detailed press conference in the evening to counter Indian claims.

Other than the usual denials and rhetoric about retaliation, he said the Prime Minister Imran Khan has called a special meeting of the Nuclear Command Authority on Wednesday after the joint session of Parliament.

While talking about surprise payback, the Pakistan army in the same breath claimed that the intrusion by the IAF was effectively repulsed not warranting an immediate retaliation.

While India has not revealed details of the operation officially, Maj. Gen. Ghafoor dispelled the claims in the Indian media that IAF jets were in Pakistan air space for 20 minutes.

He claimed that the IAF team that crossed the LoC in Muzaffarabad was thickest of the three packs that approached the border. It was challenged at the Tangdhar salient and the engagement lasted barely 4-5 minutes. The officer, however, admitted that the Indian fighters dropped four bombs that landed in Balkot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to the angle of exit.

--IANS

gd/prs

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
White ants are a delicacy in the subregion Acholi in northern Uganda. Since fresh ones are available only once a year when they become flying roamers, one 100-kg sack of ants can bring in as much money as a teacher in a public school earns within two months. Patrick was thrilled to be able to collect two sacks of white ants, but then his neighbors claimed the land on which the anthill was built as their own. The conflict between Patrick and his neighbors quickly escalated: he was terribly beaten by youth whom his neighbor had paid, unsuccessfully, to retrieve the sacks of ants. Patrick explained to me that the youth might have expected that deaf people like him were not able to defend themselves. The elected chairperson of the village, mainly referred to as LC1 (Local Council 1), who wasnt around at the time of the incident, immediately intervened in the conflict upon returning, and a meeting was announced in which an agreement was reached: Patrick had to pay a given amount to his neighbor as a form of compensation for the lost ants, the youth were rebuked for their behavior, and Patrick was ordered to leave the anthill alone in the future. Considering his injuries and the hospital care he had required, as well as the loss of greatly needed profits from selling these ants in the future, I asked him why he wouldnt report the incident to the police and make a legal claim of ownership to the land. Because I want to stay in this village, he answered.

Conflicts over land were not infrequent during the first few years after the end of the prolonged civil war between the Lords Resistance Army and Ugandan government forces (19862006). At the peak of the war, more than 90 percent of the Acholi population were forced to live in Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps or towns. After the war, decisions had to be made about when and where to move  or, for some, whether to stay. Ones social network of kin and neighbors played an important role in the decision, as well as in the process of resettlement. According to Ugandan law, both women and men can own land, but in practice it is less a legal right than a matter of claims being made and negotiations taking place in the social networks of kin and neighborhood. In Acholiland, disputes about land and distribution were mediated within communities; social relationships were significant as means of discussion and making claims to land. Accessing land is based on claim-making in the polities of kin and neighborhood, which in turn is based on social relationships. The competence for citizenship regarding land is distributed in local social networks.

For Patrick, making a case to the police and thus setting the stage for a legal claim would mean disagreeing with the decisions made within the polity of his community. More importantly, it would mean risking his highly valuable social relationships with his neighbors. Moreover, making legal claims requires financial resources in Uganda: not only are payments necessary for the police or court to motivate the right people to get the process started, but for many, transport costs to town are far too expensive. Claims can take a great deal of time and might lead to unforeseen results, in which case they appear as nothing more than a waste of money, time and energy.

Citizenship means being part of a polity. In ancient Greece, the polity in question was the city-state, today it is mainly applied to the (nation-) state. The concept of the polity involves an idea or ideal of duties and responsibilities and the possibility to make claims as a recognized member. However, Patricks case shows that the relationships between the state and the individual do not guarantee citizenship; other relationships within and beyond societies are of importance in order to claim rights as well as take responsibilities. For my interlocutors, other social and institutional networks  other polities of kin, community, work or newly established sign language networks  played a much larger role in enabling people to make meaningful claims and thus create competence for citizenship. Furthermore, gaining competence for citizenship depends on the judgments and recognition of others, as can also be seen in the case of Patrick. Competence is constituted by recognition; in the context of citizenship, competence entails becoming part of polities to be able to make meaningful claims within them. Competence for citizenship means gaining possibilities: possibilities to become involved with  or to become an insider in  different polities, and the possibility to set meaningful claims.

Ugandas disability politics have been praised as a showcase of best practices regarding the implementation of rights for people with disabilities, but many experiences, like Patricks, have brought into question how the rights-based approach for people with disabilities (including deaf people, according to the Ugandan political framework) is able to transform their lives in Uganda, as well as what precisely is being transformed. During my research, I have been focusing on the transition of deaf peoples competences for citizenship with regard to the introduction of new disability and deafrelated institutions, as well as the introduction of Ugandan Sign Language that reached Acholiland during the time of war and encampment. To better understand and analyze (deaf) peoples possibilities and ways of claimmaking, I have developed the conceptual framework of competence for citizenship. Instead of defining citizenship in the liberal understanding as merely a relationship between the state and the individual person, this concept helps to uncover different polities, how people are able to make meaningful claims within them and the extent to which polities change over time and place.

In my work, I demonstrate that the rights-based approach for people with disabilities  and with it, the focus on educating disability activists, with the main function of implementing rights in national constitutions  supports practices that are largely uncoupled from opportunities to gain competences for citizenship in daily life. At first glance, through the establishment of institutions and organizations, deaf people gained competences for citizenship in a neoliberal understanding: as students, teachers, trainers, or coordinators they changed their status from an unemployed poor person into a productive citizen. At the same time, however, these new positions were limited, and projects were only funded over a specific period of time. While deafness became a new social category, offering access to special support and resources, people with disabilities, including deaf people, could hardly make meaningful claims as recognized insiders within this polity. Instead competences for citizenship became deeply connected to the criteria and categories of various international aid organizations, as well as important political relationships and loyalties.

Yet I also analyze how legal recognition of people with disabilities played a crucial role in establishing the impetus for setting up new competencies for citizenship: it was important in pushing forward deaf- and disability-related institutions with the support of external funding. In doing so, new sign language socialities were formed, extending deaf peoples competences for citizenship in important ways. Patrick, for example, was involved in different income-generation activities, including photography and bicycle repair. He also received support from organizations for school fees and had support from the government. Many of these opportunities were bound to ones location and access to information, to other people with disabilities, and to projects and programs. Deaf peoples proximity to the town of Gulu in Acholiland offered important additional income, and many relied on deaf connections for accommodation and jobs. Those new to Gulu could find support and help through other deaf people in town. Especially for families, the town offered diversification through small jobs and agriculture, as well as new possibilities for deaf people to face challenges or uncertainties. Only a few people considered vocational trainings  mainly organized by specific programs for people with disabilities, such as carpentry or tailoring workshops  to be important.

Getting a job and being able to earn income were not only based on formal skills; indeed, not very many deaf people worked in a field in which they were formally trained. Nevertheless, such workshops were important for them to connect with other deaf people in order to deepen their sign language skills and strengthen social relationships. The importance of deaf socialities for most deaf people living in Gulu is evidenced by their decision to move there from parts of Acholiland after the war ended. Deaf socialities extended the competences for citizenship in that they extended the social relationships that allowed for company, chatting and the exchange of news and information; deaf connections, which could help people find jobs in town; and access to projects and programs. Instead of analyzing deaf peoples lives in already defined polities of citizenship  namely, the state  the concept of competence for citizenship helps to analyze the kinds of polities recognizing deaf people, deaf peoples possibilities to set meaningful claims in multiple spaces, and the ways in which they can create competence for citizenship within different polities.

Gitte Beckmann is associated researcher at the Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies, University of Zurich, Switzerland. With a regional focus on Northern Uganda, her PhD thesis explores the possibilities that deaf people have to make meaningful claims within varying polities, including kin, national and international organizations of and for people with disabilities, sign-language-related networks, and the Ugandan state. She is currently revising her dissertation for publication.

Disability from the South: Toward a Lexicon is a series edited by Michele Friedner and Tyler Zoanni. Contributors in this series consider what changes in theorizations of disability when research is located in places marked Southern and offer reconfigurations of keywords and concepts typically utilized in the study of disability.

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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a phone conversation with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to exchange views on the recent suicide attack in Kashmir.

Qureshi informed Wang about Pakistan's stance on the attack and measures to deal with it, reaffirming the country's sincerity and resolution to communicate with India and find out the truth of the incident, Xinhua news agency reported.

Qureshi said Pakistan's position on maintaining regional peace and fighting terrorism will remain unchanged and it is willing to join hands with other countries to cooperate in this area.

In the phone conversation, Wang thanked Qureshi for his briefing on the issue. He said China supports Pakistan and India to resolve the issue through dialogue as soon as possible and avoid an escalation of the situation.

Wang called on both sides to collaborate on fighting terrorism and jointly safeguard the security and stability of South Asia.

--IANS

vin/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan's Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Tuesday announced a boycott of Indian movies as well as 'Made in India' advertisements in the country.

"Cinema Exhibitors Association has boycotted Indian content, no Indian movie will be released in Pakistan. Also have instructed PEMRA to act against 'Made in India' advertisements," Chaudhry tweeted.

The move comes in response to an air strike by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest terror camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province early on Tuesday in retaliation to the February 14 attack in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, which left 40 Indian CRPF troopers dead.

Clearly, cultural ties between India and Pakistan have been affected since just in December last year, Chaudhry had assured help to Indian filmmaker Nandita Das in releasing her film "Manto" in Pakistan.

Before that, Pakistan's Supreme Court had placed a ban on the transmission of Indian content on local television channels. But movies were making their way to theatres and finding a good audience.

Right after the Pulwama attack, Indian film associations instructed filmmakers to avoid using any Pakistani talent in their movies and not to release their films in Pakistan. As a result, "Total Dhamaal" did not release there.

Kartik Aaryan's "Luka Chuppi", Diljit Dosanjh's "Arjun Patiala" and Tigmanshu Dhulia's "Milan Talkies" will also not release in Pakistan.

--IANS

rb/bg

(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.)
AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday hailed the Indian Air Force (IAF) strikes on terror camps in Pakistan, saying India has the right to self-defence.

"We welcome this. It's a right step. We stand by the government," the Hyderabad MP told reporters.

"If a country is not able to stop non-state actors, then another country which is the target of terrorist violence has the right to act in self-defence," he said.

Owaisi said India should now go after Pakistani terrorist leaders Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar. "They are satans and their outfits are also evil."

--IANS

ms/mr

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Opposition leaders on Monday hailed the Indian attack on a terrorist camp deep into Pakistan, congratulating the Indian Air Force which carried out the strike at Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp at Balakot in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) action came 12 days after a JeM suicide bomber killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force troopers at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj convened an all party meeting here to inform them about the IAF action.

"I am happy that all members congratulated Indian Air Force and supported all investigations initiated against terror attacks.

"All the parties in one voice praised the security forces and supported the government's anti-terror operations," she said after the meeting that was attended by CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, Trinamool Congress' Derek O'Brien among others.

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad lauded the operation for not incurring any collateral damage.

"We have appreciated the efforts by the forces, they always have our support to end terrorism. Another good thing is that it was a clean operation which specifically targeted terrorists and terror camps," Azad told the media after the all-party meeting.

Yechury termed it an "effective strike by the IAF destroying the biggest JeM camp in Pakistan".

Congress President Rahul Gandhi, addressing a rally in Assam, said: "I congratulate and salute the pilots of the IAF."

While hailing the action, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati said the Modi government ought to have given a free hand to military much earlier.

"IAF strike destroying terrorist camps across Line of Control (LoC) is welcome action. Salute and respect to their bravery.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave free hand to Army only after Pulwama attack. Had it been earlier, Pathankot, Uri & Pulwama-like tragedy and loss of precious lives of jawans could have been averted," she said.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, however, cited the 1999 Kargil war and then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's subsequent electoral fate.

"For all those looking at today's air strikes through a political/electoral prism it might be worth remembering that PM Vajpayee went in to the 1999 elections with nuclear tests and victory in Kargil under his belt & still only returned to power with a coalition," he said in a series of tweets.

He also called the air strike a huge embarrassment for Pakistan.

"We've entered a whole new paradigm with the Balakot air strike. The post Uri strike was to avenge our losses, Balakote was a 'pre-emptive strike to prevent an imminent JeM attack'. Totally new ballgame.

"That's a strike deep inside Pakistan & is hugely embarrassing for them. Regardless of what the other side may claim was or wasn't hit the planes crossed over, dropped their payload & flew back completely unscathed," he said.

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal, in a tweet, said: "I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan."

Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav also took to Twitter to congratulate the IAF.

"IAF also means India's Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind," tweeted West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee.

--IANS

and/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday praised the Indian Air Force's (IAF) action against terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) that operates from Pakistan, adding that it was only under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership that this could be possible.

Addressing a public rally in Hardoi district, the Chief Minister said that the Prime Minister could make the impossible possible.

Yogi, who also inaugurated a medical college there, said that it was only the will power and the zeal to think beyond the box that Hardoi has a medical college, millions of poor households have gas connections, metered electricity and toilets.

Targeting his predecessors for dividing the people on the lines of caste and creed, and for patronising criminals and graft, the Chief Minister said that earlier governments used to work for 'vinaash' (destruction) while the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government was for 'Vikas' (development).

He informed the people that while in the regime of Akhilesh Yadav only 20,000 houses were made for the poor, in the past two years alone nine lakh houses have been given to people under the Prime Minister Housing Scheme.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The police are yet to trace the whereabouts of one of the seven girls who had escaped from a short-stay home in Mokama in Patna district three days ago. The six other inmates were recovered by the police within 24 hours of their escape.

The missing girl, 16, a resident of a village in Dinajpur district in West Bengal, is one of the prime witnesses in the infamous Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case.

With police still in dark on her whereabouts, Bihar Director General of Police (DGP) Gupteshwar Pandey on Tuesday expressed hope that the police would recover her soon.

According to police headquarters sources here, seven specially formed teams are looking for the girl in Bihar and West Bengal for the last two days. "A team was sent to her native village but she was not found there," a police officer said.

It may be noted that this missing girl had in her confessional statement reportedly revealed names of several persons, including top government officers and powerful politicians, who would regularly visit the Muzaffarpur shelter home.

"She had shocked police officers during the probe by revealing that main accused (in Muzaffarpur shelter home case) Brajesh Thakur often took her and some other girls out of the shelter home to unknown places where his guests sexually exploited them," said the police officer.

Seven girls, including five, who were allegedly abused at the infamous Muzaffarpur shelter home last year, escaped from the Mokama short-stay home on Friday night. The police, however, say that most likely, these girls had not escaped but were made to flee the shelter home.

The girls were shifted to Mokama after the Muzaffarpur shelter home case surfaced in May 2018 following an audit by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), which revealed that most of the 41 girls lodged in the shelter home had been sexually abused.

The incident comes as an embarrassment for the Nitish Kumar government, especially after a POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court on February 16 directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct an inquiry into the involvement of the Chief Minister and two senior officials in the case.

Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and CPI-ML have demanded the resignation of Nitish Kumar alleging that the missing girl was made to flee from shelter home to save some powerful people involved in the Muzaffarpur shelter home case.

The Muzaffarpur horror came to light in May 2018 when the Bihar Social Welfare Department filed an FIR based on the TISS social audit.

Brajesh Thakur, a journalist-turned-social activist, who was heading the NGO that ran the shelter home, and other accused were arrested. The matter was handed over to the CBI in July last year.

Thakur has been shifted to a high-security jail in Patiala following a Supreme Court order, while other accused, including his close aides and some government officials, are lodged in jails at Patna and Muzaffarpur.

The trial of the case has been shifted to Delhi.

--IANS

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Indian Navy divers on Tuesday located the fifth body from inside the 370-feet deep flooded coal mine in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district, where over a dozen miners remain trapped since December 13, 2018, an official said.

"The fifth body was detected at 5.10 p.m. with the help of a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV), at the 230 feet depth in the same rat-hole where the third and fourth miners' bodies were located," a senior rescue official told IANS.

The divers located the third body on Saturday and the fourth body on Monday.

The rescue official said all the three bodies, still inside the mine, could "disintegrate" on retrieval attempt as they were highly decomposed.

"The flesh started tearing off when the ROV tried to get a grip on bodies," he said.

The ROV had detected the first body on January 16, and second on January 26 from the coal mine.

Of the 15 trapped miners, the Navy could retrieve only one body on January 23. It was identified as that of Amir Hussain from Assam's Chirang district.

The coal pit disaster at Ksan village took place on December 13, 2018 despite an interim ban on rat-hole coal mining in the state by the National Green Tribunal since April 17, 2014.

The tragedy came to light after five miners escaped from the coal pit, flooded by water from a nearby river.

The Supreme Court, which is monitoring the rescue operations, has told the government the trapped miners must be taken out of the mine, "dead" or "alive".

--IANS

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Even after facing backlash from company employees, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has no plans to scrap the controversial contract of supplying augmented reality (AR)-based HoloLens headset to the US military.

Under the contract, Microsoft has to provide more than 100,000 headsets that could be used for combat and training in the military.

"We made a principled decision that we're not going to withhold technology from institutions that we have elected in democracies to protect the freedoms we enjoy," Nadella told CNN on Monday at the MWC 2019 in Barcelona.

Last week in a letter to the company President Brad Smith, Nadella and other top executives, workers urged the firm to junk the $479 million contract to supply technology for the military's Integrated Visual Augmentation System, the media had reported.

"As employees and shareholders we do not want to become war profiteers. To that end, we believe that Microsoft must stop in its activities to empower the US Army's ability to cause harm and violence," the letter read.

The employees said they are alarmed that their company is working to provide weapons technology to the US military, "helping one country's government 'increase lethality' using tools we built".

The workers' coalition asked Nadella and Smith to "cease developing any and all weapons technologies, and draft a public-facing acceptable use policy clarifying this commitment."

According to media reports, the US Army describes the project as a way to "increase lethality by enhancing the ability to detect, decide and engage before the enemy".

--IANS

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Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday hailed the IAF air strikes targetting terrorist bases inside Pakistan in the aftermath of the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF troopers were killed.

"Great job by the #IndianAirForce. The #IAFStrikes have sent the much needed signal to Pakistan and the terrorists it's harbouring - don't think you can get away with acts like the #PulwamaAttack. Bravo to the #IAF men and my full support for the action," he said in a tweet.

The Chief Minister chaired a high-level meeting with officials here to take stock of the situation following the IAF air strikes as Punjab shares a 553-km long international border with Pakistan.

The border districts - Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur and Fazilka - have been put on high alert following the IAF strike and their Deputy Commissioners and Senior Superintendents of Police have been asked to put in place all contingency plans to ensure the protection and safety of the citizens.

"We are on top of the situation in wake of the #IndianAirForce #airstrike. Discussed all eventualities with top civil & police officials. We've put the border areas on high alert & I'll visit the area tomorrow for an on-ground assessment. I appeal to the people to remain calm," Amarinder Singh said in another tweet.

The Chief Minister will visit the border areas from Pathankot to Ferozepur by road on Wednesday, an official spokesperson announced after the meeting where top brass of the administration and police including Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, Home Secretary N.S. Kalsi, Chief Principal Secretary to CM Suresh Kumar, Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta and DGP Intelligence V.K. Bhawara were present.

"The meeting found no need for panic and decided against any move to evacuate the residents of the border areas," the spokesperson said.

The chief minister's Media Advisor, Raveen Thukral, who was also present at the meeting, said that Amarinder Singh directed officials to monitor the situation closely and not let down their guard under any circumstances.

"The state government is in touch with the Union Home and Defence ministries to remain abreast of the situation. The government is fully prepared to deal with any eventuality," Thukral said.

The Chief Minister also spoke to Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the situation.

Immediately after the deadly Pulwama attack on a CRPF convoy, Amarinder Singh, a former Army captain, had made it clear that he was in favour of strong retaliatory action against Pakistan and said that the Congress would support any course of action decided by the Central government.

"They have killed 41, we should kill 82 of theirs," he had said, without mincing words.

Amarinder Singh had also said that if Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan could not arrest the Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, who was operating from Pakistani soil, then "we will do it for him."

--IANS

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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Tuesday praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his daring actions to eradicate terrorism.

He also thanked Modi on behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu for the daring action by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in destroying the terror camps operating inside Pakistan through air strikes early on Tuesday.

According to Palaniswami, Modi is scoring several victories with his actions to eradicate terrorism.

--IANS

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Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang's Regular Press Conference on February 26, 2019

2019/02/27

At the invitation of State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Diplomatic Adviser to the President of France Philippe Etienne will pay a working visit to China from February 28 to March 2.

Q: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced his decision to resign today. What is the Foreign Ministry's response to this? It was only last week that Zarif wrapped up his visit to China. Is the Chinese side worried about the future of the Iranian nuclear deal?

A: The Chinese side noted relevant reports. Over the past five years or so, as the Iranian Foreign Minister Mr. Mohammad Javad Zarif has made positive contributions to the development of China-Iran relations. The Chinese side appreciates this. China and Iran are comprehensive strategic partners, and we stand ready to work with Iran to advance our comprehensive strategic partnership.

Regarding the JCPOA you mentioned, I believe you are aware of China's position. We always believe that the JCPOA must be upheld, and we are making our best efforts along with relevant parties, including Russia, to uphold the validity of the deal. We believe this is conducive to the peace and stability in the Middle East and the international nuclear non-proliferation system, and serves the shared interests of the international community.

Q: According to reports, DPRK leader Kim Jong Un has just arrived in Viet Nam. Photographs of his train show that it was a Chinese train that was pulling his carriages, which appears to be a different train that he was using when he crossed over the border in Dandong. Can you confirm that the Chinese government did provide the use or at least the front part of the train-the locomotive part of the train-to help the train of Chairman Kim get to Viet Nam?

A: I am not that attentive to these details as you are. I wonder if the change of locomotive would in any significant way affect your analysis on the situation? What I can tell you is that upon consultation, the Chinese side provided transport support to Chairman Kim during his transit in China, who was heading for the second DPRK-US summit in Viet Nam in a special train.

Q: We noted that the Chinese side issued a brief news release after the China-US trade talks concluded last weekend. Could you offer more details about the outcomes of this round of trade talks? US President Trump said that if the talks with China go along very well, he will be meeting with President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago. What's your comment?

A: The Chinese side issued some information about the outcomes of the trade consultations, which I believe is stated in a fairly clear way. You may also be aware that the consultations are still underway. As I understand, it would not be appropriate to make the details public yet. As you can see from what was released by the Chinese and the US sides, in this 7th round of high-level consultations, the two teams have followed the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries during their meeting in Argentina and made new progress building on what was achieved earlier. The two sides also said that they would continue to follow the consensus and instructions of the two leaders to achieve a mutually beneficial and win-win outcome for both sides at an early date.

You observed that President Trump said if the talks with China go along very well, he will be meeting President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago. Like we said, we noted that President Trump said on many occasions recently that he is looking forward to meeting with President Xi Jinping again. President Xi also said in his message to President Trump that he will maintain close contact with President Trump through various means. I believe the working teams of the two sides will make full preparations for the relevant matters of the summit between the two leaders.

Q: CEO Nick Read of the British company Vodafone, the world's second-largest mobile operator, said at the Mobile World Congress that excluding Huawei would delay Europe's 5G rollout by probably two years. He added that if companies are forced to swap their Huawei equipment, it would wreak havoc on national infrastructure and incur high costs for consumers. "People are saying things at the moment that are not grounded," said Read, " I have not met the US side directly myself so I have not seen what evidence they have, but they clearly need to present that evidence to the right bodies throughout Europe". Do you believe that his remarks will be beneficial to Huawei?

A: I have noted relevant reports. As you can see in the reports, Huawei is having professional dialogues with the governments, industries and companies of relevant countries at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

I believe that what the CEO of Vodafone said is reasonable. These "people" he mentioned have failed to provide any evidence on which their allegations are grounded, which is the key point. In fact, these same people have been leaving no stones unturned and even using state power to suppress other countries' companies and curtail the normal and mutually beneficial cooperation between them in order to serve their own interests. However, these people need to know that companies and consumers of other countries make decisions that favor their own interests. As the Vodafone CEO said, policies need to be rolled out based on facts instead of fabricated lies. As I noted, a commentary in the Financial Times yesterday stated that thousands of cyber attacks take place every day around the world, but there is no evidence to prove that Huawei is behind even one of them.

5G technology is born out of exchange and cooperation among all countries amid globalization. It is the product of hi-tech innovation shared by the international community. We believe that it serves the fundamental interests of all parties to uphold multilateral cooperation for win-win outcomes, foster an open and inclusive business environment, and safeguard the international rules that are fair, just and non-discriminatory. We also believe that all countries will make the right choice independently that meets both their interests and the trend of the times.

Q: According to reports, 87% of the voters supported the reforms to the constitution of Cuba in a referendum. Does China have any comment on that?

A: The high supporting rate of the new constitution in Cuba symbolizes important progress in the country's constitutional reform. China congratulates Cuba on this result. The new constitution bears great significance to Cuba as it will lay out the legal framework for Cuba's future development. We respect and support the Cuban people's choice, and wish and believe that Cuba will enjoy broader prospects of development.

Q: The DPRK leader Kim Jong Un is in Viet Nam for his summit with Donald Trump. Does China have any plan to organize a visit here in China for the DPRK leader right after the summit?

A: China and the DPRK share a tradition of exchange of high-level visits. We will timely release the information if we have any.

Q: Two US warships yesterday sailed through the Taiwan Strait, which I believe is something like the fourth or fifth mission by US warships through the Taiwan Strait in the last couple of months. Has China complained to the United States about this latest sailing?

A: The Chinese side has made clear its position many times and expressed its concerns to the US side. We are firmly opposed to these provocative actions by the US side which are not conducive to the peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait as well as the China-US relations.

Q: According to reports, the Indian air force today carried out some air strikes against terrorist forces inside Pakistan across the Line of Control. What is China's reaction to that? India is saying that this is a non-military attack because it was carried out not against the military but against the terrorist forces who had attacked India and killed Indian soldiers. What's your comment?

A: India and Pakistan are both important countries in South Asia. A harmonious relationship between the two are crucial to regional peace, stability and development and serves the interests of India and Pakistan fundamentally. We hope the two sides will exercise restraint and take actions that will help stabilize situation in the region and improve bilateral relations instead of doing the opposite.

You mentioned that India said their operation was against terrorist forces. I would like to point out that terrorism is a global challenge that calls for cooperation between countries so as to create enabling conditions and a favorable atmosphere for necessary international cooperation.

Q: The second summit between the DPRK and the US leaders will soon be held in Hanoi. What expectations does China have for this meeting? What kind of role will China play between the DPRK and the US during this meeting? What is China's comment on Vietnam's efforts and role in hosting this meeting?

A: As you know, China's proposition on the Korean Peninsula issue mainly comprises two aspects: first, to realize the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula; second, to achieve and maintain the lasting peace and stability on the Peninsula and then in Northeast Asia.

To achieve these two goals, we believe that the DPRK and the US, as the key parties concerned, should take effective measures, fully consider and accommodate each other's legitimate concerns, and work for the shared goal of realizing denuclearization and lasting peace of the Peninsula on the basis of mutual respect. We are pleased to see that the situation is developing in the direction that China has advocated and hoped for. This is the role that China has always played and will continue to play.

The second meeting between the DPRK and the US leaders is going to be held in Hanoi. It is not only the Chinese side, but also actually all parties in the international community, that hope the DPRK and the US will continue to make substantial steps towards realizing the denuclearization, peace and stability on the Peninsula.

We hope that the meeting to be held in Hanoi will be successful. From the reports we could see that the government and people of Viet Nam have made thoughtful preparations for this meeting. We hope that the outcomes of the meeting will be worthy of such preparations.

Q: On the DPRK-US summit, you just mentioned that when Chairman Kim Jong Un passed across China, the Chinese side took measures to guarantee his security?

A: I said transport support.

Q: Yes, transport, sorry. So during the trip, for example in Tianjin, have Chinese leaders had any contact with Chairman Kim? Second, after the summit in Hanoi, will the DPRK leader still travel past China and will the Chinese side provide transport support again?

A: Your first question was actually raised earlier by another journalist. China and the DPRK share a tradition of exchange of high-level visits. If there is any information to be released, we will release it in a timely manner, as I know you are all following this very closely.

As for the means of transport for Chairman Kim's return, I believe you know that it is not appropriate for China to release information regarding itinerary of other countries' leaders.

Q: It has been reported that the Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir declared a one-year national state of emergency on February 22. He dissolved the central and state governments, asked the National Assembly to postpone constitutional amendments and called on the opposition party to stop organizing demonstrations and protests and step up political dialogue with the government. He also pledged to undertake economic reforms. What's your comment?

A: We support the Sudanese government's efforts and measures to maintain national stability and restore social order. Stability in Sudan not only serves the fundamental interests of its people, but is also conducive to peace and tranquility in the region. China has provided a batch of emergency food assistance to Sudan and will continue to offer assistance within its capabilities to the Sudanese people as such need arises.

Q: Yesterday the Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi made a telephone call to the Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and briefed him about the latest situation in the region in wake of the attack in Indian-held Kashmir. Do you have more information to share with us?

A: As you said, yesterday State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi had a telephone conversation with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at request. You may have noticed that State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi listened carefully to Foreign Minister Qureshi's briefing on the relevant situation and the propositions of the Pakistani side. He also reiterated that China supports the Pakistani and Indian sides in properly resolving the issue through dialogue as soon as possible to avoid the escalation of tensions.

We also hope that Pakistan and India can jointly advance counter-terrorism cooperation and safeguard peace, tranquility and stability in South Asia.

Q: About the DPRK-related sanctions, last week China said that the Security Council needs to consider holding a debate on invoking the provisions of Security Council resolutions, which would at least take a concession from the US. Do you have any suggestions about what concessions might be made on either side to make the negotiations move forward as the DPRK-US summit is to be held in days?

A: Like I just said, progress needs to be made in the negotiations between the DPRK and the United States, and the key is that both sides should carefully listen to, consider and accommodate each other's legitimate concerns and meet each other half way. As the Chinese side said, the general direction should be both promoting the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and replacing the armistice with a peace regime in parallel. We believe that under the current circumstances, as various members of the international community are calling for, if some positive measures are taken, such as easing or even lifting part of the sanctions against the DPRK, it will surely be conducive to this process.

As for what kind of concessions the DPRK and the US should make respectively, it depends on the talks between the DPRK and the US, and the Chinese side cannot get ahead of that. But we believe that the two sides should follow the general direction of mutual respect and accommodation of each other's legitimate concerns.
BJP President Amit Shah on Tuesday said the Modi government can go to any extent to defend the country and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the only world leader who has strong determination of zeo tolerance policy against terrorism.

Launching BJP's Kamal Jyoti Sankalp Abhiyan - a massive nationwide outreach programme - at Gorhat village in Ghazipur in the politically significant state of Uttar Pradesh, Shah said only Modi can ensure country's safety and security.

"In response to Uri, we did surgical strike against Pakistan and now for the self-defence we conducted air strikes. These two attacks have given a message to the world that Indian government can go to any extent to defend itself," he said amid chants of "Baharat Mata Ki Jay".

"Modiji has a strong determination of zero tolerance policy against terrorism. No world leader has such determination. Since he became Prime Minister, he has been following the policy of zero tolerance. To secure the country, surgical strike was done and to dismantle terrorism, air strikes has been conducted by Indian Air Force," he said.

He said after today's air strike, the family of those killed in Pulwama terror battack would have got comfort.

As the gathering was responsive with his aggressive speech, Shah asked them whether they felt country is safe under Modi or any other alliance.

"Who can give a befitting reply to Pakistan? Who can uproot terrorism? Who can make India a 'Vishwa Guru'?," he asked, as the crowd chanted 'Modi-Modi'.

He said, "Only one leader can do all these things and he is Narendra Modi. He has fulfilled almost all the promises made in 2014."

"Pakistan will now think at least 10 times before doing any terror activity in India," he said hailing the IAF.

As part of Kamal Jyoti Abhiyan, Shah lit a lamp in the shape of Kamal (lotus) - the BJP's election symbol - at the house of one of the beneficiaries of the Central government schemes, Rudranath, a Dalit of Gorhat village.

Along with villagers, Shah also took the pledge to bring back the Modi government in the 2019 elections.

There are an estimated 22 crore beneficiaries of the Modi government schemes, including the housing, the Ujjwala, opening of Jan Dhan accounts and the Swachh Bharat project, across the country.

Shah asked every party worker to take this campaign ahead and light lamps at the houses of government beneficiaries.

"The Kamal Jyoti symbolises the progress and prosperity brought into the lives of the beneficiaries due to the holistic and inclusive policy of the Modi government," Shah said.

The BJP is putting all its might to strike gold in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party won 71 seats of its own and along with its allies, 73 out of 80 seats.

--IANS

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday attended the presentation of the Gandhi Peace Prize at the Rashtrapati Bhavan soon after he presided over a CCS meeting following an early morning strike by the IAF on a JeM terror camp across the Line of Control (LoC).

In his address at the ceremony, Modi apologised for arriving late on account of another important meeting - of the Cabinet Committee on Security.

"I apologise for coming late, I was busy in another meeting... This year is important because this is 150th anniversary year of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi.

"This prize is given to those who give their all in promoting the values by which he (Gandhi) lived and imbibed and which he continuously tried to infuse the society with," Modi said while congratulating the prize winners.

President Ram Nath Kovind presented the Gandhi Peace Prize to the Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari, jointly with the Akshaya Patra Foundation for 2015,; to the Sulabh International for 2016; the Ekal Abhiyan Trust for 2017; and to Yohei Sasakawa for 2018.

They were awarded for the work done by them in feeding and educating poor, encouraging sanitation, and eradication of leprosy.

"From Martin Luther King Jr. in the United States to Nelson Mandela in South Africa and Lech Walesa in Poland, a dazzling galaxy of statespersons has learnt and borrowed from Gandhiji.

"Gandhiji and his thoughts are invaluable to any understanding of contemporary human history, and of the quest to redress oppression and inequity," Kovind said in his address.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) jets early on Tuesday hit the biggest training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) group in Pakistan, eliminating a very large number of terrorists and their trainers.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has congratulated the entire team of the Mexican film "Roma" for winning three Oscars.

The week began "with good news", Obrador said at a press conference on Monday and hailed the film's director, Alfonso Cuaron, Efe news reported.

The 91st Academy Awards on Sunday saw "Roma" become the first Mexican feature to win the Oscar for best foreign film, while Cuaron took home the awards for cinematography and directing.

"It pleases me very much that a Mexican, that a team, a group of actors, professionals, have this recognition that is so important in cinema," Obrador said.

The Mexican President though acknowledged he was yet to see "Roma" and vowed to reach out personally to Cuaron and everyone else involved in the film, which tells the story of an indigenous domestic worker.

Shot in black-and-white with dialogue in Spanish and the indigenous Mixtec language, "Roma" was released by streaming service Netflix, not a traditional studio.

"Roma" was nominated for the Oscar in 10 different categories, including best picture and a best actress nomination for Yalitza Aparicio, a Mixtec schoolteacher with no prior acting experience.

In five of the last six years, the Oscar for best director has gone to a Mexican.

The run started in 2014 with Cuaron, who won for "Gravity", Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu took the honor in 2015 and 2016, for "Birdman" and "The Revenant" respectively, while Guillermo Del Toro was named best director in 2018 for "The Shape of Water"

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday MPs would be given a choice to vote on no-deal Brexit or a delayed departure from the European Union (EU) if her deal is rejected in a meaningful vote in mid-March.

The Prime Minister said at the House of Commons, "I do not want to see Article 50 to be extended."

"I know that members (of Parliament) are worried that time is running out. I know too that members are deeply concerned about the effect of the uncertainty on businesses."

May said she was working hard to win a legally binding assurance on the backstop to avoid a hard border on the Irish Island after the planned exit on March 29, Xinhua news agency reported.

The deal, reached by London and Brussels after months of painful negotiations, has been rejected by MPs. Thus, the Prime Minister needs to talk to the unyielding EU leaders on a revised deal to get her agreement passed by Parliament.

"We will hold a second meaningful vote by March 12, at the latest," May said.

According to May, once the government's Brexit plan fails to pass the March 12 vote, the government will table a motion to be voted on March 13 at the latest, "asking this House if it supports the EU without a withdrawal agreement and a framework for a future relationship on March 29."

And if the House rejects no-deal Brexit, the government will on March 14 "bring forward a motion on whether Parliament wants to seek a short, limited extension to Article 50", said the Prime Minister.

The British government will ask the EU to approve the extension if Parliament votes for it, May said.

Accusing the Prime Minister of "running down the clock," Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbin said he wanted a "decisive" second referendum on Brexit.

The British voted in a June 2016 referendum to leave the EU. May who rejected the idea of a second referendum have spoken repeatedly that her government is delivering the outcome of the referendum.

The Prime Minister said her government has "clear and firm commitment" to hold future votes on Brexit options.

--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 Tuesday hailed the Indian Air Force after it carried out air strikes across the Line of Control in Pakistan's Balakot.

"IAF also means India's Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind," Banerjee tweeted.

Reports claimed that the IAF strike was carried out by a group of Mirage 2000 fighters at around 3.30 a.m. in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region.

The strike in Balakot was significant as the location was beyond Pakistan-administered Kashmir, indicating it was not merely an LoC violation but a punitive action inside Pakistani territory.

It follows a suicide bombing attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Pulwama on February 14 that killed 40 troopers.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Maharashtra leaders cutting across party lines on Tuesday welcomed the Indian action against terror groups operating from Pakistan's safe havens in Balakot in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "kept his word" that the sacrifices of 40 CRPF troopers killed in the Pulwama attacks would not go in vain.

"The armed forces have shown their strength and proved what it can do to avenge our soldiers' lives... The camps where Pakistan was training terrorists and sending them to India have been completely destroyed," Fadnavis said.

Ruling ally Shiv Sena MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut said: "I salute the bravery of the IAF pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan."

State Congress President Ashok Chavan said: "Salute to our brave fighter of the Indian Air Force... Jai Hind!"

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar tweeted: "Salutes to IAF for giving befitting reply to the terrorists operating from POK (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir). We are all with the government in this hour of crisis."

State Samajwadi Party President Abu Asim Azmi celebrated the IAF action by waving the national tricolour and distributing sweets in the Vidhan Bhavan here.

Mumbai Dabbawalas Association spokesperson Subhash Talekar complimented Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said now "go ahead and teach Pakistan a lesson... The country stands behind you".

"The Muslims offered a special 'shukrana namaz' (Thanksgiving prayer) in different mosques in the city," said All India Muslim Minority Front President Asif Bhamla.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The widows of two Maharashtra troopers killed in the February 14 Pulwama suicide attack on Tuesday lauded India's air strikes against the JeM terror camps in Pakistan.

"I am very satisfied by this action. This is a real tribute to the 40 soldiers (troopers) killed in Pulwama. Finally, their souls will rest in peace," said Sushma Sanjay Rajput of Malkapur village.

"I am happy that this action has been taken to avenge the untimely deaths of our soldiers (troopers) in Pulwama last fortnight. The government has finally acted," said Vandana Nitin Rathod of Chorpangra village.

Both the widows told IANS that they felt the Indian action was belated and if had been taken earlier, "the valuable lives of our husbands, and many more like them could have been saved."

Sushma and Vandana also said that this must be followed up by stronger action from the Indian side to teach Pakistan "a lesson once and for all", and uproot all terror activities for permanent peace and security in the sub-continent.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Maharashtra Assembly on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution hailing the air strikes in Balakot, Pakistan.

Moving the resolution, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis lauded the efforts of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in carrying out the strikes and annihilating the terror camps operating there.

He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "kept his promise" that the sacrifice of the 40 CRPF troopers killed in the Pulwama terror attacks would not go in vain.

"The armed forces have shown their strength and proved what they can do to avenge our soldiers' lives. The camps where Pakistan was training terrorists and sending them to India have been completely destroyed," Fadnavis said, amidst thumping of benches.

Senior Congress leader and former minister Naseem Khan said all political parties support PM Modi's decision "to give a free hand" to the armed forces.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Kerala Tourism Department is hoping to increase arrival of both domestic and foreign tourists to the state by 2020 under its new policy, a senior official said on Tuesday.

"As per our new tourism policy, we are targeting to achieve 50 per cent growth in domestic tourist arrivals into Kerala and 100 per cent in the case of foreign tourists," Deputy Director Anil V.S. told reporters here.

He said Tamil Nadu is the number one tourist market for Kerala. In 2018, about 13.98 lakh people from Tamil Nadu visited Kerala while the number of foreign tourists stood at about 10.96 lakh.

Anil said about 1.56 crore domestic tourists had visited Kerala in 2018 and Kerala Tourism is organising business-to-business (B2B) meets across the country to increase tourist traffic to the state.

He said one of the tourist attractions this year will be the Champions Boat League.

According to him, the Nehru Trophy boat race will be in August and the boat race would conclude with the boat race for the Presidential Trophy.

Anil said the recent protest against the entry of women into Sabarimala temple has also not impacted the tourist inflow in a major way.

--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 Tuesday took suo motu cognisance on the fire tragedy in Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh here which killed 17 people and asked the Delhi government and police to respond to charges of illegality.

Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V.A. Kameswar Rao also issued notice to the Fire department, North Delhi Municipal Corporation and Hotel Arpit Palace.

The court asked them to say whether the hotel was functioning in violation of licensing norms. The matter was listed for further hearing on August 5.

At least 17 people were killed when a major fire engulfed the hotel in the commercial-cum-residential district of Karol Bagh before dawn on February 12.

The court initiated its own proceedings after two men -- Tushar Sahdev and Raman Kalra -- wrote a letter to the court raising the loopholes in the system and urged the court to take cognisance of the incident.

"Hotel Arpit Palace had taken licence to operate as a guest house but was running as a hotel with 45 rooms and several restaurants. An additional fourth floor was added illegally. Any hotel building should have more than one entry/exit point but this one had a single entry/exit point," the letter said.

The letter also said that as per the Masterplan, there must be a wide road in front of the building but there was a narrow road in this case.

The letter was written a day after the incident. The court on February 13 sent the letter to the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) committee to decide if was a case fit enough to be treated as a public suit.

--IANS

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At around 6a.m. on the same day, another aircraft carrying security advisers of the US president also landed in the airport.



According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, United States Air Force aircraft carrying President of the United States Donald Trump is expected to land in Noi Bai International Airport in the capital city of Hanoi at 8:30 p.m. (local time) on February 26.

As plan, General Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee cum President of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong will have a meeting with US President Donald Trump at the Presidential Palace before President Trump has a talk with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

US President Donald Trump will leave Hanoi as soon as the second summit between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the US in Vietnam's capital city of Hanoi ends on February 28.

An international press conference on preparations for the US-DPRK Summit was held this morning. Speaking at the press conference, Deputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung said that the US President would not pay an official visit to Vietnam on the summit, but he would respectively have meetings with Vietnamese senior leaders to discuss on bilateral relationship and others important problems between the two nations.


Comedian Jon Stewart has urged the media to keep publishing stories about the 9/11 first responders and victims, who have suffered from several ailments after the attack.

As the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund is running out of money, Stewart addressed the reporters and asked them to "use your mouthpiece" and "amplify" the plight of the 9/11 victims, reports hollywoodreporter.com

He said: "You can amplify their stories. You can get their stories out to the American people. We need your advocacy as well. We need you to use your mouthpiece to get this going.

"This is your opportunity to write a final chapter for these men and women who fought for 18 years."

Stewart also explained how the media could help the first responders 18 years after the attack.

"It's an error of omission, not to keep the coverage going. It's not about advocating to get them to do it. For everything the first responders have done, the last thing they deserve is our apathy.

"This isn't on people's radars. It's a question of: If you have the ability to bring some light or attention to what they're having to go through, I think it's a moral responsibility. It's not advocating in the sense of bias, it's advocating in the sense of truth," he added.

On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the US.

--IANS

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Hotel Leelaventure on Tuesday said that JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (JMFARC) has filed an insolvency petition against it with the National Company Law Tribunal's Mumbai bench.

In a regulatory filling, the company said that the JMFARC has filed an application against it under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

"We further wish to inform you that the company is continuing to engage with prospective investors for a resolution," it said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Indian film fraternity lauded the Indian Air Force (IAF) strike on Pakistan terror camps on Tuesday morning with full fervour, saluting the bravery of the real-life heroes who carried out the mission.

Days after a suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF troopers in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, on February 14, India on early Tuesday struck the Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp at Balakote in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, killing a large number of terrorists and their trainers.

A slew of Bollywood celebrities took to social media to share slogans and sentiments of pride.

Sonakshi Sinha, Suniel Shetty, Sonu Sood, Vivek Oberoi, Tusshar Kapoor and Yami Gautam tweeted: "Jai hind".

Here's what other celebrities wrote:

Lata Mangeshkar: Jai Hind, Jai Hind ki sena (soldiers).

Rajinikanth: Bravo India

Kamal Haasan: Our 12 return safely home after wreaking havoc on terrorist camps in Pakistan. India is proud of its heroes. I salute their valour.

Akshay Kumar: Proud of our Indian Air Force fighters for destroying terror camps! Quiet no more! India Strikes Back.

Anupam Kher: Today will be a good day to start saluting Prime Minister Narendra Modi too. Bharat Mata Ki Jai.

Raveena Tandon: What an explosive morning! As India celebrates! I salute the 12 bravehearts for meting out justice for our Pulwama boys! Our neighbours often complain of being victims of terrorism themselves. They need to thank us.

Ajay Devgn: Mess with the best, die like the rest. Salute Indian Air Force.

Preity Zinta: Killing a terrorist today saves many many innocent lives tomorrow. I salute the Indian Air force for making this possible by destroying the terror camps across the border.

Tamannaah Bhatia: Super proud of the Indian Air Force! I salute this act of bravery!

Rahul Dholakia: You are fighting to protect and save us by destroying and finishing terror camps - Thank You IAF. Jai Hind.

Rannvijay Singha: Experts say this attack by IAF to destroy the terror camps across the POK are of high degree of precision and very strategically planned and were successfully executed. Indian Air Force.

Madhur Bhandarkar: Salute to the daredevil IAF pilots who braved to strike in the heart of our enemy. It's time for all Indians to stand united as one.

Aftab Shivdasani: So proud of the Indian Air Force for the precise and befitting reply to reach the perpetrators a lesson. This is a new age India. Jai Hind.

Jackky Bhagnani: A great sight and a great thought. Here stands the National War Memorial to pay a tribute to all the brave hearts. Jai Hind!

Parvin Dabas: Jai Hind... fully support the direct annihilation of terrorist camps, you can run but you can't hide.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that his country will succeed in retracting Iranian forces from Syria, speaking ahead of his departure for talks in Moscow.

Netanyahu made the remark in a video statement before his departure to Moscow on Tuesday, where he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The focus of our talks will be the Iranian entrenchment in Syria," he said in the Hebrew statement.

He added that Israel is already to "take action against" Iran by "attacking their bases", referring to hundreds of deadly air strikes Israel's air force has carried out in Syria.

"We will continue to act until we get the Iranians to leave Syria because Iran is threatening to destroy Israel and we will not allow it to set up a base close to our border," he said.

The meeting is part of the continuing efforts by Israel and Russia to coordinate their moves on the Syrian battleground.

Russian forces have been fighting alongside the army of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Israel has struck Iranian targets in Syria and arms convoys to Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Lebanese militia.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Iran's top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that Iran takes pride in helping the Syrian government and people.

According to Iran's official IRNA news agency, Khamenei made the remarks during his meeting with visiting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, reported Xinhua.

During the meeting, Khamenei said the key to Syria's success and defeat of the US and its regional agents is perseverance of the country's President and people.

He also cautioned against the enemies' future conspiracies, according to IRNA.

Calling for further visits between the Iranian and Syrian scholars, Khamenei stressed the need for promoting the spirit of resistance of the Syrian people.

Assad, for his part, thanked Iran for its consistent supports to his country.

The current achievements of the two countries have been attained through standing alongside the resistance movement, 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.)
Fears of diplomatic or military retaliation from Pakistan might keep equity investors subdued over the next few days, market observers said on Tuesday.

But low crude oil prices and attractive valuations will arrest any sharp downward spiral. It might even give a boost to gold and other asset classes.

Analysts' assessment comes amid heightened geo-political tensions in the sub-continent after India struck terrorist training camps in Pakistan on Tuesday, and Islamabad responded with multiple ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.

Consequently, fears of escalation pulled key domestic indices into the red later in the day.

In their outlook, analysts said key equity indices would remain in a tight-range with a negative bias over the next one-two days, as investors evaluate risks of any further escalation in tensions with Pakistan.

"Traders and investors may show some caution for another 1-2 days and wait for any retaliation or escalation," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research for HDFC Securities.

"In case they do not witness any such thing in this period, they would go back to the normal times," Jasani said.

"Massive swing (especially downward) can be seen only in case of retaliation and counter-retaliation, causing escalation in hostilities. In such an event, investors (especially foreign) would look at reducing their exposure to India and stay away till things settle down."

Analysts said macro data like the fiscal deficit figures, released on Tuesday, and the upcoming data on select industrial output and the gross domestic product (GDP) growth numbers could induce caution.

Even the upcoming elections are a 'big factor' for uncertainty, market observers said.

"Over the next 2-3 days, investors are likely to look beyond the current situation and act accordingly to developments like the general elections and slowdown in domestic and global economy," said Vinod Nair, Geojit Financial Services' Head of Research.

"Market is likely to be range-bound with a negative bias in the next 2-3 days given lack of positive triggers in the domestic and global markets," Nair said.

Besides, derivative expiry might also hamper any market upmove. "Today's events could have a sentimental impact on the markets, especially because we are in a F&O expiry week," said Vinay Khattar, Head of Edelweiss Investment Research.

"Investors should be more concerned about economic data, which has been soft lately, and the tepid pace of earnings growth. These factors warrant more attention over the medium to long term," Khattar said.

Mustafa Nadeem, CEO, Epic Research, said: "From here, there may be some consolidation in the Nifty between 10,900 and 10,750 for coming sessions as the rise in volatility has indicated traders rushing for puts and hedging their positions."

"There may be further escalation on the geopolitical front and we suggest traders keep portfolios intact with a tight stop loss and hedging using options," he said.

On the global front, the drop in crude oil after US President Donald Trump's comment has capped its upside at $57, which is favourable for India as it is one of the biggest importers of crude, Nadeem said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China on Tuesday urged India and Pakistan to "exercise restraint" in order to improve mutual relations in the wake of the Indian Air Force striking at Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camp in Balakot in Pakistan.

"I want to say that India and Pakistan are both important countries in South Asia. A sound relationship and cooperation between the two serves the interests of both countries and peace and stability in South Asia," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang.

"We hope that both India and Pakistan can exercise restraint and do more to improve mutual bilateral relations."

Indian fighter jets early Tuesday struck the JeM's biggest training camp at Balakot killing "a very large number" of terrorists and their trainers.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India on Tuesday briefed envoys of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council about the IAF's "non-military pre-emptive action" on the biggest training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, which had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack.

Sources said Foreign Secretary Vijay K. Gokhale and secretaries in the External Affairs Ministry briefed foreign envoys, including those of the five permanent members (P-5) of the United Nations Security Council - the US, Britain, France, Russia and China.

Gokhale had met around 25 envoys, including those from P-5 nations, a day after the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed.

The Foreign Secretary had announced earlier in the day that India struck the biggest training camp of the JeM in Balakot in an intelligence-led operation in the early hours of Tuesday and a very large number of JeM senior commanders, trainers and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated.

--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 Tuesday directed Pakistan's armed forces and citizens to "remain prepared for all eventualities" after the Indian Air Force (IAF) jets hit the Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan.

A high-level meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) chaired by Khan also "strongly rejected Indian claim of targeting an alleged terrorist camp near Balakot as well as the claim of heavy casualties", Dawn online reported.

Khan, as per a statement issued after the meeting, "directed that elements of national power, including the armed forces and the people of Pakistan, remain prepared for all eventualities" and summoned a special meeting of the National Command Authority on Wednesday.

"Once again Indian government has resorted to a self-serving, reckless and fictitious claim. This action has been done for domestic consumption being in election environment, putting regional peace and stability at grave risk," said the statement.

The NSC meeting was attended by the civil and military leadership, including Army Chief General Qamar Jawed Bajwa and the Ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs.

"The claimed area of strike is open for the world to see the facts on ground. For this domestic and international media is being taken to the impact site. Forum (meeting) concluded that India has committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing," the statement read.

The Prime Minister decided to engage with global leadership to expose the "irresponsible" Indian policy in the region and said the LoC violation will be raised with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), UN and friendly countries, it added.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will raise the issue at international forums.

The meeting decided that a joint session will be called to take Parliament into confidence.

Ahead of the meeting, Qureshi chaired an emergency consultative meeting at the Foreign Office where he said that Pakistan holds the "right to self-defence" and a "befitting response" to India.

"We kept on telling the world that this could happen they (India) carried out aggression against Pakistan today," he told the media.

"India violated the LoC. Pakistan holds the right to self-defence and a befitting response."

He said that "India was bent on disturbing peace in the region" and that "the entire region stands with the Pakistan Army".

Pakistan Army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor said earlier that the Indian intrusion in Muzaffarabad sector happened within "AJK" (Azad Jammu Kashmir), 3-4 miles from the LoC that divides Kashmir between the two countries.

"Under forced hasty withdrawal the aircraft released payload which had free fall in an open area. No infrastructure got hit, no casualties," he said following an uproar in Pakistan about Indian jets flying deep into its territory.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif urged India to refrain from plunging the region into war.

He asked the Indian leadership to "rethink its war strategy" and warned that if India initiated a war, then Pakistan would hoist its flag in New Delhi, Geo News reported.

Tuesday's attack came after a JeM suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF troopers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14. It was the worst attack on the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir at one go since militancy erupted 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.)
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday said the Indian Air Force (IAF) has taken "necessary steps" for the nation's security after Pakistan claimed that Indian fighter jets struck inside Pakistan.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given full freedom to the forces," the Human Resource Development Minister told the media.

"IAF has taken the necessary steps for the security of the nation. The entire country stands with the forces," the Minister said in what was the first official statement by the government hours after Pakistan claimed that Indian jet crossed the Line of Control (LoC).

Foreign Secretary Vijay K. Gokhale will brief the media at 11.30 a.m.

The Director General of Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Asif Ghafoor, tweeted early on Tuesday that the IAF planes dropped a payload near Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before leaving as the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) scrambled its war planes.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Twelve days after a JeM suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF troopers, India on early Tuesday struck the Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp at Balakot killing "a very large number" of terrorists and their trainers. Within hours, Pakistan threatened a "befitting response".

While the Pakistani military claimed the area hit by India was close to the Line of Control (LoC), Reuters described Balakot as a town in a remote valley in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. There is also Balakote -- as different from Balakot -- in the Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

As celebrations erupted across India, Foreign Secretary Vijay K. Gokhale told the media that "in an intelligence-led operation in the early hours of today, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jehadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated.

"This facility at Balakot was headed by Maulana Yusuf Azhar (alias Ustad Ghouri), the brother-in-law of (JeM leader) Masood Azhar."

Pakistan admitted that the IAF planes struck Balakot but claimed that they returned when it scrambled its war planes and that there were no losses on the ground.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the Indian jets were forced to return "owing to the timely response of the Pakistan Air Force" and warned that Islamabad has "the right to self-defence and (give) a befitting response".

Pakistan Army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor said earlier that the Indian intrusion in Muzaffarabad sector happened within "AJK" (Azad Jammu Kashmir), 3-4 miles from the LoC that divides Kashmir between the two countries.

"Under forced hasty withdrawal the aircraft released payload which had free fall in an open area. No infrastructure got hit, no casualties," he said following an uproar in Pakistan about Indian jets flying deep into its territory.

Pakistan Prime Minister summoned a meeting in Islamabad to review the situation. In New Delhi, External Affairs Minister called an all-party meeting.

Gokhale said the Indian government was "firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to fight the menace of terrorism. Hence, this non-military pre-emptive action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp.

"The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties."

He said India had been providing to Islamabad the "location of terrorist training camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir" from time to time. But Pakistan keeps denying their existence.

Gokhale said that such "massive training facilities capable of training hundreds of jehadis could not have functioned without the knowledge of Pakistani authorities...

But Pakistan has taken no concrete action to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its soil, he added.

"Credible intelligence was received that the JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country (India), and the fidayeen jehadis were being trained for this purpose.

"In the face of this imminent danger, a pre-emptive strike became absolutely necessary."

The JeM, which is based in Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the February 14 suicide bombing at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir which killed 40 CRPF troopers. It was the worst attack on security forces on a single day in Jammu and Kashmir.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indian Air Force (IAF) jets early on Tuesday hit the biggest training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) group in Pakistan, eliminating a very large number of terrorists and their trainers.

Foreign Secretary Vijay K. Gokhale told the media that the "non-military pre-emptive action was specifically targeted at the terrorist camp" which he said was located on a hill top far away from civilian areas.

The camp, he said, was located at Balakote. Following an uproar within Pakistan that the strike occurred deep inside Pakistani territory, Islamabad clarified that the Indian attack took place in the Balakote located close to the Line of Control (LoC).

Pakistan said the IAF jets dropped bombs and returned when Pakistan scrambled its war planes.

The Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Asif Ghafoor, said the "intrusion" took place within three to four miles of LoC in Pakistan administered Kashmir.

A place called Balakot is located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and a Balakote is located in the Pakistani administered Kashmir. The incident took place in the Muzaffarabad sector, said Radio Pakistan.

The IAF action follows a suicide bombing on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14 which killed 40 troopers.

The attack was claimed by the Pakistan-based JeM.

Flight tracking websites spotted heightened activities along the border with an IAF early warning plane Emb 145 and mid-air refueller circling in the area early in the morning.

Reports claimed that the IAF strike was carried out by a group of Mirage 2000 fighters at around 3.30 a.m.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In a chilling message to Pakistan that it cannot keep messing with India, the IAF bombed the Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp killing "a very large number" of terrorists and their trainers in a pre-dawn operation on Tuesday -- exactly 12 days after a JeM suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF troopers in the Kashmir Valley.

Speaking publicly for the first time after the IAF attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told a public rally at Churu in Rajasthan that "today is a historic day" but made no reference to Pakistan or JeM whose suicide bombing at Pulwama on February 14 sent New Delhi-Islamabad ties on a nose-dive.

Within hours, a furious Pakistan threatened a "befitting response". Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan called a meeting on Wednesday of the National Command Authority, which controls the country's nuclear arsenal.

After initially insisting that the Indian action took place in that part of Kashmir it controls, Pakistani military authorities finally admitted that the IAF had hit Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 195 km from Islamabad and over 40 km from Muzaffarabad, capital of the Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

It was the first time the IAF had crossed into Pakistan after the 1971 war.

The Indian Air Force used Mirage 2000 fighter jets for the precision strike, and official sources said the aircraft spent 21 minutes in Pakistani air space -- a remarkable feat as one minute is equal to 17 km at attack speed.

The fighter jets were backed by Emb 145 early warning plane which was deployed to pick up emerging threat at a large distance and alert the attacking pilots. India also used a mid-air refueller.

The Mirage 2000 fires a range of Western weapons. After the upgrade, the Mirages have Mica air-to-air multi-mission missiles and a range of precision guided bombs including Israeli spice.

As celebrations erupted across India, Foreign Secretary Vijay K. Gokhale said: "India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jehadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated.

"This facility at Balakot was headed by Maulana Yusuf Azhar (alias Ustad Ghouri), the brother-in-law of (JeM leader) Masood Azhar."

Gokhale said the Indian government was "firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to fight the menace of terrorism. Hence, this non-military pre-emptive action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp. The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties."

He said that such "massive training facilities capable of training hundreds of jehadis could not have functioned without the knowledge of Pakistani authorities...

"Credible intelligence was received that the JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of (India), and the fidayeen jehadis were being trained for this purpose. In the face of this imminent danger, a pre-emptive strike became absolutely necessary."

After presiding over a meeting of the National Security Council, Prime Minister Khan asked the armed forces and people to prepare "for all eventualities".

"Once again the Indian government has resorted to a self-serving, reckless and fictitious claim. This action has been done for domestic consumption being in election environment, putting regional peace and stability at grave risk," said an official statement.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi warned that Islamabad has "the right to self-defence and (give) a befitting response".

Pakistan Army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor said earlier that the Indian intrusion took place in "AJK" (Azad Jammu Kashmir), close to the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Kashmir between the two countries.

"Under forced hasty withdrawal the aircraft released payload which had free fall in an open area. No infrastructure got hit, no casualties," he said following an uproar in Pakistan about Indian jets flying deep into its territory.

Tuesday's attack came after a JeM suicide bomber killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama. It was the worst attack on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir at one go since militancy erupted 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.)
Gujarat was put on high alert on Tuesday after India successfully carried out a 'non military pre-emptive' strike targeting training camps of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in Balakot area in Pakistan.

Director General of Police Shivanand Jha issued the high alert across the border districts of Kutch, Banaskantha and Patan even as all District Superintendents of Police and Range Inspector Generals of Police were asked to remain stationed at their respective headquarters.

"Three border districts -- Patan, Banaskantha and Kutch in particular -- have been put on high alert, with the Indian Air Force on high alert at its air defence systems across the western border with Pakistan.

"Coastal districts have also been put on high alert," Jha stated.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said at a public function at Kalawad town in Saurashtra region: "Gujarat is a border state and we are on high alert. We have put all the police personnel on duty and their holidays have been cancelled."

Gujarat shares a long international land and coastal border with Pakistan.

As a pre-emptive step, the state is seeking to prevent any infiltration attempts, especially through border districts of Kutch, Banaskantha and Patan.

--IANS

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From Punjab to Tamil Nadu, from Maharashtra to West Bengal, the families of CRPF troopers killed in the Pulwama suicide bombing hailed Tuesday's air strike inside Pakistan, with many saying had they come earlier, many security personnel could have been saved, stressing the need to better guard the forces from Pulwama-like attacks.

Mita Santra, the widow of West Bengal's martyred CRPF trooper Bablu Santra best summed it up: "They did not think about installing IED jammers in the CRPF convoy or think about ensuring a safe journey for them. I think they must give more attention to the safety of the jawans".

It was the binding responsibility of the Indian government to ensure all the defence forces posted in various parts of the nation are safe and secure.

The Indian Air Force carried out air strikes early Tuesday morning across the Line of Control in Pakistan's Balakot.

The widows of two Maharashtra troopers killed in Pulwama welcomed the IAF action.

"I am very satisfied. This is a real tribute to the 40 troopers killed in Pulwama. Finally, their souls will rest in peace," said Sushma Sanjay Rajput of Malkapur village.

"I am happy that this action has been taken to avenge the untimely deaths of our soldiers (troopers) in Pulwama last fortnight. The government has finally acted," said Vandana Nitin Rathod of Chorpangra village.

"India has taken revenge for the Pulwama suicide bombing with the IAF attack on the biggest training camp of the JeM at Balakot in Pakistan", said Layak Ram, the father of one of the slain CRPF troopers, Tilak Raj, in Shimla.

Rajwanti from Unnao said that the "attack... is one which brings some solace to the broken mothers".

The mother of martyr Ajit Singh, Asha, however said the offensive should not stop with the killing of some militants. Terrorism has to be wiped out completely from the neighbourhood, she said.

Meena, widow of martyr Ajit Kumar Azad, echoed similar sentiments but said India should launch a bigger attack and that she would only rest in peace when Pakistan government itself admits to the killing of thousands of its people.

In Varanasi, the family of Ramesh Yadav said there could not have been better news for them as they performed the "terahnvi sanskaar" of martyr Ramesh.

Ruby, wife of Pulwama martyr Shyam Babu, said her message to Modi is: "Don't stop yet."

Kuldeep, brother of martyr Pradeep Singh of Kannauj, also welcomed the air strikes and said that the action which has been initiated should not be called off and should be taken to its logical conclusion.

Harkesh Yadav, father of slain CRPF trooper Avdhesh Kumar Yadav, said: "I am proud of the operation. A bigger assault on terror launch pads is needed. The real happiness would be on the day when master of terror Hafiz Sayeed is eliminated."

In Punjab, families of four CRPF martyrs welcomed the strikes.

Satpal Attri, father of martyr Maninder Singh Attri of Dinanagar town in Gurdaspur district, said the strikes were the right answer to those who had been indulging in promoting terrorism.

Jaswant Singh, the father of CRPF martyr Jaimal Singh, said: "We are thankful to the Modi government for giving a befitting reply to Pakistan and its terrorists. This will give solace to the martyrs and their families. We are very happy to hear about the retaliation. The morale of our troops and their families have been lifted after this."

"We are very happy to hear about the air strikes...We are very proud today," Jaimal Singh's widow, Sukhjit Kaur, said.

The other two CRPF martyrs from Punjab were Sukhjinder Singh of Gandiwind village Tarn Taran district and Kulwinder Singh of Rouli village in Nurpur Bedi area of Ropar district.

The aerial strike elated the family of Karnataka's martyred CRPF trooper H. Guru, as it came on the 13th day of his death, his younger brother Madhu said.

"All in the family and in the village are 'khush' (happy) and relieved that India struck the terrorists in Pakistan. This counter attack will give peace to my brother's soul and we feel he will be liberated to go swarga (heaven)," Madhu, 26, told IANS from Guru's native village Gudigere in Mandya district, about 100km from here.

"Coincidentally, the attack by India was on a day when we performed Guru's last rites (vaikuntha samradhane) for his departed soul to reach heaven for liberation. We feel 'dharma' (justice) has been done to him," said Madhu, a lineman in the state-run electricity distribution firm.

India has done the "right thing" by striking against the JeM's biggest training camp at Balakot and "should continue to do so", the father of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper C. Sivachandran, who lost his life in the Pulwama attack, said in Chennai.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The families of four CRPF martyrs in the Pulwama terror attack on Tuesday hailed the strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF) inside Pakistan to decimate terrorist camps there.

Satpal Attri, father of martyr Maninder Singh Attri of Dinanagar town in Gurdaspur district said that the strikes were the right answer to those who had been indulging in promoting terrorism.

"I am happy with the action taken by the government and our defence forces. The sacrifice of our martyrs has been avenged," Satpal Attri said.

Martyr Maninder's brother, Luvkish Singh, who is himself serving with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the northeast sector, said: "It is good to hear that we have hit back at those who support the terrorists. If I get a chance, I would like to be part of a surgical strike inside Pakistan to take revenge of the killing of my brother and other troopers."

Jaswant Singh, the father of CRPF martyr Jaimal Singh, said on Tuesday: "We are thankful to the Modi government for taking giving a befitting reply to Pakistan and its terrorists. This will give solace to the martyrs and their families. We are very happy to hear about the retaliation. The morale of our troops and their families have been lifted after this."

Jaimal Singh, 44, of Ghalouti village in Dharamkot sub-division of Moga district, was the driver of the CRPF bus that took the whole impact of the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Feb 14 in which 40 troopers were killed when a terrorist drove his explosives-laden car into their convoy.

"We are very happy to hear about the air strikes by the IAF inside Pakistan. This is the beginning. We should attack them (Pakistan and terrorists) even more to get to their roots and destroy them. We are thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this bold and strong decision. We should send a clear message to Pakistan that if they mess with us again, we will retaliate with all might. We are very proud today," Jaimal Singh's widow, Sukhjit Kaur, said.

The other two CRPF martyrs from Punjab were Sukhjinder Singh of Gandiwind village Tarn Taran district and Kulwinder Singh of Rouli village in Nurpur Bedi area of Ropar district.

--IANS

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In a bid to drive strong Cloud momentum in India, Google Cloud on Tuesday announced the appointment of Amitabh Jacob as Head of Partnerships and Alliances for the country.

Bengaluru-based Jacob, who earlier worked in a similar role at Amazon Internet Services Private Limited (AISPL) -- known as Amazon Web Services (AWS) -- will help drive Google Cloud's route-to-market strategy across the India region through partnerships with system integrators, resellers, technology partners, managed services providers and distribution partners, the company said in a statement.

"India is a key growth market for Google Cloud, and Amitabh is joining us at an exciting time. His experience leading channel organisations will be a tremendous asset for our business, our partners and our customers," said Ash Willis, Head of Cloud Partnerships and Alliances for Google Cloud in Asia Pacific and Japan.

Jacob will be tasked with building adequate channel capacity and competency, driving success through Google Cloud's partnership model and deepening the reach of Google Cloud products and solutions in the Indian market.

"With only 10 per cent of global workloads estimated to be in the cloud, adoption is still very nascent and companies are really only just getting started.

"I am thrilled to be part of Google Cloud at this crucial point in its growth story," said Jacob who has also worked with IBM, Sun Microsystems and Microsoft.

Since launching the Google Cloud Region in Mumbai in 2017, the company said it continues to differentiate itself in the Indian market with its security, network architecture, collaboration, Artificial Intelligence and open source software.

--IANS

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Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Tuesday praised IAF pilots for striking terror camps in Pakistan and also marshalled out four BJP MLAs for shouting "Modi zindabad".

As the Budget Session began with Goel's speech praising the IAF, the Aam Aadmi Party MLAs gave a standing ovation to the IAF and shouted slogans "Bharat Mata ki Jai" and "Vande Mataram" in the House.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta, O.P. Sharma, Jagdish Pradhan, and M.S. Sirsa were marshalled out for creating a ruckus and shouting "Modi zindabad" in the House.

The BJP MLAs also demanded for a chance to speak individually to praise the IAF. Rejecting their demand, Goel said: "I could have considered their request.

"First, they came late (for the Hosue session). Then as soon as I started speaking, they shouted 'Modi zindabad'. I don't consider this as correct. It was an effort of the IAF."

Goel asked the BJP MLAs to apologise for hailing Modi, and later called the marshals.

--IANS

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Over 3,000 deaf-mute youth and students from across Maharashtra called off their two-day-old agitation after the state government conceded a majority of their demands, here on Tuesday.

The development came over 24 hours after they were brutally caned by the Pune Police for staging an agitation outside the Social Welfare Commissionerate, sparking off huge political outrage.

The youth wanted permission to discuss their issues with the officials and stage a long march to Mumbai to submit their demands to the government during the ongoing Maharashtra Legislature budget session, but after the police action they staged a night-long hunger strike and a candle-light vigil.

Taking serious note, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis sent Minister of State for Social Welfare Dilip Kamble to meet the protesters here in the morning.

Since there was no sign language expert available, for several hours there was no communication, but later in the evening the minister announced that their major demands were accepted by the government and the rest would be cleared by the Chief Minister.

Kamble also read out a statement made in the Assembly by Social Justice Minister Rajkumar Badole on their demands.

These include opening of higher secondary schools for hearing and speech impaired students, opening of junior colleges for them in Latur and Nashik, appointing sign language experts in all government schools and also in two vocational training institutes in all districts.

They would also be entitled to certain concessions to enable them secure driving licences and get government jobs for which the necessary orders would be issued within a week.

After these assurances, many of the fasting youth accepted fruit juice offered by Kamble to break their fast, and later volunteers from the Gurudwara Guru Nanak Darbar, in Pune Camp locality, served them food.

The protesters started moving back to their homes, but their leaders warned that if all the demands were not conceded as promised, they would boycott the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

In Monday's caning incident, at least 33 youth, including several girls, were injured, leading to a political furore.

The incident was strongly condemned by the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and other social groups as video clips of the lathi-charge went viral on social media.

There are around 1.80 million hearing and speech impaired people in the state who encounter massive problems in securing a good education, proper jobs and leading normal lives in the social mainstream.

--IANS

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Seguin, Texas (78155)

Today

Partly cloudy skies during the evening giving way to a few showers after midnight. Low 72F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies during the evening giving way to a few showers after midnight. Low 72F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.
Curfew was revoked on Tuesday here in Arunachal Pradesh imposed three days ago after violence erupted over the government's move to grant permanent residence certificate (PRC) to six non-Arunachal Pradesh Scheduled Tribes communities.

"Curfew was revoked in view of the Nyokum Yullo, one of the most important festivals celebrated by the largest Nyishi community in the state," Itanagar Capital Complex Deputy Commissioner Prince Dhawan told IANS.

"The situation is slowly limping back to normalcy and there were no reports of any violence during the 48 hours," he said.

However, Internet services remained suspended.

Eighteen student and civil society groups, alleging a committee led by Environment and Forest Minister Nabam Rebia had submitted its report on the PRC without due verification of facts, had called on protests to mount pressure on the government to scrap the decision.

On February 23, authorities imposed curfew in Itanagar and Naharlagun as mobs protesting against the government's move to grant PRC to six non-Arunachal Scheduled Tribes communities went on the rampage, indulging in arson and stone pelting.

Protesters set ablaze more than 50 vehicles and damaged over 100 vehicles. Three protesters were killed in a firing.

On Monday, the Arunachal Pradesh cabinet decided to set up an inquiry committee to probe the violence.

Chief Minister Pema Khandu said the inquiry committee will be headed by an officer holding the rank of a Commissioner while another committee will be set up to assess the losses and damages caused to government and private property.

Khandu announced ex-gratia of Rs 20 lakh each to the three killed in police firing during the mob violence in Itanagar and a government job to one of their family members. He said compensation up to Rs 10 lakh will be provided for those injured.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Google can aptly translate doctor's orders into Spanish and Chinese albeit with a few significant errors, finds a study.

A team from the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) analysed 100 sets of emergency discharge instructions translated by Google's machine learning algorithm that was rolled out in 2017.

The results showed that it was 92 per cent accurate for Spanish and 81 per cent accurate for Chinese.

However, a small minority of the inaccurate translations -- two per cent in Spanish and eight per cent in Chinese -- had the potential to cause clinically significant harm.

These were mostly due to grammar or typographical errors in the original written English instructions, the researchers explained.

"Google Translate is more accurate than a lot of clinicians believe, and I think it's definitely more useful than not providing anything at all," said lead author Elaine Khoong, a UCSF primary care research fellow.

"We cautiously support its use."

The study, published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, noted that the algorithm got into trouble when doctors used colloquial terms like "skip a meal" - a phrase that Google translated into Chinese as "jump over" a meal.

Machine translation errors were also linked to the use of medical jargon, and long, complicated sentences.

The researchers said Google Translate is best used in combination with human interpreters, even if they are not in the room, who can interpret the physician's verbal instructions for the patient, over the phone or via video, while the physician shows the patient the written translation on the computer screen or printout.

That way, patients can flag errors or confusing passages as they are listening and reading.

--IANS

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When India decided to raise the bar after the Pulwama attack, Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan was on the radar of Indian intelligence agencies for being a hub of Jaish-e-Mohammad.

Intelligence agencies were sure that the Pulwama attack was also planned in Balakot where even Masood Azhar's son Abdullah had undergone terror training and so had Pulwama attack mastermind Ghazi.

The location of Balakot is away from the LoC which made it a safe heaven for terrorist training. Even the Border Action Teams (BATs) of Pakistan army regulars, who carry out cross-border raids on Indian patrols on LoC, are trained in Balakot.

There was an element of deception before carrying out the strike as the focus of Indian response was given away as JeM headquarters in Bahawalpur. The Pakistani agencies were busy protecting Bahwalpur but the attack centred on Balakot.

There has been no report of any activities in the area following the air strike and the Indian agencies have not picked up any radio chatter about movement of forces.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The pre-dawn attack air strike by Indian Air Force (IAF) on Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest terror camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on early Tuesday involved over 200 hours of planning that began following intelligence inputs regarding a second suicide terror strike somewhere in India.

Highly-placed sources said that the government got the intelligence input just two days after the February 14 terror strike in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama by JeM suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed and five suffered injuries.

The intelligence input warned of another suicide terror attack - which could be bigger than Pulwama - at any place across India, said the source.

Soon after the input, a series of meetings were held among top government officials and ministers concerned, the chiefs of the Army, Navy and IAF and National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval to give befitting reply to the JeM terrorists.

The final decision to carry out an air strike on a Pakistan-based terror camp was taken in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Doval and IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, present.

"The meeting finalized an air strike on the terror camps as the only option to take revenge for security personnel killed in Pulwama attack and give a big jolt to the JeM's plan to carry out another strike in India. Over 200 hours of planning went into the air strike in which every aspect was taken care of," said the source.

It was decided that the revenge would be taken on the 13th day of Pulwama attack to pay "best homage" to the slain CRPF personnel who lost their lives after a bus, part of a 78-vehicle convoy, they were travelling in was blown up by Adil's car packed with over 200 kg of explosives on the Jammu-Srinagar highway, said the source.

Another source said that 16 Sukhoi fighter jets were backing over 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets that pounded multiple terror camps across the Line of Control (LoC) in what is being seen as the first cross-border air strike India has carried out in nearly five decades.

"Mirage jets left their base in Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh and after mid-air fuelling over Adampur in Punjab, they struck the terror camps in Balakot."

When India decided to raise the bar after the Pulwama attack, Balakot was on the radar of Indian intelligence agencies for being a hub of JeM.

Intelligence agencies were sure that the Pulwama attack was also planned in Balakot terror camp which was headed by JeM chief Masood Azhar's brother-in-law Maulana Yusuf Azhar.

The location of Balakot, well away from the LoC, made it a safe heaven for terrorist training. Even the Border Action Teams (BATs) of Pakistan army regulars, who carry out cross-border raids on Indian patrols on the LoC, are trained in Balakot.

Foreign Secretary Vijay K. Gokhale on Tuesday told the media that a very large number of JeM terrorists, including senior commanders, trainers and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen (suicide attack) missions, were eliminated in the operation.

"India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. Credible intelligence was received that the JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country (India), and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose," Gokhale said.

Pakistan admitted that the IAF planes struck Balakot but claimed that they returned when it scrambled its war planes.

(Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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Former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indian Air Force (IAF) Air Marshal B.S. Dhanoa for the "brave and effective air strikes" in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

Badal hailed Modi and Dhanoa for the "clinical strike, completely paralysing the enemy response".

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief and former Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal also hailed the IAF strikes.

Twelve days after a suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF troopers, IAF fighter jets on early Tuesday struck the Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp at Balakote, killing a very large number of terrorists and their trainers.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Over 11,000 pages of documents, mostly deposition of witnesses in Hindi, need to be translated into English, a task that would require 120 working days, for the Supreme Court hearing in the Ayodhya land dispute matter.

As per the information provided by the Supreme Court's Secretary General to a five member constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, the record for the court's perusal consists of a total of 38,147 pages in multiple languages including Persian, Sanskrit and Arabic, stored in 15 trunks.

Of the total pages, 12, 14 pages are in Hindi including 10,907 pages of deposition of witnesses, 18,607 pages in English, 501 pages in Urdu, 97 pages in Gurumukhi, 21 pages in Sanskrit and 86 pages in other languages.

A total of 1,729 pages are in combination of more than one language that include Hindi, English, Urdu, Sanskrit and Gurumukhi.

The Supreme Court Registry said that if its entire strength of 8 official translators is utilised to translate the 11,479 pages, "it is likely to take about 120 working days to make the case ready for hearing".

"If 16 translators (8 official translators of Supreme Court and 8 engaged from other sources) are deputed, the translation will be completed in about 60 working days," it said.

The bench, posted the matter for hearing after eight weeks and directed its registry to provide translated copies of documents to the parties within six weeks.

--IANS

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Australian Cardinal George Pell, who used to be the third most powerful figure in the Vatican, was pronounced guilty of child sexual abuses by a jury in Melbourne on Tuesday.

Pell, the highest-ranking priest of the Australian Catholic Church, raped a 13-year-old altar boy in the 1990s and sexually abused another boy of the same age at the prestigious St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne, Efe news reported.

The verdict was already issued on December 11 but could not be disclosed in Australia as a suppression order had been issued by the court, which was lifted on Tuesday.

The sentence was made public after the Vatican held a summit to address pedophilia in the Church, in which Pope Francis on Sunday.

Chief judge Peter Kidd was expected to issue a sentence within the next two weeks in the case, as Pell is currently free on bail and could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

The five charges that Pell, aged 77, was found guilty of date back to a Sunday in 1996 after he was officiating a solemn mass as archbishop of Melbourne.

One of the charges was for committing sexual penetration of a child under 16 and the four others for committing an indecent act with or in the presence of a child under 16.

The verdict comes after months of a complicated judicial process which was kept secret to protect the presumption of innocence of Pell and the abandonment of a second trial for the alleged abuse of minors in a swimming pool in Ballarat, his hometown, in the 1970s.

The charges in this second trial have been dropped after the judge decided that there was problems with the evidence.

Pell has already been dismissed as the Vatican's chief financial officer and Pope Francis expelled him from his inner circle, known as the Group of Nine, or C-9 shortly after the verdict in December 2018.

The Pope offered eight guidelines to eradicate the "monstrosity" of child abuse, but the lack of concrete measures disappointed many victims.

Pell's legal team has said that it plans to appeal the verdict.

--IANS

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West Bengal's martyred CRPF trooper Bablu Santra's wife on Tuesday said the government can do whatever it feels is correct to avenge the Pulwama attack but it should have ensured the troopers' safety.

Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Head Constable Bablu Santra of West Bauria in Howrah district was one of the 40 troopers killed by a suicide bomber in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

The Indian Air Force carried out air strikes early Tuesday morning across the Line of Control in Pakistan's Balakot.

"The government thought that avenging the deaths is correct, they have done it. If they think that eliminating the terror camps is right, they will do it. Also, if they think they will attack Pakistan, they will do it," Mita Santra said.

Santra, however, was categorical that the safety of the troopers should have been prioritised.

Voicing her resentment at the government's failure to ensure security, she said: "They did not think about installing IED jammers in the CRPF convoy or think about ensuring a safe journey for them. I think they must give more attention to the safety of the jawans".

She mentioned that it is a binding responsibility of the Indian government to ensure all the defence forces posted in various parts of the nation are safe and secure.

"I think wars will only snatch more lives. At the end of the day, one must not forget that the jawans are also somebody's son, husband, brother and so on," Santra said.

The deceased trooper's wife said the uniformed personnel also think about returning to their families safely, but the government doesn't think that way.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hours before the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Tuesday carried out air strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) on largest terror camp Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Indian Army tweeted lines from a Hindi poem saying that politeness before enemy can be mistaken as cowardness and that power begets peace.

The lines, by famous Hindi poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, were tweeted by Additional Director General (Public Information) from its official handle. Dinkar is famous for his poems of "veer ras" (bravery).

"If you are docile and polite before the enemy, he may consider you a coward, the way Kauravas treated Pandavas," it says.

Peace overtures, the poem says, are possible only when you are in a powerful position and capable to win.

The Indian Air Force carried out the strike early Tuesday on a JeM camp twelve days after 40 CRPF personnel were killed in a terror strike in Pulwama.

JeM had taken responsibility for the terror attack.

The Indian Army had also conducted surgical strikes across LoC after the terror attack on its camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir in 2016.

--IANS

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Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will camp in the border areas of Punjab for three days starting Wednesday as part of confidence-building measures undertaken by the state government in the wake of the Indian Air Force (IAF) surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) on Tuesday.

A high alert has been sounded in the border districts by the state government, which is in constant touch with the Union Home and Defence ministries to stay abreast of the volatile situation arising from the strikes, undertaken by India as a retaliatory measure in the aftermath of the February 14 Pulwama terror attack.

"The Chief Minister, who reviewed the situation at a high-level meeting with the top brass of the police and civil administration, has decided to stay in the sensitive border region for on-ground assessment of the situation. He will leave for Pathankot tomorrow (February 27) morning, and will travel by road to villages in border areas of the district and Amritsar, where he will stay the night," his Media Advisor Raveen Thukral said.

On Thursday, Amarinder will visit the Tarn Taran border belt and spend the night at Faridkot. he will return to Chandigarh on Friday after visiting the border areas of Ferozepur district, Thukral added.

The Chief Minister on Tuesday ordered a spate of measures as part of the state's preparedness to deal with any contingency in view of the latest developments at the LoC.

Deputy Commissioners (DCs) and Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) of the border areas have been asked to put in place all contingency plans to ensure the protection and safety of the citizens.

Punjab shares a 553-km-long international border with Pakistan which has barbed wire fence inside the Indian territory.

"The meeting found no need for panic and decided against any move to evacuate the residents of the border areas," the spokesperson said.

The Chief Minister discussed all aspects of the current situation with the top brass of the police and civil administration, including Chief Principal Secretary Suresh Kumar, Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, Home Secretary N.S. Kalsi, DGP Dinkar Gupta and DGP Intelligence V.K. Bhawara.

Thukral said that Amarinder Singh directed officials to monitor the situation closely and not let down their guard under any circumstances. The Chief Minister also spoke to Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the situation and offered his full support for the air strikes in a tweet.

"Great job by the #IndianAirForce. The #IAFStrikes have sent the much needed signal to Pakistan and the terrorists its harbouring - don't think you can get away with acts like the #PulwamaAttack. Bravo to the #IAF men and my full support for the action," Amarinder wrote.

Immediately after the deadly Pulwama attack on a Central Reserve Police Force convoy in which 40 troopers were killed, Amarinder Singh had made it clear that he was in favour of strong retaliatory action and that the Congress would support any course of action decided by the Central government.

"They have killed 41, we should kill 82 of theirs," he had said.

Amarinder Singh had also said that if Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan could not arrest the Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, who was operating from Pakistani soil, then "we will do it for him".

Meanwhile, Punjab Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Tuesday visited villages in Dera Baba Nanak sector of Gurdaspur district adjoining international border of India and Pakistan following the air strikes.

The Minister exhorted people in Chandu Wadala, Rosa and Dostpur villages not to fear anything and assured them that the Punjab government is fully committed to the security of people residing in the villages lying along the border.

Commenting upon the present situation following the IAF strikes, the Minister said there is nothing to fear or panic, a spokesperson said here.

--IANS

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The Odisha cabinet on Tuesday passed a resolution praising the Indian Air Force (IAF) for destroying terrorist training camps in Pakistan.

Chief Secretary A.P. Padhi said the cabinet passed a resolution applauding the IAF for pre-dawn air strikes on terror camps across the Line of Control (LoC).

"Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik moved a motion in the cabinet praising the action of IAF to protect our country. The cabinet unanimously adopted a resolution to this effect," said a statement from Chief Minister's Office (CMO).

Earlier, the Chief Minister said: "I salute the IAF for having taken action to protect our country."

Meanwhile, the cabinet also approved a proposal to provide compensation to victims in man-animal conflicts within 15 days.

With the amendment to Wildlife Protection (Odisha) Rules 1974, while an inquiry will be made within 3 days, the compensation will be paid within 15 days from the date of lodging of FIR.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Domestic stocks dropped in early trade weighed by reports that Indian Air Force has struck and destroyed a major terrorist camp across the Line of Control early on Tuesday. At 9:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 252.44 points or 0.7% at 35,960.94. The Nifty 50 index was down 91.45 points or 0.84% at 10,788.65.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.16%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 1.12%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On the BSE, 275 shares rose and 1048 shares fell. A total of 45 shares were unchanged.

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading lower. U.S. stocks came off earlier highs but still closed higher Monday after President Donald Trump said that he would delay additional China tariffs, and that there had been substantial progress in trade talks over the weekend.

Trump said late Sunday that he would extend a March 1 deadline for increasing tariffs on Chinese imports. He cited substantial progress across key topics such as intellectual property, technology transfers, agriculture and currency, and said if that continues, he will meet with President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago to wrap up a deal.

Back home, Lupin fell 0.72%. Lupin announced that it has received approval for its Methylprednisolone tablets USP, 2 mg, 4 mg, 8 mg, 16 mg and 32 mg, from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Lupin's Methylprednisolone tablet USP is the generic version of Pharmacia and Upjohn Company's Medrol Tablet. It is indicated to treat Endocrine Disorders, Rheumatic Disorders, Collagen Diseases, Dermatologic Diseases, Allergic States, Ophthalmic Diseases, Respiratory Diseases, Hematologic Disorders, Neoplastic Diseases, Edematous States, Gastrointestinal Diseases, Acute exacerbations of multiple sclerosis, Tuberculous meningitis with subarachnoid block or impending block when used concurrently with appropriate antituberculous chemotherapy, Trichinosis with neurologic or myocardial involvement. Methylprednisolone tablets had annual sales of approximately $114.3 million in the US (IQVIA MAT December 2018). The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 25 February 2019.

Bharti Airtel fell 0.24%. Bharti Airtel is deploying Ciena's coherent optical and intelligent software platforms to build one of the World's Largest Photonic Control Plane networks in India. Airtel's new backbone network will serve the exploding demand for high speed data services. It will also enable super-fast broadband experiences over 4G/5G/FTTH architectures, making the most efficient use of available fiber resources. Airtel's new backbone architecture creates a solid foundation that can cut across technology generations to seamlessly work with data rates of 400Gbps and higher to create a future proof scalable network. Further, in a separate announcement, Bharti Airtel said that its board will meet on 28 February 2019, to consider and approve fund raising. The announcements were made after market hours yesterday, 25 February 2019.

Tejas Networks lost 2.8%. Tejas Networks announced the launch of its innovative, ultra-converged broadband access/edge product family which delivers wireline as well as wireless broadband services from a single integrated platform. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 25 February 2019.

Bliss GVS Pharma rose 0.89%. Bliss GVS Pharma said that its board approved hiking foreign portfolio investors/foreign institutional investors limits from 24% to 74% in the company. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 25 February 2019.

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Its bringing together industry leaders, government and regulators for setting the tone to realize Vision-2040

The Ministry of Civil Aviation, in association with Airports Authority of India, AAICLAS and Confederation of Indian Industry, is organizing the Aviation Conclave 2019 with an overarching theme of "Flying for All" in New Delhi on 27 February 2018.

Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister for Civil Aviation, stated that realizing Government's vision of making "Flying for All" a reality underpins the government's commitment to bring about a veritable revolution in the Indian aviation sector. He further reiterated that the ball was set rolling during the hugely successful Global Aviation Summit - 2019 which was attended by 85 countries and over 1,300 global aviation fraternity.

The upcoming Aviation Conclave would deliberate upon taking the Government's agenda to bring new aviation business to India, in particular, drones systems, manufacturing of aircraft in India, financing and leasing of aircraft from India by Indian and foreign airlines, transforming Indian airports into next-gen aviation hubs, and unleashing the air cargo potential by integrating every village of India in global value chains. "This Conclave is about the future of Indian aviation - it bringing together industry leaders, government and regulators for setting the tone and propelling us to realize our Vision-2040", he stated.

Commenting on the objectives of the Conclave, Jayant Sinha, Minister of State of Civil Aviation said that over the last five years, Indian aviation sector has seen tremendous growth backed by judicious regulations and appropriate policy support. With more than a hundred commercially-connected airports, aviation is now central to the lives of Indians. India is committed to growing the industry by encouraging and opening new segments. The minister expressed confidence that this conclave with its focus on path-breaking areas will provide the foundation for Indian aviation's next leg of growth.

Over 30 industry leaders will discuss and deliberate across 5-key sessions covering the Drone-Ecosystem Policy Roadmap, Roadmap for Manufacturing Aircraft and associated equipment, including Regional Transport Aircraft, in India, the Project Rupee Raftaar- Aircraft Financing and Leasing from India, the National Air Cargo Policy, and the Mission to transform Indian Airports into Next-Gen Aviation Hubs. The deliberations would throw up key catalysts to fast track the holistic and broad-based growth of the passenger, cargo and MRO sectors. Over 200 delegates will take part in the discussions.

Indian civil aviation industry is undergoing an unprecedented era of expansion, driven by factors such as low-cost carriers (LCCs), modern airports, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in domestic airlines, advanced information technology (IT) interventions and strong focus on regional connectivity.

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Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could slide 95 points at the opening bell.

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading lower. U.S. stocks came off earlier highs but still closed higher Monday after President Donald Trump said that he would delay additional China tariffs, and that there had been substantial progress in trade talks over the weekend.

Trump said late Sunday that he would extend a March 1 deadline for increasing tariffs on Chinese imports. He cited substantial progress across key topics such as intellectual property, technology transfers, agriculture and currency, and said if that continues, he will meet with President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago to wrap up a deal.

Back home,domestic stocks logged strong gains on first trading day of the week yesterday, 25 February 2019 led by steady buying demand in index pivotals. Positive global stocks boosted investors sentiment. The Sensex rose 341.90 points or 0.95% to settle at 36,213.38. The Nifty 50 index rose 88.45 points or 0.82% to settle at 10,880.10.

The trading activity on that day showed that the foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 2134.35 crore yesterday, 25 February 2019 as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 1746.40 crore yesterday, 25 February 2019, as per provisional data.

Among corporate news,Britannia Industries will replace Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) to enter the Nifty 50 Index from 29 March 2019.

Lupin announced that it has received approval for its Methylprednisolone tablets USP, 2 mg, 4 mg, 8 mg, 16 mg and 32 mg, from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Lupin's Methylprednisolone tablet USP is the generic version of Pharmacia and Upjohn Company's Medrol Tablet. It is indicated to treat Endocrine Disorders, Rheumatic Disorders, Collagen Diseases, Dermatologic Diseases, Allergic States, Ophthalmic Diseases, Respiratory Diseases, Hematologic Disorders, Neoplastic Diseases, Edematous States, Gastrointestinal Diseases, Acute exacerbations of multiple sclerosis, Tuberculous meningitis with subarachnoid block or impending block when used concurrently with appropriate antituberculous chemotherapy, Trichinosis with neurologic or myocardial involvement. Methylprednisolone tablets had annual sales of approximately $114.3 million in the US (IQVIA MAT December 2018). The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 25 February 2019.

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CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday termed the air strike on Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camp in Balakot as 'effective' and applauded the Indian Air Force (IAF) for the precise target.

"IAF carried out an effective strike, destroyed the largest camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad, that they claim, in Balakot. The government has called the opposition to provide more details and also what the government is thinking in the future," Yechury said.

"We will get to know in the meeting what the government is planning to do to ensure such things do not happen in the future," he added.

"India on Tuesday carried out air strikes at a massive Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province," Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.

The terror camp in a thick forest area atop a hill was led by Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Gauri, brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar, Gokhale said, making a statement before the media, hours after the air strikes using Mirage 2000 were carried out.

He said the "pre-emptive" strike by India had become absolutely necessary as there was credible information that JeM, which recently carried out a terror attack in Pulwama, was planning further attacks on India.

A large number of Jaish terrorists, including top commanders, trainers and those terrorists who were to be the 'fidayeen' (suicide attackers) were eliminated in the "non-military" air strike, the Foreign Secretary said.

Indian action came 12 days after Pakistan based and backed JeM carried out a terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in Kashmir, killing 40 personnel and injuring five others.

The terror attack had led to nationwide outrage and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had vowed to punish those behind the attack.

The world community has expressed solidarity with India after the attack.

The US has said it supports India's "Right to self-defence" in the back of the attack.

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Addressing a rally here, he avoided any direct mention of the Indian action but underlined the importance of voting for a "strong" government rather than a "majbhoor" (desperate) government in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

"Aaj aapka mizaz kuch aur lag raha hai. Aapka yeh josh mai bali baanti samajh raha hun (Today, your mood looks different. I can very well understand your josh)," the Prime Minister said, obviously referring to the military action.

"Today, the world is watching India's power... You are seeing it definitely," Modi said.

"Today, from the land of Churu, I want to the assure the countrymen that the country is in safe hands," he said.

He recited a couplet, first narrated in 2014, by which he asserted that he will never let the country's prestige be lowered.

"Mera vachan hai bharat ma ko, tera sheesh jukne nahi dunga (It is my vow to the motherland, I will not let your head hang in shame)," he said.

"Nothing is bigger than the country," Modi said.

India on Tuesday carried out air strikes at a massive Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, eliminating a "large number" of terrorists, including top commanders, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said earlier.

The terror camp in a thick forest area atop a hill was led by Ustad Gauri, brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar, Gokhale said, making a statement before the media, hours after the air strikes using Mirage 2000 were carried out.

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The Congress will welcome Union Cabinet Minister and Republican Party of India (RPI) chief Ramdas Athawale if he wants to join hands in Maharashtra for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said on Monday.

Speaking to ANI, Patil, leader of opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly reiterated that the Congress has not held talks with the MNS for a pre-poll alliance.

"Ramdas Athawale was in Congress earlier as well and he is welcome in the alliance if he wants. There is no question of talks with MNS. We have had talks with Swabhimani Shetkari Saghtana's Raju Shetti," Patil said.

Despite being unhappy over seat-sharing in Maharashtra, Athawale had on Monday said he would stay with Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)-led NDA alliance but demanded RPI representation at the Centre.

Meanwhile, Patil confirmed that the Congress has held talks with the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, the CPM and the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana for an alliance in the state.

"Swabhimani Shetkari Saghtana, CPM and Prakash Ambedkar's Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi are there (in talks of alliance with Congress and NCP), but Ambedkar has not confirmed. We offered Prakash Ambedkar four seats and he said they will reply. There are talks of leaving eight seats for alliance; there can be one or two seats more. The Congress and NCP have always been flexible for an alliance," he said.

"We have had talks with Prakash Ambedkar 3-4 times. They have demanded that RSS need to be brought under law foundation. We are ready for that and have requested them to send us a draft."

Earlier this month, the BJP officially announced an alliance with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra ahead of the general elections.

The Shiv Sena will fight on 23 seats and BJP on 25 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra, where 48 seats are at stake. Also, the two parties agreed to contest an equal number of seats in the Assembly polls.

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Actor-turned-politician Kamal Hasaan on Tuesday lauded the air strike carried out on terror camps in Pakistan and said India has done what any self-respecting nation would do.

"We have done what any self-respecting country would do. We are proud of what our forces have done for us," Haasan, the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) chief told ANI.

The remarks came in after India on Tuesday carried out air strikes at a massive Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, eliminating a "large number" of terrorists, including top commanders.

Referring to the armed forces, Haasan said, "They are our shield, and they have behaved exactly like a shield. We are very proud. Salute to our fighters."

The terror camp in a thick forest area atop a hill was led by Ustad Gauri, brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar, Gokhale said, making a statement before the media, hours after the air strikes using Mirage 2000 were carried out.

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Preparations are in full swing ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit here on March 1.

Andhra University administration had denied permission to give its grounds for the Prime Minister's public meeting, after which BJP leader and MLC Madhav claimed that they have approached the university authorities to seek permission to use the ground.

"TDP is spreading lies and that is why our Prime Minister is coming here to tell the truth. This could also be a reason due to which there are complications in getting the permission," alleged the BJP leader.

Later BJP also sought permission from railway authorities for railway exhibition ground near to which the authorities agreed.

Ties are frosty between BJP and TDP in the state and TDP has announced that they will stop the meeting on March 1 for demanding reorganisation acts promises.

Senior police officials have been visiting the ground to ensure that there is no lapse in the Prime Minister's security.

The officials include SPG IG Namgyal, Visakhapatnam Collector Bhaskar and CP Mahesh Chandra Laddah along with IG Namgyal visited the ground and given the instructions to State police and district officials over security.

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Move over 3,000mAh and 5,000mAh battery phones. At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019, Energizer launched a smartphone that is powered by a gigantic 18,000mAh battery!

The MWC 2019 is already a little weird with the presence of foldable phones, and the mammoth battery phone added to it. As The Verge reports, the Energizer Power Max P18K Pop is an 18mm thick slab for a phone.

France's Avenir Telecom, which licenses the Energizer brand, promises a week's worth of use, or two full days of continuous video playback despite that gargantuan battery. There are already phones, with lesser thickness, and similar battery backup.

As for specifications, the Energizer Power Max P18K Pop features a 6.2-inch LCD display, a pop-up dual camera for selfies, triple cameras at the back, and runs the latest Android 9 Pie. It is powered by a MediaTek processor, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of default internal storage.

Although the 18,000mAh battery supports fast charging, it would take you eight hours to charge it to full. Despite the rough edges, the Energizer Power Max P18K Pop will be the phone with the biggest battery in the world when it launches in the summer.

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"The Nation is proud of you," said Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday hailing the Indian Air Force (IAF) for carrying out multiple air strikes on the terror launch pads at various places in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

"Congratulations to the Indian Air Force pilots. I salute your bravery," he added.

This comes after Indian Air Force, in the early hours of Tuesday, carried out multiple aerial strikes at terror launch pads at various places in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), completely destroying them, including control rooms of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group.

The terror camps in Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad were struck by 12 Mirage 2000 jets with 1000 kg of explosives at around 3:30 am, IAF sources told ANI.

India's response came 12 days after a CRPF convoy was attacked by a suicide bomber in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, in which 40 security personnel were killed. Pakistan-based JeM claimed responsibility for the attack.

Pakistan Army confirmed that Indian Air Force fighters penetrated across the LoC in PoK, dropping "payloads". However, they have denied any loss of life or property.

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The terror camp in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, which was targeted by the Indian Air Force (IAF) early on Tuesday, was an advanced training centre where suicide bombers were produced.

"Balakot was an important training center for the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and other terror organisations," sources said.

"It had several structures to accommodate terrorist trainees and facilities to train them. It was used for battle inoculation," sources stated.

Sources said, before the inception of JeM, the camp was also used by Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.

"Inspirational lectures were delivered by Masood Azhar (Jaish-e-Mohammed chief) and other terrorist leaders on several occasions," sources said.

Situated on Kunhar river, the camp offered the possibility of aquatic training to terrorists also. The camp housed more than 200 terrorists. The trainers were ex-army personnel.

Sources said, the terrorists have imparted the advanced Daura e Khaas training in weapons, explosives and field tactics, tactics for attacking security forces convoys, planting and making IEDs, preparations for suicide bombing, rigging vehicles for suicide attacks and survival tactics in high altitudes and extreme-stress situations.

JeM specialises in fidayeen actions and gives immense importance to religious indoctrination and ideological brainwashing.

Masood Azhar's relatives and cadres were trained at Balakot in advanced weapons and tactics, sources said.

The Indian Air Force, on Tuesday, carried out multiple aerial strikes at the terror camp, destroying control rooms of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and some other infrastructure.

JeM outfit had carried out terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14 in which 40 security personnel were killed and five injured.

Pulwama terror attack had led to nationwide outrage and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had vowed to punish those behind the attack.

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Azhar alias Ustad Gauri was heading the terror camp in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which was targeted and destroyed by the Indian Air Force early this morning.

After the air strike, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the media that a large number of Jaish terrorists, including top commanders, trainers and those terrorists who were to be the 'fidayeen' (suicide attackers) were eliminated.

According to Interpol notice, Azhar alias Mohd Salim hailed from Karachi and could speak Urdu, Hindi and Pakistani.

He was involved in the hijacking of IC-814 from Nepal to Kandahar in December 1999, which ended with the release of Masood Azhar and two other terrorists. Masood Azhar later floated the Jaish-e-Mohammad terror outfit which was responsible for a series of attacks in India, including the one on Parliament and the recently in Pulwama in Kashmir.

Jaish-e-Mohammad terror outfit, Gokhale pointed out, has been active in Pakistan for last two decades but Pakistan government has always denied its existence and taken no action.

He said it was impossible to believe that such facilities, where hundreds of terrorists are trained, can operate without the knowledge of authorities in Pakistan.

The Foreign Secretary also pointed out that JeM has already been proscribed by the UN.

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India and Austria on Monday held delegation-level talks on a wide variety of issues pertaining to enhancing cooperation in trade and investment, culture, tourism and consular issues.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj participated in the talks along with her visiting Austrian counterpart Karin Kneissl, who arrived in India on a three-day visit aimed at strengthening bilateral relations.

Kneissl's visit comes on the occasion of the celebration of 70 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Austria and India.

"70 years of diplomatic relations! EAM @SushmaSwaraj and Austrian Foreign Minister @Karin_Kneissl led delegation-level talks. Productive discussion on enhancing cooperation in trade & investment, culture, tourism & consular issues & exchange of views on global & regional issues," Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

Earlier today, the Austrian Foreign Minister arrived in the national capital and met Swaraj at the Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan.

"Willkommen Frau Ministerin. EAM @SushmaSwaraj welcomes Austrian Minister for Europe, Integration & Foreign Affairs @Karin_Kneissl on her visit to India. The Ministers last met in New York on UNGA margins in 2018. India & #Austria share a long history of warm & cordial relations," Kumar wrote on his micro-blogging site.

On Tuesday, Kneissl is slated to visit Gandhi Smriti and will address a lecture on "The Future of Global Energy", according to the MEA.

She is slated to depart for Austria in the wee hours of Wednesday.

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China will get to see the late actor Sridevi on the silver screen for the last time ever in her film titled 'Mom'.

The film will hit the theatres in China on March 22. Indian film critic and trade analyst Taran Adarsh took to his Twitter handle to share the news alongside a poster of the film.

He wrote, "#Xclusiv: Sridevi's final major film #Mom will release in #China on 22 March 2019... Zee Studios International release... Poster for local audience."

The announcement comes just two days after Sridevi's death anniversary (February 24).

The film had garnered an overwhelming response from fans and critics alike in India. Sridevi had also won several awards for it posthumously.

'Mom', which also starred Akshaye Khanna and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, released on July 7, 2017 in India. Pakistani actors Adnan Siddiqui and Sajal Aly also play pivotal parts in the film.

The film was directed by Ravi Udyawar and produced by Sridevi's husband Boney Kapoor. 'Mom' was Sridevi's last film as a lead actor while she had a brief cameo in 2018 film 'Zero', starring Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma. Sridevi had already shot her scenes for 'Zero' before she passed away in February 2018.

'Mom' revolves around Sridevi, as a vigilante, who sets out to avenge a crime committed against her step-daughter (played by Sajal Ali). Akshaye Khanna plays the role of a cop while Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays the role of a private detective.

The film won two National Awards - Best Actress for Sridevi and Best Background Score for AR Rahman. 'Mom' has already been released in Poland, Czech, Russia, UAE, UK, USA, and Singapore.

Sridevi tragically passed away at the age of 54 due to accidental drowning in a bathtub of her hotel room in Dubai.

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed that MM Kalburgi murder case be transferred to the special investigative team (SIT) probing journalist Gauri Lankesh murder, and the probe to be monitored by the Karnataka High Court Dharwad Bench.

Umadevi Kalburgi, wife of noted Kannada writer and rationalist Kalburgi, had filed a plea seeking a SIT probe into the killings of her husband.

Umadevi claimed in her petition that her husband was shot dead in Dharwad in Karnataka on August 30, 2015.

Stating that there was a pattern in the killings, Umadevi also sought from the apex court a coordinated probe into the shooting of her husband as well as of activists Narendra Dhabolkar and Govind Pansare.

Umadevi had alleged that shooters from the same organisation were allegedly involved in all the three murders.

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Dean of Diplomatic Corps, Hans Castellanos on Tuesday expressed satisfaction on being brief by the Indian government about the IAF air strikes carried out to destroy terror camps in Pakistan.

Sharing the details of the briefing, Dean of Diplomatic Corps, Hans Castellanos said the air strikes did not affect any civilian or any Pak military installation and that it was a direct attack carried out on the basis of credible intelligence.

Castellanos told ANI, "We have just briefed the same thing that the foreign secretary said to the media. The fact that we get a briefing from the foreign secretary directly avoids any misinformation that we might get from other sources."

On being asked his reaction on the IAF strike, "It is not for me to have an opinion. We informed our government about what happened and the information is that they acted responsibly and did not affect any civilian population or any Pakistani military installation. It was a very directed attack due to credible intelligence received."

Earlier in the day, Indian Air Force (IAF) had attacked terror camps in Balakot area in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, targeting key operatives of dreaded terror outfit-Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), which carried out a debilitating attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama on February 14 in which as many as 40 jawans were killed.

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Hours after the Indian Air Force attack on terror camps in Balakot area of Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday spoke about "the power of God being always with us to save earth from the enemies of humanity."

"The power of the Lord is always with us to save the earth from the enemies of humanity. We are attempting to spread this message with complete authenticity to the evil spirits and 'asuras'," the prime minister said.

He was addressing a gathering at the 'Gita Aradhana 'event at ISKCON where he unveiled a giant edition of the Bhagwad Gita.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) in the wee hours of Tuesday attacked terror camps in Balakot area in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, targeting key operatives of dreaded terror outfit-Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

While Prime Minister in his address made no direct mention of the air strike during his address, the significance of the day's most important development was not lost on the crowd which erupted into loud cheers and chants of "Modi-Modi" along with "Bharat Mata ki Jai" as soon as he remarked that "today's day is very significant.".

However, when the PM completed his sentence, he talked about his participation in the Gandhi peace prize function earlier today and the unveiling of largest Bhagavad Gita at the moment, clearly leaving mentions of the IAF strike for another occasion.

During his speech, the Prime Minister also outlined the teachings of harmony and brotherhood in the sacred text.

The Prime Minister said: "Srimad Bhagwad Gita is the most inspiring gift to the world of India. Gita is the heritage of the whole world. Gita is relevant for thousands of years. If you are a student and are in a state of indecision or the head of a country or the yogi who wishes for salvation, everybody will get the answer to every question in the Shrimad Bhagavat Gita. Gita is the greatest manual book of human life. The solution of every problem of life is found in the Gita"

"Our government had always firmly believed that Indian traditions, cultures and values have the solution for many problems of the world. Be it violence, family issues or environmental concerns, all these challenges have solution in Indian philosophy," he added.

Prior to his address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the largest Bhagavad Gita of the world, at the ISKCON temple.

To reach the event venue, PM Modi took a Delhi metro from Khan Market metro station. On the route, he also interacted and clicked pictures with commuters.

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Parties across the political spectrum on Tuesday hailed the air strikes carried out at Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camp in Pakistan, saying such a step was necessary for defeating terrorism.

After the IAF planes returned safely from Pakistan, the government decided to call an all-party meeting to apprise them about the developments.

From the government's side, the meeting was attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitely and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

"I am happy that all people across party lauded the Indian Air Force for their operation and have also ensured their support to the government in all anti-terror operations," Sushma Swaraj told ANI.

After the meeting, senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "We have appreciated the efforts of the forces, they always have our support to end terrorism. We will always support our security forces to uproot terrorism and terrorists coming from outside."

He added, "Another good thing is that it was a clean operation which specifically targetted terrorists and terror camps, no civilian life has been lost."

Saluting the Indian Air force, leader of the Communist Party of India D Raja said Pakistan should consider it as a message and act against terror groups emanating from its soil.

"Pakistan should take note that it is a message not only from India but from the international community. Proxy war cannot be encouraged by any government. Pakistan should take credible action against terror groups operating from its soil," he underlined.

Earlier in the day, leaders from various political parties appreciated the IAF's aerial strikes, destroying vast and advanced training camp of JeM.

India carried out air strikes deep inside Pakistan, annihilating the JeM camp and eliminating a "large number" of terrorists, including top commanders, of the terror group which had attacked CRPF convoy in Pulwama on February 14.

In the swift operation, launched at around 3.30 am and completed within minutes, 12 Mirage-2000 fighter jets belonging to the IAF pounded the training centre, housing around 300 terrorists, in Balakot with six bombs while SU-30 combat aircraft maintained air superiority to ward off any retaliation by the Pakistan Air Force, sources said.

The camp, located in a forest area atop a hill, was headed by JeM chief Masood Azhar's brother-in-law Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Gauri, who was involved in the 1999 hijack of Indian Airlines plane IC-814 and was on Interpol lookout notice since 2000.

Suicide bombers were produced in the camp, sources said adding that the terrorists have imparted the advanced Daura e Khaas training in weapons, explosives and field tactics, tactics for attacking security forces convoys, planting and making IEDs, preparations for suicide bombing, rigging vehicles for suicide attacks and survival tactics in high altitudes and extreme-stress situations.

After Tuesday's air strike, the casualty figure of the terrorists is very high as the JeM had shifted its entire cadre to this camp from the launching pads along the Line of Control (LoC), fearing surgical strike-type response from India in the aftermath of Pulwama attack, sources said about first such action by India.

A large number of JeM terrorists, including top commanders, trainers and those terrorists who were to be the 'fidayeen' (suicide attackers) were eliminated in the "non-military" air strike, India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the media while officially disclosing information about the air strike, hours after the action.

Gokhale said the "pre-emptive" strike by India had become absolutely necessary as there was credible information that JeM, which recently carried out the terror attack in Pulwama, was planning further attacks in the country.

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It is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's will power which led to IAF strike against terror camps of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in Pakistan's Balakot area, said BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav on Tuesday.

"The country is in safe hands. It is the will power of our Prime Minister Modi that has led to the action today. We have political leadership in Prime Minister Modi which decided this time to act," he told ANI.

"We acted in a responsible manner, protected India's interest and ensured that we do not violate international norms," he added.

Madhav said: "Today is the 13th day after Pulwama attack took place. The mission carried out in the morning. Our Air Force has paid the real tribute to them by destroying training camps deep inside Pakistan."

The BJP leader also asserted that this is an act of our counter-terrorism operation to secure India from terrorist operations.

"We have destroyed at least three major terror camps after the surgical strike. We have completed an important task, which should have been done by Pakistan itself," he said.

Moreover, Madhav claimed that with this airstrike India has not only protected itself but has also saved the democratic world from this terror group by neutralising them.

Taking on Pakistan, he said: "Pakistan has actively sponsored and provided shelter to terrorists. That is the reason why a country like India was forced to take action on its own."

"At least now, Pakistan should realise that countries like India are no longer going to tolerate this kind of activity. It is in Pakistan's interest to ensure that the tension does not accelerate," he said.

The anti-terror operations by the IAF on early Tuesday morning, targeting camps of dreaded terror outfit-JeM-in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is said to have targetted nearly 300 terrorists.

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Pakistan has convened a joint parliamentary session after India Air Force carried out multiple aerial strikes at major terror camps across the Line of Control (LoC).

"A joint parliamentary session will take place tomorrow," Geo TV quoted Ali Muhammad Khan, minister of state for parliamentary affairs, as saying.

"I have just come from the national security meeting and told the participants that the entire Parliament and nation are united," said Khan.

Opposition parties including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and PPP demanded a joint session to decide the further step that Pakistan would take.

"We are in a state of war. The Parliament should sit together and decide," Pakistan People Party (PPP) leader Khursheed Shah said.

"It is not the time for political point-scoring and we should put aside our differences and unite the entire nation," he added.

The opposition leaders have also urged the Pakistan government to avoid the upcoming Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in which India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has been invited as the guest of honour.

"It is an insult that our enemy is being invited as a guest of honour when Kashmiris are facing bloodshed," said Asif.

Earlier, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had also called a meeting to review the situation after IAF's operation across LoC.

Earlier in the day, Shah Mehmood Qureshi also summoned an emergency meeting at the foreign office in Islamabad to discuss the situation.

"I have already said that I don't want to mislead the public. Clouds of danger are hovering over us and we will have to remain alert," Samaa TV quoted Qureshi, as saying.

The air strike, in which 12 Mirage 2000 jets took part, was carried around 3:30 am, IAF sources told ANI. The jets dropped 1000 Kg bombs on terror camps across the LoC, completely destroying them, sources added. Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) control rooms were also destroyed in the strikes.

The Indian action came 12 days after Pakistan-based JeM carried out a terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in Kashmir, killing around 40 personnel and injuring five others.

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Pakistan Army confirmed that Indian Air Force fighters penetrated the Line of Control (LoC) and dropped "payloads" in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) early this morning.

Pakistan Army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor, however, claimed that "no infrastructure got hit" and that there were "no casualties".

In a tweet, Gafoor said Indian aircraft went "3-4 miles" across the LoC in Muzafarabad Sector of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

"Under forced hasty withdrawal aircrafts released payload which had free fall in open area. No infrastructure got hit, no casualties. Technical details and other important information to follow," he added in the tweet.

In an earlier tweet he said, "Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage"

Indian Air Force on Tuesday carried out aerial strikes at multiple terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa early this morning,12 days after the ghastly terror attack in Pulwama.

The terror camps in Chakothi and Muzaffarabad, both in PoK, and also in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region were struck by 12 Mirage 2000 jets with 1000 kgs of explosives at around 3:30 am, IAF sources said.

The targets included the control rooms of Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit which carried out terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14 in which 40 security personnel were killed and five injured.

The JeM control room was completely destroyed in the air strike, sources said.

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UAE did not pay heed to Pakistan's concern over the invitation extended to India for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meet slated to be held next week.

UAE did not pay heed to Pakistan's concern over the invitation extended to India on Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meet slated to be held next week.

Speaking to media post-National Security Committee (NSC) meeting, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Tuesday, "I telephoned UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and expressed disappointment on the invitation of Indian foreign minister Swaraj to attend OIC. However, while discussing the matter with my UAE counterpart, he did not respond to it. Then I contacted Pakistan's ambassador to UAE (Moazzam Ahmad Khan) to discuss the matter with them (UAE government), but still, there was no response."

In a first, OIC invited India as a "Guest of Honour" last week for the inaugural plenary of its meeting of Foreign Ministers to be held on March 1.

Swaraj has been invited by the Foreign Minister of United Arab Emirates to address the inaugural plenary of the 46th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers to be held in Abu Dhabi, read a statement issued by the External Affairs Ministry.

Responding to IAF massive air strikes on Jaish-e-Mohammed's advanced training camp in Pakistan, Qureshi said that Islamabad will respond to any "uncalled aggression" from New Delhi and warned India to be prepared for any "events of eventualities".

"The situation is very grave right now. We will act, not react. We reserve the right to retaliate. Pakistan will respond to such uncalled aggression from India and our armed forces are prepared for any events of eventualities," said Qureshi, after the NSC meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

"India's action is a violation of our sovereignty and we will definitely engage," he added.

Earlier today, India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said the country had hit the largest Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, eliminating a "large number" of terrorists, including top commanders.

The terror camp in a thick forest area atop a hill was led by Ustad Gauri, brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar, Gokhale said, making a statement before the media, hours after the air strikes using Mirage 2000 were carried out.

He said the "pre-emptive" strike by India had become absolutely necessary as there was credible information that JeM, which recently carried out a terror attack in Pulwama, was planning further attacks in the country.

A large number of Jaish terrorists, including top commanders, trainers and those terrorists who were to be the 'fidayeen' (suicide attackers) were eliminated in the "non-military" air strike, the Foreign Secretary said.

The Indian action came 12 days after JeM carried out a terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in south Kashmir, killing around 40 personnel and injuring five others.

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The Congress party on Tuesday lauded the Indian Air Force for destroying a number of terrorist camps across the LoC in Pakistan, hours after India confirmed that its Air Force carried out "pre-emptive non-military action" at Pakistan backed-Jaieh-e-Mohammad camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

"By this heroic action, India Air Force has restored the prestige and morale of the Indian people and our armed forces," senior Congress party leader and former defence minister AK Antony told ANI.

India on Tuesday carried out air strikes at JeM terror camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, eliminating a "large number" of terrorists, including top commanders, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale confirmed.

He added that credible intelligence was received that the JeM was planning to carry out more suicide attacks in India after a terror strike on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama 12 days ago that killed 40 personnel.

Antony warned Pakistan that it should eliminate terrorism emanating from its soil.

"Pakistan should realise that if they encourage and throw terrorists to Indian soil, India will not lie down. It is high time to avert terrorist outfits operating from their soil with the support of the Pakistan armed forces, otherwise again they will have to face the same consequences," said Antony.

The terror camps in Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad, capital of PoK, were struck by 12 Mirage 2000 jets with 1000 kg of explosives at around 3:30 am, IAF sources told ANI.

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Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday convened an emergency meeting at the foreign office in Islamabad to discuss the situation Indian Air Force carried out aerial strikes at major terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

According to Radio Pakistan, the meeting is being attended by former foreign secretaries and senior ambassadors.

The air strike, in which 12 Mirage 2000 jets took part, was carried around 3:30 am, IAF sources told ANI. The jets dropped 1000 Kg bombs on terror camps across the LoC (Line of Control), completely destroying them, sources added. Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) control rooms were also destroyed in the strikes.

The Indian action came 12 days after Pakistan-based JeM carried out a terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in Kashmir, killing around 40 personnel and injuring five others.

The terror attack had led to nationwide outrage, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had vowed to punish those behind the attack.

Entire community expressed solidarity with India after the deadly terror attack.

The US said it supports India's "Right to self-defence" in the back of the attack.

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Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], Feb 26 (ANI): Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday hailed the Indian Air Force (IAF) for carrying out multiple air strikes on the terror launch pads at various places in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

"I salute the Indian Air Force for having taken the pre-dawn action to protect our country," said Chief Minister Patnaik while talking to media persons here.

In the early hours of Tuesday, the IAF carried out multiple aerial strikes at terror launch pads at various places in Balakot, targeting in the infrastructure of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), whose suicide bomber attacked CRPF convoy in Pulwama on February 14 in which 40 jawans were killed.

Apart from Balakot, the terror camps were also hit in Chakothi, and Muzaffarabad, capital of PoK, by 12 Mirage 2000 jets with 1,000 kg of explosives at around 3:30 am, IAF sources said.

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Security Advisor Ajit Doval and IAF Chief BS Dhanoa worked throughout the intervening night of February 25 to the early morning hours of February 26 monitoring final stage operations that carried out aerial strikes inside Pakistani territory of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

"The NSA and the IAF Chief were awake throughout the night and into the next day as they were monitoring the entire movement of Mirage fighter aircraft which had to go inside Pakistan along with the Sukhoi 30s operating from Halwara and Bareilly air bases sitting inside the Air Force war room inside the Air Headquarters," government sources told ANI.

In response to the terror attack in Pulwama twelve days ago that killed 40 CRPF soldiers, top decision makers in the Government green lit an air operation to conduct aerial strikes on Pakistan Army supported terrorist camps, particularly that of the Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp in Balakot deep inside Pakistani territory in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region which was teaming with top operatives of the terror organisation along with scores of suicide bombers, trainers and other support staff, the sources added.

Director General of Air Operations Air Marshal Amit Dev and his team played a significant role in the success of these attacks which were conducted from IAF war room in the Air Headquarters, sources said.

The IAF had carried out a similar strike against the Pakistani positions in the Kel sector on the LoC in 2002.

Once the formation of 12 Mirage aircraft took off from their respective locations in Agra and Gwalior, another support formation of Sukhoi fighter jets took to the air to defend Indian air space if the need arose.

AWAC (Advanced warning and control system) aircrafts led by the indigenous Netra jets played a significant role as well with their radars pinpointing position and activity of Pakistani fighter aircraft on all their bases and gave a go-ahead to the Indian planes to get a window to penetrate inside Pakistani air space.

Mid air-fuel tankers Ilyushin 78s were also in the air to provide support services to Indian fighter jets on their mission.

Pakistani Airforce F16s were scrambled to respond to the Indian incursion, however, gauging the formation of the Indian jets and outnumbered, the jets beat a hasty retreat thereby giving Indian jets an opportunity to destroy their intended targets.

After the planes returned from Pakistan, the Indian air defence systems were on high alert and scanning Pakistani aircraft for any reaction.

The first Pakistani reaction came in from the western sector in Gujarat when a UAV of the Pakistan Air Force entered Kutch which was promptly shot down by the Israeli made SPYDER Missile defence system which fired a well-aimed 'Derby' missile to blow the PAF drone out of the sky.

The Navy had also halted its exercise TROPEX on the western seaboard and sent its warships on forward patrol in a posturing towards Pakistan Navy, thereby further confusing the chain of command in the Pakistani establishment.

The Indian Army has been placed on high alert and an attack by Pakistan in the form of BAT actions could be considered an imminent threat.

Top sources in the government have termed the aerial strikes as one of the most successful coordinated operations as the targets were identified and selected by intelligence agencies while the three forces coordinated very well with them to strike the enemy.

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In response to air strikes by the Indian Air Force (IAF) against terror camps in Pakistan, the Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry of Pakistan on Tuesday announced a boycott of Indian films and 'Made in India' advertisements in the country.

Pakistan's Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry took to his Twitter handle to state that the Cinema Exhibitors Association has decided to boycott the Indian content completely and that no Indian movie "will be released in Pakistan."

The minister further stated that he has also instructed PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) to act against advertisements made in India.

The move comes hours after the IAF violated Pakistani airspace near the LoC earlier on Tuesday which has further worsened the already strained relations between the two neighbouring countries.

Relations between Pakistan and India have been tense since the Pulwama terror attack which took place on February 14 that killed over 40 CRPF personnel. The tensions soared even more after today's attack.

A similar decision was taken by India against Pakistani content and artists after the ghastly attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Makers of a few films including 'Total Dhamaal' and 'Notebook' among others also decided that their films will not screen in Pakistan.

Reportedly, in 2016, PEMRA had imposed a complete ban on airing Indian content on local television and FM radio channels. In 2017, the Lahore High Court had lifted the ban, declaring it null and void as the government had no objections regarding the same.

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Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday lauded the Indian Air Force (IAF) for carrying out multiple air strikes on Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) advanced training camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

"Our soldiers are strong and will never think twice before attacking the neighbouring country. I congratulate them from my party's side," Kharge told ANI.

In the early hours of Tuesday, IAF targetted the JeM's camp in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan where suicide bombers were produced.

"Balakot was an important training center for the JeM and other terror organisations," sources said.

"It had several structures to accommodate terrorist trainees and facilities to train them. It was used for battle inoculation," sources stated.

Sources said, before the inception of JeM, the camp was also used by Hizb-ul-Mujahideen."Inspirational lectures were delivered by Masood Azhar (Jaish-e-Mohammed chief) and other terrorist leaders on several occasions," sources said.

JeM outfit had carried out terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14 in which 40 security personnel were killed and five injured.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who reached Vietnam on Tuesday morning in his Green train, received red carpet welcome ahead of Hanoi Summit.

According to the CNN, Kim arrived Tuesday to a red carpet welcome at 8:15 am Dong Dang railway station in Vietnam's Lang Song province.

Kim greeted people and media persons standing outside the railway station with waves and smiles. Amid the heavy security, the Vietnamese officials received him warmly. Kim then got into a car to cover the remaining 100 miles to Hanoi.

The North Korea leader had embarked on the two-and-half day journey, choosing to undertake a 60-hour-long train journey to the border city of Dang Dong in Vietnam which will be followed by a car ride to Hanoi.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is en route to Hanoi, Vietnam. Trump's Air Force One is scheduled to arrive Hanoi on Tuesday night.

Most of the details of the much-anticipated meeting are still uncertain. Trump and Kim are expected to address a joint press conference after the eagerly awaited second summit, slated to be held on February 27 and 28 - unlike last year's Singapore summit where Trump held a solo presser after the meet.

The process of denuclearisation had hit a roadblock following the first summit over ease of sanctions, where North Korea demanded a sanctions relief in recognition of the steps that it took towards denuclearisation, including the dismantling of a nuclear testing site, Punggye-ri, in May 2018.

The United States has reinforced that sanctions would only be eased once full denuclearisation is achieved by Pyongyang - a stand which the United States has still stuck to even with the second summit drawing near.

According to North Korean state media, several senior officials are accompanying Kim to the summit, including his sister Kim Yo-jong and top aide Kim Yong-chol.

The White House had earlier released a statement on the high-stakes summit, which lauded Trump's achievements with regard to improvement in relations with Pyongyang while outlining the "maximum pressure campaign" implemented by Trump to achieve "real progress" on North Korea.

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Joint Statement by the National Committees PIPFPD of India and Pakistan

Issued on 26th of February 2019 from Lahore and New Delhi (also Mumbai, Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Jammu, Bhubaneshwar & Srinagar):

We, the members of Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace & Democracy (PIPFPD), from India and Pakistan, notes with seriousness and strongly condemns the claims of Indian government of air strikes and bombing in settled districts of Pakistan beyond LoC. It demands both governments of Indian & Pakistan to show restraint and avoid any war like situation. It further demands immediate measures from both sides to de-escalate the situation and de-militarize borders by withdrawing troops to the peace time level.

PIPFPD, from India and Pakistan unequivocally condemn the massacre of more than 45 CRPF personnel, at Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir. We are also appalled at the large-scale killings of the police, army personnel, civilians and members of non-state armed groups, in diverse instances that followed Pulwama killings. We are shocked and pained at the number of human lives that is lost to guns, IEDs, missiles, bombs, pellet guns, stones, etc. in the Kashmir valleyespecially in the increased instances over the last few years, since 2016.

Members of PIPFPD, from both countries, are deeply concerned about the situation arising because of the escalation of violence. Forum takes serious note of the high emotional outpouring and war mongering on both sides further giving rise to fundamentalists and extremists elements. It is perturbed about the increasing incidents of violence and vindictive action against Kashmiris in particular and Muslims in general by state and non-state actors in India. Ironically, despite a very delayed mention by the PM of India, senior members of the Indian government have not shown any meaningful or strong signs of restrain or resolve to discourage such violent elements and occurrences.

The Forum recognizes that failed policies of both India and Pakistan in addressing Kashmir issue is at the core of the problem. It has led to militarized means being prioritized over political dialogue and resolution. This has led to continuous loss of lives and has created war like situation in both civilians areas as well as border areas. A large number of lives have already been lost to this. PIPFPD believes in political resolution through dialogue and demands the governments of India and Pakistan to initiate meaningful dialogue involving Kashmiri leadership from both sides, addressing the issue bilaterally. The Forum believes that Kashmir is not a territorial dispute between two states. India and Pakistan must recognise Kashmiri peoples aspirations and must allow Kashmiri people belonging to all ethnic and religious communities and regions to participate in a dialogue to find an honorable and a dignified solution. Till that dialogue happens, a ceasefire based peace process must be initiated to prevent future loss of lives. For this, it is imperative that Kashmir on both sides shall be demilitarised, providing opportunity to Kashmiris from both sides of the border to meet freely and start their life free of fear and subjugation.

The Forum demands government of Pakistan to move beyond rhetoric of anti-extremism narrative to meaningful and substantive actions against all proscribed groups, terrorist organizations and their handlers. Ironically while those organizations have been taking responsibilities of such acts of terror, including Pulwama suicide attack, Pakistan government has shown no will to take necessary actions against those forces operating from its soil. The members of PIPFPD demand that all genuine concerns raised by government of India must be taken seriously and investigated at the highest levels. This is the time that both states must move beyond rhetoric and show clear and unfettered resolve against extremism be it the Islamic armed outfits or the Hindutva ones.

It in this backdrop and unfortunate reality that PIPFPD announces the postponement of 9th Joint Convention that was to be held from 15-17th March 2019 in Lahore, Pakistan. We believe holding of this convention is not possible in the current circumstances, where peace activists are threatened and space for people to people dialogue is highly squeezed. Members of PIPFPD are determined to hold the convention in coming months.

[PIPFPD is a 25 year-old membership based peace platform with thousands of members and supporters in India and Pakistan. It has so far held 8 Joint Conventions in India and Pakistan, with hundreds of delegates from both countries participating]

Issued by: Mohammad Tahseen Convener, PIPFPD Pakistan

Dr. I. A. Rehman Chairperson, PIPFPD Pakistan

Tapan Bose & Dr. Syeda Hameed Co-Chairpersons, PIPFPD India

Vijayan MJ General Secretary, PIPFPD India

Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace & Democracypipfpd[at]hotmail,.com (Pakistan) pipfpd.india[at]gmail.com (India)+92 3008480821 / +91 9868165471
Baloch Women's Forum (WBWF) president and prominent Baloch activist Professor Naela Quadri Baloch on Tuesday heaped praises on the Indian government for conducting aerial strikes on a major terror camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in Pakistan, saying that it is time that terrorism should be effectively addressed.

In a video message, Baloch said, "I would like to congratulate India regarding the airstrike. Finally, the Indian government took action and gave a befitting reply (to Pakistan). Pakistan cannot deny this strike. The terror groups operating on Pakistani soil is against humanity."

The Baloch activist added that although India has been taking strong actions against terrorism, she alleged that it is the Pakistani military which is backing and nourishing these outfits.

"The people of Baloch are with the people of India and just like India, Balochistan is also suffering due to the terrorists operating in Pakistan," Baloch added.

She further outlined that "everyone is realising the fact that it is the time to fight terrorism effectively rather than asking Pakistan to address the global menace."

Sending out a huge message, India, today carried out air strikes deep inside Pakistan, destroying a major camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and eliminating a "large number" of terrorists, including top commanders, of the terror group which attacked CRPF convoy in Pulwama 12 days back.

In the swift operation, launched at around 3.30 am and completed within minutes, 12 Mirage-2000 fighter jets pounded the training centre, housing around 300 terrorists, in Balakot area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province with six bombs while SU-30 combat aircraft maintained air superiority to ward off any retaliation by the Pakistan Air Force, sources said.

The camp, located in a forest area atop a hill, was headed by JeM chief Masood Azhar's brother-in-law Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Gauri, who was involved in the 1999 hijack of Indian Airlines plane IC-814 and was on Interpol lookout notice since 2000.

The casualty figure of the terrorists is very high as the JeM had shifted its entire cadre to this camp from the launching pads along the Line of Control (LoC), fearing surgical strike-type response from India in the aftermath of Pulwama attack, sources said about first such action by India.

A large number of Jaish terrorists, including top commanders, trainers and those terrorists who were to be the 'fidayeen' (suicide attackers) were eliminated in the "non-military" air strike, India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the media while officially disclosing information about the air strike, hours after the action.

Gokhale said the "pre-emptive" strike by India had become absolutely necessary as there was credible information that JeM, which recently carried out terror attack in Pulwama, was planning further attacks in this country.

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In the swift operation, launched at around 3.30 am and completed within minutes, 12 Mirage-2000 fighter jets pounded the training centre, housing around 300 terrorists, in Balakot area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province with six bombs while SU-30 combat aircraft maintained air superiority to ward off any retaliation by the Pakistan Air Force, sources said.

The camp, located in a forest area atop a hill, was headed by Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar's brother-in-law Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Gauri, who was involved in the 1999 hijack of Indian Airlines plane IC-814 and was on Interpol lookout notice since 2000.

The casualty figure of the terrorists is very high as the JeM had shifted its entire cadre to this camp from the launching pads along the Line of Control (LoC), fearing surgical strike-type response from India in the aftermath of Pulwama attack, sources said about first such action by India.

A large number of Jaish terrorists, including top commanders, trainers and those terrorists who were to be the 'fidayeen' (suicide attackers) were eliminated in the "non-military" air strike, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the media while officially disclosing information about the air strike, hours after the action.

Sources said the camp housed an ammunition dump having more than 200 AK rifles, uncountable rounds of hand grenades, explosives, and detonators and it was blown up in the strike.

Gokhale said the "pre-emptive" strike by India had become absolutely necessary as there was credible information that JeM, which recently carried out terror attack in Pulwama, was planning further attacks in this country.

Gokhale, who read out a statement and refused to take any questions, described the action as a "non-military" air strike, apparently inferring that a terror camp and not any military facility was the target.

He said the strike was "conditioned" to avoid any civilian casualty.

Jaish-e-Mohammad terror outfit, Gokhale pointed out, has been active in Pakistan for last two decades but Pakistan government has always denied its existence and taken no action.

He noted that JeM has been responsible for series of terror attack in India, including one on Parliament in 2001 and recently on CRPF convoy in Pulwama in which 40 security personnel were killed.

Pakistan took no action despite India providing information from time to time, the Foreign Secretary said.

He said it was impossible to believe that such facilities, where hundreds of terrorists are trained, can operate without the knowledge of authorities in Pakistan.

The Foreign Secretary also pointed out that JeM has already been proscribed by the UN.

Sources said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Security Advisor Ajit Doval and IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa kept a watch on the operations throughout the night till all the jets returned safely.

Later, the Prime Minister chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) which took stock of the situation arising out of the action.

Intelligence sources said the IAF demolished the entire terror set up at the suicide bombing training centre in Balakot and over 300 terrorists were targeted.

Among the targets were Maulana Ammar, who is associated with Afghanistan and Kashmir operations, and Maulana Talha Saif, brother of Maulana Masood Azhar and head of suicide bomber preparation wing, the intelligence sources said.

Mufti Azhar Khan Kashmiri, head of Kashmir operations, and Ibrahim Azhar, elder brother of Masood Azhar were also targetted, the sources added.

Pictures provided by the Intelligence sources showed flags of the United States, United Kingdom, and Israel painted on staircases at the camp.

"The entire strike to decimate training centres was concluded within minutes. The permanent establishment of trainers destroyed in Balakot," the sources said.

"A surgical strike was not possible due to difficult terrain, dense forests, and the steep hills. This was in favour of the covert operation to protect India's sovereign rights," the sources said.

The Foreign Secretary, while explaining the need for such an action, said, "Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the 'fidayeen jihadis' (suicide bombers_ were being trained for this purpose. In the face of imminent danger, a pre-emptive strike became absolutely necessary."

He said the Government of India "is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to fight the menace of terrorism. Hence, this non-military pre-emptive action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp."

Targeting Pakistan, Gokhale said it had made "a solemn commitment" in January 2004 not to allow its soil or territory under its control to be used for terrorism against India.

"We expect that Pakistan lives up to its public commitment and takes follow up actions to dismantle all JeM and other camps and hold the terrorists accountable for the actions," he said.

The attack on CRPF convoy had triggered nationwide outrage and anger and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had vowed to punish those responsible for the heinous act.

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Indian Air Force (IAF) on Tuesday wee hours attacked terror camps in Balakot area in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, targeting key operatives of dreaded terror outfit-Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), which carried out a debilitating attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama on February 14 in which as many as 40 jawans were killed.

Briefing the press about IAF strikes on JeM targets, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said: "In an intelligence-led operation in the early hours of Tuesday, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot." IAF hit JeM camps at 3.30 am.

"In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis, who were being trained for fidayeen action, were eliminated. This facility at Balakot was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghouri, the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar, chief JeM," said Gokhale.

"Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary," he said.

"The Government of India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to fight the menace of terrorism. Hence, this non-military preemptive action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp," he said.

"The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties. The facility is located in the thick forest on a hilltop far away from any civilian presence. As the strike has taken place only a short while ago, we are awaiting further details," he said.

"The Government of Pakistan had made a solemn commitment in January 2004 not to allow its soil or territory under its control to be used for terrorism against India. We expect that Pakistan lives up to its public commitment and takes follow up actions to dismantle all JeM and other camps and hold the terrorists accountable for the actions," he said.

Gokhale further said: "On February 14, 2019, a suicide terror attack was conducted by a Pak based terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad, leading to the martyrdom of 40 brave jawans of the CRPF. JeM has been active in Pakistan for the last two decades, and is led by Masood Azhar with its headquarters in Bahawalpur."

"This organisation, which is proscribed by the UN, has been responsible of a series of terrorist attacks including on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 and the Pathankot airbase in January 2016," he said.

"Information regarding the location of training camps in Pakistan and PoJK has been provided to Pakistan from time to time. Pakistan, however, denies their existence. The existence of such massive training facilities capable of training hundreds of jihadis could not have functioned without the knowledge of Pakistan authorities," he said.

"India has been repeatedly urging Pakistan to take action against the JeM to prevent jihadis from being trained and armed inside Pakistan. Pakistan has taken no concrete actions to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its soil," he said.

IAF targeted JeM camps in Balakot, Chakothi, and Muzaffarabad. Balakot is believed to be the biggest JeM hideout in Pakistan. Balakot was earlier confused with Bala Kote, which is located along the Line of Control (LoC), very close to Rajouri and Azmatabad in Jammu and Kashmir.

Talking about the IAF strikes, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted: "If this is Balakot in KPK, it is a major incursion and a significant strike by the IAF planes."

"However, if it's Bala Kote in Poonch sector, along the LoC, it's a largely symbolic strike because at this time of the year forward launch pads and militant camps are empty and non-functional," he said.

In another tweet, he said, "Unless we know which Bala Kote is being talked about by the Pakistani Generals, it is pointless speculating about what we may have hit and what fallout the airstrike will have."

However, contradicting India's claim, spokesperson of Pakistan Armed Forces, Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted: "Indian aircraft's intrusion across LoC in Muzaffarabad Sector within AJ & K was 3-4 miles. Under forced hasty withdrawal aircraft released payload which had free fall in the open area. No infrastructure got hit, no casualties. Technical details and other important information to follow.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned India's Acting High Commissioner over the airstrikes carried out at the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror camp in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.

Pakistan's Acting Foreign Secretary told Acting High Commissioner of India that Islamabad would give a "befitting response at a time and place of its choosing" to India's action, according to a statement issued by the foreign ministry.

Sending out a huge message, India today carried out air strikes deep inside Pakistan, destroying a major camp of JeM and eliminating a "large number" of terrorists, including top commanders, of the terror group which attacked a CRPF convoy in Pulwama 12 days back.

In the swift operation, launched at around 3.30 am and completed within minutes, 12 Mirage-2000 fighter jets pounded the training centre, housing around 300 terrorists, in Balakot area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province with six bombs while SU-30 combat aircraft maintained air superiority to ward off any retaliation by the Pakistan Air Force, sources said.

The camp, located in a forest area atop a hill, was headed by JeM chief Masood Azhar's brother-in-law Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Gauri, who was involved in the 1999 hijack of Indian Airlines plane IC-814 and was on Interpol lookout notice since 2000.

The casualty figure of the terrorists is very high as the JeM had shifted its entire cadre to this camp from the launching pads along the Line of Control (LoC), fearing surgical strike-type response from India in the aftermath of Pulwama attack, sources said about first such action by India.

A large number of Jaish terrorists, including top commanders, trainers and those terrorists who were to be the 'fidayeen' (suicide attackers) were eliminated in the "non-military" air strike, India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the media while officially disclosing information about the air strike, hours after the action.

Gokhale said the "pre-emptive" strike by India had become absolutely necessary as there was credible information that JeM, which recently carried out terror attack in Pulwama, was planning further attacks in this country.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In the backdrop of aerial strikes by India at terror camps in Pakistan, France on Tuesday said it stands with India in the fight against terror and asked both India and Pakistan to exercise restraint to avert any risk of military escalation and preserve strategic stability in the region.

It also asked Pakistan to put an end to operations of terror groups in the country, while recognising India's legitimacy to ensure its security against cross-border terrorism.

"France, which stands by India in the fight against terrorism in all its forms, is fully engaged in mobilising the international community to sanction the terrorists responsible for this attack and freezing their financing networks," acting spokesperson of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

It further asked both "India and Pakistan to exercise restraint so as to avert any risk of military escalation and preserve strategic stability in the region."

Calling for the resumption of talks between the two countries, the acting spokesperson further said, "The resumption of bilateral dialogue between Islamabad and New Delhi is necessary to initiate a peaceful settlement of differences."

Last week, Ambassador of France to India Alexandre Ziegler said that his country is "pushing" to put JeM chief Masood Azhar on the UN sanctions list. This will be the second time that France will put forth its proposal at the United Nations.

In 2017, France, supported by the United States and the United Kingdom, had moved a proposal at the UN Sanctions Committee 1267 to get Azhar declared as a "global terrorist", but it was blocked by China.

"We are very much pushing in that direction. It has been two years that we are trying to put him on the UN sanctions list," Ziegler told ANI at the five-day Aero India 2019 show in Bengaluru.

Earlier today, India carried out airstrikes in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, destroying a major camp of JeM and eliminating a "large number" of terrorists, including top commanders, of the terror group which attacked a CRPF convoy in Pulwama on February 14.

In the swift operation, launched at around 3.30 am and completed within minutes, 12 Mirage-2000 fighter jets belonging to the IAF pounded the training centre, housing around 300 terrorists, in Balakot area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province with six bombs while SU-30 combat aircraft maintained air superiority to ward off any retaliation by the Pakistan Air Force, sources said.

The camp, located in a forest area atop a hill, was headed by JeM chief Masood Azhar's brother-in-law Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Gauri, who was involved in the 1999 hijack of Indian Airlines plane IC-814 and was on Interpol lookout notice since 2000.

The casualty figure of the terrorists is very high as the JeM had shifted its entire cadre to this camp from the launching pads along the Line of Control (LoC), fearing surgical strike-type response from India in the aftermath of Pulwama attack, sources said about first such action by India.

A large number of JeM terrorists, including top commanders, trainers and those terrorists who were to be the 'fidayeen' (suicide attackers) were eliminated in the "non-military" air strike, India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the media while officially disclosing information about the air strike, hours after the action.

Gokhale said the "pre-emptive" strike by India had become absolutely necessary as there was credible information that JeM was planning further attacks in this country.

Following the airstrikes, the foreign secretary briefed the diplomats including those from the US, UK, Russia, Australia, Indonesia, Turkey and six ASEAN nations.

"We want to congratulate the Indian government for quickly briefing us. The message was a direct one. It was a non-military preemptive strike. India wanted to target terrorists and not civilians. India behaved responsibly," said Hans Dannenberg Castellanos, Dean of Diplomatic Corps in India after meeting Gokhale.

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Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday launched the report 'Gender and Water in Agriculture and Allied Sectors' developed jointly by 2030 Water Resources Group, a public-private-civil society partnership hosted by the World Bank Group and United Nations Development Programme in India.

The publication showcases five successful case studies of women-led growth and entrepreneurship through their participation in agricultural production systems and allied sectors, supported by the collaboration and intervention of public and private sector, and civil society organisations.

"The Government of Maharashtra is committed towards creating livelihood opportunities for women," said Fadnavis. "The success of self-help groups and microfinance movements in Maharashtra is a testament to the potential of collective action by India's rural women."Agriculture in India continues to be at the mercy of unpredictable weather patterns and acute shortage of sustainable water resources. In addition, the existing gender gap prevents women from effectively contributing to improved agricultural productivity.

Research suggests that increasing women's labour force participation by 10 per cent could add 700 billion dollars to India's GDP by 2025.

For instance, the report highlights scalable, innovative interventions in the agricultural sector to address the challenge of water resources management, use of technology for improved agricultural practices and sustainable value chains, while embedding initiatives that empower women economically and socially.

Speaking at the launch event, Nadia Rasheed, Deputy Country Director of UNDP India, said: "At UNDP, we believe that effective collaboration between governments, the private sector and communities is key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

"Our Disha initiative is helping to connect women farmers and their families with private sector companies and markets for their produce. We will continue to support platforms that enable women to have a voice in decision-making and to shape solutions for improving rural livelihoods," Rasheed said.

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Sri Lanka sprung a huge upset as they defeated South Africa 2-0 in a two-match Test series in South Africa. The winning team's vice-captain Niroshan Dickwella himself admitted that they did not expect to clinch the series.

Dickwella gave the credit of the victory to the entire team and a said that winning the series is a "pretty big" thing for them.

"It's a pretty big thing for this. We never expected to win the series 2-0, but the guys played really well and the result is a testament to that," ESPN Cricinfo quoted Niroshan Dickwella as saying.

The hero for Sri Lanka was Kushal Perera who played an unbeaten knock of 153 runs taking them to a thrilling win in the first Test match and setting the tone for the rest of the series.

Dickwella said that he along with the captain Dimuth Karunaratne wanted the guys to express themselves and play freely.

"When I became the vice-captain, I had a chat with Dimuth and I had a chat with the support group telling the guys to express themselves. We told them to keep the other stuff outside then they can free their mind and perform fully to their potential," he revealed.

Dickwella was applauded for his wicket-keeping skills as well in the series against South Africa. The keeper managed to take a total of nine catches in the series.

"As a wicket-keeper in these conditions, one needs to be on his toes always. We just wanted the bowlers to bowl on probing areas and let the ball do the talking," he said.

Sri Lanka have had a series of poor losses against Australia and New Zealand but the vice-captain believes that those defeats gave them the chance to get familiar with the bouncy tracks.

"I think we would have performed well in New Zealand if he had played Australia first. Coming from back to back series against Australia and New Zealand, it gave us a chance to get familiarised with bouncy conditions that is why we performed so well against South Africa."

After clinching the Test series, Sri Lanka became the first Asian team to win a Test series against South Africa on their home soil.

Next, Sri Lanka and South Africa will take on each other in a five-match ODI series which is slated to be held from March 3 to 16.

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Senior Trinamool Derek O'Brien on Monday accused Prime Minister of turning the inauguration of the War Memorial into a political rally and disrespecting the uniform.

"Prime Minister has turned the inauguration of the War Memorial into a political rally and it was nothing but disrespect to the uniform," Brien told ANI. War Memorial, a tribute to soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice for the country post-independence, was unveiled by the Prime Minister on Monday. While inaugurating the memorial, Prime Minister said, "Demand for National War Memorial has been there for many decades. Some efforts were made previously but nothing concrete happened. In 2014, we started the procedure and today it is being inaugurated before time. This monument is also the testimony of how a vow is taken and fulfilled." Meanwhile, the Prime Minister also paid tributes to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers who were killed in the dastardly Pulwama attack on February 14.West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee, on Monday, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of doing 'vote politics when jawans die'.

"We condemn this incident and sympathise with the families of the deceased. You (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) were aware that such an incident would take place. You had information about this. The government had intelligence inputs," she said further.

"The was aware that such an attack can take place. There were intelligence inputs. Then why didn't they take preventive measures to protect our jawans," she said while addressing the extended Core Committee meeting of the Trinamool

Questioning that why jawans were not airlifted despite the fact that "government had instructions," Chief Minister Banerjee asked: "Why weren't 'nakas' checked? Why were the roads not sanitised?""These jawans were pushed towards death. Elections are coming. Hence you want to do politics. Vote politics? You can't do 'vote politics' when jawans die," she said.

Intensifying her attack on the Central government, Banerjee said: "This government is being run by two brothers, who have blood of innocents on their hands. Both the leaders want to create war hysteria ahead of the Lok Sabha 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.)
Nepal's Supreme Court has directed its government to decide on the jail waiver for notorious 'Bikini killer' Charles Sobhraj, who is currently serving a life sentence in the Himalayan nation since 2003 on account of murder.

A bench of Justices Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada and Bam Kumar Shrestha, on Sunday, directed the government to take the decision within three months responding to the writ filed by murder convict Sobhraj last November.

In Sobhraj's petition, the serial killer, who's now 74 years old, has demanded a 75 per cent waiver on his jail term.

The Senior Citizen Act of Nepal has a provision of waiver on sentence for senior citizens. However, the act says that senior citizens, who are 70 years old but are yet to turn 75 years old, can get clemency not exceeding 50 per cent of their jail sentence.

Another provision states that a court may, after factoring in the gravity of offence, choose to send a jail inmate having completed the age of 75 years to a care center.

Apart from the life sentence, Sobhraj was also awarded a 20-year jail term in 2014 after being found guilty of a second murder - a Canadian tourist Laurent Carriere, who was killed in 1975.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Meenakshi Lekhi has accused convener of the Congress' social media department Hasiba Amin of running a Whatsapp political group consisting five Pakistanis who deride Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

" convener of the Indian Congress (INC) social media department Hasiba Amin runs a Whatsapp political group which has five 'Pakis' who deride Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Lekhi said on Monday during BJP Yuva Morcha interaction at Margao South Goa.

The BJP leader asked Congress president Rahul Gandhi as to "why Pakistani nationals were a part of a Congress Whatsapp group called 'India Political Network' in which national political issues are discussed."

Earlier, the BJP had accused the Congress of running an anti-Narendra Modi campaign in Pakistan through an advertisement on social media.

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The Washington Post, February 25, 2019

by Sahar Halaimzai, Zarlasht Halaimzai, Quhramaana Kakar and Rahela Sidiqi

In recent weeks, Afghanistan has been making headlines across the world. Political commentators, analysts and editorial boards of leading newspapers, particularly in the United States, have been speculating on what the latest peace negotiations might mean for the countrys future.

The people of Afghanistan have watched these developments with bewilderment and concern. As the United States sits at the negotiating table with the Taliban and other warlords but not our elected representatives, we worry whether a society can survive when its voice has been disregarded. According to a recent national survey, Afghans consider the Taliban a discredited actor and do not believe that it has any intention of making peace. It is hard to imagine how a democracy can endure when the safekeeping of its institutions has been handed to violent forces.

We fear that the opportunity for real peace is being squandered and that the people of Afghanistan will bear the consequences. The lives and the future of our young people are being negotiated away.

And yet, while power brokers talk behind closed doors thousands of miles away, Afghans in the country and abroad are mobilizing. Communities are coming together across ethnic, religious, gender and geographical lines. Womens organizations such as the Afghan Womens Network have released a plan for negotiating peace. Across different provinces and in Western capitals, Afghans are protesting the current negotiation framework, all with a common purpose  to share their vision of peace in Afghanistan.

Our coalition, Time4RealPeace, is joining these voices by launching an appeal, led by more than 500 women, civil society organizations and rights groups in Afghanistan and supported by more than 30 prominent figures and international rights groups worldwide. We are demanding a legitimate process that includes our interests and safeguards our democratic structures and institutions.

Afghanistan of today is not the Afghanistan of two decades ago. In 2001, when the United States arrived in Afghanistan to put an end to Taliban rule, the people of Afghanistan welcomed the intervention, hoping for a durable solution to the Afghan war. Afghans wanted peace. It was their sacrifices, leadership and optimism that enabled President George W. Bush to declare victory over the Taliban shortly after the first U.S. soldiers arrived on Afghan soil.

Since then, Afghans have been fighting against extraordinary odds to rebuild their political, cultural and social institutions. Afghanistans gross domestic product has grown fivefold since 2002, and per capita GDP increased nearly 64 percent over the same period. Socially and politically, Afghans have rebounded from decades of war and reclaimed public life and space for themselves. Just 18 years ago, under Taliban rule, women and girls were not allowed to be educated. Now we have a constitution that protects the rights of women and minorities. Women account for 14 percent of university lecturers, and more than 780 women lead classrooms in Afghan institutions of higher learning. We have female mayors and district governors.

Critically, in a country where 68 percent of citizens are younger than 25, our young people have risen to face the challenges of this legacy of war and are taking responsibility for implementing the changes they want to see. In 2018, more than 60 percent of parliamentary candidates were younger than 40. In recent years, more than 500 young leaders have been appointed to positions of power within government, and many others have become successful entrepreneurs and activists.

Now these hard-won battles are being threatened by those who claim to represent our interests but do not. The United States is negotiating only with the Taliban ancien regime  men who have been enriched by war and are far removed from the goals and aspirations of the average Afghan citizen.

They seem determined to reenact the cycle of violence and corruption that so many Afghans have dedicated themselves to ending. We know that stability is achieved through generational change rather than deals between elites. Young peoples sense of optimism, belief in democracy and determination to rebuild the country have been Afghanistans most valuable resources.

As newspaper articles are filled with hand-wringing, and as negotiating rooms are filled with hollow assurances that our rights will be protected, we know what is at stake: the right to work, the right to walk the streets without fear, our access to basic education, access to health care, the ability to remain in the light and not return to the shadows. Theres no need to speculate about what will happen if the people are not heard. We are raising our voices to tell you.

Sahar Halaimzai is an advocate and human rights campaigner working for PEN International. Zarlasht Halaimzai is director and co-founder of Refugee Trauma Initiative (RTI). Quhramaana Kakar is a peace activist, a development practitioner, and the founder and director of Women for Peace and Participation. Rahela Sidiqi is the founding director of Farkhunda Trust for Afghan Womens Education.
The 211 battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force on Tuesday celebrated the air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in response to the February 14 Pulwama terror attack, in which over 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

Twelve days after the ghastly February 14 attack, India on Tuesday carried out strikes deep inside Pakistan, destroying a major camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), a terrorist organisation which claimed responsibility of orchestrating the attack.

The CRPF personnel who were in deep grief and shock after losing 40 of their brothers in the Pulwama attack sang songs and celebrated and said they felt avenged.

Speaking with ANI, a CRPF personnel said, "I want to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had said that whatever happened in Pulwama was grievous and we would definitely take revenge and those who are involved in it have to pay back,"

The terror camps in Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad were struck by 12 Mirage 2000 jets with 1000 kg of explosives at around 3:30 am, IAF sources told ANI.

Pakistan Army confirmed that Indian Air Force fighters penetrated across the LoC in PoK, dropping "payloads". However, they have denied any loss of life or property.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said that BJP, RSS and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are destroying the peace, culture and history of the north-eastern states.

He was addressing a public rally at Khanapara Veterinary science College ground here.

"You live with peace and since years you are living at peace with each other, but after Narendra Modi government came in 2014 and here in Assam , Arunachal Pradesh the BJP governments were formed they started attacking your culture and history," said Rahul Gandhi.

"Congress party will not allow any attack on your culture, language and traditions. Congress party will save the culture and history of northeast and will give a befitting reply to RSS, Mohan Bhagwat, BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi," said Rahul Gandhi.

" Congress party gave special, status to Assam but BJP has taken it back from you, but no sooner the Congress will come into power you will get the special status back," said Rahul.

He said that the biggest problem today is of unemployment and Narendra Modi government is able to provide employment to only 1 lakh youth per year.

"In Narendra Modi's India if you ask any youth what you do, he will say he does nothing. This is the picture of Narendra Modi's India," said Rahul.

"Narendra Modi talks of Make-in India, startup India, stand Up India, sit down India, look left India, look right India but the fact is that he is able to give employment to only 1 lakh youth in a year," said Rahul Gandhi.

He said that he will start all the welfare schemes which are stopped by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP government after coming to power.

.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In the backdrop of aerial strikes carried out by India at a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror camp in Pakistan, Australia on Tuesday in a strongly worded statement demanded that Pakistan take "urgent and meaningful action" against terrorist groups operating in Pakistan, including Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e Taiba (LeT).

Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne said that "Pakistan should take urgent and meaningful action against terrorist groups in its territory, including JeM which has claimed responsibility for the February 14 bombing, and Lashkar-e-Taiba."

"Pakistan must do everything possible to implement its own proscription of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). It can no longer allow extremist groups the legal and physical space to operate from its territory," Payne said in a statement.

"These steps would make a substantial contribution to easing tensions and resolving the underlying causes of conflict," the Australian foreign minister Payne said.

Expressing concerns over the tensions between India and Pakistan after the February 14 terror attack in Pulwama, Payne said, "The Australian government is concerned about relations between India and Pakistan following the horrific terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 14 February, which Australia has condemned."

"Australia urges both sides to exercise restraint, avoid any action which would endanger peace and security in the region and engage in dialogue to ensure that these issues are resolved peacefully," she underlined.

Earlier today, India carried out airstrikes in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, destroying a major camp of JeM and eliminating a "large number" of terrorists, including top commanders, of the terror group which attacked a CRPF convoy in Pulwama on February 14.

In the swift operation, launched at around 3.30 am and completed within minutes, 12 Mirage-2000 fighter jets belonging to the IAF pounded the training centre, housing around 300 terrorists, in Balakot area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province with six bombs while SU-30 combat aircraft maintained air superiority to ward off any retaliation by the Pakistan Air Force, sources said.

The camp, located in a forest area atop a hill, was headed by JeM chief Masood Azhar's brother-in-law Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Gauri, who was involved in the 1999 hijack of Indian Airlines plane IC-814 and was on Interpol lookout notice since 2000.

The casualty figure of the terrorists is very high as the JeM had shifted its entire cadre to this camp from the launching pads along the Line of Control (LoC), fearing surgical strike-type response from India in the aftermath of Pulwama attack, sources said about first such action by India.

A large number of JeM terrorists, including top commanders, trainers and those terrorists who were to be the 'fidayeen' (suicide attackers) were eliminated in the "non-military" air strike, India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the media while officially disclosing information about the air strike, hours after the action.

Gokhale said the "pre-emptive" strike by India had become absolutely necessary as there was credible information that JeM was planning further attacks in this country.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Australia on Tuesday urged both India and Pakistan to exercise restraint following the airstrikes by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on a terror camp in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.

This came after India carried out air strikes deep inside Pakistan, destroying a major camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and eliminating a "large number" of terrorists, including top commanders, of the terror group which attacked CRPF convoy in Pulwama on February 14.

Amid heightened tensions between the two countries, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that Islamabad will respond to any "uncalled aggression" from New Delhi and warned India to be prepared for any "events of eventualities".

Responding to the development, Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in a statement, "Australia urges both sides to exercise restraint, avoid any action which would endanger peace and security in the region and engage in dialogue to ensure that these issues are resolved peacefully."

"The Australian government is concerned about relations between India and Pakistan following the horrific terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 14 February, which Australia has condemned," she added.

However, Payne urged Pakistan to take "urgent and meaningful action against terrorist groups in its territory, including JeM which has claimed responsibility for the February 14 bombing, and Lashkar-e-Taiba."

"Pakistan must do everything possible to implement its own proscription of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). It can no longer allow extremist groups the legal and physical space to operate from its territory," she said.

These steps would make a substantial contribution to easing tensions and resolving the underlying causes of conflict," Payne underlined.

Echoing similar sentiments, the European Union (EU), also urged both India and Pakistan to exercise restraint.

"We're following very closely the current developments between India and Pakistan. We remain in contact with both countries and what we believe is essential, is that all exercise maximum restraint and avoid further escalation of tensions, said EU spokesperson Maja Kocijancic.

In the swift operation, launched at around 3.30 am and completed within minutes, 12 Mirage-2000 fighter jets belonging to the IAF pounded the training centre, housing around 300 terrorists, in Balakot area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province with six bombs while SU-30 combat aircraft maintained air superiority to ward off any retaliation by the Pakistan Air Force, sources said.

The camp, located in a forest area atop a hill, was headed by JeM chief Masood Azhar's brother-in-law Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Gauri, who was involved in the 1999 hijack of Indian Airlines plane IC-814 and was on Interpol lookout notice since 2000.

The casualty figure of the terrorists is very high as the JeM had shifted its entire cadre to this camp from the launching pads along the Line of Control (LoC), fearing surgical strike-type response from India in the aftermath of Pulwama attack, sources said about first such action by India.

A large number of JeM terrorists, including top commanders, trainers and those terrorists who were to be the 'fidayeen' (suicide attackers) were eliminated in the "non-military" air strike, India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the media while officially disclosing information about the air strike, hours after the action.

Gokhale said the "pre-emptive" strike by India had become absolutely necessary as there was credible information that JeM, which recently carried out the terror attack in Pulwama, was planning further attacks in this country.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Apple Music is reportedly finding a new home in Google Home.

A MacRumors reader Jason, found the Apple Music listing within the Google Home app for iOS device. Although it is currently not live so as to support a Google Home device, but its presence indicates the rollout is evident.

The music streaming service had been exclusive to iOS devices, including the Apple Home smart speaker. The purported extension would mean the available on Google Home devices, in addition to the existing support for Amazon Echo speakers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In the wee hours of Tuesday, 12 Indian Air Force Mirage-2000 fighter entered Pakistani airspace and dropped 1,000-kg laser-guided bombs on Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camps across the Line of Control. The Mirage-2000 is the same aircraft that helped India win the Kargil war.

At 3:30 am on Tuesday, the Indian Air Force carried out multiple aerial strikes at terror launch pads in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, destroying control rooms of JeM and some other infrastructure.

The French company Dassault Aviation manufactured Indian Air Force Mirage-2000 fighter jets attacked Jaish-e-Mohammed hideout in Balakot with 1,000-kg laser-guided bombs.

Despite that India has several new-age fighter jets like the Sukhoi and MiG 29, it was again the Mirage-2000 jet which has proved that it is India's most versatile and deadliest aircraft. Besides the Jaguar, the Mirage-2000 is the only other IAF plane capable of delivering nuclear bombs.

It is worth Mentioning that Mirage had played a decisive role in the Kargil war, which was an armed conflict between India and Pakistan held from May to July 1999.

In 1982, India had placed an initial order of 36 single-seater Mirage-2000 and 4 twin-seater Mirage 2000. The fighter jet Mirage was first commissioned in 1985.

Raising a third squadron of the aircraft, the IAF bought ten more Mirage 2000s in 2004. All of the three squadrons are based in its air force base at Gwalior.

The Mirage-2000 is a single-engine delta-wing (triangle shaped) fighter jet and it can carry an impressive 14,000lbs of weapons. Earlier, the fighter jet was seen in action in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya etc.

The fighter jet Mirage-2000 has a maximum speed of Mach 2.2 and a combat range of nearly 1,000 miles. It has nine pylons on which it can carry a host of different advanced air-to-air, air-to-surface missiles and bombs, targeting pods, and external fuel tanks.

"India on Tuesday carried out air strikes at a massive Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, eliminating a "large number" of terrorists, including top commanders," Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said here in a press conference.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Kathmandu, Nepal: Central Committee meeting of the main opposition party Nepal Congress (NC) called for 11:00 am today has been posted until further notice, thanks to the interparty differences.

It is said that the meeting was postponed after two disgruntled factions-one led by senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel and Krishna Sitaula boycotted the Committee.

The disgruntle factions of the party has been expressing dissatisfaction over the discipline and election committees prepared by the establishment faction led by party president Sher Bahadur Deuba.
Donald Trumps second summit with Kim Jong Un gives the two leaders the chance to once again share the spotlight and demonstrate their mutual affection -- but not even the White House expects a breakthrough leading to Pyongyangs surrender of its nuclear arsenal.

The two sides havent even agreed on the meaning of denuclearization -- the ultimate purpose of the negotiations -- and that is unlikely to be resolved when the leaders meet in Hanoi this week. Trump is due to arrive in Vietnam on Tuesday, and will dine with Kim Wednesday evening after meetings with ...
The Academy Awards are known for following a script  in terms of not just the ceremonys narrative but quite often the winners themselves. Like most awards, the Oscars are preceded by speculations and calculated predictions, and the final results, with few exceptions, are hardly surprising. This years Oscars, though, deviated from the script in multiple ways.

The obvious difference was the absence of host. The Academy, presumably mindful of the goof-ups in the last host-less Oscars, didnt try anything flashy. The ceremony was straightforward, quiet and, ...
Uttar Pradesh, the top beneficiary of the PM Kisan minimum income guarantee scheme for small and marginal farmers, has also cornered the lions share of the total disbursals under the scheme, which was formally launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Gorakhpur on Sunday. Of the 10 million pan India beneficiaries, who received their first instalment of Rs 2,000 under the scheme, more than 4 million, or 40 per cent, belonged to UP alone.

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Digital Editor
HANOI, Feb 26: President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will likely be all smiles as they shake hands later this week in Hanoi for a meeting meant to put flesh on what many critics call their frustratingly vague first summit in Singapore. But behind the grins is a swirl of competing goals and fears.

In addition to the two main players, China, South Korea and Japan also have deep interests in what Trump and Kim can hammer out in Vietnam, including the biggest question of them all: Can the U.S. and North Korea agree on what the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula means  the wishy-washy language they settled on in Singapore  and, if so, can they create a successful framework that gets it done?

A look at the contending goals in a summit meant to settle the worlds most vexing nuclear standoff.

___

NORTH KOREA

If the U.S. position is fairly clear  ridding North Korea of as much of its nuclear program as possible  it is much less certain how much Kim is willing to relinquish of what his propaganda services call the nations treasured sword.

Kim is clearly doing something different than his dictator father and grandfather.

In addition to building a nuclear arsenal that commands world attention and working to ensure economic, military and personal security, hes also pushing to lift his nation from poverty.

To do that, he needs to find a way to ease crushing international sanctions so he can pursue engagement projects with South Korea, including two big-ticket ventures to reopen a jointly run industrial park and a tourist resort that once brought in as much as an estimated $150 million in cash every year.

North Korea also has pushed for a peace declaration ending the Korean War, which halted in 1953 with an armistice, not a peace treaty. North Korea may see this declaration, and an eventual peace treaty, as a way to eventually draw down U.S. forces in South Korea and allow the two Koreas to pursue the dream of reunification, on North Koreas terms.

North Korea has repeatedly insisted that denuclearization must be a two-way street: It will not be giving away its nukes cheaply.

Kim must also be convinced of an improvement in what he sees as an existential U.S. threat to his nations viability  tens of thousands of U.S. troops in South Korea and Japan and a huge array of military firepower meant to protect Washingtons allies.

Despite deep skepticism about Kims intentions, many North Korea nuclear experts suggest that even Kim himself may not know if he will give up his nuclear weapons.

The Hanoi summit is, in many ways, a test of what the North Korean leader will be willing to accept for sacrificing this ultimate security guarantee.

___

UNITED STATES

Trump savored the wall-to-wall coverage of his first summit with Kim last June. But hes under pressure to do better this time.

The U.S. president wants progress on denuclearization, even as he tries to keep expectations low, saying he has no pressing time schedule in mind.

At the Vietnam summit, the U.S. is likely to seek an agreement on how to start work on Kims previously reported statements that hes ready to dismantle his countrys plutonium and uranium enrichment facilities.

Trump wants Kim to formalize his offer to let international experts in to verify dismantling steps at North Koreas main rocket launch site and a nuclear testing site. Trump also would like to get back the remains of more Americans killed during the Korean War and to move toward a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Ultimately, the U.S. also wants an inventory of North Koreas nuclear and ballistic missile facilities, equipment and material, and then an agreed-upon process for destroying them in a way that can be verified. But no one expects the two sides to reach that point in Vietnam.

No matter what, Trump the showman wants to be seen as a strong leader on the world stage, leaving behind for a moment the rancor at home over his long-sought wall on the Mexican border and the multiplying investigations into his campaign and business dealings.

___

SOUTH KOREA

Seoul has prioritized stabilizing its bilateral relationship with North Korea amid the larger nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and the North. It now hopes the second Trump-Kim summit will provide an opportunity to restart inter-Korean economic projects held back by heavy U.S.-led sanctions against the North.

In a recent telephone conversation with Trump, South Koreas liberal president, Moon Jae-in, said Seoul was ready to restart joint economic projects with North Korea and asked Trump to consider offering them as incentives for the North to denuclearize when he meets Kim.

Moon, the son of North Korean war refugees, held three meetings with Kim last year and describes inter-Korean reconciliation as crucial for resolving the nuclear standoff. But the tough sanctions have limited the range of joint activities the two Koreas can undertake, with Washington encouraging its allies to maintain economic pressure on North Korea until it takes firmer steps toward denuclearization.

Some experts question whether Seouls expectations for sanctions relief for North Korea are realistic when Kim has yet to show hes willing to deal away his arsenal.

___

CHINA

For China, concerns about instability in North Korea, its ostensible communist ally, have long overridden worries about its nuclear arsenal. Beijing chiefly fears a collapse of the North Korean economy that could lead to armed conflict within the government and a potential flood of refugees streaming across the rivers that separate the neighbors.

China is North Koreas chief source of assistance and trade, and any movement toward sanctions relief would be warmly welcomed by its business community.

To preserve its interests, China has sought regular contact with Kim, hosting him for three visits since the announcement of the first round of talks last year. President Xi Jinping also met Kim informally in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian in what some in the United States saw at the time as an act of Chinese meddling ahead of the Singapore summit.

Xis meetings with Kim are more convincingly seen as an attempt to help guide the process while offering encouragement and ensuring that Chinas status as a key regional power broker remains intact.

___

JAPAN

Japan, which is still tormented by kidnappings of its citizens by North Korea decades ago and lies within easy striking distance of the Norths missiles, has long wanted a deal.

But not just any accord will do.

Theres worry about reports that Trump may seek an agreement that only partially targets North Koreas missile program  for example, that would scrap the Norths long-range nuclear missiles aimed at the United States and leave in place its shorter-range missiles.

Japan also doesnt want to be left behind as negotiations proceed. It is seen as a U.S. bulwark in the region, with tens of thousands of U.S. troops and their high-tech equipment stationed throughout the archipelago.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has repeatedly expressed hope that he can meet with Kim and, to make sure Japanese interests arent forgotten, has also worked hard to get close to Trump, so much so that Trump said Abe nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize, something Abe didnt deny.
The air strikes on Tuesday are significant, but also part of a larger process  including both military and diplomatic options  that will have to continue, said former Indian Air Force officials and defence experts. They said not only was there a possibility for a conventional retaliation by Pakistan, there might also be terror attacks.

India will also have to make its case to the international community. There are a whole range of essential actions we have to take. One cannot rest on this one air attack, said Air Chief Marshal (retired) Anil Tipnis, ...
State Bank of India, which leads the consortium of lenders for Jet Airways, has called an urgent meeting of its members on Wednesday to thrash out contentious issues between promoter Naresh Goyal and his joint venture partner Etihad Airways as well as resolve other matters with the banks. According to sources, top executives of both the companies are expected to come for the discussion.

It is believed that Goyal, as well as Etihad group Chief Executive Officer Tony Douglas, has been invited for the meeting. Etihad, according to sources, wants the size of the rights issue to ...
Ukrainian sailors take medical examination in detention - Ombudsman

 RAPSI

15:57 26/02/2019

MOSCOW, February 26 (RAPSI)  Three Ukrainian sailors wounded as they illegally crossed Russian borders received a complex medical examination in a civilian hospital, according to a statement published on the Russian Rights Commissioners website.

All three men are satisfied with the treatment they got, the statement reads.

Earlier, Russias Ombudsman Tatiana Moskalkova and Vice-President of the European Ombudsman Institute Nina Karpacheva had visited Ukrainian sailors in the detention center Lefortovo, where they discussed the possibility to treat the injured in civilian medical institutions of Moscow.

On November 25, Russian border guard officers had to engage a weapon to stop unwarranted maneuvers of three Ukrainian ships in Russias territorial waters in the area of Kerch Strait. The ships were seized while 24 crew members were arrested. Three sailors were wounded.

Simferopol and Kerch courts ruled the sailors be detained. On November 30, all of them were transferred to Moscow.

Russias High Commissioner for Human Rights Tatyana Moskalkova said in December that the sailors rights were not violated. Their rights were observed as required by international and Russian laws, Moskalkova told journalists at that time.
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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Digital Editor
The Supreme Court on Tuesday summoned former promoters of Fortis Group Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh to court and asked them to be present during the next hearing on March 14. The court observed it would like to hear the Singh brothers to know their explanation of the various undertakings they had given to Daiichi Sankyo and why they had not followed them.

The observations by the top court came in a petition moved by Daiichi Sankyo seeking to stop stake sale of Fortis Hospital to IHH Healthcare Berhad, Malaysia. On December 14, 2018, the top court had stayed the stake sale of ...
Bryan, OH (43506)

Today

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.
Russian Supreme Court upholds 10-year prison term for man intending to join ISIS

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

12:18 26/02/2019

MOSCOW, February 26 (RAPSI)  The Russian Supreme Court had upheld a 10-year term in a high security prison for Yavir Asvarov, a man who was going to join the Islamic State terrorist organization (ISIS) banned in Russia, RAPSI was told by the courts press-service on Tuesday.

Asvarov was found guilty of participating in terrorist activities although he never got a chance to leave for Syria as he planned. According to the Moscow District Military Court, the man got around to swear an oath to ISIS through Internet messengers.

Asvarav has come to St. Petersburg from Dagestan with his brothers, the case papers read. Investigators claimed that the defendant became interested in terrorism, explosive manufacturing, began to communicate with ISIS emissaries and was ready to leave for Syria, to a terrorist training camp.

He was arrested in last June and pleaded guilty immediately.
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City workers found a dead mans half-clothed body in the marshes alongside a Marine Park hiking trail on Saturday, police said.

Officers with the Department of Parks and Recreations Parks Enforcement Patrol found the man  whom cops have yet to identify  lying in an open muddy area off the meadows Salt Marsh Trail, which runs along the Gerritson Beachside of the green space near Avenue U and Burnett Street, authorities said.

The Parks Department patrolmen found the body shirtless, wearing only pants, according to a Police Department spokesman, who said the agency workers then notified cops about the body.

Officers from the 63rd Precinct and paramedics subsequently rushed to the park, and pronounced the man dead at the scene.

The citys Medical Examiner could not confirm the mans cause of death by press time on Monday evening, according to a spokeswoman, and authorities investigation remains ongoing, officials said.
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A blasphemous bandit stole and damaged a beloved statue from inside a Park Slope church, according to cops, who said police are investigating the incident as a hate crime.

The sacrilegious snake swiped the statue of Our Lady of Cisne  a Catholic Marian icon native to the Loja province of Ecuador  from Ninth Streets St. Thomas Aquinas Church on Feb. 20, devastating parishioners who said their daily prayers before the monument, according to the house of worships parish administrator.

Its a part of who they are, a lot of them come every single morning to pay homage to our lady and pray in front of this statue, said Fr. Willy Ndi. To come and not be able to do that, something theyve done for years and years, its heartbreaking.

The thief entered through the churchs main entrance at 11:10 am, and emerged with the three-foot-tall statue just three minutes later, suggesting the suspect knew his way around the holy house near Fourth Avenue, according to Ndi.

He certainly knew the place and he was quite comfortable, very calm, the priest said.

The vandal then crossed Fourth Avenue, before tossing the shrine in a garbage can near an entrance to the Fourth Avenue-Ninth Street station, breaking off the figurines hand that held the baby Jesus, and insulting parishioners and all local Catholics in the process, according to Ndi.

The statue of our mother being placed in a garbage can, its insulting, he said. It is really sad.

Church leaders plan to repair or replace the statue in due time, but will let the investigation led by officers in the Police Departments Hate Crimes Task Force run its course before making any decisions, according to the parish priest, who said clergy wont display the statue in the meantime.

Cops, who have yet to identify a suspect, said the burglar was last seen wearing a black jacket, blue jeans, and white sneakers.

And the recent incident wasnt the first time a vandal targeted the churchs Our Lady of Cisne statue  another goon nabbed, dumped, and damaged the shrine weeks earlier, on Jan. 26, Ndi said.

St. Thomas Aquinas leaders did not report that theft, however, only contacting police after the second incident, according to the priest, who said he could not provide more detail about the earlier theft because he transferred to the Park Slope church from a Cobble Hill parish on Feb. 1.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPDs Crime Stoppers hotline at (800) 577-8477. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, on Twitter @NYPDTips, or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

Reach reporter Colin Mixson at cmixs on@cn gloca l.com or by calling (718) 260-4505.
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Local pols must pump the brakes on their renewed calls to again split R-train service between Brooklyn and Manhattan, because another bifurcation would mean longer commutes for many straphangers, and do nothing to improve the core problems plaguing the beleaguered line, according to riders.

I work in Manhattan as a personal assistant, so I take the R over five times a week, carrying bags and notebooks, said Brooklyn Heights resident Sofia Lecho. It would be extremely inconvenient on my daily commute to split the train up.

A quartet of Southern Brooklyn officials including Rep. Max Rose (DBay Ridge), state Sen. Andrew Gounardes (DBay Ridge), Assemblywoman Mathylde Frontus (DConey Island), and Councilman Justin Brannan (DBay Ridge) on Feb. 15 sent a letter to Metropolitan Transportation Authority bigwig Andy Byford  who oversees the state-run agencys local arm, the New York City Transit Authority  demanding he look into ceasing interborough R train service like transit leaders did for several months following superstorm Sandy.

Between August 2013 and September 2014, local R trains terminated at Downtowns Court Street station, where on weekdays Manhattan-bound straphangers could freely transfer to 4 or 5 trains to continue on to the distant isle, and on weekends could take R trains following the N line over the Manhattan Bridge and into the outer borough, as workers shored up the R lines East Riverspanning Montague Street tunnel.

Many riders at the time told this newspaper that the change in service brought newer subway cars to the line and faster travel times for Kings County commuters.

But after news of the proposed second split broke, other straphangers took to Twitter to blast the pols, with one suggesting the foursome instead advocate to improve service on existing express-bus lines to Manhattan, and others pointing out logistical concerns surrounding a second bifurcation, such as Court Street stations lack of accessible entries for disabled persons, and that the plan could result in more crowding and train delays at other Southern Brooklyn stations.

The critics included one Bay Ridgebased rider, who wondered why the quartet returned to a scheme that officials only adopted in the wake of a rare, and extremely devastating circumstance.

The solution to fixing the R train should not be to revert to something that was implemented as a result of a natural disaster, tweeted Bay Ridgite David Troise.

And another commuter, who said she did not want to relive the ordeal of her extra-long rides from Bay Ridge into Manhattan, questioned how many of the pols who signed the letter actually rode the train during the first bout of split service.

Commuting during the Montague tunnel shutdown was worse than what were dealing with now, Nancy Ford tweeted. Which of these four representatives made that commute everyday?

A rep for Brannan said he rode the bifurcated R train into Manhattan three times per week back then, while working for former Councilman Vincent Gentile. But reps for Gounardes and Frontus said their bosses did not regularly take the train to the distant isle at the time, because Gounardes was working for Borough President Adams, and Frontus was running a local do-good group, Urban Neighborhood Services, within walking distance of her Coney Island home.

A spokesman for Rose  who authored the letter to Byford  did not immediately reply when asked about how often the freshman Congressman took the R train into Manhattan during the post-Sandy repairs, but previously pointed to Roses Feb. 20 tweet when asked for a comment on locals objections to the proposal.

The R train is a nightmare, plain and simple, Rose tweeted. @JustinBrannan @agounardes @FrontusforNY and I want to consider anything and everything to make it work better for our constituents. Its time to think outside of the box.

Not all R riders panned the call for another Southern secession, however. One Ridgite agreed with Rose, saying the line needs a quick fix while straphangers wait for longer-term improvements  which wont come for at least a decade, since Byfords $40-billion so-called Fast Forward Plan to shore up the beleaguered transit system is not fully funded, notes that signal upgrades will not be made along the R line for at least five years, and even then will not extend south of Downtowns DeKalb Avenue station.

Im interested in this idea because its something, tweeted Nicole DAndrea. Were not getting new signals for 10-plus years, and so we need to try something to make the R better. Because we cannot keep living like this for ten more years.
IP court upholds cancellation of legal protection of brand similar to Red Bull trademark

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

10:57 26/02/2019

MOSCOW, February 26 (RAPSI)  The Intellectual Property Court (IP Court) has upheld a ruling of Russias Patent Agency (Rospatent) cancelling the legal protection of Korean company BullsOne Co., Ltd. trademark on demand of Red Bull GmbH, according to court records.

The Korean company challenged the Rospatent decision of July 25, 2018. At that time the patent watchdog invalidated the legal protection of the trademark depicting a red bull, which was registered by the International Bureau of World Intellectual Property Organization in 2011, saying it misguided consumer as to the origin of the companys products.

The Rospatent ruled that Red Bull energy drinks trademark was protected in Russia, and although Red Bull GmbH and BullsOne used somewhat different images for non-overlapping categories of products, the Korean brand was still confusingly similar to the Austrian producers trademark in the eyes of consumers.
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Founder and CEO of Blue Wealth Property Dr Tony Hayek, urges brokers to step away from distractions in the market.

LIVING in the information age isnt all its cracked up to be.

At a time when information is commoditised, distorted and pushed to audiences through a plethora of connected devices, its hard to keep your head above water, let alone distil fact from fiction. Although there is more information available than ever before, people are increasingly wary of trusting it  and when they do, it brings conflicting narratives that compromise the ability to make decisions. This paradox is officially known as information overload.

The term was coined in 1964 by Professor Bertram Gross, but its more relevant today than ever before.

When information overload occurs, it is likely that a reduction in decision quality will also occur, Gross wrote.

The fallout cascades throughout daily life and, according to founder and CEO of Blue Wealth Property Dr Tony Hayek, it has given an unprecedented edge to the property cycles current phase. I think the intensity of the feelings around this property cycle has been driven by the availability of information, Hayek says.

Everyone has a social media feed.

Your smartphone is notifying you about the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald and a disastrous article about the property industry.

Its a much more difficult environment in which to form a clear and concise opinion and stick with it.

In terms of economics, the last property cycle  which peaked in pre-social-media 2004  is echoed in todays cycle, and Hayek says the usual scenario is to experience three to four years of strong growth, up to 18 months of correction and stabilisation, and a handful of years of stagnation. Theres nothing unusual this time, but the one key factor that is different about this cycle is the availability of information. You used to have to go looking for it. Now it finds you, he says.

While that information includes an overwhelming wave of negative sentiment around the property market, over recent weeks brokers, too, have found their interests volleyed across the media, again intensifying an already-complex situation.

Add to this the potential for the industry to be used to score political points in the impending election, and the distractions soon add up.

We all need to give clients clarity around why they should buy an investment property when the media is telling them not to Dr Tony Hayek, founder and CEO, Blue Wealth Property

There needs to be some real focus. Never in the entire history of the broker channel has there ever been as much noise as there is now, Hayek says.

Back to school

Focus isnt just a skill for brokers to hone; its Blue Wealths theme for the coming year.

Now that its training and education program is established, a full agenda of events is scheduled for the coming months, with more to come.

These cover the Insurance Masterclass, Boot Camp  the highest-level course  and a new Masterclass Mechanics focused on the key skills needed to run a business, ranging from time management to client goal-setting (see page 2 for dates).

In Hayeks words, the courses teach the things that brokers should know but dont know.

He reports a 5060% increase in attendance at Blue Wealths training seminars in 2018, fuelled in part by the firms proactive expansion activities and by brokers desire to tap a new and extensive client base.

What we found was a hunger from brokers for new knowledge, Hayek says.

I think one of the skills that has become underrated over the last few years is just basic human communication skills, basic sales skills, your ability to communicate your message clearly to your customer and explain whats in it for them. We have lost sight of that.

In the new environment, training attendance figures are likely to increase again as brokers look to diversify their portfolios of client solutions.

Although aggregator training plays an important role, Hayek says theres a secret to success.

If you want to diversify, learn from the organisations that youre diversifying with.

I think one of the things about the aggregators is that a lot of them are delivering very similar information and training programs. Quite often brokers get a different perspective on the client, environment and pitch from an organisation that does things a little bit differently, he says.

Eyes on the prize

In going back to basics in their professional skill set, Blue Wealths network of brokers will have a new tool at their disposal  a market-first calculator to help their clients visualise the financial benefits of property investment. Developed by Blue Wealth for exclusive use by its broker network, the calculator incorporates the balance of any existing home loan and investment interests and applies a modest level of growth in order to generate a date for when the investment property will have paid off the home loan. Its absolutely brilliant, Hayek says.

The intensity of the feelings around this property cycle has been driven by the availability of information Dr Tony Hayek, founder and CEO, Blue Wealth Property

It was created to help brokers find solutions for their clients. The great Australian dream is to pay off the home loan, and we believe investing in property is a great way to build wealth. We all need to give clients clarity around why they should buy an investment property when the media is telling them not to. They want to know, whats the end game? Whats the big picture? For the housing market, the big picture remains a blurry apparition with a lot of dark clouds.

Steadfastly objective in his outlook, Hayek is quick to draw on his own advice, applying focus and perspective to his observations of recent trends.

I think its very important to find a way to get some perspective, because when the media talks about places like Sydney and Melbourne losing up to 15% on the back of gains of 75% and 80%, its really easy to lose that perspective, he says.

Assuming the credit outlook will bring more of the same muted activity that was seen in 2018, Hayek expects there may be more regulatory intervention on the cards.

We expect there will be some relaxation of policies similar to the lending cap threshold last year, which was a small sign of change. I think those signs will continue throughout this year, he says. After a strong 2018, during which Blue Wealth saw hundreds of clients settle despite the market conditions, Hayek is confident about keeping the pace.

However, for brokers a number of unknowns remain on the horizon, meaning that focus will be paramount over the coming months, along with diversification and book building.

Times like these present the greatest opportunity, Hayek says. When it comes to transacting well-negotiated property deals, these are the markets that you find them in.
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More than 1,000 franchisee brokers will be able to leverage a suite of new marketing and advertising materials later this year thanks to a new, multimillion-dollar brand campaign.

Aussie Home Loans, which operates more than 220 retail stores across Australia, has enlisted the services of a new creative partner CHE proximity, to devise and deliver a large-scale brand campaign.

CHEP will manage Aussies brand, communications and design remit as well as broker-to-customer marketing, to ensure the Aussie message is effectively delivered across pivotal customer touchpoints. The campaign is scheduled to launch in late 2019.

Were so confident about the future of mortgage broking and the longevity of our business that we have big plans for our brand, said Aussies chief customer officer David Smith.

We need a smart, proactive and relentless agency partner to help bring our vision to life, and CHEP has proven themselves to be that partner, he added.

Billed as a full-service creative agency, CHEP has delivered campaigns for Virgin Australias Velocity Frequent Flyer, Swann Insurance and Latitude Financial, among others.

Theres no doubt the mortgage broking industry is experiencing a pretty turbulent time, however its during challenging times that Aussie really stands tall, Smith added.
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Small Business Ombudsman celebrates female entrepreneurs on World MSME Day The Small Business Ombudsman has offered advice on helping women access finance

HSBC talks to Aussie Home Loan's franchisee brokers about the service proposition of non-major lenders

Among consumers, how strong is HSBCs brand recognition for mortgage products?

Peter Corta: Where I am in Brisbane, it really depends on the demographic. People who dont have a lot of experience with banking havent much recognition of HSBC, but for those who have travelled or lived overseas the brand is well and truly in their minds. Most people tend to know the big four and maybe one or two others.

Sana Hosseini: We are in inner Melbourne and find that our customers are mostly young professionals who are well travelled and know HSBC. In my regional store, we do more to introduce HSBC.

Olivia Lane: Im based in Sydney and many of the people we deal with are professionals who travel often. The others are expatriates, are aware of HSBC and may even hold an account with them in their home country.

Reema Katrib: I have a lot of customers in Sydneys eastern suburbs, and they are all savvy enough to do a lot of online research before meeting with me, so by the time I get there they often know what HSBC is offering. Those clients are rate driven because of the loan size. I also find a lot of my customers like the fact that, with HSBC, they can go to different countries and still use the same bank.

As brokers, how have you been able to leverage HSBCs international brand presence to diversify from straightforward residential lending and work with foreign investors, visa holders, Australians with international jobs, etc?

Peter: It has been phenomenal for me. I work with Australians living overseas, and having HSBC has just made that so much easier. Some bank with HSBC already as Premier account clients, so as soon as I mention the brand theyre on board. And aside from rate, their international reach is the biggest draw for my clients.

Reema: I have a few customers who hold a Premier account. It offers the full package  overseas branches, easy access to funds, and visas havent been a barrier.

When things go wrong, it doesnt matter who is actually at fault; in the eyes of the customer the broker gets the blame Olivia Lane, Aussie broker, Sydney, NSW

Olivia: The brand recognition is really great. HSBC is familiar with foreign income and will work with us and our borrowers to ensure weve lent them all we can.

As the non-majors continue to enjoy a record market share, what do you consider to be their role in helping brokers to build their businesses?

Peter: Its about proposition and service. Consistency between assessors is also vital. I guarantee that I can put a deal into As we have found regulators becoming more particular, lenders are moving into niches based on their risk appetite and how they want to do business, so a wider choice of lenders is even more important.

Reema: A non-major bank provides customers with more options.

The rate is important, too. Clients often show me a rate they found with an online comparison site and expect to be able to get it in real life.

Peter: Anyone can calculate their borrowing capacity online. They come to you with a number, and most of the time you have to disappoint them because that figure is so inflated. There will always be a place for brokers because of the personal touch, the thorough approach and the ease of what we offer. We are in a service industry and there will always be a place for that.

Reema: Also, with online and DIY loans, the customer speaks to someone different every time. Brokers come to know a lot about their customer over the course of the application  their work, family, dependants  and thats where your word-of-mouth referrals come from.

When you build rapport, you become friends with clients. Sana: One thing I see frequently is clients calling me when they are about to change jobs, and they will say, Were looking to buy something in six months and I have been offered a better position with another company. This is the pay, but Im a bit worried because I want to buy X. Can you run the figures for me and let me know? So in a way we tell them yes, you can change jobs due to lender policies.

Because lending has tightened, it has now become a deciding factor for career opportunities, not just what kind of loan can I afford on this salary?

Reema: The services of a broker are comparable to those of a personal banker. Peter: Explaining to the customer that you arent affiliated to any lender also helps. A lot of people dont understand the broker model, often questioning what our services cost them.

How can lenders with branch and broker distribution safeguard their broker partners against channel conflict?

Mark Brennan: At HSBC were about customer choice. The channel our customers choose to access their mortgage is largely determined by the service they get and the experience they have.

From our point of view, we dont differentiate between channels, and we dont want channel conflict. We have an established proprietary network, a call centre, and now we have brokers too.

The price we offer is available through each channel.

Sana: From a general industry view, when I first started broking the retail side was more protected, but now as the volumes are changing and brokers are driving more business to lenders, a lot of these conflicts are being smoothed over much quicker because the lenders realise the value of having brokers.

Alice Del Vecchio: It also helps that our broker support centre in Sydney acts like a virtual branch. Thats probably part of why the relationship between the channels we have works so well.

HSBC reduced its rates in 2018 at the same time that some of the majors were hiking theirs. What has this meant for market dynamics and competition?

Peter: The HSBC rates are unbeatable in the marketplace and the best on offer by far, so its a good product.

Reema: At the end of the day it is the customers choice which loan they take, but HSBC comes out on top every time because of their rate offers. Im doing some good loan sizes, so customers want to fix their rates and the fixed rates are just as good.

Sana: Mix it with a low-value variable and no fees, or with the Premier pack for those that need it, and HSBC has become a great option for our customers.

Reema: I did an expo recently, and a lot of the people there were concerned about what the upcoming election would mean for rates.

They were asking me to show them the best rate for various outcomes, and when I did, they couldnt believe the cost per month that was possible with HSBC.

Its little things like that  the repayments, the ongoing cost of having the loan. Even if they have 27 years remaining, the HSBC rate is still lower.

For my clients its proven to be very competitive and often comes out on top.

Sana: Having non-major banks on our panel means the big banks need to work for the business they get, and consumers are the winners.

Peter: And when they cant always compete on price they will give a rebate, or frequent flyer points. There is a major push on those soft benefits at the moment.

Reema: I see customers who arent interested in non-major banks from the outset, but I show them the figures and suddenly they can see the difference. With HSBC, the global presence gives them confidence.

Olivia: My customers are quite conservative when it comes to rates. They often have multiple direct debits and outgoings, so to come up with an attractive rate is a big advantage.

Additionally, many of my customers are expats or frequent business travellers, so they have heard of HSBC and have confidence in the brand.

The channel our customers choose to access their mortgage is largely determined by the service they get and the experience they have Mark Brennan, head of broker partnerships, HSBC Australia

Often, Ill do a comparison to demonstrate. For example, if youre borrowing $100,000 to $200,000, the difference between five or 10 points is nominal, but if youre talking $800,000 to $1m, that difference becomes huge.

As a product, it just makes sense, and its an easy application process, too.

How do HSBCs BDMs support all of this?

Peter: When it comes to keeping brokers happy a good BDM makes a big difference.

They drive the business.

The BDM I work with is prompt, knows the business and how to source answers and is very proactive.

Thats what you want; when you are trying to grow a business that support is important.

Olivia: When things go wrong, it doesnt matter who is actually at fault; in the eyes of the customer the broker gets the blame. So to have the support of a good BDM is brilliant. To have someone at the end of the phone, and to know you can get things done, makes a difference; just to be able to pull some strings and have support when you need something. Availability and assessment time are also important. People get excited, and they want their loan approved yesterday.

Sana: Having the assessors call you makes a difference, too. They quickly check an expense or a deposit, and the deal continues through the process. Some lenders are very protective of that direct contact with their assessors, so instead of a two-minute phone call it goes back in the queue and the process becomes longer.

Alice: As a brand, we pride ourselves on customer relationships and service.

From the partnership manager to the broker care team and the credit department, its all about how we make sure the customer is served. It was a conscious decision to recruit highly experienced people to our BDM roles.

We spent a lot of time recruiting and we interviewed a lot of people.

Its really about overall credit knowledge, operations and end-to-end service, not just credit policy.

What traits did HSBC look for when recruiting its BDMs?

Alice: We looked for industry knowledge, and we believe that if someone is stepping into this role they need to understand what its like to be in the brokers shoes, including the pressure and time constraints brokers work to. Experience, knowledge and being really good with people are all very important, and a good BDM also has to be firm but fair when required. If we really cant do something or dont have an appetite for it, they are encouraged to say that from the outset. They really go in hard to fight for the deal internally if they believe in it, and you may not always see that elsewhere. Its a healthy conversation and its about the right decision and the right outcome. They know you, and they know the quality of the business being delivered.

Mark: A lot of people who applied for BDM roles wanted to be part of something new, and they demonstrated a great level of passion to be involved in HSBCs journey. Another thing is that we look for people who can support the brokers. At the end of the day, brokers are running a business, and its about helping them to help their customers outcomes.

The broking industry is facing many changes at the moment. How should brokers continue to connect with their clients after settlement?

Olivia: It depends on the individual client. I deal with a lot of mums in my area, and they are very active on social media, so thats one point of contact.

I also see them out and about, or our kids are at the same school, so we have a strong rapport there, too. Then there are the traditional follow-ups.

We always keep in contact to make sure they cant get a better deal elsewhere.

Experience, knowledge and being really good with people are all very important, and a good BDM also has to be firm but fair when required Alice Del Vecchio, head of mortgages and third party distribution, HSBC Australia

Mark: Brokers play many roles, but one is to disseminate lender information to the community, and no level of branding, advertising or marketing could ever do that as effectively.

Regardless of what happens in terms of the industry, the rise in online lenders, or digital broker tools, there will always be an appetite from people who just want someone to hold their hand.

It all comes back to the original proposition: why do we have brokers? Because a lot of organisations have lost that personal element, and there was a gap in the market between the borrowing public and the lenders.

Reema: I like to educate my customers. I find that when you do that they really appreciate the difference a broker can bring, and they trust you. I explain the servicing rate; I show them the impact of adding an extra $500 per month to their repayments. When you take time to explain and demonstrate that youre showing a bit of compassion, they connect with you and they know that youre genuine and you want to help them.

Sana: It all feeds into how we generate repeat business. We keep in touch with their first loan, then after a few years when they have built up some equity, they come back and want to do it all again.
Earlier in the day, Pence addressed the group, asking it to seize Venezuela's oil assets and hand them over to Guaido's representatives. He also asked the region to revoke visas of Maduro officials. While Colombia, Canada and Panama have rolled out sanctions, others in the region have not. Loading "There can be no bystanders in Venezuela's struggle for freedom," Pence said. Meanwhile, the group also said it had received credible reports that Guaido's life was in danger and warned Maduro's regime that there would be serious consequences if anything happened to him or his family. Trujillo said Maduro would be "held responsible for any violent action against Guaido, against his wife or against his family, which would not be just another crime". He added that any violence against the interim president would force the Lima Group "to act collectively" in response.

Venezuelans cross into Colombia illegally near the Simon Bolivar International Bridge in La Parada on Monday. Credit:AP While the Lima Group agreed to recognise Guaido's representatives according to each nation's "internal procedures" there were no concrete actions specified in the statement. The United States has already slapped sanctions on more than 50 current and former Venezuelan officials, including Maduro. And in January, Washington essentially blocked Venezuelan oil exports, funneling most oil revenue to escrow accounts until Guaido effectively takes control. On Monday, the US Treasury Department imposed more sanctions on four governors who back Maduro. Loading The high-profile meeting comes after Maduro shocked many in the international community over the weekend by using force to stop the delivery of humanitarian aid from Colombia and Brazil. The ensuing clashes left hundreds injured and a handful dead, mainly in an indigenous community in southern Venezuela. Reports of up to 25 dead in a border town have not been confirmed.

Pence said Washington was undeterred and would continue positioning aid depots in the region for the day when the help could be delivered. He also pledged $US56 million ($78 million) - in addition to the estimated $140 million already spent - to support countries that have been receiving Venezuelan migrants. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores acknowledge supporters at the end of a rally in Caracas. Credit:AP Guaido, Maduro's 35-year-old political challenger, addressed the Lima Group for the first time on Monday. He asked for a minute of silence to honour the dead and then urged member states to take on Maduro, who he said represented a threat to the region. "Today, the Maduro regime thinks that blocking humanitarian aid was a victory, they are dancing in Caracas on the graves of indigenous people," Guaido said. "They think that by normalising the crisis they can hold on to power." Maduro has suggested the aid - much of it donated by the United States and transported to Colombia on US military aircraft - is part of a larger plot to topple his administration. He has also blamed the country's economic woes, including food and medicine shortages, on US sanctions and an "economic blockade".

Guaido said the weekend's events, where the world watched aid trucks blocked at the border and then torched, proved Maduro's lie. "The world knows who's putting up the obstacles to a peaceful and democratic transition for Venezuela," he said. He also accused the government of relying on paramilitary groups, Colombian guerrillas and gangs of convicts to repress the Venezuelan people, saying Maduro had turned the country into a "sanctuary" for terrorists. In an impassioned speech that received a standing ovation, Guaido said the bloc needed to send a strong message, suggesting that if member nations had reacted more forcefully in 2015, when Maduro neutered the opposition-led congress, or in 2017, when negotiations broke down, that lives could have been saved this weekend. Martinez said the group should keep pushing for a negotiated solution to the crisis - but that those negotiations must focus on Maduro stepping down and the calling of "free, fair and just elections."

"We don't want to waste our time with meetings that have no clear goals," he said. Venezuela has been marred in political turmoil since January 23, when Guaido, as the head of congress, said it was his constitutional duty to assume the presidency after Maduro stayed in power through fraudulent elections. More than 50 countries, including most of Latin America and a large part of Europe, recognise Guaido as president. Russia, China and Cuba are among the countries that don't. Maduro says the US and the Lima Group are engaged in an illegal attempt to topple his administration, and that he has the right to rule through 2025. Pence and President Donald Trump have said that won't happen. On Monday, Pence once again, suggested that Maduro's days were numbered. "What brings us together today is the recognition, by all the nations gathered here, that Nicolas Maduro is a usurper with no legitimate claim to power, and Nicolas Maduro must go," he said.
Brasilia: Brazil's new right-wing government requested has requested that schools film their students singing the national anthem and that a message including President Jair Bolsonaro's campaign slogan be read aloud to classes.

Education Minister Ricardo Velez Rodriguez sent an email to schools requesting that teachers submit videos to the Special Ministry of Social Communications of the readings and singing, according to a statement from the Education Ministry.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, centre, has vowed to eliminate "leftist influences" in schools. Credit:Bloomberg

"Brazilians! Let us greet new times in Brazil and celebrate responsible and quality education being developed in our schools by teachers, for the benefits of you, the students, who constitute the new generation," the message to be read aloud says.

The message concludes with "Brazil above everything, God above everyone," Bolsonaro's campaign slogan.
The cautious response from the Vatican is in contrast to the strong words of Pope Francis at the weekend summit on child abuse at the Vatican, where he said every abuse was an " atrocity" and "in people's justified anger, the Church sees the reflection of the wrath of God. It is our duty to listen attentively to this silent cry." Loading Veteran Vatican watcher Valentina Alazraki said it was not a good look for the Vatican to be seen to take so little action on Pell so soon after the Vatican child abuse summit. "But they have always respected the civil law, and the principle you are guilty only at the end of the process, you are innocent until the last, they lay everything on this principle," she said. A Church source in Rome said Pell had been a "divisive" figure in the Vatican, and there would be some who welcomed the verdict.

"Hes a head kicker and his style put a lot of noses out of joint," the source said. "Italians in the Curia [the church bureaucracy] especially didnt appreciate his comments on corruption that basically implied all Italians were crooks." Pell's fate had been an unofficial topic of discussion among senior church leaders at the weekend's summit on child abuse, called by Pope Francis. The source said, however, it was "not hugely discussed" as the verdict had become widely known in December. Instead, most were interested to find out what Pell had been doing since the verdict came down, what his plans were for an appeal, and his state of health. Pope Francis kneels in confession during a penitential liturgy in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. Credit:AP Alazraki predicted that if Pell loses his legal appeals he will be 'defrocked'  dismissed from the clergy  as happened earlier in February to former US cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

"I don't see any kind of difference," she said. "This would have to be the principle." Alazraki has been the Vatican correspondent for Mexico's Noticieros Televisa since 1974, covering five popes (and was said to be particularly close to John Paul II). On the weekend, Alazraki addressed the world's senior bishops at the Vatican abuse summit, telling them journalists would be "your worst enemies" if they did not "decide in a radical way to be on the side of the children". Loading "You know better than I that abuses have been covered up systematically, from the ground up," she said. "My sensation is that within the Church there is still more resistance to recognising that the problem of abuse exists and it is imperative to address it with all the instruments possible.

"The more you cover up, the more you play the ostrich, fail to inform the mass media and thus, the faithful and public opinion, the greater the scandal will be," she said, in a speech that the Vatican was shown beforehand but did not ask for any changes to. "The faithful do not forgive the lack of transparency, because it is a new assault on the victims Abuses against minors are neither rumours nor gossip: they are crimes. Loading On Tuesday, Alazraki said there were "a lot of words and not many concrete results" from the summit, but she conceded three days was too short a time to make significant changes to church policy. "It was important for them to gather and understand that it was a global problem," she said. "I think we have to wait a little bit to see if they will make a follow-up. I think we have to give them some  but not much  time."

Ed Pentin, an experienced Vatican reporter for the National Catholic Register, said he expected Pell's lawyers had comunicated to the Vatican their confidence that they would win on appeal. "As the appeal hearing is fairly soon, it's possible the Pope will wait until that's over before deciding what to do," he said. "It's really hard to say though, as all of this is uncharted territory for the Vatican." Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video The Pope was spared the decision as to whether to remove Pell from his powerful post as the Vatican's chief financial officer and corruption watchdog, on the Secretariat for the Economy, as his five-year tenure naturally expired on Sunday. He had been on leave from the position for more than a year before then. In October 2018 Pell was removed from the influential Council of Cardinals, or the Group of Nine (C-9) , an inner circle of the churchs most senior figures appointed in 2013 to advise the Pope on church reform.
Hanoi: The bar for success in talks between North Korea's Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump on Thursday may be as low as breaking the stalemate that set in after the historic Singapore summit between the two men last June.

Trump critics have warned progress in the Hanoi meeting may come only because the White House has lowered its demands of what North Korea must do in return for the US easing crippling economic sanctions. Another hoped-for outcome is a declaration that the Korean War is over.

Kim and Trump are due to meet for 20 minutes at the historic Metropole Hotel on Wednesday evening, at around 10.30pm Australian time. They are to be joined by a small group of aides for a "social" dinner afterwards. Negotiations then kick off in earnest on Thursday.

But White House officials have been lowering expectations that a deal to achieve complete denuclearisation can be signed this week.
Mandatory reporting laws may deter Queensland doctors from seeking help for drug and alcohol issues, the medical profession argues.

Health Minister Steven Miles said a bill, passed on Tuesday, would make it clear a doctor was only required to report a fellow medico was under their care if that patient's impairment could not be managed with treatment and was placing the public at substantial risk of harm.

Queensland Health Minister Steve Miles. Credit:Darren England/AAP

"By encouraging practitioners to seek help to manage their health issues, the bill will promote better and safer care for both practitioners and their patients," he said.

National mandatory reporting laws have been in place since 2010, with practitioners required to report their doctor-patients to regulators if they placed the public at risk.
If you actually think the arrival of the ninth future frigate in the 2030s will somehow guarantee our future security, you really havent been paying attention.

About 500BC the philosopher Heraclitus looked around and realised the water running lightly down the streams of the lightly forested Anatolian slopes was constantly changing. You could never step in (exactly) the same river twice. Change is the only constant. If the water finds its path in one direction blocked, itll simply back up until it finds some other way to flow downhill.

Naval Group Australia CEO John Davies, Minister for Defence Christopher Pyne and ASC CEO Stuart Whiley sign a working agreement for Australia's future submarines project. Credit:AAP

Similar challenges face anyone planning to defend Australia. New technologies render those of the past obsolete at an ever increasing rate. The technical hardware around which the forces are structured is already, similarly, plunging into obsolescence.

A separate, but concurrent threat is the emergence of entirely new forms of war. Cyber, space and media conflicts are equally implicated in upending the established order that has been our friend for so long.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will order a royal commission into horrific allegations of abuse against people with disability in what will be the sixth judicial probe in Australia in as many years.

In a letter to the nation's premiers and chief ministers, Mr Morrison for the first time confirmed he believes a joint royal commission is the best way to get to the bottom of allegations about the treatment of people with disability.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has told state leaders he wants a royal commission. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

"I think we can all agree that violence, abuse and neglect of people with disability is abhorrent and that we should be doing all we can to ensure a safe and secure Australia," Mr Morrison wrote.

"It is crucial that all governments work closely and collaboratively to ensure a holistic response to this issue. Accordingly, I am now seeking your in-principle agreement for the establishment of a joint royal commission and the most appropriate consultation pathways to progress this important matter."
Moscow court upholds detention of ex-head of Vostochny bank in Baring Vostok case

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

17:38 26/02/2019

MOSCOW, February 26 (RAPSI)  The Moscow City Court has upheld the detention of ex- chairman of Vostochny bank board Alexey Kordichev charged in a 2.5-billion-ruble (about $40 million) embezzlement case, RAPSI correspondent reports from the courtroom on Tuesday.

The court ruled Kordichev is to stay in detention until April 13, as it had been decided by the Moscow Basmanny District Court earlier.

During the hearing a representative of the embezzlement victim, a shareholder in Vostochny bank, insisted Kordichev committed the alleged crime under the pressure of the Baring Vostok investment company.

Earlier in the day the court has upheld the detention of yet another defendant in the Baring Vostok case, Vagan Abgaryan, a partner of the company.

Both Kordichev and Abgaryan stay charged with especially serious fraud.

On February 16, Moscows Basmanny District Court ordered detention of the founder of Baring Vostok investment company, U.S. citizen Michael Calvey, until April 13. The court refused to release Baring Vostok founder on a 5-million-ruble bail or put under house arrest despite his willingness to cooperate with investigators.

On February 15, the court detained for two months five other suspects including Baring Vostok Industry Partner for the financial industry sector, French citizen Philippe Delpal, the companys partners Vagan Abgaryan, Baring Vostok Investment Director Ivan Zyuzin, Maxim Vladimirov and ex- chairman of Vostochny bank board Alexey Kordichev. Delpal pleaded not guilty in court and refused to cooperate with investigators.

According to investigation, Calvey knowing about a 2.5-billion-ruble debt of the First Collector Bureau, a firm under his control, has organized the sale of its shares to Vostochny bank that has led to embezzlement.

The Investigative Committee claims that the suspect committed a crime that could not be classified as business crime because he used a chain of sham companies settling the deal. Moreover, investigators say they have a PricewaterhouseCoopers audit report on the done deal estimating the sold shares at 600,000 rubles, which indicates an instance of fraud.

Calvey denies allegations insisting that the deal was fair as both companies agreed its terms and stood for it, including a person reporting an alleged crime to law enforcement bodies. He noted that a report has been filed with police by a member of Vostochny bank board of directors Sherzod Yusupov. According to Calvey, the real reason of his prosecution is a wide corporate dispute related to the control of the bank by two groups of shareholders: Baring Vostok and stockholders coming from Uniastrum bank, which was reorganized and joined to Vostochny in early 2017.

Baring Vostok company founded by Calvey in 1994 focuses on private equity investments in the CIS and Russia. The company has invested in shares of Yandex, Vkusvill, Tinkoff Bank and other major projects.
Liberal party president and former New South Wales premier Nick Greiner has warned "some conservative politicians" that the environment should not be seen as a political football, adding that the Coalition had been "slower to get to clarity on climate change" than it should have.

He has also expressed support for Dave Sharma, Liberal candidate in the federal seat of Wentworth, who this week said the party had to be more "credible" on climate change.

Former NSW Premier Nick Greiner, who is now Liberal party president. Credit:Photo: Dominic Lorrimer

"I think Sharmas right," Mr Greiner said on Tuesday evening, appearing with former Labor premier Bob Carr on a double bill at the Centre for Independent Studies.

"I think the environment shouldn't be so much of a party political issue. It's true, we are all environmentalists. We might have degrees of difference, degrees of 'greenness', if you like, but the notion that environment has to be an issue that is party divisive  in a very clear way, which is what some conservative politicians believe  is not my view. And I doubt that it's Gladys' [Berejiklian]."
US President Donald Trump says North Korea will become a great Economic Powerhouse.

Judging by his statements it looks as if economic assistance will be on the agenda for the upcoming US-North Korea summit in Vietnam being held February 27-28.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un waves as his motorcade leaves Vietnam's Dong Dang Station bordering China for Hanoi on Tuesday. Credit:YONHAP

It is hard to imagine an open North Korea. However, who would have thought 30 years ago that a once diplomatically and economically isolated country like Vietnam would one day play host to meetings like the Trump-Kim summit?

It is also well on its way to becoming one of the top 20 largest economies in the world.
"The filming on Sunday night gives a concern that their activities will continue, and when I say their activities, potentially their criminal activity of trespass will continue - because they didn't tell us they were going to do that," Commander Adams said. "I'll leave the community to decide how brazen it is. "I think the whole intent of the social media push by the activists is to raise profile of their issue, there's no denying that, but also we know that it's attractive to those that are similarly minded and it will potentially lead to more people jumping onto their cause. "If there is more people jumping onto their cause, I'd probably make the precautionary statement of making sure you stay on the right side of the law." Animal activist group, The Direct Action Movement, has expressed concern over Mr Warden's conduct and encouraged others to take part in its activism training workshops.

Mr Adams said WA Police were working with both activists and farmers to help ease tensions. "We'll continue to work with them in good faith," he said. Nationals leader Mia Davies says her party will block Labor's new gold tax. Credit:Twitter/@TheNationalsWA "That has to be our position but again when a line has been transcended we'll respond to that with the full weight of the law. "I look at the WA Farmer's Federation Calm the Farm program, which is working really hard with industry participants to ensure that their behaviour and their responses to what at times might be provocative action don't find themselves on the wrong side of the law.

"We're working hard with the protest activity groups ... to make sure that they understand their responsibility. "There's a lot of work gone in, that a lot of people would not see ... around the discussions with these groups around their actions. Sometimes we negotiate for things not to occur." Mr Adams said an investigation into further matters, including incidents in Harvey and Muchea, were still under investigation and there was still a potential for charges to be laid. WA Nationals leader Mia Davies said regional and rural communities she had spoken to felt "under siege" by animal activists and she called for a review into trespass laws. "There appears to be an escalation in the brazenness of these attacks and we think the State Government has been dragging its heels, she said.

Loading "We are talking about mums and dads, families and business owners who have a right to carry out their lawful business activity and their private lives without fear of intimidation, bullying or threats. "This latest incident in Pinjarra is a very serious matter and communities are on high alert given the recent examples of this behaviour. Everybody needs to keep cool heads and make sure that, regardless of their personal views, their behaviour doesnt put the welfare of themselves, others or animals at risk." She said the state government should consider reviewing existing trespass and drone laws, and form a dedicated regional police unit resourced to respond to the "spike" in animal activist behaviour.

According to Radio 6PR, animal activists reportedly approached a man who was flying a drone in a Perth park and asked him to consider helping them film overhead shots of live export ships in Fremantle Harbour. WA Pork Producers Association president Dawson Bradford alleged to 9 News Perth that Mr Warden and another activist did not have permission to be at the farm. "It's important that those engaging in this type of activity are held accountable not only for the illegal activity but also for the misleading, sensational and selective footage that is not reflective of how the industry operates," he said. Animal welfare activists have recently attracted criticism for releasing a map showing the locations of hundreds of farms in WA to target. The piggery stunt is the latest in a series of shock tactics from vegans, who claim they are exposing horrific conditions in WA's agricultural industry.
Prison authorities have confirmed a man found dead in Perth earlier this month had just been released from one of WA's highest security jails.

Police are investigating the man's death, but they say it is non-suspicious.

The Department of Justice has confirmed he died a day after being released from Casuarina prison.

Its understood the man had been serving jail time for a range of crimes. Credit:file image

The department says the man was released on parole from the maximum security jail on February 4, and was found dead the following day.
The Fosters rose to national prominence after they publicly accused Pell of stalling the family's compensation claim against the Catholic Church when he was archbishop of Melbourne. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video One daughter, Emma, died by suicide at the age of 26, and her sister Kate now requires 24-hour care after she was hit by a drunk driver in 1999. Ms Foster said the conviction should spell the end of the controversial Melbourne Response compensation scheme, devised by Pell, which capped payments to abuse survivors at $50,000. "George Pell has attempted to shut down and silence victims for decades," she said. "That must end today."

George Pell in 1996 after he was installed as Melbourne archbishop. Credit:John Lamb "The wheels of justice have finally worked. But it can't stop here. We have to keep fighting to ensure that this never happens to another child again." It is a bittersweet day for Ms Foster, as Anthony, a tireless and high-profile advocate for child sexual abuse victims, isn't here to see it. He died after suffering a stroke in 2017. "I wish he could be here to see this, I know he is with me though," she said. "He would be saying justice has been served. He would feel vindicated at last." George Pell accompanies paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale to court in Warrnambool in 1993. Credit:Geoff Ampt

News of the conviction was met with grim approval in Pell's home town of Ballarat from victims of other clergy who abused children in the schools and parishes when the cardinal was a young priest. People in Ballarat have never forgotten the day that Pell accompanied notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, his former housemate, to court in Warrnambool in 1993, when Ridsdale pleaded guilty to 30 charges of indecent assault, involving nine boys aged between 12 and 16. "The conviction of Pell is a watershed day not just for the church but for Ballarat," said Phil Nagle, the victim of a clergy paedophile ring that would go unchecked by the church for more than 20 years. "Pell was a larger-than-life figure when I was growing up ... he thought he was untouchable for years," Mr Nagle said. 'This is validation for them', said Phil Nagle of his 12 schoolmates who killed themselves. Credit:Jason South

"But we knew this was coming and we've all just all been here holding our breaths waiting for justice to be served." Mr Nagle called for Pell to be defrocked immediately by the Pope. "I want to see him get the harshest sentence possible for every crime he committed," he said. "I want this to be a turning point and to finally see the Catholic Church be declared the criminal organisation it is, one that has actively hidden paedophiles for years, and for them to finally face the full weight of the law." Mr Nagle was nine when Christian brother Stephen Frances Farrell who was teaching at St Alipius Christian Brothers Primary School began repeatedly sexually assaulting him.

On Tuesday, Mr Nagle was also quietly reflecting on his 12 fellow pupils who have killed themselves  out of a class of 33. "I continue to speak out for my classmates who are not with us anymore, who couldn't be here, because they have decided to take their own lives, he said. "We are their voice." A catalyst for Robert Walsh to report his abuse at the hands of disgraced Christian brother Robert Best and Ridsdale came when he saw a photograph of Cardinal George Pell accompanying Ridsdale to court in 1993. He keeled over and vomited. It morally destroyed me, he says. When I saw the photo of Pell and Ridsdale I just had to suppress it to survive. It wasnt until I started going to counselling that it all came flooding back to me.

Mr Walsh said many survivors were still waiting on all the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse to be implemented. "Even after all this we're still fighting for our rights," he said Cathy Kezelman, a former GP who heads the influential Blue Knot Foundation representing adult victims of childhood trauma, also welcomed the conviction. For too long, hermetically sealed systems of power, such as within the Catholic Church have called the shots, protecting the church and themselves," she said.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The High Court overturned Cardinal George Pell's conviction for historic child sex offences in a judgment handed down April 7, 2020. In a unanimous decision all seven High Court judges found Victoria's Court of Appeal should not have upheld Pell's conviction. It found the evidence could not support a guilty verdict.

Politicians from across the spectrum expressed shock and disgust at the sexual crimes of Cardinal George Pell and voiced sympathy for his victims, following the revelation of his conviction on Tuesday.

In December, Pell was found guilty of orally raping one boy and molesting another 22 years ago. But he maintains his innocence and is set to appeal the verdict.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was deeply shocked at Pells crimes.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The High Court overturned Cardinal George Pell's conviction for historic child sex offences in a judgment handed down April 7, 2020. In a unanimous decision all seven High Court judges found Victoria's Court of Appeal should not have upheld Pell's conviction. It found the evidence could not support a guilty verdict.

Cardinal George Pells fall is remarkable not just because he is the most senior of the many thousands of Catholic priests accused of sexual abuse around the world to be convicted, but because he has done more than any other to defend the church against its victims.

By some estimates, Pell's legal aggression and organisational brilliance has saved the church hundreds of millions of dollars.

Pell was the key architect of two bulwarks the church used in Australia to reduce compensation payouts.
Homicide Squad detectives are appealing for public assistance to help locate Jack Harvey (left) and Mark Dixon in relation to a shooting at Point Cook last week. Credit:Victoria Police

Two men wanted over the brutal shooting of a Sydney real estate agent in Melbourne's west are thought to have fled the state and are in the NSW coastal town of Byron Bay.

Homicide squad detectives in Victoria have issued warrants for Mark Dixon, a 30-year-old who also uses the surname Murphy, and Jack Harvey, 26, who both are described as having Irish accents.

The pair are believed to be in the Byron Bay area, with police keen to speak to the men over a shooting in Point Cook in Melbourne's west last week.

Sid Morgan, a 53-year-old former detective, was shot in the face at a home in Spraypoint Drive about 11pm on Thursday.
Instead, he exposed himself and sexually assaulted both boys. Afterwards, the boys left the room to join the choir again, which was preparing for a rehearsal session. They never spoke of what happened. George Pell in 1996 after he was installed as Melbourne archbishop. Credit:John Lamb Twenty-two years on, the sheer implausibility that the then-Archbishop of Melbourne abused two boys inside the cathedral was a point Pells lawyer highlighted. "Only a madman would attempt to rape boys in the priests' sacristy immediately after Sunday solemn mass," Robert Richter, QC, told the jury in his closing address in early December last year.

Cardinal George Pell leaving the County Court where was found guilty of child sexual offences. Credit:Justin McManus It was the second jury to hear this argument. The jury in an earlier trial was discharged when it could not reach a verdict. Loading Pell sat in the dock during the trials, usually writing on a legal pad, and dressed in a black jacket and clerical collar. Sometimes he wore a jumper bearing the logo of the MCG. One of the two choirboys assaulted by Pell died of a heroin overdose in 2014, having never reported what happened to police, or his family.

The surviving victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, gave evidence at the trial, both as a complainant and a witness. In Victoria it is standard practice for courts to be closed to the public and media when sex assault victims give evidence. But in his closing address Crown prosecutor Mark Gibson, SC, repeated part of the victim's testimony. "What would I do if I went forward and said such a thing about an archbishop? the victim said. He also feared his scholarship to Melbourne's elite Catholic school St Kevin's College would be jeopardised if he reported the assaults.

"If I mentioned anything like that to anyone it would be a pretty big deal," he said. "It would be something that I thought perhaps would be dismissed or not acknowledged and I knew that a scholarship [was] something that could be given and taken away, even at that age, and I didn't want to lose that. It meant so much to me." So, he said, he put the events into one of the dark corners or recesses of his brain. It's something I've carried for the whole of my life, and [it] ... took a courage much later on for me to be able to even think about coming forward The victim But the allegations were a "far-fetched fantasy" according to Mr Richter, who has previously accused Victoria Police of running a "get Pell operation".

He said his client was perceived as the "Darth Vader" of the church, with Judge Kidd stressing to jurors they could not use Pell as scapegoat for church failings. Robert Richter, QC, on Tuesday. Credit:AAP It would have been impossible for two choirboys to break away from the procession unnoticed and enter the priests' sacristy, Mr Richter argued. But the jury had practical questions to consider: chiefly, how did the choirboys and Pell find themselves in the sacristy in the minutes after Mass? Mr Gibson argued that after Mass concluded, the choir filed out the front doors of the cathedral and walked along the south side of the building when the two boys broke away.

Ex-choirboys and the former choir marshal gave evidence about how the procession was disciplined, although the formation "wasn't military". I am not aware of any time he was alone Charles Portelli Mr Richter questioned how dozens of choristers and altar servers could be looking the other way when two choirboys "nicked off", but Mr Gibson asked how could anyone recall something they never saw. While the procession filed outside, Pell would greet parishioners on the front steps, the court heard. Prosecutor Mark Gibson, SC, outside the County Court. Credit:Jason South

Here the timing was important, prosecutors argued, because the assaults occurred at a point early in Pell's tenure as Archbishop, when he spent only a few minutes on the cathedral steps with parishioners and while he was "ironing out" his working relationship with right-hand man Charles Portelli. Monsignor Portelli was the master of ceremonies at Sunday mass at the time and was referred to as Pell's "bodyguard" by one witness said. "I am not aware of any time he [Pell] was alone," Monsignor Portelli told the court.

Mr Richter later argued just as the Queen was never left alone by aides, someone - either Monsignor Portelli or the then sacristan, Max Potter - would never leave the Archbishop unattended. However, Mr Gibson said there was effectively a window of five or six minutes where Pell could be alone with the boys, while Mr Potter was tending to the sanctuary and Monsignor Portelli was tied up with other tasks. The scenario was entirely possible, the prosecutor said. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Mr Richter said guilty verdicts weren't based on possibilities. It was also possible, he said, the court building could blow up. "But we don't conduct our lives on that basis."
EDITOR'S NOTE: The High Court overturned Cardinal George Pell's conviction for historic child sex offences in a judgment handed down April 7, 2020. In a unanimous decision all seven High Court judges found Victoria's Court of Appeal should not have upheld Pell's conviction. It found the evidence could not support a guilty verdict.

He was already a guilty man, the world just didnt know it yet.

At 9.20am on Tuesday, when Cardinal George Pell walked in through the front doors of the County Court, it was the last time he was seen in public before everyone would know a jury had unanimously found him guilty of child sex offences.

Cardinal George Pell leaving the County Court, where was found guilty of historical child sex offences. Credit:Justin McManus

When he emerged just over two hours later, after the suppression order had been lifted and the news was leading publications around the world, the intensity of the reaction could already be felt.
Russian court upholds detention of Baring Vostok partner

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

13:59 26/02/2019

MOSCOW, February 26 (RAPSI)  The Moscow City Court had upheld the detention of Vagan Abgaryan, a partner of Baring Vostok investment company, in a 2.5-billion-ruble (about $40 million) embezzlement case, the courts press-service told RAPSI on Tuesday.

The ruling of the Moscow Basmanny District Court, by which Abgaryan is to stay in detention until April 13, remains in force, the court has stated.

The Baring Vostok partner is charged with especially serious fraud.

On February 16, Moscows Basmanny District Court ordered detention of the founder of Baring Vostok investment company, U.S. citizen Michael Calvey, until April 13. The court refused to release Baring Vostok founder on a 5-million-ruble bail or put under house arrest despite his willingness to cooperate with investigators.

On February 15, the court detained for two months five other suspects including Baring Vostok Industry Partner for the financial industry sector, French citizen Philippe Delpal, the companys partners Vagan Abgaryan, Baring Vostok Investment Director Ivan Zyuzin, Maxim Vladimirov and ex- chairman of Vostochny bank board Alexey Kordichev. Delpal pleaded not guilty in court and refused to cooperate with investigators.

According to investigation, Calvey knowing about a 2.5-billion-ruble debt of the First Collector Bureau, a firm under his control, has organized the sale of its shares to Vostochny bank that has led to embezzlement.

The Investigative Committee claims that the suspect committed a crime that could not be classified as business crime because he used a chain of sham companies settling the deal. Moreover, investigators say they have a PricewaterhouseCoopers audit report on the done deal estimating the sold shares at 600,000 rubles, which indicates an instance of fraud.

Calvey denies allegations insisting that the deal was fair as both companies agreed its terms and stood for it, including a person reporting an alleged crime to law enforcement bodies. He noted that a report has been filed with police by a member of Vostochny bank board of directors Sherzod Yusupov. According to Calvey, the real reason of his prosecution is a wide corporate dispute related to the control of the bank by two groups of shareholders: Baring Vostok and stockholders coming from Uniastrum bank, which was reorganized and joined to Vostochny in early 2017.

Baring Vostok company founded by Calvey in 1994 focuses on private equity investments in the CIS and Russia. The company has invested in shares of Yandex, Vkusvill, Tinkoff Bank and other major projects.
We are wrapping up today's live blog on the guilty verdict handed down to Cardinal George Pell over child sex abuses.

Cardinal George Pell leaving the County Court where was found guilty of historic sexual offenses. Credit:Justin McManus

Here are some of the key responses to the verdict that have been collected in this live blog.

Cardinal George Pell (statement issued through lawyers) : Cardinal George Pell has always maintained his innocence and continues to do so. An appeal has been lodged against his conviction and he will await the outcome of the appeal process. (see 12.34pm post)

: Cardinal George Pell has always maintained his innocence and continues to do so. An appeal has been lodged against his conviction and he will await the outcome of the appeal process. (see 12.34pm post) The surviving victim (who does not want to be identified) : Like many survivors I have experienced shame, loneliness, depression and struggle. Like many survivors it has taken me years to understand the impact upon my life. At some point we realise that we trusted someone we should have feared and we fear those genuine relationships that we should trust. (see 12.50pm post)

: Like many survivors I have experienced shame, loneliness, depression and struggle. Like many survivors it has taken me years to understand the impact upon my life. At some point we realise that we trusted someone we should have feared and we fear those genuine relationships that we should trust. (see 12.50pm post) Prime Minister Scott Morrison: I respect the fact that this case is under appeal, but it is the victims and their families I am thinking of today, and all who have suffered from sexual abuse by those they should have been able to trust, but couldnt. Their prolonged pain and suffering will not have ended today. (see post below)

I respect the fact that this case is under appeal, but it is the victims and their families I am thinking of today, and all who have suffered from sexual abuse by those they should have been able to trust, but couldnt. Their prolonged pain and suffering will not have ended today. (see post below) Victoria's Premier Daniel Andrews : My thoughts are with the victims  their pain is a tragedy, their bravery an inspiration. Theyve been betrayed and so have good people of faith across Victoria. (see 2.29pm post)

: My thoughts are with the victims  their pain is a tragedy, their bravery an inspiration. Theyve been betrayed and so have good people of faith across Victoria. (see 2.29pm post) New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian : There are no words to describe how horrible those incidents were and I think all of us are relieved that justice is being done. (see 2.05pm post)

: There are no words to describe how horrible those incidents were and I think all of us are relieved that justice is being done. (see 2.05pm post) Catholic archbishop of Melbourne Peter Comensoli : My thoughts and prayers are with all victims who have been abused by clergy, religious and lay people in the Archdiocese of Melbourne at this challenging time, and I renew my personal commitment to do all I can to ensure victims of such abuse in Melbourne receive justice and healing. (1.14pm post)

: My thoughts and prayers are with all victims who have been abused by clergy, religious and lay people in the Archdiocese of Melbourne at this challenging time, and I renew my personal commitment to do all I can to ensure victims of such abuse in Melbourne receive justice and healing. (1.14pm post) Former New South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally : It's terrible for the victims who had to wait so long for their day in court. It's terrible for Catholics who place their trust in the institution of the church. It's a terrible day, I imagine, for many priests who have done the right thing for so many years, who now have this odious conviction of their clerical leader being found guilty of child sexual abuse. (4.25pm post)

: It's terrible for the victims who had to wait so long for their day in court. It's terrible for Catholics who place their trust in the institution of the church. It's a terrible day, I imagine, for many priests who have done the right thing for so many years, who now have this odious conviction of their clerical leader being found guilty of child sexual abuse. (4.25pm post) Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young: George Pell was awarded the Order of Australia in 2005. It is only right that it now be revoked, given everything we know. The Governor General has the power to strip award holders and he should act immediately. (3.10pm)

George Pell was awarded the Order of Australia in 2005. It is only right that it now be revoked, given everything we know. The Governor General has the power to strip award holders and he should act immediately. (3.10pm) Justice Party Senator Derryn Hinch: Finally, the good news is that now George Pells decades of predatory behaviour is out there for all to see. The sheer effrontery that he could abuse choir boys in a place of worship as the new Archbishop of Melbourne. (5.46pm)

The guilty verdict has also led to these honours bestowed upon Cardinal Pell being revoked:

Carlton Football Club has removed him as their vice patron.

St Patrick's College in Ballarat, his former school, will remove his name from a building named in his honour and revoke his status as an inducted legend.

If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline 131 114, or beyondblue 1300 224 636.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The High Court overturned Cardinal George Pell's conviction for historic child sex offences in a judgment handed down April 7, 2020. In a unanimous decision all seven High Court judges found Victoria's Court of Appeal should not have upheld Pell's conviction. It found the evidence could not support a guilty verdict.

Cardinal George Pells former school will remove his name from a building and revoke his status as an inducted legend.

In the wake of the St Patrick's College alumnus being found guilty of sex abuse, the Ballarat school will also strike a line through Cardinal Pells name on an honour board for ordained former students.

Cardinal Pell attended the school from 1949 to 1959 and is the colleges most famous alumnus.

Principal John Crowley said while Cardinal Pell may appeal his guilty verdict, the college had a duty to respond to the jurys findings.
Pell emerged from the court building about 11.30am to a huge media pack. Flanked by police officers, he was jeered and abused by some people outside.

"You're an absolute animal," one man shouted at him as police and protective services officers ushered the cardinal to a waiting car.

"Burn in hell, Pell. Burn in hell, Pell," the man chanted.

Pell's victim released a statement via his lawyer, thanking his family for their support and the wider public for their interest in the case. He said the process had been stressful and was not over yet.

"Like many survivors I have experienced shame, loneliness, depression and struggle. Like many survivors it has taken me years to understand the impact upon my life," the man said.

"At some point we realise that we trusted someone we should have feared and we fear those genuine relationships that we should trust."

The man has requested privacy.

Read the victim's full statement here

"Cardinal George Pell has always maintained his innocence and continues to do so," Pell's lawyer Paul Galbally said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Although originally the Cardinal faced allegations from a number of complainants, all charges except for those the subject of the appeal have now been either withdrawn, discharged or discontinued. He will not be commenting in the meantime."

The fallout

Pell was stripped of his position as the Vaticans chief financial officer and expelled from Pope Francis inner circle of trusted cardinals known as the Group of Nine, or C-9, shortly after the verdict, but due to the suppression order the worlds media was forced to pretend Pell, 77, stepped down due to his age.

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On December 11, when Pell was found guilty of five charges including sexual penetration of a child under 16  a charge his lawyer, Robert Richter, QC, likened to "oral rape"  the cardinal was granted bail and allowed to travel to Sydney to have knee surgery before he was due to face another trial on more sex abuse charges.

Pell will be the highest-ranking Catholic figure in the world to be jailed for child sex abuse.

Each of the five charges of which Pell has been found guilty carries a 10-year maximum prison term.

Judge Peter Kidd has said Pell will be remanded in custody after a pre-sentence hearing on Wednesday. He is likely to be sentenced in the fortnight after that hearing.

There was an audible gasp in the courtroom on the afternoon of December 11 when a jury found Pell guilty of one charge of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four of committing an indecent act with, or in the presence of, a child under 16.

The cardinal pursed his lips and stared at the floor, frowning, as he sat in the dock while the guilty verdicts were read out.

Pell's offending

Pells victims were two 13-year-old St Kevin's College students who were choirboys at St Patrick's Cathedral when they were assaulted in December 1996 and February 1997. Both incidents took place after Sunday mass and while Pell was robed.

In the first incident, the choirboys broke away from a procession outside the cathedral and snuck back into the sacristy  a room where priests dress for mass  and were swigging sacramental wine when Pell walked in.

Pell, dressed in his Archbishops robes, told the boys they were in trouble and then exposed himself.

He pushed one of the boys close to his penis, before turning to the second boy and putting his penis in the boys mouth.

Pell then masturbated as he fondled the second boys genitals.

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In 1997, Pell pushed one of the boys against a wall in a cathedral hallway and squeezed the boy's genitals.

The second boy, who is now in his 30s, reported the allegations to police in 2015. He gave evidence across three days, and at one point said the offending was "something I've carried for the whole of my life".

The other victim died several years ago from a heroin overdose. He never reported the abuse and denied anything happened when he was asked by his mother.

Yet the evidence of the second victim was "powerful and persuasive" and withstood scrutiny under hours of cross-examination, Crown prosecutor Mark Gibson, SC, said.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the jury he was in shock after the abuse and didn't report it for years, partly out of fear he wouldnt be believed.

"What would I do if I went forward and said such a thing about an archbishop? he said.

He also feared his school scholarship would be jeopardised if he reported the offending.

"If I mentioned anything like that to anyone it would be a pretty big deal," he said.

"It would be something that I thought perhaps would be dismissed or not acknowledged and I knew that a scholarship [was] something that could be given and taken away, even at that age, and I didn't want to lose that. It meant so much to me."

So, he said, he put the events into one of the dark corners or recesses of his brain.

Mr Richter, who has previously accused Victoria Police of running a "get Pell operation", told the jury the allegations were a far-fetched fantasy.

It would have been impossible for two choirboys to break away from the procession unnoticed and enter the priests' sacristy, Mr Richter said.

Robert Richter, QC, arrives at Melbourne Magistrates Court with George Pell in July 2017. Credit:Joe Armao

He argued Pell was never left alone by church officials while robed as the Archbishop after mass.

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"Only a madman would attempt to rape boys in the priests sacristy immediately after Sunday solemn mass," Mr Richter said during the retrial.

Pell had just launched the controversial "Melbourne Response" to child sexual abuse when he assaulted the two boys in 1996.

It later emerged that victims who sought compensation through the Melbourne Response received far smaller payouts, capped at $50,000, than they would have if they had gone through the courts. The response was criticised for doing more to protect the church and minimise its financial costs than helping victims.

The suppressed verdict and the pending appeal

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Pell was due to face another trial, charged with molesting boys in a Ballarat swimming pool in the 1970s while he was a priest in his Victorian hometown.

But on Tuesday, prosecutor Fran Dalziel, SC, told the court the trial involving the swimmers would no longer go ahead because there was not enough admissable evidence to proceed. That paved the way for Judge Kidd to revoke the suppression order.

Pell's lawyers last week lodged an appeal with the Court of Appeal, and Mr Richter said on Tuesday he would challenge the verdict on the grounds it was unreasonable and contrary to the evidence the jury heard.

"This is not a frivolous appeal. There are substantial reasons to believe the verdict may be set aside for one reason or another," he said.

The Court of Appeal has the power to quash a conviction and order a retrial.

Mr Richter is likely to request that the court grant Pell bail while reviewing the case, but he conceded a jail term was inevitable if the conviction ultimately stood.

Media lawyers urged Judge Kidd to revoke the order immediately given the high public interest in the case. Ms Dalziel supported the media in their application.

After an adjournment, Mr Richter announced he was withdrawing his opposition to the suppression order being revoked, which allowed Judge Kidd to grant media permission to report the story.

In revoking the suppression order, Judge Kidd said there was a "very strong" ground for the public to be informed of Pell's guilt and his eventual sentence given the high public interest in the case.

Pell was found guilty about three months after a jury in the earlier trial was unable to reach a verdict on the same charges and was discharged, which forced a retrial.

The revelations about Pell come in the same month that the Catholic church defrocked former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, once the Archbishop of Washington DC, after he was found guilty of sex crimes.

Last week the church held a four-day summit at the Vatican on how best to tackle paedophilia within the clergy.

Pell was previously accused of sexually assaulting an altar boy, then 12, at a camp at Phillip Island in 1961. In 2002 a retired Supreme Court judge, hired by the church to investigate, found he was not satisfied the complaint was ever established.

In recent years, another man also reported to media that he saw Pell expose himself to three boys at the Torquay life saving club in 1986 or 1987. Pell denied both allegations.

The jury of eight men and four women in the retrial found Pell guilty after deliberating for 3 days.

Pell stayed in the dock for some time once the verdict was delivered. He held hands with Mr Richter for a moment and shook the hands of his other supporters, including former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer, who was regularly in court during the retrial. Mr Fischer is also a former Australian ambassador to the Holy See.

If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline 131 114, or beyondblue 1300 224 636.
Two young boys found dead in a deep section of a Townsville river have been remembered as beautiful angels taken too soon.

The brothers, 3 and 5, were captured on CCTV walking alone down a suburban street towards the river on Monday and were reported missing after 6.30pm.

Police issued a public warning after the two boys were reported missing.

An extensive search involving at least 100 people ended with the grim discovery of the two boys early on Tuesday morning in the Ross River, not far from their home.

The boys aunt Ros Eatts told Brisbane Times that their mother Leeanns heart had been shattered into millions of pieces.
A north Queensland man will be retried for murder after his conviction was overturned on appeal.

Kyle Robert Thompson was found guilty of killing David Knyvett in November 2015 when he struck him several times on the head with a bottle.

Following his conviction in March last year, he lodged an appeal on the grounds the trial judge misdirected the jury on the law of provocation.

It was accepted during the trial that Thompson hit the victim multiple times and killed him.

But it was up to the jury to decide if he had intended to injure or kill Mr Knyvett.
A proposed state plan to bring compulsory preferential voting to local government elections has been slammed by the LNP-majority Brisbane City Council as manipulating elections in favour of Labor.

But Labor councillors insisted the standardised approach would reduce the number of invalid votes and prevent confusion at elections.

Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe is pushing for compulsory preferenial voting in local government elections. Credit:Glenn Hunt

Local government minister Stirling Hinchliffe said councils were being consulted on the state governments intention to introduce compulsory preferential voting at council elections, with an aim to have the changes in place "well and truly ahead" of the 2020 local government elections.

The issue of compulsory preferential voting is one thats been raised with us by stakeholders and certainly its the governments intention to pursue that," he said.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The High Court overturned Cardinal George Pell's conviction for historic child sex offences in a judgment handed down April 7, 2020. In a unanimous decision all seven High Court judges found Victoria's Court of Appeal should not have upheld Pell's conviction. It found the evidence could not support a guilty verdict.

The second trial George Pell was to have faced on child sex allegations will not go ahead due to problems with the evidence. Pell, 77, was in December last year found guilty of sexually assaulting two 13-year-old choirboys at St Patrick's Cathedral in East Melbourne in the 1990s, when he was Archbishop of Melbourne. Pell is to be remanded in custody after Wednesday's pre-sentence hearing.

George Pell leaves court in December after being found guilty. Credit:Chris Hopkins

Buoyed by that conviction, prosecutors also wanted to take to trial allegations Pell indecently assaulted two boys at Ballarat's Eureka swimming pool in the 1970s.

But prosecutors on Tuesday confirmed they would no longer proceed with two charges of indecent assault following a ruling made last week by County Court chief judge Peter Kidd.
School choice might be good for the individual, but education experts have warned it can have an adverse impact on society more broadly by lowering education performance of children across the board.

Grattan Institute school education program director, Peter Goss, told The Sydney Morning Herald Schools Summit this week that a disadvantaged student who also goes to a disadvantaged school "performs about two years worse by year 10".

"For individuals it varies. At a society-wide level the education outcomes are bad," Dr Goss said.

"It drags down the average. It reinforces educational disadvantage and potentially weakens the social fabric.
Charlotte Mason was 16 and newly orphaned when the first Australian census was compiled in 1828.

Today, the six volumes of the 1828 census detailing the 36,500 Europeans who lived in NSW, convict and free, will be inscribed in the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register.

The census' six volumes detail every person's status, the boat they arrived on, their religion, and property including the land and the number of horned cattle they owned. The census did not include Indigenous Australians.

To Martyn Killion, acting director of the State Archives collection and engagement, Charlotte Mason is more than a name. She is family. He is her great-great grandson.

In 1822, according to records of a muster of the NSW population, his great-great grandmother Charlotte was 12 and living with her parents and siblings. By 1825, the date of the next muster, her father had died.
"You would think it should be a lot lower, [the ACT] is better resourced, it has a population with high [socio-economic advantage], no one's too far from head office, none of the usual indicators are there." While Dr Riley said shifts in numbers could look more dramatic in a small jurisdiction, the ACT had consistently recorded high rates of violence and intimidation. "It's out of control [in the ACT] and right around the country," he said. Loading But while violence was up in ACT schools, bullying experienced by principals fell last year by 18 per cent, bringing it down to the third-lowest rate in the country alongside Western Australia, with Victoria and Queensland performing the best.

Nationally, principals were just as likely to be threatened by parents as students in 2018, though most violent incidents involved students. Women were more at risk of attack . Of particular concern were the number of principals reporting difficulty sleeping, Dr Riley said. Education departments also ranked notably low as sources of support in all jurisdictions, while staffing and resource shortages loomed large as stressors. Yet despite principals facing tougher demands at work than the general population, with a quarter working more than 61 hours a week, they also reported higher job satisfaction overall. Dr Riley, who was a principal himself before moving into psychology, said both NSW and Victoria had recently put significant resources into tackling violence in schools. Victoria's new wellbeing strategy appeared to be having some early success as the state's violence rates dipped slightly for 2018. Loading

While the ACT is rolling out NSW's positive behaviour model, it squashed a recent call for an independent inquiry into school violence. The push by the opposition followed revelations in The Canberra Times that complaints about violence at one ACT school stretched back more than a year but incidents were escalating. Compared to Australia, Dr Riley said the research team found significantly lower rates of violence against principals overseas in Ireland. "We have a culture of violence here we don't like admitting to," he said. "We see it with our nurses too. Responses aren't moving fast enough." Canberra principal Brad Gaynor described the results as concerning, but said he had not heard many stories of violence from the ACT during his time as president of the Australian Catholic Primary Principals' Association.

"You do get some cranky parents and the levels of children being aggressive I think has risen...there's also more awareness now around things like anxiety and trauma," he said. Negative public perceptions and confusion around the role of schools often put pressure on principals, he said. "But the workload itself is intense. You take things home with you, you worry about students and families. "There are days where I really struggle...You have to be a counsellor, a negotiator, almost a lawyer now." Holy Spirit's therapy dog Rosie with (clockwise from left) Year 4 student Atticus Donnelly, 9 years old, Mikayla Ford, 11 years old, student welfare officer Sharon Harrison, Year 6 student Hamish Ellison, 11 years old, and deputy principal Anna D'Amico. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

At his own school Holy Spirit Primary in Canberra's north, Mr Gaynor said a therapy dog named Rosie brought in to calm down students in the past six months had ended up providing welcome stress relief for staff too. "I was sceptical at first, she looks like a hyena," he laughed. "But she's had a calming effect on the whole school, I've never seen anything like it. "When a child is escalating, they're not responding to the usual strategies, Rosie will walk in and it's like a switch has gone off, sometimes just patting her, that rhythmic motion, can make all the difference." Atticus Donnelly in Year 4 said Rosie often helped calm him down and refocus at school. Loading

"When I'm angry and no one understands, she understands. She listens too," he said. Sharon Harrison, the school's wellbeing officer and Rosie's owner, brings the loveable ex-working dog in almost every day to visit students and staff alike. "Sometimes just that one pat is all they need, she's like a talisman," Ms Harrison said. Loading "Kids can throw the ball for her or she'll come and put her head in their lap. She's so patient, she just knows what they need. Staff call me over all the time too saying 'I really need some Rosie time'."
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The new president of the ACT Property Council has called for greater transparency in the setting of commercial rates, saying the uncertainty is hampering businesses ability to make decisions about their future.

Village Building Group chief executive Travis Doherty has singled out commercial rates as the "most pressing issue" facing the property sector as he starts his two-year term at the helm of the lobby group.

Viillage Building Company's chief executive Travis Doherty, pictured above, is the ACT Property Council's new president. Credit:Jamila Toderas

Mr Doherty said rates were causing "real concern" for property owners, referencing a recent case in which a widowed retiree had broken down in front of a Property Council member as she described how her retirement funds had been slashed by a ballooning commercial rates bill.

He said the Property Council agreed with premise of the ACT government tax reforms, but believed there was a "better way to do it".
The head of the ACT's Indigenous elected body says the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community will be better able to hold the territory government to account, and have a greater say on policy, after a new 10-year agreement was signed on Tuesday.

The agreement sets out new broad principles for self-determination to allow the elected body to try to ensure the government's decisions about issues directly affecting Indigenous Canberrans are led by the Indigenous community.

ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body chairwoman Katrina Fanning said the new agreement would help Indigenous Canberrans lead decision-making. Credit:Elesa Kurtz

It will allow the elected body to challenge the government about its decision-making, so that policies across the government are done in agreement with the elected body and wider community, not without Indigenous involvement.

While the new deal was welcomed by about 60 Indigenous community figures, politicians and public servants, it was largely to ensure consultation on issues, and contains no specific measures on what the government must do.
The Yarralumla post office could be the next victim of high rents in the area, with the current owners due to walk away from the struggling business at the end of March, leaving the suburb without a dedicated post office.

Kia Fard, who has owned and run the post office with his wife since April 2014, said it was "hard to see [the post office] go" but increasing rent was forcing them to leave the business.

The operator of the Yarralumla post office says high rent is forcing him to walk away from the struggling business, pictured, which will close at the end of March if no buyer is found. Credit:Karleen Minney

Mr Fard said he was still in talks with Australia Post but it was likely postal services would be run from the neighbouring IGA, which had previously managed the post office.

The couple has been trying to sell the business for two years and 60 per cent of inquiries were serious, he said.
When Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced an extra $662 million in aged care funding earlier this month, it only added to Lucia Guidos' frustration.

Sitting in a small room in Canberra Hospital's geriatric unit, her bruised and fractured 96-year-old mother, Teresa Salguero, rhythmically chants and taps the small bedside table in front of her.

Teresa Salguero (right), pictured here with her daughter Lucia Guidos (left), waited for a home care package for more than nine months. Credit:Karleen Minney

She can't eat, dress, bathe, walk, or use the bathroom by herself. But up until December last year, Ms Salguero, who has dementia, was healthy - and had spent almost nine months waiting for help that never came.

"I watch the news and I read the newspapers. But what the government says is, 'blah, blah, blah' - this is my reality," Ms Guidos said.
Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge is under investigation for his treatment of a Canberra woman who came to him with information on child abuse within the Catholic Church 13 years ago.

The news comes just two days after the Archbishop delivered a sermon at a Sunday morning mass in Rome, where he criticised the churchs handling of child sex abuse allegations.

Archbishop of Brisbane Mark Coleridge. Credit:Kate Geraghty

The complaint, which has been subject to a confidential independent inquiry by the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, relates to a 2006 meeting with the woman who came forth with information about child sexual abuse, when Archbishop Coleridge presided over the region.

A spokesman for the Archdiocese confirmed that the investigation had been launched by the church after it was made aware of the allegations a few months ago.
The average mother returns to their pre-pregnancy drinking habits by the time their child is of school age, an Australian study has found.

According to research led by the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, women dramatically reduce their alcohol consumption on learning they are pregnant, although they tend to return to their old ways by the time their youngest child is five.

Men, on average, did not change their alcohol consumption on becoming fathers.

Women are returning to their pre-pregnancy drinking habits within five years. Credit:Shutterstock

Women drank at a reduced in the first 12 months of their child's life. After that, researchers observed a gradual increase in alcohol consumption over the next four years, until it generally returned to a pre-pregnancy level.
The first time Patrick Abboud marched in Mardi Gras he was so petrified of being recognised, he wore a disguise.

A closeted young gay man with Middle Eastern parents, he feared hed lose his family if they knew the truth.

But the pull towards the colourful celebration of gay pride was strong. Dressed as an Arab sheikh and hiding behind dark glasses, he joined the sea of rainbow floats, scanning the crowd for any uncles, aunts, cousins or neighbours who might recognise him.

Patrick Abboud has long shed the disguise he wore to cover his identity at his first Mardi Gras.

By the end of the parade my feet were bloodied because I had sandals on and theyd actually come off my feet and I didnt even feel it because I was jumping up and down so much from euphoria, he said.
Did you notice that the Morrison government has slashed Australia's Paris climate target in half, a detail that somehow escaped scrutiny in the flurry of climate policies announced this week?

No? Well, neither did most of the country.

Backing black: Then federal Treasurer Scott Morrison brought a lump of coal to question time in February 2017. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

On paper, Australia remains committed to cutting 2005-level emissions 26 per cent by 2030.

According to environment department officials called to Senate estimates last week, that means the nation has to reduce - abate - a total of 695 million tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent in the decade of 2021-2030.
Data firm Red Fox Group will move into a new office at 40 Stephenson Street. The 350 sq m, two-level converted warehouse was let on a five-year term at $150,000 per annum net in a deal brokered by Teska Carsons Jack Kelliher. Cremorne Sound-system firm Sonos has leased 450 sq m in a converted warehouse in Cremorne, Colliers Internationals Chris Meehan and Tristan Parker said. Sonos took the space for three years at gross face rent of $550 per sq m. Richmond Morley Commercials Josh McMullin negotiated the lease of 233 Punt Road to venture capital firm Propel Ventures. The 343 sq m ground floor office space was sublet as part of a one-year deal at approximately $291 per sq m. Mr McMullin also leased 83-87 Wellington Street to builders and project managers Conly Pty Ltd (previously Cobuilt). The 150 sq m office was leased for three years for $31,500 per annum.

Clayton Go Mart has leased a 1479 sq m office/warehouse at 39-41 Winterton Road at net annual rental of $141,000. Go Mart signed a 5+5 year lease to expand into Melbourne. The negotiations were handled by Knight Franks Steven Salopek. Dandenong Camerons David Johnson and Michael Brennan negotiated a lease at 6-18 Antonella Court. The 2971 sq m building was leased for $230,000 per annum ($77 per sq m) on a three-year term. Richmond

Software specialist Teba will lease an office suite at 9/84 Church Street deal in a deal negotiated by Teska Carsons Fergus Evans and George Takis. The 158 sq m office was let at $60,000 per annum net on a long-term lease. Software specialist Teba will lease an office suite at 9/84 Church Street in Richmond. Credit:Teska Carson Richmond Smash-repair business Smash Repair Solutions has leased a 1300 sq m warehouse at 144 Murphy Street. The property was leased through Teska Carson's Michael Taylor at annual rent of $168,090 net. South Yarra

A small 77 sq m office suite on Level 1 at 5 Avoca Street has leased through Gross Waddells Tamara Gross for $48,0000 gross. Brighton A Chinese medicine practitioner will lease 367 Bay Street in a deal brokered by Teska Carsons George Takis and Fergus Evans. The tenant will pay $45,000 per annum plus GST on a three-year term for the 60 sq m space. Carlton A business management consultancy has leased a 100 sq m office space on the ground floor at 158 Rathdowne Street. The gross annual rental was at a rate around $570 per sq m, Knight Franks Pat Saccardo and Paul Pellegrino said.

Keysborough Al Armstrong from Cameron has overseen a deal in which Traffic Control Victoria have taken five-year lease at 75 Hudson Court. The authority will pay $116,270 Per annum for the 1057 sq m building. South Melbourne Dental franchise Smile Solutions will move into 87 & 87A Market Street, a property that combines two former tenancies totalling 290 sq m with additional storage and two on-site car spaces in a deal brokered by Teska Carsons George Takis and Gideon Marcus. Mr Takis said the property was let on a 10-year lease with options at $585 a sq m or $170,000 per annum plus outgoings and GST. This is a very strong result including a long term lease at a healthy sq m rate. Moorabbin
The Australian chairman of US electric vehicle company Tesla is facing her first major test in the high-profile role, amid an escalating dispute between its billionaire chief executive, Elon Musk, and the country's powerful securities regulator.

Robyn Denholm, the outgoing chief financial officer of Australian telecommunications giant Telstra, was appointed chairman of Tesla's board last year, as part of a settlement between Mr Musk and America's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

On Tuesday Sydney time, Mr Musk taunted the SEC, describing it as "embarrassing" after the regulator asked a judge to hold him in contempt of court for breaching last year's settlement requiring greater internal scrutiny of his tweets.

The regulator sued Tesla and Mr Musk last year after he claimed on Twitter he had secured financing to take the company private, an outcome that never eventuated.
Buyer defaults in some of Australia's vast city-fringe housing estates are expected to rise sharply in the middle of the year as a combination of timing, tighter bank lending standards and falling values cause a settlement crunch.

A majority of greenfield developers pre-sell land lots to young home buyers and families in their estates up to 2 years before they hand over the title to the purchasers and settle the property.

The heat in the property market saw lot prices and sales in Victoria and NSW's land markets peak in 2018.

Since then, a squeeze on bank lending to buyers has slowed sales and price growth leading to concerns the market may be heading for a significant correction, with thousands of land lots due to settle between July and October this year.

Developers are bracing for a surge in defaults from buyers who speculated on rising land prices and now can't on-sell their contracts.
Last week vitamin company Blackmores lost 24 per cent of its sharemarket value in one day. On Tuesday it lost its chief executive Richard Henfrey and its ability to tell investors why he had gone.

If Blackmores is trying to convey that last week's disappointing China sales result is a short-term glitch from which it will soon recover, the departure of Henfrey is precisely the wrong signal.

The announcement that he would vacate his role was unexpected, abrupt and short. There is no replacement named, no mention of Henfrey taking another job and a cursory thanks for service and commitment.
Want to praise someone or get something off your chest? Darts and Pats is the place to do it.
South Africa: SA unyielding in support of multilateral global governance

The South African government has reiterated its commitment to working towards the strengthening and deepening of the multilateral system of global governance and a rules-based international order.

The commitment was re-emphasised by International Relations and Cooperation Deputy Minister Luwellyn Landers at the UN high-level segment of the 40th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Our abiding faith in the UN and the multilateral system of global governance is unwavering, despite increasing unilateralism and the growth of populist and ultra-nationalist forces in the world. We welcome the timely commitment by the UN Secretary-General to develop an UN-wide Global Plan of Action against hate speech and hate crimes, Landers said in his address.

The Deputy Minister said South Africa remains committed to the peaceful resolution of the Middle East conflict and realisation of full rights for Palestinian people.

Their inalienable right to self-determination must not be forgotten and their plight should remain our apex priority. We also remain steadfast in our support for the people of Western Sahara, whose suffering under the yoke of foreign occupation continues. The Saharawi people should attain their right to self-determination in our lifetime.

The government of South Africa believes that the Human Rights Council is one of the most important and effective institutions of the United Nations. We applaud the council for being responsive to human rights violations.

As indicated by the President of the General Assembly, Madame Maria Fernanda Espinosa, we too value the link between the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly. Our history of struggle against human rights abuses under the apartheid government was strengthened by the work of the General Assembly when other United Nations bodies were less decisive.

South Africa, Landers said, is also seized with addressing contemporary challenges within the realm of human rights.

States cannot be the only duty bearers in this regard. Multinational corporations and international organisations are powerful institutions of global governance and must therefore be held accountable under international human rights law wherever they operate.

Landers used the platform to reiterate South Africas stance on issues that affect women, particularly in sport.

It is in this context that I wish to raise an issue of particular importance to our country. Women and girls face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination in sport and are subjected to discriminatory laws and practices based on their race and gender.

This is a matter that affects women in the developing world more acutely, reinforcing the intersectionality between race and gender that pervades these human rights abuses, and that requires the attention of this council.

With the country heading to the polls on 8 May this year, Landers took the opportunity to thank the council for supporting and fully participating in the one-day commemorative event in April 2018 in honour of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the late President Nelson Mandela.

[He] personified human rights and the struggle for justice and equality for all. We wish to further thank the international community for joining us in marking centenary activities for our late struggle icon, Mama Albertina Sisulu, he said.

He reiterated the government of South Africas support for the work of the council and the Office of the High Commissioner.

We continue to believe that this council will be judged by the extent to which it makes an impact on the lives of billions of people in the world. South Africa will not be found lacking in its contribution.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-02-26. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Iran's foreign minister has told colleagues he hopes his sudden resignation will reinforce the position of his country's diplomats.

Mohammad Javad Zarif's comments come after his surprise resignation the night before.
A 42-year-old woman found dead in her apartment on St Stephens Day suffered a laceration to the scalp.

Deborah Holmes (42) was found dead at her home on Rathmines Avenue, Dublin 6 on December 26, 2018.

She was removed from the apartment and a post-mortem was carried out to determine the cause of death.

Her brother Ian Holmes gave evidence at the opening of an inquest into the womans death at Dublin Coroner's Court.

I got a call from my nephew on December 26 and went straight to Rathmines Avenue, he said.

Mr Holmes said he waited outside while his sisters body was removed from the flat.

He formally identified her body to Garda Peter Lyons ahead of a post-mortem examination.

Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis performed the autopsy and in his report gave the cause of death as hemorrhage due to a scalp laceration.

Inspector Darragh Gleeson said inquiries in the woman's death are ongoing and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).

Insp Gleeson sought a six month adjournment of the inquest and this was granted by Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane.

The inquest was adjourned to July 25, 2019.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has refused to interfere with a decision by Revenue to add 23% VAT to food supplements, an increase Opposition TDs claim is a "stealth tax" which will impact on those in need of vitamins.

Labour and Solidarity/PBP TDs joined people outside Leinster House protesting at plans to hike up the costs of food supplements on Friday. The increase was decided last year.

Over 60,000 people have now signed a petition to stop the VAT being put on vitamins and mineral supplements on March 1.

Labour leader Brendan Howlin called the move a "stealth tax.

Mr Howlin said consumers, patients and ordinary people would not be able to continue with their health routines.

He said Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe should reverse the proposal.

The Labour leader also questioned how the change was being implemented without Dail approval.

This is very scandalous and needs to be addressed, Mr Howlin said.

Health Stores Ireland, the association for health food stores, as well as the Irish Pharmacy Union have all come out against the VAT increase.

It is understood that Fine Gael TDs have also questioned the tax hike on supplements.

And while there are some exceptions to the new pricing regime, parties reject claims some of the products facing the extra 23% VAT charge are so-called 'snake oil' products.

Independent TD Catherine Connolly also told the Dail the VAT move should be deferred.

For God's sake, do the right thing and make a practical decision, she said.

Another Independent TD Noel Grealish, who the government relies on for votes, also wants the tax hike reversed.

This is causing concern to thousands of people, he said, adding that one company linked with supplements here was warning of dozens of job losses if the tax move proceeds.

Responding, Mr Varadkar said he had discussed the matter with Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe, who had said that Revenue was independent.

"It is matter for Revenue, not for Government," he added.
A teacher's bid for a permanent injunction preventing the Teaching Council of Ireland from notifying the National Vetting Bureau of its concerns over his relationship with a former student has been dismissed by the High Court.

Mr Justice Senan Allen said there was "abundant justification for the concern" raised following an investigation into the teacher's relationship with the male student.

There is "not now and never has been any justification for the allegation that the Teaching Council's concern is not a bona fide concern," the Judge added.

The National Vetting Bureau (NVB) is the Garda unit that vets persons, in order to increase the protection of children and vulnerable persons through safer recruitment decisions.

Last year the teacher secured a temporary injunction restraining the Council from making a notification under the 2012 Vetting Bureau Act and sought to make the injunction permanent.

The Council, which opposed the application, said under the 2012 Act, it is obliged to notify the Bureau of its concerns arising out of an investigation into allegations and complaints of his alleged treatment of a former student of the teachers.

The proposed notification arose out of the Council's investigation into the teacher following complaints of his conduct towards one of his male students, who was 19 years of age at the relevant time.

The allegations related to incidents that occurred in November 2016.

They included allegations that the teacher allowed the student consume alcohol while the student was alone with him, and that the teacher was under the influence of alcohol to the degree he was incapable of discharging his duties.

In November 2016 the student was found by gardai in a distressed state on a motorway. Gardai brought the student back to the school he attended.

At the school, the gardai said the student became more distressed when approached by the teacher.

The student told gardai and the school's principal that he had spent the evening drinking with the teacher and that the teacher had tried to remove his tracksuit bottoms, and became angry when the student refused to let the teacher do this.

Following the argument with the teacher, the student said he left the school and had tried to get to Dublin Airport so he could go home.

The student also reported that he had previously smoked something other than cigarettes with the teacher. The Garda assessment of what the student said was that no offence appeared to have been disclosed.

It is also alleged the teacher sent the student messages requesting the student to retract the information he provided to the school principal and the Gardai in circumstances when the principal expressly said not to contact the student.

Following the inquiry, the Council concluded that the public interest was served by requesting the teacher not to repeat the conduct. The teacher gave such undertakings and apologised for any distress caused.

The Council did not proceed with allegations of sexual impropriety by the male teacher, which are denied, towards the student.

In his High Court action, the teacher, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, claimed the Teaching Council's decision to send a notification breached his rights, was an attack on his right to earn a living and damaged his good name.

The Council was not entitled to send the notification on grounds including that the student at the centre of the allegations was 19 years of age and not a child at the relevant time, he claimed.

The Teaching Council, which regulates teaching standards in Ireland, opposed the injunction application.

It claimed it had been presented with allegations encompassing sexual assault, providing drugs and alcohol to students, predatory behaviour and emotional abuse.

In his judgement, Mr Justice Allen rejected the teacher's arguments. He said there was no delay by the Council when it decided it had a concern.

The judge said it was "impossible and impermissible to suggest the Council set out to destroy the teacher's reputation without regard for the truth and in disregard of its duty."

The Judge said there was "never the merest scintilla of justification for the teacher's allegation that there had been misfeasance by the Council."
The Government will consider proposals for a full inquiry into the murder of Clodagh Hawe and her three sons and will seek new research into the matter of familicides in Ireland.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar made the commitments as he also said families must get details sooner - Ms Hawe's relatives had to wait 16 months for the release of her husband's suicide letter.

The plight of her family was raised in the Dail following their appearance on RTE's Claire Byrne Show in which they spoke of their heartache and outstanding questions over the brutal murders.

Clodagh Hawe and her sons Liam, 13, Niall, 11 and Ryan, 6 were killed by Alan Hawe in August 2016 in Virginia, Cavan. Alan Hawe then took his own life.

Opposition leaders raised their concerns during Leaders Questions, with calls for a full investigation, for joined-up thinking among State agencies and for a change to existing laws.

Fianna Fail leader, Micheal Martin, said Ms Hawe's family has shown great courage and bravery" coming forward.

There are many disturbing elements to their story, he told the Dail.

Such brutal killings require a comprehensive response from State agencies and the family also want the full book of evidence into the killings published, he added.

The husband's suicide note should have been released earlier to the family, Mr Martin also said.

Will the Taoiseach ensure that genuine indigenous research is commissioned on this very difficult issue of familicide in Ireland?

"Will he agree to develop a multidisciplinary action plan to guide State agencies in terms of a response to any such events in the future? asked Mr Martin.

Mr Varadkar said Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan will accept a submission from the family and will meet them if required.

A response to familicides is also underway, the Dail heard. This includes reforming the gardai and changing laws.

The Domestic Violence Act, passed last year, also makes coercive control for the first time an offence, he said.

The Government is also assessing requests by the family to review the Succession Act on inheritance and the Coroners Act on burials, he said.

Mr Varadkar said gardai have a concern about opening up a book of evidence, despite the family's requests:

There is concern that if that was removed it would be harder to convince people to give evidence to the Garda in other cases if they knew that evidence given under privilege could be released later.

However, details should be given to families earlier, he added.

The suggestion for new research into familicides will also be passed onto the National Office for Suicide Prevention, Mr Varadkar said.

Mr Varadkar said that gardai are currently carrying out a review of cases of domestic homicide to better inform its approach to domestic violence generally.
A murder trial has heard a 90-year-old man sustained multiple blows from a blunt weapon before he died.

The body of retired farmer Paddy Lyons was found slumped in his chair at his home in Ballysaggart, Waterford in February 2017.

Dr Margaret Bolster carried out a post mortem on the body of Paddy Lyons in February 2017.

The Assistant State Pathologist told the jury the 90-year-olds face and neck were heavily bloodstained and there was a large amount of blood in his mouth.

She said there were multiple lacerations to the head, a fracture of the ribs, right hip joint and jaw bone and there was multiple bruising and abrasions to the body.

She said there was evidence of significant blunt force trauma to the body and the bruising and abrasions was in keeping with multiple blows from a blunt weapon.

She also said he could have had a heavy fall.

The cause of his death was given as blunt force trauma to the body with a traumatic brain injury and shock due to the fracture of the hip joint, jaw bone and ribs.

28-year-old Ross Outram of Ferryland, Waterford Road, Clonmel, Tipperary denies murdering the 90-year-old.

The court heard the accused claimed he had taken up to 60 Xanax tablets on the day in question and has no memory of the incident.
The countrys main youth detention facility has welcomed a new report which recommends better policies regarding children and young people in care who come in contact with the justice system.

The Care and Justice Report, conducted by the Irish Penal Reform Trust by academics Dr Paula Mayock and Nicola Carr found that while approximately 30% of cases in the children's court involve children with care experience, there was still a shortage of systematic data collected by gardai and Tusla to identify the extent of the issue.

The association between care and justice is an area of concern, particularly at the higher end of the youth justice system, that is, when children are prosecuted in the courts and are placed in detention, it said. This is identified as an issue for children with multiple and complex needs, many of whom are accommodated within residential care. Systemic factors including the profile of care provision, the prosecution of children in care placements and the responsiveness of the youth justice system to children in care are explored.

The IPRT said a more coordinated approach was required, citing the absence of data gathered by Tusla about the interaction between the care and justice systems for done children, and the inadequacy of the Garda Youth Diversion Programme in responding to those needs.

Oberstown Director Pat Bergin said: Given these facts, and as the IPRT report recommends, there is a need for a more joined up approach between all agencies involved with these young people, and not just when they enter the higher end of the justice system, i.e. Oberstown.

In order to adequately serve this vulnerable population of young people, we must identify and recognise the specific needs of care-experienced young people. From our point of view, this means working with a range of agencies to come up with an individualised placement plan for that young persons needs and to ensure there are a range of services available to young people to meet their complex needs on release.

Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland, Acting Executive Director of Irish Penal Reform Trust Fiona Ni Chinneide said that while the report was only speaking about a small number of children, there were areas where improvements were needed, including with the Garda Diversion Programme.

So for example placements can break down, young people can be moved to a different area or maybe a place only becomes available that's very far from home, so there are challenges on the garda side with tracking and engaging with the young person and that limits the ability, or lets say it reduces the effectiveness of the gardai and the ability of young people to access the Garda Diversion Programme, she said.
A man who was shot in the face at his home in 2013 spent five years in hospital before his death last year, an inquest heard.

Patrick Sullivan never regained consciousness following the attack at his home in Clondalkin on April 13, 2013. He was 52 when he was attacked in his home.

His wife and family attended the opening of an inquest into his death at Dublin Coroners Court. Mr Sullivan of Rowlagh Park, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 died in Cherry Orchard Hospital on June 26 last.

The mans wife Bernadette Sullivan gave evidence at the short hearing.

He was shot in our home on April 13, 2013, Mrs Sullivan said.

He spent time in different hospitals but for the last few years he was in Cherry Orchard Hospital. He died there on June 26, 2018.

She formally identified her husbands body to gardai before a post-mortem examination was carried out.

The autopsy performed by then State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy gave the cause of death as lower respiratory tract infection due to brain injury due to a shotgun wound to the face sustained in 2013.

Inspector Mark ONeill said the investigation into the shooting incident had remained open and investigators were now reviewing the case. Insp ONeill applied for a six-month adjournment to allow gardai to review the file.

Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane adjourned the inquest for further mention to July 25, 2019.

In news reports following the shooting Mr Sullivan, who worked as a handyman at a local leisure centre, was described as a happy go lucky man and a pillar of the community.
The spokesperson of former President John Dramani Mahama, James Agyenim Boateng, has asked the general public to disregard the falsehood peddled by the First Vice Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party, (NPP) in the Brong Ahafo region, Kwame Baffoe popularly known as Abronye DC, claiming the former President provided financial support to a Nigerian Presidential Candidate, PDP's Atiku Abubakar.



According to him, "what Abronye said is untrue, therefore must be disregarded".



In an interview on UTV's 'Dawuro' news, Kwame Baffoe popularly known as Abronye DC, alleged that the former President sent money to a candidate in Nigerias Presidential Elections through Mr. Julius Debrah, his former Chief of Staff.



He said he has evidence that Mr. John Mahama donated an amount of $1.5million to the PDP flagbearer to help him in his campaign to oust President Muhammadu Buhari from power.



"He gave him $1.5million to aid the opposition leader in Nigeria . . . he also set up a committee to help Atiku Abubakar win the election in Nigeria," he alleged in an interview with Yaa Konamah.



He added that John Mahama delegated a group to help Atiku Abubakar campaign on his last campaign rally day.



He said that money could have been used to assist party faithful and the youth involved in Vigilantism here in Ghana, to get jobs.



He also challenged Atiku Abubakar to come out and deny ever receiving such an amount from the former President of Ghana.



But reacting to the issue on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, he stated that the former President is an advocate of democratic consolidation and has principles that do not allow him to interfere in the elections of any country.



He added that Mr. Mahama has not interfered in the Nigerian elections in anyway and believes that any outcome of the Nigerian elections must be an expression of the free will of the Nigerian people.



President Mahama has sent no money to any candidate in Nigeria, and Mr. Julius Debrah, his former Chief of Staff has not been anywhere near Nigeria as alleged in the story.



"It is unfortunate and I want to say emphatically that the story is untrue, therefore must be disregarded," he stressed.



The main challenger to President Muhammadu Buhari, 76, in Nigeria's election is the former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, 72.



Atiku Abubakar is a Nigerian politician, businessman, philanthropist and Presidential candidate of the People's Democratic Party at the 2019 Nigerian general election.



He served as the 11th vice-president of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007 under the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo.



Abubakar declared his candidacy for the presidential nomination of the PDP mid 2018 and won the nomination at its convention on 7 October.



He defeated 11 other contestants and got 1,532 votes, 839 more than the runner-up, the Governor of Sokoto State Aminu Tambuwal.





Source: Josephine Acheampomaa/Peacefmonline/[email protected]









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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A man who was killed after a brutal attack died due to traumatic head injuries, an inquest has heard.

Robert Limbani Mzoma (26) was originally from Malawi but was living at Tudor Lawns, Foxrock, Dublin 18. He died on November 1 last.

His remains were removed from the house at Foxrock and transferred to the City Morgue at Whitehall. The man was formally identified by a family member.

A number of friends of the deceased appeared in court for the opening of an inquest into his death which was then adjourned.

Dublin Coroners Court heard that a sister of the deceased, Towena Mzoma, formally identified her brothers body to Gardai.

I identified the body of my brother to Garda Edwina Cahill, Ms Mzoma said in her statement, which was read out in court.

Detective Sergeant Paul Curran of the Photographic Section at Garda Headquarters in Dublin Castle

said he attended the post-mortem and confirmed the body was that taken from the house at Foxrock.

Deputy State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan conducted the autopsy on November 2 2018 and in her report gave the cause of death as traumatic head injuries.

Dublin Coroners Court heard from Inspector Marilyn Brosnan, who informed Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane that criminal proceedings had been instituted in this case.

The coroner adjourned the inquest into Mr Limbani Mzomas death indefinitely until after criminal proceedings had been completed.

Addressing friends gathered in the public gallery, Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane explained why the short hearing was being adjourned.

Criminal proceedings have commenced in relation to this tragic death and in these circumstances I await the outcome of the criminal trial, Dr Cullinane said.
A man in his 30s is in a critical condition after being shot in Drogheda, Co Louth this afternoon.

A garda spokesperson says it appears the attack is related to an ongoing gang feud which has been tormenting the town for the last number of months.

The man was shot at the M1 retail park on the edge of the town at around 2.45pm today.

He had left a premises in the park and got into a white Vauxhall Astra with two other men.

A black Volkswagen Passat pulled up close to the Astra and a number of shots were fired into the car.

The man, a passenger in the car, was struck at least once. The other two occupants were not injured.

The driver of the Astra managed to drive from the scene and went to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital where the man is being treated for serious injuries.

The black Passat also drove from the scene and this car has not yet been located.

Gardai have sealed off two crime scenes and a technical examination is underway at the retail park and at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital where the Astra is located.

An incident room has been set up at Drogheda Garda Station.

Gardai are asking anyone who was in the M1 Retail Park this afternoon between 1pm and 3pm to contact them.

They are also seeking information on the whereabouts of the Black Passat used in the shooting.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Drogheda Garda Station on 041 9874200.
A forensic scientist found no evidence that a serious assault took place in Mary Lowry's home, the last place where DJ Bobby Ryan was seen alive.

Scientists from Forensic Science Ireland examined areas where gardai reported positive results from blood tests in Ms Lowry's bedroom and living room.

Further analyses using tests designed specifically for human blood showed that none of the areas identified were actually blood stains.

Dr Martina McBride said one sample on a light fitting and ceiling that gave a "presumptive positive" result for blood was probably fly faeces which can be mistaken for blood by equipment routinely used by gardai.

Chemical testing and DNA sampling showed no signs of human blood, she said.

One spot in the bedroom was positively identified as DNA but testing could not show if the source was blood. She said DNA can be found as a result of someone touching a surface, sneezing, coughing or spitting.

All bodily fluids, she said, contain DNA.

Dr McBride and Dr Hilary Clarke were giving evidence in the trial of Patrick Quirke (50) of Breanshamore, Co Tipperary who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Bobby Ryan, a part-time DJ going by the name Mr Moonlight.

Mr Ryan went missing on June 3, 2011 after leaving Ms Lowry's home at about 6.30am and his body was found in an underground run-off tank on the farm owned by Ms Lowry and leased by the accused at Fawnagown, Tipperary in April 2013.

The prosecution claims that Mr Quirke murdered Mr Ryan so he could rekindle an affair with Ms Lowry (52).

Dr McBride told prosecuting counsel Michael Bowman SC that considering the injuries to Mr Ryan she would expect to see large amounts of blood in the area where he had been assaulted.

She concluded that there were no signs in Ms Lowry's home of an assault where large amounts of blood were spilled.

She further noted that the house had been painted in the 22 months since Mr Ryan's disappearance.

This was why, she said, she examined skirting boards where water containing traces of blood might seep down when a wall is cleaned.

She also examined ceilings because sometimes people don't notice blood on the ceiling.

While she said she found no evidence of an assault, she said the absence of blood may not be significant because of the time that had passed and the fact the house had been painted since Mr Ryan's disappearance.

Under cross-examination, the witness told Lorcan Staines SC for the defence that the nature of the assault, in which Mr Ryan suffered multiple fractures to the head, would lead her to expect to find "a lot of blood".

However, the passing of time and fact the house had been painted lowered that expectation.

She added: "I went there with the expectation that it was worth looking for blood."

A small spot found beside a press in the bedroom did test positive for DNA, she told Mr Staines, but further testing was unable to show if the source was blood or any other bodily fluid and it was not possible to generate a profile that would have allowed them to identify who the DNA came from.

Patrick Quirke arriving at the Central Criminal Court Dublin in Dublin this morning. Photo: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

Eight out-buildings on the farm were not suitable for the standard blood tests, she told Mr Staines, as there was a lot of matter that would have given false positives.

It would have been like "looking for a needle in a hay stack," she said.

Dr Hilary Clarke said she identified the body found in the tank by generating a DNA profile from a tooth.

She compared that with the DNA of Mr Ryan's children Michelle and Robert Jnr and said she was satisfied that the body was their father and therefore was Mr Ryan.

She examined various samples taken from Mr Ryan's van but found only low level traces of DNA not suitable for further identification.

She also examined two lump hammers sent to the labs by investigating gardai and found male DNA on the handle of one of them.

She was able to eliminate Bobby Ryan, Robert Ryan Jnr and Patrick Quirke as the source of that DNA.

She also looked at tubing, cable ties, a broken hair clip and other items found in the tank after Mr Ryan's body had been removed.

She did not sample them for DNA as she said she would have no expectation of finding DNA on them.

The trial continues in front of Justice Eileen Creedon and a jury of six men and six women.
A top economist says that unfortunately a review of the Local Property Tax is necessary.

Edgar Morgenroth, professor of Economics at Dublin City University told Newstalk Breakfast unfortunately it is necessary, we do need taxes to deal with all sorts of crises such as health and housing, so there is a need for a tax review.

He said that the Local Property Tax should have allowed for change all along, instead it had stored up a large increase.

Prof Morgenroth explained that the tax had been brought in to broaden the tax base, but by not indexing it the share of tax revenue has been declining.

Rather than broadening it, it has narrowed it. Thats not a good idea.

He recommended that the percentages should remain the same, but that the values increase. He acknowledged that this will hit places like Dublin more, but that the Government could give some of it back by other allowances and means.

If the issue is trying to raise local taxes then perhaps there should be a system to pay for local services, he suggested. Maybe there is a need to change the way local government is run, he added.

However, Dublin Fine Gael councillor Paddy Smyth said that the Local Property Tax should not be based on the capricious values of the property market.

The effects on Dublin would be disproportionate.

He said that Dublin pays a huge amount of tax compared with the rest of the country which is not fair on his constituents.
A man has been committed to the Central Mental Hospital after a jury verdict that found him guilty of manslaughter - and rejected unanimous expert opinion that he was legally insane - was declared perverse by the Court of Appeal.

Polish national Dariusz Alchimionek (44), with an address at Barrow Way, Spa Street, Portarlington, Co Laois, had denied the manslaughter of John Gorman (19) and assault causing harm to his brother, Adam, on December 29, 2015.

The brothers had been returning home from Tullamore when a vehicle driven by Alchimionek suddenly crossed the road into the path of their oncoming car at Ballycrystal, Geashill, Co Offaly.

Tullamore Circuit Criminal Court heard how Alchimionek had become convinced the Islamic State group, or Isis, were about to invade Europe and a third World War was about to begin.

Consultant psychiatrists for both the prosecution and the defence, both of whom worked at the Central Mental Hospital, agreed that Alchimionek met the criteria to be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

The jury had the option of returning of three verdicts: guilty, not guilty or not guilty by reason of insanity.

The trial judge told the jury: "In light of the medical evidence, it would seem to me that you have no option but to accept... the defence of not guilty by reason of insanity is available to the accused, and in such circumstances, you are obliged to acquit."

After two hours and 50 minutes of deliberations the jury returned majority guilty verdicts of 11-1 on both counts, which were met with applause in the courtroom.

Alchimionek was then sentenced to nine years imprisonment with the final three suspended by Judge Keenan Johnson in October 2017.

The Court of Appeal quashed the jury verdict last week on grounds it was perverse and against the weight of the evidence.

President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham said the quashing of a jurys verdict because it was perverse was very exceptional but the court felt compelled to do so in this case.

The three-judge court had the option of directing a retrial or to substitute the appropriate verdict, under Section 5 of the Criminal Law Insanity Act, as had been sought by Mr Alchimioneks lawyers.

Mr Justice Birmingham said today that the court was very conscious of the impact the terrible tragedy had on the family of the deceased.

However, he said it was never in controversy that Mr Alchimionek was in fact insane at the time of the incident and, if the court directed a retrial, it seemed inevitable the evidence would be the same.

If another jury was to reject the unanimous expert evidence a second time, he said the Court of Appeal would very likely find itself dealing with another perverse verdict.

On the other hand, if another jury in a retrial acted on foot of the unanimous expert evidence, then the verdict would be the same as the Court of Appeal could enter now.

Mr Justice Birmingham, who sat with Mr Justice John Edwards and Mr Justice Brian McGovern, said prolonging matters towards an inevitable conclusion by directing a retrial would not be in the public interest.

Mr Alchimionek was committed to the Central Mental Hospital for an assessment to be carried out. The most up to date medical report was prepared in July 2017.

The case was put back to March 7 for mention.

Counsel for Mr Alchimionek, Kenneth Fogarty SC, along with Niall Flynn BL, said a retrial was an unnecessary exercise.
The government have been called on to defer a huge stealth tax on food supplements over concerns the Revenue move will adversely hit consumers.

Labour made the call this morning as protestors also gathered outside Leinster House with placards calling for the tax to be scrapped.

Over 60,000 people have also signed a petition to stop the VAT being slapped on vitamins, and mineral supplements on March 1.

Labour leader Brendan Howlin called the move, which will come into effect next Friday, a "stealth tax.

Some consumers, patients and ordinary people would not be able to continue with their health routines, he said, and Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe should reverse the proposal.

He also questioned how the change was being implemented without Dail approval by Revenue.

This is very scandalous and needs to be addressed, Mr Howlin said this morning.

Health Stores Ireland, the association for health food stores as well as the Irish Pharmacy Union have all come out against the VAT increase.

It is understood that Fine Gael TDs are also opposed to measure and have questions about the harsh tax hike on food supplements.

And while there are some exceptions to the new pricing regime, parties reject claims some of the products facing the extra 23% VAT charge are so-called 'snake oil' products.
Update 10.05am: Gardai have launched an investigation following the discovery of the body of a man in his 50s in a house on the southside of Cork city.

A relative raised the alarm last night after finding the man's body upstairs in the terraced house on Avenue de Rennes in Mahon.

He was pronounced dead at the scene and the body remains at the scene.

The house has been sealed off and a forensic examination is underway.

While gardai are trying to establish the man's last known movements, it is understood he may have been socialising locally on Sunday night and may have become involved in a row later.

Gardai say the services of the assistant state pathologist have been requested.

They said they are keeping an open mind in relation to the cause of the man's death and say the results of a post mortem examination will determine the course of their investigation.

Earlier: Gardai keeping 'open mind' as body found at house in Cork overnight

By Olivia Kelleher

Update 9.10am: Gardai in Cork are keeping an open mind following the discovery of the body of a man in his fifties at a house in Avenue De Rennes in Mahon on the southside of the city.

The body was found at a house at Avenue de Rennes in Mahon at around midnight and emergency services were alerted.

The body of the deceased, who is in his fifties, was found at the house late last night. The emergency services were alerted and the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

A postmortem examination is expected to be carried out today and the results of these tests will determine the course of the investigation.

It is understood the man has lived in the Mahon area for much of his life. Efforts are being made to trace his last known movements.

Additional reporting Echo Live
Justice Minister Charles Flanagan says he would be happy to meet members of the family of murdered Clodagh Hawe to discuss their concerns.

As well as a new and full inquiry, the family have also called for a number of measures to protect other women who may be vulnerable and in danger.

The minister has stated, however, that any proposals would have to be considered by criminal law experts in his department and by the Attorney General.

Alan Hawe killed his wife, Clodagh and their sons, Liam (13), Niall (11) and Ryan (6) in August 2016 in Virginia, Co Cavan, and then took his own life.

Four weeks ago, Clodagh's mother, Mary Coll and sister, Jacqueline Connolly, were refused a request for copies of Garda files into the investigation into the murders.

In a statement, Mr Flanagan said he wanted to assure Clodagh's family that he was totally committed to doing everything he could to address and prevent the crime of domestic violence.

The minister pointed out that An Garda Siochana was currently reviewing cases of domestic homicide to better inform its approach to domestic violence generally.

Clodagh's family want all information gathered in the course of an investigation shared as soon as practicable with the next of kin.

The family, who highlighted their plight on RTE television on Monday night, only received the murder/suicide letter penned by Alan Hawe 16 months after he committed the awful crimes.

They want the book of evidence to be published after an inquest into a familicide and family annihilation and that Tusla, the Child and Family Protection Agency, monitors all such cases and maintains research on familicide perpetrators.

They have also called on Minister Flanagan to amend the Succession Act because it makes the perpetrator, or if deceased their family, a beneficiary of the estate.

Mr Flanagan stated that his officials were examining proposals to amend the Succession Act.

I want to reassure Clodagh's family that we will always do what we can to listen to the concerns of our citizens who find themselves impacted so dreadfully by awful crimes like these, he said.

The National Women's Council of Ireland has backed calls by Clodagh's family for a multi-agency review into her death and the death of her sons.

The NWCI has also called on Mr Flanagan and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to complete and publish the findings of the ten-year domestic homicide review that was promised to the council and Women's Aid after Clodagh's death.

NWCI director, Orla O'Connor, said the interviews with Clodagh's mother and sister on RTE underlined the importance of multi-agency domestic homicide reviews.

In other jurisdictions, domestic homicide reviews are systematic multi-agency reviews which are used to improve risk assessment and management and to identify gaps in policy and practice, following such crimes, she said.

Ireland must initiate the practice of multi-agency reviews of domestic homicides in Ireland every time such a crime occurs.

Women's Aid - 1800-341900.
A former National Organiser of the opposition NDC, Yaw Boateng Gyan, has called for unity within the NDC in order to achieve victory in the 2020 general elections following the overwhelming endorsement of former President John Dramani Mahama as flag bearer.



He called on party members to put their differences aside and support the task ahead for victory 2020.



Speaking on NEAT FMs morning show Ghana Montie, Yaw Boateng Gyan noted that mistakes that led to their defeat in 2016 must not be repeated.



We shouldnt repeat all those mistakes again in 2020. If we repeat that, then I am sorry we will again lose the 2020 election, he told host Kwesi Aboagye.



262, 942 delegates had to decide between seven candidates, namely: Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Sumani K. Bagbin, businessman Alhaji Nurideen Iddrisu, former President John Dramani Mahama, former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Mr Sylvester Adinam Mensah (Sly); former Trade Minister, Ekwow Mr Spio-Garbrah; Mr Augustus Goosie Tanoh and former Vice-Chancellor of University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Prof. Joshua Alabi



At the end of the day, John Dramani Mahama grabbed 213,487 votes representing 95.24% out of the total valid vote cast of 225,521.



He was followed by Prof. Joshua Alabi who managed only 3,404 votes representing 1.52% while Alban Sumani Kingsford Bagbin placed third with 2,301 representing 1.033%.



Goosie Tanoh, the founder of the defunct National Reformed Party, came fourth with 2,091 votes respectively representing 0.93%.



The former Trade and Industry Minister in the Mahama government, Ekwow Spio Garbrah received 1,447 votes which represent 0.65% of the total votes.



Mr. Sylvester Mensah and Nurudeen Iddrisu secured a paltry 934 of valid votes cast representing 0.42% and 520 votes representing 0.23% respectively.

Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/ Twitter: @Washman5/ Instagram: Ambrose_wash









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Environmental Protection Agency is investigating the discharge of thousands of tonnes of raw sewage flooding into Dublin Bay.

Irish Water says its teams are working to fix a failure at one of its tanks in Ringsend, which spewed sludge into the sea on Saturday.

RingsendWastewaterPlantGenericROLLINGNEWS26feb19_large.jpg

Works to upgrade the treatment plant started a year ago to try and meet demand from Dublin's growing population.

Irish Water said in a statement that in order to treat the increasing volumes of wastewater arriving at the plant to the required standard and capacity, it is investing over 400m to upgrade the Ringsend plant.

Currently, the Ringsend treatment plant treats approximately 40% of the countrys wastewater load.

Works started in February 2018 and are progressing well, Irish Water said.

However, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan says it is not acceptable that the public were not told to stay out of the sea at the weekend.

"Even at this time of year, even with the cold water out there, Dubliners are swimming in the Bay," he said.

"Why did Irish water not tell people to get out of the water for the weekend because they've got all this sewage in the bay, that's the real question they need to answer, as well as what went wrong."
Two stars of Channel 4s Derry Girls have demanded the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland as they delivered a 60,000-strong petition to Secretary of State Karen Bradley.

Nicola Coughlan, who plays Clare Devlin, and Siobhan McSweeney, who plays Sister Michael, joined 26 other women in the march at Westminster on Tuesday afternoon.

The 28 women  symbolising the number who travel from Northern Ireland to other parts of the UK each week for an abortion  all carried the names of 62,000 petition signatories in suitcases.

Siobhan McSweeney, left, and Nicola Coughlan (Jonathan Brady/PA)

An abortion is only permitted in Northern Ireland if a womans life is at risk or if there is a risk of permanent and serious damage to her physical and mental health.

The 1967 Abortion Act which governs the rest of the UK was not extended to Northern Ireland.

Coughlan, originally from Cork, paid tribute to the Northern Irish support for the Repeal the Eighth movement to decriminalise abortion in the Republic, adding: Women are being treated like criminals in their own country.

Ive had friends who have had to make this journey, it feels very personal as well.

Campaigners carried suitcases symbolising the women who travel from Northern Ireland for abortions (Jonathan Brady/PA)

McSweeney dismissed suggestions the issue should be resolved in Stormont, adding: Its a human rights issue. The legislation in Northern Ireland is some of the toughest in the world, and Westminster have a duty of care.

Also among the protesters were a number of MPs, including shadow Northern Ireland minister Karin Smyth, who called abortion restrictions in Northern Ireland unacceptable.

She told the Press Association: In England, women have had this right for 50 years, and somehow we think its acceptable that women dont have the same human rights as us. Thats unacceptable.

Women are being squeezed between this argument about devolution and human rights.

Calling Northern Irelands abortion rights a stain on the UKs democracy, Hannah Bardell, SNP MP for Livingston, added: Women in Northern Ireland are having their human rights routinely ignored.

The fact we have women in the United Kingdom unable to access basic healthcare is an absolute scandal.

Also at the Northern Ireland Office were anti-abortion Both Lives Matter, which claims an extra 100,000 people are alive as a result of Northern Irelands laws.

Clare McCarthy, of Both Lives Matter, believes any decision on Northern Irelands abortion legislation must respect the Good Friday Agreement.

She said: Whatever decisions on abortion in Northern Ireland are made, it is vital in respect of democracy and of the Good Friday Agreement that they are made by Northern Ireland and by the Northern Irish people.- Press Association
The deportation by the authorities here of a happy, safe, content and well cared for ten year old school girl back to Guinea in Africa has moved a step closer.

This follows High Court judge, Mr Justice David Keane refusing an application for a judicial review of a decision by the Minster for Justice to refuse permission for the child to reside in the State as a family member.

The girl told a social worker from TUSLA she is happy here and doesnt wish to return to Guinea.

The decision by Mr Justice Keane follows the girl's purported father failing to successfully challenge the results of a State-ordered DNA test which found that he is not the father of the girl.

The child was only allowed enter the country in the Summer of 2015 by the Minster for Justice on a temporary basis for the express purpose of conducting the DNA test to determine if she was the daughter of the Guinean man living here

The man had applied in May 2014 that the girl be allowed come to Ireland and live here as part of a family reunification programme.

The 31 year old man is a naturalised Irish citizen having arriving here in 2003 as a teenager and subsequently secured refugee status.

The man - married here in 2012 and has one child born in 2015 from that marriage - made the family reunification application for the ten year old girl he claimed is his daughter born in 2009 from a previous relationship with a woman in Guinea.

However in order for the re-unification application to succeed, the Minister for Justice required that the DNA test be carried out to determine if the Guinea man was the father of the girl.

The girl arrived here from Guinea on July 15th 2015 for the DNA test to be carried out after securing a three month temporary visa.

The man and the girl each provided DNA samples at a medical centre in Dublin in August 2015 to determine paternity and the results show that the man is not the father of the girl.

The DNA results show that the man is 100 times more likely related to the girl as an uncle or grandfather than if they were unrelated.

In December 2015, the Guinea man secured an injunction preventing the Minister for Justice deporting the girl pending the determination of the mans Judicial Review application of the Ministers decision in September 2015 to refuse permission for the girl to remain here.

In the refusal letter, the Minister stated that the applicant had failed to establish the identity of the girl, his relationship with her and as such the Minister could not be satisfied that the girl is member of the family of the applicant

Solicitor for the applicant told the court that the girls mother died in a road crash in The Gambia in January 2016 - six months after the arrival of the girl into Ireland.

In an affidavit, the solicitor also expressed the view that the result of the DNA test in the case is implausible because there is material on the Internet that suggests false negative test results can and do occur, so that the Minister should simply disregard that test result and conclude instead that the applicant is the girls father.

The girl has remained here since July 2015 and continues to live with the applicants family and attends primary school here.

A TUSLA report on the family following a visit to the home in July 2016 observed "a close and comfortable relationship between the girl and the applicant".

The TUSLA report stated that "the girl expressed that she is very happy living with her father and mother and that she does not wish to return to live in Guinea".

The girl told the TUSLA social worker that she is happiest now in her fathers care and that this what she has always wanted.

The TUSLA report states that the girl presents as a content, well stimulated and bright child. The home was noted to be appropriate, clean and well kept. There were no child protection concerns.

A further TUSLA report from a social work visit to the home in February 2017 stated that the girl appeared happy, safe and well-cared for and expressed her wish to remain living with the family.

In his ruling, Mr Justice Keane said that no scientific evidence has been put forward by the applicant that the DNA testing was flawed.

Mr Justice Keane stated: There is no principle of law whereby an administrative decision is invalidated for failure to consider the possible existence and effect of evidence beyond that properly before the decision-maker."

On the best interests of the child argument for the child to remain, Mr Justice Keane stated "that there is no reason to suppose that the Minister will not comply with that obligation if required to consider the exercise of any such discretion" in the case of the girl.

Mr Justice Keane also stated that the Minister for Justice's application to have TUSLA joined in the proceedings "was misconceived".
A man who placed a pellet gun in the mouth of his ex-partner and threatened to blow out the back of her throat has got a suspended two-year sentence after evidence that he attended anger management and had turned his life around.

Judge Gerard OBrien imposed a similar concurrent, suspended sentence on Mark Kavanagh of 11 Mount Sion Road, Greenmount, Cork, on a charge of assault causing harm to his then girlfriend.

Gardai investigating this and a drugs case from late 2017 said that to his credit, Kavanagh had turned his life around and now presented as a different man.

Detective Garda Michelle Quinn testified that the couple woke on the morning of December 18, 2017 at a caravan park on Mullock Road in Garryvoe, Co Cork.

It got out of hand and escalated into a serious situation. He became more and more aggressive.

"He punched her. He got a pellet gun. He fired plastic pellets at her. He placed the pellet gun in her mouth and then threatened to blow her throat out, Det. Garda Quinn said.

The injured party went to leave but the accused caught her.

He pulled her into the passenger seat of a vehicle. He told her to prepare for a crash. He drove around the area.

There was no crash and the defendant drove back where a neighbour intervened to try to stop him from behaving as he was and Kavanagh also threatened to kill him.

Two months before this incident Det. Garda Noel Howley went to a house where Kavanagh was staying at Hillcrest, Watergrasshill, Co Cork, on October 27 2017, in order to conduct a drugs search.

Eight cannabis plants were found in the attic.

Arising out of those two incidents, Kavanagh pleaded guilty to assault causing harm and threatening to kill his ex-partner and related charges and cultivation of cannabis.

Judge Gerard OBrien imposed an overall sentence of two years suspended at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Elizabeth OConnell defence senior counsel said of the assault and the threat to kill or cause serious harm with the pellet gun: It is a very grave charge. He is aware that the offence is of the most serious kind.

"He has effectively nothing of this kind before to blemish his record. That is not to take from the gravity of this charge.

He served time in custody (four months). By good chance he was able to clear his system of drugs.

"Both members of An Garda Siochana say he is a different man to the man they met in the past. He was not the person who committed these offences in December 2017.

He remains on medication but he has dealt with his drug addiction. He presents in a completely different way. Once he sobered up he presented in an improved way and behaved in a more appropriate manner.

"She (the injured party) is spared the difficulty of coming in giving evidence against her ex-partner.

No one wants to be seen as presenting money as an alternative to custody. But apparently, she would not be offended by it. It might express in a more concrete way that he regrets what happened. He offers 1,000. It is a very meagre sum.
Sterling surged to its highest level in 21 months and shares in Irish companies most exposed to the UK climbed, as markets assessed that Theresa May had lifted the threat of a no-deal Brexit.

Her offer to the Commons to vote on delaying Britains exit from the EU or ruling out a no-deal Brexit, if her own withdrawal bill fails, marks a capitulation that has substantially reduced the risk of a no-deal outcome, Davy chief economist Conall Mac Coille said.

Should Theresa May be successful in passing her withdrawal bill through parliament on March 12, the UK will move into the transition period out to 2020, the broker wrote.

This would keep the UK within the EU single market, preserving the status quo. If not, the debate will soon shift to the length of any Article 50 extension  to end-June or perhaps December 2020. The key point is that the likelihood of tariffs being imposed on March 30 now looks even more remote, Mac Coille said.

Sterling rose to trade below 86 pence for the first time since May 2017, helping to relieve pressure on Irish exporters, Bank of Ireland said.

The profit margins of firms, in particular for SMEs, selling into Britain can be wiped out when sterling plummets.

Firms were hit when the UK currency slid as much as 15% from 76 pence in the wake of the UK Brexit referendum in the summer of 2016. Sterling could unwind some of those losses and boost Irish exporters selling into the UK.

Despite succumbing to pressure from her own party and offering the votes to parliament, PM May reiterated her desire to find a deal with the EU and stated that any extension to Article 50 would be for a short period - a once off exception, said Lee Evans, head of foreign exchange trading and strategy at Bank of Ireland.

Sterling has now rallied more than 5% since the start of the year giving further relief to Irish exporters; and although an extension to Article 50 still fails to provide clarity to an ultimate Brexit solution, the further reduction in the probabilities of a no-deal scenario should be enough to boost the undervalued pound over the coming weeks, Mr Evans said.

Joshua Mahony, senior market analyst at online broker IG, said Mays announcement would stop a no-deal Brexit and it comes as no surprise to see the pound rise.

Irish shares which have been weighed down since the summer 2016 vote also rallied stongly. Shares in Bank of Ireland, which is exposed more than any other Irish bank to earnings from the UK, rose 1%.

Irish Ferries group, ICG, whose earnings could have been badly hit under a no-deal Brexit, rose 4%, and shares in Dalata Hotel Group which gets a fifth of its revenue from the UK surged 4.25%.

Mr Mac Coille at Davy said: Our view has been that a no-deal outcome, while highly unlikely, would be a severe threat to Irish GDP growth  potentially pushing the economy into recession.

Risk aversion to such a hard-Brexit scenario was a key factor driving the underperformance of the Iseq index in 2018, particularly banks, homebuilders, real estate investment trusts and other names exposed to the Irish economy. Looking forward, these sectors should benefit as the tail-risk of a no-deal outcome is perceived to be less likely.
Providence Resources has already been approached by companies interested in coming on board as part of a joint-venture agreement around its newly-formed green energy side project.

However, it is understood the Tony O'Reilly Jr-headed exploration company is opting to hold off on such a deal given the new division is at such an early stage. In time, Providence could seek a separate IPO for the newly-registered Providence Renewables DAC or sell the business division.
The pound rallied to a four-week high on Tuesday following reports that Britain's impending departure from the European Union could be delayed.

Sterling, which has been a barometer of Brexit since the 2016 referendum, rose 0.42% to 1.315 versus the US dollar, reaching its highest level since the end of January.

Against the euro, the pound grew 0.44% to 1.157.

The British currency was buoyed by news that UK Prime Minister Theresa May could delay Britain's March 29 exit from the bloc and is to propose formally ruling out a no-deal Brexit to her Cabinet, according to The Sun.

The move could postpone Brexit by weeks or months if Parliament does not back her deal.

Parliament has been deadlocked over Brexit after MPs rejected Mrs May's EU withdrawal agreement last month.

The pound was also lifted by news that Labour has shifted its position and is backing a second referendum on Britain's membership of the EU in the wake of several MPs quitting the party.

Michael Brown, senior analyst at payments firm Caxton FX, said: "The pound's gains are a result of markets beginning to price in an extension to the Article 50 negotiating period, with reports this morning that the Prime Minister is set to discuss the matter with Cabinet before laying a motion in the (House of) Commons this afternoon.

"Though a delay is simply pushing back the exit date, and doesn't solve anything itself, markets are taking solace in the fact that such a move would delay a 'cliff-edge' no-deal scenario."

He said a confirmation of the delay would likely strengthen the pound further in the near-term but noted that political headwinds remain, such as a possible second referendum.

Lukman Otunuga, research analyst at currency brokerage FXTM, said Britain risks being trapped in a "Brexit limbo" by extending Article 50.

"While the pound has scope to extend gains on Brexit delay expectations, the medium to longer term outlook remains blurred by a thick cloud of uncertainty.

"With the odds of a second referendum also rising after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn made a U-turn to back the move, another question floating in the air is whether there will even be a Brexit," Mr Otunuga added.

PA
Finding individual bankers guilty of reckless lending could be too cumbersome to prosecute with new laws, legal experts have said.

Members at the Law Reform Commission (LRC), led by Justice Mary Laffoy, told the Oireachtas Finance Committee that tackling "egregiously reckless risk-taking" remains problematic.

The LRC was appearing before the committee to outline its recommendations for a white-collar crime agency.

Amending legislation such as the Theft and Fraud Acts 2001 could work rather than creating new standalone offences.

Sinn Fein finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said he could not understand why reckless behaviour of individual bankers could not be prosecuted with new laws, such as is the case in the UK or Australia.

LRC Commissioner Raymond Byrne said the UK appeared to put a very high burden of proof on the prosecution to establish that reckless behaviour by bankers caused banking failures.

Mr Byrne said that Australian prosecutions focused on intentionally bad behaviour to prosecute, rather than relying on the subjectivity of reckless lending.

Commissioner Tom O'Malley said there was difficulty in establishing a balance between taking risks in the name of legitimate business and matters that should be considered as unlawful.

The LRC said it wanted a statutory corporate crime agency to be established.

The agency would be separate from the proposed Corporate Enforcement Authority which is due to replace the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE).

The Corporate Enforcement Authority would only deal with company law.

A white-collar agency could investigate corporate crime that falls outside the remit of regulators such as the Central Bank, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, ComReg, or the proposed Corporate Enforcement Authority, the LRC said.

Corporate offences such as false accounting and other similar offences are outside the scope of the regulators, the LRC said. A one-stop shop agency akin to the role played by the Criminal Assets Bureau is needed to investigate such offences, it said.
Prime Dublin office rents have remained stable, at 700 per square metre, while office rents in Cork have increased 8% from last year, commercial landlord Green Reit has said.

Shares in the company rose almost 2% despite its profits falling more than 14%, year-on-year, to 45.6m in the six months to the end of December. However, the value of its properties rose 4.1% to 1.48bn.

The company said there is a lot of room for growth in the logistics space, especially in Dublin where 95% of its portfolio value is located.

The company said it has 600m to spend on the development of its property portfolio.

Green Reit wants logistics to comprise more than 20% of its portfolio over the medium-to-longer term as its Horizon Logistics Park in Swords is developed out. Logistics and warehousing space currently comprises 7% of the company's portfolio.

"There continues to be good demand from investors for modern logistics units. However, the sector still comprises only 3% of the total investment market. Over the last six months, there has been yield compression in this sector, with prime yields currently at 5.1% and trending stronger.

"It is anticipated that demand for modern logistics units will continue to grow as a result of the increase in e-commerce in Ireland, the strength of the pharmaceutical industry and overall economic growth," the company said.

Brexit may also present further opportunities, Green Reit said, as would the development of e-commerce facilities to process orders.

A slowdown in technology, globally, could lead to a softening in Dublin office rents and valuation yields. Green Reit owns One Molesworth Street in Dublin, which includes Barclays as tenants, and One Albert Quay in Cork.
The Dalata Hotel Group may make an earlier-than-planned move into continental Europe in order to test conditions ahead of a larger expansion drive in the coming years.

Ireland's largest hotel operator, and owner of the twin Clayton and Maldron brands, remains focused on building its UK business for now. Last year the group said it would target a move into Germany and the Benelux countries over the next decade.

However, speaking on the back of strong annual results, deputy chief executive Dermot Crowley said an initial move into mainland Europe could be closer than thought. He said a meaningful expansion remains some years off, but the group would be open to making an initial single hotel investment - most probably in Germany - if the opportunity arose, in order to better gauge market conditions.

Dalata is currently researching supply and demand dynamics in Germany and is targeting most of the country's main cities including Berlin, Munich, Cologne, Hamburg, Dusseldorf and Stuttgart.

Dalata has opened six hotels in Ireland and the UK in the last 12 months and has another eight in the pipeline between now and 2021. By then, it will have around 16 UK hotels and nearly 50 in total. Despite largely focusing on regional UK cities, Dalata is looking at further opportunities in London after completing a hotel deal in the City of London last month.

The group grew pre-tax profits last year by 13% to 87.3m, while revenues jumped nearly 12% to 393.7m. A first full year dividend of 10c per share was declared. It also announced plans for an expansion of its Cardiff Lane Clayton Hotel in Dublin after buying adjacent land for 5.5m. Dalata's shares rose by close to 5% on the results and lessening fears of a no-deal Brexit.

Mr Crowley said Brexit uncertainty has had no impact on Dalata's trading, with only 15% of visitors to its Dublin hotels - and 8% to its regional Irish properties - coming from the UK, while North American visitor numbers have grown.

"If it's not a no-deal outcome, I think it will continue to be business as normal," he said.

He also said it remains too early to judge the effect of the Vat rate for the hospitality sector returning to 13.5% from 9%, but admitted the move would impact less on Dalata than smaller industry players.

Dalata remains hopeful of becoming the operator of the new hotel planned for the site of the current Ballsbridge Hotel in Dublin - which the group already runs on a managed basis - but has lost out in the running for a new Dublin Airport hotel.
Campaign Chairman of former president John Dramani Mahama, Mr. Daniel Ohene Agyekum, a former Ambassador to the United States of America, says the victory of the former President in the just ended primaries sends a clear warning to the NPP about the return of the former President.



He says though they asked delegates to vote massively for the former president during the campaign period, they never expected this wide margin.



Speaking in an interview with Peace FM News Monday, he indicated that this should send a resounding warning to the NPP that Ghanaians are desperate for the return of the former President.



"Ghanaians were deceived by the empty promises of the NPP government and having realized their mistake, they are asking for Johns return and they showed it by voting overwhelmingly for the former president . . . Ghanaians know that they have made a mistake by buying into the lies and propaganda of the NPP government and they know that President Mahama is their savior." he said.



According to him, Mahama was and is still Ghanas favorite President considering the numerous developmental projects carried out by the former President during his tenure.



Former President John Dramani Mahama will lead the National Democratic Congress (NDC) into the 2020 elections justifying the prediction of pundits that he remains by a petering distance, the partys most marketed candidate.



He won convincingly with 95.24% of the vote, leaving six others to squabble over less than 5% in a poll that involved about 260,000 NDC delegates.



His obscure and distant challenger Prof. Joshua Alabi managed only 3,399 representing 1.516% of votes cast while the man said to have mentored Mahama in politics, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin placed third with 2,313 (1.032%).



NDC return, Goosie Tanoh, finally got a shot at his most cherished political ambition but polled 2,038 votes (0.909%) to place fourth.



Ekwow Spio-Gabrah placed fifth with 1457 votes (0.650%), Sylvester Mensah managed 932 votes (0.415%) with Nurudeen Iddrisu securing 513 votes (0.231) to place sixth and seventh, respectively.

Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected]









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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HALIFAX - The widow of QuadrigaCX CEO Gerald Cotten says a chief restructuring officer should be appointed to oversee what remains of the insolvent cryptocurrency trading platform, saying her role as director has drawn "unwanted" online commentary suggesting she is trying to hide assets.

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Interested parties attend Nova Scotia Supreme Court as Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange seeks creditor protection in the wake of the sudden death of its founder and chief executive in December and missing cryptocurrency worth roughly $190-million, in Halifax on Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

HALIFAX - The widow of QuadrigaCX CEO Gerald Cotten says a chief restructuring officer should be appointed to oversee what remains of the insolvent cryptocurrency trading platform, saying her role as director has drawn "unwanted" online commentary suggesting she is trying to hide assets.

In an affidavit submitted this week to Nova Scotia Supreme Court, Jennifer Robertson of Fall River, N.S., also says that a 30-day stay of proceedings that has protected the company from lawsuits should be extended.

More than 115,000 users of the Vancouver-based QuadrigaCX platform are owed about $260 million in cash and cryptocurrency following the demise of the unregulated company on Jan. 28.

About $190 million in Bitcoins and other cryptocurrency remains missing, according to court documents that say some of those digital assets are locked away in so-called offline cold wallets that remain beyond the reach of the company.

"In order to continue to pursue the location of the assets, more time is needed," Robertson says in an affidavit filed Monday.

"If the stay extension is not granted ... the ability of the (Quadriga) companies to complete the investigation into the location and accessing the missing assets will also end, as well as ending any discussions regarding the potential sale of ... Quadriga."

Robertson says a chief restructuring officer (CRO) should be appointed because she and the other director of the company, Tom Beazley, have no significant experience with the cryptocurrency industry or insolvent businesses.

As well, she says her role as director has attracted unwanted public attention.

She cited "online commentary" suggesting she has failed to act in the best interests of the company and is "trying to hide assets."

Cotten, 30, was QuadrigaCX's lone director when he died suddenly on Dec. 9 while travelling in Jaipur, India. When his death was announced more than a month later, court documents revealed he was the only QuadrigaCX employee who knew the pass codes required to gain access to the company's cryptocurrency.

Robertson, who was granted all of Cotten's assets in his will, says the court should appoint Peter Wedlake as chief restructuring officer. Based in Halifax, he is a senior vice-president at Grant Thorton Ltd. who specializes in financial restructuring.

"The (Quadriga) companies require ongoing direction relating to their affairs during the (insolvency) process and during an anticipated sales process," Robertson says. "In my opinion, direction of these issues can best be provided by a CRO who has access to cryptocurrency expertise."

Lawyers for QuadrigaCX plan to ask Justice Michael Wood to approve the appointment and extend the stay of proceedings by up to 60 days during a court hearing scheduled for March 5, which is when the original stay is set to expire.

In a motion filed Monday with the court, QuadrigaCX lawyer Maurice Chiasson addressed Robertson's somewhat contentious role as director, saying the appointment of a CRO should fix that problem.

"The independence of the CRO would ensure that the interests of all stakeholders are protected and that any alleged concerns in relation to Ms. Robertson's continued day-to-day involvement with the (QuadrigaCX) companies would be addressed."

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BURNABY, B.C. - New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will use his new position as a member of Parliament to pressure the Liberal government to take action on the affordable housing crisis in British Columbia.

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NDP leader Jagmeet Singh celebrates his Burnaby South byelection win in Burnaby, B.C., Monday, Feb. 25, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

BURNABY, B.C. - New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will use his new position as a member of Parliament to pressure the Liberal government to take action on the affordable housing crisis in British Columbia.

The former Ontario legislator won a byelection in Burnaby South on Monday, giving him a voice in the House of Commons for the first time since he became NDP leader in the fall of 2017.

The 40-year-old moved to the Metro Vancouver riding with his wife late last year. Everywhere he went when he campaigned, he heard that the top concern was housing, he said.

"What we're committed to doing is immediate action," he told a cheering crowd of supporters. "We're calling for the fast-tracking of investments to build new co-operative housing and non-market housing."

The NDP is calling for a return to a time when the federal government built housing, he said, adding that in the late 1940s and 1970s, Canada built hundreds of thousands of affordable homes.

"I want to get back into doing that, so people can still dream of and actually achieve the dream of owning a home."

Despite recent cooling in the market, Burnaby still faces a housing crisis. Renters have faced so-called demovictions, when they are kicked out of older apartments to make way for luxury condos, and sky-high prices are shutting millennials out of buying their first homes.

Singh has proposed measures to build 500,000 affordable homes across Canada, challenging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to eliminate the GST for developers building affordable homes, subsidize low-income renters and double the first-time homebuyers' tax credit.

He entered his victory party on Monday to jubilant cheers, thumping dance music and chants of "Jagmeet! Jagmeet!"

"It's a new day," he said, beaming. "I want to promise you something. I will be your champion. I will take each and every one of you with me to Ottawa, where I'll fight for you in the House of Commons."

Singh said he would also push for universal coverage of prescription medication and action on climate change.

He has faced internal criticism for low fundraising and poor support in the polls, but he said the NDP was "united" in the vision of ensuring the government stands up for people and not the powerful and well-connected.

"I've spent time with people at the doorsteps and it's clear to me that all New Democrats are committed to making sure that people in their riding, their voices and concerns are brought to Ottawa. We're all united," he said.

"I'm confident that we'll be able to work together on those shared values that we all have. Everyone on my team knows that that's what our job is, to fight for people who don't have a voice."

It's not the first time a federal New Democrat leader has represented a riding in the city, as Tommy Douglas won a byelection in Burnaby-Coquitlam in 1963 and represented the area until 1968.

"In British Columbia, we haven't had a national leader from out west for a very long time, and for us New Democrats, since Tommy Douglas," said Vancouver East MP Jenny Kwan.

Kwan agreed with Singh that "housing, housing and more housing," was the top issue in Metro Vancouver.

"Jagmeet is going to amplify that voice across the country, across the nation, to say how important it is that we actually support the people in our community," she said.

Kwan said she has been calling for a national affordable housing program for 25 years, but the Liberal government's initiative is a "pretend program."

The government has introduced a 10-year national housing strategy worth $40 billion when investments from provinces, cities and non-profits are factored in. The plan aims to cut homelessness in half, build 100,000 new units across Canada and repair aging affordable housing.

Singh beat Liberal candidate Richard T. Lee in Burnaby South by about 3,000 votes, widening the gap significantly from the 2015 election when the NDP won by about 550 votes.

Conservative candidate Jay Shin placed third, 800 votes behind the Liberals, while the People's Party of Canada candidate had about 10 per cent of the overall vote.
MONTREAL - Quebec Superior Court has issued a temporary injunction ordering the provincial government to resume processing more than 18,000 immigration applications.

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MONTREAL - Quebec Superior Court has issued a temporary injunction ordering the provincial government to resume processing more than 18,000 immigration applications.

The decision Monday by Justice Frederic Bachand forces the province to continue to render decisions on cases it wanted to throw out as it moved to overhaul the selection process for newcomers to the province.

Simon Jolin-Barrette, immigration minister with the Coalition Avenir Quebec government, tabled Bill 9 on Feb. 7. The bill aims to allow the province to be more selective with immigrants, ensuring they speak French, respect Quebec values and meet labour market needs.

Lawyers representing the Quebec Association of Immigration Lawyers argued last Friday the minister had acted illegally by not following the laws currently in place. They said the matter was clearly urgent and warranted an injunction.

The 18,139 outstanding applications involve skilled workers' cases, which are managed by the province. They include about 3,700 applicants who already reside in Quebec.

Bachand found that a significant number of the applicants are harmed by the government decision because they would have obtained the certificate if normal processing continued. For some, the harm is irreparable, because their age would disqualify them under the new system.

As for those who would still qualify under a new law, they would also suffer by being forced to return to square one in the process, he ruled.

The decision is valid for 10 days  the limit of such a temporary injunction. The parties are expected back in court next week.
TORONTO - Lawyers for a former Toronto pastor accused in the drowning of his pregnant wife argued Tuesday that the woman died in a "tragic accident" or took her own life after growing suspicious that her husband was still cheating on her.

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TORONTO - Lawyers for a former Toronto pastor accused in the drowning of his pregnant wife argued Tuesday that the woman died in a "tragic accident" or took her own life after growing suspicious that her husband was still cheating on her.

Philip Grandine is accused of secretly sedating his wife with anti-anxiety medication or giving her the drug so that she would be less alert while he continued a clandestine affair with her friend.

The Crown alleges he then allowed Anna Karissa Grandine to take a bath on her own while under the influence of the drug, knowing she would be drowsy and vulnerable.

The 29-year-old woman was found dead in the couple's bathtub in October 2011. She was 20 weeks pregnant at the time.

Toxicology tests later detected lorazepam  a drug she had not been prescribed  in her system as well as in blood samples taken a few days before her death.

Philip Grandine has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and his lawyers argue the prosecution's allegations are nothing but speculation.

In his closing arguments Tuesday, defence lawyer Amit Thakore said there is no evidence Grandine had the drug lorazepam, much less that he gave it to his wife.

The Crown has said Grandine, who dispensed and disposed of medication as a nurse at a seniors' home, had access to the drug. He also downloaded a list of all the medications prescribed to residents and patients on his home computer months before his wife's death, prosecutors said.

But the defence argued no drugs were reported missing, either in the centre's logs or by residents.

"All tablets were accounted for," Thakore told jurors. "This is an egregious attempt to get you to engage in speculation."

Thakore said it was Anna Grandine, not her husband, who researched the drug better known as Ativan online and administered it to herself.

An analysis of the couple's computer showed someone looked up the effects of various doses of Ativan a week before Anna Grandine died, court heard.

While the analysis could not determine who was using the computer at that time, Thakore argued that because Anna Grandine's Facebook account was active at the time, she was the one conducting those searches.

"She's researching fatal amounts of the drug, not Mr. Grandine," he said.

There is "substantial evidence" Anna Grandine committed suicide amid the couple's ongoing marital problems, he said.

A few months before her death, "she learns her husband is having an affair with someone she knows and considers a friend," Thakore said. The affair is made public when her husband resigns as a pastor, he said.

The pair resolve to work through their differences and start going to marriage counselling, he said. Philip Grandine resumes the affair, however, and in early October, his wife grows suspicious, raising the issue during one of their counselling sessions, he said.

Grandine told police he was out for a run the night of Oct. 17 and found his wife unresponsive in the tub when he returned, court has heard. His mistress testified that running was a cover that allowed them to contact each other.

A computer filtering program meant to bar Grandine from accessing pornography was uninstalled roughly 40 minutes before he called 911, court heard. The Crown has argued Grandine was the one who removed it by reporting a lost password and accessing his wife's email.

The defence, meanwhile, said Grandine wasn't home and would not have been able to remove the program because he was not the administrator of the account.

Thakore suggested Anna Grandine uninstalled the program because she knew she was about to end her life and did not want to burden her husband with those restrictions after her death. That suggests she was clearheaded and co-ordinated enough to get to the basement where the computer was kept, he said.

Thakore said it's also possible she had an accident while taking a bath and died as a result.
VANCOUVER - A medical health officer in Vancouver says measles is not expected to spread beyond a cluster of patients but anyone travelling to other parts of the world should ensure they are vaccinated against the contagious disease.

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VANCOUVER - A medical health officer in Vancouver says measles is not expected to spread beyond a cluster of patients but anyone travelling to other parts of the world should ensure they are vaccinated against the contagious disease.

Dr. Reka Gustafson of Vancouver Coastal Health said Monday that people often go to a travel clinic before a trip to get protection against diseases that don't circulate locally and it's a good opportunity to ensure all childhood vaccinations are up to date.

She said most people in B.C. are vaccinated and older adults may already have had measles so they are immune, but anyone born after 1970 should ensure they have two doses of a vaccine, which is routinely given to children at age one and then between the ages of four and six.

Two new cases were reported in the province Sunday, bringing the total to 13, with most of them linked to two French-language schools after an unvaccinated child contracted the disease during a trip to Vietnam.

"There is no generalized transmission of measles in our community right now," Gustafson said. "We've had one case where the source couldn't be identified. Other than that, every single individual who has been diagnosed with measles in our region either acquired it in a part of the world where there's active transmission of measles or we could link it to the original cluster of measles."

Gustafson said it took a week to get all the students' immunization records and improvements are needed to ensure a quicker system limits disruption to families as well as use of health-care resources.

"There are strategies you can have to make sure the registry is more complete, such as requiring immunization documentation for school entry, which we don't have right now for British Columbia but that would certainly improve documentation. We could also consider requiring vaccination for school entry in order to prevent outbreaks."

Symptoms of measles include a runny nose, cough, fever, red and itchy eyes, and sometimes a rash. Gustafson said parents who suspect their child has the disease should call their doctor's office in advance in order to get a separate room.

Immunization information is collected for children entering kindergarten, for new students registering at a school, and in Grades 6 and 9 when routine school-based vaccination programs are done.

The current outbreak has prompted more people to see health-care providers with symptoms that appear to be measles but often are not, she said.

Anyone diagnosed with measles is isolated at home until four days after the appearance of a rash and their immediate family members are vaccinated, Gustafson said, adding workplaces and educational facilities associated with an infected person are also notified to prevent the disease from spreading.
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NDP leader Jagmeet Singh celebrates his Burnaby South byelection win as he arrives at his election night party in Burnaby, B.C., Monday, Feb. 25, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Four stories in the news for Tuesday, Feb. 26

JAGMEET SINGH WINS CRUCIAL BYELECTION

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has won his do-or-die bid to capture a British Columbia seat in the House of Commons. The victory in the riding of Burnaby South tightens Singh's shaky grip on the reins of the federal New Democrats. However, the challenge ahead is underscored by the simultaneous loss to the Liberals of the Montreal riding that launched the party's 2011 orange wave that swept Quebec. Outremont was a longtime Liberal stronghold until 2007, when former NDP leader Tom Mulcair scored an upset byelection victory. In the third byelection Monday, the Conservatives easily hung onto the Ontario riding of York-Simcoe.

KHADR BACK IN COURT TO ASK FOR SENTENCE TO EXPIRE

Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr is to ask Alberta's youth court today to declare his eight-year sentence to have expired. The sentence, which was imposed in 2010 by a military commission in the United States, would have ended last October had he remained in custody. But the clock stopped ticking when an Alberta judge freed him on bail in May 2015 pending Khadr's appeal of a military commission conviction for war crimes  a years-long process that has no end in sight. His lawyer, Nate Whitling, has said that the youth court judge has the authority to terminate the sentence and say it's over.

TRUDEAU LIFTS RESTRICTIONS ON WILSON-RAYBOULD

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is waiving both solicitor-client privilege and cabinet confidentiality for his former attorney general, paving the way for Jody Wilson-Raybould to finally tell her side of the SNC-Lavalin saga to the House of Commons justice committee and the ethics commissioner. An order-in-council published Monday evening lifts both confidentiality restrictions on Wilson-Raybould and anyone she talked to about her role in deciding whether to prosecute SNC-Lavalin for bribery and fraud. Wilson-Raybould may appear at the House of Commons justice committee as early as Wednesday to explain what type of pressure she felt she was under not to pursue a criminal prosecution of the Quebec engineering giant, and allow the firm to negotiate a remediation agreement instead.

NEW ONTARIO HEALTH-CARE PLAN TO BE UNVEILED

Ontarians are set to learn the government's plans today for an overhaul of the health-care system. Health Minister Christine Elliott is set to introduce legislation this afternoon and will make an announcement on it this morning. A leaked draft version of the bill that the NDP revealed late last month showed that Ontario was planning a health "super agency." That draft legislation indicated the government could roll local health integration networks, Cancer Care Ontario, eHealth Ontario and other government health agencies under the super agency umbrella. Elliott says there have been changes since the draft bill was leaked.

ALSO IN THE NEWS:

 The deputy minister of Global Affairs Canada, along with senior officials from the auditor general's office, will testify on physical security at Canada's missions abroad.

 Ukraine's ambassador to Canada, Andriy Shevchenko, will provide a briefing to the Commons defence committee.

 George Weston Ltd. will discuss its fourth-quarter results in a conference call with analysts.
OTTAWA - Canada and Britain will co-host an international summit in London this summer on the growing threats to freedom of the press, and to promote better protection of journalists.

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Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland talks to media as she makes here way through the foyer of the House of Commons in the West Block of Parliament Hill as she arrives for question period in Ottawa on Monday, Jan. 28, 2019. Canada and Britain will co-host an international summit in London this summer on the growing threats to freedom of the press, and to promote better protection of journalists, The Canadian Press has learned.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA - Canada and Britain will co-host an international summit in London this summer on the growing threats to freedom of the press, and to promote better protection of journalists.

Sources say Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland  a journalist before she entered politics  and her British counterpart Jeremy Hunt have worked on the idea for months. Canadian officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss details.

Freeland's office confirmed later Tuesday the two-day gathering, starting July 10, will include members of governments, civil society and journalists and will focus on protecting reporters from censorship, imprisonment, personal attacks and abuse.

"In any democracy, journalists must have the ability to report facts freely, to defend, expose and advance the truth without fear of retaliation, reprisal, violence or imprisonment," Freeland said in a statement.

Sources say Freeland has been influenced by two high-profile cases: the imprisonment of two Reuters reporters sentenced to seven-year terms in Myanmar for violating the country's Official Secrets Act and the murder and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul last fall.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly called the news media "the enemy of the people," but sources denied suggestions his anti-media rhetoric was also a factor.

"It's a theme Minister Freeland has been thinking a lot about in general, particularly because of the cases of the two journalists in Myanmar and the Khashoggi case," said one source.

"But also in general, the current climate is affecting journalist's ability to do their work freely." Freeland and Hunt "have this shared concern and that was the genesis of all of this."

Freeland, who used to work at Reuters, condemned the seven-year sentences meted out to Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were reporting on the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar's Rakhine State. A military crackdown drove an estimated 900,000 Rohingya out of Myanmar and into neighbouring Bangladesh.

The two journalists were reporting on a massacre of the Rohingya people by the Myanmar military in 2017 and say they were framed by police.

"This verdict gravely undermines the rule of law and freedom of the press in Myanmar, and betrays the decades-long struggle by the Myanmar people for democracy," Freeland said in a written statement in September.

Britain and the United States also condemned the verdict, along with numerous international human rights organizations.

Freeland has called Khashoggi's killing "abhorrent and represents an unconscionable attack on the freedom of expression and freedom of the press." Canada also imposed sanctions on 17 Saudis linked to killing, freezing their assets and barring them from entering the country.

She has repeatedly called for an independent international investigation so Khashoggi's killers can be brought to justice.

Freeland and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have defended a free press as a necessary part of a thriving democracy. While they have not criticized Trump directly, their steadfast defence of the media has come amid unprecedented attacks on press freedom by the American president.

Trump has called the news media "the enemy of the people" and derided it for selling "fake news" to its readers. He has also called journalists "crazed lunatics."

"The Fake News Media in our Country is the real Opposition Party," Trump said in one January Tweet. "It is truly the Enemy of the People! We must bring honesty back to journalism and reporting!"

In December, the rights group Reporters Without Borders reported that the United States had, for the first time, formally entered the ranks of the top five deadliest countries in the world for journalists to work.

On June 28, four journalists and a sales associate were killed by a gunman who opened fire in the offices of the Maryland newspaper Capital Gazette in what was the deadliest attack on the media in recent U.S. history.

In December, the annual report by the Committee to Protect Journalists said the number of journalists killed across the world in retaliation for their work nearly doubled between 2017 and 2018.

It said 34 journalist were killed in retaliation for their work, while at least 53 were killed overall. In 2017, 18 journalists were killed in retaliation while 47 were counted overall.
EDMONTON - An Alberta judge is to rule next month whether former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr should have his eight-year sentence for war crimes declared expired.

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Omar Khadr speaks outside court in Edmonton on Thursday, December 13, 2018. Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Khadr is today asking Alberta's youth court to declare his eight-year sentence to have expired.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

EDMONTON - An Alberta judge is to rule next month whether former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr should have his eight-year sentence for war crimes declared expired.

The sentence, which was imposed in 2010 by a military commission in the United States, would have ended last October had Khadr remained in custody.

Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr makes his way into the courthouse in Edmonton on Tuesday February 26, 2019. Khadr is to ask Alberta's youth court today to declare his eight-year sentence to have expired.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

But the clock stopped when a judge freed him on bail in 2015 pending Khadr's appeal of his military conviction  a years-long process that has no end in sight.

His lawyer, Nate Whitling, told an Edmonton court that Khadr served three years and five months in custody and has been out on bail for another three years and nine months.

He said the appeal, in the meantime, hasn't advanced "even an inch" in the U.S.

"Mr. Khadr's sentence essentially is frozen in time," Whitling told Chief Justice Mary Moreau on Tuesday.

The Toronto-born Khadr spent years in U.S. detention at Guantanamo Bay after he was captured and accused of tossing a grenade that killed special forces soldier Christopher Speer at a militant compound in Afghanistan in 2001.

He was later transferred to an Edmonton prison and the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the punishment handed Khadr for the acts committed when he was 15 years old was to be a youth sentence.

His application in youth court Tuesday asked the judge to place him under conditional supervision for one day then declare his sentence served.

Since his release on bail, Khadr has lived in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alta., without any issues.

"He's been an upstanding citizen since being released," said Whitling. "There's just nothing negative to say about Mr. Khadr."

Another judge had eased some of his initial bail conditions, but several remain in place.

Those conditions include not having access to a Canadian passport, a ban on unsupervised communication with his sister, who lives in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, and a requirement to notify his bail supervisor before leaving Alberta.

Both federal and provincial Crown lawyers said Tuesday that Khadr should serve the remainder of his eight-year sentence in the community with similar conditions.

"We have no objection to the applicant not serving time in custody," Alberta Crown prosecutor Doreen Mueller said in court. "The remainder of the sentence has to be served.

"The sentence is the sentence."

Federal Crown prosecutor Bruce Hughson added any reduction in the sentence would go against the international treaty under which Khadr was transferred to Canada.

"Canada cannot, under its treaty obligations, alter the length of the sentence," he said. "What they do allow is an alteration of the length of confinement."

Hughson said he understands Khadr's frustration with the appeal process, but suggested Tuesday's application should have been made by lawyers at the same time as the bail application in 2015.

"The fact is they didn't," he said.

Whitling said they made a tactical decision to seek bail in 2015 without dealing with the sentence.

"Hindsight is always 20-20," said the defence lawyer.

He added that the Crown was blowing Canada's international obligations out of proportion.

"What the United States agreed was that you can treat transferred youth prisoners just like you do your own youth prisoners," he said outside court. "It wouldn't surprise them at all ... to learn that this type of review exists.

"I don't take seriously that somehow the relationship between the two countries would be negatively affected by this decision."

Moreau said she will hand down her decision March 25.
OTTAWA - Global Affairs Canada says it has had a second meeting in as many days with Canadians detained in China.

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This article was published 26/2/2019 (852 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In this image made from video taken on March 2, 2017, Michael Spavor, director of Paektu Cultural Exchange, talks during a Skype interview in Yangi, China. Global Affairs Canada says it has had a second meeting in as many days with Canadians detained in China since December. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP

OTTAWA - Global Affairs Canada says it has had a second meeting in as many days with Canadians detained in China.

In a written statement, the department says consular officials in China visited with entrepreneur Michael Spavor on Tuesday for the fourth time since his arrest.

On Monday, the department said it had a fourth consular visit with Michael Kovrig, a Canadian diplomat on leave from the foreign service.

Both men were detained by China in December on allegations they violated national security.

Global Affairs Canada says it can't release any more specific information about the meetings due to privacy laws.

The department says consular visits generally involve assessing the well-being of a Canadian citizen, getting them medical attention where required, and being a communications bridge between the Canadian and their loved ones.

The statement says the government remains concerned by China's "arbitrary detention" of Spavor and Kovrig and continue to call for their immediate release.

Kovrig and Spavor haven't been formally charged with anything, have been denied access to lawyers, and are allowed only monthly access by Canadian diplomats.

Canadian officials have complained the two are being held in retaliation for the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou under an extradition request from the United States.
WINNIPEG  At least 10 infants have been treated for syphilis in Manitoba in the last six months and the public health office says the methamphetamine crisis could be exacerbating the outbreak.

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WINNIPEG  At least 10 infants have been treated for syphilis in Manitoba in the last six months and the public health office says the methamphetamine crisis could be exacerbating the outbreak.

The number of people with syphilis has nearly tripled since 2014  to 350 from 118. For women, it has gone to 168 from 16 in four years.

Brandon and Westman are not immune to the outbreak of the sexually transmitted disease. In August 2018, Prairie Mountain Health reported it was dealing with the highest levels of syphilis it had ever seen. From 2015 to 2017, PMH averaged 33 cases per year, but in the first six months of 2018 alone the health authority saw 31 cases.

The number of cases in 2015 itself was also a jump from previous levels reported. In 2014, only two infections were reported in the area.

A spokesperson for Prairie Mountain Health did not return a request for the number of cases in total the health authority treated in 2018. The Sexuality Education Resource Centre in Brandon also did not return a request for comment on the provinces announcement.

Michael Isaac, Manitobas acting chief public health officer, says women can pass the bacterial infection on during pregnancy.

Isaac says substance abuse and a lack of prenatal care were common factors in many of the cases.

The province is urging people to practise safe sex and to get tested. Women should seek regular prenatal medical care, especially if they are intravenous drug users.

"I think the injection drug use that we are seeing in Manitoba certainly is linked with crystal methamphetamine use," Isaac said Monday.

"And weve noted that some of the moms with congenital syphilis have been using crystal meth and injecting drugs."

Winnipegs police chief has said the skyrocketing use of meth is creating a crisis for police, treatment centres and health-care services. The Addictions Foundation of Manitoba has said meth use increased by more than 100 per cent in adults and nearly 50 per cent in youth since 2014.

Isaac said the rise in injection drug use is linked to the increase in blood-borne illnesses such as syphilis.

Syphilis can have a wide range of symptoms that can be confused with other conditions. Tests confirm whether a person has the infection and, once diagnosed, it is easily treated with penicillin.

"Its a very treatable and preventable condition," Isaac said.

If untreated, syphilis can be passed on before or during a pregnancy and can result in birth defects or stillbirth.

Congenital cases of syphilis were rare in Manitoba and Isaac said no babies were born with the infection for decades before 2015.

"We noticed in late 2018 and early 2019 a large increase in cases of congenital syphilis, especially the last six weeks."

Of those mothers, Isaac said, 70 per cent were using drugs.

Health Minister Cameron Friesen said the outbreak is affecting hard-to-reach populations, in particular people with addictions, and that has created a significant challenge. He said a plan has been developed by public health experts to increase testing and education, but there are not simple or easy solutions.

Documents obtained by the Manitoba NDP in December have also shown a rise in communicable diseases such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis. NDP Opposition Leader Wab Kinew said the government has known about the connection with intravenous drug use but hasnt acted on it.

"We need a safe injection site in Winnipeg. We need more harm reduction measures," he said. "We also need to have a variety of public health outreach steps taken."

Multiple provinces, including Alberta, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador, are also seeing cases of congenital syphilis.

 The Canadian Press, with files from The Brandon Sun
The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has condemned the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for wallowing in acts of violence related to elections.



His caution comes in the back of electoral disputes which erupted at the Ningo Prampram constituency during the NDCs presidential primaries today. Mr. Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, singled out Sam George, who is the Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, describing him as a black thirsty beast who needs to be tamed immediately.



According to the NPP scribe, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, todays clashes at Ningo Prampram goes deeper to inform the general public that the violence which occurred during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-elections was perpetuated by Sam George.



On this note, he called on the Emil Short commission to extend an invitation to Sam George to explain why recent events have proven to show that he acts abnormal during elections.



That bloody thirsty Ningo Prampram MP must tone down. His love for bloody clashes will lead him nowhere. I have followed him for some time and I can state on authority that, that guy has no respect for human life. He must act like an MP and not a thug chairman Wontumi said.







Former President John Dramani Mahama has been confirmed winner of the just ended primaries of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).



Confirmed results from Ghana's Electoral Commission stated that John he polled 213,487 votes representing 95.23%.



He was followed by Prof. Joshua Alabi who managed only 3,404 votes representing 1.52% while Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin placed third with 2,301 (1.033%).



Goosie Tanoh, the founder of the breakaway Reformed Party, came fourth with 2091 votes respectively representing 0.93%.



The former Trades and Industry Minister in the Mahama government, Ekwow Spio Garbrah received 1447 votes which represent 0.65% of the total votes.



Mr. Sylvester Mensah and Nurudeen Iddrisu secured a paltry 934 of valid votes cast representing 0.42% and 520 votes representing 0.23% respectively.

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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Incumbent Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday looked on course for victory over his main rival in Nigerias presidential election, with just a handful of states left to declare, as the opposition called for a halt to the vote count



With results in from 27 states and the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja, Buhari, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), had a lead of nearly 3.5 million votes over his main challenger, Atiku Abubakar, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).



To win, a candidate needs a majority of votes nationwide and at least 25 percent of support in two-thirds of Nigerias 36 states and the FCT. Buhari, 76, has won 15 states including the two biggest in terms of population, Lagos and Kano, while Abubakar, 72, has 12 states plus the FCT.



Three of the four states left to declare were in the northwest, where Buhari enjoys huge support, making it unlikely Abubakar can claw back the deficit with wins in the remaining southern states.



Voting took place on Saturday after a week-long postponement, which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) blamed on difficulties in distributing ballot boxes and materials.



The APC and PDP have accused each other of conspiring with the electoral board to rig the result, against a backdrop of wider concern about transparency and a credible vote.



The PDP on Monday said the APC was trying to manipulate the result, which could be a prelude to a legal challenge of the outcome.



On Tuesday, it called for an immediate halt to the ongoing collation of results, claiming data from voter card readers had been altered to suit the ruling party.



As-yet undeclared results from the northeast state of Borno and Zamfara in the northwest should be deleted, said Tanimu Turaki, from Abubakars campaign team. He also called for tens of thousands of valid, lawful PDP votes in the north-central states of Plateau and Nasarawa, and the FCT to be reinstated.









Source: Vanguard









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The United Kingdoms (UK) Minister of State for Africa, Harriet Baldwin has affirmed the UK governments commitment to increase her investment in Ghana and ensure greater economic harmonization between the two countries.



Recounting the economic gains and significant strides aimed at formalizing and improving the Ghanaian economy in the last few years, Harriet Baldwin, together with some government officials and business leaders of the UK pledged to bring new investments and increase existing UK investments in Ghana.



Minister Harriet Baldwin made this call at the second UK-Ghana Business Council (UKGBC) meetings held at the Lancaster House in London on Tuesday, 26th February 2019. The first meeting of the UKGBC was held in Ghana on 14th October, 2018. The Vice President of the Republic, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, is attending the meeting.



The overarching goal of the UKGBC is to match as closely as possible Ghanas needs with UK expertise, financing and private sector support. Todays meetings have been exploring new strategies and opportunities to enhance trade and investment between the two countries in several areas including agro-processing, extractives, garments/textiles, pharmaceuticals, financial sector, fintech, and cyber security.



Also, among others, UKGBC is tasked to explore technical assistance on standards and customs facilitation and work to identify and breakdown constraints to greater trade and investment



The government of the UK intends to bring substantial investments to help complete existing projects and undertake new ones such as the Kumasi Central Market phase 2, phase 2 of the Kumasi international airport, the 720 bed capacity maternity block at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, Vester, Blues Skies, Curist pharmaceuticals, Amandi power projects, the extractive sector, Volta lake water transport projects, and many others.



On his part, the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, lauded the UK governments interest in increasing economic cooperation between Ghana and the UK, and pledged the support of the government of Ghana.



We are very happy with the UK governments positive assessment of the progress so far made in Ghana in the last few years and her resolve to increase investments in Ghana, and we are prepared to partner with you, Vice President Bawumia observed.



Dr. Bawumia continued For us, as we prepare to position Ghana as the financial services hub in West Africa, increasing our strategic alliance with the UK is indispensable since London is the largest financial services center globally.



We will continue to be prudent in the management of our economy, ensure inclusive economic development and provide the right environment for businesses, both local and foreign to thrive, he indicated.



Officials present at todays meetings included Hon. Alan Kyerematen (Minister for Trade), Prof. George Gyan Baffour (Minister for Planning), Mr. Yofi Grant (CEO, Ghana Investment Promotion Center), and H.E. Papa Owusu Ankomah (Ghanas High Commissioner to UK).



Hon. Adam Afriyie (UK Prime Ministers Trade Envoy), Ms. Rachel Turner (Director for Economic Development & Europe, DFID), H.E Ian Walker (UK High Commissioner to Ghana) were also present.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Deputy Minister for Works and Housing, Eugene Boakye Antwi says the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have set themselves up for defeat in 2020 by their election of former President John Dramani Mahama as the party's flagbearer.



According to Hon. Boakye Antwi, though the government is not going to be complacent thinking the 2020 elections will be an easy race for the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP); he however believes the NDC has shot themselves right in their own foot.



The NDC on Sunday, February 24, 2019 elected former President John Mahama as Presidential candidate to lead the party into the 2020 general elections.



Mr. Mahama beat his six competitors by a landslide victory to become the party's flagbearer.



His overwhelming victory in the NDC Primaries is believed by the party leadership and members to reflect the outcome of the elections, come 2020.



They are hopeful the former President will bring the NDC back into power.



Responding to the NDC's optimism over the 2020 elections, the Deputy Minister told host Kwami Sefa Kayi the year 2019 will be a good year for Ghanaians as President Nana Akufo-Addo together with the government is making tangible interventions to enhance the progress of the economy.



He stated emphatically that Mr. Mahama is a "cool chop" for the NPP.



This year will be a good year for Ghana and Ghanaians. As for John Mahama . . . I have faith that even if the NPP elects me, I will beat him, he stressed.

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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Peace FM, the leading media organization of the Despite Group of Companies, has been adjudged the Best Radio station at the just ended Eastern Regional Tourism Awards held at the plush Capital View hotel in Koforidua.



A citation accompanying the award extolled the station for its contribution to the hospitality industry.



The citation read; "Among the many radio stations in Ghana, Peace Fm has become a leader not by accident but by dint of hard work exhibited by both management and staff. One such dynamic and resourceful staff is Michael Akrofi Mysone,your Eastern Regional correspondent, whose reportage on tourism stories in the Eastern Region has been applauded by the rank and file in the tourism industry in Ghana.



"No wonder Peace Fm is the most listened to radio station in Ghana. The finesse and deftness in which the various tourism news items were reported gave the required visibility to the Ghana Tourism Authority in terms of accuracy and understanding of tourism related activities in the Eastern Region during the year under review (2018).



Besides Peace FM, some players in the hospitality industry were awarded for their various roles.



Find list below:



AWARD WINNERS 2018 EASTERN REGIONAL TOURISM AWARDS

ACCOMMODATION



4 STAR HOTEL OF THE YEAR 2018



ROYAL SENCHI HOTEL AND RESORT-SENCHI



3 STAR HOTEL OF THE YEAR 2018



CAPITAL VIEW HOTEL-KOFORIDUA



2 STAR HOTEL OF THE YEAR 2018



LANSDOWN OF IBRU HEIGHTS RESORT-BREKUSU



1 STAR HOTEL OF THE YEAR 2018



PRESTIGE GUEST HOUSE-MAMFE



GUEST HOUSE OF THE YEAR 2018



EES MOUNTAIN HEIGHT-MAMPONG



BUDGET HOTEL OF THE YEAR 2018



KINGSVILLE HOTEL-KOFORIDUA



HOSTEL OF THE YEAR 2018



ST MICHEALS YOUTH CAMP HOSTEL-ABURI



CONSISTENT PAYMENT OF 1% TOURISM LEVY OF THE YEAR 2018 (ACCOMMODATION)



1ST STOP GUEST HOUSE, ASAMANKESE



CONSISTENT PAYMENT OF 1% TOURISM LEVY OF THE YEAR 2018 (CATERING)



DANIELLA RESTAURANT, KADE



TRAVEL SERVICES



SITE GUIDE OF THE YEAR 2018



LlOYD BROBBEY ADASI-COCOA REASERCH INSTITUTE OF GHANA, TAFO



VISITOR ATTRACTION OF THE YEAR



AKOSOMBO DAM SITE-AKOSOMBO



CATERING SERVICES



RESTAURANT GRADE 1 OF THE YEAR 2018



LINDA DOR RESTAURANT-KOFORIDUA





MEDIA



TOURISM WRITER OF THE YEAR 2018 (PRINT)



NEIL NII AMATEY KARNAKU



TOURISM ORIENTED MEDIA OF THE YEAR 2018 (TELEVISION)



JOY NEWS



TOURISM ORIENTED MEDIA OF THE YEAR 2018 (PRINT)



THE SPECTATOR



TOURISM ORIENTED MEDIA OF THE YEAR 2018 (RADIO)



PEACE FM



TOURISM ORIENTED MEDIA OF THE YEAR 2018(ONLINE)



CITIFMONLINE





HONORARY AWARDS



HIGHWAY REST STOP OF THE YEAR



LINDA DOR HIGHWAY REST STOP- BUNSO JUNCTION



CORPORATE SUPPORT FOR TOURISM DEVELOPMENT



THE ROYAL SENCHI HOTEL AND RESORT, SENCHI



MERITORIOUS PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM



EDWIN SEBASTIAN OWUSU-MENSAH





Source: Michael Akrofi/Peace FM News









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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Indian plane violated LOC

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday summoned an emergency meeting at the Foreign Office in Islamabad to discuss the emerging situation in the wake of Indian Air Force's (IAF) violation of the Line of Control, Radio Pakistan reported.



The meeting was being held to discuss the security situation and will be attended by former secretaries and senior ambassadors. After the meeting, Qureshi said that the prime minister had called a meeting at 11am.



In a statement following the LoC violation, Qureshi warned India not to challenge Pakistan and said that better sense should prevail in Delhi, Radio Pakistan reported.

The foreign minister said the nation should not be worried over the Indian act as the defenders of the country are fully prepared to respond to any misadventure.



Maj-Gen Ghafoor in his tweet said "Indian Air Force violated Line of Control", following which "Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled" and Indian aircraft went back.







He later added that the aircraft faced "timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force" and ended up releasing "payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot". Payload is the carrying capacity of an aircraft, which is usually measured in terms of weight. This could include cargo, passengers, an explosive warhead or any instruments. No casualties or damage occurred, the military spokesperson said.





In another tweet, he said that "Indian aircrafts intrusion across LoC in Muzaffarabad Sector within AJ&K was 3-4 miles". Technical details and other important information to follow, he added.



PTI, via Twitter, linked the violation to India's upcoming elections, saying: "We realise its election year and [there is] a desperation across the border. Fact of the matter is, Indian jets were forced to retreat in haste by Pakistan army patrols and dumped fuel, which in their scramble they thought was a bomb."


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DUBLIN, Feb. 25, 2019

DUBLIN, Feb. 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Plant Breeding and CRISPR Plants Market Analysis & Trends - Industry Forecast to 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Plant Breeding and CRISPR Plants Market is poised to grow strong during the forecast period 2017 to 2027.Some of the prominent trends that the market is witnessing include rising investments from seed companies, supportive regulations for molecular breeding and recent advancements in computational breeding.This industry report analyzes the market estimates and forecasts of all the given segments on global as well as regional levels presented in the research scope. The study provides historical market data for 2015, 2016 revenue estimations are presented for 2017 and forecasts from 2018 till 2027. The study focuses on market trends, leading players, supply chain trends, technological innovations, key developments, and future strategies. With comprehensive market assessment across the major geographies such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Latin America and Rest of the world the report is a valuable asset for the existing players, new entrants and the future investors.Report Highlights:

Key Topics Covered: 1 Market Outline1.1 Research Methodology1.2 Market Trends1.3 Regulatory Factors1.4 Application Analysis1.5 Strategic Benchmarking1.6 Opportunity Analysis 2 Executive Summary3 Market Overview3.1 Current Trends3.1.1 Rising Investments From Seed Companies3.1.2 Supportive Regulations for Molecular Breeding3.1.3 Recent Advancements in Computational Breeding3.1.4 Growth Opportunities/Investment Opportunities3.2 Drivers3.3 Constraints3.4 Industry Attractiveness3.4.1 Bargaining power of suppliers3.4.2 Bargaining power of buyers3.4.3 Threat of substitutes3.4.4 Threat of new entrants3.4.5 Competitive rivalry 4 Plant Breeding and CRISPR Plants Market, By Trait4.1 Disease Resistance4.2 Yield Improvement4.3 Herbicide Tolerance4.4 Other Traits5 Plant Breeding and CRISPR Plants Market, By Type5.1 Biotechnological Method5.1.1 Molecular Breeding5.1.2 Hybrid Breeding5.1.3 Genome Editing5.1.4 Genetic Engineering5.2 Conventional Breeding6 Plant Breeding and CRISPR Plants Market, By Process6.1 Hybridization6.1.1 Single Cross6.1.2 Three-Way Cross6.1.3 Bulk Method6.1.4 Pedigree Method6.1.5 Double Cross6.2 Mutation Breeding6.3 Selection6.3.1 Pure Line Selection6.3.2 Mass Selection7 Plant Breeding and CRISPR Plants Market, By Application7.1 Oilseeds & Pulses7.1.1 Cotton7.1.2 Soybean7.1.3 Other Oilseeds & Pulses7.2 Cereals & Grains7.2.1 Wheat7.2.2 Rice7.2.3 Corn7.2.4 Other Cereals & Grains7.3 Fruits & Vegetables7.4 Other Applications8 Plant Breeding and CRISPR Plants Market, By Geography8.1 North America8.1.1 US8.1.2 Canada8.1.3 Mexico8.2 Europe8.2.1 Germany8.2.2 U.K8.2.3 Italy8.2.4 France8.2.5 Spain8.2.6 Rest of Europe8.3 Asia Pacific8.3.1 China8.3.2 Japan8.3.3 India8.3.4 Australia8.3.5 New Zealand8.3.6 Rest of Asia Pacific8.4 Middle East8.4.1 Saudi Arabia8.4.2 UAE8.4.3 Rest of Middle East8.5 Latin America8.5.1 Argentina8.5.2 Brazil8.5.3 Rest of Latin America8.6 Rest of the World (RoW)8.6.1 South Africa8.6.2 Others 9 Key Player Activities9.1 Acquisitions & Mergers9.2 Agreements, Partnerships, Collaborations and Joint Ventures9.3 Product Launch & Expansions9.4 Other Activities 10 Leading Companies10.1 Bayer10.2 Syngenta10.3 KWS Group10.4 Dowdupont10.5 Eurofins10.6 Benson Hill Biosystems10.7 Advanta Seeds (UPL)10.8 SGS (Traitgenetics)10.9 Groupe Limagrain10.10 Equinom10.11 Hudson River Biotechnology10.12 Land O'lakes (Forage Genetics International)10.13 Bioconsortia10.14 Evogene For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/wbwstk/global_plant?w=5

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SOURCE Research and Markets
There was a time when Janakpuri, the kingdom of King Janak, saw no rains. It was a drought not only for the agricultural land but also in terms of the availability of food for the masses. As a remedy, King Janak was told by knowledgeable priests and saints that he should perform a Yagya.

Hence, a Yagya was organised on the Ashtami Tithi during Shukla Paksha in the month of Falgun. As a part of the Yagya, King Janak would have to plough his fields once. Therefore, the king went for ploughing. While ploughing, the king found an earthen pot, kept in the farm. As he checked, King Janak was surprised to see that there was a baby girl inside the pot. The girl seemed to be a newborn.

King Janak did not have a child of his own then. So seeing the abandoned girl, he thought of adopting her. He took her to his home. Since the girl was found while ploughing the field, she was named Sita, which is a word in Maithili language, meaning plough. Sita being the daughter of King Janak, is also known as Janaki.

Sita was later married to Ram, the prince of Ayodhya and incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Sita is believed to be the incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi, the consort of Lord Vishnu.

Janaki Jayanti Rituals

The devotees observing this auspicious day should get up and take bath during the Brahma Muhurta only. Install the idol in which Lord Ram, Goddess Sita, Lakshman and Hanuman are shown together (such an idol is known as Ram Darbar), on a red-coloured cloth. Offer yellow flowers and all the sixteen items of shringar to the Goddess. (you can get these prepared in the market).

Following this, also chant the below-given mantras 108 times each.

1. Om Shri Sitayai Namah

2. Om Shri Sita Ramay Namah

Many people also observe a fast on this day. While many people observe it as a fasting day also, it is believed that when married women observe this fast, they get relief from all the problems of life.

Hindu Auspicious Days In The Month Of February
Robotic Surgery  All You Need To Know Wellness oi-Devika Bandyopadhya

Patients today prefer operations based on minimal access technique over the traditional open surgery. This is because minimal invasive techniques lead to reduced postoperative pain, lower chances of wound infections, shorter hospital stays and better cosmetic outcomes. Favourable results also motivate researchers and surgeons to attempt minimal invasive surgical procedures whenever possible. Since the 1990s, the most used minimal invasive technique was laparoscopic procedures. However, certain limitations such as instability of video camera and a limited two-dimensional vision were some of the factors that made researchers think beyond laparoscopic measures when performing surgeries [1] .

These limitations of laparoscopic techniques were addressed by robotic surgery. This revolutionized minimal access surgery [2] . Extensive study and research are being conducted to make all forms of surgeries be possible, in the future, through robotics. Apart from the procedure itself, robotic surgery would create the need for a modification to the existing surgical training pattern. This would facilitate the reshaping of the learning curve of aspiring surgeons.

What Is Robotic Surgery?

A robot that is enabled to participate in the surgical process is said to be self-powered. It is a computer-controlled device that is programmed in such a manner that it aids the positioning and manipulation of surgical instruments. Such devices enable the surgeon to carry out tasks that are complex in nature [3] . These devices do not act independently (that is replacing human surgeons), but instead work as remote extensions that are governed by the surgeon-in-charge. The working of the robotic devices alongside the surgeon is quite often called 'master-slave manipulators' [4] .

Till date, there are two such master-slave robotic systems that have received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) [5] :

1. the da Vinci Surgical System [6]

2. the ZEUS system [7]

The robotic systems have two basic components linked together with a computer using data cables [8] .

1. The surgeon's master console

The robot's user interface is the surgeon's master console. The master (surgeon) can attain the following information from the user interface [9] :

View of the master manipulators - This has the handles/joysticks which helps a surgeon make surgical movements. These virtual movements are then translated into real-time surgical movements through the slave manipulators that are docked on the patient. Use of such manipulators make motion scaling [10] (large movements are converted into ultraprecise micromovements) and tremor filtering [11] possible. This facilitates the increase of precision and accuracy of the surgeon's movements.

(large movements are converted into ultraprecise micromovements) and tremor filtering possible. This facilitates the increase of precision and accuracy of the surgeon's movements. An endoscopic camera that is inside the patient's body controls the robot and provides a three-dimensional view of the surgical field. The gives a better and immersed view of the surgical field to the surgeon.

The existing control panel helps with functions such as camera focusing, provision of accessory units and motion scaling.

2. Patient-side slave robotic manipulators [12]

Robotic arms are connected to the patient's body. These arms are designed to manipulate the surgical instruments and the camera with the help of the laparoscopic ports. The da Vinci system possesses micro articulations near the tip that handles surgical instruments. This is designed to duplicate the motions of the human wrist.

Advantages Of Robotic Surgery [13]

Compared with traditional techniques, many surgeons vouch for the attributes and ease of operation that robotic surgical procedures offer.

The following are some of the benefits of robotic surgery:

Precision enhancement

Improved flexibility and control during the surgery

A better view of the surgical site

Assists better performance of delicate and complex procedures (some of which are highly difficult using traditional methods)

Reduced complication (surgical site infection)

Minimal blood loss and reduced pain

Less tissue damage

Smaller scars that are less noticeable

Quick recovery

Most Common Operations Performed Via Robotic Surgery [14]

The following is a list of the current fields that extensively observe robotic surgeries.

1. Robotic gastrointestinal surgery

Heller's myotomy

Gastrojejunostomy

Antireflux operations

Gastric bypass

Esophagectomy

Splenectomy

Gastric banding colectomy

Pancreatic resection

Adrenalectomy

2. Robotic urologic surgery:

Radical robotic prostatectomy is the most common type of robotic surgery.

3. Robotic gynecologic surgery:

Salpingo-oophorectomy

Microsurgical fallopian tube reanastomosis

Hysterectomy

4. Robotic cardiothoracic surgery

Robots allow complex cardiothoracic procedures such as

mitral valve repairs,

pericardiectomy, lobectomies,

tumour enucleations, and

atrial septal defect repair.

5. Robotic oncologic surgery

Gastric cancer

Colon cancer

Retro mediastinal tumours

Oesophageal tumours

Thymoma

6. Robotic pediatric surgery

Antireflux procedures for gastroesophageal reflux disease

Pediatric congenital heart diseases

Pyeloplasty for ureteropelvic junction obstruction

Limitations Of Robotic Surgery [15]

There are a few limitations that prevent robotic surgical techniques from achieving its complete potential. The following are some of the disadvantages of robotics in the field of surgical procedures:

Cost-effectiveness

The major issue lies with the costs involved in terms of purchasing the robot and its yearly maintenance. However, this aspect is believed to be sorted in the near future as robotic systems gain more acceptance. Also, a decrease in hospital stay and operative time will make robotic surgery cost-effective.

Bulky robotic equipment

Most of the present day robotic equipment is heavy and bulky making it difficult for the setup of the surgical procedure.

Lack of tactile feedback to the surgeon

Most of the time, the surgeon misses out on receiving tactile and force feedback from the robotic manipulators used. The ideal solution for this would be the use of haptics (systems designed to recreate the feeling of tissues via force feedback), which is likely to be the recognized solution in the near future.

Training Of Robotic Surgery To Medical Students

Surgical training has been following a more or less same structure for almost a century (at least until robotic surgery came into existence). Surgeons undergoing training had to gain operative experience through supervised trial and error methods on real patients. The cons of this approach would be compromising the patient's safety, prolonging surgical training and training dependent on the actual load of the case.

Robotic surgery has paved the path for acquiring surgical skills from means of simulating operations that can be done via a robot. Operations can be practised by using surgical robots. Simulations can be performed on three-dimensional, virtual-reality and soft-tissue models (which recreate the textures of human tissues through haptics) [16] .

Prior to operating on a patient, three-dimensional reconstructions of the anatomy of the patient under observation can be used to practice procedures and plan the operation. This is made possible through image-guided simulations. Telementoring [17] can be used to guide trainees during these simulations.

Using these techniques ensures that trainees acquire surgical skills sooner. This practice also helps in improving the safety of the patient by reducing the chances of surgical errors. The overall learning curve of the would-be surgeon is enhanced through robotic surgery training.

Is Robotic Surgery Right For You?

Robotic surgery for specific ailments can involve risk, quite similar to the conventional open surgeries. It is therefore essential that you speak out and clarify the pros and cons of robotic surgery with your healthcare provider. On speaking with your doctor, you might be surprised to hear that robotic surgery might not be favourable for your health condition. The best way to reach a conclusion is to compare this technique along with other available minimal invasive surgeries and if the traditional open surgery would be a better alternative [18] . Also, robotic surgery might only be available in sophisticated hospitals.

[19]

How Costly Is Robotic Surgery In India? [19]

Robotic surgery still continues to be beyond the reach of most of the institutions and health-care system in India. The primary reason behind this is the excessive maintenance costs along with the disposable supply cost. On average, for regular procedures using robotic surgical methodologies, the ideal cost would be about Rs. 1.5 Lakh. Hospitals tend to charge more because of the high equipment cost associated with robotic surgery (which is about Rs. 15 Crore). Robotic surgeries are performed at esteemed hospitals across the country using the da Vinci robots.

On A Final Note...

Although still in its emerging spree, robotic surgery is surely one of the cutting-edge, finest development in the field of medical science. With proven far-reaching implications, robotic surgery ensures precision and dexterity improvement. This technology has allowed surgeons to perform surgeries that might not have been possible using traditional techniques.

Robotic surgery makes way for utmost patient safety and has shown several favourable outcomes. This technique allows minimal access surgery to be applicable to a wide range of procedures.

However, there is a need for controlled trials to identify the pros of robotic-assisted procedures alongside laparoscopic and other open techniques. The issues related to cost, clinical effectiveness and technical drawbacks need to be addressed [20] so that robotic procedures can be brought into the mainstream to reshape how surgical practice is conducted.

View Article References [1] Morris B. (2005). Robotic surgery: applications, limitations, and impact on surgical education. MedGenMed : Medscape general medicine,7(3), 72. [2] Morris B. (2005). Robotic surgery: applications, limitations, and impact on surgical education.MedGenMed : Medscape general medicine,7(3), 72. [3] Stylopoulos, N., Rattner, D. Robotics and ergonomics.Surg Clin North Am.2003;83:13211337. [4] Gomez, G.Sabiston. Textbook of Surgery.17th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Elsevier Saunders; 2004. Emerging Technology in surgery: informatics, electronics, robotics. [5] Hashizume, M., Tsugawa, K. Robotic surgery and cancer: the present state, problems and future vision.Jpn J Clin Oncol.2004;34:227237. [6] Ballantyne, G.H., Moll, F. The da Vinci telerobotic surgical system: the virtual operative field and telepresence surgery.Surg Clin North Am.2003;83:12931304. [7] Marescaux, J., Rubino, F. The ZEUS robotic system: experimental and clinical applications.Surg Clin North Am.2003;83:13051315. [8] Ballantyne, G.H. Robotic surgery, telerobotic surgery, telepresence, and telementoring. Review of early clinical results.Surg Endosc.2002;16:13891402. [9] Leung, T., & Vyas, D. (2014). Robotic Surgery: Applications.American journal of robotic surgery,1(1), 1-64. [10] Prasad, S.M., Prasad, S.M., Maniar, H.S., Chu, C., Schuessler, R.B., Damiano, R.J., Jr Surgical robotics: impact of motion scaling on task performance.J Am Coll Surg.2004;199:863868. [11] Moorthy, K., Munz, Y., Dosis, A., et al. Dexterity enhancement with robotic surgery.Surg Endosc.2004;18:790795. [12] Morris, B. (2005). Robotic surgery: applications, limitations, and impact on surgical education.MedGenMed : Medscape general medicine,7(3), 72. [13] Morris, B. (2005). Robotic surgery: applications, limitations, and impact on surgical education.MedGenMed : Medscape general medicine,7(3), 72. [14] Morris, B. (2005). Robotic surgery: applications, limitations, and impact on surgical education.MedGenMed : Medscape general medicine,7(3), 72. [15] Tan, Y., Liverneaux, P., & Wong, J. (2018). Current Limitations of Surgical Robotics in Reconstructive Plastic Microsurgery.Frontiers in surgery,5, 22. [16] Suzuki, S., Suzuki, N., Hayashibe, M., et al. Tele-surgical simulation system for training in the use of da Vinci surgery.Stud Health Technol Inform.2005;111:543548. [17] Kaufmann, C., Rhee, P., Burris, D. Telepresence surgery system enhances medical student surgery training.Stud Health Technol Inform.1999;62:174178. [18] Koh, D. H., Jang, W. S., Park, J. W., Ham, W. S., Han, W. K., Rha, K. H., & Choi, Y. D. (2018). Efficacy and Safety of Robotic Procedures Performed Using the da Vinci Robotic Surgical System at a Single Institute in Korea: Experience with 10000 Cases.Yonsei medical journal,59(8), 975-981. [19] Nelivigi G. G. (2007). Robotic surgery: India is not ready yet.Indian journal of urology : IJU : Journal of the Urological Society of India,23(3), 240-244. [20] Weiss, M. J., & Hogg, M. E. (2018). Robotic surgery: the future is now.Journal of visualized surgery,4, 30.
India on Tuesday successfully test fired the short range Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missile (QRSAM) from a test range along the coast of Odisha.

Developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the missile has a strike range of 25 km to 30 km and has a capability of engaging multiple targets. The sleek and highly mobile air defence system has been developed for the Indian Army.

The indigenously developed QRSAM will replace the 'Akash' missile defence system which is on its way out due to technological obsolescence.

A QRSAM is different from normal air defence system, as this is an all-weather, all-terrain missile with electronic counter measures against jamming by aircraft radars.

The QRSAM, which has already been tested in the past, was test fired from a rotatable truck-based launch unit at Chandipur in Odisha's Balasore district. According to sources, two missiles were tested from Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur today.

The missile was first tested on June 4, 2017 and this was followed by the second successful test on July 3.

The test firing comes on a day when a dozen of Indian Air Force fighter jets blew up terror camps across the Line of Control in Pakistan. India launched an airstrike inside Pakistan territory early today in response to the Pulwama attack of February 14 that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF jawans.

The jets dropped 1,000 kg laser-guided bombs on terrorist camps in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Muzaffarabad, and Chakothi. India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale confirmed the attacks saying India had struck the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot.

Also Read: 'It's your turn to get ready for our surprise,' says Pakistan Army to India after IAF destroy Jaish terror camp in Balakot

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar
After Indian Air Force struck terror camps in Pakistan, all eyes are on the Pakistani establishment and the military if they are going to retaliate. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan held an emergency meeting earlier today with his ministers and defence officials to discuss the options ahead.

The Pakistan Prime Minister's Office has said that the country must prepare for "all eventualities". Pakistan has dismissed India's claims that there were mass casualties of terrorists in Balakot, but said it would respond to India's provocation.

Also Read: Surgical Strike 2.0 LIVE: 350 terrorists killed in Balakot strike, Pakistan vows to respond

Here are all the developments that took place in Islamabad today:-

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi earlier this morning called an 'emergency meeting' at Islamabad's foreign office to deliberate over the current situation. The meeting was held to discuss the security situation in Pakistan and was attended by former secretaries and senior ambassadors.

Qureshi in a statement warned India of any misadventure against Pakistan and said that better sense should prevail in India.

Also Read: Surgical Strike 2.0: Eye-witnesses recall the night of air strikes

Prime Minister Imran Khan convened another emergency meet with the National Security Committee (NSC) attended by Qureshi, Finance Minister Asad Umar and Defence Minister Pervez Khattak along with top officials in his ministry to review the situation.

The Foreign minister held a press conference after the 'emergency meet' with PM Khan and outlined the Pakistani government's response and the future course of action following the IAF strike. Reacting strongly to the Indian offensive, Qureshi said, "the committee strongly rejected Indian claim of targeting an alleged terrorist camp near Balakot as well as the claim of heavy casualties." He added: "Once again Indian government has resorted to a self-serving, reckless and fictitious claim."

Also Read: Gujarat, Punjab borders on high alert after IAF strikes Jaish-e-Mohammad camps in Pakistan

The NSC statement said, "The claimed area of strike is open for the world to see the facts on ground. For this domestic and international media is being taken to the impact site. Forum concluded that the India has committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing."

Pakistan hopes to build global diplomatic pressure on India. The statement said Pakistan intends to "to engage with global leadership to expose irresponsible Indian policy in the region."

Foreign Minister Qureshi also announced that a three-member committee has been formed which includes him, the finance minister and defence minister of Pakistan to approach the parliament to apprise Pakistani people of the evolving situation.

Also Read: Did IAF kill Masood Azhar's brother-in-law Yousuf Azhar in Balakot today?

He stated that Pakistani helicopters are ready to take the local and international media to the site of the Indian violation to "expose Indian propaganda."

Pakistan will also raise the issue at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. "At the request of Pakistan, there is an OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) conflict group emergency meeting underway, and Tehmina Janjua is representing Pakistan there. We will present Pakistan's point of at that forum," the statement said.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has also discussed the situation with UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as well as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman over telephone.

Sherry Rehman, a leading opposition leader of the Pakistan People's Party said that "Indian incursion" across the LOC is strategically 'ill-advised and tactically pointless.' "Such moves only ratchet up tensions in a region bristling with anger. Obvious that Modi's election wardrums make prospects for talks collateral damage. India's ruling party sees no other way to win the elections hence, itching for war," Rehman said in a tweet.

Also Read: Surgical Strike 2.0: India reacts to Indian Air Force strike
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Fonts For Freedom campaign creates press freedom with font reconstruction

The Fonts For Freedom campaign, which was conceived by Reporters without Borders Germany and Serviceplan Campaign Hamburg, has reconstructed the house fonts of nine newspapers banned by governments in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Tanzania, Hungary and Russia.



The fonts were then given to major German newspapers like Suddeutsche, Die Welt, Taz and Augsburger Allgemeine. They used the Fonts for Freedom in its titles and media pages along with matching topics



The campaign plans to turn the fonts of prohibited newspapers into symbols of press freedom.
In the wake of IAF air strikes on JeM camps in Pakistan in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan called an 'emergency meeting' to discuss the security situation and a response to India with high-level officials in his ministry.

According to Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, PM Khan summoned the meeting at 11 am Tuesday, Dawn reported. The meeting is underway at the moment.

Qureshi had earlier this morning called an 'emergency meeting' at Islamabad's foreign office to deliberate over the current situation following what Pakistan calls the 'violation of the Line of Control'.

Also Read: IAF air strikes across LoC LIVE: India confirms fighter jets destroyed biggest JeM terror camps in Balakot

The meeting was held to discuss the security situation in Pakistan and was attended by former secretaries and senior ambassadors.

Earlier in the day, Pakistani Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public relations (ISPR) which is the media wing of the Pakistani army also confirmed the attacks in a tweet.

Also Read: Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale confirms IAF airstrikes on 'biggest' JeM terror camp in Pakistan

"Indian aircraft intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," he tweeted.

"Indian Air Force violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft gone back," he said in the official tweet.

Also Read: Rahul Gandhi, Kejriwal laud IAF pilots for air strikes on Pakistan
An estimated 257 million people are living with chronic hepatitis B and 71 million with hepatitis C globally

The World Health Organization and its Goodwill Ambassador for Hepatitis in South-East Asia Region, Amitabh Bachchan, have welcomed Indias national action plan for viral hepatitis which aims to reach life-saving drugs and diagnostics to over 50 million affected people across the country.

The process of detection of hepatitis is important. If detected timely, hepatitis can be cured and I am an example of that, said Amitabh Bachchan, a hepatitis B survivor who has been passionately advocating for countries to prevent, test and treat hepatitis. He was speaking at the release of Indias National Action Plan for Viral Hepatitis.

The hepatitis programme in India is expected to benefit an estimated 50 million people suffering from hepatitis - 40 million from hepatitis B, which is preventable, and over 10 million from hepatitis C, which can be cured.

Complimenting India for becoming the first country in WHO South-East Asia Region to release a national action plan for hepatitis, Regional Director Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh said, Indias efforts are commendable and reflect the countrys commitment to health and universal health coverage.

The Regional Director and WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Hepatitis were speaking at an event yesterday where Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare released the National Action Plan for Viral Hepatitis and the National Guidelines for Hepatitis B. The action plan, which is in sync with the WHOs regional and global action plans, follows launch of the National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme on the World Hepatitis Day last year. The programme aims at comprehensively addressing  prevention, treatment and management of hepatitis A to E.

Free drugs and diagnostics will help timely detection, treatment and prevention of disease complications. People would get themselves treated without any financial hardship. I look forward to phased implementation of these guidelines and their introduction at all levels of the health system and assure WHOs partnership and support to India in eliminating hepatitis, added Dr Poonam

An estimated 257 million people are living with chronic hepatitis B and 71 million with hepatitis C globally. Only 5% of those with hepatitis B and 3% of those with hepatitis C have access to treatment. Twenty one countries account for 75% of global hepatitis burden, almost 15% of which is in countries of WHO South-East Asia Region, mainly in India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Thailand. Nearly 40,000 people die in WHO South-East Asia Region every year.

Lauding the contribution of WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Hepatitis, Dr Khetrapal Singh said there is now a momentum for hepatitis elimination in the Region. For the past two years Mr Bachchans passion, voice and generosity of spirit has significantly increased awareness of hepatitis, influencing policymakers and the public alike. His many initiatives as Goodwill Ambassador have effectively resonated that we can and we must eliminate hepatitis as a public health problem.

If my voice can make a difference, I am willing to join the campaign for hepatitis whenever needed, the Goodwill Ambassador said, adding that spreading awareness about hepatitis and ending discrimination, particularly against women affected by hepatitis B, is his priority.

WHO has been advocating for hepatitis B vaccine at birth and subsequent doses in routine immunization programme for children, safe blood and blood products, safe syringes and vaccination of health workers, among key preventive measures.

India has rolled out a number of cross sector initiatives for safe drinking water, sanitary toilets, and Swachh Bharat (clean India), which are also expected to contribute to prevention of viral hepatitis.
Digital health interventions are accelerating transformation of health sector in India: J P Nadda

J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare inaugurated the 4th Global Digital Health Partnership Summit in the presence of Ravi Shankar Prasad Union Minister of Law & Justice and Electronics & Information Technology and Health Ministers from several countries.

The global intergovernmental meeting on digital health is being hosted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP).

Upendra Yadav, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health, Nepal; Dr Tawfiq Al Rabiah, Minister of Health, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Zahid Maleque, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Bangladesh; Lena Hallengren, Minister of Health, Sweden; Dr Arlindo Nascimento do Rosario, Minister of Health, Cape Verde; Dr Ulana Suprun, Minister of Health, Ukraine; Faizal Cassim, Deputy Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous, Sri Lanka; Biggie Ganda Butale, Assistant Minister of Health and Wellness, Botswana; Dr. Shah Mahir , State Minister of Health, Maldives and government officials from over 35 countries were also present at the inaugural session.

Ravi Shankar Prasad spoke about the use of technology innovations in transforming healthcare. He highlighted the various initiatives of the Government towards digital healthcare. He said that India is committed to reaching the last man in the line through digital health interventions and digital inclusion.

Digital governance is good governance and bridging a digital divide must be achieved through technology that is low cost, he added.

J P Nadda said that the entire healthcare system in India and the world is undergoing a rapid transformation.

The way we know of healthcare being delivered and accessed is poised to change for better. The digital health interventions are accelerating this transformation. It has a huge potential for supporting Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for which Government of India is committed, he stated.

He further said that India under the leadership of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is committed to securing Universal Health Coverage for the underprivileged and deprived section of our society with the launch of a comprehensive healthcare scheme by the name of Ayushman Bharat, with the twin pillars of Health & Wellness Centres (HWCs) at primary and secondary levels of healthcare and PM-Jan Aarogya Yojana (PMJAY) at the tertiary level.

I am happy to share that after the roll-out of Modicare, in merely 155 days, nearly 1.3 million people have availed the benefits of more than Rs.16 Billion under this scheme, he informed.

Nadda mentioned that Ayushman Bharat is primarily dependent on maximising the use of digital tools for effective implementation and monitoring. The scheme is completely digital wherein all the processes from beneficiary identification to hospital empanelment and settlement of claims are done electronically. Hence all the benefits of the scheme are delivered in a mode that is cashless, paperless & completely transparent for all stakeholders, he expounded.

He added that India took the world stage at the 71st World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland by successfully introducing and unanimous adoption of Resolution on Digital Health. This resolution highlighted global attention to the potential, challenges and opportunities of Digital Health interventions and the need for closer collaboration on the issue globally for countries achieving health-related SDG targets as well WHO's implementation of 13th General Program of Work.

He said that the Health Ministry is in the process of establishing an Integrated Health Information Platform for interoperability amongst various health IT systems and a pan-India exchange of Electronic Health Records of citizens ensuring privacy, security, and confidentiality of data.

The Ministerial Conclave discussed the implication of digital health interventions to health services accessibility, quality and affordability and explores ways of leveraging digital health technologies to strengthen the healthcare delivery systems globally.

The Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP) is an international collaboration of governments, government agencies and multinational organisations dedicated to improving the health and well-being of their citizens through the best use of evidence-based digital technologies. Governments are making significant investments to harness the power of technology and foster innovation and public-private partnerships that support high quality, sustainable health and care for all. The GDHP facilitates global collaboration and co-operation in the implementation of digital health services.

Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia Region (SEAR); Dr. Preeti Sudan, Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare; Harinder Sidhu, Australia's High Commissioner to India; Sanjeeva Kumar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and Tim Kelsey, Chief Executive, Australian Digital Health Agency, Australia were also present at the inaugural session.
This is the second consecutive year that Transasia has been receiving the award in the same category.

Transasia Bio-Medicals Ltd., Indias Leading IVD Company, recently announced that it has been adjudged the Best Company in Medical Devices by Medgate Today, an international healthcare magazine, with a strong presence in Asia and Middle East.

Transasia was selected the winner, from among other leading names in the industry, based on a primary research by the magazine. The award is a recognition given to companies with outstanding services and contribution to the healthcare sector.

This is the second consecutive year that Transasia has been receiving the award in the same category. The award was presented at a grand ceremony on 22nd February, 2019 and attended by some of the most well-known names of the industry.

On receiving the award, Suresh Vazirani, Chairman & Managing Director, Transasia, said I am thankful to the jury members for recognizing Transasia as the Best Medical Device Company for the second year in a row. We are doubly delighted as this prestigious award comes our way, as we celebrate our 40th anniversary. For the last four decades, Transasia has been committed to offering laboratory testing instruments of the highest quality to meet the needs of the country for affordable diagnostics. We pride ourselves in offering the strongest service network in the country, from the largest city to the smallest town. We are thankful to the medical fraternity who trust us in offering their patients early and accurate diagnosis.

The award ceremony was preceded by the Voice of Healthcare (VOH) Conference 2019 held at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. The fourth edition of this international conference focused on Viable Healthcare for All against the backdrop of disruptions and constraints of healthcare delivery system. This conference assumed strategic significance as participants from the healthcare and medical technology segment shared their practical approach while dealing with various issues.

During the panel discussion on Affordable Access to Medical Devices, Mrs. Mala Vazirani, Executive Director, Transasia Bio-Medicals Ltd. highlighted the impact of technology on healthcare. Technological innovation is critical to expanding the reach of medical services, lowering costs of deployment and improving patient outcomes, she said.

Transasia has been meeting Indias needs for essential diagnosis through affordable and innovative, Made in India products and solutions. Today, it boasts of over 65,000 installations in 35,000 labs across India and reaching out to millions in more than 100 countries worldwide. Through its R&D centres in India and abroad, Transasia has developed world-class technology for a wide range of products and solutions in Clinical Chemistry, Hematology, Immunology, Diabetes Management, Urinalysis, Coagulation, Critical Care and Microbiology.



Into its 9th edition, the Medgate Today awards, evaluates hospitals, companies & healthcare professionals on their outstanding performance in the healthcare and life sciences sector. It recognizes doctors & Hospitals that have demonstrated best practices in a variety of regional and global markets.
Non- invasive Ventilation is a newer way of providing pulmonary ventilation to a patient without a need to perform any invasive procedure

ResMed Academy which is the clinical arm of ResMed in India conducted one-day workshop on the application of Non- invasive ventilation in hospital and homecare environment - where more than 30 renowned and eminent chest Physicians/ pulmonologists attended in Lucknow on Feb 24, 2019, at Hotel Radisson.

Non- invasive Ventilation is a newer way of providing pulmonary ventilation to a patient without a need to perform any invasive procedure. The ventilation is provided to the patient through mask and an air tube connected to the ventilator. It is recommended in various Respiratory diseases.

This workshop covered both theoretical and hands-on learning on the application of Non-invasive ventilation in various respiratory diseases including acute hypercapinc respiratory failure, acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, chronic respiratory failure.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a common, preventable and treatable disease that is characterized by persistent respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation that is due to airway and/or alveolar abnormalities usually caused by significant exposure to noxious particles or gases. The chronic airflow limitation that is characteristic of COPD is caused by a mixture of small airways disease (e.g., obstructive bronchiolitis) and parenchymal destruction (emphysema), the relative contributions of which vary from person to person.

It is one of the leading causes of deaths in India, especially during winters. A survey claimed 12 lac plus deaths in 2017-18 through both outdoor and indoor pollution. The most common causes and risk factors for COPD are smoking, passive smoking, fumes, chemical and dust in construction sites.

Patients benefit from NIV as it provides pressure support and which assists patients breathing. This decreases their work of breathing (WOB) and improves quality of life.

The symposium was started by a short welcome address by Dr Ashwini Mandanna, Clinical Specialist, ResMed Academy, followed by detailed discussion on role of NIV in acute respiratory failure by Dr. S. N Gupta, Director, Sanjeevani Lung center, Lucknow.

The next topic NIV in home- when and how was taken by Dr B P Singh, Director, Midland Hospital and Research Center chaired by Dr Surya Kant, Head of Department, Respiratory Medicine, KGMU, Lucknow.

Further, the guidelines, NIV device setting, monitoring and trouble shooting was taken by Dr Arunesh Kumar, Maharaj Agrasen, National Heart Institute, Dr Ashwini Mandanna, Dr Bhaskar Azad, Clinical Head, ResMed Academy, Dr A K Singh, Senior Pulmonologist, Apollo Medics Hospitals, Lucknow, the session was chaired by Dr Ved Prakash, Associate Professor, Respiratory and critical care medicine.

On the occasion, Dr. A K Singh said, I congratulate, ResMed Academy for conducting such educational workshop that sensitizes and improves the knowledge of upcoming doctors, hence increasing the adoption of NIV. NIV is widely used tool in acute care settings, which is widely used nowadays in treating both sleep apnea and respiratory disorders. Such symposium makes doctors more hands-on with the advancements in NIV innovations and treat patients in better way.

Dr B P Singh praised ResMed Academys effort and said, NIV are one of the most promising and advanced innovation in treating respiratory disorders. It not only addresses the breathing problems, but touches the undiagnosed conditions like obesity, hypertension and sleep apnea.

"Such symposiums (ResTalk) not only benefits doctors but helps patients in advanced stage of respiratory dysfunctions. The future of healthcare such as telemedicine can be also benefited with NIV innovations, he added.

A non-conventional ventilator which people normally believe can be usually used with the mask, maintaining patients awake fullness, ability to communicate and eat and drink. This offers the major advantage, avoiding sedation, and patient comfort, ambulation movement), patient recovery, decreased cost to the patient, early discharge.
Genome Valley Excellence Award 2019 presented to Dr. Don W. Cleveland of the University of California recognizing his pioneering work in cancer genetics.

With the intent to strengthen a robust ecosystem for Lifesciences, Biotech, Healthcare enterprises, Telangana State Governor, E S L Narasimhan inaugurated the 3-day 16th Edition BioAsia 2019  Asias largest Biotechnology and Life-sciences forum to be held in Hyderabad from February 25th to 27th, 2019.

Bearing the theme Life Sciences 4.0  Disrupt the Disruption, BioAsia 2019, annual flagship event of the Government of Telangana, is focused on healthcare being re-imagined as a result of technological disruption. The event has over the years emerged as the most preeminent technology and bio-business convention in Asia for Life sciences, pharmaceuticals and healthcare.

E S L Narasimhan, Telangana State Governor also launched the Vaccine Skilling Program of Telangana Government to promote skilled professionals and help the industry grow. One of its kind in the country, in the 1st stage of 30 students have been selected who will be put into a 100 Hours training program on the vaccines and biologics. The students will be trained by TASK and will be absorbed into the fast-growing industry with high demand for skilled workforce post successful completion of their training.

During the inauguration, the organizing committee of BioAsia 2019 presented the prestigious Genome Valley Excellence Award 2019 to Dr. Don W. Cleveland of the University of California. This award is in recognition of the pioneering work he has done in cancer genetics. He is also the winner of the Breakthrough Prize for Life Sciences 2018, which is regarded as the Oscar of Science.

Over the years, BioAsia has been instrumental in promoting India as a key player in the global healthcare, life sciences and biotechnology industries. At this eminent platform, I am happy and privileged to announce Telangana Life Sciences Grid, through which the state government of Telangana intend to deliver its extensive support for every individual in life science sector in every aspect ranging from capital, infrastructure, government approvals, improving skills and expanding connects. We are glad that this initiative is first in its kind that will enable life sciences sector to achieve its $100-billion potential in accelerated mode. Over the course of next six months, we will form focussed working groups and prepare the detailed strategy for the Telangana life sciences grid, said Mr. Jayesh Ranjan, Principle Secretary - Industries & Commerce & IT, Govt of Telangana.

Post the inaugural session, the Governor inaugurated the international exhibition wherein around a number of Corporates and 75 selected start-ups are exhibiting their innovative works and developments from the field of technology, pharma and biotechnology over the 3 days.

Commenting on the key aspects of this edition, Mr. Shakthi Nagappan, Director of Life Sciences, Govt. of Telangana and CEO, BioAsia said, In its journey of 16 years, BioAsia has been the torchbearer of developments in the fields of Biotechnology and life sciences, not just in India but across the Asian region. With each passing year, BioAsia is growing in stature and size; and the presence of such stalwarts from across the World testifies this fact.

This edition will have participation of more than 1,700 delegates from Industry, Governmental Authorities, Academia and Start-ups representing over 50 countries with around 100 High profile speakers and 700 Corporates. The event will bring around 100 eminent speakers from across the globe, with some of the best minds and leaders from their fields, including Prof. Krishnamurthy Subramaniam, Chief Economic Advisor to Govt of India, Dr. Don Cleveland, Ludwig Cancer Research, Univ. of California, San Diego (Breakthrough Prize for Life Sciences 2018), Dr. Renu Swarup, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, Dr. S Eswara Reddy, DCGI, CDSCO, Mr. KT Rama Rao, Working President, TRS, Mr. Badhri Srinivasan - Head, Global Development Operations  Novartis, Mr. Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman, Axilor Ventures, Mr. Thomas Arista, Dy Director, US FDA, Mr. Kurt Stoeckli, President and Chief Scientific Officer, Glenmark Pharma, Mr. Glenn Saldanha, CMD, Glenmark Pharma, Mr. Satish Reddy, Chairman, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Ms. Karenann Terrell, Chief Digital and Technology Officer, GSK, UK, Mr. Peter Lee, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Healthcare, USA, Mr. Atanu Roy, CIO, Sun Pharma and Ms. Sangita Reddy, Joint MD, Apollo Hospitals to name a few.
For Immediate Release, February 26, 2019 Contacts: John Weisheit, Living Rivers and Colorado Riverkeeper, john@livingrivers.org

Jonny Vasic, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, (385) 707-3677, jvasicuphe@gmail.com

Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity, (801) 300-2414, tmckinnon@biologicaldiversity.org

Michael Toll, Grand Canyon Trust, (303) 309-2165, mtoll@grandcanyontrust.org

Alex Hardee, Earthjustice, (303) 996-9612, ahardee@earthjustice.org

Dan Mayhew, Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club, (801) 712-5353, drmayhew@comcast.net

Maia Raposo, Waterkeeper Alliance. (212) 747-0622 x116, mraposo@waterkeeper.org

Kari Birdseye, Natural Resources Defense Council, (415) 350-7562, kbirdseye@nrdc.org Lawsuit Launched Over Massive Utah Oil Shale Development Project Threatens Endangered Species, River Flows, Climate SALT LAKE CITY Conservation groups today issued a notice of intent to sue the Trump administration for approving rights-of-way for pipelines and powerlines that pave the way for the nations first commercial oil shale development. The massive Enefit project in Utahs Uintah Basin would drain billions of gallons of water from the Green River, threaten endangered species and generate enormous amounts of greenhouse gas pollution. Oil shale is one of worlds most carbon-intensive fuels whose strip mining can require several barrels of water for each barrel of oil, or kerogen, produced. At full buildout, Enefits facility would produce 50,000 barrels per day of oil from the Green River Formation. This project would be a disaster for the climate, the Colorado River and endangered species, said Taylor McKinnon, a senior campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. Draining rivers to mine high-carbon fossil fuels will accelerate climate change thats already drying the Colorado River Basin. The West needs to chart a sustainable future, but the Trump administration is paving the road to catastrophe. Todays notice says the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to protect several endangered species when they approved electricity, oil, gas and water lines across public lands. The notice argues that federal agencies violated the law by ignoring the potential harm to imperiled fish, studying only the harm from water depletions necessary to build the pipeline, not to operate it. The BLM approved the rights-of-way to service the oil-shale development based on an utterly inadequate analysis of its potentially devastating environmental impacts, said Michael Toll, a staff attorney at the Grand Canyon Trust. Considering the rights-of-way are a public subsidy of an otherwise economically unfeasible oil-shale facility, the public has a right to know exactly how Enefits project will impact the environment. The water pipeline will allow the Estonia-owned Enefit American Oil to drain more than 10,000 acre feet annually from the Green River, harming critical habitat for endangered fish, including the Colorado pikeminnow and the razorback sucker. Mining the oil shale will destroy habitat for two rare wildflower species for which Endangered Species Act protections are proposed. The project comes as western states struggle with record droughts and climate-driven declines in river flows in the Colorado River Basin. The water resources of the Colorado River Basin are already headed toward irretrievable decline in both quantity and quality, said John Weisheit with Living Rivers Colorado Riverkeeper. Opposing the Enefit Project is a no brainer; it epitomizes exactly what inappropriate development looks like. Enefit intends to strip-mine about 28 million tons of rock a year over thousands of acres of high-desert habitat. It will also construct a major production facility to bake the rock at high temperatures. The half-square-mile processing plant, about 45 miles south of Dinosaur National Monument, will turn pre-petroleum stones into refinery-ready oil. There are very levelheaded reasons why the United States hasnt invested in commercial oil shale extraction before  and this project in particular would be uniquely destructive in Utah, said Alex Hardee, an attorney at Earthjustice. The Fish and Wildlife Service has a duty to ensure that federal approvals do not drive endangered species off the cliff of extinction. But the agency turned a blind eye to the devastating effects this oil shale project would inflict by only paying attention to the water it would suck up to build this nonsensical pipeline but not to actually operate it. Every resident of the state should be alarmed. This oil shale project would exploit, degrade, and exhaust Utah's most precious natural resources  our water, our air, and our beautiful natural landscapes, said Dr. Brian Moench, president of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment. It threatens public health, will tie Utahs future to dirty energy, and will accelerate climate the crisis. Even worse, the only beneficiary of this scheme is a foreign oil company. The project would produce 547 million barrels of oil over three decades, spewing more than 200 million tons of greenhouse gas  as much as 50 coal-fired power plants produce in a year. Those emissions would contribute to global warming and regional drought already afflicting the rivers and their endangered fish. BLM is essentially telling the public not to worry because the pipes and power lines themselves wont have much impact, while turning a blind eye to the large-scale destruction that this infrastructure will enable, said Ann Alexander, senior attorney with Natural Resources Defense Council. Everything related to this project represents a worst case scenario for this severely climate change impacted region and the planet, said Dan Mayhew, conservation chair of the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club. Rampant destruction of public lands and large scale water dependency while adding pollution to an already challenged airshed. This project needs to be stopped in its tracks now. The 60-day notice gives the agencies an opportunity to comply with the Endangered Species Act and avoid a lawsuit. The Colorado River is disappearing due to mismanagement, drought and accelerating climate change, putting at risk not only multiple endangered species but also the drinking water for nearly 40 million people, said Daniel E. Estrin, advocacy director at Waterkeeper Alliance. In the face of this crisis, FWS and BLMs approvals could cause 100 billion gallons of water to be removed from the basin over the next three decades, harming government-protected endangered species and hastening the collapse of a critical water supply system already teetering on the brink of failure. The groups filing todays notice are the Center for Biological Diversity, Grand Canyon Trust, Living Rivers/Colorado RiverKeeper, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment and Waterkeeper Alliance. The groups are represented by attorneys from Earthjustice, Grand Canyon Trust and the Center for Biological Diversity.
Hi I'm Bill O'Reilly and this is the Talking Points Memo.



The Mueller report. So it's supposed to come the week of March 4th which is a week from today. I'm not sure. Of course I don't have any real indicator on how it's going to come out. It has to go to the Attorney General William Barr and then from there Mr Barr will discuss it I guess among his chieftains or the Justice Department and then they'll brief some congressional committees. Now as soon as they brief the congressional committees it'll leak. Not the whole report because Barr is not going to give that to Congress. Barr is going to give him a summation. And in the summation will be some redacted material and all that. So you can assume that when the report is released the public will still be as confused as it is right now. But even if the full report were released and every one of us could see it the press would not report it honestly. Those people who have convicted Donald Trump of being a Russian agent will continue to do that. They can't say oh I was wrong, I had it all wrong for two years. And the people who have defended President Trump. If something comes out of the Mueller report that's damning. That's possible. They're not going to say wow that's bad. They're not they're going to spin it like oh come on. Look.In the media in America. It's all about money. All right. One side makes money by hating Trump. The other side makes money by supporting the president. Now it's about eight to two. Hate against support. 80 percent hate him 20 percent like. That's the American media. But the chieftains in the six corporations that control 90 percent of the national news, they're ordering your people to do certain things. Alright, they're ordered to do it. The Smollett case if you remember last week when this actor said "Oh I was accosted in the street by Trump supporters at 230 and it was 14 degrees below zero. But I was again a sandwich. And they jumped me said racist things to me and antigay things." The networks that immediately reported that as fact then were embarrassed when this story turned out according to the Chicago police to be bogus false, a lie. So what if the networks do? They downplayed their participation in supporting Smollett or in the case of MSNBC they just stop reporting the story. They didn't report it anymore once it has turned out to be fake. So you know what you're getting here. The Mueller report is very very important. Thirty million dollars. Was given to Robert Mueller and his team to investigate whether or not the Russians corrupted the 2016, presidential election. All right. And whether the Trump campaign helped him. OK so. This is big. This is big, but you're not going to get any honest reporting out of it. That's really depressing to me. So I of course will report it to you honestly what I know how I know it and what it actually says. Now again people have made a fortune speculating on what they're going to say, you're going to say, that Donald Trump Jr. is in trouble. Ivanka Trump... they don't know anything, they don't know anything. The one thing that's come out. The one thing that's come out that caught my attention was Jonathan Karl the White House reporter for ABC News. Not a Trump supporter came out and said I've learned anonymous sources. That's not going to be a big deal there's not going to be a big headline in the Mueller report. That caught my attention because number one Karl would have people inside the Mueller team that would talk to him. And number two if Karl is saying that publicly to his audience at ABC News he's what they call warning ABC News off, warning them off. Speculation. I'm just reading what I know about Jon Karl and ABC and Mueller. All right there is a pipeline to him. I do believe somebody told him that and I do believe he warned his chieftains at Disney and his audience, don't get too excited about this. We're probably not going to nail the president on a Mueller report. Could be completely wrong. But again keep your eye on the basic tenets of the report not what somebody thinks it is, not the summation when it comes out and we can all see it. We can make a responsible decision. That is a Talking Points Memo. I'm Bill O'Reilly for Newsmax reminding you we do honest commentary every night on BillOReilly.com and my book Killing the SS still a major bestseller, after six months. I hope you check it out and I will see you soon.
Spearfish, SD (57783)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Low 51F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Low 51F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Indian Air Force carried out air strikes and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps across the Line of Control in Pakistan on Tuesday. India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale confirmed the attacks saying India had struck the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot.

"JeM training camps have been active in Pakistan for a long time now. India struck the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot today. The strikes specifically targeted the camp of JeM and made sure that there are no civilian casualties. Strikes happened only a short while ago, we are waiting for more details," said Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale.

Here are the latest developments:

As many as 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets of the Indian Air Force struck a major terrorist camp across the LoC and completely destroyed it,12 days after the ghastly terror attack of Pulwama. The strike involved a low-fly run by the Indian Air Force's fighters.

The 20-21 minute operation began at 3.30 am; 1,000 kgs bombs were dropped on terror camps across the Line of Control (LoC). Alpha 3 control rooms of the Jaish-e-Mohammed were also destroyed in the operation. The reported strike destroyed terror camps of JeM across Balakot, Chakothi, and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan.

The strike at Balakot, which is 24 kilometers northwest of Muzaffarabad, took place between 3:45 am and 3:53 am. Strike at Muzaffarabad took place between 3:48 am and 3:55 am and the strike at Chakoti took place between 3:58 am and 4:04 am.

The locations hit in this strike were joint training camps of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.

Pakistan army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor alleged that the Indian Air Force had violated the LoC. Pakistan has also claimed no casualties in the attack.

The Indian Air Force targeted Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) hideout in Balakot sector with laser-guided bombs.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting in Delhi at his residence with top officials of the government such as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and others.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval briefed the Prime Minister on the air strikes in the meeting.

The Indian Air Force has put on high alert all air defense systems along the international border and LoC to respond to any possible action by Pakistan Air Force.

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, ministers in the government and other political leaders of India have praised the strikes and applauded the Air Force's move to attack terror camps in PoK.

(Edited By Rupa Burman Roy)

Also Read : Indian Air Force attack on Pakistan news update: Watch live streaming on Aaj Tak channel

Also Read :IAF strikes across LoC LIVE: India confirms Mirage fighter jets destroyed biggest JeM terror camps in Balakot
Left to right are Laura Muller of Hamburg, Germany; Dale E. Graff of Hamburg, PA; and Maximilian Muller of Hamburg, Germany at the conference where the Mullers received a research award.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday said India has committed "aggression" by violating the LoC and Islamabad has "right to respond".

His remarks came after combat jets of the Indian Air Force (IAF) bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side in a pre-dawn strike.

Prime Minister Imran Khan was chairing an "important meeting" to discuss the situation, sources here said.

India's air strikes came 12 days after the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

In Islamabad, Foreign Minister Qureshi said India has violated the LoC and Pakistan has right to respond.

Also read: IAF air strikes across LoC LIVE: India confirms fighter jets destroyed biggest JeM terror camps in Balakot

"First, they committed aggression against Pakistan today. It is a violation of the LoC. I consider it a violation of the LoC, and Pakistan his right to give a suitable response in self defence," he told reporters after an "emergency meeting" with high-level officials at the Foreign Office (FO) for consultations.

Qureshi briefed Prime Minister Khan after the meeting at the FO.

Earlier, the Pakistan Army alleged that the Indian Air Force (IAF) violated the Line of Control (LoC) in Muzafarabad Sector.

"Indian aircraft intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said in a tweet.

"Indian Air Force violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft gone back," he tweeted.

Also read: Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale confirms IAF airstrikes on 'biggest' JeM terror camp in Pakistan

Senator Sherry Rehman, a leading opposition leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, said that "Indian incursion" across the LOC is strategically "ill-advised and tactically pointless".

"Such moves only ratchet up tensions in a region bristling with anger.

"Obvious that (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi's election wardrums make prospects for talks collateral damage. India's ruling party sees no other way to win the elections hence, itching for war," Rehman said in a tweet.

Meanwhile, Pakistani media was reporting that the Indian government has staged a symbolic intrusion due to domestic pressure.

Prime Minister Khan has not commented on the issue.
Officers with the Goose Creek Police Department were among law enforcement agencies supporting and participating in the training and demonstration. In the photo above, Capt. Dave Aarons of the GCPD speaks to teachers about the adrenaline rush they might expect during a crisis.
Catholic clergy and devotees, led by seminarians from Mary Help of Christians Seminaries, walk during a dawn pilgrimage in Dagupan, Philippines, in observance of the 9th day after the death of Richmond Nilo, a priest who was gunned down in the northern part of the country, June 18, 2018.

A Catholic bishop who spoke out about President Rodrigo Dutertes bloody war on drugs confirmed Tuesday that he had received death threats from unknown persons.

The revelation by Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan city, a suburb of Manila, came as the Roman Catholic Churchs leadership in the country had asked Duterte to ease up on alleged threats against the clergy.

David, who is vice president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said the threats began about two weeks ago.

But I dont know who they are coming from, the bishop said.

David has been among the most vocal members of the church, which wields influence in the Philippines, Asias biggest predominantly Catholic nation. He has in the past questioned the Duterte administrations brutal methods, in particular a drug war that has left over 5,000 suspected drug dealers and addicts dead since mid-2016, according to police statistics.

But in a departure from his previous stand, Duterte on Sunday asked the public not to harm members of the clergy, saying he had been made aware of death threats to bishops.

Duterte said the Catholic Church leader in the country, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, had notified him about the threat against Bishop David. Duterte said Tagle had told him the threats came from someone claiming to be working for the presidents family.

Do not touch priests, they had nothing to do with politics, Duterte told a political rally in the central Philippines on Sunday. Either Muslims or Christians, they had nothing to do with us. Do not do it. Do not try to do it. The religious have nothing to do with the vagaries of life. Lay off! Stop threatening them or you will have to face me.

Dutertes warning came amid his repeated verbal attacks against the church, and it was not clear whether his warning meant he would also tone down his criticism of the church. He had earlier lambasted the church, accusing it of being ruled by sexual predators. He admitted that he had been molested as a child studying at a Catholic school.

In a speech in December, the president openly called for the assassination of bishops. These bishops that you guys have, kill them, the president had said. They are useless fools. All they do is criticize.

Bishop David said these threats would not deter him from voicing opposition to the drug war.

No threat or intimidation can stop me from carrying on with my spiritual and pastoral duties as a bishop, he said.

But the threats forced him to lay low, he conceded. On Tuesday, David skipped a human rights award ceremony that was supposed to honor him for his work.

Bishop David decided to skip the award[s] because he has been receiving death threats, said human rights lawyer Chel Diokno, who blamed Duterte for encouraging violence against members of the clergy and rights advocates.

Diokno said Dutertes order at the weekend was meant to give the president an excuse in case something happened to the bishop.

We see a pattern. They will say there is no direct order coming from above. But we are seeing a pattern, the president will say something, and then something bad will happen to the person he criticizes, Diokno said.

He was referring to Sen. Leila de Lima, a former rights commissioner, who is now in jail on charges of drug trafficking. De Lima has denied all the charges and accused the government of falsely accusing her of profiting from the drug trade to finance her campaign.

Last week, a former police general testified that one of the prosecution witnesses against de Lima was found to be involved in the drug trade. Last week, the senator entered her second year in detention.

Joseph Jubelag contributed to this report from General Santos City, Philippines.
Mourners honor blogger Avijit Roy on the fourth anniversary of his brutal killing in Dhaka, Feb. 26, 2019.

On the fourth anniversary of secular blogger Avijit Roys brutal killing outside a Dhaka book festival, Bangladeshi police on Tuesday said they had submitted a charge sheet to the home ministry against suspected militants linked to his death.

Should the ministry approve the sheet, it would pave the way for the long-awaited first indictment of suspects in the Feb. 26, 2015, slaying of Roy, a Bangladesh-born U.S. citizen and science writer.

Members of Ansar Al Islam  a militant outfit also known as Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT)  allegedly used machetes to hack Roy to death on the Dhaka University campus as he was leaving the annual Ekushey Book Fair that night. His wife, Rafida Ahmed Bonya, who tried to save him, suffered serious stab wounds in the attack.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Masudur Rahman said counter terrorism and transnational crimes unit investigators must have home ministry approval before proceeding.

We have sent the charge sheet to the home ministry for sanction. We do not know whether the charge sheet has been approved by the ministry, he said, adding it was presented on Feb.19 after finishing it a day earlier.

Efforts by BenarNews to contact Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Tuesday were unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, Bonya told a BBC Bangla interviewer that no one from the government or police had contacted her regarding the investigation.

After the attack on us, we were continuously hearing them saying we have arrested someone who was the mastermind, but the story changes after a few months, she said on Tuesday.

Police have identified six alleged ABT members responsible for killing Roy.

Four of them were arrested and remain locked up: Mozammel Hossain (alias Saimon), Abu Siddique Sohel (alias Sakib), Arafat Rahman Siam (alias Sajjad) and Shafiur Rahman Farabi. Three were linked to the killing while Farabi was charged with instigating the attack through Facebook posts.

All four have confessed to the crime, according to police.

Two others fled before being taken into custody. They are former army Maj. Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque (alias Major Zia) and Akram Hossain (alias Abir).

Mukul Rana, identified as the operation commander of Roys killing, died in a shootout with the police.

Police believe 12 people were involved in Roys death but have not been able to identify the other five, according to the charge sheet viewed by BenarNews. Investigators have not been able to determine the names of the other suspects but have identified them through their association to the militant group, which is linked with the al-Qaeda global terror network.

Police are expected to submit a supplementary charge sheet after the others are arrested, Masudur Rahman said.

Monirul Islam, chief of the Bangladeshi polices counter terrorism and transnational crimes unit, told reporters on Feb. 18 that Roy was killed because of his openly dissenting views.

Roy ran Mukto-Mona (Free Mind), a leading blog for free thinkers, rationalists, skeptics, atheists and humanists in Bangladesh.

He came under attack from the extremists for his thoughts. The killers rented houses in Uttara and Elephant Road in Dhaka to complete their operation, Islam said.

He said the killers followed Roy after he returned to Bangladesh from the United States where he resided.

Islam identified Major Zia as the lead planner.

Major Zia has gone underground. He is now inactive. We have not had any update on his activities since the murders of gay-rights activists Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy, Monirul Islam said. The activists were hacked to death in April 2016.

Slow pace

Security analyst retired Brig Gen. Sakhawat Hossain, meanwhile, questioned the pace of getting justice.

Starting from investigation, everything related to the trial of Avijits murder has been very slow. The investigation has taken four years. So, I think completion of the trial will take more time, he told BenarNews.

Roys father, Ajay Roy, expressed his own frustration about the investigation.

I have heard that the police finalized the charge sheet. I do not know anything more than this, he told BenarNews.

The activists used to protest and go to the Martyrs Memorial, demanding a trial for Avijits killers. How many days would they protest? Patience has a limit, he said, referring to a monument in Dhaka that honors Bangladeshis who fought against Pakistan during the 1971 war of independence.

Since February 2013, when secular activist and blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider was killed by extremists near his home in Dhaka, at least 10 writers, bloggers, publishers, activists and intellectuals have been slain in machete attacks by Muslim militants.

All of the other attacks occurred in a spate that began in February 2015. The last one was the slaying of activist-law student Nazimuddin Samad in April 2016.

Only two of the cases, Haider and Washiqur Rahman Babu have seen the alleged killers go to trial. Neither has resulted in verdicts.

On Tuesday, Robin Ahsan, the publisher of Sraban Publishing house, showed a poster of Roy marking the dark day at the Ekushey fair, which runs through the end of the month.

Admirers stopped to remember Roy.

Today is Avijit Day. Killing a person for dissent opinion is a heinous crime, Sharifus Saleqin, wrote on the poster.

Jesmin Papri in Dhaka contributed to this report.
People shout slogans as they celebrate in New Delhi after authorities said Indian jets conducted air strikes on militant camps in Pakistani territory, Feb. 26, 2019.

Updated at 10:11 a.m. ET on 2019-03-01

Indian warplanes attacked an insurgent camp inside Pakistani territory Tuesday, killing a very large number of militants, Indias foreign secretary said, in a rare airstrike that sharply escalated tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors almost two weeks after a massive car bombing in Kashmir.

Fighter jets struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the Pakistan-based militant group that claimed credit for the Feb. 14 bombing in the disputed Himalayan region, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told reporters.

A very large number of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for (suicide) action were eliminated, Gokhale said.

Pakistan said there were no casualties or damage.

Gokhale said New Delhi undertook the preemptive strike after receiving intelligence that militants were planning more suicide attacks in various parts of India.

The existence of such massive training facilities capable of training hundreds of jihadis could not have functioned without the knowledge of Pakistan authorities, he said.

India confirmed the airstrike hours after Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor, a spokesman for Pakistans armed forces, said the warplanes had crossed into the Muzafarabad sector of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, dropping the bombs in the Balakot region, about 50 km (30 miles) from the de facto border.

Ghafoor said Pakistan scrambled its fighter jets and the Indian warplanes dropped their payload in haste while escaping. He did not say what he meant by payload, a term often used by military officials when referring to explosive warheads carried by a missile or an aircraft.

Ghafoor said there were no casualties, and denied that the incursion had caused damage. Not even a single brick, he said, as he posted on Twitter four images of what looked like a forested area with shattered trees, debris and a large crater.

Indian aircrafts intruded from [the] Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force [the Indian planes] released [their] payload in haste while escaping, Ghafoor tweeted, adding that the Indian payload fell near Balakot, a town in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Gokhale, the Indian foreign secretary, did not give the number of casualties, but local television channels reported that at least 300 suspected militants had died.

Reuters also quoted a senior Indian government source as saying that 300 had died in the strikes and the warplanes had ventured as far as 80 km (50 miles) inside Pakistan. But Indian officials have not provided evidence to back up their claims of casualties.

The airstrikes occurred less than two weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned that terror groups would pay a heavy price for the car bombing that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police who were riding in a convoy along a highway in Pulwama, a district of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Pakistan has denied allegations of providing sanctuary to JeM, which has been on a United Nations terror list since 2001.

A Pakistani soldier looks for movement of Indian forces while at a security post 50 km (31 miles) from Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, Feb. 23, 2019. [AP]

A non-military action

Gokhale, in his statement posted on the foreign ministrys website, did not say how many warplanes were involved. Indian TV network News18 said 12 Mirage 2000 jets had crossed into Pakistani airspace.

Noting that Islamabad had taken no concrete actions to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its soil, Gokhale said the airstrike was a non-military preemptive action that specifically targeted the JeM camp.

Analysts told BenarNews that the term non-military meant that the attack was on a terrorist camp and did not intend to challenge the Pakistan army.

The incident marked one of the rarest times since the bitter partition of the Indian sub-continent in 1947 that Indias Air Force flew fighter jets across the Line of Control (LoC), a de facto boundary that separates the Indian- and Pakistani-claimed sides of Kashmir, according to Indian news websites.

Political analysts told BenarNews that the airstrikes could be linked to the Indian general election expected to take place in April or May.

India is gearing up for a general election and by striking some terror camps across the LoC, Modis BJP-led government believes that it will win votes. But this small act will not stop terror handlers in Pakistan from fostering terror in India, Ajai Sahni, a New Delhi-based analyst at the Institute of Conflict Management, told BenarNews.

The fact of the matter is that India does not have sufficient ammunition to fight a war with Pakistan for even a fortnight, he said.

Others believe only a dialogue could help end hostilities between the two neighbors.

Violence begets violence, said Mohammad Yusuf, a former education officer in Indian-administered Kashmir. This [attack] will only escalate tensions between India and Pakistan.

Dialogue is the only way forward to bring an end to hostilities and resolve the Kashmir issue, which is the main source of discontent between two countries, he told BenarNews.

Modi defiant

Hours after the airstrike, Modi, who is in a re-election campaign, told a rally in the northern Rajasthan state that India was in safe hands.

I wont let the country stop, I wont let the country bow down, he said hours after the raid, according to India Today. Modi did not directly mention the airstrike, local reports said, but he had earlier threatened a jaw-breaking response to the Feb. 14 bomb attack in Kashmir.

Other Indian officials said the airstrike showed that New Delhi was determined to act against Pakistan.

They say they want India to bleed with a 1,000 cuts. We say that each time you attack us, be certain we will get back at you, harder and stronger, Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Vijay Kumar Singh tweeted. Singh was former chief of the Indian army.

Modi and his Pakistan counterpart, Imran Khan, both called for emergency meetings with their ministers after the attack, local reports said.

Reuters, quoting an unidentified military spokesman, said Pakistan on Wednesday would convene its National Command Authority, which decides over the use of nuclear weapons.

You all know what that means, the news agency quoted the spokesman as saying.

China, Pakistans longtime ally, urged the two neighbors to control themselves.

We hope the two sides will exercise restraint and take actions that will help stabilize situation in the region and improve bilateral relations, not the contrary, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters in Beijing, according to a transcript of his news conference published online.

Harmonious relations between the two are crucial to peace, stability and development in South Asia and serve the interests of India and Pakistan fundamentally, he said.

Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said she had spoken to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Indian diplomats met foreign ambassadors to assure them no escalation was planned, according to Reuters.

In 2016, following a Pakistani attack on an Indian army base in Uri town in Kashmir, Indian security forces crossed over into Pakistan to destroy terrorist bases, a mission that India dubbed as a surgical strike.

Muslim-majority Kashmir, a region in the Himalayan Mountains that is claimed by both India and Pakistan, has grappled with a separatist insurgency that has killed more than 70,000 people since the late 1980s.

India and Pakistan said the camp targeted by the Indian warplanes was at Balakot, but officials from the two sides have not provided detail on the alleged location of the militant training camp. It also remained unclear if there were any casualties at all.

Pakistani reporters and troops visit the site of an Indian airstrike near Balakot, Pakistan, Feb. 26, 2019. [AP]

Pakistani military officials had escorted reporters near the town of Balakot where authorities said the payload had been released.

Residents described hearing at least four explosions overnight, but said the damage had been minimal.

There is one house near the place whose wall has collapsed, and one person got minor injuries, 25-year-old Zubari Afzal was quoted by AFP as saying.

The journalists said they saw several large craters, including one roughly six feet deep and equally wide, a few trees that had been snapped in half, and villagers wondering why they had been targeted.

There are only mud-brick homes here, 55-year-old Noor Shah, who lived about a half-kilometer (a third of a mile) from the site, told the Associated Press (AP). There isn't even a concrete house.

Two of the dried mud structures were damaged in the explosions but no one was hurt, Tahir Khan, a 45-year-old village resident, also told the news agency.

No one has been killed, no one has been seriously hurt. But we want to know, what have we done that we were attacked? Khan said.

Rohit Wadhwaney in New Delhi and Mohammad Amin Pirzada in Srinagar, India contributed to this report.

CORRECTION: An earlier version incorrectly reported that the Indian airstrike into Pakistani airspace was unprecedented and that at least 46 troops were killed in the car-bombing.
Writer Lisa McGee said she knows how the show will end

Series two hasn't even hit our screens yet, but the creator of hit comedy Derry Girls has already planned not only series three, but also how the show will end.

Writer Lisa McGee, who hails from the city where the Channel 4 series is set, told Sunday Life that she has enough storylines to keep the show going for some time.

The new series will hit our screens in less than two weeks.

"I think there is more to be told," she said. "Hopefully if this goes well, I'd love to do another one. There are enough stories for another one.

"I have a point where I would like to end it. I definitely have an end point I'd like to get to. I sort of thought I would follow the political broad story where I would like to take it. The girls will stay around that age, maybe get a year or two older. I would be disappointed if I didn't get to there."

The Channel 4 comedy follows schoolgirl Erin, played by Saoirse Monica-Jackson, in the 1990s and her friends, Clare (Nicola Coughlan), Michelle (Jamie-Lee O'Donnell), her cousin, Orla (Louisa Harland), and of course, the wee English fella, James, played by Dylan Llwellyn, as they try to deal with overbearing parents, unreasonable nuns at their convent school and, of course, boys.

The first series ended poignantly, with the five main characters dancing around their school hall, while at home Ma Mary, Da Gerry, Aunt Sarah and Granda Joe watch the aftermath of a bomb unfold on TV.

Created by Lisa and loosely based on her own teenage years growing up during the Troubles, Derry Girls was the most watched programme in Northern Ireland since records began, with an average of 519,000 viewers per episode.

But despite the show's runaway success, Lisa is still worried about how the second series will be received.

She admitted: "I wouldn't say I am confident. You just never know. Fingers crossed. It did an amazing thing last year in Northern Ireland and I don't want people to be disappointed. I just hope we do the same thing again."

Derry Girls was recommissioned for a second series by Channel 4 right after the airing of its very first episode back in January 2018.

The second series is set roughly a year after the first ended. The series concludes with Bill Clinton's visit to Derry in 1995, which has been recreated for the show.

Speaking about what we can expect from series two, Lisa revealed: "It's against the backdrop of the beginnings of the peace process this time, but the gang are still getting in and out of trouble and still trying to grow up - but not very successfully."

Meanwhile, the stars had a disaster worthy of their characters' on-screen mishaps - nearly missing their own premiere in Derry's Guildhall.

Lisa and the majority of the cast attended the premiere last Monday, but nearly didn't make it when the airline Flybmi, which was due to bring them all from London, went bust days before, cancelling all their flights. The cast and crew of the show were among nearly 1,900 people affected by the news last weekend.

A Channel 4 insider revealed: "It did cause a massive headache. There was a real worry that we wouldn't be able to get them all over. Thankfully, we managed to get them all on new flights and get them to the premiere on time."

Last month, the show's main characters were immortalised in paint in a mural on display on the gable end of Badgers Bar & Restaurant in the city's Orchard Street.

Derry Girls returns to Channel 4 on March 5 at 9.15pm
Sam McAllister who was fined for illegally dumping waste talks to Christopher Woodhouse . (Photo by Colm O'Reilly, Sunday Life)

This is the former DUP mayor who narrowly avoided prison for operating an illegal waste operation.

Sam McAllister last week walked away with a suspended jail term and a massive fine for burning and storing rubbish at his Co Antrim site.

The two-time DUP mayor of Larne was ordered to pay 40,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act by a Crown Court judge on Monday.

McAllister (73) told Sunday Life the case had "been a nightmare" and he originally faced paying 138,000 for his dodgy skip business.

He pleaded guilty to six offences in March 2017 in relation to illegally transferring and burning waste collected by his firm, Campbell Skip Hire.

He was given a three month prison sentence, suspended for three years, on each charge by His Honour Judge Geoffrey Miller QC.

Investigators from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), part of the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), watched McAllister's site at Bentra Road outside Whitehead, between February and September 2015. Controlled waste found on site included concrete, brick, ceramics, plastics, wiring, scrap metal, treated timber, plasterboard, clothing, tyres, food and food packaging waste.

When approached by our reporter, McAllister said: "It has caused me a lot of hassle, a lot of the stuff was wrong and they estimated stuff I was supposed to have in my yard but I'm not making any comment on it."

He did divulge that DAERA was "looking 138,000" to be paid under the Proceeds of Crime Act but declined to discuss it further, saying "it's best to let sleeping dogs lie". He added: "It's over now and it has taken over three years."

A DAERA spokesperson said: "The NIEA has a duty to investigate all reports of environmental crime and will provide evidence to the Public Prosecution Service for decisions on prosecution.

"It is for the courts to make a judgment on each case. Mr McAllister was properly convicted before a court and it would therefore not be appropriate to comment any further beyond the departmental statement."

It's not the first time McAllister, who was mayor of Larne between 1995 and 1997, has found himself at the centre of a waste row.

He was accused of being responsible for a fire at his Bentra Road site near the village of Ballycarry in 2007 which he blamed on an Eleventh Night bonfire started by vandals who "broke in".

McAllister was previously fined 1,400 at Belfast Magistrates' Court in 2005 for waste management regulations breaches.

Neighbours in the rural Co Antrim area have in the past butted heads with McAllister over his "eyesore" waste handling site.

Sunday Life first reported on McAllister flouting the law in 2004 when neighbours gave off about a pile of rubbish behind his house which he claimed was a Twelfth bonfire.
What a carve-up! Labour, at the time of writing, has already suffered no fewer than nine defections from its ranks, while the equivalent tally in the Conservative Party is three. And there are expectations that more defectors will follow over the coming days and weeks.

The three Tories are all exasperated over the Brexit negotiations, while in Labour the quitters have acted either over Brexit, anti-Semitism or general dissatisfaction with the party leadership.

But whatever the reasons for their defections, the old virtue of loyalty to the party seems now to be, sadly, a thing of the past. The Brexit complainants say that loyalty to the country is more important than party loyalty.

That may be so, but let it not be forgotten that some of them have broken a solemn pledge, given at the time of the referendum, that they would honour the result whatever the outcome. That is, quite frankly, a disgrace.

Why can't they take a leaf out of the Prime Minister's book? She voted Remain in the referendum but has honourably and conscientiously stuck to that original pledge.

And the idea of a second referendum, or 'People's Vote', as they pompously describe it, is simply an insult.

It is what the EU has been guilty of over the years: holding elections in various member states and, if they get the 'wrong' result, they hold another until they get the 'right' one. Shameful.

And I stick to my point that all the party deserters should resign from Parliament and trigger by-elections.

One of their number offered the excuse that this is not the time for by-elections. How feeble.

It is always time for by-elections if MPs decide to change their party status midway through a Parliament.

What was worse is that some members of the new Independent Group took their seats in the chamber as if it was some kind of fiesta.

Words fail me.

Do not be surprised if Dame Louise Ellman, MP for Liverpool Riverside, becomes the next Labour member to defect from the party. She would do so over Labour's alleged anti-Semitism stance.

Jeremy Corbyn, who presumably wants to keep his party together, did himself no good for allegedly and sarcastically describing Dame Louise as "the MP for Tel Aviv".

She once spent a highly productive period as chair of the powerful Commons Transport Committee, which regularly reached highly critical findings when probing controversial issues.

She was never afraid to publicly criticise her own party leaders if she thought they were at fault.

But recently her main concern has been her detestation at the apparent anti-Semitism in the party.

It now appears that one of Corbyn's closest political aides is a strongly pro-Palestine individual. It is, therefore, no surprise that Tom Watson, Labour's deputy leader, has warned Corbyn that he has virtually no chance of reaching Number 10 unless he totally eradicates anti-Semitism from the party.

How Corbyn can expect decent Jewish people like Louise Ellman to remain in the party when it is in such a sorry state is beyond me.

Labour MP Paul Flynn, one of the hardest-working of Members at Westminster, has just died. He was a left-winger, but by no means in the same mould as the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Indeed, once during his brief membership of the shadow cabinet Flynn had the temerity to say to Corbyn to his face: "Thank you for appointing me, but you are the wrong person to be leading the Labour Party."

Needless to say, that remark did not win him a standing ovation.

Flynn was a prolific and highly readable blogger and indefatigable and persistent campaigner. He was often a thorn in the side of his own leader and was Labour through and through: "We were Labour as naturally as we were Catholics or Welsh."

Paul Flynn was brilliant as a probing backbencher and, in my view, his talents would have been wasted if he had spent his time at Westminster on the front bench. He was the salt of the political earth.

I am not surprised that former Prime Minister David Cameron made a heartfelt, passionate but unsuccessful plea to the three Tory women MPs who deserted the party last week. They simply ignored him.

After all, he must surely still experience at least a smidgen of guilt, not to say conscience, over the last two-and-a-half years of Brexit chaos.

Cameron was the one who initiated the fateful Brexit referendum which, no doubt to his shock, returned a substantial majority of people who wanted to quit the European Union. He could hardly believe the figures when he was confronted with them.

He had plainly assumed the voters would return a handsome majority to stay within the EU - his preferred choice. It is a rule that, as in journalism, so in politics: never assume anything.

Cameron retired into semi-obscurity, leaving it to Theresa May to sort out the ensuing mess.

He is the only ex-Prime Minister who has not been voluble about Brexit after the last two chaotic years.

And that's hardly a surprise.
A choir in the Russian city of St Petersburg has been criticised for performing a satirical song about firing a missile on the United States from a Soviet nuclear submarine.

The video of the Saturday performance by the St Petersburg Concert Choir was published over the weekend but only gained attention on Tuesday.

Expand Close A concert choir performing at St Isaacs Cathedral in St Petersburg, Russia (Roman Pimenov/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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The choir promptly turned off the option of comments on its social media page after it was inundated with indignant remarks.

The song, popular in the 1980s, jokes about Soviet troops being willing to fire a missile on the US for three rubles.

Expand Close Officials at St Isaacs Cathedral in St Petersburg, Russia, questioned the choice of song (Aaron Chown/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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The choir said in a statement that it performs a variety of songs authentic to the time they were written, and that it refuses to rewrite lyrics for the sake of political correctness.

St Isaacs Cathedral, which hosted the concert, said the song was not on the pre-approved programme and was performed as an encore, and that the cathedral does not approve of it.

It would be better to refrain from performing itOfficials at St Isaac's Cathedral

The cathedrals spokesman said although the song is a satirical one it would be better to refrain from performing it.

The song, written by Andrei Kozlovsky in the 1980s as political satire of the arms race between the US and the Soviet Union, goes: Forgive us, America, fair America, but 500 years ago they discovered you for nothing.

The choirs performance happened amid the highly charged rhetoric in Russia following the US decision to withdraw from a key security treaty with Russia.

Expand Close The weapons engineer officers tactical trigger, that would be used in the final stage of a nuclear missile launch from a UK submarine (Danny Lawson/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp The weapons engineer officers tactical trigger, that would be used in the final stage of a nuclear missile launch from a UK submarine (Danny Lawson/PA)

In his news programme on Sunday, Dmitry Kiselyov, an influential state media executive, pointed to potential targets of Russian nuclear retaliation.

Mr Kiselyov showed interactive maps that presented calculations of how soon Russian nuclear submarines will be able to strike targets on the east and west coasts of the United States.

Mr Kiselyovs comments, which were unusually bellicose even in the current anti-Western environment in Russia, were in reference to President Vladimir Putins state of the nation address last week.

The Russian leader warned the United States against deploying intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe.
Twelve days after the Pulwama terror attack, the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out major strikes at terror camps of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot town of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Pakistani security forces and JeM terrorists were caught unaware when 12 Mirage fighter jets stormed in their territory around 3.40am on Tuesday, and dropped around 1,000kg bombs, which killed up to 350 terrorists. After the entire operation was over, Prime Minster Narendra Modi, during his political rally in Rajasthan, said he would not let his country down, and that the country was in the "safe hands". While Pakistan has acknowledged the strikes carried out in the region, it has warned India of an appropriate response at the "time and place of its choosing".

Read all the latest updates on the Surgical Strike 2.0 at BusinessToday.In live blog.

10:05pm: "India is claiming an airstrike keeping in mind the general election. It has underestimated Pakistan's strength," Pakistan minister Sheikh Rashid told Dunya New.

10:00pm:

9:25pm: Firing in Kashmir: Firing near army camp in Kulgam. Firing at Khudwani army camp.

9:23pm:

9:20pm: France's Ministry of Europe&Foreign Affairs: France recognises India's legitimacy to ensure its security against cross-border terrorism and asks Pakistan to put an end to the operations of terrorist groups established on its territory, ANI reported.

9:17pm: Given that the Mirage 2000s were carrying a payload of 500 pound (225 kg) bombs, it's likely that the IAF used between 4 to 5 bombs in each of the three locations. So what is the kind of damage that a 225 kg bomb can cause? Here is a glimpse.

8:30pm: According to ANI, NIA carried out searches at 7 locations in Srinagar today in connection with J&K terror funding case. These included premises of separatist leaders Yasin Malik, Shabbir Shah, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Mohd Ashraf Khan, Masarat Alam, Zaffar Akbar Bhat & Naseem Geelani.

8:25pm: The Punjab government has asked the Tehsildars posted in the areas along the Indo-Pak border to not go on leave and be ready for any eventuality as cross-border tensions escalate as India launches air strike in Pakistan.

8:20pm: PM Modi met all three chiefs of the armed forces and congratulated them for the strike and collective effort.

8:15pm:

Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj emplanes for China. She will attend Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral meeting and hold bilateral meetings with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. pic.twitter.com/ozGKfsY0Nl - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

7:55pm:

Delhi: An auto driver Manoj offered free rides today in celebration of Indian strikes on JeM camp in Balakot. He says, 'Can't do much but I'm offering free rides. I'm happy, I'm not charging anything today.' pic.twitter.com/Lcz718fk0I - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

7:50pm: Pakistan Cinema Exhibitors Association has boycotted Indian content, no Indian movie will be released in Pakistan, ANI reported.

Choudhary Fawad Hussain, Pakistan I&B Minister: Cinema Exhibitors Association has boycotted Indian content, no Indian movie will be released in Pakistan. Also have instructed PEMRA to act against made in India advertisements. (file pic) pic.twitter.com/UspJsa43tj - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

7:40pm: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar hailed the Indian Air Force for launching a strike on a terror camp in Pakistan in which up to 350 terrorists are believed to have been killed, PTI reported.

7:35pm: Pakistan Army confirmed that Indian fighter jets dropped "four bombs" during an operation on Tuesday but downplayed its significance, saying the Indian attack was repulsed and while going back the aircraft "jettisoned their payload," reported PTI.

7:30pm:

Pak PM convenes review meeting after IAF aerial strikes across LoC Read @ANI story | https://t.co/YIIpAwlIBmpic.twitter.com/27T4Ym906o - ANI Digital (@ani_digital) February 26, 2019

7:25pm: Australia asks India and Pakistan to 'exercise restraint' after the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out major strikes at terror camps across LOC.

7:20pm: "India had made it clear that terrorism must be eradicated, we had given many chances to Pakistan, therefore, India was forced to take action so that these things can be stopped," VK Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs told ANI.

7:15pm: Rattled by India's offensive airstrike in POK, Pakistan resorts to heavy shelling in nearly 55 forward areas along LoC in Jammu and Kashmir, according to Army sources.

7:10pm: "Pakistan strongly protests Indian aggression, violation of its airspace and promises a befitting response. The Acting Foreign Secretary summoned the Indian Acting High Commissioner and strongly condemned the Indian violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity when at approximately 0254 hours today, 8 Indian aircrafts were effectively intercepted by Pakistani Air Force Jets and forced to scuttle back, while randomly releasing their ordinance which landed in an uninhabited remote area," Islamabad said, in a press release.

7:05pm: According to media report, Sushma Swaraj has spoken to the US Secretary of State and briefed about the airstrike

7:00pm: Pakistan Army has said that Indian are claiming that they remained in the Pakistani airspace for 21 minutes and killed 350 terrorists. They claim that the second strike was in Muzaffarabad and the third in Chakothi.

6:55pm: "I am happy that all parties in one voice praised the security forces and supported the Govt's anti-terror operations," said Sushma Swaraj after all party meeting.

#WATCH EAM Sushma Swaraj after all party meeting: I am happy that all parties in one voice praised the security forces and supported the Govt's anti-terror operations. pic.twitter.com/AOaIhMIDln - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

6:50pm:

#VISUALS Jammu & Kashmir: Ceasefire violation by Pakistan in the Nowshera sector of Rajouri district. (Visuals deferred by unspecified time) pic.twitter.com/ex7VHzG0c2 - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

6:45pm:

Sources: In the all party meeting today EAM Sushma Swaraj informed the leaders that she spoke to US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo over the Indian air strikes on JeM terror camps in #Balakot (file pic) pic.twitter.com/C881EEq9m6 - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

6:40pm: Maja Kocijancic, European Union Spokesperson urges India and Pakistan to 'exercise maximum restraint' and avoid further escalation of tensions.

6:35pm:

Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress after all-party meet: We have appreciated the efforts by the forces, they always have our support to end terrorism. Another good thing is that it was a clean operation which specifically targeted terrorists and terror camps. pic.twitter.com/iZ4r5BMGD9 - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

6:30pm: Pakistan in denial mode: Pak military spokesperson said that nothing was damaged, India can come and check themselves.

6:25pm: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said State is on alert, we are ready for any eventuality. I will be touring bordering areas tomorrow.

6:20pm: Flabbergasted by IAF strikes, Pak says will respond to India's 'uncalled aggression', reported ANI.

6:15pm:

#WATCH Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi says, "...Voices from within (within India) have started to emanate. The statement by Mehbooba Mufti is before you, that the story being presented is the opposite of reality." (Courtesy: Pakistan's PTV News) pic.twitter.com/y6VE7SVCaB - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

6:10pm: "Surgical strikes after Uri and now air strikes in self-defence, both have given the message to the world that for the security of the country, India's soldiers and government can go to any extent," said Amit Shah, BJP President at a public rally in Ghazipur, ANI reported.

6:07pm: Pakistani troops resort to firing in Mendhar sector

6:05pm: Fresh incident of ceasefire violation across various locations across LoC. Heavy firing on

6:00pm: "We welcome this. It's a right step. We stand by the government," All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM ) president Asaduddin Owaisi said, reports PTI.

5:55pm: Pakistan violates ceasefire in Nowshera sector and Akhnoor sector

5:50pm: Today is a very important day,says PM Modi at ISKCON

5:45pm: Manavta ke dushmano se dharti ko bachane ke liye prabhu ki shakti humare saath hamesha rehti hai. Yahi sandesh hum poori pramaanikta ke saath dusht aatmayon, asuro ko dene ka prayaas kar rahe hain, PM Modi says at ISCON, ANI reported.

5:40pm:

#WATCH: PM Narendra Modi took Delhi metro from Khan Market metro station earlier today. He was on his way to the Gita Aradhana event at ISKCON-Glory of India Cultural Centre. pic.twitter.com/aa8vkz6Iin - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

5:35pm:

#WATCH Chhattisgarh: ASI GD Ratnakar,211-BN CRPF on IAF strike at JeM camp in Balakot: Jawans are celebrating,they (Pak) have been given a befitting reply,but souls of 40 jawans isn't at peace yet,their souls will rest in peace only after mastermind of #PulwamaAttack is killed... pic.twitter.com/PkrEZm8ByO - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

5:30pm: After Pulwama attack, the nation was mourning for 12 days and on the 13th day our valiant Air-force paid the real tribute to the martyred soldiers by destroying terror training camps deep inside Pakistan territory, Ram Madhav told ANI.

5:25pm: Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne urges both sides to exercise restraint, avoid any action which would endanger peace and security in the region and engage in dialogue to ensure that these issues are resolved peacefully, ANI reported.

5:20pm:

Delhi: Visuals from the all-party meeting called by EAM Sushma Swaraj at Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan. pic.twitter.com/9FnQ59bFsQ - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

5:15pm: "I want to say that India and Pakistan are both important countries in South Asia. A sound relationship and cooperation between the two serves the interests of both the countries and peace and stability in South Asia," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang.

5.10pm: Pakistan's all-weather friend China has urged both the countries to exercise "restraint".

4.50pm: Will respond at the time and place of choosing, says Pakistan. "The claimed area of strike is open for the world to see the facts on ground. For this domestic and international media is being taken to the impact site. Forum concluded that India has committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing," Pakistan National Security Committee says in a statement.

4.42pm: In the wake of major air strikes by India in Pakistan, border districts in Gujarat and Punjab have been put high alert. Punjab Chief Minister holds a high-level Cabinet meeting with senior leaders and top officials.

4.40pm: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal postpones his fast in the wake of the IAF strikes in Pakistan.

In view of prevailing Indo Pak situation, I am postponing my upwas for full statehood of Delhi. We all stand as one nation today. - Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 26, 2019

4.38pm: Former Jammu and Kashmir CM Mehbooba Mufti says "since Pak has claimed that no casualties were reported despite IAF violating LoC ,they should adopt a reconciliatory stand as opposed to further escalation".

Since Pak has claimed that no casualties were reported despite IAF violating LoC ,they should adopt a reconciliatory stand as opposed to further escalation. Or else, an already volatile situation will spiral out of control and as usual Kashmiris will be the biggest casualties. - Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) February 26, 2019

4:10pm: National Security Advisor Ajit doval briefed CCS members that the air strike wiped out a large section of top commanders of Jaish. The terror facility destroyed had firing ranges, explosive test facilities, air conditioned offices of trainers, barracks for those under terror training. Built with army and ISI assistance, the facility had facilities like swimming pools, recreation centres. The larger number of terrorist present at the facility was due to - post Pulwama decision to move out terrorists from launch pads.

4:05pm: Punjab Chief Minister's Office: Punjab has put its border districts on high alert in the wake of the Indian Air Force's (IAF) strikes across the Line of Control, undertaken by India as a retaliatory measure in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack, ANI has reported.

4:00pm: Ex-Army Chief General Bikram Singh to ANI: It's an excellent operation that has been undertaken. It was certain it'll happen, it was writing on the wall as PM had announced it. We've seen that earlier when PM announced after Uri we went in for surgical strike 1.This is surgical strike 2

3:57pm: The United Kingdom has asked India and Pakistan to solve problems via the diplomatic route in the wake of Pulwama terror attack and IAF's surgical air strike on terror camps in Pakistan.

3.51pm: A total of six laser-guided bombs were dropped by Indian Air Force's Mirage 2000s during the surgical air strike on terror camps in three locations within Pakistan, government sources told ANI.

3.46pm: After a meeting chaired by Pakistan PM Imran Khan, nation's National Security Committee stated that "India has committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing".

Also Read: Rs 6,300 crore of Indian airborne assets deliver Rs 1.7 crore worth bombs to send a strong message to JeM, Pakistan

3:44 pm: Dean of Diplomatic Corps Hans Castellanos told ANI that he is satisfied that Indian government has had such a rapid response in informing Heads of Missions after the air strike on Pakistani soil.

Dean of Diplomatic Corps, Hans Castellanos: Satisfied that Indian govt has had such a rapid response in informing Heads of Missions. The info is that they did not affect any civilian or any Pak military installation, that it was direct attack due to credible intelligence received pic.twitter.com/scBAaGu8Ye - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

3.36pm: After Indian Air Force fighter jets bombarded terror launch pads in Pakistan, China has urged both countries to exercise restraint. China has said that New Delhi should fight against terrorism through international cooperation. China is considered an all-weather ally of Pakistan and has blocked India;s efforts to get the United Nations to declare JeM Masood Azhar a global terrorists.

3.27pm: Former Army chief General Bikram Singh on the Surgical Strike 2.0: "It's an excellent operation that has been undertaken. It was certain it'll happen, it was writing on the wall as PM had announced it."

Ex-Army Chief General Bikram Singh: It's an excellent operation that has been undertaken. It was certain it'll happen, it was writing on the wall as PM had announced it. We've seen that earlier when PM announced after Uri we went in for surgical strike 1.This is surgical strike 2 pic.twitter.com/EJcvd99dJd - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

3.23pm: Pakistan PM Imran Khan has said that he would take Pakistani media to the attack side in Balakot to "expose India's lies". He is expected to hold a detailed press conference at 3.30pm.

3.15pm:Over 350 terrorists killed in IAF airstrikes: Hundreds of Fidayeen and their trainers were shifted from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to a five-star, resort style camp in a hilltop forest in Balakot after the Pulwama attack, providing Indian forces with "a sitting duck target" when they carried out an air strike early on Tuesday, killing up to 350 terrorists, PTI reported. They said at least 325 terrorists and 25 to 27 trainers were at the camp, the biggest operated by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group, which had claimed responsibility for the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, Kashmir that killed 40 jawans. Everyone at the camp was sleeping and Pakistani defence establishment had no clue that the attack was coming so deep into their country because they had expected a surgical strike on camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir near the Line of Control, said PTI.

2.45pm: Main targets of today's air strikes were Ibrahim Azhar, the elder brother of Masood Azhar who was also involved in the IC-814 hijacking and Mufti Azhar Khan Kashmiri, head of Kashmir operations, JeM.

Key Jaish e Mohammed terrorists targeted in today's air strikes: Mufti Azhar Khan Kashmiri, head of Kashmir operations(pic 1) and Ibrahim Azhar(pic 2), the elder brother of Masood Azhar who was also involved in the IC-814 hijacking pic.twitter.com/IUv1njNygA - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

2.35pm: Former Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje said that Narendra Modi has delivered on his promise to avenge the honour of our brave-hearts not as a Prime Minister, but as a patriot.

    -       ! Today Shri @narendramodi ji has delivered on his promise to avenge the honour of our brave-hearts not as a Prime Minister, but as a patriot who's heart bled at the disrespect to his motherland. #SurgicalStrike2 - Vasundhara Raje (@VasundharaBJP) February 26, 2019

2.25pm: Flags of United States of America, United Kingdom and Israel were seen in JeM's training centre in Balakot.

Intel Sources: Flags of USA, UK and Israel painted on staircases seen in Jaish e Mohammed facility destroyed by Indian Air Force jets in Balakot pic.twitter.com/266CEI0hGR - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

2.20pm: Surgical strike 2, in which over 300 terrorists were eliminated by Indian Air Force, was an intelligence-based counter-terror attack, not a military action.

Sources: This was an intelligence based counter terror strike not a military action for sake of war. Have demolished entire terror set up in the suicide bombing training centre in Balakot, and over 300 terrorists were eliminated in the covert operation by Indian Air Force pic.twitter.com/FfotRHiZRq - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

2.14pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Surgical Strike 2.0.

"Sogandh mujhe is mitti ki, mei Desh nahi mitne dunga,

Mei desh nahi rukne dunga, mei desh nahi jhukne duna

Mera vachan hai bharat maa ko, tera sheesh nahi jhukne dunga"

2.17pm: 'India is in safe hands,' says Prime Minister Modi after IAF strikes terror camps in PoK.

2.04pm: "I pay tributes to the braves of Rajasthan," says Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

1.50pm: JeM's Yusuf Azhar alias Mohammad Salim alias Ustaad Gohri, who was killed in the Indian Air Force Strikes in Pakistan, was on the Interpol list and among the most wanted terrorists' list in India.

JeM's Yusuf Azhar alias Mohammad Salim alias Ustaad Gohri who was targeted today by IAF #airstrike in Balakot across LOC was on the Interpol list and among the most wanted in India. pic.twitter.com/1eTj8FhFMJ - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

1.49pm: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Surgical Strike 2.0: "The entire country is feeling proud and I congratulate the forces."

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal: Soldiers entered Pakistan and targeted JeM camps. It was a very brave act. The entire country is feeling proud and I congratulate the forces. The entire country was with the government and the Prime Minister at this time. Strict action was needed pic.twitter.com/DX4dpHBQe9 - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

1.41pm: "Today's strong action shows the will and resolve of a New India," says BJP Chief Amit Shah.

Today's strong action shows the will and resolve of a New India. Our New India will not spare any acts of terror and their perpetrators and patrons. - Amit Shah (@AmitShah) February 26, 2019

1.39pm: The Pakistan Foreign Office says its Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has postponed his trip to Japan due to the "sensitive situation" brewing in the region in the wake of the Pulwama attack, reports Dawn.

1.36pm: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami lauds PM Modi on Surgical Strike 2.0. "I extend my greetings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi due to whose bold functioning, a successful air strike has been carried out which has demolished terror camps in Pakistan," Palaniswami said.

1.28pm: As per media reports, many of the top commanders of the banned terror group JeM were shifted from the Balakot terror camp immediately after Pulwama terror attack.

1.25pm: Lt Gen DS Hooda (Retired), the Northern Army Commander during the 'Surgical Strike' in 2016, says: "My compliment goes to the government for taking this action."

Lt Gen DS Hooda (Retired), the Northern Army Commander during the 'Surgical Strike' in 2016: My compliment goes to the government for taking this action & also to the Air Force for the way they have carried out this strike (in Balakot) in an absolutely professional manner. pic.twitter.com/zdDVqZvhOU - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

1.24pm: "We are very happy," says the kin brother of CRPF jawan Vijay Maurya, who lost his life in the Pulwama terror attack.

Brother of CRPF jawan Vijay Maurya(who lost his life in #PulwamaTerrorAttack): We are very happy that this(IAF strikes on JeM camp across LoC) happened, but we want pressure on Pakistan be kept up so that no terror org like JeM dares to attack us again pic.twitter.com/XHuLzmUCNy - ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 26, 2019

1.20pm: Shame, shame! Slogans were raised against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in their Parliament, reports India Today.

1.18pm: A day after Pulwama blast, IAF was ready with plan to attack PoK: Here's a timeline. Read More here.

1.15pm: MEA on Indian Air Strike: "Information regarding the location of training camps in Pakistan and PoJK has been provided to Pakistan from time to time. Pakistan, however, denies their existence. The existence of such massive training facilities capable of training hundreds of jihadis could not have functioned without the knowledge of Pakistan authorities."

1.12pm: "Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary," says the MEA.

1.10pm: A major facility at Balakot in Pakistan, which was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar (alias Ustad Ghouri), the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar who is the chief of banned terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed, was blown to smithereens. JeM was responsible for the dastardly terror attack on the CRPF convoy in J&K. It was the Balakot terror camp where Pulwama terror attack mastermind Abdul Rasheed Ghazi underwent three-month training.

1.05pm: Mahindra and Mahindra Chairman Anand Mahindra lauded the Indian Air Force on conducting the air strikes in Paksitan. "Let us pray for the continued safety of those who protect us," says Mahindra.

And they returned safely... which is a feat in itself. Let us pray for the continued safety of those who protect us... https://t.co/DU4iq1hc36 - anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) February 26, 2019

12.59pm: Former Army General and Union Minister VK Singh says Pakistan wants India to bleed with a 1000 cuts but "each time you (Pak) attack us, be certain we will get back at you, harder and stronger".

They say they want India to bleed with a 1000 cuts. We say that each time you attack us, be certain we will get back at you, harder and stronger. Salute the brave pilots of the @IAF_MCC that carried out the strikes. #JaiHindpic.twitter.com/3dLvr5oX0B - Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) February 26, 2019

12.56pm: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hails the Indian Air Force (IAF) for carrying out air strikes in Pakistan.

IAF also means India's Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind - Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) February 26, 2019

12.54pm: For the entire Indian Air Force operation, a war room was prepared of which Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and NSA Ajit Doval were advisors, reports India Today.

12.50pm: Hours after India conducted major air strikes in Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan has convened a meeting to review the emerging situation, reports Radio Pakistan.

12.45pm: "Every Indian who had the pain and anguish of the martyrdom of our forces is greatly relieved and delighted this morning. Salute to the Air Force for a meticulous operation. Our forces are world class anyway. It is the political will of our PM and team that made all the difference," says BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav.

12.43pm: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to issue statement on the air strikes conducted by the Indian Air Force in Pakistan soon.

12.39pm: A Pakistani unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was shot down near the International Border in Kutch district of Gujarat, police said. Debris of the UAV was seen near Nanghatad village in Abdasa taluka of Kutch, they said. On hearing a loud sound around 6 am, villagers went to the spot and found the debris of the UAV, the sources said. Asked if a Pakistani UAV had been shot down by the Indian armed forces, a police official, on condition of anonymity, told PTI, "Such an incident has happened, we are investigating the matter."

12.19pm: Cricketer Virendra Sehwag says "the boys played really well".

12.16pm: Sushma Swaraj calls a meeting of all Opposition leaders at Jawahar Bhawan (MEA) to brief them on India's air strikes at 5PM today.

12.15PM: A ceasefire violation by Pakistani security forces at the international border at Kanachak at Samba, reports Moneycontrol, adding that one Pakistani ranger was killed in retaliatory firing by the Border Security Force.

12.10pm: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi "warns India not to challenge Pakistan".

Minister of Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi talks to Samaa News after the violation of LOC by Indian Air Force (26.02.19)@SMQureshiPTI Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi warned India not to challenge Pakistan. Pakistan is fully prepared to respond to any misadventure. pic.twitter.com/mobpNBTgtO - PTI (@PTIofficial) February 26, 2019

11.58am: Makkal Neethi Maiam (MNM) President welcomes air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force on terror launch pads in Pakistan, and 'saluted' the valour of the "heroes." The country was "proud of its heroes," he says.

Our 12 return safely home after wreaking havoc on terrorist camps in Pakistan. India is proud of its heroes. I salute their valour. - Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) February 26, 2019

11.51am: Makkal Neethi Maiam (MNM) President Kamal Hassan Tuesday welcomed air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force on terror launch pads in Pakistan, and 'saluted' the valour of the "heroes." The country was "proud of its heroes," he said in a tweet. "Our 12 (apparently fighter jets) return safely home after wreaking havoc on terrorist camps in Pakistan. India is proud of its heroes. I salute their valour," he said.

11.47am: "We knew something like this would happen, and now we hold the right to retaliate against the air strikes conducted by the Indian Air Force," says Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

11.46am: Vijay Gokhle says a large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders were eliminated in largest JeM camp in Balakot. "The camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, the brother-in-law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar."

11.35am: Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale on the Surgical Strike 2.0: "Credible intelligence was received that Jaish-e-Mohammed was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country & fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose."

Vijay Gokhale: Credible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country. A pre-emptive strike became important. India struck the biggest camp of JeM in Balakot. pic.twitter.com/PCgCt1xVL8 - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

11.30am: Imran Khan's party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf rejects the air strikes conducted by the Indian Air Force. "We realise it's election year, and a desperation across the border. Fact of the matter is, Indian jets were forced to retreat in haste by Pakistan army patrols and dumped fuel, which in their scramble they thought was a bomb."

Indian government is in dire need of winning the upcoming elections, selfish enough, they are willing to create unrest in the entire region. Pakistan will use all international forums to expose India while being ready to retaliate to any aggression. Foreign Minister @SMQureshiPTIpic.twitter.com/I5D3VRGhMO - PTI (@PTIofficial) February 26, 2019

11.24am: The Indian jets flew over my hometown in Garhi Habibullah, and released its payload near Batrasi jungle, confirms a Pakistani journalist.

#Indian jets flew over my hometown #GarhiHabibullah, and released its payload near Batrasi jungle (non-residential area).Alhamdulillah no casualty or damage is reported according to the local police & residents. #PakArmy takes control of the area. #IndianAirCraftsCrossedBorder - Rizwan Ahmad Ghilzai (@Rizwan_Ghilzai) February 26, 2019

Reportedly #Indian jets came from Athmaqam border which is almost 100km (by-road) from #GarhiHabibullah. https://t.co/8M8uhiPKrf - Rizwan Ahmad Ghilzai (@Rizwan_Ghilzai) February 26, 2019

11.18am: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on the Surgical Strike 2.0: "Great job by the Indian Air Force".

Great job by the #IndianAirForce. The #IAFStrikes have sent the much needed signal to Pakistan and the terrorists it's harbouring - don't think you can get away with acts like the #PulwamaAttack. Bravo to the #IAF men and my full support for the action. - Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) February 26, 2019

11.13am: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh cancels his Greater Noida visit to assess the overall security situation after the Surgical Strike 2.0.

11.09am: A map of distance between Balakot in Pakistan to Uri, which is the nearest LoC area.

11.03am:7 things India used during the Surgical Strike 2.0.

Mirage 2000 from Gwalior - multirole fighter jet built by Dassault aviation, acquired in 1980s, predecessor to Rafale.

GBU-12 paveway laser guided bomb, an American-built precision guidance bomb kit.

Matra magic close combat missile, a French built missile for possible pak air force response during mission.

Litening pod, a laser designator and targeting pod to acquire targets and guide precision bomb.

Netra airborne early warning jet from Bhatinda -- command and control from the air, vectoring the fighters towards targets.

Ilyushin - 78m from Agra - flight refuelling aircraft to refuel jets for longer endurance.

Heron drone from secret airfield conducted real time surveillance along line of control.

10.38am: The entire operation lasted around 20 minutes, which includes take off till return time, say reports. The strikes were conducted at Balakot, a breeding ground of terror activities, which is 24 kilometre northwest of Muzaffarabad in Pakistan.

10.27am: Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), claims Indian aircrafts' intrusion across LOC in Muzafarabad Sector within AJ&K was 3-4 miles.

Indian aircrafts' intrusion across LOC in Muzafarabad Sector within AJ&K was 3-4 miles.Under forced hasty withdrawal aircrafts released payload which had free fall in open area. No infrastructure got hit, no casualties. Technical details and other important information to follow. - Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019

10.23am: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday saluted the pilots of the Indian Air Force (IAF) after it carried out air strikes in Pakistan. "I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan," Kejriwal said in a tweet.

I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan - Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 26, 2019

10.19am: A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security is underway at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg.

Delhi: Meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security underway at 7, LKM pic.twitter.com/sCq0MZSB2u - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

10.08am: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi calls an emergency meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. He had said on Monday that India's "dream" of isolating Pakistan will never be fulfilled, amidst simmering tensions between the two countries following the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

10.03am: The Indian Air Force has put on high alert all air defence systems along the international border and LoC to respond to any possible action by Pakistan Air Force, reports ANI.

9.51am: Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer's Welfare, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, reiterates dialogue from the recent Bollywood hit Uri: The Surgical Strike. "This is new India, this will enter your home, and kill you too."

    ,       , Air Force carried out aerial strike early morning today at terror camps across the LoC and Completely destroyed it        !     ..     ...#Balakot#Surgicalstrike2pic.twitter.com/fqYJgWxuqX - Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (@gssjodhpur) February 26, 2019

9.50am: Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi says "helter skelter by Pakistan seems like something big has happened".

Indian Air Force Strikes at Balakot don't have official word yet but the Helter skelter by Pakistan seems like something big has happened. The IAF has gone beyond POK & into Pakistan near their capital while they were busy counting alms received from Saudi & China. - Abhishek Singhvi (@DrAMSinghvi) February 26, 2019

Balakot which is quite far out into the LOC is a deep strike and purportedly where Hafeez Saeed gives a lot of his addresses. If IAF penetrated that deep without casualties it's a highly successful mission. - Abhishek Singhvi (@DrAMSinghvi) February 26, 2019

9.40am: Congress President Rahul Gandhi says: "I salute the pilots of the IAF."

 I salute the pilots of the IAF.  - Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 26, 2019

9.39am: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh head to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force.

9.39am: Where is Balakot in Pakistan: Balakot, a town in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan, is about 50 km (31 miles) from the Line of Control (LoC), which acts as a de facto border between the two countries that have fought three wars since their independence from British colonial rule in 1947, says Reuters.

9.30am: The action comes just 12 days after a CRPF convoy was targeted by a JeM suicide bomber, killing 40 personnel and injuring five others.

9.26am: All terror camps of JeM across Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad destroyed in Pakistan.

Indian Mirage fighters destroy PoK terror camps: Sources. Live updates #ITLivestreamhttps://t.co/74mCXdRJty - India Today (@IndiaToday) February 26, 2019

9.25am: Reports suggest Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been briefed on the air strikes conducted by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

9.19am: The government to brief media on the India Air Force strike soon. The government earlier declined to comment on the issue even though the Pakistani side confirmed that India conducted air strikes across LoC in Balakot region in Pakistan.

9.09am: Pakistan army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor confirms the damage done by the Indian Air Force fighter jets.

Payload of hastily escaping Indian aircrafts fell in open. pic.twitter.com/8drYtNGMsm - Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019

9.07am: As per News18, the Indian Air Force strikes could have caused around 200-300 casualties on the Pakistani side.

9.05am: NC leader and former J&K CM Omar Abdullah lauds the Air Force, says "if this is true this was not a small strike by any stretch of imagination".

Wow, if this is true this was not a small strike by any stretch of imagination but will wait for official word, should any be forthcoming. https://t.co/bOFt7SXl43 - Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 26, 2019

9.01am: The government has so far declined to comment on the issue but has also not denied about reports of the Indian Air Force conducting strikes across the Line of Control.

9.00am: As many as 12 Mirage 2000 jets took part in the operation that completely destroyed several terror camps across the Line of Control in Pakistan.

IAF Sources: 12 Mirage 2000 jets took part in the operation that dropped 1000 Kg bombs on terror camps across LOC, completely destroying it pic.twitter.com/BP3kIrboku - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

8.38am: Pakistan army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor claims the Indian aircraft intruded into Pakistan from the Muzaffarabad sector.

Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage. - Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019

Indian Air Force violated Line of Control. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircrafts gone back. Details to follow. - Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 25, 2019

IAF Sources: At 0330 hours on 26th February a group of Mirage 2000 Indian Fighter jets struck a major terrorist camp across the LoC and completely destroyed it. pic.twitter.com/RlxTJ4e3AF - ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

Around 10 Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft strike several terror camps across the LoC.

Edited by Manoj Sharma
Univisions Jorge Ramos shows a video he says his crew shot the previous day (AP)

A team of American journalists led by Univisions Jorge Ramos said they had their camera equipment and phones seized at Venezuelas presidential palace after Nicolas Maduro abruptly ended an interview.

Mr Ramos, one of the most influential Spanish-speaking journalists in the US, told The Associated Press that Mr Maduro cut short the interview after 17 minutes when he was shown video on an iPad shot a day earlier of young Venezuelans eating food scraps out of the back of a rubbish truck.

The Univision team left the Miraflores palace after two hours without having their telephones, footage or four cameras returned, Mr Ramos said.

He said they were informed by intelligence agents that they would be deported on Tuesday, when they were already scheduled to return to their base in Miami.

They stole my work, Mr Ramos said. My job is to ask questions.

.@NicolasMaduro has detained a United States citizen & journalist @Univision anchor @jorgeramosnews & his news crew & seized their equipment because he didnat like the questions he was being asked. https://t.co/MQdbzbvljl  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 26, 2019

Venezuelas government denied Mr Ramos account.

They accused him of trying to stage an international incident after a senior State Department official and Senator Marco Rubio relayed reports on social media of what they called Mr Ramoss detention at the same time an interview shot earlier in the day with US network ABC was being aired.

Hundreds of journalists have passed through Miraflores and received the same decent treatment we give all those doing journalistic work, Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez said on Twitter.

My job is to ask questionsJorge Ramos

Mr Ramos, who interviewed Mr Maduros mentor, Hugo Chavez, three times, said Mr Maduro accused him of siding with the governments opponents in the political fight for power now raging in Venezuela.

More than 50 governments around the world have recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuelas rightful leader after Mr Maduro was sworn in for a second term last month following what the critics say was an illegitimate election.

Mr Ramos has previously angered one of Mr Maduros strongest critics: US president Donald Trump, who famously had the journalist removed from a news conference on the campaign trail in 2015 when he asked about his anti-immigrant views toward Mexicans.
Pakistan and India both lay claim to a united Kashmir (Channi Anand/file/AP)

Pakistans military has accused Indian aircraft of crossing into its territory and carrying out an air strike but said there were no casualties from the attack.

Major General Asif Ghafoor said the Indian aircrafts crossed early on Tuesday into the Pakistan-controlled Muzafarabad sector of Kashmir.

He said on Twitter that Pakistan scrambled fighter jets and before turning back, the Indian jets dropped their payloads near Balakot, on the edge of Pakistani-ruled Kashmir.

Indian Air Force violated Line of Control. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircrafts gone back. Details to follow.  DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) February 25, 2019

Indian aircraftsa intrusion across LOC in Muzafarabad Sector within AJ&K was 3-4 miles.Under forced hasty withdrawal aircrafts released payload which had free fall in open area. No infrastructure got hit, no casualties. Technical details and other important information to follow.  DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019

There has been no comment from India.

The incursion could have been in retaliation for a deadly February 14 suicide bombing in Indias half of Kashmir that killed at least 40 troops.

The Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility. The bomber who made a video before the attack was a resident of Indian Kashmir.

Pakistan and India both lay claim to a united Kashmir.
India is contradicting Pakistani claims that an air strike it launched on a Pakistan-controlled sector of Kashmir caused no casualties.

Pakistan said India launched an air strike on its territory early on Tuesday that caused no casualties, while India said it targeted a terrorist training camp in a pre-emptive strike that killed a very large number of militants.

The overnight raid was the latest escalation between the nuclear-armed rivals since a deadly militant attack in the disputed Kashmir region earlier this month killed more than 40 Indian soldiers.

Indian Air Force violated Line of Control. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircrafts gone back. Details to follow.  DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) February 25, 2019

Pakistan has denied involvement in the attack but has vowed to respond to any Indian military operation against it.

The Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility. The bomber, who made a video before the attack, was a resident of Indian Kashmir.

Pakistans military spokesman, Major General Asif Ghafoor, said the Indian aircrafts crossed into the Muzafarabad sector of Kashmir, which is split between the two countries but claimed by each in its entirety.

He said Pakistan scrambled fighters and the Indian jets released payload in haste near Balakot, on the edge of Pakistani-ruled Kashmir.

Indias foreign secretary, Vijay Gokhale, told reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday that Indian fighter aircraft targeted Jaish-e-Mohammad camps in a pre-emptive strike after intelligence indicated another attack was being planned.

Indian aircraftsa intrusion across LOC in Muzafarabad Sector within AJ&K was 3-4 miles.Under forced hasty withdrawal aircrafts released payload which had free fall in open area. No infrastructure got hit, no casualties. Technical details and other important information to follow.  DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019

Acting on intelligence, India early today struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot, he said.

In this operation a very large number of Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and Jehadis being trained were eliminated.

Balakot police chief Saghir Hussain Shah told The Associated Press that he had sent teams to the area where the Indian bombs reportedly hit, which he described as a mostly deserted wooded area.

There are no casualties, there are no damages on the ground because of the dropping of the bombs, he said.

The February 14 attack in Indian-ruled Kashmir was the worst attack on Indian forces since the start of the 1989 insurgency in Kashmir and came as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the middle of a re-election campaign.

Insurgents have been demanding either outright independence or union with Pakistan. India routinely accuses Pakistan of arming and training militants who cross the mountainous Himalayan region. In the last year an increasingly bloody crackdown on insurgents in Indian-ruled Kashmir has escalated tensions in the troubled region.

Kashmir has been the cause of two previous wars between the uneasy neighbours. They fought a third war in 1979 over East Pakistan, which gained its independence with the help of India and became Bangladesh.

Pakistan has outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammed and seized its properties in south Punjabs Bawahalpur area, including religious schools and mosques. India has demanded that Jaish-e-Mohammad leader, Azhar Masood, be listed as a terrorist by the United Nations, but has been stymied by China.
A German hospital has put better pay, weather and food at the heart of its recruitment pitch to Polish nurses working in the NHS as Brexit looms.

A shorter trip home is also part of the charm offensive targeting nurses working in Britain, who are among European workers worried about what will happen to their work permits and right of residence if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union on March 29.

The university hospital of Dusseldorf put out the ads in two Polish weekly papers in Britain late last month.

It is more than a friendly Brexit lifeline extended to citizens of a neighbouring country: the hospital is in dire need of nursing staff and is hoping to fill that shortage with experienced professionals whose time in Britain may be running out.

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We have already received first inquiries, Torsten Rantzsch, the director of nursing at the hospital in western Germany, said.

He said the ads were deliberately written in a tongue-in-cheek style, but that we also wanted to offer an alternative to Polish colleagues, namely the security of an EU country.

Tens of thousands of European Union citizens currently living and working in Britain are concerned about what will happen to their status when the UK leaves the 27-country bloc.

With just a month to go before Brexit day, there has been no clarity on their future status and that uncertainty is worsened by the prospect of a no-deal Brexit.

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Since Poland joined the EU in 2004, 20,000 of the countrys 280,000 nurses have left their home country for Britain and elsewhere in Western Europe.

The advertisement features Dusseldorfs pretty skyline with the citys landmark TV tower in front of blue skies and the Rhine River in the foreground, with the pitch written in both Polish and German.

The hospital decided to focus its campaign specifically on Poles, because many learn German in school and would be able to fit in quickly, Mr Rantzsch said.

We deliberately kept the advertisement in German  because we wanted to address German-speaking nursing staff, said Mr Rantzsch, adding that the Dusseldorf university hospital needs to hire 100 additional nurses.

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Overall there is a shortage of 70,000 nursing staff in German hospitals.

The hospital has already had good luck turning abroad to fill its shortage of skilled nurses.

In 2012, Dusseldorfs university hospital, and many other hospitals across Germany, started looking for nurses in Spain and other European countries with higher unemployment or lower wages at the time, like Italy, Hungary and Romania.
President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are in place ahead of their second summit on Wednesday to address perhaps the worlds biggest security challenge.

Mr Kims pursuit of a nuclear programme that stands on the verge of viably threatening targets around the planet will be central to discussions in Vietnam that will build on last years encounter in Singapore.

Mr Trump arrived late on Tuesday in Air Force One after a long flight that included refuelling stops in the UK and Qatar.

He waved from the stairs of the presidential plane, then shook hands with dignitaries and walked along a red carpet to his motorcade.

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Mr Kim arrived in Hanoi earlier and spent the day travelling around the Vietnamese capital in his armoured limousine, his squad of bodyguards in tow as he visited the North Korean Embassy, with hundreds of visiting journalists and thousands of local citizens following in his wake.

He took a train through southern China and then travelled to Hanoi by car from a Vietnamese border town.

The two leaders are slated to meet over two days, first at dinner on Wednesday followed by meetings on Thursday.

They first met last June in Singapore, a summit that was long on historic pageantry but short in any enforceable agreements for North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenal.

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Mr Trump has praised Pyongyang for ceasing middle tests and has appeared to ease up on demanding a timeline for disarmament.

Mr Kim is expected to ask for relief from crushing US sanctions.

But before the summit began, Mr Kim took some time to venture out of his locked-down hotel and check out parts of Hanoi, including his nations embassy, where a loud cheer went up as he entered the compound.

Soldiers, police and international journalists thronged the streets outside Hanois Melia Hotel where Mr Kim is staying, and hundreds of eager citizens stood behind barricades hoping to see the North Korean leader.

As Vietnamese, North Korean and US flags fluttered in a cold drizzle, dozens of cameras flashed and some citizens screamed and used their mobile phones to capture Mr Kims rock-star-like arrival.

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I like him, local resident Van Dang Luu, who works at a nearby bank, said of Mr Kim.

He is very young and he is very interesting. And he is very powerful, she said.

Trump is not young, but I think he is very powerful.

Vietnams authoritarian leaders set up a huge security apparatus to welcome Mr Kim, shutting long stretches of road and locking down swaths of the bustling capital city.

Earlier in the morning, Mr Kim, grinning broadly and waving, stepped off his armoured train at the end of a long ride that started in Pyongyang and wound through China to the Vietnamese border.

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He shook hands with officials as Vietnamese troops in crisp, white uniforms and black boots stood at attention on a red carpet at the Dong Dang railway station on the China-Vietnam border.

Hours ahead of his border crossing, footage from Japanese TV network TBS showed Mr Kim taking a pre-dawn smoke break at a railway station in China, a woman who appeared to be his sister, Kim Yo Jong, holding a crystal ashtray at the ready.

Although many experts are sceptical Mr Kim will give up the nuclear weapons he likely sees as his best guarantee of continued rule, there was a palpable, carnival-like excitement among many in Hanoi as the final preparations were made for the meeting.

There were also huge traffic jams in the already congested streets.

Vietnam is eager to show off its huge economic and development improvements since the destruction of the Vietnam War, but the country also tolerates no dissent and is able to provide the kind of firm hand not allowed by more democratic potential hosts.

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I really hope to catch a glimpse of Kim Jong Un. He is an interesting man. And he rarely travels anywhere so it would be great to see him here, said Nguyen Trong Toan, a retired teacher who was waiting by the side of the street on Kims expected travel route.

There are high expectations for the Hanoi summit after a vague declaration at the first meeting in June in Singapore that disappointed many.

Mr Trump, via Twitter, has worked to temper those expectations, predicting before leaving for Hanoi a continuation of the progress made in Singapore but adding a tantalising nod to denuclearisation?

He also said that Mr Kim knows that without nuclear weapons, his country could fast become one of the great economic powers anywhere in the world.

North Korea has spent decades, at great political and economic sacrifice, building its nuclear programme, and there is widespread scepticism among experts that it will give away that programme cheaply.
Rebekah Dodson (left) and other passengers were stranded for 30 hours (Rebekah Dodson)

British commuters might think they have grounds to complain about train delays but spare a thought for passengers in the US who have been trapped on board for more than 30 hours.

Nearly 200 people are still stuck on the train, which left Albany in Oregon at 4pm local time on Sunday after it hit a tree which had fallen on to the tracks.

Its been a full 30 hours stuck on #Amtrak outside Eugene, Oregon, trying to get home, wrote author Rebekah Dodson on her official Facebook account on Tuesday morning.

Yes, you read that right. We have NOT MOVED for 30 straight hours. This is hell, and its getting worse.

Update from this morning: Exausted. Its been a full 30 hours stuck on #Amtrak outside Eugene, Oregon, trying to get... Posted by Author Rebekah Dodson on Monday, February 25, 2019

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said there were no injuries among the 183 pasengers on board but conditions had further deteriorated with numerous track blockages from snow and fallen trees.

Due to worsening conditions, area road closures and no viable way to safely transport passengers or crews via alternate transportation, Train 11 stopped in Oakridge, Oregon, he added, although Amtrak was actively working to get passengers off the train.

Ms Dodson told the Press Association the Amtrak statement is the same update for literally 36 hours.

Oakridge lies more than 1,214ft (370m) above sea level, higher than any UK city, and is surrounded by the Willamette National Forest.

The US National Weather Service estimated the area received 10in-14in (25.4cm-35.6cm) of snow on Monday, although passengers reported several feet where the train is stranded, according to The Oregonian.

Amtrak has reassured concerned Twitter users that those on board have access to food and water.

We apologize for the confusion. Passengers on this Train are not being charged for food or water. We are doing everything in our power to make sure they are comfortable.  Amtrak (@Amtrak) February 26, 2019

However, Ms Dodson reportedly told local media that passengers are having to club together and improvise to help each other out with sanitary products.

We have to put wash clothes together to make diapers for a couple of the kids on the train, she reportedly told local TV station KVTL. We got together and got some feminine products together because several people had run out already.

Mr Magliari said the Union Pacific railway was working to clear the tracks so the passengers could be rescued.

A spokesman from Union Pacific said: The Amtrak train in Oakridge, Oregon, is inoperable due to weather conditions and downed trees.

UP crews are in the process of clearing the track and are expected to reach the train by 6 a.m. PT.

The train will then move back to Eugene and then Portland. Amtrak has made the decision to keep the passengers on the train because power is out in the city.

Also, with only two small hotels in town they dont want to separate the passengers prior to having them reboard for departure.
The Scottish Governments legally binding Treatment Time Guarantee was breached for more than two fifths of patients in some parts of Scotland, new figures show (Rui Vieira/PA)

Legislation guaranteeing NHS patients will receive treatment within 12 weeks has been branded worthless, after new figures showed the target was missed in more than two out of five cases in parts of Scotland.

As health secretary, Nicola Sturgeon introduced the Treatment Time Guarantee  but as the latest health service waiting statistics were published, Liberal Democrats said the law was now being broken 200 times a day.

Official figures for the last three months of 2018 showed that across Scotland fewer than three quarters (72.7%) of those waiting for either inpatient or day case treatment had this within 12 weeks  down from 80% in October to December 2017.

In some areas more than two fifths of patients failed to receive treatment within the guaranteed time.

NHS Highland treated 54.7% of patients within 12 weeks, while NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Grampian treated 57.2% and 57.5% respectively.

A total of 18,701 patients waited more than 12 weeks for their procedure in October to December, the figures showed.

Patients receiving treatment within 12 weeks under the SNP. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words... pic.twitter.com/gMaWxp8hTj  Scottish Lib Dems (@scotlibdems) February 26, 2019

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton hit out: This shows how shallow the SNP Governments promises are on the NHS.

Nicola Sturgeon went as far as putting this treatment guarantee into law, but her own Government is now breaking that law 200 times a day. It is utterly worthless.

He added: The SNP Governments solution is to stop breaching its own law by 2021  a full decade after it was passed.

Its hard to believe they will even manage that given performance is getting worse and worse. Scottish Liberal Democrats demand better.

Meanwhile, Labour health spokeswoman Monica Lennon said the Treatment Time Guarantee was broken more than 71,000 times in 2018.

She said: The reason for this is down to an SNP Government in Edinburgh not giving our NHS staff the support they need and deserve.

Every time this law is broken, it leaves a patient in pain or distress as they wait to get the treatment they need  but the Health Secretarys grand plan is to keep on breaking this law until 2021.

There is currently a concerted effort across Scotland to reduce a backlog of long waits for patients.Health Secretary Jeane Freeman

The Scottish Government has put in place a waiting times action plan, but under that it could be 2021 before some targets are met.

Meanwhile separate figures from the NHS showed the ambition to have 90% of patients begin treatment within 18 weeks of being referred was only met for 79.5% of people in December.

In addition to this, at the end of 2018 there were 83,515 people waiting for key diagnostic tests.

While the target is that patients shoud wait no more than six weeks for this, it was achieved for 78.1% of people  down from 79.3% in December 2017.

Gordon Matheson, Cancer Research UKs public affairs manager in Scotland, said the figures showed the NHS was under continued strain with too many patients still waiting too long for tests, some of which could detect cancer.

He added: With a welcome focus on screening and early detection of cancer, theres an urgent need to comprehensively address workforce shortages.

Much needed investment in this area is beginning to emerge and its vital we see a strong emphasis on making sure we have enough staff to meet increasing patient need, and that existing staff are being used to their best potential.

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Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: I am clear that current waiting time performance is not good enough and that is why we are continuing to implement our new 850 million Waiting Times Improvement Plan.

Last week I was at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital to announce the first tranche of funding  almost 27 million nationally  to increase workforce, purchase new equipment and create additional clinics at weekends.

She added: As outlined in the Waiting Times Improvement Plan, we will start to see a reduction in long waits once capacity has increased across the service.

This is ongoing at the moment, and our aim is that, by spring 2021, performance for outpatients waiting less than 12 weeks will be improved to 95%, and for inpatients and day cases under the Treatment Time Guarantee it will be 100%.

Ms Freeman stressed: There is currently a concerted effort across Scotland to reduce a backlog of long waits for patients, and once these cases have been addressed I expect to see overall performance improve.
Supporters of the Chagos Islanders in Westminster in 2008 (PA)

The United Kingdom must end its administration of the Chagos Islands as rapidly as possible, the United Nations highest court has said.

Britain forcibly evicted people from the Chagos Archipelago, a sovereignty in the Indian Ocean disputed by the UK and Mauritius, in the 1960s and 1970s so the United States could build a military base.

Judges at the International Court of Justice, in The Hague, said on Monday that the UKs detachment of the islands and their incorporation into the British Indian Ocean Territory was unlawful.

The UKs ongoing administration is a wrongful act, according to an advisory opinion given by the court, which is not binding.

The ICJ said: The court finds that the process of decolonisation of Mauritius was not lawfully completed when that country acceded to independence and that the United Kingdom is under an obligation to bring to an end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible.

The UK agreed a package including 3 million with Mauritius for the detachment of the archipelago in 1965.

Chagossians were forcibly removed between 1967 and 1973 to make way for a US military facility on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the group.

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Mauritius, which gained independence in 1968, maintains the islands are its own and Chagossians have also brought cases in British courts for the right to return.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: This is an advisory opinion, not a judgment. Of course, we will look at the detail of it carefully.

The defence facilities on the British Indian Ocean Territory help to protect people here in Britain and around the world from terrorist threats, organised crime and piracy.

The ICJ said the opinion the UK should ends its administration was given with a majority of 13 votes to one.

READ HERE: summary of the #ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Separation of the #Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965 https://t.co/S4IAVRFhyG pic.twitter.com/ZpuNn6qWhN  CIJ_ICJ (@CIJ_ICJ) February 25, 2019

Another part of its advisory opinion which said member states are under an obligation to co-operate with the United Nations in order to complete the decolonisation was given with the same majority.

After recalling the circumstances in which the colony of Mauritius agreed in principle to such a detachment, the court considers that this detachment was not based on the free and genuine expression of the will of the people concerned, the ICJ said.

The resettlement of Mauritian nationals on the islands should be addressed by the General Assembly during the completion of decolonisation, it added.

About 2,000 people were evicted from the islands, with many resettling in Britain, Mauritius and Seychelles.

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The UK has said the islands will be returned to Mauritius when the need for military facilities ends.

Rosa Curling, a solicitor with law firm Leigh Day, who represents Solange Hoareau, a Chagossian woman fighting a legal battle to return, said: We are considering the judgment carefully with our client, but clearly the UK should stop breaching international law.

The time has come to allow the islanders to return home.
A glass of wine without opening the bottle. Photo: courtesy of the Retailer

I first heard about the Coravin while interviewing sommeliers and beverage directors about their favorite wine stoppers, most of which are meant to be inserted into an already-uncorked bottle to extend its freshness for a few days. But then theres the Coravin. As Eric Tschudi, sommelier and beverage director at Shuko, explained it, this wine saver lets you get what you need out of the bottle without actually opening it.

In case that sentence also blew your mind: With the Coravin, you can pour a single glass of wine without actually removing the cork. Its like a magic trick that violates the tenets of physics. What it isnt is super-intuitive, especially on first use. The Coravin Model One  which I finally had a chance to test over the last two weeks  resembles a standard, lever-style wine opener, like the Rabbit or the Le Creuset Lever, with a thin, hollow needle where the corkscrew should be. The whole thing is powered with an argon gas canister, which has to be screwed into the bottom. Once thats done, you clamp the device around the neck of the bottle, plunge the needle into the cork, and tip the bottle, Coravin and all, over a glass. Then, you press a little button which lets out an intimidating hiss, presumably from the argon, which creates a vacuum and pulls the wine up from the bottle through that hollow straw.

Each time Ive used the Coravin, its taken a couple of tries to get going, with brief spurts of wine as the liquid travels up the straw, but eventually, the wine pours smoothly. Be warned: The pour doesnt stop automatically. You have to turn the bottle upright to do that, something I did not understand the first couple of times I used it. But once youve got your appropriately sized pour, however much that might be, you gingerly pull the needle out of the cork, which is left amazingly intact, except for a small pinprick through the foil.

Magicking wine out of the bottle with the Coravin impressed my boyfriend, but theres a real practicality to using it, one thats even been acknowledged by those in the serious wine community, like writer Jancis Robinson, who wrote back in 2013, Nothing I know of preserves wine in an opened or accessed bottle for years as the Coravin system does. An open bottle of wine doesnt last much longer than a week or so, depending on what youre drinking and how you store it. After that, the wine can take on a vinegary taste or oxidize.

To test whether a Coravin-ed bottle of wine would start to oxidize, I poured a glass of Beaujolais from a natural grower using the gadget on Thursday night, then left for a long weekend trip. Typically, this kind of behavior  leaving a bottle of natural wine on an unrefrigerated bar cart thats in the sun for four days  would leave me with a sour red thats barely good for cooking. But when I came back on Monday evening and opened the bottle with a corkscrew, the wine tasted basically as good as the first glass. I also examined the cork for any damage the Coravin had done. There was virtually none. If I looked closely, maybe that was a pinprick? But it seemed like the cork had regenerated and sealed up as soon as the Coravin pulled out.

There are some practical downsides to the Coravin Model One. The first is that the signature wine needle is tricky to clean, and I can only imagine the frustration if your initial pour of a white wine was tinged with the red wine from last week. (I only drank red wine during this two-week period and didnt experience any issues, but I am almost positive I did not clean it properly, either.) Plus, the argon-filled capsules that you need to run the device are fairly expensive: $18 for a pack of two, each of which will pour about 15 glasses of wine. For the math-inclined, thats about 60 cents a glass.

Having said that, the Model One is still the least-expensive device on Coravins roster and, as such, its more approachable for a casual wine drinker. Just look at the cheerful, neon colorway they recently released with Neiman Marcus.

And though the Model One isnt something every wine drinker needs, there are some drinkers for whom the Coravin would be a great gift, like my dad, who has more wine in his cellar than he can reasonably drink on his own, yet hesitates to open a new bottle for fear of letting it go bad before he can finish it. My mom, whos down for the count after a single glass, would also enjoy this gadget. Itd be a great gift for someone who just bought their first wine atlas and is trying to taste and learn about wine on their own, or a friend who has a single glass of red with dinner one night and then likes to switch to white the next.

Tschudi explained the appeal of the Coravin quite simply, all those months ago: The Coravin is great for home drinkers (or for the husbands of pregnant wives who cant drink) who want to enjoy a nice bottle of wine but dont want to commit to drinking a whole bottle. And for $200, its an excellent gift for the wine lover who drinks in moderation.

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Prime Minister Theresa May during a press conference as she attends the EU-League of Arab States Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

Three ministers have urged Theresa May to take a no-deal Brexit off the table as they threatened to back a Commons move to force a delay if her deal is voted down.

Richard Harrington, Claire Perry and Margot James said the Government should say it will seek a way to extend Article 50 to avoid leaving with no deal on March 29 if there is no agreement.

Writing in the Daily Mail, they warned against being swept over the precipice on March 29, and said: It is a commitment that would be greeted with relief by the vast majority of MPs, businesses and their employees.

We implore the Government to take that step this week.

But if the Prime Minister is not able to make this commitment, we will have no choice other than to join MPs of all parties in the House of Commons, including fellow ministers, in acting in the national interest to prevent a disaster in less than five weeks time that we may regret forever.

The paper also claimed 15 ministers would be ready to resign to stop no deal.

It came after Mrs May suggested she could try to take her EU Withdrawal Agreement through Parliament before it has been formally approved by the other 27 member states.

Amid growing pressure to delay Brexit with just 32 days left on the clock, the Prime Minister insisted it is within our grasp for Britain to leave the EU with a deal on March 29.

European Council president Donald Tusk revealed that he had discussed the legal and procedural process for extending the two-year Article 50 withdrawal negotiations with Mrs May when he met her on Sunday in Egypt.

Mr Tusk said delaying the UKs withdrawal beyond March 29 is now a rational solution, warning that the only alternative, if MPs cannot agree a deal, is a chaotic Brexit.

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, who had talks with Mrs May in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on Monday, said the UK needed to wake up.

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Mr Rutte told the BBC: The Netherlands is one of your best friends. What you guys are doing  leaving EU in this time of insecurity in the world, instability in EU  is the wrong decision.

Its four weeks until the end date and still the UK has not agreed a position.

So, now we are sleepwalking into a no-deal scenario. Its unacceptable and your best friends have to warn you.

Wake up. This is real. Come to a conclusion and close the deal.

Despite also facing pressure from pro-Europe Tories for a delay, the Prime Minister insisted in a press conference at the end of a summit of EU and Arab nations that she was sticking to her timetable.

Its within our grasp to leave with a deal on March 29 and thats where all of my energies are going to be focused, she said.

Challenged over whether MPs would be able to vote on any additional assurances she secures from Brussels before they have been formally signed off by the EU27, Mrs May told reporters: It is possible to do it either way.

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Whatsapp Prime Minister Theresa May (left) had breakfast with German Chancellor Angela Merkel (right) (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Rejecting calls for a delay, the Prime Minister said: An extension to Article 50, a delay in this process, doesnt deliver a decision in Parliament, it doesnt deliver a deal. All it does is precisely what the word delay says.

Any extension of Article 50 isnt addressing the issues.

We have it within our grasp.

Ive had a real sense from the meetings Ive had here and the conversations Ive had in recent days that we can achieve that deal.

Mr Tusk said it was absolutely clear that if there was no majority in the Commons to approve a deal, Britain faces chaotic Brexit or extension.

The less time there is until March 29, the greater the likelihood of an extension, said Mr Tusk.

This is an objective fact. Not our intention, not our plan, but an objective fact.

I believe that, in the situation we are in, an extension would be a rational solution, but Prime Minister May still believes she is able to avoid this scenario.

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Mrs May said she had good meetings in Egypt with Mr Tusk, Mr Rutte, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Irish premier Leo Varadkar and Italys Giuseppe Conte.

What I sense in all my conversations with my fellow leaders, both here in Sharm El-Sheikh and in recent days, is a real determination to find a way through which allows the UK to leave the EU in a smooth and orderly way with a deal, she said.

The meetings came after the PM admitted she will not get a Brexit deal in time for MPs to hold a meaningful vote this week.

She said she will put her deal to Parliament by March 12 at the latest  17 days before Britain is due to leave the EU.

The PM faces the prospect of another potentially damaging Commons revolt on Wednesday, when MPs are expected to mount a fresh attempt to block a no-deal break and extend Article 50.

A cross-party group of MPs immediately confirmed they will table an amendment giving the House the power to demand a delay to Brexit if an agreement is not in place by March 13.

In recent days three pro-EU Cabinet ministers  Amber Rudd, David Gauke and Greg Clark  signalled they could be prepared to back the amendment if there is no breakthrough in negotiations.

There was speculation that up to 100 Tory MPs  including as many as 20 ministers  could be prepared to join them as patience among MPs opposed to no deal is stretched to breaking point.

Labour MP Yvette Cooper, who drew up the amendment with Conservative former minister Sir Oliver Letwin, said it would become the real meaningful vote on the Brexit deal.

She told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: The Government doesnt feel to me to be behaving like a responsible government at all at the moment  the idea that we could be only a few weeks from Brexit and we still dont know what kind of Brexit we are going to have and were not even going to have a vote on it until two weeks before that final deadline.

I dont see how businesses can plan, I dont see how public services can plan, and I think its just deeply damaging.

Mrs May confirmed that Brexit negotiators will return to Brussels on Tuesday for further talks with the EUs Michel Barnier.
Prime Minister Theresa May addressing MPs on the latest in the Brexit negotiations. February 26, 2019

Prime Minister Theresa May has told the House of Commons that, if her Brexit deal is rejected, MPs will be offered two separate votes on whether the UK leaves with no deal or delays Brexit beyond March 29.

In a dramatic statement to the House of Commons, Mrs May confirmed that she will put her Withdrawal Agreement - including whatever additional assurances she has secured from Brussels - to a "meaningful vote" by March 12.

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If that fails, MPs will be offered two separate votes on the following days - one on a no-deal Brexit, and the other on requesting an extension to the two-year Article 50 negotiation process to delay Brexit beyond March 29.

The sequence of votes will be proposed in an amendable motion tabled by the Prime Minister for debate and vote in the Commons on Wednesday.

To uproar in the Commons, Mrs May told MPs: "They are commitments I am making as Prime Minister and I will stick by them, as I have previous commitments to make statements and table amendable motions by specific dates."

Mrs May said the Government was publishing a paper assessing its readiness for a no-deal Brexit and the "very serious challenges" it would pose.

"I believe that if we have to, we will ultimately make a success of a no-deal," she said.

"But this paper provides an honest assessment of the very serious challenges it would bring in the short-term and further reinforces why the best way for this House to honour the referendum result is to leave with a deal."

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he has "lost count" of the number of times Mrs May has delayed the Brexit process and accused her of being "grotesquely reckless" by "running down the clock".

"They say history repeats itself, first time as tragedy, second time as farce, by the umpteenth time it can only be described as grotesquely reckless," he said.

"Labour has a credible plan that could bring the country together, provide certainty for people and provide certainty for business."

He said the plan is based around a "new customs union with the EU" and "close alignment" with the single market and he will ask parliament to vote on Labours proposals on Wednesday.

"The Prime Minister's botched deal provides no certainty or guarantees for the future and was comprehensively rejected by this House," he added.

"If it somehow does pass in some form at a later stage, we believe there must be a confirmatory public vote to see if people feel that's what they voted for.

"A no-deal outcome would be disastrous and that's why we committed to backing the amendment in the names of (Labour MP Yvette Cooper and Tory MP Sir Oliver Letwin) to rule out that reckless cliff-edge Brexit."

Mr Corbyn said Mrs May appeared to be "belatedly listening" to the Commons, adding: "Any extension is only necessary because of the Prime Minister's shambolic negotiations and her decision to run down the clock."
Prime Minister Theresa May updated MPs in the House of Commons, London, on the latest in the Brexit negotiations. (House of Commons/PA)

Theresa May has accepted for the first time that the UK may not leave the European Union on March 29, offering MPs a chance to vote to delay Brexit if her deal is rejected again next month.

In a dramatic statement to the House of Commons, the Prime Minister left no doubt that she does not want a delay and still hopes to obtain assurances from Brussels which will win MPs approval for her Withdrawal Agreement.

But she announced that if she loses a meaningful vote, due to take place by March 12, MPs will be offered separate votes on a no-deal Brexit or extending the two-year Article 50 negotiation process beyond March 29.

Labours Jeremy Corbyn accused the PM of kicking the can down the road, while the chairman of the influential European Research Group of Tory eurosceptics, Jacob Rees-Mogg, raised fears of a plot to stop Brexit which would undermine our democracy.

My suspicion is that any delay to Brexit is a plot to stop Brexit, said Mr Rees-Mogg, adding: This would be the most grievous error that politicians could commit.

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Downing Street declined to say how Conservative MPs would be whipped in the votes, or what length of extension would be offered if it came to a motion to extend Article 50.

But Mrs May told the Commons that she wanted any delay to be as short as possible. Any extension beyond the end of June would require the UK to take part in the upcoming European Parliament elections, while a shorter delay would almost certainly have to be a one-off, she said.

There was no indication of what would happen if MPs vote down not only Mrs Mays deal and no-deal, but also an extension, with Number 10 saying only that such a combination of results would be contradictory.

The PMs announcement came amid mounting expectations of a ministerial revolt, with three members of the Government  Richard Harrington, Claire Perry and Margot James  breaking ranks to warn in a newspaper article that they would back a cross-party bill designed to prevent a no-deal Brexit.

But Mrs Mays official spokesman said there were no threats of resignations at Tuesdays Cabinet meeting, where the PM received broad agreement from ministers for her plans.

The United Kingdom will only leave without a deal on March 29 if there is explicit consent in the House for that outcomeTheresa May

Tory MP Dame Caroline Spelman and Labours Jack Dromey said they would press ahead with an amendment for debate on Wednesday paving the way for the bill, drawn up by Labours Yvette Cooper and Conservative Sir Oliver Letwin.

Supporters are expected to seek assurances on Mrs Mays intentions before deciding whether to push it to a vote, while Ms Cooper will table her own amendment seeking to pin the PM down to the commitments made on Tuesday.

Although Mrs Mays promised votes closely match the Cooper/Letwin provisions, the PM made clear she will order Tory MPs to vote against it, as it would hand Parliament control of the Brexit process.

V important that Parliament has forced PM to agree to votes which can prevent damaging & chaotic No Deal. But we will keep up pressure. PM still hasnat said how Govt wd vote on No Deal; thatas still irresponsible for businesses, public services & families who wd be hit by No Deal  Yvette Cooper (@YvetteCooperMP) February 26, 2019

If her plans are backed by MPs on Wednesday, Mrs May will return to the Commons by March 12 for a further meaningful vote. If that is rejected, a vote on whether the UK should leave the EU without a deal on March 29 will be held by March 13.

If this too is voted down by MPs, a further division will take place on March 14 on whether the PM should request an Article 50 extension from Brussels.

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To uproar in the Commons, Mrs May told MPs: They are commitments I am making as Prime Minister and I will stick by them, as I have previous commitments to make statements and table amendable motions by specific dates.

But she added: Let me be clear, I do not want to see Article 50 extended. Our absolute focus should be on working to get a deal and leaving on March 29.

Brexiteer Peter Bone warned Mrs May that voters would regard it as a betrayal if she delayed the UKs withdrawal date after saying 108 times that Britain would leave on March 29.

But Tory former Chancellor Ken Clarke said he wanted to congratulate the Prime Minister on accepting that were not remotely ready for the chaos of a no-deal departure on March 29.

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Jeremy Corbyn accused the PM of kicking the can down the road, and confirmed he will table an amendment to Wednesdays motion seeking MPs support for his partys own customs union deal.

The Labour leader has said he will throw his partys weight behind a second referendum if his proposed deal is rejected.

The Scottish National Partys Westminster leader Ian Blackford said Mrs May could not be trusted not to dodge another meaningful vote, and urged her to rule out no-deal now.

But the PM borrowed the catchphrase of TVs insurance ad meerkats as she replied: If he wants to end the uncertainty and deal with the issues he raised then he should vote for a deal. Simples.

Independent Group MP Chuka Umunna accused the PM of caving in to the far-right Tory ERG.

Yet again the PM caves in to the far right Tory ERG. She had the chance to take no deal off the table today but it is very much still there. When will sensible Ministers stand up to her and them? What will it take for these people to put country before party? Appalling.  ChukaUmunna (@ChukaUmunna) February 26, 2019

She had the chance to take no-deal off the table today but it is very much still there, said Mr Umunna. When will sensible ministers stand up to her and them? What will it take for these people to put country before party? Appalling.

Business welcomed moves to avert a no-deal Brexit in March, but said that more clarity was needed on the way ahead.

Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the CBI, said: To avoid a hammer blow to firms and livelihoods, delay cannot simply be an extension of stalemate. Compromise is the only way.

And Stephen Phipson, chief executive of manufacturers organisation Make UK, said: A short extension of Article 50 simply moves the cliff-edge back a few weeks and it doesnt offer UK manufacturers confidence that we will not crash out of the EU a short time later than expected.
David Mesher was filmed on the flight by a fellow passenger (Screengrab/David Lawrence/PA)

A plane passenger who racially abused a 78-year-old woman faces prosecution in Spain after authorities in Britain said they had no power to charge him.

David Mesher, who lives in Birmingham, was filmed calling Delsie Gayle an ugly black bastard on a flight from Barcelona to London on October 19 2018.

Spanish authorities confirmed on Tuesday that criminal proceedings have been launched against him, one day after Essex Police said prosecutors in Britain could not charge him.

Ryanair was also criticised by authorities in Spain after asking Ms Gayle to change seat instead of prompting the aggressors change, according to an official complaint.

The special severity of the facts and circumstances of the vulnerability of the victim is remarkable, since she is a woman of advanced age, of reduced mobility, and the aggression took place in a closed space; without any chance to leave, and with publicity to the rest of the travellersOfficial complaint document

A spokeswoman for Barcelona City Hall, Helena Mercadal, said: After the incident Barcelona City Hall presented the complaint to the public prosecutor as a hate crime case.

The public prosecutor has opened criminal proceedings for this case, which means it is being processed. We will now have to wait and see what the public prosecutor says.

Ms Gayles family welcomed the proceedings after previously saying they were disappointed by the inability to prosecute Mr Mesher in Britain.

Her daughter, Carol Gayle, told HuffPost UK on Tuesday: Its going to take time but were happy that this is being taken seriously.

A complaint about the incident was handed to Barcelona City Hall through the citys Office for Non-Discrimination on October 25.

The foregoing constitutes a verbal and coercive aggression with the clear intention of undermining the moral integrity of (Ms Gayle), through the humiliating and degrading treatment caused by racist motives, it said.

The special severity of the facts and circumstances of the vulnerability of the victim is remarkable, since she is a woman of advanced age, of reduced mobility, and the aggression took place in a closed space; without any chance to leave, and with publicity to the rest of the travellers.

The complaint said the decision of flight crew to find another seat for Ms Gayle facilitated the coercive goal of Mr Mesher.

Also, the companys action has been to change the seat of the victim of the aggression, instead of prompting the aggressors change or, if hed refuse to do so, to bring up the facts to the police, it added.

Mr Mesher gave an interview to ITVs Good Morning Britain after the incident apologising, but denying he is racist.

Ryanair has previously apologised to Ms Gayle.
Police have made a fresh appeal for information a month on from a woman being sexually assaulted at knife point.

The attack took place at around 8pm on Tuesday, January 29, in Methil, Fife.

A 20-year-old woman had been walking along Herriot Crescent onto Kirkland Road when she was approached by a man.

He is said to have presented a knife at her before leading her to an area of wasteland where she was attacked.

Following the assault, the victim was able to run from the suspect and seek help from members of the public at a nearby industrial estate.

A 26-year-old man was arrested in connection with the inquiry, but was released without charge. Police Scotland have indicated that the man is no longer a suspect.

Officers want to speak with anyone who may be able to assist with the ongoing investigation and have asked members of the public who may have information to come forward.

I believe that someone within Methil, or the surrounding area, will know who our suspect is and I'd ask them to search their conscienceDetective Inspector Stuart Morris

Police said the suspect is white, in his twenties, and is around 5ft 8ins tall, and of medium build.

He has light-brown curly hair and was wearing a dark-coloured waterproof jacket with dark-coloured tracksuit bottoms.

Detective Inspector Stuart Morris said: It is now four weeks on from this attack and the male responsible is yet to be traced, despite the fantastic support we have received from the local community.

I believe that someone within Methil, or the surrounding area, will know who our suspect is and Id ask them to search their conscience and get in touch with us so we can get justice for the young woman involved.

Similarly, anyone with any other relevant information, who has not yet spoken to police, is asked to contact us immediately.
Health Minister Joe Fitzpatrick introduced the bill to change the law on organ donation in Scotland (Scottish Government/PA)

Opt-out organ donation has been supported by the Scottish Parliament in an attempt to increase the number of potential life-saving donors.

A bill to change the law so that people are assumed to be consenting organ donors when they die unless they have expressed a wish not to donate organs or tissue has been approved at its first stage in Holyrood.

Roughly 500 people in Scotland are on an organ transplant waiting list at any one time and the number of suitable donors is not currently enough to meet demand.

Introducing the soft opt-out system, Health Minister Joe Fitzpatrick told MSPs that too many people are still waiting for the organ transplant that could save their lives.

Mr Fitzpatrick said: The transplantation of donated organs and tissues is one of the most incredible developments in modern healthcare.

It reflects the best of humanity  responding to acute need with incredible generosity  and its a testament to the wonders of the National Health Service, the skills of our nurses and clinicians, and the organised efforts of everyone who works to make these life-changing gifts possible.

Public Health Minister @JoeFitzSNP is about to discuss the general principles of the Human Tissue (Authorisation) (Scotland) Bill at the stage 1 debate in parliament. This looks at introducing a soft opt-out system of organ and tissue donation. https://t.co/DSNZJ2JJ6H pic.twitter.com/yFtacFyloa  Scot Gov Health (@scotgovhealth) February 26, 2019

He added: Only around 1% of people die in circumstances where donation is possible, but there are steps we can take to allow more of that 1% to donate.

This bill amends the existing Scottish legislation by introducing deemed authorisation.

In practice this means that where a person was not known to have any objection to donation, donation may proceed.

Under the proposed rules, anyone over the age of 16 who has lived in Scotland for at least a year and is considered capable of making an informed decision on the subject would be considered to be a consenting donor, unless they have opted out.

The fundamental purpose of this bill is clearly to enable an increase in rates of organ donation in order to save livesLewis Macdonald MSP

Before transplanting any tissue or organs, the NHS would have to check for the wishes of any potential donor.

Lewis Macdonald, the convener of the Health and Sport Committee, said: The fundamental purpose of this bill is clearly to enable an increase in rates of organ donation in order to save lives.

The evidence we heard at stage one was that donation rates have benefited from the changes to law and practice which followed the 2006 Act, but they have not yet ended the tragedy of people dying while on the waiting list for an organ transplant.

In Scotland around 50% of people have opted in, but that is still not enough.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs said wishes of the donors family should be at the heart of the new legislation.

He said: The role of the donor family is fundamental to the success of any donation going forward and will be central to the success of the Bill.

Questioned if the wishes of the donor family should supersede those of the donor, Mr Briggs said this is where difficulty lies.

However, he said his party welcomed the publication of the Bill, adding: We believe all options should be considered to increase organ donation and well engage in the legislation process before the final vote at stage three.

The SNP Government must also ensure that the comprehensive information and adequate infrastructure, which we will need, is in place so donors and families are fully informed and organs which are donated are able to be transplanted successfully in the future.

Someone in the UK dies every day waiting for an organ transplant. We have the opportunity, I believe, to change that.

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Labours Monica Lennon said her party also supported the general principles of the Bill and highlighted that family refusal leads to the loss of approximately 100 donors in Scotland each year.

I hope we can all agree that a person desperately waiting on an organ transplant which could be the difference between life and death shouldnt miss out simply because many of us never got round to opting in to be an organ donor, she said.

It might not be an easy conversation to have, it might feel morbid to discuss it but it is important we overcome this stigma and make our wishes known to our loved ones.

Only one MSP voted against the Bill, 107 supported it, while two abstained.
(Left to right) French Ambassador Jean-Pierre Jouyet, Royal Navy veterans Dennis William Haley, John George Nicholls, Charles Henry Kavanagh and Patrick John Reardon with Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and Director-General of IWM Diane Lees onboard HMS Belfast in London (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

British D-Day veterans have been awarded Frances highest honour for their role in the liberation of Normandy in 1944.

The four former Royal Navy servicemen, all in their 90s and from London, received their Legion dhonneur medals on board HMS Belfast in London on Tuesday.

The ceremony, attended by Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and French ambassador Jean-Pierre Jouyet, was held with 100 days to go until the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

A number of commemorative events for D-Day 75 are planned in the UK and France this summer.

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John Nicholls, 93, a leading seaman who was born in Greenwich, served on HMS Argonaut, which fired on and destroyed German gun batteries in Normandy.

He drove landing craft from ship to shore delivering troops and supplies for the invasion.

He remembered only being told of the D-Day plan with four hours to go and arriving in France to see all hell break loose.

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You were so sort of busy doing bits and pieces you didnt really have time to wander, have a cup of tea and talk about it, he said.

I looked at some of those troops, and as they were going in, I thought, I wonder how many of them are going to come back.

I dont only think of them on Remembrance Day, theyre going through my mind all times of the year.

Mr Nicholls said he lost 65% of his hearing from the noise of explosions during the battle.

Ive come out of it with just half of my hearing gone, but those poor devils they lost their lives. I think of them all the time.

Denis Haley, 92, was a signalman aboard HMS Southward Ho, which towed parts of a temporary portable harbour to Arromanches in France on June 7 1944, and remained at the beach as part of a flotilla of small ships fitted with smokescreen-making equipment.

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Patrick Reardon, 93, served as a seaman in Royal Navy Combined Operations aboard HMS Sheffield. He volunteered for Forward Observation Bombardment, landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day and arriving in Caen some weeks later.

Charles Kavanagh, 92, an able seaman, helped land tanks on Sword beach and was involved in landing supplies for the US Army on Omaha beach.

Mr Jouyet said it was a very great honour for his country to express its full appreciation and gratitude to soldiers who helped liberate France during the Second World War.

At a time when Europe was dominated by a terrible dictatorship, France was able, from the first few hours of the war, to count on the support of its closest partner, he said.

The commitment to the law and democratic principles on which our societies are based inspired a shared battle for freedom. Long live Franco-British friendship.

Mr Williamson said: Today is a reminder of why this June we must show our special generation that we will never forget the debt we owe for the peace and freedom we now enjoy.

To meet those veterans today, to talk with them, to listen to some of their stories, is truly inspiring. I think its fair to say there werent many dry eyes in the house when we actually saw them get that amazing award.

Some 156,000 Allied troops landed on five invasion beaches on June 6 1944 as part of D-Day operations, sparking an 80-day campaign to liberate Normandy involving three million troops and costing 250,000 lives.

London landmark HMS Belfast was the flagship for part of the allied armada and fired on German positions.

The real people who are at the centre of those commemorations and celebrations about how we liberated Europe are going to be those veterans who were willing to give everything for the freedoms that we enjoy todayGavin Williamson

The French government has been awarding the Legion dhonneur to D-Day veterans for the last five years to honour those who fought to secure Frances liberation.

Since June 2014, more than 6,000 medals have been awarded, with applications being processed by the Ministry of Defence and the French government.

The Legion dhonneur was established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte to recognise military and civilian merit.

Portsmouth, the base for many of the D-Day landing forces, will be the focal point of the UKs D-Day 75 commemorations and will host a UK national event on June 5.

A specially chartered ship will carry D-Day veterans to commemorations in Portsmouth and Normandy in June.

Calling all Normandy veterans  With 100 days to go until the nation officially commemorates D-Day 75, there are still places available for veterans on a specially chartered ship to take part in events. Find out more: https://t.co/yI1yS93Y10 @PoppyLegion #DDay75 pic.twitter.com/vA1dpXplKk  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) February 26, 2019

The Imperial War Museum, working in partnership with Daks Over Normandy, is organising a mass flight display at Duxford airfield, culminating in a cross-Channel flight and parachute landing in Normandy on June 6.

Mr Williamson said: The real people who are at the centre of those commemorations and celebrations about how we liberated Europe are going to be those veterans who were willing to give everything for the freedoms that we enjoy today.
Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party will do everything in our power to prevent a no-deal Brexit (Aaron Chown/PA)

The Labour Party has announced it will back a second referendum to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit if its withdrawal plan is rejected by MPs this week.

Jeremy Corbyn said he would put forward or support an amendment in favour of a public vote to stop Theresa Mays deal being forced on the country if his Brexit demands are not met.

The move came as pressure mounted on Theresa May to rule out a no-deal Brexit after three ministers threatened to support a fresh attempt to extend Article 50 and stop Britain being swept over the precipice on March 29.

Tomorrow, Labour will table an amendment to make Labour's credible alternative plan the UKas Brexit negotiating position.https://t.co/2ZHkIW5g1q  Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) February 25, 2019

Richard Harrington, Claire Perry and Margot James signalled their support for an amendment, drawn up by Labours Yvette Cooper and Tory Sir Oliver Letwin, which would give the Commons the power to demand a delay to Brexit if an agreement is not in place by March 13.

Writing in the Daily Mail, they said: It is a commitment that would be greeted with relief by the vast majority of MPs, businesses and their employees. We implore the Government to take that step this week.

But if the Prime Minister is not able to make this commitment, we will have no choice other than to join MPs of all parties in the House of Commons, including fellow ministers, in acting in the national interest to prevent a disaster in less than five weeks time that we may regret forever.

There was speculation that as many as 15 ministers could be prepared to join them as patience among MPs opposed to no-deal is stretched to breaking point.

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The Mail claimed the Prime Minister was preparing to bow to their demands and rule out a no-deal Brexit.

Mrs May will address MPs on Tuesday afternoon ahead of another series of Brexit votes on Wednesday.

The Government is expected to publish previously unseen Cabinet papers setting out the dangers of a no-deal Brexit before the debate.

Meanwhile, British negotiators will return to Brussels on Tuesday to continue talks to secure changes to the Withdrawal Agreement.

We are committed to also putting forward or supporting an amendment in favour of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country.Jeremy Corbyn

On Monday night, Mr Corbyn told a heated meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) that his party would seek to enshrine its five Brexit demands in law by tabling an amendment to the Governments motion this week.

But if the plan is rejected, Labour will then support a second referendum.

Mr Corbyn also said his party would back the Cooper-Letwin amendment, and told the PLP: One way or another, we will do everything in our power to prevent no-deal and oppose a damaging Tory Brexit based on Theresa Mays overwhelmingly rejected deal.

Thats why, in line with our conference policy, we are committed to also putting forward or supporting an amendment in favour of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country.

A Labour source heavily hinted that a remain option would be on the ballot paper in a second referendum, saying: Weve said in the past that if there were another referendum that remain would need to be on the ballot paper.

Its welcome that the party seems to have moved in the right direction  its a shame it took the departure of eight Labour MPs to help nudge it over the lineChuka Umunna

Labours move follows a week which saw eight of the partys MPs quit to join the Independent Group, citing Brexit as a key concern.

One of its members, Chuka Umunna, said the referendum announcement was better late than never.

He told BBC Twos Newsnight: Theres been time-wasting on an industrial scale by both front benches in the House of Commons and its symptomatic of our broken politics.

But its welcome that the party seems to have moved in the right direction  its a shame it took the departure of eight Labour MPs to help nudge it over the line.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has made a major U-turn by announcing he will support a second Brexit referendum.

His party will try to block a no-deal Brexit and put forward or support an amendment urging a public vote to stop what he called a "damaging Tory Brexit".

Until now Mr Corbyn has been reluctant to back a second referendum despite intense pressure from within his own party.

However, last night he relented and told a parliamentary party meeting "one way of another, we will do everything in our power to prevent no-deal".

He told MPs that with the Brexit deadline looming, Prime Minister Theresa May was "recklessly running down the clock" in an attempt to "force MPs to choose between her botched deal and a disastrous no-deal".

Labour said it would put forward an amendment calling on the Government to adopt its Brexit proposals, including a permanent customs union with the EU and close alignment with the bloc's single market.

"If Parliament rejects our plan, then Labour will deliver on the promise we made at our annual conference and support a public vote," said the party's Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer.

European leaders are convinced that delaying Brexit is now the only way to avoid a disorderly crash-out by the UK.

With 31 days until Brexit, Mrs May is under huge pressure to take what EU Council president Donald Tusk termed the "rational decision" of seeking an extension to Article 50.

The Irish Government is prepared to lobby other EU members to grant the postponement in a bid to give the House of Commons space to define the type of Brexit it wants.

However, it appears key figures, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch Prime Minster Mark Rutte, will take little convincing. Germany's leader raised the idea with Mrs May during a meeting on the fringes of the EU-Arab summit in Egypt yesterday. And Mr Rutte, who described himself as one of the UK's best friends, said they are "sleepwalking" into chaos. "Wake up. This is real," he said.

Mrs May has suggested she could try to take her withdrawal agreement through Parliament before it has been formally approved by the other 27 member states.

Rejecting calls for a delay, the Prime Minister said: "An extension to Article 50, a delay in this process, doesn't deliver a decision in Parliament, it doesn't deliver a deal.

"All it does is precisely what the word 'delay' says.

"Any extension of Article 50 isn't addressing the issues.

"We have it within our grasp."
The First Minister announced 100,000 for a women in business mentoring scheme (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Nicola Sturgeon has announced 100,000 of new funding to help boost a mentoring scheme for women in business across Scotland.

The cash will go to the Future Female Business Leader programme run by the Scottish Chambers of Commerce and the Scottish Association of Business Women.

The scheme matches up women entrepreneurs with established female business mentors, assisting women as they moving into leadership roles.

Part of the initiative aims to stimulate the internationalisation of Scottish business, the Scottish Government said.

Delighted to have The First Minister address our members at todayas lunch - aGender equality, inclusivity and fair work; these things are important in their own right but together they are an essential part of a strong, thriving and growing economy.a pic.twitter.com/80J0p3T1CZ  Edinburgh Chamber (@EdinChamber) February 26, 2019

Speaking at the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce Women in Business lunch, the First Minister said the scheme will help some of the next generation of women business leaders as they start their careers.

She said: Helping more women to set up and succeed in business is both an economic and a moral imperative.

By encouraging and supporting women to create and grow businesses, we can create greater equality which in turn builds a stronger and fairer economy.

The Scottish Chambers of Commerce has a pool of more than 1,000 mentors across Scotland.

 Future Female Business Leaders launches nationwide today. Click here to register: https://t.co/focXd339ZU #WomenWhoLead pic.twitter.com/kw3mr2yfhH  Scottish Chambers (@ScotChambers) February 26, 2019

The organisations chief executive, Liz Cameron, said: It is an economic priority to ensure that we create an infrastructure which will unlock the outstanding opportunities which exist for females in the workplace enabling more of us to progress to the very top.

It will also be a beacon for others to follow, and at the same time, increase the number of successful businesses run by women to grow and expand their businesses.

Mentoring will be integral to our focus, but it will be in wider terms of bringing together business leaders and other organisations who want to play a role in this development.

We are also excited at bringing in an international dimension, identifying potentially new connections and new orders.
A big loss coming. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Susan Collins was the first Republican senator to say she would vote for a resolution rejecting Donald Trumps declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border. That was last week. Her colleague from Alaska Lisa Murkowski said over the weekend that shes likely to support such a resolution. On Monday, Thom Tillis became the third Republican senator to signal his intention to formally disapprove of the fake emergency. One more, and Trumps in trouble.

The 1976 National Emergencies Act, under which he made his declaration, also allows for Congress to cancel the declaration. The House is expected to pass the resolution Tuesday, with universal support from Democrats and a few possible Republican defections. Once its delivered to the Senate, all 47 members of the Democratic Caucus are expected to vote for the resolution, meaning four Republicans would need to flip to send it Trumps desk. Three already have and the next could come from among the following skeptics:

Roger Wicker, who told HuffPost, I would be inclined to vote for the resolution of disapproval. I think its bad law and I think its bad strategy for the president.

Mitt Romney, who said Monday, The emergency course is not one I favor.

Marco Rubio, who has been highly critical of the national emergency, calling it a violation of the Constitution. He hasnt said how hell vote on the resolution.

Lamar Alexander, who said the resolution is unnecessary, unwise, and inconsistent with the Constitution.

Politico lists a few more Republicans whove expressed dismay over the declaration and havent said how theyll vote on the resolution, including Ron Johnson, Cory Gardner, Roy Blunt, Pat Toomey, Pat Roberts, Jerry Moran, and Mike Lee.

If the resolution does pass the Senate, Trump has said hell veto it, but at that point the damage of a bipartisan rebuke will be done. And given Trumps attempt to sway Republicans from voting for the resolution, and the efforts by the congressional GOP leadership to whip votes, its clearly damage that the party, and the president, would like to avoid.

I hope our great Republican Senators dont get led down the path of weak and ineffective Border Security. Without strong Borders, we dont have a Country - and the voters are on board with us. Be strong and smart, dont fall into the Democrats trap of Open Borders and Crime!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2019

Congress could, of course, override Trumps veto, but that would require two-thirds of both the House and Senate. Such an unlikely turn would take many more House Republicans joining Justin Amash, the only one to say hed vote for the resolution. While thats a less-than-remote possibility, its one that House Republican leadership is not completely discounting. According to the Times, Republican whip Steve Scalise spent Monday night lobbying members to vote against the resolution.

Democrats are also lobbying Republicans, the Times reports, emphasizing the money Trump plans to take from military projects and give to the wall. Former Republican lawmakers are getting in on the act too. On Monday, 26 of them wrote a letter to those currently serving urging them to uphold the authority of the first branch of government to resist efforts to surrender those powers to a president.
Fiona Onasanya has left prison after serving a month of her sentence for perverting the course of justice (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Disgraced MP Fiona Onasanya has been released from prison after serving a month of her sentence for perverting the course of justice.

The MP for Peterborough, who was expelled by the Labour Party, did not comment as she was driven out of HMP Bronzefield in Ashford in Surrey on Tuesday morning.

Now free, the vocal Remainer will be able to take part in Wednesdays Commons debates and votes on Brexit despite facing calls to stand down.

It also emerged on Tuesday that police are investigating reports of emails and letters with a disgusting racial element directed at Ms Onasanya on the day she was jailed.

She was sentenced to three months imprisonment at the Old Bailey on January 29 after being convicted of perverting the course of justice by lying to avoid a speeding charge.

Leaving prison, the 35-year-old sat in the back of a white Sodexo-branded Vauxhall with her window covered by a hi-vis jacket as she was whisked past photographers at speed.

The Labour Party are among those calling for the resignation of the MP with a once-promising political career, but she will continue to represent Peterborough as an Independent.

This is because her jail sentence did not meet the 12-month minimum for an instant dismissal.

A by-election can be triggered if a recall petition is signed by 10% of the electorate in the constituency.

But this cannot begin until Onasanyas appeal against her conviction ends.

Judges at the Court of Appeal in London will hear the case on March 5 before deciding whether to allow the appeal to continue, or refuse its progress.

Expand Close Peterborough MP Fiona Onasanya (second left) is driven away at speed from HMP Bronzefield (Steve Parsons/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Officers in Cambridgeshire and South Yorkshire said they are investigating following reports of malicious communications sent on January 29.

The Peterborough Telegraph reported that Ms Onasanyas communications officer Matt Turner said: Many of these emails and letters have a disgusting racial element to them  This despicable and threatening behaviour is unacceptable and we welcome an investigation.

Onasanya, a solicitor by profession, still received her 77,379 salary while in jail despite missing votes in the Commons.

The Daily Mail reported that she would have to wear an ankle tag as part of an early release programme.

She left prison after the Attorney Generals Office ruled that her sentence was not unduly lenient following a complaint being lodged.

Jurors at the Old Bailey were told that Onasanya colluded with her brother Festus after her car was clocked speeding at 41mph in a 30mph zone in the village of Thorney, near Peterborough, in July 2017.

Expand Close The car carrying Peterborough MP Fiona Onasanya leaves the prison (Steve Parsons/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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She was sent a Notice of Intended Prosecution to fill out, but it was sent back naming the guilty driver as Aleks Antipow, an acquaintance of her brother, who was away visiting his parents in Russia.

Festus Onasanya was sentenced to 10 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to three counts of perverting the course of justice over speeding, including over the July 24 incident.

Neither of Fiona Onasanyas offices in her constituency or Westminster responded to requests for comment on when she would be returning to the Commons.
Firefighters are tackling a large gorse fire on Arthurs Seat in Edinburgh.

Around 800 square metres of gorse is ablaze on the Salisbury Crags.

Two fire engines from Edinburgh went to the scene after the alarm was raised at around 6.30pm on Tuesday, while an all-terrain vehicle from Dunblane was also sent to assist.

SFRS crews are currently tackling a large gorse fire at the Salisbury Crags area of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh.



We have received a high volume of repeat calls, and two fire engines and a specialist all terrain vehicle are currently in attendance. pic.twitter.com/n2y6KVXUF4  Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (@fire_scot) February 26, 2019

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said they had received 197 calls about the fire by 8.30pm.

There were no reports of any injuries.
Survivors and relatives of victims of the Stardust fire at Leinster House (Antoinette Keegan/PA)

The Taoiseach has agreed to meet with survivors and relatives of victims of the Stardust fire after they staged a sit-in at Leinster House.

The group had said that they would not leave the premises on Tuesday until they received written confirmation of a meeting with Leo Varadkar over their campaign for a new inquest.

We are staging a sit in at the DAil until @campaignforleo agrees to meet us. Please listen to our story An Taoiseach and hear why we need a new inquest. Please retweet #JFT48 pic.twitter.com/VF1enhDyXP  @JusticeForThe48 (@JusticeFor48) February 26, 2019

Forty-eight young people died in the Stardust nightclub in Artane, Dublin, on Valentines Day in 1981 in what is considered the worst fire disaster in the history of the state.

Antoinette Keegan, who survived the fire but lost her two sisters, said the group has had enough of being ignored by the Government.

We have attempted to contact Leo Varadkar over and over about a meeting and we have had no response, she said.

The Stardust was the biggest disaster in the history of the state, why cant the leader of this country stand up and face his responsibilities and listen to our concerns?

Expand Close Antoinette Keegan, whose sisters Mary and Martina perished in the fire (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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David Cameron was able to face up and apologise for Hillsborough and Bloody Sunday, why cant Leo face us?

We just want to speak to him, to let him hear our side of the story. We have no intentions of moving, and wont be leaving until we get confirmation that the Taoiseach will meet with us.

The group had been in the building meeting Independent TD Finian McGrath, and decided to stay on in an attempt to convince Mr Varadkar to meet them.

After around two-and-a-half hours in Leinster House, the group received word that the Taoiseach would be happy to meet them and their solicitor in the coming weeks.

The Taoiseachs office said they will contact the group to organise a date and time.

In a statement, the group thanked the independent TD for his help.

Met with the Stardust families again today. A positive and constructive meeting. They deserve everyones support...more on that later.  Finian McGrath (@Finian_McGrath) February 26, 2019

We would like to thank Finian McGrath for being true to his word and speaking directly with the Taoiseach on our behalf, who has now agreed to meet with the Stardust Victims Committee and our legal representation, a statement said.

Relatives and survivors have been campaigning for a new inquest for a number of years, and say they have found new evidence.

Officials originally ruled that the cause of the fire was arson, a theory that was never accepted by the families.

It was later ruled out following a fresh inquiry in 2009.

The most recent campaign began in June, and saw the families gather signatures on postcards petitioning the attorney general for a fresh inquest.

Travelling the length and breadth of Ireland, the tally stood at more than 48,000 signatures, 1,000 for each victim of the fire.

Their initial request to meet the Taoiseach last year was denied and they were referred to the Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan, as Mr Varadkars office said it fell under the remit of the Department of Justice.

The Taoiseachs Office has been approached for comment.
The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal over the former justice ministers successful challenge of his handling of Garda whistleblower complaints.

The report by barrister Sean Guerin detailing Alan Shatters response to Sgt Maurice McCabes concerns, which later led to his resignation as minister, was found to have gone beyond the scope of inquiry.

Mr Shatter claimed the Guerin report caused his resignation from office and said his reputation had been damaged by the findings.

The High Court rejected Mr Shatters initial challenge of the report, but this decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal ruled that Mr Guerins conclusions were reached in breach of fair procedure, as Mr Shatter had not been given the opportunity have his side be heard, a ruling which Mr Guerin appealed to the Supreme Court.

The judgement delivered on Tuesday reads: This, it should be remembered, was a very unusual case.

It is indeed unlikely that the limits of the inquiry would have been subject to such searching scrutiny if not for the consequences of the applicant in the political world.

Expand Close Mr Shatter resigned in May 2014 (Brian Lawless/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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To some extent also, the respondent was encouraged to express conclusions by some ambiguity in the terms of reference, the approach of the government, and the absence of any clear legal definition of the function and role he was to perform and its limits.

Mr Justice ODonnell said the difficulty of the task was compounded by a lack of communication within the Department of Justice when approached by Mr Guerin.

The difficulty of the task was compounded by a surprising lack of communication within the Department of Justice.

Nevertheless, I have come to the conclusion that the applicant is entitled to complain about the outcome of the report as it affected him.

The judgment concluded by saying that he would substitute the order of the Court of Appeal for a more limited declaration, that some of Mr Guerins findings were outside the scope of the terms of reference, and that the court would otherwise dismiss the appeal.

The Guerin report was given to then-Taoiseach Enda Kenny in May 2014, and saw Mr Shatter resign as Minister for Justice days later. He was later quoted saying the Taoiseach had given him no choice but to stand down.

In 2017, the Disclosures Tribunal began investigating allegations that top police officers in Ireland orchestrated a smear campaign against Maurice McCabe, and found that senior gardai officers had a plan to spread historic claims of sexual abuse about him.

The tribunal found former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan was part of a campaign of calumny against the whistleblower and he was actively aided by his former press officer Superintendent David Taylor.
Brendan Howlin has welcomed the UK Labour Partys backing of giving the public a final say on Brexit (Brian Lawless/PA)

The Irish Labour Party leader has welcomed the move by the British Labour Party to support a fresh Brexit referendum.

Brendan Howlin said he did not believe a hard Brexit would happen on March 29 but he said Ireland could not afford to be complacent given the chaos in the Brexit negotiations over the past two years.

Mr Howlin made the comments after the British Labour Party announced it would be prepared to back a new referendum if its withdrawal plan is rejected by MPs in Westminster this week.

Were all looking with increasing frustration at the disarray in the Commons as the time ticks down and I think that ultimately a proposal that allows the people to vote again on the matter is something that we have to absolutely welcome, Mr Howlin said.

After meeting @UKLabour's Jeremy Corbyn and his team over the weekend @PES_PSE, I'm pleased that Jeremy Corbyn will back a new public vote on the #Brexit deal. But there are many hurdles to be crossed, and this week's Commons votes will be important. https://t.co/OmHN1awu2v  BrendanHowlin (@BrendanHowlin) February 25, 2019

He said there was no such thing as a good Brexit and that the Withdrawal Agreement was the best deal that could be arrived at if the UK wants to leave the EU.

Obviously if Britain has the chance not to leave the European Union that is infinitely better and if thats a real prospect I think our own government should not be so wedded to the withdrawal agreement that they would lose sight of that.

Mr Howlin held a meeting with Mr Corbyn at a gathering of socialist party leaders over the weekend.

Mr Howlin said Mr Corbyn shared his concerns that there cannot be a hard border on the island of Ireland after the UK leaves the EU.

A useful meeting with @jeremycorbyn to discuss the likely outcome of next weekas votes in the Commons. A firm commitment from Jeremy to support a border-free Ireland and an understanding from his legal team of what is required to achieve this. pic.twitter.com/EwZxuNF0NY  BrendanHowlin (@BrendanHowlin) February 22, 2019

The remarks came ahead of the Irish Governments emergency no-deal Brexit legislation being debated in Parliament on Tuesday.

Mr Howlin described the omnibus bill, which will be enacted if the UK crashes out of the UK, as the most comprehensive legislation in terms of scope that Parliament has ever had to deal with.

He predicted Ireland would end up dealing with legislative matters for years in a no-deal scenario.

Whether it is comprehensive enough is something well have to debate over the coming weeks and probably have to address again as issues that we havent even contemplated in the event of a hard Brexit happening will come into focus, he said.

Ive no doubt well be in legislative mode in the event of a hard Brexit not only for months but for years to come.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has travelled to Egypt to attend the first ever EU-Arab League Summit (Tom Honan/PA)

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said the UK will either delay Brexit or leave the EU with a deal at the end of March.

Amid growing pressure on Theresa May to delay Brexit, with just 32 days left to go, Mr Varadkar said he is confident the UK will not crash out of the EU at the end of next month.

Speaking to reporters before a meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May in Egypt, Mr Varadkar said a no-deal Brexit is a "lose-lose-lose" scenario for everyone.

The Taoiseach travelled to Egypt to take part in the first ever EU-Arab League summit in Sharm El-Sheikh.

"Brexit isn't officially on the agenda, but given that there are over 20 EU heads of state and government here, there will be lots of meetings on the sideline about it," he said.

"What's evident to me is that absolutely no-one wants the United Kingdom to crash out of the EU without a deal. That gives me confidence, or at least a sense that the UK will not crash out of the EU without a deal on March 29. We will either have a deal or have an extension."

Addressing rumours that Mrs May will seek an extension to Article 50, Mr Varadkar said that the EU cannot consider an extension until a request is made.

He added: "From my point of view and from Ireland's point of view, I would certainly rather see an extension than the UK leaving without a deal. A long extension does create a complication in terms of the European elections and so on, but that's a small complication relative to the impact on our economy and Northern Ireland if there is a no-deal Brexit."
Ballymena councillor Declan OLoan who has revealed he will not contest his council seat in the May elections

A veteran SDLP councillor who has served for 26 years has said he will not stand in the upcoming local government elections and denied the decision is related to his party's new partnership with Fianna Fail.

Former North Antrim MLA Declan O'Loan, who sits on Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, said he "will not be sad" to leave the local authority, which he described as "a cold house for nationalists".

The former head of maths at St Louis Grammar School in Ballymena, and husband of former Police Ombudsman Baroness Nuala O'Loan, said he made his decision to quit during the last council elections five years ago "and I have not altered that opinion at any time since".

"My decision is in no way related to the SDLP-Fianna Fail partnership, which on balance I support," he said.

"I have served 26 years as a councillor and I think that it is time to hand over to others.

"I am grateful to those who elected me on six occasions to council, to the local SDLP membership who assisted me, and party colleagues who sat along with me, in particular PJ McAvoy.

"It has been a privilege to work for the whole community, and to present the SDLP view in council debates."

Mr O'Loan said the SDLP had made an "immense" contribution to Irish history.

"I got involved in politics at a time when the Troubles were still at their height.

"I was inspired by the leadership of John Hume, and wanted to make a contribution to reconciliation in this deeply divided society," the Ballymena councillor said.

"The SDLP was the right vehicle to do this, and its contribution to Irish history has been immense, the Good Friday Agreement being its finest achievement."

However, he criticised the council, saying it had learned nothing from the collapse of Stormont.

"In many ways I will not be sad to leave Mid and East Antrim Borough Council," he said.

"It is very much a unionist dominated council, and it would have been easy for it to show some regard for the minority nationalist population.

"Decision after decision has created a cold house for nationalists, the council being seemingly oblivious to the fact that a split community will ultimately destroy its plans to improve the economy and social welfare of its area."

"The collapse of the Assembly has taught it nothing," Mr O'Loan added.
Detectives are investigating a link between two burglaries and one attempted burglary, which took place in Holywood on Monday evening.

Police said that sometime between 4.30pm and 6.50pm entry was gained to a property in the Craigdarragh Park area and a gold watch and cash was stolen.

Two men were seen acting suspiciously in the area prior to the burglary. One of the men is described as being 5ft tall, in his early 30s, bald and wore a black hooded top, Adidas track bottoms with white stripes and white trainers.

The other man is described as being dark haired, around 5ft 10" tall with facial hair. He was wearing a navy body warmer, a grey hooded top and dark coloured trousers.

The second incident happened between 8am and 7.40pm at a house in the Martello Park area.

Entry was forced into the property, damaging the door, and a gold and diamond engagement ring and an Xbox and Xbox games were stolen.

At 7.44pm police received a report of an attempted burglary in the Rhanuoy Park area. Damage was caused to the door of a house but entry was not gained.

Police said they believe the three incidents are linked.

"We are aware of the impact that burglaries can have on individual householders. Dont make it easy for them, stay alert to your surroundings and report anything suspicious to police immediately," Detective Constable Rea said.

"I want to encourage everyone to report suspicious activity to us  no matter how insignificant it may seem, the report of a suspicious vehicle or people acting strangely in your neighbourhood can help us to prevent and detect crime.

"We would like all of you to help us spread the message. Please ensure that all houses, sheds and garages are secured, particularly during the hours of darkness.

"Do not keep valuables or large amounts of cash in your home, and remember, safes are able to be removed."

Anyone with any information regarding the burglaries has been urged to contact police on 101, quoting reference 1354 of 25/02/19.

Information can also be provided anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Boiler owners signed up to the controversial Renewable Heat Incentive that led to Stormont's collapse have warned that the agriculture sector in Northern Ireland faces devastation with the forthcoming changes to the botched green energy scheme.

Some have hit out at Stormont officials for keeping them in the dark over what is going to happen.

A lack of cost controls had led to spending on the scheme spiralling out of control, with some users burning biomass just to take advantage of the over-generous subsidies on offer.

But in the aftermath of the scandal, some boiler owners now say the uncertainty over future reductions in tariffs - which the Government guaranteed - have left them facing financial ruin.

And many say they may revert to fossil fuel once again - a move at odds with the Government's drive for sustainable energy.

Many on the scheme say they face mounting debt and potential financial ruin based on the investments they made and loans taken out to cover boiler installation costs.

Some paid out hundreds of thousands of pounds and said the returns have barely made a dent in their initial costs.

While they freely admit that there will be those on the scheme who have made a profit by running boilers needlessly, they feel unfairly targeted by the Government's attempts to close down the scheme and reduce overspend.

Estimates had put the potential overspend cost in the hundreds of millions of pounds.

However, reductions in tariffs have curtailed this.

"People dodge car tax, so does that mean we should do away with all cars?" said one boiler owner.

"We have been betrayed by the Government... this scheme was promoted by them and guaranteed by them. We expected a return after 20 years and now we facing losing a considerable amount of money.

"How can we trust them again?"

The Department for the Economy has held a consultation exercise on the future of the scheme.

Current temporary legislation on the impending reduced tariffs is to end in March.

New proposals on its future are yet to be published, with the department expected to make an announcement in the near future.

Boiler owners claim they have been told if no new legislation is introduced, then the scheme will be shut down. However, many expect a drastic cut in tariffs which could lead to them having to pay to be on the scheme.

Last week, Sinn Fein called on the Department for the Economy to shut down what it described as a "shambolic" scheme.

Laying the blame at the door of the DUP, Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy said RHI was a "byword for everything that was wrong in the political system here in the North".

However, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development had promoted the scheme when Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill was minister, and Mr Murphy himself had called for the scheme to remain open while efforts were being made to close it to new participants.

A Freedom of Information request to Ofgem, the energy regulator, showed that the highest uptake for the RHI scheme came during the final two weeks in February 2016, after Mr Murphy lobbied to keep the scheme open.

More than 1,100 businesses signed up to RHI, many of them poultry businesses connected to chicken giant Moy Park.

The Belfast Telegraph spoke to a number of RHI boiler owner owners over recent days. Most spoke on condition of anonymity.

Chicken farmer Tom Forgrave - a boiler owner and former head of the Ulster Farmers' Union poultry committee - said reducing the tariffs or ending the scheme would devastate rural businesses.

He said it would put significant pressure on the mushroom growing industry here, which is reliant on the boilers.

"The RHI scheme was an incentive to get businesses to move away from fossil fuel," he said.

"Current proposals will mean mass reversion back to fossil fuels.

"Many made big investments, took out big loans and now they are left without any idea as to how to pay off the money back.

"If they cut the tariff it will devastate."

There is a fear in agricultural circles a similar RHI scheme in Great Britain and a soon-to-be introduced scheme in the Republic will further squeeze Northern Ireland farmers.

"The scheme in the Republic will have almost the same level of tariffs as we had at the beginning," Mr Forgrave, who gave evidence to the RHI Inquiry into the scandal, added.

"We've the same expenses but not a word is said, it will make us extremely uncompetitive.

"It will put chicken farming in Northern Ireland at a disadvantage and if you are the likes of Moy Park - Northern Ireland's biggest employer - you will go to where it's most advantageous to produce your chicken."
Mourners carry the coffin of a child killed by a Saudi air strike on a school bus. Photo: Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images

The government of Saudi Arabia has been bombing and starving the Middle Easts poorest country for nearly four years now. As of December 2018, an estimated 85,000 children under 5 years old had died from malnutrition as a result of Riyadhs intervention in Yemens civil war. If the Saudis air strikes and blockade continue, Yemen could suffer the worst famine humanity has seen in 100 years, according to the United Nations.

The U.S. bears much of the responsibility for all of this: Our federal governments steadfast commitment to an alliance with the Saudis has led America to support Riyadhs monstrous campaign by supplying it with weapons, logistical support, and midair refueling services. Without that last form of support, much of the Saudi campaign would be impossible to execute.

Late last year, a critical mass of U.S. senators decided that abetting a world-historic war crime  for the sake of helping a totalitarian Islamist regime install its puppet government of choice in a country that is of no strategic importance to the United States  was unwise. They passed a resolution ending American military support for the Saudi intervention out of the upper chamber.

The GOP leadership then killed the measure in the House.

The war raged on. The Saudis continued to block food and medicine from reaching rebel-held areas. It is unclear how many Yemeni children have died from starvation since Paul Ryan blocked the Senates attempt to end U.S. complicity in their suffering. But U.N. estimates suggest that 3.2 million Yemenis currently require treatment for acute malnutrition, including 2 million kids under 5 years old.

None of this offends the moral sensibilities of the GOP leadership. But earlier this month, Ilhan Omar did.

When the Democratic congresswoman suggested that AIPACs donors dictate U.S. policy toward Israel, House Republicans expressed horror at her callous indifference to the safety of a vulnerable minority group. After all, the idea that Jews use their wealth to control foreign policy is an anti-Semitic trope. Thus, by accusing the pro-Israel lobby of being good at its job, Omar was aiding and abetting neo-Nazis. Republicans invoked the Holocaust, demanded vigilance in the face of anti-Jewish bigotry, and called for Omars resignation. Then, they added an amendment condemning anti-Semitism to a House bill ending U.S. support for the Saudi war in Yemen.

This week, Mitch McConnell successfully used that resolution to block a Senate vote on the Houses legislation  and thus, to further prolong American complicity in the worst humanitarian crisis on planet Earth. As Politico explains:

The Senate parliamentarian ruled that an amendment to the House-passed bill which contains language condemning anti-Semitism was not germane to the Yemen War Powers resolution  a decision that allows Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to block a vote on the measure. The legislation initially had privileged status, giving supporters an end run around McConnell, who has long opposed the effort.

 Despite the parliamentarians ruling, senators still plan to force a vote on a clean version of the Yemen War Powers resolution, one authored by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah)  But House Republicans will likely try again to add language condemning anti-Semitism, a move that would put Democrats in an uncomfortable political position to vote no on the amendment in order to ensure that the War Powers resolution advances to Trumps desk. If that amendment passes, the measure would face the same obstacle from the Senate parliamentarian.

That last point is worth emphasizing: If the Senate finds a way to pass new legislation ending American support for the Saudi war, House Republicans (reportedly) plan to attack House Democrats as soft on anti-Semitism  unless Democrats vote to (effectively) prolong American participation in war crimes against a vulnerable ethnic group.

Conservatives crocodile tears about the Holocaust have always been tough for me to swallow. By the time my grandmother hit puberty, Nazis had murdered her father, mother, sister, and brother. By the time I met her, paranoid delusions had gnawed at her mind. She could smell the poison they were pumping through the vents of her apartment. She could see that my (Jewish) father was a crypto-Nazi who was trying to kill her.

Republicans will gladly condemn the source of her suffering if they can call it anti-Semitism. And they will loudly demand vigilance against anti-Semitism if they can define said vigilance as unconditional support for the Israeli government.

But I believe that anti-Semitism is too narrow a term for the evil that stole my grandmothers childhood. For all the Holocausts idiosyncratic features, on the individual level, it was experienced as mass murder; and mass murder is not an exceptional feature of human history. You dont need to be a Polish Jew in the 1930s to see your family slaughtered because one powerful group wants your kind dead, while the others have no particular interest in keeping them alive. You could just as well be a Lakota Indian in late 19th-century South Dakota, or a Palestinian refugee at Sabra in 1982, or a malnourished mother in Houthi-controlled Yemen today. If I refuse to define my grandmother by her ethnicity and religion (as those who orphaned her did)  if I insist on remembering her primarily as a human being rather than as a Jew  then Republicans have no interest in respecting the historical traumas of all people like her, or remaining vigilant against the recurrence of such traumas.

In fact, as McConnell has just demonstrated, Republicans (and some Democrats) dont just refuse to acknowledge any moral tension between intoning never again, and facilitating atrocities in Yemen (or obfuscating the presidents hate speech against Native Americans, Muslims, and immigrants, or Israels crimes against the Palestinians); they will gladly intone the former as a means of facilitating the latter. Which is to say, they will express solidarity with the Jewish children of Nazi-occupied Poland for the sake of helping Riyadh starve the Yemeni children of Saudi-blockaded Sanaa.

And then, they will ask those who oppose their efforts why they dont take anti-Semitism more seriously.
Comedian and TV personality Patrick Kielty has claimed that a hard Brexit could lead to a united Ireland.

Writing in the Guardian, the Co Down funny man said Brexit negotiations are being hindered by the red lines drawn by Prime Minister Theresa May, the DUP and the European Research Group, while Jeremy Corbyn's position is unclear.

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"If they all hold firm, were heading for a hard Brexit. And a united Ireland," he said.

"We were always going to end up here because Brexit has never been about Nissan X-Trails or the shape of your bananas. Its only ever been about sovereignty."

Mr Kielty, whose father was murdered by loyalist paramilitaries in 1988, said this causes difficulty in Northern Ireland as many here either identify as British or Irish.

"Yet as Brexiteers preach about their precious union, Irish nationalists in the same country are meant to park the union they want and just work out how the chicken crosses the border," he said.

The Dundrum-born comedian stated that the majority in Northern Ireland voted remain because the alternative would be either a land border or a border down the Irish Sea and dismissed the idea of any "alternative arrangements" to solve the problem.

"If an alternative arrangement that worked actually existed (or was likely to exist in the next couple of years) Brexiteers would have already accepted the backstop, knowing they could easily replace it with their idea during the transition," he said.

Mr Kielty said that there are three options of how the Brexit negotiations could unfold.

"On the one side is May's deal (complete with backstop). On the other is the ERG (European Research Group) and a hard Brexit," he said.

"If the DUP buckles on the backstop, party members will walk away with their UK sovereignty between their legs. For those of us who have their early albums, this isn't going to happen."

"Which leaves just one option. The DUP holds firm and jumps off the cliff with the ERG, knowing a hard Brexit is the only scenario that guarantees a hard border in Ireland, a border poll in Northern Ireland and the perfect economic storm where it could lose that vote.

"By trying to be the most British person in the room, the DUP could actually end up the most Irish."

He added that another referendum on EU membership is the only way to save peace and a continued shared future in Northern Ireland.

He continued: "It's now time to act, or Northern Ireland might decide the team is no longer worth playing for."
Aine Dahlstrom first brought the matter to police attention in the mid-1980s (Paul Faith/PA)

The paedophile brother of former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has died of terminal cancer in a Belfast hospice.

He had been moved there from Maghaberry Prison, where he was serving a 16-year-sentence for raping his daughter Aine Dahlstrom.

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The 63-year-old was found guilty by a jury at Belfast Crown Court six years ago. Sentencing him in November 2013, Judge Corinne Philpott said he had committed "the greatest breach of trust imaginable".

She said: "The evidence has established in the view of this court that he used this child for his own sexual gratification, whenever he had the opportunity when her mother was not present in the house."

Mr Adams was moved to the medical facility earlier this year for end-of-life care. The Northern Ireland Prison Service confirmed the death of an inmate from Maghaberry.

It said: "The prisoner died on Monday morning, 25 February. His next of kin have been informed.

"As with standard procedure, the PSNI and Prisoner Ombudsman have been informed."

Ronnie Armour, head of the Prison Service, said: "I would like to extend my sympathy to the family of the prisoner. My thoughts are with them at this difficult time."

It has been reported that the former Sinn Fein president visited his brother in the hospice before his death. Liam Adams began to abuse his daughter Aine in 1977 when she was just four years old and continued doing so over a six-year period.

She waived her right to anonymity in 2009.

Adams, a former youth worker in west Belfast and Dundalk, was convicted of 10 offences - three counts of rape, four of indecent assault and three of gross indecency.

In 2015 Adams lost an appeal at the High Court against his conviction and sentencing.

Gerry Adams, a Louth TD, gave evidence at his brother's first trial, which collapsed in April 2013 for legal reasons.

During the 2013 trial Mr Adams told the court that in 2000, during a walk in the rain in Dundalk, his brother had admitted sexually abusing his daughter, Ms Dalhstrom.

Mr Adams made his first report to police about the allegations in 2007 but did not tell officers about the confession until 2009, when he made a second statement.

Mr Adams was criticised for not informing police about the confession at an earlier date.

In 2015 the Police Ombudsman found that police were not politically motivated when they said Gerry Adams should not be prosecuted for allegedly withholding information about his paedophile brother.

The police watchdog said there was no evidence of misconduct.

He also said that officers had not been influenced by the former Sinn Fein president's status.
Hundreds of mourners gathered in Co Down yesterday to bid an emotional farewell to Connor Murphy, whose body was recovered in Holland last weekend after he was missing for over a month.

Mr Murphy (39), from King Street in Newcastle, had been living in Amsterdam for the past three years, where he worked as a chef.

He had been missing for 34 days and was last seen in the Oudeschans area of the Dutch capital in the early hours of Sunday, January 13 after visiting a friend.

His family had travelled to and from Amsterdam over recent weeks and issued appeals on social media in the hope of tracking him down.

Despite the intensive search with the help of Amsterdam police and volunteers, his body was recovered from a canal on Friday February 15.

A JustGiving page was set up to help pay expenses, such as travel, accommodation and issuing posters and flyers, raising over 6,000.

The Murphy family say the money will be donated to the various charities which supported them in their search for Connor.

Yesterday, family and friends packed into St Patrick's Church in the village of Bryansford, outside Newcastle, to say goodbye to the much-loved son, brother, cousin, uncle and friend at his Requiem Mass.

Among the mourners were members of 'The Dam Fam', who had travelled over from Amsterdam to attend the funeral.

Mr Murphy is survived by his mother Nuala, siblings Martina, Alison, Rebecca and Matthew, brothers-in-law Gerard, Darren and Johnny, and nieces and nephews Grace, Adam, Claire, Genevieve, Jude, AJ, Luke and Aisling.

He was laid to rest afterwards in the adjoining cemetery.

The family requested that, instead of floral tributes, people make donations to the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust, which helps families return the bodies of their loved ones from abroad.
Children across Northern Ireland are waiting longer than four years for a hospital appointment, it can be revealed today.

Official figures have shed light on the misery being heaped on youngsters who are falling victim to the hospital waiting list crisis.

Children with heart conditions, allergies, skin problems and those who need surgery are among the worst affected, according to figures released by the health trusts.

The Royal College of GPs (RCGP) has warned some children are waiting so long to be seen they move into adult services before they ever get an appointment.

As a result, they then go to the bottom of a new waiting list for an outpatient appointment in a system it said is "broken".

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland's Commissioner for Children and Young People has branded the situation appalling and said the figures are "further proof of a broken system that is in urgent need of significant reform".

The shocking statistics have also highlighted an alarming postcode lottery, with the wait for a first outpatient appointment varying by years depending on where a child lives.

Waiting times for paediatric cardiology appointments are particularly bad - a child living in the South Eastern Trust can expect to wait almost three years for a routine referral.

The longest wait time for a cardiology appointment in the Southern Trust is 45 weeks.

In the Belfast Trust, the wait for a routine cardiology appointment is 43 weeks, while an urgent appointment is 20 weeks.

A GP might make an urgent referral for a baby who has a heart murmur and they suspect has a congenital heart defect, or for a child with palpitations.

Calling for action to address the situation, Sarah Quinlan from the Children's Heartbeat Trust, said: "The length of waiting time to see a paediatric cardiologist in Northern Ireland is extremely concerning.

"We know that waiting for appointments adds stress and anxiety to what is already a very worrying time for families and children.

"The disparity of the length of time families have to wait across Northern Ireland is also very alarming, indicating an inequality of access dependent on where you live that is unacceptable."

The figures relating to general surgery also make for grim reading. In the Western Trust, youngsters face a four-year wait for a routine first outpatient appointment.

The situation for urgent appointments isn't much better, with the current waiting time standing at 170 weeks.

The longest wait for a general surgery appointment in the Southern Trust is 104 weeks.

However, in the Belfast Trust children referred to general surgery will get an urgent appointment within six weeks and a routine appointment within 11 weeks.

Children with allergies also face protracted waits to see a hospital doctor.

In the Belfast Trust, it is a 92-week wait for a routine paediatric allergy appointment if the child is referred by their GP.

This drops to nine weeks if they are referred by another hospital doctor.

However, in the South Eastern Trust the waiting time for an urgent allergy appointment is just under 61 weeks and the routine wait is 228 weeks.

The situation is even more alarming, as the figures only relate to the wait time for a first outpatient appointment.

Once a child is seen by a consultant, they then go on to new waiting lists if they require any tests or surgical procedures.

Dr Grainne Doran, RCGP Northern Ireland chair, said: "A system that makes children wait for over 200 weeks in some cases for a routine first appointment is a broken system.

"There is apparent inequity in the care being provided to children in Northern Ireland, depending on the trust area they live in.

"The care and support we provide to young people, or to anyone, should not depend on their postcode."

Children's Commissioner Koulla Yiasouma said: "I am appalled that in some cases children are waiting not months but years for a hospital appointment.

"These waiting times smash targets previously set by ministers and children and those working in the health service deserve better.

"Workforce shortages, capacity issues and long-term budget uncertainty is having a detrimental impact on the physical and mental well-being of our children.

"Having some of the longest waiting times of all regions in the UK is further proof of a broken system that is in urgent need of significant reform."
Mike Nesbitt said that if there is going to be a border poll, "don't let it be like Brexit"

The former Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt has suggested that Brexit could be the "biggest own goal" for unionists in the last century if it leads it a united Ireland.

Mr Nesbitt made the comments during an interview on the Think32 podcast, which debates issues surrounding Irish unity.

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He said that while he has heard campaigners talk about protecting the rights of those who identify as British in the event of United Ireland, he hasn't heard any reasons put forward as to why nationalists would want unionists in such a state.

"What I haven't got yet is somebody saying 'we want you, as a unionist, in a new united Ireland, and here's why'," he said.

"It's important because growing up it was always 'Brits out', so how has it became 'Brits in'?, and why has it became 'Brits in'?"

I'm also realistic and I do wonder whether Brexit will prove to be the biggest own goal in 100 years from unionists. Mike Nesbitt

The former journalist and broadcaster stressed that "geography is not destiny" and united Ireland is not inevitable, but Brexit has raised questions.

"I'm also realistic and I do wonder whether Brexit will prove to be the biggest own goal in 100 years from unionists," he said.

"I know a lot of the emphasis is on the border and on tariff and on trade, and these things are extremely important and need to be resolved, but the other issue is identity."

"The Belfast Agreement made very clear that we all self-define in identity and we can be British or Irish or both."

Mr Nesbitt, who backed remain in the referendum, said many people in Northern Ireland feel "diminished" because Brexit has denied them their right to feel European.

He said: "I know there are a lot of people who feel they were diminished on 24 June 2016 by that result for Brexit and a lot of them believe that what happened there was that English nationalists came in over their heads and did exactly what the Agreement said couldnt happen - denied them their sense of being European.

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"They feel diminished and the consequence is that the constitutional question is back on the table for the first time in 20 years. Where it leads, nobody knows."

Touching on a potential border poll in the near future, the former Ulster Unionist leader said practical issues such as policing and healthcare in a united Ireland need to be examined and it was up to nationalists to convince him of the benefits of ending partition.

Mr Nesbitt said that if there is going to be a border poll, "don't let it be like Brexit".

"Before theres a border poll it has to be spelled out in enormous detail and truthfully, unlike Brexit - 'these are the implications should you choose to vote for constitutional change'."

"I have to say I know people of a unionist background who are now thinking the unthinkable and thinking, would I be better off or worse off? (in a united Ireland).
A 54-year-old man has been charged with criminal damage after a number of Remembrance Day crosses were attacked at a Lurgan church.

The incident took place at First Lurgan Presbyterian Church on High Street on Wednesday December 12 2018.

A report was received that a brick had been thrown at the front door of the church, breaking a pane of glass, and that damage had been caused to a number of wooden Remembrance Day crosses.

The man was arrested in the Banbridge area earlier on Tuesday.

He is expected to appear before Craigavon Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
Little did the 13-year-old girl know the huge battle that lay ahead of her as she scribbled down the words on a page ripped from a school jotter. "Mummy this is why I am like this, because my daddy made me sleep with him," she wrote.

It was Christmas 1986 and there had just been another row between Sally Adams and her eldest daughter Aine. The mother was struggling with the child's constant rebelliousness.

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Even though she had split up with her husband, who had beaten her during their marriage, she never suspected what else he'd been guilty of.

Liam Adams had sexually abused Aine from when she was four years old until she was 10. She was raped for the first time when Sally was in hospital giving birth to her son Conor.

From the moment Aine told her, the mother and daughter did everything right. This wasn't a case of a family trying to sweep something horrible under the carpet. Despite coming from a strong republican tradition in west Belfast, they went straight to the police.

But the RUC, social services, and Aine's uncle Gerry - the most powerful Sinn Fein and IRA figure in the country - would all totally fail the two women in different ways.

Aine and Sally reported the child sexual abuse to police at Grosvenor Road RUC station in January 1987.

Shortly afterwards they reluctantly withdrew their complaint, as some officers seemed more interested in trying to get them to pass on information on republicans than in investigating the abuse.

The women would later tell Belfast Crown Court that they were effectively abandoned by the police and social services - who were also informed of the abuse - and left with no one in authority to trust.

They told Aine's Uncle Gerry. In March 1987 he took them to Buncrana, Co Donegal, to confront Liam, who was living there with his new partner and their baby daughter.

In a surreal experience, they sat down to tea and Mikado biscuits. Gerry Adams has always insisted that he believed Aine.

She later claimed that while he was initially sympathetic in Buncrana, his attitude changed when Liam denied the allegations and that he remarked "it's like trying to prove who stole the apples from a cart".

Sinn Fein had a vibrant women's department at the time. Mr Adams clearly didn't seek their advice on how to handle the situation. The girl and her mother returned home physically and emotionally exhausted. "When Gerry Adams dropped us back to west Belfast by car, he knew that his niece was deeply distressed," Aine said.

"He also knew my mother would have to deal with my pain while trying to bring up four children on her own. Yet we received no support from Gerry.

"He didn't even send me a birthday or a Christmas card. The only present I ever received from him was a signed copy of his autobiography Before The Dawn in 1996."

She was horrified when she opened the book in which the Sinn Fein president thanked or referred positively to "our Liam" 11 times.

Aine tried as best she could to get on with her life. But she became deeply concerned when she heard her father was working in youth projects in west Belfast.

She repeatedly raised this during a series of meetings with Gerry Adams from 2003 until 2005.

He said her paedophile father wanted to work with children because it was his way of making up for how he'd sexually abused her.

She tried to find out in which west Belfast youth clubs her father worked, so she could warn them of the dangers he posed to youngsters.

Although he knew exactly where his brother was working, the Sinn Fein president didn't tell his niece, who continually expressed fears that children in the heart of his constituency were at risk.

She said that at one stage she was so desperate she thought of handing out leaflets on the streets saying 'Liam Adams is a paedophile'.

Her father was employed for five years in Clonard Youth Centre until 2003. The following year he began working for the Blackie Centre in Beechmount.

On three occasions between 2004 and 2006, his photograph appeared in the Andersonstown News promoting youth groups and surrounded by young children.

As well as running computer classes, homework clubs and counselling sessions, he took young people for weekends away in Newcastle, Warrenpoint, Fermanagh and Monaghan.

Gerry Adams later told the court that he informed Clonard Youth Centre about his brother's sexual abuse, but it insisted there was "no record whatsoever" of that. Questioned whom he had told, he named a dead priest.

He claimed he had persuaded his brother to leave the Blackie Centre. But the court heard Liam had stopped working there after developing a frozen shoulder and not because of anything his brother had said.

It would eventually come out that for the first six weeks of Liam's Clonard employment he had actually lived in his brother's home.

Aine's uncle, Bob Corrigan, told this reporter that the Sinn Fein president had failed in his responsibilities as both a public representative and as an uncle. "I don't say that lightly. I'm a former republican prisoner who spent 10 years in Long Kesh," he said.

In 2006 Aine went to the PSNI and asked for the case against her father to be reopened. The following year he was arrested and questioned.

In 2008 he failed to turn up at a court in Northern Ireland to face sexual abuse charges. He fled to the Republic, saying he would not receive a fair trial.

Frustrated at how slowly the case was progressing, Aine waived her anonymity and went public in a UTV documentary in 2009. The case dragged on until 2011 when Liam Adams lost his extradition battle.

His first trial opened in Belfast Crown Court in April 2013. Gerry Adams was called as a prosecution witness.

It emerged that during a walk in the rain in Dundalk in 2000, Liam had confessed to his brother that he had raped Aine. But Gerry Adams failed to report this vital information to police for nine years.

He never mentioned it when questioned by detectives about the abuse in 2007. It was only in 2009 - when UTV's Insight programme was being made - that he told police about the confession.

The court heard that the Sinn Fein president had managed to report Aine's mother for having a "dirty" home and poor "hygiene" with her children - they had picked up nits at school.

The first trial collapsed because of legal issues and the jury was discharged. A new trial began in autumn 2013. Gerry Adams was not called as a witness this time.

On the first day Aine was due to give evidence, she suffered chest pains and was taken to hospital. But she refused to abandon the case.

When she gave graphic evidence about how her father had raped her, Liam Adams closed his eyes.

She described the horror of being forced to perform a sex act on him. "I couldn't breathe. I was roasting. I could smell the drink off him. I felt like he had power over me," she said.

In her answers, he was never "my daddy" but always "Liam Adams", showing the emotional detachment forced on her many years earlier. Liam Adams' decision to give evidence was surprising and likely sealed his fate with the jury of nine men and three women. He was his own worst enemy, with a tone and demeanour which came across as bullying.

He showed no emotion when the jury found him guilty on all 10 counts of rape and sexual abuse. His second wife Bronagh started to cry.

Aine too shed tears as she was hugged by relatives.

After the trial, Gerry Adams was asked in October 2013 why he did not report his brother sooner.

"The police were aware over 20 years ago and there is a lot of disinformation being flung about," he said. "But let me say this, this has been and continues to be a huge ordeal for my family - we're a very large family - especially for Aine, but for all members of my family.

"And I think people need to be given the space to come to terms with all of that. And if it was your family, you would want the same respect and space and privacy on these matters."

Aine did not speak directly to the media, but in a statement read out a police officer said she didn't see the verdict as a victory or celebration.

"It has taken its toll and caused heartache and anguish," she said.

"I can now begin my life at 40 and finally lay to rest the memory of the girl who was abused."
The funeral of Corrado Morelli at St Patricks Church Portrush. His wife Elizabeth with family at the service

Mourners at the funeral of Corrado Morelli - a member of the famous north coast ice cream making dynasty - were told yesterday that he was a "very hard-working man who always acted justly" and loved his family.

Father-of-four and grandfather-of-nine Mr Morelli, who is understood to have been in his 80s, passed away peacefully at his Portstewart home on Friday

He had been married to his wife Elizabeth for 61 years.

Speaking at Mr Morelli's funeral mass in St Patrick's Church in Portrush yesterday, Father Austin McGirr described his devotion to his family.

"He was a family man, a man who loved his children, his grandchildren and his wife," he stated.

"He loved family gatherings.

"He was a very hard-working man, and always acted justly."

In his funeral notice, Mr Morelli's loved ones wrote: "Your memory is our keepsake, of which we'll never part, God has you in His keeping, we have you in our heart."

Posting on social media on Sunday, Mr Morelli's nephew Naldo wrote: "Tomorrow we say goodbye to one of the three amigos, Dad's brother Corrado, sad times but what a weekend it's been listening to recordings of his amazing tenor voice and spending time with our cousins."

The family asked anyone who wished to make a donation to do so to Action Cancer.

Mr Morelli is survived by his wife Elizabeth, children Aldo, Lisa, Piera and Dino and grandchildren Silvano, Alana, Andrea, Laurina, Mario, Ana, Carla, Eva and Corrado.

He was laid to rest at Agherton Cemetery in Portstewart, where generations of day-trippers have enjoyed his ice cream.

His death came less than three years after the passing of his younger brother Guido, who died in hospital after a short illness in June 2016 and was also laid to rest in Agherton Cemetery.

Earlier this month, Morelli's Ice Cream was crowned National Champion at the National Ice Cream Competition in Harrogate, England.
A First World War memorial in west Belfast has been desecrated by vandals.

The marker at Woodvale Park sits beside Belfast's Peace Tree, which was planted in 1919 in honour of those who fought in the war.

Former Belfast Lord Mayor Brian Kingston said he was disgusted at the weekend attack.

"This is very disappointing particularly given that this year marks the centenary of the planting of the Peace Tree. I can think of no explanation for this other than it being a deliberate act of vandalism, which will have taken some effort.

"This was a monument kindly donated free of charge by undertakers Sandy Close, who have agreed to carry out the repair at no cost."

The 1st Shankill Somme Association said it was "totally disgusted that someone could damage the WWI memorial stone in Woodvale Park. Hope the person is caught soon".
A retired soldier who took more than 6,000 from his "incapacitated" best friend's bank account while he was in hospital and a care home has avoided a prison term.

Suspending Denis Kane's sentence for two years at a County Court appeal in Antrim, Judge Melody McReynolds described the "despicable" offence as a "massive betrayal of trust". Kane (69), from Antrim Road in Ballynahinch, had originally been jailed for three months in a Magistrates Court.

Suspending the sentence yesterday, Judge McReynolds said it had been "effectively predatory offending and one can easily understand the position which the District Judge took".

Kane had pleaded guilty to a single charge of fraud by false representation between May 1, 2017 and August 17 last year. He had claimed he was entitled to use the funds held in a Danske Bank account of John Spence for his own financial gain.

Prosecuting counsel Briege Gilmore told the court that in March 2017 Mr Spence was hospitalised before being placed into a care home three months later.

A care and protection officer noticed activity in Mr Spence's bank account and police enquiries led them to Kane.

The friends had been living together until Mr Spence was "incapacitated" and Kane had his bank card and PIN number, the court heard.

Kane had been told to stop using the bank account in September 2017, but continued to do so "for his own benefit".

Defence counsel Neil Moore said the "close, close personal friends" had been living together since 2000 and there had been a "very free arrangement about the use of money" coming into the house.

Kane had used the money to help his daughter and to cover the cost of burying his brother.

"He has the opportunity and he accepts that it was a wholly shameful thing to do, but he helped himself to some of the money," conceded Mr Moore, adding that Kane intends to pay back all that he has taken.

The judge also imposed a 1,200 compensation order.
Klobuchars treatment of her staff shouldnt be out of bounds. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

In a crowded field of would-be Democratic presidents, Amy Klobuchar stands out for all the wrong reasons. The Minnesota senator hadnt even launched her campaign before years-old rumors of her abusive behavior to staff gained shape and form in an initial HuffPost report. Klobuchar wrote tardy slips and left them on the desks of late-arriving aides, former staffers said. Others claimed she repeatedly demeaned their work as the worst shed ever seen. From there, the accusations escalated: Klobuchar also threw a binder at a staffer and berated staff until they cried. On Friday, the New York Times reported that Klobuchar and some top-ranking aides spoke to departing staffers would-be employers to register her displeasure with them. And, of course, there is the comb incident: Klobuchar, once offered a salad but no fork, ate the meal with a comb  and then made a staffer clean it.

Klobuchars alleged behavior has reportedly deterred qualified candidates from joining her presidential campaign. But since outlets first began fleshing out rumors of the senators workplace tyranny, some commentators have argued either that the story is overblown, or that Klobuchar is being held to higher standards because of her gender. At Vox, Laura McGann argued that while the senator is guilty of some bad-boss behavior, sexism may taint complaints about her behavior. Assertiveness, decisiveness and command of others are all considered positive qualities, McGann wrote. These fit the role men are expected to play in the same patriarchal system that punishes women for stepping out of their expected role. In a piece published before Comb-gate entered our deranged national consciousness, Jennifer Palmieri wrote that while she didnt endorse the senators behavior, she doubted that a male candidate with similar staff complaints would have seen them become the lead narrative of his presidential announcement.

Palmieri and McGann are right in at least one sense. Abusive bosses arent a recent development, on Capitol Hill or anywhere else, and it is unusual for former staff to be so vocally critical of a presidential candidates workplace conduct. But while it may be true that male candidates have generally escaped similar scrutiny, Klobuchars gender doesnt mitigate the actual substance of the complaints against her. The presence of women in power may challenge old gender stereotypes, but it doesnt necessarily guarantee progress. A Lean In feminism that celebrates the mere fact of a womans power has little capacity to describe what, exactly, is so troubling about the Klobuchar story. A candidate who doesnt respect her own staff invites valid skepticism that shed safeguard American workers as president.

Comb-gate makes a punchy headline, but it is actually one of the less disturbing reports to emerge from Klobuchars office. Employees say she also obstructed their job searches and kept a regressive family-leave policy on the books. According to the Times, Klobuchar required staff to remain with her office for three times as long as any leave theyd taken, and staff who left without doing so had to pay the office back for their leave. A spokesperson for Klobuchar said that no departing staffer had ever been forced to pay back leave, and that they intended to change the policys language. But if the fix is as simple as updating a handbook, the senator could have changed it long before her behavior made headlines. The leave policy may not be flashy, but its of a piece with the binder-throwing incident and with Comb-gate. Each strips workers of dignity, and reduces them to automatons who owe their employer extra time, effort, and tolerance.

American workers cant afford to hope that a President Klobuchar would keep her workplace attitudes separate from her policies. For the past two years, Donald Trumps White House has assaulted workers on multiple fronts. Trump, who built a cult of celebrity partly on his reputation for being a ruthless boss, pushed tax cuts that profited wealthy households while rolling back workplace safety regulations for meat processing plants and mines, and weakening injury reporting requirements for employers. Child labor protections arent even safe from the Trump administration: The Department of Labor is trying to roll back rules that require adult supervision for teenage nursing-home employees who are operating heavy lifts. Trumps daughter Ivanka, meanwhile, is touting paid family leave, but the only major Republican effort to get a family-leave bill through Congress would have allowed parents to withdraw their Social Security benefits early to offset the costs of their leave. Employers, in other words, would have no obligation to offer their workers paid leave.

The Trump presidencys hostility toward workers has produced some unintended side effects. Klobuchar, like any candidate who wants the Democratic Partys nomination in 2020, will have to reckon with a resurgent labor movement: Since Trump took office, unions and advocacy groups have advanced workers rights at the ballot box and in state legislatures through a combination of savvy campaigning and direct action. In Missouri, for example, unions repelled right-to-work legislation via a public referendum. Five states have now passed bills that phase in a $15 minimum wage, in direct response to grassroots pressure. In New York City, similarly, city council leaders have introduced a bill that would make it more difficult for fast-food managers to fire workers without warning. And while the Supreme Courts Janus v. AFSCME ruling did block public-sector unions from collecting dues from every worker in a bargaining unit, union membership has remained relatively steady in the rulings wake; workers werent waiting, breathlessly, to flee their unions without dues as a cattle prod to keep them in line. Teachers, meanwhile, continue to stage successful walkouts against charter schools and for higher wages and increased staffing in schools. Rising health-care costs and relatively stagnant wages can be crushing burdens for workers, but through organizing, theyve created small pockets of relief  breathable air inside an avalanche.

Klobuchar, a moderate Democrat, is already out of step with energized voters she cant afford to alienate. Her alleged mistreatment of her own staff is germane, then, both to the viability of her candidacy and to her capacity to govern. As for her gender? There are other women running for president. And as far as we know, none of them have thrown a binder at an aide.
Prosecutors claimed Gary Hillan, 37, drove 30 miles to launch the assault last week

A man was attacked with a claw hammer over a suspected affair with his alleged assailant's wife, the High Court has heard.

He suffered a head wound as a work van parked at his Co Armagh home was smashed up in an apparent act of "retribution", a judge was told.

Prosecutors claimed Gary Hillan, 37, drove 30 miles to launch the assault last week.

Hillan, of Knockcairn Lodge in Dundrod, Co Antrim, faces charges of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, criminal damage, possessing an offensive weapon in public, threats to kill and threats to damage property.

Police called to the scene at Derrycrew Road, Loughgall at around 9am on February 19 discovered the windows on a Dale Farm van completely shattered.

A Crown lawyer said the vehicle's driver had also sustained a deep cut to his forehead.

The man alleged Hillan had used an 18-inch long claw hammer to attack him and damage the van.

He was taken to Craigavon Area Hospital where he underwent a brain scan and received six stitches.

In a statement he claimed that during the assault Hillan told him "I'm going to do you in", and further threatened: "I'm going to burn your house with you all in it."

As the accused was leaving the scene he allegedly glared at the victim and shouted: "It's not over."

A claw hammer was located and seized during searches of his home.

Opposing bail, the prosecutor said: "There was an accusation of an affair between the applicant's wife and this particular injured party.

"It's believed this attack may have been some kind of retribution."

She added: "(Hillan) was said to have driven over 30 miles in the morning to attack the injured party, suggesting premeditation."

Defence counsel Damien Halleron confirmed his client has accepted injuring the man and damaging his van, but denies intentionally wound him.

He described the events as "a tragedy" for both the victim and the Hillan family.

"There was a disclosure made by Mrs Hillan about a long-term relationship with the complainant," Mr Halleron said.

"The blood has gone to Mr Hillan's head, the red mist has come down, and he made an ill-judged decision to drive a considerable distance from the marital home in Dundrod to Loughgall."

The barrister added: "His world has come shattering down, very abruptly and without any notice."

He stressed, however, that the Hillans are working through any difficulties for the sake of their marriage.

Granting bail, Judge Brian Sherrard excluded the accused from Co Armagh and banned any contact with the injured party.
His lawyers failed in the original proceedings centred on an alleged breach of privacy

A Co Antrim teenager who was part of the high-profile hacking of telecom giant TalkTalk has secured a new hearing in his legal challenge over media identification.

He had been set to appeal a ruling that Department of Justice cannot be compelled to implement a law banning the naming of juvenile crime suspects before they are charged.

His lawyers failed in the original proceedings centred on an alleged breach of privacy.

But senior judges today referred the case back to the High Court to determine separately if he has suffered any discrimination.

Now aged 19, he is still referred to only as JKL in the ongoing challenge.

He was 15 when police arrested him in October 2015 over a major hack into the phone and broadband provider's database.

Detectives interviewed him as a cyber-crime suspect before he was released on bail without charge at that stage.

Under the terms of the 1999 Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act no-one under 18 allegedly involved in an offence can be named in press reports.

Although that law applies to England, Wales and Northern Ireland, lawyers for the teenager claimed Stormont's continued failure to commence the Act breached his right to privacy.

They argue it was irrational to be denied the same protection given to minors once they are charged with an offence.

The legal loophole enabled his details and photograph to feature amid widespread newspaper and online publicity, according to their case.

Ultimately JKL pleaded guilty to unauthorised access to computer material.

He was ordered to complete 50 hours community service and write a letter of apology to the communications firm.

But the legal challenge is focused on the legislative protection from press identification for youths before they have been charged.

In December 2016 a High Court judge dismissed the bid to judicially review the Department.

He noted that the Stormont Executive at the time had decided legislation is currently not necessary, with protection through an independent press code of practice and the ability to sue for misuse of private information.

Lawyers for JKL were set to challenge that ruling in the Court of Appeal.

Instead, however, Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan, sitting with Sir John Gillen and Sir Richard McLaughlin, decided the case should be sent back to deal with a separate Article 14 point on protection from discrimination.

A new hearing is expected to be listed next month.
John Clifford admitted to indecently assaulting the boy in the mid 1980s

A convicted child killer currently serving a sentence for raping and murdering his niece has plead guilty to sexually abusing a young boy.

Appearing before Belfast Crown Court on Tuesday, John Clifford, whose address was given as "no fixed abode", admitted indecently assaulting the boy in the mid 1980s.

He initially denied the offences and the trial was opened, but a barrister acting for Clifford asked that his client be re-arraigned.

The 56-year old then entered "guilty" pleas to the sex offences, which occurred in the south east Antrim area between 1984 and 1986.

The offences against the young boy took place before Clifford was jailed in 1989 for the rape and murder of his eight-year old niece.

Sue-Ellen Clifford was taken from her north Belfast home by her uncle who sexually assaulted and strangled her before dumping the youngster's body on a disused railway line.

Clifford was sentenced for the murder and released in 2005, but was sent back to prison for breaching his probation. He then went on the run last September - which sparked a cross-border manhunt - after attending an appointment but not returning to custody.

At the time, Clifford was in a satellite unit of Maghaberry Prison in Belfast which houses inmates nearing the end of their sentence. Following a week on the run, Clifford was arrested in Newry and returned to custody.

He was back in court this week where a jury at Belfast Crown Court was sworn to preside over the hearing.

The eight women and four men were not told of Clifford's past, and heard the Crown's case against Clifford regarding the charges of abusing the boy.

The Crown said Clifford targeted the boy and abused him whilst the pair watched videos featuring train journeys, telling the youngster it was a game.

The jury was told that despite the abuse occurred in the mid-80s, the complainant only went to the police "more recently". When Clifford was interviewed about the allegations, he initially denied the claims and said he had done nothing untoward to the boy.

After Clifford change his plea and admitted the offences, the foreperson of the jury was told by Judge David McFarland to return "guilty by confession" verdicts.

Judge McFarland ordered a Victim Impact Report be compiled ahead of sentencing, which is due to take place on April 10, and Clifford was then remanded back into custody
Northern Irelands police chief has accused Sinn Feins president of poor leadership over her controversial comments about his potential successor.

George Hamilton branded Mary Lou McDonalds remarks ill-judged, wrong and inaccurate, claiming they ran directly contrary to Sinn Feins professed advocacy of integrity, fairness and equality.

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Last week, Mrs McDonald said she would not have confidence in any current member of the Police Service of Northern Irelands (PSNI) senior command team replacing Mr Hamilton when he retires in the summer.

Mr Hamilton suggested Mrs McDonald had contaminated and interfered with the selection process.

The Sinn Fein leaders remarks came after she met bereaved families caught up in a controversy involving the PSNIs failure to disclose documents about historical killings to Northern Irelands Police Ombudsman.

Expand Close Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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I think Mary Lou McDonald was wrong, said Mr Hamilton.

I think she was inaccurate and I think it was an act of poor leadership and it has a very detrimental impact on policing and on the peace we are all trying to build.

He added: I think its got us into an unfortunate pickle, it would be far better if wiser words, more measured words had been used and words that did not contaminate or interfere with the selection process.

The PSNIs oversight body  the Northern Ireland Policing Board  is responsible for appointing the chief constable.

Ordinarily, a Sinn Fein appointee would be on a board panel  made up of party political and independent board members  that makes the decision.

That practice has been thrown into doubt following Mrs McDonalds remarks, raising the prospect of a panel without Sinn Fein representation, or without any political appointees at all.

During a meeting at Policing Board headquarters on Tuesday, the organisations lawyers briefed members in private on their view on whether the comments had compromised the recruitment exercise.

Mr Hamilton also discussed the issue with board members, though he was not shown the legal advice.

Mrs McDonald has refused to apologise for, or retract, her comments.

When asked if she should say sorry, Mr Hamilton insisted that was a matter for her.

I dont anticipate for a second that were going to get that, he said of an apology.

But, more important than any offence she caused internally, whenever someone in leadership stands up and talks about the police being undemocratic, about being cynical, and about all the other very negative terms, how could we not be but surprised if there is a problem with confidence in policing.

They were ill-judged words, she has to own them, it's not up to me to give account or explain or anything like thatGeorge Hamilton, PSNI Chief Constable

He added: I think the comments were the antithesis of all Sinn Fein say they stand for.

They say they stand for equality, for fairness, for integrity and I cant think of anything further away from those qualities in what the party president said.

Mr Hamilton continued: They were ill-judged words, she has to own them, its not up to me to give account or explain or anything like that. I have been quite clear and quite robust on why I think the comments were wrong, why I think they were an antithesis of all she says she stands for around integrity, fairness and equality.

The original comments came during a press conference in Belfast during which Mrs McDonald claimed the PSNI had zero credibility in its handling of cases linked to the legacy of the Troubles.

Mrs McDonald was asked if she had confidence in any of the current leadership team to replace Mr Hamilton.

No I dont, she replied.

The PSNIs credibility on matters pertaining to legacy is zero, I dont think that happened today or yesterday but I think certainly this turn of events has confirmed that.

In response to a follow-up question on the same issue, 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.

Sinn Fein Policing Board member Gerry Kelly claimed Mr Hamilton's remarks on his party president were "political".

Addressing the media immediately after the chief constable concluded his press conference, Mr Kelly said: "He has accused Mary Lou of all sorts of things, and so have yous, and so have other people. I have already spoken about that."

He added: "I think the chief constable, perhaps led a bit by yourselves, was more than political when he was answering those questions over a period of 20 minutes.

"We have received legal advice, we will go away, it involves comments that were made not only by Mary Lou but by others, and that is the property of the Policing Board. I am not going into the detail of that."

Mr Kelly said the panel established by the board would be "fair and open" and only select a candidate on the basis of "merit".

Earlier this month, 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.

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.

The PSNI has apologised and said it never sought to withhold the information from the ombudsman investigators, putting the incident down to human error.
The effect of a no-deal Brexit on Northern Ireland has been revealed.

The Government has admitted that the effects of a no-deal Brexit would be "more severe" and "last longer" in Northern Ireland than the rest of the UK.

The information was included in a government paper released by the Department for Exiting the European Union on Tuesday, warning of the implications for business and trade of a no-deal Brexit.

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The paper revealed that the impact of a no-deal scenario in Northern Ireland would be "more severe" because of the shared land border with an EU country, the Republic of Ireland, and because of the lack of an Executive.

It reiterated the government's commitment to avoiding a hard border in Ireland "in any scenario".

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The UK Government is planning to shortly publish "immediate, temporary, arrangements for trade between Northern Ireland and Ireland in a no deal scenario".

It also pledged to work "urgently" with the Irish Government and the EU to find a longer-term solution in the event of a no-deal.

The document warned that community tensions in Northern Ireland could be heightened and there could also be increases in crime and security issues.

"Groups could seek to exploit gaps in law enforcement and any divergence between Northern Ireland and Ireland, which may lead to increases in smuggling and associated criminality," the document said.

It also warned that there would be a threat to the viability of many business across Northern Ireland due to the disruption of supply chains and increasing costs. This would then have a knock-on effect on the economy and unemployment.

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Northern Ireland's economy could fall by 9.1% after around 15 years in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Any no-deal exit would also make attempts to restore power-sharing at Stormont less likely, the paper said.

The Single Electricity Market (SEM) between Northern Ireland and the Republic could also be affected.

The UK pledged to work with the Irish government to see a continuation of the service, but admitted that the UK could not control negotiations with Ireland or the EU.

As it stands the UK is set to leave the European Union without a deal on March 29.

Earlier Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons that if her Brexit deal was rejected by the House of Commons on March 12, she would give MPs the option of delaying Brexit or leaving with no-deal.

Mrs May said the Government was publishing the paper assessing the readiness for a no-deal Brexit and the "very serious challenges" it would pose.

"I believe that if we have to, we will ultimately make a success of a no-deal," she told MPs.

"But this paper provides an honest assessment of the very serious challenges it would bring in the short-term and further reinforces why the best way for this House to honour the referendum result is to leave with a deal."
Belfast International Airport has announced they are to expand their security area after a number of complaints in recent months.

The airport has announced plans to expand its security area from six search lanes to eight.

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There have been a number of complaints directed to the airport in recent months due to long delays in the security area.

In January there were reports from passengers of "chaotic scenes" as they waited to pass through security.

The airport has apologised on a number of occasions for the length of the queues at the Aldergrove facility.

While work is ongoing to expand the security area the six current lanes will be reduced to five.

The work is expected to be completed around the middle of March.

The airport warned passengers that the upgrade work could cause further delays.

Expand Close Belfast International Airport has experienced delays in recent months. Pic Michael Smyth / Facebook

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"We understand this may cause some delays and are advising customers to arrive two hours prior departure. We thank you for your continued patience," an airport spokesperson said.
A Ballymurphy community worker has told the inquest into the 1971 massacre how the blood of a local priest ran down his arms as he helped remove his body from the scene.

Fr Hugh Mullan (38) died alongside 19-year-old Frank Quinn on wasteland at Finlays Field on August 9th 1971.

Brian McLaughlin (74) had recently taken over as keyholder at Ballymurphy and New Barnsley Community Centre which operated as a refuge for local residents on the evening.

Mr McLaughlin told the inquest that while he didn't see anyone being shot, the bodies of Fr Mullan and Mr Quinn were brought to the centre by a student doctor from Jordan, Ali Keeli, who had been serving as a youth worker in the community.

Mr McLaughlin said he and others had carried the bodies away from the centre to other houses in Moyard Parade to minimise the trauma to others already receiving medical treatment at the community centre.

Expand Close Father Hugh Mullan was killed as he went to the aid of Bobby Clarke (PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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He also told how he had seen one man in the Moyard estate with a revolver but hadn't seen him fire it.

"After internment people were living in total fear of the people we had trusted," he told the inquest.

"In fear of the police and the army. We saw them as the attackers. We lived in a nightmare. We were being attacked by the police, the army and the Protestant population."

Mr McLaughlin told how he had tried to get into the field to get to the bodies but had come under fire.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Riots : Belfast. January 1971. Soldiers frisking passengers and driver of a car on the Springfield Road, near Ballymurphy. (14/01/1971) Riots: Belfast. August 1970. Soldiers shelter behind their riot shields during rioting at Ballymurphy. (04/08/70) Riots : Belfast. August 1970. The common sight in the Roman Catholic estate at Ballymurphy, Belfast, as young rioters attack the army with missiles during the troubles. (04/08/70) Ballymurphy: troops stand by at the junction of Springfield and Whiterock Roads (20/09/1970) Riots : Belfast. January 1971. Catholic housing estate, Ballymurphy. (15/01/1971) Mourners file past the coffin of Father Hugh Mullan, one of the 10 people killed (PA Archive) PA Archive/PA Images Father Hugh Mullan. Shot at Moyard Park. 9/8/1971 THE FUNERAL HEARSE CARRYING THE BODY OF FATHER HUGH MULLAN TRAVELS ALONG THE ROAD IN BALLYMURPHY ESTATE. 12/8/1971 Joseph Murphy was one of 10 people shot dead by British soldiers in West Belfast in 1971 Pacemaker Press 17/6/10 John McKerr who is one of the 11 people died in the Ballymurphy Massacre in 1971 in West Belfast Pacemaker Press 17/6/10 Fr Hugh Mullan who is one of the 11 people died in the Ballymurphy Massacre in 1971 in West Belfast Pacemaker Press 17/6/10 Joseph Corr who is one of the 11 people died in the Ballymurphy Massacre in 1971 in West Belfast Pacemaker Press 17/6/10 Danny Teggart who is one of the 11 people died in the Ballymurphy Massacre in 1971 in West Belfast Pacemaker Press 17/6/10 Danny Teggart who is one of the 11 people died in the Ballymurphy Massacre in 1971 in West Belfast Pacemaker Press 17/6/10 Danny Teggart who is one of the 11 people died in the Ballymurphy Massacre in 1971 in West Belfast Press Eye Ltd Northern Ireland - 25th January 2012 Mandatory Credit - Photo-Jonathan Porter/Presseye. Ballymurphy massacre relatives call for a meeting with the Prime Minister, David Cameron. 10 people were shot dead by soldiers in west Belfast in August 1971. The victims, which included a priest and a mother-of-eight, were killed over the course of three days in August 1971 by members of the Parachute Regiment during Operation Demetrius, when people suspected of paramilitary activity were interned. Relatives Rita Bonner, John Teggart and Briege Voyle pictured at the top of the Whiterock Road in west Belfast beside a mural depicting the shootings. / Facebook

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"I felt the zing of bullets. Anyone going out there was fired on."

He disputed previous statements given in 1999 that "volunteers" were "in and out of the community centre carrying nothing heavier than a couple of shortarms, no rifles" saying the interview given to a journalist at that time was speaking in general terms about the atmosphere in the area in the days immediately after internment.

Sean Daly, who suffered a gunshot wound to his foot in the August 1971 attack, is due to give evidence this afternoon.
Things are still looking grim for the U.K. Photo: Karwai Tang/WireImage

With less than five weeks to go before the U.K. is scheduled to leave the European Union, deal or no deal, Prime Minister Theresa May is no closer to finalizing a divorce agreement than she was two months  or two years  ago. With the clock rapidly ticking down to a potentially disastrous crash-out scenario on March 29, the time has come for last-minute gambits. Both May and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn made decisions on Monday that took the country by surprise, stepping back from the maximalist positions they had maintained throughout the past two-plus years of Brexit drama.

First, Corbyn announced that his Labour Party would back a second referendum on Brexit if its alternative plan for a softer Brexit fails to pass the House of Commons this week (which is almost a certainty). Later in the day, Bloomberg reported that the prime minister may convene her Cabinet today to discuss the possibility of extending the Brexit deadline past March 29, mere hours after insisting that a deal was in reach and a delay would be pointless. In this case, if Parliament failed to pass a Brexit deal by March 12, she would let them hold a binding vote on whether to proceed with a no-deal Brexit or put off the deadline, perhaps by a significant amount of time.

These surprise U-turns reflect the desperation of a government that has to make a very big, very hard decision in a very short time. They also illustrate what an inescapable political mess Brexit has become for both of the U.K.s leading parties.

Lets start with Corbyn and Labour. While the partys grassroots strongly support a second vote, its MPs are much more reluctant to do so. Labour MPs face a dilemma American Democrats will find strikingly familiar: To win elections outside the major cities where the bulk of their voters are concentrated, they need the support of blue-collar workers in Britains industrial heartland: the much-coveted white (or in this case, English) working class. Many of these swing voters are Leavers. For his part, Corbyn has insisted all along that he would respect the original vote and fight for a Brexit that preserved British workers rights, which may have helped win many of these swing voters back to Labour in the last general election.

Although the sincerity of his convictions in that regard have long been in doubt, as Cambridge professor David Runciman explained to The New Yorkers Isaac Chotiner, Corbyn and his inner circle now believe that leaving the E.U. will give a future Labour government a freer hand in enacting their socialist agenda. That, of course, makes Corbyns decision to humor his base and countenance a second referendum all the more odd.

The way hes framing it is that Labour will do whatever it takes to prevent a Tory Brexit  encompassing both the no-deal nightmare and the wildly unpopular deal May agreed to with Brussels bureaucrats and has repeatedly failed to muscle through Parliament. The idea, it seems, is to give Labour MPs some wiggle room to say they backed a sensible Brexit deal or a second referendum, depending on what kind of constituency theyre facing, all the while underscoring that it was the Tories who got Britain into this mess, so if it all goes to hell, voters know whom to blame.

Of course, the vote Corbyn would really like is another general election: specifically, one that carries him into 10 Downing Street with a commanding majority in Parliament and a mandate to carry out his policy vision. To that end, he has been stumping for a Norwayplus version of Brexit that would keep the U.K. in the E.U. customs union and maintain the free movement of labor, essentially promising the public that Britain can leave the E.U. without making all the changes that would entail  an ironic counterpoint to the hard-Brexit crowds false promise that the country can make those changes without suffering any negative consequences. Runciman calls this a fantasy, adding that Corbyns parallel dream of a general election leading to a Labour rout is about the least likely of all the scenarios weve got.

The trouble is that Norwayplus cant pass Parliament any more than Mays plan can. A second referendum is not very likely to pass, either, so the risk Corbyn runs is failing to prevent a Tory Brexit and getting nothing for his trouble except a fractured party. At least 25 Labour MPs would likely vote against a second referendum, perhaps twice as many. Precious few Conservatives back another vote.

Corbyn is already losing support within his own party, first from centrists who broke off to form the nascent Independent Group along with a few defecting Conservatives last week, and now perhaps from a social-democratic faction as well. In theory, Corbyn could cobble together a majority if he got the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish National Party, and the Democratic Unionists in Northern Ireland on board, while holding onto the bulk of Labour MPs and peeling off a few Tories, but its a long shot.

Finally, hanging over all of this is the sobering fact that a second referendum might not result in the cancellation of Brexit after all. Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee, praising Corbyns about-face, points out that polls and focus groups suggest it will: Few switch sides, but the switchers all move towards remain. Those who didnt vote but would do so next time break 3:1 for remain. Yet as long as May (or some other Tory) holds onto the prime ministry, the government will campaign robustly for some version of Leave, as opposed to in 2016 when it campaigned ineffectually for Remain. The xenophobic nationalists who gave birth to Brexit in the first place would be up in arms  perhaps literally. A multiple-choice referendum (Mays deal, Norwayplus, no-deal, or no Brexit) might produce no clear winner, leading to more political chaos and social strife.

Shifting to an anti-Brexit posture might be the right call for Labour, but theres no pretending a second referendum would simply reverse the first one and close the matter. As Toynbee herself acknowledged last month, the conflict over Brexit is bound to go on for years to come.

As for May, if she really is considering a delay in the Brexit deadline, this suggests that she is growing less confident in her ability to slide in under the wire with a deal before the end of March. Her party is split, too, between radical nationalists clamoring for Brexit, deal or no-deal; and conservative, pro-business types afraid of the economic chaos that would likely ensue from an unconscious uncoupling. Her attempts to scare her party into uniting around her plan have only encouraged the hardline Brexiteers to deceive the public into believing that a no-deal Brexit wouldnt really be all that bad. For the prime minister, letting Parliament veto a crash-out and force a delay would effectively be admitting that she is no longer steering the ship, but that would be better than steering the ship directly into a minefield.

On Monday, European Council president Donald Tusk said it would be a rational decision, considering the alternative, but the E.U. also has reasons not to want a delay. European Parliament elections are coming up in May, and its not clear whether the U.K. should participate in those elections if the deadline is extended. Considering that this is the election in which the far-right hopes to take control of the E.U., the bloc has more important things to worry about than whether to hold seats for British MEPs who probably wont end up taking them.

With time running out, May is finally having to face the reality that if her own party cant even agree on what Brexit should look like, her chances of finding a deal that would survive a Tory rebellion, pass Parliament, and get the okay from Brussels are as slim as ever, and the impending threat of crashing out hasnt influenced that calculus as much as she had hoped. Passing any kind of Brexit deal would require a cross-party majority, and no such majority appears to exist.

Whatever happens in the next few weeks, the prognosis for the U.K.s political establishment is grim. Society is deeply divided, voters are down on both major parties, and both the government and the legislature are failing to lead in a crisis situation. Brexit hasnt just fractured the Labour and the Conservative parties; it may have broken British politics entirely.
Arlene Foster met with Theresa May following her Commons statement

DUP leader Arlene Foster has said "extending deadlines does nothing to encourage a deal", as Prime Minister Theresa May announced the possibility of delaying Brexit.

In a statement to the Commons on Tuesday, Mrs May said she will put her Withdrawal Agreement to a "meaningful vote" by March 12. If that fails, MPs will be offered two separate votes in the following days.

One will be on whether MPs support a no-deal Brexit and the other will be requesting an extension to the two-year Article 50 negotiation process beyond March 29.

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Following a meeting with Mrs May, Arlene Foster urged the Prime Minister to deliver on her commitments to seek changes to the Withdrawal Agreement.

"We support a sensible deal and a managed exit from the European Union. Parliament has mandated the Prime Minister to seek a replacement of the backstop," she said.

"At that time, the Prime Minister committed to seek legally binding changes to the Withdrawal Agreement.

"This position commanded a clear majority in Parliament. Mrs May should deliver on those commitments. Experience in Northern Ireland has shown that extending deadlines does nothing to encourage a deal.

"A no-deal outcome can be avoided and it can be agreed long before the March 29. The European Union have it in their hands to avoid such an outcome. They know exactly what is required to achieve a deal which Parliament can support.

"It's time for Dublin and Brussels to be in a deal-making mode."

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Ulster Unionist leader Robin Swann said a Brexit delay will be worth it if it results in a better deal.

"If (a delay) ensures we get a deal, then a short extension is unfortunate but worth it in the end," he said.

"We want to see the referendum result honoured but, with a deal for Northern Ireland that does not include the backstop which undermines the Belfast Agreement and the principle of consent.

"The Brexit which the DUP promised will not be delivered by the present proposals."

In response to Theresa May's statement, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party will put an alternative Brexit plan before MPs on Wednesday.

He said the plan is based around a "new customs union with the EU" and "close alignment" with the single market.

"The Prime Minister's botched deal provides no certainty or guarantees for the future and was comprehensively rejected by this House," he added.

"If it somehow does pass in some form at a later stage, we believe there must be a confirmatory public vote to see if people feel that's what they voted for."
Bank of Ireland Group has reported a fall in pre-tax profits to 835m (724m) during 2018, down from 852m (739) the year before.

The bank said customer loans grew to 77bn (67bn), with new lending of 15.9bn (13.8bn), according to 2018 results for the group.

In its mortgage sector, the bank reported a 17% growth in lending. The bank has a mortgage market share in the Republic of Ireland of 27%.

Overall the bank reported underlying profit of 935m (811m), a decline on the profit of 1.08bn (0.94bn) reported for the previous year.

The results do not give detail on the bank's operations in Northern Ireland apart from a statement that the operation "is performing in line with our business objectives". It also adds that it is taking action to grow its business in the UK.

Bank of Ireland shares fell as much as 8% yesterday, and closed well down, as the results showed reduced margins and a smaller than expected pre-tax profit.

The bank also announced progress in its plan to reduce its costs by 10% by 2021, as it had cut its workforce by 525 jobs to 10,892 by the end of December.

However, the bank did announce the first net increase in the total size of its loan book for a decade however - to 77bn - even as chief executive Francesca McDonagh warned that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are holding off on investment and on borrowing pending the outcome of Brexit negotiations.

The bank proposed an increased dividend to 0.16 per share, or 173m, for 2018.

Last week the bank announced a 1.75bn Brexit fund to help businesses on both sides of the border absorb the potential impact of the UK leaving the EU.

Ian Sheppard, the bank's Northern Ireland managing director, said while larger businesses appear better prepared, many SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) still need support.

The bank said it has already held 250 events around the island for smaller companies in the past 18 months.

Mr Sheppard said the feedback from his staff's daily engagements with business customers is that many need more help to mitigate the impact Brexit could potentially bring.
The Belfast medical company behind a revolutionary thermometer has said its growth is being slowed by the impact of Brexit.

Trimedika, which was set up three years ago by Dr Roisin Molloy and Julie Brien, has attracted significant global interest for its non-contact infra-red reader.

Around 1,000 units are already in use, but the company's plan to deliver between 20,000 and 30,000 devices this year has been hit by potential clients in the EU delaying major orders.

The small start-up firm, based on the Springfield Road, has said it is being forced to effectively mirror itself across the border, doubling costs by setting up new premises, staff and warehouse in the Republic.

Chief executive Roisin Molloy said: "We've have three large customers in Germany who've been trialling our device for the last year.

"And each one of them has said in the past week that there was going to be complications buying from us because of the Brexit situation."

Rather than focus on growth and developing its next generation thermometer, the firm is now in problem-solving mode, she said.

Chief operating officer Julie Brien said: "It's not just a question of setting up another company in the south.

"We will also have to set up logistics capacity and proper warehousing so the goods don't go out of the EU jurisdiction.

"It means us having to finance and support two stocks of product and two sales offices."

Dr Molloy added: "It's double the accounts, double warehousing, double sales staff, double everything.

"It is a big issue."

Trimedika's TriTemp device's technology allows it to read the infrared energy coming off the body and calculate a core body temperature. It means no contact, cutting back on costs and infections.

The thermometer has already been sold into 10 markets, with companies in 50 other markets expressing an interest.

A next generation wi-fi enabled device that could instantly update patient records is already in development.

The co-founders have said it could help cut down on transcription error in hospitals.

But the delay in orders has left the company without the revenue it had expected to further develop the product.

"It actually pulls you away from the most important thing that we have to do, which is sell our product, create our revenue and invest that back into the development of future products," said Ms Brien.

"It's an unwanted and significant distraction for where we are at the moment, but we have to deal with it."
Drumshanbo in Co Leitrim was selected by drinks industry veteran Pat Rigney as the home for The Shed Distillery back in 2013 for personal as well as business reasons, and there's a touch of romance to the tale.

For it was at the former Arigna Mine, close to the town, where his parents met back in the 1950s - his mother Mary was the bookkeeper at the mine while his Dad, Seamus, was the auditor.

The Shed's flagship brand is Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin, which is now a household name within the gin fraternity in Ireland and stocked in over 30 international markets at high-end establishments like the George V hotel in Paris and by retailers including Selfridges and Cunard.

Prince Albert of Monaco and Count Carl Von Hardenberg of the German drinks dynasty are the proud owners of two of the first-ever casks of whiskey distilled in Drumshanbo.

The distinctive blue gin bottle and its unique ingredients, including Gunpowder Tea, has also made quite the impact in its relatively short life with consumers.

Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin hit a milestone last year, selling over 100,000 cases for the first time.

But it's clear from serial entrepreneur Mr Rigney, who has spent three decades in the drinks industry, that The Shed Distillery was more about giving something back and creating a legacy industry than it was about making money.

Sure, he says, the company has to be profitable, which it is. But for him, the distillery at the former Laird's Jam site in Leitrim was just different.

"I remember arriving in Drumshanbo on a dark and rainy day in December 2013. The country was worn out after the economic crash - I don't call it a recession, it was a crash.

"The factory had already been leased to the community to create jobs. I believe in karma and I really hit it off with the guys in Drumshanbo and loved the location," he says

"We were looking for somewhere special to locate the business, where we could develop a community partnership on a main street and where we could create a remarkable brand."

Then there was the family history with the place, which also played into the choice of location, and a year later the distillery took off with whiskey production.

"We started off distilling whiskey, what we call Premier Grand Cru, the top end of the market, and we have been distilling it since just after the winter solstice in 2014. Drumshanbo Gunpowder Gin then came in 2015 and Sausage Tree Pure Irish Vodka in 2016," he adds.

Romance aside, it wasn't an easy ride getting the distillery business up and running given what the country had been through economically.

The investment community was risk-averse even when it came to a drinks industry veteran with his credentials.

The fact that as executive director at Bailey's he had created the Sheridan's brand - the coffee-layered liqueur - and that he is also credited with bringing the former to the international market wasn't enough to convince the banks.

"We started The Shed Distillery off with nothing. We had no sales, I couldn't get funding. I got rejected by the bank and had to go to another one to get the bond. Perhaps it's a reflection of the way things were at the time. It's still pretty risk-averse out there now and challenging for anyone trying to raise money.

"When you've an early-stage business it's much easier to raise money - but not when you're starting off from scratch. Fortunately, I was able to put a very strong team together locally in Drumshanbo.

"On the technical side, I was very lucky to get to know distiller Brian Taff, who is now the head distiller at The Shed Distillery.

"Many of the team were unemployed when we started off and have since learned a whole new skills set. I have to say key was the support from Enterprise Ireland and Bord Bia - they were both brilliant."

Rigney was also co-founder of the Boru Vodka brand and later sold out of that business through a flotation. He says The Shed Distillery, which is majority owned by Rigney and his family, started off with 1m, with 275,000 coming from Enterprise Ireland and the rest from Mr Rigney and his family.

It was a hard slog, he admits but he credits the team in Drumshanbo with much of the success.

The Shed had sales of 7m last year and it is expected that this figure will grow by 10% to 15% this year.

It is expected to grow staff numbers to 50 in the next couple of years from current figure of 28 full-time employees in Leitrim currently, with thanks largely in part to its flagship brand - Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin.

While getting the capital together to finance the business may have been difficult initially, Mr Rigney also admitted there was an element of luck to the timing of the launch as the gin industry was in the midst of a global renaissance at the time.

"Gin in Ireland, in particular, had traditionally been seen as old-fashioned. But in the UK and France it was taking off, we were lucky with the timing. It's also a tribute to how Irish people have embraced the brand.

"Abroad, the community brand is seen as an interesting concept too," he says.

Building relationships as well as brands has been key for growth too and Mr Rigney added that the company deals with a lot of other family firms while marketing the brand abroad.

"Whether it's airports or top hotels, bars and retailers - they are searching for high-quality brands that have something new. The market is changing, too. They seek you out as much as you seek them out.

"We have a brilliant importer in France, for example, called La Maison du Whisky and they would have presented the brand. I got to know them at a trade show in Dusseldorf, which was a Bord Bia event. Getting to know these partners is basically like speed-dating.

"The show would have about 500 gins at it and they would maybe pick only two or three of them. We built up the business in a sensible way and it's all about building brands that are best in class - they have to be when you are selling abroad.

"Ireland's is a small market and it's an extremely competitive market, but we are doing well. We have a great team working with our partners. I call them the Spitfire pilots - they are up and running within weeks and they work very closely with our partners. It's also about building trust.

Looking to the future, there will be the launch of the whiskey brand later this year, launching in new markets abroad and the launch of a 1.5m visitor centre at Drumshanbo.

Launching into the new markets like Hong Kong and Rome is key to the longevity of the business. "That for me is a very significant moment as we develop our travel retail business. It shows that the brand has longevity and has a broad church of consumers and that's important in the long-term for the business. We are there because they seek quality."

Back in Drumshanbo, the construction phase of the 1.5m visitor centre is just around the corner.

"We're just about to go out to tender for the construction phase of our visitor centre. It's part of the bigger picture. We expect to grow employment levels to 50 within two years in Leitrim as we also develop the visitor centre.

"At that stage you are really contributing to the community, you have a destination and a platform to further build your brands. We are also part of the Hidden Heartlands tourism offering, and will be working closely with Ireland West (Knock Airport) and Waterways Ireland too.

"I think what we have in Leitrim is unique. I call it extreme resourcefulness. The Meitheal (an Irish expression meaning teamwork) is alive and well in Drumshanbo. I mean it's completely different to Dublin, which works well in a different way too.

"For example, we were bringing in big equipment into the distillery on one or two occasions and were having difficulties and one of the local farmers lent us his machinery in the end."

In addition to The Shed Distillery, which is 90% owned by Mr Rigney and his family, and a stake in Dalcassian Wines, a wine and spirit distribution business, he has his fingers in a number of other pies.

He's on the advisory boards to the Prince of Baden, the biggest landowner in Germany and drinks firm Hardenberg Wilthen, where he supports its business interests in the US and Europe.

He is also an investor in Ovelle Pharmaceuticals, the maker of the Elave skincare range, as well as a number of other firms.

But the favourite child is clearly The Shed Distillery and this is obvious from his attitude towards the visitor centre which he admits is a risky venture.

"Are we going to make big money from it? No. But it will support our brand, create employment and it's the right thing to do," Mr Rigney adds.
The head of a US tech firm behind plans to create 150 new jobs in Belfast said the city has the most product engineering-centric culture it has found outside of Silicon Valley in the US.

San Jose-based Signifyd, which makes anti-fraud software for online transactions, plans to establish its global research and development centre in Northern Ireland. It will recruit the roles over the next three to five years, with salaries averaging 33,000. Economic development agency Invest NI has offered the firm 981,500 as part of the move, which it said will eventually generate 5m in annual salaries for the economy.

Set up in late 2011, Signifyd employs 215 people, and has already recruited 12 here since Christmas for its new Belfast base in River House on High Street.

Chief executive Raj Ramanand said the firm had looked at locations in the USA, Asia and Europe, but said its leadership team were drawn by Belfast's product and engineering culture.

Its an amazing culture here. There was a lot of things built here, from linen to ropes to ships to whiskey, and we want to continue that in the software world, he said.

We dont want it to just be a support organisation, we want to build AI (artificial intelligence) in Belfast.

We looked at a lot of places in Europe, and Belfast does have the most product and engineering-centric culture outside Silicon Valley that we found.

The co-founder said Signifyd plans to eventually expand into its own facility in Belfast. As we scale up, well have to look for more space. But for where were at now, we love the place were in.

Mr Ramanand said the company made the decision last summer to set up shop here and that it had not been deterred by the uncertainty surrounding Brexit.

We looked at all of this before we chose to come here. It wasnt like we came in without any of that knowledge, he said.

At the same time what were focused on is really this concept of building something.

Alastair Hamilton, chief executive of Invest NI, said that while Brexit poses significant challenges for businesses trading out of Northern Ireland, it had not deterred foreign direct investment (FDI).

In the global FDI space we are not detecting at all any significant impact on our ability to build a pipeline then, secondly, to secure the projects and the jobs, he commented.

We will announce our results later on in the year, but I expect they will be similar if not better than in the past.

The reason for that is that the majority of inward investors coming into Northern Ireland are looking access to talent, and we have that.

The majority of companies are not coming to set up here to access the European marketplace and sell products and servicing. Theyre accessing talent to deliver mainly back into the US market.

I think that gives us a natural hedge to the risks that people might perceive there to be around the Brexit challenges.

As far as inward investment is concerned, we still have a healthy pipeline, he added.

In the case of Signifyd, the Invest NI boss said: They were looking for a centre outside of San Francisco, because the war for talent was so intense and the wages so high that it really wasnt cost-effective for them to build the R&D capability there.

He said the companys visit to Belfast clinched the deal.

And while companies are aware of the issues posed by Brexit, Mr Hamilton contended: From their point of view the real focus is on the skills, the talent, the ecosystem that is now developing around payments and financial services and data analytics, with the colleges and universities, and thats what swung it.

Trevor McCullough, director of engineering at the new R&D hub, said he expects the centre to be on an aggressive growth path.

Signifyd has said it will be recruiting in the area of software engineering, data, risk and fraud analytics, along with customer success positions.

Well be rapidly building a team from the ground up, which in the end will make the business lives of thousands of customers better, he said.
A popular Co Down hotel has elevated its rating to four-star status and attracted an award for excellence from Tourism NI following a 1m facelift.

Belmont House Hotel in Banbridge, which is run by Walter and Jane Russell, was upgraded when it unveiled an elegant new interior recently.

The refurbishment saw all eight en-suite rooms redesigned, while hospitality areas including its dining room and large function suite also got a revamp. The period features of the 19th century Georgian Linen House mansion have also been restored.

The Russell family, who also run Harry's Bar in Banbridge, said the team at the hotel is "delighted" with its new status.

Walter Russell said: "It recognises all the hard work and investment we have committed to developing the Belmont House Hotel into the ideal venue for both the corporate and leisure market.

"We are a family-run hotel with an exceptional team, some of whom have been with the Belmont House Hotel for over 30 years, so when it came to refurbishment, we had a personal investment to get it right."

Mr Russell said plans for Northern Ireland's first ever Game of Thrones exhibition, due to open in the town later this year, will see him look at further expansion to cater for demand. "This four-star award gives our guests confidence that they will enjoy excellent service, hospitality and luxury facilities with staff who will truly go the extra mile," he said.

Tourism NI's star rating scheme focuses on a range of areas, including the hospitality, cleanliness, standard of bedrooms, bathrooms and food. The number of stars awarded to a property following inspection indicates the standard visitors can expect and in the case of Belmont House Hotel, it has been rated "excellent".

Belmont House Hotel was built in 1838 for Robert McClelland, owner of the Bann Weaving Factory. It then was owned by yachtsman William 'Jumbo' Anderson and changed hands again around 1930 when the Finney family moved in.

It has operated as a hotel for three decades, and in 2015 the Bonner family sold the business to the Russells for 1m.
The Eglantine Inn in south Belfast - long a favourite spot for the city's student population - has been put up for sale with a 1.4m price tag.

The venue is being sold as a going concern by hospitality giant Wine Inns, which also owns Belfast bars and restaurants Cutters Wharf and Doyen, as well as nightclub Alibi.

The Malone Road property is opposite the Botanic Inn, also a well-established student nightspot. It's now owned by the Mooney Group, the owners of the Wellington Park Hotel next to 'The Bot'.

The Eg, as it's known, was in the past bracketed with the nearby Elms pub on University Road as stops for student pub crawls.

However, The Elms went on the market six years ago and was turned into a Tesco Express.

Gavin Weir, director of pubs and hotels at selling agents GVA NI, said there had already been a strong level of demand in the pub.

"The building offers huge scope to reinvent or to further develop the existing brand, and either way the sale will enhance the leisure offering in the city.

"Belfast boasts a diverse and exciting leisure offering rivalling that available in any of the UK or Ireland's main regional cities."
Is Brexit postponement inevitable and necessary? The end of preparation for Brexit is just days away. Unless there is an unexpected extension of the Article 50 timetable, on March 30 life will change. The detail of the changes is, even now, not generally understood. Will I still be allowed to drive my car to Donegal or Dublin? Will I need the international 'green' card? Will the Irish border be frictionless or a point of fiscal friction?

If cross-border trade on this island is to avoid customs processes, some form of 'backstop' arrangement to cope with regulatory requirements is needed.

At March 30, unless the United Kingdom government and the EU Commission reach an agreed withdrawal deal, UK membership of the EU will end. This is the 'cliff edge' scenario.

The alternative scenario would be that the UK Parliament will have endorsed the withdrawal agreement and any related supplementary deal, meaning that a transition period will commence. In the transition period, the present arrangements will continue broadly as at present until plans for an orderly Brexit are put in place.

Given the degree of uncertainty and lack of preparation, the other alternative is that the UK and EU might agree a postponement, by seeking an extension of the Article 50 timetable. In the search for an orderly Brexit, an Article 50 postponement is an attractive, short-term, delaying measure. Meanwhile, public service officials have been drawing up contingency plans for widespread disruption in public services.

The management of the withdrawal agreement by the UK government and Parliament has been one of the most confusing and uncertain processes. The list of unanswered questions, recently published by the Chambers of Commerce, is a serious criticism of what should have been decided months ago. In terms of business operations, Brexit is heading for a spectacular crash.

The Irish border question has proved to be a serious problem, well beyond the expectations when the search began for a frictionless border. At first sight, the Irish border questions seemed straightforward. As a specific detail of the EU withdrawal, trade across the North-South Irish border ideally should not face any new obligations, charges, or customs duties.

The complications of the Irish border were always likely to be contentious. No one was suggesting that there would be no border. As a legal concept, the border exists and has existed since the island was divided in 1921. As a trading concept, the border was much diminished by membership of the EU. It did not disappear completely as is evidenced by different rates of excise duties. Daily cross-border trade has been mainly frictionless.

The emerging potential cross-border problems become clear when, or if, the UK is outside the EU Single Market and customs union.

Goods crossing the border may become liable to rates of import duty, where previously no duty was payable.

Also, with the UK outside the EU, there is the potential for divergence in trading standards if the required qualities for imported goods to be acceptable where UK and EU standards diverge overtime. The possible divergence of trading standards poses a serious problem. Although divergence of standards will not be an immediate issue, the government and the EU would be unlikely to turn a blind eye to back door trade distortion incentives if standards did diverge.

On both sides of the Irish border there is agreement that cross-border business should be nearly frictionless. However, that leaves a need for some form of monitoring. The unhelpfully named backstop is the unpopular reciprocal face to monitor frictionless trade.

Frictionless trading seems to be a shared objective from all sides. The institutional arrangements pose problems. The EU does not wish to have backdoor trading access to the whole EU through Ireland. The UK does not wish to have trade into Northern Ireland monitored to help to avoid that backdoor. The objectives are similar: the regulatory mechanisms have become politically toxic.

Can Brexit be postponed please?
Orthopedic surgeon Donald Ozumba, MD, pled guilty to four additional sexual assault charges Feb. 25, according to The Dallas Morning News.

Five things to know:

1. In July 2018, Dr. Ozumba was sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting an elderly patient.

2. A judge sentenced him to no more than eight years in prison for each new count. The sentence will be served concurrently and he will spend no additional time behind bars.

3. Court records said two additional sexual assault charges were dismissed.

4. He was arrested in March 2017 after two women reported that he sexually assaulted them under the guise of treatment at OSSM Orthopaedics in McKinney, Texas.

5. The Texas Medical Board suspended his license. A week after his arrest, three more women reported that Dr. Ozumba had sexually assaulted them, and he was arrested again.
Bill de Blasio addresses a small crowd in Des Moines after struggling through a blizzard. Photo: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Iowa has a way of cutting large would-be-presidential egos down to size. Politicians competing (or thinking about competing) in the states first-in-the-nation caucus have to deal with arctic winter weather, backroads travel, and most of all, a landscape where people expect big-name pols to court them personally in their towns and even in their homes. So its rarely a cakewalk.

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New York mayor and possible 2020 presidential candidate Bill de Blasio is the latest Big Deal to suffer some humiliation in Iowa, as the New York Post (which appears to be following him around in hopes of just this sort of development) reports:

Reporters from New York City wisely decided to wait out a snowstorm in Sioux City following an event at which de Blasio touted his progressive agenda to about two dozen residents on Saturday night.

But the mayor ignored the dangerous weather and insisted on heading south to Des Moines with his security detail.

Hizzoner made it less than halfway before calling it quits in Onawa, Iowa  estimated population 2,849  to bed down in a Super 8 Motel, sources said.

And instead of enjoying some of the Hawkeye States award-winning barbecue or succulent steaks, he had to make do with a microwaved burrito.

The mayors gas-station burrito dinner reflected the generally poor luck, and poor attendance, he experienced on this lost weekend in Iowa, as CNN noted:

His two public events over the weekend drew smaller crowds than nearly any other contender, which can be only partially blamed on an unusually wicked mix of snow, wind and ice.

He had a couple dozen attendees at a meet-and-greet at a Sioux City bar on Saturday night, and then drew 50 to a hastily arranged Des Moines event sponsored by the Iowa Asian and Latino Coalition. It was duly noted by media that the perpetually tardy mayor was 11 minutes late to this second event, though the Post did report he was there on time and was in an adjoining room while his hosts searched for a recording of New York, New York to play.

The trip wasnt totally a waste of time. De Blasio did score an interview with the states dominant media presence, the Des Moines Register, though the only news to come out of the interview involved his ruminations on the failed Amazon deal, which is probably not the mayors favorite subject right now. And he did get photographed sitting across a table from popular former Democratic governor Tom Vilsack at the iconic Drake Diner in Des Moines.

It definitely could have been worse for de Blasio. Last time he was in Iowa, in December of 2017, his New York troubles followed him in a more visceral way than a few questions in a newspaper interview, as Caroline Bankoff reported at the time:

Around a dozen officers from the citys largest police union, the Patrolmens Benevolent Association, traveled to Des Moines to protest at the mayors appearance. The PBA and de Blasio have clashed frequently throughout his mayoralty, with the relationship reaching a low point in 2014, when the union encouraged members to turn their backs on him at the funerals of cops killed in the line of duty. Theyre currently engaged in stalled contract talks  (Meanwhile, the Transport Workers Union, which has taken Governor Andrew Cuomos side in the fight over who to blame for the awful state of New Yorks subways, paid for a full-page ad in the Des Moines Register declaring that Phony Bill is no Bernie Sanders!)

At this point, de Blasio probably should stay away from Iowa unless hes willing to announce an actual candidacy. Serving as a source of amusement for campaign-trail and New York media alike is not a good reason for him to brave the difficult physical and political climate of this state. If nothing else, he should wait to return until summer and the Iowa State Fair, where the food may be no more nutritious than a gas-station burrito, but the crowds are reliably larger.
Five orthopedic and spine device companies that recently launched or released devices:

OrthoGrid Systems will unveil its PhantomMSK Hip Preservation System at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons 2019 Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, March 12-16.

Royal Philips launched Philips Zenition, a mobile C-arm imaging platform used in orthopedic, trauma and vascular procedures.

DePuy Synthes launched its Femoral Neck System for femoral neck fractures.

ZAP Surgical Systems launched its gyroscopic radiosurgery platform ZAP-X at Barrow Brain and Spine in Phoenix.

Southern Spine released three StabiLink Dual Lamina Implants designed for upper thoracic clinical use.
Doctor on Demand, a telemedicine company, released details on a new digital platform that allows health plans and employers to offer patients virtual primary care.

Three notes:

1. Synapse is designed to give health plans and employers the ability to link their existing networks and services with Doctor on Demand providers.

2. The new platform will feature a singular patient profile that stores all the individual's health data and real-time health updates. The platform also provides medical device connectivity to Apple Healthkit and Google Fit.

3. Delivered through video, voice or messaging, Synapse aims to broaden Doctor on Demand's clinical services, including preventive health, chronic disease management and urgent care.

"We're just starting the journey of revolutionizing healthcare and making it more accessible to people everywhere," Gary Shapiro, Consumer Technology Association president and CEO, said in a press release. "Digital health innovations are changing our lives for the better and an innovative, virtual care solution will help solve many of the challenges in primary care and address the needs of patients, physicians, health plans and employers."

To view the full report, click here.
William Husel, MD, who was fired from Columbus, Ohio-based Mount Carmel Health System, requested a hearing before the state Medical Board of Ohio to appeal the suspension of his medical license, WOSU Public Media reports.

The date of the hearing has not been determined. The board temporarily suspended Dr. Husels medical license Jan. 25 after Mount Carmel said the physician ordered excessive doses of pain medication for dozens of patients. The hospital now says at least 35 patients were affected by Dr. Husel's actions.

The board issued Dr. Husel a citation in mid-February, saying it was working to determine if it should permanently revoke his license. The citation, obtained by WOSU, discusses six cases in which Dr. Husel ordered 1,000 micrograms or more of the painkiller fentanyl.

The board said Dr. Husel's acts constitute a "departure from, or the failure to conform to, minimal standards of care of similar practitioners."

The physician could face civil penalties of up to $20,000 in addition to other disciplinary actions.

Dr. Husel is allowed to present evidence and examine witnesses appearing both for and against him. His legal representation submitted documents to the medical board Feb. 22, about a week after the board sent the citation.
Health officials are investigating six hepatitis C cases linked to a medical clinic in Los Angeles, reports CBS Los Angeles.

The infections all occurred in patients who underwent procedures at Westside Multispecialty Medical Group, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Health. It is still unknown how these patients contracted the virus.

Health officials are encouraging about 500 patients treated at the clinic between January 2016 and December 2018 to be tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV.

Westside Multispecialty Medical Group voluntarily closed Feb. 25 as health officials investigate the outbreak.
As the debate about rising drug costs heats up between pharmacy benefit managers and drugmakers, Sanofi released a report revealing that it shelled out $12 million in rebates to PBMs and insurers last year. The amount is more than half of Sanofi's gross sales in the U.S., according to a report from website BioPharma Dive.

Seven things to know:

1. Sanofi released an annual report Feb. 21 ahead of a highly anticipated Senate hearing that will grill pharma executives on how they earn a profit.

2. Sanofi CEO Olivier Brandicourt will testify at the hearing. He plans to target the PBM rebate system in justifying price hikes.

3. Mr. Brandicourt will use the report to say that more than half of its sales in the U.S. went to paying rebates, which resulted in net price declines across Sanofi's portfolio of drugs, despite increasing the list price on dozens of its medications.

4. The report reveals that in 2018, Sanofi reported an average list price increase across its drugs in the U.S. of 4.6 percent. This is just below the growth rate for U.S. national health spending.

5. Despite taking those increases, on a net basis prices declined by 8 percent, according to the report. Sanofi gave $4.5 billion in mandated rebates to government payers and $7.3 billion in discretionary rebates to PBMs.

6. While it is unclear what questions Mr. Brandicourt will be asked by the Senate FInance Committee during the Feb 26 hearing, lawmakers will likely target the company's insulin prices.

7. Because they are confidential, rebates, which are the discounts drugmakers pay to PBMs, have long been criticized for their role in raising out of-pocket costs for patients. l. The secrecy around rebates turned into a nationwide controversy, even catching the attention of the Trump administration and Congress. Drugmakers claim that PBMs, who keep a percentage of the rebates, demand higher amounts each year to bolster profits, and as a result they must increase the list price of the drugs. PBMs argue that rebates prevent the price hikes that drugmakers regularly impose to increase their own profits.

Read the full report here.
The Department of Justice formally requested a judge sign off on its settlement to allow CVS Health to acquire Aetna for about $70 billion, according to Reuters.

The Justice Department sent its formal ask to Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Feb. 25. Mr. Leon is tasked with completing certain procedures required by the Tunney Act. While CVS and Aetna closed their deal in November, the Tunney Act is a federal law requiring the Justice Department to get a federal court's approval for mergers.



Mr. Leon previously spoke out against the government, CVS Health and Aetna for closing the deal before he approved the consent order. Following the government's request for approval, Mr. Leon can sign off on the deal or schedule a hearing on the matter, according to Reuters.



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A federal jury convicted a physician and the owner of a Houston hospital of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, 17 counts of healthcare fraud and three counts of money laundering, according to the Department of Justice.

According to evidence presented at trial, Harcharan Narang, MD, who practiced at and owned North Cypress Clinical Associates in Houston, and Dayakar Moparty, who operated Red Oak Hospital in Houston, submitted false claims to Medicare and private payers. The fraudulent claims were for medically unnecessary tests or medical tests that were never provided.

Dr. Narang and his co-conspirators also allegedly falsified home health patient assessment forms to receive higher reimbursement from health insurers, including Aetna, Cigna and Blue Cross Blue Shield. Mr. Moparty instructed his employees to falsely bill the medical services at Red Oak Hospital, when the patients never received services from the hospital, according to the Justice Department.

Dr. Narang and Mr. Moparty are scheduled to be sentenced June 20. They face up to 10 years in prison for each count of healthcare fraud and up to 20 years in prison for each count of money laundering.

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Holly McCormack, MSN, serves as Chief Nursing Officer for Cottage Hosptial.

On April 1st, Holly will speak at Becker's Hospital Review 10th Annual Meeting. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place April 1-4, 2019 in Chicago.

To learn more about the conference and Holly's session, click here.

Question: What one strategic initiative will demand the most of your time and energy in 2019?

Holly McCormack: The strategic initiative that I am presently focusing a good deal of my energy on is recruiting and retaining a strong nursing work force. New Hampshire is blessed with a very low unemployment rate (2.5%). This creates a real challenge. The 26 hospitals within the state are all working diligently to recruit and retain good staff. I have been working with the various schools of nursing to make clinical placements and internships easily accessible. To accomplish this I have had to reach out to my masters prepared staff to find a clinical instructor on several occasions. Hosting nursing students is a great way to show the students and soon to be graduates what our critical access hospital has to offer in terms of opportunity. Often time smaller hospitals are overlooked as students feel that they will not get as much exposure to acute patients. A clinical rotation helps to dispel that myth. I meet the students at school and spend time getting to know them when they are onsite during their clinical rotations. I feel that making myself accessible and approachable will demonstrate the positive culture that exists within our facility. I have also joined the advisory boards for these organizations. In order to retain the nurses that are in our current work force, it is important to recognize the desire for work life balance, show appreciation and support continued education. This is reflected within our culture and demonstrated by the leadership provided by my team leaders and myself.

Q: Tell us about the last meaningful interaction you had with a patient.

HM: I feel that every interaction that I have with a patient is meaningful. Our patients come to us often during very trying and vulnerable times in their lives. It is important that we realize that tasks and conversations that come to us as part of our day to day may have a much more significant impact on the patient and their family. In a speech that I gave recently to a group of graduating nurses, I reminded them to keep in mind that they will not remember all of their patients, but many of their patients will remember them. On days when they feel like there are just a drop in the bucket, the ripples from that drop were felt far and wide. It is crucial that we are always cognizant of this.

Q: Can you share some praise with us about people you work with? What does greatness look like to you when it comes to your team?

HM: Yes, I can. I work for a critical access hospital in northern New Hampshire. I have been part of this team for over 9 years. I knew the day that I first came onsite to interview that I wanted to be part of this team. As you walk through the halls, staff will offer a smile and a pleasant good morning. It makes visitors feel welcome and comforted. Now that I am here and on the team, I know that the warmth comes from a place of pride and ownership in their work. We, as a team, always strive to be the best. We describes ourselves as The Little Engine That Could. Our facility is the only level four trauma center in the northern half of the state for both pediatrics and adult patients. Our surgical team is working on an enhanced recovery pilot program. As a facility, we have answered the call related to the mental health crisis in our state. We opened a 10 bed geriatric psychiatric unit. This is what makes the team great. We do not let our size dictate our level of greatness. To answer the question, what does greatness look like? It is empowered leaders who take full accountability for their practice and are working together to provide high quality patient care.
David Rahija, PT, MPT, MBA, FACHE, serves as President of Skokie Hospital for North Shore University Health System.

On April 3rd, David will speak at Becker's Hospital Review 10th Annual Meeting. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place April 1-4, 2019 in Chicago.

To learn more about the conference and David's session, click here.

Question: What do innovators/entrepreneurs from outside healthcare need to better understand about hospital and health system leaders?

David Rahija: Hospital and Health System leaders are looking for partners to meet the Mission of serving members of the community. Most health system leaders understand that we need new, and innovative, models to deliver care to the communities we serve. We are open to partnering with innovators/entrepreneurs if we can find a synergistic way to advance the Mission of the organization and deliver care that improves quality and decreases cost in an innovative way.

Q: What one strategic initiative will demand the most of your time and energy in 2019?

DR: Finding new care models that deliver on the value equationimproving quality while decreasing costsacross the entire care continuum. This focus on managing patients across the entire care continuum will necessitate looking at specialized care models that are specific for a patient population using data analytics and more longitudinal care plans to achieve results. Being able to deliver on specialized care models that continue to improve quality and decrease costs across the care continuum will be our top strategic focus in 2019.

Q: Can you share some praise with us about people you work with? What does greatness look like to you when it comes to your team?

DR: I work with an incredible, engaged team. We are looking for new and innovative ways to meet the healthcare needs of the communities we serve. Despite all of the external pressures and a rapidly changing environment, I am inspired by the people I am privileged to work with and their ability to keep our patients at the center of what we do. It is easy to get distracted by the amount and speed of change, but our team continues to innovate while ensuring we do not forget what our top priority isproviding the highest quality care and experiences to our patients.
The Trump administration issued a final rule Feb. 22 that prohibits taxpayer-funded family planning clinics from providing referrals for abortion, according to a Reuters report.

Five things to know:

1. HHS issued the rule as part of the federal family planning program, called Title X.

2. The rule applies to health centers that receive federal family planning money, such as those run by nonprofit Planned Parenthood.

3. It bans using Title X funds "to perform, promote, refer for or support abortion as a method of family planning," and "eliminates the requirement that Title X providers offer abortion counseling and referral," according to a fact sheet from HHS. While the rule no longer requires nondirective counseling on abortion, it does allow it. HHS said the rule also "provides for clear financial and physical separation between" Title X-funded activities and activities that aren't funded by federal family planning money.

4. Conservative groups supported the rule. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List, said in a prepared statement that the rule "directs tax dollars to entities that provide healthcare to women but do not perform abortions," and ensures Title X "is truly about funding family planning, not abortion."

5. But critics have already vowed to challenge the rule in court. New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a prepared statement that the new rules "will prevent millions of Americans from obtaining the care they need and deserve. New York will not stand by as this administration puts New Yorkers' health at risk for politics, and we will take legal action."

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has also announced his opposition.

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Prince Moulay Rachid received, on Tuesday in Rabat, Sidi Mohamed Ould Maham, envoy of president of Mauritania Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who handed the Prince a message from the Mauritanian Head of State to King Mohammed VI.

The audience was attended by ambassador of Mauritania in Rabat, Mohamed Lemine Ould Aboye.

Last November, the Moroccan Sovereign sent a message to President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz dealing with bilateral relations and the situation in the Maghreb region.

The royal message was conveyed by Foreign Minister Nasser Bouritain Nouakchott. In a statement to the press, Bourita had said that there is a shared will to create a strong dynamic in Moroccan-Mauritanian relations at all levels.

He had also highlighted the two countries leaders common resolve to promote bilateral relations and lift them to higher levels, given the strong ties binding the two countries and the two brotherly peoples.
The leader of Medicare's innovation center, Adam Boehler, is expected to unveil a new model for primary care physician payments in coming weeks, according to STAT.

Mr. Boehler, who CMS tapped in December 2017 as director of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation, said he wants to "blow up" how America pays for primary care. To do so, he plans to revamp physician visits.



Under a revamped model, Mr. Boehler's office would call for primary care physicians to use modern techniques to keep patient care in the home setting and out of hospitals. Such techniques include telehealth and online consultations, according to STAT.



In June 2018, HHS Secretary Alex Azar appointed Mr. Boehler as senior adviser for value-based transformation and innovation in addition to his CMMI position. At the time, Mr. Azar said, "At CMMI, [Mr. Boehler] has already demonstrated an ambition for bold change, and will now be able to bring his deep experience with private sector innovation to help HHS execute on the long-talked-about goal of transforming our healthcare system into one that pays for value."



For the full STAT article, click here.



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Georgia lawmakers are looking at solutions to surprise medical billing, according to Bluffton Today.

The solutions are designed to protect patients from surprise bills that occur when they have a procedure or visit an emergency room at an in-network hospital but are treated by an out-of-network provider.

One proposed solution involves an insurer-backed proposal originating in the state House. Insurance Chairman Richard Smith's plan would require medical providers, if asked, to give patients information about which physicians will be part of a nonemergency hospital procedure, whether the providers are in-network and the potential fees they could charge, according to Bluffton Today.

Another proposal, introduced by state Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, is backed by physicians and primarily focuses on emergency room bills. The legislation would calculate insurers' payment to out-of-network providers using a formula that includes a benchmarking database from Fair Health, an independent, nonprofit organization with a database of 27 billion private healthcare insurance claims.

While physician groups support the Senate bill as a balance-billing solution, officials representing insurers argue that the database payment provision will increase healthcare costs, according to Bluffton Today. The House bill does not include a compensation formula.

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EmpowerHMS-owned Oklahoma hospital misses 3rd payroll

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For-profit hospital stock report: Week of Feb. 18-22
California lawmakers will introduce surprise emergency room billing legislation Feb. 25, after a recent story highlighted the issue at a San Francisco hospital, according to a Vox report.

Seven things to know:

1. The bill is being introduced by state Assemblyman David Chiu and state Sen. Scott Wiener.

2. It would prohibit hospitals in the state from charging patients who receive emergency room care beyond their regular copay or deductible, according to the report. The ban would apply even if the hospital is not in the patient's insurance company's network.

3. The new legislation comes after a January Vox story revealed that Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, the city's largest public hospital, is out of network with all private health plans, which can leave patients with massive bills.

The story particularly highlighted the hospital's practice of balance billing. This occurs when privately insured patients receive trauma or emergency services from an out-of-network provider and are billed for the balance after the insurance company pays its portion.

5. After the January Vox story, Zuckerberg hospital announced Feb. 1 that it would be halting balance billing for 90 days to finalize a plan to address billing issues in the long term.

6. San Francisco health officials are considering a cap on out-of-pocket payments for privately insured patients receiving emergency services at the hospital.

However, Mr. Chiu said he believes there should be more efforts, such as the California proposed bill.

"This all came to my attention through your article," Mr. Chiu told Vox. "When your story broke, I started digging into how state law impacted the situation and saw that there were some clear holes in California policy that we needed to address."

7. California reportedly already has some protections against surprise medical bills, but the new legislation would address a specific situation where a hospital is out of network, and the patient is billed for the balance after the insurance company pays its portion.

In addition to the ban on hospitals pursuing charges beyond the patient's regular copay or deductible, the bill also would limit prices hospitals could charge for care to 150 percent of the Medicare price or the average geographic area contracted rate, whichever is more, Vox reported.

.Access the full report here.

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Alaska Gov. Michael Dunleavy has proposed cutting Medicaid by $249 million to reduce state spending on government, according to Alaska Public Media.

Details about potential state changes to Medicaid are unknown at this time, but providers and patient advocates have expressed concerns about the proposed cuts and the effects they could have on jobs and residents' health, the report states.

State budget policy director Mike Barnhill told Alaska Public Media one method for reducing Medicaid spending will be cutting reimbursement to physicians and other providers.

"Alaska reimburses providers under the Medicaid program at a higher rate than any other state in the country," he said. "And so, we're taking a closer look at that."

Overall, the state seeks a budget that will stay balanced in a sustainable way, and he expects the state will be able to increase efficiency in care delivery through means such as changes to Medicaid-funded travel, governor spokesperson Matt Shuckerow told the publication.

"The governor's focus is trying to find an efficient way that we can provide certain healthcare to individuals across the state, but we can do it in an efficient manner," Mr. Shuckerow said. "What we have seen is basically on this budget and where we are financially is we are out of time and we're out of money."

But the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association is concerned the cuts could result in negative effects within the industry.

"This could mean hospital closures," Becky Hultberg, the association's CEO, said in the report. "This could mean physicians move out of state. I mean, this could mean that services for all Alaskans look dramatically different than they do today."

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The FDA extended its cancer research agreement with Flatiron Health, an oncology EHR vendor that Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche acquired in 2018.

The FDA-Flatiron partnership, which began in 2016, aims to enhance the FDA Information Exchange and Data Transformation Program's understanding of how real-world evidence, derived from de-identified patient datasets, can support regulatory decision-making.

During the new two-year expansion, Flatiron and the FDA will research real-world cancer populations that are typically underrepresented in clinical trials. The organizations also plan to continue focusing their efforts on the use of real-world evidence in regulatory decision making, including characterization of data quality and validation of real-world clinical endpoints.

Over the past two years, the collaboration has produced various peer-reviewed articles, including a study in The Oncologist on real-world outcomes of immunotherapy treatments for cancer patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

"The FDA recognizes the tremendous importance of analyzing treatment data from the real world," Richard Pazdur, MD, director of FDA's Oncology Center of Excellence, said in a news release. "Traditional clinical trials have long provided the high-quality evidence the FDA needs to determine whether a product is safe and effective for its intended use, but traditional trials do not always represent the real world, lack clinical context and may not provide sufficient follow-up to truly understand the impact of a new therapy on real-world patients. We believe that regulatory-grade real-world data can help inform our decision-making so that we can provide cancer patients with better care."
Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., plans to work with President Donald Trump to give Florida patients access to FDA-approved drugs from Canada, the Orlando Weekly reports.

What you should know:

1. Florida House Speaker Jose Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, joined the governor to announce the initiative Feb. 20. Rep. Oliva has worked to eliminate certain regulations that he says give hospitals an unfair advantage over ASCs and other facilities.

"There are tremendous efforts on behalf of interest groups to keep things as they are, Rep. Oliva said. "And it takes the courage of the people that you all send up to Tallahassee to make a difference. So I can finally say, 'We are all here, and we're going to make a difference.'"

2. For the Canadian-import program to happen, HHS must give Congress confirmation that the imports don't threaten public safety and would reduce costs.

3. Gov. DeSantis said he personally spoke to President Trump about the program, which could help reduce the state's expenditure on drugs for prison inmates. Mr. Trump is "enthusiastic" about the idea, the governor said.

4. The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 allows Canadian prescription drugs to be imported for personal use, which makes the program possible, Gov. DeSantis said. The law also ended a ban on manufacturer-established agreements to prevent the circulation of imported products.
Michael Chmell, MD, is the medical director of Rockford-based Ortho Illinois Surgery Center. Here, he shares the top opportunities for orthopedic growth in ASCs:

Note: Responses have been lightly edited for style and clarity.

Question: What is the biggest opportunity for growth you see for ASCs in 2019? As an ASC leader, how do you hope to capitalize on growth opportunities?

Dr. Michael Chmell: In terms of orthopedics, I continue to see total joint replacement and spine surgery as our growth leaders. With growing experience, the indications for outpatient surgeries are expanding. Insurers, with the data from this experience, are recognizing the benefits of such procedures being done at ASCs. Patient demand for outpatient joints and spine, likewise, is growing. This combination should provide excellent opportunities for further growth.

One untapped area for growth, at least in our ASC, is orthopedic trauma in terms of ankle, tibia and humerus fractures. These are on my agenda for 2019.

Q: What are the greatest challenges you expect to face in 2019?

MC: The greatest challenge for myself, as well as all ASCs going forward, is to contain costs on the larger cases being performed in their relative infancy at ASCs, such as total joint replacement and spine surgery. I believe that hospitals in the past lost control of these costs, specifically on implants. The key going forward is that physician-owned ASCs will have the end user controlling costs, as both the user and the owner.

A second challenge, also in its infancy, are bundled payments in their various forms, particularly for total joint replacement. Many options are out there  from surgeon/facility to 90-day, all-inclusive payments. Selecting plans will require much data and input from other sources not directly related to ASC ownership, such as anesthesia, home health and physical therapy.

Q. How do you see the ASC industry growing in the next five to 10 years?

MC: Ten years from now, I expect all but the most complex orthopedic procedures to be performed on an outpatient basis. I also expect further innovations to occur that we currently do not anticipate. I have been a medical director for 15 years and would not have expected to see the cases that we do now to be done daily on an outpatient basis.

None of us can truly predict what the industry will be like in 10 years, however, I think that it will continue to expand.

To participate in future Becker's Q&As, contact Rachel Popa at rpopa@beckershealthcare.com.

For a deeper dive into ASC industry trends, attend the Becker's 17th Annual Future of Spine + Spine, Orthopedic & Pain Management-Driven ASC in Chicago, June 13-15, 2019. Click here to learn more and register
Shelly Harvill, a cybersecurity governance and compliance consultant at Agio, advises investors evaluating ASCs to routinely review the organization's security program and whether it's had any breach activity.

With this in mind, Ms. Harvill shared the following advice for ASC administrators:

"We recommend that ASC administrators seek out a comprehensive third-party evaluation of their security program, including a thorough review of their security and privacy practices for HIPAA compliance and all state regulations that may apply to their core market areas. By conducting an annual HIPAA Security Risk Assessment that also includes penetration testing  a simulated cyber-attack on a computer system to evaluate its security features  the organization can identify any technical and physical control gaps and put a plan in place for remediation.

Another vital step in every Security Risk Assessment is a thorough review of the organization's policy and procedures. Lastly, to minimize financial risk and operational disruption, we recommend all organizations proactively engage a qualified security firm to implement an Incident Response Program that can deploy quickly and mitigate damage when an incident does occur. A qualified IRP team can assist in breach response and reduce the time for the organization to be back to normal operations."

To participate in future Becker's Q&As, contact Angie Stewart at astewart@beckershealthcare.com.

For a deeper dive into ASC industry trends, attend the Becker's 17th Annual Future of Spine + Spine, Orthopedic & Pain Management-Driven ASC in Chicago, June 13-15, 2019. Click here to learn more and register.
Providers reported 33 healthcare data breaches in January, according to HIPAA Journal.

The key takeaways:

1. There were 490,937 healthcare records stolen, exposed or impermissibly disclosed in January.

2. Hacking was the top cause of breaches in January, followed by unauthorized access, theft and improper disposal.

3. Texas experienced the most data breaches with four reported, followed by Kentucky, Georgia and Indiana with three each and California, Kansas, Florida and Connecticut reporting two each.
As Jefferson County saw more than $20 billion in industrial expansion over the past four years, Orange County residents sometimes felt left out. They saw that growth to the west  and similar development to the east in Louisiana  and wondered when their turn would come. It might be happening soon, in a big way.

Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. is considering a $5 billion to $6 billion expansion project somewhere in the region, and Orange County has been identified as a finalist. The company is said to be eyeing 1,700 acres by Chevron Phillips existing polyethylene plant on FM 1006.

The project would convert the natural gas liquid ethane into ethylene, which is the building block of most plastics, such as the most common one, polyethylene. Polyethylene, which is manufactured here as pellets, is used in packaging for many consumer goods, such as milk jugs, bags, detergent bottles, etc.

Something this big would be a game-changer for Orange County, and one of the biggest single projects anywhere on the Gulf Coast.

It would generate 3,500 construction jobs at its peak with an average salary of $90,000. The number of permanent jobs is not known yet, but a similar project in Baytown helps support 1,000 permanent employees and 2,000 contractors. The project clearly stands on its own, but it would also have a big spin-off effect in supporting other jobs and businesses.

With an impact like this, public officials in Orange County should have one focus: Working with the company in every way possible to help make this project a reality. Any meeting or document thats requested should be provided, and any phone call should be promptly returned.

Tax abatement usually figures into projects like this, and Orange County officials should be competitive with their counterparts in other potential locations. Abatements should always be studied carefully, but a project this big would provide enormous long-term benefits for the county. It is worth short-term incentives.

Orange County has struggled with a flat tax base and population for years. A project like this could kickstart the turnaround that county residents have been hoping for. In the end, Chevron Phillips will make its own decision about where to put this plant. But the Orange site looks like a good fit, and company officials must know that it would be welcome here.
Kenya has halted diplomatic relations with Somalia after a row over oil and gas blocks spiraled out into conflict.

Nairobi expelled Somalias ambassador on Saturday and called back its own representative in Mogadishu.

Officials in Kenya said the Somalian Governments decision to auction off oil and gas blocks in Kenyas maritime territorial area that borders Somalia prompted the recall and expulsion of the diplomats.

Somalias Foreign Ministry has rejected the accusation in a statement saying it will award licenses to foreign oil companies later this year.

According to the Ministry, the Horn Africa nation does not have any plans to offer any blocks in the disputed maritime area until the maritime boundary is decided by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The Ministry added that it wanted to reassure the government of Kenya that it stands by its commitment not to undertake any unilateral activities in the disputed area until such a time as the ICJ renders its judgement.

The ICJ is currently hearing the case regarding the maritime border between the two countries. Mogadishus case against Nairobi hinges on attempts to redraw the sea border, which would impact at least three of Kenyas 20 offshore oil blocks.

The government of Somalia and Spectrum Geo, the company that conducted a 2D offshore seismic survey, have dismissed Kenyas claims that oil blocks were auctioned.

Spectrum Geo insists that no seismic data was acquired in the area that is the subject of maritime delimitation case at the ICJ.

As a reminder, Somalia has long been considered a failed state without a functioning government. It has only had an elected president last year and now seems anxious to safeguard what it regards as its sovereign rights in the Indian Ocean.
GALVESTON  In his first public court appearance since his arrest, the teenager charged with capital murder in the Santa Fe High School shooting heard his defense attorney argue that he would not receive a fair trial in Galveston County.

Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 18, entered the courtroom shackled, wearing a green Galveston County Jail jumpsuit and looking more gaunt than in his mugshots. Pagourtzis father, Antonios, seated in the audience behind the defense, broke down in tears upon seeing his son. The defendant did not appear to acknowledge his family and spent most of the hearing looking down at the table.

Pagourtzis, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, is charged with capital murder and aggravated assault against a public servant in the episode last May 18 that killed 10 people and wounded 13, including John Barnes, a Santa Fe Independent School District police officer. Pagourtzis faces life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years if convicted.

Family members of the 10 victims  and several victims injured in the shooting  sat behind the prosecutors. Among them was Flo Rice, a substitute teacher who was shot through the legs; Steve Perkins, whose wife, Ann Perkins, was killed; and Rosie Y. Stone, who lost her son Chris on May 18. Sarah Salazar, a student wounded during the shooting, was also in the courtroom with her mother, Sonia Lopez.

The defense and prosecution presented oral arguments Monday regarding a change of venue for Pagourtzis trial. They submitted written arguments nearly a month ago to state District Judge John Ellisor.

Read more: Santa Fe community pays tribute to Parkland shooting victims

Pagourtzis attorney, Nick Poehl, argued that rampant pretrial publicity had tainted the potential jury pool in Galveston County. He cited social media comments that he said indicated a bias among local residents.

Considering the number of alleged victims in this case, if you draw a circle around each of these victims, youd have a hard tme finding anybody in this county who doesnt know someone, or know someone who knows someone, who wasnt affected in this case, Poehl said.

Poehl invoked the names of several high-profile convicted mass murderers whose trials were moved from the communities where their crimes were committed: Timothy McVeigh, who bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995; Ted Bundy, who assaulted and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s; and Lee Boyd Malvo, who committed multiple murders as part of the Beltway sniper attacks in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., in 2002.

Galveston County District Attorney Jack Roady cited legal precedents in support of the argument that a defendants notoriety does not necessarily produce prejudice among potential jurors.

Theres no authority that says the juror cant know somebody whos affected, Roady said. Thats not the standard.

Delayed: Trial of teen accused in Santa Fe shooting may not start this year

Roady also argued that the scarce details provided to the news media and the public countered Poehls assertion that "intrusive publicity" has affected potential jurors impartiality.

No surveillance video, body or dashboard camera footage, police or autopsy reports have been released, Roady said, because time and again, law enforcement and the cities involved, and the school district, worked together to protect the integrity of this investigation and to protect the integrity of this prosecution.

Social media comments were a key aspect of Poehls argument for a venue change. He cited several comments posted on Facebook that included inflammatory remarks about Pagourtzis.

Social media commentary on this case gives a window on what the community can be thinking, Poehl said. It shows that theyve prejudged my clients guilt before receiving facts.

Roady questioned whether most of the comments submitted as evidence came from Galveston County residents who would be potential jurors.

Ellisor said he would decide by the end of the week whether to move the trial.

Seeing the defendant in the flesh was emotional for some shooting survivors and victims family members, who had seen him only via video stream from the jail at a previous court hearing in January.

Scot Rice, whose wife, Flo, was a substitute teacher injured during the shooting, disagreed with Poehls arguments that a jury outside Galveston County would be less biased.

No matter where you go, if they move this trial, were gonna go there, and were gonna be on the media there and the jury pools gonna be tainted there because were not gonna let it go, Rice said.

Sonia Lopez, whose daughter, Sarah Salazar, still has lead in her blood from shotgun wounds during the shooting, said she has learned to forgive Pagourtzis. Lopez particularly empathized with Pagourtzis family.

From all the suffering that Ive gone through with my children, I can understand the pain that theyre going through, Lopez said. At the same time, theyve got to face their reality.

nick.powell@chron.com
Southeast Texas students and those seeking job training will have a chance to gain real-world experience with pipeline maintenance thanks to a donation from Flint Hills Resources.

Flint Hills, a petrochemical subsidiary of Koch Industries with a chemical plant in Port Arthur, has donated over 1,100 feet of pipeline worth $30,000 to four local welding schools in the area.
The Rev. Dan Brack, of Turning Point Church, in Vidor, offers words of prayer during a candlelight vigil in honor of Savanna Roque, who was killed last week in her home in Orange. Her father, Yohavnis Roque, has been charged with capital murder in his daughter's death.

Almost 50 people huddled under umbrellas with small white candles on a cold, rainy Monday evening as they paid tribute to Savanna Roque, the little girl authorities allege was slain with a hammer by her father last week.

> > BACKGROUND: Police call murder case 'the stuff of nightmares'

At about 5 p.m., people began lighting their white candles, shielding the small flames from blasts of cold air. Some brought flowers, others brought small bears and some dropped donations into a bucket for the family.

"I don't personally know the family, but when I heard the story I knew I had to at least do something. I see all the comments (on the internet) with people blaming the mother of the suspect, but no mother ever thinks their child will do something like that. It really touched my heart. I feel for the whole family," said Haley Williams, the vigil coordinator.

Savanna Roque was 2 years old and lived with her grandmother and father in their Orange home in the 500 block of Azalea Avenue. Just after noon Feb. 19, officials were called to their home, where Savanna was found dead in the closet of her bedroom.

Yovahnis Roque, 26, was arrested at the scene and booked at the Orange County Jail on a charge of capital murder. His bond was set at $2 million.

Mayor Larry Spears Jr. opened the vigil by thanking everyone for showing their support. He called Savanna's death "tragic" and "heartbreaking" but said he wanted the community to come together in memory of her life.

> > RELATED: Child's slaying a double tragedy for family of dad charged with capital murder

Among the crowd was Orange resident Christopher Sterling. Rain soaked his clothing as he waited his turn to speak.

"I have a child about the same age," he said on the brink of tears. "We just need to believe that she is with her mom now in a better place. I believe that. I have to. We have to remember her as the little girl that would smile and was happy. We need to hold onto that."

After a few words of endearment, a moment of silence was followed by a prayer. Then the crowd let the wind snuff out the candles as they began to head to their vehicles.

"People need to realize there is more to every one of their neighbors. Things like this happen because we get so caught up with ourselves that we forget to pay attention to our neighbors. ... We just all need to come together as a community and love one another," Michelle Luna, of Orange, said.

Donations made to the family will go toward covering funeral expenses and possibly transporting Savanna's body back to Florida to be buried with her mother. Savanna's mother was fatally struck by a vehicle in 2016, weeks after Savanna was born, according to family.

"We can't keep calling her the 'little girl,'" Sterling said. "She needs to be remembered by her name. And her name is Savanna Amelia Roque and she did not deserve what happened to her."



erica.apodaca@beaumontenterprise.com
Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has signed an agreement to provide geothermal drilling services to state-run Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP).

According to EEP CEO, Dr. Abraham Belay, Ethiopia had tried to venture into geothermal development as far back as 1981 but was yet to make a commercial breakthrough.

The country has some geothermal drilling rigs that are idle and now broken down. We are delighted to have [KenGen helping] our people manage the equipment and run the power plants, he said.

The project awarded to Kenyan consortium KenGen consists of two phases of implementation, namely Phase I which is the purchase of drilling rigs and Phase II, the provision of drilling services.

KenGen is set to supply approximately 30 percent of the component of Phase II, translating to around $6.2 million.

KenGen has been focusing on offering expert services in electricity generation, geothermal development consulting, power plant operation and maintenance services across Africa.

The company runs several geothermal stations in Kenya, with Olkaria I power station being the first geothermal power plant in Africa.

The East African nation has a geothermal installed capacity of 685 MW with an estimated potential of 10,000 MW along the Rift Valley, making it Africas number one geothermal energy producer and among top ten in the world.
With cool, clear water running through the Frio River, plenty of hiking trails and an outdoor dance floor, it's easy to understand why many Texans travel to Garner State Park each spring, summer and fall to enjoy its beauty.

But it's likely that not every visitor will be inclined to spend a night under the stars  cramped in a sleeping bag, inside a small tent, nestled among rocks, twigs, dirt and free-roaming wildlife.
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The current nightmare of President Emmanuel Macron is Algeria, a French top official told weekly media, Obs.

The source, who asked not to be named, told Obs that Macron is not troubled by the yellow vests demonstrations that have been going on for months, a new financial crisis, a cybersecurity from Russia or an American military attack on Iran but rather is concerned by its former colony, Algeria.

The nightmare of the President of Republic is Algeria. It was that of his predecessors. The state top authorities are terrified by the prospect of a serious destabilization of our former colony after the death of Bouteflika [President since 1999], the official said.

The sources comments were made several days before Algerians took to streets to reject a fifth term plan by 82-year old Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the French media said.

Bouteflika is candidate for the April 18 elections that political figures in the North African country said are already a fait accompli.

Thousands of Algerians marched across various provinces end of last week and are expected to stage demonstrations again end of this week.

Authorities in Paris are concerned France could be affected should Algeria descend into chaos after the death of Bouteflika.

The Algerian leader has been in poor health condition since 2013 when he suffered a stroke that impaired his speaking and mobility abilities.

The source explained French authorities worries by many reasons, including the fact that Algeria is Frances top gas supplier (10 per cent of import); and that millions of young Algerians (the under 20 making up 40 per cent of the countrys 42 million people) would be tempted to migrate to France across the Mediterranean Sea on makeshift boats.

Besides, the country could slide back into its darkest years, the 1980s, that were marked by the rise of jihadism which threatened tranquility in France.
Brian Smith served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, and retired as an assistant chief with the California Highway Patrol. He resides in Bakersfield. If you have a personal Cop Tale to share, please contact Brian at bmsmith778@gmail.com
The trial of Robert Interval for the murder of his girlfriend Christine Mustafa got underway on Monday. Despite an extensive landfill search, Mustafas body was never found. Prosecutors still believe their case against Interval is solid.
Tunisias President Beji Caid Essebsi Monday brought support to protests in Algeria against the candidacy of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika for a fifth mandate.

Thousands of Algerians have been demonstrating across various provinces and in some European capitals against the candidacy of 82-year old Bouteflika for a fifth term in office.

Demonstrations took place during previous weeks and are planned late this week as well.

Caid Essebsi, speaking at a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland, after he delivered a speech before the UN Human Rights Council, said the Algerian nation is free to express itself on how it is being led.

Algerians are a nation that fought a lot to attain its independence after 132 years of colonization and it is now a free nation. Obviously it is free to express the way it wants on how it is being led, Essebsi said in answer to a question on the protests in Algeria.

The Tunisian leader is the first world leader to take a stand on the political situation in the neighboring country, which managed to survive the Arab Spring.

Essebsi came to power in 2014, three years after the Tunisian revolution that swept away the autocratic Tunisian President Zedine Ben Ali.

Algerians will cast their vote on April 2018.
By Trend

A meeting between Turkmen officials and representatives of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) was held at the Turkmen State Migration Service, Trend reports referring to the State Migration Service on Feb. 26.

"Turkmenistan is an active participant in the UN international conventions on combating illicit trafficking in narcotic and psychotropic substances, as well as a number of regional and international projects," the State Migration Service said.

The sides exchanged views on the work within international agreements, as well as partnership prospects.

Turkmenistan in this sphere actively interacts with the UN, being a party to three international conventions on combating illicit narcotic and psychotropic substances, adopted by the UN in 1961, 1971 and 1988.

Turkmenistan has a long border with Afghanistan, the territory of which, according to the UN, is actively used for the cultivation of drugs.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Security forces at Casablanca Mohammed V airport have arrested two Brazilian women suspected for drug trafficking, one week after the same forces apprehended three Tunisians.

The Brazilians, aged 28 and 42, were nabbed Sunday upon their arrival from Brazil, reports say.

Suspected of drug trafficking, police search revealed the presence of 2.8 kg of cocaine hid in the womens underwear.

Security forces also realized that the pair had swallowed more quantities of drug.

Last week, three Tunisian citizens were arrested for the trafficking of 745 g of chiral in the form of 132 capsules in addition to cocaine.

Earlier this month, a Nigerian citizen fell prey to the security forces after he was suspected for hiding cocaine. Upon arrest, he vomited 1,540 g of the drug.

Another operation in December nabbed a South-American citizen and a Namibian who puked 3,700g of cocaine hidden in their bowels.
By Trend

The first meeting of the Caucus on Uzbekistan in The US Congress, who again resumed its activities after the parliamentary elections in the United States, was held at Uzbek Embassy in Washington, Trend reports via Uzbek media.

In his speech, Co-Chair of Caucus from The US Republican Party, Congressman Trent Kelly, said that it was a great honor for him to represent a group of American lawmakers in Congress who express interest in deepening Uzbek-US relations. The congressman believes that the reform course pursued in Uzbekistan is aimed at achieving progress in the interests of the people and the future of the country.

In his turn, Co-Chair of Caucus from the Democratic Majority of the House of Representatives Vicente Gonzalez stressed that Uzbekistan is of strategic importance to the United States. In his opinion, the strengthening of friendship and partnership with Tashkent is in the interests of Washington.

At the same time, Gonzalez, as being a representative in the Congress from the State of Texas, stressed that the establishment of close cooperation of his state with Uzbekistan in the field of investments is of paramount importance for him. The politician considers the energy sphere a priority for successful interaction. He expressed readiness to assist in establishing Uzbek-American partnerships in this area.

As event continued, Uzbek Ambassador to the United States, Javlon Vakhabov, read out a message from the head of Inter-Parliamentary Group of Uzbek Parliament on cooperation with the Congress Sadik Safoev, who expressed his readiness to cooperate with the newly established Capitol Hill structure in strengthening trade and investment cooperation with the United States as on federal so as on regional levels.

At the end of event, congressmen Kelly and Gonzalez signed the protocol of the first meeting of Caucus Uzbekistan. In the protocol, Caucus participants advocate the further intensification of inter-parliamentary dialogue, cooperation in the field of trade and investment; support the development of direct contacts between business communities, and cultural, humanitarian and educational ties. Through this document, US representatives call on other members of Congress to join Caucus.

The meeting was attended by members of the House of Representatives and staff of the Congress, representatives of the National Security Council, The US State Department, The US Department of Commerce and Labor, the Pentagon, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), leading American think tanks, member companies of the US-Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce, non-governmental organizations, international institutions, and the media.

Caucus - a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or political movement.

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By Trend

The government of Japan works on the issue of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovs visit to Tokyo, but the exact date of his visit is still a subject for the final approval, the Japanese Foreign Ministry announced to TASS on Monday, Trend reports.

"We have agreed that special envoys of the leaders of our countries will hold a meeting in the near future, and after their talks we will promptly approve the date of the visit of Russian Foreign Minister [Sergey] Lavrov to Japan to hold another round of [peace treaty] negotiations at the level of foreign ministers," the Japanese Foreign Ministry stated.

"The exact agenda of the planned meeting will be drafted via diplomatic channels," the ministry added.

Russias top diplomat Lavrov and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono met for talks the previous time on February 16 in Germany during the 55th Munich Security Conference.

Following their meeting, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga announced at a press conference in Tokyo that there was a frank, though sometimes heated, exchange of views between the Japanese and Russian foreign ministers.

At their February 16 meeting, Lavrov and Kono agreed that their deputies Igor Morgulov and Takeo Mori would hold consultations on the peace treaty issue in the coming weeks. The Japanese top diplomat later announced that Lavrovs visit to Tokyo was being considered.

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By Trend

The Albanian partners handed the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) consortium the Philanthropy Award for its social contribution at the national level, Trend reports citing rti.rtsh.al.

Representatives of the Albanian government, the Albanian parliament, and the diplomatic corps accredited in Tirana, Albanian and foreign companies and non-governmental organizations took part in the award ceremony for 2018.

The representative of the TAP project in Albania, Malfor Nuri, said on this occasion that TAP had invested in 30 important projects in Albania, of which about 200,000 people benefited. For social and environmental protection projects, TAP has invested 14 million Euros only in Albania, said Nuri.

TAP has been nominated for the Philanthropy Award as a national company for 2018 by the Catalyst Balkans Foundation. This regional foundation monitors and encourages the social investments of private companies.

TAP project, worth 4.5 billion euros, is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union (EU). The project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 to the EU countries.

Connecting with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Greek-Turkish border, TAP will cross Northern Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea before coming ashore in Southern Italy to connect to the Italian natural gas network.

The project is currently in its construction phase, which started in 2016.

Once built, TAP will offer a direct and cost-effective transportation route opening up the vital Southern Gas Corridor, a 3,500-kilometer long gas value chain stretching from the Caspian Sea to Europe.

TAP shareholders include BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).

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By Trend

A tree-planting event has been held under the Justice for Khojaly international awareness campaign at the Neftchiler Park in Surakhani district, Baku.

Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, initiator of the Justice for Khojaly campaign Leyla Aliyeva attended the event, which saw the planting of 613 trees to commemorate the victims of the Khojaly genocide.

More than 200 young people participated in the event.

The Justice for Khojaly international awareness campaign was initiated by Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva on May 8, 2008. The campaign aims to raise international public awareness of the Khojaly genocide, root causes and consequences of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the need for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh region and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan. The campaigns activities are also directed towards honoring the victims and keeping their memories alive, particularly by constantly informing the younger generations and supporting the survivors and seeking ways to relieve their suffering.

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.

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.

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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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By Leman Mammadova

Being vital for food security of the country, dairy products may become new export potential of Azerbaijan as well.

Azerbaijan plans to increase exports of dairy products to Arab countries.

This was said by Samir Eyyubov, chairman of the Azerbaijans Association of Producers and Exporters of Milk and Dairy Products (ASEB), Report informs.

Eyyubov noted that he plans to visit the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar at the end of next month for this purpose.

"After studying the markets of these countries, we will consider export possibilities," he said.

In Azerbaijan, two companies export dairy products - Atena company to Middle East, and MPro to Russia.

Azerbaijans Association of Producers and Exporters of Milk and Dairy Products (ASEB), established on January 26, 2018 with an aim to support the development of entrepreneurship in the production of milk and dairy products, to increase export and production volumes, as well as introduce new technologies to this sphere.

ASEB plans to introduce new standards for these products in the country. Azerbaijan needs to promote such a concept as farm milk. That is milk and dairy products manufactured in compliance with the necessary standards. Special logos should be on packages of finished products to this end.

Earlier, Azerbaijans Food Safety Agency said that there are several standards in Azerbaijan related to the dairy products. There is a standard AZS 236-2006 Sour milk products. Packaging, marking, transportation, storage. In accordance with this standard, sour milk products, especially perishable goods, must be stored at the temperature 0 - 8C.

Earlier, ASEB has proposed to tighten the fight against falsifications in the dairy products market.

It should be noted that steps are being taken to stimulate the development of dairy cattle breeding in the country.

Milk production in the country in 2017 amounted to 2.0241 million tons. Azerbaijan has about 10 large dairy processing enterprises with annual production capacity of over 5,000 tons. Almost all types of dairy products - pasteurized milk, butter, cream, cottage cheese, cheese, sesame and milk powder are produced there. As many as 85 percent of domestic demand for these products is provided by local producers, while about 15 percent is met by imported goods.

For 2019, milk production is projected at 2.219 million tons, in 2020 - 2.39 million tons, in 2021 - 2.49 million tons. Thus, by 2022, an increase of 18.6 percent might be observed compared to 2017.

Azerbaijan currently cooperates with U.S. in milk processing. Thus, a newly renovated milk collection and processing facility opened in Guneshli village in Saatli. The facility will produce the first ever yellow cheese in Azerbaijan.

It should be noted that Azerbaijan may set up joint dairy venture with Belarus.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

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By Trend

Chairman of the parliamentary committee on international and interparliamentary relations, head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE Samad Seyidov will leave for Paris on Feb. 27 to attend the meetings of the PACE committees, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani parliament on Feb. 26.

A report entitled Combating money laundering will be heard and the views on the activity of NGOs in the CoE member-states, on a meeting of the subcommittee on human rights held in Helsinki, on democratic cooperation with Moroccos parliament, etc. will be exchanged in the Committee on Legal Issues and Human Rights.

PACEs role and mission will be on the agenda and the UN cooperation within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will be considered at the meeting of the Political Affairs and Democracy Committee.

The situation in Syria, its impact on neighbouring countries will be also discussed and the views on the conference, dedicated to the fight against international terrorism, to be held in April 2019 in St. Petersburg will be exchanged.

During the meetings, Seyidov will express the country's position on the issues which will be discussed.

The visit will end on March 6.

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By Trend

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, who attended the nationwide march on the 27th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide has been interviewed by Rossiya-24 TV channel`s correspondent.

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By Laman Ismayilova

An event timed to the 27th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide was held in Heydar Aliyev Palace.

Before the event, guests could familiarize themselves with photographs and literature, which reflect the documentary facts of the Khojaly genocide, Trend Life reported.

A moment of silence was observed for the victims of Khojaly tragedy.

In his speech, the director of the Heydar Aliyev Palace, holder of Shohrat order, honored cultural worker Farhad Babayev noted that the tragedy in Khojaly is one of the bloodiest not only in the history of Azerbaijan, but also in the world over the last decade of the 20th century.

He stressed that crimes against humanity and the genocide committed by Armenia in the course of the ongoing aggression against Azerbaijan violate international humanitarian law and human rights.

The exceptional role of the activities carried out in the framework of the campaign "Justice for Khojaly" led by Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva was emphasized as well.

The campaign is not only aimed at informing the international community about the Khojaly genocide, but also calls the world to avoid such tragedies. A number of states gave a political and legal assessment of the Khojaly massacre and recognized it as an act of genocide.

The documentary "Khojaly" was also screened as part of the event.

On the night of February 26, 1992, Armenian armed forces, directly supported by the 366th regiment of the former USSR, stationed at that time in the town of Khankendi in Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan attacked, from five directions, the town of Khojaly.

About 613 civilians mostly women and children were killed in the massacre, and a total of 1,000 people were disabled. Eight families were exterminated, 25 children lost both parents, and 130 children lost one parent. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, and the fate of 150 of them remains unknown.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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By Trend

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov left for a working visit to Geneva to participate in the 40th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

During the visit Mammadyarov will deliver a speech at the high level segment of the 40th session of the UN Human Rights Council and hold several bilateral meetings.

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By Trend

The number of companies, which want to cooperate with and make investment in Azerbaijan, is growing, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at the meeting on economic and social issues.

The negotiations and meetings I held as part of the Davos World Economic Forum this January again demonstrates that the country`s economy arouses great interest of big business, the president said, adding that the attraction of foreign investments in the non-oil sector will continue to be a priority in the coming years.

At the same time, the meetings held with the heads of leading international financial institutions in Davos demonstrate that ongoing reforms in Azerbaijan arouse great interest and these reforms are highly appreciated, he added. We build up fruitful and business cooperation with the world`s leading international financial institutions such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and European Investment Bank.

The top-ranking officials of these leading financial organizations have recently participated in the meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council in Baku, he said. And I am sure that our cooperation with these institutions will be very successful in the future.

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Egypts President Fattah al-Sisi Monday chided criticism over a series of executions in the North African country as he asked European countries not to impose their views.

Egypt has found itself targets of critics from European countries after authorities hanged last week nine members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, convicted for involvement in the killing of a top prosecutor in 2015.

A dozen people in total have been executed so far this year. Many are still on the death row.

Rights groups slammed Egyptian authorities for the hangings and the alleged torture inflicted on the convicts.

Speaking at a press conference following the closing session of the two-day Arab League-EU joint summit, al-Sisi urged the EU countries to spare Egypt humanity lessons.

You speak about death sentenceswe appreciate this, but we urge you to not impose anything on us. When a person is killed due to a terrorist act, their families ask us to get their childrens rights, and this is the culture of our region. This is a right which is achieved through lawYou want to teach us? You wont teach us our humanity, El-Sisi said.

The priority for you as European states is to achieve welfare; our priority is to preserve our countries and protect them from fall, destruction, and collapse, El-Sisi was quoted as saying by local media Ahram Online.

Please, when you respond to events in our region, look at them comprehensively. This does not mean an override of human rights, he said.

Al-Sisi who rose to power in 2013 after driving a military coup against the countrys first democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi has repeatedly defended the crackdown on human rights with the need to squash terrorism.
By Trend

Reforms allow to channel additional funds to improving citizens` well-being, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at the meeting on economic and social issues.

As a result of the reforms our revenues, budget revenues are increasing, will continue and must increase, the president said. That`s why our economic development is related to the solution of social issues.

We have a strong will and a strong social policy, he added. At the same time, serious economic and social reforms that have been announced and are being implemented allow us to channel additional financial resources to the improvement of well-being of citizens. I am sure that 2019 will be a successful year for our country and Azerbaijan will move forward on the path of success and development.

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By Trend

A nationwide march has been held in Baku to commemorate the 27th anniversary of Khojaly genocide, one of the bloodiest crimes in the history of mankind.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, first lady Mehriban Aliyeva and family members attended the march.

The nationwide march, which began from the Azadlyg Square in Khatai district, involves ten thousands of people. They gathered to pay tribute to victims of Khojaly tragedy and draw the world community`s attention to this crime against humanity, which was committed by the Armenian fascists.

With President Ilham Aliyev and first lady Mehriban Aliyeva in the front row, the marchers started moving in the direction of the Khojaly memorial in Khatai district.

Thousands of young people gathered along the avenues and streets that the marchers are moving. They hold portraits of innocent victims of the bloody event  slaughtered children, women and elders  photos depicting abominable scenes of slaughter, placards demanding to bring to account and punish perpetrators of the tragedy and to recognize this genocide at an international level, as well as placards with names and surnames of victims.

The world must recognize Khojaly genocide, Justice for Khojaly, Do not forget Khojaly, No to Armenian fascism, Khojaly genocide -27 and other slogans are displayed on large monitors along the streets, and on placards on building walls and balconies.

A ceremonial guard of honor was lined up around the memorial.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev put a wreath at the memorial and paid tribute to Khojaly victims.

First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva, Prime Minister Novruz Mammadov, Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Ogtay Asadov, Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva, Arzu Aliyeva laid flowers at the monument.

State and government officials, MPs, ministers, heads of committees and companies, representatives of the diplomatic corps, heads of religious confessions, as well as Khojaly genocide survivors also placed flowers at the memorial.

A Russian delegation also attended the nationwide march.

President Ilham Aliyev and first lady Mehriban Aliyeva met with the Russian delegation and talked to them.

President Ilham Aliyev then was interviewed by the Russian Rossiya-24 TV channel.

The name of Khojaly settlement, which was wiped off the face of the earth in just one night, is now mentioned along with Katyn, Lidice and Songmy.

This nationwide march is a climax of large-scale work carried out by Azerbaijan in order to make the truth about Khojaly genocide known to the world and convince the international community that if the perpetrators of this genocide remain unpunished, this may lead to a repetition of such tragedies in any place across the globe.

The march showed the Azerbaijani people`s unity, their respect for martyrs as well as their eagerness to do their utmost to liberate the occupied territories and restore the country`s territorial integrity.

The atrocity committed by Armenians in the town of Khojaly in Nagorno-Karabakh on the night of 25-26 February 1992 went down in the history of Azerbaijan as a bloody page. That night helped by the Soviet Union`s Khankandi-based 366th motor rifle regiment, the Armenian armed forces massacred innocent people in this ancient Azerbaijani town.

The statistics of Khojaly genocide are as follows: of 3,000 people who were in the town at the moment of the attack 613 were killed, including 106 women, 63 children and 70 elders; 487 people were severely wounded, including 76 children; 1,275 people were captured and subjected to unprecedented torture; the fate of 197 people still remains unknown. Eight families were totally annihilated. All these people were slaughtered, tortured and disabled solely because of their ethnic background, only for being Azerbaijanis.

This genocidal act by the Armenians was deliberately planned and its only objective was to partially or completely wipe out civilians because of their nationality. These actions are defined as genocide under international law, which must be recognized by the world community.

The real essence of this genocide, which was committed in front of the eyes of the world, was uncovered only after national leader Heydar Aliyev`s coming to political power. On initiative of the national leader Khojaly genocide was given a political and legal assessment, and February 26 was declared Day of Khojaly Genocide. Launched by Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva in 2008, Justice for Khojaly international campaign boosted the awareness-raising efforts even more.

The campaign has contributed to increasing the international community`s awareness of the truth about this genocide, exposing the Armenian nationalists who resort to any violence, including the murder of children, in order to reach their ridiculous and heinous plans. As a result of systematic work, what happened in Khojaly was recognized as a genocidal act by the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as well as the parliaments of Mexico, Pakistan, Czech Republic, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Honduras, Sudan, Guatemala and Djibouti.

The parliaments of Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Jordan, Slovenia and Scotland, as well as executive and legislative bodies of 22 American states recognized Khojaly events as a massacre.

As in previous years the Heydar Aliyev Foundation continued to support the organization of Khojaly commemorative events across the world. This included commemorative rallies in Turkey, US, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Georgia and the Netherlands, commemorative events, conferences, exhibitions and contests in a number of other countries.

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By Trend

The 16th meeting of the EU-Azerbaijan Cooperation Council will be held in late February, spokesperson of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Leyla Abdullayeva said at a press conference in Baku, Trend reports on Feb. 25.

Abdullayeva stressed the issues related to the partnership agreement, as well as cooperation in the transport and energy sectors will be discussed during the meeting, to be held on February 26-27.

Azerbaijan will be represented at the meeting by Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev.

The European Council adopted a mandate for the European Commission and the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy to negotiate, on behalf of the EU and its member states, a comprehensive agreement with Azerbaijan in November 2016.

The new agreement should replace the 1996 partnership and cooperation agreement and should better take account of the shared objectives and challenges the EU and Azerbaijan face today.

The agreement will follow the principles endorsed in the 2015 review of the European Neighborhood Policy and offer a renewed basis for political dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan.

The new agreement envisages the compliance of Azerbaijans legislation and procedures with the EUs most important international trade norms and standards, which should lead to the improvement of Azerbaijani goods access to the EU markets.

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By Trend

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will take part in the 40th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, spokesperson of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Leyla Abdullayeva said at a press conference Feb. 25, Trend reports.

She stressed that the session will be held from February 25 to March 22.

"No issue on Azerbaijan is included on the agenda, Abdullayeva said. But Azerbaijan will actively participate in this meeting."

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, President of the UN General Assembly Maria Fernanda Espinosa and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet will deliver speeches at the opening session on February 25. On the first day, the representatives of more than 30 countries are expected to deliver speeches at the forum.

The Human Rights Council is an international human rights body within the UN system. It was established in 2006. The Council consists of 47 countries, each elected by a majority vote of members of the UN General Assembly through direct secret ballot.

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By Trend

Azerbaijans pain is Turkeys pain, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted, Trend reports on Feb. 26.

Cavusoglu expressed condolences to the Azerbaijani people, relatives of the victims of the Khojaly tragedy.

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.

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.

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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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By Trend

Turkey condemns the perpetrators of the Khojaly genocide and the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia, Trend reports referring to the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Feb. 26.

Turkey shares the pain of fraternal Azerbaijan, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. "Turkey expresses condolences to the Azerbaijani people, relatives of the victims of the Khojaly tragedy."

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.

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.

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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

---

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By Trend

Massacre in Azerbaijans Khojaly town is one of the bloodiest crimes against humanity, a source in the Turkish government told Trend Feb. 26 in connection with the 27th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide.

It was noted that Turkey urges the world community and international organizations to give correct assessment of the Khojaly massacre.

Turkey hasnt forgotten and will never forget the pain of Azerbaijan, and will always support Azerbaijan in the most difficult days, just like before, the source said.

It was noted that the crimes in Khojaly are part of Armenias occupation policy.

Presently, the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the most important issue in the South Caucasus, and its settlement is a priority, the source added.

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.

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.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

---

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By Trend

The invitation to "representatives" of the illegal regime, created in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, to the meeting of the Russian-Armenian Lazarev Club contradicts the goals of the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, spokesperson of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Leyla Abdullayeva said.

Abdullayeva made the remarks at a press conference in Baku on Feb. 25 while answering Trend correspondents question.

"The platform of the Russian-Armenian Lazarev Club, which began to operate in 2018, is used for provocative purposes, she said. This is quite obvious when considering the opinions voiced at the first meeting of this club in Yerevan on November 30-December 1, 2018.

Abdullayeva stressed that Azerbaijan, through the embassy in Russia, expressed displeasure to the Russian Foreign Ministry in connection with this issue.

"Our side stressed in December 2018 that one of the initiators and organizers of this club, which presents itself as a new format of public diplomacy, is Konstantin Zatulin, who holds the position of first deputy chairman of the committee of the Russian State Duma for CIS affairs, Eurasian integration and relations with compatriots, she added.

The organizers' invitation to "representatives" of the illegal regime, created in the territories of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia, to attend this meeting, as well as opinions expressed by Zatulin himself, which are attacking Azerbaijans sovereignty and territorial integrity, also similar positions of other participants during the meeting intend to harm high level relations between Azerbaijan and Russia, Abdullayeva said.

"Moreover, it was stressed that the opinions voiced by Zatulin are contrary to the interests of development of cooperation within the CIS and do not correspond to his status as first deputy chairman of the corresponding committee of the State Duma," Abdullayeva said.

Unfortunately, the organizers of this club do not demonstrate an intention to make any changes in its activity and openly declare about the invitation to "representatives" of the illegal regime to attend the second meeting of the club, which is planned to be held on March 5-6, 2019 in Moscow, she said.

"Such activity of the Lazarev Club, which clearly contradicts the goals of the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through substantive negotiations, does not coincide with the efforts of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, including Russia," Abdullayeva said.

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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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By Trend

Presentation of a report titled "Illegal Activities in the Territories of Azerbaijan under Armenias Occupation: Evidence from Satellite Imagery" was held in Baku on Feb. 25, Trend reports.

The report was prepared by Azercosmos OJSC and the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

The satellite imagery used in the report was provided by Azercosmos, Azerbaijan's satellite communications operator.

The full report can be found here.

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By Trend

Azerbaijans position on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was once again brought to the attention of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs during their visit to the region, said Hikmet Hajiyev, Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, Trend reports.

Hajiyev noted that, if one is to take a closer look to the conflict resolution process, it can be clearly visible that there are at present certain complaints from the Armenian side: This is detrimental to the general spirit of the negotiation process. We believe that the international community and the co-chair countries, by making more active efforts, should ensure Armenias more constructive role in the negotiation process. Azerbaijan supports the negotiation process, and our constructive position is highly appreciated by the world community."

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, received, on Monday in Niamey, a written message from King Mohammed VI.

The Royal message deals with bilateral relations and the means to strengthen them in all areas, Moroccos Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita, who conveyed the message to President Issoufou, told reporters following the audience.

The message also tackles regional issues and the means to address the challenges of security, stability and climate change, Bourita added, noting that relations between Rabat and Niamey are very strong today.

Bourita took part Monday in Niamey in the 1st Conference of Heads of State and Govt of the Sahel Climate Commission, which was set up in November 2016 in Marrakech at the Africa Action Summit, held at the initiative of King Mohammed VI.

In its final communique issued following this summit meeting, the Commission hailed the pioneering role played by King Mohammed VI and his vision for a strong and resilient Africa as well as the leadership and availability of Morocco.

Morocco has always worked for ambitious South-South cooperation to guarantee the harmonious and sustainable development of Africa, the communique added.

The Heads of State and Government of the Sahel also hailed the Sovereigns initiative leading to the creation of three Climate Commissions in Africa.

These commissions that were set up at the African Summit of Action, held on the sidelines of the COP22, in November 2016 in Marrakech, are The Congo Basin Commission, chaired by Congo; The Sahel Region Commission, chaired by Niger; and The Island States Commission, chaired by Seychelles.

In a message he addressed to the first Summit Conference of the Sahel Climate Commission, King Mohammed VI announced that Morocco will finance the feasibility studies to finalize the Climate Investment Plan for the Sahel region.
By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijans capital city Baku will be a great place to discover French cuisine.

Five restaurants in Baku will offer French gastronomic dinners on March 9-16.

Gout de / Good France showcases the excellence of French cuisine, its innovative abilities and the values it represents : sharing, delight, attention to the quality of products, healthy-eating and respect for environment.

Unique event takes place annually on 5 continents and in more than 150 countries.

Gout de / Good France mobilizes for the 5th year in a row the French embassies abroad and the chefs of the world.

For this edition, more than 5000 chefs from around the world are mobilizing to offer a "French dinner".

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Laman Ismayilova

An exhibition titled "Face to face with time" will open at the Baku Museum Center on March 12.

The event is co-organized by the Gobustan State Historical-Artistic Reserve with the support of the Azerbaijan Union of Artists and the Museum Center.

The exhibition will be held as part of the project "Reincarnation 5", Trend Life reported.

The project aims at promotion of Gobustans cultural heritage.

More than 40 art works will be showcased at the exhibition.

Media partners of the event are Azernews.az, Trend.az, Day.az, Milli.az.

Gobustan is home to one of the world's largest ancient petroglyphs collections. Settled since the 8th millennium BC, the area contains more than 600,000 distinct paintings, going as far back as 20,000 years to as recent as 5,000 years ago.

The pictures dating back to 8 millenniums reflect different hunting scenes, ceremonial and ritual processes of the habitants of these places.

Gobustan petroglyphs were repeatedly investigated by the famous Norwegian explorer and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl, who recognized local boats petroglyphs as the oldest known images of pirogue in the world.

Most of the rock engravings depict primitive men, animals, battle-pieces, ritual dances, bullfights, boats with armed oarsmen, warriors with lances in their hands, camel caravans, pictures of sun and stars.

The museum in Gobustan consists of various exhibition halls, sections, equipped with interactive boards, touch screens, educational games, 3D videos, etc.

In the sections "Environment of Gobustan" and "Life of the ancient people", one can see stuffed animals, mannequins, depicting ancient people that seem very realistic.

Don't forget to visit the halls of the "Archaeological discovery in Gobustan", "Life of the people of the ancient period", "Time Travel", "Meaning of petroglyphs", "Animals and hunters", "Artists of the ancient period of Gobustan" . Here one can learn a lot about the meaning of Gobustan rock drawings, archaeological excavations. Also, visitors to the museum can take a virtual flight in 3D, from a height to look at the natural landscape of the Gobustan reserve.

Gobustan was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2007. The Gobustan State Historical-Artistic Reserve has been included into the list of best European Museums.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Leman Mammadova

Azerbaijan and Mongolia are keen to develop energy aspect of bilateral cooperation, as a delegation led by Energy Minister of Mongolia Tserenpil Davaasuren visited the Energy Ministry of Azerbaijan at the invitation of Minister Parviz Shahbazov.

The sides held talks on the opportunities for bilateral cooperation in energy sector.

The Mongolian minister described his visit as well as meetings held in Baku as an opportunity to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in energy and other spheres. Highlighting the development of the oil and gas sector in Mongolia, Davaasuren pointed to great potential for cooperation in this area.

Davaasuren emphasized that Mongolia is keen to take advantage of Azerbaijans rich experience in the field of oil and gas, also to encourage Mongolian students to study at Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University.

In turn, Shahbazov said that Azerbaijan is ready to share its experience and collaborate in the areas of mutual interest with Mongolia. He expressed confidence that the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on energy cooperation between the energy ministries of Mongolia and Azerbaijan will contribute to this process. During the meeting it was also noted that Mongolian students will be given the necessary support to study at the relevant high school in Azerbaijan.

The sides exchanged views on the current state of the energy industry in both countries and discussed prospects for cooperation in the non-oil sector.

Although diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Mongolia were established in 1992, the bilateral cooperation between the two countries entered the phase of active expansion in recent years.

Last year, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Azerbaijan and Mongolia to develop bilateral cooperation.

In addition, an agreement was also signed on the abolition of visa requirements for diplomatic and official passport holders.

Two countries are interested in the development of trade relations as well. The recent export mission organized in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar by the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation with the support of the Ministry of Economy in October 2018 has brought great results as it was agreed that Azerbaijani products will be exported to the country. Azerbaijan will start to export wine and fruit juices to Mongolia.

The location of the two countries on the Silk Road from East to West offers opportunities for trade and transit cooperation. Both countries discuss cooperation opportunities within the framework of the "One Pipeline, One Way" project initiated by China on the Silk Road.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Trend

The Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson, in accordance with its mandate, plans to conduct the next ceasefire monitoring at the LOC on Feb. 27 in the direction of the Aghdam region, Trend reports referring to the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan.

The Personal Representative's field assistants Mihail Olaru and Martin Schuster will carry out the monitoring on the territory of Azerbaijan.

The Personal Representative's field assistants Ghenadie Petrica, Ognjen Jovic and Simon Tiller will carry out the monitoring on the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan occupied and controlled by the armed forces of Armenia.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

----

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Trend

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have 26 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Feb. 26, Trend reports.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Univision anchor and U.S. citizen Jorge Ramos and his crew were temporarily detained Monday in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas by President Nicolas Maduro, before later being released. Officials seized the journalists' equipment and detained them because Maduro didn't like the questions Ramos was asking during an interview.

Why it matters: If this is how Maduro treats members of the international press corps, imagine what it must be like to be a local journalist in Venezuela.

The big picture: The action comes after a weekend of turmoil in Venezuela in which Maduro blocked international aid at the border, accusing the U.S. of orchestrating a coup as he continues to deny that the country is suffering from a humanitarian crisis.

Details: I caught up with Univision spokesman Jose Zamora late last night. Here's what he said happened:

After the interview was postponed several times yesterday, Ramos finally began asking questions after 7 pm ET. Ramos began by showing a video clip of a Venezuelan man eating out of the garbage and asked for Maduro's reaction, which is when Maduro got upset and ordered them to be detained.

Authorities confiscated all of Ramos' interview material and equipment. Ramos called Daniel Coronell, president of news for Univision, for forty seconds before his phone was confiscated by authorities.

He and his crew were held for nearly 3 hours in the presidential palace. When they were finally allowed to leave, they had to leave all of their equipment and material behind.

What's next: The journalists were released this morning. They stayed in a hotel overnight that was surrounded by Maduro's armed forces. Their equipment, cellphones and the interview material were not returned.

The bottom line: In an Instagram video posted from Ramos' Facebook Watch show "Real America with Jorge Ramos," he says he doesn't ever expect to get the footage back: "They dont want world to see what we did."

Go deeper: Venezuelan border clashes further isolate Maduro's regime
You may not have heard of SmartNews, but the Japanese news discovery app has quadrupled its U.S. audience over the past two years and now drives more traffic to publishers than Apple News, according to traffic news referral service Parse.ly.

Expand chart Data: Comscore; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

Yes, but: SmartNews' audience is still tiny in the U.S. compared to that of other news aggregators, like Facebook, Google or Twitter, and it's not considered a strong partner for strategic news distribution. "It's very much just sugar rush traffic," says one audience development manager.

Details: SmartNews is a free news discovery app that was created in Japan in 2012 and launched in the U.S. in 2014. It's raised $88.3 million to date and at the time of its last raise in 2016, was reportedly valued at between $500 and $600 million. SmartNews has an audience of roughly 15 million monthly users, most of which are from Japan.

But the company is aggressively pushing to expand its U.S. presence, in part because audience and ad revenue opportunities are great here. It's hired 25 people across three offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto and New York City, Head of U.S. Marketing Fabien-Pierre Nicolas tells Axios.

in part because audience and ad revenue opportunities are great here. It's hired 25 people across three offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto and New York City, Head of U.S. Marketing Fabien-Pierre Nicolas tells Axios. The company has also been buying cable news ads across Fox, MSNBC and CNN. Its goal is to attract older news consumers in the U.S. across all demographics and political ideologies. "For now, the 18-24 demographic is skipping us. Therefore, we are focused on users ages 25 and higher," says Nicolas.

Be smart: In Japan, SmartNews is a market leader and considered one of the top news discovery apps, with roughly 3,000 news publishing partners. But in the U.S., it so far has only signed on 350 publishing partners.

According to Parse.ly, SmartNews didn't start to really distribute traffic to publishers until the summer of 2017. In March of 2018, that growth accelerated even further, and has been trending upwards ever since. To date, traffic referrals to publishers have grown by 125%, per Parse.ly.

How it works: SmartNews is similar to Apple News in that it selects traffic distribution partners to work with and helps them set up channels that users can follow. But when it comes to most traffic referrals, the app relies on algorithms to elevate news from vetted publishers in its feed.

"Quality is a big weight in the algorithm," says Nicolas. The push alerts SmartNews sends that drive big traffic spikes to U.S. publishers are algorithmically selected, and then reviewed by a human curation team. That team will also respond to content that is flagged as problematic by users.

"If you're a publisher, the best way we can do something together is to make sure you have a channel, and to make sure your channel is correctly indexed. We are happy to work on co-marketing strategies, but trust machine learning will do the job and provide quality content from curated sources. We think this can really help people move away from filter bubbles."

Between the lines: Axios spoke with several audience development professionals from different types of publishers, and while most agreed that the added traffic surges from SmartNews are helpful, many argued that they haven't yet become a very strategic audience development partner for a number of reasons.

It doesn't have a great sense of editorial strategy. Publishing executives complain that it will alert breaking news coverage from outlets that didn't actually break the news, often pushing an aggregated story. Traffic spikes are high, but not as sustained. "Traffic shoots up but quickly wanes after it's moved from the top position on the SmartNews feed," says one audience development manager. Bounce rates are very high. Because there's little strategy around audience development and platform optimization, it's hard to build audience loyalty with a brand on SmartNews, which means people visit the article after it's pushed to them, but don't engage further with a news brand after that. There's no pitch process. Publishers say they've offered to pitch news strategically to the app, but it only ranks news algorithmically after a publisher is added as a curated source.

The bottom line: SmartNews is starting to send a lot of news traffic to U.S. publishers, but there's no real mechanism to build an audience yet. For now, it's an added bonus, but not a platform that a company can really invest in strategically.
In North Korea, Vietnam, China and Cuba, were witnessing tests this week of what it means to survive and prosper as a communist state in 2019.

Expand chart Chart: Naema Ahmed/Axios

The big picture: In the three decades since the fall of the Berlin Wall, communism has faded in much of the world and, where it remains, been pushed discreetly aside in the pursuit of business, as Will Englund put it in the Washington Post.

In the three decades since the fall of the Berlin Wall, communism has faded in much of the world and, where it remains, been pushed discreetly aside in the pursuit of business, as Will Englund put it in the Washington Post. Today it lives on in only the most attenuated forms. North Korea is the one ferocious holdout among the remaining Communist nations, but even there markets have been changing the nature of the economy, Englund writes.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is in the midst of a multi-day train journey to Vietnam, where he will hold his second summit with President Trump. Since taking power in 2011, Kims top priorities (other than consolidating power) have been to bolster North Koreas nuclear program and its beleaguered economy.

The U.S. intelligence community believes Kim views nuclear weapons as so critical to the survival of his regime that he is unlikely to ever give them up.

Having made substantial progress on the nuclear front, though, Kim used his New Years address to lay out a new strategic line focusing exclusively on the economy, says Suzanne DiMaggio, a Carnegie fellow who has facilitated dialogue with the North Koreans on behalf of both the Obama and Trump administrations.

In some ways, he has to deliver on it, DiMaggio adds, and he wont be able to without relief from sanctions. Trump hasattempted to sell Kim on the idea his country will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse if he only gives up his nukes.

Vietnam, which liberalized its economy beginning in the 1980s, in many ways represents the future the Trump administration is encouraging Kim to pursue.

Prosperity and security abound. When the leaders in Hanoi go to bed at night, the notion of conflict with America is the last thing on their minds, Secretary of State Pompeo said on a visit to Vietnam last year before addressing Kim: It can be your miracle in North Korea as well.

China's economic might is viewed in Washington less as a miracle than as a threat. But Trump today gave the clearest indication yet that he plans to wind down a trade war that has posed pointed questions to Beijing.

He has been demanding fundamental changes to Chinas economic model on issues like intellectual property, forced technology transfers and support to state-owned enterprises.

Trump said today that after substantial progress on those fronts, he expects to sign a deal with President Xi Jinping, perhaps next month at Mar-a-Lago.

However, Axios contributor Bill Bishop writes in his Sinocism newsletter: Everything I am hearing supports that idea that Chinese have offered little in the way of the core structural concessions the U.S. wants, but Trump is eager for a deal regardless of what some of his advisors are telling him.

Finally in Cuba, voters have ratified a new constitution for the first time since 1976.
In retaliation for the Feb. 14 terrorist attack in the Pulwama district of Kashmir, which killed 44 Indian security personnel, the Indian Air Force (IAF) conducted strikes on Tuesday against an alleged terrorist training facility and madrassa complex in the Pakistani town of Balakot.

Why it matters: The operation was the first cross-border sortie by the IAF since the 1971 India-Pakistan war. Escalating tensions have sparked fears of a standoff between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Details: Although the facts are in dispute, the airstrikes apparently targeted Jaish-e-Mohammed, a UN-sanctioned terrorist group that claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack, among others in India. Both the Pulwama attack, the bloodiest such incident in the disputed territory of Kashmir in over three decades, and the strikes on Balakot, which lies outside the region, marked escalations from previous incidents.

What to watch: In a week when the U.S. is focused on the Trump-Kim summit, Venezuela, and Taliban negotiations in Qatar, other regional powers will likely take the lead in restraining the two sides:

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited Pakistan and India last week. With Pakistan increasingly dependent on Saudi support to stave off financial crisis, Riyadhs private messages of restraint might hold sway.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited Pakistan and India last week. With Pakistan increasingly dependent on Saudi support to stave off financial crisis, Riyadhs private messages of restraint might hold sway. China, another Pakistani benefactor and close partner of Pakistans army, condemned the Pulwama attack yet urged caution. But Beijings persistent shielding of Pakistan from UN sanctions is likely to bubble over at a Russia-India-China foreign ministerial meeting that starts today in Wuzhen, China.

Pakistan, after claiming that the strikes hit nothing but trees and soil, is likely to convene an emergency parliamentary session tomorrow to condemn Indias action. India hopes that Pakistans reaction will be all fury but no fire.

Yes, but: Electoral politics in the lead-up to India's May elections is likely to produce chest-thumping from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government and the IAF that could provoke a more direct Pakistani reaction.

The bottom line: Indian observers hope that the enhanced military capabilities demonstrated in India's attack will deter future Pakistani terrorism. But that seems unlikely, as Pakistan relies on militant proxies and the world's fastest-growing nuclear arsenal to counterbalance India. The challenge for New Delhi will be mitigating terrorism without inciting reactions that could prove disastrous to India's prospects as an emerging power.

James Schwemlein is a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former U.S. State Department official.
The specter of banishing back-end drug rebates and more aggressive state action has unnerved pharmacy benefit managers heading into 2019.

The big picture: This uncertainty has PBMs on the defensive and appears to be chipping away at their profitable businesses.

Driving the news: It has not been a fun few weeks for the drug pricing middlemen.

CVS Health rolled out profit estimates for 2019 that were well below what Wall Street had expected, due in part to its PBM proactively passing more rebate dollars to employers and insurers. Executives also said CVS won't keep as much money on some generic drugs through a practice known as "spread pricing."

Cigna CEO David Cordani recently said the Trump administration's proposed rebate rule would "not have a meaningful impact on our growth or earnings trajectory," even now that the company has acquired Express Scripts. But analysts are not convinced.

Diplomat Pharmacy lost a lot of employer customers within its recently acquired PBM business, and it anticipates writing down a "significant portion" of the PBM's $630 million value.

Activist investor Starboard Value is breathing down the neck of Magellan Health, which owns a PBM with $2.5 billion of annual revenue, and is encouraging a sale due to the company's "poor performance."

That's not all: States continue to be the most aggressive force challenging PBMs.

Ohio's attorney general wants to claw back "overcharges" from OptumRx, and Kentucky criticized its drug benefit companies for retaining almost $124 million last year through spread pricing.

The bottom line: The rebate rule and general scrutiny on PBMs "poses meaningful risk to [their] profit models," analysts at Robert W. Baird & Co. wrote in an investor note last week.

Yes, but: The rebate rule likely won't go into effect for a while, and these companies are not going to sit on their hands.
Colombias Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee expressed on Monday in Rabat, full support to Moroccos territorial integrity and autonomy plan for the Sahara.

At a meeting held in Rabat with Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Mounia Boucetta, a Colombian MP delegation, led by chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Anatolio Hernandez Lozano, recalled the adoption by the Colombian Congress of a resolution expressing full support to Moroccos sovereignty over the Sahara, and affirming that Rabat is a strategic ally of Bogota.

The Colombian MPs also commended the important role and the noteworthy contributions made by King Mohammed VI for the development and peace in Colombia, saying that the friendship ties with Morocco, the only country that opens the doorway of Africa to Colombia, must be further strengthened through new cooperation agreements.

The Colombian MPs delegation also held separate meetings with Speakers of the two chambers of the Moroccan parliament, who have both praised the Colombian parliament for its backing to Moroccos territorial integrity and to the autonomy plan for the Sahara, describing the position expressed through the resolution adopted last December as noble and historic.

The autonomy plan was recognized by the international community as a serious, realistic and credible offer for reaching a final solution to the Sahara regional conflict.

The two sides stressed the need to engage in joint reflection on ways to consolidate bilateral and multilateral parliamentary cooperation, through a tripartite mechanism (Morocco-Africa-Colombia). The Colombian MPs were also called to adhere to the ambitious initiative launched by the Moroccan parliament on the creation of an Africa-Latin America parliamentary forum, to serve as a platform to uphold the legitimate aspirations of the peoples of the two continents.

The Colombian delegations visit is part of the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Morocco and Colombia. It aims to strengthen bilateral relations, exchange experiences in several areas and build on the strategic location of the two countries to deepen their partnership, as Morocco is the gateway to Africa and the Euro-Mediterranean area, while Colombia is a launchpad for penetrating South America.
A state judge on Friday afternoon ruled to remove the North Carolina constitutional amendment requiring voter ID, citing rampant gerrymandering in the state's general assembly, reports The Hill.

The big picture: The judge said that a voter ID amendment shouldn't have been proposed or put before voters as a ballot measure at all, claiming the general assembly poorly reflects the state's citizenry. North Carolina's NAACP celebrated the decision, calling the voter ID law "racist." North Carolina's GOP chairman Robin Hayes, meanwhile, said the ruling should be overturned, adding that the ballot measures were passed by an "overwhelming majority of North Carolinians."
1 big thing: One place Mueller never comes up

At a half-dozen events 2020 candidates held in Iowa over the weekend, attendees barely mentioned President Trump  and not a single person asked about Robert Muellers investigation or Russia, Axios' Alexi McCammond reports.

Instead, most of the questions were about policies  most often health care, climate and immigration.

most of the questions were about policies  most often health care, climate and immigration. The attendees at a soup dinner, meet-and-greets, and town halls asked hard-hitting questions about biofuels, money in politics, taxing the wealthy, preventive health care, arts in education, immigration reform, the environment, abolishing the filibuster rule in the Senate, and foreign policy.

Why it matters: Voters are giving the Democrats space to build specific brands based on their own visions and proposals.

At least in the first caucus state, the most active Democrats don't seem to be driven by personalities, polls or media portrayals.

in the first caucus state, the most active Democrats don't seem to be driven by personalities, polls or media portrayals. So the field isn't a big anti-Trump chorus. It's a collection of very different voices  with the real chance for one to break out by rising to the moment.

In a bright-blue, rented Hyundai Tucson, Axios traveled 264 miles and covered six events over three days.

The crowds ranged from the 400+ people Sen. Kamala Harris drew at the state Capitol, to an eight-person roundtable Julian Castro held with corn growers in Paulina, Iowa.

ranged from the 400+ people Sen. Kamala Harris drew at the state Capitol, to an eight-person roundtable Julian Castro held with corn growers in Paulina, Iowa. If people brought up Trump  which happened once at a Castro event and once at a Harris town hall  they simply asked: How are you going to beat him?

On health care, some of the questions were more revealing than the candidates' answers, because they gave a glimpse into what's really plaguing Americans.

One woman asked Castro about preventive health care, telling him that when she attended her 45th class reunion recently, she "noticed a lot of people didnt show up because they were dead. And a lot of the others were very unhealthy."

about preventive health care, telling him that when she attended her 45th class reunion recently, she "noticed a lot of people didnt show up because they were dead. And a lot of the others were very unhealthy." Castro responded: "We need to begin by empowering people to make more healthy choices."

A third candidate, former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper, relies on a lot of data and numbers, but pushed a message of uniting the country.

Recognizing he was in Trump country while speaking with a group of 20 people in Carroll, Iowa, Hickenlooper started by saying: "Theres a lot President Trump has done that I dont disagree with."

Between the lines: All the candidates addressed Iowans eagerness to move past the political chaos they feel were in. Harris said, to a standing ovation:
Expectations are fairly low heading into this week's Hanoi summit, including among Trump's team.

Between the lines: Suzanne DiMaggio, a Carnegie fellow who has facilitated dialogue with the North Koreans on behalf of both the Obama and Trump administrations, says she's optimistic that "the administration has adjusted to an approach that's in the realm of possibility."

Bruce Klingner, a former CIA Korea specialist now at The Heritage Foundation, says any breakthrough in Hanoi would have required substantial groundwork that doesn't seem to have been laid.

Klingner is worried about "how far the president is willing to go to get an agreement" that might consist primarily of promises Pyongyang has made to previous presidents.

Unlike in Singapore, there's no obvious stick to go along with the carrots. "We haven't heard talk of 'this may work out and if it doesn't we'll move to phase 2,'" he says. "We're not hearing that inherent threat."

DiMaggio says the rhetoric we have heard from Trump in advance of the summit  that there's "no rush" toward denuclearization and that Kim is a great leader  sends exactly the wrong message.

"That led the North Koreans to conclude they should only deal with Trump. The North Koreans like what he says, it's music to their ears. To an American diplomat, this is the worst-case scenario."

"One worry is that Trump will give away too much. That he'll get to the table, Kim will butter him up and he'll give away the store," she says, noting that the two will meet one-on-one.

What to watch: DiMaggio and Klingner both raised U.S. troop reductions in Asia as something that shouldn't be on the table, but might be.
Prominent climate scientists are pushing back against the view, promoted by media coverage of recent science reports as well as climate advocates, that we have only 12 years to act on global warming or face an existential threat to humanity.

Why it matters: This do-or-die framing has found a powerful advocate in Democratic freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who said on Monday that millennials understand that we only have 12 years or "the world is going to end." She is pushing a broad policy proposal to address climate change, known as the Green New Deal.

The big picture: During the past year, several scientific reports have been released that underscore the urgency of slashing emissions of greenhouse gases to avoid facing severe consequences from global warming.

A particularly influential report was published by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in October 2018. It found that global warming could still be held to 1.5C, or 2.7F, of warming relative to preindustrial levels, especially if:

Net human-caused carbon dioxide emissions decline by 45% by 2030 compared to 2010 levels, and reach "net zero" by roughly mid-century.

The catch: While there were only 12 years left till 2030 when the IPCC report came out, the reality is that we have a diverse array of choices before us in terms of how soon to make emissions cuts and how significant and costly they are, top climate scientists told Axios. Their comments were about the framing of a rigid 12-year timetable in general, not specifically in reaction to Ocasio-Cortez's remarks.

What we're hearing: "12 years isn't a deadline, and climate change isn't a cliff we fall off  it's a slope we slide down," said Kate Marvel, a climate scientist at NASA. "We don't have 12 years to prevent climate change  we have no time. It's already here. And even under a business-as-usual scenario, the world isn't going to end in exactly twelve years."

In reference to Ocasio-Cortez's comments, Marvel said: "She's right that decisions we make in the next decade will determine how bad climate change gets  we can't prevent bad things, but we have the power to avoid the worst-case scenario."

Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University, told Axios that the idea that there is only a finite amount of time to fix climate change is the wrong way to look at the problem. She summed up the IPCC's 1.5-degree report this way: "Every action matters. Every bit of warming matters. Every year matters. Every choice matters."

Hayhoe says she worries that deadlines will make people treat climate change more cavalierly to start, since 12 years can seem like a long time.

The rhetoric used by Ocasio-Cortez and many others in favor of bold action suggests that either scientists or the media, or both, got the IPCC report wrong.

Andrea Dutton, a paleoclimate researcher at the University of Florida, said the 12-year deadline became attractive for media headlines in spite a lack of support from the IPCC report itself:

"For some reason the media latched onto the 12 years (2030), presumably because they thought that it helped to get across the message of how quickly we are approaching this and hence how urgently we need action. Unfortunately, this has led to a complete mischaracterization of what the report said."

Reality check: "All the time-limited frames are bullshit," Gavin Schmidt, who leads NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, told Axios in an email. "Nothing special happens when the 'carbon budget' runs out or we pass whatever temperature target you care about, instead the costs of emissions steadily rise," he said. The IPCC report, for example, found the impacts worsen considerably beyond 1.5C of warming.

"The thing to push back against is the implicit framing that there is some magic global mean temperature or total emissions that separate 'fine' from 'catastrophic'. There just isn't," Schmidt said.

The bottom line: Even if hard deadlines are scientifically flawed, they can be effective when it comes to activism. The 12-year timeframe, in particular, has been widely adopted by proponents of climate action.

"We can quibble about the phraseology, whether it's existential or cataclysmic" impacts that we'll face without taking action in the next 12 years, Ocasio-Cortez spokesman Corbin Trent told Axios. But, he says, the reality is: "We're seeing lots of [climate change-related] problems that are already impacting lives."

Go deeper:
At a half-dozen events 2020 candidates held in Iowa over the weekend, attendees barely mentioned President Trump  and not a single person asked about Robert Muellers investigation or Russia.

The big picture: Instead, most of the questions were about policies  most often health care, climate and immigration.

The attendees at a soup dinner, meet-and-greets, and town halls asked hard-hitting questions about biofuels, money in politics, taxing the wealthy, preventive health care, arts in education, immigration reform, the environment, abolishing the filibuster rule in the Senate, and foreign policy.

Why it matters: Voters are giving the Democrats space to build specific brands based on their own visions and proposals.

At least in the first caucus state, the most active Democrats don't seem to be driven by personalities, polls or media portrayals.

in the first caucus state, the most active Democrats don't seem to be driven by personalities, polls or media portrayals. So the field isn't a big anti-Trump chorus. It's a collection of very different voices  with the real chance for one to break out by rising to the moment.

In a bright-blue, rented Hyundai Tucson, Axios traveled 264 miles and covered six events over three days.

The crowds ranged from the 400+ people Sen. Kamala Harris drew at the state Capitol, to an eight-person roundtable Julian Castro held with corn growers in Paulina, Iowa.

ranged from the 400+ people Sen. Kamala Harris drew at the state Capitol, to an eight-person roundtable Julian Castro held with corn growers in Paulina, Iowa. If people brought up Trump  which happened once at a Castro event and once at a Harris town hall  they simply asked: How are you going to beat him?

On health care, some of the questions were more revealing than the candidates' answers, because they gave a glimpse into what's really plaguing Americans.

One woman asked Castro about preventive health care, telling him that when she attended her 45th class reunion recently, she "noticed a lot of people didnt show up because they were dead. And a lot of the others were very unhealthy."

about preventive health care, telling him that when she attended her 45th class reunion recently, she "noticed a lot of people didnt show up because they were dead. And a lot of the others were very unhealthy." Castro responded: "We need to begin by empowering people to make more healthy choices."

A third candidate, former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper, relies on a lot of data and numbers, but pushed a message of uniting the country.

Recognizing he was in Trump country while speaking with a group of 20 people in Carroll, Iowa, Hickenlooper started by saying: "A lot of what President Trump has done I dont disagree with." (He then specifically mentioned "renegotiating some of our trade agreements," but said he doesn't like the way Trump handled it.)

Between the lines: All the candidates addressed Iowans eagerness to move past the political chaos they feel were in. Harris said, to a standing ovation:

"This moment will pass. And years from now our children and grandchildren and others will look at us  and they will ask us: 'Where were you?'"

Go deeper:
As the final link in the chain joining Embraer and Boeing in a critical strategic partnership, the Brazilian companys shareholders have overwhelmingly approved the deal. Boeings ownership stake of the partnership in commercial aviation and services will be 80 percent to Embraers 20 percent.

The agreement affects Embraers commercial unit only, with its defense and executive-jet business to remain a standalone publicly traded company. As part of the agreement, a series of support agreements focused on supply chain, engineering and facilities would ensure mutual benefits and enhanced competitiveness between Boeing, the joint venture and Embraer, according to a statement by Embraer.

Embraer shareholders also agreed to a separate joint venture to promote and develop new markets for the medium airlift KC-390. In this case, Embraer will own a 51 percent stake in the joint venture, with Boeing getting 49 percent.

Approval by Embraers shareholders is an important step forward as we make progress on bringing together our two great aerospace companies. This strategic global partnership will build on Boeings and Embraers long history of collaboration, benefit our customers and accelerate our future growth, said Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing chairman, president and chief executive officer.

This agreement goes back to December 2018. In January 2019, Boeing and Embraer obtained approval from the Brazilian government to proceed, which was soon followed by approval of Embraers board of directors. The two aerospace companies hope to have the transaction finalized by the end of 2019.


(kwest/Shutterstock.com) (kwest/Shutterstock.com)

A new visa is being introduced to encourage businesses and innovation to the State of South Australia and could be extended to the rest of the country, it has been confirmed.It will be part of a pilot aimed at finding out if the new visa should be rolled out across the nation and it will allow the South Australian Government to partner with business incubators to attract entrepreneurs from around the world.'Start-ups generate new jobs, drive innovation and bring opportunities to diversify our economy. The pilot is just one of the ways the Government is increasing job opportunities and providing incentives for growing businesses of the future,' said Immigration Minister David Coleman.The pilot for the three-year Supporting Innovation in South Australia (SISA) visa will be supported by funding of $400,000 from the South Australia Government and applicants will not need huge funds as there will be an emphasis on the quality of ideas and having a sound business plan.'This is a refreshing, innovative and bold drive to attract the world's best and brightest minds to South Australia to help create new business, industry and jobs,' said State Premier Steven Marshall.'The entrepreneurs can be focused on a variety of industries, however, we'll be looking favourably at applications that relate to the state's emerging industries such as defence and space, cyber security and big data, agribusiness, health and medical technology, robotics and media and film,' he pointed out.He added that the new visa arrangement build on the State Government's plan for an Innovation, Incubator, Startup and Growth Hub at Lot Fourteen on the site of the former Royal Adelaide Hospital.To be successful, applicants will need endorsement from South Australian innovation ecosystem providers or the Office of the Chief Entrepreneur. Successful applicants will be nurtured in South Australia's local innovation ecosystem to help build a successful new business and grow jobs in our state.According to David Pisoni, Minister for Industry and Skills, South Australia is known for its burgeoning entrepreneurial ecosystem with numerous co-working spaces housing amazing talent and start-ups and the aim is to have a higher rate of business start-ups and entrepreneurship than anywhere else in Australia within the next decade.'We expect the visa scheme will attract up to 30 budding young entrepreneurs to the state in its first year, and up to 100 in the next, who will be encouraged to develop their innovative ideas into start-up businesses,' he said.'Importantly, unlike previous visa classes in this area, the new visa arrangement does not require applicants to demonstrate a minimum funding of $200,000 for approval. The success of their application will ultimately rest upon the quality of their start-up and idea and the soundness of their business plan,' he explained.
As far as legal services go, we believe in working with the best local firm for the job. But the US is different because it is such a large and mature insurance market, explained RPCs global head of insurance Simon Laird. By joining up with Hinshaw we can develop targeted products, solutions and learnings which can benefit our clients across both the UK and US. We look forward to building on this development throughout 2019 in line with our core RPC values.

Dentons unveils whistleblowing comparison tool

Dentons has launched a tool to help analyze regulatory requirements for whistleblowing around the world.

The online resource compares whistleblowing legislation in jurisdictions across North America, UK, Europe, Latin America, Australia, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East.

Keeping up and complying with whistleblower requirements and rule amendments can be perplexing and time consuming for globally active companies, particularly in emerging markets, says Silicon Valley partner Cynthia Jackson. Our tool is designed to break through this complexity and provide the user with a snapshot of requirements so compliance personnel can more efficiently make a decision on next steps.

The tool is feely available at www.whistleblowerguidelines.com
In Australia, abandoned transactions rose from 22% to 38% of announced deals, Allen & Overy found. The main issue in Australia was timing, with merger reviews taking longer than expected and encroaching on long-stop dates, it said.

In 2018, several governments, including Australias, reconsidered powers that cover foreign investments. This has resulted in boosting existing regulatory toolkits. The trend happened even as governments clearly encouraged more inbound investments in recent years, the firm found.

McDonald, who heads Allen & Overys competition team in the Asia-Pacific region, said several factors are contributing to why regulators are increasingly examining deals. He also warned of coming changes to regulatory regimes.

In Australia and elsewhere, regulators grappled with suggestions that a rise in concentration is contributing to social inequality and that under-enforcement could be a contributing factor. Several regulators, including those in the EU, UK and Australia, have also queried if the merger control toolkit is fit for purpose in the digital age. We are likely to see proposals to change the rules here to close perceived gaps, he said.

McDonald said that increased regulatory scrutiny has resulted in increased regulatory sophistication, which likely leads to more work for dealmakers.
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.
She has a focus on commercial and corporate law and M&A, as well as projects in the energy and resources, construction, and tourism sectors. She offers specialist knowledge in French, Australian, Pacific Islands businesses and cultures, as well as being bilingual in French and English.

Warren Kalinko, Keypoint chief executive, said that the firm is delighted to welcome Miehe to the team as it positions itself for further growth this year.

Julie is a dynamic and highly regarded dual-qualified lawyer whose corporate skillset and diverse practice complements our thriving corporate team. Her cross-border expertise will enable us to enhance our corporate capabilities, as well as expand our offering to foreign clients looking to invest in the Australian and Pacific markets, he said.

Miehe said she looked forward to contributing to Keypoint Laws cross-border offering.

This is a fantastic opportunity for me to continue to build my Asia-Pacific offering in a client-focused and fast-growing firm, she said.
Harding intended for his wife and youngest son to join him in the Middle East by the end of 2011, when the son finished high school in Australia. His wife was to live in the family home on the Sunshine Coast until then.

The plan did not come to fruition as Harding and his wife separated before the planned reunion. The ATO assessed Harding, saying that he was a tax resident of Australia for the 2011 income year, which meant that his income from the Middle East was taxed in Australia.

The ATO said that Harding did not have a permanent dwelling outside Australia at the time because his apartment in the Middle East was only temporary while he waited for his wife and child to join him.

The Full Court rejected that argument, saying that the test was whether the person had abandoned their residence in Australia.

Cooper Grace Ward partner Fletch Heinemann acted for Harding. He said that the decision can help Australian expatriates, but warned that there are still key risks to consider.
A chalet-style home on West Hyman Avenue that the city bought in 2006 will be sold to a buyer who plans some sort of development on the site. The home, which is historically designated, cannot be torn down.
Olympic Swimmer Nathan Adrian Discusses Testicular Cancer Diagnosis

Trending News: Olympian Nathan Adrian Returns to Training a Month After Cancer Diagnosis

Even a life-changing diagnosis wont keep Olympic swimmer Nathan Adrian out of the pool.

The five-time gold medalist is back to training for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo just a month after being told he has testicular cancer.

Im feeling great. All things considered, where we were a month ago, Im back in the water, Im training, Adrian, 30, told Today on Tuesday, February 26. My doctors lifted all the restrictions, so its about getting back on track where we need to be.

RELATED: How to Check Yourself for Lumps Down There (in One Minute)

Getty Images

The swimmer recounted what it was like when he first noticed things were off down south..

To be honest, it was down there, something was swollen, it was hard, he said. It was then that Adrian decided to give his doctor a call and received the bad news..

From the moment he was diagnosed, Adrian claims hes been relying on the support from his new wife, Hallie Ivester.

Its been such an awesome melding of two lives into one, he told Today. When this came it was certainly this moment of, how are we going to defeat this together? And from that moment on I was like, this is it.

In January, Adrian took to social media, making his illness public knowledge.

Life, like swimming the 100 free, can come at you hard and fast as you cant always see who, or what, may be chasing you down, he wrote in an Instagram post on January 24. Recently, I went to the doctor as something didnt seem quite right. At the very least, I still needed to get my flu shot so it couldnt hurt. After a few tests and visits with a specialist, I unfortunately learned that I have testicular cancer.

Adrian pointed out that since he caught it early, doctors expected him to be back training in no time. They turned out to be right.

Along the way, I hope to share my journey in an effort to help break the stigma of discussing mens health issues, he added in his post. Ive realized that too often we tend to avoid these important topics, ignore the potential warning signs, and put off getting the medical help that we may need. As I told my family, Ill be putting my public health degree to work a little sooner than I planned! But in all seriousness, I am keeping a positive attitude as cases such as mine are curable. I am extremely grateful for my family and friends, especially my wife, for their love and support.

Adrian, who won gold medals in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics, explained on Tuesday that he decided to tell the world about his diagnosis because of how common testicular cancer is.

One of the reasons I decided to say hey and open about this and be public about it is one-third of Americans are going to sit down with their doctor and theyre going to say Hey, we got your test results back and theyre not what you hoped. And thats hard, he told Today. Thats not something they prepare you for in school and you feel so alone and so isolated. But the more I looked into it there are so many people that go through it, too.

If you suspect anything might be wrong down there, go see a doctor. Heres how to check on your own, too.

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Of custody and crypto The normally staid world of custody banking is now having to embrace the wild child of global assets: cryptocurrency. And this is happening just as bitcoin, the poster child of cryptocurrency, seesawed from US$30,000 one week to $40,000 the next, shedding then recovering 30% of its value. Some bitcoin bulls are talking of $100,000 by year-end
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), featuring ten dynamic and growing economies, has become increasingly favorable for foreign investment in recent years. This is mainly due to the desire of governments in ASEAN countries to promote FDI and the increasingly growing domestic markets in the region. The ongoing Sino-US trade war, the creation of the ASEAN Economic Community in December 2015, and the streamlining of ASEANs regulatory landscape greatly improved the attractiveness of the region for investors.

In particular, the manufacturing sector benefits largely from FDI as several ASEAN states are able to position themselves as an alternative to China. Cheaper wages and an advantageous geographical location between the Chinese and European markets makes ASEAN increasingly attractive. The outlook for the ten ASEAN countries is vastly positive. Barring Singapore which is already an industrialized high income economy, all other ASEAN states are expected to grow between 4 percent and 7 percent in 2019.

German investment in ASEAN has been increasing steadily and has the potential to grow further in the coming years.

Brunei

In order to understand German investment in the region a closer look at FDI flows into each individual ASEAN state is necessary. In the first part of this four-part article, we look at Brunei and Cambodia.

Brunei represents one of the most developed countries within ASEAN. Claiming one of the top rankings in the World Banks Ease of Doing Business Index, the country is placed at the first position in terms of ease of securing credit. Considering the size of the country, FDI inflows have played a major role in its economic development. However, German FDI did not play a very major role in Brunei in recent years.

Germany  Brunei relations at a glance

German exports to Brunei decreased from US$170 million in 2015 to US$57 million in 2017. Imports from Brunei declined due to slowing exports in the oil and gas sector. However, a particularly high demand for machinery from Germany is fuelling an increase of German exports to Brunei in recent years.

Several German companies have already established a business presence in Brunei. Heidelberg Cement has been present since 2000 supplies 65 percent of the construction market in Brunei. ThyssenKrupp is currently engaged in the construction of a major fertilizer plant in Brunei to support local efforts to diversify the economy. Siemens which is involved in Brunei since 1972, is currently studying the governments effort towards digitalization and is expecting to make large investments in the coming years.

Bruneis Investment Outlook

Bruneis economy has faced challenges due to fluctuations in the oil and gas sector in recent years. In 2018, higher exports of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) have given the export sector a boost with a 2.3 percent GDP growth that is expected to increase in 2019 to over 5 percent.

With the governments diversification plans to decrease the dependence on the natural resources sector and increase innovative and technology-oriented businesses, Brunei opens up vast opportunities for German investments. With a largely well-educated and English-speaking population as well as an FDI friendly environment, Brunei represents a perfect investment opportunity for Germany.

The majority of German projects aim at developing high-technology and trade in Brunei and to use the special geographic location of the nation. Brunei is not yet comparable with Singapore but with the increasing lack of space and high costs in Singapore, Brunei could offer a potential alternative for high-tech companies and logistics firms.

Wawasan Brunei 2035

Wawasan Brunei 2035 is a development framework first announced in 2004. It shall position the country amongst other top nations in the world in term of high education and income. The strategy is that Brunei is recognised everywhere for the accomplishments of its well-educated people, the quality of life and its dynamic, sustainable economy.

The project is built upon attracting more FDI and growing local businesses. Promotion of the halal industry with the Bio Innovation Corridor, innovation and technology and creative industry, cotton industry and cooperatives are already implemented. The Ease-of-Doing Business Unit was set up to further improve Bruneis already advance commercial climate  the country is currently one of the top nations on the Ease of Doing Business Index.

A large part of the initiatives focus on digitalization of the public sector especially under the Digital Government Strategy 2015-2020. Increasing public-private collaboration, information exchange and transparency are the main objectives. This will enable smooth communication amongst the 86 percent of the population using the Internet in Brunei  the highest ratio of all Southeast Asian nations.

The government aspires to implement national standards and accreditations in line with the best international practices. Darussalam Enterprise was set up, which aims at promotion entrepreneurial spirit and facilitating companies with growth visions.

Pulau Muara Besar Project

Another major project in diversification of the national economy is the Pulau Muara Besar Project. It is a large-scale development project for a deep-water harbour and industrial complex on more than 900 hectares of land. An attached business and commercial area is included as well.

In terms of Bruneis location in the middle of ASEAN and alongside the major trading routes from East Asia over the Middle East to Europe, this project can catapult Brunei to a centre of attraction for logistics firms transporting goods from East Asia to Europe.

Risk analysis

Due to the high export dependency of the oil and gas sector,the countrys GDP growth largely depends on this sector.

Despite the vastly growing demand for LNG of 8.5 percent in 2018, 86 percent of the world LNG demand comes from Asian markets. Brunei therefore needs to tackle challenges to further compete in this market.

The population is largely skilled and English-speaking but on the other hand with an overall small population, this represents a potential problem. Firms looking to set up in Brunei need to import their workers which could make business activities more expensive.

Cambodia

Situated in the middle of ASEAN with a steady growth, Cambodia represents a country on the move. Ranked 37 on the Market Potential Index 2018, the country opens up several investment opportunities as indicated below. As far as overall FDI inflows are concerned, German FDI plays only a minor role so far. The strategic location between Vietnam and Thailand  two major drivers of ASEAN economic development  open Cambodia as a supplier and support base for industries in these countries that require cheaper workers.

Germany  Cambodia Relations at a Glance

German imports from Cambodia are largely confined to textiles (74.9 percent) and footwear (12.5 percent). The Balance of exports and imports is negative from a German point of view. In 2017, Germany imported US$1,742 million worth of goods from Cambodia while exporting only US$ 286.7 million. Imports and exports increased in the recent years, although Cambodian imports from Germany increased slightly while exports rose to nearly 160 percent between 2015 and 2017.

Cambodia is relatively less attractive for German firms as it is located between Thailand and Vietnam where several German companies have already established regional headquarters and production facilities. Despite this, the option of investing in Cambodia has increasingly drawn the attention of German companies owing to the countrys low wages and proximity to manufacturing sites in Thailand opens. This opens up opportunities for the setting up of supplying and supporting industries in Cambodia. DEG, a German engineering company, expanded their operations to Cambodia recently. In 2017, InSITE Bavaria signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cambodia based Worldbridge Logistics to conduct a feasibility study on a German-Cambodian technology cluster.

Cambodias Investment Outlook

As German brands have a good reputation in Cambodia and with increasing preferences for higher lifestype products by a growing middle income consumer class, further opportunities are likely to open up for German firms in Cambodia. Providing an annual growth rate of over 6 percent and with several investment incentives, Cambodia is a vastly unexplored territory for German investors.

In particular, the pharmaceutical sector offers growing opportunities for German exporters. Growing income and a higher average age has in recent years led to an increase in demand for medical equipment and pharmaceuticals. Especially with the ratification of the ASEAN Medical Device Directive, a law to unify standards amongst ASEAN countries, the market opens not only in Cambodia but in the entire ASEAN.

The growing tourism, transportation and logistics sector also open up opportunities. The government plans to establish more Special Economic Zones, especially along the Thai border. These SEZs open up the possibility for supporting industries to be set up and supply factories in Thailand while benefiting from the cheap wages in Cambodia.

With an annual increase of around 20 percent over the last few years, the energy sector presents major opportunities for German investors. The Generation Development Plan 2016-2025 aims increases of 2.84 GW spread over several supply fields from fossil over water to solar power.

For further development of its exports-focused economy, Cambodia requires massive investments in infrastructure. Investments to the tune of US$500 million annually are estimated for the development of roads, railways, and harbors. A large part of this capital is expected to be generated by FDI.

Risk analysis

Despite the opportunities in Cambodia, there are still major challenges that require the governments attention. The above-mentioned lack of infrastructure makes investments difficult outside of the several SEZs in which the infrastructure is relatively better. These zones provide the opportunities to build on reliable infrastructure, located close to other markets and the opportunities to take suppliers directly into the SEZ.

A further obstacle in Cambodia is the lack of qualified individuals. No comprehensive government scheme for the establishment of skills-based education system is in place. Skill development is largely provided by private operators. Although in Thailand and Vietnam, German organizations have already successfully established skill development programs, this could increasingly become an option for them in Cambodia.

In the second part of this five-part article, we will look at German FDI in Indonesia and Laos.
Prosecutors dropped the rape investigation into allegations by the actor Sand Van Roy who told police in May that she had been repeatedly raped by Besson, 59, during an on-off relationship.  But the Paris prosecutors office said a new preliminary investigation was launched on 21 February after a different, unnamed woman reported an allegation of sexual assault.  The Guardian (AFP)
The U.S. Army has awarded BAE Systems two contract modifications worth up to $575 million for the low-rate initial production of the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV). These awards mark the beginning of low-rate production for the highly mobile, survivable, multipurpose vehicle designed to meet the mission of the U.S. Armys Armored Brigade Combat Teams (ABCT).



AMPV Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (Picture source BAE Systems)

Moving into this phase of the AMPV program is exciting because it brings soldiers one step closer to deploying this critical capability for completing their missions and coming home safely, said Bill Sheehy, AMPV program director for BAE Systems combat vehicles business. We have been preparing for this moment and are ready to take this program to the next stage.

Previously awarded funding to support production planning, combined with the $128 million January award allowed BAE Systems to start production. A second award in February for $447 million brings the total LRIP funding so far to $873 million.

The AMPV program provides the Army with a more survivable and mobile fleet of vehicles that addresses a critical need to replace the Vietnam War-era M113s. Production will include five variants of the AMPV: command and control, general purpose, medical evacuation, medical treatment, and mortar carrier.

The AMPV is a mature, cost-effective solution that leverages the most modern and proven combat vehicle designs. It meets the Armys force protection and all-terrain mobility requirements, enabling the AMPV to maneuver with the rest of the ABCT. Commonality within the ABCT also reduces developmental risk and streamlines maintenance, providing significant cost savings to the Army.

These contracts come following the Engineering, Manufacturing and Development phase and a Milestone C decision. Under the earlier EMD award, the company produced and delivered prototype vehicles to the Army for test and evaluation purposes. The initial award in 2014 also provided options to begin the LRIP phase prior to the completion of the EMD phase, at which time the company would produce up to approximately 460 additional vehicles for a cumulative contract value of up to $1.2 billion.

BAE Systems is a premier supplier of combat vehicles to the U.S. military and allied nations. We have an extensive manufacturing network across the United States and continue to invest in it. Work on the program will take place at BAE Systems facilities in Aiken, South Carolina; Minneapolis, Minnesota; San Jose, California; Sterling Heights, Michigan; and York, Pennsylvania.




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Radisys Unveils New Advanced Speech Recognition Support for Enhanced In-Call Speech Services

Radisys Corporation, a global leader of open telecom solutions, today announced new features for its MediaEngine virtualized media server to enable advanced in-call services, allowing Communication Service Providers (CSPs) to implement speech recognition interfaces at dramatically lower costs than previous solutions. These new features allow CSPs to accelerate new speech-driven service introductions by utilizing off-the-shelf Intel (News - Alert) Architecture servers, advanced media processing with MediaEngine, and a combination of advanced speech processing engines, to significantly lower OpEx and CapEx, all within a well-defined open API framework.

News Highlights

Speech-enabled interfaces have become preferred user interfaces on phones, smart speakers, and home IoT devices. As a result, users now expect speech support for a growing variety of applications including in-call personal assistants, contact center communications, automated bot interactions and more. However, "in-call" speech recognition solutions to date have been primarily limited to call centers as a replacement for IVR (touch tone) applications. Cloud-based solutions that support in-call speech enablement require extensive and costly hardware, and one-size-fits-all natural language speech recognition engines, making scalable deployment of network-based speech-enabled applications expensive for high-volume applications.

Radisys' MediaEngine offers new features that enable CSPs to overcome the challenges associated with the traditional in-call speech-enabled applications, and deploy innovative new solutions, including enhanced customer service or application navigation (like in-conference commands for more hands-free capability), or to develop new revenue streams by using speech analytics to build actionable customer engagements. These new features include: Embedded in media server key word detection delivers a small footprint key word or key phrase speech recognition engine, allowing for an "always on" solution that reduces costs of deploying speech enabled services by over 90%. Integrated support for multi-vendor best-in-class server based in-network or cloud speech platforms for advanced speech interactions including natural language conversational recognition, and text-to-speech processing, allowing service providers to pick the best technology for their particular use cae. Voice Quality Enhancements (VQE) to overcome telecom network or environmental conditions that can reduce in-call recognition accuracy.

Radisys' MediaEngine software with embedded real-time advanced speech processing and media analytics allows CSPs to create, deliver and monetize new applications by delivering cost-effective advanced technologies that were previously cost prohibitive for many innovative applications.

"As speech technology has evolved, there are a growing number of opportunities for service providers to develop network-based speech-enabled applications that will drive new revenues," said Sue Rudd, Director of Networks and Service Platforms, at Strategy Analytics (News - Alert) . "Radisys has added some very innovative features that will allow service providers to introduce a range of cost effective, scalable, hosted solutions from conference call add-ons, to call center services and analytics and even IoT triggered voice. This approach enables service providers to add significant value with mass market 'in-call' speech recognition services at significantly lower cost."

"With the continued drive toward more speech-enabled devices and services, CSPs are well positioned to address the gap in in-call speech solutions," said Al Balasco, vice president, MediaEngine, Radisys. "Radisys' MediaEngine's integrated speech recognition capabilities enable service providers to overcome the cost, complexity and quality challenges associated with traditional in-call speech-enabled services, while adding complementary media processing features for advanced applications and services using open APIs."

Meet with Radisys at MWC 2019

Radisys will showcase MediaEngine's in-network real time in-call speech recognition and media analytic innovations in its booth in Hall 5, Stand 5I61 during Mobile World Congress (News - Alert) , February 25-28 in Barcelona. To see the technology demonstrations, or to meet with Radisys' media processing experts to learn more, contact open@radisys.com.

Resources

About Radisys

Radisys, a global leader in open telecom solutions, enables service providers to drive disruption with new open architecture business models. Radisys' innovative disaggregated and virtualized enabling technology solutions leverage open reference architectures and standards, combined with open software and hardware to power business transformation for the telecom industry, while its world-class services organization delivers systems integration expertise necessary to solve communications' and content providers' complex deployment challenges. For more information, visit www.Radisys.com.

Radisys is a registered trademark of Radisys. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190225005251/en/
PELL CITY -- Lakeside Hospice and the Christian Love Pantry teamed up to host the 10th annual Tablescapes Love Feeds the Soul luncheon last weekend in the Beacon at the Pell City First United Methodist Church. The table decorations featured creative themes, beautiful colors and visual style. Attendees enjoyed a meal prepared by Pastors Paul and Paula Lett, with desserts donated by bakers from the local community and music performed by the Pell City High School Showstoppers. Funds generated from Tablescapes 2019 are split evenly between the two organizations.

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A member of the Community of St Anselm, the new monastic movement based at Lambeth Palace in London, Steven Semanda, on lessons learned from spending time in spiritual retreat with religious communities.

One of the blessings of living at Lambeth Palace with the Community of St Anselm is the gift to visit religious communities around the UK. In doing so, to experience how other communities live and run their daily rhythms of prayer, work and other responsibilities.

I have been blessed especially when I recently had the opportunities to spend week-long retreats in Sclerder Abbey (Chemin Neuf Community) and Hilfield Friary (Society of St Francis). Interestingly, It is not the fact that I got to spend a few days outside of the noise of London to reflect, and pray and listen to God in silence, but rather the people that I met in these respective communities.

In my encounters, I experienced something so spiritually profound, that God still uses to talk to me. I experienced the joy, happiness, hospitality, and love of God manifested in the elderly brothers and sisters in these communities.

The service, desire, passion and constant love for God expressed by the brothers and sisters left me in tears, asking myself Im I really giving my all for God; if Im giving my full service to God?

If Im not physically challenged, what should stop me from serving the God I love?

For some brothers and sisters, they even have difficulty with speech, movements, and health-related troubles. But theyre serving the Lord with love, passion, and desire.

The guilt of being challenged has blessed me with a deepening desire to grow my relationship with God.

I feel God has been speaking to me through the elderly; challenging me to give more, love more, serve more, sacrifice more, pray more, and go out of my way more.

This experience has helped me work around some personal struggles and questions I had for God that otherwise, maybe I wouldnt have been able to get answers for.

Who knows, maybe this is one way of having an intimate relationship with God.
Xiaomi and Light have just announced their partnership, just a couple of days after Sony and Light did the same, not to mention that the company helped HMD Global develop the Nokia 9 PureView camera setup. Light is one of the market leaders when it comes to advanced computational imaging, and considering these two partnerships, the company will be quite busy in the coming months / years. Sony and Xiaomi are huge companies, and have a ton of products in the pipeline.

Xiaomi and Light will jointly develop and market new imaging solutions for smartphones, so their partnership is focused on smartphones, which is expected. Much like Sony and Light, these two companies will developer multi-image sensor solutions for smartphones, as that is Lights specialty, and its clear at this point that pretty much every smartphone OEM has included two or more cameras on the back of their devices.

Much like with Sony, it will be interesting to see what will this partnership bring to the table, as Light has produced some really compelling products, and when that is merged with technology from Sony and Xiaomi well, the results could be very interesting. It is clear that both Sony and Xiaomi are looking for an edge when it comes to smartphone photography, even though both companies have presented flagships with impressive cameras.

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It is not yet clear what will be the first Xiaomi-branded phone to offer camera solutions co-developed by the two companies, and we dont even know if Lights branding will be present on Xiaomis device, but chances are they will. In fact, this will probably be a similar deal as with Huawei & Leica, we may see Lights branding on the back of Xiaomi-branded devices which end up sporting the technology, probably the companys flagship lineups.

The Xiaomi Mi MIX 4 is expected to arrive later this year, and it will be interesting to see if that is enough time for Light to leave its mark on Xiaomis cameras, even though Mi MIX 4s camera tech has been in development for quite some time, probably. If not the Mi MIX 4, then the Mi 10 may include camera tech co-developed by the two companies, unless Xiaomi opts to release a brand new lineup just because of this partnership, which is unlikely.

We did not yet fully test the Xiaomi Mi 9 which was released quite recently, but we did get some hands-on time with the phone, and its cameras are quite impressive, at least that were our first impressions. We will review the device in the near future, but the camera quality on the phone is really high, so Lights technology can only further improve what Xiaomi has to offer. Based on these new partnerships, we are expecting to see significant improvements when it comes to camera quality in 2020, at the latest.

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The Xiaomi Mi 9, as most of you know, has three cameras on the back, and interestingly enough, not a single one has OIS. Despite that, the phone is quite capable in both picture and video departments. The device was expected to ship with a ToF (Time of Flight) sensor on the back, like a number of other phones, but Xiaomi opted not to include it for some reason. In any case, stay tuned for our full review of the device.
Smart and Augmented Reality glass developer Vuzix launched its new enterprise smart glasses, the M400 during the Mobile World Congress today. The M400 is amongst the first products to use the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 platform. The Snapdragon XR1 was launched in May 2018 and it has been made from the grounds up for AR and VR headsets. Vuzix was one of the initial launch partners of Qualcomm and now the company finally has something to show for it.

Qualcomm seems to be rooting for augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) and for good reasons. Per IDC, the user base for standalone headsets will increase to 186 million by 2023. Vuzix, on the other hand, has a vast experience when it comes to wearable devices and leveraging the capabilities of the XR1 could be just what it needed to increase the adoption of its wearables in the enterprise sector. On that note, it is worth mentioning that the M400 arent consumer-grade smart glasses and are intended to be used by the corporate sector.

Qualcomm believes that the prices of the current-generation AR/VR headsets are too high to encourage adoption and with the XR1 platform, such headsets would be a little more accessible. The XR1 platform draws inspiration from the Snapdragon 845 Xtended Reality (XR) platform, but XR1 headsets will not support room-scale tracking and eye tracking. However, they are great for simple video-based experiences, motion tracking, head tracking, native voice processing, and interactivity at affordable prices.

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The Snapdragon XR1 platform is fitted with a Snapdragon chip that also supports the companys Snapdragon XR Software Development Kit (SDK.) The XR1 features an ARM-based multi-core Central Processing Unit (CPU), Qualcomm AI Engine, vector processor, and Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). It also supports real-time processing of vision-based machine learning algorithms which can help with various Augmented Reality (AR) use cases.

Vuzix asserts thats the M400 Smart Glasses have been made to be the best in their category. They offer improved noise canceling, have a larger memory profile and also have a multi-touchpad and built-in GPS. The company also says that the M400 is faster than all other solutions in the market. They are also billed as being really power efficient.

The Vuzix M400 will run the latest version of Android and also offer USB-C connectivity. It will also be compatible with the companys other M-Series products. As mentioned before, the Vuzix M400 smart glasses are intended for enterprise consumers and can be useful for increasing employee productivity.

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The mass production of the Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses will begin this summer and the company will reveal more details, including pricing, in spring. Since the product has been made for enterprises, it will probably be too expensive for an average consumer. However, this would be ironic, as the whole point behind the XR1 was to increase affordability. Select early adopters can also partake in an early engagement program which will be announced soon. The program would presumably enable the company to iron out any kinks before its officially released.
Samsung announced its first foldable smartphone, the Galaxy Fold, at its Unpacked event a few days ahead of Mobile World Congress. There wasnt a whole lot of details announced about the Galaxy Fold, and it was not even in the product experience zone for the media to check out at Unpacked. But we are starting to learn a bit more about the Galaxy Fold and its April 26 launch.

When Samsung announced that the Galaxy Fold would be available on April 26, it shocked everyone. But perhaps not as shocking is how limited the Galaxy Fold actually will be. The Verge spoke with Samsung at Mobile World Congress this week, and found out that the Galaxy Fold is going to be in limited supply when it launches this April. Samsung, however, did not say how limited it would be. But dont expect to see everyone with a Galaxy Fold in their hands, later this year.

Samsung also confirmed that there will be a separate event for the Galaxy Fold in April, ahead of its official release. Its being teased as a luxury launch event. Which means its likely going to be a pretty big deal for Samsung. The company has not sent out invitations for the event yet, but that will likely start in the next couple of weeks.

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Having an actual launch event closer to when the Galaxy Fold will be available, makes loads of sense. Seeing as no one has been able to get hands on with the device, or really even touch it. Having a launch event in April is likely when people will be able to actually touch the device and also experience more final software. At this point, its likely not finished hardware or software yet, and thats why Samsung is not letting anyone get up close and personal with it, just yet.

The Galaxy Fold is one of the more polished looking foldable phones that has been announced in the past week. Most of the others have a screen that wraps on the outside, whereas Samsung has it on the inside with a second screen on the outside. Though many are complaining that the screen on the outside is fairly small with some large bezels. But keeping the foldable display on the inside means itll be more protected than on the outside. This is important since it is not a glass display, its plastic. Since glass cant fold. And its going to scratch fairly easily.

So far, only two US carriers have announced that they will be carrying the Galaxy Fold  thats AT&T and T-Mobile in the US. Its unclear if Verizon or Sprint will carry the device, but we should know for sure at this April launch event. It is also possible that Samsung only made a GSM model of the Galaxy Fold, which means no CDMA support for Verizon and Sprint. The Galaxy Fold is going to cost around $1,980, making it a pretty expensive smartphone, and one that not a lot of people are going to buy.
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In the corner of Marion and Taylor, in the town of Punta Gorda, in Florida, is a public water fountain that tourists and locals alike have been drinking from for more than a hundred years. In fact, people drive thousands of miles in order to take sips from it, because they believe that this worn-down green-tiled drinking fountain is the fabled Fountain of Youth that the 16th century Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon had been searching for when he arrived in Florida.

The concrete block was built in 1926, but Punta Gordians claim the fountain existed as far back as 1894. During its most popular period the artesian well drew such long lines of tourists that the fountains handle had to be replaced every six months. But thirty years ago, the city tried to shut it down because the water was found to be laced with radioactive radium and sulphur, which gives it a rotten egg smell. But the people resisted.

Photo credit: oldflorida.tumblr.com

Today, there is a warning sign on the fountain, issued by the Florida Department of Health, that reads:

Use Water at Your Own Risk: The water from this well exceeds the maximum contaminate levels for radioactivity as determined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Tales of the mythical Fountain of Youth predates Juan Ponce de Leon by thousands of years, but somehow it came to be associated with the Spanish explorer even though no documents from the time, including letters from Ponce de Leon himself, have been found with any mention of such a fountain. Now there are dozens of bodies of water spread around Florida that claim the title of the legendary fountain  the one whose magical waters are capable of reversing the aging process and curing sickness.

The one in Punta Gorda is quite odd because despite being high in radium and the foul smelling sulphur, the fountain might actually be, according to National Geographic, extending life of its drinkers. How? Because the water contains another mineral  magnesium.

Magnesium is the second most common mineral in the body after calcium. It helps the body regulate heart muscles and control high blood pressure. But more than 80 percent of Americans are deficient in it, because bottled water doesnt contain magnesium and the fluoride added to many public water supplies counteracts magnesium.

The World Health Organization recommends drinking water with at least 25 milligrams of magnesium per liter. So drinking from the fountain's 46 ppm of magnesium actually helps people get their fill.

Photo credit: oldflorida.tumblr.com

Photo credit: oldflorida.tumblr.com

Photo credit: oldflorida.tumblr.com

Sources: National Geographic / History.com
Indeed, Ray Domanico of the Manhattan Institute points out that the increased activism of the unions is occurring as the Democratic Party is drifting ever farther leftward.

For the first time in a generation, there is labor unrest in America's public schools. Strikes in Los Angeles, Denver, Oakland, and West Virginia as well as threatened strikes in other localities are more than teacher unions flexing their muscles to get more pay and benefits for their members. At issue everywhere is the success of charter schools and the perceived threat they pose to the nation's public schools.

Washington Examiner:

What's behind the recent spate of teacher strikes from Los Angeles to Denver, West Virginia, and Oakland? Local issues like across-the-board raises and increased educational spending are certainly a big part of teachers' demands, but they could have been fought without a strike. The larger issue at play, and the real reason for these strikes, is a shift in the landscape of the party the teachers' unions have always called home. The Democratic Party continues to drift away from centrist ideas and toward a more "progressive" approach to labor and education, and teachers' unions are prepared to exploit this shift. In a very real way, the teacher strikes across the country serve as a signal to the progressive left within the Democratic Party that union support is contingent on falling in step with their demands. Gone are the days of Obama-era bipartisan support for charter schools, teacher accountability, and merit pay. In addition to increased school spending, that means ending the use of merit-based pay and hindering the growth of non-union charter schools, and the progressive left, for better or for worse, is prepared to acquiesce.

That acquiescence runs counter to the interests of some of the Democrats' core constituencies:

The unions' move against charter schools, however, is deeply misguided. This move puts them in direct opposition to the exact families who are traditionally a core constituency of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. These working class and low-income black and Hispanic families constitute the vast majority of those who choose to send their children to high-performing charter schools in urban areas.

The threat posed by charter schools is not just in drawing students away from public schools. It is an existential threat in that the unions know that if they institute the kinds of reforms that work in charters, their power will be broken.

Charter schools around the country, especially those structured to provide an education based on the classical model, have succeeded in improving the educational opportunities and achievements of those lucky enough to be enrolled in them. That fact that has remained as steady over the years as the low reading scores posted by the public-school system. What has evolved is the tenacity of the opposition from the local public school boards over which the teachers' unions exert so much control, and from whom desperate parents must seek a blessing for a charter.

Rules designed to inhibit the creation and operation of charters are being augmented with other impediments won by unions in recent strikes:

The school boards' objections are typically couched in concerns that the charter, for one reason or another, will fail to meet the board's standards regarding discrimination, generally meaning not that the charter will not discriminate among applicants but that it cannot guarantee a student roster consisting of X percent of this or that minority or identity group. But the real fear is likely what it has always been when it comes to charters: that if they graduate too many students who don't do drugs, find themselves in trouble with the law, or get pregnant (or get someone else pregnant), and instead can read and write; know something of Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates; and feel some sense of gratitude when they hear Beethoven or read the Bill of Rights, the result could be an exodus from the underperforming public schools to the excelling charters, and with it a concurrent diminishment of union power. Serious improvement in educational delivery may be at the point now of examining options to emancipate school choice from the fetters of the union-dominated school boards, which have a vested interest in the status quo and an ideological opposition to traditional, effective education, the learning of knowledge for its own sake and the passing along of our patrimony. A battle was lost in Colorado, but it is a long war and it will continue, for there is a great deal at stake.

The assault on charter schools goes hand in hand with the war against homeschooling. The goal is to make pulling your child out of traditional public schools as difficult as possible. For the unions, it's a matter of survival. There is a notion that if they allow the formation of charter schools and educating children at home, the public schools will be left trying to educate the poorest, the most problematic children. I think that's a straw man argument, but it appears to be working.

Every charter school is not excellent, nor is homeschooling the answer for everyone. It's all about choice. And taking choices out of the hands of parents is a loss of freedom and a loss for quality education in an age when dumbing down the education of our children has become a specialty of teacher unions.
A new study by the American Action Forum says that the Green New Deal being pushed by radical socialists in the Democratic Party would cost American taxpayers $94.4 trillion over ten years, or about $600,000 per household.

Some of the estimates made by the AAF are conservative.

Washington Free Beacon:

The American Action Forum study offers a conservative estimate of the costs of providing every resident in the country a federal job with benefits, "adequate" housing, "healthy food," and health care. Though Democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D., N.Y.) plan is vague on specifics, it calls for the "economic transformation" of the United States, a complete overhaul of transportation systems, and retrofitting every single building. A supplemental document explaining the plan, since deleted from her website after it was widely mocked on social media, called for economic security for everyone, even those "unwilling to work," the elimination of air travel, and "farting cows." However, the American Action Forum was able to calculate estimates for several items the plan does propose, including guaranteed green housing, universal health care, and food security. Estimates of specific goals identified in the Green New Deal would cost each household in America between $36,100 and $65,300 every year.

The estimates are based on the goals laid out in Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's plan that she has since deleted from her website. But does anyone doubt that these goals are not shared by all socialists?

The American Action Forum calculated guaranteed green housing would cost between $1.6 trillion and $4.2 trillion; a federal jobs guarantee between $6.8 trillion and $44.6 trillion; a net zero emissions transportation system between $1.3 trillion and $2.7 trillion; a low-carbon electricity grid for $5.4 trillion; and "food security" for $1.5 billion. Enough high-speed rail "to make air travel unnecessary," would cost roughly $1.1 to $2.5 trillion. Universal Health Care, or a Medicare-for-all type plan, would cost $36 trillion over 10 years, totaling $260,000 per household in the United States. Many of the figures are conservative estimates. For instance, researchers assumed obtaining a low-carbon electricity grid would require no new construction of transmission assets, when in actuality, such a grid would require new infrastructure.

Currently, there aren't enough democratic socialists in Congress to push this fantastical plan through. But I hearken back to the early 1970s, when the conservative movement was just beginning to pick up steam. A decade later, conservatives were in power and dominating the political landscape.

Socialism can't happen here? I beg to differ. It's already happening. The socialists are emboldened, thinking their time has arrived, and are becoming increasingly well funded and attracting more and more acolytes. The stigma attached to socialism is fading rapidly as memories of the oppression and economic failure of socialism during the heyday of communism fade.

Donald Trump has embraced the issue of fighting socialism. Democrats are trying to assure the voters that much of what they propose is not socialism and, besides, socialism shouldn't frighten us. But five years, ten years down the road, Democrats could be singing a different tune.

Unless they are stopped now, the United States could be a different country in a matter of just a decade or two.
Univision's star anchorman, Jorge Ramos, got a taste of what a real dictator is over in Caracas, when, after showing Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro a cell phone video of starving Venezuelans eating out of a garbage truck, found himself and his television crew shoved in a dark room for two and a half hours in detention, only to be released with their expensive television equipment and interview material stolen.

Journalist Jorge Ramos and his Univision team were detained at Nicolas Maduro's presidential palace in the Venezuelan capital Monday, reportedly because Maduro didn't like the questions the reporters were asking him during an interview. The group was freed shortly after, said Daniel Coronell, Univision's president for news in the United States. Coronell said Venezuelan government officials confiscated the journalists' equipment. Ramos, in a phone interview with Univision after he was released, said the interview with Maduro lasted about 17 minutes. "He didn't like the things we were asking him about the lack of democracy in Venezuela, about torture, political prisoners, the humanitarian crisis that they were living," he said. But the breaking point came, Ramos said, after he showed Maduro a video of people eating from a garbage truck.

Here's Marco Rubio's tweet of the actual video:

This is the video that upset the dictator @NicolasMaduro.@jorgeramosnews recorded it on his cell phone in the streets of Caracas. When he played it for Maduro during the interview the dictator got angry & detained him & his crew in a dark room for over 2 hours. https://t.co/SwM6AKCeX2  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 26, 2019

He's lucky they didn't break his nose (which in Maduro's Venezuela was done to a female dissident leader) or throw him in a dungeon for several years without trial (which was done to another top opposition leader). This is what dictators do. This is dictators up close. And this is a vicious dictatorship employing muscle directly from Cuba.

Touchy, touchy bastard. And not to get too dramatic here, but it wasn't a surprise, either: Maduro (or whichever Cuban does the work for him) banned me from his Twitter feed very recently for writing this.

This brings up the last time Ramos was in the news  getting thrown out of a press conference for interrupting other reporters and breaking the house rules, and then comparing President Trump to a dictator. Remember this?

"I've been in journalism for 30 years and never been ejected from a news conference. Those are things you see in dictatorships, not in America," he said.

There's a heckuva lot of difference between getting thrown out of a press conference for not being able to follow the rules, and getting thrown into detention and robbed for asking uncomfortable questions.

Here's another comeuppance for him.

Ramos proudly holds dual citizenship with both Mexico and the U.S. and, with two loyalties, cavalierly views his U.S. citizenship vow to forswear all loyalty to other nations as optional, because he votes in both countries' elections. He likes having it both ways. A few months ago, he even said he wanted to return to Mexico because he was so unhappy with President Trump:

In the midst of wrapping up a media tour hawking his latest book and on the heels of what he considers  because of the election of Donald Trump  the 'worst time' of his 35 years in the United States, Univision anchor Jorge Ramos now says he's pining to return to Mexico. In an extensive interview with Spanish-language television personality Jaime Bayly, Ramos, who turned 60 this month, confessed he would like to live in Mexico again, at least "for a while." "I would like to return to the country I left," Ramos said with evident nostalgia, calling his desire to return to his homeland "a pending assignment."

But as he sat there in that dark room, just one of those countries of his multiple citizenships stood up for him and warned the filthy dictatorship that this wasn't going down well  and it was the one with the big military and the money: the U.S. The Trump Department of State, according to the Los Angeles Times, came out with this:

Several hours earlier, Kimberly Breier, an assistant secretary at the U.S. State Department, said on Twitter that the agency had "received word the journalist Jorge Ramos and his team are being held against their will at Miraflores Palace by Nicolas Maduro. We insist on their immediate release; the world is watching."

Mexico, by contrast, came out with some weak tea, generalistic in tone, with just some "concern and protest" regarding Ramos. According to the Guardian:

The Mexican foreign ministry condemned the crew's detention after their release on Monday night. "Our country calls for respect for freedom of expression and reiterates its obligation in defense of the security of Mexican citizens abroad," a tweet read.

Which one would you want to have defending you in a situation like that?

So one might hope this is a lesson to Ramos about what real freedom of speech is, what real dictators are like, and which country you want to have defending you after dictators-gonna-dictator. Dollars to donuts, Ramos won't notice; he'll just try to have it both ways. But the rest of us can see what's going on, and it doesn't make his past pronouncements about President Trump look good.

The U.S., led by the Trump administration, awaits your gratitude, Jorge...

Image credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Let me ask you this: have you talked to anyone in Mexico lately? When you do, eventually, you will talk about the violence in the country.

We continue to hear that there is no crisis on the border. However, the situation in Mexico does not support that conclusion.

Over in Cancun, a Caribbean resort with beautiful beaches and wonderful hotels, the violence has arrived. This is from the latest advisory:

Mexico makes a popular destination for vacationers enjoying spring break, but a warning from the US State Department remains in effect for the busy travel season. The advisory was first issued in November, but may take on new urgency in the wake of a deadly attack at a club in Cancun on Saturday, as reported by Fox News. In the shooting at La Kuka, located in central Cancun about four miles from the area housing most tourist hotels, a group of four men opened fire, killing five people and wounding five others. In April of last year, 14 people were killed in Cancun in a 36-hour span. When the State Department unveiled its new, four-tiered travel advisory system, they placed the Mexican states of Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan, Sinaloa and Tamaulipas in the highest tier of danger, advising Americans not to travel there at all. "Violent crime, such as murder, armed robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, extortion, and sexual assault, is common. Gang activity, including gun battles and blockades, is widespread," the warning reads, in part. Travel was not restricted to Cancun, which is in Quintana Roo state, because "homicides appeared to be targeted, criminal organization assassinations." But travelers were warned that bystanders have been injured or killed in the past. Quintana Roo was classified as "Tier 2," with "increased caution" advised.

Gang activity? That's interesting.

Why the gangs? What are they fighting about?

They are not fighting over the blondes on the beach. They are killing each other over drug routes to the U.S.

Crisis on the border? Yes. I am not saying we have to build a wall from San Diego to Brownsville. However, a wall in key areas will work and will have a major impact on cartel routes to the U.S. It will force these organizations to find alternatives to bring drugs north.

Yes, there is a crisis on the border, and we'd better deal with it.

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
The media are already creating a narrative that, no matter the final disposition of Donald Trump's declaration of a border emergency, the president is on "the brink of defeat."

Just one more Senate Republican is needed to block Trump's emergency declaration, though even critics are reluctant to buck the president. President Donald Trump is on the verge of a bipartisan rejection of his emergency declaration at the border in what would be an embarrassing rebuke by a Congress opposed to his immigration agenda. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) on Monday night said he would join Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, along with 47 Senate Democrats to block Trump's attempts to secure billions for his border wall after lawmakers effectively stiffed him. Now just one more GOP senator's support for a resolution to block Trump's bid would send the measure to Trump's desk and force a veto. "Conservatives rightfully cried foul when President Barack Obama used executive action to completely bypass Congress," Tillis said in a Washington Post op-ed on Monday night. "There is no intellectual honesty in now turning around and arguing that there's an imaginary asterisk attached to executive overreach  that it's acceptable for my party but not thy party." Still, there is clear reluctance in the GOP to bucking Trump. Numerous Senate Republicans say that, like Tillis, they despise Trump's decision to declare a national emergency to get additional funding for his wall. But most aren't ready to say they will vote to block him from doing so.

The notion that Trump will be "defeated" in his efforts to declare a national emergency on the border is absurd. It's not even clear if Congress has the authority to keep the president from declaring a national emergency about anything.

Even if they did, practical political considerations make it a ludicrous assumption that enough Republicans will desert the president, as Trump's expected veto should be upheld easily.

So this idea that the president will not get his way on the border emergency is a media-created false narrative.

It's not a certainty that Senate Republicans will hand Trump a defeat:

Interviews on Monday with more than a dozen GOP senators who have been publicly critical of Trump's unilateral maneuver or warned him not to deploy it were cagey about their intentions for what would be a crucial vote in coming weeks on the Senate floor. Many said they were undecided and still studying Trump's move to circumvent Congress and score billions more for the border barrier. That suggests the resolution to block him remains just short of the simple majority needed for passage. "It's unnecessary, unwise and inconsistent with the Constitution," said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), one of the most vocal critics of Trump's emergency declaration. As to how he will vote, he said: "I'm going to wait to see what the resolution says." "I haven't even read it but I've said, 'I don't like what's happened and I certainly don't like using military money for it,'" said Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

There will no doubt be a few dyed-in-the-wool anti-Trump Republicans who will refuse to vote for the resolution. But if Senator Alexander and other doubters are undecided, there's a fair chance that most fence-sitters will vote with Trump anyway.

Although there's no chance that Trump's veto can be overridden, if Trump loses the vote in both the House and the Senate, it will damage his presidency and adversely impact his chances for re-election. The senators know this, which is why most of them will almost certainly swallow their opposition and vote with the president. The consequences of opposing Trump on this matter would be severe  especially from state parties who could make life uncomfortable for those opposing the president.

The Republican Party is Trump's party now. Members of Congress will sink or swim with the president's fortunes. As mostly practical politicians, they will add up the pros and cons and decide how to vote based on what's in their own interest.

Trump is counting on that when the issue comes to a vote.
Iran's foreign minister jumps ship, signaling Trump victory in 2020

During John Kerry's endeavors to save the JCPOA (the Iran deal) in 2018, his main point to Mohammad Javad Zarif (Rouhani's foreign minister in the last five years) was the importance of the Islamic Republic's patience until 2020, "when the Trump administration will be gone," or an earlier ousting through impeachment. If you read all the op-eds and editorials in the Islamic regime's propaganda machine, they also asked people to be patient and wait until Trump is ousted or defeated and sanctions will be over. Democrats who want Trump out of White House have not been alone. Their Islamist allies all over the world have been vying for the same thing. The lobbyists who work for the Islamic Republic of Iran in the West and most of the media executives have been working side by side to oust Trump from office from day one. Just the day after the inauguration, two Islamists were among the main organizers of the Women's March. This shows they have entrenched mutual interests. They want to make the U.S. as vulnerable as Europe to give up its resistance against the coalition of socialists and Islamists.

Now that Zarif is gone, it is clear that Iran's top diplomat is hopeless regarding the end of the Trump administration in 2019 or 2020. If Trump stays in office, the sanctions will continue for six more years, and even the E.U. will not be able to ignore them. The JCPOA was the only achievement of the Rouhani administration. Now that the JCPOA is in the garbage bin, Zarif sees no political future for himself and his political bloc. Zarif had two assets in the U.S.: 1) a circle of people who have worked in Iran's U.N. mission for over two decades and 2) Iran's lobby in D.C. His resignation shows that he no longer believes that these two assets are functioning during the Trump administration. The Obama administration was very friendly with Zarif's assets in the U.S., especially Hussein Mussavian, Iran's ex-ambassador to Germany during the Mikonos terror attack. The end of Zarif also is a sign of more isolation for the Islamic Regime. Khamenei has always cried for a "resistance economy," an isolated system that prevents any pressure from foreign countries. Zarif and Rouhani do not believe that a nation in modern times can function without working with global financial and banking systems. It seems that people like Zarif have no place in Khamenei's isolationist economic strategies. Some economists believe that Iran is heading toward Venezuela; Khamenei's train's destination is North Korea.
I just have trouble accepting him as a person, and so frankly I don't see anything he's doing right.

He also said he wishes Bush 43 were president because Bush was patriotic.

Speaking for the deranged Trump-haters, Harry doesn't see Trump as a person, so everything Trump does is bad. This is as good an explanation as any for the unhinged hatred of President Trump and his voters. President Trump is not a person, so you can attack him daily; use a phony Hillary-paid-for dossier to smear him and obtain FISA warrants; and ignore the positive results of his policies such as a strong economy and low unemployment for all, especially blacks and Hispanics.

Reid must wish that Bush 43 were president because Bush never replied to Reid's vicious attacks. Reid lied when he said he thinks President Bush is a patriot because in 2009, Reid said, "President Bush is a liar. He betrayed Nevada and he betrayed the country."

Unlike Bush 43, President Trump promptly smacked down Crazy Harry:

Former Senator Harry Reid (he got thrown out) is working hard to put a good spin on his failed career. He led through lies and deception, only to be replaced by another beauty, Cryin' Chuck Schumer. Some things just never change!

President Trump did a twofer by accurately describing Reid as a liar and comparing Reid to Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer.

Reid thought he was complimenting President Obama and displaying brilliant political analysis when he said Obama was electable because he is "light-skinned" with "no negro dialect." Reid was forced to apologize for his remarks, but there is no pressure to apologize for calling President Bush or President Trump unpatriotic.

The best you can say about Reid, besides that he is no longer in the Senate, is that he bluntly says about President Trump what the Hate Trump Media and Democrats feel.

Image: Center for American Progress via Flickr.
Socialist Venezuela has always been a tough topic for socialist Democratic Party presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and nowhere has that been more evident than in his response to a town hall question, asking the obvious. Fox News has a report :

Sanders' comments in a CNN town hall came as Univision reported that anchor Jorge Ramos and his television crew were detained in Caracas following an interview with Maduro.

...and...

Why have you stopped short of calling Maduro of Venezuela a dictator? Blitzer asked. I think its fair to say that the last election was undemocratic, but there are still democratic operations taking place in that country. The point is, what Im calling for right now is internationally supervised fair elections, Sanders responded. And, I do find it interesting that Trump is very concerned about what goes on in Venezuela, but what about the last election that took place in Saudi Arabia? Oh, there wasnt any election in Saudi Arabia. Oh, women are treated as third-class citizens. So, I find it interesting that Trump is kind of selective as to where he is concerned about democracy. My record is to be concerned about democracy all over the world, so weve got to do everything we can but at the end of the day, its gonna be the people of Venezuela who determine the future of their country, not the United States of America.

In other words, Bernie can call for humanitarian aid all he likes, as well as free and fair elections, sounding all great to the peanut gallery, but it's all hot air, because the hard fact remains that there isn't going to be any food or free elections in that country because ... dictator.

Dictators don't like free and fair elections, and socialist dictators in particular have always used food as a weapon to starve their subjects into submission. That's why no socialist has ever allowed free or fair elections let alone food aid to ever get in, even as a safety valve to ensure their stay in power, which is what other dictators do. So long as Maduro the dictator is rin place, Bernie's calls for internationally supervised elections and food to the hungry are nothing but hot air.

Yet Bernie still refuses to call Maduro a 'dictator' even though it's that very dictatorship that is what is preventing Bernie's calls from happening. And in that refusal, all anyone can conclude is that Bernie doesn't care.

What's more, he's been pretty quick on the trigger to call President Trump a dictator, saying his administration is "displaying signs of totalitarianism" because that's the guy who really upsets him. Not Maduro, who's out there openly starving his people and burning food aid in their faces, but Trump.

His reasoning is exquisitely stupid, given that all dictatorships have a veneer of democratic institutions, and "rule of the people." There are no democratic institutions left in Venezuela save the one the U.S. and the international community recognizes, which is the tiny National Assembly which is currently working with President Trump and the international community to bring in food aid. Maduro appointed his own 'constitutional assembly' to make sure that that elected National Assembly, loaded with Maduro opponents, don't have any power. To claim that some democratic institutions still remain is a revolting thing, in that it uses the brave Venezuelans who are standing up to Maduro as a prop to justify Maduro's permanent power. By Bernie's logic, because that small, stripped-of-power group is standing up to Maduro, Maduro can't possibly be a dictator.

Sanders is showing some amazing hypocrisy in his seemingly rational calls for change in Venezuela, served up with a heaping helping of fury at the supposed historic wrongs conducted by the U.S. Again, that's what really bothers him, far more than Maduro, whose socialism was highly praised by Sanders in the past as arguably his vision for America. Socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro himself has called socialist Sanders "our revolutionary friend" and said he would be president here "if [U.S.] elections were free." One hand washes the other, Bernie?

Sanders himself also had the quotes in this beauty on his own website, and reportedly actually said it:

And so its worth remembering that Venezuelan socialism has long had its champions in the United States, most notably Bernie Sanders, who in 2011 said, These days, the American dream is more apt to be realized in South America, in places such as Ecuador, Venezuela and Argentina. The Vermont senator concluded with this taunt: Whos the banana republic now? Good question, Bernie.

Meanwhile, that techy, techy defensiveness about Trump and Saudi Arabia is nothing but a bid to deflect the question of how a once-rich country turned hellhole could get in that state. Socialism, Bernie? This is socialism done by experts.

What we see here in Sanders's refusal to call Maduro a dictator is the mask off. His statement is nothing but an effort to protect a dictator, by saying he's not a dictator. If anything should sink his disgusting socialist presidential candidacy, this is it.

Image credit: Gage Skidmore, via Flickr // CC BY-SA 2.0
Noted scholar Marla F. Frederick employs an interdisciplinary approach to examine religion, race, gender, media, politics and economics. Currently at Harvard, she will join the Emory faculty in fall 2019.

Noted scholar Marla F. Frederick has been named the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Religion and Culture at Emory Universitys Candler School of Theology, effective fall 2019. Frederick currently serves as professor of African and African American studies and the study of religion at Harvard University.

Marla Frederick is among the top scholars of religion and culture in the academy today, and we at Candler are delighted to welcome her to the Emory faculty, says Jan Love, Mary Lee Hardin Willard Dean of Candler.

Candler is known for our commitment to producing first-rate scholarship that engages real-world issues, a commitment that will provide fertile ground for Professor Fredericks work, she says. Her current research focus on the health, well-being and strategic possibilities for black institutions makes Candler, Emory and Atlanta an ideal academic home for her.

A leading ethnographer, Frederick employs an interdisciplinary approach to examine the overlapping spheres of religion, race, gender, media, politics and economics. Her teaching interests encompass the anthropology of religion and the African American religious experience. Her ongoing research interests include the study of religion and media, religion and economics, and the sustainability of black institutions, such as black churches and historically black colleges and universities, in a post-racial world.

Love says that bringing Frederick to Emory was a team effort, and she is deeply grateful for her partnership with the Office of the Provost in the recruitment process.

Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Dwight A. McBride says he looks forward to Fredericks contributions to the Emory community and beyond.

I am thrilled that Dr. Frederick has chosen Emory as her next academic home. Her decision to join Candlers already excellent faculty affirms our commitment to cultivating an academic community of the highest order at Emory, moving us toward eminence, McBride says.

The move to Atlanta will be a homecoming of sorts for Frederick, who graduated from Spelman College with a bachelors degree in English before earning a PhD in cultural anthropology at Duke University.

From there, she served as an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati and a visiting professor at the Interdenominational Theological Center before joining the department of African and African American Studies and the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University, where she also worked with the Divinity School.

Frederick is the author of four books and several articles. Her first book,  Between Sundays: Black Women and Everyday Struggles of Faith (U. of California Press, 2003), is an ethnographic study of Baptist womens social and political engagement in eastern North Carolina. In 2007 she co-authored  Local Democracy Under Siege: Activism, Public Interests and Private Politics , which won the 2008 Best Book Award from the Society for the Anthropology of North America.

 Colored Television: American Religion Gone Global  (Stanford University Press, 2016) explores the rise in African American and female televangelists and their influence outside the United States. Most recently, she co-authored  Televised Redemption: Black Religious Media and Racial Empowerment (NYU Press, 2016), which examines how black Christians, Muslims and Hebrew Israelites use media for the redemption of the race.

A frequent lecturer, Frederick has been an active convener, panelist, respondent or discussant at nearly 70 academic events across her career, and is a respected research collaborator. Her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Milton Fund, the Louisville Institute and the Ford Foundation, among others.

In October 2018, she was elected vice president of the 8,000-member American Academy of Religion, the worlds largest association of scholars in religious studies and related fields. She will serve in that role in 2019-20, before moving to president-elect in 2020-21 and president in 2021-22.
I happened to pick up a book at Ophelias Books in the Peoples Republic of Fremont, in Seattle, this week. Written by a grand old leftie academic, J.H. Plumb, The Death of the Past proposed, in 1968, that we are too sophisticated and scientific to do history as regime apologists these days. See my blog here .

Now, Plumb did allow as how there was still a wisp of Macaulay and Whig history around, and some crazed Marxists doing history as moral narrative. But professional historians would be ashamed to write like that in 1968.

Fast forward to 2018 and it is clear that the opposite is true and the Narrative is everything, particularly on the left. Indeed, the problem with the gentlemanly right, which I say died in 2016 , is that we have allowed the Frankfurt-School-inspired left to run narrative rings around us.

So J.H. Plumb persuaded me. Todays right must own the Narrative, and make the lefts narrative as shameful and cringeworthy as any of the five-and-twenty KKK racists still extant in America.

Facts dont matter. Science doesnt matter. Logic doesnt matter. Even feelings dont matter. In the public square the Narrative -- the story we have cooked up to explain the world -- is everything.

Of course, we must be better at the facts, better at the science, better at religion, better at philosophy, better at culture, better at politics, better at media than our lefty friends. I mean that we should know more about all this and practice it better than any of the lefty woke-aholics that have been so carefully taught to hate everything about our Western tradition. That goes without saying.

But ultimately, we need to persuade the American people that the left doesnt care about people like them, that their narrative stinks with the stench of 100 million graves, and their politics doesnt work. We will know when we have arrived because every Mean Girl in America will be saying to her friend that she cant believe that her lefty classmate said that.

Yeah. That will be the measure of our success: when good little girls who have been carefully taught from year to year would think that an AOC is just, like, weird.

And J.H. Plumb has also taught me what I am doing. I am blundering around doing narrative spadework that better men than I will use to create a Narrative that will amaze us all.

My reductive Three Peoples theory tells how our society naturally has different folks with different ways of living and different needs: Creatives, Responsibles, and Subordinates. And that there is every reason that we make the effort to all get along.

If you turn my Three Peoples upside down as the left does, you make the Creatives into noble insufferable activists; the Responsibles into a basket of deplorables -- a snakepit of pejoratives, from racists to xenophobes -- and finally you make the Subordinates into helpless victims. If you do that you get the world according to the lefts current Narrative.

I call the left as I see it, a Great Reaction , where socialism is neoslavery, the welfare state is neofeudalism, and identity politics is neotribalism.

Everything about the left is at best a pompous conceit and at worst a crime against humanity. It is a conceit for privileged college students to imagine that their peaceful protests are the cry of the oppressed, and it is a crime that they appropriate the genuine rage of the oppressed in their fake Activism Culture . It is a vile calumny for the left to stigmatize the responsible middle class as deplorable racists, etc., when the record of the last century and more is that the middle class is almost always ready to yield to the just demands of the oppressed, even though things always seem to cut against middle-class values. It is a crime against humanity that the left has, again and again, led the Subordinates to marinate in their tribal culture instead of helping them migrate towards the bourgeois culture, patronizing them as Little Darlings for a season before they become unclaimed rescue dogs, discarded domestic pets of the lefts power project.

Eric Hoffer famously prophesied that Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket. Maybe he should have said that the taste for political activism becomes, with the accession to power, a shameful addiction, a conspiracy of fake victims and regime enforcers ginning up fake hate crimes in a pathetic attempt to recreate that well-remembered first hit of naive idealism.

One day soon, some little kid is going to embarrass us all and say that the emperor of activism has no clothes.

Imagine the day of lefty Narrative collapse; you can do it if you try.
So Mike Pompeo, the other day -- I dont know if you guys caught this. I had heard it, but it registered today -- that He said that Hezballah is making inroads into Venezuela -- TruNews on YouTube (4:18 -- set to right time)

Though Christian and Conservative, TruNews is critical of Zionism; and it seemed absurd to the speaker that Arab terrorists could be infiltrating South America. For those unaware, it might indeed seem crazy that Hezballah would be moving into South America. The culture, the religion, and the history are seemingly quite foreign to Islamic interests.

However, as I have shown on my website, LatinArabia.com, Arab influence is quite enormous in Latin America, and has been around for roughly a century. As early as 1947, the Palestinians in Chile were politically powerful enough to dissuade a pro-Zionist Chilean government from voting for a partition of the British mandate, allowing for a Jewish state.

Instead, Chile abstained.

Today, Honduras, El Salvador, and Chile all have sizable and powerful Palestinian populations. In Chiles case, their influence has distorted the politics of the country.

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS), an initiative that seeks to eliminate Israel as a Jewish state, is more solidly anchored in Chile than anywhere else in Latin America. The fact that there are 400,000 Chilean citizens of Palestinian descent whose numbers and economic, political, and media power are growing only begins to explain the ongoing problem. --- AJC, Global Jewish Advocay

Of course, we must also remember that Brazil is about 7% Arabic, while 9% of Argentines have some Arab ancestry. Venezuela may be 5% Arab by blood. (Click Here). In fact, the numbers given by AJC, in the quote above, are probably low. I estimate 500,000 Chileans have some measure of Palestinian descent, while 300,000 more Chileans have other Arab ancestries. Other countries have similar numbers.

For those still unaware of how far this had gone:

In 2016, Hezballah registered as a political party in Peru.

During the Obama Administration, Saudi Arabia (at that time) and Iran (by means of HispanTV) were spreading their influence all over Latin America. HispanTV was launched with a welcome from Hugo Chavez.

[Iran's] primary goal is to form a united ideological and political front with Venezuela against what the two countries perceive to be American unilateralism." Milani, who testified before Congress in 2009 about Iran-Venezuela relations, adds that "Iran wants to have a visible presence in America's own backyard." -- PBS (2012)

In the case of Venezuela, Hezballah is allowed to control an island in the Caribbean.

The holiday island of Isla de Margarita, situated in the Caribbean Sea, has one of the most beautiful beaches of Venezuela and breathtaking scenery. It is here, on the island of exquisite hotels and a glamorous nightlife, that the US military's Southern Command has reported the presence of Hezbollah's support and logistics cells -- one of the most important centers of "terrorist gathering" and "money laundering activities" for Hezballah. -- Gatestone Institute

Venezuela and Hezballah? (2017)

Now to be sure, neither Iran nor Saudi Arabia expected Islam to take over South America. Even the Arabs in Latin America are mostly Christian -- usually over 90% among the Arab demographic. The anti-Israel Palestinians in Chile are an astounding 99% Christian. Moreover, Latin culture is too centered on wine, women, and dance for Islam to have made serious inroads. But with that notable and powerful Arab population, South America could be persuaded to support Arab and anti-Zionist causes, apart from Islam. And Hezballah has also taken advantage of another sad Latin tradition to make money from drug trafficking.

While Jewish groups are known in South America, they have nowhere near the influence they have in the United States. There is no equivalent of AIPAC looming large over Latin politics. Rather it is Palestinian politicians who hold clout in South America, especially in Chile.

Erekat applauds Chile for standing by Palestinian rights -- MEMO (2018) The Chilean congress approved this week a resolution calling for its government to boycott Israeli settlements in any future agreement with Israel and to reexamine past agreements. The resolution passed with 99 congressmen voting in its favor, seven voting against it and 30 abstaining. -- Haaretz

The Chilean boycott resolution, however, may run into legal issues over discrimination, according to the Chilean National Comptroller; but still the lopsided vote shows who has influence in Chile.

Yet, now with Maduros impending collapse, Iranian influence may soon be gone. So what happened? How did Venezuela, Hezballah, and Iran screw this up?

Venezuelas self-declared leader Juan Guaido he was working to restore ties with Israel that Caracas cut off a decade ago in solidarity with the Palestinians. -- Reuters

Guaido adviser: Israel can help us remove Hezballah, Iran -- Israel Hayom

The unsung hero in all of this is not American or Israeli preparations. Indeed, America dropped the ball during the Obama Administration. Even Israel was largely remiss.

Today, most of South America, except Bolivia, seems united against Venezuela. Brazil seems on the verge of intervening.

Brazils far-right President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday he would do all he could to to re-establish order and democracy in Venezuela, while his foreign minister met with Venezuelan opposition leaders. -- Reuters

The drop in the price of oil due to American fracking certainly helped. It bankrupted Venezuela and caused economic disruption in Saudi Arabia and Iran. But that is not sufficient to explain what we see in South America, where the Latin countries have historically rallied around any anti-American regime. Now, many of them are leading the charge against Venezuela.

Rather, the real hero is the Evangelical Revival that has taken South America by storm. Chile is now about 14% Evangelical. Argentina is about 9%, and Brazil is roughly one quarter Evangelical and growing. Indeed, Evangelicals are expected to outnumber Catholics in Brazil by 2030.

Catholics [are] projected to become a religious minority [in Brazil] by 2030... -- The Atlantic

The Evangelicals in South America are strongly Zionist and have already had a massive influence on the politics of Brazil. The present president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has a wife and son who converted to Evangelicalism.

And even though Bolsonaro hasnt renounced his Catholicism -- he calls himself a Catholic who, for 10 years, attended the Baptist church -- evangelical leaders like Silas Malafaia are ready to offer him their support as someone who can put the country back on track. Bolsonaros wife and son are evangelical, which so far has given him just enough credibility to navigate the evangelical community. -- The Atlantic

Like Trump, Bolsonaro has a deep state which is working against him and his pro-Israel policies. But even though the Brazils vice-president has contradicted him...

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro [is] likely to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital during his visit -- Jewish News Syndicate

While America and Israel were dropping the ball, another agency was maintaining watch over developments. It seems that even in South America, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Psalms 121:4

Mike Konrad is the pen name of an American who wishes he had availed himself more fully of the opportunity to learn Spanish better in high school, lo those many decades ago. He runs a website, Latin Arabia, about the Christian Arab community in South America.
The Los Angeles Times Book Prize has honored Emory professor Ruby Lals Empress as a finalist in history and professor Tayari Joness An American Marriage as a finalist in fiction. Winners will be announced April 12.

Books published last year by three Emory College of Arts and Sciences faculty members and one PhD alumna have been named finalists for notable awards.

The Jewish Book Council named a book co-authored by Eric L. Goldstein, the Judith London Evans Director of the Tam Institute for Jewish Studies, as one of its finalists in the American Jewish Studies category of the 2018 National Jewish Book Award.

Goldstein, an associate professor of history and Jewish studies, earned the honor for On Middle Ground, with co-author and historian Debora Weiner.

Finalists for the 2018 Los Angeles Times Book Prize, meanwhile, include An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, professor of English and Creative Writing, in the fiction category and Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan by Ruby Lal, professor of South Asian studies, in the history category.

National Jewish Book Awards

Goldsteins book examines both the formal institutions of Jewish life and the experiences of everyday families in Baltimore, a city whose location as both a border city between the North and the South and a port town created opportunities for immigrants.

The National Jewish Book Council announced its winners in January. The council also named a book by an Emory alumna whom Goldstein advised as a finalist in the same category.

Samira K. Mehta, who earned her PhD from Emorys Laney Graduate School in 2013 and was also advised by Goodrich C. White Professor and Chair of Religion Gary M. Laderman, was honored for  Beyond Chrismukkah: The Christian-Jewish Interfaith Family in the United States . Mehta is now an assistant professor of religious studies at Albright College in Pennsylvania.

Los Angeles Times Book Prize

A New York Times bestseller and 2018 pick for Oprahs Book Club, Joness novel An American Marriage tells the story of newlyweds whose pursuit of the American dream is violently interrupted when one of them is incarcerated for a crime he did not commit.

Lals narrative history of Jahan, the wife of Mughal emperor Jahangir and regarded by historians as the real power behind the throne in 14th century India, discusses how influential the empress was in her time and in shaping the country.

The LA Times Book Prize finalists were revealed Feb. 20. Winners will be announced April 12 at the LA Times Festival of Books.
Kenyan femcee Wangechi has finally released the highly anticipated visuals to her track Sana Sana featuring Scar Mkadinali.

Sana Sana is part of Soundcloud Sundays, a series of single releases by Wangechi that started last year. Sana Sana dropped sometime in November and went on to receive great critical acclaim from hip-hop fans who cried for its accompanying video to drop.

Assisted by one half of the largely underground Wakadinali Rong Rende duo, the track finds the two rappers going hard in the verses, laying in killer bars in between a catchy hook. The track was produced by B3NZ.ON.1T.

Sana Sana is also a dream come true for Scar Mkadinali who in 2016 expressed interest in working with Wangechi.

Check out Sana Sana below. Rating 7/10.
The two US congresswomen are shattering all kinds of damaging stereotypes about Muslim women.

The image of a Muslim woman conjures up stereotypes of meek, subjugated women in need of saving. The arrival of Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib to the American political scene, however, has exposed the fallacy of these gender stereotypes.

Their brash, fearless, and irreverent responses to the heightened scrutiny of their every word show how these two Muslim women are poking American patriarchy in the eye.

Not only are Omar and Tlaib shattering the image of the powerless Muslim woman in distress, but they are breaking taboos that have long suppressed all women in the United States.

Tlaib curses like a sailor while in the same breath declaring her intent to impeach a notoriously misogynistic US president. Omar unabashedly questions powerful white male elites like Elliot Abrams at Foreign Relations Committee hearings. And both women are unafraid to defend the human rights of Palestinians, the most vilified people in US media, contrary to the advice of their senior colleagues.

As a result, our predominantly white patriarchal political elite are having a meltdown.

Refusing to be instrumentalised by superficial notions of diversity that exoticise and infantilise minority women, Tlaib and Omar vocally challenge the power structure.

A case in point is Tlaibs reference to President Donald Trump as a m********* at a bar after her confirmation. Her words triggered tens of media stories despite more pressing issues like a government shutdown. The disproportionate attention evinced the depth of our societys infantilisation of Muslim women. Male politicians curse and they are just engaging in locker room talk. But when women curse, they are dishonourable  a tripe framing used to silence women around the world.

Indeed, President Trump reprimanded Tlaib by calling her comments disgraceful and lamenting she dishonoured herself, and I think she dishonoured her family using language like thatI thought it was highly disrespectful to the United States of America.

These patronising words came from the same man who was caught on tape stating he grabbed women by their genitals and forcibly kissed them and who has called women fat, bimbos, and rated them on the size of their breasts.

That Trump was still elected president notwithstanding such lewd behaviour, not to mention his use of profanity on a regular basis, is further proof of misogynistic double standards infecting our political system.

Another case in point is Ilhan Omars reference to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in a tweet. Along with Tlaib, Omar is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign which emulates the South African anti-apartheid movement in the use of non-violent divestment as a political tactic to oppose the Israeli governments violation of Palestinian civil and human rights.

When Omar responded AIPAC to a question on Twitter about whom she thinks is paying American politicians to be pro-Israel, her tweet triggered a common anti-Muslim trope  the anti-Semite. Alongside the oppressed Muslim woman, Islamophobia perpetuates a stereotype that Muslims are inherently violent and anti-Semitic.

These Islamophobic stereotypes contribute to the erasure and delegitimisation of Palestinian experiences from mainstream discussions in the US about the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts. They lead to the vilification of Arab and Muslim American academics on blacklists reminiscent of the McCarthyist era.

Islamophobia also fed the attacks on both Omar and Tlaib during their campaigns and after the elections. At a campaign event in August 2018, for example, the two Muslim women were subjected to a diatribe by a conservative activist, calling the activists jihadi and accusing them of supporting terrorists.

And when, after her election, Omar sought to remove the prohibition on headwear on the House floor, conservative pastor EW Jackson said: The floor of Congress is now going to look like an Islamic republic. We are a Judeo-Christian country. We are a nation rooted and grounded in Christianity and thats that Dont try to change our country into some sort of Islamic republic or try to base our country on Sharia law.

While the anti-Semitic trope of a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world is real, both past and present, to analogise it to criticism of AIPAC is a red herring.

Like any other lobbying firm in Washington, AIPAC seeks to influence politicians on the Hill and in the White House pursuant to its motto Americas Pro-Israel Lobby. To its credit, AIPAC is one of the most successful lobbying groups alongside the National Rifle Association, Koch Industries, and the US Chamber of Commerce.

AIPAC boasts significant political influence arising from its over $3.5m annual investment in lobbying. Indeed, AIPAC astutely leveraged the controversy over Omars tweet to ask its supporters to donate, declaring: We are determined to continue our bipartisan efforts in support of the shared values that unite America and Israel.

The aspersions cast on Ilhan Omars character bring into sharp relief the ways in which allegations of anti-Semitism are frequently used to silence Muslims with dissident views and when these are coupled with misogyny, Muslim women become easy targets.

Tropes of the bad girl are weaponised to police womens speech and behaviour. Men exploit arbitrary civility codes to chastise women and minorities who do not accommodate existing power structures. Any expression of anger, indignation, or rebuke of the status quo is quickly reprimanded  hence the calls on Omar to resign, while dozens of white male Republican politicians peddle Islamophobia on a regular basis.

To be sure, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib will continue to be caught in the crosshairs of Islamophobia and American misogyny. But like the millions of other confident, ambitious, smart Muslim women in the US, they are up to the task.

And for those who cannot accept Omar and Tlaibs presence on Capitol Hill, Omar has some advice: Youre gonna have to just deal.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
It is only in magical Kenya that con artists can impersonate and pose as the president and still somehow manage to swindle a handsome fortune out of a prominent businessman.

In the head-turner of a case, seven suspects are accused of conning Sameer Africa Chairman Naushad Merali out of Ksh10 million while posing as President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The accused; Joseph Waswa, Duncan Muchai, Isaac Wajekeche, William Simiyu, David Luganya, Gilbert Kirunja and Anthony Wafula, were arraigned in Court Monday but they were not charged as the prosecution sought more time to complete investigations.

The suspects were arrested on Friday and Saturday in a sting operation by detectives from the DCI special crime prevention Unit.

Court documents show that they used the mobile number 0722 208842  that brings up President Uhurus name on the True Caller application  to contact Naushud.

The caller, who is said to have perfected the art of mimicking the Presidents voice, wanted the Sameer chairman to give facilitation fees so that State House would assist in the purchase of a piece of land in Nairobi.

Believing he had spoken to President Uhuru, Mr Merali, who was out of the country on a business trip at the time, directed Sameer Africa Finance Director Akif Hamid Butt to process the money.

The Court heard that Mr Butt was told the money was for the purchase of a parcel of land in Milimani.

The suspects, who operate as State House officials, gave Mr Butt an Equity Bank account number into which the Sh10 million was wired.

While seeking to detain the suspects for 10 days, Corporal James Mwangi said police are investigating forgery, conspiracy to commit to commit fraud and obtaining money by false pretences.

The nature of investigations is complex since it requires communication data from several service providers, which requires time. [Time is required] to establish the details of the bank account  and the signatories.

Due to the complexity of the investigations and the number of suspects involved, including some who are still at large, it is expected that the investigation will involve going through voluminous documents including bank documents and call data records analysis, reads an affidavit by Mr Mwangi, who is based at the DCI Headquarters.

Police have seized police a Toyota Land Cruiser, a Toyota Mark X, a Toyota Axio and a Toyota Crown in connection with the State House syndicate.

Senior Principal Magistrate Peter Ooko ordered the suspects to be held at Muthaiga Police Station until a ruling on their bail application on Tuesday next week.
Hanoi, Vietnam  The leaders of the United States and North Korea are meeting in the Vietnam capital, Hanoi, on February 27 and 28 in a follow-up to last years historic Singapore summit.

As Hanoi gears up to host Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, its not just the beefed-up security, sold-out hotels and fluttering flags across Hanoi that are marking the occasion. Locals in Hanoi have used the occasion to market their skills and businesses, and it has been it a happening week for the tourists.

Bars are also serving drinks dubbed Peace Negroniations, inspired by the popular Negroni cocktail; stores are selling T-shirts bearing Donald Trump and Kim Jong Uns faces; and even hairdressers are offering free cuts to those eager to replicate the hairstyles of the two leaders.
People across Indian cities celebrated on Tuesday the air raids across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan nearly two weeks after at least 42 Indian soldiers were killed in a suicide attack in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Indias foreign secretary said fighter jets targeted camps belonging to Pakistan-based armed group, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), which had claimed reponsibility for the deadly Kashmir attack.

Pakistan has accused India of violating its airspace and committing uncalled for agression.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who faces general elections by May, has been under immense pressure to respond to the Febraury 14 attack in Kashmir.

The latest Indian action has added to the panic among Kashmiri civilians who have been affected by heavy troop deployment and fuel shortages since the suicide attack.

The Himalayan territory of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, but claimed in its entirety by both nuclear powers. The two nations have fought three of their four wars over the disputed region.
A suspect linked to last months explosion on Latema road, Nairobi, was arraigned in a Nairobi court on Monday.

Mohammed Nurrow Mohammed was nabbed last Friday[ February 22] at Biashara Street within Moyale at the Kenya-Ethiopia border.

He was presented in Court under a miscellaneous application where detectives were granted three more days to detain him pending conclusion of investigations.

The prosecution told the court that the investigations are complex and involve a number of agencies, further noting that the accused could interfere with the probe if released.

The Anti-Terror Police Unit said it is also pursuing other suspects believed to have planned the explosion together with Mohammed Nurrow Mohammed

Intelligence reports show that he has other associates who assisted him in planning and executing the explosion, the court heard.

ATPU had asked for five days to complete investigations but the court only allowed a three-day detention.
Broad Streets live oaks wont come down without another hearing or two, following a disputed decision by Mobiles Tree Commission.

The commission voted last week to permit a city plan to cut down somewhere around 60 live oaks as part of a massive redevelopment of Broad Street funded by millions in federal, state and city money.

It was not much of a surprise to hear at Tuesday's Mobile City Council meeting that at least one entity, the Government Street Collaborative, plans to bring an appeal of that decision to the council. Bill Boswell, speaking on behalf of the organization, told Council Vice President Levon Manzie that he expected to file the appeal by Friday.

"I'm kind of surprised the appeal is not already in," said Manzie, in whose District 1 the work will take place.

"I'm generally in support of the opinion that has been espoused by residents," said Manzie speaking to the intensity of feeling where Mobile's oaks are concerned. "I've gotten a bunch of emails, phone calls, telephone calls, I've had two or three to stop by the house, really, which can be quite unnerving, to be honest with you, but I've taken the visits anyway."

Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson addressed the dispute, recapping his administration's position. The city won a federal TIGER grant for $14.1 million to transform the portion of Broad Street and Beauregard Street that essentially serves as the boundary between Midtown and Downtown. The project also involves millions more from the city and the Alabama Department of Transportation, bringing the total investment to well over $20 million.

Goals of the project are to calm traffic; to add features such as on-street parking and bike lanes that will make the area more conducive to non-vehicular traffic; and to plant trees whose growth patterns make them more likely to thrive and less likely to clash with utilities and other features. Stimpson, who spoke at length, said the design process tried to pack in features sought by many groups into limited real estate, and in some cases the live oaks couldnt be accommodated. Many of the trees slated for removal are stressed or small, he said, and many others are being left untouched.

Stimpson said other groups, including "the biking community" and utility companies were not getting everything they wanted, and that taking out some trees was part of a complicated effort to "thread the needle to make the project work."

Boswell was the only resident who spoke against the Tree Commission decision, though he had a group of 15 to 20 people who appeared to support his position. He said the group's main purpose was to call for the administration to hold a public forum of some kind at which it could clearly demonstrate the reasoning behind the removal of the trees.

Manzie said that regardless of whether such a meeting was held, or even a series of such meetings, the matter ultimately would come down to an appeal to the council. He urged Boswell and other supporters to get on with it.

In response to Boswell's questions about the format of an eventual council hearing, Manzie said, "Let me just say it this way. If 100 individuals show up and want to speak, we'll sit here and we'll listen to 100 individuals."

Manzie said he didnt want the city to lose the $14 million federal grant, and Boswell said he and others weren't opposed to the overall project -- they just weren't convinced the trees had to go. Administration officials have said that it's too late in the process for extensive redesign work.

Stimpson offered to the council that he and administration officials were willing to take interested council members on a walking tour and discuss the reasons particular trees were slated for removal. While he didn't agree to Boswell's call for a public forum, he did propose a meeting at which 10 or so tree advocates could come to his office for a detailed tree-by-tree discussion. "This is apart and separate from what we're talking about with the city council," he said.

A date for the council to hear the appeal wasnt immediately set, although discussion indicated it will be well into March.
The inmate who escaped early Monday morning from a Decatur work release center was recaptured in the afternoon after more than 14 hours on the lam, authorities said.

Dyron Rashas Primus, 27, surrendered without incident in Decatur around 3:10 p.m. Monday, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections.

Primus is serving a 15-year sentence at the North Alabama Community Based Facility/Community Work Center in Decatur for marijuana possession. Primus escaped from the facility around 1 a.m. Monday.

The corrections department and the U.S. Marshals Service helped recapture Primus.
A Columbiana teen was charged with murder and attempted murder in death Saturday of his 19-year-old brother, the Shelby County Sheriffs Office said Monday.

Jalen K. Ray, 18, allegedly shot and killed his brother, Calvin J. Ray, 19, in a home on the 3700 block of Highway 77 on Saturday, the sheriffs office said.

After the initial shooting, Jalen Ray encountered another family member and he was shot and injured.

Jalen Ray is being held in the Shelby County Jail on murder and attempted murder charges on a combined bond of $180,000, the sheriffs office said.

There are no pending charges against the family member who shot and injured Jalen Ray.

The official cause of death of Calvin Ray in pending an autopsy by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, the sheriffs office said.
One student was shot and an unidentified suspect was taken into custody today at Robert E. Lee High School in Montgomery, authorities said.

A 17-year-old male student suffered an injury that wasnt considered life-threatening.

At a press conference this afternoon, Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange said the victim had been treated and released from a hospital. A school spokesman said this morning that the victim was shot in the arm in the school gym.

Strange said this afternoon that the suspect is a student. Strange said the shooting was not believed to be random, but that officials were not ready to talk about the motive.

Police have not named the suspect and said the investigation is continuing. The firearm recovered was a handgun, they said.

Strange said witnesses have been interviewed who may or may not have had some involvement in the incident.

Montgomery Police Chief of Operations Scott Tatum said about 30 students and faculty members had been interviewed so far.

Strange, Tatum and other officials praised the response of law enforcement and school system employees.

The school was placed on lockdown while authorities made sure there were no other threats other than the single suspect. Strange said the process was methodical and thorough and happened without pandemonium or chaos.

It took us a while, as you can imagine, to get everybody back in their classroom, to count all the heads, to check every classroom, to make sure that there were no additional active shooters in the building and involved, Strange said. And that timeline took several hours.

Tatum said police got multiple calls reporting the incident about 11 a.m. Tatum said initial calls were from school staff to the school resource officer assigned to Lee and from the school staff to 911. Tatum said the response was fast and in accordance with training on school shootings.

No longer are the days when you stand by and wait for other officers to arrive before you go into an incident, Tatum said. Our officers went in immediately.

Because if was a school shooting, Tatum said county and state police also responded. Tatum praised the response of school officials.

As soon as the active shooter went into effect, they went into a full lockdown and the students that were actually out in the hallways and transitioning throughout the school were pulled in to anywhere they could pull them into to make sure they were safe, Tatum said.

Officials said it was unclear how the gun was taken into the school. Montgomery Public Schools Superintendent Ann Roy Moore said the main entrance at Lee has metal detectors but said there are multiple entrances to the school, which was built in the 1950s.

Last year, Gov. Kay Ivey announced the creation of a school sentry program, authorizing school administrators who undergo training to store guns at school to respond to shooter situations. Moore said Lee does not participate in that program, which is for schools who are not assigned a school resource officer.

Strange said he would not be in favor of arming teachers or administrators.

I dont think we can recommend that we arm teachers and administrators unless theres a specific circumstance that I cant think of right at this point in time, Strange said. But at the end of the day, thats not our decision. But if they ask for my recommendation, thats what it would be.

Montgomery police Capt. Regina Duckett spoke to news reporters outside the school this morning.

Duckett told reporters the school remained on lock down following the shooting in the gym. She said the parents of the injured 17-year-old student have been notified. The teen was being treated at a local hospital.

Montgomery Public Schools spokesman Tom Salter says theyre unsure how the gun got into the school at this time. Lee has metal detectors in place that were working this morning pic.twitter.com/agsAFzsrnE  Kirsten Fiscus (@KDFiscus) February 26, 2019

Parents, families waiting outside Lee High School in Montgomery. School is on lockdown after 1 student shot in arm this morning, non life threatening injury. 1 in custody. pic.twitter.com/7PSD54Kwia  Mike Cason (@MikeCasonAL) February 26, 2019

Roderick Adams was among the parents waiting outside the school. Adams said he got a call this morning from his wife saying there was an active shooter at the school. His wife was able to talk to their daughter by phone and confirm she was not hurt.

I would rather have my kids at home man where theyre safe, Adams said. You cant protect them 24/7 but I think I can do a better job than this. My question is if weve got law enforcement, all these people around here now, youve got all this law enforcement, why cant they keep guns out of the school?

Updated at 4:45 p.m. to say that victim treated and released from hospital and add other information from afternoon press conference. Updated at 6 p.m. to add video from Montgomery Police Chief of Operations Scott Tatum.
An online threat has been made against Saraland High School Tuesday, resulting in a soft lockdown and increased police presence at the school.

The specifics of the threat or the social media platform involved are not yet known, but the high school has been working closely with local law enforcement to protect students and find out more about the threat.

Dr. Aaron Milner, Superintendent of Saraland City Schools, said the perpetrator has been identified and is not affiliated with the school. Milner added that the person responsible would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Saraland City Schools in conjunction with the Saraland Police Department are currently investigating a threat toward... Posted by Saraland City Schools on Tuesday, February 26, 2019

The school is expected to operate on a soft lockdown for the rest of the day, which Milner said resembles a regular school day with a higher state of alert.

After we ensured the police were aware of the incident we were able to move classes and weve started back to a normal school day, said Milner.

The threat follows a spate of threats against schools in lower Alabama in recent months that have appeared on social media.
A man from Dothan faces federal charges related to his alleged possession of explosive devices, one of which officials say injured someone when he used it to blow up a truck, according to U.S. Attorney Louis Franklin.

Sylvio Joseph King, 45, was indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of illegally possessing two different improvised explosive devices in October 2017, Franklin said. King was also charged with using one of the devices to blow up a truck. That explosion caused a person to be injured, he said.

One of the devices was a remote control bomb made of galvanized pipe containing bullets and a mixture of an explosive powder. The second device was a directional mine made of an aluminum tube full of lead shot and an explosive powder.

If convicted, King faces 37 years to life in prison. There is no parole in the federal system. King is expected to go on trial in June 2019.

U.S. Attorney Franklin would like to thank the following agencies for their assistance with this case: the Houston County Sheriffs Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the Dothan Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Bradley Bodiford is prosecuting this case.
Two toddlers died in a fire in western Jefferson County early Tuesday morning.

The fire erupted in a mobile home near Mulga off Little River Trail. The family confirms two children, a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old, died in the blaze. The Jefferson County Sheriffs Office identified the children as 1-year-old Joseph Todd Jr. and 2-year-old Brylee Todd.

According to Capt. David Agee with the Jefferson County sheriffs office, deputies and Birmingport Fire and Rescue crews were dispatched to the 1400 block of Little River Trail near Mulga at approximately 12:19 a.m. When firefighters arrived, the trailer was fully engulfed in flames.

Agee said one adult tried to save the children, but couldnt reach them due to the flames.

The fire is being investigated by the Alabama State Fire Marshals Office.

This is a developing story and will be updated.
Daisy Dee burst into the coffee shop, ran over to our table and whispered, Yall, pray for Bernice. Shes back on her nerve pills, all on account of her daughter Vernice wanting to hold her wedding at the Buc-ees on I-10.

Daisy Dee was following the Southern rule of, if its a prayer request, its not gossip. Kind of like on Jeopardy, when answers have to be given in the form of a question, gossip around here has to be in the form of a prayer request, or else youll be . . . you know, sinning, and thats a step beyond tacky.

To add the final spit and polish of righteousness, Daisy Dee added, bless her heart. Yes, we all said in unison, bless her heart. Ill pray for her. Said Roo Anne. As will I said Pauleena. Well, Im going to call her and ask if the wedding cake will have little beef jerky sprinkles on top. Said Penelope. Penny! You cant be serious. Dont do that! Oh, you know I was just kidding she said. Well pray for you too called out Daisy Dee as she swished to the counter to order a caramel sugar-free, fat-free, low-caffeine Ice-Rageous.

The Texas based Buc-ees is a mega gas-station/rest stop/snacking hall of fame that just opened its doors in Robertsdale, Alabama and is already the talk of the state. Low gas prices, T-shirts, cast iron skillets, stuffed beaver toys and the self-proclaimed cleanest restrooms this side of your mamas house. How could we not text each other later that day and say, Buc-ees? Really? LOL  OMG! but we added little prayer hand emojis so it was still in the form of a proper prayer.

When I was in the 6th grade, a high school boy went to the altar at the end of the service. The pastor said, son, were glad youre here tonight. God hears your prayers. With that encouragement, the teen started pouring out his heart. Im sorry Ive been fooling around with . . . and from there, the list of girls names started to flow. Girls started crying, mothers clutched their pearls and daddies slammed their hymnals closed. The pastor finally gained control and said, let us pray. which in this situation was code for, close your eyes, Ill say the fastest prayer known to man and well all be home eating Ritz crackers and cheese within 15 minutes. The boys mother later said, Whats the big deal? Those girls were chasing him and he just needed prayer. See what she did? She turned the gossip into a prayer request.

Being nominated for the church prayer chain is an honor that means you are truly righteous and can pray away disease, termites, a string of car burglaries, and general evil. It also means you can keep a secret, because theres nothing worse than notifying the prayer chain that you are standing in the need of prayer only to find it posted on social media twenty minutes later. Churches who allow just anyone to sign up for the prayer chain are attracting the gossips like gnats to a cur dog. Penelope was asked to join, but politely declined. She confessed, I told them I was too busy, but I really knew my head would explode with all that inside information. I think God loves her for her honesty. Just like hell love me for declining the wedding invitation at Buc-ees. It would just be too much for me to hold inside. Bless my own honest heart and please pray.
By Laura Meckler

Overwhelmingly white school districts received $23 billion more than predominantly nonwhite school districts in state and local funding in 2016, despite serving roughly the same number of children, a new report finds.

The gap in Alabama, however, is small compared to other states.

The funding gap is largely the result of the reliance on property taxes as a primary source of funding for schools. Communities in overwhelmingly white areas tend to be wealthier, and school districts' ability to raise money depends on the value of local property and the ability of residents to pay higher taxes.

And while state budgets gave heavily nonwhite districts slightly more money per student than they gave overwhelmingly white districts, in many states it was not enough to erase the local gaps.

"States have largely failed to keep up with the growing wealth disparities across their communities," concludes the report released Tuesday by EdBuild, a New Jersey-based research and advocacy group that focuses on school funding.

The gap reflects a long-standing view that local schools should be both controlled and funded locally.

The funding disparities that result have been challenged in many states, frequently in court. Many states have worked to make formulas more equitable, with varying success.

"While we have made some progress on the issue of economic inequality in our schools, we still have a terribly inequitable system," the report said.

EdBuild examined the nation's 13,000 traditional public school districts and found about 7,600 where more than 75 percent of students were white, and about 1,200 where more than 75 percent of students were not white. The nonwhite districts, which included many large cities, were much larger than the white districts, which included many small rural areas. But the two groups each had about the same number of students - 12.8 million children in nonwhite districts and 12.5 million in white districts.

Nonwhite districts took in about $54 billion in 2016 in local tax dollars - or about $4,500 per student. White districts, home to higher incomes and less poverty, collected more than $77 billion, or just over $7,000 per student.

On average, states added another $6,900 per student to white districts and almost $7,200 per student in nonwhite districts. But the overall gap in state and local funding was $23 billion. White districts, on average, had more than $2,000 more in funding per student than nonwhite districts.

The analysis does not include federal dollars, much of which is targeted to the poorest communities.

Alabama is one of 14 states where nonwhite districts receive more money---$146 per student according to this study---than white districts. Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana and South Carolina are also on that list.

Alabamas history of minimally funding public education was reinforced by a 2015 study conducted by national school finance experts Augenblick, Palaich and Associates. The study, conducted under the direction of the Alabama State Department of Education, showed the state was not adequately funding schools to generate the kind of success needed to improve the economy. No action was taken as a result of that study, which cost taxpayers nearly $400,000.

The inadequate low level of state funding places the burden to fund schools on local communities, which do so through property taxes, exacerbating the inequity among rural and urban districts.

For example, the state's wealthiest city, Mountain Brook, provided $7,100 in local funding per student, where Lamar and Autauga counties provide only one-tenth of that amount---$700 per student. The opportunities afforded by those additional tax dollars is a difference-maker for students.

The problem is worse in states where districts are small, cordoning off wealthy communities and limiting the likelihood that wealthier taxpayers will subsidize poorer students, said Rebecca Sibilia, EdBuild's CEO. In states such as Maryland and Virginia, she said, many school districts comprise entire counties, making funding more equitable.

In Maryland, 880,000 students are served by 24 districts; in New Jersey, 1.3 million students are divided between 540 districts. Nonwhite districts in Maryland received $501 more per student than white districts, and in Virginia, they got $255 more per student.

Overall, the report found 21 states where white districts got more funding and 14 states where nonwhite districts got more. The other states did not have enough racial diversity to meaningfully analyze, the report said.

The gap was most dramatic in Arizona, where white districts were given $7,613 more per student than nonwhite districts. A dozen other states had gaps between $2,000 and $4,000 per student, with 10 of the states providing more funding to students in majority-white districts.

A representative for the Arizona Education Department had no immediate comment.

Michael Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative think tank, says states should do more to equalize funding. But he added that there is some benefit to local control.

"When districts have to go to the community to get a bond passed, they have to make the case they are spending their money well and it's worth investing in," he said. "That has been an important form of accountability."

But overall, he said, the system needs to become more equitable. "All of this is tough sledding in terms of the politics of it," he said. "It's an area where the courts have played an important role."

Aaron Smith, an expert on school finance at the libertarian Reason Foundation, also supports more equity. He said conservatives should realize that if school funding were more even, it would bolster school choice programs, which many conservatives support. More-equitable funding would make it clear how much money a school should get to educate each student, Smith said.

Every state has some sort of mechanism in place to try and equalize and neutralize the effects that local property wealth has, he said. The problem is that these equalization mechanisms vary substantially in terms of how effective they are.

Al.com reporter Trisha Powell Crain contributed to this story
State Prosecutor Noordin Haji has asked Parliament for more funding, saying the overall resource allocation of Ksh3B for the 2019/20 financial year would have a negative impact on service delivery.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecution had asked for 4.95 billion shillings.

Haji, who appeared before the National Assemblys Justice and Legal Affairs Committee on Monday, said the ODDP requires about Sh5 billion in the next financial year to carry out reforms in the public sector as well as hire competent staff to help with the war against corruption.

Public Prosecutions Secretary Dorcas Oduor echoed Hajis sentiments saying the allocation was critical.

To succeed in the fight against corruption, institutions mandated with the fight must be strengthened so that all corruption suspects are brought to book in record time, said Haji.

The DPP wants improved remuneration of staff and the hiring of competent external prosecutors where expertise is required.

Judiciary staff earn 4 times more than us My deputy earns the salary of Senior Resident Magistrate, noted Haji.

He also wants asset recovery expedited, witness facilitation, installation of technology to enhance electronic disclosure of documentary evidence, a review of existing laws, the purchase of extra vehicles and capacity building.

Witnesses are not coming to court because they are not being facilitated, especially in rural areas where courts are very far. When they fail and the case stops or flops, the blame is always on the DPP, Mr Haji said.

On asset recovery, Mr Haji said he was working with the Attorney-General to have a special fund established for monies recovered from foreign accounts as well as locally.

The State Prosecutor also defended cases currently in court saying he had enough evidence to mount successful prosecutions; he boasted of 22 convictions from 88 anti-corruption cases involving Sh16.8 billion.

There have been about 19 acquittals and three withdrawals, while 338 cases are ongoing.
Trustmark Bank has opened a new office in Homewood this week.

The bank, located at 1808 29th Ave. S., hosted an opening Tuesday with the Homewood Chamber of Commerce.

Trustmark Retail Banking is new to the Jefferson County market, the company said. Trustmark provides banking, wealth management and insurance solutions through its subsidiaries, including Trustmark National Bank, Trustmark Investment Advisors, Inc., and Fisher Brown Bottrell Insurance, Inc.

Trustmark Market President Steven Erickson said the bank lobby will feature myTeller, an interactive teller machine which allows customers to experience face-to-face interactions with a live teller located in a central location. It will be available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The Trustmark branch will provide service in retail, mortgage, commercial lending, commercial real estate lending and wealth management. The branch lobby hours are Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fisher Brown Bottrell Insurance will be open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Trustmark has 62 locations in Alabama, Headquartered in Jackson, Miss., it has about 200 locations in Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas.
On Jan. 30, the United Arab Emirates' minister of state for foreign affairs condemned Turkeys plan to establish a buffer zone in northeastern Syria and said Ankaras efforts to geographically isolate the Syrian Kurds worried both the UAE and the United States. Anwar Gargash justified his criticisms of Turkish conduct in Syria by challenging Ankaras conflation of Kurdish nationalism with terrorism and emphasizing the constructive role that Kurdish militias played in defeating the Islamic State (IS) in Syria.

Gargashs expressions of solidarity with Kurdish nationalist forces in Syria reflect the UAEs desire to contain Turkish influence in Syria and insert itself as a major stakeholder in the resolution of the Syrian conflict. The UAEs critical attitude towards Turkish belligerence in northeastern Syria is the product of a broader rivalry between Abu Dhabi and Ankara, which was triggered by Turkeys alignment with Qatar, Ankaras close ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and competing interests in the Horn of Africa. Tensions over these issues steadily intensified after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the UAE of supporting the 2016 coup against his government, but Syria was initially a secondary flashpoint for confrontation between Turkey and the UAE.

The extension of the UAE-Turkey geopolitical rivalry to Syria became apparent in January 2018, when Abu Dhabi stridently criticized Turkeys decision to launch Operation Olive Branch and militarily intervene in the Kurdish majority region of Afrin. On Jan. 22, Gargash called for increased coordination between Arab countries on collective security matters. Throughout the offensive, UAE-based media outlets described the Peoples Protection Units in Afrin as a resistance movement against Turkish occupation and stridently criticized the looting of Afrin by Turkish forces in March 2018.

Although the intensity of the conflict in northern Syria cooled after Turkey vanquished a pro-Syrian government insurgency in Afrin on March 21, the UAE continued to support Kurdish factions that resisted Turkeys presence in northeastern Syria. In coordination with Saudi Arabia, UAE military advisers allegedly held a series of meetings with Kurdish Democratic Party and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) officials at the US base in northeastern Syria and helped prepare Kurdish militias against an eventual Turkish military intervention.

The United Arab Emirates security collaboration with Kurdish militias has been matched by Abu Dhabis provision of economic assistance to northeastern Syria. By August 2018, the UAE had invested $50 million in areas of northeastern Syria liberated from IS control, and these capital injections occurred in tandem with Saudi Arabias $100 million investment in areas of Syria held by the Kurdish Syrian Defense Forces (SDF). These actions caused Yeni Safak, a prominent pro-government Turkish newspaper, to predict an imminent Arab-Turkish conflict in Syria, and to accuse the UAE of sponsoring terrorism in northeastern Syria.

Yeni Safaks predictions overstate the UAEs commitment to the Kurdish cause, however, as the UAE's armed forces remain overwhelmingly focused on strengthening Abu Dhabis sphere of influence in southern Yemen. Kyle Orton, a fellow at the Henry Jackson Society who specializes on Syria and the PKK, told Al-Monitor that the Gulf Cooperation Councils public financing of the SDF aims to irritate Turkey and sully Turkeys reputation, and will not translate into a military confrontation or proxy war with Ankara.

While the scale of UAE cooperation with the Syrian Kurds has expanded due to the Turkish threat, the UAE is also seeking to establish itself as a mediator in the Syrian conflict. On Aug. 30, the UAEs deputy permanent representative to the UN, Amira Al Hefeiti, emphasized the need for a political solution to the Syrian conflict, and described Abu Dhabis involvement in the July 2018 resolution of the Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict as a precedent for similar UAE-backed mediation efforts in the Arab world.

The UAEs decision to reopen its embassy in Damascus on Dec. 27 was described by Emirati media outlets as proof of Abu Dhabis desire to gain a seat at the table in the Syrian conflict resolution process. As the UAE is seeking to maintain its alliance with Saudi Arabia and showcase its foreign policy independence through signature diplomatic initiatives, staking out a more prominent diplomatic role in Syria is vital for Abu Dhabis power projection ambitions in the Arab world.

The UAE believes it can be an effective facilitator of dialogue between various Syrian factions because of its mediation experience during the early stages of the conflict, which included a noteworthy meeting between UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on conflict resolution. Although this meeting failed to convince Assad to lighten his repression of Syrian opposition factions, the UAE distinguished itself from Saudi Arabia and Qatar by continuing to engage in back-channel dialogue with Assad, criticizing arms supplies to Islamist opposition forces and establishing close relations with the SDF-led Kurdish coalition.

Now that Syrias Sunni Arab opposition forces are firmly on the retreat and poised to play an increasingly marginal role in the resolution of the conflict, the UAE has positioned itself to effectively mediate between Damascus and the SDF. In early 2017, the UAE strengthened ties with the SDF by emphasizing the organizations possession of common concerns with Assad. These concerns include preventing Turkish belligerence and ensuring that the fuel markets in the town of al-Bab, which were formerly captured by IS, remain in the hands of Syrian traders.

While the US militarys close cooperation with the SDF against IS and simultaneous desire to overthrow Assad impeded SDF-Damascus cooperation for much of the war, the impending US withdrawal from Syria has caused Assad and the SDF to tentatively align against the looming threat of Turkish belligerence. The UAE has capitalized on this alignment and has sought to achieve an expeditious resolution of the Kurdish issue, as a settlement allows Abu Dhabi to implement its dual containment strategy against Iranian and Turkish influence in Syria. By arming the SDF in preparation for the withdrawal of US troops and discussing reconstruction assistance programs with Assads government that require a swift end to hostilities, the UAE is encouraging Syrian Kurds to focus their energies on combating Turkey, and incentivizing Assad to refrain from forcibly recapturing SDF- occupied regions of Syria.

Although the UAEs alignment with the SDF has slipped under the radar of many analysts of the Syrian conflict, it signifies Abu Dhabis desire to step up its anti-Turkey containment efforts and ambitions of acting as a mediator in the Syrian conflict. As the UAEs relations with Assad and the SDF continue to strengthen simultaneously, Abu Dhabi is well positioned to break out of Saudi Arabias shadow and establish itself as an important diplomatic stakeholder in Syria.
Speaking at an international gathering on migration last week, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey had spent over $37 billion in national resources on Syrian refugees, who numbered more than 3.6 million in the country in January.

How the $37 billion sum is calculated remains unknown. Figures available in the budget and annual programs are not even close to Erdogans expenditure tally. Opposition parties claim that Ankara exaggerates its assistance, arguing that a significant part of the refugees earn a living as cheap workers, without government help. What is the true scale of assistance and to what extent do Syrians sustain themselves by working?

After the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in March 2011, Ankara adopted an open-door policy for Syrians fleeing to Turkey. Ankara granted them education, health care, welfare assistance rights and access to the labor market under a temporary protection regime. It remains unclear how much of the money spent on the refugees originated from Turkeys own budget and how much came from foreign assistance funds.

Most recently, the presidencys 2019 program offers the following information: Turkeys official development assistance (ODA) increased by 25.5% to $8.1 billion in 2017 from $6.5 billion in 2016.  Humanitarian aid in the form of ODA rose to $7.3 billion in 2017 from $5.9 billion in 2016. The total sum of humanitarian assistance for Syrians in our country, meanwhile, was $7.2 billion in 2017.

According to figures by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency, the predominantly Syria-focused ODA reached nearly $21 billion in the 2013-2017 period. One should keep in mind, however, that this sum also included funds secured from abroad. The presidencys 2019 program, for example, notes that a Social Adaptation Assistance Program is underway to meet the needs of impoverished individuals of foreign nationality, primarily Syrians, in the framework of the Urgent Social Security Network model, to be covered with funds from the European Union and in cooperation with the World Food Program, the Turkish Red Crescent and the EUs humanitarian aid fund, ECHO.

Under a 2015 refugee deal with Turkey, the EU pledged 3 billion euros for 2016-2017 to support efforts in the areas of humanitarian aid, education, health care and the labor market. The sum was put into contracts as part of 72 projects, and 1.94 billion euros were transferred to implementing agencies, according to the presidencys 2019 program. In the second phase of the deal, which envisages another 3 billion euros in EU assistance for the 2018-2019 period, five projects have so far been put into contracts worth $450 million.

In sum, Turkeys aid programs for Syrian refugees have involved notable foreign assistance secured through cooperation with multilateral international organizations, international financial institutions and bilateral development agencies.

According to latest data, only about 145,000 Syrian refugees live in the 25 government-run camps, while the remaining 3.5 million are scattered across Turkey, struggling to make a living on their own. The number of unregistered Syrian workers is estimated at more than 1 million. In fact, the majority of refugees work for low wages and in bad working conditions as unregistered laborers without any legal status and rights. They are employed mainly in the agriculture, construction and textile sectors and labor-intensive industries, often as seasonal workers. The employment of Syrians has revived the problem of child labor, which Turkey had managed to largely stamp out after years of hard efforts.

As the Turkish economy slowed down and descended into a crisis, the refugees influx into the labor market has become a big advantage for business owners, especially in the garment and construction sectors. A World Bank report notes that the inflow of refugees to the labor market has resulted in a reduction in wages.

According to a survey by the Economic and Social Research Center of Istanbuls Bahcesehir University, the average monthly wage of young Syrians employed in Istanbul was 1,400 Turkish liras ($264) for men and 1,300 for women in 2017, compared to 1,660 Turkish liras for the citys overall average in the same age group. Half of young Syrian men and three-fourths of young Syrian women earned less than the minimum wage. About a fourth of the refugees believed they suffered discrimination and were denied jobs for being Syrian.

On the other side of the coin, refugees have set up companies in Turkey, working for themselves or employing others. According to data from the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges, Syrian nationals established some 7,000 companies by 2017. Concentrated mainly in Istanbul and Gaziantep, a province bordering Syria, the companies are active mostly in the field of commerce.

Figures by Turkeys central bank, meanwhile, show that foreign capital investments of Syrian origin reached $71 million at the end of 2017, up from $1 million in 2011, the year the conflict in Syria erupted. The figure represents only 0.04% of the total foreign capital stock in Turkey, but the quick increase is still meaningful. There have been also unregistered capital inflows, but their amount is hard to estimate.

In sum, Syrian refugees rely not only on Ankaras assistance and foreign aid, but also on their own elbow grease, struggling to sustain themselves as unregistered and low-paid workers, often in labor-intensive jobs. How long they can hold on to their jobs in the ongoing economic crisis is hard to tell. With Turkeys unemployment rate on the rise, the refugees employment, albeit highly exploitative, might further annoy the countrys own jobless. Whether this could fuel discriminatory and even racist sentiments is a pertinent issue to watch in the coming days.
ANKARA, Turkey  One night in May 2018 two men dined with a female university student who had worked for them part-time as a cashier. Afterward they invited her for drinks in one of Ankaras distinctive office towers.

She agreed, and photographs taken with one of the mens cellphones show her drinking a bottle of beer in an office on the 20th floor, the lights of the city shining through the window. She appears to be happy.

Sometime later the guards in the ground-floor reception of the Yelken Plaza heard a loud bang. A security video shows it startled them. They asked each other what happened. The time was 3:50 a.m. What they had heard came from a first-floor terrace, a few meters above their heads. The bang was the sound of the young woman hitting concrete after a fall of 66 meters.

The two men are now standing trial in the Turkish capital, charged with detaining Sule Cet (pronounced Shule Chet), 23, against her will, raping and murdering her. Prosecutors have asked for a life sentence for murder and a total of 39 years imprisonment on the lesser charges.

The men  Cagatay Aksu, 34, and Berk Akand, 35, both businessmen  deny all charges. Their defense is that Cet threw herself out the window, with Aksu trying to pull her back in, tearing the tendons in his arm in the process.

The death of Cet has become a cause celebre. Scores of female activists held posters of her face outside the Palace of Justice when the trial began earlier this month. Representatives of the ruling Justice and Development Party and the opposition parties asked the judge to accept them as parties to the case. The judge refused, but he did grant such status to the Ministry of Family and Social Policy.

Social media users are making heavy use of the hashtag #SuleCetIcinAdalet (Justice for Sule Cet). Aksu and Akand are effectively on trial in two places: Criminal Court 31 and the court of public opinion.

Ozden Oz of the We Will Stop Femicide Platform (Kadin Cinayetlerini Durduracagiz Platformu) told Al-Monitor that 440 women were killed by men in Turkey in 2018, and 409 women were killed in 2017. This case symbolizes the terrible face of femicide in Turkey, Oz said.

The defendants deny killing Cet. On the first and only day of the trial so far, they persuaded the judge to refer to the death as the falling incident. Very quickly somebody tweeted: It is not a falling death. It is femicide.

Aksu told the police that while he was tidying up the office, preparing to leave, and Akand was dozing in a chair, he noticed Cet go into another room. Moments later Aksu entered the room to find Cet halfway out the window, shouting, I dont want to live anymore. He tried to stop her, grabbing her ankle, but failed.

Akand told the police he did not hear Aksu shout for help to pull Cet inside, as he was sleepy and loud music was playing.

Initially the police accepted their version of events. The prosecutor closed the case as a suicide. But Cets family did not believe that Sule was suicidal.

Then the first of four forensic reports arrived. It found Cets vagina and anus had been torn and bruised, and her vagina contained saliva and PSA, a protein released by the penis. Unfortunately, the PSA and saliva were not found in concentrations sufficient to allow for DNA testing.

But DNA testing could be conducted on Cets fingernails, and the third and fourth fingers of her right hand bore Akands DNA.

A friend of Cets came forward with a text message that Sule sent her from the office. It said: I cant get out of here. This man doesnt let me go. He is obsessed with me.

A third piece of evidence made the prosecutors think again. The police obtained security camera footage from the lobby of the 20th floor. The video, which Al-Monitor has seen, shows the accused leaving the office after Cets death.

As soon as he enters the lobby, Akand crouches down on the floor. When Aksu enters, Akand rises and walks unsteadily to the elevator, where he presses the button to summon the elevator. Akand then buries his face in his hands, apparently overcome by emotion. He remonstrates with Aksu, shaking his right hand as if to say Why?

Aksu, whose back is to the camera, appears to be calm. He is smoking a cigarette, but Akand seems to be in severe shock.

The video shows that the accused left the office at 4:08 a.m., 18 minutes after Cets body hit the terrace.

What the two men did during those 18 minutes is a mystery. The indictment states that after Aksu told Akand of Cets suicide, they had an argument and Akand punched Aksu. The indictment accuses them of tampering with evidence, washing the drinking glasses and cleaning the window frame of fingerprints.

Aksu denies this, but Akand says the glasses were washed. The two men have fallen out. They have engaged different lawyers. Both are in jail.

What is clear about those 18 minutes is that neither man dialed 155, the emergency number in Turkey. A human rights lawyer who is following the case, Gunal Kursun, told Al-Monitor: If something bad has happened, I expect a normal human being to call immediately the police or ambulance, or at least call somebody, but they didnt.

The lawyer for Aksu, Levent Ekmen, told Al-Monitor the court had not yet asked the accused why they didnt call 155.

Eventually the guards at reception called the police. The fire brigade brought a ladder that enabled them to reach the first-floor terrace. Cets body was found clothed, but with her socks and shoes removed. Strangely, the tip of one shoe was under her right arm. Umur Yildirim, the Cet family's lawyer, told Al-Monitor this shows that her shoes were thrown out before her body.

Mehmet Akif, a guard, told the police that when Aksu and Akand were leaving the building, he asked them where the young woman was. Both replied to the effect: She has gone. Didnt you see her go?

If the guard is telling the truth, the conversation would have been unreal. Aksu had told Akand that Cet had jumped out the window and, minutes later, they are telling the reception that Cet had left in the normal way.

The trial has been adjourned to May 15. The three judges, one of whom is a woman, face several other issues that may be difficult to reconcile.

For instance, Aksus lawyer, Ekmen, pointed to fact that although the prosecution alleges rape, no sperm was found in Cet. He told the court that since PSA and saliva could survive in the vagina for seven days, it was possible that any traces belonged to an earlier sexual encounter. Cets hymen was broken before the day of her death, he said.

The comment generated outrage. It was seen as Ekmen trying to mobilize public opinion against Cet. Three days later, Ekmen issued a statement to the press, saying he had merely repeated sentences in the forensic reports.

His statement showed he was well aware of how large numbers of Turks would view Cets behavior. Sule Cets virginity, her drinking alcohol  with whom, where and at what time  is neither the subject of the trial nor the business of anybody else, Ekmen said in the press statement.

Ekmen spoke with Al-Monitor at length, saying he despaired of the trial by media that was underway. Our demand is the case must be decided by an objective court, he said.

Yildirim, for the Cet family, was equally generous in giving time to Al-Monitor, but he sees the media as a vital ally in his campaign to overturn a perceived bias toward men in Turkeys judicial system. We are going to win this case by telling people what has happened, he said. If it were not for that, they would have closed this case.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  In a surprising move, employees of the Palestinian Crossing and Borders Authority, affiliated with the Palestinian Authority (PA), left the Kerem Shalom crossing, the Gaza Strip's only official commercial crossing, Feb. 17. Hamas security forces then assumed control of the crossing, which lies at the junction of the Gaza-Israel border right next to Egypt.

Hamas had handed over control of the Gaza Strip crossing Nov. 1, 2017, to the Fatah-led PA in the West Bank under an ultimately unsuccessful reconciliation agreement the groups had signed in October 2017 in Cairo.

The Palestinian official news agency Wafa on Feb. 17 quoted the borders authority as saying Hamas expelled its employees "and prohibited them from accessing the crossing premises. Hamas, however, disputes that it forced out the workers.

Fatah Central Committee member Jamal Moheisen told Al-Monitor that Hamas began harassing the borders authority staff at the crossing Feb. 10. "A security check was enforced against the staff before they entered the crossing. This harassment culminated when Hamas security forces insisted on taking staff fingerprints for unknown purposes Feb. 17

He added, In recent days, Hamas has also forced cargo trucks to park in an open area annexed to the crossing to inspect them, although this is the duty of the [borders authority] staff.

PA employees also had withdrawn Jan. 6 from the Rafah passenger crossing with Egypt because Hamas allegedly harassed those employees. According to a statement issued by the Palestinian government and published Jan. 8 by the Wafa news agency, Hamas summoned and arrested a number of those borders authority employees.

The Kerem Shalom developments came after Hamas security forces, during a Feb. 16 inspection of goods there, reportedly intercepted a shipment of military boots with soles fitted with secret electronic tracking chips. Turkeys official Anadolu news agency quoted an unidentified security source in Gaza as saying, The seized boots are very similar to a design of military boots worn by the resistance members in Gaza. The source accused Israel of trying to send these boots into Gaza for tracking and spying on resistance members.

The Hamas Interior Ministry in Gaza denied it had expelled the borders authority staff. Ministry spokesman Iyad al-Bazm wrote in a Feb. 17 statement on the ministry's website, The measures taken by [Hamas] security services at the Kerem Shalom crossing are necessary procedures, especially after recent events in the Gaza Strip. The PA staff at the crossing had refused to cooperate with these procedures for several days. Today we are surprised by the staff leaving the crossing.

A security source at the ministry told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the inspections on goods entering via the crossing are a result of lessons learned and aim to avoid an Israeli incursion scenario similar to one by Israeli special forces east of Khan Yunis on Nov. 11. The source said Hamas investigations into this infiltration concluded that Israel exploited the Kerem Shalom crossing by smuggling in tracking devices and equipment.

Mohammed Abu Jiyab, editor-in-chief of Al-Eqtesadia newspaper in Gaza, told Al-Monitor that trade movement at the crossing was not hindered by the PA employees' withdrawal and the return of Hamas control. Goods and commodities entering Gaza are purchased through a commercial operation between Gazas merchants and Israel, or are being imported from abroad.

He said, however, that Hamas control of the Kerem Shalom crossing will mean a rise in the price of goods in Gaza markets as a result of double taxation and the customs policy on goods passing through the crossing. This policy had been lifted by the consensus government after it took over the Gaza crossings in November 2017.

Abu Jiyab said there is double taxation because the PA collects taxes and customs on these goods before they enter Gaza from the Israeli side, while Hamas collects the same taxes on the same goods after they enter Gaza.

He said Hamas control of the crossing will significantly improve the movement's financial revenues. Hamas will earn about $15 [million] to $20 million a month by collecting taxes at the crossing.

Talal Okal, a political analyst and writer for the Palestinian Al-Ayyam newspaper, told Al-Monitor that the PA staff's withdrawal from Kerem Shalom falls within the scope of a series of steps already taken by the PA, such as withdrawal from the Rafah crossing.

This aims to entrench separation between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in light of the failure of the reconciliation. he said. Israel, on the other hand, would not consider stopping the entry of goods into Gaza after the withdrawal of PA employees and the return of Hamas control to the crossing. Israel wants to avoid further deterioration of living conditions in Gaza, which it believes will eventually lead to a military confrontation.

Moheisen said Hamas' eviction of borders authority employees from the Kerem Shalom crossing will be met with more sanctions; he refused to provide an answer as to what they might be.

In March 2017, the PA began imposing a series of sanctions on the Gaza Strip against the backdrop of Hamas forming an administrative committee to run governmental affairs in the Gaza Strip. Among other things, the PA forced 26,000 government employees into early retirement, cut the salaries of 62,000 employees by 50% and reduced medical transfers abroad, especially for cancer patients. Although Hamas dissolved this committee in September 2017, the PA has continued the sanctions.

Moheisen said, The PA will not lift its sanctions against Hamas and will not return its employees to the crossings of the Gaza Strip before Hamas hands over full control in the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian government.

Meanwhile, Abu Jiyab expects new sanctions to include cutting more PA employees salaries, especially in the education and health sectors, and reducing budget allocations to the Ministry of Social Affairs in Gaza, which amounts to about 99 million shekels (around $27.3 million) disbursed to about 75,000 poor families in Gaza every three months.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is trying to counter the anti-Palestinian international efforts led by the Donald Trump administration, by encouraging the creation of a consortium of countries friendly to Palestine.

Palestines chairing of the Group of 77 plus China, a consortium of 134 United Nations member states, has given the Palestinian leader a chance to lobby for Palestine.

Abbas used the African Union summit in Addis Ababa to call for an international peace conference and to ask the AU to supervise the upcoming Palestinian legislative elections.

In his Feb. 10 speech and without calling Trump by name, Abbas had some sharp words for the US administration. Those who encourage Israel to act as a state above international law are the American administration, which is no longer competent to take care of the negotiations alone after it proved its bias to the Israelis, the official Palestinian Wafa agency quoted him as saying.

Abbas called on the AU to send observers to the general elections that we are organizing soon in Palestine and with the participation of our people in the city of East Jerusalem, first, and then in the Gaza Strip, and then in the West Bank.

In past elections, Abbas had asked US and European observers to supervise Palestinian elections. It is also unclear what is meant by the order of where the elections will take place  which are expected theoretically in the fall of 2019.

Abbas referral to the upcoming elections as general elections and not parliamentary elections, as well as the idea of geographically consequential elections, caught many Palestinians off guard.

The Palestinian Constitutional Court (PCC), which ordered in December 2018 the dissolving of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), called for legislative elections to take place within six months, as the PLC officially last convened in 2006. The pro-Hamas Reform and Change list, headed by Ismail Haniyeh, won a total of 76 of the 132 seats in that election.

Anees Sweidan, head of the PLOs International Affairs Department, told Al-Monitor that the move away from the United States and toward Africa and other nonaligned countries is natural after the United States crossed the red line in an attempt to liquidate the Palestinian cause with the move of the embassy.

Sweidan said, While we have been calling for an international peace conference for some time, this call comes after Palestinians on all levels took a decision that the United States can no longer be the sole sponsor of peace talks.

Khaleel Assali, a political analyst living in Jerusalem and publisher of Akhbar el-Balad news site, told Al-Monitor that it is vitally important for the Palestinian leader to continue his international lobbying to keep the issue of Palestine alive. This move keeps Palestine in the international forums, which has witnessed a retraction in recent years even though there is a huge level of interest in Palestine around the world.

Nasser Atta, a veteran reporter for American ABC News, told Al-Monitor that the time is not ripe for an international conference. If the conference takes place now without the United States and Israel, it will fail. Things are moving in the region and we are witnessing an important realignment that might be beneficial for Palestinians and for President Abbas. But he needs to wait for these changes to mature.

The expectation is that Palestine might be part of a new Syrian-Iranian-Soviet axis opposed to the United States.

Atta said that a senior Fatah official predicted that Abbas might visit countries that the United States considers anti-US policy in the Middle East.

On his personal Facebook page, the Palestinian ambassador to Greece, Marwan Toubassi, echoed a similar comment: There is a rise of new coalitions and changes are happening in Europe with the aim of containing the US position."

Toubassi added that the steadfastness of the Palestinian position will be translated into political victories, without explaining what kind of victories.

It is unclear whether the Palestinian moves, including Abbas recent intervention in Addis Ababa, will bear fruit in the near future. Palestinian leaders are keenly aware that they need a US role in anything that involves Israel. What Palestinians are hoping for is an active role for Washington in tandem with the rest of the world. Until this moment, such ideas have not seen the light of day. By dangling the international conference and by calling on Africa to supervise the upcoming Palestinian elections, Abbas appears to be making his move on the international arena with or without the Americans.
Israel has come up with a strange tactic: Imposing or supporting economic sanctions against the Palestinians, downplaying or ignoring the effects and then asking other countries to help save it from the repercussions just as they are about to blow up in its face.

With elections coming up April 9, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave in to right-wing demands and on Feb. 17 presented his security cabinet with a plan to implement the so-called deduction law starting this month. Under the pay to slay law, adopted by the Knesset in July 2018, Israel will withhold duties it collects for the Palestinian Authority to offset the stipends the PA pays to Palestinian assailants who attack Jews and are imprisoned in Israel or to their families. The decision means an Israeli freeze of some 500 million shekels ($138 million) in customs and other taxes it collects for the PA under the terms of the 1994 Paris Protocol.

Much has been said in Al-Monitor and elsewhere about the law, Israels version of the Taylor Force Act adopted by the US Congress in March 2018. Proponents explain the justified ire at the PA for its support of terrorists, while critics argue the deductions are unlawful and slam Israel for equating the tax revenues due to the PA and the stipends to terrorists families. Israel, never known for calculating the long-term effects of its actions, is in a bind as it tries to prevent the PAs collapse and a potential armed conflict with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, all on the eve of Israeli elections.

The Palestinians are gearing up for what they term a Black March. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has announced he will reject any payment of the tax revenues if Israel deducts even a shekel. In other words, he has opted to exacerbate the PAs economic plight and let Israel deal with the consequences.

If Israel does withhold from the tax transfer, the PA will probably be unable to pay its employees, increasing pressure on Gaza even further, and it will have to halt the stipends. PA employees, who constitute over 40% of salaried workers in the West Bank and are the driving force of its economy, could find themselves unable to pay their bills. The resulting economic downturn could lead to violence with Israelis in the West Bank, an escalation of the Palestinian protests along the Gaza border, an escalation in rocket fire from the Strip and unrest within Israels prisons.

In a similar vein, right-wing government ministers cheered the US administrations decision last September to defund UNRWA, the aid agency that supports Palestinian refugees, and criticized the Foreign Ministrys January 2018 warning against the consequences of aid cuts to the Palestinians.

I expect all Israeli branches of government  to support a decision to cut funding to an organization which employs Hamas terrorists and uses its schools to hide rockets, said Education Minister Naftali Bennett, as though unaware that without the UN aid, Gazas residents would starve to death. Following Washingtons announcement of the defunding, former US Ambassador Dan Shapiro said that senior Israeli defense officials had told him the move was a threat to regional stability and that Israel would pay the price.

Behind the scenes, Israel has been conducting damage control. While outwardly supporting the US move, Foreign Ministry officials engaged in quiet diplomacy, asking Germany to boost its funding to UNRWA. Germany, a member of the Palestinian donor group of which Israel is a regular member, agreed and increased its aid to $100 million.

The bottom line is that while Israel did not initiate the UNRWA crisis, the Netanyahu government celebrated President Donald Trumps move without fully understanding its significance. The Foreign Ministry, rebuked by Bennett, moved in to try to avert the organizations collapse and a humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

Now, with the same recklessness, the security cabinet had greenlit implementation of the deduction law, dealing an economic blow to the Palestinians despite warnings from the Ministry of Defense. Israeli diplomats are once again mobilizing to douse the flames.

The PA is preparing to send senior officials to Arab and European capitals to raise alternative funding for the revenues Israel intends to withhold. They will visit Germany, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, among other places. Qatar may be reluctant to sign up for the Palestinian effort after the drubbing it took for trying to help Gaza with cash payments. However, with Israels blessing and a push from the United States, the Saudis are expected to help at least until the PA recovers from the blow. Lo and behold, the enhanced Saudi-Israeli relationship is benefitting the Palestinians.

How much money the PA, with Israels behind-the-scenes help, will raise is unknown. It will likely manage to raise 500 million shekels ($138 million) to save the PA in the short term. However, the consequences of Israels injudicious move are tensions with the PA, which is threatening to cut off security cooperation with the Israelis, as well as a potential escalation on the Gaza border and unrest in Israels prisons.

Destruction with one hand while holding out the other for help fixing the mess: a unique Israeli tactic.
On the third day of military drills, the Islamic Republic of Iran's navy successfully launched a cruise missile from a submarine in the Persian Gulf.

The drill was part of a weeklong military drill named Velayat 97, after the current Iranian calendar year 1397 (ending March 20, 2019). The exercise took place in the Strait of Hormuz, an important strait between the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman in which a large percentage of the worlds oil passes through  a point Iranian officials periodically remind the world when responding to attempts to embargo Iranian oil.

Iran's state TV, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, broadcast video of the green Ghadir-class submarine  designed specifically for shallow waters  launching a missile from underneath the water. The destination of the missile was not shown. According to media reports, other Iranian submarines such as the Taregh and the Fateh also have the capacity to launch cruise missiles.

The successful launch of a cruise missile is not the only missile-related news to make headlines in Iranian media. On Feb. 24, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, confirmed that an enemy country has been attempting to sabotage Irans missile program. Its been some years that weve known about this issue but we did not say anything, Hajizadeh said. They tried to sabotage in fragments and blow up the missiles in mid-air. But [so far] they have not been able to do a damn thing because  we predicted this and built a resistance to it.

Hajizadeh specifically addressed claims of US sabotage previously on Feb. 20, saying, If you are telling the truth, then why are you trying to negotiate on missiles? This means you are lying. He also said, We use their industrial sabotage to our benefit.

The issue of American sabotage arose after Jan. 15, when Iran attempted to launch a satellite into space and failed. According to Minister of Communication and Information Technology Mohammad Jahromi, the satellite launch was successful in the first two phases but did not reach enough speed in the third phase and did not go into orbit.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed that the satellite launches violate a United Nations Security Council resolution regarding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which the United States itself has violated by unilaterally exiting it. Technology for satellite launches is not similar to those used in intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are used primarily for nuclear weapons delivery  a point that is ignored or unknown to the secretary of state. Nonetheless, Pompeo condemned the launch and said the United States is working with our allies and partners to counter the entire range of the Islamic Republics threats, including its missile program.

In February, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif confirmed in an interview with NBC News that there was a second satellite launch that was also unsuccessful. When asked by NBC News correspondent Richard Engel if there was American sabotage involved in the missile program as The New York Times had earlier reported, Zarif reportedly responded, Its a possibility.
Egypt's sparsely populated Sinai region is expected to breathe new life after decades of neglect as four new tunnels being constructed under the Suez Canal to connect the Sinai Peninsula to the Egyptian mainland are near completion and set to open soon.

The four new vehicle tunnels  two of them are north of Ismailia and the others are south of Port Said  are set to open in March or April, Ahmed El Abd, board chairman of Egypt's Concord for Engineering and Contracting, which is in charge of constructing the north Ismailia tunnels, told local media on Nov. 24, 2018.

Building the four tunnels is part of the Suez Canal Area Development Project, which was launched in August 2014 by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The project aims at transforming the Suez Canal from being a mere waterway to an integrated development zone that includes commercial, industrial, logistic and residential areas, which contribute to supporting the Egyptian economy.

Before digging of the tunnels started less than three years ago, the Armed Forces Engineering Authority (AFEA), which is supervising their construction, had signed a contract with German firm Herrenknecht to manufacture and supply four giant tunnel boring machines. In November 2015, parts of the machines arrived in Egypt and the assembling process was completed in March 2016.

Then, the AFEA contracted with four Egyptian companies to implement the four tunnels project. The tunnels of north Ismailia were assigned to Petrojet and Concord. Meanwhile, Arab Contractors and Orascom were assigned to implement the tunnels of south Port Said. The companies started the actual excavation work of the tunnels in June 2016.

The two vehicle tunnels  each tunnel serves a one-way route  north of Ismailia have a total length of 5,820 meters (3.6 miles) each., while the two other vehicle tunnels south of Port Said have a total length of 3,920 meters (2.4 miles) each.

Economic experts expect that the four new tunnels, which will facilitate the movement of people and merchandise to Sinai, will boost economic development in Sinai.

Ahmed el-Shami, an expert of maritime economics, told Al-Monitor, The construction of the Suez Canal 149 years ago created a divide between the land of Egypt in Sinai and the land of Egypt to the west of the canal and in the Delta. So building these tunnels  which connects Sinai to the Egyptian mainland  contributes to building new life in the region.

He added, The tunnels are set to take travel times from hours or even days to just a few minutes, as vehicles will no longer need to cross the water on ferries or across Al-Salam Bridge, about 2.5 miles north of Ismailia."

Shami stressed that the tunnels are considered a more secure transportation alternative for Al-Salam Bridge  the main gateway crossing over the Suez Canal to Port Said's east terminal. The bridge is often closed by the state authorities to protect it from any expected militant attacks.

Al-Salam Bridge, which was inaugurated in 2001 by then-President Hosni Mubarak, connects north Sinai with the rest of the country. In June 2013, the state had to close Al-Salam Bridge due to security concerns following an upsurge in militant attacks after the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated President Mohammed Morsi in June 2013. But the bridge was reopened in January 2016.

The closure of Al-Salam Bridge has badly influenced the movement of goods traveling to Sinai from the Nile Delta across the Suez Canal. Vehicles heading to Sinai had to cross the Suez Canal water using ferries instead of Al-Salam Bridge, and so they had to wait for hours, and even days, on the west bank of the Suez Canal to be ferried across the canal, as the low number of ferries could not absorb the congestion of vehicles, Shami noted.

Consequently, agricultural crops traveling to Sinai used to rot before they could reach their destination in Sinai, he added.

Shami said the new tunnels are expected to facilitate Egypt's domestic trade movement, and at the same time increase the volume of its trade with Gulf countries through easing the movement of products manufactured in the Suez Canal region into Sinai, and then onward to Jordan and Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia.

Sinai, which suffered neglect by the successive Egyptian governments since its liberation from the Israeli occupation in 1973, has been a fertile ground for extremism. The surge of militant attacks in Sinai after Morsis ouster has pushed the state to launch massive military operations in the peninsula to cut off militants operating there. But at the same time, the state, under the leadership of Sisi, has prioritized development plans there to counter terrorism.

In August 2018, Egypt unveiled a $15 billion development project for Sinai. The project, which is expected to be completed by 2022, includes plans for a comprehensive network of roads, residential and industrial developments, hospitals and sewage networks.

Development of Sinai is considered the best counterterrorism strategy, Rashad Abdo, an economic expert and head of the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies, told Al-Monitor. But this development cannot be fulfilled without a strong infrastructure  created by the building of new roads, tunnels and bridges  which attracts investment opportunities to the area."

He added, Hence, the Suez Canal tunnels, which are considered fast means of transportation from the west of the Suez Canal to Sinai, can encourage local and foreign investors to execute development projects there and thus entice millions of Egyptians to move from the densely populated Nile Delta and Valley to the Sinai Peninsula."
CAIRO  Eighteen months behind in rent and unable to pay utility bills, Amr is waiting for the day he is evicted from his apartment  again.

Until four years ago, Amr, 71, was able to make a meager living from his pension of 310 Egyptian pounds ($17.50) and selling clothing materials from his shop in the Razzaz area of the Manshiyet Nasr suburb in southeast Cairo, where he had lived for 40 years.

But the government relocated him to Al-Asmarat compound in the Mokattam neighborhood of Cairo, over 10 kilometers (6 miles) from his home, because the apartment block he lived in was deemed unsafe and demolished in 2015. Initially, neighbors housed him in Manshiyet Nasr before public housing was provided in 2016.

Most days, he commutes back to Manshiyet Nasr from the compound to work in his shop, but the round trip costs him 20 Egyptian pounds ($1.15), a significant amount for the pension he receives and made even more difficult because he relies on crutches to walk.

While he said his apartment in Al-Asmarat is clean and new, it is far from what was his daily life; there are no markets or jobs and his family and friends do not live in the area. Its soulless and lonely, he told Al-Monitor.

Al-Asmarat was established in 2016, specifically for people who are evicted from informal areas of Cairo.

Amr has applied for multiple loans to pay the rent and bills that amount to 300 pounds ($17) a month, but he has been rejected every time. If they reject my loan applications, whose do they actually accept? Amr pleaded.

Some living situations in informal areas in Cairo, where up to 60% of the citys population lives, are genuinely untenable and parts of Manshiyet Nasr are no exception. In 2008, a rockslide in the neighboring area of Duweiqa killed at least 119 people. Many of the apartments in the area are cramped and poorly built and there is little formal public transportation and infrastructure; in some cases there is no running water or connection to the electricity grid.

Following another rockslide on Jan. 29 in the Razzaz area, 82 families were relocated to Al-Asmarat. No casualties were reported.

While various Egyptian media outlets have claimed that some of the houses were destroyed, a recent visit by Al-Monitor showed this was not the case. Residents told Al-Monitor that although there was a rockslide, it did not destroy any houses. They claim, instead, that the government has wanted to demolish many houses in the area for a long time, because, among other reasons, they see the area as unsafe to live in, and use this as a pretext.

One resident told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that her apartment block was demolished by the government. But because her husband was at work while residents were relocated, by the time he went to register his name at the local government agency to move to Al-Asmarat, others had been put on the list already and her family missed out. She believes they have little legal recourse to find other housing. For now, she is staying with family in the area.

In December, Khaled Seddiq, director of governmental agency Informal Settlements Development Fund (ISDF), said that Egypt would be slum free by the end of 2019. However, in an interview in early February with Al-Ahram weekly, Seddiq said that Egypt would be slum free by 2030. The reason for the disparity between the two dates could not be verified for this story.

Al-Ahram reported Seddiq as saying that 14 billion pounds ($798 million) has been spent already to develop slum areas and to make improvements to existing houses in informal areas.

The ISDF has listed approximately 1,100 "slum" areas in Egypt and around 350 in Greater Cairo.

Al-Monitor contacted Seddiq for this story and while initially agreeing to an interview, he later said that he was unavailable.

Researchers of informal housing in Cairo told Al-Monitor that there has been a much greater emphasis on demolishing houses and often evicting people against their will in recent years.

Ahmed Zazaa, a researcher and urban planner, argues that although the reasons vary for both demolitions and evictions, the outcome remains the same. The whole idea is pretty clear: For the state, there is this tendency to remove lots of informal areas and relocate residents to these gated cities like Al-Asmarat, he told Al-Monitor. They dont care what will happen. No, there is no logic  orders are just executed.

By August 2018, the historic Boulaq neighborhood in the Maspero area was all but completely flattened. Residents were forced to leave their homes and most were relocated to Al-Asmarat compound and received an amount that was far below the value of their land, according to residents and researchers.

Due to the high land value of the Boulaq area, which sits next to downtown Cairo and the Nile, it has for over a decade been an area of interest to investors.

Just to the north of central Cairo lies Al-Warraq Island, home to approximately 100,000 people, which has also been attractive to investors. In 2017, one local protester was killed when security forces unsuccessfully tried to demolish houses so investors could redevelop the island.

At the time, photos circulated on Egyptian social media platforms showing how the island could be potentially developed into a Dubai-like district on the Nile.

Egypts President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in May 2018 announced a campaign to recover all state-owned lands  approximately 800,000 hectares according to government estimates  that had been encroached upon illegally.

Al-Warraq Island is considered part of that land, but residents of the island claim that many of their families have been living in the area for over 100 years and that they have contracts to prove it.

They want the whole island to create a Manhattan in Cairo, one resident of Al-Warraq told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. We have contracts but they will not accept them. We are waiting to see what will happen.  There are lots of solutions such as paying us a fair amount for the land, but it could become violent.

While residents of Al-Warraq continue to resist being evicted and may well succeed, for many it is too late and they must find a way to get by in places like Al-Asmarat, in spite of the difficulties.

Its surrounded by walls with very few gates that have watchtowers with security on it  and there are closed-circuit TV cameras inside Al-Asmarat, Zazzaa told Al-Monitor. Its like a '1984' narrative.

David Sims, an independent urban planner and author, described the phenomenon as social engineering in an interview with Al-Monitor. The fact that they are moving there, they have lost their social capital, he said. [The government] doesn't think about that  they build and [residents] are uprooted.
DCI detectives have arrested four suspected members of a gang that has been terrorising residents of the upmarket Kilimani estate in Nairobi.

The four; Peter Kaari alias Pinches aka Walker, Veronica Kamau alias Veroh, Lawrence Alusala alias Nico, and Alex Nderi alias Ade, were arrested on Sunday after the DCI reviewed CCTV footage of the gang in action at a building in Kilimani.

In the footage dated Wednesday, 13, February 2019, two suspects are seen walking out of the building some minutes past 7 pm. One of them can be seen carrying a gun as security guards look on helplessly.

Moments later, a get-away Prado is driven out of the compound before the two suspects board and drive off.

The CCTV footage of the notorious gang in action at a building in #Kilimani. pic.twitter.com/hdNZBIyylh  DCI KENYA (@DCI_Kenya) February 25, 2019



After reviewing the footage, detectives identified the Prado with fake number plates and traced it to a broker who had hired it out to some suspects.

A trap was laid and the four suspects were arrested.

Upon interrogation, one of the suspects led the detectives to Kwihota in Ruiru Town whereby a firearm which was reported robbed from a Chinese national loaded with 14 rounds of ammunition was recovered. 2 vehicles detained; firearm submitted to Ballistics for forensic examination, the DCI said.

The detectives also recovered an assortment of keys and door-breaking tools.

The suspects were arraigned in court on Monday with police being allowed more time to detain them as further investigations continue.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suddenly resigned Monday in a post on Instagram where he expressed gratitude to the dear and honorable Iranian people for the last 67 months while apologizing for all the shortcomings during my service. Zarif was the face of Iranian diplomacy throughout the nuclear talks and their aftermath and has faced relentless criticism from hard-liners over his outreach to the West.

Why it matters: The timing of Zarifs resignation, which has so far not been accepted by President Hassan Rouhani, coincides with a visit from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at which the foreign minister was noticeably absent. That has fueled speculation that Zarif quit after losing influence.

Well-informed sources told Al-Monitor that Zarif expressed indignation that his ministry had not been informed of Assads visit and at having been left out of Rouhanis meeting with the Syrian leader. The apparent rupture appears driven by disagreements with the Iranian president. Entekhab news site quoted Zarif as saying he had no credibility in the world after he was left out of a meeting with Assad that was heavily publicized, and thereby missing from official photographs.

"The main reason behind Zarifs resignation is clear: He was upset that he wasnt at the meeting with Assad alongside Rouhani," a source familiar with the matter told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. Assad also met with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani.

The larger context of Zarifs resignation may signal several potential scenarios, including dissatisfaction with Irans regional policies. Some sources even speculate it could be a protest against an impending Iranian decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal.

Nuclear deal: Zarif led the nuclear negotiations with six world powers for more than two years, resulting in the July 2015 nuclear deal. Following the US withdrawal under President Donald Trump, Zarif and the European signatories  namely the European Union as well as Britain, France and Germany  have sought to save the deal by launching a mechanism to uphold trade benefits promised to Iran.

In this vein, the Europeans recently launched their so-called Special Purpose Vehicle after many months of delay. But the fledgling mechanism will require close cooperation between Iran and Europe to become operational. Zarif has been the man entrusted with salvaging the nuclear deal by both Khamenei and Rouhani, making his departure at this juncture a devastating blow to cooperation between Iran and Europe  all while Rouhanis policy of constructive engagement may come under more pressure from hard-liners.

Whats next: It is still unclear whether Rouhani will accept Zarifs resignation. Unconfirmed rumors circulated on social media shortly after the Instagram post went up suggested he had tried to resign on multiple occasions  and that Rouhani had finally accepted this time.

However, the presidential chief of staff, Mahmoud Vaezi, has in a tweet strongly denied any rumors that Rouhani has accepted Zarifs resignation. Nonetheless, it is not clear if Zarif is prepared to stay on. There is also the prospect that the current situation in Iran may lead high-ranking officials to urge him to take back his resignation letter.

Vaezi, who served as minister of information and communications technology during Rouhanis first term, is among the possible candidates to replace Zarif and has long been described as having a strong desire to take the job.

Know more: Read our coverage of Zarifs defiance of US sanctions and of Iranian hard-liners' attempts to impeach him, and our exclusive interview with Zarif on the margins of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York in September.
https://www.aish.com/jw/s/British-MPs-Confronting-Jew-Hatred.html

After years of rising anti-Semitism, British MPs are leaving the Labour political party.

From the moment Luciana Berger, a Jewish Member of Parliament (MP), was elected to represent a Liverpool district in in Britains parliament in 2013, shes been subject to grotesque anti-Semitic bullying.

Online trolls have called for her death. Theyve published pictures of her superimposed with Nazi-era Jewish stars. Anti-Semites sent her threats and pornography, accused her of being loyal to Israel not to Britain, and threatened to murder her. A year after becoming an MP, Mrs. Berger testified in court that a Welsh activist terrorized her by spreading an online Filthy Jew B*** campaign which encouraged anti-Semites to turn up to Mrs. Burgers constituency offices and hurl vile abuse at her and her staff.

Its fair to say I was the most concerned I have ever been about my personal safety, Mrs. Berger explained in court. Police officers were stationed in both her home and her offices. What happens online does not always stay online, Mrs. Berger explained. She was worried that anti-Semites were out to do real harm.

The abuse never stopped. American neo-Nazis harassed, called her obscene names, and slanderously claimed she was bribed by Israel. In 2017 a British online harasser was jailed for three months for sending Mrs. Berger pictures of knives, threatening to kill her and calling her Jewish scum. This caused me to feel physically sick, Mrs. Berger explained in court. Now nine months pregnant, she continues to find herself the recipient of anti-Semitic abuse.

Luciana Berger received scant support from her party. In 2015, Jeremy Corbyn became leader of Britains Labour Party, and since then his disdain for Jews has been clear. 38% of British citizens describe Corbyn as an anti-Semite, as do over 85% of British Jews. In 2018, it emerged that Corbyn routinely refers to another member of his own party, Dame Louise Ellman, an MP from a Liverpool district, The Right Honorable Member for Tel Aviv whenever he sees her interviewed on television.

Jewish people have been made to feel very uncomfortable, Dame Ellman explained, and the leadership have taken very little action to deal with this.

Rising anti-Semitism within the Labour party has been echoed across the country. In 2018 there were 1,652 anti-Semitic recorded incidents in Britain: a 16% increase from 2017. This included online trolling, the rising use of neo-Nazi imagery, physical attacks and desecration of Jewish property. One 2018 poll found that nearly 40% of Britains Jews would seriously consider leaving the country if Jeremy Corbyn becomes Prime Minister.

On February 19, 2019, a group of MPs, including Luciana Berger, finally had enough. Standing with a group of six other Labour MPs, Mrs. Berger explained that she was leaving the Labour Party shes worked for all her adult life. I cannot remain in a party that I have come to the sickening conclusion is institutionally anti-Semitic, she explained to a shocked nation. The (partys) leadership has willfully and repeatedly failed to address hatred against Jewish people within its ranks I am leaving behind a culture of bullying, bigotry and intimidation.

Mrs. Bergers colleagues, who are not Jewish, agreed -- and more kept coming. The following day, MP Joan Ryan announced that she, too, was quitting the Labour Party, citing anti-Semitism as the reason. Mrs. Ryan said that her party was infected with the scourge of anti-Jewish racism I cannot remain a member of the Labour party while this requires me to suggest that I believe Jeremy Corbyn  a man who has presided over the culture of anti-Jewish racism and hatred of Israel that now afflicts my former party  is fit to be prime minister. He is not.

She made her decision while watching Luciana Berger give her speech announcing the new Independent Group. A young woman, a Labour MP, has to leave the party because shes Jewish, because of anti-Semitism, Mrs. Ryan realized. In that instant she knew she had to leave the party too.

The Gang of Eight, as the MPs were quickly dubbed, formed an Independent Group, sitting together in Parliament and beginning to work out the platform of what might soon be a new political party. A few days later, they were joined by three right-of-center MPs from the Conservative Party who joined the dynamic new group. (A ninth Labour MP, Ian Austin, also walked out of the Labour Party, decrying its culture of extremism, anti-Semitism and intolerance, though he declined to join the Independent Group.)

The Independent Group taking a moral stand

As his party implodes around him, Corbyn and the rest of the Labour leadership seem determined to prove the defecting MPs right. Labour MP Ruth George erroneously accused the new Independent Group of being funded by Israel (she later apologized). Corbyn insists there is no problem of anti-Semitism in his party and has said he has no intention to change. Meanwhile, more MPs are rumored to be considering joining the Independent Group  and Britain is finally confronting the anti-Semitism in its midst.

The whole country is finally discussing the problem of anti-Semitism in Britain today. One Labour MP, Tom Watson, was fielding calls about the Independent Group on a radio program when he let his guard down and described the problems in the Labour Party  and in society in general. I have been a member of the Labour Party since I was 15 years old, he explained. But...there are aspects of it that I dont recognize any more. The harshness, the brutality, the bullying.

That culture of hate has finally led to the greatest shake-up of British party politics in a generation. The eleven MPs of the new Independent Group are finally standing up against anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish bullying. At long last, they are forcing all of Britain to finally confront the Jew hatred in their midst.
14 of 29 types of tested Georgian cement are low quality

By Gvantsa Gabekhadze

14 out of 29 types of cement made in Georgia, which were checked for quality by the Georgian Cement Association in January 2019, use cheap and faulty materials, while the remaining 15 meet the European EN197-1 standard.The Georgian Cement Association claims that 52% of the checked cement are of high quality, which is the improvement compared to previous years.We checked 36 samples of cement in November 2018 and only 13 of them met European standards, the association says.The association states that their activities make companies care about the improvement of the cement quality.Those companies which will meet the standards have chances to become the association members, GCA says.In August 2017, only four from 27 different tested cements met the standard.That year approximately 300,000 tonnes of such products were sold to consumers, this is 13 percent of the total cement market.From 2017, the cement quality control on the Georgian market is coordinated by the GCA. The aim of the GCA is to support Georgian producers in producing a product that responds to the standard set on packaging.The Georgian Cement Association is tasked to have close communication with governmental agencies and nongovernmental sector.Starting from 15 January 2019, new regulations have come into play which set high fines and other sanctions for making low-quality construction materials.
The North Augusta Department of Public Safety is asking the community for help locating two men believed to be connected with a shooting incident that occurred on Pershing Drive in North Augusta last week.

The agency has issued warrants for the arrests of Caleb Johnson, 19, and Deangilo Drayton, 21, both of North Augusta.

Johnson is wanted on charges of unlawful carrying of a handgun and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Drayton is wanted for unlawful carrying of a handgun, discharging a firearm into a vehicle and possession of a stolen handgun, according to police.

Both of these men were originally treated as victims following the Feb. 19 incident, but evidence collected during the investigation led law enforcement to focus its efforts toward the reasonable suspicion that these men may be withholding crucial information that could help identify those in the other vehicles.

North Augusta police investigating two-vehicle shootout on Pershing Drive North Augusta Public Safety is actively looking for suspects in a Tuesday night shooting tha

Detectives have experienced repeated failed attempts to reconnect with Johnson and Drayton since the shooting. Police hope to get in touch with the two men in order to learn more about the incident, which they say has made the investigation "difficult."

Officers responded to the 600 block of Pershing Drive around 9:25 p.m. on Feb. 19 in reference to a shooting between two cars with victims involved, according to the report.

Upon arrival, investigators reported seeing a Hyundai wrecked into the front a Pershing Drive residence. Johnson was found sitting on a couch inside a nearby house suffering from a gunshot wound to his left leg, police reported.

Drayton then approached, saying he had been shot three time in his left arm.

Both men were then taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

The driver of the Hyundai, a 33-year-old North Augusta man, was not injured in the shooting.

He claimed he was dropping off one of the passengers when an SUV pulled up behind him and multiple shots were fired at his car, according to the report.

The shooting caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle and crash into the front of the residence. The SUV then pulled up beside the wrecked Hyundai, and several more shots were fired at the three victims before it sped off from the scene.

Police said they believe more than 100 rounds were fired between the two vehicles, according to the report.

A witness at the scene told investigators one of the victims in the Hyundai had hidden items near their house before police arrived. Another witness then approached officers and handed over a handful of bullets he claimed were given to him by Johnson who told him to throw them away before law enforcement arrived.

Officers continued searching the area and recovered two handguns, loose cash and a black book bag with narcotics inside. Police ran the serial numbers for the two handguns and one came back as stolen from the City of Aiken.

Any information about the whereabouts of Johnson or Drayton should be provided to the North Augusta Department of Public Safety. Both individuals are known to carry firearms and should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information about the Pershing shooting incident is encouraged to call the lead detective, Sgt. Jon Nelson with the North Augusta Department of Public Safety at 803-441-4276.
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Pharma advertises heavily on the weekends, especially on sporting events about RA and professional golfer, Phil Mickelson. He is also suffering from RA. According to the NIH website on RA , scientists estimate 1.5 million Americans over the age of 18 suffer from RA. And the largest group of new cases of RA are older Americans. Could it be from decades of being exposed to environmental hazards and now the CDCs Influenza vaccine program for seniors, not only is RA becoming a growing concern, but maybe the large increase and earlier onset of Alzheimer's can be contributed to over vaccination in our seniors?

Even the Arthritis Foundation states that the cause of RA is not known. The treatment of RA is complicated. To treat effectively, the protocol calls for the tampering down of the immune system. Thus leaving the body most acceptable to infections. And that is where pneumonia can strike.

Millions of Americans and people around the world suffer from complications due to autoimmune disease. But why? Most experts tell us there has been a dramatic rise in the number of autoimmune disease and disorders over the last 20 to 30 years. Sounds familiar doesnt it?

Rheumatoid Arthritis is an autoimmune disease which means your immune system is attacking itself. In Rheumatoid Arthritis the immune system attacks the synovium of the joints, which is why you get swelling and pain. It can cause deformities if you delay treatment. Usually the treatment is used to slow the disease down and prevent these deformities. RA can also attack blood vessels surrounding the heart and lungs. Thus heart disease can be directly linked to RA.

I read that he was suffering in the last couple of months from rheumatoid arthritis (RA), acute ulcerative colitis, and pneumonia. Once again, my mind starts to churn about what can cause RA and ulcerative colitis and is it serious enough of a disease to lead to death.

When I heard that Glenn Frey of the Eagles passed away on Monday, I was immediately saddened with the thought that we have lost another rock legend. Glenn Frey and the Eagles are one of my favorites. He was much too young, at 67, to leave this world. His contributions to music and film for millions of people to enjoy and appreciate are countless.

Do not know the exact medical conditions of what happened to Mr. Frey, but to me, I question the medical acceptance that RA just develops. That it is genetic but not hereditary. What triggers the body to start fighting itself. To create an autoimmune disorder?

Acute Ulcerative Colitis is thought to be an autoimmune disease as well. And the cause is still unknown. AUC is very similar to Crohns Disease.

Marc Leavey, MD, an internist at Baltimores Mercy Medical Center who did not treat Frey, said in an interview yesterday that about 10 percent of people who suffer from ulcerative colitis also have inflammatory arthritis (like rheumatoid arthritis) as well.

While many people recover from pneumonia, Leavey calls the infection opportunistic and says it will often occur in people who are suffering from another disease.

The bodily inflammation caused by rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis is also a lot for a person to handle. Together, they can produce more illness than each individually, Leavey says. With that as a background, a superimposed bacterial pneumonia, itself a serious illness, may be enough to tip the balance toward the tragic.

Eric Matteson, MD, a rheumatologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, tells Yahoo Health that Freys death highlights the severity of rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis.

The life expectancy of people who have rheumatoid arthritis that is very severe can be diminished, especially if there are complications of the disease outside the joints, he says. People with rheumatoid arthritis have a twofold risk of infection.

Immune-suppressant medication is typically used for ulcerative colitis, which also increases a persons risk of infection. People who battle rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis, and for as long as Glenn Frey did, are incredibly courageous, Matteson says.

Now to connected the dots.

It was Andy Wakefield that researched the very issue that MMR causing Irritable Bowel Disease (IBS) and/or Crohns Disease. The medical establishment refuted this and launch Brian Deer and the Media Smear Merchants to discredit him.

In my book, The Vaccine Court, I interviewed several attorneys that represent petitioners who are suffering from autoimmune diseases such as RA, IBS, and GBS. One of the leading attorneys told me directly, that he has never seen, in the 20 years of practice, the tremendous number of autoimmune disorders as the result of vaccination. And the injuries are very bizarre.

Looking back into the many petitions that have been filed in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) for injuries from vaccines that caused RA, IBS and other autoimmune disorders, I find a common thread. Most of the injuries in todays Vaccine Court are autoimmune. And the most common is GBS, mainly from the influenza vaccine. But RA and IBS are not too far in the distance.

Over a decade ago, the NVICP conducted an Omnibus hearing on RA. Most of the petitioners who were included in this proceeding, claimed that they developed RA from the Hepatitis B vaccine. And most of them went on to be compensated for their injuries. The decisions were not concessions, but rather joint stipulations to conclude proceedings and settle for a negotiated dollar amount. Our government as represented in the NVICP by DOJ attorneys, state the following with all stipulations or settlements respondent denies that petitioners vaccine caused the petitioner to suffer RA and/or any other injury. Nonetheless, the parties agree to resolve this matter informally.

Since that RA Omnibus proceeding, the influenza vaccine has been added to the program (July 1, 2005). Now, the influenza vaccine is the most common vaccine reported to cause RA and other autoimmune diseases due to the tremendous number of doses administered each year.

Reviewing the nearly 150 petitions that I have been able to track in the NVICP regarding RA as an injury, most of these petitions are the result of the influenza, Hep B, and HPV vaccines.

The ostrich crowd will likely respond to this article by stating that there is no concrete proof that vaccines cause RA or ulcerative colitis. That there is no scientific peer reviewed literature that clearly shows causation.

How about instead of spending your time trying to discredit a much needed debate on vaccines and autoimmune diseases such as RA, spend the time and resources on medical outcome studies. Most medical professionals still deny vaccines can cause RA, can cause autoimmune encephalitis (remember Brain on Fire?), can cause ulcerative colitis and irritable bowel disease, can cause conversion disorders, can cause Type 1 diabetes, can cause heart disease and obesity, and the biggest denial and cover-up of them all, can cause encephalopathy that eventually leads to autism.

I am not saying that the very sad and surprising passing of Glenn Frey is a direct result of an injury from a vaccine. But it does give me pause, some time to think about someone that graced our lives with his music. And to think about all the damage to the millions of people who suffer from autoimmune disease each and every day.

For all of us, lets get back to work, get engaged in debate of the potential damages of over vaccinating. Keep pushing for independent studies of vaccinations, disclosure and transparency of corruption of our government.

For Glenn Frey, Take it Easy.

Wayne Rohde, author of The Vaccine Court  The Dark Truth of Americas Vaccine Injury Compensation Program
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, Indias leading private general insurance company launched its new brand campaign redefining the essence of Caringly Yours. This holistic 360 degree marketing campaign aims to infuse emotions into the general insurance industry which is otherwise perceived as passive, reactive and a transactional category.

Through this campaign, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance aims to transcend the entire category of general insurance from pure evaluation to an emotionally engaging brand. The campaign is designed on the back of innovative solutions that the company offers in each category and all the solutions intended towards eliminating the worries of customers. It aims to connect with people across different age groups through television as a prime medium along with print, outdoor, radio and aggressive digital intervention to spread the word about companys new brand identity.

Highlighting the USP of the campaign, Chandramohan Mehra, Chief Marketing Officer, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance said, As a leader in the General Insurance category, we would like to redefine the essence of the category to emotionally engaging from current state of constantly evaluating or transactional. Our new brand promise emanates from our belief that we can solve customer worries through our unique offerings embedded in each of our product categories. Humanising the brand further, the campaign embodies our values of care, agility and innovation.

As a precursor of the campaign, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance ran a huge campaign Tell us your worries in September 2018 hosted on a microsite, where customers were requested to share their worries. Accordingly, the company looked at providing innovative solutions and further simplifying services. The new tag line Caringly Yours was released through a unique rode safety - wear helmet CSR initiative, where a single outdoor hoarding expressed the tag line in the formation of around 1500 actual helmets. Mr. Sanjiv Bajaj, Chairman, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance; Mr. Tapan Singhel, MD & CEO, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance in presence of Dr. K. Venkatesham, Commissioner of Police  Pune City and Ms. Radhika Apte, Renowned Actress unveiled this hoarding encouraging the city people to ride safely.

Caringly Yours:

The underlying philosophy of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance with this new identity is the belief people should not compromise on their happiness due to lack of adequate solutions. As most of the worries stem from a financial standpoint, the company aims to be there with the customers where they are as Caringly Yours. Utmost commitment to its customers and addressing their needs has been the keystone of the companys brand communication. Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has always been ahead of the curve in translating needs of consumers into affordable products and exceptional services that deliver value for money. Caringly Yours - the new tagline redefines and distinguishes companys brand identity that positively influences awareness, image as well as its vision of being the first choice insurer for customers.
PLACER COUNTY, Calif. - Snow, ice and a gas leak have caused major disruptions for Placer County students already displaced due to school remodeling.

Deputies evacuated Tahoe Lake Elementary Students Monday from the Rideout Community Center, their temporary home due to construction.

Officials say the weight of the snow and ice caused the gas leak. Crews are now working to repair that line.
Corning, Calif. - The best of Tehama County's Firefighters and Crimefighters were honored at a dinner in Corning Saturday, February 23rd, 2019.

The Corning Exchange Club hosted about 150 people for their annual Law Enforcement and Fire Personnel Recognition Awards.

Officers and firefighters from 13 different agencies were recognized for outstanding service.

Among them, Cal Fire Firefighter Ryan Smith, who led a team of firefighters that narrowly escaped with their lives after being trapped by flames of the fast moving Carr fire.

Tehama County Sheriff's Deputy Ryan Frank was also recognized. He was shot in an exchange of gunfire with a suspect in Los Molinos in July.

The Tehama County Fire Department honored the Rowen family for their many family members who are volunteer firefighters. Between them, they have volunteered the equivalent of 136 years.

Action News Now Noon News Anchor Linda Watkins-Bennett was emcee for the event, which is a fundraiser for local scholarships and community service projects.
TEHAMA COUNTY, Calif. - The Tehama County District Attorney Bureau of Investigation arrested nine adults on Feb. 25 for failing to send their children to school.

The sweep was conducted throughout Tehama County in conjunction with the Tehama County Department of Education and Truancy Enforcement Team.

The Department of Education works with individual schools and the District Attorney's Office to resolve a truancy problem.

After resources to help the parents are exhausted, then the District Attorney's Office obtains criminal arrest warrants for the parents.

The following adults were arrested on truancy charges and booked into the Tehama County Jail:
WENN/Ivan Nikolov Movie

The actor voicing the titular Pokemon character claims he's got so immersed in his role that he can't pick up his daughters from school, and his wife Lively hates it.

Feb 26, 2019

AceShowbiz - Ryan Reynolds reveals the great length he went to in order to play Pikachu in a new featurette for "Pokemon Detective Pikachu". In the video titled "Becoming Pikachu", the Canadian actor says that "bringing Detective Pikachu to the big screen is a privilege" that he doesn't take lightly.

Thus, to become one with the character, he spent the entire year as Pikachu. He got so immersed into the role that he couldn't pick up his daughters from school, because Detective Pikachu "doesn't know who those two little girls are."

His wife Blake Lively is featured in the video, sharing her side of the story. She's clearly unhappy with Reynolds' method acting, saying, "He just left them (their daughters)."

The "Deadpool" star also studied Pikachu's history, saw the world from his height and even tried to lose 180 pounds to match the character's weight until doctors intervened. The scene then switches to show Lively who says, "I mean, he didn't even change his voice. It just sounds like him."

While Reynolds has vanished from his daughters' life, he's sure that James and Inez will be seeing him in the movie. But Lively sheds his hope as she says with a laugh, "We're not going."

Acting is behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances  Sanford Meisner. Point is, theres a new Detective Pikachu trailer tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/g9dRTOJHL1  Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) February 25, 2019

The featurette is released to announce the arrival of a new trailer on Tuesday, February 26.

"Detective Pikachu" begins when ace detective Harry Goodman goes mysteriously missing, prompting his 21-year-old son Tim to find out what happened. Aiding in the investigation is Harry's former Pokemon partner, Detective Pikachu: a hilariously wise-cracking, adorable super-sleuth who is a puzzlement even to himself. Finding that they are uniquely equipped to communicate with one another, Tim and Pikachu join forces on a thrilling adventure to unravel the tangled mystery.

Chasing clues together through the neon-lit streets of Ryme City-a sprawling, modern metropolis where humans and Pokemon live side by side in a hyper-realistic live-action world-they encounter a diverse cast of Pokemon characters and uncover a shocking plot that could destroy this peaceful co-existence and threaten the whole Pokemon universe.

Justice Smith portrays Tim Goodman, with Bill Nighy, Kathryn Newton, Suki Waterhouse, Ken Watanabe and Rita Ora supporting the cast. Directed by Rob Letterman, the action comedy film is set to be unleashed in theaters across the nation on May 10.
Music

The Michael Garcia-directed visuals sees the 48-year-old rapper helping the 15-year-old star kill people in her stead.

Feb 26, 2019

AceShowbiz - No, this is not a sequel "Friday the 13th" franchise. Bhad Bhabie a.k.a. Danielle Bregoli has released a music video of her new single "Bestie" featuring Kodak Black, enlisting the help of rapper DMX. Together, the two reenact a creepy horror movie scenario with the 48-year-old rapper taking on the role of a masked killer.

Directed by Michael Garcia, the visuals kicks off with an old man escaping an abandoned house in panic before getting himself caught by both Bhabie and DMX. The two argue for a bit, before DMX kills the poor man with his sledgehammer. As if the scene isn't terrorizing enough, they later invite their soon-to-be victims to a dinner where they are treated to the head of the old man that two just killed.

At one point, DMX starts stabbing the people from earlier while doing Black's "ZeZe" dance. The end of the music video sees the 15-year-old star making her way out of the house and telling her killer companion that she will she him next week. But DMX has had enough, taking off her mask as saying, "I can't go anywhere with this b***h again. She's crazy."

There's also an intermission in the music video, where Bhabie shows off her sponsored content before getting back to the visuals. Meanwhile, Black is noticeably absent from the music video.

This marks DMX's first music video appearance since being released from jail last month. He served one year in the Gilmer Federal Correctional Institution in Glenville, West Virginia after pleading guilty to federal tax evasion charges. Following his release, it's reported that the "X Gon Give It to Ya" rapper will be under supervised release for three years.

Last month, DMX hit the stage for the first time since his prison release, performing at supper club Mr. Ciao in State Island, New York as a replacement for Ja Rule. Additionally, the rapper is currently working on his new music.
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WENN/Joseph Marzullo Celebrity

The former 'Seinfeld' star wants European Collectibles to cover his damages after a new owner of his 1958 Porsche accused him of selling a fake classic car.

Feb 26, 2019

AceShowbiz - Comedian Jerry Seinfeld is suing a car dealer for stiffing him on a classic.

The funnyman paid top dollar for a motor he was told was a rare Porsche, but now he's not so sure the car's certification was legitimate.

According to the suit, obtained by TMZ, Jerry bought the 1958 Porsche 356 A 1500 GS/GT Carrera Speedster for $1.2 million (910,000) in 2013 from bosses at European Collectibles, who gave him a certificate of authenticity.

Seinfeld auctioned the car off three years later for $1.54 million (1.2 million), but the new owners, FICA FRIO Ltd, challenged the car's authenticity, and sued the comedian for selling them a bogus Porsche.

Jerry now wants European Collectibles to pay up, claiming he had no idea the certification he was given was bogus until he got sued. He insists FICA FRIO and European Collectibles should be battling over the car and he is suing the latter to cover his damages if lawmakers decide the car's certification is inauthentic.

Jerry's attorney, Orin Snyder, tells TMZ, "Jerry has no liability in this matter, but he wants to do the right thing, and is therefore bringing this action to hold European Collectibles accountable for its own certification of authenticity, and to allow the court to determine the just outcome."
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The footage sees the 27-year-old reality TV star struggling to sing the lyrics of Queen's hit song 'We Are the Champions' with her daughter dancing beside her.

Feb 26, 2019

AceShowbiz - Farrah Abraham brought her 10-year-old daughter Sophia to the 4th Annual Roger Neal Oscar Viewing Dinner Icon Awards on Sunday, February 24 in Los Angeles, California. Beaming, the mother-and-daughter duo were twinning in matching yellow dresses for the event.

The former "Teen Mom OG" star appeared to be excited for the night as she held an Instagram Live during the bash. The video, though, raised people's eyebrows as she looked disoriented.

The footage saw the 27-year-old reality TV star singing along to Queen's hit song "We Are the Champions" with her daughter dancing beside her. Farrah sparked speculation that she was wasted as she appeared to be out of it while struggling to sing the lyrics. "Oscar viewing party, we love you," she told the camera mid-video before blowing a kiss.

At one point, Sophia held Farrah's hand to stop her from waving along to the music. The girl also stared at her mother, seemingly confused. It didn't take long before people online came to attack the mother of one for looking disoriented.

"She is high as hell. Probably coke & drunk," a Twitter user wrote. "She is freaking nuts & super delusional."

She is high as hell. Probably coke & drunk. She is freaking nuts & super delusional  wendy (@wendycardenb) February 26, 2019

Reddit users also slammed the "Ex on the Beach" star, saying, "I can't imagine getting wasted and acting like a fool where my child can see me. Sophie looks so damn embarassed. It makes me really sad this is her reality." Another user blasted, "She's f***ing wasted," while one other added, "This is sad. Just really sad."

This arrives after it was reported that Farrah was sued for breaking two commercial leases in Texas and skipping out over $100,000 in store rent. The company that runs the Oaks at Lakeway Mall in Travis County claims that the MTV star signed two 5-year leases in 2016 for her F&S by Farrah and Sophia Laurent Boutique. However, it appeared that the business was turning south for her that it was said that Farrah closed her doors in September 2018 and stopped paying rent.

The retail space then filed a lawsuit against Farrah in addition to claiming that the reality TV star's lawyer wrote back, saying that they have "no intentions on making any further payments under the lease agreement." Th TV star allegedly felt that she had settled up with the The Oaks, since the company kept her deposit after she closed the backdoors in October.
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In response to the 'Wanderlust' actor's accusation, Norman Resnicow's wife provides a sworn statement claiming that her black eye was a result of a fall on a street near her work place.

Feb 26, 2019

AceShowbiz - Justin Theroux's legal dispute with his New York neighbour has become an all-out war after the actor suggested his rival's wife had been subjected to domestic abuse.

The "Zoolander" star has been locked in a two-year civil court fight with Norman Resnicow, who lives below Theroux's exclusive Greenwich Village apartment, after falling out over renovations the actor was having done to his home.

In December (2018), Jennifer Aniston's ex claimed Resnicow had violated a court-imposed restraining order by continuing to harass the star, and now Theroux has fired off another salvo as the case gets nastier.

According to a sworn statement obtained by the New York Post's Page Six, Theroux alleges he regularly hears Resnicow and his wife, Barbara, arguing, but one shouting match on February 10 became so heated, the 47-year-old felt it necessary to call the police.

Days later, Barbara was reportedly spotted by building officials sporting a black eye, and Theroux apparently suspects the injury may have been a result of the domestic fight he had overheard.

"Because my apartment is directly above the Resnicows' apartment, I have had the misfortune over the years of personally overhearing Mr. Resnicow frequently scream at and berate Mrs. Resnicow, with some of those instances resulting in calls to 911," the actor wrote.

"Although I cannot know for certain that Mrs. Resnicow's injury stems from the Sunday night altercation 2 and a half days earlier, I am bringing this to the Court's attention because, by all outward appearances, earlier attempts to go through the police have not been effective."

However, the Resnicows have responded to Theroux's allegations, denying any such violence had occurred.

In her own sworn statement, Barbara claims she tripped and fell on a street near her work place, which "resulted in a bruise" beneath her left eye. She also submitted the text message conversation she had had with her husband about her mishap as evidence to back up her side of the story, while she went on to accuse Theroux of simply trying to "gain an advantage in this litigation" by suggesting her husband had beaten her.

Norman has also fired back at his celebrity neighbour, explaining he frequently has to raise his voice at home because his wife is hard of hearing. He is demanding an apology from Theroux and his attorney, Eric Sherman.
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On 'Stumptown', which is inspired by graphic novels of the same name, Dex Parios solves other people's messes with a blind eye toward her own.

Feb 26, 2019

AceShowbiz - Cobie Smulders is heading to the small screen. "The Avengers" has been tapped to headline a pilot of a new comic book series adaptation for ABC titled "Stumptown".

In the planned pilot, which will be hailing from writer Jason Richman, Ruben Fleishcher and ABC Studios, Smulders will take on the role of Dex Parios, a "strong, assertive, and unapologetically sharp-witted Army veteran working as a P.I. in Portland, OR." The series will see Smulders' character dealing with a complicated personal history while only having herself to rely on.

On "Stumptown", which is inspired by the graphic novels, Dex solves other people's messes with a blind eye toward her own. The character is further described as a whip-smart, hard-luck heroine you can't help but get behind. Once a decorated Military Intelligence officer overseas, Dex is now back home in Portland, Oregon, unable to hold down a steady job, spinning her wheels, running up gambling debts, waiting for trouble to catch up with her -- and so it does.

In addition to writing, Richman will serve as executive producer alongside Fleischer and Bernad for The District. They are joined by Greg Rucka, Matthew Southworth and Justin Greenwood.

Smulders is known for her role as Robin Scherbatsky on CBS comedy series "How I Met Your Mother", on which she starred alongside Josh Radnor and Neil Patrick Harris among others for its entire nine-season run. The actress most recently appeared on Netflix series "Friends From College", which was canceled on February 18 after running for 2 seasons.

The comedy followed the tragicomic misadventures of a close-knit group of Harvard alumni in their 40s as they navigate their ambitious yet clumsy and romantically intertwined lives in New York City. She played Lisa Turner, a hedge fund lawyer.

As for Smulders' movie credits, Smulders played S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Maria Hill in several Marvel movies including "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and "Avengers: Infinity War". She also reprised the role on ABC's "Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D." Smulder is set to play Agent Hill again in upcoming "Avengers: Endgame" and "Spider-Man: Far From Home".
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While many praise the 'A Star Is Born' co-stars for their 'Shallow' performance, the Spice Girls member admits to be left 'so uncomfortable' because Irina Shayk was watching from the front row.

Feb 26, 2019

AceShowbiz - Melanie Brown (Mel B) was "so uncomfortable" watching the sparks fly between Lady GaGa and Bradley Cooper during their Oscars performance, because she felt bad for the actor/director's girlfriend, Irina Shayk.

The "A Star Is Born" co-stars stole the show at Los Angeles' Dolby Theatre on Sunday night (February 24), when they belted out their movie ballad "Shallow", which was nominated for Best Original Song.

Throughout the set, GaGa and Bradley revisited their roles as onscreen couple Ally and Jackson, gazing into one another's eyes and leaning in cheek-to-cheek as they concluded the performance - so close that some viewers thought they were going to end the appearance with a kiss.

However, not everyone was rooting for the pals to lock lips - Mel B admits she was cringing watching their chemistry play out onstage, because model Irina, Bradley's longtime girlfriend and mother of his baby girl Lea, was sitting in the front row.

"I felt so uncomfortable for Bradley's girlfriend, oh my gosh," the Spice Girls star remarked on U.K. show "Good Morning Britain".

Mel was particularly unnerved by the "look of love" shared by the co-stars, and she hopes it was just all for show, according to The Sun.

"I would like to think it was part of the whole performance, because there's a women's code and... hopefully it's only professional," she added of their close relationship.

GaGa, who recently split from her fiance Christian Carino, has previously gushed about how well she and Bradley got along from the moment they met, revealing they bonded over their shared Italian heritage and their love of food.

Although Mel was not a fan of the intimate nature of their duet, audience members at the Oscars disagreed, giving the stars two standing ovations after the performance.

And Irina didn't appear to be fazed by her man getting close to GaGa for the song - as the pair returned to its seats, Bradley and his girlfriend celebrated with hugs and kisses, while the Russian beauty also shared a warm embrace with GaGa.

"Shallow" ended up earning GaGa and her track co-writers Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt the Best Original Song Oscar.
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SANTA FE  Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishams pick to run New Mexicos prison system backed out of the job Tuesday, saying unforeseen personal issues had caused her to decline the appointment.

In a letter to the governor, Julie Jones said the issues, which she did not further explain, prevented her from being able to move to New Mexico to take on the job of corrections secretary.

You have a bold vision for your state, and I truly regret not being a part of your team, Jones wrote.

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A former corrections secretary in Florida, Jones was appointed New Mexico corrections secretary by Lujan Grisham on Jan. 31.

Her decision to back out of the job means the governor will have to start from scratch in finding a new appointee to run the agency. A Governors Office spokesman said Tuesday that the search has started.

Ms. Jones was an excellent candidate to lead our Corrections Department, Lujan Grisham said in a statement. Im sorry to see her withdraw her candidacy, because I felt and feel she would have been exactly the keen-eyed, experienced leader the agency needs.

But the first-term Democratic governor also said she respected Jones decision and wished her well for the future.

New Mexicos prison system has struggled in recent years with high vacancy and overtime rates for corrections officers, along with aging prison infrastructure.

The state also has a history of prison crowding and unrest, including the 1980 riot at the New Mexico State Penitentiary outside Santa Fe, during which 33 inmates were killed by other inmates.

Jones had been scheduled to start work in New Mexico on Friday, and her appointment would have been subject to Senate confirmation.

During her four years running Floridas 100,000-inmate prison system, she dealt with budget challenges and resolved three class-action lawsuits filed against her involving inmate medical care.

But Lujan Grisham had previously said Jones work history and the Florida litigation were closely reviewed during the vetting process.

Meanwhile, at the time her appointment was announced, both Lujan Grisham and Jones said they would push to address chronic understaffing in the New Mexico Corrections Department and evaluate whether the state is overusing solitary confinement for inmates.

A $7 billion budget plan passed last week by the House includes a $14.2 million  or 4.6 percent  funding increase for the Corrections Department, which would be used to hire more corrections officers and expand programs that help inmates transition back into the community.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  The Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with Wells Fargo, the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Latin American Chamber of Commerce has announced a new business accelerator program for Hispanic-owned businesses.

The program, called Avanzar, will begin in March with a cohort of representatives from 10 businesses selected by the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber. The representatives will participate in a yearlong educational series aimed at helping them overcome barriers to success, scaling their businesses and building sustainable enterprises.

Simultaneously, an additional 10 businesses selected by the Latin American Chamber will participate in a similar program in Charlotte, N.C.

Ernie CdeBaca, the Albuquerque chambers president and CEO, said it is aligned with the chambers mission.

Were all about New Mexico small businesses, giving them the tools necessary to succeed and scale, said CdeBaca in an interview with the Journal. Thats our DNA.

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To participate in Avanzar in Albuquerque, the Hispanic business must make between $100,000 and $250,000 in revenue, have a track record of at least three years of operations, be an organization that is long-term scalable into an enterprise and be in good membership standing with the Hispano chamber.

In a news release, Ramiro Cavazos, president and CEO of the U.S. Hispanic chamber, estimated that if Hispanic-owned businesses scaled as quickly as non-minority-owned businesses, there would be an additional $1.47 trillion dollars in the American economy.

Regina Heyward, senior vice president and head of supplier diversity for Wells Fargo, said in a statement that Wells Fargo is committed to increasing . . . (spending) with diverse suppliers through building capacity in diverse businesses across the country.

Interested parties can apply for Avanzar in Albuquerque by visiting https://ushcc.com/ahcc-avanzar-program-application/.
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SANTA FE  The state House passed a bill Tuesday aimed at reducing the number of unsolicited sales calls to New Mexicans cell phones.

The legislation, House Bill 424, would update the states telephone regulations  which were crafted with land lines, not mobile phones, in mind.

This bill wont stop all of those annoying calls you get, Democratic Rep. Matthew McQueen of Galisteo said, but it should help.

The proposal, sponsored by McQueen, now heads to the Senate for consideration.

It updates the state law that already outlines a variety of restriction on sales calls and prohibits automated calls. Legislative analysts said most robocalls are from scam artists who ignore restrictions like the national Do Not Call list.

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GOODYEAR, Ariz.  The Indians want to see if Hanley Ramirez can still swing it.

The free agent slugger finalized a minor league contract on Tuesday with Cleveland, which is looking to replenish some power lost following several offseason moves. The 35-year-old Ramirez passed his physical and reported to training camp, arriving with a Boston Red Sox equipment bag after spending the past four seasons with them.

If added to the 40-man roster, Ramirez would get a $1 million salary while in the major leagues and the chance to earn performance bonuses.

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The hope is that he will be a middle-of-the-order-type bat, Indians manager Terry Francona said. I told him to tell me when he thinks hes ready to get in some games. We need to get a look at him, but you can rush it and mess it up.

Ramirez, who has 269 homers, played in just 44 games with Boston last season before he was released. Ramirez is the only active major leaguer with at least 250 homers and 250 stolen bases and one of just seven with more than 250 homers and 1,000 runs.

Cleveland needs some offensive pop after Michael Brantley left as a free agent and Edwin Encarnacion and Yonder Alonso were traded. That trio combined for 72 homers and 266 RBIs in 2018.

The Indians are expected to use Ramirez primarily as a designated hitter, but he can also play some first base. When camp opened, Carlos Santana and Jake Bauers, who can also play in the outfield, were going to share time at those two spots.

Francona said theres no pressure on Ramirez.

We ask the same of every single player, show up on time and be a good teammate, try to be as good as you can. He said. Whether a guy hit .300 in 1999 or whether he didnt run a ball out in 2012, doesnt influence us here.

A three-time All-Star, Ramirez was voted NL Rookie of the Year in 2006 with Florida.

Ramirez broke into the big leagues as a shortstop and he spent a brief period with Francona in Boston before he was traded in 2005 to the Marlins for pitcher Josh Beckett after just two at-bats in the majors.

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AP freelance writer Gary Schatz contributed to this report.

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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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GALVESTON, Texas  Attorneys for a teenager accused of fatally shooting 10 people at a Texas high school want the trial moved to a different city, arguing that the teen should be afforded the same treatment as Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, serial killer Ted Bundy and other suspects in mass killings.

Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 18, is charged with capital murder for the May 2018 attack at Santa Fe High School that also left 13 others wounded. He appeared in court for the first time Monday as his attorneys urged a judge to move the trial out of Galveston County, where the courthouse is just 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Santa Fe.

The attorneys said they want to ensure the jury pool is objective. They noted that the trials for McVeigh, Bundy and Washington sniper Lee Malvo were all moved out of the communities where the crimes were committed.

We have this process the code envisions, that certain cases, because of their notoriety, their emotional impact, simply present too great a challenge to afford a defendant due process, attorney Nick Poehl told the judge Monday.

Poehl cited social media comments about the Santa Fe school shooting, saying they indicated a bias among residents in Galveston County.

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Youd have a hard time finding anybody in this county who doesnt know someone, or know someone who knows someone, who wasnt affected in this case, he said.

Prosecutors said a fair trial could be held locally, arguing that many details about the attack have not been released.

There are no videos out there, Galveston County District Attorney Jack Roady said. There are no recordings. There are no detailed statements.

Judge John Ellisor said he will issue a ruling by the end of the week.
We have received so many reactions, hardly anything negative, to our stand against reclaiming portions of Manila Bay. Among others, a congresswoman called to say she would stand up against the proposed or planned reclamation projects that would either reclaim land from shore to bay, or create artificial islands in the bay. That is, if she gets reelected, but from my reading of the political situation in her district, her reelection is a given. A senator who is leading in the poll surveys is also very much against reclamation, saying countless times that it would result in serious flooding problems for the inland metropolis. Even while I was at the MoA Arena to watch Josh Groban duet with Lea Salonga and Christian Bautista, some friends approached me to say that they too are against reclamation projects, the last count of proposed projects of which are five: Three in the area within the territorial jurisdiction of the City of Manila, one in Pasay, and another in the Paranaque-Las Pinas area. The proponents, as well as the local government officials supportive of reclamation, claim that there is no more space within Metro Manila to house its teeming millions, let alone work space mostly for call centers masquerading for online gaming outfits. The usual cacophony about creating jobs increasing revenues, and all that myopic balderdash follows. Which brings me precisely to my point: Why do we want to congest the metropolis, the present National Capital Region, way out of proportion to its natural carrying capacity? Why must we create artificial carrying capacity instead of dispersing the population to less dense areas? Daniel Burnham, who envisioned Manila around the environs of the Walled City that Spain bequeathed us, planning in the same manner that LEnfant designed Washington DCs national capital center, or Haussmann the City of Lights with spokes of wide boulevards emanating from the Arc de Triomphe, would be crying from his grave. (Burnham also designed for Baguio City, desecrated by a migrant population over-capacity and a succession of vision-less local governments, by the way). One-fifth of the countrys population converges daily in the NCR area, with 12 million actually residing there. The day-time transients are workers and transaction-agents from Cavite, Rizal, Laguna, Bulacan, Pampanga and elsewhere. They make the cities that comprise the NCR rich, except that most of that wealth just fattens the pockets of dynasts who want to perpetuate their hold on local political power to spoil their offspring and succeeding generations in perpetuity. They keep pestering the national government for big-ticket projects such as rail systems and overpasses to connect their fiefdoms and transport their constituents when in truth, if they pooled their resources from IRAs and real estate taxes, they could finance these projects themselves without burdening the entire citizenry from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi. That is why my long-held proposal is to move out, to decongest. And the first step ought to be the transfer of the national government agencies and offices from NCR to elsewhere in Luzon. I wouldnt be averse to a transfer further beyond NCR, to undeveloped Samar island for instance, or even Masbate, except that one, the cost would be too much, and two, it would unduly disadvantage civil servants currently employed in Metro Manila. Now let me go into some trivia from many feng shui masters I have encountered here and abroad: Why is your capital facing the setting sun? they ask. Why not the rising sunthe glorious East, or the South, both being auspicious directions?Indeed, look at the capitals of most of our prosperous and prospering neighbors. Look at the map, or use your cellphone compass, and discover the validity of their feng shui observations. There are so many more such feng shui trivia about the fetid Pasig and the palace beside it where power sits, but we digress too much. Even our real estate development is based on the Filipino penchant for uso, whatever is the in place, the fashionable area of the moment. So Taguig is now fashionable, where before it was Makati. Meanwhile, we have allowed Manila and Pasay to rot in urban decay, and what Quezon envisioned as a national government center in his city to grow into patches of urban development amid oceans of squalor. A nearby province, Rizal, offered 25 hectares, even more, for the Senate and the House of Representatives even, to relocate from the formers cramped and rented habitat to the hills of Antipolo bordering Tanay. It is in the East whereas the Senate upon GSIS now faces the sunset. And it is free. The Senate preferred relocating to Taguig, in the vicinity of the BGC between SLEX and the toney shopping cum residential mecca of the rich. And though it is from one government pocket to another, it cost us taxpayers P5 billion for land acquisition. Ditto for the Supreme Court, whose 15 justices want out of their Padre Faura location, despite the majestic facade of their historic building. They will move to BGC too, where the justices can take turns feting each other over lunch in the pricey gustatory temples of Serendra or Uptown or High Street. And yet the facts are clear: One, how many citizens transact with the national government? Very few, because most of our needs require the attention of local governments. Two, if we move the National Government Center with its myriad agencies outside the current metropolis, we would be moving out a million or so civil servants and their families from working in cramped, mostly rented offices into better working environments with fresher air than their current locations. Just look at the cramped offices of the Department of Justice for one, where mezzanines have been force-built to create another space and where workers cannot afford to stand straight up, unless they are below five feet tall. There must be a hundred other similar architectural horrors in the benighted capital. Three, the transfer of government offices will allow the adaptive reuse of their facilities for cultural, commercial, even residential purposes. Properly planned, it is a solution to the lack of housing in the metropolis. It certainly would be far-reaching vision and a lasting legacy for the Duterte government to initiate a transfer of the national government headquarters from NCR to say, the area around Clark, which apart from being government-owned, is quite accessible by land from the rest of Luzon, by air, and by sea, through Subic port. Or, though more expensive because of the infrastructure requirements, to the Rizal-Bulacan-Quezon tri-bounded foothills of the Sierra Madre, near the vicinity of Mt. Irid, which by the way is 1,467 meters above sea level at its peak, almost as high as the decrepit summer capital, Baguio, is. Wherever, the mantra should be movetransfer. Do not reclaim land from the sea, most especially not Manila Bay.
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BARCELONA, Spain  The U.S. governments fight to ban Chinese tech giant Huawei from next-generation internet networks appears to be flagging.

The two sides faced off Tuesday at the worlds biggest mobile technology trade fair, in Barcelona, Spain, where they sought to win over customers and governments.

The U.S. argues Huawei is a security risk as it could give the Chinese government backdoor access to snoop on internet users worldwide. Huawei rejects the claim, which it says is part of the United States broader effort to stifle Chinas economic and technological ascent.

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On Tuesday, a top Huawei executive used a keynote speech at the show, called MWC Barcelona, to poke fun at U.S. intelligence.

PRISM, PRISM, on the wall, who is the most trustworthy of them all? said Guo Ping, Huaweis rotating chairman, in a reference to a U.S. data gathering program.

If you dont understand that, you can go ask Edward Snowden, he told the audience, referring to the former National Security Agency contractor who exposed the program in 2013.

Under the PRISM program, the NSA, pursuant to secret court orders, collected intelligence about foreign threats through U.S. Internet companies.

In raising the U.S. governments history of snooping on citizens, Guo appeared to seek to portray the United States as hypocritical in accusing the Chinese of being a risk for users data privacy.

Huawei is the worlds biggest maker of networking equipment used by phone and internet companies, and its gear is considered by experts as affordable and high quality.

Banning the company from supplying the networks  work that is ongoing in many countries this year  could delay the rollout of 5G networks, which are meant to power the next generation of technological innovation, from self-driving cars to remote surgery.

Huawei made its presence felt at the four-day conference in Barcelona, where some 100,000 visitors are expected and the companys red logo featured widely. It unveiled an expensive, new foldable phone that made headlines and turned attention to a product thats not facing any global controversy.

The United States government also dispatched a delegation to lobby its case, which it has pressed with allies across the world in recent weeks.

The global nature of data flows and interconnectedness means that threats to U.S. networks have a direct bearing on the security of our allies, just as threats to our allies networks have a direct bearing on the security of the United States, said Robert Strayer, the top U.S. diplomat for cybersecurity policy.

To this end the United States is asking other governments and the private sector to consider the threat posed by Huawei and other Chinese information technology companies.

Strayer did not detail specific security threats Huawei poses, despite being asked by reporters to do so in a news briefing on the shows sidelines.

The U.S. campaign took a symbolic hit after the United Arab Emirates, a key ally in the Middle East, said it would use Huawei in its networks. And European allies are balking at banning the company outright.

Strayer denied Washington was retaliating as part of a broader trade war between the U.S. and China, saying the motivation was based on security concerns partly related to Chinese laws requiring companies to comply with intelligence requests.

Strayer called Huawei duplicitous and deceitful, pointing out that U.S prosecutors have charged the company with intellectual property theft and allege its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, committed fraud by misleading banks about Huaweis business dealings in Iran.

However, its far from clear that telecom executives in Europe and other regions are buying Washingtons argument, with leaders of some of the biggest mobile operators calling for fact-based security assessments.

The U.S. is fighting an uphill battle against the telecom industry, said Paul Triolo, head of geotechnology at the Eurasia Group consultancy. They dont have a smoking gun here, so theyre trying to build a stronger case around the companys behavior and issues with the Chinese government, he said.

Guo, one of three Huawei executives who take turns as chairman, said the telecom industry needs unified standards and clear regulations. He rejected the U.S. allegations.

We dont do bad things. Here, let me say this as clear as possible. Huawei has not and we will never plant backdoors and we will never allow anyone to do so in our equipment.

Underscoring the companys growing momentum in fighting the U.S. allegations, the telecom provider Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates, a strong U.S. ally in the Mideast, said it signed a deal with Huawei to deploy its 5G technology. Majority government-owned Etisalat is one of two main mobile providers in the UAE.

Etisalat offered no financial terms for the deal it signed with Huawei.

The UAE has increasingly courted Chinese investment in the country as its real-estate market sags through a downturn. Chinese construction firms meanwhile rapidly build highway overpasses and infrastructure at the site of the 2020 World Expo, or worlds fair, in Dubai. Chinese President Xi Jingping visited the Emirates last June.

The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Huawei deal. The UAE hosts some 5,000 American troops, many at the Al Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi. Dubai also is the busiest port of call for the U.S. Navy outside of the United States.

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Follow Kelvin Chan at www.twitter.com/chanman

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Jon Gambrell in Dubai contributed to this report.

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Follow the APs technology coverage at https://apnews.com/apf-technology
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SANTA FE  Ndaba Mandela, grandson of the late anti-apartheid revolutionary and president of South Africa Nelson Mandela, was welcomed Monday at a Santa Fe school named for his grandfather.

The things he talks about  leadership, peace  are the same things Nelson Mandela talked about. Hes the live embodiment of what our school represents, Ahlum Scarola, principal at Mandela International Magnet School, said of the grandson.

Ndaba Mandela was in New Mexico to attend an annual conference over the weekend at United World College-USA, in Montezuma, near Las Vegas, N.M. Nelson Mandela once served as joint president for the United World College movement that serves an international mix of students at campuses around the world.

The younger Mandela and his entourage spent Monday in Santa Fe. He fielded questions from state legislators at the Roundhouse and met with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham before visiting the magnet school, where he told a few stories about his grandfather and spoke of leadership at a student assembly held in the schools gymnasium.

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The Mandela school opened in 2014 and teaches an International Baccalaureate curriculum to students in grades seven through 12.

Ndaba Mandela, 36, told about 200 students, teachers and a few parents that in planning for the anniversary of his grandfathers centennial birthday in 2018, the Nelson Mandela Foundation decided to identify 100 people who exhibited the values of the former anti-apartheid revolutionary and president of South Africa. Those selected were invited to attend a three-week session aimed at producing leaders of the future to lead in the light and spirit of Nelson Mandela.

Wouldnt the world be a better place if there were more leaders like Nelson Mandela? he asked, eliciting a big round of applause.

He also spoke briefly about his book, Going to the Mountain: Life Lessons From My Grandfather, Nelson Mandela.

Ndaba Mandela said he went to live with his grandfather a few years after hed been released from prison after 27 years.

One lesson the then-11-year-old learned from his grandfather was to take care of his belongings, he said. He said he never lost his school sweater again after his grandfather threatened to make him sleep outside.

But a bigger lesson was that after Nelson Mandela served a his nearly three-decade sentence for speaking out for human rights, he became South Africas first black president.

He stayed strong to his beliefs and never wavered, he said.
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Copyright  2019 Albuquerque Journal

On Sept. 23, 2017, Mac Jonas emailed school administrators in an obvious attempt to seek help with bullying, according to a recently filed lawsuit.

Three weeks later, on Oct. 14, 2017, the 15-year-old ASK Academy student killed himself.

Jonas parents, Tim and Suzanne, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the school last month alleging school personnel did not reasonably act upon Macs cry for help.

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As a direct and proximate result of the defendants wrongful conduct, Mac Jonas killed himself, the lawsuit alleges.

A fellow student had been bullying Mac at and outside of school and on social media, according to the suit.

The lawsuit does not provide details regarding the type of bullying Mac was experiencing, nor does it expand on the content of the email he sent to the school. And the familys attorney, Peter Grueninger, did not respond to repeated calls seeking comment.

The ASK Academy had a duty to exercise reasonable care to prevent injury to Mac from harmful conditions on its premises, including a pattern of bullying on its property, the lawsuit filed in state District Court in Santa Fe alleges.

Jonas parents are seeking compensatory and punitive damages, attorney and court fees and other relief the court deems appropriate.

The ASK Academy is an A-rated charter school in Rio Rancho that focuses on science, technology, engineering and math. It serves about 500 students between sixth and 12th grade and was ranked the sixth best high school in New Mexico by U.S. News and World Report in 2018.

The academys general manager said he could not comment on the ongoing legal matter; and the New Mexico Public Schools Insurance Authority also said it was unable to comment.

The lawsuit was filed just weeks before authorities in Grants launched an investigation into an 11-year-old girls suicide. According to the Associated Press, friends reported that Delia Watson told officials at Mount Taylor Elementary School that she was being bullied, but Delias voice was never heard.

Such deaths are rare in New Mexico, according to Mathew Christensen of the state Department of Health.

In terms of the numbers of youth that kill themselves  when bullying is a factor, the numbers are very small, less than one a year, he said.

And public health officials have warned against suggesting that bullying is a sole cause of suicide, though research has found that involvement in bullying is one of several risk factors that appear to increase risk of suicide among children.

In an examination of the relationship between bullying and suicide, the Centers for Disease Control cautioned that framing the discussion of the issue as bullying being a single, direct cause of suicide perpetuates the false idea that suicide is a natural response to being bullied.

But the center also found that children who report frequently bullying others or being frequently bullied are at increased risk for suicide-related behavior. And children who report both bullying others and being bullied have the highest risk for such behavior.
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WASHINGTON  Redefining success, President Donald Trump headed to his second meeting with North Koreas Kim Jong Un, determined to tamp down expectations that hell achieve big strides toward denuclearization. Yet he was still eager to claim an attention-grabbing victory to offset the political turmoil he faces at home.

Trump is set to land in Vietnam late Tuesday and will have meetings with the host countrys president and prime minister Wednesday before sitting down later with Kim for a private dinner.

Trump will be joined at the dinner by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, the White House said Monday. Kim also will have two aides with him, and there will be translators for both sides. Trump and Kim, who arrived in Vietnam Tuesday, will have a series of official meetings Thursday.

Trump laid out ultimate goals for both the U.S. and Kim in an appearance before the nations governors Monday before boarding Air Force One to fly to Vietnam: We want denuclearization, and I think hell have a country that will set a lot of records for speed in terms of an economy.

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Worries abound across world capitals about what Trump might be willing to give up in the name of a win, but there seems less mystery about his North Korean counterpart. Survival of the Kim regime is always the primary concern.

Trump was the driving force behind this weeks summit, aiming to re-create the global spectacle of his first meeting with Kim last year. But that initial summit in Singapore yielded few concrete results, and the months that followed have produced little optimism about what will be achieved in the sequel.

Trump is publicly unconcerned.

He once warned that North Koreas arsenal posed such a threat to humanity that he might have no choice but to rain fire and fury on the nation. However, in the leadup to the new summit, hes proclaimed himself in no hurry for Pyongyang to prove it is abandoning its weapons.

Im not in a rush. I dont want to rush anybody, I just dont want testing. As long as theres no testing, were happy, Trump told the governors on Sunday.

In fact, he is ready to write himself into the history books before he and Kim even shake hands in Hanoi.

If I were not elected president, you would have been in a war with North Korea, Trump said last week. We now have a situation where the relationships are good  where there has been no nuclear testing, no missiles, no rockets.

While Trump was airborne, Kims armored train was on the move in China, bound toward Vietnams capital. Vietnamese officials promised security at the maximum level. Reporters from 40 nations were expected to transmit the story to the world.

Kim inherited a nascent nuclear program from his father, and after years of accelerated effort and fighting through crippling sanctions, he built an arsenal that demonstrated the potential to rocket a thermonuclear weapon to the mainland United States. That is the fundamental reason Washington now sits at the negotiating table.

Kim, his world standing elevated after receiving an audience with a U.S. president, has yet to show a convincing sign that he is willing to deal away an arsenal that might provide a stronger guarantee of survival than whatever security assurance the United States could provide. The North Koreans have largely eschewed staff-level talks, pushing for discussions between Trump and Kim.

Though details of the summit remain closely held, the two leaders are expected to meet at some point one-on-one, joined only by translators.

The easing of tension between the two nations, Trump and his allies contend, stems from the U.S. presidents own unorthodox and unpredictable style of diplomacy. Often prizing personal rapport over long-held strategic interests, Trump has pointed to his budding relationship with the young and reclusive leader, frequently showing visitors to the Oval Office his flattering letters from Kim.

Trump, who has long declared that North Korea represented the gravest foreign threat of his presidency, told reporters recently that his efforts to defang Pyongyang had moved Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, something Abe would not confirm or deny.

Four main goals emerged from the first Trump-Kim summit: establishing new relations between the nations, building a new peace on the entire Korean Peninsula, completing denuclearization of the peninsula and recovering U.S. POW/MIA remains from the Korean War.

While some remains have been returned to the United States, little has been achieved on the other points. Korean and American negotiators have not settled on either the parameters of denuclearization or a timetable for the removal of both Korean weapons and American sanctions.

The key lessons of Singapore are that President Trump sees tremendous value in the imagery of diplomacy and wants to be seen as a bold leader, even if the substance of the diplomacy is far behind the pageantry, said Abraham Denmark, director of the Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

U.S. intelligence officials testified before Congress last month that it remains unlikely Kim will fully dismantle his arsenal. And many voices in the Trump administration, including National Security Adviser John Bolton, have expressed skepticism that North Korea would ever live up to a deal.

Mark Chinoy, senior fellow at U.S.-China Institute at the University of Southern California, said that after generations of hostility, the convivial atmosphere of Singapore cant be discounted. But Chinoy noted that Trump had agreed to North Koreans formulation of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, which Pyongyang has long made clear meant an end to the US security alliance with South Korea and an end to the U.S. nuclear umbrella intended to defend South Korea and Japan.

After the last summit, Trump unilaterally suspended some military drills with South Korea, alarming some in Seoul and at the Pentagon. But he was insistent this week that he would not draw down U.S. troops from South Korea. And American officials, even as they hint at a relaxed timetable for Pyongyang to account for its full arsenal, have continued to publicly insist they would not favor easing sanctions on North Korea until denuclearization is complete.

A year ago, North Korea suspended its nuclear and long-range missile tests and said it dismantled its nuclear testing ground, but those measures were not perceived as meaningful reductions. Experts believe Kim, who is enjoying warmer relations with South Korea and the easing of pressure from Russia and China, will seek a U.S. commitment for improved bilateral relations and partial sanctions relief while trying to minimize any concessions on his nuclear facilities and weapons.

Kim is doing pretty well as it is, said Scott Seaman of the Eurasia Group. The threat of a U.S. military strike is essentially zero, Kims diplomatic charm offensive has made him into a bigger player on the world stage, and he continues to whittle away at international commitment to sanctions.

The Hanoi summit comes at a politically uncertain time for Trump.

His potential 2020 foes have begun unleashing attacks. The newly elected Democratic House has begun its investigations of the president, calling his former legal fixer, Michael Cohen, to appear before Congress while Trump is in Vietnam. And special counsel Robert Mueller, who has investigated possible ties between Trumps campaign Russian election interference, may finalize his report within days of the presidents return to the United States.

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Associated Press writers Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul and Deb Riechmann, Catherine Lucey, Zeke Miller and Jill Colvin in Washington contributed to this report.

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Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire

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Follow all of APs summit coverage at https://apnews.com/Trump-KimSummit
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SANTA FE, N.M.  Editors note: This story has been changed to reflect a change in location of the meeting on March 4 at 2 p.m.

The University of New Mexico will host public forums regarding the Higher Learning Commissions criteria for accreditation  an evaluation and certification process that establishes whether a college or university meets formal official requirements for quality.

Moderated by a review team from the Higher Learning Commission, which accredits degree-granting post-secondary educational institutions in New Mexico and 18 other states, these university conversations will be organized around the criteria for accreditation and will provide more information and clarity to the reviewers.

UNM President Garnett Stokes told regents at a recent meeting that the open forums are part of the decennial reaffirmation of the universitys accreditation.

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Theres going to be a lot of involvement on campus, Stokes said. (The HLC site visitors) are going to have a lot of questions for a lot of different groups. This is going to be all hands on deck for everyone in the campus community to talk to these site visitors about what weve been accomplishing in the 10 years since their last full visit.

The Criteria for Accreditation are the standards of quality by which the Commission determines whether an institution merits accreditation or reaffirmation of accreditation.

They are as follows:

 Mission: The institutions mission is clear and articulated publicly; it guides the institutions operations.

 Integrity: Ethical and Responsible Conduct  The institution acts with integrity; its conduct is ethical and responsible.

 Teaching and Learning: Quality, Resources, and Support  The institution provides high quality education, wherever and however its offerings are delivered.

 Teaching and Learning: Evaluation and Improvement  The institution demonstrates responsibility for the quality of its educational programs, learning environments and support services, and it evaluates their effectiveness for student learning through processes designed to promote continuous improvement.

 Resources, Planning, and Institutional Effectiveness  The institutions resources, structures and processes are sufficient to fulfill its mission, improve the quality of its educational offerings, and respond to future challenges and opportunities.

UNM has been continuously accredited through the Higher Learning Commission since 1922.

Members of the public and campus community are invited to attend one of the forums at the following times and locations:

 From 10:45 a.m.-noon on March 4, at the Anderson School of Management, MCM 2110 (Criteria 3-4)

 From 2-3 p.m. on March 4 at the Student Union Building, Ballroom A (Criteria 1-2)

 From 10-11 a.m. on March 5 at the Domenici Center, Room 2720 (Criterion 5)

The events will also be accessible via Zoom so that anyone can join from main campus, the Health Sciences Center and any of the branch campuses. More details on remote access will be provided prior to the forums.
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In hindsight, it should be no surprise 19-year-old Nicholas Cruz walked into Marjory Stoneman High School in Parkland., Fla., last February and opened fire with an assault-style rifle. The tragedy resulted in the deaths of 17 students and staff members, and injuries to 17 more in what is now the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

It should be no surprise, in hindsight, that 21-year-old William Atchison opened fire at Aztec High School in northwest New Mexico  a school he once attended, but didnt graduate from  on Dec. 7, 2017, killing two students before fatally shooting himself.

And it certainly shouldnt have been a surprise to police and school officials this Valentines Day when, according to court documents, 16-year-old Joshua Owen, wearing a ski mask, walked up to Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho, where he is a sophomore, and tried to shoot three students, then fired a .45-caliber handgun in the air before running away. He reportedly gave officers a to-do list that indicated he wanted to kill his ex-girlfriend, kill other people and then kill himself.

Thankfully, there is a big difference between the Rio Rancho shooting, and the events in Florida and Aztec. No one was injured and Owen was arrested in an arroyo near his home less than a mile away from the school. The chilling similarity in the incidents is the warning signs and chances to intervene. And in all three, there has been/should be a demand for a public airing of who knew what and when, what they did about it and what they plan to do to prevent future tragedies.

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In this regard, Rio Rancho is flunking the test, and parents and elected board members should demand public answers. To review:

In the Parkland case, the local sheriffs office and FBI had received a number of tips about threats by Cruz. He had exhibited a pattern of suspicious and threatening behavior, and been expelled for disciplinary reasons. In Aztec, Atchison had been investigated by the FBI in 2016 when he had asked on an internet forum where to find cheap assault rifles for a mass shooting. The FBI dropped it because no crime had been committed. And in Rio Rancho?

Court records show that 11 months ago, Owen told officers voices were telling him to shoot up the school. On March 13, a Rio Rancho police officer was called to the high school after a girl who had broken up with Owen told staff he had sent her texts about bringing a weapon to campus. One said, Ever since my dad got a gun from his friend something tells me I should shoot up my school, and I dont want to but I keep fighting it. Security guards took Owen to the office to be interviewed by police. He said he had been hearing voices for over a year telling him to shoot up the school.

Owen, now facing criminal charges that include attempted murder, told officers he didnt think he could control his anger. He was handcuffed and taken to be evaluated at Kaseman Presbyterian Hospital. So what happened? Had he been expelled or suspended? Why was he back in school? Was there a rigorous determination he was no longer a safety risk? Who made that decision? Were security precautions considered?

District spokeswoman Bethany Pendergrass isnt answering those questions because, she said, the district cant discuss any matters involving students. Instead, she delivered a carefully crafted statement saying that it is important that parents and community members know that we take all threats very seriously, and fully investigate all rumors, reports and information concerning threats to our schools.

Which, of course, begs those pesky questions. What did they know? When did they know it? What did they do about it? And what did they do to ensure Owen was mentally fit to return to Cleveland and it wouldnt become another Parkland or Aztec?

Bottom line: they got lucky this time. Parents and students dont need empty, self-serving statements. They deserve some real answers.

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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Senate Bill 489  The Energy Transition Act  not so fast! The consequences of passing this bill without an honest debate could be devastating to the economics of our state.

Call it risk, call it unintended consequences, but to ignore bringing everything in the open  for political expediency is dishonest.

It is obvious that making New Mexico a completely carbon-free state will be a very expensive undertaking, and with the planned shutting down of the oil and gas industry, where will that money come from? New Mexico taxpayers and energy users. The shell game of PNM floating bonds to cover the cost and then raising energy rates to repay the bonds doesnt hide the fact that we are going to pay for this transition.

How many wind farms and solar panels will we need to replace our current energy consumption? How many acres of the land we fight to keep pristine will be required? How much extra infrastructure will be required to transmit the electricity to where it is needed? What happens when the wind doesnt blow and the sun doesnt shine? Batteries. Another cost, plus batteries have a limited life span, as do solar cells, and must be replaced. When we convert all our cars to electric, we have to charge their batteries  which takes electricity, which requires more energy systems. Then the gas stations will go out of business so our tourist trade will only support visitors with electric cars. Another source of income reduction. Dont forget we have to maintain these complex energy systems.

We need a debate about how much our energy costs are going to go up, either through higher rates or taxes to subsidize the effort. It is not free. Business will see an increased overhead with higher energy costs, and we run the risk of businesses leaving or passing the costs onto the consumer. Businesses looking to move to New Mexico will have second thoughts with increased operating costs and taxes. Products made in New Mexico will be more expensive, which will drive consumers to buy products produced out of state. The list of consequences goes on.

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And who gets hit the hardest? Low- and fixed-income folks. To use an old phrase, we are forcing them to make a decision whether to buy food for the table or pay their higher tax bill or energy costs. I hear the answer  subsidize them and make the rich pay it. How long will people with higher incomes stay in New Mexico with that strategy?

The biggest question is, what is the positive payback for New Mexico? What do we have to gain? If the only answer is the wish to reduce carbon dioxide in the air and save the planet, then lets bring those facts to the table and include them in the discussion to ensure the return on investment is real.

The Energy Transition Act has far-reaching consequences for our state, and responsible people want to have an honest, in-depth debate about this effort. If the case can be made by the proponents of this bill that it will benefit New Mexico and its people, then lets proceed.
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Theres no denying that New Mexico has benefitted tremendously from its natural endowments of oil, gas and coal; nor that fossil fuels have enabled us (to) experience conveniences far beyond the dreams of kings and queens in days past. But theres also no denying that the age of fossil fuels must end soon with their replacement by cleaner and more cost-effective technologies.

I am writing to share why I believe the Energy Transition Act (SB 489), sponsored by Sens. Jacob Candelaria and Mimi Stewart and Rep. Nathan Small, is our best path to accomplishing a just, fair and cost-effective clean energy transition in New Mexico.

Solar and wind power are now the cheapest ways to generate electricity. Arguments that we still need fossil fuels because the wind doesnt always blow and sun doesnt shine at night are only half-true today because utility-scale battery technology can now replace much of the need for conventional power plants at lower cost.

Even if renewable energy wasnt cheaper, we would still want to phase out fossil fuels by 2050 to prevent the worst, catastrophic effects of global warming. This is the view of climate experts and the consensus of 195 nations signing the 2015 Paris Agreement. That renewable energy is now low-cost makes it easier to do whats needed, especially here in New Mexico, where were blessed with the nations best combination of wind and solar resources. Our state is also especially vulnerable to the effects of warming and drought if we do not end carbon pollution.

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Were at a key point in our states clean energy transition, with close to 20 percent of our electricity from renewables, but facing questions of how to quickly retire coal plants  our worst carbon polluters  deal with unrecovered plant investments and also not abandon the families and communities relying on these plants for jobs and tax base. We also should avoid building new gas-fired plants that will become future unrecovered investment problems when theyll need to retire in the 2040s.

The Energy Transition Act is a comprehensive solution that mandates that New Mexicos electricity supply will be carbon-free by 2045 for big utilities like PNM, and by 2050 for the rural electric cooperatives. Well get there with a renewables requirement of 50 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2040  slightly later for the co-ops.

The ETA requires the full retirement of PNMs San Juan coal plant and provides a low-cost way of financing unrecovered investments in that plant, with no profits to PNM. It makes that financing mechanism available for other coal plant retirements. Importantly, the ETA directs that replacement resources be located in San Juan County and provides transition funds for workers and the community.

Some of the questions answered by the ETA are things normally decided by a case at the Public Regulation Commission. As a former PRC commissioner, I believe the ETAs answer on cost recovery for San Juan coal plant investments is well within the range of possible outcomes if the matter is litigated at the PRC.

But the help the ETA offers to affected communities is beyond the PRCs powers to grant, and critically, the ETA is a package deal that offers profound long-term environmental and clean-jobs benefits that are just not otherwise possible to enact on their own.

The ETA is backed by almost all New Mexico environmental groups and utilities, advocates for low-income families and key elected officials, including Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

We have an unprecedented opportunity to put our state on the path to transition to the clean energy future I know most New Mexicans want, and which we all need. Please join me in urging that our Legislature pass SB 489.

As an attorney in private practice, Jason Marks represents organizations supporting SB 489; however, this commentary is solely his own personal opinion.
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SANTA FE  A bill that would revamp New Mexicos evaluation system for teachers and school administrators won approval late Monday in the House, with members voting 52-14 in favor of the measure.

Backers of the legislation, House Bill 212, said it would lay the groundwork for a less punitive system for rating educators than the one implemented administratively by then-Gov. Susana Martinezs administration.

I think this bill will lead to a more healthy and robust environment in our schools, said Rep. G. Andres Romero, D-Albuquerque, a high school teacher himself.

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Under the bill, teachers evaluations would be based on four different measures: Instructional quality, student feedback, student learning growth and professional responsibility.

Student test scores would account for only 15 percent of teachers evaluations  down from 35 percent under the previous system.

That prompted concerns from some Republican lawmakers, who said the new system could reduce accountability and turn the annual evaluations into a popularity contest of sorts.

The fact that only 15 percent of the evaluation is based on student achievement  gives me pause, said Rep. Larry Scott, R-Hobbs.

Changes in teacher evaluations already appear to be in the works, as Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, issued an executive order shortly after taking office last month that directs the Public Education Department to revamp the system enacted by the Martinez administration.

That system prompted strong opposition from teachers unions and several lawsuits.

But the bill approved Friday would enshrine the reworked teacher evaluation system in state law, meaning it would be harder to undo in the future.

It would rank teachers in one of four categories  distinguished, proficient, basic or unsatisfactory. Teachers rated less than proficient would be placed on an improvement plan, and it would be up to local school districts to come up with such plans.

In addition, a committee of state education officials and school administrators would be tasked with proposing exactly how the evaluations of teachers and principals should be conducted.

The recommendations would then be sent to PED, which would by June 1 adopt specific standards and guidelines via rulemaking.

The measure is sponsored by House Majority Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton, D-Albuquerque. It now advances to the Senate.
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SANTA FE  A proposed constitutional amendment that would shake up the Public Regulation Commission is headed to the Senate floor.

The bipartisan legislation, Senate Joint Resolution 1, would create a three-member PRC with members appointed by the governor.

The candidates would be vetted by an independent nominating committee before going to the governor  similar to the system already in place for judges.

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We are really trying to take the politics out of these slots, Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, said Monday.

He is co-sponsoring the bill with Senate Minority Whip William Payne, R-Albuquerque, and Sen. Steven Neville, R-Aztec.

New Mexicos Public Regulation Commission is now an elected five-member body, with regulatory oversight of utilities.

The proposed constitutional amendment cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on an 8-2 vote Monday. It now heads to the full Senate for consideration.

It would also have to be approved by the House and by the voters in a statewide election to take effect.

Opponents of the bill questioned whether a gubernatorial appointment process would succeed in making the PRC less political.

Wirth said that if the amendment passes, the Legislature would establish a rule outlining more clearly how the appointment process would work. The goal would be to require professional qualifications aimed at ensuring good candidates are forwarded to the governor for appointment.

Members would serve six-year terms and could be removed only in certain circumstances, such as malfeasance.

State lawmakers are sending to the governor a proposal that would ensure New Mexico continues to receive tax revenue from companies that operate national laboratories in the state.

The legislation, Senate Bill 11, passed the House on Sunday with an amendment, and the Senate agreed to the change Monday, sending it to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The bill allows New Mexico to continue to impose taxes on operators of national laboratories  such as Los Alamos and Sandia  even if they have nonprofit status.

Analysts for the Legislature said New Mexico stood to lose about $25 million to $30 million a year if the prime contractor of Los Alamos National Laboratory had tax-exempt status.
The Manila Times last Monday launched its first television program of a forum with the theme 33 Years After the Edsa Revolution, May Pagbabago Ba? It was a timely topic for Feb. 25, when the nation marked the 33rd anniversary of People Power that toppled then President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos. Note that I used the word marked and not celebrated the occasion in deference to the views expressed by two distinguished panelists, UP political science professor Clarita Carlos and Radio Veritas manager Fr. Larry Faraon. The two were emphatic in their views that the major world event at Edsa was not a revolution. Carlos stressed that a revolution involved structural changes of society which the Edsa peoples upheaval did not implement or put into place. As one of three panelists, I concurred with Professor Carlos as I pointed out that a real revolution as the French did in the Fall of the Bastille on July 14, 1771. The French Revolution deposed King Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette. The infamous couple were beheaded in public by guillotine. The new ruling people power then abolished the monarchy and replaced it with a a democratic republican state with laws legislated by a national assembly. This was what Professor Carlos meant when she said a real revolution involves structural changes, She added that the oligarchy Marcos and the Cory government abolished was only replaced by a new set of oligarchs who are just as rapacious in greed and corruption. This brings to mind the old expression The king is dead, long live the king! It means the old regime is dead, and welcome to the new one who is just the same. In essence the three panelists were on the same page in answering a no to the question of the topic at handhas there really been change? Professor Carlos was more sanguine in saying that in the long run, she was more optimistic that meaningful change will happen. Without contradicting her bright outlook, I differed because as a journalist, I am by nature a cynic and a pessimist having observed and served under the administrations of Marcos, Cory, Fidel Ramos and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. I therefore could lay claim to an inside look of these presidents and how each dealt with their own respective challenges. I told the panel that as a journalist who later worked as press counselor, senior foreign affairs adviser and later appointed by GMA as ambassador to Hungary with concurrent jurisdiction over Poland, Serbia (the former Republic of Yugoslavia), and Bosnia Herzogivina, I have been given the rare privilege to work both sides of the street, so to speak . I had to make clear that this is not turncoatism but an exceptional opportunity to observe the workings of media and the government which gave me a balanced perspective of two traditional adversaries.I made it known that I had worked as news editor of the now defunct Manila Chronicle, then owned by the oligarch Lopez family. As a displaced newspaperman I accepted a job to be press attache in the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in New York. I also had postings as press counselor in London, and Brussels dealing and answering questions from the foreign press and taking on insults from Members of Parliament and even wrote back with more stinging rebuke from me printed in the English daily The Guardian. The Manila Times TV forum last Monday was a three-set series that included senatorial candidate and former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, former Comelec chairman Christian Monsod, former Agrarian Secretary Heherson Sonny Alvarez and columnist Belinda Olivarez Cunanan. Since I left after my stint in the first set, I was not able to hear what the other panelists had to say. Im sure former defense secretary Enrile talked about the events that led to him and Col. Gringo Honasan to make that historic stand at Camp Aguinaldo. Fr. Faraon, on the other hand, revealed that as Radio Veritas head, he repeatedly played a tape recording of Jaime Cardinal Sins call for people to gather at Edsa near Camp Aguinaldo to prevent soldiers dispatched by then Armed Forces chief General Fabian Ver to lay siege on Enrile and his small but gallant band. Fr. Faraon revealed that Cardinal Sin only made that call to the people once but his recorded voice was repeatedly played by Faraoan every minute, making it sound like the Cardinal was doing constantly his call to the people. The crowd in front of Camp Aguinaldo grew to hundreds of thousands. Soon the throng swelled to one million. The rest, as they say, is history. The bloodless People Power uprising at Edsa was reprised by other nations in Europe who were under the yoke of the Soviet communist empire. So whats the difference between the Marcos regime and the present presidency of one Rodrigo Roa Duterte? Lets hear it from President Duterte in his own words. He claimed he delivered on all his campaign promises but on one which was to solve Metro Manilas horrendous traffic problem. Lets hear it from the people. Taxi drivers are the best sounding board because whether they have passengers or not, they are always glued to the cabs radio listening to the news. So, what do you thinkwas it better during Marcos martial law years or Cory to Digongs term?Seven out of 10 without hesitation would say Naku, sir mas mabuti pa ho noon panahon ni Macoy mas mura ang bilihin at mas mababa ang crime. Ngayon, ang mababa lang ay ang aming living condition samantala ang mayaman ay lalong yumayaman. This is a resounding voice of the people. It is an indictment of the governments economic policy on why the 10 richest Filipinos listed every year in Forbes Magazine are always the same.
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WASHINGTON  Congress braced Monday for an unprecedented effort to overturn a presidential emergency declaration, as Republicans worked to limit defections on the eve of a critical House vote while Democrats framed the issue as a constitutional showdown.

Partisans on both sides unleashed sharp new rhetoric ahead of Tuesdays vote on a Democratic-authored resolution that would nullify President Donald Trumps declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border. Congress has never before sought to cancel a national emergency declared by the president since passage of the National Emergencies Act in 1976.

The resolution is expected to pass the House easily with unified Democratic support. But GOP leaders were urging their members to oppose it, aiming to keep the final tally low enough to demonstrate that Congress would be unable to overturn the veto that Trump has threatened.

While Democrats tried to focus on the constitutional issues at stake in Trump using an emergency declaration to get border-wall money denied by Congress, Republicans trained their arguments on what they called dire conditions along the border that necessitated Trumps move.

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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Monday evening that he wasnt sure how many Republicans would vote for the resolution, but there will not be enough to override any veto.

The outcome was less assured in the Senate, which will be required  under provisions of the National Emergencies Act  to take up the legislation within weeks of House passage. If all Senate Democrats vote for the disapproval resolution, only four Republican votes would be needed to ensure passage, since just a simple majority vote is required.

With numerous Republican senators voicing concerns or outright opposition to Trumps national emergency declaration, the disapproval resolution was widely expected to pass the Senate  though probably without securing the two-thirds majority that would be needed for a veto override. Senators could also potentially vote to amend the resolution, which could complicate its path to passage.

Trump urged GOP senators to stick with him, writing on Twitter Monday: I hope our great Republican Senators dont get led down the path of weak and ineffective Border Security. Without strong Borders, we dont have a Country  and the voters are on board with us. Be strong and smart, dont fall into the Democrats trap of Open Borders and Crime!

Democrats contended that Trump was declaring an emergency where none existed, and they argued that he was usurping Congress constitutional authority over government spending. They said the real issue at stake in Tuesdays vote is not Trumps border wall, but the Constitution and its separation of powers.

It was a lawless act, a gross abuse of power, and an attempt by the president to distract from the fact that he broke his core promise that Mexico pay for the wall, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said. Theres no evidence of an emergency at the border.

House Democratic leaders and rank-and-file lawmakers held a news conference where they displayed a sign that said, Terminate Trumps Fake Emergency.

I pray that the members of the House will have the conscience and the courage to protect the greatest Constitution the world has ever seen, said House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.). The American people will be watching.

During the Obama administration, Republicans focused intently on protecting their constitutional prerogatives as they repeatedly accused President Barack Obama of executive overreach over his unilateral moves aimed at protecting certain groups of immigrants from deportation, among other issues. During those years, House Republicans made retaking power from the executive branch a central plank of their Better Way governing agenda, and voted to pass a measure called the Executive Needs to Faithfully Observe and Respect Congressional Enactments of the Law Act of 2014.

Some of these same Republicans argued Monday that the situation is different now, because Trump is relying on a federal law that allows him to declare a national emergency, and because, they said, evidence of an emergency was plentiful  even though border apprehensions are at their lowest levels in decades. Republican lawmakers have been reluctant throughout Trumps presidency to challenge him outright, given the popularity he retains with Republican voters, and his national emergency declaration did not appear to have changed that.

Does the president have the legal authority to call an emergency, just as 60 times has been done since 1976? The president does have that legal authority to do it, McCarthy said. What President Obama did was much different when he changed law in the process. Here what were finding is, yes, there is an emergency along the border.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said that its quite obvious from the Border Patrol, all sorts of information of drugs coming across the border, fentanyl enough to kill 100,000 people, sex trafficking, human trafficking, drugs coming across, criminals coming across. The No. 1 responsibility of the federal government is to protect the American people.

Asked about concerns that Congress might be ceding some of its prerogatives, and creating a precedent that future presidents could use to declare emergencies on a variety of issues, Grassley said that the National Emergencies Act should be revisited.

But not all Republicans were ready to support Trump. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, reiterated her intention to vote for the disapproval resolution, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, suggested in an interview with an Anchorage television station over the weekend that she would likely do the same.

On Monday, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who is up for reelection in a presidential battleground state, joined them, writing in an opinion piece for The Washington Post: It is my responsibility to be a steward of the Article I branch, to preserve the separation of powers and to curb the kind of executive overreach that Congress has allowed to fester for the better part of the past century. I stood by that principle during the Obama administration, and I stand by it now.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., had cautioned Trump beforehand about the possibility that an emergency declaration would result in a vote of disapproval that would force him to issue the first veto of his presidency. But McConnell ultimately agreed to support the declaration as Congress negotiated its way out of another government shutdown earlier month.

Those negotiations resulted in a deal giving Trump just $1.375 billion for 55 miles of border fences, well short of the $5.7 billion hed sought for more than 200 miles of steel walls. Along with moving money from other accounts, the emergency declaration would give the president access to some $6 billion more for border barriers. During the 2016 campaign, Trump repeatedly said Mexico would pay for the wall.

Despite their evident discomfort with Trumps course of action, only a small number of senators declared their outright opposition.

The emergency course is not one I favor, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told reporters Monday evening.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., objected to the concept on the separation of powers grounds and also opposed how money moved from other accounts to pay for the wall would leave those other projects underfunded. You dont solve one problem by creating another, Rubio said.

Romney and Rubio both declined to say how they would vote on the resolution when it reaches the Senate.

I didnt want it to come to this because I think its probably going to get tied up in court, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex., said. But he blamed Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.).

I lean against the resolution of disapproval mainly because I think this is Schumer and Pelosis way of painting the president into a corner, Cornyn said. He said all along he wanted the money to do border security and they basically were determined not to give him what he thought was necessary, so hes using existing congressional authorizations to access funds. So its not like he made this up out of whole cloth.

Away from the Capitol, there were also signs of mounting GOP opposition. A bipartisan group of 58 former senior national security leaders released a statement asserting that Trump had no basis for an emergency declaration, and 24 former Republican members of Congress signed an open letter opposing the move as an encroachment on Congresss role.

California and other states have sued to block the emergency declaration, as have some advocacy groups. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, was in the Capitol on Monday for meetings on the emergency declaration and other issues. Newsom told reporters that there is no border emergency and declared the whole situation theater of the absurd.

This is pure politics, base politics, and everybody knows it, he said.

  

The Washington Posts Paul Kane and Rachael Bade contributed to this report.
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SANTA FE  State lawmakers are sending to the governor a proposal that would ensure New Mexico continues to receive tax revenue from companies that operate national laboratories in the state.

The legislation, Senate Bill 11, passed the House on Sunday with an amendment, and the Senate agreed to the change Monday, sending it to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The bill allows New Mexico to continue to impose taxes on operators of national laboratories  such as Los Alamos and Sandia  even if they have nonprofit status.

Analysts for the Legislature said New Mexico stood to lose about $25 million to $30 million a year if the prime contractor of Los Alamos National Laboratory had tax-exempt status.

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RIO RANCHO, N.M.  In a stunning display of political short-sightedness, New Mexico Democrat legislators are threatening to destroy the very wellspring of New Mexicos educational funding.

By now, most New Mexicans know that a whopping majority of our states educational funding comes from our oil and gas industry. This is largely made possible from the highly effective and lucrative practice of fracking.

According to the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association: Thanks to fracking, New Mexico is one of the United States leading producers of oil and natural gas, and without fracking, oil and gas production would be nearly non-existent in New Mexico.

Fortunately, thats where most of New Mexicos educational dollars come from instead of from our pockets.

Just as our new governor touts her expansive new agenda, with its ambitious promises of financial abundance for New Mexicos educational system, Democrat Sens. Benny Shendo and Antoinette Sedillo Lopez are cluelessly pushing their bill, SB 459, prohibiting the issuance of new hydraulic fracturing permits, as well as miring existing fracking enterprises in a mountainous pile of new reporting requirements.

Why do Sens. Shendo and Sedillo Lopez want to undercut New Mexicos kids and teachers by killing the goose that lays the golden eggs? Dont they get it?

Hydraulic fracturing  injecting fluid into rock to stimulate the flow of otherwise unobtainable oil or natural gas  has been mercilessly demonized by ideologically driven environmentalists for years. Theyve scared a good many people into thinking that groundwater may be contaminated by fracking.

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However, the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division, the states official government regulator of fracking activities says, Despite these claims and the wide press they receive, there have been no proven cases of groundwater contamination from hydraulic fracturing anywhere in the United States. During the fracking process, all fluids are kept isolated from fresh water through multiple layers of metal casing and cement placed in the well. Fluids that return to the surface are safely disposed of via state regulated processes.

I trust New Mexicos own state regulators more than the speculations of partisan political activists.

As a former vice president of my local school board, I take education seriously. Like all New Mexicans, I want our schools to be well-funded, our teachers to be fairly paid and all of our students to be successful.

Our state has been blessed with rich natural resources. Lets use them for a good purpose: to give our students a bright future in New Mexico.

(Craig Brandt, a Republican, represents state senate District 40, which includes Rio Rancho. He was first elected in 2013.)
Sarah Mearhoff

American News</p><p>Capitol Correspondent

PIERRE  South Dakota lawmakers narrowly voted down a bill that would have added clergy to the states list of mandatory reporters of suspected cases of child abuse and neglect.

Under current South Dakota law, professionals such as teachers, doctors and social workers are required to report to authorities if they suspect or know that child abuse is taking place. House Bill 1230 would have added clergy members  and comparable spiritual leaders of religions other than Christianity  to that list of mandatory reporters.

The House Monday defeated the bill by a 34-33 vote.

Proponents of the bill said that clergy members have bonds with families and children that may make them more likely to find out about abuse, whether from observation or a conversation with the child. But power dynamics may make clergy feel that they cannot report abuses they learn of to authorities.

Many of us know that clergy do have a moral obligation to protect children, but duty and responsibility can be overshadowed by relational and power dynamics within a congregation or a community, House Minority Whip and prime sponsor of the bill Rep. Erin Healy, D-Sioux Falls, said.

Proponents also said that when incidents from within the church go unreported, perpetrators may be able to continue their abuse in their church or another, if they are moved, continuing the cycle of abuse and hurting more victims without legal repercussions.

Rep. Scyller Borglum, R-Rapid City, said that mandating reporting would lift a burden from clergy if they feel pressure from their church elders or community to brush a possible incident of abuse under the rug. She said the power of elders and wealthy, well-known families cannot be underestimated.

The weight that elders can bring down on these pastors to not disrupt an established family, a well-known and respected family, an individual that has money  that is a very, very powerful motivator and that is what this bill is driving to circumvent, Borglum said.

But opponents of HB 1230 said it went too far, impeding upon First Amendment rights to freedom of religion. Rep. Kaleb Weis, R-Aberdeen, said the bill was inserting the state into the church, and told them how to operate.

Rep. Chris Johnson, R-Rapid City, said he once met a Chinese foreign exchange student who said churches in China have cameras and microphones so the state can surveil the churches.

He asked, Is this bill not a step  even though it be a small one  in that direction?

Lost by only one vote, Healy motioned for the House to reconsider its vote. Her motion failed.
Shannon Marvel

smarvel@aberdeennews.com

Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the plane that flipped Saturday afternoon at Richmond Lake, said Dave Lunzman, chief deputy with the Brown County Sheriffs Office.

They will be coming into town in the next few days, he said, referring to federal investigators.

The Porterfield CP-65 fixed-wing, single-engine plane flipped while attempting a touch-and-go maneuver around 2:30 p.m.

Darryl Shook, 65, of Aberdeen was the pilot, according to Lunzman. Christopher Placek, 41, of Aberdeen was the co-pilot. Both suffered minor injuries.

They both misjudged the depth of the snow on the lake, and it sucked them down and flipped the plane when they attempted the touch and go, Lunzman said Saturday. The plane wound up upside down.

The plane was moved off the ice to the shore near Anchors Away Lodge and Resort Saturday. Lunzman said Monday that it could have since been moved to another location.

He said sobriety tests were administered, as is standard for crashes resulting in injuries. He declined comment about the results.

According to Federal Aviation Administration records based on the planes tail number, it is registered to Hub City Flying Club in Aberdeen.
Katherine Grandstrand

kgrandstrand@aberdeennews.com

With two cups of Cocoa Krispies  one straight from the box, the other crushed  Selby-area farmer and rancher Doug Sieck demonstrated to students the difference between tilled and untilled soil.

The soil  if you dont till it  is kind of like this cup of uncrushed Cocoa Krispies. If you look in there, theres a lot of little spaces in between the kernels, he said.

Sieck was at Lincoln Elementary School in Aberdeen last week for a classroom visit as part of the adopt-a-farmer program through Ag United for South Dakota.

The spaces in dirt are places where all kinds of organisms from worms to fungi to bacteria live, Sieck said.

Inversely, the cup of crushed Cocoa Krispies used to simulate tilled soil had little air below the surface.

We used to do all kinds of tillage and wed think, Ive got to dig up that soil so that when it rains, the water will soak in there, Sieck said.

But, when pouring milk in the cups of cereal, not only did it reach the bottom of the uncrushed cereal a little quicker, the milk was cleaner when it got there.

Instead of the rain running off, it soaks in, we get to keep it, Sieck said.

He, wife Merilee and their farmstead  Deep Roots Ranch  have been adopted by some Aberdeen-area classrooms, including fourth-graders at Lincoln and at Roncalli Elementary School.

While Aberdeen is very much an ag-based community, many of its residents dont have direct access to the farms and ranches that surround it.

These kids that arent farm kids may go on to own farmland down the road, Doug Sieck said. We want them to feel a connection with the land instead of it just being something 400 miles away that somebody sends me a check for each year.

Once a month, he will send videos to Angel Kasper at Ag United, and she edits them and sends them along to the partner schools. Students get to see different aspects of life on Deep Roots Ranch.

Everybody cares more now about what they eat and where it came from, Sieck said.

There are about 550 animals that live on the ranch  cattle, horses, chickens, cats and dogs. Between raising the animals and growing crops, Sieck is incorporating more and more sustainable practices.

That includes calving in the spring, rather than the winter, he said.

His cattle will graze farmland, which leaves behind cow pies, saliva and more, Sieck said. Hell even plant some late-season corn to leave in the ground for the cattle to munch on.

While many people think of Canadian thistle as a weed, Sieck has trained his cattle to eat it.

Weeds are just plants that we havent figured out how to use, he said.

Because thistle has such a deep and complicated root system, its probably picking up nutrients and minerals that arent available in the upper levels of soil, Sieck said.

So maybe the cows are getting a little bit of mineral that they dont normally get by eating some of these weeds that are hard to kill. Maybe theyre not all bad, he said. Another thing with Canadian thistle, we found out that the leaves are really high in protein, so once the cows learn to eat them, its good for them.

This is the second year Sieck has been adopted by classrooms.

The kids are really fun. And the questions, you just never know whats coming, he said. Some are questions and some are just an opening to make a speech.
Aberdeen News

Two elementary teachers are partnering to teach to students who consider English their second language.

Thats at Lincoln Elementary School, where there are 40 students with this designation.

Principal Lisa McNeely said the school came up with a plan last spring to partner first-grade teacher Shannon Scheel and English as a second language teacher Lyza Bixler as co-teachers in a classroom. Together they teach the English-language learners.

The three shared this experience with the Aberdeen School District Board of Education at its regular meeting Monday evening at the District Service Center.

The class is not only comprised of English-language learners, but other students who are learning at the same level.

Scheel said she finds herself using a lot of images to explain what something is.

Other times, Bixler said, the students who primarily speak English offer an explanation that connects with their classmates.

Scheel said Feb. 11 was a milestone for one of the students who spoke out loud for the first time. Scheel said the student previously didnt speak in kindergarten and only whispered to the classmate next to her.

Today she raised her hand to answer a question, Scheel said at the meeting. And she wouldnt have done that if I didnt have another person in there encouraging her to do those things.

She and Bixler said they both feel the co-teaching method theyre using is providing an optimal learning environment for their students.

McNeely said having English-language learners also means coordinating interpreters to help with parent-teacher conferences because parents often do not speak English.

Other news

A

ssistant Superintendent Camille Kaul reviewed the new language arts curriculum for grades six through 12. The district will be using My Perspectives. The curriculum was adopted after a review of new standards approved by the state. New curriculums are adopted every six years and include the purchase of new textbooks.

The new curriculum was selected by a committee. Members specifically asked for a program with a strong writing component with citation skills.

The new curriculum cost $400,000, Kaul said. This covers language arts classes for all middle school and high school grades, two Advanced Placement classes and English-language learner classes.

H

eard good news presentations from Aaron Ryan, who was named 2018-19 Gatorade South Dakota Boys Cross-Country Runner of the Year; Central High School play director Roger McCafferty, who reported the one-act cast received a superior rating at the state contest; and Keilly Gunther, who is thought to be the first Aberdeen student to win the American Legion oratory contest.

The board reviewed and approved the findings of the 2018 audit completed by Eide Bailly. Tara Enquist, who completed the audit, said the only note on the audit was about how payments were recorded for construction work. She said the payments should be recorded based on when the work happens, so its recorded in the correct fiscal year.

The

board approved a resolution accepting the appraised value of $228,000 for a parcel of land in the Warner School District, which will become part of the Aberdeen School District. Aberdeen is exchanging the parcel for another parcel, which will become part of the Warner district. The transaction will be approved, with a future resolution to be considered by the board.
It's a beautiful spring morning on an unusually calm North Sea, but from the wheelhouse of his trawler Dutch skipper Cor Vonk can see a man-made storm brewing. For decades Dutch fishermen like Vonk and his family, from the remote northern island of Texel, have been allowed under European Union rules to pull their hauls from British waters. Now, weeks before Britain is set to leave the EU, Vonk and hundreds of others like him say a divorce without a deal would be catastrophic. "It's really a disaster for the fishermen, as 50 percent of their turnover is caught in British waters. So for the Dutch fishermen it's really a tragedy if the British waters are closed," Vonk told AFP. At dawn, his boat, the Klasina, docks in the northern Dutch harbour of Den Helder and offloads more than four tonnes of fresh sole and plaice -- freshly caught off Dover's famous white cliffs on England's southeastern coast. It's routine work but Vonk, 35, knows that the fish taken from the bowels of his trawler under his careful eye could well be some of the last before Brexit ruins the family business. British government ministers have repeatedly talked of Britain becoming an "independent coastal state" and "taking back control of our waters" after Brexit. As the clock ticks towards Britain's scheduled exit from the EU on March 29, the risk of a disorderly exit grows by the day. In guidelines for the event of Britain leaving the EU without a deal, Britain says that "non-UK-registered vessels will no longer have automatic access to UK waters". That could shut the door on Vonk and other Dutch trawlers who harvest sole and other bottom fish off the sandy Channel floor near Dover. Some 100 Dutch trawlers operate in these waters, each carrying a crew of five to six members. "So we're talking about 500 to 600 families left in the drink," said Vonk. 'Many will go bankrupt' The Dutch fishing industry as a whole is nervous about the prospect of a no-deal Brexit, despite pledges by Brussels to compensate fishermen. "Around 60 percent of the Dutch fleet's revenue is from British waters. But for certain ports it is about 70 percent," Pim Visser, director at the Dutch commercial fishing federation VisNed, told AFP. This rung true for the Vonk family, whose trawler has chugged out of port every Sunday night for a four-day stint, captained by four generations of Vonks. Cor, a fisherman for 17 years, took over from his father Arie, a stocky Dutchman with long hair and a golden earring. Now retired, Arie still joins his son at dawn on a Friday, when the trawler steams into Den Helder to offload the catch at an auction house. Arie Vonk "doesn't get anything" about Brexit, and his son dreads the worst."Closing British waters will be a drama," Cor Vonk said, standing in the wheelhouse of the Klasinanamed after his mother. The boat cost him between one and two million euros, while a new trawler of its type costs up to seven million ($8 million). "If we have to share all the fish in Dutch waters, we'll be fishing on a postage stamp." On Texel alone, 10 trawlers feed 60 familiesand they are dependent on the catch from British waters. Vonk's two sons aged nine and six dream of following in their dad's footsteps. But after Brexit, there may be no family business left. "Many fishermen will go bankrupt, and perhaps us too," Vonk mused. 'Sea belongs to all' Across the Channel, many British fishermen are in favour of Brexit, which they say will help them take back control of their territorial waters. Vonk said Dutch fishers never meet their British colleagues when out at sea and who don't understand the "mayhem" it's causing. "For us, the sea belongs to all, so we don't understand why we should go," he said. Brexit could compound a separate blow for Dutch fishermen, after the EU recently decided to ban the Dutch method of electric pulse fishing from 2021. The controversial techniquewhich Vonk's boat usesfeatures electrodes in nets that shock bottom-dwelling fish. "We are at the mercy of politics," sighed Vonk. VisNed's Pim Visserwhose surname means fisher in Dutch -- said that, if barred from British seas, there could be a "domino effect" whereby Dutch trawlers end up overfishing local waters. "Where you get overfishing, you get displacement. So you get less fish imports, you get less auctions, you get no work at auctions, no work in processing factories," he said. "That's a domino effect, which is really disastrous." Visser also slapped down the idea of "national waters" that has become a resounding theme in the British Brexit debate. "These fish spawn in Danish waters, grow up in Dutch waters and are then caught in British waters," he said. "It's truly European fish."
Cal Thomas

Tribune Content Agency

Kermit the Frog was wrong. It is now easy to be green. The evidence is the Green New Deal, which CNN describes as a ... 10-year economic mobilization that would phase out fossil fuel use and overhaul the nations infrastructure while building whole new layers into the existing social safety net. The 14-page resolution was proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-MA.

Conservatives mock her for proposing, among other things, the complete transformation of every building in the U.S. and trains that would span the oceans as airplanes are phased out. Ocasio-Cortez doesnt appear to know how any of this will be paid for, but when one is liberal it doesnt matter. Its the thought that counts, not the outcome.

It is helpful to remember how what once seemed extreme has now become accepted. Think of abortion, which most of the country opposed in the late 19th century. Now our elected officials advocate for it. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently wrote a scathing op-ed in The New York Times supporting late-term abortions in his state.

Same-sex marriage, the outlawing of prayer and Bible reading in public schools and ending the Pledge of Allegiance in some schools was once thought extreme and fantastical.

Now we have the extreme Green New Deal, which even addresses flatulent cows and the methane they emit. CNBC reports the plan aimed to have the U.S. creating net-zero greenhouse gases in 10 years, lawmakers explaining: We set a goal to get to net-zero, rather than zero emissions, in 10 years because we arent sure that well be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast.

Question. Since there are more humans than cows, shouldnt the deal have included human flatulence, along with information on how they intend to control that?

Ocasio-Cortez was quick to backtrack.

At the time this story was published, writes CNBC, the FAQ page with the phrase farting cows appeared to have been removed from Ocasio-Cortezs website. Fox News John Roberts reported that the language was tweaked to emissions from cows in an update, which also appears to have been deleted.

In separate interviews, Ocasio-Cortez first admitted her proposal would require massive government intervention, but later reversed herself, claiming it is the right wing that is mischaracterizing her proposal about more government intrusion into our lives.

The left is completely transparent now. In the words of Barack Obama, they do plan to fundamentally transform the United States of America. Millennials, especially, are fine with this because they have had such nonsense fed to them in public schools and by university professors. No evidence that contradicts their doctrines can persuade them. They accept what they have been told as a cult member accepts what its leader tells them.

Need proof? Read a report by the National Association of Scholars on the state of civics education in U.S. public schools. An analysis of the 525-page document on thefederalist.com found that even in places where civics education remains, it is being transformed into a political machine to push left-wing causes, undermine American government and incite civil unrest. ... The New Civics uses attractive, bipartisan-sounding works like civics and service learning to trick Americans and their representatives into allowing progressive political machinery to hijack public funds and young minds.

The left used to mask their agenda for fear of backlash. Now they are open about their views. The response should go beyond ridicule. What we need is pushback that contains scientific, economic and political arguments and supplants feelings with facts.

Want more proof that failed liberal policies never produce a change of direction, but a doubling down on discredited ideas? A task force created by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel proposes giving some Chicago families $1,000 per month with no strings attached. The idea is to break the cycle of poverty, but that assumes recipients use taxpayer money wisely. Im sure a guaranteed check for doing nothing will be all the incentive some need to liberate themselves from an addiction to government. It has worked so well at the federal level, hasnt it?

Several Democratic presidential candidates support the Green New Deal, though it reeks of communism. After the ridicule, opponents had better find a way to communicate the truth, or we risk becoming another Venezuela.
When it comes to a simple morning indulgence, few things beat a cup of coffee and a warm donutexcept maybe two donuts.

Luckily, like with most foodie favorites, the Bay Area has a plethora of donut spots for you to try.

Maybe you're looking for the best classic donut, or you want to try a bunch of different flavors without committing to an entire donut. Maybe you're on the hunt for an understated yet satisfying vegan option.

For this Bay Area Bites Guide, we have you covered. We've rounded up some classic favorites and exciting newcomers to the donut scenes in San Francisco and Oakland, taking you on a tasty tour from one side of the Bay bridge to the other. It's worth noting, however, that this list is not exhaustive. There are always new sweet spots to be discoveredeven if you haven't had your coffee yet.

Twisted Donuts A cup of coffee and a Fruirrito at Twisted Donuts. Located smack in the middle of the Sunset district in San Francisco (just between the Inner and the Outer), Twisted Donuts is a small shop with a lot to offer. Open since 2014, Twisted specializes in nailing the classics during the week, like their old-fashioned cake or bavarian cream-filled donuts. But on the weekends, you can expand your palate to something a little more adventurouslike a "Fruirrito." A Fruirrito is a deep-fried wrapped confection filled with something sweet and it is absolutely a two-person undertaking. For example, the Nutella Fruirrito is layers of flakey pastry wrapped burrito-style around Nutella filling. The outside is glazed with sugar and topped with walnuts. It's delicious, ridiculous, and unique to Twisted's weekend menu. Like many donut shops around the Bay, Twisted Donuts asks for a $5 minimum when using your card for purchases, so either bring cash or plan to grab a cup of coffee to go with your donuts. If the latter, then be prepared for choice paralysis as the brew offerings range from several flavors, blends, and roasts so you can pair your cup with your bite. Once you're ready, you can hike up the Mosaic Stairs on 16th, just a short walk away from Twisted. It's a great view of the Bay and the perfect way to walk off your breakfast. // 1243 Noriega St. (Outer Sunset), twisteddonutsf.com

Dynamo Donuts Artwork by Camila Valdez on the roof of Dynamo Donut + Coffee. One of the first things you'll notice walking up to Dynamo Donut + Coffee on 24th street in the Mission is the original Camila Valdez sculpture on the roof. Even though you have to crane your neck to see it, the pink donut with a pair of women's legs attached is hard to miss. Luckily, Dynamo's donuts are attention-grabbing, so between the art and the snacks there's plenty to see. Dynamo has an impressive list of regular offerings, including some gluten-free options, that are anything but "everyday donuts." Flavors like Passionfruit Milk Chocolate and Maple Bacon Apple are on the board every day, or you can try a seasonal offering Pumpkin Chocolate Chip in October, or Persimmon in November. For the gluten-intolerant donut-lover there's monthly options like carrot cake or lemon poppyseed, but as a heads up to those with especially sensitive allergies, "I Am Not a Glutens" donuts are fried in the same oil as their more gluteny counterparts. While the Mission location is a walk-up window, they also have a few tables inside their retro-inspired space. The open kitchen layout makes it so you can watch the donut making process while you enjoy your breakfast. If you'd like to munch and walk, you can take in the murals at Balmy Alley just a few blocks away. // 2760 24th St. (Mission), dynamodonut.com

Donut Savant A couple of donut holes and a fresh pour-over at Donut Savant in Oakland. Jumping across the Bay Bridge lands you at Donut Savant in downtown Oakland, just outside the 19th street BART station. If you're looking for a way to try a lot of different types of donuts without having to commit to a full dozen, then the wide variety of donut holes and bite-size pastries will be the perfect fit for you. You may be familiar with the traditional donut holea small, bite-sized ball of donut meant to symbolize the middle of the donut that's usually absent. In this case, however, you can get cronut holes and cinnamon roll holes in addition to more traditional glazed and cinnamon sugar donut holes. The cronut holes in particular are impressive as they manage to take all the flakey, sugary goodness of a cronut and make it bite-size without losing anything from the larger version. Of course, if you fall in love with a bite and want the full version, that's always available as well. If you'd like to order a pour-over and stay awhile with your donut samplings, then Donut Savant's sleek and comfortable space has several tables for you to perch at. Otherwise, you can take a box to go and have a donut picnic at Lake Merritt, which is walking distance from the shop. // 1934 Broadway (Oakland), donutsavant.com

Sweet Belly Desserts Two boxes of fresh donuts and dip at Sweet Belly Desserts. If you'd like to make a day of your donut tour, Sweet Belly Desserts is just around the corner from Donut Savant in downtown Oakland. The sugary answer to Uptown's wildly popular Belly, Sweet Belly offers handcrafted ice cream creations and other desserts. It's the made-to-order mini donuts, however, that steal the show. Much like its bright and immediately Instagrammable interior, ordering mini donuts at Sweet Belly is an experience. First, you decide the type of sugar your donuts will be tossed inplain, cinnamon, and several exciting fruit options like citrus and strawberry. Then you choose a drizzle, which is a sweet syrup topping, and the dip, which can be a flavored whipped cream or a fruit sauce. It's not until you've completed your order that the donuts are fried, making them fresh and still warm upon arrival. Sweet Belly's mini donuts come in boxes of six or twelve, and the packaging is lovely, with small designed desserts surrounding embossed lettering. You can take them as a gift or simply indulge in a few #foodie posts for your social media (we won't blame you). For those looking to satisfy a particularly intense sweet tooth, you can combine Sweet Belly's handcrafted soft serve with a mini donut. It's about $5 and it's everything your daydream cravings have ever wanted. // 435 19th St

(Oakland), sweetbellydesserts.com

Pepples Donut Farm Outside of Pepples Donut Farm in Oakland. With multiple locations all across the Bay, Pepples Donut Farm is a favorite spot for vegan donutsand just about vegan anything. Monday through Friday you can pick up donuts and coffee from 7am to 3pm, or you can settle in for a full vegan breakfast 9am to 230pm. If you're more of a brunch person, then you can grab a table on Saturday or Sunday for Donut Farm's full menu. There are some skeptical parties that aren't sure what to make of vegan baked goods. Generally, it's clear that those skeptics simply haven't tried them yet, and Donut Farm's donuts are a great place to start. The plain cake donut, for example, is moist and springy, with the crunch of sugar on the outside that makes it a real "regular donut" imitator in every way. For the donut connoisseurs, the top shelf offerings range from Salted Caramel to Whiskey Tangerine Fig to Sweet Curry (if you can catch it on rotation). If you're more interested in weekend donuts than a full brunch event, then Donut Farm has a special roster of donuts only available on Saturday and Sunday. You can snag a Banana Fritter, Cinnamon Swirl Twist or a Jelly-Filled, for example. // 6037 San Pablo Ave. (Oakland), vegandonut.farm

This article was written by Mel Burke and originally published on KQED's Bay Area Bites.
Jennifer Wilson at the Paris Review:

Why do we so often believe that secrecy must necessarily mask transgression? Busch unravels that association in How to Disappear. The laborious, sometimes caustic recipes for invisibility ink and potion included in the book (some from mythology, some from military history) themselves suggest something nefarious. Take for instance the hulinhjalmur, an invisibility-granting symbol from ancient Iceland that had to be smeared on a persons forehead with a mixture of blood drawn from your finger and nipples, mixed with the blood and brains of a raven along with a piece of human stomach. Busch writes that our tendency to associate [invisibility] with wrongdoing, degeneracy, malice, even the work of the devil is not accidental. It is inscribed into many of our oldest myths, including the Ring of Gyges, retold famously by Kristin Scott Thomass character in The English Patient. Gyges, a simple shepherd who discovers a ring that confers invisibility, uses his newfound power to kill the king, marry his wife, and take the throne for himself. This idea, that invisibility can lead an otherwise ordinary and honorable person to commit transgressions and behave unjustly, has stubbornly stayed with us.

more here.
at the Palace Monday amid talk that his group was disgruntled over the composition of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, the Palace said Tuesday. Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the meeting was held in Malacanang and lasted for 15 minutes. What transpired last night was the President told the chairman that he admired his patience and he apologized for not having the implemented or enforced whatever agreements that they had previously [reached] with respect to federalism, Panelo said. They will be talking again precisely for that. They did not have much time to talk, so they will meet again, he added. Earlier, Emmanuel Fontanilla, who claimed to be speaking for Misuari, said the rebel group does not recognize the transition body because it is not represented in it. Datu Ali Montaha Babao, a speaker of the Bangsamoro Peoples National Congress of the MNLF, also complained about the mere five seats given to the MNLF in the BTA. But presidential peace adviser. Galvez also disputed Babaos claim, saying that 14 members of the 80-man transition body would represent the MNLF, nine of which were even nominated by Misuari. They [Fontanilla and Babao] also applied [to be part of the BTA] but were not included. I believe they are making these statements for selfish and personal reasons. More importantly, they are not authorized to speak for the MNLF, Galvez told Manila Standard. Panelo said Misuari did not raise the issue with the President during their meeting. Number one, if the MNLF is complaining about it, the chairman did not mention it last night. Number two, per Galvez, there has been an equitable representation in that authority, he said. Panelo said another meeting will be set at a later date for the two to have ample time to discuss relevant matters. In a speech before the Liga ng mga Barangay on Monday evening, Duterte said Misuari might leave the peace process.Also on Tuesday, the Sandiganbayans Third Division entered a not guilty plea on behalf of Misuari in connection connection with the P115 million textbook scam in 2000 to 2001. This came after Misuari refused to enter a plea during his arraignment Tuesday. The anti-graft court also ordered Misuari to pay travel bond worth P920,000 for his trip to the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Morocco, after he asked to be allowed to fly out of the country starting today, Feb. 27. Misuari will proceed to Morocco on March 11, as indicated in his itinerary. He said he is expected to return to the Philippines between March 17 and 20. Misuari said he will travel to Abu Dhabi from March 1 to 2 for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Summit and to Rabat, Morocco on March 13 and 14 for the Parliamentary Union of the OIC-Member States. He said his presence in those meetings was necessary since MNLF is the sole representative of the Bangsamoro people in both summits. The court granted his request over the objections of the prosecution. READ: BTA chief vows: Jihad vs. corruption Misuari, who served as governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, was charged with three counts each of graft and malversation for allegedly conspiring with his co-accused to give unwarranted benefits, advantage and privilege to three private companies. The Ombudsman found that no such materials were delivered by MBJ Learning Tools, CPR Publishing, and White Orchids Printing and Publishing House.
This, from 2015 but worth reading anyway, is by Scott Alexander in Slate Star Codex:

It takes a special sort of person to be a cardiologist. This is not always a good thing.

You may have read about one or another of the cardiologist caught falsifying test results and performing dangerous unnecessary surgeries to make more money stories, but you might not have realized just how common it really is. Maryland cardiologist performs over 500 dangerous unnecessary surgeries to make money. Unrelated Maryland cardiologist performs another 25 in a separate incident. California cardiologist does several hundred dangerous unnecessary surgeries and gets raided by the FBI. Philadelphia cardiologist, same. North Carolina cardiologist, same. 11 Kentucky cardiologists, same. Actually just a couple of miles from my own hospital, a Michigan cardiologist was found to have done $4 million worth of the same. Etc, etc, etc.

My point is not just about the number of cardiologists who perform dangerous unnecessary surgeries for a quick buck. Its not even just about the cardiology insurance fraud, cardiology kickback schemes, or cardiology research data falsification conspiracies. That could all just be attributed to some distorted incentives in cardiology as a field. My point is that it takes a special sort of person to be a cardiologist.

Consider the sexual harassment. Head of Yale cardiology department fired for sexual harassment with rampant bullying. Stanford cardiologist charged with sexually harassing students. Baltimore cardiologist found guilty of sexual harassment. LA cardiologist fined $200,000 for groping med tech. Three different Pennsylvania cardiologistssexually harassing the same woman. Arizona cardiologist suspended on 19 (!) different counts of sexual abuse. One of the worlds leading cardiologists fired for sending pictures of his genitals to a female friend. New York cardiologist in trouble for refusing to pay his $135,000 bill at a strip club. Manhattan cardiologist taking naked pictures of patients, then using them to sexually abuse employees. New York cardiologist secretly installs spycam in office bathroom. Just to shake things up, a Florida cardiologist was falsely accused of sexual harassment as part of feud with another cardiologist.

More here.
President Rodrigo Duterte may tackle issues of security and terrorism with United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Palace said on Monday, mulling the possibility that the decades-old Mutual Defense Treaty between the US and the Philippines would be brought up during the meeting. There will be talks between their government and our government with respect to our relations and whatever [topics that] the Secretary of State would like to open up, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo told a Palace news briefing. Although he admitted he had no information about the meeting on Thursday, the Palace official said mutual concerns like security and terrorism would be discussed. In a related development:  The Department of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday bewailed the article published by Washington Post regarding the killings in Manila because it seeks to discredit the Philippines in the eyes of the international community. We take strong exception to the article entitled, This is Manila that appeared on the front page of the Washington Post on 25 February 2019, the DFA through the Philippine Embassy in the United States said in a statement. It is disappointing how this article hides behind the guise of journalism to advance an agenda that seeks to discredit the Philippines in the eyes of the international community, it added. At the Malacanang news conference, Panelo was asked if the issue with China would be discussed, Panelo said it depended on the top US diplomat. But he did not count the possibility that the decades-old Mutual Defense Treaty would be deliberated. [Defense] Secretary Delfin Lorenzana mentioned something about the Defense Treaty. It might be that. Maybe they will talk about that, Panelo said. Sought for a clarification, Lorenzana said he could not confirm anything yet as he still had to see the agenda first. Pompeo is expected to arrive in the country on Feb. 28. The top US diplomat will be paying Duterte a two-day visit in Manila after attending the scheduled summit of US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam from Feb. 26 to 28. Last December 2018, the defense chief lamented the present-day relevance of the mutual treaty which was forged in 1951. According to Lorenzana, the possible review of the 67-year-old pact might result in its abolition but stressed that he would have to look into the matter dispassionately without considering past ties and future ties with the US. He was also weighing the consequences on whether to scrap the MDT or not, assuring the public that the interest of the country would remain.Under the defense treaty, Washington and Manila agree to conduct joint military exercises to strengthen both sides defenses. The countries then engage in regular war games and deployment of thousands of US troops and state-of-the-art American military hardware to the country. The treaty, forged by the two Pacific allies during the Cold War era in 1951, mandates that both countries should defend each other in case of an attack in its territory. The embassy protest came after Washington Post published a story that focuses on the unsolved killing of a 44-year-old jobless Filipino man in Tondo whose body was found floating under a bridge on Jan. 14. His is a portrait of one more life brokenand one more death left unexplainedin a city with many such stories, the Washington Post article said. Whether the deaths are mostly related to Dutertes war on drugs is unclear. But what connects them all is a kind of numbed silence, it said. Since President Rodrigo Duterte rose to power more than two years ago, the death toll from his war on drugs has kept climbing. Authorities report that more than 5,000 drug personalities have been killed in police operations around the country. The Philippine Embassy lamented that the article paints a picture not of Manila, but of a hasty generalization that has no foundation in reality. Unsurprisingly, the article fails to mention that majority of the Filipino people continue to back their government in the fight against illegal drugs, the statement stressed. It cited the latest survey by the Social Weather Stations that showed eight in 10 Filipinos are satisfied with the governments anti-illegal drugs campaign. The embassy also cited a Pulse Asia survey indicating public support for the campaign at 77 percent among Metro Manila residents. Reduced criminality is a major driver of public support, the embassy said. Data from the Philippine National Police showed that total crime volume has gone down from 675,816 in 2015 to 473,068 in 2018, or a total decrease of 30 percent. Besides, erring police personnel were meted disciplinary penalties, including dismissal from service, demotion, suspension, forfeiture of salary, reprimand, restriction and withholding of privileges. As a nation that cherishes freedom, democracy and justice, and as a responsible member of the international community, the Philippines upholds the rule of law and human rights in all its endeavors, the embassy said. We will continue to engage in sincere, constructive, and evidence-based dialogue with our international partners in the pursuit of common goals and mutual interests. The US along with the United Nations and the European Union have repeatedly expressed concern on the wave of killings of drug suspects since President Rodrigo Duterte came into power in 2016.
We shape our buildings and afterward, our buildings shape us is a famous quote from Winston Churchill that is borrowed so often by architects. Churchill was addressing the debate over a new plan for rebuilding the destroyed Commons Chamberduring the Blitz. Churchill believed that the traditional rectangular shape should remain intact since it represents the essence of British parliamentary democracy. The quote in architecture refers to our built environment and the impact of architecture on our everyday life, however, the very core essence of the architecture is also conveying concepts and beliefs through its shape and form. Therefore, architecture acts as media and convey special information to its users. Though, it is not the only way it can be used in such a particular manner.

Maze Runner Death Cure. Image  Darek Zabrocki.

Architecture has been always offering different values through its characteristics. For instance, the pyramids were built to glorify the reign of pharaohs over Egypt or Persepolis to be a sign of justice and glory of Achaemenid Empire. In the modern era, it was also always a tool to embody the concepts of different ideologies. Despite all the critiques, the modernists used it to show how rational architecture can be or how it can be simplified and implemented. On the other side, postmodernism is confirming that there is a greater power in the very core essence of architecture; it can depict the future of humans and their desires. Cyberpunk is one of those futures which is often depicted in movies such as the Matrix. It combines technology and lowlife in a futuristic setting which uses high-rise technologies and mostly neon lighting to depict a city of cyberpunk culture. But what is really important is that the cyberpunk culture cannot be imagined without architecture.

Cyberpunk City 2040. Image  Lybius Zhang.

Cyberpunk Architecture is a very special case that is depicting the future of humans. There can be a counterpart argument asserting that nothing of our future is imaginable without an environment. But the truth is a cyberpunk lifestyle, let's say a character of this style, would not be fitting very well in an environment that belongs to the villages of pharaohs' era. Otherwise, it would turn to one of those Marvel's stories that superheroes travel to the past. This is the power of architecture that lets us imagine a common future that cyberpunk lifestyle might be part of it.

The Cyberpunk City of The Maze Runner. Image Courtesy of The Maze Runner.

By taking a close look at how a cyberpunk city can look like, we will feel that every single element of a cyberpunk city is somehow related to architecture; it starts with highrises at the distant view usually with very strong neon spotlights, some state of the art buildings in the middle view which usually are highlighted with neon lights on their windows, and there some low rise buildings on the foreground that the huge monitors are usually installed on them. The latter is the location of the viewer as seen on most of the cyberpunk depictions. This clever use of architecture reminds us of Le Corbusier's quote that says "Architecture is the learned game, correct and magnificent, of forms assembled in the light". However, we will have a very long silence if someone accosts us and asks us about how would a cyberpunk city look like during the day. The silence is due to the dependence of a cyberpunk depiction on neon lights. Also, neon lights are even used in the very few depictions of such a city during the day in a very clever way. They used to highlight the masses and voids in the buildings.

Cyberpunk 2077 (an upcoming video game). Image courtesy of Cyberpunk 2077.

As we can see, a cyberpunk character is depicted in an environment that is mostly dependant on architecture. Therefore, architecture is what makes the common future of a particular concept visible for the rest of the world. It has the power to convey concepts and embodies notions. Architecture is a very powerful tool of humans that shapes their life, emotions, and even personality. Therefore, we should be very careful about how we use it and what we depict by architecture.

Top image: Neos City from DeviantArt. Image  Jordan Grimmer.
But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt.

Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.
President Rodrigo Duterte should not be blamed for the death threats received by Catholic priests, the Palace said Monday, describing his remarks in December about robbing and killing useless and rich Catholic bishops and priests an exaggeration. Again, that is just hyperbole. Its a criticism. Its just a criticism, said Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo. Panelo issued the statement after Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle sent the President a message informing him that religious leaders have been receiving death threats recently from someone claiming to be working for the Presidentss family. On Monday, Duterte appealed to the public not to threaten to kill Catholic priests and bishops. In his speech during the 1st National Assembly of Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas, the President retracted his statement about robbing and killing bishops and priests. Our quarrel is only between me and the Church. Its personal. You, addicts, should not harm the bishops and cardinals and take it seriously. They are not involved in the political ruckus, Duterte said. The President said he was only responding to the previous statement from a priest praying for his death. I was just responding, I only replied to the remark of a priest telling me to die. But really, dont kill the bishops and priest. Its not allowed, he said. But he could not steer clear of his criticism of the clergy. What would I get if I killed the priests? Many would be widowed because maybe those stupids have three girlfriends. Why would you kill a priest? Theyre just like us, he added. On Sunday, the President also warned groups to lay off priests, bishops, and other Catholic officials, saying those who defy his warning would answer to him.In December 2018, Duterte made headlines by urging people to kill and steal from useless and rich Catholic priests and bishops, belittling their existence as they only know how to criticize the government. The Palace has since downplayed the remarks as an exaggeration, saying the President only uses hyperbole to add dramatic effect in his speeches. On Tuesday, Caloocan City Bishop Pablo David skipped ceremonies to confer on him the Ka Pepe Diokno Human Rights Award because he was receiving death threats, Chel Diokno, a senatorial candidate and son of the late senator Jose W. Diokno said. Rappler chief Maria Ressa, who is being prosecuted for cyber libel, also received the award. Also on Tuesday, the Palace said the Catholic Church should consider allowing priests to marry, even with the same sex, as a move to stop the sexual abuse of children committed by some members of the clergy. In a speech in Cebu City on Sunday evening, the President said the recently held summit of top religious leaders in the Vatican just validated his criticisms against priests and bishops. Allow them to marry. Same-sex, Go ahead. Live together. The Catholics... the Muslims can only have four. Catholics can have up to three wives. Ill add more for us because there are those who have not been married yet, the President said. Priests should be allowed to marry. Thats the only solution there. Even the gay ones, allow them to marry, same-sex marriage. I am in favor of that to put an end to the problem, he added. In a summit at the Vatican, the Pope told bishops to wage an all-out battle against clerical sexual abuse, emphasizing that the Church needed to take every necessary measure to end the problem.
I was right, unfortunately, for all of us, the son testified.

It clearly wasnt easy testimony to provide, and maybe it shouldnt be considered an extraordinary thing. But truth has become a malleable commodity in politics, something thats shaped and pruned to fit the agenda of the day. So it has been with Mark Harris and other Republicans, particularly NCGOP officials who for weeks have tried to focus only on the pieces of the truth  legal votes  that would get Harris seated in Congress. That is, until Mark Harris called for a new election Thursday. Moments later, NCGOP chair Robin Hayes declared: The people of North Carolina deserve nothing less than the full confidence and trust in the electoral system.

Such whiplash reversals elicit little more than a shrug these days, from Raleigh to Washington. And if you think its only a Republican phenomenon, then the truth is eluding you, as well.
The movie comes at a striking time for pro-life activists. A bill in the Senate is getting people on the record about survivors of late-term abortions; at the same time, the discussion over late-term abortions gives us the opportunity to think about abortion in all three trimesters: Do we need to do it? Is there another way to help women? Couldnt we/shouldnt we be doing more to support community health centers that dont have so much to do with abortion?

And there are so many other questions raised by Unplanned: Do we love one another? Truly, in beautifully painful ways? Across a fence? I may believe theres evil happening inside someone, but do I love him or her anyway? I may pray for their conversions, but do I also pray for their families and that they may one day know real love? You may think Im a hack writing about abortion again and again, but can we respect each other and see the good in everyone we encounter? Can we work together on something?

A few hours before I saw the movie with Johnson, actress Ashley Bratcher and producer Chris Jones, I went to Confession. And as I walked out, I saw a man who seemed to carry all his belongings in a busted suitcase blow a kiss inside the church. The movie does something similar. Its a love letter across the fence of our miserable politics that in recent years has strained family relationships and broken up friendships.

Obviously, if you work for Planned Parenthood or wake up in the morning motivated by the cause of abortion rights and expansion, youre probably not going to bother seeing Unplanned. But people do change their minds. We watched the film on the anniversary of the 2011 death of Dr. Bernard Nathanson, who changed his mind after performing 75,000 abortions and helped found the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws. Unplanned could help restart things, so I hope many consider seeing it. I dont expect 1,000 Nathanson conversions, but at least some small progress toward something better. Watch Unplanned with humility, whoever you are. We all have something to learn from it about the power of love.

Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review Online and founding director of Catholic Voices USA. She can be contacted at klopez@nationalre view.com.

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My parents had not experienced winters like that, Robertson said. As a little kid I thought it was cool.

The house was covered in mud, and many of his familys belongings were washed away by the river. Some families in the area used boats to reach their homes.

Im sure we lost plenty. You didnt have any place to take it to, he said, noting two of his grandparents lived nearby and also were displaced.

In 1980, Robertson purchased his home on Cottage Row where he has lived nearly 40 years.

After major flooding in 1993, many Cedar Valley residents again were searching for higher ground, and Robertson began an addition to his house. New codes from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources required houses in the floodplain to elevate higher than the level of a 200-year flood. He complied.

Major flooding in 2008 again sent Robertson and hundreds of folks packing for several weeks as many homes and business were inundated and destroyed.

They were right.  The old part of the house got water in it, and the addition was dry, he said.

This winter, Robertson is uneasy about the potential for another major flood.
Cruz said he saw the father being dragged out of the house. You see the tracks right there, he said pointing nearby to the snow where a gurney likely had passed. I didnt see anybody else come out.

He was too busy trying to get his own kids prepared to go out into the cold. The Muscatine Police actually carried my kids out to safety, Cruz said. It appeared there was no damage to his home, despite its close proximity to the fire.

Cruz moved into the neighborhood last May, and said the victims had been there a few years before that.

A release from the Muscatine Fire Department said the house is likely a total loss. Structure and belongings are estimated at more than an $80,000 loss.

One firefighter suffered a minor injury but did not require medical attention.

The names of the deceased are being withheld pending confirmation of the identities by the Muscatine County medical examiner. Autopsies will be performed at the University of Iowa to determine the exact cause of deaths.

The cause of this fire remains classified as undetermined, according to a release from the city Tuesday. There were smoke alarms but it is unknown if they were working.

Approximately 30 firefighters responded to the fire, including some who were off duty.

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WATERLOO  A case against a Waterloo man accused of attacking a female acquaintance while armed with a machete has been put on hold.

Earlier this month, a judge stayed proceedings against Dennis Lamont Quinn, 28, who is charged with second-degree sexual abuse, first-degree burglary and assault while displaying a weapon, to allow for a mental exam.

Quinns attorney, Michael Lanigan, told the court Quinn has a history of bipolar disorder and he is concerned Quinn may also suffer from paranoid schizophrenia because of erratic behavior including talking to imaginary people while at the Black Hawk County Jail.

Quinn was also arrested for assault on an officer after he allegedly stuck a jail deputy in the face while staff was moving him to another cell on Jan. 28.

On Feb. 4, Judge George Stigler ordered a mental health exam to determine if Quinn is competent to stand trial and able to assist in his own defense, and he ordered the case put on hold.

Waterloo man arrested in machete sex attack WATERLOO -- A Waterloo man has been arrested for allegedly breaking into a womans bedroom a

Police said the victim woke in the early morning hours of June 4 and found Quinn in her bed touching her. After she yelled and locked herself in the bedroom, Quinn forced his way back into the room while holding a machete and punched her in the face and chest, according to court records.

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Also included in the brunch will be muffins, fruit and drinks.

Donations from the omelet brunch, plus proceeds from a raffle of prizes will go toward supporting the Bremer County 4-H program. There are approximately 400 4-H and/or young Clover members active in the Bremer County 4-H program, with projects in numerous projects ranging from dealing with livestock to STEM.

Snowden House to host teas

WATERLOO  The Grout Museum Districts Snowden House, 306 Washington Street, will host themed teas at 10 a.m. the second Saturday of every month through July.

Each tea party will include crafts and activities that coincide with the theme, as well as Scratch Cupcakes, other treats and a classic low tea.

A (Friendly) Dragon Tea Party is set for March 9, followed by a Royal Tea Party.

All teas are sponsored by Scratch Cupcakery

Teas are $8 for members, and $10 for nonmembers. To register, go to www.gmdistrict.org/calendar.

Park adds camping sites

ALLISON  Allisons Wilder Park now has 20 seasonal camping sites available in addition to the parks normal 54 sites.
President Rodrigo Duterte seems determined to change the name of the Philippines. He said Monday night that the countrys name could change in the future, during a speech at the National Assembly of the Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas (League of Villages) at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. Duterte reasoned that Muslims do not like being called Filipinos because it reminded them of King Philip II of Spain, whose name the country was named after. And that will never be accepted by the Moro people, believe me, said the President, mentioning Moro National Liberation Front founding chairperson Nur Misuari and the newly ratified Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Dutertes home region. Misuary, the President explained, is a Tausug, Duterte said. Maybe he may not consider [himself] a Filipino in the right sense. Because its in the name, the name of the king of Spain. Philip [became] [the] Philippines. Muslims prefer to identify themselves by the name of their tribes, the President said. Whenever they go out, [they would say] Im a Tausug. Im Maranao. They will never say Im a Filipino. Maybe the diplomats, those in the career positions, and [those working for the] government [they would say that] but the average Moro.Whatever develops in the future, even in the name we leave it up to the people of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro [to decide]. They want to call it Maharlika, fine, said Duterte. Spanish explorer Ruy Lopez de Villalobos named the country Felipinas in 1542, in honor of King Philip, who was then Spains crown prince. Previously, Duterte proposed that the Philippines should be named Republic of Maharlika, an idea supported by former dictator Ferdinand Marcos. King Philip II, the President said, was not a good role model and that people should read more about him on Facebook. He was not a good man. He had so many wives, unlike me, I only had two. Him, he had a lot. And he was a despot. He was lording it over the country because it was the Spanish era of dominance in Europe, Duterte said.
Feminism, the doctrine advocating rights of women equal to men, is taking a hit from sculptor Kristen Visbal. She's the artist who created Fearless Girl  the bronze statue of a small girl in a defiant pose installed on Wall Street to protest gender bias in the boardroom. By all accounts of her actions lately noted by Hyperallergic, an art and culture forum, one could conclude that she views women's rights as the freedom to violate contracts.

Broken promise

On Feb. 14, the company that purchased Fearless Girl for Wall Street, State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), took legal action against Visbal, claiming she sold copies of the statue to three different entities: a hotel owner in Oslo, a law firm in Australia and the L.A.

Women's March. The lawsuit accuses her of flagrant disregard of her agreement. How could this be? Was Visbal unaware she broke faith with SSGA? No, she knew. The firm claims she had asked for permission to sell copies and was turned down.

More of the same

Visbal's disregard extends past the number of copies cited in the SSGA lawsuit. According to a Hyperallergic story in 2018, Visbal sold 114 copies of Fearless Girl out of a production of 1,000, for $6,500 apiece. In her defense, she told Hyperallergic she felt free to do what she wanted with Fearless Girl because she owns the copyright. But SSGA lawyers contend that unauthorized reproductions damage the firm's effort to promote corporate gender diversity, which is why Fearless Girl was bought and placed on Wall Street in the first place.

Having countless replicas of the statue sold to anyone who wants it can dilute the firm's message.

Righting a wrong

It's no wonder that SSGA worries about damage to the cause of gender diversity in the workplace. The company record of sexism is noteworthy. Hyperallergic reports that in 2017, the firm had to fork over $5 million to 300 female executives whose salaries were markedly less than their male counterparts.

Even so, the firm insists that the payout was not an admission of unfair practices. But this story doesn't end there.

Visbal is facing another lawsuit from a different group for a similar reason: breach of contract. Last month, The News Journal reported that she broke an agreement with the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Alumni Association by failing to do as promised in 2017 a bronze of Alexander Hamilton.

The lawsuit says she was paid $200,000 and didn't deliver.

Unfair practices

Of course, Visbal isn't the first artist to break faith with a buyer. In fact, she's in good company when you consider the stunt that the almighty Michelangelo pulled back in the day. As Ascanio Condivi reported in a 1553 biography Life of Michelangelo, this Renaissance great roughed up his marble carving of a sleeping boy to make it look like it was long-buried in the earth and sold it as an ancient relic to an unsuspecting Cardinal of San Giorgio for 200 ducats.

This incident didn't mar Michelangelo's name. And maybe Visbal's legal troubles won't mar hers. But I'm not sure she isn't giving feminism a bad name.
The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. has apologized to President Rodrigo Duterte for the shortage of available lines for Hotline 8888, the citizens complaint line pushed by the administration. Duterte has threatened to shut down PLDT Inc. if the countrys largest telecommunications company fails to add trunk a to 8888. Hotline 8888 serves as the Filipinos direct line to Malacanang for complaints. It was launched in August 2016, aimed at hearing the grievances of ordinary Filipinos, with the Presidential Action Center and Civil Service Commission were tasked to handle the complaints. The President was discussing his anti-corruption efforts at a PDP-Laban campaign rally in Cebu City on Sunday when he called for an effective implementation of the complaint hotline. We apologize for that. We are glad that the President called our attention to it, PLDT chairman Manuel Pangilinan said in a statement. Pangilinan added: Its a bit more complicated than what it appears. Apparently, the 8888 is really a call center operation for both telcos.Twenty lines each. Were supposed to provide the lines, which we have provided but the lines are not manned properly, undermanned so not all the calls are getting answered.So were gonna put more lines than the 20 mandated in the contract with the government, and we will man it. We will forget what the agreement said so we will increase the number of lines to accommodate the calls and we will man it ourselves. So we are responding to the Presidents criticism, he said. Duterte told his audience in Cebu: If you see corruption, tell me. Call 8888. Bong [former Special Assistant to the President Christopher Bong Go], add another trunk line. The present setup cant accommodate all the calls. Its always busy. Tell PLDT. If not, Ill shut down their business, The President added, drawing laughter from the audience. Duterte said he didnt want to brag, but PLDT owes government eight billion [pesos]. No President has ever asked for payment. But when I became President, I said Earlier, Ramon Isberto, PLDT head of public affairs, said: We are currently taking steps to address the concern expressed by the President to improve the publics access to the Citizens Complaint Center 8888 hotline number.
While the leaders of North Korea and the United States debate banishing nuclear bombs from the Korean peninsula, the host of their summit this week, Vietnam, long almost synonymous with war, is relishing its role as a promoter of peace. U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet on Wednesday and Thursday in Hanoi, hoping to build on their historic summit in Singapore in June, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.Vietnams hosting of the high-stakes talks marks its emergence as a trust-worthy, responsible member of the international community that has forged peace with old enemies, and can now help others to do so, Vietnamese officials say.Since emerging from decades of diplomatic isolation in the early 1990s, Vietnam has been eager to improve ties with large powers and the region to help balance its historically thorny relations with giant neighbour, China, which confronts Vietnam over claims to the resource-rich South China Sea.The boost to Vietnams international status that the summit should confer would support that strategy.Deputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung said the United States and North Korea were both keen to hold their summit in Vietnam.It shows that Vietnam is a responsible and active member of the international community, wanting to contribute to the peace process and that Vietnams policy is to raise the level of multi-lateral foreign policy, Trung told reporters last week.Vietnam was at war almost continuously for some 45 years, from the end of World War Two through to the early 1990s, battling France, the United States, China and Cambodias Khmer Rouge.Far off Geneva and Paris hosted negotiations to end those wars, but this time Hanoi is the city for peace, Trung said.Vietnam is a nation that is really fond of peace but also had to suffer wars, and usually the wars ended with peace negotiations, he said.More weightVietnam seems to be taking to its role of mediator with gusto. The government has pushed the U.S. and North Korean security services to work closely to prepare for the summit, a senior Vietnamese security official told Reuters.Vietnam would also love to see the United States and North Korea sign a declaration of peace to officially end the 1950-53 Korean War, said the official, who declined to be identified.The war ended with an armistice not a treaty, and North Korea is keen to sign a treaty, though the United States has demanded denuclearisation first.Vietnam would also be keen to host a third meeting between the leaders, the official said.A successful summit would enhance Vietnams standing, said Nguyen Quy Binh, a former ambassador and permanent representative of Vietnam to the United Nations in Geneva.Vietnams voice will have more weight. A country that acts responsibly and reputably, a country that is trust-worthy, will have a different voice, Binh told Reuters.Binh mentioned the South China Sea dispute as a flashpoint and said the United States could help to balance regional powers and ensure stability.If Vietnam can do this well, its voice and reputation in its relations with other countries will benefit.Western and Asian diplomats said they expected Vietnam to try to support any reforms in North Korea that the summit bring.Those effort would be enhanced by Vietnams turn as chair of Southeast Asias ASEAN grouping next year, and a possible spell as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Secretary Council in 2021.Hosting such an sensitive event is a step up for Hanoi. In private, Vietnamese officials are pretty happy with the way things are going ... its a sweet spot for them, said a senior Western diplomat. (REUTERS)

While the leaders of North Korea and the United States debate banishing nuclear bombs from the Korean peninsula, the host of their summit this week, Vietnam, long almost synonymous with war, is relishing its role as a promoter of peace.

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet on Wednesday and Thursday in Hanoi, hoping to build on their historic summit in Singapore in June, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.

Vietnams hosting of the high-stakes talks marks its emergence as a trust-worthy, responsible member of the international community that has forged peace with old enemies, and can now help others to do so, Vietnamese officials say.

Since emerging from decades of diplomatic isolation in the early 1990s, Vietnam has been eager to improve ties with large powers and the region to help balance its historically thorny relations with giant neighbour, China, which confronts Vietnam over claims to the resource-rich South China Sea.

The boost to Vietnams international status that the summit should confer would support that strategy.

Deputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung said the United States and North Korea were both keen to hold their summit in Vietnam.

It shows that Vietnam is a responsible and active member of the international community, wanting to contribute to the peace process and that Vietnams policy is to raise the level of multi-lateral foreign policy, Trung told reporters last week.

Vietnam was at war almost continuously for some 45 years, from the end of World War Two through to the early 1990s, battling France, the United States, China and Cambodias Khmer Rouge.

Far off Geneva and Paris hosted negotiations to end those wars, but this time Hanoi is the city for peace, Trung said.

Vietnam is a nation that is really fond of peace but also had to suffer wars, and usually the wars ended with peace negotiations, he said.

More weight

Vietnam seems to be taking to its role of mediator with gusto. The government has pushed the U.S. and North Korean security services to work closely to prepare for the summit, a senior Vietnamese security official told Reuters.

Story continues

Vietnam would also love to see the United States and North Korea sign a declaration of peace to officially end the 1950-53 Korean War, said the official, who declined to be identified.

The war ended with an armistice not a treaty, and North Korea is keen to sign a treaty, though the United States has demanded denuclearisation first.

Vietnam would also be keen to host a third meeting between the leaders, the official said.

A successful summit would enhance Vietnams standing, said Nguyen Quy Binh, a former ambassador and permanent representative of Vietnam to the United Nations in Geneva.

Vietnams voice will have more weight. A country that acts responsibly and reputably, a country that is trust-worthy, will have a different voice, Binh told Reuters.

Binh mentioned the South China Sea dispute as a flashpoint and said the United States could help to balance regional powers and ensure stability.

If Vietnam can do this well, its voice and reputation in its relations with other countries will benefit.

Western and Asian diplomats said they expected Vietnam to try to support any reforms in North Korea that the summit bring.

Those effort would be enhanced by Vietnams turn as chair of Southeast Asias ASEAN grouping next year, and a possible spell as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Secretary Council in 2021.

Hosting such an sensitive event is a step up for Hanoi. In private, Vietnamese officials are pretty happy with the way things are going ... its a sweet spot for them, said a senior Western diplomat.

(REUTERS)
A secondary school in London is cutting its hours (File picture: PA)

One of Britains top state secondary schools is moving to a four-and-a-half-day week because it will make pupils happier.

From September, students at Forest Gate Community School in east London, rated outstanding by Ofsted, will leave just after midday every Friday afternoon.

The school will remain open until 5pm for supervised study and talks from guest speakers, though attendance is optional, a letter to parents confirmed this week.

Forest Gate Community School executive headteacher Simon Elliott (Picture: SWNS)

It is claimed the switch will lead to a happier, more productive school.

The change comes following a similar experiment at financial services company Perpetual Guardian in New Zealand, where switching to a four-day week led to a 20% boost in productivity and a happier workforce.

The school says staff will be given training to manage the shorter timetable ahead of the introduction of the new policy at the start of the next academic year.

Pay, holiday entitlement and benefits for teachers will remain unchanged, according to the school.

Staff will have the option of finishing early or spending the afternoon improving their teaching at professional development training.

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Forest Gate executive headteacher Simon Elliott says the school will maintain the high academic standards which has seen it ranked in the Top 50 nationally for GCSE results three years in a row.

He said: When you are a top performing school with consistently among the best GCSE results in the country you cannot rest on your laurels, you must always look at ways in to improve.

We have been looking into this long before the successful trials in New Zealand and are now convinced it will lead to a happier, more productive school.

This is something we are undertaking in the knowledge that we have recruited the committed, talented and passionate teachers who will help us make this a success.

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It is about placing confidence in your staff and your managements capacity to employ the right types of personalities.

The move will make pupils happier, the school says (Picture: Getty)

We are confident that the introduction of a shorter timetable will not impact on our capacity to continue to achieve among the very best results in the country.

Mr Elliott says the move will also help lift the burden on increasingly overworked staff and improve the quality of teaching.

He said: This is about moving away from a culture that has developed in the teaching profession of over-burdening staff with excessively long hours.

It is about teaching them to focus on the most important aspect of their profession which is engaging the hearts and minds of the young people they teach.

The benefit to the students is that they we will be able to recruit, train and most crucially retain the very best teachers which means better quality of teaching in the classroom.

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By Camillus Eboh and Felix Onuah

ABUJA (Reuters) - President Muhammadu Buhari took an early lead on Monday in initial official results from Nigeria's presidential election, but the party of his main challenger quickly rejected the tallies as "incorrect and unacceptable".

Saturday's election, which U.S. observers said had lost some credibility after being abruptly delayed by a week by officials citing organisational glitches, was expected to be Nigeria's tightest since the end of military rule two decades ago.

At stake is control of Africa's top oil producer and biggest economy. Northeast Nigeria has also been wracked by a decade-long battle with Islamist militants that has spilled into neighbouring countries and led to the deployment of a regional task force.

Buhari, 76, is a former military ruler seeking a second term on an anti-corruption platform, while Atiku Abubakar, 72, a businessman and former vice president, has pledged to expand the role of the private sector.

Initial results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday put Buhari in the lead, having won in seven of Nigeria's 36 states, the commission said.

Atiku prevailed in four states and the capital, Abuja, which is not a state but treated as a separate district in elections.

Buhari led Atiku by 51 percent to 46 percent, according to a Reuters tally based on the figures given by the commission.

In provisional results announced in state capitals but not yet confirmed by the commission, Buhari had won four states to Atiku's one.

In the northern state of Kano, hundreds of people celebrated Buhari's provisional lead in what was billed as one of the key battlegrounds in this year's elections.

"Kano is for Buhari," Wahab Abdulawal, a trader, said.

Asked about the early results, Buhari told reporters: "I don't want to depend on rumours. ... We will rather wait for INEC to announce the (full) results."

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But the chairman of Atiku's People's Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, said the election tallies announced so far were "incorrect and unacceptable".

"The results are being manipulated and cancelled for APC to retain power," he told reporters, referring to Buhari's party.

Buhari's All Progressives Congress (APC) said in a statement that the PDP had "embarked on a cynical plan to discredit INEC as a backup plan in the likely event of them losing the election".

The outcome, expected this week, appears to hinge on which man voters trust most to revamp an economy still struggling from a 2016 recession.

A credible and relatively calm vote would open a new chapter in the chequered political history of Nigeria, where nearly six decades of independence have been tarnished by military coups, endemic corruption and secessionist movements.

But doubts rose when the election was postponed on Feb. 16, just hours before it was due to begin, with authorities citing problems in delivering ballot papers and results sheets.

'NEGATIVE EFFECTS'

The week-long delay in holding Nigeria's presidential election damaged public trust in the process and probably reduced Saturday's voter turnout, U.S. observers said.

The civil society group YIAGA AFRICA, which monitored the election, projected turnout at 36 to 40 percent.

Situation Room, a monitoring mission comprising over 70 civic groups, said on Sunday that as many as 39 people had been killed in election-related violence, and more than 260 in all since the start of the campaign in October.

Voting, however, took place "in a generally peaceful environment", said Hailemariam Desalegn, head of the African Union observer mission and a former premier of Ethiopia.

"There were scattered incidents of violence but it was not seen as pervasive on Election Day," said Derek Mitchell, president of the U.S. observer mission.

Previous Nigerian elections have been marred by violence among supporters of different political parties that at times sparked conflict between Christians and Muslims. Security forces are currently stretched by the Islamist insurgency as well as by communal violence and banditry in other areas.

Hours before polls opened, explosions rocked Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, epicentre of the insurgency. In neighbouring Yobe, residents of the town of Geidam fled a militant attack around the same time.

Scattered violence and problems with smart-card readers that authenticate voters' fingerprints meant voting in a small number of precincts was put off to Sunday, Mitchell said.

"Serious operational shortcomings put an undue burden on voters," Maria Arena, the EU's chief observer and member of the European parliament, told reporters.

(GRAPHIC - Nigeria presidential election: https://tmsnrt.rs/2E6qkDO)

(Reporting by Camillus Eboh and Felix Onuah; Additional reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram, Paul Carsten and Kazeem Sanni; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by by Mark Heinrich and Peter Cooney)
British D-Day veterans have been awarded Frances highest honour for their role in the liberation of Normandy in 1944.

The four former Royal Navy servicemen, all in their 90s and from London, received their Legion dhonneur medals on board HMS Belfast in London on Tuesday.

The ceremony, attended by Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and French ambassador Jean-Pierre Jouyet, was held with 100 days to go until the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

A number of commemorative events for D-Day 75 are planned in the UK and France this summer.

Gavin Williamson onboard HMS Belfast (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

John Nicholls, 93, a leading seaman who was born in Greenwich, served on HMS Argonaut, which fired on and destroyed German gun batteries in Normandy.

He drove landing craft from ship to shore delivering troops and supplies for the invasion.

He remembered only being told of the D-Day plan with four hours to go and arriving in France to see all hell break loose.

John Nicholls is welcomed onboard HMS Belfast (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

You were so sort of busy doing bits and pieces you didnt really have time to wander, have a cup of tea and talk about it, he said.

I looked at some of those troops, and as they were going in, I thought, I wonder how many of them are going to come back.

I dont only think of them on Remembrance Day, theyre going through my mind all times of the year.

Mr Nicholls said he lost 65% of his hearing from the noise of explosions during the battle.

Ive come out of it with just half of my hearing gone, but those poor devils they lost their lives. I think of them all the time.

Denis Haley, 92, was a signalman aboard HMS Southward Ho, which towed parts of a temporary portable harbour to Arromanches in France on June 7 1944, and remained at the beach as part of a flotilla of small ships fitted with smokescreen-making equipment.

Patrick Reardon, centre right (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

Patrick Reardon, 93, served as a seaman in Royal Navy Combined Operations aboard HMS Sheffield. He volunteered for Forward Observation Bombardment, landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day and arriving in Caen some weeks later.

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Charles Kavanagh, 92, an able seaman, helped land tanks on Sword beach and was involved in landing supplies for the US Army on Omaha beach.

Mr Jouyet said it was a very great honour for his country to express its full appreciation and gratitude to soldiers who helped liberate France during the Second World War.

At a time when Europe was dominated by a terrible dictatorship, France was able, from the first few hours of the war, to count on the support of its closest partner, he said.

The commitment to the law and democratic principles on which our societies are based inspired a shared battle for freedom. Long live Franco-British friendship.

Mr Williamson said: Today is a reminder of why this June we must show our special generation that we will never forget the debt we owe for the peace and freedom we now enjoy.

To meet those veterans today, to talk with them, to listen to some of their stories, is truly inspiring. I think its fair to say there werent many dry eyes in the house when we actually saw them get that amazing award.

Some 156,000 Allied troops landed on five invasion beaches on June 6 1944 as part of D-Day operations, sparking an 80-day campaign to liberate Normandy involving three million troops and costing 250,000 lives.

London landmark HMS Belfast was the flagship for part of the allied armada and fired on German positions.

The French government has been awarding the Legion dhonneur to D-Day veterans for the last five years to honour those who fought to secure Frances liberation.

Since June 2014, more than 6,000 medals have been awarded, with applications being processed by the Ministry of Defence and the French government.

The Legion dhonneur was established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte to recognise military and civilian merit.

Portsmouth, the base for many of the D-Day landing forces, will be the focal point of the UKs D-Day 75 commemorations and will host a UK national event on June 5.

A specially chartered ship will carry D-Day veterans to commemorations in Portsmouth and Normandy in June.

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The Imperial War Museum, working in partnership with Daks Over Normandy, is organising a mass flight display at Duxford airfield, culminating in a cross-Channel flight and parachute landing in Normandy on June 6.

Mr Williamson said: The real people who are at the centre of those commemorations and celebrations about how we liberated Europe are going to be those veterans who were willing to give everything for the freedoms that we enjoy today.
Shamima Begum said she didnt see herself as an IS poster girl (Picture: BBC)

Isis bride Shamima Begum has said she is being punished because she is famous.

The 19-year-old, who fled the UK when she was 15 to join IS in Syria, is at the centre of a controversial political storm.

Last week, home secretary Sajid Javid made the decision to revoke her British citizenship.

The teenager, who left London to join Isiss self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria, has said she wants to return to the UK with her newborn son.

Shamima Begum has just given birth to a boy (Picture: PA)

She had given a series of interviews in which she failed to express remorse for her actions.

But in her latest interview, she took a more contrite tone.

Speaking to the Daily Mail from a tent in a Syrian refugee camp, alongside her son, she said: I feel like Ive been discriminated against because everyone was saying I was a poster girl for Isis.

Im being made an example of. Im being punished right now because Im famous. I am hoping to be given a second chance.

She added: Id like to be an example of how someone can change. I want to help, encourage other young British people to think before they make life-changing decisions like this and not to make the same mistake as me.

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I cant do that if I am sitting here in a camp. I cant do that for you.

In another interview, with the Sunday Telegraph, she said she regretted ever speaking to the media.

She 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.

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Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph from the al-Hol camp, Ms Begum said: They are making an example of me. I regret speaking to the media. I wish I had stayed low and found a different way to contact my family. Thats why I spoke to the newspaper.

Mr Javid revoked Ms Begums British citizenship in a move only permissible under international law if it does not leave the individual stateless.

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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.

Her family have written to the home secretary asking for his help to bring her newborn son to Britain.

The letter said the baby boy was a true innocent who should not lose the privilege of being raised in the safety of this country.

Her sister Remu Begum, writing on behalf of the family, asked how they could help the home secretary in bringing my nephew home to us.

The family said they have had no contact with Ms Begum and had only learned she had given birth to a boy through media reports.

They made clear that they were shocked and appalled at the vile comments Ms Begum had recently made to the media.

Meanwhile her father, Ahmed Ali, 60, said he does not have a problem with the governments stance and suggested he did not have sympathy for his daughter due to her lack of remorse.

Shamima Begum, right, fled the UK for Syria with fellow teenagers Amira Abase, left, and Kadiza Sultana, centre (Picture: PA)

Ms Begum fled the UK to join IS in Syria (Picture: PA)

Speaking to the Mail on Sunday at his home in the Sunamganj region of north-east Bangladesh, he said: I am on the side of the government. I cant say whether it is right or wrong, but if the law of the land says that it is correct to cancel her citizenship, then I agree.

If she at least admitted she made a mistake then I would feel sorry for her and other people would feel sorry for her. But she does not accept her wrong.

Mr Javids removal of Ms Begums citizenship 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.

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.

The Begum familys lawyer Tasnime Akunjee 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.
A rare bottle of whisky with a label designed by the artist behind the cover for a classic Beatles album is expected to fetch 700,000 at auction.

The Macallan 1926 whisky is one of just 12 bottles featuring the label designed by Sir Peter Blake and is thought to be among the most expensive in the world.

The limited edition bottle has been kept by a UK collector since its release in 1986.

Sir Peter, 86, is best known for co-creating the album cover for the 1967 Beatles album, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club, as well as the artwork for the 1984 charity single, Do They Know It's Christmas?

The whisky is officially described as 60 years old, having been created in 1926 and bottled in 1986 after sitting for more than six decades in a distillery in an oak cask brought from Spain.

It has been dubbed the "Holy Grail of whisky".

Bonham's whisky expert Martin Green said the drink is "dark honey-gold in colour and it is inconceivably smooth with a luscious hint of dry-sweetness in the malt".

Italian pop artist Valerio Adami also designed a handful of Macallan whisky bottles. One sold last year for 848,000 - currently the highest price paid for whisky at an auction.

The bottle of Macallan 1926 whisky goes under the hammer on 6 March at the Bonham's whisky auction in Edinburgh.
Copyright is for losers  or so Banksy once claimed. But the days of the mysterious artists dislike for intellectual property now appear to be long gone, as he has recently won a case of unauthorised merchandising in Italy.

The unauthorised copying of Banksy works is widespread  a stroll through Londons popular markets in Camden and Brick Lane, and a quick search online proves that. His work has been printed and reproduced on everything from mugs to mouse mats. But despite previous rumours that Banksys lawyers have sent letters to complain about his artworks being exploited, it seems so far that these objections have not made their way into courtrooms.

However, at the end of 2018, Pest Control, the handling service that authenticates Banksys artworks, took action against an Italian company that organised an exhibition  The art of Banksy. A visual protest  for Milans Mudec Museum. The event opened in November 2018, and runs until April 2019.

In January, a provisional ruling by a court in Milan ordered the museum to stop selling merchandise which reproduced Banksys branded art. While the works on display were either original, or authentic prints, the organisers were also selling products such as notebooks, diaries, postcards, bookmarks and erasers, all of which incorporated Banksys art.

Pest Control enforced its trademark rights over the Banksy name and his iconic pieces Girl with balloon and Flower thrower. It did so to stop the unauthorised merchandising, as well as the use of Banksy imagery in the promotional material produced by the exhibitions organisers. While the Milan judge noted that the use of Banksys name and art on merchandise amounted to trademark infringement, he denied wrongdoings with regards to the promotional material. The court stressed that the use of Banksys art on such material is informative in the sense that it is necessary to describe the contents of the show.

Changing legal strategy

So should we now expect more legal actions by Banksy, in courts around the world? If the artist, who has long tolerated other people copying, appropriating and exploiting his art, is changing his strategy it wouldnt be a bad thing. After all, artists have good reasons to ask for intellectual property protection, whether they produce works in the studio or paint in the streets. They put effort and creativity in producing art, and the law should reward them accordingly. And indeed several graffiti writers and street artists have also recently fought to protect their works on copyright grounds.

Story continues

Although the court confirmed that Pest Control trademark registrations were valid, the judge noted that the documents filed in the proceedings showed just limited use of Banksy brand. Basically, the Banksy logo is only used on certificates of authenticity released on Pest Control letterhead, and on some canvas frames. This is a clear weak point in Banksy and Pest Controls legal strategy going forward. If Banksy wants to keep enforcing any of his trademarks in courts around the world, and avoid the risk of them being cancelled for lack of use, he will need to show judges stronger evidence of his brands being used in the market. This probably means he needs to start regularly producing and selling his own branded merchandise through a specialised commercial vehicle, which so far has not really happened  and may be considered by Banksy himself as antithetical to the very anti-capitalistic message he wants to convey through his art.

What is also noteworthy in this case is that Pest Control has decided not to enforce Banksys copyright. Such a decision doesnt come as a surprise though, as it would require Pest Control to show judges that it has acquired the copyright from the artist. But this would entail the disclosure of Banksys real name, which the artist obviously doesnt want to reveal as it would remove the aura of mystery surrounding him, and consequently reduce the value of his art.

All in all, this legal action in Milan confirms once again Banksys ambiguity. He is an artist that started a suit to stop the commercial and unauthorised use of a brand which he deliberately does not use in the market (probably to avoid blurring the anti-consumerist nature of his art). But Banksy cannot have it both ways. If he wants to fight regularly (and successfully) against the unauthorised exploitation of his works, especially his brands, he will need to accept the market-driven logic underpinning their legal protection, and start a proper business plan which includes merchandising of his own art, as most art entrepreneurs do. After all, it is entirely possible to create art to send anti-establishment messages and at the same time legally protect the commercial side of it.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The Conversation

Enrico Bonadio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
As government start the rehabilitation of Manila Bay, plans are also under way to transform the waters of Bacuit Bay in El Nido, Palawan swimmable by May, according to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu tasked DENRs Mimaropa regional executive director Henry Adornado to lead the rehabilitation of Bacuit Bay. We are confident we can present to the public an improved Bacuit Baysafe and fit for bathing and swimming, Adornado said. During the first environmental forum held recently in El Nido, at least 200 participantscommercial establishment owners, business operators and representatives of local and national government agencieswere in attendance. The DENR and other government agencies want to declare Bacuit Bay as a water quality management area pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act No. 9275 or the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004. Water quality management is one of the priorities of Secretary Cimatu. The establishment of Bacuit Bay as a WQMA adheres to the thrust of his administration for clean water. We look forward to having a sustained and collective action towards saving Bacuit Bay and the rest of our natural resources here in El Nido, Assistant Secretary for Field Operations for Southern Luzon Reynulfo Juan said.Meanwhile, the DENR, in cooperation with the Bureau of Customs, had arrested a passenger for attempting to smuggle into the Philippines over 50 heads of different reptile species from Thailand. The suspect, identified as Neil Ryan Dysoco, would be chaged with violation of Republic Act No. 9147. Arnel Matreo, head of the Wildlife Traffic Monitoring Unit of DENR-National Capital Region, said the suspect was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 at 11:30 p. m. of Feb, 21. Dysoco arrived from on board flight PR-737 from Bangkok, Thailand, when agents discovered that his baggage contained 48 heads of green iguana, two green basilisk lizards, three bearded dragons, and four chameleons. The rescued animals would be turned over to the Wildlife Rescue Center of the DENRs Biodiversity Management Bureau.
Government Reporter

Erin came to Tyler from Vermont, where she worked for VTDigger.org and previously the Rutland Herald. She received her B.A. in Economics and Spanish from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she also attended journalism school.
WIN Television has breached the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice for screening a TEN Eyewitness News item that was deemed too violent by the media watchdog, The Australian Communications and Media Authority.

The report broadcast on 8 September 2018 showed a victim repeatedly punched in the face following an AFL final. It was deemed excessive and disproportionate to any public interest reasons supplied.

Despite some post-production blurring of the footage, not enough care was taken in selecting the material for broadcast.

ACMA Chair Nerida OLoughlin said, Broadcasters can report matters of public interest, including topics such as violent attacks. However they must exercise care in selecting material that will not seriously distress or offend a substantial number of viewers.

ACMA has requested that both Network 10 and WIN Television incorporate the investigation into its compliance training for all relevant news and other staff to ensure future compliance.

The ACMA will continue to track complaints about the depiction of violence during news and other unclassified programs on commercial television, said Ms OLoughlin.

The footage was also screened by other broadcasters.
Two more vets have joined the new-look Bondi Vet, coming to Nine later this year.

Identical twin sisters, Drs Audrey and Alison Shen, who run a mobile vet business in Sydney, were discovered during the talent search conducted by WTFN.

They join vets from across Australia including Dr Kate Adams (Sydney), Dr Alex Hynes (Gold Coast), Dr Lewis Hunt (Sydney), Dr Danni Dusek (Melbourne) and Dr Pete Ricci (Perth).

WTFNs Director of Content, Steve Oemcke said, Were delighted to add Audrey and Alison to the cast for the upcoming season from Bondi Vet. They will bring a lot of energy and fun to the show, as well as their undoubted professionalism as mobile vets.

Audrey and Alison came to us via our nationwide search for a new Bondi Vet, and weve always thought theyd be brilliant characters in this series. Were really pleased with our final line up, which will bring a range of amazing, heartfelt pet stories from across Australia.

Dr Audrey Shen said, Were thrilled to be joining such a globally successful TV series as Bondi Vet.

Dr Alison Shen added, Weve been fans of the show for years, and cant wait to share our love of animals with the world!

The new look series, whilst not strictly casting from the Bondi region, is said to stay true to the spirit of the show, originally led by Dr. Chris Brown.
Today marks 40 years since Prisoner hit Australian TV screens.

The ground-breaking 1979 drama created by Reg Watson ran for 692 episodes across 8 years, winning Logie Awards, making household names of its stars, spawning international adaptations, a Wentworth reimagining and a fervent fanbase which persists to this day.

But top dog Val Lehman (pictured top right) wont rest until the series has been recognised in the Logie Hall of Fame, and points to its ground-breaking success overseas as a testament to its achievements.

We had a huge viewing audience in America, but Grundys never told us. We found out because the fans started ringing the studio and sending fan mail. But we had to take Grundys to court to get paid, she told TV Tonight.

We had a massive audience -in primetime- and we were the first Australian show to achieve that. Which makes me wonder why has Prisoner not been put into the Logies Hall of Fame?

What other Australian show has achieved what Prisoner has to the point that it became so successful there were other series worldwide that copied it.

When it debuted in the US in the early 1980s as a two-hour special, Prisoner was viewed by a quarter of all television viewers in the Los Angeles market. It was then syndicated into New York City, Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Albuquerque, Tampa, and Washington, D.C. and went on to multiple reruns in the UK amassing a huge fan base. It was remade as Dangerous Women in the US, Behind Bars in Germany, and as Wentworth (which has since had its own Euro-remakes).

On Sunday fans flew in from the UK, US, Sweden, Ireland and around Australia to see veteran cast members share their memories of the show.

Producer Ian Bradley recalled how Channel 0-10 were very nervous about this new series with rough women.

The network was absolutely terrified,  he recalls. They didnt think it would work at all. They brought in an American executive producer who suggested we tighten the girls costumes and my response was This will never work and we had a big fight over it.

Eventually they said The only thing we can do is some audience testing and I went off on holiday. When I left it was a 16 x 1 hour series, but they got such a strong reception that before I got back they said We want 52 hours.'

Lehman, Sheila Florence (Lizzy Birdsworth) and Carol Burns (Franky Doyle) all won Logies for their performance. Lehman still recalls the reception she got from a visiting American star for her acceptance speech,

I said Grundys took a risk. They took character actors out of supporting roles and put them into leading roles.

Ernest Borgnine gave me a standing ovation, because he won his Academy Award playing a very different role (for 1955s Marty).

But when I tell American actors we were doing 92 x 1 hour episodes a year, they just dont believe me.

We were contracted for 12 hours a day but I generally worked 15, and sometimes 18. Its one of the reasons my daughter said to me, Mother you have no life. You spend all week at the studio and on weekends they fly you to Sydney, Brisbane & Adelaide to do PR! Mind you I was being very well paid for it, at the time.

Time Capsule: Prisoner set visit 1979.

In its 40th anniversary Lehman is hopeful the show may join Four Corners, Play School, Neighbours, Home & Away, and 60 Minutes in the Logie history books, but such recognition is up to an undisclosed industry jury.

For a start someone has to nominate it, so Channel 10 or Fremantle Media. Grundys would never do it, because Grundys hated me! she laughs.
Police in the central city of Da Nang on Monday took into custody a man suspected of killing his young daughter and throwing the body into a river earlier this month.

The arrest came one day after the victims maternal grandmother reported the alleged crime to police.

Case reports said the man, Bui Van Hoi, had a romantic affair with a South Korean woman after divorcing his wife.

The 34-year-old man started letting his eight-year-old daughter live with the foreign woman at a hotel in Da Nang in January, sparking jealousy from his ex-wife.

This, complete with the repeated conflicts between the father and daughter, eventually made the South Korean woman leave Da Nang for her home country, ending her relationship with Hoi, law enforcement said, citing preliminary investigation results.

Police search for the body of a child allegedly killed by his father, Bui Van Hoi, on the Han River in Da Nang, central Vietnam. Photo: D. Cuong / Tuoi Tre

On February 1, Hoi allegedly murdered his daughter at a hotel on Vu Dinh Long Street in Son Tra District and put the body in a bag, before dumping it into the Han River, police said.

It is not immediately clear why the grandmother only reported the case to police more than three weeks later.

As of Monday afternoon, search was still underway for the childs body.

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Security has been beefed up at multiple locations in Hanoi since early Tuesday morning to prepare for the arrival of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un around noon the same day.

Chairman Kim left Pyongyang on a train on Saturday and arrived at Dong Dang Railway Station in the northern Vietnamese province of Lang Son on Tuesday morning, where he immediately embarked on a 170 km journey to Hanoi by car.

He is due to meet Trump in the Vietnamese capital on Wednesday and Thursday for the second North Korea-U.S. Summit.

As of Tuesday noon, police officers have already set up barriers in front of the Hanoi Opera House and redirected traffic to clear the road for the motorcade of the North Korean leader.

Security was even tighter at the Melia Hanoi Hotel, where Kim Jong Un is believed to be staying during his trip.

Military officers on top of a building on Trang Tien Street. Photo: Nguyen Hien / Tuoi Tre

All staff members of the venue have to present their personnel cards and IDs and can only enter after officers check their names on a list.

Blockades were also placed on such streets as Ngo Quyen and Trang Tien, as well as the intersection of Ly Thuong Kiet and Quang Trung Streets, while many officers are tasked with patrolling the routes.

Military officers on top of a building on Trang Tien Street. Photo: Nguyen Hien / Tuoi Tre

A large number of reporters gathered at these locations, especially in front of the Melia Hanoi Hotel, at dawn on Tuesday despite the cold and rainy weather.

Some had to use umbrellas and raincoats to cover their cameras and other tools to prevent them from getting wet.

Barricades are placed at the intersection of Ly Thuong Kiet and Quang Trung Streets. Photo: Danh Trong / Tuoi Tre

U.S. President Trump is scheduled to arrive in Hanoi later on Tuesday.

Both Kim and Trump are also due to hold separate talks with Vietnamese leaders. The high-profile leaders met for their first summit in Singapore last June.

Security personnel are seen near the Melia Hanoi Hotel ahead of the North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi, Vietnam February 26, 2019. Photo: Reuters

Security personnel are seen near the Melia Hanoi Hotel ahead of the North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi, Vietnam February 26, 2019. Photo: Reuters

Security personnel are seen near the Melia Hanoi Hotel ahead of the North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi, Vietnam February 26, 2019. Photo: Reuters

International reporters prepare their gadgets. Photo: Minh Khoi / Tuoi Tre

International reporters prepare their gadgets. Photo: Minh Khoi / Tuoi Tre

Police officers are mobilized in front of the Hanoi Opera house. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre

A reporter works in front of the Melia Hanoi Hotel despite the rainy weather. Photo: Minh Khoi / Tuoi Tre

An officer checks the name of an employee of the Melia Hanoi Hotel. Photo: Danh Trong / Tuoi Tre

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Police dogs specially trained to detect explosives were spotted going for a walk with secret service agents near a hotel in Hanoi where a U.S. delegation is said to be staying for the upcoming summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

President Trump and Chairman Kim will 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.

Security is already tightened in the Vietnamese capital, especially near places said to house delegations of the U.S. and North Korea.

On Monday morning, U.S. secret service agents, dressed in civilian clothes, could be seen walking police dogs near the JW Marriott hotel in Nam Tu Liem District, Hanoi.

The specially trained dogs, popularly referred to as K-9 agents, sniffed their way through every corner of the luxury hotel, which housed former U.S. President Barack Obama during his official Vietnam visit in 2016.

A U.S. police dog sniffs a bush to detect explosives near the JW Marriott hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam on February 25, 2019. Photo: Danh Trong / Tuoi Tre

Dogs are often used in U.S. police forces to help detect drugs and explosives thanks to their sharp sense of smell.

U.S. and Vietnamese security guards are stationed inside and outside of the hotel compound, and the entrance to the hotel is strictly restricted.

Shops and businesses in the hotels vicinity were closed as of Monday as roads leading to the establishment had their sidewalks fenced off.

Vietnamese security agents could be seen inspecting tall buildings and elevated spots in the area close to the JW Marriott hotel on the same day.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday after traveling from Pyongyang by train, whereas President Trump is scheduled to arrive in the Vietnamese capital later the same day.

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The next governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas should carry on the policies and regulations championed by the late Nestor Espenilla Jr., Malacanang said on Monday. Appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte to lead the central bank in May 2017, Espenilla died on Saturday after battling tongue cancer for more than a year. The President, who has yet to name Espenillas successor, is scheduled to visit the late technocrats wake this week. In a Palace press briefing, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the President will most likely look for a permanent replacement of Espenilla. He, however, has no idea who will the President pick. Espenillas immediate predecessor, former BSP Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr. said the head of the central bank must possess a very good grasp of macroeconomics particularly monetary policy and a good understanding of banking supervision. Being a BSP governor is a multi-faceted job and it would require not only technical competence, which is very important, but would also require the skill to deal with people properly, Tetangco, who has served two terms as BSP governor, said. For his part, former BSP Gov. Jose Cuisia Jr. also believes that the successor of the late central bank chief should be capable of continuing Espenillas reform initiatives. I personally think it would be good if the President appoints an insider. They have very competent people there who can do a great job as BSP governor, he said. Asked if the President would consider the remarks of the former BSP governors and appoint an insider, Panelo said: Thats the judgment call of the President, its his prerogative. For Panelo, the next successor should be a person of integrity and competence - something that the President considers in finding for prospects.The Palace official expressed optimism that the next chief to lead the central bank would be able to continue Espenillas work. I suppose its the continuity of the work done by the previous governor, Panelo said. With Espenilla at the helm, the BSP was able to pursue major reforms in monetary, financial policies, and the organizational structure of the BSP, among others. Under his leadership, a more inclusive and efficient financial system was also introduced in the country as Espenilla promoted the digitalization of the retail payment system. Some of the possible candidates who would most likely take over Espenillas post are BSP deputy governors Diwa Guinigundo, Chuchi Fonacier, and its current officer-in-charge Cyd Tuano-Amador. Monetary Board member and former Trade Secretary Peter Favila is also rumored to be in the running. In 2017, Guinigundo lost to Espenilla during the replacement period for Tetangco. Should the post go to either Amador or Fonacier, the BSP will have its first female governor. Amador handles the corporate sector, Fonacier heads the financial supervision sector, while Guinigundo is in-charge of the monetary and economic division. All three are long-time central bankers.
As Hanoi is poised to host the second meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this week, the municipal administration sees the occasion as a great opportunity to polish the countrys image for various purposes.

Hanoi chairman Nguyen Duc Chung on Sunday called for promotion of elegance and hospitality from all people of the Vietnamese capital city ahead of, during and after the Trump-Kim summit, as he chaired a session to review preparation for the meeting, scheduled for February 27-28.

The U.S.-North Korea meeting is the opportunity for people in Hanoi in particular and across Vietnam in general to introduce the Vietnamese capital to international friends as a dynamic and safe city that really deserves the City for Peace title that the UNESCO gave it 20 years ago, Chung said.

The Hanoi chairman said that the citys administration has synchronously implemented all measures and solutions to prepare for the summit, and closely coordinated with the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Defense to ensure security for the meeting.

We call on all levels of the city government, as well as the people of Hanoi and the whole country, to make international tourists coming here see Hanoi as a friendly and hospitable city, he emphasized.

Responding to this call, some Hanoi citizens told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that they are of the same mind as the Hanoi chairman.

Phan Dieu Huong, an office worker, said that the success of the summit would greatly contribute to the City for Peace title of the capital.

We need to take this opportunity to attract investment and develop tourism, said Huong.

As Vietnam is chosen to host this special event, foreign investors will see that Vietnam is not only a country with political stability and security but also a very sustainable environment for investment, she elaborated.

Nguyen Duc Chung, chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre

Echoing this view, Hoang Van Son, CEO of Natur Fish, a food import and export company, said that more and more tourists from the U.S., South Korea and many other countries will come to Vietnam after this event.

The upcoming summit is a chance for more meaningful images of world leaders doing something very Vietnamese to spread around the globe, Son said.

He was referring to photos that show former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull eating banh mi (Vietnamese bread) in the central city of Da Nang, former U.S. President Obama eating bun cha (rice noodles with grilled pork and meatballs) in Hanoi, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau drinking sidewalk coffee in Ho Chi Minh City, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe walking in the famed Hoi An Ancient Town, during their respective trips to Vietnam.

Vietnam will continue to capture the attention of world travelers if similar photos are to emerge on the occasion of this summit, Son said.

The Hanoi summit will be the second meeting between President Trump and Chairman Kim in less than a year after a historic summit in Singapore on June 12, 2018.

Duong Quoc Binh, lecturer at the Academy of Journalism and Communication, said without specifying sources that Singapores tourist numbers in 2018 increased by 6.2 percent year on year, and the city-state raked in more than US$500 million in tourism revenue from hosting the historic meeting.

Binh thus expressed his hope that Vietnam could also take this chance to improve its tourism, adding that people can start helping promote the countrys image from such small actions as increasing their awareness when traveling on the streets or stopping littering in public places.

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Here are todays leading news stories:

Politics

-- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived at Dong Dang Railway Station in the northern Vietnamese province of Lang Son on Tuesday morning, and left shortly for Hanoi by car.

-- Vietnamese Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong, along with a high-level delegation, arrived in Phnom Penh on Monday afternoon to begin a two-day state visit to Cambodia at the invitation of King Norodom Sihamoni.

-- Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan hosted a reception for Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday, during which they discussed measures to boost cooperation between the southern Vietnamese metropolis and Russian localities.

-- Vietnam is willing to provide the best conditions for the second North Korea-U.S. Summit scheduled to take place in Hanoi on February 27 and 28, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung said while co-chairing an international press conference on Monday.

Society

-- Temperatures in northern Vietnam are forecast to start rising on Tuesday, as a cold spell, which has brought rain and cold weather to the region in the past days, has dissipated, according to the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting.

-- Police in the central city of Da Nang on Monday arrested a 34-year-old man for allegedly murdering his eight-year-old daughter and dumping her body into the Han River. Preliminary information showed that the incident arose from the conflict between the suspect and his ex-wife.

-- Officers in the southern province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau on Monday apprehended four suspects, aged 19 to 32, for illegally storing and trading drugs following a raid on a karaoke parlor.

-- A dead whale, measuring 16 meters long and weighing about 25 metric tons, was discovered floating in waters off the Mekong Delta province of Ca Mau on Monday.

-- One person was killed in an accident that involved three trailer tractors along an expressway connecting Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang on early Tuesday morning.

Business

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Agriculture and Rural Development on Monday requested competent authorities to take certain measures to manage pork supply sources in the metropolis and prevent an outbreak of African swine fever, which was previously recorded in several provinces in northern Vietnam.

-- Ride-hailing app Grab has announced that it will reduce its per kilometer rate, but will also add a new type of fare, which is charged for every minute of the total time of the journey.

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Vietnamese Party chief and State President Nguyen Phu Trong joined talks with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni in Phnom Penh on Monday, as part of his February 25 - 26 state visit to Cambodia, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

The Vietnamese leaders visit would open up a new period of development for the two countries solidarity, traditional friendship, and multifaceted cooperation, King Sihamoni said at the meeting.

He affirmed that Vietnamese people are great, reliable friends of Cambodians and that Cambodia will always be Vietnam's good neighbors.

The king pledged to continue doing his utmost to nurture and promote the close-knit relationship between the two nations.

Replying to his host, Trong expressed his belief that Cambodia will continue building their country toward harmony, independence, neutrality, democracy, social growth, and friendship with all nations, thanks to the leadership of the king and the Cambodian royal government.

The two leaders spoke with delight on the important and comprehensive outcomes resulting from the two nations ties over the past five decades.

Bilateral political relations have been continuously fortified via regular visits made by Vietnamese and Cambodian high-ranking leaders, while economic cooperation has been thriving, bringing practical benefits to their people, they said.

Ties in defense-security and foreign diplomacy have followed suit, and are now important pillars of bilateral collaboration.

The two countries have always supported each other and worked together at international forums, contributing to peace, stability and cooperation in the region and the world.

Both sides agreed that preserving and developing the valuable relationship are the responsibilities of both countries and peoples, especially the younger generations.

On the same day, Trong and his delegation of high-ranking Vietnamese officials laid flowers at the Norodom Sihanouk Monument, as well as visiting Queen Mother Nordom Monineath Sihanouk. King Sihamoni hosted a banquet at the Royal Palace in honor of the Vietnamese leader in the evening.

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HANOI, Feb 26 - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump both arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday, the eve of their second summit at which they will tackle how to implement a North Korean pledge to give up its nuclear weapons.

Trump flew into the capital Hanoi on Air Force One, touching down just before 9 p.m. (1400 GMT).

Kim arrived by train early in the day after a three-day, 3,000 km (1,850 mile) journey from his capital, Pyongyang, through China. He completed the last stretch from a border station to Hanoi by car.

The two leaders, who seemed to strike up a surprisingly warm relationship at their first summit in Singapore last June, will meet for a brief one-on-one conversation on Wednesday evening, followed by a dinner, at which they will each be accompanied by two guests and interpreters, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.

They will meet again on Thursday, she said.

Their talks come eight months after the historic summit in Singapore, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.

While the first meeting was all about breaking the ice after decades of war and bitter animosity between their countries, this time there will be pressure on both to move beyond the vaguely worded commitment they made in Singapore to work toward the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Trump's critics at home have warned him against cutting a deal that would do little to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions, urging specific, verifiable North Korean action to abandon the nuclear weapons that threaten the United States.

In return, Kim would expect significant U.S. concessions such as relief from punishing sanctions and a declaration that the 1950-53 Korean War is at last formally over.

Vietnamese officials were on hand to greet Kim at the station in Dong Dang town after he crossed the border from China. He got a red-carpet welcome with honour guard, military band and fluttering North Korean and Vietnamese flags.

Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, who has emerged as an important aide, arrived with him.

About a dozen bodyguards briefly ran alongside Kim's car as he set off for the two-hour journey to Hanoi, smiling and waving to children lining the route from his limousine.

Roads were closed with Vietnamese security forces in armoured-personnel carriers guarding the route to the city's Melia hotel where he is staying.

Vietnamese authorities have been tight-lipped about the summit and have yet to announce where the two will meet.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also arrived on Tuesday and met Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh for talks.

'Tremendous'

Trump told reporters he and Kim would have "a very tremendous summit".

Tweeting on Monday, he stressed the benefits to North Korea if it gave up its nuclear weapons. "With complete Denuclearisation, North Korea will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse. Without it, just more of the same. Chairman Kim will make a wise decision!" Trump said.

In a speech on Sunday night, Trump, however, appeared to play down any hope of a major breakthrough at the Hanoi summit, saying he would be happy as long as North Korea maintained its pause on weapons testing.

"I'm not in a rush. I don't want to rush anybody," he said. "I just don't want testing. As long as there's no testing, we're happy."

North Korea conducted its last nuclear test in September 2017 and last tested an intercontinental ballistic missile in November 2017.

People hold the national flags of Vietnam, North Korea, and the U.S. as they wait for the motorcade of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un outside the Melia hotel ahead of the North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi, Vietnam February 26, 2019. Photo: Danh Trong / Tuoi Tre

Analysts say the two leaders have to move beyond summit symbolism.

"The most basic yet urgent task is to come to a shared understanding of what denuclearisation would entail," said Gi-Wook Shin, director of Stanfords Asia-Pacific Research Center.

"The ambiguity and obscurity of the term 'denuclearisation' only exacerbates the scepticism about both the U.S. and North Korean commitments to denuclearisation.

While the United States is demanding that North Korea give up all of its nuclear and missile programmes, North Korea want to see the removal of the U.S. nuclear umbrella for South Korea.

A South Korean presidential spokesman told reporters in Seoul on Monday the two sides might be able to agree to a formal end of the Korean War, which was concluded with an armistice not a peace treaty, a move North Korea has long sought.

While a formal peace treaty may be a long way off, the two sides have discussed the possibility of a political declaration stating that the war over.
HANOI - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited his countrys embassy in Hanoi on Tuesday, the first outing on a visit to Vietnam, the highlight of which will be a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Kim entered the embassy shortly after 5 p.m. (1200 GMT) after he left the central Hanoi hotel where he is staying by limousine.

Kim arrived in Vietnam earlier in the day, after traveling from North Korea across China by train, for his second summit with Trump.

They will try to reach agreement on how to implement a North Korean pledge, made at their first summit, in Singapore in June, to give up its nuclear weapons.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un leaves the North Korean Embassy in Hanoi after a visit on February 26, 2019. Photo: Nam Tran / Tuoi Tre
HANOI - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, on Tuesday ahead of a second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a reporter traveling with Pompeo said.

Pompeo has been Trumps top envoy in his efforts to improve ties with North Korea and has made several trips to Pyongyang to negotiate steps toward ending the Norths nuclear program.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump where they will try to reach an agreement on a North Korean pledge to give up its nuclear weapons programme.

Chairman Kim, who travelled from the North Korean capital by train, arrived at the station in the Vietnamese town of Dong Dang after crossing over the border from China on Tuesday morning.

Vietnamese officials were on hand to receive him at the station with a red-carpet including a guard of honour and North Korean and Vietnamese flags flying.

Kim then took a two-hour journey by car to get to Hanoi.

Upon arrival, the North Korean leader was received by Hanoi chairman Nguyen Duc Chung at the Melia hotel, where he will be staying.

Well-wishers gather to greet North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un on his arrival at the Dong Dang railway station, Vietnam, at the border with China, February 26, 2019. Photo: Reuters

Trump is due to arrive in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, on Tuesday evening.

They will meet for a brief one-on-one conversation on Wednesday evening, followed by a social dinner, at which they will each be accompanied by two guests and interpreters, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters on Air Force One.

The two leaders would meet again on Thursday, she said.

People hold the national flags of Vietnam, North Korea, and the U.S. as they wait for the motorcade of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un outside the Melia hotel ahead of the North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi, Vietnam February 26, 2019. Photo: Reuters

Their talks come eight months after their historic summit in Singapore, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.

There is likely to be pressure on both sides to move beyond the vaguely worded commitment they made in Singapore to work toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Domestic critics have warned Trump against cutting a deal that would do little to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions, urging specific, verifiable North Korean action to abandon the nuclear weapons that threaten the United States.

In return, Kim would expect significant U.S. concessions such as relief from punishing sanctions and a declaration that the 1950-53 Korean War is at last formally over.

A view of the railway station ahead of the arrival of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un in Dong Dang, Vietnam, at the border with China, February 26, 2019. Photo: Reuters

Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, who has emerged as an important aide, arrived with him.

About a dozen body guards ran along side his car as he departed for the two hour journey to the capital, Hanoi.

Roads were closed off with Vietnamese security forces equipped with armoured-personnel carriers guarding the route to the city's Melia hotel.

Both Kim Jong Un and Trump are also due to hold separate talks with Vietnamese leaders.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also arrived in Hanoi, on Tuesday. He has been Trump's top envoy in his efforts to improve ties with North Korea and has made several trips to Pyongyang to negotiate an ending of its nuclear programme.

Pompeo was due to meet U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun in Hanoi later.

Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un and first vice department director of the Workers Partys Central Committee, arrives at the Dong Dang railway station, Vietnam, at the border with China, February 26, 2019. Photo: Reuters

'Tremendous'

Trump told reporters he and Kim would have "a very tremendous summit".

Tweeting on Monday, he stressed the benefits to North Korea if it gave up its nuclear weapons. "With complete Denuclearisation, North Korea will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse. Without it, just more of the same. Chairman Kim will make a wise decision!" Trump said.

In a speech on Sunday night, Trump, however, appeared to play down any hope of a major breakthrough at the Hanoi summit, saying he would be happy as long as North Korea maintained its pause on weapons testing.

"I'm not in a rush. I don't want to rush anybody," he said. "I just don't want testing. As long as there's no testing, we're happy."

North Korea conducted its last nuclear test in September 2017 and last tested an intercontinental ballistic missile in November 2017.

People hold the national flags of Vietnam, North Korea, and the U.S. as they wait for the motorcade of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un outside the Melia hotel ahead of the North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi, Vietnam February 26, 2019. Photo: Danh Trong / Tuoi Tre

Analysts say the two leaders have to move beyond summit symbolism.

"The most basic yet urgent task is to come to a shared understanding of what denuclearisation would entail," said Gi-Wook Shin, director of Stanfords Asia-Pacific Research Center.

"The ambiguity and obscurity of the term 'denuclearisation' only exacerbates the scepticism about both the U.S. and North Korean commitments to denuclearisation.

While the United States is demanding that North Korea give up all of its nuclear and missile programmes, North Korea want to see the removal of the U.S. nuclear umbrella for South Korea.

A South Korean presidential spokesman told reporters in Seoul on Monday the two sides might be able to agree to a formal end of the Korean War, which was concluded with an armistice not a peace treaty, a move North Korea has long sought.

While a formal peace treaty may be a long way off, the two sides have discussed the possibility of a political declaration stating that the war over.
OPINION: "Weve just been released from the grip of a brutal heatwave," writes Sentinel Peak resident Megan Mogan. "Temperatures that spiked on June 11 continued for nine days, breaking a record set in June 1990 for most consecutive days over 112 degrees."
PHOENIX  A man accused of randomly shooting people at a birthday party in Guadalupe allegedly was trying to kill as many people as possible, authorities say.

Maricopa County Sheriff's officials say a male victim who was shot Sunday night later died at a hospital while a wounded woman remains hospitalized.

They say 20-year-old Phillip Valencia is jailed on suspicion of first-degree premeditated murder and assault.

It was unclear Monday if Valencia has a lawyer yet.

Valencia went to a party across the street from his grandmother's house and started shooting, sheriff's investigators say.

Valencia told authorities he was upset after having an argument with his girlfriend before the shootings.

He allegedly told authorities he wanted to shoot all the bullets from his weapon and kill as many people as he could.
A Manila court has been asked by Rappler and its CEO Maria Ressa to dismiss a cyber libel case filed against them by the Justice department. Rappler, Ressa and former reporter Reynaldo Santos Jr., sought the junking of information forwarded by DOJ prosecution against them. The information cited that: That on or about 19 February 2014, the above named accused, did then and there willfully, unlawfully, and knowingly republish an article entitled CJ using SUVs of Controversial Businessman.It then lifted parts of the report first published by Rappler in 2012, which, citing an intelligence report, said businessman Wilfredo Keng, who supposedly owns the vehicle seen being used by then-Chief Justice Renato Corona, was allegedly involved in illegal activities, including human trafficking and drug smuggling. The petitioners argued that any doubt must be resolved in the accuseds favor even if multiple republication does not apply in their case and that the prosecutions theory is based on an application of law, even assuming that a new period of prescription may be conjured following the implementation of the Anti-Cybercrime Act in 2012.
Why: For her work with military veterans. Brownlie was the co-founder of Honor Flight Southern Arizona, which has taken hundreds of World War II veterans to visit memorials in Washington, D.C. She works tirelessly with Wreaths Across America to ensure that every military family has a holiday wreath, Rich wrote in her nomination letter. Brownlie volunteers with Peppis House to honor veterans who are in hospice care and she sits with them during their final days. Brownlie coordinates a monthly lunch bunch that brings veterans together to share a meal. Her newest veterans adventure is collecting and sending Hawaiian shirts to deployed military personnel in war zones. The shirts are in demand by military personnel overseas, Rich wrote.
The University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences is getting a new name to honor James C. Wyant, professor emeritus, former dean, college benefactor and optics industry leader.

The official renaming ceremony for the James C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences is scheduled for this spring.

Wyant has been instrumental in advancing the colleges world-leading education and research program in optical sciences, UA President Robert Robbins said in a prepared statement.

In the past six years, Wyant has given the college more than $30 million in support.

He and his family pledged $20 million for 10 new endowed college faculty positions, in November. It is the largest gift for endowed faculty chair positions in the universitys history.

Wyant also set a record for largest gift for UA scholarships in 2013.

He donated $10 million to the College of Optical Sciences during the Friends of Tucson Optics fundraising campaign. More than 250 other donors also contributed, resulting in 30 first-year graduate student scholarship endowments.
For the 33rd consecutive year, Tucsonans can climb A Mountain on Saturday in an effort to crush all types of cancer.

Climb to Conquer Cancer events started in Arizona and are held in Tucson, Phoenix and Flagstaff every year. They have generated interest around the country, but it is definitely an Arizona thing and we are proud to partner with an icon like A Mountain for this fundraising event, said Tracelyn Sutton, community development manager for the American Cancer Society of Southern Arizona.

More than 500 people are expected to walk from Pima Community Colleges West Campus to the top of the mountain. The event seeks to raise at least $50,000 to support American Cancer Society patient programs in Southern Arizona.

The programs provide a range of free support and services to patients diagnosed with cancer. Services include transportation to and from treatments, lodging for patients who must travel for treatment, specialists to assist patients in need of attaining and navigating insurance benefits, support groups for those battling cancer, head coverings and other gift items for patients, and a wide range of other resources. Additionally, the American Cancer Society is funding $3.2 million in grants for cancer research at the University of Arizona.
Customs officers in Nogales seized more than $4 million worth of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl in three separate incidents on Saturday.

A 67-year-old man from Rio Rico driving a Jeep SUV was referred for further inspection at the downtown port of entry in Nogales and customs officers found nearly 21 pounds of heroin, worth an estimated $560,000, according to a news release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Officers also found 103 pounds cocaine, worth nearly $2.5 million, and 116 pounds of methamphetamine, worth more than $347,000. Officers also found 1.5 pounds of suspected fentanyl, worth nearly $20,000, according to the news release.

Edward Andrew Racine was charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine, meth, and heroin, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Tucson. The complaint also said he was smuggling two packages that "contained an unknown substance in pill form."

Racine reportedly told authorities he was promised $2,500 to smuggle the drugs to a coffee shop in Nogales, Arizona, according to the complaint. He said he needed the money because the telecommunications company he owns in Mexico is going bankrupt and he has 45 employees in danger of losing their jobs. He also reportedly said he wanted to help his sick wife.
PHOENIX  A House panel quashed a bid Monday by Pinal County farmers to get state funds they say they need because of the drought contingency plan.

The 5-5 vote in the Appropriations Committee kills House Bill 2590, which would have advanced $20 million to irrigation districts to drill new wells and construct canals. That would partly make up the reduction in Colorado River water to be delivered to the Pinal County farms under the drought plan.

The plan was for the money to be paid back once the districts get an anticipated grant from the federal government, said Rep. David Cook, R-Globe. He said the cash is needed now because its not known how long the feds will take, and the wells must be pumping by 2022.

But several lawmakers from both parties questioned why state taxpayers should be on the hook, especially after they said the drought contingency plan approved late last month already has some cash for the farmers.

Cook reacted angrily to Mondays vote. He is likely to try to resurrect the issue when lawmakers begin debating the $11.4 billion state budget for the coming fiscal year.
PHOENIX  Saying motorists stopped for traffic violations are being coerced to give up their due-process rights, the Republican-controlled House voted to let them take their case to court and yet still escape the ticket even if theyre found guilty.

HB 2005, approved on a 31-29 party-line vote Monday, would repeal existing laws that give drivers who are cited an up-front choice: challenge the summons in court or opt to take a defensive driving course.

Completing that latter option wipes out the ticket. More to the point, it does not add points to a motorists license and the offense is not reported to the drivers insurance company, which then could use the information to raise premiums.

Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said that amounts to coercion, forcing people who believe they violated no laws to give up their right to a hearing.

So his legislation would say drivers could take their chances in court.

If a judge doesnt believe them, defensive driving school  and the no points and no insurance implications  remains an option. And existing Arizona law allows motorists to wipe out one citation every 12 months.

The measure drew criticism from Rep. Richard Andrade, D-Glendale.
At one point in the scheme, HSI approved $13,000 in cash payments for the informant recognized by HSI, even though the information actually was provided by Arellanos friend. Most of the money ended up with Arellanos friend, according to the indictment.

By using the informant already known to HSI, Arellano avoided having his friend undergo mandatory criminal history checks for informants, according to the indictment. He also avoided revealing their relationship, as the Arizona Daily Star reported July 20.

We view this as a selfish crime that had consequences far beyond, I believe, what Mr. Arellano intended, federal prosecutor Gordon Davenport told Marquez.

Arellanos scheme undermined the integrity of the confidential informant system that is vital to law enforcement, Davenport said.

Due to Arellanos poor health, the U.S. Attorneys Office recommended a sentence of time-served and probation, according to the Aug. 8 plea agreement. Court records show Arellano spent less than a week in custody after his arrest.

Arellano agreed to resign from HSI, which he did earlier this month, and not seek employment in law enforcement, according to his plea agreement.

Arellano declined to make a statement at the hearing. In his memorandum, Chapman wrote that Arellano was not motivated by greed, nor did he receive any personal benefit by protecting his friends identity. Arellano deeply regrets his actions.

Contact reporter Curt Prendergast at 573-4224 or cprendergast@tucson.com or on Twitter @CurtTucsonStar.

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A Tucson man who shot three people, killing one, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release on Monday.

Isaac Cisco, 24, was convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated assault last month in connection with the 2017 shooting.

On April 23, 2017, Cisco shot three people sitting in a car after he followed them from a McDonald's near 22nd Street and Kolb Road to a nearby apartment complex, according to an interim complaint filed by the Tucson Police Department in Pima County Superior Court.

The court document says he shot into the vehicle multiple times and struck all three people in the car. Angel Valenzuela, 28, died from his injuries. The other two victims, ages 16 and 17 at the time, were shot multiple times but survived.

The Pima County Attorney's Office says Cisco was angry because someone beat up his brother. Thinking one of the men in the car was responsible, he followed the car to the apartment complex where he began shooting.

Police hadnt yet arrested Cisco in connection to that case when they came into contact with him about three weeks later during an unrelated traffic stop.
State lawmakers voted Monday to exempt farmers from having to pay sales taxes on the pesticides and fertilizers they put on the crops grown for food in Arizona.

The 32-28 vote by the full House came following pleas from lawmakers representing agricultural communities that its unfair to require those who grow food for Arizonans and people across the country to pay taxes on items they need. And Rep. Mark Finchem, R-Oro Valley, argued that the higher costs will be passed along to consumers, effectively making the tax paid by farmers a tax on the poor.

But the idea drew an angry reaction from several lawmakers who mentioned not just the loss of state tax revenues  potentially up to $19 million  but the idea that it would somehow reward farmers for the use of pesticides, insecticides, herbicides and fertilizers.

We dont want more chemicals in our food supply, said Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley, D-Tucson, telling colleagues that one out of every 33 children born in Arizona has a birth defect. I dont want to encourage this.
We spend about 20 percent of our nights dreaming  but even as weve come to appreciate the importance of sleep, most of us still dismiss our dreams.
Former Misamis Occidental Gov. Loreto Leo Ocampos on Tuesday asserted his innocence against graft charges and vowed to elevate his case to the Supreme Court. Ocampos said he was hopeful the Sandiganbayan decision on the marine park controversy would be reversed. In view of the Sandiganbayan ruling, I will appeal the case to the Supreme Court. Lets be clear though that the ruling is not yet final and executory, Ocampos said in a press statement. He is convinced the case would be dismissed by the high tribunal. Im very confident that eventually this politically-motivated case hurled against me will be dismissed. I will fight this case up to the Supreme Court and I know that at the end of the day I will emerge victorious, he explained. He also believed that the people of Misamis Occidental fully support him and knew the truth. Im appealing to the people of Misamis Occidental not to succumb to political whims just to destroy my person and credibility as a leader. I know this new ruling will be used against me as the 2019 midterm election nears, the returning governor candidate added.The case was filed by on March 15, 2011 by Oscar Visitacion, a known ally of then Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog, a suspected narco-politician who was killed amidst the anti-drug war campaign of the current administration. There was no immediately available comment from Visitacion. I want to reiterate that this was a politically-motivated case against me because of my resolve to end the reign of terror created by illegal drugs, illegal gambling and political dynasties in our beloved province.and soon the rule of law will be restored again in our beloved province, Ocampos said. In December 2018, the same court cleared Ocampos of malversation charges in the mentioned marine park controversy due to lack of proof that public funds were misappropriated for private use. Wherefore, premises considered, the Court finds and holdsaccused Ocampos and Akhavan not guilty of malversation under Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code in Criminal Case No. SB-15-CRM-0088, stated the 57-page court decision promulgated on Dec. 5, 2018.
The IRS will not email, text, call or direct-message families receiving the child tax credit as an initial contact. You should delete those messages unread. Here are more of the week's best money tips.
The meningitis case discovered in a Carbon County child last week that temporarily closed four schools there is not contagious, officials said Monday.

Testing completed recently confirmed that the students case is streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria. Out of precaution, Carbon County School District No. 2 closed four schools late last week. A spokeswoman for the Health Department said health officials would normally not recommend closure for this specific type of meningitis.

Carbon 2 Superintendent Jim Copeland said in an email Monday that he was notified of the case Wednesday. The fifth-grade student was flown to a Denver hospital and began receiving treatment.

We decided to close the schools to allow for a deep cleaning until Monday, Copeland wrote, adding that parents, schools and local media were all notified. Friday was not scheduled as a student school day anywayso the schools were closed for 1 official school day, which will be made up later this year.

In a statement sent Friday, the department stressed that the students having meningitis did not pose a broader public health concern. It also added that testing to confirm the infection had not been completed and a specific diagnosis had not been verified.
CHEYENNE  A bill sponsored by one of Caspers representatives to create a regulated industrial hemp industry in Wyoming is headed to Gov. Mark Gordons desk.

Spearheaded by Republican Rep. Bunky Loucks, House Bill 171 breezed through the Wyoming Senate on Monday on its third reading with only two members of the body  Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, and Sen. Eli Bebout, R-Riverton  voting no on the measure.

Backed by a bipartisan group of 23 lawmakers, HB171 creates a framework for the states growers to capitalize on a provision in the new farm bill that decriminalizes hemp, previously considered a controlled substance under federal law. If signed by the governor, the bill would allow farmers to apply for a state license to begin to grow hemp.

Upon receiving the license, farmers would then have to subject their crop to regular testing  including remaining below a certain THC threshold. Regulations in the bill offered flexibility for scenarios where, if a plant did test above the legal threshold, the bad crop could be bailed up or ground into feed for livestock.
Authorities have said Zambada is a leader of the Sinaloa cartel, which has smuggled billions of dollars worth of cocaine, heroin, meth and marijuana into the United States.

Earlier this month, a jury convicted Guzman, another Sinaloa cartel leader, of various federal crimes, including engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy to launder drug proceeds and international drug distribution. His lawyers have said he will seek a new trial following a Vice News report alleging juror misconduct during the case.

The allegations implicating one of the Wyoming restaurants were reported by the Star-Tribune in January. The report drew from responses to a sealed civil complaint filed in November.

In their responses, defendants laid out some of the governments allegations, including that bank accounts belonging to Hilario Montejano-Aleman, the owner of Rodolfos Mexican Grill in Cheyenne, were used in drug money laundering.
The mother of a man shot and killed by Casper police last year filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court Monday on the anniversary of his death.

The lawsuit was filed Monday by Todd Hambrick, who represents the family of Douglas Oneyear. It names the city of Casper, the Casper Police Department, the Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy and officers Jonathan Schlager and Cody Meyers as defendants.

Schlager shot and killed Oneyear in February 2018 after he and Meyers encountered the man on 15th Street near Wyoming Boulevard on the citys east side. Both Schlager and Meyers fired at Oneyear.

Oneyear was carrying a sword, and officers said they shot at him when he ignored their commands to stop moving toward them. Schlager fired two shots that struck Oneyear in the spine.

The lawsuit accuses the city, agency and academy of failing to properly train officers and implement policies that would have prevented Oneyears death, allegations that Hambrick first publicly made in an August legal filing.

In the lawsuit, Hambrick characterizes the sword as a toy. He states that Oneyear was walking in the street around the front fender of Officer Schlagers car in a nonthreatening manner with his arms at his sides.
The LSAP politician, who was Luxembourg's Deputy Prime Minister between 1976 and 1979 amongst other things, passed away last week according to RTL information. He reached the age of 87.

Born in Dudelange, Berg started his professional career at the ARBED, working as a cutting machine operator. He first became active in trade unions in the 1950s.

In 1969, Benny Berg was voted into the Chamber of Deputies for the first time and started his political career in earnest.

He was appointed to the post of minister for employment and social issues and the post of minister for family affairs and housing under the Thorn-Vouel government in 1974.

Between 1979 and 1984, Benny Berg became the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party's faction leader and was appointed to the post of minister for health and social issues in the first Santer-Poos government.

While he wasn't re-elected in the 1989 general elections, he could have moved up into parliament in 1990 but left the seat to fellow Dudelanger and LSAP politician Marc Zanussi.

In 2012, the socialist advised Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker in his tripartite negotiations.

Apart from his political mandates, Benny Berg was also involved in social projects such as the Fondation Kraizbierg for people with disabilities, of which he was an administrative board member until 1995.
The Housing Fund has been through it's fair share of ups and down. As of yesterday, 25 February, it's now been active for 40 years.

The Housing Fund was established on 25 February 1979. Since then, some 4052 homes have been put on the Luxembourgish market through the fund. 133 homes were completed in 2017, and 135 the year prior. RTL looked back on a long history, and discussed the funds future, with the fund's president, Diane Dupont.

Located on Boulevard Marcel Cahen in Luxembourg City, the funds mission has changed throughout the years. In 1979 the fund mainly concerned itself with buying real estate/land through which to rent out and build housing. Throughout the years more missions were added, such as in 2002 when, as Dupont notes, the fund also began working in the area of urban development. A new law came into effect in 2017 which established that the fund should first and foremost build apartments for rent and sale.

 RTL archives

As the fund is also the proprietor of nearly 2000 apartments, these are over-seen by management law. Dupont sees the SNHBM (the National Affordable Housing Company) as complementary to the fund. However, the fund is moving towards 70% rent housing and 30% sales.

The Housing Fund is planning on bringing roughly 3800 further homes to the market in the next 20 to 25 years. Big projects are already being prepared, such as "Wunne mat der Wooltz" ("living with Wiltz"), as well as projects in Dudelange, Mamer, Luxembourg City, and Echternach.

Right now the Housing Fund is looking for a new director. The procedure will start this week.
Brice Montagne was subject to a fair amount of viral coverage following his speech during a petition debate in Luxembourg's Chamber of Deputies.

Alongside fellow petitioners Valeria Ortiz and Gilles Bestgen, Montagne was invited to the Chamber of Deputies for a public session on 6 February to argue their side in reducing the use of plastic packaging in Luxembourg. Throughout the course of the session, Montagne swiftly lambasted MPs about their inaction concerning the environment.

At the end of his speech, he asked who in the room had read the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Special Report, published in October 2018. To that question, Montage was greeted by silence, which effectively proved his point.

Qui a lu le rapport du GIEC ? La reponse est inquietante. Certain.e.s disent avoir mal compris car ils utilisent plutot le terme IPCC, alors reposons la question. Parlementaires avez-vous lu le rapport du GIEC ? @NaomiAKlein @Wort_LU @reporter_lu pic.twitter.com/2Lzm7dNkLo  Brice Montagne (@brice_montagne) 6 fevrier 2019

MPs reactions' have thus raised questions about how committed the government is in fighting climate change. In response, some MPs deplored the fact that the IPCC's report had not been translated into Luxembourgish or French, making it difficult to access for Luxembourgish MPs.

 RTL Luxembourg/ Gael Arellano

In an interview with our colleagues at 5Minutes, Montage explained hat he was ready to give MPs the benefit of the doubt and explained that he, Ortiz, and Bestgen are in the process of translating the report. He was firm that once translated, MPs would have no excuse to ignore the report's findings, which outline a number of concrete solutions for governments to take.

Whilst the main point of the session was to debate the use of plastic packaging, the debate's intended focus was overshadowed by Montagne's speech.

Valeria Ortiz also stressed the importance of recognising the urgency of climate change and the swift deadline. She called for students to join a protest in Luxembourg on 15 March.

Finally, Bestgen is currently working his way through the Luxembourgish translation of the Special Report, hoping that it will cause MPs to act as quick as possible.

In response to a question from Today, Montagne also noted that any assistance with the translation would be welcome, should anyone feel up to the task, specifically into Luxembourgish and Spanish. He can be contacted through Facebook.
The Metro Manila Development Authority on Tuesday expressed its support to the City of Mandaluyong and commended the local government for its continuous efforts to strictly implement and enforce its anti-smoking ordinance. City Ordinance 671, or the Comprehensive Smoke-Free Ordinance of the City of Mandaluyong, was enacted and approved by the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Mandaluyong on July 17, 2017. It aims to regulate the use, sale, distribution, and advertisement of cigarettes and other tobacco products within the territorial jurisdiction of Mandaluyong. MMDA chairman Danilo Lim said the agency recognized the efforts of Mandaluyong in promoting better health and to reduce the prevalence of smoking-related diseases. I would like to express my warmest congratulations to the local government of Mandaluyong for its relentless efforts in the implementation and enforcement of a 100 percent smoke-free policy, Lim said. In a three-day Smoke-Free Environment Policies Training of Mandaluyong Barangay Captains and Enforcers held last month in Balanga City, Bataan, Mandaluyong City Mayor Carmelita Menchie Abalos shared their struggles and efforts to snuff out smoking in their city.The citys Smoke-Free Task Force, together with the MMDA, has been rigorously monitoring the selling of tobacco products in public establishments, especially near school premises. Mandaluyong SFTF is composed of police, city hall employees, and barangay officials. Last year, a total 6,283 smokers were apprehended in public places while 292 store owners were caught for selling cigarettes near schools, according to Col. Roseller Sta. Maria, chief of Mandaluyong City Ordinance Enforcement Division. Meanwhile, Abalos disclosed that the city was aiming for another Red Orchid Award and hoping to reach the Hall of Fame distinction just like Balanga City, Bataan. MMDA believes that the Mandaluyong-LGU is eager to become a model smoke-free city not only in Metro Manila but in the whole Philippines.
Between Dippach and Holzem, a car crashed into a ditch and in Luxembourg City, a car crashed into a bus. Three people were injured in the two incidents.

On Monday morning, shortly after 9.30am, a car veered off the road between Dippach and Holzem. The vehicle ended up in a ditch, injuring one person. A Luxembourg City ambulance was dispatched to the scene, as were Dippach firefighters.

About an hour later, another accident occurred in Luxembourg City. A car and a bus crashed into each other on Boulevard Grande-Duchesse Charlotte. Two people were injured in the incident. Luxembourg City emergency services and a local ambulance were at the scene.
Ah Twitter. One of the internets proudest inventions or a cesspit for bullying, sexism, and racism? The beauty of it is you decide! If you want to be an alt-right troll, then you do you, boo*.

*Within reason. Milo Yiannopoulos has shown the limits of being outrageous for outrageousness sake when the social media platform first removed his verified status, then banned him. If you do happen to tend on that side, you could go join floundering Twitter alternative, Parler News.

But lets say you want to use Twitter for the same purposes as others. Which is, to browse news and memes or to have a professional presence, a bit like a LinkedIn squeezed into 280 characters.

Do make sure your username makes sense. If you happen to be a bit like Captain Holt here (see below clip) and think that random numbers make up the best username, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise. As Holt discovers, he gets bannedbecause his profile seems like a bot! So act like a human, unless youre a bot, in which case, please stop acting like humans. Its scary.

NYC H2O-Main SITREP: at 2040 EDT current PSI 456 Max Cap 204000 LPM.  Raymond Holt (@5261796d6e6420) March 23, 2018

Dont make your Twitter handle something vulgar. It might be a bit awkward if future employers see your Twitter handle used to be full of expletives.

Do bear the character limit in mind. Its tiring for people to have to read an entire thread because of the character limits. If you do feel the need to write an essay, either link to it or write it in your Notes app and post a screenshot a la Ariana Grande. Or, if youre pursuing the idea of having a thread, please number your Tweets.

Dont subtweet. For the unaware, subtweeting is the act of mentioning a person on Twitter without using the symbol @ before their name so they do not see what you have written:

Subtweeting is the internet equivalent of talking about someone behind their back. (c/o Cambridge Dictionary) Whether youre subtweeting your boss, your mum, or your former best friend, just dont do it. You dont come off well and its just drama for the sake of drama. Okay, if youre a 13-year-old, by all means, go ahead and subtweet, but youll cringe in a few years time.

It's not a hit and run if u get out the car, exchange information (who has NO DAMAGE to either cars).This is really ridiculous  Chris Brown (@chrisbrown) June 25, 2013

Do remember that the internet never deletes things. Up until 2018, the US Library of Congress archived every single Tweet in existence. Whilst the LOC has now seen the limitations of that endeavour, your Tweets will be found elsewhere online so think before you have a massive Twitter tirade.

Dont engage in a Twitter argument. A) It is pretty difficult to be succinct in 280 characters and B) impossible to keep track of if youre tweeting the same argument over multiple Tweets. Okay, some people obviously enjoy a juicy Twitter argument, but maybe being the observer is better than being the arguer in question.

Do fact check. If you suddenly see that #RIPMariahCarey is trending, then dont take it at face value! A number of prominent people have died on Twitter without there being the slightest hint of truth.

Do block Donald Trump if you are not a MAGA type person and dont have the tolerance to read his Tweets.

Dont look at the replies if you're inundated with them. Try to keep yourself sane!
This site focuses on Republican politicians and conservatives that rip off their constituency. We have the Tea Party, fundamentalist churches, the corruption of ALEC and other special interests groups. But the site also supports progressive Democrats and the local Democratic Socialist of America. We must have ideas on how to replace regressive and corrupt politicians with something better. For comments steveotto2001@yahoo.com or ottozero2001@yahoo.com.
Political and cultural commentary from the perspective of radical common sense. Opposition to the AMERICAN BIPOLARCHY and ideological fanaticism in all forms. Don't take our word for anything: figure it out for yourself.
SUMMER SPECIAL!!! - Sign up at 20% OFF for Full Access to all of the online content and E-Editions on the www.thewordlink.com website here!

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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.
Reaching Higher NH has announced new hires, Greg Bird and Laura Gates. Bird will serve as Reaching Highers Senior Data Analyst, where he will play a leading role in informing statewide conversations around public education through analysis and data modeling. Gates will serve as the Director of Research and Implementation, where she will lead the organizations research initiatives as well as the implementation of Reaching Highers community engagement work.

Reaching Higher has also announced the transition of one of its core team members, Liz Canada. Canada will now fill the role of Director of Policy and Practice to lead the policy work for Reaching Higher. She will collaborate with the Reaching Higher team, board, and partners to develop policy priorities and work with NH stakeholders to improve public understanding of and support for innovative, best practices that promote high-quality public education opportunities for each and every child.

"We work to make policy accessible, informing and engaging communities across NH in the decision-making that impacts their students and schools. When our students our thriving, our communities are too. As Reaching Higher grows and our work takes off - we've been able to attract exceptional talent. I am thrilled to welcome our newest team members, and Liz in her new role, and am excited for all the work important ahead," said Evelyn Aissa, Executive Director for Reaching Higher.

Greg Bird, Senior Data Analyst



Greg Bird will lead data analyses on a broad range of topics, with a specific focus on K-12 education funding, painting a clear and engaging picture of what the numbers mean. In addition, he will monitor various pieces of education-related legislation, conduct research, and author policy briefs and other content to help inform public debate.

Laura Gates, Director of Research & Implementation

Laura Gates will conduct research and analysis on current education legislation and other issues related to public education in New Hampshire. Gates will prepare policy-related materials for a wide range of audiences - from students and families, to educators, lawmakers, and members of the media.

Liz Canada, Director of Policy and Practice

Liz has worked in various education settings around the country, and she is eager and excited about her new role at Reaching Higher NH as the Director of Policy and Practice.

Most recently, Liz served as Reaching Highers Director of Community Engagement, helping to lead the community engagement work for Manchester Proud <http://www.manchesterproud.org/>, which has included community canvassing, listening sessions, town halls  and more.
 Commemorates the lives of the free and enslaved workers who built Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie, the soldiers who defended the forts, the prisoners held there and the captive Africans brought to America as slaves.

 Bolsters the tourism potential of the community by increasing the visibility, prestige and notoriety of the sites by upgrading the federal designation to national park.

Each year, Fort Sumter National Monument and Fort Moultrie attract nearly a million visitors to see where the first shots of the Civil War were fired on April 12, 1861. Fort Sumter has been recognized as a national monument since 1948, and since 1960, Fort Moultrie has been administered by the National Parks Service as part of Fort Sumter without a clear management mandate or established boundary.

The overall federal lands package also contains the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park Act and the re-authorization of the HBCU Historic Preservation program, both cosponsored and strongly supported by Scott. The Reconstruction Era National Historical Park Act re-designates the Reconstruction Era National Monument in Beaufort County as a national park, and the HBCU Historic Preservation program works to help historically black colleges and universities.

In divisive and difficult times in Washington, the legislation should be welcomed by politicians of all persuasions. Let's hope partisan politics does not derail it in the House. The nation must preserve its history and prioritize dollars to do so.

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As we begin a new Congress, President Donald Trump is seizing on an unprecedented moment of opportunity. In his recent State of the Union address, the American peoples charge was heard loud and clear: choose greatness.

Those of you who watched the State of the Union address this year saw a conciliatory demeanor and a clear vision on how our country can and will move forward.

Republicans and Democrats must come together to do what is best for our country. I remain optimistic about the legislative year. In particular, I would like to share what my goals are and how they coincide with supporting our Presidents agenda.

Every year, I have the unique opportunity to share with press conferences across the district my legislative agenda and visit small businesses in the district. In doing so, I reinforce my commitment to creating jobs, advocating for economic growth, supporting tax cuts and a balanced budget, strengthening partnerships and opportunities overseas, and promoting our military and veterans.

Building on the successes of 2018, I am grateful for the most productive year of my congressional service: with defense achieving funding before the end of the fiscal year, where I led the delegation for the opening the Embassy in Jerusalem, and with the success of tax cuts creating record job growth
Manila Water posts P6.5-b net earnings

posted February 26, 2019 at 07:05 pm by Manila Standard Business February 26, 2019 at 07:05 pm

Manila Water Company Inc. said Monday net income increased 6 percent in 2018 to P6.5 billion from a year ago, bolstered by the approval of positive tariff adjustment. Manila Water said billed water volume grew 4 percent last year, with the Manila concession leading the way with a 3-percent increase from the previous year. It said the new international acquisitions of East Water in Thailand and PT Sarana Tirta Ungaran in Indonesia strengthened the billed volume base by more than 320 million cubic meters, enabling consolidated billed volume to breach the 1-billion-cubic-meter threshold.Manila Water said 2018 marked a significant milestone with the positive conclusion to its rate rebasing exercise with the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage System. Manila Water secured a positive tariff adjustment of nearly 25 percent on the current basic tariff for the prevailing rate rebasing period. The first tranche of the adjustment was implemented in October last year, with a P1.46 increase per cubic meter. Subsequent adjustments were also programmed for 2020 and 2021.

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.
He decided to take on the concept, to challenge the idea that the color of ones skin was a natural division among people, a reasonable igniter of distrust  and that, my God, all the human occupants of Planet Earth were one of five colors  black, white, yellow, brown or red  and those colors negated their complexity as human beings. This offended him not just as a man but as an artist.

And this is where the irreverence started coming in. Race was simply too absurd to take seriously. So, in the mid-90s, when he wrote a book called White Folks: Seeing America Through Black Eyes, he decided to step over the PC line. He devised an ad campaign for the book announcing, simply, White Folks for sale.

Oops! Way too funny, and way too non-PC. A local radio station refused to run the ad. We can use sex and violence to sell products, but we dare not stir up the horrors of American history.

Flash forward a couple of decades and Lowell Thompson is walking through a Barnes and Noble store. He notices a large display of adult coloring books and realizes these are a thing now  and suddenly another politically incorrect idea pops into his head. He decided to create a coloring book. The title would be: Some of My Best Friends Are Colored.
An Orangeburg woman will spend the next three decades in prison after a jury convicted her in the death of her husband.
It is in need of repairs to both the engine and hydraulics. We are in the process of making appointments with Amick Equipment Company of Lexington for the hydraulics issues, and either Blanchard Equipment Company or someone local for the engine issues, he said.

During the time the Freightliner is out of service, we will have to rely on the 1991 Ford. We would like to buy a dump trailer for the large debris fields and when needed trash service, he said.

Shugert noted that Public Works employee Travis Clark has received certification for water distribution.

 Councilman Calvin Odom discussed future plans for the recreation department.

We will be proposing for and asking for funds to improve our parks, he said.

 Carter said council members will soon be busy because the emergency center ribbon cutting will be close to the dates of the Dogwood Festival, which will be held April 5-6, and the ribbon cutting for the city hall will be coming up some time after that.

 Councilwoman Hope Long Weldon recognized the many public works projects that are going on and mentioned that the library committee, which she is a part of, is purchasing more books for the library.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker was appointed to the Council of Governors, according to a Monday news release from the governor's office.

Established in 2008, the Council of Governors is a 10-member bipartisan panel that advises the federal government on matters of national security, homeland security, disaster response and the National Guard. The release also says it fosters state and federal coordination, and advises on the benefits and compensation for National Guard members.

As the largest state in the Midwest, and as a state with a strong National Guard, Illinois plays a critical role in keeping our country safe, and we will be an important voice on the Council of Governors, Pritzker said in the release. My administration has appointed highly skilled leaders in several public safety roles, and I look forward to working with governors across the country to prepare for and respond to the threats and challenges we face.

Pritzker attended his first meeting this weekend with director of homeland security, IEMA General Alica Tate-Nadeau and Adjutant General Richard Neely. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Hawaii Gov. David Ige serve as the councils co-chairs.

 The Southern

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Dr. Varadendra Panchamukhi, interventional cardiologist and STAT Heart medical director, says the door-to-balloon numbers achieved in Southern Illinois is a testament to the team, which he calls a "dream team."

STAT Heart is the name for a series of protocols to treat a STEMI (ST-elevated myocardial infarction) or heart attack that stops the blood flow to a large portion of the heart and has a high risk of death. The sooner the blood flow is restored, the better the outcomes are for patients.

SIH Prairie Heart Institute of Carbondale has set a goal for its team of door-to-balloon times of 90 minutes or less. The goal set by national standards is 120 minutes.

Time equals muscle," Panchamukhi said, "and muscle equals time.

When a patient having a heart attack arrives at the emergency room, the timer starts. The goal allows 30 minutes for diagnosis at a referring hospital, 30 minutes for transport to Carbondale and 30 minutes from arrival in Carbondale to blood flowing in the heart catheterization lab.

Panchamukhi said the cath lab staff cheers when blood flow returns.
PetroMaroc Corporation plc, formerly LONGREACH OIL AND GAS LIMITED, is an exploration stage company. The Company is engaged in the evaluation, acquisition, exploration and development of oil and gas properties in Morocco. The Company is an independent oil and gas company focused on its land position in Morocco. The Company holds approximately 50% operated interest in the Sidi Moktar license area covering approximately 2,680 square kilometers. Its over three blocks, totaling approximately 4,500 square kilometers, are located in the Essaouira Basin in central Morocco. Approximately four fields within Sidi Moktar have produced over 30.5 billion cubic feet of gas from Jurassic-aged reservoirs. The Company's subsidiaries are Longreach Oil and Gas Ventures Limited, Longreach Oil and Gas (Canada) Limited and Longreach Oil and Gas (UK) Ltd.

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The Philippine air travel market expanded 10 percent in 2018 from a year ago, as more international and domestic passengers traveled to different destinations across the country. Data from the Civil Aeronautics Board showed Tuesday that total passenger traffic increased in 2018 to 54.14 million from 49.18 million in 2017. Domestic passenger traffic reached 27.28 million last year, up 10 percent from 24.81 million in 2017. Cebu Pacific remained the countrys leading domestic airline with 12.26 million passengers in 2018, up from 11.95 million in 2017. Cebgo, Cebu Pacifics subsidiary, also flew 1.69 million passengers last year, down from 1.77 million passengers in 2017. This was followed by PAL Express which carried 6.46 million last year, up from 5.94 million in 2017. Philippines AirAsia served 4.59 million passengers, up from 3.44 million passengers a year ago.Philippine Airlines carried 1.73 million domestic passengers last year, up from 1.26 million passengers in 2017. Magnum Air and Air Juan Aviation carried 259,957 passengers and 33,403 passengers, respectively. Meanwhile, international passenger traffic grew 10.3 percent in 2018 to 26.86 million from 24.37 million in 2017. Of the total, domestic airlines carried 14.43 million passengers, while foreign airlines flew 12.42 million passengers. PAL was the number one airline in the international market with 7.44 million passengers last year, up from 6.88 million passengers in 2017. Cebu Pacific came second with 5.02 million passengers last year, up from 4.74 million in 2017. Philippines Air Asia and PAL Express flew 1.72 million and 250,977 passengers, respectively.
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ONEOK, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in gathering, processing, storage, and transportation of natural gas in the United States. It operates through Natural Gas Gathering and Processing, Natural Gas Liquids, and Natural Gas Pipelines segments. The company owns natural gas gathering pipelines and processing plants in the Mid-Continent and Rocky Mountain regions. It also gathers, treats, fractionates, and transports natural gas liquids (NGL), as well as stores, markets, and distributes NGL products. The company owns NGL gathering and distribution pipelines in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico, Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Colorado; terminal and storage facilities in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois; and NGL distribution and refined petroleum products pipelines in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana, as well as owns and operates truck- and rail-loading, and -unloading facilities connected to NGL fractionation, storage, and pipeline assets. In addition, it operates regulated interstate and intrastate natural gas transmission pipelines and natural gas storage facilities. Further, the company owns and operates a parking garage in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma; and leases excess office space. It operates 18,900 miles of natural gas gathering pipelines; 1,500 miles of FERC-regulated interstate natural gas pipelines; 5,100 miles of state-regulated intrastate transmission pipeline; and 6 NGL storage facilities. It serves integrated and independent exploration and production companies; NGL and natural gas gathering and processing companies; crude oil and natural gas production companies; propane distributors; municipalities; ethanol producers; and petrochemical, refining, and NGL marketing companies, as well as natural gas distribution companies, electric generation facilities, industrial companies, producers, processors, and marketing companies. The company was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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To Any American Who Owns a Cell Phone (Ad)

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.

Click here to see this video before it's removed
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.
Gildan Activewear Inc. manufactures and sells various apparel products in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It provides various activewear products, including T-shirts, fleece tops and bottoms, and sport shirts under the Gildan, Gildan Performance, Gildan Hammer, Comfort Colors, American Apparel, Anvil by Gildan, Alstyle, Prim + Preux, and GoldToe brands. The company also offers hosiery products comprising athletic; dress; and casual, liner, therapeutic, and workwear socks, as well as sheer panty hoses, tights, and leggings under the brands of Gildan, Under Armour, GoldToe, PowerSox, GT a GoldToe Brand, Silver Toe, Signature Gold by Goldtoe, Peds, MediPeds, Kushyfoot, Therapy Plus, All Pro, Secret, Silks, Secret Silky, and American Apparel. In addition, it provides men's and boys' underwear products, and ladies panties under the Gildan and Gildan Platinum brand names; and ladies' shapewear, intimates, and accessories under the Secret and Secret Silky brands. The company sells its products to wholesale distributors, screen printers, or embellishers, as well as to retailers and consumer brand companies. The company was formerly known as Textiles Gildan Inc. and changed its name to Gildan Activewear Inc. in March 1995. Gildan Activewear Inc. was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

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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.
Dedicated to the Restoration of Progressive Democracy
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Two business management analysts with the Technical University of Munich and the University of Mannheim have conducted a study of two wind-power based hydrogen production facilities in Germany and the U.S. to find out if investors should consider such efforts as viable opportunities. In their paper published in the journal Nature Energy, Gunther Glenk and Stefan Reichelstein claim that their analysis shows that such efforts are, indeed, cost competitive in niche applications, and thus should be considered as sound investment opportunities.

As scientists continue to search for ways to generate the power needed to run the modern economy, business experts continue to study new power generation schemes to determine whether they are worth the risk of investment. In this new effort, the analysts looked at two energy production facilities that create hydrogen by using electricity generated from wind turbines.

At first glance, it might seem silly to produce gas for burning using electricity produced via a renewable resourcebut as the analysts note, there are applications where such a conversion makes senseusing the hydrogen that is produced to power cars, for example, or to heat homes in the northern latitudes.

Glenk and Reichelstein also note that several previous studies regarding using renewable energy sources to produce hydrogen have found that doing so is not cost-competitive. They argue that recent developments have made earlier arguments moot. Most specifically, they note that improvements in electrolyzer technology have led to dramatic drops in the cost of conversionalong with improvements in efficiency. They also point out that efforts that take advantage of "optimal capacity size," as was done in the test plants in Germany and the U.S., reduce costs by preventing waste. They also note that industry experts have predicted that wind energy will become cheaper in the coming years.

The researchers cement their arguments by noting that both of the plants they studied were operating in a cost-competitive mode for small- and medium-scale users of hydrogen gas who currently pay more for it from other sources. They further note that due to the falling cost of wind energy and continuous improvements in electrolyzer technology, large-scale hydrogen production facilities will likely become competitive in the near future, as well.

Explore further Estimation of technology level required for low-cost renewable hydrogen production

More information: Gunther Glenk et al. Economics of converting renewable power to hydrogen, Nature Energy (2019). Gunther Glenk et al. Economics of converting renewable power to hydrogen,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41560-019-0326-1 Press release Journal information: Nature Energy

 2019 Science X Network
Vivo has announced today that the V15 Pro, is officially available in Malaysia and will be on sale for RM1799 just like the rumours suggested. It also appears that the V15, the lesser variant of the V15 Pro won't be coming at all. Anyway, the V15 Pro will be available at every Vivo Concept Stores scattered around Malaysia, authorised dealers, and selected telcos.

Offered in Topaz Blue and Coral Red, those who pre-order the smartphone from 26 February until 1 March 2019 will receive a complimentary gift box at selected roadshow locations. Then on 2 March 2019, Vivo Malaysia will be hosting a V15 Pro Superday Sale at Sunway Pyramid (Blue Concourse) where the first 200 early birds will bring home a complimentary DJI Tello drone and a gift box.

V15 Pro Superday Sale

Digi also has the V15 Pro promo

Here's senQ's pre-order promo where you can get a backpack and a gift box worth RM530

Seems like the roadshow will be held in Queensbay Mall (Penang) and Vivacity Megamall (Sarawak)

Initially revealed in China, the device comes with a 32MP front-facing pop-up camera, similar to that of the Vivo NEX that was launch last year, allowing the phone to achieve a very high screen-to-body ratio of up to 91.64%. At the rear, you'll find the AI Triple Camera equipped with a 48MP + 8MP + 5MP sensor. Last but not least, it also comes with an In-display Fingerprint Sensor Technology which means there won't be a physical fingerprint sensor visible on any side of the smartphone.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 chipset

6GB of RAM

128GB of Internal Storage

6.39-inch Super AMOLED FHD+ Display

48MP + 8MP + 5MP Triple rear camera

32MP Front-facing pop-up camera

Features In-Display Fingerprint Sensor, Jovi Image Recogniser, Smart Button, Game Mode 5.0

3700mAh non-removable battery

Android 9.0 Pie OS with Funtouch OS 9.0

Stay tuned for more vivo news at TechNave.com.
In what was, so far, the best baseball game of the week, the Jaguars pulled their 33rd win out of the fire and salvaged a gem of a start from their star pitcher.
A Kalama father and son are using their limousine service to offer a dash of luxury, but at discount prices.

Kevin Lauerman and his son Marques Lies opened up A Step Above Limousine Service last March. Lauerman said since the business is not his full-time job, he can make the service more affordable.

To me, if I build anything its not about the money but about memories, Lauerman said. Of course I like to get paid, but Im willing to eat my costs and go the extra mile for my business.

A Step Above has two limousines. Although the business is based in Kalama, Lauerman said they will travel around Washington and Oregon.

Lauerman said hes driven for a variety of school and community events for free or discounted prices. The business offers a variety of discounts, including for veterans. Customers can even pay for the service in installments, he said.

The business partners with Robert Harvey to provide personal security if the customer wants, Lauerman said. A Step Above is also dog friendly.

I wanted to make sure I set the tone as being different, he said. My job is about making people happy, he said.
Carol Aaron, PeaceHealths chief administrative officer the past nine years, will retire at the end of the year, the Catholic health system announced Monday.

Aaron joined Vancouver-based PeaceHealth in 2010 and has worked 30 years in health care.

She has been instrumental in (PeaceHealths) acceleration as an integrated system serving communities in Oregon, Washington and Alaska as well as the development of leadership and organizational strategies to advance clinical excellence and compassionate care to the communities PeaceHealth serves, the nonprofit organization stated in a news release.

She will be replaced by Steve Glenn, PeaceHealth senior vice president for governance and support services. He will add the title of executive vice president in his new role, overseeing mission services, marketing and communications, facilities and construction, business transformation office, board governance and the shared services center.
With the recent publication of a photo of Assad at the Hemeimeem base, Russia is trying to show who is the lesser partner in their relationship writes Alsouria Net.

A recent image that circulated of Bashar al-Assad at the Hemeimeem base exposed the regime head to criticism and scorn, but it was not the first time that Moscow has released such an image, and it will not be the last. It reflects the disrespectful and belittling view that Moscow holds of Damascus.

The image, which Syrians described as a humiliation for Assad, captured social media over the last two days. It was taken during Assads visit with Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Hemeimeem base in the Lattakia countryside in January 2017. The picture shows Assad, standing with Russian officers waiting for Putin to finish delivering his speech.

The timing of the publication of the image has raised a number of questions, including whether Moscow intentionally circulated it after Assad appeared to challenge his allies in a recent speech, when he discussed international efforts to form a constitutional committee.

Assad has recently been subject to similar positions, whether during his meetings with Putin, or with other Russian officials. In one of the most prominent circulated by Arab and international media, Russia officers appear to hold back Assad from catching up to Putin at the Hemeimeem base as the latter marches ahead to deliver his speechan unusual scene in diplomatic ceremonies, especially given that Russia views Assad as the President of Syria.

In a continuation of this, Assad was forced to stand with other Russian officers for five minutes, while Putin finished giving his address to the officers.

In another scene that drew social medias gaze, Putin welcomed Assad to military base, which was in Syria, by saying, Welcome honorable guests.

In June 2016, Russia called Assad to the Hemeimeem base without informing him of which Russian officials he would meet. Russian media showed a video clip of Assad at the base meeting with the Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu.

It appeared that Assad was surprised by the meeting, telling the Russian official that his visit was a pleasant surprise, and saying during the meeting that, I did not know that you would come personally. This sparked ridicule of Assad and the way in which he appeared during the meeting with the minister.

About a year before this incident, Russia invited Assad to visit Putin in Russia. This visit did not help to create a positive image for Assad. Analysts described the visit as degrading for a number of reasons, including the fact that the regime flag was not present inside the meeting room, an unprecedented measure during the visit of presidents to one another.

Ridicule on Russian Media

While Russian media has focused on the achievements of the Russian army in Syria they have regularly presented Assad as a man who was saved by his allies, and who without Moscow would have been toppled by the opposition.

Throughout the history of Russian-Syrian relations, the Russian media has refrained from publicly speaking ill of Assad; expect when in February 2016, the Kommersant newspaper, which is close to the Russian administration, quoted Alexey Malashenko, the head of the Russian Carnegie Center, as saying that Assads behavior was like a tail trying to wag the dog.

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.
Idleb is supposed to be governed by an agreement that stops violence between opposition groups and the government, but attacks have continued writes Al-Araby al-Jadeed.

Ever since Assads regime recaptured the majority of the opposition held territories across the country, Idleb has served as a haven for the majority of displaced families once involved in the uprising, unable to return home and forced to remain displaced in domestic exile.

Idleb has been one of the main issues at international negotiations, with Russia aiming to resolve what Moscow calls the last rebel pocket.

The Sochi agreement, launched in September 2018, established a buffer zone with Russia and Turkey running joint patrols in the area between rebel-held and Assad-held territory.

But despite the agreement, Syrian troops have been bolstered by Iranian militants, recently moved from Damascus  reportedly after Russian orders  and moved towards the infamous T-4 airbase and Idlebs frontlines.

The militants have been significantly increasing their attacks against Idlebs rural enclave, where the death toll has continued to grow, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The largest bakery in Khan Sheikhoun has been devastated after it was deliberately targeted in a recent bombing, which killed four civilians.

This bakery is the only one of its kind in the area, local activist Bahr Shaheen told Al-Araby al-Jadeed. People from inside and outside the town would come in the morning and throughout day to buy their bread  it was deliberately targeted by Assads militants, something that hes done before.

Assads militants are targeting vital facilities. Now they devastated our bakeries, later theyll attack hospitals and schools.

Thousands of families who have already fled from Aleppo, Homs, Ghouta and Daara have had no choice but to leave their shelters under fire and become displaced for a second or third time.

Fawaz Haj Alo is a father-of-three who fled from Arbin in eastern Ghouta last April and settled in al-Teh, a town in the Idleb area with his family.

But the local council has announced a state of emergency after declaring a catastrophic situation in the majority of Idlebs southern countryside.

Since we arrived in this town weve been trying to establish a way to earn a living and resume our lives. We were, despite the desperate circumstances, able to survive, Fawaz told Al-Araby al-Jadeed.

However, we were forced to leave the town. The bombing has always been random and sudden; it hasnt stopped since last year, but massively increased in the past few months.

Our house and our neighbours house was hit during the attacks. My sons leg had previously been wounded by shrapnel. As a result, we had to move to the Salqin camp near the border.

I call on everyone to help us, its unbearable here in these camps, there are no NGOs and no food. Just stop the bombing, so we go back to our town.

Many civilians in Idlebs towns remain under fire, taking shelter and unwilling to leave their homes, taking daily risks out of a sense of despair and a lack of alternatives.

Where would we go? The borders and camps are full of refugees, we cant find an empty tent or shelter, said Salem Obayda, a teacher living in Maratnomn.

The town has come under daily artillery fire, with many families forced to leave the southern part of the city, heading towards the camps on the border.

The attacks and a lack of underground schools forced them to halt all education, says Salem. I prefer to stay rather, than live in the border camps.

Amid the devastation and rubble, volunteers from Syrias Civil Defense Corps, known as The White Helmets, have been doing what they can to save lives.

The White Helmets have been carrying out non-stop rescue efforts to help civilians affected by Assads relentless offensive, Mohammad Abdoullah, a White Helmet volunteer in northern Syria told Al-Araby al-Jadeed.

Our teams have been at full capacity across northern Syrias towns, he added.

There have been indiscriminate attacks against civilian areas, killing unarmed people  nevertheless, our medical and rescue teams are working on the ground, day and night.

Most of the deaths and injuries have been women and children, added Abdoullah. Weve been taking risks and pulling dead, severely injured and burned bodies from beneath collapsed buildings.

Hospitals and makeshift medical centres across northern Syria have been over-crowded with patients. Many have been moved to Turkish hospitals due to a lack of equipment.

In spite of the recent cuts to medical funds, were still able to function and run the hospitals to treat the large numbers of patients weve been receiving, said D.Feras al-Jonde, the Health Minister in the Azaz-based Syrian Interim Government formed by the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces.

On the other hand, the available medical support isnt sustainable and [treatment] cant continue to be carried out as efficiently as it is at the moment, since were running low on medical resources, said Jonde.

We place the responsibility for the catastrophic consequences of the medical cuts on the international community  who must understand what the upcoming shut-down of our medical facilities would mean.

The donors must be aware that they are putting more than 3.5 million civilians at risk of losing their right to medical treatment.

This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
While small cells are expected to solve the dropped call issue in the Lakeside DFW development, officials said a proposed 120-foot communications tower will help improve coverage in the surrounding area.
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Post: #1 Your Soul Is Owned By The Vatican In A Trust Account

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Quote: Cestui que vie is French for he who lives. It is a legal term for an individual who is the beneficiary of a trust or insurance policy, with rights to property and the income and profits that the property provides.



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Cestui que vie as a legal concept dates to the medieval period, specifically England. During this time, the owners of farms and other properties could be absent for extended periods of time as they traveled, whether for business or religious purposes. It became important to ensure that family members, business partners or tenants could use the property without fear of it being expropriated by feudal lords. While the individual was away, a trustee took care of the land, but did not retain legal ownership over the property. The trust often relied on a good faith understanding between the parties.



In practice, it was often a way to avoid paying taxes by granting land and property to the Church, which was exempt from taxation, while still allowing descendants to reside in and enjoy the estates. Henry VIII, under his advisers Thomas Cromwell and Thomas More, attempted to invalidate cestui que vie trusts, a process continued under the English Reformation.



Cestui Que Vie Is Now a Part of Modern Law



Later however, after the Great Plague of 1665 and the Great Fire of 1666 had destroyed London, the British government enacted the Cestui Que Vie Act, which reinstated the legal concept. After those twin catastrophes, hundreds of thousands of British citizens died or fled. In response, the government took all private property into trust until the proper heirs or owners could be identifiedthe cestui que vie. Some parts of the 1666 Act are still law in the United Kingdom.



The legal concepts behind cestui que vie changed a bit over the centuries in order to reduce fraud and to ensure that property owners couldnt shift their property into trusts in order to dodge creditors. More recently, laws against property held in perpetuity required that parties named as the beneficiaries in a trust should vest, and thus have an interest in the trust rather than passively receive benefit.



When a trust is created it is done for the benefit of a specific individual who is identified in the trust document. When referring to a trust, the cestui que trust refers to the person who has an equitable interest in the trust. The legal title of the trust, however, is given to the trustee.



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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duF1OQho1gc The vatican owns your soul literally and has Never disclosed this Fact to you. Known as thetrust as described in historical origin by Santos Bonacci (Mr. Astrotheology). You are worth billions and are literally a bond slave without your Full knowledge and consent via the strawman corporation they set up in your All Upper Case Name. Corporation comes from the latin word "corpus". A corporation is a dead entity or body. Who might you quess is "Lord of the Dead" through All these deceptive Lies?
It was unbelievable. I knew it would be a hit It was one of the coolest moments ever. We thought it would be something nobody would be expecting and would add a little bit of fun, and it did.

Moments into his speech to accept the Stan Bergstein-Proximity Award on behalf of legendary pacer Foiled Again during Sundays U.S. Harness Writers Associations Dan Patch Awards banquet, co-owner Joe Koury Jr. was halted by USHWA member Gordon Waterstone. Koury knew he had not exceeded his time limit because he was just getting started, so he was surprised.

Surprise was about to turn to shock.

Dont you think we ought to have the award-winner here? Waterstone soon said to Koury.

Enter Foiled Again.

Foiled Again turned the idea of a surprise party upside down when he emerged from behind the curtained stage area to the delight of the 320 banquet attendees at Rosen Shingle Creek resort. Only a handful of people knew in advance of Foiled Agains appearance, which was conceived by Waterstone with Foiled Agains co-owners Ron Burke and Mark Weaver.

I was wondering what was going on, said Koury, who like the entire Burke Brigade other than Burke, Weaver and Foiled Agains caretaker for the night, Devan Miller, had no idea of the plan. Next thing you know, Foiled was coming out. I was absolutely shocked. It was a great experience. It was exciting.

Said Joe Koury Sr., When Foiled showed up, it was unbelievable. I was shocked. Tears were rolling down my cheeks, it was just amazing.

I didnt expect it; thats the last thing that would have crossed my mind, said Yannick Gingras, who drove Foiled Again for the majority of the geldings career and won numerous major stakes together. I thought it was really cool, something different.



Foiled Again, flanked by Devan Miller and Mickey Burke, pictured stealing the show while accepting his Stan Bergstein Proximity Award Foiled Again, flanked by Devan Miller and Mickey Burke, pictured stealing the show while accepting his Stan Bergstein Proximity Award

Many others had the same reaction, which was what Burke and his co-planners had hoped.

It was unbelievable, Burke said. I knew it would be a hit, especially with my father (Mickey), but it was a hit with everybody. It was one of the coolest moments ever. We thought it would be something nobody would be expecting and would add a little bit of fun, and it did.

Waterstone, who in addition to being a member of USHWA is associate editor of The Horseman And Fair World magazine, worked with the resorts staff to set up Foiled Agains appearance. It required an extra bit of insurance and a protective covering for the banquet room carpet, which was new.

I called Mark about bringing Foiled Again to the banquet and he said to talk to Ronnie, Waterstone said. I called Ronnie and he said absolutely, but he wanted to do it as a secret.

It came off better than I thought it would. You keep your fingers crossed. The reaction was unbelievable. To be involved in this was really cool.

Foiled Again was already staying near Orlando, at the Burkes winter stable in Astor.

Devan did a great job, Burke said. She had to prep him for it and people were wondering why she was prepping him when he was just there hanging out. He looked incredible. I was thrilled.

Unfazed by the cheers that filled the banquet room and the joyful commotion that soon engulfed him, Foiled Again stood perfectly for his admirers.

He was like a little showman, Joe Koury Sr. said. Hes like a celebrity, a celebrity of the humblest measure. It was just unbelievable. Hes amazing. I love him to death.

Foiled Again reached harness racings mandatory retirement age of 15 when the calendar turned to 2019. He is the sports all-time richest horse, with $7.63 million in purses, and ranks ninth with 109 lifetime wins. He received Dan Patch Awards for best older male pacer in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and was Pacer of the Year in 2011.

Last year, he embarked on a Farewell Tour that attracted numerous fans to racetracks across North America, as well as garnering mainstream media attention. He will be inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in July.

Foiled Again is owned by Burke Racing, the partnership of Weaver and Mike Bruscemi, and the Koury familys JJK Stables. The group bought the horse in 2008 when he was four. He was trained by Mickey Burke briefly before Mickey retired and handed the lines to his son Ron.

Hes a dream come true, Joe Koury Jr. said. To be a part of this with such great friends and partners is amazing. We were all young guys who, for the most part, were just getting started. He brought us up all together and put us on a different level. Its just been a phenomenal ride.

And now that the ride is completed, Foiled Again will enjoy a life of leisure.

Hes basically going to live my dads life, Ron Burke said with a laugh. Theyll be hanging out together forever.

(USTA)
After three days of hyper-caffeination at the first-ever Milan Coffee Festival, it was a relief to escape the crowds for a quick trip out to the quiet and often foggy rural town of Binasco. I was traveling in the opposite direction of trafficto take a private tour of Gruppo Cimbalis historic espresso machine factory and MUMAC Cultural Center.

MUMAC stands for Museo della Macchina per Caffe and is home to a collaborative collection of over 300 professional coffee machines that span more than 100 years of innovation. Attached to the Cimbali factory, it's the largest espresso machine museum in the world.

This converted spare-parts warehouse wasnt solely intended for the means of meandering through history. The MUMAC Museum opened in 2012, and as part of their ongoing push into the specialty coffee market, Cimbali opened MUMAC Academy in 2014 with the idea of building a space to host certified coffee education programs, events, and coffee competitions. With third wave coffee still somewhat nascent in Italy, every espresso machine manufacturer seems eager to open their own academy and museum, and I was eager to see the Cimbali facilities, which are among the first.

The town center of Binasco is about a 20 minute drive southwest of Milan towards Pavia, and is ornamented with all of the classic Italian landmarks you come to expect no matter how tiny the town: a macelleria (butcher shop), a pasticceria (pastry shop), a tabaccheria (tobbaconist) with an espresso bar and of course, a photogenic medieval castle near the square illuminated by overarching Christmas lights sprawling down the main street.

Gruppo Cimbali SpA relocated its headquarters from within the center of Milan to Binasco in the 60s and has since been the largest employer of its residents. An employee base of around 450 people is distributed between the logistical hub in Binasco and their three production facilities in nearby cities Bergamo and Cremona.

The 200 employees that work in their facilities can produce up to a stunning 200 mechanical appliances a day (not just espresso machines). While we were suiting up with steel toes and hard hats for the factory tour, Cimbalis Production Manager Paolo Molteni explained that this level of efficiency is attributed to his implementation of the Lean Manufacturing system.

Lean Manufacturing is a philosophical and methodological system that comes from the automotive industry that when it works as intended, produces perfect products on time through minimization of actions that dont add value to the process. This type of development doesnt just happen overnight, Molteni explains. The involvement of our original factory operators was fundamental when we started this journey a few years ago.

The facility was empty, dark, and silent while the operators were on lunch break. As we passed through the assembly rows, I noticed that the lights automatically illuminated only the stations we were standing in, prompting the many questions I had for Molteni about how Cimbali was combating production waste and energy consumption.

Molteni attributes the Lean system as a key factor in energy reduction in all of the facilities. The factories are partially powered by solar energy, and with recent renovations like a geothermal floor heating system, conversion to all LED lighting, and new cooling systems, Cimbali has brought overall energy consumption from production down 10% in the past year. 12% of that overall consumption is powered by renewable energy sources, and hazardous materials from production have been reduced to less than 1% of the company's overall waste.

As the factory started to fill back in with employees, I slipped out of my safety gear and took off towards the undulating facade of the imperial red MUMAC Museum building. We were greeted by technology specialist Filippo Mazzoni near the gift shop and reception before making our way over to the lobby cafe for some mid-morning macchiatos.

In addition to his quirky and talkative manner, Mazzonis years of experience as a trainer and technician for Cimbali makes him an engaging tour guide. He popped open antique machines left and right throughout the museum to explain the evolution of coffee tech and made sure to squeeze in plenty of juicy details on historic patent drama between rivaling machine manufacturers (some of which are now owned by the same parent companies).

The majority of pieces on display are restored and owned by espresso machine collector Enrico Maltoni. Maltoni discussed a shared vision of a museum likes this with Maurizio Cimbali when they met in the early 90s, and the two have worked together towards realizing this dream ever since.

Each of the six chronological galleries in the museum represents a different era of technology, all adorned with Maltonis collector coffee cups, magazines, and other signs of the times. Although the museum is without question a Gruppo Cimbali venture, there are machines on display by virtually every company from La Marzocco and Kees van der Westen to Elektra and Vibiemme.

The final exhibit of the museum was a personal highlight, and featured the only machine on exhibit that Mazzoni couldnt open up for a photo; the exploded view of a La Cimbali M100, seen at the top of this story.

We then made our way to the MUMAC Academy. The two-story SCA Premier Campus features a barista and technician training center and water lab on the first floor, and a sensory lab on the top floor that regularly hosts CQI certification courses. (Thankfully there were only a few minutes to breeze through the museum library, because I would have been fixated for hours on its collection of over 15,000 patents and coffee reference points dating back to the 16th century.)

In a town of about seven thousand people, only a quick drive from one of the largest metropolitan cities in the world, the MUMAC Academy protects and valorizes the history and culture of coffee machines with a dedicated focus on technology and the future of the industry.

From humble roots in a Milanese copper shop in 1912 to becoming one of the world leaders in the production of high-quality espresso machines, I was impressed by their ability to stand firmly by their integrity, humility, and glocal modus operandi.

Alexander Gable (@mrgable) is a freelance journalist based in Milan. Read more Alexander Gable for Sprudge.
What do Slovaks living in Britain think of Brexit?

Slovak women are considering their return. Students are fearless.

Flags tied to railings outside Parliament are reflected on a wet pavement in London, January 24, 2019. (Source: AP/TASR)

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Slovaks living and studying in the United Kingdom do not know what will happen after Brexit. They are not worried about the current situation, but many want to return to Slovakia, the TASR newswire reported.

One of them is Slovak Dominika Kostialikova. She has been living in London since 2013. After the referendum on Brexit was held, the situation was uncertain and worrying, she said.

"It was a period of huge stress connected mainly with the question of migration, which had an impact on the referendum outcome to a large degree," Kostialikova said, as quoted by TASR.

Read also: Brits living in Slovakia to have the same rights as EU citizens after Brexit Read more

The situation has calmed since the British government presented its plan regarding the rights of EU citizens, but Kostialikova had felt like an unwelcome guest in Britain before, she claimed.

"I have been a resident in the country for five years now, which is a required length of residence not to be 'moved out' by Brits," she said.

However, Kostialikova is planning to stay in the UK two more years and return home or settle in another EU country.

Women are more worried

Andrea has worked as an accountant in London for the last 18 years. She first moved to the UK to study.

"As the situation changes in the last couple of months, I am considering returning home," she claimed, as quoted by TASR.

Read also: Measures moderating Brexit to be approved in March Read more

She is not the only one. Slovaks will be worse-off in the UK, claimed Martina. She works in London's banking sector but would like to come back to Slovakia.

"It seems like it will not happen," Slovak Maria Solarova opined about Brexit, as quoted by TASR.

Students hope for the best

Adam and Michal are both informatics students at Imperial College in London. Neither of them is worried about the Brexit.



"It looks like the English government and our university are trying to keep us here because international students comprise quite a large intellectual part," claimed Michal.

English people will not do the work that "immigrants" do, opined Jaroslav Reznicak.



"The UK cannot afford sending thousands of people away from the country because there will be nobody to work on their economy," he concluded, as reported by TASR.

26. Feb 2019 at 22:18 | Compiled by Spectator staff
Slovakia is the worst at drawing EU funds

The country will lose at least 80 million due to scandals at the Education Ministry.

Slovakia has been unable to draw tens of millions of euros from the European Union's funds allocated for the 2014-2020 period. It placed 23rd of 28 EU countries at the end of 2018.

With its share of payments received from the European Commission, 24.22 percent (3.709 billion), Slovakia placed fourth among the Visegrad Group (V4) countries. The average absorption rate of EU funds by member states by December 31, 2018 was 27.51 percent, according to data provided by the Office of Deputy Prime Minister for Investments and Informatisation on the state of implementation of European Structural and Investment Funds in the 2014-2020 programming period, the SITA newswire reported.

Among the V4 countries, Hungary placed highest with 31.39 percent (11th place) and Poland with 27.99 percent (13th place).

Problematic funds at the Education Ministry

Some of the funds were expected to be spent in 2018 on projects within the Operational Programme Research & Innovation, SITA reported.

Read also: Education Ministry fails to distribute 100 million for research this year Read more

"The fact is that there is going to be a decommitment of about 80 million in this operational programme," confirmed Richard Rasi (Smer), a deputy prime minister for investments and informatisation, as quoted by SITA.

However, Slovakia could lose a further 40 million within the Integrated Regional Operational Programme, managed by the Agriculture Ministry.

This is not the first time Slovakia failed to use up the money coming from EU funds. In the Operational Programme Research & Innovation, the country lost 27 million in 2017.

Projects suspended

Slovakia may lose more than 100 million for the inability to draw all the money allocated. The European Commission (EC) is expected to decide in this regard by the end of March when the controls and negotiations with Slovakia are over.

Read also: Slovakia has drawn only 1.85 percent of available EU funds Read more

"What we can openly speak about is the problem of the Education Ministry and Operational Programme Research & Innovation," said Rasi, as quoted by SITA. "By the end of 2017, four calls of 600 million were suspended under this programme."

Although the ministry has prepared new documents, evaluation methods and all the processes, which were approved by the EC, 80 million are definitely gone.

Self-governing regions

Moreover, regional capitals and self-governing regions also fail to draw money fast enough, Rasi claimed.

"There were changes in six out of eight self-governing regions after the 2017 elections, and the drawing of the European money in all regions has markedly slowed down," he explained, as quoted by SITA.

As the regions are receivers of the funds and decide on how to use them, the ministries cannot force them to draw money faster, Rasi said. By March, it should be known how efficiently the regions have been drawing the EU money.

26. Feb 2019 at 22:11 | Compiled by Spectator staff
PSA to produce its first e-car in Trnava

Customers will be able to buy the new Peugeot 208 in the second half of 2019.

Trnava-based carmaker Groupe PSA Slovakia will produce its first electric vehicle in its history in the second half of 2019. The company is launching the production of the new Peugeot 208. It will be PSA's fifth model to be produced in the country.

"The first Peugeot 208 car models will reach clients around the world in the second half of 2019," said Peter Svec, spokesperson for Groupe PSA Slovakia, as quoted by the TASR newswire.

Read also: Slovakia breaks record in car production, but future is electric Read more

The engine drive system of the new Peugeot 208 is based on an advanced, flexible and eco-friendly platform known as Common Modular Platform (CMP), he added. The very first new model was produced on November 27, 2018 by Slovak personnel. Peugeot 208 will offer three types of engines: diesel, electric and petrol.

"Its world premiere is planned for March 5 at the motor show in Geneva," Svec said, as quoted by TASR.

PSA's production grows

The car producer manufactured 352,007 cars in 2018, which is an increase of 5.1 percent compared with 2017. In addition, its production has regularly grown in the last seven years.

PSA began to produce cars in Trnava in June 2006. By the end of last year, it produced 3 million cars in total and invested more than 1 billion in Slovakia, as reported by TASR.

The Peugeot 207, Citroen C3 Picasso, Peugeot 208 and Citroen C3 have been produced in Slovakia to date.

26. Feb 2019 at 13:54 | Compiled by Spectator staff
Armchairs across India are engaged in such a frenzied back and forth in the aftermath of the Indian airstrike on a specific target in Pakistan that I can hear them squeak here in Chicago. Every clueless social media warrior has suddenly gained access to some of the most guarded intelligence and tactical planning maps as they go about making such hilariously knowing assertions without ever having set a foot either in Kashmir or a military-intelligence establishment. Credulity is overflowing across the social media India. The reality on the terra firma is bound to be much more nuanced.

I had an indication of an impending airstrike last evening before I went to sleep but also had enough sense not start spouting fake knowledge about the operation which by its very nature would have been and will be known to a very few people in all its complex details. I am as far away from that knowledge as one can be. I have zero idea about the intricacies of the operation and how deep the airstrike went beyond the Line of Control (LoC) or even into the official, undisputed Pakistani territory. However, reading and watching some of the comments/observations/fulminations/triumphalist verbal high-fiving it would seem that almost every social media Indian was inside the situation room where the airstrike was first planned.

All that is being discussed on social media is necessarily third or fourth hand and, in some cases, pulled straight out of an unmentionable orifice. It is a good thing that Indias military establishment has been historically sober, rational and deeply calibrated and is loath to responding to ignorant claims. Having had some measure of its operations in Kashmir for close to a decade between 1989 and 1997 I know that its actions are generally never less than precisely structured and consciously disengaged from any emotional content.

New Delhi has been specific in describing the strike in the early hours of February 26according some reports 3.30 a.m. local timeas aimed at a non-military target. Its top diplomat, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale called it non-military preemptive action, which focused only on a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorist training facility in a location called Balakot.

India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of Jihadis who were being trained for Fidayeen action were eliminated, Gokhale said.

Which Balakot and how far into Pakistan has quickly become a source of very knowing social media speculation among those whose knowledge of geography is generally very challenged. Gokhale has remained studiedly unspecific as to the specific coordinates of Balakot. It seems there are two Balakots, perhaps spelled somewhat differently. One of them is said to be very close to the working border known as the Line of Control (LoC) and the other some 50 miles or 90 kilometers away and well into Pakistans official territory. This is an important question because it goes to the heart of whether India went into the Pakistani territory for the first time since the 1971 war to strike at a target or it destroyed some camps close to the LoC without having to violate the border.

If it is the Balakot in the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, then it constitutes a very significant escalation in Indias willingness to take on the relentless terror attacks, the latest being the one that killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in a car bombing in Pulwama, Kahsmir on February 14. I find it instructive that Gokhale called the strike an intelligence-led operation to make a subtle distinction that it was not necessitated by the thirst for revenge after the Pulwama attack.

As is always happens between India and Pakistan during such strikes, the claims about how significant was what was destroyed are diametrically opposite. In the Pakistani narrative the strike merely flattened some forest cover and cratered some ground in a useless area near the border. However, as Gokhale explained the damage was specific and significant.

It is not altogether inconceivable that the choice of a Balakot was deliberate given the ambiguity it afforded because there are two of them. This is pure speculation on my part because I have no first, second, third or even the fourth-hand knowledge.

Like I said sitting some 9,000 miles from the action I have zero clue about how significant the strike was but the Indian military is not generally known to engage ridiculous claims over its operations. If it says the strike was a significant, albeit specific, one, then there are very high prospects that it was. Whether a strike like that degrades the enduring terror threat to an unprecedented degree is a matter of debate. What it does do is to put Islamabad in a particular quandary over whether to retaliate or not. If there is retaliation of any significant nature, then it would be tantamount to admitting that the Indian strike was indeed inside its official territory and a big one. If there is no retaliation, then it is the tacit admission of not having the stomach to engage in a matching fashion.

The fact that its default response was to dismiss the Indian claim by showing some flattened trees and cratered ground would suggest there may not be a response. Once again, I have no special insight into the Pakistani thinking merely because I have a functioning brain and fingers. I am watching rather keenly what happens next if anything at all other than some frenzied armchair rocking.

On a tangential note, I was quite amused by how a typical American expression has seeped into South Asian militaryspeak as well. Both India and Pakistan have spoken in terms of responding at a time and place of our choosing. This is an expression, which is mostly heard among American politicians and military leaders.

I have always found it superfluous because it goes without saying that we all choose a time and place of our choosing in order convey that we are in full control of our lives which we often are not.
BLADENSBURG, Md. (February 26, 2019)When Steven Lowe first saw a 40-foot cross in a median strip here 30 years ago, he was too busy to think much of it.



But as he drove and biked around it during his retirement, questions started arising in his mind. Why was a cross and not some other symbol there? And, if the cross is on public land, should it even be there?



Now Lowe, of Washington, is part of a legal case on the constitutionality of the "Peace Cross" that will be the focus of oral arguments Wednesday at the Supreme Court.



Lowe argues that the cross is a violation of "separation of church and state" which stems from the establishment clause of the First Amendment.



Completed in 1925, the massive cross is a memorial to 49 area soldiers who died in World War I. The cross includes the symbol of the American Legion on both sides. The landmark is maintained by a state parks agency.



Unlike the crosses Lowe said he is used to seeingand takes no issue witharound his neighborhood, the Peace Cross has no accompanying church or graveyard within sight of it. He said he also didn't know that the cross was a war memorial because he had trouble seeing the plaque at the foot of the stone monument.



Those objecting to the cross, including the American Humanist Association, assert that the average viewer of the memorial would see it as a Christian symbol on government property.



But lawyers representing the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, which currently owns the median strip, and the American Legion, which owned the land during the construction of the cross nearly a century ago, see the monument in a different light.



They argue that the Peace Cross represents veterans and not religion.



The defenders of the cross fear that if the justices deem the cross unconstitutional, the decision could put two large crosses in Arlington National Cemetery in northern Virginia in jeopardy.



But Lowe said the two at Arlington are not at all a target in the case.



"We are not challenging those, and we don't think they are challengeable because they are in a different kind of setting," he told Capital News Service. "They are in a cemetery, so we think that's materially different, substantially different, and therefore not affected by a precedent of this case."



In fact, Lowe said the Bladensburg monument is an isolated case as the "most egregious" example of a highly visible cross on government property.



Renee Green a documentary filmmaker from Annapolis, Maryland, disagreed. She interviewed families of men recognized by the memorial and residents of the Bladensburg area who identified either as Christian, Jewish or, in one case, atheist, she believes the majority of local residents do not see the cross as a religious symbol.



Green said that she met some local business managers who offered to buy the land, others who offered to repair and restore the cross, and one Jewish resident who claimed, without mentioning religion, that the Peace Cross was a stable focal point for her during a rough time in her life.



Green said she believes that those challenging the constitutionality of the cross aren't honestly bothered by it, but rather "they want to enforce their rights on us. That's what this is all about."



"They want to jam their agenda down our throats," Green argued.



Green wore her "Save the Peace Cross" t-shirt while speaking with CNS reporters to promote her documentary film by the same title, currently available on YouTube.



Green said that the cross should not be taken down since it represents a "gravestone."



Lowe, who is an atheist, countered that "no one is buried here, so this is not a gravestone."



Cross supporters, Lowe said, "don't see these issues as clearly as someone who is not a member of the majority would see them."



"It's just that idea of (a majoritarian) point of view is sometimes blinded to the offense, or the oppression, or the dismissals that are felt by other groups that are not in the majority," he said.



When asked why it took him more than a decade to decide to fight for the removal of the cross, Lowe admitted that, "minorities put up with a lot when they're not in the majority," but now he feels "empowered" by the growing number and political strength of humanist and atheist groups.



While speaking to CNS, Lowe pointed out his "honor them all" pin and hat to say that he was bothered that the World War I memorial didn't represent soldiers who weren't Christian. He added that American soldiers and sailors never fought a war for religious reasons, "so to represent them with a cross seems illogical."



When the lawsuit was first filed by the American Humanist Association and others in 2014, the District Court for the District of Maryland said that the cross could stay. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled in 2018 that the cross violated the First Amendment's prohibition against the government establishment of religion.



Religious groups, law firms, and state governments have filed more than 70 amicus briefs weighing in on the case. The State of Maryland filed a brief in support of the constitutionality of the cross, signed by eight state senators. Governor Larry Hogan supported the brief in a press release.



Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh also has filed a separate amicus brief in support of the monument.
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.
Robert Gilpin, R.I.P. - The Washington Post : His greatest book was written in 1981, but the main theory in it is perhaps more trenchant now...
I thought my disgust at tech companies weaponizing commercials to dull our sensibilities would hit a long-lasting high after watching the Amazon Super Bowl commercial. The ad jokes about fake Alexa failures, like embedding the software in the collar of Harrison Fords dog, which uses the device to bark orders for gravy and sausages. Ha, ha, ha. I almost forgot that the human warehouse employees who actually ship orders continue to testify that theyre working under brutal conditions.

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Unfortunately, after seeing IBMs Dear Tech ad during the Oscars, I realized that perhaps the worst is yet to come. This commercial would be funny if it were a deliberately ironic self-indictment of how little has changed for the big tech companies after the techlash. Instead, the love letter to technology itself, which features folks rattling off an aspirational wish list, is an insipid gimmick that does two awful and interrelated things.

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The infantilizing ad depicts technology as if it were an autonomous person, a benevolent Santa Claus figure that can give great products to all the good little girls and boys if they ask politely. Mayim Bialik helps set the tone by writing a letter addressed to Dear Tech on a laptop. Arianna Huffington quickly makes the conversation more intimate, saying, We have a pretty good relationship. In short order, other voices join the chorus to ask questions (such as, Can we build A.I. without bias?) and make declarations (including, Lets champion data rights as human rights) that expand upon Bialiks hope that the relationship can be even better. After all, she informs us, tech has the potential to do so much more.

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It all sounds nice. But the message obscures the fact that technology hasnt fallen short of its promise. Its recalcitrant tech companies that need to change.

That includes IBM. In the fall, it deflected a journalists questions about whether it secretly used footage from NYPD CCTV cameras to develop surveillance technology that could search for individuals based on bodily characteristics like age and skin tone. Rather than providing information, it responded with PR about being absolutely committed to responsibly advancing new technologies.

The ad raises the question, Can we build A.I. without bias? Its especially interesting to think of a variation of the query in relation to IBMs own marketing strategy for its supercomputer Watson. What I want to know is: Can tech companies sell A.I. without preying on our vulnerabilities and biases?



Commercials for Watson personify the natural language speaking technology as an independent being that can rapidly internalize massive amounts of human expertise thats embedded in volumes of scientific reports and apply the knowledge to wisely make complex medical recommendations. Debate, however, exists over whether marketing material led medical practitioners to develop unrealistic expectations of what the technology can do, how the technology is programmed, and how hard it would be to set up. Indeed, a few years ago, Cory Doctorow slammed the marketing of Watson for Oncology for being deceptive. Frankly, tough questions should be asked about the honesty of the entire tech industry every time a product is depicted as more humanlike than it really is, since anthropomorphism triggers cognitive biases that can get in the way of us seeing things clearly.

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Wishy-washy marketing masquerading as a blueprint isnt the same thing as the C-suite making hard commitments.

IBM isnt alone in this sunny disingenuousness. Its competitors also give lip service to listening to our hopes and dreams while shutting down criticism thats voiced to make things better. For instance, Joy Buolamwini, founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, has been tirelessly campaigning for fighting bias in algorithms. Shes proposed viable solutions, and yet when she made a reasonable case that Amazons face analysis technology, Rekognition, exhibits gender and racial bias for gender classification, the company didnt thank her and her co-author for their service and outline a plan to improve. Instead, the general manager of artificial intelligence at Amazon Web Services was overly defensive to the point of being unduly dismissive.

And then theres the problem of platitudes, an issue thats become pronounced in the discussion over data privacy. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella say his company wants the U.S. to adopt a privacy policy that treats privacy as a human right and takes its cue from the fantastic start over in Europe with the General Data Protection Regulation. But that leaves a whole lot of wiggle room for interpreting what it means to translate human rights values in concrete terms that the U.S. judicial system actually can enforce. Skeptics are concerned that the major tech companiesnot just Microsoft, Amazon, and IBM, but also Google, Facebook, Twitter, and othersare now pushing for a watered-down federal privacy framework as a self-serving end run to pre-empt stronger state laws.

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Indeed, this is the basic problem with the feel-good appeal to human rights in IBMs Dear Tech commercial. The person who championed the ideal may very well have specific and uncompromising principles in mind. But in the messy world where actual policy is made, plenty of people who see the world differently can claim to be endorsing the sound bite. A commercial like this one cant avoid being an empty marketing pitch when it represents a contested concept as a clear and unambiguous wish that technology can magically grant just as easily as Santa can satisfy a request for a new smartphone.

Imagine seeing a movie starring Arianna Huffington where she improves human rights and civil rights, reduces poverty, and make STEM fields less male-dominated simply by having an intense conversation with technology and letting it know that that we expect more from it. The absurdity would make it far more likely to be up for a Razzie than an Oscar. Wishy-washy marketing masquerading as a blueprint isnt the same thing as the C-suite making hard commitments. Thats why, someday, we should hope the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature goes to a film that covers the hard work and concrete ethical demands of the human tech employees who are pushing for responsible innovation.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
No other sentence in the U.S. Code, technology scholar David Post has written, has been responsible for the creation of more value than a little-known provision of the Communications Decency Act called Section 230. But in January, President Donald Trumps technology adviser Abigail Slater suggested that Congress should consider changes to the law. Its not crazy to consider amending the provision, no matter the trillions of dollars resting on it. But the law itself is being mischaracterized and therefore misunderstoodincluding by the very legislators whod be responsible for amending it.

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Section 230 has a simple, sensible goal: to free internet companies from the responsibilities of traditional publishers. Sites like Facebook and Twitter host comments and commentary that they dont produce, edit, or even screen themselves, and Section 230 of the act ensures that those companies cant be sued for content they host for which they havent assumed responsibility. The law states: No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.

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But thats not how CDA critics see it. There are two primary camps here. One thinks that Section 230 demands neutrality from tech platforms as a predicate for immunity. The other thinks that the provision completely frees tech companies from responsibility for moderating content on their platforms.

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Sen. Ted Cruz, who belongs to the first camp, has said, The predicate for Section 230 immunity under the CDA is that youre a neutral public forummeaning that, in Cruzs view, a tech companys efforts to remove alt-right content could void the companys protection under that section. Think of Facebooks recent decision to ban right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones: By Cruzs logic, that move by Facebook could be the type of political lean that costs the company its Section 230 protection.

Others, like technology lawyer Cathy Gellis, say that Section 230 is a federal statute that says that people who use the Internet are responsible for how they use itbut only those people are, and not those who provide the services that make it possible for people to use the Internet in the first place. In other words, in her view, the law absolves tech companies of any responsibility to remove offensive content from their platforms. Think here of calls for Facebook to do more to prevent terrorist radicalization and foreign election interference: By Gellis logic, those are problems for people who use Facebook, not Facebook itself.

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Theyre both wrong. In reality, Section 230 empowers tech companies to experiment with new ways of imposing and enforcing norms on new sites of discourse, such as deleting extremist posts or suspending front accounts generated by foreign powers seeking to interfere with our elections. And with that freedom to experiment came a responsibility to do so: to find appropriate ways of setting the boundaries of acceptable discourse on the novel, messy world of online debate and discussion. The real question lawmakers now face isnt whether companies are somehow forfeiting their protections by trying to tackle todays online challenges. Its whether companies are doing enough to deserve the protections that Section 230 bestows.

The Communications Decency Act was a reaction to Stratton Oakmont Inc. v. Prodigy Services Co., a landmark 1995 New York state court decision extending standards for liability, long imposed on publishers for their content, to new media. The decision found the early internet provider Prodigy susceptible to liability for allegedly defamatory posts on its message boards. Section 230 flipped that result: No longer would companies like Prodigy be held to a publishers standards for the posts, blogs, photos, videos, and other content that users were uploading to tech platforms with ever-increasing frequency.

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Why? Some, like media law professor Frank LoMonte, now suggest the law was intended to absolve tech companies of any responsibility for moderating their platformshence LoMontes description that, with Section 230, Congress elected to treat the Prodigies of the worldeventually including Facebookas no more responsible for the acts of their users than the telephone company. This view suggests that Section 230 was meant to put the full burden on users of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to self-police and, in turn, to free those sites of any responsibility for whats uploaded to them. Legal analysts like Adam Candeub and Mark Epstein build on that view and go even further, suggesting that companies risk losing protection under Section 230 if they engage in robust moderation of content rather than adhering to strict neutrality: Online platforms should receive immunity only if they maintain viewpoint neutrality, consistent with traditional legal norms for distributors of information. For tech companies, this narrative has been convenient, offering an excuse when theyre accused of moving too slowly and too ineffectively to address harmful, even dangerous content posted by hostile actors ranging from ISIS to the Kremlin to vicious internet trolls.

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This view of Section 230that it was created to free companies of responsibility for moderating content on their platforms, and moreover that assuming such responsibility might cost them their protectionis now taking root among key lawmakers accusing tech companies of acting too aggressively against far-right extremist content. Its the view espoused by Cruz, and its getting louder. In November, incoming Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican, offered a similar characterization of Section 230 by suggesting that Twitters approach to moderation has jeopardized its immunity: Twitter is exempt from liability as a publisher because it is allegedly a forum for a true diversity of political discourse. That does not appear to be accurate.

Its simply too late in the day to maintain a tweet and let tweet ethos.

But Section 230 is neither an excuse for failing to moderate content nor a reward for declining to do so. Indeed, its purpose wasnt to absolve or forbid tech companies from moderating their platforms, but to empower them to do so.

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Its true that Section 230s first sentence eliminates liability for content uploaded to tech platforms. But the second sentence is equally important: It removes liability for tech companies own efforts to police their platforms. That portion of the law immunizes tech companies for any action voluntarily taken in good faith to restrict access to or availability of material that the provider or user considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected.

So, even as Section 230 determined that tech companies wouldnt face the same liability as publishers for what the companies didnt remove, the law also protected the companies for what they did remove and what, by contrast, remained. This empowered them to experiment with forms of content moderation that would be most effective for the unprecedented types of content delivery vehicles they represented. Thats why Sen. Ron Wyden, a co-author of Section 230, has explained that it was intended as both a shield and a sword for tech companies, protecting them from liability for vast amounts of content for which theyre not assuming responsibility but also empowering them to do what they can to eliminate the worst of that content. Wyden has said that because content is posted on [internet] platforms so rapidly, theres just no way they can possibly police everything, but he also clarified that Section 230 was intended to make sure that internet companies could moderate their websites without getting clobbered by lawsuits.

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The idea that Section 230 absolves tech companies of any responsibility for whats uploaded to their platforms speaks to a widespread libertarian impulse infused with optimism about new technologies: Let all speech flourish, and the best arguments will overcome the likes of terrorist extremism and white supremacist hate. That narrative seems to take the power to moderate global conversations out of the hands of the few in Silicon Valley and spread it among the many.

But these are no longer the halcyon early days of the internet. For all of the economic benefits and human connections that modern communications platforms have facilitated, theyve also brought hate speech, trolling, paranoid conspiracies, terrorist recruitment, and foreign election interference. Its simply too late in the day to maintain a tweet and let tweet ethos. The original wisdom of Section 230provide tech companies with room to experiment, but expect them to do so responsibly, even aggressivelyrings truer now than ever.

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And that brings us to todays emerging debate about Section 230. With the steady stream of content policy challenges flowing across tech platforms, the notion that Section 230 provides an excuse for tech companies not to moderate their platforms seems increasingly untenable. And the even bolder idea being propagated by the likes of Cruz and Hawley that more aggressive moderation will cost the companies their immunity is simply an erroneous reading of the law. What we really need is a debate over whether companies are adequately using both their immunity and their accompanying responsibility to find novel ways to moderate novel technologies. Otherwise, as Wyden has warned the companies, If youre not willing to use the sword, there are those who may try to take away the shield.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
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As violence erupts on the Venezuelan border, Vice President Mike Pence makes his way to Colombia to reaffirm American support for the opposition leader, Juan Guaido. How far is the U.S. willing to go? And will this be remembered as the weekend everything changed?

Guests: Ana Vanessa Herrero, reporter at the New York Times; Joshua Keating, international editor at Slate.

Tell us what you think by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or sending an email to whatnext@slate.com.

Follow us on Instagram for updates on the show.

Podcast production by Mary Wilson, Jayson De Leon, and Anna Martin.
To listen to this episode of Trumpcast, use the player below:

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Virginia Heffernan welcomes back Dahlia Lithwick, host of the Slate podcast Amicus, for a deep journey into the health of the judicial branch in Trump times, the leanings of Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Neil Gorsuch, the 25th Amendment, Corey Robins New York magazine thesis that Trump is weak, and whether we should still rely on our institutions.

Follow Trumpcast on Twitter: @realtrumpcast

Podcast production by Melissa Kaplan with help from Merritt Jacob.

More Trumpcast episodes with Virginia Heffernan and Dahlia Lithwick:

The Brett Kavanaugh Hearings in the Shadow of a Chaotic White House

Our Pardon-Giving President Perverts the Pardon
Acceptance: Sunday nights Oscars were a triumph of all of Americas diversity, writes Inkoo Kang, with wins in numerous categories for black, Latino, Asian, and immigrant talent telling their own stories. But much like the state of American diversity in 2019, all those signs of progress ended with one giant step back at the end of the night. Sam Adams calls that Best Picture win for Green Book a throwback to the days when the academy chose comforting fables about racial tolerance over movies that challenged its white members to question themselves. Read more of Slate Oscars coverage here.

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Catching up: On Friday, a district judge ruled that its unconstitutional for the selective service to force men to register for the draft while excluding women. Mark Joseph Stern examines the decisionwhich cites a landmark Supreme Court ruling by RBGto answer the question: How was this form of discrimination still legal in 2019?

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Slate Live: Fans of Dear Prudence take noteDaniel Mallory Ortberg is headed out on a national tour, starting March 6 in Denver. Prudie and friends will also be in San Fran, D.C., and more cities. Check out the full lineup and get your tickets here.

Highway to hell: Portland, Oregon, officials are insisting that a proposed $500 million highway expansion will actually be better for the environment. Not everyones buying that argument, but Henry Grabar says the project shows how the road-friendly bias permeates even our most progressive regions.

Indefensible: Not even AIPAC is willing to defend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus latest decision, writes Joshua Keating. Find out what was a bridge too far for the group hosting Netanyahu in March for its annual conference.

For fun: The best-dressed couple at the Oscars.

So many rabbits,

Abby
Big news in the Wall Street Journalapparently, former Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen is going to to testify Wednesday to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that Trump committed crimes while he was president!

What crimes, you say? Hmm, not sure, other than its related to the hush-money payment that was made to Trumps alleged extramarital affair partner Stormy Daniels:

The person familiar with Mr. Cohens anticipated testimony said Mr. Cohen would provide evidence of criminal conduct since Mr. Trump became president, but other than saying it involved the [Stormy Daniels] payment, wouldnt offer more specifics before Wednesdays House hearing.

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I guess well see! Anyway, big news in the New York Times as wellapparently, former Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen is going to to testify Wednesday that Trump committed crimes while he was president!

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What crimes you say?

Among the most explosive and potentially damning aspects of Mr. Cohens testimony will be providing evidence of potential criminal conduct since Mr. Trump became president, according to the person familiar with the plans. That potential conduct stems from reimbursements that were made to Mr. Cohen in 2017 for hush money payments that he made to Stormy Daniels, a pornographic film actress.

Thats all the Times has too! I guess thats why well have to watch the hearing! Excitement is building!

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Seriously, though: Cohen has said (in court) that he and Trump arranged the payment to Daniels in secret, with Cohen fronting the money himself, to circumvent campaign-spending disclosure laws. But that payment was made in October 2016, before the election. We do know from court filings that Cohen wasnt actually reimbursed for his expense until Trump took office, so perhaps the criminal conduct since Mr. Trump became president that Cohen is going to describe is just the repayment. But that would be kind of boring. I hope its more exciting than that, like a stabbing or an armored-car robbery or something!
This piece was originally published on Just Security, an online forum for analysis of U.S. national security law and policy.

As the Watergate scandal deepened in November 1973, President Richard Nixon declared, People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Nixon was right. As John Dingell wrote in his deathbed farewell letter to the American people, in our system of government U.S. officials do not have power but instead hold power in trust for the electorate they serve. Whatever special counsel Robert Mueller finds, the American people, and their congressional representatives, have a right to know whether they can continue to entrust President Donald Trump with the power of the presidency.

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In the Russia investigation, the need for public transparency is at its apexespecially the underlying evidence and factual findings.

That said, additional dynamics will shape the coming tussle between Congress and the administration. First, the executive branch may have legitimate confidentiality interests in the material, some of which might be appropriately kept from public disclosurebut that does not mean that information should be kept from Congress. Second, the White House will also likely claim confidentiality interests that go far beyond a good-faith, proper interpretation of the legal doctrines and investigative context.

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As we look toward the Mueller investigations endgame, we believe some issues concerning the transparency of Muellers findings have not been appreciated in commentary to date.

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1. Grand jury secrecy will not cover a great amount of the evidence Mueller collected.

Many commentators assume that a central concern with the disclosure of Muellers findings involves the secrecy generally afforded to grand jury information. Those discussions boil down to considerations of whether the normal protections afforded to such grand jury information might be overcome, for example, by a congressional subpoena. That issue is complicated, and Congress may ultimately prevail. But short of that, grand jury secrecy wont cover a lot of the most important evidence.

For example, the FBIs interview memorandacalled 302s due to their federal form number, FD 302are not covered by grand jury secrecy rules unless they are transformed by their use before the grand jury. As one former federal prosecutor observed in a law review article:

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We as a nation have been here before.

The summary of an interview by a federal agent with a person who also testifies before the grand jury is not  automatically and necessarily transformed into a matter occurring before the grand jury. If the summary of the interview is itself read at a later time to the grand jury, however, the Third Circuit has suggested that the summary itself, as well as the transcript of the reading of the summary are matters occurring before the grand jury.

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In addition, the courts prevailing view of grand jury secrecy rules would not apply to a congressional subpoena directed at documents that also happened to have been subpoenaed by the grand jury.

But before even thinking about grand jury secrecy rules, what if the special counsels office conducted an entire thread of the investigation without resorting to a grand jury?

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That seems to be the case with the part of the investigation focused on President Trumps potential obstruction of justice and abuse of power while in office. Matthew Miller reported that none of the witnesses who have spoken to the special counsels office about obstruction have gone before the grand jury. If this is accurate, grand jury secrecy rules would not prevent Mueller from making public his report on the presidents efforts to hamper the investigation. At a minimum, it denies the attorney general a reason to decline the release of this body of information on grand jury secrecy grounds.

2. Public hearings are even more warranted if no charges are filed against Trump campaign associates.

If no criminal charges are filed against Trump campaign associates for conspiring directly with Russia or WikiLeaks, there may be an even stronger ground for holding public hearings. The absence of any pending criminal prosecutions could help free up Muellerand other members of the special counsels office and witnesses like George Nader and Michael Cohento speak publicly without concerns that congressional hearings might interfere with ongoing criminal investigations.

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3. It is far from clear that the DOJs policy of not disclosing derogatory information about people who arent indicted applies to much of the Mueller investigation.

The Justice Department is likely poised to make the claim that, in accord with long-standing department policy, it wont release derogatory information about people whom the prosecutors do not indict in the course of an investigation. As recently as Monday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein publicly affirmed his support for this policy in words that the Washington Post called an ominous sign for those hoping the department will soon disclose the closely held details of special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs probe. Rosenstein said, The guidance I always gave my prosecutors and the agents that I worked with during my tenure on the front lines of law enforcement were if we arent prepared to prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt in court, then we have no business making allegations against American citizens.

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But that Justice Department policy applies to criminal investigations. It is not as clear how those interests apply in a counterintelligence context. Muellers mandate is primarily a counterintelligence one focused on any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump. The special counsel is then, as a secondary matter, authorized to prosecute federal crimes discovered in the course of that investigation. In other words, Muellers core mandate is focused on finding out if there is derogatory information about individuals associated with the Trump campaign, regardless of whether their conduct amounts to crime. The fact that campaign members may have not crossed the line of criminality, or may have committed crimes but not in a manner provable beyond a reasonable doubt, should not shield them from exposure in a public report for corruptly working with a foreign adversary to undermine an American electionif thats what happened.

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A critic might say that counterintelligence investigations are even more secret than criminal investigations. That may be true, but the principal reasons for keeping counterintelligence reports secret are generally quite different than the criminal context, and dont apply easily to the special counsel investigation. The type of information that is usually still kept secret even when the rest of an intelligence report goes public is also not like the privacy and reputational concerns at work in criminal investigations.

The primary basis for not disclosing information in a counterintelligence context like the special counsels Russia investigation is protection of sources and methods, or because of other genuine national security concerns (such as telling the Russians how much we know). The specific reputational concerns that arise in the criminal law context do not apply as directly, completely, or as consistently to these other investigatory domainswhether thats an intelligence investigation conducted by the executive branch or an investigation conducted by Congress.

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And yes, we as a nation have been here before. The Justice Departments policy on withholding derogatory information did not stop Congress from obtaining FBI and intelligence community reports on Chinese intelligence efforts to curry favor with cash infusions to the Democratic Party in the 1996 election cycle. Under the chairmanship of Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, the Senate Government Affairs Committee obtained intelligence and law enforcement reports, including information from the FBIs counterintelligence investigation. While the administration restricted public release of information to protect sources and methods of intelligence collection, it did not appear to withhold information provided by witnesses who were not indicted. For example, an FBI 302 of an interview with Vice President Al Gore ended up in the public domain after it was produced to Congress. (Andy was in the vice presidents counsels office at the time). Similarly, the department provided the House with the 302s in the investigation into Hillary Clintons email practices shortly after the FBI investigation concluded. In short, in its perpetual struggles with the executive, Congress has often been able to obtain FBI investigatory documents, including the names and activities of specific people under investigation, notwithstanding the department policy on derogatory information.

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In the final analysis, these matters concern not only what the Justice Department hands Congress but also what the department makes directly available to the public.

The natural remedy for conduct designed to undermine democratic elections, and public confidence in them, is disclosure of that nefarious conduct to the democratic citizenry victimized by it. If the information concerning what certain Americans did in concert with a foreign adversary is derogatory, well, thats exactly what Mueller was charged to find out, and what the public has a right to know.

More From Just Security:

Just Fall, That Is all! Is Sudan on the Brink of Change?

Whats the Mission in Syria? The Answer May Be Illegal and Without U.S. Allies Support
Both of Britains major parties, under pressure from their own members, have significantly shifted their stances on Brexit in the past few days. The end result is still unclear, but the upshot is that a chaotic no-deal Brexit at the end of March is now less likely.

Prime Minister Theresa May said Tuesday that if the House of Commons does not approve a new Brexit deal by March 13, a vote would be held on whether to reject a no-deal Brexit. Parliament overwhelmingly rejected Mays proposed deal in January, so if no further action is taken, Britain will leave the EU on March 29 without any agreement on future economic relations with the EU. Although some Brexit proponents favor that scenario, economists warn it would be massively disruptive to British businesses and consumers.

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If the no-deal Brexit is rejected, then Parliament will vote the following day, March 14, on whether to ask the EU for an extension. May did not say whether her government would support an extension under these circumstancesshe did say Britain would ultimately make a success of a no deal if it had tonor did she say how long an extension would be (probably only about three months, since Britain wants to be out of the EU before a new European Parliament is seated in July).

Theres also still uncertainty about how the government, even if given more time, plans to solve the maddening problem of removing Britain from a customs union with the EU while avoiding a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Still, this is a major shift: Until recently, May refused to even entertain the possibility of an extension.

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Mays shift came a day after Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party would support a new referendum on whether to leave the EU if his party fails to win approval for its own proposal, which includes a permanent customs union with Europe. (It is very likely to fail.) Corbyn, not a particularly enthusiastic backer of the EU to begin with, has been reluctant to back a new referendum, despite growing calls for one within his party.

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Those calls became louder last week when eight Labour MPs, all of whom back a new EU referendum, quit to form the new Independent Group within Parliament. In addition to his approach to Brexit, the defectors also blame Corbyn for fostering a climate of anti-Semitism within the party. They have since been joined by three Conservative MPs angry over Mays disastrous handling of Brexit.

The defection of these moderates no doubt put pressure both party leaders to switch their positions. But neither decision has brought Britain any closer to a resolution to this crisis. Some commentators suggested Tuesday that a no-deal Brexit could actually be more likely now, since Parliament probably wont suddenly reach consensus if given just a few more months, and its less likely May will be able to get a second extension from Brussels. The clock is still ticking, but perhaps for a bit longer now.
Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper are most likely not involved romantically. Its important to note this at the outset. But as soon as A Star Is Born opened last fall and displayed the pairs pulsating natural chemistry, thousands of super-fansI count myself among themhave been daydreaming otherwise.

In my opinion, we cannot be blamed for this. Ladley Gooper has been begging for us to think theyre an item for the entirety of their nearly yearlong global press tour. She fixes his tie, she kisses him, they hold handsand thats just on the red carpet. They compliment each other in interviews using phrases like instant connection, passion like gasoline, plutonium, and illuminated by the sun. In Las Vegas in January, she invited him onstage for a surprise performance of Shallow and fell at his feet in a performance of desperate adoration. Sure seems like they, or at least their movies publicists, have wanted us to think theyre doin it, and its been a blast.

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During Sundays briskly paced Oscars ceremony, we shippers were awarded what was probably our last public document to overanalyze. There, the co-stars performed a duet so absurdly sensual that it could only be received as a gift. Cooper perched on a stool with a microphone and began singing, staring intensely at Gaga. Gaga stared back and took her seat at piano. Cooper strode over to join her, and they closed their eyes and nuzzled into each other as they sang. More staring, more nuzzling. All this time, keep in mind, they were singing Shallow, a song whose apex consists of Gaga moan-singing Ayhhh-yah-ah-ah, aaaaahhhhhh. Public displays of sexiness from both these stars are nothing special, but this was also a performance of total, mutual vulnerability. Gaga and Coopers act seemed meant to convince us not just that theyve had sex, but that they do it while making unbroken eye contact.

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Sure seems like they, or at least their movies publicists, have wanted us to think theyre doin it, and its been a blast.

The Internet responded to this display with an Ayhhh-yah-ah-ah, aaaaahhhhhh of its own. One tweet offered the pair an Oscar for Best Intercourse, Sung; I think I finally understand heterosexuality, Vulture writer E. Alex Jung wrote. A close-up shot of the duo snuggling at the piano quickly became a meme. The Washington Post offered a frame-by-frame breakdown of the performances roller-coaster of emotions. The Atlantic called it supernaturally intimate. A U.K. paper had a body language expert analyze the performance in what has to be the most pointless deployment of that already-pointless journalistic trope.

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There have been hints of hope from the tabloid press. Gaga broke up with her fiance recently, and Cooper and his longtime girlfriend, Irina Shayk, were rumored to be miserable last fall. Its anyones guess as to whether Cooper and Shayk are happy together, but she did accompany him to the ceremony on Sunday. More to the point, she sat in the front row while her boyfriend and his co-worker eye-humped each other for more than three solid minutes on stage. This was the first chance Ladley Goopers fan base has had to analyze Shayks facial expressions and body language, and analyze it we did. (Disappointingly, she seemed supportive and chill.)

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What is it about this imaginary affair that has captivated me so irresistibly? Maybe its the unlikeliness of any visible spark between this inscrutable, slightly uptight A-lister and this emotive, flamboyant pop star. Maybe its the dumb pleasure of watching two very good actors extend the spectacle of their on-screen passion for an entire promotional tour. Again, I do realize theres never been any actual evidence these two are an item. If anything, their public displays of horniness suggest theyre not together IRL: People who are secretly having sex with each other do not ham it up like this as a rule, let alone onstage in front of millions of people during Hollywoods Biggest Night. But take it from this Gooper shipper: It was delicious to believe otherwise, if only for a few months, capped off by three perfect minutes on Sunday night. If Coopers deeply satisfying remake of A Star Is Born taught us anything, its that melodrama doesnt have to be realistic to be beautiful.
In Leaving Neverland, the two-part, four-hour documentary about two men who claim to have been molested by Michael Jackson as children, one of the victims wives describes the revelations of Jacksons abuse as being like a bomb that dropped in our lives and exploded. It ripped apart everything that we found sound and secure and safe. Leaving Neverland is, itself, a bomb dropped into American cultural memory, pushing us to look again and more closely at Jackson, the King of Pop, the moonwalking musical genius and talent beloved the world over, even though wed almost certainly rather not.

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Leaving Neverland focuses closely, intimately, on Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who met Jackson as children, were taken under his wing and permitted to sleep in his bed, and claim to have been molested by him for many yearsstarting when they were 7 and 11, respectivelyoften with their parents ensconced in rooms nearby. Theirs are the most comprehensive and convincing accusations made against Jackson, but they are not the first. Jackson was accused of child molestation in a 1993 lawsuit that was settled out of court, and again in 2003, in a criminal case that went to trial and resulted in an acquittal. (Robson testified in Jacksons defense both times.) That there was something sordid about Jacksons relationships with young boys has long been discussed, whispered, and joked about, but at a low hum, one that was easy to crank Billie Jean over. Leaving Neverland makes it much harder to drown it out.

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In returning to the past to show us what we did not, could not, or refused to understand at the time, Leaving Neverland belongs to a recent spate of revisionist history projectsdocumentaries, podcasts, fictional narrativesthat have actively sought to recast our comprehension of high-profile scandals involving famous public figures and people who, due to those scandals, became famous public figures. These works explore the distorting effects of racism, sexism, and fame on events that seemed, at the time, sordid or simple, black holes of media attention and gut feelings undeserving of serious contemplation. Beginning with the commercially and critically successful one-two punch of ESPNs documentary O.J.: Made in America and FXs fictionalized account, The People v. O.J. Simpson, this subgenre also includes I, Tonya, the Slow Burn season on the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Surviving R. Kelly, and the recently released Lorena.

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Taken together, these projects are part of our large political culture, a rejoinder to the MAGA ethos, simultaneously deflating the fantasy of an idyllic past while demonstrating that if we view the past through contemporary understandings of sexism and racism, power and fame, it might actually make more sense. In these historical revisitations, wokeness is not a pose but a better way of seeing, reading glasses for a nation that has long preferred the soft blur of an out-of-date prescription. As with the news about Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein, and the revelations of the #MeToo movement more generally, having to see what has always been there can be disturbing. It would be simpler not to know itto hold on to your opinions about O.J. and MJ, to snicker at Marcia and Tonya and Lorena and Monica, to keep listening to R. Kellys musicbut the high-profile nature of these projects means that comforting obliviousness now requires active denial.

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Their wokeness is not a pose but a better way of seeing, reading glasses for a nation that has long preferred the soft blur of an out-of-date prescription.

Many people watched Jackson grow up. His songs and his dancing are so much a part of peoples personal histories, personal joys, that having to view him differently is something they may be unwilling to do. Perhaps nothing encapsulates the depth of affection for Jackson quite like Robson and Safechuck, who both speak movingly about how much they too loved Jacksonhow much they still love him, despite all that he has done to them. I was never an ardent Jackson fan, but even I get gooey-eyed thinking about how, after his death, his music poured out of every car, every window, a spontaneous, collective celebration to honor the passing of a cultural giant. Someone recently described this shared moment to me as being a fleeting glimpse of world peace, and I knew exactly what she meant. Didnt America feel great in that specific moment? Cant we please keep that?

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Unlike O.J. Simpsonand, to a certain extent, Monica Lewinsky, Tonya Harding, and Lorena BobbittMichael Jackson is not already disgraced. By disgracing himor attempting to disgrace him, depending on how the film is receivedLeaving Neverland is in some ways the apotheosis of all these projects, the one that most vertiginously reframes the past, sullying it. It operates not just as revisionist history but as a piece of breaking news. Like Surviving R. Kellyand like the reporting on Cosby, Weinstein, and so many othersits trying to shatter a consensus of silence. Made in America and The People v. O.J. Simpson, in contrast, brought a cool wisdom to the still-heated question of Simpsons guilt. Explicating Los Angeles racial history and reframing the cases gender dynamics, they turned the temperature down and began to transform a scandal into a piece of history that weblack and white, male and femalemight be able to agree upon.

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Long before these projects appeared, we knew that the O.J. Simpson trial was a mess. (Same goes for the Clinton impeachment, the Bobbitt sideshow, and the Harding circus.) Americas dirty laundry was already out in the street. But with Jackson, its always been kept behind closed doors. The decade since his death, in which his present-tense behavior could no longer interfere with the greatness of his back catalog, has made it easier to forget how discomfiting he was. Toward the end of his life, his self-hatred and his self-abnegation, particularly around his racial identity, was written on his very face, in his shaved-down nose, his bleached skin. His childlike manner was widely understood as a symptom of the abuse he allegedly suffered as a child star, an experience that somehow prevented him from maturing into a whole adult. That he died from an overdose of painkillers, trying to numb out the world, made a horrible kind of sense.* But one of the intimations of Leaving Neverland is that in admitting some hard truths about Jackson, we gave cover to even more vile ones. As Katie Couric put it in an interview from 2003 thats included in the documentary, his habit of sleeping in the same bed as young boys at least established him as a super weird guyan insulting and infantilizing description that is nonetheless nowhere near as damning as what he may have really been: a sexual predator.

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That something was off with Jackson was obvious. Why didnt more of us take it to its logical conclusion? One of the complicating factors in Jacksons case, as in so many others, is fame. Leaving Neverland, unlike the aforementioned documentaries, does not touch, particularly, on questions of gender. It also does not touch explicitly on race. But race is an important part of Jacksons story, as it is with so many of these other past scandals, and what they tell us about race is complicated.

That something was off with Jackson was obvious. Why didnt more of us take it to its logical conclusion?

Innocent black men being presumed guilty of crimes they did not commit is a bedrock American injustice, a disgraceful commonplace. But O.J. Simpson, R. Kelly, Michael Jacksonas well as Bill Cosby and Clarence Thomasare black men who were presumed to be innocent by significant, often multiracial, portions of the American population. White and black people turned a blind eye to Jackson, Cosby, and Kellys behavior. Clarence Thomas is sitting on the Supreme Court. You might begin to suspect that this is part of the reason these stories became scandalous in the first place: a cultural fascination with the oddity of black innocence. But fame plays an even bigger part. For white audiences, fame often deracializes a celebrity, makes them someone who transcends race, as though theyve shed their skin and are no longer a person of color at allalthough that transcendence is often provisional, as it was for Simpson, who was not black, Im O.J., until he was abandoned by his white friends. But for black audiences and other audiences of color, a celebritys success is understood as a triumph over a deeply racist society that may still be trying to bring him down, and from which he requires collective protection. Colorblindness and racial awareness can, in these instances, amplify one another instead of canceling each other out.

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In both Robson and Safechucks cases (as well as those of numerous other men who have never accused Jackson of abuse), young boys were permitted by their parents to sleep in the same bed as a grown man who was not a family member, in a mind-boggling flouting of any and all rules about stranger danger. Leaving Neverlands explanationnot excusefor why they did this is: fame. Like almost every other person on planet Earth, the parents believed that Jackson was a child at heart. They had been, to a certain extent, pre-groomed by his public persona as a perpetual Peter Pan. Upon meeting him, they were swept away by his warmth, his houses, his interest in their talented sons and their future careers, and his generosity. (Jackson paid for the Safechucks house at a certain point. When Robsons family moved to Los Angeles from Australia, his mother expected that Jackson would be paying her rent, and was surprised when he wasnt.) They were thrilled to be in his orbit. They didnt really want to doubt, to question, to worry, to think twice about what was going on in Jacksons bed every night.

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If Robsons and Safechucks mothers could, knowingly or unknowingly, at the edge of their consciousness or out of it altogether, enjoy all that Michael Jackson had to offer, at the expense of their own childrens innocence, future, and mental well-beingwell, is it any wonder that we, who had nothing so serious at stake, would have chosen to turn a blind eye so that we could keep his music, his moves, our memory of the super talented boy who had grown into the worlds biggest superstar right in front of our eyes?

If Leaving Neverland had come out a few years ago, before the election of Donald Trump and the cultural reckoning that his election inspired, before the cultural paroxysms, disturbing revelations, and revisionist documentaries of the past two years, we would likely still be turning that blind eye. Recent events have been near-perpetual reminders of our terrible vision, of how much we dont understand about what is going on right in front of us, and how long these misunderstandings can last. As awfully compelling as Leaving Neverland is, if it had arrived before all this other work, would we have attended to it? Will we attend to it now?

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I recently heard Jacksons music three times in one day, all of it being played in public places. Hearing Jackson on the radio, in a grocery store, being performed by a street performerthats standard. Hes all around us. But on this particular day, each time I heard him, I wondered if it would be one of the lastor if it was deluded of me to even imagine such a possibility. Jacksons cultural reach is so vast, his work so good, so adored, that it becomes singularly plain how much easier it would be just to apologetically shrug and carry on, to keep doing what we have been doing: telling ourselves the sad story of a genius who could not stop hurting himself, so as not to have to admit to ourselves an even sadder one.
Of the many nods to the power of diversity at the 2019 Academy Awards, Trevor Noah might have managed the one that, at the end of the night, rang truest. In introducing Best Picture nominee Black Panther, Noah joked about the many people who have greeted him with the signature Wakanda Forever salute, as if the fictional country and all the customs associated with it are real. The joke, complete with a Mel Gibson burn, ended with the host of the Daily Show saying, Growing up as a young boy in Wakanda, I would see King TChalla flying over our village, and he would remind me of a great Xhosa phrase: Abelungu abazi ubu ndiyaxoka, which means: In times like these, we are stronger when we fight together than when we try to fight apart.

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Noahs inspirational address was met with general horniness and appreciative claps for a proud display of blackness in what might be the worst Black History Month on record. But what Noah actually said, according to the BBCs Pumza Fihlani, is: White people dont know Im lying. The joke of course flew over the heads of the largely English-speaking audience, but Xhosa speakers on Twitter had a ball.

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Trevor has VVIP pass to hell  pic.twitter.com/sNXdJF22dp  leratokganyago (@Leratokganyago) February 25, 2019

Yall Trevor Noah had us cracking up speaking in Xhosa!!!! Gosh I love being African. Uthini uTrevor?!? Ahahahahaha #Oscars pic.twitter.com/xtj49rO9Md  Makho Ndlovu (@makhondlovu) February 25, 2019

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I think @Trevornoah just pulled off one of the funniest stunts ever at the #Oscars -> Only #xhosa speaking South Africans will know... well played! Hahahaha!! pic.twitter.com/HYzX6CWVpu  Daryn Hillhouse (@Daryn_H) February 25, 2019

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Noahs translational gag isnt entirely unprecedented, according to film historian Peter Labuza, who pointed out that Asian American actors Anna May Wong and Phillip Ahn used to make up dialogue for their fans who understood Chinese and Korean. And the Kazakh that Sacha Baron Cohens anti-Semitic Borat character speaks is actually fluent Hebrew, a move that went largely unnoticed by English-speaking audiences but made the movie an unexpected hit in Israel.

For an Oscars ceremony that came so close to getting it right only to hand out the biggest award of the night to a regressive, white-savior fantasy, its only right that Noahs skewering of liberal feel-good kumbaya quotes flew almost entirely under the radar.

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Page: 1 2 3 4 NewMexico governor: I withdrew border troops because there was no 'real emergency spo snouou

Vocem sine nomine audivit!

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02-26-2019 03:31 PM



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Post: #1 NewMexico governor: I withdrew border troops because there was no 'real emergency

Advertisement New Mexico governor says she withdrew border troops because there was no 'real emergency'



Quote: Grishams comments Sunday during an appearance on CBSs Face the Nation come as President Trump seeks funding for his long-desired wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump earlier this month declared a national emergency in an attempt to secure funding.



As everyone ought to be doing, I was on the border, and Im looking and assessing whether or not theres a real emergency or a crisis, and there isnt, Grisham said Sunday. And the reality is these troops need to be available when there is a serious issue or an emergency to deal with.

https://thehill.com/latino/431352-new-me...as-no-real spo snouou

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02-26-2019 04:01 PM



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Post: #2 RE: NewMexico governor: I withdrew border troops because there was no 'real emergency

LoP Guest

lop guest

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02-26-2019 04:55 PM











Post: #3 RE: NewMexico governor: I withdrew border troops because there was no 'real emergency

Translation: leftist agenda good, orange man bad, mmmmkay? LoP Guest

lop guest

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02-26-2019 05:01 PM











Post: #4 RE: NewMexico governor: I withdrew border troops because there was no 'real emergency

Love our governor. She is correct.

In fact. I am on my way to Mexico for dental care. Maybe that wall is meant to keep us in. LoP Guest

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02-26-2019 05:05 PM











Post: #5 RE: NewMexico governor: I withdrew border troops because there was no 'real emergency

Just the democrat party protecting their voters while they cross over. Nothing to see here. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 441607

02-26-2019 05:06 PM











Post: #6 RE: NewMexico governor: I withdrew border troops because there was no 'real emergency

LoP Guest Wrote: (02-26-2019 04:55 PM) Translation: leftist agenda good, orange man bad, mmmmkay?

Oversimplified, but basically accurate, yes. Oversimplified, but basically accurate, yes. BlackCat

Every day is an extra day

User ID: 395917

02-26-2019 05:09 PM



Posts: 13,228









Post: #7 RE: NewMexico governor: I withdrew border troops because there was no 'real emergency





We Have Finally Normalized Trumpism



https://www.thedailybeast.com/we-have-fi...m?ref=home We Have Finally Normalized Trumpism "Imagine being so brainwashed that you believe everybody else is brainwashed." ~bloobeary LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 490859

02-26-2019 05:10 PM











Post: #8 RE: NewMexico governor: I withdrew border troops because there was no 'real emergency

LoP Guest Wrote: (02-26-2019 04:55 PM) Translation: leftist agenda good, orange man bad, mmmmkay?



Incorrect.

The translation is: Trump is an America-hating traitor who attempted to intentionally circumvent the rule of law and the constitution and the patriotic governor of New Mexico is a real American and would not goose step to the illegal and criminal actions of a fascist.

LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 466311

02-26-2019 05:14 PM











Post: #9 RE: NewMexico governor: I withdrew border troops because there was no 'real emergency

What business does a leftist alleged "Australian" have supporting the democrat party and it's agenda, when Aboriginals in his own alleged country are STILL marginalized by his "white privilege"? LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 466311

02-26-2019 05:15 PM











Post: #10 RE: NewMexico governor: I withdrew border troops because there was no 'real emergency

LoP Guest Wrote: (02-26-2019 05:10 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (02-26-2019 04:55 PM) Translation: leftist agenda good, orange man bad, mmmmkay?



Incorrect.

The translation is: Trump is an America-hating traitor who attempted to intentionally circumvent the rule of law and the constitution and the patriotic governor of New Mexico is a real American and would not goose step to the illegal and criminal actions of a fascist.



Trump Derangement Syndrome Trump Derangement Syndrome LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 470206

02-26-2019 05:16 PM











Post: #11 RE: NewMexico governor: I withdrew border troops because there was no 'real emergency

LoP Guest Wrote: (02-26-2019 05:01 PM) Love our governor. She is correct.

In fact. I am on my way to Mexico for dental care. Maybe that wall is meant to keep us in.

It does support a lot of overpriced dentists. We need to go back to gold foil dentistry, working so slow would employ many more people. It does support a lot of overpriced dentists. We need to go back to gold foil dentistry, working so slow would employ many more people. #1 Doomologist

lop guest

User ID: 463109

02-26-2019 05:17 PM











Post: #12 RE: NewMexico governor: I withdrew border troops because there was no 'real emergency



its a real website and obviously she has determined the current law she can just ignore and create an atmosphere of free for all'....

She's a scoundrel much like yourself...

JMHO



http://www.newmexicansformichelle.com/ here is the traitiors agenda...its a real website and obviously she has determined the current law she can just ignore and create an atmosphere of free for all'....She's a scoundrel much like yourself...JMHO LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 441607

02-26-2019 05:27 PM











Post: #13 RE: NewMexico governor: I withdrew border troops because there was no 'real emergency

LoP Guest Wrote: (02-26-2019 05:15 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (02-26-2019 05:10 PM)

Incorrect.

The translation is: Trump is an America-hating traitor who attempted to intentionally circumvent the rule of law and the constitution and the patriotic governor of New Mexico is a real American and would not goose step to the illegal and criminal actions of a fascist.



Trump Derangement Syndrome

Yep, it is deranged to think that Trump is anything other than a mobster, a criminal, and a Russian asset who has been ordered to destroy the USA for his oligarchical masters. Yep, it is deranged to think that Trump is anything other than a mobster, a criminal, and a Russian asset who has been ordered to destroy the USA for his oligarchical masters. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 332489

02-26-2019 05:44 PM











Post: #14 RE: NewMexico governor: I withdrew border troops because there was no 'real emergency

spo snouou Wrote: (02-26-2019 03:31 PM) New Mexico governor says she withdrew border troops because there was no 'real emergency'



Quote: Grishams comments Sunday during an appearance on CBSs Face the Nation come as President Trump seeks funding for his long-desired wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump earlier this month declared a national emergency in an attempt to secure funding.



As everyone ought to be doing, I was on the border, and Im looking and assessing whether or not theres a real emergency or a crisis, and there isnt, Grisham said Sunday. And the reality is these troops need to be available when there is a serious issue or an emergency to deal with.

https://thehill.com/latino/431352-new-me...as-no-real

Says the lady who is literally killing her state...



New Mexicos dead-last ranking in education and weak showing in other categories landed the state at 48th overall in the U.S. News & World Report 2018 Best States study released Tuesday.



Last year, New Mexico ranked 46th. Says the lady who is literally killing her state...New Mexicos dead-last ranking in education and weak showing in other categories landed the state at 48th overall in the U.S. News & World Report 2018 Best States study released Tuesday.Last year, New Mexico ranked 46th. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 461437

02-26-2019 05:56 PM











Post: #15 RE: NewMexico governor: I withdrew border troops because there was no 'real emergency





If Mexico is no problemo, why the Hell, are they risking their lives to get away from it, themselves?



It is themselves they are trying to get away from!



If they conquer the whole eorld. There will be no Gringos left.



If they let the rest of the world live. At least they can still watch them on TV. And be able to use the latest I phones.



If they Overpopulate the entire world, it will be like one Gigantic Mexico. Or one Gigantic Africa.Etc.



They will have no place left to go.



9h. If they had the U.S. they would lose their poverty, and crime, and violence, and catastrophic birth rate would stop?



I Don't Think So!



What did they do in Detroit?

What are they doing in California?



Why dont we see what they can do with their own nation.(when moving to someone else's is no longer an pption)



Before , we risk the whole world, to their Domination.



Would they protect endangered Gringos, like Gringos, protect endangered turtles, and hooting owls? I dont think so.



The only way these people find harmony with nature is by achieving a low enough level of technology, to not be able to threaten it.



We gave Africa, the chain saw, and they are cutting down the forests, pretty darn fast, now.

Before chain saws, the forest were safe.



What would Mexico do with nukes?

Would a wall, stop them then?

Would an ocean?

Would they stop with America?

Why?





Let's See, What They, can do,

With, Their Own, Nation.

When they realise, that they can't have anyone else's!

When they see they are stuck with Their own nation.

And that's All they gonna, Ever, Get!



Then , they Will Start, thinking about how they can improve their own life, within their Own Nation.



Then we can all see, what they can do.



Homo Sapien, evolved, to prioritize, a high birth rate.

It won the battles. It replaced lost warriors.

In times of famine, it won the other tribes resources.



Even today, overpopulated starving hells, are still the fastest way to dominate the world. (Against advanced technological nations, that don't seek to dominate the world, themselves.)



But this birth rate prioritization, does not help, when there is no, other tribe, left to conquer.



What can Homo Sapiens learn, when they have to cope with their own nation? When they have to respect the sovereignty of other nations?



Give them a Wall, they Must respect.

Then, they will respect us.

Then, we can respect them No Problemo?If Mexico is no problemo, why the Hell, are they risking their lives to get away from it, themselves?It is themselves they are trying to get away from!If they conquer the whole eorld. There will be no Gringos left.If they let the rest of the world live. At least they can still watch them on TV. And be able to use the latest I phones.If they Overpopulate the entire world, it will be like one Gigantic Mexico. Or one Gigantic Africa.Etc.They will have no place left to go.9h. If they had the U.S. they would lose their poverty, and crime, and violence, and catastrophic birth rate would stop?I Don't Think So!What did they do in Detroit?What are they doing in California?Why dont we see what they can do with their own nation.(when moving to someone else's is no longer an pption), we risk the whole world, to their Domination.Would they protect endangered Gringos, like Gringos, protect endangered turtles, and hooting owls? I dont think so.The only way these people find harmony with nature is by achieving a low enough level of technology, to not be able to threaten it.We gave Africa, the chain saw, and they are cutting down the forests, pretty darn fast, now.Before chain saws, the forest were safe.What would Mexico do with nukes?Would a wall, stop them then?Would an ocean?Would they stop with America?Why?Let's See, What They, can do,With, Their Own, Nation.When they realise, that they can't have anyone else's!When they see they are stuck with Their own nation.And that's All they gonna, Ever, Get!, they Will Start, thinking about how they can improve their own life, within their Own Nation.we can all see, what theydo.Homo Sapien, evolved, to prioritize, a high birth rate.It won the battles. It replaced lost warriors.In times of famine, it won the other tribes resources.Even today, overpopulated starving hells, are still the fastest way to dominate the world. (Against advanced technological nations, that don't seek to dominate the world, themselves.)But this birth rate prioritization, does not help, when there is no, other tribe, left to conquer.What can Homo Sapiens learn, when they have to cope with their own nation? When they have to respect the sovereignty of other nations?Give them a Wall, they Must respect.Then, they will respect us.Then, we can respect them Advertisement



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When Seattle became the first major American city to pass a $15 minimum wage in 2014, a lot of temperamentally cautious wonksmyself includedsaw the move as a wild, possibly ill-conceived experiment. Would it kill jobs? Would it turn the whole town into a misty no mans land for entry-level service workers? Who could say?

Since then, of course, plenty of other states and cities have decided to join Seattles adventure. Last Tuesday, Illinois became the fifth state to enact a $15 pay floorit will phase in by 2024following California, New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey, as well as Washington, D.C. Maryland is currently debating its own bill, while other states have passed significant hikes that dont quite hit the $15 mark. (The federal minimum is still sitting at $7.25 an hour.)

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It remains entirely possible that, one day, economists will look back on this burst of legislation as a series of well-intentioned mistakes. But thanks to some recent studies, Im feeling a little less apprehensive about how it will play out.

First, some background. Business groups and conservatives have long insisted that forcing employers to pay their workers more would lead them to hire less. And for years, the economics literature more or less agreed. But starting in the mid-1990s, a new line of research emerged that suggested minimum wage increases actually caused few if any job losses at all. The academic debate about this issue has been fierce, extremely technical, and will probably continue right up until Antarctica melts and the rising seas swallow every last KFC. But by 2014, the conventional wisdom among center-left policy experts was that moderate increases in the pay floor were basically fine for the job market.1

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Seattles move to $15 was anything but moderate. The new minimum, which was set to phase in over several years, was highif not quite unprecedentedby both international and historical U.S. standards. And it gave economists a chance to see how the labor market would absorb such a dramatic increase.

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The early results were not encouraging. In 2017, a group of economists from the University of Washington concluded that Seattles law had cost the city thousands of jobs. It also led businesses to pare back hours for their employees, and as a result, the researchers reported that the average low-wage worker earned $125 less per month than if the ordinance had never passed. While an updated version of their paper later lowered that estimate to a loss of $74 per month, it appeared that the ordinance had backfired. This was especially worrisome given that the authors data extended just through 2016, when the citys minimum had only risen to $13 for large employers. It seemed possible that as wages continued to increase, the damage would deepen.

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But as more information rolled in, the picture became a bit fuzzier and less discouraging. Late last year, the University of Washington team released a new paper showing that Seattles rising pay floor appeared to benefit low-wage workers, as long as they already had a job when it took effect. Those with relatively more experience worked fewer hours as a result of the law, but earned about $19 more per week on averagein part because they were paid more per hour, and because some appeared to pick up shifts outside of Seattle proper. Employees with relatively less experience worked fewer hours, but more or less broke even.

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Most people would probably agree that working less and earning the same pay, or more, is a happy outcome. Some of these employees may have purposely cut back their hours at work so they could spend more time with family or otherwise tend to their lives. But the authors suggested that the new minimum still had a downside because it might have made finding a job harder for new low-wage workers (meaning people who hadnt been employed in Washington during the previous five years). They showed that, until mid-2014, Seattle and the rest of Washington state outside of King County added new workers who earned less than $15 at roughly similar rates. After then, they diverged, as Seattles pace slacked off.

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Between their two papers, the University of Washington economists arrive at the following conclusion: Seattles minimum wage ordinance appears to have delivered higher pay to experienced workers at the cost of reduced opportunity for the inexperienced. Critics, though, have attacked their methodology, and suggested theres another straightforward explanation for why low-wage jobs are disappearing from Seattle: The city is in the midst of a tech boom and workers are simply finding better, higher-paying opportunities. The University of Washington team says that reasoning makes little sense, however, because the decline in low-wage employment they observe starts exactly at the start of 2016, when the top minimum wage jumped to $13 and seasonal employment in Seattle is typically at its winter nadir (meaning high-paying opportunities wouldnt necessarily abound).

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Like all academic debates about the minimum wage, the particulars of this one will probably go in circles for a while. But the bottom line is that the most pessimistic review so far of the Seattle experiment has changed from this is a total flop to this policy presents tradeoffs that make life more bearable for experienced workers, at the expense of new folks just entering the workforce. Its gone from one-star to two-and-a-half or three.

Seattle is also, in the end, just a single cityand one with a unique economic situation that presently is making it hard to draw any meaningful conclusions from the labor market experiment it has decided to run. Meanwhile, a working paper released earlier this year, which looks at many more minimum wage laws over time in different parts of the country, offers additional reasons for optimism. The authors used state-of-the-art methods to study the effects of 138 different state-level minimum wage hikes that took places between 1979 and 2016 on total employment.2 They found that, overall, increases have little impact on jobs, except in tradable sectors such as manufacturing, where increases seem to hurt more. (A lot of American factory jobs pay fairly low wages these days, and unlike fast-food gigs, they can be moved pretty easily over state or international borders.)

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Just as importantly, the paper suggests that it may be safe to hike the minimum wage further than some policy experts once thought. When economists try to tell whether a pay floor is reasonable for a city or state, they often compare it to what local workers typically earn in the region. After all, businesses in expensive, high-wage metropolitan areas like San Francisco or New York can probably afford to pay their workers more than businesses in Little Rock, Arkansas, or Dubuque, Iowa, if only because they can charge higher prices. In 2014, University of Massachusetts economist Arindrajit Dube, one of the leading researchers on this topic, took a look at international and historical U.S. averages and concluded that it was probably safe to set the minimum wage somewhere near half the median hourly pay of a full-time worker. It was just a rule of thumb, but a useful one.

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This new study, which Dube co-authored, suggests that the rule of thumb could go a little higher. It looks at pay floors ranging from 37 percent of a statess median wage to 59 percent. Of the 138 increases studied, 42 pushed the minimum above the 50 percent mark. These included laws passed in high-wage states like Washington, California, Oregon, and Vermont as well as low-wage states like Arkansas and West Virginia. And none of them seemed to do significant damage to the job market. Overall, these findings suggest that that the level of the minimum wage increases in the U.S. that we study have yet to reach a point where the employment effects become sizable, the paper concludes.

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Again, its possible that Illinois, or New York, or New Jersey, is now pushing the limits of a sound minimum wage policy. But the latest results from Dube and his collaborators suggest those states might be taking less of a risk than it once seemed.
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We want to use this both for research and for teaching, Dr. Sara Sybesma Tolsma, professor of biology, says of the sequencer. Its a very sensitive piece of equipment and its expensive to run, but were going to involve students as much as we can and still be good stewards of the costs associated with it.

Tolsma anticipates a variety of ways Northwestern will use its gene sequencer. The college is part of the national SEA-PHAGES program, which is designed to interest undergraduates in scientific research by making them part of a global effort to discover phages, or viruses that infect bacteria. All of the students in Microbiology want to have the phages they discovered sequenced, but that process costs $250 per phage when done by another institution. By having its own sequencer, Northwestern will be better able to meet that demand.

Tolsma and Dr. Laurie Furlong, another member of Northwesterns biology department, will also use the sequencer to research the gene expression of mayflies in different environments. Their chemistry department colleagues, meanwhile, are interested in confirming gene mutations made in site-directed mutagenesis.
The highlight of the classroom visits was when we met with the students we had been working with all semester, Hoehne said. It was so rewarding to see the excitement on students' faces as they met their Danish counterparts face-to-face.

Many students are continuing their relationship with their new friends through social media channels such as Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter.

The International Business course and travel opportunity will be available again as the course is now required in the associate of applied business degree. International Business will be offered every fall with the travel experience every few years.

Hoehne said the students will not be required to travel, but they will have the experience of working with someone through technology at Aarhus. In addition, they will be given a glimpse into what it would be like to work for an international company.

Jker sees this partnership with Northeast as a real opportunity for her students.

For the Danish students, they get to know American students and speak English, and they will learn about marketing at the same time, which, I think, is quite a good experience for them.
Some people think that the government is the source of our solutions. I would argue that the government is actually the source of our problems.

Here are some basic economic concepts that Nobel Prize-winning economist Dr. Milton Friedman developed years ago to help explain our dilemma (I am paraphrasing): When we spend our own money on ourselves, cost and quality matter. We want the best value and quality for our money that we can get. When we spend other people's money on ourselves, cost isnt as much of a concern because its someone elses dime. When we spend our money on other people, cost matters but we are less concerned about quality. In the case of the federal government, we are letting the government (i.e. other people) spend other people's money (i.e. ours) on other people. In this case, neither cost nor quality matter.

I believe that the fact that cost and quality do not matter in government spending is why we are $22 trillion in debt.

Our spending is out of control and we must challenge our legislators to change their behavior. None of the U.S. population or its businesses operate with the same mindset as the U.S. government when it comes to fiscal control. We need to limit the governments authority to spend our money and not expand it with additional programs.

The government has a spending problem, and that is why they are the source of our problems. - Brad Swart, Sergeant Bluff, Iowa

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SEOUL, South Korea  The signing took all of 10 minutes. Neither man uttered a word as they inked nine documents agreeing to halt more than three years of brutal fighting. When it was done, the American and North Korean generals exchanged one long, cold stare before leaving the room.

It was July 1953. U.S. 8th Army commander Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor reminded reporters the war wasnt yet over. The cease-fire agreement was just a suspension of hostilities, which may or may not be preparatory to permanent peace, he said at the time.

Taylor died in 1987, the same year as Lt. Gen. William K. Harrison, who signed the agreement on behalf of the Americans. North Koreas signatory, Gen. Nam Il, died in 1976. Commander Mark W. Clark, who later signed it for the United Nations, died in 1984.

The Korean War is still not over.

As President Donald Trump gets ready to once again sit down with North Koreas leader this week, current and former administration officials and Korea analysts are increasingly saying Trump will probably agree to declare a formal end to the Korean War, giving in to a long-standing North Korean demand. For decades, U.S. presidents have refused to do so, insisting North Korea first needs to fully denuclearize.

The declaration would not be the same as a legally binding peace treaty, so technically either side could go back on their word. But it would mean the U.S. and North Korea would officially no longer be enemy nations at war and acknowledge the reality that combat has long since ended.

President Trump is ready to end this war. It is over. It is done, Stephen Biegun, the United States top negotiator with North Korea, said in a speech at Stanford this month. We are not going to invade North Korea. We are not seeking to topple the North Korean regime.

But more than 65 years since the fighting stopped, does it even matter?

An end-of-war declaration, unlike a peace treaty, would be a nonbinding agreement and largely a political statement. Analysts said it would be an easy, ready-made result from the Hanoi summit that Trump could tout  achieving peace on the Korean peninsula, however symbolic  even if there arent substantive concessions from North Korea on its nuclear capabilities.

On one end of the spectrum, those willing to give North Korea the benefit of the doubt say the peace declaration would give Kim Jong Un the internal justification he needs to take steps to denuclearize, after having spent many billions of dollars and endured international sanctions to obtain the nuclear weapons.

The sooner a declaration ends the Korean War, the faster North Koreas denuclearization, South Koreas liberal Hankyoreh newspaper said in an editorial last year. Its the only way to assuage the Norths fears.

Some observers have also said the declaration might be a low-cost way to test out North Koreas true intentions and see if the promise of better relations with the U.S. would translate into giving up parts of its nuclear program.

If, after an end of war declaration, North Korea doesnt take further denuclearization measures, we will know that Kim is not serious about denuclearization under any circumstance, former Defense Department advisor Frank Aum and attorney S. Nathan Park wrote in a CNN opinion piece.

Many other analysts in the U.S. and South Korea, however, warn the declaration would inevitably lead to discussion of removing about 28,000 U.S. troops who serve under U.N. auspices in South Korea, a possibility that alarms those skeptical of North Koreas willingness to ever give up its nuclear weapons.

You have to question why North Korea is pushing so hard for that end-of-war declaration, said Canadian Lt. Gen. Wayne Eyre, deputy commander of the U.N. command tasked with keeping peace between the Koreas, speaking at a talk in Washington in October. Even if there is no legal basis for it, emotionally, people would start to question the presence and continued existence of the United Nations command. And its a slippery slope to then question the presence of U.S. forces on the peninsula.

To declare the Korean War over with North Korea still in possession of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles would be putting the cart before the horse, said Victor Cha, who led the talks with North Korea under President George W. Bush.

Thats not peace. That is a fake peace, Cha said by phone in a news briefing from Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. You cant just politically declare peace while the situation on the ground has not changed. That is actually dangerous.

U.S. officials have repeatedly insisted that an end-of-war declaration and the drawdown of U.S. troops are separate matters. Withdrawal of American forces is not the subject of discussions and has never been on the table with North Korean negotiators at any stage, senior U.S. officials said last week in a briefing to reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Not everyone is buying it.

Theyre just saying that to put South Korea at ease. It might start that way, but itll inevitably lead to talk of withdrawing troops, said Nam Sung-wook, professor at Korea Universitys department of diplomacy and unification. Its main function, deterrence against North Korea, will be undermined.

Nam also doubted a peace declaration would get any meaningful concessions out of North Korea.

It doesnt bring money into their coffers. What they need is immediate cash flow, he said.

It was South Korea that refused to sign the 1953 armistice. At the time, it was reluctant to recognize North Korea as a legitimate entity and wanted to keep fighting until Korea was unified. South Koreas current president, Moon Jae-in, though, has repeatedly urged the U.S. to declare the Korean War over, saying he believed a peace declaration was a necessary step to denuclearizing North Korea.

For people living on the Korean peninsula, the declaration, practically speaking, wouldnt be any different from the armistice agreement. Moon, who has been championing Trumps engagement with North Korea, has said the symbolic gesture would go a long way in giving North Korea the assurance it needs to eventually give up its nuclear weapons.

Moon has emphasized that the declaration would always be reversible and that Kim understood it was unrelated to the presence of U.S. troops.

North Korea, for its part, said in an editorial in the state-run Korean Central News Agency last year that ending the Korean War was a matter that should have been resolved half a century ago.

+5 How to verify North Korea's nukes A look at the declaration and verification standoff, which sparked the first round of the North Korean nuclear crisis 25 years ago and derailed six-nation diplomacy a decade ago:

The editorial, which made a point of not directing any criticism at the Trump administration but at Korean issue experts of the United States, bristled at the idea that a declaration would be a U.S. concession to be traded for parts of its nuclear program.

The end of war  is not just a gift from a man to another at all. Furthermore, it can never be a bargaining chip for getting the DPRK denuclearized, the editorial said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. But, if the U.S. does not want to end the war, the DPRK will also not particularly hope for it.

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SIOUX CITY -- The Sioux City Council took action Monday that will keep a solid waste collection discount for seniors in place, pending the outcome of state legislation.

The council voted unanimously to approve a motion made by Mayor Bob Scott to delete the elimination of the senior discount from proposed ordinance changes, which also include raising solid waste collection fees by 2 percent.

Sen. Jim Carlin, R-Sioux City, and Sen. Jackie Smith, D-Sioux City, are trying to get legislation enacted that would allow for such a discount under the law, according to Councilwoman Rhonda Capron. Even if the bill doesn't pass, Scott said the city could come up with another way to offer financial relief that would benefit seniors.

"I would agree that anybody that qualifies for property tax relief ... a disabled or a low-income person would qualify. I don't have a problem with that; and I think that would be legal. But I don't know that today, so it doesn't matter."
The following is a list released by the Diocese of Sioux City that documents priests credibly accused of sexual abuse against minors since the diocese's founding in 1902.
SIOUX CITY -- The Sioux City Police Department is investigating a stabbing that occurred Monday night.

At approximately 8:30 p.m., Ricardo D. Ramirez, 20, of Sioux City, arrived at Mercy Medical Center with multiple stab wounds.

Ramirez was treated for a punctured lung. According to a news release, he is in stable condition and his injury is not life threatening.

Investigators say that the assault was the result of a fight between the victim and an acquaintance.

No further information is being released at this time, the police department said, and the investigation is ongoing.

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 -- Siouxland Community Health Center's "An Evening in Fabulous Las Vegas" fundraiser will begin with a 6 p.m. reception and a 7 p.m. program and dinner on Saturday, March 9, at Delta Hotel by Marriott, 385 E. Fourth St., South Sioux City.

Margaret Sanders, the longtime executive director of the Council on Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence (CSADV), will receive the 2019 Boykin Good Citizen Award because of her commitment to the community.

Sanders is recognized as one of the area's strongest advocates for women and children who have been victims of domestic abuse. George Boykin, president of the Siouxland Community Health Foundation, will be presenting Sanders the award on behalf of the Community Health Center and the Foundation Board of Directors.

In addition, Iowa Primary Care Association's retiring CEO Ted Boesen will receive an achievement award for his 19 years of service to Iowa Community Health Centers.

Siouxland Community Health Center (SCHC) is a mission-driven organization providing quality health care services that are matched to the greatest needs of the community. Additional information, including operating hours and services, may be found at slandchc.com.

Tickets for "An Evening in Las Vegas" may be purchased by contacting Jessica Krieg at jkrieg@slandchc.com or 712-224-1803.

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 -- Pioneer John Brazo, teacher Evelyn Freeman and filmmaker Oscar Micheaux aren't well-known names, but they are key people in revealing the story of how African-Americans came to live and work in Sioux City.

Black History Month is here for another February, and five-decade city resident Jim Tillman said a lot of the public events are geared to remind people of Martin Luther King Jr. and not a broader group of people.

"There is a lot more to the story than what is being shown every year," Tillman said.

Tillman said before he graduated from West High School in 1974, "we didn't talk about Black History Month." But as such instruction becomes more common not only in Sioux City but also smaller Siouxland schools, it is incumbent to give a flavor of the African-Americans who first came to the city, he said.

"It is an untold story. It is hidden, a hidden story. Probably most of the blacks who live in Sioux City don't (even) know," said Tillman, 60, whose African-American grandparents were the first in his family to move to the city.

Tillman has been particularly "inspired" by the filmmaking career of Micheaux, which was in full bloom 100 years ago.
SINGAPORE 60's: ANDY's POP MUSIC INFLUENCE IS A PERSONAL MUSIC, MEMORY TRAIL. BLOGGER DOES NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO VIDEOS, AUDIO TRACKS AND IMAGES. THEY ARE UPLOADED FOR FUN, EDUCATIONAL, ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES AND HAVE BEEN CREDITED. BLOG IS NOT SPONSORED IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER. INFORM BLOGGER OF COPYRIGHT ISSUES AND POST WILL BE DELETED IMMEDIATELY. ANDY LIM LA (NOVEMBER, 2008) - ()
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reacts during a joint news conference with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reacts during a joint news conference with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels, Belgium January 25, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman

By Charlotte Greenfield

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand will independently assess the risk of using China's Huawei Technologies in 5G networks, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday after a report suggested that British precautions could be used by other nations.

Huawei, the world's biggest producer of telecoms equipment, faces intense scrutiny in the West over its relationship with the Chinese government and U.S.-led allegations that its equipment could be used by Beijing for spying.

No evidence has been produced publicly and the firm has repeatedly denied the allegations, which have led several Western countries to restrict Huawei's access to their markets.

The Financial Times reported on Sunday that the British government had decided it can mitigate the risks arising from the use of Huawei equipment in 5G networks. It said Britain's conclusion would "carry great weight" with European leaders and other nations could use similar precautions.

New Zealand's intelligence agency in November rejected an initial request from telecommunications services provider Spark to use 5G equipment provided by Huawei.

At the time, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) gave Spark options to mitigate national security concerns over the use of Huawei equipment, Ardern said on Monday.

"The ball is now in their court," she told a weekly news conference.

Ardern said New Zealand, which is a member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network that includes the United Kingdom and the United States, would conduct its own assessment.

"I would expect the GCSB to apply with our legislation and our own security assessments. It is fair to say Five Eyes, of course, share information but we make our own independent decisions," she said.

Huawei New Zealand did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Spark said it was in discussions with GCSB officials.

"We are working through what possible mitigations we might be able to provide to address the concerns raised by the GCSB and have not yet made any decision on whether or when we should submit a revised proposal to GCSB," Spark spokesman Andrew Pirie said in an emailed statement.

Story continues

The Huawei decision, along with the government's tougher stance on China's growing influence in the Pacific, has some politicians and foreign policy analysts worried about potential strained ties with a key trading partner.

Ardern's planned first visit to Beijing has faced scheduling issues, and China last week postponed a major tourism campaign in New Zealand days before its launch.

Ardern said her government's relationship with China was strong despite some complex issues.

"Visits are not a measure of the health of a relationship they are only one small part of it," she said, adding that trade and tourism ties remained strong.

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield, editing by Praveen Menon and Darren Schuettler)
We asked Echelon insiders and previous TOP100 finalists, and they answered

Counting the weeks to Echelon Asia Summit 2019 this coming May, you may have heard about our TOP100 startup pitching competition (of course), the culmination of our two-day event where new and promising startups take the centre stage. This year, it could be your ideas and your business that experience its own TOP100 journey, as e27s mission of empowering startups in Southeast Asia gives you the chance of a lifetime.

As e27 always supports aspiring startups in whatever stage they are in, we hope this article gives you  the hopefuls  some sense of control. This one would be the cheat sheet of how you can increase your chances to make it into TOP100 Echelon this year.

The first one is from Ashleigh, one of our own colleagues, who belongs to the team that makes Echelon happen. You can count on his tips to get the attention of investors, which can open many doors for you.

Startups should prepare their pitch decks for a 3-minute pitch and prepare questions that investors would typically ask

There will be around five minutes of Q&A after presentations, so you better come locked-and-loaded with any possible questions that can be raised. From inspiration, business model, revenue stream, margins, technical issues, to founders background, anything is possible. Leave no blind spots.

Be able to show what makes you THE startup above your competitors and bring your industry knowledge as well as your sales skills

There are two skills highlighted here by Ash. Your knowledge of the industry must include how many people will be using your solution and what pain points it solves. Who are the competitors, and how are you different from them? Sell it in a convincing way backed by numbers and tested markets.

Ashs wise reminder: Its not only the startup/founder that matters, its how much passion you have and how you are able to convince others that yours is a business worth investing in. If you dont make it, ask why from the investors and learn from it. And if needed, pivot. Pivot fast.

Story continues

Also Read: We are on the way to the first 8 cities of Echelon Roadshow 2019

Next, we also spoke to the previous TOP100 finalist at last years Echelon, William Suryawan, Co-founder of MyClinicalPro, a healthtech startup based in Indonesia. William gave his side of the experience and what he and his startup did in order to secure a seat at TOP100.

Startups need to prepare a clear and visionary purpose of why they built their startup

William shared that he was once asked about his purpose in building MyClinicalPro, and he couldnt answer well. Since the encounter, he got to think through his real purpose of building his startups, and it involves the solving elements that bring value and tackling an ongoing problem that will have a significant impact to the nation.

Well, long story short, after figuring out what the big purpose in building my startup was, I defined the long-term vision that was not only from one specific problem, but also from what we want to see how digital technology could improve the health, beauty, and wellness of Indonesia people, he added.

Now ask yourself the same question and begin with a kickass Why?

Bring a clear business model and uniqueness to the stage

For me at that time, I needed to be able to breakdown the purpose of my startup with a clear statement of what problems I wanted to solve, how would I solve it, and the impact it has brought so far, William recalled.

Also Read: Meet 15 of the top-notch investors who will be judging TOP100!

Theres a connection between a clear purpose of why you want to develop your startup and how will you improve your startup in the future that needs to be presented. This should be the basis of your business model.

In regards to uniqueness, William emphasised the importance of delivering the unique element of your company, as your startup will be compared with others that offer similar products or services. By the end of your explanation, the investors should be able to think that your startup is bringing something different and valuable enough for them to want to know more, said William.

Williams wise reminder: You may have a long answer to each question because you are the founder and you know inside out about your startup. But aim to make your answers concise and clear to avoid distraction and undelivered message. You need to ensure the investors can discern your message precisely within the limited time provided by Echelon.

William then shared the questions he prepared to answer for the Q&A stage during his TOP100 moment:

What problems are you trying to solve?

What is your solution to the problems?

What is the impact you have made so far?

What is your business growth or traction so far?

What is your revenue structure?

What is your plan for your startup?

How will you execute?

Who will execute?

What do you expect from the one who listens to you at this moment?

Crucial thing to do during Q&A is to bring your partner to stage. You might not understand everything in detail and you never expect what question will be asked and how detailed it can get. Good teamwork also plays a role here, said William.

Now that both sides have given their tips, it could really be your year!

William further added, The good thing about TOP100 is that it can open your startup to new opportunities because the one who listens to you might be potential investors, strategic partners, or even big customers.

This years TOP100 will be played differently as the pitching sessions will be private, meaning that the only audience will be the investors.

The startups will also need to stick around (or come back) for the event in the evening called Echelon Roadshow, as thats where the announcement of the startups that qualify for TOP100 at Echelon Asia Summit 2019 will be made.

If you havent registered, please do your startup a favor, and submit your TOP100 application here.

-

The post This is what it takes to make it to TOP100, this years best pitching competition appeared first on e27.
Standard Chartered's pre-tax profit surged to $3.9 billion in 2018, the bank said Tuesday, after previously warning it had set aside nearly $1 billion for regulatory fines in the US and Britain. The UK-based bank has been stalked for years by probes on both sides of the Atlantic over alleged violations of United States sanctions against Iran and investigations related to foreign exchange trading and financial crime controls. Last week the bank said it had put aside $900 million to deal with those probes, the first time it had put a figure on the penalties and an attempt to draw a line under the issue ahead of its earnings report. In a Tuesday filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange, the emerging markets lender said its pre-tax profit was up 28 percent at $3.9 billion. But that figure dropped to $2.5 billion "after provision for regulatory matters and restructuring and other items" were taken out, a rise of 5.5 percent on 2017's results. The headline profit was some $120 million lower than a consensus forecast compiled by the bank, Bloomberg News reported. But analyst Dickie Wong of Kingston Securities said the earnings were "in line with expectations". Standard Chartered has been bracing for a possible US fine related to past dealings with Iran dating back as far as the late 2000s. Last month it settled a currency trading investigation and said it had received notice from British regulators that it faced a $133 million fine over historical financial crime controls -- although it is still weighing its options over that penalty. Wong told AFP the fines were "definitely not something good but won't affect its overall business or dividend policy". The bank's shares were up some 2.7 percent in early afternoon Hong Kong trade. On global issues for the year ahead the bank identified trade tensions between Washington and Beijing as well as China's economic slowdown as key uncertainties faced by the bank that had "high potential impacts". Brexit, it said, had a "low potential impact". Chief Executive Officer Bill Winters took over in 2015 and set about cleaning up a balance sheet saddled by bad loans. The Asia, Middle East and Africa focused bank has since returned three successive years of profit growth. But Winters is under pressure to convince investors he can continue to cut costs while reviving longer-term earnings growth and profitability. In a separate filing on Tuesday, Standard Chartered announced a three year plan to try and achieve those goals which included streamlining operations, embracing digitisation, increasing investment in its affluent client business and eliminating "residual drags" on "low-returning markets, including India, Korea, the UAE and Indonesia". "Over the last three years we have fundamentally overhauled the bank. It is now a solid platform off which we can grow profitably and sustainably to deliver a double-digit return on tangible equity by 2021," Winters said in a statement attached to the filing.
A brick of more than one kilo of cocaine with a street value of more than P6.3 million was found in Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija on February 24, 2019.

NUEVA ECIJA, Philippines  Another brick of 1.19 kg cocaine with a street value of more than P6.3 million was found in Brgy. North Poblacion, Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija at around one in the afternoon on Sunday, February 24.

According to the report of the Police Provincial Office of Nueva Ecija, a concerned citizen and resident of Brgy. Poblacion North Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija, discovered the brick covered in plastic and rubber tape after coming home from fetching fish in Dingalan Aurora.

The resident immediately turned it over to the Gabaldon Municipal Police Station which passed it to the Nueva Ecija Crime Laboratory Office or NECLO for laboratory exam and proper disposition.

NECLO released the initial result of the laboratory examination on Monday, February 25, at 8am, which positively identified the contents of the brick as cocaine.

The brick of cocaine has been properly endorsed by NELCO to the National Office Crime Laboratory for confirmatory examination.  Freema Salonga-Gloria

The post More than P6-M worth of cocaine found in Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija appeared first on UNTV News.
26 Feb  The Miss Universe Organisation has confirmed that it will continue its partnership with the local franchise, Binibining Pilipinas Charities Inc. (BPCI).

As reported on Push, in a statement released to the media recently, the organisation stated that they plan to continue to work with the Araneta Group on Binibining Pilipinas "while seeking to modernise and grow the brand into more than a one day special".

As for previous reports that former Ilocos Sur Governor Chavit Singson may be taking the baton from BPCI, the statement said that Singson and his group will continue to support them in their future collaborations with BPCI, like they did in 2016.

"Simply put, without the vision and support of LCS, and specifically, Governor Chavit Singson, the dream of hosting Miss Universe in the Philippines, would not have been a reality."

"We look forward to the collaboration and innovation to bring an exciting future to Miss Universe Philippines and our beloved fans in the country." the statement added.

(Photo Source: Catriona Gray Instagram)
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FILE PHOTO: Italy's Minister of Labour and Industry Luigi Di Maio gestures next to Interior Minister Matteo Salvini after a swearing-in ceremony at the Quirinal palace in Rome, Italy, June 1, 2018. REUTERS/Remo Casilli/File Photo

By Steve Scherer

ROME (Reuters) - A right-wing coalition has won a regional vote on the Italian island of Sardinia, in an outcome that could spell trouble ahead for the 5-Star Movement, part of the ruling coalition in Rome, as European Parliament elections loom in May.

According to a projection after some 80 percent of the vote had been counted, Christian Solinas, the candidate from the rightwing bloc, had won around 48 percent in Sunday's election for regional governor, well ahead of the incumbent centre-left on 33 percent.

The candidate for the populist 5-Star -- which won 42.5 percent of the vote in Sardinia in the national election a year ago that catapulted it into government -- won just 11 percent.

The centre-left candidate, Massimo Zedda, conceded defeat.

The winner Solinas is a senator from the League, the far-right party that rules at the national level in coalition with 5-Star. In regional elections, the League fields candidates as part of an alliance with rightist and centre-right parties.

Sardinia is the sixth consecutive region or province to pass from the centre-left to the right since the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) was ousted from power at a national election in March, underscoring the PD's ongoing crisis.

It also highlights the declining fortunes of 5-Star, although the party, which has never won power in any of the country's 20 regions and traditionally fares much better in national ballots, played down the importance of the result. It suffered a similar reversal this month in the region of Abruzzo.

On Monday 5-Star leader Luigi Di Maio, League leader Matteo Salvini and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte were all quick to rule out any repercussions on the government in Rome.

"We must not over-emphasize a regional election," Conte, who is non-partisan but closer to 5-Star, told reporters on the sidelines of a summit in Egypt. "I don't believe the results could have any consequences for the national government."

Story continues

Di Maio said: "Nothing changes for the government."

The 5-Star chief has said he will soon unveil plans to re-organise the party, including scrapping the policy of always running alone at local elections.

These are normally won by broad coalitions including numerous so-called "civic lists" which represent local interest groups. In Sardinia there were so many of these that no single party won more than 13 percent of the vote.

The national coalition in Rome has appeared increasingly fractured in recent weeks, with disagreements between the League and 5-Star bubbling up over a series of issues, including the construction of an Alpine tunnel and which side to support in Venezuela's political crisis.

May's European Parliament election is widely seen as a test that could affect the balance of power in the government.

(Additional reporting by Gavin Jones and Angelo Amante, editing by Crispian Balmer, Gareth Jones and Peter Graff)
The Malaysia-based property-technology platform raised funding from Cradle Fund Sdn Bhds investment program Direct Equity 800 (DEQ800)

Malaysias Cradle Fund has announced a US$189,973 investment into a proptech startup a range of solutions to the real estate industry, NEXPlatform, as reported by Digital News Asia. The fellow Malaysian company raised the funding from Cradle Funds investment program called Direct Equity 800 (DEQ800).

NEXPlatform said that it will utilise the funding to upgrade its platform and services, grow the team, and focus on market expansion.

Also Read: Go-jek launches expansive insurance scheme for drivers in Singapore

NEXPlatform was founded in 2016 and was self-funded in the early stage of its startup journey, which makes this funding their first round ever.

NEXPlatform describes itself as a digital platform that integrates property developer, agent, solicitor, and banker in one streamlined system to facilitate the property lifecycle from pre-sale to after-sale services.

With its Smart Digital Property Management Platform, the company aims to digitalise sales assets in the entire project lifecycle  from pre, during and after-sales services.

Nowadays, real estate industry players are facing business challenges in the property sales lifecycle  all due to the lack of a digital strategy to tackle the new generations needs, inefficient lead and data management, and the limited access to critical sales and customer data. In return, industry players experience a prolonged sales process and higher marketing and operational costs, said NEXPlatform co-founder Alvin Chooi in the article.

Chooi believes that the said problems can be solved by the Property Lead Management Solution -another product by the platform- which enables the property marketing team to consolidate inquiries from different channels, both online and offline in a centralised platform. The leads generated then will be classified and distributed to the sales team with the purpose to better understand the customers needs and ensure a proper follow-up action in the sales process using its built-in status-tracking feature.

Story continues

The company also introduced its Digital Property Showcase Solution, which replaces physical printouts and brochures.

Other value-added solutions provided by the proptech company include the Credit Loan Assessment, Property Rental & Accommodation Management, and Smart Community Solution.

Many technologically mature industries moved away from a restricted-use model a long time ago and embraced an outsourced consumption model, but the real estate industry, for the most part, has not. What NEXPlatform offers can be a solution to empower the local property industry, said Cradle Chief Investment Officer Juliana Jan.

Also Read: Blockchain ticketing startup Ticket2Me secures US$350K seed funding from Citystate Group

The company claims that currently, it facilitates hundreds of property projects listing on the platform and over 5,000 users with at least 30,000 property transactions completed.



Image Credit: NEXPlatform

The post Cradle Funds DEQ800 invests in US$190K in proptech NEXPlatform appeared first on e27.
Chinese protesters blame fracking for earthquakes that killed two people in Sichuan

Protesters targeted local government headquarters in southwest China after earthquakes blamed on shale gas fracking killed two people and injured 12 others.

Videos on WeChat showed about 1,000 protesters and 2,000 onlookers outside government headquarters in Sichuan on Sunday and Monday afternoon, with many claiming that the earthquakes were the result of large-scale fracking in the area.

Radio Free Asia, the US government-backed broadcaster, published footage showing thousands of marchers carrying banners calling for a ban on fracking. Some rushed a police barrier at the entrance of the main government compound.

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Three earthquakes struck Sichuans Rong county between 5.40pm on Sunday and 1.15pm on Monday and ranged from 4.3 to 4.9 in magnitude, affecting more than 13,000 residents and damaging more than 10,000 buildings.

The cost of the damage was estimated to be more than 14 million yuan (US$2.1 million).

The 4.9-magnitude quake hit on Monday. Three of the injured were in critical condition, while two people were killed when a balcony railing fell on them, state news agency Xinhua reported.

The government in Sichuans shale mining heartland suspended all fracking operations. Officials in the city of Zigong in Rong county said on Monday the suspension was a safety measure, Thecover.cn reported.

Parents posted photos on WeChat of schoolchildren cowering under their desks with the caption: Flower buds of the motherland! Look how you have to protect yourselves! Mummy and Daddy cannot come to school with you! Rong county our home!

One wrote: The first day of term  My son at kindergarten should not have been too scared, but I think younger children were probably scared to tears.

There are 39 shale gas wells in Rong county, all of which were ordered to shut down, the report said.

In recent years, China has sought to expand and develop shale gas production, but the process has been hampered by high costs and the difficulty of extracting gas from hilly and remote regions.

Story continues

Sichuan has abundant natural gas reserves and accounted for 42 per cent of Chinas shale production in 2013.

The highest concentration of shale gas in China is found in the province. Much of it is produced in the hilly southwest area that is prone to earthquakes because of its proximity to geological fault lines between Tibet and the Sichuan basin.

The process of fracking involves drilling down several kilometres into the earth to access shale gas, which is released by firing a mixture of water, sand and chemicals into rock under high pressure.

Fracking brings environmental pollution problems, releasing hydrocarbons and heavy metals which have become a focus for critics of the extraction method.

Wang Xinzhi, a professor from Southwest Petroleum University in Chengdu, believed that the frequent occurrence of minor earthquakes was related to fracking.

"Most importantly, the area is located near the southern edge of the Sichuan basin, near mountains that were formed by tectonic plate movement, which means that the area has large fault lines underground," he told the South China Morning Post.

The science behind the Sichuan and Xinjiang earthquakes

"Southern Sichuan is an area with particularly strong seismic activity. Earthquakes happen due to the long-term accumulation and sudden release of geological stress. From a scientific point of view, the vibrations in the Earth's crust caused by shale gas fracking can continuously create underground geological stress which leads to small earthquakes, but this can also help avoid large earthquakes in future."

This article Chinese protesters blame fracking for earthquakes that killed two people in Sichuan first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019.
A crew from US-based television network Univision said it was detained for more than two hours in Venezuela after offending President Nicolas Maduro during an interview by asking questions about poverty and his legitimacy to govern. Maduro "disliked the questions in the interview and stopped the recording, confiscated the equipment and detained the six journalists," said Univision, one of the biggest Spanish-language TV networks in the United States. "The crew of six Univision Noticias journalists headed by Jorge Ramos was released after being held at the Miraflores Palace for nearly three hours on the orders of Nicolas Maduro," the network added. Ramos told Univision that the entire team had later arrived back at their hotel. The journalist said he had showed Maduro footage of children sifting through garbage for something to eat and that Maduro halted the interview and left. "I had asked him if he was a president or a dictator, because millions of Venezuelans do not consider him the legitimate president," Ramos said. Ramos said he had brought up opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaido's charges that Maduro has effectively usurped power because, Guaido argues, Maduro won re-election last year through fraud. "We were detained, there is no other word for it, for nearly three hours" at Maduro's presidential palace, Ramos told reporters. He said he and his team hope to get their equipment back and fly to Miami Tuesday. Guaido tweeted about the incident with Ramos, saying Maduro's "desperation is greater every day. He could not answer his questions." The US State Department earlier said it had been notified that Ramos and his team were being held against their will at the Miraflores. "We insist on their immediate release; the world is watching," it tweeted.
Australian Cardinal George Pell, one of Pope Francis' closest advisors, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two choirboys, becoming the most senior Catholic cleric ever convicted of child sex crimes. An Australian jury unanimously found Pell guilty in December on one count of sexual abuse and four counts of indecent assault against two boys at Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne in the 1990s. Pell, now aged 77, was accused of cornering the boys -- then aged 12 and 13 -- in the cathedral's sacristy following Sunday mass and forcing them to perform a sex act on him. The cleric, who has remained free on bail, denied all the charges and an initial trial ended with a hung jury in September, but he was convicted on retrial on December 11. A wide-ranging suppression order from the presiding judge had prevented the media from reporting even the existence of court proceedings and the ensuing trials since May. The order was lifted during a court hearing on Tuesday when prosecutors decided against proceeding with a second trial for separate allegations against Pell dating from the 1970s. There was no immediate reaction from the Vatican but Pell maintained his innocence Tuesday. "Cardinal George Pell has always maintained his innocence and continues to do so," said a statement issued by his lawyers, who added that they had lodged an appeal against the conviction. The statement noted that numerous allegations and other charges against Pell had already been withdrawn or discharged. - 'Rot in hell' - Of the two choirboys that Pell was found to have assaulted, one died in 2014 of a drug overdose that his family blamed on the trauma he suffered. The second victim said in a statement issued by his lawyer Tuesday that the ongoing legal process was stressful and "not over yet". "Like many survivors I have experienced shame, loneliness, depression and struggle," said the man, who has not been publicly identified. "At some point we realise that we trusted someone we should have feared and we fear those genuine relationships that we should trust." Outside the County Court of Victoria, supporters of other abuse survivors yelled "monster" and "rot in hell" as Pell, walking slowly with the aid of a cane, entered a car after the hearing concluded. "It is a miracle. It is unbelievable," one child sex abuse survivor who only gave his name as Michael told reporters outside the court, adding that he wanted to see the cleric excommunicated from the Church and sent to jail. A pre-sentencing hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, when Pell is expected to be remanded in custody. He faces a maximum 25 years in prison if his appeal is rejected, prosecutors have said. Pell sat impassively during Tuesday's court hearing, wearing a beige sport coat over a dark shirt and clerical collar. His conviction is another hammer blow to the Church, which has struggled to convince the world it is serious about tackling widespread child abuse and paedophilia. Pell was appointed by Pope Francis to manage the Vatican finances in 2014 and was one of the pontiff's closest advisors as a member of the so-called C9 council until being dropped from that body the day after his December 11 conviction. News of his conviction will be a serious setback as the pope pursues a campaign to show the church's determination to fight sex abuse. Just two days earlier, Pope Francis closed an historic Vatican summit on sexual abuse by priests by likening the abuse to "human sacrifice". "We are dealing with abominable crimes that must be erased from the face of the earth," Francis said in closing remarks to the summit, vowing to deal with every case of abuse "with the utmost seriousness". But critics say the institution is still moving too slowly in dealing with a problem that is global in scale and, at a minimum, spans decades. - Gag order - Pell's case has caused consternation in Australia, where he had once been praised by luminaries from a prime minister down, and was a leading conservative voice on issues ranging from gay marriage to climate change. For decades, Pell denied being an abuser or covering up sex abuse, but he did admit he "mucked up" in dealing with paedophile priests in the state of Victoria. During his trial, defence lawyers ridiculed the charges against him, arguing that the cathedral sacristy was a hive of activity following Sunday mass and that it would have been impossible to assault choirboys in such circumstances. Australia's media has strongly protested the gag order imposed on the case, which forbade them from even mentioning the existence of the trial or the order itself. Following Pell's December conviction, some international media reported the verdict, while local newspapers published front-page stories informing readers that a prominent Australian had been found guilty of serious crimes, but they were not allowed to reveal what or who. Australian media said Tuesday that they subsequently received "show cause" letters from the court explaining why they should not face contempt charges for their reporting on the case. Around one in five Australians are Catholic, roughly five million people. A five-year royal commission inquiry into child abuse said in a report issued last year that tens of thousands of children had been sexually abused in Australian churches, orphanages, sporting clubs, youth groups and schools in a "national tragedy" over many generations. Before Pell, the most high-profile case in Australia concerning sex abuse in the Church was the conviction earlier last year of the former archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, on charges of concealing crimes by a paedophile priest in the 1970s. Wilson successfully appealed that conviction in early December.
This well-established Blog is worth visiting on a regular basis for a wealth of information of interest to Armenian nationals and to the Armenian Diaspora world-wide. Although it has a particular role in promoting international recognition of the Genocide, the Blog encompasses much more and includes many articles of general appeal to all those concerned with Armenian affairs. Much of the content is difficult or impossible to find elsewhere and the long list of links provided gives easy access to a plethora of material on social, political, religious, educational and cultural matters, and many news items from around the world.




 Paul Manafort's sentencing memorandum in DC makes pitch for a sentence "significantly below" ten years | Main | Haymond seemingly to become major Apprendi progeny altering federal supervised release revocations 

A number of notable folks signed on to this new letter urging Prez Trump to make changes to the federal clemency process. Here are excerpts from the letter:

Last year, you achieved a historic accomplishment when you signed the First Step Act into law. This new law will reduce the imposition of unjust sentences for thousands of Americans, allowing people who make a mistake the opportunity to make amends and turn their lives around.

The law primarily addresses future sentencing, however, and does little to correct the unjust nature of past sentences that have left many behind bars for far longer than their crimes warranted. But you can deliver justice for those Americans by making full use of the pardon power for as many deserving individuals as possible and by reforming the structure of the federal clemency process to improve presidential exercise of this important constitutional authority.

During the last administration, former law enforcement officials and criminal justice reform advocates urged President Barack Obama to use his pardon power aggressively. While President Obama's clemency initiative did lead to hundreds of deserving individuals receiving commutations, he left thousands more behind when he left office. When President Obamas term expired, approximately 9,400 clemency petitions remained pending. Thousands of other individuals saw their petitions denied, despite many of them meeting most or all of the conditions the Obama administration laid out for clemency eligibility. Furthermore, his administration never even fully considered granting sweeping clemency to broad categories of people who also deserved clemency but may not have known how to obtain an attorney or petition for relief....

[W]e urge you to make lasting reforms to the clemency process by removing its administration from the Department of Justice. The Constitution grants the clemency power solely to the president. There is no constitutional or legal requirement that it be overseen by DOJ. While DOJ should be able to comment on clemency petitions, there is an obvious conflict of interest when the same agency responsible for prosecuting individuals is asked to supervise their petitions for clemency. By changing the management of the clemency process, you could improve a process not only for your time in office, but also for your successors. President Obama failed to fix the clemency process and instead opted to for an ad hoc approach, leaving behind thousands of people who otherwise met the stated criteria. You can succeed where he did not and leave a lasting legacy in this area.
After 13 years of service to the city of Solvang, the last dozen as its city manager, Brad Vidro is calling it a day.
What exactly is 5G Technology? Depends on whom you ask. The next generation of wireless technology means different things to different people.

To the wireless industry, 5G is a gilt-edged chance to promote a new technology that might open up new revenue streams.

To 5G-licensed satellite companies, its a grand opportunity to sell something they have paid nothing for at a windfall profit.

To President Trump, 5G is a convenient political talking point to stir up nationalistic furor over a race with China and the rest of the world.

It, therefore, comes as little surprise that Trump is not even content with 5G but wants 6G as well to make sure America shows a clean pair of heels to its rivals. On Thursday, the president sent out a hilarious tweet urging wireless companies to deploy 5G and 6G networks ASAP, apparently oblivious to the fact that 6G tech has not even been properly conceptualized.

(Click to enlarge)

In another tweet, Trump rhapsodized: " 5G and 6G are so obviously the future."

Beyond the hype

You can hardly fault the president for being a little paranoid and sounding a rallying call to wireless companies to roll out their 5G networks as a matter of urgency. A study done last year by global consulting firm Deloitte showed that China is miles ahead of everybody else in the 5G race and the gap is widening. At current rollout rates, it could be years, if not decades, before the US catches up to China hence the presidents admonition.

Trumps concerns aside, theres no shortage of hype surrounding 5G making it tough to separate the facts from marketing bluster. So, what exactly is 5G technology? In a nutshell, 5G is short for 5th generation cellular network system which is essentially the latest generation of cellular wireless communications technology that succeeds 4G, 3G, and 2G systems. The technology features superior performance on metrics such as higher data rate, lower latency, massive device connectivity, higher system capacity, and lower costs.

But perhaps that strongest selling point of the new technology is that it wont merely be an upgrade on existing 4G/LTE systems but will, in fact, be orders of magnitude better. Indeed true 5G will be capable of 100x faster download speeds than 4G and a latency of 1 millisecond vs. 50 milliseconds by LTE. So in terms of performance, its going to be a big step-up to anything available right now. Perhaps you have heard terms like 10G thrown around especially by cable companies hence the natural assumption that it must be preceded by 6G, 7G and so on. Well, the 10G that the likes of cable lobby group NCTA frequently pontificate about is not a new standard like 5G but rather is merely marketing shorthand for 10Gbps speeds that future 5G networks will be capable of delivering.

Going by that definition, it becomes abundantly clear that what carriers like AT&T are touting as 5G is quite far from the real deal. Smartphone users in areas where AT&T has deployed advanced 4G LTE networks usually see a "5G E" network indicator on their devices. 5G E stands for 5G Evolution but is, in essence, nothing more than 4G with advanced LTE features such as three-way carrier aggregation, 256 QAM and 4x4 MIMO.

Even Verizon Wireless 5G Home service is not truly 5G. Although VZ scored an important PR victory over bitter rivals such as AT&T and T-Mobile after beating them to the 5G launch pad, what the company launched in the fall of 2018 is a pre-standard 5G network that still has to wait for ratification by standards bodies.

(Click to enlarge)

Best Stocks to Play the 5G Boom

In short, the real 5G will be capable of feats that will put to shame anything available in the market today. Nevertheless, investors will be more interested in the opportunities it will open up.

The commercialization of 5G tech is slated to get truly underway in the current year. 5G is expected to be a truly revolutionary mobile paradigm that will power the next wave of technological disruption including autonomous vehicles, smart factories (IIoT), virtual and augmented realities, edge computing and healthcare-specific IoT to mention a few. Moor Insight & Strategy estimates that global infrastructural spending on 5G will top $326 billion by 2025. Related: Critics Call For Apple, Google To Remove Controversial App

This spending will initially focus on network transformation, 5G network protocols, data centers and edge computing (real-time, high-performance data processing without needing the cloud). Here are some companies set to reap the benefits of the 5G breakout:

#1. Datacenter OEMs (including edge computing)

Moor Insights estimates that nearly 80 percent of 5G infrastructure spend will come from hardware and network transformation project. Key players here include:

Cisco Systems Inc.

IBM

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Lenovo

#2. Datacenter component suppliers (including edge computing)

These companies supply components that other companies use to build their hardware solutions. Leading players are:

Intel

Broadcom

Skyworks Solutions

AMD

Nvidia

Samsung

Xilinc Inc.

Qorvo

Qualcomm Inc.

#3. Network transformation providers

These companies help telecoms and other communication services providers to upgrade their networks to handle 5G. Key players are:

Nokia

Ericsson

Intel

Samsung

Huawei

#4. Modem and IP suppliers

This group of companies builds modems and/or supplies intellectual property that contributes to 5G standard. These companies are likely to be some of the biggest beneficiaries of the 5G transition. Key players to watch here include:

Ericsson

Huawei

Intel Qualcomm

Nokia

Samsung

#5. Mobile telecom companies

The faster and more efficient data flows, the more services telecom companies are able to sell to customers. Further, the mere launch of 5G networks is ample catalyst to a carriers stock as VZ stock demonstrated last year. Nevertheless, carriers do nt stand to gain as much as the other categories here due to competition and commoditization pushing data prices down.

Companies to watch include:

Verizon

AT&T

China Mobile

T-Mobile

Sprint

SingTel

Vodafone

Orange

Companies like Intel and Qualcomm that skirt several categories are likely to be bigger winners. Qualcomm has built a reputation for manufacturing some of the finest modems in the business while Intel supplies the most complete end-to-end solutions. Nevertheless, both companies are plagued by other issues, and only investors with a long-term (3-5 years out) outlook should buy the shares.

For investors with a shorter outlook, Xilinx stock is already enjoying the benefits of a 5G-driven sales revival.

(Click to enlarge)

Source: CNN Money

By Alex Kimani for Safehaven.com

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Before Bernard Lawrence Madoff confessed to the largest Ponzi scheme in history, few people outside Wall Street and financial circles had even heard of him. But since then, he and his inner circle have featured prominently in books and movies as the pre-eminent personification of greed.

Well, its little more than a decade since the man started serving his maximum 150-year jail term. During that time, the authorities have been hard at work trying to recover some of the lootand have made decent progress, too. The court-appointed trustee put in charge of liquidating Bernie Madoffs firm, Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities LLC, have reported that the firm has begun disbursing a $464-million tranche to victims of the scam that will boost total recoveries to $12.2 billion.

Extraordinarily evil

The trustee, Irvin Picard, has said that the latest recovery means that all former customers eligible to recoup up to $1.49 million of their losses will now be paid in full. The trustee said that $13.36 billion, or about 76 percent, of the estimated $17.5 billion that customers lost in the epic scandal has now been amassed either through recoveries or agreements to recover.

As of October 2018, $11.275 billion had been distributed or committed to the victims which means the latest disbursement will bring total distributions to nearly $11.74 billion, or two-thirds, of losses. Some of the recovered money is being held back due to pending litigation. Other Madoff victims including pension plans, schools and charities have been allocated $1.97 billion from a separate $4-billion compensation fund by the U.S. Department of Justice.

A recovery rate of nearly 80 percent is most definitely a resounding success for Irvin Picard, but more of that a little later.

Related: 40% Of Canadians Pay Zero Income Tax

The Bernie Madoff fraud was uncovered in December 2008 while Bernie was arrested and convicted shortly thereafter. The 80-year Madoff is now serving a 150-year jail term in a medium-security North Carolina prison after pleading guilty to crimes that his judge termed as extraordinarily evil.

But, how did it all come to this?

The unfolding of a giant scam

A decade after the giant scandal was unearthed, plenty of questions still linger in the minds of curious investors. First off: how much money was lost in the scandal? Figures of $20-$65 billion have been tossed around and one wonders why such a wide discrepancy. Well, both figures are about right depending on how you define the loss.

Well, customer deposits siphoned off by Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities LLC are actually closer to $20 billionor $17.5 billion by the latest count. Those were the principal funds that were invested in the firm. However, they say the devil is in the detail. Madoffs firm generated account statements telling investors that they had earned returns that, together with the principal deposits, that racked up to a total of $65 billion. In other words, the 37,000 or so victims who had entrusted their life savings with Madoff really did lose the $65 billion they believed was theirsonly that nearly three-quarters of that money only existed in Bernies imagination.

The second big question: when did the scam of the century start? Straight answer: nobody knows for sure. Some experts estimate that the epic crime could have started as early back as the 1960s, or just a few years after Madoff launched his firm as a penny stock trader. Others suggest the deception begun in 1987 after the historic 1987 market crash when Madoff scrambled to polish up the books after the massive downturn. Bernie himself has been just as unreliable, telling CNN Money that the scheme began in 1987 before later changing his tune to 1992. Madoff's former account manager, Frank DiPascali, Jr., revealed in a court testimony that the crime had been going on for as long as I remember. That implies that the scam might have run undetected for decades considering that he started working with Madoff in 1975.

Related: The Biggest Bottleneck In The Renewable Revolution

The final question: what has made the recovery process so successful?

If the Bernie Madoff scam was extraordinary by sheer scale, the success rate by recovery efforts has been astounding. It's a sad fact that no one will ever recover the billions of dollars in phantom profits that Madoff made up to have earned over the years. Irvin Picard, however, is only interested in the cash deposits that customers invested in the firm. In case you are wondering how the 76 percent hit rate by Irving Picard stacks up, bear in mind that recoveries in Ponzi schemes typically range from 5-30 percent with many victims winding up getting paid nothing at all. So Irving has been extraordinary and atypical by any standard. The firm has been aggressively suing those who profited from the scheme, whether knowingly or not, and is likely to net a couple billion more.

Lastly, in case you are wondering how Madoff is able to live with himself after all this, well, he says life in jail is not so bad:

Its kind of like being in the Army, he has said, only youre not worried about getting killed.

Earlier on, the octogenarian did admit to being haunted by the death of his first son who hanged himself on the second anniversary of his fathers incarceration.

By Alex Kimani for Saafehaven.com

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Among the things I was making fun of back in 2011 was Montana HB 549, a dopey effort by Rep. Joe Read to address this whole global warming nonsense by passing a law saying it doesnt exist, and if it does, its good for Montana. The bill didnt actually do anything, it just declared that the legislature finds certain things to be true, such aswell, heres what it said:

The legislature finds: (a) global warming is beneficial to the welfare and business climate of Montana; (b) reasonable amounts of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere have no verifiable impacts on the environment; and (c) global warming is a natural occurrence and human activity has not accelerated it. For the purposes of this section, global warming relates to an increase in the average temperature of the earths surface. It does not include a one-time, catastrophic release of carbon dioxide.

As it turned out, the state legislature did not in fact find those things to be true, because the bill died in committee, either due to a one-time, catastrophic release of carbon dioxide or because it was dumb. Of course, had the bill passed, it would have had exactly no effect on anything. So, a complete waste of time all around.

Which has not stopped Joe Read from doing it again. And again.

CO2 has got a bad rap, Read said in a hearing last week on HB 418, a bill that like HB 549 would declare that, at least in Montana, reasonable amounts of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere have no verifiable impacts on the environment, and that human activity has got nothin to do with it. It would go further, though, by finding that these findings should be offered when providing educational and informational materials on climate change. Again, this doesnt compel anybody to do anything, it just declares that Joe Read and anybody who agrees with him think certain things about global warming. A further section, however, would require state officials to report on how this subject is being taught in Montana public schools, presumably so that could be criticized by Joe Read in some future bill.

Thats not his only bill on this important matter, though. Read also introduced HB 415, which if passed would prevent any Montana state agency from implementing or enforcing any federal regulation, rule, or policy implementing a federal greenhouse gas regulatory program. In fact, no state official could even participate in any group assigned to recommend provisions for such a program. I guess Montana wouldnt have to participate if it didnt want to, though I think itd have a First Amendment problem with that last bit. But I did enjoy the whereas clauses in the bill, in which Read makes a heroic effort to establish that the Founding Fathers intended to preserve the ability of the States to regulate their own greenhouse gas emissions: WHEREAS, the regulation of intrastate commerce, as it pertains to intrastate greenhouse gas emissions, is excluded from the meaning and understanding of Article I, section 8, of the Constitution of the United States, and so forth.

I forget which of the Federalist Papers covered that, but Im sure it was in there somewhere.

Oddly, given his position on state rights, Read is also sponsoring a joint resolution calling on Congress to do  something to force the state of Washington to approve a coal-fired power plant on the Columbia River. WHEREAS, his resolution actually says, no state should force on other states its policy preferences regarding the use of coal as a source of fuel, Congress should take action to  help Montana force on Washington its policy preferences regarding the use of coal as a source of fuel. (Montana apparently exports coal.)

It turns out that Read only recently returned to the Montana Legislature after several years in private life. According to Ballotpedia, he was first elected in 2010 (for the 2011 session), after defeating the Democratic challenger, Frosty Calf Boss Ribs, by 72 votes (1,180 to 1,108). Despite a stellar legislative record (he introduced four bills, two of them on climate change, and all of which died in committee), Read was defeated by Frosty Calf Boss Ribs in a 2012 rematch. He then lost to a different Democrat in 2014, before returning in 2018 in order, apparently, to resume his crusade against reality.

Currently, both of Reads pro-carbon bills have been tabled in committee, where they will likely remain.
Hemp has already been approved

Industrial hemp is legal because of the 2018 Farm Bill. HB 1191 establishes the regulatory structure for South Dakota to license, monitor and oversee hemp production, processing and transport. If a state or tribe decides not to establish regulatory oversight, then hemp producers and processors can make application directly to the USDA to grow and process hemp, so this is not about legalizing hemp. Industrial hemp is legal, and the state of South Dakota can and should establish rules and regs as outlined in HB 1191, in keeping with 2018 Farm Bill USDA requirements.

Gov. Noem, how should the South Dakota Highway Patrol or weigh stations deal with hemp being transported across the state? The 2018 Farm Bill also stipulates that no state can interfere with the interstate commerce of hemp and hemp products. By not passing HB 1191, there is no process in place to oversee transport from other states or potential South Dakota producers operating directly under USDA licensing and oversight.
Western South Dakota has recently enjoyed a period of abundant moisture. We had plenty of rain, followed by plenty of snow. This should not distract us from the reality that we live in a semi-arid environment where drought is never more than a few months away. Clean water is the lifeblood of our tourism and ranching industries, and we must always protect our limited water resources. West River water must not be squandered or polluted.

TransCanada, a Canadian corporation with a highly questionable track record, seeks to divert 78,000,000 gallons of water from the Cheyenne River, 73,000,000 gallons from the White River, and 16,000,000 gallons from the Bad River on an annual basis. This is for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport dirty, caustic tar sands oil from Alberta to Nebraska and beyond.

Currently, construction of the pipeline has been halted by a federal judge in Montana, because of serious environmental concerns. We do not know how long the court injunction will stay in place.
Several other people also testified in favor of the bill, including other Black Hills legislators, Black Hills foresters and the Rapid City Area Chamber of Commerce.

The only opponent testimony came from Laura Williams, of Gov. Kristi Noems Bureau of Finance and Management. Williams said state government spent $10.8 million from its general fund to fight mountain pine beetles from the 2012 to 2015 fiscal years.

Now that the mountain pine beetle epidemic has ended, that money is no longer needed, Williams testified. Those remaining funds should go back into the general fund.

Black Hills National Forest officials declared the end of the beetle epidemic in 2017, after the bugs had ravaged about one-third of the forest's total area and killed millions of trees since 1997. The beetles kill by boring beneath the bark of a pine tree and introducing a fungus and larvae that block the movement of water and nutrients.

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According to Johnson, the federal government spent $75 million to fight mountain pine beetles in the Black Hills from 2011 to 2017, while the state spent $14 million, Lawrence County spent $3.25 million and Pennington County spent $1.8 million.
There are special open-container zones throughout Deadwood where patrons can roam from one bar to the next. Beverages must be beer and wine only and only in the Deadwood-Budweiser official event series cup.

The party kicks off at 6 p.m. Friday with the Cajun Food Crawl, making its return for the third year with a variety of tasty New Orleans-style signature dishes served at various locations throughout Deadwood. Previous years dishes included Red Beans and Rice, Etouffee, Gumbo and Jambalaya.

We typically prepare food for up to 500 people, so theyll have opportunities to sample Cajun food both nights, Kille said.

The Masquerade Party starts at 8 p.m. at the Historic Franklin Hotel, and features the coronation of this years Mardi Gras King and Queen, and live music by Louisiana greats Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble.

The fun continues Saturday, with the Cajun Food Cook-Off from 2-4 p.m. Participants can sample more Cajun delicacies and vote on their favorites. Tastings are first-come, first serve, so be sure to get there early to take advantage of the authentic cuisine.
A much-loved Sandhills cowboy, Richard Leland Francis, passed away Feb. 19, 2019, at Weston County Health Services, after a lengthy illness. Born in 1935 in south-central Nebraska, Richard grew up, attended school, and cowboy-ed near Broken Bow. His belt buckle reads In Cattle for Keeps -- and he was! He ranched in the Panhandle of Nebraska near Hay Springs until he moved to his dream ranch on Dewey Road in rural Custer County, South Dakota. He is known to have had a particular fondness for Hereford cattle, Arabian horses, Quarter Horses, and draft horses. A strong belief in and love for his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, has guided his actions, spirit, and heart for many years.

Family life was his most fervent love.

He was preceded in death by his sister, Ardythe Gabler of Maryland.

He leaves behind his wife, Susan; brother, Beryl Francis (Pat); sister, Jo Schallop (Allen). He will also be sorely missed by his children, RoZan Egan (Ron) of Rupert, Idaho, Richard Francis (Susan) of Gillette, Wyoming, John Francis (Billie Jo) of Newcastle, Patricia Cole (Jason) of Newcastle, and stepson Nasif Iskander (Suzanne) of the San Francisco area; as well as his 13 grandchildren; 22 great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces, nephews and good friends.
Trudy grew up on a farm southwest of Rushville near where her grandparents homesteaded. Faith and religion were a key part of her life. Her family were among the founders (organizers) of Immanuel Lutheran Church near Rushville. Her immediate family and her large circle of cousins played important roles in her life as a child through adulthood. At Immanuel, Trudy and her best friend and cousin Ruth Flueckinger-Spillman, who was her age, went to Sunday school, youth groups, enjoyed singing in the church choir together. They also sang in the high school choir. She loved to sing and would break into song at a moments notice, usually with a song that fit the occasion. She could also recite poems, favorite quotes, or relate stories about growing up; some of them funny, others taught life lessons.
Our intention is ... to better focus our attention and our energies, Piper said.

Sinclair clarified during a legislative meeting on the bill that the proposal does not allow schools to remove the requirement that health screening tests are conducted.

Theres no elimination of screening or the data collection, Sinclair said. It eliminates the schools from being that (data) collection point.

Herman Quirmbach, a Senator from Ames and the top Democrat on the Senates education committee, said it is important that schools continue to collect that information because it is easier for parents to work with local school districts than the state, and its easier for a school district to reach out to parents than it would be for the state to do the same.

Quirmbach said his concern is if districts do not collect the health screening data, children who do not get those screenings could slip through the cracks.

The schools need that information, Quirmbach said. Theyre the most effective at gathering that information. Theyre going to be the most effective at making sure that requirement is satisfied.
A good Tuesday to all. With only a couple of days before the start of March, Old Man Winter continues to keep his frosty grip on the Quad-Cities.

According to a Hazardous Weather Outlook from the National Weather Service, "Light snow and very light freezing drizzle is possible across portions of the outlook area, mainly tonight. Any amounts are likely to be very light, but patchy slick spots are possible.

"Spotty light freezing drizzle may occur mainly along and east of the Mississippi River for a few hours past sunrise Wednesday morning. Thus, associated patchy slick spots may continue in these areas through mid morning.

"There will be a chance for at least light to moderate snow accumulations across portions of the Outlook Area Friday afternoon and night. After the snow ends late Friday night, Northwest winds of 10 to 20 MPH may produce some minor drifting snow into Saturday morning. The strength and track of this weather system is still uncertain at this time, thus snow amounts and placement are also uncertain.

"A very cold Canadian air mass may produce wind chills of 15 to 25 below zero across much of the Outlook Area both early Sunday morning and Monday morning."
A traffic stop in East Moline on Monday afternoon led to the arrests of two men in connection with a multi-state theft spree, the Illinois State Police said Tuesday in a media release.

At 12:10 p.m., troopers stopped an Arizona-registered Nissan on Illinois Route 5 and Barstow Road after observing multiple traffic violations.

Troopers who made contact with the driver, Chris J. Shreve, and the passenger, David A. Kovacs, noted that Shreves license was suspended and that he was wanted on a warrant.

Troopers searched the vehicle and found stolen goods in it, according to the release.

During the investigation, officers discovered the two were traveling from Arizona to Indiana and had stopped at several retail stores along the way.

They entered stores with an empty or partially empty backpack and loaded the packs with goods. They would buy a small item on their way out and leave with thousands of dollars of stolen merchandise.

Evidence led to the discovery that this routine was repeated in many stores, according to the release.
A Davenport man on probation for possessing a firearm as a felon was back behind bars Tuesday after police say he fired a handgun while riding in a vehicle on the Government Bridge in December.

Mitchell DeWayne Bea, 40, was booked into the Scott County Jail at 10:10 a.m. on charges of possession of a firearm or offensive weapon by a felon, a Class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison, and reckless use of a firearm, a simple misdemeanor.

Bond was set Tuesday morning at $5,000 cash or surety. He has a preliminary hearing March 8.

Early Dec. 18, Davenport police responded to the Government Bridge for a report of shots fired. No injuries or damage was reported.

Police say Bea was initially interviewed that day but denied involvement and no evidence warranted an arrest.

Through investigation, video evidence was obtained, police say.

He admitted to possessing a Smith & Wesson Bodyguard revolver and firing it out of a moving vehicle while crossing the bridge, according to an arrest affidavit.

A warrant was issued for his arrest earlier this month.
There was one primary message at the Bettendorf School Board's budget work session Monday: Cut property tax rates.

The initial plan for the school property tax rate was to ask for a return to the 2017-2018 rate of $13.86 per $1,000, but feedback at the session Monday was to further cut that rate.

Dallon Christensen, Bettendorf Schools Director of Finance and Business Services, said they would try to reduce the tax rate without causing a negative impact to the district. "Everybody wants to have lower taxes. We just want to make sure that the rate of moving taxes back and forth keeps the uncertainty to a minimum."

If the $13.86 per $1,000 figure had been approved, owners of a median-priced home in Bettendorf  listed at $210,000  would've paid about $2,910.60, a reduction from last year's tax rate of $13.97 per $1,000, or $2,933.70 on a median-priced home.

"We desire to have the levy rate be as low as possible without short-changing the district," said board president Adam Holland.

In an interview before the meeting, Dallon Christensen stressed that the work session Monday meant that any feedback would be synthesized in the final version to be presented next Monday.
Look out stomach, here it comes.

Oh, how you anticipate that first swallow of great-grandmas recipe, the one with the secret ingredient you know but youre not telling. True, you might share that secret someday but in the meantime, as in the new novel American Pop by Snowden Wright, be careful what you spill.

Fiona Forster wondered how well she really knew her husband, Tewksbury.

When she married him before they came to America, he told her he was a doctor. She believed him then but as she lay on the wooden floor of their cabin, she had her doubts. If he was a doctor, then why didnt he ease her labor pains?

Tewksbury was a doctor  and he was enterprising. When he realized that potions hed had back in Scotland could cure patients in America, too, he set up a small shop in their Mississippi Delta town, and it flourished. By the time his son, Houghton, was old enough to run the place, the shop had begun to serve refreshments.

Houghton always said that he came up with the delicious drink that everyone was talking about, all because of Annabelle. Hed fallen in love with her the minute he saw her but winning her hand was no easy feat. Annabelles family had money and her father wasnt about to let his only child marry a soda jerk.
Illinoisans were assured during a press conference Thursday that planners are ready to get creative. Many sources of funding will be examined, not just motor vehicle taxes, which disproportionately impact downstate motorists. "There have been other novel ideas that have been floated out there over the last couple of months to finance a capital bill, said Sen. Martin Sandoval, D-Cicero, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee. I think we are also going to invite academia to come forward. Academia, business, industry, all the policy think tanks that have had reports out since 2009 -- they need to come forward today.

We join the call for an extensive search for creative ways to rebuild our state, make it more competitive, and put people to work. We trust our leaders already are carefully looking to other states that have managed to address more of their infrastructure needs for ideas we can copy.

All the creativity in the world, however, won't conjure enough money to fill every one of our community's needs. So deciding what will get fixed and where will be every bit as tricky as figuring out how to pay for it all.
Many of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates and would-be contenders have taken thoughtful and admirable positions on various issues, eschewing blind partisanship and ideological dogmatism. Now theyre paying for it.

Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey was for a long time an advocate of school choice as a means of liberating kids from failing schools, especially when he was mayor of Newark. In the Democratic presidential primaries, though, Bookers support for charter schools will be a liability.

Even worse for him, he sometimes worked with Betsy DeVos, who as Education secretary has become a hated figure for a lot of progressives. It may not be enough that Booker voted against her confirmation when President Donald Trump nominated her.

Former Rep. Beto ORourke of Texas has also gotten criticized for crossing the partisan aisle. The Guardian slammed him for voting for an immigration bill even though Democrats adamantly objected to it.

The legislation let the Customs and Border Patrol address a shortage of manpower by waiving the requirement of a polygraph test for former members of the military and law enforcement. That was a reasonable enough position that 51 Democrats, about a quarter of all House Democrats, voted along with all Republicans for the bill.
One in three college students experiences mental illness, according to the American Psychology Association. But the stigma associated with it will keep some from seeking treatment.

The Gray Matters, a student-run campaign at Rock Island-based Augustana College, is trying to change that. The core of the campaign is this: "You matter."

"I've always been really passionate about mental health because growing up, I saw it affect a lot of my friends around me and I just really felt the effects of it," founder Haley DeGreve, a junior, said in an interview. "I've always wanted to do something about it, but I never knew how."

As the chair of the student government's Wellness Committee, DeGreve had the idea for an awareness campaign but only learned how to act on it in classes this year that taught her how to run effective campaigns.

The campaign includes posters with photos of students and a kickoff event that encouraged students to speak out. At the Feb. 5 event, participants shared their stories.

One was senior Belle Hartman, student government vice president, who shared her struggles with mental health and encouraged others to talk to those who love them.
Cruz said he saw the father being dragged out of the house. You see the tracks right there, he said pointing nearby to the snow where a gurney likely had passed. I didnt see anybody else come out.

He was too busy trying to get his own kids prepared to go out into the cold.

The Muscatine Police actually carried my kids out to safety, Cruz said. It appeared there was no damage to his home, despite its close proximity to the fire.

Cruz moved into the neighborhood last May, and said the victims had been there a few years before that.

A release from the Muscatine Fire Department said the house is likely a total loss. Structure and belongings are estimated at more than an $80,000 loss.

One firefighter suffered a minor injury but did not require medical attention.

The names of the deceased are being withheld pending confirmation of the identities by the Muscatine County medical examiner. Autopsies will be performed at the University of Iowa to determine the exact cause of deaths.

The cause of this fire remains classified as undetermined, according to a release from the city Tuesday. There were smoke alarms but it is unknown if they were working.
In the statement, Bolger also said he was ashamed and took full responsibility for his role in what happened.

Bolger said his calling is to help people and, in his time as a doctor, he has helped people from all walks of life.

All of the effort he took to become a doctor has been wasted, Bolger said. He will never practice medicine again.

"I will have to find another way to help people," he said.

At the end of Fridays hearing, Chief Judge John A. Jarvey, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, sentenced Bolger to 24 months in prison on a number of the individual counts, and to 12 months each on the others. The sentences, however, were all concurrent with each other, meaning he will only serve about 24 months.

Bolger must make restitution of $1.5 million, the judge ruled. He will also serve three years of mandatory supervised release upon completion of his sentence.

Before Jarvey made his ruling, he heard from witnesses defense attorney Jeffrey Lang presented in support of his client. Lang and Melisa Zaehringer, the federal prosecutor on the case, also made final arguments about what they thought the sentence should be.
With 'Me Too,' a lot of women are finding their voice and purpose, helping each other, lifting each other up, she said of women's rights. You don't have to wait however long takes to feel strong enough.

Go to bed tired, get tired of everything you're trying to do to make your dreams come true, Faulkner said. Make the world a better place. Don't be exhausted by gossip; don't be exhausted by hanging out with the wrong people, not telling the truth.

Of interviewing the president, she was thrilled and said: What I loved about it, he listens. He knows there are a lot of critics out there. He has his own vision, own ideas about doing things. They are something he has thought about as a businessman, not a career politician.

Faulkner was criticized for asking Trump what he loved about the job but said that's something she asks every leader and lawmaker.

Why do you do it, what do you love about you do? she said. Some in the media, there's a cottage industry of hating. It's the office of the presidency; you want to know as much about it as you can. Everything cannot be a grimace. I believe people despise what they do not understand.

Of Trump, she said: He loves to get things done; I've never seen anyone with that energy before.
By Park Hyong-ki



Some chiefs of local financial groups are considering joining executives of nonfinancial companies for a trip to Southeast Asian countries, including Cambodia and Malaysia in mid-March, according to industry sources.



Details of the travel itinerary have not been fully disclosed yet.



However, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) are organizing the Southeast Asian trip for business delegates, according to the two organizations.





Hana Financial Chairman Kim Jung-tai

The executives are planning to hold business forums and meetings in those countries, which are expected to be held on the sidelines of President Moon Jae-in's Southeast Asian state visit from March 10 to 16.



The heads of KB Financial, Woori Financial, Hana Financial, NongHyup Financial and the Korea Federation of Banks (KFB) are considering traveling to the countries with the KCCI and KITA.



"Hana Chairman Kim Jung-tai is getting ready for the trip," said a Hana executive.



A spokesman for Woori Financial said Chairman Sohn Tae-seung is also currently "coordinating" his Southeast Asia travel plan with the Korea Federation of Banks.



Woori Financial has a considerable presence in Cambodia's micro-financing and mutual savings after it made two deals there.





Woori Financial Chairman Sohn Tae-seung
Turning the ship before it hits the iceberg
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
16 hours ago

| June 27th | 2021 6:30 AM

If You Want to Do Business on the Links, You Need to Improve Your Golf Game

A lot of business is done on the golf course. Especially this summer after a year in quarantine, people will be itching to get out on the links and for some relaxation and mixing business with pleasure. If you want to close a deal out on the course, you're going to want to be more focused on the deal points than your next shot.
Were trying to add another layer of activity for the vacationers, for the residents on the lake, and aside from Boats by George over in Sandy Bay and the kayak company in Bolton Landing, no one is offering this kind of activity, Teresi told commissioners.

Besides the U.S. Coast Guard, the state Parks Department also has to approve the change. The Lake George Park Commission approved the new boat and the business Tuesday for a two-year permit, provided those two other agencies sign off.

I am so excited not to see Tiki boats on this lake, I can hardly stand it, said Park Commissioner Dean Cook.

Teresi said the three octagonal boats he had have been sold to a charter in Michigan.

Hes not sure if this new venture can be up and running by this summer. The federal government shutdown delayed the Coast Guards review of the boat, but Teresi said things are now moving in the right direction.

Some commissioners had safety concerns, considering the boat would only have one captain to keep track of a maximum of 16 people, some of whom may be in kayaks or on paddle boards. But other commissioners said current boat rental companies dont have someone out on the lake monitoring customers who rented their kayaks.
Students in two local school districts dealt Tuesday with ramifications of a possible threat made over social media.

Corinth Central School and and Hadley-Luzerne Central School students were sheltering in place on Tuesday morning because of a possible bomb threat reported to the school resource officer in the Corinth Central School District.

The Saratoga County Sheriffs Office checked the districts building, and took possession of a possible suspicious item at the Oak Street school building, but the item that officials did not publicly identify was determined not to be dangerous.

There were no issues in or involvement with Hadley-Luzerne, but the lockout was put in place as a precaution, according to the Warren County Sheriffs Office.

The Saratoga County Sheriffs Office investigation was continuing later Tuesday, but Corinth students went back to a regular schedule as of 10:36 a.m.
Carey said that Facebook post is part of the reason he is running against Langlois.

For our current mayor to ostracize an entire political party is immature, and dare I say, un-American, Carey said in a phone interview, reading to The Post-Star from a letter he wrote addressing voters. We need both Republicans and Democrats in our government to work together in governing. We the people, together, we can make Fort Ann a proud village once more.

Carey, who has lived in Fort Ann for the past 15 years and is a 1971 graduate of Fort Ann Central School, said village residents have told him of their concerns while he was campaigning door to door.

The village septic system has problems, and the sidewalks are in bad shape, he said. He wants to be a voice for the village against mandates handed down from the state, which he thinks are costly.

The village needs to go after more grant funding opportunities to keep the financial burden on taxpayers low, Carey added.

This isnt the first time Carey has run for mayor. He ran seven years ago against longtime Mayor Richard Foran.

Langlois emailed a statement to The Post-Star Monday afternoon in response to the mayor race.
Of the 13 people whose remains could be classified, seven were determined to have been 20 years or older, while six were believed to have been younger than 20 years old.

The bones were found by workers for Ellsworth, who wants to put up two apartment buildings on the site just south of the corner of Mohican Street.

According to the State Museum staff, buttons found in one of the graves were identified with the First Pennsylvania Battalion, which was in the Lake George area during the Revolutionary War.

The First Pennsylvania Battalion was part of a failed 1776 invasion of Quebec plagued by poor conditions and disease, including a smallpox outbreak that sickened as many as half of the soldiers. After their retreat to Crown Point, the sick were moved to a general hospital established at Fort George on the southern end of Lake George, where hundreds died, according to State Museum spokeswoman Antonia Giuliano.

Archaeologists believe a number of the dead soldiers were buried on the site, which sits on a hill in the western side of the village, near Caldwell Cemetery.

In addition to the hole dug for the buildings foundation, a large pile of dirt was moved to the western portion of the property, and that pile and the land beneath it will be scrutinized as well.
The coffee shop atmosphere is blended with that of a hometown bar. There are television sets on the walls and bar seating, but also lounge seating toward the entrance of the building. Maximum capacity is 35 people.

The interior of the more-than-century-old building has been transformed. It stands across the street from the former Washington County Courthouse and Forged restaurant.

A number of community members and local politicians celebrated its soft opening last week.

Today, its hard to remember what it looked like originally, said state Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, D-Round Lake, who was at the brewhouse on Thursday. She was referring to a visit made about a year ago, when the interior needed much work.

+4 Entrepreneur plans to bring beer and coffee to Hudson Falls HUDSON FALLS  Drake Hewitt is getting involved in the revitalization efforts in the village

You have done such a magnificent job of preserving the best of this space and really making it welcoming and warm and an inviting place to enjoy a phenomenal cup of coffee, Woerner said.

State Sen. Betty Little, R-Queensbury, said she could imagine the building in its heyday, when all the movers and shakers of Sandy Hill walked through its doors. She could picture Walter Juckett, a local philanthropist for whom Juckett Park is named, strolling in and out, Little said.
HUDSON FALLS  Loiselle Memorials owner Dan Giroux was the top winner at the recent design competition of the American Institute of Commemorative Art.

Giroux received the award for the Giroux Monument, which is located in Pine View Cemetery in Queensbury, on the basis of design, craftsmanship and the story behind the memorial, according to a news release.

A third-generation stone craftsman, Giroux designed and built the monument for his parents.

Giroux also received third place at the conference, held in St. Augustine, Florida, in the category of bevel markers for a tree marker, which was commissioned by the greater Glens Falls Jewish community honoring author Matthew Rozell.

Loiselle Memorials is located at 402 Lower Main St., Hudson Falls, and has been in business since 1922.

Michael Goot covers politics, business, the city of Glens Falls and the town and village of Lake George. Reach him at 518-742-3320 or mgoot@poststar.com and follow his blog at http://poststar.com/blogs/michael_goot/.

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Gathering Place in Tulsa, Okla. was named the best new attraction in America last year by USA Today. Its a sprawling $465 million park with lakes, gardens, wetlands and an extravagant playground. Essentially, its a public park, built and maintained with private dollars, and in that regard, its an exception as urban public parks go.

Public parks more often claw for funding in crowded city budgets where fire, public safety and other vital day-to-day services are the competition. But some cities are making more room for green spaces.

In fact, the level of investment they receive separates the top parks systems in the country from all the rest.

The city of Minneapolis, considered to have the nations best metropolitan park system, spent $249.11 per capita in both public and private spending in 2018, according to data from the Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit parks advocacy group. In the City of Pittsburgh, park spending was less than $100 per capita, with most of the money coming from private sources.

Public spending is critical to ongoing maintenance costs and building new parks, park connections and amenities. But today cities are looking beyond their public budgets for help, exploring innovative ways to tackle the challenge of sustainable funding, ranging from the creation of private parks to raising endowments to cover programs and maintenance.

Only so much to go around

Sustaining urban parks is a long-standing challenge for cities, particularly those with well-developed park systems created piecemeal over the span of a century. In the old days, a philanthropist would gift a park and then the city took ownership, said Stephan Bontrager, vice president, communications and outreach for the nonprofit Riverlife. The maintenance of those spaces then becomes a challenge. As more and more parks come under the purview of the city, the resources become more and more spread out.

Parks are currently funded through a mix of public and private funds. The City of Pittsburgh has budgeted $4,832,392 for parks and recreation in 2019an increase of $84,063 from the previous year. That allocation alone adds up to $15.98 of park funding per city resident. In 2018, public and private spending for Pittsburghs parks totalled $99.68 per city resident with only $15.44 coming from the citys budget, according to data from Trust for Public Land.

Additional public funding comes from the Regional Asset District (RAD) tax, a one- percent county sales tax that supports the countys libraries, parks, and other cultural and recreational programs and facilities.

The citys park support has rested heavily on private funding, raised primarily through the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, which has raised $110 million from private sources in the past 22 years.

We have done an incredible job as a conservancy in raising private funds, Jayne Miller, president and CEO of Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, a nonprofit advocacy group and fundraising arm for the citys parks. But private fundraising and private philanthropy cannot sustain an entire system. How do we ensure that these public spaces are taken care of and provided for the citizens of Pittsburgh? We need to stress how the green spaces of a city provide economic development for the city and health, wellness and quality of life for its residents.

Public parks, private money

Miller comes to Pittsburgh from Minneapolis, the top parks system in the county for the past six years, according to Trust for Public Lands Park Score, which considers key characteristics, such as acreage, amenities, access and investment. Minneapolis also has 2.5 times more money to spend on its parks than Pittsburgh.

Public support for parks is critical to improving financial sustainability. Helping the public understand the benefits parks offer could rally such support, Miller said, The tree canopy in Minneapolis saves the average homeowner $100 a year in energy savings. People are aware of that. If we transferred that to Pittsburgh and you could see the energy savings, you might be likely to transfer some of that savings into parks spending.

Public-private partnerships are a key feature of many parks throughout the country. New Yorks Bryant Park in Manhattan is considered the gold standard for public-private partnerships. Its part of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, but is managed by the Bryant Park Corporation, private non-profit organization.

A group of influential New Yorkers, including members of the Rockefeller family, founded the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation in the 1980s to improve conditions in the park, which had fallen into disrepair. After a four-year redesign project, the park re-opened in 1992 and became an urban renewal success story.

Its a public park run by a private group with mostly private-sector money. The Bryant Park Corporation operates it, relying mostly on revenue from the business improvement district it resides in. Businesses around the park pay into a maintenance fund based on their property assessments. And more money is raised from sponsored public events.

A big endowment

One of the most heralded new parks in the country is in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Gathering Place opened in September 2018. The seven-year project transformed 66 acres in the city and along its riverfront at a cost of nearly a half billion dollars. It features a sweeping landscape of hills, groves, wetlands and prairies. Playgrounds include impressive structures, such as 22-foot-tall Great Blue Heron with a slide between her wings. Its hefty price tag was covered by Tulsa-born billionaire George Kaiser.

Such a substantial park requires substantial maintenance. Before the park opened, a $100 million endowment was raised by Kaisers family foundation and other donors so that the city can draw on it to pay for maintenance and family programming.

But not every city has billionaire philanthropists willing to donate millions to make them greener with parks. And sustainable funding remains a challenge, even as the value of parks as an asset for attracting people and talent appears to be on the rise.

This generation lives in the city they want to live in and they choose places that have a great quality of life, Miller said. Cities today understand that if you want to compete for the best and brightest you have to have green spaces, trails that connect, access to restaurants, not having to use a car. If Pittsburgh wants to go to the next level as a really competitive city, thats what needs to happen.
Within a period of four months in 1945, both Germany (in May) and Japan (in September) surrendered. At that time the Allies controlled most of the world, including Western Europe, while the Soviets controlled Eastern Europe.

The USSR had been our ally during the war only in the narrowest sense of the word. Stalin had cut a deal with Hitler, much to the disadvantage of the Allies, and he only switched sides when Hitler abrogated the pact and invaded the Soviet Union.

When the war ended, the U.S. withdrew from Western Europe (leaving a few troops behind as tripwires) and allowed those countries to govern themselves as they saw fit. All of them  even, eventually, Spain and Portugal  became democracies. Bizarrely, almost all of them also adopted socialist economic systems modeled not on the U.S. but on Karl Marx. (Those systems mostly died natural deaths over the years.)

In Eastern Europe, however, the USSR slammed the boot heel of the Red Army firmly on the necks of the entire region, imposing totalitarianism across-the-board. No democracy, no free markets, and the Gulag or a bullet for anyone who objected.

Why did America tolerate such a situation? What were we thinking? In 1945 the U.S. Army was by far the most powerful in the world on the ground, as was the U.S. Navy on the seas. The U.S. Army-Air Force controlled the skies, and the U.S. was the worlds only nuclear power.

But we didnt act. What should have happened is that the Red Army ought to have been pushed back behind Mother Russias borders. Not only was the Soviet military and economy no match for that of the U.S. at the time, but we would have had terrific assistance from resistance forces inside the countries of Eastern Europe. And, of course, there were those nukes.

American inaction was a colossal and historic error, but it was also understandable. Western Europe lay either prostrate in defeat or devastated in ruins or both. Britain was utterly exhausted. And the U.S. population was weary after five years of fighting a two-front war.

In addition, opposition to Stalin was by no means a universal phenomenon in America. In elite U.S. circles  especially at the State Department, in the universities, and among the high profile world of Hollywood  very substantial numbers of people were, in the lingo of the day, pink.

Being pink meant that your views and sympathies fell along a scale from supporting the goals of Communism but abhorring the methods being used, to outright and unapologetic Stalinism. Dorothy Parker, for example, was a committed Stalinist to her dying day, despite her knowledge of the mans crimes, and she was in very good company in Americas film and literary world.

In any event, America didnt act and an Iron Curtain fell across Eastern Europe. In addition to the tragedy of the enslavement of hundreds of millions of people over the course of three long generations, control of East Europe vastly increased the economic and military clout of the Soviet Union. (The population of the U.S. in 1950 was 150 million; the population of the USSR + Eastern Europe was 300 million.)

No one was willing to fight a hot war against the horrors of Stalin, and so we fell into a cold war instead. No one invented Cold War I, but its godfather was surely George Kennan, whose famous long telegram laid the groundwork for the conduct of the Cold War.

Unlike many U.S. policymakers, Kennan had been observing the USSR for a very long time and from very close quarters. He was involved directly or indirectly in Soviet affairs beginning in 1931, working for the U.S. State Department and the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower Administrations. This gave Kennan a ringside seat to observe Stalins purges and show trials, among other abominations.

Kennan couldnt have known at the time about the many other horrors perpetrated by Stalin, but by the late 1940s he had seen enough. Kennan sent his long telegram outlining the need to contain the Soviets on all fronts. He followed up the telegram with an influential article in Foreign Affairs entitled, The Sources of Soviet Conduct.

What alarmed Kennan was what should have alarmed any citizen of a democratic republic: 1) Soviet Communism in general and Stalin in particular had created a monstrous version of civilization that could not under any circumstances be allowed to dominate the world; 2) absolute state control, brooking no opposition, had enabled the USSR to grow its economic might faster than any country in history, and it might soon rival the U.S. in size; and 3) the Soviet military was becoming ever more aggressive in carrying out the USSRs goal of world dominance.

The doctrine of containment, incorporated into the Truman Doctrine, meant that the main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies. The Soviet threat needed to be, Kennan continued, contained by the adroit and vigilant application of counterforce at a series of constantly shifting geographical and political points.

By counterforce, Kennan didnt necessarily mean military force, although that was often how it was construed. For Kennan, the counterforce might be military, political, economic, diplomatic, or any other appropriate option the U.S. had to contain the USSR. A successful deployment of the policy of containment would eventually result, Kennan believed, in either the break-up or the gradual mellowing of Soviet power.

Kennan turned out to be exactly correct. For five decades the U.S. and the USSR faced each other as existentially hostile forces at every point on the globe. Because both countries had large stockpiles of nuclear weapons, the very existence of life on the planet was in constant danger and, once or twice, in urgent danger. Yet, except for a few dogfights over Korea in the early 1950s, the U.S. and Soviet militaries never exchanged hostile fire.

And thus, in the end, it worked out. Beginning with Truman and continuing down through seven more Presidential Administrations, the U.S. kept the pressure on the Soviets until, as Kennan had predicted, the Soviet Union broke up. Millions of lives had been stunted and millions of souls had been crushed over that half century, but eventually the West won Cold War I.

Unfortunately, what followed the collapse of the USSR was western triumphalism. Well look at that unfortunate event, and how it led directly to the rise of China, next week.

Next up: Cold War II, Part 3
Things could get worse in light of a decision in 2016 to expand the Navy fleet from about 275 to 355 ships. This will mean building new ships, but it also means reactivating some older ships that were close to being decommissioned. It means extending the lives of existing ships. Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, for example, are now expected to remain in the fleet for 45 years or more.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that it would embark on a study to examine human exposure to the contaminants in eight communities near current or former military bases, but none are in Virginia. Participants in that study will have their contaminant levels checked via blood and urine samples, according to the CDC.
Police found a shovel, a roll of duct tape and black work gloves in the back, detectives said at the time. The GPS unit inside the van revealed it had been behind an abandoned residence about 10 miles south of Franklin, near the North Carolina border, for about 20 minutes two days after A.J. Hadsell disappeared.
According to testimony during his 2016 trial, Rankin was investigating a shoplifting report when he approached Chapman outside the Walmart on Frederick Boulevard. An altercation ensued in the parking lot during which Rankin tried to use his Taser. It was knocked to the ground before Rankin used a handgun to fire two shots.
"Being over 50 years old, Cita was suffering from a variety of age-related issues that included a general loss of body condition, muscle wasting and advanced arthritis," the post said. "It is believed that the combination of these issues contributed to Cita's inability to stand after being knocked down by Peggy and eventually led to her death from a suspected thrown blood clot."
A Chesapeake judge recently ordered two of the businesses to close following zoning disputes. In court, the city had argued the businesses on Indian River Road and George Washington Highway were offering gaming along the lines of traditional slot machines. But Del. Steve Heretick, who represents the Chesapeake stores, said the city has agreed to reopen the cases, which will be heard again in April.
A delight, wrote Joyce Umphlett when she saw a bald eagle dining on road kill early one morning on Sunstream Parkway in Salem Village. Ray Haring reported that he saw two juvenile bald eagles and also an adult and a juvenile in dogfights over the Nansemond River. Im guessing theyre establishing nesting territory, Haring wrote. Pat Sullivan was canoeing when he photographed a bald eagle soaring over Lakeview Park. Eagles hang close to their nests these days, so you are apt to see more of them if theres a nest in your neighborhood. You might be interested in checking out the Center for Conservation Biologys Eagle Nest Locator at bit.ly/2IBKfPj to see if you have a nest in your neighborhood.
The hotel will be part of Marriott's Autograph Collection  a group of more than 100 independently-owned properties around the world. Hampton Roads Autograph locations include The Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach and the Williamsburg Lodge. The Draftsman in Charlottesville and both The Alexandrian and the Morrison House in Alexandria are also in the group.
The Kushnirs bought the business from Charles and Gwen Elmore, formerly of Norfolk, in a stock purchase for $3.9 million in 2014. Less than a year later, Kushnir sued the Elmores saying they didn't provide maintenance and tax information that would have changed the price paid. Ultimately, the two sides settled with Kushnir agreeing to pay the Elmores $62,500 plus 26 monthly payments of $7,000 and a final payment of $5,500. But when Kushnir made the lump sum payment, it was apparently in violation of his agreement with his bank lender.
Credit: Alan Lee

A study of the International Union for Conservation of Nature has identified tree species native to Indonesia's Kutai National Park that are resilient to climate change. The species support threatened East Bornean orangutan populations; therefore, the study recommends their use in reforestation efforts. Hortus botanicus Leiden prefect Paul Kessler and former Leiden Ph.D. candidate Arbainsyah contributed to the publication.

Recognising that saplings planted today face dramatic climate changes over their 100+ year life-spans, the study analysed the traits of around 250 species of trees and other plants native to the rainforest of Kutai National Park. The researchers identified species resilient to the fires and drought conditions, which are expected to increase as the climate warms. The authors also identified tree species that provide food and habitat for threatened East Bornean orangutans, for which the park provides a key habitat.

Restoring rainforests

"Increasing drought and fires caused by a warming climate are important emerging threats to species-rich areas such as Kutai National Park," said Alan Lee, lead author of the study and member of the IUCN SSC Climate Change Specialist Group (see box). "Selecting climate-resilient tree species can help protect the park and the orangutan populations it shelters from the impacts of climate change. We hope that the information in this study is taken up by all those working to restore this unique area of rainforest."

Climate change-resilient species included those with low sensitivity to changes, high capacity to adapt to them, or both. Two tree species that were singled out for their resilience to fire should be planted in buffer zones around fire-prone areas, the authors recommended. One of them is a native palm, Borassodendron borneense, and the second one is the hardwood tree Eusideroxylon zwageri, known locally as Bendang and Ulin.

"This study provides valuable practical guidance as to how we can make a unique Bornean rainforest more climate-resilient," says Sandeep Sengupta, IUCN's Climate Change Coordinator. "Of course, to halt the catastrophic impacts of climate change on nature we urgently need ambitious emissions cuts. But with climate change already impacting many species in alarming ways, nature needs all the help it can get in adapting to these rapid changes."

Seven plants that are likely to be climate resilient emerged as key food sources for East Bornean orangutans. These should be planted alongside vines that the apes use for moving through the forest and trees which they prefer for nesting, such as the Ulin tree, according to the study. To minimise conflict with humans  a key threat to orangutans  the authors recommended planting these species in areas that humans are unlikely to access.

"Kutai National Park was once one of the most important lowland rainforest sites in Borneo, and its degradation is a major loss not only for Indonesia but for the world," says co-author Douglas Sheil. "But there is a glimmer of hope in that populations of threatened East Bornean orangutans persist there and work continues to restore forest cover in the park. Selecting which species to plant is a significant contribution to restoring the health of this ecosystem. Of course, the reasons why forest cover was lost in the first place must also be addressed for reforestation efforts to succeed," he concludes.

Explore further Recent drought may provide a glimpse of the future for birds in the Sierra Nevada
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Changes in costume in the female leadsPadme and Leiain Star Wars Episodes I through VI parallel shifts in the characters' positions of power, a study published in the open access journal Fashion and Textiles suggests. These changes in costume and status seem to be linked to the progression of the characters' romantic relationships, and take focus away from their roles as political leaders, and towards more passive roles as romantic partners, according to researchers Mary C. King and Jessica L. Ridgway from the Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship at Florida State University.

King, the lead author of the study, said: "For years, Star Wars has been praised in popular media for its portrayal of strong and independent female characters, but it has also received criticism for how Padme's and Leia's positions of power fade as their relationships evolve. We argue that this shift from women in power to subjects of the male characters' affections is evident in costume and hairstyle changes throughout the films."

The authors argue that Padme and Leia are examples of how costume and hairstyle can diminish the positions of power that female characters hold and instead contribute to their objectification by drawing attention to their bodiesa phenomenon referred to as the 'male gaze'.

Mary C. King said: "Objectification is obvious with costumes like Leia's gold bikini or Padme's black leather corset dress. There is a level of sexualization with these costumes that is distinct and clear. What was most surprising for us is just how prevalent objectification is in Star Wars, even in the most subtle ways, such as bringing color into a costume, or hairstyles becoming less severe once romance starts being introduced."

The authors observed that Padme's costumes in Episode I, when she holds substantial political power as Queen Amidala, depict her as fully clothed, revealing almost no skin, with dresses that hide the shape of her figure. Her hair is either tightly wound or covered. The authors suggest that the costume was designed to remind the audience of Padme's political statusa leadership role in which she is acknowledged and respectedby emphasizing her imposing presence. The subsequent loss of power in later episodes and the greater emphasis on romance are associated with increased visibility of skin, higher body definition and softer hairstyles.

Similarly, Leia holds a position of authority in Star Wars Episode IV, which the authors argue is associated with a costume that leaves only her face and hands exposed, and a tightly wound hairstyle. Again, more revealing costumes and softer hairstyles emerge as the trilogy progresses, albeit in subtler ways than for Padme.

Mary C. King said: "We are seeing frequent discussions on gender inequality across society, including in the media. In film, women are frequently objectified both through their roles and their costumes. Yet, films also have the opportunity to send a message that a woman does not need to reveal or change physical aspects of her body, or have her position of power diminished, in order to be appealing to other characters or to a viewing audience. Given the Star Wars films' large audience69% of adults in the United States have seen the films, according to a YouGov pollit seems important to investigate their portrayal of women."

To examine the possible objectification of the lead female characters Padme and Leia in the first six Star Wars films, the researchers carried out a qualitative content analysis of the trilogies' audio and visual content, with particular attention to whether the characters held a formal leadership position, their relationship status, and how this may be reflected in their costumes. Qualitative content analysis is a research method for the subjective interpretation of written, audio and visual content through the identification of themes or patterns. The authors coded each costume worn by the characters according to three criteriabody definition, skin visibility and hair style. The codes were chosen based on existing concepts of what is part of a character's costume, how costume may draw attention to physical appearance, and sexual objectification in relation to skin visibility.

The analysis focuses solely on the theatrical releases of the first two live action Star Wars trilogies and does not take into consideration the character development in other Star Wars stories, such as the animated series.

More information: Costume evolution during the development of romantic relationships and its impact on the positions of power in the Star Wars prequel and original trilogies Mary C. King and Jessica L. Ridgway Fashion and Textiles 2019 fashionandtextiles.springerope  86/s40691-018-0167-8 Costume evolution during the development of romantic relationships and its impact on the positions of power in the Star Wars prequel and original trilogies Mary C. King and Jessica L. Ridgway2019 DOI: 10.1186/s40691-018-0167-8
Credit: University of New Mexico

Climate change and wildfire  It's a combustible mix with costly devastation and deadly consequences. With a goal of understanding the link between the two variables, researchers over the years have studied the effects of climate and wildfire interactions in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. That research has evolved into learning about the distribution of trees, the extent of forest cover and carbon dynamics.

However, most previous studies have looked at the relationship between climate change and area burned by wildfire as a result of climatic influences on wildfire. Fire is a self-limiting process influenced by productivity. Yet, many fire projections assume sufficient vegetation to support fire, with substantial implications for carbon dynamics and emissions.

Climate influences vegetation directly and through climate-mediated disturbance processes, such as wildfire. Typically, the amount of area burned and temperature are positively associated based on the availability of vegetation to burn. The interaction with vegetation, which provides the fuel for the fire to burn, hasn't been studied in depth.

Now, scientists, including Matthew Hurteau in the Department of Biology at The University of New Mexico, are examining more data via simulations of wildfires in the Sierra Nevada to improve their understanding between prior and future wildfires. They hypothesized that prior wildfires and their influence on vegetation, coupled with a changing climate and its influence on vegetation recovery after a wildfire, would likely restrict the size of wildfires in the future.

The research titled "Vegetation-fire feedback reduces projected area burned under climate change," was published today in Scientific Reports, and was conducted to better understand the climate-wildfire interaction and how that impacts wildfire emissions, and subsequently, air quality in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Credit: University of New Mexico

Using a landscape model that simulates forest and fire dynamics, Hurteau and his colleagues conducted simulations where climate was the only influence on area burned (static) and where the interaction of climate and prior fire events on both fuel flammability and availability influenced area burned (dynamic).

"Using an ecosystem model, that included photosynthesis and respiration, we were able to capture how the vegetation would respond to climate and area burned during each decade," said Hurteau. "We used the ecosystem model output from each decade and a statistical model that accounted for the effects of prior area burned and climate to re-estimate fire size distributions for the subsequent decade and capture the effects of previous wildfires."

What they found was a little surprising. They had expected that prior fire events and their effect on the amount of fuel available to burn in the forest would impose a large constraint on future area burned. Scientists call it a fuel limitation effect from prior fire events, but they found that it doesn't last very long and it's not near as large as they had thought.

"We discovered that compared to the static scenarios, where climate is the only influence on area burned, accounting for the interaction of prior fires and climate on fuel availability and flammability moderates only reduces the cumulative area burned in the Sierra Nevada by about 7.5 percent over the course of this century. This is much lower than we anticipated because enough vegetation was able to recover following a fire that a burned area would be able to support a subsequent fire pretty quickly," said Hurteau.

As part of the study, Christine Wiedinmyer, an atmospheric chemist and the associate director at the University of Colorado's Science at Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, built upon the work of Hurteau and others to take it to the level of air pollutant emissions by looking at the smoke release from wildfires in different climates with different types of vegetation.

Smoke produced by upper plot burn. Credit: Malcolm North

Wiedinmyer utilized the information from the other researchers to determine how the changes in the amount of vegetation burned impacts the number of air pollutants emitted from the wildfire smoke. The inclusion of the new vegetation dynamics changed the estimates of wildfire pollutant emissions  which can ultimately impact air quality. The ability to acquire more detailed predictions of vegetation/wildfire/emissions will enable air quality managers to have better predictions of wildfire air quality impacts into the future.

"This study revealed that wildfire activity is impacted not only by climate, but also by vegetation and prior fires," said Wiedinmyer. "When you include all of these components in predictions of wildfireit can change our predictions of the air pollutants from wildfires. This is important because that information can help air quality managers know what to expect and how to plan for it."

"The benefit of our findings is more in terms of improving our understanding of the potential challenges that communities will face in the air sheds that are impacted when a wildfire burns in the Sierra Nevada," said Hurteau. "It's also beneficial for policy planning. From a management planning perspective, this work basically shows us the effects of one of those prior fire events are only influential for about a decade, and that there's enough vegetation regrowth in the footprint of a wildfire that occurred within 10 years that can carry fire again."

Hurteau noted California's climate action plan is dependent on continued carbon uptake by natural vegetation systems in the state to help balance human-caused carbon dioxide emissions. "This helps constrain some of the uncertainty around future wildfire and how it'll impact carbon uptake by the forest," he said.

The research was a collaborative effort involving scientists from across various disciplines including biology, air chemistry, engineering including Shuang Liang at the University of Illinois and LeRoy Westerling at the University of California, Merced.

"We were able to look at wildfire on a new level of detail and work collaboratively to get a bigger picture about how wildfire behaves in different conditions," added Wiedinmyer.

Explore further Changing climate could have devastating impact on forest carbon storage

More information: Matthew D. Hurteau et al. Vegetation-fire feedback reduces projected area burned under climate change, Scientific Reports (2019). Journal information: Scientific Reports Matthew D. Hurteau et al. Vegetation-fire feedback reduces projected area burned under climate change,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-39284-1
A Western Shovel-nosed snake moves through a force-sensitive set of rubber pegs. The pegs altered the direction of the snakes travel, but didnt vary the waveform they used to move. Credit: Allison Carter, Georgia Tech

Desert snakes slithering across the sand at night can encounter obstacles such as plants or twigs that alter the direction of their travel. While studying that motion to learn how limbless animals control their bodies in such environments, researchers discovered that snakes colliding with these obstacles mimic aspects of light or subatomic particles when they encounter a diffraction grating.

The effect of this "mechanical diffraction" allowed researchers to observe how the snakes' trajectories were altered through passive mechanisms governed by the skeletal and muscular dynamics of the animals' propagating body waves. The researchers studied live snakes as they slithered through an obstacle made up of six force-sensitive rigid pegs that buckled the animals' bodies, changing their paths in predictable ways.

The results, described February 25 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, indicate that the Western Shovel-nosed snakes (Chionactis occipitalis) do not deliberately change direction when they encounter obstacles while speeding across the sand. Understanding the movement of these limbless animals could help engineers improve the control of autonomous search and rescue robots designed to operate on sand, grass and other complex environments.

"The idea behind passive dynamics is that there are waveform shape changes being made by the animal that are driven entirely by the passive properties of their bodies," said Perrin Schiebel, a recent Ph.D. graduate of the School of Physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "Instead of sending a signal to activate a muscle, the interaction of the snakes' bodies with the external environment is what causes the shape change. The forces of the obstacles are pushing the snake bodies into a new shape."

The colorful shovel-nosed snake normally uses a sinusoidal S-shaped wave to move across the deserts of the Southwest United States. Running into rigid pegs in a laboratory environment doesn't lead it to actively change that waveform, which Schiebel and colleagues studied using high-speed video cameras with eight different animals.

In a study supported by the National Science Foundation, Army Research Office, Defense Advanced Projects Agency, and a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, the researchers used 253 snake trips to build up a diffraction pattern. Remarkably, the pattern also revealed that the scattering directions were "quantized" such that the probability of finding a snake behind the array could be represented in a pattern mimicking wave interference. A computational model was able to capture the pattern, demonstrating how the snakes' direction would be altered by obstacle encounters via passive body buckling.

"One problem with robots moving in the real world is that we don't yet have principles by which we can understand how best to control these robots on granular surfaces like sand, leaf litter, rubble or grass," said Daniel Goldman, a Dunn Family Professor in Georgia Tech's School of Physics. "The point of this study was to try to understand how limbless locomotors, which have long bodies that can bend in interesting ways using potentially complicated neuromechanical control schemes, manage to move through complicated terrain."

The snake experiment was suggested by a robotic study done by postdoctoral fellow Jennifer Rieser, who found similar behavior among robots encountering obstacles.

"The robot tends to have aspects that mimic features of the subatomic worldthe quantum world," Goldman explained. "When it collides with barriers, a robot propagates through those barriers using waves of body bending. Its trajectory deviates as it exits the barriers, and many repeated trials reveal a 'lumpy' scattering pattern, analogous to experiments. We realized that we could use this surprising and beautiful phenomenon, classical physics but with self-propulsion a key feature, as a scattering experiment to interrogate the control scheme used by the snakes."

Experimentally, the researchers used a "snake arena" covered with shag carpet to mimic sand. Undergraduate students Alex Hubbard and Lillian Chen released the snakes one at a time into the arena and encouraged them to slither through the grating.

The eyes of the desert snakes are naturally covered with scales to protect them. The researchers used children's face paint to temporarily "blindfold" the animals so they would not be distracted by the researchers. The paint did not harm the animals.

"When we put the snakes down in the arena, they started moving using the same waveform they use on desert sand," explained Schiebel. "They would then encounter the dowel grating, pass through it, and continue on the other side still using that waveform."

Researchers (l-r) Perrin Schiebel, Lillian Chen, Jennifer Rieser and Dan Goldman are shown with a snake moving through an experimental arena. Credit: Allison Carter, Georgia Tech

Instead of continuing to travel through the arena in a straight line, the snakes would exit at a different angle, though they did not grab the posts or use them to assist their movement. Schiebel worked with Zeb Rocklin, a Georgia Tech assistant professor of physics, to model the directional changes. The model showed how simple interactions between the snakes' wave pattern and the grating produce patterns of favored scattering directions.

"We think the snake is essentially operating in a model that control engineers would consider 'open loop,'" said Goldman. "It is setting a particular motor program on its body, which generates the characteristic wave pattern, and when it collides with the obstacle, its body mechanics allow it to deform and move the posts without degrading its speed."

Goldman believes the work could help developers of snake-like robots improve their control schemes.

"We think that our discoveries of the role of passive dynamics in the snake can facilitate new snake robot designs that will enable them to move through complex environments more fluidly," he said. "The goal would be to build search and rescue robots that can get into these complex environments and help first responders."

And as a bonus, Goldman said, "We find that the richness of interactions between self-propelled systems like snakes and robots with their environment is fascinating from the standpoint of 'active matter' physics."

Explore further Slick and slender snake beats short and stubby lizard in sand swimming

More information: Perrin E. Schiebel et al. Mechanical diffraction reveals the role of passive dynamics in a slithering snake, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2019). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Perrin E. Schiebel et al. Mechanical diffraction reveals the role of passive dynamics in a slithering snake,(2019). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1808675116
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

An international group of researchers working on a wide range of species, from elephants and crows, to whales and chimpanzees, argues that animals' cultural knowledge needs to be taken into consideration when planning international conservation efforts.

A paper published in leading journal Science makes a compelling case that growing scientific evidence on social learning across a wide range of species, which can lead to unique animal cultures, is important for both conservation practice and conservation policy.

Insights into animal cultures can provide valuable information on 'what' groups of animals to conserve, and on 'how' best to conserve them. For example, understanding how grandmother killer whales pass on valuable information to their offspring, or why some groups of chimpanzees have a culture of cracking nutritious nuts with stone tools while others do not, can be key to evaluating conservation challenges for such species.

In many animal species, inexperienced young learn key survival skills by observing knowledgeable elders in their social group. This includes learning about how to communicate, how to forage efficiently, and where to migrate to when conditions become less hospitable. For example, the transmission of knowledge on migration routes in whooping cranes, and bighorn sheep, can provide critical information for the success of future generations. Unlike genetic transmission, social knowledge can be passed on within generations, so knowledge about new food sources can be shared, potentially providing resilience in changing environments.

However, the authors report that social-learning processes can also result in the emergence of cultural sub-groups with distinctive behavioural profiles, potentially erecting social barriers, as observed for example in the distinctive vocal clans of sperm whales in the Eastern tropical Pacific. Such cultural segregation can have important conservation implications, especially when different groups have different foraging strategies and vary in their ability to cope with environmental change.

To protect 'social capital', some populations may be best delineated by their cultural behaviour, rather than using the traditional approach of assessing genetic diversity or the degree of geographic isolation. Moreover, for some species, protecting individuals that act as 'repositories' of social knowledge, such as experienced elephant matriarchs, may be just as important as conserving critical habitat.

"Beyond genes, knowledge is also an important currency for wildlife. As well as conserving genetic diversity, we must work towards maintaining cultural diversity within animal populations, as a reservoir for resilience and adaptation. This is an important reframing of our understanding of the natural world, which will necessitate changes in international wildlife law," said the lead author of the paper, Philippa Brakes, from the University of Exeter, UK.

The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) - widely known as the 'Bonn Convention' - which operates under the umbrella of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has been a pioneer in this field, spearheading efforts to use scientific knowledge on animal cultures, to improve the conservation of migratory species.

The Science paper resulted from a seminal workshop in Parma, Italy, organised by the CMS, where experts pooled decades of expertise to devise concrete recommendations on how to improve conservation strategies. They highlighted that it is critical to catalogue the wide diversity of cultural behaviours within the animal kingdom, and to develop methods for identifying individuals who are the keepers of important social knowledge within their communities and require special protection.

Senior author of the paper, Professor Christian Rutz, from the University of St Andrews, UK, announced the publication of the group's recommendations on Tuesday 26 February, at a workshop on animal cultures in Konstanz, Germany, co-organised by the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology Radolfzell and the National Geographic Society.

Rutz noted: "This is an incredibly important development. Decades of research on animal cultures are now being put to good use in conservation science and policy making, and we have a much better idea of what knowledge gaps still need filling."

2020 is the final year of the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity. The papers' authors emphasise that this work, at the interface between science and policy-making, is timely, as governments consider how best to conserve biodiversity in an ever-changing world. They urge that animal cultures must feature in these discussions, given their profound impact on the survival prospects of social units, and potentially entire populations.

"CMS is breaking new ground by looking at the issue of animal culture, social complexity, social learning and the role of individual and groups of individual animals as repositories of social knowledge. This pioneering work could have fundamental repercussions on how we approach conservation," observed the late Dr. Bradnee Chambers, former Executive Secretary of CMS. Dr. Chambers was a strong advocate for this initiative, but sadly passed away earlier this year.

Dr. Fernando Spina, Chair of the CMS Scientific Council notes "This new frontier of animal culture and social complexity opens a fascinating and innovative perspective on how we consider animals; from single components of population models to individuals who offer specific contributions to the rest of the social group. When thinking of strategies to conserve migratory animals, which is the main mission of CMS at the global level, with individual animals visiting different countries along their annual cycle, cultural transmission of knowledge on how to fulfil their incredible migratory journeys is a new component environmental policies should fully take into account".

This novel approach opens up opportunities for innovative ways of protecting and communicating about the natural world: understanding that other species have rich social lives and that they share important information with each other, provides an invaluable new perspective. With increasing habitat degradation around the globe, such insights may be vital for efficient animal conservation.

Explore further Could theatre be way forward in communicating conservation messages?
Fano Resonances. Credit: Wikipedia Commons

The physicists from ITMO University, Ioffe Institute and the Australian National University examined a new mechanism of realization of high-quality optical resonators. It is based on the mutual destructive interference of two low-quality optical states in one resonator allowing for secure "trapping" of light in various materials even at small scales. The theoretical results of the work were confirmed experimentally, laying the basis for new miniature devices: effective sensors, optical filters and nonlinear light sources. The research paper is published in SPIE Advanced Photonics.

In general, Fano resonances arise due to the interaction of two waves with a certain relation between the amplitudes and phases, for example, during the electromagnetic radiation scattering. This process is actively investigated and widely used to create resonators: devices that amplify the electromagnetic signal. The main parameters of Fano resonances, determining the peak width and asymmetry, were usually considered as independent. Therefore, they were tuned separately so as to achieve the maximum quality factor (Q factor): feature, showing how well the resonator traps and enhances the radiation.

However, the scientists from ITMO University showed that the resonance parameters are connected: when the resonance peak in the spectrum of the scattered radiation becomes symmetric, its width becomes minimal, leading to the maximum Q factor. This happens when t the resonator geometry changes and cause an unusual interaction of several states or modes. Physicists linked this phenomenon with the recently proposed class of resonators, which work on a subwavelength scale for a wide class of materials.

"Usually, to create a high-quality resonance, one needs to trap the light somewhere using good mirrors or an environment with a high refraction index, from which the light will not exit easily. But we found a new mechanism for light trapping and described it in our earlier papers. It is based on two low quality modes, each trapping the light weakly, which together can form a new state with a very high Q factor. Two minuses make an plus. In this work we conducted experiments to prove it and developed a deeper theoretical understanding," explains Kirill Koshelev.

As a result, scientists for the first time showed experimentally that such unusual interaction of resonances is possible. The experiment was done in microwaves with using a cylindrical vessel. The vessel was being filled with water drop by drop, so that the pillar height was constantly changing. At the same time, using a special sensor, researchers measured the resonances quality factor and frequency.

"The work began with a theory: Kirill Koshelev proved that high quality factor is always accompanied by a symmetrical form of resonance. These results were confirmed in the experiment by Polina Kapitanova and Mikhail Rybin. Now we are working on the practical application of these resonators. Recently, we proposed a nonlinear frequency converter of light based on high-quality disk resonators. Now we continue to experiment on other materials. In addition, our results are used to create sensitive compact sensors. Alexey Slobozhanyuk is currently working on them," adds Andrey Bogdanov.

Explore further Physicists discover new way of resonance tuning for nonlinear optics

More information: Andrey A. Bogdanov et al, Bound states in the continuum and Fano resonances in the strong mode coupling regime, Advanced Photonics (2019). Andrey A. Bogdanov et al, Bound states in the continuum and Fano resonances in the strong mode coupling regime,(2019). DOI: 10.1117/1.AP.1.1.016001
A former doctor ensnared in the criminal prosecutions relating to an infamous Wagoner Clinic pill mill recently avoided prosecution for a charge of child molestation, but that same charge still may net him significant jail time.

In March last year, while still on probation for charges relating to his role in the Wagoner Clinic pill mill, the Hamilton County Prosecutors Office hit William Terpstra with a charge of child molestation for allegedly folding or touching a child under 14 years old. That level four felony was dismissed earlier this month. However, Terpstra still faces jail time after a Howard County court found him guilty of violating his probation because of the incurred child molestation charge.

According to court documents, the Hamilton County Prosecutors Office moved to dismiss the child molestation charge against Terpstra on Feb. 4. The charge itself stemmed from a 13-year-old females claim that Terpstra, in January 2018, placed his hand under her shirt and under her bra and touched (groped) her breasts while simultaneously placing his other hand inside her pants and onto her buttocks. This, claimed the juvenile, occurred in the fall of 2017 at Terpstras home.

A probable cause affidavit filed in Hamilton County at the time indicated investigators also interviewed Terpstras wife, who claimed that on multiple occasions  Terpstra stated to her that he may have touched [the juvenile] inappropriately, but not in the manner that [the juvenile] has alleged.

This all occurred as Terpstra served out a sentence of probation that arose after a plea deal for charges relating to his work at the Wagoner Clinic, a Burlington-and-Kokomo-based pill mill prosecutors and law enforcement agencies dismantled in 2013 after two-dozen deaths were associated with illegal practices at the clinic. After reaching a plea deal with Howard County prosecutors in late 2015, Terpstra pleaded guilty to two counts of dealing in a narcotic drug, a level three felony.

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That plea deal allowed Terpstra to avoid sizeable jail time, receiving a sentence of 5,475 days in the Indiana Department of Correction, of which 548 days were ordered to be executed on in-home detention with 4,927 days ordered to be suspended. He also was to serve 2,555 days of that suspended sentence on supervised probation and 2,372 days on unsupervised probation while also relinquishing his medical license.

That sentence to probation was still in effect when prosecutors leveled the child molestation charge at Terpstra, and as a result, in April 2018 the Howard County Prosecutors office filed a petition to revoke his suspended sentence.

The petition was delayed until the child molestation charge was resolved, and last week a fact-finding hearing was held in Howard Superior I before Judge William Menges. After that hearing the court found Terpstra had violated the terms of his probation, which entailed the order that any violation of any law (city, state, or federal) is a violation of [Terpstras] probation.

Now the matter is set for a sentencing hearing this week, where Terpstra may be required to serve his original suspended sentence in prison.
Finnish evacuees on their way to western Finland. Credit: SA-Kuva

Researchers from the Universities of Helsinki, Turku and Missouri as well as the Family Federation of Finland present the first results of a new, extraordinarily comprehensive population-wide dataset that details the lives of over 160,000 World War II evacuees in terms of integration. The results demonstrate that migrants' integration into a host community involves a trade-off between gaining increased social status and having fewer children.

Evacuees from Karelia, a region ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union during World War II, had the unfortunate fate of having to evacuate from their homes twice in the space of a few years. Evacuees fled to western Finland at the beginning of the war, but then many of them returned to their homes for two to three years when the territory was recaptured by Finland, only to have to evacuate again at the end of the war.

"This exceptional historical event provides a natural experiment that allowed us to analyse the likelihood of various social groups returning to their natal communities when offered the opportunity," explains Robert Lynch, the first author of the article from the University of Turku, Finland.

The data also allowed a comparison between people who chose to return home with those that did not as they lived side by side in post-war western Finland.

Evacuees who returned to their homes after initial evacuation had more children after the war than those evacuees who stayed in western Finland for the entire war. It appears that the stronger bond to their natal community and the social and familial ties that come with it had a positive effect on fertility. However, after their second evacuation, they were less likely to integrate and intermarry with people in western Finland, consequently missing out on opportunities to increase their social status.

On the other hand, the evacuees who stayed in western Finland for the entire war ended up having fewer children, but they intermarried with the host population in western Finland at a higher rate and thus, were more likely to increase their social status.

Like many migrants and refugees today the world over, the evacuees in the study faced choices between keeping strong social bonds with their natal communities and fellow migrants and integrating to form relationships that bridge the differences between groups. The research shows that the choices made had real consequences for the migrants' future fertility and socioeconomic status.

"Together, these results have important implications for understanding the migrant experience today and can be useful background knowledge for policy makers desiring to promote social cohesion," says John Loehr, senior author on the article from the University of Helsinki, Finland.

More broadly, however, these results can be viewed from a cultural and evolutionary perspective that considers the importance of balancing the human predisposition for tribalism and our need to have distinctive group level identities with the need for social cohesion. In other words, the degree to which people prioritize their own ethnic group, culture, family or region vs the importance they place on building new relationships and bridges with people from different groups and backgrounds impacts their life course, the opportunities they are likely to encounter and how they interact with others.

The study is published in Nature Human Behaviour.

Explore further Study of WWII evacuees suggests mental illness may be passed to offspring

More information: Integration involves a trade-off between fertility and status for World War II evacuees, Nature Human Behaviour, DOI: 10.1038/s41562-019-0542-5 , www.nature.com/articles/s41562-019-0542-5 Journal information: Nature Human Behaviour Integration involves a trade-off between fertility and status for World War II evacuees,
The case came to the EU court of justice after a French association promoting animal welfare in abattoirs, called for a ban on the labelling of such meat as organic

Halal meat from animals slaughtered by religious ritual without having first been stunned cannot be labelled organic, on animal welfare grounds, a top European Union court ruled Tuesday.

The way the meat is slaughtered "fails to observe the highest animal welfare standards", said the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

The case came to the court after the OABA, a French association promoting animal welfare in abattoirs, urged the agriculture ministry to ban the labelling of such meat as organic.

French courts initially dismissed the OABA's case before passing it up to the CJEU for a definitive ruling.

"The Court recalls that scientific studies have shown that pre-stunning is the technique that compromises animal welfare the least at the time of killing," said an CJEU statement Tuesday.

Producers have to meet the highest animal welfare standards to qualify for the EU's organic label, the court noted.

So while the ritual slaughter of animals was allowed on grounds of religious freedom, if they were not first stunned then that did not meet the highest animal welfare standards.

The meat from such animals could not then qualify as organic.

The case will now go back to the Court of Appeal in Versailles, France, for a definitive ruling.

Explore further How your diet can improve animal welfare

 2019 AFP
Snow laced with coal dust this month coated three towns in Siberia's industrial Kemerovo region

Black snow falling in Siberia due to air loaded with coal dust prompted the regional governor on Tuesday to temporarily close a coal processing plant he accused of killing residents.

Snow laced with coal dust this month coated three towns in the industrial Kemerovo region, more than 3,000 kilometres (1,800 miles) east of Moscow.

Residents posted pictures on social media of cars and buildings under layers of black or greyish snow, with some saying it looked like Mordor, a terrifying blackened realm in Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" saga.

"It depresses you when everything around you is black. And you understand it's extremely harmful for your health," said Natalya Zubkova, 42, editor of an online newspaper in one of the affected cities, Kiselyovsk.

"Our children aren't going outside to play at all," she said, with the black snow likely to remain on the ground till the end of April.

Laboratory tests found the level of air pollution was more than double safe limits, police said as they launched a probe into environmental pollution focusing on Kiselyovsk.

Prosecutors focused blame on the Cherkasovskaya coal processing plant in Kiselyovsk where they said they found "long-term, systematic" violations of air pollution limits, adding that this causes lung disease.

The plant does not filter coal dust in any way before releasing it into the atmosphere, prosecutors said.

Regional governor Sergei Tsivilyov on Tuesday upbraided the plant management for "killing" local residents and ordered a temporary shutdown.

"You are killing yourself and you are killing all your people who work for you and you are also killing everything around you," the governor said in televised comments.

"I'll hand all the documents on your plant to law enforcement authorities and I will oversee your plant personally," he added.

The region where the black snow fell is part of Russia's vast Kuzbass coal field, one of the largest in the world, which also has many highly-polluting metallurgical plants.

Explore further Coal dust turns white snow black in Siberian town

 2019 AFP
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A CREST report by Joel Busher, Donald Holbrook and Graham Macklin examines why there are often thresholds of violence that members of extremist groups rarely cross.

Why do some 'extremists' or 'extremist groups' choose not to engage in violence, or only in particular forms of violence? Why is it that even in deeply violent groups there are often thresholds of violence that members rarely if ever cross?

The basic premise of this project is to look at the 'internal brakes' on violent escalation: the intra-group mechanisms through which group members themselves contribute to establish and maintain parameters on their own violence.

Such internal brakes are often evident in detailed accounts of decision-making within groups that use or flirt with violence, yet they are rarely examined systematically. The aim of this project was to develop a descriptive typology of the internal brakes on violent escalation that could provide a basis for more systematic analysis of such brakes.

The authors used three very different case studies to construct, test and refine the typology: the transnational and UK jihadi scene from 2005 to 2016; the British extreme right during the 1990s, and the animal liberation movement in the UK from the mid-1970s until the early 2000s.

The typology

The typology is based around five underlying logics on which the internal brakes identified in this project operate:

Brake 1  strategic logic: Identification of non- or less violent strategies of action as being as or more effective than more violent alternatives.

Brake 2  moral logic: Construction of moral norms and evaluations that inhibit certain forms of violence and the emotional impulses towards violence.

Brake 3  logic of ego maintenance: Self-identification as a group that is either nonviolent or uses only limited forms of violence.

Brake 4  logic of outgroup definition: Boundary softening in relation to putative out-groups such as opponents, opponents' perceived supporters, the general public or state actors.

Brake 5  organisational logic: Organisational developments that either (a) alter the moral and strategic equations in favour of non- or limited violence, (b) institutionalise less violent collective identities and/or processes of boundary softening, and/or (c) reduce the likelihood of unplanned violence.

A number of issues require careful attention if this typology is to be used, as intended, to support evaluation of the threats from and opportunities to inhibit, escalation towards violence, and it is clear that the typology cannot be use as a straightforward checklist.

However, in recent years a growing number of academics have begun to highlight the need for a more detailed understanding of the processes of non- or limited escalation. This typology provides an important step in that direction.

Explore further Teachers use violence against children in Uganda: We set out to find out more

More information: The full CREST report, executive summary and the three case studies: The full CREST report, executive summary and the three case studies: crestresearch.ac.uk/resources/  -brakes-full-report/
Giraffes in the Tarangire National Park, Tanzania. New research shows that giraffes that live near densely populated human settlements have larger home ranges, suggesting that they need to travel greater distances to obtain critical resources. Credit: Gary Bembridge from London, UK [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]

Giraffes that live close to densely populated towns have larger home ranges than giraffes that live far from towns, according to a new study by an international team of wildlife researchers from the University of Zurich, Penn State, and the Wild Nature Institute. This suggests that the giraffes in human-impacted areas need to travel longer distancesand expend more energyto obtain critical resources. The researchers found that average rainfall also impacts giraffe home ranges, which are smaller in areas with more rain. The study was published Feb. 22 in the journal Animal Behaviour.

"Giraffes are huge browsing animals that live in African savanna ecosystems where they must find everything they need to survive and reproduce in landscapes increasingly impacted by human activities," said Derek E. Lee, associate research professor of biology at Penn State and principal scientist of the Wild Nature Institute. "People are converting natural savannas to towns and farms, and cutting trees for fuelwood and charcoal industries, all of which potentially degrade giraffe habitat."

The team quantified home range sizesthe spatial area over which an animal repeatedly travels in search of food, water, shelter and matesfor 71 adult giraffes from data collected over six years in the spatially heterogeneous Tarangire Ecosystem of Tanzania. They examined correlations between individual home range sizes and environmental and anthropogenichuman-relatedfactors, to better understand the mechanisms driving space use of this threatened megaherbivore.

Home range behavior is an expression of an animal's decision-making process about how to access the resources needed for survival and reproduction. The researchers found that giraffes that lived closer to large human settlements had larger home ranges. No such relationship was evident with bomas, which are homesteads built by indigenous livestock-keeping Maasai people, suggesting that giraffes are tolerant of more traditional, lower-impact land uses.

"Giraffes are vulnerable to extinction after a 40 percent population decline during the past three decades," said Mara Knusel, a graduate student at the University of Zurich and first author of the study. "Identifying factors affecting space use help wildlife conservationists to make better decisions for at-risk species such as giraffes."

As one of the largest herbivores on earth, giraffes have a profound impact on plant populations, vegetation structure, and ecosystem processes where they live. Giraffes are also a favorite animal sought by ecotourists on safari in Tanzania, where the safari industry is the largest economic sector in the country.

"Most studies that previously looked at home ranges of giraffes didn't look for environmental factors that determine the observed home range size, so this study goes beyond the pattern to reveal the process behind it," said Monica Bond, doctoral candidate at the University of Zurich and senior author of the study.

The research team also compared home range estimates from published data for eight giraffe populations across Africa and examined the relationship between giraffe home range size and mean annual rainfall as a potential explanation for observed variation in space use among populations. Rainfall was negatively correlated with home range sizegiraffes in areas with less rainfall had larger home ranges.

"This relationship between rainfall and space use by a large herbivore is not surprising, given that rainfall is the main driver of vegetation productivity and thus food availability," said Lee. "Greater availability and access to critical resources such as food and water leads to smaller home range sizes."

"Human disturbance and fragmentation of habitat in and around densely populated areas likely reduced the local forage and water resources available for giraffes, forcing individuals to increase their movements and use of space to obtain these resources," said Knusel. "Similarly, lower rainfall and lower primary productivity forces individuals to range more widely."

More information: Mara A. Knusel et al. Correlates of home range sizes of giraffes, Giraffa camelopardalis, Animal Behaviour (2019). Journal information: Animal Behaviour Mara A. Knusel et al. Correlates of home range sizes of giraffes, Giraffa camelopardalis,(2019). DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.01.017
French carmaker PSA, which produces the Peugeot brand, had a banner year in 2018, it announced on Tuesday

French auto giant PSA, which produces the Citroen and Peugeot brands, said Tuesday it had boosted its profit outlook after recording a "historic year" in 2018 despite the car industry facing "strong headwinds".

Ranked the second largest carmaker in Europe after Germany's Volkswagen, Paris-based Groupe PSA said its net profit rose 47 percent to a record 2.83 billion euros ($3.21 billion) in 2018, while recurring operating income soared 43 percent to 5.69 billion euros, also a new high.

The company said in a statement that it also posted a new record for revenue, which was up 18.9 percent to 74 billion euros, as well as for volume of sales.

PSA chairman Carlos Tavares hailed the "historic results" despite an "extremely chaotic 2018" for the car market.

But at a press conference on Tuesday he warned that the industry faced "even stronger headwinds".

The car industry is dealing with a series of challenges, including a slowing global economy, uncertainty over Brexit and new strict European Union emissions standards.

Because of the positive results, Tavares told Franceinfo radio that French employees who earn less than twice the minimum wage would receive a bonus of 3,810 euros, up 43 percent from last year.

PSA also said shareholders would be offered an increased dividend of 78 euro cents per share, a rise of 47 percent.

The group also announced a target operating margin of more than six percent by 2021 for its automotive activities, and a total of 4.5 percent in 2019-2021.

PSA chairman Carlos Tavares hailed the "historic results" despite an "extremely chaotic 2018" for the car market

The six-percent goal had previously only been a target for the Peugeot, Citroen and DS brands but now includes Opel and British-based Vauxhall, both of which PSA acquired from General Motors in 2017.

After the group acquired the two brands, they returned to profitability in less than 18 months following 20 years of losses.

Tavares said the forecasts were valid even in the most pessimistic scenariosincluding the possibility of Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal but "that will not prevent us from doing better if we can".

PSA said that without the Opel contribution, 2018 sales would have been down 12 percent due to the impact of fresh sanctions imposed on Iran by US President Donald Trump as well as a slump in China.

The company sold 3.88 million vehicles last year, up 6.8 percent from 2017.

Eighty percent of those sales were in Europe, compared to 65 percent in 2017, due to the popularity of its Peugeot and Citroen SUVs.

Tavares spoke of ambitions to grow sales outside Europe by 50 percent, including a Peugeot push in the United States announced in 2016.

But, he said, the company is waiting for clarity from the US on tariffs for the cars, which would be imported from factories in Europe and China.

Peugeot shares lost more than two percent in the Paris CAC 40 exhange in morning trading. However the stock remains nearly 20 percent higher over the last 12 months.

 2019 AFP
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Firms that publish complex or ambiguous annual reports might be trying to mask poor performance and could be inadvertently signalling a crash in their stock price, according to new research from the University of Alberta.

"Stock price crash risk is significantly higher for firms with less readable annual reports," said study co-author Ke Wang, an accounting professor in the Alberta School of Business. "This relation is stronger among firms that exhibit poor performance or unsustainable good performance, which is normally seen as bad news."

Wang explained corporate financial reports employ both numbers and narratives to tell the story of the firm's past, present and future. And though the Sarbanes-Oxley Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 2002 makes it harder to hide bad news simply by manipulating the bottom line in financial statements, firms still possess a certain poetic licence.

"Narratives provide free-form explanations for how the accounting numbers were presented as well as detailed descriptions of some business transactions or risk factors that are hard to explain solely with accounting numbers," he said.

For the study, Wang and his team gathered all 10-K reportsan annual financial report required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioncontaining at least 3,000 words filed between 1994 and 2014. Using a sample filtering procedure, the group ended up with 52,879 financial reports from 7,012 unique firms. The reports were fed into a high-powered text mining program designed to flag complex words and readability issues in an effort to screen for potential stock crash risk.

Ke's team defined a complex word as one with three or more syllables, minus a host of business-friendly wordssuch as corporation, company, directors, business, operations and telecommunications.

"We found the results to be consistent with the argument that managers can successfully hide adverse information by writing complex financial reports, which leads to stock price crashes when the hidden bad news accumulates and reaches a tipping point," he said.

And because corporate managers and CEOs are also driven by personal incentives when choosing how to maximize investors' perceptions of a firm's value, the more the firm's leaders have to lose, the more they will be inclined to complicate the financial picture.

"The research finds that the relation between annual report readability and future stock price crash risk is more significant when the firm's CEO holds more stock options of the firm, which props up stock prices," he said.

Wang added business and financial practitioners have been well trained to analyze risk and return, but training to identify and manage the varying degrees of risk is still in its infancy.

"However, using textual analysis techniques to identify potential factors for screening crash risk could be of practical relevance for risk management applications," he said.

The study, "Readability of 10-K Reports and Stock Price Crash Risk," was published in Contemporary Accounting Research.

Explore further CEOs profit from issuing negative news releases ahead of stock option grant dates

More information: Chansog Francis Kim et al. Readability of 10-K reports and stock price crash risk, Contemporary Accounting Research (2018). Chansog Francis Kim et al. Readability of 10-K reports and stock price crash risk,(2018). DOI: 10.1111/1911-3846.12452
Jeep vehicles are parked outside the Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019. Fiat Chrysler announced plans on Tuesday for a new Jeep factory, the city's first new auto plant in a generation, as part of a $4.5 billion manufacturing expansion in southeast Michigan. FCA said it would convert the Mack Avenue Engine factory to an assembly plant for the next-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee and make an investment at Jefferson North Assembly Plant to retool and modernize the factory for continued production of the Dodge Durango. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Fiat Chrysler on Tuesday announced a $4.5 billion plan to build the first new auto assembly plant in Detroit in almost three decades and increase its workforce in the area by about 6,500 jobs, an investment officials touted as an uncommon opportunity to revive the region's economy.

Under the plan, the company said it would reopen a shuttered engine plant in the city and convert another in the same complex into a future assembly plant for the Jeep Grand Cherokee and a new, three-row, full-size Jeep SUV and plug-in hybrid models for all.

The Motor City was once home to about a dozen massive auto production plants, but a rash of closures helped to push Detroit's unemployment rate to a peak of almost 29 percent a decade ago. The new Chrysler plant would be the first since 1991 and is expected to add 3,850 jobs. The company said in a news release that it would add another 1,100 new jobs at its Jefferson North Assembly plant in Detroit, and roughly 1,500 new jobs at facilities in the neighboring suburb of Warren.

The investment would roughly double FCA's hourly workforce in the city and the expected average wage for the new jobs is about $58,000 a year.

Speaking at a news conference after the announcement, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan called the deal a "once in a generational chance to change the economic" fortunes of Detroit. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said it has been a long time since Michigan has seen an automotive investment as "big and transformative" as Fiat Chrysler's plan.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announces plans for Fiat Chrysler to build a new assembly plant include $12 million in tax abatements over a dozen years and 200 acres of land during a news conference in Detroit, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019. Duggan's office said that the city will work with the state on other incentives for the automaker's $1.6 billion investment to convert its Mack Avenue Engine Complex into a new facility. The city has 60 days to get the land, 170 acres of which is owned by the city, a power utility, a public water authority and a family of prominent wealthy businessmen. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

The investment will also have a ripple effect, boosting the automotive industry and helping other non-auto businesses elsewhere in Michigan and other Midwest states, Whitmer said.

Fiat Chrysler said the additional investments are subject to tax incentive packages it was working out with the city and state of Michigan. The automaker would need about 200 acres (80 hectares) of land for the project, most owned by the city, Great Lakes Water Authority, DTE Energy and the Moroun family, which owns significant amounts of city real estate and the Ambassador Bridge that connects Michigan to Ontario, Canada.

City officials signed a memorandum of understanding with the automaker, and they were ironing out a deal to assemble land for the project over the next 60 days.

If enough land is acquired and the tax incentives approved, construction is expected to start later this year and the first new vehicles could be in production by the end of 2020.

The automaker's injection of money and jobs into the Motor City contrasts sharply with news from rival General Motors Co., which announced plans to shutter its Detroit-Hamtramck plant next year and plans to close four others in the U.S. and Canada.

Fiat Chrysler Chief Operating Officer Mark Stewart stands with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as he announces plans for Fiat Chrysler to build a new assembly plant include $12 million in tax abatements over a dozen years and 200 acres of land during a news conference in Detroit, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019. Mayor Mike Duggan's office said that the city will work with the state on other incentives for the automaker's $1.6 billion investment to convert its Mack Avenue Engine Complex into a new facility. The city has 60 days to get the land, 170 acres of which is owned by the city, a power utility, a public water authority and a family of prominent wealthy businessmen. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

City officials insisted they would help bring those 5,000 new jobs to the city without displacing any residents. In the early 1980s, thousands of people were relocated and a black and Polish neighborhood known as Poletown was razed for what became GM's Detroit-Hamtramck plant.

Fiat Chrysler's massive, multi-layered investment calls to mind online retailer Amazon, which last year had more than 230 municipalities competing for its second headquarters and offering billions of dollars in inducements. Northern Virginia and New York ultimately won the competition, but Amazon recently canceled the New York projectand some 25,000 promised jobsafter running into fierce opposition to those incentives from lawmakers and political activists on the left.

Fiat Chrysler's industrial overture to the Detroit area is not the same, said Kristen Dziczek, of the Center for Automotive Research, an industry think tank in Ann Arbor, Michigan. For the automaker, she said, it's akin to "investing with friends in Michigan they know very well." She noted that the city and state are likely to "come to the table with something good" because they see a realistic return on their investment. The city said it's offering $12 million in tax credits.

"You wouldn't find local opposition to this issue like in New Yorkpeople in Detroit and Michigan want auto jobs," Dziczek said. "(Fiat Chrysler) is not out there waving their dollars around saying, 'Who will give us the most incentives?' ... They weren't playing an incentive game. They were looking at a business case, and what makes sense."

Company officials said SUVs remain in demand, with strong sales and growth potential in domestic and overseas markets. The company's chief financial officer told investors in June that trucks and SUVs would account for 80 percent of revenue by 2022.

In this Monday, Jan. 14, 2019 file photo, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles FCA logo is shown at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Fiat Chrysler on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019 announced a $4.5 billion investment plan it said would increase its workforce in Detroit and the surrounding suburbs by about 6,500 jobs to build all-new or next-generation SUVs, (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, file)

Union leaders also praised the announcement.

"It is especially exciting because these are good union jobs that have been achieved through collective bargaining," United Auto Workers Vice President Cindy Estrada said in a statement. "We now look forward to working with the city and other community leaders on a community benefits agreement that reimagines our city and empowers our citizens to create sustainable communities with long-term viability."

Detroit's history has long been intertwined with the U.S. auto industry, with its attendant peaks and valleys.

Historically, Detroit's job losses have been reflected in its plummeting population. About 1.8 million people lived in Detroit in the 1950s and Detroit was the nation's fourth-biggest city in 1960. By 2016, it would rank 21st as the tens of thousands of the middle class fled to the suburbs. More whites moved away following a riot in 1967. The black middle class made a similar exodus in the following decade.

About the same time, the car plants that provided jobs and helped keep the city running were hiring fewer people. Around 1970, Detroit's unemployment rate was just over 7 percent. It reached 25 percent by 1990. In 2009, the unemployment rate was close to 29 percent.

Today, Detroit has fewer than 700,000 residents. But the city's unemployment rate last fall was down to about 8 percent.

Explore further Fiat Chrysler to open new plant in Detroit: report

 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
A spin wave spreading along a magnetic domain wall. Credit: HZDR / Juniks

In recent years, electronic data processing has been evolving in one direction only: The industry has downsized its components to the nanometer range. But this process is now reaching its physical limits. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) are therefore exploring spin waves, or so-called magnonsa promising alternative for transporting information in more compact microchips. Cooperating with international partners, they have successfully generated and controlled extremely short-wavelength spin waves. The physicists achieved this feat by harnessing a natural magnetic phenomenon, as they explain in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

For a long time, there has been one reliable rule of thumb in the world of information technology: The number of transistors on a microprocessor doubles approximately every two years. The resulting performance boost brought us the digital opportunities we now take for granted, from high speed internet to the smartphone. But as the conductors on the chip get ever more minute, we are starting to face problems, as Dr. Sebastian Wintz from HZDR's Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research explains: "The electrons that flow through our modern microprocessors heat up the chip due to electrical resistance. Beyond a certain point, the chips simply fail because the heat can no longer escape." This also prevents a further increase in the speed of the components.

This is why the physicist, who is also currently working at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland, envisions a different future for information carriers. Instead of electrical currents, Wintz and his colleagues are capitalizing on a specific property of electrons called spin. The tiny particles behave as if they were constantly rotating around their own axis, thus creating a magnetic moment. In certain magnetic materials, like iron or nickel, the spins are typically parallel to each other. If the orientation of these spins is changed in one place, that disruption travels to the neighboring particles, triggering a spin wave that can be used to encode and distribute information. "In this scenario, the electrons remain where they are," says Wintz, describing their advantage. "They hardly generate any heat, which means that spin-based components might require far less energy."

How can we control the wave?

So far, however, there have been two fundamental challenges complicating the use of spin waves: The wavelengths that can be generated are not short enough for the nanometer-sized structures on the chips, and there is no way of controlling the waves. Sebastian Wintz and his co-workers have now been able to find solutions to both problems. "Unlike the artificially made antennas that are commonly employed to excite the waves, we now use one that is naturally formed inside the material," first author Dr. Volker Sluka explains. "To this end, we fabricated micro-elements comprising two ferromagnetic disks that are coupled antiferromagnetically via a Ruthenium spacer. Furthermore, we chose the material of the disks so that the spins prefer to align along a particular axis in space, which results in the desired magnetic pattern."

Within the two layers, this creates areas of different magnetization separated by what is called a domain wall. The scientists then exposed the layers to magnetic fields alternating with a frequency of one gigahertz or higher. Using an X-ray microscope from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems Stuttgart, which is operated at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, they were able to observe that spin waves with parallel wave fronts travel along the direction perpendicular to the domain wall. "In previous experiments, the ripples of the wave looked like the ones you get when a pebble hits a water surface," Sluka reports. "This is not optimal, because the oscillation decays quickly as the wave spreads in all directions. To stay in the same analogy, the waves now look as if they were produced by a long rod moving back and forth in the water."

As the X-ray images have shown, these spin waves can travel several micrometers at wavelengths of only about 100 nanometers, without any significant loss of signala necessary prerequisite for using them in modern information technology. Moreover, the physicists have discovered a possible way to control this new information carrier when they set the stimulation frequency below half a gigahertz. The spin waves thus remained trapped in the domain wall: "In this scenario, the waves were even able to run in a curve," says Volker Sluka, adding: "Nevertheless we were still able to detect the signals." With their results, the researchers have laid important foundations for the further development of spin wave-based circuits.

In the long run, this might facilitate a completely novel design of microprocessors, Sebastian Wintz predicts: "Using magnetic fields, we can move domain walls relatively easily. That means that chips that work with spin waves don't necessarily need a predefined architecture, but they can later be changed and adapted to fulfill new tasks."

Explore further Short-wavelength spin waves generated directly for the first time

More information: Volker Sluka et al, Emission and propagation of 1D and 2D spin waves with nanoscale wavelengths in anisotropic spin textures, Nature Nanotechnology (2019). Journal information: Nature Nanotechnology Volker Sluka et al, Emission and propagation of 1D and 2D spin waves with nanoscale wavelengths in anisotropic spin textures,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41565-019-0383-4
Figure caption: Midsummer (July 21  26) hypoxic area (left) and hypoxic volume (right) in the northern Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone simulated by the Justic and Wang (2014) model for present day condition (2002, upper), for a 25% N reduction scenario (middle) and under a 50% N reduction scenario (lower). Color bars on the left denote bottom dissolved oxygen concentrations (mg/l); color bars on the right denote the thickness of the hypoxic layer (m). The solid black line in the upper left plot denotes the areal extent of hypoxia (dissolved oxygen < 2 mg/l) in bottom waters observed during the July 21  26, 2002, hypoxia monitoring cruise. Credit: Dubravko Justic

Dubravko Justic, the Texaco Distinguished Professor in the LSU Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences, and Research Associate Lixia Wang recently co-authored a study suggesting that measuring the volume rather than the area of the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone, is more appropriate for monitoring its effects on marine organisms.

The dead zone, a hypoxic zone, is a region of low oxygen that results from runoff of high nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, often found in fertilizer, flowing from the Mississippi River into the coastal ocean. It is the largest recurring hypoxic zone in the U.S., occurring most summers, and is located off the coast of Louisiana. This nutrient pollution, coupled with other factors, is believed to have a negative impact on fisheries because it depletes the oxygen required to support most marine life in bottom and near-bottom waters.

Since 2001, stakeholders have used hypoxic area measurements to set goals for limiting or reversing its size, but this new study shows that the hypoxic volume appears more responsive to reductions in nitrogen flowing into the northern Gulf of Mexico than the hypoxic area. The researchers' model simulations indicate that even with a 25 percent nitrogen load reduction, the thickness of the hypoxic layer in the northern Gulf of Mexico decreases markedly, and hypoxia remains localized to a relatively thin layer near the bottom that most fish and other mobile organisms can more effectively avoid.

Justic believes this should be considered when reviewing and potentially setting new hypoxia management goals.

"Understanding variability in hypoxic volume is relevant to assessing the effects of hypoxia on fish and fisheries, such as enhanced susceptibility to fishing due to an increased aggregation of fish avoiding hypoxic waters," Justic said.

Explore further What could cause the Mississippi Bight to become hypoxic?

More information: Donald Scavia et al, Hypoxic volume is more responsive than hypoxic area to nutrient load reductions in the northern Gulf of Mexicoand it matters to fish and fisheries, Environmental Research Letters (2018). Journal information: Environmental Research Letters Donald Scavia et al, Hypoxic volume is more responsive than hypoxic area to nutrient load reductions in the northern Gulf of Mexicoand it matters to fish and fisheries,(2018). DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aaf938
Tim Hinton came to last weeks meeting of the Howard County Commissioners with a problem.

At his home, he doesnt have access to high-speed internet. When his niece stays with him in the fall, she simply cant get her school work done there during eLearning days, and he is forced to take her to one of the local libraries so she can access the internet.

Soon, however, that problem may be fixed.

Hinton is far from alone in dealing with a lack of internet access. In fact, about 70 percent of Howard County has been qualified as underserved in terms of internet accessibility. But, within four years federal funding is expected to largely negate this issue, providing wireless internet access to rural Howard County residents.

That funding comes by way of the Federal Communications Commissions Connect (FCC) America Fund 2 (CAF 2). Its the second phase of an initiative that began in the early 2000s aimed at improving internet access in underserved markets.

In 2018 the FCC held an auction to dole out CAF 2 funding, where internet service providers would be tasked with putting infrastructure in place that would expand internet access. Watch Communications, based out of Lima, Ohio, won a bid to tackle Howard Countys market, aiming to improve internet accessibility for rural residents.

According to Frank Glaszner, vice president of sales and marketing for Watch Communications, census data was used to determine which areas are underserved, with about 70 percent of Howard County residents not meeting one of two thresholds set by the FCA, either 25 megabit download speeds with three megabit upload or 100 megabit download speeds with 20 upload. This problem persists in the county almost everywhere outside of Kokomos city limits.

Graszner said Howard Countys problem isnt unique either.

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This is a Midwest crisis for sure. This is a national crisis, but it is definitely a Midwest crisis, said Glaszner. I would say that Howard County, even though theyre very progressive, youre suffering from many of the same limitations.

The problem arises from low population density areas, typically rural, where internet service providers would struggle to recoup costs involved with infrastructure investment.

But now that Watch Communications has received $52.4 million in funding from the FCC, which will be utilized by the company to create internet infrastructure in Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois, work soon will be underway to correct the issue.

According to Glaszner, Watch Communications aims to begin putting infrastructure in the areas it won bids for in March, once it officially receives the CAF 2 funding. Forty percent of the markets Watch Communications won bids to build out must be completed within three years, and Glaszner said the goal is for the company to complete its work within four years from March, although the FCC mandates the work be done by the end of year six.

This work will be accomplished in several ways, either through partnering with local ISPs or constructing a wireless network itself. Glaszner said the goal is to select sites such as radio towers, grain elevators, or similar tall structures to operate a fixed wireless point off of. A fiber network may be built out to such a point, and the fixed wireless point will operate off of that connection.

Local government comes into play with Watch Communications meeting with Howard County officials to potentially select sites that the county can allow the provider to utilize as fixed wireless points.

If all goes according to plan, students, business owners, and farmers needing internet access to break down sensor data may soon be fairing much better in terms of connectivity.

Its part of our growth plan as a community, said Howard County Commissioner Paul Wyman. When you look at how far our community has come in the last 10 years, getting people in our rural areas connected is a natural part of that plan. So weve been looking for opportunities and ways to assist residences and businesses in those areas, and this seems like a real viable way to do it.
Assistant Professor Kyle McLean Credit: FSU /Bruce Palmer

The pros and cons of policing methods have been heavily debated for decades in the United States.

Now, a Florida State University-led team of researchers has created a model to measure the differences between two distinct approaches to policingthe warrior approach and the guardian approach.

Assistant Professor Kyle McLean said the conceptswhich attracted interest after the release of former President Barack Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing report in May 2015had largely been theory up until now. The findings were published in Justice Quarterly.

"The warrior vs. guardian concept always seemed like a cool idea," McLean said. "It sounded really good on paper, but we didn't know if it was true. We didn't have data to back it up. So, we decided to survey some officers to see if this was something real, that we could measure in an empirical way, and we did."

The warrior concept is associated with the idea of militarizing policing and is consistent with the traditional view of police workto search, chase and capture. However, the newer concept of guardian policing emphasizes social service, valuing community partnerships and establishing positive contacts.

For the study, researchers surveyed officers from police departments in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Tucson, Arizona. Survey participants received nine questions and were asked to indicate their agreement to a given survey item from 1, strongly disagree, to 5, strongly agree. For instance, one survey item asked, "as a police officer, I see myself primarily as a civil servant."

Officers were also provided a hypothetical scenario of a suspicious person walking in a park at night and asked about how they would respond.

The team found that warrior and guardian models are two distinct approaches to policing. However, officers were able to adopt both mentalities. They also found officers who scored higher on the guardian measure were more likely to value communication, while higher scores on the warrior measure revealed greater importance of physical control and more favorable attitudes toward excessive use of force.

McLean said the warrior mentality often leads to more use of force, making it more likely that the officer or the citizen gets injured.

"Research has shown the guardian mentality has very positive outcomes," McLean said. "While we recognize that you can hold a guardian and a warrior mentality at the same time, if you're not already emphasizing guardianship in some aspects of your work, you're not doing it to the best of your ability and possibly to the detriment of community relationships and well-being."

McLean said future research could explore positive outcomes of the warrior mentality and whether guardian and warrior mentalities and behavior can change over time.

"My hope is that this research will inform the debate and shift the focus to how policing can be changed," McLean said. "As we come to understand these officer mentalities, we can better improve officer training and police-citizen encounters in the field, which ultimately provides better police-community relations."

More information: Kyle McLean et al, Police Officers as Warriors or Guardians: Empirical Reality or Intriguing Rhetoric?, Justice Quarterly (2019). Journal information: Justice Quarterly Kyle McLean et al, Police Officers as Warriors or Guardians: Empirical Reality or Intriguing Rhetoric?,(2019). DOI: 10.1080/07418825.2018.1533031
Copernicus Sentinel-1 InSAR data shows ground uplift on the flank of Mount Agung, which is on the island of Bali in Indonesia. The data show uplift between August and November 2017, prior to the eruption of Mount Agung on 27 November. The eruption was preceded by a wave of small earthquakes. A team led by Bristol Universitys School of Earth Sciences in the UK used radar data from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 radar mission and the technique of InSAR to map ground motion, which may be indicate that fresh magma is moving beneath the volcano. Their research provides the first geophysical evidence that Agung and the neighbouring Batur volcano may have a connected plumbing system. Credit: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2017), processed by University of Bristol/COMET

When Mount Agung in Indonesia erupted in 2017, the search was on to find out why it had stirred. Thanks to information on ground deformation from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission, scientists now have more insight into the volcano's hidden secrets that caused it to reawaken.

After lying dormant for more than 50 years, Mount Agung on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali rumbled back to life in November 2017, with smoke and ash causing airport closures and stranding thousands of visitors.

Fortunately, it was preceded by a wave of small earthquakes, signalling the imminent eruption and giving the authorities time to evacuate around 100 000 people to safety.

The prior event in 1963, however, claimed almost 2000 lives and was one of the deadliest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century. Knowing Agung's potential for devastation, scientists have gone to great lengths to understand this volcano's reawakening.

And, Agung has remained active, slowly erupting on and off since 2017.

Bali is home to two active stratovolcanoes, Agung and Batur, but relatively little is known of their underlying magma plumbing systems. A clue came from the fact that Agung's 1963 eruption was followed by a small eruption at its neighbouring volcano, Batur, 16 km away.

A paper published recently in Nature Communications describes how a team of scientists, led by the University of Bristol in the UK, used radar data from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission to monitor the ground deformation around Agung.

Sentinel-1: seeing through clouds. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab

Their findings may have important implications for forecasting future eruptions in the area, and indeed further afield.

They used the remote sensing technique of interferometric synthetic aperture radar, or InSAR, where two or more radar images over the same area are combined to detect slight surface changes.

Tiny changes on the ground cause differences in the radar signal and lead to rainbow-coloured interference patterns in the combined image, known as a SAR interferogram. These interferograms can show how land is uplifting or subsiding.

Juliet Biggs from Bristol University's School of Earth Sciences, said, "Using radar data from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 radar mission and the technique of InSAR, we are able to map any ground motion, which may indicate that fresh magma is moving beneath the volcano."

In study, which was carried out in collaboration with the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation in Indonesia, the team detected uplift of about 810 cm on Agung's northern flank during the period of intense earthquake activity prior to the eruption.

Fabien Albino, also from Bristol's School of Earth Sciences and who led the research, added, "Surprisingly, we noticed that both the earthquake activity and the ground deformation signal were five kilometres away from the summit, which means that magma must be moving sideways as well as vertically upwards.

"Our study provides the first geophysical evidence that Agung and Batur volcanoes may have a connected plumbing system.

This image of Mount Agung on the Indonesian island of Bali was captured on 2 July 2018 by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission. After being dormant for 50 years, Mount Agung erupted in November 2017. It has continued to erupt on and off since then  a bright orange spot can be seen in the volcanos crater. Recent research provides evidence that Agung and the neighbouring Batur volcano, visible northwest of Agung, may have a connected magma plumbing system. Credit: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2018), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

"This has important implications for eruption forecasting and could explain the occurrence of simultaneous eruptions such as in 1963."

Part of European Union's fleet of Copernicus missions, Sentinel-1 is a two-satellite constellation that can provide interferometric information every six days  important for monitoring rapid change.

Each satellite carries an advanced radar instrument that can image Earth's surface through cloud and rain and regardless of whether it is day or night.

ESA's Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission manager, Pierre Potin, noted, "We see the mission is being used for a multitude of practical applications, from mapping floods to charting changes in ice.

"Understanding processes that are going on below the ground's surface  as demonstrated by this new research  is clearly important, especially when these natural processes can put people's lives and property at risk."

There are four Copernicus Sentinel missions in orbit so far, each carries state-of-the-art technology to deliver a stream of complementary imagery and data to monitor and manage the environment. Importantly, the data are free and open to users worldwide.

The image on the right, for example, is from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission, offering a 'camera-like' view of the Agung and Batur volcanoes.

While the European Union is at the helm of Copernicus, ESA develops, builds and launches the dedicated Sentinel satellites. It also operates some of the missions and ensures the availability of data from third party missions contributing to the Copernicus programme.

Explore further Satellite images reveal interconnected plumbing system that caused Bali volcano to erupt

More information: F Albino et al, 'Dyke intrusion between neighbouring arc volcanoes responsible for 2017 pre-eruptive seismic swarm at Agung'. Nature Communications. 2019 Journal information: Nature Communications F Albino et al, 'Dyke intrusion between neighbouring arc volcanoes responsible for 2017 pre-eruptive seismic swarm at Agung'.2019
The citys justice chief said on Tuesday the governments proposal to hand over fugitives to mainland China, Taiwan and Macau was necessary to plug legal loopholes.

Speaking for the first time since the Security Bureau revealed the plan two weeks ago, Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah said the proposed plan would prevent suspects from using the city as a haven to evade justice.

[The new law] allows us to instigate related procedures as early as possible to hand over suspects to other jurisdictions. Overall, it is a good thing, Cheng told reporters at Hong Kong International Airport after a two-day trip to Beijing, where she met the vice-presidents of the Supreme Peoples Court. Justice would be seen to be done.

During the visit, Cheng also met the director general of the Department of Treaty and Law of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss matters related to dispute resolution services in the Greater Bay Area and Belt and Road-related regions.

The United States top envoy to Hong Kong warned that the proposed changes to the law could hurt bilateral arrangements for legal assistance between the city and the US if the wording of the law was not right.

In a TVB interview on Tuesday, US Consul General Kurt Tong stressed that the details in this kind of thing really matter.

There is a possibility that if it is structured in certain ways, then that could have some impact on the implementation of our bilateral arrangement between the US and Hong Kong, said Tong, who was quick to add: But I dont want to prejudge that.

Hong Kong and the US signed an agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters in 2000.

A Taiwanese official said last week that the Taipei government would not sign any extradition deal with Hong Kong that would have potential implications for the one-China principle, under which both Beijing and Taipei have laid claim to be the legitimate government of China.

Story continues

Huang Ting-hui, who is tasked with handling affairs concerning Hong Kong, Macau, Inner Mongolia and Tibet at the Mainland Affairs Council, also stressed that any act aimed at destroying the national sovereignty of the self-governing island would not be deemed acceptable.

Pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong have also opposed the plan in light of the mainlands human rights record, but the security minister John Lee Ka-chiu stressed the proposal was about securing justice.

On February 12, the Security Bureau revealed its plan to tweak the law to allow the surrender of fugitives to any jurisdiction the city does not have an extradition deal with, including Macau, Taiwan and the mainland.

Under the proposal, extradition requests would be handled on a case-by-case basis, with the citys chief executive issuing a certificate to start the transfer of a fugitive. The final say on granting the arrest and eventual transfer would remain with the courts.

The Hong Kong government said the change is aimed at plugging loopholes exposed by a homicide case in February last year in which Taiwanese authorities were unable to prosecute a Hongkonger accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend in Taipei before fleeing to Hong Kong.

Taiwans request for his surrender to stand trial on murder charges could not be processed in the absence of a formal extradition arrangement between the two jurisdictions.

This article Proposal to hand over fugitives to mainland China, Taiwan and Macau is necessary, says Hong Kong justice minister Teresa Cheng first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019.
THE National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) has removed over 650,000 campaign materials all over Metro Manila.NCRPO Director Major General Guillermo Eleazar urged the candidates to also do their

At least 10 members of cause-oriented groups, including a University professor, are set to face charges for allegedly destroying the front gate of the Police Regional Office 7 during a rally in commemoration of the 33rd anniversary of the People Power Revolution on Monday, Feb. 25.

Included in the list is Dr. Phoebe Zoe Maria Sanchez, a professor of the University of the Philippines (UP) Cebu, who will also be facing an administrative complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas. Sanchez is the chairperson of Karapatan-Central Visayas.

Those involved in the destruction of our front gate, they were caught in our CCTV cameras. We will research and identify them then file a case against them to show them that it is not right to destroy government property, said PRO 7 director Chief Supt. Debold Sinas.

But Jaime Paglinawan of Bayan Muna Central Visayas said they were not surprised that the police will sue them claiming they were only exercising their right to peaceful assembly and express their sentiments against the national government.

Sinas said they did not allow the group to stage a rally as they sometimes cause traffic in uptown Cebu City.

But with the camp's gate destroyed, Sinas said he will make steps to bar demonstrations in the area.

Sinas even defended the move of his personnel to play the theme song of "Voltes V," a popular Japanese anime television series back in the '70s, from being played while the protest was ongoing.

Sanchez earlier said the police were "very rude" for playing the music so loud. They tried to drown our voices with their sound system. They were very rude. They wanted to kill the spirit of Edsa. The boundary of the headquarters is the gate. We were standing on public property, Sanchez said.

They are lucky I was not there. Because if I was, I will personally arrest them, Sinas told reporters.

He threatened that if more rallyists will stage a protest at the PRO 7, he will not hesitate to use the sound system again.

Story continues

Paglinawan said what the police did was a clear indication they will no longer allow rallyists like him to assemble and to exercise their right to express their opinions.

Paglinawan said the local police are becoming more aggressive against them, especially that their demonstrations are focused on the police's bloody campaign against illegal drugs in the region.

Earlier, Paglinawan and other members of cause oriented groups vowed to file charges against police officers who allegedly bullied them while they were conducting their program outside the PRO7 headquarters. (From AYB of Superbalita Cebu/JKV)
SOMETIMES, a scare is just a scare. The bad thing with scares, though, is that the scare makers can be scary themselves.Nevertheless, measles continue to be a vaccine-preventable disease in children. Research

SOMETIMES, a scare is just a scare. The bad thing with scares, though, is that the scare makers can be scary themselves.

Nevertheless, measles continue to be a vaccine-preventable disease in children. Research literature states that its complications are relatively low, compared to varicella (chicken pox). The Public Health Reports (February 2019, E. Conis) referred to measles as a mild to moderate disease of childhood. Its complications are less severe compared to such familiar diseases as small pox, polio and diphtheria. Countries (developed, developing or underdeveloped) around the world today are targeting measles for eradication.

So, how does vaccination eradicate measles in the Philippines? The key effect here is the development of the childrens protective immune system.

First, measles vaccines contain non-infecting forms of the measles virus or its closer species that can elicit a specific antibody against the measles virus. Second, when a child is vaccinated, the non-infecting virus, which enter the childs body, stimulate the production of antibodies against these harmless organisms. Third, since God designed the human body to be a capable self-protector internally, the childs bloodparticularly those active in self-protection (the immune system)develops specific capabilities to destroy the non-infecting virus. The body destroys foreign organisms in the body as an instinct for survival. The blood components involved in this function are the so-called white blood cells. They are far smaller than the red blood cells that make our blood look red. Fourth, each time a child is vaccinated, the number of white blood cells that are capable of fighting measles increase significantly, so that when the measles virus attacks the child, these white blood cells quickly destroys the measles virus. Thus, the child will not show symptoms of measles infection. That means, the child is now immune to measles.

Last, when enough vaccination doses are given in a span of months as the doctor recommends, the measles-fighting white blood cells become a normal population among other white blood cells in the childs body. That makes the child immune to measles eventually for life.

When all Filipinos have those measles-fighting white blood cells, then measles can then become eradicated in the Philippines. It is so not because the measles virus has disappeared but because Filipinos are now invulnerable to the measles virus.
MISS Universe 2018 Catriona Gray went to the Senate Tuesday, February 26, to pay a courtesy call on senators.The beauty queen was received by Senate President Vicente Sotto III, and Senators Nancy Binay

MISS Universe 2018 Catriona Gray went to the Senate Tuesday, February 26, to pay a courtesy call on senators.

The beauty queen was received by Senate President Vicente Sotto III, and Senators Nancy Binay and Gregorio Honasan, who commended Gray for bringing "great honor, glory and recognition" to the country.

Sotto and Binay earlier filed resolutions commending Gray for her victory.

Gray won the Miss Universe 2018 pageant held in Bangkok, Thailand last December. She is the fourth Filipina to win the crown. The three others were Gloria Diaz (1969), Margarita Moran (1973), and Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach (2015).

In a speech Tuesday, February 26, Gray said it gives her "great joy to see the joy that I brought to our nation."

"I will continue this year to hold the Filipino at very high standard to the international audience and also to continue to pursue my advocacies," she added.

Gray asked for the Senate's continued support "in empowering young Filipinos just like me to be able to give back to their community in their own facets, in their own ways."

Gray arrived in the country last February 15 and a grand homecoming for her was held last February 21. (LMY/SunStar Philippines)
THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) believes the floating cocaine recovered recently belongs to the Colombian drug cartel, which has expanded its operation in the country.PDEA Chief Aaron Aquino

THE Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) believes the floating cocaine recovered recently belongs to the Colombian drug cartel, which has expanded its operation in the country.

PDEA Chief Aaron Aquino said Tuesday, February 25, the cocaine recovered off Sorsogon in 2018 contained ethyl acetate and methyl ethyl ketone  two chemicals that are traditionally used by Colombian drug manufacturers.

"Tama ang ating Presidente (Rodrigo Duterte) nung sinabi niya na pumapasok na ang Colombian drug cartel sa atin kasi based doon sa nakuha nating representative sample sa Matnog, Sorsogon, noong 2018, lumalabas na ito ay nagawa sa Colombia," Aquino said.

(President Rodrigo Duterte was right when he said the Colombian drug cartel is operating in the country, because based on the cocaine samples we got from Matnog, Sorsogon in 2018, it seemed the cocaine was manufactured in Colombia.)

Following the discovery of cocaine bricks in the countrys shoreline, Duterte said the Medellin group of Colombia has expanded operations in the Philippines. This, he added, is a serious problem.

Duterte said the illegal drugs were produced in old trawlers and were thrown into the sea with a GPS attached for retrieval.

"We are in danger dahil (because) on the right side, ang Mexico, ang Medellin, Colombia, pumapasok (drugs from Mexico, Medellin, Colombia enter the country). Dito kung makikita mo, lumulutang shabu, cocaine. At mahirap ang Pilipinas dahil pinakamahabang shoreline (Here in the Philippines, you'll see floating shabu and cocaine, and the Philippines has the longest shoreline)," Duterte said.

"Kulang tayo. So I cannot afford na may isang patrol dito, island per island, ganun kahirap (We don't have the manpower. So I cannot afford to put patrols in different islands. That's how difficult it is)," he added.

According to the Philippine National Police, since February 10, 164.81909 kilos of cocaine worth P871,654,226 were recovered in the country's eastern seaboards.

But Aquino said only two or three percentage of drug users in the Philippines prefer to use cocaine as compared to shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride), marijuana and ecstasy, which is the top three drug substance in the country.

He said it is also possible that the Philippines is being used as a transshipment point of drug cartels. (SunStar Philippines)
Unbeknown to some local voters during last years election, their votes truly didnt count.

Last week the Howard County Clerks Office announced 1,148 ballots had been discovered in a filing cabinet in the courthouse months after the conclusion of last years General Election. Those ballots  amounting to unopened ballot envelopes from early voting at the Government Center and mail-in ballots  remained uncounted during the tenure of the previous Howard County clerk, Kim Wilson, who was replaced this year by Debbie Stewart.

After a court order was filed last week, the ballots were counted and added to last years certified vote totals. They were determined to have not impacted any of the races final results.

According to a release from the clerk, the ballots were discovered in an election room used to store unopened ballots that required a key from a Democrat and a Republican. Inside the election room, the uncounted ballots were located in a ballot storage cabinet that also required a key from both parties, as well as the clerk. During elections, ballots are stored in such cabinets and opened by a representative from both parties for counting on Election Day.

The ballots were discovered in the bottom three of the five cabinet drawers on Jan. 21, and according to Stewart, they were secured in totes with seals, which remained unopened prior to the county receiving a court order to open and count the ballots last week.

News of the discovery, however, was not released until after the ballots had been counted. The added votes did not alter any of the previous elections totals.

We wanted everything to be completely done and finalized before we actually put out a press release. That way we knew when we did the press release there was no change in the races and that all of the totals, said Stewart.

The only race close enough to potentially be altered by the added votes was that of the Center Township Board.

The Center Township Board election results certified in November were:

5,593 votes  Linda Koontz  R

4,694 votes  Natalie Guest  D

4,242 votes  Steve Geiselman  D

4,122 votes  David Ancil  R

4,112 votes  Napoleon Leal, Jr.  R

4,031 votes  Brian West  D

After counting the 594 previously unopened ballots cast within the Center Township district, the results were:

5,811 votes  Linda Koontz  R

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4,856 votes  Natalie Guest  D

4,394 votes  Steve Geiselman  D

4,296 votes  David Ancil  R

4,286 votes  Napoleon Leal, Jr.  R

4,171 votes  Brian West  D

According to Stewart, the ballots went uncounted under the authority of Wilson, a Republican, and the error was due to no one double checking the ballot cabinets prior to finalizing vote totals.

Its just procedures. Once we have everything counted you go back and you double check to make sure youve emptied all the drawers before all of the final totals are given, said Stewart. That just wasnt done. The procedure just wasnt followed. I wasnt there, so I cant really say why.

Going forward, Stewart said shes implementing a formal policy where the election room must be closed out on Election Day with both a Democrat and Republican official signing out on the room being cleared.

News of the discovered ballots drew reactions from both the Howard County Republican Party and Howard County Democratic Party.

Democrats took aim at Wilson in a statement, lambasting the former clerk for the error.

Our first reaction to this situation is one of disappointment and sadness. The sanctity of the ballot box is one of the most precious things in the United States, said Kathy Skiles, the chair of the Howard County Democratic Party. Each and every voter should be able to walk into the polling place with the confidence that his or her vote will count.

The former Republican elected clerk failed to ensure this. We would encourage the current clerk to put in place safeguards to ensure this does not happen again and show how the office will be open and transparent. The validity of our elections should never be called into question.

The party also questioned why news of the discovery wasnt released until after the ballots had been counted via a court order and why among those invited to attend the recount was Paul Wyman, a Howard County Commissioner who won reelection last without facing an opponent in the General Election.

In addition to Wyman, attending the recount were Stewart, Democrat election worker Jill Quackenbush, Democrat Election Board Member Derick Steele, Democrat Election Board Assistant Kelly Giles, and County Attorney Alan Wilson.

This incident reinforces our belief that the clerks office has been fraught with incompetence and a lackadaisical attitude for years, especially from the former clerk, said Skiles. Our hope is that future elections will be protected and taken more seriously.

Howard County Republican Party Chair Jamie Bolser said she wasnt made aware of the discovered ballots until Friday when the clerks release went out. She commended Stewart for her handling of the situation.

As I began looking into this, it appears that everything since discovering the ballots has been handled correctly and with full transparency, said Bolser.

I commend newly-elected Clerk Debbie Stewart for bringing this information forward with full transparency and due process. I am encouraged to hear that Republicans and Democrats have worked collectively to ensure these discovered ballots have been handled with great care and concern. I am relieved to know that the results of these ballots do not change the outcome of the election. After speaking with Clerk Stewart, I learned that she has already implemented procedures to ensure the integrity of the election process and the handling of early ballots is restored.
Nigeria seeking nearly US$20 billion from international oil majors in back taxes could delay the approval of a major offshore oil project, Shells Upstream Director Andy Brown told Reuters on Tuesday.

Nigeria has asked the oil majors operating in the country to pay a total of almost US$20 billion in outstanding taxes and royalties that it says is owed to various Nigerian states, Reuters reported last week, citing government and industry sources.

Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Total, Eni, and Equinor have each been asked to pay the federal Nigerian government between US$2.5 billion and US$5 billion, according to Reuters sources who saw letters sent to the oil majors earlier this year via a government debt-collection division.

Shell, a major investor in Nigerias oil industry, will have to take the tax claim seriously, but we think it has no merits, Brown told Reuters on the sidelines of the International Petroleum Week conference in London on Tuesday.

The oil major, however, will have to resolve that tax claim issue with Nigeria before considering the final investment decision (FID) on the Bonga South West oil project, the manager said, noting that the FID may slip into next year.

Earlier this month, Shells Nigerian unit, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo), announced the Invitation to Tender (ITT) to contractors for the development of the Bonga South West Aparo (BSWA) oil field. The tender is for engineering, procurement, and construction contracts for the 150,000-bpd project in the Gulf of Guinea.



Related: Saudi Arabia Aims To Become Large Natural Gas Exporter

This is a new vista for deep offshore oil and gas exploration in Nigeria based on a revised commercial framework embraced by government and the project investors, SNEPCos Managing Director, Bayo Ojulari, said on February 14.

We now have a clear commercial framework, supported by the government and project investors, toward a potential Bonga South West Aparo Final Investment Decision (FID), Ojulari said.

While a new offshore Nigerian project could be delayed, Shell is looking to fast-track the development of the Whale discovery in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Brown told Reuters today.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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The Securities and Exchange Commission has asked a judge to hold Elon Musk in contempt for violating a deal the regulator struck with the Tesla chief executive last year, which requires him to get the approval of the Tesla board of directors before tweeting anything that could be material to investors, Bloomberg reports.

The tweet that prompted the SEC move said that Tesla will manufacture half a million cars this year. The tweet, however, was quickly followed by another one, clarifying that 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.

The SECs approach to a judge sent Tesla shares down 5.4 percent in after-hours trading and could lead to trouble for Twitter fan Musk.

"Having your CEO in contempt of an SEC action is a pretty bad thing, Bloomberg quoted the director of a corporate governance center at Delaware University as saying. They settled with him and within a few months hes back to doing similar things. Its unbelievable."

Musk first drew the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission last summer when the Tesla CEO said on Twitter he was planning to take the company private and had already secured funding.

It was this phrase, funding secured, that alerted the Securities and Exchange Commission, which launched a probe into this claim, prompting Musk to come forward with the revelation that he had for years been in talks with the Saudi sovereign wealth fund to take the company private.

Yet the tweet and the following explanation caused changes in the Tesla stock price within two days, which allegedly affected shareholders who bought Tesla stock in the period.

Now, Musk is facing a range of possible penalties, the harshest of which would be his removal from the chief executive seat and barring him from running another public company for a set period of time.



By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Forces loyal to Libyas eastern strongman General Khalifa Haftar have killed at least 19 people in southern Libya during their campaign to secure oil fields in the area, Mohamed Linu, a member of Libyas internationally recognized Parliament, told Al Jazeera late on Sunday.

The forces killed civilians, including children, and set fire to houses in the town of Murzuq, the Libyan MP told Al Jazeera.

Last month, forces loyal to Haftar and his self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) said that they had started a military operation to secure oil sites and facilities in Libyas south, where the countrys largest oil field, Sharara, is located.

In early February, a unit of forces loyal to Libyas UN-backed government in Tripoli was sent south to secure the Sharara oil field.

The Sharara oil field has the capacity to pump 340,000 bpd, but has been under force majeure since December 9, 2018, after armed militia and tribesmen seized control and demanded ransom to re-open it.

More than two months later, Sharara remains offline, and Libyas National Oil Corporation (NOC), which refuses to yield to ransom demands, said in December that Oil production will now only restart at Sharara after alternative security arrangements are put in place.

Earlier this month, the forces loyal to Khalifa said that they had taken control over Sharara and that the oil field was secured and ready to restart oil production.

The same eastern forces said last week that they had taken control over another oil field in the south, El Feel, which hadnt stopped pumping oil. Production was not affected and continued at 75,000 bpd, a field engineer told Reuters.

On Sunday, NOCs chairman Mustafa Sanalla, however, rebuffed claims by LNA that Sharara was secure and ready to resume operations.

The oil field is not secure yet and remains closed because an armed group is still there, Reuters quoted Sanalla as saying in a video.



By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Japanese refiners are in a rush to buy as much Iranian crude as they can before the sanction waiver window granted by the U.S. Treasury Department closes in May, S&P Global Platts reports, citing unnamed sources.

The sources said local refiner Cosmo Oil had ordered a cargo of 900,000 barrels of Iranian heavy crude, to be loaded early next month and this will likely be the last cargo of Iranian crude to be shipped to Japan.

Japan last year suspended all purchases of Iranian crude in anticipation of the sanction waiver it received from the United States in November but has been slow to resume imports of the commodity once the waiver was secured.

Japan refinery industry insiders said late last year that they were planning to resume imports of Iranian crude in early 2019, with Trade Minister Hiroshige Seki telling Reuters in November It would be up to the judgment of private firms, but based on this decision, the (Japanese) companies would likely prepare for resuming Iran crude imports.

Japan is one of Irans largest oil importers, but it is also the United States staunchest ally in Asiaand the combination of the two has not worked to Tokyos advantage. While the government has been trying to secure a waiver from the U.S. State Department, the Japanese economy seems to be dependent enough on U.S. lending to make local refiners extra-cautious.

Now, as Washington reiterates its zero-exports policy towards Tehran, Japanese refiners are apparently trying to make the most of what window they have before the sanctions snap back.

"The US policy is to drive Iranian exports to zero," a State Department official said at a news conference in Tokyo. "That policy has not changed. We are unwavering in our policy." However, Francis Fannon, assistant secretary at the Bureau of Energy Resources added it was too early to say whether the U.S. would consider granting waiver extensions to Irans biggest oil clients.



By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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The city of Munich in southern Germany plans have all its electricity produced from 100 percent renewable sources by 2025, but that plan has led to opposition much farther northin Norway.

Munich, Germanys third most populous city and one of the countrys most important economic hubs, set in 2009 the ambitious goal of achieving 100 percent renewable energy supply by 2025.

However, Munich cant produce on its own solar and wind power enough to generate all-renewables electricity supply for the city of more than 1.3 million residents. The state in which Munich is located, Bavaria, has imposed restrictions on new wind developments, further complicating Munichs efforts to go all-green electricity by 2025. So the citys utility has invested in wind projects abroadin Norway, from where electricity will be exported to Germany.

However, the wind projects in Norway have stirred opposition from environmentalists, hikers, and an indigenous minority in Norway, because the wind farms are set up in sensitive areas, German news outlet Welt Online reports.

Norway has only 12 percent wilderness left, and this area is shrinking, Clean Energy Wire quoted Per Hanasand, chairman of the Norwegian hiking and trekking association, as telling Welt Online.

The wind farm developments in sensitive areas in Norway are even more controversial because all the electricity produced is exported, according to Welt Online.

Most of Norways electricity generation comes from hydropower, which had a 93.9-percent share of Norways electricity production in December 2018, according to the statistics office. The rest of Norways electricity generation came from wind power, 3.9 percent, and from thermal power, 2.2 percent.

Last month, Germany became the latest large European economy to lay out a plan to phase out coal-fired power generation, aimed at cutting carbon emissions. A government-appointed special commission at Europes largest economy proposed Germany to shut all its 84 coal-fired power plants by 2038. While Germany will mostly seek to replace coal capacity with renewables, the countrys suppliers of natural gasincluding Norwayexpect to benefit from the coal exit.



By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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More than eight million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil is sitting in tankers as U.S. sanctions are preventing the country from selling the commodity worth about half a billion dollars, Bloomberg reports, adding this is happening amid dwindling heavy crude supply globally that has seen the traditional premium of light crude to heavy dissipate.

The cargoes, distributed among 16 tankers off the Venezuelan coast, hold crude oil belonging to PDVSA but also to Chevron, Valero Energy, and Rosneft: all PDVSA partners in production joint ventures. The crude had to be moved to tankers, sources told Bloomberg, to clear up storage space at the JVs upgraders that convert the heavy crude into liquid that can be utilized in refineries.

Even with the move, the upgraders are operating at reduced production rates with buyers for the backlog few and far between. This coincides with OPEC cutting heavy oil production specifically as part of its agreement to prop up prices again. Canada, for its part, is still struggling with lack of export infrastructure and curbing production to maintain a reasonable price level for its heavy crude. As a consequence, the global supply of heavy crude is dwindling faster than perhaps expected.

For now it is resulting in price anomalies, but it could create an actual shortage of heavy crude as demand for these grades picks up later this year, ahead of the January 2020 entry into effect of the new lower-sulfur emission rules of the International maritime Organization.

Meanwhile, the discount of heavy crude to benchmarks has narrowed significantly, and its not impossible that it might become a premium at some point: Bloomberg notes that Colombias heavy crude blend Castilla for delivery next month traded at just US$4 per barrel below Brent. This compares with a discount of US$9.80 per barrel for February cargoes.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Iraqs semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan continues to keep oil exports and economic relations with Iran despite the U.S. sanctions on Tehran, a spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has said.

We cannot abandon our historic connection just because of a political decision, the NRT news outlet quoted KRG spokesperson Safin Dizayee as saying to Jame Kurdi.

Kurdistan and Iran have common economic, political, security, social, and cultural interests, according to the KGR spokesman.

Kurdistan plans to honor all existing contracts but the decision is not entirely in the hands of the Kurdistan government, Dizayee said.

As far as I am aware, there are talks between the government in Baghdad and the Americans regarding the sanctions on Iran, but that no decision has been made by the central government, the KRG spokesman was quoted as saying.

Nearly two weeks ago, the KRG ordered an immediate stop to all crude oil and refined oil product exports from Kurdistan to Iran, after complaints from the U.S. government which looks to tighten the sanctions on Tehran.

At the end of last week, however, exports via tanker trucks from Kurdistan to Iran resumed after the KRG relaxed the initial export ban.

The KRGs Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) issued on February 20 exceptions to the ban from the previous week, allowing exports of oil and oil products originating from Kurdistan to Iran to resume.

The initial ban on all exports was the result of U.S. pressure on Kurdish officials to stop oil exports to Iran, a source close to the Iranians told Kurdish news outlet Rudaw last week.

An industry source who spoke to Rudaw on condition of anonymity also said that American pressure was indeed behind the ban.

Meanwhile, Irans Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said in an interview with the Persian-language Jomhouri Eslami newspaper that the U.S. could extend the waivers (or some of those waivers) for Iranian oil customers to prevent extreme oil price volatility and high oil prices.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Thailands natural gas depletion problems are causing the southeast Asian country to make significant changes to its energy mix. The capacity of non-hydro renewables in Thailand may expand to 21 percent of the country s total power capacity mix at 14,858 MW by 2028, according to a recent report by Fitch Solutions. The report projected that capacity growth in the renewables sector to be robust over the next decade, mostly driven by the biomass and solar sectors as the country mitigates the loss of its natural gas reserves.

This view is also informed by our expectation that coal-fired power growth will stagnate amidst popular opposition, meaning that there are ample opportunities for renewables as the Thai government seeks to deliver increased power sector investment to meet rising electricity demand in the country, Fitch Solutions added. The Fitch report also highlighted how local authorities are aiming to raise the share of renewable energy from 10 percent to 30 percent in the domestic power mix by 2037 through the countrys Power Development Plan (PDP2018-2037).

Though Thailand is going long on renewables, it is still planning to invest $11.3 billion (354.7 billion baht) over the next five years to boost its natural gas portfolio and energy infrastructure, Thai state-owned energy firm PTT said last week at a news conference. The Bangkok-based company plans to invest 167.1 billion baht from 2019 to 2023, of which 44 percent will be allocated to expand its gas business and firm up infrastructure, the state-owned oil major said. We want to become a global LNG portfolio player ... and build an LNG value chain, a spokeswoman said, adding that the companys upstream arm, PTT Exploration, and Production, would acquire assets while other units would focus on building LNG import terminals, liquefaction and regasification plants. Related: Empty Supertankers Speak Volumes About The Oil Market

PTT added that natural gas is becoming a primary energy source for Thailand because it is easier to transport, cleaner and has lower costs. It said that PTT also set aside an additional 187.6 billion baht to invest in new technologies and expand its core business should opportunities arise. We have to build energy security for the country and also add value to from our petrochemical products, it added. Areas of investment include expansion of petrochemical products capacity and its electricity business.

As part of Thailands effort to develop its LNG sector, PTT said last month that it is planning to start an LNG trading desk in Singapore to expand its trading activities of the super-chilled fuel. Singapore is becoming a regional trading hub for the super-cooled fuel, but in time will also face competition from Tokyo and possibly Singapore as regional LNG trading hubs.

Running out of gas

Thailands natural gas reserves have continually declined since 2006. The countrys gas production peaked in 2014 and has also declined since then, according to the US Energy Information Administrations latest analysis of the countrys energy sector. The Thai government anticipates an overall decline in output if there are no new discoveries in the next few years. Unless Thailand can attract more exploration investment and replace reserves at a faster rate, it will increasingly rely on natural gas imports, the EIA added. Last week, PTT reported a net profit of 119.7 billion baht for 2018, down 11.5 percent from a year earlier. Gas accounted for about a third of operating income, bringing in 76 billion baht, up 12.8 percent.

Thailands interest in procuring more LNG will help soak up extra supply hitting markets in the Asia-Pacific region which accounts for 72 percent of global LNG demand. This new supply will be mostly coming from Australia, the US and Qatar - which will all compete for the slot as the worlds top LNG exporter within the next several years.

By Tim Daiss for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was on Instagram Live the other day and talked about how young people are facing a moral dilemma about having kids given the state of the climate.



It's such a relief to hear other people articulating this thought. IA, with the way things are going right now it does not seem moral to me to birth a child. It just doesn't. Like maybe if the political climate was different and the world was actually making positive strides towards fighting climate change I could see having a child, but the reverse seems to be happening right now.

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ITA

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Yea this is also a big thing with millennials. People can't even afford to buy a house or live without roommates, how can they afford a kid?

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Older people don't get it. A lot of people in their 30s or younger are saddled with student loan debt, housing is so fucking expensive, and salaries aren't increasing.



I never wanted kids, but I've also realized recently I've never been with anyone who would've been a legit partner in raising a kid. If I were to have a child biologically, I would have to birth the child, raise the child, etc. while the other person gets to be the cool parent and not do shit around the house.

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Yep. One of my friends is married and in every other way she is ready to have a baby but she and her husband just can't afford it. It's really sad that this is the state of our world.

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Its not just climate change but the way all resources are being gobbled up in cities. Too many foreign investors buying up homes and land in order to turn everyone into renters. Who would want to raise kids in that world.

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Yes, they always do the "you'll find a way." It's like, I grew up like that as a child of immigrants and I don't want my kids to have the same financial struggles.





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I am SUPER on the fence about kids already, and the idea of bringing someone into a world of chaos sounds actively terrible.

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This is where i'm at right now. I just turned 36 (which means my time is counting down anyway) and it just doesn't seem right to have a child who will only inherit maybe a little bit of money and a really f-ed up planet. We've talked about adopting instead.

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Yeah, I want them, but realistically it's irresponsible to have my own, not to mention it's expensive as fuck and rn I cannot even afford my own place at 25

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i agree with this 100%. one of my friends in her late 30s is feling that biological clock to have a baby and has mentioned several times how she wants to get pregnant soon despite not settling into a relationship because she's career-focused rn. i've voiced this concern with her (because reading national geographic gives me panic attacks, lbr). she thinks i just have too much anxiety and should relax.



children of today have nothing to inherit from tomorrow. i'm sorry but that's the reality we need to start facing.

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I agree. A major conflict I'm having about deciding to have kids or not is the current state of the world and definitely climate change.



Abby's opinion on this is infuriating and shows how much of an idiot she is; the human race is on its way to extinction if we don't start to do something about the climate crisis.

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ia with the political reasons as well but first and foremost i just don't see myself ever finding it moral to have my own children when there are so many who need adoption/fostering

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Mte. I mean even if things were fine I still wouldn't have kids but having kids in these terrible times it's just inresponsible imo

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IA. I want kids but feel irresponsible having them :(

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There are a lot of reasons I don't want kids and climate change is one of them. Abby and Meghan made my blood boil today. Abby with her wildly stupid twisting of what AOC said, and Meghan with her fear mongering and refusing to let Sunny state the facts about the issue. They both need to go.

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They completely derailed the conversation from a legitimate discussion about climate change to fear-mongering about infanticide. They sounded crazy.

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I wish Joy had stopped them and put the discussion back on track. It's so frustrating.

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The GOP loves making society hostile to mothers, then turns around and judges women who don't have children.

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I straight up started yelling at my screen at Meghan to just. let. Sunny. speak, godddammit. She was the fucking worst today, especially after saying "let me finish" a bunch of times, she wouldn't even let Sunny get a word in.

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It's really annoying that none of them had the correct information. There has been a law since 2002 that covers this topic regarding abortion. The only difference between that law and the one Ben Sasse introduced is the penalties on the doctors, which are unnecessary.



Sasse introducing this bill was a stunt. The Dems need to get on top of this now because the GOP is going to use this as an issue for 2020. "Democrats are baby-killers!!!!!" You heard Megan raging about it.



The law is "Public Law 107-207" from the 107th Congress, 2002.

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There are a few reasons that I don't particularly want kids, and yeah one of them is how I feel like we're just leaning into the whole climate change thing instead of actively trying to stop it and save the planet. Don't really want to have a kid and leave them a planet that is becoming more and more uninhabitable.



Edited at 2019-02-26 08:06 pm (UTC)

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i've wanted to adopt ever since i was old enough to understand the concept of it and the idea of finite resources, but right now i'm happy being a childless and kickass aunt / godmother / cat mom

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i would love if someone went on the view and just told meghan to shut the fuck up i can't take her

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Same. She always makes it a point to pause and thank the one person clapping for her in the audience.

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infuriating! i'd be like "honestly what is wrong with you"

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It gives me so much second hand embarrassment, she needs validation SO BAD.

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And then if someone doesn't clap for her, she gets mad, lmao. She is such a child.

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such a narcissist

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At this point, my only reason to become famous is to go on The View and tell her to shut the fuck up. It would be glorious

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ONTD, do you want kids?



nope. even in a perfect world i wouldn't want kids.

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Yeah, the more I think about how our planet is going to shit the less I want kids. I just don't feel comfortable having a child knowing that the worst is coming.

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  GOP candidate in disputed North Carolina congressional race says he wont run in newly called election.  Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 26, 2019

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Good

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a "health condition" is a weird way of saying "i got caught after stealing the election and was told on by my son" but thank god

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Good - he finally made a sound decision. I still cant get over his own son telling him to hire that guy and he just didnt give a fuck

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The world is dying in 12 years? :(

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Meghan was BIG MAD today lol



I love Sunny so much.

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I love kids and want my own but my mental health issues are too severe. I struggle to take care of myself.

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No, I don't want kids and I still find annoying that people keep telling me I'm going to change my mind. I'm 30 years old, you think I know by now. I have a friend who is pregnant and she keeps telling me I'm changing my mind just because she changed her mind. First of all I'm not straight so, yeah things aren't so simple for me and I don't believe in surrogacy so there's that.

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It's not unreasonable for people to think that you might change your mind, but why voice that thought? Why are people who say they don't want children always on the defense? You shouldn't have to defend yourself or explain yourself why you don't want them just like women who do want them don't have to defend themselves for wanting to become a mother

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I can give some insight on why it's so bothersome, especially as a woman:



It's invalidating. It's condescending. It's usually met with a knowing smirk and a "Oh honey, you don't know what's REALLY good for you, but I do." It essentially implies that something is wrong with you if you don't follow the Life Script and do what most people do.



Imagine if it were the inverse and a woman was really excited about getting pregnant and having a baby, but her friends kept snarking: "Oh, you'll change your mind! Kids aren't THAT great, you know. It's not worth it." Or if you wanted to pursue a really niche career or even a risky career and people kept going: "Oh, you'll find something more realistic."

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many of my friends have entered the baby phase and it's just reinforced the many reasons why i feel i don't want and shouldn't have kids. if anything, this has helped me realize my ~maternal instincts~ are 100% auntie energy. i'll do right by nieces and nephews, but it is extremely unlikely i'll have any kids of my own.

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also yes, i've always wanted to have children and i'm not sure its biologically possible, so i'm very happy to adopt! i just want to be a mom - it doesn't have to be biological for it to count.

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Same. I figured if I become successful, I would love to adopt some children and spoil them lol

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god yes!

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Who can fucking afford kids is this day and age? I work 40 hours a week and Im still always broke. Plus my husband and I are both neglectful, flighty, irresponsible people who have been known to ignore each other/our own needs in favor of video games. Not a good environment for children.



Annnd the world is fucked. The country is fucked and Im not sure I could survive the stress of raising black children in it. I dont know how my mom did it without losing her shit. All in all lots of reasons to not have kids, and not a single reason to have one.

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Just the fact that you own up to your shit and can be honest about it means you're way more responsible than most breeders. At least to me.

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I feel like if more people were self aware less would have kids.

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I think it's good you realize you aren't going to provide a good environment for kids. People get mad at me, but I don't think my parents really thought about what it meant to have kids when they adopted me.

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a true ally!

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fuck the ticket prices though

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my bussey is ready

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she's talked about being in therapy for a while

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This is actually extremely cool of her, there is a huge problem with LGBT youth depression/suicide here in the North West, the fact she's raising money for these children is extremely necessary. The government does not give a shit!

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I had no idea, that's sad.

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that's really awesome and brave of her!

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Pride in Manchester used to be free, now its some gentrified family event.

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Will Piers be there?

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very sweet of her. she's still wack though

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omg why is our brain so weird, I can hear her say vegas or the f word just by thinking either one when she says it

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What in the Laurel/Yanny hell is this?

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If I didnt know she was saying Vegas, I would have thought she was saying the other word.

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Hahahahahhaha

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Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ

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Years and Years will be there and thats all that matters to me. I wish they would make their way to my city.

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 MANCHESTER PRIDE FESTIVAL 2019 LINEUP REVEALED! 



TICKETS: https://t.co/iVhrvkri6a



Head to Facebook to enter our competition - we have a HUGE prize up for grabs!  https://t.co/2PhdvRTYzq



Sponsored by @boohoo @boohooMAN pic.twitter.com/IWH8UNy32T  Manchester Pride (@ManchesterPride) February 25, 2019





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idk .... ariana headlining pride when shes straight (as far as were all aware) .... and doubling the price of tickets .... kinda smells like exploitation of the lgbt community to me .....   (@raininjulyvinyl) February 25, 2019



It seems like some people are mad that they raised the prices so much to book her.

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Theyve over doubled since last year, 74 quid compared to last years 30.



Even to just visit the bars on canal street its now gonna cost a tenner. It really does feel like this is no longer an event about celebrating the LGBT community.



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Six handbell choirs from area churches are coming together this weekend to perform in the 36th annual Kokomo Handbell Festival.

The longstanding festival is being directed by Rebecca Holt of Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis and bringing back First Christian Church, which was absent from the festival for several years until its return last year.

Its been a good long while that we werent in it, said Kay Smith, one of the ringers in the First Christian Church choir. Were excited to be in it again. Its fun.

After the passing of the churchs former director, Gary Ramer, Cindy Ison took the reins as director and wanted the choir to get back in the Handbell Festival.

Smith said its not always easy to keep a choir together, so she appreciated Isons determination to make it work. The choir requires 11 ringers, and it can be difficult to find ringers who can commit to being at every practice. And with bell ringing, practice doesnt work if even one member is missing, she said.

Bells are different than a vocal choir. If you miss one soprano, youre probably OK. But if you miss C and D, those two notes, well it sounds funny. You dont get the melody, so its important for everybody to be there, said Smith.

Since deciding to be a part of the festival again, Smith said the church has put together a strong group of ringers. In addition to Smith, it also consists of a family of three generations of ringers, a grandmother, Marchia Strebin; mother, Karen Sallee; and daughter, Rachel Sallee.

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The church will join First Friends Meeting, First Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Hillsdale United Methodist Church, Redeemer Lutheran Church, and St. Lukes United Methodist Church in the festival.

Smith said shes looking forward to the event.

Its a good event for the community, and a lot of it is just the camaraderie. We have a really good time. Its like a little family, she said.

The guest director, Holt, taught general and choral music at Clay Junior High School in Carmel, starting in 1984, where she established the handbell program. She has a master of music education degree from Butler University.

Holt formerly rang with the Indianapolis Handbell Ensemble and served as the choir director at Hope Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Indianapolis. Currently, she is a member of Northside Baptist Church where she is involved in the music ministry and volunteers in the music department at Westlane Middle School and North Central High School.

The 36th annual Kokomo Handbell Festival takes place Sunday, March 2, at Bible Baptist Church, 2635 S. Dixon Road, at 5:30 p.m. The event is free, though a freewill donation will be taken.
Multimedia Reporter

Staff writer Harry Funk, a professional journalist for three-plus decades, has been on the staff of The Almanac since 2015. He has a bachelors degree in journalism and master of business administration, both from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.


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By Damali Mukhaye.

The Uganda national examination board is today slated to brief officials from the ministry of education ahead of the release of the Uganda advanced certificate of education results.

This is the last batch of the national examinations to be released following PLE and UCE.

The spokesperson of the ministry Patrick Muide says that the results will be out on Thursday hence UNEB will brief officials from the ministry about the performance of students who sat for the 2018 UACE.

Over 99,000 students sat for the examinations.
NRL clubs will reportedly be offered salary cap relief if they are forced to stand down players who are facing serious criminal charges.

The move will be taken following the sexual assault charges against St George Illawarra and NSW forward Jack de Belin, a News Corp Australia report says.

If the new plan is rubber-stamped, clubs will be allowed to sign a replacement player on a short-term agreement.

The NRLs independent commission will make a decision this week about whether or not to allow de Belin to start the new season following a summer of shame for the code that has seen several players involved in serious off-field incidents.

Dylan Walker and Jack de Belin are both facing police charges. Image: Getty

If de Belin is stood down, he would remain on his full pay of $600,000 until his court case has been finalised, which could take as long as 18 months.

De Belin is accused of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman at his cousins apartment after a night out in Wollongong in December last year.

The 27-year-old has pleaded not guilty to the charge of aggravated sexual assault and will return to court on April 17.

Dylan Walker also in hot water

The career of Manly star Dylan Walker is also on the line, as he returns to court to face domestic violence charges on Tuesday.

Walker will front up at Manly Local Court for a hearing before a magistrate on two counts of assault against his partner Alexandra Ivkovic last December.

The 24-year-old has already pleaded not guilty to the charges of common assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Dylan Walker returns to court on Tuesday. Image: AAP

Should the magistrate find Walker guilty, his playing career could be in serious jeopardy.

An apprehended violence order application has been taken out by police, however it is understood a retraction statement was made by Ivkovic.

The hearing comes just two days before the ARL Commission gathers to consider whether players must be stood down for serious court matters.

It is believed NRL chairman Peter Beattie and chief executive Todd Greenberg will meet with the players union on Tuesday to discuss the issue.
Former president Robert Mugabe took the occasion to celebrate his 95th birthday to twist the knife into President Emmerson Mnangagwa and all those he accuses of using illegal means to kick him out of power in November 2017.

The teetotaller denounced the use of lethal force by Mnangagwa to crush last month's protests, and warned that his successor faces the spectre of being overthrown because "God has his own way of punishing rogues and cruel people".

"You want to shower yourself with praises despite being at the top? You are not God ED. Today you are at the top, tomorrow you will be at the bottom, bear that in mind. God has his own way of punishing rogues and cruel people," Mugabe said.

"We condemn the violence on civilians by soldiers," he said. "You can't do without seeing dead bodies? What kind of a person are you? You feed on death?" he fumed.

Since his ouster, Mugabe has rarely been seen in public. The first time he emerged out of his shell was towards the July 30, harmonised poll when he invited members of the Fourth Estate to his palatial home in Borrowdale. In that interview, Mugabe threw his weight behind MDC Alliance presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa - infuriating his former comrades in Zanu-PF who were expecting him to back Mnangagwa.

As a citizen of this country, Mugabe is surely entitled to his views - just like any other Zimbabwean. His vitriol is also not without merit.

Mnangagwa has disappointed many ever since he assumed the reigns, with his most grievous wrongs being the deployment of the military to quell protests. After the August 1, debacle, the army was deployed once again last month to crush protests over steep fuel prices, resulting in the death of a dozen people.

His excesses have thrown off-rails Zimbabwe's re-engagement efforts, making it even harder for his administration to revive the country's economy.

What we, however, find strange with Mugabe's holier-than-thou attitude is that he has conveniently forgotten about his excesses during his 37 years of iron-fisted rule. It's like a kettle calling the pot black.

Fifteen months is too short a period for Zimbabweans to have forgotten how Mugabe turned what was once Africa's promising economy from being the breadbasket of the region into a basket case.

Zimbabweans may have forgiven him, but they are not fools as to forget how he trampled on people's basic rights to keep power.

The least Mugabe can do is to keep quiet to allow wounds to heal or at least capitalise on this opportunity to apologise for every wrong he presided over during his reign.
Home | World | Africa | Biti blasts false poll results conviction

Former Finance minister and senior opposition politician Tendai Biti has said his conviction on charges of unlawfully and falsely announcing the results of last year's presidential election was a flagrant abuse of the court process.

Biti, vice chairperson of the main opposition MDC, was fined $200 after being hauled before the courts last year on charges of announcing that MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa had won the presidential election. Biti, who fled the post-election military/police crackdown in Zimbabwe, was later deported by Zambian authorities after a failed asylum bid. He has vowed to continue "fighting tyranny and illegitimacy" in the country despite his conviction.

The Harare East member of Parliament was convicted by Harare magistrate Gloria Takundwa who fined him $200, or alternatively spend seven days in prison for the offence.

He paid the fine.

His lawyer Alec Muchadehama said they will be appealing on the grounds that the trial was full of contradictions in the manner in which it was handled.

Following his conviction, the Harare East legislator and lawyer said he was unfazed by the conviction, which could be ominous for him.

It remains to be seen if the Law Society of Zimbabwe will renew his practicing certificate after the conviction.

"I am innocent, absolutely innocent but the problem is the person leading the country is a very unstable predatory person in the name of Emmerson Mnangagwa. I am just a symptom of the bigger challenges affecting the country led by a very unstable person," Biti said.

"Throughout history, autocrats have always abused the law to further the cause of power retention and aggrandisement," Biti said.

"The conviction will not deter us. It will not break us. No bullet, bomb or prison will stop our resolve to end tyranny, illegitimacy and fascism in Zimbabwe.

"I think that it will be so critical for the leadership of our party, advocate Nelson Chamisa and for everyone else in the leadership, that we provide the necessary leadership to guard and protect our people ...," Biti said.

Chamisa also said Biti was one of the pillars of his movement who was "being targeted for telling the truth and was aware of targeting of lawyers, doctors for human rights and even with (Robert) Mugabe at his worst we never saw such attack on human rights."

"This is why we have said there is a political problem where politics is contaminating the justice delivery system.

"We are continuing to challenge that and we are not shaken as a movement and are so committed to ensure that Zimbabwe is a democratic society.

"We are reasonably confident that Sadc will come to support the people of Zimbabwe.

"We are also going to knock at the doors of the United Nations and the international communities at large to make sure those issues are resolved," he said.Biti blasts false poll results conviction.

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By Juliet Nalwooga.

Police has hailed the recently assaulted police officer sergeant Esther Namaganda for the high level of professionalism she show cased as she was being assaulted by army uniformed men.

His response follows the viral footage that showed security guards of Ugandan ambassador to Rwanda manhandling a female officer after the car they were traveling in made a U-turn in the middle of the road

Addressing the press at Naguru police headquarters, police spokesperson Fred Enanga strongly condemned the act and revealed that 2 task teams have been created to pursue the matter.

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FDC calls for resignation of Kyaligoza
Home | World | Africa | Mugabe now struggling with feebleness of mind

A Government spokesman has dismissed what Harare has described as a rant by former President Robert Mugabe over the shooting and killing of unarmed civilians as the irrelevant opinion of an old man.

During his 95th birthday celebrations last week the former president took Harare to task over the shooting of defenceless civilians in August last year and in January this year, following the deployment of soldiers as protests and unrest erupted, saying the government was showing bad leadership.

Nick Mangwana, the Ministry of Information's permanent secretary, said Mugabe, now aged 95, was struggling with feebleness of mind.

"Former President Mugabe is an elderly man whose age is quite advanced. At that age, people tend to have some feebleness of the mind," said Mangwana.

"That state of decrepitude manifests in different ways. Some of the ways are that one is taken advantage of by having words deceptively attributed to them and, in other cases, manipulated to say things they have no lucidity or presence of mind to make sense of," said Mangwana.



The permanent secretary added that most people aged 95 could not be held responsible for their actions or words. But despite this Zimbabweans would continue to remember the positive contributions Mugabe had made.



Under Mugabe's leadership many unarmed civilians were killed. One of the more infamous incidents was the Gukurahundi series of massacres of Ndebele civilians carried out by the Zimbabwe National Army from early 1983 to late 1987 where an estimated 20 000 people were slaughtered.

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The real tragedy in Zimbabwe is that we have a regime that knows it will never ever be held to account for anything and so it has said and done as it jolly well pleased. It has made promises only to break them. It has told half-truths, lies and damned lies with no sense of shame or regret what those suffering the consequences of the broken promises and lies.

Government is currently operating on a positive cash basis as revenue enhancement and austerity measures announced in the 2019 National Budget continue to yield dividends, Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube has said.

"Government is cash positive. We managed to pay civil servants salaries for the months of January and February from a cash positive position, with $300 million in the bank," said Minister Ncube.

Since the introduction of the 2% tax on electronic transactions there has been a 16% drop in economic activities and yet you have never talked about it!

"The austerity measures are also in line with the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP), aimed at setting the economy on a recovery path after years of stagnation," Minister Ncube maintained. He still claims that Zimbabwe will be "an upper middle income nation by 2030!"

The austerity measures are certainly taking a heavy toll on the poorest of the poor. The 2% electronic transaction tax was specifically aimed at the 90% unemployed who were therefore no paying any income tax. Most of these people are vendors living on US$30 or less per month in a country in which the poverty datum line is US$650 per month. So Minister Ncube's tax means these poor people are now living on considerably less than US$30 per month.

Minister Ncube has done nothing to stop the wholesale looting costing the nation $15 billion in diamond revenue, according to Mugabe's own admission in 2016. He has introduced his 2% tax targeting the poor but has not taxed the filthy rich who continue to enjoy their extravagant lifestyles living in mansions, with a fleet of posh cars, 45 gold watches, etc.

Indeed Minister Ncube is taxing the poor to subsidise the filthy rich's extravagant lifestyles. It was none other than Minister Ncube himself who approved the hiring of the 787-8 Dreamliner Jet for a ten day jaunt to Asia and Europe for Mnangagwa and his entourage, including Minister Ncube, at a cost of US$74 000 per hour.

It is already clear that Minister Ncube's austerity reforms will bring a lot of pain to the poor but with no economic gain in the short, medium or long term. None! This is just austerity for pain for pain's sake!

If the nation is "cash positive" as you say, then why are we still experiencing the cash shortages at the bank, the foreign currency shortages that are the root cause of the shortages of fuel, wheat, medicine, etc. etc.

The shortage of foreign currency is symptomatic of Zimbabwe's skewed economy; we have become a nation of consumers of imported goods and services whilst producing very little. When Minister Ncube came into office, he promised to attract investors into the country whom would give the country's comatose economic the cash injection it needs to revive its productive sectors. There has been no significant inward investment for the last year and there is nothing to suggest there will be any in the future.

There are one overarching reason why Minister Ncube has failed to attract any investors and financial assistance from such institutions as IMF, WB and Paris Club. Zimbabwe is still a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs same as it was during Mugabe's days. All the talk of "new dispensation", "Zimbabwe is open for business!" is empty rhetoric.

If anyone had any lingering doubts about Zimbabwe's still a pariah state, the doubts evaporated last July when Mnangagwa and his "new dispensation" blatantly rigged the elections. He had promised to hold free, fair and credible elections but stubbornly refused to implement even one token democratic reform.

As long as Zimbabwe remains a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs there will be no meaningful economic recovery. Period! Zimbabwe's economy has been in decline for the last 38 years and that tread in set to continue.

"We are going to go to what we call a global money deal roadshow in June this year, I as Finance minister and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor (John Mangudya), permanent secretary of finance George Guvamatanga and other captains of industry,"Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube has just announced.

"We will visit global capital and go for a roadshow. We will start with Frankfurt and go to Japan, London and New York and maybe the West Coast also, so that we explain the reform agenda the progress we are making. (We will) also explain the economic policies and the opportunities that are available in this country. We are not trying to raise the money or do a deal."

Minister, investors already know that Zimbabwe is a pariah state ruled by corrupt and vote rigging thugs propped up by incompetent and egotistic intellectuals whose selfish greed knows no bounds!

Of course, Professor Mthuli Ncube KNOWS that Zanu PF is a party of corrupt and vote rigging thugs who are NOT democratically accountable to the people of Zimbabwe. He also KNOWS that for the last 20 years, at least, Zimbabweans have been fighting for democratic change and free and fair elections as the only way the nation can end the Zanu PF dictatorship and have competent and good government.

He KNOWS too that by agreeing to work for the regime he is propping it up and undermining those fighting for democratic change. Most important of all, he KNOWS that his economic policies will never bring about the economic prosperity he keeps wittering about because the policies do not address the criminal waste of human and material resources due to corruption and mismanagement inherent in a dictatorship.

Professor Mthuli Ncube has his family in Switzerland at the end of his tour of duty as Minister of Finance, he will go back to Switzerland and leave the people of Zimbabwe to wallow in their economic poverty and political paralysis. He will insist he did his best for the nation when the truth is he sold-out and did so KNOWINGLY too.
Home | News | General | Breaking: Atiku Abubakar defeats Buhari in Benue state

Atiku Abubakar has won defeated President Muhammadu Buhari in the presidential election in Benue state

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party polled 356,817 votes while Buhari of the All Progressives Congress had 347,668 votes.

APC result in Benue

Source: UGC

Rejected votes - 34,960

Total votes cast - 763,872

Elections were cancelled in 16 of the local governments with 172 polling units affected. Registered voters in those places were 122,989.

APC result in Benue

Source: UGC

Recall that Legit.ng earlier reported that President Buhari defeated his main challenger and the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, in the Saturday, February 23, presidential election held in Bauchi state.

Legit.ng also reported that the total number of accredited voters in the state were 1,075,330 and the total number of valid votes were 1,024,307, while total votes cast were 1,061,955.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service! 2019

Election: Nigerians react to Saraki's loss as INEC releases more results| on Legit TV

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Home | News | General | LIVE UPDATES: Day 2: Buhari wins Kano with overwhelming margin as collation of presidential results continues

17:18 PM 219535 views by Nnenna Ibeh Eromosele Ebhomele

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday, February 26, resumed the declaration of the official results for the recently held presidential election. The INEC had earlier declared the results for the Federal Capital Territory and some states showing that President Muhammadu Buhari was leading. Anxiety continues as the declaration of results continue. Prof Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of INEC, says the electoral umpire is sure to complete the declaration.

RESULTS COLLATION: NIGER STATE Mahmood announces the resumption of the national collation for 2019 presidential election. Calls on collation officer for Niger state. Announcing her appearance for Niger state is the vice chancellor for the Federal University of Lokoja, Professor Angela Freeman Total number of registered voters: 2,375,568 Total number of accredited voters: 911,964 And a total of 25 Local government elections areas, which according to the collation officer all successfully had elections in those areas. Total number of valid votes: 851,937 Total number of rejected votes: 45,039 Total number of votes cast: 896,976 ACD: 777 ACPN: 137 ADC: 588 ADP: 2,582 AGA: 238 ANDP: 145 ANN: 145 ANRP: 169 APA: 1,591 APC: 612,371 CC: 98 DA: 123 FRESH: 172 GDPN: 2,115 JMPP: 65 Lm: 46 LP: 90 MAJA: 98 NNPP: 187 NPC: 422 PCP: 2,855 PDP: 218,052 PT: 96 SDP: 239 UDP: 44 UPN:63 WTPN: 25 YES: 48 YPP: 113 The Niger state collation officer said voting in some polling units was cancelled because here were cases were the card readers could not function due to lack of network and snatching of ballot boxes and pockets of violence. Total number of polling units affected is 105 units cutting across the 25 local government areas in the state. With a total of 71,237 cancelled votes in Niger state. One of the YPP agents raised an objection complaining about issues with card readers. He said in a case where bout 45,000 votes are cancelled, it was not the fault of the electorate. Yakubu says based on the resport before him, he did not hear if the collation officer mentioned a figure of those disenfranchised. He said all the issues raised so far would be looked into. Yakubu also said the officials from Plateau are safe and would be called after the figures are reconciled. The result from Niger state showing the figure for the PDP

Source: Original The result from Niger showing the APC's figure

Source: Original

RESULTS COLLATION: JIGAWA STATE Mahmood calls in the officials from Jigawa state and Niger collation officer exits. Prof Abdullahi Abdul-Zuru, the vice chancellor of Usman Dan Foddio University, Sokoto describes himself as the collation officer from the state. Total number of registered voters: 2,104,889 Total number of accredited 1,171,801 A 69 AA 171 AAC 226 ADP 69 ACPN: 97 ADC: 261 ANDP: 90 ANN: 66 ANRP: 147 APA: 1,420 APC: 794,738 APGA: 140 CC: 43 DA: 88 DPP: 166 FRESH 159 GDPN: 3,231 JMPP: 80 MAJA: 198 MMN: 458 NCP: 96 NIP: 44 PCP: 2,761 PDP 289,895 PT 130 SDP: 5,011 UDP: 47 UPN: 16 WTPN: 18 YPP: 67 YES: 71 Total valid votes: 1,106,244 Total rejected votes: 43,678 Total votes cast: 1,149,922. The collation officer for Jigawa state said there were cancellation in 10 LGAs which affected 30 polling units with 16,014 cancelled votes. Result from Jigawa showing PDP's figure

Source: Original The result from Jigawa showing APC's status

Source: Original

RESULTS COLLATION: KADUNA STATE INEC chairman calls on the collation of officer for Kaduna, The vice chancellor of the Federal University of Birnin-Kebbi. He continues to say that Kaduna has a total of 23 local government areas with a total of 3,861,033 registered voters. Accredited voters: 1,757,868 A 56 AA: 54 AAC: 243 ACPN: 108 AAN: 261 ANP: 439 ANRP: 118 APA: 1,702 APC: 993,445 APGA: 749 CP: 41 DA: 30 FRESH: 115 GDPN: 1,317 JMPP: 41 LP: 55 MAJA: 81 MMN: 806 PCP: 4,027 PDP: 649,612 PPA: 764 SDP: 1,737 SNC: 1,614 UPN: 279 WTPN: 7 YPP: 169 Total number of valid votes: 1,663,603 Total number of rejected votes: 45,402 Total number of votes cast: 1,709,005 The collation officer further tells the INEC chairman that elections were cancelled in 282 polling units with 189,865 cancelled votes in the State. The result for Kaduna state where the APC scored highest

Source: Original The result showing the full figure obtained by PDP

Source: Original

RESULTS COLLATION: ANAMBRA STATE Professor Francis Otunta, the vice chancellor of Federal University of Agriculture, Umudike announces appearance as the collation officer for Anambra state. Total number of registered voters: 2,389,332 Total number of accredited voters: 675,273 from a total of 21 local government areas AA: 57 AAP: 103 ACPN: 109 ADC: 227 ADP: 427 AGAP: 349 ANRP: 32 APA: 596 APC: 33,298 APGA 30,034 CC: 33 CNP: 24 DPP: 697 FRESH: 54 GDPN: 723 JMPP: 38 LP: 52 MAJA: 23 MMN: 66 MPN: 30 PCP: 4,374 PDP: 524,738 RAP: 21 UP: 47 UPN: 36 YES: 405 Total valid votes: 605,734 Total votes rejected: 19, 301 A total of 114 polling units were affected with either cancellation or no voting occurred. There is a total 69,395 cancelled votes in Anambra state. Anambra result showing APC's figure

Source: Original Anambra result showing PDP's status

Source: Original

RESULTS COLLATION: OYO STATE INEC chairman calls on Oyo. Prof Suleiman Abdulkareem introduces himself as the collation officer for Oyo.He says Oyo has 33 local government areas Total registered voters: 2,796,542. Total number of accredited voters: 905,007. AAC: 4,014 AA: 380 AAP: 627 ACPN: 835 ADC: 40,830 ADP: 25,384 ANN: 1,896 ANP: 212 ANRP: 505 APA: 1,094 APC: 365,229 APDA: 685 APGA: 197 CAP: 73 CC: 126 DPP: 1,262 FRESH: 152 GDPN: 1,515 MMN: 770 JMPP: 102 NCP: 194 LP: 360 MAJA: 144 PCP: 5,352 PDP: 366,690 PPA: 1,600 PT: 138 SDP: 766 UPN: 86 WTPN: 46 YES: 167 YPP: 1,608 SDP: 978 UP: 31 UDP: 69 WTPN: 21 YES: 20 YPP: 109 Total valid votes: 836,531 Total number of rejected votes: 54,549 Total number of votes cast: 891,080 Five local government areas with eight polling units were affected with either cancellation of voting process or no voting at all. A total number of 3,273 were cancelled. Result showing APC's performance in Oyo state

Source: Original The election result showing PDP's performance

Source: Original

RESULTS COLLATION: ADAMAWA STATE INEC chairman calls on Adamawa. The collation officer, introduces himself. He says the state has 21 local governments Total number of registered voters: 1,959,322 Total number of accredited voters: 874,920 A: 79 AAP: 205 ACD: 324 ACPN: 138 ADC: 3,989 ADP: 329 AGAP: 58 ANDP: 83 ANN: 162 ANP: 121 ANRP: 127 APA: 1,242 APC: 378,078 APDA: 651 APGA: 159 APP: 159 BNPP: 25 CAP: 20 CC: 65 FRESH: 147 GPN: 231 HDP: 67 LP: 61 MAJA: 102 MMN: 575 PDP: 410,266 PCP: 3,670 Total number of valid votes: 811,534 Total number of rejected votes: 49,222 Total number of votes cast: 860,756 He said 22 polling units were cancelled thus affecting 15,505 votes. Result showing APC's performance in Adamawa

Source: Original Result from Adamawa showing PDP's performance

Source: Original

INEC CHAIRMAN ADJOURNS FOR 1 HOUR Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC chairman, announces an hour break. He says: "It's already 2pm, so we reconvene at 3pm and take the six states."

RESULTS COLLATION: ANALYSIS Currently, 18 announcements have been completed with 19 to go for an authentic winner of the election to emerge. The INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, has confirmed that six more states are ready at the National Collation Centre, Abuja. An analysis by Legit.ng shows that the PDP show has won eight states so far and got 43.9% of votes while the APC secured victory in 10 states, thus leading with 52.46% with an estimated gap of 1,004,011 votes. The two parties, however, lost out completely in two states each where they met below the 25% threshold. Wile the APC made this loss in Anambra and Enugu, the PDP recorded its in Yobe and Gombe.

RESULTS COLLATION: INEC RECONVENES The national collation centre is live again as INEC chairman, others take their seats.

RESULTS COLLATION: BAUCHI STATE The collation officer introduces himself. He said number registered voters in the state is 2,453,512 while the number of accredited voters stands at 1,075,330. A: 154 AA: 49 AAC: 183 ACP: 81 ADP: 123 ANN: 46 ANRP: 171 APC: 798,428 APDA: 1,211 APGA: 149 BNPP: 11 CAP: 14 CC: 48 ANRP: 171 FRESH: 111 GDPN: 1,269 JMPP: 50 LM: 19 LP: 41 MAJA: 89 MMN: 688 MPN: 95 NCMP: 28 NCP: 84 NEPP: 27 NNPP: 1,657 NUP: 117 PCP: 2,104 PDP: 209,313 RP: 56 SDP: 516 SNC: 1,394 UDP: 27 UPN: 27 WTPN: 17 YES: 16 YPP: 112 Total number of valid votes: 1,024,307 Total number of rejected votes: 37,648 Total number of votes cast: 1,061,955 "Mr chairman, we encountered cancellation in 17 LGAs and 53 polling units and 29,660 votes cancelled," the Bauchi returning officer said. Osita Chidoka of the PDP raises concern about the legality of elections in various stated especially in the northern part of the Nigeria. He called on the INEC chairman to make a projection on the card readers used during the election processes in this state and all parts of the country. He also said the party had written a petition on the issue and addressed to the chairman of INEC. However, He also said the party has written a petition on the issue and addressed to the chairman of INEC. However responding, the chairman of the INEC said there are avenues for receiving petition addressed to the commission. He urged the PDP to forward the party's petition to the INEC office for due attention. Also objecting to the issue raided by Chidoka, the APC spokesperson, Festus Keyamo, said their are procedures to this things. He said the APC have remained calm despite information at its disposal of massive thumb printing of ballot papers by the opposition in Akwa Ibom. He said the APC have remained calm despite information at its disposal of massive thumb printing of ballot papers by the opposition in Akwa Ibom state. The INEC chairman further assured that issues raised would be addressed by the commission while urging parties to send their petition to INEC through the appropriate channel. Mahmood said the INEC is still open and this venue only serve as a collation centre PDP result from Bauchi

Source: Original The APC result from Bauchi state

Source: Original

RESULTS COLLATION: LAGOS STATE Mahmood immediately invited the collation officer for Lagos state, Professor Felix Salako of the Federal University of Agriculture (FUNAAB), Abeokuta, Ogun. Total number of registered voters: 6,313,507 Accredited voters: 1,196,490 A: 5948 AAC: 8910 AAP: 675 ACD: 948 ACPN: 572 ADC: 2,915 ADP: 1,262 ANN: 6,946 ANP: 468 ANRP: 320 APA: 1,494 APC: 580,825 APDA: 846 APGA: 499 NAC: 359 NCP:219 NDCP: 44 NDLP: 70 NEPP: 74 NFD: 447 NIP: 133 PCP: 8458 PDP: 448,015 PPA: 759 SDP: 770 SNP: 162 UDP: 79 UP: 49 UPN: 69 YES: 138 YPP: 5,733 Total valid votes: 1,089,567 Total rejected votes: 67,023 Total votes cast: 1,156,599 Number of cancelled polling units in Lagos state is 188 with a total of 141,256 cancelled votes. Result showing PDP's score in Lagos

Source: Original Result showing APC score in Lagos

Source: Original

RESULTS COLLATION: OGUN STATE Ogun collation officer and urning officer mounts the platform with total number of registered voters as 2,336,887 Total number of accredited voters: 613,397 AAC: 3,196 ADP: 7705 AGA: 355 AGAP: 147 ANDP: 269 ANN: 1,509 APA: 1233 APC: 281,762 CAP: 51 CNP: 121 DPC: 343 DPP: 734 FRESH: 174 GDPN: 1,258 LP: 205 MAJA: 125 PCP: 3,563 PDP: 194, 655 SDP: 1,374 SNP: 1,030 UPN: 137 YES: 276 Total valid votes: 564,256 Rejected votes: 41,682 Total votes cast: 605,938. He said there were 9680 There were cancellation in 48 polling units with a total of 42,176 votes. Ogun result for APC

Source: Original

RESULTS COLLATION: EDO STATE The collation officer for Edo state, Prof Ndowa Lale, the vice chancellor of University of Port Harcourt, says the state has 18 LGAs. Total number of registered voters: 2,150,127 Total number of accredited voters: 604,917 AA: 162 AAC: 3,106 AAP: 473 APC: 267,842 APGA: 143 APM: 29 APP: 99 CAP: 17 GDPN: 666 HDP: 21 MMN: 342 NAC: 26 NIP: 47 NPC: 258 PCP: 3,526 PDP: 275,691 UPD: 47 UPN: 22 WTPN: 20 YES: 37 YPP: 531 Total number of valid votes: 560,711 Total rejected votes: 38,517 Total votes cast: 599,228 Results from Edo showing the figure of the APC in the election

Source: UGC PDP results from Edo

Source: Original

RESULTS COLLATION: BENUE STATE Sebastian Maimaku, the VC of the University of Jos, is the collation officer for Benue state. Total number of registered voters 2,391,276 Total number of accredited voters: 786,069 A: 153 AA: 242 AAP: 192 ABP: 47 ACD: 138 ADC: 554 AGA: 138 AGAP: 159 ANDP: 64 ANN: 201 ANP: 61 APA: 807 APC: 347,668 APGA: 4,582 CC: 29 CNP: 75 FRESH: 76 GDPN: 666 JMPP: 37 LP: 594 MAJA: 57 MMN: 407 NIP: 55 NUP: 228 PCP: 2,793 PDP: 356,817 PPN: 113 RAP: 39 SDP: 4,927 SNP: 85 UDP: 135 UNP: 31 WTPN: 75 YES: 47 YPP: 557 Total valid votes: 728,912 Total rejected votes: 34,960 Total votes cast: 763,872 He said elections were cancelled in some units in 16 of the local governments and these affected 172 polling units and 122, 989 voters. He explained that the refusal of the voters to use the smart card readers and cases of over-voting affected these units. APC result from Benue

Source: UGC LIVE UPDATES: Day 2: Buhari continues to lead as results of more states are released

Source: UGC

RESULTS COLLATION: IMO STATE Professor Benjamin Uzumba of University of Nigeria Nsukka introduces himself as the collation officer for Imo state Total number of registered voters: 2,037,569 Total number of accredited voters: 585,741 ADP: 421 AGAP: 273 ANDP: 97 ANN: 119 ANP: 38 ANRP: 98 APA: 1,658 APC: 140,463 APDA: 1,847 APGA: 10,880 APP: 92 BNPP: 25 CAP: 13 CC: 44 DPC: 80 DPP: 255 FRESH: 71 JMPP: 22 LP: 337 MPN: 61 NAC: 126 MAJA: 112 NDCP: 22 NDLP: 33 NPC: 223 PCP: 4,883 PDP: 334,923 SDP: 772 UDP: 105 UP: 31 UPN: 20 Total accredited votes: 511, 586 Total rejected votes: 31,191 Total votes cast: 542,777 In 12 of the local governments some polling units - 97 - were cancelled with 63,048 votes affected. Mahmood Yakubu announces five-minute break for some people to answer the call of nature. APC result for presidential election in Imo state

Source: Original PDP result for presidential election in Imo state

Source: Original

RESULTS COLLATION: PLATEAU STATE PLATEAU STATE C.O: Prof. A.K. Richard #NigeriaDecides2019 Collation of Results Total No: Reg Voters:2,423,381 Total No: of Accredited:1,074,042 Total Votes Cast:1,062,862 Total Valid Votes:1,034,853 Rejected Votes:28,009 AAC:268 ADC:590 ADP:1,395 APC:468,555 PDP:548,665 SDP:599 UP: 80 WTPN: 19 YES: 62 YPP: 200

RESULTS COLLATION: KANO STATE Total number of registered voters: 5,391,581 Total number of accredited voters: 2,006,410 AA: 221 AAC: 416 AAP: 410 ACD: 250 ACPN: 194 ADP: 439 AGAP: 138 ANN; 114 ANRP: 264 APA: 272 APC: 1,464,768 AUN: 56 BNPP: 47 CNP: 92 FRESH: 331 GDPN: 4,643 LP: 118 MAJA: 183 NCP: 174 NIP: 94 NPC: 523 PCP: 3,568 PDP: 391,593 PPA: 1,012 PPN: 322 PT: 177 SDP: 635 SNC: 3,362

Source: Legit.ng

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Home | News | General | Breaking: President Buhari overwhelmingly defeats Atiku in Kano

President Muhammadu Buhari has defeated Atiku Abubakar in the presidential election in Kano state.

Buhari of the All Progressives Congress scored 1,464,768 to defeat Atiku who polled 391,593.

President Muhammadu Buhari overwhelmingly won all 44 local government areas in Kano state, thereby making him win in the state

Based on the results from local government from the state so far, the president has won majority of the votes.

READ ALSO: JUST IN: INEC officially declares Buhari as winner in Osun

Kano has 44 local government and the president defeated his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state.

Below is the breakdown of result from 32 local government in Kano state so far

Tudun Wada LGA

APC: 38,865

PDP: 10,707

Reg Voters: 125,667

Accredited Voters: 54,555

Valid Votes: 49,991

Rejected Votes:1067

Votes Cast: 51,058

Tsanyawa LGA

APC: 25,823

PDP: 5,399

Code: 040

Reg Voters:

Accredited Voters:

Valid Votes: 31,727

Rejected Votes:1,185

Votes Casted: 32,912

Sumaila LGA

APC: 34,609

PDP: 4,9044

Reg Voters: 107,361

Accredited Voters: 42,624

Valid Votes: 40,163

Rejected Votes: 1,667

Votes Casted: 41,830

Gwarzo LGA

APC: 33,581

PDP: 10,682

Code: 019

Reg Voters: 105,341

Accredited Voters: 47,041

Valid Votes: 44,855

Rejected Votes: 1,640

Votes Casted: 46,395

Kibiya LGA

APC: 18,085

PDP: 11,028

Reg Voters: 72,715

Accredited Voters:30,692

Valid Votes: 29,408

Rejected Votes: 821

Votes Casted: 30,229

Rano LGA

APC: 23,855

PDP: 7,055

Code: 032

Reg Voters: 76,966

Accredited Voters:33,118

Valid Votes: 31,444

Rejected Votes:1007

Votes Casted: 32,451

Ajingi LGA

APC: 21,458

PDP: 5,267

Reg Voters: 72,182

Accredited Voters: 29,470

Valid Votes: 27,491

Rejected Votes:1,575

Votes Casted: 29,066

Gezawa LGA

APC: 29,954

PDP: 8,246

Reg Voters: 103,527

Accredited Voters:41,804

Valid Votes: 39,735

Rejected Votes: 1861

Votes Casted: 41,596

Gwale LGA

APC: 50,834

PDP: 12,283

Code:018

Reg Voters: 226,792

Accredited Voters:68,407

Valid Votes: 64,459

Rejected Votes: 2,922

Votes Casted:67,381

Bebeji LGA

APC: 26,023

PDP: 8,190

Code: 004

Reg Voters: 76,740

Accredited Voters:35,839

Valid Votes: 34,635

Rejected Votes: 648

Votes Casted: 35,278

Gaya LGA

APC: 25,864

PDP: 6,577

Code:016

Reg Voters: 93,834

Accredited Voters: 35,758

Valid Votes: 33,295

Rejected Votes: 1,127

Votes Casted: 34,422

Albasu LGA

APC: 36,412

PDP: 10,285

Reg Voters: 89,684

Accredited Voters:38,657

Valid Votes: 37,083

Rejected Votes:1,019

Votes Casted: 38,102

Warawa LGA

APC: 19,073

PDP: 6,101

Code: 043

Reg Voters: 68,951

Accredited Voters: 27,862

Valid Votes: 24,389

Rejected Votes: 1017

Votes Casted: 25,406

Garun Malam LGA

APC: 23,810

PDP: 4,861

Registered Voters: 73,027

Accredited Voters 31,641

Valid Votes: 29,004

Votes Casted: 30,986

Tofa LGA

APC: 19,984

PDP: 7,732

Registered Voters: 71,348

Accredited Voters 30,227

Valid Votes: 28,101

Rejected Votes:1,651

Votes Casted: 30,986

Kunchi LGA

Code: 026

APC: 20,375

PDP: 4,983

Registered Voters: 58,334

Accredited Voters 27,281

Valid Votes: 25,753

Rejected Votes:1,142

Votes Casted: 26,895

Magwai LGA

APC: 23,375

PDP: 10,584

Registered Voters: 89,134

Accredited Voters 36,929

Valid Votes: 34,601

Rejected Votes: 1,096

Votes Casted: 35,697

Garko LGA

APC: 22,356

PDP: 2840

Reg Voters: 91,656

Accredited Voters:27,856

Valid Votes: 25,955

Rejected Votes: 1299

Votes Cast: 27,254

Doguwa LGA

APC: 25454

PDP: 7013

Reg Voters: 71,663

Accredited Voters:34,610

Valid Votes: 32,735

Rejected Votes: 649

Votes Cast: 33,384

Kabo LGA

APC: 29,482

PDP: 8,955

Reg Voters: 84,423

Accredited Voters:41510

Valid Votes: 39036

Rejected Votes: 1634

Votes Cast: 40,670

Kiru LGA

APC: 36,739

PDP: 12,205

Reg Voters:123,058

Accredited Voters: 52,166

Valid Votes: 49,677

Rejected Votes: 1557

Votes Cast: 51,234

Shanono LGA

APC: 24,173

PDP: 8,469

Reg Voters: 69,796

Accredited Voters: 35,135

Valid Votes: 33,386

Rejected Votes: 1054

Votes Cast: 34,440

Danbatta LGA

APC: 31850

PDP: 6,947

Reg Voters: 112,501

Accredited Voters: 43,772

Valid Votes: 39,720

Rejected Votes:2,119

Votes Cast: 41,839

Wudil LGA

APC: 28,755

PDP: 5,108

Reg Voters:107,507

Accredited Voters:36,899

Valid Votes: 34754

Rejected Votes:1250

Votes Cast: 36004

Bichi LGA

APC: 42,714

PDP: 11,050

Reg Voters:131,059

Accredited Voters: 58,707

Valid Votes: 54931

Rejected Vote: 2596

Votes Cast: 57,527

Ungogo LGA

APC: 51,842

PDP: 10,475

Minjibir LGA

APC: 27,725

PDP: 2840

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that President Buhari was leading Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 10 out of the 44 local government areas of Kano state.

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Kano is the strong base of the president, however, Atiku pulled a huge crowd during his campaign there some weeks ago as the Sani Abachi stadium venue was filled to the brim.

But at the end of collation of results by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 10 local government areas, Buhari won them all.

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Home | News | General | Protesters set INEC office ablaze in Imo

- INEC office in Isiala Mbano local government area has been burned down by protesters

- The angry voters stormed the commission office Sunday night and burn the building down

- Election materials have reportedly been moved out before the incident, according to some voters

Angry voters protesting alleged election fraud Sunday evening set ablaze the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Isiala Mbano local government area of Imo state.

Vanguard reports that eyewitnesses claimed that election materials had been moved out of the builing before the protesters descended on it.

READ ALSO: Live updates: INEC begins official declaration of presidential election results

A voter who spoke to journalists in the state said: We are not happy. How can they bring Ehime Mbano result of Okigwe South to Owerri?. Why did they not declare the result at the collation centre of the Federal constituency which is Ihette Uboama?

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that there was mild drama at the Imo West collation centre after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)'s returning officer in the centre stopped collating results and announced that he has been directed to return to Owerri immediately.

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The returning officer, Professor I.I. Ibeabuchi, said due to the urgent call from Owerri, the state capital, he will postpone announcing the rest of the result till Monday morning.

Governor Rochas Okorocha, who is the All Progressives Congress (APC)'s senatorial candidate, however, stormed the collation centre in the early hours of Monday after Ibeabuchi's announcement.

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Home | News | General | President Buhari wins all 34 LGAs in Katsina state

- Prof Fatima Mukhtar, the Katsina state collation officer says, President Buhari of the APC polled 1,232,133 votes in the presidential election from the state

- Mukhtar notes that Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party who got 308,056 votes in the state

- The collation officer says the state has a total of 3.2 million registered voters, but only 1,628,865 voters were accredited during the election

Presidential Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has won in all the 34 local government areas of the Katsina, his home state, with a wide margin in the presidential election.

Prof Fatima Mukhtar, the state collation officer, said Buhari polled 1,232,133 votes to defeat Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who got 308,056 votes, The news Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

READ ALSO: Buhari visits APC campaign headquarters in Abuja for updates on poll results (photos)

However the number of votes recorded by Buhari is about 100,000 fewer than the 1,345,441 he got in 2015, when he ran against former President Goodluck Jonathan.

The state has a total of 3.2 million registered voters, but only 1,628,865 voters were accredited during the election, Mukhtar said.

READ ALSO: Follow Live updates: INEC begins official declaration of presidential election results

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and former Nigeria's vice president has defeated President Muhammadu Buhari and candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, in Saturday, February 23, held in Ebonyi state.

Legit.ng reported that the total valid votes were: 359,131, according to the declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja on Monday evening, February 25.

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Home | News | General | Kwara state has been liberated from self-imposed dynasty - Lai Mohammed

- The minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says never again will the people of Kwara be treated like slaves in their own land

- Mohammed notes that the official results of the February 23 National Assembly elections in the state was a clean sweep for the APC

- The minister suggests that with the unprecedented victory, the state should declare February 23 of every year as the day of liberation for Kwara state

The minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says with the outcome of last general elections, Kwara is free from a choking and pauperising political hegemony of a self-imposed dynasty.

The minister, who is the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara, stated this while briefing newsmen on Monday, February 25, in Ilorin, The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

He stressed that never again would the people of Kwara be treated like slaves in their own land. Enough is Enough  O To Ge!, he said.

The minister said the official results of last Saturday, February 23, National Assembly elections in the state was a clean sweep for the APC.

All three seats in the Senate and all six in the House of Representatives were won by our party.

The match between our party and the PDP ended 10-0 (1-0 President, 3-0 Senatorial, 6-0 House of Reps)

He advised that with the unprecedented victory the state should declare February 23 of every year as the Day of Liberation for Kwara state.

I want to ask the incoming Governor of our state to, immediately he is sworn in on 29 May 2019, to declare Febuary 23rd of every year as the Day of Liberation for Kwara State.

The minister gave gratitude to God for the victory and thanked the good people of Kwara for coming out to vote for APC.

No single individual can claim credit for this victory. It belongs to the people of Kwara.

All of us, the party leadership, were fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time to lead the process.

But the ultimate credit goes to the people who resoundingly said NO to the PDP last Saturday.

Fired on by perhaps the most impactful, three-word political slogan ever in the history of party politics in this land   O to Ge meaning Enough is Enough.

Kwarans have confirmed the saying that the power of the people is much stronger than the people in power, he said.

The minister said the victory in Kwara was achieved in the sweetest way because the election was conducted in an atmosphere of peace and harmony.

He said: not a single shot was fired throughout Kwara, no one snatched ballot box rather it was an atmosphere of conviviality.

Mohammed said the election was a sharp departure from what used to be in the state.

It confirms what we have been saying, that when there is adequate security, there will be a level playing ground for all the parties, and for all Kwarans.

The minister thanked the security agencies, all the party members, supporters and leaders of the party across the state.

He urged the party members to note that the job was not completed yet, until they deliver the March 9 governorship and State House of Assembly elections for APC.

Legit.ng had earlier reported that results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission showed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) won all three senatorial seats in Kwara state.

The party at the National Assembly election conducted on Saturday, February 23, won in Kwara south, north and central senatorial districts. In the state north senatorial district, APC also polled 98,170 votes to defeat the PDP which polled 33,364. The APC candidate, Umar Sadiq, was consequently declared the winner of the legislative seat.

The total number of registered voters in the district was put at 386,969 while the total votes cast was put at 137,456, Premium Times reports.

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Home | News | General | It is very unfortunate - INEC apologises over 'drunk' Returning Officer

- INEC has apologised for the unruly behaviour of one of its Returning Officers in Plateau state

- The Returning Officer was reportedly drunk and could not declare the result for its LGA

- INEC claimed the Returning Officer, a university lecturer, was drunk on Sunday and was sacked when he could not perform his duty

Salihu Adamu Musa, INEC Electoral Officer in Bokkos Local Government of Plateau, on Monday apologised over the shameful behaviour of the Returning Officer deployed to the area.

Musa was responding to a question raised by APC Collation Officer in Pankshin, Mr Emmanuel Bok, who sought to know why he (Musa), was declaring the results of elections for Bokkos, instead of the Returning Officer, as stipulated by law.

Musa, in his explanation, told the party agents, observers and INEC officials that the Returning Officer, a university lecturer, was drunk on Sunday and was sacked when he could not perform his duty.

READ ALSO: Live updates: INEC begins official declaration of presidential election results

The Returning Officers attitude was appalling; he was drunk and couldnt do anything at all.

I took over the job based on instructions from the INEC headquarters in Jos, Musa explained.

Musa apologised to the election officials on behalf of the electoral body, and promised that the situation would not repeat itself.

Bok, who thanked Musa for the explanation, said that he had intended to reject the result because they were not presented by the officer designated to do so.

If not for the explanation you gave to us, I would not have accepted the results until we see the Returning Officer.

But, if that was what happened, then it is very unfortunate and bad for us in our journey toward deepening out democracy, he said.

In his reaction, Mr Mason Mahli, PDP Collation Officer in the local government, appealed to INEC to always ensure that only reputable people were recruited to assist it in such crucial assignments.

INEC must always look for credible persons for serious national assignments like this. Electoral duties are sacred assignments that must be handled seriously and with utter commitment, he stated.

Jonathan Mawuyau, another APC Collation Officer and former justice commissioner in Plateau, who also reacted to the removal of the Returning Officer, regretted the very bitter experience elections officials had with the sacked official.

The officer came to the collation centre drunk. On Sunday, we waited for his arrival up to 2.00 p.m., but when he later arrived and took his seat, he started dozing off before the very eyes of everybody in the hall.

Shortly after, he woke up and excused us to go ease himself, but the next thing we heard was that he had driven away. He was later accosted and brought back.

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In fact, I had to apologise on his behalf. The official was so drunk that he could not do the Job, Mawuyau explained.

Joan Arabs, INEC official from the commissions headquarters in Abuja, in her response, assured the party agents, journalists and observers, who had gathered at the senatorial collation centre in Pankshin, that the mistake would not be repeated.

We have noted this mistake and want to assure you that we will correct it, she said.

Legit.ng earlier reported that there was confusion at national collation centre on Monday, February 25, in Abuja as the collation officer for Ondo mixed up number of votes gathered by two political parties - the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Following series of mix up of the number of votes, the national chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, asked that the collation officer and his colleague step aside to reconcile their results.

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Home | News | General | Atiku floors Buhari in 10 LGAs in Rivers

- PDP Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has won 10 out of the 23 local government areas in Rivers state

- His closest opponent, APC candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari, won two

- INEC Sunday evening declared results for 12 out of the 23 local government areas in Rivers

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is leading in 10 of the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Rivers in the results so far released.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Port Harcourt had earlier earlier on Monday released the results from nine LGAs.

The latest results announced by Collation Officers of Khana, Ogu/Bolo and Opobo/Nkoro, showed Atiku maintaining his lead over President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Party (APC).

The breakdown of the results showed that former Vice President Atiku got a total of 333,385 in 10 LGAs, while Buhari garnered 75,440 in the two LGAs.

READ ALSO: Live updates: INEC begins official declaration of presidential election results

Announcing the results, the Collation Officer of Khana LGA, Okechukwu Francis said that Atiku won with 89,843 as against 5,329 of Buhari while Solari Otobo, Collation Officer of Ogu/Bolo said that Atiku got 8,221 as against 2,148 of the incumbent President.

On his part, Professor Clifford Oforum, Collation Officer of Opobo/Nkoro, said that Buhari scored 3,706 votes while Atiku got 3,573 votes.

NAN reports that results released by the electoral umpire on Monday showed that in Oyibo, Atiku scored 16,102 votes as against 3,520 votes of Buhari while in Omuma, he won with 15,322 votes as against 2,494 votes scored by Buhari.

The rest of the results showed that Atiku won in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni with 28,536 votes; Obio/Akpor, 69,981; Eleme, 8,464; Andoni, 72,330; Etche, 11,135, and Gokana, 10,276 votes.

Buhari polled 18,180 votes to win in Asari-Toru while Atiku got 3,175 votes.

The Collation Officer for Andoni, Prof Prince Oghenekaro, while announcing the results, said that Ward 6 of the LGA had no election as election materials were allegedly carted away by hoodlums.

Also, Dr Godwin Ihenacho, a Collation Officer for Etche LGA, said that there was no election in Ward 14 of the area due to hijack of election materials.

The Collation Officer for Obio/Akpor LGA, Prof. Arthur Nwafor, said the result so far was from 13 out of 17 wards.

He added that four wards  1, 3, 15 and 16  which generated a total of 4,000 votes, were not collated due to the security situation in the wards at the time of collation.

Meanwhile, INEC have yet to release the results of the House of Representatives and Senate in the state.

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The state Returning Officer, Prof. Aniefiok Essien, however, said that the results from the remaining LGAs would be announced as soon as they arrived.

NAN reports that 11 other LGAs  Abua/Odua, Ahoada East, Ahoada West, Akuku-Toru, Bonny and Okirika have yet to be announced.

The list also includes Degema, Emohua, Ikwerre, Port Harcourt and Tai LGAs.

Legit.ng earlier reported that the Nigerian Army confirmed the death of a lieutenant and six civilians in Abonnema, Akuku Torlu local government area of Rivers state.

This was contained in a statement sent to journalists on Saturday, February 23, by acting army spokesman, Colonel Sagir Musa.

The army described the incident as armed political thuggery in the area.

Follow our live coverage of situation reports here.

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By Ruth Anderah.

The Attorney General of Uganda has been dragged to the Constitutional Court by concerned Citizens under their umbrella, Citizens Concern Africa over illegal cancellation of titles.

The NGO that is focused on improving social accountability and good governance, protection of the environment, as well as the observance of rights for all, says it is aggrieved with the provisions of the law entitling the government to issue and cancel land titles as and when it pleases, without a Court order.

The Organization contends that section 91 of the Land Act, which empowers the Commissioner of Lands to notify the persons likely to be affected by the cancellation, to give reasons why their titles shouldnt be cancelled, contravenes article 28 of constitution as it denies the victims a fair hearing before an independent and impartial tribunal.

They also argue that the same provision of the Land Act, contravenes rules of natural justice where Government through the said Commissioner of Lands becomes a judge in its own case, and the cancellation sees the respective land revert back to the Government.

Through their Lawyers, Joe. R. Karigyenda & co Advocates, the Organisation avers that much as the Constitution allows the Government to hold resources and the lands harboring the same in trust for the people, in the same way the Commissioner of Lands ought to seek a Court order before cancellation of such titles.
Home | News | General | 3 simple questions PDP must answer at this critical time- APC replies opposition's rejection of results

- The All Progressives Congress (APC) has slammed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for rejecting the results of the presidential poll

- The APC, through Festus Keyamo, its director of strategic communications on presidential campaign said that PDP's rejection of the results is illogical

- Keyamo wondered why the opposition party is rejecting results that have not been released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

The director of strategic communications of the All Progressives Congress (APC)'s presidential campaign council, Festus Keyamo, has slammed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for rejecting the results of the presidential poll.

In a statement made available to Legit.ng on Monday, February 25, Keyamo refers to PDP's position on the conduct of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as illogical, and wondered why the opposition party is rejecting results that have not been released.

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Keyamo said: "We have just read with great consternation the Press Statement of the National Chairman of PDP rejecting the results as being announced presently by INEC in Abuja.

"The simple questions we ask the PDP and Atikus Campaign team are as follows: (1) How come the PDP is rejecting results that have not been fully and completely announced? How can one reject the result of an uncompleted game? The process of an election does not end until the final collation and announcement of results.

"(2) Is the PDP rejecting the totality of the results nationwide? If yes, does it mean they also reject the results that would be announced later by INEC which may indicate that they have won in certain areas? Are they also rejecting the results already announced that indicate they won in some areas? For instance, are they rejecting the results of the FCT already announced in which they won?

"(3) If indeed they are only rejecting areas where they lost, are they implying that it is only in areas where they won that can be adjudged free and fair and all areas where they lost must be adjudged rigged? Is that the mentality of true democrats?

"In the PDP statement, it is curious that they rejected the results as being announced, yet they claim they are coasting to victory. What kind of logic is that? What kind of confusion is now reigning in the minds of the top hierarchy of the PDP that they can spew such illogicality?

"It is now obvious that the top hierarchy of the PDP is hysterical and nervous. We urge them to calm down. Obviously, this is the first time they are sensing a massive loss of an election as opposition party. It is a new experience for them.

"They are confused and disoriented. For many years, they were used to manipulating the instruments of State to just write results and announce themselves as winners. As such they have a sense of entitlement to these instruments of State that they could not fully manipulate this time because President Muhammadu Buhari insisted on a level plain field for all.

"We advise the PDP that as opposition party for many years, we have been down this road before. This is not the time to sacrifice the country for personal ambition. If they feel they have lost (as their statement clearly indicates), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar must pick up his phone to make that famous call to President Muhammadu Buhari. The world is watching him and so are Nigerians.

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"Finally, we urge INEC, Nigerians and our international friends not to be swayed by these infantile antics of the PDP. The process of collation and announcement that is on-going should be done to its logical conclusion after which anyone who is aggrieved should take full advantage of the provisions of the law."

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that in his statement to foreign media and polls observer groups, Keyamo made some allegations against the PDP in relation to the conduct of the polls.

The statement made available to Legit.ng claimed that the PDP is fond of discrediting the efforts of the INEC in the conduct of the polls which has been described as generally peaceful by international community.

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Home | News | General | Breaking: Buhari beats Atiku in Yobe state

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), President Muhammadu Buhari, as the official winner of the February 23 presidential election held in Yobe state.

Legit.ng gathers from the official announcement made by the commission that Buhari won a total number of 497,914 out of total valid votes of 559,365.

Yobe state results showing Buhari defeating Atiku

Source: Original

On the other hand, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP scored 50,763. Atiku has lost two states completely so far (below 25% threshold): Yobe and Gombe

Yobe state results showing how Atiku lost to Buhari

Source: Original

Here are the results as announced by the electoral body in Abuja:

President Buhari has won in nine states including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) by 755,082 votes so far.

APC has 55.80 percent in votes, while the PDP has a low 40.92 percent.

Follow Live updates: INEC begins official declaration of presidential election results

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that the former vice president and candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, defeated President Muhammadu Buhari and candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, in Saturday, February 23, held in Abia state.

Legit.ng reports that the total valid votes were: 323,291 and Atiku Abubakar polled: 219,698 while President Buhari secured: 219,698.

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Home | News | General | Just in: Before INEC's final results, Buhari visits APC campaign headquarters in Abuja for updates (photos)

- President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday, February 25, visited the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign headquarters in Abuja

- At the APC headquarters, President Buhari received updates on the presidential election

- The president also met with some director generals of the party's campaign council, including the APC's national boss, Adams Oshiomole

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday, February 25, paid a visit to the where he received updates on the performance of the ruling party in the presidential election.

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During his visit in APC headquarters, President Buhari met with party bigwigs like the director of election planning and monitoring, Babatunde Fashola, the director of contacts and mobilization Hadiza Bala Usman, the director general of campaign council, Rotimi Amaechi and the APC's national chairman, Adams Oshiomole.

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The president was given updates on the performance of the ruling party in the presidential election.

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, February 25, visited the APC's campaign headquarters in Abuja (Photo credit: Femi Adesina)

Source: UGC

During his visit to APC campaign headquarters in Abuja, President Buhari met with executives of his campaign council (Photo credit: Femi Adesina)

Source: UGC

President Buhari was given updates on the performance of the APC in the presidential election (Photo credit: Femi Adesina)

Source: UGC

The president's visit at the APC's headquarters in Abuja is coming before the release of the final results of the poll by INEC (Photo credit: Femi Adesina)

Source: UGC

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared President Buhari, as the official winner of the February 23 presidential election held in Yobe state.

Legit.ng gathered from the official announcement made by the commission that Buhari won a total number of 497,914 out of total valid votes of 559,365.

On the other hand, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP scored 50,763. Atiku has lost two states completely so far (below 25% threshold): Yobe and Gombe.

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Home | News | General | Breaking: Atiku with landslide victory over Buhari in Enugu

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, as the official winner of the February 23 presidential election held in Enugu state.

This result makes Atiku close the winning gap with a mighty 300,000 advantage in Enugu

Here is the breakdown:

APC - 54,423 - 12.93%

PDP - 355,553 - 84.45%

Follow our live update: INEC begins official declaration of presidential election results

Also, note that this is the first state lost by the APC (below 25% threshold).

The gap between the two major candidates in the election is now 453,952 votes

Enugu state results showing Atiku winning with most votes

Source: Original

Enugu state result showing APC losing to the PDP.

Source: Original

Legit.ng gathers from the official announcement made by the commission that Atiku won a total number of 355,553 while Buhari scored a vote of 54,423 out of valid votes of 421,014

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that the electoral commission declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), President Muhammadu Buhari, as the official winner of the February 23 presidential election held in Enugu state.

Legit.ng gathers from the official announcement made by the commission that Buhari won a total number of 497,914 out of total valid votes of 559,365.

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S.COLE born; Oluwasegun Kunuyi and hails from Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, makes a major comeback to the mainstream music industry after his previously released viral song; ONE & ONLY which featured QDOT.

The Lagos bred act; comes through with an inspirational piece christened WITHOUT YOUfeaturing rave of the moment; BARRY JHAY.

The song was produced by LUSSH, mixed and mastered by STG.

Download & share!!!

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL  February 26, 2019 Stocks in this weeks article include SP Plus Corp. SP, SkyWest, Inc. SKYW, SYNNEX Corp. SNX, Shoe Carnival, Inc. SCVL and Information Services Group, Inc. III. Kevin Matras screens for companies showing their 'first' profit and explains why they are ones to watch.



Screen of the Week written by Kevin Matras of Zacks Investment Research:



Focus on These Top-Ranked Stocks with Solid Net Margins

Investors eye businesses that report profits on a regular basis. In order to gauge the extent of profit, there is no better metric than net profit margin.

A higher net margin reflects a companys efficiency in converting sales into actual profit. Moreover, this metric lends an insight into how well a company is run and the headwinds faced by it.

Net Profit Margin= Net profit/Sales * 100.

In simple terms, net profit is the amount a company retains after deducting all costs, interest, depreciation, taxes and other expenses. In fact, net profit margin can turn out to be a potent point of reference to gauge the strength in a company operations and cost-control measures.

Also, higher net profit is essential for rewarding stakeholders. Further, strength in the metric not only attracts investors but also draws well-skilled employees that eventually add to the value of the business.

Moreover, a higher net profit margin compared to its peers gives the company a competitive edge.

Pros and Cons

Net profit margin helps investors gain clarity on a companys business model in terms of pricing policy, cost structure and manufacturing efficiency. Hence, a strong net profit margin is preferred by all classes of investors.

However, net profit margin as an investment criterion has its own share of pitfalls. The metric varies widely from industry to industry. While net income is a key metric for investment measurement in traditional industries, it is not that important for technology companies.

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Moreover, the difference in accounting treatment of various items  especially non-cash expenses like depreciation and stock-based compensation  makes comparison a daunting task.

Further, for companies preferring to grow with debt instead of equity funding, higher interest expenses usually weigh on net profit. In such cases, the measure is rendered ineffective while analyzing a companys performance.

The Winning Strategy

A healthy net profit margin and solid EPS growth are the two most sought-after elements in a business model.

Apart from these, we have added a few criteria to ensure maximum returns from this strategy.

For the rest of this Screen of the Week article please visit Zacks.com at:https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/356740/focus-on-6-topranked-stocks-with-solid-net-profit-margin

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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Over the course of his career, Oscar-winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron has transported moviegoers to outer space (Gravity), dystopian futures (Children of Men) and wondrous schools of witchcraft and wizardry (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban). For his eighth narrative feature, Roma, the Mexican-born writer/director chose to explore terrain that's closer to homeand won his second Best Director Oscar as a result. Based on the director's own childhood experiences growing up in '70s-era Mexico City, Romawhich received 10 Oscar nominations and won three statues on this year's telecasttells the story of Cleo (played first-time actress Yalitza Aparicio), a young woman employed as a maid and nanny for a middle-class family. Cleo is modeled directly after the domestic worker who raised the young Cuaron and his siblings, Liboria Rodriguez, or as he affectionately called her from the time he learned to speak, "Libo." Speaking with Variety last year, Rodriguez described the surreality of watching her past translated to the screen. "I never imagined everything Im living right now, that a film would be based on me." While it tells a very specific story set in an equally specific time and place, Roma nevertheless illustrates universal experiences shared by contemporary domestic workers. To drive home the connection between Cuaron's past and our present, one of the production companies behind Roma, Participant Media, partnered with the National Domestic Workers Alliance for a campaign designed to highlight the stories of the 70 million real-life Cleos employed in homes around the world as cleaners and caregivers. For a Yahoo News story, Through Her Eyes host Zainab Salbi and director/producer Samantha Feltus profiled one such domestic worker, currently employed by a New York City family.
A South Carolina woman died on Thursday night after her two dogs turned on her while she was playing with them in the front yard of her Greenville home.

Nancy Cherryl Burgess-Dismuke, 52, was wrestling with her two dogs, both described as boxer mixes, around 1 p.m. when they suddenly became violent and began "eating her," neighbor Amber Greer told Greenville News.

"It went from looking like they were really playing to them really eating her alive," she told the outlet.

Neighbors who heard Burgess-Dismuke "screaming bloody murder" called 911 and came running to her mobile home, where they found both of the dogs biting the roughly 80-pound woman's arms and dragging her body around.

"They were trying to kill her," Greer told WYFF. "One dog was on one arm eating it, and one was on the other arm eating it."



Photo: Facebook

Two of Burgess-Dismuke's other neighbors, roommates Denzel Whiteside and William Long, grabbed an ax and a piece of wood and began beating the animals until they released the victim after a long struggle.

"She was already so far gone," Whiteside told Greenville News. "One arm was already bit completely off, the other arm was barely hanging on by a piece of meat. It was the longest 10 minutes of my life."

Paramedics rushed Burgess-Dismuke, who had already lost a large amount of blood, to Greenville Memorial Hospital. Although she was "alert" and "talking" when she was taken away, she later went into cardiac arrest at and died around 10 p.m. Thursday night, the Washington Post reports.

Both dogs were taken away by the Greenville County Animal Control and were euthanized on Friday afternoon.

Those who witnessed the gruesome attack and desperately tried to intervene say the incident will haunt them for a long time.

"To see a person's bones as the dogs attack, it really gets in your head," said neighbor William Long. "All I could do was try my best to save her."




A woman who was kicked off Tinder accuses the dating app of closing down her account because she posted profile photos of a hunted deer. Its a double standard, she tells Yahoo Lifestyle.

Nichole (who did not want Yahoo Lifestyle to publish her last name, to protect her privacy), a digital marketer in South Burlington, Vt., discovered she had been kicked off the app during a vacation to San Francisco in January, WBRC reported. Over drinks with a friend, Nichole, 32, opened the app, only to discover an error message, followed by one that read, Your account has been banned for activity that violates our terms of use.

Nichole saw nothing offensive about her profile and she hadnt used the app for months. The long-term inactivity had rendered her account hidden. However, on checking her office email that day, she read a message from a Tinder user  who had Ccd her boss  admitting to reporting photos of Nichole posing next to a deceased deer.

Really is this the best a marketing strategist can do to find love online?No wonder why shes on Tindernot illegal, but classless for sure, the user reportedly wrote, in an email obtained by My Champlain Valley.

He later explained further to the website, While my personal feelings of hunting fall on one side of the issue, my main complaint being that it just doesnt belong on a public dating site and all I did was report it to Tinder as inappropriate. Thats got to be considered a bad move as you are now not just representing yourself, but also your Company as well and thus the reason I felt prudent to let the Company know.

The man did not respond to Yahoo Lifestyles request for an interview.

Nichole of Vermont says Tinder kicked her off the dating app because she posted hunting photos. (Photo: Courtesy of Nichole)

The lifelong hunter knows that hunting is controversial. Its not for everyone, but its my core identity, Nichole tells Yahoo Lifestyle. My family loves to hunt and fish, and it was important for me to share that on Tinder. It would be a deal breaker if a partner didnt respect that.

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Nichole said that when she activated her Tinder account before meeting her friend, the apps geolocator made her profile visible to San Francisco-based men, one of whom didnt like her lifestyle. I cropped it so there were no weapons, no blood  my family, we are not trophy hunters, we hunt for food, Nichole told ABC 7. We respect the animal, we respect the outdoors, we eat every part of the deer that we can and only take shots when we feel its going to be a good shot and its going to take the animal as quickly and painlessly as possible.

She emailed Tinder asking why she had been banned, offering to remove any content that was in violation of the apps rules. I got a reply that I am permanently banned and there was no appeals process to fight it, Nichole tells Yahoo Lifestyle. In emails provided to Yahoo Lifestyle, the customer service representative said that an explanation for the ban was not available.

Nichole replied that her hunting photos didnt match Tinders violations and that the man had possibly violated Tinders anti-harassment policy by contacting her employer. She was told that the app would investigate claims of harassment.

A Tinder spokesperson tells Yahoo Lifestyle, We are committed to maintaining a positive ecosystem and take any reports of behavior that is contrary to our Terms of Use or Community Guidelines very seriously. We have a team dedicated to investigating each report. The account in question had been reported multiple times. The matter has been resolved and they can now use Tinder.

Nichole says her photo could breach the apps rules against violent, graphic, or gory content on Tinder. However, she adds that she found dozens of alleged Tinder profile photos in which men show off slain deer, fire guns, grab each others genitals, and even one of a subscriber standing fully naked with his back to the camera. She sent a sample of the images to Yahoo Lifestyle.

Its time to address these double standards, Nichole tells Yahoo Lifestyle. If I were a man, this wouldnt be an issue. It also speaks to discrimination women face in hunting, which is a male-dominated sport.

Nicholes profile was reinstated on Feb. 6, but shes soured on Tinder. Id rather put my time into dating apps that are inclusive and apply the same rules to men and women, she says.

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By Damali Mukhaye.

The opposition Forum for Democratic Change has called for togetherness in the opposition Democratic Party rather than abusing each other all sorts of abuses.

According to the spokesperson of the party Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, the DP president Nobert Mao last week attacked other Party members who were given positions in peoples government, when he referred to them as watermelon, and they also hit back calling him a pumpkin.

He says that there is no need of attacking each other since the Kampala lord mayor, Erias Lukwago, Mukono MP, Betty Nambooze and andMakindye West Allan Ssewanyana were not given position in the FDC so they are still DP members.

He says that as elections are nearing, the opposition need to stick together if they are to claim power.
The reactions of many on the left to the case of Jussie Smollett prove two important things:

There is little racism in America. The Left  white and black  is morally and psychologically impaired.

There is no doubt that most Americans on the left, including black Americans, are distraught over the fact that Smollett faked the racist attack on him. Apparently leftists, Democratic leaders, and, most depressingly, many of his fellow blacks wish Smollett had been attacked by white racist homophobes.

Representative Eric Swalwell (D., Calif.), a white leftist, tweeted, I hope this was not something that Mr. Smollett did to himself, or created.

Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart told MSNBC there has been an atmosphere of menace and hate since Donald Trump was elected president, which made people want to believe Smolletts story. Exactly. Capehart, a black leftist, wanted to believe that racists yelling This is MAGA country beat up blacks.

Another black leftist who writes hate columns for the Washington Post, Nana Efua Mumford, wrote: I wanted to believe Smollett. I really did. Again, exactly. Mumford wanted to believe that racists yelling This is MAGA country beat up blacks.

Corey Townsend, the social-media editor of The Root, a black-oriented website (founded in 2008 by Harvard black-studies scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.), opened his column on his private doubts that Smollett was attacked as he claimed with the words, I wanted to be wrong. Three paragraphs later: But still, I wanted to be wrong.

This should tell you a great deal about how morally and psychologically sick the Left is. And their reactions prove how little racism there really is in America.

Heres the proof of both these assertions: When American Jews, even most left-wing Jews, heard of the mass killing of Jews at a Pittsburgh synagogue, how many were hoping the shooter was truly an anti-Semite, and how many were hoping he was a mentally deranged individual who could have just as easily shot up a church? Or, if a well-known Jew had been beaten at 2 a.m. on a Chicago street, how many American Jews would have wanted the attackers to be Jew-haters, and how many would have wished they were just thugs who wanted money?

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As a Jew who has been deeply involved in Jewish culture all my life, I am pretty certain the majority of Jews  certainly liberal and conservative Jews, and even most left-wing Jews  would have wished that neither the Pittsburgh synagogue nor the theoretical attack on a Chicago street I conjured up were perpetrated by anti-Semites.

Why is that? Why do almost all Jews wish attackers of Jews not be anti-Semites, but so many blacks and so many white leftists wish Smollett had been attacked by racists?

Because Jews want to believe there is little anti-Semitism in America while most black leftists and most white leftists want to believe there is a lot of racism in America.

And why is that? Because the Left and many American blacks are politically and personally dependent on one of the greatest mass libels in history  namely, that America is a racist country. If just one one of five black Americans woke up tomorrow and announced, You know, this a great country for anyone, including a black person, to live in, and the truth is the vast majority of white Americans bear no ill will toward blacks (or any other race or ethnicity), that would end the Democrats chances of winning national elections. The Democratic party is dependent on nearly universal black acceptance of the leftist libel of America.

And what about the personal? Why do so many black Americans, living in the freest country for all its citizens  and in the least-racist multiracial, multiethnic country in history  want to believe America is racist? That is one of the most important questions all Americans need to address at this time.

And there is another one, which I posed in my column last week: Does the Left believe its own lies?

More from National Review
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Many investors are still learning about the various metrics that can be useful when analysing a stock. This article is for those who would like to learn about Return On Equity (ROE). By way of learning-by-doing, well look at ROE to gain a better understanding of Garda Diversified Property Fund (ASX:GDF).

Garda Diversified Property Fund has a ROE of 16%, based on the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this, is that for each A$1 of shareholders equity it has, the company made A$0.15 in profit.

See our latest analysis for Garda Diversified Property Fund

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for return on equity is:

Return on Equity = Net Profit  Shareholders Equity

Or for Garda Diversified Property Fund:

16% = 32.291  AU$208m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2018.)

Most readers would understand what net profit is, but its worth explaining the concept of shareholders equity. It is all the money paid into the company from shareholders, plus any earnings retained. The easiest way to calculate shareholders equity is to subtract the companys total liabilities from the total assets.

What Does Return On Equity Mean?

Return on Equity measures a companys profitability against the profit it has kept for the business (plus any capital injections). The return is the profit over the last twelve months. The higher the ROE, the more profit the company is making. So, all else being equal, a high ROE is better than a low one. Clearly, then, one can use ROE to compare different companies.

Does Garda Diversified Property Fund Have A Good Return On Equity?

Arguably the easiest way to assess companys ROE is to compare it with the average in its industry. Importantly, this is far from a perfect measure, because companies differ significantly within the same industry classification. As is clear from the image below, Garda Diversified Property Fund has a better ROE than the average (11%) in the REITs industry.

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ASX:GDF Past Revenue and Net Income, February 26th 2019

That is a good sign. I usually take a closer look when a company has a better ROE than industry peers. For example, I often check if insiders have been buying shares .

The Importance Of Debt To Return On Equity

Most companies need money  from somewhere  to grow their profits. The cash for investment can come from prior year profits (retained earnings), issuing new shares, or borrowing. In the first two cases, the ROE will capture this use of capital to grow. In the latter case, the use of debt will improve the returns, but will not change the equity. Thus the use of debt can improve ROE, albeit along with extra risk in the case of stormy weather, metaphorically speaking.

Combining Garda Diversified Property Funds Debt And Its 16% Return On Equity

Although Garda Diversified Property Fund does use debt, its debt to equity ratio of 0.51 is still low. Its very respectable ROE, combined with only modest debt, suggests the business is in good shape. Careful use of debt to boost returns is often very good for shareholders. However, it could reduce the companys ability to take advantage of future opportunities.

But Its Just One Metric

Return on equity is useful for comparing the quality of different businesses. A company that can achieve a high return on equity without debt could be considered a high quality business. If two companies have the same ROE, then I would generally prefer the one with less debt.

But when a business is high quality, the market often bids it up to a price that reflects this. The rate at which profits are likely to grow, relative to the expectations of profit growth reflected in the current price, must be considered, too. So you might want to check this FREE visualization of analyst forecasts for the company.

If you would prefer check out another company  one with potentially superior financials  then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

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.
An employee stocks frozen vegetables at a Walmart. Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Walmart Canada is helping employees and their families go back to school by offering cash for tuition.

The retail giant unveiled an education assistance program Tuesday that will provide all full-time employees who attend an accredited Canadian college or university with $2,500 per year. Employees that attend Ontarios Humber College or its affiliated schools will get an additional 20 per cent.

The average Canadian college tuition is around $2,700 dollars a year, so Walmarts program will come close to covering a year of tuition, particularly if you choose Humber. The average university tuition in Ontario is around $6,800 a year, meaning Walmart (WMT) would cover less than half of it.

Permanent-part time employees and family members of full-time employees dont qualify for the $2,500 dollar reimbursement but they will get 20 per cent of their tuition back if they attend Humber.

Walmart Canada is committed to supporting the life-long learning of our associates, said Lee Tappenden, president and CEO, Walmart Canada, in a news release.

Through AdvancED, our current and future associates can enhance the skills required for today while preparing for new and innovative ways of working in the future.

Humber is Canadas largest college with more than 55,000 students across three campuses.

This important partnership reinforces Humbers leadership in collaborating with Canadian companies and organizations to help build tomorrows workforce today, Chris Whitaker, Humber Colleges president and CEO said in a news release.

Through our creation of the AdvancED network, we will help associates and their families achieve their goals through flexible and life-long learning options.

Participating colleges and universities will help Walmart employees get enrolled, pick courses, and provide academic advising services.

Employees can also earn course credits for on-the-job-training and experience, which could reduce the time it takes to complete courses.

The company announced a similar plan in the U.S. in May. Full-time and part-time workers who have been with the company at least 90 days are eligible if they contribute $1 per day to their tuition and study either business or supply chain management at one of three non-profit colleges.

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BOGOTA (Reuters) - The Lima Group regional bloc said on Monday that threats have been made against the life of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido and the group finds them credible, adding that President Nicolas Maduro was responsible for Guaido's safety. The bloc in a statement demanded Maduro immediately leave his post in favor of a democratic transition that includes free elections. Colombian Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo, speaking on behalf of the group, said there was information about credible threats to Guaido and his family. Trujillo did not immediately provide evidence for the claims. Guaido has been placed under investigation by Venezuela's chief prosecutor but unlike some other opposition figures has not been jailed. He was briefly detained by security forces in January. "We want to hold the usurper Maduro responsible for any violent action against Guaido, against his wife and against their relatives," Trujillo told reporters. The United States has targeted Venezuela's government with new sanctions and called on allies to freeze assets of its state-owned oil company after violence blocked humanitarian aid from the country. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Guaido, recognized by most Western nations as Venezuela's legitimate leader, met in Bogota with members of the 12 Lima Group nations dedicated to peaceful resolution of the crisis. The United States is not a member and the Trump administration has declined to rule out military force. (Reporting by Julia Symmes Cobb, writing by Meredith Mazzilli; editing by Cynthia Osterman and James Dalgleish)
Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro accuses US government of fabricating a crisis to start war in South America originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused the U.S. government of trying to fabricate a crisis to start a war in South America in his first interview with an American television network in years.

"Everything that the United States government has done has been doomed to failure," Maduro told ABC News' Tom Llamas in Spanish from the presidential palace in Caracas. "They are trying to fabricate a crisis to justify political escalation and a military intervention in Venezuela to bring a war to South America."

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Colombia Monday morning to deliver a message from President Donald Trump to Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido: "We are with you 100 percent." There, he announced that the U.S. will provide an additional $56 million in aid to Venezuelan citizens and that the U.S. Treasury Department would be imposing "stronger sanctions" on the Maduro regime's "corrupt financial networks."

(MORE: VP Mike Pence meets with Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, announces more sanctions and $56M in aid)

PHOTO: Nicolas Maduro is pictured during an interview with ABC News on Feb. 25, 2019. (ABC News)

Maduro said that the meeting in Bogota was "part of that politics to attempt to establish a parallel government in Venezuela." He added that the U.S. "wants Venezuela's oil" and is "willing to go to war for that oil."

"The extremist Ku Klux Klan government that Donald Trump directs wants a war over oil, and more than just oil," he said, describing Venezuela as a "pacifist, humble nation."

(MORE: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's defiant interview with Tom Llamas: TRANSCRIPT)

Asked if he had a message for Trump, Maduro said he needs to "fix your policy over Venezuela."

"Venezuela has the right to peace, Venezuela has legitimate institutions. I, as President of Venezuela, am prepared for a direct dialogue with your government and with you to look for, like the Americans that we are. We are South Americans, you are North Americans. To look for 21st century solutions not Cold War solutions. The Cold War should stay behind," Maduro said.

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"We cannot have this war of are you a communist, are you anti-communist, inter-communist, anti-communist - that is not of this century. We are Democrats that believe in a new type of socialism and we have the right to the diversity of criterion and ideology. And so President Trump should always be ready to see Venezuelas truth - the other side of the coin and rectify and start a new path," Maduro continued.

PHOTO: Nicolas Maduro is pictured during an interview with ABC News on Feb. 25, 2019, in this image made from video. (ABC News)

"The path that got you here is the fractured path that Barack Obama left behind, President Trump. Its a path of a coup detat, of an intervention - that is not of the 21st century - I say to you, rectify. You will always have in me someone that is prepared - with our differences between us - to extend my hand and talk about a peaceful dialogue," he added.

Asked if he fears Trump, Maduro said he doesn't fear him... but he does fear the men around him, including Pence ("man that does not know world politics, unaware of Latin American politics"), National Security Adviser John Bolton ("an extremist and expert of the Cold War"), Eliot Abrams ("a liar that trafficked arms and drugs in Central America and the world and brought war to the United States"), and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ("a CIA agent that has an antiquated scheme of old intelligence from the Cold War").

"I think these people surrounding President Trump are bad and advising him on Venezuelan policies are bad. And I think that at one point, President Trump will have to say stop , stop we have to see what happens with Venezuela, and change his politics," Maduro said.

Around 50 countries no longer recognize Maduro as Venezuela's president and have announced that they view Guaido as the country's legitimate leader.

When asked if he would allow opposition Venezuela leader Juan Guaido back into the country, Maduro said. "He can just come and go. He will have to face justice, and justice prohibited him from leaving the country."

"He has to respect the laws," Maduro said.

(MORE: US Sen. Marco Rubio visits Colombia, addresses Venezuelan military)

When confronted with claims from the United Nations and human rights groups that estimate hundreds have died because of his administration, Maduro accused Llamas of lying "just like Trump."

"No human rights organizations has made me responsible for any deaths. You are lying Thomas. Do not lie - you are just like Trump. You are just like Trump," Maduro told Llamas, who responded that he had the U.N. report that includes the allegations that hundreds have died as a result of Maduro's administration.

"Does it make me, Nicolas Maduro, responsible of assassinating people?" Maduro asked.

When Llamas reminded Maduro that it's his government, Maduro again accused him of lying: "You have committed an error as a journalist."

"What I can tell you is that in Venezuela that is free expression for political opposition mobilizations. They have groups that attack public forces and that is what we put up with in 2017. Groups of delinquents that have been tried and processed according to Venezuelan law. What I can also tell you is that in Venezuela there is full freedom of political expression, of opinion, free press. In Venezuela there is full freedom to hold public office," Maduro said.

"In Venezuela there is a democracy with a lot of potential, with a lot of force. And it cannot be neglected and ignored that this constitution is the first constitution in the history of our country that was approved by referendum and has been full force and is in force today in Venezuela," he added.

Maduro told Llamas not to believe critics who say he's run out of chess moves, adding that the country "has all the economic capacity to get ahead and we will in this year, 2019."

"Venezuela has a constitution that is defended by all its institutions. It is legitimate and powerful state. And Venezuela has extraordinary relations - we are the president of the Organization of Non-Aligned States that groups 120 countries. We are the president of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries this year. We have grand responsibilities around the world that we will continue to fulfill," Maduro said.

"So that checkmate scheme, Mike Pence can believe that. Mike Pompeo can believe that. John Bolton and Elliott Abrams can believe that. But you should not believe that because you are a young man and knows that history will continue," he added.

Last Thursday, Maduro closed Venezuela's border to Brazil ahead of opposition plans to bring in humanitarian aid despite Guadio's objection. At least a dozen people were injured and one woman was killed by authorities during clashes at the Brazilian border over the weekend, The Associated Press reported.

PHOTO: Nicolas Maduro is pictured during an interview with ABC News on Feb. 25, 2019, in this image made from video. (ABC News)

On Tuesday, Venezuelan officials said that the country was banning air and sea trips to and from three Dutch Caribbean Islands, AP reported. The region has been linked to efforts to undermine Maduro by sending aid to Venezuela, according to AP.

Maduro blocked a convoy carrying American humanitarian aid that arrived at the Colombia-Venezuela border earlier this month. He has blocked aid from entering the country for years.

(MORE: Humanitarian aid for Venezuelans stored at bridge crossing border as military blocks passage)

Trump, Venezuela's opposition and Guaido have put pressure on Maduro to let the aid in. Venezuela's military has so far largely stood by the embattled president, who refuses to leave power.

Pence met with Guaido as well as Colombian President Ivan Duque Marquez in Bogota Monday before he addressed the Lima Group on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.

"President Duque we are grateful for your stand for freedom," Pence said. "President Guaido, we admire your courage and the courage of the other opposition leaders."

PHOTO: Venezuelans cross the Simon Bolivar brige in San Antonio del Tachira, Tachira State, Venezuela, on the border with Colombia, Feb. 20, 2019. (Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images)

PHOTO: Containers block the Tienditas bridge in Urena, Venezuela, on the border with Colombia, Feb. 20, 2019. (Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images)

Trump warned Venezuela's military last week that standing by Maduro could make them "lose everything" and in a speech Monday to the country's exiled community in South Florida, called Maduro "a Cuban puppet."

Guadio also spoke from Bogota Thursday, saying the world saw the real Venezuela on Saturday during the violence that occurred as the opposition tried to force humanitarian aid into the country.

(MORE: Battle of the bands: Richard Branson, Nicolas Maduro to hold rival aid concerts on Venezuelan border this weekend)

"And the world saw within hours on Saturday what Venezuela has lived with for years: the destruction of the production, the burning of food, the burning of medicine that could save lives," Guaido said.

PHOTO: Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks during an interview at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Feb. 14, 2019. (Ariana Cubillos/AP, FILE)

PHOTO: Humanitarian aid for Venezuela is seen at a warehouse at the Tienditas cross-border bridge between Colombia and Venezuela in Cucuta, Colombia, Feb. 18, 2019. (Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters)

He added: "We must insist with the attention to the humanitarian emergency, to protect our people and of course we are in Bogota today thankful for the invitation that today formally incorporates into the Lima Group."

(MORE: Aid arrives at Venezuela border as US demands Maduro let it in)

Maduro said Thursday in televised comments that he was considering closing the Colombia border, saying the stockpiling of aid in Cucuta was a "provocation" and a cheap show by the opposition to undermine his government.

PHOTO: Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid for Venezuela drive towards the Tienditas Bridge in Cucuta, Colombia, on the border with Tachira, Venezuela, Feb. 16, 2019. (Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images)

PHOTO: Sen. Marco Rubio gestures at the Simon Bolivar international bridge in Cucuta, Colombia, on the border with San Antonio de Tachira, Venezuela, Feb. 17, 2019. (Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images)

Dueling aid concerts took place over the weekend on either side of the Venezuelan border. Maduro announced that his administration would be hosting its own two-day concert at the Simon Bolivar International Bridge on Friday and Saturday after billionaire Richard Branson, a critic of the Maduro regime, announced that he would be sponsoring a Live Aid-style benefit concert in Cucuta.

ABC News' Esther Castillejo, Conor Finnegan, Ben Gittleson, Rashid Haddou, Meredith McGraw, Davi Merchan, Kirit Radia and Bruno Roeber contributed to this report.

Editors note: This story has been updated to clarify the translation, including a passage regarding Maduros comments on the people surrounding President Trump and a statement from Maduro that Guaido can just come and go to and from Venezuela.
(Reuters) - The Venezuelan opposition's envoy to the United States, Carlos Vecchio, met with U.S. President Donald Trump recently and asked him to increase pressure on socialist President Nicolas Maduro, Vecchio's office said in a statement on Tuesday. Vecchio wrote in a tweet that he met with Trump when the president made a speech in Florida. In the Feb. 18 speech, Trump warned members of Venezuela's military who remain loyal to Maduro that they are risking their future and their lives and urged them to allow humanitarian aid into the country. The United States was among the first countries to recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate leader after he swore himself in as president last month, arguing Maduro's May 2018 re-election was a sham. The statement from the opposition's envoy came a day after the United States targeted Venezuela's government with new sanctions and called on allies to freeze the assets of state-owned oil company PDVSA after deadly violence blocked humanitarian aid from the country over the weekend. Maduro denies his oil-rich nation has need for humanitarian aid and accuses Guaido of being a coup-mongering puppet for Trump. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Monday in Bogota that the aid blockage steeled the United States' resolve to support Guaido. (Reporting by Luc Cohen; writing by Meredith Mazzilli; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
By Sonali Paul and Philip Pullella MELBOURNE/VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - An Australian court has found Cardinal George Pell, one of the highest ranking Vatican officials and a former top adviser to Pope Francis, guilty on five charges of child sexual offences committed more than two decades ago against 13-year-old boys. The verdict was made public on Tuesday following the lifting of a court suppression order on the trial, after a second abuse case against Pell -- the most senior Catholic clergyman worldwide to be convicted for child sex offences -- was dropped by the prosecution. Pell's lawyers have said they will appeal the verdict, which embarrassed the Vatican because it became public just two days after a major conference on preventing sex abuse. He had pleaded not guilty to all five charges. In the Vatican's first response, spokesman Alessandro Gisotti told reporters the conviction was "painful" for many but that the cardinal had proclaimed his innocence and had the right to "defend himself until last level" of judicial process. At a morning briefing, Gisotti said Pell's five-year term as Vatican economy minister had expired on Feb. 24. In a tweet late on Tuesday night, Gisotti said Pell "is no longer the Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy". A jury in the County Court of Victoria in Melbourne found Pell guilty on Dec. 11 last year following a four-week trial. He was convicted of five sexual offences committed against the 13-year-old choir boys 22 years earlier in the priests' sacristy of St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne, where Pell was archbishop. One of the two victims died in 2014. Each of the five offences carries a maximum 10 years in jail. Pell's lawyers have filed an appeal against the verdict on three grounds, which if successful could lead to a retrial. "Cardinal Pell has always maintained his innocence and continues to do so," Pell's lawyer, Paul Galbally, said outside the court. CARDINAL OUT ON BAIL Pell, who remains on bail, left the court on Tuesday without speaking to reporters, who virtually mobbed him as he walked from the courthouse steps to a waiting car. A child abuse survivor, who identified himself as Michael Advocate as his real name is suppressed under Australian law, shouted to Pell: "Burn in Hell." Pell is due to return to court on Wednesday for the start of his sentencing hearing. Gisotti disclosed hitherto unpublished restrictions that Australian Church leaders had imposed on Pell when the cardinal returned to his native country in June 2017 to defend himself. The spokesman said Pope Francis "confirmed" measures prohibiting Pell from practising his ministry in public and from having contact with minors "in any way or form". The verdict has been made public as the Catholic church tries to deal with a growing child sexual abuse crisis, following scandals in the United States, Chile, Germany and Australia. The pope ended the conference on sexual abuse on Sunday, calling for an "all out battle" against a crime that should be "erased from the face of the earth". The Vatican said in December that Francis had removed Pell, 77, from his group of close advisers, without commenting on the trial. The cardinal took indefinite leave as head of the Secretariat for the Economy when he returned to Australia to fight the charges, and the department has been run by someone else. Pell was not called to the stand in the trial. Instead, the jury was shown in open court a video recording of an interview Australian police held with Pell in Rome in October 2016, in which he strenuously denied the allegations. The jury was also shown a video recording of the surviving victim's testimony behind closed doors. The victim, who was a schoolboy when abused by Pell, on Tuesday asked for his privacy to be respected. "Like many survivors I have experienced shame, loneliness, depression and struggle. Like many survivors it has taken me years to understand the impact upon my life," the victim said in an emailed statement through his solicitor Vivian Waller. "The process has been stressful and it is not over yet. I need space and time to cope with the ongoing criminal process." Mark Coleridge, the president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, who attended the Vatican conference, said the conviction "has shocked many across Australia and around the world". "We pray for all those who have been abused and their loved ones, and we commit ourselves anew to doing everything possible to ensure that the Church is a safe place for all, especially the young and the vulnerable," he said in a statement. (Corrects name of court to County Court of Victoria in paragraph six.) (Reporting by Sonali Paul and Philip Pullella; Editing by Catherine Evans)
The US has announced new sanctions on Caracas and insisted that all options were on the table to oust Nicolas Maduro, as a Republican senator tweeted images showing the death throes of Muammar Gaddafi in an apparent threat to the Venezuelan leader.

Vice president Mike Pence said four Venezuelan state governors allied to Mr Maduro were the target of the new sanctions, while he urged the international community to freeze assets of the nation's state-run oil company. The US also asked the United Nations Security Council to hold an urgent meeting on the crisis.

I want to assure you, President Guaido, that the tragic events of the past weekend have only steeled the resolve of the United States of America, Mr Pence said at a meeting of the Lima Group in Colombia.

The meeting was attended by opposition leader Juan Guaido, who last month declared himself Venezuela's president.

According to the Associated Press, Mr Pence added. We are with you 100 per cent.

Also in Colombia at the weekend, where he visited efforts to transport US aid across the border into Venezuela  an effort that resulted in violence and several deaths  was Republican senator Marco Rubio, who has been highly influential on Donald Trumps Latin American policy and whom the New York Times has termed the ouster in chief.

On Sunday, he tweeted several messages attacking Mr Maduros government before then posting three images of ousted dictators  Libyas Gaddafi, Panamas Manuel Noriega and Romanias Nicolae Ceausescu. The gruesome, blood-laced image of the Libyan leader was taken as he was bayoneted to death by rebels in the city of Sirte in October 2011. Nato had earlier engaged in a devastating bombing campaign against Gadafi's forces.

Mr Rubios tweet of the image contained no text, but quickly sparked outcry on social media. A number of commentators said he was tweeting the equivalent of stills from a snuff movie.

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In Colombia at the meeting of nations from the Americas, Mr Pence spoke with Mr Guaido, who Washington had encouraged to declare himself the countrys legitimate president and who it quickly regonised as such after he did so. The UK, Canada and up to 50 other nations quickly followed, while China, Russia and Mexico still recognise Mr Maduo.

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Mr Pence accused Mr Maduros forces of burning several trucks containing medical supplies over the weekend as the opposition tried to deliver US aid, even though it was unclear how they were set alight.

As the world watched, the tyrant in Caracas danced as his henchmen murdered civilians and burned truckloads of food and medicine destined for the people of Venezuela, Mr Pence claimed. These men worked to block aid for people in need and suppress peaceful protests  and their actions will not go unpunished.

In the days ahead, the US will announce even stronger sanctions on the regime's corrupt financial networks. We will find every last dollar they have stolen and return that money to the Venezuelan people.

As we continue to bring economic and diplomatic pressure to bear on the Maduro regime, we hope for a peaceful transition to democracy, but as President Trump has made clear, all options are on the table.

But others - including several European nations - voiced caution. Hamilton Mourao, vice president of Brazil, one of the nations that has recegnised Mr Guaido, said under no circumstances would his country allow the US to intervene militarily in Venezuela from Brazilian territory.

Mr Maduro has denied claims that he is refusing to accept aid. Indeed, the UN has stepped up distribution of humanitarian supplies in the country. His supporters point out the US has previously used shipments of aid in Latin America to smuggle weapons to rebels. Three decades ago, Elliott Abrams, currently Mr Trumps point person on Venezuela, oversaw such an operation against the democratically elected government of Nicaragua.

Mr Maduro on Monday tweeted that the empire and its lackey must understand that in Venezuela the self-determination of our people reigns. We will solve the problems in a national union, with the Bolivarian government that I preside over. Together for Venezuela!.

Meanwhile, the US asked the UN Security Council to discuss the Venezuela situation on Tuesday. Reuters said Washington wanted the 15-member council to formally call for free, fair and credible presidential elections in Venezuela with international observers, a move that prompted Russia to propose a rival draft resolution.
Washington (AFP) - A crew from US-based television network Univision said it was detained for more than two hours in Venezuela after offending President Nicolas Maduro during an interview by asking questions about poverty and his legitimacy to govern.

Maduro "disliked the questions in the interview and stopped the recording, confiscated the equipment and detained the six journalists," said Univision, one of the biggest Spanish-language TV networks in the United States.

"The crew of six Univision Noticias journalists headed by Jorge Ramos was released after being held at the Miraflores Palace for nearly three hours on the orders of Nicolas Maduro," the network added.

Ramos told Univision that the entire team had later arrived back at their hotel.

The journalist said he had showed Maduro footage of children sifting through garbage for something to eat and that Maduro halted the interview and left.

"I had asked him if he was a president or a dictator, because millions of Venezuelans do not consider him the legitimate president," Ramos said.

Ramos said he had brought up opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaido's charges that Maduro has effectively usurped power because, Guaido argues, Maduro won re-election last year through fraud.

"We were detained, there is no other word for it, for nearly three hours" at Maduro's presidential palace, Ramos told reporters.

He said he and his team hope to get their equipment back and fly to Miami Tuesday.

Guaido tweeted about the incident with Ramos, saying Maduro's "desperation is greater every day. He could not answer his questions."

The US State Department earlier said it had been notified that Ramos and his team were being held against their will at the Miraflores.

"We insist on their immediate release; the world is watching," it tweeted.
Killeen, TX (76540)

Today

Partly cloudy skies during the evening giving way to a few showers after midnight. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies during the evening giving way to a few showers after midnight. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
Ramos says officials did not give us a reason for deportation

Journalist and crew were detained in presidential palace

Jorge Ramos arrives at the airport in Caracas. He said: They just said to us last night that we had been expelled from the country. Photograph: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

The Univision anchor Jorge Ramos and his five-person crew have been deported from Venezuela after they were detained in the presidential palace in Caracas during an interview with the embattled president, Nicolas Maduro.

The Mexican-born journalist said he and his crew were detained for two hours on Monday night after asking a question Maduro did not approve of.

The networks US president Daniel Coronell said the teams equipment as well as the material that upset Maduro were confiscated.

Ramos told Univision that Maduro took offence when the journalist showed the president images of Venezuelans eating out of the trash to prove people were living a humanitarian crisis.

On Tuesday, Venezuelan intelligence agents escorted Ramos and his crew to Caracass Maiquetia airport, where they left on a flight for Miami.

They didnt give us a reason for the deportation, Ramos told reporters as he arrived at the terminal. They just said to us last night that we had been expelled from the country.

Ramos is arguably the best-known journalist in the Spanish-speaking world. He has gained particular notoriety for regularly locking horns with Donald Trump, who had him ejected from a press conference while on the campaign trail in 2015. The have since sparred over the US presidents proposed border wall among other contentious issues.

Maduro, who is fending off mounting international pressure to cede power to the opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaido, has been accused of regularly detaining journalists. Last month, two French journalists were held after filming outside Miraflores. Numerous local journalists have been harassed or detained in recent years.

Venezuelas information minister, Jorge Rodriguez  who is regarded by analysts as Maduros chief propagandist  suggested Ramos was a state department stooge in a tweet. We do not lend ourselves to cheap shows, he went on to say.

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Maduro had until recently favoured interviews with friendly outlets, but in the last month has sat down with more aggressive reporters from the BBC and Eurovision, while an ABC crew also interviewed him on Monday.

The move against Ramos drew swift condemnation from Human Rights Watch, with the advocacy groups Americas director, Jose Miguel Vivanco, calling for the immediate release of Ramos and his crew.

The international community must be alert, he tweeted on Monday evening, later adding that Jorge Ramos and his team are surrounded by Maduros intelligence services (responsible for atrocities).

Guaido also attacked Maduro, tweeting that the desperation of the usurper is each day more evident, he could even respond to [Ramos] questions.

The Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has drawn criticism from some international observers for refusing to back Guaido.

The Mexican foreign ministry condemned the crews detention after their release on Monday night. Our country calls for respect for freedom of expression and reiterates its obligation in defense of the security of Mexican citizens abroad, a tweet read.

Univision is the largest Spanish-language network in the US. Ramos anchors its flagship nightly news program, Noticiero Univision.
ST. LOUIS  United Methodists on Tuesday rejected an effort by more progressive members of the global church to lift the denomination's ban on same-sex marriage and LGBT clergy.

During the special session of the church's General Conference in St. Louis, delegates voted not to substitute the more inclusive One Church Plan for the conservative Traditional Plan, which reinforces the denomination's current prohibitions.

The swap failed by 75 votes, 374 to 449. Later Tuesday, delegates in a 438-384 vote approved the Traditional Plan as some opposed to it disrupted the meeting in protest.

The Rev. Tom Berlin, a delegate from the Virginia Conference, spoke from the General Conference stage in support of the One Church Plan, which would have allowed same-sex marriage and LGBT clergy while adding protections for churches and pastors who do not support the marriages.

"Whats being said in private conversations is that if the Traditional Plan, the majority plan, is voted in today, you will be putting a virus into the American church and it will make it very sick and it will be sick quickly," Berlin said.

Urging support for One Church Plan

The push for substitution was delivered via a minority report. It is a General Conference mechanism that supporters of the One Church Plan decided to use after the plan failed to make it out of legislative committee on Tuesday.

Berlin said passing the Traditional Plan sends a hurtful message to LGBT people in the church and their allies. He said he had already heard from some people who said they would be leaving the church if the Traditional Plan passes.

"Whether you like it or not, they feel that their church is exhibiting itself as being against gay people along with others," Berlin said. Its not your intention I know, but its what they experience and that matters."

Nancy Denardo, a delegate from the Western Pennsylvania Conference, spoke against the One Church Plan substitution and cited parts of the Bible as support for her reasoning.

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"The One Church Plan does not agree with the words of our savior and in so doing deceives young persons into believing that same-gender marriage is OK with God when clearly it is not," Denardo said. "There is danger to that not only to those being deceived but the deceivers as well."

Methodists divided over LGBT issues

Before the top policy-making body of the denomination voted down the One Church Plan, the delegates, bishops and others on the floor of the special session joined together in prayer.

The United Methodist Church remains deeply divided over the denomination's ban on same-sex marriage and LGBT clergy.

This week's big meeting in St. Louis put that on full display and the outcome threatens to split the global church of more than 12 million members.

United Methodists have disagreed over their church's position that homosexuality is "incompatible with Christian teaching" and other LGBT matters for nearly 50 years. They continue to do so today.

The 864 lay and clergy delegates from around the world are voting Tuesday on how the church should move ahead.

The legislative committee on Monday advanced the Traditional Plan.

But parts of the Traditional Plan were ruled unconstitutional under church rules Tuesday by the denomination's Judicial Council. It remains to be seen how those rulings will impact the delegate's work on Tuesday.

Follow Holly Meyer on Twitter: @HollyAMeyer.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: United Methodist delegates reject plan allowing same-sex marriage, LGBT clergy
ST. LOUIS  Deeply divided United Methodist delegates advanced a conservative plan out of committee Monday to maintain the churchs bans on same-sex marriage and gay clergy while dealing a potential setback to those pushing for full LGBT inclusion.

The rule book for the second-largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. prohibits same-sex church weddings and "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" from serving as ministers.

For decades, Methodists have been split on how to address the issue, a division on full display this week during a specially called session of the churchs General Conference here in St. Louis. Whatever happens could lead members and entire congregations to leave the denomination for good.

The 864 lay and clergy delegates from around the world morphed into a legislative committee Monday and spent much of the day hashing out details of competing plans.

The Traditional Plan would reinforce the church's current positions. The One Church Plan would allow same-sex marriage and LGBT clergy while adding protections for churches and pastors who do not support the marriages.

More: The Methodist Church is voting on LGBT issues. The outcome could tear it apart

Final votes expected Tuesday

The Traditional Plan won the support of the committee. The One Church Plan failed by a 50-vote margin, dealing a setback to those wishing to advance LGBT inclusion within the denomination.

But nothing is final yet.

These same delegates will return to The Dome in St. Louis on Tuesday and gather as the plenary, or a meeting acting as the full General Conference assembly. Thats when a final vote is expected on the Traditional Plan and when the One Church Plan could make a comeback.

Supporters of the Traditional Plan praised the legislative committee's actions.

Mark Tooley, the president of the Institute on Religion & Democracy, said he is relieved and pleased, but not surprised by the decisions made Monday. The institute is a part of a coalition that has advocated for the Traditional Plan.

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"You never know for sure until the vote actually happens, so overall I thought it was good news for those who support the church's current standards and want to keep as much of the church together as possible as a global denomination," Tooley said.

He is optimistic that delegates will continue to support the Traditional Plan on the final day of the special session.

"I think that it confirms that Methodism slowly, but surely is moving away from being a traditional U.S. mainline denomination and becoming a very different global denomination," Tooley said.

The Rev. Joe Harris, chair of the single legislative committee of the 2019 special session of the United Methodist Church General Conference, moderates questions from delegates Feb. 25, 2019. In the background is the Rev. Betty Musau from North Katanga, vice chair.

Supporters of the more inclusive One Church Plan say it is not dead yet despite the blow delivered by the legislative committee.

"I think its important that we not give up right now," said the Rev. Rachel Baughman, who is on the coordinating team for Uniting Methodists.

The group is a part of a coalition that is using another General Conference mechanism, referred to as the minority report, to try to bring the One Church Plan back for consideration on Tuesday, Baughman said.

They will spend the rest of Monday finding allies to support it instead of the Traditional Plan, said Neil Alexander, also with Uniting Methodists.

"Realistically, we recognize that it's uphill," Alexander said. "We remain hopeful that what we think is the will of the larger church will be reflected in the action of the delegates, which is a representative body."

Deep divides on display

The church's deep divides over the issue were illustrated Monday  both during the debate and among Methodists following the action on livestreams and social media. The cultural split was apparent with many from more conservative parts of the world backing the Traditional Plan. There are more than 12 million United Methodists around the globe.

The debate, at times, touched on greater human sexuality matters at hand.

Sergey Kim, a delegate from the Central Russia Conference, addressed the meeting, expressing his support for the Traditional Plan.

"The Traditional Plan is based on the biblical truth, and I think this is a first priority," Kim said through a translator. "It said in the Bible, 'Do not add anything to my words. Do not take away from my words. Do as your God commands.'"

The Rev. Tom Berlin, a delegate from the Virginia Conference, spoke against the Traditional Plan. Berlin had submitted the more inclusive One Church Plan.

The One Church Plan is backed by those in the denomination with more progressive views and is supported by a majority of the Council of Bishops.

"The (Traditional) plan is trying to force us to be a church that we are not," Berlin said. "Pew Research teaches us that younger generations will see this plan as anti-gay because they support marriage equity. We will be seen by unchurched people in the United States in a similar way we experienced protesters outside."

The legislative committee Monday morning approved the Traditional Plan, but a final vote is not expected until Tuesday.

'Stand up and clap, sit down and cry'

The legislative committee spent the remainder of the morning taking up petitions that would aid congregations trying to exit the church. The United Methodists disagreed about those, too, but the committee eventually approved them. Those petitions also still need a final vote.

After lunch, the legislative committee debated the more inclusive One Church Plan. It was not approved, leading to worry from supporters about the next steps.

The Rev. Byron Thomas, a delegate with the North Georgia Conference, supports the One Church Plan and compared this moment to Methodists support in 1939 for racial segregation in the church.

"The late Bishop James Thomas, in recalling the moment in his book entitled 'Methodism's Racial Dilemma,' wrote that the white folks stood up and clapped and the black folks sat down and cried. I believe that we are another stand up and clap, sit down and cry moment," he said. "Instead of a gracious exit, cannot we consider a more faithful stay?"

Rudolph Merab, a delegate with the Liberia Conference, spoke against it.

"It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error," Merab said. "It is wrong for the Christian church not to talk about the full counsel of God in scripture."

Follow Holly Meyer on Twitter: @HollyAMeyer.

More: Ellen Page says fame forced her to stay in the closet: 'People cannot know you're gay'

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: United Methodist delegates advance plan to keep ban on same-sex marriage, LGBT clergy
By Isla Binnie and Jack Stubbs BARCELONA (Reuters) - European governments are listening to the U.S. message that China's Huawei exposes telecoms networks to security risks, a senior U.S. cyber official said on Tuesday. The State Department official was part of a U.S. delegation in Barcelona seeking to persuade governments and telecoms operators at the Mobile World Congress, the world's biggest wireless fair, to follow the U.S. lead in shunning Huawei equipment. "People are understanding our point that we are making about the security risks that are inherent in this technology coming from China," said Robert L. Strayer, U.S. State Department ambassador for cyber and international communications. "We have been very successful in convincing these governments to work with us to think about these types of threats to their future infrastructure," Strayer told reporters. The United States warns that next-generation 5G equipment, which some telecoms experts see as more vulnerable to attack than previous technology, could be exploited by the Chinese government for spying if supplied by Huawei. Huawei has grown rapidly to become the world's biggest maker of telecoms equipment and is embedded in the mobile networks and 5G plans of many European operators. It denies that its technology represents a security risk. In the United States, 5G networks will largely be built by Nordic equipment makers Ericsson and Nokia, and Strayer said there were multiple safer alternatives to Huawei. The U.S. has also alleged Huawei violated its regime of sanctions on Iran and stole intellectual property. "We know that Huawei itself has been duplicitous and deceitful," Strayer said. Speaking in Barcelona on Sunday, Huawei Chairman Guo Ping reiterated his company's position that it has never and would never allow any country to spy through its equipment. Guo, who holds Huawei's rotating chairmanship, said President Donald Trump's recent assertion that the United States needed to get ahead in mobile communications through competition rather than seeking to block technology was "clear and correct". No evidence of spying has been presented publicly even as scrutiny on Huawei has intensified, and several Western countries have restricted the firm's access to their markets. Asked what evidence he had that Huawei had installed so-called backdoors - a deliberate coding vulnerability to grant access to intelligence services - Strayer pointed to a British government report released last July. The British report found that technical and supply-chain issues with Huawei equipment had exposed national telecoms networks to new security risks. British intelligence officials have since said they are able to manage the risks and have no evidence of spying. When asked about the British conclusion that there was no evident backdoor, Strayer replied: "Really I think the question is this: do you want to have a system that is potentially compromised by the Chinese government or would you rather go with a more secure alternative?" (Reporting by Jack Stubbs and Isla Binnie; Writing by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Keith Weir)
By Lawrence Hurley and Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday rejected a challenge brought by an associate of Roger Stone, the indicted long-time advisor to President Donald Trump, to the legality of Robert Mueller's 2017 appointment by the Justice Department as special counsel heading the Russia investigation. In doing so, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a lower court's decision to hold Andrew Miller in contempt for refusing to comply with a grand jury subpoena served on him by Mueller, who is investigating potential conspiracy between Trump's 2016 campaign and Moscow. Miller's case marked the third legal challenge to Mueller's authority that has failed so far, including efforts by Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman who has been convicted on a series of charges and pleaded guilty to others, and a Russian company accused of meddling in the election. Miller is a one-time aide to Stone who has worked for other political campaigns in the past. In Miller's challenge, the court concluded that Mueller's appointment by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Department's No. 2 official, was lawful under the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution that lays out presidential powers on appointing certain public officials. Miller's lawyer had argued that the appointment was unlawful because Mueller was not named by the president and approved by the Senate. That argument depended on Mueller being viewed as what is known as a "principal officer" who must be confirmed by the Senate. The appeals court agreed with the Justice Department that Mueller is an "inferior officer," a lower-level official who is under the direction of Rosenstein like other government lawyers. "Special Counsel Mueller effectively serves at the pleasure of an Executive Branch officer who was appointed with the advice and consent of the Senate," the three-judge panel concluded. "Miller's contention that Special Counsel Mueller is a principal officer under the Appointments Clause thus fails." Paul Kamenar, Miller's attorney, said he is disappointed in the decision and is still weighing whether to appeal it, either to the full appellate court or to the Supreme Court. "The fact that the court took over three months to decide this appeal after oral argument ... demonstrates that this was a serious and substantial challenge," Kamenar said. STONE FACES CHARGES Stone, a self-proclaimed "dirty trickster" and Republican political operative for decades, pleaded not guilty on Jan. 29 to lying to Congress, obstructing an official proceeding and witness tampering, charges brought by Mueller's team. Mueller is preparing to submit to Attorney General William Barr a report on his investigation, a probe that has cast a cloud over Trump's presidency. Trump has called the Mueller probe a witch hunt. He and Russia have denied collusion. Russia has denied election interference. A federal judge previously rejected Manafort's bid to get an indictment against him dismissed by arguing that Mueller's appointment ran afoul of Justice Department rules on installing special counsels. Manafort is due to be sentenced next month in two related cases for crimes ranging from bank and tax fraud, to conspiring against the United States and witness tampering. A judge separately rejected Russian company Concord Management and Consulting LLC's effort to win dismissal of an indictment secured by Mueller that alleges it helped fund a propaganda operation to sway voters in the 2016 election. Concord, like Miller, argued that Mueller's appointment violated the Constitution, but the judge ruled Mueller's appointment was lawful. Miller's legal challenge is the only one that made it to the appellate court. Concord's attorneys filed a brief and participated in oral arguments in support of Miller's claim. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley and Sarah N. Lynch; Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball; Editing by Will Dunham)
By Michael Martina

BEIJING (Reuters) - A top U.S. business lobby in China said on Tuesday that a majority of its member companies favored the United States retaining tariffs on Chinese goods while Washington and Beijing try to hammer out a deal to end a months-long trade war.

The American Chamber of Commerce in China also said that over the past year substantially more of its members want the U.S. government to push Beijing harder to create a level playing field for U.S. businesses.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he may soon sign an agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping to end the trade dispute if their countries can bridge remaining differences, saying negotiators were "very, very close" to a deal.

That followed Trump's announcement a day earlier that he would delay a tariff hike on $200 billion of Chinese goods and extend his March 1 deadline for a deal. Washington is demanding an end to the theft of trade secrets and practices that coerce U.S. companies to turn over technology to Chinese firms.

China has given few details about the latest talks.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters that as talks were still on-going, his understanding was that many of the details could not yet be revealed.

Lu noted that Xi has told Trump that he is willing to keep holding meetings between them.

"I believe that both countries' teams will make full preparation for matters related to a meeting between the two heads of state," Lu added, without elaborating.

"MIXED FEELINGS"

About 10 percent of the chamber's members favored raising tariffs rates on those $200 billion of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent after the original March 1 deadline agreed to by Trump and Xi in December.

Another 43 percent advocated maintaining tariffs at 10 percent and delaying the increase for 60 days while negotiations continued, the chamber said at a briefing on its annual China business climate survey.

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"There are mixed feelings about the tariffs, but a majority are in support of the tariffs continuing at the present time," chamber chairman Tim Stratford said at the briefing.

"People don't like tariffs, and that's truly understandable. But they also think that maybe the tariffs have done some good in provoking very serious negotiations between the two sides," Stratford told Reuters earlier.

Chamber president Alan Beebe said 47 percent of members wanted the U.S. government to "advocate more strongly" for a level playing field for U.S. businesses in the world's second-largest economy.

"That figure is almost twice what it was a year ago," Beebe said.

The chamber said 19 percent of its companies were adjusting supply chains or seeking to source components and assembly outside of China as a result of tariffs. Twenty-eight percent were delaying or cancelling investment decisions in China.

Trump's decision to delay the tariff increase has been greeted with a mixture of relief and dread among U.S. industry groups and lawmakers, many of which are increasingly fed up with what they say is China's failure to live up to its World Trade Organization commitments.

Some have expressed concerns that after nearly eight months of tit-for-tat tariffs roiling global financial markets, disrupting manufacturing supply chains, and shrinking U.S. farm exports, Trump could end up settling for a deal that increases commodity sales to Beijing while doing little to change China's underlying trade practices and industrial policies.

In his Feb. 5 State of the Union address, Trump said a China trade deal "must include real, structural change to end unfair trade practices, reduce our chronic trade deficit, and protect American jobs."

But as the March 1 deadline drew closer, Trump has appeared increasingly eager to make a deal, causing concerns among trade watchers that he was eroding U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer's leverage in the talks.

(Reporting by Michael Martina; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Shri Navaratnam & Kim Coghilll)
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States has asked the United Nations Security Council to meet to discuss the situation in Venezuela on Tuesday, said diplomats after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's troops repelled foreign aid convoys at the weekend. The United States has been pushing the 15-member council to formally call for free, fair and credible presidential elections in Venezuela with international observers, a move that prompted Russia to propose a rival draft resolution. It was unclear if or when either draft text could be put to a vote. Moscow and Washington have been at loggerheads over a U.S.-led campaign for international recognition of Venezuelan opposition leader and head of the country's elected National Assembly Juan Guaido over Maduro. Guaido last month declared himself interim head of state. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Grant McCool)
The US Navy has sailed two ships through the Taiwan Strait, officials said Monday, in what the military described as a "routine transit" that is nonetheless sure to upset China.

In a statement, the Pentagon said the USS Stethem destroyer and the USNS Cesar Chavez cargo ship sailed between the South China Sea and the East China Sea through the Taiwan Strait Sunday through Monday.

"This routine transit through international waters of the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," the statement read.

The Defense Department "will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows."

In recent months, US Navy ships have repeatedly passed through the waterway, which separates mainland China from the island.

Beijing views any ships passing through the strait as essentially a breach of its sovereignty -- while the US and many other nations view the route as international waters open to all.

China sees Taiwan as part of its territory to be reunified, despite the two sides being ruled separately since the end of a civil war on the mainland in 1949.

The self-ruled island has its own currency, flag and government, but is not recognized as an independent state by the United Nations.

Beijing has said it will not hesitate to use force if Taipei formally declares independence, or in the case of external intervention -- including by the United States, the island's most powerful unofficial ally.
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he does not believe the United States will take back weapons from Kurdish militias in Syria. In an interview with Turkish broadcaster NTV, Erdogan stressed the need for the United States to take back weapons from Kurdish groups in Manbij. Earlier this month, a senior U.S. Army general said the United States should keep arming and aiding the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces following the planned U.S. withdrawal from Syria. In December, President Donald 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. Turkey has long stressed the importance of the United States retrieving the weapons Washington has given the YPG, the United States' main partner against Islamic State in Syria, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization. "The generals with him said that they have the serial numbers, and they will collect the weapons when all is done. I do not find this sincere," Erdogan said on Tuesday. "If this withdrawal becomes a stalling method, our approach will be different," he said, adding that 200 to 400 soldiers may stay, and 500 may stay from other U.S.-led coalition forces. Last week, the United States said it would leave a small peacekeeping group of 200 American troops in Syria for a period of time after a U.S. pullout. A commander of U.S.-backed Syrian forces called for 1,000 to 1,500 international troops to remain in the country to help fight Islamic State, and expressed hope the United States, in particular, would halt plans for a total pullout. The decision to withdraw was announced after Trump spoke by phone to Erdogan. A White House statement said the two leaders agreed, regarding Syria, to continue coordinating on the creation of a potential safe zone. "What is important to us is that Turkey will control the secure zone," Erdogan said on Tuesday. "We cannot leave the control to neither Germany nor France or America. I clearly told this to them." Erdogan said he might meet with White House adviser Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, in Turkey on Wednesday alongside Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, and the meetings would cover economic and regional issues. (Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun and Sarah Dadouch; editing by Angus MacSwan and Jonathan Oatis)
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey criticized European Union leaders on Tuesday for attending a summit hosted by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi days after nine men were executed for killing Egypt's chief prosecutor. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said it was hypocritical for EU leaders, who have told Ankara that reinstating the death penalty in Turkey would finally crush its hopes of joining their bloc, to attend the meeting in Egypt. "The whole EU leadership supporting Sisi and being in the same place as him on the days after these young saplings were martyred, executed is a photograph of exactly what we are saying," he said. "This is a double standard, it is hypocrisy." Sisi defended the death penalty on Monday at the summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh between Arab and EU states, saying the two regions had "two different cultures". Relations between Ankara and Cairo have been strained since the Egyptian army ousted President Mohamed Mursi, of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, following mass protests against his rule in 2013. The Muslim Brotherhood has close ties with Turkey's ruling AK Party and many of its members have fled to Turkey since the group's activities were banned in Egypt. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan also criticized the EU on Tuesday for attending the summit in Egypt. "Can you talk about democracy in these EU countries that attended Sisi's invitation? Can you talk about rights and freedoms there? Can you talk about human rights there?" he said at a rally in the northern province of Giresun. Turkey aspires to join the EU but its accession negotiations, launched in 2005, are at a standstill amid concerns over its record on human rights and the rule of law. Egypt says the Brotherhood, the world's oldest Islamist movement, is a terrorist organization. Most of its senior members have been arrested, driven into exile or underground. The Brotherhood says it is a peaceful organization. Rights groups strongly criticized the recent executions in Egypt, saying they and others were carried out after unfair trials. (Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Dominic Evans and Gareth Jones)
Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump said Monday he expects to hold a "signing summit" with China's President Xi Jinping to seal a trade deal, since negotiators "very, very close" to an agreement.

Negotiators worked through the weekend and citing progress in the four day so talks, Trump extended the March 1 deadline, postponing for now a sharp increase in tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods.

Trump said he expected trade negotiators to resume quickly "and we're going to have another summit."

"We're going to have a signing summit, which is even better. So hopefully we can get that completed. But we're getting very, very close," he said at a meeting with US governors.

Trump last week he expected to meet with Xi at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in March.

After exchanging punitive tariffs on more than $360 billion in total two-way trade, Trump and Xi declared a truce in December and agreed to hold off on further tariffs or retaliation for 90 days. The United States was poised to more than double the tariffs on the most recent and largest round of Chinese exports.

Trump told the state leaders late Sunday to expect "very big news over the next week or two."

Officials and economists worldwide have been watching the negotiations closely as the trade war has hit company profits, raising prices for importers and cutting sales for exporters, which could erode global growth if it is not resolved.

But even after four rounds of talks, progress towards achieving the more difficult parts of a deal has been unclear.

News reports indicate China has pledged to resume or increase purchases of US agricultural goods but Washington is pushing for changes to the country's industrial strategy and enforceable protections for American technology.
President Trump on Monday lashed out at former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid after the Nevada Democrat criticized him in a new interview with CNN.

In an early-morning tweet, the president falsely stated that Reid  who did not run for reelection and retired from the Senate in 2017  got thrown out.

Trump also said Reid, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year, is working hard to put a good spin on his failed career.

He led through lies and deception, only to be replaced by another beauty, Cryin Chuck Schumer, the president added. Some things just never change!

In his interview with CNN, Reid, who said his cancer is now in remission, did not hold back in his criticism of Trump.

President Trump and former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. (Photos: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

I just have trouble accepting him as a person, so frankly I dont see anything hes doing right, Reid said.

Reid, who was a sharp critic of former President George W. Bush, said he pines for the last Republican to hold the office.

He and I had our differences, but no one ever questioned his patriotism. Our battles were strictly political battles, Reid said of Bush. Theres no question in my mind that George Bush would be Babe Ruth in this league that hes in with Donald Trump in the league. Donald Trump wouldnt make the team.

Reid said calls for Trumps impeachment  voiced by some Democrats in Congress  would be a waste of time because the Republicans in the GOP-controlled Senate are so afraid of Trump that theyre not going to get involved in this. (The Senate would need to vote to proceed with Trumps impeachment.)

But Reid also said Democrats in Congress need not worry about a backlash if they do decide to introduce articles of impeachment against the president.

I dont think there would be a backlash, he said. Because the vast majority of the people know somethings wrong with Trump.

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(Reuters) - TRUMP ARRIVES IN HANOI, TALKS WITH KIM TO BEGIN ON WEDNESDAY (1400 GMT) U.S. President Donald Trump has arrived in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi for his second summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. The two-day summit kicks off with a one-on-one meeting on Wednesday between the two leaders, followed by dinner with aides. A series of meetings between the two sides will be held on Thursday. Kim arrived earlier in the day after a two and a half-day train journey from Pyongyang and through China, and then a 170-km (105-mile) road journey from the Vietnamese border to Hanoi. While there is no real expectation that the second meeting between the two will bring a final deal on ridding North Korea of nuclear weapons that threaten the United States, there are some hopes it could lead to a declaration that the 1950-53 Korean War is at last formally over. The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said such a deal needed to be carefully worked out, otherwise it could lead to regional security risks. "Peace between Washington and Pyongyang might contribute to an untimely withdrawal of U.S. forces from South Korea, encouraging dangerous misconceptions in Pyongyang," it said. For an interactive graphic on preparations for the Hanoi summit and Kim Jong Un's train journey to Vietnam, click https://tmsnrt.rs/2VkEAP4 EXEMPTING S.KOREA FROM N.KOREA SANCTIONS A POSSIBLE CONCESSION - ANALYST (0545 GMT) One possible concession that could be offered to North Korea at the summit is exempting South Korea from sanctions imposed on the North for pursing nuclear weapons, said Brian Meyers, a professor at South Korea's Dongseo University. "I urge everyone to focus less on the Pyongyang-Washington axis and more on the Pyongyang-Seoul axis because that's where the action is," Meyers said on the Reuters Global Markets Forum. He said the key issue to be decided at the summit was whether the North would agree to close or allow monitoring of its Yongbyon nuclear facility. "This would not necessarily solve the problem of the North's existing nukes but it would still be a significant enough concession to enable the Americans to loosen sanctions," Meyers said. Kim Young-hwan, an analyst at KB Securities in Seoul, said there was unlikely to be a strong reaction in South Korean financial markets to any loosening of sanctions. "Stocks with exposure to inter-Korean business exchanges will benefit and post some gains in the following months," Kim said. "But their weighting on the broad index is just around 4 percent, and therefore, you can't expect any significant rally for the whole market even if there's a material agreement at the summit." (To see an interactive graphic on inter-Korean relations, click https://tmsnrt.rs/2KdXMcS) SUMMIT DOESN'T HAVE MUCH RELEVANCE FOR FINANCIAL MARKETS-ANALYST(0415 GMT) Financial markets are unlikely to react much to the summit between Trump and Kim, according to a research note by Robert Carnell, ING's chief economist for the Asia-Pacific. "We may (who knows) see a historic ending of the state of war between the two Koreas, but that has been a paper war for decades," Carnell wrote. "We may get some further offers to denuclearize, but I think we already had this, so what would be new? And there may be some carrot of sanctions removal from the U.S., though no doubt contingent on further progress. "Politically, sure it would be a positive development. But I can't invest in that." Historically, there has been little direct correlation between the tensions over North Korea and prices on global financial markets. (For a graphic on 'Markets vs. North Korea's provocations' click https://tmsnrt.rs/2BWJQkN) JAPAN WANTS U.S. TO PROD N. KOREA ON ABDUCTED JAPANESE (0815 GMT) The summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un is another opportunity for Japan to prod the North Korean leader over the return of any Japanese citizens abducted by Pyongyang in the 1970's and 1980's to train its spies, Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said as Trump headed to Hanoi. Trump, who raised the abduction issue when he met Kim in Singapore in June, spoke with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe by phone before he left the United States, Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga said. "As he did last time, President Trump strongly pledged to help resolve the abduction issue," he said at a regular press briefing in Tokyo. IN HANOI, KIM COULD SHARE HOTEL WITH SOME U.S. MEDIA (0310 GMT) Kim is staying at the Melia hotel while he is in Hanoi for the summit. Just before he arrived on Tuesday, the Vietnamese government announced that the White House media center, a facility for the traveling press, was being shifted from the Melia to another location. But as things stand, some members of the U.S. press corps traveling with Trump remain individually booked to stay at the Melia and it was not clear if they were being shifted elsewhere. (Karishma Singh, Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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A person walks past a banner showing North Korean and U.S. flags ahead of the North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, February 25, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Harry J. Kazianis

Security, Asia

Nothing could better ensure America and South Koreas collective securityno matter what the critics say.

Trump-Kim Summit in Vietnam: End the Korean War with a Peace Declaration

In our quest to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, Washington seems to have once again lost sight of one of the most important aspects of the seventy-year-old Korean challenge: the plight of South Korea and our collective security as allies.

Theres no shocker there. U.S. foreign policy is craftedas are all nationsfrom our own national historical experience, tragic events and our identity that we project out upon the world. And since the early 1990s, Washingtons obsession with eliminating Pyongyangs nuclear weapons firsta viewpoint I shared until last yearblinded it from almost alternatives to reduce the danger to Northeast Asia, the Korean Peninsula and the U.S. homeland from North Korea. Especially since the days of 2017, when ICBMs were tested and turned America into a potential North Korean nuclear target, all Washington cared about was ensuring its own security from atomic attack. Its to be expected, sure, but such a singular focus also doesnt consider other pathways to at least mitigate, if not eliminate, the nuclear threat posed by North Korea.

There might be no better example than the collective Washington yawn over the possibility that President Trump may sign a peace deceleration ending the Korean Warsomething clearly in both Washingtons and Seouls collective national interest. Scholars around the beltway decry such an action as a concession, appeasement and a complete waste of Americas time. Go on social media and say the words peace, North Korea and Trump in the same tweet and watch the hawks swoop in. I know this all too well.

Thats disturbing, but not surprising. When did not ending a war that technically has been going for over seven decades seem like a good idea? The last time I checked, I dont see the Korean Peoples Army battling Republic of Korea or U.S. forces along the demilitarized zone. And lets thank God for that, as such a war fought with todays modern weapons would likely mean a death sentence for millions of people.

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Why is the overwhelming consensus here in Washington, D.C. among the so-called foreign policy elites so against a simple piece of paper that says a war that ended in 1953 is over, an act that would bring a sense of closure to millions of South Korean and American families still haunted by this seemingly forgotten conflict?

I have a one-word answer, and its not what you expect: vulnerability.

You see, as human beings, no one wants to be the first person to make a concession, show weakness or take a risk that could end up in utter failurethats where fear takes over. Take such an attitude and apply it to the hard knocks arena of international politics, and well, no one can ever show anything but strength and take any real risks, even if the risk might be small. Courage, as we can all see in our own domestic politics, seems in short supply these days.

Now is the time to think differently. It is time for America to show some foreign policy vulnerability and offer to sign a peace declaration to North Korea. It is time to take a small risk that could advance our interests and those of South Korea. Now is the time to be bold. We have tried carrots, sticks, so-called strategic patience and nothing has reduced tensions or the potential threat coming from Pyongyang. A peace declaration might just do that.

Therefore, its time to do what should have been done so long agoand not to ask for any concessions, because such a declaration is the right thing to do. And, in fact, the upside could be huge. If America is going to have any hope in convincing North Korea to give up its nuclear weaponswhich is Americas top priority for the summitWashington needs to find a way to convince Pyongyang that it is serious about forging a new relationship and that decades of tension can finally end. There is only one way to do that: the signing of a peace declaration ending the Korean War once and for all.

If Washington was to sign with Pyongyang a simple political declaration ending the war, Kim may have the proof he needs to not only trust Americas intentions but to go back to his own peopleespecially the military of political eliteswith evidence that America no longer has any hostile intent. Then he can begin denuclearization. That would be historic and is our only real chance at ending the endless ups and downs in U.S.-North Korea relations that nearly started a war back in 2017. For if we were to begin again a cycle of missile tests and nuclear threats, we have no guarantees that we will be as lucky as were last time. I, for one, think a conflict would be a real possibility.

There is no downside to this at allexcept perhaps allowing pride or national ego to get in the way. Some will say America will be made a fool if North Korea still wont give up its nuclear weapons or cheats on a future agreement after a peace declaration is signed. Thats just silly, and admitting reality only makes common sense and has no downside whatsoever. In fact, having such a declaration can only go to prove to Chairman Kim Jong-un that U.S. efforts toward detente are not only sincere, but backed by deeds and not just words.

If North Korea is willing, I say to President Trump it is time to make history. And let us never, ever, label the cause of advancing peace as weakness. History would never forgive us if such a label were to stick.

Harry J. Kazianis is Director of Korea Studies at the Center for the National Interest. You can follow him on Twitter: @Grecianformula.

Image: Reuters.

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Kim Jong-un has rolled into Hanoi in an armoured limousine ahead of talks with Donald Trump in the Vietnamese capital.

The North Korean leader had earlier received a red-carpet reception amid tight security following a 65-hour, 2,500-mile journey from Pyongyang in a bulletproof train.

After disembarking at Dong Dang rail station, close to Vietnams border with China, he walked past a guard of honour before climbing into his personal Mercedes limousine on Tuesday morning.

The car was flanked by 12 security guards, who jogged briefly alongside the vehicle as it picked up speed ahead of the last leg of the journey to Hanoi.

Mr Trump will arrive in the capital later on Tuesday for the second round of landmark talks over North Koreas nuclear weapons programme.

Wednesdays meeting comes eight months after their historic summit in Singapore, which hosted the first ever talks between a US president and a North Korean leader.

The US president has admitted he will enter this weeks meeting with expectations substantially lower than in June 2018, indicating on Monday that he would be happy to secure a continuation of Pyongyangs suspension of nuclear and missile testing.

After last years summit, the US president declared there was no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea  a claim secretary of state Mike Pompeo later admitted was untrue.

Experts are sceptical Mr Kim will give up the nuclear weapons programme he is thought to see as his best guarantee of continued rule.

Only limited details about this weeks hastily prepared meeting have been made public. Officials in Hanoi said they had about 10 days to prepare for the meeting  much less than the almost two months Singapore had before the leaders first talks.

Vietnams authoritarian leaders mobilised a huge security operation to welcome Mr Kim, shutting long stretches of roads and locking down swathes of the bustling capital city.

Train stations were also shut down in preparation for the North Korean leaders train passing through. Pyongyang has not said why Mr Kim did travel by air to Vietnam, but his father Kim Jong-il was believed to have feared flying.

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Mr Kim's choice of transport could also be symbolic. His grandfather Kim ll-sung, North Korea's first leader, travelled by train to Vietnam and Europe.

Mr Kims train, heavily armoured and fitted with tinted bulletproof windows, is said to travel at an average speed of about 35 miles an hour. According to South Korean media reports, it consists of about 90 carriages and includes conference rooms, an audience chamber, satellite phones and bedrooms.

Hours before Mr Kim crossed the China-Vietnam border, footage from Japanese TV network TBS showed taking a pre-dawn smoke break at a train station in China. He was accompanied by a woman who appeared to be his sister, Kim Yo-jong, who was holding a crystal ashtray at the ready.

Roads on Tuesday were shut down from the border with China all the way to Hanoi, 106 miles away, where crowds and a pack of journalists waited for Mr Kim to arrive at the heavily guarded Melia Hotel.
When U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meet in Hanoi on Wednesday for their second summit, observers around the world will be waiting to see if the two announce any steps forward on the establishment of a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula. With South Korea and North Korea having already declaring during a historic summit last April that there will be no more war there, the possibility seems to some to be in reach for the first time in decades.

On Monday, Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for the South Korean President Moon Jae-in, suggested as much. The North and the United States are the only ones remaining, and if the two declare an end to the war, it will mean that all the four countries that fought war on the Korean Peninsula have declared an end to war, he said, according to The New York Times. (The U.S. and China, the fourth combatant, arent at war because of the normalization of relations that took place in the 70s.)

Peace is a grand hope  and yet, in this case, it can also be a somewhat confusing one. After all, the conflict in question happened in the early 1950s and the U.S. Congress never formally declared war.

The Korean War began in the summer of 1950, nearly 70 years ago, when on June 25 North Korean tanks crossed the 38th parallel, the somewhat arbitrary boundary established by World War II victors as a line between the two Koreas. Shortly after, President Truman told the American public that the U.S. would be cooperating with the U.N. Security Council as it defended South Korea against the invasion.

As Truman described the series of events in statement reprinted in the July 3, 1950, issue of TIME:

The Security Council of the United Nations called upon the invading troops to cease hostilities and to withdraw to the 38th parallel. This they have not done, but on the contrary have pressed the attack. The Security Council called upon all members of the United Nations to render every assistance to the United Nations in the execution of this resolution.

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In these circumstances I have ordered United States Air and Sea forces to give the Korean government troops cover and support.

The attack upon Korea makes it plain beyond all doubt that Communism has passed beyond the use of subversion to conquer independent nations and will now use armed invasion and war.

So nearly five years after the formation of the United Nations, 48 member countries (and seven-non members) contributed or pledged to contribute equipment, aid or forces to the Korean War. About two dozen of these nations would end up providing ground troops for the conflict, and the U.S. was put in charge of putting those troops to work. U.N. Security Council Resolution 84, adopted July 7, 1950, recommends that members providing military forces and other assistance will be part of a unified command under the United States of America.

But Truman didnt seek a formal declaration of war, a power that the U.S. Constitution reserves for Congress. Historians now know of several reasons why. From a personal standpoint, Truman was worried that asking Congress for a war declaration would open a Pandoras box and that ensuing debate could backfire and hurt him politically, as historian Michael Beschloss has argued. After all, with the Cold War was heating up and the atomic age in full swing, there was a fear that formal war declarations could escalate quickly  and that the fate of the entire world hung in the balance.

The sense was, were in a new era with nuclear weapons, and you had to put a lid on escalation so that it didnt become the nuclear version of World War II, says Sarah Kreps, a Professor of Government and Adjunct Professor of Law at Cornell University and author of Taxing Wars: The American Way of War Finance and the Decline of Democracy.

So in 1953, when U.S. Army Lt. Gen. William K. Harrison Jr. signed the armistice that ended roughly three years of fighting in Korea, he did so as a representative of that U.N. command. North Korean General Nam Il, who also represented China, signed it too. However, the document was a ceasefire, not a permanent treaty. South Korea didnt even sign the 1953 armistice because it felt its interests werent fully represented. A week after the signing of the armistice, a TIME correspondent reported that the parties involved admitted that the end product was pretty lame. And since then, the terms of the armistice have been repeatedly violated.

However, at the time, the combatants made do with a temporary measure. After all, they thought theyd have a real peace soon enough. Grand plans were in the works to hammer out a permanent peace treaty  including plans for a unified Korean government  at the 1954 Geneva Conference. However, the parties at the conference couldnt agree on how their discussions would even function. No peace treaty was forthcoming.

So, because South Korea didnt sign the armistice back in 1953, that means that that South Korea and North Korea are still technically at war. As for the U.S., you could argue that the U.S. and North Korea are technically still at war as well since the U.S. is a participant in the conflict as the head of the U.N. command, says Charles K. Armstrong, an expert on Korean Studies at Columbia University. The U.S. and North Korea have not resolved the condition of war in which they entered in June 1950, under the U.N. flag.

If the two leaders did declare a permanent peace this week, it would be symbolically significant, experts say, but it wouldnt really have teeth. In fact, there are signs that what Trump and Kim might declare would be perhaps one step beyond what happened in 1953, but still not the full peace was hoped for from the Geneva Conference. While expressing optimism about the idea that the U.S. and North Korea might announce they are no longer at war, Moon Jae-ins spokesperson also clarified that a formal peace treaty wouldnt be possible until the end stage of denuclearization. In addition, just as Congress formally declares war, Congress would still have to approve any formal peace treaty.



But, Kreps says, in a war thats theoretically been going on for more than half a century without hostilities, theres perhaps something more immediately important than peace: those North Korean nuclear arms, which are also on the table this week.

[They are] the only source of international leverage it has, a consideration that has nothing to do with whether it remains at war with the United States, Kreps says. You can have the progress on ending nuclear weapons and not make progress on ending the war.
By Jeff Mason and Khanh Vu

HANOI (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un begin their second summit in less than a year in the Vietnamese capital on Wednesday, with the U.S. side seeking tangible steps by North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.

The White House said Trump would meet Kim at Hanoi's French-colonial-era Metropole Hotel at 6:30 p.m. (1130 GMT) and have a 20-minute one-on-one conversation before a dinner scheduled to last just over an hour and a half.

(Graphic: Vietnam prepares for the Trump-Kim summit - https://tmsnrt.rs/2VkEAP4)

(Live coverage of Trump Kim summit preparations - https://www.reuters.com/live/north-korea)

Trump flew into Hanoi on Air Force One late on Tuesday.

"Just arrived in Vietnam," he wrote in a Twitter post. "Thank you to all of the people for the great reception in Hanoi. Tremendous crowds, and so much love!"

Kim arrived by train early in the day after a three-day, 3,000-km (1,850-mile) trip from his capital, Pyongyang, through China. He completed the last stretch from a border station to Hanoi by car.

The two leaders, who seemed to strike up a surprisingly warm relationship at their first summit in Singapore last June, will be accompanied at dinner by two aides and interpreters, the White House said, before they meet again on Thursday.

Their talks come eight months after the historic summit in Singapore, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.

While much of that first meeting was about breaking the ice after decades of bitter animosity between their two countries, this time there will be pressure to move beyond a vaguely worded commitment by Kim to work toward the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Trump's critics at home have warned him against cutting a deal that would do little to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions, urging specific, verifiable North Korean action to abandon the nuclear weapons that threaten the United States.

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In return, Kim would expect significant U.S. concessions such as relief from punishing sanctions and a declaration that the 1950-53 Korean War is at last formally over.

Trump, landing in darkness, waved as he disembarked Air Force One and was met by senior Vietnamese and U.S. officials. His motorcade passed crowds waving the flags of Vietnam, the United States and North Korea on its way to the JW Marriott Hotel, his accommodation for the two-day summit.

Earlier, Vietnamese officials greeted Kim at the station in Dong Dang town after he crossed the border from China by train. He got a red-carpet welcome with honour guard, military band and fluttering North Korean and Vietnamese flags.

Kim was accompanied by his sister, Kim Yo Jong, an important aide.

About a dozen bodyguards briefly ran alongside his limousine as he began the two-hour journey to Hanoi. Roads were closed with security forces in armoured personnel carriers guarding the route to the Melia hotel, where Kim is staying.

North Korean officials engaged in working-level talks for the summit briefed Kim after he arrived, the North's state news agency, KCNA, said on Wednesday.

At the Melia hotel, Kim "heard concrete details on the pattern of engagement between working-level delegations," KCNA said, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Visiting the North Korean embassy in Vietnam, Kim urged staff there to strengthen two-way ties in line with the needs of the times, KCNA added.

Kim "will reunite with U.S. President Donald J. Trump from February 27 to 28 and conduct the historic second DPRK-U.S. summit," before embarking on a goodwill visit to Vietnam on March 1 and 2, the agency said.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also arrived on Tuesday and met Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh for talks.

'TREMENDOUS'

Trump said before leaving Washington it would be "a very tremendous summit" and stressed the benefits to North Korea if it gave up its nuclear weapons.

"With complete denuclearisation, North Korea will rapidly become an economic powerhouse," he said. "Without it, just more of the same. Chairman Kim will make a wise decision!"

In a speech on Sunday, however, Trump appeared to play down the possibility of a major breakthrough, saying he would be happy as long as North Korea maintained its pause on weapons testing.

"I'm not in a rush," he said. "I just don't want testing. As long as there's no testing, we're happy."

North Korea has not held a nuclear or missile test since 2017, but analysts say the two leaders have to move beyond summit symbolism.

"The most basic, yet urgent, task is to come to a shared understanding of what denuclearisation would entail," said Gi-Wook Shin, director of Stanfords Asia-Pacific Research Centre.

"The ambiguity and obscurity of the term 'denuclearisation' only exacerbates the scepticism about both the U.S. and North Korean commitments to denuclearisation."

While the United States is demanding North Korea give up all of its nuclear and missile programs, the North wants to see the removal of a U.S. nuclear umbrella for South Korea.

Trump's departure from Washington comes at a time of increased pressure at home, and he is keen to show progress on a foreign policy issue that has confounded multiple predecessors.

Some analysts fear that may lead him to pull his punches.

"The main concern is whether the president, besieged by domestic distractions, will give away too much, and take a bad deal that leaves the United States less secure," said Victor Cha, a former White House official who took part in North Korea talks under previous Republican administrations.

While Trump is in Hanoi, his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen is testifying before U.S. congressional committees, with the president's business practices the main focus.

Anticipation has also been rising about the impending release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, though a senior U.S. Justice Department official said on Friday it would not come this week.

A South Korean presidential spokesman told reporters in Seoul the two sides might be able to agree to a formal end of the Korean War, a move long sought by North Korea, as the war concluded with an armistice, rather than a peace treaty.

(For live coverage of the summit, click: https://www.reuters.com/live/north-korea; Reporting by Jeff Mason and Khanh Vu; Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in WASHINGTON, Mai Nguyen, Hyonhee Shin, Josh Smith and Ebrahim Harris in HANOI and Joyce Lee in SEOUL; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney)
Donald Trump has launched an attack on filmmaker Spike Lee, accusing him of a racist hit on your president during his Oscars speech.

The president was seemingly responding to comments made by the director while accepting the Best Adapted Screenplay award for the movie BlacKkKlansman.

Lee said during Sunday nights ceremony: The 2020 presidential election is around the corner. Lets all mobilise. Lets all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Lets do the right thing.

Mr Trump, who is on his way to a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam, responded with a personal jab on Twitter on Monday: Be nice if Spike Lee could read his notes, or better yet not have to use notes at all, when doing his racist hit on your president, who has done more for African Americans (Criminal Justice Reform, Lowest Unemployment numbers in History, Tax Cuts,etc.) than almost any other pres!

BlacKkKlansman, which earned Lee his first non-honorary Oscar, is adapted from a memoir by Ron Stallworth, a black detective who infiltrated the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan. Although set in the 1970s, the film also explores the resurgence of racism and the far right in the US under Mr Trump.

During his impassioned acceptance speech, which he read from a page of notes, Lee implored Americans to connect with our ancestors ... have love and wisdom, and regain our humanity.

He said: Four hundred years. Our ancestors were stolen from Mother Africa and bought to Jamestown, Virginia, enslaved. Our ancestors worked the land from cant see in the morning to cant see at night.

Before the world tonight, I give praise to our ancestors who have built this country into what it is today along with the genocide of its native people.

The director did not refer to Mr Trump by name during the speech, but in a subsequent press conference he addressed the presidents failure to condemn far-right violence.

Lee included footage of an August 2017 white nationalist rally at which a counter-protester was killed in in Charlottesville, Virginia, at the end of BlacKkKlansman. Mr Trump infamously refused to condemn the far right, saying both sides were to blame for the violence.

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Lee said: That car drove down that one street in Virginia, and the president of the United States did not reject, refute, did not denounce the Klan, alt-right and neo-Nazis. This film, whether we won best picture or not, this film will stand the test of time being on the right side of history.

During the Oscars ceremony, Lee also stormed off in disgust as Green Book was announced as surprise winner of Best Picture. Peter Farrellys comedy-drama, about a black jazz pianist and his rough-around-the-edges driver, has been accused of advancing the white saviour trope.
By Ju-min Park and Josh Smith HANOI (Reuters) - When North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rolled into the Vietnamese border station of Dong Dang early on Tuesday, his vaunted specialized train was pulled by a red-and-yellow locomotive emblazoned with China's national railway logo. It was the second time Kim had arrived for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in transport provided by the Chinese, underscoring just how much the young leader's sudden flurry of international engagements has depended on his larger, more powerful neighbor. When Kim arrived in Singapore last year for his first, historic summit with Trump, it was in an Air China jumbo jet bearing the Chinese flag. With the exception of two summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on the border between the two Koreas, every one of Kim's unprecedented summits with China's President Xi Jinping and now the second summit with Trump have depended on trains provided by the Chinese. "This is a full service from Xi," said Nam Sung-wook a former South Korean intelligence official. "Kim couldn't travel without China's special treatment." To travel to his four summits with Xi, Kim's specially equipped string of train carriages has usually been hauled by matching green DF11Z locomotives, Chinese-made engines sporting the emblem of the state-owned China Railway Corporation, with at least three different serial registration numbers, according to a review of media images. At the time of his first trip to Beijing in March 2018, South Korean media reported that the locomotives were usually used for carrying top Chinese officials, and were connected to Kim's carriages in the city of Dandong, on the Chinese side of its border with North Korea. The red-and-yellow DF4 engine used when Kim arrived in Vietnam was of a different, older type than the more typical green DF11Z spotted by media pulling the train when it entered China from North Korea on Saturday. It's not clear when China provided the train engines to North Korea, or under what conditions. Asked about the apparent change in locomotives and whether China had provided them, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he had not paid much attention to that issue. "I dont know whether changing the train has any particular meaning towards your appraisal of the situation," he told a daily news briefing on Tuesday. China, however, provided a "transport guarantee" for Kims train travel, Lu said, without elaborating, likely referring to ensuring his train was able to proceed smoothly across China. SLOW TRAIN THROUGH CHINA Kim's long, slow journey from North Korea and thousands of kilometers across China to Vietnam is the longest he has taken as leader, with state media running photos of school children studying globes and asking "where is the Dear Leader now?" Media outlets captured rare images of Kim in a private moment, smoking a cigarette during a break on a station platform in China. His train is believed to be armored, and state media images have shown an interior decked out with pink leather chairs and big-screen televisions. That wasn't enough to impress some Chinese internet users who took to social media to crack jokes about the relative poverty and backwardness of their awkward neighbor, the diesel locomotive lent to Kim a stark contrast to the network of high speed trains in China. Traveling like this from Pyongyang to Hanoi? wrote one user on Chinas Weibo social media platform, above a picture of an old steam train. Under sanctions by the Americans for 50 years and poverty-struck North Korea cant even afford to buy a plane, wrote another Weibo user. A third complained of a brief period of gridlock around the railway lines in the northeastern Chinese city of Jinzhou as police shut off roads, likely to ensure security as Kims train passed through. Kim Han-tae, a South Korean former train engineer who published a book last year on North Koreas railways, said the Chinese had put in a lot of work to facilitate Kim's trip. The decision to have the North Korean carriages hauled by Chinese engines was likely a logistical one, he said. "The bottom line is when the train comes from North Korea via China, it has to be run by Chinese to get it to operate on Chinas rail system, and of course the engine car has to be Chinese," Kim said. One of the DF11Z engines used when Kim traveled to Beijing in January is seen in a photograph on a rail spotting website from June 2017, pulling a double-decker passenger train in Beijing. Images on North Korean state media, meanwhile, have shown Kim arriving with different engines than those spotted in Beijing, suggesting the DF111Z trains now commonly associated with his trips are only used in China. (Removes extraneous word in paragraph 19) (Reporting by Josh Smith and Ju-min Park; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Hyonhee Shin in Hanoi; Editing by Robert Birsel)
TORONTO  Plans for a high tech Toronto community led by an Alphabet Inc.-backed entity. The Canadian Press

Sidewalk Labs has stirred up quite a bit of controversy in Toronto. But despite the string of negative headlines, a new survey shows Torontonians arent opposed to the project and welcome tech-sector growth.

The survey by Environics found nearly two-thirds believe Torontos tech sector growth is a good trend, while 3 per cent say it is negative. Local government agrees. When Amazon cancelled plans for its New York headquarters, Mayor John Tory reached out to the company to consider Toronto.

More than half (55 per cent) say they support Alphabets Sidewalk Labs project, while 11 per cent opposes it. The majority (76 per cent) say the collaboration between Waterfront Toronto and Googles (GOOG) sister company Sidewalk Labs should move forward if the public interest can be safeguarded.

The Board of Trade is glad that Sidewalk Labs is here, and glad the company has a shot at bringing innovative development ideas to Quayside alongside our growing smart cities sector in Toronto, said Jan De Silva, President & CEO, Toronto Region Board of Trade, in a news release.

But our support isnt unconditional. Theres a process for Sidewalk Labs to confirm approval for their ideas with Waterfront Toronto and no less than three different levels of government.

Concerns over surveillance and data protection have dogged the project from the start. Ontarios former privacy commissioner Ann Cavoukian quit her consulting role over privacy concerns. The Toronto Region Board of Trade issued a report in January calling on policymakers to develop a framework for a public agency to have oversight over public data.

Public policy issues like data governance must be resolved as that process unfolds.

At 71 per cent, most survey respondents agree that the public sector should have custody over smart city data.

The province of Ontario launched data strategy consultations this month and Toronto City Councillor Joe Cressy put forth a motion to start something similar at City Hall.

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The survey was conducted before news came out that Sidewalk Labs was eyeing an even bigger expansion that includes a cut of Torontos property tax revenue.

Even if opposition somehow doubled in the short time since the poll was completed, that still leaves only a fraction of Torontonians who are strongly opposed to this project, said the Boards Vice President of Public Affairs, Brian Kelcey, in a news release.

While the survey was clear there is public support to resolve specific policy issues, these numbers do not suggest Torontonians are in any rush to just tear up the Quayside deal and start again.

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
Australian Cardinal George Pell, one of Pope Francis' closest advisors, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two choirboys, becoming the most senior Catholic cleric ever convicted of child sex crimes.

An Australian jury unanimously found Pell guilty in December on one count of sexual abuse and four counts of indecent assault against two boys at Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne in the 1990s.

Pell, now aged 77, was accused of cornering the boys -- then aged 12 and 13 -- in the cathedral's sacristy following Sunday mass and forcing them to perform a sex act on him.

The cleric, who has remained free on bail, denied all the charges and an initial trial ended with a hung jury in September, but he was convicted on retrial on December 11.

A wide-ranging suppression order from the presiding judge had prevented the media from reporting even the existence of court proceedings and the ensuing trials since May.

The order was lifted during a court hearing on Tuesday when prosecutors decided against proceeding with a second trial for separate allegations against Pell dating from the 1970s.

There was no immediate reaction from the Vatican but Pell maintained his innocence Tuesday.

"Cardinal George Pell has always maintained his innocence and continues to do so," said a statement issued by his lawyers, who added that they had lodged an appeal against the conviction.

The statement noted that numerous allegations and other charges against Pell had already been withdrawn or discharged.

- 'Rot in hell' -

Of the two choirboys that Pell was found to have assaulted, one died in 2014 of a drug overdose that his family blamed on the trauma he suffered.

The second victim said in a statement issued by his lawyer Tuesday that the ongoing legal process was stressful and "not over yet".

"Like many survivors I have experienced shame, loneliness, depression and struggle," said the man, who has not been publicly identified.

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"At some point we realise that we trusted someone we should have feared and we fear those genuine relationships that we should trust."

Outside the County Court of Victoria, supporters of other abuse survivors yelled "monster" and "rot in hell" as Pell, walking slowly with the aid of a cane, entered a car after the hearing concluded.

"It is a miracle. It is unbelievable," one child sex abuse survivor who only gave his name as Michael told reporters outside the court, adding that he wanted to see the cleric excommunicated from the Church and sent to jail.

A pre-sentencing hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, when Pell is expected to be remanded in custody. He faces a maximum 25 years in prison if his appeal is rejected, prosecutors have said.

Pell sat impassively during Tuesday's court hearing, wearing a beige sport coat over a dark shirt and clerical collar.

His conviction is another hammer blow to the Church, which has struggled to convince the world it is serious about tackling widespread child abuse and paedophilia.

Pell was appointed by Pope Francis to manage the Vatican finances in 2014 and was one of the pontiff's closest advisors as a member of the so-called C9 council until being dropped from that body the day after his December 11 conviction.

News of his conviction will be a serious setback as the pope pursues a campaign to show the church's determination to fight sex abuse.

Just two days earlier, Pope Francis closed an historic Vatican summit on sexual abuse by priests by likening the abuse to "human sacrifice".

"We are dealing with abominable crimes that must be erased from the face of the earth," Francis said in closing remarks to the summit, vowing to deal with every case of abuse "with the utmost seriousness".

But critics say the institution is still moving too slowly in dealing with a problem that is global in scale and, at a minimum, spans decades.

- Gag order -

Pell's case has caused consternation in Australia, where he had once been praised by luminaries from a prime minister down, and was a leading conservative voice on issues ranging from gay marriage to climate change.

For decades, Pell denied being an abuser or covering up sex abuse, but he did admit he "mucked up" in dealing with paedophile priests in the state of Victoria.

During his trial, defence lawyers ridiculed the charges against him, arguing that the cathedral sacristy was a hive of activity following Sunday mass and that it would have been impossible to assault choirboys in such circumstances.

Australia's media has strongly protested the gag order imposed on the case, which forbade them from even mentioning the existence of the trial or the order itself.

Following Pell's December conviction, some international media reported the verdict, while local newspapers published front-page stories informing readers that a prominent Australian had been found guilty of serious crimes, but they were not allowed to reveal what or who.

Australian media said Tuesday that they subsequently received "show cause" letters from the court explaining why they should not face contempt charges for their reporting on the case.

Around one in five Australians are Catholic, roughly five million people.

A five-year royal commission inquiry into child abuse said in a report issued last year that tens of thousands of children had been sexually abused in Australian churches, orphanages, sporting clubs, youth groups and schools in a "national tragedy" over many generations.

Before Pell, the most high-profile case in Australia concerning sex abuse in the Church was the conviction earlier last year of the former archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, on charges of concealing crimes by a paedophile priest in the 1970s.

Wilson successfully appealed that conviction in early December.
By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - A slowing economy is unlikely to crimp China's 2019 defence budget rise, as Beijing earmarks more spending for modernisation and big-ticket items like stealth jets, and focuses on Taiwan after a stern new year's speech from President Xi Jinping.

The defence spending figure is closely watched worldwide for clues to China's strategic intentions as it develops new military capabilities, including aircraft carriers and anti-satellite missiles.

In 2018, China unveiled its largest defence spending increase in three years, setting an 8.1 percent growth target for the year, fuelling an ambitious military upgrade programme and making its neighbours nervous.

The 2019 number should be revealed at the March 5 opening of the annual session of China's largely rubber-stamp parliament, although in 2017 it was initially not announced, prompting renewed concerns about transparency.

China plans to set a lower economic growth target of 6-6.5 percent in 2019 compared with last year's target of around 6.5 percent, policy sources have told Reuters. The government will also announced the economic growth target on March 5.

However, the defence budget increase could well surpass that.

Influential state-run tabloid the Global Times, which takes a strongly nationalistic line, this month cited an unidentified military expert as saying "a stable 8-9 percent increase from 2018 would be a reasonable prediction".

China still has a long way to go to catch Western forces because the number of advanced weapons now in its arsenal, such as the J-20 stealth fighter, remain limited, the paper said.

Xie Yue, a professor of political science at Tongji University in Shanghai and a security expert, said with a weakening economy there would naturally be an expectation for a slower increase in military spending.

"It should go down, as the defence budget is connected to economic growth, but certainly factors will probably mean it will still go up, like the South China Sea and Taiwan issues," Xie said.

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Xi's January speech threatening to attack Taiwan should it not accept Chinese rule has shot the issue back up the agenda for China's military thinkers, especially as the island gears up for presidential elections next year.

"The Taiwan question can't keep being put off, passed down through the generations," retired Chinese Major General Luo Yuan, one of the country's most prominent and widely read military commentators, wrote on his blog last month.

"Our generation must complete our historic mission."

'ITCHING FOR A FIGHT'

One source with ties to China's military said the armed forces were itching for a fight over self-ruled Taiwan, claimed by China as its sacred territory, especially after Xi's speech.

"Every day, they're like 'fight, fight, fight'," said the source, who regularly meets senior officers.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has repeatedly warned of the threat from China, and vowed to defend the island and its democratic way of life. The United States has said it is closely watching Chinese intentions towards Taiwan.

"Even with just a broom, I would fight against China," Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang told parliament last week. "You would pay a price if you want to annex Taiwan."

The United States again sent two Navy ships through the Taiwan Strait on Monday as the U.S. military increased the frequency of movement through the strategic waterway despite opposition from China.

China's Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on this year's military budget. China routinely says spending is for defensive purposes only, comparatively small and that critics just want to keep the country down.

"What people are scared of is China getting strong," said Xu Guangyu, a senior consultant at the China Arm Control and Disarmament Association and another former senior Chinese officer, dismissing concerns about defence spending.

U.S. President Donald Trump has backed plans to request $750 billion from Congress for defence spending in 2019. That compares with the 1.11 trillion yuan ($165.40 billion) China set for its military budget in 2018.

China provides no breakdown of its defence budget, leading neighbours and other military powers to complain that Beijing's lack of transparency has added to regional tension. China says it is fully transparent and no threat.

Diplomats and many foreign experts say China's defence numbers probably underestimate true military spending for the People's Liberation Army, the world's largest armed forces, which also runs the country's space programme.

($1 = 6.7112 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Gao Liangping, and Yimou Lee in TAIPEI; Editing by Michael Perry)
Millions of children struggle with bed-wetting. As a pediatrician, I understand the stress and frustration that bed-wetting can have on families. For some kids, wetting the bed can be embarrassing and upsetting; they get anxious about sleepovers and special events away from home. On the other hand, some kids don't care they wet, but their parents don't like the mess, the daily cleanup process or the continued expense of diapers. Either way, families often come to my office to find solutions.

The first thing I tell families is that it's normal for a child to wet the bed well into elementary school. Trying to train a child to be dry at night when they are too young can cause more frustration, shame and anxiety. For some perspective, about 20 percent of a kindergarten class is still routinely wetting the bed, 7 percent of kids in elementary school wet the bed at least once per week, and 1 in every 100 teens still wets the bed. Letting your child know that there are lots of other kids who also wet the bed can diffuse worry and calm fears. For most kids, bed-wetting is cured with time.

[Read: When Are Children's Nightmares Symptoms?]

Despite the common suggestions to limit fluids before bed or to drag your sleeping child to the bathroom before you go to bed, these "tricks" avoid dirty laundry without working on the real cause of night wetting. Wetting is caused by an immature brain-bladder connection, which is required to cue your body to wake up and pee. This immature connection is often complicated by the fact that kids' bladders are physically too small to hold the amount of pee their body makes at night, setting them up to leak while sleeping. We also know that bed-wetting is genetic. Often a bed-wetting child has a parent, aunt, uncle or sibling who wet the bed. Bed-wetting can also be caused by stress or change. A new baby, a move or another transition in the family may be enough to see some night accidents.

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Before I encourage my families to work on night training, I confirm that three things are true. First, your child should be at least 8 years old, even better if she has had a few dry nights in the past or if the volume of the wetting accidents is starting to decline. Second, your child needs to care about the wetting. If he doesn't care that he wets at night, he will have no motivation for success. Finally, there shouldn't be any signs of medical reasons for the night wetting. Specifically, the child has never had consecutive months of dryness, pain during or after peeing, snoring or increased hunger or thirst. Kids with these symptoms may need lab testing or a specialist referral before working on night dryness.

[See: Is it Healthy to Sleep With Your Pets?]

Once your child is ready to train, put a good nighttime routine in place. This should include a consistent bedtime. After bath and stories, have your child get out of bed and go to the bathroom. Make sure the path to the bathroom is free of clutter and well lit. Secondly, carefully monitor your child's pooping habits. Constipation is sneaky and can sabotage success. A big poop can place pressure on the bladder, limiting the ability for it to fill adequately. This effectively makes the bladder smaller and more likely to overflow at night. Also, talk about the process. Having your child say, "I have to pee, I have to get up" may sound silly. Verbalizing the plan, however, is a significant first step in triggering the brain-bladder connection that you want to encourage.

The most effective means for training the brain-bladder connection involves using a bed-wetting alarm. These inexpensive devices, which rely on a moisture sensor, are placed in the bed or worn in the underwear to alert your child of wetness. As soon as your child leaks urine, the alarm will go off (vibration or sound). That is the trigger to get out of bed to go to the bathroom. For kids who are deep sleepers, this may take additional effort from a parent to assist them in waking when the alarm goes off. Use of this technique is often the quickest route to long-term success, achieving dry nights in the majority of kids over age 7 within 12 weeks.

[See: 10 Things Pediatricians Advise That Parents Ignore -- and Really Shouldn't.]

The bottom line is that the most common cure for bed-wetting is time. As kids get older, the brain-bladder connection naturally matures. As each year passes, more and more kids will have dry nights without any interventions at all. If you have worries about your child's health or your child is expressing concern about wet nights, please talk with your child's doctor, who I'm sure would be happy to help.

Natasha Burgert, M.D., FAAP has been contributing to the U.S. News For Parents blog since 2018. After receiving her medical degree from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, she completed her pediatric residency at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. She now calls Kansas City, Missouri, home, working as an innovative general pediatrician, while serving as a national spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics and a member of the AAP's Counsel of Communications and Media.



Her work with patients has been featured in outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Parents magazine. She has also been on NBC Nightly News, CBS This Morning and other local news programs. She is a regular contributor to NBC News' Parent Toolkit and her local NPR affiliate and has been quoted in numerous print and digital articles. She's also been the keynote speak at various health marketing, vaccine advocacy, and physician-led organizations.



If she is not in clinic, you will find her regularly sharing evidence-based child health on KCKidsDoc.com, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
Beverage taxes are bubbling up from the local to the state level.

Connecticut may become the first state in the country to tax sugar-sweetened beverages if Gov. Ned Lamont has his way.

He's proposed a 1.5-percent-per-ounce tax on sugary drinks, which he expects will generate $163.1 million for the Nutmeg State in fiscal 2021, which begins the preceding July, He says it will also help residents become healthier.

Several municipalities across the U.S. have put similar taxes in place, including Seattle; Philadelphia; San Francisco; and Boulder, Colorado.

Such taxes are not necessarily shoe-ins. The one in Cook County, Illinois, which includes Chicago, was repealed in 2017.

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"The governor believes that in addition to addressing our long-term fiscal stability, the budget should also help outline policy priorities for our state," Lamont's spokeswoman Maribel La Luz said in an e-mail, adding that proposals, like this tax, are meant to discourage unhealthy behaviors.

She said Connecticut currently meets or exceeds many national health targets, but can do more to tackle chronic conditions, such as heart disease and cancer, which have become leading causes of death in the state and contribute to rising health care costs. Obesity affects 26.9 percent of adults in Connecticut and more so among minority groups.

What makes this first-ever statewide effort significant is it reduces the likelihood of consumers going to neighboring areas to avoid the tax -- what experts call leakage. While it'd be easy to go from a taxed city to a nearby suburb, leaving a state is a hassle.

"With a larger geographic scope of the policy, you have less opportunity for people to cross the border to do their beverage shopping," said Shu Wen Ng, a health economist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "For both health implications and revenue generating, a state level or larger geographical scope would be more meaningful."

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More than three dozen countries and territories around the globe have instituted sugar-sweetened beverage taxes, she added. Among them are Mexico, France, Norway, Estonia, Saudi Arabia, Bermuda, Thailand, South Africa, Fiji and the Philippines.

"Beverage taxes prompt consumers to shop across the border and when they do, theyll take care of their entire grocery list out of state, costing local grocery stores their sales, and employees their jobs," said William Dermody Jr., a spokesman for the American Beverage Association, which represents non-alcoholic beverage companies.

He called the taxes "unproductive" and said manufacturers can help consumers reduce the amount of sugar they get from beverages by creating more drinks with less or no sugar and making smaller-size bottles and cans.

The University of California Berkeley last week released a study on the effectiveness of sugar-sweetened beverage taxes. Berkeley was the first municipality in the U.S. to put such a tax in place.

Researchers found that between 2015, when the tax took effect, and 2018, residents in Berkeleys diverse and low-income neighborhoods reported drinking 52 percent fewer servings of sugary beverages than they did before the tax passed in November 2014. In addition, water consumption jumped 29 percent during those three years.

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Kristine Madsen, faculty director of the Berkeley Food Institute at UC Berkeleys School of Public Health, said the residents' changed behavior could be due to not only the tax, but also the message the tax sends to city residents.

"There are some earlier studies out of Berkeley that suggest that the messaging alone is effective at reducing consumption," she said. "But people are still very much affected by what hits their pocketbooks."

Soda has been linked to obesity, a significant problem in the U.S.

Close to 40 percent of adults and 18.5 percent of youngsters are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Last week, California Assemblyman Richard Bloom, D-Santa Monica, proposed a sugar-sweetened beverage tax for the third year in a row, but the previous two years, it died in committee.

In June, California passed a law prohibiting municipalities from passing such taxes.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Zlati Meyer on Twitter: @ZlatiMeyer

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Beverage tax: Connecticut may be home to the first statewide beverage tax in the U.S.
An Amtrak train with 183 passengers and crew onboard was on its way back to civilization on Tuesday after it hit a fallen tree and was stranded in the snowy Oregon wilderness for about 37 hours, railroad officials said. Amtrak's Coast Starlight was en route to Los Angeles from Seattle early Sunday evening when the mishap left the train immobilized near Oakridge, Ore., about 150 miles south of Portland, the railroad said in a statement. Heavy snow and other fallen trees made the train temporarily unreachable.
Fox Searchlight is planning to remake Sleeping With the Enemy, the 1991 film starring Julia Roberts, as part of a new overall producer deal with Damian Jones and his DJ Films Limited, the company announced Tuesday.

Jones, who first partnered with Fox Searchlight in 2016, is developing a reimagining of Sleeping With the Enemy with writer and director Nia DaCosta (Little Woods, the upcoming horror film Candyman). The original film is about a woman (Roberts) who fakes her own death in an attempt to escape a nightmarish marriage, only to find she cant evade her controlling husband.

Jones is also planning a film adaptation of One Man, Two Guvnors, the stage play starring James Corden. The plays writer, Richard Bean, is executive producing the project along with Oli Refson and Nicholas Hytner. One Man, Two Guvnors is itself an English adaptation of Servant of Two Masters, an 18th-century Italian play. The play opened in the UK in 2011 and is about a man in 1963 who is separately employed by a gangster and an upper-class twit, all while desperately trying to prevent the two from meeting.

Also Read: Julia Roberts Unlikely to Star on 'Homecoming' Season 2 - But She's Still Part of the Show

Jones also has several other projects that hes currently developing. The first is Presidents Astrologer, with Samantha Strauss and John Madden, which is the story of Joan Quigley, the astrologer to the Reagan family that focuses on her relationship with Nancy Reagan. Additionally, Jones has an untitled murder mystery by Mark Chappell, as well as projects with Simon Farnaby and Roisin Conaty.

Im thrilled to continue my relationship with the marvelous team at Fox Searchlight and their commitment to UK production and distribution is unsurpassed, Jones said in a statement. Were putting together a great slate that continues to grow, with a number of projects lining up for 2019.

Jones produced Goodbye Christopher Robin for Fox Searchlight in 2017, the biopic of Winnie the Pooh author A.A. Milne, directed by Simon Curtis and starring Domhnall Gleeson. And in 2016 he produced Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.

Deadline was first to report.

Read original story Sleeping With the Enemy Remake Planned at Fox Searchlight At TheWrap
Prime Minister directs stakeholders to raise issue of Mahakali Treaty in Nepal-India joint meeting

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has directed concerned stakeholders to raise the issue of Mahakali Treaty with priority in the third joint meeting of experts from Nepal and India that will take place in Kathmandu on Wednesday.
Theresa May caused uproar in the House of Commons and on Twitter on Tuesday when she quoted a TV meerkat.

When making a point about Brexit, the prime minster channelled Aleksandr Meerkat, the star of the Compare the Market adverts, by quoting his catchphrase.

She ended a response to an MPs question with the meerkats phrase, Simples.

The quote led to howls of derision in Parliament and howls of laughter on Twitter.

Theresa May quoted a TV meerkat in the House of Commons on Tuesday (Picture: PA)

During the debate, Mrs May was asked by SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford why the clock was still being run down on Brexit.

She replied: We are in talks with the EU and were talking about the issues this House required.

If he wants to end the uncertainty and deal with the issues he raised, then he should vote for a deal. Simples.

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Mrs May was ridiculed for her quote on Twitter.

ITV political editor Robert Peston wrote: Why oh why did @theresa_may say simples to @IanBlackfordMP. Profoundly upsetting.

Politicians said they were stunned by the quote, with Labour MP Rupa Huq tweeting: Theresa Meerkat just stunned the Commons by Maybot malfunction in stating its her deal or no deal then concluding simples.

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Labour MP Liz McInnes said on Twitter: Yes, Theresa May did just respond Simples in the Brexit statement. Theresa Meerkat is now in charge. God help us.

Sharon Hodgson, a Labour MP, said: Really cant believe the PM has just said her Brexit plan is Simples! Well thats one word for it!

Mrs May promised to give MPs a vote on extending Brexit negotiations or withdrawing from the EU without a deal if her plan is rejected next month.

MORE: Cabinet trio warn they will help delay Brexit rather than leave Europe with no deal

MORE: Traveller duo who led 30 caravans on 300,000 brewery wrecking spree are jailed

She confirmed that she will put her Withdrawal Agreement  including whatever additional assurances she has secured from Brussels  to a meaningful vote by March 12.

The prime minister is obviously a fan of Aleksandr the Meerkat (Picture: PA)

If that fails, MPs will be offered two separate votes on the following days  one on a no-deal Brexit and, if that is defeated, the other on requesting an extension to the two-year Article 50 negotiation process to delay EU withdrawal beyond March 29.

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The sequence of votes will be proposed in an amendable motion tabled by the prime minister for debate and vote in the Commons on Wednesday.

To uproar in the Commons, Mrs May told MPs: They are commitments I am making as prime minister and I will stick by them, as I have previous commitments to make statements and table amendable motions by specific dates.

Mrs May addressing the Commons on Tuesday (Picture: PA)

But she added: Let me be clear, I do not want to see Article 50 extended. Our absolute focus should be on working to get a deal and leaving on March 29.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that Mrs May appeared to be adopting the terms of a cross-party amendment put forward by Yvette Cooper and Sir Oliver Letwin designed to prevent no-deal if her Withdrawal Agreement is voted down on March 12.

But he told MPs: Until the prime minister is clear what alternative she would put forward in that circumstance, then she is continuing to run down the clock. She promises a short extension but for what?
Illustrator Samuel Hague created this Mothers Day card with Shamima Begum on it. (Samuel Hague)

A Mothers Day card featuring the ISIS bride Shamima Begum has been banned from the online shop Etsy.

Illustrator Samuel Hague made the card with the Jihadi schoolgirls image on it and with the words Happy Mothers Day. Thanks for not joining ISIS.

Mr Hague has been criticised for other cards he has made, including a Fathers Day card with Jimmy Saville on it saying Thanks for never letting Jim fix it for me.

Ms Begum was one of three schoolgirls to leave Bethnal Green to join Islamic State in 2015.

The 19-year-old had her British citizenship revoked by Home Secretary Sajid Javid last week after trying to return to the country with her baby son.

Ms Begum has claimed the governments decision to revoke her citizenship is unjust, but there are fears that more IS supporters will want to return to the UK if Ms Begum is able to.

Etsy sent a message to the illustrator saying: While Etsy encourages sellers to express their personal views and ideas in their listings, we do not permit items or listings that promote, support or glorify hatred.

We also prohibit items that promote, support or glorify acts of physical or sexual violence against individuals or groups.

15-year-old Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Shamima Begum before catching a flight to Turkey in 2015. (PA)

Mr Hague said that public response to his card, which he was charging 2.99 for, had been mostly positive.

The description on Etsy for the card purchase said: The perfect mothers day card for anyone with a sense of humour.

Speaking to The Sun last year, the artist said: I choose to express myself through comedy and art.

That resonates with some people but will offend others.

Former east London schoolgirl Shamima Begum, who left Britain as a 15-year-old to join the Islamic State group. (PA)

Twitter user Simon G tweeted in response to the illustrator saying he had been banned: The politically correct brigade is still in control of the pendulum letting it swing wildly out of sync with reality.

Government go with it for the populist vote not concerned about the ramifications.

Another Twitter user, @Arl1002, said: Why permanently and no warning? still dont agree with it  but an outright ban?

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Meanwhile, former counter-terrorism police chief Scott Wilson has said floodgates could be opened for Islamic State supporters returning to the UK if Ms Begum succeeds in getting back into the country.

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Mr Wilson said: I can see floodgates opening. I dont think we should make it easy. If you make it easy then youre just opening the floodgates for it and suddenly youre monitoring people forever.

I dont sound very sympathetic because I just see the consequences. I dealt with London Bridge on the streets.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid claimed he decided to revoke her of her citizenship as she qualified for Bangladeshi citizenship through her mother.

However authorities in Bangladesh have said they will not let her enter the country.
By Diadie Ba DAKAR (Reuters) - Senegalese President Macky Sall is on course for a strong election victory, according to preliminary results from Sunday's vote provided by local media and a source inside the electoral commission on Tuesday, though opposition candidates have rejected the numbers. Media website Dakaractu.com said that Sall had won over 58 percent of the vote based on preliminary data from polling stations, while the commission source said he won 59.5 percent. Official results are expected later this week. His closest rival, former Prime Minister Idrissa Seck, won 20 percent, according to Dakaractu, with former tax inspector Ousmane Sonko receiving 16 percent. A spokesperson for Idrissa Seck told Reuters that the provisional results were "entirely false", without giving his camp's numbers. A spokesperson for Sonko declined to comment. The early figures will likely spark controversy. Sall's team declared him victor on Sunday, but the opposition said their results showed he had not won the required 50 percent of votes to avoid a run-off next month against a second-placed candidate. Sall has won popularity for driving economic growth during his first term, building highways and an airport and widening the electricity grid. Yet the opposition and rights groups say he used his influence to bar major candidates from running in the election because of corruption convictions. (Additional reporting by Juliette Jabkhiro; Writing by Edward McAllister; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Frances Kerry)
WASHINGTON  Senators challenged top executives of seven pharmaceutical companies on the spiraling costs of prescription drugs.

The CEOs of Pfizer, Merck, AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi and an executive vice president of Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceuticals defended their pricing and business practices before the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday.

The executives agreed that drugs should be more affordable for Americans. But they were reluctant to promise to cut list prices without other reforms.

They argued that other factors, such as pharmacy benefit managers that negotiate discounts and insurance coverage, have greater influence on the price consumers pay at the pharmacy counter. They spoke of drug rebates that don't always reach consumers, payments tied to the value of a drug and more transparency.

Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier called pricing "complex and interdependent," and said addressing cost, access and affordability would require bringing "all the parties around the table."

Multiple senators questioned AbbVie CEO Richard A. Gonzalez about how the company set the price of the arthritis drug Humira. The list price of the drug more than doubled over six years and now costs more than $60,000 per year.

Sen. Ron Wyden asked Gonzalez whether the $22.6 million he earned in 2017, which included a $4.3 million bonus, was tied to increasing Humira sales.

"That strikes me as problematic," the Oregon Democrat said. "Higher prices in the U.S. were responsible (for) increasing sales of Humira. Would you make a smaller bonus if you dropped the price of Humira?"

Gonzalez said his bonus was based off several factors, not solely revenue generated by Humira.

More: Congress to square off against pharmaceutical CEOs in showdown over drug prices

More: Democrats examine drug prices, a first step in Congress' path to cut prescription costs

More: Pharmaceutical industry's promises to cut drug prices have been heard before

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Senators were skeptical of the industry's price-setting practices and heavy spending on marketing and sales spending.

Sen. John Cornyn highlighted Humira as an example of why the Senate should consider reforming patent laws. The Texas Republican said AbbVie had more than 100 patents tied to Humira, a drug that has been on the market since 2003.

Patents give drug companies exclusive rights to sell a drug for several years before generic companies can make competing versions of the drug.

"I support drug companies recovering a profit," Cornyn said. But "at some point, that patent has to end, that exclusivity has to end," so patients have access to more affordable generic drugs.

Other senators questioned whether Americans are subsidizing the cost of developing new drugs for the rest of the world  both through higher list prices charged to U.S. consumers compared to other developed nations and taxpayer-funded research grants that pay for early scientific discoveries that might lead to new drugs.

Sen. Sherrod Brown said the average cost of a specialty drug in 2015 was more than $52,000, about twice as much as what the average Medicare recipient collects in annual income.

"So taxpayers subsidize your research, subsidize your marketing and you continue to raise drug list prices on them," the Ohio Democrat said. "Americans cant afford to pay for prescription drugs that cost more money than they make in a year. We cant continue to give Big Pharma the blank check."

Wyden said the hearing was filled with "happy talk," but no firm commitments to reduce prices if drugs rebates are eliminated. He wanted each CEO to answer in writing whether they would agree to lower prices if rebates are eliminated.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican who chairs the committee, opened the hearing by saying he expected "open, honest answers from the pharmaceutical industry to figure out how we got here and see what ideas they have to make things better."

Were all trying to understand the sticker shock that many drugs generate," he said. There is a balance between incentivizing innovation and keeping prices affordable for consumers and taxpayers.

Whether its about EpiPen, insulin or other prescriptions, in the thousands of letters Ive received, Iowans have made clear that high drug prices are hurting them," Grassley said. "Ive heard about people skipping doses of their prescription drugs to make them last until the next paycheck."

The drug industry and its main lobbying group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, have resisted efforts to curb drug prices.

The drug industry defeated efforts to import less expensive versions of the brand-name drugs sold in other nations. The industry was an early supporter of the Affordable Care Act and avoided negotiating drug prices for Medicare recipients.

The industry and its supporters say the cost of prescription drugs is rising because the population is growing older and demand is increasing. More than half of Americans has been prescribed a drug.

The industry says insurance plans that cover less and pharmacy-benefit managers who serve as middlemen also deserve scrutiny.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Big Pharma CEOs tell senators they won't reduce drug costs without other reforms
By Jan Wolfe (Reuters) - Biotech company Amgen Inc said on Monday a U.S. jury confirmed the validity of patents on its cholesterol drug Repatha, rejecting a challenge by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and Sanofi SA. Sanofi and Regeneron had stipulated that if the two Amgen patents were valid, their jointly developed cholesterol drug Praluent infringed them. Amgen Chief Executive Robert Bradway said in a statement that the company was "thankful that the jury weighed the evidence carefully and recognized the validity of Amgen's patents." Regeneron and Sanofi said in a statement they disagreed with aspects of the ruling and would seek to have it overturned. "We will continue to vigorously defend our positions against Amgen's overly broad patent claims," Joseph LaRosa, Regeneron's general counsel, said in the statement. Thousand Oaks, California-based Amgen won a similar verdict in 2016, as well as a court order blocking Praluent sales, but an appeals court set aside the victory and ordered a new trial. (Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Richard Chang and Peter Cooney)
Sanofi SNY and partner Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. REGN strongly disagreed with a Delaware jury verdict that upheld the validity of three of five asserted claims of two U.S. patents owned by Amgen, Inc. AMGN for its PCSK9 inhibitor, Repatha. Notably, Sanofi and Regeneron also market a PCSK9 inhibitor, Praluent. The companies believe that all Amgens asserted U.S. patent claims are invalid based on lack of written description.

Sanofi/Regeneron intend to appeal against the jury verdict and request a new trial. The two patents describe and claim monoclonal antibodies of PCSK9.

In October 2014, Amgen had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Sanofi and Regeneron in the U.S. District Court of Delaware to prevent the manufacture, use and sale of Praluent. In March 2016, a Delaware jury ruled in favor of Amgen declaring that the two patents were valid, and that Sanofi and Regeneron had failed to invalidate them due to the lack of written description and enablement. In January 2017, the U.S. District Court in Delaware granted Amgen permanent injunction against infringement by Sanofi and Regeneron of two patents owned by Amgen for Repatha. Later, a federal circuit court reversed in part the judgment of the Delaware district court and demanded a new triaI.

We note that both Repatha and Praluent are used to inhibit a protein known as PCSK9, which lowers the liver's ability to remove "bad" cholesterol (LDL-C) from the blood. While both the drugs hit the market in 2015 within a month, the companies have been working rigorously on securing deals with health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers. However, sales of both these PCSK9 inhibitors have been below expectations since launch due to payer restrictions. Despite Sanofi/Regeneron and Amgens efforts to improve access to their products, patients face significant hurdles due to high co-pay expenses.

Earlier this month, Sanofi/Regeneron announced a 60% cut in the U.S. list price of Praluent, following a similar action last year by Amgen to improve access and affordability of the product. The price cuts have been taken to encourage payers to improve access to Praluent and Repatha, which will encourage use of these drugs. It goes without saying that the price cuts will significantly dent Sanofis and Amgens profits from their respective PCSK9 inhibitors.

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Sanofis shares have risen 7.7% in the past year. Sanofi currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Sanofi Price and Consensus

Sanofi Price and Consensus

Sanofi price-consensus-chart | Sanofi Quote

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Julian Surall chased down a would-be purse snatcher. (Photo: Modesto Bee)

A 24-year-old sandwich-shop employee is being hailed as a hero after he leaped into action when he witnessed a mom fighting off a would-be purse-snatcher outside his work, the Modesto Bee reports.

Julian Surall was working at Ikes Love and Sandwich Shop in Modesto, Calif., on Friday when he noticed a woman out front screaming as she fended off a man trying to steal her handbag. Surall and two customers ran outside to help the woman, a mom who had her 3-year-old toddler with her in a stroller.

Victoria FitzGerald told the Bee that she and her son had planned to eat at Ikes when they were approached by a man asking for directions to a local supermarket. When FitzGerald stopped to help, he grabbed her handbag from the stroller and took off, but tripped in the process.

I grabbed my purse, but then he raced to pull it away from me, and we were both pulling on it and I just thought, I dont have the strength; he is going to get my purse, FitzGerald told the newspaper. Then I stuck my foot in the loop of my purse  and I started screaming for help, and thats when the man ran away and Julian came out of Ikes and went running after him.

Surall and the two customers split up in their pursuit of the suspect, who eventually fled to the bathroom of a nearby business, Modesto Advanced Imaging Center. Surall followed him into the shop, notifying workers to call the police. One of the Ikes customers joined him inside, and together they captured and pinned the man to the ground until police arrived.

Stephen Bartlett, 34, was arrested on suspicion of robbery.

FitzGerald, who previously knew Surall only via the sandwich shop, is grateful for his heroics.

I said to him, Youre a hero, and he said, Nah, she said. Most people would not help. Hes so young. Thats what really shocked me.

Ive always been like that, Surall told the paper. Thats the way our parents raised us  if you can help somebody, you do that.

The lady was with her kid; that is the thing that really caught me by surprise, he added. Broad daylight and she was with her child  so disrespectful.

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Modesto police are also celebrating Suralls actions.

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His employer also took to Facebook to quip, Not all heroes wear capes, they also make sandwiches!

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - A top Russian security official on Tuesday accused Washington of deploying forces in Puerto Rico and Colombia in preparation for a military intervention in Venezuela to topple Moscow's ally, President Nicolas Maduro, something the United States denied. "... The United States is preparing a military invasion of an independent state," Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Russian Security Council, was quoted as saying in an interview with weekly newspaper Argumenty i Fakty. "The transfer of American special operations forces to Puerto Rico, the landing of U.S. forces in Colombia and other facts indicate the Pentagon is reinforcing its troops in the region in order to use them in an operation to remove ... Maduro from power," Patrushev said. However, the U.S. special envoy for Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, when asked on Tuesday if Washington was preparing to take military action in Venezuela, responded: "No." "The president has said all options are on the table. Presidents always say that and rightly so. But it ill behooves the Russians to talk about military intervention after they have dismembered both Georgia and Ukraine," Abrams told reporters at the United Nations ahead of a Security Council meeting on Venezuela. Venezuela, which has been plunged into political turmoil, was rocked by violent clashes at the weekend. The United States and a raft of other countries have backed the country's opposition, while China and Russia have stood by Maduro's government. Patrushev said Washington had asked Moscow for consultations on Venezuela and that Russia had agreed, but that U.S. officials had repeatedly postponed them under false pretexts. U.S. officials have previously dismissed Russian allegations about U.S. plans for Venezuela as baseless "propaganda". (Reporting by Polina Devitt and Andrew Osborn; additional reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Andrew Osborn and James Dalgleish)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has established high-speed internet service on a chain of Pacific islands off its far eastern coast, state-run telecoms operator Rostelecom said on Tuesday, despite a decades-old dispute with Japan over the territory. Rostelecom said an 815-km fiber optic cable line had been laid between Russia's offshore Sakhalin island and the island chain to introduce fast internet in four towns and villages on the islands of Iturup, Kunashir and Shikotan. Russia and Japan both claim sovereignty over the chain of four islands - known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kuriles in Russia - which were captured by Soviet troops during the final days of World War Two. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hold regular talks to resolve the protracted dispute, which has prevented Moscow and Tokyo from formally ending hostilities from the war. The fiber optic project cost 3.3 billion roubles ($50.30 million), most of which came from the Russian state budget, according to Rostelecom. The project looked like another sign that despite ongoing talks with Japan, Moscow is loath to cede the islands. In December, Russia said it had built new barracks to house its troops on the islands and would construct more facilities for armored vehicles. Russian energy giant Gazprom also plans to build a liquefied natural gas plant on Sakhalin to supply the island chain. (Writing by Maria Vasilyeva; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Over 100 chauris die in Dolpa avalanches

More than 100 chauris, a cross between yak and hill cow, have died in avalanches triggered by heavy snowfalls at Kagkot in Chharkatangsong Rural Municipality-4, Dolpa district, in the last 10 days.
The Dutch port of Rotterdam has seized 90,000 bottles of Russian vodka allegedly destined for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his top generals.

Customs officers nabbed the 3,000 cases of vodka on Friday in a vessel belonging to the Chinese company Cosco Shipping on a tip from the Russian foreign ministry.

They believe the intended recipient was Kim and military commanders.

The confiscation was followed by findings that a Russian tanker secretly transferred fuel to a North Korean ship at sea at least four times in 2017 and 2018, which would violate international sanctions over Pyongyang's nuclear missile programme.

Two crew members told Reuters that the ship left Vladivostok ostensibly for China, but instead met up with the North Korean tanker Chon Moyng-1 at night while it was not transmitting its position.

The meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un in Singapore in June, which has produced few concrete results Credit: Evan Vucci/AP

News of these attempts to skirt the sanctions came ahead of a summit in Vietnam's capital Hanoi on Wednesday between Kim and Donald Trump, the US president.

The Russian foreign minister said during his own visit to Hanoi on Monday that the US had asked Russia's advice on how to approach the summit. Moscow has recommended Washington offer security guarantees to Pyongyang in exchange for disarmament steps.

The United Nations has capped petroleum exports to North Korea and banned luxury good exports entirely, but Kim frequently tries to circumvent these measures.

Last year, the UN listed the Chon Moyng-1 as having disobeyed sanctions with ship-to-ship fuel transfers.

Previous seizures have included champagne, cheese and televisions bound for North Korea. The vodka cases found on Friday were hidden under an aircraft fuselage.

Kim Jong-un visits the North Korean embassy in Vietnam before his expected meeting with Donald Trump this week Credit: The Asahi Shimbun via Getty

The UN estimates that 11 million North Koreans, nearly half the country's population, are affected by chronic food insecurity and access to basic life-saving services such as health care, water and sanitation. Around a fifth of all children in North Korea are malnourished, according to the UN.

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The meeting with Kim in Hanoi is intended to discuss US-Korean relations but is not expected to produce any breakthroughs in convincing Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons programme. There are hopes that North Korea will renew its pledge to suspend nuclear tests and missile firings.

The summit follows a historic meeting between Mr Trump and the North Korean leader in Singapore in June last year. While the event was hailed as a triumph for Mr Trump's foreign policy it produced few meaningful concessions from Kim while allowing the dictator to burnish his international standing.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will join the summit.
Photo credit:  

From Men's Health

Theres acne, and then theres acne. Almost everyone has had the occasional pimple or blackhead. Through adolescence, you probably had the WORST DAY EVER because of a full-on, both-cheek-covering outbreak. But simple pimples do not compare to the pain, severity, and potentially permanent damage caused by cystic acne, a type that delves into the skin, creating cystslesions that are particularly deep, painful and prone to spreading.

Cystic acne is like little balloons beneath the skin, says Suzanne Friedler, MD, a dermatologist and clinical Instructor at Mount Sinai Medical Center. The skin is red and painful and pus-y. The compounded oil, dead skin cells, and bacteria that pile up under the skin through a pore-clogging patchwork for cysts create an inflamed appearance and the scaring from this stress on the skin can be permanent. Most often it effects the face but breakouts can spread to the chest and back.

Cystic acne aches and itches. Scratching it perpetuates a cycle, spreading the infection. The oils in the skin are like food for the bacteria, Friedler says. Acne is often offset by high testosterone levels; the hormone regulates and stimulates oil glands. Therefore, cystic acne is most prevalent in men from their late teens to early 20s, who are enduring a hormonal flux.



Because of the potential for scarring, Friedler says the most important consideration in cystic acne treatments is timeliness: Treat it as soon as its diagnosed; you are outracing a cyclical worsening of the ailment and permanent skin damage. Here are your options:

Cystic Acne Treatment: Antibiotics

If you see a dermatologist for cystic acneand experts agree that over-the-counter remedies are not sufficient for cystic pimplestheir first option will likely be an oral antibiotic, says Adarsh Vijay Mudgil, MD, a New York City-based dermatologist. Antibiotics attack the underlining bacteria that may be causing and perpetuating the acne.

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The relief can be immediate. It works as an anti-inflammatory, says Mudgil. Tetracycline-type antibioticslike minocycline or doxycyclineare the most common choices. Some dermatologists also use topical antibiotics.

Cystic Acne Treatment: Accutane

Antibiotics are often effective at reducing inflammation and eliminating bacteria, but if that alone doesnt clear up the skin, a dermatologists next tool will likely be isotretinoin. Its an oral medication originally sold under the brand name Accutane and still widely called that and now available as a generic.

Isotretinoin is a retinoid, a medication that acts as a synthetic version of vitamin A. It has a long, concerning list of side effects, including dry skin, itching, rash, irritation to the eyes, and anxiety and depression. Because of the potential for birth defects, it is absolutely barred for pregnant women.

Its effect on mental health has been particularly scrutinized due to a high-profile case; then-U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak's son. B.J. Stupak. Stupak and his wife blamed the drug for their sons suicide, at age 17 in 2000, and unsuccessfully tried to sue the manufacturer, Roche Holding.

However, Friedler said it is generally safe to use, as long as high-risk patients are screened and monitored. Accutane gets a bad rap, Friedler says. She said patients rarely experience severe changes in mood. I would have patients with dry skin, dry lips, high cholesterol, she said.

We do monitor blood work when starting treatment but it is overall well tolerated, says Erum Ilyas, MD, of Montgomery Dermatology, a clinic with several locations near Philadelphia. We have to make sure that female patients are not planning pregnancies during treatment and for six months after completion. And we do screen for depression risks prior to starting on therapy. There are mixed studies on this potential side effect. Generally, isotretinoin treatment lasts five to six months.

Cystic Acne Treatment: Topicals

Topical treatmentof either the prescription or over-the-counter varietyprobably will not resolve the deep-seated problem of cystic acne alone, but they can be helpful if prescribed with an oral medication.

The [g]old standard therapy for inflammatory acne treatment is combined topical therapy with oral medications, said Melanie Palm, MD, a San Diego dermatologist and clinical professor at Scripps Encinitas Memorial Hospital. Benzoyl peroxide and topical antibiotics (such as clindamycin) often go with anti-biotics or retinoids.

Cystic Acne Treatment: Good Skin Hygiene

The population who suffer the most from cystic acn3high school- and college-age malesare not exactly known for their cleanliness and skincare routines.

They work out a lot and have sweaty clothes against their skin, Friedler says. She recommends that men of prime acne age be mindful to change their workout clothes and use an antibacterial body wash.

Cystic Acne Treatment: Manage Medications

Palm said that certain medications can alter ones testosterone system, leading to acne flair ups. These include anabolic steroids, (inhaled steroids that treat asthma treatment) and hormone replacement (testosterone and progesterone).

Cystic Acne Treatment: Phototherapy

For those who dont respond toor are unable to withstand the side effects of isotretinoin, there are a few new treatments. Unconventional and new approaches coming down the line for acne are exciting, Palm says.

These include blue light therapy to fight off bacteria and photodynamic therapy, a kind of medication that makes certain cells vulnerable to an intensive light (more often used for cancer treatment). Insurance might not cover these treatments, she adds.

Although light therapies may reduce acne, they aren't effective at getting rid of pimples completely, says the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD). Generally, you'll need multiple treatments and may even need follow up sessions.

Infrared, blue, red, and blue + red light devices won't eliminate cystic acne, according to the AAD. But photodynamic therapy can treat severe cystic acne for years after initial treatment.

Cystic Acne Treatment: Surgery

After you have already treated your cystic acne, you may be left with scarring, if the swelling or lesions were severe enough. Few acne scars are severe enough to warrant surgery, says Larry Linkov of City Facial Plastics in Manhattan. Its not terribly common, he says. Only one time, Ive been asked to do acne.

There are a variety of minimally invasive surgeries, says Linkov. He has used microneedling, a dermaroller procedure that uses small needles to prick the skin, which has smooth out small scars and abrasions. Its like sandpapering the area, Linkov says. Occasionally, cosmetic surgeons use dermal fillers in this progress.

Facial chemical peels and laser resurfacing are also effective in eliminating the blemishes left by cystic acne. Usually [acne leaves] a localized scar that doesnt go very deep, he says. Were not having to make any massive incisions.

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Qualcomm Incorporated QCOM has redefined the computing and mobile ecosystem across the globe with the launch of QCA6390 Connectivity system-on-a-chip (SoC) product. This game-changing and arguably the most advanced integrated offering yet from Qualcomm is likely to deliver path-breaking performance in the 5G era and provide it a competitive advantage against rivals.



Built on indigenous technologies, the QCA6390 is designed to meet the growing need for faster connectivity options and data speed. Supporting all the feature suites of both Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1, it offers faster, more secure and robust Wi-Fi experiences and enhanced Bluetooth capabilities. These include ultra-high-definition voice and low-latency gaming over wireless headphones, earbuds and speakers.



The QCA6390 sets a new industry standard with the world's first announced 14nm integrated SoC that boasts extended features and cutting-edge design. It is likely to help users experience seamless transition to super-fast 5G networks, delivering low-power resilient multi-gigabit connectivity with unprecedented range and Qualcomms best-in-class security. This, in turn, would further offer the flexibility and scalability needed for broad and fast 5G adoption through accelerated commercialization by OEMs.



Qualcomm has introduced power-packed features in QCA6390 to improve spectral efficiency, capacity and help ensure seamless experiences across congested networks. With data speed approaching 1.8 Gbps, it offers the highest throughput of any comparable smartphone chipset to date. It further enables to double the throughput performance through dual-band simultaneous 2x2 MIMO operations and 8-stream sounding. The 14nm process node combined with advanced power-management architecture has also enhanced power efficiency by up to 50% compared to previous generation solutions.



Qualcomm is one of the largest manufacturers of wireless chipset based on baseband technology. With such innovative products, the company aims to retain its leadership in 5G, chipset market and mobile connectivity. The company continues to execute its strategic objectives, including driving the global transition to 5G, protecting its intellectual property rights and expanding into new industries and product categories for future growth. Qualcomms Snapdragon 855 is also gaining significant momentum with more than 100 design wins in development. It also introduced the custom-built Snapdragon 8cx Compute Platform, which represents the largest generational performance increase ever for Snapdragon product. Qualcomm is on track to deliver $1 billion in operating cost savings from its $7.4 billion baseline, and expects additional savings post licensing resolution as litigation costs fall.



Qualcomm currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the industry include Comtech Telecommunications Corp. CMTL, Harris Corporation HRS and Motorola Solutions, Inc. MSI, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



Comtech has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 5%. It delivered average positive earnings surprise of 252.3% in the trailing four quarters, beating estimates in each.



Harris has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 8%. It delivered average positive earnings surprise of 2.9% in the trailing four quarters, beating estimates in each.



Motorola has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 8%. It delivered average positive earnings surprise of 13.2% in the trailing four quarters, beating estimates on each occasion.



Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential



The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. Theyre also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.



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(Reuters) - French carmaker PSA Group may begin assembling Opel cars at its Russian plant in Kaluga, the company said on Tuesday, as it reintroduces the brand to the country.

As part of a plan to address its dependency on Europe, PSA said earlier that it would also launch its Peugeot brand in the U.S. and its Citroen brand in India.

The Opel brand was withdrawn from Russia by its then owner General Motors in 2015, the height of a crisis in the country's car market due to a sharp depreciation in the rouble. PSA bought the Opel and Vauxhall brands from GM in 2017.

PSA is considering the possibility of assembling Opel cars at its plant in Russia, a company representative told Reuters, without detailing dates, production volume or models.

"Local production is one of the priorities and the main tool of a successful automotive business in Russia," the representative said.

"Taking this into account, we are considering the possibility of expanding the model range in Kaluga and do not rule out assembling Opel cars (there)."

PSA owns a 70 percent stake in the Kaluga plant, which has a total capacity of 125,000 cars per year, while Mitsubishi owns the remaining 30 percent.

In 2018, the plant produced just 38,108 Peugeot, Citroen and Mitsubishi cars.

PSA launched the Opel brand in Ukraine last year and, with its return to Russia, hopes to triple sales in the Eurasia region by 2021.

(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov and Andrey Kuzmin in MOSCOW, writing by Kateryna Urbanek; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
By Ginger Gibson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A political group backing President Donald Trump's 2020 re-election bid will run national television ads this week seeking to bolster support in Congress for his efforts to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border as lawmakers try to block him. The America First Policies ad features former Border Patrol chief Mark Morgan, who served under former President Barack Obama, discussing dangers at the border and urging construction of a wall, according to a video seen by Reuters. America First Policies will spend $250,000 on the ad campaign, which will air on Fox News starting on Tuesday and conclude on Friday, according to Erin Montgomery, a spokeswoman for the group. The group will also launch a text message campaign aimed at Trump supporters in 31 congressional districts that are represented by a Democrat but where Trump won in 2016. The group hopes to persuade some Democrats in heavily Republican districts to break from their party and back Trump instead. America First Policies could become a critical piece of Trump's re-election campaign, capable of raising and spending vast sums of money for television ads to support his bid for a second term in the November 2020 election. The U.S. House of Representatives, which is controlled by Democrats, plans to vote on Tuesday to try to block Trump's decision on Feb. 15 to declare an emergency on the border. Trump took the step to try to circumvent Congress after lawmakers agreed on a bipartisan government spending bill that did not include the money he had demanded to build a border wall, a central promise from his presidential campaign. The Republican-controlled Senate could vote later this week, and some members of the president's own party have already indicated they may oppose him. The America First Policies campaign encourages viewers to call their member of Congress and urge them to support Trump's emergency declaration. The group is a so-called Super PAC, which can raise and spend unlimited sums of money on political efforts but is prohibited from coordinating with individual candidates or campaigns, including Trump. (Reporting by Ginger Gibson; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Before Mercedes-Benz and tuning house AMG officially teamed up in the 90s, the close relationship between the Stuttgart manufacturer and the Affalterbach upfitter produced some incredibly powerful and rare beasts. The first and most iconic vehicle born from the partnership was the 1971 300 SEL, so nicknamed the Red Pig for its polarizing appearance. No one laughed when it won its class and finished second overall at the 24 hours of Spa, though, and AMG had begun forging a name for itself in terms of uncompromised performance. Now, as RM Sothebys Essen auction approaching in April, you can have the chance to own a rare piece of Mercedes-Benz and AMG history: this 1979 Mercedes-Benz 500 TE AMG.

As part of the Youngtimer collection, this wagon looks achingly perfect. The W123 chassis was given AMGs M117 5.0-liter V-8, and special tweaks to the headers, downpipes, oiler coolers, and more were implemented to wedge that massive beating heart into the prow of the wagon.

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1979 Mercedes Benz 500 TE AMG

Its an extremely early conversion for AMG, and only a handful of W123 chassis received the M117 engine, per RM Sothebys, and they were expensive endeavors, running the customers approximately $40,000 back in the late 70s. Rumor has it only two sedans, one coupe, and two wagons were given such treatment, making this very specimen a hyper-rare one-of-two. However, the specific provenance of this car remains murky, as records for the engine dont match the chassis.

Because the estate has a full AMG body kit, an OE skid plate, a cast aluminium rear suspension, date-stamped 1979 Recaro seats that match the door cars, and other touches that support an early AMG work, the auction house is concluding that the car was either built in-period by AMG or by someone who had extensive AMG knowledge at a time when few people outside the tuning house would possess that information. While the early history remains a mystery, it was cosmetically refreshed in 2013 by a California-based AMG buff, and it was used by Top Gear in a segment celebrating the 50th anniversary of AMG. Whenever and wherever it came from, the $68,000 to $79,000 USD opening bid seems like a steal. Take all of our money because this one is a proper gem.

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These photos show the hazardous conditions for construction workers in Kathmandu

Though the Labour Act 2017 mentions that protecting workers from occupational hazards is the employers responsibility, workers in Nepal, particularly those at construction sites, are seen without proper protective gear and safety harness.
Just near the entrance to Vietnams Military History Museum, families posed for photos in front of a statue made from wreckage of Hellcat engines unearthed in the wake of the war. A few meters away, banners hung across the medians of misty avenues reading: Hanoi, the city for peace.

This week, the Vietnamese capital gets the chance to live up to that nickname as U.S. President Donald Trump touched down Tuesday for his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, where the pair will attempt to revive denuclearization talks.

Trump and Kim are expected to meet twice, and both are determined to walk away with a win. For Trump, the stakes are high and the bar is low  the failure of their meeting in Singapore last June to produce meaningful security outcomes has left him in need of a compromise. So long as Kim doesnt provoke his counterpart, the two should be on course for a closing handshake.

Americas stated goal has long been the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula  which experts agree is not on the horizon. Trump said prior to departing from Washington that hed settle for a moratorium on testing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. Im not in a rush, I dont want to rush anybody, I just dont want testing, the President said Sunday night. As long as theres no testing, were happy.

Read more: How the U.S. Could Lose a Trump-Kim Summit

Kim could extract a lot from Trump given that low bar. His aims are likely twofold, experts say: a declaration of peace and some form of sanctions relief, possibly by creating exceptions that would allow more inter-Korean economic cooperation. The former would be largely symbolic; it would be the first time the U.S. has acknowledged its willingness to bring a formal close to the Korean War, which began in 1950 and ended in armistice three years later.

A declaration would not end the war  only a treaty agreed by North and South Korea, the U.S. and China could achieve that  but it would legitimize Pyongyangs case that Americas alliances in Asia are obsolete. A declaration of peace is a confidence building measure. Nothing more, says Christopher Hill, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea now at the University of Denver. The concern is that it could be used by the North Koreans to argue that the U.S. no longer needs troops in South Korea.

Story continues

What might worry Americas allies is the possibility that the two leaders are in harmony on this particular issue. Some 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in the South, while about 50,000 more are in Japan. The security establishment considers this posturing critical to maintaining peace in Northeast Asia and ultimately countering Chinese dominance.

While a declaration of peace would not necessitate a pullout, Trump may not even need a formal treaty to convince him to do it. In May of last year, he became the first President in more than three decades to suggest a retreat, when he reportedly ordered the Pentagon to explore options for withdrawal. The last time that was so much as considered was under President Jimmy Carter  when North Korea had neither nuclear weapons nor long-range missiles.

It was a bad idea then, its a worse one today, says Daniel Russel, who served as assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific Affairs under the Obama administration and is now at the Asia Society. Preventing the next war, he says, should be a higher priority than resolving the legal technicalities of the last one.

Experts say the de facto peace  meaning no hot war  that has held under armistice for more than six decades is better than a premature peace deal. According to Sung-Yoon Lee, professor of Korean Studies at the Fletcher School of Tufts University, ending the war could increase the risk of conflict. A treaty would dissolve the U.S.-led U.N. Command established to keep the peace, and American allies South Korea and Japan risk being abandoned in the crosshairs of an unhinged neighbor.

But would that matter if a peace deal was achieved? North Korea has flagrantly violated both the letter and spirit of every single international agreement it has signed, Lee says. This would be no different.

Read more: Heres What We Know About North Koreas Nuclear Program

For Kims part, he is expected to offer Trump something that at least resembles a willingness to reduce his countrys arms. But his concessions are likely to fall well short of what the U.S. wants: a full inventory of nuclear assets and weapons of mass destruction; access for international inspectors; the destruction of key facilities; and a moratorium on testing. Kim could offer to decommission the Norths enrichment facilities, but he may already have plenty of material to keep production humming.

Pyongyangs behavior shows no willingness to verifiably dismantle its nuclear program, and Kim is likely sincere when he says that his nuclear arsenal is the nations treasured sword that no power can remove, says Russel, of the Asia Society. Kim, he says, will get rid of his weapons only when Americas deterrent is out of his yard and alliances in Asia are broken.

This roughly translates into English as when Hell freezes over, he says.
Executives from seven pharmaceutical companies are set to face questions about the rising costs of prescription drugs on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning.

This will be the Senate Finance committee's second hearing of the year focused on drug prices.

Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) called for the hearing, entitled, Drug Pricing in America: A Prescription for Change.

Patients and taxpayers deserve to hear from leaders in the industry about whats behind this unsustainable trend and what can be done to lower costs, the senators said in a statement.

A potential sea change in Washington

The Trump administration and lawmakers from both parties have made lowering prescription drug prices a top priority, though Republicans and Democratic lawmakers often disagree on possible solutions.

I think its really indicative of a political sea change in Washington, that you have members of both parties in both chambers really rushing to be on the record  saying that we need action now to lower the cost of prescription drugs, said Jon Conradi, a spokesperson for the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing.

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 17: Albert Bourla (R), chief executive officer of Pfizer pharmaceutical company, waits to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Thursday afternoon, January 17, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The chief executive officers of AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, Pfizer and Sanofi are set to testify on Tuesday. Johnson & Johnson is sending Jennifer Taubert, head of the companys pharmaceuticals unit, instead of CEO Alex Gorsky.

Conradi said senators should press the executives on how drug manufacturers determine list prices for drugs.

Everyone from consumers to Congress has very little idea about how a pharmaceutical company makes a decision to hike a list price because there is very little transparency around it, said Conradi.

The executives are expected try to shift blame for rising drug prices to other aspects of the healthcare industry. On Monday, Grassley warned the executives against playing the blame game.

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Yahoo Finance requested interviews with each of the executives testifying. While none agreed to an interview head of the hearing, several sent statements to Yahoo Finance.

Story continues

We share the committees goal of reducing patient out-of-pocket costs and are committed to working with Senators Grassley and Wyden on innovative policy ideas. Our CEO, Ken Frazier, will be there to discuss solutions with the committee later this month, said a Merck spokesperson in a statement.

We look forward to the opportunity to participate in the important discussion during the Senate Finance Committee hearing and sharing our proposed solutions to address patient access and affordability. AstraZeneca agrees with many that the current healthcare system in the US is not sustainable  we are committed to shaping a system that more directly benefits patients and continues to support scientific innovation, said an Astrazeneca spokesperson in a statement.

We share the publics concerns about accessibility and affordability of medicines, and continue to explore innovative ways to find solutions that will help eliminate or significantly reduce the out-of-pocket expenses for patients. Despite the meaningful steps Sanofi has taken, we recognize that more needs to be done. Given the diversity of our health care system, there is likely not a single, one size fits all approach. Dr. Brandicourt has accepted the invitation to appear before the Senate Committee on Finance on February 26 and looks forward to sharing Sanofis approach to responsible pricing and to discussing policy solutions to improve access and affordability for patients, said a Sanofi spokesperson in a statement.

Last week, Grassley and Wyden also opened an investigation into the rise in insulin prices. The senators pointed to the price of Eli Lillys insulin, Humalog, which the senators said spiked 585% between 2001 and 2015.

We are concerned that the substantial increases in the price of insulin over the past several years will continue their upward drive and pose increasingly severe hardships not only on patients that require access to the drug in order to stay alive but also on the taxpayer, said the senators in a joint statement.

The senators sent letters to Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi, asking for information about the process of setting list prices, cost of research & development, and margins from selling insulin.

Jessica Smith is a reporter for Yahoo Finance based in Washington, D.C. Follow her on Twitter at @JessicaASmith8.
People visit a makeshift memorial setup in front of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 19, 2018 in Parkland, Florida.

A new threat reporting system for schools in Pennsylvania  the first state in the U.S. to mandate a tip line for all districts statewide  has fielded more than 6,200 reports this year, including one that helped police recover a loaded handgun from a child.

The Safe2Say Something program was rolled out in January after state lawmakers passed legislation last year requiring public and private schools adopt the violence prevention initiative.

The program allows both youths and adults to submit anonymous tips to a system when they see signs that someone could be a threat to themselves or others. Warning signs could include bullying, bragging about an upcoming attack, depression, social isolation or substance abuse.

Other states including Oregon, Colorado, Florida and Nevada have also launched school threat reporting systems.

More: Sandy Hook group shares powerful PSA to prevent school shootings on anniversary of Newtown tragedy

Sandy Hook Promise, which strives to protect youths from violence, pioneered the program with hopes of avoiding another mass school shooting like the attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in 2012. The shooting left 20 children and six adults dead.

Another school shooting in February 2018 left 17 dead when a teen gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

Roses with photos of shooting victims are posted on a light post at a makeshift memorial near the main intersection of the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn., as the town continues to cope in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012.

Sandy Hook Promise has been training students and educators across the country about how to identify potential threats. The nonprofit also develops and helps manage the program, originally named "Say Something," in each district.

Honestly its saving lives, said Tim Markris, managing director of Sandy Hook Promise. "The more schools we can get on board, the bigger the impact we will have.

In Pennsylvania, Safe2Say Something is led by Attorney General Josh Shapiro who is urging all levels of law enforcement to collaborate.

When someone submits a tip through the Safe2Say Something website, mobile app or hotline, it gets reviewed by a crisis center team that can forward it to school officials or police for intervention.

Story continues

"It was never intended to replace 911 nor does it do that," said Joe Grace, a spokesman for Shapiro. "Its a program designed to give teachers, students and others another way to communicate information that potentially could be useful to school officials and police to help keep students safe."

More: Parkland remembers 17 lives lost one year ago, looks ahead to safer future

The program is already working in some parts of the state.

Grace said a tip that a student was threatening violence against a school in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, in January led police to that child's home where they seized a loaded handgun.

We believe that a potential serious event was averted," Grace said.

Nearly 97 percent of schools in Pennsylvania are participating in the program, Grace said.

Since it launched in Pennsylvania, the crisis team has received 6,221 tips, 1,300 of which were considered serious enough to forward to both police or school officials, Grace said.

School safety experts have lauded the program, saying it empowers people to offer tips by training them on what to look for and allowing anonymity.

"Students dont want to be considered a snitch or ratting on their friends," said Frank Quiambao, founder and director of the National Education Safety and Security Institute at the University of California-Los Angeles. "The fact that it's anonymous is very important because a lot of people won't do it if it's not."

More: 'They have made change': 1 year after carnage in Parkland, where key figures are now

Philadelphia Schools, the state's largest school district, has sent out letters to parents in various languages about the program, spokeswoman Megan Lello said. Principals are also developing training for their schools, which must be done by March 14.

"The health and safety of our students and staff are our top priorities," Lello said. "The Safe2Say Something program will help enhance the work we're already doing to ensure the safety of those we serve."

The bill in Pennsylvania received bipartisan support from lawmakers who allocated $1.1 million for its launch.

Republican State Sen. Scott Martin, who co-sponsored the bill, said the system will help police and school officials address warning signs early.

It adds another layer of accountability that I think brings comfort to people and ensures that everything is handled properly," Martin said. The vast number of tips that are coming in is a pretty good indicator of why this is important.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pennsylvania first state to mandate schools have a tip line for threats. So far, 6,200 reports have come in.
Hollywood (United States) (AFP) - The iconic band Queen kicked off the 91st Academy Awards with a rollicking performance of "We Will Rock You" sung by frontman Adam Lambert.

The group -- on which the nominated film "Bohemian Rhapsody" is based -- then brought the crowd to its feet with a rendition of the classic "We Are The Champions."

Lambert, 37, took the stage with the remaining active members of the British band, Brian May and Roger Taylor.

The 71-year-old May, who is also an astrophysicist, delivered a signature guitar solo to open Tinseltown's biggest night.

Lambert has been touring with the legends since 2011, standing in for the late frontman Freddie Mercury, the storied sinuous performer who Egyptian-American Rami Malek played in the sprawling biopic, which is up for best picture.

Malek has earned a number of awards for his performance including a Golden Globe. He is in the running Sunday for a coveted Best Actor Academy Award.

Prior to the glitzy gala Lambert said on the red carpet the Queen members once told him that "'if Freddie was here with us still, you guys would get a big kick out of each other.'"

"That means a lot to me."
Mexico City (AFP) - Alfonso Cuaron's big Oscars night -- three golden statuettes for his personal film "Roma," including his second for best director -- once again highlights the major success in Hollywood for Mexican filmmakers.

This time, though, is a bit different. When Cuaron won the first time, it was for space epic "Gravity," a mega-studio production with a budget of $100 million and mega-stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.

In sharp contrast, "Roma" was an intimate black-and-white movie about a family in turmoil in 1970s Mexico City, and the class dynamics that reigned. It also was filmed in Spanish and the indigenous Mixtec dialect.

It was the first film Cuaron made in his homeland since he burst onto the scene with his coming-of-age flick "Y Tu Mama Tambien." The cast and crew of the Netflix production were nearly all Mexicans.

Cuaron's success is "good for all of Mexican cinema," the president of the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences, Ernesto Contreras, told AFP.

"We owe the success of 'Roma' to Alfonso Cuaron, but also to his team, from the actresses to production designer to sound technicians."

- Three amigos -

For years, the Oscars have become a bit of a love fest for the so-called "three amigos" of Mexican filmmakers, who have won the best director trophy for five of the past six years.

It started with "Gravity," which won seven Oscars in 2014, including best cinematography for Mexico's Emmanuel Lubezki.

The following year, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu triumphed with "Birdman," which won four Oscars including best picture and best director.

And in 2016, Inarritu scored again with "The Revenant" -- the director and Lubezki again took home statuettes, as did lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio. He again won a special achievement Oscar for his interactive "Carne y Arena" (2017).

Last year, it was Guillermo del Toro's turn -- his fantasy romance "The Shape of Water" earned four Oscars including best picture and best director.

Story continues

- 'Interesting things' -

For film critic and researcher Rafael Avina, "Roma" made Hollywood realize that "in Mexico, we are doing interesting things."

Avina also highlighted the great esteem for Mexican filmmakers in Europe.

Amat Escalante, Carlos Reygadas and Michel Franco have made waves at the top film festivals in the world -- Cannes, Berlin and Venice.

"Mexicans conquering Hollywood and Europe -- that is going to continue, that train has left the station," Avina said.

In "Roma," Cuaron was able to explore racism in Mexican society through his main character, Cleo, patterned on his own nanny and played by a first-time actress of indigenous descent, Yalitza Aparicio.

"I want to thank the Academy for recognizing a film centered around an indigenous woman... a character that historically has been relegated in the background in cinema," Cuaron told the Oscars audience.

"As artists, our jobs are to look where others don't. This responsibility becomes much more important in times when we are being encouraged to look away."

For Mexico's film critics, the worldwide success of "Roma" also presents a major challenge for the country's movie industry -- raising awareness among local filmgoers about the quality of homegrown, auteur films.

"If this inspires our audiences to have confidence in films made by Mexican filmmakers and if the state supports their efforts, we will have taken a major step forward," says critic Carlos Bonfil.
Recently, Nokia Corporation NOK announced that it has inked a deal with Saudi Telecom Company (STC) to help the 5G network build-out of the latter in the region with its advanced products and services. STC is a Saudi Arabia-based telecommunications company that provides landline, mobile and Internet services to varied customers. The latest deal entails several firsts in STCs network, including the launch of cloud RAN and AirScale, coupled with the deployment of the Wavence platform in microwave and AirScale indoor radio.



Notably, the Finnish telecom equipment manufacturers comprehensive solutions would be employed to build a 5G network first in the western and southern part of Saudi Arabia, including the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah. The rollout phase is currently underway and is expected to be completed by the end of 2020.



The technology companys 5G portfolio is likely to provide STCs subscribers with ultra-high bandwidth and low latency services, alongside new applications in areas like virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence. Businesses will also gain from various IoT vertical use cases enabled by 5G as it will help enhance operational efficiency and user experiences while providing new revenue streams.



Nokia boasts a leading position in mobile and fixed network infrastructure, with the industrys most complete, end-to-end product portfolio. The companys deal win rate is encouraging with notable successes in the key 5G markets of the United States and China. It is continuously expanding business into targeted, high-growth and high-margin vertical markets to address growth opportunities beyond its primary markets. Rollouts of next-generation 5G networks are expected to boost market conditions considerably in 2019 and beyond.



Furthermore, to strengthen the companys market position, Nokia facilitates its customers to move away from an economy-of-scale network operating model to demand-driven operations by offering easy programmability and flexible automation needed to support dynamic operations, reduce complexity and improve efficiency.



Nokia is working to accelerate its strategy execution, sharpen customer focus and reduce long-term costs. This should help the company position itself for long-term 5G leadership, and reaffirm commitment to full-year 2020 non-IFRS operating margin between 12% and 16% and earnings per share in the range of 0.37-0.42.



Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider



Nokia currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Some better-ranked stocks in the industry include Comtech Telecommunications Corp. CMTL, Harris Corporation HRS and Motorola Solutions, Inc. MSI, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



Comtech has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 5%.



Harris has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 8%.



Motorola has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 8%.



Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential



The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. Theyre also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.



Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +98%, +119% and +164% in as little as 1 month. The stocks in this report could perform even better.



See these 7 breakthrough stocks now>>



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



Harris Corporation (HRS) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Motorola Solutions, Inc. (MSI) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Nokia Corporation (NOK) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (CMTL) : Free Stock Analysis Report



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By Paul Carsten and Alexis Akwagyiram ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday won a second term at the helm of Africa's largest economy and top oil producer, a tally by Reuters based on electoral commission results showed. Buhari faces a daunting to-do list, including reviving an economy still struggling to recover from a 2016 recession and quelling a decade-old Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands of people in the northeast, many of them civilians. Buhari of the All Progressive Congress party proved wrong those who doubted he could survive the blows of recession, militant attacks on oilfields, and Islamist insurgency that blighted his first term. He won by 56 percent compared with 41 percent for the other candidate, businessman and former vice president Atiku Abubakar of the People's Democratic Party. The president won by 3.9 million votes, having garnered 15.2 million to Atiku's 11.3 million. The turnout, based on valid votes, was 33.2 percent. In the 2015 presidential election, turnout was 44 percent. A message posted on Buhari's Twitter feed late on Tuesday showed him smiling and surrounded by applauding staff at his campaign office. "I met the very hardworking members of our team, many of them young people, and was briefed on the performance of our party so far in the Presidential Elections. I am very proud of what has been accomplished," he said on Twitter. Garba Shehu, Buhari's spokesman, said the president's office would have no comment until the electoral commission announces the winner. Earlier, Atiku's party demanded an immediate halt to the release of results by the Independent National Electoral Commission until turnout figures are provided to the competing parties. Atiku's party has rejected the tallies announced so far as "incorrect and unacceptable". Buhari's party has said the opposition was trying to discredit the returns from Saturday's election. The accusations have ratcheted up tensions in a vote marred by delays, logistical glitches and outbreaks of violence. Nigeria's six decades of independence have been marked by long periods of military rule, coups and secessionist wars. Observers from the Economic Community of West African States, the African Union and the United Nations appealed to all parties to await the official results, expected later this week, before filing complaints. The candidate with the most votes nationwide is declared winner as long as they have at least one-quarter of the vote in two-thirds of Nigeria's 36 states and the capital, Abuja. Otherwise there is a second-round run-off. Buhari secured enough votes to meet both requirements. EX-MILITARY RULER Buhari, 76, is a former military ruler who took office in 2015 and sought a second term with pledges to fight corruption and overhaul Nigeria's creaking road and rail network. Atiku, 72, had said he would aim to double the size of the economy to $900 billion by 2025, privatize the state oil company and expand the role of the private sector if voted into office. Voting took place on Saturday after a week-long delay which the election commission said was due to its inability to get ballots and results sheets to all parts of the country. The event - Africa's largest democratic exercise - has also been marred by violence in which at least 47 people have been killed since Saturday, according to the Situation Room, a monitoring organization linking various civil society groups. Some of the deaths took place after gangs allied to the leading parties clashed with each other as well as the police over the theft of ballot boxes and allegations of vote fraud. Police have not yet provided official casualty figures. More than 260 people have been killed since the start of the election campaign in October. The toll so far is lower than in earlier elections, but the worst violence occurred previously only after results were announced. (Additional reporting by Camillus Eboh and Felix Onuah; writing by James Macharia and Alexis Akwagyiram; editing by Grant McCool)
Any list of the best long-term investments since the turn of the century would include NextEra Energy (NYSE: NEE). The stock has delivered a total return (stock performance plus dividends) of 1,590% in that span, which smokes the total return of the S&P 500 that registers at "only" 175%. The sizzling ascension, owing to an aggressive acquisition strategy and betting correctly on the rise of wind power, has converted the business from just another industry player to the world's largest publicly traded utility by market cap.

That's all well and good, but investors on the outside looking in probably want to know where the business is headed, not only where it's been. After all, the company is currently valued at $90 billion. How much more can NextEra Energy possibly grow -- and is this renewable energy stock a buy?

Wind turbines along a road

Image source: Getty Images.

The business

Although NextEra Energy typically refers to itself as a utility, it's technically a holding company. It generates revenue and income from three core holdings:

Florida Power and Light (FPL): As the largest electric utility in the Sunshine State, FPL generates electricity from nuclear (24% of its generation) and natural gas (73% of its generation), then distributes it to residential and commercial customers. Its "30 by 30" strategy will see FPL build 30 million solar panels by 2030. That will equate to 10,000 megawatts of solar power capacity, compared to just 2,159 megawatts of solar in all of Florida today. NextEra Energy Resources (NEER): The power-generation arm of NextEra Energy is the world's largest supplier of wind and solar electricity and the fourth-largest capital investor in the United States. In 2018, the generation mix comprised 59% wind, 33% nuclear, 7% solar, and 1% natural gas. It also owns natural gas pipelines with nearly 8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of transport capacity. Gulf Power and Florida City Gas: NextEra Energy acquired the Florida-based electric and natural gas utilities, respectively, from Southern Company for $6.4 billion. The transaction for Gulf Power closed on the first day of 2019, while Florida City Gas has operated under FPL since last July. The parent's utilities serve 51% of the state's population.

In total, NextEra Energy has roughly $104 billion in assets, including power generation capacity of 24,000 megawatts at FPL and 23,000 megawatts at NEER (and that's about to grow -- a lot). It boasts the seventh-lowest carbon emissions per megawatt-hour of electricity produced among the nation's top 50 power producers. And management thinks it can continue creating tremendous value for shareholders in the years ahead.

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By the numbers

NextEra Energy turned in a record year of operations in 2018. Here's how the numbers compare to those from 2017:

Metric 2018 2017 Change (YOY) Operating revenue $16.7 billion $17.2 billion (3%) FPL adjusted EPS $4.55 $4.09 11% NEER adjusted EPS $3.05 $2.60 17% Total adjusted EPS $7.70 $6.70 15% Operating cash flow $6.59 billion $6.46 billion 2% Assets $103.7 billion $97.9 billion 6%

Data source: SEC filing. YOY = year over year.

While total revenue dropped nearly $500 million in the most recent year-over-year comparison, the details show there's not much to worry about. FPL saw a year-over-year decline in operating revenue of $110 million, primarily due to storm-related losses from an above-average hurricane season.

Meanwhile, NextEra Energy estimates that operating revenue for NEER was reduced by $718 million in 2018 due to the deconsolidation of its energy yieldco, NextEra Renewable Partners, which was already a separate publicly traded company. The parent and NEER still work closely with the partnership by selling it renewable energy assets and natural gas pipelines.

Man in a shirt and tie looking through binoculars

Image source: Getty Images.

Looking ahead

Management expects growth to resume for both FPL and NEER in the year and years ahead. The electric utility will see revenue and earnings trend predictably upward as it grows its rate base (utilities earn rate increases from regulators by investing in infrastructure) through capital expenditures, which reached $5.1 billion in 2018. That's a sharp increase from capex of just $3.2 billion in 2014. NEER capex soared to a record $7.1 billion last year, up from just $3.7 billion in 2014, as it races to meet insatiable demand for wind and solar projects across the United States.

A steady stream of investments -- made possible by NextEra Energy's massive size -- should provide ample growth for individual investors in the next several years. Management is targeting annual adjusted EPS growth of 7% through 2021, which would equate to between $9.40 and $9.95 three years from now. That includes per-share contributions of $0.15 and $0.20 in 2020 and 2021 from the recently acquired Florida utilities Gulf Power and Florida City Gas.

NextEra Energy thinks operating cash flow will grow in lockstep with adjusted EPS, which will provide even more capital for expanding the asset base. Meanwhile, the annual dividend per share is expected to grow 13% per year from a base of $3.93 in 2017. Much of that increase has already been realized, as the dividend currently pays shareholders $5.00 per share, but the math shows it could grow to $5.67 by the end of 2020 -- a healthy 13% rise from current levels.

A green globe sitting on the grass

Image source: Getty Images.

NextEra Energy stock can be a portfolio foundation

Investors surely cannot expect NextEra Energy stock to grow another 1,590% in the next two decades, but the business is well-positioned to continue growing at a healthy clip for the foreseeable future. It trades at just 13.5 times trailing earnings and 20.7 times future earnings, both more than reasonable for a utility stock with predictable growth. That makes this leading renewable energy stock a buy.

Investors who buy the stock today will get a market-beating dividend and own the world's largest renewable energy generator. That's not to be overlooked, especially considering wind, solar, and energy storage are just setting out on their respective exponential growth curves. Case in point: NEER aims to have a nation-spanning renewable energy backlog of a staggering 40,000 megawatts in place by 2020. That explains the company's $7.1 billion capex last year, and it may just hint at the growth ahead. Simply put, NextEra Energy stock is a buy.

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Maxx Chatsko has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends NextEra Energy. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Nepali Congress meeting postponed after snub by rival faction

The meeting of main opposition party Nepali Congress called on Tuesday was postponed after rival faction led by leaders Ram Chandra Poudel and Krishna Prasad faction boycotted the meeting.
A Nebraska state senator is receiving backlash after he referred to the American flag as a rag during a heated debate surrounding a bill about improving history instruction for students in the state. Senator Ernie Chambers, an Independent representing Omaha, debated Senator Tom Brewer, a Republican, over LB 399, which would update social studies requirements for students. Chambers was vocal over his concerns that the updates would teach a version of U.S. history that would highlight only white Americans, and not represent all Americans.
Internet sleuths are trying to identify an anonymous Good Samaritan who bought $540 of Girl Scout cookies so the girls could get out of the cold. (Photo: Kayla Dillard via Facebook)

Editors note: Yahoo Lifestyle reported on Thursday that the man hailed here as a hero for buying $540 worth of Girl Scout cookies has been arrested on drug trafficking charges after a months-long federal investigation. He has been identified by police as Detric McGowan.

A man in South Carolina plunked down $540 to buy out a troops entire stock of Girl Scout cookies so the girls could close up shop and escape the cold weather. The Scouts were stationed outside a Bilo grocery store in Mauldin, S.C.

Kayla Dillard, who manages cookie sales for Troop 1574  the group her daughter belongs to  said in a Facebook post on Friday that the customer first arrived and bought seven boxes of Girl Scout cookies for $40 and told them to keep the change. But she told Yahoo Lifestyle we were all in total shock when the man returned with a new offer.

The man said, Pack up all of your cookies. Im taking them all so yall can get out of this cold, and he proceeded to buy up every last box, including Thanks-A-Lots, Caramel deLites, Shortbread, Peanut Butter Patties, Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Smores, Thin Mints and Lemonades.

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The girls were almost speechless, Dillard told Yahoo Lifestyle. Then they got busy trying to calculate his total.

The final amount the man spent was $540.

We were just thankful, she added  but unfortunately she doesnt know who to thank, because she never got the mans name and he still hasnt come forward. He mentioned he owned several businesses, Dillard said. We assume he was going to give the cookies away.

Now that Dillards post has gone viral, internet sleuths are hard at work trying to identify the Good Samaritan. Dillard said the man has been tagged in the post several times by people who think they know him, but his identity remains a mystery.

Others were impressed by his extraordinary kindness.

Wow, what a great big heart he has!! Kudos to him for doing such a wonderful thing! That is something they will remember for the rest of their lives! one person wrote.

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This generous man probably shared the cookies with nursing homes, his employees/coworkers, homeless shelters and friends, another speculated. He seems to be a great person with a big heart.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is traveling to Paris to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for France's embassy in Washington said. Representatives for the U.S. Treasury could not immediately be reached for comment. The Treasury has made no announcement about the trip. The French Embassy spokeswoman said the meeting was listed on Macron's official schedule at around 5 p.m. Paris time (1600 GMT), but no details about the subject matter were available. (Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Peter Cooney)
WASHINGTON  When Michael Cohen entered the first in a series of guilty pleas last summer, President Donald Trump didn't hesitate to snipe at his his former personal attorney, "strongly" warning prospective clients to look somewhere else for legal representation.

"If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you dont retain the services of Michael Cohen!" Trump tweeted after learning that his longtime fixer had acknowledged  among other things  making payments to silence two women who had claimed affairs with his former boss.

Now, New Yorkers don't have to rely on the president's Twitter feed for advice about lawyers.

A panel of state Supreme Court judges formally disbarred Cohen, removing the former Trump lawyer from the state attorney rolls.

Cohen's days as an attorney were numbered even before Tuesday's action because lawyers face automatic disbarment for a felony conviction under New York law.

The decision was issued as Cohen was testifying before a Senate Intelligence Committee about his dealings with Trump, the first of three potentially explosive meetings with congressional committees this week.

"(Cohen) ceased to be an attorney upon his federal conviction of making false statement to the United States Congress," the court found, referring to testimony in which Cohen lied about the Trump Organization's pursuit of a tower project in Moscow during the 2016 campaign.

Cohen can file for reinstatement in seven years (or sooner if pardoned) if he isn't convicted of anything else in that time, but there is no guarantee his request would be granted.

A federal judge last year sentenced Cohen to three years in prison; he must turn himself in on May 6.

Hearing: Cohen plans to accuse President Trump of 'criminal conduct'

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, is pictured leaving Capitol Hill in Washington.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Michael Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer, disbarred because of his felony convictions
Meghan McCain and her fellow co-hosts on The View weighed in on Spike Lees acceptance speech at the Oscars and on President Trumps response that it constituted a racist hit against him.

Lees speech, in accepting the award for Best Adapted Screenplay for his film BlacKkKlansman, ended with this:

The 2020 presidential election is around the corner. Lets all mobilize. Lets all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Lets do the right thing!

Although his name was never mentioned, Trump took Lees words as a personal attack and responded in kind with a tweet:

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McCain, who usually represents a more conservative perspective on the show, came to Lees defense on Monday.

Art is political. Im on a different side than he is politically, but I like people taking time when they have a moment to, McCain said. Im not one of these people thats like everybody in Hollywood should shut the blank up. I actually think we have a reality show president. Hes using his time this way, and I dont understand what the problem is, and I wish the Oscars and all awards shows would lean into it a little bit. These are tumultuous times, and we are in a pool that we say controversial things all the time. Its not so bad, life does go on, and its OK for people to speak their truth when they get an award.

Twitter observers were also quick to react to Trumps message.

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Others supported the president and suggested that awards shows should stick to handing out awards.

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Check out what attendees on the red carpet had to say about whether or not politics belong at the Oscars:

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Immune from current trade wars, less constrained by federal regulation, and thriving despite zero access to tax deductions that bolster balance sheets for the rest of corporate America, cannabis may be this years brightest spot in retail.

The larger U.S. retail sector suffered a punishing year in 2018, during which companies cut nearly 99,000 retail jobs, 30% more than in the previous year. That momentum continued in January, according to research firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, with retail leading all sectors in job cuts for the month, increasing 45% year over year.

The data, coupled with recent bankruptcy filings by iconic retailers like Sears, Toys R Us, and Payless, has understandably heightened doubts over the sustainability of traditional brick-and-mortar. And while some major retailers like Walmart (WMT) and Best Buy (BBY) have embraced hybrid click-and-mortar models and posted better than expected Q4 sales, overall investor confidence in the sector remains a mixed bag.

A growing number of bud tenders

Meanwhile, cannabis retailers appear unblemished.

In 2018, total cannabis spending at U.S. dispensaries including medical and retail purchases reached $10.5 billion, according to cannabis research firm BDS Analytics. Thats up from $8.6 billion in 2017 and $6.6 billion in 2016. The past year is also the first time U.S. recreational cannabis sales outperformed medical sales.

This year, the direct industry is responsible for the employment of 121,000 full-time U.S. workers and 50,000 indirect full-time workers, up from 89,500 direct full-time workers in 2016. That number is expected to reach 291,500 direct full-time jobs by 2021, for a total employment impact of around 414,000.

Worldwide spending is now forecast to grow 39.1% to $17 Billion in 2019.

"Bud tender" Ryan Huntington stocks up a display case with products as The Cannabis Corner, the first city-owned recreational marijuana store in the country, makes preparations for their grand opening in North Bonneville, Washington March 6, 2015. REUTERS/Jason Redmond (UNITED STATES - Tags: BUSINESS POLITICS DRUGS SOCIETY)

Typically, bud tenders, the people working the front line at the dispensaries, are making about $12 to $15 an hour, which is fairly in line with retail, maybe a little bit better, Greg Shoenfeld, BDSs Vice President of Operations, told Yahoo Finance. On the cultivation side you get a lot of lower level employees that are making in that $12 to $15, and maybe up to $20 an hour range. Head growers for large outfits can make about $100,000 to $120,000 a year.

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That outpaces average wages paid to U.S. retail workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, median hourly wages for retail salespersons totaled $11.16 as of May of 2017.

Having come from mainstream retail world, it was always a little sad to see clients of many years closing their doors and then all of a sudden we got into cannabis, and you could go buy a dispensary on a weekday morning and see a line out the door, people waiting to get in, Shoenfeld said.

Even so, demand is heavily dependent on government regulation.

Ten U.S. states  Washington, Oregon, Nevada, California, Colorado, Alaska, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, and Michigan  and Washington DC have legalized recreational marijuana. Medical marijuana is legal in 33 states, and in Washington DC, Guamm and Puerto Rico. Marijuana remains an illegal controlled substance, federally, though Justice Department officials have not pursued prosecution in states that have voted to legalize.

As of February, Colorado had 550 active retail marijuana licenses. California currently has 625 licensed retail locations, and Oregon has 606. Together, the three states alone rival the 1,981 U.S. Home Depot stores open for business as of Q3 2018.

Colorado flirting with over-saturation

Colorado, the first state to legalize recreational marijuana, which is considered a mature market, experienced a 2% total growth rate in 2018. Thats a huge swing from prior years that showed steeper growth spikes of 15% in 2017 and 31% in 2016. In 2014, the first year of adult use, sales grew 110%.

Colorado, it's flirting with being over-saturated in the number of dispensaries, Shoenfeld said. In Oregon, it's been much more of a free-for-all of issuing new dispensary licenses. We've seen tremendous growth, and there's probably hundreds of applicants that are likely to receive licenses in 2019.

That state is not the only one that could see an explosion in weed retailers. Well see the same cycle of inception and then hyper growth and maturity and most states, if not all states, BDS CEO Roy Bingham said. Its only a question whether regulation somehow would distort it significantly from that norm.

BDS Analytics Phases of Cannabis State Market Expansion

For so-called plant-touching cannabis retailers, regulation is a double-edged sword.

The general retail market has been redefined by e-commerce, Shoenfeld said. That, by and large, doesn't exist in the cannabis industry.

Shoenfeld said while exceptions exist in certain markets where consumers can order products online to be delivered, those sales are a small part of the current cannabis market.

Its one of the reasons, Bingham says, cannabis retailers are protected from some of the challenges facing traditional retailers.

I think its fundamentally to do with the growth of the industry combined with the fact that in most states, you have to go to a bricks and mortar dispensary in order to purchase,  Bingham said.

In this Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019 photo a bud tender shows a top cannabis strain at Serra a dispensary in Portland, Ore. A U.S. senator from Oregon has proposed legislation that would give states a free hand to allow legal marijuana markets without the threat of federal criminal intervention. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

Room for growth

Despite steadying sales in mature markets theres still room for new growth.

The 2018 Farm Bill that legalized industrial hemp is fueling an upsurge of new CBD and CBD-infused products.

Already about 6% of dispensary sales are for high CBD or CBD-oriented products, Bingham said.

What we've seen is the CBD growing at more than 50% a year, he said.

Its also worth keeping in mind that plant-touching cannabis retailers are operating without the benefit of certain tax deductions that could bolster their bottom lines.

[T]hey cannot deduct their non cost of goods expenses, so that would include people, for example, who are serving, and therefore it's a bigger problem for someone within retail where a lot of your expense is in your bud tenders, Bingham said.

While sophisticated companies may successfully allocate as much as possible to cost of goods, a big chunk of expenses remain non-deductible.

And so while they may be nicely profitable, after paying a big tax bill  that might be double what it would have been if they didn't have this to add problem  they have very little cash left over to fuel their expansion, Bingham said.

It will become, ultimately I guess a windfall for those who could survive when eventually it does go away, which most people think it eventually has to go away.

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:

New York City is waging battle against Americas tech companies

How the legal fight over Trumps border wall could hurt the economy

Weed consumers no longer stoner that lives in his moms basement: CEO

NYPD: Waze users who post sobriety checkpoints may be committing crimes

How legalized cannabis changed Colorado in the past five years
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Investors are always looking for growth in small-cap stocks like Manhattan Resources Limited (SGX:L02), with a market cap of S$34m. However, an important fact which most ignore is: how financially healthy is the business? Given that L02 is not presently profitable, its essential to evaluate the current state of its operations and pathway to profitability. Here are few basic financial health checks you should consider before taking the plunge. However, given that I have not delve into the company-specifics, I recommend you dig deeper yourself into L02 here.

How much cash does L02 generate through its operations?

Over the past year, L02 has reduced its debt from S$36m to S$21m , which includes long-term debt. With this reduction in debt, L02 currently has S$40m remaining in cash and short-term investments for investing into the business. Moreover, L02 has produced cash from operations of S$13m in the last twelve months, resulting in an operating cash to total debt ratio of 63%, signalling that L02s debt is appropriately covered by operating cash. This ratio can also be interpreted as a measure of efficiency for unprofitable companies since metrics such as return on asset (ROA) requires a positive net income. In L02s case, it is able to generate 0.63x cash from its debt capital.

Does L02s liquid assets cover its short-term commitments?

Looking at L02s S$58m in current liabilities, the company may not be able to easily meet these obligations given the level of current assets of S$53m, with a current ratio of 0.92x.

SGX:L02 Historical Debt, February 26th 2019

Does L02 face the risk of succumbing to its debt-load?

With debt at 17% of equity, L02 may be thought of as appropriately levered. L02 is not taking on too much debt commitment, which may be constraining for future growth. Investors risk associated with debt is very low with L02, and the company has plenty of headroom and ability to raise debt should it need to in the future.

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Next Steps:

L02s high cash coverage and conservative debt levels indicate its ability to utilise its borrowings efficiently in order to generate ample cash flow. But it is still important for shareholders to understand why the company isnt increasing its cheaper cost of capital to fund future growth, especially if meeting short-term obligations could also bring about issues. I admit this is a fairly basic analysis for L02s financial health. Other important fundamentals need to be considered alongside. You should continue to research Manhattan Resources to get a better picture of the stock by looking at:

Historical Performance: What has L02s returns been like over the past? Go into more detail in the past track record analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of our analysis for more clarity. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.

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.
Venezuelan security forces clash with supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido - AFP

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused the American government of manufacturing a crisis in an attempt to start a war in South America, in an interview broadcast on Monday.

"Everything that the United States government has done has been doomed to failure," Maduro told American broadcaster ABC News from the presidential palace in Caracas in remarks translated by the network from Spanish.

"They are trying to fabricate a crisis to justify political escalation and a military intervention in Venezuela to bring a war to South America."

Meanwhile Spanish-language US television network Univision said on Monday a news team led by anchor Jorge Ramos was released after being detained at the presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, while interviewing President Nicolas Maduro.

The network said Maduro did not like the questions they were asking and confiscated the team's equipment and recording from the interview.

"I'm talking with @jorgeramosnews. He and the other members of the team were freed," tweeted Daniel Coronell, president of news for Univision.

Jorge Ramos shows a video he says his crew shot showing Venezuelan youth picking food scraps out of the back of a garbage truck in Caracas Credit: STF

In response to Univision's claims, Venezuela's information minister Jorge Rodriguez tweeted that the government had in the past welcomed hundreds of journalists to the Miraflores presidential palace, but it did not support "cheap shows."

Univision and the US Department of State had called on Maduro to release the journalists.

"We insist on their immediate release; the world is watching," tweeted Kimberly Breier, assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs.

Shortly after their release, the Univision team reported they had been informed they would be deported from the country on Tuesday.

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Earlier in the day, US Vice President Mike Pence announced $56 million in aid to Venezuelans as well as tougher US sanctions as he joined a Lima Group meeting of Latin American countries plus Canada that was also attended by opposition leader Juan Guaido.

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The United States is among some 50 countries that recognize Guaido as Venezuelas interim president.

Maduro blasted the talks in Bogota as being "politics to attempt to establish a parallel government in Venezuela."

Washington, he said, "wants Venezuelas oil" and is "willing to go to war for that oil."

"The extremist Ku Klux Klan government that Donald Trump directs wants a war over oil, and more than just oil," Maduro said, describing Venezuela as a "pacifist, humble nation."

But he also said he was ready to participate in a "direct dialogue" with the Trump administration.

Asked if he would allow Guaido back into the country, Maduro said: "He has to respect the laws."

Guaido "can leave and come back and will have to see the face of justice because justice had prohibited him from him leaving the country."
By Kate Holton

LONDON (Reuters) - British high street chain Marks & Spencer (M&S) is in talks with Ocado to form a joint venture that would give M&S a full online food delivery service for the first time, sending shares in both companies surging on Tuesday.

Britain's best known store group and the online supermarket pioneer released short statements confirming discussions after London's Evening Standard newspaper said M&S was set to pay 800 to 900 million pounds ($1.05-$1.19 billion) for a 50 percent stake in a combined online retail business.

One source with knowledge of the situation indicated the cost to M&S would be lower. It is unclear how M&S, which in November reported net debt of 1.78 billion pounds, would finance any deal.

The 135-year-old M&S is a mainstay of Britain's shopping streets, but has been struggling to cope in recent years with the rise of fast fashion, discounters and online shopping.

The firm currently sells wine, flowers and clothes online, but does not offer a full delivery service for its upmarket foods, putting it at a disadvantage to rivals such as John Lewis-owned Waitrose and Britain's biggest supermarket Tesco.

"We believe the food of M&S (ready meals, quality food) is perfectly suited for this more upmarket convenience shopping," said Bernstein analysts in a research note.

M&S shares jumped as much as 4.3 percent to a three month high on the news, while Ocado's shares leapt as much as 12.5 percent to a three week high. At 1555 GMT, Ocado's shares were up 10 percent at 975.4 pence, while M&S's were up 3.3 percent at 303.5 pence.

However, some analysts questioned whether M&S might be in danger of paying a large amount of money to join a highly competitive market too late.

"We would be wary of the ability for the M&S brand to support a basket size of the magnitude required to make the online economics work (given its natural bias to convenience and events)," Jefferies analysts said in a research note.

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Only last month M&S Chief Executive Steve Rowe said the firm's basket size was not appropriate for a full online grocery service, noting 41 percent of M&S customers shop for "today/tonight".

'EXPECTING BIG THINGS'

For Ocado, however, analysts said news of the talks was a relief following a devastating fire this month at its flagship robotic distribution center that hit its shares.

"Ocado's current share price is still lofty, and that means investors are expecting big things, considering the group is yet to make a meaningful profit," said Hargreaves Lansdown equity analyst Sophie Lund-Yates.

Ocado has a 1.3 percent share of Britain's grocery market, according to Kantar Worldpanel data, while M&S has 3.6 percent according to Nielsen data

Ocado, founded by three Goldman Sachs bankers 18 years ago, has been transformed in the last year after it struck major deals to sell its technology to international retailers such as U.S. group Kroger Co and France's Casino.

While the focus on technology has boosted its share price, the deal as mooted with M&S would enable Ocado to keep a stake in its British retail business rather than selling it completely to focus on tech deals.

The cash from M&S would also enable it to invest further in the online distribution centres it is building.

"In our view a 50/50 JV makes a lot of sense for Ocado today," Bernstein analysts said. "It is too early to lose their retail business as it is an essential and unbeatable part of the sales pitch to global customers (i.e. they are not just selling you some hardware/software, they operate it very successfully in the most competitive grocery ecommerce market in the world)."

The Evening Standard report suggested Ocado would use M&S as a supply partner for its British customers. Many of the products that Ocado currently sells are supplied by Waitrose, and it was not clear what the M&S talks would mean for that arrangement.

Ocado's deal with Waitrose ends in September 2020. Ocado is required to give 18 months notice if it does not intend to extend the contract.

Waitrose, which has built up an online food business in parallel with its partnership with Ocado, declined to comment.

(Reporting by Kate Holton; additional reporting by James Davey; Editing by Mark Potter)
Health Ministry requests UNICEF for vitamin A supplement

The Ministry of Health and Population has requested UNICEF for vitamin A supplements to administer to children between the ages of six months to five years.
By Ernest Scheyder

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (Reuters) - Long-time rivals Barrick Gold Corp and Newmont Mining Corp renewed their animosity on Monday with their chief executives trading insults after Barrick launched an $18 billion hostile bid for the U.S. company, presaging an aggressive battle.

The tough talk underscored deep personality and cultural differences between the world's two biggest gold producers. Their past attempts to merge ended in acrimony in 2014, and the frictions could scuttle a deal this time too.

Newmont's financial returns in recent years show its CEO, Gary Goldberg, is a "loser," Barrick CEO Mark Bristow told Reuters.

Goldberg, for his part, told Reuters that Bristow's "credibility and experience" and performance at Randgold, which he led until last month when it was acquired by Barrick, was "anemic."

Adding to the residue of resentment at the mining companies from past merger failures, the current hostile climate between the companies reflects animosity between the CEOs, opposing management styles and clashing visions for how to achieve maximum shareholder value.

The animus between Bristow and Goldberg extended to a dispute over who extended his hand first for a handshake at a BMO Metals & Mining Conference in Florida on Monday.

For investors, a Barrick-Newmont merger would bring under one roof some of the worlds most compatible gold mines and plants, which sit side by side in Nevada, and create a company likely to appeal to top shareholders seeking a haven for long-only money.

Barrick said there is more logic in a tie-up between the two than in Newmonts planned $10 billion merger with Goldcorp.

"I think in an environment of lower gold prices, everyone needs more synergies and the synergies of Nevada - Barrick and Newmont - should have been done a long time ago," said Greg Taylor of Purpose Investments, which holds Newmont shares.

Newmont rejected the Barrick bid, saying a joint venture was a better way to extract value from the two companies mines in Nevada.

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The two CEOs said they have not met to compare financial records on the other's Nevada assets. Each blamed the other for not being willing to share information.

"I drive trucks past ... processing plants in Nevada, because Gary won't share with me," Bristow said.

Goldberg questioned when he was in the state "given that Bristow's not really spent much time in Nevada to begin with."

The Newmont CEO was adamant the Goldcorp deal was best for his company, contrasting it with what he described as Bristow's short-sighted reliance on cost-cutting to pump profits.

"We see great value," he said. "It feels to us that wherever Mark (Bristow) goes, he seems to be just firing people in order to boost returns."

David Neuhauser of Livermore Partners, which holds Barrick shares, said the no-premium bid could "over time suggest a premium multiple, given the long life and cash-generating abilities" of the combined assets.

Van Eck and BlackRock, two large shareholders in both names, did not respond to requests for comment.

Major investors have taken on extra weight in the gold sector since many of the smaller metals funds disappeared after the 2015 to 2016 commodity slump. Those long-only funds, which do not invest in small companies, have largely driven the need for gold consolidation.

"Passive investors will seal the fate of this deal," said Brian Madden of Goodreid in Toronto.

GOLDCORP

The bid now goes to shareholders, with Barrick asking Newmont's investors to approve bylaw changes that would ultimately make its hostile bid easier.

The big loser would be Goldcorp, only just enjoying a share rally on the prospect of a tie-up with Newmont, which could be left without any potential buyers.

Goldcorp's best hope is that it gets swept up in the next wave of activity, which many investors and analysts predict as a mighty Barrick sheds some of its assets.

"There is nothing Goldcorp can do to avoid the collapse of their deal," a banker who worked on the Randgold-Barrick deal said on condition of anonymity.

"Newmont and Barrick is the deal that should have always happened, at least for the past 20 years."

(Additional reporting by Barbara Lewis and Clara Denina in LondonEditing by Amran Abocar and Cynthia Osterman)
Matt Sassone became the CEO of LiDCO Group plc (LON:LID) in 2015. First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at similar sized companies. Then well look at a snap shot of the business growth. And finally  as a second measure of performance  we will look at the returns shareholders have received over the last few years. The aim of all this is to consider the appropriateness of CEO pay levels.

See our latest analysis for LiDCO Group

How Does Matt Sassones Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

At the time of writing our data says that LiDCO Group plc has a market cap of UK9.6m, and is paying total annual CEO compensation of UK263k. (This figure is for the year to January 2018). While we always look at total compensation first, we note that the salary component is less, at UK205k. We looked at a group of companies with market capitalizations under UK153m, and the median CEO compensation was UK243k.

That means Matt Sassone receives fairly typical remuneration for the CEO of a company that size. This doesnt tell us a whole lot on its own, but looking at the performance of the actual business will give us useful context.

The graphic below shows how CEO compensation at LiDCO Group has changed from year to year.

AIM:LID CEO Compensation, February 26th 2019

Is LiDCO Group plc Growing?

On average over the last three years, LiDCO Group plc has shrunk earnings per share by 91% each year (measured with a line of best fit). In the last year, its revenue is down -4.9%.

Sadly for shareholders, earnings per share are actually down, over three years. This is compounded by the fact revenue is actually down on last year. So given this relatively weak performance, shareholders would probably not want to see high compensation for the CEO. You might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for future earnings.

Has LiDCO Group plc Been A Good Investment?

Given the total loss of 40% over three years, many shareholders in LiDCO Group plc are probably rather dissatisfied, to say the least. This suggests it would be unwise for the company to pay the CEO too generously.

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In Summary

Remuneration for Matt Sassone is close enough to the median pay for a CEO of a similar sized company .

The company isnt growing EPS, and shareholder returns have been disappointing. Suffice it to say, we dont think the CEO is underpaid! If you think CEO compensation levels are interesting you will probably really like this free visualization of insider trading at LiDCO Group.

Arguably, business quality is much more important than CEO compensation levels. So check out this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

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.
BARCELONA (Reuters) - South Koreas LG Electronics unveiled a 5G smartphone on Sunday with a dual screen, the latest handset maker to pitch a new design feature in an effort to revive flagging sales.

The two screens on the new V50ThinQ work independently, so a user can watch a film on one screen while browsing the Internet on the other.

LG, the world's No.7 smartphone maker, saw its sales decline by a quarter last year as Chinese rivals Huawei Technologies and Xiaomi grabbed market share in a slightly weaker global market.

Both announced 5G phones in Barcelona on the eve of the Mobile World Congress, the telecoms industry's main annual get together, with Xiaomi pitching a $680 model and Huawei smashing the price ceiling with $2,600 folding phone.

LG nevertheless retains a following among those who value good video and audio quality.

Addressing those users, LG launched a second phone, the G8ThinQ, which can be unlocked without touching the screen. The handset instead uses light sensors to scan the veins in a user's hand or to recognise their face.

The phone's front-facing camera, which uses a sensor chip developed by Germany's Infineon Technologies , can scan in three dimensions - making it more secure than existing biometric methods of unlocking phones such as fingerprints.

LG product evangelist David Montanya told a launch event it would be harder to 'spoof' than the FaceID feature used in Apple's iPhone X because the vein structure in a user's hand has less than one chance in a billion of being the same as anyone else's.

Users can also activate features with gestures - for example to play or pause a song or video, or adjust the volume, by twisting their fingers, emulating the character played by Tom Cruise in science-fiction detective thriller Minority Report.

LG did not set release dates or announce prices for the new phones, but said the 5G model should hit stores in the first half of the year.

(Reporting by Isla Binnie; Editing by David Goodman and David Holmes)
The impermanent nature of politics being what it is, what was unthinkable in the past becomes debatable in the present and conventional wisdom in the future. Former secretary of state Hillary Clintons call for a borderless hemisphere in the 2016 election has given way to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs declaration that illegal aliens are actually more American than those who would strengthen our borders, which has in turn given way to former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abramss endorsement of noncitizens voting in American elections.

This latter idea may strike many conservatives as another example of the Lefts new leaders embracing radicalism, but the history and ideology of this issue are more interesting than that. I strongly oppose noncitizen voting, and have introduced a bill to ban all federal funding for states and municipalities that allow the practice, but I fear that, unless we understand the history of noncitizen voting and the ideology that underpins it, conservatives will be ill-equipped to oppose future waves of activism in this area.

Noncitizen voting was actually the status quo for much of U.S. history. It wasnt until 1926 that Arkansas became the last state to ban noncitizens from voting, and 1928 that the first federal election without enfranchised aliens occurred. Since Article I of the Constitution provides that those who can vote in elections for the most numerous house of their state legislature may vote in elections for the U.S. House of Representatives, many congresses in our history have seen members elected from constituencies with significant populations of alien voters.

Initially after the ratification of the Constitution, Congress promoted alien voting, partly as an incentive for the settlement of new territories. Section eleven of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 provided that ownership of 50 acres of land and two years residence in the district, shall be necessary to qualify a man as an elector of a representative regardless of citizenship status. Alien suffrage peaked in the years after the Civil War  at least 22 states and territories allowed noncitizen voting around 1875. In my home state of South Carolina, the postCivil War constitution of 1865 joined those of a number of other southern states in allowing aliens who had declared their intent to become citizens to vote.

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As property qualifications fell away and women won the right to vote, noncitizen voting became more controversial. The rising tide of nationalist sentiment during World War I ultimately brought the practice to an end. Meanwhile, voting rights were expanding across the country to varying degrees, and would further expand later in the 20th century with the rightly celebrated Voting Rights Act of 1965 and bills to provide better access to voting for uniformed servicemembers abroad, among various other civil-rights bills.

But throughout the voting-rights debates of the civil-rights era, alien voting remained a fringe concept, relegated only to the most left-leaning jurisdictions. New York allowed aliens to vote in certain school board elections in 1968, but few municipalities followed suit. After the issue was taken up as a left-wing cause in the 1990s, we ended up pretty much where we are today, with around a dozen different jurisdictions across Maryland, California, Illinois, and New York offering noncitizens and even illegal immigrants access to the ballot.

In the service of their renewed push for noncitizen voting, leftists characterize noncitizen voting as a logically unassailable, if not clearly mandatory, democratic practice. Their theory places restrictions on the franchise for aliens into the same category as previous discriminatory efforts to restrict minority groups access to voting. If advocates of noncitizen voting are right, it is not principle, but political expediency, that keeps them from advancing this policy. They make three main arguments: that noncitizen voting is required by the social contract, that political outcomes will be biased against noncitizens without the franchise, and that noncitizen voting presents benefits to all voters in a given jurisdiction.

Each of these is wrong in its own way. The social-contract argument boils down to no taxation without representation. In other words, aliens are required to pay taxes and potentially serve in the armed forces, and therefore theyre entitled to voting representation. But aliens are not entitled to all of the rights and privileges afforded to Americans. For instance, someone with a green card who commits a crime can be deported from the United States, a penalty that would not be available or fair for a naturalized citizen. Other rights not universally afforded to aliens in the United States are the right to serve on juries, run for public office, or access certain government jobs.

If the social-contract argument is taken to be legitimate, then no country is entitled to distinguish between citizens and noncitizens, provided that the noncitizens pay taxes. It would preclude countries from providing different rights to different people based on immigration status. At any given moment, there are millions of people who live and work in our country on temporary employment visas, receive Temporary Protected Status (TPS), or occupy other immigration categories who cannot vote. Their residence is either permanent or semi-permanent.

The second argument for noncitizen voting is that it is discriminatory to prevent illegal aliens from voting, and that as a result, the laws that are made will be biased against those who lack representation. This is the same argument that was made in favor of allowing 18-year-olds to vote  if someone were going to be sent to Vietnam, he should get to choose his elected leaders. Theres one key difference, however, between an 18-year-old getting drafted with no voting rights and an alien: the 18-year-old did not choose his condition.

An alien voluntarily comes to the United States in search of a better life, hoping to work and to be part of the American experience, a process I support if its done legally. If they have concerns about what they believe to be discriminatory aspects of our laws, they are absolutely free not to come, and in the vast majority of cases retain full voting rights in their native countries. The 147 million people in the world whod like to immigrate to the United States and the up-to-multi-decade green-card backlog suggests to me that the actual practical concerns about discriminatory public policy arent very serious. The aliens themselves certainly dont think so.

Finally, theres the mutual-benefit argument, which suggests that if aliens are allowed to vote, then they can make common cause with other marginalized groups in our society, and come together for the mutual improvement of our country. This is a classic example of how identity politics erases individuals. Who is to say that a single male alien from Honduras has the same interests as, for example, a female high-school principal who is an American citizen in a low-income community? It is just as likely that they have competing interests. The Honduran might be a construction worker, and therefore might benefit from reduced taxes on the construction industry, while the principal might benefit from increased spending on education. The history of immigration and assimilation is littered with these types of examples.

Part of the reason that none of the stated arguments put forward by leftists hold up to logic is that, even when advancing the radical policy of noncitizen voting, they cant state their true view: that drawing a distinction between citizens and noncitizens of the United States is immoral. Its the same principle that leads them to oppose both securing the border with a wall and enacting effective immigration enforcement measures. But, in the same way that a strong border is what protects the citizens of the United States from drug trafficking and terrorism, a strong border between who is and is not a voting member of our Republic based on citizenship protects and upholds the legitimacy of our institutions. Opposing the radical position on noncitizen voting is certainly a worthy effort for conservatives.

More from National Review
Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and receive a $20 prize!

The goal of this article is to teach you how to use price to earnings ratios (P/E ratios). To keep it practical, well show how Yuzhou Properties Company Limiteds (HKG:1628) P/E ratio could help you assess the value on offer. Based on the last twelve months, Yuzhou Propertiess P/E ratio is 4.25. That corresponds to an earnings yield of approximately 24%.

See our latest analysis for Yuzhou Properties

How Do You Calculate Yuzhou Propertiess P/E Ratio?

The formula for price to earnings is:

Price to Earnings Ratio = Share Price (in reporting currency)  Earnings per Share (EPS)

Or for Yuzhou Properties:

P/E of 4.25 = CN3.36 (Note: this is the share price in the reporting currency, namely, CNY )  CN0.79 (Based on the year to June 2018.)

Is A High Price-to-Earnings Ratio Good?

A higher P/E ratio implies that investors pay a higher price for the earning power of the business. That isnt necessarily good or bad, but a high P/E implies relatively high expectations of what a company can achieve in the future.

How Growth Rates Impact P/E Ratios

P/E ratios primarily reflect market expectations around earnings growth rates. When earnings grow, the E increases, over time. That means unless the share price increases, the P/E will reduce in a few years. A lower P/E should indicate the stock is cheap relative to others  and that may attract buyers.

Notably, Yuzhou Properties grew EPS by a whopping 62% in the last year. And its annual EPS growth rate over 5 years is 14%. Id therefore be a little surprised if its P/E ratio was not relatively high.

How Does Yuzhou Propertiess P/E Ratio Compare To Its Peers?

We can get an indication of market expectations by looking at the P/E ratio. If you look at the image below, you can see Yuzhou Properties has a lower P/E than the average (5.8) in the real estate industry classification.

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SEHK:1628 Price Estimation Relative to Market, February 25th 2019

This suggests that market participants think Yuzhou Properties will underperform other companies in its industry. Since the market seems unimpressed with Yuzhou Properties, its quite possible it could surprise on the upside. If you consider the stock interesting, further research is recommended. For example, I often monitor director buying and selling.

A Limitation: P/E Ratios Ignore Debt and Cash In The Bank

The Price in P/E reflects the market capitalization of the company. In other words, it does not consider any debt or cash that the company may have on the balance sheet. Hypothetically, a company could reduce its future P/E ratio by spending its cash (or taking on debt) to achieve higher earnings.

Such spending might be good or bad, overall, but the key point here is that you need to look at debt to understand the P/E ratio in context.

Yuzhou Propertiess Balance Sheet

Yuzhou Properties has net debt worth 80% of its market capitalization. If you want to compare its P/E ratio to other companies, you should absolutely keep in mind it has significant borrowings.

The Bottom Line On Yuzhou Propertiess P/E Ratio

Yuzhou Propertiess P/E is 4.3 which is below average (10.9) in the HK market. While the EPS growth last year was strong, the significant debt levels reduce the number of options available to management. If the company can continue to grow earnings, then the current P/E may be unjustifiably low.

Investors should be looking to buy stocks that the market is wrong about. If the reality for a company is not as bad as the P/E ratio indicates, then the share price should increase as the market realizes this. So this free visualization of the analyst consensus on future earnings could help you make the right decision about whether to buy, sell, or hold.

But note: Yuzhou Properties may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a P/E ratio below 20).

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.
Senator Kamala Harris, one of the top contenders for the Democratic nomination for president, called President Trump a racist in an interview published Tuesday.

When you talk about him calling African countries sh**hole countries. When you talk about him referring to immigrants as rapists and murderers, I dont think you can reach any other conclusion, the California senator told The Root.

Trump reportedly complained about the U.S. accepting immigrants from s***hole countries, like Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries in a meeting with lawmakers a year ago. The president later issued a denial, saying he had been tough, but this was not the language used in the meeting.

Harris also referenced Trumps comments on the deadly 2017 violence in Charlottesville, Va., where a white supremacist purposefully drove a car into a crowd of people, killing a woman, amid clashes between white-nationalist activists and counter-protesters.

I think there is blame on both sides, Trump said at the time. What about the alt-left that came charging at, as you say, the alt-right. Do they have any semblance of guilt?

The president later condemned the white supremacists and said the driver of the car was a murderer and what he did was a horrible, horrible, inexcusable thing.

Trump has frequently been panned for comments seen as discriminatory toward immigrants, especially those from Latin American countries, as well.

I do, yes. Yes, Harris, who is Indian and Jamaican, responded when pressed afterwards on whether she would definitely agree that hes a racist.

GOP chairwoman Ronna McDaniel returned fire Tuesday, calling Harris desperate.

Kamala Harriss latest attack is a disgusting attempt to get attention for her 2020 campaign. From historic lows in African American & Hispanic unemployment to criminal justice reform, Donald Trump has made progress for ALL Americans after years of empty Democrat promises, McDaniel wrote on Twitter.

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Senator Bernie Sanders, who recently launched his second run for the Democratic presidential nomination, has also called Trump a racist. Senator Cory Booker, another high-profile 2020 presidential candidate, has declined to do so, saying I dont know the heart of anybody. Ill leave that to the Lord.

More from National Review
The lieutenant governor of Virginia has likened himself to a lynching victim while battling accusations of sexual assault and calls to resign from his post amid a series of scandals impacting the states top lawmakers.

Justin Fairfax made the controversial statements during a surprise speech on Sunday, lashing out against his critics in the state Senate as 2019 legislative session was coming to a close.

Ive heard much about anti-lynching on the floor of this very Senate, where people were not given any due process whatsoever, and we rue that, Mr Fairfax said, referencing legislation the General Assembly passed expressing profound regret for lynchings in Virginia between 1877 and 1950.

And we talk about hundreds, at least 100 terror lynchings that have happened in the Commonwealth of Virginia under those very same auspices, he added. And yet we stand here in a rush to judgment with nothing but accusations and no facts and we decide that we are willing to do the same thing.

Stunned senators sat in awkward silence when he finished his five-minute impromptu speech.

Mr Fairfax, who is black, has been accused by two women of sexual assault. Both of the alleged victims are African American.

Earlier this month, Vanessa Tyson publicly accused Mr Fairfax of forcing her to perform oral sex in his hotel room during the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. Her lawyer said last week that she plans to meet with prosecutors in Massachusetts to detail her allegations.

Meredith Watson has also publicly accused Mr Fairfax of sexual assault. She issued a statement accusing him of raping her 19 years ago while they were students at Duke University.

House Republicans announced plans Friday to hold a public hearing where Mr Fairfax and his accusers can testify, a move that he and some Democrats have panned as a political ploy.

Mr Fairfax has indicated he wont participate in the hearing, leaving it an open question whether Republicans will try to compel him to testify. He has said the accusations should be investigated by law enforcement.

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Governor Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring, both Democrats and both white, are embroiled in their own scandal after acknowledging they wore blackface in the 1980s.

Mr Northam has also resisted widespread calls to resign and instead said he intends to devote his remaining years in office to addressing the states deep and lingering racial divisions.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
Letter to the editor:

Those who are racist and bigoted will simply have a field day if its confirmed that Jussie Smolletts attack was faked. But my only question to Smollett would be: Why and what were you thinking?

Im sure his insurance company, his employer, his fans, his family and his friends would also have questions that he would be hard-pressed to answer. The loss of integrity is permanent and irreversible. I feel sorry for all the players in this story and for what could end up being a senseless waste of resources by our law enforcement personnel and health care providers in Chicago. Those who cry wolf could also profoundly impact the willingness of law enforcement to respond on future hate crimes.

Talker: Angry about Jussie Smollett? Here's what you can do

Finally, all of this dishonors the memories of those who have fallen victim to hate crimes in the past, and exponentially increases the risk that others will suffer the same fate in the future.

Marc Wilson; Hawthorne, Fla.

Green New Deal: Profoundly Conservative

Letter to the editor:

Like Franklin Roosevelts New Deal, the Green New Deal  which seeks jobs for all Americans in the course of attacking climate change isnt radical or socialist. Its actually conservative.

Roosevelt mobilized our government to combat a depression at home and fascism around the world. Todays Democrats would mobilize it to address a silent depression and save the planet from ecological catastrophe.

Related: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal is a radical front for nationalizing our economy

The Green New Deal aims toward family-supporting jobs, with health care and retirement security. That would be a huge step toward ending our silent depression. And the jobs goal fits perfectly with achieving a sustainable economic future. Creating a green economy is a huge task: there will be much work to do. All this requires costly investments. But inaction is much more costly. Continued inaction ensures more people will lose faith in capitalism  and risks Earths ability to sustain human life.

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Charles J. Whalen; Buffalo, N.Y.

During the NYC Pride Parade in New York on June 26, 2016.

A misdiagnosis isn't the case for majority

Letter to the editor:

All of us can agree that Walt Heyers story, published in USA TODAY, is terribly sad. He had a traumatic and abusive childhood, eventually contributing to a misdiagnosis and difficult adult life. But we cant extrapolate his experience to disregard and fail to support an entire community of people.

Im a transgender man, and I have worked on transgender issues for nearly 20 years. Ive met hundreds of transgender people, and Ive met even more families and friends of transgender people who want to do the right thing for their loved ones. The overwhelming majority of transgender people live happier, healthier, more fulfilling, and thriving lives when they can safely discover, articulate and be their authentic selves. Thats why the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association and virtually all of Americas leading medical organizations affirm and support transgender people.

Related: As a transgender woman, I can't fight Trump's policies by myself. I need all progressives to join us.

Its understandable that people have questions about what it means to be transgender. Its a new topic for a lot of Americans, and most people havent had a personal experience meeting a transgender person yet. Stories like Heyers are very rare, but they are scary. But the truth is, transgender people do exist. Were family members, friends, coworkers, fellow worshippers and community members. We live full and meaningful lives, and being transgender is only one part of that. More than anything, we want the opportunity to work hard and take care of ourselves, just like everyone else, without fear of stigma, humiliation or discrimination. Its about freedom for everyone.

Kasey Suffredini, president of strategy for Freedom for All Americans; Washington, D.C.

Embrace opioids alternatives

Letter to the editor:

As a practicing orthopedic surgeon, I applaud doctors Sesh Mudumbai, Randall Stafford and G. Caleb Alexander for highlighting the risks of postsurgical opioid use. While the national conversation often gravitates to the overuse of opioids for chronic pain, research continues to show that the surgical setting has become an unintentional gateway to long-term use, paving the way for dependence or addiction.

Despite the availability of effective alternatives, opioids continue to be overprescribed for postsurgical pain. In fact, a new analysis reveals that patients were prescribed nearly 100 to 200 pills to help treat pain from four common procedures.

Related: Having surgery? Beware of risk from post-op opioids

Fortunately, there is an emerging class of surgeons who embrace new alternatives to perform opioid-free surgeries for orthopedic and spine procedures, C-sections and more  a notion that was never thought possible. In my practice, patients receive surgeries that follow a multimodal pain management protocol, which includes FDA-approved opioid alternatives that include a long-acting local anesthetic that numbs the site of surgery for the duration of the most severe postsurgical pain.

Its imperative surgeons and patients discuss pain management options prior to surgery. By removing or minimizing the use of opioids within the surgical suite, we can turn the tide on the epidemic.

Shariff K. Bishai, orthopedic surgeon; Detroit

Sanders is not a novel candidate anymore

Letter to the editor:

In classical rhetorical theory, the word kairos refers to the opportune time and/or place  that is, the right or appropriate time to say or do the right or appropriate thing. On Tuesday, timing remained a significant concept for understanding political events. Case in point: the announcement by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders that he is running to be president in 2020.

In 2016, when Sanders mounted a strong challenge for the Democratic nomination, his message was rhetorically unique and persuasive  standing in sharp contrast to that of Hillary Clinton and others. This is no longer the case. Most of his progressive ideas  Medicare for All, free college tuition, higher taxes for the wealthy, etc.  are advocated by several candidates already in the Democratic race.

Related: How Bernie Sanders and Democrats can avoid the 2016 mistakes that gave us Donald Trump

But one might also argue that kairos works rhetorically against Sanders for another reason. President Donald Trump has set the agenda for the 2020 general election, potentially pre-empting Democratic proposals by making socialism an evil term. If what I am suggesting is true, Sanders may not be the best choice  and probably wont be nominated.

Richard Cherwitz; Austin

I changed my mind on late-term abortion

Letter to the editor:

I have a great appreciation to Kate Carson for sharing her story in her column, "I had a later abortion because I couldn't give my baby girl both life and peace," and bringing awareness to the issue of late-term abortions. I had never imagined that there were rational, humane and necessary reasons for these procedures. I stood on a pro-choice platform guided by a vague intuition of its progressiveness, putting the late-term question on the side.

Related: I had a later abortion because I couldn't give my baby girl both life and peace

As a mom, Im so proud of Carson for making her babys story known. I had not before considered that there are circumstances in which life could be a cruelness to protect unborn children from. Hearing Carsons family story, I understand now that a choice can be so obvious it isnt a choice at all, and what I really mean to support are the options. From here on out, I will tell people Im pro-option and explain, through Carsons story, why and how this stance is different, and why it needs protection.

Genevieve Lane; Victoria, Minn.

Both sides play politics on the wall

Letter to the editor:

Chris Truax's column, "Donald Trump's emergency declaration is an attack on democracy," argues that President Donald Trump declared an emergency in order to fund the wall for political reasons. Yet the Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives have refused the presidents request for $5.7 billion to build the wall because of political reasons of their own.

Related: Democrats and Republicans flip all the time on border security

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi doesnt want the president to win on this issue. What is $5.7 billion in our $19 trillion a year economy? One and a half modern aircraft carriers cost more. This whole business is right out of the Politics 101 textbook.

Robert Peele; Rocky Mount, N.C.

To join the conversations about topics on USA TODAY, email letters@usatoday.com, comment on Facebook, or use #tellusatoday on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jussie Smollett crying wolf helps no one: Readers sound off
A bump stock is seen to a disassembled .22-caliber rifle at North Raleigh Guns in Raleigh, N.C.

The Trump administration can go ahead with a ban on the rapid-fire gun attachments used to carry out the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, a federal judge ruled late Monday, turning back one of the first legal challenges to the ban.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington rejected challenges to the ban on the rapid-fire attachment known as bump stocks weeks before it was scheduled to go into effect.

Friedrich rejected arguments that the rule was rushed through the administrative process, or that it was improperly issued by then acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker. She wrote that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was within its right to redefine ambiguous terms that the government had previously concluded constrained them to allow the devices.

"That this decision marked a reversal of ATFs previous interpretation is not a basis for invalidating the rule because ATFs current interpretation is lawful and ATF adequately explained the change in interpretation," Dabney wrote in her 64-page ruling.

The Firearms Policy Coalition, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, denounced the ruling and vowed to appeal to reign in "a rogue and growing executive branch."

"We are disappointed but unsurprised by the court's ruling tonight denying a temporary injunction to protect Americans from an unlawful and unconstitutional regulation," the group wrote in a statement.

The case was one of at least five federal lawsuits challenging the rule issued by the Justice Department in December after a year of weighing public comment submitted to the ATF.

Friedrich also rejected an argument that the ban was unlawful because it had been approved by former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, whose appointment last year was met with criticism because he had not been approved for the job by the Senate. She ruled that Trump had the power to appoint Whitaker.

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Owners of the devices have until March 26 to melt, shred or crush their plastic accessories that can make off-the-shelf semi-automatic rifles fire almost as rapidly as a machine gun. Another case in Michigan has a hearing next month on a similar request for an injunction.

An appeal to another court could allow more examination of the constitutional issues, said Brandon Combs, president of the Firearms Policy Coalition.

I dont think anyone wants an executive branch that can just make law by fiat with whatever they want for criminal penalties behind it, Combs said. Its a dangerous place for our republic to say you can buy something one day and change its mind the next and send you to prison.

A violation of the federal ban comes with a $250,000 fine on top of a possible 10-year prison term.

The Justice Department reexamined its approach to regulating bump stocks after a mass shooting in Las Vegas in October 2017 in which a single gunman killed 58 people and injured more than 800 others.

The government had long maintained that only Congress could ban bump stocks. But pressure from President Trump and others mounted in the wake of the shooting, it reversed that view and concluded that it could ban the $200 devices under existing gun laws.

Bump stocks combined two legal devices, a plastic stock and a firearm, that together function like a machine gun. The bump stock harnesses the recoil of the rifle to accelerate trigger pulls, technically bumping the trigger for each shot after it bounces off the shooters shoulder.

The ATF said it was using its right to reconsider and rectify previous classification errors by changing how it considered automatically or single function of the trigger.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Judge says ban on rapid-fire 'bump stocks' can go forward, rejects challenge to new rules
Sanjeeb Phuyal is the online editor for The Kathmandu Post. He oversees breaking news reports on the web and produces content for The Post's digital platforms.
This is the eighth dispatch in a series from Jeff Goodell, who is in Antarctica investigating the effect of climate change on Thwaites Glacier.

Rob Larter was 23 when he made his first visit to Antarctica. The son of a public health inspector, Larter sailed down from Englands West Midlands, where he grew up. When I saw Antarctica for the first time, he recalls, I thought, this is a really a bleak place. Today, as a geophysicist at the British Antarctic Survey, Larter probably knows as much about the past, present and future of the continent as anyone on the planet.

I met Larter three weeks ago, when I boarded the Nathaniel Palmer, an icebreaker and research vessel that was about to embark on a two-month cruise to West Antarctica to explore the risks of the collapse of Thwaites glacier, one the most important tipping points in the earths climate system. The cruise is part of a five-year-long collaboration between the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.K.s National Environment Research Council. Larter, a gentle but forceful man, introduced himself as chief scientist on the trip, in charge of managing all experiments on the ship, from tagging seals to mapping uncharted regions of the ocean floor.

Larter and I talked in his cabin on the third deck of the Palmer while the ship rolled in a heavy swell. A long passage from Chile to Antarctica, as well as a medical emergency aboard the ship, meant we were still a few days away from reaching Thwaites. Larter was eager to begin deciphering the mysteries embedded in Antarcticas ice. There is only one true story, he had said during a meeting on the Palmer earlier that morning. As scientists, our job is to tell it.

Rolling Stone: This cruise is the beginning of a five-year-long emergency research project to study changes in Thwaites glacier. Why is studying Thwaites so urgent?

Rob Larter: Because what happens in Antarctica  and at Thwaites glacier, in particular  has enormous consequences for the world. Until recently, scientists studying the response of glaciers to climate change thought Antarctica was fairly stable. But in the late 1990s, they realized they were wrong. One of the places where change is happening fastest is Thwaites, which is in a remote part of West Antarctica. Thwaites has been called the weak underbelly of the West Antarctic ice sheet, and thats a pretty good way to describe it. It flows out from a very large and vulnerable drainage basin in West Antarctica. If Thwaites were to collapse, the whole West Antarctic ice sheet could be in trouble.

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West Antarctica holds enough water for, what, 10 feet of sea level rise?

Yes, for West Antarctica as a whole. But we dont know yet what the conditions needed for West Antarctica to collapse. So we dont really know how close we are, or how fast it could happen.

What are the two or three most important questions you want to answer on this trip?

We want to get a really reliable, accurate picture of the sea bed offshore from Thwaites, because that will reveal any places where the ice margins stabilized over the past few centuries, or where a more extensive ice shelf was pinned on shallow banks. It will also show us the deep channels that route warm, dense water into the cavity beneath the ice shelf, the glaciers floating extension. And we want to analyze sediment cores at very high resolution to look at what Thwaites has been doing in the past. In particular, were interested in understanding how much warm water has been coming onto the continental shelf in front of Thwaites for the decades and centuries before we have instrumental observations.

A few weeks ago, a new research paper was published about West Antarctica that attracted a lot of attention. It described a cavity in Thwaites glacier about the size of Manhattan  further evidence that Thwaites may be falling apart faster than anyone realizes. Did that surprise you?

Not really. When people talk about a cavity, they are really just talking about ocean space beneath an ice shelf. These exist in many places around Antarctica. But this new study is significant because its based on the latest satellite imagery data over the grounding line region of Thwaites. The major driver of the retreat of Thwaites is the relatively warm ocean water that is coming in from underneath the ice shelf and melting the ice at the grounding line. That thins the ice shelf. A thinner ice shelf provides less resistance to the flow of the glacier upstream, which leads to acceleration of the glacier into the sea. Overall, that means more loss of ice.

How fragile is Thwaites? A number of scientists Ive talked to suspect the runaway collapse of Thwaites may already be underway  and that there is no stopping it.

Its hard to say. Dramatic changes at Thwaites have been going on for more than 20 years. The flow rates are increasing. There is very little ice shelf left. For Thwaites, a lot critically depends on the rate at which the incursion of warm water beneath the glacier is increasing. If [the incursion] were to slow or switch off, the rate of retreat would slow. But even if that were to happen, we could still be in trouble, because the grounding line is now on a retrograde slope. The base of the glacier gets deeper as you go back towards the interior of Antarctica. Since the 1970s, its been recognized that this is likely an unstable situation. If were already in that state, there are many people who would say the eventual collapse of Thwaites may be unstoppable.

Penn States Richard Alley, one of the most respected glaciologists of our time, says we cant rule out 15 feet of sea level rise by the end of the century. In that kind of extreme scenario, a lot of that water comes from West Antarctica.

Thats because of something called marine ice cliff instability. Its the idea that any ice cliff over 100 meters high is unstable and will collapse. If that happens at Thwaites, its particularly troubling, because the glacier is on a reverse slope, which means that the ice cliff gets taller the farther back you go. If it starts to collapse, it could go much faster than what people generally suppose. How fast, we dont really know.

Chief Scientist Rob Larter examining a sediment core in Antarctica. Photo credit: Linda Welzenbach/Rice University

What did Antarctica look like in deep time?

Well, it depends how far back you go. Antarctica was the cornerstone of Gondwana, the supercontinent that existed about 500 million years ago. About 180 million years ago, during the Jurassic period, South America and Africa broke off. Then India, then Australia and New Zealand. Antarctica was in more or less its present form and location about 90 million years ago. But it was much warmer then. Dinosaur fossils have been found in Antarctica from this period, and there was lush vegetation.

The big ice sheets emerged about 34 million years ago. And they developed quite abruptly. [This] was probably caused by declining carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, which cooled the climate. But the final trigger could have been the development of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which circles around Antarctica and cuts off ocean heat transported from the tropics to the continent.

One of the fascinating things about the research youre doing on this trip is how youre using the past to understand the future. Which brings up the question: If Thwaites is collapsing, how will we know it?

Thats a very good question. In recent years, we have found out a lot more about how ice sheets behave, but unfortunately, the level of confidence in some ways has gone down, because we have found out about new processes, like marine ice cliff instability. Right now, we have probably magnified the uncertainty. But thats better than going along in ignorance of something.

There are a lot of unknowns in all this, and the geological record shows you that. An event called Meltwater Pulse 1A, which occurred about 14,500 years ago, is a good example. The best evidence implies a sea level rise of about 50 feet in 350 years. That is just incredible. That is 14 feet per century. That is like losing the West Antarctica ice sheet every century, for three centuries in succession. Thats very, very fast compared to anything that we know can happen in human experience. If it were to happen today, it would have a devastating impact to coastal cities. To me, this is an indication that there are thresholds in the system that you can trigger huge changes very quickly. But nobody really understands how it happened in the past  or if it could happen again.

I think its a cautionary signpost for anyone thinking about the implications of climate change, because its saying, maybe there are things out there that we still dont know. Until we know where this happened, and what the processes were, how can we ever say it cant happen again?

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
- STF

A crew from US-based television network Univision said it was detained for more than two hours in Venezuela after offending President Nicolas Maduro during an interview by asking questions about poverty and his legitimacy to govern.

Maduro "disliked the questions in the interview and stopped the recording, confiscated the equipment and detained the six journalists," said Univision, one of the biggest Spanish-language TV networks in the United States.

"The crew of six Univision Noticias journalists headed by Jorge Ramos was released after being held at the Miraflores Palace for nearly three hours on the orders of Nicolas Maduro," the network added.

Ramos told Univision that the entire team had later arrived back at their hotel.

The journalist said he had showed Maduro footage of children sifting through garbage for something to eat and that Maduro halted the interview and left.

Jorge Ramos said Maduro 'disliked the questions' after he showed the president a video of people scavenging from the back of a rubbish truck

"I had asked him if he was a president or a dictator, because millions of Venezuelans do not consider him the legitimate president," Ramos said.

Ramos said he had brought up opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaido's charges that Maduro has effectively usurped power because, Guaido argues, Maduro won re-election last year through fraud.

"We were detained, there is no other word for it, for nearly three hours" at Maduro's presidential palace, Ramos told reporters.

He said he and his team hope to get their equipment back and fly to Miami Tuesday.

Guaido tweeted about the incident with Ramos, saying Maduro's "desperation is greater every day. He could not answer his questions."

The US State Department earlier said it had been notified that Ramos and his team were being held against their will at the Miraflores.

"We insist on their immediate release; the world is watching," it tweeted.
Kufr Aqab (AFP) - Palestinian residents of Kufr Aqab, just north of Jerusalem, could be forgiven for thinking they live under two governments at once, or perhaps none at all.

They pay taxes to Israel, which collects their trash and theoretically plans their roads. But electricity and water come from Palestinian companies, and when the police come to the often lawless area they too are Palestinian.

Both the Israeli and Palestinian authorities say they provide services to the area, but residents say in reality no one is in control.

They say the result is an often chaotic nowhere-land where high-rise buildings are constructed only a few metres apart and rubbish piles up on roadsides.

"Life here has become unbearable," said shop owner Abu Mohammed, who has lived in the area for 25 years.

Kufr Aqab is among a handful of locations that occupy a unique and bizarre status in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel considers the area part of Jerusalem, which it fully controls. But Kufr Aqab lies on the other side of Israel's separation barrier dividing Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank.

As such, the Israeli government has only partial control over the area, operating through contractors and a community administration.

Its police officers rarely, if ever, patrol, though the army is known to enter to carry out arrests.

Around 100,000 people live in the five-square-kilometre (two-square-mile) area, hit by high rates of crime and poverty.

On a recent visit AFP saw trash piled on the side of streets next to buildings without proper sewage systems.

"The fugitives from Israel come here and the fugitives from the Palestinian Authority come here and there is no one to control them," said Abu Mohammed.

- Unique status -

Why then, do the residents remain? The key lies in the unique status of the area.

Unlike their counterparts in the West Bank, Palestinians from Jerusalem hold ID cards that grant them access to the city and all of Israel.

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West Bank ID holders, on the other hand, have to apply for permits to enter Jerusalem.

If Palestinians from Jerusalem are proved by Israeli authorities to be living beyond the wall, they can be stripped of their Jerusalem IDs -- but not in locations like Kufr Aqab.

Palestinian figures estimate that around 85 percent of Kufr Aqab residents are Jerusalem ID holders.

Homes are also far more affordable there than inside Jerusalem.

Yusef Qassam, 63, can't live in Jerusalem because he has a West Bank ID, but his wife is from the city and their four children have Jerusalem IDs.

So the family lives in an apartment in Kufr Aqab.

"If the Israelis prove that she lives in the West Bank, she will lose her Jerusalem ID. We know that Israel is emptying Jerusalem of Palestinians," he said.

This is a common Palestinian accusation about the disputed city -- one that Israel denies.

Israel occupied east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community.

It sees the entire city as its capital, while the Palestinians want the eastern sector as the capital of their future state.

- 'Protect the Palestinian presence' -

Ben Avrahami, senior advisor for east Jerusalem affairs to Israel's Jerusalem mayor, said the municipality treats Kufr Aqab as "an inseparable part of Jerusalem".

"There is a lot of influence and involvement in infrastructure: paving roads, planning and construction," he told AFP, denying that residents were paying taxes without receiving any services.

The Palestinian Authority also has representation in the area.

"We are different to the Israeli municipality because we are working here to protect the Palestinian presence in the region," said Ashraf al-Ramuni from the Palestinian Kufr Aqab municipality.

He said it spends around $1 million (880,000 euros) annually on infrastructure projects there.

Munir Zughair, who has been campaigning to improve the situation in the area for years, says he has filed cases against the Jerusalem municipality demanding it prevent unregulated building works.

He estimates there are more than 300 buildings over 10 stories high in the area, none of which are subject to any licensing laws.

Residents may have moved "to escape the cost of living in Jerusalem", he said, but "at the same time they are obliged to pay the municipal taxes" and should be given the same services.
The relocation site for US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Henoko, Okinawa, has been controversial - REUTERS

The Japanese government has vowed to push ahead with the expansion of a US military base in Okinawa despite more than 70 per cent of residents of the prefecture voting against the project in a referendum on Sunday.

Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, told reporters in Tokyo on Monday that while his government sincerely accepts the feelings of the people of Okinawa, moving US troops presently at Futenma Air Station, in the central part of the prefecture, to the enlarged US base at Henoko cannot be postponed any further.

The project was first agreed by the Japanese and US governments more than 20 years ago and is designed to reduce noise pollution and the threat of accidents involving US military aircraft in the town that surrounds Futenma.

The local government supports the closure of the Futenma base, but insists that the US troops should not merely be moved elsewhere in the prefecture.

Denny Tamaki, the governor of the prefecture, has stated that the rest of Japan should share the burden of US bases and that the 24,000 US troops in Okinawa should be moved to mainland Japan. That sentiment is shared by 71.7 percent of those who voted on Sunday.

Over 70 per cent of Okinawa's residents voted against the plan Credit: Kyodo/via REUTERS

The result of the referendum has no binding power, although Mr Tamaki is calling on the national governments of Japan and the US to respect the wishes of local people. He plans to travel to Tokyo and Washington in the coming weeks and to call for new talks on the base.

That request is likely to be largely ignored and work to reclaim land off the town of Henoko, in the sparsely populated north-east of the prefecture, will continue. A number of retaining sea walls have already been constructed and work is under way to reclaim nearly 400 acres of land for new runways for the US Marine Corps.

Mr Abe said the current plan is the only solution to the dangers and inconvenience to local people caused by the US troops at Futenma.

We have been holding dialogue with the the people of Okinawa for a long time and we intend to keep doing so to seek their understanding, the prime minister said.
Gemma Collins with her ex-boyfriend James Argent. (Credit: PA Images)

Gemma Collins has broken up with long-term boyfriend James Argent after he shared a video her of snoring on social media and allegedly said she has more rolls than Greggs.

The Dancing On Ice contestant reportedly broke up with the TOWIE star at the weekend after he recorded her sleeping and then posted it on Instagram  and, according to The Sun, she also accused him of sending a series of nasty messages about her weight, calling her a fat horrible lump.

According to The Suns Dan Wootton, Argent sent Collins a text message saying: You are a fat joke of a woman. An absolute car crash! Youre nearly 40 f***ing years old, you embarrassment.

And in another: You fat horrible lump. Nasty mean woman. Who the f*** do you think you are? Youve got more rolls than Greggs.

As news emerged of their break-up on Monday night, Collins was seen on a girls night out with Real Housewives Of Cheshire stars Dawn Ward and Ester Dee.

Her fellow TOWIE star Chloe Sims has also accused Argent of sending her nasty text messages. Last April she said she received the alleged texts after she commented on Collins and Argents on-and-off relationship.

Collins with Matt Evers during their Dancing on Ice stint. (REX/Shutterstock)

Scenes from the reality show (that aired last year) saw Sims warn Collins that Argent wasnt ready to be a father, which didnt sit well with him.

She told Collins: I really dont want to ruin Arg, but Im gong to be honest with you, after our conversation I was bombarded with messages and calls from him digging me out.

Argent was also accused of sending abusive messages to his ex-girlfriend Lydia Bright. Fellow TOWIE star Lucy Mecklenburgh hit out at him in 2012 after claiming to have seen a text he sent Lydia calling her a s**t for allegedly sleeping with another man.

Collins and Argent got together in 2017 and have had an rollercoaster relationship ever since.

Yahoo Celebrity UK has reached out to Gemma Collins and James Argents representatives for comment.





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WASHINGTON  It was arguably one of the more bizarre news stories of last year. And it was all fake.

Special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and possibly collusion with President Trump, was the target of a scheme where women were offered money to make up claims of sexual harassment against him.

The plot, which was quickly uncovered by reporters just days before the midterm elections in November, was referred to the FBI for investigation. But now, one of the two men allegedly behind the scheme opened up to USA TODAY about the plot and all the other ways he uses his platform to spread lies to the American public.

Jacob Wohl, a 21-year-old self-professed "political and corporate intel consultant" and supporter of President Donald Trump, told USA TODAY in an interview that he's already plotting ways to discredit Democrats in the 2020 election with lies and other disinformation, using his large following on social media to cause disarray similar to what Russians did during the 2016 election.

More: This 21-year-old tweeted lies about Robert Mueller and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Now, hes eyeing the 2020 election

More: Robert Mueller asks FBI to review alleged sexual harassment hoax, his spokesman says

Twitter announced that it is permanently suspending Wohl following the publication of a USA TODAY article in which he boasted of using the social media platform to spread lies and disinformation.

Wohl said he was eager to correct the record on the Mueller episode, in which his apparent efforts to disgrace Trumps foremost adversary ended up unraveling into somewhat of a joke.

It started with emails received by several news outlets in which the sender claimed an intelligence company had tried to pay her to accuse Mueller of sexual misdeeds. A professor produced emails showing that she had also been approached for information by the company.

Reporters followed a bizarre online trail to reveal that Wohl was behind the intelligence company, which seemed to be staffed by an office full of imagined employees.

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Wohl and his partner in the episode, Republican lobbyist and conspiracy theorist Jack Burkman, then announced a news conference devolving into farce when a woman who they said was going to make allegations against Mueller didnt show up.

The result of the Elmore Leonard-esque plot was a media cycle of ridicule for Wohl.

More: Jack Burkman: The conspiracy theorist accused of offering money for Mueller allegations

But, Wohl claimed to USA TODAY, however, that a goal of his scheme had been to trick journalists into thinking that he had offered to pay for dirt on Mueller, so he made up a person and sent those allegations to media outlets. On his phone, he scrolled through emails from reporters at major outlets like The Washington Post, The New York Times and Buzzfeed who had tried to garner more information from a person who he says did not actually exist.

He described these emails-- of reporters doing their due diligence-- as trophies from a logic-stretching plan that had as the ultimate goal getting reporters to go to a news conference at a D.C.-area Holiday Inn.

"The real allegations against Mueller would have been ignored  had we not roped the media into attending the press conference," Wohl said.

But those "real allegations" appear to be even more problematic. At the news conference, Wohl distributed a document that was digitally signed, purportedly by the absent accuser Carolyne Cass, in which she said she had been sexually assaulted by Mueller in New York in 2010. In the interview this month, Wohl referred to Cass as a "real accuser" and called her allegations credible.

But when reached by USA TODAY, 34-year-old Carolyne Cass of Los Angeles said Wohl, whom she met on Craigslist, had tricked her by pretending to be an investigator named Matthew Cohen who was trained by Israeli intelligence forces and agreed to help her with "unscrupulous characters ripping me off."

Cass said she paid the man she knew as Cohen $2,000, for which he did no work but instead offered her the prospect of employment at his intelligence agency and had her speak on the phone to people whose identities she now believes Wohl fabricated.

Cass said it ultimately became clear that Cohen and his associates, imaginary or otherwise, needed a credible female to put on the line for false allegations about Mueller. They made it up, Cass said of the document accusing Mueller, which was passed around at the news conference. They wrote it and docu-signed it.

She claimed Cohen tried to get her to speak at the news conference but she escaped and learned only as the scheme exploded that Cohen was in fact Wohl. He completely lied to me, Cass said.

Wohl had as recently as this month referred to Cass while speaking in detail about the Mueller episode. But when asked about Casss version of events, Wohl said he could not speak further because he had signed a non-disclosure agreement with her and cant violate any confidences. Cass said no such agreement existed.

Burkman also refused to discuss his role in the Mueller scheme. Both Wohl and Cass say they have not been contacted by the FBI.

Stanford Law School professor Robert Weisberg said Wohls actions could be construed by a federal prosecutor as wire fraud, obstruction of justice or conspiracy  or as possibly violating various state statutes  but likely fell into a legal gray zone.

The whole thing smacks of illegality and nefariousness and deception, but it still needs to have an anchor in criminal statute, Weisberg said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: This is how Jacob Wohl created a sexual harassment accusation against Robert Mueller
ivanka melania donald trump alexandria ocasio-cortez

First daughter and White House senior adviser Ivanka Trump has hit out at Democratic U.S. House Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs proposal of a guaranteed minimum wage, saying it goes against the will of the majority of Americans. In a Fox News interview, Trump said that most Americans want jobs and opportunities to move up the economic ladder:

I dont think most Americans, in their heart, want to be given something. Ive spent a lot of time traveling around this country over the last 4 years. People want to work for what they get. So, I think that this idea of a guaranteed minimum is not something most people want. They want the ability to be able to secure a job. They want the ability to live in a country wheres theres the potential for upward mobility.

Ivanka Trump Says Market Forces, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Says Government Intervention

Previous public comments made by Ivanka suggest that she believes market forces should be left to determine wages. In the recent past, she has championed upgrading skills as a way of enhancing workers competitiveness and wages:

Read the full story on CCN.com.
Ivanka Trump, elder daughter of a billionaire president, married to the son of a real estate mogul, thinks Americans want to make their own way up lifes ladder.

In an interview with Fox News Steve Hilton, Trump was asked about the provision of the Democrats Green New Deal that would guarantee a job to all Americans. Trump was not a fan of the idea.

Youve got people who will see that offer from the Democrats, from the progressive Democrats, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Heres the Green New Deal, heres a guarantee of a job and think, Yeah, thats what I want. Thats simple, said Hilton, asking: What do you say to them?

I dont think most Americans in their heart want to be given something, said Trump, seemingly conflating a promise of jobs with an offer of welfare. Ive spent a lot of time traveling over the last four years. People want to work for what they get. I think this idea of a guaranteed minimum is not something most people want. They want the ability to be able to secure a job. They want the ability to live in a country where theres a potential for upward mobility.

Other Democrats have endorsed a job guarantee, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. A national jobs guarantee would not preclude people from taking a better job if they found it, as Trump implied by contrasting it with upward mobility.

Polling has found between 46 percent and 55 percent of Americans support a jobs guarantee, with support increasing when the proposed jobs are defined as scaling up renewable energy, weatherizing homes and office buildings, developing mass transit projects and maintaining green community spaces. A December 2018 survey found 81 percent of respondents favoring a Green New Deal.

Ivanka Trump at a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. (Photo: Alex Kraus/Bloomberg)

Trump attended the exclusive Chapin School in Manhattan before moving on to the prestigious Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut and the Wharton School at Penn. She worked for her fathers real estate company after graduation and eventually launched her own fashion brand, which last year she announced she was stepping away. She also appeared on The Apprentice, serving as a boardroom adviser for the shows contestant eliminations.

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Filings show Trump made at least $12 million last year, including over $2 million from severance she received from the Trump Organization after she left to take her White House job. The combined income of Trump and husband Jared Kushner, who also serves as a White House adviser, was more than $82 million, mostly from real estate interests.

In her 2009 book Trump Card, Trump acknowledged her privilege, as detailed in a review by the New Yorkers Jia Tolentino.

Yes, Ive had the great good fortune to be born into a life of wealth and privilege, with a name to match, writes Trump. Yes, Ive had every opportunity, every advantage. And, yes, Ive chosen to build my career on a foundation built by my father and grandfather.

According to Tolentino, Trump attempts to say that everyone has advantages regardless of background, but she eventually moves on from the attempt at pitching equality. Did I have an edge getting started in business? she asks. No question. But get over it. And read on.

It has been a busy 2019 for Trump so far. During a speech to the National Governors Association at the White House Monday, the president said, My daughter has created millions of jobs. I dont know if anyone knows that, but shes created millions of jobs. (This is not true.) In January, her name was also floated as a potential new head of the World Bank, but those rumors were quashed. However, the White House did announce that she would be involved in picking the organizations next leader.

The Trump familys wealth started with the real estate empire of her grandfather Fred Trump and has stayed in the family. A New York Times investigation published in October 2018 found that Donald Trump had received at least $413 million from his fathers company largely through a series of tax-avoidance schemes.
Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar with foreign minister Simon Coveney. Pic: Reuters

Irelands parliament will begin discussing a set of blockbuster no-deal Brexit laws on Tuesday evening with the goal of passing them before the UK leaves the European Union at the end of March.

The new laws, which are contained in one single omnibus bill, cover topics such as cross-border health services with Northern Ireland, the supply of electricity, and supports for vulnerable businesses, among other things.

The lower house of Irish parliament will sit later than usual for three nights to ensure it has enough time to consider the legislation. The 70-page bill, which must go through 11 stages before the UK leaves the bloc, was prepared by nine government departments.

The landmark bill will amend 15 other pieces of legislation, and will provide solutions for Irish welfare recipients who are currently living in the UK, as well as Irish employees of British companies that enter insolvency proceedings.

The process in Ireland begins as UK prime minister Theresa May said on Tuesday that she would propose two votes in the House of Commons  on avoiding a no-deal scenario or delaying Brexit  if MPs reject her Brexit deal next month.

READ MORE: Irish beef industry to get substantial amounts of money in event of no-deal Brexit

Speaking following the publication of the bill last week, Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said that a disorderly Brexit would be a lose, lose, lose situation for the UK, the EU, and Ireland.

We cannot offset all the damage it will do, but we are doing everything we can, Coveney said.

The foreign minister said last week that Irelands vulnerable beef industry would get substantial amounts of money in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

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 said.

The legislative process for this bill is an example of cross-party cooperation in Ireland. The countrys opposition parties have been almost entirely supportive of the governments Brexit negotiating position.

Fianna Fail, which props up prime minister Leo Varadkars minority government in parliament, agreed in December to extend its supply-and-confidence deal until after the Brexit process had been completed.
Lack of quorum puts off Parliamentary Hearing Committee meeting

The meeting of the Parliamentary Hearing Committee could not take place on Tuesday as well due to the lack of quorum.
Every investor in Wuxi Sunlit Science and Technology Company Limited (HKG:1289) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. Insiders often own a large chunk of younger, smaller, companies while huge companies tend to have institutions as shareholders. I quite like to see at least a little bit of insider ownership. As Charlie Munger said Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome.

Wuxi Sunlit Science and Technology is not a large company by global standards. It has a market capitalization of HK$247m, which means it wouldnt have the attention of many institutional investors. In the chart below below, we can see that institutional investors have not yet purchased much of the company. Lets delve deeper into each type of owner, to discover more about 1289.

See our latest analysis for Wuxi Sunlit Science and Technology

SEHK:1289 Ownership Summary, February 26th 2019

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Wuxi Sunlit Science and Technology?

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.

Less than 5% of Wuxi Sunlit Science and Technology is held by institutional investors. This suggests that some funds have the company in their sights, but many have not yet bought shares in it. So if the company itself can improve over time, we may well see more institutional buyers in the future. 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.

SEHK:1289 Income Statement, February 26th 2019

We note that hedge funds dont have a meaningful investment in Wuxi Sunlit Science and Technology. As far I can tell there isnt analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.

Insider Ownership Of Wuxi Sunlit Science and Technology

The definition of company insiders can be subjective, and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. The company management answer to the board; and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board, themselves.

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Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own the majority of Wuxi Sunlit Science and Technology Company Limited. This means they can collectively make decisions for the company. So they have a HK$149m stake in this HK$247m business. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

With a 36% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over 1289. 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.

Next Steps:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too.

I always like to check for a history of revenue growth. You can too, by accessing this free chart of historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free free list of interesting companies.

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.
Indian warplanes dropped bombs inside Pakistan early on Tuesday, both sides said, as military tensions between the nuclear arch rivals escalated dramatically following last week's Kashmir suicide attack.

India said aircraft had destroyed a terrorist training camp where militants were training to carry out an imminent attack, in its first airstrikes against Pakistan since their 1971 war. But the Pakistani military said the aircraft had caused no damage after dropping their payload early when repulsed by defending forces.

India's foreign minister, Vijay Gokhale, said the action had struck a hilltop training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group, near Balakot. Describing the strikes as "non-military pre-emptive action", he claimed "a very large number of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen [suicide] action were eliminated".

The Indian jets crossed the disputed line of control near Muzafarabad in Kashmir, according to Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, spokesman for Pakistan's armed forces. One local police official who declined to be named told the Telegraph that the strike had taken place at Jabba, near Balakot, inside the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Photograph released by Pakistan military said to show site where Indian bombs fell in Kashmir

Villagers in the area told Reuters they heard four loud bangs in the early hours of Tuesday but reported only one person wounded by shrapnel.

"We saw trees fallen down and one house damaged and four craters where the bombs had fallen," said Mohammad Ajmal, a 25-year-old who visited the site.

Pakistan said the Indian claims were "self-serving, reckless and fictitious" and released photographs of a cratered wooded hillside where it said the "payload" had landed.

Indians set off fireworks to celebrate the strike Credit: AFP

Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," said Maj Gen Ghafoor.

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He went on: Under forced hasty withdrawal aircrafts released payload which had free fall in open area. No infrastructure got hit, no casualties.

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Indian military sources said 12 French Mirage 2000 fighters crossed the line of control on their raid into Pakistani territory at around 3.15am local time.

Accompanied by an IAF airborne early warning and control aircraft and a mid-air re-fueller, the Mirages reportedly employed 1000kg precision guided munitions or PGMs to hit their targets in a mission that lasted a few minutes.

Pakistan's government said it would hold an emergency meeting to discuss the incident and in the past has said it would retaliate against any aggression from Delhi.

Tensions between the neighbours have been raised since at least 40 Indian paramilitary police were killed in a suicide bombing on their convoy near Pulwama in Indian-controlled Kashmir earlier this month.

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Narendra Modi faces a general election this spring and has come under intense domestic pressure to respond to an attack he says was carried out by the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad.

Both sides claim Kashmir, which is divided between the neighbours by a heavily militarised line of control. Rivalry over the region has led to two of their three wars.

Prakash Javadekar, India's human resource development minister, said: "This was a necessary step for the defence of the country, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given the armed forces a free hand. The whole country stands behind the armed forces."

Pakistan's foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi warned India not to challenge Pakistan and said "better sense" should prevail in Delhi.

Sign up for your essential, twice-daily briefing from The Telegraph with our free Front Page newsletter.
By Fayaz Bukhari SRINAGAR (Reuters) - Five people were killed in a gun battle between members of a Pakistani militant group and Indian security forces in disputed Kashmir on Sunday as India intensified a security crackdown, including detaining more than 160 separatists this weekend. Three members of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) - the Pakistan-based group that claimed a Feb. 14 suicide car bombing that killed 40 Indian paramilitary police - died in the shootout, as did a senior police officer and an Indian army soldier, according to the Indian military and police. Three more soldiers were wounded in the battle in Turigam, a village in South Kashmir's Kulgam district, defense and police officials said. Two of the dead militants were from India, and one a foreigner, said a senior police officer who asked not to be identified. Indian authorities have killed at least eight JeM militants and detained around 50 militants, sympathizers and their relatives since the bomb attack, which also sparked the roundup of separatists which India says is needed to head off trouble ahead of a general election to be held by May. Most of those rounded up over the last two days were linked to the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI). "Since JeI has a wider network across Kashmir and they are mobilizing anti-India protests, their arrest could help in curbing such protests ahead of elections," the senior police officer said. One well-known separatist leader, Abdul Gani Bhat, was placed under house arrest, according to his political party. Separatists called a strike to protest against the detentions. Many shops, petrol stations, and businesses closed, with few people and vehicles on streets in sensitive areas, except for troop patrols. In some areas of the main city of Srinagar, the government limited the movement of people and vehicles. "The restrictions have been imposed as a precautionary measure to avoid any untoward incident," the police said. FUEL SUPPLIES LOW The government of Jammu and Kashmir said fuel rationing had been introduced in the Kashmir Valley where there was only enough gasoline for one day, diesel for four days and no liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The government said it would seek to increase supplies to the region and that shortages are the result of road blockages after the suicide bomb attack. Indian paramilitary troops in riot gear arrived in strength at first light, said Shakeel Ahmad, a resident of Nowhatta in the Srinagar district. "At places, they have blocked the main roads with steel barricades and concertina wire," he said. State Governor Satya Pal Malik called on residents not to believe "rumors of any extreme nature". The government said an increase in police numbers was to prevent candidates and voters from being intimidated into not standing or voting in the general election. Separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who chairs the Hurriyat Conference of separatist groups, said arbitrary arrests and jailing of leaders, activists and young people for their political beliefs had happened across Kashmir for 30 years. "Intimidating activists and leadership will not deter them from their path, nor will it stop people from demanding the resolution of the Kashmir dispute through self-determination," he said. Reuters' telephone calls to the Indian home ministry to seek comment went unanswered. TENSIONS RAISED The suicide bomb attack has raised tensions between India and Pakistan which both claim Kashmir in full but rule it in part. India blames Pakistan for harboring militant groups operating in Kashmir, which Pakistan denies. After the attack, India dropped trade privileges for Pakistan and prepared to send as many as 10,000 more troops to the contested area, according to a home ministry letter seen by Reuters. The Indian army said that early on Sunday evening Pakistan violated the two nations' ceasefire at the Rajouri area of the border, through shelling from mortars and small arms fire. Defence spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Devender Anand said the Indian army was "retaliating strongly and effectively. Ceasefire violations are not unusual along the border. A Pakistani security official said Pakistani forces had not initiated any action but had responded to Indian firing. Kashmir is likely to be a key issue in India's election, distracting from concerns about how Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party have managed the economy. Modi has promised a strong response to the attack, saying in a monthly radio broadcast on Sunday that it had caused anguish to all of India. Modi added that the army had vowed to destroy the militants and those who helped them. Islamabad has warned it would respond with "full force" if attacked. On Sunday, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi called on India to show restraint or it would put "the entire regions peace and security at stake". India's Supreme Court will hear a case this week seeking to drop a constitutional provision that bars non-residents from moving to the state of Jammu and Kashmir that encompasses the Muslim-majority region. If passed, it could further escalate tensions. (Reporting by Fayaz Bukhari in Srinagar; Additional reporting by Promit Mukherjee in MUMBAI and by Syed Raza Khan in ISLAMABAD; Editing by Martin Howell, Clarence Fernandez and David Goodman)
Time is running out for the Indian government and the Reserve Bank of India to ignore/wholesale ban cryptocurrency, according to a local publication called Inc42.

Last April, as CCN reported, the RBI banned all financial institutions from working with cryptos. India has gone back and forth over the issue, but the Supreme Court seems to be losing patience.

Indians have petitioned the Supreme Court more than once to order a rescinding of the Reserve Banks order, to no avail. However, the court is hearing two other petitions demanding the court take action.

Court Gives a Deadline of Four Weeks

The court chose not to hear arguments in either case today. Instead, it issued a final warning to the government and Reserve Bank of India. They must come to some conclusion about crypto regulation soon. They only have four weeks to develop a set of regulations or the Court will rule on the cases in regards to the constitutional rights of cryptonaughts in India.

Read the full story on CCN.com.
crypto scam who wants to be a millionaire india

According to local police and the Hindu, a Mumbai resident named Pritam Patil stands accused of scamming 12 people out of around $250,000 in a crypto scam. Patil and a partner pestered a local businessman and his partners for months to invest in KBC Coin. As reported by Hard Fork, KBC Coin is named after Kaun Banega Crorepati, the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? featured in Slumdog Millionaire.

Nanasaheb Patil and 11 associates bought KBC Coin from Patil and his friend Pintu Bajaj. The AFC Mint coin website was down at time of writing, but we found a back-up here. AFC stood for A Future Cryptocurrency.

Who Wants to Go to Prison?

A local video, featured below, warned against the crypto:

Read the full story on CCN.com.
A 24-year-old Honduran woman in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement went into premature labor and delivered a stillborn baby at an immigration detention center in Texas, according to ICE and Customs and Border Protection officials.

The stillbirth comes after three people, including two children, died while in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection since December.

The woman reported she was six months pregnant when she was apprehended by the Border Patrol shortly before midnight on Feb. 18 near Hidalgo, Texas, ICE and CBP officials said in a joint statement released Monday.

While in Border Patrol custody, the woman was taken to the hospital and cleared for release on Feb. 21 after receiving two medical screenings, the statement said.

The woman was then transferred to ICE custody to be processed for release at the Port Isabel Detention Center, near Brownsville in south Texas.

That evening, while being processed for release, the woman complained of abdominal pain, the statement said. She was examined by ICE Health Service Corps. The clinical director ordered that the woman be sent to the hospital. EMTs were also called.

The woman conveyed that the baby was coming and went into premature labor. She delivered an unresponsive male infant at 27 weeks pregnant, the statement said.

ICE Health Service Corps began CPR. EMS transported the woman and the infant to the Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, Texas, where the infant was later pronounced dead.

The woman's name and identifying details are being withheld to protect her privacy, the statement said.

She remains in ICE custody awaiting medical clearance before she will be released, the statement said.

A stillbirth is not considered an in-custody death for investigative and reporting purposes, the statement said.

"ICE and CBP officials are proactively disclosing the details of this tragic event to be transparent with Congress, the media and the public," the statement said.

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Under ICE detention guidelines adopted in 2017, pregnant detainees in ICE custody must be identified, monitored, tracked and housed in an appropriate facility to manage their care.

On Feb. 18, a 45-year-old undocumented immigrant from Mexico died in Border Patrol custody after crossing the border illegally into Texas.

In that incident, the immigrant requested medical attention after being arrested by the Roma (Texas) Police Department on Feb. 2. The immigrant was taken to a local hospital, and then transferred to CBP custody after he "was cleared" by officials at the Mission Regional Medical Center, CBP said in a statement.

The immigrant requested medical attention the following day after receiving a welfare check by CBP officials. The immigrant was taken to the McAllen Medical Center, where the immigrant was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and congestive heart failure, CBP said. The immigrant remained at the hospital before dying, the statement said.

The death of the 45-year-old immigrant from Mexico followed two cases in December when children from Guatemala died after crossing the U.S. border into New Mexico. The children were aged 7 and 8. Their deaths drew widespread condemnation from critics of the Border Patrol.

The deaths prompted Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan to issue new guidelines that require agents to more quickly inform CBP leadership, Congress, and the public of the death of people in its custody.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen later followed up by ordering more robust medical screenings of children it holds in its custody.

The deaths come amid a surge in families and unaccompanied minors arriving at the southern border and crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally and then asking for asylum.

The Border Patrol apprehended 99,901 family members through the first four months of the current fiscal year, which started Oct. 1. That is nearly the 107,212 family members apprehended all of the previous fiscal year. It is up nearly 290 percent from the 25,625 family members apprehended during the same four months the previous year, according to CBP statistics.

In addition, the Border Patrol has apprehended 20,123 unaccompanied minors during the first four months of this fiscal year. That is up nearly 40 percent from the 14,390 during the same period the previous year, according to CBP statistics.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Honduran migrant delivers stillborn baby while in ICE custody in Texas
A community is upset by a message on an Arkansas church sign. (Photo: KNWA)

A sign outside a church in a diverse Arkansas city is raising questions from community members for its message on immigration. The Apostolic Faith Church in Springdale, Ark., is upsetting some residents with a marquee that reads, Heaven has strict immigration laws, hell has open borders.

When I first passed the sign, I almost wrecked my car because I couldnt really believe that thats what I read, Alice Gachuzo-Colin told Rogers, Ark., news station KNWA. When you put that on a sign in city that is so rich in diversity as Springdale, it is essentially a slap in the face to all the undocumented people that help make Springdale the place it is today.

Springdale, the fourth-largest city in Arkansas, boasts a population of 79,599 people  with 36.5 percent identifying as Hispanic or Latino, according to the U.S. census.

Apostolic Faith Church confirmed to KNWA that the word immigration was taken out of the message  however, the community was still not pleased. We still know thats the word that was there. Thats what you mean to say, Gachuzo-Colin said.

Some of my best friends are undocumented. These are people that go to school, have a career and are doing a lot of good things in the community, resident Irvin Camacho told the news outlet. People are more than welcome to share whatever message they want to share on their church, thats their right, but just know that the community is going to stand up and be vocal about it. Were not going to stay silent.

The church on Monday took to Facebook to write, Jesus loves the little children, ALL THE CHILDREN OF WORLD! Red, & yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves all HIS children of the world. Everyone is welcome to our church we LOVE people from ALL over the WORLD!!

When a commenter on the post wrote, Jesus does, but your message is only if they are white and from the U.S. Maybe you should read the Bible yourself, a church member responded in kind.

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Sir you are misreading our sign. There are strict rules for Heaven. We must walk in Gods grace and obey his rules in order to enter in, the church members comment read. However Hell is open for anyone who wont. Our church LOVES all the people in the world. This was not put up to offend it was put up as a warning.. Jesus is coming soon we must be ready for his coming.. this means repentance, water baptism in Jesus name and being filled with the Holy Ghost Acts 2:38.

Michael Pennington with the Apostolic Faith Church provided the following statement to Yahoo Lifestyle: First, let me start by saying that in no way was this sign intended to be a racial or a political statement. The meaning behind our sign is to inform people that regardless of what some may tell them, Heaven is not going to be as easy to make as people think it is Revelations 21 talks about the walls and gates of Heaven, meaning the only way in is through the gate the sign was no way political or racially motivated, it was all Biblically motivated.

He went on to say, The people who started the controversy didnt expect us to receive the outpouring of support that we have received, not only from our local city and area, but tremendous support and encouragement from other states as well.  I would say that we are receiving 15 to 20 positives for every one negative.

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Italian bike maker Benelli rolls out three new models

KTM International Trading, distributor of Benelli bikes in Nepal, has rolled out three new models in the market. According to the company, the 150cc TNT 15 is priced at Rs230,000; the 150cc TNT 150i is priced at Rs315,000 and the 250cc BN 251 bike is priced at Rs520,000.
By Ahmed Eljechtimi

RABAT (Reuters) - Prince Harry and his pregnant wife Meghan swapped their party gear for chinos and jeans as they wrapped up their Moroccan trip with visits to an equestrian centre and a cooking event on Monday.

The royal couple held hands and joked as they posed for photos with youngsters at the projects in Rabat and sampled some of the food - including dates and Morocco's famed bastila pies.

The evening before, Mehgan had wowed the crowds in an elegant gown at a reception hosted by the British ambassador.

On Monday morning, she stepped out in blue jeans, a Breton T-shirt and a khaki anorak, accompanied by Harry in chinos, open shirt and a puffa jacket.

They toured The Royal Moroccan Equestrian Club Dar Essalam, next to the Royal palace, where the state runs a programme helping children with autism and other conditions.

The next stop was a cooking event at the Villa des Ambassadedur hotel with food served up by children helped by a range of other projects, and by chef Moha Fedal, host of Morocco's version of Masterchef.

Later in the day, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex smartened up again with Meghan in a pleated black dress and cream jacket and Harry in a beige suit as they met young entrepreneurs and visited a market.

They were due to fly back to London later on Monday.

(Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
Alphabets GOOGL division Google is leaving no stone unturned when it comes to making progress in the booming virtual assistant market.



The search giant is undertaking efforts to expand addressable market size by introducing its virtual assistant  Google Assistant  on low end phones based on KaiOS operating system in emerging markets like India, Indonesia, Mexico and Brazil.



We believe that Google is likely to gain traction among KaiOS device users and strengthen its market position in the virtual assistant space with its latest move.



Focus on Emerging Markets



Googles recent initiative bodes well for its growing inclination toward introducing technical revolution in the countries mentioned above.



The company aims at bridging the technical gap among smart phone users in these countries by integrating virtual assistant with KaiOS devices.



Users that are not so tech-savvy will be able to operate their phones with the help of simple voice commands.



Further, to provide hassle-free typing to the users of KaiOS phones, the company is rolling out a voice typing feature that will use voice commands.



We note that these endeavors by Google along with the popularity of low-end phones in these countries are expected to strengthen the user base of Google Assistant.



Further, KaiOS support is likely to provide a competitive edge to Google against the likes of Amazon AMZN, Apple AAPL and Microsoft MSFT that are bolstering their presence in the virtual assistant space.



However, Alexa, Siri and Cortana, the respective virtual assistants of these companies do not support KaiOS yet.



Driving Language Initiative



Apart from the KaiOS support, Google has also unveiled bilingual feature for the languages like Hindi, Korean, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Dutch. Notably, this feature enables quick switch between any two languages.



Further, to gain momentum among Indians, the company has equipped Assistant with eight different languages  Bengali, Marathi, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Kannada and Malayalam.



Additionally, the company introduced Actions for its Google Assistant. The feature will facilitate developers to build these actions in 19 different languages on Android Go and KaiOS.



Courtesy of the latest features and updates, Google is well poised to benefit from the potential global virtual assistant market. Per a report from Zion Market Research, the market is expected to reach $19.6 billion by 2025 at a CAGR of 35.4% between 2019 and 2025.



Currently, Alphabet carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



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The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. Theyre also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.



Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +98%, +119% and +164% in as little as 1 month. The stocks in this report could perform even better.



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Zacks Investment Research




Good Morning Britain viewers were left heartbroken today as a D-Day veteran broken down in tears after recalling his devastating memories of the war.

Ted Cordery, who served on board the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Belfast on D-Day, appeared on the morning show to encourage other veterans to join him in revisiting the beaches of Normandy.

Asked about the horrific events of D-Day, Cordery said: There was hundreds and hundreds of these aircraft and we knew that something was amiss.

D-Day veteran Ted Cordery

He then broke into tears before adding: It annoys me when all these films are all bang, bang, bang.

Since the war Ive lost my mates, he continued. Ive seen the ashes go over the side of the HMS Belfast.

Viewers at home took to Twitter to share their emotional responses to seeing Cordery break down in tears, with many praising him for his heroism.

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One viewer tweeted: Watching the D day veteran on GMB this morning made me have a few tears. If it wasnt for people like him, we wouldnt have the life we do now, my hat is off in respect for an amazing guy.

While another wrote: God bless Ted, the D-Day veteran and HERO. Choked me up watching him get upset reminiscing about it. Great that the #RoyalBritishLegion will help get him back to those beaches where he lost so many friends.

Watching Ted on GMB is breaking my heart. What an absolute hero he is, added another.

Todays GMB host Kate Garraway also admitted to being emotional due to the overwhelming response from viewers.

Its making me feel emotional reading them out, she said.

Garraways co-host Charlotte Hawkins also paid tribute to the war hero by posting a photo of the three of them on her official Instagram account.

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She wrote of the amazing response the show has received from Corderys emotional appearance and called him a remarkable man.

Read more

Theres a womans code: Mel B Blast Lady Gaga over Oscars performance

Piers Morgan walks off GMB to confront Leonardo DiCaprio

Hunted stay reveals she almost died after being sexually assaulted at 17
Sir Stamford Raffles is best remembered as the founder of modern-day Singapore, but a new exhibition sheds light on less well-known exploits of a man also criticised as a disobedient adventurer and bloodthirsty imperialist.

On February 6, 1819, Raffles, an agent of the East India Company which drove the expansion of Britain's empire in Asia, established a trading post in Singapore after signing a treaty with a local ruler.

The tiny backwater at the foot of the Malay peninsular was one of many British settlements across the world, and there was little early indication it would develop into one of the world's busiest ports.

But with a strategic location on global shipping routes, it quickly became a thriving trading hub. It has cemented this position since independence in 1965 and has also developed into a leading financial centre.

Unlike other governments in the post-colonial era, Singapore did not reject its past under foreign rule but largely embraced Raffles as a symbol of free trade -- his name is everywhere, from hotels to shopping malls, and a statue of the Briton stands at the spot he is thought to have arrived in the city.

But Raffles did far more than establish Singapore, as an exhibition at the city's Asian Civilisations Museum highlights.

"Raffles played several roles in 19th century Southeast Asia," museum director Kennie Ting told AFP. "Beyond the mythical 'founder figure' of Singapore, he was also a scholar and statesman".

The exhibition, part of events to commemorate two centuries since Raffles arrived in Singapore, showcases about 240 objects including many collected by the colonialist, who also had stints on Java island and in what is now Malaysia.

Among them are exotic items such as decorated masks, wooden figurines, shadow puppets, and traditional percussion instruments, which are reminders of less well-known -- and less successful -- periods during Raffles's time in the region.

Story continues

Many were collected when he was stationed on Java (now part of Indonesia) as lieutenant-governor for several years from 1811.

- Debt and disgrace -

After seizing control of the island from the Dutch and French, Raffles sought to institute reforms such as seeking to stamp out the slave trade.

He banned the import of any more slaves but many people -- including British officers -- continued to use them.

There were also controversial aspects to his rule, however, notably an assault by his men on the powerful kingdom of Yogyakarta and looting of the sultan's palace.

The East India Company became displeased as Java slipped into debt and, after it was returned to the Dutch, Raffles headed back to England out of favour with his bosses.

"He was in disgrace with the company, he was losing them a lot of money," Victoria Glendinning, who wrote biography "Raffles and The Golden Opportunity", told AFP.

She described him as "very disobedient and recalcitrant with the East India Company", adding that he "always thought he was right".

During his time back home, he published "The History of Java", which helped cement his reputation as a scholar.

Many objects displayed at the Singapore exhibition, which runs until the end of April and is organised in collaboration with the British Museum, are mentioned in the work.

Raffles returned to Southeast Asia in 1818 as governor of Bencoolen on Sumatra island.

As in Java, he set about instituting reforms, and not long afterwards founded Singapore. Some say he laid the foundation for the modern, cosmopolitan city-state by establishing a free port which quickly attracted people from around the world.

Still, this seemed of little importance to the East India Company -- whose primary aim was to turn a profit -- and when he returned to England they refused to give him a pension and he was ordered to pay huge sums to cover losses.

He died two years later aged 44, in huge debt to the company -- a far cry from his modern image as the visionary founder of Singapore.

The exhibition, "Raffles in Southeast Asia: Revisiting the Scholar and Statesman", also displays items from outside his collection, including some originating in Javanese and Malay royal courts.
DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP)  Worried about Brexit? Come to Germany where you get better salaries, better weather, tastier food  and a shorter trip for visits home to Poland.

That's a German hospital's pitch to Polish nurses working in Britain, who are among scores of European workers worried about what will happen to their work permits and right of residence if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union on March 29.

The university hospital of Duesseldorf put out the ads in two Polish weekly papers in Britain late last month. It's more than a friendly Brexit lifeline extended to citizens of a neighboring country: the hospital is in dire need of nursing staff and is hoping to fill that shortage with experienced professionals whose time in Britain may be running out.

"We have already received first inquiries," Torsten Rantzsch, the director of nursing at the hospital in western Germany, told The Associated Press. He said the ads were deliberately written in a tongue-in-cheek style, but that "we also wanted to offer an alternative to Polish colleagues, namely the security of an EU country."

Tens of thousands of European Union citizens currently living and working in Britain are concerned about what will happen to their status when the UK leaves the 27-country bloc. With just a month to go before Brexit day, there has been no clarity on their future status  and that uncertainty is worsened by the prospect of a no-deal Brexit.

Since Poland joined the EU in 2004, 20,000 of the country's 280,000 nurses have left their home country for Britain and elsewhere in Western Europe.

The advertisement features Duesseldorf's pretty skyline with the city's landmark TV tower in front of blue skies and the Rhine River in the foreground, with the pitch written in both Polish and German.

The hospital decided to focus its campaign specifically on Poles, because many learn German in school and would be able to fit in quickly, Rantzsch said.

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"We deliberately kept the advertisement in German ... because we wanted to address German-speaking nursing staff," said Rantzsch, adding that the Duesseldorf university hospital needs to hire 100 additional nurses. Overall there's a shortage of 70,000 nursing staff in German hospitals.

The hospital has already had good luck turning abroad to fill its shortage of skilled nurses. In 2012, Duesseldorf's university hospital  and many other hospitals across Germany  started looking for nurses in Spain and other European countries with higher unemployment or lower wages at the time, like Italy, Hungary and Romania.

One of the first international recruits in Duesseldorf, Susana Garcia from Spain, first found out about the opportunity from the newspaper ads. She says she loves her job at the university hospital.

"Working conditions here in Germany are super," the 29-year-old nurse said. "We have full-time contracts even though we're very young, we've been here now for six years."

___

Grieshaber reported from Berlin. Vanessa Gera contributed from Warsaw, Poland.

___

Follow AP's full coverage of Brexit at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit
If you were concerned about where General Electric (NYSE: GE) was heading, you weren't alone. Plenty of top analysts, commentators, and stock market wonks have been anxiously watching the troubled industrial conglomerate and its new CEO Larry Culp for signs the company's woes are behind it.

Well, on Monday came the moment everybody was waiting for, as Culp announced a surprise plan to sell the company's BioPharma business to his former company Danaher (NYSE: DHR). The stock shot up on news of the deal, but there were some other hidden gems in the company's press release that should make investors feel even more secure that GE may -- at long last -- be stabilizing.

A woman in a lab coat uses a computer in a laboratory

General Electric is selling its BioPharma business as part of its debt reduction plans. Image source: Getty Images.

What's the big deal

In June 2018, former CEO John Flannery announced that GE was going to spin off GE Healthcare, the company's well-run healthcare unit. This was a double-edged sword for investors, as GE Healthcare had some of the best margins of any unit in the company -- only standout GE Aviation's were higher. Spinning it off meant that those margins -- not to mention the unit's assets -- would be gone forever.

But GE planned to load up the healthcare unit with debt and pension liabilities prior to the spinoff, which would put GE in a stronger financial position as those items came off its balance sheet. Also, now that GE has gotten rid of (or announced plans to get rid of) its appliances, consumer lighting, and oil and gas units, Healthcare no longer fit with what the rest of the company was doing: manufacturing turbines of various types.

On Monday, though, those plans were upended. GE will now sell its BioPharma unit, which manufactures equipment and software necessary for companies to research, develop, and manufacture biopharmaceutical drugs -- which, to be honest, is some really cool stuff. The unit takes in about $3 billion in annual revenue (about 15% of GE Healthcare's total), which leaves a lot of GE Healthcare untouched by the deal.

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Why it's a big deal

The buyer is Danaher, another industrial conglomerate, which was helmed by Culp from 2001-2014. Since his departure, Danaher has been reinventing itself by spinning off or selling some of its industrial businesses and acquiring biotech companies. For example, in 2016, Danaher spun off some 20 of its businesses, including measurement instruments and automotive equipment as Fortive, while acquiring molecular diagnostics company Cepheid, Inc. In 2018, it announced it would acquire Integrated DNA Technologies. So GE's BioPharma unit should feel right at home with its new parent.

For GE's part, it gets $21 billion in cash, which it will use to help pay down its $110 billion net debt load. Danaher will also acquire $400 million of GE's pension liabilities, which further helps GE's balance sheet. And at a sale price of just over 7 times annual revenue, there's little question that the price is right. That eases some concerns that GE was going to have to resort to fire-sale pricing as it unloaded its assets.

And GE still gets to retain the remainder of its outperforming Healthcare unit, which it can then spin off as planned, sell off piecemeal, or hang on to. Despite some initial reporting that the spinoff was definitely off the table, Culp has clarified to CNBC that it's simply being re-evaluated, but that "an IPO in 2019 looks unlikely at this point."

So, the deal itself is big for both companies, but in the press release announcing it, GE also addressed two other big concerns that investors have had about GE: planning and transparency.

An even bigger deal

Up until now, Culp has been reluctant to provide any specifics about what he has in mind for GE's future, beyond big-picture pronouncements like the need for "strengthening the businesses, starting with [GE's troubled unit] Power," and the need for the company to reduce debt.

In general, Culp has been less forthcoming than his predecessor, Flannery, who at this point in his tenure had already presided over a few non-earnings conference calls and who -- along with CFO Jamie Miller -- had made presentations at several industrial conferences.

But in the press release announcing the deal, GE also announced that Culp would make a presentation in just over a week at the J.P. Morgan Aviation, Transportation & Industrials conference on March 5, his first such appearance as CEO. J.P. Morgan analyst Steve Tusa has been one of the most vocal GE bears and is expected to lead the Q&A session with Culp, so this seems to represent a big step forward in the company's willingness to answer tough questions.

Additionally, GE has scheduled a "teach-in" conference call for March 7 to address the company's insurance situation, which has been causing so many headaches for the company over the past year. Then it plans to issue the company's outlook on a March 14 conference call, and five days later, CFO Miller will make her first presentation during Culp's tenure at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Industrials and EU Autos conference.

After three months of near-complete radio silence, this flood of information and interaction seems to indicate the company has heard the critiques and is determined to address them head-on.

Turning the corner

The most concerning thing in the four months since Flannery's abrupt ouster and Culp's ascent to the C-suite has been what seemed like the lack of a concrete plan beyond what Flannery had shared in June 2018. While this BioPharma deal is big, investors should pay more attention to all of the information the company will be sharing through mid-March, and see if it meets with their approval. Remember, it's still completely possible that this deal is being announced in advance of an abysmal 2019 outlook. So it may be premature to say that GE has definitely turned the corner.

Two weeks ago, after GE's fourth-quarter earnings report, I wrote, "Maybe Culp is going to pull the rabbit out of the hat and surprise everyone with a strategic masterstroke." At the time, I considered the prospect unlikely, but even this GE bear has to admit that Monday's revelations should go a long way toward improving GE investors' confidence in the company and its management.

More From The Motley Fool

John Bromels owns shares of General Electric. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
DETROIT When Nikki Joly's Jackson home burned down in 2017, some thought the fire was a hate crime against the transgendered, gay-rights activist who had fought for a local anti-discrimination ordinance.

But now, instead of a victim, the 54-year-old is accused of being the perpetrator.

The Michigan case is gaining national attention alongside the situation involving Jussie Smollett, another alleged hate crime victim who became the accused. Authorities concluded the attack on Smollett was a hoax.

Real hate crimes are on the rise, Graham Cassano, associate professor of sociology at Michigan's Oakland University, said Monday. But, as these crimes increase and become publicized, its not surprising to me that people would take the opportunity to use this to their advantage and fabricate hate crimes.

Authorities accuse Joly of setting fire to his own home and killing his pets, two dogs and three cats. He has been charged with first-degree arson, and a hearing has been set for March 8 in Jackson County Circuit Court.

"We determined it pretty quickly to be an arson," Elmer Hitt, Jacksons director of police and fire services, said Monday. "We investigated it over, what probably was a years time before the prosecutor ended up issuing charges.

Two cases with unexpected twists

Initially, some in the community perceived the blaze to be a hate crime, Hitt said. Investigators considered that, too, but ruled out the possibility as evidence that pointed to Joly came to light.

Declining to offer a motive for the house fire, Hitt acknowledged that some in Jackson were probably rattled  perhaps in a similar way to the Smollett case  by the police investigation's unexpected outcome and charge. Joly was named 2018's Citizen of the Year by the Jackson's newspaper, the Citizen Patriot.

In the higher-profile hate crime case that turned on its head last week, Smollett, a 36-year-old actor on the drama TV series "Empire," alleged to Chicago police he had been a victim. Smollett was arrested on charges that he set up the assault.

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Smollett, who is black and gay, said masked men yelled racial slurs, attacked him, put a rope around his neck and made references to President Donald Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."

But, Chicago police said, their investigation found evidence that Smollett staged the crime, possibly to portray himself as a victim and boost his salary as an actor, and lied to police.

Actor Jussie Smollett leaves Cook County jail after posting bond on Feb. 21 in Chicago.

Tearing up at the thought of his dogs

Joly, a transgender man, was touted as Jackon's 2018 citizen of the year by the local newspaper and described as an activist who had endured slights and still re-energized a movement.

He tried to "pass an ordinance in Jackson protecting people against discrimination because they are gay, because they are transgender, because they aren't as some say they should be," according to the newspaper.

The long profile described the Detroit native as someone who had been on his own since his adoptive parents ousted him at 15, had been sexually assaulted, and subjected to "insulting gender questions" and "refused service in bars or restaurants."

Joly, the article said, was "born female," but "prefers a masculine pronoun," and has long "been activist-minded even if it was not always openly."

It also mentioned the fire on Aug. 10, 2017, in which his home was burned down.

In the profile, Joly said that he was "really in shock for quite a while." He teared at the thought of his dogs, who perished in the blaze, the article said, and organized a weapons training course at a gun range to fight fear.

A few months later, Joly was charged with setting the fire.

Terrible for those 'facing real hate crimes'

In the Joly case, police suspicion was based on a timeline of events, phone records, physical evidence and witness statements. Joly had the "means and opportunity to start the fire," according to a report published by Mlive.com in October.

Security camera video showed Joly filling a gas can before the fire, the Mive article said. Gasoline was on his clothing, per the report, and a witness smelled gas on him. Photographs seemed to be missing from the walls, and Joly received $50,000 in donations after the fire.

Joly's attorney, Andrew Abood, challenged the police conclusion.

"What they have is a coincidence and a coincidence is not proof beyond reasonable doubt," Abood said, per Mlive. "They are trying to convict on circumstantial evidence and theory when they have no direct evidence in the case."

Still, Cassano said, when presumed victims of hate crimes are actually the perpetrators, "it's terrible for social movements in general" and terrible, specifically, for people "facing real hate crimes."

In 2018 alone, the civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Campaign, tracked 26 deaths of transgender people in the U.S. as a result of fatal violence. So far this year, the group identified one death.

The most recent stats from the FBI showed 7,106 hate crimes in 2017, up 17 percent from the year before. Of those crimes, nearly 60 percent of the victims were targeted because of race and ethnicity and nearly 16 percent because of sexual orientation.

"When someone comes along and fabricates a hate crime, it calls into question people who have really experience these things," Cassano said. "It's absolutely awful. It really, to my mind, is incomprehensible."

Wilfred Reilly, an associate professor of political science at Kentucky State University in Frankfort who has studied fake hate crimes, wrote that the fact that Smolletts case is being alleged a hoax "shouldnt surprise anyone."

Reiley didn't mention the Joly case but made the case in an opinion piece for USA Today and a book "Hate Crime Hoax: How the Left is Selling a Fake Race War," that "a great many hate crime stories turn out to be hoaxes."

The professor said he found more than 400 confirmed hate hoaxes, and he concluded that "what hate hoaxers actually do is worsen generally good race relations, and distract attention from real problems."

More: Jussie Smollett's alleged plan to manufacture outrage diminishes real hate crime

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Gay rights activist set fire to his own home in fake hate crime, Michigan police say
By Diane Bartz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An appeals court on Monday upheld a judge's decision dismissing a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to fight the practice of brand-name drug companies using a government petition system to delay cheaper, generic drugs from coming to market.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a federal court in Delaware had been correct in dismissing the FTC's lawsuit against Shire. Shire was acquired by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co last month.

The agency had objected to ViroPharma, which Shire acquired in 2014, filing 46 "citizen petitions" and other filings between 2006 and 2012 to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding generic equivalents to its antibiotic Vancocin HCl, on the grounds that it resulted in delayed sale of a generic version.

But while the appeals court acknowledged that the delayed entry meant "hundreds of millions of dollars in profits," it said that the petitioning activity had ceased and thus the company was not in violation of the law. This ruling agreed with what the lower court had said in March 2018.

The FTC said it "regrets the courts decision and is considering its options." Shire owner Takeda did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz)
India says it carried out air strike on 'terror camps' inside Pakistan

Indian jets crossed into Pakistani territory on Tuesday, conducting what one minister said was an air strike on terror camps, dramatically escalating tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours who have fought three wars against each other.
The Upper West Side apartment where writer Philip Roth penned many of his beloved American classics is currently on the market for a cool $3.2 million. And though Roth passed away last year at the age of 85, his presence is still very much felt in the space.

The two-bedroom condo, located near the American Museum of Natural History, is roughly 1,500 square feet and has three balconies, with a long living room anchoring the space and one bedroom on either end of the apartment unit. In one bedroom is a wall of floor-to-ceiling shelves full of books that no doubt influenced Roths writing, including Ernest Hemingways A Farewell to Arms and Leo Tolstoys War and Peace. Roths own novels sit on a lower shelf. On one of his desks (Roth had multiple), a standing desk that helped his chronic back pain, a thesaurus and a copy of Samuel Schefflers Death and the Afterlife are still stacked on the surface. A nearby fax machine is the same one that the writer used to send communications (he didnt use email until just before he retired in 2010). And, importantly, the Pulitzer Prize he won in 1998 for American Pastoral is still displayed prominently on one of his desks.

Roth also customized much of the home to suit his writing and living needs. He transformed one of the kitchens into a walk-in closet and added an additional pair of doors near the front door to keep things quiet, according to The Wall Street Journal. He also hung several pieces of personally significant artwork throughout the home, including a pencil sketch of a floor plan of his childhood apartment in Newark in the kitchen and a map of Newark itself on his living room wall.

A well-worn, black leather Eames chair and ottoman that he often sat in to gaze out at the city below him still sits in its customary spot in the living room. The Eames chair  thats where you would find Philip, Roths biographer, Blake Bailey, told The Wall Street Journal. Many of Roths books and some personal items will eventually go to the Newark Public Library and will not be sold with the house.

As aforementioned, the abode comprises two separate units that he combined into one in 2004, following his split from then wife Claire Bloom (he bought the first unit back in 1989 and used it solely as a writing studio; he and Bloom lived several blocks away). Those wishing to further build upon Roths legacy also have the option of purchasing an adjacent studio that was also owned by the writer, for $675,000. (Roth owned a fourth unit one floor below, which he bought for $1.375 million back in 2007; it is already being sold to a resident in the building.)

In addition to his storied Manhattan home, Roth also spent a lot of time up at his Warren, Connecticut, farmhouse, which he has owned since the 1970s; it is as yet unclear what will become of that estate.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly 60 former senior U.S. national security officials on Monday rejected President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration, saying there was "no factual basis" to circumvent Congress to build his long-promised border wall. In an 11-page letter, former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and John Kerry, both Democrats, along with former Republican Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and others, said there was no documented emergency at the U.S. border with Mexico. Diverting funds to the project will "undermine U.S. national security and foreign policy interests," the 58 ex-officials wrote in the letter, first reported by the Washington Post. Trump moved to redirect federal funds intended for other purposes to build the border wall after Congress rejected his demand for $5.7 billion in construction money. His effort already faces numerous challenges, including multiple lawsuits. Democrats have also launched a resolution to stop Trump's border emergency and, on Tuesday, the Democratically controlled House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the measure aimed at stopping it. The resolution's fate is less clear in the U.S. Senate, which is controlled by Trump's fellow Republicans, though some Republicans have expressed concern about his declaration. In a separate letter on Monday, 23 former Republican U.S. lawmakers also urged current members of Congress to pass the resolution, Politico reported. Even if it passes, Trump has said he would veto it, and Congress would need to muster two-thirds of lawmakers to override a veto. Trump on Monday continued to defend the declaration on Twitter and called on Republican senators to stand by him. "Be strong and smart, don't fall into the Democrats 'trap' of Open Borders and Crime!" he wrote. The former security officials, in Monday's letter, cited U.S. government statistics showing illegal border crossings at nearly 40-year lows. They also pointed to other government data on drug trafficking that showed most opioids enter the country via legal entry points -- something they said a border wall would not stop. "There is no factual basis for the declaration of a national emergency for the purpose of circumventing the appropriations process and reprogramming billions of dollars in funding to construct a wall at the southern border," they wrote. While the letter included both Republicans and Democrats, as well as career civil servants who served under presidents of both parties, the bulk of its most senior signatories rose to their top positions under Democratic presidents. Among these former officials were CIA Director and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, CIA Director John Brennan, White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice, Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Deputy CIA Director David Cohen, all of whom held those posts under Democratic President Barack Obama. However, the list also included lower-level former officials such as John Bellinger, a former State Department legal adviser, and Eliot Cohen, a former State Department counselor, both of whom served under Republican President George W. Bush. (Reporting by Susan Heavey and Arshad Mohammed; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
WASHINGTON  A woman who worked on President Donald Trump's presidential campaign in 2016 accuses him in a lawsuit of kissing her without her consent a little more than two months before the election.

In a filing Monday, lawyers for Alva Johnson said Trump "violated norms of decency and privacy by kissing Ms. Johnson on the lips without her consent in the middle of a Florida work event and in front of numerous other Campaign officials."

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders called the allegation "absurd on its face" in a statement and said Johnson's description of events "is directly contradicted by multiple highly credible eyewitness accounts."

According to the lawsuit, the incident occurred at a campaign event in Tampa, Florida, on Aug. 24, 2016, as Trump met with staff and volunteers inside one of the campaign's recreational vehicles. After 15 minutes of shaking hands, taking pictures and signing autographs, Trump prepared to leave the RV and passed Johnson on his way to the door.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Tampa, Florida, Aug. 24, 2016.

Johnson, who had joined the campaign in early 2016, says that she told Trump to "kick ass" and that he told her he was aware of her work on his behalf. She said Trump told her "he would not forget about her, and that he was going to take care of her."

The lawsuit says Trump then "leaned towards her. He moved close enough that she could feel his breath on her skin. Ms. Johnson suddenly realized that Defendant Trump was trying to kiss her on the mouth, and attempted to avoid this by turning her head to the right. Defendant Trump kissed her anyway, and the kiss landed on the corner of her mouth," the lawsuit says.

Three Trump supporters who were there, including then-Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, told The Washington Post they did not witness the alleged incident.

"Do I recall seeing anything inappropriate? One hundred percent no," Bondi told The Post. "Im a prosecutor, and if I saw something inappropriate, I would have said something."

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'Full Disclosure': Stormy Daniels memoir accuses Trump of sex, lies and cheating

More: Judge awards Trump lawyers nearly $300,000 in Stormy Daniels case

Karen Giorno, who was director of the Trump campaign in Florida, told The Post that Johnson's story was "ridiculous" and that it "absolutely did not happen."

Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman for first lady Melania Trump, told The Post she was in front of Trump as he left the RV and she did not see the alleged kiss.

Johnson, who was director of campaign outreach in Alabama during the primary and then worked in Florida during the general election, says in the lawsuit that both Bondi and Giorno were aware of, and amused by, the kiss. The lawsuit says she was "upset that Ms. Giorno and Ms. Bondi reacted this way."

The lawsuit says Johnson was very upset and told her boyfriend and parents about the incident the same day. It said the story that she had gotten "a kiss from the boss" circulated quickly among campaign staff, and because the incident was treated "as some kind of joke," Johnson felt "pressured to play it off."

In October 2016, a 2005 recording surfaced of Trump boasting about groping and kissing women to an "Access Hollywood" correspondent. After hearing the tape, Johnson was "instantly transported back" to the incident in Tampa, according to the lawsuit.

"I just start kissing them," Trump said of women in the recording. "Its like a magnet. Just kiss. I dont even wait. And when youre a star, they let you do it. You can do anything."

After hearing Trump's words, the lawsuit says, Johnson felt "panicked, like she couldnt breathe, as she realized that what Defendant Trump had done to her was not an isolated incident, but part of a pattern of predatory behavior towards women."

More than a dozen women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct over the years, including eight women who have accused him of forcibly kissing them. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

More: Meet 19 women who claim affairs with Trump or accuse him of unwanted advances

After the "Access Hollywood" tape was made public, Johnson felt she needed to leave the campaign, the lawsuit says. On Oct. 12, 2016, she spoke to an attorney about the incident, and he told her she might have a case. On Oct. 16, she sent an email announcing her departure from the campaign, according to the lawsuit.

Johnson also began to see a therapist, the lawsuit says.

The Post obtained copies of therapist Lisheyna Hurvitz's notes from an Oct. 27 session with Johnson. According to those notes, Johnson was "having nightmares because of what happened."

More: How Donald Trump's explanation of his role with Michael Cohen and the hush money payments has changed

More: National Enquirer owner admits paying ex-Playboy model $150,000 to squelch story, help Trump campaign

But Johnson attended one of Trump's inaugural balls in January 2017 and applied for two jobs in the administration, according to The Post. Johnson told The Post that not getting those jobs was not a factor in her decision to sue Trump.

Johnson praised Trump in a May 2017 radio interview, saying he is a "more incredible in person than I think you would even think as you see him on TV," according to The Post. "He's just the nicest guy" and "he treats everyone as if they are a part of his family."

Her lawyer, Hassan Zavareei, told The Post she was saying what she thought the White House wanted to hear because she was still hoping to have her application to work at the U.S. Embassy in Portugal approved. He also said she was bound by an "oppressive" nondisclosure agreement.

The lawsuit also says the Trump campaign discriminated against Johnson, who is African-American, and others on the basis of race and gender.

"The campaign knew that it was underpaying Ms. Johnson relative to her white counterparts," the lawsuit says.

Trump campaign spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany denied the assertion.

"The Trump campaign has never discriminated based on race, ethnicity, gender, or any other basis. Any allegation suggesting otherwise is off base and unfounded," McEnany said.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Former campaign staffer sues Trump, says he kissed her at 2016 event
If you have been looking for Sector - Other funds, a place to start could be Fidelity Select Industrials Portfolio (FCYIX). FCYIX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Fidelity is based in Boston, MA, and is the manager of FCYIX. Fidelity Select Industrials Portfolio debuted in March of 1997. Since then, FCYIX has accumulated assets of about $592.98 million, according to the most recently available information. Tobias W. Welo is the fund's current manager and has held that role since January of 2007.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 6.94%, and is in the top 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 11.83%, 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. Over the past three years, FCYIX's standard deviation comes in at 15.5%, compared to the category average of 13.78%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 14.72% compared to the category average of 14.04%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors cannot discount the risks to this segment though, as it is always important to remember the downside for any potential investment. In FCYIX's case, the fund lost 55.52% in the most recent bear market and underperformed its peer group by 7.11%. This might suggest that the fund is a worse choice than its peers during a bear market.

Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.19, so it is likely going to be more volatile than the market at large. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. FCYIX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -5.09, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

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Holdings

Exploring the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is primarily on equities that are traded in the United States.

Right now, 79.43% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $50.36 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

Industrial Cyclical Technology

With turnover at about 64%, this fund is making fewer trades than its comparable peers.

Expenses

Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, FCYIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.75% compared to the category average of 1.15%. So, FCYIX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $2,500, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, Fidelity Select Industrials Portfolio ( FCYIX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees compared to its peers.

For additional information on the Sector - Other area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into FCYIX too for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.



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A case is being brought to the High Court challenging the ban on revealing the identity of Jon Venables (Picture: Getty)

A legal challenge brought by the father and uncle of James Bulger over the lifelong anonymity granted to killer Jon Venables is set to be heard at the High Court.

Ralph and Jimmy Bulger are challenging a worldwide ban, made in 2001, on revealing the identity of Venables.

He has been living anonymously since his release from a life sentence for the kidnap, torture and murder of two-year-old James in February 1993.

The toddler was killed by Venables and Robert Thompson, both aged 10, after they snatched him from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside.

James Bulger was murdered in 1993 (Picture: PA)

They were both later granted lifelong anonymity and, following release, have lived under new identities.

Jamess mother, Denise Fergus, is not involved in the proceedings and no challenge is being brought against the anonymity granted to Thompson.

MORE: Cabinet trio warn they will help delay Brexit rather than leave Europe with no deal

MORE: Traveller duo who led 30 caravans on 300,000 brewery wrecking spree are jailed

The court order was amended in relation to Venables after he was convicted of further offences in 2010 and February last year.

Solicitor-advocate Robin Makin, for the Bulgers, has said that the injunction was granted on the basis that Venables was rehabilitated and would not re-offend but he had since been convicted and sent back to jail over indecent images of children.

James Bulgers uncle, Jimmy, left, and father, Ralph, are taking their case to the High Court (Picture: PA)

In written submissions previously before the court, Mr Makin said: The applicants consider that over 17 years on and with serious offending the experiment of anonymising Jon Venables has not worked and that there is danger in seeking to continue with such a course.

The case is being heard in London on Tuesday and Wednesday by the president of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane.

In a ruling on preliminary issues in May last year, then president of the Family Division Sir James Munby said the murder of James Bulger had shocked and horrified the country.

Only a handful of lifelong anonymity orders have been made to date, including those granted to Venables and Thompson, as well as child killer Mary Bell.

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In 2013, security guard James Baines, from Liverpool, was given a 14-month suspended prison sentence for tweeting images purporting to be of Venables.

Earlier that year, Neil Harkins, of East Yorkshire, and Dean Liddle, from Sunderland, received nine-month suspended prison sentences for being in contempt of court.

They published photos said to be of Venables and Thompson on Twitter and Facebook.

Last month, Shameless and Brookside actress Tina Malone was served a court summons for allegedly sharing an image on Twitter of a person described as Venables.

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(Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Facebook moderators are suffering PTSD-like symptoms and starting to believe in bizarre conspiracy theories due to disturbing materials they have to view.

An expose of contractors who moderate posts for Facebook found that the workers have to witness videos including people being murdered.

Some of the moderators have also begun to doubt the Holocaust or the 9/11 attacks, after long exposure to conspiracy theories online.

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Based on interviewees with employees at Cognizant (a professional services firm which Facebook relies on to moderate content online), The Verge paints a harrowing picture of the life of the moderators.

Employees are required to watch videos in which people are murdered on screen, The Verge claims.

Paid just 22,000 a year (a fraction of what Facebook employees are paid), the employees claim to suffer panic attacks and PTSD-like symptoms.

The Verge says that one interviewee said, I no longer believe 9/11 was a terrorist attack.

Others sleep with guns by their beds, and espouse views such as the idea that the Earth is flat, and are bound by non-disclosure contracts, The Verge reports.

Justin Osofsky, Facebooks VP of global operations said in a post to the companys website, We are putting in place a rigorous and regular compliance and audit process for all of our outsourced partners to ensure they are complying with the contracts and care we expect.

This will include even more regular and comprehensive focus groups with vendor employees than we do today.

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Facebook content moderations disclosed the extreme consequences that come with the stress of constantly reviewing graphic and offensive material, according to a new report from the Verge.

Facebooks content moderators are based in a facility in Arizona, operated by contract vendor Cognizant, where employees told the tech website that they cope with using drugs and having sex while on the job.

The content moderators, most of whom are paid $15 an hour, are hired to look through a constant stream of content that includes offensive jokes, possible threats, and videos of beheadings and murders.

The moderators are allotted two 15-minute breaks, one 30-minute lunch break, and nine minutes of wellness time during one work day. However, a lot of the time spent on these breaks are for waiting in long bathroom lines where reportedly three bathroom stalls are used for hundreds of workers.

Sometimes these stalls are used as a venue for people to have sex to cope with the high stress that comes with watching graphic and offensive content for their job. Some workers also use the facilitys nursing rooms to have sex, which became such an issue last year that the company removed locks from the rooms doors.

The Verge also reported that employees confessed to using drugs and alcohol to numb the pain and psychological stress. Some regularly smoke marijuana while working and others have often joked with each other about drinking to forget.

A former content moderator said he even starting bringing his gun to the Cognizant facility to protect himself from former employees. He said she was worried about violent threats made by terminated employees at the time. Although he has left the company, he said that he still sleeps with a gun at night.

The former worker said viewing all those content led him to believe some of the conspiracy theories he was exposed to at work, including some claiming that the September 11 was not a terrorist attack or that the Las Vegas massacre had multiple gunmen involved.

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He told the Verge that he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and generalised anxiety.

A counsellor at Cognizant denied any risk of its contract content moderators developing PTSD, the Verge reported. The counsellor also argued that some of them could experience "post-traumatic growth," where they can become emotionally and mentally stronger.

A Facebook spokesperson released a statement in response to the report, citing the company has certain standards around well-being and support.

"We value the hard work of content reviewers and have certain standards around their well-being and support, the statement read. We work with only highly reputable global partners that have standards for their workforce, and we jointly enforce these standards with regular touch points to ensure the work environment is safe and supportive, and that the most appropriate resources are in place."

In another statement by Facebook, a spokesperson for Cognizant said the contract vendor investigated the issues mentioned in The Verge report and has taken appropriate action.

Cognizant has "previously taken action where necessary and have steps in place to continue to address these concerns and any others raised by our employees, the statement read. In addition to offering a comprehensive wellness program at Cognizant, including a safe and supportive work culture, 24x7 phone support and onsite counsellor support to employees, Cognizant has partnered with leading HR and Wellness consultants to develop the next generation of wellness practices."
By Aziz El Yaakoubi DUBAI (Reuters) - Yemen's warring parties have failed to leave the main port city of Hodeidah more than two months after agreeing to a U.N.-led truce deal as part of efforts to end the almost four-year war that has pushed the country to the brink of famine. The two sides agreed at December consultations in Sweden, the first in two years, on a ceasefire and troop withdrawal from Hodeidah in the first major breakthrough in peace efforts. The truce has largely held but the withdrawal has yet to materialize amid deep mistrust between the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, which controls Hodeidah, and the Saudi-led coalition trying to restore the ousted government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. WHY HASN'T THE DEAL BEEN IMPLEMENTED? The Sweden agreement never spelled out which local authority would take control after fighters withdrew. The Houthis hold Hodeidah while other Yemeni fighters backed by the coalition are positioned on the outskirts of the city. On Dec. 29, the Houthis started leaving Hodeidah port and handed over to local coast guards. The coalition objected, saying those units were loyal to the movement. A U.N. observer team headed by retired Dutch Major General Patrick Cammaert had no verification mechanism in place to assess the local units and struggled to bring the two sides together for talks. He resigned in January and handed over to a Danish general, Michael Anker Lollesgaard, who relaunched meetings on a ship off the coast of Hodeidah. After weeks of diplomacy that also involved special envoy Martin Griffiths, the United Nations announced on Feb. 7 that a preliminary agreement had been reached for a phased approach. The Houthis were due within days to withdraw 5 km (3 miles) from the port of Saleef, used for grains, and Ras Isa oil terminal. They would also clear the areas of landmines and heavy weaponry. After the move was verified, the group would pull out of Hodeidah port alongside a coalition retreat of 1 km from the "Kilo 7" eastern suburb of the city, where battles raged before the ceasefire went into force on Dec. 18. But the U.N. is still trying to bridge the gap between both sides on the local authority that would take over under U.N. supervision, before a wider redeployment in the second phase. There are several proposals on the table, including agreeing a common list of coast guards and police force members. The Houthis also doubt that the coalition will actually retreat after they move out. WHY IS HODEIDAH SO IMPORTANT? The port handles the bulk of Yemen's commercial and aid supplies and is critical for feeding the population of 30 million people in the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula. It became a focus of fighting last year, raising concern that a full-scale assault could so disrupt supply lines there would be mass starvation in a country where 16 million people face severe hunger. The fighting has made it difficult to open humanitarian corridors. After years of military stalemate, the Sunni Muslim coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates twice launched an offensive last year to seize the port, seeking to weaken the Houthis by cutting off their main supply line. Saudi Arabia and the UAE want to exit a costly war that has come under increased scrutiny following the murder in October of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom's Istanbul consulate. The Western-backed alliance intervened in Yemen in 2015 to restore Hadi's government, which now holds the southern port city of Aden and string of coastal towns. The Houthis control most urban centres including Sanaa. If the Hodeidah deal fails, chances are slim for further peace talks to agree a framework for political negotiations to end the conflict, which has killed tens of thousands of people. WHY IS THE CONFLICT SO COMPLEX? Yemen's fractious armed groups and parties, numerous before the war, have proliferated further since 2015, and they all have their own agenda. The war also revived old strains between North and South Yemen, formerly separate countries that united into a single state in 1990 under slain former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Southern separatists resented concentration of resources in the north. Although from the north, the Shiite Zaydi sect chafed as their stronghold in Saada became impoverished. In late 1990s, they formed the Houthi group, fought the army and forged ties with Iran. Jihadists set up an al Qaeda wing in the south. Mass pro-democracy protests in 2011 forced Saleh to step down after some of his former allies turned on him and the army split. His deputy, Hadi, was elected to a two-year term to oversee a democratic transition, but was undermined. In 2014 the Houthis, aided by Saleh loyalists, seized Sanaa forcing Hadi to share power. When a federal constitution was proposed, both Houthis and southern separatists rejected it. The Houthis arrested Hadi in 2015, but he escaped and fled to Aden. The coalition then entered the war on Hadis side. (Reporting by Aziz El Yakhoubi; Editing by Ghaida Ghantous and Frances Kerry)
By Pratima Desai

LONDON (Reuters) - Glencore has lodged a complaint with the London Metal Exchange (LME) about the company's inability to take speedy delivery of aluminum from warehouses owned by ISTIM UK in Port Klang, Malaysia, two sources familiar with the matter said.

London-listed commodity trader and miner Glencore bought 200,000 tonnes of aluminum on the LME late in January and made preparations to take that metal from ISTIM's warehouses.

Metal entering the LME's global warehouse storage network is issued with a title document called a warrant. In order to take delivery of metal from the network, buyers need to cancel the warrants - earmarking it for delivery.

The metal is then shipped after being scheduled for delivery on a first come, first served basis.

To get the metal out quickly, Glencore moved to complete the formalities and create a queue of more than 50 days before the end of January, which would have activated the LME's load-in, load-out (LILO) rules for warehousing, the sources said.

LILO rules were ushered in as part of sweeping LME reform sparked by accusations from consumers that banks and traders were hoarding metal in LME warehouses.

The rules stipulate that if a warehouse has a queue of more than 50 days, it must load out all the metal delivered in the previous three months.

But the rules were not triggered in this case because ISTIM said there was no queue at its warehouses in Port Klang at the close of business on Jan. 31, sources said.

"The load-out rules are complicated and ISTIM ... argue they didn't have a queue in January, that the queue didn't exist before midnight February 1," a metal industry source said.

Glencore, the LME and ISTIM declined to comment.

LME data shows queues to take aluminum out of LME-approved warehouses owned by ISTIM in Port Klang jumped to 118 days at the end of January from zero in December.

This means the 222,713 tonnes deposited in ISTIM's warehouses in Port Klang between November and January would have had to be delivered in February, March and April. That would be above ISTIM's 2,500-tonne daily rate.

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"The LME's warehousing rulebook is a labyrinth and both Glencore and ISTIM are inferring different things. We think the difference comes from where they think the queue starts," an aluminum trading source said.

Warrants would have been canceled at ISTIM's London office by Glencore's brokers. The process for getting metal into the queue then includes rent payment, provision of shipping instructions and customs-clearance documents.

Once these formalities are complete, the rules require the warehouse to process requests for delivery on the basis of 48 hours' notice and in the order in which they were received.

"Glencore is probably arguing the queue starts when the process is complete, while ISTIM will have said they had a further two days to allocate delivery slots," the aluminum trading source said.

Cancelled aluminum in ISTIM's Port Klang warehouses stood at 309,800 tonnes at the end of January, up from 30,000 tonnes at the end of December.

(Reporting by Pratima Desai; Editing by Veronica Brown and Dale Hudson)
By Tatiana Bautzer and Carolina Mandl

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian state-owned bank Caixa Economica Federal is close to selling a 9-billion-real ($2.4 billion) stake it owns in oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.

The share offering of the 2.3 percent stake owned by Caixa in Petrobras, as the oil company is known, depends on the publication of a new presidential decree authorizing the sale, the sources said, asking not to be named as the plans had not been made public.

President Jair Bolsonaro has already signed a first decree authorizing Caixa to sell its Petrobras stake, but the decree had technical mistakes and needed to be republished, they said.

Once the new decree is signed, Caixa will hire investment banks to help manage the secondary share offering.

Press representatives at Caixa Federal declined to comment.

Caixa plans to use the proceeds to pay off roughly 40 billion reais in convertible bonds sold to the Brazilian government between 2007 and 2013.

Petrobras common shares were up 1.15 percent at 30.86 reais on Tuesday in Sao Paulo trading, and has accumulated a 36 percent gain over the last 12 months.

The sale of the Petrobras stake will be the second divestiture led by Caixa since Chief Executive Pedro Guimaraes took the helm at the state bank last month, after the sale of a 2.4 billion reais stake in reinsurer IRB Brasil Resseguros SA. The IRB share offering will be priced later on Tuesday.

The IRB shares are owned by a government fund responsible for financing education and managed by Caixa.

Caixa owns 3.2 percent of Petrobras common stock directly and 1 percent of non-voting capital.

Both transactions will be led by Caixa's recently created investment banking unit, with around 30 bankers recruited internally.

Guimaraes has said he intends to list at least four Caixa units: asset management, credit cards, lottery and insurance.

Guimaraes recently appointed new senior management officials at Caixa. Andre Laloni, former head of UBS AG in Brazil and the Southern Cone, is the new chief financial officer, while former Banco Santander Brasil SA executive, Luciane Ribeiro, will lead Caixa's asset management unit.

(Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer and Carolina Mandl; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
In maintaining silence over Chand outfits terror, Dahal sees an opportunity to rebuild his own image

Maoist leaders, who are now part of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) after their merger last year, have yet to make any comments on last week's attacksthey look akin to what the Maoists did in the initial days of the insurgencyperpetrated by the Chand outfit.
COTABATO, Philippines (AP)  Former Muslim guerrillas are now governing a poverty- and conflict-wracked Muslim autonomous region under a peace deal partly aimed at combating Islamic State group-aligned militants in the southern Philippines.

Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebel chairman Murad Ebrahim assumed leadership Tuesday in a ceremony in Cotabato city of an 80-member transition authority dominated by his guerrilla group to govern a five-province region called Bangsamoro.

The first large group of about 12,000 combatants is expected to be demobilized starting this year under the deal.

The Philippine and Western governments and the guerrillas see effective Muslim autonomy as an antidote to nearly half a century of Muslim secessionist violence, which the Islamic State group could exploit to gain a foothold in the region.

"Our enemy during this struggle is not the soldiers. Our enemy is not the government," Murad said in a speech after taking leadership of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority as interim chief minister. He said he and his men would wage a new jihad, or holy war, against graft and mismanagement.

"Our enemies are all the ills of governance in this system. Our enemies are graft and corruption. Our enemy is manipulation of government. Our enemy is nepotism," said Murad, who once led rebel forces in marshy battlefields that his group will now try to turn into progressive communities.

Murad and his insurgent group inherit a region of more than 3.7 million people, nearly half of whom wallow in poverty. Many have been exposed to decades of violence and fighting, according to regional government reports prepared for the rebels-turned-officials.

Muslim militant groups including the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Abu Sayyaf continue to threaten the region, the reports said.

Bangsamoro replaces an existing poverty-wracked autonomous region with a larger, better-funded and more powerful entity. An annual grant, which could reach more than $1 billion, is to be set aside to bolster development in a region with little infrastructure and is deeply scarred by decades of fighting.

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"There is a daunting task ahead as we lay down the foundations of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao," presidential adviser Carlito Galvez said. "I'll be frank, the transition process is difficult. But there is no challenge that we cannot surmount."

Under the peace deal brokered by Malaysia, the rebels gave up their goal of a separate state in exchange for broader autonomy. The 40,000 fighters and at least 7,000 firearms that Murad's group has declared are to be demobilized in three phases depending on progress in the agreement's enforcement.

Murad's people, including fierce Muslim commanders still facing criminal cases for past attacks, are to comprise 41 of 80 regional administrators. President Rodrigo Duterte picked his representatives to fill the rest of the transition authority, which will also act as a regional parliament until regular officials are elected in 2022.

Members of another Muslim rebel group, the Moro National Liberation Front, which signed a 1996 autonomy deal that has largely been seen as a failure, have also been given seats in the autonomous government.
By Jack Stubbs

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Facts not fears should decide the future of telecoms network security in Europe, industry leaders and policy chiefs said this week, brushing off U.S. calls for a ban on Chinese vendors.

Europe has become the main battleground in a U.S. campaign to rid Western networks of Chinese telecoms equipment, with Washington accusing Huawei Technologies of spying for Beijing, allegations the company has repeatedly denied.

Mobile operators warn that a blanket ban could delay next-generation 5G connections by years and comments from the world's second-largest mobile operator Vodafone and European Commission officials at this week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona suggest a more cautious response is likely.

"You're going to see a messy, essentially managed response that will probably vary in detail from country to country," said Forrester analyst Frank Gillett. "In the end it's about containing and managing the risk of Huawei, as well as any other vendor, but particularly Huawei."

The security concerns are particularly acute because of the onset of 5G, with operators now making decisions which will govern the future of mobile networks slated to bring super-fast speeds for everything from computer gaming to medical surgery.

Huawei chairman Guo Ping met government and industry partners in Barcelona to give reassurances in the face of the U.S. accusations, people with knowledge of the matter said.

"Let experts decide whether networks are safe or not. The U.S. security accusation of our 5G has no evidence, nothing," Guo told the congress on Tuesday.

His comments echoed those of Vodafone boss Nick Read, who called on Monday for the United States to share any evidence it had about Huawei, while the European Commission warned against "premature decisions based on partial analysis of the facts."

LISTENING MODE

U.S. officials, however, insisted that behind the scenes in Barcelona European governments were increasingly listening to Washington's message on Huawei.

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"We have been very successful in convincing these governments to work with us to think about these types of threats to their future infrastructure," Robert L. Strayer, the U.S. State Department ambassador for cyber and international communications, told reporters.

Strayer repeated U.S. assertions that the security issues with Huawei center around China's 2017 National Intelligence Law, which states that Chinese "organizations and citizens shall, in accordance with the law, support, cooperate with, and collaborate in national intelligence work."

Washington has made progress with its European allies due to a series of face-to-face on the sidelines of the congress, another U.S. official said, adding that the issue would probably be managed on a case-by-case basis.

"Europe very rarely speaks with a single voice, and I don't see this being a place where Europe is going to speak with a single voice either," the official said.

'UPHILL BATTLE'

The worries about Huawei have already convinced some Western countries to bar or restrict the company's access to their markets, but Europe is split.

The Czech Republic and Poland, where a Huawei executive was arrested on espionage charges in January, have voiced concerns, while Britain has said it can manage any risks.

"We have to understand the opportunities and threats from China's technological offer," Jeremy Fleming, head of Britain's GCHQ signals intelligence service, said this week.

Intelligence and industry officials say the British conclusion has helped reassure a number of European governments, in part due to Britain's membership of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing group with the United States.

Washington has seen the Mobile World Congress as an opportunity to counter that and sent a delegation to brief governments there, they said.

Huawei responded by branding escalators and delegate lanyards with its red-fanned logo, and unveiling a new state-of-the-art folding smartphone in an effort to reassert its status as a leading technology giant.

Paul Triolo, head of geo-technology at research firm Eurasia Group, said the United States faced "an uphill battle" convincing the telecoms industry to ditch Huawei.

"That's a really hard case to make to industry which wants to hear about hard security concerns and wants to try to mitigate those," he said.

(Additional reporting by Isla Binnie, Douglas Busvine and Paul Sandle; Editing by Alexander Smith)
The Lima Group of Latin American countries met in neighbouring Colombia to discuss next steps after a weekend of violence - AFP

The European Union on Monday urged the United States and Latin American powers against launching a military intervention to oust the regime of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.

Venezuela's self-declared interim president Juan Guaido met with Mike Pence and Latin American leaders in neighbouring Colombia, to discuss the next steps in the crisis after a weekend of violence.

Mr Guaido, arriving in Bogota on Sunday night ahead of the meeting of the Lima Group, called on the international community to consider "all measures to free" Venezuela. The meeting was the first time that Mr Guaido, who declared himself president a month ago, has travelled abroad to meet other world leaders, and he was received as a head of state, with the red carpet rolled out.

Mr Guaido and President Donald Trump have repeatedly said that all options are open. Mr Pence was expected to announce on Monday night that they had decided to increase the sanctions on Nicolas Maduro, the embattled president of Venezuela. Ahead of the meeting four Venezuelan officials were added to the already extensive list of sanctioned individuals.

On Monday he also called on Latin American allies to ramp up pressure on Caracas by transferring Venezuelan overseas assets to Mr Guaido.

A spokesman for Federica Mogherini, the EU diplomatic chief, urged those gathered in Bogota to stop short of declaring war.

"We must avoid a military intervention," said Maja Kocijancic.

"What is explicitly quite clear, from our point of view, is that we need a peaceful political and democratic and Venezuelan-owned resolution of this crisis.

"This obviously excludes the use of force."

On Monday night Brazil definitively ruled out permitting military intervention from their territory, with the vice president saying it would not be allowed.

Hours later Venezuela's government issued a statement accusing the US and the Lima Group countries of conducting "a ferocious campaign to oust" Maduro by trampling on basic international human rights.

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The statement also rejected Pence's announcements, accusing him of attempting "to give orders so that other countries join the vulgar plundering" that Washington is pursuing against Venezuela's assets.

Venezuelan security forces clash with supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on the Venezuelan side f the Francisco de Paula Santander International Bridge Credit: RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP

Four people were killed and 300 injured in a bloody standoff on Venezuelas borders with Colombia and Brazil, as Mr Guaido tried unsuccessfully to get humanitarian aid into the country.

The aid convoys were abandoned by early afternoon on Saturday, with one truck laden with supplies going up in flames. Running battles took place throughout Saturday and Sunday, with frequent bloody skirmishes between Mr Maduros heavily-armed security forces and pro-Guaido youngsters, throwing rocks and quickly-improvised Molotov cocktails.

At least 160 military officials have crossed over into Colombia and pledged allegiance to Mr Guaido, the Colombian migration service said on Sunday night. Many said they rejected the orders to fire on their own countrymen, and knew that the aid was desperately needed.

Mr Pence said on Monday that the United States was preparing an additional $56 million (43m) in humanitarian aid, adding after the meeting that they were exploring different avenues for getting it into Venezuela.

He urged Latin American countries to take financial measures against Mr Maduros government, in particular PDVSA  the state-owned oil company.

We call on all Lima Group nations to immediately freeze the assets of PDVSA, he said.

Secondly, transfer ownership of Venezuelan assets in your country from Maduros henchmen to President Guaidos government.

The four sanctioned Venezuelans were the governors of Zulia, Apure, Vargas and Carabobo state.

Rafael Alejandro Lacava, the governor of Carabobo and ally of Mr Maduro, goes by the nickname Dracula in reference to his habit of doing late-night street patrols.
Read recent essays on China. Visit think-tank public symposia. Hear out military analysts. Talk with academics and media pundits. Listen to Silicon Valley grandees. Watch Senate speeches and politicians interview on television.

The resulting new groupspeak is surreal. If one excises the word Trump, what follows is a seemingly revolutionary recalibration of attitudes toward China that more or less echo Trumps voice in the wilderness and often crude and shrill warnings dating back from the campaign trail of 2015.

Trumps second secretary of state, the skillful Mike Pompeo, has been institutionalizing the presidents pessimistic view of China. Insightful but heretofore underappreciated assessments from China scholars such as Miles Yu and Gordon Chang are now being taking seriously. Both have been warning us for years that the Chinese seek domination, not accommodation, and are replacing their erstwhile feigned respect for our strength with an emboldened contempt for our perceived growing weakness, whether real or psychological. Both have warned also that once China achieves military, economic, and cultural parity with the United States, the global order will be quite different from that of the last 75 years.

From the military, one hears more frequently now that we were at a tipping point by late 2016: The Obama Asian pivot had failed  publicly provocative, but in reality without substance, giving the lethal impression of real weakness masked by empty rhetoric. The Chinese militarization of the Spratley Islands was conceded as the inevitable future of the South China Sea. Chinese military and weapons doctrine was aimed at destroying the offensive capability of the U.S. fleet in the Pacific as a way of breaking off allies from America, and then Finlanding them.

From 2009 to 2016, our defense readiness was eroding, Chinas increasing. Psychologically, the American military could not reassure the global order that China would not one day soon unleash North Korea, absorb Taiwan, emasculate South Korea and Japan, or isolate the Philippines and Australia. Huge and mercantile Chinese trade surpluses with all its Western trading partners were accepted as normal.

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The cash-short Pentagon seemed to shrug that America was the victim of cosmic and historic forces that inevitably would dethrone the United States, analogous to the declinism of the 1930s, when a powerful U.S. 7th Fleet was not able to deter a modern rising Japanese navy from carving out what would become the Greater Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere based on perceptions of American impotence and weariness and spent European colonialism.

In Silicon Valley, the good old news of making trillions of dollars over the last 30 years in outsourcing assemblage to China, opening up a huge new Chinese consumer market, and entering joint partnerships has insidiously been eclipsed by the growing reality that our techie masters of the universe were instead deluded Dr. Frankensteins who had helped to birth an unstoppable monster.

Technology was stolen, either by espionage inside the U.S. or by formalized theft as the cost of doing business inside China. Copyrights and patents did not bother China. The scale of environmental damage inside China did not diminish, but accelerated and was manifested abroad. There was no sense of symmetry; in dealing with China, the idea of commercial reciprocity, shared environmental protocols, generalized notions of international commerce  all that simply did not exist. And the reason it did not exist wasnt sloppiness or insensitivity; it did not exist by design, owing to the Chineses arrogance that they were the rising sun and the U.S. was in its twilight  with a few exceptions granted to some of the Western elite who were getting rich largely by accommodating the Chinese warping of trade and technological theft.

Financially challenged colleges and universities had come to rely on full-tuition-paying Chinese students. When stories spread that some Chinese students were acting as organs of the Chinese Communist Party, actively engaging in espionage, or illiberally bullying any critics of China, colleges either ignored such news or regarded its bearers as racists and xenophobes.

Chinese college students who mouthed government talking points were strangely rebranded, in identity-politics fashion, as the victimized Other, and to be accorded the usual accruing exemptions. In sum, China was considered a politically correct entity. Or better yet, it was seen as a cash cow for struggling liberal-arts colleges and so properly immune from any suggestion that it sent thousands of its citizens abroad to absorb or expropriate Western technology without contamination from taboo liberal ideas. While the U.S. obsessed over Russian collusion from a thuggish but comparative weak Vladimir Putin, no one worried much about the increasingly boldness of Chinese espionage and cyber sabotage. In Tolkienesque terms of relative threats, Putin played Saruman to a Chinese Sauron.

This willful blindness was similar again to the denseness of Europe and the United States from 1880 to 1920, when Japan had sent tens of thousands of students and liaisons abroad to learn everything from nautical and aviation engineering to assembly-line fabrication and sophisticated steel production. The West, in condescending and racist fashion, was flattered: Such emulation must be proof of Japans inferiority and desires to become a Westernized (albeit junior) free-market democracy.

In fact, Japanese expropriation was done in a context of arrogance and bitterness over not receiving commensurate recognition after World War I. Japan assumed that whatever was stolen from the West could be improved by superior Japanese discipline, order, and national unity and purpose  far better craftsmanship without the drag of research-and-development costs.

Our diplomats for decades had assured Americans that Chinese trade imbalances, technological theft, gratuitous bullying in the air and sea, disdain for U.S. Asian allies, rampant espionage, and contempt for the postwar commercial order were 50-year-old growing pains  the Tiananmen Square road bumps on the inevitable path to liberal society and consensual government.

The arrogant Western idea was that just as free-market economics (rather than jaded mercantilism, dictatorship, and government monopolies) had enriched the Chinese, so too would the accruing bounty liberalize Chinese society, ensure an aware consumer class, and impress on the country that Western popular culture and politics were just as inevitable and attractive as had been Western profit-making. Or economists and investors insisted that cheap imported Chinese goods meant that the stagnant wages of the middle classes would not matter so much at Walmart  while American business would be forced to be leaner and more efficient to survive the cutthroat competition.

The net result was to ignore or contextualize Chinas civil-rights abuses, contaminated products, religious persecution, flagrant international aggression, attacks on the postwar global order, neo-colonialism, and abject racism on the grounds these sins were comparable to our own 19th-century bouts with such illiberality  or in some perverse way in the long run even beneficial to the United States.

Again, American finance and corporations invested full bore in Chinese joint projects, offshored, and outsourced  often at the price of giving away key American technological and strategic advantages, hollowing out American red-state industrial and manufacturing capacity, and weakening the nations cyber and conventional military security.

The idea seemed to be that if a few thousand multimillionaires got even far more fabulously rich by acquiescing to Chinese mercantilism, they could not do real harm to the vast and powerful U.S. Or perhaps, given inevitable American decline, the idea was that they should get their profits in now, before the American golden goose was put out of its misery.

In all these areas and more, a new consensus, among left and right, is now settling in that we are at a crossroads with China. Any more appeasement and acquiescence will lose the West its Asian allies, who will be forced to go with the ascendant superpower, not the declining one.

Either the U.S. military recalibrates or it will return to its 1930s stature of a powerful but vastly overextended Pacific navy and air force. We have reached a cultural nexus at which any more acquiescence would institutionalize the idea that to object to Chinese piracy is to indulge in hurtful stereotypes and therefore should be replaced with appeasement, and that giving away American technology or allowing its expropriation with a wink and nod is not treasonous but simply good business.

The establishment would like to fool itself that it came to its growing about-face on China thanks to a natural exhaustion of patience, or new data, or brilliant new exegeses. And that evolution may be in part true.

But far more likely, Trumps early and relentless hammering on Chinese mercantilism, systematic cheating, and illiberality finally made the old status quo unsustainable in the face of mounting evidence.

The establishment is adopting Trumps once-renegade stance toward China, and yet trying to immunize it from him all the same. So the end result seems something like the following: That idiot Trump somehow now agrees with us on confronting China.

More from National Review
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Shareholders of Brazilian planemaker Embraer SA on Tuesday approved a deal to sell 80 percent of the company's commercial jet division to Boeing Co, a move that could reshape the global market for aircraft of up to 150 seats.

Boeing made its bid following a similar deal between Airbus SE and Canada's Bomardier Inc, which saw the European planemaker take a majority stake in the C Series jets, which compete directly with Embraer.

(Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun)
Tesla boss Elon Musk could be held in contempt if a tweet is found to have violated a settlement deal agreed last year.

US stock market regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked a court in New York to hold the chief executive in contempt for violating a $40m (30m) settlement he reached five months ago.

Teslas stock dropped by more than 4 per cent in after-hours trading on Monday after the news emerged.

The PayPal co-founder was sued last September for using his Twitter account in August to announce he had secured financing for a potential buyout of the electric car manufacturer  news that caused the companys stock to swing wildly.

At first he argued that he had not done anything wrong but reluctantly agreed to have future tweets that could affect Teslas stock preapproved.

Now the US financial regulator is alleging that Mr Musk broke the terms of that agreement with a tweet on 19 February which showed an aerial photo of thousands of new Tesla vehicles and said the company would make about 500,000 cars in 2019.

A few hours later, Mr Musk corrected his statement, saying he meant that Tesla had started to manufacture cars at a weekly rate that would translate into 500,000 cars during a year-long period, but not necessarily for the calendar year 2019.

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Mr Musk acknowledged he did not get company approval for the tweet, according to the SEC.

In his defence, Mr Musk said he did not think his tweet needed clearance because he was basing it on information that had been disclosed in late January.

Car manufacturing statistics can affect stock prices of carmakers, however both 19 February tweets occurred while the US stock market was closed and Teslas stock rose by less than 1 per cent the next day.

According to the SEC, Teslas legal team realised Mr Musk may have crossed a line with his tweet.

The agency said a Tesla lawyer immediately arranged to meet with Musk and draft the corrective statement that Musk tweeted out over four hours later after the tweet was posted.

Story continues

The entrepreneur could now face potential fines or even jail time if he is found to be in contempt.

AP contributed to this report
Den Helder (Netherlands) (AFP) - It's a beautiful spring morning on an unusually calm North Sea, but from the wheelhouse of his trawler Dutch skipper Cor Vonk can see a man-made storm brewing.

For decades Dutch fishermen like Vonk and his family, from the remote northern island of Texel, have been allowed under European Union rules to pull their hauls from British waters.

But even with the latest delay of six months secured from EU leaders this week, for Vonk and hundreds of others like him the still very real possibility of a no-deal divorce would be catastrophic.

"It's really a disaster for the fishermen, as 50 percent of their turnover is caught in British waters. So for the Dutch fishermen it's really a tragedy if the British waters are closed," Vonk told AFP.

At dawn, his boat, the Klasina, docks in the northern Dutch harbour of Den Helder and offloads more than four tonnes of fresh sole and plaice -- freshly caught off Dover's famous white cliffs on England's southeastern coast.

It's routine work but Vonk, 35, knows that the fish taken from the bowels of his trawler under his careful eye could well be some of the last catches in the next few months before Brexit ruins the family business.

British government ministers have repeatedly talked of Britain becoming an "independent coastal state" and "taking back control of our waters" after Brexit.

European leaders on Wednesday agreed to delay Brexit until October 31 preventing, for now, a chaotic exit from the EU without a deal to govern economic ties with the bloc.

In guidelines for the event of Britain leaving the EU without a deal, Britain says that "non-UK-registered vessels will no longer have automatic access to UK waters".

That could shut the door on Vonk and other Dutch trawlers who harvest sole and other bottom fish off the sandy Channel floor near Dover.

Some 100 Dutch trawlers operate in these waters, each carrying a crew of five to six members.

Story continues

"So we're talking about 500 to 600 families left in the drink," said Vonk.

- 'Many will go bankrupt' -

The Dutch fishing industry as a whole is nervous about the prospect of a no-deal Brexit, despite pledges by Brussels to compensate fishermen.

"Around 60 percent of the Dutch fleet's revenue is from British waters. But for certain ports it is about 70 percent," Pim Visser, director at the Dutch commercial fishing federation VisNed, told AFP.

This rung true for the Vonk family, whose trawler has chugged out of port every Sunday night for a four-day stint, captained by four generations of Vonks.

Cor, a fisherman for 17 years, took over from his father Arie, a stocky Dutchman with long hair and a golden earring.

Now retired, Arie still joins his son at dawn on a Friday, when the trawler steams into Den Helder to offload the catch at an auction house.

Arie Vonk "doesn't get anything" about Brexit, and his son dreads that the worst may be yet to come.

"Closing British waters will be a drama," Cor Vonk said, standing in the wheelhouse of the Klasina -- named after his mother. The boat cost him between one and two million euros, while a new trawler of its type costs up to seven million ($8 million).

"If we have to share all the fish in Dutch waters, we'll be fishing on a postage stamp."

On Texel alone, 10 trawlers feed 60 families -- and they are dependent on the catch from British waters.

Vonk's two sons aged nine and six dream of following in their dad's footsteps. But after Brexit, there may be no family business left.

"Many fishermen will go bankrupt, and perhaps us too," Vonk mused.

- 'Sea belongs to all' -

Across the Channel, many British fishermen are in favour of Brexit, which they say will help them take back control of their territorial waters.

Vonk said Dutch fishers never meet their British colleagues when out at sea.

"For us, the sea belongs to all, so we don't understand why we should go," he said.

Brexit could compound a separate blow for Dutch fishermen, after the EU recently decided to ban the Dutch method of electric pulse fishing from 2021.

The controversial technique -- which Vonk's boat uses -- features electrodes in nets that shock bottom-dwelling fish.

"We are at the mercy of politics," sighed Vonk.

VisNed's Pim Visser-- whose surname means fisher in Dutch -- said that a ban from British seas could mean a "domino effect" whereby Dutch trawlers end up overfishing local waters.

"Where you get overfishing, you get displacement. So you get less fish imports, you get less auctions, you get no work at auctions, no work in processing factories," he said.

"That's a domino effect, which is really disastrous."

Visser also slapped down the idea of "national waters" that has become a resounding theme in the British Brexit debate.

"These fish spawn in Danish waters, grow up in Dutch waters and are then caught in British waters," he said.

"It's truly European fish."
Duped depositors waiting to get their money back

The duped depositors of failed Oriental Cooperative have not received any relief even a year after the establishment of the Problematic Cooperatives Asset Management Committee.
The Dow 30  one of the three major stock indexes of the U.S. market  has been performing impressively so far in 2019. On Feb 22, the blue-chip index closed above 26,000  a key technical barrier  for the first time after Nov 8, 2018. On Feb 25, the index further consolidated its position.



Positive news on the trade war front and Feds dovish monetary stance acted as primary catalysts behind the stock market rally. Consequently, it will be a prudent move to invest in Dow stocks with a favorable Zacks Rank.



Dow Rally Continues



The last year was extremely disappointing for the Dow. The index plunged 5.6% recording its worst ever yearly performance since 2008. However, the Dow started 2019 on a strong note. For the week ended Feb 22, the Dow recorded its ninth straight weekly gain. This was the blue-chip indexs longest weekly rally since May 1995.



Moreover, since 1964, this was the first time that the Dow gained in each of the first eight weeks of any calendar year. Year to date, the index is up 11.9%. Out of total 30 components, 28 are currently in the positive territory while only two are in negative territory. Half of the 30 stocks have provided double-digit returns so far in 2019.



Positive Developments on Trade War Front



The 11-month long trade dispute between the United States and China is heading toward a likely resolution. On Feb 24, President Donald Trump tweeted that the United States is planning to delay imposing tariffs on additional Chinese goods as trade related negotiations between the two countries have made substantial progress.



Notably, on Dec 1, Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping reached an initial agreement to find a permanent solution to the trade-related conflict between the two countries. The truce will be valid for the next 90 days during which the two countries will try to solve bilateral trade conflicts.



On Feb 25, Trump told at a gathering of state governors that he is hopeful of a signing ceremony for the trade deal very soon. Per CNBC, the two countries are considering a late March meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping in Florida.



CNBC also reported that China has committed to import $1.2 trillion of U.S. exports. However, the two countries are yet to reach an agreement on the most crucial issues of forced transfer of technology and intellectual property.





Story continues

Fed to Remain Patient Regarding Monetary Policy



On Jan 30, the Federal Reserve decided to keep the federal funds target rate unchanged in the range of 2.25% - 2.50%. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell stated that the central bank will be patient while taking a call on future rate hikes.



Instead of following a predetermined path, Fed will consider all economic parameters and market conditions carefully before reaching a decision. The central banks bond portfolio reduction strategy will also consider macro-economic metrics and trade related disruptions, and is not on autopilot, as suggested by the Fed Chair in December.



Our Top Picks



At this stage, it will be a prudent move to invest in Dow 30 stocks. We have narrowed down our search to four such stocks. Each of our picks has either a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



The Boeing Co. BA: The company delivered average positive earnings surprise of 17.1% in the last four quarters. It carries a Zacks Rank #1. Year to date, the stock has gained 32.4%. The company has expected earnings growth of 25.7% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved 11.3% over the past 60 days.



Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO: The company recorded average positive earnings surprise of 2.1% in the last four quarters. It carries a Zacks Rank #2. Year to date, the stock has rallied 17.2%. The company has expected earnings growth of 17.3% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved 1% over the past 60 days.



United Technologies Corp. UTX: The company recorded average positive earnings surprise of 14.9% in the last four quarters. It carries a Zacks Rank #2. Year to date, the stock has gained 20.5%. The company has expected earnings growth of 9.7% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved 2.6% over the past 60 days.



NIKE Inc. NKE: The company delivered average positive earnings surprise of 15.6% in the last four quarters. It carries a Zacks Rank #2. Year to date, the stock has gained 14.9%. The company has expected earnings growth of 8.7% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved 0.4% over the past 60 days.



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Zacks Investment Research
Photo credit: Bureau of the Atomic Scientists

From Popular Mechanics

You can see the logic behind the idea. The U.S. Department of Defense envisions a kind of portable nuclear reactor that could move with units and provide all the power needs for a remote military base, eliminating the need to transport lots of fuel and maintain long supply lines to keep a base fueled up. But a prominent nuclear organization just weighed in, arguing that such a plan is a colossal mistake.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists-the people known for their "two minutes to midnight" Doomsday Clock-argues that while such a reactor probably is feasible from a technical standpoint, it would never be safe enough to deploy on the battlefield. The risk of meltdown and radiation release would be too great ever to justify deploying the reactor into the field, the scientists say.

Nuclear on the Go

The Pentagon announced Project Dilithium , its effort to develop a portable nuclear reactor, in January 2019. According to its plan, the reactor should be less than 40 tons total weight; small enough to be transported by truck, ship, and aircraft; able to run for at least three years without refueling; and capable of semi-autonomous operation.

Why the sudden interest in nuclear power? The militarys return to big power warfare against the likes of Russia or China is driving a new emphasis on powerful radars, communications, and direct energy weapons, and that's probably what's behind this request, since all those systems are power-hungry. Portable nuclear reactors are also useful for conflicts such as Iraq or Afghanistan, where convoys laden with diesel fuel are at risk of ambush.

The Pentagon wants a reactor capable of making 1 to 10 megawatts of electricity, and is clear that the reactor needs to be safe, incapable of melting down and contaminating nearby troops with harmful radioactivity. The military emphasizes safety and trouble-free operation, but also acknowledges that such a reactor is not expected to survive a direct kinetic attack.

Story continues

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists says a hassle-free, low-maintenance reactor is unlikely at this point of technological development. In addition, war bring a variety of inescapable problems; a reactor on a battlefield could be buried by debris or damaged to the point that it can no longer cool itself. If the reactor is unable to prevent its temperature from spiking, its military outpost could have a big problem on its hands in the form of a meltdown.

The Worst Case

Given the unpredictability of the battlefield, it's impossible to say for certain that a reactor could be protected from such catastrophic damage. And if a reactor does suffer a containment failure, the Bulletin says, it is hard to see how dangerous radioactive material isnt unleashed into the nearby environment:

An operating nuclear reactor is essentially a can filled with concentrated radioactive material, including some highly volatile radionuclides, under conditions of high pressure and/or temperature. Even a reactor as small as 1 megawatt-electric would contain a large quantity of highly radioactive, long-lived isotopes such as cesium-137-a potential dirty bomb far bigger than the medical radiation sources that have caused much concern among security experts.

Another problem with Project Dilithium? The reactor could possibly run on highly enriched uranium (HEU), which can also serve as fuel for nuclear weapons. The U.S. and other major powers have acted to reduce the amount of HEU in the world. But if other countries follow the U.S. Armys lead it could result in more of the material worldwide, and the possibility that some of it could fall into the wrong hands.

Read more at The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists .

Update: an earlier version of this article misidentified Project Dilithium as a U.S. Army project. It is being developed by the Department of Defense.

('You Might Also Like',)
Lee urges Americans to choose love versus hate in 2020

Trump criticizes Oscar winner for giving speech using notes

Donald Trump has complained about a racist hit he said Spike Lee carried out on him at the Oscars.

The film-maker, 61, won his first competitive Academy Award, best adapted screenplay, for his film BlacKkKlansman, which was also nominated for best picture. Lee received an honorary Oscar in 2015.

In his acceptance speech, which he read from a sheet of notes, Lee referred to February being Black History Month and discussed slavery and its legacy, particularly within his own family. His great-grandmother, he said, was a slave.

Lee said: Before the world tonight I give praise to our ancestors who built this country into what it is today along with the genocide of its native people. If we all connect with our ancestors we will have love, wisdom and regain our humanity. It will be a powerful moment.

The 2020 presidential election is around the corner. Lets all mobilise, lets all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate.

He concluded by referring to one of his most famous films: Lets do the right thing! You know I had to get that in there.

At a subsequent press conference, Lee was asked if his film had changed America. He responded by discussing the white nationalist rally and march in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017, during which Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old counterprotester, was killed by a car driven by an extremist.

Lee included footage of the attack in BlacKkKlansman. Trump infamously said there had been very fine people, on both sides of the protests.

That car drove down that one street in Virginia, Lee said, and the president of the United States did not reject, refute [or] did not denounce the Klan, alt-right and neo-Nazis. This film, whether we won best picture or not, this film will stand the test of time being on the right side of history.

Around dawn on Monday, from the White House, Trump duly responded with a nasty personal jab.

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He wrote: Be nice if Spike Lee could read his notes or better yet not have to use notes at all when doing his racist hit on your president.

He also claimed he had done more for African Americans (Criminal Justice Reform, Lowest Unemployment numbers in History, Tax Cuts, etc) than almost any other Pres[ident]!

Trump regularly claims to have done great things for African Americans, among whom unemployment has indeed hit historic lows  while fluctuating month to month. But such claims ignore stark economic disparities affecting African Americans and the economic record of the Obama administration.

In December, Trump signed into law sentencing reform backed by both parties. Most advocates suggest there is much more to do, including reforming the treatment of the current prison population.

On Sunday night, Lee also indicated his disappointment that Green Book, which has been criticised for its approach to its story of race relations in the south in the 1960s, won best picture. He reportedly tried to leave the theatre when the award was announced, then turned his back on the stage.

The ref made a bad call, he said later.
x

Disgraced MP Fiona Onasanya, who lied to police to avoid a speeding charge, was released from jail today after serving just a third of her sentence.

The MP for Peterborough was jailed for three months at the Old Bailey on January 29 after being convicted of perverting the course of justice.

She was driven from HMP Bronzefield in Ashford, Surrey on Tuesday, after the Attorney General rejected a complaint that her sentence was unduly lenient.

The 35-year-old, who was expelled from the Labour Party, has faced calls to resign but continues to sit as an Independent politician.

Disgraced MP Fiona Onasanya, pictured (left) last August, and (right) with Jeremy Corbyn in May 2017, served 28 days in jail. (PA/Getty)

Onasanya, who was the first sitting MP to be jailed in three decades, is appealing her conviction.

The Peterborough MP, who is a solicitor herself, is expected to have to adhere to strict conditions as part of her release from jail.

Onasanya lied by saying the driver of the car was her former lodger, Aleks Antipow.

However it was actually her who was driving her car at a speed of 41 mph in a 30mph zone in the village of Throney, close to Peterborough in July 2017.

Onasanya is driven from HMP Bronzefield in Ashford in a white Vauxhall on Tuesday morning. (PA)

The lie was spotted when police found out the supposed driver of the car was at home in Russia at the time.

When she was jailed in January, a judge said she had let down not just yourself but your profession and your parliament.

The Attorney Generals Office has said that her sentence was not unduly lenient after a complaint was lodged.

On Monday, the Attorney Generals Office said: After careful consideration, the Solicitor General has concluded that he could not refer this case to the Court of Appeal.

Protesters in Peterborough demand Onasanya resigns her office earlier this month. (PA)

A referral under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme to the Court of Appeal can only be made if a sentence is not just lenient but unduly so, such that the sentencing judge made a gross error or imposed a sentence outside the range of sentences reasonably available in the circumstances of the offence.

The threshold is a high one and the test was not met in this case.

Onasanyas brother Festus Onasanya was given a jail sentence of 10 months after he pleaded guilty to three counts of perverting the course of justice over the incident.

Story continues

Parliamentary rules state that a jail sentence of 12 months is required for the automatic removal of an MP.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK
I know what some of you are thinking. You read that headline and immediately think, alarmist clickbait. First, no ones ending the filibuster  at least not anytime soon. Second, even if the next Democratic Senate destroys the filibuster, whats the big deal? The Republicans will make the Democrats look as short-sighted as Harry Reid when he nuked the judicial filibuster. Both sides will get their free shot at legislation.

Yes, both sides will get their free shot, and thats exactly the problem.

Lets go back to the first question for a minute. Is there a chance that if a Democrat wins the White House in 2020, and the Democrats win a narrow majority in the Senate, theyll attempt to repeal the legislative filibuster? Will the pressure to implement a triumphant progressive presidents agenda be so overwhelming that Democratic senators will feel they have no choice? After all, theres no real path to single-payer or gun control or key aspects of the Green New Deal absent the nuclear option.

In fact, thats the very argument Jamelle Bouie makes in todays New York Times, in a piece urging Democratic presidential candidates to come out against the filibuster.

We are long past the days of large, bipartisan majorities for ambitious, far-reaching legislation. Just three Republican senators backed the 2009 stimulus and not one voted for the Affordable Care Act. Critics see this as evidence these laws were too liberal, but in truth it reflects structural change in American politics. The parties are polarized and ideologically coherent; they offer fundamentally different visions for the direction of the country. A President Booker or Klobuchar might seek Republican support for their agendas, but they wont likely find it. The legislative path for their policies  to say nothing of a Green New Deal or universal child care  will go entirely through the Democratic Party.

Bouie notes that most of the Democratic contenders dont favor filibuster repeal, but Elizabeth Warren has said that all options are on the table and Kamala Harris has said she is conflicted. The Times David Leonhardt used Bouies argument as a launching pad to explore the pros and cons of filibuster reform. We are now in the midst of a live debate.

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Let me begin by concurring with Bouie. Here we share an agreed upon set of facts, at least. Absent filibuster reform (or an unforeseen wave election in the Senate), our nation is presently too polarized and too closely divided to enact ambitious, far-reaching legislation.

But Bouie looks at those facts and says, Step on the gas. I look at them and say, Tap the brakes. If we think American electoral politics are fraught now, with more apocalyptic rhetoric filling the air each day, just imagine if each new election brought with it the realistic possibility of a truly fundamental swing in national policy. Single-payer might be passed in one presidential term and upended in the next. Gun-control regimes could swing wildly from president to president. And, critically, each swing would be accompanied by a convulsive, toxic political debate that deepened and intensified American polarization.

As a caution against filibuster reform, Leonhardt points to this tweet from Tufts political scientist Eitan Hersh:

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Hersh is right, and his analysis applies to both parties. After all, the golden rule of modern American partisanship is do unto the other worse than they did unto you. Imagine, years down the road, sweeping California-style gun control passed after a particularly heinous mass murder, a law that would render millions of Americans criminals in an instant. It would trigger extraordinary resistance in red states and likely galvanize efforts at nullification.

Conversely, imagine Democrats panic at the fragility of their social-justice initiatives. The instant a new Republican president and Senate was sworn in, protests would paralyze the capital as the new legislature worked quickly to repeal everything from health-care legislation to new climate-change laws.

Moreover, lets not forget that if the filibuster dies, it will die at a moment when our political culture remains in thrall to an endless cycle of Twitter-driven overreaction and outrage. The pressure for decisive legislative action in response to traumatic events will remain overwhelming. Ending the filibuster would mean that change would suddenly became not just possible but mandatory  and, given the extent of ideological polarization, dramatic, too.

Look at this chart. Ponder this chart. Memorize this chart:

Gone are the nice ideological bell curves of American generations past, when large majorities shared a degree of relative moderation. Welcome to an America thats trending closer to a U curve, in which the two sides glare at each other from across a widening chasm.

Using temporary, slim majorities to push sweeping, nation-changing legislation is like playing with matches in a gasoline spill. At the very least, its a recipe for increasing bitterness, division, and instability in public policy. At worst, its a recipe for outright state-level defiance. I wonder: How would blue states respond if a slight GOP majority passed a national heartbeat bill, a law that would essentially ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy? Its easy to imagine a meltdown.

And dont for one moment believe that overreach isnt inevitable. If there is one thing thats constant in modern American politics, its irrational partisan exuberance after every electoral win. Even close wins  like Trumps in 2016  usher in talk of permanent realignments. Partisans behave as if a mandate exists for their policies whether it actually does or not.

Finally, lest we despair of ever enacting meaningful reform, lets not forget that patient and persistent public advocacy can still work. Just recently, Congress passed criminal-justice reform with huge bipartisan majorities  an important change that was politically unthinkable not very long ago. No, its not the national transformation that activists seek, but Pyrrhic legislative victories arent victories at all, and sweeping change absent sweeping consensus will inflict deep costs on the American body politic.

The filibuster helps lower the true stakes of American elections. Its one of the last measures left in American politics that limits the centralization of power. And it helps ensure that significant reform carries with it significant public support. Its a check on the very forces that could tear our nation apart. It must be preserved.

More from National Review
David Davis says he is equipped to lead the Conservatives (Picture: PA)

David Davis has said he would be the leader of the Conservative Party if the application process was like that of hiring a chief executive.

The former cabinet minister, who lost out to David Cameron in the 2005 leadership race, told Tatler magazine he believed he had the credentials for the top job.

He said Theresa May probably has another year as Tory leader and revealed he did not submit a letter of no confidence in the prime minister last year.

Mr Davis said he didnt regret persuading Theresa May to stay on after the 2017 General Election (Picture: PA)

The former Brexit secretary said: If this were an application for a job as a chief executive, I would probably win it.

But it isnt. And that isnt the way the decision is done.

MORE: Cabinet trio warn they will help delay Brexit rather than leave Europe with no deal

MORE: Traveller duo who led 30 caravans on 300,000 brewery wrecking spree are jailed

Mr Davis also told the magazine he did not regret persuading Mrs May to stay on after she lost her majority at the general election in 2017.

Asked if that was the right decision, he said: Well, who would your alternative have been?

Mr Davis ran for Tory leader against David Cameron in 2005 (Picture: PA)

I dont regret it. I mean, look, you always make decisions based on what you know at the time.

Mr Davis also revealed his wife advised him to quit the Cabinet after Mrs May unveiled her controversial Chequers plan for Brexit in July.

He recalled: She just said leave. Shed seen quite how much work went into the job. She saw me up close in the way nobody else does.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK
US President Donald Trump landed in Hanoi on Tuesday for two days of talks to try to persuade North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to give up his nuclear arsenal.

Trump arrived on Air Force One after flying half way around the world from Washington, while Kim arrived earlier, following a two-and-a-half-day train journey from Pyongyang. They were due to have dinner Wednesday and continue talks on Thursday.

Trump arrived on Air Force One after flying half way around the world from Washington - AFP

The normally chaotic streets of central Hanoi ground to a halt as Kims convoy arrived in the Vietnamese capital.

Curious onlookers gathered next to televisions crews outside the luxurious Melia hotel in Hanois diplomatic district, waiting for hours under chilly, gloomy skies for a glimpse of the North Korean leader as he drove from the border city of Dong Dang after crossing China by train.

His black Mercedes Benz, in the middle of a convoy of at least a dozen cars, flanked by multiple police outriders, arrived shortly after 11am local time to crowds lining the streets, waving North Korean, US and Vietnamese flags, and holding up smartphones to record the moment.

Some 4,000 lamp posts on Hanois tree-lined streets have been decked with the flags, and a handshake design symbolising peace, while thousands of flower pots have been laid out to welcome the two leaders, who will meet for second time in under a year on Wednesday evening.

Anticipation in the city has been building for days, with residents expressing their excitement at Vietnam being catapulted into the centre of such a significant international event.

The Vietnamese are anticipating that this will have a big impact on global politics. Its also a good way to promote tourism here, said Nyuyen Anh Tuyet, whose small family shop in the tourist district has been designing and selling popular T-shirts decorated with portraits of the two leaders.

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The Melia was ringed with tight security on Tuesday morning, with armoured vehicles parked in nearby side streets, and access to the property was severely restricted.

Story continues

Kims bodyguards and staff were seen inside the hotel, some floors blocked off and the hotel informed guests on Monday that they would have to endure heightened security due to the visit of a Head of State staying at our hotel, reported Bloomberg.

Vietnamese police ride ahead of the motorcade of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, enroute to his hotel ahead of the North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi

Such was the cloud of secrecy surrounding Kims movements that the American media travelling with the US president, and who had been due to work out of the Melia, were abruptly shifted to a new location a few hours before he arrived.

The personal saunas in the best suites of the five-star hotel, which boasts of "elegant interiors" and "gorgeous views" may offer a brief moment of relaxation for the North Korean leader, who left Pyongyang in his armoured olive green train on Sunday, chugging about 2500 miles across China, before completing the final 105-mile stretch by car.

As he arrived at the station in the Vietnamese town of Dong Dang - the first North Korean leader to visit the country since 1964 - officials were on hand to receive him at the station with a red-carpet and a military guard of honour.

Kim, wearing his trademark Mao-style black suit, was spotted smiling and waving as he stepped into his Mercedes before setting off, about a dozen bodyguards briefly running alongside the vehicle for show.

Kim Jong-un's motorcade was greeted by crowds lining the streets of Hanoi

Little is known about his schedule before he meets President Trump for a brief one-on-one conversation on Wednesday evening.

Sarah Sanders, the White House spokesperson, told reports on Air Force One that their meeting will be followed by a social dinner, at which they will each be accompanied by two guests and interpreters. She said that would be followed by more meetings between the two leaders on Thursday.

Mr Trump does not arrive in Hanoi until Tuesday evening and he will meet with both Vietnamese president and prime minister before his first talks with Kim.

The summit in Hanoi falls just eight months after the first historic meeting of the two leaders in Singapore last June.

The Singapore summit produced a vaguely worded declaration to work towards the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, but talks have since stalled over disagreements on how to do so.

Vietnamese soldiers are guarding the Melia hotel where Kim Jong-un is staying Credit: Ye Aung Thu/AFP

While there is no real expectation that a deal will be struck this week to persuade Pyongyang to finally give up its nuclear weapons, there are hopes that the leaders could declare a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, which concluded only with an armistice.

"I believe that the possibility is there," the South's presidential Blue House spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom told reporters on Monday.

"There is no way of knowing what kind of declaration it might be, but I believe the U.S. and North Korea may reach an agreement."

Meanwhile, the US president tweeted as he left for Hanoi:

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"With complete Denuclearization, North Korea will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse," tweeted Trump. "Without it, just more of the same."

"Chairman Kim will make a wise decision!"

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Doha (AFP) - Abdulla Sager al-Khori has little doubt about the significance of a luxury watch when it comes to fashion -- and making a statement -- even in the thick of Qatar's diplomatic crisis.

"Because we have the traditional dress the only thing we can use as an accessory are watches and cufflinks, so the watch is a big part of our being on top of fashion and being fashionable," said the 36-year-old who works in public relations.

But Khori's passion for timepieces goes further than most -- he is a founding member of the Qatar Watch Club, a group of some 50 men who meet regularly to discuss their love of watches.

It "started from just wanting a watch to just tell the time to... I want this watch because I love the history, I love how hard is it to make this mechanism and how complicated these watches are," he said.

"So, it (went) from just a tool to telling the time to a passion that I hope to pass on to my children in the future."

Khori, who initially trained as a mechanical engineer, spoke to AFP at the close of the Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition, a vast five-day show that ran until February 25.

The event attracted large crowds to view the latest collection from global luxury brands, including Chaumet, Dior, Chopard, Tiffany, Rolex, Vacheron Constantin -- with its slogan of unashamed exclusivity "One of not many" -- and Alfardan.

- No price tags -

Qatar is one of the richest countries in the world, ranked by some as the richest in per capita terms, and many of those drawn to the exhibition turned up not just to look but to buy.

There was nothing so vulgar as a price tag in sight, and the show was an unabashed testament to opulence and wealth far beyond the reach of many.

Three-million-dollar necklaces vied for attention with $200,000 watches and iconic cars from the set of Hollywood movies.

Slim-suited European retailers chased the next sale, models displayed latest designs and elegantly-dressed rich locals shuffled between high-end stores -- as nearby Bangladeshi cleaners looked on.

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Leading Qatari dignitaries and royal family members attended and Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was flown in to officially open the show.

One retailer told of how 500 watches specifically-designed for the Doha exhibition, each costing 30,000 riyals ($8,200), sold out before the show had even opened.

The air itself was rich with the distinct aroma of expensive oud -- also known as liquid gold -- fragrances. Outside, drivers waited for their valet-service parked Maseratis, Bentleys and Rolls-Royces.

- Crisis? -

Even a regional diplomatic crisis which has engulfed Qatari politics for almost two years has failed to dent sales of luxury items.

"Our sales have almost doubled since the situation because now the Qatari people are buying in Qatar," said Hublot regional director David Tedeschi.

"They're not buying anymore" in the other oil-rich Arab states of the Gulf.

Geoffroy Ader, a collectible watch aficionada at the show, said 2018 figures showed that "Qatar holds the first position" for sales of luxury watches.

Since June 2017, Doha has been isolated from neighbouring former allies including Saudi Arabia over allegations of Qatari support for terrorist groups and of being too close to Iran.

Despite repeated denials from Doha, some fear that the bitter regional spat could permanently reshape Gulf politics.

And despite the watch club being an all-male affair, interest is far wider, according to Tedeschi.

"In Qatar... we have a lot of women customers," he said. In most countries around 30 percent of customers are women, while it runs at between 40 to 45 percent in Qatar.
Conservationists join forces with business leaders to raise wildlife awareness

Conservationists on Monday held an interactive programme with the business community in Chitwan to discuss the responsibility of all stakeholders in conserving wildlife in the district.
Here are the companies Yahoo Finance is watching today.

Starting with a big deal for GE. It's selling off its Life Sciences Unit for some $21 billion in cash. The buyer, Danaher, will add the operation to its existing bio pharma division. GE's CEO, Larry Culp calls the move important to helping strengthen GE's balance sheet.

Another big deal as well in Pharma. Roche is buying Spark Therapeutics for nearly $5 billion. Roche plans to leave spark as an independent company as it develops new gene therapies. It won FDA approval back in 2017 for a gene therapy to treat a rare genetic disease that causes blindness.

L Brands, the parent company of Victoria's Secret, is facing new competition. Target is launching three new lines of lingerie and sleepwear aimed at taking on the market leader. Target tells the Wall Street Journal it expects sales to top $1 billion a year as consumers shift away from the expensive products at Victoria's Secret.

Vietnam Airlines is looking to get some new Boeing jets! The airline is considering buying 50 to 100 Boeing Max planes this year to replace its old airbus jets and might also get planes to prepare for its flights to California. The CEO said the new aircraft will be ready for delivery between 2020 and 2030 and are valued at between $6 and $12 billion.

Kraft Heinz hired a banker to review options for its Maxwell House coffee business. The food giant tapped investment bank Credit Suisse to review a potential sale of the coffee business, among other options. CNBC says Maxwell House has about $400 million in earnings and could sell at about $3 billion.
By Marianna Parraga

(Reuters) - U.S. refiner Citgo Petroleum Corp is formally cutting ties with its parent, state-run oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela SA, to meet U.S. sanctions imposed on the OPEC country, two people close to the decision told Reuters on Tuesday.

Executives at the Houston-based firm set a Feb. 26 deadline to end relationships with PDVSA following sanctions designed to curb oil revenues to socialist President Nicolas Maduro and support the nation's transition government formed by Venezuelan congress head Juan Guaido.

The United States, Canada and dozens of other nations have recognized Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate president, but Maduro still controls the military, public institutions and PDVSA, which provides 90 percent of the country's export revenue.

Citgo has halted payments to its parent, subscriptions to corporate services, email communications and minimized mentions to PDVSA on marketing materials and its website.

Expatriate Venezuelan employees this month returned to Venezuela and a procurement subsidiary operating from Citgo's headquarters, PDVSA Services, was shut, the people familiar with the matter said.

A Citgo spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment.

The company is trying to free itself of sanctions that have hampered access to financing. It is prioritizing refinancing a revolving credit and term loan by the end of July, the sources said. Credit rating firm Fitch on Monday placed Citgo on rating watch citing heightened refinancing risk due to sanctions.

"We have been told that we have to organize the house by Feb. 26 to avoid conflicts with sanctions," one of the sources said.

A new Citgo board of directors was appointed this month by the Venezuelan congress under Chairwoman Luisa Palacios, who last week named a management team under Rick Esser, the company's new executive vice president. New boards for PDVSA and subsidiaries, PDV Holding and Citgo Holding, also have been appointed by the Venezuelan National Assembly.

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Citgo is Venezuela's main foreign asset. It is the eighth largest U.S. refiner, with a 750,000-barrel-per-day refining network capable of supplying 4 percent of the country's fuel through a network of some 5,000 gas stations in 30 states.

The Venezuelan congress has been researching the South American nation's assets and bank account around the globe in an effort to gain access to cash and foreign facilities.

It is unclear if Citgo's new board has completed a registration process in Delaware to legally take control of the company. The new board could face a legal challenge by PDVSA's current leadership if the board was not legally constituted.

(Reporting by Marianna Parraga in Mexico City; Editing by Richard Chang)
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Today well look at China Maple Leaf Educational Systems Limited (HKG:1317) and reflect on its potential as an investment. To be precise, well consider its Return On Capital Employed (ROCE), as that will inform our view of the quality of the business.

Firstly, well go over how we calculate ROCE. Then well compare its ROCE to similar companies. Last but not least, well look at what impact its current liabilities have on its ROCE.

What is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

ROCE is a measure of a companys yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. In general, businesses with a higher ROCE are usually better quality. Ultimately, it is a useful but imperfect metric. Author Edwin Whiting says to be careful when comparing the ROCE of different businesses, since No two businesses are exactly alike.

How Do You Calculate Return On Capital Employed?

The formula for calculating the return on capital employed is:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT)  (Total Assets  Current Liabilities)

Or for China Maple Leaf Educational Systems:

0.12 = CN485m  (CN5.8b  CN1.9b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to August 2018.)

Therefore, China Maple Leaf Educational Systems has an ROCE of 12%.

See our latest analysis for China Maple Leaf Educational Systems

Is China Maple Leaf Educational Systemss ROCE Good?

One way to assess ROCE is to compare similar companies. It appears that China Maple Leaf Educational Systemss ROCE is fairly close to the Consumer Services industry average of 13%. Regardless of where China Maple Leaf Educational Systems sits next to its industry, its ROCE in absolute terms appears satisfactory, and this company could be worth a closer look.

As we can see, China Maple Leaf Educational Systems currently has an ROCE of 12% compared to its ROCE 3 years ago, which was 9.8%. This makes us wonder if the company is improving.

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SEHK:1317 Past Revenue and Net Income, February 26th 2019

When considering ROCE, bear in mind that it reflects the past and does not necessarily predict the future. Companies in cyclical industries can be difficult to understand using ROCE, as returns typically look high during boom times, and low during busts. ROCE is only a point-in-time measure. What happens in the future is pretty important for investors, so we have prepared a free report on analyst forecasts for China Maple Leaf Educational Systems.

How China Maple Leaf Educational Systemss Current Liabilities Impact Its ROCE

Current liabilities include invoices, such as supplier payments, short-term debt, or a tax bill, that need to be paid within 12 months. Due to the way ROCE is calculated, a high level of current liabilities makes a company look as though it has less capital employed, and thus can (sometimes unfairly) boost the ROCE. To counteract this, we check if a company has high current liabilities, relative to its total assets.

China Maple Leaf Educational Systems has total assets of CN5.8b and current liabilities of CN1.9b. As a result, its current liabilities are equal to approximately 32% of its total assets. China Maple Leaf Educational Systems has a medium level of current liabilities, which would boost the ROCE.

What We Can Learn From China Maple Leaf Educational Systemss ROCE

With a decent ROCE, the company could be interesting, but remember that the level of current liabilities make the ROCE look better. Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates. So take a peek at this free list of companies with modest (or no) debt, trading on a P/E below 20.

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

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.
By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - A slowing economy is unlikely to crimp China's 2019 defence budget rise, as Beijing earmarks more spending for modernisation and big-ticket items like stealth jets, and focuses on Taiwan after a stern new year's speech from President Xi Jinping.

The defence spending figure is closely watched worldwide for clues to China's strategic intentions as it develops new military capabilities, including aircraft carriers and anti-satellite missiles.

In 2018, China unveiled its largest defence spending increase in three years, setting an 8.1 percent growth target for the year, fuelling an ambitious military upgrade programme and making its neighbours nervous.

The 2019 number should be revealed at the March 5 opening of the annual session of the country's largely rubber-stamp parliament, though in 2017 it was initially not announced, prompting renewed concerns about transparency.

China plans to set a lower economic growth target of 6-6.5 percent in 2019 compared with last year's target of around 6.5 percent, policy sources have told Reuters. The government will also announced the economic growth target on March 5.

But the defence budget increase could well surpass that.

Influential state-run tabloid the Global Times, which takes a strongly nationalistic line, this month cited an unnamed military expert as saying "a stable 8-9 percent increase from 2018 would be a reasonable prediction".

China still has a long way to go to catch Western forces, as the number of advanced weapons now in its arsenal, like the J-20 stealth fighter, remain limited, the paper said.

Xie Yue, a professor of political science at Tongji University in Shanghai and a security expert, said with a weakening economy there would naturally be an expectation for a slower increase in military spending.

"It should go down, as the defence budget is connected to economic growth, but certainly factors will probably mean it will still go up, like the South China Sea and Taiwan issues."

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Xi's January speech threatening to attack Taiwan should it not accept Chinese rule has shot the issue back up the agenda for the country's military thinkers, especially as the island gears up for presidential elections next year.

"The Taiwan question can't keep being put of, passed down through the generations," retired Chinese Major-General Luo Yuan, one of the country's most prominent and widely read military commentators, wrote on his blog last month.

"Our generation must complete our historic mission."

One source with ties to China's military said the armed forces were itching for a fight over self-ruled Taiwan, claimed by China as its sacred territory, especially after Xi's speech.

"Every day, they're like 'fight, fight, fight,'" said the source, who meets regularly with senior officers.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has repeatedly warned of the threat from China, and vowed to defend the island and its democratic way of life. The United States has said it is closely watching Chinese intentions toward Taiwan.

"Even with just a broom, I would fight against China," Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang told parliament last week. "You would pay a price if you want to annex Taiwan."

'CHINA GETTING STRONG'

In 2018, China unveiled its largest defence spending increase in three years, setting an 8.1 percent growth target for the year.

China's Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on this year's military budget. China routinely says spending is for defensive purposes only, comparatively small and that critics just want to keep the country down.

"What people are scared of is China getting strong," said Xu Guangyu, a senior consultant at the China Arm Control and Disarmament Association and another former senior Chinese officer, dismissing concerns about defence spending.

U.S. President Donald Trump has backed plans to request $750 billion from Congress for defence spending in 2019. That compares with the 1.11 trillion yuan ($165.40 billion) China set for its military budget in 2018.

China provides no breakdown of its defence budget, leading neighbours and other military powers to complain that Beijing's lack of transparency has added to regional tension. China says it is fully transparent and no threat.

Diplomats and many foreign experts say China's defence numbers probably underestimate true military spending for the People's Liberation Army, the world's largest armed forces, which also runs the country's space programme.

($1 = 6.7112 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Gao Liangping, and Yimou Lee in TAIPEI; Editing by Michael Perry)
CHICAGO  Voters head to the polls Tuesday to pick a new mayor to take on the challenges weighing down the nations third-largest city: Billions of dollars in unmet pension obligations, endemic corruption and persistent gun violence.

A record 14 candidates are on the ballot.

Most of the candidates announced they were running after two-term Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced in September that he wouldnt seek a third term. The field includes eight people of color and ten who have never held elected office.

Heres what you need to know about Tuesdays race:

1) Tuesdays vote is likely just the beginning.

Under Chicagos election rules, if no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two vote-getters will face off in an April 2 runoff.

No candidate is polling at more than 14 percent, according to a survey published Sunday by 270 Strategies. Six candidates were within the polls margin of error of 3.7 percent of finishing in the top two.

If the race is as close as polling suggests, it could take the Chicago Board of Election some time to sort out winners and losers.

In this Feb. 8, 2019 file photo, Bill Daley speaks during a news conference in Chicago.

2) At least six candidates appear to have a legitimate shot.

The top three candidates  former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot, former U.S. Commerce Secretary Bill Daley and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle  finished within less than half a percentage point in the 270 Strategies Poll.

Lightfoot, who served as president of the Chicago Police Board and the citys Police Accountability Task Force, has cast herself as a reformer and independent who will take on a culture of corruption in city hall.

Daley, who was commerce secretary under President Bill Clinton, chief of staff under President Barack Obama and a top executive at JP Morgan, says his high-level experience in government and business makes him the ideal candidate to confront the citys financial problems. Chicago has $28 billion in unmet pension obligations. Daley is the son of the late Mayor Richard J. Daley and brother of former Mayor Richard M. Daley.

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Preckwinkle has the backing of the powerful Chicago Teachers Union. Shes also the president of the countys Democratic party, giving her a strong base of support.

Three other candidates  Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, former Chicago school board president Gery Chico, and businessman Willie Wilson  are within striking distance of the frontrunners, according to the 270 Strategies poll.

Chicago corruption: In corruption-plagued Chicago, high-level shakedown charges loom over mayoral race, candidates

Another Daley: Will Chicago elect a third Mayor Daley? It's starting to look like a distinct possibility

Rahm's out: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's bombshell news leaves city at crossroad

Mendoza, who the poll shows at 10 percent, has focused largely on reducing violent crime, checking property taxes and improving schools.

Gery Chico, at 9 percent, has served in a variety of high-level city positions and ran a lucrative law practice that has represented clients doing business with Chicago. He was chief of staff to former Mayor Richard M. Daley, head of the citys school board and president of Chicagos park district.

Willie Wilson, the son of a Louisiana sharecropper, grew up in poverty and had only a seventh-grade education, but went on to own several McDonalds franchises and found a medical supplies company. Wilson, at 9 percent, has cast himself as a pro-business candidate who would work reduce taxes for city residents and corporations.

In this Dec. 9. 2018 file photo, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle speaks during a news conference at the Chicago Teachers Union headquarters in Chicago.

3) Corruption is casting a shadow over race.

Chicago is no stranger to corruption. More than 30 city aldermen have been convicted of political corruption since 1973.

But the political scandal unveiled by federal prosecutors in January has cast a shadow over Tuesdays mayoral election.

Authorities say Democratic Alderman Ed Burke, a 50-year veteran of the City Council and chairman of its powerful finance committee, tried to shake down officials of a company that operates dozens of Burger King franchises in Illinois.

Four of the most competitive candidates in the race  Preckwinkle, Mendoza, Chico and Daley  have all drawn scrutiny for longstanding ties to Burke. They've all sought to distance themselves from the longtime power broker.

Preckwinkle received more than $100,000 from a Burke-sponsored fundraiser last year. Mendoza was married at Burkes home. Burke endorsed Chico, who worked as an aide to the alderman 30 years ago. Daley's family has received about $30,000 in political donations from Burke over decades.

In this March 20, 2017 file photo, Illinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza speaks to the City Club of Chicago in Chicago.

4) Rahm opts not to try for third term.

Emanuel amassed more than $10 million campaign contributions for this election, but would have faced a difficult campaign had he decided to seek a third term.

Emanuel entered office in 2011 with one of the most impressive political resumes of any big-city mayor: He was a top adviser to President Bill Clinton, served three terms in Congress, chaired the House Democratic Caucus and became President Barack Obamas first White House chief of staff.

As mayor, he boasted of record high school graduation rates in the city last year, significant investment in the Chicago Transit Authority, and success recruiting several large corporations to relocate to the city.

But he saw his standing in the citys sizable African-American community sink following the court-ordered release of chilling police video that showed a white officer, Jason Van Dyke, firing 16 shots at a black teen, Laquan McDonald, on a city street.

Van Dyke was convicted of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery. He was sentenced last month to 81 months in prison.

In this Feb. 22, 2011 file photo, Chicago mayoral candidate Gery Chico speaks to supporters in Chicago.

5) The winner could make history.

Lightfoot, Preckwinkle or Amara Enyia would be Chicagos first black female mayor. Lightfoot would be the city's first openly gay mayor. Mendoza or Chico would be the city's first Latino mayor.

A win by Daley would continue the dynasty of one of the nation's most powerful political families. Bill Daleys father, Richard J. Daley, was mayor of Chicago for 21 years, and his older brother, Richard M. Daley, spent 22 years as mayor.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chicago votes for a new mayor: 5 things to know about historic race
CHICAGO  Former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle are headed to an April 2 runoff to decide who will become the nations third-largest citys next mayor, topping a crowded field of 14 candidates.

The winner will become Chicago's first black woman mayor, and will make Chicago the largest U.S. city to be led by one. If Lightfoot prevails, she will also be the city's first out LGBT mayor.

Lightfoot had 17.5 percent of the vote and Preckwinkle had 16 percent with 96 percent of precincts counted. Neither achieved the outright majority needed to forestall a runoff.

Former U.S. Commerce Secretary Bill Daley, who had 14.8 percent of the vote, conceded late Tuesday and congratulated Lightfoot and Preckwinkle.

Lightfoot, 56, grew up in Ohio and came to Chicago to attend law school at the University of Chicago.

"This is what change looks like," she said. "It's true that not every day, a little black girl in a low-income family from a segregated steel town makes the runoff to be the mayor of the third-largest city in the country."

Preckwinkle, 71, a former alderman and head of the Cook County Democratic Party, has long been a force in Chicago politics. As she celebrated moving on to a runoff, she aimed to tie Lightfoot to the administrations of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and former Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Emanuel appointed her to the Chicago Police Board and the city's Police Accountability Task Force. Daley named her in 2002 as chief administrator of the Office of Professional Standards, a disciplinary arm of the Chicago Police Department that has since been abolished.

Preckwinkle also jabbed at Lightfoot's lack of experience in electoral office.

"It's not enough to stand at a podium and talk about what you want to see happen," Preckwinkle said. "You have to come to this job with the capacity and capability to make your vision a reality."

Story continues

Chicago mayoral candidate Toni Preckwinkle speaks at her election night event in Chicago on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019.

Polls leading up to the vote Tuesday showed at least six candidates with a serious shot at finishing in the top two, but none coming close to a majority.

The top contenders going into Tuesday included Preckwinkle, Lightfoot, Daley, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, former Chicago school board president Gery Chico and businessman Willie Wilson. Daley, Chico and Mendoza conceded within three hours of the polls closing.

"Tonight's results were not what we hoped. But we cannot dwell on what could have been," Daley told supporters. "We must look forward to how we can help shape our citys future.

"Chicago is a part of me. It always will be. While I may not be its next mayor, I wont stop fighting to move our city forward."

Chicago mayoral candidate Bill Daley looks down as he speaks during an election night celebration in Chicago, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019. Daley concedes in the Chicago mayoral race, as Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle emerge from a crowded field of 14 candidates and advance to a runoff on April 2.

A victory by Daley, the son and brother of mayors, would have meant the return of one of the nations most famous political clans to the fifth floor of City Hall. His father, Richard J. Daley, and his brother, Richard M. Daley, served a combined 43 years.

Lightfoot raised about $1.2 million for the campaign, least among the top three. Preckwinkle raised $4.6 million; Daley raised $8.7 million.

Together, the 14 candidates and independent groups hauled in nearly $30 million to besiege Chicagoans with an inescapable loop of television and digital advertising, campaign calls and mailers.

Also on the ballot were races for city council, clerk and treasurer.

Preckwinkle cast her ballot at an elementary school in the citys Hyde Park neighborhood.

This is a historic moment for the city, she said. I am proud of the work of my campaign and feel optimistic as we head into tonight."

Election officials said turnout was low. Only a third of the city's 1.58 million registered voters cast a ballot.

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Most of the field, including Preckwinkle, entered the race after Emanuel announced in September he would not seek a third term. Lightfoot announced her candidacy before Emanuel's announcement, boasting that she didn't fear taking on "Goliath."

Emanuel, a former congressman, White House chief of staff to President Barack Obama and cabinet secretary under President Bill Clinton, is a prodigious fundraiser who amassed $10 million in campaign contributions before announcing he wouldnt seek reelection.

He had become a polarizing figure in the city.

The Chicago Teachers Union called a 7-day strike in 2012, the first work stoppage in the school district in 25 years. Emanuel drew criticism for closing 50 Chicago Public Schools during his first term, the vast majority impacting black and Latino children.

And he saw his standing plummet in the citys African-American community after the court-ordered release in late 2015 of chilling police video that showed Jason Van Dyke, a white officer, firing 16 shots at Laquan McDonald, a black teen.

Emanuel had resisted releasing the video. It spurred weeks of protests.

Cliff notes: Chicago votes for a new mayor: 5 things to know about historic race

Alderman's shakedown: In corruption-plagued Chicago, high-level shakedown charges loom over mayoral race, candidates

Another Daley: Will Chicago elect a third Mayor Daley? It's starting to look like a distinct possibility

The next mayor will inherit major challenges, including unusually high levels of gun violence, a woefully underfunded municipal workers pension program, and a shrinking population.

Chicago recorded 561 homicides last year, an improvement over the previous year but far more than in larger New York and Los Angeles. The city suffered nearly 2,000 homicides from 2016 to 2018, a period when most of the nation saw homicide rates near historic lows.

Some voters remained undecided right up until they arrived at their polling places. Juan Toleltino, 63, said he was torn between Daley, Mendoza and Chico.

Whoever wins, he said, must address the killings and shootings.

The first thing I want to see them do is deal with the gun violence, Toleltino said. We got to get it under control.

The city is also weighed down by roughly $28 billion in unmet municipal worker pension obligations. At the same time, the population has plummeted  Houston is on pace to pass the city as the nations third largest in the next decade  while the chasm between rich and poor has grown.

In 1970, about half of Chicagos census tracts were classified as middle-income areas, according to a study by the Voorhees Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Only 16 percent of the tracts were classified as middle income in 2017, according to the study.

The difficulties are particularly notable in huge swaths of the citys South and West sides, predominantly African-American neighborhoods that have lost the most population.

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The race was shaken up last month when federal authorities announced charges of attempted extortion against Alderman Ed Burke, a powerful 50-year veteran of the city council.

Burke, who won reelection to another four-year term Tuesday, is accused of shaking down the operators of Burger King restaurants in Illinois. He has pleaded not guilty, and is running for re-election.

Four of the top candidates, including Preckwinkle, had ties to the alderman and found themselves scrambling to distance themselves.

Preckwinkle received more than $100,000 from a Burke-sponsored fundraiser last year. Mendoza was married at Burkes home. Burke endorsed Chico, who worked as an aide to the alderman 30 years ago. Daley's family has received about $30,000 in political donations from Burke over decades.

While political corruption has grabbed headlines, financial stability was cited by 18 percent of voters as the top issue facing the city  a higher concern than any other issue, according to a 270 Strategies poll published Sunday.

Betsy Tavizon said she voted for Preckwinkle  the least worst of the choices.

Tavison, 29, said she was looking for a candidate who spoke to her concerns about the rising cost of living in the city. She thinks about leaving Chicago because she finds it difficult to imagine a scenario in which shed ever be able to become a homeowner.

It was a difficult decision, Tavizon said. I didnt make my choice until last night."

Dane Lopez, 41, was most concerned about the impact gentrification was having on his neighborhood, Humboldt Park. His neighborhood, home to one of the countrys biggest Puerto Rican communities, has become more affluent over the last two decades, and rising real estate prices, rents and property taxes have made it difficult for many of his longtime neighbors to keep up.

He decided to vote for Mendoza, in part because she was the only candidate to visit his church and ask for the communitys support.

She said shes going to put the focus in the community, Lopez said. It was difficult sorting out who to vote for, but she was one that connected the most to my values.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chicago will elect first black female mayor; Lightfoot and Preckwinkle advance to runoff
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When a child is sick and conventional medicine isnt helping, parents understandably often turn to alternative treatments. Recently, that includes cannabidiol, aka CBD, which is a cannabis compound found in marijuana and hemp thats being touted as a remedy for everything from pain and arthritis to seizures and sleep problems. Unlike the cannabis plants other well-known compound, THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), CBD does not get users high, its nonaddictive, and it has a low risk of side effectswhich makes it seem like an appealing option for children.

While CBD is being used widely by adults, the best evidence for it comes from studies focusing on children with certain kinds of epilepsy. And increasingly, parents are giving CBD to their children to manage a range of other conditions, such as autism and anxiety.

CBD has become a very popular over-the-counter type of treatment that parents get on their own and give their children, and some say they see a big improvement, says Doris Trauner, M.D., distinguished professor of neurosciences and pediatrics at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and a physician at San Diegos Rady Childrens Hospital. Every other patient I see is asking about it.

But she cautions that for many health problems the research is still in its infancy. And while CBD doesnt pose many clear risks, its also not totally benign, says Trauner, who is launching a clinical study examining the benefits and risks of CBD on children with autism. People tend to think that because its natural and plant-based that its safe, she says. But CBD can cause side effects, such as diarrhea, changes in appetite, fatigue, and interactions with some medications.

In addition, CBD products sold online and in retail stores are mostly unregulated, making it difficult to know whether the tinctures, balms, gelcaps, and gummies available contain what the label claims.

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Still, many experts are hopeful about CBDs potential. Though much research has been in animals, three recent randomized placebo-controlled double-blind trials in humans (the gold standard for scientific studies), found that a CBD-based drug called Epidiolex was effective in reducing seizures in people with Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, two rare but devastating forms of epilepsy. The landmark studies led the Food and Drug Administration to approve Epidiolex in June 2018, making it the first (and only) prescription CBD-based medication.

The emergence of Epidiolex has helped legitimize CBD, but using it (and other cannabinoid-based products) to manage childhood conditions remains controversial and is largely uncharted territory. Heres what you need to know if you are thinking about using CBD for your child.

CBD for Seizures

What parents say: Adam Adache, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., says that Epidiolex has been life-changing for his daughter Maya. Now 11 years old, she began having seizures as a baby and was later diagnosed with Dravet syndrome. For most of her life, she endured multiple seizures each day, and none of the medications shed been given provided long-term help. Some were scarier than others, but they were all scary, Adache says.

On Epidiolex, Maya has gone from having up to 20 seizures a day to having only about one seizure every few weeks or month. Its been amazing, Adache says. Occasionally well see the small partial seizures, but theyre very few and far between . . . it was a dramatic change, night and day.

What research says: Orrin Devinsky, M.D., director of NYU Langones Comprehensive Epilepsy Center in New York City and a principal investigator in the Epidiolex trials, says its clear that CBD can reduce the most important and disabling seizures in people with Dravet or Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. But he acknowledges that it doesnt work for everyone with those forms of epilepsy, and some research has shown that CBD may not be effective for other types of seizure disorders.

Whats more, Epidiolex differs in important ways from the CBD sold online or in retail stores. For one thing, as an FDA-approved prescription drug, it comes in a highly purified form, with numerous safeguards in place to ensure that it contains what its manufacturer claims, in the proper amounts, and is produced in a facility thats free of contaminants. Also, the dosages are higher than what is suggested on the labels of most over-the-counter CBD products.

Still, its not unreasonable to try over-the-counter CBD products to manage your childs seizures, as long as you talk with your doctor and take safety precautions. (See CRs tips on how to try CBD safely.)

Go slowly and try to be systematic and monitor, Devinsky says. And because CBD is fat-soluble, give it to your child along with a food that contains fat. This will help the body absorb the CBD better and maximize what youre getting, he says.

CBD for Autism

What parents say: Valerie Hoback, of Conestoga, Penn., says she tried a few brands of CBD before finding oneHempWorx CBDthat helped her 11-year-old son Wyatt, who has a mild form or autism. Since he started taking it in June 2018, Hoback says, Wyatt no longer experiences the head explosions or the screaming in his brain, as he used to describe the way he felt. Hoback emphasizes that CBD has not cured Wyatts autism, but it has helped him to move forward with school, therapy, and life at home, she says.

What research says: Animal studies suggest that CBD may affect autistic behaviors, and some scientists are beginning to investigate whether it has the same effect in humans. For instance, Trauner, in San Diego, will soon launch a first-of-its kind double-blind placebo-controlled study examining the effect of a synthetic form of CBDone created in a lab, not extracted from a planton children with severe autism. The research, Trauner says, is to see whether the drug will improve the more negative symptoms associated with severe autism, such as aggressive behavior, self-injurious behavior, persistent repetitive behaviors, and hyperactivity.

Several prescription drugs offer some help for people with autism, but they can have serious side effects. If we can find something that doesnt have those side effects and has a good safety profile that works, it could make a huge difference, Trauner says. It could allow these children to reach their potential.

Devinsky is also hopeful that CBD may prove to be effective in treating autism, in part because of parallels between that condition and epilepsy. Some genes that cause autism also cause epilepsy, and some of the physiologic changes in nerve cells in autism are also similar to those in epilepsy, Devinsky says. So its not a shock that we might get some benefit from drugs that might work on both disorders.

CBD for ADHD

What parents say: Last October, Lindsey Elliott started giving her 11-year-old son Tyler about 15 mg of a CBD oil made by a company called Elixinol to see whether it would help his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). For years, Tylers inability to focus made it hard for him to pay attention in school and keep up with schoolwork. But after trying CBD, Tyler has improved leaps and bounds, Elliott says. Both he and his teacher have noticed a big difference. Tyler feels like he can concentrate more, and he feels more part of the team because hes not sitting there lost.

But not all parents have had the same experience. This past summer, Jaime Cammack of Middlebury, Vt., bought a CBD product for her elementary-school-age son, who has ADHD. Fellow parents had mentioned that the compound had helped their sons ADHD, and Cammack was seeking an alternative to prescription drugs. She chose organic gummies made by Upstate Elevator Supply and gave her son one 10-mg gummy three times a day from July through September. I went into it hopeful that wed found a more natural way to knock the edge off of [his] highs and lows, but we found there was very little difference, Cammack says.

She decided to stop using the CBD, given that it was expensive and provided minimal help, and instead started her son on medication. The prescription we are currently using is much more effective at enabling our son to curb his impulses and focus, Cammack says. Instead of taking 2 hours to do a single math worksheet, it takes roughly 10 minutes, and that is a big win for our daily routine.

What research says: Theres not much research on CBD and ADHD directly, but theres growing evidence that CBD can ease anxiety, a problem that sometimes accompanies ADHD, Devinsky says. Scott Shannon, M.D., assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and author of Mental Health for the Whole Child (W.W. Norton, 2013), agrees. He says that while he does not routinely recommend CBD for ADHD, Kids that have an anxious variety of ADHD may get some benefit.

CBD for Pain

What parents say: Hoback, in Pennsylvania, says that CBD has not only helped manage her son Wyatts autistic behaviors but also eased her 15-year-old daughter Emmas migraines, which she has suffered from since she was 3 years old. She is on a prescription medication for the migraines, but it will only help if she is able to catch them in time, Hoback says. If not, shes in terrible pain and has vomiting. So we tried rubbing the CBD cream on her head when the migraines get bad. It takes her head pain away in about 20 minutes. Its a bit unbelievable.

What research says: There have been no clinical human trials evaluating CBD and migraines specifically. But research suggests it may treat pain (possibly including migraine pain) by interacting with receptors throughout the body, through pathways called the endocannabinoid system. The receptors may affect the pain messages that cells send to each other. Other research shows that CBD can fight inflammation, which may also relieve pain.

CBD Caveats and Risks to Consider

Talk with your childs doctor. If youre considering CBD for your child, let your pediatrician know so that he or she can manage your childs overall care, monitor possible side effects, and help you avoid medication interactions. Its hard to find physicians at this point who are experienced and comfortable in this area, so thats going to be a challenge, Shannon says. But I think thats a good goal, if they can find a professional who can guide them with this.

Watch for side effects. Overall, research suggests that CBD has few side effects, especially compared with the powerful prescription medications sometimes used to treat serious childhood conditions, Shannon says. In the Epidiolex trials, for instance, the side effects were minor, including problems such as liver function abnormalities, lethargy, decreased appetite, and diarrhea, (especially at higher doses), but the medication has very good safety data, Devinsky says.

Still, little is known about the risks of taking CBD long-term, so it should be used cautiously, especially in children. And it can interact with several medications, so be extra-careful if your child regularly takes any over-the-counter or prescription drugs. (See CRs tips on how to try CBD safely.)

Look for a reputable product. CBD products sold online and at many retail stores arent subject to rigorous testing, and some have questionable quality. A 2017 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association that evaluated CBD products bought online found that 26 percent of them contained less CBD than what was listed on the label.

It is a bit buyer beware, says Bonni Goldstein, M.D., medical director of Canna-Centers, a medical practice based in California. So look for a company that can provide third-party testing and a Certificate of Analysis, or COA. These results should indicate how much CBD (and THC) the product contains, as well as how the product did in tests checking for contaminants. Anybody who says, we dont have test results, move on and find another company, Goldstein says.

If your pediatrician cant advise you on CBD products, check out Realm of Caring, an independent nonprofit that conducts research on cannabinoids and offers education services. (Read more on how to shop for CBD.)

Start low and slow. It can take time to figure out an appropriate dose of CBD. Goldstein, who has treated many children with CBD (often in combination with THC) for conditions such as autism and epilepsy, says that theres no one size fits all, and it takes trial and error to find the right product and dosage for each child. I prepare parents that it will likely take us six to 12 months to see what will work, Goldstein says. A good rule of thumb: Start at a low dose and increase gradually, which will guard against side effects.

Store CBD safely. Just as you would with any other medication, remember to store CBD products out of reach of children, especially if they are gummies and could be mistaken for candy. Though taking large amounts of CBD may not be lethal, it could cause stomach upset, among other problems. Also, if the product is mislabeled and contains more THC than listed (hemp-derived CBD products may contain up to 0.3 percent THC), it could be intoxicating.





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Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright  2019, Consumer Reports, Inc.
What happened?

Theresa May today caved into mounting pressure and announced that Brexit could be delayed. Speaking in the House of Commons, she made three new commitments.

She said a second meaningful vote on her Brexit deal would take place before 12 March If MPs reject her deal, there will then be a vote on leaving the EU without a deal on 13 March If MPs reject this option too they will then vote on 14 March as to whether they want to delay Brexit until June 2019

She made the announcement after a number of Conservative ministers threatened to quit if she refused to rule out a no-deal Brexit.

Does this mean that Brexit might not happen?

The fact MPs are voting on whether to delay Brexit doesnt necessarily mean its any more likely Brexit will be stopped. What is does mean is Theresa May is siding with the Remainers and soft Brexiteers in her party, suggesting she will favour a soft Brexit going forward. She only made the decision to allow the vote after a mounting rebellion in the Tory party over the idea of crashing out of the EU without a deal on March 29. Opposition to no deal is such that a vote in favour of delaying Brexit if a deal cant be agreed in time is likely.

The intense pressure to avoid no deal was led by three Cabinet ministers  Amber Rudd, David Gauke and Greg Clark  who have repeatedly urged the PM to allow for a vote to push back the Brexit date if she fails to win support for her deal. Other members of the cabinet are staunchly opposed to a delay, and today accused the trio of undermining Mrs Mays negotiating position with the EU.

A possible threat to Brexit came yesterday in the form of a policy change from Labour. Jeremy Corbyn announced definitively for the first time that his party would support a second Brexit referendum in certain circumstances. Tomorrow Labour will put forward their own Brexit plan and MPs will vote on the idea. If Parliament rejects it, the opposition will move to back a vote with the options of Theresa Mays deal and remaining in the EU.

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Read more about this story

Mays deal, no deal or Brexit delay: what happens now? (The Guardian)

Simples! Theresa May quotes Aleksandr the Meerkat during Commons Brexit debate (Yahoo News UK)

Labour MP slams Governments complete and utter lack of bravery over Brexit (HuffPost)

Theresa May wont say it, but theres no chance of a no-deal Brexit now (The Independent)



New poll data revealed today shows that The Independent Groups support almost rivals that of the Labour Party. According to a poll by YouGov, the newly formed group would receive 18% of the vote if they became a fully fledged political party  but Yahoo users appear to be less convinced. Read the full story and have your say below:

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Family of James Bulger want identity of killer revealed

The father and uncle of James Bulger have launched a bid for the identity of the toddlers killer, Jon Venables, to be made public. Ralph and Jimmy Bulger are challenging the lifelong anonymity order made in 2001. Venables has been living anonymously since his release from a life sentence for the kidnap, torture and murder of two-year-old James in February 1993. The toddler was killed by Venables and Robert Thompson, both aged 10, after they snatched him from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside. Read the full story here (HuffPost)

Tommy Robinson banned from Facebook and Instagram

Tommy Robinson has had his official Facebook page and Instagram profiles removed. The social networks said Robinson posted in ways that violate our policies around organised hate. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, had amassed more than one million followers on Facebook, where he regular posts live videos and appeals for donations. He said the ban was down to the corrupt media and the establishment. Read the full story here (PA News)

Weve all seen Kim Jong-uns running bodyguards before, but youve never seen one of his aides leap into action quite like this. The North Korean leader arrived in Vietnam ahead of his summit with US President Donald Trump, but it was Kims translator who stole the show, when he was spotted sprinting to his bosss side when he noticed he was unattended. Read the full story here

20.8C

This was the record-breaking temperature reached in Porthmadog today. The temperature (69.5F) broke the previous record for the highest winter temperature in the UK. Just a year ago, the mercury reached a high of only 3C in that region of Wales. The record was actually set, also in Wales, just yesterday, but that 20.6C had beaten the previous record of 19.7C set in south-east London back in 1998. Read the full story here (Sky News)
Chinese investment should serve the interest of Nepal and not just China, US official says

Amid Nepals growing engagements with China, including plans to build at least nine projects under the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative, a senior US defense official on Monday dropped a caveat: Chinese investment should be designed to serve the interest of Nepal and not just China.
Nine-out-of-10 said they have a strong understanding of their finances.

Canadian women over 45 years old are financially well-prepared, according to a new poll by RBC Insurance.

The bank interviewed over 1,000 Canadian women in that age bracket in January, and found 67 per cent are confident they can afford the lifestyle they want through retirement.

Seventy-six per cent of respondents said they could maintain household spending power if their partner died. Nine-out-of-10 said they have a strong understanding of their finances. An overwhelming majority (94 per cent) favoured a prudent approach to making sure their money lasts.

Women have long been managers of the day-to-day activities and spending in households across the country, and were pleased to see this reflected in their confidence about the household finances, RBC wealth insurance director Selene Soo wrote in a news release on Tuesday.

Only a quarter of respondents said they would struggle to properly manage a sudden lump sum of money. Most would hold off on making a hasty purchase. Eighteen per cent said they would spend immediately.

Women are expressing a strong interest in long-term financial strategies, risk mitigation and products that can provide guaranteed income, said Soo.

Most respondents (84 per cent) said they would like to leave an inheritance for their loved ones. Half (49 per cent) said they have received one, and 46 per cent expect one in the future. Only 17 per cent said they will rely on inherited money to bankroll their retirement years.

Women in British Columbia were the most likely to expect an inheritance (49 per cent). Women in Atlantic Canada were least likely (34 per cent).

Quebec women expressed the most financial confidence in the event of their partners death (85 per cent), versus 65 per cent in Alberta.

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
Feb 25 (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said on Monday that the wealthy, including himself, are not paying enough taxes.

"The wealthy are definitely undertaxed relative to the general population," Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, told CNBC television on Monday.

"As we get more specialized, the rich will get richer," he continued. "The question is: 'How do you take care of a guy who is a wonderful citizen whose father died in Normandy and just doesn't have market skills?' I think the income tax credit is the best way to address that."

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"That probably means more taxes for guys like me, and I'm fine with it," he said.

Buffett, 88, spoke after Charlie Munger, his 95-year-old business partner and Berkshire vice chairman, told CNBC earlier this month that states like California and Connecticut have been "stupid" for driving rich people away.

After regaining control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections, some Democratic lawmakers have been calling for higher taxes on the wealthy.

They include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York City, who has proposed a 70 percent marginal tax on incomes over $10 million to bridge the growing wealth gap between the rich and poor.

(Reporting By Jennifer Ablan and Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
Angus Thirwell co-founded Hotel Chocolat and serves as the companys CEO. Photo: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg/Getty Images

British chocolate lovers and gift-buyers cant seem to get enough of Hotel Chocolats premium offerings.

The British chocolate store chain reported on Tuesday that sales in the second half of 2018 surged by 13% compared to the same time last year as consumers stocked up on fancy packaged chocolates.

This comes as the overall market for chocolate in the UK has posted much slower growth, rising just 1% last year, according to research firm Euromonitor.

Liberum analyst Adam Tomlinson said consumers flock to Hotel Chocolat (HOTC.L) because its offerings are considered to be high-quality, yet reasonably priced.

It is a premium chocolate product, but it is still materially cheaper than what you might call high-end, like Godiva. Its about getting the price point right. Youre not charging extortionate prices, Tomlinson told Yahoo Finance UK.

Plus, the company appeals to chocolate lovers because its seen as a special indulgence as opposed to a quick, unhealthy sugar hit.

Theyre focusing on more cocoa, less sugar. That plays nicely into the healthier eating trend, said Tomlinson.

Hotel Chocolats reported sales in the final six months of the year rose to 80.7m and pre-tax profit was up 7% to 13.8m.

The company saw especially strong sales for its new Velvetiser Hot Chocolate maker, a 90 machine designed to create in-home barista-grade hot chocolate. Sales of the device, which launched ahead of the Christmas season, exceeded initial expectations six-fold.

Hotel Chocolat co-founder and CEO, Angus Thirlwell, called out the Velvetiser for giving the company a sales boost, and also noted success with a customer loyalty programme called VIP Me.

Both developments will also support our plans for the key spring seasons of Mothers Day and Easter, Thirlwell said in a written statement.

International expansion underway

The vast majority of Hotel Chocolat sales are in the UK, which is the worlds third largest chocolate market. Sensing new opportunities, the company is now exploring expansion in the US, the worlds largest chocolate market, and Japan, the sixth largest market.

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The firm opened its first Japanese store in Tokyos largest mall in November 2018. A new shop in New York City followed the next month and is currently Hotel Chocolats only US store.

Thirwell said on Tuesday that both shops are showing encouraging early signs, in terms of customer response and the initial store sales performance.

READ MORE: The heart of Pandoras woes stem from common problems in physical shops

READ MORE: Russian diamond giant hopes politics wont wreck US expansion plans
Paris (AFP) - Brexit will inflict "significant harm" on Britain's National Health Service, experts warned on Tuesday, with a no-deal departure from the EU likely to provoke acute shortages of staff and medicines.

With little over a month remaining until Britain is due to leave the European Union, there are fears that crashing out of the bloc without an agreement could drastically affect the nation's health.

Prime Minister Theresa May is struggling to gain domestic backing for her Brexit deal, which would be a less drastic rupture.

Writing in the medical journal The Lancet, a team of medical and legal experts said that "all forms of Brexit are bad for health."

"However, by far the worst option would be a no-deal Brexit."

They highlighted a recently published 10-year plan for the NHS that mentions Brexit only twice, and cautioned that an end to free movement could exacerbate the current staffing crisis.

Under a no-deal scenario, the government plans a minimum salary threshold of A30,000 ($39,000, 34,500 euros) per year for non-residents, and has not announced any exception for the European health workers the NHS is so heavily reliant upon.

"That would exclude many health workers," said Martin McKee, co-author of the study and a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

"First of all, that immediately sends out a signal that you're not particularly welcome," he told AFP.

McKee said EU health workers would be far less likely to choose to work for the NHS even if they met that earning threshold, as their salaries would be worth less with a weaker pound, and their pensions not guaranteed.

- 'Perfect storm' -

The study examined the impact on the health service posed by four possible scenarios: no-deal, May's withdrawal agreement, the so-called Irish "backstop" to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, and the political declaration on a future EU-UK relationship.

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It found that while all four scenarios would be less beneficial to the NHS than remaining in the EU, no-deal posed by far the largest threat.

The NHS was used by pro-Brexit campaigners in the run-up to the 2016 referendum, most infamously in the subsequently debunked promise that Britain would spend the A350 million it sends each week to Brussels on improving the health service.

McKee accused politicians of failing to grasp the health implications of leaving the EU.

"Despite the fact that 'NHS' was stuck all over the side of the bus, there was a general sense that healthcare wouldn't be affected because health is a matter for member states rather than the EU," he said.

"But of course everything you need, the building blocks for health systems, are in some way subject to rules on free movement of goods and people and services.

"So there are bound to be consequences but I'm not sure that the government fully understood that," he added.

Although the government has announced plans to stockpile medicines in order to avoid shortages in the event of a no-deal Brexit, McKee and his colleagues said scarcity of some drugs was inevitable.

"The pharmaceutical supply system is extremely vulnerable, simply because it is so complex," he said.

"There's a whole lot of things which are precarious to begin with and then Brexit is making all of them worse," he added.

"It really risks the creation of a perfect storm."
By Marcelo Rochabrun

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Shareholders of Brazil's Embraer SA approved a deal on Tuesday to sell 80 percent of the company's commercial plane division to Boeing Co, enabling Boeing to compete with Airbus SE in the market for jets with up to 150 seats.

About 96.8 of shareholders voted in favor of the deal after Embraer overturned an injunction that had put the shareholder meeting on hold. The transaction must now be approved by antitrust regulators around the world.

Embraer shares surged as much as 4.6 percent in Sao Paulo trading.

Under the terms of the deal finalized in December, Boeing will pay $4.2 billion to control Embraer's most profitable division, supplying passenger jets to airlines.

It positions Boeing to better rival Airbus, which last year bought a controlling stake in Bombardier Inc's CSeries planes - which also have less than 150 seats - putting Airbus in direct competition with Embraer.

Embraer shareholders' approval of the Boeing deal caps more than a year of negotiations in Brazil since the companies announced their talks. Behind the scenes it was more than two years since the idea was presented internally to Boeing, a person familiar with the matter said in July.

Brazil's government, which holds veto power over important business decisions at Embraer, a former state company, said last month that it would not block the partnership.

Once the transaction receives full regulatory approval, Boeing and Embraer will be joint owners of a yet-to-be-named commercial jet company, of which Embraer will own 20 percent, and Boeing, 80 percent.

The deal will provide a cash influx that the Brazilian planemaker has defended as crucial to its survival as increased competition between Boeing and Airbus squeezes out smaller rivals.

"The potential operation with Boeing will save Embraer," lawyers for the Brazilian planemaker said in July in a court filing as it battled an earlier challenge to the deal.

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Embraer executives said earlier this year they would be able to wipe out the company's current debt thanks to Boeing's cash, giving them what they described as a fresh start.

But critics say the arrangement will leave Embraer weaker and financially dependent on its two remaining divisions, executive jets and defense, both of which have posted losses in recent quarters.

Shareholders also approved a joint venture between the two planemakers to market Embraer's new KC-390 military cargo jet. Embraer will retain ownership of the plane's intellectual property, but hopes Boeing will drum up orders from allies of the United States.

(Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun in Sao Paulo; Additional reporting by Gram Slattery in Rio de Janeiro; Editing by Brad Haynes and Bernadette Baum)
By Marcelo Rochabrun

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian automaker CAOA, which produces vehicles with Korea's Hyundai Motor Co and China's Chery Automobile Co, is in talks to buy a Ford Motor Co plant in the country that is slated to close by 2019, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

Ford announced earlier this month that it would shut down its Sao Bernardo do Campo plant, a sprawling complex in a suburb of Sao Paulo that employs some 3,000 people.

In 2018, Ford said it used only 12 percent of its installed capacity in the plant, which is its oldest in the country. Shutting the plant is part of Ford's wider move to stop producing heavy commercial trucks in South America. It also produces the Fiesta small car at the plant.

Negotiations have not been finalized, the source said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Sao Paulo governor Joao Doria said there were three companies interested in buying Ford's plant, although he declined to name them. Doria has pledged to help find a buyer for the plant.

Sao Paulo state government declined to comment on CAOA talks with Ford. A Ford representative denied that CAOA had approached the automaker directly about buying the factory.

CAOA, which started as a chain of dealerships, has expanded into manufacturing in recent years, most recently purchasing half of a factory originally developed by China's Chery. As part of the move, cars produced in the factory are now co-branded CAOA Chery.

CAOA is already Ford's single largest distributor in the country.

(Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun; Editing by Bill Rigby)
Boeing, Stock

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may have traveled to Vietnam for the much-hyped Trump-Kim summit by train but some of the major business deals that will be conducted on the sidelines of the meeting will involve air travel.

Per Reuters, Vietnamese startup airline Bamboo Airways is set to ink a deal to acquire 10 Boeing 787 passenger jets. This is in addition to an order the airline placed in 2018 for 20 Boeing 787 planes. The new order is valued at $3 billion according to a source who spoke to Reuters.

Currently, Bamboo Airways fleet consists largely of Airbus planes and this is mostly the narrow-body models.

Since the year started, Boeings stock has risen by over 30% and recently touched an all-time high of almost $430.

Read the full story on CCN.com.
Washington (AFP) - Every spring, the largest animals in the world, blue whales, migrate from their winter breeding grounds off of Costa Rica to the coast of the Pacific Northwest of the United States.

They are in search of their favorite food, the tiny crustaceans known as krill.

Scientists have long tracked the migration of the behemoths, which can weigh well over 100 tons, but could not explain how they chose their itinerary.

Were they choosing their annual migration route based on current conditions? Or did they always embark on the same journey at the same dates?

Now, a team of US government and university scientists think they have the answer.

They examined 10 years of data on the movements of 60 tagged blue whales and compared it with the timing of the annual spring bloom of phytoplankton, which krill feed on.

In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), they said the whales appear to be relying heavily on memory in making their movement decisions, unlike most migratory land animals, which will take detours to adapt to shifting resources.

As for the blue whales, "they're using their memory," said Briana Abrahms, a research ecologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"Or they're using expectations that they've developed through experience over time, to basically go with the average timing (of the krill) rather than trying to follow what's happening at any given year," Abrahms said.

"We think that they must be using their memory, or their own experiences from the past, to kind of hedge their bets," she said.

One reason for doing so, Abrahms said, is because "there's so much variability in the ocean that it's really hard to predict exactly when something's going to happen.

"The ocean is so dynamic and habitats are shifting in time," she said. "And there's a lot of variability year to year.

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"So, I think of it as a way to hedge their bets by just going with the average," she said.

Abrahms said climate change, however, is posing a challenge to the blue whale, which is classified as endangered.

"With climate change, we're seeing deviations from those averages that are far outside of the normal ranges of variability," she said. "It raises concern that the magnitude of change is happening far more quickly than what whales or other animals ever had to adapt to before."
The four smartphones in Samsungs new Galaxy S10 series promise better cameras, faster processors and more storage

February is the month for new smartphones. For years now, weve seen new releases this particular month, which is largely due to the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the worlds largest exhibition for the mobile industry.
South Africa: SAA concludes MoU with Ghana

South African Airways (SAA) has concluded a Memorandum of Understanding that will see it spread its wings in Ghana.

The MoU, signed between SAA CEO Vuyani Jarana and CEO of Africa World Airlines (AWA) John Quan was signed on Monday at the Ghana Ministry of Aviation in Accra.

The MOU allows the two airlines to enhance their relationship through synergies that include code sharing, franchising and any other related projects.

As part of our turnaround strategy, we are constantly looking at ways of improving our customers travel experiences. This agreement gives our customers seamless connections from Johannesburg into more destinations in Ghana and other West African destinations, said Jarana.

The agreement augments the national carriers popular and successful Ghana operations and offers customers a host of additional travel options in Ghana as well as further afield in the African West Coast region.

As the leading carrier on the continent, our aim is to improve air travel connections on the continent through partnerships and this agreement with AWA goes a long way towards improving intra-African travel, Jarana said.

Quan said the partnership will help consolidate AWAs position as one of the leading airlines in West Africa.

We are excited by the potential that this African partnership can deliver and are confident that it will be a win-win relationship for both sides, said Quan.

Details of the memorandum

SAA and AWA formed a relationship in 2015, which resulted in the commencement of the Accra to Washington Dulles flights.

SAA operates daily flights between Johannesburg and Accra, with four of the flights continuing onwards to Washington; and the other three flights continue onwards to Abidjan, Cote DIvoire.

SAAs relationship with AWA has since grown from the original commercial cooperation into the new interline commercial agreement, which became possible when SAA finalised technology integration with AWA in November.

The interline agreement allows the acceptance of each others customers and access to each others network.

SAA customers will fly from Accra on SAA operated flights and then connect to further destinations on flights operated by AWA.

Over the coming months, the interline agreement will evolve into a code share agreement.

SAA customers will then travel on one ticket from Johannesburg to Accra or from Washington to Accra, and onwards to a number of destinations such as Kumasi in central Ghana, Tamale in the north, and Takoradi in the west.

SAA customers will also be able to connect from Accra to Lagos and Abuja in Nigeria, Freetown in Sierra Leone and Monrovia in Liberia.

In turn, customers of Africa World Airlines travelling from Ghana, Lagos, Abuja, Freetown, and Monrovia, are able to travel on one ticket from any AWA point of origin and connect onto SAA international flights to either Washington D.C. or Johannesburg, or further on the SAA network.

As of April 2019, SAA will increase the frequency of flights from Accra to Washington to five flights per week.

SAA offers the only nonstop flight between Ghana and Washington D.C. and convenient connections to/from over 100 cities across the US and Canada through its Star Alliance partner, United Airlines via Washington, DC-Dulles. - SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-02-26. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The past 48 hours has seen wild swings for crypto-assets, as traders booked profits following a successful pump of Bitcoin and its altcoin peers. The combined market capitalisation of all cryptocurrencies reached a high near $144 billion late Saturday before plunging back down toward $127 billion, representing a pump and dump with a 60% spread.

Despite yesterdays dump, I see the price of BTC slowly rising throughout 2019, as the recent price action has indicated a clear sign there might be a strong accumulation period coming.

Bitcoin

The leading digital currency, BTC, dropped by as much as 9% on Sunday mere hours after testing December highs north of $4,200 over the 50-day EMA.

Trade volumes touched a high near $11 billion on Sunday and have since moderated to around $9.6 billion, a level that is well above the historic average.

From a long-term perspective, it seems Bitcoin is experiencing higher lows, which clearly indicates price strength and that buyers are taking control of higher resistance levels, especially around the 20 and 50-day EMAs. If volume continues to spike we could see a reversal, although I believe the market is quite thin at the time of writing, liquidity wise.

In the short term, BTC has experienced a volume breakout over the past three weeks, as long-term holders continue to migrate capital onto virtual exchanges. This process may have begun as early as last summer, which was a period of unprecedented calm for digital assets. If you remember correctly, it was a period of heavy accumulation and sideways trading.

At current values, Bitcoin has a total market capitalisation close to $70 billion and accounts for about 52% of the entire crypto market, regaining dominance after the early 2018 lows of about 33% dominance.

From a technical point of view, Bitcoin continues to face strong resistance near the December high. A move beyond that barrier is needed if the bulls are to have any chance of negating the long-term downtrend. At nearly 14 months, Bitcoin is in the longest bear market in its 10-year history.

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Ripple

As reported by Coin Rivet, XRP has (finally) been added to Coinbase. This news seems to have put investors into rally mode, as the so-called bankers cryptocurrency is pushing to near $0.35. XRPs bulls are eyeing a return to this level to keep the momentum alive. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the $0.30 support is a known area of demand, as we can see by the strong resistance at that level. From a long-term perspective, XRP is holding well between the 20 and 50-day EMA, and I would expect a breakout to take it close to the $0.4 level.

However, volumes are still quite thin when compared to late 2018, which means no serious cash has been put back into XRP.

The news that pushed Ripple upwards was regarding Coinbase, a San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange, which confirmed on Monday that it will now accept inbound transfers of XRP to Coinbase Pro.

Once sufficient supply of XRP is established on the platform, trading on the XRP/USD, XRP/EUR, and XRP/BTC order books will start in phases, beginning with post-only mode and proceeding to full trading should our metrics for a healthy market be met. XRP is not yet available on Coinbase.com or via our mobile apps. We will make a separate announcement when that occurs.

Initial support for XRP will be available to users in the US (excluding New York), United Kingdom, supported European Union member countries, Canada, and Australia.

Despite being the third-largest cryptocurrency in the world, XRP had struggled to win its way onto Coinbase and other leading US exchanges. Hopefully this new addition will help Ripples price continue the move upwards.

Safe trades!

The post Bitcoin update: Touch and go! appeared first on Coin Rivet.
WASHINGTON  Some of the top strategists in Bernie Sanderss 2016 presidential campaign will not be taking part in his next bid for the White House. Devine Mulvey Longabaugh, a progressive consulting firm whose partners served as media consultants for Sanderss run in 2016, provided a statement to Yahoo News on Tuesday saying that the firm is stepping away from the senators 2020 campaign.

We are leaving because we believe that Sen. Sanders deserves to have media consultants who share his creative vision for the campaign, said the statement from DML partners Tad Devine, Julian Mulvey and Mark Longabaugh.

The news of the split comes exactly one week after Sanders formally launched his second presidential campaign.

Tad Devine and Bernie Sanders (Photos: Brian Snyder/Reuters, Dennis Van Tine/STAR MAX/IPx via AP)

DML played a crucial role in Sanderss 2016 run, including creating television ads and working on debate prep and overall strategy. Devine served as his chief strategist on the campaign, Longabaugh was a senior adviser, and Mulvey was creative director for the campaigns television advertising operation.

The firms statement noted that it had produced 275 television, radio and digital ads for the 2016 Sanders campaign. Many of those ads, particularly one that featured the Simon & Garfunkel song America, received critical acclaim and were widely credited with helping Sanders mount a surprisingly strong primary challenge to Hillary Clinton with his message of democratic socialism. In the statement, DML thanked Sanders for giving the company a chance to participate in a campaign whose impact was transformative in American politics.

We are grateful for the opportunity to have worked for Senator Sanders in his historic 2016 campaign for President, and to have helped launch his 2020 race. We are tremendously proud of our work and our association with Bernie Sanders. The 2016 campaign provided our firm the opportunity to help Senator Sanders tell his story and communicate his message to the American people, the statement said.

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Devine has most recently been in the headlines because of his association with President Trumps former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, working with him to help elect the pro-Russian Victor Yanukovych as president of Ukraine in 2010. Last year, Manafort was convicted on multiple felony counts, including some that were related to his failing to properly register his lobbying for Yanukovych and to declare his income from the work. Manafort was prosecuted by the office of special counsel Robert Mueller, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Last July, DML revealed that Devine had agreed to testify for the prosecution in Manaforts trial. The statement noted that Devines testimony was related only to the work he performed in 2010 and added, We have been assured by the Special Counsels Office that we have no legal exposure, did not act unlawfully, and that Tad is testifying as a fact witness.

The rift between Sanders and Devine predated the strategists involvement in Manaforts trial. Multiple sources have informed Yahoo News that they have not spoken since the close of the 2016 election. A source close to Devine said their separation stemmed from a number of strategic disagreements during the 2016 campaign. While Sanders was no longer in touch with Devine, a source said that both Mulvey and Longabaugh have remained close to him through the launch of his 2020 bid.

Sanders has already brought in a new face to lead this effort. His campaign manager this time around will be Faiz Shakir, a veteran progressive operative who had been working as national director of the American Civil Liberties Union after serving as a longtime staffer to former Democratic Senate majority leader Harry Reid. Sanderss 2016 campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, remains close to the Vermont senator and will be serving as a senior adviser this time around.

Yahoo News reached out to the Sanders campaign about DMLs departure and received a brief statement.

The campaign appreciates all the good work DML has done and wishes them well, Shakir said.
MORRISVILLE, Pa. (AP)  A mother and her adult daughter killed five of their close relatives, including three children, and were found "disoriented" after child welfare authorities arrived for a surprise visit to their trashed apartment outside Philadelphia, police and prosecutors said Tuesday.

Shana Decree, 45, and her daughter Dominique Decree, 19, were charged with five counts of homicide and one count each of conspiracy. The motive and how the five family members died are unclear; their bodies were found Monday night.

"As confusing as it was last night, we are no closer to understanding that in the harsh light of day," Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said at a news conference Tuesday. "We will continue to pursue every lead and to work this case to its just conclusion."

The victims were Shana's children, Naa'Irah Smith, 25, and Damon Decree Jr., 13, both of Morrisville; Shana Decree's sister Jamilla Campbell, of Trenton, New Jersey; and Campbell's 9-year-old twin daughters, Imani and Erika Allen.

Authorities discovered the scene after a Bucks County child welfare officer arrived Monday evening for an unannounced visit and was let into the building by someone who works there, according to court papers.

Police say they found Shana and Dominique Decree "disoriented" inside the apartment, where furniture had been turned over, drywall was cracked and glass lay around. Police initially said they found four bodies, but they discovered a fifth underneath another that was next to a bed.

The mother and daughter were taken to a hospital and at first told authorities they didn't know what happened.

Before telling authorities about their involvement in the slayings, Shana Decree said her sister Jamilla's boyfriend and two unknown men killed the five family members but left Shana and Dominique alive, according to an affidavit.

Shana Decree then told police that "everyone at the apartment ... wanted to die" and talked about suicide, according to court documents. She said that she killed one of the victims, that she and her daughter Dominque killed another together, and that Campbell killed two other victims before she herself was slain by Dominique.

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Shana Decree was arraigned early Tuesday, while Dominique Decree was arraigned in the afternoon. It isn't clear whether either woman has a lawyer to speak for her. Court papers show they have not requested a public defender, and no attorney information is listed.

Authorities who had been looking for Campbell's 17-year-old son Joshua found him not far away in Willingboro, New Jersey, where he was staying with friends, Police Chief George McClay said.

Weintraub stressed the teen is not a suspect, saying authorities just wanted to make sure he was safe.

The apartments are in Morrisville, which sits on the Delaware River northeast of Philadelphia and across from Trenton, New Jersey. The three-story, red-brick apartment complex is on a busy road lined with auto repair shops, a safe-and-lock shop and a bail bonds agency nearby.

Thai Hall, 24, of Bristol, Pennsylvania, said she attended Morrisville High School with Smith and spoke with her about three months ago. Hall, whose mother lives in a neighboring apartment, said Smith was attending cosmetology school. She remembered Smith warmly.

"She was a happy person, happy person and cared for people," Hall said.

___

This story has been corrected to show that Jamilla Campbell was 42, not 45.
By Sonali Paul

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - "Guilty."

There was a gasp in the Australian courtroom as the jury foreman read out the first verdict on child sex offences against Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican's treasurer, then stunned silence as the same word was repeated for each of the four other charges he faced.

The jury of eight men and four women unanimously agreed on Dec. 11, after a four-week trial, to convict Pell of five sexual offences committed against two 13-year-old choir boys 22 years earlier in the priests' sacristy of Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral.

They reached their decision after hearing lengthy testimony from a victim, who described how Pell had exposed himself to them, fondled their genitals and masturbated and forced one boy to perform a sex act on him. That complainant still lives in Melbourne. The other victim died in 2014.

The trial and verdict could not be reported until now due to a court-imposed suppression order, as Pell was due to face another trial on older historical child sex offence charges and the judge did not want the next jury to be prejudiced. Those additional charges were dropped on Tuesday and the judge lifted the reporting restrictions.

Each of the five offences carries a maximum 10 years in jail. Pell is due to be sentenced in early March, following a mitigation plea hearing on Feb. 27.

Pell, a burly 1.9 metres (6 foot and 3 inches) tall, had sat hunched in the dock at the back of the courtroom throughout the trial. He stared straight ahead when the jury foreman said "guilty" for the first time, then turned away.

As the next four verdicts were delivered, the man described by his own lawyer as the "Darth Vader" of the Catholic Church sat with his head bowed.

Pell, the No. 3 official in the Vatican hierarchy, is the most senior Roman Catholic cleric worldwide to be convicted of such offences. His downfall brings to the heart of the papal administration a scandal over clerical abuse that has ravaged the Church's credibility in the United States, Chile, Australia and elsewhere over the last three decades.

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Pope Francis, leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, ended a conference on sexual abuse on Sunday, calling for an "all-out battle" against a crime that should be "erased from the face of the earth".

POWERPOINT DEFENCE

The December verdict followed a re-trial. Three months earlier, a first trial of the same offences had ended in a deadlocked jury that left some jurors in tears.

Pell's lawyer Robert Richter, a theatrical 72-year-old well-known in Australia after taking on the defence in some of the country's most high-profile criminal cases, had been confident since the pre-trial hearings that this time he had a slam dunk defence.

Late in proceedings at the re-trial, Richter introduced a new witness, a fellow criminal barrister and former altar server, who had a possible alibi for Pell. The witness said he had served at a mass in late 1996 and afterwards he and his mother had chatted with Pell on the front steps of the cathedral, which the defence said meant he could not have been in the sacristy at the time of the alleged offences.

But under cross-examination, the former altar server could not remember the exact date, and his recall of other details was vague and partly contradicted another defence witness.

Richter brought out Pell's heavy ceremonial robes, trying to demonstrate they could hardly be manoeuvred to expose himself to the boys as the prosecution had alleged.

He had his star witness, a priest who had helped Pell conduct services, demonstrate how elaborately and tightly knotted the robe was around the archbishop's waist.

There was also debate over whether the wine that the boys were caught swigging in the sacristy by Pell immediately before four of the offences took place was red, as the accuser said, or white, as the court heard was preferred by the dean of the cathedral at the time, as the defence tried to pick holes in the victim's account.

For his closing argument, Richter rolled out a PowerPoint presentation with dozens of bullet points spelling out why, he said, it would have been almost impossible for the alleged events to have occurred.

He reminded the jury of Pell's strenuous denials.

"What a load of absolute disgraceful rubbish. Completely false. Madness," the jury heard Pell tell police in a recording of an interview in a hotel room near Rome airport in 2016 played earlier in the trial.

"You could scarcely imagine a place that was more unlikely for committing paedophilia crimes than the sacristy of the Cathedral after mass," Pell, who did not testify at either trial, said in the recording.

CLOSED DOOR TESTIMONY

The jury was unswayed, returning a verdict of guilty on all five charges after hearing a prosecution case based entirely on the evidence given by Pell's surviving accuser.

That testimony was the crux of both trials.

Reporters, Pell's supporters and abuse survivors who had filled the small court for most of the trial did not see or hear the complainant's two-and-a-half days of testimony and cross-examination by Richter, which was conducted by video link for the jury behind closed doors. It was later outlined to the court in comments by the prosecutor.

In his closing argument to the jury, prosecutor Mark Gibson, in a quiet voice, called the accuser's evidence "powerful and persuasive".

"He was not a person indulging in fantasy or imagining things to the point where he now believed his own imaginative mind, but was simply telling it as it was and is," Gibson told the court.

Pell had appeared relaxed through most of his trial. Every day he sat in the dock, usually wearing a white shirt with a clerical collar, black pants and a beige jacket, writing on a large notepad and taking occasional sips of water. During breaks in proceedings he would chat with supporters.

But in the nine months since pre-trial hearings began, Pell's health had clearly deteriorated.

Judge Peter Kidd extended bail after Pell was convicted so he could have double knee surgery in Sydney on Dec. 14, which had been postponed after the first trial.

Pell's lawyers will now be counting on an appeal filed last week to keep him out of jail.

(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Alex Richardson)
Instead of taking a short flight to Vietnams capital, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rattled through China on his armored train, journeying south from Pyongyang over 2,000 miles to meet President Donald Trump for their second nuclear summit. This was no high-speed rail.

On Tuesday, after a reported 60-hour, or two-and-half day trip, the 35-year-old leader of the worlds most secretive hermit kingdom alighted at the railway station in Dong Dang Vietnam. Kim was then picked up by a limo, and driven the rest of the way to Hanoi, according to the Associated Press.

This seeming anachronistic mode of travel has long been favored by the Supreme Leaders, Kim, his father and his grandfather. The distinctive green and yellow train adds to the shroud of mystery cloaking North Korea, and is part of the Kim dynastys lore.

Here are the possible reasons behind Kims unusual form of transit.

Riding a train is the family tradition

Kims father, Kim Jong Il, and his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, were both allegedly afraid of flying. South Korean media has speculated that the fear was triggered when the two witnessed the explosion of their jet during a test flight. The incident happened in 1982. While Kim Il Sung flew to the Soviet Union after, in 1986, it was the last time a North Korean leader publicly traveled abroad by air for more than three decades, according to AP.

By contrast, Kim Jong Un is believed to have become a frequent flier during his boarding school days in Switzerland. Since taking office in 2011, he has also occasionally opted to fly, including to Singapore last year for his first tete-a-tete with Trump. But his preference for rails this trip could be an ode to his family line and a way to keep up the train travel tradition among North Korean leaders.

Kims armored train provides more securityand luxurythan a flight

Kims train, the same one used by his father and grandfather, has 21 bulletproof carriages with plush leather sofas and conference rooms, according to Reuters.

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Chosun Media states that two separate trains travel with the main entourage; the one in front handles security checks to ensure the railway tracks are safe, and the one behind carries bodyguards and support personnel.

North Korea lacks the air infrastructure that would make a flight possible

Kims decision to take the 60-hour journey may have also been a matter of pride. To get to Singapore for the Trump summit last June, Kim borrowed a Boeing 747 Air China plane because his Soviet-made Ilyushin Il-62 aircraft was deemed unsafe, suggesting that without external help, a flight to Vietnam would not be possible. By opting for the train instead, Kim could show that he is not reliant on Beijing, analysts have suggested.

Kim is expected to commence his nuclear summit with U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
Johnny C. Taylor Jr., a human-resources expert, is tackling your questions as part of a series for USA TODAY. Taylor is president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management, the world's largest HR professional society.

The questions are submitted by readers, and Taylor's answers below have been edited for length and clarity.

Have a question? Do you have an HR or work-related question youd like me to answer? Submit it here.

Question: Should I mention my minority status in a job application? When an employer states in a job listing that it is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and minorities are encouraged to apply, does indicating Im a minority give me an advantage? I am otherwise qualified for the position, but, after applying for jobs for several months, Id like to give myself any competitive advantage I can.  Anonymous

Johnny C. Taylor, Jr.: The most important part of your application will always be your skills, experience and education. But your minority status can be a plus when applying to companies looking for the competitive edge a diverse and inclusive workforce delivers.

If you decide to provide this information, theres a correct time and place to offer it. Let me explain.

While its a positive sign when an employer includes this language in its job postings, it also is a given. Almost every employer in the United States today should identify as an equal opportunity employer. By law, all but the very smallest employers (usually 15 or fewer employees) are subject to federal and state anti-discrimination laws.

Many companies now ask for this information upfront by having candidates complete a job application when they submit their resume online. If you are motivated to share the diversity you bring to a position and company, an application form is the place to mention it.

Otherwise, do not go out of your way to disclose the information. This includes not mentioning it on your resume or in your cover letter.

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Playing 'Fortnite': How young is too young?

Looking to boost your income?: Try stocks that pay out dividends

Heres why: An application form  whether it is completed online or on paper  is a tool used by HR and recruiters to ensure their hiring practices comply with the law and with company policy. But to prevent discrimination or the appearance of discrimination, hiring managers generally are not privy to the personal characteristics about a candidate that are unrelated to job performance.

We know diverse and inclusive teams are more innovative, are better problem-solvers and produce better business results. Many companies today are proactively working toward more diverse and inclusive workplaces as part of their business strategy.

Additionally, employers with government contracts may be required to have affirmative-action goals and to provide reporting on their hiring.

To better understand a companys commitment to diversity and inclusion, check out its website and social media accounts. See whether diversity is included in the companys mission, vision and strategy and how it portrays its workforce.

Knowing a company is committed to these principles will help you feel comfortable sharing this voluntary information. If you do so, do it on an application form.

Office dating: Do I really need to tell my company that I'm in a workplace relationship?

Q: The CEO hired his eldest son as president of one of the companies in our group. But his son hardly comes to work, always saying hes on a business trip. He even used a company credit card to pay personal expenses. I know because I am in the accounting department. What can I do to fix this?  Anonymous

Taylor: You are asking a question about the ethical behavior and legitimacy of a company executive. My answer: Tread carefully.

Unless you are in a leadership position at the company, this issue is not yours to fix.

As to your concerns about his attendance, its not your place to bring this to a higher authority unless you are his supervisor or someone directly affected by his repeated absences.

Is this legal?: I found a hidden camera in my office breakroom at work

Creating an inclusive office: How can I help my company increase workplace diversity?

But because you work in a financial capacity for your company, it is your responsibility to flag financial practices inconsistent with your companys policies. Companies commonly have credit card policies outlining acceptable charges, and its customary for individuals who have been issued credit cards to sign or acknowledge a policy.

If payment of his expenses doesnt follow your companys stated practices, bring the issue to your supervisor or someone in HR.

Realize that there might be circumstances about the expenses you are unaware of.

Inclement weather policy: Can you ask your employer to let you work from home during a winter storm?

Violating company policy: My employee may be fabricating work hours on their timesheet. What should I do?

Additionally, a company can decide to pay personal expenses for an employee. The questions then are whether the company properly records the personal expenses paid as employee compensation and the expenses are taxed appropriately.

About the larger question of appropriate behavior, companies work to create ethical cultures because they positively affect employees and business results. Many offices have ethics hotlines, which allow employees to anonymously report inappropriate or illegal actions. Contact information often is posted in common areas such as break or workrooms.

This is also an avenue if you bring an ethical issue to your supervisor but believe no steps are being taken to resolve the problem.

I would caution you, however, to make a report on an ethics hotline only if you have concrete and clear evidence to make an allegation. Rumors or hearsay should not be reported.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Should I say I'm a minority on job application if company values workplace diversity? Ask HR
Last Friday, one of the senior Democrats in the Senate got a taste of what it means to be in the crosshairs of an environmental movement that is increasingly driven by teenagers who believe the world is coming to an end  and adults who shepherd them around. Dianne Feinstein was confronted in her San Francisco office by a group of students who demanded that she vote for the Green New Deal.

The 83-year-old Feinstein has spent, as she told her visitors, the last quarter-century in the Senate and was clearly under the impression that her resume ought to inspire a degree of respect, if not deference, from the students. But when she told them she wouldnt do their bidding, the group from the Sunrise Movement  which gained notoriety earlier this year with a sit-in at the office of House speaker Nancy Pelosi (where Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a guest appearance)  was having none of it.

The teenagers had zero interest in Feinsteins arguments about how bills get passed and the art of the possible. Nor were they impressed by her ideas about promoting some of the same goals in proposed legislation that, as she pointed out, had a better chance of being enacted into law than does their laundry list of demands. Instead, they cast the choice before the country as a stark ultimatum: Do what we say, even if it means trashing the economy and abruptly changing American culture, or be counted among the evildoers who are killing the planet.

Most of the Lefts commentary on the viral video focused on Feinsteins grouchy demeanor and her effrontery in lecturing the kids about the way Congress works. The liberal consensus is that the senator should have been the one showing deference to the bright young things rather than the other way around.

If Feinsteins reaction seemed so out of place to her media and activist critics, its because it flies in the face of the adoring coverage that teenage liberal activists have been getting lately. Examples go beyond the Green New Dealers who sassed the California senator. Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg has become an international celebrity with her weekly boycotts of school to picket her countrys parliament and with her grim lectures to European parliamentarians.

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The same can be said for the role played by some of the survivors of last years Parkland shooting, as newly minted celebrity activists attacked opponents without blinking an eye, showing disgust at the notion that critics of their ideas deserved a hearing.

There is a clear public interest in encouraging young people to care about politics and policy. Thats especially true in an era when the study of what used to be called civics and government is given short shrift  if not ignored  in many high-school curricula. But while interest in public issues is a good thing, the kind of activism practiced by the Sunrise Movement, Thunberg, or the Parkland kids is not one in which the democratic process or the notion of give and take has any place.

On the environment, global-warming alarmists may have failed to convince enough American voters that the world is soon coming to an end to get their way on legislation, but the extremists have won over children, from Feinsteins guests to Thunberg. Though Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs initial fact sheet for the Green New Deal  which mentioned the problems of flatulent cows and air travel  inspired derision even among many liberals, to the youthful supporters of extremist climate-change proposals, those are reasonable ideas.

Ocasio-Cortez deflected the discussion about the cows into a critique of factory farming, while insisting that not everyone had to go vegan. Thunberg disagrees. The 16-year-old was the subject of a revealing profile in the New York Times last week that discussed how her activism is a form of therapy for the devastating depression she suffered as an adolescent.

Thunberg is apparently happier now that advocacy on the climate has given her life meaning, but her primary means of communication is lecturing. Like the Sunrise Movement kids, she has no patience for any discussion about the havoc that might result were her absolutist views put into action.

The problem is that few have done what Feinstein did on the viral video and told these teenagers that their my way or the highway approach wont wash. The belief that young people must be obeyed seems to be the guiding principle for those covering their advocacy. Of course, attacks on young activists, such as some of the nastier comments about the Parkland kids in the weeks after the shooting, are uncalled for, but nobody, even teenagers, should demonize others with impunity because of their political beliefs.

Young activists may be entitled to treat their beliefs as earthshaking revelations, even if the wiser among them will someday look back on their extremist views with a little embarrassment. But too few adults are paying heed to their profound hostility to the democratic process  a process that depends on its participants treating opposing views with respect and bothering to answer criticisms. Silencing opponents to achieve ones objectives does long-term damage to democracy.

The certainty of the angry children that the failure to pass extremist legislation requires elders to follow the dictates of youth has a certain charm. But their contempt for debate and persuasion means that, rather than patting them on the head for having strong views, politicians and journalists should stop treating angry children as the arbiters of modern civics.

More from National Review
SheKnows

The royal feud will be on display later this week as Prince William and Prince Harry reunite to honor their late mother, Princess Diana, with the unveiling of the commissioned statue. But a new report seems to put the blame for the lack of reconciliation squarely on Williams shoulders  he apparently has a major []
Washington (AFP) - Angkor, the ancient capital of the Khmer empire, appears to have suffered a gradual decline rather than a catastrophic collapse, according to a study published on Monday.

Archaeologists and historians have long sought to explain the 15th-century abandonment of Angkor, with many attributing it to the 1431 invasion by Thai forces from Ayutthaya.

"The historical record is effectively blank for the 15th century at Angkor," said Dan Penny, a member of a team of Australian and Cambodian archaeologists and geographers who took part in the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

"We don't have a written record that tells us why they left or when or how," said Penny of the School of Geosciences at the University of Sydney. "Everything that survived is carved on stone."

For the study, the team examined 70-centimeter sediment cores taken from a moat that surrounded Angkor Thom, the capital of the Khmer empire.

Penny said the cores serve as a "natural history book recording changes in land use, and climate, and in vegetation, year after year."

Where humans live they leave traces through fire, soil erosion through agriculture and disturbed vegetation. When they leave, conditions change.

In the first decades of the 14th century, Penny said you start to see a decline in land use, wood burning, destabilized vegetation and a reduction in soil erosion.

By the end of the 14th century, "the southern moat of Angkor Thom was overgrown with vegetation, and management, by implication, had ceased," the authors said in the study.

"Angkor was never fully abandoned," Penny said, but "the elite were shifting away from Angkor," moving to new communities elsewhere with more commercial opportunities.

"This was not a collapse," Penny said. "This was in fact a decisive choice to shift focus away from Angkor."

"While the breakdown of Angkor's hydraulic network, most likely associated with climate variability in the mid-14th and early 15th centuries, represents the end of Angkor as a viable settlement, our data indicate that it was presaged by a protracted demographic decline," the study said.

"This raises the likelihood that the urban elite did not leave Angkor because the infrastructure failed, as has been suggested, but that the infrastructure failed (or was not maintained and repaired) because the urban elites had already left."

"The absence of Angkor's ruling elite by the end of the 14th century casts a different light over the Ayutthayan occupation of the city from 1431 CE, and over Cambodian narratives that emphasize loss at the hands of interventionist neighboring states," they added.
Nine months after they first met in Singapore, Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump, the US president, will come together again this week for a high-stakes summit.

They hope to overcome an impasse on how to deal with North Korea's nuclear weapons programme. But what is really driving the two leaders to a level of rapprochement unthinkable just two years ago?

President Trump and Kim Jong-un will face difficult questions at their second summit this week in Hanoi

Trump staking political capital on a win

Donald Trumps trip to Vietnam reflects a growing reality in the last two years of his first term that foreign policy, not domestic legislation, offers him the best chance of wins he can sell at the 2020 election.

The US president delivered on a string of campaign promises at home in his first two years  a $1.5 trillion tax cut, tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, two Supreme Court judges and surge in military spending.

But the early weeks of a newly divided Congress, with the Democrats holding the House of Representatives, have seen his demand for border wall cash fall on deaf ears and underlined the new political reality on Capitol Hill.

Mr Trumps national emergency may be stuck in the courts for months and there is little sign his call for bipartisan legislation to reduce drug prices or approve new infrastructure spending will be taken up any time soon.

Which is why the presidents attention is turning overseas. A withdrawal of US troops from Syria, announced before Christmas, appears just months away. Talks with China over a possible trade deal to lift tariffs are coming to a head.

And on Wednesday, for the second time in a year, Mr Trump will come face-to-face with a leader he once dubbed Little Rocket Man and threatened with "fire and fury like the world has never seen".

The presidents success in turning Washington-Pyongyang relations from open warmongering to mellow diplomacy  Mr Trump boasted that he and Kim Jong-un fell in love  is one of his few achievements in office which is applauded by both political parties, albeit with reservations.

Story continues

His challenge in Vietnam will be to add substance to the vague North Korean promise to support full denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, made in the first summit in Singapore last June, while not giving away too much.

There are gifts which Mr Trump can give to coax further commitments. He could ease the hard-hitting economic sanctions which form part of a maximum pressure campaign that is yet to be abandoned despite warming relations.

He could formally declare an end to the Korean War, handing Kim something North Korean leaders have long sought, or take a step towards normalising relations by allowing some permanent outpost for Pyongyangs diplomats in America.

But Mr Trump will be acutely aware of the criticism back home that he has been duped by Kim and given too much away already (such as halting US-South Korean military exercises). His own intelligence chiefs said last month declared it was unlikely Kim would give up his nuclear program.

Easing sanctions without hard commitments towards denuclearisation would likely be seen as a win for North Korea back home. Declaring peace could undermine the position of US troops stationed in South Korea.

Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, has been gripped by summit fever Credit: Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters

Much of the debate boils down to this: which is most driving Mr Trumps behaviour? The desire to secure long-lasting peace on the Korean peninsula? Or the wish to produce tangible wins that can be touted on the re-election campaign trail?

Critics say the latter is too prominent in the presidents mind and this colours his decision-making during the summit. Mr Trump insists he is in no rush to see North Korea denuclearise and still holds all the cards.

Hanoi will provide clues as to which side is winning.

Kim playing to a domestic audience

On the streets of the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, government posters extolling the virtues of a strong economy are a constant reminder that Kim Jong-uns priority has firmly shifted towards economic development after declaring last year that his nuclear weapons programme is complete.

His frustration with ongoing US-led sanctions that are dampening his regimes economic progress caused talks with Washington to stall last year, and Kim has already cautioned that Americas refusal to make any concessions would be a deal-breaker.

In a New Years speech that focussed largely on the domestic economy and technological advancement, he issued a blunt warning that Pyongyang would simply choose a new path if Washington tried to corner North Korea into unilateral nuclear disarmament without taking corresponding measures.

A shift in the US position would allow talks to proceed at an excellent and fast pace he promised. The messaging from Pyongyang, putting the onus on Washington to act, has remained consistent since the Singapore summit last June.

Kim not only wants to be treated by Mr Trump as an equal on the global stage, but he knows that the stakes are high domestically if he fails to modernise his impoverished pariah regime.

In North Korea the Kim family are treated like deities Credit: Eddie Mulholland/The Telegraph

In a Telegraphinterview last November, Ri Gi Song, one of the countrys leading economists candidly admitted that without harsh sanctions our development pace would be much faster than now.

Reports last week of the recent purging of 50-70 of the Pyongyang elite, through assets seizure, exile, imprisonment or execution, reveal the regimes ongoing capacity for cruelty to keep its citizens in check.

In his isolated nation, Kim and his forefathers are still revered as deities, but the young leader cannot hold back the reach of the global internet and modernisation indefinitely.

He must also win the loyalty of his subjects through improving their standard of living. Basic food shortages that are expected to lead to ration cuts this year are adding to the pressure.

Kims ambitious plans to develop a massive tourism complex in the eastern city of Wonsan, a long-term urban development plan in Simuijin, a city on the border with China, or to enter joint business ventures with the South at the Kaesong industrial park, are all contingent on the removal of sanctions.

Mr Trump may have already raised Kims expectations of easing the economic squeeze on his regime, suggesting on Wednesday that sanctions could be scaled back if Pyongyang does something meaningful in return.

The presidents declaration that he now has no pressing time schedule for North Korea to relinquish its nuclear arsenal is a remarkable shift in tone from White House demands pre-Singapore for a rapid commitment to complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearisation.

It may also be an indication that Kims gamble to develop his nuclear weapons programme as leverage to secure his regime has paid off, and that his nukes are here to stay.
3 Special Court judges assigned to high courts

Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana has transferred three Special Court judges to two different high courts in a move that is seen as part of his action against controversial judges.
An Amtrak passenger train that was stranded in snowy Oregon for more than 36 hours after hitting a fallen tree on the tracks is moving once again, Amtrak officials announced Tuesday.

Amtrak crews worked with local resources and the train is now enroute north to Eugene, Oregon, Amtrak Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Scot Naparstek said in a statement. We will be contacting customers to provide refunds and other compensation as appropriate.

Amtrak Coast Starlight Train 11, which operates a daily service from Seattle to Los Angeles, was carrying nearly 200 people when it stalled outside Oakridge, roughly 150 miles south of Portland, around 6:18 p.m. Sunday.

None of the 183 passengers and dozen crew members were injured, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari told CNN. Worsening conditions such as snow and more fallen trees made it impossible for the train to continue or for rescue crews to transport those aboard via alternate transportation for more than 1.5 days.

We sincerely regret the extended delay customers on the southbound Coast Starlight experienced due to extreme weather issues while traveling with Amtrak, Naparstek said in his statement Tuesday.

He continued: With more than a foot of heavy snow and numerous trees blocking the track, we made every decision in the best interest of the safety of our customers during the unfortunate sequence of events. With local power outages and blocked roads, it was decided the safest place for our customers was to remain on the train where we were able to provide food, heat, electricity and toilets.

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The train was stocked with ample food supplies, according to Amtrak. But passengers told local media there was limited cellphone service and that diapers for young children were running low.

A lot of the [older] kids have been really good but theyre having to run up and down and its a lot. Especially the food  its not really food theyre liking, passenger Carly Bigby told KOIN. Moms are doing all they can right now.

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Passenger Rebekah Dodson told KGW 8 she could see houses when the train was stalled by Oakridge but that snow prevented anyone from getting on or off the train. Several passengers have had panic attacks during the standstill, Dodson told NBC.

Theres two or three feet of snow on each side of us, she said. Were stranded.

Still, passengers say most people remained calm as they tried to pass the time during the nightmarish ordeal. One person played ukulele for children in the cafe car, KGW 8 reported. New friendships were forged through card games and drinking, one passenger told the outlet.

This story has been updated to note the train is running again.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Armed Yemeni gather near the capital, Sanaa, to show their support for the Shiite Houthi movement against the Saudi-led intervention on Feb. 21, 2019. (Photo: Mohammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images)

A kidnapped American whose release was heralded today in a tweet by President Trump had been held by a criminal group in Yemen, according to a classified local report reviewed by Yahoo News.

Danny Burch, who worked for the Yemeni Safer oil company, was abducted in the fall of 2017 in Yemens capital of Sanaa. Little had been known about his case, which remained largely out of public view until, on Monday, Trump sent out a tweet announcing that Burch had been recovered and thanked the United Arab Emirates for its support.

Yemen has been involved in a protracted civil war since 2014, when Houthi rebels took over the capital and large swaths of the country. With U.S. support, a Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015, escalating a conflict that is blamed for thousands of civilian deaths.

The United States has justified its support for the the Saudi coalition based on the ongoing war on al-Qaida and on terrorism.

But it appears that Burchs kidnapping had little to do with the war or terrorism, and instead involved a criminal gang, according to a secret report issued by a security department under Houthi control and obtained by Yahoo News.

The kidnapping of foreigners by criminal gangs for ransom has a long history in Yemen, but has subsided in recent years, primarily because the war has driven the vast majority of foreigners out of the country. Burch, who has a Yemeni wife and was a long-time resident of the country, was among a dwindling band of Westerners there.

The Yemeni security service report, dated Sept. 23, 2017, and titled "abduction of a foreigner," says that four armed men kidnapped Burch in front of a restaurant on a main street in Sanaa. The report states that reasons and motivations of the kidnapping are unknown."

A Sept. 30 update to the report states that the security service had determined that Burch had been taken by a prominent gang based in Yemens Marib province, an anti-Houthi stronghold, and was being held there.

Story continues

A local source in Marib confirmed the reports finding to Yahoo News, saying that he was told by affiliates of the gang leader about the kidnapping the day it took place.

Among the details that remain unclear is why it took more than a year to free Burch from Marib, which has been largely under Saudi and UAE control. Its also unclear how the UAE facilitated the release, whether through negotiations, ransom or military action on its own, or in conjunction with the U.S. armed forces.

Were not talking anything about it, said a spokesman at U.S. Central Command, who referred questions to the State Department. The State Department, however, was similarly tight-lipped about the circumstances of Burchs release, other than to credit the UAE.

We are grateful for the assistance of the United Arab Emirates in gaining Mr. Burchs freedom, a State Department spokesperson said in an email. Their assistance was crucial in securing his release.

The UAE Embassy in Washington confirmed in a tweet that its government played a role in recovering Burch. The UAE is pleased to have been able to assist the US in facilitating Mr. Burchs release, the tweet said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also tweeted about Burchs recovery, giving credit to the UAE, the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi, Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Robert C. OBrien and the U.S. governments hostage recovery fusion cell. The safety of Americans is a high priority of the Trump administration, Pompeo said in his tweet.

A Pentagon spokesperson did not immediately return a phone call requesting comment.

The Trump administration said Burchs release underscored its commitment to securing the release of American hostages. With Burchs recovery, we have now secured freedom for 20 American captives since my election victory, the White House said in a statement.
Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argues that it is a legitimate question to ask whether its moral for people to have children with the looming threat of climate change continues to exacerbate global conflicts.

The freshman New York lawmaker used Instagram to connect with her 2.5 million followers over the weekend to discuss the question she often hears from her younger constituents.

Theres scientific consensus that the lives of children are going to be very difficult, Ms Ocasio-Cortez said during an Instagram livestream. And it does lead young people to have a legitimate question: Is it OK to still have children?

Ms Ocasio-Cortez, a co-sponsor of the progressive Green New Deal resolution, said the clock is ticking when it comes to reversing the effects of global warming within the estimated 12-year deadline the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported last fall.

"We had time when I was born, but  ticktock  nothing got done, the 29-year-old lawmaker added. As the youngest member of Congress, I wish we didnt have 12 years. Its our lungs that are going to get choked with wildfire smoke.

She added, climate delayers are the new climate deniers.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez has made it evident that climate change is a key initiative for her.

Since she assumed her congressional duties, Ms Ocasio-Cortez has called for a climate change-focused House select committee and introduced the Green New Deal resolution in the lower chamber. The Green New Deal aims at getting the United States closer to 100 per cent renewable energy usage by 2030.
By Krishna N. Das and Devjyot Ghoshal JAMMU/NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) - Indians took to the streets in celebration across the country on Tuesday after the government said it carried out air strikes inside Pakistan killing hundreds of militants in a training camp. The reaction may be a sign that support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi is surging months before a general election, pollsters said. Patriotism may be having a greater influence than concerns about low farm incomes and weak jobs growth. India said air force jets hit a training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the militant group that claimed credit for a Feb. 14 suicide bombing attack that killed Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir, a mountainous region also claimed by neighboring Pakistan. "A very large number of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists" were killed, Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said. Pakistan said there had been no casualties at all. While the results of the strikes in the early hours of Tuesday were disputed, that didn't stop many in India from believing their government's version of events. Modi ji has finally done it, said Sandeep Sharma, a driver in the Jammu region of India's border state of Jammu and Kashmir, using an honorific for Modi. Theres a lot of anger against Pakistan here. India's opposition leaders, many of whom have banded together against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), congratulated the Indian Air Force (IAF), though they stopped short of praising Modi. "I salute the pilots of the IAF," Rahul Gandhi, leader of India's main opposition Congress, said in a tweet. In a village 100 metres from the Line of Control (LoC) that acts as the de facto border with Pakistan, men gathered around a bunker for security forces that is under construction and shouted slogans hailing India. "We will celebrate tonight," one said, "We have lost so many of our villagers to Pakistani firing." Shelling across the LoC has occurred frequently over the past few years but incursions into the other country's air space are rare - let alone an attack well into Pakistan. Modi has been under pressure to retaliate since the suicide car bombing in Kashmir's Pulwama, which India alleges was orchestrated by Pakistan's intelligence agency, and tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors have escalated in recent days. Tuesday's strike will not only boost Modi's campaign in the election due by May, political analysts said, but also take the spotlight off economic issues for which the BJP has felt the heat. "I think this is going to boost the electoral prospects of the BJP because people are generally in a celebration mood, that the government has been able to teach a lesson to Pakistan," said Sanjay Kumar, director of the CSDS think-tank and a leading pollster. The BJP lost a string of state elections late last year, after which opposition parties have attempted to form a coalition to take on Modi. And although his ratings have dropped to their lowest-ever level, Modi remains the most popular leader in the country, an India Today poll showed last month. "A large proportion of voters who had started drifting away from the BJP would come back to the fold," Kumar said. "This all goes to the advantage of the BJP." Also many BJP supporters who had become disillusioned with the party would feel relief, said Bhawesh Jha, founder of CNX, one of Indias largest polling companies. "... They will work hard to ensure the victory of Narendra Modi," Jha said. "Since this is happening so close to the election, Pulwama will be the biggest issue." As news of the strike emerged, India's television channels flashed patriotic slogans and headlines including TIMES NOW's "Proud moment for undefeatable Bharat", using a Hindi word for India. Some recalled the so-called "surgical strike" on suspected militant camps in Pakistan in 2016 after an attack by militants on an Indian army camp. On Twitter, #SurgicalStrike2, #IndianAirForce and #IndiaStrikesBack were the top trending hash tags in India. By the afternoon, shortly after India's foreign ministry provided some details of the strike, Modi spoke to a large crowd at an election rally in Churu, in the western state of Rajasthan. "I can assure you that India is in safe hands," he said from a podium placed before a collage of photographs of members of security forces who had died in Kashmir this month. "Modi, Modi, Modi," the crowd shouted back. (Writing by Zeba Siddiqui and Devjyot Ghoshal in NEW DELHI; Edited by Martin Howell and Nick Macfie)
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. APD announced that it has successfully achieved the mechanical completion of the worlds largest industrial gas complex in Jazan, Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the company completed the world-scale project without a lost time injury in 25 million worker hours. The industrial gas complex is expected to be onstream in phases in 2019.



In 2015, Air Products was awarded a 20-year contract by Saudi Aramco to build, own and operate this industrial gas complex in a joint venture (JV) with ACWA Holding. The facility will supply 75,000 metric tons per day (55,000 metric tons nitrogen and 20,000 metric tons oxygen) to Saudi Aramco's refinery and Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle, which is being built in Jazan.



Notably, this is one of the largest projects executed by Air Products till date and demonstrates its engineering capabilities and expertise.



In first-quarter fiscal 2019 (ended Dec 31, 2018), the company recorded adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.86, up 4% from the year-ago quarters tally of $1.79. However, the figure trailed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.87.



The company continues to expect adjusted EPS for fiscal 2019 in the range of $8.05-$8.30 per share, reflecting an increase of 10% at the midpoint year over year.



Moreover, adjusted EPS for second-quarter fiscal 2019 is projected in the band of $1.80-$1.90, up 8% at the midpoint year over year. The company continues to anticipates capital expenditure of $2.3-$2.5 billion for fiscal 2019.

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. Price and Consensus

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. Price and Consensus

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. Quote

Zacks Rank & Key Picks



Air Products currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).



A few better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space include Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. KL, Ingevity Corporation NGVT and The Mosaic Company MOS. While Kirkland and Ingevity currently sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Mosaic carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



Kirkland has an expected earnings growth rate of 20.9% for 2019. The companys shares have surged 85.3% in the past year.



Ingevity has an expected earnings growth rate of 17.9% for 2019. The companys shares have surged 41.5% in a years time.



Mosaic has an expected earnings growth rate of 23.5% for 2019. Its shares have gained 10.6% in a years time.



Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential



The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. Theyre also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.



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Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (APD) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Ingevity Corporation (NGVT) : Free Stock Analysis Report



The Mosaic Company (MOS) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. (KL) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
2U, Inc. TWOU reported fourth-quarter 2018 adjusted earnings of 23 cents per share that beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3 cents. The figure also surged 64.3% year over year.



Revenues of $115.1 million increased 32.8% from the year-ago quarter and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $114.9 million. Revenue growth was due to increase in number of users taking 2Us graduate and short-term course globally.



Quarter Details



Graduate program full course equivalent enrolments in the reported quarter increased 28.1% year over year to $34.7 million. Graduate programs average revenues for full course equivalent enrolment increased 1.2% year over year to $2.8 million. Additionally, Graduate program 2018 revenues increased 28.8% year over year.



Moreover, management stated that while older programs are attracting users, new programs are starting to gain traction. 2U is benefiting from expanding programs across a number of geographies and verticals, per management.



Short course full course equivalent enrolments in the reported quarter increased 33.9% year over year to about $9 million. Short course average revenues for full course equivalent enrolment increased 13.4% year over year to about $2 million. Additionally, Short courses revenues in 2018 were $63.4 million, up 289% year over year.



2U currently has partnerships with 35 universities, delivering 67 graduate programs and more than 90 short courses. The company, which launched and delivered about 48 graduate programs at the end of 2018, expects the number to be more than double by 2021.



Moreover, in the first-quarter 2019, 2U partnered with Keypath Education. The partnership will allow it to work with small colleges an area where Keypath specializes. Additionally, the partnership will allow 2U to expand its programs and partners, which is a positive. 2U stated that while Keypath will provide the initial investment and services for each program, it will add incremental services to programs depending on the contract. This is expected to create an additional revenue stream for the company.



Further, the companys recent partnership with Microsofts MSFT LinkedIn will allow its graduate program students to freely access LinkedIn Premium Career content.



In 2019, 2U will launch an MBA program with University College London and Tecnologico de Monterrey. This will be the companys first International Graduate Programs.



Operating Details



Curriculum and teaching and servicing and support expenses increased 37.5% and 34.5% year over year to $6.63 million and $18.1 million respectively. Additionally, technology and content development and sales and marketing expenses increased 43% and 30% year over year to $18.4 million and $49 million respectively. Moreover, general and administrative expense increased 10.2% year over year to $19.7 million.



Adjusted EBITDA was $20.1 million, up 57.6% year over year and adjusted EBITDA margin expanded 270 basis points (bps) year over year to 17.4%



Segment profitability margin for programs that have been operating for more than four years in 2018 was 42%, up 3% points year over year. The increase was due to the number of marketing initiatives taken to attract new students.



Segment profitability margin for programs that have been operating between three to four years in 2018 was 25%, flat from the year-ago period.



2U operating income was $3.3 million in the reported quarter compared with 26K in the year-ago period. Operating margin expanded 280 bps year over year to 2.9%.



Balance Sheet & Cash Flow



2U exited the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $449.8 million compared with $442.2 million as of Sep 30, 2018.



As of Dec 31, 2018, cash used in operating activities was $3.1 million as against cash flow from operations of $8.1 million in the year-ago period.



Guidance



First-Quarter 2019



Revenues are expected in the range of $121.5-$122.1 million. Non-GAAP loss per share is anticipated to be in the range of 18 to 19 cents. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of negative $4.2 million to $4.6 million. The anticipated loss is due to increased marketing spend.



2019



Revenues are expected in the range of $546.6-$550.8 million. Non-GAAP loss per share is anticipated to be in the range of 33 to 37 cents. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of $11.8 to $14.2 million.



Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider



Currently, 2U carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).



Some better-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector include Square, Inc. SQ and Momo Inc. MOMO. Both the stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



Long-term earnings growth rate for Square and Momo is projected to be 25% and 24%, respectively.



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Square, Inc. (SQ) : Free Stock Analysis Report



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Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
COSTA MESA, Calif.  A false claim bubbled up from the internet last month that Sen. Kamala Harris, the recently announced presidential candidate, wasnt eligible for election because she had immigrant parents and spent part of her childhood in Canada. The claim, an echo of the birther conspiracy that trailed President Barack Obama, was widely debunked but still addressed seriously by mainstream news pundits, including CNNs Chris Cuomo.

Even better for Jacob Wohl, the 21-year-old Californian who ignited the Harris birther claim with a tweet, some people actually seemed to accept it as fact.

The believability stuck at about 15 to 18 percent by my measurement, Wohl said in an interview shortly afterward, declaring it not a bad campaign.

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Wohl, a self-professed political and corporate intel consultant and supporter of President Donald Trump, is dedicated to plying the malleable fringe of the electorate with dubious claims and disinformation schemes.

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Amplifying him in that quest are his links to the worlds loudest Twitter cheerleader, Trump. Wohls father, attorney David Wohl, says that as a Trump surrogate he was on calls with the 2016 presidential candidate daily. David Wohl has regularly appeared on cable news networks to promote the president and his policies.

Trump has retweeted Jacob Wohls praise  of the presidents economy, or just general WINNING-ness that the left-wing media cant stand  at least three times. They appear to have met at least once, as evidenced by a photo of father, son and president together, and the younger Wohl says he has spoken to the president several times. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on their relationship.

On Twitter, where he has 186,000 followers and is adept at quickly responding to Trumps tweets to gain many more eyeballs, Wohl has claimed, without evidence, that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg is secretly dead or in a vegetative state and that pipe bombs sent to prominent Democrats and media outlets were a left-wing false flag operation.

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He flew to Minnesota last week to investigate the rumor that Somali-American Rep. Ilhan Omar married her brother, a mission for which he tried to fund-raise $25,000 from his online followers. Wohls trip to the heartland devolved into bizarre tweets in which he suggested that Minneapolis was so overrun by Somali jihadists that he had to wear a bulletproof vest and travel with a team of security professionals.

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Wohls most prominent gambit was also his most disastrous: an apparent sloppy attempt to accuse Trump's nemesis special counsel Robert Mueller of sexual misconduct days before the midterm elections in November. His actions were referred to the FBI for potential criminal investigation. The woman he named as a credible accuser of the special prosecutor, Carolyne Cass, recently told USA TODAY that Wohl made it up, deceived her with a false identity and tried to coerce her to appear at a news conference against her will.

Wohl initially maintained that Cass's allegations were credible. When told that Cass said they were inaccurate, Wohl then claimed that he couldnt speak about the situation because of a legal non-disclosure agreement with Cass, who denied that such an agreement exists. An FBI spokesperson declined to comment on whether the agency was investigating the episode.

Deciphering the Mueller saga is characteristic of how difficult it is to grasp at the truth with Wohl, who represents a political moment in which even the most basic facts are in dispute.

In some ways, Wohl is simply carrying on the dubious American tradition of deceit in politics, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a communications professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Cyberwar: How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President. Jamieson described 19th-century political operatives who would secretly buy newspapers to dictate coverage, and the dissemination of false accounts about President Andrew Johnson being a murderer.

The difference now, she said, is that the internet has democratized that deceit. Its more difficult online to determine the source of a claim, a major factor in deciding whether to believe it. Being repeatedly bombarded with a claim  social medias specialty increases its perceived accuracy, even if its false and has been publicly debunked. People are more likely to believe a false claim that fits their ideology, and the internet naturally facilitates people like Wohl finding and communicating with like-minded groups.

It takes a real talent to figure out what kind of deceptions will gain traction, Jamieson said, and to have both the knowledge of their demographic and technical ability to figure out what will resonate as opposed to what will be laughed at.

Wohl disclosed a raft of schemes he says are in the works that he hopes will resonate in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.

He says he plans to create enormous left-wing online properties  such as deceptive Facebook and Twitter accounts  "and use those to steer the left-wing votes in the primaries to what we feel are weaker candidates compared with Trump. Its a plot similar to what Mueller has charged in indictments that the Russians crafted in an effort to boost the 2016 campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein and hobble Hillary Clinton.

Another stated scheme: seeking to collect damaging information on left-leaning non-profits including Media Matters for America, the Southern Poverty Law Center and Right Wing Watch by offering their insiders moral reconciliation, and if that doesnt work, things of worth  such as money.

Or perhaps those stated plans themselves are a ruse to fool the mainstream media, which he calls a band of lying goblins.

Wohl stressed that the accuracy of the information he spreads is not the important part. All that matters is how far those claims travel, and how many people believe them.

Wohl said he yearns for the days  before he was born  when conservatives would join in outrage over a scene in a sitcom and funnel that unity into other pursuits, like support for unchecked military actions. You think about these incredibly large-scale wars that were just launched without congressional approval, and they were pretty damn good at carrying out the conservative torch, whatever it happened to be at the time, Wohl said.

In the spread of information, he said, truth is an obsolete concept. Its something that cant be thought about in a linear, binary true-false, facts-non-facts  you cant do that anymore, Wohl said. Its just not the way it works.

Packing heat at the hipster coffee shop

Wohl chose to meet at Coffee Nature, probably the closest thing to a hipster coffee shop in his resident Orange County, in a nod to the tweets that gained him fame and derision before he was best known for allegedly trying to catfish the special counsel.

Since last year, Wohl has more than a dozen times claimed on Twitter to have overheard liberals in hipster coffee shops sharing pro-Trump secrets with one another, such as that they were actually overjoyed by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaughs confirmation. The tweets conjure up the image of Wohl furtively eavesdropping on surrounding patrons from behind the foam of an oat milk cappuccino.

He arrived at the Orange County cafe in a black Corvette with new-car paper license plates and extended a rigid hand but did not shake when a reporter grasped it. Sipping a free cup of ice water, the thin, severe-featured Wohl, who speaks in clipped verbiage, quickly worked into conversation that he was carrying a concealed firearm in response to the voluminous left-wing threats he has received.

Wohl explained that he picks on bohemian coffee shops because he sees them as the Temple Mount of liberalism and calculated that if you in any way impugn the sanctity of the hipster coffee shop, its going to be something that gets them really charged up. In describing his methods, Wohl casually explained that he makes it up: Ill literally hear one thing and Ill flip it 180 degrees.

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Wohl said he was eager to correct the record on the Mueller episode, in which his apparent efforts to disgrace Trumps foremost adversary ended up unraveling into one of the weirdest major news stories in a cycle full of them.

It started with emails received by several news outlets in which the sender claimed an intelligence company had tried to pay her to accuse Mueller of sexual misdeeds. A professor produced emails showing that she had also been approached for information by the company. Reporters followed a bizarre online trail to reveal that Wohl was behind the intelligence company, which seemed to be staffed by an office full of imagined employees. Wohl and his partner in the episode, Republican lobbyist and conspiracy theorist Jack Burkman, then announced a news conference devolving into farce when a woman who they said was going to make allegations against Mueller didnt show up.

The result of the Elmore Leonard-esque plot was a media cycle of ridicule for Wohl. One outlets headline read: Fabricated Mueller Smear Appears to Have Come From Comically Inept Far-Right Internet Person. The special prosecutors office broke its customary silence to announce that it had referred the scheme to the FBI for criminal investigation.

Wohl claimed at the coffee shop, however, that a goal of his scheme had been to trick journalists into thinking that he had offered to pay for dirt on Mueller, so he made up a person and sent those allegations to media outlets. On his phone, he scrolled through emails from reporters at major outlets like The Washington Post, The New York Times and Buzzfeed who had tried to garner more information from a person who he says did not actually exist.

He described these emails-- of reporters doing their due diligence-- as trophies from a logic-stretching plan that had as the ultimate goal getting reporters to go to a news conference at a D.C.-area Holiday Inn. The real allegations against Mueller would have been ignored  had we not roped the media into attending the press conference, Wohl said.

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But those real allegations appear to be even more problematic. At the news conference, Wohl distributed a document that was digitally signed, purportedly by the absent accuser Carolyne Cass, in which she said she had been sexually assaulted by Mueller in New York in 2010. In the interview this month, Wohl referred to Cass as a real accuser and called her allegations credible.

But when reached by USA TODAY, 34-year-old Carolyne Cass of Los Angeles said Wohl, whom she met on Craigslist, had tricked her by pretending to be an investigator named Matthew Cohen who was trained by Israeli intelligence forces and agreed to help her with unscrupulous characters ripping me off.

Cass said she paid the man she knew as Cohen $2,000, for which he did no work but instead offered her the prospect of employment at his intelligence agency and had her speak on the phone to people whose identities she now believes Wohl fabricated.

Cass said it ultimately became clear that Cohen and his associates, imaginary or otherwise, needed a credible female to put on the line for false allegations about Mueller. They made it up, Cass said of the document accusing Mueller, which was passed around at the news conference. They wrote it and docu-signed it.

She claimed Cohen tried to get her to speak at the news conference but she escaped and learned only as the scheme exploded that Cohen was in fact Wohl. He completely lied to me, Cass said.

Wohl had as recently as this month referred to Cass while speaking in detail about the Mueller episode. But when asked about Casss version of events, Wohl said he could not speak further because he had signed a non-disclosure agreement with her and cant violate any confidences. Cass said no such agreement existed.

Burkman also refused to discuss his role in the Mueller scheme.

Both Wohl and Cass say they have not been contacted by the FBI. Stanford Law School professor Robert Weisberg said Wohls actions could be construed by a federal prosecutor as wire fraud, obstruction of justice or conspiracy  or as possibly violating various state statutes  but likely fell into a legal gray zone.

The whole thing smacks of illegality and nefariousness and deception, but it still needs to have an anchor in criminal statute, Weisberg said.

Tax liens and exotic birds

Wohl said he didnt decide to fully apply his talents to politics until the rise of Trump, who he describes as a political soulmate in both ideology and tactics. But he said his political awakening came in 2008, when he was in fifth grade and watched Obamas inauguration with great trepidation for what it meant for the national debt.

Despite his stated concern for fiscal responsibility, public records suggest that both Jacob and his television pundit father have had their own turbulent financial histories.

A search of television appearances shows that David Wohl  who was admitted to the California bar in 1989 and works largely in criminal defense  has been an analyst on Fox News and other cable stations for more than a decade, and his appearances have shifted from that of a legal expert to a fervent defender of the then-candidate and president.

Like his son, David Wohl has promoted conspiracy theories including that the pipe bombs sent to Democrats and media outlets, for which a Trump supporter in Florida was arrested, were a hoax.

In a brief interview, David Wohl said he had daily conference calls with Trump to hone messaging during the campaign. A spokesman for Trumps campaign didnt respond to a request for comment on the elder Wohls role.

A search of public records shows that at least a dozen times since 1995, David Wohl has been the subject of state and federal tax liens in Californias Orange and Riverside Counties. Most recently, the IRS named him and his wife in a property lien for $22,002.31 for back income taxes. Though several of the past liens were marked as released, or paid off, the most recent lien was not shown to have been released.

In divorce filings last year, David Wohls wife, Michelle, said that he spends money on guitars, watches, firearms, tickets to concerts and sporting events and a recently purchased exotic bird" costing $8,000 to $10,000 while I struggle to make ends meet and live from paycheck to paycheck.

David Wohl said he had no knowledge of tax liens against him and called this article a "hit piece. ... Trump calls you guys out for (stuff) like this."

He said that he and his wife have since reconciled and that her claims in the divorce were "extreme exaggerations" and "garbage."

"I don't have my lawyer file documents that are garbage," Michelle Wohl said when reached for comment, adding that her filings were under penalty of perjury.

Jacob Wohls own history with money got off to a rocky start when, as a teenage hedge fund trader, he was investigated by multiple regulatory bodies in 2016.

The Arizona Corporation Commission and National Futures Association (NFA) investigated allegations including that Wohl and his partner had failed to pay back an investor, did not accurately present the risk of their investments and claimed that they had been in business for 35 years when neither of them had been alive that long.

Wohl father and son teamed up to fend off the regulators. David Wohl said he called the Los Angeles Police Department to report financial investigators for stalking them. Jacob Wohl declared in filings that his treatment by NFA investigators was evidence of the organizations broader culture of harassment, stalking and thuggery.

The Arizona Corporation Commission ordered Wohl to no longer trade securities or provide investment advisory services in the state and to pay just under $33,000 in restitution. The NFA permanently barred Wohl. According to Wohl, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also investigated him and declined to pursue enforcement action. The commission declined to comment.

Wohl said he ultimately sold his half of his financial business to his partner. He maintained that there was nothing even remotely illegal about his financial enterprise, saying his father wasnt going to let me run a rogue hedge fund.

As he has in his political schemes, Wohl displayed glee for high stakes, calling his financial career a good experience and remarking: Who gets to go through a SEC investigation at age 18?

A threat from Avenatti

While describing his recent professional work  a vague resume involving doing corporate intelligence for a Los Angeles businessman he wont name and helping Republican lobbyists butt out other lobbyists by gathering information for them  Wohls phone began buzzing with the screen reading Dad.

He learned in the ensuing phone conversation that Michael Avenatti, the California attorney who has turned his representation of porn star Stormy Daniels into full-time work as a Trump antagonist, had tweeted at Wohl: I am coming for you.

Avenatti had been under investigation by Los Angeles authorities for an alleged domestic violence incident and had suggested that Wohl was involved in setting him up. Upon learning that criminal charges would not be forthcoming, Avenatti celebrated with the vengeful tweet.

Wohl responded by retreating to the bathroom of the hipster coffee shop, where he retweeted his fathers message that they would be reporting Avenattis threat to the authorities.

Its not clear why Avenatti has suggested Wohl was involved. In a later interview, Avenatti said he was not at liberty to expound on Wohls role. Wohl said Avenatti has accused me of putting a GPS device on his car and sending thugs after him to taunt him in public, both of which he denies.

Avenattis response: I have no idea what this idiot is talking about. This child is so stupid and so hungry for attention that he will say anything.

Like a drawn-out pro wrestling feud, the duel between Avenatti and Wohl will surely have many chapters, each one more convoluted than the previous. Avenatti vowed that ultimately, Wohl is going to find himself in a penitentiary somewhere.

When Wohl came back from the bathroom, he bristled at a reporters suggestion that Avenatti  who is prone to melodrama, has scads of detractors and is skilled at intertwining himself in the major events of a bizarre political era  is the closest thing to his foil on the left.

Kind of, Wohl protested. But hes a loony tune because hes making provably false accusations.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: This 21-year-old tweeted lies about Robert Mueller and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Now, hes eyeing the 2020 election
Losing your job can profoundly affect many aspects of your finances. Not only will unemployment reduce or eliminate your regular income, but it can also mean the loss of important benefits like health insurance.

Reacting quickly and with grace can help you to minimize or avoid major problems that come with becoming unemployed, so it's important to know exactly what steps to take after you've been let go, as well as what not to do if you lose your job.

A man carrying a box of office supplies and leaving a room with two colleagues watching him.

Image source: Getty Images.

Here are the 15 most important things to do if you lose your job:

Negotiate a severance agreement Collect your last paycheck, along with accrued vacation and sick time Apply for unemployment benefits, if you're eligible Review your non-compete agreement Decide what to do about health insurance Rework your budget and cut spending Reach out to your network Update your LinkedIn (or create a profile) Evaluate your career path Update your resume Clean up your social media accounts Connect with your coworkers Brush up on your job skills and industry knowledge Apply strategically for jobs Determine what to do with your 401(k)

1. Negotiate a severance agreement

In some cases, departing employees who are laid off through no fault of their own are entitled to severance pay. Severance pay is a set amount of money paid to employees who are let go due to restructuring, staff cuts, or for other reasons besides misconduct. Your company may have a policy on severance pay, so read your employee handbook or employment agreement -- if you have one -- to see if you're entitled to severance.

If your employer has more than 100 employees, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 (WARN Act) entitles you to 60 days' notice when mass layoffs occur. If you're entitled to notice under the WARN Act and your employer doesn't provide it, you're legally entitled to severance.

If you are eligible for severance, you may be able to negotiate the terms of the agreement -- so don't assume you have to accept the first offer your employer makes. These tips for negotiating a severance package can help you try to maximize the benefits and compensation you receive from your employer when you're let go from your job.

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2. Collect your last paycheck, along with accrued vacation and sick time

In some states, employers are required to provide your last paycheck immediately upon terminating your employment. Others allow your employer to send your last paycheck on your regular payment schedule. Employers are generally not allowed to withhold your last paycheck, upon contingencies like your return of company property.

If you have unused paid vacation or sick days, you may be entitled by your state's laws to collect payment for this accrued time off. Nearly half of the U.S. states mandate that employers include payment for unused vacation or sick days. Even if your state doesn't require this, it may be company policy to pay out for these benefits.

Find out the law from your state's labor department so you get the pay you are entitled to. You can also read your company handbook and talk with your employer about being paid for vacation or sick time you didn't use.

3. Apply for unemployment benefits, if you're eligible

If you were let go from your job through no fault of your own, you will probably be entitled to receive unemployment benefits.

State laws vary on when you're qualified to receive benefits, but you typically must be actively looking for work and must have worked a particular number of hours or earned a certain amount of money at your past job. You can find out your individual state's laws and get instructions for filing at CareerOneStop. You can apply for benefits online and should do so as soon as possible so you can collect them as soon as possible.

Unemployment benefits are taxable and the amount you'll receive is equal to a portion of your past wages -- you won't get the full amount you were earning. There are also caps on how long you can receive unemployment benefits. Still, having money coming in is important, so don't skip this step if you're eligible for benefits.

4. Review your non-compete agreement

If you had a non-compete agreement with your current employer, you need to know any restrictions and limitations it places on you, so that you don't violate it when looking for new work.

In some states, such as California, non-compete agreements are virtually unenforceable, while other states give much more deference to employers in restricting what you can do once you've left your job. Still, no matter where you live, restrictions on your future employment must be reasonable. This means the agreement must be narrow in time, location, and scope.

It may be worth getting some legal advice if you have concerns about the restrictions imposed by your non-compete agreement. After all, you don't want to be prevented from applying for jobs in your field by an overly broad agreement that stops you from taking most jobs you're qualified for.

If you're negotiating a severance package with your employer, you may want to broach the subject of renegotiating or narrowing the terms of any past non-compete agreements you may have signed.

5. Decide what to do about health insurance

If you had health insurance through your employer, deciding what to do about insurance is a pressing concern. That's because your employer is most likely not going to continue paying premiums for health benefits once you leave work -- unless you've negotiated for this in your severance agreement.

Under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA), you're allowed to keep your coverage through your employer for up to 18 months (or potentially longer if you're disabled). However, you will likely have to begin paying for the full cost of premiums if your employer was subsidizing them. As a result, options for coverage under COBRA can be very expensive.

You also have other options besides electing to stay covered with your employer. You could look into getting covered by a spouse's plan if possible. Or, you could purchase coverage from an Obamacare exchange. Losing coverage due to a job loss is a qualifying life event that entitles you to buy a policy on the Obamacare exchanges outside of open enrollment, so you can get covered whenever you lose your job.

It is possible you'll be eligible for subsidies to help you afford coverage on an Obamacare exchange, so this may be much more affordable than COBRA coverage. Of course, your new plan may not allow you to continue seeing your current doctor, so review your options carefully.

Whatever you do, be sure to make some decision about healthcare coverage ASAP. You do not want to go without insurance and end up facing serious financial disaster if you have a medical issue when you're without coverage.

6. Rework your budget and cut spending

Chances are, you'll be living on less income due to your job loss, even if you've qualified for severance and unemployment benefits. And even if you have a generous severance package, you don't know how long your period of unemployment will last, so it's a bad idea to keep spending as you were when you had a regular paycheck.

Sit down with your budget and look for places you can cut back. You may decide to drop your gym membership, eliminate cable, stop eating out, and start using coupons at the grocery store. Anything you can do to reduce your spending will help ensure the loss of your job doesn't create serious financial hardship for you.

If you don't already have a budget, now is a good time to make one. Ensure that your monthly outflows can be met by the income you have coming in from unemployment, your spouse's paycheck, savings, or other income sources.

7. Reach out to your network

Now's a great time to reach out to all of your connections and let them know you're looking for new work. Let them know what kind of position you're interested in and ask them to keep their ears open for you.

Think about people you know from past positions, those you've connected with at industry events, and others in your circle who might know of opportunities. Networking both online and in person can make or break your job search. The people who already know you best are the most likely to be proactive in helping you find your next great job opportunity.

8. Update your LinkedIn (or create a profile)

The internet has made networking easier than ever, so be sure to take advantage of online tools after a job loss. In particular, LinkedIn can help you to make connections and find out about career opportunities.

If you don't have a LinkedIn profile already, create one and start connecting with people you know. Make clear on your profile that you're looking for opportunities for work and ensure you've provided details about your past successes so you come across as an attractive candidate. You may even be able to get others within your industry who are familiar with your work to endorse your skills.

If you already have a LinkedIn profile, update it to specify that you've left your current position and are looking for new work. Also, be proactive in reaching out to people who work at companies you're interested in, especially if you have a mutual connection.

These tips can help you to create a great LinkedIn profile and to use this professional networking service to find work.

9. Evaluate your career path

The loss of a job is also a good time to think about where you want your career to go.

You don't have to just start applying right away for positions similar to the one you left -- especially if you weren't happy with the work you are doing. Take a little time to think about aspects of your job you did, and did not, enjoy in considering what you want to do next.

If you're toying with the idea of a career change, start looking at positions that suit your skills and expertise, or explore the credentials you'd need to move into a different position or industry. If you can afford to not look for immediate work, now might be the ideal time to pursue your dreams.

If you're hoping to make a shift in your career, check out temp jobs in your desired new industry or position. Companies may be more willing to take a chance on a total novice in a temporary position. By taking a temp position, you could build your resume and develop the skills you need. Ideally, a temp job could even turn into a full-time position if you prove yourself.

10. Update your resume

No matter what kind of new job you're going to look for, an outstanding resume is key to landing an interview, and ultimately getting hired. So, now is the time to get your resume in tip-top shape.

Customize your resume for each job you apply for and showcase the skills most relevant to the role. Most people create chronological resumes that show how their career has unfolded, but if you were with your past company for a majority of your career, a skills-based resume might better highlight your different talents.

These tips for creating an awesome resume can help you get this crucial employment document in order so you can catch the eye of hiring managers.

11. Clean up your social media accounts

Today, employers routinely investigate the social media history of candidates who apply for jobs. So, now's a great time to make sure there's nothing on your Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram that could get you into trouble, raising red flags to your potential employer.

Making your accounts private is one way to go, but you should also pay attention to other pictures you're tagged in on your friends' pages. And be sure to avoid complaining about your job loss or your past employer online, as this won't paint you in the best light as a potential employee.

12. Connect with your coworkers

When you apply for new jobs, you may require references from former coworkers or bosses. So, make sure you keep in contact with your manager and officemates at the job you're leaving.

Ideally, you'll be given the chance to say goodbye and exchange email addresses and other contact info before you leave work. But even if your layoff comes as a surprise and you have to leave quickly, reach out via social media or email.

When you initially make contact, simply say hello and let them know you'd like to stay in touch, then make the effort to do so. Not only does this help you to expand your professional network, but it also ensures you have these key contacts in place when new employers make a reference request.

13. Brush up on your job skills and industry knowledge

You want to stand apart from the crowd when applying for new jobs, so now is the time to study up on everything going on in your industry. Sign up for industry job boards, follow career blogs in your intended sector, read industry publications, and keep up with industry leaders in your field.

By brushing up on the latest news and working to refresh your skills, you can enhance your resume and be ready to answer even the toughest interview questions. You may also decide to take the time to establish your own profile as an expert in your industry by writing blog posts or articles that show off your knowledge.

14. Apply strategically for jobs

While enhancing your skills and considering your career trajectory are both important, none will do you good until you actually apply for the jobs you want. When you start applying for work, it can be tempting to send your resume to any employer with an open position that's remotely similar to the type of job you're looking for.

Bombarding employers with your resume, though, is a bad idea. First, it's a turnoff to employers to receive resumes when you're clearly unqualified for the position. And second, sending off too many resumes means you won't have time to focus on putting together really excellent applications for jobs that are an ideal fit.

If you're strategic about what positions you apply for, you can take the time to do it right, customizing your resume and cover letter, combing your LinkedIn and network for contacts at the company, and learning about the business and industry so you're ready for an interview. And you can make sure the job you're inevitably offered is one you'll be happy to accept.

15. Determine what to do with your 401(k)

Finally, you'll have to decide what to do about the 401(k) you have with your old employer, if you had a retirement account at work. You have a few options, including leaving the money invested with your former employer, rolling over the account into an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), or rolling it over into a 401(k) with a new employer, when you find one.

Leaving your 401(k) funds invested is a good choice if you're happy with your investment mix and with the fees you're currently being charged by the 401(k) administrator. However, if your balance is too small or your company is shutting down, this isn't always an option. And if your 401(k) has a very limited array of investment options or charges you high administrative fees, another solution is best.

Rolling over your 401(k) into an IRA can give you the most flexibility in terms of what brokerage holds your account and what you invest in. You can also open a free IRA with many discount brokers to avoid paying account maintenance or management fees. But if you choose an IRA, you will have to direct your own investments.

Finally, if you find a new job and you're offered the opportunity to invest in a 401(k) at your new company, you can roll over your current 401(k) funds to your new employer's 401(k) account. This makes sense if you want consolidation, but it's only a good idea if the fees and investment options offered by your new employer's plan are reasonable.

What not to do if you lose your job

Now that you know what you should do after losing your job, there are also a few things you definitely want to avoid, including:

Badmouthing your employer -- especially online. No matter how bad your employer was, it's not worth posting bad information about them on social media or complaining to others in your industry. And you definitely don't want to bash your past employer when you go to an interview. Other companies you're interested in working for have no way of knowing if the company really was the problem -- or if you were. If they see you publicly badmouthing your old employer, they may worry that they'll be your next target. Making negative comments is also just unprofessional and it burns bridges unnecessarily.

Breaking legal agreements. If you sign a non-compete or non-disparagement agreement or other legal documents with your current employer, make sure you abide by them. Otherwise, you risk being sued and ending up in a costly legal battle.

Waiting too long to get health insurance. If you need coverage, you should either sign up for COBRA right away or get coverage through your spouse's plan or an Obamacare exchange. If you wait too long to elect COBRA -- more than 60 days -- you'll lose the chance to continue your employer-provided benefits. So, act swiftly to research your coverage options and decide what's right for you.

Waiting too long to claim unemployment benefits. Depending on where you live, you likely have limited time to make your claim for unemployment benefits. Don't wait too long and miss out on being able to get these funds to replace part of your wages.

Losing confidence: You don't want to lose confidence in yourself or your abilities when you've lost your job. You have a ton to offer a new employer. You just need to find the right place for you!

Take these 15 steps after any job loss

Taking these steps after any job loss can help ensure you've done everything you need to protect your finances and jump-start your job search efforts.

By taking care of health insurance, cutting your budget, working on your resume, networking, and making sure you get benefits you're entitled to, you can hopefully minimize the monetary consequences of your job loss and get back to work as soon as you can, without too much stress.

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SIU celebrates Womens History Month with guest speakers, films and special activities

by Christi Mathis

CARBONDALE, Ill.  Southern Illinois University Carbondale is celebrating Womens History Month in March with a variety of special events, guest speakers and activities.

The celebration begins Monday with a Visionary Womens March. It starts at 4:30 p.m. at the entrance to Thompson Point and concludes at the Student Center. The formal kick-off is from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Old Main Room

Sheila Simon will speak, perform

Sheila Simon, a visiting assistant professor at the SIU School of Law, will be the guest speaker. Simon who served as Illinois lieutenant governor from 2011 to 2015, is the daughter of the late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon and the late Illinois State Rep. Jeanne Hurley Simon. A graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, Sheila Simon has a long legacy in law and public service.

Simon will perform with an all-female band. Refreshments will be served.

Activity focuses on enhancing diversity and inclusivity

A special event on March 6 will focus on the universitys culture. Introducing Diversity and Exclusivity is set for 5:30-7 p.m. in the Student Center Auditorium. Catarina Alves and Remya Perinchery, doctoral students in psychology, will lead the cultural awareness and inclusivity training. Alves and Perinchery are research assistants for the Associate Chancellor for Diversitys office.

The events goal is to increase cultural awareness and communication and help people from diverse cultures learn from others and work together.

Documentary will present powerful story

On Her Shoulders, an acclaimed 2018 documentary will allow viewers to experience the struggles of human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Nadia Murad as she seeks to bring the plight of her people, the Yazidis, to the attention of the United Nations and the world. The documentary chronicles the ISIS genocide of the Yazidi in northern Iraq in 2014.

The film will be shown at 7 p.m., March 7 in the Hiram H. Lesar Law Building Auditorium. Admission is free and open to the public.

Murad tells the story of what she and her people have suffered and she works to bring ISIS to the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Murad was the 2016 Glamour magazine Woman of the Year, a Nobel Peace prize nominee and received numerous other awards for her work.

Several other events planned throughout the month

SIU will sponsor a wide variety of events and activities commemorating and celebrating womens history. A few of the highlights include:

 Celebrate Women: Honoring Inclusive Excellence msellert@aol.com

International Womens Coffee Hour, 3-5 p.m. on March 22 at the Center for International Education. All are women invited to come get acquainted and celebrate the diversity within campus while enjoying coffee and refreshments.

Obstetric Fistula in the Developing World at 6 p.m. March 28 in Room 170 of the Student Services Building. The event highlights womens health issues, more commonly encountered in developing nations. Ella Phillips Lacey, emeritus health education professor, and Dr. Sherry Jones are the presenters.

Lifting as We Climb: Empowering Women through Community and Leadership retreat at Touch of Nature Environmental Center on March 29-30. The event is a time of leadership enrichment and personal development for students and features interactive discussions and networking. The $20 registration fee covers transportation, activities and meals. Find more information and registration online

To learn more

Additional information about Womens History Month 2019, including the complete schedule of events, is available on the Student Multicultural Resource Center website, by calling 618/453-3740 or by emailing wrc@siu.edu.
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'Nepal conducts an independent foreign policy. But this does not mean we want to remain in isolation.'

Ahead of his trip to Geneva, the Post spoke with Gyawali about Nepal's future foreign policy strategy, relations with India, China and the United States, and the transitional justice process, among others.
YEREVAN.  The International Monetary Fund is ready to support Armenia, chief of the IMF Armenian mission Hossein Samiei said during the meeting with PM Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday.

Pashinyan noted the importance of effective cooperation with the IMF and the continued assistance provided by the foundation to Armenias economic reforms. The PM emphasized that the government is focused on the reforms in various fields, including those related to the fight against corruption, the tax and legal systems, as well as in the area of public administration. According to Pashinyan, the reforms are aimed at simplifying the tax policy, improving the business environment, encouraging investment, and increasing the independence of the judicial system.

In turn, Samiei stated that the joint work will contribute to the reforms implemented in Armenia in the economic sphere. Positively assessing the steps being implemented by the Armenian government, he added that the IMF is ready to continue supporting the government to move the reforms forward. The IMF, he said, is interested in implementing effective programs.

The interlocutors also exchanged views on a number of issues included in the bilateral cooperation agenda.
YEREVAN.  Armenian News-NEWS.am talked to the security adviser to the Artsakh president Tigran Abrahamyan about the situation at the line of contact and the negotiations on the settlement of Karabakh conflict.

The Armenian authorities and international community have observed reduction in tension at the line of contact, while the head of EU delegation in Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski speaking about positive trends said that we have witnessed an unprecedentedly low number of incidents, and added that probably this has not happened in the entire history of the conflict. Does this observation correspond to reality, if we consider the situation on the contact line after the April war?

I have repeatedly said that in order to assess the situation, it is necessary to take into account a large number of factors, including cases of ceasefire violation by the adversary. There is an improvement on this part only, and the trends in other components of the situational assessment are not positive at all. In addition to the fact that Azerbaijan violates the agreement from time to time, it is also noticeable that the adversary is carrying out works, which will allow to create sharp instability on the border in a short-time perspective.

Another issue is that the movements and maneuvers of the adversary are observed by us any time of the day, and are analyzed in detail in terms of risks. At the same time, I understand the logic of such messages, voiced by international organizations: there is a problem of calming down the parties, facilitating the start of peace negotiations. However, unfortunately, this is not due to the desire of Artsakh and Armenia only. We need to work with Baku.

Azerbaijani foreign ministry reported about preparation for the meeting of Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. What are expectations of that meeting?

We, of course, have to welcome mediators efforts targeted at resumption of talks. At this stage when Baku does not make efforts to form an atmosphere of confidence and to return to negotiations, similar meetings, as a rule, have an aim not to allow drastic changes in the situation on frontline.

The official statement of Azerbaijan indicate that the country continues acquiring weapons. Does this contribute to the formation of the necessary field?

Not the import of large quantities of weapons only, but the statements about the resumption of war contradict the peace process. There are a number of indicators that are providing for or contributing to the process of peaceful resolution. On the one hand, Azerbaijan is trying to show that it is making efforts to preserve the ceasefire regime at the frontline, but, on the other hand, their moves convince us that in fact, Baku is preparing for a different solution.

Armenian Defense Minister David Tonoyan said that in case of resumption of hostilities, the Armed Forces of Armenia are also ready to attack. According to him, Yerevan has moved on to purchase offensive weapons. Can this be considered a change in strategy?

In terms of position, our infrastructures located on the border were initially built and rebuilt both for the implementation of defense in peacetime and for the transition to defense, counterattack or offensive actions in the event of hostilities.

The military and political situation will show at which stage and how the adversary threatens the security of our people, and later on a decision will be made over the measures which we should take in this situation. The armed forces should be ready for all scenarios, and all our efforts and resources should be implemented to increase our safety.

Is it possible to return Artsakh to negotiating table?

Unfortunately, this depends not on us only, but I am sure that the co-chairing countries see the need for this. I think that for everyone it should be clear that as long as Karabakh is not a full participant in this process, it is difficult to expect any kind of a serious situational movement.YEREVAN.  Armenian News-NEWS.am talked to the security adviser to the Artsakh president Tigran Abrahamyan about the situation at the line of contact and the negotiations on the settlement of Karabakh conflict.

The head of the EU delegation in Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski speaking about positive trends said that we have witnessed an unprecedentedly low number of incidents, probably, this has not happened in the entire history of the conflict. Does this observation correspond to reality, if we consider the situation on the contact line after the April war?

I have repeatedly said that in order to assess the situation, it is necessary to take into account a large number of factors, including cases of ceasefire violation by the adversary. There is an improvement on this part only, and the trends in other components of the situational assessment are not positive at all. In addition to the fact that Azerbaijan violates truce from time to time, it is also noticeable that the adversary is carrying out works, which will allow to create sharp instability on the border in a short-time perspective.

Another issue is that the movements and maneuvers of the adversary are observed by us any time of the day, and are analyzed in detail in terms of risks. At the same time, I understand the logic of such messages, voiced by international organizations: there is a problem of calming down the parties, facilitating the start of peace negotiations. However, unfortunately, this is not due to the desire of Artsakh and Armenia only. We need to work with Baku.

Azerbaijani foreign ministry reported about preparation for the meeting of Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. What are expectations of that meeting?

We, of course, have to welcome mediators efforts targeted at resumption of talks. At this stage when Baku does not make efforts to form an atmosphere of confidence and to return to negotiations, similar meetings, as a rule, have an aim not to allow drastic changes in the situation on frontline.

The official statement of Azerbaijan indicate that the country continues acquiring weapons. Does this contribute to the formation of the necessary field?

Not the import of large quantities of weapons only, but the statements about the resumption of war contradict the peace process. There are a number of indicators that are providing for or contributing to the process of peaceful resolution. On the one hand, Azerbaijan is trying to show that it is making efforts to preserve the ceasefire regime at the frontline, but, on the other hand, their moves convince us that in fact, Baku is preparing for a different solution.

Armenian Defense Minister David Tonoyan said that in case of resumption of hostilities, the Armed Forces of Armenia are also ready to attack. According to him, Yerevan has moved on to purchase offensive weapons. Can this be considered a change in strategy?

In terms of position, our infrastructures located on the border were initially built and rebuilt both for the implementation of defense in peacetime and for the transition to defense, counterattack or offensive actions in the event of hostilities.

The military and political situation will show at which stage and how the adversary threatens the security of our people, and later on a decision will be made over the measures which we should take in this situation. The armed forces should be ready for all scenarios, and all our efforts and resources should be implemented to increase our safety.

Is it possible to return Artsakh to negotiating table?

Unfortunately, this depends not on us only, but I am sure that the co-chairing countries see the need for this. I think that for everyone it should be clear that as long as Karabakh is not a full participant in this process, it is difficult to expect any kind of a serious situational movement.
150 consultancies sent over 700 Nepalis to an Australian institute without accreditation

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has said that around 150 consultancies sent Nepali students to Australia Institute of Business and Technology, the Sydney-based institution that faced action last week for enrolling students in the nursing programme without accreditation from Australias nursing and midwifery council.
US: 3 people were killed in a shootout with police

Blinken discuss with Lapid need to improve Israeli-Palestinian relations

China shares new video from Mars

Swiss authorities are going to vaccinate 80% of population

One of the most dangerous viruses discovered in India

AFP journalist: Turkish police attempted on my life

10 soldiers injured in Lebanon riots

Azerbaijan tries to interfere with agricultural work in Syunik province

Explosion kills 3 people in Syria, including child

Sudan agrees to transfer those accused in war crimes to International Criminal Court

Secret documents from the UK defense department found at bus stop

Blinken and Lapid meet in Rome amid reboot of U.S.-Israel relations

IRGC: Iran has developed a drone with a range of 7000 km

CEC rejects applications to invalidate results of last parliamentary elections

CEC of Armenia distributes mandates among forces that made it to National Assembly following elections

Amnesty International: Israeli police use disproportionate force against Palestinian protesters

Saeed Khatibzadeh: Iran won't negotiate forever

US citizen fined over $ 50 by Armenia police without stating reason

Turkey and Lebanon discuss prospects for cooperation

Armenia's CEC receives 3 applications for invalidating election results

Defense Ministry: Armenia didn't open fire on Azerbaijani positions

One case of COVID-19 confirmed in Artsakh

CEC shares final results of snap elections: Pashinyan's party has 53.91%, Kocharyan's bloc has 21.09%

Trump says Biden will lead US economy and country to collapse

Syrian FM says West helps terrorists

69 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Armenia

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
Every month, around 7 people die in Bhutan by committing suicide. This was revealed in the three-year action plan (from July 2015 to June 2018) for preventing suicides in Bhutan.

Putting in place such a national suicide prevention programme may have documented the reported suicide cases in the country, but it appears to have not achieved much in understanding the reasons why people take their own lives.

Still someone dies every week in Bhutan reportedly by committing suicide.

The cause of suicide for more than 60 per cent of the reported cases was described as unknown, stated an editorial published on Tuesday by Kuensel.

The editorial also claims that listing unknown and other factors for suicides and accidents has become routine in the reporting mechanisms of the country.

How such reasons help craft policies and interventions so remain unknown, it questioned.

While every life lost is one too many, a worrying trend we are witnessing is the increasing cases of suicide among farmers. The last two GNH surveys found that farmers, the biggest occupational group in the country, are the least happy. Except during elections, agriculture and farmers remain neglected. Suicides may be a manifestation of distress our farming community is subjected to, the editorial said.

The recent Gross National Happiness (GNH) survey also found that about five per cent of the population considered committing suicide and 20 per cent of those attempted to take their own lives.

The editorial claimed that a review of the reported cases in 2016 and 2017 show that after unknown, social problems and psychological reasons were cited as the causes of reported suicide.

That farmers, the employed and students top the list of those committing suicides annually show that efforts, if any, to enhance the wellbeing of these occupational groups have fallen sorely short, the editorial said.

Suicide has also been detected as one of the six causes of death in Bhutan which made it an issue of national concern demanding serious collective action.

The last government tried to address this growing public health concern. It is expected that the new government will also make efforts to address issues troubling the vulnerable groups.
I am writing in response to the article Feb. 4 (Francis makes first-ever papal trip to Arabian peninsula). The caption under the picture stated that Pope Francis is the first Pope to visit United Arab Emirates. His stated purpose is seeking to turn a page in Christian-Muslim relations. In other words, bring the two religions closer together, or at least closer in alignment with the teachings of Christ.

Pope Francis isn't the spokesman for Christianity. He is a politically duly elected official, by and for the Roman Catholic Church, one of the many denominations that follow the teachings of Christ.

When the election of a new Pope is necessitated, the high- ranking political officials, the cardinals, are summoned to the Vatican. They enter a conclave, and don't have any contact of any kind with the outside world until a two-thirds majority vote of one of the cardinals is achieved.

The cardinals come out of their conclave quarters, twice daily to the Sistine Chapel to vote, until the two-thirds vote is acquired. There aren't any Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Charismatics, or women present to vote. It is strictly a Roman Catholic denominational function.
Consider what further sea level rise could mean for this base or for the U.S. Navy fleet, 20 percent of which is home-ported nearby. Increased risk of wildfires can even prevent troops from training with live ammunition. Willful denial won't change the fact that our military readiness will be degraded when the permafrost our Alaskan bases are built on begins to thaw out.

And it doesn't end with military impacts. While climate change didn't lead to the rise of the terrorist group Boko Haram in Nigeria, the country's severe drought and the government's inability to cope with it helped create the volatility that militants exploited to seize villages, butcher teachers and kidnap hundreds of innocent girls.

The prospect of a more arid climate throughout the Middle East and parts of Asia will increasingly strain the most essential resource of all: fresh water. We've already seen tensions rise around the basins of the Nile, Central Asia's Indus River and the Mekong in Southeast Asia. Areas facing unrest, instability and weak governance are breeding grounds for violent extremism. Climate change will only exacerbate mass migration in places already enduring economic, political and social stress.
They backed an extension beyond 2021 of key provisions in the 2016 federal Water Infrastructure for Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act via a year-end federal spending bill.

This will make almost $1 billion in federal funds available for new California water storage, both surface and below ground, and lets the federal Central Valley Project provide some water to the state project to increase southward water deliveries. The one-tunnel approach will be cheaper than two and provide most of the same benefits, Newsom seemed to say.

Whether or not thats correct, statements by lawyers for outfits like the Natural Resources Defense Council make it seem certain that the WIIN funding wont come for years while legal infighting persists in both federal and state courts.

Newsom sees the single tunnel as a way to improve drinking water quality in much of the Central Valley, while also stabilizing water supplies and fishing, goals not nearly as ambitious as Brown had for the plan.

But unlike Brown, whose father Gov. Pat Brown pushed through the state Water Project in the 1960s, Newsom has no family legacy at stake here. This might make it easier for him to take a cool, clear-headed look at Browns ambitious plans.

That means that no matter how unhappy it might make Brown in his Colusa County retirement, neither of his largest plans will proceed in anything like the form he envisioned.

Thomas D. Elias writes the syndicated California Focus column. He is author of the book, The Burzynski Breakthrough: The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Governments Campaign to Squelch It.
The False Red Flag

It's the left's fondest wet-dream, unfulfilled before now: a right-wing would-be domestic terrorist -- a "white nationalist" and a Coast Guard lieutenant, to boot, if the lying mass media are to be believed -- with a hit-list of protocommunist politicians and a formidable and terrifying "arsenal" to carry it out.

However. "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is," may not be one of Leroy Jethro Gibbs' life-preserving rules (other examples: Gibbs' Rule #40: "If it seems like someone's out to get you, they are."; Gibbs' Rule #36: "If it feels like you're being played, you probably are."), but it damn well should be.

It turns out that the man's "arsenal" is only formidable and terrifying to the wet-panties buttons-'n'-bows crowd back east and on the left coast who know better about everything than you do, and want to run your life. To anybody else -- to anybody who lives west of the Mississippi or south of the Mason-Dixon Line -- it represents a small-to-moderate personal gun collection of fifteen pieces. My daughter laughed when she heard the actual number. They're also reporting breathlessly that he had a thousand rounds of ammunition. That's sixty-six cartridges per gun, just about enough for a sunny afternoon at the range, shooting just for fun.

Another thought: working your way up to the rank of full lieutenant in the Coast Guard (the equivalent of an Army or Air Force captain, but with fewer chances for promotion) represents a modest but respectable career -- my own dad was only a major when he retired -- and I'm not sure I believe a guy like this would throw away his life unless he had a tumor in his skull the size of a bowling ball. Once again, the socialists who think they own us have overreached absurdly. They say the guy was also in the Army -- and the Marines. Yeah, right.

Historically, such "terrorists" -- like the one who shot Gabby Giffords, just to name one example -- have turned out to be leftists, or actors, pretending to be terrorists. The jury, figuratively speaking, is still out on the Las Vegas shooter. As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle put it so articulately, the police are baffled.

Personally, I call bullsh!t -- and it's time that you did, too. Like so many other such incidents, I am confident that the guy -- assuming he actually exists -- will turn out to be a Democrat operative, dutifully advancing the collectivist agenda. And the hapless morons at FOX News are falling for it just like the other networks. But tell me: why is it that clearly leftist mass-shooters always manage to surprise the authorities, while the one advertised as right wing gets nipped in the bud?

Friends and neighbors, this exercise was staged -- as transparently as a Jussie Smollett hoax -- to back up unconstitutional "red flag" gun confiscation laws that are going to end up costing -- PAY ATTENTION, NOW, POLITICIANS -- city, county, and state government billions, if we do our work.

One thing we need to do better is communicate. If I'm any example, I've been writing about gun politics since the late 1960s, over fifty years. I've written thousands of essays, articles, and columns, not to overlook going on forty gun-heavy books. In all that time, over half a century, not even one of my so-called "comrades" in the same struggle has contacted me to exchange ideas or hire a piece of work, even though I have tried to reach them. The only thing they ever seem to want from me is money -- with the notable exception of the late, great Aaron Zelman of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, a wonderful man and a genuine freedom-fighter who asked me to write two books for him and many, many articles.

I'm doing my part, boys and girls, I've been doing it for five decades, even when gun editors called me "hysterical" for predicting the mess we're living with now.. We're up against the worst threats we've ever faced and we need each other's help to fight what looks to me like a homegrown communist revolution. You need my help. Ask anyone who actually reads my stuff.

************************

Award-winning novelist and essayist L. Neil Smith is a retired gunsmith, Publisher and Senior Columnist of L. Neil Smith's The Libertarian Enterprise and the author of over thirty books. Look him up on Google, Wikipedia, and Amazon.com. He is available, at professional rates, to write columns, articles, and speeches for your organization, event, or publication, fiercely defending your rights, as he has done since the mid-1960s. His writings (and e-mail address) may also be found at L. Neil Smith's The Libertarian Enterprise, at JPFO.org or at https://www.patreon.com/lneilsmith, to which you can contribute, directly. His many books and those of other pro-gun libertarians may be found (and ordered) at L. Neil Smith's THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE "Free Radical Book Store" The preceeding essay was originally prepared for and appeared in L. Neil Smith's THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE. Use it to fight the continuing war against tyranny.

The L. Neil Smith Archive.

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Troche said that normally she has a very bubbly personality. However, its intimidating having tons of people watch you talk, she admitted.

Unlike most commercials, there was no script to follow. Instead, the crew, led by Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Errol Morris, followed a documentary-style format.

Some Napans might be familiar with Morris. In the 1970s, Morris came to Napa to film his first feature, Gates of Heaven. The film featured Napa Countys Bubbling Well Pet Memorial Park and received critical acclaim.

For this mini-documentary, Troche grilled chicken while talking to Morris about what she liked about Chipotle.

It was like an interview, she said. It wasnt scripted at all. Her comments were her own thoughts and opinions. I think thats pretty cool.

During the process, Troche was also accompanied by her own hair and makeup person. At different points, separate still photos were taken of the teen. Each image had to be sent to the corporate offices for approval.
Its from the direct source of someone who was there at the time, Kern said. His family lived there and farmed it. It sounds like he has the answer.

Kern said an Oakland scrap metal company obtained the Corry from the Navy after it had been decommissioned. Its unclear precisely how the owners of the American Canyon property ended up with it, though some of them were from Oakland.

Its the Oakland connection that intrigues me, Kern said.

The USS Corry was launched in 1921 and scrapped in 1930, so it missed both World War I and World War II. However, it made a small contribution to the World War II cause, if only indirectly.

Basalt Rock Co. had a Napa River shipyard during the World War II at the site of todays Napa Pipe property, a few miles north of the destroyer. Clarke said the company needed steel plates and cut the front section off of the Corry.

He hasnt been out to the Corry for many a year, Clarke said.

At one time, the Corry was more easily accessible by foot. David Davis is among the many who visited it.
But the median household income in Santa Clara County was $106,761 in 2017, according to the latest Census data available. In San Benito County, it was $80,760.

As a result, Urton is having trouble holding onto employees, complicating her task of helping the regions most vulnerable residents.

We lose a lot of people to other areas in the United States, Urton said, and retention is difficult. We lose a lot of employees to local government who can pay pensions and higher wages.

Urton said she spoke to an employee over the weekend who is thinking about moving to Texas, so he and his school-teacher wife can afford to buy a home.

San Francisco ranked second on the HSH list of most expensive regions. In the San Francisco metro area, which includes San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa and Marin counties, a buyer would need to make $198,978 a year to afford a median-priced home. Thats based on a median home price of $925,200 and monthly mortgage payments of $4,643.

In Alameda County, the median household income was $85,743 in 2017, according to Census data.
The city of Napa reported last week that no Napa Police Department officer in the past decade was found to have committed sexual assault or have told a serious lie.

This was uncovered thanks to a new law, Senate Bill 1421, that went into effect this year. It grants the public access to records tied to investigations in which an officer is found to have sexually assaulted a member of the public, or if the officer engages in serious misconduct such as committing perjury, filing false reports, or destroying, falsifying, or hiding evidence.

The Register has requested similar records from other county law enforcement agencies, but the county did not meet the initial 10-day deadline to disclose those records. The county has sought additional deadline extensions to find and review a large number of files, a county attorney wrote in its replies to the Register.

Napa Police Department Chief Robert Plummer said that the departments clean misconduct record shows it has strong policies, high standards and well-trained officers with integrity.

If your hiring process doesnt scrutinize the applicants as well as it should be, often times you may get that bad apple, he said.
Ron Graybill will speak on James Edson White for Pacific Union Colleges 2019 lecture of the Percy and John Christian Civil Rights Conference Center.

Graybill has served his communities in a variety of ways over the years  professor, journalist, communications specialist, historian, editor, and pastor  and will draw from these varied experiences as he presents on his topic, James Edson White: Flawed Hero. The lecture will take place at 4 p.m., Saturday, March 9 in PUCs Paulin Hall. This event is free and open to the public.

Ill be presenting on the paternalistic racism which characterized most social action by whites during the late 19th century, Graybill said. To do this I will be examining closely the story of the life of James Edson White, with emphasis on his pioneer evangelistic, educational, and humanitarian work among Mississippi Blacks during this era.

Much of his lecture will be an elaboration of the premise of his book, Mission to Black America, originally published in 1971 with a second, updated edition released in February 2019.
The first installation was created for the 2018 Arts in April and initially intended to be hung for just that month, but it was so well received that Tom Thornton approached the city council to ask for an extension. It was up for almost two years before it needed to be taken down to preserve it from any more weather-related damage.

It was a collection of 27 two-foot square portrait panels each with Stevensons likeness on them assembled into a grid format characteristic of Andy Warhols work.

This grid assembly would be an example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. In sharing the idea with my neighbor, Kendra Kelperis, who teaches art to the RLS Middle School students in St. Helena, we quickly realized that her students could paint the repetitive portrait panels and add their own variations through colorful interpretations of RLS poems, he said.

The resulting artwork had all the elements of success, including a refreshing new look at Stevenson, involvement by the community, and a new concept for public art display on St. Helena property for public enjoyment, Thornton said adding that its popularity shows there is an appetite for public art.

Sain said Thorntons first installation was terrific and hit the nail on the head in terms of successful public art.
A free Upper Valley Campus class titled Shrinking Your Carbon Footprint to Zero: Making Changes in Your Home will be presented from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, March 9, at the St. Helena campus.

This free class will give you the information you need to take steps within your home to shrink your carbon footprint. A set of basic principles will be presented that describe how to implement energy efficiency, electrify space and water heating, electrify transportation, and use solar photovoltaics (PV) to power the result.

Instructor Tom Hoff is the founder and chief research officer of Clean Power Research. A pioneer in the science of valuing distributed solar generation, Hoff holds a number of patents in the area of PV fleet power estimation and has published and lectured on the topic extensively for more than 25 years. His numerous research topics include: valuation of photovoltaics and distributed generation, risk management and renewables and, most recently, methods to characterize PV output variability. He holds a Ph.D. in Engineering-Economic Systems from Stanford Universitys School of Engineering.

The first hour of the class is a lecture format and the second hour is an optional tour of a home in the city of Napa that implemented all of these steps and has a zero carbon footprint. Pre-registration is requested via Eventbrite by Friday, March 8.
The Federated Women of Upper Napa Valley will hold its monthly meeting at 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 6, at the social hall of the First Presbyterian Church, 1428 Spring St., near Oak Avenue. The special guest speaker is Christopher Olivier, founder of Christophers Little Free Rolling Library, longtime library volunteer, founder of Napa County Kids Care, and much more.
The future of perfection

As time passes, it is unclear who might eventually carry on the ancient craft of the blacksmith. Only a few full-time professionals remain, and as they pass so does much of the art and craft of the trade. A few organizations advocate for the craft, such as the California Blacksmith Association, and so do places seeking to keep the art alive, such as Sturgeon Mills in Sebastopol.

Over at Sturgeon Mills, we are open to the public four times a year, Maxfield said. There young people can actually see this kind of work being done first-hand. Sometimes I see a light go off in their eyes  many kids dont even realize that metal comes from the earth and can be worked and formed into something by hand. I like to think that a few of these young people might go out and carry on the craft someday.

Even with such inspiration, will todays young people decide to follow what is a challenging career path? Is it imaginable that one day such a craft as blacksmithing will be lost to time with every metal and steel item perfectly formed from a machine? For now, the world has craftspeople such as Maxfield and his supporters as stalwarts, crafting items that allow us to pause for a moment, say in front of a gate, to ponder what really matters and why.

Metal can be formed into nearly anything you can imagine  its more fluid than people think, Maxfield said. Hand-worked metal items are not like those coming out of a machine, which are each the same. Making things that are not perfect in whats become a perfect world is something that some people continue to find meaningful and important.
If you sold or purchased a house, there is a good chance a residential agent assisted you.

If you are a business owner or an investor, then you most likely interacted with a commercial broker at some point.

Both residential and commercial salespeople have several things in common.

Both need to be licensed with the state, both use real estate contract forms and both receive a commission as payment for their work.

However, there are many differences not only in the types of real estate handled, but what each does, how they stay on top of the market and the resources available to them.

Selling and leasing

Commercial brokers sell and lease commercial real estate. Investment real estate, such as a retail storefront or industrial building, has tenants who come and go. Property owners usually use the services of a commercial broker to secure a new tenant.

Residential agents usually only sell houses or help buyers purchase a home.

Specialties
Woodville, AL (35768)

Today

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Partly cloudy. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Partly cloudy. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable.
While reviewing the Supreme Court ruling Muscatine decided to suspend the ATE system from issuing citations while a complete review of the ordinance was completed. The cameras were maintained and used for statistical purposes only during the past five months.

Based on the recommendation of the city attorney, we stopped issuing ATE citations in September of 2018 for all violations until a new ordinance was passed, forms edited, and violation processing was changed, Sargent said.

The major change in the ordinance was changing how violations were processed.

The original ordinance had the citation and any associated legal and late fees turned over to a collection agency if the citation was not paid within a specified time.

Specifically, the receiver of an ATE citation had 30 days to either pay the fine, ask for a review, or ask for a trial before a judge before late fees were added to the fine. The recipient would have another 30 days to pay before the citation was turned over to the collection agency.
Arrest made during illegal shooting probe

Police arrested a 44-year-old man during their investigation into illegal shots fired near Broadway and Excelsior on Friday night.

Officers were called to the area at 10 p.m. Friday after a report of several shots being fired, allegedly from a residence to a vehicle, police said. Several spent rounds were located in the snow, but police did not locate a hit vehicle or any victims.

Officers believed the shots had come from a residence in the 800 block of Broadway where Joshua Wilson was living. Police discovered Wilson was on parole, and called parole officers to assist in a search of the residence.

After searching Wilsons residence, officers did not find a firearm, but did locate a syringe and a digital scale. Wilson was arrested and cited for parole violation, a felony.

As of Monday morning, police had located a truck with two bullet holes on its left side in the area of the reported incident, but said no complainants or victims have come forward. Police do not believe there were any injuries, and said they are continuing their investigation.

Fake $100 bill at Taco Bell
Butte School District No. 1, Butte Central Schools and Anaconda School District No. 10 just made some students week  the two public school districts and Catholic schools announced Monday afternoon that Tuesday will be a snow day.

We dont take this sort of decision lightly, but we decided that with the forecast we are cancelling school Tuesday for the safety of our kids, said Butte School District No. 1 Superintendent Judy Jonart. It really is about safety.

According to Jonart, some of the Butte public school buses got stuck in the snow around town this morning, and some students parents got stuck in school parking lots. Jonart said the district has had two snow plows out working since early Monday morning, but that they cant keep up with the new snowfall.

Jonart also said East Middle School had a pipe break on Monday, causing a small area of the school to lose heat. As of Monday afternoon, the pipe was half fixed and Jonart noted that the snow day will give the district more time to fully fix the problem.

This is the first time Butte School District No. 1 has canceled school in more than 20 years. Jonart said she thinks the last time school was called off was in 1980 after Mount St. Helens erupted.
Butte police helped make two drug busts over the weekend.

According to Undersheriff George Skuletich, the first bust was Friday afternoon around 12:15 p.m. at a residence in the 600 block of South Idaho Street. There, police assisted the Southwest Montana Drug Task Force in carrying out a search warrant on James Starcevich, 23.

During the search, police located a handgun on Starcevich that was stolen out of Butte in 2018, Skuletich said. He was arrested and transported to the county jail.

Skuletich said Starcevich has not been cited for the stolen property, but was cited for felony possession of dangerous drugs, felony possession of property subject to forfeiture and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. Police are waiting on a report from the Southwest Montana Drug Task Force on the details of these citations, and will release more information once they receive it, Skuletich said.

Starcevich was arraigned by Justice of the Peace Jimm Kilmer on Monday around noon. Court documents said Starcevich was cited for possessing suspected methamphetamine, and his bond was set at $50,000.

The second drug bust Butte police made was Sunday night at the Copper King Hotel and Convention Center, or Clarion Inn, in the 4000 block of Harrison Avenue, Skuletich said.
Butte School District No. 1 and Butte Central will resume classes on Wednesday, but around 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, Anaconda School District No. 10 Superintendent Justin Barnes decided to give his students one more snow day.

Barnes initially told The Montana Standard school would go on as usual Wednesday, but after driving around to the Anaconda district's schools on Tuesday afternoon, he decided it would be better to cancel classes.

"The sidewalks look pretty good, but there is zero parking and buses would have to drop students off in the streets, so we decided to go ahead and give them one more day," Barnes said.

Barnes also said the district plans to resume classes on Thursday morning and will most likely make up this second snow day over spring break.

Although Anaconda students will get one more snow day, Butte students will be back in school Wednesday.

Judy Jonart, superintendent of Butte School District No. 1, said all school parking lots and bus loading zones have been plowed and that school will resume Wednesday, unless Butte gets hit by another storm this evening.

If a storm does hit and Jonart decides to cancel school, she said shell send out a text to Butte School District No. 1 parents by 6 a.m. Wednesday.
Unlike the South Avenue Bridge, rehabilitation of Maclay Bridge imposes no additional improvement requirements on South Avenue or other service roads if a waiver by the county relaxes alignment standards based on historic use. It is effectively a status quo upgrade. South Avenue Bridge introduces safety hazards that must be mitigated, potentially at county taxpayer expense.

Curtiss was happy to sign the Project Specific Agreement with MDT with its payback clause even though research into similar agreements in Washington, Oregon, Nevada and elsewhere show imposition of no similar clauses. A new bridge at the west end of South Avenue was the predetermined outcome for consultants hired under her watch.

Curtiss says that when all the independent experts from many disciplines come to the same conclusion, the decision made is pretty clear. Yet independent experts have been ignored, including bridge rehabilitation engineers and a traffic analysis expert we brought to Missoula to consider this project. And yes, they did find a significant gap in the analysis of data.
Missoula County prosecutors last week modified the charges in one of two homicide cases against Tiffanie Pierce.

In what's become known as "the Montana Street case," in which Pierce is accused of breaking into a home and stabbing a woman, she previously faced charges of attempted deliberate homicide and assault with a weapon.

Prosecutors last week adjusted the set of charges; they now include attempted deliberate homicide, robbery and aggravated burglary. The robbery charge stems from Pierce allegedly threatening a man in the home with a knife while demanding his phone and money.

Bringing a knife with her in the home invasion, according to charging documents, earned the aggravated burglary charge. The woman, who was only watching the home during the incident on July 23, 2017, was repeatedly stabbed in the chest and neck.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The first test to quickly and accurately predict how people will respond to standard treatment for the most common type of leukaemia has been developed at Cardiff University. The technology could guide doctors' decisions on which drugs to give to patients.

The Cardiff researchers say that the test could now be a 'game changer' in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). It also has the potential to change how other cancers, including myeloma and breast cancer, are treated. While previous versions of the test had taken a week to process, results can now be ready in a day.

The research, which was funded by the blood cancer research charity Bloodwise, is published the journal Leukemia.

CLL is a slowly developing blood cancer in which patients produce mutated versions of white blood cells that build up in the blood, bone marrow and lymph nodes and crowd out healthy blood cells.

CLL progresses at different rates in different people and never progresses at all in a third of patients. Until now there has been no accurate test that can be used to indicate whether and how fast individual patients' cancer will develop.

The high-throughput 'STELA' test developed in Cardiff measures the length of sections of DNA in cancer cells called telomeres, which are found at the end of chromosomes. Telomeres act in the same way as protective plastic tips on the end of shoelaces, preventing chromosomes ends from 'fraying'.

Telomeres shorten every time a cell divides to create a new cell and eventually the chromosome ends are left exposed  leading to extensive DNA damage that speeds up cancer progression.

The Cardiff researchers have shown that people who have very short telomeres when they are diagnosed are much more likely to have a fast-progressing cancer.

The improved STELA test was used to analyse samples from 260 patients to see if it could predict how patients would respond to intensive chemotherapy combined with immunotherapy. The test showed that people with short telomeres relapsed much sooner after treatment than patients with long telomeres  on average 3.7 years after treatment compared to 5.5 years.

Patients with cancer cells containing mutations to the IGHV gene are known to have a better outcome than patients without this genetic mutation. The STELA test was found to be a more accurate predictor of relapse than testing for the IGHV mutation or any other current prognostic or predictive test.

Professor Duncan Baird, who developed the test at Cardiff University's School of Medicine with Professors Chris Pepper and Chris Fegan, said: "Not all patients benefit equally from chemotherapy and this test is the only one available that can accurately predict how patients are likely to respond. Our research provides strong evidence that a significant number of patients should be receiving more appropriate treatments."

Professor Chris Pepper, who is now based at Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, said: "Our study shows that some patients have a very long duration of response to chemoimmunotherapy, and may even be cured. These patients all have long telomeres. In contrast, patients with short telomeres invariably showed an inferior response and should be considered for alternative treatments."

Dr. Alasdair Rankin, Director of Research at Bloodwise, said: "People with CLL can experience great anxiety and uncertainty about how their cancer will progress. This test could give people the peace of mind that they will receive the most effective treatment possible if it does. It may even allow some people to be told that their cancer is unlikely to progress."

CLL is diagnosed in over 4,000 people each year in the UK and is the most common type of adult leukaemia. Patients produce immature versions of white blood cells called lymphocytes, which build up in the bone marrow and crowd out healthy blood cells.

CLL develops slowly and primarily affects patients' immune systems and their ability to fight off infections. Symptoms can include fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, frequent infections, weight loss and night sweats.

Many patients will not start treatment straight away, but will be put on a programme called 'watch and wait' until the cancer develops further. Some patients will never need treatment. For those patients who do undergo treatment, this usual consists of a combination of chemotherapy drugs and monoclonal antibody drugsartificial antibodies that bind to and kill specific cancer cells. While current drugs are often effective at delaying the progress of the disease and patients can live for many years after treatment, CLL is currently incurable.

Explore further New test more effective at predicting survival in blood cancer patients

More information: Kevin Norris et al. Telomere length predicts for outcome to FCR chemotherapy in CLL, Leukemia (2019). Journal information: Leukemia Kevin Norris et al. Telomere length predicts for outcome to FCR chemotherapy in CLL,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41375-019-0389-9

Provided by Bloodwise
Mosquito poo, shown here after mosquitoes have fed on coloured honey, can be used to detect viruses like Murray Valley encephalitis. Credit: Dagmar Meyer

Western Australian health authorities recently issued warnings about Murray Valley encephalitis, a serious disease that can spread by the bite of an infected mosquito and cause inflammation of the brain.

Thankfully, no human cases have been reported this wet season. The virus that causes the disease was detected in chickens in the Kimberley region. These "sentinel chickens" act as an early warning system for potential disease outbreaks.

What is Murray Valley encephalitis virus?

Murray Valley encephalitis virus is named after the Murray Valley in southeastern Australia. The virus was first isolated from patients who died from encephalitis during an outbreak there in 1951.

The virus is a member of the Flavivirus family and is closely related to Japanese encephalitis virus, a major cause of encephalitis in Asia.

Murray Valley encephalitis virus is found in northern Australia circulating between mosquitoes, especially Culex annulirostris, and water birds. Occasionally the virus spreads to southern regions, as mosquitoes come into contact with infected birds that have migrated from northern regions.

How serious is the illness?

After being transmitted by an infected mosquito, the virus incubates for around two weeks.

Most people infected don't develop symptoms. But, if you're unlucky, you could develop symptoms ranging from fever and headache to paralysis, encephalitis and coma.

Around 40% of people who develop symptoms won't fully recover and about 25% die. Generally, one or two human cases are reported in Australia per year.

Since the 1950s, there have been sporadic outbreaks of Murray Valley encephalitis, most notably in 1974 and 2011. The 1974 outbreak was Australia-wide, resulting in 58 cases and 12 deaths.

It's likely the virus has been causing disease since at least the early 1900s when epidemics of encephalitis were attributed to a mysterious illness called Australian X disease.

Early warning system

Given the severity of Murray Valley encephalitis, health authorities rely on early warning systems to guide their responses.

One of the most valuable surveillance tools to date have been chooks because the virus circulates between birds and mosquitoes. Flocks of chickens are placed in areas with past evidence of virus circulation and where mosquitoes are buzzing about.

Chickens are highly susceptible to infection so blood samples are routinely taken and analysed to determine evidence of virus infection. If a chicken tests positive, the virus has been active in an area.

The good news is that even if the chickens have been bitten, they don't get sick.

Mosquitoes can also be collected in the field using a variety of traps. Captured mosquitoes are counted, grouped by species and tested to see if they're carrying the virus.

This method is very sensitive: it can identify as little as one infected mosquito in a group of 1,000. But processing is labour-intensive.

How can technology help track the virus?

Novel approaches are allowing scientists to more effectively detect viruses in mosquito populations.

Mosquitoes feed on more than just blood. They also need a sugar fix from time to time, usually plant nectar. When they feed on sugary substances, they eject small amounts of virus in their saliva.

This led researchers to develop traps that contain special cards coated in honey. When the mosquitoes feed on the cards, they spit out virus, which specific tests can then detect.

We are also investigating whether mosquito poo could be used to enhance the sugar-based surveillance system. Mosquitoes spit only tiny amounts of virus, whereas they poo a lot (300 times more than they spit).

This mosquito poo can contain a treasure trove of genetic material, including viruses. But we're still working out the best way to collect the poo.

Staying safe from Murray Valley encephalitis

There is no vaccine or specific treatment for the virus. Avoiding mosquito bites is the only way to protect yourself from the virus. You can do this by:

wearing protective clothing when outdoors

avoiding being outdoors when the mosquitoes that transmit the virus are most active (dawn and dusk)

using repellents, mosquito coils, insect screens and mosquito nets

following public health advisories for your area.

The virus is very rare and your chances of contracting the disease are extremely low, but not being bitten is the best defence.

Explore further After the floods come the mosquitoes  but the disease risk is more difficult to predict

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Ella Balasa, 26, of Richmond, Va., who has cystic fibrosis, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria lodged inside her CF-damaged lungs, watches as Yale University researcher Benjamin Chan, pours a bacteriophagen he developed for her to inhale, at the Winchester Chest Clinic, in New Haven, Conn., Thursday Jan. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Bacteria lodged deep in Ella Balasa's lungs were impervious to most antibiotics. At 26, gasping for breath, she sought out a dramatic experimentdeliberately inhaling a virus culled from sewage to attack her superbug.

"I'm really running out of options," said Balasa, who traveled from her Richmond, Virginia, home to Yale University for the last-resort treatment. "I know it might not have an effect. But I am very hopeful."

Pitting one germ against another may sound radical, but it's a sign of a growing global crisis. Increasingly people are dying of infections that once were easy to treat because many common bugs have evolved to withstand multiple antibiotics. Some, dubbed "nightmare bacteria," are untreatable. Now scientists are racing to find novel alternatives to traditional antibiotics, a hunt that is uncovering unusual ways to counter infection, in unusual places.

One possible treatment tricks bacteria out of a nutrient they need to survive. Others rev up the immune system to better fend off germs.

And viruses called bacteriophagesdiscovered a century ago but largely shelved in the West when easier-to-use antibiotics came alongare being tried in a handful of emergency cases.

"People's frustration with antibiotic resistance boiled over," said Yale biologist Benjamin Chan, who travels the world collecting phages and receives calls from desperate patients asking to try them. "We're more appreciative of the fact that we need alternatives."

Yale University researcher Benjamin Chan, who studies viruses that attack bacteria, holds a petri dish containing Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung samples grown from patient Ella Balasa, at Osborne Memorial Laboratories, in New Haven, Conn., Thursday Jan. 17, 2019. Pitting one germ against another may sound radical, but it's a sign of a growing global crisis. Increasingly people are dying of infections that once were easy to treat, as common bacteria evolve to resist drugs that form the foundation of modern medicine. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Nature's bacterial predator, each phage variety targets a different bacterial strain. Originally used to treat dysentery in the early 20th century, today Chan looks in places like ditches, ponds, and, yes, sewage treatment plants for types that attack a variety of human infections.

"The best places are often really dirty places, because we're dirty animals," he said.

Chan saw hope for Balasa in a lab dish covered in brownish bacterial goo.

Balasa has a genetic disease called cystic fibrosis that scars her lungs and traps bacteria inside, including a superbug named Pseudomonas aeruginosa. A daily dose of inhaled antibiotics kept the infection in check until last fall, when the drugs quit working. A last-ditch IV antibiotic wasn't helping much either.

Chan grew a sample of Balasa's bacteria from her phlegm. Then came the key test: He dripped several pseudomonas-targeting phages into the grimy dishand clear circles began appearing as the viruses consumed the bugs around them.

Yale University researcher Benjamin Chan, who studies viruses that attack bacteria, prepares a petri dish with mucus from patient Ella Balasa, of Richmond, Va., at Osborn Memorial Laboratories, in New Haven, Conn., Thursday Jan. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

But would what worked in the lab really help Balasa's lungs?

BUGS OUTPACING DRUGS

At least 23,000 Americans die every year as a direct result of an antibiotic-resistant infection, and many more die from related complications, according to a 2013 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC plans an updated count, but other research has estimated the toll could be seven times higher.

And while there are no good counts in much of the world, one often-cited British report said unless solutions are found, by 2050 up to 10 million people globally could be dying from drug-resistant infections, slightly more than die from cancer today.

Yet few new antibiotics make it to market, and many major drug companies have ended antibiotic research, seeing little profit in medicines that germs will soon outsmart. A recent report found just 11 traditional antibiotics being studied to treat any of the World Health Organization's list of worst bugs, with no guarantee they'll work.

Ella Balasa, 26, of Richmond, Va., who has cystic fibrosis, and an antibiotic-resistant bacteria lodged inside her CF-damaged lungs, prepares an antibiotic injection at the Winchester Chest Clinic, in New Haven, Conn., Thursday Jan. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

And while some people are more at riskthose getting surgery, or cancer chemotherapy, for example"antibiotic resistance is a problem essentially for everyone," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious diseases chief at the National Institutes of Health.

"Over the next several years, all indicators seem to point to the fact that this is going to get worse and worse," he added.

LOOKING FOR BUGS' WEAK SPOTS

Finding alternatives means "figuring out what the vulnerabilities of infecting bacteria are. What do they need to cause an infection?" said Dr. Pradeep Singh of the University of Washington.

Singh and fellow UW lung specialist Dr. Christopher Goss zeroed in on iron, a nutrient vital for bacterial growth. It turns out that bugs can't always tell the difference between iron and a chemically similar metal named gallium. Gallium doesn't nourish and knocks other systems out of whack, Goss said.

Ella Balasa, 26, of Richmond, Va., pauses to cough as she inhales cystic fibrosis medications to help clear her airways, at Winchester Chest Clinic, in New Haven, Conn., Thursday Jan. 17, 2019. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are lodged inside her CF-damaged lungs. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

For two small studies, the researchers recruited cystic fibrosis patients who had antibiotic-resistant pseudomonas in their lungs but weren't openly sick. The patients received a five-day infusion of a gallium-based drug. Over the next few weeks, their lung function improved, enough that next-step studies are being planned.

"It just seems like a proactive way of destroying bacteria," said study participant Tre LaRosa, 24, of Cincinnati. His sister died of cystic fibrosis and while his own CF is under control, he worries that one day a resistant infection will flare. "I can't do anything to prevent that. Antibiotic resistance I think is one of the least talked about and most significant concerns."

SPURRING THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

Fauci envisions doctors one day vaccinating people a few weeks before, say, a planned knee replacement to guard against catching a staph infection in the hospital.

Sixteen experimental vaccines are in development to target various infections, according to a recent presentation to a presidential advisory council on resistant germs.

Yale pulmonary and critical care physician Dr. Jon Koff, talks with Ella Balasa, 26, of Richmond, Va., after her treatment at the Winchester Chest Clinic, in New Haven, Conn., Thursday Jan. 17, 2019. She has cystic fibrosis, an antibiotic-resistant bacteria lodged inside her CF-damaged lungs, (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Particularly promising, Fauci says, are lab-engineered "monoclonal antibodies" designed to home in on specific bugs. In one set of studies, researchers are giving experimental antibodies to ventilator patients who have bacteria building up that could trigger pneumonia.

HARNESSING VIRUSES FOR THE BEST ATTACK

In Virginia, Balasa learned of another cystic fibrosis patient helped by Yale's phage experiments and asked to try, hoping to postpone the last option for CF, a lung transplant.

Phages work very differently than traditional antibiotics. Like a parasite, the virus infiltrates bacterial cells and uses them to copy itself, killing the bug as those copies pop out and search for more bacteria. Once the infection's gone, the virus dies out. Because each phage only recognizes certain bacteria, it shouldn't kill off "good bugs" in the digestive tract like antibiotics do.

Bacteria evolve to escape phages just like they escape antibiotics, but they generally make trade-offs to do sosuch as losing some of their antibiotic resistance, said Yale evolutionary biologist Paul Turner.

Yale pulmonary and critical care physician Dr. Jon Koff, left, and Yale University researcher Benjamin Chan, center, watch as Ella Balasa, 26, of Richmond, Va., inhales a bacteriophage, developed by Chan, during treatment at the Winchester Chest Clinic, in New Haven, Conn., Thursday Jan. 17, 2019. Balasa has cystic fibrosis and a superbug named Pseudomonas aeruginosa is trapped in her damaged lungs. Until last fall, a daily dose of inhaled antibiotics kept it in check but suddenly, the drugs quit working. A last-ditch IV antibiotic wasn't helping much either. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

For example, some phages recognize bacteria by a pump on their surface that deflects antibiotics. As the phages kill those bugs, the bacteria rapidly evolve to get rid of that surface pumpmeaning survivors should be susceptible to antibiotics again.

"It's reviving an arsenal of drugs that are no longer useful," Turner said.

Yale's first test case was an 82-year-old man near death from a heart implant teeming with untreatable pseudomonas. Chan purified a phage from a Connecticut lake that he'd matched to the patient's germs, and with emergency permission from the Food and Drug Administration, doctors squirted it into the wound. The man's infection disappeared.

Then doctors at the University of California, San Diego, saved a colleague who'd been in a months-long coma, using an IV mixture of several phages that target a superbug named Acinetobacter baumannii.

Doctors and families began calling both centers seeking emergency care, even as formal studies are being planned to try to prove phages' value.

Yale University researcher Benjamin Chan, who studies viruses that attack bacteria, prepares a petri dish with mucus from patient Ella Balasa, of Richmond, Va., at Osborn Memorial Laboratories, in New Haven, Conn., Thursday Jan. 17, 2019. Chan, who travels the world collecting viruses called bacteriophages, receives calls from desperate patients asking to try them. "We're more appreciative of the fact that we need alternatives." (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

"There's an incredible opportunity here," said Yale pulmonologist Dr. Jon Koff. "But with that you have to have the appropriate amount of skepticism," with careful testing to tell when it might help.

Last month, Balasa became Yale's eighth patient, inhaling billions of phages over seven days.

Almost immediately, she was coughing up fewer bacteria. It took a few weeks for her to feel better, though, and during that time she switched briefly to some antibiotics she'd previously given up. Without a formal study it's hard to know, but Chan's tests suggest phages killed much of her predominant pseudomonas strain and made the survivors sensitive again to a course of those antibiotics.

Balasa called that "a very big success for me," and was able to quit her antibiotics. She didn't notice additional improvement after a second round of phages, aimed at different strains.

"The true test," Balasa said, "is how long I can go without using any antibiotics again."

Yale University researcher Benjamin Chan, who studies viruses that attack bacteria, holds bacteriophage treatment for patient Ella Balasa, of Richmond, Va., at Osborn Memorial Laboratories, in New Haven, Conn., Thursday Jan. 17, 2019. Bacteriophages were discovered a century ago but largely shelved when easier-to-use antibiotics came along. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Explore further Phage therapy shown to kill drug-resistant superbug

 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Marni J. Falk, M.D., is executive director of the Mitochondrial Medicine Frontier Program at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Credit: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

New preclinical findings from extensive cell and animal studies suggest that a drug already used for a rare kidney disease could benefit patients with some mitochondrial disorderscomplex conditions with severe energy deficiency for which no proven effective treatments exist. Future clinical research is needed to explore whether the drug, cysteamine bitartrate, will meaningfully benefit patients.

"We found therapeutic potential in mitochondrial disease, based on evidence for neuroprotection in two different animal models," said Marni J. Falk, MD, at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), the Executive Director of CHOP's Mitochondrial Medicine Frontier Program. "However, we also showed that this drug has a narrow therapeutic windoweven small increases in dosage were toxic in diverse laboratory animals and human cells. This implies that dosages would need to be very carefully controlled if cysteamine bitartrate eventually were to become a precision medicine treatment option for mitochondrial disease patients."

The study team published its findings Jan. 22, 2019 in Human Molecular Genetics.

Mitochondria are tiny structures in human and animal cells that produce energy through an integrated series of chemical reactions known as the respiratory chain (RC). Mitochondria contain their own DNA, distinct from the more familiar DNA inside a cell nucleus. Because pathogenic variants in over 350 different genes across both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA genomes are now recognized to cause mitochondrial diseases, these disorders are highly complex, typically causing 16 or more symptoms per patient, and affecting multiple organs and systems.

Much of the damage in mitochondrial diseases stems from oxidative stress, in which reactive molecules disrupt energy-producing components inside the mitochondrial RC. Antioxidant compounds, by acting to defend against these free radicals, may offer some protection from mitochondrial dysfunctions.

Falk and colleagues have been systematically evaluating a variety of drug candidates in search of possible treatments for mitochondrial RC disease. They recently found, for instance, that an antioxidant called NAC (short for N-acetylcysteine) showed encouraging preclinical results in animal studies. Because cysteamine bitartrate, currently approved by the FDA to treat a rare kidney disorder called nephropathic cystinosis, was thought to act on biological pathways similarly to NAC, Falk's team performed their current preclinical research study.

"We tested the hypothesis that cysteamine bitartrate would increase synthesis of glutathione, a potent antioxidant enzyme that humans and animals naturally produce to scavenge free radicals," said Falk. "Surprisingly, we learned that cysteamine bitartrate did not, in fact, increase total glutathione levels in our experiments. However, we found it had beneficial health effects that appear to result from different mechanisms than we had anticipated."

The researchers found an intriguing set of different benefits in three models of mitochondrial disease: human patient cells (fibroblasts), microscopic worms (C. elegans) and microscopic fish (zebrafish). Cysteamine bitartrate modestly improved mitochondrial metabolism and reproductive capacity in the worms, with reduction in oxidative stress. In the zebrafish, the drug had more dramatic benefits, preventing brain death and neuromuscular defects caused by mitochondrial RC dysfunction.

In the human fibroblast cells, from mitochondrial disease patients, the drug increased the cells' resiliency and ability to survive when subjected to chemical stressors. "Overall, treatment effects we observed in both cell and animal models of mitochondrial RC disease suggest that cysteamine bitartrate might have the potential to improve overall health and stress resiliency in human patients," said Falk. "Identifying the right kinds of antioxidant treatments at the proper dosage may be neuroprotective, potentially preventing metabolic strokes that often occur when mitochondrial disease patients are stressed by an infection or other risk factors."

Falk cautioned that patients and families shouldn't self-prescribe antioxidants for mitochondrial disease, since safe and effective dosages and appropriate usages specific to different mitochondrial disease patient outcomes are yet to be determined. In this current study, all the potential benefits observed in cells and animals occurred at low concentrations, with clear toxicity at higher doses.

"Now that preclinical evidence is increasing to support the potential of antioxidant therapies to objectively benefit overall health in the setting of RC disease, better clinical tests are needed to evaluate oxidant levels and antioxidant enzyme activities, as well as mitochondrial function and clinical outcomes, in patients who receive antioxidant therapy," said Falk.

She added that several such new clinical diagnostic tests and outcome measure assessments to facilitate this process are under development in the CHOP Mitochondrial Medicine Frontier Program. Ultimately, she concluded, "better understanding each mitochondrial disease patient's oxidative stress and defense levels, together with carefully designed clinical trials to determine the health benefits or risks of candidate therapies, will enable a precision mitochondrial medicine approach to select optimal antioxidants and doses to improve health resiliency and outcomes for each patient."

Explore further Preclinical testing suggests some antioxidants may be effective in treating mitochondrial disease

More information: Sujay Guha et al, Pre-clinical evaluation of cysteamine bitartrate as a therapeutic agent for mitochondrial respiratory chain disease, Human Molecular Genetics (2019). Journal information: Human Molecular Genetics Sujay Guha et al, Pre-clinical evaluation of cysteamine bitartrate as a therapeutic agent for mitochondrial respiratory chain disease,(2019). DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddz023
One in four UK army recruits is under the age of 18, but there is no justification for this state policy, which is harmful to teen health and should be stopped, argue experts in an editorial in the online journal BMJ Paediatrics Open.

The UK is the only country in Europe and the only permanent member of the UN Security Council to recruit children to the Armed Forces, point out Reem Abu-Hayyeh of campaign group Medact, and Dr. Guddi Singh, an integrated child health specialist.

In March 2018 the number of soldiers under 18 totalled 2290 or 21 per cent of all UK army recruits.

This policy ignores the rights of the child, causes specific health harms during what is a critical period of development, and further disadvantages those from underprivileged backgrounds, contend the editorialists.

In the UK, 15 year-olds are allowed to begin the enlistment process, with two years of training, starting at the age of 16.

But campaigners and health professionals have long argued that teens who are legally unable to vote, or buy alcohol and knives are too young to make such a serious and potentially life changing decision at this age, say the authors.

Research has characterised this period of adolescence as a 'window of vulnerability,' which Armed Forces recruitment tactics capitalise on, they suggest.

Military service during this period has long lasting and complex effects on mental and physical health, with younger recruits more vulnerable to self-harm, suicide, and alcohol misuse, associated with the isolation and culture of military life as well as the trauma of active combat, they say.

And child recruits are more likely than adult recruits to end up in frontline combat, they point out.

The main justification for pressing ahead with this policy is that the British Army has an 8000+ shortfall of recruits.

"Be that as it may..to put recruitment figures above the health and wellbeing of children and adolescents seems misguided and counterproductive for both the Ministry of Defence as a governmental body and wider society," they write.

The other justification the Army gives is that many of the recruits, who are often from disadvantaged backgrounds, benefit from the training, discipline, and opportunities to rise up the ranks, military service offers.

But "it is precisely child recruits from disadvantaged backgrounds who are at highest risk of adverse outcomes in the military," say the editorialists, citing figures from 2017 showing that the under 18s made up a quarter of all those who left voluntarily before completing their service.

"As such, the UK should end its practice of recruiting adolescents in the Armed Forces," they declare, adding that clinicians whose views carry weight, can add their voices to the calls for a change in state policy.

Explore further Workplace 'resilience' programs might not make any difference

More information: BMJ Paediatrics Open, DOI: 10.1136/bmjpo-2018-000325
Introducing The Main Index

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The primary function of government is to protect life and property. However, now liberal socialists want to provide cradle-to-the-grave benefits but oppose building a border wall to stop illegal aliens from coming into our country. Some of illegals are criminals that murder, rape, assault, bring in diseases and do not assimilate. They are costing taxpayers billions of dollars for prisons, medical treatments, schools, housing, etc. A national emergency exists.

Annually, 1.2 million legal immigrants and an estimated 500,000 illegal aliens come into the U.S. Unless this is stopped, we will have demographic disaster in a couple decades. We will become a third-world nation.

Many great civilizations have disappeared, not from invading armies, but internal socialism. The pattern is shockingly similar. Before their collapse, all showed a decline in spiritual and moral values and personal responsibility of their citizens. These civilizations showed symptoms of excessive taxation, bloated bureaucracy, general welfare, controls and regulations affecting prices, production and consumption. Unless reversed by restoring pro-constitutional limitations on government, the United States will be destroyed.
Merkel said, I see the ballistic missile programs, I see Iran in Yemen and above all I see Iran in Syria. The only question that stands between us on this issue is, do we help our common cause, our common aim of containing the damaging or difficult development of Iran, by withdrawing from the one remaining agreement? Or do we help it more by keeping the small anchor we have in order maybe to exert pressure in other areas?

This takes wishful thinking to an entirely new level. Better to help the younger Iranians who hate the regime to topple it as the U.S. is doing in Venezuela. How can Merkel acknowledge the threat that Iran represents and in the next breath diminish it? Not surprisingly those assembled, many of whom believe as Merkel does, gave her remarks thunderous applause.
TWIN FALLS  Gem State Dairy Products says its plant on Washington Street South with create more than 100 milk processing jobs when it opens in 2020.

The company made its formal announcement on Feb. 25, several weeks after it received approval from the City Council to rezone its property for heavy manufacturing. The new 200,000 square-foot facility will be one of the largest aseptic milk processing plants in the country, it said.

The highly efficient plant will leverage the latest technologies to produce a variety of milk products for its customers, the company said in a statement.

Construction will begin this summer. Gem State Dairy Products LLC anticipates milk processing to begin in the summer of 2020.

Idaho is known globally for its high quality and readily available milk supply, Rick Naerebout, CEO of Idaho Dairymens Association, said in a statement. Gem State will be a welcome addition to the existing milk-processing landscape in Idaho.

Idaho has more than 20 dairy processing plants, ranking third in the nation in milk production. That states roughly 592,000 milk cows produce more than 40 million gallons of milk per day.
HAGERMAN  Hagerman High Schools Academy of Agriculture & Food Science has been selected as a partner-school in a U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture-funded research project to help sustain the commercial trout industry in the Hagerman Valley.

As part of the grant, students are conducting research with the University of Idahos Research and Experiment Station, which researches aquaculture practices to help produce safe and sustainable fish for consumption. The U of I staff are helping set up the academy research and providing supplies.

Hatchery manager Eli Gough is working with students to study feeding options for rainbow trout. The trial consists of feeding plant protein and comparing trout growth with those that are fed fish meal. Trial results could help the Hagerman trout industry, which supplies trout to restaurants worldwide. Fish meal prices are skyrocketing due to the challenges of making fish meal, but its not easy getting a carnivore fish to like and eat plant-based fish food.
BOISE (AP)  Idaho's legislative budget-writing committee has voted unanimously to boost pay for court reporters after learning that the state is facing a serious shortage of people willing to do the job.

Idaho state law requires a court reporter for all district court proceedings. They create verbatim records used for future appeals and other proceedings.

The Idaho Press reports currently Idaho court reporter positions are going unfilled because the pay is low and the closest school with a program for court reporters is in Washington state.

On Monday, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee approved a 10 percent increase in the state's budget for court reporters. That's a boost of more than $340,000.

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CSI officials want to bring the program under one roof, instead of having students attend classes in multiple locations. The program is consistently full, with 25 students accepted each year.

For the Taylor Building remodel, the project is anticipated to cost less than $6 million, vice president of administration Jeff Harmon said. Once a contract is negotiated, it will come to the CSI board for consideration and possible approval.

CSI student body president Carolina Zamudio told the CSI board Monday she wants to know about whether college leaders are seeking student feedback about the Taylor Building remodel.

Its important since its where students spend a lot of time when theyre not in class, Zamudio said. She also suggested getting students involved with the interior design and artwork to showcase student talent.

There will be an open door for more student feedback after a contractor is on board and there are more specific design elements, vice president of student services Michelle Schutt said.

Trustee Scott McClure  who was on a selection committee that looked at responses to RFQs  said there were a number of qualified firms interested in the project. He said the committee would like to put several specific provisions into the contract with Starr Corp.
HAYDEN (AP)  A man who was shot to death outside a northern Idaho bar last weekend was a drug smuggler whose story was told in the movie Kid Cannabis.

The Kootenai County Sheriffs Office on Feb. 25 identified the victim in Sundays shooting in Hayden as Michael Christopher Clark, who became famous smuggling marijuana from Canada into the United States.

The 45-year-old Clark was gunned down about 1:45 a.m. Feb. 24 outside The Tipsy Pine bar. A man has been arrested in connection with the shooting.

The sheriffs office confirmed that Clark, who went by Topher, was portrayed in a 2005 Rolling Stone article and 2014 movie which chronicled the drug empire created by Clark and friend Nate Norman.

The two were indicted in 2003 on federal drug charges and served time in prison.

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TWIN FALLS  Tipped off by Facebook, police have charged a local man with having sex with a 15-year-old.

According to court documents, Sean Thomas Benitez, 22, of Twin Falls was charged with four counts of felony rape of a girl under the age of 16 while he was older than 18, and one felony count of enticement of a child through the use of the internet or another communication device. Benitez also faces one misdemeanor count of disseminating material harmful to minors.

The complaint warrant, filed Feb. 13 by Twin Falls Police Officer Eric Strassner, states that Facebook submitted a report of apparent sexual involvement between Benitez and an extended relative to the CyberTipline of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which, in turn, forwarded the report to the Internet Crimes Against Children division of the Idaho Attorney Generals Office. The Attorney Generals office forwarded the report to Twin Falls police.

Facebooks cyber tip details numerous Facebook messages between the girl and Benitez, who used his personal Facebook account and a separate account under the name of Peter Parker. The report contains a half-dozen pages of sexually explicit details, including conversations between the two about their age difference and their relationship.
The Wisconsin Realtors Association recently withdrew its endorsement of state Supreme Court candidate Brian Hagedorn, explaining that recent disclosures regarding past statements and actions by Hagedorn led to its decision.

According to a statement by the WRA: The real estate-related issues that served as the basis for our endorsement have been overshadowed by other, non-real estate related issues  issues with which we do not want to be associated and that directly conflict with the principles of our organization and the values of our members.

The WRA statement in no way challenges Judge Hagedorns Christian faith. It simply says the group believes some of the judges past statements and actions are in conflict with the values and principles of its members. If WRAs critics were being honest, they would acknowledge that the WRA has every right to consider Hagedorns extensive wri tten record and determine whether those views are intolerant and outside the mainstream of public opinion and that of their members.
Gov. Tony Evers first budget, to be unveiled this week, will surely please his Democratic supporters by fulfilling campaign promises to legalize medical marijuana, expand Medicaid and spend more money on public education.

But theres one big problem. Many of the ideas will be dead on arrival in the Republican-controlled Legislature, or face little chance of passing without significant changes. Add to the mix huge issues upon which even Republicans cant agree and it seems a stalemate is inevitable.

Republicans have made clear their opposition to Evers proposals to accept federal money to expand Medicaid, legalize medical marijuana and decriminalize small amounts of recreational pot, and freeze enrollment in private voucher schools.

Even in areas where there appears to be common ground  such as cutting middle-class taxes  Evers and Republicans have been unable to compromise to get it done.

Former Gov. Scott Walker didnt sign the last budget until late September, after Republicans struggled with how to fund roads and ultimately decided to punt and borrow more money rather than raise taxes or fees.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and California Sen. Kamala Harris stumped in New Hampshire and Iowa for universal health care, free college tuition and tax hikes on the rich.

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is considering launching a presidential campaign, played up his local roots as he told voters in Nevada that other Democrats werent spending enough time talking to workers, including union members, about issues like wages, benefits and workplace safety. A handful of others  Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and even Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders  have promoted their working-class appeal as they fight to stand out in the crowded Democratic field.

For now, Trump says he isnt worried.

In conversations with friends and confidants, the president has expressed confidence he can maintain his grip on the blue wall in 2020. He has told people at his private club in Florida that he expects to win Pennsylvania and Michigan. He also cited former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walkers 1-point loss in November as a sign that he could still win the state, which hadnt backed a Republican presidential contender since 1984 before Trumps 2016 win.

The friends and confidants didnt speak on the record because their conversations with Trump were private.

5 key victories
Lennberg: I have a focus on smart growth and not just sustaining the status quo. I have helped run a very successful business in Dane County for 23 years, have sat on committees that oversaw growth and have sat on the village of Cottage Grove board for 1.5 years. Having trustee experience on the board is important because an ever-changing board can only slow growth and things can become stagnant.

Murphy: My education in geography and planning paired with my career experience with the U.S. Census Bureau will bring another viewpoint to the village board. I am ready to both provide my perspective while listening to subject experts, other opinions, and information.

Russell: Experience. I have lived in the village for 21 years and have been involved in decisions for the past 16 years. I have the educational experience, extensive involvement in public service, and have established relationships in the Cottage Grove business and residential communities that allow me to make informed decisions. I have the necessary time to devote to the job.
UW-Madison's new director of University Health Services brings a national reputation to campus.

M. Jacob "Jake" Baggott was announced as the director on Tuesday.

He was one of three finalists for the job, and has been in college administration positions for the past 30 years, currently serving as assistant vice president for student health and well-being at Alabama-Birmingham.

"Jake brings excellent knowledge and experience in college health care from his on-campus work at two other universities and his national leadership in the American College Health Association," said Lori Reesor, UW-Madison's vice chancellor for student affairs.

"His commitment to students, campus public health and diversity and inclusion will serve UW-Madison well," Reesor said.

Baggott is a fellow with ACHA and has swerved as president of both ACHA and the Mid-America College Health Association. In 2018, he was recipient of the ACHA Edward Hitchcock Award for outstanding contributions in college health.

"The UHS position is a tremendous leadership opportunity in arguably one of the best programs in the country," Baggott said in the UW news release.
Madison said it is hoped the meeting will spur school leaders to make policy adjustments.

Madison police have launched an investigation into the alleged assault, and the staff member involved was put on leave after a school district investigation and will not return to Whitehorse Middle School, officials said.

The recent incidents arent the only concerns about treatment of students of color in the school district, Madison said. She said shes been hearing more and more concerns from parents about poor treatment of minority students in the citys public schools.

I would ask the public to utilize these incidents as teachable moments ... (and) seek understanding, said Michael Johnson, president and CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County, which hosted Saturdays meeting at its Jenewein Road site.

Community offers ideas

Organizers barred reporters from the meeting to encourage the approximately 150 attendees to be more candid with their criticisms, personal experiences and solutions.
Sun Prairie's alternative public high school was evacuated Tuesday morning after a bomb threat was found in a school bathroom.

The Prairie Phoenix Academy, 160 South St., was evacuated right around 8:20 a.m. when a note was discovered, indicating the school would blow up at 8:30 a.m.

"A thorough search was conducted, which included police dogs from the Dane County Sheriff's Office, the Madison Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives," said Police Lt. Jamie Peterson.

"Nothing suspicious had been located," Peterson said.

The students and staff were taken to Cardinal Heights Upper Middle School, a short distance from Prairie Phoenix Academy.

"This is an active case investigation," Peterson said. "Anyone with information is asked to contact the police, 837-7336, or anonymously, 837-6300."

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In the Madison area, the success stories over the past few years have included the expansion of Little Vikings, a Mount Horeb day care facility; improving the business plan for Parthenons Gyros on State Street; and the creation of State Line Distillery on Madisons Near East Side.

Jenie Gao, an artist known for her murals and other paintings in public spaces and businesses in Madison, used the SBDC at UW-Madisons Entrepreneurial Training Program to help her grow her business in a fiscally responsible way.

I was bleeding money and trying to figure out what to say yes to and what to say no to. It was hard to figure out what it was all going to add up to when I was going from one gig to the next, Gao, who completed the program in 2017, told the SBDC. Id gotten to the point where I was growing and needed to continue growing. I needed a business plan to meet my goals for growth.

In 2016, centers throughout the country provided 1.24 million hours of consulting to 188,602 businesses. Those services resulted in 17,174 new businesses, 96,095 jobs, $6.4 billion in sales growth and $5.16 billion in capital investments.

In Southern Wisconsin, centers are located at UW-Madison and UW-Whitewater while a Southwest Center covers Crawford, Grant, Green, Iowa, Lafayette and Richland counties.

Send retail-related tips and story ideas to badams@madison.com or call Barry Adams at 608-252-6148.

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Are we facing an emergency? And should we act decisively to deal with it?

My answer is Yes to both questions. But the emergency certainly isnt the one Donald Trump has cooked up and lied about in an attempt to undermine our democracy and usurp the powers of our elected representatives in Congress.

Virtually every rational commentator  left, right and in between  has opined that there is no justification for Trump to declare a national emergency and reverse the actions of Congress.

Unlike Trumps phony border crisis, we are facing a real emergency  an emergency that threatens the future well-being of not just our country, but the planet as a whole. Its an emergency that becomes more obvious with every destructive storm, flood and wildfire.

That emergency is, of course, the growing disruption of our climate.

While I dont favor a presidential declaration of emergency  a move that attacks the balance of power, which is an essential pillar of our democracy  I do believe it is imperative that Congress act soon and decisively to curb climate warming pollution. The Green New Deal, a congressional resolution calling for a sharp reduction in the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, provides a framework for action.
WASHINGTON  In 1964, Nelson Rockefeller, then the governor of New York, rose before the Republican National Convention to condemn "extremists" who had "no plan and no program to keep the peace and bring freedom to the world."

Amidst the boos and catcalls from right-wingers on the floor, Rockefeller denounced those who "spread distrust," "engender suspicion" and "encourage disunity."

"There is no place in this Republican Party," declared this stalwart of GOP progressivism, "for such hawkers of hate, such purveyors of prejudice, such fabricators of fear."

You wonder what Rocky would make of a President Trump and the movement he has nurtured. And you sure wish someone like Rockefeller were around today to call his party back to reason and tolerance.

The events of recent days ought to try the consciences of Republicans who know that extremism and hatred are wrong. Many in the party acknowledge  usually in private  that the president they have continued to back has rooted his political appeal in vicious attacks against his opponents and a free press. He has invented crises for the purpose of stoking dread and horror. And he targeted minority groups (immigrants especially) to harvest political support.
WisconsinEye producer Steven Walters, writing on Urban Milwaukee, lists 10 issues he says Wisconsinites should watch for in Tony Evers' budget address Thursday evening. Those are: 1: Restore collective bargaining? 2: Repeal right to work law? 3: Criminal justice reforms? 4: Red flag law? 5: How big a gas tax increase? 6: How big a hike in minimum wage? 7: Freeze  or dial back  school choice? 8: Repeal of GOP limits on abortions? 9: New renewable energy standard? 10: New revenue options for local governments? Walters suggests using these benchmarks to score Evers' address based on your own political beliefs.

Dave Considine , a Democratic member of the Assembly from Baraboo, urges the inclusion of $63 million in the state budget -- the amount Tony Evers included in his last budget as superintendent of schools -- for school mental health programs. Considine, a former special ed teacher, notes the positive impacts he saw on students who had access to adequate services, and the negative impacts on those who did not.

Gridlock isn't all bad, writes George Mitchell on the Right Wisconsin blog. He says Gov. Evers was right to veto the GOP's tax proposal because it is not sound policy to use one-time monies to make permanent tax cuts. He also agrees with Evers' objection to the GOP making its own proposal before even hearing his. Given the state's political gridlock, Mitchell says Evers is also likely to fail in any attempt to raise business taxes to offset a tax cut for the middle class. A recent Badger Institute study states that high marginal tax rates for business and individuals put the state at a competitive disadvantage. Mitchell proposes a way to compromise, but says that for now, political theater will likely continue.
Woburn fire Department sation 3 on Main St in Central Square is falling apart and is subject of a lot of news reportsw these days. Photo by joebrownphotos.com
The complaint goes on to claim that the mayors office, along with human resources and the city attorneys office, started investigating Doherty, in an attempt to find a way to remove her from a position of valuing commercial properties.

According to the complaint, the paperwork indicates that her boss, Hanson, instigated the investigation, but Doherty writes that Hanson told her he was not involved. Hanson retired in June 2018.

Eventually, Doherty was demoted from her role to property appraiser, and the complaint says Soglin has been attempting to find a way to remove her from the Citys employment altogether. The complaint was filed on Dec. 13 , 2018, and according to the citys HR records, Doherty was fired on Dec. 31, 2018.

These actions violate state law that require valuing all real property at full market value uniformly so that the tax burden is borne equally, the complaint argues.

What was going on with city assessments in 2017?

According to the Wisconsin State Journal, the city assessors office drastically increased the value of assessments on hotels and apartments in 2017. At the time, the city said it hadnt thoroughly examined commercial properties in years and the new higher values were justified.
In response to the lawsuit and the judge's ruling, DPI spokesman Tom McCarthy said earlier this month that the records WILL had requested required redaction and staff time to prepare. McCarthy said the agency was following the open records law and would continue to do so.

According to the lawsuit, WILL first requested three sets of ESSA-related records in August 2018, then sent a follow-up email the following month. A DPI employee said the request was in progress on Sept. 21, 2018.

Kamenick followed up again on Nov. 12, and the request was partially fulfilled the following day. Portions of the request were denied for being "insufficiently specific" and "unreasonably burdensome," and WILL send a narrowed request the following month, which DPI acknowledged on Dec. 13.

On Jan. 4, DPI notified WILL that the request was being worked on as a "priority," but had been delayed due to the holidays and the election.

WILL also objected to DPI's instruction to school districts that they keep a set of ESSA-related reports private until a scheduled public release date of March 5. McCarthy said the intention of the embargo was to give school districts time to understand the information they'd been given.
Gov. Tony Evers will include funding increases for tribal education and transportation grants and money for a youth addiction treatment facility in his two-year budget proposal, he announced Tuesday.

Evers is set to deliver his first budget address Thursday evening, but has shared some details from the spending plan with reporters in the weeks leading up to it. Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes met with some of the state's tribal leaders at the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College in Hayward on Tuesday to discuss tribal initiatives Evers will propose later this week.

"For far too long, the needs of our Native American communities have been neglected," Barnes said in a statement. "But under the leadership of Gov. Evers, those days are over. Were committed to listening to, working with, and investing in Wisconsins tribal communities."

Evers' office shared three highlights from his proposed tribal initiatives in a news release. A spokeswoman for the governor said additional details will be released with the budget on Thursday.

The governor's budget will include unspecified funding increases for higher education grants for tribal college students and for language revitalization program grants, which fund efforts to teach tribal heritage languages to students.
Chinas stock market surged yesterday after President Donald Trumps decision to postpone a tariff hike on Chinese imports and state media expressed hopes the fight with Washington over Beijings technology ambitions can be resolved.

Other financial markets in Europe and Asia recorded more modest gains following Trumps announcement the Washington talks made substantial progress toward ending the tariff fight.

The conflict has threatened to disrupt global trade and drag on weakening economic growth.

Washington accuses Beijing of stealing or pressuring foreign companies to hand over technology. The Trump administration wants China to roll back plans for government-led creation of global leaders in robotics and other technology that its trading partners say violate Beijings free-trade obligations and some American officials worry they might erode U.S. industrial leadership.

The weekend talks made progress on technology transfer, protection of intellectual property rights and non-tariff barriers to market access, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. It cautioned there are still some differences that need more time to be ironed out.

On Twitter, Trump said negotiators also made progress on U.S. agricultural sales to China.

Neither government gave more details but both expressed optimism.

Trump said he would postpone a March 1 deadline for increasing 10 percent punitive duties on USD200 billion of Chinese imports to 25 percent but he set no new date.

Trump said many disputes will take more time to resolve but he hopes to put these more challenging issues into a longer-term negotiating framework. He said if progress is made, he will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Florida resort to finalize an agreement.

If all works well, were going to have some very big news over the next week or two, Trump told American governors at a White House ball. He added, we still have a little ways to go.

The talks sent a positive signal to the world and laid the foundation for the final agreement, the Communist Party newspaper Peoples Daily said.

China solemnly shows it is willing to adopt a cooperative approach to resolve economic and trade frictions, the newspaper said.

The Shanghai Composite index rose 5.6 percent to an eight-month high.

Trumps decision was a positive signal, said the vice president of the U.S.-China Business Council, Jake Parker.

The decision seems to indicate that theres enough forward momentum that they believe they dont need to raise tariffs now, Parker said.

Another ruling party newspaper, the Global Times, said the talks solved most of the problems of both sides and negotiators were already preparing the text of an agreement.

However, it cautioned they still need to continue to make efforts.

Even if the two sides reach a compromise on trade, relations also are strained by disputes over technology, investment and geopolitics.

The U.S.-China relationship should remain contentious, Marie Diron of Moodys Investors Service said in a report. She expects relations to swing between compromise and conflict.

A potential stumbling block is Chinese resistance to U.S. pressure for an enforcement mechanism with penalties if Beijing fails to carry out its commitments. American officials accuse China of failing to fulfill past promises to change economic regulations.

The worlds two biggest economies have raised tariffs on billions of dollars of each others goods.

Trump and Xi agreed Dec. 1 to postpone more penalties while they negotiate. Increases that already were imposed remained in place, battering companies on both sides.

Other financial markets rose yesterday, with Londons FTSE 100 index up 0.4 percent, but gains were smaller. Share prices already had risen in recent weeks on expectations Trump would postpone the tariff hike.

Some Chinese were skeptical.

We wont really fight, right? A trade war, by its nature, is nothing more than a war of words, isnt it? said Geng Yanhua, an employee of an Internet company.

Playing up the tariffs issue only wont really hurt us, said Geng. It will be fine as long as no one wages a war. Joe McDonald, Beijing, AP

Shanghai shares soar

The Shanghai Composite index has jumped 5.5 percent after President Donald Trump announced he was extending a deadline for escalating tariffs on Chinese imports.

The benchmark was trading at its highest level in about eight months on the news that the truce in a trade war between the worlds two biggest economies would persist as the two sides talk out their differences.

Other markets in the region also rose, but by smaller margins. Hong Kongs Hang Seng index added 0.5 percent while Tokyos Nikkei 225 also climbed 0.5 percent.

President Donald Trumps decision to extend a deadline to escalate tariffs on Chinese imports has raised cautious optimism in China and boosted share prices across Asia.

The Shanghai Composite index jumped 4.9 percent on yesterday to its highest level since June 2018 after Trump said substantial progress was made in weekend talks between the two countries regarding their dispute over Chinas technology policies. AP
Secretary for Administration and Justice Sonia Chan is traveling to Beijing to discuss a transfer agreement for convicted criminals with her mainland counterparts.

Her visit follows a suggestion from Hong Kong authorities earlier this month that would allow extraditions to Macau, Taiwan and mainland China on a case-by-case basis.

The Secretary leads a delegation that includes the director of Macaus Legal Affairs Bureau, Liu Dexue, and the Director of Correctional Services, Cheng Fong Meng.

The Macau SAR currently has agreements for the transfer of convicted criminals with Hong Kong, Portugal, Mongolia and Nigeria. Plans are already in place to develop similar agreements with Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Separately, Chief Executive Chui Sai On is to visit Beijing on Thursday to attend a meeting of the Central Governments leading group for the development of the Guangdong-

Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area. He will also attend the opening of the second session of the 13th National Peoples Congress on March 5.

During the Chief Executives absence, Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong will take on the role of acting Chief Executive, followed by Sonia Chan in turn. DB
The operators of Chinas largest silver mine transported workers underground on a broken-down bus that was bought online, routinely overloaded and operating on ramp not intended for transporting people, safety officials said after the bus crashed, killing 21 miners and injuring 29.

The bus involved in Saturday mornings crash had not been inspected or registered and had a capacity of 30 passengers, 20 fewer than were on board, the head of the Emergency Management Ministrys department of safe production infrastructure, Pei Wentian, told state broadcaster CCTV.

Pei said the bus was operating in a mine tunnel on ramps not intended for transporting people, increasing the risk. He said mine operators had also been negligent in passing on responsibility for safety in the tunnel to subcontractors and that safety inspectors had failed to ensure required upgrades were implemented.

The brakes failed before the bus crashed into a protruding wall inside the tunnel at the mine operated by the Yinman Mining Co. in the Inner Mongolia region. Executives of the company have been placed under travel restrictions while the investigation is underway, though there has been no word yet of possible criminal charges.

The mine also produces lead and zinc.

Scores of Chinese miners die each year, largely in gas explosions, underground floods and collapses due to structural defects, although safety improvements, mine closures and a drop in demand for coal have dramatically reduced the number of deaths in recent years.

According to mine safety officials, the number of deaths in Chinas coal mines fell by 13.1 percent last year to 333  an all-time low. AP
With North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on an armored train barreling through China toward Vietnams capital, and U.S. President Donald Trump about to board a jet for Hanoi, Vietnamese officials scrambled yesterday to finish preparations for a rushed summit that will capture global attention.

Officials in Hanoi said they had about 10 days to prepare for the summit  much less than the nearly two months they said Singapore was given for the first Trump-Kim meeting last year but still vowed to provide airtight security for the two leaders.

Security will be at the maximum level, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung told reporters at a briefing meant to showcase the nations efforts to welcome Kim and Trump.

Another official, Nguyen Manh Hung, the leader of the information ministry, said the 3,000 journalists from 40 countries expected in Hanoi could rely on his agency as youd count on a family member.

The world will be watching as Trump and Kim deal with one of Asias biggest security challenges: North Koreas pursuit of a nuclear program that stands on the verge of viably threatening any target on the planet.

Although many experts are skeptical that Kim will give up the nukes he likely sees as his best guarantee of continued rule, there was a palpable, carnival-like excitement among many in Hanoi as the final preparations were put in place.

T-shirts were being sold bearing Kims face along with the phrase Rocket Man, a nod to the insulting nickname Trump gave Kim in 2017, when North Korean weapons tests and back- and-forth threats by the leaders had many fearing war. Kindergarteners dressed in traditional Korean Hanbok were practicing songs meant to welcome Kim. Grinning tourists were posing in front of the hundreds of U.S. and North Korean flags around the city.

The ultra-tight security will be appreciated by North Korean authorities, who are extremely vigilant about the safety of Kim, the third member of his family to rule the North with absolute power. Kims decision to take a train, not a plane, may have been influenced by better ability to control security. When Kim flew to Singapore, North Korea borrowed a Chinese plane.

Vietnam is eager to show off its huge economic and development improvements since the destruction of the Vietnam War, but the country also tolerates no dissent and is able to provide the kind of firm hand not allowed by more democratic potential hosts.

Take the reaction to two men impersonating Kim and Trump whod been posing for pictures with curious onlookers ahead of the summit.

Last week, the Kim lookalike, whose name is Lee Howard Ho Wun, posted on Facebook that about 15 police or immigration officers demanded a mandatory interview and threatened him with deportation. He said officials later told him that his visa was invalid and he had to leave the country.

I feel a little bit annoyed, the Hong Kong-based impersonator, who uses the name Howard X, said as he checked out of his hotel. But what is to be expected of a one-party state with no sense of humor?

Vietnam has also announced an unprecedented traffic ban along a possible arrival route for Kim. The Communist Partys Nhan Dan newspaper quoted the Roads Department as saying the ban will affect the 169-kilometer (105-mile) stretch of Highway One from Dong Dang, on the border with China, to Hanoi.

Hundreds of soldiers guarded the area near the Dong Dang railway station on Monday ahead of Kims expected arrival. Kim may get off his train in Dong Dang and finish his journey to Hanoi by car.

There are high expectations for the Hanoi summit after a vague declaration at the first meeting in June in Singapore that disappointed many.

In a meeting with senior aides in Seoul, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said yesterday that the Trump-Kim talks would be a critical opportunity to achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Moon, who met Kim three times last year and has lobbied hard to revive nuclear diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea, is eager for a breakthrough that would allow him to push ambitious plans for inter-Korean engagement, including lucrative joint economic projects that are held back by U.S.-led sanctions against the North.

If President Trump succeeds in dissolving the worlds last remaining Cold War rivalry, it will become yet another great feat that will be indelibly recorded in world history, Moon said.

Trump, via Twitter, has worked to temper those expectations, predicting before leaving for Hanoi a continuation of the progress made in Singapore but adding a tantalizing nod to Denuclearization? He also said that Kim knows that without nuclear weapons, his country could fast become one of the great economic powers anywhere in the world.

North Korea has spent decades, at great political and economic sacrifice, building its nuclear program, and there is widespread skepticism among experts that it will give away that program cheaply.

South Korean media have reported that Trump and Kim might strike a deal that stops short of a hoped-for roadmap for full North Korean denuclearization.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Fox News Sunday that he was hoping for a substantive step forward. He cautioned, it may not happen, but I hope that it will. Foster Klug, Hanoi, AP
Children at a kindergarten in Hanoi, some in Korean traditional Hanbok dress, have been practicing singing and dancing, hoping to show off their talents to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un when he comes to town this week for his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Elsewhere in the Vietnam- Korea Friendship Kindergarten, students have been assembling picture montages on maps of Vietnam and the Koreas. In another classroom, children were coloring in Vietnamese and North Korean flags with which they hope to greet Kim.

We really want for Mr. Kim Jong Un, the great leader of the Korean people, to visit our school, said Ngo Thi Minh Ha, the schools rector.

Apple-cheeked youngsters in traditional national garb meeting a paternal leader is a mainstay of old-style communist iconography, and North Korea is the closest thing left to an old-style communist state. It even has its own separate word for Hanbok-style clothing: Joson-ot.

But the ties that once bound Vietnam to North Korea in their fight against the U.S. have long since frayed. These days, South Korea is the Korea most Vietnamese look to, as evidenced by Vietnams many billboards for the goods and services of companies such as Samsung, Lotte and Hyundai, and the massive amount of trade and investment coming from Seoul.

The kindergarten, however, swims against the tide of history. It was built in 1978, three years after the end of the Vietnam War, a gift from the North Korean government, which also supplied it with toys, musical instruments, tables, chairs and cookware, according to Hoang Thi Thanh, the schools rector from 2002 to 2013.

The school initially had just four classrooms accommodating 120 children, but according to Thanh, I was very happy and proud to be one of the first teachers of the school, because it was probably the most beautiful school in Hanoi at that time.

Its now a three-story complex with a large courtyard and a student body of 470 in a busy residential neighborhood with run-down, 1970s-era apartment buildings.

The students learn about North Korea, its leaders, landmarks and culture, lessons that are supplemented by a sister relationship with a kindergarten in Pyongyang with which visits are exchanged each year.

According to Thanh, there was a political hiccup in 2010, when the North Korean government proposed renaming the school after Kim Il Sung, North Koreas founding father. Vietnam, whose ruling communist party has always favored collective leadership over personalized rule, demurred. A compromise was reached in which two classrooms were named after Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il  the grandfather and father, respectively, of Kim Jong Un  while a kindergarten classroom in Pyongyang was named after Vietnamese revolutionary hero Ho Chi Minh.

Ha, the rector, hopes Kim and Trump can achieve an agreement, and echoes the common sentiment that maybe Vietnam has something to teach North Korea, saying she hopes the Korean people will enjoy peace and like the Vietnamese people, the Korean nation will embark on a reform process for development and prosperity.

For local parents, however, education rather than politics is the main concern.

I had checked out some kindergartens near my house, but I decided to send my son here, because this school has good facilities and good teachers, Trieu Phuong Nhung said as she took her 4-year-old son to school. Tran Van Minh, Hanoi, AP
After the Greater Bay Area plan framework was released earlier this month, government officials from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau were almost unanimous in their positive predictions for the cluster citys future.

While most politicians advance that a bright future lies ahead for the nine cities of the Greater Bay Area, slowing growth in Guangdong province, once the engine of Chinas economic development, casts doubt over the plans ambitions.

Earlier this year, the National Bureau of Statistics of China released the latest figures on Chinas gross domestic product growth in 2018.

According to the statistics, Guangdong provinces GDP growth has slowed to 6.8 percent, compared to 7.5 percent in 2017. Despite the fact that Guangdongs total GDP, approximately RMB9.2 trillion or USD1.38 trillion, puts it first among all provinces of mainland China, the southern region is nevertheless among those that have seen a relatively large growth slump.

At the industry level, the provinces primary, secondary and tertiary industries recorded 4.2 percent, 5.9 percent, and 7.8 percent growth respectively in 2018, compared to the respective growth of 3.5 percent, 6.7 percent, and 8.6 percent in 2017.

In January, Guangdong province announced that the GDP growth goal for 2019 is between 6 and 6.5 percent, compared to the 6.8 percent growth of 2018.

The GDP of Macau in the first, second and third quarters of 2018 grew by 9.2 percent, 6 percent, and 1.6 percent year- on-year, respectively.

In the first three quarters of 2018, the economy grew by 5.6 percent year-on-year in real terms, according to statistics released by the Statistics and Census Service. Meanwhile, Hong Kongs GDP in the first, second and third quarters of 2018 increased by 4.7 percent, 4.6 percent and 3.5 percent respectively, compared to the same period of the previous year.

Analyzed by each participating city of the Greater Bay Area, both Shenzhen, the provinces technological center, and Guangzhou, the provincial capital, failed to meet their GDP goals of 2018.

In past years, exports contributed to half of the provinces gross domestic product. Their importance as the provinces engine of growth is highlighted by the fact that a drop in exports last year was the chief cause behind Guangdongs slowdown. In 2018, the exports growth of Guangdong was only 1.2 percent, compared to 6.7 percent growth in 2017.

The China-U.S. trade war is putting pressure on the Chinese economy, which has been fueled by export-led development in the past decades.

While Guangdongs economy slowed to nearly 6.6 percent, the growth of the countrys gross domestic product performed better, with other mainland provinces, such as Jiangxi, Shanxi, Anhui and Sichuan maintaining a rate of over 8 percent.
Relationship scams taking place over social media are on the rise, with the police authorities revealing new cases every week.

Yesterdays joint press conference with the Judiciary Police (PJ) was no exception, with the PJ presenting two more such cases.

The victim of the first case was a 30-year-old local male who, on February 21, allegedly met a woman over an online communication platform.

The woman soon revealed that she worked as an escort, and called the man the next day complaining that she had been assigned by her company to spend the night with a client she did not like.

To help release her from the assignment, the man needed to hire her by paying the MOP1,800 equivalent to her working fee, she said, promising to return the amount as soon as they met.

The man did as she asked and one hour later, he received a call from an alleged manager who informed the victim that he was required to pay a deposit of MOP6,500.

After negotiating, the man eventually paid MOP5,500 using MyCard prepaid cards as he had been instructed to in the first payment.

However, the scammers continued to ask for more money. This time, the reason was that he was not yet a member of the company, and would need to pay another MOP13,000.

After realizing that the amounts were quite high, he decided to call off the deal and ask for a refund. Soon after he received another call from a second man claiming to be from the finance department of the company, informing him that he had only paid MOP7,300 and that the minimum refund card that the company had was for MOP10,000, and to be entitled to the refund, he needed to pay the remaining MOP2,700 to reach the MOP10,000 minimum.

Reluctantly, he made one more payment. Not long after, the same person called claiming that they had run out of MOP10,000 refund cards and that they had only cards to refund MOP15,000 at the moment. To that end, he requested an additional MOP5,000. The victim again accepted, increasing his losses to MOP15,000 but the phone calls requesting further money continued.

That was enough for the man, and he instead filed a complaint with the PJ.

In the second case, a 40-year- old local woman was conned by a man in a money loaning scam.

She said that she met the man via an online communication platform and that she chatted with him for over a month without ever meeting him in person.

On February 20, the man, who claimed to be a civil construction contractor, called the woman asking for help as one of his machines had problems that would cost HKD200,000 to fix, which he did not have available at that moment.

The woman agreed to help him, transferring a total of HKD150,000 for him over several transactions on February 20 and 21.

On February 23, the man called again asking for more money, saying that he still required more. However, she suspected that she was being scammed and asked for a video call with the man.

He rejected the request and she called for help from the PJ, reporting losses of HKD150,000.
The Turkish university that has been using a logo almost identical to the Macau SARs emblem allegedly pledged to investigate the matter a decade ago.

Kirklareli University introduced the logo to the public in May 2009, following a design competition held by the education institution.

After quickly discovering similarities with the Macau emblem, referred to officially as the Regional Emblem, the university allegedly responded to say that they will investigate the issue.

A decade later, the university is still using the logo in an official capacity.

According to a report issued by Turkish media last week, the universitys secretary-general Ergun Erbay previously said, We asked the Patent Institute if it would be a problem to be similar to [the Macau emblem], indicating that the university was previously aware of the matter.

However, Krklareli University appears to have concluded that there was no copyright problem and the logo could continue to be used.

According to a former exchange student from the university who asked not to be identified, the matter faded [out of] local and mainstream media, and that [university] officials have chosen to postpone the solution to the problem.

It was probably in 2009 when the university responded that they will investigate if there is an issue with the logo. They probably thought there was no copyright problem, the former student said.

As cited on its website, Kirklareli University has agreements with the European Union Erasmus Program and Mevlana Exchange Program. It also has agreements with international corporations including Microsoft and Oracle.

Currently, there are students from over 40 countries studying at the university.

In 2009, the university administration was criticized for carelessness in the process of trying to put the corporate identity of the university in place.

In a prior design competition held at the university for selecting an official logo, the winning piece was criticized for its resemblance to the Japanese flag. In response the second contest was held, producing the winning piece that remains the logo to this day.

The designer of the second logo, identified as Abdullah K., insisted the logo was an original work despite the design having similarities with the Macau emblem.

Meanwhile in the Macau SAR, a Times reader remarked, [a] simple check goes a long way, while another jested, China gets copied.

The Government Information Bureau told the Times that the Protocol, Public Relations and External Affairs Office would follow up on the case.

The Times contacted the press and public relations department of the state university, but no reply was received by press time.

PSP TO REPAIR DAMAGED EMBLEM

The Macau emblem adorning the Traffic Department headquarters faced its own embarassment this week after photos reached social media showing some parts of the emblem had fallen off.

In a statement the bureau explained that it removed the star-shaped emblem in its official logo as they discovered that some parts had fallen off due to normal wear and tear.

The statement was issued after photos circulated on social media, showing that the lotus in the Regional Emblem of the Public Security Police Force emblem had disappeared.

According to the PSP, its departments were advised to check the conditions of the PSP emblem to meet official standards.
For almost two years, the question has lingered over Chinas market-roiling crackdown on financial leverage: How much pain can the countrys policy makers stomach?

Evidence is mounting that their limit has been reached. From bank loans to trust-product issuance to margin-trading accounts at stock brokerages, leverage in China is rising nearly everywhere you look.

While seasonal effects explain some of the gains, analysts say the trend has staying power as authorities shift their focus from containing the nations USD34 trillion debt pile to shoring up the weakest economic expansion since 2009. The governments evolving stance was underscored by President Xi Jinpings call for stable growth late last week.

Deleveraging is dead, said Alicia Garcia Herrero, chief Asia Pacific economist at Natixis SA in Hong Kong.

The question now is whether Chinas attempt to create a healthier mix of financing  fewer shadow banks, longer debt maturities  will prove successful. Premier Li Keqiang highlighted the challenge last week, warning of risks from sharp increases in short-term debt after Chinas credit growth surged to a record in January.

Chinese regulators are now trying to walk a fine line by allowing credit to flow back into the private sector without returning to the old pattern of rapid and unsustainable credit growth, said Nicholas Borst, a China research director at Seafarer Capital Partners LLC in Larkspur, California.

Even after accounting for seasonal distortions, Chinas leverage indicators have been surprisingly strong in 2019:

New yuan loans jumped by a record 3.23 trillion yuan in January, exceeding estimates

Shadow financing rose for the first time in 11 months; interbank borrowing climbed to a six-month high

More than 1,800 new trust products have been sold so far this year, the fastest start since at least 2008

Banks issued 22 percent more wealth-management products in January than the year-earlier period, according to PY Standard

Margin debt in Chinas stock market surged over the past two weeks at the fastest pace since 2015

Its a stark turnaround after a nearly two-year anti-leverage drive that sank Chinese stocks, restrained economic growth, triggered record bond defaults, and pummeled the nations gargantuan shadow-banking industry.

Xi signaled a greater emphasis on growth at a meeting of the Communist Partys elite 25-member Politburo on Friday, saying that healthy economic development is the foundation for risk prevention. A statement released after the meeting said risk prevention should be done on the basis of stable growth. Previous statements cited the need to balance efforts to stabilize growth, restructure the economy and prevent risks.

In another sign of the governments evolving stance, a quarterly policy report published by the Peoples Bank of China last week watered down language on the campaign to curb excess credit, removing a reference to deleveraging and adding wording on stabilizing the macro leverage ratio.

China has shelved deleveraging activities almost entirely to support the economy, said Iris Pang, a Hong Kong-based economist at ING Bank NV.

The PBOC and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission didnt respond to faxed requests for comment.

Chinas overall leverage ratio stood at 243.7 percent at the end of 2018, with corporate debt reaching 154 percent, household borrowings at 53 percent and government leverage at 37 percent, according to Zhang Xiaojing, deputy head of the Institute of Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Before that, the nations leverage ratio climbed at an average 12 percentage points each year between 2008 and 2016.

Chinas total debt will rise relative to gross domestic product this year, after a flat 2017 and a decline in 2018, Wang Tao, head of China economic research at UBS Group AG in Hong Kong, predicted in a report this month.

While Wang cautioned that re-leveraging may increase concerns about Chinas commitment to ensuring financial stability, investors have so far cheered the prospect of easier credit conditions.

Yields on lower-rated Chinese corporate bonds have dropped in 2019 and the nations stock market  one of the worlds worst performers last year  has soared (thanks also to signs of progress in trade negotiations with the U.S.). The small-cap ChiNext Index entered a bull market on Friday, while Chinese shares surged across the board yesterday.

In 2018, it was the double whammy from the deleveraging campaign and the trade war, said Larry Hu, head of China economics at Macquarie Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong. In 2019, it could be the interplay between softening growth and more supportive policy. Bloomberg
A man who was killed while trying to hijack a commercial flight in Bangladesh was a 24-year-old passenger from a village near the capital who had been previously arrested in a kidnapping case, officials said yesterday.

Mufti Mahmud Khan, director of the law and media wing of Bangladeshs Rapid Action Battalion security agency, said the suspect was listed in its database as Md. Polash Ahmed, and had been arrested in 2012. Khan declined to provide details about the kidnapping case.

Confusion remained over whether Ahmed was armed.

The plane operated by Biman Bangladesh Airlines made an emergency landing in Chittagong on Sunday after the attempted hijacking, which occurred shortly after takeoff from Dhaka. The plane was headed to Dubai via Chittagong.

Officials said Sunday that Ahmed was injured in an exchange of gunfire with special forces, that he had shot at them first and was armed with a pistol.

Civil aviation authorities cast doubt on that account yesterday.

When asked about reports that Ahmed had a toy gun, ministry secretary Mohibul Haque said they didnt know whether the pistol was a toy.

We dont know if there was any exchange of gunfire, Haque said.

Bangladesh civil aviation minister Mahbub Ali told reporters that Ahmed had booked a seat on the flight from Dhaka to Chittagong, and that airport surveillance video showed him going through security with other passengers.

There was no signal that he had something when he boarded Sundays flight, Ali said.

Khan said when the agencys bomb-disposal unit reached the scene, they found that Ahmed had fake bomb-like material.

Officials said Ahmed asked to speak to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheik Hasina before dying on his way to a hospital.

A police chief in Narayanganj outside Dhaka, Mohammed Moniruzzaman, first identified the suspect as 24-year-old Mohammed Polash Ahmed.

Moniruzzaman said Ahmeds parents confirmed his identity, and that residents of the village where he lived said he had a bad reputation.

A police official in Chittagong, Mohammed Alauddin, said by phone that no one had yet claimed Ahmeds body from the Chittagong Medical College and Hospital mortuary.

Bangladesh, a majority Muslim nation of 162 million people, has had periodic terrorist attacks in recent years, including an assault on an upscale cafe in Dhakas diplomatic enclave in 2016 that resulted in the deaths of 22 people, including 17 foreigners.

The attack prompted a swift crackdown by Hasina, with hundreds of suspected militants arrested or killed in raids across the country.

The Rapid Action Battalion has been credited with reducing militant attacks, but international human rights groups blame the elite anti-crime force for the disappearances and extrajudicial killings of dozens of people allegedly involved with radical groups. Julhas Alam and Emily Schmall, Dhaka, AP


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The diocese, which operates churches and schools throughout northwestern Iowa, urged victims to come forward at that time. Its review board has spent recent weeks reviewing files and weighing the credibility of allegations.

The diocese said the alleged abuse took place between 1948 and 1995 and involved 106 individuals who have come forward to make claims. Additional complaints of abuse have been made more recently, but none have been deemed credible by police or a church review board, the diocese said.

All but six of the priests on the list have died. Those who are still living are not involved in the ministry or active with youths, and they have been stripped of their ability to celebrate Mass or represent themselves as priests, the diocese said.

Diocese officials acknowledged that the list is probably incomplete because additional victims have not come forward. For instance, the diocese said that it was aware of 13 victims of Coyle, even though he allegedly confessed to abusing dozens more.

The list included 39 victims of the Rev. George McFadden, whose abuse has long been documented and spawned an array of civil lawsuits, and 11 victims of the Rev. Peter Murphy. More than half of the identified priests, however, have only one known accuser.
Mondays vote was 53-44 in favor of the bill, short of the 60 votes required to move a bill forward. All four GOP senators from Nebraska and Iowa voted for it. Three Democrats backed the legislation.

Opponents described the bill as an attempt to score political points with hard-core conservative groups opposed to abortion.

They noted that the overwhelming majority of abortions are performed in the first trimester and that only 1.3 percent happen after 21 weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

They said that the percentage of cases in which a child might be born alive is incredibly small and that those cases typically involve extreme fetal anomalies not compatible with life over the long term.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., asked her colleagues to imagine the heartache of parents informed late in a pregnancy that their fetus has such abnormalities and forced to confront the difficult decision to terminate.
Officially, Omaha received 7.5 inches of snow over the weekend. Some neighborhoods, however, recorded as much as 10 inches.

With some neighborhood streets still difficult to travel Sunday night, the Omaha Public Schools and most other metro area districts announced that they would cancel classes on Monday.

About 18,000 of OPSs 53,000 students travel by bus, and the district wasnt confident that its kids could get to school in a timely, safe fashion, said OPS spokeswoman Monique Farmer.

Trash pickup was canceled Monday in Council Bluffs because of the accumulated snow. It will resume Tuesday in the Bluffs and will be a day behind for the rest of the week.

The city has said it will be Tuesday at the earliest before crews begin tackling those long rows of snow in the middle of major thoroughfares. City crews have been plowing snow to the middle to aid in clearing a driving lane. Affected streets include Dodge from downtown to Happy Hollow, other downtown streets and Maple Street in Benson.

The weekend storm was nastier than the areas other recent heavy snowfalls.
Orcutt man arrested for DUI after crash that took down traffic lights, closed intersection
CALmatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California's state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to Commentary.
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SPALDING  Nearly two centuries after missionary Henry Spalding shipped an array of Nez Perce items thousands of miles away from the tribes homeland, the historic collection of artifacts has been appropriately renamed and placed on display at the same site where it was originally acquired, 
City and county road department crews battled a one-two weather punch in recent days, as rainy downpours over the weekend were capped off with up to 14 inches of snow overnight Sunday and Monday morning.

And more snow was expected at higher elevations Monday evening coupled with temperatures that were expected to dip to 24 overnight.

Tuesday morning commuters may face some extremely icy driving conditions if the forecast holds true.

Sweet Home Public Works Director Greg Springman said the city had placed sand and sandbags in the parking lot east of City Hall at 12th and Kalmia in case flooding becomes an issue.

Springman said he was concerned because the mid-valley had been inundated for several days with rain. If the snowpack melts rapidly the influx of water could tax storm water systems.

Frank Frenzel, maintenance supervisor for the city of Lebanon, said high water hasnt been an issue.

We did some sanding, cleared sidewalks around public buildings and cleared some parking lots, Frenzel said. We had some limbs down and a couple trees were down over the road near Berlin.
At 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Pacific Power still had more than 1,000 customers without electricity and CPI had about 300 members without power in the mid-valley area.

Were making pretty good progress, said Tom Gauntt, Pacific Power spokesman.

James Ramseyer, CPI director of member services, said there were still a lot of isolated outages, downed power lines and toppled trees on Tuesday morning.

Road conditions also improved, and public safety agencies, which dealt with numerous wrecks on Monday, had a less hectic Tuesday morning.

Hopefully it will stay that way, but theres more snow in the forecast, said Lt. Michelle Duncan of the Linn County Sheriffs Office, which handled 11 crashes on Monday.

The area hardest hit by power outages remains Sweet Home. As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, the Sweet Home area had about 960 Pacific Power customers without power.

At the peak of the outages on Monday, Pacific Power had 4,300 customers without power around Sweet Home and Lebanon, roughly 1,300 customers without power in Albany, 1,000 customers without power in Harrisburg to Monroe and 1,000 without electricity in Brownsville, according to the utilitys website.
November 29, 1926  February 4, 2019

Velma Kirkpatrick, loving wife and mother of two sons, passed away peacefully at Synergy Foster Home in Tigard, Oregon, at 92 years of age.

Velma was born in Oregon City, Oregon, to Adolph Deininger and Dollie Ragsdale Deininger. She grew up on their family farm in Redland, Oregon, graduated from Oregon City High School and soon after worked at the Milwaukee First State Bank where she met her future husband Edward Kirkpatrick. They were married for 59 years.

A few years later they made Albany their permanent home. Velma volunteered at Grand Prairie Grade School as a room mother through her sons grade school years and later worked at Periwinkle Grade School.

She enjoyed traveling in their camp trailer, square dancing and card games with family and many friends. Velma was a sweet, caring, loving person and will be greatly missed by all.

She is survived by her two sons, James Kirkpatrick and Debra, and Dean Kirkpatrick and Jackie; grandson, Matthew Cowan and Carina; great granddaughter, Kieran; and cousin, Gertrude Deininger Thompson.

We would like to express our deepest appreciation to Synergy Foster Home for their loving care of our mother.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. on March 5 at the Albany United Presbyterian Church, 330 SW Fifth Ave., Albany, OR.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Due to technical problems, the audio for this story is not currently available.

The United States and the Afghan Taliban have restarted talks in Qatars capital, Doha.

Lead U.S. negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad met with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a founder of the Taliban and the groups political chief.

A Taliban spokesman was reported as saying he hopes the latest negotiations will bring clear and fruitful results.

U.S. officials have met several times with Taliban representatives in recent months. The goal is to negotiate a peace deal, agreed to by all sides, to end Afghanistans 17-year war.

One of the top issues in earlier talks has been a negotiated withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. A pullout of U.S. troops has been a long-standing Taliban demand. The U.S. military has about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan. About 8,000 troops from 38 other countries have also deployed there.

A major U.S. demand has been a guarantee that Afghanistan will not be used as a base for launching terror attacks on U.S. targets.

The war in Afghanistan began shortly after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States. The U.S.-led military action was aimed at ousting the Taliban from power. U.S. officials accused Taliban leaders of providing shelter to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his followers. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the September 11 attacks.

U.S. negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad commented on Twitter before going to the peace talks. Arrived in Doha to meet with a more authoritative Taliban delegation, his statement read. This could be a significant moment.

The Talibans decision to send Baradar to the talks was seen as an important move because of his large influence in the Taliban movement. He was released from a jail in Pakistan last year. He had been arrested during a joint Pakistani-U.S. operation in 2010.

Khalilzad is expected to pressure the Taliban to hold direct talks with the U.S.-supported Afghan government, something the group has so far refused to do.

Taliban spokesman Sohail Shahin said the talks will also explore ways to reach a ceasefire deal before spring arrives. In recent years, the return of warmer weather has been linked to an increase in violence.

We are optimistic about the ongoing talks which can end with good progress, Shahin said. It is possible that the Taliban do not refresh or announce their spring offensive.

United Nations officials estimate that nearly 4,000 civilians were killed in the Afghan conflict in 2018. This was the single deadliest year for Afghan civilians since the U.N. began documenting war casualties 10 years ago.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from the Associated Press, Reuters and Twitter. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

authoritative  adj. able to be trusted as being accurate or true

significant  adj. important

optimistic  adj. feeling of showing hope for the future
EDITOR'S NOTE: Due to technical problems, the audio for this story is not currently available.

Pope Francis's summit on preventing sexual abuse was never going to meet the expectations placed on it by victims, the media and Catholics in general.

No new law was announced to punish bishops who try to cover up abuse. No one demanded a worldwide requirement that priests who rape must be reported to police.

On Sunday, in Francis final speech at the summit, he even restated the Churchs common complaint of unfair media reporting.

But some things did change during the four-day meeting.

By inviting Catholic Church leaders from around the world, Francis made it clear that all of them are responsible for protecting the children in their care. He also made it clear that they must punish priests who might violate children. And if they do not, they risk punishment themselves.

Francis had strong words for abusers within the Church and those who protect them.

But it was the words from the few women invited to speak at the summit that sent the strongest message.

Nigerian Sister Veronica Openibo is leader of her religious order. She shamed the men in the room for their years of silence over the atrocitiescommitted by their priests. She warned them that they would be judged for their inaction in the future.

This storm will not pass by, she said.

Valentina Alazraki is a Vatican reporter for Mexicos Televisa. She told men in power that they must decide if they are with the victims or the priests who raped them.

We have decided which side to be on, Alazraki told those at the summit. She also warned that, unless Church leaders side with the victims, reporters will be your worst enemies.

A speech by Linda Ghisoni, a religious lawyer and a Vatican under-secretary, strongly affected those listening  including Francis. He delivered unplanned remarks about women at the end of her speech.

There was also the emotional testimony of a woman who was raped by a priest for years during her childhood. The experience has left her with mental health problem, including eating disorders, depression and thoughts of suicide.

Her powerful story left the 190 bishops in silence.

Hans Zollner was one of the meeting organizers. He is an expert on sexual abuse in the Church. He said the womans speech really reached the heart leveland if you get to that level, you cannot be as you were before.

In the coming days, the Catholic Church is expected to release a new child protection policy for the Vatican City State.

It will also release a book of rules for bishops around the world explaining how to investigate and prosecute abuse cases. And, it will establish special groups to offer expert help, especially for dioceses in poor countries that do not have necessary legal resources available.

It also appears that the Church will reconsider the use of pontifical secret in abuse cases. This means victims could be able to learn what happens to a priest after an abuse accusation has been made.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna is the Vaticans longtime sex crimes prosecutor. He told reporters at the end of the summit that there is now an understanding that the abuse of (children) is an egregious crime, but so too is cover-up.

He added: There is no going back.

Im Susan Shand.

The Associated Press reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

bishop  n. an official in some Christian religions who is ranked higher than a priest and who is usually in charge of church matters in a specific geographical area

summit  n.a meeting among leaders from various groups

complaint  n. a statement that you are unhappy or not satisfied with something

shame  v. to force (someone) to act in a specified way by causing feelings guilt

atrocity  n. a cruel or terrible act

testimony - n. something that someone says especially in a court of law while formally promising to tell the truth

pontifical - adj. relating to the pope or the Vatican

prosecute - v. to hold a trial against a person who is accused of a crime to see if that person is guilty

resources - n. a supply of something (such as money) that someone has and can use when it is needed

egregious adj. a terrible and unforgivable act

diocese  n. the area that is controlled by a bishop in a Christian church
Graffiti markings cover the walls of a Greek amphitheater in the ancient city of Cyrene in eastern Libya.

The city is now struggling with attacks on historic buildings and failure to care for national treasures. Some local people have slowly - and illegally -- taken control of the land that surrounds these structures.

Years ago, visitors from around the world went to Cyrene to see the Greek temples and other ancient structures. Now there are only empty businesses and eateries along the road that leads to the 2,600-year-old city.

Looting has hit Libyas archaeological treasures since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. That was when the country entered into a period of unrest, with opposing administrations competing for control in different areas.

Cyrene is one of five United Nations World Heritage sites in the country listed for their value.

Greek tradition says the city was founded as a settlement about 2,750 years ago. Nearby ruins include Leptis Magna, which is considered by many historians to be the best preserved Roman ruins in the world.

Cyrene sits some 200 kilometers east of Benghazi. The Apollina, another ancient ruin, is just 20 kilometers away.

With foreign visitors gone and the governments antiquities department suffering budget shortages, vandals have painted graffiti on ruins and stolen artifacts. Some treasures such as statues listed in guidebooks from before 2011 are no longer there.

Many artifacts have been taken overseas, says Ahmad Hussein. He heads the antiquities department of an administration in control of eastern Libya.

Unable to stop the stealing, his office has been registering artifacts. This has helped to recover some national treasures in Europe, he said.

There was better protection of antiquities before 2011. Some of the discoveries date back to Italian colonial rule in Libya. Parts of the colonists equipment are still there.

In 2005, archaeologists discovered 76 perfect Roman statues at Cyrene. They were hidden deep in the ground. Romans built the statues between the years 100 and 200 AD. After an earthquake covered them up in 375 AD, they remained hidden for 1,630 years.

Now the area is visited only by local militiamen, who use the ruins as battle cover.

There has been a lot of destruction in recent years, said Ismail Miftah, a farmer living next to Cyrene. Ordinary people dont appreciate the ancient heritage.

Im Susan Shand.

Ulf Laessing wrote this story for the Reuters news agency. Susan Shand adapted his report for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

amphitheater  n. a large building with seats rising in curved rows around an open space on which games and plays take place

loot  v. to steal during a time of crisis or war

antiquity  n. objects from ancient times

artifact  n. a simple object made by people in the past

AD  adv. used to note a period of time since the beginning of Christianity; short for the Latin term anno Domini

preserve  v. to protect
EDITOR'S NOTE: Due to technical problems, the audio for this story is not currently available.

The Islamic State (IS) appears close to losing the last area under its control along the Euphrates River in Syria.

Although IS forces may soon be defeated, however, many people agree that the militant group remains a threat. Why?

What will result from the defeat of Islamic State?

Islamic States possession of land in Iraq and Syria made it different from other militant groups. Occupation of the land became central to the IS leadership when it declared a caliphate in 2014. It claimed power over all Muslim lands and peoples.

Destroying the state it set up in the Middle East denies Islamic State its strongest propaganda tool and a lure for new members. The groups base of operations is also destroyed. IS no longer has a secure place to train fighters and plan attacks.

It also freed those who fell under IS control from executions and punishment for breaking its laws or, for some minorities, sexual slavery and death.

Warfare killed thousands of Islamic State fighters. And, financially, the defeat also stops the group from using the money it received from taxes on local people and profits from sales of oil.

What influence does IS still have in Iraq and Syria?

When Islamic State was related to the group al Qaeda in Iraq 10 years ago, its members hid when under attack, quietly waiting for a chance to rise again.

Since suffering huge territorial losses in 2017, IS has again turned to hiding and carrying out attacks. There are estimates that at least 5,000 to 7,000 IS fighters are now in Iraq, where they have been blamed for countless kidnappings and killings. Their campaign of violence is aimed at destroying the Iraqi government.

The group has also carried out many bomb attacks in northeast Syria, which is controlled by Kurdish forces allied with the United States.

In one bombing in January, four Americans were killed. Kurdish and U.S. officials have warned that the threat from IS continues.

In Syria, the groups fighters still hold out in the desert area near the road from Damascus to Deir al-Zor.

What has happened to IS leaders, fighters and followers?

What has happened to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of IS, is not known. The U.S. governments experts strongly believe he is alive and possibly hiding in Iraq, U.S. sources said. Other high level leaders have been killed in air strikes.

Thousands of its fighters and civilian followers have also been killed. Thousands more were captured. It is not known how many fighters are still operating freely in both Syria and Iraq.

Iraq is putting on trial, jailing and often executing Islamic State prisoners. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has detained around 800 foreign fighters. More than 2,000 Islamic State wives and children are also being held. Many low-level local operatives have been released in Syria.

The SDF says that Western governments are slow to take back the foreign fighters. At home, they are seen as a security threat, but they also may be difficult to put on trial.

Can it still organize attacks overseas?

As Islamic State begins to lose its last piece of territory, the head of Britains spy agency, MI6, thinks the group will return to its old ways -- what he calls asymmetric attacks.

Even after it began losing territory, the group still claimed responsibility for attacks made in different countries. But most of the attacks have been blamed on sympathetic individuals and not IS.

The group started a few years ago to call on followers around the world to plan their own attacks.

In early 2018, the head of U.S. military central command noted that Islamic State was strong. He said it still had the ability to inspire attacks throughout the region and outside of the Middle East.

What does its fall mean for the future of other Islamists?

Although most of Islamic States territory was in Iraq and Syria, Islamist fighters in other countries became their allies. Examples include Nigeria, Yemen and Afghanistan.

Whether those groups will continue the fight for IS is an open question, especially if Baghdadi is killed. But they do not appear to want to end their fight.

Al-Qaeda also still has several allies around the world, and other Islamist groups operate in countries where normal governance has broken down.

The ideology of Islamic State has shown it can change as its situation changes, which means it can always find places where there is war, poverty, injustice and religious hatred to regrow.

Im Susan Shand.

The Reuters news agency reported this story. Susan Shand adapted the report for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

caliphate  n. a state or country under the leadership of an Islamic clergyman

lure  v. to cause or persuade a person to do something or go somewhere

sources  n. someone who provides something that is needed

asymmetric  adj. uneven, or unusual

inspire  v. to give someone an idea to do something
Monday, February 25, 2019

The Nevada Supreme Court has rejected as insufficient a proposed two-year consent suspension

This is an automatic review of a Southern Nevada Disciplinary Board hearing panel's recommendation that this court approve, pursuant to SCR 113, a conditional guilty plea agreement in exchange for a stated form of discipline for attorney Matthew S. Dunkley. Under the agreement, Dunkley admitted to violating RPC 1.15 (safekeeping property) and RPC 8.4 (misconduct), and agreed to a two-year suspension. Dunkley was temporarily suspended on October 3, 2017. In re Discipline of Dunkley, Docket No. 74079 (Order Imposing Temporary Suspension, Oct. 3, 2017).

Dunkley has admitted to the facts and violations as part of his guilty plea agreement. The record therefore establishes that as a result of Dunkley's gambling addiction, he misappropriated $1,060,976.94 of client funds for his personal use.

Two years is not enough

Dunkley has admitted that he violated duties owed to his clients (safekeeping property) and the profession (misconduct). Substantial evidence supports the panel's finding that Dunkley's mental state was intentional because he acted with a conscious objective or purpose to take money that did not belong to him to fund his gambling addiction. See Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions, Compendium of Professional Responsibility Rules and Standards, 452 (Am. Bar Ass'n 2017) (defining "intent"). Dunkley's clients were injured because they did not receive money owed to them and their lienholders were not paid. The baseline sanction before considering aggravating and mitigating circumstances is disbarment. See id. at Standard 4.11 ("Disbarment is generally appropriate when a lawyer knowingly converts client property and causes injury or potential injury to a client."). The record supports the panel's findings of four aggravating circumstances (dishonest or selfish motive, pattern of misconduct, multiple offenses, and vulnerability of victims) and five mitigating circumstances (absence of prior discipline, personal or emotional problems, character or reputation, mental disability (gambling addiction), and remorse).

We conclude that the agreed-upon discipline is insufficient to serve the purpose of attorney discipline.

KTNV reported on his arrest and there are details from Sally Jaramillo

According to an arrest report, the case against Dunkley came to light when authorities investigated various money transfers to a woman who was not his wife. The report said Dunkley transferred money to an exotic dancer who was also known to be his "hot girlfriend."

During the State Bar of Nevada hearing Dunkley admitted to taking all of the funds for gambling, but an investigation showed various money transfers to Ivory Star Cain.

The court documents say Dunkley paid Cain a total over $100,000 all in exchange for Cains company which also included an active sexual relationship.

During his arraignment on Wednesday, prosecutors argued hes a flight risk many neighbors are shocked by all the accusations as they say they never had problems with the family and found him to be kind and friendly.

The case is Matter of Discipline of Matthew Dunkley (see link here). (Mike Frisch)

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2019/02/the-nevada-supreme-court-has-rejected-as-insufficient-a-proposed-two-year-consent-suspension-this-is-an-automatic-review-of.html
2020 Democratic Hopefuls Embrace New Meaning of Reparations

Sen. Kamala Harris of California, Sen. Elizabeth Warren

Several Democratic presidential candidates are embracing reparations for the descendants of slaves  but not in the traditional sense.

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Over the past week, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro spoke of the need for the U.S. government to reckon with and make up for centuries of stolen labor and legal oppression. But instead of backing the direct compensation of African-Americans for the legacy of slavery, the Democratic candidates are talking about using tax credits and other subsidies.

Long defined as some type of direct payment to former slaves and their descendants, the shifting definition of reparations comes as White House hopefuls seek to solidify their ties with African-Americans whose support will be crucial to winning the Democratic nomination. But it risks prompting both withering criticism from Republicans and a shrug from black voters and activists if the proposals are seen as an empty gesture that simply renames existing policy ideas as reparations.

Universal programs are not specific to the injustices that have been inflicted on African-Americans, said Duke University economist William Darity, a veteran advocate of reparations. I want to be sure that whatever is proposed and potentially enacted as a reparations program really is a substantive and dramatic intervention in the patterns of racial wealth inequality in the United States  not something superficial or minor that is labeled as reparations and then politicians say the national responsibility has been met.

Montague Simmons of the Movement for Black Lives, which has pushed for reparations, said the debate is not just cash payments.

But unless were talking about something that has to be systemic and transfers power to the community, its not likely going to be what we would consider reparations, he said.

For now, thats not how most Democratic presidential contenders are talking about reparations.

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Harris has proposed monthly payments to qualified citizens of any race in the form of a tax credit. Warren has called for universal child care that would guarantee the benefit from birth until a child enters school. Families with income less than 200 percent of the poverty line would get free access and others would pay no more than 7 percent of their income.

Those benefits would likely have a disproportionate impact on African-Americans. But except for longshot candidate Marianne Williamson, no Democratic White House hopeful has called for financial remuneration for blacks.

Harris told reporters in Iowa on Sunday that we have to all acknowledge that people have not started out on the same base and have not had equal opportunities to success.

Castro told The Root, a black online news site, that America would be better off if the government addressed the issue of reparations, which he said he would explore if elected.

And in New Hampshire on Friday, Warren said the U.S. needs to confront its ugly history of racism and talk about the right way to address it. Asked whether she would support reparations for Native Americans, she responded: Its an important part of the conversation.

Warren has been criticized for claiming Native American identity early in her career and apologized recently to the Cherokee Nation for releasing DNA test results as evidence she had Native American in her bloodline, albeit at least six generations back.

In terms of a direct payment, reparations could be a tough political sell. In a Point Taken-Marist poll conducted in 2016, 68 percent of Americans said the country should not pay cash reparations to African-American descendants of slaves. About 8 in 10 white Americans said they were opposed to reparations, while about 6 in 10 black Americans said they were in favor.

Republican strategist Whit Ayres said the issue of reparations is symptomatic of the fundamental debate that is roiling the Democratic Party today.

There is no doubt that issues of race have been and remain critically important in American society, he said. But the idea that you resolve those issues by taking money from white people and giving it to black people will make race relations worse, not better. Republicans would love to have that debate.

Pressed on Fox News Sunday on whether reparations would ultimately end up in the Democratic platform, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said the issue is something that will be discussed during the course of the presidential nominating process.

Even if Democrats are rethinking the definition of reparations, Ta-Nehisi Coates, who sparked a national debate over the issue with a 2014 essay in The Atlantic, said the recent chatter is promising. He noted that a Dave Chappelle comedy skit mocked the idea in 2003.

It has generally been dismissed as utter lunacy, Coates said. Its not being mocked now. Step one is to get people to stop laughing.

When Barack Obama ran to become the nations first African-American president, he opposed reparations. But in an interview with Coates in the final days of his presidency, he didnt question the legitimacy of the concept.

Theoretically, you can make, obviously, a powerful argument that centuries of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination are the primary cause for all those gaps, Obama said, referencing the racial disparities faced by black Americans today.

That those were wrongs done to the black community as a whole, and black families specifically, and that in order to close that gap, a society has a moral obligation to make a large, aggressive investment, even if its not in the form of reparations checks, but in the form of a Marshall Plan, in order to close those gaps, Obama said, referring to the American initiative to provide economic assistance to Western Europe after World War II.

Still, he said it was politically difficult to achieve such a goal.

If presidential candidates want to prove theyre serious about reparations, some proponents say they should back H.R. 40, the Reparations Study Act first introduced by former Michigan Rep. John Conyers in 1989. He reintroduced the bill every session until his resignation in 2017.

Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee took up the legislation after Conyers departure and reintroduced the bill in 2018, but it has not been introduced in the current Congress.

Its not wrong to say we need to cure cancer  which is what I take the support of reparations to actually be  but we dont have a full diagnosis yet, Coates said. If you can actually get a study that outlines what actually happened, what the needs are, what the debt actually is, and how it was incurred, then you can design programs to actually address it. That gets you out of the vagaries of just saying you support reparations.
I was a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician for Reamstown, Schoeneck and Maytown fire companies in Pennsylvania. When I lived in Epping, New Hampshire, I was paid as a volunteer firefighter for the calls I responded to. The best state we lived in for being a volunteer was Delaware. That state gives the volunteer fire companies enough money so they dont have to beg for money like in Pennsylvania.

Delaware also had, when I moved there in 1985, a state tax credit for volunteers and also set up a pension for volunteer firefighters. Now back in Pennsylvania, where our overpaid politicians only fill their own pockets with our money, were in a crisis state. Due to increased requirements and no money, there are dwindling volunteers for our ambulance and fire companies. Maybe our politicians should look to Delaware to see what its doing since Pennsylvania has dropped the ball for decades.

The last fire company I ran with in Delaware was Dagsboro. It has a new fire station loaded with equipment that most big towns around here dont have.

When will the people stop putting up with the poor state politics that we get and the corruption that runs rampant? A state that is among the most corrupt in the United States now is lacking anything to help our volunteer firefighters and ambulance personnel. Maybe a higher fire insurance tax that goes directly to fire companies so everyone pays equally would help. Let your voice be heard  write your state representative.

Glen Fry

East Cocalico Township
I strongly oppose legalization of recreational marijuana. Long-term pot use has been linked to mental illness, paranoia, hallucinations, psychosis, depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts among teens.

According to Dr. Peter Gates, young people who use marijuana during adolescence have been shown to be more likely to develop schizophrenia, increasing with the duration and dose of cannabis use.

Researchers discovered that marijuana use in young teens (14 or 15) leads to an increased risk of acquiring mental disorders such as schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder.

Top medical journals reported that marijuana can cause, or worsen, severe mental illness, especially psychosis. Of course, psychosis is a high-risk factor for violence.

A Swiss study in Frontiers of Forensic Psychiatry last June found that young men with psychosis who used cannabis had a 50 percent chance of becoming violent.

In 2017, the National Academy of Medicine reported that cannabis use is likely to increase the risk of developing schizophrenia, and other psychoses.

According to a New Zealand study, people who started smoking marijuana in their teens had lower IQs in their 30s compared to their childhood. This is disturbing.

A January 2018 paper in the American Journal of Psychiatry showed people who used cannabis in 2001 were almost three times as likely to use opiates three years later.

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, an advocate for legalizing pot for recreational use, should read this report. Hopefully, he will come to his senses, and stop promoting the legalization of recreational weed in Pennsylvania.

JoAnn L. Fuir

Paradise Township
Lititz Borough police

ALTERED PLATES

LITITZ: Mary Jane Jones, 32, of Conestoga, was charged with altered, forged or counterfeit documents and plates after police found counterfeit inspection and emission certificates on her vehicle during a Feb. 23 traffic stop in the 100 block of South Broad Street, police said.

SIMPLE ASSAULT

LITITZ: Robert Shaffer, 50, of Lititz, was charged with simple assault, resisting arrest and possession of drug paraphernalia after a domestic incident Feb. 23 in the 100 block of East Lincoln Avenue, police said.



New Holland police

DRUG CHARGES

EARL TWP.: Colin Anthony Buzzard, 18, of Denver, was charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia after he was found parked behind a church in the 100 block of Summitville Road, police said.

Strasburg Borough police

DRUG CHARGES

STRASBURG: Joshua Gettle, 33, no address given, was charged with possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of altered, forged or counterfeit documents after a traffic stop Jan. 21 on South Jackson Street, police said.

SUSPENDED LICENSE

STRASBURG: Cindy Rose Roop, 39, no address given, was charged with driving on a suspended license after a traffic stop Jan. 24 on Prospect Road, police said.

West Hempfield Township police

TERRORISTIC THREATS

WEST HEMPFIELD TWP.: Shepherd B. Gray Sr., 44, of Lancaster, was charged after threatening a store employee Feb. 18 at Rent-A-Center, 1768 Columbia Ave., police said.

THEFT CHARGES

WEST HEMPFIELD TWP.: Keith Walton, 34, of Lancaster, was charged with retail theft after taking $7.40 worth of food Feb. 19 from Forry Country Store, 820 Ivy Drive, police said.
A traffic expert Monday night defended new roads, traffic signals and other possible highway improvements totaling $6.2 million as residents raised questions about the proposed 75-acre Oregon Village development.

My opinion is our proposal is a safer, more efficient design, addressing treacherous intersections known for crashes, said John Schick, transportation engineer for the developer.

The proposed improvements include a new segment of Oregon Road, four additional traffic signals and added turn lanes.

Residents or their representatives questioned Schick in the fourth session of a conditional use hearing before the Manheim Township commissioners that began last month. No decision was rendered.

The Hurst family, owners of Oregon Dairy, are seeking the commissioners' OK to build a mixed-use project that would dramatically enlarge the tiny Village of Oregon, a proposal inside a government-designated growth area that some say would promote sprawl and unwisely encroach on farming.

The proposed project includes 550 residential units, including apartments, townhouses and one-story homes for older adults. Also proposed are a supermarket, a restaurant and banquet center, a hotel, a convenience store, shops and a bank.

The project spans about 75 acres on two adjacent sites: the current Oregon Dairy complex and the abandoned Shawnee resort, both along Oregon Pike near the Route 222 interchange.

The township in 2011 created a village overlay zone for the Oregon Village Growth Area that allows for mixed-use development.

Traffic counts

Julie Miller, an attorney representing three residents, questioned Schick about not conducting Sunday traffic counts in his study of the villages road system.

Schick confirmed for Miller that church traffic is heavy enough on Oregon Pike that a police officer sometimes controls the traffic signal at Landis Valley Road.

Miller also quizzed Schick on his plans impact on Reflections Restaurant. Schick said the relocation of eastbound traffic on Oregon Road would add 52 seconds to a trip to the restaurant.

But Schick defended the rerouting of traffic, saying it reduces traffic past a Creek Road intersection that was the second most dangerous in the village. It also eliminates the need for a traffic signal at that intersection.

Were going to provide (patrons) a safer means of getting to the site from the west. To me, thats a win, Schick said.

In response to questions by Commissioner Sam Mecum, Schick said his study did not ask property owners how changes would impact them.

William Crowe of the 1300 block of East Oregon Road decried the traffic plans lack of a traffic signal at the Oregon Road and Oregon Pike intersection, location of a Speedway gas station.

Right now it needs a traffic light, and then youre going to increase the traffic tremendously, Crowe said.

The hearing resumes Monday, March 11 at Manheim Township Public Library.
Crispus Attucks Community Center is ending the free hot lunches it serves about 85 people every weekday, a cost-cutting move dictated by a dire financial picture, its parent organization says.

An arm of Community Action Partnership since November, Crispus Attucks, 407 Howard Ave., is also closing its twice-monthly food bank and reducing staff from 3.5 full-time equivalents to 1.5 employees.

Its mind boggling to me. Im very upset about it, said Shawna Lindsay, 36, of Church Street, who has eaten lunch almost daily for five years at Crispus Attucks. Its at least one meal that I know that I dont have to buy.

The last lunch will be served Friday, March 15. About 85 people, some of whom are homeless, ate lunch each weekday, and the food pantry served about 300 a month. The center is giving its needy patrons a list of other soup kitchens and food pantries.

Dan Jurman, CEO of Community Action Partnership, said Crispus Attucks will continue offering youth programs and events celebrating African-American heritage.

Jurman said staffing the lunch cost about $30,000 a year, and food purchases added more than $10,000.

Youth grant sought

The Crispus Attucks board decided to join Community Action Partnership, a much larger local nonprofit, in hopes of sustaining and growing its operations.

But Jurman said an examination of Crispus Attucks finances after the merger found that things were in rougher shape than we thought.

Something had to go, at least for the short term, he said.

In a letter to Crispus Attucks supporters, Jurman said, If the merger had not happened when it did, Crispus Attucks would likely have closed its doors that same month.

He said Community Action Partnership has spent tens of thousands of dollars since November on Crispus Attucks' payroll and overdue bills.

Jurman said he hopes to secure a $175,000 state grant for youth programming later this year.

Crispus Attucks runs an after-school program called the Unstoppables drill team. Last summer, it piloted the Jackson Polite Ford youth leadership program.

The staff reductions include a program coordinator, cook and maintenance worker. Crispus Attucks relies on volunteers to power many of its functions.

One of the lunch volunteers, Marty Kelley, said she wished Community Action Partnership had challenged the community to help keep the lunch program going.

This is a decision that must be made with compassion, Kelley said. Im sure they thought about it carefully, but its quick.

Kelley said Crispus Attucks offered intangibles beyond a good meal, including kindness and respect.

Marty Its a place that people are known. What a gift that is.

I think of it as an oasis, she said. Its a place that people are known. What a gift that is.

Dexter Gillis, 43, who has been the programs part-time cook for three years, served bacon-wrapped chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans Tuesday.

I came from a rough life and struggle, so when I feed the unfortunate, it makes me feel good in the heart, Gillis said. I want to cook it just like Im cooking it for me and my family, and I consider these people my family.

Gillis said he doesnt know what hell do after March 15.

Spanish American Civic Association, 545 Pershing Ave., about six blocks from Crispus Attucks, offers lunch from 12:30 to 1 p.m. weekdays.

St. Anne's Catholic Church, about 1.3 miles away at 929 N. Duke St., distributes a bagged lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays, except holidays.
Another Lancaster County school has found lead in its water supply.

Lancaster Country Day School informed parents on Friday that a voluntary testing of pipes and 15 sinks and water fountains showed one art sink in the Lower School had elevated levels of lead, a toxic metal.

In the email to parents and families, Steven D. Lisk, head of school, said prominent do not drink signs were placed on the sink and nearby water fountains as a protective first step.

Lisk said the school is awaiting recommendations from its consultant on how to fix the water line coming to the sink.

School spokeswoman Dulcey Antonucci said the sink was not used for drinking. It is a utility sink used for washing art supplies and hands, she said.

She said it is not known how old the pipes are that feed into the sink. Some of the pipes in the school date to 1954.

Lead used as solder in old pipes as well as lead in old fountains and fixtures are common sources of lead found in water.

The use of lead in plumbing and solder was banned by Congress in 1986.

Ingestion of lead can hinder brain development, lower IQ and cause behavior problems in children. No level of lead is considered safe.

Country Days testing for lead was a voluntary action. The school was not required to test by state or federal laws.

But many schools have tested their drinking water sources since the 2015 discovery that the public water supply in Flint, Michigan, was widely contaminated by lead.

That resulted in a new Pennsylvania state law that urges all public and charter schools to test for lead by the end of the 2018-19 school year.

All 17 school districts in Lancaster County will have tested for lead by the end of the school year.

The latest school districts to complete testing are Warwick and Columbia. Neither found any elevated levels of lead.

Cocalico School District has partially completed its testing. Denver Elementary School and Cocalico Middle School recently were cleared.

School districts that have found elevated levels of lead in some water sources as a result of voluntary testing or the new law include the School District of Lancaster, Ephrata Area, Solanco, Pequea Valley and Penn Manor. All have taken remedial action.

School districts still awaiting first-time testing results are Conestoga Valley, Hempfield and Elizabethtown, as well as the La Academia Partnership Charter School.
Fasnacht Day is quickly approaching. Tuesday, Feb. 25, is the one day this year where Lancaster County will collectively celebrate a doughnut-related holiday.

While they're often described as "little puffs of pillowy goodness," a few questions remain. The first of which being: What exactly is a fasnacht?

Often misspelled as "fastnacht" and "fassnacht," the word fasnacht itself is German, coming from the words "fasten" (to fast), and "nacht" (night). Fasnacht Day is always celebrated on Shrove Tuesday -- the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.

Traditionally, in Christian denominations that observe Lent, Shrove Tuesday was meant as a means of celebrating with indulgent foods, using up one's remaining sugar and lard, before fasting season. Shrove Tuesday is also known as Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras.

Fasnachts -- or sugar and lard-laden doughnuts -- do just the trick.

While some people enjoy fasnachts in all their glory, without toppings, most people who celebrate Fasnacht Day often enjoy their indulgent doughnuts with toppings like powdered sugar and glaze, or filled with custards or creams.

In the past, we've written about other ways you can flavor your favorite doughnut tradition.

Let us know your favorite fasnacht traditions in the comments.

For more on fasnachts:
YWCA Lancaster announced Tuesday that Chief Executive Officer Michelle McCall will step down on April 30 to pursue other interests.

The Warwick Township resident joined YWCA Lancaster as interim CEO briefly in 2015, returned as interim CEO in 2016, then became CEO in 2017.

In a prepared statement, YWCA Lancaster described McCall as instrumental in successfully steering the YWCA team through many transitions while building a strong foundation for continued growth.

The 110 N. Lime St. nonprofit credited McCall for helping to diversify and expand its funding, putting the organization on more stable financial footing, and improving its programming and staff development.

YWCA Lancaster anticipates hiring McCalls successor this spring or summer.

With about 120 employees, many of them part time, YWCA Lancaster describes its mission as eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.

Its services include an emergency short-term shelter, sexual assault counseling, rooms for rent to single women and women with children, child development services, social justice initiatives (including its annual Race Against Racism), parent education classes and assault prevention programs.
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If you're reading this, you're probably not surprised by that fact that more Americans (like you) get their news online than from a newspaper.

But don't count print out just yet. There's a new publication that's betting Angelenos still want to pick up a physical magazine and read about local issues featuring a range of voices. That new magazine, The LAnd, is also available online, but it's clear the outlet's editors-in-chief, Jenn Swann and Jeff Weiss, are really thinking about the printed version.

Many of the magazine's staff are former employees of L.A. Weekly, which has been a case study of alt-weekly turmoil since a change of ownership in 2017 that led to layoffs, staffers quitting and a boycott movement against the paper.

Take Two's A Martinez spoke to Swann and Weiss about the new publication's mission and what makes it unique. Below is an excerpt of that conversation, which has been edited for clarity.

A Martinez: L.A. has a decent share of local news outlets. So what are you doing with this magazine that's different, Jeff?

Jeff Weiss: First of all it's print. I think there's a magic to print. I think it's kind of how vinyl is. It's one of those things where it's timeless; holding something in your hand, it's irreplaceable, that feeling, and I don't think that goes away.

I just think about being a kid and cutting out collages from my magazines -- and not to say someone's gonna do that from this. But first of all, I'd say that the layout is gorgeous. But I'd also say that we are providing an outlet for long-form journalism. It doesn't make sense sometimes to have a really long story online because it's just the way the brain works. Online is really meant for short, quick bursts and that doesn't mean that a great article can't find a home online. But when you're reading with your hands and letting these stories of the rich mosaic of L.A. unfold before you in print, I think it has a magic to it. And I think that's really special with what we're doing.

AM: Jenn, for established outlets like the L.A. Times, when people see that masthead they kind of know what they're getting. What brand do you want to carve out for The LAnd?

Jenn Swann: I think the L.A. Times has been such a foundation in L.A. They're amazing at covering breaking news and covering scandals. But I think The LAnd is really a place where you can sit and kind of meditate on these stories, find out what's happening before it's happening and get this deep dive that you're not going to get anywhere else.

I'll give you an example. We have an amazing story about Circus Books, which is this bookstore that just closed, at the end of last month, and it was these two owners, it was this family that owned it and it was a gay adult bookstore. And It was this family that was running it sort of quietly, no one else knew in their town, they couldn't tell their friends at their synagogue.

They just closed it and the daughter tells the story of how now she's making a documentary about her parents running this. And so we ran probably (a) 3,000 word story on it that would have been the equivalent of a cover story at the L.A. Weekly and that's the kind of story that I don't think you're going to find anywhere else. I saw that the L.A. Times ran a short piece about that bookstore recently and it's just a snapshot... you're not really immersing yourself with those people.

At its height in the 1980s and 1990s, @circusofbooks was among the nations most prolific distributors of gay porn. Ahead of its closure on Feb. 1, @CGWagley took a deep dive into its wild, weird, surprisingly heroic family history. https://t.co/8GUMh6Xl8R  TheLAnd Magazine (@theLAndmagazine) January 22, 2019

JW: You know I'd like to also add to that last thing about what we're building. I can't stress enough that it's by locals for locals.

AM: That's your motto.

JW: Yeah, it is our motto. The difference between us and everybody else is that we don't have any corporate consultants telling us what to do. We don't have some unethical fake job taking kickbacks and making fake stories at the publication like any unnamed alt weeklies. This is a really authentic grassroots thing and L.A. really hasn't seen anything like this in my entire lifetime and probably any of our lifetimes.

I don't think that this kind of stuff happens... I think the news media is so saturated with stories of layoffs and cutbacks and obviously our story is rooted in kind of one of these cataclysmic events. And I think really that is something. We're trying to make it a nonprofit... But I think that is going to be the future of news media that nonprofits will compete with for-profits and compete is probably the wrong word because you know, even in our introduction we shout out LAist and L.A. Taco and the L.A. Times and those are our peers at this point.

I always make the bad joke, but it's sort of Game of Thrones where it's the White Walkers, right? The White Walkers are here and they're like these corporate faceless raiders that are just cutting these publications to the bone.

AM: Well speaking of "corporate faceless raiders," because those people have a lot of money, wondering Jenn, when it comes to the nuts and bolts on how you launched this magazine, the funding, what did it take to get this magazine off the ground and where'd you get the money?

JS: I think Jeff likes to talk about how we just all had these delusions. We're delusional, maniacal people and it's true, we all kind of had this idea and just kind of ran with it. First of all, we got funding from Epic Magazine. They're out here in Frogtown and they're a magazine that funds specifically long-form journalism, the kind of journalism that we do. I think their funding model is that they then option these stories for screenplays to Hollywood.

We had a couple of meetings with them. They really believed in our vision. They knew what we were trying to do and they also were like, "yeah, the L.A. Weekly meant so much to us, we stand behind you." So they gave us our initial investment. That's basically our only funder. Everything else we've raised completely grassroots. We had --

AM: Like a party right? Twenty-dollars-a-head party?

JS: Seriously, we had a house party... And just kind of like everyone show up. We had some sponsors, Mulholland Distilling donated.

JW: Angel City Brewery gave us a bunch of beer... And as cynical as I can be, and I think all of us can because we're journalists, we're trained to be skeptical, I think that people did believe in this mission and people understood the import of it. And so we sold ads. We raised a bunch of money off pre-orders. I think they exceeded our wildest dreams. People were just -- from all over the world, really -- buying copies of this magazine.

In case you haven't picked up a print copy yet, we put @theLAndmagazine's introductory manifesto/mission statement online just so it's clear what we're about. https://t.co/D6bxUneM7F  Otto Von Biz Markie (@Passionweiss) February 15, 2019

AM: So now, Jenn, you mentioned Epic and the possibility of optioning certain things that appear in the magazine as film projects, is that something that's kind of in the back of all your minds right now?

JS: I don't know that that's something we're thinking about. I think our main goal at the end of the day is to shepherd these stories into print.

AM: But the possibility is there, right, no?

JW: I don't think so. I mean, I don't want to speak for Jenn or anybody else in the collective but... I wouldn't even want to make a dime if one of our writers got adapted.

JS: I mean our writers own all the rights to their stories and so they can pursue whatever direction they want... I mean honestly maybe we're foolish for not thinking about that. But I think like we want to put out a good print product that stands on its own. So Epic Magazine, that's their model, that's not necessarily our model. But I think in spirit we're telling long-form journalism that's narrative and compelling.

AM: Jenn, let's talk about some the stories that people can read right off the bat in the first issue. There is a profile of Melina Abdullah, one of the creators of the movement Black Lives Matter. How does telling her story to fit with your idea of the right kind of piece for The LAnd?

JS: Absolutely. Well first of all I can't say enough amazing things about this reporter, Jason McGann, who was a staffer at L.A. Weekly and he was actually on staff when there were these mass firings and he had been covering Black Lives Matter, police shootings, immigration. He been basically single-handedly covering like three or four huge beats in Los Angeles at the time that L.A. Weekly was bought. And so I think it was so important for us to get his voice in this because there was this void in what's happening with the LAPD which tends to be pretty secret, not super transparent.

I think the story was so important for him to tell because no one really knew -- I think unless you were super plugged into the activist scene in Los Angeles against police brutality -- you didn't necessarily know about this story. And so this is about Melina Abdullah, she's one of the leaders of Black Lives Matter L.A. and she was quietly charged with eight misdemeanors, basically for speaking out at city council meetings. And so no one really knew that all of these charges had multiplied against her, she had a couple of hearings.

As the city cracks down on free speech, @BLMLA leader @DocMellyMel faces eight criminal misdemeanor charges stemming from her activism. https://t.co/pbMYA98b6j  TheLAnd Magazine (@theLAndmagazine) January 21, 2019

Right after this story came out, about a week later, the city attorney announced that he was dropping all of these charges against her. So I think once people saw that she was being criminalized, basically for what the city was saying (was) disrupting city council meetings when she was really (just) speaking her voice at these meetings, I think there was an outcry and it was really powerful to see that people really rallied behind her.

AM: And Jeff, you wrote a piece yourself about this rapper from Inglewood named Rucci, not necessarily about his music or upbringing but, as you put it, "Inglewood was the red-bandana-ed stepchild to South Central and Compton". "Inglewood's rap movement never materialized." Everyone's always searching for these stories that maybe people don't want to tell or don't tell generally, so how do you compete, trying to find these kind of things?

JW I think if you really tapped into it they come to you naturally. I've been a journalist now in L.A. for about a dozen years, Jenn's been doing it for almost a decade too and I think that's really the thing is we particularly wanted to tap into journalists.

I got an email from somebody who was like, "Oh I'm moving to L.A., I'd like to contribute to publication." And I was like, with all due respect, I'm sure you're a very fine writer but don't pitch us until you've actually lived in L.A. for a little bit of time, because I think I want people that are really tapped in the community that have the stories coming to them, because I think that's when you really get the best stories. It's never from a publicist. Once in a blue moon a publicist will send you an email and it's a great story but they're also probably sending (it to) ten other people. This rapper, Rucci, in particular, I knew that because I've been covering rap for a long time.

AM: Jenn, we talk a lot on the show about the diversity of Los Angeles, a city with many different cultures and communities it's also geographically spread out like crazy all over different neighborhoods, capturing all that can be a challenge so I'm wondering how you plan to cover this diversity in this city?

JS: Beyond even our collective, which is fairly diverse, we have this huge community of writers, people that we've known from the L.A. Weekly, basically from having been journalists in Los Angeles for so many years, living all across the county.

Javier Cabral used to write for the L.A. Weekly. He worked with Jonathan Gold, he used to scout restaurants for him... He knows the city, he grew up in East L.A. He's got his start writing about punk rock shows in East L.A., which is a thing that I don't think people knew existed, and in South L.A. He found this mariscos truck that he wrote about, where the the guy who runs it, his family, he also is an corridos band. And so all of our writers are bringing these stories because they live across the county basically.

Another writer who I first met at the L.A. Weekly is Samanta Hernandez. She wrote this amazing piece about --it's a photo essay really -- about these bakeries that are being pushed out. These immigrant women who are in Virgil Village which is basically just being engulfed by Silver Lake. And so I think part of what we're trying to do with The LAnd is capturing these snapshots of L.A. that are sort of disappearing and so I think we're leaning heavily on our writers to represent Los Angeles.

AM: Jeff, I'm going to ask you this last question because you brought up earlier: for you how important it is to actually hold a magazine, flip the pages and read it that way, as opposed to kind of scrolling through on your laptop or maybe on your phone? How do you convince busy Angelenos to pick up your magazine, to read it, to spend some time with it when maybe it's more convenient for them to just kind of scroll through on an app?

JW: L.A. is a city where it is you know people will go out to lunch, people will go out to a movie, people want to pick up a magazine I think because L.A. is not an internet city -- it's not like New York in the same respect, people aren't on Twitter necessarily obsessing over it.

You know we cannot keep these in stock... I think that people are hungry for that. I think people are sick of the B.S. "I don't want clickbait anymore. I'm sick of this, I don't need another list I actually want to know what's in my city." And if you're a transplant, how are you going to know what L.A. is? I still have a print subscription to the L.A. Times, I will to the day I die.

Most people, most younger people, don't have print subscriptions to newspapers and that's why it had to be free. And I can't stress that enough, because we didn't want to make it something where it was elitist, where if you have twelve bucks you can read our stories. It had to be free because, again, it's for the people and we would love, I think all of us, if the women of Virgil Village would get a kick out of it, as would some multi-millionaire movie star living in the hills.

It's sort of in the mission statement: a woman working in a panaderia in El Sereno is just as important to us as the biggest movie star, and arguably more important, because they are part of the cultural fabric of L.A. and we're trying to keep that in mind and really that's a central part of our mission.
Evers plan, however, would align Wisconsin with a handful of other states where independent commissions draw the lines. The proposal is similar to those in previous Democratic bills to establish nonpartisan redistricting in the state. It comes after a Marquette Law School Poll released in January found 72 percent of Wisconsin voters support nonpartisan redistricting.

Evers proposal would give responsibility for drawing political boundaries to an existing state agency, the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau, at the direction of a new nonpartisan Redistricting Advisory Commission. The bill would appropriate an additional $10,000 over the two-year budget cycle to the LRB. The state Legislature would still vote on the redistricting bill the LRB produces but would be restricted in the changes it could make.

The commission would consist of five members. The leader of each party in either house would get an appointment, and then the four appointees would together select a fifth member who would serve as the chairperson.
Securing our borders is a top priority of our nation, and Im proud of Wisconsins National Guard for playing a valued role, Johnson said in a statement. Its unfortunate Governor Evers doesnt agree, and has decided to withdraw them from their important mission.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said in a statement that Evers decision is yet another example of how our governor is catering to his Dane County liberal base and refusing to do whats best for our state and in this case, the entire nation.

Vos said the operation is federally funded and doesnt save any state taxpayer dollars.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said in a Monday tweet that the governor is playing politics instead of working to keep Wisconsin safe.

A Republican congressman from Illinois who said he serves in the Wisconsin National Guard said that the border mission is honorable and asked Evers to reconsider the withdrawal.
La Crosse Police Chief Ron Tischer didnt want to give other police departments the opportunity to snatch a distinguished recruit, so he drove to Eau Claire and had the new officer sworn in.

Officer Sam Clason is a student at the Law Enforcement Academy at Chippewa Valley Technical College, in Eau Claires Emergency Services Education Center.

Clason will finish his training in May, a necessary step to become a licensed officer in Wisconsin.

Tischer said the hiring process started in September and Clason stood out.

Tischer said there were a couple of other departments interested in Clason, so La Crosse moved to hire him and swear him in before he finished the Academy.

Once Clason joins his colleagues at the La Crosse Police Department, he will enter the departments 12- to 14-week field training program, Tischer said.

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An Ontario flood relief benefit will be held at the Cashton Village Hall, 811 Main St., Sunday, March 3, from 3-7 p.m.

The afternoon/evening pre-Lent dance and County Western music event will include food, and music by Tugg, a Johnny Cash Tribute and the Pat Walters Band. In addition, there will be a raffle for $1,000 certificates from Dahl Ford.

U.S. Congressman Ron Kind will give a report on FEMA funds and Mark Smith, Ontario village president, will give a report on the community center.

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Award-winning Nashville recording artist Maggie Mae Hilliard will be performing with Heartland Country Band and Leroy Elvis Peterson at the Pittsville School District Auditorium in Pittsville Saturday, April 13 at 2 p.m.

The concert is a fundraiser for The Highground veterans memorial near Neillsville.

Maggie Mae is a regular performer on the RFD TV television station. She has performed in Branson, Missouri, and was awarded the 2018 Rio Valley Texas Female Vocalist of the Year. Maggie tours the country often in support of military veterans.

Heartland Country Band will accompany Maggie Mae with their performances on fiddles, guitars, steel guitars, piano, drums and vocals. Leroy Elvis Peterson will also be part of the show. He performs songs popularized by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and other artists.

The concert is reserved-seating only. Tickets are $25, and all ticket purchasers are automatically entered in a door prize drawing.

To order tickets, call The Highground at 715-743-4224.

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Working through my ignorance with your help.
- Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray has paid a courtesy call on Vice President Leni Robredo

- Robredo expressed her gratitude towards Gray and the honor she was able to give to the Philippines

- The Vice President also gave a yellow malong to the beauty queen

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Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray has paid a courtesy call on Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday at the Quezon City Reception House.

KAMI learned that the Vice President has expressed her gratitude for the honor the beauty queen has given to the Philippines, as reported by Philippine Star.

This is our opportunity to tell you how proud you made all of us, not just because you won the crown but with how you represented the best of Filipinos, the Vice President stated.

We want to thank you for giving us this honor... for giving us to be united again as one people, Robredo added.

According to a report by GMA News, the Vice President gave a yellow malong to Gray made by locals from Marawi City.

"Alam ko na during the pageant, you exhibited many of our textiles... what we'll be presenting to you this morning is one of the products of our communities from Marawi City. It's a malong with Maranao origins," Robredo stated.

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As previously reported by KAMI, Gray has made her official homecoming in the Philippines last February 21. She had two homecoming parades and was able to pass by the cities of Manila and Quezon.

Born on January 6, 1994, Catriona Elisa Magnayon Gray was crowned as the 67th Miss Universe. She is the fourth Filipina to bring home the crown after Gloria Diaz, Margie Moran, and Pia Wurtzbach.

POPULAR: Read more news about Catriona Gray!

Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news!

Let us take a look at the cutest expressions of love among the Pinoy celebrities who celebrated Saint Valentine's Day in the most beautiful way by telling the whole world how much they loved their second halves! Check out our other videos  on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel!

Source: Kami.com.ph
- Vatican treasurer Cardinal George Pell was found guilty by the court for sexually abusing two 13-year-old boys two decades ago

- The accuser claimed that Pell asked them to do sexual acts on him

- However, Pell insisted that he is innocent and the charges were products of fantasy

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The third most powerful official of Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal George Pell, was found guilty of the sexual abuse charges filed against him. KAMI learned that the Vatican treasurer was accused of molesting two 13-year-old choir boys in 1990s.

According to a report by CNN Philippines, a secret trial was held in Melbourne, Australia in December 2018. However, Chief Judge Peter Kidd has lifted the court order to ban the media from reporting the case.

The prosecution stemmed from the testimony of a man who claimed that the 77-year-old Catholic official abused him and another boy after a mass was held in St. Patricks Cathedral. However, the second victim died of drug abuse and the living victims identity cannot be revealed as per Australian law on sexual abuse victims.

The victim stated that Pell caught the two choirboys drinking wine in the priests sacristy. The accuser also said that Pell asked one of them to do oral sex on him and perform sexual acts on the other choirboy. After a month, Pell allegedly pushed the victim against the wall and groped his private part.

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However, the Vatican treasurer has insisted that he is innocent and described the charges as products of fantasy. His lawyer, Richter, has argued that the attack was impossible.

In a report by Reuters, Pope Francis has removed Pell as one of his close advisers. However, the Vatican has yet to comment regarding the issue.

The Vatican treasurer took an indefinite leave in 2016 to face the charges against him.

As previously reported by KAMI, Pope Francis has acknowledged the controversies that there were priests and bishops who sexually abused nuns. The pontiff said that he thinks that such crime still happens every now and then, but they want to do more to address the crisis.

Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news!

Let us take a look at the cutest expressions of love among the Pinoy celebrities who celebrated Saint Valentine's Day in the most beautiful way by telling the whole world how much they loved their second halves! Check out our other videos  on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel!

Source: Kami.com.ph
The Trump administrations announcement that it will bar organizations, such as Planned Parenthood which provides abortion referrals, from receiving federal family planning money is long overdue.

Planned Parenthood (a serious misnomer) is one of the most despicable, evil organizations ever to exist. Its founder, Margaret Sanger, advocated a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is already tainted, or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring.

Sanger and Hitler were quite a pair. Their evil offspring  Planned Parenthood (Sanger) and the Nazi Holocaust (Hitler). They wanted the same thing, to eliminate people they believed to be undesirable or inconvenient.

And now Democrats in New York, Virginia and other states have followed suit passing or proposing laws allowing babies to be killed even at and after birth. The US continues to be tyrannized and demoralized by Roe v. Wade and by Planned Parenthood and its paid-for politicians.
RACINE  A Racine woman is facing charges of child neglect after allegedly locking children in a room while she was at work as well as leaving an infant unattended.

Jenny L. Hernandez, 30, of the 1200 block of Blake Avenue, was charged Monday with four felony counts of child neglect.

According to the criminal complaint:

Just after 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Racine police officers were dispatched to a house in the 1200 block of Blake Avenue for a welfare call. A man called claiming there were children who had been left in the home unattended.

Officers knocked on the door and did not receive a response. Soon, the man who had called police arrived and identified himself as the father of the children and let the officers inside.

Once inside, officers saw an 8-month-old baby in a bassinet in the middle of the living room and noticed a bedroom door was closed.

Officers could hear children pounding on the door and yelling Let us out! The room was tied shut using a lanyard that was secured to a screw on the outside of the door frame.
Although several hundred acres of land in Area I have been conveyed to Foxconn, there are still about 300 acres on the western part of the area that the village still owns. That is where Wisconn Valley Way is planned to be built.

Area I of the Foxconn development extends east from the Interstate to Highway H and south from Braun Road to Highway KR. Area II extends east of I-94 to Highway H and south from Highway 11 to Braun Road.

Jurisdictional offer

Mount Pleasant officials have also approved a $750,000 jurisdictional offer to United Natural Foods, Inc., 3138 Highway H, Sturtevant.

Although the two parcels of UNFI land Mount Pleasant seeks amount to only a few acres, there are two signs and landscaping on those that need to be moved, which Mount Pleasant has to account for in its offer along with the appraised value of the parcels.

All of that has to be moved at their (UNFIs) cost, which is then included in this amount, Lois said.

Lois noted that the UNFI land is different than most parcels for which the village has previously negotiated.

This is not a home, this is not a residential lot, Lois said. This is a commercial lot with an operating business on that site.

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Wisconsin utilities reaped bigger benefits in 2018 thanks in part to a warmer than normal summer and colder winter.

The WEC Energy Group, the parent company of We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service Corp., said weather helped drive energy sales significantly above forecast.

WEC reported earnings of $1.06 billion, or $3.34 per share. The company will return $64.6 million to customers of its Wisconsin utilities through future rate cases.

Alliant Energy reported profits of $124.4 million on revenues of $3.5 billion in 2018, translating into earnings per share of $2.17.

The Madison-based company, which serves about 960,000 customers in Wisconsin and Iowa, said temperatures increased earnings by about $35 million over the previous year.

About $25.4 million of that will be set aside and applied to Alliants next rate case in 2021 under profit-sharing terms in the companys current rate case.

Much of the growth was attributed to warmer summer and cooler winter temperatures as measured in heating-degree and cooling-degree days, the difference between the average daily temperature and 65 degrees.
Decriminalization

The proposed reforms would decriminalize possession, manufacturing or distribution of marijuana for amounts of 25 grams or less, and would prevent local bodies from establishing separate ordinances or penalties for possession of less than 25 grams of marijuana.

An expungement procedure would also be established for those convicted of possessing, manufacturing or distributing less than 25 grams of marijuana.

Evers said the move would help address the social and racial justice aspect of marijuana use. Too many people, often persons of color, spend time in our criminal justice system just for possessing small amounts of marijuana, Evers said. That doesnt make our communities stronger or safer.

The Sheriffs Office reported that the county jail population on Tuesday was at 704 inmates. Of those inmates, less than 2 percent  13 in total  were in custody for simple possession charges.

Hanson points to a THC Alternative Solutions Class developed by the Racine County District Attorneys Office and the Racine County Human Services Department, which aims to divert first-, second- and occasional third-time marijuana offenders out of criminal court.

We are trying to help people, especially young people, make better choices for themselves, rather than having them pay a ticket and continue to use, Hanson said. The police arent just arresting kids to make them criminals because they smoke marijuana.

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RCPC had a participation cap until the 2013-14 school year, and Brenda White, president of Siena Catholic Schools of Racine, said the program was allowed to grow because legislators and parents recognize its value.

It saves taxpayer money and meets the demands of parents who want more educational opportunities for their children, White said.

Evers will propose freezing the number of students who can enroll in voucher schools statewide, while also suspending the creation of new independent charter schools until 2023. He also wants to eliminate a program intended for Milwaukee that requires county officials to turn consistently poor-performing schools into charter schools without district officials approval.

Jim Bender, president of School Choice Wisconsin, opposed Evers proposal to freeze enrollment for the voucher and charter programs.

It will not result in better academic outcomes for anyone, Bender said. It will, however, pour gas on the fire of opposition for those who view the education of our children through a singular, political lens.
If every state that was led by a Republican but is now led by a liberal Democrat (after last Novembers midterms) backed out, it certainly could make a long-term impact, Vos said.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., also questioned Evers order.

Securing our borders is a top priority of our nation, and Im proud of Wisconsins National Guard for playing a valued role. Its unfortunate Gov. Evers doesnt agree, and has decided to withdraw them from their important mission, Johnson said in a statement.

Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said in a Monday tweet that the governor is playing politics instead of working to keep Wisconsin safe.

Vos added that, although Evers decision was somewhat unexpected, it still was a disappointment.

This is doing nothing more than Evers saying Im a liberal Democrat  hes showing his true colors, Vos said. I could maybe understand this decision if this had some savings for the state  but the operation is federally funded.

U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Kankakee, Ill., who says he serves in the Wisconsin National Guard, said that the border mission is honorable and asked Evers to reconsider the withdrawal.
This years Equality Prom will be held April 6 at the Marriott Hotel, 7111 Washington Ave., Mount Pleasant. The prom committee and the LGBT Board are now in the planning stages for this prom.

Attendants must be ages 14 to 18. Students must have a current high school ID or if home schooled contact The LGBT Center of SE Wisconsin at 262-664-4100. No drugs or alcohol allowed. No preregistration is necessary.

Racine Montessori to hold open house

RACINE  Racine Montessori School, 2317 Howe St., has scheduled its annual Spring Open House for 1-3 p.m. Sunday, March 3.

Visitors are invited to tour the school with staff and members of the Board of Directors. Staff and board members will be available to answer questions and offer information about the school. Refreshments will be served.
Initially, I was drawn [to Prairie] because the school was founded by a woman with a vision; women with vision are unstoppable, Michaud said.

The schools creativity drew me in as well. Its in the mission. Its a fabric of Prairies being. I cant wait to anchor myself and my family in this environment. Im excited to observe and listen to Prairies stories while building a relationship with its people.

Michaud takes over for Everett McKinney, a Prairie veteran of 29 years, the last 11 of which have been spent leading the upper school. In November, McKinney announced plans to retire following the 2018-19 school year.

Arriving at Prairie in the fall of 1989, McKinneys first job on campus was teaching French. This was a position he continued throughout his time at Prairie, a tenure that included roles as middle and upper school dean before his appointment as head of upper school.

It goes without saying that Sophie has incredibly large shoes to fill, Coffman said. Everyone associated with The Prairie School knows what Everett McKinney has meant to our community. His impact is indelible, and I am extremely grateful for his wisdom, guidance, and support both during his tenure and throughout the search for our next Head.

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He was great, Williams said. He was a great person.

Arrested after chase

According to previous reports and the criminal complaint, Racine Police investigators learned from witnesses that the vehicle which carried the gunman in Martinezs death was a Toyota RAV4 SUV with Alabama license plates.

One eyewitness reportedly told a Racine Police investigator that they believed the SUV may be involved in drug activity that was unwanted in the neighborhood, according to the complaint.

Police later learned that a Toyota RAV4 with Alabama license plates was rented by Enterprise Rental Car in Mount Pleasant.

On Nov. 7, at least six police officers successfully conducted a surveillance operation to locate the vehicle. At 2:30 p.m. that day, the RAV4 was found near Smiths home as he was driving it. After following the suspect vehicle in an unmarked police vehicle for more than 5 miles into Sturtevant, police attempted to initiate a traffic stop on 86th Street, but the RAV4 did not pull over.

Smith, who was later identified as the only occupant of the vehicle, turned onto Buckingham Drive and sped up.
RACINE  A Racine man who reportedly threatened to shoot up a veterans facility at Southern Wisconsin Center, and who faces three counts of sexual assault of a child, was also charged Monday with felony bail jumping.

Thomas J. Baggesen, 57, of the 5300 block of Marboro Drive, has been facing three counts of first-degree child sexual assault, intercourse with a child under age 12. Those charges were filed last June 12.

On July 5, Baggesen was released under conditions of bond that he not commit any new crimes and to remain under house arrest. His bond was later modified to allow him time out of the house for doctor appointments, grocery shopping and to get prescriptions from a certain CVS Pharmacy.

According to the criminal complaint filed Monday in Racine County Circuit Court:

On Wednesday, Baggesen went to the Veterans Affairs clinic at Shemanske Hall at Southern Wisconsin Center, 21425 Spring St., Dover. While there, he reportedly told a nurse that every day he wakes up and wants to kill someone and that it would most likely be a police officer.

Based on those statements, Baggesen was transferred to the Clement J. Zablock VA Medical Center in Milwaukee.
Two-hundred and three single-family lots are proposed on 133.7 acres, with an average square footage of about 17,000, or 0.39 acres. Mills said homes built on the lots would range from 1,750-square-foot ranches to two-story 3,200-square-foot houses. The prices are expected to start at $375,000 and top out at $575,000.

The apartments and a still-undetermined number of houses would comprise the first phase of the development, Mills said. That phase is expected to last about two years.

This isnt a situation where you blink and everything just happens, Mills said.

For the project, Bear, a Kenosha-based development firm, is partnering with Mount Pleasant-based Newport Development Corp., which owns the land.

Because there are so many single-family lots, Mills said, there would most likely be more developers building houses than just Bear and Newport, which both build about 60 houses per year.

We want to be very select on that, Mills said. We want to make sure we have a good handle on whos in the neighborhood and how were moving through the product.

School concerns
We finally have a real stake in electing a mayor for Lincoln who will look out for the best interests of all Lincoln's taxpayers: Cyndi Lamm.

While democratic socialist New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez touts her "Green New Deal" for decimating the nation's economy, Lincoln mayoral candidate Leirion Gaylor Baird is a member of the New Deal Leaders organization that has leftists such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom as an honorary vice chair and touts progressive pro-growth ideas like those of Ocasio-Cortez.

Though the website is rather vague on the details, it appears those ideas are causing growth in Nevada, Arizona and Texas as taxpayers flee California's ever-more-restrictive environment.

Councilwoman Cyndi Lamm is the real deal, who will work in the interest of Lincolnites, not some New Deal socialist, globalist agenda that undermines our local values and constitutional liberties.

David Tyler, Lincoln

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We begin today with another dose of breaking news that unfortunately will probably still be big news to you  even though it happened days ago.

And it's going to make you mad as hell  because it's deadly serious. Yet it went mostly uncovered (because, as we've complained before, it's not about Donald Trump, Stormy, Vladimir or any politician's sexual extracurriculars).

It's about two related revelations of how and why our run-amok system of pharmaceutical and medical special interests has been allowed for years to addict, entrap, destroy and even kill members of our families, our loved ones, our friends, neighbors and workplace colleagues.

Yet no news organization played this news in a big-time place where you would see it. Until today.

A new academic study of five years of Food and Drug Administration data on patients has revealed that FDA regulators, pharmaceutical companies and doctors routinely disregarded their own carefully designed rules and warning data and gave the highly addictive painkiller fentanyl to patients whose chemical intolerance made them prone to becoming addicted to the powerful opioid.
The Lincoln City Council put on hold a resolution calling for the city and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to negotiate reimbursement for the fire and medical calls the city makes to the UNL campus.

Councilman Roy Christensen asked that the resolution recommending the negotiations be put on indefinite pending status, with no specific review date.

Christensen, who sought the negotiations in the first place, said he had some informal talks with UNL staff last week.

The resolution will remain pending as long as there is progress in those informal talks, Christensen said at Mondays Council meeting.

Other Big Ten Conference schools pay an average $450,000 a year in reimbursement for city fire and medical services. UNL, which pays no property tax and limited sales tax, pays nothing to Lincoln for those services.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSNancyHicks.

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Senators voted 53-44 for Sasse's bill  seven votes short of the 60 needed to end Democratic delaying tactics aimed at derailing the measure.

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Only 1 percent of all abortions occur after 21 weeks of pregnancy, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights. Abortions during the final weeks are rarer still.

Doctors and abortion-rights groups say it is extremely unusual for live infants to be born during attempted late-term abortions, which they say usually occur when the baby is extremely deformed or deemed unable to survive after birth. In such cases, families sometimes decide they want to induce labor so they can spend time with the infant before it dies.

"It only happens in instances in which we know that the baby will not ultimately survive, and a choice has been pre-made to provide just comfort care" to the baby so the parents can be with it, said Dr. Colleen McNicholas, a fellow with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

If an infant is born alive during an abortion, Sasse's bill would require doctors to render "the same degree" of care used for any birth. The baby would have to be immediately sent to a hospital.
The former owner of the Watering Hole bar and grill locations in Lincoln was sentenced to five years' probation and 90 days in jail for assaulting another man in a downtown bar in 2017.

Lincoln police alleged Bryan McFarland, 51, started a fight with a man at Bodega's Alley on Nov. 5, 2017, punching him from behind and leaving him with a gash on the back of his head.

In December, McFarland pleaded no contest to the charge of second-degree assault.

Lancaster County District Judge Susan Strong sentenced McFarland on Monday.

She deferred his jail sentence until Friday, when McFarland must report to serve his jail term.

Mo Chara LLC, which owns the three Watering Hole locations and Cliff's Lounge on South 56th Street, reconfigured its ownership last year to avoid legal issues stemming in part from the assault case against McFarland.

He has been barred by the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission from entering those establishments.

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The city does not rely on sand applications on arterial streets because it is only effective for a few passes of vehicles before the sand is embedded in the layer of ice, Byrne said.

Lincoln Police Capt. Ryan Dale advised motorists who can't start up after making a stop to accelerate slowly. If you accelerate quickly and spin your tires, you're just polishing the ice, he said.

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If there's a hill on your way to work or school, think about an alternate route, he added.

By 5 p.m. Monday, police had reported 41 accidents in Lincoln, including five involving injuries. None were serious.

And while no fatalities were reported from multi-vehicle incidents on Interstate 80 as the storm blew in Saturday, a crash Monday morning between Waverly and Greenwood left one person dead.

Nebraska State Patrol troopers responded to well more than 350 weather-related incidents during and after the blizzard, including 30 crashes, officials said Monday.

From volunteer firefighters rushing to the scene of large crashes to neighbors helping to plow a driveway so a trooper could get through a snow drift and get out onto the road, we saw the best of Nebraska on display this weekend, said Col. John Bolduc, superintendent of the State Patrol, in a news release.
Surrounded by houses on Holdrege Street, Grandpas was a one-man show.

A hat tip to an older gentleman in the neighborhood, Rupert says. A man in his 80s, who was always giving the guy in his 20s a hard time: One of these days youre going to amount to something ...

And he has.

I want people to know who I am, he told the Journal Star in 1992. Im looking at what can I do for my kids.

His four kids are grown now and hes a grandfather of six with two replaced knees.

He was always at work from morning to night my entire life, says oldest daughter, Lakisha Overstreet. My sister and I went to work with him just to hang out with him.

The daughter managed her fathers gas station for eight years. Shes never known him to miss a day of work.

Hes the hardest-working person I know. Hes really focused and determined and wont let anyone tell him no.
Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson issued more than 400 subpoenas to Catholic churches and institutions across the state Tuesday to compel officials to turn over information on child sexual assault and abuse within the church.

The legal summonses seek all records or information related to any assault or abuse that has occurred by those employed or associated with each church or institution, whether previously reported or not, according to a news release.

Thus far, the state's three dioceses have cooperated with Peterson's investigation, which sought 40 years of internal investigative records.

A spokesman for the diocese of Lincoln said officials are reviewing the subpoena received Tuesday. He reiterated the diocese has voluntarily cooperated with the investigation and "pledged its ongoing support to stop criminal behavior by predators," the Rev. Nicholas Kipper said in a written statement Tuesday night.

Kipper did not respond to an email with questions regarding any documents withheld from state investigators or ongoing internal reviews of abuse allegations.
Chambers referenced journal entries from Winston Churchill regarding segregation in the U.S. armed forces during WWII, and from Frederick Douglass' "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July" during his brief remarks before cloture was invoked.

Fellow Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt also once again voiced her opposition to the bill, saying she disagreed with legislating patriotism for Nebraska's youth.

"Students have a right to curriculum that is designed on academic grounds and historical grounds by educators rather than a curriculum designed in statute to manipulate their beliefs," Hunt said. "Compulsory patriotism is just un-American."

Slama's motion to end debate gained 42 votes  Chambers, Hunt and Omaha Sen. Justin Wayne voted against  more than the 33 needed.

Once debate ended, the Legislature rolled several amendments into LB399, including one from the Education Committee broadening the requirements Nebraska students must complete before graduating from high school.

The changes include either requiring students to take the naturalization exam given by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, to attend a public meeting and write a report about it, or to complete a research paper or project about a person or event from American history.

Slama will likely need to defeat two more filibusters to send her bill to Gov. Pete Ricketts' desk to be signed.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or cdunker@journalstar.com. On Twitter @ChrisDunkerLJS.

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BISMARCK, N.D.  Some ranchers are concerned a sustained cold snap in South Dakota will affect calving season, as the bitter temperatures have already resulted in excess feed and bedding costs.

Daryl Ritchison, interim director of the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network, said parts of the state have experienced temperatures below freezing for more than 40 days, which is worse than usual for this time of year.

Agriculture experts said that pregnant cows eat about twice as much during the cold to prevent weight loss, the Bismarck Tribune reported.

Beth Budoloski, a North Dakota State Extension agent for agriculture and natural resources, said ranchers are providing windbreaks and extra bedding to prevent their cattle from getting stressed out by the cold. She said cattle also must have access to water that isn't frozen.

"If the waters are frozen, they either won't eat feed as much or they won't eat at all," she said.

Fred Berger, who owns two ranches in the Mandan area and operates a livestock brokerage business, said the cold weather is costing him thousands of dollars more each month.
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4. Comments must not try to sneak in some free advertising for themselves (like spam).

I invite anyone who wishes to comment on this blog to do so. I enjoy the comments, whether you agree with what I have said or not. But some people want to abuse the right to comment, and since this is my blog, I have decided to lay down the following rules. If your comment violates these rules, it will not be published.
100 years ago, Feb. 26, 1919

MATTOON -- Mattoon went on record today as being unfavorable to the proposed repeal of the daylight savings law when Mayor Swan telegraphed to Senators Lewis and Sherman and to Congressman McKinley recommending that they vote to retain the law. The matter was placed before the Mattoon Merchants Association this morning. While members of the association did not join in sending a telegram, members of the organization say they are in favor of retaining the law full force. A bill to repeal the daylight saving law, enacted during the great war, has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives now that the war is over... MATTOON -- L.C. Lord, passenger traffic agent for the Illinois Central Railroad's Springfield Division, made a few days ago at Decatur, where he and the superintendent of the Indiana Division at Mattoon, met with a committee of the Association of Commerce on matters pertaining to Decatur's request to add new passenger trains for service out of that city, a statement to the effect that automobiles are a really serious trouble on the passenger traffic of all railroads. As confirmation of this theory he stated that he counted a few days ago, when the roads were impassable for automobiles, a total of 62 persons leave one of the local trains upon its arrival at Springfield, the usual number for the train being about 12 passengers. This effect on railroad traffic is expected to be an increasingly large factor in the question of railroad revenues in the future... CHARLESTON -- Postmaster Johnson has a yard full of dogs, large and small, all colors and kids. The dogs play on the lawns around the Charleston post office all day, and seem to be one of the chief delights of the Charleston postmaster. Perhaps he might be induced to sell some of the choicest canines.

50 years ago, 1969

MATTOON -- The name of Charles L. Wright will appear on Mattoons general election ballot in April after the 28-year-old write-in candidate netted more than four times the number of votes required for nomination. A total of 4,528 voters went to the polls yesterday to consider 11 candidates for commissioner. Incumbent Mayor Morgan Phipps was the lone candidate for mayor on the primary ballot. Phipps received 2,348 votes while Wright pulled 1,018 votes. Only 235 votes, 10 percent of Phipps total vote, were required to place Wrights name on the general election ballot. The eight men out of 11 candidates who will be on the ballot for city commissioner are incumbent commissioner Eli Storm, Ernest W. Lorenz, James L. Leming, Dr. Roger Dettro, George Brownie Wedel, Charles M. West, J.R. Bob Watson and Richard L. Kiger CHARLESTON -- Jack L. Ensign, a sitting Charleston commissioner, was defeated in his bid for mayor as he finished third in the three-man primary election contest yesterday. Max Cougill, owner of Bel-Aire Lanes, polled 1,743 votes to win the contest. John Keiser, an Eastern Illinois University faculty member, was second in the race for the seat to be vacated by retiring Mayor Walt Reasor with 949. Ensign had 888 votes. Wayne Lanman, incumbent commissioner, led 16 commissioner candidates with 2,042 votes. Other candidates on the general election ballot will be Leonard Durham, incumbent, 580; Claude Bud Adkins, 1,803; Jene Thomas, 1,337; Richard Dick Alexander, 1,223; Thomas H. Shoot, 1,034; Wayne Seeley, 1,021; and John Winnett, 967.

25 years ago, 1994

MATTOON -- Blizzard-like conditions caused a multitude of accidents yesterday and prompted the Illinois State Police to close two highways northn of Tuscola. Interstate 57 was closed from Tuscola north to Rantoul. U.S. Route 45 also was closed from Tuscola to just south of Champaign. Three inches of snow and winds gusting to more than 50 mph led to slick pavements and low visibility. A spokesman for the state police district office in Pesotum said troopers handled about 75 accidents and have more to get to. Schools in Charleston and Mattoon were dismissed about two hours early SPRINGFIELD -- Two U.S. Senate candidates will face off in more than 21 hours of nationally televised debates this summer, but the showdown wont affect the election. It was decided 136 years ago. The cable network, C-SPAN, announced yesterday it will televise re-enactments of the seven historic debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. The debates will be held in the original seven cities on a date corresponding to the 1858 event. Cities include Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston (Sept. 18), Galesburg, Quincy and Alton CHARLESTON -- While Bonnie Blair enjoys the glory of her fifth Olympic gold medal, Americans are requesting red, white and blue Bonnie T-shirts in record numbers. Consolidated Telemarketing of America is handling telephone orders for the shirts being produced by a Champaign business. Paul Crutcher, client service administrator for Consolidated Telemarketing, said the Consolidated Communications subsidiary had taken 207 orders for the T-shirts following Blairs gold medal win in the 1,000 meters speedskating event three days ago. In all, callers have ordered 408 T-shirts and sweatshirts through CTA.

100 years ago, Feb. 27, 1919

CHARLESTON -- The tax paying business of Coles County has opened with a rush that was totally unexpected by County Clerk Childress and his deputies, and it has become necessary to add more assistants to the office in order to take care of these duties. On Tuesday, Mr. Childress and Will O. Glassco made the trip to Oakland to care for the tax collections, and these men with the help of assistants put in one strenuous day. Yesterday Mrs. Ferne Myler and Robert Briggs were added to the clerical force of the Charleston office... MATTOON -- A number of the Mattoon employees of the Big Four Railroad are on the off duty list. Forrest Kilman, one of the air brake repairmen, is off duty on account of personal business. J.M. Frazier, a car repair man, is also among the absent for personal business. Louis Driscoll, material carrier on the car department force, is off duty because of illness. L.R. Hopper, a car department laborer, is off duty. Machinist Calhoun is numbered with the absent, Mrs. Calhoun being on the sick list. James Martin, cellar packer of the first trick, still is on the off duty list. He is sick and unable to leave his home... MATTOON -- The Big Four Railroad Company, in line with its policy of reducing expenses, in addition to stopping Sunday movements of dead freight and reducing its switch yard crews, is closing most of its telegraph offices. Telegraph offices have often been closed without inconvenience, according to Superintendent White. Sundays, under the reduction of expenses plan, are unusually quiet. In the switch yards there is virtually nothing to do. There would be no yard crew in service on Sunday afternoons, it is said, if it was not necessary to cut off a dining car from train No. 20, which arrives here at 8:30 p.m. Train dispatchers are having the easiest times of their lives, and half of them would probably be cut out of service on Sundays if they were not employed by the month. passenger trains are the only ones they have to handle on Sundays.

50 years ago, 1969

GREENUP -- A benefit fish fry for a 21-year-old Cumberland County Vietnam veteran who has been in a coma for more than five weeks will be held Friday at the Cumberland County Sportsmans Club. All proceeds of the benefit will be used to defray the hospital expenses of Rick Glidewell, who was injured in a one-car accident on Illinois Route 16 east of Mattoon in mid-January. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Glidewell of rural Greenup, Glidewell had been home only a few months after a tour of duty in Vietnam where he was wounded in action. He is a patient at the Veterans Administration Hospital in St. Louis MATTOON -- At least three servicemen from Mattoon have in the past been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the nations second-highest honor. Sgt. Ralph A. Capen, the son of Mr. and Mrs. B.F. Capen, was awarded the honor by Gen. John J. Pershing for extraordinary heroism in France during World War I; Herman Bartels Sr., now a patient in the Veterans Administration Hospital in Indiuanapolis, was awarded the DSC during World War I; and Charles E. Kerans was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross during World War II, along with the Bronze Star.

25 years ago, 1994

Sunday. No paper.

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SPRINGFIELD  It is unlikely that Illinois will become the third state to change how it allocates its electoral votes for president, but that isnt stopping some state lawmakers from trying.

House Bill 3109, recently introduced by Springfield Republican Rep. Tim Butler, would change the states winner-take-all electoral system to one that is more representative of downstate Illinois, he said.

A single state now has a multitude of differing regional interests within it.  It makes sense that we update how we award our electoral votes for president, Butler said in a news release last week. He couldnt be reached for further comment Monday.

As with all states, Illinois has one electoral college vote for each of its congressional representatives (18) and senators (2), for a total of 20. In presidential elections, the candidate who wins the statewide popular vote gets all 20 electoral college votes.

Butlers bill would change this so that electoral votes are awarded based on which candidate wins in each congressional district, with two of those electoral votes  those for the senators  based on the statewide popular vote.

The rural areas could potentially be represented in a much more fair fashion under the model in this bill, said Republican Rep. Darren Bailey from Louisville, the chief co-sponsor of Butlers bill.

Butlers proposal would have changed Illinois allocation in the 2016 presidential election, when Hillary Clinton won all of the states 20 electoral votes. If Butlers plan were in place, Clinton would have won 13 electoral votes, and Donald Trump seven.

As election-tracking website 270 to Win notes, most state electoral college reforms are proposed when the party of the losing presidential candidate differs from the party controlling the state Legislature, as is the case in Illinois.

Whether proposed reforms would help the minority party candidate in a particular state is unclear, however.

After Mitt Romney lost the 2012 president election, and Pennsylvanias 20 electoral votes, a Republican state senator proposed a shift similar to what Butler has put forth in Illinois.

But in 2016, Trump, the Republican candidate, would have received nine fewer electoral votes from Pennsylvania under a split allotment than he actually won.

Currently, only Maine and Nebraska have adopted the congressional district method of allocating electoral votes.

With Democrats in firm control of the Legislature and the governors office, however, it is unlikely that Illinois will become the third state to join them, Bailey said.

Right now under this current environment, I think its very unlikely that this will go through, Bailey said. But, as with all things, you plant a seed, and you get people talking and thinking for when theyre ready to hear it again.

Illinois has given all its electoral votes to a Democratic presidential candidate since 1988. That streak certainly would end under Butlers bill, which awaits further assignment out of committee.

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DANVILLE, Ind. -- Police in central Indiana say a man has confessed to killing a woman in Illinois when he lived there more than four years ago.

Danville police say 24-year-old Connor Warren Scott of Danville walked into the police station Sunday night and confessed to killing 20-year-old Kaylyn Whitaker of Terre Haute at Scott's home in Martinsville, Illinois, on Oct. 31, 2014. Martinsville is located about 30 miles southwest of Terre Haute.

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Ed Parkinson, with the Illinios State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor Office, told the JG-TC that Scott is scheduled Tuesday afternoon to have his first appearance hearing in Clark County Circuit Court in Marshall on charges of first degree murder.

Her shooting death was originally considered a suicide, but it was ruled a homicide about 10 months later.

Scott was initially held in the Hendricks County Jail in Danville, Ind. and was then extradited on Monday to Illinois, where he is now reported to be in the custody of the Clark County jail in Marshall.

Police say Scott had been living in Danville for about six months after moving there from Noblesville, Indiana.

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Trucking regulations can be complicated, and farm exemptions compound that complexity. Seems everyone has a different answer to your question.

Come join us at 10 a.m. Thursday, March 27, at the Arcola Community Center, 107 W. Main St., to find out what you need to know.

Were hosting a two-hour seminar that focuses on trucking laws  old and new  specifically for farmers. Well use a new format this year to remind you of rules that apply and help you identify means of relief. And a new segment will use your real-life examples to illustrate how regulations affect farmers.

Throughout it all, you'll have the chance to ask those farm trucking questions that everyone seems to have an opinion about, but no one can agree on an answer.

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Trucking laws have been reshaped in recent years with more changes yet to come. Rules recently affected include: farmer exemptions, harvest season permit, electronic logging devices (ELDs), waivers for insulin-related diabetic drivers, a new class C license plate, covered farm vehicle options for small trucks, and the UCR payment schedule and fees for 2019.

Presenting the seminar will be Kevin Rund and Kirby Wagner who specialize in farm transportation issues for the Illinois Farm Bureau. And youll receive take-home materials covering these topics.

The seminar is free courtesy of your county and state Farm Bureaus, but advance registration is requested. Please call the Coles County Farm Bureau: 217-345-3276, Douglas County Farm Bureau at 217-253-4442 or the Moultrie County Farm Bureau at 217-728-4214 to reserve your place at the On-the-Road Seminar.

Come join us and get your farm trucking questions answered.

Scholarship Reminder: The CCFB Foundation has scholarships available. The deadline is March 18th. For more information, please contact the office at 345-3276.

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Lawyers for an Illinois man sentenced to 130 years for a murder when he was 16 years old are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify how life sentences for juveniles should be reevaluated. That's in light of recent decisions by the high court against that practice.
Introduction



In just 50 years, almost a million Jews, whose communities stretch back up to 3,000 years, have been 'ethnically cleansed' from 10 Arab countries. These refugees outnumber the Palestinian refugees two to one, but their narrative has all but been ignored. Unlike Palestinian refugees, they fled not war, but systematic persecution. Seen in this light, Israel, where some 50 percent of the Jewish population descend from these refugees and are now full citizens, is the legitimate expression of the self-determination of an oppressed indigenous, Middle Eastern people.

This website is dedicated to preserving the memory of the near-extinct Jewish communities, which can never return to what and where they once were - even if they wanted to. It will attempt to pass on the stories of the Jewish refugees and their current struggle for recognition and restitution. Awareness of the injustice done to these Jews can only advance the cause of peace and reconciliation.

(Iran: once an ally of Israel, the Islamic Republic of Iran is now an implacable enemy and numbers of Iranian Jews have fallen drastically from 80,000 to 20,000 since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Their plight - and that of all other communities threatened by Islamism - does therefore fall within the scope of this blog.)
Last week, the New York Times reported that Irans cyber attacks against the US, specifically banks, businesses and government agencies, have increased in volume, sophistication, and intensity.

One of the major reasons cited was the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), more commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, which led to renewed sanctions against Iran. Since the withdrawal, Donald Trump has been using diplomatic pressure to force other nations to abide by the sanctions, which has left the Iranian Regime with substantially less money than before.

In fact, Irans oil exports gradually decreased in 2018, until they hit a low of 1.1 million barrels per day in December. Thats roughly 60% of what Iran was selling a year earlier. In response, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani threatened to escalate Irans actions against the US.

And its not just the New York Times. Cyber security firm FireEye has warned the US about Irans cyber-attacks on multiple occasions over the past year, using several methods to determine the origin of the cyber-attacks, and advising that the evidence repeatedly pointed toward Iran.

Their report read: Preliminary technical evidence allows us to assess with moderate confidence that this activity is conducted by persons based in Iran and that the activity aligns with Iranian government interests. FireEye Intelligence identified access from Iranian IPs to machines used to intercept, record and forward network traffic.

While geolocation of an IP address is a weak indicator, these IP addresses were previously observed during the response to an intrusion attributed to Iranian cyber espionage actors.

Iranian hackers target many sectors in the US from government agencies to businesses to private and public institutions. During the past year, theyve used cyber attacks to bring the city of Atlanta to its knees by targeting its hospitals, schools, state agencies and other institutions. While financial institutions like Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup have also been impacted.

The level of sophistication and the type of targets points to the Iranian Regime rather than individual hackers, who would prefer to hold companies to ransom.

Political scientist Dr Majid Rafizadeh wrote: The resurgence of Irans cyber attacks is alarming. These attacks against foreign governments, businesses, hospitals and schools are more intense than was previously thought. The international community must take the issue seriously and hold the Iranian regime accountable.




US: Hindu temple vandalized in Kentucky, deity sprayed black paint

31 Jan 2019: US: Hindu temple vandalized in Kentucky, deity sprayed black paint

In a hate crime, a Hindu temple has been vandalized in the US state of Kentucky by miscreants who sprayed black paint on the deity and left a knife stabbed into a chair in the main hall.

The incident happened between Sunday night and Tuesday morning at the Swaminarayan Temple in Louisville city, and has sent shock waves through the Indian-American community residing there.

Fact: Details: Inappropriate messages on wall, knife stabbed in chair

According to local media report, vandalism resulted in deity image sprayed with black paint, broken windows, walls spray-painted with inappropriate messages and graffiti. A knife was stabbed in the chair, and cabinets were emptied. Authorities are investigating the incident as a hate crime.

Quote: 'Anytime we see hatred or bigotry we'll stand against it'

Condemning the incident of vandalism, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer called upon the city residents to stand up against this hatred.

"Anytime we see hatred or bigotry we will stand against it. The cowards who did this have only given our community more fuel and determination to embrace compassion, understanding, and each other," Fischer said as he visited the vandalized temple yesterday.

Fact: Vandals wrote 'repugnant messages of hate,' said Louisville Mayor

"Sometime between the end of services at the Swaminarayan Temple on Bardstown Road on Sunday and the time a repairman arrived on Tuesday morning, vandals broke into a window and vandalized spots throughout the building," Fischer said, adding the vandals wrote "repugnant messages of hate."

Comment: 'Regardless of what religion you are, this should not happen'

The vandalism of this temple, Fischer said is another example of the work "we still have to do as a city and a nation to make sure we live to our ideals of equality, of a country where everyone is treated with the respect we all deserve."

Story continues

"Regardless of what religion you are, this should not happen," Raj Patel from the Swaminarayan temple said.

Action: Police to provide additional security to the temple

"We come here to worship. We shouldn't have to turn our backs to see who is behind us, but we should be happy to come here and worship in peace," Patel added.

Describing the desecration as "heartbreaking", Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Steve Conrad said that the police will provide additional security to the temple, and "will do our best to find," the miscreants.

Reactions: Louisville police department assures action, Kentucky State Representative condemns act

"I assure everyone that attends this temple that we will do our best to find and hold accountable the person or persons who committed this vandalism and this hate crime," Conrad said.

Kentucky State Representative Nima Kulkarni, the first Indian-American elected to the Kentucky General Assembly, said the vandalism was an "act of intimidation designed to weaken our faith and community".

Fact: In 2015, temples in Texas, Kent and Seattle were vandalized

This isn't the first time such incident has taken place in US. In April'15, a Hindu temple in north Texas has been vandalized with nasty images spray-painted on its walls. In February'15, Hindu temples in Kent and the Seattle Metropolitan area were also vandalized.
A Pakistani unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was on Tuesday, 26 February, shot down near the International Border in Kutch district of Gujarat, police sources said.

Debris of the UAV was seen near Nundhatad village in Abdasa taluka of Kutch, they said. On hearing a loud noise around 6 am, villagers went to the spot and found the debris of the UAV, the sources said.



"Incident occurred at 6:30 am. Air force personnel from Mothara Air Force Station are at the spot. Even we dont have additional information about the matter as air force has taken over the location and kept the whole matter confidential. At this point we cant comment about the origins of the drone." - VR Ulwa, Kothra Police Station PSI



Also Read: IAF Air Strikes: Pakistani Eyewitnesses Recount Scary Night

Kutch is the largest district in Gujarat, with a significant portion of land covered by salt flats, which is split by the International Border carved between India and Pakistan. However, Nundhatad is far from the international border and is located between the Bhuj-Naliya Route.

Debris of the destroyed Unmanned Ariel Vehicle

Asked if a Pakistani UAV had been shot down by the Indian armed forces, a police official, on condition of anonymity, said, "Such an incident has happened, we are investigating the matter." The official, however, refused to elaborate further.

According to ANI, the drone was brought down by the Indian Army using the Israeli Spyder Air Defence Missile System, which fired a Derby Missile. Sources told ANI that this is the first time that the Spyder has been deployed to bring down any enemy aircraft.

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In a pre-dawn strike on Tuesday, combat jets of the Indian Air Force bombed a JeM terror camp across the Line of Control, 12 days after Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack in Kashmir, the foreign secretary said.

Also Read: Pakistani Journalists Question Govt After IAFs Strikes Across LoC

Story continues

According to reports, IAF's Mirage 2000 fighter jets pounded the terror camp in Balakot in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the operation.

Also Read: India Struck the Biggest JeM Terror Camp in Balakot: Foreign Secy

Hours later, Prime Minister Modi chaired a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security, which was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Sitharaman.

Government sources said significant damage has been inflicted on the terrorists.

(With inputs from PTI)



. Read more on India by The Quint.RSS & BJPs Nehru-Netaji Cosplay: Irony Dies a Thousand DeathsAll Parties Supported Us, Praised IAF: Swaraj After All-Party Meet . Read more on India by The Quint.
New Delhi/Islamabad: Pakistan claimed on Tuesday that Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter jets crossed the Line of Control (LoC) and returned after the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) scrambled warplanes.



Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Asif Ghafoor tweeted early Tuesday and Radio Pakistan claimed that the IAF planes dropped payload in haste before leaving, which fell near Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.



The alleged incident took place in the Muzaffarabad sector, claimed Radio Pakistan.



It follows a suicide bombing attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Pulwama on February 14 that killed 40 troopers.



The attack was claimed by Pakistan-based militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and prompted a spike in tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.



The Indian government is yet to respond to the development but multiple reports have claimed that the IAF carried out the strike at a terror camp well beyond the LoC.



Flight tracking websites spotted heightened activities along the border with an IAF early warning plane Emb 145 and mid-air refueller circling in the area early in the morning.



Reports claimed that the IAF strike was carried out by a group of Mirage 2000 fighters at around 3.30 a.m.



The strike in Balakot is significant as the location is beyond Pakistan Administered Kashmir, indicating it was not merely an LoC violation but a punitive action inside Pakistani territory.




Australia, China and the European Union urged India and Pakistan exercise restraint, after Indian fighter jets struck Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)'s biggest terror camp in a pre-dawn strike on Tuesday, 26 February.

The Ministry of External Affairs released an official statement on Tuesday, saying the strike had taken out a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) training camp in Balakot.

Tensions between the two countries escalated after the 14 February suicide attack, claimed by JeM, that killed 40 CRPF jawans in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

In a statement, Australia asked Pakistan to take "urgent and meaningful" action against terrorist groups, including JeM, and said it can no longer allow extremist groups the legal and physical space to operate from its territory, reported PTI.

Australia also urged India and Pakistan to exercise restraint and engage in dialogue to ensure issues are resolved peacefully.

Also Read: Father of Martyred Army Major Salutes IAF For Pakistan Air Strikes

Catch all the live updates of the air strikes here.

The Australian government said that Pakistan must do everything possible to implement its own proscription of JeM.

"It (Pakistan) can no longer allow extremist groups the legal and physical space to operate from its territory," Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said.

Also Read: MEA Air Strikes Briefing Ticks All Boxes Under International Law

India-Pak Relations Important for Regional Peace

China also urged India and Pakistan to exercise restraint, hours after news first broke of India carrying out an air strike in Balakot in Pakistan, AFP reported.

"Pakistan and India are two important countries in South Asia. Maintaining good relations and communication between the two sides is conducive to regional peace and stability. And it is fundamentally in line with the interests of both India and Pakistan. China hopes the two sides could exercise restraint, and take measures to stabilize the regional situation and improve bilateral ties, instead of doing the opposite." - Lu Kang, Spokesman, Chinese Foreign Ministry

Story continues

European Union Spokesperson Maja Kocijancic, too, said that they were following the developments between both the countries and called for maximum restraint, reported ANI.

Were following very closely the current developments between India & Pakistan. We remain in contact with both countries and what we believe is essential is that all exercise maximum restraint and avoid further escalation of tensions, Kocijancic said.

Islamabad-Delhi Should Resume Dialogue

France too called on India and Pakistan to exercise restraint to avert any risk of military escalation and preserve strategic stability in region.

Resumption of dialogue between Islamabad-New Delhi necessary to initiate peaceful settlement of differences, said Frances statement.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control (LoC), 12 days after the Pakistan-based terror group JeM carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

. Read more on World by The Quint.RSS & BJPs Nehru-Netaji Cosplay: Irony Dies a Thousand DeathsPakistan Must Look Within Instead of Mounting Tensions With India . Read more on World by The Quint.
Pakistan Air Force F-16 jet, that violated the Indian airspace on Wednesday, 27 February, has been shot down three kilometers within the Pakistan territory, reported ANI.

India said that Pakistani jets entered border areas of Nowshera sector in J&Ks Rajouri district and dropped bombs on their way out.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has claimed that the PAF has shot down two Indian aircraft inside Pakistani airspace and have arrested one Indian pilot. However, according to media reports, the IAF has denied it.

This comes a day after the Indian Air Force carried out air strikes across the Line of Control (LoC).

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale had said that a large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commander and Jihadis were killed in the strike.

Click here for all the live updates.

Entire airspace, north of Delhi, has been vacated, reported PTI

3 Pakistani jets reportedly violated the Indian airspace and dropped bombs on their way out

Pakistan Armed Forces spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor claimed that the PAF shot down two Indian aircraft inside Pakistani airspace

On Tuesday, Pak Armed Forces Spokesperson said Pakistan will surprise India with its response that will be in all domains including diplomatic, political and military

12 Mirage 2000 Indian Fighter jets carried out airstrikes across the LoC destroying terror camps on 26 Feb

Click here to read the updates in Hindi.

IAF Jets Violated the LoC, Pak Army Alleges

Pakistan Armed Forces spokesperson, Major General Asif Ghafoor, on Twitter claimed "Indian Air Force violated Line of Control. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft gone back."

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Attempt to Attack JeM Camps: Reports

Multiple Indian Air Force jets crossed LoC and attempts were made to attack Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camps in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, reported CNN-News18 quoting government sources.

However the quantum of damage has not yet been ascertained but the channel reported that there was a huge blast heard near Balakot.

Story continues

Pak Armed Forces Spokesperson Tweets Pictures of the Strike

12 Mirage Jets Dropped 1,000 Kg Bombs: Reports

12 Mirage 2000 Indian Fighter jets struck terror camps across the LoC at 3:30 am on Tuesday, 26 February, and dropped 1,000 kg bombs destroying the camps, reported ANI quoting IAF sources.

200-300 Casualties: Reports

Top government sources said that the casualties run in hundreds, reported CNN-News18.

If True, Not a Small Strike by Any Stretch: Omar Abdullah

National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah tweeted saying if the news is true then the strike is not small by any stretch.

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Rupee Opens Lower at 71.26 Against Dollar

The rupee slipped 29 paise to open at 71.26 against the US dollar in Tuesdays early trade. The currency had closed at 70.97 on Monday.

Balakot Quite Far Into LoC, Without Casualties Highly Successful Mission: Singhvi

Responding to the news of a possible air strike by India, Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi said, Balakot which is quite far out into the LOC is a deep strike and purportedly where Hafeez Saeed gives a lot of his addresses. If IAF penetrated that deep without casualties it's a highly successful mission.

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India Crossed LoC, Attacked Pakistan: Mosharraf Asif

If Indian Air Force planes dropped payload in Balakot, they crossed across the LOC, and then across the entirety of Azad Kashmir, and then into Khyber Pakhtukhwa, tweeted Pakistan based strategic expert.

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If They Have Gone Deep Into Pak, It Shows Our Planning: Vinod Patney

Former Air Chief Marshal Vinod Patney told CNN-News18 that after Pulwama attack India had to retaliate and do something.

If they have really gone deep into Pakistan then it says two things: Our planning and lack of planning on the other side. Of course, there are some characters on the other side who will say nothing happened.

I Salute The Pilots of IAF: Rahul Gandhi

Congress President Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to salute the pilots of the Indian Air Force.

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PM Modi Reportedly Meeting Defence Minister and Fin Min

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is reportedly in a meeting with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

This is Modi's India: MoS Agriculture

Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Gajendra Singh Shekhawat hailed the air strike and congratulated the prime minister for destroying the terror camps across the LoC.

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Salute the Bravery of IAF Who Made Us Proud: Delhi CM

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, too, hailed the strike and saluted the bravery of Indian Air Force.

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IAF on High Alert After Reported Strikes

Indian Air Force has been put on high alert. All air defence systems along the International border and LoC to respond to any possible action by Pakistan Air Force.

First Photo of PM Modi Holding Meeting With Top Leaders Post Strike

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a high-level meeting on Tuesday, 26 February, at his residence 7 Lok Kalyan Marg after the IAF carried out cross-border strike.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, NSA Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale were present for the meeting.

JeM Leaders Were Moved to Safe Locations Before the Strike: Reports

JeM leaders were moved to a safe location before the air strike carried by the Indian Air Force, reported India Today quoting sources.

Brother of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar, Abdul Rouf Asghar, is believed to have been moved out to Punjab.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Calls an Emergency Meeting

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has summoned an emergency meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Proud of Our Forces: Tejashwi Yadav

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav saluted the bravery of pilots and Air Force and said proud of our forces.

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Mirage Fighters Took Off From Ambala Airbase: Reports

The Mirage fighters, that were used for the air strike, took off from the Ambala air base, and the whole operation took 30 minutes, reported BBC quoting IAF sources.

Foreign Secretary to Brief the Media at 11:30 AM

There will be a briefing by Foreign Secretary at 11: 30 am.

One Target Destroyed in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Area: Reports

One of the targets destroyed by the IAF Mirage jets was in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa area, reported ANI quoting sources.

Necessary Step for Security: Javadekar on IAFs Strike in Pak

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said that IAF's strike across LoC was necessary for the security. He further said that the entire country is backing the forces.

Each Time You Attack, We Will Get Back Harder and Stronger: MoS External Affairs

Minister of State for External Affairs, VK Singh said, They say they want India to bleed with a 1000 cuts. We say that each time you attack us, be certain we will get back at you, harder and stronger.

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Salute the Air Force for Meticulous Operation: Ram Madhav

BJP leader Ram Madhav tweeted, Every Indian who had d pain n anguish of d martyrdom of our forces is greatly relieved and delighted this morning. Salute to d Air Force for a meticulous operation. Our forces r world class anyway. It is d political will of our PM n team that made all d difference. (sic)

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Also Read: Salute the Pilots: Rahul Gandhi, Others React to IAF Air Strike

Good Step by the Govt: Lt Gen Hooda

Lt Gen DS Hooda, who oversaw the surgical strike, said that this is a good step by the government.

Speaking to ANI Gen Hooda said, I am happy that this has been done. After Pulwama it was necessary. He further complimented the government for its planning.

Also Read: Experts Dub IAF Strikes Aggressive Response, Wonder Whats Next

India Struck the Biggest JeM Terror Camp in Balakot: Foreign Secy

India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Balakot, said Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale, adding that it was headed by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother in law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar.

He further said that a large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commander and Jihadis were eliminated.

India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all measures to fight the menace of terrorism. This non-military pre-emptive action was targeted specifically at JeM camp. The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties, Gokhale added.

Gokhale further said that credible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country.

Also Read: JeM Was Planning More Attacks: MEA Confirms IAF Strike in Balakot

Deep Strike Inside Pakistan, Embarassing for Pak: Omar Abdullah

NC leader Omar Abdullah tweeted saying that the air strike by the Indian Air Force is hugely embarrassing for Pakistan.

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Also Read: Pakistani Journalists Question Govt After IAFs Strikes Across LoC

Sushma Swaraj Calls for an All Party Meeting at 5 PM

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has called an all-party meeting at 5pm today.

NSA Doval Reviewing Security Situation at the Border

NSA Ajit Doval along with Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat and IAF Chief BS Dhanoa is reviewing the security situation at the border after the India Air Force carried out strikes at JeM terror camps in Balakot across LoC.

'Grave Aggression': Pak Foreign Minister Responds to India's Strike

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi calls the air strike by the Indian Air Force a grave aggression.

This is a violation of LoC and Pakistan has the right to retaliate and self defence, Qureshi added.

We Support the Forces in Whatever Action They Take: Kharge

Responding to IAFs air strike, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said, We have always said that whatever action the forces take for protection of this nation, all of us will support them in unit; they are taking action against the terrorists in Pakistan.

Hope Objectives of Both Sides Have Been Served: Mehbooba Mufti

PDP leader and former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti tweeted about the contradictory reports on the casualties.

Official communique by FS claims that terror training camps were bombed while Pak denied this and said that the planes made a hasty retreat after being spotted. Hope objective of both sides has been served. (sic)

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JeM Terrorist Yusuf Azhars Camp Was Destroyed by IAF: Who Is He?

Giving a briefing on the air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force across the LoC on Tuesday, 26 February, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said that India struck the "biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot, adding that the facility was headed by Masood Azhar's brother-in-law."

Yusuf Azhar's name has popped up in one of the most infamous hijacking incidents in the past  that of IC 814 in Afghanistans Kandahar in December 1999. Yusuf is said to have played a key role in the hijacking.

Read the full story here.

'Violation of LoC Unacceptable by Pak Army': Pak Defence Min

Reacting to the air strikes conducted by India, Pakistan Defence Minister Pervez Khattak said, Violation of the line of control by India is unacceptable to Pakistan army and people of the country and safety.

IAF Air Strike: BJP President Congratulates PM Modi

BJP President Amit Shah congratulated the prime minister for carrying out the air strikes across the border.

In a tweet, Shah said, I congratulate the security forces of our country for their bravery.

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I Assure Countrymen, India Is In Safe Hands: PM Modi

Addressing a rally in Rajasthans Churu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, Today I assure the countrymen, the country is in safe hands.

Recounting his slogan from 2014 elections, Modi once again said, Saugandh mujhe is mitti ki main desh nahi mitne doonga, main desh nahi rukne doonga. Main desh nahi jhukne doonga.

China Urges India, Pak to Exercise Restraint After Air Strike

China urges India and Pakistan to exercise restraint hours after the former carried out air strikes across the LoC, reported AFP.

300 Terrorists Killed in the Operation: Reports

Entire terror set-up in the suicide bombing training centre in Balakot has been demolished, reported ANI quoting sources.

ANI further reported that 300 terrorists have been eliminated in the operation.

Flags of US, UK and Israel Reportedly Seen at JeM Camp

Flags of USA, UK and Israel were painted on the staircase of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) facility destroyed by Indian Air Force jets in Balakot, reported ANI.

Two JeM Terrorists targeted in Today's Air Strike

Head of Kashmir Operations Mufti Azhar Khan Kashmiri and elder brother of Masood Azhar, Ibrahim Athar, who was also involved in the IC-814 hijacking were reportedly targeted in todays air strike.

Pak Leaders to Address Media at 3:30 IST

Pakistan's foreign minister, defence minister and finance minister to address a press conference at 3:30 IST.

"India Making Fictitious Claim," Says Imran Khan's PTI

A special meeting of the National Security Committee chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan was held at his office. The meeting was attended by senior Pakistan officers and ministers and rejected Indias claims of the air strike, calling it fictitious.

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'Will Respond at Our Time and Place of Choosing': Pakistan

Pakistan's National Security Committee (NSC) after a meeting chaired by Pakistan PM Imran Khan said that India has committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing.

'Proud of Our Forces:' Kamal Haasan

Actor politician Kamal Haasan said that India has done what any self-respecting country would do.

We have done what any self-respecting country would do. We are proud of what our forces have done for us. They are our shield, and they have behaved exactly like a shield. We are very proud. Salute to our fighters, he said.

'Pak Will Respond,' Says Foreign Minister

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that Pakistan will respond to the incursion conducted by the Indian Air Force across the LoC. He also said that India conducted the attempt for propaganda ahead of the general elections in the country.

He also said that Pakistan will take international media to the site of the air strikes.

Pakistan will take international media to the area of strikes, helicopters are being readied, right now weather is bad, will fly when weather permits, he said.

Punjab Puts Border Districts on High Alert

Punjab has put its border districts on high alert in the wake of the Indian Air Force's (IAF) strikes across the Line of Control, undertaken by India as a retaliatory measure in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack.

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh also held a high-level meeting with state minister Manpreet Badal and senior officials in the wake of the strikes.

Country is in Safe Hands: Ram Madhav

BJPs Ram Madhav said that the country is in safe hands and the will pf PM Modi led to the air strikes conducted by IAF.

Country is in safe hands, it is the will power of the PM that has led to the action today. We had political leadership in PM Modi which decided this time to act. We acted in a responsible manner, protected India's interest and ensured we didn't violate international norms, he said.

After Pulwama attack, the nation was mourning for 12 days and on the 13th day our valiant Air-force paid the real tribute to the martyred soldiers by destroying terror training camps deep inside Pakistan territory, he added.

J&K Administrations Asks Citizens to Remain Calm, Not Believe in Rumours

The Jammu and Kashmir administration advised people in the state to stay calm and not to believe in rumours in the aftermath of the Indian Air Force's strikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed's terror camp in Pakistan.

Tranquillity prevailed along the Indo-Pakistan border in J&K after the strikes destroyed terror camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

However, the troops are on high alert, a senior army officer said.

"The situation is peaceful along the LoC in J&K. There are no reports of any untoward incident reported from anywhere," the officer told PTI.

All Party Meet Underway

An all party meet, chaired by Minister of External affairs Sushma Swaraj is underway in the backdrop of the air strikes conducted by India on Pakistans terror camps.

Australia Asks Pak to Take Action Against Terror Groups

Australian foreign minister Marise Payne said that Pakistan needs to eliminate terror groups operating from its soil and take responsibility for the 14 February attack in Pulwama.

Australian government is concerned about relations between India and Pakistan following the horrific terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 14 February, which Australia has condemned, the statement said.

Pak must take urgent action against terrorist groups in its territory, including JeM which claimed responsibility for 14 February bombing and LeT. It must do everything to implement its own proscription of JeM. It can't allow extremist groups to operate from its territory, it added.

The statement further said that both India and Pakistan need to exercise restraint.

Australia urges both sides to exercise restraint, avoid any action which would endanger peace and security in the region and engage in dialogue to ensure that these issues are resolved peacefully, the statement said.

J&K Congress Congratulates IAF

The Jammu and Kashmir Congress congratulated the IAF for the "successful" air strikes across the Line of Control, asserting that the nation was "proud" of its armed forces.

"We congratulate the IAF for the successful pre-emptive air strike against terrorists camps in PoK. The nation feels proud of our armed forces," JKPCC Chief Spokesperson Ravinder Sharma said.

He saluted the valour of the Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots and said that they deserved all the praise for their brave action.

"The nation is united against terror and to protect its sovereignty," he said, adding that the Union government must deal firmly with Pakistan sponsored terrorism.

PM, Jaitley Brief Vice President About Air Strikes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday briefed Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on the scale and effectiveness of the IAF's preemptive air strikes on terror camps run by Jaish-e-Mohammed across the Line of Control in Pakistan, sources said.

The Prime Minister spoke to Naidu over phone while the Finance Minister visited the Vice President's residence at Maulana Azad road in Lutyens' Delhi during lunch time and briefed him about the anti-terror air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force during the wee hours on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister also earlier briefed President Ram Nath Kovind about the air strikes.

Ceasefire Violated in Jammu & Kashmir

Pakistan violates ceasefire in Nowshera sector and Akhnoor sector of Jammu & Kashmir. Pakistan also violated ceasefire in Krishna Ghati sector at 5:30 pm.

Pak Unhappy Over OIC Invite to India, Host UAE Snubs

UAE did not pay heed to Pakistan's concern over the invitation extended to India for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation meet slated to be held next week

"I telephoned UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and expressed disappointment on the invitation of Indian foreign minister Swaraj to attend OIC. However, while discussing the matter with my UAE counterpart, he did not respond to it. Then I contacted Pakistan's ambassador to UAE (Moazzam Ahmad Khan) to discuss the matter with them, but still, there was no response," Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said, as quoted by ANI.

In a first, OIC invited India as a Guest of Honour last week for the inaugural plenary of its meeting of Foreign Ministers to be held on March.

Congress Hails Security Forces After All-Party Meet

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, speaking on the sidelines of an all party meet hailed the security forces over the air strikes conducted on Pakistan terror camps.

We have appreciated the efforts by the forces, they always have our support to end terrorism. Another good thing is that it was a clean operation which specifically targeted terrorists and terror camps, he said.

EU Urges India, Pak to Exercise Maximum Restraint

Maja Kocijancic, European Union Spokesperson said that India and Pakistan need to maintain maximum restraint.

We're following very closely the current developments between India & Pakistan. We remain in contact with both countries and what we believe is essential, is that all exercise maximum restraint and avoid further escalation of tensions, he said.

Happy All Political Parties Supported Us: Sushma Swaraj

After the all party meet, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj says all parties supported and praised the governments anti-terror operations.

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I am happy that all parties in one voice praised the security forces and supported the Govt's anti-terror operations, she said.

In the meet, Swaraj reportedly informed the leaders that she spoke to US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo over the Indian air strikes on JeM terror camps in Balakot.

India Briefs Foreign Envoys Over Air Strikes

India on Tuesday apprised the envoys of all major countries about its air strike on the Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest terror training camp in Pakistan, official sources told PTI.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and and other Secretaries have been briefing foreign envoys, including from the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom.

It is learnt that Gokhale briefed the envoys of the P-5 countries.

Envoys of Sri Lanka, Maldives, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Turkey and Indonesia were also briefed about the air strike.

Owaisi Hails Air Strikes by India

AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi hailed Indian Air Force's strikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed's terror camp in Pakistan and said the Indian defence forces should be prepared to tackle any retaliatory action.

"I was expecting this sort of response within 2 or 3 days after the Pulwama terror attack. I welcome this step... We stand with the government on this," Owaisi told reporters here.

He said, "I am sure that our Navy or Air Force are on alert, if Pakistan wants to take some stupid action (in response to the air strikes)".

Pulwama Martyr's Village Celebrates Air Strike

"I feel this action will give peace to the martyred soldiers," is how a Pulwama attack victim's wife reacted to India's air strikes killing a large number of terrorists and trainers of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pakistan on Tuesday.

Kalavathi, whose husband H Guru from Karnataka was among the 40 CRPF jawans who died in the 14 February terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, is grieving her loss but said she is proud of the Indian armed forces.

Guru's native village Gudigere in Mandya distric burst into jubilation on hearing about the Indian Air Force's early morning attack on the terror camp. Villagers took out a march and a tricolour was unfurled atop his house as a mark of respect.

With tears in her eyes, Kalavathi told reporters: "I salute the Indian armed forces.I am happy with this action. I feel that this action will give peace to the martyred soldiers. I am proud of my Indian armed forces." Guru's father Honnaiah insisted that the time to give peace a chance was gone and "the anti-India forces should be completely destroyed".

Pak Retaliation Will Prove it Shelters Terrorists: Sharad Pawar

Any retaliation by Pakistan to India's air strikes on Jaish-e-Mohammed's terror camp in that country will prove that it provides shelter to terrorists, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said.

The former defence minister, talking to reporters, lauded the Indian Air Force for the strikes, adding India's defence forces have made citizens feel proud.

It would not be proper to politicise the air strikes, Pawar said. Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said the IAF had carried out such strikes earlier also, but there was no politicisation (of the same).

"The credit always went to the Army. Now if the credit is being given to Prime Minister Modi, then credit should also be given to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat," he said.

Western Naval Command on High Alert Post Air Strikes

In the wake of IAF's preemptive air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan, the Western Naval Command in Mumbai is on a high alert and "fully prepared" to tackle any eventualities, an official told PTI.

The Mumbai Police are also on a high alert following the air strikes.

"After the air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp in Pakistan in the early hours on Tuesday, the security agencies have put the city on high alert," the official said.

"The Western Naval Command remains alert 24X7. Now, it is fully prepared to deal with any untoward situation in the wake of the air strikes in Pakistan," he said.

The Western Naval Command, headquartered in Mumbai, is one of the three formations of the Indian Navy.

RSS Congratulates Govt Over Air Strikes

The RSS congratulated the government and the Indian Air Force for air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan, saying they have translated into action the angry feelings of Indians following the Pulwama attack.

"The entire nation was agitated and angry in the wake of terror attack by Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pulwama. Today the Indian Air Force demolished JeM's Pakistan-based base camps' by precision air strikes. We congratulate the government of India and the Indian Air Force for exactly translating the the feelings and anger of millions of Indians," RSS general secretary Suresh Joshi said in a statement.

IAF Displayed Bravery Like Lord Hanuman: Sumitra Mahajan

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan praised the Air Force for the strike on a terror camp in Pakistan and equated the operation to the mythical tale of Lord Hanuman returning safely after setting Lanka ablaze, as mentioned in the epic Ramayan.

Mahajan also congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the strikes, saying the action sent a strong message to Pakistan that it should not look at India with evil eyes.

"Pawan putra Hanuman returned after torching Lanka. Our air force displayed bravery like Lord Hanuman. Now the entire country is confident of terrorism being eliminated," the MP from Indore said.

Pak Summons India's Acting High Commisioner

Pakistan summons India's acting High Commissioner and condemns "violation of its territorial sovereignty" by Indian jets, PTI reported quoting foreign office sources.

Wait For Our Response, Says Pak Army After Indias Air Strikes

Pakistan Army confirmed that Indian fighter jets dropped "four bombs" during an operation on Tuesday but downplayed its significance, saying the Indian attack was repulsed and while going back the aircraft "jettisoned their payload."

Army spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor also said Pakistan will "surprise" India with its response that will be in all domains including "diplomatic, political and military." "Prime Minister Imran Khan told the army and people that get ready for any eventuality. Now it is time for India to wait for our response. We have decided. Wait for it," Ghafoor said.

India Was Forced to Take This Step: VK Singh

Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh said that India was forced to take the step.

India had made it clear that terrorism must be eradicated, we had given many chances to Pakistan, therefore, India was forced to take action so that these things can be stopped, he said

Pak Boycotts Indian Cinema, Ads

Choudhary Fawad Hussain, Pakistan I&B Minister said that Cinema Exhibitors Association has boycotted Indian content. No Indian movie will be released in Pakistan. The ministry has also instructed PEMRA to act against made in India advertisements.

'Entire Country Should Celebrate Diwali Today': Amit Shah

Asserting that the families of martyred jawans must be feeling relieved, BJP chief Amit Shah on praised the Modi government after the Indian air strikes on a Jaish terrorist camp in Pakistan, saying the entire country is celebrating Diwali now.

Addressing BJP's Kamal Jyoti Sankalp Abhiyan in Ghazipur, Shah said the air strikes in Pakistan would have brought relief to the families of the soldiers killed in the Pulwama attack.

"You go to your homes and light a lamp with a pledge to re-elect Modi Ji," the BJP president said. "The entire country is celebrating Diwali after the air strike on terrorist camps."

Shah later visited the residence of a beneficiary of central government schemes and lighted a lamp, symbolising "development" brought to the poor under the Modi dispensation.

PM Modi Was Up All Night During Strikes: PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was up all night as he monitored the Indian Air Force operation to destroy a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Pakistan, relaxing only after all the pilots returned safely home, government sources told PTI.

After congratulating all those involved in the operation around 4.30 am, he got busy with his daily routine as he prepared for a full day's schedule, including the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security at his residence around 10 am.

He then rushed to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, where President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2015-2018. Later, Modi flew to Rajasthan for a rally and returned to New Delhi to attend an ISKCON event.

"The prime minister did not sleep a wink all night and remained intimately involved in the operations," said one source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Modi attended a News18 television channel conclave at the Taj Palace hotel on Monday night, and left for home at 9.15 pm. After reaching his 7 Lok Kalyan Marg residence in 10 minutes, he took a light meal and became involved in the operation, going through the preparations for the air strike on the training camp, the source said.

It is not clear if he was at home or at some other location where a control room monitored the historic events about to unfold.

The prime minister was in touch with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Air Force Chief BS Dhanoa before, during and after the operation, the source, who is close to the prime minister, said.

Once the operation ended, he checked with officials about the well-being of the pilots involved. the source said.

When it was clear everyone was safe, the prime minister withdrew and turned his attention to other matters, he said.

Army, Navy and Air Force Chiefs Brief PM Over Security Situation

Chiefs of the three armed forces met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to brief him on the security situation following IAF's air strike targeting a JeM terror camp inside Pakistan, PTI reported.

Sources said the chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Force met the prime minister this evening to brief him on the security situation along the border.

The meeting comes against the backdrop of Pakistan threatening retaliation.

There, however, was no official word on what transpired in the nearly 30-minute-long meeting.

France Supports India's Fight Against Terrorism, Urges to Exercise Restraint

Acting spokesperson of France's Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs said that it stands by India in its fight against terrorism and urged India and Pakistan to exercise restraint.

France recognises Indias legitimacy to ensure its security against cross-border terrorism and asks Pakistan to put an end to the operations of terrorist groups established on its territory.

France,which stands by India in the fight against terrorism in all its forms,is fully engaged in mobilising international community to sanction terrorists responsible for this attack (Pulwama) and freezing their financing networks.

France calls on India and Pakistan to exercise restraint to avert any risk of military escalation and preserve strategic stability in region. Resumption of dialogue between Islamabad-New Delhi necessary to initiate peaceful settlement of differences.

Swaraj Speaks to Foreign Ministers of China, Singapore, Bangladesh & Afghanistan

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj spoke to Foreign Ministers of China, Singapore, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan today, ANI reported quoting sources.

Closely Monitoring Developments in the Country: Election Commission

The Election Commission of India (ECI) is keeping a tab on developments in the country post the Pulwama terror attack and the government response to it in form of air strikes, a top poll panel official told PTI.

Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa, speaking to reporters in Mumbai, said the ECI is duty-bound to carry out the mandate given to it by the Constitution.

Lavasa was replying to a query on whether the ECI's schedule for general elections would be affected after the 14 February Pulwama bombing and subsequent government response to it.

"The Election Commission does keep a watch on all the developments which take place. And we are duty-bound to carry out our mandate which has been given by the Constitution," Lavasa said.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Speaks to Pompeo Over Air Strikes

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi spoke to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Tuesday and apprised him about the Line of Control "violation" by the Indian jets, a media report said.

In his telephonic conversation with Pompeo, Qureshi said India is "jeopardising the peace in South Asia for its political purposes and elections", state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

He said that Pakistan is desirous of peace in the region, but will not compromise on its territorial integrity.

Qureshi told Pompeo that the Indian "aggression can disturb joint efforts to establish peace in Afghanistan" as he expressed hope that US will play its role in the region.

Martyred Major Chitresh Bisht's Father Welcomes Air Strikes

Father of Major Chitresh Bisht welcomed the air strikes by India. Bisht died in Pulwama a day after the attack while diffusing a IED.

Pulwama Martyrs Get a Proper 13th Day 'Shraadh' Ritual: Mohan Bhagwat

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said that the jawans martyred in Pulwama on 14 Frbruary got a proper 13th day shraadh after the air strikes on Pakistan.

Indian Army Destroys 5 Pak Posts in Retaliation Along LoC in J&K

The Indian Army destroyed five Pakistani posts along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday night in a befitting retaliation to firing from across the border, resulting in a "number of casualties" to Pak troops, a defence official said.

"The Indian Army retaliated for effect and our focused fire resulted in severe destruction to five posts and number of casualties to Pak army (along LoC in Rajouri and Poonch districts)", the defence PRO said.

From 6:30 pm onwards, the Pakistani army initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by shelling with heavy calibre weaponry along the LoC out of frustration, he said.

The Pak troops were also seen firing mortars and missiles from civilian houses, using villagers as human shields.

However, the Indian Army targeted the Pak posts away from civilian areas, the PRO said, adding that this resulted in a "number of casualties" to Pak troopers.

In exchange of fire, five soldiers of the Indian Army suffered minor injuries, out of which two of them were shifted to a military hospital for medical treatment; they are stable.

Power Supply of Certain Areas in 15 Corps Cantonment Switched off as Precautionary Measure: Officials

Power supply of certain areas in the strategically located 15 Corps Cantonment in Srinagar was switched off as a precautionary measure Tuesday night, officials said.

Some areas of the cantonment are located on Zaberwan hills and electric supply to this area was stopped in anticipation of a Pakistani retaliation to the pre-dawn strike by IAF jets on the biggest terrorist camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed inside Pakistan, they said.

In the meantime, Pakistan has suspended internet services in the entire occupied Kashmir area, security agencies said.

4 Civilians Dead, 11 Injured in POK During LoC Shelling: Reports

Leading Pakistan newspaper, Dawn, reports 4 civilians dead, 11 wounded in Pak-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) in Indian shelling across LoC.

Also Read: 4 Civilians Dead, 11 Injured in POK During LoC Shelling: Reports

UN Chief Following Situation Closely, Asks India, Pak to Exercise 'Maximum Restraint'

UN chief Antonio Guterres is following the situation between India and Pakistan "very closely" and has appealed to the governments of both nations to exercise "maximum restraint" to ensure the situation does not deteriorate further, a top UN official said on Tuesday, 26 February.

"He is obviously following the situation very closely and reiterates his urgent appeal to both the governments of India and the government of Pakistan to exercise maximum restraint to ensure that the situation does not further deteriorate," UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters when asked about the Secretary General's remarks on the air strike.

Dujarric said Guterres did not have any information on the possible casualties and has seen the news reports.

Guterres is returning to New York from Geneva and Dujarric said he had spoken to the UN chief about the situation between India and Pakistan before he boarded his plane.

Schools Closed, Exams Postponed in J&K's Rajouri

Government officials in Rajouri said schools within 5 km of the Line of Control will be closed and exams will be postponed due to the heightened tensions in the region, reported ANI.

Ceasefire Violation in Uri Sector of Baramulla

Ceasefire violation in Uri sector of Baramulla district, reported DD Jammu.

US Urges Pakistan to Take Action Against Terrorist Groups

A day after the Indian Air Force carried out air strikes across the Line of Control (LoC), US has urged Pakistan to take action against terrorist groups.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, I spoke to Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to underscore the priority of de-escalating current tensions by avoiding military action and the urgency of Pakistan taking meaningful action against terrorist groups operating on its soil.

Pakistani Jets Violate Indian Airspace, Drop Bombs on Way Out

Pakistani jets violated the Indian airspace on Wednesday, 27 February, and dropped bombs on the way out, a day after the Indian Air Force carried out air strikes across the Line of Control (LoC), reported PTI, quoting officials.

The jets entered border areas of Nowshera sector in J&Ks Rajouri district, the news agency added.

3 Pakistani Jets Entered Indian Airspace

At least three Pakistan combat jets entered Indian airspace, but the officials added that the planes went back after they were intercepted by the Indian Air Force, reported Reuters.

Airports in Jammu, Srinagar and Pathankot on High Alert

Airports in Leh, Jammu, Srinagar and Pathankot have been put on high alert. Civilian air traffic to and from Srinagar airport has been suspended, reported PTI.

Many commercial flights have been put on hold. Airspace has been suspended due to security reasons.

Pak Claims That It Shot Down Two Indian Aircraft in Pakistani Airspace

Pakistan Armed Forces spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor claimed on Twitter that the PAF shot down two Indian aircraft inside Pakistani airspace. He further claimed that they have arrested one Indian pilot.

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Pakistani F-16 Jet Shot Down by India: Reports

Pakistan Air Force F-16 jet, that violated the Indian airspace on Wednesday, 27 February, has been shot down three kilometers within the Pakistan territory, reported ANI.

Pak Confirms Strikes Across LoC, Says Sole Purpose is to 'Demonstrate Our Right'

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has confirmed that Pakistan undertook strikes across the Line of Control (LoC), but within Pakistani airspace.

In an official statement, Qureshi said, Sole purpose being to demonstrate our right, will and capability for self defence. We have no intention of escalation, but are fully prepared to do so if forced into that paradigm.

The statement further read, If India is striking at so called terrorist backers without a shred of evidence, we also retain reciprocal rights to retaliate against elements that enjoy Indian patronage while carrying out acts of terror in Pakistan.

Two Dead As IAF Aircraft Crashes in Jammu and Kashmirs Budgam

An IAF aircraft crashed near the Garend Kalan village in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam area, leaving at least two dead, news agencies reported on Wednesday, 27 February.

Shortly after the crash, Pakistan Armed Forces Chairperson Major General Asif Ghafoor said that the Pakistan Air Force shot down two Indian aircraft inside Pakistani airspace, with one of them falling inside the Indian territory. An official IAF response on the crash is awaited at the moment.

Read the full story here.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh Holds High-Level Meeting

Home Minister Rajnath Singh hold a high-level meeting.

Flight Operations Suspended at Amritsar Airport

Flight operations have been suspended at the Amritsar airport following heightened tension between India and Pakistan.

Pak Stops Domestic and International Flight Operations

Pakistan has stopped its domestic and international flight operations from Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Sialkot and Islamabad airports.

China Reiterates Call for India, Pak to 'Exercise Restraint'

China has reiterated its call for India and Pakistan to exercise restraint.

2 IAF Jets Shot Down, One Pilot Arrested: Pak Reiterates Claim

Addressing a press conference in Pakistan, Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said that two IAF aircrafts crossed LoC.

PAF took them on, both IAF aircraft were destroyed  one on our side, one on the other. We have nothing to do with the third crash that has taken place in Indian territory, Ghafoor added.

He further claimed that two pilots were recovered and provided all necessary medical treatment.

News agency PTI reported that a video has been issued by the Pakistani Army in which an officer is heard saying I am Wing Commander Abhinandan, I am an IAF officer. My service No is 27981.

Entire Airspace, North of Delhi, Vacated

Entire airspace, north of Delhi, has been vacated, reported PTI.

Wing Commander Abhinandan Yet to Return: Reports

IAF pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan who took off in a MiG 21 Bison jet today, is yet to return, reported ANI quoting sources.

. Read more on India by The Quint.RSS & BJPs Nehru-Netaji Cosplay: Irony Dies a Thousand DeathsIndia Gives Dossier on JeM Role in Pulwama Attack to Pakistan . Read more on India by The Quint.
Surgical Strike LIVE updates: The naval base at Ambala air base and Mumbai naval base have been put on high alert. Meanwhile, Australian foreign affairs minister Marise Payne said, "Pakistan must take urgent and meaningful action against terrorist groups in its territory, including Jaish-e-Mohammed which has claimed responsibility for the 14 February bombing, and Lashkar-e-Taiba."

Surgical Strike Latest updates: The naval base at Ambala air base and Mumbai naval base have been put on high alert. Meanwhile, Australian foreign affairs minister Marise Payne said, "Pakistan must take urgent and meaningful action against terrorist groups in its territory, including Jaish-e-Mohammed which has claimed responsibility for the 14 February bombing, and Lashkar-e-Taiba."

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is chairing an all-party meeting at the Ministry of External Affairs. Earlier, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley gave a detailed briefing of operation to President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu.

Quoting government sources, ANI reported that a total of six bombs were dropped on Pakistan based terrorist camps by the Indian Air Force Mirage 2000s.

Pakistani villagers in the area where Indian jets struck what officials in New Delhi said was a militant training camp said they heard four loud bangs in the early hours of Tuesday but reported only one person wounded by bomb shards.

In his first response after the Indian air strikes, Imran Khan said that Pakistan will strongly respond to the Indian aggression at a time and place of its choosing. He also asked Pakistani citizens to stay prepared for any eventuality.

Dean of Diplomatic Corps, Hans Castellanos said, "We are satisfied that Indian government has had such a rapid response in informing Heads of Missions. The information is that they did not affect any civilian or any Pakistan military installation, that it was a direct attack due to credible intelligence received."

In his first response after the Indian air strikes, Imran Khan accused India of lying and said that he will take the international media to the site of attack to expose New Delhi. Imran will also give a detailed statement in press conference at 3.30 pm.

"We had been telling the world that India is likely to do something like this (airstrike in Pakistan). Today they have done it," Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said. "I could see that the clouds of danger were hovering over Pakistan. Pakistan is live and strong. We are a responsible nation and will respond in a responsible and tactical manner. Pakistan knows how to safeguard its interests."

Story continues

Addressing a public rally at Rajasthan's Churu and in a first response after the IAF airstrikes in Pakistan's Balakot area, Prime Minister Narendra Modi started his speech to the slogans of Bharat Mata ki Jai. "India is in safe hands, bhaiyyon aur beheno," said Modi to a massive gathering where the crowd chanted "Narendra Modi" in unison.

In a series of tweets, BJP chief Amit Shah said that the airstrikes conducted by the IAF on Tuesday "further demonstrates that India is safe and secure under the strong and decisive leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

Stunned by the Indian Air Force airstrikes on Tuesday, Pakistan said it will give an "appropriate reply" to the Indian action, which it described as 'grave aggression". Soon after Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale issued official statement after the airstrikes, Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Prime Minister Imran Khan has called a meeting to discuss the issue.

Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has convened an "important meeting" to review the emerging situation in the wake of airstrikes by Indian Air Force in Balakot. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had summoned an emergency meeting at the Foreign Office in Islamabad to discuss the security situation with former secretaries and senior ambassadors earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan media reported.

Defence sources have reportedly said that the IAF strike lasted not more than 21 minutes, right from take off till the return into Indian territory. The strike took place in Balakote, 24 kilometre northwest of Muzaffarabad at around 3:45-3:53 am. The joint training camps of JeM, LeT and Hizbul Mujahideen were hit. Reports further suggested that the terrorist groups had emptied their launchpads but not the training camps.

Here are the three locations in Pakistan bombed by Indian Air Force today:

- Balakot, which is 24 kilometre northwest of Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, was struck between 3.45 am and 3.53 am. However, there is still confusion over whether this place falls in PoK or proper Pakistani territory.

- Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, was hit between 3.48 am and 3.55 am.

- Chakoti, was he last to be hit between 3.58 am and 4.04 am

NSA Ajit Doval along with Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat and IAF Chief BS Dhanoa is reviewing the security situation on the borders after Indian Air Force strikes at Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp in Balakot across Line of Control, reports have said.

An editorial in Dawn slammed the Indian media and said "particularly jarring are the armchair warriors of the media " especially on the Indian side " baying for the blood of the 'other'." The editorial, titled War rhetoric & reality said, "There has also been a reprehensible effort to exploit the attack and work up anti-Kashmiri and anti-Muslim sentiments in India, predominantly by the storm troopers of Hindutva. But perhaps what is most worrisome is that ministers and members of the establishment on both sides are talking casually about war."

The article further notes: "In such a tense atmosphere, India should take up Pakistan's offer to "give peace a chance" as the alternatives to constructive dialogue are confrontation and yet more hostility."

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the media that the non-military pre-emptive strike in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir's Balakot area was aimed solely at the Jaish-e-Mohammad and its leaders Masood Azhar. Sources at the Ministry of External Affairs told Firstpost that the attacks were carried out in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan putting to rest the speculations whether the strikes were conducted in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir or in Pakistan.

Large number of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists, trainers and senior commanders were eliminated in largest Jaish camp in Balakot, Gokhale said. The Ministry of External Affairs briefing was held after reports claimed that combat jets of the Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control on the Pakistani side in a pre-dawn strike.

The Indian retaliation comes 12 days after the Pakistan-based terror group, Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir, government sources said.

Gokhale further said that the camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother in law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar. "In an intelligence-led operation in the early hours today, India struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commander and Jihadis were eliminated. Credible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country. A pre-emptive strike became important. India struck the biggest camp of JeM in Balakot."

Reports have said that a Pakistani drone has been shot down at around 6.30 am in Gujarat's Kutch region. More details on this are awaited.

The states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir have been put on high alert as India expects Pakistani forces to retaliate after it carried out strikes. The Indian Air Force has reportedly readied the air defence missile system to nullify any possible air attacks.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Afterwards, the prime minister is scheduled to chair a crucial Cabinet Committee for Security meet, which will be attended by Minister of External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Balakote training camp is in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which means India has struck inside Pakistani territory, and not just occupied areas of Jammu and Kashmir. This may account for the absence of official confirmation from the Defence Ministry as India has no wish to push Pakistan into a corner from where it has to hit back on Jaish-e-Mohammad's behalf. Reuters is reporting that the Defence Ministry is saying it has no knowledge of violations of Pakistani airspace.

CNN-News18 reported quoting government sources that the Balakot Jaish camp has been completely flattened in the limited strikes conducted by Indian Air Force. The sources said that initial assessment of damages suggest at least 200 to 300 casualties.

At least 12 Mirage 2000 jets took part in the operation that dropped 1000 kilogramme bombs on terror camps across Line of Control, completely destroying it, ANI reported. The operation was launched at 3.56 am on Tuesday morning.

Indian Air Force sources told ANI that a group of Mirage 2000 jets struck a major terrorist camp in Balakot sector in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The sources said that the targetted militant training camp was 'completely destroyed' and the pilots safely came back into the Indian territory.

Pakistan on Tuesday alleged that Indian Air Force aircraft crossed the Line of Control and were forced to turn back after Pakistan Air Force scrambled into action. Pakistan Army spokesperson, Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted Tuesday morning alleging that more than one Indian Air Force jet 'intruded' into Pakistani territory from Muzaffarabad sector. Ghafoor said, "Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force, (IAF jets) released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage."

Khuram Malik, a Pakistani journalist, reported on Twitter that the incident was from around 1.45 am on Tuesday night. The Pakistan Army, however, has not provided any specific timeline.

The claim remains unsubstantiated from India. CNN-News18 reported that the Indian Air Force is yet to respond to their request to respond on Pakistan's claim.

Meanwhile, various news reports said that the IAF jets conducted a concentrated attack in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to target the terror camps. CNN-News18 reported, quoting top defence ministry sources, that multiple IAF jets targeted Jaish-e-Mohammad camps in Balakot sector of Pakistan Occupied scheme.

This comes amid heightened tension between two nations in the wake of the Pulwama terrorist attack, which killed at least 42 Central Reserve Police Force jawans on 14 February. While Pakistan-based group Jaish-e-Mohammad had claimed responsibility within hours of the attack, Islamabad denies any role in the incident. India has, meanwhile, promised to take this seriously and give Pakistan an appropriate response at a befitting time.

Also See: Cabinet meets after IAF operation in Pakistan; Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman attend meet at Narendra Modi's house

IAF strikes JeM camp: Jammu and Kashmir border residents appeal for peace, say war no solution to India-Pakistan conflict

IAF strikes in Pakistan: 'How's the Jaish? Dead, sir', Indian Twitterati takes to celebratory memes after operation in Balakot

Read more on India by Firstpost.
IAF destroys Pakistan terror camps LIVE

IAFs Surgical Strike 2.0 destroys Pakistan terror camps! In a big overnight operation, IAFs Mirage 2000 fighter jets have completely destroyed multiple terror camps in Pakistan. Foreign secretary VK Gokhale confirmed the operation and said, India struck biggest training camp of Jaish in Balakot, large number of terrorists eliminated.

He said that a large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders were eliminated in largest JeM camp in Balakot. Camp was led by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother in law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar. Gokhale said.

India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all measures to fight the menace of terrorism. This non-military pre-emptive action was targeted specifically at JeM camp. The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties, Gokhale added. He however did not give further details and said that information will be provided as and when they have it.

According to IAF sources, quoted by ANI, as many as 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets of the Indian Air Force took part in the operation. According to reports, 1,000 kgs bombs were dropped on terror camps across the Line of Control (LoC). Sources have said that at around 0330 hours on the 26th February the Mirage 2000 fighter jets struck a major terrorist camp across the LoC and completely destroyed it.

Cabinet Committee on Security meeting took place at PM Modis residence 7 Lok Kalyan Marg. It was attended by PM Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Meanwhile, according to Pakistan media report, Pakistan has also called an emergency meet.

IAFs action comes days after Jaish-e-Mohammed trained terrorist attacked a CRPF convoy on Jammu-Srinagar Highway in Pulwama on February 14. 40 jawans sacrificed lives. According to various reports, control rooms of Jaish-e-Mohammed have been destroyed in the aerial strike by IAF. The strike is said to have taken place near Balakot, which is said to be quite a distance from the LoC.
Tuas Checkpoint (FILE PHOTO: Yahoo News Singapore)

UPDATE: The 59-year-old bus driver has been arrested for causing death by rash act, the police said.

One person was killed and 12 were injured in a bus accident at the Tuas Checkpoint early on Tuesday morning (26 February). The accident also blocked the heavy vehicle lane heading towards Singapore, forcing buses and lorries to be diverted back to Malaysia.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said that it had responded to a call for assistance at 4.25am to the accident site, where a bus had collided onto the railings.

A Facebook post at 5.20am by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said that police and SCDF personnel were at the scene.

The ICA later released a media statement which said, A 35-year-old female bus passenger was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. The bus driver and 11 other bus passengers were conveyed to hospitals. Police investigations are ongoing.

An update at 6.05am on the ICA Facebook page added, Buses and lorries are unable to enter the checkpoint at arrival, while departure traffic is affected due to buses and lorries being diverted back to Malaysia. Motorists are advised to use Woodlands Checkpoint for both arrival and departure instead.

At 6.55am, ICA posted another Facebook update which said that traffic for arriving and departing cars and motorcycles at Tuas Checkpoint had returned to normal. However, the heavy vehicle lane remains closed, while arrival traffic remains heavy due to morning peak period.

Another update at 10am stated that the heavy vehicle lane at Tuas Checkpoint has been reopened for arriving buses and lorries. Arrival traffic remains heavy, and travellers are advised to check the One Motoring website before embarking on their journey.

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Doctor acquitted of raping patient, but convicted of sexual penetration and molest

Golds and goals moments: Deadlocks ruled the weekend
Not too long ago, 11 years to be precise, Forbes Magazine listed Anil Ambani as the worlds sixth wealthiest person. Just a few days ago, on February 20, 2019, the Supreme Court said that RCom had disobeyed a ruling to pay $77 million owed to a local supplier and that if Anil Ambani fails to pay that amount within four weeks, hell be thrown in prison for three months.

RCom head Anil Ambani

His story shows just how far India has come in cracking down on borrowers who take their own sweet time to pay back what they owe. The richest citizens are no longer safe from the consequences of their irresponsible financial actions. Indias democracy has taken one step further in terms of equality.

There is an old joke on Dalal Street: the evolution of the Indian economy is symbolized by the transition from self-reliance to Reliance. Well, Anil Ambani is no longer a formidable pillar of Reliance. Perhaps he would have fared better had he not fought his brother to take ownership of the telecom business after their father died. Best to leave the hard stuff to big brother, right?

Ever since the brothers split, Anils fortunes have fallen. According to Forbes, in 2007 Anils net worth was $45 billion and in 2018 it dropped to a mere $2.5 billion. While there is nothing mere about such a large sum  most people will never get remotely close to that figure in their lifetimes  it just goes to show that the rich dont always get richer. If youre bad with money, youre going to lose it, no matter how much money your father gave you.

According to a Bloomberg report, the 10-year compounded annual growth rates of Mukeshs Reliance Industries since the split have been  Sales: 11.2%, Profit: 9.4% and Returns: 17.8%,. The same rates for Anils RCom have been 9.4%, -12.6% and -1.7%. Looks like Asias richest person (Mukesh Ambani) clearly knows what he is doing.

When Anil Ambani took the reins of the telecom business after the split, he employed a similar strategy, he captured market share by selling telecom services at much cheaper rates than competitors. But the mistake he made was that he took on too much debt when purchasing spectrum. And now all his creditors  with the blessing of the Supreme Court  are armed with pitchforks and demanding that he pay his dues.

Story continues

There is no doubt that Mukeshs reentry into the telecom sector reestablished Reliance Group as a major player in the telecom industry in general. Jios unprecedented success is a magnet for haters. Rivals have bitterly complained that a succession of regulatory decisions benefited Jio at their expense. Jios disruptive strategy of selling 4G at rock bottom prices forced competitors to lower their rates.

Though the sun is setting fast on Anil Ambanis empire (although at this point its more of a ghost town than an empire), it is not too late to stave off complete disaster. ADAG (Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group) is crippled with debt, so Anil must find a way to pay off all his liabilities, and for this reason it would be wise for him to bury the hatchet with big brother. All of Anils businesses must be debt-free, or at least have much less debt, in order to survive.

Perhaps its good to have big brother watching!

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When you talk to early stage tech companies, the three main challenges they identify are: access to talent, access to customers, and access to capital.

ACS recent acquisition Startup Catalyst returned from a week-long investor mission to San Francisco and Silicon Valley this month, which covered the capital side from an investors perspective.

A group of 14 included angel investors and wealth fund managers and was led by well-known Shark Tank investor Steve Baxter.

I was fortunate to attend this investor mission and would like to share some of my observations with you.

It was a jam-packed agenda, with boardroom meetings at DLA Piper, Circuit Capital, Counterpart Ventures, Funders Club, Pipeline Capital Partners, GrowthPoint Technology Partners, Corporate Venture Capital with PayPal and M12 (Microsoft), Lightspeed Ventures, Day View Capital Partners, Bullpen Capital, Accel, Angelist, and a workshop with Angel University.

Opportunities on the mission also included attending global entrepreneur community Start-up Grind and an investor panel with valued ACS partner, the Aussie Founders Network.

There is a lots of talk about the global glut of capital and how the rise of the mega-round

is pushing out traditional seed and series A [funding]. People have called this the end of the lean

start-up movement - it's hard to fail fast when you have $10m in the bank. Many of us see

nothing but risk in this model though, particularly for early stage companies. The Australian

approach of be lean, then get fat (props to the indomitable @DuncanDavidson for this delightful

phrase) can give our companies a unique advantage.

- Kylie Frazer, mission attendee

The fund model that I found most interesting was one identifying early stage tech companies that were likely to IPO in 18-24 months and then assisting founders and team members with cash flow by buying vested company shares so that founders and employees could buy houses and education for their children at a time that would otherwise be beyond their reach.

For me, other key takeaways were:

 The large Corporate Venture funds used to go looking for a home run, however in todays environment, if it is not a grand slam, you are not going to be ringing the bell on Wall Street.

 The top of the venture capital funnel is getting wider and broader  the number of big deals though remains roughly the same.

 If you are not a billion-dollar business, large corporate venture funds are not going to be interested because they cant get the returns they need for their investors, which means you need to be turning over $100m or get there as quickly as you can. You really need to decide whether you want to be that business.

 Founders need to be crystal clear on you they need a capital raise, where you are going to spend it and how you will scale with it. Product/market fit is always front and centre, and if your product doesnt automate and scale easily (build once, sell multiple), you may be labelled a lifestyle business.

 Founders need to focus on things that fundamentally change the growth of a company  the best product doesnt always win.

 Are you a venture-backable business? You have to make it easier for US investors. American companies tend to pay the higher purchase price, and there is a premium for growth assets. That said, there are numerous founders knocking on their doors, and you dont want your pitch going into the too hard basket. Flipping (setting up a US holding company) and having a US board are examples of making it easier.

 For investors, founder dilution is a killer and alignment with the founder is key. Tech companies can be an opaque asset class, with returns not published. While you may be looking at returns from listed companies and property in a seven-year time frame, it is more like a ten-year time frame for early stage tech companies.

 No-one ever made money off a term sheet; they make it off people, markets and technology. Term sheets  which are a non-binding agreement laying out the terms of an investment by a VC  need to be kept simple.

I cannot speak more highly of the Startup Catalyst mission as a rewarding experience.

Startup Catalyst's London Tech Week mission is scheduled for 9-15 June 2019. Contact Startup Catalyst for more information.
Remarks: This song came out in 1976, going to #3 on the US pop chart. I remembered this song years later when I was at an actual St Thomas beach (in the Vi...

4 hours ago
For many parts of the country, winter teased us with a mild start. Then mid-January hit, and along came snow, frigid cold, record-breaking wind chills, and ice. This past weekend, blizzard-like conditions pounded already weather-weary farmers in the Midwest.

Unfortunately, this heavy snow proved to be too much for some barns, causing roof collapses. This is similar to what happened last spring, when an unprecedented blizzard struck the northern United States in late April and caused major structural damage.

If snow is piling up on any buildings on your farm, take steps to lighten that load before it is too late. According to Agricultural Engineer Kevin Janni with University of Minnesota Extension, one way to remove the snow is by physically shoveling it off. There are major safety concerns with this approach, so he recommended the use ladders and safety ropes when working on a snow covered and icy roof.

There are snow rakes or other tools that can be used to pull snow off a roof while standing on the ground. Again, caution must be used to avoid hitting overhead electrical power lines. Janni noted that excessive scraping with such a tool to chip off ice could cause damage and lead to a leak in the roof.

If the weather is not too cold, hot water or a heat source can be used to melt snow and ice. Janni said that another method of melting snow includes warming the inside of a building with large heaters to melt the ice layer on the roof, which will eventually slide off with the snow. This approach takes a lot of heat and can only be done in an open-trussed structure.

No matter what method is used to remove snow, care must be taken to make sure no ice or snow chunks fall on people or animals below.

The best way to guarantee a building wont collapse in the snow is to ensure that it has been engineered and built properly to withstand such a weight load. According to University of Wisconsin-Madisons David Bohnhoff, a lack of structural engineering is to blame for many agricultural building failures. To learn more about this problem, read the article, These buildings met their match, which ran in the November 2018 issue of Hoards Dairyman.

Winter weather adds challenges to an already demanding career. Please take the time to maintain the safety of people and animals on your farm.

Abby Bauer

The author is an associate editor and covers animal health, dairy housing and equipment, and nutrient management. She grew up on a dairy farm near Plymouth, Wis., and previously served as a University of Wisconsin agricultural extension agent. She received a masters degree from North Carolina State University and a bachelors from University of Wisconsin-Madison.
This time of year brings youth indoors for competitions. In a few months, they will be outdoors working with their animals on a more regular basis. In the meantime, they are honing their other skills. Over the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to watch and judge youth speaking contests.

While a good voice is a strong component on a speech, there are different characteristics that make a good voice. Some may think of the very strong, deep, and direct voice of a leader as the best option.

Yet, there were other presenters that did not have that booming voice, yet were effective. One young lady had a very calming voice, as if to invite you personally into her circle of friends as she discussed a topic. Was she loud enough, did she command the room, was she effective? Yes on all three, but quite different from her competitor.

Another young woman had a sharpness to her voice, as if listening to it, she directed you to hear her message but without being overwhelming. One young man was quite charismatic and pulled you into his speech with the simple turn of a few words.

While these are just examples of a few of the styles I witnessed, it reminded me that there is no right speaking style, as long as it is yours. While some have crafted their skill in delivery, we all have talents within our control to make our delivery effective.

The youth programs I witnessed were part of an FFA speaking event and a state Holstein Association competition. The FFA program was Discussion Meet, which gives high school students the chance to mimic a committee meeting; bringing ideas to the table, discussing them (not debating them); and presenting their summations. At the California Holstein Associations convention, youth competed in prepared public speaking contests.

There was great participation at each event. In the prepared speaking contest, the younger ages showed greater participation than the older groups. It was encouraging to see young people starting on a path to communication early in life.

When one adult addressed the group of Holstein enthusiasts, she asked how many of them liked to give speeches. More than a handful replied with a raised hand. At that age myself, I would not have raised my hand  I would have sat on both of them. But through programs that develop leadership skills, communication skills seem to follow.

While not everyone likes giving speeches, they are a great mode of sharing our stories. As fewer people are familiar with life on a modern dairy farm, we need to share our experiences with them. And that can start at a young age. While most might think that social media communication and speaking about life on a farm is for the adults, young people (as young as age 9) had the chance to learn some of the basics of sharing their ag story at the convention.

The presenter gave the example of being at a show and a fairgoer asks questions about the youths dairy animal. She asked for volunteers and a dozen hands went up. While she could not perform the scenario that many times, a few were able to participate. The youth learned sharing was a positive experience  not as a defensive or negative one. And the children were excited to do it!

She reminded the group that not everyone is trying to find fault in their practices. Most people simply just want to learn about animal agriculture because it is so foreign to them. If there was a question that they did not know the answer, she instructed them to admit that they did not know the answer and refer them to an adult who could provide a response.

Going forward, these brave young people will serve our industry, and agriculture well.

The author is the online media manager and is responsible for the website, webinars, and social media. A graduate of Modesto Junior College and Fresno State, she was raised on a California dairy and frequently blogs on youth programs and consumer issues.
The Supreme Court last week struck a blow against one of the most insidious practices of the American criminal justice system: the unfair confiscation of property from people convicted  or even merely suspected  of committing a crime. So-called civil asset forfeiture has been a cash cow for police departments even as it has disproportionately impoverished poor people and people of color.

The court unanimously held that seizures by state governments of property used in the commission of a crime are covered by the 8th Amendments ban on excessive fines for criminal conduct. It is just the latest of many protections in the Bill of Rights that the court has held to be applicable not just to the federal government but to the states as well because they are incorporated by the 14th Amendment.

In this case, the court sided with Tyson Timbs, an Indiana man whose $42,000 Land Rover SUV was seized in a civil forfeiture action after he pleaded guilty to selling $225 worth of heroin to undercover police officers. The state had argued that the vehicle was used to transport heroin. Timbs will now be able to argue in state court that the seizure of his vehicle was grossly disproportionate to the offense for which he was convicted.

In her majority opinion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg explained why it was important that the ban on excessive fines applied to the states. She noted that the protection against excessive fines has been a constant shield throughout Anglo-American history: Exorbitant tolls undermine other constitutional liberties.

The decision, however, is a limited one. It leaves open the question of whether and under what circumstances a forfeiture of assets sought by state officials is sufficiently punitive to trigger the ban on excessive fines.

State and federal law enforcement agencies can seize assets even when no criminal charge has been filed against their owner. The legal fiction is that the forfeiture is aimed not at the owner but at the property being used in the commission of a crime.

Ideally, the decision will lead to more judicial oversight of civil asset forfeiture. But reform is also possible at the legislative level. In 2016, California enacted a law that required a criminal conviction for the state to benefit from the seizure of property valued at up to $40,000 as the result of a joint state-federal operation.

If property is to be seized by the government, it should be from individuals who have been convicted of a crime  and even then the punishment must be proportional. The goal must be justice, not a windfall for police coffers.

-- Los Angeles Times

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The case of actor Jussie Smollett and the elements of suspicion and hate surrounding it, ends up being more about us than anything else.

Last month, the Empire actor reported two men using racial and homophobic slurs attacked him in Chicago. A reported 20 Chicago police worked the case for three weeks, finally unraveling an allegation that Smollett planned the attack and paid two men for their role in it. Thursday, Smollett turned himself in to face a felony charge of disorderly conduct, which could bring up to three years in prison.

All of us should be appalled that he filed a false report. We also should refuse to buy into any attempt for him to justify the actions.

But certainly we can also agree that if there were a real attack that resulted in something close to his fabrication, that would be horrific and appalling. And we can believe an attack like the one described happened. Reports of people attacking one another fill our news feeds daily.

We live in a society that can make a decision with just one or two pieces of information. In making sure we don't blame the victim, we often immediately side with the aggrieved, assuming no one would manufacture something so hideous.

Yet we've heard any number of recent cases in Decatur-area towns of financial malfeasance. Police have reported finding embezzlement in locations as diverse as the Taylorville YMCA, the treasurer of the Illinois city of Ziegler, a physician in Clinton, banks and more. These kinds of crimes are borne either of desperation or a sociopathic belief that they won't be caught. Yet invariably they are.

People who were shamed when the report first rose are now quick to be on the attack over perceived hypocrisy of those who believed Smollett's report unilaterally and are now quiet.

And they're right. Those quick to determine a story that turned out to be wholly incorrect was true are wrong. They should apologize. Smollett, if found guilty, must pay whatever price our justice system decides.

He could be made to pay for the police's time wasted investigating something he made up.

This isn't the first time a story has been concocted, investigated and determined to be a fabrication. It won't be the last.

We're too often willing to finish the story to fit our own private and political ends. Too many of us are keeping track of wins and losses rather than actually making an attempt to even listen to a single thing.

When the next incredible story comes along, maybe we should all take a deep breath instead of running to social media to share our thoughts on something about which we really know very little.

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DECATUR  Decatur police are investigating the reported theft of a pickup truck from a Decatur business by a man who was found walking along Interstate 72 Saturday night and apprehended by the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office on an unrelated warrant.

Decatur police detective Sgt. Chris Copeland said the 46-year-old man did not show up for work Saturday but attempted to retrieve his paycheck about 3 p.m. About 10:30 a.m. Monday morning, the business was informed that one of its pickup trucks was parked on I-72 just west of the Mechanicsburg exit, Copeland said. The employer reported the vehicle stolen Monday afternoon and told police the 46-year-old man may have taken it.

After the stolen vehicle report was made, Sangamon County reported making contact with the man Saturday, Copeland said

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A Sangamon County deputy said he was driving on I-72, when he spotted a male and a female walking alongside the interstate, Copeland said. The man told the deputy he had been in a truck belonging to his employer, and it broke down near the Mechanicsburg exit, Copeland said. Illinois State Police tagged the vehicle as abandoned, Copeland said.

Speaking Tuesday, Sangamon County deputy Travis Dalby said the man was arrested on a Montgomery County warrant charging him with driving without a valid license, but he was released Tuesday morning when the warrant was quashed, or nullified.

Decatur police said they were seeking the man, and their investigation was ongoing.

2019 mug shots from the Herald & Review

Contact Kennedy Nolen at (217) 421-6985.

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URBANA  A 22-year-old Decatur man was arraigned Monday on charges he sexually exploited children as young as 4 to obtain pornographic images.

Cornell D.A. Johnson appeared in federal court in Urbana to face allegations that, on four occasions between December 2018 and January, he exploited seven minors to get them to engage in sexually explicit conduct.

Its alleged this conduct was used to produce graphic images that Johnson collected. Johnson is also charged with being in possession of child pornography when he was arrested Feb. 4. His indictment was returned by a grand jury Feb. 20.

In a statement, U.S. Department of Justice spokeswoman Sharon Paul said it is alleged Johnson was in contact with children aged from 4 to 16 via Facebook, where Johnson pretended to be a teenage female. Facebook detected the pornographic images and generated what Paul called cybertip reports which were sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Law enforcement officers from multiple agencies then used the computer information to identify children in Alabama, Delaware and Ohio, and tracked down Johnsons email address.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Eric I. Long ruled at Mondays hearing that Johnson shall remain detained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. A trial date was set for April 29. If convicted, Johnson faces a maximum 30 years in prison on each of the sexual exploitation charges and up to 10 years in prison for possession of child pornography. All the offenses carry maximum fines up to $250,000.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elly M. Peirson who acknowledged the investigative work of the Decatur Police Department, the Illinois Attorney Generals Office Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations.

Contact Tony Reid at (217) 421-7977. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyJReid

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Gernant and MacDonald also say county governments all over Montana spend money sending out bills and notices to these properties and hiring Sheriffs departments to post auction notices. Gernant said Missoula County often spends $150 to collect on a $70 tax bill, which means the owners are on the hook for $220 in that case, making it even more likely their home will get sold at auction.

MacDonald said the people in her district who would be affected by the bill all work full-time jobs and struggle to make ends meet due to Montanas low wages and unexpected healthcare bills.

This bill provides strategic tax relief to keep families in their homes by focusing on the oldest, lowest-value and least revenue-producing mobile homes, she noted. Across our state many Montanans lose their homes every year at county auctions due to tax debts that are frequently below $200. This is because mobile homes are usually taxed as personal property.

How state law allows taxing jurisdictions to pursue mobile home taxes is much different than when people fall behind on, for example, a property tax bill for a single-family home on land they own.

And when it comes to delinquent personal property taxes, in this instance mostly mobile homes, statute provides limited options for the government to move forward.
The Montana Newspaper Association and the Montana Broadcasters Association spoke against the bill, citing First Amendment concerns and saying the ownership information is already available.

"I don't think it's one person's opinion, I would say it's 70 years of case law and two constitutions that say that the right of what goes into the newspaper belongs to those who run the newspaper," said John MacDonald, lobbyist for the Montana Newspaper Association.

He said most newspapers disclose their ownership and leadership in every edition.

Keith Teske with the Montana Broadcasters Association and general manager of Cowles Montana Media said the Federal Communications Commission requires TV stations to disclose their ownership and the information is readily available on the FCC website via links from the station websites.

"As broadcasters we're licensed to serve our communities and we have to demonstrate that to the FCC every time we renew our license," Teske said. "Regardless of where our headquarters is located, we make substantial investment in the people and the resources necessary to provide news and information."

The committee did not vote on the bill, which did not have a legal note, staffers said.

Read said he was open to reducing the type size for the disclosure, saying he called for the large font to make people pay attention and get the discussion going.

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The Montana Legislature is considering a handful of bills that would loosen restrictions around requirements for vaccinations.

Last month, nearby Washington state declared a state of emergency after 66 people there were diagnosed with measles. Three cases of mumps were confirmed in Bozeman just two weeks ago. Vaccinations protect against both diseases.

Many people who testified Monday in support of the bills said their children had suffered harm after being given routine childhood vaccinations or said they had suffered after receiving vaccinations as a child, adding their opposition should not be looked at through the lens of what's happening in other states.

Opponents to the bills said children who are not vaccinated for religious reasons put those who are too young or medically unable to be vaccinated at risk, pointing out diseases are just a car ride away.
The Helena Police Department responded to 54 calls for service. Of those calls, they responded to six vehicle crashes, nine welfare checks, two trespassing complaints and five suspicious circumstance calls.

As of Monday morning, the county jail held 92 inmates (85 for felonies and seven for misdemeanors). In total, the county has 118 inmates at various detention facilities. There are 102 clients 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 284 clients.


How to Score Trumps China Deal



In any deal, investors should look for real economic reforms from Beijingnot just commitments to buy more U.S. goods



By Nathaniel Taplin













U.S. tariffs on $200 billion of imports from China were set to rise sharply next Saturday. Now President Trump, citing substantial progress during trade talks, says the increases are on hold. He hopes to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping to negotiate a sweeping accord.



Failing to reach agreement nowafter so much positive talkwould hit markets and business confidence hard. So how should investors benchmark a deal?



The first question is whether it emphasizes discrete Chinese purchases to narrow the bilateral trade gap, or real changes to Chinese economic policies. Buying more U.S. oil, gas and agricultural products could help U.S. drillers and farmers, but also cannibalize the exports of allies like Canada and Australia.



China has reportedly offered to quintuple imports of U.S. semiconductorsbut partially by asking U.S. companies to move chip-testing and assembly lines based in countries like Mexico and Malaysia to China. This would narrow the U.S. deficit with China, but dent its exports to those other countries. It would also add to the risk of intellectual-property theft and the problem of China-centric supply chains.



Poaching Chinese purchases from allies and redirecting U.S. exports from other places to China isnt a good deal for U.S. security, workers or corporations. Whats needed is real changes to Chinas unfair practices on intellectual property, foreign investment and subsidies.







Whats on the table? Photo: JACQUELYN MARTIN/ASSOCIATED PRESS





Some possible big breakthroughs: an end to joint-venture requirements for foreign companies; much stiffer minimum penalties for intellectual-property infractions in Chinese courts; and much more transparent product-approval processes, with expedited appeal mechanisms involving an international arbiter such as the World Trade Organization. Arduous regulatory approvals and pressure from JV partners are two ways foreign designs fall into Chinese hands.



Annual quotas on Hollywood movies could be eliminated. China could commit to reducing average tariffs economywide to OECD levels within five years, fully open government procurement to foreign companies and halve the number of sectors closed to foreign investment. It could finally publish a comprehensive list of subsidies and offer a plan to make equally available to foreign companies in China or else phase them out.



These are big asks from Chinas perspectivebut that is precisely the point. If Beijing wants relatively unfettered access to U.S. markets, it needs to show its serious about a level playing field. Enforcement will also be key. To ensure compliance, a portion of existing tariffs should remain in place for years, with full tariffs springing back if mandated periodic reviews show noncompliance.



If the final memorandum includes at least some of these big asks, coupled with real enforcement, then investors can conclude that a real deal has been reached, and Sino-U.S. relations have been put on a stronger footing. If not, it wont be long before economic tensions between the two threaten global growthand marketsagain.
AkshayKS21 wrote:

Editorial: In Ledland, unemployed adults receive government assistance. To reduce unemployment, the government proposes to supplement the income of those who accept jobs that pay less than government assistance, thus enabling employers to hire workers cheaply. However, the supplement will not raise any worker's income above what government assistance would provide if he or she were not gainfully employed. Therefore, unemployed people will have no financial incentive to accept jobs that would entitle them to the supplement.



Which of the following, if true about Ledland, most seriously weakens the argument of the editorial?



(A) The government collects no taxes on assistance it provides to unemployed individuals and their families.



(B) Neighboring countries with laws that mandate the minimum wage an employer must pay an employee have higher unemployment rates than Ledland currently has.



(C) At any given time, people who are currently employed have the best chance of being offered a job that will give them an income significantly greater than government assistance would give them.



(D) The financial assistance that the government provides to people who have no other income is less than the average starting wage.



(E) People sometimes choose a job for reasons that have nothing to do with the financial benefits it offers.



Argument summary:

Premise: Unemployed adults receive X dollars from the government

Premise: If you get a low-paying job, the government tops up your pay to X dollars

Conclusion: Since people get paid X dollars in both scenarios, unemployed people have no incentive to accept low-paying jobs.

Our goal is to weaken this conclusion.

low-paying





A focused approach to GMAT mastery Signature Read More

(A) The government collects no taxes on assistance it provides to unemployed individuals and their families.This actually strengthens the conclusion.Unemployed people who receive X dollars from the government pay zero taxesPeople in low-paying jobs still receive a total of X dollars, BUT they may have to pay taxes on their incomeGiven this situation, people pay fewer taxes if they're unemployed.ELIMINATE A(B) Neighboring countries with laws that mandate the minimum wage an employer must pay an employee have higher unemployment rates than Ledland currently has.What occurs in neighboring countries has no bearing on what occurs in LedlandELIMINATE B(C) At any given time, people who are currently employed have the best chance of being offered a job that will give them an income significantly greater than government assistance would give them.Aha!So, having a job (albeit low-paying) increases your chances of securing a high-paying job.So, unemployed people have an incentive to accept low-paying jobsKEEP C(D) The financial assistance that the government provides to people who have no other income is less than the average starting wage.Irrelevant. All that matters here is that people receive a total of X dollars can both situations.ELIMINATE D(E) People sometimes choose a job for reasons that have nothing to do with the financial benefits it offers.There's no mention here about choosing jobs that are(the main point in the entire argument)ELIMINATE EAnswer: CCheers,Brent_________________
advikaggarwal wrote:

Hi



Maybe because people are saying GMAT has become tougher, has lengthier RCs, and has meaning based SCs etc. , I am feeling a bit nervous in booking the date. Please guide.




English Lithuanian

The INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund, the largest private equity investment fund in the Baltics, completed the acquisition of a 70% stake in the InMedica health care clinics chain. The transaction, whose value is not being disclosed, was completed after the permission of the Competition Council was obtained and other contractual terms were fulfilled. The INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund is managed by INVL Asset Management, one of Lithuanias leading asset management companies.

Were pleased to have closed the first acquisition of a fund portfolio company and do believe that working together with its management we are in a position to create a leading company in the private health care sector with potential to grow not only on a national but also a regional Baltic scale, said Deimante Korsakaite, the executive partner of the INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund.

InMedica, which operates a network of 18 clinics in a variety of Lithuanian cities, offers family medicine, specialist treatment, dentistry and other health care services. In 2018, based on the unaudited data the companys revenue saw 39% increase and reached EUR 9.6 million to compare with EUR 6.9 million generated in 2017.

As the countrys economy and peoples income grow, we see an increasing need for quality medical services with instant access. Drawing on our experience developing promising businesses, well seek to take the company to an even higher qualitative level, thus strengthening its position in this sector even more, said Nerijus Drobavicius, an INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund partner and the director of BSGF Sanus.

The change of strategic partner is recognition of what weve achieved so far and at the same time a challenge to live up to the new partners expectations. Were grateful to BaltCap for years of partnership that helped our company grow in both size and quality. We also aim to work constructively with the new investors team, confident its accumulated experience will enable us to even better organize our activities, expand our services and fulfil our mission of helping patients get well, said Laura Penikiene, the executive director of InMedica.

Kornelijus Celutka, the BaltCap partner who worked with InMedica throughout the investment cycle, noted: We would like to thank InMedicas highly motivated management team and wish them and the company success in their future endeavours with the new investor.

The 70% stake in the InMedica chain was acquired by BSGF Sanus, which is owned by the INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund. The fund, after holding its first closing in February this year, began its investment activity and took over BSGF Sanus from Invalda INVL at acquisition cost.

Launched in June 2018, the INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund seeks to invest in medium-size companies with an attractive risk-return ratio, providing them with capital for further growth. In its investments, the fund focuses on taking controlling or significant minority stakes and plays an active role in the management of target companies, aiming to significantly increase their value over the long term. On completing its first closing in February 2019 at EUR 106 million, the INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund became the largest private equity investment fund in the Baltic countries.

The funds anchor investor is the European Investment Fund (EIF), part of the European Investment Bank Group, which has committed to invest EUR 30 million, backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments, the heart of the Investment Plan for Europe, or Juncker Plan. The EIF has committed resources from the Baltic Innovation Fund, a fund-of-funds initiative launched with the Governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in order to boost equity investments into Baltic small and medium-size businesses with high growth potential.

Currently the fund is continuing to form its core portfolio and negotiating on other potential investments. In early February the signing of agreement regarding the acquisition of a controlling equity stake in Montuotojas AB was announced. That transaction will be completed once the permission of the Competition Council is obtained and other terms of the agreement are fulfilled. It is expected that the overall portfolio of INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund will comprise of 8-12 investments.

INVL Asset Management is part of the Invalda INVL group, whose companies manage pension and mutual funds, alternative investments, private equity assets, individual portfolios, and other financial instruments. They have assets under management of more than EUR 650 million, entrusted to them by over 190 000 clients in Lithuania and Latvia as well as international investors.





Person authorized to provide additional information:

Deimante Korsakaite

the Executive Partner of the INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund

E-mail: deimante.korsakaite@invl.com
ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via OTC PR WIRE -- Elev8 Brands, Inc. (OTCQB: VATE), a holding company (the "Company") focused on the commercial development of hemp and cannabinoid infused beverages is traveling north this week to be a part of the Annual CHEXPO show in Rhode Island.

CEO of the Company, Mr. Ryan Medico, states, We are thrilled to be invited to the CHEXPO so quickly after partnering with Chex Finer Foods. Even better, we are excited to be the first publicly traded company to be releasing a CBD Iced Tea and Iced Coffee.



Elev8 Brands' newest distributor located in Massachusetts, Chex Finer Foods, Inc. (CFFI), a third generation, family owned specialty & natural foods distributor, has invited the Company to be a vendor at the 2019 Chex Finer Foods CHEXPO Spring/Summer Selling Show. This is a two-day event located at Twin River Casino in Rhode Island on Tuesday, February 26th and Wednesday, February 27th. Elev8 Brands will be on site to promote and hand out samples of hemp coffee and tea products, including the new cannabinoid infused iced tea. Both CBD infused beverages, iced tea and iced coffee, will be available for preorders at this event.



Medico continues, While there are other companies promoting CBD goods at CHEXPO, Elev8 is the only company onsite with Hemp and CBD Coffees and Teas. Our sales reps have already spoken with a handful of attendees who are anticipating seeing us there and placing orders for the summer. In fact, we have our first official preorder, thanks to Synergy Distributors.



Synergy Distributors has its goals set on being the premier distributor in Southeastern Wisconsin of hemp and CBD products. They quickly jumped at the opportunity to add Elev8 Hemps CBD infused iced coffee to their arsenal. This comes just weeks before the product will be available in the market. The Company has stated that this is the first order for its cannabinoid infused iced coffee. Given the high anticipation of its release, Elev8 is expecting to presell their entire initial run of product.

About Elev8 Brands, Inc.:

Elev8 Brands, Inc. specializes in the development and marketing of products for the fitness and wellness markets. The company is founded based on creating high-quality, sustainable, products for health-conscious consumers.



About Elev8 Hemp LLC:

Elev8 Hemp LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Elev8 Brands, Inc. which focuses on the development and marketing of hemp-based food, beverage, and health care products including hemp coffee and hemp tea.



About 02 Breathe LLC:

02 Breathe is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Elev8 Brands, Inc. which focuses on their oxygen bar while bringing in an array of CBD products. O2 Breathe carries CBD tinctures, CBD vape, CBD lotions and massage products. 02 Breathe is currently looking to offer CBD at their oxygen bar.



About Zoe CBD LLC:

Zoe CBD is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Elev8 Brands, Inc. which focuses on the development and marketing of CBD-based products such as CBD Tinctures, CBD E-Juice, CBD Lotion and CBD Salve.



Please visit, http://www.zoecbd.com for more information



www.facebook.com/elev8hemp

www.instagram.com/elev8hemp

www.twitter.com/elev8hemp

www.02breathe.com

Safe Harbor Statement:

The information posted in this release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements by use of the words "may," "will," "should," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimate," "project," "intend," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic and business conditions, effects of continued geopolitical unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, delays in completing various engineering and manufacturing programs, changes in customer order patterns, changes in product mix, continued success in technological advances and delivering technological innovations, shortages in components, production delays due to performance quality issues with outsourced components, and various other factors beyond the Company's control.



www.elev8hemp.com

(407) 377-6693

ir@elev8hemp.com
LAS VEGAS, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Via OTCMASSMEDIA.COM -- International Spirits and Beverage Group Inc. (OTCMKTS: ISBG) (ISBG or the Company), a top-tier brand incubator in the Global Wine & Spirits and CBD-Infused Products markets, is excited to announce that live sales of its new line of CBD Topicals have commenced. The new products are now available at buyp19.com, the Companys new e-commerce portal.



A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d77dc9ee-e259-4541-86ea-9139e702581e

The line of topical CBD creams are available for purchase alongside the Companys already established line of P19 CBD Gummies. The P19 Topicals line currently consists of three different levels of potency: P19 Pain Cream 300MG CBD, P19 Pain Cream 750MG CBD, and P19 Pain Cream 1500MG CBD.

All versions feature an all-natural icy/hot, odor-free burst to deeply penetrate sore muscles and joints and deliver premium-quality CBD through the superior bioavailability that comes from the Companys nano-infusion manufacturing process, achieved in partnership with the team at BioPulse Labs, Inc.

We now have a growing stable of premium quality products in the CBD space doing strong sales, notes ISBG CEO Terry Williams. We promised our investors that we would launch our Topicals product on February 22. And thats exactly what we delivered. We will continue to launch new products over coming weeks, which will put us in position to capitalize on the powerful growth curve set to shape this marketplace in the months and quarters ahead.

Management notes that estimates for growth in the CBD space have been powerfully bolstered by the signing of the 2018 Farm Bill into law, with some firms looking for a jump to well over $20 billion in total CBD sales in North America over the next 3 years  a 10-fold increase from current levels.

According to recent research, the Company believes that CBD topical creams are set to become an important resource for consumers seeking relief from a wide range of conditions, including arthritis, inflammation, joint pain, and muscle soreness.

The growth estimates for the CBD space are predicated upon the idea that it is an effective product that very few consumers currently know about or understand, continues Mr. Williams. In other words, there is a ton of low-hanging fruit out there. As the wider population becomes more aware of CBD, growth will escalate dramatically. We feel great about our positioning right now, and we will continue to meet with prospective advisory talent as we work to build out our newly established Health and Wellness Division. We are not doing this half way. We plan to be the best of breed in the space.

About ISBG: International Spirits and Beverage Group (ISBG) is an authorized importer, licensor, and marketer of premium beverage brands, with sales of innovative products and brands worldwide. Based in Nevada, the Company's expertise lies in the strategic development and aggressive early growth of its brands and the establishment of these brands as viable and profitable as an incubator. ISBG intends to nurture emerging brands through critical stages of market development, including conceptualization, go-to-market strategy, supply chain and logistics engineering, integrated marketing, and distribution. In addition, ISBG has now established itself as a health and wellness company with a focus on reshaping the CBD products market through state-of-the-art nanotechnology processes, developing a wide range of nano-infused CBD gummies and beverages formulations. These products will be sold through the Companys website, as well as through established wholesale and retail distribution channels. The company has also partnered with Bengala Technologies to develop and commercialize enterprise and B2B software technology products targeting the logistics and supply-chain marketplace.



Forward Looking Statements: This press release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements relate to future events or our future financial performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology including "could", "may", "will", "should", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "predict", "potential" and the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. While these forward-looking statements, and any assumptions upon which they are based, are made in good faith and reflect our current judgment regarding the direction of our business, actual results will almost always vary, sometimes materially, from any estimates, predictions, projections, assumptions or other future performance suggested in this report. Except as required by applicable law, we do not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements so as to conform these statements to actual results. Investors should refer to the risks disclosed in the Company's reports filed from time to time with OTC Markets (www.otcmarkets.com).



Contact:

For Additional Investor Information:

International Spirit & Beverage Group, Inc.

info@isbg.global




CALGARY, Alberta, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FluroTech Ltd. (TSX-V: TEST) (OTCQB: FLURF), (FluroTech or the Company) is pleased to announce material developments related to the Companys proprietary biomarker technology for cannabis and hemp plant cultivation and THC and CBD extract oils.



FluroTechs plant biologist, Dr. MacMillan, and a team of nanoscientists, recently completed proof of concept that the Companys water-based biomarker is being taken up through the root system of cannabis and hemp plants, so that the nanoparticles are absorbed throughout the plants leaves, stems and buds. Once absorbed, the biomarker can then easily be extracted, detected and quantified by the CompleTest system, FluroTechs spectroscopy-based technology. This process will allow for the testing and identification of organic and inorganic chemicals in biological samples derived from cannabis plants. This development, coupled with the previously announced proof of concept to specifically label cannabis oils, allows for the source of the cannabis to be tracked through the entire supply chain.

Introducing the biomarker through the typical cannabis facilities system allows the plant roots to safely absorb the biomarker, and the plant matter to be efficiently marked. FluroTech anticipates current DNA marking technologies that utilize spraying will not be acceptable under future Health Canadas regulations, stated Dr. Elmar Prenner, Chief Technology Officer at FluroTech. We are confident that this proof of concept will put us in a position to provide the cannabis and hemp industries for the first time with a total seed-to-sale tracking solution.

The Company has begun beta-test preparation of the cannabis extract oil soluble biomarkers. Initially, the biomarkers will have ten codes utilizing two different colors. These biomarkers will be added to the extract oil, then processed through an optimization sequence. The CompleTest system is able to test an extraction sample as well as decode the specific biomarker in order to identify the source of the oil.

Legal cannabis markets around the world continue to express concern about black market production entering regulated systems. Regulators, responsible for consumer protection, have noted an increase in the number of these allegations. Legal growers need to protect their brands and reputation, which we believe creates an expanding market for our technology, commented Danny Dalla-Longa, Chief Executive Officer of FluroTech. Our biomarking technology will assist in the suppression of the illegal cannabis market and provide protection of proprietary strains for growers. A recent Scotiabank report estimates that Canadas black market will make up over 70% of 2019 cannabis sales.

With the recent biomarking developments, the Company has initiated the patent process. Additionally, FluroTech is in ongoing discussions with government officials and potential joint-venture partners to determine the best path to commercialization.

About FluroTech (TSX-V: TEST) (OTCQB: FLURF)

FluroTech is a technology and marketing company whose core business is focused on the commercialization of new technologies in the cannabis industry. FluroTechs proprietary spectroscopy-based technology allows for the testing and identification of organic and inorganic compounds contained within biological samples. Using the technology that was developed at the University of Calgary, FluroTech has developed a two-part solution comprising an instrument called the CompleTest and consumable testing kits.

To learn more, visit www.FluroTech.com .

Contact Information

Danny Dalla-Longa

Chief Executive Officer

403.680.0644

danny@flurotech.com

FluroTech Ltd.

Alistair Ross Technology Centre

Suite 111, 3553-31 Street NW

Calgary, AB T2L 2K7

info@flurotech.com

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities. The securities described herein have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the securities laws of any state and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to or for the benefit or account of U.S. persons, absent such registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information generally refers to information about an issuers business, capital, or operations that is prospective in nature, and includes future-oriented financial information about the issuers prospective financial performance or financial position. The forward-looking information in this news release includes disclosure about the successful implementation and benefits of the Companys biomarking technology, the ability to detect the biomarkers using CompleTest and the benefits thereof, the market need for this technology, the timing and successful completion of beta-testing of the technology, the content of future Health Canada regulations, the market for the Companys technology, the Companys plans to obtain patent protection for the technology and the timing thereof, and future plans for commercialization.

The Company made certain material assumptions, including but not limited to prevailing market conditions and general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties, the need and demand for biomarking technology in the cannabis industry and the content of future regulations applicable to the Cannabis industry, to develop the forward-looking information in this news release. 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.

Actual results may vary from the forward-looking information in this news release due to certain material risk factors. These risk factors include, but are not limited to, adverse market conditions and regulatory and other risks associated with the cannabis industry in general, users of the Companys biomarking technology and the CompleTest failing to achieve the anticipated benefits of the product, changes to the anticipated regulatory regime in respect of the cannabis industry, competition from other developers of similar technology, failure to obtain patent protection for the company, failure to reach commercialization of the technology and failure for the products anticipated market to develop. The Company cautions that the foregoing list of material risk factors and assumptions is not exhaustive.

The Company assumes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking information in this news release, unless it is required to do so under Canadian securities legislation.

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 of this release.
LIBERTY LAKE, Wash., Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hunt Mining Corp. ("Hunt" or the "Corporation") (TSXV: HMX OTCQB: HGLD) is once again exhibiting at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) International Conference on Sunday, March 3rd through Wednesday, March 6th.



Members of Hunt Minings management team invite you to visit Booth 2823 and learn the latest on the development of the Corporations flagship, the La Josefina / La Valenciana Project.

The 2019 Investor Exchange at PDAC is being held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building. The hours are 10a  5p Sunday through Tuesday & 9am  12 noon on Wednesday, March 6th.

About Hunt Mining

Hunt Mining Corp. has continued to develop its properties as an active and aggressive explorer in Santa Cruz since 2006. During that time, Hunt's wholly owned subsidiary, Cerro Cazador S.A., has completed exploration activity including 62,000 meters of HQ core drilling, 416 line kilometers of Induced Polarization geophysical surveys and more than 20,000 surface soil, sediment, channel, chip, and trench samples, beyond the historical work previous to the same properties. Hunt also owns a 100% interest in the Martha property, which includes the Martha Project, also located in the Santa Cruz Province of Argentina. This, and additional information can be viewed at www.huntmining.com .

For more information contact:

Dean Stuart

Investor Relations

T: (403) 617-7609

E: dean@boardmarker.net

Bob Little

Chief Administration Officer

T: (509) 290-5659

E: blittle@huntmining.com

Neither the TSX Venture nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

The Corporation has not established the economic viability of the operations on the La Josefina project. As a result, there is increased uncertainty and economic risk of failure associated with these production activities. The Corporation has been involved in a bulk-sampling program approved by Fomicruz, its partner in a potential joint venture on the La Josefina mine operation for the purpose of advancing the prefeasibility study of the La Josefina project.

Mineral resources at La Josefina total 6.5 million tonnes of measured and indicated material grading 0.74 gram per tonne gold and 13.13 grams per tonne silver for 156,000 and 2,757,000 contained gold and silver ounces, respectively. In addition, inferred mineral resources at La Josefina total 450,000 tonnes grading 0.45 gram per tonne gold and 1.21 grams per tonne silver for 6,500 gold and 17,500 silver contained ounces. The foregoing resources are as disclosed in the National Instrument 43-101 technical report dated Sept. 29, 2010, entitled "Technical Report Gold-Silver Resources Estimate of the La Josephina Project," prepared for the company and available on SEDAR.

Martha - Ongoing activity at the Martha Project is being undertaken without established mineral resources or reserves and the Corporation has not established the economic viability of the operations on the Martha Project. As a result, there is increased uncertainty and economic risk of failure associated with these activities. Hunt filed an updated NI 43-101 Technical Report (Technical Report) for the Martha Project, dated October 12, 2018 titled Martha Silver and Gold Project, Santa Cruz, Argentina, which is currently available on SEDAR and on the Corporations website at:
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 21C Metals Inc. (formerly Declan Cobalt Inc.) ("21C Metals" or the "Company") (CSE: BULL) (FRA: DCR1) (OTCQB: DCNNF) announces that its wholly-owned subsidiary, East Bull Resources Inc. has entered into an option agreement (the Agreement) with Pavey Ark Minerals Inc. ("Pavey Ark"), to acquire a 100% interest in the East Bull palladium property in the Sudbury Mining Division (Ontario) (the "Property").



P&E Mining Consultants Inc. of Brampton, Ontario has prepared a NI 43-101 compliant report on the Property dated April 5, 2018 (the "43-101 Report"). The NI 43-101 Report references a pit-constrained inferred resource of 11.1 million tonnes of 1.46 grams per tonne (523,000 ounces) palladium equivalent. The NI 43-101 Report is available for review at www.paveyarkminerals.com , and will be filed on SEDAR within 180 days of this announcement. The Property consists of approximately 1000 hectares covering more than 3.6 kilometres of the East Bull layered intrusion. This area consists of an inclusion bearing zone hosting palladium mineralization.

The 43-101 Report recommends an exploration program to extend and define the known mineralization. The Company has not undertaken any independent detailed investigation of the information contained in NI 43-101 Report in order to verify the accuracy of the information. However, the Company believes that following the recommended exploration work program will increase the current resource and help to define the extent of the palladium mineralization.

The price of palladium has recently increased such that it now exceeds that of gold. Palladium is the principal element used in internal combustion engine catalytic converters. Deposits are rare, found generally in South Africa, Russia, Montana and the Sudbury Basin in Ontario, where the Property is located. High demand for palladium is expected to continue due to many jurisdictions (including China) implementing more stringent domestic emissions standards.

Mr. Wayne Tisdale, CEO of the Company reports:

"We are pleased to have closed this transaction to acquire a palladium resource located within 70 kilometres of Sudbury, Ontario. By pursuing the recommended work program referenced in the 43-101, this resource appears to have excellent potential to add palladium ounces to the current estimate. This palladium asset perfectly complements our current Tisova copper-cobalt project. At 21C Metals, we are actively pursuing the metals required for current production demand (palladium) while also preparing for the ever-increasing demand for cobalt and copper. We call our strategy Metals for Today and Tomorrow ."

Pursuant to the Agreement, and over a period of four years (should the Company elect to continue), the Company is obliged to incur $1,750,000 in exploration expenditures, issue $975,000 in cash payments, and issue an aggregate of 4.5 million common shares of 21C Metals to Pavey Ark in accordance with the following schedule:

Minimum Exploration Expenditures Common Shares Issued Cash Issued Due Date - - $ 25,000 On Term Sheet signing (paid) - 750,000 $ 75,000 Within 5 days of signing $ 250,000 750,000 $ 150,000 On or before March 1, 2020 $ 500,000 1,000,000 $ 200,000 On or before March 1, 2021 $ 500,000 1,000,000 $ 250,000 On or before March 1, 2022 $ 500,000 1,000,000 $ 300,000 On or before March 1, 2023 $ 1,750,000 4,500,000 $ 975,000

For additional information please contact:

21C Metals Inc.

Wayne Tisdale, President and CEO

T: (604) 639-4455

Reader Advisory

The Company has not undertaken any independent detailed investigation of the information contained in NI 43-101 Report in order to verify the accuracy of the information or whether the information was prepared in accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101. However, the Company believes that following the recommended exploration work program will increase the current resource and help to define the extent of the palladium mineralization.

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. In particular, forward-looking information in this press release includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to timing of entering into of a definitive agreement, the conditions to entering into of a definitive agreement, the proposed terms of the transaction and the proposed exploration work program on the Property. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. We cannot guarantee future results, performance or achievements. Consequently, there is no representation that the actual results achieved will be the same, in whole or in part, as those set out in the forward-looking information.

Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information. Some of the risks and other factors that could cause the results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information include, but are not limited to: general economic conditions in Canada and globally; industry conditions, including governmental regulation and environmental regulation; failure to obtain industry partner and other third party consents and approvals, if and when required; the availability of capital on acceptable terms; the need to obtain required approvals from regulatory authorities; stock market volatility; liabilities inherent in mining operations; competition for, among other things, skilled personnel and supplies; incorrect assessments of the value of acquisitions; geological, technical, processing and transportation problems; changes in tax laws and incentive programs; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of acquisitions and dispositions; and the other factors. Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive.

The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. We undertake no duty to update any of the forward-looking information to conform such information to actual results or to changes in our expectations except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
English Finnish

Fingrid Oyj

Stock exchange release 26 February 2019 at 10:00 AM EET





Fingrid Groups Financial Statements Bulletin January - December 2018: Excellent results in all areas

Stable finances enable controlled transition towards clean power system

Fingrids consolidated financial statements have been drawn up in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Unless otherwise indicated, the figures in parentheses refer to the same period of the previous year. The information published in this report is based on Fingrids audited financial statements for 2018, published in connection with this bulletin.

Fingrids 2018 results were excellent and exceeded expectations.

Finlands electricity consumption in 2018 amounted to 87.4 (85.5) terawatt hours.

Fingrid transmitted a total of 68.6 (66.2) terawatt hours of electricity in its grid, representing 75.5 (75.5) per cent of the total transmission volume in Finland (consumption and inter-TSO).

The transmission reliability rate remained at an excellent level and was 99.9999 (99.9997) per cent.

KEY FIGURES 1-12/18 1-12/17 change % 7-12/18 7-12/17 change % Turnover M 852.8 672.0 26.9 415.9 345.9 20.2 Capital expenditure, gross M 92.7 111.1 -16.6 50.2 52.8 -5.0 - of turnover % 10.9 16.5 12.1 15.3 Research and development expenses M 3.6 2.6 34.8 1.8 1.5 18.4 - of turnover % 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 Average number of employees 376 352 6.8 382 355 7.6 Number of employees at end of period 380 355 7.0 380 355 7.0 Salaries and bonuses, total M 26.5 24.2 9.6 13.2 12.1 8.6 Operating profit M 241.6 184.8 30.8 91.2 81.0 12.6 - of turnover % 28.3 27.5 21.9 23.4 Profit before taxes M 229.0 163.7 39.9 85.3 71.3 19.7 - of turnover % 26.9 24.4 20.5 20.6 Profit for the period M 183.2 130.8 40.0 68.7 56.9 20.6 Comprehensive income for the period M 183.0 130.3 40.5 68.3 56.2 21.5 Cashflow after capital expenditure M 203.9 125.8 62.0 60.5 40.0 51.1 Return on investments (ROI) % 13.2 10.0 Return on equity (ROE) % 23.3 16.7 Equity ratio % 36.6 37.8 36.6 37.8 Interest-bearing net borrowings M 974.3 998.9 -2.5 974.3 998.9 Net gearing 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 Earnings per share  55,106.29 39,350.79 40.0 20,656.83 17,121.38 20.6 Dividend, Series A shares  67,650.00 * 68,470.00 Dividend, Series B shares  24,750.00 * 25,050.00 Equity per share  232,310 240,017 -3.2 Dividend payout ratio, A shares % 122.8 174.0 Dividend payout ratio, B shares % 44.9 63.7 Number of shares  Series A shares qty 2,078 2,078 2,078 2,078  Series B shares qty 1,247 1,247 1,247 1,247 Total qty 3,325 3,325 3,325 3,325 * The Board of Directors proposal to the Annual General Meeting on the maximum dividend to be distributed

Review by Jukka Ruusunen, President & CEO of Fingrid of the the financial statements: High customer confidence  strong finances  excellent operative results  committed personnel

The companys finances are on a stable footing. The factors contributing to the stable finances include predictable long-term regulation and a well-planned 10-year investment programme. Fingrid is one of the most cost-effective transmission system operators (TSOs) in the world, thanks to which our grid service fees are among the lowest in Europe. Our transmission prices have remained the same since the beginning of 2017, and we reduced our prices by eight per cent as of 1 January 2019.

Combatting climate change will call for concrete actions from us in the coming years. Transitioning to a cleaner power system and the electrification of society are important elements of the transformation. Taking this immense task forward requires that the platforms of the power system, in other words the transmission and distribution networks, are in good repair and ready to reliably transmit electricity also in the new operating environment.

Fingrids role as a platform builder and maintainer of the clean power system includes taking care of the main grid and developing it to meet future needs. The main grid is currently in good repair. However, we need to keep our eyes open and be able to anticipate future power transmission needs. One of the worlds largest nuclear power plants will be connected to Finlands power system, and wind power has evolved from its role as a challenger into a financially competitive way means of producing clean electricity.

The electrification of society will further increase the significance of the reliability of electricity supply. Fingrids duties include uninterrupted monitoring and operating of the power system such that society can trust in a reliable supply of electricity. The transmission reliability on the grid during 2018 was excellent: 99.9999 per cent. One of Fingrids long-term goals is to improve the safety culture at work sites and in this way achieve its zero accident objective. The combined accident frequency rate of suppliers and Fingrids personnel decreased significantly from the previous year, to 3.2 (8.5).

Our operations must evolve constantly as the power system becomes increasingly complex and dynamic. Data utilisation and digitalisation will be more and more important tools for us. The operating system of the power system, i.e. the electricity market, requires a version update of immense proportions to be capable of balancing power production and consumption also going forward. Extensive changes are under way and will be implemented in the early 2020s. Electricity trading will then take place in 15-minute periods, the balancing power and reserve markets will function more effectively under the steering of Europe-wide trading platforms and, in Finland, the datahub implemented by Fingrid will digitalise the electricity retail markets and boost their efficiency as well as open the door for regular consumers to become active operators on the marketplace.

Well-functioning stakeholder engagement is a vital key to the success of a TSO. We received global attention for our customer focus and transparency, which are exceptionally strong for a monopoly company, as we were chosen as the worlds best transmission system operator in the CHARGE Awards 2018, an international energy sector brand competition. The message is corroborated by our customer survey: 87 per cent of our customers are willing to endorse Fingrids approach to customer engagement.

Fingrid has an essential mission in Finnish society. The power system is in the midst of a major transformation, making the role of the TSO even more important. Here at Fingrid, we are ready to face the challenges that the future will bring us. We work for Finland with our hearts and minds.

Financial result

Fingrids consolidated financial statements have been drawn up in accordance with the same accounting principles as in 2017, taking into account the changes related to IFRS 9 and IFRS 15.

The Groups turnover was EUR 852.8 (672.0) million. Grid service income increased to EUR 423.2 (412.1) million, as a result of the growth in electricity consumption. The electricity consumption during the year totalled 87.4 (85.5) terawatt hours. The increase in imbalance power sales was partly the result of increased balance power prices and partly the result of the transfer of imbalance settlement to eSett Oy1, following which the imbalance power sold to cross-border imbalance responsible parties is now reported as external turnover. Cross-border transmission income from the connection between Finland and Russia increased to EUR 35.5 (20.7) million, as a result of increased cross-border transmissions and the higher cross-border transmission tariff. The transmission tariff used in imports from Russia is based on the difference between Finlands and north-western Russias area prices. Other operating income totalled EUR 10.8 (2.9) million. The increase in other operating income resulted from an EUR 8.0 million increase in the capital gains from the sale of fixed assets.

The Groups total costs amounted to EUR 659.0 (499.0) million. Imbalance power costs grew from the previous years level, to EUR 320.0 (185.7) million, due to the increase in balance power prices and the above-mentioned transfer of imbalance settlement to eSett Oy. Loss power costs amounted to EUR 47.7 (47.5) million. The realised average price of loss power procurement was EUR 37.88 (37.62) per megawatt hour. The cost of reserves to safeguard the grids system security increased to EUR 56.7 (51.5) million due to an increase in procurements for the frequency regulating reserve. Depreciation amounted to EUR 99.7 (96.9) million. Grid maintenance costs decreased to EUR 21.2 (24.5) million due to access control system updates carried out in 2017. Personnel costs amounted to EUR 32.2 (29.4) million, and EUR 3.6 (2.6) million was used for R&D projects.

The Groups operating profit was EUR 241.6 (184.8) million. EUR 37.1 (8.9) of changes in the fair value of electricity derivatives and the currency derivatives related to capital expenditure and other operating expenses was recorded in operating profit. The Groups profit before taxes was EUR 229.0 (163.7) million. The biggest differences from the previous year are explained by changes in the market value of derivatives (EUR +34.9 million), the increase in grid transmission income and in cross-border transmission income (EUR +25.9 million in total), and the growth in other operating income (EUR +7.9 million). The profit for the year was EUR 183.2 (130.8) million. The equity ratio was 36.6 (37.8) per cent at the end of the year.

The parent companys turnover was EUR 844.6 (665.4) million, profit for the financial year EUR 194.6 (123.4) million and distributable funds EUR 222.4 million.

By the companys own calculations, the result according to the regulatory model that governs grid operations amounts to a surplus of around EUR 40 million for 2018

Financing

The companys credit rating remained high, reflecting its strong overall financial situation and debt service capacity. The Groups net interest expenses on borrowings in 2018 were EUR 16.3 (17.1) million. The Groups net financial costs were EUR 15.2 (22.8) million. Change in the fair value of financial derivatives was EUR 6.7 million (8.2).

Interest-bearing borrowings totalled EUR 1,059.6 (1,082.7) million, of which non-current borrowings accounted for EUR 771.5 (813.4) million and current borrowings for EUR 288.1 (269.3) million.

The companys liquidity remained good. Cash and financial assets on 31 December 2018 totalled EUR 85.3 (83.8) million. The company additionally has an undrawn revolving credit facility of EUR 300 million to secure liquidity (until 11 December 2022) and EUR 50 million in uncommitted overdraft facilities.

The counterparty risk arising from derivative contracts related to financing was EUR 14.3 (7.6) million. Fingrids foreign exchange and commodity price risks were hedged.

Fingrid has credit rating service agreements with S&P Global Ratings (S&P) and Fitch Ratings (Fitch). The credit ratings valid on 31 December 2018 were as follows:

S&Ps rating for Fingrids unsecured senior debt and long-term company rating at AA- and the short-term company rating at A-1+, with a stable outlook.

Fitchs rating for Fingrids unsecured senior debt at AA-, the long-term company rating at A+, and F1 for the short-term company rating, with a stable outlook.



Capital expenditure and maintenance

The companys total capital expenditure in 2018 amounted to EUR 92.7 (111.1) million. This included a total of EUR 85.1 (91.1) million invested in the transmission grid and EUR 2.9 (14.2) million for reserve power. ICT investments amounted to EUR 4.0 (5.7) million. A total of EUR 3.6 (2.6) million was used for R&D projects during the year under review. Capital expenditure will remain at the current order of magnitude over the next few years.

Main grid planning always has a holistic and forward-looking approach. Fingrids current grid vision extends to 2040. The grid vision is insight into the long-term development needs of the main transmission grid, including plans following the current projects. The objective of the vision is to carry out the investments in the transmission grid effectively and timely, both in terms of the macro economy and grid maintenance.

Power lines and substations were built extensively throughout Finland in 2018. The total kilometres of new power lines amounted to around 250. Seven substation projects were completed. The biggest ongoing projects are related to the modernisation of the aging Iron Lady transmission line, connecting industry and power plants to the grid, and reinforcing the link with Sweden.

By international standards, grid maintenance at Fingrid is world-class. Fingrid scored top results in ITOMS (The International Transmission Operations & Maintenance Study) and was the only TSO to achieve a Top Performer nomination both in the substation and transmission line maintenance categories. ITOMS looks into the effectiveness of maintenance based on criteria such as maintenance costs and disturbance statistics.



One of Fingrids long-term goals has been to improve the safety culture at work sites and in this way achieve its zero accident objective. In 2018, Fingrids own personnel had no accidents resulting in absence from work (2). A total of 4 (9) lost-time accidents were recorded among Fingrids service providers. None of the lost-time accidents resulted in an absence of more than 30 days. The suppliers and Fingrids combined accident frequency rate decreased significantly from the previous year, to 3.2 (8.5).

Power system

In 2018, electricity consumption in Finland amounted to 87.4 (85.5) terawatt hours. Fingrid transmitted a total of 68.6 (66.2) terawatt hours of electricity in its grid, representing 75.5 (75.5) per cent of the total transmission volume in Finland (consumption and inter-TSO).

Electricity transmissions between Finland and Sweden consisted mostly of large imports to Finland. During 2018, 14.5 (15.6) terawatt hours of electricity was imported from Sweden to Finland, and 1.0 (0.4) terawatt hours were exported from Finland to Sweden. The electricity transmissions between Finland and Estonia were mainly exports to Estonia, amounting to 2.4 (1.7) terawatt hours. Imports from Estonia amounted to 0.9 (0.9) terawatt hours. Electricity imports from Russia was 7.9 (5.8) terawatt hours. In 2018, 0.2 (0.3) terawatt hours of electricity was imported from Norway to Finland, and 0.1 (0.0) terawatt hours was exported from Finland to Norway. Nearly the full transmission capacity was available in all cross-border connections during the review period.

The transmission reliability rate overall remained at an excellent level and was 99.9999 (99.9997) per cent of the transmitted energy volume. An outage in a connection point in the grid caused by a disturbance in Fingrids electricity network lasted an average of 12.0 (2.2) minutes, which exceeds the ten-year average. The computational cost of the disturbances (regulatory outage costs) to consumer customers was only EUR 1.5 (2.8) million. If quick reconnections are included, the cost of disturbances amounts to EUR 3.6 million, the lowest value in ten years.

The most significant event that contributed to the increased outages in connection points was a fire at Fingrids Olkiluoto substations on 18 July 2018, resulting in damage to a 400-kilovolt current transformer. Due to the fire and resulting repairs at the substation, Olkiluoto nuclear power plant units 1 and 2 were not able to supply the grid with electricity. Fingrid issued a warning on 19 July 2018 that the domestic production and imports of electricity may possibly be insufficient to meet consumption. The electricity shortage was avoided, however.

The volume of transmission losses in the Finnish grid remained at the level of the previous year, 1.2 (1.2) terawatt hours. This is 1.3 (1.4) per cent of the total volume of transmitted electricity.

Electricity market

The average market price of spot electricity on the electricity exchange (Nordic system price) was EUR 43.99 (29.41) per megawatt hour. The wholesale prices of electricity were clearly on a higher level in 2018 compared with previous years in the Nordic countries. The annual average price was at its highest level since 2011 for both the Nordic system price and the Finnish area price. The drivers behind the higher prices include, above all, the increased prices of emission rights and fuels, as well as the lower than normal precipitation affecting hydropower production in the Nordic production areas.

Fingrid accrued EUR 28.2 (25.5) million in congestion income from the cross-border power lines between Finland and Sweden. EUR 18.9 (10.4) million of this was accrued during the first half of the year and EUR 9.3 (15.0) million during the second half of the year. The links between Finland and Estonia generated EUR 1.4 (0.3) million in congestion income. In accordance with the regulation on congestion income, Fingrid has used the congestion income from the connections between Finland and Sweden for the HirvisuoPyhanselka grid investment. EUR 1.3 million in congestion income was left unused and will be used for future investments to increase cross-border transmission capacity.

Personnel

Fingrid Oyj employed 380 (355) persons, including temporary employees, at the end of the year. The number of permanent personnel was 327 (308).

At the end of the year, 23 (24) per cent of the personnel were women and 77 (76) per cent were men. The average age of the personnel was 44 (44).

Legal proceedings and proceedings by authorities

An accident took place on a work site in Laukaa, Finland, on 25 August 2017, where an employee of Revilla y Garcia S.L. died after having fallen from a power line tower. A civil court case has been raised in Spain for damages against Fingrid (the client linked with the accident), the main contractor, Technolines S.R.L. filial i Finland, and its sub-contractor, Revilla y Garcia S.L. Fingrid does not believe the claim against it is likely to succeed and, in Fingrids view, the legal proceedings or their outcome are not likely to have a substantial impact on the companys earnings or financial position.

Events after the review period and estimate of future outlook

Fingrids international EUR 1.5 billion Medium Term Note Programme and debt issues are listed on the London Stock Exchange. On 9 January 2019, Fingrid listed the Medium Term Note Programme and debt issues on the Irish Stock Exchange (Euronext Dublin) in addition to the London Stock exchange. Dual listing enables the trading of debt issues and new debt issue listings on these two stock exchanges.

Fingrid Oyjs Shareholders Nomination Board proposed to the Annual General Meeting to be held on 21 March 2019 that the number of members of the Board of Directors shall be five. The Nomination Board proposed the re-election of Juhani Jarvi, Paivi Nerg, Anu Hamalainen, Sanna Syri and Esko Torsti. The Shareholders Nomination Board proposed that the remuneration paid to the members of the Board of Directors remain unchanged.

Fitch Ratings downgraded Fingrid Oyj's Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to A from A+ and senior unsecured rating to A+ from AA- on 28 January 2019. Fitch also affirmed a Short-Term IDR of F1. The outlook for the ratings is stable. The rating remains the highest assigned by Fitch to any regulated TSO in Europe.

Timo Kiiveri (M.Sc., MBA) was appointed director of the executive management group of Fingrid Oyj on 31 January 2019, effective 1 July 2019. His area of responsibility will be the companys asset management.

Fingrid Groups profit for the 2019 financial period, excluding changes in the fair value of derivatives and before taxes, is expected to decrease significantly from the previous years level. Fingrid announced on 3 October 2018 that it will decrease grid prices for 2019 by eight per cent on average.

Results forecasts for the financial year are complicated especially by the uncertainty related to grid income, ITC income and cross-border transmission income, and to reserve and loss power costs. These are particularly dependent on the variations in outside temperature and precipitation and changes in the hydrological situation in the Nordic countries, which affect electricity consumption and electricity prices in Finland and neighbouring areas and thus also grid transmission volumes. The companys debt service capacity is expected to remain stable.

Board of Directors proposal for the distribution of profit

The guiding principle for Fingrids dividend policy is to distribute substantially all of the parent company profit as dividends. When making the decision, however, the economic conditions, the companys near-term investment and development needs as well as any prevailing financial targets of the company are always taken into account.

Fingrid Oyjs parent companys profit for the financial year was EUR 194,570,313.15 and distributable funds in the financial statements total EUR 222,364,965.90. Since the close of the financial year, there have been no material changes in the companys financial position and, in the Board of Directors view, the proposed dividend distribution does not compromise the companys solvency.

The companys Board of Directors will propose to the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders that, on the basis of the balance sheet adopted for the financial period ended 31 December 2018, a dividend of EUR 67,650.00 at maximum per share will be paid for Series A shares and EUR 24,750.00 at maximum for Series B shares, for a total of EUR 171,439,950.00 at maximum. The first dividend instalment of EUR 47,550.00 for each Series A share and EUR 17,400.00 for each Series B share, totalling EUR 120,506,700.00, shall be paid on 26 March 2019. The second dividend instalment, a maximum of EUR 20,100.00 for each Series A share and a maximum of EUR 7,350.00 for each Series B share, totalling EUR 50,933,250.00 at maximum, shall be paid based on the authorisation to be given to the Board. The Board of Directors has the right to decide on the payment of the second dividend instalment after the half-year report has been confirmed and after having assessed the companys solvency, financial position and financial development. The second dividend instalment decided on with the authorisation given to the Board shall be paid on the third banking day after the decision. It will be proposed that the authorisation remains valid until the next Annual General Meeting.





Annual General Meeting 2019

Fingrid Oyjs Annual General Meeting is scheduled to be held on 21 March 2019 in Helsinki.

In Helsinki, on 26th February 2019

Fingrid Oyj

Board of Directors





Notes:

Financial Statements Bulletin

Corporate Governance Statement 2018

Annual review and Financial statements 2018







1 eSett Oy is a company owned jointly by the Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian transmission system operators, responsible for imbalance settlement in Finland, Sweden and Norway. Imbalance settlement transferred to eSett Oy on 1 May 2017.









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QUEBEC CITY, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LeddarTech, an industry leader providing the most versatile and scalable auto and mobility LiDAR platform, announces its participation at two European industry events in March as part of the LeddarTech Mobility Leadership Series. Pier-Olivier Hamel, Product Manager, will take center stage at Automotive Tech.AD Berlin, while Heinz Oyrer, Strategic Partnerships Director, will be presenting at the Sensor Solutions 2019 International Conference in Brussels.



Automotive Tech.AD Berlin

On March 11, 2019, in Berlin, Germany, Pier-Olivier Hamel, LeddarTechs Product Manager  Automotive Solutions, will present Demystifying LiDAR Technology for Automotive AD Applications. Hamel will review the timeline for the integration of automotive LiDAR including the critical requirements, the key building blocks of LiDAR Systems, and their impact in fulfilling the needs of mass-market automotive-grade LiDARs. In this presentation, specific LiDAR business models will be discussed, with a focus on the benefits of a LiDAR platform approach.

Automotive Tech.AD Berlin is built to address the challenges of achieving full autonomy. As one of Europes leading knowledge exchange events, Automotive Tech.AD brings together over 350 stakeholders who are playing an active role in the vehicle automation scene.

Technology has now taken center stage within the automotive industry. The rapid pace of innovation also brings some misconceptions on LiDAR technologies, stated LeddarTechs Pier-Olivier Hamel. I look forward to shedding light on industry requirements and on key LiDAR enablers, as well as providing insights on LeddarTechs platform model for LiDARs in automotive applications to the attendees of Tech.AD Berlin.

Sensor Solutions 2019 International Conference

On March 26, 2019, in Brussels, Belgium, LeddarTechs Strategic Partnerships Director, Heinz Oyrer, will address leading experts and executives in the sensor industry on how to Leverage Ecosystem Collaboration to Create a Versatile and Scalable LiDAR Solution. This session will discuss the advantages of a LiDAR platform model that enables multiple developers and integrators to design and produce customized, automotive-grade LiDAR solutions around a common software and hardware core (the LeddarEngine), rather than relying on generic, off-the-shelf LiDAR products. Mr. Oyrer will also explain how an ecosystem of world-class automotive suppliers provides prequalified sourcing options for components and software to use in the design of solid-state LiDARs, accelerating and simplifying the development and procurement processes, for the benefit of all stakeholders.

Sensor Solutions International is a two-day, high tech event where attendees will gain an up-to-date overview of the of the global sensor industry and related market opportunities. Sensor Solutions International is part of AngelTech, which brings together three conferences covering compound semiconductor, photonic integrated circuit, and sensor technologies.

It is challenging for new technologies to be successful if they are built in isolation, stated Heinz Oyrer, Strategic Partnerships Director at LeddarTech. Bringing new LiDAR solutions from the concept stage to a commercial product requires a tremendous amount of expertise and resources. This can be quite challenging, particularly for small, emerging technology companies. Hence, an ecosystem collaboration of leading top-tier automotive suppliers is instrumental in the success of emerging LiDAR solutions in the future automotive industry said Oyrer. I look forward to sharing our vision at Sensor Solutions 2019 International Conference in Brussels.

About LeddarTech

LeddarTech is an industry leader providing the most versatile, scalable auto and mobility LiDAR platform based on the unique LeddarEngine, which consists of a suite of automotive-grade, functional safety certified SoCs working in tandem with LeddarSP signal processing software. The company is responsible for several innovations in cutting-edge mobility remote-sensing applications, its patented technologies enhancing ADAS and autonomous driving capabilities for automobiles, trucks, buses, delivery vehicles, robotaxis, shuttles, and more. Additional information about LeddarTech is accessible at www.leddartech.com, and on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

LeddarTech, Leddar, LeddarEngine, LeddarSP, and LeddarTech logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of LeddarTech Inc. All other brands, product names, and marks are or may be trademarks or registered trademarks used to identify products or services of their respective owners.
On Friday, Feb. 1, the third-graders from Jefferson Elementary in Mason City were invited to attend the Winter Dance Party at the Surf Ballroom. We didnt really know what to expect, and we were completely entertained. With an already packed schedule, its truly amazing that the Surf Ballroom took the time to include our students in this event.

Mallory and the staff really did an exceptional job of teaching kids the history of rock 'n' roll and how fortunate we are to have this piece of history in our backyard.

The show started with music videos featuring the music of Holly, Valens, and the Big Bopper. Then we were treated to Buddy Holly artwork and music by a local student, and the show ended with a full band performing all the hits of the 1950s and '60s.

It was a great experience for our students and helped to give them a piece of local culture they may never be exposed to otherwise. This experience opened doors to music history, and taught students the importance of the Surf as a place with great history and a place to keep the music alive.
A gut punch to Iowans.

A gut punch to Iowans. Thats the only way to describe the Biden Administrations decision to roll back the previous administrations Navigable Water Protection Rule. Sadly, for those of us who have been on the frontlines of this fight since 2015, this news is not a surprise.

Now let me be clear: everyone can agree that clean water should be a national priority. Iowans, and all Americans, want sensible safeguards that protect our environment and keep our nations water clean. But what they dont want is a one-size-fits-all, Washington power grab that makes it harder for Iowans to farm, ranch, and build.

Thats why, in 2015, when the Obama-Biden Administration finalized its Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rulegiving the federal government authority to regulate water on 97 percent of the land in IowaI immediately got to work to get it off the books. I fought to nullify the rule, but even after my bill passed both the House and Senate with bipartisan support, it was vetoed by President Obama.

But I didnt back down, and even before President Trump took office, I signaled my intent to work with him on a new, more flexible rule. And we did: the Trump Administration released a proposed rule to replace the Obama-era rule with one that provided much-needed predictability and certainty for farmers. Importantly, it established clear and reasonable definitions of what qualifies as a water of the United States. That rule, entitled the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, was finalized in January 2020.

As they say, however, elections have consequences. Anticipating a return to the Obama-Biden era of burdensome regulations, at the beginning of this year I urged the Senate to stand with workers, farmers, manufacturers, and businesses by upholding the previous administrations Navigable Waters Protection Rule.

Despite having the support of 25 of my colleagues and stakeholders across the country, the Biden Administration ignored these concerns, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) announced their plans to undo all of our progress.

The reality is the fight for Iowas agriculture community is never over, and right now Im working to push back on any harmful regulation this new administration might impose on these hardworking folks.

Together with Senator Chuck Grassley, Im pressing the U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, to make known to the president and his colleagues at the EPA and the Corps the serious concerns Iowas farmers and ranchers have with their recent actions on WOTUS. Im also working to strengthen the voices Iowas small businesses in the federal rulemaking process. Too often, Washington bureaucrats put forward rules and regulations without considering their impact on small businessesand the Obama-Biden WOTUS rule is a perfect example. Thats why Ive put forward the Prove It Act which allows our small businesses to send federal agencies back to the drawing board to prove what theyre proposing wont hurt small businesses. Specifically, the bill gives the Small Business Administration the ability to question an agencys analysis if it claims a rule or regulation wont impact small businesses.

When it comes to WOTUS, instead of continuing to confuse Iowas hardworking families, farmers, and businesses by changing its definition with each new administration, we need to make a reasonable, workable definition permanent. To do so, I helped introduce the Define WOTUS Act. This commonsense effort is more important now than ever.

Theres simply no reason to return to the Obama-era ways of giving an unchecked federal agency and unelected Washington bureaucrats more authority to control whats done on private land. I will always fight tooth and nail for Iowas agriculture community, our working families, and our small businessesand Ill continue to push back against any attempts to impose complex, burdensome, and overreaching regulations on folks in our state.
MASON CITY | The roof at the Plaza West Shopping Center, between Cost Cutters and CosmoProf, shifted down some 8 inches and ceiling tiles collapsed under the weight of some 6 to 8 feet of snow drifts created by the weekend's blizzard.

The call to the Mason City Fire Department came in about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday morning after individuals inside Cost Cutters noticed tiles moving and then, eventually, collapsing.

According to Mason City Fire Captain Jack Odegaard, the structural damage done will require the installation of a new support column to the right of the CosmoProf storefront and resealing will need to be done once all of the snow is removed from the roof.

Odegaard said that about five people were inside the two stores when the ceiling tiles collapsed. The fire department closed the stores as well as Dollar Tree for safety precautions.

Even with all the snow, Odegaard said that this is the first snow-related collapse within city limits the department has had to respond to this week.

Still, Odegaard expressed concern that the department might be getting more of these calls. The current National Weather Service forecast for Mason City shows the chance for snow on Tuesday night, Thursday and Friday.
Eleven North Iowa school districts stayed closed into Tuesday after the past weekend's blizzard conditions wreaked havoc on state and county roads alike.

Charles City, Forest City, North Iowa, Central Springs, Belmond-Klemme, Lake Mills, Garner-Hayfield/Ventura, Northwood-Kensett, Osage, Riceville and Nashua-Plainfield all announced that they'd stay shut on Tuesday due to "impassable road conditions."

The Central Springs School District account joked on Twitter that its closure on "January 57th (February 26th)" would mean the district reached a "new record" of eleven snow days for the 2018-2019 school year.

Forest City added to its closure news that "Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences/CAPS Conference are postponed from Tuesday, Feb. 26th to Tuesday, March 5th with same corresponding times."

Riceville initially announced a delay before it switched to a closure for Tuesday.

West Hancock Community Schools opted for a two-hour delay on Tuesday, as did Algona (which meant "no breakfast, no AM preschool, and no morning activities" according to the announcement on Twitter) and Clear Lake.
This is Norfolk, Virginia based Smartmouth Brewing Company's Saturday Morning IPA, a Lucky Charms inspired beer that's brewed with cereal marshmallow bits. The 6.6% ABV brew will be available for a limited time before Saint Patrick's Day, but unfortunately only in Virginia at select bars, restaurants and beer stores because Smartmouth can't ship their beer. Thankfully, I have some friends in Virginia who can. *wink wink, nudge* Some more info while I buttchug a bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats. "Ouch." They're like little scouring pads:

According to Smartmouth Brewing, Saturday Morning IPA is "..brewed with in-house toasted marshmallows and bulk dehydrated-marshmallow-bits. It has been hopped and dry-hopped with Galaxy and Calypso hops. The nose is sweet and citrus, with orange and pear aromas. It has a soft pillowy body with a slight cereal taste. The result is magically ridiculous!"

I like how it's even called Saturday Morning so you won't feel so guilty drinking one in the AM when you wake up over the weekend. "Honey, what the hell are you doing?" It's called Saturday Morning! What was I supposed to do? "You were supposed to get dressed so we could meet my parents for brunch." Riiiiiiight -- about that. "WHAT about that?" *sees that look in her eyes* I'll go jump in the shower.

Thanks to Closet Nerd, who agrees there's nothing more relaxing than kicking your feet up on a Saturday morning in your pajamas, bowl of cereal on chest, cartoons on television. It's a lifelong pleasure.
This is the functional Heckler & Koch XM8 assault rifle (actually an SL8 with a custom XM8 conversion kit) modded by Hollywood props engineer Tom Bostic of TommyBuilt Tactical with a Cobra Commander theme from the G.I. Joe franchise. Man, I miss those old red lasers vs blue lasers days. Some more info:

This is an H&K SL8 I converted to an XM8 with my furniture kit, that's an actual Insight Technologies 4x XM8 prototype optic basically unobtainable, lol Beta C 100 G36 drum and a custom barrel shroud. We did it up in the Old 80's cartoon Cobra Commander theme from the GI Joe toys and cartoons.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? "Pork chop sandwiches?" Forever and always. That's one of my top two go-to's when I'm feeling down. "And the other?" The bar. If I'm really down I watch the video AT the bar.

Keep going for several more shots.

Thanks to FearlessFarris, who agrees blue lasers will always prevail.
Lawyers for a cadet charged with sexually assaulting his former high school sweetheart and producing explicit videos of their liaisons accused prosecutors Monday of trying to criminalize a Romeo and Juliet romance.

Evidence in the case, which could see sophomore cadet John-Paul Thompson spend more than three decades behind bars, also indicated that the romance went sour. Defense lawyers acknowledged that Thompson faces extortion charges in his home state of Tennessee for using the sex videos as revenge pornography.

But they said the 2018 incident that led to the sexual assault allegation was consensual.

There are specifics where they have had drunken consensual sex before, argued Capt. Spencer Nelson, one of two military lawyers for Thompson.

The charges were issued in December after an eight-month investigation prompted by one of the womans roommates at the University of Tennessee.

The roommate testified Monday that she called the academy last April, telling officials that Thompson was threatening to release explicit videos of the pair.

She said she was having a panic attack because he was going to release these photos, Emma Weinstock said.

As the Air Force Office of Special Investigations dug into the case, the alleged victim told them about a March encounter with Thompson that led to the sexual assault charge. The woman said she was too inebriated to stop Thompson in a sex act.

The Air Force arranged a recorded phone call between the two that prosecutors say supports the sexual assault claim.

Thompson faces an additional count of failing to obey because he was forbidden from contacting the woman after the allegations arose.

The biggest arguments, though, were over the explicit videos.

Prosecutors initially charged Thompson with producing pornography for the videos, which Air Force agents found after searching Thompsons computer and phone.

But the videos were made in 2017, two months before Thompson reported for basic training. That drove a jurisdictional argument that had prosecutors backing down to an allegation of possession of child pornography.

Defense attorneys want the counts tied to the video to be dismissed, arguing that Thompson, then 18, and the woman, then 17, agreed to the recordings, and that sexting between high school sweethearts shouldnt be a crime.

Its absolutely not appropriate for them to charge this as child pornography possession, Nelson argued.

Mondays arguments will be summarized in a hearing officers report on the case that will help academy leaders decide whether Thompson will face court-martial.

Academy leaders have a wide variety of options. They can take some or all of the case to trial, opt for administrative punishment or dismiss some or all of the counts.

Contact Tom Roeder: 636-0240 Twitter: @xroederx
My recent column about egg coffee in Vietnam stirred memories for some readers who recalled a different church basement egg coffee.

When I read about adding raw eggs to coffee, it reminded me about coffee being made at church, said Mary Jo Campbell. Ladies would make coffee in these large urns and put raw eggs over the grounds  or something like that.

Her comment reminded me of a couple of my aunts, who put eggshells with the coffee grounds in the baskets of their percolators. They thought it made the coffee taste better. I hadnt thought of that in years.

Then Pat Hardman left a message about her memory of church coffee that had raw eggs added to the brewing coffee.

That sent me on a Google search to get to the bottom of this. Turns out that back in the day, before craft roasting of beans from distinct coffee-growing regions (Folgers and Maxwell House back then), raw eggs and shells were indeed used to brew a more flavorful and clear cup of joe.

Terry Golson writes in the blog Hen Cam  The Vintage Hen, Swedish and Norwegian communities in the upper Midwest are known for their deep Nordic culinary roots and their food-focused church socials. In the days when inexpensive coffee was brewed up in big urns, the church ladies came up with a way to smooth the flavor, reduce the bitterness, and make sure that the grounds didnt end up in the cup. What they did was to add raw eggs, ground-up shells and all, to the pot. If youve ever clarified a consomme with egg, then you know that this makes sense. This egg coffee was also called Swedish Coffee, Hungarian Egg Coffee and Norwegian Coffee, but my favorite name for it is Lutheran Church Basement Coffee.

To clarify consomme, an egg white is added to boiling, strained stock. The albumin in the egg white acts like a vacuum, binding up any remaining fat molecules in the stock. The stock is strained again to remove the cooked egg white, resulting in clear liquid.

Contact the writer: 636-0271.
Colorado Springs, CO (80903)

Today

Mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 51F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 51F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described the Polaris Pointe retail complex in several references.

The city is being asked to boost its funding to extend Powers Boulevard on Colorado Springs far north side, which proponents say would ensure the long-stalled projects construction while positioning the Polaris Pointe retail complex for more development.

Mayor John Suthers administration and Polaris Pointe developer Gary Erickson want the City Council to increase, from 1 percent to 1.75 percent, the portion of the city sales tax earmarked for the Powers work. The proposal was presented to the council Monday at its workshop session; it will be voted on later, possibly as early as March 12.

Powers, which community leaders have envisioned for decades as a north-south alternative to Interstate 25, runs along much of Colorado Springs east side. But the road stops at Colorado 83, and the state Department of Transportation has said for years that it has no funding to extend Powers to I-25, even though the road would serve one of Colorado Springs fastest-growing areas.

That lack of money prompted city officials years ago to seek an alternative funding mechanism tied to the development of Polaris Pointe, a 200-plus-acre retail project southeast of Interstate 25 and North Gate Boulevard.

In 2010, the council declared Polaris Pointe  then known as Copper Ridge at Northgate  as an urban renewal site. Critics questioned that decision, saying the grassy, undeveloped Polaris Pointe site showed little, if any, signs of blight.

In most urban renewal projects, tax revenues generated by newly built stores, restaurants, hotels and the like are used to fund wider sidewalks, utility line upgrades and other on-site public improvements. Setting aside those revenues for public upgrades is intended to encourage developers to tackle projects in blighted areas.

For Polaris Pointe, the council designated increased tax revenues from the new development to pay for the Powers extension. Of the citys 2 percent general fund sales tax on Polaris Pointe purchases, the council agreed to set aside half of that amount to fund Powers.

Since then, Polaris Pointe has taken off. The complex is home to Bass Pro Shops, Magnum Shooting Center, Overdrive Raceway, C.B. & Potts, Bourbon Brothers Smokehouse & Tavern and the recently opened Boot Barn Hall at Bourbon Brothers concert venue, among dozens of stores, restaurants and businesses.

That development, however, has taken place north of the future Powers Boulevard as it would extend through Polaris Pointe.

A southern portion of the complex  where an enclosed mall with new-to-market stores and restaurants is envisioned  cant be developed without Powers, Erickson said. The extension would provide access and visibility that retailers demand before theyll commit to Polaris Pointe, he said.

The extension also would get traffic off busy North Gate Boulevard, he said. That road cuts through the northern portion of the Flying Horse development and past residences and Academy School District 20s Discovery Canyon campus for preschool through high school.

On Monday, Erickson and Bob Cope, the citys economic development officer, told the council that more money is needed for the Powers extension.

In addition to asking the city to increase its sales tax share to 1.75 percent, Erickson said he plans to ask El Paso County to chip in 0.5 percent of the sales tax revenue it collects from Polaris Pointe purchases. In 2011, the county commission overwhelmingly rejected funding for Powers.

Increased city and county funding would generate enough money to build an initial, $59.7 million portion of Powers from Voyager Parkway to I-25 and to upgrade the interchange at I-25 and North Gate Boulevard. Nearly $10 million of that cost is in the bank  $3.6 million in city tax revenue generated by Polaris Pointe sales and a $6.3 million water quality grant, which Erickson says could go to the road.

The increased funding also would pay to build the leg of Powers between Voyager and Colorado 83, whose early price tag is pegged at $71.6 million, Erickson said.

Council members didnt indicate which way they might lean on earmarking more city money for Powers.

Council President Pro Tem Jill Gaebler said she wants to see what the county commission does first. Councilman Andy Pico, however, said the city cant wait for the county to act.
TANK, Pakistan -- He once took great pride in serving and later allying with Pakistans powerful military in its war against the Taliban in the countrys restive western Pashtun border region with Afghanistan.

But militant commander Turkistan Bhittani says he now regrets fighting for the military. He even warns others against taking up arms for the Pakistani Army, which admits to having lost thousands of soldiers and officers in quelling a decade-long Taliban rebellion in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

If I am not safe, then who else can be safe here? Bhittani asked protesters who gathered on February 22 around a main square in the city of Tank in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. I sacrificed 136 of my people for this country, the army, and Islam. And yet what is my reward?

Bhittani and hundreds of other members of the Naimatkhel clan -- a part of the larger Pashtun Bhittani tribe -- were protesting the killing of his nephew, Zahoor Rahman Bhittani. His mutilated corpse was found near Tank on February 21, five days after he was kidnapped. Zahoor, also known as Zarqawi, was an active member of the peace committee that Bhittani headed.

The senior military officer in this region must have an entire book of my sacrifices, Bhittani said. I am willing to forgive everything, but I just want the government to protect Tank district [from the return of the militants].

Bhittani, now in his 50s, is a mercurial character. His story illustrates the complexities of the war Pakistan has fought against militants -- many of whom the countrys powerful military originally created or supported -- and the challenges Islamabad will need to address to stabilize its erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

Forming an arch along the Afghan border, FATA was merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in May. With tens of thousands of civilians killed and millions displaced, the insurgency took a heavy toll on FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where a majority of residents are Pashtuns. They make up the largest ethnic minority among Pakistans 207 million people.

Under the leadership of Turkistan Bhittani, some members of his tribe have protested to gain government protection and called on the authorities to arrest the killers of Zahoor so that he can get justice, Shaikh Rehmatullah, a journalist in Tank, told Radio Mashaal.

Javed Khan, a police official in Tank, told Radio Mashaal that the police are investigating the murder but have made no arrests yet.

Bhittani rose to fame years after retiring as corporal in the paramilitary Frontier Corps in 1998. Some accounts say he fought for Afghanistans hard-line Taliban regime. After the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001, he joined the Pakistani Taliban factions who primarily protected and fought for the Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

But following the formation of the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in 2007, Bhittani fell out with its founding leader and his former ally Baitullah Mehsud. The TTPs avowed aim was to enforce Islamic Sharia law down the barrel of a gun, and the Pakistani state was its main target. Bhittani sided with the military, and his rivalry with the TTP morphed into open warfare in 2008.

He called his faction an aman or peace committee that helped government efforts to drive the TTP out of Tank into neighboring South Waziristan, where it was ultimately crushed in large-scale military operations. More than half a million Mehsuds, the regions main Pashtun tribe, were displaced by the fighting over more than six years.

Beginning in 2008, more than 100 of his supporters, including his brother Hindustan, were killed by the TTP in an all-out war. He survived numerous assassination attempts, including several suicide bombings. In one Taliban attack, his entire village was torched.

In 2010, he disappeared. He reappeared only in 2016 after what he claims were six years in government detention. Once back in Tank, Bhittani revived the peace committee, but it never regained its former control and influence.

The brutal murder of his nephew, however, seems to have led Bhittani to rethink his association with the military.

I just want to request that all Pashtuns -- whether in Pakistan or Afghanistan -- please stop sitting in the [military] cantonments, he said, using a popular euphemism for working for the Pakistani military as a militant ally. I once used to sit in a cantonment. Look what happened to me.

It was not immediately possible to reach the Pakistani military for comment. But last June, chief military spokesman Asif Ghafoor praised such peace committees after members of one such group clashed with protesters in Wana, the administrative headquarters of South Waziristan.

They fought in the war against terrorism and are now doing their part in the [current] phase of stabilization, he told reporters.

Journalist Adnan Bhittani has followed Turkistans career for more than a decade. He told RFE/RLs Gandhara website that the only path to sustainable peace in former FATA is to ensure that Islamabad truly backs its claims of ridding the region of militants so that none of them can regroup or engage in intimidation and violence.

The state needs to be present with all its institutions, he noted.

Nearly a year after FATAs merger, police, courts, and many other government departments still do not exist in the region, whose population is nearly 6 million according to the recent census.

Once established, all state institutions must work in unison to deliver, he said.
India has launched what it called a preemptive air strike against Pakistan-based militants following a suicide bombing in India-administered Kashmir earlier this month.



Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said the Indian Air Force early on February targeted a training camp of a Kashmiri militant group in the Balakot area in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.



The town of Balakot is located on the edge of the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir -- about 80 kilometers from the Line of Control, which serves as a de facto border in the disputed Himalayan territory.



Islamabad said the strike  the first launched across the line of control since a war between the two nuclear-armed neighbors in 1971 -- hit an empty area, but vowed to respond to what they called Indias aggression.



Tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi has escalated since a suicide attack claimed by the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group killed at least 41 soldiers on the Indian side of Kashmir.



Gokhale told a news conference in New Delhi that the Indian strike had killed a very large number of [JeM] terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen (suicide) action."



In the face of imminent danger, a pre-emptive strike became absolutely necessary," he also said.



The Indian news agency ANI, citing unnamed military sources, reported that 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets were involved in the air raid.



At a special meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Pakistani National Security Committee called the trike an "uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing."



It also rejected India's claim that many militants were killed in the strike, branding it "self-serving, reckless, and fictitious," a statement said.



Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi warned New Delhi not to challenge Pakistan, saying that "better sense should prevail in India, according to Radio Pakistan.



Pakistan's military earlier accused India's air force of violating its airspace, and said it scrambled its own fighter jets in response.



Pakistani military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted that Indian jets had crossed the Line of Control, and traveled as many as 6.4 kilometers into Pakistan-administered territory.



"Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircrafts gone back," Ghafoor wrote in a separate tweet.

The Indian aircraft "released [a] payload in haste... near Balakot," he said, adding that there were "no casualties or damage."



Pakistani villagers in the area said they heard four loud explosions in the early hours of February 26 but reported only one person wounded by bomb shards, the Reuters news agency reported.



"There are no casualties, there are no damages on the ground because of the dropping of the bombs," Balakot police chief Saghir Hussain Shah told The Associated Press.



China, a Pakistani ally, urged India and Pakistan to exercise restraint after the air strike.



Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters that combatting terrorism was "a global issue and a global challenge that requires cooperation between countries."



India says its neighbor had had a "direct hand" in the February 14 suicide attack on Indian security forces, and accuses it of providing sanctuary to JeM militants. Islamabad denies involvement.



Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have fought two of their three full-fledged wars over Kashmir since their partition during independence from Britain in 1947.



With reporting by AFP, Reuters, AP, the BBC, and Radio Mashaal
Fremont After Five Stonecroft Ministries will meet at 6:45 p.m. March 11 in Midland Universitys Anderson Complex.

The theme is New Beginnings. A program will be provided by Stitches & Petals of Dodge. There will be music by Jean and Leland Foreman.

Arlene Gabrielson of Mankato, Minnesota, will speak on Whats Really Behind That Happy Face. Hope for a broken heart. Gabrielson is a mom, grandmother, blogger, speaker and a hairstylist.

The cost is $14 for a buffet dinner. Call Merrilee at 402-721-2827 by March 5 to make a reservation. Honoring your reservation is necessary.

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Judy Ekeler of Fremont has been elected to the Nebraska Foundation for the Humanities board of directors.

Humanities Nebraska provides opportunities for the public to engage in history and culture.

Ekeler was elected in January and is set for orientation in April. She appreciates the opportunity.

I really believe in what the Humanities does, she said. A lot of Fremont institutions take advantage of Humanities speakers.

Humanities Nebraska speakers have given presentations at the Louis E. May Museum in Fremont, Ekeler said.

They also have given programs under the Chautauqua tent during the John C. Fremont Days festival, in the Saunders County Historical Society Museum during Christmas on the Prairie in Wahoo, in the Swedish Heritage Center in Oakland  and many other locations.

Fremonter Cherrie Beam-Callaway and Jeff Kappeler of Valley are among presenters.
In court, Christoffersen apologized to District Court Judge Geoffrey Hall and to the Drug Court Team for his actions. Hall said that he believed Christoffersen didnt put the work into the Drug Court program.

I tried very hard for the beginning, I made some mistakes, and everything kind of fell apart from there, Christoffersen told the court.

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He told Hall that he believed prison was his best option for rehabilitation.

Its not going to be pleasant, Hall said. To me, its going to take hard work for you to turn things around. Youre going to have to be committed to do that, and youre going to have to work on that every day for the rest of your life.

Two other defendants had their Drug Court bonds revoked on Monday.

Ronald Stewart, 34, was sentenced to two years in prison after he also failed to complete a rehabilitation program at the Stephen Center. He had previously pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamine, a class IV felony punishable by up to two years in prison.
This course will be especially beneficial to those in the business community who have not had previous or much exposure to the Spanish language. The class will focus on helping beginning learners develop basic vocabulary and effective pronunciation skills. The course also focuses on practical, real-world language with an emphasis on oral communication.
An update to Nebraska's civics education requirements advanced in the Legislature to the second of three rounds of debate, 42-3, over a last-ditch filibuster Tuesday morning.

Once debate over Sen. Julie Slama's bill (LB399) reached the six-hour threshold for first-round debate, the Peru senator invoked cloture, ending a filibuster attempt led by Sen. Ernie Chambers.

The longtime Omaha senator criticized Slama's bill, an update to a 1949 Americanism law adopted during the Red Scare, as one that "allows for racism to happen in the classroom."

He also said a provision within an Education Committee amendment to LB399 requiring schools to teach "respect for the American flag as a symbol of freedom and the sacrifices of those who secured that freedom" ignored the experiences of African-Americans.

"Every hateful thing that was done against black people was done under the aegis of that flag: slavery, raping black women, selling black people, segregation and discrimination in the military throughout its history," Chambers said.

Last week, Chambers called the American flag a "rag," drawing criticism from other senators, as well as from conservative media outlets. Following those stories were threatening phone calls and emails made to his home and office.
Sometimes the crime and the damage done demands a statutory sentence, Sunde said. This is one of those cases.

Sunde said the victim had been negatively impacted in many ways from the incidents. He said she had been traumatized and is currently suffering from anger and emotional issues.

Hes very much put her in a position where she is damaged, Sunde said.

Sunde said he felt probation was not a suitable option. A probation officer listed McGee as being a low risk to reoffend during a pre-sentence investigation report. Sunde said he strongly disagreed with that assessment and felt McGee was a high risk to reoffend.

Defense attorney Ryan Hoffman told the court his client was a war veteran whose only previous contacts with the law had been for traffic violations. He said he felt probation would be appropriate because of the many oversight components it would bring to McGees life. He said McGee would face serious consequences if he violated probation.

Judge Michael Smith said he had reviewed the pre-sentence investigation report several times and had read the victim impact statement and other documents. He said he did not feel McGee was a suitable candidate for probation.

Smith sentenced McGee to 24 months in the Nebraska Department of Corrections. McGee will be released after one year due to state sentencing rules. McGee will be required to spend nine months on post-release supervision and will have his name listed on the Nebraska Sex Offender Registry.

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There's nothing other than food that holds the world and keeps it going. Some of the best celluloid classics have had food sharing screen space with the main players, though its presence has been subtle. One such Malayalam offering was Sangeeth Sivan's 1992 runaway hit Yodha. The plot was set to bring in Keralites' all-time favourite snack, the round and yummy unniappam.



Cut to Thaiparambil Ashokan and Arasumoottil Appukkuttan, who lit up the silver like never before, with their larger than life on-screen antics. Mohanlal as Ashokan and Jagathy Sreekumar as Appukkuttan will go down in celluloid history as two villagers, sworn enemies, who ventured into the forbidden realms of Nepals Lama territory.

To Yodha's perennial popularity is the 'Padakali' song, a superhit then, to which the duo cavorted and in recent times caught the imagination of the hugely popular Orfeo band which set it as their violin cover.

With an amazing and unusual storyline, crisp dialogues, well-built suspense, adventure and some mysticism thrown in, the movie had Sasidharan Arattuvazhi, writing the story for which A R Rahman provided the original score and soundtrack.

Food takes prominence in the initial scenes, especially when the aimless Ashokan creeps into his house stealthily only to be served his meal by his long-suffering mother. She has already set aside his food in a steel plate.

Arch enemy Appukkuttan spends sleepless nights and days learning the ropes of chess so he can score over Ashokan. When he gets home, his mother gives him a glass of milk, all the while stirring the sugar in it. He downs it in one gulp and looks around with sheepish indignation. The sugar was yet to dissolve despite his mother's vigorous stirring.

How about one more glass son, this time with no sugar crystals to crunch, asks his mother, her voice loaded with sarcasm. Yes, says the loafer, but changes his mind as on a whim. He has business to attend to. He has to beat Ashokan black and blue. Thats his mission. So off he goes to the local toddy shop where he drowns his sorrow in arrack, for he suspects that the love of his life Damayanthi is cheating on him with Ashokan.

Meanwhile, Ashokan's mother decides to send her son to his uncle's home in Nepal. But Appukkuttan outsmarts him and lands in Nepal before Ashokan can touch down and gets his uncle to believe that he is Ashokan.

Ashokan finally lands in Nepal with a bagful of pickles and unniappams. But as ill luck would have it, he loses his purse and all cash. All thats left is his bag with the unniappams. It was while heartily munching the savory that he gets to see the little egghead Rimpocha, whom he lovingly calls Unnikkuttan.

The plot thickens and the evil sorcerers who seek to kill the young Rimpoche, succeeds in blinding Mohanlal. He is looked after by a tribal clan, experts in tribal medicine. While serving his food, the old tribesman deftly moves away the pitcher of water from near Mohanlal.

But our blind hero who has already learnt the science of identifying objects by virtue of their movement, easily gets hold of his water.

The little Rimpoche who has been held captive by the evil forces, keeps himself alive by eating a special kind of leaf, one a day.
(Bloomberg) -- ZTE Corp. went from one-foot-in-the-grave to 2019s technology superstar. Despite a gain of more than 60 percent thats pushed its shares well above analysts projections, some investors argue that rally still has legs.

ZTEs embarked on a remarkable comeback. The smaller rival to closely held Huawei Technologies Co. became one of the 10 best performers on the MSCI China Index this year after soaring roughly a third over the past week, propelled by growing optimism over its role in next-generation wireless as well as seeming progress in U.S.-Chinese trade talks. Thats a far cry from 2018, when Washingtons ban on American technology exports briefly brought the company to its knees.

The flip side to the rally is a valuation that has bloated to about 20 times 2019 earnings -- roughly 20 percent above its average over the past three years. And its Hong Kong shares are trading more than 40 percent higher than their average price target.

Investors are betting Chinas largest listed producer of networking gear will be a prime beneficiary for global 5G spending estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars -- and especially at home, the worlds largest telecommunications arena. After a huge loss in 2018, its projected to report net income of more than 4 billion yuan ($600 million) in 2019. Its advocates also argue that, so long as U.S.-Chinese trade negotiations dont collapse and market sentiment holds up, ZTE will continue to find favor.

ZTE acts like an option on China-U.S. trade talks. The optimistic views have the upper hand now, said Zhang Gang, an analyst with Central China Securities Co. As for if the 5G business will boost the share price, it depends on companys earnings numbers and the development of 5G projects.

The companys Hong Kong-listed stock rose as much as 6.5 percent Tuesday in a flat market, putting it on track for its fifth consecutive daily gain.

ZTE regained its footing in 2018 after agreeing to pay a hefty U.S. fine and reshuffle management, and the view is that smoother U.S.-Chinese relations will speed its recovery by keeping open a supply chain heavily dependent on American imports.

Story continues

Its turnaround is the best entry point, especially with 5G becoming even more of a force for its business next year, said Hung Yuting, a fund manager at China Capital New Opportunity Fund who holds the stock. The value of ZTE may be re-evaluated due to the recent positive news related to the company.

Bruce Yu, a fund manager with Franklin Templeton SinoAm Securities Investment Management Inc., said the trend for ZTE was positive but he would wait for dips in the stock before buying in. And therere others even less sanguine about whether demand for 5G gear justifies ZTEs valuation. It remains a bit player in a market dominated by its far larger domestic cousin, Ericsson and Nokia.

The earnings estimate and contribution of 5G business doesnt seem to be as big as the public thought, said Vincent Hsu, a fund manager at Fuh-Hwa Securities Investment Trust Co. Stock surges related to 5G topics are more like a bull market powered by dreams. The actual gains from the 5G business arent big enough to support the price jump.

(Updates with share gains in the sixth paragraph.)

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Cindy Wang in Taipei at hwang61@bloomberg.net;Gao Yuan in Beijing at ygao199@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Robert Fenner at rfenner@bloomberg.net, Edwin Chan

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
(Adds Buffett and investor comments, background about Kraft Heinz, bylines)

By Jonathan Stempel and Jennifer Ablan

Feb 25 (Reuters) - Warren Buffett said on Monday that his Berkshire Hathaway Inc overpaid in the 2015 merger that created Kraft Heinz Co, but he had no plans to flee the struggling packaged foods company.

Buffett spoke four days after Kraft Heinz said it had taken a $15.4 billion writedown for its Kraft and Oscar Mayer brands and other assets, slashed its dividend, and that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was probing its accounting.

Kraft Heinz's share price sank 27.5 percent on Friday, causing Berkshire to lose $4.3 billion on its stake. Berkshire owns 26.7 percent of Kraft Heinz. Shares rose 0.7 percent to $35.21 in early trade on Monday.

"I was wrong in a couple of ways on Kraft Heinz," Buffett said on CNBC television. "We overpaid for Kraft."

The comments were a rare admission of error by the 88-year-old billionaire on a major investment at his Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate.

Berkshire and Brazilian firm 3G Capital had teamed up in 2015 to combine the former Kraft Foods with their H.J. Heinz, and together own about half of the merged company.

Buffett also said he has "absolutely no intention" of adding to or subtracting from Berkshire's stake, and that he would continue to do business with 3G and its co-founder Jorge Paulo Lemann, calling him "an absolutely outstanding human being."

'TOE TO TOE'

Kraft Heinz's disclosure raised questions about 3G's financial strategy for the company, whose brands include Jell-O, Kool-Aid and Philadelphia cream cheese, and whether it is out of step with consumers seeking healthier, fresher alternatives to processed food.

Buffett acknowledged the changes, but said greater pressure is coming from retailers such as Amazon.com Inc, Walmart Inc and Costco Wholesale Corp, including through the latter's Kirkland brand.

Stronger brands can "go toe to toe with Walmart or Costco" but weaker brands "tend to lose out," Buffett said. "The ability to price has changed, and that's huge."

Story continues

Berkshire's own $3 billion writedown related to Kraft Heinz contributed to a $25.39 billion fourth-quarter net loss for Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire.

"He monumentally overpaid for Kraft," said Doug Kass, founder of the hedge fund Seabreeze Partners Management Inc. "Increasingly, the moats he initially saw in his investments have been damaged."

Buffett said he learned about the SEC probe about seven to 10 days before it was announced.

Greg Abel, a Berkshire vice chairman widely considered a candidate to succeed Buffett as Berkshire's chief executive officer, sits on Kraft Heinz's board.

3G STRATEGY

The announcement also called into question 3G's signature business model of zero-based budgeting, which requires managers to justify their expenses annually from scratch, rather than use last year as a guide or pursue cost savings on an ongoing basis.

Kraft Heinz's belt-tightening resulted in more than $1.7 billion in annual savings, including the loss of thousands of jobs, mirroring 3G's similar efforts at such companies as Anheuser-Busch InBev and Tim Hortons.

While the strategy has resulted in leaner companies, it could backfire if the companies lacked products that people want, or failed to spend enough to develop and market those products.

Buffett said he did not believe 3G underinvested in Kraft Heinz. Berkshire is not involved in day-to-day operations. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Jennifer Ablan in New York Editing by David Goodman and Jeffrey Benkoe)
(Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett isnt the only investor to examine Oracle Corp. and declare he doesnt understand the business. Even Wall Street analysts who cover the worlds second-largest software maker must read the tea leaves to discern how much progress Oracle has made in its long-stated goal to transition to a cloud-computing powerhouse.

Oracle, co-founded by Chairman Larry Ellison, releases limited breakdowns in its financial disclosures, meaning that investors dont get a clear picture of the companys effort to move its customers to the cloud -- software stored in Oracle data centers and accessed via the internet. That makes it difficult to understand whats happening within Oracles $40 billion of annual revenue.

When Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway Inc. bought a $2.1 billion stake in the third quarter, it looked like validation for the database giant. But the optimism proved short-lived, and Buffett sold his stock just a quarter later.

Larry Ellison has done a fantastic job with Oracle, Buffett said Monday in a CNBC interview. Ive followed from the standpoint of reading about it, but I felt like I didnt understand the business. Particularly after my experience with IBM, I dont think I understand exactly where the cloud is going.

Buffett may understand a little more than he let on. He cited the success of the two market leaders in cloud computing, Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp., suggesting he knows where the momentum is heading. The question is, where is Oracle heading?

Jack Andrews, an analyst at Needham & Co., said that judging Oracles cloud transition could be murky because there arent enough data points to fully interrogate how the cloud efforts are playing out.

Oracle is a very large and complex company, Andrews said. Its hard for us, peering at a few income statements, to understand the machinations of whats going on in the business. We dont have all of Oracles business lines laid out nicely and neatly to track this stuff.

Story continues

Its true that every company chooses what specific metrics to disclose about its revenue sources, and every analyst seeks more granular details about business performance. Oracle became less transparent last year when it stopped breaking out some key cloud sales numbers. Oracle executives instead argued that investors should look at the companys total revenue growth to judge the success of its cloud efforts. Sales have largely stagnated since. Oracle shares were little changed Tuesday at $52.71 at 12:19 p.m. in New York.

Oracle didnt respond to requests for comment about its disclosure practices.

There are two important business divisions that act as bellwethers in judging Oracles cloud success. The applications business, which includes programs to manage a corporate clients finances, customers and human resources. The second is database, the companys original market.

Oracle has done a very good job of moving its applications business to the cloud, Andrews said. We can see that in the numbers. In the bigger piece -- the crown jewel of database -- customer behavior is different and we just dont have enough proof points to understand how its doing.

Buffetts brief status as an Oracle investor suggested a broader discomfort with the enterprise technology industry, according to Steve Koenig, an analyst at Wedbush Securities Inc.

Investing in a cloud story is just something thats not in his comfort zone to begin with, Koenig said.

The episode recalled Buffetts failed investment in IBM, which started with optimism and ended in disappointment. The parallels between International Business Machines Corp. and Oracle are clear: Both are massive, older technology companies that sell products to other businesses and have sought to move to cloud computing to keep up with faster-growing rivals.

Koenig said he thought that Oracle reduced the financial disclosures in its earnings statements last year, in part, because of its difficulty in transitioning its database business -- the key source of the companys profits -- to the cloud.

Until they find a way to make themselves relevant to database customers in the cloud, you cannot say Oracle is successfully transitioning to the cloud, Koenig said.

(Updates with shares in eighth paragraph. A previous version of this story corrected the spelling of Bloomberg Intelligence.)

--With assistance from Katherine Chiglinsky.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nico Grant in San Francisco at ngrant20@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Molly Schuetz

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

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TEL AVIV, Feb 25 (Reuters) - U.S. private equity firm Warburg Pincus completed its acquisition of Israeli Bank Leumi's credit card business on Monday and said it was bringing in three strategic partners.

Leumi, which owned 80 percent of Leumi Card, and property developer Azrieli Group, which held the rest, announced in July they had agreed to sell the business to Warburg Pincus for 2.5 billion shekels ($700 million), subject to regulatory approval. The Bank of Israel granted a permit to control the business last week.

New York-based Warburg Pincus said it was collaborating with three Israeli strategic partners: Menora Mivtachim, Clal Insurance and Allied Group. Each of the partners will hold 5 percent of the companys shares, and Menora and Clal will increase their holdings to 10 percent each once they get regulatory approval to do so.

"The fund sees great importance in the inclusion of key Israeli partners in the investment, and therefore chose some of the leading financial entities in the Israeli market," Warburg Pincus, which has more than $43 billion in private equity assets under management, said in a statement.

Leumi Card is expected to rebrand and change its name to Max, it said.

In a bid to increase competition, regulators have instructed Israeli's two biggest banks, Leumi and Hapoalim, to sell off their credit card companies by early 2020. ($1 = 3.6022 shekels) (Reporting by Tova Cohen; Editing by Steven Scheer and Kevin Liffey)
(Adds background and details)

By Roberta Rampton

WASHINGTON, Feb 23 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence plans to have his first meeting with Venezuela's Juan Guaido in Colombia on Monday, Pence aides said, in a signal of support for the opposition leader after a weekend of violence.

On Saturday, troops loyal to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro blocked convoys of U.S. humanitarian aid from crossing from Colombia to Venezuela, using teargas and rubber bullets and killing two protesters.

The violence could lead the United States to impose new sanctions as early as Monday to cut off the Maduro's government access to revenues.

Pence is traveling to the Colombian capital Bogota to meet with the Lima Group of regional leaders who recognize Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela after Maduro held elections last year which were dismissed as fraudulent.

A senior U.S. official told reporters on Friday that Pence would be prepared to announce new sanctions at the meeting if the aid was turned back, - adding to pressure from sanctions on state-owned oil company PDVSA.

"If there is any type of violence, or if there is any type of negative reaction from the hierarchy of the Venezuela armed forces, there may also be measures that are announced by the vice president and other countries in regards to closing even further the international financial circle," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The United States and allies are looking at ways to expel family members of Venezuelan military officials who are living outside the country, including some in south Florida, the official said.

Maduro has denied there are shortages of food and medicine in Venezuela, and says the aid is aimed at undermining his government.

Pence spoke to Guaido by phone in January before the opposition leader, who heads Venezuela's national assembly, swore himself in as interim president. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Alistair Bell)
This news should help underpin the stock market on Thursday. Its also favorable news for crude oil because a trade deal could help revive Chinas economy, which would likely lead to increased energy demand later in the year. Furthermore, it lifts one of the uncertainties the Fed highlighted in its monetary policy meeting minutes released on Wednesday.

Early Thursday, Reuters is reporting 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 news is helping to support the U.S. Dollar, while putting pressure on dollar-denominated gold futures. Appetite for risky assets is also increasing. U.S. Treasury yields are rising on dampened concerns of a global economic slowdown.

Reuters is saying, Top U.S. and Chinese trade officials are working this week to hash out language on six broad agreements that aim to resolve the most contentious issues in their seven-month trade war.

Sources familiar with the talks told Reuters that negotiators are working on six memorandums of understanding for actions to be taken by China on structural reforms to trade and economic policies.

U.S. and Chinese negotiators are also discussing a 10-item list of shorter-term measures, largely purchases of commodities and other goods.

The key areas and issues expected to be covered include:

Forced Technology Transfers and Cyber Theft

IP Rights

Agriculture

Services

Non-Tariff Barriers

Currency

Bilateral Trade Deficit Reduction

Enforcement Mechanism

Forced Technology Transfers and Cyber Theft

The United States wants China to ensure foreign companies do not come under pressure to transfer technology through joint venture requirements, unfair business licensing and product approval practices, or other forms of coercion. Washington also wants China to step up policing and prosecution of hackers.

IP Rights

The United States wants China to strengthen licensing laws and their enforcement to ensure that licensed IP is not stolen. This includes more criminal prosecutions of copyright and other intellectual property violations.

Agriculture

The United States wants China to open its markets to U.S. poultry, beef and other farm products. It wants restrictions on grain shipments brought in line with WTO obligations. The U.S. wants China to approve new genetically modified seed traits more quickly. Washington also wants China to remove tariffs on ethanol and distiller dried grains.

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Services

The United States wants China to open its financial services markets to more foreign firms, including credit card giants Visa and MasterCard.

Non-Tariff Barriers

The United States wants China to lift non-tariff barriers including Chinas industrial barriers, numerous regulations, business licensing procedures, product standards reviews and other practices to keep U.S. goods out or give an unfair advantage to domestic Chinese firms.

Currency

U.S. officials are calling for stability in the Yuan. The main concern for the U.S. is the undervalued Yuan. The United States wants China to stop devaluing the Yuan to gain a competitive advantage.

Bilateral Trade Deficit Reduction

The United States and Chinese officials are discussing ways to quickly reduce the trade deficit with the U.S. These include large purchases of commodities and other goods.

Enforcement Mechanism

The U.S. want to build a mechanism to measure Chinas progress on pledged reforms into the deal. China has previously broken promises to reform on the structural issues, and says an enforcement mechanism will prevent that happening again.

Market Reaction

This news should help underpin the stock market on Thursday. Its also favorable news for crude oil because a trade deal could help revive Chinas economy, which would likely lead to increased energy demand later in the year.

Furthermore, it lifts one of the uncertainties the Fed highlighted in its monetary policy meeting minutes released on Wednesday. This is one of the reasons the Fed cited in its decision to remain patient and leave its tightening policy on hold. This may be the reason why U.S. Treasury yields are rising early Thursday. Higher Treasury yields will be supportive for the U.S. Dollar, which could put pressure on dollar-denominated gold prices.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

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LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt will go to Saudi Arabia and hopes for progress in the case of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Mark Field, Britain's minister for Asia and the Pacific, said on Tuesday.

"The Foreign Secretary is going to Saudi this week and I hope there will be progress," Field told parliament when asked whether the government would present its findings on who was responsible for the murder and what actions Britain planned to take. (Reporting by Elizabeth Piper, Editing by Kylie MacLellan)
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue speaks during an event hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump with workers on "Cutting the Red Tape, Unleashing Economic Freedom" in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., October 17, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will keep pressing China for intellectual property safeguards in trade talks, regardless of Beijing's pledge to purchase 10 million tonnes of U.S. soybeans in the near term, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on Monday.

"Still, the structural core issues of intellectual property transfer have to be dealt with," Perdue told reporters after a speech in Washington. "We will not be bought off as a country over purchases without eliminating some of these non-trade barriers in China."

President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would delay an increase in U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods thanks to "productive" trade talks and that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping would meet to seal a deal if progress continued.

The announcement was the clearest sign yet that China and the United States are closing in on a deal to end a months-long trade war that has slowed global growth and disrupted markets.

Trump had planned to raise tariffs to 25 percent from 10 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports into the United States if an agreement between the world's two largest economies were not reached by Friday.

Beijing imposed tariffs last year on imports of U.S. agricultural goods, including soybeans, grain sorghum and pork, slashing shipments of American farm products to China. On Friday, Perdue said China had pledged at a White House meeting to buy 10 million tonnes of U.S. soy.

Asked about the time frame of the 10 million-tonne purchase, Perdue said: "That is near term. The impression I had, it is imminent."

China resumed buying some U.S. soy in December, after Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, struck a trade war truce, but sales are still way short of the pre-tariff levels.

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Officials from Britain and the United States signed mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) covering pharmaceuticals and telecommunications equipment, electromagnetic compatibility for information and communications technology products.

Mutual recognition agreements are most often bilateral agreements between countries that recognize each other's conformity assessments and meet the standards of specified goods and services in the signatory countries.

Deputy U.S. Trade Representative C.J. Mahoney and Ambassador Kim Darroch, the U.K.'s Ambassador to the United States signed the two MRAs, which cover trade amounting to 12.8 billion ($16.65 billion) on average trade flows on February 14, according to a British Department for International Trade statement.

Agreeing to these deals was a comparatively straight forward affair as the deals replicate similar MRAs previously agreed between the European Union (EU) and the U.S.

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According to Britain's International Trade Secretary Dr. Liam Fox, "This agreement will allow British and American businesses to keep trading as freely as they do today, without additional bureaucracy."

Fox went on to say, "Our top priority is ensuring continuity for businesses as we leave the European Union and we are signing other agreements in the days and weeks ahead. We look forward to sitting down at the negotiating table with the Americans after we leave the European Union to strike an ambitious new free trade agreement."

The MRAs were welcomed by British trade associations saying they would facilitate the continued free movement of goods following the country's exit from the EU. However, securing the trade deal that Fox would like may prove a far more complex task, despite U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer having notified Congress last October of the Trump Administration's intention to enter into trade negotiations with Britain after it has exited the EU.

Fox famously told voters before the 2016 EU referendum in Britain that concluding trade deals would be easy as Britain could replicate trade deals agreed to by the EU and other countries. In 2017 Fox said that 40 deals would be achieved by Brexit day (March 29, 2019). But the trade secretary had to admit last week that deals with Japan  one of the most important trade deals  and Turkey would not be completed by the time Britain withdraws from the EU.

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So far, Britain has managed to roll-over only seven deals, of 69 possible, including Eastern and Southern Africa, Chile, the Faroe Islands, Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Switzerland.

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 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
President Donald Trump arrived in Hanoi late Tuesday for a second summit with Kim Jong Un that has already shown flashes of disorder, as American journalists were abruptly evicted from a hotel housing the North Korean leader and key details of the meeting remained a mystery.

The White House has set low ambitions for Thursdays talks, organized in a matter of weeks after Trump announced the summit Feb. 8. The two sides havent even agreed on the meaning of denuclearization or the ultimate purpose of the negotiations  and thats unlikely to be resolved this week.

Before Kims arrival in Hanoi Tuesday morning, Vietnams foreign ministry announced that the White House media center would have to move from the Melia hotel downtown, where the North Korean leader is staying. The White House offered no explanation for the move, which forced news organizations operating from the hotel to pack up and relocate a few blocks away.

Trump and Kim will meet Wednesday evening for a 20-minute one-on-one conversation before dining together, the White House said. The White House hasnt said where they will hold their formal summit on Thursday.

Trump will be joined at dinner by his chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo. Kim will also be joined by two aides, Sanders said. She didnt identify them.

Sanders complained on Fox News last week that American media had manufactured high expectations for the summit. Trump has sought to tamp down public expectations as well, telling state governors on Sunday that he has no intention of lifting harsh U.S. sanctions on North Korea and isnt pushing for a hasty deal with Kim.

Failure to win substantive concessions from Kim risks turning a dramatic moment into a public letdown for the U.S president, who is making his second trip to the other side of the world to try to persuade Kim to give up his nuclear weapons. After agreeing to cease military exercises with South Korea following their first summit without gaining anything substantive from Kim in exchange, Trumps critics fear the president may again be talked into a U.S. concession.

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This is where the presidents unpredictability, his impulsiveness, his inclination not to prepare for meetings could get us into trouble, said Victor Cha, the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, whom the Trump administration considered nominating for ambassador to South Korea.

Talks between Washington and Pyongyang have been deadlocked since the two leaders first summit in Singapore last June. Rather than show progress toward denuclearization, North Korea has continued to build warheads and missiles, according to satellite-imagery analysis and leaked American intelligence.

Speculation before the second summit has focused on steps the two countries could take to show warming relations while avoiding the sorer points in their nuclear negotiations. In Hanoi, the government has festooned the city with U.S., Vietnamese and North Korean flags and branded the summit as a partnership for sustainable peace.

The likeliest outcomes this time are symbolic. One significant possibility is that Trump and Kim conclude their meetings on Thursday with a declaration that their countries are no longer at war, a nonbinding political statement that wont officially replace the 1953 Korean War armistice.

Some critics worry that a peace declaration  which would come more than 65 years after the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War  could erode the American justification for stationing about 28,500 troops in neighboring South Korea. That might not be of particular concern to Trump, who has openly questioned the cost of the large U.S. troop presence and recently forced the negotiation of a new cost-sharing agreement with South Korea.

Kim could agree to allow a U.S. diplomatic liaison office in Pyongyang, sought by American officials dating to Bill Clintons administration. But the North Korean regime has resisted, figuring the U.S. would use the outpost to expand its intelligence-gathering in the country. This summit may test Kims willingness to break from the past.

Patrick Cronin, chairman of the Asia-Pacific security program at the Hudson Institute, a conservative Washington-based think tank, said either a peace declaration or a diplomatic exchange would be useful confidence-building moves. Neither should be met with much concern  especially if Kim also gives ground on issues such as inspections of North Korean nuclear facilities or lockdowns or other controls of fissile material, he said.

Bieguns Talks

Trump has repeatedly indicated hes eager to help jump-start a post-nuclear North Korean economy. His negotiators might seek human-rights assurances that could eventually pave the way for Western companies subject to U.S. and international laws to enter the country.

The two leaders could also announce the formation of joint survey teams to look for additional remains of American soldiers killed during the Korean War, after an initial repatriation following the Singapore summit.

Senior administration officials said that progress toward any of those goals would constitute success and demonstrate the presidents efforts have been effective. A team of more than a dozen U.S. officials led by Stephen Biegun, Trumps North Korea envoy, has met twice in recent weeks  first in Pyongyang, and more recently in Hanoi  with North Korean counterparts in a bid to craft some sort of agreement for the leaders to announce.

Kim could demonstrate his sincerity by revealing undeclared facilities, disclosing or allowing inspection of his programs uranium pathways, permitting international inspectors on the ground, or agreeing to allow electronic monitoring or the removal of samples by inspectors. U.S. negotiators are likely to raise their concerns over the proliferation of fissile material and mobile missile launchers.

One senior administration official who requested anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations speculated that a breakdown in talks between the U.S. and North Korea late last year could have been a signal of internal pressures within the North Korean government. Kim likely faces domestic resistance to any steps toward denuclearization, Cronin said.
Former White House official Anthony Scaramucci said U.S President Donald Trump will be "very tough to beat" if three things work out for him: continued economic growth, a border security strategy that excites his political base, and foreign policies yield results.

Scaramucci predicted that a thriving U.S. economy will boost Trump's chances of getting re-elected.

United States President Donald Trump's success in scoring a second-term in the Oval Office in 2020 will depend on how much his domestic and foreign policies work, according to former White House official Anthony Scaramucci.

Speaking to CNBC's "Capital Connection" on Tuesday, Scaramucci said Trump will be "very tough to beat" if three things work out: The U.S. economy continues to grow, the president's border security strategy excites his political base, and his foreign policies yield results.

"If those things happen and the economy continues to grow, I think he'll be very tough to beat in 2020," said Scaramucci, the founder and co-managing partner of investment firm SkyBridge Capital.

US economy

He predicted that a thriving U.S. economy will boost Trump's chances of getting re-elected to around 85 percent. If growth slows down  as forecast by many economists  Trump still has a 60-percent to 65-percent chance of winning the election, Scaramucci added.

The International Monetary Fund said in January that the U.S.  the world's largest economy  is expected to grow at 2 percent this year, down from the estimated 2.3 percent for last year. That growth could slow down further to 1.8 percent in 2020, according to the IMF.

Equity markets

But economic growth is not the only thing that's important for Trump, the performance of the U.S. stock market matters too, said Scaramucci, who had a short stint as Trump's communications director .

"I like to tell my friends that the only poll the president's really concerned about is the S&P 500. He looks at that pretty much daily and if it's going in the right direction, he thinks his re-election chances are pretty great," said the former White House official.

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The president is also "very, very concerned" about border security because he thinks it plays very well to his base, according to Scaramucci.

Disagreements on border security  specifically, on the U.S.-Mexico border wall that Trump proposed  led to the longest partial government shutdown in American history. It remains an area of contention between the Republican president and Democratic members of Congress, with Trump declaring a national emergency as a way to get funding to build the wall.

Foreign policies

Another important element that will affect Trump's re-election chances is foreign policies, Scaramucci said. The president has in recent months pushed for improved trade ties with China and is scheduled to arrive in Vietnam this week for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un .

Those efforts could help Trump's case in securing a second-term as president, added Scaramucci.

On the potential trade deal with China , Scaramucci said: "I think the president will get a deal done."

"When people step back, they'll say: 'Wait a minute. This is an American businessman that became the American president and he negotiated with the Chinese in a way that traditional American politicians weren't able to.' And so, my guess is it's going to work out."





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The U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commissions approval of the $26 billion T-Mobile-Sprint merger is far from a slam dunk, despite the fact the two companies are purportedly working together to optimally combine assets, sources familiar with the matter tell FOX Business. The DOJ is still probing the deal over antitrust concerns and policy staff has yet to make a formal recommendation to Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, Makan Delrahim, about the deal.

While media analysts have grown more optimistic that the deal will close and say the chances for antitrust approval have increased since the deal was initially announced in April 2018, some with knowledge of the DOJs decision making process are less sanguine about the deals future.

In filings, in statements, and in comments made to Congress and CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States), the two telecom providers have relied heavily on the argument that combining T-Mobile and Sprint will enable the U.S. to compete with Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications company, in building out a 5G networknext generation wireless technology.

The move comes at a critical time for U.S.  China relations which are strained. The U.S. has eschewed Huaweis services domestically and has publicly stated they will not use Huaweis network to communicate. Last week Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned countries about the consequences of doing business with Huawei. If a country adopts this and puts it in some of their critical information systems, we wont be able to share information with them, said Pompeo to FOX Business Maria Bartiromo. In some cases theres risk -- we wont even be able to co-locate American resources, an American embassy and American military outpost.

If approved, the merger may indeed help the U.S. speed up 5G development; however, 5G plays no role in winning antitrust approval. DOJ is focused exclusively on whether the newly merged company could hurt consumers of wireless services and whether the deal will impact consumer prices. According to a source familiar with the matter, A company cant enter into an anti-competitive deal to compete in a new market.

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T-Mobile CEO John Legere appeared to respond to DOJ scrutiny in a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai by promising the company would not raise prices: New -Mobile will make available the same or better rate plans for our services as those offered today by T-Mobile or Sprint. . . We believe this merger makes consumers better off, and were willing to put our money where our mouth is. Period. The statement addresses concerns the merger will hurt consumers but it was viewed by one analyst as an indication Legere is getting a bit desperate.

In a statement to FOX Business, a DOJ Spokesman commented, The Antitrust Division has made no conclusions at this time, as our investigation and evaluation of proposed efficiencies continues. T-Mobile did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP

T-Mobile initially expected the deal to close in the first half of 2019. Its unclear when the FCC and DOJ will announce a decision, but the announcement could come as soon as next month.

Related Articles
(Bloomberg) -- Veo Robotics Inc., a startup developing sensor technology that lets industrial robots work safely side-by-side with humans, closed a funding round as it prepares to roll out the product in May.

The company raised $15 million late last month, bringing total financing to around $28 million, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Sobalvarro said in an interview. Veos proprietary technology uses lidar sensors to create real-time maps of factory work spaces, so that robots can slow or stop completely when human workers get too close.

There are more than 2 million industrial robots in operation worldwide, mostly toiling inside metal safety cages. The seclusion is fine for repetitive tasks that can be done entirely by machines, such as arc welding, but the majority of work even in the most automated factories requires involvement of people. Embedding force sensors into industrial limbs is one way to prevent them from plowing through obstacles, but the same technology that makes the arms safe also makes them weak. Most so-called cobots cannot handle weights heavier than 10 kilograms (22 pounds). Computer vision offers a way to get robots into more complex environments, without compromising their strength.

Where you see a lot of robots, thats just the beginning of assembly, Sobalvarro said. Those welding robots make for flashy pictures, but what you dont see is another 250 to 500 process steps that are entirely manual.

Another obstacle is that manufacturers increasingly have to make multiple products on the same assembly line and are constantly retooling their production to accommodate shifting consumer tastes. An automotive line worker might handle an SUV, followed by a minivan and a sedan at a pace of one a minute, the kind of variety that robots dont handle well, Sobalvarro said.

It just doesnt make any sense to automate further because of mass customization, he said. We let manufacturing be more flexible and adopt to increasingly tighter product cycles.

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There are also not enough workers to do the job. About half a million jobs were left open in manufacturing in the U.S. last year, and the shortage may widen to 2.4 million over the next decade, according to a report by Deloitte Consulting LLP and the Manufacturing Institute. Anywhere you can find a place to introduce robots, it helps, Sobalvarro said.

Veo, based in Waltham, Massachusetts, is working closely with the worlds biggest robot makers Fanuc Corp., Yaskawa Electric Corp. and Kuka AG. But Veos first customers are likely to be car companies, manufacturers of durable goods such as household appliances and oil and gas equipment makers, where the shale revolution created demand for more customization. The technology could be used to get machines to present parts to human workers, for loading and unloading fixtures and in palletizing.

The companys existing shareholders Google Ventures, Lux Capital Management, and Next47, a venture firm started by Siemens AG, contributed to the latest funding round. They were joined by new investors Nikon-SBI Innovation Fund, SBI AI & Blockchain Fund, and Baidu Ventures. Saman Farid, a partner at Baidu Ventures, joined Veos board.

While Veo does not disclose its valuation, it could be worth tens of billions of dollars, according to Bilal Zuberi, a partner at Lux Capital. To get to that level, the company would have to scale their technology so that it can watch over an entire factory floor, Zuberi said.

Veo could take an industrial environment, fuse all of that data and diagnose the health of the whole factory on a real-time basis, Zuberi said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Pavel Alpeyev in Tokyo at palpeyev@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Robert Fenner at rfenner@bloomberg.net, Reed Stevenson, Edwin Chan

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

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Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley invited seven drugmakers to testify about drug prices.

Executives from seven pharmaceutical companies  AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Pfizer and Sanofi  will testify Thursday before the Senate Finance Committee.

The Senate Finance Committee's probe into high drug prices won't stop at pharmaceutical companies, Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley , said in an interview Tuesday.

Senators will grill executives from seven drugmakers  AbbVie ABBV , AstraZeneca AZN-GB , Bristol-Myers Squibb BMY , Johnson & Johnson JNJ , Merck MRK , Pfizer PFE and Sanofi SAN-FR  in a hearing Tuesday. Grassley said there needs to be more transparency into how drug prices are set, a system which he said seems to be enveloped in "a great deal of secrecy."

"I think there is not enough information available about how prices are arrived at," Grassley said Tuesday in an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box." "There seems to be a great deal of secrecy. For me, on a lot of legislative issues, particularly my oversight works, transparency brings accountability, so we need to get some transparency into it."

He wants explanations on how list prices are set for drugs and what's actually being paid for the drugs. Pharmaceutical companies negotiate discounts, called rebates, with pharmacy benefit managers. Rebates are a favorite target of the pharmaceutical industry, which blames PBMs on hoarding the savings instead of passing them onto patients.

Grassley said the committee's investigation won't stop with drugmakers and will include PBMs, as well as other players in the drug supply chain.

On Thursday, six CEOs and one top executive will join the committee: AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez, AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot, Bristol-Myers Squibb CEO Giovanni Caforio, Johnson & Johnson's Janssen unit Executive Vice President Jennifer Taubert, Merck CEO Ken Frazier, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and Sanofi CEO Olivier Brandicourt.

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Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb shares Grassley's concerns about rebates, saying in an interview Tuesday the "wacky" system keeps prices high for patients at the pharmacy counter.

Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., earlier this month invited seven of the largest pharmaceutical companies to testify about drug prices. Grassley stepped down as chairman of the judiciary committee after the 2018 election, in order to head the finance committee, with the stated goal of tackling drug prices.

Last week, the chairman and his democratic counterpart on finance, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, launched a bipartisan probe into insulin prices. The pair sent letters to the three leading insulin manufacturers, Eli Lilly LLY , Novo Nordisk and Sanofi, asking their executives to explain why prices for diabetes drug prices have soared dramatically in recent years.

"He is somebody who has been as a Republican the go-to-guy on prescription drug reform," said Heidi Heitkamp, former democratic senator from North Dakota, adding that "he has been willing in the past to sit down and actually introduce bipartisan legislation."

Earlier this month, Grassley joined with Vermont democratic Senator Patrick Leahy to reintroduce the Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples, known as the CREATES Act, which would allow generic-drug makers to go to court to obtain samples for developing biosimilar drugs, or copycat versions of complex biologic treatments. Last fall, he also co-sponsored drug pricing bills with Minnesota democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar and Illinois democratic Senator Dick Durbin. Klobuchar is among those running for president in a crowded Democratic field.

"Republicans are angry. Democrats are angry  it's really everyone at this point," said Ipsita Smolinski, managing director at Capitol Street, a health policy consultancy, adding that pharmaceutical companies "are very aware of the environment."

Health care was the top issue for voters in the 2018 election. While Democrats and Republicans remain divided when it comes to the Affordable Care Act, Medicare for All and other health insurance policies, analysts say drug prices are one area where there is increasing bipartisanship.

Wells Fargo analyst David Maris sees a possibility of bipartisan regulatory and legislative action on drug prices this year as a real threat for the drug industry.

"The Republican party is really interested in this topic, more so than they've been in previous cycles," Maris said. "There's a new openness on both sides. A lot of that has to do with the president and his administration trying to attack root causes."





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CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco has agreed to deliver more than 500,000 barrels of crude oil every month to Egyptian refineries starting in January, Egyptian Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla said on Tuesday.

The minister told Reuters that the agreement would be effective for a period of six months.

(Reporting by Ahmed Ismail, writing by Sami Aboudi; editing by Jason Neely)
Photo credit: TASS - Getty Images

From Popular Mechanics

Our latest glimpse at Russia's hit list reveals a batch of targets that's decidedly weird.

On Sunday, February 24 Russian state television broadcast a map of targets it said could be hit by the new nuclear weapons President Vladimir Putin is threatening to bring online. The report mentioned several facilities, some very small and manned by less than two dozen people, in isolated areas near U.S. coastlines. On the outside, some of them have no apparent military use, but Popular Mechanics has uncovered the role of at least one of them in American nuclear war planning.

The reason behind this posturing is the impending possible end to the U.S.-Russian INF Treaty that bans certain nuclear weapons. Putin, concerned that the United States could reintroduce intermediate-range ballistic missiles into Western Europe that could strike Moscow in minutes, threatened to counter any such deployment with a Russian deployment of cruise and hypersonic missiles. These missiles would be based nearby or on submarines cruising off the North American coastline.

In the TV report, Russian state presenter Dmitry Kiselyov, described by the UKs Guardian newspaper as close to the Kremlin, listed a number of targets scattered across the U.S. that would be struck by the new weapons, stating they could be hit in five minutes or less. (The American Pershing II missile, banned by the INF Treaty, could theoretically hit Moscow in as little as six minutes .)

According to Reuters the targets were described as U.S. presidential or military command centers, and included the Pentagon and the presidential retreat at Camp David. The list also included Fort Ritchie, Maryland, McClellan Air Force Base, California, and Jim Creek, Washington.

Some of the targets, such as the Pentagon and Camp David, are obvious targets in wartime. Others are more obscure or a downright mystery. Fort Ritchie was an above-ground command center for Site R, also known as Raven Rock , which was an underground facility designed to shelter the federal government in the event of nuclear war. However, Fort Ritchies role evolved away from supporting the underground facility, and it was closed completely in 1998.

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McClellan Air Force Base located outside Sacramento, Calif., was the headquarters of Air Force Material Command, but was closed in 2001. Today, McClellan is home to the Air Force's High Frequency Global Communications System, West Coast facility. HFGS is a worldwide network of communications outposts meant to act as relays for phone, data, and messaging for U.S. forces worldwide. It also broadcasts command and control messages for the U.S. nuclear arsenal, including orders to launch.

The last facility, Jim Creek , is a communications facility designed to link the U.S. Navy with its ballistic missile submarines that operate out of Kitsap, Washington. Located 55 miles northeast of Seattle, Jim Creek is home to 21 U.S. government personnel that keep the locations AN/FRT-3 Very Low Frequency (VLF) Radio Transmitting System running 24/7. The facility has more than 360 miles of copper cable conductors to act as a giant antenna.

Photo credit: U.S. Navy photo by Robin Hicks

Between McClellan and Jim Creek the two facilities handle the bulk of nuclear command and control on the West Coast. The loss of both to a nuclear first strike would cripple America's ability to respond with nukes in kind. By publicly targeting these locations, Russia is stating it has the ability to gain the upper hand early on in a nuclear conflict, negating any perceived American advantage. As for Fort Ritchie, the former Army base's inclusion on the list is still a mystery. Russian state media may have misidentified the facility, or it may have some secret role in America's nuclear warfighting system.



Thanks to Bryan Herbert (Twitter: @KE6ZGP) for information on the High Frequency Global Communications System.

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Russia,

Russias State Duma is planning to pass a resolution on a pending cryptocurrency regulation bill, reported a local source.

Oleg Nikolayev, a member of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, said that the Russian assembly house had led cryptocurrency regulations to its final stages. In contrast to the Russian Central Banks conservative stance on bitcoin and other virtual currencies, Olga said that the house was working on a business-friendly framework for these assets integration.

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The House is likely to pass the crypto regulation law by March, which could further pave the way for the government to launch its central bank digital currency.

Read the full story on CCN.com.
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's government on Monday said it had awarded Rolls Royce a 235 million-pound ($307 million) contract to maintain nuclear submarines.

Rolls Royce will provide support and advice for systems on board the current fleet of Trafalgar, Vanguard and Astute class submarines until 2022, the defence ministry said.

The contract would support around 500 jobs in the United Kingdom, it said.

"This year, we mark half a century since British nuclear-armed submarines began their continuous patrol of waters around the world," Gavin Williamson, the defence minister said.

"This significant milestone for the Royal Navy would not be possible without the skills and ingenuity of our industry partners who supply and maintain equipment.

($1 = 0.7655 pounds)

(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by William Schomberg)
Billionaire Robert Kraft  the owner of the New England Patriots  was charged with two counts of soliciting prostitution at a massage parlor, according to probable-cause affidavits released by Florida prosecutors.

The 77-year-old widower faces up to a year in jail if convicted of the two misdemeanor charges. Kraft will also be required pay a $5,000 fine, do 100 hours of community service, and attend a class on human trafficking.

He will be arraigned in Palm Beach County Court on April 24, ESPN reported.

Sanctimonious Media Clutch Their Pearls

According to affidavits obtained by Palm Beach Post reporter Olivia Hitchcock, Kraft paid for manual stimulation at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida on Jan. 19 and Jan. 20, 2019.

Read the full story on CCN.com.
- Former Head of U.S. Cardiovascular Medical Affairs at Amgen and Global Cardiovascular Medical Affairs at AstraZeneca to lead clinical development of MAT9001, a potential best-in-class prescription-only omega-3 drug candidate -

BEDMINSTER, N.J., Feb. 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Matinas BioPharma Holdings, Inc. (NYSE AMER: MTNB), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, today announced that it has appointed a prominent cardiovascular medical and clinical development expert, James (Terry) J. Ferguson, M.D., FACC, FAHA, as its Chief Medical Officer.



Dr. Ferguson is a well-recognized, industry leading academic and clinical expert with over 25 years of experience in the cardiovascular space. He joins the Matinas BioPharma management team having served as the Cardiovascular and Bone Therapeutic Area Head for U.S. Medical Affairs, at Amgen (AMGN), a top-tier global innovative biotechnology company focused on areas of high unmet medical need.

Jerome D. Jabbour, Chief Executive Officer , commented, We have assembled a world-class team of experts to help guide the regulatory path and clinical development of MAT9001. The addition of Dr. Ferguson to our executive team brings a well-respected and highly experienced leader with extensive subject matter expertise to help drive the clinical development program of MAT9001, as well as engage with the external cardiovascular clinical and scientific community regarding our unique, highly-purified, pharmaceutical grade omega-3 as a potential important contributor to cardiovascular health. We are extremely pleased to have attracted someone of Dr. Fergusons caliber, who brings with him significant experience and relationships from some of the worlds leading pharmaceutical companies. His stellar reputation amongst clinicians and cardiovascular thought leaders and his development expertise are ideal complements to the opportunity we believe exists with our lead product candidate, MAT9001.

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Prior to Amgen Dr. Ferguson held a number of senior positions at AstraZeneca, including Vice President of US Cardiovascular Medical and Scientific External Relations, Therapeutic Area Vice President of Cardiovascular Global Medical Affairs, U.S. Development Brand Leader for BRILINTA, and Senior Director, Clinical Research. Before joining AstraZeneca he was Vice President of Surgical and Critical Care for The Medicines Company.

Prior to joining industry in 2008, he had more than 20 years of academic experience as the Associate Director of Clinical Cardiology Research at the Texas Heart Institute, Co-Director of the Cardiology Fellowship Training Program at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston, where he was an Associate Professor of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, and a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Dr. Ferguson has served on the Editorial Board of numerous peer-reviewed journals and has over 400 publications and book chapters.

Matinas has built a great deal of momentum over the past year and is attracting much more attention in the pharma/biotech world and among the scientific and clinical community. Its really exciting for me to join Matinas at such a dynamic time in the Companys evolution, and with so much future potential, especially with MAT9001, commented Dr. Ferguson. There continues to be significant unmet need in the cardiovascular space and following the recent release of the data from Amarins REDUCE-IT study, and given the differentiated profile of MAT9001, I believe Matinas has the opportunity to develop a best-in-class drug that could make a substantial difference in the lives of so many patients with cardiovascular disease. I look forward to working with the team to advance the clinical development of this potentially life-changing medicine.

Dr. Ferguson received his B.A. (cum Laude) in Biology from Harvard University, his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed his post-graduate training at the University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan and Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

About Matinas BioPharma



Matinas BioPharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on creating value through the streamlined development of MAT9001 for the treatment of cardiovascular and metabolic conditions and the application of its lipid nano-crystal (LNC) platform technology to solve complex challenges relating to the safe and effective delivery of small molecules, gene therapies, proteins, peptides and vaccines.

The Company is actively pursuing the development of MAT9001 with the support of a world-class team of clinical key opinion leaders and regulatory consultants. MAT9001 is a prescription-only omega-3 fatty acid-based composition, comprised primarily of EPA and DPA, under development for hypertriglyceridemia, which has shown superiority versus Vascepa (icosapent ethyl) in reducing serum triglycerides, Total- and Non-HDL-Cholesterol, apolipoprotein CIII and PCSK9 levels.

In addition, the Company's proprietary, disruptive technology utilizes lipid-crystal nano-particle cochleates to encapsulate small molecules, nucleic acid polymers, vaccines and other medicines potentially making them safer, more tolerable, less toxic and orally bioavailable.

For more information, please visit www.matinasbiopharma.com and connect with the Company on Twitter , LinkedIn and Facebook .

Forward Looking Statements: This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including those relating to the Company's anticipated capital and liquidity needs, strategic focus and the future development of its product candidates, including MAT9001 and MAT2203, the anticipated timing of regulatory submissions, the anticipated timing of clinical studies, the anticipated timing of regulatory interactions, the Companys ability to identify and pursue development and partnership opportunities for its products or platform delivery technology on favorable terms, if at all, and the ability to obtain required regulatory approval and other statements that are predictive in nature, that depend upon or refer to future events or conditions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "could," "believes," "estimates" and similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, our ability to obtain additional capital to meet our liquidity needs on acceptable terms, or at all, including the additional capital which will be necessary to complete the clinical trials of our product candidates; our ability to successfully complete research and further development and commercialization of our product candidates; the uncertainties inherent in clinical testing; the timing, cost and uncertainty of obtaining regulatory approvals; our ability to protect the Company's intellectual property; the loss of any executive officers or key personnel or consultants; competition; changes in the regulatory landscape or the imposition of regulations that affect the Company's products; and the other factors listed under "Risk Factors" in our filings with the SEC, including Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. Except as may be required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to such forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Matinas BioPharma's product candidates are all in a development stage and are not available for sale or use.

Investor and Media Contact

Jenene Thomas

Jenene Thomas Communications, LLC

Phone: +1 (833) 475-8247

Email: mtnb@jtcir.com



Source: Matinas BioPharma Holdings, Inc.
February 26, 2019



Latest release of Philips advanced visualization platform continues to build on innovations in intelligent clinical applications, hospital network connectivity, and patient data security



Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Vienna, Austria  Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, today announced the launch of IntelliSpace Portal 11 , the latest release of Philips comprehensive, advanced visualization and quantification software. Launching at the 2019 European Congress of Radiology , the new version further extends the clinical innovation of the Portal, with enhancements to improve workflow efficiencies, bridging secure data sharing between systems within the hospital network to address the security and privacy needs of customers globally.

To make confident diagnoses and work efficiently, radiologists need access to up-to-date patient information, advanced visualization and analysis software, said Efrat Shefer, General Manager, Imaging Clinical Applications & Platforms at Philips. With IntelliSpace Portal, healthcare providers can implement one standardized workflow across the enterprise, providing everyone with a standardized view and tools they need anywhere in the department. IntelliSpace Portal 11 enables visualization through a browser interface, giving clinicians access to advanced visualization data review anywhere.



Philips IntelliSpace Portal is an advanced visualization and analysis software solution designed to support diagnostic process, follow-up and communication across clinical domains and modalities, through a connected and secure workflow. The solution is a multi-modality and multi-vendor comprehensive suite of advanced visualization solutions for Radiology. It can scale to fit large scale enterprises, helping to maximize resources by leveraging analytical tools.

Philips IntelliSpace Portal 11 offers an innovative, seamless integrated portfolio of clinically rich applications for Neurology, Oncology, and Cardiology domains. The new version is focused on enhancing clinical workflow and automation via adaptive intelligence functionalities, combining clinical data from multimodalities across the health continuum. The latest iteration also includes a new integrated Nuclear Medicine Viewer by Mirada Medical designed to support clinical challenges and productivity, with a dedicated optimized workflow for quantitative patient follow-up.

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IntelliSpace Portal 11 introduces new zero-footprint viewer* capabilities running directly through a web browser to provide anywhere access to advanced visualization data review during multi-disciplinary meetings inside or outside the hospital. Users can consult and share findings online with real-time peer to peer interaction. The viewer also offers scalability from a single department to an enterprise-wide solution.

Supporting patient data confidentiality, integrity, and availability are part of the IntelliSpace Portal 11 security policy. The solution can be tailored to the customer environment, allowing flexible settings for patient and role-based access controls, designed to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access.

For more information on Philips full portfolio of integrated smart systems, software and services, including the latest features of IntelliSpace Portal that will be spotlighted at the upcoming European Congress of Radiology in Vienna, Austria, Feb. 27  March 3, 2019, click here , and follow @PhilipsLiveFrom for #ECR2019 updates throughout the event.

* Zero footprint is not intended for diagnostic review.

For further information, please contact:

Kathy OReilly

Philips Group Press Office

Tel: +1-978-221-8919

Email: kathy.oreilly@philips.com

Twitter: @kathyoreilly

Mark Groves

Philips Group Press Office

Tel: +31 631 639 916

Email: mark.groves@philips.com

Twitter: mark_groves

About Royal Philips

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips generated 2018 sales of EUR 18.1 billion and employs approximately 77,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter .

Attachments
BALAKOT, Pakistan (AP)  Tensions escalated sharply on the Asian subcontinent Tuesday with nuclear-armed neighbors Pakistan and India trading accusations and warnings after a pre-dawn airstrike by India that New Delhi said targeted a terrorist training camp.

Pakistan said there were no casualties, while New Delhi called the attack a pre-emptive strike that hit a terrorist training camp and killed "a very large number" of militants.

The airstrike followed a suicide bombing in India's section of the disputed territory of Kashmir on Feb. 14 that killed more than 40 Indian soldiers. Pakistan has denied involvement in the attack but vowed to respond to any Indian military operation against it.

Several reporters, including an Associated Press journalist, trudged up the Kangaran Nallah hill to the site of Tuesday's bombing near the town of Balakot, close to the border with Pakistan's sector of Kashmir. They saw several large craters, a few upended trees and villagers wondering why they had been targeted.

"There are only mud-brick homes here. There is no madrassas. There isn't even a concrete house," said 55-year-old Noor Shah who lived about a half-kilometer (a third of a mile) from the site.

When the bombs struck, Shah said residents of his village of Jabba stayed indoors. It wasn't until morning when "we saw soldiers and learned from them that Indian planes dropped bombs in our village," he said.

Two of the dried mud structures were damaged in the explosions but no one was hurt, said Tahir Khan, 45, of the same village. He added that his frightened children refused to let him leave their side to go to work.

"No one has been killed, no one has been seriously hurt. But we want to know, what have we done that we were attacked?" asked Khan.

Pakistan's military spokesman, Maj. Gen Asif Ghafoor, said Indian planes crossed into the Muzafarabad sector of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. He said Pakistan scrambled its warplanes and the Indian jets released their payload "in haste" near Balakot.

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India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told reporters in New Delhi that Indian fighter jets targeted Jaish-e-Mohammad camps in a pre-emptive strike after intelligence indicated another attack was being planned.

"Acting on intelligence, India early today struck the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad in Balakot," he said. "In this operation, a very large number of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and jihadis being trained were eliminated."

Balakot Police Chief Saghir Hussain Shah said he had sent teams to the area where the Indian bombs reportedly hit, which he described as a mostly deserted wooded area. He said there were no casualties and no damage.

There was no immediate explanation for the differing accounts, although India and Pakistan routinely contradict one another.

The Feb. 14 attack was the worst on Indian forces since the start of the 1989 insurgency in Kashmir and came as anticipation rises for an Indian general election, which is due by May.

Addressing a rally of former soldiers in the Indian state of Rajasthan hours after the airstrike, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India was in "safe hands."

"I vow that I will not let the country bow down," he said.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi condemned Tuesday's incursion, saying New Delhi had "endangered" peace in the region for political gains.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan dismissed India's account of the airstrike on a terrorist training camp as "self-serving, reckless and fictitious." Earlier this month, Khan had authorized the army to "respond decisively and comprehensively to any aggression or misadventure" by India, after New Delhi vowed a "jaw-breaking response" to the Kashmir suicide bombing.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo encouraged both countries to exercise restraint and avoid escalation. A statement from his spokesperson's office said Pompeo spoke to government ministers of both countries and underscored to Pakistan the urgency of taking meaningful action against terrorist groups on its soil.

Pakistan has vowed to help investigate the suicide bombing and to take action against anyone found to be using Pakistani soil for attacks on India. It also offered to hold a dialogue with India on all issues, including terrorism.

Kashmir, which is split between the two countries but claimed by each in its entirety, has been the cause of two wars between the neighbors. They fought a third war in 1979 over East Pakistan, which gained independence with the help of India and became Bangladesh.

Insurgents in Indian-controlled Kashmir have been demanding either outright independence or union with Pakistan. India routinely accuses Pakistan of arming and training militants who cross the mountainous Himalayan region.

The Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing. The bomber, who made a video beforehand, was a resident of Indian-controlled sector of Kashmir.

Muhammad Amir Rana, a security analyst and executive director of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies, urged the international community to move quickly to de-escalate tensions.

"It's quite critical and it is important that the international community intervene quickly to start a peace process between India and Pakistan," he said, adding that the United States, China and Russia should take the lead.

China, a close ally of Pakistan, urged both sides to show restraint.

"We hope that both India and Pakistan can ... take actions that will help stabilize the situation in the region and help to improve mutual relations," said China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang.

Pakistan has outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammad and seized its property in south Punjab's Bawahalpur area, including religious schools and mosques. India has demanded that Jaish-e-Mohammad's leader, Azhar Masood, be listed as a terrorist by the U.N., but that has been stymied by China.

After the airstrike, Lt. Col. Devender Anand, an Indian army spokesman, said Pakistani soldiers attacked Indian positions along the boundary in Kashmir, the so-called Line of Control. He called the attack an "unprovoked" violation of the 2003 cease-fire. He said there were no casualties and refused to discuss India's incursion into Pakistan.

Residents of Chikhoti, on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control, said they heard the roar of Indian jets overhead. They said they had been expecting an Indian response to the suicide bombing.

"We built bunkers near our home years ago and we will use them if there is any attack from India in our area," said Mohammad Shafiq, 55.

Later Tuesday evening, Anand said Pakistani soldiers fired mortar shells and small-arms fire along the Line of Control at the Nowshera, Poonch and Akhnoor sectors, prompting Indian troops to "strongly and befittingly" respond.

Shakir Ahmed, a resident of Poonch in Indian-controlled Kashmir, said people heard loud sounds of shelling.

"People are afraid. It's getting dark," he said. "We pray it doesn't escalate into war."

___

Hussain reported from Srinagar, India. Associated Press writers Kathy Gannon, Zarar Khan and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan, and Roshan Mughal in Muzafarabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report.
By Laila Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil futures inched up on Tuesday after news that OPEC would continue production cuts despite comments from U.S. President Donald Trump, who criticized the producer group for rising crude prices a day earlier.

Prices fell more than 3.5 percent on Monday, their biggest daily percentage drop this year, after Trump said he wanted the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to ease its efforts to boost oil prices.

An OPEC source told Reuters on Tuesday OPEC would stick to its agreement and push for more adherence from its members and producer allies to tighten crude supplies regardless of Trump's recent tweet.

The OPEC source said the cartel, along with non-member producers, would continue its supply-cut agreement to balance the market until they see inventories fall to their five-year average. "There is no doubt we will continue with our reduction as planned," the OPEC source said.

Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, rose 45 cents to settle at $65.21 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 2 cents to settle at $55.50 a barrel.

"After yesterday's pullback, the market is trying to stabilize again," said Gene McGillian, vice president of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. "We're basically turning our focus back to expectations of the producer output cuts and also the sanctions on Venezuela continuing to tighten supplies," McGillian said.

Oil prices have risen about 20 percent since the start of the year largely on an agreement by OPEC and non-member producers, including Russia, to reduce production. Supplies from Venezuela have been curtailed since U.S. sanctions were imposed to try to oust President Nicolas Maduro.

OPEC+ agreed in December to cut supply by 1.2 million barrels per day from Jan. 1 for six months. Saudi Arabia, OPEC's top producer, recently estimated its supply would fall in March by a half-million more barrels a day than anticipated under the supply-reduction agreement.

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Libya's internationally recognized government agreed with the state oil company to reopen the country's largest oilfield, El Sharara, according to a statement on Tuesday, weighing on prices.

Investors are also looking ahead to weekly figures on U.S. crude inventories. U.S. crude stocks are expected to rise by 3.6 million barrels in weekly inventory reports. The first such report is due at 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT) from the American Petroleum Institute.

(Reporting by Laila Kearney; Additional reporting by Alex Lawler in London; Koustav Samanta in Singapore and Colin Packham in Sydney; Editing by Tom Brown and Lisa Shumaker)
MEXICO CITY, Feb 25 (Reuters) - A government rescue package for Mexican national oil company Pemex fell far short of market expectations and the ailing firm will likely need further government support by next year, according to a report by credit ratings agency Moody's.

Earlier this month, the government announced a capital injection of $3.9 billion and tax cuts in a bid to strengthen Pemex's finances and ward off any further credit downgrades.

New York-based Moody's criticized the plan as mostly repackaged spending that had already been announced, with only around $200 million in new tax reductions, according to a report from the agency issued late last Friday.

Moody's and fellow credit ratings agency Fitch both rate Pemex debt just one notch above junk status.

"If market sentiment does not improve, Pemex will require additional sovereign support in 2020 and beyond, further eroding government finances," Moody's said in the report.

The agency added that the government rescue package was "credit negative" for the Mexican government's credit profile, in large part due to a total of $750 million in tax revenue that will not be collected as a result of lower Pemex taxes.

Pemex oil production has declined each year since 2004, falling by nearly half to average about 1.8 million barrels per day last year, which has weighed heavily on both the company and government finances.

Output in January hit a record low at just 1.62 million bpd.

Last week, Mexico's new president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said he would not allow Pemex to sign additional joint-venture partnerships with private or foreign oil companies until three existing deals begin to produce crude.

Authorized by the previous government as part of a sweeping energy reform, the joint ventures allow Pemex to attract outside investment to help develop existing assets, and two of them - covering the onshore Cardenas-Mora and Ogarrio fields - already produce relatively small amounts of oil and gas.

Lopez Obrador, a leftist resource nationalist who has pledged to strengthen Pemex without incurring new debt, has to date outlined plans to boost production via a new round of service contracts.

(Reporting by David Alire Garcia in Mexico City Editing by Matthew Lewis)
A trade deal between the United States and China may be priced in to the stock market "to a degree," says billionaire investor Mario Gabelli, but opportunities do exist.

There are "still a lot of interesting nuggets out there," he says.

A trade deal between the United States and China may be priced into the stock market "to a degree"  but there are still places to find opportunity, billionaire investor Mario Gabelli told CNBC on Monday.

There are "still a lot of interesting nuggets out there," the Gamco founder said on " Closing Bell ."

U.S. stocks rose on Monday after President Donald Trump said he would delay implementing additional tariffs on Chinese goods. The president took to Twitter on Sunday to report there has been "substantial progress" in trade talks between the U.S. and China, but he did not state a new deadline for a deal to be struck.

TWEET

"As you are looking at a likely deal with China months ago, you started saying, 'Look, Trump positioned it well. It's like a CEO positioning the economy for a year from now so that he has a strong economy in the spring of 2020 when the election is running,'" Gabelli said.

With the stock market gaining on the positive trade news, he's keeping his eye on a few things that could still present an opportunity for investors.

One of these is Wynn Resorts WYNN . Gabelli is waiting to see what will happen with the company's big bet on its $2.6 billion resort in Massachusetts. The gaming license has been under review amid allegations against former CEO Steve Wynn  but it was delayed after Wynn filed a lawsuit against his former company and the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, or MGC. He had argued that Wynn Resorts violated his attorney-client privilege when it cooperated with the MGC's investigation into sexual harassment complaints first outlined by The Wall Street Journal.

Last week, the MGC settled its lawsuit with Steve Wynn, allowing it to move forward on deciding Wynn Resorts' suitability "as soon as possible." The gaming company responded by saying it has been working closely with the commission and Steve Wynn to reach a resolution and "we are hopeful a hearing before the commission will be scheduled soon," the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported .

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Gabelli is also looking to the gaming industry in Macau and what impact a potential trade deal will have. "Will the deal with the Chinese allow Macau to get the license renewals with greater expectation?" he said.

"Every day you have new opportunities," Gabelli said.

 CNBC's Contessa Brewer contributed to this report.

Disclaimer





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Customers to Present Results from a Range of Market Areas Including Human Biomedical, Evolutionary Biology, and AgBio; Company to Present New Methods for Single-Cell Isoform Sequencing and Low-Input DNA Protocol

MENLO PARK, Calif., Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (PACB), the leading provider of high-quality sequencing of genomes, transcriptomes and epigenomes, today announced its participation in this weeks Advances in Genome Biology & Technology (AGBT) General Meeting taking place February 27-March 2 in Marco Island, FL.



Several talks by PacBio customers will feature results produced using the companys Single Molecule, Real-Time (SMRT) Sequencing technology, some including data from the new Sequel  II System that is currently at early access sites. Customer presentations include:



Isoform Sequencing in Tissues, Cell Types and Thousands of Cells, by Dr. Hagen Tilgner of the Weill Medical College of Cornell University on February 28 from 10:50-11:10 a.m.

Heterochromatin and Genome Evolution by Dr. Andrew Clark of Cornell University on February 28 from 3:00-3:30 p.m.

Chromosome-length Haplotigs for Cattle and Yak from Trio-Binning Assembly of an F1 Hybrid by Dr. Edward Rice of University of Nebraska, Lincoln on March 1 from 8:50-9:10 p.m.

PacBio will also present information about the latest improvements to the companys SMRT Sequencing technology, including the Sequel II System. On Friday evening, March 1, CEO Dr. Mike Hunkapiller will describe the companys new data type: HiFi long reads powered by the companys CCS method, which produce highly accurate long reads for large-scale whole genome sequencing projects. This advance was recently posted on bioRxiv in collaboration with other leaders in the NGS bioinformatics community. Later that evening, Principal Scientist Dr. Jason Underwood will present a talk about the companys single-cell version of its Iso-Seq sequencing method titled Single Cell Isoform Sequencing (scIso-Seq) Identifies Novel Full-length mRNAs and Cell Type-specific Expression.

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During the companys workshop, The Sequel II System: The Next Evolution of SMRT Sequencing, on Friday, March 1 at 3:30 p.m., CSO Dr. Jonas Korlach will describe the latest enhancements to the companys sequencing technology and preview the release of the Sequel II System, which will increase data output by approximately a factor of eight with its new SMRT Cell 8M. He will also share early customer data using the new system.

In a poster presentation on Thursday, February 28 at 1:00 p.m. entitled A High-quality De Novo Genome Assembly from a Single Mosquito Using PacBio Sequencing (Poster #305), Applications Lab Director Primo Baybayan will discuss work to develop a low-input DNA method for SMRT Sequencing that opens the door to high-quality genomes for individual small organisms, or on projects with limited-input DNA for other reasons. This work was recently published in Genes in collaboration with the Wellcome Sanger Institute.

The AGBT meeting has long been the go-to event for innovations in sequencing tools and applications, and we look forward to seeing PacBio customers present some truly impressive results from projects that relied on SMRT Sequencing, said Dr. Korlach. Their data, together with the internal and customer data we can share from the Sequel II System, will provide a clear demonstration of how SMRT Sequencing delivers high-confidence results with peerless accuracy.

For more information, please visit http://www.pacb.com/ .

About Pacific Biosciences

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (PACB) offers sequencing systems to help scientists resolve genetically complex problems. Based on its novel Single Molecule, Real-Time (SMRT) technology, Pacific Biosciences products enable: de novo genome assembly to finish genomes in order to more fully identify, annotate and decipher genomic structures; full-length transcript analysis to improve annotations in reference genomes, characterize alternatively spliced isoforms in important gene families, and find novel genes; targeted sequencing to more comprehensively characterize genetic variations; and real-time kinetic information for epigenome characterization. Pacific Biosciences technology provides high accuracy, ultra-long reads, uniform coverage, and the ability to simultaneously detect epigenetic changes. PacBio sequencing systems, including consumables and software, provide a simple, fast, end-to-end workflow for SMRT Sequencing. More information is available at www.pacb.com .

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements in this press release that are not historical are forward-looking statements, including, among other things, statements relating to future availability, enhancements, uses, accuracy, quality or performance of, or benefits of using, products or technologies, the suitability or utility of methods, products or technologies for particular applications, studies or projects, the expected benefits of sequencing projects, the Sequel II System or the SMRT Cell 8M, and other future events. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, changes in circumstances and other factors that are, in some cases, beyond Pacific Biosciences control and could cause actual results to differ materially from the information expressed or implied by forward-looking statements made in this press release. Factors that could materially affect actual results can be found in Pacific Biosciences most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Pacific Biosciences most recent reports on Forms 8-K, 10-K and 10-Q, and include those listed under the caption Risk Factors.

Pacific Biosciences undertakes no obligation to revise or update information in this press release to reflect events or circumstances in the future, even if new information becomes available.

Contacts

Media:

Nicole Litchfield

415.793.6468

nicole@bioscribe.com
Sport

Spains Euro rejuvenation put to the test by Modrics Croatia

The good news for Spain came all at once, their five-goal rout of Slovakia on Wednesday steering them clear of an early exit and restoring hope they could even win Euro 2020. Luis Enrique said he would have taken any position in Group E as long
(Updates prices)

By Virginia Furness

LONDON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Italian government bonds outperformed the broader euro zone market on Monday, with yields dropping by as much as 12 basis points after Fitch affirmed Italy's credit rating at BBB.

President Donald Trump's delaying of an increase in U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods following "productive" trade talks also boosted support for riskier assets and saw German government bond yields pull away from last week's lows.

The rally in Italian government bond yields cancelled out a sell-off on Friday ahead of Fitch's review.

Fitch affirmed Italy's rating with a negative outlook to reflect "the extremely high level of general government debt and the absence of structural fiscal adjustment" as well as "uncertainty arising from the current political dynamic."

A downgrade would have put Italy just one notch above a sub-investment grade rating, which investors fear because it could trigger forced selling by funds only able to buy investment grade bonds.

"Both effects contributed to the movement, but clearly the rating decision by Fitch is the most important one," Sebastian Fellechner, rates strategist at DZ Bank, said.

Italy's 10-year government bond yield was down nine basis points at 2.765 percent, having touched a low of 2.75 percent, which had pushed its spread over higher rated Germany to a three-week low of 259.5 basis points.

Short-end Italian government bonds also outperformed with two- and five-year yields last down 12 basis points to 0.41 percent and 1.715 percent respectively.

The rally was fuelled by the 5-Star Movement, one of the two parties in Italy's ruling populist coalition, losing in the Sardinia elections, while the centre-right gained, Commerzbank analysts said.

Elsewhere, core euro zone government bond yields rose after apparent progress in the U.S.-China trade talks boosted appetite for riskier assets.

Germany's 10-year government bond yield, the benchmark for the region, was up a basis points to 0.11 percent, while other 10-year yields in the bloc were flat to slightly higher on the day.

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"Bunds remain confined around 10 basis points as there is this conviction that a couple of bits of positive news is not enough to derail [the downward pressure on yields]," Michael Leister, rates strategist at Commerzbank, said.

Trump's decision to delay an increase in tariffs on Chinese goods drove European shares to their highest since October as carmakers and mining firms rose..

(Reporting by Virginia Furness, Editing by Tommy Wilkes, Gareth Jones and Alexander Smith)
NEWPORT NEWS, Va., Feb. 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Fulcrum IT Services, LLC, an information technology and government consulting company headquartered in Centreville.



Fulcrum expands HIIs capabilities in enhanced situational awareness and predictive threat analytics through Fulcrums advanced engineering, cyber security, software development, big data engineering, and intelligence and special operations experience. Fulcrum will join HIIs Technical Solutions division.

HII Technical Solutions is a professional services business helping government and commercial customers around the world solve their most complex problems. Areas of expertise include cyber security, software development, unmanned systems, training, modeling and simulation, nuclear operations, fleet services, and oil and gas engineering. For more information, visit: https://tsd.huntingtoningalls.com/ .

Huntington Ingalls Industries is Americas largest military shipbuilding company and a provider of professional services to partners in government and industry. For more than a century, HIIs Newport News and Ingalls shipbuilding divisions in Virginia and Mississippi have built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder. HIIs Technical Solutions division provides a wide range of professional services through its Fleet Support, Mission Driven Innovative Solutions, Nuclear & Environmental, and Oil & Gas groups. Headquartered in Newport News, Virginia, HII employs more than 40,000 people operating both domestically and internationally. For more information, visit:

HII on the web: www.huntingtoningalls.com

HII on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HuntingtonIngallsIndustries

HII on Twitter: twitter.com/hiindustries

Statements in this release, as well as other statements we may make from time to time, other than statements of historical fact, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in these statements. Factors that may cause such differences include: changes in government and customer priorities and requirements (including government budgetary constraints, shifts in defense spending, and changes in customer short-range and long-range plans); our ability to estimate our future contract costs and perform our contracts effectively; changes in procurement processes and government regulations and our ability to comply with such requirements; our ability to deliver our products and services at an affordable life cycle cost and compete within our markets; natural and environmental disasters and political instability; our ability to execute our strategic plan, including with respect to share repurchases, dividends, capital expenditures, and strategic acquisitions; adverse economic conditions in the United States and globally; changes in key estimates and assumptions regarding our pension and retiree health care costs; security threats, including cyber security threats, and related disruptions; and other risk factors discussed in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. There may be other risks and uncertainties that we are unable to predict at this time or that we currently do not expect to have a material adverse effect on our business, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements that we may make.

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Contact:

Beci Brenton

Beci.brenton@hii-co.com

(202) 264-7143
Helix TCS Inc (OTC: HLIX), one of the top providers of ancillary services to the U.S. cannabis industry, announced the addition of former Mexican President Vicente Fox to its board of directors. This is the second time Fox has joined the board of a cannabis company.

What Happened

As a member of Helix's board of directors, Fox will act as a strategic advisor, helping the company expand into international cannabis markets. Helix TCS has operations in 33 U.S. states and five countries. The company's BioTrack Point-of-Sale system is the most widely used among dispensaries in the U.S.

Fox was the 55th president of Mexico; prior to that, he was the CEO of The Coca-Cola Co (NYSE: KO)'s Latin American operations. Aside from Helix TCS, Mr. Fox is also on the board of Khiron Life Sciences Corp. (OTC: KHRNF).

"Khiron is a socially responsible company," Fox told Benzinga in an interview last year. "They are very ethical. It's why we are together."

The Cannabis Capital Conference is coming back to Toronto April 17-18!

Why It's Important

Fox is a longtime advocate for cannabis legalization and is one of the most prominent figures in the industry.

"His addition is a significant multiplier in our further expansion into key production markets that we expect to become dominant cannabis export hubs that will require our full suite of services," Zachary Venegas, executive chairman and CEO of Helix TCS, said in a statement.

What's Next

As more countries and U.S. states consider legalization, Helix TCS is preparing to enter new markets.

In January, the company said it was positioned to see significant growth from the legalization of recreational use of cannabis in New York. The company's BioTrack holds a government contract to track and trace New York's medical cannabis supply chain.

Related Links:

Cowen: CBD Market Could Reach B By 2025

Tilray Acquisition Of Manitoba Harvest Sets Early Pace For 2019 As 'Year Of Consolidation'

Photo by Dustin Blitchok.

See more from Benzinga

 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
There are approximately 224,000 students with disabilities enrolled in the NYC school system, and some City Council members say the Department of Education isnt doing enough to provide these children with necessary services. At an emotional hearing on Monday, the City Council grilled DOE officials, and heard tearful testimony from parents of children with disabilities who described challenges navigating New York Citys public schoolsfrom the bureaucracy to the buildings themselves.

Nieves Ojendiz spoke about her 10-year-old daughter,Anna, who has cerebral palsy and seizures, is nonverbal, and uses a wheelchair. She said her daughter was injured while under the Department of Educations supervision and, she said, although Annas doctors and teachers say she needs a nurse to accompany her at school, the DOE hasnt yet provided one.

Yuvania Espino said her 9-year-old daughter Mia cant take classes with her peers because theres no elevator to take her to their classroom on the third floor. Her current teacher observed that Mia asks about her former classmates and is emotionally affected by the separation, Espino said.

Another mother said she took a year off to teach her dyslexic son to read because his public school couldnt. A father said fighting for the city to reimburse for special education services is costly and stressful.

Department of Education chief academic officer Linda Chen thanked the families for their stories and said the DOE is working hard to expand and improve special education. The Departments goal is to ensure that every student has the support and services they need to thrive in the classroom, and we are committed to doing everything necessary to achieve that goal, she said.

Since 2014, Chen said, the department has hired more than 4,300 special education teachers, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech therapists. It has also added bilingual programs, programs for preschoolers, and programs for children on the autism spectrum. A new policy gives students with physical disabilities priority in admissions to schools with accessible buildings. And the de Blasio administration wants to invest $750 million in capital improvements to increase accessibility. She said these steps are already making a difference: graduation rates for students with disabilities are up, dropout rates are down.

But parents and advocates at the hearing were dismayed when Chen recommended calling 311 for help accessing services. The city hotline receives millions of calls a year, often to register the more quotidian elements of city life like noise complaints and to potholes.

And City Council education committee chair Mark Treyger noted that the graduation rate for students with disabilities is still only 50 percent. The departments own data show only 78 percent of students with disabilities are receiving all the services to which theyre entitled.

I acknowledge that DOE has made a number of substantial improvements, Treyger said. But the numbers I just shared show theres so much more work to serve our citys most vulnerable students.

Council Members introduced a series of bills to increase reporting and oversight. One bill would require the department to provide school-level data on compliance with students individualized education plans (IEPs). Another would require more reporting from the city on whether parents claims for special education services and tuition are being met. The council also proposed a resolution calling on the education department to create a new positionor czardedicated to ensuring compliance with students IEPs and other special education requirements.

Lori Podvesker with the disability and education advocacy group INCLUDEnyc called the legislation a step in the right direction. The absence of school-based data on special education services has long been problematic for families when making decisions on what schools and programs their child may be appropriate for their child to attend, she said. Hoping the DOE uses this information to make changes in their funding and policies so more students with disabilities receive all their mandated special education supports and services in a timely manner.

Jessica Gould is a reporter in the newsroom at WNYC. You can follow her on Twitter at @ByJessicaGould.
The first astronaut from the United Arab Emirates will head to the International Space Station via the Russian Soyuz rocket on Sept. 25.

The astronaut will either be military pilot Hazza al-Mansoori or engineer Sultan al-Neyadi, two men selected from over 4,000 applicants, according to the Associated Press. Both have been training at the Star City space center near Moscow to learn the proper survival skills for space, including withstanding a zero-gravity environment.

Since Im a pilot, I was able to withstand a gravitational force of 9-G, al-Mansoori said, the AP reports. Now I must train in this sort of gravitational force, 0-G, the lack of gravity.

Both astronaut trainees will eventually head to space, although its unclear who will be the first. Whoever that is will spend eight days on the ISS before returning to Earth to be replaced with the second UAE astronaut.

In training, both have had to learn to speak Russian alongside learning more technical skills. Al-Neyadi told the AP this was probably the most challenging part.

Its the only language which we will use to communicate with the crew onboard the vessel, he said. It was also the language they used while training at the center in Russia.

The UAEs space program sent its first locally-made satellite last October. The Earth observation satellite, KhalifaSat, launched from Japan. The UAE also aims to launch a Mars probe next year so that it will arrive in 2021, the 50th anniversary of the founding of the UAE.

More ambitiously, the program hopes to colonize the Red Planet with a city of 600,000 by 2117, says the AP.
Peugeot is part of PSA Group. Photo: John Keeble/Getty Images

French car manufacturing giant PSA Group  which sells Peugeot, Vauxhall, and Citroen vehicles  is preparing to take on Ford and GM on their home turf.

The company announced plans on Tuesday to re-enter the North American market after a roughly three-decade absence, with new models arriving in the US and Canada over the next few years. Peugeot originally stopped sales in North America in 1991.

The groups aim is to increase its sales outside Europe by 50% by 2021, the company said in a written statement.

Currently, about 80% of PSA Group (UG.PA) sales are made in Europe.

However, the threat of new US car tariffs would prove deeply problematic for the company. US President Donald Trump is expected to announce in the next three months that the country will introduce new tariffs as high as 25% on international car imports.

The [North American launch] date depends on the clarification on customer duties, a PSA Group spokesperson told Yahoo Finance UK. Currently, European car imports to the US face a tariff of just 2.5%.

PSA Group also announced plans to launch the Citroen brand in India and the Opel brand in Russia, as well as further expand international sales of its niche DS vehicles.

The international expansion push comes as the company reported record-setting sales in 2018 that were up 19% compared to the previous year. The company made 74bn (64bn, $84bn) last year and sold 3.9 million cars. Operating profit was also up 43% to 5.7bn.

The results got a boost from the brands Opel and Vauxhall, which PSA Group bought off GM (GM) for 2.2bn (1.9bn, $2.5bn) in August 2017. The company quickly turned around these European businesses by cutting costs and focusing on selling more profitable vehicles. This success comes after GM had failed to make a full-year profit in Europe since 1999.

However, investors were unimpressed by the latest full-year results, which came in slightly below expectations. Shares in the company dropped by about 4% in morning trading, making PSA Group the worst performer on the CAC 40 index (^FCHI) in Paris on Tuesday.
Luxembourg February 25, 2019 (6:00 PM CET) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Aperam announce the signature of a financing contract where the EIB will make available to Aperam an amount of EUR 100 million. The purpose of this contract is the financing of ongoing investments in the cold rolling, and annealing & pickling line at Aperams Genk plant (Belgium) as well as the companys ongoing modernisation programmes in the cohesion regions of Nord-Pas-de-Calais (France)  Isbergues plant, and Hainaut (Belgium)  Chatelet plant.

Timoteo Di Maulo, CEO of Aperam, commented: We are pleased to announce this financing contract with EIB on attractive financial terms. It will fully support Aperams top line strategy and leadership journey. The Genk investment will further facilitate the transformation of Aperams business with state-of-the-art modern lines using the latest technology. This will enlarge our product range to incorporate the most demanding applications, which will improve lead time and flexibility to satisfy market demand, increase the efficiency and cost competitiveness of our assets, and continuously enhance our health, safety and environmental impact. In keeping with our objective of sustainability, this financing also contributes to our plan of modernization of the industrial tools at our Isbergues and Chatelet plants.



EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle said: The EIB is proud to continue supporting Aperam in its plant modernisation investments in France (Nord Pas-de-Calais) and Belgium (Chatelet) and also now to contribute to upgrading its Genk (Belgium) plant with advanced stainless steel manufacturing technology. Innovation, at the heart of competitiveness, is the best response against the challenges currently facing the industry and the EIB is there to support it.



The EIB has made innovation a top priority and is keen to partner with companies that push innovation to the forefront for a growing economy. Aperams investment in its plants in Nord-Pas de Calais and Hainaut makes it a partner of choice for the EIB. Indeed, for the financing institution of the European Union, supporting EU cohesion policy is also one of the EIBs main objectives and operations in these areas accounted for about one third of its lending in 2018.

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About Aperam

Aperam is a global player in stainless, electrical and specialty steel, with customers in over 40 countries. The business is organised in three primary operating segments: Stainless & Electrical Steel, Services & Solutions and Alloys & Specialties.

Aperam has 2.5 million tonnes of flat Stainless and Electrical steel capacity in Brazil and Europe and is a leader in high value specialty products. Aperam has a highly integrated distribution, processing and services network and a unique capability to produce stainless and specialty from low cost biomass (charcoal). Its industrial network is spread in six production facilities located in Brazil, Belgium and France.

In 2018, Aperam had sales of EUR 4,677 million and steel shipments of 1.97 million tonnes.

For further information, please refer to our website at www.aperam.com





About the EIB

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals.



In 2018, the EIB Group dedicated EUR 64 billion to projects within and outside Europe, contributing to EUR 230 billion of investments in all sectors and targeting key priorities: supporting innovation and skills, SMEs and larger companies, infrastructure projects and all climate investments, engaging in the transition to a low-carbon, environmental friendly and climate-resilient economy. For further information on our priorities and impact, see www.eib.org/projects/priorities







Contacts

Aperam:

Corporate Communications / Laurent Beauloye: +352 27 36 27 103

Investor Relations / Thorsten Zimmermann: +352 27 36 27 304





EIB:

Sabine Parisse (Luxembourg), s.parisse@eib.org, +352 43 79 83340, mobile: +352 621 45 91 59

Cyrille Lachevre (France), c.lachevre@ext.eib.org, +352 4379 73984, mobile: +33 6 20 42 12 08

Website: www.eib.org/press, Press Office: +352 4379 21000  press@eib.org




A conservative activist has filed a police report after being attacked by a left-wing protester on the University of California Berkeley campus.

Leadership Institute's Hayden Williams told FOX Business Stuart Varney on Monday that he was trying to help conservative students recruit new members when two men approached his table and began using curse words.

The men took issue with a sign related to the case involving actor Jussie Smollett. The sign said hoaxes hurt real victims and are slanderous towards President Trump. The words quickly escalated to violence as Williams was punched by one of the men.

Theres a certain culture there that is especially hostile, on Berkeleys campus and across the country, to conservative students and theyre willing to use violence if they think youre too controversial, Williams said on Varney & Co.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP

Williams is recovering from his injuries, including ringing in his ears and other symptoms of a concussion.

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Belligerent winds battered New York City yesterday, antagonizing residents with unforgiving bluster and ripping all manner of heavy objects from their moorings. Assertive, gale-force gusts tumbled scaffolding from tall buildings; unhinged awnings from storefronts; ripped up imposing old trees by the roots. Fighting against the currents on the sidewalk felt like walking on the ocean floor in an old-timey diving suit, or so I imagine: The constant battle to remain upright, pitched against a crushing weight that wants to tip you over.

Mercifully, the winds have died down, and now we must catalog the damage.

Firefighters responded to an emergency scaffolding situation on Monday morning, securing construction equipment that collapsed on the 12-story building at 905 5th Avenue and closing the corridor to traffic between 71st and 74th Streets. Due to 65-mph wind blasts, the FDNY had to batten down the hatches "as best as possible" without anyone actually climbing onto the structure: the department maintained a presence at the site throughout the day, just in case the weather decided to get extra frisky.

And it did! Strong gusts54-mph until about 2 p.m., after which they tapered off a little, but still remained insouciantteamed up with high surface winds to create garbage gales and general chaos. The FDNY also seems to have had trouble extinguishing fires, thanks to the intervention of lusty breezes that flicked water away from flames.

The tempest also uprooted trees, tearing down a roadside tree at West 190th and Henry Hudson River Parkway in Manhattan, seemingly onto the windshield of a passing Uber. (A passenger was reportedly injured.) The blockage closed the parkway to southbound traffic at the George Washington Bridge, which has since reopened.

#FDNY members responded earlier to a downed tree on Henry Hudson Parkway and West 190th Street in Manhattan (photo credit: @nycemergencymgt) pic.twitter.com/5cnMWfYQf7  FDNY (@FDNY) February 25, 2019

The boisterous squall made pretty much every form of transportation precarious. If you chose to travel by foot, you likely found yourself blinded by a rogue grocery bag at least once during the journey; if you took a car or even a bus, you still risked impalement by unmoored bits of construction shed. Wind also whipped hefty tree branches down onto subway tracks near Avenue M in Brooklyn just in time for the evening rush, causing delays on the B, D, N, and Q lines.

Please use caution when commuting today, heavy winds are creating hazards. If you have a balcony or patio please remove any items that may become airborne. (plants, furniture, etc.) #UpperEastSide #UES pic.twitter.com/uZwySnzdZA  NYPD 19th Precinct (@NYPD19Pct) February 25, 2019

An intrepid few still attempted a commute by bike, which went about as well as you'd expect.

This wind is no joke! Legitimately felt like I was going to tip over as I was approaching Broadway, and I was glad to have a bit of space, even in an unprotected #bikenyc lane, to collect and brace myself before continuing forward. pic.twitter.com/abzd7UsrQ0  Bike Commuting NYC (@driversofnyc) February 25, 2019

Area airports, of course, were screwed, and naturally, the high seas provided zero shelter from the storm: "Gale-force winds" stranded the Norwegian Gem cruise ship off NYC's coast on Monday night, preventing it from docking until this morning and (probably) pissing off a lot of passengers who'd expected to escape this hell for the Caribbean.

All told, the wind's reign of terror injured at least two people and made everything absolutely awful for about 24 hours. Outside of the city, however, the situation may have been worse: New Jersey residents reported thousands of power outages, while upstate, winds peeled the roof right off of SUNY Buffalo's bookstore.

Meanwhile, in Canada, an ice tsunami (!!!) caused the Niagara River to cough up big frozen boulders, which went crashing onto a roadway near the New York border. Really, this has been more than enough wind for one lifetime, thanks.
bitfinex.jpg





According to an official statement published on February 25, 2019, Bitfinex has revealed that the United States government returned 27.7 BTC (worth about $105,000 USD) to the exchange, as part of restitution for a hack that was effected on the exchange back in 2016.

The returned tokens represent just 0.023 percent of the bitcoin stolen in the infamous 2016 hack.

Bitfinex said that U.S. federal law enforcement informed them in November of last year that it had obtained access to the stolen funds.

Bitfinex CFO Giancarlo Devasini was full of praise for the efforts of law enforcement officers in the recovery, stating:

Over two years following the hack of the Bitfinex platform, today we see the results of a clear and robust response strategy and the efforts of the U.S. government. It gives us great pleasure to be able to reimburse our traders that were loyal to us and believed in us at a very difficult time.

Devasini also reiterated the exchanges willingness to help investigators in their inquiries, calling on individuals with useful information about the hack to reach out so they can finally resolve the situation in a mutually beneficial manner.

The Hack and Bitfinexs Retrieval Efforts

Two years ago, the crypto community woke up to the news of 119,756 BTC stolen from the wallets of Bitfinex in one of the largest crypto exchange hacks since Mt. Gox was breached in 2014.

The exchange had generalized the losses across all accounts, crediting BFX tokens for every dollar lost in the hack. Tokens were redeemed for a dollar or exchanged for the companys stocks  those who chose to hold shares had their BFX tokens converted into Recovery Right Tokens (RRT).

Per the announcement, the recovered tokens are currently being converted to USD and will be paid to holders of RRT.

The benefit to RRT holders is that in the event of any retrieval of the stolen property, and after any outstanding or unconverted BFX token holders have been reimbursed, recovered funds are distributed to RRT holders, up to 1 dollar per RRT, the statement reads.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
TipRanks

Every investor wants to see his stocks pay off  or he wouldnt be in the markets. But finding the right investment, the one that will bring in the high returns, can sometimes be challenging. A smart investor will apply a few basic, common-sense rules  and stick to them. One of the basic rules of investing is buy low, sell high." This will naturally bring us to the low-cost, small-cap side of the stock market. While big names get the headlines, the small-cap stocks offer the highest returns.
Sen. Bernie Sanders voices his support for striking workers at an Erie-based manufacturing plant.

About 1,700 workers went on strike following Wabtec's merger with GE Transportation, one of the businesses spun off by General Electric.

Sanders recently launched a 2020 presidential campaign as a Democrat. The strike takes place in a state carried by President Donald Trump in 2016 that Democrats may need to win in order to take back the White House.

Sen. Bernie Sanders pledged his support for Pennsylvania workers who started striking Tuesday following the spinoff of a General Electric GE unit.

About 1,700 employees at an Erie, Pa. locomotive plant  represented by the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America union  started their strike early Tuesday. The workers failed to come to terms with western Pennsylvania-based rail transport company Wabtec, which took over the facility in its merger with GE Transportation. GE announced the more than $11 billion merger deal last year as part of a broad restructuring.

Sanders, a Vermont independent who routinely rails against companies that he says give workers a raw deal, said he was "proud to stand" with the workers. In a tweeted statement Tuesday, Sanders said "Americans are sick and tired of corporate America and their wealthy CEOs ripping off working families."

Sanders tweet

The senator has built a political following in part due to his broadsides against corporations and business leaders such as Amazon AMZN and its CEO Jeff Bezos. He has frequently pushed American corporations such as McDonald's MCD and Walmart WMT to boost minimum wages and offer better benefits.

His involvement in the Wabtec fight brings more political intrigue than usual.

Sanders recently launched a 2020 presidential campaign as a Democrat. The strike takes place in a state carried by President Donald Trump in 2016 that Democrats may need to win in order to take back the White House. By slamming free trade deals and attempting to revise them, Trump has tried to appeal to disillusioned manufacturing workers in areas similar to Erie, a city on the northwestern edge of Pennsylvania.

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Read more: Top Bernie Sanders strategists split with his 2020 campaign over creative differences

Sanders' support for the striking workers has "absolutely" nothing to do with his presidential ambitions, his spokesman Josh Miller-Lewis said. The senator has "stood with working people and against the greed of large, profitable corporations his entire life," he added.

The union, known as UE, has a history with Sanders. It endorsed the senator in 2016 in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Last week, Sanders wrote a letter to Wabtec CEO Raymond Betler in part arguing that Wabtec is "not a poor company" and "is not going broke."

Sanders Wabtec tweet

UE says it was "not able to convince [Wabtec] to negotiate an acceptable short-term agreement that preserves the wages, benefits, and working conditions negotiated with GE" after the merger became official Monday. The plant had employed GE workers for about 80 years before the industrial giant's overhaul.

UE has several grievances with the new employer at the Erie plant. The union says Wabtec's terms "include the introduction of mandatory overtime and arbitrary schedules, wage reductions of up to 38 percent for recalled and newly-hired workers, and the right to use temporary workers for up to 20 percent of the work in the plant."

In response to the criticism, Wabtec pointed to an opinion piece written by executive Greg Sbrocco . He wrote that Wabtec's proposal would keep current wages of $35 per hour, a rate that he said went "beyond anything in this region."

He wrote that the company would continue to offer competitive benefits. Sbrocco also said the proposal falls in line with conditions and benefits seen at a facility it runs in Wilmerding, a borough near Pittsburgh where its headquarters is located. He also noted that Wabtec finished negotiations with four separate unions except UE.

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California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / ALM



Newly introduced state legislation would give Attorney General Xavier Becerra the changes he's been seeking in the California Consumer Privacy Act, including the right for consumers to sue businesses that violate the sweeping new data-protection law.



Senate Bill 561 by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, would expand the law's private right of action beyond data breaches to cover other corporate missteps, such as ignoring consumers' requests to delete their personal information. The law, as written now, only allows the attorney general's office to pursue most violations.



"I don't think the Legislature wants only the attorney general's office to be able to protect people's rights," Becerra said Monday at a press conference with Jackson in Sacramento. "We need to have some help. And that's why giving consumers their own private right to defend themselves in court if the Department of Justice decides it's not actingfor whatever number of good reasonsthat's important to be able to truly say  you have rights."



The proposed changes are expected to open a new front in the battle between consumer and privacy groups supporting the law and technology and telecommunications trade groups seeking to restrict the regulations' reach.



The proposed changes would cover most of the items in a wish list Becerra submitted to lawmakers in August, when he called the law "unworkable" without amendments and additional funding. Becerra and Jackson acknowledged Monday that the new legislation could open the door to class actions over alleged privacy violations.



The legislation would strip language requiring the attorney general's staff to provide compliance guidance to companies. And the bill would eliminate a 30-day grace period for targeted companies to fix any violations before facing sanctions.



"In other words 'Catch me if you can and, if you do, I'll comply with the law,'" said Jackson, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and is expected to block any attempts to weaken the law's provisions. "Once the horses have left the stable you can't get them back. And it is indeed a get-out-of-jail-free card for these bad actors."



The California Chamber of Commerce assailed Jackson's new bill, saying the goal "appears to be lawsuits and attorneys fees." The Chamber's statement added: "Punishment may be an incentive to increase compliance, butespecially where a law is new and vagueeliminating a right to cure does not promote compliance. SB 561  will not only hurt and possibly bankrupt small businesses in the state, it will kill jobs and innovation.



More than a dozen bills that could serve as vehicles for amending the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, were introduced by the Feb. 22 legislative deadline. Some seek to broaden the bill's reach, including one that would cover breaches of biometric and passport information. Others have no language yet but are expected to carry changes sought by business interests.



The Privacy Act was adopted last year by bipartisan legislative votes as an alternative to what would have been a lengthy and expensive November ballot initiative fight. Kevin McKinley, California government affairs director for the Internet Association, said in an email that the new bill's private right of action "would unwind a key piece of the deal that was struck last year to pass CCPA and to make the law workable for companies both big and small."



"We strongly oppose the proposed changes to the enforcement mechanism," McKinley said.



Becerra's office has launched a rule-making process that will help shape how the law is enforced. The next and last public forum on the rulemaking will be March 5 at Stanford Law School.









Story continues

Read more:





Let Consumers Sue Under New Data Privacy Law, Becerra's Office Tells State



Business Groups Lobby for Changes to California Data Privacy Law



Alastair Mactaggart Predicts: Privacy Law Will Survive Tech Challenge



California Takes 'Giant Leap Forward' on Consumer Data-Privacy Rights
A federal judge in Manhattan heard arguments Monday on a class action case that could determine whether undocumented immigrants in New York between the ages of 18 and 21 can stay in the country legally if theyve been abused or abandoned by a parent.

Attorneys representing five young adults in New York claimed that it was arbitrary and capricious for the Trump administration to deny Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) status to those over 18 last year, because Congress authorized the program in 1990 for immigrants up to the age of 21.

The plaintiffs are anonymous, but include a young woman who was abandoned by her parents in the Dominican Republic and whos lived in the Bronx with her grandmother since she was a baby, and a 20 year-old in Brooklyn who was rejected even though his younger sister was accepted and they had the exact same circumstances. Mondays hearing drew so many local attorneys who represent young immigrants that the courthouse needed an overflow room to accommodate all of them.

The case was brought by the Legal Aid Society and other public defenders. Robert Malionek, a partner at Latham & Watkins who also worked on the suit, told the court the government was rejecting many of the same young immigrant applicants the program was intended to serve, and that they are now unable to get jobs or apply for financial aid to college because they dont have legal status.

To apply for SIJ status, a young person must be appointed a special guardian by a juvenile court because they were abused, neglected or abandoned by one or both parents. They have to be under 21 and unmarried, and the juvenile court also has to find its not in their best interest to return to their home country.

Much of Mondays arguments focused on the definition of a juvenile court. Tomoko Onozawa, of the U.S. Attorneys Office in Manhattan, argued for the government that children go to Family Court in New York when they need a guardian, which is different from a juvenile court because it cant make determinations on family reunification.

But attorneys for the plaintiffs, and the state Attorney Generals office, argued that was a distinction without a difference, because Family Court has the same functions. The governments claims also frustrated U.S. District Judge John Koeltl. He asked if the definition of a juvenile court means it must have the jurisdiction to place a child back in the custody of an unfit parent. That elicited a long pause.

That shouldnt be a hard question, the judge stated.

After Onozawa repeated that a juvenile court must be able to reunite a child with a parent even if they have previously been found unfit, the judge replied, What sense does that make?

The government lawyer then replied that child welfare law contemplates reunification with a parent if circumstances change.

Onozawa also denied any change in policy under the Trump administration for young immigrants, and said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was simply applying an existing definition to new applications for SIJ, now that one office in Missouri is handling all of them.

But Koeltl didnt appear to buy that argument, either. You say it was always the policy, he said. But if thats true, up until 2018 all of the immigration judges deciding SIJ applications in New York were wrong.

After the hearing, Malionek said he thought the governments logic was faulty in suddenly deciding 18 to 21-year-olds could no longer apply for SIJ in New York. I think their argument comes down to a complete misinterpretation of the federal law, he stated.

A similar federal lawsuit has been filed in California, another state that allows young immigrants to apply for the special status until they turn 21.

The New York judge also heard arguments on a related case, involving one young Guatemalan man who was denied SIJ because the federal government disagreed with a family courts decision that he was eligible. The government argued that the court didnt have all of the relevant evidence about the immigrants possible gang affiliations.

Elizabeta Markuci, director of the immigration project at Volunteers of Legal Service, was among the many local lawyers attending Mondays hearing. She said she felt validated by the judges apparent exasperation with the governments arguments.

To have a judge sort of call that out in a formal way and put them to task felt very reaffirming about the work that we're doing with the young people that we are trying to support.

Beth Fertig is a senior reporter covering courts and legal affairs at WNYC. You can follow her on Twitter at @bethfertig.
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / February 26, 2019 / Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSX-V: BAY; OTCQB: ATBHF) ("Aston Bay" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Elaine Ellingham, M.Sc., MBA, PGeo, to the Company's Advisory Board.

Ms. Ellingham is a geologist with over 35 years' experience with major and junior mining companies in exploration, business development, investor relations and senior executive roles. She spent eight years with the Toronto Stock Exchange serving in various capacities and has held directorships over the past ten years for several junior explorers through to mid-tier producers, where she has been a major contributor to strategic direction including hands-on with management in several situations. This included serving as a Director of Richmont Mines for eight years, six as lead director, as well as stepping in as interim CEO in 2014, and through to its recent take-over by Alamos Gold. She is currently a Director of the Prospectors and Developers Association and a member of the Ontario Securities Commissions` Small and Medium Enterprises Advisory Committee. She is currently an active director on the boards of Alamos Gold, Aurania Resources, and Almaden Minerals.

Elaine Ellingham commented, "I welcome the opportunity to join Don Taylor on Aston Bay's Advisory Committee, with a focus on providing support to Tom Ullrich as he further builds Aston Bay as a premier exploration company. The high degree of exploration experience and expertise of the Aston Bay team and Tom's focus on creating shareholder value will continue to drive the company forward towards significant discoveries."

Thomas Ullrich, Chief Executive Officer of Aston Bay, stated: "We are excited to have Elaine join our Advisory Board. She brings a wealth of exploration, corporate governance and financial markets experience, complementary skills to strengthen an already exceptionally solid team. She will provide significant support in our expansion into the United States with our Blue Ridge Project, as well as with our anticipated drill programs in Virginia and Nunavut this year."

Story continues

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 Thayer 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/536917/Aston-Bay-Announces-Appointment-of-Elaine-Ellingham-to-Advisory-Board




(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak doesnt want to wait for a folding iPhone.

"Apple has been a leader for quite a long time in a few areas such as touch ID, facial ID, and easy payment with the phone, Wozniak said in a Bloomberg TV interview. "Theyre not the leader in areas like the folding phone, and that worries me because I really want a folding phone."

Wozniak was referring to folding phones that competitors Samsung Electronics Co. and Huawei Technologies Co. recently introduced. Apples rivals have taken on its high-price strategy as their own, pricing their folding phones at $1,980 and about $2,600, respectively. Apple recently reported that iPhone revenue declined 15 percent in the fiscal first quarter from a year earlier.

Wozniak is optimistic about Apples future, with the company branching out in a range of projects outside of its core iPhones market. However, he still prefers "my Roku" to Apple TV.

"They just got so successful on the iPhone and that was their whole business for a long time," he said. "Now theyre branching out so a lot of their businesses have been very good."

Wozniak co-founded Apple with Steve Jobs and helped build the first prototypes of Apple computers. A bitcoin advocate, last year he joined a little-known crypto startup called Equi Capital.

To watch Wozniaks full 10-minute interview, click here.

--With assistance from Giovanni Prati, Zainab Fattah and Candy Cheng.

To contact the reporters on this story: Yousef Gamal El-Din in Dubai at ygamaleldin@bloomberg.net;Nour Al Ali in Dubai at nalali1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Giles Turner at gturner35@bloomberg.net, Kim Robert McLaughlin

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
A former senior Trump campaign staffer Monday filed a lawsuit in federal court against the president, accusing him of sexual assault during his 2016 campaign.

Alva Johnson says Trump grabbed her hand and kissed her without her consent ahead of a campaign rally in Tampa. In an interview with the Washington Post, Johnson said, I immediately felt violated because I wasnt expecting it or wanting it. I can still see his lips coming straight for my face.

The lawsuit alleges that President Trump forcibly kissed Johnson in a campaign RV in front of numerous other campaign officials. Johnson felt reduced to just another object of defendant Trumps unwanted sexual attention, according to the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa.

Johnson is seeking unspecified damages for emotional pain and suffering, the Post reported.

Four people confirmed to the New Yorker that Johnson told them about the incident afterward, but two others Johnson says were present at the time of the assault said they did not see it.

At least 22 women have publicly accused President Trump of sexual misconduct since the October 2016 release of a 2005 Access Hollywood tape where Trump is heard bragging about grabbing womens genitals and kissing them without consent.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders denied the allegations in a statement to the Washington Post. This never happened and is directly contradicted by multiple highly credible eye witness accounts, Sanders wrote.

Johnson also says she experienced racial discrimination while working for the president. Not only did Ms. Johnson endure forcible kissing by her boss, she experienced race and gender discrimination as one of the few females and one of only a handful of African American people on the campaign payroll, the lawsuit states.

Johnson initially consulted an attorney in 2016 after the Access Hollywood tape release because she recognized a similarity with what happened to her, according to the lawsuit.

Johnsona attorney, Hassan A. Zavareei, in a news release, said she eventually decided to come forth. When she saw what her work on the campaign had wroughta president who mocks the #MeToo movement and undermines the dignity of the office with his sexist and racist behaviorshe decided to seek justice.
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MADISON, Wis. -- A new study shows climate change may have contributed to the decline of Cahokia, a famed prehistoric city near present-day St. Louis. And it involves ancient human poop.

Published today [Feb. 25, 2019] in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study provides a direct link between changes in Cahokia's population size as measured through a unique fecal record and environmental data showing evidence of drought and flood.

"The way of building population reconstructions usually involves archaeological data, which is separate from the data studied by climate scientists," explains lead author AJ White, who completed the work as a graduate student at California State University, Long Beach. "One involves excavation and survey of archaeological remains and the other involves lake cores. We unite these two by looking at both kinds of data from the same lake cores."

Last year, White and a team of collaborators -- including his former advisor Lora Stevens, professor of paleoclimatology and paleolimnology at California State University, Long Beach, and University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor of Anthropology Sissel Schroeder -- showed they could detect signatures of human poop in lake core sediments collected from Horseshoe Lake, not far from Cahokia's famous mounds.

These signatures, called fecal stanols, are molecules produced in the human gut during digestion and eliminated in feces. As the people of Cahokia pooped on land, some of it would have run off into the lake. The more people who lived and defecated there, the more stanols evident in lake sediments.

Because the sediments of a lake accumulate in layers, they allow scientists to capture snapshots of time throughout the history of a region through sediment cores. Deeper layers form earlier than layers found higher up, and all of the material within a layer is roughly the same age.

White found that fecal stanol concentrations at Horseshoe Lake rise and fall similarly to estimates of Cahokia's population from better-established archaeological methods.

Schroeder, a scholar of the Cahokia area, says that excavations of the houses in and near Cahokia show human occupation of the site intensified around A.D. 600, and by 1100, the six-square-mile city reached its peak population. At the time, tens of thousands of people called it home.

Archaeological evidence also shows that by 1200, Cahokia's population was on the decline and the site was abandoned by its mound-building Mississippian inhabitants by 1400.

Scientists have uncovered a number of explanations for its eventual abandonment, including social and political unrest and environmental changes.

For instance, in 2015, co-author Samuel Munoz, a former UW-Madison graduate student and now a professor at Northeastern University, was actually the first to collect one of the Horseshoe Lake sediment cores White used in his study and he found evidence that the nearby Mississippi River flooded significantly around 1150.

White's latest study ties the archaeological and environmental evidence together.

"When we use this fecal stanol method, we can make these comparisons to environmental conditions that hither to now we haven't really been able to do," says White, now a PhD student at UC Berkeley.

Using Munoz's core and another White collected on Horseshoe Lake, the research team measured the relative amount of fecal stanols from humans present in sediment layers. They compared these to stanol levels known to come from bacteria in the soil in order to establish a baseline concentration for each layer.

They examined the lake cores for evidence of flooding and also looked for climate indicators that would inform them whether climate conditions were relatively wet or dry. These indicators, the ratio of a heavy form of oxygen to a light one, can show changes in evaporation and precipitation. Stevens explains that as water evaporates, the light form of oxygen goes with it, concentrating the heavy form.

The lake core showed that summer precipitation likely decreased around the onset of Cahokia's decline. This could have affected the ability of people to grow their staple crop maize.

A number of different changes begin to happen in the archaeological record around 1150, Schroeder explains, including the number and density of houses and the nature of craft production.

These are all indicators of "some kind of socio-political or economic stressors that stimulated a reorganization of some sort," she says. "When we see correlations with climate, some archaeologists don't think climate has anything to do with it, but it's difficult to sustain that argument when the evidence of significant changes in the climate shows people are facing new challenges."

This has resonance today, she adds.

"Cultures can be very resilient in face of climate change but resilience doesn't necessarily mean there is no change. There can be cultural reorganization or decisions to relocate or migrate," Schroeder says. "We may see similar pressures today but fewer options to move."

For White, the study highlights the nuances and complications common to so many cultures and shows how environmental change can contribute to social changes already at play.

###

The study was supported by the Geological Society of America and California State University, Long Beach.

Kelly April Tyrrell, kelly.tyrrell@wisc.edu, 608-262-9772

CONTACT: AJ White, 949-521-0060, ajwhitesemail@gmail.com; Lora Stevens, 562-985-4817, lora.stevens@csulb.edu; Sissel Schroeder, 608-262-0317, sissel.schroeder@wisc.edu
More than a trait, a snail's handedness could be the sign of a new species

Snails, like humans, can be right-handed or left-handed and the swirl etched into the shell of a snail can reveal a lot about them, down to their genetic makeup.

Researchers from Shinshu University and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University in Japan have found that the gene influencing the direction of the shell coil may also offer insight into the evolution of snails overall.

The scientists published their results on January 10, 2019, in Zoological Letters.

The shell swirl reflects the handedness of the snail's internal organs. In humans, about one in 10,000 people have mirrored organs, with their heart more to the right than to the left. The flipped organs rarely result in symptoms for the person.

In some snail populations, the reversal resulted in the evolution of new species. In other cases, left-handedness - a shell whirl coiled counter-clockwise - might mean the snail never even reproduces.

"One of the mysteries of snail evolution is the frequent reversal of handedness of the body in several species," said Takahiro Asami, a professor in the department of biology at Shinshu University in Japan and lead author on the paper. "The evolution of the process is a potential mechanism for producing new species in snails, with significant effects later in the life cycle. For example, the genital apparatus is located in the opposite side of body between right and left-handed snails so that mating between the two is impossible."

Asami maintains a particular mutant strain of a land snail species, called Bradybaena similaris, in his lab. These snails have about a 50-50 chance of coiling left or right. Right-handed mothers in this strain lay both right-handed and left-handed eggs.

The researchers compared genes between the dextral wide-type found in nature and the lab-maintained strain, in attempt to identify the genetic change responsible for production of both left-handed and right-handed eggs in the lab-maintained strain.

"The largest difference between the two was actually in the expression level of one gene, called diaph, but not in the gene itself" Asami said, noting that the gene is known to influence handedness in pond snails.

All of the snails have the gene. It's whether the gene is fully expressed that determines the direction of handedness. Snails do not normally develop to be right-handed, unless diaph is expressed enough.

"Just the reduction of the gene expression cannot result in a new species, though," Asami said. "most of snail mutants with reduced expression fail in development to hatch. Additional genetic factors are required to work with the reduced expression of the gene to produce a new species with reverse handedness."

Asami and his team plan to study the genetic mechanisms of evolution of body handedness of snails, including mutations, in addition to their specific focus on the diaph gene.

###

Takeshi Noda, a research fellow in the Department of Biology at Shinshu University, and Noriyuki Satoh, a professor in the Marine Genomics Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, co-authored the paper with Asami. This research was supported, in part, by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Internal Research Fund.

About Shinshu University
A damning report released this week by NY1 revealed that nearly 1,000 New York City public school cafeterias were slammed with health code violations in the first eight months of 2018.

The report found that of the 934 school cafeterias with violations, 336 of them had mouse droppings on the premises, and 99 schools had live roaches creeping around sinks and floors. At least one had a rat problem. That's not even mentioning the reports of fruit flies buzzing around drains, and sightings of moldy food (watermelon and green beans, to be exact), as well as pink mold in an ice-making machine (at the Bronx's P.S. 277 and Queens Metropolitan High School, respectively).

The report, culled from a FOIL investigation of school cafeteria health inspection results, is nevertheless an improvement from past years: In 2017, inspectors found critical health code violations at 1,256 schools, and 1,456 the year before that. The Health Department grades school cafeterias in the same way they grade restaurants and, as of late, food carts, ensuring food is made safely and stored at adequate temperatures. But unlike restaurants and food carts, school cafeterias' "grades" aren't available for the public to see.

Students deserve safe and healthy food, and 99 percent of our cafeterias pass inspections," Miranda Barbot, a spokesperson for the Department of Education, tells Gothamist in a statement.

It's not exactly a secret that mice have been plaguing school cafeterias for years, but how widespread and consistent these violations are is alarming. The Department of Education tells Gothamist that they hired a Director of Food Safety and Quality Assurance in 2017 to assist with the violations, and that there's currently an audit underway to review all food contracts. They also note that several schools in the report, including PS 277, have gone through additional training to rectify their respective issues and stay up to code in the future.

Here, you can search this list for what issues were found at specific schools.
Experiments show electric field can modify silicate glass, causing parts to melt while remaining solid elsewhere; discovery suggests heat in glass could be produced on a very fine scale, could point to performance challenges for devices that use glass

Characterizing and predicting how electrically-heated silicate glass behaves is important because it is used in a variety of devices that drive technical innovations. Silicate glass is used in display screens. Glass fibers power the internet. Nanoscale glass devices are being deployed to provide breakthrough medical treatments such as targeted drug-delivery and re-growing tissue.

The discovery that under certain conditions electrically-heated silicate glass defies a long-accepted law of physics known as Joule's first law should be of interest to a broad spectrum of scientists, engineers, even the general public, according to Himanshu Jain, Diamond Distinguished Chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Lehigh University.

The foundation of electrical heating was laid by James Prescott Joule, an English physicist and mathematician, in 1840. Joule demonstrated that heat is generated when electrical current is passed through a resistor. His conclusion, known as Joule's first law, simply states that heat is produced in proportion to the square of an electrical current that passes through a material.

"It has been verified over and over on homogeneous metals and semiconductors which heat up uniformly, like an incandescent light bulb does," says Jain.

He and his colleagueswhich includes Nicholas J. Smith and Craig Kopatz, both of Corning Incorporated, as well as Charles T. McLaren, a former Ph.D. student of Jain's, now a researcher at Corninghave authored a paper published today in Scientific Reports that details their discovery that electrically-heated common, homogeneous silicate glasses appear to defy Joule's first law.

In the paper, titled "Development of highly inhomogeneous temperature profile within electrically heated alkali silicate glasses," the authors write: "Unlike electronically conducting metals and semiconductors, with time the heating of ionically conducting glass becomes extremely inhomogeneous with the formation of a nanoscale alkali-depletion region, such that the glass melts near the anode, even evaporates, while remaining solid elsewhere. In situ infrared imaging shows and finite element analysis confirms localized temperatures more than thousand degrees above the remaining sample depending on whether the field is DC or AC."

"In our experiments, the glass became more than a thousand degrees Celsius hotter near the positive side than in the rest of the glass, which was very surprising considering that the glass was totally homogeneous to begin with," says Jain. "The cause of this result is shown to be in the change in the structure and chemistry of glass on nanoscale by the electric field itself, which then heats up this nano-region much more strongly."

Jain says that the application of classical Joule's law of physics needs to be reconsidered carefully and adapted to accommodate these findings.

These observations unravel the origin of a recently discovered electric field induced softening of glass. In a previous paper, Jain and his colleagues reported the phenomenon of Electric Field Induced Softening. They demonstrated that the softening temperature of glass heated in a furnace can be reduced by as much as a couple of hundred degrees Celsius simply by applying 100 Volt across an inch thick sample.

"The calculations did not add up to explain what we were seeing as simply standard Joule heating," says Jain. "Even under very moderate conditions, we observed fumes of glass that would require thousands of degrees higher temperature than Joule's law could predict!"

The team then undertook a systematic study to monitor the temperature of glass. They used high-resolution infrared pyrometers to map out the temperature profile of the whole sample. New data together with their previous observations showed that electric field modified the glass dramatically and that they had to modify how Joule's law can be applied.

The researchers believe that this work shows it is possible to produce heat in a glass on a much finer scale than by the methods used so far, possibly down to the nanoscale. It would then allow making new optical and other complex structures and devices on glass surface more precisely than before.

"Besides demonstrating the need to qualify Joule's law, the results are critical to developing new technology for the fabrication and manufacturing of glass and ceramic materials," says Jain.

###
A study headed by researchers from the Danish project iPSYCH and the Broad Institute, USA, has found the first common genetic risk variants for autism and uncovered genetic differences in clinical subgroups of autism.

A study headed by researchers from the Danish project iPSYCH and the Broad Institute, USA, has found the first common genetic risk variants for autism and uncovered genetic differences in clinical subgroups of autism. The discovery means that we will in future be able to determine the genes which separate the diagnostic groups, make more precise diagnoses, and provide better counselling for the individual person suffering from autism disorders.

Autism is not a new phenomenon as we have historical records describing individuals with symptoms that today are associated with the group of disorders that today is known as autism. It was not until 1938 that the first person was given that diagnosis though. Ever since then researchers have tried to explain where the disorder stems from. There have been many suggestions, but one factor has long been established - that genes play a very important role.

A large-scale international collaboration headed by the Danish iPSYCH project and Broad Institute together with several international groups organized in the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium has now identified the first common genetic risk variants for autism and for the first time found the genetic differences between different types of autism.

These genes increase risk

"When we look at autism, there is a heredity factor of up to eighty percent, so genes have a great deal of impact overall. Nevertheless, despite many years of work, identifying precisely which genes are involved has been very challenging," says Professor Mark Daly from Broad Institute and Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland who is one of the leading scientists of the study.

In the study, researchers have compared the genome of 20,415 people with autism and 174,280 healthy control subjects, and in this way they have been able to determine five different genetic variants which increase the risk of autism. The results have recently been published in the scientific journal Nature Genetics.

"It is known that there are very rare genetic variants that carry a high risk for autism, but they do not explain many cases. However, according to our estimates, there are common variants that do that when enough of them act together. In this study we have examined all the approximately nine million frequent variants that can be found in the genome of the people who are included in our study. These are genetic variants which are common in the population at large and where the individual variant's contribution to the risk is very small," explains Associate Professor Jakob Grove from Aarhus University. He is the lead author of the study and a member of the iPSYCH research project.

Findings provide new insights

The genetic findings provide an entirely new insight into the biological processes involved in the development of autism.

"By comparing the genetic risk variants with the genes' expression and the 3D structure of the genome in the developing brain, we can show that the identified risk genes are important for the development of the brain and in particular the development of the cerebral cortex," explains Professor Anders Brglum from Aarhus University, who is research head at iPSYCH and directed the study together with Dr. Daly.

The researchers have also found a significant overlap between the genetic background for autism and other mental disorders such as schizophrenia and depression - though also with positive cognitive characteristics such as educational attainment and IQ.

"The positive correlation with educational attainment might seem paradoxical because some autistic people have reduced cognitive function and on average, fewer people with an autism diagnosis end up with a higher education. The correlation is seen in several previous studies, and in our data we can confirm that in general, this correlation between the genes for autism and genes that predispose for longer education does exist," says Jakob Grove and continues:

"However, we can demonstrate that this does not apply to all subsets of autism. We see that people with Asperger's syndrome or infantile autism on average have more of the genes that are beneficial for taking an education, while this is not the case for people with so-called atypical autism or unspecified autism disorders."

Better treatment on the horizon

Autism refers to a very mixed group with different autism disorders. Some have very pervasive developmental disorders with mental retardation, while others may be cognitively well-functioning with a normal or high IQ.

"Thanks to a new and highly sensitive method that we've developed, we can for the first time establish genetic differences between the various diagnostic subgroups. This indicates that larger studies in the future will be able to pinpoint genes that separate the diagnostic groups and enable more precise diagnosis and advice for the individual person suffering from an autism disorder. We also hope that the genes we identify can provide an opportunity for developing actual treatment or prevention of the condition, which is something that we unfortunately cannot offer at present," says Anders Brglum.

About iPSYCH

The national research project iPSYCH - which is financed by the Lundbeck Foundation - was established back in 2012 with the purpose of carrying out research into and finding the causes of five of the most serious mental disorders: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder (formerly manic depression), autism, ADHD and depression. iPSYCH's purpose was - and still is - to lay the foundations for better treatment and prevention of mental disorders by mapping the factors that play a role for these diseases. By examining genetic and risk factors in more than 80,000 Danes both with and without mental disorders, iPSYCH sheds light on the complex interaction between heredity factors and the environment, which for some people result in them developing a mental disorder. The project examines the diseases from various angles, ranging from genes and cells to population studies, prenatal life to adult patient and from cause to symptom. iPSYCH is a national collaborative project between Aarhus University, the University of Copenhagen, the Central Denmark Region and the Capital Region of Denmark, as well as SSI, the Danish State Serum Institute.

Today iPSYCH is one of the world's largest studies of genetic and environmental causes of mental disorders and it now comprises more than 150 researchers within psychiatry, genetics and register-based research.

Background for the results

Type of study: Researchers scan the entire genome of a large number of people with autism and a large number of healthy control subjects. When a genetic variation is significantly more frequent in people with autism than in the healthy control group, it is possible to conclude that the variant increases the risk of suffering from the disorder. In the iPSYCH project, researchers have collected genetic information on 13,076 autists and 22,644 control subjects. The results where combined with the results from an additional 5,305 people with autism and 5,305 control subjects from an international multi-centre study under the auspices of The Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, and a follow-up was also carried out on 2,119 people with autism and 142,379 control persons from, among other places, deCODE in Iceland.

###

External funding: The Lundbeck Foundation and several international foundations including the Stanley Foundation, NIH/NIMH.

Partners: Primarily researchers from The Broad Institute at Harvard and MIT together with Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, but also a number of international researchers and institutions who are organised in The Psychiatric Genomics Consortium.

The scientific article 'Identification of common genetic risk variants for autism spectrum disorder' was published in Nature Genetics, February 2019.

Contact

Associate Professor Jakob Grove

Aarhus University, Institut for BIomedicin

Tel.: (+45) 2980 1768

Email grove@biomed.au.dk

Professor & Centre Director Anders Brglum

Aarhus University, Institut for BIomedicin

Tel.: (+45) 6020 2720

Email anders@biomed.au.dk

Professor Mark Daly

Tel.: (+1) 617 643 3290?

Email mjdaly@atgu.mgh.harvard.edu
Five and a half years after New Jersey political operatives loyal to former Gov. Chris Christie conspired to close lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge in order to create an epic five-day traffic jam that stranded children going to school and ambulance drivers responding to emergencies, a conspirator is going to prison.

Bill Baroni, former deputy director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, chose not to appeal his 2016 conviction to the Supreme Court and was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Tuesday afternoon. He acknowledged his guilt, apologized to the judge, and wept. Last year an appellate court in Philadelphia removed two counts from his conviction related to the violation of commuters civil rights, which ultimately reduced his sentence by six months.

Baroni told U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton at the federal courthouse in Newark that as a state legislator, he knew right from wrong. But that changed when he left that position to go work for Christie as his point-man at the powerful Port Authoritywhich operates the bridge, both tunnels into New York, ports, a large police department and numerous parcels of real estate.

I wanted to be on the team, I wanted to please him, Baroni said. But I chose to get sucked into his cult and culture.

The Christie cult and culture in the summer of 2013, when the Bridgegate plan was hatched, involved securing the governor a big reelection win that could propel him to a victory in the 2016 presidential campaign, by any means possible. Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich had failed to endorse Christies reelection, and traffic in his town at the foot of the George Washington Bridge was the mayors political achilles heel.

Listen to Matt Katz's report on WNYC:

Baronis attorney, Carlos Ortiz, said that Baroni lost his way when he agreed to punish Sokolich and take part in one of the most idiotic criminal stunts in the history of New Jersey politics.

But since then, Ortiz said, Baroni went back to a life of service, including raising money for chronically ill children and supporting LGBT causes.

Bill knows he needs to go to prison and you need to send a message to other politicians in this state that if you engage in this kind of conduct you need to prison, Ortiz told the judge. He wishes he could go back and apologize to every single person in Fort Lee.

Baronis co-defendent, former Christie deputy chief of staff Bridget Kellywho penned the infamous time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee emailwas originally sentenced to 18 months in prison. She is asking the Supreme Court to review the appellate court decision before she stands for resentencing.

Meanwhile, the admitted mastermind of the scheme, David Wildstein, pleaded guilty, testified for the prosecution and avoided prison time entirely. He now runs a politics news site in New Jersey and is perhaps the most widely sourced reporter in New Jersey.

Christie was never charged and never testified. He denied having any knowledge of Bridgegate or the cover-up, but sworn testimony at the trial indicated Christie was told about the shady lane closures from as early as while the operation was happening.

Christies Bridgegate attorney, Christopher Wray, is now the director of the FBI, thanks to Christies recommendation. Bill Stepien, Christies former campaign manager who was fired after Bridgegate, is a key player in President Trumps reelection campaign.

Baroni asked the court for six months in prison and six months on home confinement. Federal prosecutors wanted at least 18 months or as much as 24 months, which was the original sentence before the appeal.

Baroni spoke from a piece of paper when he addressed the court, and he went further in admitting his role than he had during the had under direct questioning from prosecutors during the trial. He said he knew that the lane closures would cause traffic, he admitted ignoring calls from the mayor pleading for help and he acknowledged lying to the state legislature in an extraordinary testimony where he claimed that the lanes were closed for a routine traffic study.

Im ashamed of myself, he said. Im very sorry to you and your court, but I promise to work every day to get back to who I was before.

He added: I am broken. So much good I have done in my life, I destroyed. He then hung his head, put his face in his hands, and cried.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Cortes, the prosecutor, didnt buy that spin, noting that Baronis three days of testimony were marked by perjury, again and again.

Not grappling with those issues is why this is not a true manifestation of contrition and acceptance, Cortes said.

Wigenton said that she believes Baroni has a spirit that lends itself to serving others. But, she said, this was an outrageous display of abuse of power.

In addition to his 18 months in federal prison, Baroni was sentenced to a year of supervised release, 500 hours of community restitution and about $22,000 in fines and restitution. A date for him to turn himself in was not set.

Matt Katz reports on air at WNYC about immigration, refugees and national security. You can follow him on Twitter at @mattkatz00.
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP (GPM) announces an investigation on behalf of Renault SA (Renault or the Company) (OTC: RNLSY ) investors concerning the Company and its officers possible violations of federal securities laws.



If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss, click here to participate.

On November 19, 2018, various news sources reported that Renaults Chief Executive Officer and Nissan Chairman, Carlos Ghosn, was arrested after an internal company investigation revealed Ghosn had underreported his compensation to the Japanese financial authorities for several years. On this news, shares of Renault fell nearly 4%, to close at $13.13, on November 20, 2018, thereby injuring investors.

Follow us for updates on Twitter: twitter.com/GPM_LLP .

If you purchased Renault, have information or would like to learn more about these claims, or have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Lesley Portnoy, Esquire, of GPM, 1925 Century Park East, Suite 2100, Los Angeles, California 90067 at 310-201-9150, Toll-Free at 888-773-9224, by email to shareholders@glancylaw.com , or visit our website at www.glancylaw.com . If you inquire by email please include your mailing address, telephone number and number of shares purchased.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.
TORONTO, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eloro Resources Ltd. (TSX-V: ELO; FSE: P2Q) (Eloro, or the Company) announces the resignation of Mr. Philip Garratt as a director of the Company effective immediately. The Company would like to express its thanks to Mr. Garratt for his contributions to the board of directors throughout his tenure and wishes him success in all of his future endeavours.



About Eloro Resources Ltd.

Eloro is an exploration and mine development company with a portfolio of gold and base-metal properties in Peru and Quebec. Eloro owns a 90% interest in the La Victoria Gold/Silver Project, located in the North-Central Mineral Belt of Peru some 50 km south of Barrick's Lagunas Norte Gold Mine and Tahoe's La Arena Gold Mine. La Victoria consists of eight mining concessions and eight mining claims encompassing approximately 89 square kilometres. The property has good infrastructure with access to road, water and electricity and is located at an altitude that ranges from 3,100 m to 4,200 m above sea level.

For further information please contact Jorge Estepa, Vice-President of Eloro Resources Ltd. at (416) 868-9168.



Information in this news release may contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information express, as at the date of this news release, the Corporation's plans, estimates, forecasts, projections, expectations, or beliefs as to future events or results and are believed to be reasonable based on information currently available to the Corporation. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
What is the link between e-commerce and woman empowerment? Ritu Kaushik, a housewife from Haryana would be a befitting answer. Ritu had no intention to confine herself within the four walls of her home despite her early marriage and motherhood. On her journey from the kitchen to the field, she took the company of e-commerce and online sales. Today Ritu is one of the top sellers in Flipkart earning as much as 8 lakh per month.



Ritu, from a small village near Sonepat in Haryana did not suddenly become an e-commerce entrepreneur one fine morning. She first completed her studies which she was earlier forced to discontinue. She completed the graduation in 2016 with the full support of her husband, a government employee. From very early on, Ritu had a passion for making handbags. When Ritu noticed many of her neighbours buying things online, she started thinking why she cannot sell her handbags online.

That was how at 31, Ritu's Ritupal 'Collections' was born. There were many people to discourage her. Many asked what her need was to work and earn. Many said women cannot do such things. But Ritu went ahead with her plans boldly. Flipkart provided the guidelines for developing online sale. Though Flipkart was ready to give loan, Ritu, wanting to be self-reliant, declined and used her own savings to start the venture.

With the assistance of her husband, she learned her way with the computers. When children were away at the school, she practised the operations. Within one year of starting the online sale, she started earning about 1 lakh per month.

Today Ritu is earning 7 to 8 lakh per month selling her handbags online. She is selling handbags with prices ranging from Rs 200 to Rs 1500. Majority of her customers are from south India.

Ritu is targeting to increase her monthly sales to 20 lakh by seeking clientele from India's east and west regions.
Islamabad: Pakistan on Tuesday strongly rejected India's claim of targeting terrorist camp in the country and causing heavy casualties even as it vowed to respond "at the time and place of its choosing" and raise the issue at the United Nations and other international forums.

At a hurriedly called special meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC)- the country's top security body - hours after India's air strikes in Balakot inside Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan asked the armed forces and the people of his country to remain prepared for "all eventualities."

India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 80-km from the Line of Control, early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, officials said in New Delhi.

The air strikes came 12 days after the JeM carried out the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

"The forum (NSC) strongly rejected Indian claim of targeting an alleged terrorist camp near Balakot and the claim of heavy casualties. Once again Indian government has resorted to a self-serving, reckless and fictitious claim," said a statement issued after the NSC meeting in Islamabad.

The country's top civil and military brass "concluded that India has committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing," it added.

It also invited the world media to see the facts on ground and proposed a visit to the site.

Citing sources, the Geo TV reported that Pakistan will raise the issue of India's "violation" of the Line of Control (LoC) at the United Nations and other international forums. The decision was taken at the NSC meeting chaired by Prime Minister Khan and attended by the top civil and military leadership, including army chief General Qamar Jawed Bajwa.

"It was decided that the matter of Indian LoC violation be immediately raised at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the United Nations and with friendly countries," sources said.

The NSC statement claimed that India's "action has been done for domestic consumption being in election environment, putting regional peace and stability at grave risk."

To take the nation on board, the government has decided to requisition a joint session of the Parliament on Wednesday at 11am.

Prime Minister Khan also summoned a special meeting of the National Command Authority (NCA) on Wednesday.

Khan will also engage with global leadership to "expose irresponsible" Indian policy in the region, the statement added.

Later addressing a joint press conference with the ministers of defence and finance, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi asserted that Pakistan will "respond to the Indian aggression."

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi

He announced that a three-member committee, including him, finance minister and defence minister, has been formed to approach the parliament to take the people and other parties into confidence on the evolving situation.

Responding to questions, Qureshi claimed that "multi-dimensional intrusion" was attempted by the Indian fighter jets early Tuesday. "But the intervention by Pakistani jets forced them to return back within minutes."

He dismissed the notion that Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jets were late in responding to the Indian attack, saying PAF jets were "ready" and "air-borne."

Flanked by Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattack and Finance Minister Asad Umar, the foreign minister dismissed Indian claim of destroying terror camps of banned JeM in Balakot. "There was no presence of any such camp(s)," he asserted.

"The Indian planes entered some three to four kilometers inside Pakistani air space and released payload when Pakistan Air Force plane scrambled," he said.

Qureshi also warned India not to underestimate Pakistan.

"Do not underestimate us. We have our own sense of timing and we will act and react. Pakistan will do what Pakistan should do," he said and added "we will not disappoint the people of Pakistan."

Describing the situation following the Indian air strikes as "serious", Qureshi said that Prime Minister Khan also had telephonic conversations with UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as well as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman over the issue.

He also said that he has spoken to the foreign minister of the UAE and expressed Pakistan's reservations for inviting Indian foreign minister as chief of guest in the OIC meeting scheduled early next month.

Qureshi faced tough questions from journalists forcing him to end his media interaction abruptly.

As journalists posed some tough questions regarding Pakistan's failure to "give timely response to Indian jets", foreign office spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal intervened and asked Qureshi to end the media briefing.

When a journalist asked the foreign minister to tell as why a "well-prepared Pakistan Air Force could not hit a single intruding Indian aircraft", Qureshi chided him, "you are a Pakistani and respect the ability of the Pakistan Air Force. Escalation was not our purpose."

When another journalist asked him to comment on India's claim that the JeM camps were destroyed by the Indian jets, Qureshi taunted saying "you shouldn't put such questions."
MONTERREY, Mexico, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fomento Economico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V. (FEMSA) (NYSE: FMX; BMV: FEMSAUBD) announced today that its subsidiary Cadena Comercial OXXO, S.A. de C.V. (OXXO) has signed an agreement with Grupo Modelo containing the terms for a new commercial relationship to sell the beer brands of Grupo Modelo at OXXO stores.



Currently, OXXO sells only the beer brand portfolio of HEINEKEN Mexico. Under the terms of the agreement announced today, starting in April of 2019 and following a gradual process, OXXO will also start selling the beer brands of Grupo Modelo in certain regions of Mexico, and will cover the entire Mexican territory by the end of 2022. As an example, the markets where OXXO will start selling both brand portfolios simultaneously during 2019 include Guadalajara and Mexico City.

The new commercial agreement will increase the productivity of the beer category within OXXO stores and will contribute to the growth of the beer industry in Mexico. Furthermore, the agreement is consistent with OXXOs permanent efforts to evolve its value proposition, committed to its consumers and offering more and better solutions to their daily needs.

The agreement announced today is expected to be formalized through the signing of a definitive contract, which is expected to take place during March of 2019.

###

About FEMSA

FEMSA is a leading company that participates in the beverage industry through Coca-Cola FEMSA, the largest franchise bottler of Coca-Cola products in the world by volume; and in the beer industry, through its ownership of the second largest equity stake in Heineken, one of the world's leading brewers with operations in over 70 countries. In the retail industry it participates through FEMSA Comercio, comprising a Proximity Division operating OXXO, a small-format store chain, a Health Division, which includes all drugstores and related operations, and a Fuel Division, which operates the OXXO GAS chain of retail service stations. Additionally, through its Strategic Businesses unit, it provides logistics, point-of-sale refrigeration solutions and plastics solutions to FEMSA's business units and third-party clients.




Hanoi: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday for a summit with US President Donald Trump where they will try to reach an agreement on a North Korean pledge to give up its nuclear weapon programme.

Trump is due to arrive in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, on Tuesday evening.

Trump will meet Kim for a brief one-on-one conversation on Wednesday evening, followed by a social dinner, at which they will each be accompanied by two guests and interpreters, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters on Air Force One.

She said that would be followed by more meetings between the two leaders on Thursday.

Their talks come eight months after their historic summit in Singapore, the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader.

While there is no real expectation that the second meeting will bring a final deal on ridding North Korea of nuclear weapons that threaten the United States, there are some hopes it could lead to a declaration that the 1950-53 Korean War is at last formally over.

But the United States would expect significant movement by Kim towards denuclearisation in return.

In Singapore, Kim pledged to work toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, but the vague agreement struck there has produced few concrete results. US Democratic senators and security officials have warned Trump against cutting a deal that would do little to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Kim, who travelled from the North Korean capital by train, arrived at the station in the Vietnamese town of Dong Dang after crossing over the border from China.

Vietnamese officials were on hand to receive him at the station with a red-carpet including a guard of honour and North Korean and Vietnamese flags flying.

Kim left the train in Dong Dang and got into a Mercedes Benz vehicle for the 170 km (105 miles) journey to the capital, Hanoi, by car.

He waved from the car before setting off to young people lining the street waving Vietnamese and North Korean flags.

About a dozen body guards ran along side his car as he set off.

The main road into Hanoi was closed off with Vietnamese security forces equipped with armoured-personnel carriers guarded the route.

Both Kim and Trump are also due to hold separate talks with Vietnamese leaders.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also arrived in Hanoi, on Tuesday, a reporter travelling with him said.

Pompeo has been Trump's top envoy in his efforts to improve ties with the reclusive North and has made several trips to Pyongyang to negotiate steps towards ending its nuclear programme.

Pompeo was due to met US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun in Hanoi later.

'Tremendous'

Trump told reporters he and Kim would have "a very tremendous summit".

Tweeting on Monday, he stressed the benefits to North Korea if it gave up its nuclear weapons. "With complete Denuclearization, North Korea will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse. Without it, just more of the same. Chairman Kim will make a wise decision!" Trump said.

In a speech on Sunday night, Trump, however, appeared to play down any hope of a major breakthrough at the Hanoi summit, saying he would be happy as long as North Korea maintained its pause on weapons testing.

Key rings depicting North Koreas leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump are seen for sale ahead of their summit in Hanoi, Vietnam,Tuesday. Photo: REUTERS/Jorge Silva

"I'm not in a rush. I don't want to rush anybody," he said. "I just don't want testing. As long as there's no testing, we're happy."

North Korea conducted its last nuclear test in September 2017 and last tested an intercontinental ballistic missile in November 2017.

A South Korean presidential spokesman told reporters in Seoul on Monday that the two sides might be able to agree to a formal end of the Korean War, which ended in an armistice not a peace treaty, a move North Korea has long sought.

While a formal peace treaty may be a long way off, the two sides have discussed the possibility of a political declaration stating that the war over.

"The possibility is there," the South Korean spokesman, Kim Eui-kyeom told a briefing.
New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi Tuesday lauded the pilots of the Indian Air Force after air strikes on Pakistan.

"I salute the pilots of the IAF," he tweeted.

Gandhi also put out the Indian flag along with his tweet.

The Congress also tweeted, lauding the role of the Indian Air Force in keeping Indians safe with its consistent and determined effort.

"We salute the @IAF_MCC for their consistent & determined effort to keep Indians safe. Jai Hind," the Congress said on its official Twitter handle.

In a pre-dawn strike, combat jets of Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple

locations across the Line of Control in the Pakistani side, 12 days after Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group carried out the dastardly Pulwama attack in Kashmir, government sources said.

They said the IAF's Mirage 2000 ghter jets pounded the terror camps in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakoti in the well-planned strike destroying Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps.

India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said Tuesday that a large number of JeM terrorists, trainers and senior commanders were eliminated in the attack. India attacked the biggest JeM camp in Balakot, which was led by JeM Chief Maulana Masood Azhar's brother-in-law Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, he said.
New Delhi: In a swift and precise air strike following the Pulwama attack, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, officials said.

The operation, described as a non-military, pre-emptive strike, was welcomed by the entire political spectrum and military experts who had been advocating retribution after the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama claimed by JeM.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the media the "intelligence-led operation" on the Pakistan-based terror group's biggest training camp in Balakot became "absolutely necessary" as it was planning more suicide attacks in India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi briefed President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu about Tuesday's strike.

Though Gokhale did not make it clear if the strike was on Balakote in Pakistan occupied Kashmir or Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, defence sources said it was the latter. Balakot is about 80 kilometres from the Line of Control and near Abbotabad where Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was killed in hiding by covert US forces.

Gokhale also did not give details of how the attacks were carried out but the defence sources said a group of Mirage 2000 jets was used to drop bombs in the operation, which also included various other aircraft.

"Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose," Gokhale told the media.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in New Delhi on Tuesday. Photo: IANS

In the face of imminent danger, a pre-emptive strike became "absolutely necessary", the foreign secretary said.

Addressing the media at 11:30am, he said the strike had been carried out by a "short while ago" and further details were awaited.

"In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated," he said.

The facility at Balakot, located in a thick forest on a hilltop far away from civilian presence, was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar, alias Ustad Ghouri, the brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar, he said, reading out from a statement.

    ,       ,

Air Force carried out aerial strike early morning today at terror camps across the LoC and Completely destroyed it

       !     ..     ...#Balakot #Surgicalstrike2 pic.twitter.com/fqYJgWxuqX  Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (@gssjodhpur) February 26, 2019

The statement did not say if Yousuf Azhar was among those killed.

"The Government of India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to fight the menace of terrorism," the foreign secretary said.

Photos of the payload posted by Major General Asif Ghafoor.

The selection of the target, he said, was conditioned by the desire to avoid civilian casualties.

India, Gokhale said, expects Pakistan to dismantle all terror camps, including those of the JeM.

Payload of hastily escaping Indian aircrafts fell in open. pic.twitter.com/8drYtNGMsm  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019

" India has been repeatedly urging Pakistan to take action against the JeM to prevent jihadis from being trained and armed inside Pakistan. Pakistan has taken no concrete actions to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its soil," he said.

Earlier in the day, government sources said Mirage 2000 combat jets of the Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control in the Pakistani side. They said jets pounded the camps in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakoti.

However, there was no independent confirmation of these reports and Gokhale made it clear that only one camp was struck in Balakot without mentioning the Mirage 2000 jets.

 I salute the pilots of the IAF.   Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 26, 2019

The JeM has been active in Pakistan for the last two decades and has its headquarters in Bahawalpur in Pakistan's Punjab province, Gokhale said in the statement.

He pointed out that the organization is proscribed by the UN and has been responsible of a series of terrorist attacks, including on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 and the Pathankot airbase in January 2016.

"Information regarding the location of training camps in Pakistan and PoJK has been provided to Pakistan from time to time. Pakistan, however, denies their existence. The existence of such massive training facilities capable of training hundreds of jidhadis could not have functioned without the knowledge of Pakistan authorities," he said.

After Abbotabad the line they took was we are primed to look East to prevent any Indian attacks and thats how the Americans got through. So where were they looking now?  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 26, 2019

Though India has repeatedly urged Pakistan to take action against the JeM to prevent jihadis from being trained and armed inside Pakistan, Islamabad has taken no concrete action "to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its soil", Gokhale said.

In Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi called an "emergency meeting" at the Foreign Office for consultations, sources said.

Qureshi will meet Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan after the meeting in which he will discuss the security situation with high-level officials, they said.

In an early morning tweet, Major General Asif Ghafoor, director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said Indian aircrafts intruded from the Muzaffarabad sector.

"Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," Ghafoor said in a tweet.

Reports claimed that the IAF strike was carried out by a group of Mirage 2000 fighters at around 3:30am. File photo: Reuters

"Indian Air Force violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft gone back," he claimed.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale's briefing on February 26 about the IAF's attack on JeM Balakot camp:

On 14 February 2019, a suicide terror attack was conducted by a Pak based terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammad, leading to the martyrdom of 40 brave jawans of the CRPF. JeM has been active in Pakistan for the last two decades, and is led by Masood Azhar with its headquarters in Bahawalpur.

This organization, which is proscribed by the UN, has been responsible of a series of terrorist attacks including one on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 and the Pathankot airbase in January 2016.

Information regarding the location of training camps in Pakistan and PoJK has been provided to Pakistan from time to time. Pakistan, however, denies their existence. The existence of such massive training facilities capable of training hundreds of jidhadis could not have functioned without the knowledge of Pakistan authorities.

India has been repeatedly urging Pakistan to take action against the JeM to prevent jihadis from being trained and armed inside Pakistan. Pakistan has taken no concrete actions to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its soil.

Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary.

In an intelligence led operation in the early hours of today, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated. This facility at Balakot was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar (alias Ustad Ghouri), the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar, Chief of JeM.

The Government of India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to fight the menace of terrorism. Hence this non-military preemptive action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp. The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties. The facility is located in thick forest on a hilltop far away from any civilian presence. As the strike has taken place only a short while ago, we are awaiting further details.

The Government of Pakistan had made a solemn commitment in January 2004 not to allow its soil or territory under its control to be used for terrorism against India. We expect that Pakistan lives up to its public commitment and takes follow up actions to dismantle all JeM and other camps and hold the terrorists accountable for the actions.


The much-awaited retaliation by the Indian military for the Pulwama suicide bomb happened in the wee hours of Tuesday when 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets of the Indian Air Force crossed the Line of Control and hit several terror camps.

The Indian Air Force Mirage 2000 jets crossed 50 miles undetected into Pakistan and hit Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where several Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps are located. Jaish chief Masood Azhar and his brother, Ibrahim, were believed to be regular visitors to the area. ANI reported targets in Chakothi and Muzaffarabad, which lie in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, were also hit.

Now, apprehensive over a possible reaction from Pakistan, India has alerted all its air defence mechanisms.

Initial inputs suggest that multiple terror camps in Balakot were targeted by the Mirage 2000 jets, which dropped nearly 1,000kg of bombs. Preliminary assessment by the Indian Air Force claim that the precision air strike could have caused deaths of nearly 200 men in these terror camps.

Acting on the specific intelligence inputs, around 3:30am, the Indian Air Force Mirage 2000 fighter jets used laser-guided bombs to target terror camps. The Mirage 2000 was chosen to carry out the mission because of its capability in the precision strike role. To maintain the element of surprise, 12 Mirage 2000 fighters took off from five airbases. And they took nearly 20 minutes to carry out the precision strike.

An Indian Air Force Mirage 2000 aircraft lands on the Agra-Lucknow expressway during a drill in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, October 24, 2017. File photo: REUTERS/Pawan Kumar

(Mirage 2000 is a single seater air defence and multi-role fighter of French origin powered by a single engine can attain max speed of 2495 km/hr(Mach 2.3). It carries two 30 mm integral cannons and two matra super 530D medium-range and two R-550 magic II close combat missiles on external stations.)

Hours earlier, the Pakistan military tweeted "Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage."

The Indian Air Force action was in retaliation to the February 14 suicide bomb attack on a convoy of vehicles carrying security personnel on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in Pulwama district, resulting in the deaths of over 40 CRPF jawans.

After the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a 'free hand' to the army (security forces) to extract revenge at a place and time of their choosing. Since then, the security forces have made an 'action plan' to take on terror groups based in and outside India (read Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir).

On Monday, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had a long interaction with the three service chiefs to discuss possible ways to teach Pakistan a lesson. During the meeting, they also discussed the Indian response to possible Pakistan retaliation in case of an Indian strike.

Mirage 2000 is a single seater air defence and multi-role fighter of French origin powered by a single engine can attain max speed of 2495 km/hr.

Indian forces had carried out a similar cross-border raid in September 2016 in retaliation to the Uri attack. At that time, Army special forces were used. But this time, the precision strike by fighter jets of the Indian Air Force must have caused massive damage compared with the 2016 surgical strike.

(This story first appeared in The Week)
Chennai: Makkal Neethi Maiam (MNM) President Kamal Hassan Tuesday welcomed air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force on terror launch pads in Pakistan, and 'saluted' the valour of the "heroes."

The country was "proud of its heroes," he said in a tweet.

"Our 12 (apparently fighter jets) return safely home after wreaking havoc on terrorist camps in Pakistan. India is proud of its heroes. I salute their valour," he said.

India Tuesday carried out pre-dawn air strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan and destroyed terrorist targets.

The strike comes amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan following the February 14 suicide attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group in Kashmir's Pulwama district that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

Strikes involving several fighter jets of the Indian Air Force successfully destroyed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said Tuesday that a large number of JeM terrorists, trainers and senior commanders were eliminated in the attack. India attacked the biggest JeM camp in Balakot, which was led by JeM Chief Maulana Masood Azhar's brother-in-law Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, he said.
That common users on the internet are the first to give us the news nowadays is no longer news. But top-secret military operations are expected to be more discreet than political developments or the deaths of prominent personalities.

Twitter users appeared to have gotten wind of the fact that the Indian Air Force was up to something against Pakistan much before the media even woke up.

A handful of 'plane spotters' - enthusiasts who track movements of civilian and military aircraft - posted details about the movement of aircraft of the Indian Air Force early on Tuesday. Plane spotters on the internet typically use aircraft-tracking software, which plots the location of aircraft in civilian airspace, and also track radio frequencies to listen in on communications.

CivMilAir, a popular UK-based plane spotter account, posted the coordinates of the Indian Air Force's Netra AEW aircraft (registration no: KW 3555) flying over New Delhi around 6am (IST). The Netra, which uses a radar developed by the DRDO on a Brazilian EMB-145 aircraft, was also tracked by Aircraft Spots, a plane spotter based in California.

Tanker up, heading over New Delhi @ 20,000ft



 Indian Air Force

IL78 RK-3451https://t.co/GUz5hCPovt pic.twitter.com/Vbszhp11Kb  CivMilAir  (@CivMilAir) February 26, 2019

At 9am, Aircraft Spots put up a map showing the Netra's flight track stretching from Himachal Pradesh up to Punjab, along the Pakistan border. The Netra, which has a radar capable of scanning 100s of kilometres, would have been crucial for coordinating the strikes by Indian fighter jets and also vectoring air defences to neutralise Pakistani attackers.

At 6:41am, CivMilAir posted an update showing an IL-78 aerial refuelling tanker (registration no: RK 3451) of the Indian Air Force approaching Delhi from the Haryana/Punjab direction. CivMilAir also posted the coordinates of HS 748 Avro and AN-32 medium transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force flying over Delhi.

INTELLIPUS, a Twitter handle that claims to be into monitoring and analysis of open source information, tracked the movement of the same Indian Air Force IL-78 (RK 3451) at 6:28am. INTELLIPUS also speculated the tanker was supporting aircraft like the SU-30MKI and MiG-29 that were on air combat patrol to deter possible Pakistani attack.

#Indian air force IL-78 tanker heading south- ostensibly from refueling track for combat air patrol support. ((Su-30MKI, MiG-29UPG)) Blue circle is possible IFR track, red circles possible CAP orbits (just a guess) pic.twitter.com/22zwX2WQKg  INTELLIPUS (@intellipus) February 26, 2019

Another plane spotter, redandblackattack, also tracked the movement of numerous Indian Air Force aircraft including a C-17 transport aircraft approaching Kashmir, the Netra flying over Punjab at 8:30am and a C-130J transporter heading away from Delhi. Interestingly, redandblackattack also tracked a Pakistani IL-78 tanker (sourced from Ukraine) flying away from Rawalpindi at 8:48am.

The proliferation of live flight-tracking tools has been flagged as a security threat in the past. CivMilAir attracted attention in December 2018 for tracking the flight path of Air Force One, when it was carrying US President Donald Trump, on what was to be, ostensibly, a secret trip to Iraq. The Twitter handles covered in this article all have thousands of followers: redandblackattack has the least number of followers with around 4,800 followers, CivMilAir has the highest with 78,200 followers

Pakistan Air Force Ilyushin IL-78MP # R11-003 [ NATO - "Midas" ] aerial refueling tanker up. pic.twitter.com/htOkYnJQfp  redandblackattack (@redanblacattack) February 26, 2019

Interestingly, as CivMilAir was tracking the movement of Indian Air Force aircraft early on Tuesday, it was also tracking the movement of Trump on Air Force One as he was flying to Vietnam for his summit with Kim il Sung!

The widespread availability of flight-tracking software, satellite imagery and, of course, social media for dissemination means the media is no longer the first source of information for matters where technology is remotely involved. And while the activities of these plane spotters are technically not illegal, the availability of near-real-time information on movement of military aircraft will not be music to the ears of a country's security apparatus.

(This story was first published in The Week)


Bengaluru: The Mirages have done it yet again. Pounding the enemy targets with precision and finesse. Six bombs of 1000-kg each (Spice 2000) are said to have been dropped on the chosen terror camps in Balakot, across the border.

Yet again, the Mirage 2000s have become the mighty and the go-to-plane for the Indian Air Force (IAF) when they needed them the most. Even after serving the Indian Air Force (IAF) for over 33 years, these fighters from French Dassault Aviation (the makers of Rafale), still continue to be a potent fighter.

The Mirage 2000s offer many advantages to us with its multi-role capabilities. It is the best bet we have to undertake ground defence, air defence and offensive air operations, says an IAF official.

Todays operation was completely under the command structure of the Western Air Command. We operate three squadrons of Mirage-2000s from AFS Gwalior, the official said.

The No 7 Squadron (Battle Axes), No 1 Squadron (Tigers) and No 9 Squadron (Wolf Pack) operate from AFS Gwalior.

He said the Mirage-2000s are very high reliable machines and their current availability rates are far better than when compared to some of other fighters IAF operate.

Kargil was the best example and everyone is aware what the Mirage fleet did. We had used the PGMs (precision-guided weapons) first time during the Kargil War. The Mirages also have a very high rate of air-to-air weapon delivery, says the official.

He said the weaponry of Mirage-2000 is well-suited for the targets that were hit in Balakot on Tuesday morning. The LGBs (laser-guided bombs) is the American GBU-12 paveway kit, an all-weather weapon with a seeker and independent guidance system. The aircraft is also fitted with a litening pod to acquire targets and guide precision bombs, the official said.

In addition to the Mirages, the electro-optical litening pod from Rafael (Israel) are fitted on Su-30 MKIs, Mig-29s and Tejas.

The first Mirage-2000 joined the IAF in 1985 a year after the deal for 49 aircraft was signed. The IAF added 10 more Mirage 2000s in 2004.

Later this year, the first Rafale would join the IAF fleet and together along with the Mirage-2000s and Su-30MKIs we will have a formidable strike force, the official said.

He said the roles of IAF fighters differ with the Sukhois having capability to fly with heavy weapon load.

More features added

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is currently upgrading the Mirage 2000 fleet following a pact India inked with France in 2011.

HAL has so far delivered 11 Mirages upgraded to 2000-5 standard, out of which nine are part of IOC (Initial Operational Clearance) and two FOC (Final Operational Clearance).

The upgradation improves the range, air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities of Mirage-2000s. The following are the add-on features:

Avionics: AESA or Pulse Doppler Radar, RLG INGPS, new Head Up Display.

EW System: Radar Warning Receiver (RWR), Self-Protection Jammer (SPJ), Counter Measure Dispensing System (CMDS), Missile Approach Warning System (MAWS).

Communication System: SATCOM, INCOM II

Weapons: Air-to-air missile, Smart air-to-ground weapons with standoff capability.

Airframe & Systems: Drop Tank (2000 L) under wing tank and Solid State Flight Data Recorder.

Cockpit: Glass cockpit with Night Vision Goggle (NVG)-compatible cockpit lightning.

An upgraded Mirage-2000-5 had crashed during its Customer Acceptance Flight on February 1 this year, killing both pilots at HAL airport, for which a Court of Inquiry is on.

The Mirages will continue to fly for the next 20-25 years and the current upgradation package when completed make them a completely different fighter, says a pilot with over 1000 hours of experience on the fighter.

Mirage-2000, called as Vajra (Lightening) in the IAF, is also capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

The IAF was always prepared for a surgical strike with the right kind of aircraft, right kind of equipment and right air crew. In the case of Mirages, it can carry heavy weapon loads up to around 14,000lbs, which is phenomenal in a combat scenario. Today, the leadership demanded such kind of an action and the boys did it, an Air Marshal told Onmanorama.

He said IAF was always ready with such kind of a mission in the last two decades.

Air power has the escalating tendency and so we were a bit cautious all the time. But, today it was an act demanded by the leadership and we executed it with precision. We did it our way, he adds.
New Delhi: The pre-dawn attack air strike by Indian Air Force (IAF) on Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest terror camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on early Tuesday involved over 200 hours of planning that began following intelligence inputs regarding a second suicide terror strike somewhere in India.

Highly-placed sources said that the government got the intelligence input just two days after the February 14 terror strike in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama by JeM suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed and five suffered injuries.

The intelligence input warned of another suicide terror attack - which could be bigger than Pulwama - at any place across India, said the source.

Soon after the input, a series of meetings were held among top government officials and ministers concerned, the chiefs of the Army, Navy and IAF and National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval to give befitting reply to the JeM terrorists.

The final decision to carry out an air strike on a Pakistan-based terror camp was taken in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Doval and IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, present.

"The meeting finalized an air strike on the terror camps as the only option to take revenge for security personnel killed in Pulwama attack and give a big jolt to the JeM's plan to carry out another strike in India. Over 200 hours of planning went into the air strike in which every aspect was taken care of," said the source.

It was decided that the revenge would be taken on the 13th day of Pulwama attack to pay "best homage" to the slain CRPF personnel who lost their lives after a bus, part of a 78-vehicle convoy, they were travelling in was blown up by Adil's car packed with over 200 kg of explosives on the Jammu-Srinagar highway, said the source.

Another source said that 16 Sukhoi fighter jets were backing over 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets that pounded multiple terror camps across the Line of Control (LoC) in what is being seen as the first cross-border air strike India has carried out in nearly five decades.

"Mirage jets left their base in Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh and after mid-air fuelling over Adampur in Punjab, they struck the terror camps in Balakot."

When India decided to raise the bar after the Pulwama attack, Balakot was on the radar of Indian intelligence agencies for being a hub of JeM.

Intelligence agencies were sure that the Pulwama attack was also planned in Balakot terror camp which was headed by JeM chief Masood Azhar's brother-in-law Maulana Yusuf Azhar.

The location of Balakot, well away from the LoC, made it a safe heaven for terrorist training. Even the Border Action Teams (BATs) of Pakistan army regulars, who carry out cross-border raids on Indian patrols on the LoC, are trained in Balakot.

Foreign Secretary Vijay K Gokhale on Tuesday told the media that a very large number of JeM terrorists, including senior commanders, trainers and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen (suicide attack) missions, were eliminated in the operation.

"India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. Credible intelligence was received that the JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country (India), and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose," Gokhale said.

Pakistan admitted that the IAF planes struck Balakot but claimed that they returned when it scrambled its war planes.
New Delhi: Hours after the Indian Air Force hit terror camps inside Pakistan, the army Tuesday tweeted a Hindi poem which says that "if you are docile and polite before the enemy, he may consider you as a coward, the way Kauravas treated Pandavas".

The poem by Hindi poet Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar' was tweeted by additional director general, Public Information, on its official handle.

Peace overtures, the poem says, is possible only when you are in a powerful position and capable to win.

Combat jets of the Indian Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control on the Pakistani side in a pre-dawn strike on Tuesday, 12 days after the Pakistan-based terror group, Jaish-e-Mohammed carried, out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir, government sources said.

They said the Mirage 2000 fighter jets pounded JeM terror camps in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chakoti in the well-planned strike, destroying the camps.

India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said Tuesday that a large number of JeM terrorists, trainers and senior commanders were eliminated in the attack. India attacked the biggest JeM camp in Balakot, which was led by JeM Chief Maulana Masood Azhar's brother-in-law Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, he said.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the operation.

Hours later, Prime Minister Modi chaired a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security which was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Sitharaman.

The sources said significant damage has been inflicted on the ground on the Pakistani side.

A source indicated that the operation was carried out between 3:50 AM and 4:05 AM.

In Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi called an "emergency meeting" at the Foreign Office for consultations, sources said. Qureshi will meet Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan after the meeting in which he will discuss the security situation with high-level officials, they said.
Ever since K G Sankara Pillai's powerful translation of Guatemalan poet Rene Otto Castillo's poem 'Apolitical Intellectuals' came out in the late seventies, a time when Emergency had mauled the psyche of its youth, Kerala has always wanted its poets, writers and academics to speak against all forms of oppression.

Here goes Castillo's lines. One day/the apolitical intellectuals/of my country/will be interrogated/by the simplest/of our people. What did you do when the poor/suffered, when tenderness/and life burned out of them? A vulture of silence/will eat your gut. Your own misery/will pick at your soul. And you will be mute in your shame.

This was a warning, soon taken up as a war cry. All of a sudden, writing and thinking became unabashedly political. Anything less was seen as something of a let down.

Latin American spirit

Nearly half a century later, it looked as if young Congress legislator V T Balram was trying to revive the 'Spirit of Castillo', though he made a crude spectacle of it. Cultural criminals was the term he used to describe writers, poets and thinkers he thought had not sufficiently condemned the murders of two Youth Congress workers at Periya in Kerala's Kasaragod district.

He should have had felt sorry, sheepish at least, when it was revealed that the writer for whom he had reserved his sharpest sarcasm, K R Meera, had actually put up a note of protest. Instead, Balram found even her words of condemnation intolerable. She promptly cut him to size; Bala-rama (child-Rama), she called him.

Balram took to Facebook to slam writers, poets and thinkers he thought had not sufficiently condemned the murders of two Youth Congress workers at Periya in Kerala's Kasaragod district.

From then on, things went south. A stung Balram, in his retort, warned his followers to be careful while spelling Meera lest it turns into a foul word in Malayalam. As if on cue, his followers openly addressed her using that word, and even stinkier ones.

Anger that came too late

But was Balram right in chastising public intellectuals, insisting that they condemn the murders? This is not the first political murder in the country, said B Rajeevan, one of Kerala's sharpest political commentators, and who along with poet Satchithanandan was highly critical of the Left in the eighties. Balram's anger has swelled only after the murders of the Youth Congress men. Not a single party in the state, the Congress included, has done anything to awaken public sentiment against such murders, he said.

Nonetheless, Rajeevan said it was also a fact that certain writers owe allegiance to political parties. They speak like political leaders, and are no better, he said. Some writers have put out public statements against the Periya murders but if you look at the list carefully it can be seen these are people closely associated with the Congress. This happens the other way too. Strangely, they also make it a point not to invite neutral voices to be signatories of the joint statement, Rajeevan said.

B Rajeevan, one of Kerala's sharpest political commentators.

It is a tragedy that even the cultural world has been divided along political lines. Neutral voices have shrunk, he said. Such voices seem to be heard less, too. Balram, for instance, had apparently not taken note of neutral voices. Many writers and thinkers like Rajeevan, Satchithanandan and Manoj Kuroor had condemned the murders.

According to writer and poet Manoj Kuroor, writers should be stripped of their 'cultural leader' tag. This looking up to the writer is a remnant of the troubled seventies when writers were given a revolutionary halo. The political climate has changed, and now it is high time they are seen as mere writers, Kuroor said.

Poet K Satchithanandan is among those who had condemned the murders.

Writer as Jekyll and Hyde

Since they have been highly politicised, as Rajeevan said, the opinions of writers can be highly problematic also. I know writers who blindly take Leftist positions in public but who in their writings have a very nuanced, even confused, view of life and politics. So it is better not to take opinions from them, he said.

Social commentator professor M N Karassery said the problem with Balram's comments was that he had effectively, though unwittingly, shifted the focus from the Periya murders to a sideshow, his spat with K R Meera. He should also know that indecent language is also violence, he said and added: Should I remind V T Balram that Mahatma Gandhi was once the president of his party. He should realise that if he wants to fight the violence of the CPM, he has to avoid undemocratic and indecent language.

M N Karassery says Balram has to avoid undemocratic and indecent language.

Two types of anger

However, Karassery, too, felt that public intellectuals have become choosy. But that is no licence to criticise them like Balram did, Karassery said. Poet Manoj Kuroor said there was a reason why writers and academics were perceived to be choosy. It is true that their anger has an edge when it comes to taking on the Sangh Parivar. This is because their brand of politics is fundamentally narrow, unlike in the case of the CPM or Congress. It is in their nature to suppress free speech, which writers need to exist, Kuroor said.

Volkswagen dilemma

According to writer and poet Manoj Kuroor, writers should be stripped of their 'cultural leader' tag.

Noted scholar and political analyst Hameed Chennamangalur said the entire mechanics of protest was hollow. Normally what happens is that one or two would draft a message and then call up others and seek permission to include them as signatories, he said.

Chennamangalur said that they would express serious anguish at the sedition charges slapped on Umar Khalid but only in the luxurious confines of elite clubs. But not a single one of them would bother to fly straight to Kashmir and stage a protest there, he said.

Noted scholar and political analyst Hameed Chennamangalur said the entire mechanics of protest was hollow.

Chennamangalur is as dismissive of public intellectuals as Noam Chomsky. The American linguist and philosopher had famously said that no progressive public intellectual had ever been inclined to stage protests out in the streets. If at all there are, their number would be less than that could be held inside a Volkswagen.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CBD Med Research Corp. (TSXV: CBM.H) (the Company) announces that the Company will change its name to World Class Extractions Inc. and subdivide its common shares on the basis of three new common shares for every one existing common share (the Share Split), effective as of February 28, 2019 (the Effective Date).



Registered shareholders of the Company will receive two additional common shares for each common share held as of February 27, 2019 (the Record Date). The Companys transfer agent, Computershare Investor Services Inc. (Computershare), will send to each registered shareholder a share certificate representing the number of additional common shares that they are to receive as a result of the Share Split. Non-registered shareholders who hold their shares through an intermediary will have their accounts automatically updated to reflect the Share Split.

Immediately prior to completion of the Share Split, the Company has 9,671,525 common shares issued and outstanding. After giving effect to the Share Split, the Company will have approximately 29,014,575 common shares issued and outstanding.

Further to the Companys news release dated February 21, 2019, the Companys common shares will be delisted from trading on the TSX Venture Exchange effective at the close of trading on February 26, 2019 in connection with the proposed reverse take-over transaction of the Company (the Proposed Transaction). The resulting issuer that will exist upon completion of the Proposed Transaction intends to apply to the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) for approval for listing its common shares on the CSE.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Gary F Zak

Gary F. Zak, Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact: Gary F. Zak gzak1@shaw.ca or 604-802-7551

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

The CSE has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation (collectively forward-looking statements). The use of any of the word, may, will, proposes, expects, anticipates, intends and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements should not be unduly relied upon. This news release contains forward-looking statements and assumptions pertaining to the following: the name change of the Company, the Share Split, delisting the Companys common shares from the TSXV, listing the Companys common shares on the CSE, and the Proposed Transaction. Actual results achieved may vary from the information provided herein as a result of numerous known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors. The Company believes the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct.
Many times you might have found the multiple casinos available in the online market but when you are going to...
Idukki: The air strike in Pakistan by the Indian Air Force was part of a plan by the BJP to trigger a war and undermine the general elections due in a couple of months, CPM Kerala state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said on Tuesday.

The government wants to trigger a war with Pakistan before the elections are announced, Kodiyeri said at a party rally at Nedunkandam in Idukki district.

"Instead of finding a solution to the insurgency in Kashmir, the BJP government is trying to make things worse by making the people of Kashmir enemies of the state," he said.

The people of Kashmir should be made to stand with the nation, he said.

"The BJP government, which senses defeat in the elections, is attempting to polarise communities through war mongering," he added.

Kodiyeri's comments come at a time when several leaders of opposition political parties have hailed the Indian Air Force for the operation. Those who lauded the force include Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and BSP supremo Mayawati.

CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury also confirmed that there was an 'effective' strike early on Ttuesday, the details of which are yet to emerge.

Kodiyeri's views resonates with those of senior TMC leader Sudip Bandhopadhyay who had not supported the move to take stern action against Pakistan, at an all-party meeting called by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on February 16, two days after the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 jawans were killed after a CRPF convoy was attacked.

The government has convened an all-party meeting Tuesday evening where External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will brief the leaders of opposition parties on the pre-dawn air strike operation by Air Force against Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) terror camps in Pakistan, sources said.

In a swift and precise air strike following the Pulwama attack, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, officials said.

Giving details of the operation at a news conference in New Delhi, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said credible intelligence was received that the JeM was planning to carry out more suicide attacks in India.

"Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary.

"In an intelligence-led operation in the early hours of today (Tuesday), India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot," Gokhale said.

"In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated."
Air pollution is the biggest environmental problem haunting haunting cities around the globe. One of the major causes of air pollution is the huge plumes of smokes gushed out of factories in industrial areas. This toxic smoke can lead to serious health hazards to people living in the vicinity. The smoke formed from burning plastic waste can also severely affect the normal body functions and may lead to serious major diseases like cancer, asthma and allergy.

Burning sensation in the eyes, breathing trouble and itching on the skin are the common problems attributed to air pollution. When toxic gases released from industrial units also merge with this smoke, things get worse for residents living nearby.

Carbon monoxide

When plastic is burnt, carbon monoxide is released in large quantities to the atmosphere. It is a gas that has no colour or smell. In the atmosphere, carbon monoxide is present in minute quantities but when it enters the lungs, it even cause death.

In the human body, carbon monoxide reacts with haemoglobin to form a substance called Carboxyhaemoglobin, which blocks the process by which Oxygen is transported from the lungs to the muscles.

When the level of carbon monoxide increases in the air, people may faint. The first precautionary measure to be taken in such a situation is moving to a place where fresh air is available.

Safety measures

When fire or smoke is seen, the first step to adopt is to wear a mask. If it is of an ordinary type, two masks have to be worn. Moreover, the masks should be changed every eight hours.

When there is cough after breathing the toxic smoke and it persists for over a couple of weeks, seek expert medical care. Steam treatment may give a temporary relief, but only inhalation offers a cure. Another precautionary measure is to ensure proper ventilation in the bedroom.

People already suffering from asthma and wheezing have to take extra care when toxic smoke is released as even healthy persons can slip into serious health conditions breathing this smoke. The Oxygen level in the body may fall dangerously after breathing toxic smoke and the only way out is to move away the fumes.

Apart from wearing masks, hands have to be cleaned at frequent intervals. If breathing trouble still persists, seek help from a doctor at the nearest hospital. Breathing trouble can be easily treated with inhalation and other drugs, but may turn out to be life-threatening if ignored.

Dioxins and furan

Dioxin is another poisonous substance emitted when plastics are burnt. Studies have proved that dioxins can even cause cancer.

Apart from Carbon monoxide and dioxins, furan is also released into the air by burning plastic waste. It is also toxic and may lead to cancer as well as affect the normal functioning of the lungs and nervous system.

Breathing air carrying furan may cause dizziness and the victim may even fall unconscious. Furan has been found to damage liver and kidneys as well.

Sulfur dioxide

Sulfur dioxide, a poisonous gas affecting human beings and other life forms, is yet another substance released while burning plastic. A gas with a nauseating smell when it spreads in the air, sulfur dioxide is one of the leading causes of atmospheric pollution the world over.

Breathing exercise

When the air is getting polluted, people in the affected areas can practise breathing exercise. Doing pranayama for 15 minutes twice daily is beneficial. With the incidence of respiratory diseases going up manifold in cities, the need to exercise is of utmost importance.

(Information provided by Dr Shalini Vinod, Consultant Pulmonologist, Ernakulam Medical Centre)
Kochi: The seat-sharing dialogues of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) will be held at the Ernakulam Guest House on Tuesday amid Kerala Congress (Mani)s demand for two tickets. Congress has said it wont give up its seats or grant more seats to allies.

Congress leaders will meet the representatives of each ally separately. The national party will be represented by opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and UDF convener Benny Behanan. KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran will not participate because of the ongoing pan-Kerala rally dubbed Janamahayatra.

Behanan said allies will not be given more seats. The party believes the two-seat demand made by the Kerala Congress (M) is a result of its internal feud. If the regional party is allowed two constituencies to contest, the Indian Union Muslim League will also insist on three seats, one more than its usual quota.

The Congress will ask Kerala Congress (M) not to create rift in the coalition with their demand. A Rajya Sabha seat meant for the Congress was given to them earlier. The controversy over it has not died down yet within the Congress, its leaders will argue.

Though all UDF allies have made demands for seats, the Muslim League, Kerala Congress (M) and RSP are the only ones who will get Lok Sabha seats to contest this time. The Congress will take back Palakkad seat which was allotted to MP Veerendrakumar in the last polls.

Veerendrakumar has since left the UDF.

Joseph stuns Congress

Kerala Congress (M) leader PJ Josephs interest in contesting from a Lok Sabha seat has stunned the Congress. Neither Congress nor any UDF ally can say no to the senior leader. A compromise formula to make candidate acceptable for both parties enter the fray could be discussed.

Kerala Congress (Jacob) chairman and UDF secretary Johnny Nellore visited Joseph at his house at Purappuzha on Monday. Nellore said he held talks with Joseph to find a solution for the logjam on the request of Congress leaders.
Kottayam: The Kerala government handed over the Periya twin murder case to the crime branch in a bid to mislead the investigation, Congress state president Mullappally Ramachandran said. The investigation has been entrusted to officers with a reputation for being yes-men, he said in an interview with Manorama Online, justifying his demand for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

How does the Congress intend to fight the upcoming general election?

We had set an agenda even before the Janamahayatra started from Kasaragod. This march will go through all 140 assembly constituencies in Kerala before winding up in Thiruvanathapuram. We intend to discuss issues with people and convey our messages to them. Our slogan is to reclaim India. That says everything. We have put forward to the people a meaningful idea. All the progress we see in India are the contribution of the Congress. Congress's struggles brought foreign domination to its knees and brought political freedom to India. We discovered India. And we are responsible for reclaiming India. The people of India have high hope in the Congress and its president Rahul Gandhi. The people know that only the Congress is capable of saving the country from the present misery.

The Congress's main opponent in Kerala is the Left Democratic Front. Do you plan to raise allegations against the Pinarayi government.

The CPM believes in the elimination theory. That is their political stand. Their rule is utter failure. The chief minister has failed miserably after 1,000 days in office, just like Narendra Modi isolated himself from the people and failed at the Centre. He has been reduced to the weakest, most incapable chief minister Kerala has ever seen. He does not know how to get things done. He does not know how to take officers into confidence. Arrogance is his hallmark. He is the prisoner of inferiority complex. That is why he often shouts at officers and shuts out the media. A chief minister or an administrator has to be humble in a democratic setup. If he cannot understand the fact that he is responsible to the people, he is nothing but a dictator. I can only see him as a Stalinist. He does not entertain criticism. He is inimical of his critics. If we review the functioning of the government in the last 1,000 days, I, or the party I lead, can only grant him zero marks. He could not get anything done. He jumped on the Sabarimala issue and made himself ludicrous. His stands were not received well by society. He was isolated.

Kerala has not recovered from the twin murders in Kasaragod. The police have nabbed the accused. Aren't you satisfied?

We were not satisfied with the investigation right from the beginning because the government has been trying to mislead the investigation. We know that Kerala has its share of just officers. They can act fearlessly. But do they have the freedom to do so? They don't. They are never given responsibility. The local leader who was arrested as an accused may or may not be involved in the case. Let the investigating officer decide it but the statements contradict each other. The families of the victims have an apprehension that the case will not be pursued justly. Even the mother and wife of the accused say that he could never do such a thing without the knowledge of the party. We can only see these murders as an organised attack with the consent of the party. The needle of suspicion definitely turns towards the top leadership of the party. Now the government has decided to hand over the probe to the crime branch. What is this crime branch? Who are the officers in it? You have to look into it. Crime branch is headed by inspector general S Sreejith. Who is he? He is known among police circles as a yes-man. He was the main actor in the drama related to women's entry into the Sabarimala temple. He was asked to probe the custodial death of Sreejith in Varappuzha. What happened to the case? He is loyal to the government. He can never crack the case. That is why we demand an investigation by a central agency. Otherwise this case will be pushed into oblivion like the other cases.

Mullappally broke down while consoling the relatives of slain Youth Congress activist Sharathlal.

These murders were the most shocking since the killing of SFI activist Abhimanyu. Let us leave aside the tally. Don't you think all political parties are equally to blame?

Abhimanyu's murder was shocking. He was a victim of campus politics. Who made campus politics dangerous? I was attending a symposium when the vice-chancellor of the Kerala University said that the university hostel had been turned into an armoury, that the SFI activists had been storing weapons in the hostel. This opinion is shared by many principals. The CPM and the SFI are responsible for the violent politics on the campuses. I do not want a single child to spill his blood on the campus. I was a student leader myself. The campus politics was spoiled by the CPM. The campuses were not like this in our days. The CPM even politicised Abhimanyu's death. They collected Rs 4 crore in his name and gave only Rs 35 lakh to his family. That party has stooped to such a level to use a murder as a fundraising opportunity.

Speaking about the twin murders, those youngsters were totally innocent. A local squabble among college students could have been easily resolved then and there. That led to the murders. No one could hold back their tears when they went to their houses. Many people cried, including me. Violence is not a solution to anything. I have been fighting against the criminal elements in my own party. I am not getting into what happened in the past. We have also erred while defending ourselves. I do not deny anything. But the Congress has never done anything like that in the recent past. Violence is the weapon of the weak. Strong people fight with ideas. I just want to remind the communist party that it will not lead them anywhere. That is what history teaches us. Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin chose the path of arms yet they were consigned to the waste bin of history. The communist party is assured of the same fate.

Slain SFI leader Abhimanyu.

We are often told that communist parties are humanist. Look at the way people are killed. They hacked T P Chandrasekharan's face 51 times. They hacked Shuhaib 41 times. A party cannot stoop any lower if it had to control politics with hired goons. Whenever someone is killed, they say that they have no role in it. Then as the investigation progresses, they would say that they regret their role in it. They have to say that violence is not their way and denounce it. Weren't they protecting the accused in the T P Chandrasekharan murder case? They welcomed them when they were let out on parole. They did everything for the criminals. The chief minister has a very big role in it. He was the main accused in the murder of Vadikkal Ramakrishnan, the first political murder in Kerala, even though he was not convicted in the case. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was the trigger in that case. It started as a petty fight and ended in a brutal murder. They should end these murders if they have a heart. This politics of murder has to end.

The Kerala government did nothing legally wrong in the Sabarimala issue.

My party has always respected the judiciary. But we cannot see the Sabarimala judgment as the final verdict. The Supreme Court has corrected many of its judgments later. Women were at the forefront of those who protested against women's entry into Sabarimala. They were against violating the conventions at Sabarimala. Kerala society viewed the verdict emotionally. We have to respect the sentiments of the faithful in a pluralistic society. The Congress' declared stand was the stand taken by Nehru and Gandhi. Nehru was not a worshipper but he had promised to fight for the rights of the faithful. Gandhiji chose to stand by the faith when it was in contrast with reason. Those who are out to implement the Supreme Court order has set aside many other verdicts without implementing. The CPM is trying to spark a riot. The BJP and the RSS wants to create an Ayodhya-like situation in Kerala. What did Yogi Adithyanath say in Pathanamthitta? P S Sreedharan Pillai said it was all about politics, not faith. Both of them cheated the Hindus in Kerala. We always stood by the faithful. Surveys have proved that our stands have been supported by society.

Are you sure that the Congress will never utilise the Sabarimala issue politically?

Never. The Congress has no intention to politicise the Sabarimala issue. The Congress will never try to garner votes from the issue, like the other parties do.

What will you do if the Supreme Court dismisses the review petitions?

We will make our stand clear when such a situation arises.

The Congress is forever accused of denying a winning seat to women and youngsters. Do you see a change this time around?

No other political party has given women and the youth more opportunities than the Congress. I was young when I first contested an election. I am a native of Kozhikode but the party wanted me to contest from Kannur. I won five straight elections from Kannur. Has any other party given more prominence to women. Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are prime examples. We have appointed women as president, prime minister, judges, speaker, governors and ministers. Ours is the party which gave women decent posts. Rahul Gandhi has made our stand clear for this election. Every seat is important to us. All 20 seats are important for us. That is how we are going forward. Each constituency will get the candidate it deserve. The only priority for this election will be merit. That does not mean that we will deny youngsters a seat. But we will recognise merit.

UDF leaders attend a protest meet organised seeking the withdrawal of prohibitory orders in Sabarimala.

What will be your criteria for seat division among allies? How will you satisfy allies and the groups within the party?

I do not want to deny group equations. I have tried to take along all group leaders since I took charge as the president of the KPCC. We will be able to fix candidates for every seat without any disagreements. I expect the same thing to happen with the allies.

The appointment of A K Antony's son as the head of the party's IT cell was criticised by the KSU and the Youth Congress. Is dynasty politics alive still?

I had picked Shashi Tharoor as the head of the IT cell because I realised that the area was very important to us. I told him to set up a team for us. He suggested that name. Antony's son is a brilliant boy. He had done an excellent work related to the Gujarat election. Please do not drag a senior leader's name into this. He had no knowledge of this. Do you think that dynasty politics has any place in Kerala? No one would believe that is possible in Kerala. No one can grow here without merit. Only meritorious people can withstand here. The others would not be accepted by society. No one can be imposed on Kerala.

Mullappally Ramachandran greets party workers during the Janamahayatra.

What are the chances of the United Progressive Alliance to come to power at the Centre?

I am an optimist. I believe that Modi's return to power would mark the end of India's secular democracy. But things cannot remain the same. We need a big fight, even a second freedom struggle, to oust him from power. He has a definite aim. That is not the development and progress of the country. He ultimately wants India to be a Hindu country. He has the mind of Sangh Parivar. I think that the UPA will be in power this time.

What are UDF's chances in Kerala?

We are hopeful in all 20 seats. This is not a tall claim. If we are able to plug the weak points, if the UDF works together, I am confident that we could win all 20 seats.
Bhopal: Just months ahead of Lok Sabha elections, cracks are developing in Madhya Pradesh Congress. The Congress had also faced some trouble in Karnataka after forming the government last year. If Congress MLAs in Karnataka were unhappy with the way their ally Janata Dal-S's H D Kumaraswamy was running the state, it's GenNext MLAs who are up against the new government in Madhya Pradesh.

The BJP had tried to lure a few Congress MLAs with some offers in Karnataka so that the saffron party can dethrone the JD(S)-Congress government headed by Kumaraswamy and come to power. The government in Karnataka has a wafer-thin majority of 118 seats in a 225-member House.

In Madhya Pradesh also, the party's position is not much different. It has 114 MLAs of its own and it had to take the support of two BSP MLAs, one Samajwadi Party and four Independents to form the government in November last. Immediately after the first-time MLAs raised a banner of revolt in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP tried its same Karnataka trick to woo some Congress MLAs but has not succeeded till now.

Some of the MLAs who attended the meeting included Pradhyuman Singh Lodhi, Mahesh Parmar, Sunil Saraf and OPS Bhadoriya.

Within two months after forming the government in Madhya Pradesh, the first-time MLAs of Congress and its allies held a meeting at a hotel in Bhopal, surprising several tops leaders of the party.

The Congress's young leaders remained tight-lipped over the development, but sources within the party said on condition of anonymity that their presence at the meeting was a snub to state Congress chief and chief minister Kamal Nath under whose leadership the party wrested power from the BJP after a gap of 15 years.

The trouble intensified during the three-day budget session of the Madhya Pradesh assembly that was adjourned sine die on February 21.

When some of the first-timers tried to raise their voice during the proceedings in the Assembly, they were snubbed by ministers and told not to disrupt the House. In one occasion, Assembly Speaker Narmada Prasad Prajapati too told a first-time MLA to understand the proceedings of the House before standing up in the House.

So, first-time MLAs of Congress and its allies BSP and SP formed an informal group to make their presence felt in the House. As part of their plan, around 27 first-time MLAs held their first meeting at Hotel Sayaji on February 21.

New MLAs from Congress, BSP and independents have attended the meeting, said a legislator who attended the meeting.

Some of the MLAs who attended the meeting included Pradhyuman Singh Lodhi, Rambai Govind Singh (BSP), Vishal Patel, Neelam Daga, Shashank Bhargava, Sanjeev Singh (BSP), Devendra Patel, Rajesh Kumar Shukla (Samajwadi Party), Balvir Khushwaha, Sunil Saraf, Ashwini Kumar, Manoj Chawla, Govardhan Dangi, Ravi Joshi, Arif Masood, Dinesh Saxena, Praveen Pathak, Jaspal Singh, OPS Bhadoriya, Raghuraj Singh, Mahesh Parmar, Vishal Patel, Sachin Billalji and Giriraj Dandotiya.

These first-timers were unanimous in saying that they were neglected by the ministers and seniors in the House. One new MLA lashed out at ministers and other seniors, saying that they were incapable of understanding sentiments and concerns of first-timers.

The seniors say we are not good to become ministers. They dont listen to us and in the House they commonly refer to us as first-timers, that is an insult, said a Congress MLA. We have also won election and we know our job, but they act as if we are novices. Its because of this attitude, we have decided to form a group.

Meanwhile, flustered by the developments, chief minister Kamal Nath called a meeting of the first-time MLAs. Quickly, a dinner was arranged at his residence later in the evening.

I didnt go to the CM's residence but I was told almost all the MLAs were there. Despite being occupied in several works, the chief minister took time to listen to our grievances. This is a happy beginning, an MLA from the group told Onmanorama.

Almost a month ago, when political crisis in Karnataka loomed large, murmurs of a similar situation had gathered momentum in Madhya Pradesh.

Amid reports that Congress MLAs are being lured by the BJP camp, former CM Digvijaya Singh claimed that senior BJP leaders, including ex-ministers Narottam Mishra and Vishwas Sarang were trying to dislodge the Congress government by luring Congress MLAs with big offers.

Former CM Digvijaya Singh claimed that senior BJP leaders were trying to dislodge the Congress government by luring Congress MLAs with big offers.

I can present before you all those MLAs of our party, who are being lured by the BJP leaders with offers to take Rs 5 to Rs 10 crores and join the Opposition party ranks, just to pull down the government," Singh said.

One of the Congress MLAs being lured by the BJP was Sabalgarh (Morena) legislator Baijnath Kushwah, he added.

Reacting to this, Kamal Nath said his government will complete full five years and said the BJP must set its house in order before trying to poach from Congress.

"Let me tell the BJP that before worrying about our flock, they should be worried about their own house. I hope the BJP understands what I mean, Nath told a gathering.

In the November 2018 Assembly elections, of the 114 Congress MLAs, 29 were first-timers.

With the Lok Sabha elections round the corner, the meeting of neglected Congress MLAs and allies could turn out to be the first big test for Kamal Nath. The development comes at a time when Kamal Nath was chalking out a strategy to win a respectable number of seats for the party in the LS elections.

One of the Congress MLAs allegedly being lured by the BJP was Sabalgarh (Morena) legislator Baijnath Kushwah.

The Congress had won two Lok Sabha seats in 2014 polls and added one in a by-election, bringing the party's tally to three out of a total 29 seats.

However, the BJP is hoping that the disgruntled elements in the Congress may help bring down the newly-formed government. There was no communication between the Congress ministers and its young leaders, said BJP MLA and former minister Narrotam Mishra on Thursday. The new MLAs are turning rebels which is a clear indication that Congress government can fall anytime, he added.
Former chief minister Oommen Chandy said the UDF had a clear road map, complete with a start and an end, to solve the Sabarimala crisis. The start was the affidavit we had submitted before the Supreme Court, replacing the one already given by the Achuthanandan government, Chandy said in a exclusive chat with Onmanorama. The end part is to go for legislation if the Supreme Court verdict offers no solution, he said.

Chandy said Congress was the only party that did not use the Sabarimala issue to play politics. Has anyone known that we had submitted such an affidavit, he asked. The Congress's stand on the issue was not cooked up after the Sabarimala verdict was pronounced either, he said, an indirect reference to the BJP's sudden U-turn on the issue. Ours was put forth long before, and articulated through our affidavit, he said and added: Justice Indu Malhothra's judgment reflects our affidavit. She too had invoked Article 26.

Chandy said Congress was the only party that did not use the Sabarimala issue to play politics.

Chandy said Article 26 was a protective clause that Indian Constitution bestows on the faithful. It allows religious denominations to introduce certain reasonable restrictions on the basis of their unique customs and practices. This is what our affidavit had said, he said.

He brushed aside the perception that the Congress had become irrelevant in Sabarimala. On the one hand, the Marxist party was using the government machinery to forcibly pull out activists from their homes and take them to Sabarimala. We did no such thing. We also did not unleash violence in Sabarimala the way the BJP had, he said. Only the UDF had a clear vision, he said.

Police escort Bindu and Kanakadurga to Sabarimala.

When asked whether the Congress faced the ignominy of being called the B-team of the BJP in the Sabarimala issue, he shot back. Who was it that corrected and replaced the affidavit? Was it done at the behest of the BJP?

Chandy said that if the UDF were in power, it would have arrived at a solution that protected customs and rituals without triggering any unseemly controversies. Neither will we instigate trouble in Sabarimala nor will we hold up grand ideas like renaissance and in the guise of it carry out the party's agenda. We will wait for the verdict. If it is not favourable, we will go in for discussions. If this too fails, then legislation, he said.

Oommen Chandy addresses a protest meet organised by the UDF over Sabarimala issue in Sabarimala.

Chandy clarified that legislation was not against women. It is not to destroy gender equality but to protect the right of a citizen to follow his belief. Our country's most profound strength is that each of its citizens can hold on to his or her faith. Those who have no faith can hold on to that also, he said.

Chandy said that it were the women who were in the forefront of the agitation against the verdict. It was not organised by anyone. The women came out on their own, he said. He also wanted to know how many women had shown their willingness to go to Sabarimala even after the government pressed into service its entire official machinery. There were only a handful of them, he said.

Police clash with a group of Congress workers who staged a protest over the Sabarimala issue in Kochi.

He also wanted the BJP's double standards to be exposed. Is the BJP ready for a legislation to solve the issue, he asked. As for the government, he said the verdict was brought upon the state. He said chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan handled the issue in haste. Customs and rituals should be protected. The chief minister may ask whether the court verdict shouldn't be implemented. It has to be. But the truth is, the chief minister had just a single-point agenda of implementing the verdict, Chandy said. He could have gone for a review, or he could have asked for more time to implement the verdict, Chandy said.
India has finally given Pakistan a 'fitting reply' to the recent deadly attack on CRPF soldiers in Kashmir's Pulwama by destroying, early on Tuesday, the camps of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed across the Line Of Control in Kashmir. At this significant time, let's see how Mollywood filmmakers instilled the true sense of patriotism in us with movies that were inspired by the Indian defence forces and their actions against terrorists. Take a look at the popular ones that hit the screens over the years.

Douthyam



P Anil's 1989 movie 'Douthyam' is about Captain Roy Jacob, played by Mohanlal, and his mission to rescue his colleagues trapped inside a dense forest following the crash of an army aircraft. In the woods, Roy fights against a terrorist group and also aims to retrieve some important documents.



Nair Saab



Joshiy's 1989 movie 'Nair Saab' narrates the story of a new batch of trainees based at an army training center in Kashmir. Major Nair (Mammootty) plays their trainer who is known, rather feared, as a disciplinarian. Even though the movie begins with lighter comic scenes and how the training goes on, it later acquires a serious tone when the villain Kumar (Devan) buys out two guys from the batch and uses them for smuggling drugs from the neighbouring country. Things go out of hand when a new trainer joins ( Lalu Alex) and he turns out to be a close associate of the villain. The movie eventually shows how Mammootty's character spoils the plan of the traitors.



Kashmeeram



Rajeev Anchal's 1994 flick starts with NSG Officer Shyam (Suresh Gopi) arresting a terrorist nicknamed Jagmohan Pandey. Usha Varma (Sharada), the judge hearing the case, happens to be the sister of the Indian Home Secretary Rajan Varma (Lalu Alex). In retaliation to the arrest, the terrorists kill Usha's son Unni. Subsequently, the government provides Z-category protection for Justice Usha Varma and her family. The film shows how Shyam and his men secure her family and also neutralise militants for the larger good.



Sainyam



Joshiy's 1994 flick 'Sainyam' is a tribute to the Indian Air Force. The plot revolves around the life of IAF officer Group Captain Eashwar (Mammootty) who is associated with a project on the renovation of condemned aircraft. Meanwhile, there are terrorists/anti-nationals trying to steal the project secrets. How the hero and his team brave them form the crux of the story.



Keerthi Chakra



Directed by an army man himself Major Ravi's 'Keerthi Chakra' (2006) was a popular army movie in the recent past. Major Mahadevan, again played by Mohanlal, is assigned to counter-terrorism duties in Kashmir and commands an elite group of NSG commandos. The movie throws light on the lives of the soldiers, how their families are affected by war and the bond between commandoes. It also tell us how Mother India was important to the soldiers more than their lives.



Kurukshetra



'Kurukshetra', released in 2008, is a sequel to 'Keerthi Chakra'. Major Ravi narrates a story set in the backdrop of the 1999 Kargil War that India fought with Pakistan. The film poignantly portrays the loss of Indian lives on the battlefield. It also shows a beautiful love story within the force and a brave army nurse confronting the death of her husband.
Malappuram: A swanky new international arrival terminal with state-of-the-art facilities will greet passengers at the Calicut International Airport in Karipur near here. Kerala Governor P Sathasivam dedicated the new arrival block, which was built at a cost of Rs 122 crore, to the nation via video conferencing. The two-storey building, spread across 17,000 sq m, can accommodate 1,527 passengers during peak hours and has 20 customs and 38 immigration counters.

The new terminal, which will be operational by the third week of March, also houses special lounge, executive lounge for VIP travellers, prayer rooms and visitors gallery. The current arrival block will be converted into a departure terminal for the international passengers. The governor said that the new terminal would augur well for the development of Karipur, and for passengers in terms of superlative services.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu, who also addressed the gathering through video conferencing, said that the Centre had done justice to Kerala with the development of 4 airports in the state.

Kerala Minister for Minority Welfare K T Jaleel, parliamentarians P K Kunhalikutty and P V Abdul Wahab, MLAs T V Ibrahim and P Abdul Hameed, Haj Committee chairman P Muhammed Faizy and Airport director K Srinivasa Rao were present for the inaugural function.

Passenger amenities spruced up

With the opening of new terminal, the passengers can now breeze through the checking procedures without any hassles as there would be more customs and immigration officials on duty. The authorities claim that a traveller carrying just a hand baggage, can come out of the new complex within 10 minutes. Some of the facilities at the new block that would make life easier for the passengers are as follows:

Five conveyor belts

Now, the passengers wait for baggage will be shorter as 3 new conveyor belts, each 60m long, will be in operation at the new arrival terminal. Moreover, the two conveyor belts at the old arrival block, will be fixed at the new facility for the benefit of the passengers. The number of baggage scanning machines has also been increased from 2 to 5.

Six aero bridges

There will be six aero bridges, including 3 new ones, at the new block, and close to 80 percent of the passengers arriving at the airport would be using these bridges to reach the arrival terminal. Presently, 70 per cent of the travellers are taken to the arrival block on buses.

Passenger capacity of 1,527

The capacity of the 17,000 sqm new facility is 1,527 passengers during peak hours. Earlier, it was 950 passengers.

16 counters

The immigration department has 16 counters, manned by two officials each, as against 8 in the old arrival terminal. There are three exclusive counters for visa-on-arrival passengers. Two each X-ray and Door Frame Metal Detector (DFMD) machines will be pressed into service for customs checking.

The building has been built as per the green building protocol and has a rainwater harvesting tank with a storing capacity of 10 lakh litres. The complex also has waste water treatment plant.
Srinagar: Two Pakistani nationals, who were top commanders of the Jaish-e-Mohammad and wanted for a series of terror crimes, were among the three militants killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmirs Kulgam district, police said Monday.

The militants have been identified as Raqib Ahmad Sheikh, a resident of Shiganpora in Kulgam, and Pakistani nationals Waleed and Numan, a police spokesman said. On Sunday, a deputy superintendent of police, an army jawan and the three Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militants were killed during the encounter in the districts Turigam area.

The three terrorists killed have been identified as Raqib Ahmad Sheikh, a resident of Shiganpora in Kulgam, and incriminating material was recovered from the site of the encounter, the other two terrorists have been identified as Waleed and Numan, foreigners from Pakistan, the spokesman said.

He said, according to police records, the three slain militants were affiliated to proscribed terror outfit JeM.

The two killed Pakistani terrorists, Waleed and Numan, as per police records, were top commanders of proscribed terror outfit JeM and were active in the southern parts of the Kashmir Valley.

As per the police records, they were involved in conspiring and executing several terrorist attacks, and were wanted by the law for their complicity in a series of terror crimes, including attacks on security establishments and civilian atrocities. Several terror crime cases were registered against them for their terrorist activities, he said.

The spokesman said arms and ammunition, including rifles, were recovered from the encounter site. These materials have been taken in the case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other terror cases, he said.
New Delhi: The European Union (EU) has asked Pakistan to take clear and sustained actions targeting not only all UN-listed transnational terrorist groups but also individuals claiming responsibility for attacks in the wake of the Pulwama terror strike.

The statement came amid heightened tension between the two nuclear-armed arch-rivals after the February 14 suicide attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad that killed at least 40 CRPF soldiers in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district.

Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EU Commission, urged Pakistan and India to urgently de-escalate the tension which has built up after the attack.

She spoke to Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sunday and discussed the current situation, a delegation of the European Union (EU) said in a statement. The EU is also in contact with India, it said.

Ms Mogherini highlighted the need to continue addressing terrorism including clear and sustained actions targeting not only all United Nations-listed transnational terrorist groups but also individuals claiming responsibility for such attacks the statement said.

She said the EUs policy has always been to promote a dialogue between Pakistan and India to sort out differences. After the Pulwama attack, which was claimed by the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), India launched a diplomatic offensive against Islamabad.

India has asked Pakistan to take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control. The government also announced the withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation status for Pakistan and hiked the customs duty by 200 per cent on goods originating from Pakistan.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AZINCOURT ENERGY CORP. (Azincourt or the Company) (TSX.V: AAZ, OTC: AZURF), is pleased to announce that it will increase its previously announced non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of up to C$1,500,000 (the Offering).



The Offering will now consist of up to 15,000,000 non-flow-through units at a price of C$0.05 per unit (NFT Unit) and up to 15,000,000 flow-through units at a price of C$0.05 per unit (the FT Units). Each FT Unit will consist of one flow-through share and one common share purchase warrant with each warrant entitling the holder to purchase one additional common share for a period of five (5) years at a price of C$0.07 per common share (Warrant). Each NFT Unit will consist of one common share and one Warrant.

The Company has closed an initial tranche of the Offering consisting of the sale and issuance of 17,272,000 FT Units and NFT Units (as defined above) for gross proceeds to the Company of C$863,600.00.

The Company paid commissions to eligible finders under the Offering totalling C$42,000 and issued to such finders a total of 840,000 Finders Warrants on the same terms as the Warrants.

All securities issued or issuable under the Offering are subject to a four-month hold period expiring on June 27, 2019 in addition to such other restrictions as may apply under applicable securities laws in jurisdictions outside of Canada.

Azincourt will apply the net proceeds of the Offering to advance the company's East Preston uranium project and for general working capital purposes.

Closing of this Offering is subject to the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals including that of the TSX Venture Exchange.

The Company also confirms that it has finalized the terms of the financing arrangement previously announced by the Company on January 2nd.

Under the financing terms, the Company will receive financing totaling C$425,000, from an arms-length investor, to be used towards the development of the East Preston uranium project (the Project). In consideration for C$200,000 of the financing, the investor will earn a five percent beneficial interest in the Project. Following the investor earning such an interest, the Company will have the right to redeem the interest from the investor, and the investor will have the right to require the Company to acquire the interest, in consideration for a payment of C$200,000, which will be satisfied through the issuance of 4,000,000 common shares of the Company. The redemption right will be exercisable for a period of thirty days following the investor earning an interest in the Project.

The balance of the financing (C$225,000) received by the Company will form part of the Companys ongoing flow-through private placement, pursuant to which the investor has subscribed for 4,500,000 FT Units of the Company.

The Company is currently working to earn a seventy percent interest in the East Preston uranium project as part of a joint venture with Skyharbour Resources Ltd. (TSX.V: SYH) and Clean Commodities Corp (TSX.V: CLE) The acquisition of any interest in the Project by the investor is subject to the terms of the joint venture and is dependent upon the Company earning an interest in the Project. The interest to be acquired by the investor will be contributed entirely by the Company and will ultimately reduce the Company's interest in the Project by a corresponding amount.

Exercise of the redemption right and the issuance of the 4,000,000 common shares of the Company to the investor remains subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. All securities to be issued to the investor will be subject to a four-month-and-one-day statutory hold period prescribed by applicable securities laws.

About Azincourt Energy Corp.

Azincourt Energy is a Canadian-based resource company specializing in the strategic acquisition, exploration and development of alternative energy/fuel projects, including uranium, lithium, and other critical clean energy elements. The Company is currently active at its joint venture lithium exploration projects in the Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field, Manitoba, Canada, the East Preston and Patterson Lake North uranium projects in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada, and the Escalera Group uranium-lithium project located on the Picotani Plateau in southeastern Peru.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF AZINCOURT ENERGY CORP.

Alex Klenman

Alex Klenman, President & CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release includes forward-looking statements, including forecasts, estimates, expectations and objectives for future operations that are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of Azincourt. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking information represents managements best judgment based on information currently available. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual future results may vary materially.

For further information please contact:

Alex Klenman, President & CEO

Tel: 604-638-8063

info@azincourtenergy.com

Azincourt Energy Corp.

1430  800 West Pender Street

Vancouver, BC V6C 2V6

www.azincourtenergy.com




Oil inched lower on Tuesday to extend losses of more than 3 percent from the previous session, easing after U.S. President Donald Trump called on OPEC to rein in its efforts to boost prices, Trend reports referring to Reuters.

International Brent futures were at $64.70 a barrel at 0728 GMT, down 6 cents, or 0.1 percent, from their last close. Brent, which plunged 3.5 percent on Monday, touched its lowest since Feb. 14 on Tuesday at $64.32 a barrel.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $55.26 per barrel, down 22 cents, or 0.4 percent.

Analysts said the United States, the worlds biggest oil consumer, was keen to counter a recent rally in prices driven by major exporters trimming production. Brent prices gained 8.1 percent from Feb. 8 to Feb. 22.

Tweeting on Monday, Trump expressed concern about oil prices and repeated his previous calls on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to keep prices steady.

The problem is we are having these sporadic tweets impacting global commodity markets, said Hue Frame, portfolio manager at Frame Funds in Sydney. It does make it increasingly difficult to have a consistent fundamental read on the data.

We still believe the majority of global economic activity is slowing, with which it could be assumed global oil demand will also slow.

Oil markets, which have rallied on optimism about a U.S.-China trade deal over the last two weeks, were also the most vulnerable to a sell-off, analysts said.

Reuters commodity technical analyst Wang Tao said on Tuesday that U.S. crude may test support at $54.39 per barrel, a break below which could cause a loss to $53.18.

OPEC and some non-affiliated producers such as Russia agreed late last year to cut output by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) to prevent a large supply overhang from growing.

Analysts also noted that while Trump is attempting to ease prices lower, sanctions by the United States against oil exporters Iran and Venezuela have contributed to the recent gains and are providing a floor for prices.

But when Washington re-imposed sanctions against Irans oil exports in November, it granted waivers to eight of Tehrans buyers to import some oil for 180 days, which ends in May this year.

The sharp drop in oil prices is likely due to market jitters on potential waivers in U.S. sanctions on Iranian petroleum exports (in May), said Benjamin Lu, commodities analyst at Singapore-based brokerage firm Phillip Futures.

The effects of additional U.S. waivers on Iran will impede OPEC+ efforts to rebalance oil markets in 2019, Lu added.
It is becoming clear that the US has no strategy on the withdrawal of troops from Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview with the CNN Turk channel, Trend reports.

The minister added that Ankara and Washington continue to discuss the coordination of actions between the sides during the process of troop withdrawal, adding that Turkey even "tried to help them [the US] on this issue."

On December 19, 2018, US President Donald Trump announced his decision to pull out US troops from Syria. He stated on Twitter that the United States had defeated ISIS in Syria, which is the only reason for the US troops being there. American officials informed at that time that the US aimed to pull out all troops from the territory of Syria within 60-100 days.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Azerbaijans pain is Turkeys pain, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted, Trend reports on Feb. 26.

Cavusoglu expressed condolences to the Azerbaijani people, relatives of the victims of the Khojaly tragedy.

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.

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.

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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Turkey condemns the perpetrators of the Khojaly genocide and the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia, Trend reports referring to the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Feb. 26.

Turkey shares the pain of fraternal Azerbaijan, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. "Turkey expresses condolences to the Azerbaijani people, relatives of the victims of the Khojaly tragedy."

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.

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.

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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the situation in the region, including in Syria, as well as bilateral relations, the Kremlin website said on Tuesday, Trend reports referring to TASS.

It said the sides "plan to discuss key issues of bilateral cooperation, first of all on the trade-economic and humanitarian trajectories, as well as to exchange opinions on the current situation in the Middle East, including Palestinian-Israeli settlement and the situation in Syria," the report said.

Earlier, the Israeli prime minister said he also wanted to discuss with Putin Irans activity in Syria, as well as the strengthening of the mechanism for coordination between the military of Russia and Israel in order to maintain stability and avert unwanted tensions in the region.

Netanyahus visit to Russia will be the first one after the downing of a Russian aircraft off Syria. On September 17, 2018 Russias Il-20 aircraft was accidently downed by Syrian air defenses over the Mediterranean Sea when it was returning to the Hmeymim airbase.

Russian top brass said a missile from Syrias S-200 system downed the aircraft when it targeted four Israeli F-16 fighter jets, which attacked facilities in Latakia. All 15 Russian crew members were killed in the tragedy. The Israeli Air Force and those who made the decision to use the Il-20 aircraft as cover are solely to blame for its crash, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said then.

On November 11, 2018, Putin and Netanyahu held a brief meeting in Paris. A few days later, the Russian president said at a press conference in Singapore that they had discussed the Il-20 incident.
The Kremlin will hail the results of the forthcoming second US-North Korean summit on February 27-28, if they allow for making progress towards resolving the Korean Peninsulas nuclear problem and easing tensions in the region, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media, Trend reports referring to TASS.

"If this meeting heralds progress towards resolving the North Korean nuclear problem, creating a safer and more stable situation on the Korean Peninsula and easing tensions there, this can be only welcomed," Peskov said when asked about the Kremlins attitude to the forthcoming summit meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi.

Peskov said that after last years Trump-Kim meeting everybody pointed to a "certain easing of tensions," but there exists "systemic nuancing in approaches" made by different countries to the way of resolving the Korean nuclear problem. Moscow maintains that any steps Pyongyang might take to meet the expectations of the international community "must evoke some reciprocal movement."

"Only in this way, by means of small steps towards each other it would be possible to achieve positive results," Peskov explained adding that "indiscriminate pressures on Pyongyang would hardly be productive."

"There are certain discrepancies in the nuances (approaches made by different countries - TASS), but in general everybody agrees that it is important to achieve a safer and more predictable situation on the Korean Peninsula matching the ideals of non-proliferation," Peskov said. "For us this question is even more crucial than for the United States, because the territories in focus adjoin our own."

In the meantime, the last preparations are being made in Hanoi for the second meeting of Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump. The first-ever meeting between the two countries leaders was held in Singapore on June 12, 2018. Trump and Kim put their signatures to a joint document by which Pyongyang assumed denuclearization commitments in exchange for Washingtons security guarantees. The second US-North Korean summit is expected to produce more specific agreements on the steps the two countries will take to settle the situation on the Korean Peninsula.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will visit Hong Kong for the first time on Tuesday. Lavrov will meet with Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam to discuss bilateral cooperation in the trade and economic, financial, humanitarian and other spheres, Trend reports referring to TASS.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said ahead of the meeting that Moscow is developing its relations with Hong Kong in the framework of strategic partnership with China. Hong Kong enjoys a high level of autonomy and has a right to develop international ties in several spheres. The territory is also a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and participant in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

After the meeting with Lam, Lavrov will head to China's historic town of Wuzhen where he will hold separate talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj. On Wednesday the three ministers will hold joint talks.
North Korea leader Kim Jong-un reportedly arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday ahead of Summit with US President Donald Trump, Trend reports referring to Sputnik.

The armored Kim Jong-un's train arrived at the station in the Vietnamese town of Dong Dang after crossing over the border from China, Reuters reported Tuesday.

North Korea leader is expected to drive to the Vietnamese capital by car where he will have a state visit and meet Donald Trump on Wednesday and Thursday, Reuters reported.

Earlier the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that the train carrying DPRK leader Kim Jong-un left Pyongyang for Vietnam on Saturday afternoon.

Kim was reportedly accompanied by Deputy Chair of the North Korean Workers' Party's central committee Kim Yong Chol, who is in charge of nuclear talks with the United States; Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho; director of the international affairs department of the Supreme People's Assembly, Ri Su Yong; and Defence Minister No Kwang Chol. The North Korean leader's sister, Kim Yo Jong, is also among the members of the delegation.

The first US-North Korean summit in Singapore, held last June, resulted in an agreement stipulating that Pyongyang would make efforts to promote the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula in exchange for the United States and South Korea freezing their military drills.

Pyongyang expects Washington to deliver on its commitments and relax sanctions pressure, while the US administration is waiting for new steps toward North Korea's nuclear disarmament.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Monday issued two emergency orders giving wider powers to regular forces and incriminating corruption amid the growing protests across the African country, the presidency said in a statement, Trend reported citing Xinhua.

The first order gives the police, army and security forces the right to enter and search any building and person, monitor any property, and seize money, shops, commodities or anything suspected of violating the law.

The order also authorized the regular forces to restrict or organize the activities of people, means of transport and communication, and to arrest any person suspected of being involved in a crime relating to the state of emergency.

The second order prohibited any public employee from exploiting the authority or the influence of the public job to achieve personal interests or illegal benefits.

It prohibited the public employee from making any contracts or entering into any interactions that may pose commitments on the government against the legal purchase and contract regulations.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese president issued three emergency bans on public gatherings, dealing in foreign currency, and distribution, storage, sale and transport of petroleum products and subsidized commodities.

Al-Bashir on Friday declared state of emergency all over Sudan for one year and dissolved all governments on the central and state levels, amid the national protests since Dec. 19 last year over the deteriorating economic conditions and price hikes of basic commodities.
Cubans have overwhelmingly ratified a new constitution that enshrines the one-party socialist system as irrevocable while instituting modest economic and social changes, according to the national electoral commission, Trend reported citing Reuters.

Alina Balseiro Gutierrez, president of the commission, said at a Havana press conference on Monday that preliminary results showed 84.4 percent of the 7.8 million potential voters participated in the Sunday referendum.

She said of the potential electorate and not actual votes cast, 73.31 percent ratified the charter, 7.6 percent opposed ratification and 4.5 percent spoiled or left ballots blank.

By comparison, in 1976 when the current constitution was ratified, 99.02 percent of voters in a 98 percent turnout reportedly ratified and just 54,000 were opposed.

There are no independent observers of Cuban elections, however citizens may observe the count at their precincts.

Scattered local reports on social media seemed to somewhat confirm the results.

Cubas best-known dissident and pioneer blogger, Yoani Sanchez, who runs an online newspaper from a barrio known for its support of the government, wrote she braved insults and yelling to witness the count in her precinct of 400 yes votes, 25 no votes and 4 blank ballots.

The independent online newspaper El Toque asked readers to send in local tallies, a dozen of which showed overwhelming support for ratification.

A report from a district in central Villa Clara province had the new constitution ratified by 414 votes versus 66 opposed, and another from a district in westernmost Pinar del Rio reported 298 yes votes and 18 no votes.

Debate over the constitution has dominated Cubas politics for months, with the government arguing it represents both continuity of former leader Fidel Castros policies and adaptation to todays demands and opponents insisting it is a continuation of Communist party rule and oppression.

The government orchestrated a grassroots debate on a draft of the new constitution last year, but after it approved a final version for the referendum in December it used its monopoly of traditional media and public spaces to press for approval.

Nevertheless, dueling campaigns to vote yes, no or abstain raged on the internet. The Roman Catholic Church issued a critique read in churches, and many evangelicals said they were opposed.

Dissidents, who were divided between those who advocated a no vote and those who called for abstention so as not to legitimize a process they deemed a fraud, reported a few incidents across the country of members being temporarily detained or harassed.

The Cuban government engaged in an unprecedented campaign to assure an overwhelmingly positive vote on the new constitution as a way to legitimize both the market-oriented economic reforms underway and the new leadership of President Miguel Diaz-Canel and the post-revolutionary generation, American University professor of government and Cuba expert William LeoGrande said.

There are important changes in the new constitution that reflect the gradual opening of the Caribbean island nation since the fall of its former benefactor, the Soviet Union.

There are references to markets and recognition of private property, foreign investment, small businesses, gender identity, the internet, the right to legal representation upon arrest and habeas corpus.

The new constitution would also restructure government, adding a prime minister and setting term limits for the president, among other changes.

Its another big missed opportunity, said Carlos Saladrigas, a Cuban-American businessman and head of the Cuban Study Group which advocates engagement with Cuba.

The few important economic changes made are not sufficient to create economic growth and attract foreign investment in the needed quantities, he said.
EDMONTON, Alberta, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BOAZ Pharmaceuticals Inc. (BOAZ) received its license for cultivation in June 2018, and the company is now gearing up for Phase II of expansion as it is in the final stages of obtaining its Sales License. A labour of love is one way to describe the exigent process BOAZ has endured as the independent Licensed Producer (LP) continues to scale.



Its a unique skill set to be able to put the right structures, systems, processes, and schedules into place while building and motivating a new team to advance a complex regulatory-driven project on a very tight timeline, explains David Isaak, President, and CEO of BOAZ.

BOAZ is known for having earned its LP status in only 10 months without external consultancy, under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR): the fastest processing time of any facility across Canada. This achievement required great focus and commitment from the entire BOAZ team, and so it comes as no surprise that every detail in the producers refreshed identity system received the same passionate care and attention that was summoned to earn its LP status.

From a new website to a refreshed logo, BOAZ wanted to honour the sheer perseverance of human potential and pay tribute to the craft process. To highlight its intention, BOAZ also tapped into the creative talents of Calgary-based artist, Carl White, to handcraft a unique piece that fans can truly appreciate and relate to.

The project has been nurtured and hand built from the ground up. Every leaf was hand carved. Im proud that we are matching the vision of BOAZ through this, says Carl White, Artist. The cannabis-themed art installation took approximately 100 hours to craft from concept to execution. It pays homage to the meticulous care that BOAZ puts into handcrafting its medical cannabis products.

The handcrafted art installation will be on display at the upcoming HempFest Cannabis Expo in Edmonton, Alberta. In addition to admiring another example of fine Alberta craftsmanship, guests can talk with team members and interact with the display.

The BOAZ team will be stationed at Booth #3 on March 2nd and 3rd, 2019. HempFest Cannabis Expo will be held at the Edmonton Convention Centre. To learn more and purchase tickets, visit https://www.hempfestedmonton.com/ .

BOAZ: Were Growing Potential.

About BOAZ

BOAZ Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a privately-owned, Licensed Producer of cannabis. Based in Calgary, Alberta, BOAZ received its official license for cultivation from Health Canada on June 22, 2018. The 20,000 sq. ft. medical marijuana facility began production on July 26, 2018, and has a Sales License in the final stages of application. Media resources available upon request.

Media Contact: David Isaak

President and CEO, Calgary

Email: media@boazpharm.com

Phone: 250-262-9410 (Direct Line)

Media Contact: Alison Masniuk

Media Coordinator for BOAZ

Email: media@boazpharm.com

Phone: 403-993-9879




Beresheet (Genesis in English), the Jewish states first lunar spacecraft, experienced some technical difficulties on Monday night. A maneuver was planned for the spacecraft, but instead, the maneuver was automatically canceled, Trend reports referring to The Jerusalem Post.

SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries, the organizations that spearheaded the projects, are currently examining the data to understand what went wrong. The rest of the spacecraft's systems are working well.

Beresheet successfully completed its first maneuver toward the Moon after detaching from its launcher and completing its planned orbit of Earth on Sunday.

The lander will be captured by the Moon's gravitational field when the lander's orbit around the Earth takes it into close enough proximity to the Moon.

After two months, the shuttle is set to land in the Sea of Serenity on April 11.
Crude oil exports from Iraqs southern ports on the Gulf stand at around 3.565 million barrels per day (bpd) so far in February, two oil executives told Reuters on Monday, Trend reports referring to Al Arabiya.

Exports from Iraqs southern Basra ports fell to 3.556 million bpd in January, down from a record high of 3.63 million bpd in December.

Shipments from the southern terminals are expected to stay at around 3.55 million bpd this month, in accordance with an OPEC agreement supply pact, two oil officials said.

Iraq started rehabilitation work at one of the giant Rumaila oilfields output facilities on February 17 to improve crude processing operations, three oil officials with knowledge of Rumaila operations said.

The Rumaila oilfield, developed by Britains BP and Chinese partner CNPC, now produces around 1.5 million bpd, said the officials.

Operations at the output unit, which was producing around 130,000 bpd, are expected to resume on Wednesday and production from the field has not been affected, two officials working in Rumaila said.

The field, which has estimated reserves of about 17 billion barrels, produces the bulk of Iraqs output.

Iraq is the second-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia.

Iraq is producing below its maximum capacity of nearly 5 million bpd in line an agreement between OPEC and other producers such as Russia to curtail global supply in order to support prices.
Members of the United Nations Security Council on Monday called on Sudan's government, opposition parties and armed groups in Darfur to continue the efforts towards a political solution of problems there, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

According to the latest UN report on the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur, known as UNAMID, the security situation in Darfur in western Sudan has been relatively stable, except for intermittent clashes between government forces and the rebel Abdul Wahid-led faction of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA/AW) in Jebel Marra.

"Darfur today has never been more stable since the establishment of UNAMID, and the first hybrid mission has begun preparations for its eventual exit," said the report.

However, the Jebel Marra region in Darfur remains a conflict zone without the cessation of hostilities, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Bintou Keita, told the Security Council.

Keita, back from a trip to Sudan from Feb. 9 to 12, said that although civilians are no longer displaced by the clashes there, they are exposed to robbery, abduction, and violence.

Given the situation, several members of the Security Council said that the political process in Darfur should continue. In addition, after the expected exit of UNAMID, more tensions and new risk factors could emerge.

Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, said that the Sudanese government has been committed to a political settlement of the Darfur issue, and the opposition parties and armed groups there should abandon military means, take an active part in the peace process and solve problems through political means such as dialogue and consultation.

The permanent representative of South Africa Jerry Matjila said that more efforts are required in the Jebel Marra region, and it is imperative that all parties continue carrying out outstanding provisions of the peace deal in Darfur, and stay committed to negotiations.

Keita also noticed a need in Darfur to strengthen the security measures to prevent and curb inter-communal tensions over access to land, migration routes, and other sources of livelihood.

Darfur has been plagued by conflicts between the government forces and the armed rebels since 2003. UNAMID, the second biggest of the UN peacekeeping missions, was first deployed in Darfur in early 2008, and its full withdrawal is expected to be completed by the end of 2020.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stepped down on Monday, announcing his resignation on Instagram, Trend repors citing Reuters.

I am apologising you for all the shortcomings ... in the past years during my time as foreign minister ... I thank the Iranian nation and officials, he wrote on his Instagram page jzarif_ir.

He gave no specific reasons for his decision.

Zarif played the lead role in striking the deal under which Iran agreed to curbs on its nuclear program in return for the lifting of international financial sanctions.

He came under attack from anti-Western hardliners in Iran after the United States pulled out of the agreement last May and reimposed sanctions.

A spokesman for the Iranian mission to the United Nations, Alireza Miryousefi, confirmed the announcement of the resignation. However there was no immediate word on whether President Hassan Rouhani would accept it.

Irans semi-official Tasnim news agency said some sources have confirmed Zarifs resignation.

Born in 1960, Zarif lived in the United States from the age of 17 as a student in San Francisco and Denver, and subsequently as a diplomat to the United Nations in New York, where he served as Iranian ambassador from 2002 to 2007.

He was appointed minister of foreign affairs in August 2013 after Rouhani won the presidency in a landslide on a promise to open up Iran to the outside world.

Since taking charge of Irans nuclear talks with major powers in late 2013, Zarif has been summoned to the parliament several times by hardline lawmakers to explain about the negotiations.

In February 2014 he caused an uproar with public comments condemning the Holocaust and was subsequently summoned to parliament. Holocaust denial has been a staple of public speeches in Iran for decades.

Some hardliners even threatened Zarif with bodily harm after the nuclear deal was signed. Irans top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, guardedly backed the deal.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

Customers in Irans export destination countries, from CIS states to African states, have been keeping an eye on the situation with the resignation of Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif from early in the morning, Ali Shariati, member of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, told ILNA, Trend reports.

According to Shariati, customers have contacted him and their colleagues today and inquired the outcome of the resignation, also expressing their disappointment with the situation.

Shariati added that this issue is sensitive both to Iran and its customers.

"So it is impossible to deny that the resignation will affect the economy of Iran in the international aspect," he said.

Shariati added that, in the current conditions, Iran will have yet another economic problem to tackle with the resignation, and expressed his hope for the resignation not to be accepted.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has announced his resignation on his Instagram page last night.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has so far not accepted his resignation.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

Iran's religious leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has repeatedly said that he is not against the approval of FATF's projects, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in his speech at the 58th session of the Central Bank, Trend reports referring to Islamic Republic of Iran News Network (IRINN) television channel.

According to Rouhani, the government has submitted the projects to the parliament on the grounds of Irans Supreme Leader not being against these projects.

Rouhani added that, although the parliament has approved these projects, they have not been completely approved yet.

The Iranian president said that the fact of these projects still not being approved leads to many problems in Iran's banking system.

FATF (Financial Action Task Force), an intergovernmental organization that enforces international standards for combating money and property laundering, financing terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, has given Iran 4 months for the approval of 4 projects.

Although the Iranian parliament approved the 4 projects of the FATF and forwarded them to the Guardian Council of Iran, the Guardian Council did not approve the projects. The 4 projects were yet again approved by parliament and forwarded to the Expediency Discernment Council of the System, which approved 2 of the projects.

Thus, the remaining 2 projects  namely, Palermo and CFT  are still being reviewed by the council.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

By Elnur Baghishov - Trend:

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed hope that his resignation would serve as a nudge to return the Iranian Foreign Ministry to its rightful place in foreign relations, Trend reports via Mehr news agency Feb. 26.

Zarif made the remarks in reaction to the announcement of a number of diplomats and managers at the Iranian foreign ministry that they would resign from their posts should Zarifs resignation take effect.

My request for dear colleagues at the foreign ministry is that they follow up their duties in defense of the country with all strength, and strictly avoid taking such measures [resigning], said Foreign Minister Zarif a few hours after he announced his resignation from his post.

Zarif announced his resignation in an Instagram post on Feb. 25. His request still needs approval of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to take effect.

Meanwhile, the majority of lawmakers have signed a letter in support of the veteran diplomat, asking him to continue his tenure as Irans foreign minister.

Parliaments National Security and Foreign Policy Committee will hold an extraordinary meeting Feb. 26 to address Zarifs resignation.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stated that after the photos of todays meetings, he has no credibility in the world as a foreign minister, Trend reports citing the Entekhab.ir website.

According to the report, after having announced his resignation on Instagram, Entekhab.ir contacted Zarif to confirm the accuracy of the information.

Zarif said in a short message that after the photos of todays meetings, he has no credibility in the world as a foreign minister.

The Iranian media reported that what Zarif was referring to by todays meetings was the meeting of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani  where Zarif was not present.

The Syrian president held talks with Irans supreme leader and president in Tehran last week.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 26

By Huseyn Hasanov Trend:

A draft protocol on cooperation in the fight against poaching in the Caspian Sea is being discussed at the regional level in Ashgabat, Trend reports with reference to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry.

The fourth meeting of authorized representatives from relevant ministries and departments of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan is being held in the Turkmen capital.

The agenda includes the text of the draft protocol, in particular, defining the competent authorities responsible for the implementation of this document, the mechanism, forms and framework of cooperation of the Caspian littoral states in the designated area.

The event was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Industry and Communications, the State Enterprise for Caspian Sea Affairs under the President of Turkmenistan.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 26

By Huseyn Hasanov Trend:

There are plans to hold a meeting of transport ministers and heads of customs services of the states participating in the Lapis Lazuli project in May 2019 in Ashgabat, Trend reports with reference to the Turkmen government.

The agreement between Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Turkmenistan on transit and transport cooperation (Lazurit or Lapis Lazuli) was signed Nov. 15, 2017.

In November 2018, the Avaza National Tourist Zone in the city of Turkmenbashi hosted the International Conference of Ministers of Transport of the States Parties to the Agreement on Transit and Transport Cooperation (Lapis Lazuli). The forum was also attended by representatives of international organizations and major foreign companies.

According to the Lapis Lazuli project, railways and highways will connect the city of Torghundi in the Afghan province of Herat with Turkmenistan's Ashgabat, and further with the Caspian port of Turkmenbashi. The corridor will extend to the new port of Baku in Alat, going further through Tbilisi to Ankara with branches leading to Poti and Batumi in Georgia, and go ahead from Ankara to Istanbul.
Bolingbrook, Ill., Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ATI Physical Therapy and its charitable arm, ATI Foundation, hosted a Chamber of Commerce After Hours event last Thursday, February 21 in Champaign with a special ATI Foundation presentation that honored two local Champaign families. The Jones and Sorensons received donations that will help them care for their children who are battling various medical conditions that require significant treatments and specialty accommodations.



Gavin (age 7, Sanfilippo syndrome) and Wyatt Jones (age 9, Sanfilippo syndrome) are the children of Veronica and Abe Jones from Monticello, IL. The Jones family travels to Chicago with Gavin every month and with Wyatt once a year for treatments. During their trips, the family is unable to stay at Ronald McDonald House due to capacity, making each trip around $1,500 for hotels, food, parking and gas. The ATI Foundation presented a check for $3,500 to Andra Jones, who is an employee at the ATI clinic in Mahomet, IL, treating Gavin and Wyatt, to help pay for the next Chicago trips for the childrens treatment. Gavin and Wyatt were unable to attend because they were in Chicago for their treatments; however, their grandparents and great grandpa were in attendance.

Ryan (age 8, cerebral palsy) and Annie Sorensen (age 3, severe Dandy Walker malformation) have been foster children under the care of Alisa Sorensen of LeRoy, IL since birth. Alisa drives an old minivan with 240,000 miles to transport the children for treatment. The van is not adaptive for Ryan and Annie's medical chairs, so ATI Foundation donated a van in good condition with less than 10,000 miles to Alisa along with a check for $5,000 ($2,500 each for Ryan and Annie) that will help them convert van to be more adaptive to their wheelchairs, as needed.

The event was hosted at the Champaign ATI Physical Therapy clinic on 1806 N. Market St. in Champaign on Thursday evening, February 21 from 4-6 p.m.

Media inquiries and interview requests can be directed to Clifton ONeal, Corporate Communications for ATI Physical Therapy.

About ATI Physical Therapy

ATI is a privately held, nationally recognized healthcare company, specializing in outpatient rehabilitation and adjacent healthcare services. With a focus on delivering a remarkable experience to every patient, every day, ATI has more than 800 locations from coast to coast. ATI was named Best Physical Therapy Practice in the Nation by ADVANCE magazine, and was one of the first physical therapy companies in the country to achieve URAC Core Accreditation, a mark of distinction that recognizes its commitment to quality healthcare. Based in Bolingbrook, Illinois, ATI gives back to communities across the country through the ATI Foundation, a non-profit established by ATI, which has provided more than $4 million in resources and funding to children with physical impairments. For more information on ATI Physical Therapy, and a complete list of clinic locations, services and the ATI Foundation, please visit ATIpt.com.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:

The Albanian partners handed the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) consortium the Philanthropy Award for its social contribution at the national level, Trend reports citing rti.rtsh.al.

Representatives of the Albanian government, the Albanian parliament, and the diplomatic corps accredited in Tirana, Albanian and foreign companies and non-governmental organizations took part in the award ceremony for 2018.

The representative of the TAP project in Albania, Malfor Nuri, said on this occasion that TAP had invested in 30 important projects in Albania, of which about 200,000 people benefited. For social and environmental protection projects, TAP has invested 14 million Euros only in Albania, said Nuri.

TAP has been nominated for the Philanthropy Award as a national company for 2018 by the Catalyst Balkans Foundation. This regional foundation monitors and encourages the social investments of private companies.

TAP project, worth 4.5 billion euros, is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union (EU). The project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 to the EU countries.

Connecting with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Greek-Turkish border, TAP will cross Northern Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea before coming ashore in Southern Italy to connect to the Italian natural gas network.

The project is currently in its construction phase, which started in 2016.

Once built, TAP will offer a direct and cost-effective transportation route opening up the vital Southern Gas Corridor, a 3,500-kilometer long gas value chain stretching from the Caspian Sea to Europe.

TAP shareholders include BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

By Sara Israfilbayova - Trend:

Azerbaijan exported 619,320.82 tons of oil and oil products to Romania in 2018, and this is 8.6 percent less than in 2017, the State Statistics Committee told Trend Feb. 26.

In total, the value of exports increased from $257.5 million to $331.85 million.

Over 98 percent of Azerbaijans exports to Romania account for oil and oil products.

Azerbaijans trade turnover with Romania amounted to $388.97 million in 2018, and the Azerbaijani exports accounted for $338.2 million of this amount, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee.

In general, Azerbaijan exported 29.5 million tons of oil and oil products worth $15.7 billion last year.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @IsrafilbekovaS
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

By Sara Israfilbayova  Trend:

Azerbaijan exported 1,769,443.47 tons of oil and oil products to the Czech Republic in 2018, and this is 20.5 percent more than in 2017, the State Statistics Committee told Trend Feb. 26.

In total, the value of exports increased from $551.6 million to $936.4 million.

Over 99 percent of Azerbaijans exports to the Czech Republic account for oil and oil products.

Azerbaijans trade turnover with the Czech Republic amounted to $1.04 billion in 2018, and the Azerbaijani exports accounted for $938.4 million of this amount, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee.

In general, Azerbaijan exported 29.5 million tons of oil and oil products worth $15.7 billion last year.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @IsrafilbekovaS
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

By Sara Israfilbayova  Trend:

Azerbaijan exported 323,967.69 tons of oil and oil products to Greece in 2018, and this is 23.8 percent less than in 2017, the State Statistics Committee told Trend Feb. 26.

In total, the value of exports fell from $158.5 million to $158.12 million.

Over 98 percent of Azerbaijans exports to Greece account for oil and oil products.

Azerbaijans trade turnover with Greece amounted to $170.6 million in 2018, and the Azerbaijani exports accounted for $161.1 million of this amount, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee.

In general, Azerbaijan exported 29.5 million tons of oil and oil products worth $15.7 billion last year.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @IsrafilbekovaS
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

In 11 months of the current Iranian year (started March 21, 2018), Iran's non-oil exports to Iraq reached $8.2 billion, Mehdi Mirashrafi, Director General of the Iranian Customs Administration and Iranian Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance said.

He made the remarks at a meeting with the Director of the Iraqi Kurdistan Customs Administration, Trend reports referring to the website of the Iranian Customs Administration.

According to Mirashrafi, Iran's non-oil exports to Iraq are projected to reach $10 billion by the end of the year.

"Iraq ranks second, $100 million behind China, in imports of Iranian products," he said.

Mirashrafi said that this statistics reflects Iraq will soon become Irans number one trade partner in the non-oil sector.

According to Mirashrafi, the transit of various products to Iraq through Iran has increased by 10 percent, and it is important to eliminate customs barriers between the two countries.

Mirashrafi added that Iran's non-oil exports increased by $40 billion in 11 months of the current Iranian year (started March 21, 2018).
Baku, Azerbaijan, February 26

By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:

Representatives of Turkey and Uzbekistan business circles held a meeting dedicated to the issues of further strengthening trade and investment cooperation, Trend reports via Uzbek media.

The visit was organized by the Parliament and Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan alongside with the Association of Independent Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkey (MUSIAD).

The delegation included representatives of leading companies in Turkey in the fields of energy, construction, design, transport and logistics, information technology, tourism, and the chemical industry.

First Deputy Chairperson of Uzbek Parliament Sadyk Safaev, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Adham Ikramov, Vice President of the Turkish Business Platform Israfil Kuralay and others spoke there.

Nowadays, trade between Uzbekistan and Turkey has reached $2 billion, and the parties have many untapped opportunities to increase this indicator. Last year, over 250 Turkish companies opened their representative offices in our country.

As noted at the meeting, credit lines of international financial institutions, in particular, the World Bank at $3 billion and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development at $8 billion, are open to Uzbekistan. In addition, there are grant funds for joint projects.

Representatives of Turkish business were invited to actively cooperate in the development of medium and small businesses in Uzbekistan at the event.

In our country, 60 percent of GDP is produced by small and medium businesses. In Turkey, this figure is 89-92 percent. We call on Turkish entrepreneurs to cooperate to increase the share of small and medium-sized businesses in Uzbek economy, chairman of Uzbek Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ikramov said.

During the conversation, the parties exchanged views on the further development of cooperation in the fields of tourism, energy, light industry, transport and logistics. Guests are given a presentation on the potential of pilgrim tourism in Uzbekistan.

We came to Uzbekistan with the aim of strengthening mutual trade relations. We know that a favorable investment climate has been created in your country. I would like to especially note that Turkish businessmen will make efforts to transform Uzbekistan into a trading and investment center for Central Asia, Vice President of the Turkish business platform, Israfil Karayel said.

During the event, representatives of business circles of two countries held a meeting in B2B format.

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Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri
Baku, Azerbaijan, February 26

By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:

A new decree of the Uzbek President proposes to establish a differentiated approach to determining the size of salaries, pensions, fines, fees and other payments with the removal of peg to the minimum wage, Trend reports via Uzbek media.

For this approachs implementation, the following calculated figures are introduced with different sizes and individual fields of application, Trend reports via Uzbek media.

The minimum wage- 577,170 soums - is set in absolute amount and at the same time is the numerical value of the monthly tariff rate of the first Single Tariff Scale category with a tariff coefficient of 1.0. It is used in the field of labor relations to determine: the amount of official salary, allowances, supplements, fees, compensation payments for additional work, food, travel and other types of incentive payments; marginal amounts used in the calculation of wages and deductions established by law, and other payments dependent on the size of wages.

All types of allowances, additional payments and other payments are recalculated with the preservation of the sum values of these payments. The minimum wage is compulsory for all employers, regardless of the form of ownership and labor relations, as the lower limit of the remuneration of employees who have fully complied with the established labor standards.

The base calculated amount - 202,730 soums - is used: to determine the amount of taxes, fees, fines, state fees, scholarships and other payments for the services provided by the state; in determining the need for families in social support; as basic values in determining the value of a patent, license and other payments for engaging in a particular type of business activity; the size of statutory and other funds (capital) of organizations, the value of non-cash paid shares, other securities, the book value of assets of companies, the maximum amount of microcredits and leasing, as well as other financial and economic indicators.

The estimated pension indicator - 202,730 soums - is used to calculate pensions, allowances, supplements and compensations used in the field of pension and social security, as well as relations on labor injury.

The Single Tariff Scale will have to review and establish the size of certain types of benefits, compensation and payments in absolute terms. The revision of the procedure for determining minimum wage, the refusal to link tax and other payments to the size of minimum wage is provided for by the State Program for 2019.

From January 1, 2019, fixed benefit amounts have been introduced for families with children under the age of 14, child care for children under 2 years of age, financial assistance to low-income families, one-time material assistance to families in need in Karakalpakstan and Khorezm region.

The project can be changed, supplemented or rejected.

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Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri
Baku, Azerbaijan, February 26

By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:

This year Uzbekistan will be able to avoid a shortage of water for irrigating grain, Trend reports with reference to the presidential press service.

The news was revealed during the meeting on the cultivation and accumulation of grain crops held by Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

"As known, despite the abnormally hot and dry weather, especially low water in the southern regions, thanks to the selfless efforts of our peasants, we managed to get an average of 45 centners of yield per hectare and grow a total of over 5.2 million tons in 2018", - the press service of the head of state noted.

This year rainfall is twice as much as last year and 1.3 times more than in previous years. At present, there are 1 billion cubic meters of water in the Talimarjan reservoir, and in Chimkurgan, Pachkamarsky and other reservoirs - 2-3 times more water than last year.

"The Sardobinsky reservoir was commissioned. This means that we can get much more grain harvest in the country than last year," the press service stressed.

The purchase price of one ton of wheat was set at 1.2 million soums, or 1.6 times more than last year in 2019. A mechanism has been introduced to stimulate farmers who have a high yield, which provides for the use of a surcharge to the state procurement price of 25 percent, which is, up to 300,000 soums for each ton of grain.

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Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri
Baku, Azerbaijan, February 26

By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:

Gazprombank (Russia) and Uzbek Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade can create a joint company that will specialize in providing consulting services in the preparation of investment projects, Trend reports via Uzbek media.

The services include the development of business plans, marketing research, feasibility studies and other areas.

Uzbek Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Gazprombank Alexey Matveyev agreed on this during negotiations.

During the talks, Matveyev stressed that the Direct Investment Fund, which is planned to be established at the Ministry of Foreign Trade, could raise the design activity of Gazprombank in Uzbekistan to a new level, as it has successful and productive experience of cooperation in a similar format with the Russian Direct Investment Fund.

By making this visit, we would like to note that we are aimed at developing long-term and multilateral relations with Uzbekistan. For example, the bank is exploring Uzbek potential and has already developed an investment profile of the country in terms of regions, Alexey Matveyev stated.

Gazprombanks experience of can also be used to establish cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investments in creating a sustainable pre-export financing system, where exports are made in favor of counterparties on acceptable payment risks for the bank.

At the end of the meeting, Uzbek Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade noted the important contribution of Gazprombank to the development and strengthening of bilateral relations between Uzbekistan and Russian Federation.

The reliable reputation of the bank allows implementing large-scale joint projects, sharing experience and knowledge, as evidenced by field seminars held by Russian colleagues in the country to improve the skills of banking workers.

Following the meeting, a wide range of mutually beneficial cooperation was identified and priority areas for further joint activities were discussed. The parties have appointed responsible officials for constant communication and working out all questions on future interaction.

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Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri
Tehran, Iran, Feb.26

Trend:

Iran is marking the Chabahar Day on Feb. 26, to promote the investment and development at the Chabahar Port, while it aims to boost the ties in the region and compete with the rivals.

The Deputy Managing Director of Iran Ports and Maritime Organization Hadi Haghshenas brought up comparisons of Chabahar with Dubai in an interview with Trend.

"Dubai's coasts 40 years ago lacked good weather and soil but due to good conditions today, Dubai has turned into a popular tourist destination, but the facilities in Iran aren't good enough to develop and improve the Chabahar Port," he said.

He went on to add that Chabahar port is an important strategic port in Iran and it can be a source of imports of goods and play a special role in regional cargo transit, so that Central Asian countries (Turkmenistan), as well as Afghanistan would have the shortest route to the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Oman, via the Chabahar port.

"On the other hand, while the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman has chosen China and India as the economic destinations and invests billions in them, it indicates the importance of India, China and Pakistan in the region," said Haghshenas.

He also noted Irans land accessibility to Pakistan and closeness to India and China. The official went on to say that the Chabahar port is the closest port to the ocean, as well as to Pakistan, India and China.

"This is a good opportunity to introduce the capacities and investment opportunities of this port to the conference," Haghshenas said.
Phoenix, Arizona, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Earlier this month, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed Senate Bill 1014 into law, reinventing the landscape for students to learn English faster. This bill gives local school districts greater flexibility to teach students with strategies, schedules, and tools that best meet the needs of English Language Learners (ELLs).

For nearly two decades, English Language Learners have been isolated from core classes. As a result, according to the states report card, ELL students scored below all other subgroups on the statewide assessment, in every grade level and subject area, including students with special needs.

The new law will now allow ELL students to spend more time interacting with native speakers to help them learn English faster. Prior to the passing of this legislation, ELL students were required to take part in four-hour blocks of language isolation. With this change, the requirements moves to a two hour minimum, giving expert educators the opportunity to tailor schedules to the needs of their students.

This is a huge step for our students in Arizona who are struggling to learn English. They have been trapped in these programs year after year, Rebecca Gau, executive director of the advocacy group Stand for Children Arizona, said. Despite the countless setbacks in previous legislative sessions, we never gave up on our ELL students. Despite many people telling us that we couldnt change a law that had been in place for nearly two decades, we continued to challenge the status quo because we knew that it was hurting our schools.

Claudia Salas, a parent affected by these policies, said, I felt helpless. I knew that my daughter was falling behind in school because of the ELL requirements, but I felt like I couldnt do anything. Salas continued, I talked to teachers and they told me that they understood my concerns but that I had to keep my daughter in the program. While my daughter is no longer in the ELL program, I know that it hurt her academically. I am happy to see this new law go into effect and believe that it will help families like mine.

Rebecca Gau and Claudia Salas are available for interviews.

About Stand for Children

Stand for Children is a non-profit education advocacy organization focused on ensuring all students receive a high quality, relevant education, especially those whose boundless potential is overlooked and under-tapped because of their skin color, zip code, first language, or disability.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

Trend:

Russias TechnoNICOL Corporation plans to increase mineral wool exports to Azerbaijan and Georgia by 30 percent in 2019, Trend reports with reference to the business newspaper Gorod N.

In 2018, almost 1.5 million cubic meters of mineral wool was produced at the companys plant in Russias Krasny Sulin town (a 6-percent increase over the year). The increase in production is related to the growing demand for the products of the plant in the countries of the South Caucasus and the beginning of the release of next generation insulation on a biopolymer binder.

A plant worth more than 3.5 billion rubles (about $53.55 million) was created in 2016. The production capacity of the plant is about 1.3 million cubic meters of mineral wool per year.

The corporation has 53 production sites in seven countries (Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Italy, the UK, Germany), and its products are supplied to 95 countries. The revenue of the industrial complex for 2017 amounted to 79.17 billion rubles ($1.2 billion).
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

Trend:

Rauf Aliyev, Azerbaijani MP and head of the Azerbaijan-Bulgaria Interparliamentary Friendship Group, took part in a commemoration ceremony dedicated to the 27th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide, Trend reports.

The ceremony was organized by the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Bulgaria. The event was attended by public and private structures, media representatives, diplomatic corps and other guests.

In order to better inform the Bulgarian public about the Khojaly genocide, a troupe of the Azerbaijan State Pantomime Theater showed the performance "Xocal-bu olub" ("This was Khojaly") in Sofia.

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.

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.

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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

Trend:

Today is the 27th anniversary of the bloody tragedy, which has entered the history of mankind of the 20th century as the Khojaly genocide, Trend reports.

Azerbaijani public commemorates the victims of the Khojaly genocide.

During the Karabakh war, on February 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 were killed, including 63 children, 106 women and 70 old people were killed as a result of the massacre. Eight families were totally exterminated, 130 children lost one parent and 25 children lost both. A total of 487 civilians became disabled as a result of the onslaught. Some 1,275 innocent residents were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 people remains unknown.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 27

Trend:

On the sidelines of his working visit to Geneva Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Didier Reynders, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs of the Kingdom of Belgium, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

At the meeting the sides exchanged their views about the current level of cooperative relations between Azerbaijan and Belgium.

Minister Elmar Mammadyarov informed his interlocutor on the current status of negotiations process of the peaceful resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and spoke about the commemoration of the 27th anniversary of the Khojaly Genocide perpetrated by the Armenian armed forces.

Furthermore, the sides discussed other issues of mutual interest.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 27

Trend:

In the margins of the 40th session of the UN Human Rights Council foreign minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Peter Maurer, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

At the meeting the sides exchanged views on the current state and future perspectives of the Azerbaijan and the ICRC relations and expressed hope for further development of the existing successful cooperation. Minister Elmar Mammadyarov noted that the ICRC is the main partner of Azerbaijan in the humanitarian field and positevely assessed the ICRC activities in the context of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Foreign minister informed his interlocutor on the current situation of the negotiations over the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It was underlined that Azerbaijan is in favor of results-oriented talks and the conflict can be settled in the framework of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within its internationaly recognized borders in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions and OSCE documents.

Elmar Mammadyarov touching upon the humanitarian aspects of the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan, emphasized the importance of the release of Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Asgarov, who were illegally taken hostage by Armenia back in 2014, while they were visiting their native lands. At the same time, Minister Elmar Mammadyarov emphasizing the violation of international humanitarian law by Armenia, especially its committments taken by the 1949 Geneva Conventions underlined the importance of the ICRC to provide necessary assessment to these acts of occupying country.

In his turn, the president of the ICRC thanked for the information provided and stressed that the humanitarian cooperation and the relevant projects in the context of conflict settlement will be continued.

Minister Elmar Mammadyarov invited the ICRC president to the XVIII Summit meeting of the heads of states and governments of the Non-Alligned Movement to be held in Baku on 25-26 October 2019.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

Trend:

Azerbaijan, with a population of almost 10 million people, is a country with the largest number of IDPs and refugees per capita, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said at the 40th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, Trend reports referring to the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan.

The minister stressed that unfortunately the ongoing armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan still represents a major threat to international and regional peace and security, human rights and development.

"Today, Azerbaijan marks the 27th anniversary of one of the brutal pages of this conflict  the Khojaly Genocide committed by Armenia, as a result of which 613 residents of this small town in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, including 106 women, 63 children and 70 elderly were murdered by Armenian military in 1992," the minister said.

"As a result of the armed aggression by neighboring Armenia, 20 percent of the territory of Azerbaijan has been under occupation since 1992. Over 1 million Azerbaijanis, subjected to ethnic cleansing, remain forcefully displaced from their native lands, which in per capita terms makes it one of the highest numbers of IDPs and refugees in the world with a country of 10 million. Armenia continues the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by disregarding the UN Security Council resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 and related documents of many other international organizations, which firmly reaffirm the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and demand immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan."

"In this context, I urge the UN Human Rights Council, its mandate holders and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to take a principled stance and efficient actions for administration of justice and restoration of human rights of Azerbaijani IDPs and refugees, violated or more than two decades."

"Azerbaijan believes in importance of multilateral institutions for promotion and protection of human rights around the world. Therefore, Azerbaijan attaches importance to the UN Human Rights Council mandated to promote and protect all human rights through cooperation and genuine dialogue," Mammadyarov said.

"At a time when human rights challenges, in particular forceful displacement of millions of people and racial and other forms of discrimination are on the rise globally, the role of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights with principal responsibility for promotion and protection of all human rights has become even more crucial," he added.

The minister noted that while being an observer to the Council, Azerbaijan actively contributes to its work.

"At the 37th session of the Council, Azerbaijan together with Georgia, Kenya, Thailand and Turkey submitted a draft resolution co-sponsored by 92 states on promoting human rights and SDGs through transparent, accountable and efficient public services delivery, which was unanimously adopted by the Council. This year, Azerbaijan in cooperation with the OHCHR will host a follow-up international conference, where countries with effective models of public services can share their best practices with other Member States as encouraged by the above-mentioned resolution," Mammadyarov said.

He noted that the Azerbaijani Government continues to carry out large-scale programs to ensure that Azerbaijani citizens fully enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms.

"In this regard, I would like to highlight the recently adopted State Program on the Development of Justice in 2019-2023, which is aimed at further legislative and structural measures to improve performance of judiciary," the minister said.

"Let me underline that Azerbaijan is strongly committed to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which embodies all human rights, including economic, civil, cultural, political, social rights, and the right to development. Azerbaijan will submit its 2nd Voluntary National Report on the implementation of SDGs later this year," he added.

Mammadyarov reminded that in October 2019 Azerbaijan will host the 18th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement, where Azerbaijan will take over the presidency of the Movement.

"We are convinced that the presidency of Azerbaijan will provide another impetus for advancing the founding principles of the Movement, the 65th anniversary of which will be celebrated in 2020, across many UN platforms, including the Human Rights Council. I take this opportunity to reaffirm my country's commitment to the Non-Aligned Movement endeavors," he said.

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.

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.

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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

Trend:

Egyptian MPs distributed a statement in connection with the Khojaly tragedy, Trend reports on Feb. 26.

The head of the Egypt-Azerbaijan Friendship Group at the House of Representatives (Parliament) of Egypt, Professor Usama al-Abd, on behalf of the group members signed a statement in connection with the Khojaly tragedy and sent it to the head of the Azerbaijan-Egypt Interparliamentary Friendship Group, member of the Azerbaijani parliament, Academician Govhar Bakhshaliyeva.

In the statement, the members of the Egypt-Azerbaijan Friendship Group noted that they shared the pain and grief related to the tragedy that occurred on Feb. 26, 1992, and expressed solidarity with Azerbaijan.

Egyptian MPs expressed hope that the world community would give a political, legal and fair assessment of the Khojaly tragedy in accordance with the principles of international law and the UN Charter.

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.

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.

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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

Trend:

A tree-planting event has been held under the Justice for Khojaly international awareness campaign at the Neftchiler Park in Surakhani district, Baku.

Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, initiator of the Justice for Khojaly campaign Leyla Aliyeva attended the event, which saw the planting of 613 trees to commemorate the victims of the Khojaly genocide.

More than 200 young people participated in the event.

The Justice for Khojaly international awareness campaign was initiated by Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva on May 8, 2008. The campaign aims to raise international public awareness of the Khojaly genocide, root causes and consequences of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the need for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh region and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan. The campaigns activities are also directed towards honoring the victims and keeping their memories alive, particularly by constantly informing the younger generations and supporting the survivors and seeking ways to relieve their suffering.

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.

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.

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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Details added (first version posted at 17:12)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

Trend:

On February 26, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev made a phone call to President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The head of state congratulated President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his birthday, and wished him new successes in his activity for the development of brotherly Turkey and robust health.

The Turkish President thanked President Ilham Aliyev for his attention and congratulations.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan once again condemned the killing of innocent people by the Armenians in Khojaly genocide, and offered his condolences to the President and people of Azerbaijan.

The head of state thanked for the condolences.

President Ilham Aliyev and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed their confidence that the friendly and brotherly ties between the two countries will continue to develop successfully and strengthen.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

By Elchin Mehdiyev  Trend:

Turkey expects the international community to assess the Khojaly tragedy properly, the Turkish presidential administration told Trend.

The Turkish presidential administration was commenting on the 27th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide.

Turkey shares the pain of the Azerbaijani brothers, remembers and will never forget about this tragedy, the administration said. Turkey once again calls on Armenia to end the occupation of Azerbaijani territories and return these lands to the rightful owner.

Turkey, as before, will support Azerbaijan in all spheres, the administration said. "Turkey expresses sincere condolences to the Azerbaijani people in connection with the terrible tragedy in Khojaly."

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.

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.

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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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English Spanish

-- It will participate with more than 9,500 global companies, in the promotion of sustainable operations and responsible business practices --

-- The global goal is that organizations around the world strengthen their actions to support environmental sustainability, human and labor rights, and fight corruption --

MEXICO CITY, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Grupo Salinas, a group of dynamic, fast-growing and technologically advanced companies, deeply committed to the modernization of the countries where they operate, and founded by entrepreneur Ricardo Salinas, announced today that it has signed on to the United Nations (UN) Global Compact, the largest corporate sustainability initiative in the world, in order to strengthen actions that support the environment, human and labor rights, and combat corruption.

The goal of the initiative is that participating companies incorporate the principles of the Global Compact in their strategies and operations, and that they implement projects that support sustainable development, strengthen labor inclusion, and confront climate change.

The Global Compact was created in 2000 and brings together 9,500 companies from all economic sectors, as well as 3,000 non-business organizations from academic institutions to local governments from more than 160 countries that seek to join forces to contribute to the creation of a better world.

Consistent with the guidelines of the Global Compact, Grupo Salinas believes that companies have become institutions that, in addition to generating economic wealth, are a means to achieve social change, improve living standards, and mitigate impact on the environment.

In addition to offering world-class products and services in the commercial, financial, media and telecommunications sectors that boost the quality of life for millions of families, the companies of Grupo Salinas promote the well-being of their more than 90,000 employees in Mexico, the United States, and Central and South America.

Similarly, Grupo Salinas companies develop and implement projects that improve the environment and society through Fundacion Azteca, with programs such as Movimiento Azteca, Esperanza Azteca, Jugueton, and Plantel Azteca.

They also support diverse initiatives including the La Ciudad de las Ideas, Caminos de la Libertad and Kybernus that strengthen freedoms, the dissemination of knowledge, and seek to build environments that support inclusive development and a better future.

Through Un Nuevo Bosque and Limpiemos nuestro Mexico, Grupo Salinas companies promote activities that aim to preserve the environment for future generations. In addition, they promote the sustainable use of natural resources in their value chain and use environmentally-friendly energy. Renewable energy consumption in Grupo Salinas companies currently represents 37% of total demand and this proportion is gradually being increased.

Finally, through Arte & Cultura Grupo Salinas, they contribute to preserving the cultural heritage of Mexico and disseminate artistic creation, as well as our history, identity, and cultural values.

Grupo Salinas reiterates its firm commitment to inclusive prosperity and actively participates in initiatives that seek to promote the creation of economic, social, and environmental value that promotes improved levels of well-being and progress.

About Grupo Salinas

Grupo Salinas (www.gruposalinas.com) is a group of dynamic, fast growing, and technologically advanced companies focused on creating economic value through market innovation and goods and services that improve standards of living; social value, to create social capabilities to improve communities; and environmental value, by reducing the negative impact of business activities. Created by Mexican entrepreneur Ricardo B. Salinas (www.ricardosalinas.com), Grupo Salinas operates as a management development and decision forum for the top leaders of member companies. These companies include: TV Azteca (www.TVazteca.com; www.irtvazteca.com), Grupo Elektra (www.grupoelektra.com.mx), Banco Azteca (www.bancoazteca.com.mx), Advance America (www.advanceamerica.net), Afore Azteca (www.aforeazteca.com.mx), Seguros Azteca (www.segurosazteca.com.mx), Punto Casa de Bolsa (www.puntocasadebolsa.mx), Totalplay (www.totalplay.com.mx) and Totalplay Empresarial (totalplayempresarial.com.mx). TV Azteca and Grupo Elektra trade on the Mexican Stock Exchange and are part of its Sustainability Index. Each of the Grupo Salinas companies operates independently, with its own management, board of directors and shareholders. Grupo Salinas has no equity holdings. The group of companies share a common vision, values and strategies for achieving rapid growth, superior results and world-class performance.

Press Relations:

Luciano Pascoe, +52 (55) 1720 1313 ext. 36553, lpascoe@gruposalinas.com.mx
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

Trend:

The Azerbaijani embassy in Qatar held a memorial ceremony dedicated to the 27th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide, Trend reports referring to the embassy on Feb. 26.

The compatriots living in Qatar, public representatives and representatives of the intelligentsia attended the event.

While speaking at the event, Azerbaijani ambassador to Qatar Rashad Ismayilov updated the participants of the event about the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the Khojaly tragedy.

Ismayilov stressed that Armenian nationalists repeatedly massacred the Azerbaijani civilians, adding that the Khojaly genocide was one of the bloodiest tragedies committed with special cruelty in human history.

The ambassador stressed the importance of conveying the truth about Khojaly to the world community.

Ismayilov added that big success has been achieved within the "Justice for Khojaly!" campaign and the countries have already begun to recognize the Khojaly tragedy as an act of genocide.

In conclusion, the ambassador stressed that Azerbaijan will never put up with the occupation of its territories and will soon end the occupation.

Later, the "Khojaly genocide" documentary film shot with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation was demonstrated.

Following the official part, the event participants reviewed a photo exhibition about the Khojaly genocide. The books and materials about the Karabakh conflict, in particular, the Khojaly genocide, were presented to the event participants.

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.

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.

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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

By Elchin Mehdiyev  Trend:

Chairman of the parliamentary committee on international and interparliamentary relations, head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE Samad Seyidov will leave for Paris on Feb. 27 to attend the meetings of the PACE committees, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani parliament on Feb. 26.

A report entitled Combating money laundering will be heard and the views on the activity of NGOs in the CoE member-states, on a meeting of the subcommittee on human rights held in Helsinki, on democratic cooperation with Moroccos parliament, etc. will be exchanged in the Committee on Legal Issues and Human Rights.

PACEs role and mission will be on the agenda and the UN cooperation within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will be considered at the meeting of the Political Affairs and Democracy Committee.

The situation in Syria, its impact on neighbouring countries will be also discussed and the views on the conference, dedicated to the fight against international terrorism, to be held in April 2019 in St. Petersburg will be exchanged.

During the meetings, Seyidov will express the country's position on the issues which will be discussed.

The visit will end on March 6.
Details added (first version posted on 10:22)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

Trend:

A nationwide march has been held in Baku to commemorate the 27th anniversary of Khojaly genocide, one of the bloodiest crimes in the history of mankind.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, first lady Mehriban Aliyeva and family members attended the march.

The nationwide march, which began from the Azadlyg Square in Khatai district, involves ten thousands of people. They gathered to pay tribute to victims of Khojaly tragedy and draw the world community`s attention to this crime against humanity, which was committed by the Armenian fascists.

With President Ilham Aliyev and first lady Mehriban Aliyeva in the front row, the marchers started moving in the direction of the Khojaly memorial in Khatai district.

Thousands of young people gathered along the avenues and streets that the marchers are moving. They hold portraits of innocent victims of the bloody event  slaughtered children, women and elders  photos depicting abominable scenes of slaughter, placards demanding to bring to account and punish perpetrators of the tragedy and to recognize this genocide at an international level, as well as placards with names and surnames of victims.

The world must recognize Khojaly genocide, Justice for Khojaly, Do not forget Khojaly, No to Armenian fascism, Khojaly genocide -27 and other slogans are displayed on large monitors along the streets, and on placards on building walls and balconies.

A ceremonial guard of honor was lined up around the memorial.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev put a wreath at the memorial and paid tribute to Khojaly victims.

First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva, Prime Minister Novruz Mammadov, Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Ogtay Asadov, Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva, Arzu Aliyeva laid flowers at the monument.

State and government officials, MPs, ministers, heads of committees and companies, representatives of the diplomatic corps, heads of religious confessions, as well as Khojaly genocide survivors also placed flowers at the memorial.

A Russian delegation also attended the nationwide march.

President Ilham Aliyev and first lady Mehriban Aliyeva met with the Russian delegation and talked to them.

President Ilham Aliyev then was interviewed by the Russian Rossiya-24 TV channel.

The name of Khojaly settlement, which was wiped off the face of the earth in just one night, is now mentioned along with Katyn, Lidice and Songmy.

This nationwide march is a climax of large-scale work carried out by Azerbaijan in order to make the truth about Khojaly genocide known to the world and convince the international community that if the perpetrators of this genocide remain unpunished, this may lead to a repetition of such tragedies in any place across the globe.

The march showed the Azerbaijani people`s unity, their respect for martyrs as well as their eagerness to do their utmost to liberate the occupied territories and restore the country`s territorial integrity.

The atrocity committed by Armenians in the town of Khojaly in Nagorno-Karabakh on the night of 25-26 February 1992 went down in the history of Azerbaijan as a bloody page. That night helped by the Soviet Union`s Khankandi-based 366th motor rifle regiment, the Armenian armed forces massacred innocent people in this ancient Azerbaijani town.

The statistics of Khojaly genocide are as follows: of 3,000 people who were in the town at the moment of the attack 613 were killed, including 106 women, 63 children and 70 elders; 487 people were severely wounded, including 76 children; 1,275 people were captured and subjected to unprecedented torture; the fate of 197 people still remains unknown. Eight families were totally annihilated. All these people were slaughtered, tortured and disabled solely because of their ethnic background, only for being Azerbaijanis.

This genocidal act by the Armenians was deliberately planned and its only objective was to partially or completely wipe out civilians because of their nationality. These actions are defined as genocide under international law, which must be recognized by the world community.

The real essence of this genocide, which was committed in front of the eyes of the world, was uncovered only after national leader Heydar Aliyev`s coming to political power. On initiative of the national leader Khojaly genocide was given a political and legal assessment, and February 26 was declared Day of Khojaly Genocide. Launched by Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva in 2008, Justice for Khojaly international campaign boosted the awareness-raising efforts even more.

The campaign has contributed to increasing the international community`s awareness of the truth about this genocide, exposing the Armenian nationalists who resort to any violence, including the murder of children, in order to reach their ridiculous and heinous plans. As a result of systematic work, what happened in Khojaly was recognized as a genocidal act by the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as well as the parliaments of Mexico, Pakistan, Czech Republic, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Honduras, Sudan, Guatemala and Djibouti.

The parliaments of Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Jordan, Slovenia and Scotland, as well as executive and legislative bodies of 22 American states recognized Khojaly events as a massacre.

As in previous years the Heydar Aliyev Foundation continued to support the organization of Khojaly commemorative events across the world. This included commemorative rallies in Turkey, US, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Georgia and the Netherlands, commemorative events, conferences, exhibitions and contests in a number of other countries.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

Trend:

Agencia Uruguaya de Noticias, one of the leading news websites in Uruguay, published an article by Emin Ibrahimov, Azerbaijan's charge d'affaires in Uruguay, entitled "Khojaly genocide - a call for justice and peace", Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

In the article, the author mentioned the statement made by Armenian ex-President Serzh Sargsyan in an interview with Thomas de Waal about deliberate committing of the Khojaly massacre, as well as the statement made by Armenian ex-President Robert Kocharyan about the impossibility of the coexistence of Armenians and Azerbaijanis.

In fact, the opinions of both ex-presidents emphasize the aggressive policy and the policy of ethnic cleansing being conducted by Armenia against Azerbaijan, the article said.

According to the article, as opposed to Armenia, the Azerbaijani side believes that the representatives of both peoples can live together.

The possibility of peaceful, coexistence of Azerbaijanis and Armenians in Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh region was also stressed, the article said.

To achieve peace Armenia must end its occupation, Azerbaijans territorial integrity must be restored, refugees and internally displaced people must return to their houses, the article said.

An article by Chilean journalist and international analyst Pablo Hofre about Khojaly genocide was published on the Latin American news website teleSUR TV, the Chilean website Diario Universidad de Chile and the Spanish news website Rebelion.

During the Karabakh war, on February 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 were killed, including 63 children, 106 women and 70 old people were killed as a result of the massacre. Eight families were totally exterminated, 130 children lost one parent and 25 children lost both. A total of 487 civilians became disabled as a result of the onslaught. Some 1,275 innocent residents were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 people remains unknown.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

Trend:

The American Sephardi Federation (ASF) and the Muslim American Leadership Alliance (MALA) in New York honored the memory of the victims of tragedy in Azerbaijans Khojaly town, Trend reports Feb. 26.

The event was attended by representatives of various religious and ethnic organizations of the US, local community activists and representatives of the Azerbaijani community.

The event was supported by the Azerbaijani Embassy in the US and the State Committee on Work with the Diaspora.

Opening the ceremony, ASF Executive Director Jason Huberman honored the memory of the victims of the Khojaly tragedy, saying that 613 inhabitants of this city became martyrs in Khojaly, adding that this figure has a sacred meaning in the Jewish religion.

Then, Executive Director of MALA Zainab Zeb Khan delivered speech.

After the introductory part of the event, prayers were read.

Then, Vugar Gurbanov, counselor for the Azerbaijani Embassy in the US, delivered speech and called this event, organized by Jewish and Muslim organizations, a good example of interfaith cooperation.

The resident of Khojaly and the witness of the tragedy Anar Usubov, who spoke at the ceremony, shared his memories about that day. He said that he had lost many of his relatives that night, and at the age of 11 he was taken hostage by Armenians.

Panel discussions were held in the second part of the event.

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.

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.

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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

By Elchin Mehdiyev  Trend:

Turkey must always be close to Azerbaijan for such tragedies as Khojaly tragedy not to reoccur, Turkish ambassador to Azerbaijan Erkan Ozoral told reporters in Baku on Feb. 26, Trend reports.

"Today we came here to commemorate the victims of the Khojaly tragedy that occurred 27 years ago, he said. We are here today to share this grief."

Ozoral said that the massacre of Khojaly civilians must not remain unpunished.

The ceremonies are held in most of Turkish cities to revere the memory of the victims of the Khojaly tragedy, he added.

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.

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.

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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

Trend:

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov left for a working visit to Geneva to participate in the 40th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

During the visit Mammadyarov will deliver a speech at the high level segment of the 40th session of the UN Human Rights Council and hold several bilateral meetings.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

Trend:

A crucial decision has been made in connection with the minimum pension, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at the meeting on economic and social issues.

The amount of the minimum pension has increased by about 38 percent from 116 manats to 160 manats, the president said. Azerbaijan today ranks second in the CIS in terms of the level of the minimum pension.

The president said that this is not the limit.

Of course, increasing wages and pensions is one of the key issues on the agenda, he added. The increase in the minimum pension will improve pension provision for 223,000 people.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 25

Trend:

The Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson, in accordance with its mandate, plans to conduct the next ceasefire monitoring at the LOC on Feb. 27 in the direction of the Aghdam region, Trend reports referring to the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan.

The Personal Representative's field assistants Mihail Olaru and Martin Schuster will carry out the monitoring on the territory of Azerbaijan.

The Personal Representative's field assistants Ghenadie Petrica, Ognjen Jovic and Simon Tiller will carry out the monitoring on the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan occupied and controlled by the armed forces of Armenia.

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. 26

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. 26, 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.
Barcelona, SPAIN, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the Mobile Internet, today hosted 5G Summit 2019 to show its commitment to embracing 5G Era, at Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona on February 25, 2019.



The summit brings together over 300 executives and representatives from world-renowned telecom operators, chip makers, and vertical industries to explore how a smarter, connected world can be built. ZTEs key global customers and partners, including China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, VEON, Telenor, Telkomsel, Windtre, Qualcomm, Intel, and Tencent, have attended the summit to share their 5G network deployment experience and business model innovation.

As the leading pioneer in 5G, ZTE has the full range of end-to-end products and solutions, and will explore 5G development together with all of you, said Wang Xiyu, ZTEs CTO in his opening speech for the summit. Adhering to technology leadership, ZTE will be committed to being the best partner of all of you.

Dr. Chih-Lin I, Chief Scientist of China Mobile Research Institute, Wireless Technologies, also shared China Mobiles experience and deployment strategies towards an open and smart 5G RAN. At Mobile World Congress 2019, China Mobile and ZTE have jointly verified the enhancement of load balancing based on the O-RAN framework and explored the application of artificial intelligence in a wireless network.

Yogesh Malik, Group CTO of VEON, introduced VEONs vision for its digitization journey and shared the companys impressive experience and strategy on emerging markets in the 5G era. As one of the worlds top 10 mobile operators, VEON focuses on the improvement of network efficiency and virtualization of the core network so as to provide end users with more digital service, utilizing massive data in the network to create values.

Furthermore, Dr. Xiang Jiying, Chief Scientist of ZTE Corporation, delivered a keynote entitled, Get Ready for 5G Commercial Deployment. He said that as a major vendor that is able to provide 5G end-to-end solutions, ZTE has accumulated many 5G key technologies, including Massive MIMO, NOMA, and mmWave scattering.

In addition, at Mobile World Congress 2019, Intel and ZTE have jointly launched Light Cloud solution for 5G. The solution is based on Intel's innovative Edge products, which are seamlessly integrated and built into ZTEs flagship optical fiber access platform, TITAN, thereby realizing MEC and NFV deep convergence.





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Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 26

Trend:

On February 26, 1992, Armenian military committed an act of genocide against the 7,000 population of the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly.

As many as 613 people, including 63 children, 106 women and 70 old people were killed as a result of the massacre. A total of 1,000 civilians became disabled in the onslaught. Eight families were completely annihilated, 130 children lost one parent, while 25 lost both parents. Some 1,275 innocent residents were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 people still remains unknown.

All these acts were committed by Armenian military with extreme mercilessness and inconceivable barbarism. The second battalion of 366th regiment under the command of Major Seyran Ohanian, the third battalion under the command of Yevgeniy Nabokhin, staff chief of the first battalion Valeriy Chitchyan and more than 50 officers and ensigns took part in the attack, according to "The Investigation Materials Concerning Khojaly Occupation".

A part of the town residents, who attempted to flee, were killed by Armenians in pre-organized ambushes. According to the Russian Remedial Center Memorial, 200 corpses were brought from Khojaly to Aghdam within four days of the massacre. Facts of humiliation on dozens of bodies were registered. Forensic examination in Aghdam was performed on 181 corpses, including 13 children. The examination revealed that 151 people died from bullet wounds, 20 people died from shrapnel wounds, 10 were killed with blunt instruments. Facts of scalping people alive were also revealed.

The Khojaly genocide has become one of the most terrible and tragic pages of Azerbaijani history.

Azerbaijani people have faced ethnic cleansing and genocide by Armenian nationalists and chauvinists for 200 years. Azerbaijanis were deported from their historical lands and became refugees and internally displaced persons, and all this was accompanied by massacres committed by Armenians.

Azerbaijanis were also forced to leave their historical lands during the Soviet period. Some 150,000 Azerbaijanis were deported from Armenia and placed in the Kur-Araz plain in 1948-1953.

About 250,000 Azerbaijanis were forced from their historical territories in 1988 and Armenia became a mono-ethnic state.

The Nagorno-Karabakh events, which began in 1988 along with continuous efforts to implement the Armenian desire of building an Armenia from sea to sea, led to destruction of towns and villages, murder of thousands of innocent people, as well as the exile of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis from their historical lands.

Armenia's government is trying to annex Nagorno-Karabakh despite international legal norms, demonstrating its readiness to resort to any kind of crime and atrocity. The Khojaly genocide  a tragedy of the 20th century  was a result of this aggressive and criminal policy. This tragedy of the late 20th century was one of the most serious crimes not only against the people of Azerbaijan, but humanity as a whole. The Khojaly genocide is comparable to the tragedies in Khatyn, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Son My.

Why did Armenians choose Khojaly as a target? On one hand, they were intending to destroy strategic barriers in Karabakhs mountainous part, and on the other hand, Armenians just wanted to completely destroy Khojaly  a settlement, reflecting the historical and cultural traditions of Azerbaijanis from ancient times to the modern period.

This distinct culture is known as the Khojaly-Gadabay culture in the Azerbaijani history. The cromlechs, dolmens, cyclopean structures and tumuli as well as different monuments in Khojaly are the samples of material culture reflecting the dynamic development of human society here. Destruction of this material culture and the Khojaly graveyard  one of the most ancient cemeteries  after the Armenian occupation is the proof of Armenian barbarism and aggression against the world cultures.

Stories of the Khojaly genocide victims are horrifying. Antiga, a Khojaly resident, was burned alive because she refused to say the area was part of Great Armenia.

Sariyya Talibova, another Khojaly resident, said, Four Mehseti Turks and three Azerbaijanis were decapitated over the grave of an Armenian. Later they [Armenians] gouged out the eyes of two Azerbaijanis.

Armenians scalped people alive, beheaded them and cut other parts of their bodies, gouged childrens eyes and disemboweled pregnant women.

Forbidden bullets of 5.45 caliber and chemical weapons were used in Khojaly during the attack.

All these prove that Armenia committed genocide against civilians, violating Geneva Convention's protocols.

The Khojaly genocide, committed with a particular atrocity, terrified journalists and publicists from Russia, Georgia, Great Britain, France, Germany, the US and other countries.

International conventions and laws in all countries condemn genocides like the Khojaly tragedy, and call them inadmissible.

The world must know that this crime was directed not only against the Azerbaijani people, but also against the whole civilized world.

This crime should not go unpunished. Armenia's military-political aggression must be condemned by the world community. International organizations and parliaments of world countries must give political and legal assessment to the Khojaly genocide committed by Armenia in Azerbaijans territories.

It should be noted that the parliaments of several countries have made decisions recognizing the Khojaly genocide.
Human rights activists hand over to ICC evidence of using civilians by Russian military when seizing objects in Crimea in 2014

KYIV. Feb 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Human rights defenders from the Ukrainian Helsinki Union and the Regional Center for Human Rights have submitted evidence to the International Criminal Court (ICC) regarding the use of civilians by the Russian military during the seizure of objects in Crimea in 2014.

"This motion was sent to the International Criminal Court on February 21, 2019," said Maksym Tymochko, the lawyer of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday at a press conference titled "Behind Backs of Women and Children" on Using Civilians by Russia as 'Human Shields' during Crimea's Occupation."

According to him, the document was prepared jointly with the prosecutor's office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

The investigation found that the Russian forces not only deliberately moved the civilian population to the facilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but were "behind the backs" of people at the time of blocking and seizing these objects so that the Ukrainian military could not use weapons to protect themselves against the attack.

Human rights activists say that such a "human shield" consisted of four categories of citizens: Crimeans with pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian views, civilians who were moved from the territory of Russia to participate in the occupation of the peninsula, as well as representatives of the Cossacks of the so-called "Crimean self-defense."

Tymochko added that at least 10 military objects were captured in this way.

According to Deputy Prosecutor of the Republic of Crimea (ARC) Ihor Ponochovny, such actions can be qualified as a separate type of war crimes in accordance with Article 8 of the ICC Rome Statute.

It is noted that the prohibition to use "human shields" is also enshrined in Article 28 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 51 of the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Convention and the norm No. 97 of international humanitarian law.

At the moment, the prosecutor's office of the ARC is conducting a pretrial investigation under Article 438 (violation of the laws and customs of war) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

In addition, the Deputy Prosecutor reported that over the past few years, six informational reports on crimes in Crimea were transmitted to the ICC.
On Wednesday, February 27, at 14.00, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency will host a press conference titled: "Electoral orientations of Ukraine's population: February 2019" based on findings of a poll conducted by Social Monitoring Center and Ukrainian Institute of Social Research named after Yaremenko between February 16 and February 23, 2019, when some 2,045 respondents were polled. Participants include: Director of Social Monitoring Center Dmytro Dmitruk, Director of the Seetarget company, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Sociology at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Oleksiy Borovsky, political expert, head of the Real Politics analytical group Alexander Antonyuk, political expert Ihor Dushyn (8/5a Reitarska Street). Press accreditation and registration at the event by press cards. More details by phone: (068) 124 6970, or at: dmitruk_d@ukr.net.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has said that the Central Election Commission (CEC) was subjected to DDoS attacks by the Russian Federation on February 24 and February 25.

"The National Security Council has developed protection mechanisms together with the Security Service of Ukraine and the Police Department for cyber defense of the Central Election Commission and our American partners, because cyberattacks from the Russian Federation took place yesterday and the day before yesterday," said Poroshenko during a meeting with IT representatives in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed a bill into law to amend certain laws of Ukraine on election observation in Ukraine, which bans representatives of the Russian Federation from observing elections in Ukraine, the Ukrainian president's press service has said.

The law amends the laws on the election of the president of Ukraine, on the elections of members of parliament of Ukraine, on local elections, which state that a person who is a citizen (subject) of a state recognized by the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, as an aggressor state or an occupying state shall not be an official observer from foreign states or international organizations at elections in Ukraine.

This ban is also applicable to persons nominated or proposed by a state recognized by the Verkhovna Rada as an aggressor state or an occupying state.

The law comes into force from the day following the day of its publication.

Ukraine's parliament passed the amendments on February 7. Verkhovna Rada Chairman Andriy Parubiy signed them on February 8.
Leader of the Batkivschyna Party and presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko has announced plans to initiate the impeachment procedure of the president of Ukraine in connection with the results of a probe by journalists into the involvement of some Ukrainian officials in illegal army procurement schemes.

"We declare that, together with other [parliamentary] factions that will support [us] that we are starting the procedure of impeaching the president," Tymoshenko said in parliament at a plenary session on Tuesday.

The politician criticized the actions of the incumbent president's allies, who were the subjects of an investigation by journalists of the Bihus.Info program. Tymoshenko stressed that such actions fall under Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (high treason).
Zelensky stresses need to minimize impact of oligarchs on politics at meeting with representatives of World Bank

Candidate to the post of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and members of his team have made an arrangement on the possible further cooperation with representatives of the World Bank to ensure rule of law, independence of anti-corruption agencies, the creation of independent Anti-Corruption Court, the launch of the land market, healthcare and fiscal reforms, the real gas sector reform and the launch of affordable lending in Ukraine.

According to the press service of the politician, this was discussed on February 23 at a meeting of Zelensky with a delegation of the World Bank headed by World Bank Country Director for Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine Satu Kahkonen. The event was also attended by ex-Minister of Finance Oleksandr Danyliuk and former Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Aivaras Abromavicius.

The meeting participants discussed the main objectives of Zelensky's electoral program and his first steps if elected head of state.

"In addition, Zelensky stressed the need to minimize the influence of oligarchs on politics," the press service said.
Ukraine reports seven attacks on its positions in Donbas in past day; one Ukrainian soldier KIA  JFO update

Russia-led forces attacked Ukrainian positions in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, seven times in the past day; one Ukrainian soldier was killed in action, another one was wounded in action, the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) press center has said.

"On February 25, the Russian occupying forces violated the ceasefire seven times. The enemy used 122-mm artillery systems and 120-mm mortars three times, having lobbed 85 bombs and shells in total," the JFO press center said in a morning update on Tuesday.

Russia-led forces mounted two attacks on Ukrainian positions, using 122-mm artillery systems and 120-mm mortars near the village of Lebedynske, while 120mm mortars were used near the village of Vodiane in the Skhid (East) sector.

In the Pivnich (North) sector, the enemy mounted five attacks, using grenade launchers of various systems near the village of Luhanske, while hand-led anti-tank grenade launchers, automatic grenade launchers and small arms were used near the village of Novotoshkivske. Small arms were used near the villages of Khutir Vilny, Novo-Oleksandrivka, and Novhorodske.

"JFO units fired back in response to every enemy attack. They used available weapons that are not banned under the Minsk agreements," the update said.

According to Ukrainian reconnaissance reports, two enemy troops were eliminated and another three were wounded on February 25.

"Since Tuesday midnight, there have been no attacks on our troops," the JFO press center said.
Pensioners living on minimum pension will receive compensation for unpaid indexing for 2015-2016 in the amount of UAH 2,410 in March and April, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said.

"In 2015-2016, when the state gave every kopeck of the Pension Fund for building the Armed Forces and defending the state, then the decision was absolutely justified that there was no possibility for indexing pensions... We now found opportunities to return the indexation of 2015-2016 to pensioners and, first of all, to those who has the lowest level of pension  the minimum and below the minimum ones. According to estimates, we have reached the figure of UAH 2,410," Poroshenko said at a meeting in the Pension Fund of Ukraine in Kyiv on Monday.

He said that compensation of pensions applies only to those who as a result of indexing, which will be resumed from March 1, will receive a small amount.

"However, there will be those who receive UAH 800, 900 and 1000  they do not need to be compensated, and those who receive UAH 100 and 200, they will receive compensation during March and April," Poroshenko said.

Compensation for the unpaid pension indexing in 2015-2016 will be paid in two equal tranches of UAH 1,205 in March and April, Poroshenko said.

The president also recalled that from March 1, pensions will be indexed automatically.
NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC (KSF) and KSF partner, former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have until April 26, 2019 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against CVS Health Corporation (NYSE: CVS), if they purchased the Companys securities between May 21, 2015 and February 20, 2019, inclusive (the Class Period). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.



What You May Do

If you purchased securities of CVS and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or via email (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-cvs/ to learn more. If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by April 26, 2019.

About the Lawsuit

CVS and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.

On February 20, 2019, the Company announced its 4Q and full year financial results and provided its 2019 full year guidance, disclosing that 2019 adjusted earnings would be only $6.68 to $6.88 per share, much lower than average market estimates of $7.36, due to rising costs and poor results relating to its 2015 acquisition of Omnicare, Inc.

On this news, the price of CVS shares plummeted.

The case is Anarkat v. CVS Health Corp., et al, 19-cv-01725.

About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

KSF, whose partners include the former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana.

To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com .

Contact:

Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC
"Kids under 18 can't buy a car, they can't sign any other contract because they're not old enough ... so why are they getting married under 18?" she said.

Heidi Clark said Monday that she got pregnant and wed at age 17 under pressure from her boyfriend's religious community of Seventh-Day Adventists in Pennsylvania. The marriage eventually became abusive, but Clark said she felt a unique pressure to stay because she had wed so young.

"If we had been forced to wait maybe I would have seen the truth," said Clark, who now lives in Utah. "Our children are vulnerable."

Others, though, said younger unions can work.

Nicholeen Peck with the group Worldwide Organization for Women spoke against the bill, saying she's been happily married since age 18. "People grow at different rates," she said.

The measure comes amid a push to raise the marriage age to 18 across the country.

Until recently, more than half of states didn't set any limit on how young someone could be to get married if they met criteria like parental approval, according to the Virginia-based Tahirih Justice Center, which is leading the effort.
I remember thinking, oh my gosh, I want to run, but if I run, Im probably going to get raped and murdered, she said.

One night while cruising a strip club parking lot for customers, Charleston met a 37-year-old man from California who called her beautiful. She started communicating with him via pay phones and decided to give him a shot. Her plan was a romantic relationship. His was different.

I had no idea that I was just running from one trafficker into the arms of another trafficker, she said.

Charleston said he groomed her for months, making her believe she was special, before prostituting her across the country after she turned 18. She remembers being trafficked in North Carolina, Florida, New York, California and Nevada, where he sent her to work in a brothel.

It took Charleston, now 37, a decade to escape her trafficker and that lifestyle. By then, she had racked up multiple prostitution-related arrests and had spent 13 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit tax evasion. (Charleston said her trafficker made bank accounts in his victims names, but when federal authorities showed up, she was too scared to pin the blame on him.)
Feb. 25

Jonathan W. Brady, 27, of Elko was arrested at 791 10th St. in Carlin on a warrant for failure to appear after bail on a misdemeanor crime. Bail: $1,495



Ralph W. Crown, 57, of Buhl, Idaho was arrested at Elko County Jail on a warrant for felony killing of a big game animal and possession of a big game animal. Bail: $7,500



Anthony DePaola, 29, of Elko was arrested at Elko County Jail for driving under the influence and failure to maintain lane or improper lane change. Bail not listed



Franklin L. Harrington Jr., 33, of Elko was arrested at Elko County Jail on a criminal justice detainer. Bail: $750



Brock D. King, 42, of Nampa, Idaho was arrested at Elko County Jail on a warrant for failure to maintain lane or improper lane change; reckless driving disregarding the safety of persons or property; driver or passenger failure to report accident with unattended vehicle or property damage; duty to stop at accident with attended vehicle or property damage; and failure to yield at stop or yield sign or control. Bail: $2,090
ELKO  An Idaho man was booked Monday at Elko County Jail on charges of illegally killing a mountain lion two years ago near Jarbidge.

Ralph W. Crown, 57, of Buhl was one of three men contacted Feb. 4, 2017 by an Idaho conservation officer after being seen hunting before dawn with the aid of a spotlight. The men were cited, and the officer noted that Crowns Idaho hunting license had been suspended three times since 2003 for various violations.

The officer said Crown told him about seeing a lion behind the dump near Jarbidge.

Three months later witnesses reported seeing a dead lion near Sawmill Campground  about a mile from the dump  on the afternoon of Feb. 4. Two months after that, a Nevada game warden investigated and collected evidence from where the animal was seen.

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Three months after that, in October 2017, an Idaho conservation officer requested a search warrant for Crowns cellphone records. Then, in December, the Nevada and Idaho officers served the warrant at Crowns home, and reviewed his cellphone but found no information relating to the dead lion.

The officers said Crown became agitated and denied having any knowledge of killing a mountain lion in Nevada. He allowed them to inspect the contents of his freezers.
DENVER -- Newmont Mining Corp. and Goldcorp Inc. announced Tuesday that the government of Korea, through the Korea Fair Trade Commission, issued a letter stating that the proposed combination of the two companies is not in violation of the Monopoly Regulations and Fair Trade Act.

Earlier this month, the Canadian Competition Bureau issued a no action letter clearing the transaction under Canadian competition law. Newmont and Goldcorp continue cooperating with other regulatory agencies to secure the remaining approvals that are conditions to closing.

We continue making steady progress in securing the necessary approvals to close our transaction with Goldcorp in the second quarter as previously announced, said Gary Goldberg, Newmonts Chief Executive Officer. We also remain focused on systematically advancing our plans to ensure a safe and smooth combination after the shareholder votes in April. Once the transaction is complete, Newmont Goldcorp will be the worlds leading gold company and represent the best path to creating long-term value for our shareholders and other stakeholders without exposing them to unnecessary jurisdictional and other risks.

The companies said the pending combination of Newmont and Goldcorp will feature an unmatched portfolio of world-class operations, projects, reserves, exploration opportunities, and talent.

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SAN DIEGO, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Security On-Demand announced today that CRN  , a brand of The Channel Company , has named Security On-Demand to its 2019 Managed Service Provider (MSP) 500 list in the Security 100 category. This annual list recognizes North American solution providers with innovative approaches to managed services. These services help customers improve operational efficiencies, maximize return on IT investments, and continuously help them navigate the complexities of IT solutions.



We are honored to be recognized once again by CRN, commented Peter Bybee, CEO of Security On-Demand. As a managed security provider it is critical to keep up with todays cybersecurity threats and latest technologies. Our commitment to continual innovation and delivering quality service is what has fueled the companys success.

Capable MSPs enable companies to take their cloud computing to the next level, streamline spending, effectively allocate limited resources and navigate the vast field of available technologies, said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. The companies on CRNs 2019 MSP 500 list stand out for their innovative services, excellence in adapting to customers changing needs and demonstrated ability to help businesses get the most out of their IT investments.

The MSP500 list will be featured in the February 2019 issue of CRN and online at www.CRN.com/msp500 .

About Security On-Demand

Security On-Demand (SOD) provides 24x7 advanced cyber-threat detection services for businesses and government. SOD leverages a next generation cyber-threat analytics platform, ThreatWatch, that enables the detection of advanced and unknown cyber threats to protect brand value and reduce risk of data breach.

Headquartered in San Diego, California with R&D based in Warsaw Poland, SOD services and protects hundreds of brands globally and is the winner of multiple industry awards. SODs ThreatWatch platform reduces time to detection, lowers the cost of threat analysis by filtering out false positives and speeds the time to detection and remediation.

For more information about Security On-Demand, please visit www.securityondemand.com .

Follow Security On-Demand: Twitter | LinkedIn

About the Channel Company
This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 14 years and 30,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.
After many meetings and debates, the Chicago delegation succeeded in working with the New York United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 (UFT) to push the AFT to take stronger stands on charter school accountability and school closings  though many delegates from Chicago would have liked the language to have been even stronger.

Generally speaking, the New York delegation represented organizing charters as the best model for handling their role in reshaping unions, despite the fact that according to many reports few charter schools in New York have been organized as is the case in Chicago. This logic is the same touted by the Progressive Caucus of the AFT. The few that have been organized are a part of the UFT local though they have separate contracts negotiated with the help of UFT. The Chicago delegation reflection the mindset that allowing new charters to continue to proliferate while attempting to organize existing charters is an end game in which public schools and the union lose.



Jen Johnson, CTU, Local 1 in Substance




Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Campaign Launch of the ECPM

On the 20th of February, the European Christian Political Movement (ECPM) launched its campaign for the European elections. The ECPM is the only European political party with an explicit Christian profile. It presently has 18 member parties, 40 individual members (national and regional parliament members) and 30 associated organizations across Europe. To contribute to the well-being of the people in Europe, the ECPM unites parties and politicians around Christian values to generate political solutions to EUs key problems.

At the opening of the event, ECPM President and current MEP Branislav Skripek (Slovakia) stated: The original vision of the Christian founding fathers of the European project seems to have been forgotten. ECPM wishes to reapply the vision of the founders for the challenges of todays Europe. We, in ECPM, believe that the flourishing and developing of each human individual, created in the image of God, and the institution of the family based on marriage with openness to the formation of new generations, should be the ultimate goal of all policy. As ECPM, our core values are our strength: together we hope for and feel the responsibility to work towards a Europe in which life is valued and societies are fruitful so that it might be blessed with peace and stability for the generations to come.

The campaign slogan was presented: Strong Values, Strong Nations, Strong Europe. ECPM Vice-President George Rukhadze said: "The EU needs to be reformed in order to bring it back in line with its Christian roots. Too much power has been taken by the EU, we need Strong Values for Strong Nations for a Strong Europe". Moreover, our manifesto for the European elections was introduced. It includes priorities for the future MEPs who will represent ECPM in the next European Parliament:

A Europe of Human Dignity;

An Economy that Works for People and Planet;

Healthy Families and Healthy Marriages;

Freedom, Security and Stability;

Fighting Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking;

Reforming the European Union;

Preserving the Christian Culture and Heritage;

Several MEPs and candidates participated in a discussion on the manifesto: Marek Jurek (Poland), Peter van Dalen and Bert Jan Ruissen (Netherlands), Arne Gericke (Germany), Jean-Frederic Poisson (France), Ladislav Ilcic (Croatia), Goncalo Maria Pacheco de Camara Pereira (Portugal), Rebecca Dalli Gonzi (Malta) and other prominent candidates.

Statements from participants:

MEP Arne Gericke (Germany)

"Politics should be "Family First!" We have a lot of possibilities to support structures that support families. Also we need to support the development of family business, as "honorable servants" .

MEP Marek Jurek (Poland)

"The EU is about mutual relationships in the fields of cooperation and security, for example, but should also respect the sovereignty of the countries on other issues like family. For me, family is everything and it is where values are transferred to the next generation. We won't build a good Europe for our nations without promoting and respecting fundamental ethical principles and natural values. To ensure their inheritance we need a strong and active Christian opinion. That is our work."

MEP Peter van Dalen (The Netherlands)

"Collaboration Yes, Superstate No! We need to strengthen a number of collaborations on security and sustainable energy for example, but wanting to have a European army is a bad idea. When you believe in European politics with an open Bible, just vote for Christian politicians into the EP. Come over and support us."

For more information, please contact our Brussels office.

Email: office@ecpm.info
Number of registered IT entrepreneurs in Ukraine grows by 45% in past three years

At the same time, the total number of entrepreneurs fell by 8%, or 164,000, to 1.8 million people.

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Casper, Wyoming, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- While it may seem like a destination full of cowboys, wide-open spaces and national parks, theres more to Wyoming than meets the eye. Meet the city of Casper and its women. Modern-day trailblazers, the women who call Casper home are movers and shakers, business owners, moms and musicians. Theyre also part of the group of women who carry on the legacy of those who came before them and continue the work of upholding the invisible-yet-vital mantle of the Equality State.



In 1869, the Wyoming Territorial Legislature granted women the right to vote and became the first known territory in the free world to do so. In 2019, Wyoming is celebrating 150 years of womens suffragea full 51 years ahead of the 19th amendment.



"This is a monumental year for women everywhere, said Brook Kaufman, CEO of Visit Casper. Its amazing to think that 150 years ago, this wild place knew how important it was for women to be treated as equals in the state we call home.



Much of the womens suffrage movement in Wyoming took place in Laramie and Cheyenne, but today Wyomings second-largest city of Casper stands out as a place where women have found their distinct voices. Its also home to some of the areas most incredible history.



Located about four hours north of Denver on Interstate 25, Casper sits at a historic crossroads of the Oregon, California, Mormon and Pony Express trails and is home to incredible pioneer history. Sitting at the epicenter of it all is the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. Overlooking the city, visitors to the center can immerse themselves in interactive exhibits and learn more about the hundreds of thousands of pioneers that passed through this part of Wyoming.



One of the best ways to experience Casper, especially from a modern-day females point of viewis to get outside.



The North Platte River, one of the countrys premier blue-ribbon trout streams, runs through the heart of the city and provides anglers with access to some of the best fishing in the West, with popular locations that include Grey Reef and the Miracle Mile.



And while the fly-fishing industry tends to be male-dominated, women in Casper are making their mark on the fishing world, including Addie Dees, the manager for Ugly Bug Fly Shop and a fly-fishing guide for Crazy Rainbow Fly Fishing. Addie regularly guides guests on the North Platte River and is also a skilled teacher at the shops fly-tying classes.



Plus, to celebrate this years 150th anniversary, the North Platte Lodge is hosting a womens event August 22  August 25 that includes yoga, guided fly-fishing, nutritionist-inspired dinners and a cocktail clinic. The womens event is open to all experience levels of fly-fishing and will provide beginner and novice anglers with a chance to connect with their peers on the waters of the North Platte River.



Womens influence can also be found in some of the cultural offerings around the city, including at the Nicolaysen Art Museum and Backwards Distilling Company.



Ran by an all-female executive team, the NIC (as its commonly called by the locals) is celebrating the 2019 suffrage anniversary with four female-curated shows from Wyoming women throughout the year, with shows running from March until October. Plus, in 2020, the museums galleries will solely feature artwork from women.



Meanwhile, Caspers only distilleryBackwardsis led by Amber Pollock (who co-owns the distillery with her brother and parents). While Pollock calls Casper home, shes known and loved throughout the state for her commitment to creating custom cocktail menus from Casper-distilled spirits (made by Chad Pollock, her brother) and her drive to make something beautifulincluding a circus-themed tasting roomamong Wyomings rugged landscapes. The distillery celebrated their fourth anniversary in late 2018 and released their first-ever whiskey in January 2019. Pollock also credits Casper for the approach she and her family take in their work.



This community influenced me, said Pollock. Were all working for a common goal of making Casper a great place to be."



Pollocks commitment to the community is one thats shared by other female movers and shakersincluding Kim DeVore (the Senior Vice President, CFO and Founding Director at Jonah Bank of Wyoming), Brooke Latka (a Casper native and fiddle player for Chancey Williams and the Younger Brothers Band) and Diane McGinley (the Director of Operations at McGinley Orthopedic Innovations).



For many in Casper, its not surprising that the territorial legislature granted women the right to vote 150 years ago.Were empowered as a state, said DeVore. We rarely wait for others to do something first. 150 years ago, the people here acted like we do. They forged trails, they took chances. This is a legacy we should be incredibly proud of.



More information on the womens suffrage anniversary, and how to explore Casper and beyond, can be found at VisitCasper.com, while detailed itineraries can be accessed here and here.



About Visit Casper: Visit Casper is the official destination management organization for Natrona County and is dedicated to enhancing the countys economic base through tourism. Casper is known for world-class fly-fishing on the North Platte River; is the annual host for the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR); and has been named one of the top mountain towns in the country by Mens Journal. More information can be found at www.VisitCasper.com.



Editors Note: For more Casper story ideas or images, contact us at Media@VisitCasper.com.

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Analysts warn hryvnia may considerably weaken after elections in Ukraine

The hryvnia rate will depend on a number of factors, including further cooperation with the IMF.

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Ukraine's National Bank reschedules introduction of IBAN

The move is caused by the need for banks to adjust their remote customer service software.

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Ukraine's Agrarian Ministry raises forecast for grain exports in MY 2018-2019

Ukraine remains a stable and reliable partner and exporter of agricultural products.

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Sanctions by the United States against oil exporters, Iran and Venezuela, have contributed to the recent gains.

Oil inched down on Tuesday to extend losses of more than 3 percent from the previous session, easing after U.S. President Donald Trump called on OPEC to rein in its efforts to boost prices.

International Brent futures were at $64.66 a barrel at 0533 GMT, down 10 cents, or 0.2 percent, from their last close, Reuters said.

Brent, which plunged 3.5 percent on Monday, touched its lowest since February 14 on Tuesday at $64.32 a barrel.

Read alsoReuters: Oil prices dip as record U.S. exports undermine OPEC-led efforts to cut supply

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $55.21 per barrel, down 27 cents, or 0.5 percent.

Analysts said the United States, the world's biggest oil consumer, was keen to counter a recent rally in prices driven by major exporters trimming production. Brent prices gained 8.1 percent from February 8 to February 22.

Trump on Monday expressed concern about oil prices and repeated his previous calls on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to keep prices steady.

Analysts also noted that while Trump is attempting to ease prices lower, sanctions by the United States against oil exporters Iran and Venezuela have contributed to the recent gains and are providing a floor for prices.

But when Washington re-imposed sanctions against Iran's oil exports in November, it granted waivers to eight of Tehran's buyers to import some oil for 180 days, which ends in May this year.
Increased use of FIT could improve CRC screening rates, especially among vulnerable populations

Faecal immunochemical tests (FITs) are effective for screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) when used annually by average risk asymptomatic adults.

Because these at-home tests are easy-to-use, non-invasive, and inexpensive, adopting their use could improve lagging CRC screening rates, especially among vulnerable populations.

Findings from a meta-analysis are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force currently recommends CRC screening for adults aged 50 to age 75, without preferentially recommending one specific screening test over another.

Colonoscopy is considered to be the gold standard in the U.S., but several other countries use annual or biennial stool blood tests.

Despite colonoscopy effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, only about 65 percent of eligible U.S. adults get tested.

Adopting a FIT screening strategy could increase screening rates, but more information is needed about FIT performance for CRC detection.

Researchers from the Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University School of Medicine reviewed 31 studies involving 120,255 patients to summarise FIT performance for CRC, quantify FIT performance characteristics for colon polyps, and to identify factors affecting those characteristics.

They found that single-application FITs have moderate to high sensitivity and specificity for CRC, depending on the positivity threshold.

At a high specificity, FITs are moderately sensitive for CRC.

Although FITs are much less sensitive for advanced adenomas, these lesions rarely transition to cancer, suggesting an opportunity to detect this lesion with programmatic screening before they become cancer.

James Allison, MD, from the University of California, San Francisco and Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research laments the designation of colonoscopy as the "best/gold standard" screening test when there exists a paucity of research supporting that assertion or comparing colonoscopy to less invasive, cheaper tests.

He notes that some U.S. primary care physicians and many of their patients may be unaware that FITs are noninvasive, easy to prepare, and inexpensive and have effectiveness similar to that of colonoscopy when used in a consistent programmatic fashion to screen for CRC.

This is because the media and health systems continue to promote colonoscopy as the best test for CRC, even though U.S. CRC screening guidelines no longer promote this idea.

Dr. Allison suggests that physicians in the U.S. be educated about the advantages of FITs as screening tests for CRC and educate and advocate to increase screening rates.

He also suggests that changes to insurance coverage that could lead to many more of our vulnerable populations being successfully screened.

Source: American College of Physicians
When the foundations of Vietnam-North Korea friendship were laid

A strong foundation for friendly ties was laid by leaders of both countries, Ho Chi Minh and Kim Il-sung.

North Korean Premier Kim Il-sung and Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh are all smiles as the latter arrives on his first official visit to North Korea from July 8 to July 12, 1957.

Ho Chi Minh and Kim Il-sung at the Pyongyang Garment Factory. Kim Il-sung, grandfather of current North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, visited Vietnam in 1958 and 1964. He was the Premier of North Korea from 1948 to 1972 and its President from 1972 to 1994.

Ho Chi Minh and Kim Il-sung visit a farm in North Korea.

Ho Chi Minh and Kim Il-sung at the GangSon Steel Factory.

Ho Chi Minh says goodbye to Kim Il-sung and other officials in July 1957.

Kim Il-sung arrives in Hanoi, beginning his visit to Vietnam from November 28 to December 2, 1958. He was received by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Van Dong (standing in black). Thousands of Vietnamese citizens lined the streets to welcome the North Korean leader.

Ho Chi Minh receives Kim Il-sung at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, November 1958.



Kim Il-sung at the Nam Dinh Garment Factory in northern Vietnam. For both his visits to Vietnam, Kim Il-sung boarded an armored train to travel to the country, according to Yonhap. The train had its own conference rooms, bedrooms and acted as a mobile office. It had between 17 and 21 cars and a maximum speed of 60 kph. It also had a small helicopter for emergencies.

Ho Chi Minh and Kim Il-sung make a toast before a welcome feast.

Kim Il-sung and General Vo Nguyen Giap (second R) at an exhibition of photos from the famous Battle of Dien Bien Phu.
Vietnam opened to the world, and has gained its trust

Dang Hung Vo, former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment.

Before the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, I asked two questions of students at universities I work: "What do you think when Vietnam is chosen for the Trump-Kim summit ?" and "What are your feelings about our country after more than 30 years of Doi Moi (the economic renovation policy adopted in 1986).

My students were all born in the second half of the 90s, which means they are aged 19-23.

For the first question, even the youngest could answer that Vietnam had been through many fierce wars and has now presented an image of a peaceful land that can cultivate peace for other places.

The deepest answer is that Vietnamese have sent to other peoples a message of building and strengthening trust, and this latest event proves that we have truly gained the trust of others.

For the second question, every student talked about how they were born and raised in a period when the nation has developed in a stable manner and that almost all of their material and emotional needs are affordable.

Some of them said theyve heard that in the past, northerners once lived in difficulties as North Koreans do these days, and then Vietnam opened its doors to the world for economic reform and everything has changed for the better. They said that its hard for them to imagine the tough life that previous generations had been through.

They are right. Young people today can hardly picture the rough journey that Vietnam has taken to become what it is now. Like several other nations in the world, Vietnam used to be divided into two opposing sides like opposite magnetic dipoles that could never exist in parallel. Blood was shed for generations to make the nation reunite. And just when we thought that we were done with wars and could focus on building the nation, wars returned, with battles in the northern border, in the southwest and in the East Sea (known internationally as South China Sea).

The period between 1979 and 1985 saw the peak of our difficulties.

The wounds of war, which had yet to heal, got worse. The entire nation faced a serious food shortage. During that period, I saw groups of people from rural areas gathering in big cities, asking for help with official documents from their commune authorities. The only source of support Vietnam had back then were the communist states from the Eastern Bloc in Central and Eastern Europe, but that bloc was in financial crisis and on the verge of falling apart.

Vietnam was lonely.

Hatred from the wars was still there and former enemies could not easily become friends, and old friends were all busy handling their own troubles.

Our generation knows all the bitterness that life threw at us. Every family had to suffer poverty and hunger.

The collective housing area where I lived with my family, as a preferential treatment for teachers in those days was a group of huts built of bamboo on public land that was supposed to be used for farming on the outskirts of Hanoi.

A family lived in a hut of 10 square meters (12 square yards). We did not have enough electricity and most of the time, we had to use oil lamps. Some could afford themselves a radio, but it was a handmade affair, built with a ferrite rod and an inductor.

There was the "rice book," in which a familys monthly food ration was specified, but there were days we had no rice to buy, and people had to eat just millet instead. We were given coupons to buy meat, but most of the time, there was no meat available, just dried fish.

I was a teacher. My income could only afford a used military hammock. From that hammock, I made myself two trousers to show up properly in class. I even heard my students betting each other on how many trousers I had. One of them got an idea to find out the answer: Pretending to slip and push me into a pond. If I skipped class the next day, it meant that I had only one.

The salary of a teacher was not enough to meet my daily expenses. But I was lucky that some of my friends invited me to take extra classes, where I tutored students for the university entrance exams.

The 6th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam in 1986 when Vietnam decided to go on with Doi Moi. Photo by Vietnam News Agency

Born in 1974 and 1976, my two children grew up in poverty. When I could save something from my extra classes, I bought two hundred grams of meat, braising it as salty as I could so that we could preserve that meat for several days.

My first impression about Doi Moi was the removal of coupons and rice books, free trade in the local market and no ban on overseas trade. The market had a way to balance itself, moving naturally from suppliers to those having demand. Every family was "over the moon," free from the daily worry of having no rice or meat to buy. Our meals got more complete each and every day.

Step by step, the state made key decisions to overcome difficulties. In 1986, Vietnam decided to implement Doi Moi with three major economic programs for food, consumer goods and exports. In 1991, it decided to adopt a state-managed multi-market mechanism. In 1994, it decided to industrialize and modernize the country. Throughout, the process was underpinned by the policy to integrate, widely and deeply. Gradually, Vietnam became an active member of the international community.

From 1990 onwards, cultural life became an essential need. Middleclass families would have televisions, video players and motorbikes ... Foreign movies were broadcast at state agencies and public cultural venues. Later, European technology was imported into Vietnam, and state agencies were the first to be equipped with computers.

In order for all this change to happen, none of the initial decisions were easy to make, given the orientation of subsidy economics. For example, the policy of allocating land of cooperatives to households for long-term use was a difficult decision as it all went against the rules of collective economy.

During this period, Vietnam had sent tens of thousands of workers to the Central and Eastern Europe. They became the major supply source of consumer goods. I have met and talked with many of those laborers when doing scientific research in Poland. They worked eight hours per day in factories and spent the rest of the day buying goods to send back to Vietnam. They led a tough life in Europe only to ensure a decent life for their families in Vietnam. And it was not sweat and tears that they shed; sometimes, they paid with their lives.

I could go on and on with tragedies of those workers in Europe but I would like to stop and label them as "positive tragedies" because it was that suffering that took our people to a higher level.

And today, decades after we stepped out into the world, we have gained the world's trust.

Young people wave flags, of North Korea, U.S. and Vietnam, on the street in Hanoi, February 26, 2019 as they welcome U.S. President Donald Trump coming for the second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Photo by VnExpress/Huu Khoa

Our old friend, North Korea, believes us; and on the other side of the Korean peninsula, South Korea shares that trust. The U.S., once a foe, now looks at Vietnam as a friend. Trust is the foundation that can sustain any relationship, from business to politics, national to international, society to families.

Vietnam took on the path of internationalization much sooner than other countries in the same situation after realizing that globalization was an inevitable trend, although a lot more still needs to be done.

Lets imagine, if in 1986, wed decided to close our doors instead of opening them. What would it be like for us, now?

A friend of mine keeps complaining about there being too many issues to deal with. Why cant Vietnam reform more thoroughly, he asks. I tell him that everything needs time to change and for that change to happen, it needs contributions from both him and me. And you.

*Dang Hung Vo is a Vietnamese scientist and former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment. The opinions expressed are his own.

Dang Hung Vo
US President Donald Trump tweets thanks for Hanoi reception

U.S. President Donald Trump (R) is greeted by senior officials at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, February 26, 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Thanh

"Just arrived in Vietnam. Thank you to all of the people for the great reception in Hanoi. Tremendous crowds, and so much love!" he wrote on his Twitter account.

U.S. President Donald Trump says thanks on Twitter.

The tweet received about 10,700 likes and over 2,000 shares minutes after it was posted.

Trump landed in Hanois Noi Bai International Airport Tuesday night on his Air Force One for the second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which starts Wednesday.

He will stay in the capital citys JW Mariott Hotel for the duration of the two-day summit.

US President Donald Trump tweets thanks for Hanoi reception Tong thong My Donald Trump toi Viet Nam

Anh Ngoc
North Korean leader thanks Vietnam for heartwarming welcome

Kim Jong-un waves as he leaves Dong Dang railway station in Lang Son Province for Hanoi, February 26, 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy

The armored train carrying Kim and his entourage reached the Dong Dang railway station in the northern mountainous province of Lang Son around 8 a.m. after a long trip from Pyongyang.

He was accompanied by Kim Yong-chol, a key negotiator in talks with the U.S., and his sister Kim Yo-jong.

"I had gone through a journey of more than 3,000 kilometers to Vietnam and thank the country for a warm and enthusiastic welcome," Kim said, as described by Minister, Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung, who greeted the North Korean leader in Dong Dang.

Kim and his entourage arrived at the five-star Melia Hotel on Ly Thuong Kiet Street in Hanoi's Hoan Kiem District around 11 a.m.

He will meet with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump on Wednesday and Thursday. Their second summit takes place in Hanoi eight months after the first one in Singapore last June. At the historic meeting, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader, both sides pledged to work towards denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Nearly 3,000 international reporters from 200 news agencies in 40 countries and territories in the world have flocked to Vietnam to cover the meeting alongside around 550 Vietnamese reporters.

Later, Kim is scheduled to pay his first official visit to Vietnam at the invitation of Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong.

North Korea was one of the earliest countries to establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam in 1950, after China and the Soviet Union.

It also sent hundreds of military pilots to Vietnam to support the country during the Vietnam War, trained hundreds of students in the 1960s and 1970s, and also supported Vietnam with cement, steel, fabrics, medicine and fertilizers.

Between 1994 and 2012, Vietnam also sent multiple rice donations as well as cash relief to North Korea.

Vietnam-North Korea relations have been established and cemented at the highest level. In 1957, President Ho Chi Minh visited North Korea and the late North Korean Premier Kim Il-sung visited Vietnam twice.

Hoang Thuy
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits Hanoi embassy

Hanoi police officers stand guard on streets near the North Korea Embassy of Vietnam on February 26, 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Tat Dinh

At 5 p.m., he went from the Melia Hotel in Hanois Ly Thuong Kiet Street to the embassy on Cao Ba Quat Street in his Mercedes S600 Pullman Guard. The car reached the embassy in 10 minutes.

Kim left the embassy in about an hour.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in front of the North Korean embassy in Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Huu Khoa

Hundreds of Hanoi police are stationed on numerous streets surrounding the embassy, including Dien Bien Phu, Tran Phu and Hoang Dieu. 30 police officers are also posted in front of the embassy gate.

Kim Jong-un will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump tomorrow and the day after. He arrived in Hanoi this morning to a warm welcome at the Dong Dang Railway Station in the northern province of Lang Son. He had taken an armored train to travel nearly 4,000km from Pyongyang, through China.

Trump is expected to arrive in the capital tonight.

The two-day Trump-Kim summit is expected to discuss ways to improve bilateral relationship and establishing long-term peace on the Korean Peninsula, including denuclearization and returning the remains of fallen soldiers during the Korean War.

Staff reporters
Atlanta, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gray Television, Inc. (Gray) (NYSE: GTN) announced its appointment of two new leaders for the television stations it is acquiring from United Communications, Inc. (United). With this announcement, Gray fills both open positions with managers who have experience in small and mid-size television markets.



In Watertown, New York (DMA 178), Gray appointed Eric Krebs as the General Manager of WWNY-TV (CBS) and WNYF-CD (FOX). Mr. Krebs has spent his entire professional career in television broadcasting and has held several positions in multiple markets over the years. For nearly the past two years, Eric has served as the General Manager / General Sales Manager for Grays Charlottesville television stations, and he was the stations GSM for the previous six years.

In Mankato, Minnesota (DMA 199), Gray named Ed Woloszyn as the General Manager / General Sales Manager for KEYC-TV (CBS/FOX). Ed started his career at Blair Rep Firm in Chicago. Thereafter, he worked in local television sales in Grand Rapids, Michigan; Quad Cities, Illinois-Iowa; Madison, Wisconsin; and Eau Claire/La Crosse, Wisconsin. He has served as the General Sales Manager for KEYC-TV since September 2016.

Both appointments will be effective on March 1st, when Gray commences operating the stations subject to Uniteds ultimate control, under a standard pre-closing operating agreement.

About Gray:

Gray owns and/or operates television stations and leading digital properties in 91 television markets, including the first or second highest rated television station in 85 markets. Upon closing of the pending transaction with United, we will own 67 number-one rated television stations in 93 markets covering approximately 24 percent of US television households. Our television stations broadcast almost 400 separate programming streams, including nearly 150 affiliates of the CBS/NBC/ABC/FOX networks. We also own video program production, marketing, and digital businesses including Raycom Sports, Tupelo-Raycom, and RTM Studios, the producer of PowerNation programs and content. For further information, please visit www.gray.tv.

Attachments
Hanoians welcome President Trump with flags, flowers and art

Women in traditional dress ao dai holding flowers and Vietnamese flags wait to welcome U.S. President Donald Trump.

HCMC-based artist Hung Cuu Long displays his painting of Donald Trump near the JW Marriott Hotel in Nam Tu Liem District. The president will stay at the Marriott for the duration of the summit.

"I painted this in a week. I hope I can see with my own eyes the man who leads the White House," Long said.

More women holding Vietnamese and U.S. flags wait to cheer Donald Trump.

People wait on Do Duc Duc Street to receive President Trump.

Several children are members of Trump's reception committee.

Quynh Chi, 3, holds an American flag as she and her mother wait to see the Donald Trump motorcade pass Tran Duy Hung Street.

People stand behind the yellow tape as they wait for Donald Trump to pass by.

Donald Trump arrives at the Noi Bai International Airport Tuesday night.

Hundreds gather on both sides of Tran Duy Hung Street to catch a glimpse of Donald Trumps motorcade.

The Trump-Kim summit, held February 27-28 in Hanoi, is expected to discuss ways to improve bilateral relationship and establish long-term peace on the Korean Peninsula, including denuclearization and returning the remains of fallen soldiers during the Korean War.

Pham Du, Phong Vinh, Ngoc Thanh
Hanoi cafe to provide free egg coffees to international reporters at summit

Egg coffee is one of the best-known beverages in Hanoi and can be found at Giang Cafe. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy

Giang Cafe, which has gained global fame for the drink, will serve 3,000 cups to the international media center at the Vietnam-Soviet Friendship Cultural Palace.

Vu Khac Son, a manager of the cafe on Nguyen Huu Huan Street in Hoan Kiem District, said 1,000 cups would be available daily from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. from February 26 to 28.

Some 3,000 journalists from all over the world have arrived in Hanoi to cover the historic meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.

Hanoi cafe to provide free egg coffees to international reporters at summit The best place to find egg coffee in Hanoi

Egg coffee was invented by Giang, who was a bartender at the Metropole Hotel during the French colonial era. He later took cappuccino, added whisked egg yolk and gave it a Vietnamese twist to create the 70-year-old beverage, which has received many plaudits from gourmets around the world.

The drink starts with a layer of condensed milk at the bottom -- the Vietnamese twist -- over which is poured strong black coffee. Whisked egg yolk is placed on top. The three main elements create a mixture that combines sweet, bitter and fatty flavors.

In 2017 British newspaper The Telegraph named Hanoi one of the worlds 17 greatest cities for food and recommended the egg coffee as a must-try drink.

For Vietnams tourism industry, the Trump-Kim summit is a "historic opportunity" for tourism promotion since it is at the center of global attention.

The Vietnam National Tourism Administration Monday announced that international correspondents covering the summit would be taken for free to popular tourist destinations in northern Vietnam, including Ninh Binh and the world-famous Ha Long Bay.

Tam Linh
Behind the scenes as Hanoi dolls up for Trump-Kim summit

On some central streets in Hanoi on Monday, hundreds of people were busy adding finishing touches to decorations that would welcome the arrival of U.S president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The two leaders will arrive in the city today.

Sticking dyed silk flowers on bamboo sticks and then sticking them into sponge boards is a painstaking job, but the workers were in good humor as they did it, racing against time.

The silk flowers were dyed in purple, white, red and other colors as needed. The work of creating floral flags of the U.S. and North Korea and completing other decorations had to be done by midnight of February 25-26.

At the roundabout near the Chuong Duong bridge, east of downtown Hanoi, skillful decorators were assigned to craft the flags of the U.S. and North Korea with silk flowers.

The workers smiled and chatted as they worked late into the night.

On Hung Vuong Street near the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in central Hanoi, dozens of workers were assigned to clean the street and repaint walls and nearby buildings.

The workers also installed more light bulbs on the street.

As requested by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, fresh flowers were placed on sidewalks.

On Hoang Van Thu street, workers created the national flag of North Korea with silk flowers.

The sidewalk was filled with many people doing different jobs, including drawing the flags design, sorting and sticking dyed flowers on to bamboo sticks, sticking the flower sticks to sponge boards and ensuring the correct image was created.

In front of the State Bank of Vietnam, more than 400,000 silk roses were arranged to form the North Korean and U.S. national flags.

The workers also happily took photographs after completing their art works.

The second U.S. - North Korea summit will take place on February 27-28 in Hanoi. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has arrived at Dong Dang station in the northern Lang Son Province after his journey by train from Pyongyang to Vietnam. U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to arrive tonight.

Huu Khoa
The 015 Tran Hung Dao, a Russian built Gepard-class frigate, docks at Yokosuka port of Japan on September 27, 2018. Photo by Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Russia will continue to supply modern weapons to Vietnam towards fortifying national sovereignty and security.

"Defense cooperation has always played an important role in our relations. We are ready to continue fulfilling Vietnams need for modern weapons to help ensure the countrys security and protect its sovereignty," Russian News Agency quoted him as saying Saturday.

Russia and Vietnam had also been effectively cooperating in cybersecurity, Lavrov noted.

Russia has been a major provider of military hardware for Vietnam for decades.

In a recent purchase, Vietnam inked a deal worth $2 billion in 2009 to buy six Kilo-class diesel-electric submarines to strengthen its maritime forces. The contract also includes training for Vietnamese crew in Russia.

The fifth submarine was delivered to Vietnam in February 2016 and the sixth one arrived at the Cam Ranh Port in the central province of Khanh Hoa in January 2017.

Also in 2017, Vietnam received the final two of four Russian-built Gepard-class frigates it had ordered earlier. The first two were delivered in 2011.
At over VND3 trillion ($129.21 million), foreign buying in the local bourses from February 1-25 is three times the January figure.

Foreign investment since the beginning of the year has been worth over VND4.3 trillion ($185.16 million).

They have been focusing on blue chips like Hoa Phat (HPG), one of Vietnams leading steel producers. The company, ignored for the last several months, returned to the portfolio of foreign investors and saw millions of shares traded every day in February.

In the 11 sessions after the market reopened February 11 after the nine-day Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday from Feb 2-10, foreigners bought 20 million shares for more than VND600 billion ($25.8 million). A month earlier they had been net sellers of over 10 million shares.

Other blue chips like Vietnams biggest dairy company Vinamilk (VNM), private conglomerate Masan Group (MSN) and the biggest bank by assets Vietcombank (VCB) have all run up quite sharply as a result of buying by foreign investors.

The benchmark VN-Index has gained more than 100 points this year, equivalent to over 11 percent. On Monday it closed at 994.43 points, within touching distance of the psychological 1,000-point mark.

Foreigners have played a significant role in the recovery, having invested over VND4.3 trillion ($185.16 million) in the period, almost half of it since Tet.

According to Rong Viet Securities Company, foreign investment this year could actually go down as a result of the reduction in monetary easing and fiscal stimulus across the globe this year, meaning there is less foreign cash available to invest in marginal markets such as Vietnam.

But it also points out that Vietnam is on the verge of being upgraded to emerging market, which could be a positive sign for foreign investors.
Most Vietnamese banks fall short of international capital adequacy norms and have to focus on attracting foreign capital this year, Moodys has said.

The credit rating agency said in a release Monday that "the underdevelopment of the domestic capital markets" means the banks would have to look to foreign investors to meet the capital requirement of 8 percent of risk-weighted assets to cover operational risks.

Raising capital has been a struggle for Vietnamese banks in recent years. Major state-owned banks such as BIDV and Vietinbank have for long been making plans to increase charter capital but in vain.

BIDV, the second largest listed bank, has had charter capital of nearly VND34.19 trillion ($1.46 billion) unchanged since 2015.

Last November it planned to sell a 17.65 stake to South Koreas KEB Hana Bank to increase it to over VND40.22 trillion ($1.73 billion), but the deal has not been consummated.

Vietinbank, the fourth largest listed bank, has seen its capital remain unchanged since 2014 at VND37.23 trillion ($1.59 billion).

Only Vietcombank, the largest listed bank in the country, last month raised VND6.2 trillion ($265.86 million) from selling a 3 percent stake to foreign investors, as part of its plan to ultimately sell 10 percent.

BIDV and Vietinbank had offered to pay its largest shareholder, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), the previous years dividends in stocks and not cash to increase their capital, but the central bank refused saying it needed the cash.

Moodys added that the banks' capitalization will strengthen this year because of stronger profitability and stable credit growth.

It said that Vietnamese banks last year achieved a higher aggregate return on assets for a second year running, registering a rise of 1.1 percent from 0.9 percent in 2017.

Aggregate net income for the banks rose 35 percent to VND70 trillion ($3 billion) in 2018 from the previous year, it said.

"For 2019, Vietnamese banks that Moody's rates will achieve a further improvement in profitability, again because of wider net interest spreads and lower credit costs," said Rebaca Tan, a Moody's analyst.

"Credit growth will stay stable over the same period because of tighter control by the State Bank of Vietnam, and asset quality will improve further, as the banks continue cleaning up their balance sheets."
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will meet face-to-face in Hanoi on Wednesday and Thursday, eight months after their historic summit in Singapore in June, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader, at which they pledged to work towards denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Trump will not pay a state visit to Vietnam on this occasion, but will meet with Vietnamese top officials to discuss bilateral trade and other "important matters," Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung told the press on Monday.

This will be Trump's second trip to Vietnam, after the first in November 2017 when he attended the APEC summit in Da Nang and paid a state visit to Hanoi.

Before leaving the U.S., Trump had tweeted: "I will be leaving for Hanoi, Vietnam early tomorrow for a summit with Kim Jong-un of North Korea where we both expect a continuation of the progress made at first Summit in Singapore, Denuclearization?"
Kim is scheduled to be in Vietnam for his official first visit to the country and the second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi.

He will be accompanied by Kim Yong-chol, who has been a key negotiator in talks with the U.S., and Kim Yo Jong, the leaders sister.

North Koreas Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) had confirmed Sunday that Kim Jong-un had boarded a train from Pyongyang to begin the journey to Vietnam on Saturday.

Over the past days, security has been tightened to the highest level at the railway station on the Chinese border which is now closed to welcome the North Korean leaders arrival.

Trump and Kim will meet face-to-face in Hanoi on Wednesday and Thursday, eight months after their historic summit in Singapore in June, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader, at which they pledged to work towards denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Vietnams Foreign Ministry announced Saturday that Kim Jong-un will pay an official visit to Vietnam in the coming days at the invitation of Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong.
PORTLAND, Ore., Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via OTC PR WIRE -- JetBlack Corp. (OTC: JTBK) (the company) continues to expand its cannabis presence in Oregon. The company is in discussions to acquire more Marijuana Licenses. The company anticipates to sign an agreement to begin the transfer of a Tier 1 Marijuana Producer License soon. The company is also in discussions this week to acquire a vertical set of licenses in Oregon which include retail. The company can not guarantee success at acquiring the licenses or approval from OLCC for the transfer. Although, the company is optimistic it will be successful.



About

JetBlack Corp. through its family of subsidiaries operates in the emerging Cannabis Industry. Supreme Genetics LLC will operate out of the newly acquired Portland, Oregon location. The location is 12,400 square feet and has a Tier 1 Marijuana Producer license pending approval. Supreme Genetics will focus on genetics and high quality craft products.

In addition the company has formed CenAviv LLC, which will operate out of the Portland location as well. CenAviv is in the process of applying for processing and wholesale licenses. The company will focus on high quality edibles and pharmaceutical grade formulations. CenAviv is planning on creating a sterile lab space and commercial kitchen in the Portland location. The company has secured a long term lease on the space.

In addition, This Budz For You Farms LLC is in the process of transferring locations and ownership with OLCC. The company is in the process of building out the new location in Hillsboro, Oregon. Budz is a Tier 1 Producer and has applied for wholesale and processing licenses as well for the Hillsboro location. The location is under a lease agreement.

The company has formed a subsidiary in Washington State, Top Tier Science LLC. Top Tier Science will be managing a Tier 1 Producer Processor in Washington State. The company is in the process of finalizing the management agreements.

The company has decided to not proceed with the Reg 1-A filing for various reasons. The company is looking for non-dilutive financing and can not guarantee success at raising capital for the above projects.

More information including pictures of our locations can be found at our website www.jetblackcorp.com

Disclaimer:

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release are forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward- looking statements can be identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "potential," "continue" or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties, and there are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors, risks and uncertainties include market risks associated with our business, the inability to raise enough capital to complete our business, economic conditions and increasing competition. Investors should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Company's control which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects the Company's current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.



Source:

JetBlack IR Department

(888) 611-5825

info@jetblackcorp.com
The armored train carrying Kim Jong-un and his entourage reached Dong Dang station in Lang Son Province Tuesday morning after a long trip of 4,500 km. He left in a car for Hanoi at around 8:30 a.m.

Kim is scheduled to be in Vietnam for his official first visit to the country and the second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi.

He will be accompanied by Kim Yong-chol, who has been a key negotiator in talks with the U.S., and Kim Yo Jong, the leaders sister.

North Koreas Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Sunday that Kim Jong-un had boarded a train from Pyongyang to begin the journey to Vietnam on Saturday.

Over the past days, security has been tightened to the highest level at the railway station on the Chinese border which is now closed to welcome the North Korean leaders arrival.

Trump and Kim will meet face-to-face in Hanoi on Wednesday and Thursday, eight months after their historic summit in Singapore in June, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader, at which they pledged to work towards denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Vietnams Foreign Ministry announced Saturday that Kim Jong-un will pay an official visit to Vietnam in the coming days at the invitation of Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong.




A new national Gallup poll shows Trump underwater in every single state he lost in 2016 but also underwater in 13 states he won in 2016! His job approval is between 49 and 40% in Arizona (43%), Texas (41%), Louisiana (49%), Florida (43%), Georgia (44%), North Carolina (45%), Pennsylvania, Ohio (48%), Indiana (48%), Michigan (42%), Wisconsin (42%), Iowa (45%) and Nebraska (49%). Two other states have Trump at a 50% approval rating, which says to me that if Bernie runs an effective campaign based on Medicare-For-All and the other key points in his platform, Democrats could see flips in South Carolina and Kansas to boot, with Montana, Idaho and Oklahoma (each at 51%) worth going after as well.





Politico about the realization among Republican donors that who the Democrats nominate. They worry that there's no strategy to win reelection and wonder how he intends to prevail again in the Rust Belt states that voted for him in 2016, but where Democrats performed strongly in last year's midterms. But there are also concerns about whether the president's fundraising apparatus is up to the task, and whether Trump will trample on any strategy or message the campaign does develop, as he frequently does...Trumps strategy in the midterms was mostly confined to rallying his base at raucous rallies in states that backed him for president, while largely ignoring moderates and independents." Yesterday Anita Kumar and Maggie Severns reported forabout the realization among Republican donors that Trump is more than likely to lose in 2020 , regardless ofthe Democrats nominate. They worry that there's no strategy to win reelection and wonder how he intends to prevail again in the Rust Belt states that voted for him in 2016, but where Democrats performed strongly in last year's midterms. But there are also concerns about whether the president's fundraising apparatus is up to the task, and whether Trump will trample on any strategy or message the campaign does develop, as he frequently does...Trumps strategy in the midterms was mostly confined to rallying his base at raucous rallies in states that backed him for president, while largely ignoring moderates and independents."





By now, you've probably heard that 58 former national security officials-- from both parties-- released a declaration that challenges Trumps national emergency proclamation to spend billions of dollars Congress hasn't appropriated to build his vanity wall. There are even some former Trump Regime officials, including former ambassadors to Mexico and Panama, the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, and Assistant Secretary for International Engagement at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. They wrote that they "support the Presidents power to mobilize the Executive Branch to respond quickly in genuine national emergencies" but state that "under no plausible assessment of the evidence is there a national emergency today that entitles the President to tap into funds appropriated for other purposes to build a wall at the southern border."

 Illegal border crossings are at near forty-year lows;

 There is no documented terrorist or national security emergency at the southern border;

 There is no emergency related to violent crime at the southern border;

 There is no human or drug trafficking emergency that can be addressed by a wall at the southern border;

 This proclamation will only exacerbate the humanitarian concerns that do exist at the southern border;

 Redirecting funds for the claimed national emergency will undermine U.S. national security and foreign policy interests;

 There is no basis for circumventing the appropriations process with a declaration of a national emergency at the southern border; and

 The situation at the border does not require the use of the armed forces, and a wall is unnecessary to support the use of the armed forces.

Meanwhile 23 Republican former senators and congressmembers signed an open letter to current Republican members of Congress, urging them to to honor their pledges to protect and defend the Constitution by voting against Trump's Nazi-tinged fake national emergency. "It has always been," they wrote, "a Republican fundamental principle that no matter how strong our policy preferences, no matter how deep our loyalties to presidents or party leaders, in order to remain a constitutional republic we must act within the borders of the Constitution. Our oath is to put the country and its Constitution above everything, including party politics or loyalty to a president."

We offer two arguments against allowing a president-- any president, regardless of party-- to circumvent congressional authority. One is the constitutional placing of all lawmaking power in the hands of the peoples representatives. Article 1 of the Constitution, which vests the legislative branch with specific powers, states in section 9: No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law. The power of the purse rests with Congress because it is comprised of 535 representatives of the taxpayer and is the most direct connection between those being governed and those governing. If you allow a president to ignore Congress, it will be not your authority but that of your constituents that is deprived of the protections of true representative government.



The second argument goes directly to the question each of you must face: how much are you willing to undermine both the Constitution and the Congress in order to advance a policy outcome that by all other legitimate means is not achievable? The current issue-- a wall on our southern border-- has gone through the process put in place by the Constitution. It has been proposed by the President, it has been debated by Congress, and the representatives of the people allocated funding at a level deemed appropriate by Congress. We understand that there are many Members of Congress who disagree with the final funding compromise reached by a bipartisan group of legislators. To you, we ask this question: what will you do when a president of another party uses the precedent you are establishing to impose policies to which you are unalterably opposed? There is no way around this difficulty: what powers are ceded to a president whose policies you support may also be used by presidents whose policies you abhor.





Ro Khanna (D-CA) went quite a bit further than any of these Republicans would ever go. He cautioned the Pentagon to be careful about following Trump down an un-Constitutional rabbit hole. In a statement yesterday, Khanna said that he "strongly cautions Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford against violating the clear terms of the national emergency statute (10 U.S. Code  2808 ) in the 1976 National Emergencies Act (PL 94-412). This administration would violate this statute if the proposed $3.6 billion were diverted for an expansion of the border wall. The national emergency statute only authorizes the Department of Defense (DoD) to divert funds for usage in the U.S. for the purpose of enhancing the use of military facilities on property owned by DoD. It does not authorize the diversion of funds to property owned by other branches of the U.S. government, which in this instance, would be the case. Additionally, the construction of the wall requires seizure of property owned by private citizens and Native American tribes. As made clear by the Insurrection Act and Posse Comitatus, this statute prohibits the president from using the military to enforce domestic law. The Congress, which is given the power of the purse by our Founding Fathers, appropriated these funds solely for military construction and family housing funding-- not a border wall. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of Rep. Joaquin Castros House Joint Resolution 46, and I will strongly support and vote for it to terminate the Presidents manufactured 'national emergency' and prevent our Defense Departments money from illegally being spent on an unnecessary and ineffective border wall."

The Bulwark, a right-wing, anti-Trump neoCon website, assert that "this should not be a difficult vote for Republicans, especially those who (1) were outraged by President Obamas use of his executive powers, (2) care about the Constitutions system of checks and balances, (3) wish to protect Congresss Article I powers, and (4) recognize the dangerous precedent that the declaration of emergency creates for future presidents...Trump will veto the congressional action, but even if the votes to override arent there, it is right and proper to put our elected officials on record at this moment of truth. They will have to choose whether they are willing to cross this red line for a fictional emergency and an imaginary wall. We hope that this will be the moment when senators such as Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, Marco Rubio, and Ron Johnson put their constitutional obligations ahead of their party loyalties. But all members of Congress take the same oath of office (see Title 5, Section 3331 of the United States Code): The House is slated to vote today and McTurtle will stall for a couple weeks before allowing a vote. In an editorial at, a right-wing, anti-Trump neoCon website, assert that "this should not be a difficult vote for Republicans, especially those who (1) were outraged by President Obamas use of his executive powers, (2) care about the Constitutions system of checks and balances, (3) wish to protect Congresss Article I powers, and (4) recognize the dangerous precedent that the declaration of emergency creates for future presidents...Trump will veto the congressional action, but even if the votes to override arent there, it is right and proper to put our elected officials on record at this moment of truth. They will have to choose whether they are willing to cross this red line for a fictional emergency and an imaginary wall. We hope that this will be the moment when senators such as Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, Marco Rubio, and Ron Johnson put their constitutional obligations ahead of their party loyalties. But all members of Congress take the same oath of office (see Title 5, Section 3331 of the United States Code):

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

"This is their moment," wrote the editors, "to live up to that oath." My personal favorite scenario would have Martha McSally (R-AZ) crossing the aisle to vote for the Constitution, while Kyrsten Sinema, the most useless Trump-Dem in the Senate crossing in the other direction to vote with McTurtle. She should also announce she's switching parties at that moment, which won't cause Schumer to give a second thought about recruiting far right-wing Democrats, but will at least give activists a weapon to clobber Schumer with for the rest of his miserable career.

UPDATE: Green New Deal




NY Times published a piece by Catie Edmondson and Emily Cochrane, Early Monday morning, thepublished a piece by Catie Edmondson and Emily Cochrane, In Conservative Districts, Democrats Have To Answer For Party's Left Wing , that gets off on the wrong foot right from the very start, describing reactionary Utah Blue Dog Ben McAdams as a "moderate." He isn't.





Edmondson and Cochrane started their tale in Nephi, Utah, a small city of less than 6,000 people in Juab County, western Utah. It's part of McAdam's newly won congressional district. In 2016 Democrats there went overwhelmingly for Bernie-- 55 (77.5%) to 16 (22.5%) and Trump came in second (with 14% of GOP votes) behind Ted Cruz 647 to 118. In the general election Trump triumphed in Juab County with 2,759 votes (67.7%) to 742 votes (18.2%) for independent Evan McMullin and 436 votes for Hillary (10.7%). Not exactly a Democratic Party powerhouse county. Senator Mike Lee (R) was reelected with 85.7% of Juab's vote and Governor Gary Herbert (R) got 74.6% of the Juab vote. Last year, Mitt Romney won 80% of the Juab general election vote and Ben McAdams, the GOP-lite Blue Dog was creamed in the Juab County portion of the district, which gave GOP incumbent Mia Love a mind-boggling R+59 share of the county's vote, her biggest percentage of any of the district's 4 counties.





Last week, in Nephi, the The Times reported that McAdams "was grilled by constituents about the 'socialism' and 'anti-Semitism' that they saw coming out of the new Democratic House. 'How long do you intend to ride that train with those people?' one Utahan asked." McAdams is barely a Democrat at all. He immediately joined both the New Dems and Blue Dogs and hasn't been voting with Democrats on the crucial roll calls. He's already distinguished himself as aggressively anti-progressive. And he's hardly the only conservative freshman being attacked, even though they've abandoned their party's positions.

In Michigan, Representative Haley Stevens was asked about her ability to counter what one voter deemed the bigotry of some of her freshman colleagues-- a concern fueled partly by remarks from her counterpart in nearby Detroit, Rashida Tlaib-- and the negative attitude they bring to Democrats.



And on a rainy Saturday in Spotsylvania County, Va., one woman stood up in a town hall to remind Representative Abigail Spanberger that while she was the first Democrat to hold that seat in nearly 50 years, the majority of the rural enclave had voted Republican.



Since the Democrats are now the party of death and taxes, the woman said, as Democratic supporters scoffed and grumbled, just how do you propose to effectively represent the taxpayers of Spotsylvania?

Stevens is also a New Dem and Spanberger, like McAdams, joined both the New Dems and the Blue Dogs. Stevens, who ran as a progressive, is tied with 10 other New Dems as the 99th most progressive member of Congress. Spanberger ran as a conservative and is tied for the 176th most progressive member, already sporting an "F" grade. So does McAdams, who's tied with 4 other Dems as the 227th most progressive. Only 5 extremely right wing Democrats have worse voting records that McAdams. He's already on the watch-list for Democrats likely to switch parties at some point. Needless to say, none of them back Medicare-For-All, the Green New Deal or any other progressive initiatives.





Conventional wisdom-- happily regurgitated by the two non-critical thinking journalist-- is that McAdams and Spanberger are "moderates." Stevens is a moderate; McAdams and Spanberger are conservatives. assert that it was the conservatives who "secured the partys House majority."













The DCCC maneuvered to get them the nominations and then supported them. There's no reason to claim that progressives wouldn't have won those anti-Trump independent voters just as easily, just as Mike Levin did in CA-49 . Overall, the DCCC adamantly refused to support progressives. They spent almost all of their money on conservative candidates. These are 5 Blue Dog-backed candidates from last year and what the DCCC + Pelosi's SuperPAC, End Citizens United and the Patriot Majority USA dark money SuperPAC spent on each. The percentage was their share of the vote:

 Anthony Brindisi- (Blue Dog-NY)- $5,403,585 (50.9)

 Mikie Sherrill (Blue Dog-NJ)- $2,819,952 (56.8%)

 Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA)- $2,120,805 (50.4%)

 Xochitl Torres Small (Blue Dog-NM)- $1,915,894 (50.9%)

 Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)- $889,742 (50.1%)

OK... and these are 5 progressive candidates the DCCC and their satellite money organizations refused to help flip red seats but who came close. The percentage is the win number for the Republican:

 J.D. Scholten (IA-04-- Steve King)- ZERO (50.4%)

 Kara Eastman (NE-02-- Don Bacon)- $90,000 (51.0%)

 Nate McMurray (NY-27-- Chris Collins)- ZERO (49.1%)

 Mike Siegel (TX-10-- Michael McCaul)- ZERO (50.9%)

 Sri Kulkarni (TX-22-- Pete Olson)- ZERO (51.4%)

None of that is part of the Edmondson and Cochrane Times story. They're trying to prove the conventional wisdom that Democrats won't maintain their House majority next year if they lose the red-leaning districts like McAdams' and Spanberger's and that it's all Ocasio's, Tlaib's and Omar's fault (for standing up so aggressively for the Democratic values and agenda that motivate the party's activist base). So should the Democratic party jettison these values and forget about this agenda to better cater to conservatives who are embarrassed by Trump? That's certainly what the Blue Dogs, New Dems, No Labels and Problem Solvers folks would love.

The Times was publishing their corporatist perspective on the Democratic Party, The intercept published an essay by Eoin Higgins about what Democratic activists-- not the Republicans and Republ;ican-leaning voters The Times reported on-- are saying about At the same timewas publishing their corporatist perspective on the Democratic Party,published an essay by Eoin Higgins about what Democratic activists-- not the Republicans and Republ;ican-leaning votersreported on-- are saying about what they want Congress to do . He wrote that "In upstate New York, Utah, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania, voters who feel a much greater sense of urgency than their elected officials have been reacting furiously to politicians who say the attempt to turn the fossil fuel-based economy around in the next 12 years simply isnt realistic."





Antonio Delgado was underwritten by the Democratic Establishment in a very big way. The DCCC spent $1,568,032 on his race. End Citizens United (a DCCC arm) spent another $408,646, Priorities USA spent $124,749, and Pelosi's SuperPAC kicked in another $2,581,029. Outside groups spent $5,387,563 attacking his opponent and $703,596 bolstering him. Anyone who imagined Delgado was going to turn out to be a good member of Congress was in for a quick shock. He talked a good, solid progressive game during the election-- though he never persuaded Blue America-- but he has already earned an "F" from Progressive Punch and is tied with McAdams for the 227th "most progressive" voter in Congress. His crucial vote score is 42.86. That sucks.





At a town-hall meeting with constituents last week, he took the "no-can-do" approach groups like the DCCC, No Labels, The New Dems, Blue Dogs and Problem Solvers are recommending to freshmen. His constituents didn't like it and he "was pressed repeatedly by constituents over his half-hearted support for the effort. He doesnt support the Green New Deal... though he noted that there were aspects to the bill that he backed. Delgado said that hes more interested in solutions that address the issues around climate change that can be solved now and that the bill as written does not sufficiently lay out a path for that kind of approach to the inevitability of climate crisis." There is no bill, just a resolution, so he's also full of shit-- or incredibly stupid.

Democrats, especially freshmen in the House, are having to face voters in their districts who find the lack of action on climate change to be a major issue for the new representatives. And those complaints arent coming from blue districts-- as with Delgado, freshmen Democrats from purple districts are facing resistance from constituents over their hesitancy to endorse progressive programs. Republicans arent immune either. On Monday morning, roughly 250 young activists from the Sunrise Movement occupied the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) with 35 getting arrested.



The main rhetorical device that Democratic skeptics of the Green New Deal have been employing begins with a confident assertion that they believe in climate science, think the crisis must be taken seriously, and admire the ambition of the Green New Deal. But, they add, the resolution just cant pass a Republican Senate or be signed by President Donald Trump.



...Rep. Ben McAdams, the new Democratic Congressman from Utahs 4th district, who unseated incumbent Republican Mia Love in November by a razor-thin margin, told constituents at a town hall on February 19 that while he supported the Green New Deals aspirations in principle, he worried that the legislation wouldnt make it through the House.



It seems expensive, said McAdams. Im not sure its feasible.



In Pennsylvania, freshman Rep. Susan Wild beat the Bernie Sanders-backed local minister Greg Edwards in the Democratic primary, before turning her red Lehigh Valley district blue. She was faced with a similar barrage of questions from constituents dissatisfied by the new Congresswomans lukewarm take on the Green New Deal during a town hall on February 19. Wild doesnt support the Green New Deal, at least not yet-- she said that she was interested in seeing more details on the proposal before deciding whether or not to sign on-- and that position rankled some supporters who felt that she wasnt representing their interests. In response to sustained criticism at the event, Wild told the crowd that she was interested in what could be done now, the same dodge that was used by Delgado.



...The environment has long been a top concern of voters in the largely rural 19th, where Delgado unseated incumbent Republican John Faso in the November midterm election with a narrow 50.2% to 47.3% margin of victory. Delgados victory in the overwhelmingly white district was a win for upstate New Yorks liberal voters, who sent the states first black representative from outside of the New York City area to Washington on the back of a campaign that relied on activists and advocates for support-- and included a call for the Green New Deal on the campaign trail.



I am only beholden to you, Delgado said in a speech to supporters on election night. No special interests, no outside voices.



The voters at the town hall, however, were less than convinced, asking the Congressman whose interests he was representing by not signing onto the legislation. Environmental issues are a bipartisan affair for the 19th; Faso was a member of the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus during his time in office.



...If the reaction to Delgados decision to avoid supporting the Green New Deal in his rural, majority white, purple district is an indication of the mood of the electorate, then Democrats running on a more centrist or right wing platform in the next election may be in danger.



Akiva Hirsch, who asked Delgado about supporting the Green New Deal during the town hall, told The Intercept that given the severity of the problem of climate change and the possibility of irreversible catastrophe in only a decade, Delgados response was insufficient. Hirsch and a group of friends from Bard College, which is in Delgados district, told The Intercept they were registered voters in the district.



It wasnt all for Delgado on the Green New Deal, however, as at least one of the town hall attendees expressed support for his rejection of the proposal.



Im 100 percent happy that you didnt sign onto the Green new Deal, said constituent Hillary Thomas. I think its a publicity piece for the people that are promoting it.



Thomas told The Intercept that she voted for Delgados Republican opponent, John Faso, in last Novembers election.

Sounds like the perfect person for The Times to focus on!




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.
But I dont want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.

"Oh, you cant help that," said the Cat: "were all mad here. Im mad. Youre mad."

"How do you know Im mad?" said Alice.

"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldnt have come here.

 Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland





With freedom comes responsibility.

 Eleanor Roosevelt




Palabras iniciales

Para muchos, a pesar de los grandes cambios tecnologicos, la Terra Australis Incognita sigue siendo desconocida y representa por diversos motivos, un polo de atraccion.

En este blog encontraran historias, personajes, aventuras, fotografias de quienes construyeron y los que continuan desarrollando la Patagonia y el territorio antartico.

Mi origen magallanico indudablemente ha influido en que pretenda ser un puente que contribuya al conocimiento y al desarrollo cultural y social de esta region del mundo.

Por lo tanto, las noticias tambien son importantes y estaran presentes en el blog.

Finalmente, la integracion, en sus diversas formas, es otro de los objetivos que espero desarrollar a traves de este blog

Roberto Bravo Vidal


The recent hissy fit about Rep. Ilhar Omars tweet, it's the Benjamins is beyond excessive.

AIPAC indeed influences legislators  not by donating directly since its a non-profit  but by directing donors to pro-Israel causes and trying to defeat legislators AIPAC labels not supportive of Israel. AIPAC is behind the rash of anti-BDS laws in some 27 states, recently passed on the Federal level. (You have to sign a pledge not to boycott Israel if you want a government job! Think about that.)

That Omar apologized shows AIPACs excessive power. Zionists tried to stop 60 Minutes from airing segments that show Israeli brutality. In 1990, 17 Palestinians were murdered by Israels army, but Israel blamed Palestinians, saying they injured Jews with rocks. When Mike Wallace reported the truth (that Israels army rioted wildly against Palestinians and no Jews were hurt), AIPAC and the Israel Lobby made a huge fuss and called Mike a self-hating Jew.

Read Mearsheimer/Walts, The Israel Lobby for more examples.
The coalition's representatives also urged the subcommittee not to pair any tax proposal with efforts to cut costs related to Oregon's Public Employees Retirement System, noting that previous attempts to do so proved fruitless. And that's correct, as far as it goes  but it fails to take into account the fact that school districts increasingly are groaning under the weight of increasing PERS premiums.

The subcommittee also has heard a somewhat different pitch from Oregon Business & Industry, the state's largest business group, which has proposed a business activity tax under which the state would tax businesses on their sales minus input.

Subcommittee co-chair Sen. Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, a veteran of legislative tax battles, said that the committee isn't likely to fully adopt any specific proposal from any group; rather, he said, the committee will craft its own proposal. It will be interesting to see how that eventual proposal fares with the business groups that right now are expressing cautious support for at least some of these ideas. It also will be interesting to see how the proposal will affect the pocketbooks of ordinary Oregonians; after all, if a business can pass a tax through to a customer, it likely will do so.
Tuesday morning's commute could be tricky, officials say, as subfreezing temperatures overnight have turned previously wet roads icy.

The Oregon Department of Transportation urges motorists to drive with caution. Leave extra travel time, slow down and leave extra travel distance between vehicles. Bridges, ramps and known shady areas will be more prone to ice up.

And even though forecasters say Tuesday will be partly sunny in the mid-valley, it'll still be a chilly day, with highs around 38. Snow is likely late Tuesday night, with lows around 28.

Here are your updated local forecasts:

Albany

Tuesday: Patchy fog, sometimes freezing, before 10 a.m. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 39. North wind 5 to 13 mph.

Tuesday night: A slight chance of rain and snow before 10 p.m., then snow likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 28. North wind 6 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70 percent. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.
Dublin, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "The Impact of the US Action against Fujian Jinhua and UMC" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



In line with the "Made in China 2025" plan set out in the "13th Five-Year Plan," the Chinese government has invested heavily in recent years to strengthen its position in the semiconductor industry, with a focus on memory chips. As Beijing beefed up its chip-making prowess, Chinese semiconductor makers became more involved in patent-related legal disputes with other IC makers. With the onset of the Sino-U.S. trade war, the issue took on global proportions. This report reviews and analyzes the possible subsequent impact of the US Justice Department complaints against Fujian Jinhua and UMC.



Topics Covered

Background behind the US action against Fujian Jinhua and UMC, touching on their relationships and possible developments

Impact assessment on the Chinese semiconductor industry and subsequent interpretation

Impact assessment on the Taiwanese semiconductor industry, including DRAM, and subsequent interpretation

Key Topics Covered:



1. Background

1.1 On National Security Grounds, the US Department of Commerce Puts Fujian Jinhua on its Control List

1.2 The Relationship between Fujian Jinhua and UMC



2. Impact on Taiwan's semiconductor industry

2.1 Development of Taiwan's DRAM Industry is Limited

2.2 Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturers Will Be More Cautious about Cooperating with China



3. The Impact on the Chinese Semiconductor Industry

3.1 Stronger Resistance to Semiconductor Development in China

3.2 Fujian Jinhua will Stop Building Plants and Lower Its Profile



Companies Mentioned



AMD

Fujian Jinhua

Inotera

Micron

Powerchip

Rexchip

SK Hynix

SMIC

Spreadtrum Communications

Sugon

Tsinghua Unisplendour

TSMC

UMC

ZTE

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/xc7g7z/the_impact_of_the?w=12

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.
The Lebanon Fire Department, with the aid of departments from Albany, Scio, Brownsville and Sweet Home, is battling a fire in a building at the old Champion mill site northwest of Cheadle Lake in Lebanon.

The fire could be seen from as far away as Tangent and Albany.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

According to a spokesperson with LFD, the building was fully involved as fire crews arrived.

Snorkle trucks from Sweet Home and Lebanon were attacking the north and south ends of the fire.

This story will be updated as information becomes available.

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Didier Reynders raised the inextricable link between poverty and the death penalty owing to the costs of legal proceedings, or the lack of legal knowledge of the criminal justice system.





The death penalty disproportionately affects disadvantaged and minority groups in the places where it remains in force, noted the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Didier Reynders.





He was speaking on Tuesday to the United Nations in Geneva. This should not exist in the 21st century, he stressed.





During a UN debate around discrimination linked to the death penalty, the Minister spoke on behalf of the 8 author countries that drafted the resolution forming the basis for the panel. These were in particular France, Switzerland, Mexico and even Benin. Despite the increase in the number of states abolishing the death penalty, capital punishment still applies in some parts of the globe, he regretted.





He expressed special concern for those parts of the globe where apostasy (abandoning or renouncing a particular religious or political belief), blasphemy (the action or offence of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things), adultery or homosexual relationships are capital offences.





The application of the death penalty in these cases takes on a particularly discriminatory nature. It exclusively targets some segments of society, owing to them exercising their fundamental rights, he said.





Didier Reynders raised the inextricable link between poverty and the death penalty owing to the costs of legal proceedings, and the lack of legal knowledge to face the criminal justice system. Racial, ethnic and sexual minorities, foreign nationals as well as women are particularly affected by the disproportionate application of this sentence.





"Above all, the death penalty is a serious violation of human rights, in particular, the right to life, continued the Minister. It is a cruel and irreversible punishment which infringes human dignity. Its abolition is not a matter of culture but of political will, said the Minister for Foreign Affairs. "We have to move on from the position of simply a form of justice based upon killing.





Belgium and its partners have even gone as far as criticizing the use of arguments of based purely upon security to justify capital punishment, notably the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking.





The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, who the Minister met before this debate, is pleased with the progress of the abolitionist movement, and called upon states to get on the right side of History. Currently, some 170 have abolished the death penalty, instituted a moratorium on its application or suspended executions for more than 10 years.





From Wednesday, Belgium will hold the 7th World Congress Against the Death Penalty, the most significant global capital punishment abolitionist event.

 | 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



Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!





"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 Brussels Times, Christopher Vincent, February 26, 2019
Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan Navy arrests nine fishermen

February 26,2019 | Source: The Hindu

Sri Lankan Navy personnel arrested nine country boat fishermen and seized their two vessels on a charge of trespassing into the territorial waters of the island nation when they were fishing on the high seas on Monday. Reports received here said the fishermen were on the high seas northwest of Delft island when the personnel on a fast gun boat attached to the northern naval command of Sri Lankan Navy arrested them.



Two dhows used by the fishermen were taken into the custody of the navy, the reports said. The arrested fishermen were taken to the naval station at Uthtara and later handed over to the office of the Fisheries Inspector in Jaffna, the reports added. This comes close on the heels of the arrest of 13 fishermen by the Lankan navy on the night of February 20 and five other fishermen on February 21.
The children were placed in the care of Howells sister on a safety plan. Howell said that at that point, she just disappeared.

The house had sold, we were drug addicts and had nowhere to go so I just disappeared for a month, said Howell.

Howell said that during this month-long period, her boyfriend went to prison on drug charges and is still incarcerated at this time.

Howell said she has two other children from a previous marriage who are in their fathers custody and her boyfriend also had two other children from a previous relationship who were in their mothers custody.

Just prior to Christmas in 2017, Howell said that the custodial parents put an end to their visitations with those children.

Things just went downhill from there, said Howell.

Howell stated that was when they first tried meth.

It numbed the pain  it made the problems go away, said Howell.

Howell stated that they also started using heroin shortly after and would often use both at the same time.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}
When asked how his church will respond to the special session, he said he didnt know. Well meet and answer questions. Ill do whatever is best for the church.

Another area Methodist minister, who preferred to remain anonymous, said it was just too early to say how it will affect congregations.

Theres so much in the air. If you say something itll be the opposite. Churches may leave, churches may not. The Methodist church is about loving our neighbors, despite (any) differences."

Another local Methodist clergy, speaking on anonymity, said, "We started some conversations early in the process, and I sent my folks an email with the link to watch the conference if they want to."

He worried that churches with fewer in attendance may have problems if, for example, half of them decide to leave because of the church's new position on the topics being decided.

There are going to be outliers from the more conservative or liberal side who will want to split with the church, either way, he said. Were all frustrated, and were all anxious ... were looking at being a very different church.

"All we can do is pray.

With the special session ending today, it's likely that all eyes and ears of Methodists will be on news coming out of St. Louis.

Matthew Morey is a reporter for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at 573-518-3617, or at mmorey@dailyjournalonline.com.

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In January, Bismarck Elementary School was honored as a Sustaining Exemplary Professional Learning Communities (PLC) School by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) at Osage Beach. They were one of 19 schools awarded at the event, attended by 1,600 educators.

The award is for achieving the standards set by the PLC initiative, which encourages communities to see student learning, not teaching, as their mission. The Sustaining Exemplary PLC status is given to schools that have won the Exemplary status previously, as Bismarck had in 2016.

According to their statement on the award, Bismarck started the PLC program in 2011, and had been awarded in 2016. They felt as if all the staff had recognized the importance of a data-driven collaborative process and had fostered a culture of shared beliefs.

At the end of that school year, however, a large number of teachers retired and they had a change in district administration.

They started the PLC process over and trained a new set of leaders to take it even deeper, beginning again in Fall 2017.

Their goal is to provide a learning environment that leads students to become accountable, goal-oriented and productive citizens while promoting pride in our school at the same time.
We need feedback from the Farmington business community to tell us what you need. We can have a class for anything you need. We can invite individuals in  former business owners, universities, whatever  to come in and provide that training to you. Were going to be down here so much that youre going to say, Why doesnt that lady go back home to St. Louis? But thats not the goal.

We want to do what we can to help. Im often asked, If you know so much about running a business, why dont you have your own? The answer is very simple. I have no desire to work 24/7, but I want a paycheck every week  but I congratulate you for the work you do and I wish I had that same motivation."

Zarcone expressed excitement at the opportunities she believes will be made possible by the chambers alliance with the SBA.

With the majority of our local businesses being classified as small businesses, we believe these added resources will be a tremendous asset to our region, she said. This strategic alliance aligns with the mission of the Farmington Regional Chamber to assist in business growth, economic improvement and community development so, this is a natural fit. We are honored to have been chosen for this opportunity and look forward to partnering with the SBA as we work together for a stronger business community.

The U.S. Small Business Administration was created in 1953 as an independent agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business.

Kevin R. Jenkins is the managing editor of the Farmington Press and can be reached at 573-756-8927 or kjenkins@farmingtonpressonline.com

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A British terror suspect known as Jihadi Jack' has revealed he wants to return to the UK because he misses his mum, sci-fi series Doctor Who and pasties.Jack Letts, 23, ran away in 2014 to fight with Islamic State and has spent the past two years in a Kurdish prison in Syria, charged with being a member of ISIS.Speaking to ITV News, the British-Canadian said he missed the comforts of British life.'I miss people mostly. I miss my mum. I know that sounds a bit toddler-ish,' the Muslim convert said.'Even if I could just see my mum - I would like just a phone call. I don't know if Britain can do that for me here, but I'd like just a phone call to my mum. It's been two years.'If I could make a request. I'm probably not in a position to make requests. That's it all, really. I miss my mum.'What else do I miss? I miss pasties. It's not really English - sort of Scottish isn't it? I miss pasties. And Doctor Who. Sounds a bit stupid.'Letts, who has a British mother and Canadian father, said he doesn't know if his Canadian passport is still valid or if he will ever be rescued.'I don't think I'm going to be given back to Britain, for example, or some Canadian official is going to come and help me because like I said, no one really cares,' he said.The homesick terror suspect told ITV News journalist Rohit Kachroo he learned Arabic in Jordan before moving to Kuwait, Iraq and eventually Syria, where he lived on the 'the Oxford Street of Raqqa' and married an Iraqi woman who gave birth to their son.He said he welcomed the horrific Paris attacks of 2015 which left about 130 dead.'To be honest at the time I thought it was a good thing,' he said.'Genuinely, at the time, we had this idea that when you're living in Raqqa getting bombed every five minutes by coalition jets and you see literally, I've seen children burnt alive.'It comes as ISIS brides Shamima Begum, from the UK, and Hoda Muthana, from America, both appealed to their respective countries to return home.Both are mothers-of-one and live in refugee camps.
English French

Press Release

Paris (France) 26 February 2019 at 5:45 pm

Ymagis Announces Standstill Agreement

with Euro PP Bondholders

Trading on Ymagis stock resumes Wednesday 27 February 2019





Ymagis Group (FR0011471291, MAGIS, PEA-PME, TECH 40), the European specialist in digital technologies for the film industry, announces the finalization of a standstill agreement with its bondholders in order to renegotiate the repayment conditions of its Euro PP bonds.

The raising of a new Euro PP-type loan initiated in Q4 2018 having not come to fruition, Ymagis confirms the Group has not repaid the first, 21.1m tranche of its financial debt due 23 February 2019. In these conditions, Ymagis has reached an agreement with the holders of its Euro PP bond issued in 2015 to momentarily suspend various terms of the bond contracts through 27 March 2019, including the repayment of the capital and 90% of the annual interest due during this period.

Ymagis allows itself the necessary time to discuss with its financial partners of certain measures that will be taken to allow the repayment of its current finance scheme in line with forecast revenues and needs related to the companys development. In this context, Ymagis has hired the Degroof Petercam bank to assist the Group in securing financing solutions in line with its business growth strategy, as the long-awaited replacement market of first-generation projection systems for cinema exhibitors is expected to begin, and its new virtual reality-related business activities have been successfully launched.

Trading on Ymagis stock, which has been suspended since 13 February 2019, will resume 27 February 2019.

Financial Calendar: 29 March 2019 - Full-Year 2018 Earnings

ABOUT YMAGIS GROUP

Ymagis is a European leader in advanced digital technology services for the cinema industry. Founded in 2007, the Group is headquartered in Paris and has offices in 26 countries with 770 employees. Our core business is structured around four main units: CinemaNext (exhibitor services: sales and field services, software solutions, customer service/NOC), Eclair (content services: postproduction, theatrical delivery, digital distribution, versioning and accessibility, restoration and preservation), Virtual Print Fee (VPF) for finance solutions and other activities, including EclairColor, EclairGame and Virtual Reality. For more information, please visit www.eclair.digital







YMAGIS is listed on Euronext Paris and is part of the CAC Small, CAC Mid and Small and CAC All-Tradable indices.

Attachment
An unvaccinated 5-year-old boy from France is suspected of reintroducing measles back to Costa Rica, which has been free of the infectious disease for five years.First Measles Case In 5 YearsThe boy arrived with his parents on Feb. 18 for a vacation in the country. The child's mother, who was not also vaccinated, confirmed that other children attending the child's school in France have also been diagnosed with measles.The boy is now in quarantine at the Monsenor Sanabria Hospital in Puntarenas. His parents are also reportedly isolated.In a statement, Costa Rica's Ministry of Health said officials are searching for people the child may have come into contact with before he was placed in isolation. These include passengers who arrived in the country on the same Air France flight the boy's family boarded on.According to the health ministry, the last time one of the country's citizens had measles was in 2006. Prior to the arrival of the French boy, the last case of measles imported to Costa Rica had been in 2014.MeaslesMeasles is a highly contagious viral disease that spreads through coughing and sneezing. The disease can be serious and even deadly for small children.Measles can be prevented with a vaccine and vaccination. It was once common but cases fell as children get vaccinated. Despite the availability of vaccines, figures from the World Health Organization show 110,000 people died because of the disease in 2017. Most of the fatalities were children below 5 years old"Measles outbreaks can result in epidemics that cause many deaths, especially among young, malnourished children. In countries where measles has been largely eliminated, cases imported from other countries remain an important source of infection," WHO saidSymptoms of the disease include nasal congestion, conjunctivitis fever, a rash that starts in the head and expands throughout the body."It can lead to pneumonia, encephalitis (swelling of the brain), and death," the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned. "It is so contagious that if one person has it, 90% of the people around him or her will also become infected if they are not protected."
A man has allegedly walked into a police station in the US and confessed to killing his girlfriend more than four years ago.Connor Scott, 24, provided officers in Danville, Indiana, with a full taped confession on Sunday evening to the murder of Kaylyn Whitaker, Danville police department said in a statement.Ms Whitaker was just 20 when she died of a gunshot wound at Scott's Illinois home in October 2014, Indiana news site mywabashvalley.com reported.Her death was initially thought to be a suicide but was ruled as a homicide 10 months later in 2015.Illinois Appellate Prosecutor Ed Parkinson told mywabashvalley.com Ms Whitaker's gunshot wound made it almost physically impossible for her to take her own life.'It is my opinion that Kaylyn could not have shot herself in the location where the bullet entered her skull,' Mr Parkinson said.'The amended finding as a cause of death as a homicide best fits the situation in this case.'The US news site had run a 'Justice for Kaylyn Whitaker' campaign since late last year when they spoke to Ms Whitaker's mother Leslie Roberts.'This is a homicide case, it has been since 2015. And nothing's being done about it and I am angry,' Ms Roberts said.'We deserve closure. We deserve peace.'After his appearance at the Danville police station, Scott was taken to the Hendricks County Jail where he is expected to be extradited to Illinois, police said.Scott is expected to be charged with first-degree murder in the coming days.
Question: Regarding my posts about the terrible perversion of Torah and halacha that Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky has engineered with his prod...

Important!! email - yadmoshe@gmail.com
Teacher arrival times under Proposal D would be 8 a.m. for the districts elementary schools and 7 a.m. for the districts secondary schools. In each case, there will be 45 minutes reserved for teacher collaboration time. Elementary students would arrive at 8:50 a.m. with classes starting at 9 a.m. while secondary students would arrive at 7:45 a.m. with classes starting at 8 a.m.

District administrators are working on a plan to maximize the use of the 45-minute per day time slot. Aside from activities to build collaboration, the time slot could be used for faculty meetings, book studies and staff training opportunities, Shaver-Durham said. She added having teachers do the same thing each day of the teaching cycle would not be a productive use of that time and the benefit of working closer together would fizzle out.

Knavel addressed concerns that scheduling collaborative time would take away from teacher-student instruction time. Think of it as a long-term investment that would result in greater efficiency in the classroom and less busy work, Knavel said.

Tracy Mersch, a high school English teacher who attended the Monday committee meeting, said faculty members generally are not opposed to or upset over the time changes in Proposals C or D. But there has been discussions surrounding the resource period at the high school.
Madurai

Environmentalists fighting against rampant illegal sand mining have hailed the gazette notification by the Union ministry of mines changing the rules that earlier allowed private companies to mine rare earth minerals found on beach sand.



They said the notification was much awaited and would help save the coastal treasures.



Activist Lal Mohan of Kanyakumari said rampant mining by private players had led to an erosion of the shores and many sand dunes that acted as barriers during natural disasters such as tsunami had disappeared. He accused private players of influencing officials and exploiting coastal minerals and exporting monazite.



Stating that monazite on the coast had a high concentration of thorium that was considered an atomic mineral, he said the research was on to use it instead of uranium. "It is to eliminate the use of uranium and the large reserves of thorium in India. At many places, private companies have exploited thorium and exported it to Australia, China, and Russia," he said.

"Rampant mining on government prom boke land and private land close to the sea has resulted in coastal erosion and affected coastal villages and marine life. Since the government will now have the monopoly, it should check such violations," he said.



Reserves of mineral-rich land should be acquired from private players and put to use so that the livelihood of those dependent on the industry will not be affected, he added.



However, the notification has disappointed private players in the industry. They said they were left with no option but to wait for a change of decision or formation of a new government.



The southern coastline of Tamil Nadu from Gulf of Mannar in Ramanathapuram district to Kanyakumari (including Tuticorin and Tirunelveli) is rich in many rare earth minerals like garnet, ilmenite, zircon, and magnetite.



Managing Director and CEO of V V Mineral, S Vaikundarajan, said there were eight major private players in India who had been trying to get an appointment with the Prime Minister for 18 months to explain the loss of revenue by the industry, of employment and revenue by the governments due to the ban on mining by private players.



The industry had exported titanium dioxide (TiO2) for 8,000 per annum and the government earned 20% value-added tax on it. TiO2 is widely used in products on a day-to-day basis and the ban will lead to an escalation of the price of raw materials and related products in six months, he added.

M K Ananth, Economic Times, Madurai
MONDAY, Feb. 25, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- Simple at-home stool tests are a reliable way to screen for colon cancer -- and a good alternative to invasive colonoscopies, a new research review confirms.

The analysis, of 31 studies, looked at the effectiveness of the fecal immunochemical test, or FIT -- which detects hidden blood in the stool. It found that a one-time FIT screening caught up to 91 percent of colon cancers in people at average risk of the disease.

Experts said the findings offer more support for a screening test that has long been a recommended option -- but not often performed in the United States.

Instead, most Americans are screened for colon cancer by colonoscopy -- an invasive test that examines the colon. However, many other countries favor a yearly stool test.

"For the average-risk person, there are good alternatives to colonoscopy screening, and people should be aware of that," said Dr. Thomas Imperiale, the senior researcher on the review. "That's the bottom line."

Imperiale is a gastroenterologist with the Indiana University School of Medicine and Regenstrief Institute, in Indianapolis.

He said that in his experience, patients sometimes arrive for a colonoscopy screening having never heard about any other options from their primary care doctor.

"I think we need to be more forthright with patients about all their options," Imperiale said.

The findings were reported online Feb. 26 in Annals of Internal Medicine. They're based on more than 120,000 patients who had FIT screening and a subsequent colonoscopy.

For the FIT screening, a doctor supplies a test kit for patients to use at home. Different manufacturers make FITs. Depending on the specific test, the review found, a one-time screening caught around three-quarters to 91 percent of colon cancers.

That makes a one-time FIT less sensitive than a one-time colonoscopy. But, Imperiale pointed out, FIT screening is done yearly, while colonoscopy is done every 10 years.

Plus, he said, some people who are not willing to undergo a colonoscopy might be OK with a stool test. And it's getting screened that matters, Imperiale said.

An editorial published with the study points to some hard numbers: Only two-thirds of Americans aged 50 to 75 have been screened for colon cancer, mostly by colonoscopy. Of the one-third who remained unscreened, many are lower-income, uninsured or "underinsured."

Greater awareness of cheaper, easier FIT screening -- among doctors and patients alike -- could help close that gap, said Dr. James Allison, the editorial author.

For years, Allison said, the media and health systems have promoted colonoscopy screening as the "gold standard" -- while FIT is often regarded as "second-best."

But the evidence does not support that.

"There is no single best test for colon cancer screening," said Allison, who is with the University of California, San Francisco and the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research.

And, he pointed out, guidelines on colon cancer screening do not advocate any one test over the others.

Guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force say that people at average risk of colon cancer should begin screening at age 50. The American Cancer Society suggests age 45. But both groups say screening can be done with stool tests, colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy (another invasive test).

Colonoscopies are much better than FIT at detecting polyps -- benign growths that occasionally become cancerous. But, Imperiale said, research suggests that large, "advanced" polyps transition to cancer at a rate of 3 to 6 percent per year. So if one FIT misses a large polyp, there's a good chance it will still be caught during subsequent tests.

And while colonoscopies are generally safe, they do carry small risks of bleeding, infection or bowel tears.

"We need to recognize that FIT is at least as good as colonoscopy," Allison said.

There is another type of stool-based screening test available, called Cologuard. It looks for both hidden blood and certain DNA changes that can be found in colon cancers or polyps.

But the test is expensive -- around $500 -- and there's no proof it's better than FIT screening, Allison said.

People who choose stool testing will not necessarily avoid a colonoscopy. If blood is detected, you'll need a follow-up colonoscopy -- and it may turn out to be a false alarm. Keeping up the yearly schedule is also key, Imperiale said.

More information

The American Cancer Society has more on colon cancer screening.




1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
NEW CASTLE, Del., Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- When she was a young girl living in Barbados, Velma Scantlebury raked her hand hard against the roughness of the long wall she passed every day to gather strength and courage to get past the gauntlet of bullies that blocked her way to school. From that time on, she saw every obstacle in her life as a wall  something to get over or get beyond.

Today, after scaling and leaving behind many other kinds of walls and obstacles, Dr. Velma Scantlebury , associate chief of transplant surgery for the Christiana Care Health System, is renown as the first female African-American transplant surgeon in the United States.

On February 28, Dr. Velma Scantlebury will be at the Pratt Student Center on the Wilmington University New Castle main campus for a discussion about her new book, Beyond Every Wall. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. and will be followed by a book signing with books available for purchase on-site. Scantleburys appearance at WilmU is in celebration of Black History Month and the event is open to the public as well as all students, alumni, faculty and staff.

Click here to reserve your seat now.

In Scantleburys mind, walls have always represented obstacles to overcome on the way to the medical communitys acceptance of her capability, knowledge and surgical skill. She always knew she would be a surgeon, and she faced many such walls on the way to gaining respect and credibility as a doctor and surgeon beyond her gender, color and country of origin. After medical school at Columbia University in New York, Scantlebury found her inspiration in Dr. Barbara Barlow , a pediatric surgeon, during her surgical residency at Harlem Hospital in the 1970s. After having worked by her side, Scantlebury hoped to one day take her place.

The walls and obstacles for women in general, and for Scantlebury particularly, were discouraging. Dr. Barlow gave Scantlebury the hope and role model she needed in a time when women in medicine were still not mainstream.

When the opportunity came for her to do a clinical fellowship in research at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, her initial focus was on becoming a pediatric transplant surgeon. While there, she completed over 600 liver and 400 kidney transplants in a year. She was completely immersed in what soon became a Mecca of transplantation as Pittsburgh was conducting and researching more transplants than anywhere else. She benefited from watching, learning and employing the various techniques of a staff that ultimately grew to 10 surgeons, including herself, plus visiting surgeons from all over the world.

After nearly 18 years of grueling, hard work side by side with many of the finest doctors from all over the world and learning from their many different surgical techniques, Scantlebury found that she was still one of less than a handful of female surgeons in the country. And, at that time, she was the only black female transplant surgeon in the world.

I saw all of the sexism and discouragement projected at all females, not just in the surgical theater but in medicine as a whole, she remembers. I developed a goal that I would not retire until there were 10 female transplant surgeons. As she turned her attention to finishing her book, Scantlebury found that there were eight female transplant surgeons of color. By the time she finished it, she was able to find a total of 12. She has met most of them and is a mentor to them. Living my purpose in front of them allows them to live their purpose, she adds. Scantlebury acknowledges each of these additional pioneers at the end of her book.

Wilmington University Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Jim Wilson is one of Scantleburys patients. We first met at a Wilmington walk for the National Kidney Foundation, long before I needed her services, he recalls. When the time came that I knew a transplant was my only option, I knew to call Dr. Scantlebury. To say that shes extremely competent is still an understatement, and it was reassuring to me that, once we got past all of the doctor-patient stuff, shes a truly wonderful human being.

With over 2,000 transplants to her credit, Dr. Scantlebury is still one of only 12 local females today in the surgical discipline and science of transplantation. Her story, and theirs, serve as inspiration to those who will become the next generation of transplant surgeons.

The walls that once stood to keep women and women of color out of medicine have been repurposed, brick by brick, to build the surgical theaters of the future.

To reserve your seat now, visit events.wilmu.edu/site/studentservices/event/wilmu-book-club .

About Wilmington University

Wilmington University is one of the most affordable, fastest growing private, nonprofit universities in the region, offering undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and certificate programs in online and traditional formats. An accredited and respected leader specializing in exemplary student service, Wilmington University offers convenient and flexible options designed to prepare students for success in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Now celebrating its 50th year, the University has never wavered in its mission to offer opportunities to all who wish to transform their lives through quality education. For more information, visit wilmu.edu.

Contact

Laurie Bick-Jensen

302-295-1164

laurie.e.bick@wilmu.edu

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ce44ebc4-a380-467c-83ff-163c71df02d2
A Menomonie man who told police during a traffic stop that he had been using meth will serve one year in prison after being convicted of his s
Liedl has been following the employee handbook policy for what to do if fired. He already filed a grievance claim directly to Hepfler, which she denied without stating a reason for his dismissal. He is still considering a lawsuit for wrongful termination.

Liedl, 37, worked in the clerk of courts office for nearly six years. Liedl said he sent the grievance letter to the County Board chairman and vice-chair, and neither has responded to him.

The countys attorney, Jim Sherman, said recently that the county cannot comment on any ongoing grievance issues.

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Hepfler, 55, has served as clerk of court since 2001. Along with dismissing Liedl, Hepfler also recently fired two other workers in her office, including a woman who actively campaigned for Liedl on social media and at parades throughout last summer.

Liedl said he decided last spring to run for the elected position to lead the office, and he began collecting signatures. Shortly after filing, he was giving a warning about his job performance; he had never had any form of discipline in his first five years there.

Hepfler, a Democrat, received 14,450 votes (53 percent) to win re-election on Nov. 6. Liedl, who ran as a Republican, received 12,622 votes (47 percent).
This Blog is a digital journal for two cute pooches, Casey (A White Color Shih Tzu Dog Mix) & Peanut (A Brown Dachshund Dog Mix) who are both two complete opposites who have nothing in common except this blog and same owners.
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..25 February '19..It was a rough week for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He saw his main opponents join forces and the Blue and White Party that resulted from this merger surpassed Netanyahus Likud Party in the polls. If that wasnt enough, Netanyahus decision to encourage one of his coalition partners to take in a party whose leaders are followers of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane set off a storm of criticism from Jews who felt he was wrong to help legitimize an extremist group.But while Netanyahu has been taking it on the chin, the man that much of the world still imagines is Israels peace partner seems to have had a very good week. And the explanation for that unexpected development is the reason why Netanyahus prospects for holding on to his office are not quite as gloomy as his detractors may think.Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas is currently serving the 15th year of the four-year term as president of the P.A., to which he was elected in January 2005. He is widely reviled by most of those whom he pretends to serve. The same is true for his steadfast refusal to negotiate peace with Israel. The kleptocracy over which the 83-year-old presides is a disgrace. He refuses to make peace with Israel, but is also dependent on security cooperation with the Jewish state.But Abbass popularity is suddenly soaring. In the last year, both the United States and Israel have enacted measures to cut back on cash flowing to his regime in order to force him to end the practice of rewarding those who attack, wound and kill Israelis, Jews and Americans with salaries and pensions.
Theresa Mays dramatic shift in policy came as pro-EU Tories warned they would not accept a no-deal Brexit. (PA Images)

Theresa May has caved to pressure and given MPs the opportunity to vote on whether they want to delay Brexit if she cannot get her deal through Parliament in the next few weeks.

The Prime Minister today announced that a further meaningful vote on her deal will take place by 12 March.

If MPs reject the deal there will be two further votes  one the next day on leaving with no deal and another one a day later on extending Article 50.

If Parliament rules out no deal, MPs will be given the option of a short extension not beyond the end of June, Mrs May told the House of Commons today.

The move represents a significant u-turn on the part of the Prime Minister, and follows months of Downing Street insisting that the UK will leave the EU on 29 March.

Indicating she had come to the decision reluctantly, Mrs May said: Let me be clear, I do not want to see article 50 extended, our absolute focus should be on getting a deal and leaving on March 29.

Mrs May stopped short of ruling out no deal entirely. She said: An extension cannot take no deal off the table. The only way to do that is to revoke Article 50, which I shall not do, or agree a deal.

Theresa May announced her new approach in the Commons today (PA Images)

Jeremy Corbyn said Mrs May has become an expert in kicking the can down the road.

He said: The problem is the road is running out and the consequences of running down the clock are evident and very real for industry and for peoples jobs.

He argued Labour accepts the result of the 2016 referendum and the party is offering an alternative plan.

Mays battle to avert Tory rebellion

The announcement follows mounting pressure on the PM to rule out a no-deal Brexit after as many as 15 Tory ministers threatened to quit over the issue.

Three ministers published a plea in the Daily Mail to urge Mrs May to extend Article 50 to avoid leaving with no deal.

Industry minister Richard Harrington, digital minister Margot James and energy minister Claire Perry warned against being swept over the precipice on March 29.

Story continues

It followed a warning by three cabinet ministers  Amber Rudd, David Gauke and Greg Clark  at the weekend that they would vote for a Brexit delay if a deal cannot be reached.

On Tuesday morning, Ms James told BBC Radio 4s Today programme that Mrs May needs to rule out the catastrophe of a no-deal Brexit by extending Article 50 if she is unable to secure parliamentary support for her Withdrawal Agreement.

All of us were agreed that we couldnt be part of a government that allowed the country to leave the EU without a deal, she said.

As D-day approaches, I think we felt honour-bound to actually do something to help prevent such catastrophe.

She said she was prepared to quit or be sacked over her stance, saying: If it comes to that, yes.

European Council president Donald Tusk revealed this week that he had discussed the legal and procedural process for extending the two-year Article 50 withdrawal negotiations with Mrs May when he met her on Sunday in Egypt.

Mr Tusk said delaying the UKs withdrawal beyond March 29 is now a rational solution, warning that the only alternative, if MPs cannot agree a deal, is a chaotic Brexit.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are set to reunite at a very special event honouring Prince Charles on March 5! Kensington Palace just announced that the Fab Four will join Queen Elizabeth at a special morning reception honouring the 50th anniversary of Prince Charles' investiture (when he formally became the Prince of Wales). The Duchess of Cornwall and Princess Anne will also attend.

This special reception will mark the Prince of Waless fifty years of service to Wales, the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, and will be an opportunity to celebrate a range of Welsh charities, organisations and businesses, Buckingham Palace said. Charles' investiture regalia, which he wore in 1969, will also be on display.

The Fab Four attended Princess Eugenie's wedding together. Photo:  Getty Images

"The reception will culminate with a musical performance in the Ballroom by students from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, of which The Prince of Wales is Patron. The performance will include a new piece written for the anniversary by Welsh composer Paul Mealor, inspired by the legend of the Lady of Llyn y Fan, a mountain lake near The Prince of Waless Welsh home, Llwynywermod in Carmarthenshire," the palace noted.

Prince Harry and Meghan and Prince William and Kate were last seen together in public on Christmas Day, and were all smiles after a day of family fun, opening gag gifts at the Queen's Sandringham estate and enjoying an English breakfast. The Duchesses Kate and Meghan even shared a few giggles on their walk toward St Mary Magdalene Church.

Meghan and Prince Charles have a very close bond. Photo:  Getty Images

It's been an exceptionally busy spring for the young royals, who have each been spotted at events in support of causes that are near and dear to their hearts. Most recently, Prince Harry and Meghan took a three-day trip to Morocco, where they dazzled at a reception hosted by the British Ambassador to Morocco at the British Residence in Rabat, tried local delicacies at the Villa Des Ambassadeurs, and met with two adorable schoolgirls who had been waiting to meet the duo. Meghan also practiced her French language skills with local school children and took part in a traditional henna tattooing ceremony.

Duchess Kate, meanwhile, attended several events tied to Children's Mental Health Week, and Prince William took part in a series of workshops at a father's development program called "Future Men." The pair also took a week out of the spotlight to be with their children -- Prince George, 5, Princess Charlotte, 3, and 10-month-old Prince Louis -- during the U.K.'s half-term break. It's believed the family spent some quality time together at the Cambridge's holiday estate, Anmer Hall.
By Jack Stubbs and Douglas Busvine BARCELONA (Reuters) - Europe risks falling behind other regions in rolling out 5G mobile services because of onerous regulation and weak investment rather than any security concerns about Chinese equipment, Ericsson CEO Borje Ekholm said on Monday. High spectrum fees, regulatory uncertainty and a lack of investment were more pressing concerns, Ekholm said, alluding to calls by the United States to ban Chinese network vendors on national security grounds. "The debate here often becomes: it's the lack of technology for operators, that's what slowed down Europe. And thats not the case," Ekholm said in an interview on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress, the telecoms industry's main annual gathering. "The reality is that less than half of the countries in Europe have actually given out spectrum for 5G. It's a big uncertainty how much it's going to cost." Ericsson has forecast that 5G subscriber numbers could reach 1.5 billion worldwide by 2024 as consumers and businesses move to next-generation networks slated to bring super-fast connections for everything from computer gaming through to medical surgery. North America and northeast Asia will adopt the new technology fastest, the company said in a report last year, but 5G is also expected to account for about 30 percent of mobile subscriptions in Western Europe. Ericsson has signed 10 contracts for 5G with operators in countries including the United States, Britain, Australia and Switzerland, Ekholm said, but still faces challenges in Europe around the large number of operators and high spectrum fees. He said Europe had more than 200 operators to contend with, against only a handful in China and the United States, and pointed to 5G spectrum auctions in Italy last year which raised 6.5 billion euros ($7.38 billion) in a ferocious bidding war The prices in Italy, he said, were equivalent to almost two years' capital expenditure for some operators. "It's a very heavily regulated sector, so overall the investment climate I think is the key reason why we have been slow," he said. SECURITY WARNINGS Ekholm took no position on calls by the United States for Western countries to bar China's Huawei from their networks over allegations the company and its equipment could be used by Beijing for spying. But debate is raging in Europe over whether to heed the U.S.-led warnings, even as big telecoms operators say that such a move could set back the deployment of 5G by years. Huawei has repeatedly denied the accusations of state-spying and no evidence has been publicly produced. Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri told Reuters on Sunday any future decision to bar Huawei would not delay the rollout of 5G in Europe, pointing instead to delays in issuing spectrum to operators and high auction costs as the main obstacles. Asked if he agreed with his competitor's assessment, Ekholm said he was not willing to speculate and it was for individual countries to decide how they managed their national security policy. Ekholm said Ericsson was preparing for any eventuality by investing in product development and having a supply chain which can ramp up 5G demand if needed. He highlighted his company's announcement on Monday that it was buying the antennas and filter operations of Germany's Kathrein. "Let's look at it when it comes down. We have to remember the operators ... have a lot of gear in the network, they are financially under a lot of pressure, in Europe especially," he said. "They're under a lot of pressure here, so how they are going to act if something happens or doesnt happen I think is very hard to speculate." ($1 = 0.8804 euros) (Reporting by Jack Stubbs and Douglas Busvine; Editing by David Goodman and Jane Merriman)
A former B.C. chief chosen by Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett to participate in sensitive talks on revamping key policies on modern treaties and self-government is drawing fire over past connections to the Trans Mountain pipeline project.

Bennett recently appointed Kim Baird, a consultant and former chief of the Tsawwassen First Nation, as one of two representatives that will be involved in talks with First Nations to revamp policies on comprehensive claims, also known as modern treaties, and self-government.

The Crown-Indigenous Relations (CIRNA) department began rolling out its engagement process for revamping these new policies in January. CIRNA documents, obtained by CBC News, show the department is aiming to have the new policies announced by June 2019.

The effort is part of the Liberal government's attempts to salvage part of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's promise to refashion Canada's relationship with Indigenous Peoples through a legislated framework on Indigenous rights that has been shelved.

CIRNA is also moving on changing policies on how lands are added to reserves and the settling of historical grievances over lost lands and mishandled trust money  known as specific claims.

Bennett appointed Baird alongside Tom Isaac, a prominent Vancouver lawyer with an expertise in Indigenous law who acted as a former B.C. government treaty negotiator and has been a federal ministerial representative on various Indigenous files.

Baird's role in modern treaty settlement raises concern

Neskonlith Indian Band Chief Judy Wilson said concerns with Baird date back to her 2016 appointment by the Liberal government to a three-member National Energy Board environmental review panel for the Trans Mountain pipeline project.

"To me there was a perceived conflict of interest at that time," said Wilson. "Somehow, the government keeps hiring her."

Baird was involved in a leadership exchange program in 2010 with Ian Anderson, the current CEO of Trans Mountain and the former president of Kinder Morgan Canada.

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Baird also lobbied the federal government for Woodfibre LNG in 2015, according to the federal lobbyist registry. Woodfibre LNG is a $1.6 billion LNG export project in B.C. Woodfibre recently signed a $224 million, 40-year deal with the Squamish First Nation.

Wilson said the controversy over her 2016 NEB review panel appointment should have disqualified her from involvement in talks to change modern treaty policy which is about Aboriginal title and lands  two central factors fuelling opposition to the Trans Mountain project.

"Kim Baird is a non-starter," said Wilson, whose First Nation sits in B.C.

Simon Fraser University - University Communications/Flckr

Wilson said Baird's leadership role with her First Nation when it signed B.C.'s first urban modern treaty in 2009 is also problematic. Wilson said Baird has been appointed to help lead talks to significantly change to the very policy behind the modern treaty signed by her community

"A lot of our communities are non-treaty and some would feel they are being railroaded into some sort of treaty process that is a narrow process because you have a [modern] treaty person rolling out these  policies," said Wilson, who is also secretary-treasurer for the Union of BC Indian Chiefs.

"The issue we have with [the treaties] is this narrow process of extinguishment, or modified extinguishment...all of the issues are still the same."

'Work speaks for itself'

Baird said she was chosen for her experience in the field and she wouldn't be pushing any particular view on any of the First Nations she meets.

"All my work has been in relationship building, helping enable that," said Baird, who is a personal friend of Jody Wilson-Raybould, the former justice minister currently embroiled in the SNC-Lavalin affair.

"I think it's not my personal style to shove a personal model on any community. I can share the perspective of how it works for Tsawwassen and other models...again, I really believe it's up to First Nations."

CBC

Baird said her past experience has given her the necessary tools to do the work the minister has appointed her to accomplish.

"I have lots of experience in engaging with First Nations in controversial issues," said Baird. "My work speaks for itself and through my long career I developed lots of relationships with lots of people."

AFN says process developed 'unilaterally'

Baird's role is to engage with First Nations in B.C., Ontario, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon.

Isaac was mandated to engage with First Nations in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Quebec and the East Coast.

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde has called on Ottawa to change its modern treaty and self-government policies, but has stressed it needs to be First Nation-led. The AFN has also passed resolutions to this effect.

The AFN said in a statement that the process unveiled by CIRNA was "unilaterally developed." The statement said that the AFN was only provided the plan for comment in January.

The AFN statement said that CIRNA's timelines may be too tight. The department wants the engagement process completed by May 2019.

"The AFN will not support a process that is not First Nations led, and that has predetermined outcomes," said the statement.

Bennett's office did not respond to a request for comment.
After a lacklustre 2018 that saw silver plunge to under US$14 per ounce, the white metal has recovered following higher gold, recently breaking through the psychologically important US$16 an ounce mark. While silvers outlook is poor, this shouldnt deter investors from boosting their exposure to the precious metal because there are signs it is poised to move higher in coming months. An attractive play on higher silver and gold offering an opportunity for outsized returns is Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (TSX:FVI)(NYSE:FSM).

Operational incidents weigh on market value

After a woeful end to last year and poor start to 2019, the miner has lost 14% over the last year, creating an opportunity for investors to acquire an up-and-coming miner at an attractive valuation. Fortunas problems began with heavy seasonal rains in Mexico, causing a contingency pond at its tailing facilities for the San Jose mine to overflow, while heavy rains delayed construction activities at its Argentina Lindero gold project. The Mexican environmental regulator however found that there was no soil contamination at San Jose; hence, Fortuna is not required to engage in costly remediation activities.

The damage caused by heavy rains to infrastructure at the Lindero site has been repaired, although Fortuna was forced to extend several construction milestones. This means that the first gold pour wont occur until the end of 2019, with commercial production delayed until early 2020. That damage has also triggered cost overruns that see total construction costs for the mine now anticipated to be US$295 million, US$56 million greater than the initial US$239 million budgeted in Fortunas initial September 2017 guidance.

Based on its third quarter 2018 results, Fortuna has enough capital available to meet the additional funding requirements, ending that period with almost US$177 million in cash and short-term investments. Despite having funded 88% of the direct capital required to complete Lindero, Fortuna only has US$40 million in long-term debt, less than 0.5 times its trailing 12 months operational cash flow. This indicates that it is relatively easy for the Fortuna to obtain further debt financing to fund the completion of Lindero if required, although thats unlikely given the considerable amount of cash on hand.

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These incidents highlight the considerable hazards associated with mining activities and the risks that they can pose to a miner, but there has been no long-term or significant damage to Fortunas operations.

Solid 2018 operational performance

It wasnt all bad news for investors, with Fortuna delivering a strong operational performance, beating its 2018 production guidance. Silver output of 8.9 million ounces was 7% greater than its annual forecast as well as 5% higher than 2017, while gold production 54,210 ounces exceeded its guidance by 12%.

Why buy Fortuna?

For 2019, Fortuna is forecasting production of up to 9 million silver ounces and 54,000 ounces of gold. When combined with projected all-in sustaining costs (AISCs) of between US$9.90 to US$12.10 per silver equivalent ounce produced and firmer precious metals prices, Fortunas earnings should grow.

On commencing commercial production, Lindero is expected to produce 137,000 gold ounces during its first year, with AISCs averaging US$802 per ounce produced. In an operating environment that sees gold is trading at over US$1,320 per ounce, Fortunas earnings will get a solid lift that will ultimately cause its stock to appreciate. If gold remains at current levels and Fortuna demonstrates that Lindero can consistently operate as forecast, then the miners stock could potentially double.

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Fool contributor Matt Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

The Motley Fools purpose is to help the world invest, better. Click here now for your free subscription to Take Stock, The Motley Fool Canadas free investing newsletter. Packed with stock ideas and investing advice, it is essential reading for anyone looking to build and grow their wealth in the years ahead. Motley Fool Canada 2019
SMITHFIELD, Va., Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Smithfield Foundation , the philanthropic arm of Smithfield Foods, Inc. , is pleased to announce a $20,000 donation to The Opportunities for Children to Help Others (OCHO) Project: Read for a Need , an organization that focuses on character building and literary-based service learning. This donation adds to the more than $60,000 Smithfield has donated to The OCHO Project since 2011, where 100 percent of monetary contributions are used directly for the purchase of books for the program.



We are so grateful that Smithfield has chosen to once again contribute to The OCHO Project. Through their support, thousands of children in need have received books to increase their reading skills and develop a love of reading, said Marilyn Perlyn, creator of The OCHO Project. The OCHO Project has provided over 85,000 books for children from Alaska to Florida and this new grant will keep books in the hands of young children in need!

Children participating in The OCHO Project build upon their reading skills, develop a love of reading, and participate in character education curriculum. Students are exposed to local and global issues related to literacy, and are encouraged, through academic reading activities, to earn points to use at a book fair for kids who have few or no books of their own.

We have been proud to contribute to The OCHO Project for the past eight years, said Keira Lombardo, executive vice president of corporate affairs and compliance for Smithfield Foods, and president of the Smithfield Foundation. Education is one of our core focus areas for giving, as we believe it has the power to dramatically strengthen communities over the long term. The OCHO Project is a great resource for children across the country, and we are pleased to continue to support their development through a love of reading.

To learn more about Smithfields commitment to education, visit smithfieldfoods.com/helpingcommunities .

About Smithfield Foods

Smithfield Foods is a $15 billion global food company and the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. In the United States, the company is also the leader in numerous packaged meats categories with popular brands including Smithfield, Eckrich, Nathans Famous, Farmland, Armour, Farmer John, Kretschmar, John Morrell, Cooks, Gwaltney, Carando, Margherita, Curlys, Healthy Ones, Morliny, Krakus, and Berlinki. Smithfield Foods is committed to providing good food in a responsible way and maintains robust animal care, community involvement, employee safety, environmental and food safety and quality programs. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com , and connect with us on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , and Instagram .

About The OCHO Project

The OCHO Project is a character building and literary-based service-learning program that is dedicated to exposing children to the joys of reading while teaching them that, through reading, they can help others less fortunate than themselves. OCHO stands for Opportunities for Children to Help Others. The prime objective of the program is to have students read not only to expand their own knowledge but also to help earn books for their fellow students who have few or no books of their own. Students will serve and learn while building character values. Students are able to apply knowledge in real world settings by learning both inside and outside of the classroom.

Media Contacts: Smithfield Foods, Inc. The OCHO Project Lisa Martin Marilyn Perlyn lvmartin@smithfield.com mperlyn@me.com (757) 365-1980 (561) 350-4202




By Laila Kearney NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil futures inched up on Tuesday after news that OPEC would continue production cuts despite comments from U.S. President Donald Trump, who criticized the producer group for rising crude prices a day earlier. Prices fell more than 3.5 percent on Monday, their biggest daily percentage drop this year, after Trump said he wanted the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to ease its efforts to boost oil prices. An OPEC source told Reuters on Tuesday OPEC would stick to its agreement and push for more adherence from its members and producer allies to tighten crude supplies regardless of Trump's recent tweet. The OPEC source said the cartel, along with non-member producers, would continue its supply-cut agreement to balance the market until they see inventories fall to their five-year average. "There is no doubt we will continue with our reduction as planned," the OPEC source said. Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, rose 45 cents to settle at $65.21 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 2 cents to settle at $55.50 a barrel. "After yesterday's pullback, the market is trying to stabilize again," said Gene McGillian, vice president of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. "We're basically turning our focus back to expectations of the producer output cuts and also the sanctions on Venezuela continuing to tighten supplies," McGillian said. Oil prices have risen about 20 percent since the start of the year largely on an agreement by OPEC and non-member producers, including Russia, to reduce production. Supplies from Venezuela have been curtailed since U.S. sanctions were imposed to try to oust President Nicolas Maduro. OPEC+ agreed in December to cut supply by 1.2 million barrels per day from Jan. 1 for six months. Saudi Arabia, OPEC's top producer, recently estimated its supply would fall in March by a half-million more barrels a day than anticipated under the supply-reduction agreement. Libya's internationally recognized government agreed with the state oil company to reopen the country's largest oilfield, El Sharara, according to a statement on Tuesday, weighing on prices. Investors are also looking ahead to weekly figures on U.S. crude inventories. U.S. crude stocks are expected to rise by 3.6 million barrels in weekly inventory reports. The first such report is due at 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT) from the American Petroleum Institute. (Reporting by Laila Kearney; Additional reporting by Alex Lawler in London; Koustav Samanta in Singapore and Colin Packham in Sydney; Editing by Tom Brown and Lisa Shumaker)
AskMen Style Defined: A Funky Outfit Inspired by Paris Fashion Week

Have Fun In an Outfit Inspired by Paris Fashion Week

The AskMen editorial team thoroughly researches & reviews the best gear, services and staples for life. AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service.

Here at AskMen, we enjoy bringing you new and interesting content to help answer any questions you may have from sex and dating to health and fitness to food and booze. But this fourth installment of our new weekly series AskMen Style Defined, is all about funky fresh West Coast style  at any budget.

RELATED: Last Week: AskMen Style Defined: This Look Will Make Your Stock Go Way Up

Los Angeles-based fashion and lifestyle blogger Everett Williams started his site Everything-Everett.com while studying fashion design at Parson School of Design in New York City. It began as a junior year project which ended up as my full-time career, Williams says of his eponymous blog. I was interning at Marc Jacobs at the time, and so once senior year came around, I had to make the choice to take a safe route or take a risk.  I haven't looked back since!

So what inspires this entrepreneurial content creator on a daily basis? My process of finding inspiration is really weird when I think about it, because it's not any certain thing, it more so depends on my mindset and where I am, he tells us. Im constantly taking notes in my head from things Im looking at in the world, or the way Im feeling while listening to a song, and I think all of this somehow comes together when Im creating or thinking of ideas.  There are so many nights that Im stuck laying awake just writing down ideas and thoughts from the day. I have a really great memory, so I often love to reference things from the past and revisit them during the creative process.

Working regularly with brands such as Uber, Away, Dockers, and Lab Series, there seems to be no shortage of ideas to keep Williams working. We asked him to discuss the inspiration behind one of his more adventurous looks from his recent trip to cover Paris Fashion Week.

This outfit was a fun one for sure, Williams says of his multicolored Kenzo pants, Common Projects high tops, and The Arrivals leather moto jacket. When I was putting looks together before Paris ... I pulled out these pants from my closet and I knew I wanted to make them work somehow. So I started putting things together and I loved the leather jacket with it. I thought it gave such a cool edgy vibe  I was also lucky enough to have 50-degree weather in Paris in the winter the day I wore this, so thank you Mother Nature!

RELATED: AskMen Style Defined: The Weeks Look to Shop Gives Major Retro Vibes

If you are looking to make an unforgettable style statement anywhere around the world, take your cue from Williams and opt for something memorable.

Items to shop inspired by Williams look:

Budget:

AE Johnny Cash Graphic Tee

$24.95 at AE.com

Topman Faux Leather Biker Jacket

$120 at Topman.com

Design Super Skinny Pants

$48 at Asos.com

Vans SK-8 Hi Pro BMX

$80 at Vans.com

Andwood Sunglasses

$36.85 at Amazon.com

Baller:

Takahiromiyashita Thesoloist. Printed Cotton-Jersey T-Shirt

$225 at MrPorter.com

The Arrivals Madsen II Modular Leather Moto

$795 at TheArrivals.com

Dolce & Gabbana Pants in Printed Silk

$995 at DolceGabanna.com

Common Projects Tournament Nubuck High-Top Sneakers

$495 at MrPorter.com

Vuarnet Edge Rectangular Sunglasses

$380 at Vuarnet.com

We think this funky French-inspired outfit is fashionable anywhere around the world, but what do you think? What do you want to see? Do you have a look you like? Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and friend us on Facebook to share your best looks or tell us about someone we should check out. Tag us and use the hashtag #AskMenStyleDefined to get our attention. Or e-mail us directly at [email protected] with AskMen Style Defined in the subject. Maybe next week, well pick you!

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Oscars 2019 Red Carpet: Boldest and Best Dressed Men

These Guys Braved the Oscars Red Carpet in Bold Looks

The Academy Awards is the biggest night in Hollywood, from A-listers being recognized for their performances, to the stars stealing the red-carpet spotlight with the best and boldest looks.

RELATED: Grammy Awards 2019 Red Carpet: Men Who Stood Out With Their Outfits

This years Oscars, held Sunday, February 24, at the Dolby Theatre in L.A., were no different when it came to the red carpet. From one guy in a gown to women in pantsuits, all bets were off when it came to style. Here are our picks for boldest and best dressed men at the 2019 Academy Awards.

Jason Momoa

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Momoa arrived wearing a Fendi tuxedo specially designed for him by the late Karl Lagerfeld. Momoas dusty pink velvet tux, which lacked a bow tie but included a scrunchy, showed how to lighten up the formality of traditional black tie with style.

Michael B. Jordan

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Black Panther star Jordan has made many a best dressed list this awards season thanks to his sophisticated yet daring style choices. (Remember the Louis Vuitton harness from the SAG Awards?) He saved the most sophisticated look for last  and the biggest  show with his blue velvet Tom Ford tuxedo and Piaget earrings, rings, and watch.

Chris Evans

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Evans, in a custom Salvatore Ferragamo tuxedo, an IWC watch, and Montblanc cuff links, displayed chivalry as he assisted Regina King up the stairs to accept her first Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Nicholas Hoult

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The Favourite actor Hoult may have been wearing all black, but he did anything but fade into the background. His Dior tuxedo with unique, cumberbund-esque pleating coming from inside his jacket made a subtle but intentional statement.

Rami Malek

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You might expect the actor portraying Freddie Mercury, one of musics most flamboyant frontmen, to show up in something outlandish, but the Bohemian Rhapsody Best Actor nominee kept it classic in his YSL by Anthony Vaccarello three-piece tuxedo and Cartier watch and cuff links.

Chadwick Boseman

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Black Panther star Boseman has made a reputation for daring, expertly executed style choices for his red carpet appearances. For the biggest award show of the year, he donned Givenchy Haute Couture with Bulgari jewelry.

Henry Golding

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Crazy Rich Asians actor Golding arrived on the red carpet wearing a something worthy of any of societys elite in his Ralph Lauren Purple Label three-piece tuxedo. He finished it off perfectly with the white, instead of more traditional black, bow tie.

Diego Luna

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Luna, who starred with Regina King in If Beale Street Could Talk, may not have been nominated for his own Oscar this year, but anyone who shows up in Italian luxury from Brunello Cucinelli and Parisian perfection from Christian Louboutin has award-worthy style, if nothing else.

Trevor Noah

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Noah may have flown under the radar in Blank Panther as the voice of Griot, but he stood out on the red carpet, as well as on stage, as he introduced the Best Picture nominee Black Panther in his Salvatore Ferragamo tuxedo.

Stephan James

GettyImages

One might suggest wearing red on the red carpet is like wearing camo in the woods, but when If Beale Street Could Talk star James arrived in a custom Etro three-piece velvet tuxedo, you couldnt help but notice and appreciate his sanguine sartorial choice.

Bradley Cooper

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Cooper is nothing if not consistent in his perfectly tailored tuxedo tradition. Never one to disappoint, the A Star Is Born star, who also directed the nominated film, showed up ready to claim his Best Actor prize while looking sleek in a perfectly fitted, classically peak-lapeled Tom Ford tuxedo and Christian Louboutin shoes.

These were our favorites from an evening of great styles. If youre looking for more inspiration, check out our weekly style series, AskMen Style Defined.

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Lucky Charms-Flavored Beer Is Coming

Trending News: This Magically Ridiculous IPA Tastes Like Kids Cereal

Soon, youll finally be able to say, Theyre always after me Lucky Charms-flavored beer!

Norfolk, Virginias Smartmouth Brewing Co. is launching a new India Pale Ale that apparently tastes like a bowl of Lucky Charms.

According to the brewery, Saturday Morning IPA is made with raw and toasted marshmallows, as well as Calypso hops, which give the beer a tropical fruity flavor akin to the breakfast cereal. The result is magically ridiculous! Smartmouth says on its website.

RELATED: It's Time to Broaden Your Brew Horizons With These Unexpected Beers

Unlike the magically delicious cereal, Smartmouths beer will pack a punch. Saturday Morning IPA launches on March 2 in 16 oz. cans, and will contain 6.6 percent alcohol by volume.

Unfortunately for anyone outside of Virginia, the Lucky Charms beer will only be sold in bars, restaurants, and licensed vendors in the state. Virginians will also get to celebrate at Smartmouths release party on the 2nd.

These days, beer flavored like breakfast cereal isnt completely out of the norm. There are plenty of craft breweries offering flavors that may excite  or revolt  your tastebuds.

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery released a spacey ale in 2013 flavored with lunar meteorite dust, Porterhouse Brewing Co. has an Irish stout made with freshly shucked oysters, and Icelands Stedji Brewery made beer using a single whale testicle. Perhaps the most questionable of them all? A Danish brewery recycled human pee from a festival and turned it into beer.

What kind of craft beer will they dream up next?

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- T. S. Eliot

Thoughts After Lambeth

"The World is trying the experiment of attempting to form a civilized but non-Christian mentality. The experiment will fail; but we must be very patient in awaiting its collapse; meanwhile redeeming the time: so that the Faith may be preserved alive through the dark ages before us; to renew and rebuild civilization, and save the World from suicide."
News / National

by Staff reporter

Crisis Coalition in Zimbabwe chairperson Rashid Mahiya appeared before Magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa today charged with subversion following violent demonstrations that rocked the country in January.He was remanded in custody to 12 March.Mahiya is accused of being the mastermind behind the demos following his address to members of Heal Zimbabwe Trust in partnership with Interpeace of Switzerland between 3 and 6 December 2018 at a resort area in Harare.Mahiya allegedly incited some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the public to subvert a constitutionally elected Government. Mr Shepherd Makonde prosecuted.About 1000 people were arrested in connection with charges of wanton destruction of property and looting during the MDC Alliance and civil society organisations-led protests.Mahiya was on the police radar and believed to be in hiding before surrendering himself to the police on Monday.
News / National

by Staff reporter

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Africa Secretary General Kwasi Adu Amankwah, who was being held by the The Zimbabwe Immigration department since Tuesday morning, has been released, according to Information Permanent Secretary, Nick Mangwana.Adu Amankwah arrived in the country on Tuesday morning for an international solidarity meeting with one of ITUC Africa affiliate, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and he was taken into the custody of immigration officials and taken back to Robert Mugabe International Airport just after he had checked into a Harare hotel.It is not yet clear why he was held, and there are no details as yet on the conditions of his release.Fears were now abound that he could be deported, and ITUC had to intervene by urgently writing to President Emmerson Mnanagwa, demanding for the labour leader's immediate release.Amankwah is scheduled to meet the Ministry of Labour, the International Labour Organisation and the Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe for an appreciation of the trade union and country obtaining situations."This is to bring to your attention that Adu-Amnkwah (a Ghanaian) has been taken from (a local hotel) where he checked in upon arrivalwe fear he is being processed for deportation. We, nevertheless, hope this will not be the case," reads part of the ITUC Africa letter to Mnangagwa, signed by the Deputy Secretary Adrian Akouete."We ask that your government take the necessary steps to ensure that Adu-Amankwah is released and allowed to continue with his mission. The least appropriate thing will be that the ZImbabwe Department of Immigration will tender an unreserved apology for this action and take genuine efforts to prevent future reoccurence," read part of the ITUC letter.
News / National

by Staff reporter

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa's government could be mortgaging the country's diamond deposits to Botswana, which has offered the struggling economy a US$500 million bailout backed by diamonds and a further one billion pula bailout package for the private sector, months after being spurned by South Africa.Officially opening the inaugural session of the Zimbabwe-Botswana Bi-National Commission in Harare yesterday, Foreign Affairs and International Trade ministry secretary Joe Manzou confirmed the two major deals, which could throw the already over-indebted Zimbabwe deeper into debt.Previously, the cash-strapped and investment-hungry country has entered into several similar arrangements with China and Russia, which have doled out arms and millions in loans to Harare in a series of murky deals in return for unrestricted access to the country's vast platinum and diamond deposits."Zimbabwe is also appreciative of the US$500 million diamond-backed facility offered by Botswana. I also urge this meeting of officials to work in earnest to ensure that all outstanding issues relating to this facility are finalised," he said.The Botswana US$500 million package, which will be backed by the Chiadzwa diamonds, is still murky and will be finalised during the two-day bi-national commission between the two countries.The deal marks an improvement in relations between the two neighbouring countries, which had experienced years of deteriorating diplomatic relations during the tenure of former presidents Robert Mugabe and Ian Khama.Khama was the only African leader who would stand to challenge Mugabe's transgressions."I wish to extend my gratitude to the support extended to Zimbabwe, by Botswana, as our country embarks on a development trajectory under the new dispensation  Zimbabwe welcomes with much appreciation that Botswana proposed a P1 billion credit line facility in support of the Zimbabwe private sector," Manzou said.The loan facility will be extended directly to the private sector for retooling and recapitalisation.Economist Eddie Cross said Zimbabwe did not need to get the loan facility backed by diamonds, saying it was equal to mortgaging the future of the country and could push thesector into losses."We are mortgaging our future and we should not be doing that. I don't think we are short of foreign currency to the point of wanting to mortgage our future, because we are going to get a return which is less than the market rate and it's not necessary," he said.Cross said Zimbabwe was better off raising the $500 million from direct sales of its diamonds, instead of getting the loan."This shows that we have no proper commercial control of the diamond market. They should look at Botswana, they have proper controls and they have an effective market which they sell their diamonds and get fair value, which we could do. In my view, this is retrogressive," he said.Botswana's International Affairs and Co-operation permanent secretary Gaeimelwe Goitsemang confirmed the deal, saying his country had a massive interest in partnering Zimbabwe in enhancing its diamond industry."Both our countries are experiencing high levels of unemployment. Zimbabwe has incorporated vocational training in its curriculum, making it easy for your people to be resourceful. This is something we can learn from Zimbabwe," he said." Botswana has the expertise in the diamond industry. Over the years, we have even started the process of diamond beneficiation to ensure that we develop local skills in the industry. We can share our experiences to help Zimbabwe develop her own industry."Former Finance minister Tendai Biti said the money, which is equivalent to $100 million, was a drop in the ocean for a country which needs nearly $2 billion to retool andcapacitate its industry."That's a drop in the ocean. That is absolutely nothing. The industry itself needs about $2 billion to retool," he said, adding money alone would not save the country's economy because there were a lot of micro-economic fundamentals that government needed to get right."In any event, it's not about the money. Do we have the right micro-economic fundamentals, a decent exchange rate? There is chaos with the situation of the RTGS$ [real time gross settlement dollar]. The statutory instrument shows that it's a virtual currency and the politics is just not right, so you can pour money, but that won't change anything," he said.Owing to the political uncertainty at home and indebtedness, the country has been struggling to get badly needed lines of credit from international financial institutions and is now turning to its neighbours for help.The United Kingdom and European Union have demanded political and economic reforms as a prerequisite before they can extend lines of credit to Mnangagwa's administration.Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president Sifelani Jabangwe said the loan could have a significant impact on industry and the economy by boosting the depleted nostro accounts, adding that the money would go a long way to help retool small businesses."It will boost the nostro accounts and provide capital for retooling. This will significantly help business that requirearound US$500 000 and below to retool and ramp up production and productivity," he said.Since coming into office, Mnangagwa has been in drive to attract the much-needed foreign direct investment and loans to capacitate the country's ailing industry.Zimbabwe's external debt currently stands in excess of $10 billion, presenting a massive setback on the economy.Apart from what have been coined mega deals and commitments to invest, the Mnangagwa administration has not been able to record meaningful economic traction.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, has received an early boost ahead of what could turn out to be a bruising contest when the MDC congress gets underway in three months' time, after several party structures moved to endorse his candidature at the weekend.The Nelson Chamisa-led MDC has announced that its elective congress will be held in May following a national council meeting in Harare.Chamisa is seeking to retain the post he took through a national council resolution following the death of founding president Morgan Tsvangirai last February.Some members are reportedly accusing party leader Nelson Chamisa of manipulating the structures in his favour and making it hard for his challengers to come out and openly campaign ahead of the congress.Chamisa's challengers accused his lieutenants of tampering with structures and indirectly making it difficult for those reportedly outside his camp to freely open up and prepare for the elective congress.This has forced disgruntled structures across the country to appeal to secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora to intervene.Early this month, Mwonzora wrote to provincial secretaries and chairpersons to furnish him with structures so as to counter the alleged on-going manipulations.Chamisa rose to power in February last year following the death of founding president Morgan Tsvangirai, who succumbed to cancer of the colon.Insiders said Chamisa wanted congress to remove any doubts over his legitimacy, as he was confident that he would win against possible contenders such as deputy president Elias Mudzuri and secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora.More to follow..
LISLE, Ill., Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Just two months after announcing their partnership, Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) has completed integrating the Livingston County Board of Realtors into MREDs multiple listing service (MLS). LCBR members now have access to connectMLS, MREDs MLS powered by more than 45,000 active real estate professionals.



The announcement comes more than three weeks ahead of the originally scheduled start date and marks the second completed integration of a new MRED association partner in a month. The Bloomington-Normal Association of Realtors (BNAR) went live with connectMLS in mid-January.



Everyone gets more complete data and better resources when additional associations come on board, said MRED President/CEO Rebecca Jensen. The whole LCBR staff has been a joy to work with and they have been instrumental in getting this project done ahead of schedule. Were looking forward to doing great things together in the future.



Were thrilled at how smooth this process has been. MREDs staff answered all our questions and were happy to have a comprehensive new menu of benefits for brokers, said LCBR President Jill Thompson. This is definitely the right move for our members.



LCBR operates in central Illinois Livingston County, serving the countys nearly 40,000 residents in 15,000 households across 16,000 housing units. This expands the territory covered by MREDs association partners to 22 counties. MRED provides public records for all Illinois counties and counties that border Illinois in contiguous states, and continues to expand in order to best serve the its real estate professionals with increasing and improving data and services.



About MRED

Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) is the real estate data aggregator and distributor providing the Chicagoland multiple listing service (MLS) to more than 45,000 brokers and appraisers and over 7,300 offices. MRED serves Chicago and the surrounding "collar" counties and provides property information encompassing northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, and northwest Indiana. MRED delivers more than 20 products and services to its customers. MRED is the 2013 Inman News Most Innovative MLS/Real Estate Trade Association, and for nine consecutive years the MRED Help Desk has been identified as one of the best small business centers in North America by BenchmarkPortal. For more information please visit MREDLLC.com.

Attachment
News / National

by Staff reporter

President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government could be mortgaging the country's diamond deposits to Botswana which has offered the struggling economy a US$600 million bail out package for private sector, months after being spurned by South Africa.Botswana is extending $600 million in two major facilities to Zimbabwe's private sector and diamond industry that will give relations between the two country a huge lift.Zimbabwe this week hosts Botswana for a Bi-National Commission which will result in the signing of the agreements by Presidents Mnangagwa and Mokgweetsi Masisi on Thursday.Preparatory meetings for the event began yesterday and Zimbabwe's Foreign Affairs and International Trade permanent secretary, Ambassador James Manzou, who opened the two-day meeting pitting officials from both countries, revealed the details."Zimbabwe welcomes with much appreciation that Botswana proposed a BWP1 billion (approximately US$94,5 million) credit facility, in support of the Zimbabwe private sector. I would like to encourage all of us as officials to fully utilise our two working days to synthesise the remaining issues that will lead to the operationalisation of this facility."Zimbabwe is also appreciative of the US$500 million diamond facility offered by Botswana. I also urge this meeting of officials to work in earnest to ensure that all outstanding issues relating to this facility are finalised," Ambassador Manzou said.He also thanked Botswana for supporting Zimbabwe's efforts to turn around the fortunes of its economy, especially the Transitional Stabilisation Programme."I wish to express my gratitude for the support extended to Zimbabwe by Botswana as our country embarks on a fresh development trajectory under the new dispensation."That support has not only come in the unyielding commitment towards enhancement of relations through the BNC but also in programmes that will support our economic recovery in line with Zimbabwe's Second Republic's seminal blueprint, the Transitional Stabilisation Programme," he said.Ambassador Manzou said at least three Memoranda of Understanding in Diplomatic Consultations and Rules of Procedure (meant to operationalise the BNC) and that of Agriculture and Mining were ready for signing saying the latter two were at the heart of driving the two countries' respective economies."We should speedily activate the Joint Technical Committees in the two sectors to ensure actionable programmes take off immediately. In the mining sector, Zimbabwe is especially keen to emulate how Botswana managed to harness its diamond resources giving it a critical role in transforming the country into one of the most prosperous on the continent," he added.In his remarks Botswana's permanent secretary for International Affairs and Cooperation Mr Gaeimelwe Goitsemang said the BNC should further improve ties between the two countries."It's my hope that the outcomes of this BNC will improve the bilateral relations between the two countries with economic diplomacy taking centre stage," he said."I hope this new arrangement (the BNC) will improve coordination of our activities. The BNC is a strong expression of the good relations between our two nations."Zimbabwe and Botswana upgraded their relations to a BNC last year following President Mnangagwa's visit to that country.President Mnangagwa and his Botswana counterpart Mokgweetsi Masisi will head the BNC when it sits on Thursday.
News / National

by Staff reporter

A HARARE motorist was yesterday summoned to appear in court after he allegedly crashed into Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga's motorcade along Glenara Avenue and Samora Machel Avenue in November last year.Dennis Chiwawa (57) of Ukhozi Transport appeared before Richard Ramaboa, who remanded the matter to March 4 for trial.According to the prosecutor Moses Mapanga, on November 23 last year, Chiwawa was driving a Toyota Corolla vehicle along Samora Machel Avenue due west.The complainant, Pepukai Chimire, an employee of the President's Office was driving a Toyota Hilux Revo due south along Glenara Avenue. He was driving the lead vehicle in Chiwenga's motorcade.It is alleged that upon approaching the traffic light-controlled intersection at Samora Machel and Glenara, Chiwawa drove past a red traffic light before hitting the vehicle driven by Chimire on the front and rear passenger doors, causing a dent on the rear door.Chiwawa's vehicle sustained minor damage on the front bumper, bonnet, right lamp and fender. The State alleges that Chiwawa failed to look out for the robot-controlled intersection and failed to stop when the accident seemed imminent.
News / National

by Staff reporter

MORE than 95% of the 3,24 million individual real time gross settlement (RTGS) accounts held less than $1 000 as of December 2018, the central bank recently revealed in its monetary policy statement, a situation which analysts say points to a diminishing culture of saving as confidence in the local banking sector remains dampened.Cumulatively, individual accounts held $894,5 million and accounts with an average of $80 accounted for $213,4 million.According to official data, the banking sector, which was sitting on $10,3 billion in deposits as at year end, was predominantly funded by demand deposits which accounted for 64,94% of total deposits against savings deposits of 5,1% by end of last year.Demand deposits can be withdrawn as per the requirement of the depositor, whereas savings deposits are interest yielding and cannot be withdrawn without a penalty.Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce chief executive Christopher Mugaga said the statistics revealed that the culture of saving money in banks was dead."There is a very unusual lack of appetite for banking in this country. Banks have just become a conduit to withdraw cash, not for savings. No one goes to banks to save. What was happening was that people were withdrawing their RTGS balances to buy US dollars and keep at home. You can't measure bank balances as a way of poverty," Mugaga said."At this hour, it is misleading for one to judge this information. There is so much high unemployment, so the economy becomes a cash economy. Those who are informally employed do rely on cash more, as you know that at least 90% of the population is unemployed".The number of RTGS corporate depositors was 214 094, holding money valued at $8,67 billion.An economist, Persistence Gwanyanya, expressed a different view, suggesting that low individual bank balances were a reflection of poverty."It's a reflection that the Zimbabwean individual does not have money. It means that people do not have much as we think. Money which was being traded on the black market was coming from corporates, since they were not getting forex from Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe," he said.Gwanyanya said corporates, using their huge balances, were behind the thriving parallel market, which at one time had the rate between RTGS and USD shoot to astronomical levels of 1:6He said the interbank market facility would satiate corporates' forex requirements as companies traditionally use 40% of their balances to meet forex requirements."Government should not participate on the interbank market to get the forex to buy cars for Members of Parliament. If that happens, the exchange rate will go down and this is what I'm seeing happening," Gwanyanya said.
News / National

by Staff reporter

WOMEN'S Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (Walpe) has called on the Nelson Chamisa-led MDC to give women fair opportunities to take up top leadership positions at its congress pencilled for May 24 to 26.Chamisa, during the party's thank you rally in Gweru on Sunday, indicated that during the upcoming congress every position will be contested including the presidency.In a statement yesterday, Walpe said it was necessary for the main opposition party to consider placing women in influential positions.The organisation quoted remarks by a former Head of the United Nations Women, Michelle Bachelet, who is also former President and Defence minister of Chile, who said: "For me, a better democracy is a democracy where women do not only have the right to vote and to elect, but to be elected."Walpe called for a level playing field for all contestants and said the MDC should guarantee a violence-free environment."Women's political empowerment and access to leadership positions, at all levels, are fundamental to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the United Nations Women 50/50 gender representation agenda," the Walpe statement said."As the MDC goes on a leadership renewal exercise, Walpe appeals for a level playing field for all contestants. The party must guarantee an environment that is free of violence, harassment and victimisation of women contesters, name-calling, body-shaming and cyber-bullying of female candidates. Further, the party must outlaw vote buying which creates an imbalance for women who are traditionally under-resourced."Walpe urged the party to set up an independent disciplinary and dispute resolution committee to adequately deal with potential cases of violence against women and/or infringement of ethical codes of conduct and those found guilty must be held accountable.The organisation also called upon the opposition party to ensure that all congress-related processes are done during friendly hours to allow women to freely participate."Elections that run well into the night curtails women's participation as they have other important social responsibilities to attend to. Therefore, all programming related to congress must be gender sensitive," Walpe said."Women's participation is important for internal party democracy and for broader development of national democracy as such, it is critical to ensure women compete for leadership positions at all levels of party structures instead of second tier positions such as deputies, welfare or portfolio secretaries."Going forward, Walpe will closely monitor and report on leadership renewal processes of all political parties to inform national and international opinion on how individual parties are faring in promoting women political participation and leadership," it added.In response, MDC spokesperson Jacob Mafume said: "We actually have two areas where women can participate, which is the women's assembly and the main wing."The women assembly is wholly for them, but it doesn't end there. They can also compete in the main wing of the party if they manage to secure the nomination. We have created a conducive environment for their participation."Zimbabwe currently has just above 30% female representation in the National Assembly.Violence and intimidation during elections in local politics has been identified as a major contributing factor to failure by women to participate in politics.
News / Africa

by Dr Louise de Waal

The results of the recent and most extensive elephant population survey of Botswana estimates the country's population at 126,000 elephants, a further decline from 131,600 reported in 2014. The report shows repeated evidence of significant increases in elephant poaching in four hotspots in Northern Botswana, which started a media storm last year.This report by Elephants without Borders (EWB) comes after the cabinet sub-committee presented their pro hunting report to President Masisi on Thursday last week, which proposes not only lifting the hunting ban, but also the introduction of regular elephant culling and associated elephant meat canning industry for pet food, as well as closing certain wildlife migratory routes.Botswana government earlier submitted a proposal to CITES in preparation for the CoP18 meeting in May this year, asking to amend the CITES listing of the African savannah elephant to allow for trade in hunting trophies, live animals and registered (government-owned) stocks of raw ivory.According to the African Elephant Status report (2016), Botswana's elephant population declined by 15% in the preceding 10 years. This report clearly shows that Botswana's elephant population is not increasing, as is often suggested in political and hunting corridors. Although its population is still the largest in Southern Africa, it actually 100, 000 less than the 237,000 often quoted by politicians and the media in Botswana. In attempts to justify culling and hunting.The EWB elephant population of 126,000 is based on a region-wide aerial survey, covering a larger area than any previous study by EWB. The joint EWB and DWNP team flew over a period of 62 days, recording more than 32,000 km of transects and covering over 100,000 kmof Botswana, including Chobe, Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pan National Parks and surrounding Wildlife Management Areas, Okavango Delta and Moremi Game Reserve, and the pastoral areas in Ngamiland, Chobe and the Central Districts.Since the last survey in 2014, the EWB research team discovered a steep increase in the number of fresh and recent elephant carcasses, i.e. elephants that died within the last year of both natural causes and poaching.The EWB team confirmed that of the 128 elephant carcasses less than one year old, 72 were confirmed either on the ground or by aerial assessment as killed by poachers and an additional 22 from survey photographs as poaching victims. In addition, 79 older than one-year carcasses were assessed in one particular hotspot, of which 63 were confirmed as poached. The all-age carcass ratio increased from 6.8% to 8.1% between 2014 and 2018, generally accepted as indicating an elephant population that could be declining.The elephant remains all show the graphic evidence of poaching with a similar modus operandi. Poachers shoot the animals with high calibre rifles when they come to drink at remote seasonal pans. If the elephant doesn't die immediately, one of the poachers immobilises it by damaging the spinal cord with an axe. Their tusks are hacked away, severely damaging the skull, the trunk is often removed from the face, and the carcass is covered in cut branches in an attempt to hide the dead animal.The poachers seem to operate in a certain area, targeting the bulls with large tusks, before moving on to the next site. They are in no apparent rush, as a poacher's camp was also discovered close to one of the carcass clusters.The ground verification team established that the vast majority of poached elephants are indeed bulls between the age 35-45 years old. This also corresponds with evidence in the report that the bull population has decreased from 21,600 individuals in 2014 to 19,400 in 2018.The poaching appears predominately in four hotspots in Northern Botswana  the area between the Pan Handle and Caprivi Strip, in and around the Savuti section of Chobe including Khwai and Linyanti, near Maun, and in the area between Chobe and Nxai Pan.A panel of nine independent elephant scientists reviewed the EWB report and found the science to be rock solid. One member stated, "this is a very thorough and carefully documented report demonstrating exceptionally high rigor".Nevertheless, the Botswana government still attempts to cast doubt on various issues detailed in the report, as part of a confusing political campaign. EWB strongly refutes the government claims and says they find it regrettable that the government have not contacted them directly to discuss the report.In addition to the many elephant fatalities, 13 rhinos were killed by poachers in just 11 months in Botswana, three of which were in the Okavango Delta. The surge in wildlife poaching is alarming, but sadly not unique to Botswana.Dr Iain Douglas-Hamilton, member of the reviewing panel, says "in my view [the EWB] count showing that elephant poaching has increased to a greater level than previously thought, raises the possibility that further escalations are possible".Another member adds, "it is safe to say that, if the observed poaching trend continues, there could be a significant decrease in elephant populations. Politicians never like to see negative publicity however this should act as a warning call, and preventative action should be taken".
- Many South Africans applauded Botswana for taking a harsh stance against Shepherd Bushiri

- Several commenters were outraged at Bushiri's fraud

- However, some add it was impossible to compare Botswana and South Africa

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Briefly.co.za went online to ask South Africans what they thought of Botswana's action against self-proclaimed prophet Shepherd Bushiri.

Botswana has imposed visa restrictions on Bushiri, making it almost impossible for him to enter the country again.

In typical Mzansi fashion, people had a lot to say.

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Many people applauded Botswana's harsh stance against Bushiri, and said that South Africa should follow suit. This comes after allegations that Bushiri scammed hundreds of people out of millions of rands.

Nduh Shabane said, "Even Botswana thinks better than south Africa".

Oris Mgwenya echoed this, saying, "Ramaphosa, take a leaf from Botswana and protect the vulnerable from these scavengers."

Thabang SameelArt agreed. "Remember, Botswana is not capture," he said.

Enock Hlatshwayo, however, said that what South Africa needed wasn't a tougher government but a change to the culture that allowed figures like Bushiri to take advantage of people.

"We don't need laws, we need people who have sober minds, not drunken minds," he wrote.

Others praised Botswana, but said that one couldn't compare a large country like South Africa to a small country like Botswana. For example, Bheka Koza said, "Botswana is a province you can't compare it to South Africa."

READ ALSO: Pulpit robbery: How Shepherd Bushiri scammed investors of millions

A common thread throughout the comments, however, was anger and disgust at Bushiri's actions. People appeared to be particularly sickened that these crimes were committed by a so-called man of God.

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Source: Briefly.co.za
- Mzansi was divided over the money South Africa had to spend everyday just to stay afloat

- Many were pessimistic, but some had hope for the future

- A common theme was frustration with state capture and how corrupt officials were being dealt with

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Briefly.co.za took to Facebook to ask South Africans what they thought about the fact that government was borrowing R1.2 billion every day just to keep the country running.

As usual, Mzansi had a lot to say.

Their comments revealed what many people think about the direction South Africa is heading.

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Some Facebook users said they felt pessimistic about the country's future.

"I believe if the government does not do a drastic turn around not sure of the time period,South Africa will end up worse than Zimbabwe," wrote one user, Vincent Botha.

Valenta Ramakarane agreed, writing, "I just feel like crying."

Another use summed up these negative views with a simple, "Down the drain!"

Many of the commentsexpressed frustration at years of state capture, as well as disappointment that more has not been done to bring corrupt government officials to justice.

Many also complained that the economy had not improved as much as they had hoped.

However, there were also some optimists among the comments.

Morgan Naidoo said that South Africa was heading toward "the best future ever", while Margaret Stoltz hoped for a change of government which would bring in "qualified, honest, hard working people."

READ ALSO: Pulpit robbery: How Shepherd Bushiri scammed investors of millions

The divided comments suggested that many people see the upcoming election as pivotal, and that it may decide if South Africa's future is bright, or if more disappoints and frustrations are on the way.

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Source: Briefly.co.za
- Botswana will make it harder for Shepherd Bushiri to enter the country

- This follows allegations that Bushiri defrauded hundreds of people of their money

- The country also slammed Bushiri for demanding special treatment

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The government of Botswana has taken a harsh stance against Shepherd Bushiri.

They will now require Bushiri to apply for a visa whenever he tries to enter his country.

Bushiri's church in Botswana was also deregistered in 2017, following the church's failure to produce proper financial records.

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This follows Bushiri's arrest on charges of fraud and money laundering. Over 200 of his former congregants have claimed that the self-proclaimed prophet took millions from people for so-called investments which he never paid back.

The government of Botswana added that Bushiri was "too demanding" and frequently made excessive requests for special treatment.

These includes requests for security and for all entry points to remain open to make his travels easier, according to the City Press. This would involve keeping Botswana's borders open 24/7 while Bushiri was visiting.

These new regulations against Bushiri will make any further travels to the country almost impossible.

READ ALSO: Pulpit robbery: How Shepherd Bushiri scammed investors of millions

However, members of Bushiri's church in Botswana have come to his defence. Several of them are fighting for the church to be reinstated.

In response, the government has said that it is within its rights to take action against Bushiri and the church, saying it had the power to "legislate on issues relating to religion and morality for the maintenance of law and order".

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Source: Briefly.co.za
SEDC is an Atlanta-based company that provides back-ends for utility companies; a security researcher discovered that the company stored his password in the clear. The company's products have more than 15,000,000 users, whose logins and passwords are potentially also stored in plaintext. When the researcher alerted the company about this, the company ignored them, then denied that there was any problem, then demanded that the researcher not communicate about this except to SEDC's general counsel.

The responses from SEDC general counsel Mark Cole split hairs over the security implications of storing unencryted passwords, insisting that because this was not prohibited by PCI-DSS, an industry regulation governing storage of customer billing information; and because logging in would not reveal billing information, there was no problem.

The security researcher who discovered the password problem has received assistance from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (disclosure: I am a consultant to EFF).

Cole eventually sent the researcher an email that implied that the company had reformed its password handling, but with a great deal of worrying ambiguity.

Storing passwords in the clear is an industry worst-practice. Because so many people re-use passwords, password breaches are a useful source of data for "credential stuffing" attacks on other sites; if SEDC or its customers suffer a breach, they could unleash millions of passwords that could be used to compromise the users of its services.



So is the situation "fixed"? It's unclear. SEDC's counselwho did not respond to Ars request for an interviewgave as little technical information as possible during the entire 120+ day saga with X. "In 2019, it's ridiculous that vendors are replying to security researchers via general counsel, not a bug bounty program," Cardozo noted. Cole's final correspondence with X is both careful and cagey. It says, in part: I wanted to let you know SEDC has changed the way our software handles "forgotten password" requests for the payment portal, and we have disclosed the change to all our Customers. We also have disclosed this change and the history of your communications of which we are awarewith SEDC and our employees, with some of our Customers, and with social media generallyin detail to our Board of Directors, which is comprised of a dozen of our Customer-Members. They do not believe any further "disclosure" by SEDC is needed or appropriate. Given that there has been no PCI violation nor any indication of third party access to anyone's PII (in fact, the plain-text password at issue does not enable such access), it is unclear what "disclosure" you think should be made, much less under what authority you think such a disclosure would be required. Mark Cole, General Counsel for SEDC What Mr. Cole did not say is that "the passwords are now encrypted," let alone that "they are encrypted now, using a strong hash, with cryptographic salt unique to each record."



Plain wrong: Millions of utility customers' passwords stored in plain text [Jim Salter/Ars Technica]

(via /.)
There's too much screen time, and then there's too much screen time.

This 13-year-old boy stays at an Internet cafe in the Philippines for days at a time, addicted to his favorite video game, Rules of Survival. Rather than drag his ass home and tell the cafe not to let him back in, his mother comes over with a plate of food to feed him while his eyes stay glued to the screen. He swats her hand away a few times, seeming annoyed that she is interrupting his playtime. And this isn't just a passing fancy, according to Oddity Central  the boy has been glued to a screen for a couple of years now.
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Society of Professional Engineers and Associates (SPEA) representing employees at SNC-Lavalin Nuclear division believes that the companys pursuit of a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) is in the best interest of its members, the company and the country.



The former SNC-Lavalin executives that were involved in recent still need to be appropriately charged and will be subject to the Canadian judicial system. SNC-Lavalin wants the wrongdoers (all no longer with the company) to be prosecuted and not the company and its innocent employees. SPEA condemns their actions and has always supported SNC-Lavalin to operate in a fully transparent manner and adhere to the highest ethical standards. As employees of SNC-Lavalin, we may suffer as well as pensioners and shareholders as a result of the actions by a few former employees and agents who put their personal interests ahead of the company, said Mark Chudak, President of SPEA.

Chudak went on to say, The former employees who broke the law should be charged according to Canadian laws. SNC-Lavalin has taken appropriate steps to prevent this type of behaviour from happening again and have signalled that they are prepared to enter into an agreement with the government that will include a substantial fine and other possible sanctions.

SNC-Lavalin did nothing wrong in seeking a DPA from the government, in our opinion, Chudak said. They recognized the gravity of the situation and the potential impact it could have on the close to 9,000 jobs in Canada including 1200 in the nuclear unit. They believe, as we do, that SNC-Lavalin is a Canadian success story that can provide good jobs and boost our economy for many more years.

It is important to point out that SNC-Lavalin Nuclear has performed a lot of international nuclear work in the past thanks to the support of the current government which is essential to winning these kinds of jobs, according to Chudak. We are concerned that this current situation will make it more difficult for SNC-Lavalin to engage the government in these international opportunities that create jobs in Canada and promote our brand internationally.

SNC-Lavalin is a strong Canadian brand with a great reputation, and is currently involved in multi-billion dollar refurbishments in Canada and is actively pursuing the construction of new reactors in the UK and in China, which requires strong government support. These contracts will provide job security for researchers, engineers and staff for the foreseeable future.

The supply chain for SNCs CANDU reactor technology employs over 40,000 people in over 200 companies that contribute more than $6 billion to the Canadian economy including more than $1.5 billion in exports. In addition, the industry employs more than 12,000 highly skilled people, many with advanced degrees. Furthermore, it has a strong track record in safety and providing important research and medical products that help improve the lives of Canadians.

About SPEA

The Society of Professional Engineers and Associates is an independent union representing engineers, scientists, technical and administrative staff, who work for Candu Energy Inc- Nuclear division of SNC-Lavalin (formerly Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) Candu division) in Mississauga, Ontario and abroad (excluding AECL Chalk River Laboratories). Formed in 1974, SPEA is one of the oldest professional unions in Canada.

For further information contact:

Marcel Wieder, Aurora Strategy Group

Tel: 416-907-2126

Email: marcel@aurorastrategy.com

Michelle Duncan, Staff Representative

Email: michelle.duncan@spea.ca
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra told two Berkeley-based reporters that it is against the law to even possess a copy of this never-before-publicly-released list of convicted cops.

"Thousands of California law enforcement officers have been convicted of a crime in the past decade, according to records released by a public agency that sets standards for officers in the Golden State." Just don't write about it, talk about it, or publish a news report about it.

California keeps a secret list of cops who have been convicted of crimes, but doesn't want anyone to access it or know who the bad cops are. The California state Attorney General is warning reporters that it is illegal to possess this list of thousands of police officer convictions.

Some police officers on the list are murderers. Some cops were convicted of crimes that included sexual molestation of children, child pornography, and beating wives, girlfriends, children, or others at home. Other cops on the list had been convicted of shoplifting, or embezzlement. Many are DUIs, or other drug and alcohol related crimes, some of which involved a drunk cop killing an innocent person under the influence. Some of the cops were drug dealers. One of the police officers robbed a bank wearing a fake beard. Some of them sexually assaulted people they arrested and detained. Others took bribes, filed false reports or lied in court.

"The one thing they had in common," reports The East Bay Times, "is a badge." Excerpt:

The revelations are alarming, but the state's top cop says Californians don't have a right to see them. In fact, Attorney General Xavier Becerra warned two Berkeley-based reporters that simply possessing this never-before-publicly-released list of convicted cops is a violation of the law. The California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training  known as POST  provided the information last month in response to routine Public Records Act requests from reporters for the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley and its production arm, Investigative Studios. But when Becerra's office learned about the disclosure, it threatened the reporters with legal action unless they destroyed the records, insisting they are confidential under state law and were released inadvertently. The two journalism organizations have rejected Becerra's demands.

So, how did that list get into the reporters' hands in the first place?

Tucked into a public safety omnibus bill last year was a provision allowing the state's Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to keep information in its records showing when a current or former law enforcement officer is convicted of a felony or other crime that would disqualify them from being a cop. Police departments often check POST's records as part of the routine background check process when hiring new officers. But until the law changed, POST only labeled someone as being disqualified from serving in law enforcement when the person was convicted and had exhausted all appeals  which could take years and was difficult to track. The new law allows them to disqualify someone after a conviction, according to a POST spokesman. So at the start of this year, Becerra's office provided POST for the first time a list of what the agency says are convictions of current and former law enforcement officers and people who at one time had tried to become a cop. POST provided 10 years' worth of convictions  nearly 12,000 names in all  to the Berkeley-based investigative reporting organizations in early January in response to a public records request. Three weeks later the AG's office sent a letter saying the records were "inadvertently" released and were considered confidential. Attorney General Becerra's office did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Nic Marais, an attorney with Keker, Van Nest & Peters representing Investigative Studios, said the state's assertions that the documents had been released "inadvertently" was hard to believe given that POST spent four weeks weighing the reporters' request. In a letter to the AG, Marais wrote that because the documents appear to be a summary of public records, the disclosure exemptions cited by POST and Attorney General Becerra's Office do not apply. Finally, he wrote that state law exempts reporters from prosecution for receiving records.

East Bay Times: After inadvertently releasing a list of thousands of cops with criminal convictions under public records law, CA's AG threatened two reporters with legal action [via mediagazer]
GE Transportation workers were told after merger their new employer wants to turn this into an Amazon warehouse, says labor union.

About 1,700 workers at a plant that was owned by GE Transportation in Erie, Pennsylvania, are on strike Tuesday.

The incoming owner of the factory, Wabtec Corporation, plans to impose mandatory overtime, a lower pay scale for new hires, and use of temporary workers, say reps for the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) union.

Wabtec, which is based in PA, just closed an $11 billion merger deal with GE's transportation division that includes this plant, where locals have built train locomotives for decades.

The Tuesday strike in Erie, PA marks the first large-scale work stoppage in the U.S. manufacturing sector in three years, reports Dave Jamieson at Huffington Post:

Workers authorized the union to wage a strike after they failed to secure an interim agreement with Wabtec extending the terms of their contract with GE. As the new employer at the plant, Wabtec is obligated to recognize the union but has the freedom to negotiate its own new contract. Union members felt they needed to go on strike in order to protect the middle-class wages and high working standards inside the facility, where pay averages around $35 an hour, said Jonathan Kissam, a union spokesman. He added that many workers already volunteer for overtime work but don't want it to be mandatory, fearing it could ruin weekends with their families. He also said introducing lower pay for new hires would create a two-tier system inside the plant, causing rifts between different generations of employees. "This is a multi-generational plant. Some of them, their grandparents worked there," Kissam said. "So they're unwilling to sell out their own children." He added, "Wabtec wants to turn this into an Amazon warehouse."

READ MORE: Close To 2,000 Manufacturing Workers Just Went On Strike In Pennsylvania

Twitter conversations related to the story below. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who just announced his candidacy for president in 2020, today commented on the strike.

Americans are sick and tired of corporate America and their wealthy CEOs ripping off working families. I'm proud to stand with the locomotive manufacturing workers of @ueunion Local 506 and 618 in their fight against GE/Wabtec to maintain decent wages and working conditions. https://t.co/q20Iafo8XN  Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) February 26, 2019

I'm proud to stand in solidarity with the 1,700 locomotive manufacturing workers in Erie, Pennsylvania, who are fighting to keep the pay and benefits they have won as members of the UE union. Corporate executives must not use the merger between GE and Wabtec to hurt workers. pic.twitter.com/o5NrS1CJrR  Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) February 21, 2019

.@UEUnion workers from #UE506 line up to vote to authorize a strike if necessary as negotiations with Wabtec breakdown. At stake: weekends, family sustaining wages, job security and 80 years of workers' rights. I stand with #UE506 and working Americans everywhere. pic.twitter.com/Eo2meQT2Wi  Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) February 23, 2019

Rocky start: A day after Wabtec completed an $11B deal with GE Transportation, more than 1,700 workers at an Erie plant walked off the job, reports @PGdanielmoore @PittsburghPG#railroads #unionhttps://t.co/edKAfYaAD5 pic.twitter.com/1QSt83devc  Teresa Lindeman (@pg_tlindeman) February 26, 2019

Wabtec bought GE's locomotive plant in Erie, Pa yesterday. Today, more than a thousand workers are striking https://t.co/LjmLQJdQu5 via @tgryta  Austen Hufford (@austenhufford) February 26, 2019


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Business Insider reported last week that Google failed to disclose the existence of a microphone in their home security system, NestSecure.

This came as a surprise to many Nest customers who complained that they were not informed that the security system even had a microphone. Google apologized, saying it was an error.

A Google spokesman told Business Insider:

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 microphone has never been on, and is only activated when users specifically enable the option. 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.

Perhaps it was an error, at best a careless manifestation of Googles intrusive data collection, but it also appears to be a pattern for companies like Google and Facebook who have habituated themselves to ignore privacy concerns.

Surveillance Capitalism

Failure to disclose information is a recurring theme for Google, as Harvard Emeritus Professor Shoshana Zuboff explains in her new book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism.

Zuboff argues that while we often tend to blame technology, the bigger problem is the underlying model of how business is approached.

She writes:

That surveillance capitalism is a logic in action and not a technology is a vital point because surveillance capitalists want us to think that their practices are inevitable expressions of the technologies they employ. For example in 2009 the public first became aware that Google maintains our search history is in definitely data that are available as raw material supplies are also available to intelligence in law enforcement agencies when questioned about these practices the corporations former CEO Eric Schmidt mused The reality is that search engines including Google to retain this information for some time.

Note the lack of responsibility and blaming of technology for human decisions. As Zuboff rightly notesit was not the search engine that retained the informationit was people who own and manage the servers who did it. It was a human decision.

Zuboff argues that the type of argument employed by Schmidt makes the practices of surveillance capitalism appear to be inevitable when they are actually meticulously calculated and lavishly funded means to self-dealing commercial ends.

As Jaron Lanier has explained in his book, 10 Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, much of this type of surveillance capitalism comes from the model of free services that require ads to make a profit. This free service model set the stage for intrusive data collection and behavior modification.

The Myth of Progress

But it is more than just a broken economic model. As I wrote in a review of Laniers book, this is a reflection of a larger philosophical problem.

There is a lot going on, but it is worth highlighting two philosophical problems dominating Silicon Valley that help explain the tendency toward surveillance and behavior modification:

Empiricist Rationality

The Primacy of the Technical

Limiting Reason

Empiricist rationalism holds that for anything to be reasonable it must be measurable and empirically verifiable. Anything that is not empirical is relegated outside the realm of reason. That means that fundamental human and moral questions about good, truth, beauty, right, wrong, just or unjust cannot be dealt with in a rational manner.

Love is reduced to a feeling or a chemical or neurological reaction. Right and wrong are reduced to personal opinion, and more often whatever is fashionable. Or morally right simply becomes whatever I can justify, which, as we all know, easily becomes pretty much about anything we want.

Primacy of the Technical

The primacy of the technical manifests itself in two ways. First is the idea that all problems are ultimately technical problems, even life, love, and death itself.

Second, and more directly related to the problem of surveillance capitalism, is the idea that technical competence determines moral justification, i.e., if something can be done, it is allowable. Look around at eugenics, population control, in vitro fertilization, gene editing, and cloning. As Benedict XVI explained in Spe Salvi, progress has been turned into a myth that has no limits. But progress without a moral limits is at best ambiguous. Benedict XVI writes:

Without doubt, it offers new possibilities for good, but it also opens up appalling possibilities for evilpossibilities that formerly did not exist. We have all witnessed the way in which progress, in the wrong hands, can become and has indeed become a terrifying progress in evil. If technical progress is not matched by corresponding progress in mans ethical formation, in mans inner growth (cf. Eph 3:16; 2 Cor4:16), then it is not progress at all, but a threat for man and for the world.

I am not suggesting that no one in Silicon Valley is worrying about these problems. But it is hard to wrestle with the problems of technology and ethics when reason is limited to the empirical.

Can We Have Technology Without Intrusion?

Its really not a big surprise that a techno-utopian culture that is stuck in the hall of mirrors that is empiricism would engage in intrusive data collection for power and profit. As Ive said before, when a group of philosophical materialists have dont be evil as a moral code, run for the hills.

So the question is, can we have technology without intrusion?

That is the hope of people like Lanier. Thats my hope too. But it wont happen as long as companies like Facebook and Google continue to embrace surveillance capitalism. Nor will it happen as long as the free service model continues, and allows for no real responsibility from business. Most especially, it will not happen as long as empiricist rationality and the primacy of the technical continue to dominate our philosophical and moral landscape.
After video footage surfaced of Senator Bernie Sanders extolling the Soviet Unions cultural and youth programs, the former prime minister of Sweden threw cold water on the idea that socialism builds sound societies. The tweet by Carl Bildt is the latest intervention by Nordic nations to divert the United States from adopting Marxist policies.

As the 77-year-old Vermont senator announced his presidential ambitions, a string of videos emerged showing Sanders supporting Castros Cuba, Ortegas Nicaragua, and the existence of breadlines.

Among them was a clip showing Sanders and his wife, Jane, returning from their 1988 honeymoon  in the USSR.

Sanders, then the mayor of Burlington, found it delightful that the Soviet Union had a whole variety of programs for young people, and cultural programs which go far beyond what we do in this country.

His wife similarly approved of the fact that instead of compartmentalizing their lives into a job and hobbies, its all interrelated and all under the banner of community involvement.

Another way of expressing this might be that a totalitarian state directed the full attention of the youth from birth, inserting itself between members of the family and encouraging children to inform on their parents.

Into the fray entered Carl Bildt, the prime minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994 and minister of foreign affairs from 2006 to 2014.

Bildt responded, Sanders was lucky to be able to get to the Soviet Union in 1988 and praise all its stunning socialist achievements before the entire system and empire collapsed under the weight of its own spectacular failures.

Bernie Sanders was lucky to be able to get to the Soviet Union in 1988 and praise all its stunning socialist achievements before the entire system and empire collapsed under the weight of its own spectacular failures. pic.twitter.com/bENmwVKi0g  Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) February 25, 2019

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Sanders and others have replaced the Soviet Union, Cuba, and Nicaragua with countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway as putatively successful models of democratic socialism.

Bildt, the former leader of the center-right Moderate Party, has a different perspective about his homeland. Bildt became the first non-socialist prime minister in six decades. Entrepreneurs had fled the nation, taxes consumed 60 percent of GDP, and the nations economy had begun faltering. Business taxes sometimes exceeded 100 percent; Bildt cut capital gains taxes to 30 percent and corporate taxes to 28 percent. The top marginal tax rate fell from nearly 90 percent to 50 percent.

Bildt privatized some state-owned industries, introduced school vouchers, and allowed people to invest a portion of their pension.

The age of collectivism is at an end now, Bildt said at the time.

The short-term pain ushered the Social Democrats back into office. But his successor, Ingvar Carlsson, maintained his market-friendly reforms and a new, entrepreneurial Sweden emerged. Business start-ups rose nearly 25 percent after Bildts term in office.

Carl Bildts tweet seems to be the latest in a never-ending attempt by Nordic nations to show U.S. politicians the failures of socialism and the Nordic model.

Swedish scholar Johan Norberg, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, described the effect of statist economic policies in his PBS special Sweden: Lessons for America.

Likewise Nima Sanandaji, an Iranian immigrant to Sweden, has deconstructed the Nordic model myth in books with titles like Debunking Utopia and Scandinavian Unexceptionalism.

In 2015, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen told Harvards Kennedy School of Government, I know that some people in the U.S. associate the Nordic model with some sort of socialism. Therefore, I would like to make one thing clear: Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy.

The Danish Center for Political Studies (CEPOS) released a 20-page report attempting to convince the United States that Denmark is not socialist just last year.

These warnings come out of a charitable desire for the U.S. to avoid their mistakes  but Bildts comment carries a broader and more fundamental difference in worldview with Sanders, et. al.

Bildt said in his inaugural address, In our Sweden, society will always mean something more than the state. The very cultural edifice that the Sanders family upheld as a model for the West smothers genuine artistic and literary expression. Stultifying statism, coupled with adherence to a party line and universal suppression of dissent, destroys rather than nurtures.

Genuine society begins with the family, and includes churches, social institutions, and private charities. It protects inalienable human rights, including a robust freedom of expression. And it is built upon the solid rock of our common religious inheritance, apart from which even the strongest empires crumble into sand.

(Photo credit: Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.)
When I first read Walden I was in the woods. In the Kitchel Lindquist Dunes Preserve to be precise which is also where I first read The Idiot and, amusingly, Dune. I spent a lot of time walking around alone in the woods in my childhood and adolescence so it was only natural that one day I would stumble upon the great classic of wandering around alone in the woods. When I returned from the woods the day I read Walden I had a conversation with my father,

Could I live on a boat?

Well, sure, people live on boats all the time.

Like a 17 foot fishing boat. Something with a canvas top.

Why would you want to do that?

I think it would be cheaper.

Well thats certainly true

Thinking about dropping out and doing that. Figure I could put together enough odd jobs where I could just do that, read, walk the earth, and go on adventures.

Id keep your options open

Walden had gotten me thinking. Had got me thinking about economics. Reading Cal Newports Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World reminded me of my adolescent scheming because Newport also sees Thoreau as an economist. Discussing the tables in the first chapter of Walden, Economy, Newport observes:

Thoreaus purpose in these tables is to capture precisely (not poetically or philosophically) how much it cost to support his life at Walden Ponda lifestyle that, as he argues at length in this first chapter, satisfies all the basic human needs: food, shelter, warmth, and so on. Thoreau then contrasts these costs with the hourly wages he could earn with his labor to arrive at the final value he cared most about: How much of his time must be sacrificed to support his minimalist lifestyle? After plugging the numbers gathered during his experiment, he determined that hiring out his labor only one day per week would be sufficient. This magicians trick of shifting the units of measure from money to time is the core novelty of what philosopher Frederic Gros calls Thoreaus new economics, a theory that builds on the following axiom, which Thoreau establishes early in Walden: The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.

Thoreaus new economics is actually the combination of two older insights: opportunity cost and the disutility of labor. While the term opportunity cost wasnt coined until 1914 by the Austrian economist Friedrich von Wieser the concept had been utilized prior to Thoreaus insights in Walden by Frederic Bastiat in his famous essay What is Seen and What is Not Seen and by Benjamin Franklin in his famous observation that, Time is money. The disutility of labor, exhaustively explained by Ludwig von Mises in Human Action, is simply the insight that people oftentimes prefer leisure to labor, an insight as old as time itself.

Thoreaus rigor in applying these economic insights to his own life is powerfully unique, and it still inspires many today to think through what matters most and to count the costs. It is a perennially important lesson, a lesson taught long before either Thoreau or the economists by Jesus Christ who admonished us that, For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:21)
BLACK REPUBLICAN BLOG - The Republican Party is the party of civil rights and the four Fs: faith, family, freedom and fairness. The Democratic Party is the party of the four Ss: slavery, secession, segregation and socialism (Quote By Author Michael Scheuer).
The 66th Legislative Assembly has reached its halfway point, and Rep. Rick Becker has wasted no time in making poor decisions for his constituents in District 7.

On the last day of business before crossover in the House, Becker vocally opposed Operation Prairie Dog, a bill written to provide critical infrastructure funding for cities and townships across the state. This bill will provide $20.1 million for Bismarck and Burleigh County, and $1.2 million to Lincoln, all of which are partially represented by Becker.

This bill received widespread support from individuals across North Dakota, including in District 7. This bill alleviates part of the property tax burden levied on homeowners and replaces it with funding through oil and gas taxes. As a conservative, I support finding responsible, long-term solutions to properly fund essential services and infrastructure, while keeping property taxes as low as possible.

Becker was the only Bismarck lawmaker to oppose the bill. There is no way to justify voting against money for our community. People in Bismarck and in District 7 should remember this vote when you get your property tax bill, and think about how much higher it could have been.
Father, forgive us.

Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, as an allowance for ignorance among his oppressors. More often, though, it seems humans willfully choose to harm others. This is nowhere more apparent than with the Doctrine of Discovery, a papal edict of 1493 that set into motion Christian conquest of the New World. The doctrine sanctioned Christian explorers to discover and claim land, and to convert, enslave, or kill existing pagan inhabitants.

You know the rest: Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue, launching centuries of European conquest and colonization, resulting in the suffering and often extermination of Indigenous peoples.

While the Doctrine of Discovery was brutally enforced by church leaders for centuries, whats often skipped over is how it was subsequently adopted by the United States government through policies of manifest destiny, or divinely sanctioned westward expansion. In the 1823 U.S. Supreme Court case Johnson v. McIntosh, the court unanimously decided the principle of discovery gave European nations an absolute right to New World lands. Surviving Native Americans were pushed into reservations, boarding schools, and poverty.

So colonization happened, and the United States exists. Why does this matter now?
MIAMI, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via OTC PR WIRE -- PotNetwork News, www.potnetwork.com, the cannabis industry's number one outlet for financial, political, and industry news, is expanding its in-depth coverage of the cannabis begins arriving this month in offices, newsstands and magazine shelves around the world. See PotNetwork Magazine here.



With over 300,000 page views and over 150,000 unique visitors per month, PotNetwork News is the cannabis sector's leading news and information website, outpacing similarly focused online platforms. (Digital magazine available here) Born from the same grit and hard-hitting unbiased daily news delivered every day on PotNetwork News, the new magazine, PotNetwork, is a natural offline extension that promises to delve deeper into the untold stories of an industry that is expected to generate $136 billion in retail sales over the next six years in the U.S. alone.



"There is arguably no hotter industry today among consumers and investors alike than the cannabis and hemp-extract industry," said Brandon A. Dorfman, Editor-in-Chief of PotNetwork, the magazine. "While we provide daily insight into the industry on PotNetwork News, readers have shown that they are looking to read more in-depth stories about and from the men and women that are fueling the industry's growth that can't be told at the pace of a 24-hour news cycle."



PotNetwork Magazine offers the only 360-degree view of the cannabis industry, from small retail business to publicly traded companies on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border. It has more in-depth interviews than any other print magazine in the sector, with the biggest names in the industry. Its circulation of 30,000 is more than comparable magazines like MG Magazine (25,000), Marijuana Business Daily (15,000) and Marijuana Venture (12,000). And like its sister daily news website, PotNetwork Magazine also offers advertisers a diverse readership base made up of individual investors in the cannabis stock market, entrepreneurs in the cannabis industry, and high-level executives and CEOs centered on the Canadian and U.S. cannabis markets.



"We are so proud to launch this venture and meet the public's insatiable desire for news and information about the rapidly growing cannabis industry," said Kevin Hagen, CEO of PotNetwork Holdings, the parent company of PotNetwork News. "In this hi-tech information age, the difference between success and failure is often having the kind of in-depth knowledge that our online team takes pride in delivering to its readers. With PotNetwork Magazine, investors and entrepreneurs will not just have a chance to become experts in cultivation & retail, but also be able to stay on top of the latest trends."



In the coming months, PotNetwork magazine plans to explore every sector of the cannabis industry from cultivation to ancillary companies to those that directly support the industry. Ample advertising space will also provide businesses in the industry with a prime opportunity to connect with one another and to the extended community provided by one of the hottest platforms in the industry. For information on how to advertise in the magazine, contact advertising@potnetwork.com.



About "PotNetwork"

With over 300,000 page views and over 150,000 unique visitors per month, PotNetwork News is the cannabis sector's number one news and information site, covering the latest in financial, political, and industry news. Looking at the cannabis industry from the outside in, PotNetwork diligently reports on everything from recreational cannabis to medical marijuana, the CBD industry, and more. PotNetwork News is published by PotNetwork Media Group, Inc., a subsidiary of PotNetwork Holdings, Inc. and can be found on the web at www.potnetwork.com.

About PotNetwork Holdings, Inc . (OTC: POTN) is a publicly traded company that acts as a holding company for its principal subsidiaries, First Capital Venture Co., the owner of Diamond CBD, Inc., the maker of Diamond CBD products, and PotNetwork Media Group, Inc., the publisher of PotNetwork News and PotNetwork, the magazine. For more information, please visit the website at www.Potnetworkholding.com.

Safe Harbor: Forward-Looking Statements are included within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements regarding our expected future financial position, results of operations, cash flows, financing plans, business strategy, products and services, competitive positions, growth opportunities, plans and objectives of management for future operations, including words such as "anticipate," "if," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "could," "should," "will," and similar expressions are forward-looking statements and involve risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from anticipated results, performance, or achievements. We are under no obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to) update or alter forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact: PotNetwork Holdings, Inc.

Investor Relations: Marisol Elwell

1-800-915-3060 investor@PotNetworkHolding.com
GRAND FORKS -- More than a week after announcing Angelique Foster would be retaining her position as chief of staff while working remotely from out of state, the university of North Dakota is switching course and will begin a search for a new chief of staff soon.

Earlier this month, the university announced in its University Letter blog that Foster would be staying on as chief of staff. However, she would be doing that work remotely from Texas while receiving a $114,000 salary and having up to $25,000 worth of travel expenses paid for each year.

However, UND President Mark Kennedy said Monday that Foster will stay on with the university for the near future until the school finds someone to replace her.

While I still believe UND would benefit from the continuity Ms. Foster would offer to UND in the role of chief of staff, after listening to concerns, Ms. Foster and I have determined it is in the best interest for her to stay on working on campus until April and then work remotely for up to six months to allow for us to transition someone new into the role of chief of staff, UND President Mark Kennedy said in a statement. We do not want this issue to continue to distract from the great work taking place at UND.
MOORHEAD, Minn.  Higher flows caused by increased precipitation have elevated runoff of pollutants contaminating the Red River, according to a report by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

The agency, in what officials call the first comprehensive look at the Red Rivers entire 400-mile course as it flows through the United States, found that flooding has increased the rivers sediment load, bacteria and nutrients that feed algal blooms.

The deterioration in water quality  and the toll on aquatic species  becomes progressively more evident downstream, especially in Canada, Jim Ziegler, the MPCAs regional manager in Detroit Lakes, said on Tuesday, Feb. 26, when the report was released.

Theyre having significant problems with their water quality in Lake Winnipeg, which is fed by the Red River, Ziegler said. Aquatic life is OK at the southern end, but by the time we get to Canada, weve lost 40 percent of the fish species.

Still, fish generally are doing fairly well along the Red, the report concluded. But the fishery would be more diverse and healthy if people took action to improve conditions for fish, especially in the tributaries.
In an earlier court appearance, Legare maintained that his actions were in defense of his girlfriend, whom he believed had been abused by Wapenski. Legare's attorney, William Hartl, told the court Monday that the allegations against Wapenski had been reported to law enforcement by Legare prior to the attack and that Legare "had been told by a female and it wasn't the first time he was told that." Furthermore, said Hartl, "Mr. Legare believed he was justified in defending the female."

Legare addressed the court, saying that he was acting in defense of another but that Wapenski has nothing to fear from him because the "woman is out of state and recovering from her experience here."

Judge Hartl responded by asking, "Are you still a threat to him?"

"I am not, your honor," replied Legare.

Moments later Deacon Stuart Longtin, Fargo Diocese, took the witness stand on behalf of the prosecution. In an emotional response directed at Legare, Longtin declared, "He is claiming his actions were righteous. It is not righteous to attack another person and do them bodily harm. Of all the information that Mr. Legare claims, there is no evidence to support it. He is claiming something that didn't happen."
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HANOI, Vietnam (AP)  The success of this week's second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hinges largely on whether Kim proves he's truly committed to denuclearization.

One of the simplest and surest ways for Kim to do so is by disclosing a detailed, complete inventory of his nuclear program and allowing a robust verification process. But he's already opposed submitting such a declaration, saying it's no different from providing the U.S. with a target list.

The summit in Hanoi may end without the submission of a nuclear declaration. But unless Trump wants to settle for the partial denuclearization of North Korea, the issue of a declaration and verification will likely eventually become a major sticking point in future negotiations as it did in past nuclear diplomacy.

A look at the declaration and verification standoff, which sparked the first round of the North Korean nuclear crisis 25 years ago and derailed six-nation diplomacy a decade ago:

THE DECLARATION DISPUTE

North Korea's nuclear program remains shrouded in near-total secrecy. There are outside estimates on the North's advancing weapons arsenals, but they vary widely.

If Kim really plans to abandon his nuclear ambition entirely as he's pledged, he can first disclose details about his weapons program such as the number of nuclear warheads and missiles, the amount of fissile materials for bombs and alleged covert uranium-enrichment plants.

Then, he can let the U.S. and others verify his information by allowing them to visit declared sites, take samples, and interview scientists and engineers working there. This kind of verification must come before North Korea takes steps to disable, dismantle or destroy its nuclear facilities so as to prevent it from destroying evidence about its past nuclear activities, said analyst Shin Beomchul of Seoul's Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

But during a meeting with visiting South Korean President Moon Jae-in in September, Kim said that "a request to submit (the declaration) at a time when confidence between the U.S. and North Korea hasn't been established is same as requesting to submit a list of places for strikes," according to Moon's office.

Shin said Kim "is just trying to find an excuse not to" submit a declaration. He said North Korea can provide an initial declaration without specifying the locations for its nuclear-related assets so it doesn't have to worry about U.S. attacks, and can declare their locations when it decides to have them denuclearized.

"A full declaration is a dead end because it is tantamount to surrender, and Kim has not surrendered nor will he," nuclear physicist Siegfried S. Hecker, who has repeatedly visited nuclear facilities in North Korea, wrote in late November on 38 North, a website specializing in North Korea studies.

Hecker said actions like North Korea destroying a key nuclear facility and the U.S. taking steps toward normalizing ties would serve to build the trust required for the North to initiate a phased declaration process.

WHAT MATTERS?

It's no secret North Korea has facilities to produce both plutonium and highly enriched uranium, two key ingredients to manufacture bombs, at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex north of Pyongyang. Its plutonium factories were once the subject of international inspections, and North Korea in 2010 unveiled a small industrial-scale uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon to a Stanford University delegation that included Hecker.

But it's not clear exactly how much weapons-grade plutonium or highly enriched uranium has been produced there or where the fissile materials are now. South Korean and other foreign assessments say the North has used some of those materials to build up to 60-70 nuclear warheads, but it's not known where those weapons are deployed. The North has more than 1,000 ballistic missiles, some of which can be loaded with those bombs, but there is also no reliable information about their exact locations.

"The core of a declaration should be the amount of nuclear materials and warheads, rather than plants that have already been exposed to us," said analyst Lee Choon Geun of South Korea's Science and Technology Policy Institute.

Plutonium-related factories are relatively large and generate much heat, making it easier for outsiders to detect. Thus, with satellite photos and reactor details from past inspections, it isn't too difficult to estimate plutonium inventories. But it's much more difficult or virtually impossible to estimate uranium inventories because the North is likely running multiple uranium-enrichment plants, experts say.

In South Korea, there has been recent media speculation that the North could end up providing a partial nuclear declaration during the Vietnam summit.

Stephen Biegun, the top U.S. envoy on North Korea, suggested that Washington might not push for a declaration at the start of the North's denuclearization procedures.

"Before the process of denuclearization can be final, we must also have a complete understanding of the full extent of the North Korean weapons of mass destruction missile programs," Biegun said in a Jan. 31 speech at Stanford University. "We will get that at some point through a comprehensive declaration."

PAST WRAGGLING

North Korea's nuclear quest traces back to the late 1950s, when it signed a nuclear cooperation agreement with the Soviet Union. But it still joined the U.N.'s atomic watchdog, the IAEA, in 1974 and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 1985.

After years of delay, North Korea submitted an inventory of its nuclear facilities and accepted IAEA inspections in 1992. But inconsistences quickly emerged between a North Korean declaration of the amount of plutonium extracted from spent reactor fuel at Yongbyon and an IAEA analysis.

The IAEA demanded special inspections at two undeclared sites. After rejecting that, an angry North Korea announced in 1993 that it was withdrawing from the nonproliferation treaty, touching off the first nuclear crisis. In June 1994, it quit the IAEA.

Tensions were lowered after the U.S. and North Korea signed a landmark disarmament-for-aid deal in October 1994. But the second crisis flared in 2002, when U.S. officials accused North Korea of covertly running a uranium-enrichment program.

Five years of regional disarmament talks involving the U.S., North and South Korea, China, Russia and Japan were subsequently launched in 2003. The six-party talks, held in Beijing in fits and starts, led North Korea to disable key elements at its plutonium-producing facilities at Yongbyon in return for energy, economic and security benefits.

In June 2008, North Korea handed over 18,000 pages of documents on its plutonium program, and a 60-page, partial accounting of its nuclear program that omitted details about nuclear warheads, a uranium-enrichment program and possible nuclear proliferation. The U.S. still responded by removing the North from its terrorism blacklist and relaxed some trade sanctions.

But squabbling erupted soon over how to verify North Korea's nuclear past.

U.S. officials said North Korea had previously agreed to allow experts to take samples and conduct forensic tests at all of its declared nuclear facilities and undeclared sites. But the North countered that it only agreed to let nuclear inspectors visit its Yongbyon complex, view related documents and interview scientists, and said it would not allow outside inspectors to take samples.

Six-party talks held in December 2008 failed to resolve that dispute and have never been held again.

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Most North Dakota residents support a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in the state, according to a recent poll.

The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation released poll results this week showing 64 percent of respondents in North Dakota support establishing the library in the state. About 70 percent strongly or somewhat agree the library would positively impact the state's national reputation, while about the same percentage expressed belief that "there is no better place to build the library than North Dakota."

WPA Intelligence, a Washington, D.C.-based data science firm, conducted a phone survey in early January of 400 adults around North Dakota, with about a 5 percent margin of error.

Foundation CEO Mike Eggl said support is likely "even higher now as people learn more" about the library proposal.

Gov. Doug Burgum has made the library "the flagship" of his nine Legacy Fund projects proposed in the 2019 legislative session.

His plan for the library would use $50 million in Legacy Fund earnings with $100 million in donations to build the $100 million facility at Medora and maintain a $50 million endowment.
A New Town woman who embezzled thousands of dollars while working as an administrative assistant for an Indian tribe said she stole the money to buy prescription pain pills.

In October, 33-year-old Melissa Mandan pleaded guilty to one count of federal program theft after reaching a plea deal with federal prosecutors. The indictment says Mandan stole more than $40,000 from the MHA Nation Infant and Toddler Program.

At her sentencing hearing on Monday, assistant U.S. attorney Jonathan O'Konek recommended Mandan be sentenced to time served and a year of supervised released. He also recommended she pay about $44,000 in restitution.

O'Konek said Mandan admitted to stealing the money because she was addicted to prescription drugs.

"She was essentially taking money so that she could pay for pills so she could support her habit, however, that doesnt change the fact that she should be held accountable," O'Konek said.

Assistant federal public defender Christopher Bellmore agreed with O'Konek's sentencing recommendation, and said Mandan became addicted to prescription opioids in 2015, after she suffered a back injury.
"It's definitely a course that kids are absolutely loving," said curriculum director Kim Anthony. "Kids are choosing to take an extra science class."

While Anthony thanked the community donors, Mark Wade of Phillips 66 thanked teachers. "We need to raise the aspirations of the children in Billings," he said. "I cannot wait for the day when a person comes through my door to work and says 'I got interested in STEM in Project Lead The Way.' "

As a kindergarten teacher, Melissa Soucy's students wore lab coats and took on the roles of nurses, doctors and other medical professionals to solve a problem: The scenario was that a child had fallen on the playground and hurt her arm. How should she be helped? The kindergartners worked together to figure out possible answers, using reading, math and writing. The students determined that the child had a broken arm, so they went to work designing casts. It wasn't easy, but the kindergartners kept trying new solutions. Project Lead The Way teaches students to learn from failures and to try again.

"Our classrooms are becoming classrooms of perseverance and grit," said Soucy, who is now assistant principal at Orchard Elementary where she sees the lessons inspiring students K-5. "Project Lead The Way works for kids at every level, including special education."
"None of the air tests, which were conducted in buildings with confirmed presence of asbestos in dust, have indicated that we have an airborne asbestos hazard," Krebsbach said in an email to campus.

"We do not plan to conduct surface wipe sampling in buildings or individual offices; we assume the likelihood of the presence of asbestos in settled dust and will manage it accordingly.

"Air testing will be conducted as required by state law when we perform abatement, repairs or activities which require air clearance testing post-project."

Luke Alford, president of the Staff Senate, said the staff organization doesn't hold a formal position on UM's approach. However, he himself will soon be moving back into McGill Hall, and he said he supports the administration's decisions on testing and cleanup.

"McGill Hall might be the second-cleanest building in Montana when they're done  the cleanest building being my Aunt Ruth's house," Alford said in an email. " Knowing I'm heading back into the building soon, I've been relieved to see that the university hasn't seen any air tests come back positive for asbestos fibers."
NEW YORK, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Madison Logic, the leading global account based marketing (ABM) platform, today announces the launch of Journey Acceleration, which allows B2B marketers to target ABM programs to all stages of the buyer journey within ActivateABM, the industrys only global, comprehensive ABM platform. Journey Acceleration enables B2B marketers to dynamically target, acquire and nurture potential customers with comprehensive ABM programs that serve customized marketing to the right members of the buying committee at each stage of buyer journey, from awareness to consideration to close and beyond.



Journey Acceleration makes it easy to automatically target specific accounts with display advertising, said Ian Shields, Marketing Operations Manager at Artemis Health. The seamless integration with Marketo and Salesforce ensure our account-based marketing programs are accurate and collaborating. Relevant and timely messages are delivered to our high-value prospects at each step of their journey.

For years, leading companies have leveraged Madison Logics ActivateABM platform to measure ABM effectiveness, shorten sales cycles and accelerate growth. Journey Acceleration introduces advanced dynamic targeting capabilities through integrations with CRM and MAP platforms, in addition to intent and firmographic data. With this integration and automation, marketers now have unprecedented, granular control over who gets which message.

By getting the right message to the right people wherever they are in the funnel, youll accelerate your revenue growth by converting your best accounts faster, said Tom ORegan, CEO of Madison logic. Unlike traditional ABM platforms that have limited targeting criteria, Journey Acceleration ensures you achieve better conversion by continuously engaging your target prospect with relevant content and the right messaging strategy throughout the entire buyer's journey.

With Journey Acceleration customers now have access to a full funnel solution designed to drive growth:

Dynamic Targeting: Dynamically target and segment prospects by understanding who they are and where they are in the buying journey through deep integrations with Salesforce and Marketo combined with intent and firmographic data.

Dynamically target and segment prospects by understanding who they are and where they are in the buying journey through deep integrations with Salesforce and Marketo combined with intent and firmographic data. Messaging: Achieve better conversion by continuously engaging your target prospect with dynamic, relevant content and the right messaging strategy throughout the entire buyer's journey. By integrating with Marketo, marketers can leverage the same messaging being using in email and social media nurturing to accounts via ABM Advertising and ABM Content Syndication.

Achieve better conversion by continuously engaging your target prospect with dynamic, relevant content and the right messaging strategy throughout the entire buyer's journey. By integrating with Marketo, marketers can leverage the same messaging being using in email and social media nurturing to accounts via ABM Advertising and ABM Content Syndication. Acceleration: Speed the buying committee to close by automatically moving prospects into the proper media and content program. Data pushes back into marketing automation platforms allowing marketers to target existing opportunities by looking at intent data and feeding them relevant content to keep them moving down the pipeline.

About Madison Logic

Madison Logic helps B2B marketers convert their best accounts faster by finding and engaging with the most influential individuals throughout the buyer journey. For more information, please visit www.madisonlogic.com and follow @madisonlogic on Twitter.
If they do this, then their customers are going to start getting a demand charge, and now youre back to taking 26 to 30 years to recover their costs, said Dykema of Sundance Solar.

As recently as 10 years ago, the only people who were adding solar panels to their home were those who did so out of conviction to promote renewable energy, said Brad Van Wert. His company, Harvest Solar, has seen a surge in business in recent years as the price of solar panels has declined significantly. A home solar array might pay for itself in 10 or 15 years because of lower utility bills.

Its certainly going to change the dynamics, Van Wert said. Demand charges arent something homeowners currently pay. The charge is more associated with certain businesses. The first time a homeowner with net metering receives a bill for a charge based on their highest 15 minutes of energy consumption for the month, no one is going to understand what the charge is for, Van Wert said.

NorthWestern might as well be handing their customers a bill written in Sanskrit, because no one is going to understand it, Van Wert said.
A multi-vehicle crash at Main Street and Sixth Avenue North created significant traffic issues in the area, according to the Billings Police Department.

BPD Lt. Mark Cady advised drivers to avoid the area and expect delays. He also advised drivers to slow down on the snow-covered roads.

The crash occurred around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, and all lanes were cleared by 1:30 p.m. In the meantime, traffic was restricted to one southbound lane of Main Street and one lane onto Sixth Avenue North.

Cady, who said he was directing traffic near the Cenex gas station north of Applebee's, said that traffic on Main was backed up to Lake Elmo Drive.

Cady first described the traffic issues at about 12:45 p.m.
Heavy snow and icy roads caused the state to limit travel to emergency traffic only for some of central Montana on Tuesday.

The Montana Department of Transportation issued the restriction Tuesday morning from Reed Point west to Three Forks and from Big Timber north to Judith Gap, said Brooke Johnson, public information officer and disaster and emergency services coordinator for Sweet Grass County.

By the middle of the morning falling snow caused icy road conditions on the interstate near Columbus to deteriorate. By 1:40 p.m. severe driving conditions were present from Park City to areas west of the town, according to MDT.

Visibility on Interstate 90 in Sweet Grass County was down to 100 feet, the driving lane was snow-packed and icy and the passing lane was "invisible," Johnson said, describing what she had been told by Sweet Grass County Sheriff Alan Ronneberg.

As of about 10:10 a.m. the sheriff's office was responding to a semi that had slid into the median on I-90 between the two exits to Big Timber.

Six miles east of Reed Point, both eastbound lanes of I-90 were blocked by a multi-vehicle crash as of 10:50 a.m., according MDT. The crash was cleared by 12:48 p.m. The road nearby is covered with snow and ice with more snow coming down, per the report.
Part of the agreement that the council voted down authorized the expenditure of $400,000 for lobbying and other legislative costs to support the bill. The $400,000 came from community partners like the Chamber of Commerce and Big Sky Economic Development, not from the city.

"This kills our legislative effort," said Allison Corbyn from Big Sky Economic Development.

Corbyn added after the meeting she's not sure what this means for the push for the project in the Montana Legislature and the city's continued partnership with Landmark.

At the center of the agreement was a provision that would require the city to reimburse Landmark $2.57 million if the city builds any of the four main projects within One Big Sky without using Landmark as a developer. Included with the reimbursement requirement is an expiration date that stipulates development of at least one of the main projects must happen within five years. If no project is started by Jan. 25, 2024, then no reimbursement is required.

The agreement itself also included an expiration date, tied to the end of Montana's legislative session, which is April 30.
Carnevale

On a chilly night in February, a gigantic silver balloon rises above a Venetian canal like a moon lassoed from the sky. Dangling below, an acrobat gyrates into a spinning star. Sky ballerinas with huge butterfly wings flutter around her. Giant ten-feet-high anemones unfurl long filmy tendrils. Fire dancers on gondolas juggle flaming torches. This is not the Disneyfied Carnevale of elaborate costumes and expensive balls that draws tens of thousands of visitors but a simpler, smaller, sweeter celebration held in Cannaregio, the working-class neighborhood where the highest percentage of native Venetians live.

During this magical evening, I hear no languages other than Italian and Venetian. Children scamper in Harlequin costumes (with a few galactic superheroes in the mix). Women swirl in the flowing robes of another age; men don the long-beaked masks of plague doctors. Confetti falls like snowflakes. This scene, which I describe in La Passione: How Italy Seduced the World, captures the particularly exuberant spirit of Carnevale in Italy.

For centuries the pre-Lent festivities of Carnevale sumptuously celebrated carne, which translates as both "meat' and "flesh." However, the name comes specifically from the Latin for "meat" (carnem) and take away or remove (levare). A church decree dating back to 653 declared that anyone who ate meat during the forty days of Lent (Quaresima in Italian) could not receive communion on Easter.

According to le Monnier's Dictionary of the Italian Language, Carne Levare was first used for the sumptuous dinner eaten the night before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. Over the years "Carnevale" was gradually extended to cover the entire period from Epiphany to la settimana grassa (the fat week) before Ash Wednesday.

During Venice's Carnevale, which lasted for months, party-goers wore costumes and elaborate maschere (masks). The bauta covered the entire face but had no mouth opening and a lot of gilding. The oval-shaped moretta was worn by women, often along with a veil. The full-face white larva (from the Latin for mask or ghost) was made of fine wax cloth.

Over the centuries Venice''s pre-Lenten merry-making has inspired some pithy axioms:

*Fare le frittelle - literally, to make the traditional fritters; figuratively, to celebrate Carnival.

*A Carnevale ogni scherzo vale -- At Carnival anything goes.

*Lamore di Carnevale muore in Quaresima -- A love that starts during Carnival dies in Lent.

Wherever you may celebrate, I wish you Buon Carnevale!

Dianne Hales is the author of LA BELLA LINGUA: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language, MONA LISA: A Life Discovered and the upcoming LA PASSIONE: How Italy Seduced the World. For more information, visit her website: www.diannehales.com.

Win a pre-publication bound galley of LA PASSIONE from Goodreads! Click here to enter the raffle. The giveaway ends March 13.
Mark Harris, Republican candidate in North Carolina's 9th Congressional race, listens to testimony during a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh. (News & Observer pool photo) Click image to expand.

With his congressional campaign in debt, his integrity under siege, his health in question, and a criminal investigation over corruption gathering steam, some political observers are doubtful. It's also unclear he'll seek the congressional seat a third time.A State Board of Elections' four-day evidentiary hearing culminated in Thursday's 5-0 vote to order a new election. Harris sought to be declared the winner by a 905-vote margin over Democrat Dan McCready. But the national suspense surrounding the last uncalled congressional election didn't end there.McCready's lawyers have hinted at further legal action to thwart House Bill 1029 . It requires a full do-over, including candidate filing and primaries, after the new election was ordered.McCready would prefer a do-over involving only the original primary winners. Then he would have to face the politically wounded Harris, and Libertarian Jeff Scott, who finished a distant third with 1.8 percent of the vote. Scott and McCready have said they plan to run in the new election.Further clouding the picture is a decision released Friday by Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins overturning two constitutional amendments. He ruled the 2017 General Assembly was an illegally elected "usurper" body. Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said Collins' decision could be interpreted to mean every action the legislature has taken since the 2016 election might be considered unconstitutional.The elections board must set the schedule for a new election, but has not done so yet. It is the first time since 1974 a congressional election rerun has been ordered. It involved a disputed Louisiana contest.Harris hasn't said whether he would run in the new election. Some political experts think he should sit this one out after abruptly ending his testimony on Thursday. He said an infection that turned septic and led to his hospitalization triggered two strokes that have caused confusion and memory loss.Republican political consultant Larry Shaheen said Harris is in an untenable spot.Shaheen said.and focused on his health and family instead.Shaheen said the evidentiary hearing was not Harris' worst obstacle. Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman has an open investigation into Bladen County election mischief.Shaheen said.Kim Strach, elections board executive director, told Carolina Journal evidence and testimony from the evidentiary hearing will be turned over to the district attorney, and should help to speed up the parallel criminal investigation.McCready lawyer Marc Elias and elections board members said fraud occurred in the election, though nobody has called for Harris to be charged with any crimes.Investigators may be interested in Harris' personal payments of $3,340 to Patriots for Progress to retain the services of its founder, Leslie McCrae Dowless. Elections board staff said Patriots for Progress had failed to file required reports with the state. As an independent expenditure political action committee it was legally barred from coordinating with a candidate. Harris said he was unaware of those issues.Dowless is the political operative Harris hired, and whose purported illegal absentee ballot collections are at the heart of the scandal.Michael Bitzer, a political science professor at Catawba College who's closely followed the saga, said Harris could ease out of the new election by citing his medical condition.Bitzer said, citing Harris' unsuccessful try for the GOP nomination in 2016 as well as last year's contest.Bitter said the evidence presented at the hearing took a toll on Harris' reputation, likely making it tough to find voters to support him, let alone political consultants and campaign advisors to work with him.Among the worst moments for Harris was his son's testimony. John Harris, an assistant U.S. Attorney, warned his father that Dowless' success at generating large numbers of absentee ballots might be due to unlawfully collecting them. The younger Harris said he thought his father didn't know about Dowless' illegal activities, and would have fired him had he known.Dowless, a convicted felon Harris hired for get-out-the-vote efforts, refused to testify at the evidentiary hearing because the elections board wouldn't guarantee him immunity.A series of witnesses who worked for Dowless testified they unlawfully collected absentee ballots and turned them over to him; signed as witnesses after the forms were collected and post-dated them; forged others' names as witnesses; and filled in unmarked boxes for some candidates. None of the witnesses said they changed any votes.Bitzer envisions a potential free-for-all primary for the Republican nomination, with candidates emerging in all eight counties in the GOP-heavy 9th District. He's not sure whether Republican voters will be invigorated by a new election or disillusioned and stay at home. Democrats are more likely to be fired up.The nationally respected Cook Political Report rates the coming election a toss-up.McCready might not draw a primary opponent. The renewable energy businessman is a money-raising machine whose campaign generated $6.6 million. He spent all but $87,838 of that, according to the most recent Federal Election Commission campaign finance report through Dec. 31.Harris, on the other hand, raised $2.09 million, and had $86,344 in debts and loans with $19,131 cash on hand.If Harris ran again, Democrats could remind voters of the contentious legal fight he quickly abandoned. A crowded GOP field might make it difficult for any candidate to reach the 30 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff. A second primary could tax Republicans' resources and weaken their position in the general election.But will there be a primary?McCready lawyer Marc Elias said Thursday.Asked about the law passed in December requiring a congressional primary, Elias responded,Bitzer said.But he said the courts may be unwilling to intervene about a political question on which they generally defer to the legislature.
In Scotland, an 18-year-old male who identifies as a woman was given a slap on the wrist by authorities earlier this month after assaulting a 10-year-old girl in the restroom. According to The Courier , the suspect, who goes by the name Katie Dolatowski, sexually assaulted the unidentified little girl in a supermarket restroom on March 4, 2018, reportedly grabbing "the terrified youngster by the face, shov[ing] her into the cubicle and order[ing] her to remove her trousers." From the report:Rather than being sent to jail, Dolatowski has been banned from having contact with children and given community service and electronic tagging.said Sheriff James Williamson.the mother told the press.The mother said that her daughter continues to suffer horrifying flashbacks and was hysterical after the attack.she said.The mother added that Dolatowski behaved as a sexual predator and specifically stalked the toilets to victimize a little girl.she said.she added.Not only did Dolatowski admit to sexually assaulting the 10-year-old girl, he also admitted to following another girl into a bathroom at the Asda Halbeath supermarket in Dunfermline on February 8 and holding his mobile phone over the bathroom stall to film her urinating.The court reportedly took sympathy on Dolatowski because he grew up in Britain's social care system since the age of three and suffers from mental health issues. But the mother said that's a petty excuse, considering the hundreds of people who suffer from mental health issues that do not assault little kids.she said.According to LifeSiteNews, cases such as Dolatowski's are not an anomaly.reports the outlet.
The Norris School District announced this week it has hired a new superintendent for the next school year.

Current Papillion LaVista assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction Dr. John Schwartz has been tapped by the Norris Board to serve as the next Norris superintendent.

According to a press release, Schwartz is an educational leader who has served as a classroom teacher and building principal prior to his current leadership role at Papillion LaVista.

We are very excited to welcome Dr. Schwartz as our next Norris Superintendent, Norris School Board President Patty Bentzinger said in the press release. He brings excellent experience as a former teacher and principal, and current assistant superintendent in Papillion LaVista. His character and commitment to serving Norris will help provide the vision for our future. We are thrilled to have John and his family join the Titans family.

Schwartz will begin his new role in July 1. His hiring follows an announcement that current Norris Superintendent John Skretta is leaving to become the ESU6 Administrator following Dan Shoemakes retirement at the end of June.
Princeton, New Jersey, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ELS Educational Services, Inc. entered into an agreement with National Geographic Learning to develop custom-published ESL textbooks.

We are certain that these new texts will enhance the learning experience for our students and offer a wealth of creative teaching ideas for our instructors, said Alexandra Zilovic, Executive Vice President of Global Operations for ELS.

National Geographic Learning will provide resources for both ELS students and teachers. Students will have access to National Geographic Learnings online practice portal, MyELT.com, and teachers will receive customized teacher guides for each text, an online teacher companion website, and classroom presentation tools.

We are delighted to partner with ELS to deliver English learning programs that reflect this incredible world and prepare students to be successful and responsible stewards of it, said Dennis Hogan, General Manager of National Geographic Learning.

Were excited to work with National Geographic Learning, said Ms. Zilovic. NGL books offer engaging content with a robust digital component. And the famous National Geographic photography is unparalleled.

ELS and National Geographic Learning will create 24 custom-published texts. Content for the customized textbooks will come from National Geographic texts, including Pathways, World Link, and Great Writing. Texts will be available to ELS students in both hardbound and digital formats.

For more information or for high-resolution images of the book covers, please contact Jessica Pepperman at jpepperman@els.edu.



###





About National Geographic Learning

National Geographic Learning, a part of Cengage, develops programs for learning English that bring the world to the classroom and the classroom to life. Its print and digital materials incorporate the compelling content and photography of National Geographic and TED Talks to make learning English meaningful and motivating.

About ELS Educational Services

ELS Educational Services, Inc. offers more than 55 years of success in assisting international studentsmore than 1.2 million to dateachieve their personal and professional goals through English preparation and university study skills. ELS assists international students to identify and gain entry to higher education institutions around the world, including in Canada, India, Malaysia, and the United States.

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Asanka Brendon Ratnayake / AFP(NEW YORK) -- The revelation that a Catholic cardinal in Australia was convicted of molesting boys marks the most senior member of the church to face prison time for sexual abuse.



The charges against Cardinal George Pell -- who was not only a major figure in Australia's Catholic church but also a close adviser to Pope Francis -- were not publicly released until Tuesday because of a law in the country's court system.



In December, he was convicted of molesting two choir boys in the 1990s, but under Australian law, all details of that trial -- including the fact that the trial was held at all -- were suppressed because Pell was set to be subject to a second trial.



Pell's lawyer Paul Galbally said that Pell maintains his innocence and that an appeal on the conviction has already been filed.



The Australian Broadcasting Company reports that the allegations brought forth in the first trial stemmed from incidents that took place when he was the archbishop of Melbourne, the country's second-most populous city.



The judge in Pell's trial ruled that the jury in the second trial, which was planned to commence relatively quickly after the first trial, would likely be influenced by the verdict in the first trial and therefore any details about the first trial were suppressed.



Pell's case is surfacing at a turbulent time for the Catholic Church. There are now at least 17 investigations into clerical sexual abuse in various jurisdictions in the U.S., and the Vatican just held a first-of-its-kind summit to address the epidemic abuse of minors by Catholic clergy.



The summit concluded Sunday, just two days before Pell's conviction became public.



To some, the summit fell short. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), the country's oldest and largest support group for survivors of clergy abuse, released a statement saying that they were "left disappointed" by the summit.



"At the end, Pope Francis offered only words, reflection points, and policies to consider for the future," the SNAP statement reads. "No bishop who had been involved in covering-up or minimizing allegations was fired. No directive was handed down to order bishops to turn over their secret abuse files to police."



"No punishment was agreed upon nor system put in place for disciplining those bishops who continue to cover-up abuse cases in the future. In other words, no child was made safer and no survivor was helped during this summit."



The Vatican released a statement concerning Pell through a spokesperson, a translation of which was released Tuesday, which said that the news "has shocked many people, not only in Australia."



The statement reported that Francis "confirmed the precautionary measures" against Pell, who served as the Vatican's treasurer, and that "while awaiting the definitive assessment of the facts, as is the norm, Cardinal George Pell is prohibited from exercising public ministry and from having any voluntary contact whatsoever with minors."



The reports of Pell's conviction follows soon after a former U.S. cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, was defrocked by the church over decades-old allegations of sexual abuse.



Any further action by the church against Pell will come after his criminal process in Australia is concluded.



Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
"Everyone who came in said it looked like it was planned," Maddy said.

They celebrated for hours, until it was time to figure out where to go from there. Residents of the town offered their spare beds to anyone in attendance, including the bride and groom. There was a slumber party in the basement of the church for 15, including the parents of the bride and groom catching a few hours of sleep on cushions pulled off pews.

The following day, the couple had a second reception at the Pla Mor, allowing those who couldn't make it to the wedding to celebrate their marriage. The original cake was served.

Days later, what sticks out for the newlyweds was how the Mead community rallied behind them to make the wedding happen in the most dire of circumstances.

"We had no part in it, and we are very grateful for all they did for us," Jacob said.

And while Maddy said she wasn't the kind of bride who spent her life forming the perfect vision for her wedding, she said she's happy with how it turned out.

"You could say we had our plan, and God had his plan," she said.

Jacob, on the other hand, jokes that his new wife got exactly what she and many other brides wish for.
Cake decorations supplier Cake Decor has completed a 1m investment in a sprinkle decorations factory in Glasgow.

The business, which supplies products for trade users and retail, said the new facility enables it to create and manufacture its products in the UK  mitigating the potential effects of Brexit for its customers.

The investment has boosted capacity, and the business plans to work more closely with UK and European plant bakeries and supermarkets.

We are incredibly proud of our new manufacturing facility  we made the decision to invest heavily to increase our production to cope with the ever-increasing demand for our products, both in retail and foodservice, and also to prevent any difficulties around Brexit, said Cake Decor founder and managing director Bill Donnelly.

We are very excited by what we can now achieve, both in terms of growth and reliability in these uncertain times.

Cake Decor, which is privately owned, was launched in 2006 as a manufacturer of writing icing tubes, and has expanded its line-up to include sugarpaste, frostings, choco melts and sprinkles.

Its sprinkles, including 00s and 000s, sugar strands and sprinkle shapes, are sold in 15kg bulk boxes and resealable 500g tubs. All the companys decorations contain no artificial colours or flavours and no hydrogenated fats.

The company recently appointed Paul Parkinson as UK sales manager for business to business.
AB Mauri and German business Bocker have signed an agreement to work together on development of ingredients for bread and fermented goods.

Described as experts in sourdough, Bocker uses a variety of grains to produce sourdough products, including starters for in-house fermentation; dried, liquid and paste sourdoughs; and gluten-free sourdoughs.

The businesses have worked together for eight years, and the new agreement  signed by AB Mauri managing director Andrew Pollard and Georg Bocker, the fourth generation of family-owned Bocker  formalises the collaboration between the two businesses.

AB Mauri has spent in excess of eight years cultivating this relationship, said Pollard. We have worked initially from a glimmer of an idea to the close partnership we have today with Bocker.

I am absolutely delighted that we have been able to reach this new agreement, which enables both parties to engage in a more intimate way, enabling the growth of this exciting product category not only in the UK and Ireland, but also in other geographic regions.

Pollard added that, in conjunction with Bocker, AB Mauri has a core technology and application understanding, and also understands how the functional and technical benefits can tap the demands of consumers in the UK and Ireland.

AB Mauri NPD director Jim Hawkridge explained that the business had focused on using the technology to offer customers additional flavour, texture and other bread attributes, using sourdough-based cereal fermentation technology.

He added that malt technology provided through Holgran, which was acquired by AB Mauri from Rank Hovis last year, would add further value to the companys ingredient offering.
David L Clark of Cataract Canyon Ironworks located in Flagstaff, Arizona passed away unexpectedly on the 5th of February 2019. Dave is survived by his wife Debbie, four stepchildren, many nieces and nephews, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Please join us for a celebration of Dave's life at Christ's Church of Flagstaff, 3475 Soliere Avenue, Flagstaff, Arizona 86004 on February 28th at 10 am.
Over the weekend, U.S. Congressman Raul Grijalva announced at a press conference that he would be introducing a bill to permanently ban new mining activity in the vicinity of the Grand Canyon a few days before the Grand Canyon centennial celebration.

Grijalvas bill has been introduced in other forms in the past, but his current bill would make permanent the interior departments mining withdrawal. The original 20-year ban was announced during Barack Obamas presidential tenure in 2012. The ban prevented new mining activity within a million acres of public land around the canyon over concerns of the impact of uranium mining. Mines that are already operating in the area will still continue to operate.

While the Grand Canyon is out of Grijalvas district, the congressman is the ranking member of the committee on natural resources in the U.S. House of Representatives. He believes that his position will help his case to push the bill through the House.

The Grand Canyon to a great extent belongs to all of Arizona and belongs to all of the nation, because it is the most iconic of national parks that we have, Grijalva said to the Arizona Daily Sun. Theres a shared responsibility.
LIVONIA, Mich.Boyfun.com has signed an exclusive four-month deal with performer Lucas Drake that begins March 1. Lucas has been attracting fans since he debut in porn, and he's built a following not only in Europe but all over the world as well.

Recently, Drake let it be known he was looking for new adventures and a new home. "It was posted on Twitter that Lucas Drake was looking for a new studio to call home, and we quickly reached out to each other to see if we could make it work," said studio rep Brent Axford.

Once we worked out the numbers per scene with our producer Michael Burling and Lucas, the deal came together really quickly, Axford added. We did one test scene together to ensure that Lucas felt comfortable with our style of shooting, and once that was a success, the deal was signed."

The first test scene Lucas Drake shotwith UK newcomer Taylor Masonwill be released at Boyfun.com on March 1. Eight more scenes will be released over the next coming months, and then both parties will decide if they want to extend the deal another four to six months at that time.

We are very excited to show the current fans of Lucas a new way and style of shooting him. And our own member base is very excited to having him coming," said Brent Axford.

Lucas Drake can be found on Twitter at @lucas_drake_XXX.

Boyfun can be found on Twitter at @Officialboyfun.

Affiliates can learn more about promoting Boyfun.com at XXXrewards.com.
Former Donald Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who arranged the hush money payoffs to AVN Hall of Famer Stormy Daniels and Playboy centerfold model Karen McDougal, will speak in public and under oath about those payments for the first time on Wednesday, when the 52-year oldwho once boasted that he would take a bullet for Trumpgives open testimony to Congress on Wednesday.

Cohen is scheduled to testify before the House Oversight Committee at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on February 27. A live stream of what promises to be a dramatic day of testimony may be accessed at this link.

Cohen last August admitted, in making a guilty plea to campaign finance violation charges, that the payments to Daniels and McDougal were intended to influence the 2016 presidential election, by silencing the women about their extramarital sexual encounters with Trump. Cohen also stated in the plea that Trump directed him in making the payments.

Cohens lawyer, Lanny Davis, last week told ABC News that Cohen would reveal chilling details of Trumps behind-the-scenes business methods, and personal, front-line experiences of memories and incidents and conduct, and comments that Donald Trump said over that 10-year time period.

The House Oversight Committee will not question Cohen about Trumps possible collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign, because the investigation into the Trump-Russia connection remains the subject of an ongoing investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Instead, the committee will sero in on Cohens intimate involvement with the hush money payoffs to Daniels and McDougal, as well as Trumps debts and payments relating to efforts to influence the 2016 election, according to the Washington Post.

The committee, or at least the Democrats who control it, also plan to grill Cohen about the accuracy of the Presidents public statements and public efforts by the President and his attorney to intimidate Mr. Cohen or others not to testify, according to the Post.

Republicans on the committee are likely instead to focus on breaking down Cohens credibility as a witness, hammering him on his guilty pleas to lying to Congress in earlier testimony, in an effort to portray Cohen as an inveterate liar who is simply angling for leniency in his criminal cases.

Cohen was sentenced in December to three years in prison after pleading guilty to lying to Congress, campaign finance violations in connection with the hush money payoffs, and other charges. Cohen had been ordered to report for prison on March 6, but a judge last week delayed the start of Cohens sentence until early May.

Photo by IowaPolitics.com / Flicker Creative Commons
The day after lawmakers in New York state announced new legislation that would decriminalize sex work there, as AVN.com reported, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said in an interview that she supports sex work decriminalization.

Harris, like all of the United States senators and House reps now running for president, voted in favor of the FOSTA/SESTA law, which sex workers say has made their occupations more dangerous and less sustainable, in the supposed cause of curtailing sex trafficking.

Her support for decriminalizing sex work would appear to mark a departure for Harris, who as California attorney general in 2015 fought to quash a lawsuit against the state that brought by sex worker advocacy groups that sought to end laws against prostitution on privacy and freedom of expression grounds, according to the LA Weekly.

In an interview with The Root, Harris offered her support for sex work decriminalizationalbeit with the qualification that to be considered non-criminal, sex work in her view must be fully consensual.

"I think that we have to understand, though, that it is not as simple as that. There's an ecosystem around (sex work), that involves crimes that harm people. And for those issues, I do not believe that anybody who hurts another human being or profits off of their exploitation should be free of criminal prosecution, Harris said in the Root interview.

"But when you're talking about consenting adults? Yes, we should really consider that we can't criminalize consensual behavior as long as no one is being harmed," the 54-year-old first-term California senator concluded.

Harris also said that as far back as 15 years ago she opposed criminalizing the women involved in sex work, and supported instead prosecuting the johns and the pimps.

She also explained her support for shutting down the classified ad site Backpage.com, saying, "Backpage was providing advertisements for the sale of children. Of minors. So I called for them to be shut down. And I have no regrets about that."

In the same interview, Harris branded Donald Trump, a racist, something that some others in the Democratic field of presidential candidates have been reluctant to do.

She also stated her support of reparations granted to African-Americans for the effects of slavery, which among the Democratic candidates only Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has also addressed.

Photo by Office of the Attorney General of California / Wikimedia Commons Public Domain
The Owasco Lake Watershed Inspection Program submits monthly inspection reports to The Citizen in an effort to provide the public with information on surveillance and violations. For additional details or information on the inspection programs projects, inspections and the watersheds rules and regulations, visit owascoinspection.org or call (315) 427-5188.

January 2019

 Town of Niles, Duryea Road: During routine inspections of the watershed, staff discovered a stream flowing to the lake with brown coloration along Rockefeller Road. Upstream inspections revealed the source of the discolored water, identified as stormwater runoff from a nearby lumber facility. The turbid water was flowing off the site, eventually entering the lake and creating a sediment plume. The facility operators intend to resolve the matter as soon as possible and avoid future runoff issues. This incident resulted in a violation warning, requiring corrective actions be taken.
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Wachs said Auburn Associates hopes construction can begin on Harbor Freight's store by the first week of April. That would allow the store to open by July 1, he continued.

"They're a tremendous company," he said. "They'll bring a whole new energy into Auburn that's best for the community."

Meanwhile, the Auburn Plaza location of Payless ShoeSource will close, along with the discount shoe retailer's 2,500 other locations in the U.S. and Canada, by the end of May. The chain announced last week that it was once again filing for bankruptcy protection, less than two years after emerging from Chapter 11 proceedings.

Wachs said Auburn Associates learned of the closure along with everyone else, and will soon try to find a new tenant for the space.

"We're working very hard to maintain the synergy of the merchants and the relevancy of the shopping center for the community," he said.

Lake Life Editor David Wilcox can be reached at (315) 282-2245 or david.wilcox@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @drwilcox.

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rennova Health, Inc. (OTC: RNVA), (OTC: RNVAW) (Rennova or the Company), a vertically integrated provider of industry-leading diagnostics and supportive software solutions to healthcare providers, that acquired its second hospital in Jamestown, Tenn. on June 1, 2018, announced today that it has entered into a new definitive asset purchase agreement to acquire an acute care hospital in Jellico, Tenn. and CarePlus Center in Williamsburg, Ky., an outpatient clinic offering primary care, diagnostic imaging and laboratory services. The hospital known as Jellico Community Hospital and its associated assets are being acquired from Jellico Community Hospital, Inc. and CarePlus Rural Health Clinic, LLC. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019, subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions.



Jellico Community Hospital is a fully operational 54-bed acute care facility that offers comprehensive services, including diagnostic imaging, radiology, surgery (general, gynecological and vascular), nuclear medicine, wound care and hyperbaric medicine, intensive care, emergency care, and physical therapy.

Jellico Community Hospital is accredited by the Center for Improvement in Healthcare Quality (CIHQ) and the lab within the hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission and is committed to high standards of excellence. In 2015, Jellico Community Hospital was one of 251 hospitals out of 3,500 across the country to receive a 5-star rating for patient satisfaction, according to a Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Provider and Systems (HCAHPS) survey conducted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

The CarePlus Center offers sophisticated testing capabilities and compassionate care, all in a modern, patient-friendly, environment. Services include Diagnostic Imaging Services, X-ray, Mammography, Bone Densitometry, Computed Tomography (CT), Ultrasound, Physical Therapy and Laboratory Services on a walk-in basis.

We are pleased to have secured a new agreement to complete this acquisition. The addition of this hospital is expected to initially add in excess of $12 million of collectable revenue per annum to Rennova, said Seamus Lagan, CEO of Rennova. We are confident that owning a third hospital in a close geographic proximity to our other two Tennessee based hospitals offers a number of synergies and efficiencies for the provision of services and management and look forward to providing an excellent and complete service to the local community.

About Rennova Health, Inc.

Rennova operates two rural hospitals in Tennessee and provides industry-leading diagnostics and supportive software solutions to healthcare providers. Through an ever-expanding group of strategic brands that work in unison to empower customers, we are creating the next generation of healthcare. For more information, please visit www.rennovahealth.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ from expectations and, consequently, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Words such as expect, estimate, project, budget, forecast, anticipate, intend, plan, may, will, could, should, believes, predicts, potential, continue, and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results. Additional information concerning these and other risk factors are contained in the Companys most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company does not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in their expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, except as required by law.

Contacts:

Rennova Health

Sebastien Sainsbury, 561-666-9818

ssainsbury@rennovahealth.com





# # #
"We hope it shows them yet again the way we're looked at by the world of dance, and on the world stage," he said. "If we could get that kind of support in our home state, that'd really be fantastic."

That support could propel the New York Institute of Dance & Education toward realizing the project it submitted for a piece of Auburn's $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant: The Harriet Tubman Center for the Arts. The $1.2 million project would provide a home for both the institute and Kaleidoscope, as well as performance and residential spaces, classrooms, an incubator for minority- and women-owned business owners, and a teen inspiration program. The center has not been identified as a priority project by the Local Planning Committee assembling Auburn's plan to spend the grant, but nothing's final until the committee submits its plan to the state for its approval next month.
March is Red Cross Month, and the American Red Cross of Western and Central New York asks people to be a hero for families in Cayuga County by becoming a volunteer, learning lifesaving skills or giving blood.

During Red Cross Month, we are proud to recognize our volunteers who provide hope and urgent relief to families in need every day. These heroes are our neighbors who give blood, save lives with skills like first aid and CPR, or provide care and comfort to families devastated by crises like home fires. We honor our volunteers and ask you to join them and make a difference.

March was first proclaimed Red Cross Month in 1943 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to raise awareness of our organization and its humanitarian mission. All U.S. presidents since have designated March as Red Cross Month to recognize how the American Red Cross helps people across the country and around the world through its workforce, which is powered by more than 90-percent volunteers.

Every eight minutes in the U.S., the Red Cross connects with a family who has lost everything to a home fire or other disaster  the roof over their heads, their clothes, their most cherished possessions. This past year was no exception  and the need continues today.
U.S. Rep. John Katko is among the Republicans who support terminating President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration to construct a multi-billion dollar wall along the southern border.

Katko, R-Camillus, announced his support for the resolution hours before the House vote Tuesday. He will miss House session this week due to the death of his father, Andrew. The elder Katko died Sunday. He was 86.

The resolution introduced by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat, would terminate Trump's national emergency order. The measure has 233 cosponsors  232 Democrats and one Republican. The lone Republican is Michigan Rep. Justin Amash.

Katko has been a proponent of building a wall or placing barriers along the southern border. However, during his tenure in Congress he has criticized executive actions by Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama.

"I strongly believe we must act to strengthen our nation's border security," Katko said Tuesday. "But Republicans and Democrats in Congress need to come together as legislators to implement these types of policies. Presidents, from either party, should not legislate from the executive branch. Doing so dangerously expands the authority of the office and sets poor precedent."
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is urging the International Joint Commission to maximize Lake Ontario outflows as water levels continue to rise and local officials worry flooding could affect shoreline communities.

In a letter to the commission's U.S. section chair, Lana Pollack, Cuomo asked the binational agency to take action. The lake is at 246.03 feet, 15 inches above the average for this time of year and four inches year than last year's level.

The International Joint Commission said Friday that it's maximizing outflows due to rising water levels on Lake Ontario.

"While New York has undertaken a wide range of preventive measures to protect against flooding, the IJC must be a partner in this effort," Cuomo wrote. "The IJC should ensure that the federal government is actively working to increase the resiliency of our great lakes coastline and minimizing the risk of potential flooding."
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused the American government of manufacturing a crisis in an attempt to start a war in South America, in an interview broadcast on Monday. "Everything that the United States government has done has been doomed to failure," Maduro told American broadcaster ABC News from the presidential palace in Caracas in remarks translated by the network from Spanish. "They are trying to fabricate a crisis to justify political escalation and a military intervention in Venezuela to bring a war to South America." Earlier in the day, US Vice President Mike Pence announced $56 million in aid to Venezuelans as well as tougher US sanctions as he joined a Lima Group meeting of Latin American countries plus Canada that was also attended by opposition leader Juan Guaido. The United States is among some 50 countries that recognize Guaido as Venezuela's interim president. Maduro blasted the talks in Bogota as being "politics to attempt to establish a parallel government in Venezuela." Washington, he said, "wants Venezuela's oil" and is "willing to go to war for that oil." "The extremist Ku Klux Klan government that Donald Trump directs wants a war over oil, and more than just oil," Maduro said, describing Venezuela as a "pacifist, humble nation." But he also said he was ready to participate in a "direct dialogue" with the Trump administration. Asked if he would allow Guaido back into the country, Maduro said: "He has to respect the laws." Guaido "can leave and come back and will have to see the face of justice because justice had prohibited him from him leaving the country." Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is accusing the American government of manufacturing a crisis in an attempt to start a war in South America
MPX International Provides Investor Progress Report on Medical Cannabis Operations



NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO NEWSWIRE SERVICES IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. ANY FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS RESTRICTION MAY CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF UNITED STATES SECURITIES LAWS.

TORONTO, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MPX International Corporation (MPX International or the Company) (CSE:MPXI) announces that Canveda Inc. (Canveda), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, received its sale for medical purposes and standard processing licences effective as of February 22, 2019 for its facility in Peterborough, Ontario. The licence will allow Canveda, conditional upon Health Canadas final pre-sales inspection, to develop its medical patient and product strategy and to commence selling their own products directly to registered patients for medical purposes. In the mean time, Canveda will continue selling dried flower products to other Licenced Producers with medical sales licences. The processing licence will allow Canveda to commence processing of dried cannabis into other formats including capsules and pre-rolls.

Investor Progress Report

Following approval from Health Canada, Canveda imported 28 new strains of cannabis from a supplier in the Netherlands and proceeded with the cultivation of several of these new strains with a first harvest scheduled for April 2019. Cultivation of these new high-quality strains will provide Canveda with a multitude of different varieties of cannabis over the next few production cycles. The Canveda facility is now in full production and is expected to produce 1.2 million grams of high-quality cannabis flower over the next 12 months.

Additionally, Canveda is licenced to produce cannabis oils and capsules and has commenced the build-out of a small production laboratory expected to be operational by late Q2 2019. Once the initial two batches of oil have passed successful qualitative analysis, Canveda will request oils to be included in its medical sales licence. Once licenced, the production facility will operate temporarily pending completion of the much larger project in Owen Sound, Ontario.

Receipt of the sale for medical purposes and standard processing licence is a very important step for our Canadian operations as they will allow us to develop the wholesale portion (B2B) of our business as well as new patient acquisition, commented W. Scott Boyes, Chairman, President and CEO of MPX International. We are eager to introduce our Salus-branded products into the Canadian medical cannabis space with a focus on deliveries to Canadian military veterans as a result of the support to Veterans offered by our Spartan Wellness subsidiary. Michael Arnkvarn, our Chief Operating Officer, Canada has multiple projects in his pipeline and further updates will be provided in due course.

While MPX International is continuing to develop opportunities in the emerging global cannabis marketplace, the expectation is that the Companys Canveda facility in Peterborough, amongst others, will be one of the first to generate significant revenues.

About MPX International Corporation

MPX International Corporation is focused on developing and operating assets across the global cannabis industry with an emphasis on cultivating, manufacturing and marketing products that include cannabinoids as their primary active ingredient.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information



This news release includes certain forward-looking statements under applicable Canadian securities legislation that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, MPX Internationals objectives and intentions. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause 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 and social uncertainties; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; delay or failure to receive board, shareholder or regulatory approvals; those additional risks set out in MPX Internationals public documents filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com; and other matters discussed in this news release. Although MPX International believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply 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. Except where required by law, MPX International disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

For further information, please contact:

MPX International Corporation

W. Scott Boyes, Chairman, President and CEO

T: +1-416-840-3725

info@mpxinternationalcorp.com

www.mpxinternationalcorp.com

Investor Relations

KCSA Strategic Communications

Phil Carlson / Elizabeth Barker

pcarlson@ksca.com / ebarker@kcsa.com

212.896.1233 / 212.896.1203

Media Relations

KCSA Strategic Communications

Anne Donohoe

Adonohoe@kcsa.com

212-896-1265
As Cardinal George Pell ascended the senior ranks of the Catholic Church, he kept secret a dark history of sexually molesting young boys.

In the priests sacristy of Melbournes imposing St Patricks Cathedral in 1996, then newly-installed as Archbishop of Melbourne, Pell sexually molested a 13-year-old choirboy.

Exposed and pleasuring himself and still dressed in his ornate ceremonial robes, fresh from presiding over Sunday solemn mass, Pell then raped and abused the boys 13-year-old friend.

Pell has always denied the claims, calling them a product of fantasy and absolute rubbish when interviewed by police in Rome three years ago.

But after a month-long trial and three delays of deliberations, a jury unanimously convicted Pell in December.

Cardinal George Pells dark history of sexually molesting young boys has been revealed. Photo: AAP

The verdict has been suppressed until now for legal reasons.

Physically ailing, the cardinal has been free on bail.

But on Wednesday the man who rose to become Australias highest-ranked Catholic, the Vaticans number three man and a trusted adviser to the Pope, will be taken into custody.

Worlds most senior Catholic guilty of sex offences

Pell is the worlds most senior Catholic to be charged with or found guilty of child sex offences.

He stood down from his position as Vatican treasurer to fight the charges and his membership of the Group of Nine Cardinals was suspended by Pope Francis in December.

Pell will be sentenced in March on one charge of sexually penetrating a child and four counts of committing indecent acts with children.

An appeal has already been lodged and Pell continues to maintain his innocence.

After a month-long trial and three delays of deliberations, a jury unanimously convicted Pell in December. Photo: AAP

Only one of Pells victims gave evidence at the trial. He knows the verdict and will hear Pells punishment when its handed down by County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd.

The other died of a heroin overdose in 2014 having never admitted the abuse he suffered, not even to his parents when they asked if hed been a victim.

But his absence didnt matter to the jury who believed the prosecutions case and his friends evidence that the abuse was not the far-fetched fantasy Pells legal team claimed.

Story continues

Jurors accepted the memories of the surviving choirboy, now in his 30s, about the awful minutes that followed that mass a week or two before Christmas.

The boys, both on scholarships to the prestigious St Kevins College, had been caught by Pell swigging sacramental wine in the priests sacristy after sneaking away from the post-mass procession.

Pell is the worlds most senior Catholic to be charged with or found guilty of child sex offences. Photo: AAP

Pell planted himself in the doorway and scolded them. He then undid his pants and pulled his penis from under his ceremonial robes.

Victims testimony details horrid recollection of Pells abuse

The court was closed for the survivors evidence of the events that followed  his recollection of standing frozen, watching his friend squirm as his head was pulled toward Pells genitals.

Then he turned to me, he said, in evidence quoted later by Senior Crown Prosecutor Mark Gibson SC.

The survivor recalled Pell orally raping him and demanding he then remove his pants, which he did.

Pell fondled the boys genitals while masturbating himself. The teen put his pants back on and together the boys rejoined their choir.

Afraid of jeopardising his schooling and not understanding what had happened or if it was normal, the survivor didnt say a word for years.

Not even when, a month or so later, Pell shoved him against a wall in a cathedral corridor and fondled his genitals.

Why victim came forward

Its something Ive carried for the whole of my life  it took a courage much later in life for me to even think about coming forward, he told the jury.

Pells high-profile barrister Robert Richter QC told the jury Pell had returned voluntarily from Rome  where he had diplomatic immunity  to clear his name.

He made the same point months earlier in a first trial that ended with jurors discharged, some sobbing, after being unable to reach a unanimous verdict.

The boys, both on scholarships to the prestigious St Kevins College, had been caught by Pell swigging sacramental wine before he molested them. Photo: AAP

The PowerPoint defence

In a move rarely  if ever  seen in a Victorian court, Mr Richter used a slideshow to lay out the defence case in his closing remarks.

It relied largely on the claim that 10 independently impossible events would have to have occurred in the same 10-minute window for the abuse to have occurred unseen.

He had wanted to use a graphic  compared by prosecutors to the Pacman game  to demonstrate his point but permission was denied.

Instead he relied on dot points and bold quotes.

Only a madman would attempt to rape boys in the priests sacristy immediately after Sunday solemn mass, he declared, with the words projected in big, bold letters on a screen behind him.

Victorias Court of Appeal will decide if the jurys verdict stands.

In the meantime the Catholic Church, tainted by a child sexual abuse scandal in archdiocese worldwide, must deal with its advent at the highest levels of the Holy See.
Fawzia Koofi was hesitant to face the Taliban militants who jailed her husband, threatened to stone her for wearing nail polish, and -- when she became a high-profile MP and women's rights champion -- tried to assassinate her. But the trailblazing politician and mother of two daughters could not refuse a rare invitation this month to stand before her oppressors and declare unequivocally that their brand of misogyny and prejudice would never again take root in Afghanistan. "It was not that I wanted to do it, but I was doing it for the women of Afghanistan," she told AFP in an interview at her Kabul home. "I felt powerful. It was a room full of people, all male... For me, it was important that I make myself visible and my message clear to them." Koofi was one of just two Afghan women invited to a grand hotel in Moscow earlier this month for informal meetings with the Taliban. The talks came days after other, separate negotiations between the militants and the US in Qatar raised expectations of a breakthrough in the 17-year conflict. Washington, which resumed talks with the Taliban in Doha on Monday, is seeking a way out of its longest war -- but Afghans and many observers fear a hasty departure could see the Taliban return to power, or the country fracture into civil war. Many women, in particular, are afraid of being forced back under Taliban rule, beneath burqas and behind walls, without access to education or jobs. In Moscow, in scenes unthinkable under the Taliban regime, the mullahs sat in silence as Koofi defended her daughters' rights to thrive in a modern Afghanistan, free from harsh limitations. The other 48 delegates at the unprecedented conference in the Russian capital were all men, Afghan political heavyweights and bearded Taliban officials, none used to being addressed so assertively by a woman. "You cannot just put her in her house and deprive her, like you did me, seeing the world through the small window of their burqas," Koofi said, recalling her defiant speech before the delegation. "She has now much more connectivity. She will not go back to your time." - Life of defiance - One of Koofi's fellow passengers on the flight to Moscow was the Taliban's head of vice and virtue -- the dreaded moral police who cruised the streets in white pickup trucks flogging women accused of indecency. "I remember how dangerous... the Hilux pickup car sound was to every woman when we heard it. That sound is still in my ears," said the 44-year-old widow. "I tried to be friendly with him, and I tried to be open and cool. I didn't try to hide my hair, or whatever... I was just making fun, trying to tell them 'you might not be happy the way I am, but I am the way I am'." Not everyone was pleased Koofi was given a seat at the table in Moscow. Squarely in the minority, she had to lobby to get into smaller discussion circles. At the official press conference, she was stuck at the back, given no chance to speak while the men addressed foreign media at the front. But that was nothing new for the female lawmaker, who has developed a thick skin in a country often described as the most dangerous on earth to be a woman or a politician -- let alone both. - 'Why should I beg?' - As an unwanted newborn girl, Koofi was left to die in the sun by her exhausted mother, one of seven wives in a family of 23 children. She lay screaming and sunburned for almost a day until her mother relented and took her back in. From that moment on she thrived under her mother's love and support, becoming the first girl in her family to attend school -- though her education was interrupted when she was forced out of medical college in 1996 as the Taliban stormed to power. But after the US invasion she rose in a new Afghanistan to work for UNICEF, before entering politics in 2005 and becoming the country's first female deputy speaker of parliament. She has spent her political life tussling with male parliamentarians trying to water down women's rights, and is used to not being popular. "My fight is not a very pleasant fight... It's not something that people like, especially politicians in Afghanistan. I see that as a positive sign," said Koofi. "I am perhaps most hated because I make many people unhappy. Which is OK, you cannot make everybody happy." One fight she did not take up in Moscow -- the Taliban's outright refusal to consider a female president for Afghanistan. "Why should I beg them to get what I deserve? It is a right that is guaranteed in our constitution," she said. "I see myself eligible for any position, regardless of my gender." Fawzia Koofi was one of just two Afghan women invited to Moscow earlier this month for informal meetings with the Taliban The trailblazing politician and mother of two could not refuse a rare invitation this month to stand before her oppressors and declare unequivocally that their brand of misogyny and prejudice would never again take root in Afghanistan The other 48 delegates at the unprecedented conference in the Russian capital were all men, Afghan political heavyweights and bearded Taliban officials Many women, in particular, are afraid of being forced back under Taliban rule, beneath burqas and behind walls, without access to education or jobs Koofi has spent her political life tussling with male parliamentarians trying to water down women's rights, and is used to not being popular
Nigeria's main opposition on Monday accused the ruling party of trying to rig presidential elections as the incumbent cemented a lead, but monitors voiced concern about polling day problems and violence that caused dozens of deaths. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of President Muhammadu Buhari of colluding with the electoral commission in an attempt to "manipulate the results". PDP chairman Uche Secondus told reporters the APC was using security agencies and ministers to put pressure on the authorities. "It's as if we are in the military era," he added. The accusation, rejected by the APC as a "childish" attempt to discredit the commission and the process, came as Buhari -- a former military ruler -- took an early lead when first results were announced. With 12 states declared and counting adjourned until 0900 GMT Tuesday, Buhari was ahead by seven states to five, with 2,976,721 votes to 2,690,616 for former vice-president Atiku Abubakar, of the PDP. To win, a candidate needs a majority of votes and at least 25 percent of support in two-thirds of Nigeria's 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja. A total of 72.7 million people were eligible to vote in the presidential poll as well as parliamentary elections held at the same time. The election -- the sixth in the 20 years since Nigeria returned to democracy after decades of military rule -- took place on Saturday, a week after a last-gasp postponement. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) blamed logistical difficulties, which were not entirely ironed out by the weekend, forcing voting to go into a second day. - 'Serious shortcomings' - The European Union said there were "serious operational shortcomings", which saw polling units open late, leaving voters waiting for hours with no idea when voting would start. The Situation Room umbrella group of over 70 civil society organisations observing the vote called for an inquiry into what it said was INEC's "poor management" of the process. It highlighted lapses in logistics, technology and security and said INEC had "not managed the election efficiently and significant shortcomings have been recorded". "The election has been a step back from the 2015 General Election and actions should be taken to identify what has gone wrong and what can be corrected," it added. The head of the African Union observer mission, Ethiopia's former prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn, also said they were concerned "by the pattern of consistent postponement". The last two elections suffered similar delays and Hailemariam said the latest postponement had "implications for citizens' participation and turnout". "Last-minute election postponements should not become the norm in Nigeria," added the National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute. Monitors Yiaga Africa said early indications put voter turnout at 36-40 percent. In the southeast state of Abia, where pro-Biafran separatist leaders had urged supporters to boycott the vote, turnout was just 18 percent. - Security gaps - The election took place against a backdrop of fears about security across the country, as well as claims from both parties that the other was looking to rig the result. Neither produced evidence but INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu on Sunday said there were reports of ballot-snatching, vote-buying and violence. One election volunteer was killed by a stray bullet in the southern state of Rivers, where some INEC staff and even police were held hostage before being released unharmed. Other election staff were attacked in the southern state of Akwa Ibom and Kogi in the north central region. The Situation Room, which had some 8,000 monitors on the ground, said "at least 39 Nigerians" were killed in election-related violence in 11 states on Saturday and Sunday. Worst-affected was the oil-rich southern state of Rivers, where 16 people were killed. Previously, analysts SBM Intelligence said 233 people were killed in 67 incidents of election-related violence from last October to Friday -- an average of two people per day. The Situation Room said just over a quarter of the nearly 120,000 polling units were under-policed, and said there were "shortfalls and gaps" in security elsewhere. At least six states saw disruption in polling. In the Okoto area of the country's biggest city, Lagos, voters were chased away. Ballot boxes were destroyed in Okoto as well as in Osun state, where voting papers were also affected. There were also reports of some "partisan" security officials as well as "compromised" INEC staff and incidents involving the military, including blocking some voters. Police said 128 people had been arrested for electoral offences. Tension: Party representatives argue over the vote count at a collation centre at Port Harcourt, Nigeria's oil hub Rivals: Buhari, left, and Abubakar Wait: Voters queue at a polling station in Malkohi refugee camp in Adamawa state -- a facility for people displaced by the Boko Haram jihadist insurgency Key statistics on Nigeria
Cardinal George Pell. Image: Getty

The third most powerful man in the Catholic Church, Cardinal George Pell has been found guilty of child sex offences.

Its a staggering blow to the embattled institution, and one that will likely have wide-reaching implications for the religion, its followers and its finances.

Followers

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse revealed an incredible 1880 perpetrators over a 60-year period.

The churchs inability to deal with the crisis has lost it many supporters. Pope Francis himself admitted that child sex abuse scandals have driven young people away from the church.

We know  and you have told us  that many young people do not turn to us for anything because they dont feel we have anything meaningful to say to them, he told a group of Catholic, Lutheran and Orthodox young people in Estonia last year.

They are upset by sexual and economic scandals that do not meet with clear condemnation, by our unpreparedness to really appreciate the lives and sensibilities of the young, and simply by the passive role we assign them.

He said the church itself needs to be converted.

Finances

But many followers in Australia also refused to believe the evidence against Cardinal Pell, and the Catholic Church at large.

Supporters of Pell in 2017 reportedly set up a fund to help the Cardinal fight the numerous charges against him.

According to News Corp reports, details about the fund were revealed after the Catholic Church said it couldnt afford to pay Pells legal fees.

The Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher said the Sydney Archdiocese would help Pell pay for accommodation but its financial support would not extend beyond that.

The point of this (fund) is that there are a lot of people who want to support the Cardinal and want to give him the opportunity to clear his name, the head of the Institute of Public Affairs, John Roskam said at the time.

He said he had been given the bank account details of those looking to assist Cardinal Pell.

Story continues

Those funds were likely necessary: Pell employed the services of Robert Richter QC. The lawyers fees are estimated to have cost Pell about $50,000 a day, The Guardian reported.

Peter Kelso from Kelso Lawyers put the cost of Pells legal defence in the millions. Over five million. Maybe well over, he wrote on his website in 2017. Huge for one man, insignificant for the $30 billion institution, maybe.

The costs were certainly high enough for Pell to call on his supporters to raise funds.

The Catholic Church made headlines again last year after it placed newspaper ads asking supporters to chip in for the Cardinals exorbitant legal costs.

The ads appeared in the Catholic Weekly, a news journal published by the Sydney Archdiocese.

When Cardinal Pell took leave from his role as Prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy to voluntarily return to Australia nearly 12 months ago to fight the charges, many supporters wanted to contribute to his legal costs, the journal explained on its website.

But Peter Kelso from Kelso Lawyers put the cost of Pells legal defence in the millions.

Over five million. Maybe well over, he wrote on his website in 2017.

Huge for one man, insignificant for the $30 billion institution, maybe.

It is, after all, the largest non-government property owner, by value. And it enjoys a tax-free status. It has its own banks and its own super funds.

Catholic Super

In fact, super funds were a surprising casualty of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

The Royal Commission into banks and financial services last year heard that the churchs brand crisis triggered a series of events that ultimately led to a conflict of interest at Catholic Super.

Catholic Super began looking for a new identity in 2013 as it realised its current identity would not succeed.

The research indicated quite clearly that Catholic Super was not going to be an identity, to put it that way, which may well have gained traction in this new market that we were seeking as part of our business plan to grow the business in order to achieve the scale weve talked about earlier, Catholic Super deputy chair Peter Haysey explained.

And so part of that was you need to come up with a different identity to attract those people who might have issues with the Catholic name as a potential merger partner.

They called on Australian Family to rebrand the fund  a marketing contract worth $2 million. But the contract was awarded through a dubious process; the people at Australian Family were connected to Catholic Super executive Rob Clancy.

They were brothers.

Catholic Church cries poor

While they left Cardinal Pell to cover his own expenses, the Church claimed last year that despite its sizeable fortune, it couldnt afford to pay more in compensation to child sex abuse victims.

Journalists at The Age suggested payments to child sex abuse survivors would average $45,800 each and $68.7 million in total.

Their investigation found the church misled the Royal Commission by grossly undervaluing its massive property portfolio.

At $30 billion, the journalists put the churchs wealth on par with Westfields $34.2 billion in property.

Whether Pells conviction prompts the church to open its pockets further remains to be seen.

The challenge is then, while it can likely survive its financial losses, can it survive its followers loss of faith?

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Now read: Cardinal George Pell convicted of five child sex offences

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MONTREAL, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Quebec Chapter of FEI Canada, the all-industry professional association for senior financial executives, announces the names of the finalists in its 2019 Aces of Finance competition. Candidacies were considered in three categories: Financial executive of a large corporation, Financial executive of a small or medium-sized enterprise and Emerging financial executive. The finalists will be rigorously assessed by an independent jury who will select this years winners. All finalists and winners will be honoured at a gala evening on May 8.



Here are the 2019 finalists by category:

Financial executive of a large corporation category

Francois Boulanger, CPA, CA, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, CGI

Linda Lebrun, CPA, CA, Treasurer and Executive Manager  Planning and Finance, Societe de transport de Montreal (STM)

Patricia Jasmin, CPA, CA, Chief Financial Officer, VIA Rail Canada

Financial executive of a small or medium-sized enterprise category

Guillaume Laverdure, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Medicom Group

Johanne Belanger, CPA, CA, Chief Financial Officer, Solmax

Roland Ribotti, MBA, CFA, Chief Financial Officer, Behaviour Interactive

Emerging financial executive category

David Tremblay, CPA, CA, Director IT Finance, Intact Financial Corporation

Dominic Grimard, CPA, CA, Vice President, Finance, Fiera Capital

Pierre-Marc Sarrazin, M.Sc., CFA, Vice President, Corporate Finance & Treasury, Ovivo

Putting finance in the spotlight

This years competition is presided over by Claude Seguin, Chair of the Board of Directors, Fonds de solidarite FTQ. The competition was open to all chief financial officers, vice presidents of finance and senior financial executives across Quebec.

The aim of the Aces of Finance competition is to discover and recognize the professional achievements and community involvement of outstanding financial executives, underline their crucial role and highlight their strategic contribution to their organizations performance.

Quote

Over the years, the announcement of the financial executive finalists has become a unique moment for our association. It is a reflection of the profession and serves as a reminder that the success of our businesses is dependent on women and men who are fully committed to making their organization an economic leader, said Catherine Allard, President of the Quebec Chapter of FEI Canada. It is also an opportunity to fully measure the positive impact our competition has on the industry. In addition to promoting and raising the profile of the financial profession, the competition brings together on the same stage some senior executives who have accumulated years of achievements along with a new generation of financial executives who have a solid understanding of todays issues, thus demonstrating the professions vitality and dynamism, said Ms. Allard.

2019 Homage Award

At the gala on May 8, the Aces of Finance Homage Award will also be presented to a financial executive who has demonstrated longstanding career achievement. The recipient of this years prestigious award is Michael Hanley, a financial executive who has personified excellence throughout his career. His list of accomplishments includes strategic financial executive positions at such reputable organizations as National Bank of Canada, Alcan, Bauxite and Alumina, Gaz Metro and St. Laurent Paperboard. Today, Mr. Hanley is a corporate director, sitting on the boards of BRP, Industrial Alliance Insurance & Financial Services and Shawcor, as well as chairing their audit committees.

A gala to celebrate our financial executives

The Quebec Chapter of FEI Canada has put together for the 9th year a special gala evening with a celebratory atmosphere. The highlights, of course, will be the showcasing of the finalists and the announcement of the three winners of the 2019 Aces of Finance competition. This prestigious event will take place in Montreal on May 8 at the magnificent Parquet in the Jacques-Parizeau building. To reserve your table, visit the Quebec Chapter event page of the FEI Canada website.

The gala of the Quebec Chapter of FEI Canadas Aces of Finance is made possible by the collaboration of our valued partners, whom we would like to thank: Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, Mandrake Vezina Lebeau, Ordre des CPA du Quebec, PwC and La Presse +.

About Financial Executives International Canada (FEI Canada)

FEI Canada is the all-industry professional membership association for senior financial executives. With over 1600 members across 11 Canadian chapters, it seeks to bring together senior financial executives to further enhance their leadership skills and broader management knowledge. The association membership, which consists of chief financial officers, audit committee directors and senior executives in the finance, controller, treasury and taxation functions, represents a significant number of Canada's leading and most influential corporations. For more information, please visit www.feicanada.org or follow us on Twitter @FEICanada and LinkedIn https://ca.linkedin.com/company/fei-canada.




YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS. Armenias delegation led by Speaker of Parliament Ararat Mirzoyan, who is in Russia at the invitation of Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly Valentina Matviyenko, on February 26 visited the Memorial of the Unknown Soldier and paid tribute to the memory of the Great Patriotic War victims. The Armenian delegation members were accompanied by acting deputy Co-Chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Committee Igor Chernishenko, the Armenian Parliament told Armenpress.

Within the framework of the working visit the Speaker of the Armenian Parliament also visited the Holy Transfiguration Church of Russia and Nor Nakhichevan Diocese Seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church, took a tour in the Armenian educational centre and had a meeting with the representatives of the Armenian community.

During the meeting Ararat Mirzoyan introduced the agenda of the Moscow visit, the position of the authorities on a number of issues. In the context of strengthening the friendship between the Armenian and Russian peoples, he underlined the special role of the Armenian community in Russia.

The Armenian delegation members and the community representatives had an open and sincere discussion on a series of important public, educational and cultural issues concerning Armenia and Diaspora.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS. At the invitation of President Armen Sarkissian, executives of the French multinational corporation THALES will visit Armenia on February 26. The delegation will be led by THALES Vice President, regional director Paul Remi.

Thales Group is a French multinational company that designs and builds electrical systems and provides services for the aerospace, defense, transportation and security markets.

The visit comes after the Armenian president held a series of meetings with THALES executives to discuss cooperation opportunities. The latest meeting took place in February in Paris, where Sarkissian held talks with THALES Vice President Raphael Eskinazi regarding the realization of previously reached agreements in Armenia.

In Armenia, Remi is expected to have meetings with President Sarkissian, Deputy PM Tigran Avinyan, Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan, and visit the Synopsys Armenia headquarters, the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies and the PicsArt headquarters.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador Piotr Switalski, Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, sees a positive dialogue dynamics between Armenia and the European Union, reports Armenpress.

We have started 2019 with a very high political note. Commissioner Hahns visit was very successful. We are getting ready for a very intense calendar series and events. High-level visits are expected in coming months. This shows that our bilateral relations are developing very constructively. There is a great dynamic in our relations, the EU Delegation chief told reporters today.

Talking about the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA), the Ambassador said meetings at the subcommissions level are also expected in Yerevan and Brussels within the frames of the CEPA.

Armenia and the EU signed the CEPA in Brussels on November 24, 2017.

On April 11, 2018, the Armenian Parliament ratified the Agreement.

EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Johannes Hahn arrived in Armenia in late January 2019.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador Piotr Switalski, Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, considers the December 9, 2018, snap parliamentary elections of Armenia the best in the countrys history, but notes that the electoral system still needs reforms, reports Armenpress.

Our opinions on the snap parliamentary elections are very clear. The elections were held at a very high level, were in accordance with the international standards and were the best ones in the history of independent Armenia. Armenia can be proud of being able to reach a very high reliability and transparency. The elections, however, were not perfect, which shows that the works on this direction should continue, the EU Ambassador said during todays press conference.

He stated that the EU is ready to assist the Armenian government to improve the electoral system.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS. New Ambassador of Portugal to Armenia Paulo Vizeu Pinheiro (residence in Moscow, Russia) on February 25 presented the copy of his credentials to deputy foreign minister Aven Adonts, the ministry told Armenpress.

Congratulating the Ambassador on appointment, the Armenian deputy FM expressed hope that his activity will contribute to boosting the bilateral relations.

The sides touched upon the intensification of political dialogue, deepening the cooperation between the foreign ministries, developing the commercial partnership, expanding the cooperation in international structures, cultural and educational fields, the inter-parliamentary ties, as well as other issues of bilateral interest.

The deputy FM introduced the development of the Armenia-EU relations.

At the request of the Ambassador, Avet Adonts talked about the regional developments and the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement process.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan sent a congratulatory letter to Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on the countrys National Day, the Armenian PMs Office told Armenpress.

The letter runs as follows:

I warmly congratulate you and the good people of Kuwait on the National Day of your country.

I am confident that our countries have a great potential for the development of the mutually beneficial cooperation in political, cultural, scientific, commercial and other spheres.

The Armenian government is ready to further deepen, expand and raise to a qualitatively new level the existing mutual partnering relations for the welfare of our peoples.

I wish you good health and success, and lasting peace and happiness to the good people of Kuwait.

The Armenian PM also sent a congratulatory letter to Prime Minister of Kuwait, Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS. Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed president Juan Guaido has announced that he plans to return to Venezuela from Colombia this week, Sputnik News reports.

We are returning to Venezuela this week, Guaido said after the Lime Group meeting, as quoted by the BioBio radio station.

On 22 February, Guaido arrived in the Colombian border of Cucuta, where the so-called humanitarian aid from the United States and a number of other countries was being collected, in order to help deliver the supplies to Venezuela despite the fact that the legitimate government has refused to accept the aid. While the attempt to forcefully bring the aid into Venezuela failed, Guaido stayed in Colombia to take part in Monday's meeting of the Lima Group in Bogota.

On 5 January, Guaido was elected as president of the Venezuelan opposition-run National Assembly, whose authority has not been recognized by any other branch of power since 2016. On 23 January, days after the Supreme Court nullified Guaido's election as the National Assembly's head, the opposition leader proclaimed himself Venezuelan interim president.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS. The traffic department of the German infrastructure ministry told Armenias ministry of transport, communication and information technologies that on February 26, 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 26, ARMENPRESS. On February 27, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Republic of Artsakh, the OSCE Mission will conduct a planned monitoring of the ceasefire regime on the border of Artsakh and Azerbaijan, on the Akna-Barda road section, Artsakhs foreign ministry told Armenpress.

From the positions of the Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh, the monitoring will be conducted by Field Assistants to the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office (CiO) Ghenadie Petrica (Moldova) and Ognjen Jovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina), as well as Personal Assistant to the CiO Personal Representative Simon Tiller (Great Britain).

The authorities of the Republic of Artsakh have expressed their readiness to assist in conducting the monitoring and to ensure the security of the OSCE Mission members.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
UNIONDALE, N.Y., Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Angion Biomedica Corp., a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company focused on kidney diseases and other acute organ injuries, today announced that Jay Venkatesan, M.D., Angions President and CEO, will be presenting at the upcoming 8th Annual SVB Leerink Global Healthcare Conference being held February 27  March 1 in New York City.



8th Annual SVB Leerink Global Healthcare Conference

Presentation Date: Wednesday, February 27 Presentation Time: 2:10pm Eastern Time Webcast: http://wsw.com/webcast/leerink32/ang/

About Angion

Angion Biomedica Corp. is a biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing novel therapeutic agents for acute and chronic organ diseases and disorders. Angions programs are currently focused on renal transplantation, acute kidney injury, and chronic kidney disease, with a pipeline of additional indications and product candidates in discovery and pre-clinical stages. Angions founder Itzhak D. Goldberg, M.D. FACR, now Executive Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer, conducted seminal research on tyrosine kinase receptors and hepatocyte growth factor. This work validated the HGF/c-Met pathway as a potential pharmacological target for intervention in multiple diseases affecting major organs. For further information, please visit www.angion.com.

Contact for Angion Biomedica:

Elisha Goldberg

Director, Business Development

917-420-0666

egoldberg@angion.com




YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS. Foreign minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan met with foreign minister of Artsakh Masis Mayilyan, the Armenian MFA told Armenpress.

During the meeting the two FMs highly appreciated the regular bilateral meetings and emphasized their readiness to contribute to holding consultations between the two ministries in different spheres.

In the light of the 31st anniversary of the Karabakh movement, the FMs reflected on its origins, highlighting that it was aimed at protection of fundamental freedoms and imperative right of Artsakh people to live and create freely in their homeland.

Minister Mnatsakanyan introduced the details of the recent meeting of the Armenian Prime Minister and the Azerbaijani President in Davos, the meeting with the Azerbaijani FM and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in Paris, as well as the recent visit of the Co-Chairs to Yerevan.

The ministers also exchanged views on the peaceful settlement process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 26, ARMENPRESS. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has arrived in Vietnam in his heavily armored train, ahead of his two day summit with US President Donald Trump in the capital Hanoi, CNN reports.

The summit, the second since the two leaders met in Singapore last June, is expected to build upon their agreement to "work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

North Korean Central News Agency reported Kim's departure and said the leader is accompanied by North Korea's lead negotiator in nuclear talks Kim Yong Chol, his sister Kim Yo Jong, and various other high-ranking officials.

US President Donald Trump is scheduled to arrive in Hanoi on Tuesday night local time. The US President tweeted on Sunday that "without nuclear weapons" North Korea "could fast become one of the great economic powers anywhere in the World."

"Because of its location and people (and him), it has more potential for rapid growth than any other nation!" he wrote.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
15:11 | Bogota (Colombia), Feb. 26.

1. Condemn the deliberate actions of the illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro that, without considering the suffering of the population or the insistent calls of the international community, have prevented, on February 23, the entry of basic necessities and international assistance through acts of violent repression that caused multiple injuries and deaths on the border with Colombia and Brazil, all of which have aggravated the ongoing risk to the lives, dignity and well-being of Venezuelans.





2. Express their solidarity with the Venezuelan people and recognize their bravery and courage in their struggle to recover democracy, and reiterate the commitment of the Lima Group to continue their active support to this effort.





3. Denounce before the international community the illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro for intentionally subjecting Venezuelans, and in particular the most vulnerable segments of the population, to a systematic deprivation of food and medicine, and access to basic services, to ensure it remains in power.





4. Express their appreciation for the humanitarian assistance made available to Venezuela, and condemn the indiscriminate violence used by the security forces and armed groups in the service of the illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro to obstruct its distribution and to prevent Venezuelans full exercise of their rights and freedoms. As a result, they will cooperate to bring those responsible for these acts to justice.





, in the course of the procedures it is pursuing by virtue of the request submitted by Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Paraguay and Peru on September 27, 2018, and subsequently endorsed by Costa Rica and France, and welcomed by Germany. 5. Decide to request the International Criminal Court to take into consideration the serious humanitarian situation in Venezuela, the criminal violence of the Nicolas Maduro regime against the civilian population, and the denial of access to international assistance, which constitutes a crime against humanity , in the course of the procedures it is pursuing by virtue of the request submitted by Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Paraguay and Peru on September 27, 2018, and subsequently endorsed by Costa Rica and France, and welcomed by Germany.





6. Decide to promote the designation by the United Nations Human Rights Council of an independent expert or a commission of inquiry on the situation in Venezuela, in response to the deep concern with the serious violations of human rights in the context of a political, economic, social and humanitarian crisis in that country, expressed in Resolution A/HRC/RES/39/1, Promotion and protection of human rights in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela of September 26, 2018; and reiterate their call to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to respond promptly to the situation in that country, prior to the presentation of her comprehensive report at the 41st session of the Human Rights Council.





7. Express the irreversible nature of their commitment to the democratic transition and the institutional, economic and social reconstruction in Venezuela, emphasizing that the continuance of Nicolas Maduro and his illegitimate regime in power represents an unprecedented threat to security, peace, freedom and prosperity throughout the region, which is why they are promoting discussion of the current situation in that country in the United Nations Security Council, and will continue to address it in the Organization of American States. Likewise, they will advance direct representations with the United Nations Secretary-General so that, in accordance with his competency, he can promote the activation of the United Nations System in relation to what is happening in Venezuela.





8. Express their satisfaction at the growing number of states that have recognized the constitutional authority of the National Assembly and the Interim President, Juan Guaido , and invite those states and the international community as a whole to join the commitment of the Lima Group with the democratic transition and with the immediate provision of humanitarian assistance, adhering to the Ottawa Declaration for Venezuela. In this sense, they have decided to intensify the efforts of the Lima Group at the international level, establishing all the necessary contacts and coordination, including special missions, to publicize the efforts and actions that the Group has undertaken to help restore democracy and constitutional order in Venezuela.





9. Resolve to maintain permanent coordination with the representatives of the government of the Interim President, Juan Guaido , both in their bilateral relations and in international organizations to which they belong and in the multilateral forums in which they participate, with a view to the return of democracy, economic reconstruction, and immediate attention to the humanitarian crisis. As such, they will promote the recognition of these representatives in international organizations and in multilateral coordination mechanisms, as legitimate representatives of Venezuela.





10. Decide to advance the recognition of the representatives of the Interim President, Juan Guaido , in accordance with their internal procedures.





11. Reiterate their call to all members of the National Armed Forces to recognize the Interim President, Juan Guaido , as their Commander in Chief, and exhort them, faithful to their constitutional mandate, to be at the exclusive service of the nation and not of a person, to cease to serve as instruments of the illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro for the oppression of the Venezuelan people and the systematic violation of their human rights.





12. Urge members of the Venezuelan judiciary and justice system, including those who have been irregularly designated as such, to recognize the legitimate authority of the National Assembly and the Interim President, Juan Guaido , and to respect the full exercise of their constitutional competencies, in order to facilitate democratic transition and the restoration of the rule of law in Venezuela.





13. They appeal to the nations that still maintain links of cooperation with the illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro to help facilitate the search for solutions that open the way for the democratic transition process and the calling of free, fair, transparent and credible elections.





14. They offer their strong support to the Agreement for the promotion of the country rescue plan, adopted by the National Assembly on January 29. In this regard, they express their willingness to convene an international conference, and request the Inter-American Development Bank to lead the accompaniment of the legitimate authorities of Venezuela in the implementation of the institutional and economic reforms they deem necessary to reactivate the economy and offer opportunities of social progress for all Venezuelans.





15. Reaffirm the right of all Venezuelans to live in democracy and freedom, and therefore reiterate their support for the holding of free and fair elections, open to the participation of all political forces, with international accompaniment and observation, organized by a neutral and legitimately constituted electoral authority. For these new democratic elections to be held, they demand the immediate departure of Nicolas Maduro and the cessation of the usurpation, respecting the constitutional authority of the National Assembly and the Interim President, Juan Guaido .





16. They reiterate their conviction that the transition to democracy must be conducted by Venezuelans themselves, peacefully and within the framework of the Constitution and international law, supported by political and diplomatic means, without the use of force.





17. Agree to reaffirm and follow up on the measures previously adopted by the Lima Group; to offer all their support to the design and execution of the electoral calendar established by the National Assembly and the Interim President, Juan Guaido ; and to urge the international community on the urgent need to allow the entry of humanitarian assistance for the Venezuelan people.





18. They welcome the offer of the Government of the Republic of Chile to host the next meeting of the Lima Group on a date to be determined.




The official indicated the 15-day period started last Friday, and once the deadline expires their stay will be considered illegal, as their visas will be canceled.













Likewise, the diplomat pointed out Lima Group members will seek to undertake joint efforts towards nations that do not understand there is a transition process in Venezuela.





Concerning the financial sphere, measures will be applied to cut off money flowing from foreign institutions into "this military mafia that controls Venezuela ."





(END) JCC/CCR/DTK/MVB

Peruvian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Hugo de Zela on Tuesday announced that Venezuelan diplomats, as well as military and police attaches who are linked to Nicolas Maduro's regime  must leave Peru within a period of 15 days, since Carlos Scull has been recognized as the official representative of the Bolivarian nation in the Inca country.Published: 2/26/2019
TORONTO, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On February 22, 2019, Riavera Corp. (Riavera) transferred 7,000,000 common shares (the Settlement Shares) of Peeks Social Ltd. (the Issuer) representing 10.2% of the 68,958,860 common shares of the Issuer that it held (or 2.8% of 249,093,725 Issuers Common Shares outstanding) to an arms length party pursuant to a debt settlement agreement (the Debt Settlement Agreement) covering $531,430 owed to this party (the Debt) in connection with it expenses for the restructuring with Issuer (as described below). Following the transfer, Riavera beneficially owns an aggregate of 61,958,860 common shares of the Issuer or 24.9% of the Issuers outstanding common shares and options to purchase 300,000 common shares at a price of $1.12. Mark Itwaru, the President and CEO of the Issuer, is the sole director and officer of Riavera (but not beneficially own Riavera) and accordingly has control and direction over the shares of the Issuer held by Riavera, which together with Mark Itwarus beneficial holdings of 63,330,377, constitute an aggregate of 125,289,237 common shares (or 50.1% of the Issuers outstanding common shares) to which Mark Itwaru beneficially owns or has control and direction over as the sole director and officer of Riavera. In addition Mark Itwaru has warrants to purchase 555,555 common shares at $1.10 per share and options to purchase 350,000 common shares at $0.30 per share and options to purchase 150,000 common shares at $2.00 per share.



Pursuant to the Debt Settlement Agreement, Riavera may pay the debt at any time and have the Settlement Share returned to it. The debtor has agreed to make commercially reasonable efforts to exercise care in liquidating the Settlement Shares and agreed that it will not sell more than 1,000,000 Settlement Shares in any 30 day period without the prior consent of Riavera. Riavera has agreed to be responsible for the brokerage fees associated with the sales. To the extent that the debtor does not recover the full amount of the Debt from the sale of the 7,000,000 common shares, Riavera will be responsible for any shortfall. The transaction involves securities lending only the extent that Riavera will receive Common Shares back if the creditor is able to discharge the Debt by selling less than all of the Settlement Shares.

By way of background, Mark Itwaru and Riavera entered into an agreement dated February 3, 2018, as amended with the Issuer, 2615870 Ontario Corp., a subsidiary of Riavera (Riavera Subco), and Personas.com Corporation (Personas) (the Transaction Agreement). Pursuant to the Transaction Agreement, a subsidiary of the Issuer amalgamated with Riavera Subco and Personas to acquire the technology assets used in the Peeks Social livestreaming platform, along with certain other related technology assets. The technology was previously licensed by the Corporation from Personas pursuant to an agreement dated August 14, 2015, as amended October 18, 2016, and was the sole source of the Corporations current revenue.

The amalgamation was structured as a three-cornered amalgamation, pursuant to which the amalgamated corporation became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Issuer on closing and the former shareholders of Personas and Riavera Subco became shareholders of the Issuer. The Issuer issued 175,150,520 common shares to the shareholders of Personas and Riavera Subco. The closing price of the Corporations common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange on April 11, 2018, was $0.265.

An early warning report will be filed by Riavera in accordance with applicable securities laws. To obtain a copy of the early warning report, please refer to the Issuers SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com .

In the future, Riavera may acquire additional securities of the Issuer, dispose of some or all of the securities it now owns or controls, or may continue to hold its current position.

The Common Shares of the Issuer are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the trading symbol "PEEK".

For further information contact Mark Itwaru at (416) 815-7000.
Mobile World Congress, Barcelona  Rightware and HERE Technologies announce the availability of Kanzi Maps, the new map renderer from Rightware, with fresh mapping data from HERE for evaluation and development by joint customers. The solution is available as a Kanzi Maps pre-release from Rightware and under a HERE Open Location Platform (OLP) evaluation license from HERE.



Maps will increasingly become a central element of the automotive UX. Automakers now have the opportunity to visualize advanced automotive data, including highly accurate maps, lane data, and other location-based information, creatively across next-generation digital cockpits. Kanzi Maps integrates directly into the Kanzi UI development toolchain, enabling future autonomous driving use cases by fusing map, sensor, ADAS, and other data, while remaining true to the OEMs visual brand identity.



We are very pleased with our joint progress in bringing two leading solutions together, enabling OEMs to develop new user experiences as they chart a path into an exciting future, said Tero Koivu, COO at Rightware. We are similarly delighted to welcome HERE into the Kanzi Partner Program as a Gold technology partner, reflecting our shared vision and teamwork across the companies.



The OLP from HERE is a cloud-based big data platform. It is designed to accelerate the development and commercialization of innovative location-centric services and products across industries. Our ambition is for the HERE Open Location Platform to become the go-to destination for location services, supporting automated vehicles as well as smart cities and intelligent transportation systems. Kanzi Maps is a great example for the flexibility of our platform and what it can enable, said Peter Kurpick, Executive Vice President and CTO at HERE Technologies. As a new Gold technology partner of Rightware we look forward to exploring further opportunities in our partnership in the future.



Early results of the collaboration between Rightware and HERE were seen at Google I/O in 2017 , where Audi demonstrated its Q8 sport concept, with Kanzi visualizing maps streamed from HERE OLP in the instrument cluster. More recently, Qualcomm Technologies built its advanced concept of the digital cockpit with the Kanzi toolchain, incorporating map-based usages on an ultra-wide display extending across the entire dashboard.



We chose to work with Rightware on the development of our digital cockpit demonstration, as Kanzi truly enables us to show the full capabilities of the Snapdragon Automotive Cockpit Platforms, said Bill Pinnell, Senior Director Automotive Software, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Kanzi Maps allows us to demonstrate mapping and navigation use cases across the cockpit, bringing in map data from industry-leading providers such as HERE.



The award-winning Kanzi Maps brings rendering of maps and the main automotive UI into the same scene graph, making map visualization fully customizable in Kanzi Studio. The state-of-the-art graphics engine and UI framework provide the ideal means to implement navigation scenes of the future, enabling quick design iterations and efficient development of production-quality HMIs. When combined with Kanzi Connect, map data and services can be shared across displays and operating systems in the vehicle for a truly seamless user experience.



For more information, please contact:

Derek Sellin

Vice President, Marketing, Rightware

derek.sellin@rightware.com

Dr. Sebastian Kurme

Media Relations, HERE Technologies

sebastian.kurme@here.com

About Rightware

Rightware provides tools and services for development of advanced digital user interfaces to over 40 automotive brands. The Kanzi philosophy is based on designer empowerment, prioritizing ease of use, rapid prototyping, workflow efficiency, high performance, and cross-platform support. As a ThunderSoft company, our combined skills and assets allow us to deliver integrated HMI solutions, engineering support, and design services for automotive customers across the globe. Rightware is headquartered in Finland with a presence in the United States, Germany, Italy, China, South Korea, and Japan.



About HERE Technologies

HERE, the Open Location Platform company, enables people, businesses and cities to harness the power of location. By making sense of the world through the lens of location we empower our customers to achieve better outcomes  from helping a city manage its infrastructure or a business optimize its assets to guiding drivers to their destination safely. To learn more about HERE, including our new generation of cloud-based location platform services, visit http://360.here.com and www.here.com.





Qualcomm and Snapdragon are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries.

Qualcomm Snapdragon is a product of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.

Attachment
ML-enhanced 5G mMIMO scheduler and indoor positioning algorithm showcase early success of CTC/Nokia strategic cooperation framework agreement for AI/ML

AI/ML technology will fully realize the performance benefits of 5G for CTC's mobile customers and their growing appetite for demanding mobile services such as AR/VR gaming and video

26 February 2019

Espoo, Finland - Nokia today announced that CTC and Nokia jointly demonstrate advanced machine learning innovations for 5G RAN mMIMO optimization. Under the strategic cooperation agreement between CTC and Nokia signed in October 2018. The ML powered mMIMO algorithms will improve 5G RAN coverage and capacity and provide higher throughput and spectral efficiency.

The average data usage by CTC (China Telecommunications Corporation) 4G customers is growing quickly. This is driving the need for 5G mobile networks, for which CTC is one of the leading providers in the Chinese market. To fully realize the performance gains possible with 5G, massive MIMO (mMIMO) techniques are used in the RAN.

Nokia and CTC signed a strategic cooperation agreement in October 2018, to develop AI/ML applications for 5G RAN. This advanced 5G ML powered mMIMO scheduler at MWC 2019 is one of the first results from the joint team and showcases CTC and Nokia's industry leadership in this area. Nokia developed the original AI/ML-based algorithm and working closely with the CTC team analyzed the performance improvement potential for 5G network and built the proof-of-concept demo. The ML scheduler provides improved spectral efficiency and better user experience.

Another topic of this engagement is in the indoor location area. In highly cluttered, multipath indoor environments, RF fingerprint-based positioning is the superior approach. Nokia has developed AI/ML-based algorithm using RF fingerprint and improved the indoor location precision in cellular network. In collaboration with CTC Shanghai, CTC and Nokia are working on demonstrating good positioning accuracy in a selected indoor scenario in the future.

He Zhiqiang, GM of Technology & Innovation at China Telecommunications Corporation, said: "This exciting demo at MWC 2019 showcases CTC's leadership in bringing the benefits of AI/ML to our customers in China. We are pleased to be working in partnership with Nokia, and proud to demonstrate our early success in accelerating the performance benefits of 5G network"

Mark Atkinson, Vice President of 5G & Small Cells Business Unit at Nokia, said: "We are eager to share the exciting results of our strategic alliance with CTC at MWC this year. The ML-powered 5G mMIMO algorithms are the key components in 5G RAN optimization It underscores CTC's technology leadership in 5G and Nokia's commitment to finding innovative technologies, such as AI/ML, to realize the full potential of 5G networks."

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Nokia is a global leader innovating the technologies at the heart of our connected world. Powered by the research and innovation of Nokia Bell Labs, we serve communications service providers, governments, large enterprises and consumers, with the industry's most complete, end-to-end portfolio of products, services and licensing.

From the enabling infrastructure for 5G and the Internet of Things, to emerging applications in virtual reality and digital health, we are shaping the future of technology to transform the human experience. www.nokia.com

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MONTREAL, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HPQ Silicon Resources Inc. (HPQ) (TSX VENTURE:HPQ) (FRANKFURT:UGE) (OTC PINK:URAGF) is pleased to announce the receipt of a progress report from PyroGenesis Canada Inc (PyroGenesis) (TSX Venture: PYR) describing the latest significant milestones reached during Gen2 testing of the PUREVAP Quartz Reduction Reactor (QRR). Key takeaways from the report are summarized bellow.



GEN2 PUREVAP TESTS SUCCESSFULLY CONFIRMS THE SCALABILITY OF PUREVAP QRR PROCESS

2018 Gen2 PUREVAP Commercial Scalability Proof of Concept tests confirmed the PUREVAP QRR could operate under a semi-continuous mode (January 15, 2018 release). Next, additional process improvements and design modifications to Gen 2 were tested, and demonstrated that semi-continuous operation improves the PUREVAP QRR Production Yield1. Scaling up from Gen1 to Gen2 in semi-continuous mode, production yield increased from ~ 1% to 34% (February 15 and April 19, 2018 releases).

99.83% TOTAL IMPURITY REMOVAL EFFICIENCY REACHED DURING GEN2 PUREVAP TESTING

While mostly focussed on testing components and processes for the final design of Gen3 PUREVAP, the Gen2 testing also demonstrated that production yield is crucial to the final purity of the Silicon Metal (Si) produced by the PUREVAP.

A Gen2 PUREVAP test provided 17.9% production yield and 99.83% total impurity removal efficiency2 compared to a Gen1 test under similar operating conditions, that provided 3% production yield and 97.14 % total impurity removal efficiency. PyroGenesis3 was able to validate that production yield does play an important role in the impurity removal efficiency of the process and final purity of Si.

Mr. Bernard Tourillon, President and CEO of HPQ Silicon Resources Inc stated: The one step impurities removal capacity of the PUREVAP QRR and its direct impact on the final purity of the PUREVAP Si is the key milestone that will allow HPQ, working with PyroGenesis and Apollon Solar, to develop a low cost and green metallurgical process to produce Solar Grade Silicon Metal (SoG-Si). The fact that, as expected, Gen2 testing replicated and improved Gen1 results is a major milestone that bodes well for the future as we get ready to start, mid-2019, the Gen3 commercial scalability testing phase, aimed at demonstrating the PUREVAP QRR commercial potential.

HPQ PUREVAP PATHWAYS TO PRODUCE SOLAR GRADE SILICON METAL PASSES MAJOR MILESTONE

Using data from both Gen1 and Gen2 tests, PyroGenesis repeated the 2017 extrapolation exercise and concluded that, even using low purity feedstock (98.84% SiO 2 ), the carbothermic part of the PUREVAP QRR process should allow HPQ to reach the 4N+ Si (99.99+% Si) purity threshold, assuming a production yield of +90% (or commercial scale production yield of traditional Metallurgical Grade Si (MG-Si) smelters (98.5% - 99.5% Si)).

These results exceed 2017 Gen1 base extrapolations that indicated then that the carbothermic part of the PUREVAP QRR process could only reach the 3N+ Si (99.9+% Si) threshold using low purity feedstock (98.84% SiO 2 )4, and furthermore this required a 100% production yield (November 1, 2017 release).

Mr. Bernard Tourillon, President and CEO of HPQ Silicon Resources Inc further stated: Having a process capable of producing 4N+ Silicon Metal in one step is, according to Apollon Solar, one of the most unique and potentially the greatest advantage of the PUREVAP QRR process as we strive to develop a low cost and green metallurgical process to produce Solar Grade Silicon Metal (SoG-Si).

Pierre Carabin, Eng., M. Eng., Chief Technology Officer and Chief Strategist of PyroGenesis has reviewed and approved the technical content of this press release.

This News Release is available on the company's CEO Verified Discussion Forum , a moderated social media platform that enables civilized discussion and Q&A between Management and Shareholders.

About HPQ Silicon

HPQ Silicon Resources Inc. is a TSX-V listed resource company focuses on becoming a vertically integrated and diversified High Purity, Solar Grade Silicon Metal (SoG Si) producer and a manufacturer of multi and monocrystalline solar cells of the P and N types, required for production of high performance photovoltaic conversion.

HPQs goal is to develop, in collaboration with industry leaders, PyroGenesis (TSX-V: PYR) and Apollon Solar, that are experts in their fields of interest, the innovative PUREVAPTM Quartz Reduction Reactors (QRR), a truly 2.0 Carbothermic process (patent pending), which will permit the transformation and purification of quartz (SiO 2 ) into high purity silicon metal (Si) in one step and reduce by a factor of at least two-thirds (2/3) the costs associated with the transformation of quartz (SiO 2 ) into SoG Si. The pilot plant equipment that will validate the commercial potential of the process is on schedule to start mid-2019.

Disclaimers:

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements containing the words "may", "plan", "will", "estimate", "continue", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "in the process" and other similar expressions which constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current expectation and assumptions, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, our expectations regarding the acceptance of our products by the market, our strategy to develop new products and enhance the capabilities of existing products, our strategy with respect to research and development, the impact of competitive products and pricing, new product development, and uncertainties related to the regulatory approval process. Such statements reflect the current views of the Company with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and other risks detailed from time-to-time in the Company's on-going filings with the securities regulatory authorities, which filings can be found at www.sedar.com. Actual results, events, and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements either as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further information, contact

Bernard J. Tourillon, Chairman, President and CEO Tel (514) 907-1011

Patrick Levasseur, Vice-President and COO Tel: (514) 262-9239

www.HPQSilicon.com

Shares outstanding: 222,284,053

1 Production Yield of the process is the conversion efficiency of Si element in the raw material (i.e. Quartz) into elemental Silicon Metal



2 Capacity of the process to volatize impurities from raw material (Quartz or SiO2 and Carbon) while making Si

3 Pyrogenesis Canada Inc. Technical Memo: TM-2018-894 REV 00, - Final Report 
WOBURN, Mass., Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Via WWW.OTCMASSMEDIA.COM -- SPO GLOBAL, INC. (OTC Pink: SPOM), (SPO or the Company) has announced that Max Boscaino has joined the Company as CEO and a Board Member. Mr. Boscaino will join Saeb Jannoun, the Companys CIO, on the board, and will replace Stuart Barton, who has resigned both the CEO and Board Position.



Mr. Boscaino is a veteran winemaker with 23 years of winery experience. He graduated with a Masters Degree from Studiorum University of Bologna in Enology and Viticulture and an undergraduate degree in Agrarian Biotechnologies. Mr. Boscaino has been instrumental in the success of the Winestream Tampa operations and will apply the same principals and focus to the additional US operations. His extensive knowledge of wines, vineyards, blends and wine preservation techniques will ensure that the wines produced will be of premium quality.

In addition, the Company is pleased to announce that it has identified a location in the Atlanta, Georgia area to open a winery. This location will serve Northern Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. The Company anticipates that the winery will be completed by September 2019 and will service and supply the southeastern United States.

The Company is also in additional discussions with several other groups regarding additional wineries in other specific geographic regions.

According to the Wine Institute, in 2016, 949 million gallons of wine were consumed in the United States. We view the entry into the kegged wine industry as both an economic and environmentally solid business opportunity. Offering wine in a keg ensures fresh wine throughout, prevents spoilage, waste and eliminates the glass and trash footprint from traditional bottle usage, stated Max Boscaino, CEO. In addition, a single keg eliminates 27 bottles, 27 corks and 54 labels  you only pay for the wine!

About SPO Global

SPO Global, Inc. (SPO Global or the Company) (OTC Pink: SPOM) is a diversified holding company whose strategic plan is to acquire interests in young businesses, and provide financing, advice and guidance to assist them in realizing their potential. A company subsidiary, Wine on Tap, Inc., acquired specific assets of Wine Stream Inc. including key personnel and intellectual property, licensing and franchise rights. The Company has been able to utilize the strategic partnerships and relationships already in place to offer the same high quality products already offered in Florida by Wine Stream. For additional information please email bizdev@wineontap.net or call (404) 416-8066.

Company Disclaimers: As a "penny stock" company, within the meaning of federal and state securities law, SPO Global Inc. may not avail itself of the Safe Harbor provisions as identified in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. However, SPO Global, Inc. provides the following disclaimer and warning to protect our shareholders, prospective investors and the public at large by alerting them to the risks and uncertainties involved with any investment, and the need to perform their own due diligence and assessment.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, such as statements relating to financial results and plans for future development activities and are thus prospective. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not statements of historical fact regarding intent, belief or current expectations of the Company, its directors or its officers. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements are risks and uncertainties associated with the Company's business and finances in general, including the ability to continue and manage its growth, competition, global economic conditions and other factors discussed in detail in the Company's periodic filings with the Security and Exchange Commission.
MONTREAL, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Siyata Mobile Inc. (the "Company" or "Siyata") (TSX-V:SIM / OTCQX:SYATF) announces that it will be demonstrating the UV350 at the International Wireless Communication Expo (IWCE) in Las Vegas March 6th and 7th at the Uniden Cellular booth #648 .



Additionally, a global Land Mobile Radio (LMR) and leading Push-To-Talk (PTT) software provider will highlight the innovative in-vehicle PTT capabilities of the UV350 at booth #1125 with live demonstrations to industry participants.

The UV350 is the first 4G/LTE vehicle mounted smartphone with carrier supported Push-to-Talk (PTT), voice calls, and data applications all on a perfectly sized 5.5 horizontal screen. Always connected and always powered, its dedicated microphone and speakers bring crystal clear extra loud sound quality, with the added benefits of extended cellular and GPS coverage to provide unprecedented in-vehicle cellular coverage on a nationwide network.

The UV350 was designed for First Responders and enterprise vehicles ensuring safer solution for enterprise drivers seeking the next generation of in-vehicle cellular communication.

Marc Seelenfreund, CEO of Siyata Mobile commented, "IWCE is premier conference for all industry leaders in Land Mobile Radio as well as Push to Talk Over Cellular, and we are excited to unveil the innovative features of the UV350 to the industry for the first time. In preparation for our upcoming US carrier launch, a global LMR and PTT software provider will be doing live demonstrations of the UV350, highlighting the in-vehicle PTT features that puts the UV350 in a category of its own, and will certainly create a lot of visibility for the UV350 and the Company.

About the UV350

The UV350 is the first 4G/LTE all-in-one in vehicle fleet communication device that delivers crystal clear cellular voice calls, Push-to-Talk Over Cellular, data applications and more. This device was designed specifically for commercial vehicles ensuring safer communication for professional drivers.

Download the UV350 spec sheet visit

View the UV350 in action

About IWCE

IWCE (International Wireless Communications Expo) is the premier annual event for critical communications, featuring an exhibit hall with over 400 exhibitors and a five-day comprehensive conference program. Over 7,000 individuals attend from a diverse group of industry professionals including product distribution, government, public safety, critical infrastructure, business enterprise and more. IWCE 2019 will be held March 4-8 in Las Vegas, NV. For more information, visit http://www.iwceexpo.com .

About Siyata

Siyata Mobile Inc. is a leading global developer and provider of cellular communications systems for enterprise customers, specializing in connected vehicle products for professional fleets, marketed under the Uniden Cellular brand.

Since developing the worlds first 3G connected vehicle device, Siyata has been a pioneer in the industry, launching the worlds first 4G LTE all-in-one fleet communications device in 2017. Incorporating voice, push-to-talk over cellular, data, and fleet management solutions into a single device, the company aims to become the connected vehicle communications device of choice for commercial vehicles and fleets around the world.

Siyata also offers rugged phones for industrial users and signal boosters for homes, buildings, and fleets with poor cell coverage. Siyatas customers include cellular operators, commercial vehicle technology distributors, and fleets of all sizes in Canada, the U.S., Europe, Australia, and the Middle East.

Visit www.siyatamobile.com and http://www.unidencellular.com/ to learn more.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors of:

SIYATA MOBILE INC.

Marc Seelenfreund

CEO and Chairman

Investor Relations:

Arlen Hansen

Kin Communications

1-866-684-6730

SIM@kincommunications.com

Sales Department:

Glenn Kennedy, VP Sales

Siyata Mobile Inc.

416-892-1823

glenn_kennedy@siyatamobile.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.



This news release may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. 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 or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under the applicable laws.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/82e6af2f-54ae-4801-b6a4-1d63305904b2




Linh Pham/Getty Images(HANOI, Vietnam) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Vietnam Monday ahead of a second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi.



Trump, who departed the U.S. Monday afternoon for the long flight, will meet with Kim on Feb. 27 and 28. Trump will arrive in the Vietnamese capital on Tuesday morning Eastern time.



Trump will make the nearly 20-hour trip on Air Force One; Kim, meanwhile, arrived by his preferred method of travel: train.



Kim began the extended trek to Vietnam on Saturday. The trip, from Pyongyang to Hanoi, was scheduled to take approximately 60 hours.



"It may be difficult for the outside world to comprehend why he would take a train for days instead of a couple hour plane ride," Yuhwan Koh, professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, told ABC News. "It's for domestic propaganda."



The North Korean leader is retracing the footsteps of Kim Il Sung, his grandfather and the founder of North Korea, to boost significance to this trip, Koh said. Kim Il Sung visited Vietnam in 1958 by taking a train from Pyongyang to Guangzhou, and then traveling by plane to Hanoi.



"Train diplomacy" has always been North Korea's way of dealing with the outside world and "succession of tradition is important to North Korean people," said Koh.



But the more realistic reason for the choice of train rather than plane is that Kim may have decided it is unsafe to travel on his Soviet-era passenger aircraft, which is not equipped to fly long distances.



He had taken a China Air 747 Boeing, similar to Air Force One, to meet Trump in Singapore last June. China had offered it to Kim with a fighter jet escort from Pyongyang to Singapore.



"It's a matter of national pride. He would be losing face to have to ask China again," Koh explained.



The distance south to the Vietnam-China border is thousands of miles and would take at least two full days, according to analysts. Kim is likely to disembark at the border station of Dong Dang, and then travel 105 miles to Hanoi by car.



Authorities were spotted at the station nearest the Vietnamese border adding security measures on Friday. Traffic on the route to Hanoi will be partially banned until 7 p.m. on Feb. 25 and fully banned from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Feb. 26, according the ruling Communist Partys Nhan Dan paper.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
See Letter Attached

NEWPORT BEACH, CA, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE  M Line Holdings, Inc. (OTC Pink: MLHC; "M Line" or the Company), has issued, by way of this press release and twitter, a letter to its shareholders.

Tony Anish, CEO of M Line, commented: We hope this letter will help you understand our future plans and how we will keep our shareholders informed. More news and information available for distribution soon.

About M Line Holdings, Inc.

M Line is a Holding Company. It controls subsidiaries involved in the Beverage Branding and Distribution industry that includes our VEA and TORQUE branded drinks. In addition, M Line controls two subsidiaries in Florida in the Food and Beverage distribution business and M Line has now expanded into the Cannabis Industry with the acquisition of our C-Pod manufacturing business. M Line owns three restaurants and an event center in Arizona and land for development. M Line will continue with its business financing activities while looking for other opportunities in the Beverage, Distribution, hospitality and Cannabis industries as well as other prospects that make sense to management.

Safe Harbor and Informational Statement

This press release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 21E of the Security Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act), including all statements that are not statement of historical fact regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of the company, its directors or its officers with respect to, among other things: (i) the company's financing plans; (ii) trends affecting the company's financial conditions or results of operations; (iii): the company's growth strategy and operating strategy; and (iv) the declaration and payment of dividends.

The words "may", "would", "will", "expect", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "intend", and similar expressions and variations thereof are intend to identify forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statement is not a guarantee of future of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's ability to control, and that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors including the risk disclosed in the company's statements and reports filed with the OTC Markets. The Company claims the safe harbor provided by Section 21E(c) of the Exchange Act for all forward-looking statements.

SHAREHOLDER LETTER

February 26, 2019

To All the Shareholders of M Line Holdings, Inc. (MLHC),

The purpose of our letter is to bring you up to date with the progress we have made with MLHC over the last six months and to give you more details about the Company and our future plans.

Our plans included setting up quarterly strategic planning sessions for our management team where we could meet for two to three days. The idea of these planning sessions is to look at the current position of our group of companies and plan the near- and long-term future, updating forecasts, cash flows and strategies.

In February, our key team from our subsidiaries flew into Orange County for our first quarterly management meeting to set the tone for the future of our Companies and plans for 2019.

Our three-day meeting established the following:

1. Core Values of the group which are:

Integrity

Transparency

Shareholder value driven

2. The Core Focus for the Company:

Vertically integrate all sub companies to obtain the greatest efficiencies to drive shareholder value.

Building a great company, with great people and great results

3. Establish goals for Year One

Revenues to exceed $15 million for the group

Get the Company fully reporting with two years audits and file a registration statement

Pay off as much old debt as possible using as little convertible funding as possible

Finalize new funding opportunities

4. Establish our Five-Year Targets

We are working on our five-year plans which will be used as a guide to future growth and opportunities

5. Corporate Marketing Strategies

Execute and scale a consistent integrated marketing message.

Provide a platform on which shareholders can connect and learn.

Commitment to maintaining an authentic presence that participates in conversation.

This meeting has brought more focus on our plans for the operations of MLHC. We now know what we need to do and the minimum levels of achievement that our whole team is committed to.

One of the principle new strategies we discussed is to start regular quarterly conference calls for our shareholders and hold our first AGM later this year.

We also plan to start a corporate blog which will be a part of our updated web site due to be introduced in the second quarter 2019.

Although still a small company, we want our shareholders to recognize our drive to grow and to manage the business with integrity, transparency and to always be available for our shareholders, the people that support our efforts.

I have below a timeline of the acquisitions to date:

August 2018

We acquired 55% of The Caravel Group our beverage branding and distribution Company and

55% of Best Choice Food and Beverage our food and beverage Distribution Company located in Florida.

September 2018

We acquired Best Choice Nuts, Candy and Specialties, Inc. another Beverage and food distributor in Florida and began the process of merging the two Best Choices together to operate as one company.

An additional 20% of Best Choice Food and beverage.

October 2018

We acquired 60% of American Asset Holdings, Inc. the company that builds our off the grid growing pods used to grow cannabis and vegetables.

We acquired Dimension Beverages, LLC which owned the Torque brand of energy drinks. We have since transferred the management of this brand to the Caravel Group and

We announced that we were entering into a joint venture to market the Rise brand of CBD products. This JV has not, as yet, been completed, due to some business changes effecting our proposed business partner, but we hope to finalize this agreement shortly

January 2019

We announced that we have acquired the rights to the Larry Caputo brand of imported wines. The first shipments from Italy will be arriving in March 2019 a little behind our original schedule.

February 2019

We acquired three operating restaurants/bars, an event center and 38.5 acres of land in Arizona.

This has been an extraordinary acquisition path and due to the expansion needs of all the companies we had no option but to resort to the use of convertible notes and dilution to fund MLHC. This has had a negative effect on the value of the stock. As much as we do not like this method of financing, we really had no option and as previously stated, the results have justified the means as can be seen by the impact on MLHCs growth that reflect the valuable use of that funding.

During the first six months of Fiscal 2019 MLHC revenues increased from $30,000 in the first quarter ended September 30, 2018 to $1, 238,000 in the quarter ended December 31, 2018.

These revenues reflect sales of our core Vea beverages and the distribution of agency brands drinks in Mexico as well as sales of Best Choice in Florida.

Our sales of Vea and Torque in the US will start in the second quarter of 2019 beginning with Florida, one of the top three beverage markets in the US, through Best Choice. Our Sales team is already making great strides in the distribution of Vea and Torque beverages to big box and convenience stores. We expect to achieve very significant revenue in our Fiscal year ending on June 30, 2019. This year end however may be shortened to accommodate our audits which will be more fully explained later in this letter. Overall, we expect revenues to be on a monthly run rate of more than $1,000,000 per month by August 2019.

To sum up our business model, we are primarily in the food and beverage industries with, long term, Vea and Torque expected to have the largest impact on the growth of our group.

Our cannabis division includes our growing pods and our proposed Joint Venture regarding the Rise brand of CBD products which will, over time, have significant growth as CBD products become more  mainstream.

Our plans are to distribute Vea and Torque in the US and Mexico, however we expect to have distributors in the UK and Europe as well. Our plans also include introducing both drinks into Australia later this year. The main push in the US is convenience stores, grocery and big box chains. Our Sales team is now working on orders from several known names. We expect to build our wine brands adding other brands in the future.

Our distribution company in Florida, Best Choice, has plans in place to grow the business from around $3.5 million per annum to $8-10 million per annum over the next twelve months by significantly ramping up the beverage distribution, utilizing The Caravel brands. This plan as well as handling logistics for Vea and Torque made it necessary to add a second warehouse in Orlando next to our current facility.

Our last acquisition which closed recently is the acquisition of three restaurants and 38.5 acres of land in Arizona which fronts the new Interstate 11 highway between Phoenix and Las Vegas. We have several possible developments for the land including a gas station/travel center/truck stop, an RV park and potentially a hotel in the future. Some of the land is being considered for the growth of hemp. Castlerock Bar and Grill is the largest location and is on the freeway. Castlerock also boasts an event center, permitted for 8200 people, that can be used for many kinds of events including Rodeos, horse jumping events and of course large star studded shows etc. The proximity to Kingman, AZ Bullhead City as well as Las Vegas means there is a large population to draw from. The idea of developing an RV park is to encourage weekend events where people can bring their RVs etc. as well as for tourists. We expect revenues from the restaurants and event center to exceed $2.5 million per annum by the end of 2019 with net profit in the 20% plus range.

We are currently negotiating several other potential acquisitions; however, our first priority is to arrange the financing necessary for our growth. We recently announced that we are gaining control of another public entity. This transaction is due to close this week and will help to enhance the growth of the group while enhancing our Balance Sheet. Once closed we will issue more information and details.

We made the bold move to reduce the authorized stock of the Company but have had to increase it again to meet the demands necessary for our Reg A and interim financing. Although our intent has always been to limit dilution, we have had no option but to deal with limited dilution as we grow the Company

Over the last few months our successes have been outweighed by the negative publicity about the Company from various individuals. It is true that the outstanding stock has increased more than we expected, but the growth achieved with the funds we have raised has outweighed the dilution and only time will prove that point.

We have been approved for a Regulation 1-A funding line of $10 million. This financing still requires SEC approval but is expected to be available very soon.

Our plans for the future include filing a registration statement and to do so we plan to have two years audits completed in the second quarter of 2019. We will have to change our year end to get this done as soon as possible and we are targeting a new year end of March 31 or April 30.

I invite any shareholder who has any comments whether negative or positive towards the Company to email me with any questions you may have. Of course, I can only answer within the bounds of SEC regulations, but I will do my best to respond to every email. I wonder if the detractors who make false and misleading statements will have the courage to email me.

Last, I want to thank you all for being shareholders and your support. We firmly believe we are on the right path and you all will benefit from the growth of the company in the future as we improve shareholder value.

Sincerely,

/s/ Anthony (Tony) Anish

CEO

Safe Harbor and Informational Statement

This press release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 21E of the Security Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act), including all statements that are not statement of historical fact regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of the company, its directors or its officers with respect to, among other things: (i) the company's financing plans; (ii) trends affecting the company's financial conditions or results of operations; (iii): the company's growth strategy and operating strategy; and (iv) the declaration and payment of dividends.

The words "may", "would", "will", "expect", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "intend", and similar expressions and variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statement is not a guarantee of future performance and involves risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's ability to control, and that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors including the risk disclosed in the company's statements and reports filed with the OTC Markets. The Company claims the safe harbor provided by Section 21E(c) of the Exchange Act for all forward-looking statements.
Dublin, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Armored Vehicle Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product (Defense, Commercial), By Application (Main Battle Tanks, Armored Personnel Carrier), And Segment Forecasts, 2019 - 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global armored vehicle market size is expected to reach USD 36.4 billion by 2025, registering a CAGR of 5.4% from 2019 to 2025



Growing internal and external terrorist activities across the globe are expected to drive market demand over the forecast period. Technological advancements such as unmanned vehicles are expected to further fuel market growth.



Armored vehicles are protected by layers of depleted uranium or stainless-steel and are equipped with robust weapons that combine defensive, tactical offensive, and operational mobility capabilities. Development of advanced vehicles and technologies such as unmanned armored vehicle and AI-based smart object recognition and tracking technology to be used in the military sector is expected to propel the market over the next few years.



Growing need to protect military recruits from land mines and fire is expected to drive demand for armored vehicles over the forecast period. Furthermore, demand for these vehicles is increasing in the Asia Pacific and Middle East and Africa regions owing to constant tension among neighboring countries and internal threats from rebels.



Major market players are making massive investments in research and development programs to develop new technologies and products. Enhanced protection and fuel efficiency are key aspects considered for future developments in armored vehicles.



For instance, in April 2018, BAE Systems developed a new version of the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV), which was equipped with mine roller systems. The vehicle is widely used for protection against improvised explosive devices.



Further key findings from the report suggest:

By product, the Main Battle Tanks (MBT) segment is anticipated to exhibit the highest CAGR of 5.9% from 2019 to 2025 owing to improved firing abilities of MBTs even while moving at high speeds

On the basis of application, the commercial segment is anticipated to register the highest CAGR of 5.8% from 2019 to 2025. This growth can be attributed to increasing adoption of commercial armored vehicle by banks to transfer money

The Asia Pacific region is expected to continue to dominate the market over the forecast period and is anticipated to reach USD 11.9 billion by 2025 owing to increase in border or terrorism threats and expanding defense budgets of countries such as India, China, and Russia



Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1 Methodology and Scope

1.1 Research Methodology

1.2 Research Scope and Assumptions

1.3 List of Data Sources



Chapter 2 Executive Summary

2.1 Armored Vehicle Market - Industry Snapshot & Key Buying Criteria, 2014 - 2025

2.2 Global Armored Vehicle Market, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million)

2.2.1 Global armored vehicle market, by region, 2014 - 2025

2.2.2 Global defense armored vehicle market, by product, 2014 - 2025

2.2.3 Global commercial armored vehicle market, by product, 2014 - 2025

2.2.4 Global armored vehicle market, by application, 2014 - 2025



Chapter 3 Armored Vehicle Industry Outlook

3.1 Market Segmentation and Scope

3.2 Market Size and Growth Prospects

3.3 Armored Vehicle - Value Chain Analysis

3.3.1 Vendor landscape

3.4 Armored Vehicle Market Dynamics

3.4.1 Market driver analysis

3.4.1.1 Militarization of law enforcement agencies

3.4.1.2 Technological advancements in armored vehicles

3.4.1.3 Increase in insurgencies

3.4.1.4 Commercial uses of armored vehicles

3.4.2 Market restraint analysis

3.4.2.1 Reduction in national defense budgets

3.4.2.2 Increased use of unmanned vehicles

3.5 Penetration and Growth Prospect Mapping

3.6 Armored Vehicle Market - Key Company Ranking Analysis, 2017

3.7 Armored Vehicle Market - Porter's Five Forces Analysis

3.8 Armored Vehicle Market - PESTEL Analysis



Chapter 4 Armored Vehicle Product Outlook

4.1 Armored Vehicle Market Share By Product, 2017

4.2 Defense Armored Vehicles

4.2.1 Armored Personnel Carriers (APC)

4.2.2 Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV)

4.2.3 Light Protected Vehicles (LPV)

4.2.4 Main Battle Tanks (MBT)

4.2.5 Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP)

4.2.6 Tactical Trucks

4.2.7 Others

4.3 Commercial Armored Vehicles

4.3.1 Bus/Van

4.3.2 Limousine

4.3.3 Sedan

4.3.4 SUV

4.3.5 Others



Chapter 5 Armored Vehicle Application Outlook

5.1 Armored Vehicle Market Share By Application, 2017

5.2 Defense

5.3 Commercial



Chapter 6 Armored Vehicle Regional Outlook

6.1 Armored Vehicle Market Share by Region, 2017



Chapter 7 Competitive Landscape



BAE Systems

Elbit Systems Ltd.

General Dynamics Corporation

INKAS Armored Vehicle Manufacturing

International Armored Group

Iveco

Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co.

Lenco Industries, Inc.

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Navistar, Inc.

Oshkosh Defense, LLC

Rheinmetall AG

STAT, Inc.

Textron Inc.

Thales Group

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/m7mgv2/global_armored?w=12

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.
Dublin, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Medical Tourism Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Country (Turkey, Costa Rica, Thailand, India, Mexico, Singapore, Brazil, Malaysia, Taiwan, Colombia, South Korea), And Segment Forecasts, 2019 - 2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global medical tourism market size is expected to reach USD 179.6 billion by 2026, registering a 21.9% CAGR during the forecast period.



Medical tourism generates direct foreign exchange income and contributes to the overall development of any economy. It also provides employment and business opportunities for residents. Moreover, it aids the growth of associated businesses such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and tourism. Government support to maintain the general reputation and political stability of the host country is a key factor driving the medical tourism market.



Government authorities are willing to invest in local enterprises to capitalize on the growth of medical tourism. Such government bodies have been authorizing projects that help in the overall development of infrastructure in a country, such as public transport system and water supply facilities, to attract high-end medical travelers.



Medical tourism has led to a rise in state-of-the-art medical facilities in developing countries to attract foreign nationals, resulting in fast growth of healthcare infrastructure in such countries. Moreover, healthcare providers now offer comprehensive medical tourism packages that include services ranging from ticket booking to hotel stay and medical insurance.



Thailand dominated the market in terms of revenue in 2018 owing to low cost and good quality medical services offered in the country. In 2016, Thailand ranked 18th in the International Healthcare Research Center's Medical Tourism Index. Moreover, the country ranked 13th on the same index in terms of quality of facilities and services provided owing to well-developed healthcare infrastructure and increasing number of medical professionals. Thailand is also home to Asia's first largest private hospital, Bumrungrad International Hospital, which is also the first hospital to receive a JCI accreditation and ISO 9001 certification. Till date, over 53 private hospitals have received JCI accreditation.



Further key findings from the report suggest:

While Thailand is popular for cosmetic procedures, India is most preferred for cardiovascular and orthopedic procedures. Brazil and Costa Rica, on the other hand, are preferred for dental procedures

Thailand dominated the market in terms of revenue in 2018 due to the massive difference in treatment cost compared to developed countries. Around 2.4 million people visited Thailand to seek medical care in 2017 owing to low cost and good quality medical services

Singapore, Colombia, Taiwan, and Spain are some of the fastest growing medical tourism destinations in this market. Medical tourism is an important source of revenue generation for these countries, boasting advanced healthcare infrastructure and skilled manpower to cater to international patients

Bumrungrad International Hospital and Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd. are the leading treatment destinations for medical tourism in Thailand and India respectively. Other prominent examples include Mexicali Bariatric Center in Mexico and TMC Fertility in Malaysia.

Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1 Methodology

1.1 Research Methodology

1.2 Information or Data Analysis

1.3 Market Formulation & Validation

1.4 Region Wise Market Calculation

1.5 Model Details



Chapter 2 Executive Summary

2.1 Market Summary



Chapter 3 Industry Outlook

3.1 Market Segmentation

3.2 Market Variable Analysis

3.2.1 Market driver analysis

3.2.1.1 Rising number of medical tourists due to high treatment costs in their native countries

3.2.1.2 Limited insurance coverage in some countries attracts patients to medical tourism destinations

3.2.1.3 Easier treatment accessibility for patients

3.2.2 Market restraint analysis

3.2.2.1 Fear of infectious diseases risks the demand for medical tourism

3.2.2.2 Lack of geographical and cultural proximity

3.3 Penetration & Growth Prospect Mapping

3.4 Business Environment Analysis tools

3.4.1 SWOT Analysis, by PEST

3.4.2 Porter's five forces analysis

3.5 Medical Tourism Market: Recent Trends & Advancements

3.6 Key Medical Tourism Hospitals in Thailand

3.7 Key Medical Tourism Hospitals in India



Chapter 4 Medical Tourism Market: Regulatory & Political Forces



Chapter 5 Medical Tourism Market: Regional Estimates & Trend Analysis

5.1 Medical Tourism Market Share by Region, 2018 & 2026

5.2 Thailand

5.2.1 Thailand Medical Tourism market, 2015 - 2026 (USD Million)

5.2.2 Drivers, Challenges, Opportunity Analysis

5.2.3 Treatments/Procedures Analysis, 2018

5.2.4 Inbound Patient Traffic Analysis, 2015 - 2026

5.2.5 List of Hospitals

5.3 India

5.4 Costa Rica

5.5 Mexico

5.6 Malaysia

5.7 Singapore

5.8 Brazil

5.9 Colombia

5.10 Turkey

5.11 Taiwan

5.12 South Korea

5.13 Czech Republic

5.14 Spain



Chapter 6 Competitive & Vendor Landscape

6.1 Recent developments & impact analysis, by key market participants

6.2 Company Profiles



Bangkok Hospital

Bumrungrad International Hospital

Samitivej PCL

Yanhee International Hospital

Asian Heart Institute

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd.

Fortis Hospital

Artemis Hospitals

Hospital San Jos

Mexicali Bariatric Center

Sunway Medical Centre

TMC Fertility

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/kmb747/global_medical?w=12

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.
BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ocutrx Vision Technologies, LLC , a California-based manufacturer of augmented reality (AR) glasses, today announced a new, state-of-the-art design for the companys flagship Oculenz AR Wear glasses. The new aesthetic was co-developed by the award-winning product design team at Karten Design and is being unveiled at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the largest mobile and wearables event in the world.



Ocutrxs redesigned, cutting-edge Oculenz AR glasses are low-profile and more lightweight (200 grams/.44 pounds) than the HoloLens 2 (566 grams/1.25 pounds) with floating lenses which provide a bright, unobstructed field of view complimenting the uniquely wide micro-display projection capacitiesideal for demanding medical applications, industrial environments and consumer use. The first market is for patients with macular degeneration and other low vision conditions.

Ocutrx is the first heads-up AR company to fully integrate eye-tracking and cellular connectivity into its headset design. The Oculenz AR Wear features eye-tracking cameras and IR illumination mounted in a streamlined nose bridge which provides clear line-of-sight to the eye without obstructing the users field of view. This centralized component design makes the Oculenz easily adapted to different augmented reality applications.

We are pleased to work with Karten Design ( www.kartendesign.com ) on the all-new Oculenz AR glasses with onboard eye-tracking. This new cellular-connected AR Wear design isnt just a step forward for Ocutrx, but rather for the entire AR Wear industry, said Michael H. Freeman, CEO/CTO at Ocutrx. For example, a surgeon in the operating room will now benefit from the feather light weight and redesigned head strap that provides comfort for extended periods of use and keeps the headset secure as the physician leans forward during surgery for 3D visualization. Additionally, the intuitive flip up display provides protection for industrial wear applications during nonuse.

The Oculenz AR glasses will be of particular value for patients living with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The eyeglass inspired design helps to relieve the stigma common with worn medical products and a tinted upper lens helps to visually obscure the SLAM sensors and 4K cameras embedded in the glasses. The headset is supported from the front and rear of the skull, providing comfort for extended periods of use. Additionally, the glasses are designed with pinch adjustment functionality on the rear head pad to allow for easy and intuitive resizing.

At Karten Design, we create extraordinary experiences in healthcare by understanding the needs of consumers, patients, caregivers and clinical professionals, said Stuart Karten, President/Founder of Karten Design. We wanted the Oculenz design to inspire patients on an emotional level to enable better health outcomes. We worked to transform Ocutrxs technology into a more appealing product that enables people to manage their low vision effectively while leveraging the technology and core design for applications in multiple industries."

Jordan Boss, the chief product engineer for Ocutrx who worked closely with the Karten Design team to build the exacting design, said, As a millennial, I see how the AR fourth screen will soon become as ubiquitous to our generation as the smartphone was to the last. With cellular and WiFi connectivity and this easy-to-wear and use design, Oculenz will become the smart-phone of the futureand replace smart-phones like they replaced corded home phones, car phones and flip phones.

MWC Barcelona (formerly Mobile World Congress) brings together the latest innovations and leading-edge technology from more than 2,400 leading companies, with a highly-rated conference program assembling todays visionaries to explore the hottest topics influencing the industry.

About Ocutrx

With corporate headquarters in Irvine, California, and a research and development lab in the US Midwest, Ocutrx is a new breed of AR manufacturing company focusing on the best connected lightest weight AR headset housing the largest field-of-vision in the market. At a time when worldwide applications for easy-to-wear and easy-to-use AR solutions are being touted as the next big thing after smartphones, Ocutrx is creating impactful, revolutionary AR wear for mass use. To learn more about Ocutrx and its ground-breaking technology, please visit the company website at http://www.oculenz.com/ .



Media Contact:

Dave Feistel

Bastion Elevate (for Ocutrx Vision Technologies)

949-502-6200 ext. 224

dave@bastionelevate.com

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ed135b8b-39f5-4e4c-8029-8021b639adaa

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6bf53fcf-4432-4a18-b810-766de1d93d1f

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/862a52cf-5b3f-4567-9692-6d6eac75071d
CALGARY, Alberta, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd. (TSX-V: FLY) (OTCQX: FLYLF) (the Company or FLYHT) today announced it has retained Liolios Group Inc. (Liolios) to assist with its investor relations activities in the United States. They will work alongside existing investor relations provider Adelaide Capital Markets Inc. to provide a comprehensive investor relations strategy for FLYHT in both Canada and the U.S.



Liolios is based in Newport Beach, California. Pursuant to an agreement between the parties, Liolios will be responsible for, among other matters: (i) expanding the following and involvement of the investment community in the United States; (ii) co-ordinating investor roadshows in the United States; and (iii) assisting in the preparation of corporate materials.

Liolios is a highly selective and comprehensive investor relations consultancy specializing in public companies. The firm aims to deliver superior performance in corporate messaging and positioning, investor awareness, analyst and financial press coverage, and capital formation. Founded in 1999, Liolios executives have extensive experience in finance and investments, and represent clients in a wide range of industries, including technology, consumer, industrials, life sciences, financial services, and business services. Neither Liolios nor any of its executives or employees own any common shares in FLYHT.

Under the terms of the investor relations agreement, Liolios will receive US$3,500 per month from FLYHT with an initial term of 12 months and thereafter on a month to month basis. Following the initial term, either party may terminate the agreement by providing 30 days written notice. No stock options or other securities are to be issued to Liolios as compensation under the agreement.

The investor relations agreement is subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval.

About FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd.

FLYHTs mission is to improve aviation safety, efficiency and profitability. Globally, and for more than 20 years, airlines, leasing companies, fractional owners and original equipment manufacturers have installed FLYHTs differentiated aircraft and enterprise-based solutions to deliver real-time, flight-deck, satellite connectivity for tracking, health monitoring, and streaming of operational, maintenance and weather data. FLYHT is publicly traded as FLY in Canada on the TSX.V; and as FLYLF in the USA on the OTCQX. FLYHT is based in Calgary, Canada with an office in Littleton, Colorado and is an AS9100 Quality registered company. For more information visit www.flyht.com .

Contact Information:

FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd.

Alana Forbes

Chief Financial Officer

403-291-7437

aforbes@flyht.com Adelaide Capital Markets Inc.

Deborah Honig

647-203-8793

deborah@adelaidecapital.ca Liolios

Matt Glover

(949) 574-3860

matt@liolios.com

Join us on social media!

www.facebook.com/flyht

www.twitter.com/flyhtcorp

www.slideshare.net/flyhtcorp

www.youtube.com/flyhtcorp

www.flyht.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.
CLEVELAND, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IndustryWeek , the leading publication that serves operations and executive decision-makers in the manufacturing industry, today announces the winners of the 2018 IndustryWeek Best Plants Awards.



Established in 1990, the IndustryWeek Best Plants Awards program annually recognizes plants, located in North America, that are on the leading edge of efforts to increase competitiveness, enhance customer satisfaction, and create stimulating and rewarding work environments. Its further goal is to encourage other manufacturing managers and work teams to emulate the honorees by adopting world-class practices, technologies, and improvement strategies.

The 2018 IndustryWeek Best Plants winners are: (in alphabetical order)

Adient - West Point, Georgia



- West Point, Georgia Applied Technical Services, Washington Operations - Everett, Washington



- Everett, Washington Intertape Polymer Group - Blythewood, South Carolina



- Blythewood, South Carolina Johnson Controls - Norman, Oklahoma



- Norman, Oklahoma The Raymond Corporation - Greene, New York



- Greene, New York T&S Brass and Bronze Works Inc. - Travelers Rest, South Carolina

The 2018 IndustryWeek Best Plants winners showcase the best of the best among North American manufacturing facilities, and we salute their accomplishments, practices and performance, said Travis Hessman, IndustryWeeks editor-in-chief. They demonstrate that operational excellence continues to thrive in manufacturing. It is our great pleasure to share their success stories.

The IndustryWeek Best Plants Awards program, now in its twenty-ninth year, is an institution in manufacturing. Entrants are evaluated on a comprehensive set of criteria that includes: manufacturing plant-floor operations, customer and supplier relations, management practices, level of employee involvement, safety, as well as an evidence of competitiveness and other quantifiable performance indicators.

The 2018 winners will be honored during an awards ceremony at the 2019 Manufacturing & Technology 2019, an IndustryWeek event, (www.mfgtechshow.com), where they also will share their stories of continuous improvement and other business-critical insights. The conference is April 1-3, 2019 in Pittsburgh, PA. To register for Manufacturing & Technology 2019, an IndustryWeek event, click here .

The individual winning plant profiles will appear in the March/April issue of IndustryWeek and will be posted at www.industryweek.com beginning March 4, 2019. Follow news about the winners and conference on Twitter at @IndustryWeek .

Applications for the 2019 Best Plants competition are now available at www.industryweek.com/bpapplication .

About IndustryWeek

IndustryWeek (IW) lives and breathes transformational manufacturing. Decision-makers and disruptors turn to IW for the news, trends, strategies and best practices that help companies leverage talent and technology to achieve revolutionary leadership practices, business models, production systems, and products. The only media brand with intensive, dedicated coverage of the nearly $6 trillion U.S. manufacturing industry and the supply chains around the globe that feed it, IW has an over 100-year history of honoring leaders in manufacturing operations through distinguished programs such as the IW Best Plants, the IW 50 Best U.S. Manufacturers, and the IW US 500. For more information, please visit www.industryweek.com , or follow at Twitter and Facebook .

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BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verde AgriTech Plc (TSX: NPK) ("Verde or the Company) is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement to raise up to C$1 million (the Placement) through the issuance of up to 1,666,666 units of securities (Units) at a price of $ 0.60 per Unit.

Each Unit will be comprised of one ordinary share of the Company (an Ordinary Share) and one-half of one Ordinary Share purchase warrant (a Warrant). Each whole Warrant will be exercisable to purchase an Ordinary Share at an exercise price of C$1.00 until the second anniversary of the closing of the Placement. The Warrants will be unlisted.

The Placement will be open to all existing shareholders who are accredited investors, and to non-shareholder accredited investors. The minimum subscription will be for 83,333 units of securities or for $ 49,999.80. Each subscriber will be required to complete a subscription agreement that confirms, among other things, the availability of an exemption from the prospectus requirements of applicable securities laws in respect of the sale of Units to such subscriber.

The Company discloses that its senior management and directors will be subscribing to this offering, subject to applicable securities regulations.

Eligible investors wishing to participate in the Placement are invited to contact the Company via the email investor@verdeagritech.com to obtain a subscription agreement. In the event of over-subscription, the Company will determine allocations between subscribers and/or increase the Placement size at its sole discretion.

The Placement is expected to close on or about March 8, 2019.

The Ordinary Shares and Warrants comprising the Units (the Unit Securities) (and any Ordinary Shares issued on exercise of the Warrants (Warrant Shares)) will be subject to a hold period of four months from the closing date of the Placement.

The terms and completion of the Placement are subject to TSX conditional approval. The Company will not pay brokerage or finder's fees in connection with the Placement. The net proceeds from the Placement will be used by the Company for general working capital purposes.

Commenting, President & CEO, Cristiano Veloso, stated: We have strived to minimize dilution to our shareholders. This small raise is needed because we aim to expand our sales team and reserve our banks lines of credit for the construction of our expansion.. Moreover, a part of this capital will be used to finance this seasons early purchases, which covers our buyers up to 6 months at 1.8% monthly rate. In sum, the capital will be narrowly employed with the single goal of expanding sales and production.

About Verde AgriTech

Verde promotes sustainable and profitable agriculture through the development of its Cerrado Verde Project. Cerrado Verde, located in the heart of Brazils largest agricultural market, is the source of a potassium-rich deposit from which Verde intends to produce solutions for crop nutrition, crop protection, soil improvement and increased sustainability.

Neither the Unit Securities nor the Warrant Shares have been or will be registered under the U.S. Securities Act or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy Unit Securities or Warrant Shares in the United States or in any jurisdiction in which such offer, sale or solicitation would be unlawful.

For additional information please contact:

Cristiano Veloso, President & Chief Executive Officer

Tel: +55 (31) 3245 0205; Email: cv@verdeagritech.com

www.verdeagritech.com

www.supergreensand.com

Cautionary Language and Forward Looking Statements

Neither the TSX nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This press release contains certain "forward looking statements", which include but is not limited to, statements with respect to the future financial or operating performance of the Company, its subsidiaries and its projects, and statements regarding use of proceeds. Forward looking statements can generally be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", or "does not expect" or "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", "intends", "forecasts", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates" or variations of such words or phrases or state that certain actions, event, or results "may", "could", "would", "might", or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by said statements. There can be no assurances that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in said statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

For additional information with respect to these and other factors and assumptions underlying the forward-looking information made in this news release, see the Companys most recent Annual Information Form and Managements Discussion and Analysis, as well as other public disclosure documents that can be accessed under the issuer profile of Verde AgriTech plc on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking information set forth herein reflects the Companys reasonable expectations as at the date of this news release and is subject to change after such date. The Company 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. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.
TORONTO, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In Canada, about $64 billion is spent annually on direct and indirect costs for five key modifiable risk factors; physical inactivity, smoking, excess weight, low fruits & vegetables and excessive use of alcohol.



BestLifeRewarded operates the gold standard behaviour change technology platform for several Canadian insurance companies, along with its own direct member platform BestLifeRewarded.com. It currently supports employee well-being for over 12,000 Canadian organizations and 3+ million Canadians.

BestLifeRewarded has now quantified the significant behaviour change of its members, demonstrating tangible cost savings in the overall healthcare system and directly for employers. A team of external experts reviewed a sample of 6,899 BestLifeRewarded.com members who completed both an initial health risk assessment (HRA) and a follow-up HRA, at least one year later. They validated that the platform demonstrated significant improvements in health behaviours (Fig 1), which represent a total savings to the Canadian economy of $73.28 annually per member .

Based on the costs typically paid by employers, such as medications, short and long term disability, the BestLifeRewarded platform demonstrated a $30.45 (or 42% of the total cost savings) per member per year savings. With premature mortality, this number increases to $60.17 (or 82% of the total cost savings) per member per year.

Making a business case for disease prevention initiatives can be challenging for employers given that the return on investment may not be recognized for years. BestLifeRewarded and its partners can now provide tangible cost savings figures to employers that demonstrate a significant return within 12-months.

For almost a decade, weve delivered exceptional behaviour change results, so having access to the tangible savings for both the healthcare system and directly to employers reinforces that our proven interventions provide meaningful outcomes. We are excited about continuing our mission to improve the health of Canadians and positively impact our economy, said Susanne Cookson, co-founder of BestLifeRewarded.

For the full detail of the Economic Modeling of Modifiable Risk Factor Reduction: A Report for BestLifeRewarded Innovations, please visit https://www.bestliferewarded.com/research.

About BestLifeRewarded (BLR)

BestLifeRewarded is the most comprehensive evidence-informed program that is tailored for the individual, customizable for the employer and includes a robust library of health education, health tracking tools, integration with Fitbit and other wearables, and offers multiple rewards structures. What we do works. Most wellness offerings are light on substance, but BLR builds real engagement through science-based wellness with built-in assessment models and robust measurement.

BestLifeRewarded

Better people. Exceptional business.

www.BestLifeRewarded.com

For more information please contact BestLifeRewarded:

Susanne Cookson, Co-Founder

Susanne@bestliferewarded.com

(905)336-1000 x103 office

(905)599-6045 cell

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Dublin, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Space Propulsion System Market: Focus on Application, Type, and End-User - Analysis and Forecast, 2018-2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global space propulsion system market generated $5.63 billion in 2018 and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 13.06% during 2018-2023.



The space propulsion system market is expected to witness a high growth rate owing to a significant increase in satellites and launch vehicle manufacturing. Recent innovations in components have enabled the space propulsion system technology to reach to a wider segment of consumers in the industry. Apart from this, significant investment in the development of cost-effective and efficient propulsion systems is a prominent factor leveraging growth in the market.



For instance, NASA awarded contracts to six companies including SSL, Blue Origin, and Aerojet Rocketdyne, among others, with an aggregate worth of $44 million, to develop advanced propulsion system, in August 2018. Moreover, companies are developing various forms of emerging technologies, such as air-breathing propulsion system, electric propulsion system, and reusable propulsion system, among others, which is expected to propel the growth in the global space propulsion system market.



Following points provide a detailed description of the report content and the topics covered in the report:

This report identifies the global space propulsion system market under different segments such as end user, type, application, and region.

It examines the prime demand-side factors that affect the growth of the market and the current and future trends, market drivers, restraints, and challenges prevalent in the global space propulsion system market.

The report also highlights the value chain of the industry.

This report includes a detailed competitive analysis, which focuses on the key market developments and strategies followed by the top players in the market. Additionally, the market share, which analyzes the share of the players in the global space propulsion system market of the prominent companies, has been included in the existing study.

The market for different end users such as commercial and government and military, has been estimated and analyzed.

The market analysis depending on the type of propulsion system in satellite (chemical, electric and hybrid propulsion system) and launch vehicle (solid, liquid, hybrid propulsion systems) in 2018, and what will be the estimates by 2023, has been estimated and analyzed in the report.

The global space propulsion system market has been analyzed in the report for the major regions including North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest-of-the-World.

The study provides detailed analysis of 15 key players in the global space propulsion system market, including IHI Corporation, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Northrop Grumman Corporation, Airbus SAS, Safran, OHB System AG, Thales Group, Aerojet Rocketdyne and Moog Inc., Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), Ariane Group GmbH, Blue Origin, Bradford, Phase Four, and Accion Systems Inc., among others, in the company profiles section. This section covers business financials, company snapshots, key products and services, major developments, future programs (if any), and the individual SWOT analysis.

Key Topics Covered:



1 Market Dynamics

1.1 Drivers

1.1.1 Global Growth in Satellite Launches

1.1.2 Increasing Research and Development Activities to Develop Cost Efficient Propulsion Technology

1.1.3 Increasing Investments in Launch Vehicle Industry

1.2 Challenges

1.2.1 High Cost Involved in the Development of Space Propulsion System

1.2.2 Regulation Pertaining to Space Propulsion System

1.3 Market Opportunities

1.3.1 Ongoing Developments for Nano Material based Space Propulsion System

1.3.2 Propulsion System Manufactured through 3D Printing



2 Competitive Insights

2.1 Key Market Strategies and Developments

2.1.1 Partnerships, Collaborations, and Business Contracts

2.1.2 Product Launches

2.1.3 Mergers and Acquisitions

2.1.4 Other Developments

2.2 Market Share Analysis



3 Industry Analysis

3.1 Emerging Start-ups in Space Propulsion System Market

3.2 Cost Analysis for Space Propulsion System

3.3 Patent Analysis

3.4 Supply Chain Analysis

3.5 Industry Attractiveness

3.5.1 Bargaining Power of Suppliers

3.5.2 Bargaining Power of Buyers

3.5.3 Threat of New Entrants

3.5.4 Threat of Substitutes

3.5.5 Intensity of Competitive Rivalry



4 Global Space Propulsion System Market, 2018-2023

4.1 Assumptions and Limitations

4.2 Market Overview



5 Global Space Propulsion System Market (by Application)

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Satellite

5.3 Launch Vehicle



6 Global Space Propulsion System Market (by Type)

6.1 Market Overview

6.2 Satellite

6.2.1 Chemical Propulsion System

6.2.1.1 Monopropellant Chemical Propulsion System

6.2.1.2 Bipropellant Chemical Propulsion System

6.2.2 Electric Propulsion System

6.2.2.1 Ion Electric Propulsion System

6.2.2.2 Hall Effect Electric Propulsion System

6.2.2.3 Pulsed Plasma Electric Propulsion System

6.2.2.4 Other Electric Propulsion System

6.2.3 Hybrid Propulsion System

6.3 Launch Vehicle

6.3.1 Solid Propulsion System

6.3.2 Liquid Propulsion System

6.3.3 Hybrid Propulsion System



7 Global Space Propulsion System Market (by End User)

7.1 Market Overview

7.2 Commercial

7.3 Government & Military



8 Global Space Propulsion System Market (by Region)

8.1 Market Overview

8.2 North America

8.3 Europe

8.4 Asia-Pacific

8.5 Rest-of-the-World (RoW)



9 Futuristic Scenario for Space Propulsion System Market

9.1 Upcoming Technologies in Space Propulsion System Market

9.1.1 Ongoing Advancements for Green Propulsion System and Reusable Propulsion System

9.2 Business Outlook for Miniaturized Propulsion System (Micro Propulsion System)

9.3 Opportunities around Deep Space Mission



10 Company Profiles



Accion Systems

Aerojet Rocketdyne

Airbus S.A.S

Ariane Group GmbH

Blue Origin

IHI Corporation

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.

Moog Inc.

Northrop Grumman Corporation

OHB System AG

Phase Four

Safran

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX)

Thales Group

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/bn3bp5/global_space?w=12

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.
Los Angeles, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property (MIIP) was founded to promote intellectual property education and respect for creative work, crucial elements in driving innovation and entrepreneurship. To that end, we are proud to team up with North Carolinas Small Business Center Network (SBCN) in our first statewide partnership designed to provide small businesses throughout the state with a wealth of free learning materials and resources that support IP protection.

SBCN is comprised of 58 business education and support centers hosted in local community colleges across the Tar Heel State. Its mission of aiding in the development of new businesses and helping to grow existing businesses with training, counseling, and information is well aligned with the objectives of MIIP. To assist SBCN in their invaluable work, MIIP will grant local network centers access to our vast IP education portfolio which includes books, videos, workshop materials, and other assets on the topics of patents, copyrights, trademarks, and more. Entrepreneurs hailing from urban, suburban, and rural communities within North Carolina will receive free access to all IP course materials and special IP training sessions, both in-person and virtual, courtesy of MIIP.

North Carolina is at the forefront of innovation in America and home to the nations thriving FinTech industry, says Dr. Gary K. Michelson, inventor and founder of the Michelson 20MM Foundation. Were excited to partner with SBCN in democratizing access to IP education and helping to fill a critical gap for business owners and startup founders searching for intellectual property resources.

Throughout the first year of the pilot program, MIIP and SBCN will coordinate internally with other partners to produce IP-centered workshops and develop ways to strengthen network offerings. By crowdsourcing feedback and familiar pain-points among SBCN clients, program directors and administrators will be able to craft solutions, expand our IP materials portfolio, and tailor our offerings to clients' specific industries.

Were thrilled that North Carolina was chosen to pilot this statewide partnership program with MIIP, says SBCN Director Anne Shaw. Some of our clients hail from underserved urban and rural communities, and the institutes incredible resources will provide them with much needed just-in-time and real-time IP education and support to help initiate or scale their ventures.

To kick off the partnership, on March 27th the Central Piedmont Community College's Central Campus in Charlotte will host the fourth stop in MIIPs cross-country IP awareness program, Hacking IP: Considerations for Startups and Entrepreneurs. Students, business owners, and aspiring entrepreneurs are all invited to attend an evening of engaging discussion on all things intellectual property related with a panel of IP specialists, presented in collaboration with SBCN. Follow Up events are scheduled for March and April in Durham and in eastern North Carolina. Join our mailing list for updates and details on the multi-city IP education tour.





About The Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property (MIIP)

The Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property, an initiative of the Michelson 20MM Foundation, addresses critical gaps in intellectual property education to empower the next generation of inventors by providing high-quality instructional content. Its library of free educational resources includes an interactive textbook, undergraduate IP curriculum, animated videos, and a self-paced online course.

Michelson 20MM was founded thanks to the generous support of renowned spinal surgeon Dr. Gary K. Michelson and his wife, Alya Michelson. To learn more, visit www.Michelson20mm.org.





About The North Carolina Community Colleges Small Business Center Network (SBCN)

The NC Community Colleges Small Business Center Network (SBCN) is our states largest state-supported small business assistance initiative. Started in 1984 with the funding of eight small business centers by the North Carolina General Assembly, by 1995 at least one Small Business Center was established at each of the 58 community colleges. Currently, the Network has 60 sites throughout the state with Centers conveniently located within a 30-minute drive of every North Carolinian. At the core of its vision, the Small Business Center Network is positioned to focus on entrepreneurship, small business and economic development with an emphasis on assisting start-ups, early stage, and businesses seeking disaster assistance or seeking to stabilize. To learn more, visit www.ncsbc.net
Spencer Platt/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- The Trump Organization wants the House Judiciary Committee to stop investigating President Donald Trumps family business, claiming that one of the panels newly-hired lawyers is conflicted because of work his law firm has done for the Trump Organization.



The law firm called the accusations baseless and factually misleading. But the dispute is the latest point of contention between House Democrats pledging to investigate the president, his administration, and his finances, and the Trump Organization, which is at the center of inquiries launched by several House committees.



In a letter to the committee on Monday, Trump Organization attorney Alan Futerfas said Democrats hiring of prominent attorney Barry Berke, the co-chair of the litigation department at Kramer Levin, irreparably taints the panels work, a concern also raised by Republicans on the panel.



We write to  respectfully demand that the Committee cease and desist from all investigative or other activities adverse to the Company," Futerfas said in his letter. Mr. Berke's work on behalf of the Committee, and all of the individuals either acting at his direction, or that he is directing, advising, supervising, conferring with or influencing; is thus adverse to and in direct ethical conflict with, his law firm's current and longstanding client, The Trump Organization, and its current and former executives, including the President."



A spokesman for House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-New York, did not respond to a request for comment on the Trump Organizations demand.



Democrats retained Berke and Norm Eisen, a former Obama administration ethics czar, to help lead their inquiries into Justice Department oversight, ethics concerns and possible obstruction of justice.



Both are critics of Trump and have written extensively about the potential case against him.



In a statement, Kramer Levin said Berkes role as a consultant does not pose any conflicts of interest and respects any obligations the firm may have, and is in compliance with all applicable ethics rules.



While Futerfas said Kramer Levin has represented the Trump Organization and its principals for more than 25 years in innumerable real estate matters, the firm said no lawyer is currently working on anything related to the Trump Organization.



None of the work that the firm has done for Trump-affiliated entities is related to the work Mr. Berke will be performing for the Committee. Indeed, for the past several years the firms work has involved only minor tasks for single purpose companies, such as pro forma amendments to condominium offering plans that date back more than a decade or the clearing up of minor building violations for management companies, Kramer Levin said in a statement.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
LONDON and SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- StaffConnect , the leading provider of mobile employee engagement solutions , today announced that the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) is implementing the StaffConnect employee engagement platform to replace email as its primary channel for internal communication for frontline NHS workers in North Wales. Using StaffConnect, the organisation can better share information, success stories, care standards, employee recognition and more, among a diverse workforce of 17,000 dispersed employees working in multiple communities and 38 different hospitals, healthcare centres and offices. The solution is being rolled out in a phased approach across its distributed locations, with the core communications team spending time in each location to launch the platform and get instant feedback from as many employees as possible.



The publically funded organisation provides healthcare to more than 760,000 people, valuing the key principle that good healthcare should be available to all, regardless of wealth. BCUHB is constantly looking for ways to improve the essential services it provides and leverage new technology in the workplace.

Research carried out by the health boards communications team found that staff who have limited access to email, or even a computer, found it difficult to access essential news and information from the organisation.

In 2017, the BCUHB conducted an internal survey among 1,400 employees to solicit feedback about how they wanted to receive communications at work. While the responses collected digitally indicated that email was the preferred method, the feedback received through face-to-face meetings revealed that many staff did not have access to the organisations digital resources. Furthermore, many employees, such as nurses, had little opportunity to monitor emails, as patient care is their top priority.

The survey also identified a positive response to the option of having a mobile platform to better reach a large number of non-desk employees. BCUHB was looking for a solution capable of reaching its entire workforce and not dependent on staff having access to a computer or company network during their normal working day to be able to access it. To meet its requirements the solution had to be mobile and offer access to communications both from home and through a personal device.

Historically, information and company updates have mainly been shared through a weekly newsletter via email, to all staff, said Aaron Haley, Communications Officer, BCUHB. While that works for our desk-based staff, we know that theres a big contingency of our workforce who just cant find the time to get on to a computer as part of their working day. We wanted the new internal communications tool to be completely voluntary, and we wanted to demonstrate our commitment to improving internal communications with a platform that meets the needs of all our employees, regardless of their role or location.

We had an ambition to develop an app which could securely house messages currently being shared on our email and intranet, and found that StaffConnect ticked all of the boxes.

In January 2019, BCUHB began implementing the StaffConnect solution to community workers and district hospitals as part of a phased roll out across the six North Wales counties of Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, and Wrexham.

Approximately 2,500 community-based employees were added in each of the Health Boards three area divisions, before reaching out to more than 4,500 employees at each of the hospitals three main hospital sites.

BCUHB is using the StaffConnect platform to encourage employee recognition by integrating existing internal recognition as well as encouraging more informal peer-to-peer recognition. The platform is also providing a way for hospitals and wards to share information around care standards, as well as service notices.

Staff had previously expressed difficulties in finding a way of sharing information and notices with different groups of staff in an equal way. With StaffConnect, they now have a platform that enables this critical exchange of information, regardless of where they work.

User adoption is rapidly growing, with more than 3,700 members of staff registering to access the platform over the first four weeks. StaffConnects Customer Success program has played a vital role helping BCUHB develop community and a content strategy for building out the platform.

We are extremely pleased with how well the implementation of StaffConnects platform is going and have received very positive feedback from employees, said Aaron Haley, Communications Officer. We know our people but StaffConnects Customer Success program provides an outside perspective on best practices for content and communication, which has been really helpful and valuable to us. Were also encouraging staff to offer their input on how to do things better and how they see the platform working for them. I am highly enthusiastic about this two-way communications approach that will have a positive impact on NHS staff and workforce culture.

With a large, field-based workforce and, in many cases, limited access to email, BCUHB represents how StaffConnect is able to add huge value to organisations with large numbers of deskless workers. Seeing first-hand how our platform is able to unify communications so that everyone can receive and share information equally is a really powerful testimony to how BCUHB is using new technology to improve the employee experience, said Geraldine Osman, CMO, StaffConnect.

Tweet this: .@StaffConnectApp Selected by NHS Wales to Reap the Rewards of Better Internal Communications https://www.staffconnectapp.com/press-release-NHS-Wales-Selects-StaffConnect-Mobile-Engagement-Platform #EmployeeEngagement #EmployeeCommunication #EmployeeExperience #CustomerExperience #NHS #BCUHB

https://www.staffconnectapp.com/latest/press-releases/

About StaffConnect

StaffConnect is the leading provider of mobile employee engagement solutions. The StaffConnect platform transforms the employee experience by enabling enterprises to connect, communicate and engage their entire workforce, especially remote, non-desk employees. The customer-branded mobile solution gives employees a voice - with access to company and user-generated content to increase loyalty and productivity. The cloud-hosted platform empowers employers to target that content, with analytics, to deepen engagement with everyone. From offices in London and San Francisco, StaffConnects platform and domain expertise are supporting large businesses around the world to inspire their workforces to deliver better performance, improved customer experiences and greater shareholder value. For further information, please visit: www.staffconnectapp.com .

Media Resources (logos, screenshots, etc.): https://www.staffconnectapp.com/media-resources/

PR Contact:

Sabrina Sanchez

The Ventana Group for StaffConnect

(925) 785-3014

ssanchez@theventanagroup.com
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Dublin, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Real Estate Activities in South Africa 2018" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



This report focuses on the real estate industry which comprises commercial, industrial and residential properties, as well as property valuation and bond origination. The real estate sector contributed 5.6% to GDP, based on 2016 data. The South African listed-property sector is worth about R500bn with about 46% of the value of the sector reflecting investment in overseas markets.



The real estate sector's performance largely depends on economic drivers and has been challenged by slow economic growth during the past few years. In spite of this, the number of principal estate agents registered with the Estate Agency Affairs Board grew by 4.8% from 2016 to 2017. Property development is not showing signs of slowing down, but developers are struggling to increase occupancy rates due to oversupply.



Pressing Issues:



South Africa's real estate landscape is set to undergo major changes in the future driven mainly by regulatory changes, including land restitution, and technology disruptors. Growth in residential property prices remained subdued in the first five months of 2018 with house prices increasing 4% and 4.8% year-on-year in May. There are a number of opportunities in the sector brought about by high demand for student accommodation and gated communities and urban renewal and regeneration projects. But low projected growth rates and slowdown in economic activity could limit expansion and new development.



Report Coverage:



The comprehensive report on South African Real Estate Activities describes current conditions and recent developments in all sub-sectors, as well as factors influencing the success of the sector.



The report profiles 141 companies, including the main players in the residential real estate sector, Pam Golding Properties, RE/MAX of Southern Africa, Seeff Property Services and Harcourts Real Estate. Profiles also include Vukile Property Fund and Arrowhead which have made significant acquisitions and developers including Abland, WBHO and Renprop.



Key Topics Covered:



1. INTRODUCTION



2. DESCRIPTION OF THE INDUSTRY

2.1. Industry Value Chain

2.2. Geographic Position



3. SIZE OF THE INDUSTRY



4. STATE OF THE INDUSTRY

4.1. Local

4.1.1. Corporate Actions

4.1.2. Regulations

4.1.3. Enterprise Development and Social Economic Development

4.2. Continental

4.3. International



5. INFLUENCING FACTORS

5.1. Economic Environment

5.2. Government Initiatives

5.3. Land Restitution

5.4. Rising Operating Costs

5.5. Water and Electricity Supply Constraints

5.6. Labour

5.7. Technology Disruptors

5.8. Information Technology (IT), Research and Development (R&D) and Innovation

5.9. Cyclicality

5.10. Transport Systems

5.11. Crime and Security

5.12. Consumer Education

5.13. Environmental Concerns



6. COMPETITION

6.1. Barriers to Entry



7. SWOT ANALYSIS



8. OUTLOOK



9. INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS



10. REFERENCES

10.1. Publications

10.2. Websites



Appendices



Appendix 1

Commercial Property Investment and Management Companies

Property Developers

Sustainable Human Settlements (previously RDP Housing)

Development of Leisure Resorts and Hotels

Industrial Development Zones

Residential Real Estate

Property Valuation

Bond Origination



Appendix 2

Major Property Development Projects recently Completed or in Progress



Appendix 3

Office and Industrial Property Development Projects Recently Completed or in Progress



Appendix 4

Retail Centre Projects Recently Completed or in Progress



Appendix 5

Affordable (or GAP) Housing Developments Recently Completed or in Progress



Appendix 6

Other Legislation Relevant to the Real Estate Sector



Appendix 7

Qualification Requirements for the Industry



Company Profiles



Commercial Property Investment And Management



Accelerate Property Fund Ltd

Acsion Ltd

Adrenna Property Group Ltd

Afhco Holdings (Pty) Ltd

Arrowhead Properties Ltd

Ascension Properties Ltd

Atterbury Property (Pty) Ltd

Beare Properties (Pty) Ltd

Broll Property Group (Pty) Ltd

City Lodge Hotels Ltd

Delta Property Fund Ltd

Emira Property Fund Ltd

Equites Property Fund Ltd

Eris Property Group (Pty) Ltd

Excellerate Real Estate Services (Pty) Ltd

Exemplar Reitail Ltd

Fairvest Property Holdings Ltd

Fieldspace Property Managers (Pty) Ltd

Fortress Reit Ltd

Freedom Property Fund Ltd

Gemgrow Properties Ltd

Growthpoint Properties Ltd

Heriot Reit Ltd

Hermans And Roman Property Solutions (Pty) Ltd

Homechoice Holdings Ltd

Hyprop Investments Ltd

Inframax Holdings (Pty) Ltd

Ingenuity Property Investments Ltd

Investec Property Fund Ltd

Jhi Retail (Pty) Ltd

Legacy Hotels And Resorts (Pty) Ltd

Liberty Holdings Ltd

Maxprop Holdings (Pty) Ltd

Merchant And Industrial Properties Ltd

Montagu Homes (Pty) Ltd

Oasis Crescent Property Fund

Oasis Crescent Property Fund Managers Ltd

Octodec Investments Ltd

Old Mutual Life Assurance Company (South Africa) Ltd

Orion Real Estate Ltd

Pareto Ltd

Passenger Rail Agency Of South Africa

Public Investment Corporation Soc Ltd

Putprop Ltd

Rebosis Property Fund Ltd

Redefine Properties Ltd

Renprop (Pty) Ltd

Resilient Reit Ltd

Rmg Management Group Sa (Pty) Ltd

Sa Corporate Real Estate Ltd

Sable Holdings Ltd

Sanlam Ltd

Sargas (Pty) Ltd

Stor-Age Property Reit Ltd

Strategic Real Estate Managers (Pty) Ltd

Texton Property Fund Ltd

Tourvest Holdings (Pty) Ltd

Tower Property Fund Ltd

Trafalgar Property Management (Pty) Ltd

Visual International Holdings Ltd

Vukile Property Fund Ltd

Zenprop Management Services (Pty) Ltd

Zenprop Property Holdings (Pty) Ltd

Major Property Developers



Abland (Pty) Ltd

Acsion Ltd

Afhco Holdings (Pty) Ltd

Atterbury Property (Pty) Ltd

Eris Property Group (Pty) Ltd

Free State Development Corporation

Group Five Ltd

Growthpoint Properties Ltd

Hyprop Investments Ltd

Ingenuity Property Investments Ltd

Investec Property (Pty) Ltd

Keystone Investments (Pty) Ltd

Liberty Holdings Ltd

Montagu Homes (Pty) Ltd

Old Mutual Life Assurance Company (South Africa) Ltd

Orion Real Estate Ltd

Rabie Property Group (Pty) Ltd

Renprop (Pty) Ltd

Rpp Developments (Pty) Ltd

Sable Holdings Ltd

Summercon Holdco (Pty) Ltd

Swish Property Group (Pty) Ltd

Tci Properties (Pty) Ltd

Tongaat Hulett Developments (Pty) Ltd

Visual International Holdings Ltd

Wbho Construction (Pty) Ltd

Westbrook Residential Development (Pty) Ltd

Zenprop Property Holdings (Pty) Ltd

Zotos Brothers (Pty) Ltd

Sustainable Human Settlements - (Previously Rdp Housing)



Calgro M3 Holdings Ltd

Inframax Holdings (Pty) Ltd

Nu-Way Housing Developments (Pty) Ltd

Power Development Projects (Pty) Ltd

Trustgro Developments (Pty) Ltd

Development Of Leisure Resorts & Hotels



City Lodge Hotels Ltd

Kat Leisure (Pty) Ltd

Legacy Hotels And Resorts (Pty) Ltd

Peermont Global (Pty) Ltd

Sun International Ltd

Tsogo Sun Holdings Ltd

Company Profile - Industrial Development Zone

Coega Development Corporation (Pty) Ltd

East London Industrial Development Zone Soc Ltd

Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone Company Soc Ltd

Residential Real Estate



Aida National Franchises (Pty) Ltd

Electronic Realty Associates (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd

Everybody Wins Real Estate Franchising (Pty) Ltd

First Realty Central (Pty) Ltd

Firzt Realty (Pty) Ltd

Geffen International Realty Franchises (Pty) Ltd

Jawitz Properties (Pty) Ltd

Just Property Group Holdings (Pty) Ltd (The)

Leapfrog Property Group (Pty) Ltd

My Africa Properties (Pty) Ltd

Pam Golding Properties (Pty) Ltd

Property Referral Network (Pty) Ltd

Realty One International Property Group (Pty) Ltd

Seeff Property Services (Pty) Ltd

Wakefields Real Estate (Pty) Ltd

Property Valuation



Appraisal Corporation Cc

Broll Valuation And Advisory Services (Pty) Ltd

Cape Value (Pty) Ltd

Corporate Valuations Cc

Ddp Valuers (Pty) Ltd

Eris Property Group (Pty) Ltd

Magnus Penny Associates Cc

Mills Fitchet (East Coast) Cc

Mills Fitchet (Gauteng) Cc

Mills Fitchet (Kzn) Cc

Mills Fitchet (Natal) (Pty) Ltd

Mills Fitchet (Pwv) (Pty) Ltd

Mills Fitchet Africa (Pty) Ltd

Mills Fitchet Valuations (Pty) Ltd

Rode And Associates (Pty) Ltd

S A Appraisers And Valuers Cc

Spectrum Valuations And Asset Solutions (Pty) Ltd

Company Profiles - Bond Origination

Betterlife Group Ltd

Intelligent Debt Management (Pty) Ltd

Multinet Home Loans (Pty) Ltd

Ooba (Pty) Ltd

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/76p23c/south_africa_real?w=12

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.
WENN/Nicky Nelson TV

Meanwhile, Kenya plays coy when it comes to her possible return to the Bravo show as she takes to her Instagram account to tease that she's always open to any possibilty.

Feb 4, 2019

AceShowbiz - It seems like Kenya Moore is beyond desperate to return to "The Real Housewives of Atlanta". A new report suggests that the new former cast member of the Bravo reality show is offering the network's honchos a huge deal as she's willing to give up her initial good salary.

According to MTO News, the mother of one is looking for a return to the show and offering to rejoin the show with only $500,000 per season. That is a huge paydown for Kenya as it means she's offering a 75% discount from her initial $2 million salary two seasons ago.

In addition, Kenya is open for any role on the show. "She's even willing to take a friend of the show role," an insider tells the site. "She's desperate to get back on the show, in any way."

It is also said that Bravo is considering to take the offer. "We're always looking at budgets and we can get [Kenya] at a big discount then we'll definitely consider it," the executive of Bravo allegedly claimed to the gossip site. The executive, though, notes that the offer is "informal" so far.

Meanwhile, Kenya took to her Instagram account to tease her possible return to "RHOA". During an Instagram live broadcast, the TV personality received a lot of comments from her followers who begged her to make a return on the show.

"@Bravo! Yall a*** suck! Kenya! Do not take a pay cut! Bravo needs you! Look at the ratings," a fan wrote in the comment section. "WE DESPERATELY NEED YOU BACK," one eager fan added.

In addition to Kenya, fans apparenly also wanted Phaedra Parks to return. "Come back....and bring @phaedraparks with u," said another fan.

In response to the demand, Kenya coyly replied, "Will I return to 'Real Housewives of Atlanta'? My motto in life is 'never say never.' "
Russian side insists that the termination of the Azov Treaty would lead to the legal vacuum

The termination of the treaty with Russia on the cooperation in the use of the Sea of Azov by Ukraine will harm the whole international navigation as TASS reported citing Russia's Deputy Transport Minister and Head of Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport Yuriy Tsvetskov.

The termination will push our back; the legal vacuum will exist, which does not meet the interests of the people, first of all, users, seafarers, not only Russian or Ukrainian; it concerns the whole international navigation. If it is terminated, it will become the severe blow from the side of our neighbors to the international navigation, he noted.

In 2018 Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin stated that Ukraine prepares for the termination of the Azov Sea Treaty with Russia.

A few days ago he specified that it can take place in the foreseeable future, particularly, when Ukraine will have completely spotted legal position and all issues on the international arbitrage will be solved.

As we reported, Ukraine submitted its Memorial in Arbitration Proceedings against the Russian Federation under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on February 19, 2018.

It is noted that since 2014, Russia has unlawfully excluded Ukraine from exercising its maritime rights; it has exploited Ukraines sovereign resources for its own ends; and it has usurped Ukraines right to regulate within its own maritime areas. Through these violations of international law, Russia is stealing Ukraines energy and fisheries resources, harming the livelihoods of Ukrainian fishermen, and blocking traffic to Ukrainian ports with its illegal bridge over the Kerch Strait, among other serious violations.

The incident with three Ukrainian vessels in the Sea of Azov on November 25, 2018, when the Russian border guarders seized the boats and the crews became one more reason for the discussion on the termination of treaty.

Moreover, on December 6, 2018, Ukraines Parliament adopted the presidential bill No. 0206 on termination of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership with Russia.
The information of the registry has to be protected as confidential information

Open source

The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed a bill on the creation of a Unified Registry of war veterans. The information about the bill is contained in its card No.9508.

The law on the status of war veterans provides the creation of a Unified Register of War Veterans. The Ministry of Veterans Affairs is responsible for that.

It is expected that the registry will help to keep the record of veterans, implement their rights to benefits and socials securities, to define their needs and coordinate the activity of different establishments.

The information of the registry has to be protected as confidential information.

The Government was entrusted to define the order of creation, maintenance, access to the information the registry contains, the ways of its use, an order of obtaining information from other registries, and databases about physical entities for listing in the register.

Earlier, the parliamentary committee on veterans and disabled people affairs by the chairman of the committee, the representative of Petro Poroshenko Bloc Oleksandr Tretyakov developed the bill and registered it on January 28
Police detained a specially hired group of far-right from Kyiv on suspicion of preparing provocations in Odesa

Group of provocators who arrived in Odesa, February 26, 2019 Ruslan Forostyak Facebook

Police detained a group of far-right from Kyiv on suspicion of preparing provocations in Odesa on February 26, as the advisor of the Head of National Police Regional Department Ruslan Forostnyak reported.

At the time, when the President is in Odesa with an official delegation led by the U.S. Ambassador in Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, the U.S. Special Representative on Ukraine Kurt Volker, other officials, and USS Donald Cook in harbor station, there were people who decided to start some provocations. Now, the investigators should define who exactly and for what reason sent a group of guys, to Odesa, who were paid and who were noticed in some other regions, where they carried out some provocations, imitating protests of the pro-radical forces under the flag of some Traditions and order, Forostnyak wrote.

Ruslan Forostyak Facebook Group of provocators who arrived in Odesa, February 26, 2019 Ruslan Forostyak Facebook Group of provocators who arrived in Odesa, February 26, 2019 Ruslan Forostyak Facebook Group of provocators who arrived in Odesa, February 26, 2019

According to him, the detention occurred near entering Odesa region: the guests from Kyiv were ambushed by the police.

According to Bellingcat, Traditions and Order is a far-right violent organization connected by Human Rights Watch to attacks on Ukrainian Roma, LGBT persons, and LGBT rights activists. Some of their members identify themselves as national-socialists, and show a penchant for posing  non-ironically  with Nazi salutes.

Six months ago, they were spotted in getting Special-Ops Like training from an elite European security firm. "At least one recipient of ESA training is reported to be an active member of an ultra-nationalist group known as Tradition and Order and has openly admitted online to supporting a Nazi ideology," The Daily Beast reports.
Ukrainian presidential candidate Tymoshenko has initiated impeachment proceedings against Poroshenko, as his own company was involved in these corruption schemes as a straw company

Oleg Gladkovsky, First Deputy Secretary of National Security and Defence Council (NSCD) Open source

First Deputy Secretary of National Security and Defence Council (NSDC) of Ukraine Oleg Gladkovsky appealed to the law enforcement agencies asking to check the information published in the journalist investigation Bihus.Info. That information contains facts about illegal deals in purchasing in the army. Gladkovsky also asks to suspend his mandate as First Deputy Secretary of NSDC, as Interfax-Ukraine reported.

To prevent any innuendos, I personally appeal to the Main Military Prosecution, and to NABU with a statement to check everything revealed in the investigation and give me and the whole community the answers. I ask you to suspend my power as First Deputy Secretary of NSDC and Chairman of the Inter-Agency Commission on Policy Relating to Military and Technical and Export Control for the period of inspection. I file the relevant statement immediately, the news agency cited the mentioned documents.

Right after that, the Presidents Spokesperson Svyatoslav Tsehlko stated that Petro Poroshenko supported the suspension of Oleg Gladkovsky.

Petro Poroshenko demands that the law enforcers carry out immediate information verification, revealed in the journalist program Our money to refute or confirm this information, he wrote on his Facebook page.

Ukrainian presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko has initiated impeachment proceedings against Poroshenko, as his own Kuznia na Rybalskomy company was involved in the corruption schemes as a straw company.

February 25, journalist investigations Bihus.Info, Nashi Hroshi program alleged that Igor Gladkovsky, the son of close Poroshenko ally Oleh Gladkovsky, deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, organized a corruption scheme to smuggle spare military-equipment parts from Russia in 2015. State defense facilities purchased the smuggled spare parts from private companies linked to Hladkovsky and his friends at highly inflated prices. Ukroboronprom state concern, which supervises defense industry production facilities, knew the origin of the smuggled parts but agreed to purchase them.

Igor Gladkovsky, along with Vitaliy Zhukov (former advisor of Ukroboronprom Director, the member of supervisory council of Meridian company till 2013, former assistant of Yuriy Tereshchenko, ex-Head of State Service of export control, Oleg Gladkovskys friend, - ed.) and Andriy Rogoza (CEO of Inter Steel Ltd., - ed.) were supplying smuggled Russian components and components from the Ukrainian military units through straw companies at prices 2-4 times higher than market ones.
The new participant has to sign the agreement, which forbids touring in Russia for three months after the contest

Open source

Alasania Zurab, the Head of the National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine, stated that negotiations with another candidate of the Eurovision-2019 will be held in the morning on February, 26. He wrote this on Facebook.

Long and tiresome were talks (five hours and a half) between the National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine, Maruv, and her team, the result is the following: the parties did not strike a compromise, the agreement will not be signed, Alasia said.

The National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine believes that the national selection of this year will be held in a fair way.

However, the selection highlighted another problem that touches upon politics, but not music, because of many musicians tour in the aggressor state. And this caused a negative resonance among part of the society. And at the same time another part of the society defends the result, along with the advocacy of this right, - the report said.

Alasia also points out that in order to prevent involving too much politics in the contest (this is a condition of the Eurovision) the National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine wrote such conditions in the agreement that would settle this issue down.

In particular: the refusal of the representative of Ukraine at the international contest from touring in the Russian Federation (three months after the contest). As well as the respectful attitude while speaking in public regarding the territorial integrity of Ukraine, or any statements that could cause harmful effect on Ukraine at the international level (the rest of the conditions are about rights, for example, all the standards of the Eurovision. The National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine is responsible for any negative behavior of the participant. Both inside and outside the country, Alasia reported.

It should be noted that according to the results of the national selection, Freedom Jazz with the song Cupidonthe second place won. The third place won Kazka with the song Apart. Brunettes Shoot Blondes ranked fourth, and Yuko came fifth.

As we reported earlier, Maruv became a participant of Eurovision-2019 from Ukraine. This became known after the joint voting of the jury and the TV audience on February, 23. MARUV won the show with Siren Song amid explosive drama and red-hot words. Shell represent Ukraine at Eurovision 2019 in Tel Aviv. Maruv won the national selection for Eurovision 2019. She got 11 points out of 12.
Ukraines member of parliament Nadiya Savchenko and the former leader of Officer Corps Centre Volodymyr Ruban Radio Liberty

The consideration of the case of Ukraines MP Nadiya Savchenko, earlier illegally imprisoned by Russia, and the former leader of Officer Corps Centre Volodymyr Ruban would be moved to Kyiv. Solomeiasky District Court of Kyiv will consider the case, as Radio Liberty reported.

Ukraines Supreme Court has made this decision.

Earlier, Chernihiv District Court had to consider this case, which was moved there from Sloviansk (Donbas).

Yuriy Lutsenko, Prosecutor General, claimed that he had proof that Savchenko planned an armed coup d'etat, which would have led to mass civilian casualties. In particular, according to the information of the Prosecutor General's Office, she planned to shell Kyiv with a grenade launcher. Furthermore, together with earlier detained Volodymyr Ruban she is suspected of an organization of assassination of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

As we reported earlier, Savchenko took a polygraph testing. The Security Service of Ukraine claimed that the psychological forensic examination with the use of the polygraph of MP Nadiya Savchenko confirmed her intentions of committing the coup d'etat, particularly the commitment of the terrorist act in the governmental quarter and the Ukrainian Parliament.

December 13, Kyiv Court postponed the consideration of Savchenkos case due to her bad state of health. Savchenko stated that she had partial loss of hearing and vision.
EPA / UPG

Five appeals were filed against the verdict for ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, as the press office of Kyiv Obolonsky Court, which jury considered his case on state treason, reported.

In particular, the lawyers of Yanukovych filed all the appeals. Yuriy Ryabovol asks to cancel the verdict and acquit the accused; Oleksandr Baydyk wants to change the verdict in terms of excluding some of referring to certain evidence and circumstances; Oleksandr Goroshynsky asks to repeal the sentence and close the criminal case; Bogdan Bilenko and Adriana Fozekosh support cancellation of the sentence and appointment of new court session in the trial court; Vitaliy Serdyuk and Igor Fedorenko ask the Court of Appeal to question 48 witnesses, to cancel the sentence, to close the criminal proceeding, to cancel seizure of property.

The amount of all the appeals make 478 pages.

Besides, the lawyer Baydyk asks the court to correct mistakes in the verdict.

In particular, the lawyer asks Kyiv Obolonsky District Court to exclude reference to the circumstance which mitigates the punishment for Yanukovych: committing the crimes under the influence of dependence on the representatives of the Russian authorities. Besides, the lawyer asks the court to correct the sum of procedural costs from $3,500 to $2,090, the press office of the court informed.

It was noted that soon the criminal proceeding will be passed to Kyiv Court of Appeal. The question of correcting possible mistakes will be solved after the court revises the sentence.

As we reported earlier, the Court of Appeal of the Cherkasy region transferred almost $55 million to the state budget within the framework of the special confiscation process.

According to the Prosecutor General, they will spend this money on new missiles, anti-tank guided missile launchers, armored vehicles, fire control systems.

As we reported earlier, Yury Ryabovol, the state lawyer of Viktor Yanukovych has filed the appeal against the sentence of Obolon District Court on the state treason case of the ex-president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych.

The court found Yanukovych guilty of addressing the Russian President Putin and asking him to deploy troops in Ukraine.

Besides, the court sentenced ex-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych to 13 years of the detention for the state treason and complicity in the holding of the aggressive war against Ukraine by the Russian Federation.

Yanukovych was charged with state treason, assistance in deliberate actions against Ukraines state border, sovereignty and territorial integrity and assistance in leading the aggressive war against Ukraine.

Related video:
Volodymyr Zamana, suspected of state treason, was arrested without a right for bail

The former head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Volodymyr Zaman Open source

Kyiv Pechersky District Court arrested the former Head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Volodymyr Zamana suspected of state treason without a right for bail till March 27, 2019, as Interfax reported.

This decision might be appealed. The whole text of the courts order will be announced on March 1.

As Ukraines Chief Military Prosecutor Anatoliy Matios stated, over the period when Zamana held the post, he signed orders for downsizing of the officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The number of orders per 4,436 people exceeded the norm provided by the law On the size of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for 2012.

Besides, when in office, anti-craft missile divisions were dissolved, which had S-300 missile systems in service. Besides, the 874th, 5001st, 2081st anti-craft missile divisions and the 137th, 208th surface-to-air missile brigades were disbanded.

Over the period of his work, Ukraine was completely deprived of air defense. This is related to the disbandment of 19 military aviation units and establishments. Besides, the 114th tactical aviation brigade was reformatted from a brigade into a squadron.

The Chief Military Prosecutor stressed that all this created significant advantages for the Russian Black Sea Fleet concerning the control and blockade of Armed Forces of Ukraine units in Crimea in case of open or hybrid aggression against Ukraine aimed at annexation of Crimea.

According to him, in September 2012, Zamana agreed on the order of change of the technical state of the military property, which provided that 588 units, mostly anti-aircraft missile systems were dismantled.

Volodymyr Zamana became the head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in February 2012 and held this post till February 19, 2014. Then, on February 22, 2014, Zamana was appointed as the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada to control the activity of the Defence Ministry of Ukraine, where he worked till June 2014.

Ukraine news on 112.international
The enterprises mentioned as part of corruption scheme to smuggle spare military-equipment parts from Russia are already the objects of the investigations

Open source

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has promised to analyze the information about embezzlement in the supplies in the army published by the journalists of Nashi Groshi (Our Money) show, as the NABU reported on Facebook.

The NABU detectives will analyze the information about corruptions facts in the defense sphere published in the journalist investigation of Lesya Ivanova and provide it with the proper investigation, the message said.

It is noted that the enterprises mentioned in the material are already the objects of the NABU investigations. Generally, the detectives investigate the corruption at about 15 enterprises of the defense and industrial complex within a few dozens criminal proceedings. On one of such enterprises, Lviv Armored Plant, the investigation is finished, the message said.

The body also reported that the investigations of the corruption schemes in the defense sphere are difficult and have their own peculiarities. Particularly, the purchases of the goods are closed (without any tenders). Some part of the documents, including those, which can be the evidence, are marked as classified; the market of goods of the military and dual-purpose is absent and it complicates the holding of the examination and determination of their market price; the determination of the circumstances of the commitment of the crime needs receiving of the information from the abroad and it lasts for sixth months or more.

February 25, journalist investigations Bihus.Info, Nashi Hroshi program alleged that Igor Gladkovsky, the son of close Poroshenko ally Oleh Gladkovsky, deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, organized a corruption scheme to smuggle spare military-equipment parts from Russia in 2015. State defense facilities purchased the smuggled spare parts from private companies linked to Hladkovsky and his friends at highly inflated prices. Ukroboronprom state concern, which supervises defense industry production facilities, knew the origin of the smuggled parts but agreed to purchase them.

Igor Gladkovsky, along with Vitaliy Zhukov (former advisor of Ukroboronprom Director, the member of supervisory council of Meridian company till 2013, former assistant of Yuriy Tereshchenko, ex-Head of State Service of export control, Oleg Gladkovskys friend, - ed.) and Andriy Rogoza (CEO of Inter Steel Ltd., - ed.) were supplying smuggled Russian components and components from the Ukrainian military units through straw companies at prices 2-4 times higher than market ones.

Ukrainian presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko has initiated impeachment proceedings against Poroshenko, as his own Kuznia na Rybalskomy company was involved in the corruption schemes as a straw company.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A new book about Adam Smith, widely hailed as the founding father of economics, spotlights Smiths two published books, which comprise a towering achievement in the history of western thought, with insights as relevant today as when they were written.



Published by the Fraser Institute, the book The Essential Adam Smith (and its accompanying website and animated videos) present Smiths ideas in plain language, using contemporary examples for a new generation.

Although Smith wrote only two books, he remains one of the most important and influential scholarly writers of the last millenniumhis ideas are both revolutionary and timeless, said James Otteson, professor of economics at Wake Forest University and author of The Essential Adam Smith .

Born in Scotland in 1723, Smith became a key figure of the Scottish Enlightenmenta period of great intellectual accomplishment. His first book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, which explored how individuals come to decide whats right and wrong, has enjoyed a renaissance of sorts in our age of podcasts and online videos, with many commentators alluding to Smiths theory of morality.

His second book, the renowned The Wealth of Nations, explored why some countries prosper while others languish in poverty. Here, Smith observed what became known as the invisible handthat individuals pursuing their own interests, namely selling goods and services to make a living, benefit society by providing things people want and need.

And that economic prosperity is rooted in the division of labouror specializationand freer trade.

Smiths observations, made in the 1700s, resonate loudly today, as modern investigations into both human morality and economic history suggest he was astonishingly accurate in his writings, Otteson said.

The book also explores Smiths observations on the division of labour, the role of government, justice and beneficence, and much more.

This book and supporting materials including a video series help to explain Smiths key ideas in clear, easily-accessible language, said Jason Clemens, Fraser Institute executive vice-president.

At www.essentialadamsmith.org , you can download the complete book and individual chapters for free. And view five short videos summarizing the key points of individual chapters. The videos are also available on the Fraser Institutes YouTube channel .

MEDIA CONTACTS:

James Otteson

Economics Professor, Wake Forest University

ottesojr@wfu.edu

Jason Clemens

Executive Vice-President, Fraser Institute

jason.clemens@fraserinstitute.org

To arrange interviews or for more information, please contact:

Mark Hasiuk at (604) 688-0221 ext. 517 or mark.hasiuk@fraserinstitute.org

Follow the Fraser Institute on Twitter | Like us on Facebook
Alva Johnson, a staffer on Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign Open source

Alva Johnson, a staffer on Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign says he kissed her without her consent at a small gathering of supporters before a Florida rally, an interaction that she alleges in a new lawsuit still causes her anguish, The Washington Post reported.

In interviews and in the lawsuit, Alva Johnson said Trump grabbed her hand and leaned in to kiss her on the lips as he exited an RV outside the rally in Tampa on Aug. 24, 2016. Johnson said she turned her head and the unwanted kiss landed on the side of her mouth.

In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders dismissed Johnsons allegation as absurd on its face.

This never happened and is directly contradicted by multiple highly credible eye witness accounts, she wrote.

Two Trump supporters that Johnson identified as witnesses  a campaign official and Pam Bondi, then the Florida attorney general  denied seeing the alleged kiss in interviews with The Washington Post.

The Washington post reports they found the recording of Johnson speaking glowingly of Trump in a radio interview in May 2017.

Alva Johnson and Donald Trump at Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center in Alabama on Nov 21, 2015. (Courtesy of Alva Johnson) The Washington Post

He is more incredible in person than I think you would even think as you see him on TV, she told the Alabama-based program Politics and Moore. Hes just the nicest guy. . . He treats everyone as if they are a part of his family.

She also said she expected to be given a job as the second-in-command at the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon. I will at some point be heading over to Portugal to work in the embassy, she said.

The Washington Post also publishes the text of the lawsut:
Zaitseva and Dronov are both sentenced to 10 years in prison

Open source

Olena Zaitseva and Hennadiy Dronov both found guilty of the deadly car accident in Kharkiv, which resulted in the death of six people. The Kyiv District Court of Kharkiv delivered a verdict in the case  10 years in prison for every defendant, UA:  reports.

The verdict also claims the ban to drive within three years.

The appeal against the court decision may be filed within 30 days.

A week earlier, Olena Zaitseva pleaded guilty and she is ready to be punished.

An hour before the sentence was announced (the court was reading the text for two hours in a row), Olena Zaitseva gat worse and she was brought out of the court room. She hasnt come back to here the verdict.

The 112 Ukraine TV channel correspondent reported that the atmosphere in the courtroom was very tense. The relatives of those deceased and survivors were present.

The lawyers of Hennadiy Dronov claimed that they shall appeal against today's court decision as he doesnt plead guilty.

On October 18, 2017, Lexus ran over a group of pedestrians in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine. Olena Zaitseva who drove the car violated the road traffic, crashing into the Volkswagen Touareg driven by Hennadiy Dronov which threw her car towards the pavement. Both drivers survived, but Lexus ran over eleven people who passed by. Five pedestrians received lethal injuries; another six were taken to a hospital with injuries of various degrees of severity.

Zaitseva was detained for two months without a right to bail. The court revoked her driver license and arrested both cars that participated in the accident.

The prosecution stated that Zaitseva used opiates not long before the tragedy occurred. According to the information from the defense, the suspect took the sedatives.

The version of Zaitseva's defense is that the driver of the Touareg is guilty as he moved on the yellow traffic light. The defense of Hennadiy Dronov denies the accusation and claims that the driver of the Touareg moved on the green traffic light.

Dronov was the witness in this case but the police claimed that his status can change. Later, the court refused to recognize Dronov sustained. Hennadiy Dronov was served with charge papers on November 2. The Court arrested Hennadiy Dronov for 42 days without the right to bail on November 8.

It was established on December 6 that Zaitseva used substances containing codeine.

On February 7, the court prolonged the arrest of two suspects in the car crash that killed six people - Olena Zaitseva and Hennadiy Dronov for two months without a right for bail.
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, the Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, is convinced that this way Russia is trying to get a more "compliant" president in Ukraine

Russia is blatantly blocking the attempts to release the Ukrainian sailors captured in Kerch Strait, as Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, the Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, said during the 4th Ukrainian Lab arranged by Ukrainian Think Tanks Liaison Office in Brussels, as Ukrinform reported.

Weve heard many different statements from the Russian authorities. They insist they are not going to take any steps till the end of the presidential elections. This shows that they are waiting for Ukraine to get weak, they are cynically trying to hint that it will be a gift if Ukraine makes up its mind and chooses the president, who wont be that incompliant in the dialogue with Russia. I think that this is one of the reasons for us to make conclusions about Russias goals, she said.

Vice Prime Minister also stressed that Ukraine expects that the EU will continue pressuring Russian with sanctions. Last week, the EU announced the first sanctions imposed for Azov crisis. According to Klympush-Tsintsadze, this is just a beginning.

We will be discussing the ways to develop a pressure of the EU upon Russia, the ways to release our POWs, our sailors, who were illegally captured by Russian Federation. It is not only about the cooperation with the EU, but it is also about coordination with NATO and OSCE. The goal of such efforts is to make Russia observe the international law and decisions made at the level of the EU and Council of Europe, the Minister stated.

On November 25, the coast guard ships of the Russian Navy attacked the ships of the Ukrainian Navy, which have been carrying out a scheduled transition from Odesa port to Mariupol port in the Sea of Azov. Ukrainian ships were rejected passage via the Kerch Strait, Russian coast guards opened aimed fire on them.

All 24 sailors on board were captured and delivered to Moscow  21 of them were delivered to Lefortovo remand center, another - to the hospital of Matrosskaya Tishina prison.

On December 3, the Russian prosecutors officially accused Ukrainian sailors with the 'illegal crossing of the state border' during the attack in the Kerch Strait.

Facing an extension of the sentence term, Ukrainian POWs detained in the Kerch Strait refused to testify in Lefortovo court. Sailors were distributed into six groups, four people in each. On January 15, 2019, Moscow's Lefortovo district court decided to keep 20 Ukrainian sailors in remand until April 24. On January 16, the court extended the detention term for another 4 sailors.

As we reported, lawyer Nikolai Polozov, who deals with the defense of Ukrainian prisoners of war, confirmed that three Ukrainian sailors wounded in the Russian Navy attack on Ukrainian ships were brought from Matrosskaya Tishina to Lefortovo prison in Moscow. He also added that it happened on Monday, January 28.

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Prosecutors Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea passed the evidence of the use of the Crimeas population for the seizure of the military objects in 2014 by the Russian military men to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, as the prosecutors office reported.

The Ukrainian soldiers could not use the weapon for the protection against attack in such conditions. The issue is about at least 10 military objects of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the involvement of at least 1,000 civilians.

According to the Prosecutors Office, the four categories of the civilians made the human shields, including the Crimeans with the pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian views, people transferred from Russia for the participation in the occupation of the peninsula, representatives of Cossacks and the so-called Crimean self-defense.

The seizure of the military and naval base in Novoozerne was illustrative. At least 300 people were involved in it, including men and women, teenagers and people of old age.

In accordance with Article 8 of Rome Statute of the ICC, such actions should be qualified as the separate kind of the military crimes. Moreover, the intentional use of the civilian population for the cover of the military operations violates the commitment to assume all possible precautionary measures for the differentiation of the civilians' objects and military purposes, Deputy Prosecutor Ihor Ponochovny noted.

The ban for the use of the human shields is enshrined in the Article 28 of IV Geneva Convention, Article 51 of the Optional Protocol to Geneva conventions and the 97th norm of the common international humanitarian law. The Prosecutors Office of Crimea holds the pretrial investigation.

The prosecutors office noted that the use of the civilians as the human shields within the armed conflicts is no unique. The use of the civilians during the active phase of the occupation in February-March 2014 differs from the common interpretation of this crime ie international practice. People with the pro-Russian views were among the population, which stood as the human shields. Their participation was welcomed as well as people, who gathered near the military objects after threats and blackmail.

As we reported the International Criminal Court in the Hague intends to finish the analysis of the war crimes in Crimea and Donbas soon and decide on the admissibility of the case.
The document will come into force on the next day after its publication

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed the bill which bans Russians from participating in the elections process in Ukraine. Relevant information is contained in the card of the draft law No. 9524

The document proposes amendments to the law on presidential elections, elections to the Verkhovna Rada (scheduled for autumn 2019), and local elections.

It is established that a person, who is a citizen of a state aggressor and a person, whose offer is initiated or submitted by a state aggressor cannot be the observers at the elections (including the representatives of the foreign states).

Within a long-term mission of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), two Russian observers would head to Kyiv to observe the Ukrainian presidential campaign on February 11 - Yelizaveta Borisova from the Russian Public Institute of Electoral Law and Khristina Bogdanova from the Institute of Public Electoral Diplomacy.

The Verkhovna Rada registered the bill No.9524 which calls for ruling out the participation of the observers from the aggressor state in the presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine.

ODIHR offered to include two citizens of Russia to the list of the mission on the observation of the Ukrainian presidential elections on 31 March 2019, despite the conditions declared by Ukraine.

As we reported earlier, The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Ukraine has created 199 district election commissions for the upcoming presidential election on March 31.

The election campaign has officially started on December 31, 2018. Registration of the candidates was closed on February 4, 2019, and on February 9, the final list of presidential candidates is expected to appear. The candidates would be able to withdraw their candidacy until March 7, 2019.
Ukrainian guardsmen were monitoring the two enemy's snipers over two days

Ukrainian soldiers eliminated the enemys snipers in the Joint Forces Operation zone, as the headquarters of the operation reported on Facebook.

The servicemen of the tactical group battalion of Ukraines National Guard were monitoring the enemys sniper and his assistant. They were located at their firing positions. It was reported that the enemys snipers were preparing to eliminate the Ukrainian servicemen.

Ukrainian guardsmen prepared a position and chose a comfortable distance. Soon the enemys snipers were eliminated.

Later, the Ukrainian guardsmen were rewarded for their professionalism.

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According to Ukrainian President, Russia deploys new military units at the Ukrainian border, ramping up its potential for possible invasion

The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko president.gov.ua

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko claimed the realness of full-scale aggression by the Russian Federation (against Ukraine, - ed.) and named the preparation stages. The President said that in his speech at the strategic meeting with the key personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, broadcasted by 112 Ukraine TV channel.

A threat of a full-scale war is not a declaration. It is real, especially in the light of current enemys military preparations. The preparations are being held at Ukraines border in Smolensk, Voronezh, Belgorod, Rostov regions and on the territory of the annexed Crimea, Poroshenko noted.

The President underlined that Russia is deploying new military forces, ramping up its potential for possible invasion.

The enemy continues forming up Zapad joint strategic command within two general troops armies, a tank army, army corps, military air forces and air defense forces on the Western strategic destination. On the South-Western strategic destination, the 8th general troops army exercised direct control over two army corps of the Russian Federation, deployed on the territory of the temporarily occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The unprecedented militarization goes in the Black Sea region. A powerful combined forces, which include ground-based, air-based and sea-based component, with 30 000 of total manpower. Missile establishments equipped with Iskander tactical missile systems are being formed and deployed, Poroshenko said.

At that Poroshenko added that Russias appetites move far beyond Ukraine.

Russias hybrid war is aimed to fundamentally change the political landscape of entire Europe, sometimes the plans go to global changes, he said.
The informants were gathering and passing information about the location of Ukraine's servicemen to the coordinator

The informants of the so-called Luhansk Peoples Republic (LPR) were detained in the Luhansk region. They were passing information about the location of the Ukrainian soldiers to the occupants, as the press office of Luhansk Prosecutors Office reported.

The informants were acting on the territory of the region in 2017-2018. There were two residents if Ukraine-controlled Lysychansk and Rubizhne, and a man from Kreminna among the informants. The participant of the illegal armed formation Peoples police controlled their activity.

The informants were gathering and passing information to the coordinator. Occupants were interested in the displacement of the Ukrainian military. Then, the coordinator was passing information to his curator, a Russian citizen.

Law enforcers carried out searches and found electronic devices which helped the militants to pass information. They were served with charges concerning participation in the terrorist organization LPR and cooperation with it. Two informants have already received restrictive measures in a form of detention in custody. They face 8 and 15 years of imprisonment with a seizure of property or without it.
The end of the 1980s; a Soviet specialist and his family  wife and nine-year-old son  came back from Mongolia to one of Ukraines largest industrial centers for the construction of a mining and processing plant. No one could guess about all the consequences of this event. Soon the father became the head of an academic department of cybernetics and computing hardware at the Kryvyi Rih Institute of Economics. His son was an activist and class leader at the local school # 95. He loved sports, danced, participated in amateur panel games competitions. He was an almost high achiever at school. This boy was called Volodymyr Zelensky.

While being a schoolboy, Volodymyr dreamed of becoming a border guard or a diplomat. Subsequently, as he himself admits, he wanted to study for a stage manager, entered what he could  Kryvyi Rih branch of Economic University, where his father Oleksandr Semenovych, Doctor of Economics, was a professor. Volodymyr studied law. However, he has never worked in this field; when being a student, his life gradually turned into a Club of the Funny and Inventive (a humor competition, CFI).

In 1997, he and his friends created their own project "Kvartal 95." Two years later, Russian showman Alexander Maslyakov invited the team to Moscow to participate in the Higher League of KVN. It was a lucky ticket, which the team took advantage of. They quickly become famous.

I know how they appeared on the Ukrainian television; they have signed a long contract with the pro-Russian Inter TV channel, says Ukrainian diplomat, showman Dmytro Chekalkin. Thus, the showman Zelensky made the first steps in politics.

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In 2010, Viktor Yanukovych becomes president of Ukraine. And soon Zelensky becomes the general producer of Inter TV channel. And the "Kvartal 95" turns into a powerful commercial structure. In 2012, Forbes Ukraine magazine presented the rating of the 25 most expensive and popular stars of Ukrainian show business. Almost 40 million US dollars fell on the three participants in the rating  boxers Vladimir and Vitali Klitschko, as well as "Kvartal 95" Studio. In 2012 Zelenskys personal income amounted to more than $ 2 million.

At the end of 2013, the capital of Zelensky and Co. has already increased to 10 million US dollars! Meanwhile, the Revolution of Dignity began in Ukraine. When Kolomoisky (Ukrainian oligarch, believed to be Zelenskys protege, - ed.) was against Maidan in 2014 - they ("Kvartal 95"  ed.) joked that Berkut (special police force, - ed.) should use ebony sticks by to beat Maidan protesters in woolen clothes thus producing electric current. Then the situation changed when Kolomoisky had already sided with the revolutionaries  they ("Kvartal 95"  ed.) have also changed their rhetoric," Chekalkin recalls.

But Zelensky and his team have been always adhering to the pro-Ukrainian position, condemned separatism, and military aggression. On this occasion, Zelensky even addressed his influential Russian namesake on the air.

That was the first attempt of the then non-presidential candidate Zelensky to negotiate with Putin. Two years after all the notorious events, after Crimea was lost, Donbas conflict was very tensed. Zelensky and his team performed at a festival in Jurmala.

A confrontation ensued between oligarch Kolomoisky and the Ukrainian authorities. The process of nationalization of Kolomoiskys PrivatBank began, the oligarch was gradually pushed aside from tidbits of the Ukrainian economy. And it was precisely at this time that the Servant of the People film project was born then.

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The Servant of the People appeared as an element of the crisis between oligarchic Privat group and the authorities, because PrivatBank was nationalized, before the situation around the of Privats energy assets was a kind of criticism from this group, an element of criticism of the Ukrainian authorities, as a kind of consolidation of the material, created by Kvartal 95, says Ruslan Bortnik, political analyst.

According to Dmytro Chekalkyn, initially, the project was planned only as the trolling of President Poroshenko, not the promotion of Zelensky. I know Kolomoisky since the 1990s, and he has repeatedly offered me to lead 1+1 TV channel and a political project, and, as I understand, he created this idea 20 years ago; he wanted to make a leading politician from a no-name party to defend his own political interests," Chekalkyn assumes.

If you want to understand when Zelensky began to be promoted, look at when he first appeared in sociological polls. In 2017 was his first time. People are not included to the polls lists for an accident, Bortnyk says.

There is such a virtual visual image of Holoborodko ("Servant of the People" character; President of Ukraine, formerly a high school history teacher, - ed.) as a national Robin Hood, a national fighter for justice. And there is Zelensky, who gathers a team; there is a connection between this, but no real action, Ruslan Bortnyk says. The investigation of Radio Svoboda's investigative TV program Schemes (its journalists are spied by oligarch Akhmetovs forces, - ed.) concerning Zelenskys offshore companies and his film business in Russia was taken by a surprise. A non-rehearsed meeting with a journalist showed the reverse side of Zelensky, surrounded by guards.

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The journalists have checked the Russian registries and found out that the showman lied. The Russian branch of Kvartal (Kvartal Cinema) was closed only on December 10, 2018 - just before the start of Zelenskys presidential campaign. And the key to this scheme is hidden in the structure of the Cyprus offshore companies.

It is about such a firm GREEN FAMILY LTD. Long-standing business partners are behind this structure: Andriy Yakovlev, Borys and Serhiy Shefir, Zelensky himself and Timur Myndych. The latter is Kolomoiskys associate. GREEN FAMILY LTD is the founder of the Green Films film company.

When it became clear that the scandal was gaining momentum, the presidential candidate solemnly announced that he would quit the founders of Cyprus offshore.

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But there are connections that cannot be canceled with one piece of paper. Timur Mindich is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Community of Dnipro. He owns the country's only factory for the cultivation of artificial diamonds. He is a confidant of Kolomoisky and his close friend. According to our sources, Mindich is an unofficial curator of the 1 + 1 TV channel.

Timur Mindich's wife is Russian citizen Ekaterina Verber, owner of the Kyiv boutique Dolce & Gabbana. She has a golden Bentley, Vertu phone, Hermes crocodile leather handbags, and a Balenciaga dress.

Alla Verber is Mindich's mother-in-law. Fashion Director of the Moscow Central Department Store and the St. Petersburg "House of Leningrad Trade", vice president of Mercury jewelry firm. This group forms the collections and purchases goods of fashion brands for prestigious Russian salons. The entire political elite of Russia comes for shopping there, in particular, the family of Putin and Medvedev.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Zelenskys company plans to shoot the thriller Down and obtain money from the Russian state budget. One of the main roles should be played by Putins confidant in the presidential election  Vladimir Mashkov. The film script was written by Zelensky's business Green Films and Kvarter partners.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, Zelensky and his political technicians are sounding the alarm as "Servant of the People" is going to be banned.

The law clearly stipulates that videos, including serials, are a form of electoral campaigning. In the situation with the Servant of the People, the name of the movie coincides with the name of the political party that is the subject of the election process, that is, nominated a candidate for president, the name and surname of the actor coincide with the name of the candidate for president. We urge presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky to honestly pay money from the Electoral Fund. Now this team has launched a selective attack on the Committee of Voters. Our organization and I personally have received several threatening messages," Aleklsiy Koshel, the chairman of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, says.

How can you fight the oligarchy, if you represent it? And if he was paid absolutely inadequate fees over the years, it proves once again that he was a convenient tool in Kolomoiskys hands, Chekalkin assures.

A whole program would be needed to unveil the details of all his movable property, bank accounts, and real estate in Ukraine and abroad, offshore companies, as well as precious accessories of Zelenskys family. In general, official statuses were declared for a total of about 7 million US dollars. However, it is just the tip of it, as "Honest Country" investigation states. After all, the profit of Kvartal only in 2015 amounted to 30 million dollars.

Zelensky has been living in Ivankovychi village for about a decade. Here he has his own house of 350 sq.m. His neighbors are Kvartal partners, as well as current and former Ukrainian officials. According to real estate sites, the average price of an apartment there is 300,000 US dollars.

Read the original text at 112.ua.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-05 21:37:07|Editor: xuxin

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ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) confirmed on Tuesday 57 of its nationals drowned after two migrant boats sank off the coast of Djibouti last week.

In a press statement, MoFA said it has confirmed the identity of the 57 Ethiopian nationals, after sending an Ethiopian government fact finding mission to Djibouti.

MoFA further said it has confirmed 16 Ethiopian nationals survived the accident, with the survivors receiving psychological and medical help by the Red Cross charity.

The tragedy occurred during the early hours of Jan. 29 off Godoria, a locality in the Obock region of northeast Djibouti.

The latest incident is said to be one of the many similar deadly calamities that have occurred on Djibouti's Red Sea coast area, as desperate East African migrants attempted to cross the dangerous route hoping to reach the Middle East via the war-torn nation Yemen, mainly aiming at reaching Yemen' northern neighbor Saudi Arabia.

Every year thousands of Ethiopians looking for better economic opportunities are estimated to be trafficked through Djibouti and the Red Sea to reach the Arabian Peninsula.

In recent years, the Ethiopian government has taken out advertisement in local print and broadcast media outlets and warned its nationals on the dangers of illegal migration.
PRESS RELEASE

The strong momentum towards global zero-emission economies is stimulating demand for Hexagon's clean mobility and storage solutions. To focus our pursuit of the growing market opportunities for renewable fuel solutions, Hexagon has launched Hexagon Purus, a dedicated business division for its group-wide Hydrogen activities and CNG Light-Duty Vehicle activities.

Through Hexagon Purus, the Company will continue to develop cutting-edge solutions working closely with supporting car, bus and truck manufacturers, fleet, rail and marine operators, gas distributors and refueling station operators.

"We strongly believe in the future of clean energy - and Hexagon Purus is our response to support this transition," says Michael Kleschinski, President of Hexagon Purus. "For us, Purus represents something new, pure and unique. We are clarifying and sharpening our clean energy focus. Hexagon Purus gives us the opportunity to do something different!"

The Hexagon Purus business division includes manufacturing, sales & marketing, R&D locations and personnel in Norway, Germany and USA.

This week, industry executives and leaders from fuel cell, automobile and electronics manufacturers and energy related companies will have the opportunity to see Hexagon Purus' groundbreaking Hydrogen mobility and storage solutions at FC Expo 2019 in Tokyo, the world's largest hydrogen fuel cell show. Hexagon Purus will be showcasing its solutions at the trade fair together with its strategic partner Mitsui & Co., one of the largest trading companies in the world.

Hexagon experiences substantial activity in all segments of the Hydrogen business and is involved in a number of hydrogen development projects ranging from vehicle tanks for cars, buses, ground storage, transportation, marine, rail and backup power solutions. In 2018, the Company received two large OEM contracts for delivery of hydrogen tanks to new Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle models (FCEVs). These contracts show that the market is moving into large scale serial production and confirms Hexagon's strong competitive position in the market for hydrogen mobility solutions.

About Hexagon Purus

Hexagon Purus is the world leading provider of lightweight composite high-pressure tanks and systems for storage and distribution of hydrogen, natural gas and biogas. Its solutions serve a wide range of mobility and storage applications, enabling customers to reduce carbon footprint and increase its competitive-edge.

Visit Hexagon Purus at FC Expo 2019 at booth

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For more information:

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Phone: +49 151 58044068 | michael.kleschinski@hexagongroup.com

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Telephone: +47 906 34 977 | solveig.saether@hexagongroup.com

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- The Judge Section of the Supreme Council of Magistrates (CSM) requests the resumption of the legislative process that allows the organization of competitions for admission to magistracy, warning that the situation of judicial human resources is becoming dramatic and that several courts in the country

- The Euro-Atlantic Resilience Centre will enjoy the full support of the Romanian government, will generate real added value, beneficial to Romania and NATO and EU partners, Romania's Prime Minister Florin Citu said on Monday. "It gives me great pleasure to participate in the opening of the

- The delegation of the Culture and Media Federation FAIR-MediaSind presented during negotiations at the Labor Ministry on the amendment of the Wage Law its proposals for fixing wage discrepancies in the Culture and Mass Media sector, the organization said in a release. "The changes proposed

- Prime Minister Florin Citu says that, after the congress of the National Liberal Party (PNL) is convened, several candidacies for the party leadership will come up, agerpres reports. He was asked on Tuesday, before a convention of the party leadership, if he will run for the PNL leadership. "We

- It is not possible to cancel the service pensions, on Tuesday said the Justice Minister, Stelian Ion, but a level as balanced as possible with the salary is wanted. "There are ongoing discussions. Representatives of the judiciary, the president of the CSM (Supreme Council of Magistrates),

- Chief coordinator of the COVID-19 mass immunisation campaign in Romania Valeriu Gheorghita will be one of the doctors to administer COVID-19 vaccines at an immunisation marathon in Bucharest on Friday, agerpres.ro confirms. "We know that a series of vaccination marathon events are held in

- President Klaus Iohannis on Friday signed decrees appointing new judges and prosecutors graduates of the National Institute of Magistracy. Due to the current epidemiological situation, the annual reception event of the 197 magistrates (129 judges and 68 prosecutors) could not be organized

- Ministrul Educatiei, Sorin Cimpeanu, avanseaza ideea organizarii, in aceasta vara, a unui concurs pentru ocuparea functiilor de directori de scoli, concurs care ar urma sa fie structurat in doua etape, o proba scrisa eliminatorie si o a doua proba la care sa participe doar candidatii care obtin cel
Alegeri interne in organizatia PNL Campia Turzii! Vezi aici noua echipa de conducere

PNL este cel mai tanar vechi partid din Romania. Este cel mai vechi prin traditie si istorie. Este cel mai tanar prin viziune si pragmatism. COMUNICAT DE PRESA [citeste mai departe]
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 06:48:54|Editor: yan

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UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- A South African envoy on Tuesday reiterated deep concern about "the dire humanitarian situation" in Syria, and called on the United Nations and the international community to further increase financial and material assistance to the Middle East country.

Speaking at the United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, Jerry Matjila, permanent representative of South Africa to the UN said South Africa calls for the full implementation of Resolution 2449, which renewed the authorization for cross-border and cross-line humanitarian access to Syria.

"We welcome the ongoing de-escalation agreement between Turkey and Russia, which has averted catastrophic humanitarian consequences," the South African diplomat said.

South Africa reiterates its view that "the only sustainable solution to the Syrian question remains the achievement of a political solution through an inclusive Syrian-led dialogue aimed at achieving a political transition reflective of the will of the Syrian people with guaranteed protection for all groups in Syrian society," he said.
Dublin, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "China Filling Station and Gas Station Industry Report, 2018-2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



It is Predicted that Gas Stations Will Mushroom in China in the Near Future Along With the Promotion and Application of Natural Gas Vehicles, Numbering Roughly 20,000 in 2025



It is only in recent years that ownership of motor vehicles, particularly automobiles has been soaring in pace with the development of the national economy and the improvement of people's living standards in China. At the end of 2018, ownership of motor vehicles in China reached 327 million units including 240 million automobiles, and accordingly there were up to 110,000 filling stations and at least 9,000 gas stations respectively across the country.



In the Chinese filling station market, state-owned enterprises, private firms and foreign companies co-exist, among which the state-owned enterprises are represented by CNPC, Sinopec and CNOOC, which held a combined market share of approximately 52% in 2018, followed by private firms with 45% share and foreign companies less than 3% share.



In June 2018, the Special Management Measures (Negative List) for Foreign Investment Access (2018) was issued, which officially abolished the restriction that foreign filling station in possession of over 30 chains should have shares be controlled by Chinese side. As a result, foreign companies like Shell and BP stated expansion plans in China for the future.



Shell is keen to operate 2,200 more filling stations in China by 2025; BP wants to add 1,000 filling stations in China over the next five years; Exxon Mobil and Total will follow suit and make their forays into the Chinese retailing market rapidly. In addition, private firms such as Shandong Dongming Petrochemical Group as well as state-owned enterprises like Sinochem Oil has expressed an interest in either newly increasing a great number of filling stations or developing franchised ones. It is expected that in 2025 there will be a total increase of nearly 30,000 filling stations over the corresponding figure in 2018.



As its refined oil retailing market is fully opened up, China's reform of filling stations will usher in a new platform. With the prevalence of the filling station + convenience store + charging station/pile model, related companies actively collaborate on promotional pilots of charging/battery-swap services in filling stations. Examples include cooperation between CNPC and FAW, Sinopec and BAIC BJEV, and CNOOC and Potevio/State Grid. In the upcoming years, China's filling stations will run at a filling station + internet + N model, becoming a service platform integrated with people, car and life.



In China, gas stations have a smaller scale than filling stations mainly because the country started late in natural gas vehicles, whose ownership is still less than 10 million units currently. Yet such clean eco-friendly vehicles are advocated by multiple policies. For instance, the Opinions on Accelerating the Use of Natural Gas, which was issued in 2017, suggests expediting the development of natural gas vehicles and vessels; the Notice of Preferential Vehicle and Vessel Tax Policies for Energy-saving and New-energy Vehicles and Vessels which was launched in July 2018, specifies that natural gas vehicles should be listed as energy-saving vehicles where vehicle and vessel taxes are reduced by half. It is predicted that gas stations will mushroom in China in the near future along with the promotion and application of natural gas vehicles, numbering roughly 20,000 in 2025.



China Filling Station and Gas Station Industry Report, 2018-2025 highlights the following:



China filling station industry (policies, market size, competitive pattern, chain operation and development trends);

China refined oil market (supply and demand, import and export, price and development trends);

China motor vehicle/automobile market (ownership, structure, and number of supporting filling stations);

Global and China natural gas vehicle industry (policy environment, market size, gas station ownership and distribution, competitive pattern, development trends, etc.);

Major Global and Chinese operators (Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, Total, Sinopec, CNPC, CNOOC, Sinochem Oil and Dongming Petrochemical) (operation, production and sales of oil and gas, number of filling/gas stations and distribution, non-oil business, development strategy, etc.).

Key Topics Covered:



1. Overview of Filling Station Industry

1.1 Definition and Classification

1.1.1 Definition

1.1.2 Classification

1.2 Major Clients and Consumption Characteristics

1.3 Business Model and Strategy of Filling Stations at Home and Abroad

1.3.1 Business Model (By Entities)

1.3.2 Business Model of Filling Station in Europe (by Business)

1.3.3 Business Model of Filling Station in the United States (by Business)

1.3.4 Business Model of Filling Station in Japan (by Business)

1.3.5 Business Strategy of Filling Station in China



2. China Refined Oil and Filling Station Market

2.1 Refined Oil Market

2.1.1 Market Supply & Demand

2.1.2 Import & Export

2.1.3 Segmented Products

2.1.4 Prices

2.1.5 Operators

2.1.6 Development Trend

2.2 Filling Station

2.2.1 Related Policies

2.2.2 Status Quo

2.2.3 Chain Operation

2.2.4 Competition Pattern

2.2.5 Non-oil Business

2.2.6 Development Trends



3. China Motor Vehicle and Filling Station Market

3.1 Motor Vehicle Market

3.1.1 Ownership

3.1.2 Automobile

3.2 Filling Station and Motor Vehicle Market

3.2.1 Comparison between Filling Station and Motor Vehicle Numbers

3.2.2 Average Number of Motor Vehicles Served by Each Filling Station



4. Global and Chinese Gas Station Market

4.1 Market Overview

4.1.1 Overview

4.1.2 Natural Gas Station

4.1.3 LPG Station

4.1.4 Policy Environment

4.2 Natural Gas Vehicles

4.2.1 Global

4.2.2 China

4.3 Natural Gas Station

4.3.1 Global

4.3.2 China

4.4 Competition Pattern

4.4.1 Natural Gas Vehicles

4.4.2 Natural Gas Station

4.5 Development Prospect



5. Global Key Filling Station Enterprises Abroad

5.1 Shell

5.1.1 Profile

5.1.2 Operating Performance

5.1.3 Revenue Structure

5.1.4 Oil and Gas Production and Sales

5.1.5 LNG Business

5.1.6 Filling Station Business

5.1.7 Filling Station Business in China

5.2 BP

5.3 ExxonMobil

5.4 Total



6. Key Chinese Filling Station Enterprises

6.1 Sinopec

6.1.1 Profile

6.1.2 Operating Performance

6.1.3 Revenue Structure

6.1.4 Oil and Gas Output and Sales Volume

6.1.5 Filling Station Business

6.1.6 Non-oil Business

6.1.7 Development Strategy

6.2 CNPC

6.3 CNOOC

6.4 Sinochem Oil

6.5 Dongming Petrochemical



7. Summary and Forecast

7.1 Market

7.1.1 Filling Stations

7.1.2 Gas Stations

7.2 Company

7.2.1 Local Companies

7.2.2 Foreign-funded Companies

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/3ldcvv/china_filling?w=12





Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 06:18:50|Editor: yan

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NEW YORK, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices rose slightly on Tuesday, rebounding from previous session's sell-off, as investors saw prices likely to rise in the months ahead.

U.S. sanctions against Iran and Venezuela, members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, have contributed to the gains, analysts said.

"The broader supply-demand balance looks set to tighten compared with the second half of last year. We forecast Brent prices to rise to USD 70-80/bbl over the next six months," said UBS in a report.

The West Texas Intermediate for April delivery increased 0.02 dollar to settle at 55.50 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and Brent crude for April delivery was up 0.45 dollar to close at 65.21 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 06:03:44|Editor: yan

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HELSINKI, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The pitfalls and promises of artificial intelligence (AI) were reviewed at a high level conference arranged by Finland and the Council of Europe (CoE) that began here Tuesday.

In tens of speeches heard by over 300 participants from the 47 CoE countries, AI was painted both as "a threat to democracy" but also as a possibility to improve "the appreciation of democracy" among the population and enhance the competitive edge of Europe.

Finland is the current chairman of the Council's Committee of Ministers. Council of Europe comprises 47 countries.

Opening the conference, Finnish Foreign Minister Timo Soini said the discussions in Helsinki focus on the impact of AI on European core values, the human rights and the rule of law.

Soini noted two recent measures related to AI. Last December, CoE's Commission for the Efficiency of Justice adopted the first European ethical principles related to the use of artificial intelligence in the judicial systems. And two weeks ago, the CoE's Committee of Ministers encouraged the member states to assume their responsibility to address the threat of machine learning tools used to manipulate and control economic, social and political behavior.

Dunja Mijatovic, CoE's Human Rights Commissioner, underlined that since national governments bear the responsibility to protect human rights, it is their duty to ensure that private companies which design, develop or use AI systems do not violate human rights standards.

She called for more resolute contacts with tech industries to make them aware of the necessity to incorporate human rights in the design of AI systems. "AI literacy should be promoted among the population in order to help people understand how it works, and recognize when it harms."

HELP IN POLITICS

Francois Friedrich, head of the division of electoral assistance at the CoE Directorate General, underlined the possibilities that AI opens for improving the trust of people in the political system.

He noted that voter turnout in the general elections in the CoE member countries has declined during the past 20 years from 77 to 64 percent. He saw this as a sign of mistrust in "representative democracy".

"With AI, new opportunities for participation could be created and the confidence gap mended," he said.

Friedrich referred to the recent news about procedures to influence voters through social media, but said the ultimate benefits from AI would outweigh the hazards. "We can reverse the risks of interference," he assured.

He also mentioned the possibilities AI opens in voting security and voter identification and in the post-balloting complaints and appeals.

AI ETHICS TO BE A EUROPEAN HALLMARK

Pekka Ala-Pietila, chairman of a European Union expert group on artificial intelligence, talked about of his group that creates AI guidelines.

A draft completed in December attracted 500 comments. The guidelines are to be published in April. Further policy and investment recommendations will be added later.

Ala-Pietila was optimistic about the chances of Europe becoming a world leader in advancing the ethical use of AI. He acknowledged that Europe has lost the consumer market level of AI "mainly to China and the US". But Europe still has the "business-to-business" sector.

He saw "fantastic opportunities" for Europe in the "public-to-citizen" services. Ala-Pietila, envisaged a ten-year program for Europe. "We could coin "made in Europe".

He underlined that ethics and competitiveness go hand in hand. "You cannot be competitive without ethics".

Wolfram von Heynitz, head of the Cyber Policy Coordination Staff at the German Foreign Office, remarked that rules and competitiveness are not mutually exclusive. He said that "good rules" would make Europe competitive.

Von Heynitz said Europe could become a role model in AI for many countries. He made a comparison to the recent introduction of the European data protection rules and the current discussion in the United States about would-be national norms. "Even American companies are asking for a model that looks like GDPR," he said.

The conference continues on Wednesday, with a debate on AI and the rule of law.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 06:03:44|Editor: yan

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VALLETTA. Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- A group of 20 migrants that were rescued over the Christmas period and who eventually disembarked in Malta left the island for Portugal on Tuesday as part of a relocation agreement agreed to by several EU member states.

Among the migrants were people rescued by two NGO rescue ships and the Armed Forces of Malta in three separate operations between Dec. 23 and the first week of January.

The Maltese government noted in a statement that the relocation was the result of an ad hoc agreement between the European Commission, Malta, and other EU member states "following developing humanitarian crisis situations".

The government said that Maltese authorities had worked with their European counterparts, the International Organisation for Migration, and in this particular relocation, with the Portuguese authorities to "assure a swift procedure".

Malta, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Germany, France, Romania, Ireland and the Netherlands all agreed to take some of the rescued migrants.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 05:43:38|Editor: yan

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LAGOS, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Renewed attacks on four villages in Kaduna State, northern Nigeria, have claimed as many as 27 lives, a police source told Xinhua Tuesday.

These bodies were recovered from the four villages of Karamai, Gidan Gajere, Gidan Auta and Chibiya, all under the town of Maro, the source said, noting that two police inspectors have been declared missing.

The source said that security operatives were immediately deployed to the villages where the bodies were recovered, noting that most of the bodies were found in Karamai and Gidan Auta.

He added that among the 27 persons was a policeman said to have been shot by the attackers while on their trail.

Over 40 houses in the villages were razed, the source added.

The Kaduna state government confirmed the attacks in a statement on Tuesday, saying security agencies were working to contain the situation.

State police and government officials did not reveal the casualty number in the attacks.

This is the second spate of attacks in the state within the month. Unidentified gunmen attacked eight villages in Kajuru area on Feb. 15, leading to more than 130 deaths.
The Soyuz spacecraft with Canopus satellite blasts off from launchpad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia December 27, 2018. (REUTERS PHOTO)

MOSCOW, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Russia plans to launch seven spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) this year, the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos said Tuesday.

It said in a statement that the Soyuz MS-12 manned spacecraft will carry Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin and U.S. astronauts Christina Koch and Nick Haig on March 14.

Then the Soyuz MS-13 will take Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, Italian astronaut Luka Parmitano and U.S. astronaut Andrew Morgan to the ISS on July 6.

The following manned flight is scheduled for Sept. 25, that of the Soyuz MS-15 with a crew of a Russian astronaut, a U.S. astronaut and an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates.

On Aug. 22, the Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft will be launched by the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket in an unmanned regime.

Three cargo ships of the Progress type will be launched on April 4, July 31 and Dec. 20 respectively, Roscosmos said.
U.S. President Donald Trump (1st R) meets with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (2nd L, front) at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, Feb. 22, 2019. U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday met with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He at the White House on bilateral ties and the ongoing bilateral trade talks. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

NEW YORK, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. business communities warmly welcomed the progress made in the latest round of trade negotiations between China and the United States, saying hopes are building up for a potential constructive deal by the two sides to relieve the burden of damaging tariffs.

Negotiators of the two sides have achieved substantial progress on specific issues in the Feb. 21-24 talks in Washington, the seventh round since February last year, covering technology transfer, protection of intellectual property rights, non-tariff barriers, service industry, agriculture and exchange rates, according to the Chinese delegation.

U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted on Sunday that he "will be delaying" tariff hikes on Chinese imports previously scheduled for March 1, citing "very productive" trade talks between the two countries.





MORE HOPES FOR CONSTRUCTIVE DEAL

"I have strong hopes that the two largest economies will be able to bridge their differences and reach a constructive agreement," said Carla A. Hills, chairman and CEO of Hills & Company, International Consultants, a Washington-based advisory firm on trade and investment.

"It is important for each side to listen carefully to the other and to develop a win-win outcome," Hills, also a former U.S. trade representative from 1989 to 1993, told Xinhua.

She added that China will benefit from moving back to greater reliance on the U.S. market, as "that will help build trust, which has been badly eroded recently," she said.

Calling the just-concluded trade talks "very encouraging," Sourabh Gupta, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Institute for China-America Studies, said the talks have "irreversibly left the point of failure in the rear view mirror," though "the extent of the success remains to be seen."

"It is a confirmation of the trust and goodwill that have been engendered and this bodes favorably for win-win outcomes in the weeks ... ahead," Gupta told Xinhua.

In retrospect, the bilateral meetings in Beijing prior to last week's talks in Washington were "critically important," he said. "They ensured that the talks had crossed a threshold point from which failure was inconceivable."





U.S. BUSINESS COMMUNITIES ENCOURAGED

The sentiment of U.S. business communities has also been lifted by the latest trade progress made by the world's top two economies, as industrial associations and business owners alike felt relieved by the news of no further tariff hikes, and remained optimistic about the development of U.S.-China trade relations.

"We are optimistic to hear that there has been progress on a trade deal and that the Trump administration has pushed back the deadline for an increase of tariffs," said Rebecca Mond, vice president of federal government affairs at the Toy Association, a trade association for the U.S. toy industry.

"We are hopeful that a long-term trade deal is reached at the upcoming Mar-a-Lago meeting that removes tariffs, which are costing U.S. businesses and consumers every day," Mond told Xinhua.

Trump announced on Sunday that he would be planning a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to pursue a trade agreement.

Recent tariffs imposed by the Trump administration have cost U.S. businesses 2.7 billion U.S. dollars in November 2018 alone, according to data released by Tariffs Hurt the Heartland, a campaign backed by the Washington-based National Retail Federation (NRF), the world's largest retail trade association.

Tariffs Hurt the Heartland also predicted that American workers would lose nearly 1 million U.S. jobs, if tariffs on 200 billion U.S. dollars of Chinese imports increased from 10 to 25 percent.

The NRF hailed the latest trade progress as an effort to avoid a tariff hike and expressed the hope for a bilateral deal to end the tariffs.

"The decision to avoid a tariff hike is a positive development, and we encourage the administration to build on this momentum and reach a resolution that will eliminate uncertainty for American businesses and consumers," Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the NRF, said in a public statement.

Bob Grubba, whose company depends on trade, especially between China and the United States, said that both countries and peoples need each other, as "a lot of people's jobs depend on that (U.S.-China trade)."

"I'm glad to see progress, and I'm glad to see the (U.S.) government sort out their issues before it gets to a big thing," Grubba, founder and CEO of Choo Choo Shoes, told Xinhua.

Describing the trade progress as "good news" for both businesses and families, Josh Selig, president of Little Airplane Productions, a New York City-based TV production firm, also expressed optimism about future U.S.-China trade relations.

"This is good news for business and it's good news for families. I believe we'll all be celebrating very soon in the United States and in China," said Selig.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 03:38:02|Editor: yan

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by Xinhua writer Gu Zhenqiu

LONDON, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday bowed to massive pressures at home over Brexit by opening door to a possible delayed Brexit.

May, when speaking at the House of Commons, offered members of parliament (MPs) the chance to delay Brexit if they reject her deal with the European Union (EU) again in "a meaningful vote" in two weeks.

It is the first time for the British government to state publicly that it is considering the options of a Brexit delay. Her big concession is also read by some observers here as a significant tactical retreat: it was about buying herself more time.

Her three-step proposal is being observed here as a significant policy shift in her steadfast Brexit strategy since she took office in July 2016 against a background of current threats of massive resignation from her government and rising public and opposition outcrys for a second Brexit referendum.

The parliament has to get through three votes starting March 12 before a delayed British divorce with the EU. If May succeeds in pushing her Brexit deal through the parliament in the first vote, the other two subsequent proposed balloting will be automatically cancelled.

However, observers here said that her chance of success is very slim.

The prime minister announced the dramatic change although she makes it crystal clear that "I do not want to see Article 50 extended." The latest move greatly weakened her ability to threaten the parliament and EU leaders with an ultimatum of "my deal or no deal."

May told the House of Commons that MPs can postpone Brexit and stop a no-deal departure from the EU. In other words, MPs will have the chance to vote on a no-deal Brexit or a short extension to Article 50 if the prime minister cannot get her deal through the House of Commons.

The Tuesday announcement came after three British government ministers -- Richard Harrington, Claire Perry and Margot James -- threatened to support a fresh amendment attempt to extend Article 50.

Her climbdown, which came just 31 days before the planned exit date, is seen as her desperate efforts to avoid a Tory revolt.

Amber Rudd, British work and pensions secretary, is also among the senior government officials who are threatening to resign in the next 24 hours if May does not give a clear enough promise that MPs can delay Brexit if her deal is defeated again.

The rebel ministers were all backing a delayed Brexit if she could not get the legally binding assurance from Brussels she has been seeking to avoid a harder border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Accusing May of "running down the clock" in a "grotesquely reckless" way, opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said at the parliament that "the prime minister's botched deal provides no certainty or guarantees for the future."

The Tuesday announcement does not offer a guarantee for a Brexit delay, but it makes the postponement more likely.

The prime minister, who repeatedly said that her government is mandated to deliver the outcome of the June 2016 referendum, insists that Brexit should be carried out as planned on March 29.

Due to disagreements with May and her party over Brexit, former Tory MPs -- Anna Soubry, Sarah Wollaston and Heidi Allen -- have defected to join the Independent Group. They will not vote in the parliament in accordance with the party lines.

Also on Tuesday, Downing Street insisted that "very strong preference" remains on getting a revised Brexit deal.

Meanwhile, British Attorney General Geoffrey Cox is in talks with EU officials to revise the Irish backstop.

But no big changes are expected, so May's Brexit deal is expected to be voted down, just as it was by a record margin in January, when she has sustained the heaviest parliamentary defeat of any British prime minister in the modern era after MPs rejected her Brexit deal by a resounding majority of 230.

Earlier this week, the prime minister grabbed some quality time with unyielding European Union leaders on the sidelines of the EU-Arab League summit in Egypt although Brexit was not on the agenda of the high-level gathering. However, her efforts did not produce any results in her favor.

"Any extension cannot take no deal off the table," May told the MPs.

"The best way to end uncertainty over Brexit is to vote for a deal," May added.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 03:33:01|Editor: yan

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KIEV, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko discussed the situation in the Black Sea with Kurt Volker, the U.S. special envoy on Ukraine, the presidential press service said on Tuesday.

The talks were held at U.S. guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook that was making a call at the southern Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa, according to a statement posted on the presidential website.

During the talks, Poroshenko thanked the United States for sending the vessel to the Black Sea at the request of Ukraine, saying that it is a vivid demonstration of the level of cooperation between Kiev and Washington.

"We are grateful to our reliable ally. This is how we consider the development of our cooperation, inter alia, in the defense sphere," Poroshenko said.

The increased U.S. presence in the Black Sea is an important answer to the Kerch Strait incident, Poroshenko said.

For his part, Volker emphasized that the United States stands for the freedom of navigation and calls on the release of the Ukrainian seamen seized during the Kerch Strait incident.

In November, three Ukrainian ships and more than 20 sailors attempting to sail through the Kerch Strait from the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov were seized by Russian forces for allegedly violating the Russian border.

Moscow called the incident a "political provocation" staged by Ukraine, while Kiev accused Russia of "aggressive actions" and urged the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to deploy ships in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov over the incident.

On Feb. 25, USS Donald Cook arrived in Odessa for a three-day visit aimed at further strengthening the U.S.-Ukrainian partnership and supporting Ukraine.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 03:17:55|Editor: Chengcheng

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by Burak Akinci

ANKARA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Turkey and the European Union are again clashing over Ankara's enduring accession bid amid a call by European lawmakers to suspend the already stalled negotiations, but experts believe that mutual interest will prevail in the end.

Last week, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament called on the European Commission and member states to formally halt the talks, citing Turkey's disregard for human rights and civil liberties, influence on the judiciary, and disputes over territory with neighboring Cyprus.

The vote is non-binding but a final vote will be set for March in the parliament's plenum, just before Turkish local elections planned for March 31.

Furthermore, it has to be admitted that those who recommended the suspension of the negotiations process represent a noticeable segment of the European public and the EU has been unable to offer Turkey an accession perspective.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry retaliated immediately to an "absolutely unacceptable" decision that could pose a new hurdle in the difficult path between Ankara and Brussels.

Experts said that it is not the first time that a European body has expressed hostility towards talks with Ankara.

"It's an advisory report which is non-binding and we have heard voice of a total suspension of talks with Turkey ... but there is a fact: the EU needs Turkey," Mustafa Nail Alkan, expert on EU affairs from Ankara's Haci Bayram Veli University, told Xinhua.

"The EU would surely not lose Turkey," Alkan added, citing especially the critical deal inked in 2016 between Ankara and Brussels, which aimed to stem the migrant influx to Europe.

Alkan however predicted "a troublesome period ahead" for the EU and Turkey who has been kept waiting at Europe's door for so long and has lost its patience and popular drive to join the EU.

Turkey applied for membership in the European Economic Community, a precursor to the EU, in 1987. It became eligible for EU membership in 1997 and accession talks began in 2005.

Subsequent talks have stalled on a number of occasions, as Turkey attempts to iron out what the EU sees as discrepancies between its own political values and those of Ankara.

The European lawmakers' move came in a period where Turkey and the EU were mending their icy ties following the failed coup attempt in July 2016 against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government, followed by a massive crackdown in opposition circles.

The EU has frequently accused Turkey of drifting away from European values and democracy in recent years, particularly in the wake of the failed coup.

In the year following the overthrow attempt, Erdogan's proposals to expand his powers, which he subsequently did by means of popular vote, and reinstate the death penalty led the European Parliament again to call for accession talks to be suspended.

A recent op-ed in the pro-government Daily Sabah said that "Turkey's anti-terrorism policies have been highly criticised by its Western counterparts, which are actually the same policies that make the European continent more secure."

"Full membership's possibility has been left out, but to be honest, is this the real reason behind it or should we read between the lines?" the article added.

During an interview with private broadcaster CNN Turk on the weekend, Erdogan expressed his frustration over his country's immobile candidacy bid and hinted that in the near future there would be no progress in relations.

The EU will never allow Turkey inside because of its religion and big population, Erdogan said, recalling his earlier suggestion of holding referendum on whether Turkey should continue full membership talks or nor.

"We should obviously have Plan B and Plan C," he added.

According to experts, Turkey is nevertheless leading a cool-headed policy against European bloc who is strongly divided on how to maintain a relationship with Turkey.

"Because of public opinion reaction to migrants, the EU considers Turkey as a buffer state of strategic importance and is doing the outmost to keep refugees on Turkish soil," professor Birgul Demirtas from Ankara's TOBB University told Xinhua.

The expert argued that to confront EU's leading countries' "perplexed approach" towards Turkey's accession ambitions, Ankara is maintaining a balanced policy so as not to cut its ties with the bloc.

However, Turkish president has lately made veiled threats over refugees to Europe, implying that his country would reciprocate to EU's inhospitable decisions by exiting the migrant deal, a dramatic move which could effectively put an end to accession negotiations.

Since we are not there yet, Demirtas said that "the two sides want to pursue their relationship and preserve their mutual economic interests" despite new challenges.

"The refugees' issue is one of securitization for Europe and for this reason, the EU will probably not cut its dialogue with Turkey," she added.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 02:37:47|Editor: yan

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BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Hospital Clinic de Barcelona will on Wednesday perform a pioneering operation which will be transmitted in real time at the Mobile World Congress (MWC2019) thanks to 5G streaming.

5G internet and the possibilities it allows are the key topics at the MWC2019 which is currently being held here.

Chinese companies such as Huawei, ZTE, Xiaomi and OPPO have all released their 5G-related new products during MWC19.

Wednesday's operation will show the benefits in healthcare as a team of surgeons will carry out an operation from the Hospital Clinic's "Optimus" operating theater. Optimus is equipped with 5G technology to allow the operation to be beamed in real time to the MWC2019 site at the "Fira" exhibition center, around three km away.

The operation will be a laparoscopy and it will be broadcast on screens in the Fira where another surgeon will give instructions, which is made possible by the almost total absence of latency in transmitting the images permitted by 5G broadband speed.

Speaking in the newspaper "20 Minutos", the CEO of the Hospital Clinic said the operation represented "a great opportunity to incorporate technology, which will be of great use to patients and society, especially for the chronically ill, who will be able to be monitored from hospital," while at home.
NEW YORK, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to the market research report published by P&S Intelligence, automated dispensing machines market is expected to generate a revenue of $2.3 billion by 2024, advancing at a CAGR of 7.8% during the forecast period.



Rising incidence of medication errors, technological innovations and advancements, growing geriatric population, rising prevalence of chronic diseases, government initiatives to integrate automated dispensing machines in healthcare settings, and growing number of patent approvals for automated dispensing machines are some of the major factors driving the growth of the market.

Request to get the sample pages of the report: https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/automated-dispensing-machines-market/report-sample

Based on type, the automated dispensing machines market has been bifurcated into centralized and decentralized systems. The decentralized category is expected to register faster growth in the market during the forecast period. This can be mainly attributed to the increasing cases of hospitalization, rising number of hospitals, and growing demand for decentralized systems in healthcare settings.

Adoption of automated dispensing systems is increasing in hospitals, pharmacies, and retail drug stores. Hospitals are expected to hold the largest share in the automated dispensing machines market in the coming years. This end-user category is estimated to hold over 70% share in 2018, and is expected to progress at a CAGR of 7.8% during the forecast period. Growing patient population, increasing healthcare expenditure, and rising prevalence of chronic diseases are some of the major factors fueling the demand and encouraging the adoption of automated dispensing machines in hospitals, globally.

Geographically, North America holds the largest share in the automated dispensing machines market, with an estimated contribution of 40.8% to the market in 2018, and is projected to generate $919.5 million revenue by 2024. This can be mainly attributed to the improved healthcare infrastructure, presence of established players, and surging geriatric population in the region.

Browse report overview with 155 tables and 50 figures spread through 185 pages and detailed TOC on "Automated Dispensing Machines Market" at: https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/automated-dispensing-machines-market

During the forecast period, the automated dispensing machines market is expected to witness the fastest growth in APAC, with 9.3% CAGR, mainly on account of the improving healthcare infrastructure in the region and the increasing focus of market players on developing countries, such as China and India, for business expansion.

Acquisitions and collaborations among prominent players have dominated the automated dispensing machines market in the recent times. For instance, in July 2018, NYU Langone Health Hospital extended its strategic partnership with Omnicell Inc. for the installation of Omnicell XT automated medication dispensing cabinets, anesthesia workstation, and controlled substance manager in the hospital.

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Besides, showcasing novel technological advancements at various public platforms is also aiding the growth of the automated dispensing machines market. For instance, in February 2019, Omnicell Inc. showcased its comprehensive and customizable platform for medication management at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2019 Global Conference and Exhibition held in Florida, U.S.

Major key players operating in the global automated dispensing machines market are Becton, Dickinson and Company; Omnicell Inc.; ScriptPro LLC; Pearson Medical Technologies LLC; Capsa Healthcare; Talyst LLC; McKesson Corporation; Newlcon Oy; TouchPoint Medical Inc.; and ARxIUM.

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APAC guidewires industry is expected to witness the fastest growth in demand, at a CAGR of 6.4%, during the forecast period, owing to growing aging population, increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, growing medical tourism and continuously improving healthcare infrastructure.

https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/guidewires-market

Surgical Simulation Market

During the forecast period, the surgical simulation market is expected to witness the fastest growth in APAC, on account of the increasing medical tourism and growing geriatric population in the region. Additionally, major players, as part of their business strategy, are investing in the untapped markets of the region, which, in turn, is contributing to the market growth.

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Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 02:32:47|Editor: mingmei

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by Nathan Morley

NICOSIA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to Nicosia Huang Xingyuan pledged Tuesday to donate 10,000 euros to the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) that helped relatives of missing persons to recover the remains of their loved ones who vanished during the inter-communal fighting in Cyprus.

The ambassador made the pledge while visiting the UN-backed organization CMP's laboratory in the capital Nicosia.

The ambassador was briefed on how the organization works to arrange proper burials and close long periods of anguish and uncertainty for many families.

"The donation we make today will be the first step towards our future cooperation," the ambassador said, while expressing the support of China to the CMP's humanitarian efforts.

Most of the missing persons disappeared during inter-communal clashes in the 60s and 70s. So far, 927 missing persons from both communities have been identified and returned to their families for dignified burials.

"We are very satisfied with the visit of the ambassador. It was an important event for us," Paul-Henri Arni, the United Nations member of the CMP, told Xinhua.

"We need support, not just financially, but political support as well, so China's contribution is considered to be very important," Arni added.

The CMP is made up of a representative from both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities, as well as the UN representative.

In a special presentation for the Chinese Ambassador, Nestoras Nestoros, the Greek Cypriot Member of the CMP, explained how the first phase of their work is investigation, which involves looking for probable burial sites, followed by excavations. "We have a genetic unit, health and safety and IT," Nestoros explained. "After identification, we inform their relatives."

With the passage of time, the CMP is urgently identifying burial sites and attempting speed up the identification of remains. However, the organization doesn't establish the cause of death, as its objective is purely humanitarian.

Cyprus was partitioned when Turkey forces entered its northern part in a 1974 military operation, in response to a coup organized by the military rulers of Greece at the time.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 02:27:45|Editor: yan

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ISLAMABAD, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Tuesday told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over phone that India's "aggressive posture" could affect joint efforts for peace in Afghanistan, Qureshi's office said.

Qureshi's remarks came at a time when the Taliban and the U.S. officials are holding talks in Qatar.

Qureshi spoke with Pompeo and apprised him of the violation of the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir by India and the sentiments of Pakistani government, parliament and the people, a spokesman for Qureshi said.

India said Tuesday its fighter jets bombed a camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad group, which was blamed for the suicide attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir earlier this month that killed 40 Indian paramilitary troopers.

"Indian aggression can disturb joint efforts to establish peace in Afghanistan," Qureshi was quoted as telling Pompeo.

"India is jeopardizing the peace in South Asia for its political purposes and elections," said the Pakistani foreign minister.

He added that Pakistan is desirous of peace in the region, but will not compromise on its territorial integrity.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 02:12:42|Editor: yan

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BUDAPEST, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Hungary supported Serbia's European integration, arguing it was in the interest of not only Hungary, but the whole continent, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said here on Tuesday after a meeting with Serbian Minister for EU integration Jadranka Joksimovic.

"The acceleration of Serbia's European integration is in the interests of Hungary and Europe, and accordingly Hungary will continue to provide Serbia with all possible support," Szijjarto told in a joint press conference with Joksimovic.

"One of the key elements of the debate on the future of the European Union is enlargement, but unfortunately there is significant resistance towards enlargement within the EU today, which is a problem, because this year, for the first time in the EU's history, the number of member states will be reduced," Szijjarto declared, hinting at the imminent Brexit.

"Hungary's goal is for the EU to gain strength, and this requires new member states, countries that reinforce the EU's security and economy, and the countries of the Western Balkans are such countries," he added.

According to Szijjarto, migration pressure on the Western Balkans was going to increase, and accordingly "the European integration of the region's countries and closer border security cooperation would serve to improve European security."

He also deplored the "extremely slow pace" of enlargement: "It is unfair towards countries that are waiting to join the European Union that the EU does not want to take on new member states before 2025."

Joksimovic said: "Hungary has always supported the European integration of Serbia, and this is important in view of the fact that not all EU member states support enlargement."

"It is important that the issue of enlargement is not set aside because of the European Parliament elections and the debate on the next multi-annual financial framework," she added.

"Enlargement isn't a problem, but one of the European Union's most important policies, which can strengthen the EU", said she, adding, "It would be good if we succeeded in opening at least five negotiation chapters this year."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 02:02:41|Editor: yan

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BERLIN, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The German trade union ver.di on Tuesday called on public sector employees to go on warning strikes to increase the pressure on the German government for the wage negotiations later this week.

Strikes and demonstrations by employees of the German public sector took place in several German federal states like Bavaria, Baden-Wurttemberg, Bremen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland, Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, according to trade union ver.di. In Germany's capital Berlin alone, around 10,000 public sector workers went on strike.

The strike affected municipal administrations, road construction authorities, libraries, university clinics, universities and student unions, mental clinics as well as vocational schools and day care centers across Germany.

The trade union ver.di is demanding a wage increase of 6 percent, or at least 200 euros (227 U.S. dollars), for employees in the public sector and at least 300 euros for employees in the care sector. The German government, which employs public sector workers, has rejected ver.di's demand as too high.

Ver.di further called that the results of the wage negotiations should apply to the approximately one million governmental employees in the public sector. According to ver.di, a total of 3.3 million German workers would thus be affected by the wage negotiations.

Unlike employees in the private sector, employees in the governmental public sector of Germany, such as teachers, police officers, judges as well as employees of the German army, are not allowed to go on strike.

Ver.di chairman Frank Bsirske dampened hopes for a quick solution in the wage dispute. Bsirske said that he would not see a "basis for an agreement", since the trade union and the employers would be "apart on all essential points", Bsirske told the public German broadcaster ZDF on Tuesday.

The wage negotiations between the trade union ver.di and the German government are scheduled to be continued on Thursday.(1 euro = 1.14 U.S. dollars)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 01:47:37|Editor: yan

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SKOPJE, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- North Macedonia commemorated on Tuesday the 15th anniversary of the death of former president Boris Trajkovski, who lost his life in a plane crash near Mostar in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The North Macedonian authorities and the Boris Trajkovski International Foundation organized several activities in memory of the country's former leader.

Family members and government officials laid flowers on Trajkovski's grave in Skopje.

Addressing a prayer breakfast, North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said Trajkovski's top priority was serving the interests of the citizens and the prosperity of the country.

At an event held on Monday evening, North Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov said Trajkovski believed that leadership involves a willingness to sacrifice one's public approval in order to do what is right for the future of the country and the people.

Trajkovski, together with six of his closest advisers and two pilots, died on Feb. 26, 2004, when their plane crashed while trying to land in bad weather.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 01:47:36|Editor: yan

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OSLO, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- A 43-year-old woman in Norway was sentenced to 21 years of preventive detention for killing her father and her former partner, newspaper VG reported Tuesday.

Elisabeth Terese Aaslie from Kristiansand in southern Norway is a mother of seven and has showed signs of psychopathy and several personality disorders, the report said.

Her father was found drowned in a whirlpool bathtub 17 years ago. Twelve years later, her former partner Oystein Hagel Pedersen, 67, died in a hotel room in Kristiansand with sleeping pills laying on the bedside table and floor.

"In this case, there are two deliberate killings. Both are done after planning over time and in cunning ways. There are no mitigating circumstances," the judgment of Kristiansand District Court read.

According to the verdict, the woman deliberately killed the two people by putting them "in powerless, unconsciousness or similar condition."

The motive behind the action against Hagel Pedersen seems to be Aaslie's belief that he was preventing her from getting back the care of her son.

The court held that Aaslie had a financial motive for killing her father.

The woman also stole credit card of the victim and was sentenced to pay compensation of a total of 850,000 Norwegian kroner (98,838 U.S. dollars) to the bereaved and one victim.

Aaslie was also accused of poisoning a third man who survived the attack, the report said.

The woman's defender Olav Sylte told VG that "the case shall continue in the Court of Appeal in three weeks."

During the trial, the woman denied that she killed the victims.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 01:37:34|Editor: yan

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KHARTOUM, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Sudan's Attorney General Omer Ahmed Mohamed on Tuesday issued a decision to establish emergency prosecutions in capital Khartoum and all states of Sudan.

The decision determined the powers and authorities of the emergency prosecutions, a press release by Sudan's Public Prosecution Office said.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Monday issued five emergency orders in which he authorized the attorney general to establish emergency prosecutions and issue regulations to organize the procedures of investigation.

The attorney general was also authorized to appeal and decide on lifting the immunity from any person accused of committing a crime punishable by the emergency law.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 01:37:33|Editor: ZX

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KATHMANDU, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Former Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal said Tuesday the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative seeks to promote peace, stability and development cooperation, and brings new opportunities for Nepal.

Nepal, as a close neighbor of China, wants to reap benefits from the initiative, said Dahal, who is also chairman of the ruling Nepal Communist Party.

Nepal and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on bilateral cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in May 2017.

"The then government under my leadership decided to sign the MoU on the BRI in May 2017 with the hope of taking benefit from the initiative in our development endeavors. It was truly matter of pride and pleasure for us to join the initiative," Dahal said when addressing a two-day conference on the Belt and Road Initiative in Kathmandu.

The former prime minister said the Belt and Road Initiative brings new opportunities for smaller countries like Nepal which are aspiring to enhance physical connectivity with other countries.

"The current government and the Nepal Communist Party are committed to implement the MoU on Belt and Road Initiative and reap benefit from it in our development endeavors," Dahal said.

Proposed by China in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa through the ancient trade routes of Silk Road.

On the occasion, Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi expressed the hope that Nepal would immensely benefit from the Belt and Road Initiative.

The conference was participated by experts from China, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam, among others.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 01:32:31|Editor: yan

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NEW YORK, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. federal appeals court affirmed on Tuesday the ruling that AT&T's incorporation of Time Warner is legal.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon approved last Jun. the 85.4-billion-dollar bid of AT&T for Time Warner, without imposing any condition on the merger.

The Department of Justice tried to block the deal under concerns that the merger would "reduce competition in the pay-TV industry," according to a CNBC report. The government institution appealed the ruling last July in the wake of official close of the deal between AT&T and Time Warner.

The latest decision of the trial is expected to encourage more similar deals in the telecom and media industries and pave way for more vertical mergers, which combine production and distribution.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 01:22:30|Editor: yan

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HANOI, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said Tuesday that Vietnam and the United States should strengthen collaboration in bomb and mine clearance and in support for Agent Orange victims.

Minh made the remarks during talks with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Hanoi.

Minh expressed his delight at the development of bilateral ties, especially in economy, trade, education, settlement of war consequences and a project to address dioxin contamination at Bien Hoa airport in southern Dong Nai province, Vietnam News Agency reported.

Both sides agreed to increase the exchange of visits, especially high-level ones in 2019, to continue considering trade and investment ties as a driving force for Vietnam-U.S. relationship, and to enhance education-training ties and people-to-people exchange.

The talks took place on the occasion of Pompeo's trip to Vietnam together with U.S. President Donald Trump for the second summit between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the United States scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday in Hanoi.
Mobile World Congress, Barcelona  HERE Technologies, a global leader in mapping and location platform services, and Blis, a global pioneer in advanced location data technology, today announced a partnership that will enhance Blis audience ability to deliver premium, accurate and scalable points of interest (POIs) across all of its location-targeting insight capabilities and tools.



HERE Places, the companys global database of places, will enhance Blis robust POI database, which maps verified GPS data to real-world locations. With access to more than 1 billion unique POIs in over 70 markets, the Blis POI database is segmented by location categories and audiences to help the worlds biggest brands effectively and accurately identify and target locations of interest for both media planning and buying.



HERE continuously updates its places data by drawing on thousands of different sources, including from social media partners, and by applying machine learning to identify true locations and remove irrelevant or duplicated information. Today, HERE Places has more than 140 million unique POIs across 200 countries.



Our clients demand the very best in location data and the integration with HERE ensures we continue leveraging accurate, relevant and scalable POI data, said Aaron McKee, CTO, Blis. It also adds another premium source of trusted POI data to our already expansive list, which will enable us to further scale to new coverage and reinforce existing territories as we continue to deliver global solutions.



Blis proprietary technology and platform help agencies and brands use location data to better understand consumer behavior, allowing for effective, targeted advertising to drive business outcomes, said Herve Utheza, Head of Media, Advertising & Telco at HERE. The whole ecosystem seeks premium data enrichment, targeting and personalization of client-side experiences and better performance. Through our partnership with Blis, our data our is poised to support all kinds of diverse use cases.



Since creating the worlds first location data technology platform in 2004, Blis has grown into a global company with 24 offices across five continents. Blis' clients include all major holding companies, as well as leading brands in top verticals, including Samsung, McDonald's, HSBC, Mercedes-Benz and Peugeot.



Media Contacts

HERE Technologies

Dr. Sebastian Kurme

+49 173 515 3549

sebastian.kurme@here.com



Amy Stupavsky

+49 175 419 1678

amy.stupavsky@here.com



Jordan Stark

+1 312 316 4537

jordan.stark@here.com



Blis

Lara Vinnicombe

lara.vinnicombe@blis.com



About HERE Technologies

HERE, the Open Location Platform company, enables people, enterprises and cities to harness the power of location. By making sense of the world through the lens of location, we empower our customers to achieve better outcomes  from helping a city manage its infrastructure or an enterprise optimize its assets to guiding drivers to their destination safely. To learn more about HERE, including our new generation of cloud-based location platform services, visit http://360.here.com and www.here.com .



About Blis

Blis is the global pioneer in location data. The companys proprietary technology and platform helps agencies and brands use location data to better understand consumer behavior, allowing for effective targeted advertising to drive business outcomes. The Blis team believes that where you go defines who you are, and advertisers must capitalize on these insights for meaningful marketing experiences across devices. Blis technology filters and scales location data, giving advertisers access to the most accurate location events, location data, and unique devices. The data is then applied across the apps that matter most to their consumers for targeting based on rich insights. Clients are supported by location experts or can work in an agnostic service model of their choice. For more information, visit www.blis.com , follow @BlisGlobal or contact hello@blis.com.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 01:17:27|Editor: yan

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ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani officials Tuesday confirmed that Indian fighter jets violated the Line of Control (LoC) in the Kashmir region and dropped a "payload" hastily, but rejected New Delhi's claim of killing over 300 people by striking a militant camp in its northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

In a meeting chaired by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in the wake of the incident, Pakistani officials said the area where the payload was dropped is open for the world to see the facts on the ground.

"Indian government has resorted to a self serving, reckless and fictitious claim. This action has been done for domestic consumption being in election environment, putting regional peace and stability at grave risk," the prime minister office said after the National Security Committee meeting, attended by civil and military leadership including chiefs of armed forces, ministers of defense and foreign affairs and others.

"India has committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing," the meeting decided.

The prime minister also directed elements of national power including the army and the public to remain prepared for all eventualities and told officials to engage with global leaders to expose irresponsible Indian policy in the region.

Confirming the airstrikes, Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Keshav Gokhale said a terror camp of the JeM was the lone target of the "non-military pre-emptive action" by India in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

Indian media claimed that Indian Air Force fighter jets entered Pakistani territory up to the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province at 3:00 a.m. Tuesday Pakistan time (2200 GMT Monday), killing 300 militants of Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), the group which New Delhi blamed to have killed 40 paramilitary troopers in an attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir earlier this month.

Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Pakistani army's media wing, said the Indian aircraft were chased away from the country by timely action.

ISPR chief and military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said the fleeing Indian aircraft released payload in haste while escaping. He also posted the pictures of the shards of metal scattered in an isolated forest area.

The ISPR chief refuted Indian media's claims of IAF planes hitting into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, saying the intrusion "across LoC in Muzaffarabad Sector within AJK (Azad Jammu and Kashmir, located in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir) was 3-4 miles."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 01:17:25|Editor: yan

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TEHRAN, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday that the Iranian president has not accepted Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif's resignation.

According to the chief of staff of the Iranian Presidential Office, the resignation of Zarif has not been accepted by President Hassan Rouhani, Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Bahram Qasemi, said.

In his Instagram message released on Monday, Zarif hinted his resignation saying "thanks for the great and brave Iranians and my colleagues, but I apologize for my failure to serve you and some flaws in my work."

On Tuesday, Rouhani said that Zarif has been "at frontline of battle against America" in his administration.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 01:07:23|Editor: yan

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MACAO, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Instances of the most serious forms of crime, such as kidnap, murder and grievous assault, continued to be either non-existent, or extremely rare in Macao, the special administrative region's security chief said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a media briefing about the crime statistics and police enforcement activities in 2018, Macao SAR's Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak said the police would remain vigilant for any upward trend of crimes to maintain Macao's safe environment.

The number of suspected crime cases reported in Macao in 2018 saw a 0.5 percent increase year-on-year to 14,365 cases. Meanwhile, the number of violent crimes reported in the period fell by 21.1 percent from 2017, to 647 instances.

In 2018, a total of 104 cases allegedly involving family violence was reported to the police. Following police investigations, only two from the aggregate number were categorized as domestic violence and were sent to the Public Prosecutions Office for further action.

Wong said it was notable that there were 27 cases of reported sexual abuse against children, representing a 50 percent year-on-year increase.

Burglaries reported in 2018 fell by 6.5 percent, to 2,747, 190 cases fewer than were recorded in 2017.

Regarding the reported number of scams, there were 1,195 cases in 2018, representing a rise of 31.3 percent from 910 cases registered a year earlier.

In 2018, a total of 93 people-smugglers had been apprehended, a 31 percent year-on-year increase. The number of suspected illegal immigrants detained during 2018 totalled 814, reducing 23.3 percent year-on-year.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 00:57:20|Editor: yan

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BANGKOK, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- A roadside bomb killed a ranger and wounded two others on Tuesday in southern Thailand's Yala province.

The bomb exploded on Tuesday morning when a six-member ranger patrol were passing the spot. The two home-made bombs were hidden in roadside grass.

The blast wave killed a 33-year-old ranger. The other ranger was seriously injured on his face and body. The shrapnel also hurt a woman passing by.

Bomb disposal officers safely destroyed the second bomb later.

Police blamed the insurgents who aim to create unrest in the deep south.

Yala province, together with Narathiwat and Pattani, are the three southernmost provinces in Thailand that have been haunted by insurgency launched by ethnic separatists since 2004. Bomb attacks, gun shots are often reported in the restive area.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 00:57:20|Editor: Chengcheng

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BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Huawei Rotating Chairman Guo Ping reiterated that his company does not "do bad things" when he took the stage at MWC 2019, or Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona on Tuesday.

"As vendors, we don't operate carrier networks, and we don't own carrier data ... What we promise, is that we don't do anything bad: we don't do bad things," Guo said in a keynote speech at the information industry's highest-profile gathering.

REAFFIRMING COMMITMENT

Huawei, based in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, is a leading international vendor of telecoms equipments, which are procured by carriers that provide fixed and mobile connections for consumers and businesses.

There was mounting pressure from the U.S. on Western governments not to use the Chinese telecoms company's technology in the construction of their upcoming 5G networks.

"For technology providers, our responsibility is to comply with standards and build secure equipment. With 5G, we have made a lot of progress over 4G, and we can proudly say that 5G is safer than 4G," Guo said.

5G and the ultra-high connection speeds it offers will be vital for the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), the digital economy and autonomous and connected cars.

"To build a system that we all can trust, we need aligned responsibility, unified standards and clear regulations," he said.

He flatly rejected claims from the U.S. government that Huawei had broken intellectual property rules or was involved in espionage.

The U.S. government is reportedly seeking to ban Huawei from supplying infrastructure for its 5G networks, but Guo Ping had a clear message for other countries considering making the same decision.

"Let me say this as clear as possible: Huawei has not and will never plant backdoors. And we will never allow anyone to do so in our equipment. We take this responsibility very seriously," Guo said.

"The U.S. security accusation on our 5G has no evidence -- nothing. ... So, for the best technology and greater security, choose Huawei. Please choose Huawei, thank you," he said.

3RD-PARTY ASSURANCE TO CYBER SECURITY

Guo also called for unified standards and aligned responsibilities in terms of security.

NESAS "is a very good idea", Guo said, referring to the Network Equipment Security Assurance Scheme, a voluntary scheme defined for the mobile industry.

NESAS is jointly defined by 3GPP, which results from collaboration between groups of telecoms standard associations, and GSMA, a body representing global carriers and host of the MWC expo.

"In fact, 3GPP's security standards were created with the support of many government security agencies. These agencies have strong capabilities to verify 5G security," Guo said, adding that "I would recommend extending NESAS to the world. Let the experts decide whether networks are safe or not."

Vincent Pang, president of Huawei's Western Europe region, also spoke to the press about the security issue, arguing that his company "hasn't had a single security incident in the 15 years we have been in Europe".

He said the Chinese government had "never" asked for Huawei to "install backdoors" into its technology, and stressed that the company knows that "the 5G rollout requires the highest levels of confidence, but it is a technical challenge, not a political one".
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 00:37:15|Editor: Chengcheng

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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Wuzhen of Tongxiang City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Feb. 26, 2019. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang)

HANGZHOU, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday vowed to enhance strategic communication and promote cooperation within the meeting of the foreign ministers of China, Russia and India (RIC).

The ministers made the remarks during their meeting on the sidelines of the 16th trilateral meeting of RIC foreign ministers in Wuzhen of east China's Zhejiang Province.

Noting that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Russia, Wang said the two countries should further deepen strategic communication and make new contributions to world peace and development.

It is of great significance for China, Russia and India to enhance communication, coordinate positions and deepen cooperation for the region and the world, Wang said.

China is willing to work together with Russia and India to strive for substantial outcomes in the meeting of RIC foreign ministers, he added.

Echoing Wang's remarks, Lavrov said it was necessary for Russia and China to jointly safeguard the basic norms of multilateralism and international relations.

The 16th meeting of the foreign ministers of China, Russia and India will be held in Wuzhen on Wednesday.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 00:37:14|Editor: yan

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BERLIN, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Pre-installed malware can be found on certain tablets and smartphones in Germany, the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) announced on Tuesday, while warning against the use of these devices.

The affected devices are the Eagle 804 tablet manufactured by Krueger&Matz, the S8 Pro smartphone produced by Ulefone and Blackview's A10 smartphone, all of which can be purchased via online platforms.

Germany's information security authorities had ordered the products online and subsequently analyzed them.

"The BSI has informed the manufacturers of the devices about the findings and requested them to take appropriate measures to restore the safety of their customers," BSI President Arne Schoenbohm stated, adding that the German authorities were "currently unable to do more."

The preinstalled malware detected on the Eagle 804 tablet would contact a "well-known command and control server". The malware would send device data to the server, and it also has a reloading function, which means that once the malware is on the device, further malware with different functions could be transferred undetected. According to BSI, such malware would also be used for spying on personal bank data.

In the current version, the two affected smartphones are delivered without malware. However, the manufacturers are offering firmware with a lower version number for download, which contains the detected malware. According to BSI, it can therefore be assumed that smartphones already purchased would be affected.

The data obtained by the German information security authorities indicate that more than 20,000 connections of individual German IP addresses are being established per day via the command and control server.

According to BSI, it must be "assumed that devices with this malware variant are more widespread in Germany".

Back in October 2018, the British IT company Sophos reported similar malware problems with Ulefone S8. Sophos noted that if a smartphone is too cheap, it might be "at the cost of other people's privacy."

"Once again, this case clearly shows that price cannot be the only criterion for a purchasing decision. Otherwise, users may pay significantly more with their data or through fraudulent activities," Schoenbohm concluded.
Visitors take pictures of a Huawei MATE X, a foldable 5G ready smartphone, displayed at the 2019 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, Feb. 25, 2019. (Xinhua/Guo Qiuda)

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Chief Executive of Vodafone Nick Read defended Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei at a press conference held at the 2019 Mobile World Congress (MWC) here on Monday, saying banning Huawei could put back 5G's arrival in Europe.

MWC 2019, which is considered the main event of the year in the mobile telecommunications industry, is now making headlines as the U.S. is attempting to convince other nations to follow its lead in banning Huawei technology from being used in the rollout of their 5G networks.

Monday also saw a group of U.S. senators call for Huawei to be blocked from supplying parts to the U.S. power grid to convert solar energy.

Speaking in Barcelona, Read said he disagreed with the U.S. line.

He explained that banning Huawei in Europe would be both "expensive" and "hugely disruptive," putting back 5G's arrival in Europe for "two years".

"It structurally disadvantages Europe. Of course, the U.S. don't have that problem because they don't put Huawei equipment in," said Read.

Vodafone is the second largest mobile operator in the world by subscribers. Vodafone Spain confirmed on Sunday that Huawei will play a major role in the construction of their 5G network in the southern European nation along with Ericsson.

Read pointed out that not allowing Huawei to collaborate in the 5G rollout would only leave Nokia and Ericsson to carry out the task.

"If we concentrate it down to two players, I think that's an unhealthy position not just for us as an industry but also for national infrastructure in the country," he said, calling for a "fact-based conversation" with governments and security experts.

On Tuesday, Huawei's Rotating Chairman Guo Ping spoke at the MWC and reiterated that his company could be trusted in security matters.

"Let me say this as clear as possible: Huawei has not and will never plant backdoors. And we will never allow anyone to do so in our equipment. We take this responsibility very seriously," he said.

"The U.S. security accusation on our 5G has no evidence -- nothing," he reassured his audience at the congress.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 00:27:07|Editor: yan

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TEHRAN, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- A majority of Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday urged Iran's president to disagree with the abrupt resignation announcement of Mohammad Javad Zarif as Iran's foreign minister, according to official IRNA news agency.

Some 160 lawmakers signed a letter to President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday asking him not to accept Zarif's resignation, Ali Najafi Khoshroudi, spokesman for the Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, told IRNA.

In his Instagram message released on Monday, Zarif hinted his resignation saying "thanks for the great and brave Iranians and my colleagues, but I apologize for my failure to serve you and some flaws in my work."

On Tuesday, Rouhani said that Zarif has been "at frontline of battle against America" in his administration.

On the day, Zarif reacted to some news that "a number of foreign ministry employees and diplomats were planning to quit following his resignation" and urged them to "continue to fulfill their duties in defense of the country," according to Press TV.

"I require all dear brothers and sisters in the foreign ministry and representative offices continue to fulfill their duties in defense of the country with strength," Zarif was quoted as saying.

According to some media release on Tuesday, resignation of Zarif is related to "devaluation" of Iran's foreign ministry's role in conducting some foreign affairs.

"My decision to resign was only (a reaction) to defend the dignity and status of (Iran's) foreign ministry in leading foreign affairs," Zarif was quoted as saying by Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) on Tuesday.

"As a foreign minister, and in order to protect the national interests and the power of the country, I was duty-bound to react to devaluation of the status of the foreign ministry," Zarif was quoted as saying.

Zarif was named the foreign minister of Iran when Rouhani took office in 2013.

He led the Iranian diplomatic mission to sign a historic deal with the world powers in 2015 which put an end to the decade-long controversies over the sensitive nuclear program of the Islamic republic.

His resignation could be a fatal blow to the deal from which the United States already withdrew in May 2018.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 00:27:06|Editor: yan

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JUBA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan has stepped up efforts to finalize a migration policy that it hopes will enhance the country's capacity to manage its borders while also protecting the rights of migrants, a government official said on Tuesday.

The government said it's collaborating with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and other international partners to develop the country's first ever such policy.

"The government is committed to adopting this policy as it guides South Sudan in creating a conducive environment for foreign investments and ensuring migrants adhere to the laws of the country for their protection," Riaw Chuol, deputy minister for interior said according to a statement issued by IOM following a meeting in Juba.

According to IOM, the draft of the new migration policy was presented by IOM-supported consultants to a stake-holders panel comprised of state and non-state actors during a two-day meeting in Juba.

In 2017, South Sudan was believed to be hosting some 845,000 migrants, the majority were from the East and Horn of Africa, according to the United Nations International Migration Report.

The UN agency said the process of developing a comprehensive migration policy began in October 2018 when it held a consultative forum where key stake-holders led by the government set priorities to be addressed by the policy.

In the months that followed, consultants with global expertise in developing migration policies set about working on the draft while in continuous contact with IOM and the National Coordination Mechanism, a governmental inter-agency committee set up to coordinate migration issues.

According to the UN migration agency, once the document is finalized, it will be submitted to the Council of Ministers for deliberation and endorsement.
Roermond (the Netherlands), 26 February 2019 - Sif Holding N.V. today announces that it has reached an agreement with RABO bank, ING, ABN AMRO, Euler-Hermes and Tokio Marine concerning the refinancing of the Company. The new credit facility of  350 million in total replaces the facility of  250 million in total set to expire mid-2019.

The new facility expires 22 February 2022, with two one-year extension options. The facility consists of a revolving credit facility of  100 million and a committed guarantee facility of  250 million. The previous arrangement had a revolving credit facility of  90 million with committed guarantee facilities of  160 million. The increase in facilities serves to support SIF's future business.

Margins and commitment fees remain unchanged at Euribor plus a surcharge that depends on the leverage and solvency on a quarterly basis. The new leverage (net debt/EBITDA) should be equal to or less than 2.5 (was 1.5 under the expiring facility) and the solvency should be equal to or more than 30% in 2019 and 35% during the years beyond 2019. .

The financing arrangement has also been made sustainable. Sif can earn discounts of max 0.05% if certain sustainability KPI's are reached.

Leon Verweij, CFO: "This amended and broader facility provides sufficient flexibility to pursue our strategy going forward. This new agreement assures Sif a financing structure that fits the characteristics of our Company."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 00:27:05|Editor: mmm

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech after the High-Level Pledging Event for the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen in Geneva, Switzerland, on Feb. 26, 2019. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday described the pledging conference for humanitarian aid for war-plagued Yemen a "success" after donation assurances reached 2.6 billion U.S. dollars, up from 2 billion U.S. dollars in 2018. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan)

GENEVA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday described the pledging conference for humanitarian aid for war-plagued Yemen a "success" after donation assurances reached 2.6 billion U.S. dollars, up from 2 billion U.S. dollars in 2018.

"Today's pledging conference can be considered a success," Guterres told journalists at the European headquarters of the United Nations here at the close of the conference sponsored by Sweden and Switzerland.

"The donors have pledged 30 percent more than last year to help address the dramatic humanitarian situation in Yemen," he said.

Most of the increase over the 2018 pledges came from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in March 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Houthi rebels forced him into exile and seized much of the country's north, including the capital Sanaa.

The four-year-long civil war in Yemen has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, displaced 3 million others, and pushed the country to the brink of famine.

The pledging conference is just a start, "to make sure we address the extremely dramatic needs of the Yemeni people," said the UN chief.

He praised the Yemenis for always opening their borders to people coming from Somalia and other parts of the region.

The UN chief said they did this with "enormous generosity granting all Somalis prima facie refugee status," noting how that compares to the European debate about refugees and migrants.

While it is essential to address the humanitarian needs, Guterres said what is "most important is to end the conflict," which has been ongoing for nearly four years.

He said his office understands the problems in the implementation of a ceasefire agreement hammered out in Stockholm in December.

Guterres said the UN would not give up its efforts to make sure that the Stockholm agreement is implemented, and with that to "start the process for peace to be reestablished in Yemen."

The Houthis launched a large military campaign and seized the capital Sanaa in late 2014 along with other main provinces, forcing Yemen's president and his government to flee to the southern port city of Aden.

The internal military conflict between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government has recently entered its fourth year, aggravating the suffering of Yemenis and deepening the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Three-quarters of the population, or more than 22 million people, urgently need some form of humanitarian assistance, including 8.4 million people who struggle to find their next meal.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 00:17:03|Editor: Chengcheng

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by Murad Abdo

ADEN, Yemen, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Postponement of withdrawing Yemeni warring-sides from the strategic port city of Hodeidah has raised the specter of resumption of fighting as heavy reinforcements were pushed to the war-ravaged Rea Sea city.

The first phase of the United Nations plan to withdraw forces affiliated to both warring parties was undermined and postponed several times just hours before the implementation, sparking fears of military fighting escalation following a short peace period.

Local residents said that both warring sides continued to push reinforcements to Hodeidah instead of preparing to withdraw as planned by the UN agreement declared in Sweden in December 2018.

One of the residents in Houthi-controlled areas in Hodeidah said that Houthis started to recruit and train scores of young fighters from the city, signaling that a new phase of violence might occur.

"Many young boys who are still studying their secondary school programs were forced to join military training camps manned by the Houthis," the resident said on anonymity.

"Houthis are still establishing military camps in Hodeidah despite their fake announcement to withdraw from the city through media reports," he said.

He added that "Houthis' withdrawal from Hodeidah will not happen because they are still planting hundreds of landmines as well as encouraging local people to fight."

Other local residents in government-controlled areas in Hodeidah confirmed to Xinhua that newly-recruited soldiers backed by military armored vehicles arrived on Hodeidah's outskirts.

"No signs show that withdrawal of forces might take place in the next days because we are still witnessing arrival of new army batches," a Hodeidah-based resident said on anonymity.

He said that "a number of military training camps belonging to the government forces are still recruiting fighters arriving from southern provinces like Lahj, Aden and Abyan."

Hodeidah-based residents confirmed that both warring sides don't intend to implement the first phase of withdrawal from Hodeidah and all warring forces prepare for a new round of violence.

Yemeni military experts said that failure to implement the UN's plan and withdrawing warring forces might lead to escalation of fighting between the two warring rivals, blocking all peace efforts.

Mosin Naji, Aden-based military expert, said that "failure in pulling warring sides from Hodeidah means that all efforts aimed at creating peace were not effective and failed to achieve temporary peace."

"Many serious problems might come out if fighting resumes in Hodeidah because thousands of people there are besieged and need urgent humanitarian support," he said.

He added that "the international community should increase pressure on leaders of the warring factions and prevent any attempts of escalation because the situation in Hodeidah reached unbearable stage."

Mohammed Yahya, officer of the Fourth Regional Military Command based in Aden, said that withdrawal of warring-sides from Yemen's Hodeidah may succeed only by using influence of regional countries.

"The battles in Hodeidah erupted according to orders from regional countries and any withdrawal will succeed only if those countries are willing to achieve peace," he said.

He added that "all the leaders of warring-sides don't push forward or withdraw from the frontlines without receiving instructions from their supporting countries."

On Monday, the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels refused to withdraw from two Hodeidah's ports, hindering a peace deal brokered by the UN in Stockholm last year.

Houthi spokesman Yahya Sarea told Xinhua that the Houthi forces will not withdraw until specifying a date for the withdrawal of their foe Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces from around the port city.

Earlier this week, the rebels announced that they will begin to pull back their forces 5 km from the ports of Saleef, which is used for importing grains, and Ras Isa, an oil terminal for exporting Marib crude oil.

For the second phase of withdrawal, Houthi forces will withdraw 1 km from Hodeidah's main port, while the coalition-backed government forces will retreat 1 km from Kilo 7 area in the eastern suburbs of the port city, according to the UN-brokered peace plan.

The government forces have advanced into the southern and eastern outskirts of Hodeidah, after battles against the Houthi rebels over the past five months.

The withdrawal plan came under the supervision of a UN-led cease-fire monitoring team headed by Michael Lollesgaard, who is in Hodeidah.

Hodeidah is the main lifeline entry of commercial imports and humanitarian aid to two-thirds of the Yemeni population.

Stockholm peace deal aims to avoid the lifeline port city an all-out assault by the Saudi-led coalition forces and place it under the UN supervision.

The deal seeks to save more than 20 million Yemenis from sliding into major starvation.

The civil war has killed more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, displaced 3 million others, and pushed the country to the brink of famine.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 00:11:59|Editor: Chengcheng

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Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua (3rd R, back), also head of the organizing committee of China International Import Expo (CIIE), presides over a plenary meeting of CIIE organizing committee in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 26, 2019. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua on Tuesday called for sound preparations for the second China International Import Expo scheduled for November.

Hu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks at a conference in Beijing.

"The success of the first expo held last year laid a solid foundation for the second one this year," Hu said. "Holding the expo is significant for China's further opening-up and all-round image."

Hu called for more detailed and solid preparations, stressing that coordination needed to be enhanced to ensure the success of the expo.

The second expo will be held in Shanghai on Nov. 5-10.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 00:11:58|Editor: Liangyu

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Photo taken on Feb. 9, 2019 shows a view of Zhongshan Station, a Chinese research base in Antarctica. The Zhongshan Station, set up on Feb. 26, 1989, was the second of four scientific research bases on the Antarctic ice sheet built by China since 1964. Today it remains a logistical transit hub for inland expedition on the icy continent. Over the past 30 years, the Zhongshan Station has grown into a modern "scientific town" in Antarctica and can provide logistical services for fixed-wing aircraft, according to the Chinese expedition team. (Xinhua/Liu Shiping)

ABOARD XUELONG, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- China's research base Zhongshan Station in Antarctica will play a bigger role in exploring, protecting and tapping the continent's potential, Chinese researchers said as the station celebrates its 30th anniversary on Tuesday.

The development of Zhongshan Station and the progress of China's scientific expedition in Antarctica are the result of several generations of polar researchers, said Hu Hongqiao, the leader of China's 35th research mission to Antarctica, aboard Chinese icebreaker Xuelong on its voyage back home.

The Zhongshan Station, set up on Feb. 26, 1989, was the second of four scientific research bases on the Antarctic ice sheet built by China since 1964. Today it remains a logistical transit hub for inland expedition on the icy continent.

Over the past 30 years, the Zhongshan Station has grown into a modern "scientific town" in Antarctica and can provide logistical services for fixed-wing aircraft, according to the Chinese expedition team.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 00:06:55|Editor: yan

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BERLIN, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The German industry fears that a disorderly Brexit would cost Germany around 17 billion euros (19.3 billion U.S. dollars), the Federation of German Industries (BDI) announced on Tuesday.

In a worst case scenario, a "setback for the German economy of at least half a percent of GDP is expected. That would be about 17 billion euros less economic power this year alone," BDI's director general Joachim Lang said.

According to Lang, the question of renegotiations is no longer on the agenda of companies because there is no time for it.

The Federation of German Industries called for the "exit process to be stopped" in case the British government did not find a majority in the lower house of parliament. This stop would be better than a hard Brexit and its negative economic consequences.

"British policy must no longer postpone decisions. The options are on the table. It would be absurd if the United Kingdom were to slide into a hard Brexit in four weeks' time that even a majority in the London parliament would reject," Lang commented.

In case of a hard Brexit, it would be highly likely that the UK would slide into recession, the BDI warned.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 00:01:53|Editor: yan

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ARUSHA, Tanzania, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Ali Mohamed Shein, President of Tanzania's semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar on Tuesday urged the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) to come up with strong legislation that supports law enforcement within partner states to strengthen anti-corruption efforts.

Shein made the remarks at the official opening of the 4th meeting of the second session of EALA, which is held in Zanzibar.

He lauded EALA for tabling an Ethics and Anti-Corruption Bill for discussion, which he cited as a promising step towards uprooting corruption in the region.

According to him, the East African Community maintained its position as the fastest growing sub-region in Africa with accelerated growth of 4.6 percent in 2017 compared to 4.4 in 2016.

"This achievement can reach greater heights in the years to come if we become vigilant of corruption and strongly abide by the principal values that guide our work within the Community," he said.

"Corruption impairs good governance. It is a strong constraint on economic prosperity," said Shein.

He said that Zanzibar and the Tanzania mainland have shored up law enforcement, increased judiciary budgets and manpower to expedite judgment of corruption cases.

Martin Ngoga, the EALA Speaker, commended Shein for his endeavors to address corruption, particularly in formulating anti-corruption authority, which is one of the key tools towards scaling down the malpractices in Zanzibar.

EALA members are from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 23:56:52|Editor: yan

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LUSAKA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government said on Tuesday it will go ahead with the constitution amendment program despite some key opposition political parties threatening to boycott the process.

Last week, Justice Minister Given Lubinda commissioned a two-phased constitution refinement roadmap adopted by cabinet to address the lacunas and inconsistencies in the current document.

He said the process, which would commence next month and last until June this year, would include parliamentary sessions with various stakeholders before coming up with a bill to be taken to parliament.

But some opposition leaders said their lawmakers will not be part of the constitution refinement process when it is taken to parliament because they wanted national dialogue to precede it.

Hakainde Hichilema, the main opposition leader, said his lawmakers will not take part in the refinement process and accused the government of trying to manipulate the process by avoiding the dialogue process.

But the justice minister said the process will commence next month even without the support of the opposition and that the government will not force opposition lawmakers to be part of the process.

"If they stay away, their constituencies are watching them as they have an obligation to represent the people. Government is giving an opportunity to the political parties and the church mother bodies to contribute by making submissions to the process in order to take part in the country's governance," he told reporters during a press briefing.

He has since urged other stakeholders to utilize the submission process and make their views known in order for the country to have a constitution that will stand the test of time.

The government, he said, will not leave anyone behind in the refinement process of the constitution.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 23:51:49|Editor: yan

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DAR ES SALAAM, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Tuesday commended the Peking University International Hospital (PUIH) in China for accepting his request to collaborate with the country's Muhimbili Orthopedic Institute (MOI) in conducting joint brain and neurosurgery.

President Magufuli commended PUIH during talks with the Head of Brain and Neurosurgery Department of PUIH, Zhao Yuanli, said a statement released by the Directorate of Presidential Communication at State House in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

"Zhao has assured me of continued support towards enhancing the capacity of our national hospital in provision of brain and neurosurgery," said President Magufuli.

The head of state said Tanzanians were forced to spend a lot of money on neurosurgery abroad.

Magufuli praised Zhao, a neurosurgeon, for conducting successful neurosurgery at the MOI.

The President appealed for more Chinese nervous system specialists to exchange experience with Tanzanian doctors.

For his part, Zhao commended President Magufuli for reforms he was undertaking in the health sector.

Ummy Mwalimu, Minister for Health, thanked President Magufuli for facilitating the arrival of neurosurgeons from PUIH.

She also thanked the president for releasing 5.4 million U.S. dollars towards the improvement of medical services at MOI.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 23:46:45|Editor: yan

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ZAGREB, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Commercial Court in Croatian port city Rijeka issued on Tuesday a decision to postpone bankruptcy of shipyard "3. Maj", one of the biggest shipbuilders in Croatia that has been in financial trouble for a long time.

The decision on bankruptcy was postponed until March 12 when it will be known whether the interested strategic partner, Brodosplit from Split, will participate in the financial consolidation of the shipyards Pula's "Uljanik" and Rijeka's "3. Maj".

"This week we expect the strategic partner Brodosplit to say whether it is financially capable of following the reconstruction of "Uljanik" and "3. Maj", Croatian economy minister Darko Horvat said on Tuesday.

The minister says that if it does not happen then there is no salvage for two Croatian shipyards, whose workers have not received full salaries for several months.

The Croatian government will announce a detailed restructuring plan in a few days, and the crucial problem is whether Brodosplit can provide about 300 million Croatian kuna (45.9 million U.S. dollars), that much is also expected from the state's support for the restructuring process.

"Uljanik" from Pula announced on Feb. 7 the choice of Brodosplit as the strategic partner, and the owner of Brodosplit Tomislav Debeljuh confirmed that the offer was made in cooperation with the Italian Fincateria and other partners who are interested in the recovery of the two Croatian shipyards.

Croatia's largest shipbuilding group Uljanik has been in financial problems with troubled waters ahead of it. In 2018, workers from its two shipyards "Uljanik" in Pula and "3. Maj" in Rijeka, have staged several strikes over delayed wages.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 23:26:35|Editor: Chengcheng

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Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, presides over the first plenary meeting of the ninth session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 26, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislature on Tuesday began a bimonthly session, with a focus on making preparations for the upcoming annual legislative session in March.

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, presided over Tuesday's meeting, which was attended by 171 members of the committee.

During the two-day session, lawmakers are expected to review the committee's work report in 2018 as well as drafts on the agenda and the name lists of presidium, secretary-general and non-voting delegates of the second session of the 13th NPC.

The session, an annual legislative event, is scheduled to open on March 5.

On Tuesday, two reports, focusing on pollution control and poverty relief respectively, were submitted to the top legislature for deliberation.

The first report was delivered by Minister of Ecology and Environment Li Ganjie. It is the State Council's feedback on how it responded to the legislature's inspection report and comments.

In 2018, the top legislature launched an inspection to check local compliance with the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law and held a legislative meeting to deliberate a report made by the top legislator on the matter.

In its feedback report, the State Council said it paid high attention to issues highlighted by the NPC inspection and had tasked the Ecology and Environment Ministry to work with 22 departments and eight provincial-level governments to overhaul problems.

These efforts are made to yield notable achievements in the fight against pollution, the report said.

Poverty relief is another area the top legislature paid close attention to. Between May and December, three NPC Standing Committee vice chairpersons led teams to 16 provinces and regions to study poverty alleviation efforts on the ground.

Wu Weihua, vice chairperson of the NPC Standing Committee, made a report based on the investigation to the legislative session on Tuesday. He noted that "decisive progress" had been made in the anti-poverty fight but also acknowledged that circumstances remained challenging.

The report suggests adopting extra-ordinary measures and gathering the strength of the whole nation to make sure the anti-poverty goals be met on time.

Chinese authorities aim to lift all rural residents living below the current poverty line out of poverty by the year 2020.

On Tuesday, lawmakers also heard a report on the qualification issues of certain deputies, and deliberated appointment and dismissal matters.
French English

IBA Trading Update

Return to net profitability in H2

Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium, February 26, 2019 - IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A., EURONEXT), the worlds leading provider of proton therapy solutions for the treatment of cancer, today provides a trading update ahead of the Companys full-year results on March 21, 2019.

As previously announced, IBA signed seven ProteusONE* contracts in 2018, three of which have started to generate revenues in 2018. The four outstanding Proton Therapy contracts will not be recognized in the 2018 numbers anymore. The year also saw double-digit growth of Proton Therapy service revenues, a record order intake in the Other Accelerators division and good performance of the Dosimetry segment.

Over the year, IBA has made significant progress towards sustained profitability through a company-wide focus on operating expenses and cost-efficiency. These initiatives have resulted in an operating expense reduction of more than EUR 15 million in 2018.

Concurrently, with the strength of the elements mentioned above, the Company moved into profit at both a REBIT and Net Income level in the second half compared with the first half of 2018.

For the full year, IBA confirms that it will meet its 2018 full-year guidance of positive REBIT. At the net result level, the Company now expects to post a single digit (in EUR million) loss, a significant improvement on the net loss of EUR 39.2 million a year earlier.

Olivier Legrain, Chief Executive Officer of IBA commented: IBA has made a strong recovery in 2018, reinforcing our position as global leader in the proton therapy market. Although current market conditions remain challenging and the signing and financing of new contracts is hard to forecast, we are confident in the longer-term prospects for the proton therapy market. We begin 2019 with a clear focus on driving growth through continued product innovation that meets the needs of customers and patients, underpinned by tight control of our costs to achieve sustained profitability.

***ENDS***

About IBA

IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A.) is a global medical technology company focused on bringing integrated and innovative solutions for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The company is the worldwide technology leader in the field of proton therapy, considered to be the most advanced form of radiation therapy available today. IBAs proton therapy solutions are flexible and adaptable, allowing customers to choose from universal full-scale proton therapy centers as well as compact, single room solutions. In addition, IBA also has a radiation dosimetry business and develops particle accelerators for the medical world and industry. Headquartered in Belgium and employing about 1,500 people worldwide, IBA has installed systems across the world.

IBA is listed on the pan-European stock exchange NYSE EURONEXT (IBA: Reuters IBAB.BR and Bloomberg IBAB.BB).

More information can be found at: www.iba-worldwide.com



* ProteusONE is the brand name of Proteus235

For further information, please contact:

IBA

Soumya Chandramouli

Chief Financial Officer

+32 10 475 890

Investorrelations@iba-group.com



Thomas Ralet

Vice-President Corporate Communication

+32 10 475 890

communication@iba-group.com



For media and investor enquiries:

Consilium Strategic Communications

Matthew Neal, Angela Gray, Lizzie Seeley

+44 (0) 20 3709 5700

IBA@consilium-comms.com



Attachment
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's longtime former personal attorney and fixer, is expected to pull back the curtain on 10-plus years by Trump's side when he appears before three congressional committees this week.



On Tuesday, Cohen will testify behind closed doors to the Senate Intelligence Committee. He'll spend Wednesday testifying publicly, for the first time, before the House Oversight Committee. And on Thursday, he'll speak privately to the House Intelligence Committee.



While his public testimony on Wednesday is limited, at the direction of special counsel Robert Mueller's team, Cohen could face questions on everything from the inner workings of the Trump Organization to specific details of hush-money payments to silence women who claimed having affairs with Trump ahead of the 2016 presidential election, according to a memo from the House Oversight Committee's Democratic staff to members. Trump has denied the women's claims.



"What he will talk about ... is what did you do for Mr. Trump during those 10 years, and why? And what caused you to change, and tell the truth, and refuse to accept a pardon, and become transformed?" Lanny Davis, Cohen's attorney, told ABC News' "The Investigation" podcast last week.



Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, even as they steer clear of probing Cohen's knowledge of Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential campaign, could question Cohen about the accuracy of his public statements and what they claim are Trump's efforts to intimidate his former fixer and others against cooperating with Congress.



Here are some of the topics lawmakers hope to raise with Cohen this week:



1. Why did Cohen lie to Congress?



Cohen pleaded guilty in November to lying to Congress about a Trump Tower project in Moscow that the president's real estate company was pursuing at the same time he was running for president in 2016. In statements to the House and Senate Intelligence committees, Cohen testified the project ended in January 2016. He later said it continued well into the campaign, at least until June of that year.



Cohen also pleaded guilty in August to six felonies associated with his personal business dealings, including tax evasion and making false statements to a bank, along with two campaign finance violations.



Democrats have vowed to investigate whether Cohen lied at Trump's direction, a suggestion Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani called "categorically false."



While Cohen has been compared to John Dean, President Richard Nixon's White House counsel who later implicated the president before the Senate Watergate Committee in 1973, Trump's longtime lawyer will be limited in what he can say publicly about lying to Congress.



The House Intelligence Committee is expected to question Cohen about his false statements in his closed-door hearing with the panel on Thursday, according to the Oversight Committee's memo.



2. How did Trump manage his businesses?



For years, Cohen had a front row seat to Trump's management of his sprawling business empire.



"You're going to hear impersonal, 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," Davis recently told ABC News.



3. Did Trump violate tax laws?



Democrats are preparing to question Cohen about Trump's compliance with tax laws, following a report by The New York Times on the president's efforts to avoid paying taxes as a New York businessman decades ago.



According to the Times, Trump and his siblings paid just over $50 million in taxes on $1 billion they received from their parents, an amount that would have produced a tax bill of at least $550 million under the tax rate on gifts and inheritances at the time.

A lawyer for Trump told the Times its report was false and "100 percent defamatory," while Trump later attacked the newspaper's reporting in a tweet.



4. Are there conflicts of interest?



The House Intelligence Committee, now led by Democrats, has also launched a wide-ranging investigation into the president, his family business and whether his personal financial interests are influencing administration policy.



"Michael Cohen is pivotal to this, the peril of ignoring or observing this red line of the president's, and ignoring the financial issues," Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the chairman of the committee, said Sunday in an appearance on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopolous.



5. What did Trump know about hush-money payments?



Cohen pleaded guilty in August to two counts of campaign finance violation for payments he said he was asked to make during the 2016 campaign to the two women who said they had affairs with Trump.



Democrats will likely press Cohen on how the president complied with campaign finance laws, after Cohen last year implicated Trump in the scheme to pay porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Cohen said he made the payments to buy their silence "in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office" in court in August.



Trump has denied directing Cohen to break the law.



"Whatever he did, he did on his own," Trump told Fox News in December. "I never directed him to do anything incorrect or wrong."



6. How much foreign business does Trump get at his Washington hotel?



The Trump International Hotel hotel in Washington's Old Post Office building, just blocks away from the White House, is among Trump's most prized holdings.



It's also become emblematic of the conflict-of-interest allegations facing the businessman-turned-president. The Maryland and District of Columbia attorneys general have alleged that Trump is in violation of the emoluments clause of Article 1 of the Constitution, which bars elected officials from doing business with foreign governments -- because of his hotel.



Trump turned over control of his businesses to his children before taking the oath of office, and said he would donate any foreign earnings to the U.S. Treasury.



On Monday, the Trump Organization said it had sent a check for more than $191,000 in foreign profits to the Treasury from the last year, suggesting that the organization had more foreign business than the previous year, when it sent a $151,000 check to the Treasury. Critics of Trump's arrangement say the Trump Organization has not been transparent about how it calculates foreign profits.



7. What else happened with the Trump Foundation?



Democrats also may question Cohen about the controversial Trump Foundation, according to the Oversight Committee's memo. The president's charitable foundation agreed to dissolve in December amid a lawsuit from New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood that claimed Trump and his three eldest children used the outfit for personal, political and business gains -- including for campaign contributions and legal settlements.



Attorneys for the Trump Foundation have tried to dismiss the lawsuit, calling it politically motivated. The state attorney general is seeking millions in restitution and to temporarily bar the Trump children from serving on charity boards.



8. Was Cohen ever promised a pardon? Has the president obstructed justice?



Cohen's attorney has said Cohen would not accept a pardon from Trump, but it's unclear if the president ever offered to do so. Some of the people caught in the Russia investigation have held out hope for presidential pardons, and Trump has said he has an "absolute right" to pardon himself.



The president told the New York Post last November that a pardon for Paul Manafort, his former campaign chairman, was "never discussed" but that he "wouldn't take it off the table," leading some Democrats to accuse Trump of obstructing justice. Democrats could ask Cohen if Trump or anyone around the president ever offered to pardon him.



"The president should understand that even dangling a pardon in front of a witness like Manafort is dangerously close to obstruction of justice," Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told CNN at the time.



Democrats, according to the Oversight Committee's memo, are also free to question Cohen about what they described as "public efforts by the President and his attorney to intimidate Mr. Cohen or others not to testify."



In interviews and public statements, Trump has called Cohen "weak," and suggested without evidence that he had damaging information on Cohen's family. There has been no public indication from the Cohen investigation that anyone else in his family was or is the subject of any criminal inquiry.



Cohen's concerns that the president's comments could incite violence against his family led to the initial cancellation of his Capitol Hill appearances last month, sources close to Cohen told ABC News.



9. Has Trump told the truth?



Trump, his legal team and the White House had denied knowledge of the hush money payments to Daniels and McDougal, repeating the claims for months until Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison.



Trump then took to Twitter with a new explanation that appeared to concede his involvement in the episode, while insisting that he "never directed Michael Cohen to break the law."



"He was a lawyer, and he is supposed to know the law," Trump tweeted, claiming that Cohen agreed to the charges to "embarrass the president and get a much reduced prison sentence."



10. Republicans: Why should we trust Michael Cohen?



Some of Trump's staunchest allies on Capitol Hill have sought to discredit Cohen, arguing he has no credibility after pleading guilty to lying to Congress, and they have worked to paint the hearings as the start of a Democratic effort to impeach the president.



Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the top Republican on the committee, has also suggested Republicans will not accept any limitations on what lawmakers will ask Cohen, despite the understanding between top Democrats, Cohen and the Justice Department.



"I will not stand by quietly while an admitted liar comes before the Committee," Jordan said in a statement last week. "Our Members intend to question Mr. Cohen about the crimes he pleaded guilty to, other criminal activity he participated in but refused to disclose, his international financial dealings, and a long list of other probative activities."



On Monday, Jordan and Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., pushed House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., to bring Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein before the panel.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 23:16:30|Editor: yan

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TOKYO, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese government on Tuesday passed a plan to sign a revised free trade pact with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), local media reported.

A Cabinet meeting passed the plan with the trade agreement that includes the liberalization of the sectors of services and investment.

"I hope it will become a huge step forward in strengthening our economic partnership with ASEAN," Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said.

The Japanese government is expected to sign the agreement on Wednesday and seek approval from the parliament in the fall, while ASEAN countries will start the signing procedure from Saturday.

The pact with ASEAN, Japan's major trading partner in Asia after China, will take effect in countries after they finish procedures domestically.

According to the Japanese foreign ministry, the original trade agreement with ASEAN which focused on the trade of goods went into effect in 2008.

The two side started renegotiations regarding the services and investment sectors in 2010 and concluded the talks in 2017.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 23:16:29|Editor: yan

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HANOI, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump arrived at the Noi Bai International Airport of Hanoi Tuesday evening for the second summit with Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

After disembarking from Air Force One, Trump shook hands and talked with officials who were at the airport to greet him, before heading for his hotel.

Trump and Kim are scheduled to meet on Wednesday and Thursday. Issues such as a roadmap for denuclearization, the lifting of sanctions and whether to issue a war-ending declaration will be the focal points at the upcoming talks.

During his stay, Trump will also meet with Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Wednesday, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference at the end of an EU Summit in Brussels, Belgium, on Dec. 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)

PARIS, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday endorsed the United States reversal on keeping a small proportion of U.S. troops in Syria after the planned pullout.

"On the U.S. decision, I can only but welcome this choice ... The U.S. decision is a good thing," Macron told reporters.

"That responds to the need to stay with the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces, an Arab-Kurdish alliance) and those who, on the ground, have worked to fight against the Islamic State," he said.

Macron also pledged to "continue to operate in the region within the coalition".

Last Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said a small fraction of U.S. forces would remain in Syria with troops from other countries.

According to U.S. media reports, citing a senior administration official, the U.S. would keep about 400 troops in two different regions of Syria.

In December 2018, Trump decided to pull out about 2,000 troops from the Arab country, saying that the terrorist cell has been defeated.

Despite Washington's decision, Macron, on Jan. 17, said France would carry out its military offensive against the Islamic State fighters in Syria this year. He, then, warned that "any rush to withdraw (troops) would be a mistake".

France was one of the first European countries to join the international coalition against the IS. Its fighter jets bombed the group in Iraq in 2014 and then IS targets in Syria a year later.

Around 1,000 French troops including special forces have been based in the north of the country, and deployed alongside local Kurdish and Arab forces.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 23:06:27|Editor: yan

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CAPE TOWN, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services on Tuesday rejected attempts to remove Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane from office.

The committee resolved to recommend to the National Assembly not to support the request to expedite proceeding to unseat Mkhwebane from office, as demanded by the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), committee chairperson Madipoane Mothapo said in a statement emailed to Xinhua.

The DA approached Parliament last year, asking it to consider the removal of Mkhwebane after a 2017 ruling by the High Court in Pretoria found that she grossly over-reached her powers when she recommended constitutional amendments to alter the mandate of the privately-owned South African Reserve Bank.

The DA has also taken issue with how Mkhwebane investigated the Vrede dairy farm in Free State Province, a project that lost millions of rand due to alleged looting by the Indian Gupta family in collaboration with certain government officials.

Mothapo said the committee, after careful consideration, voted by majority not to probe Mkhwebane for possible fast-track removal from her constitutionally mandated position.

The committee is of the view that section 194 of the Constitution and section 2(1)(c) of the Public Protector Act of 1994 envisage a factual inquiry into the fitness of the Public Protector, said Mothapo.

It is the National Assembly that must determine that the public protector's conduct renders her unfit to hold office, said Mothapo.

The request by the DA was premature as there is a pending Constitutional Court appeal regarding the issue, she said.

"The committee noted that legal proceedings related to the judgement are ongoing. As such, we believe that it would be premature for removal proceedings to be instituted against the Public Protector," she said.

"After careful consideration, the committee has concluded not to support the request," Mothapo added.

The DA said it will now submit a minority report on the matter as it continues its fight to ensure that Mkhwebane be held to account by those she serves.

In South Africa, the Public Protector acts independently in accordance with section 181 of the Constitution, with a mandate to support and strengthen constitutional democracy. The Public Protector has the power to investigate, report on and remedy improper conduct in all state affairs.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 23:01:24|Editor: yan

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BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The initiative to use clean energy for winter heating in northern China has been pushed forward in an active yet prudent manner, a government minister said Tuesday.

Ecology and Environment Minister Li Ganjie told a bi-monthly legislative session that the initiative was part of the effort to optimize the energy consumption mix to control air pollution in northern China.

The minister made the statement before the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress as it began deliberating a State Council feedback report on the government response to the legislature's inspection report and comments.

The top legislature made inspecting the enforcement of the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law a priority of its supervision work in 2018.

Clean-energy winter heating is key in China's battle for blue skies. Excessive burning of coal, especially by small household furnaces, has been blamed for air pollution in northern China.

The State Council report said that governments had only pushed for replacing coal with natural gas for winter heating when the local gas supply was guaranteed.

The Ministry of Finance earmarked 13.92 billion yuan (2 billion U.S. dollars) for addressing the issue of small household furnaces in parts of northern China, including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and its surrounding areas, the report said.

In the meantime, measures have been taken by various government ministries to help residents switch to clean energy.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 22:46:16|Editor: yan

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WARSAW, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- A working group from the Pentagon is expected to be in Warsaw next week, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced on Tuesday.

Speaking to Polish state TV on Tuesday, Blaszczak suggested the Pentagon visit was connected to negotiations between Warsaw and Washington to establish a permanent U.S. military presence in Poland.

"We are close to achieving our goal, we are discussing details," Blaszczak said.

Main Polish daily Rzeczpospolita on Monday reported that Pentagon policy chief John Rood would make an announcement about the U.S. troop boost in Warsaw "in a few days".

Rzeczpospolita reported that the U.S. was considering deploying command staff in Poland and planning long-term military presence, including air forces and special troops.

Poland has been lobbying for a permanent U.S. military base in Poland, which Warsaw dubbed "Fort Trump", and even committed to covering some of its costs.

Asked to confirm the information from Rzeczpospolita, Blaszczak said on Tuesday that the two sides were "negotiating" and "discussing details".

"I am optimistic and I believe, I have this conviction, deep conviction, that this project, which is good for Poland, because it increases the defense capacity of Poland and of the entire eastern NATO flank, and is good for the United States, will be successful," Blaszczak said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 22:16:02|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The number of students newly admitted to undergraduate and postgraduate programs offered by higher education institutions across China increased by 3.87 percent and 6.43 percent respectively year on year in 2018, the Ministry of Education said Tuesday.

Last year, a total of 7.91 million people were newly enrolled in undergraduate programs, including Bachelor degree programs or junior college courses, with the total enrollment of such programs rising 2.81 percent year on year to 28.31 million, according to ministry officials at a press conference Tuesday.

Meanwhile, 2018 recorded a total of 858,000 newly enrolled postgraduate students, with the total enrollment increasing by 3.47 percent year on year to 2.73 million.

Citing national education statistics, the ministry said in 2018 China had a total of 1,245 universities where programs leading to Bachelor or higher level degrees are offered, two more than the previous year.

The country had a total of 1,418 colleges that offer higher vocational education programs or junior college courses, 30 more than in 2017.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 22:05:59|Editor: zh

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TAIPEI, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan's industrial production index for January fell 1.86 percent from a year earlier to 106.55 after a 1.22 percent year-on-year decline in December, according to the island's economic affairs authority Tuesday.

On a monthly basis, industrial production in January went down 3.57 percent from the previous month, the authority said in a statement.

The sub-index for the manufacturing sector, which accounts for more than 90 percent of total industrial production, dropped 1.92 percent year-on-year to 107.43 in January.

The production index for electronic components, the most heavily weighted in the manufacturing sector, plummeted 6.92 percent compared with the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's wholesale revenue rose 2.2 percent year-on-year in January to 905.5 billion new Taiwan dollars (29.42 billion U.S. dollars), it said.

Retail revenue edged up 7.1 percent to 388.9 billion new Taiwan dollars in January, while the catering sector jumped 8.4 percent to 41.6 billion new Taiwan dollars.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 22:00:56|Editor: xuxin

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HANOI, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Vietnam's capital Hanoi on Tuesday night to meet with Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Air Force One can be seen touching down on the ground of Hanoi.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 21:55:52|Editor: xuxin

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LONDON, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May promised on Tuesday that the members of parliament (MPs) would be given a choice to vote on no-deal Brexit or a delayed departure from the European Union (EU) if her deal is rejected in a meaningful vote in mid-March.

The prime minister, in her speech at the House of Commons, said "I do not want to see Article 50 to be extended."

"I know that members (of parliament) are worried that time is running out," May said. "I know too that members across the House are deeply concerned about the effect of the uncertainty on businesses."

May told the parliament that she is working hard to win a legally binding assurance on the backstop to avoid a hard border on the Irish Island after the planned exit on March 29.

The deal, reached by London and Brussels after months of painful negotiations, has been rejected by MPs, so the prime minister needs to talk to the unyielding EU leaders on a revised deal in order to get her agreement passed at the parliament.

"We will hold a second meaningful vote by Tuesday March 12 at the latest," May said.

According to May, once the government's Brexit plan fails to pass the March 12 vote, the government will table a motion to be voted on March 13 at the latest, "asking this House if it supports the EU without a withdrawal agreement and a framework for a future relationship on March 29."

And if the House rejects no-deal Brexit, the government will on March 14 "bring forward a motion on whether parliament wants to seek a short, limited extension to Article 50", said the PM.

The British government will ask the EU to approve the extension if the parliament votes for it, May said.

Accusing the prime minister of "running down the clock," opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbin said at the parliament that he wants a "decisive" second referendum on Brexit.

The British people voted in a June 2016 referendum to leave the EU. May, who rejected the ideal of a second referendum, said in her repeated public statements that her government is delivering the outcome of the referendum.

The prime minister said that her government has "clear and firm commitment" to hold future votes on Brexit options.
MCLEAN, Va., Feb. 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dr. Bajoghli of the Skin and Laser Surgery Center has once more been awarded recognition as a Top Doctor in Dermatology and MOHS Surgery for 2019, by Northern Virginia Magazine.

This award is presented to physicians and surgeons in the Northern Virginia area as an Official Recognition of Continued Commitment to Providing Nothing Short of Excellence.

The annual Top Doctors list is compiled based on peer and panel recommendations. This year, among the many physicians and surgeons recognized within their specialties, Northern Virginia Magazine gave the Top Doctor award to McLeans own Dr. Bajoghli.

According to the magazine, panels nominate doctors based on internal evaluations, patient reviews, peer recognition, and an evaluation of the overall quality of care offered by the doctor.

Each physician and surgeon who gets awarded a spot on this coveted list has been voted on by the magazines exclusive list of peers and this specially convened panel. This is a prestigious listing and quite an accomplishment, especially given the number of competing physicians in the Northern Virginia area. Recognition such as this speaks highly of the quality of care each Top Doctor provides.

Dr. Amir Bajoghli would like to thank Northern Virginia Magazine for this honor and also give thanks to his amazing staff for their professionalism and support.

Dr. Bajoghli has been active in the practice of dermatology and laser surgery since the completion of his training at the combined Tufts University and Boston University Schools of Medicine and Hospitals. He is board certified in Dermatology and board eligible in Internal Medicine.

Dr. Amir Bajoghli has been named Top Dermatologist and MOHS Surgeon in the Washington area by both the Washingtonian and Northern Virginia magazines.

Dr. Bajoghli has a flourishing private practice with offices in McLean and Woodbridge, VA. Dr. Bajoghli has been involved in lecturing other physicians regionally and internationally as well as teaching medical students and dermatology residents at Georgetown University in the Department of Dermatology and Inova Fairfax Hospital.

Dr. Amir Bajoghli can be reached at either of his Virginia offices:

McLean:

1359 Beverly Rd., 2nd Floor

McLean, VA 22101

(703) 893-1114

Woodbridge:

2200 Opitz Blvd., Suite 100

Woodbridge, VA 22191

(703) 492-4140
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 21:50:51|Editor: xuxin

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MANILA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has appointed Ahmed M. Saeed as vice president, the Manila-based bank announced on Tuesday.

The ADB said in a statement that Saeed will be responsible for operations in the Southeast Asia Department, the East Asia Department, and the Pacific Department.

The ADB said Saeed has experience working with many governments, central banks, finance ministries, and sovereign wealth funds on a broad range of economic and financial issues.

Established in 1966, ADB now is owned by 67 members.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 21:50:49|Editor: xuxin

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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (R) meets with visiting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Tehran, Iran, on Feb. 25, 2019. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lauded what he called Syria's "resistance" against U.S. and its allies' pressures on the Arab country, Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Iran's Supreme Leader office)

TEHRAN, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Unanticipated visit of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to the Iranian capital sparked reiteration of Tehran-Damascus alliance against the U.S. pressures.

In a rare visit abroad and on his first trip to Iran since the eruption of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Assad arrived in Tehran on Monday and met Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani.

Mass media releases displayed photos and footages of Assad in an embrace with Khamenei, with the apparent "triumphant" gestures in their eyes, and with smiles of contentment on their faces.

"You have turned into the hero of the Arab world," the Iranian supreme leader told Assad, IRAN daily reported on Tuesday.

"Iran takes pride in helping the Syrian government and people" amidst the threats by the United States, Israel and their regional allies, the Iranian leader spoke very highly of the two countries' comprehensive partnership over the past years.

He also lauded what he called Syria's "resistance" to the United States and its allies' pressures on the Arab country, Tasnim news agency also reported on Tuesday.

Resistance of the Syrian president and people has been the main reason behind the defeat of the United States and its allies in Syria, Khamenei said.

He stressed that "the issue of the buffer zone, which the Americans seek to establish in Syria, is among those dangerous plots that must be categorically rejected and stood against."

Besides, "the Americans' plan to maintain an effective presence along the Iraq-Syria border is another plot by the United States," he added.

Iran and Syria have built strategic partnership and have forged joint power of the resistance against the U.S. and Israel, the Iranian leader said, adding that "this will prevent enemies from making their plans operational."

"Through resistance and cooperation of its people, Syria managed to stand fast against a big coalition consisting of America, Europe and their allies in the region and emerge triumphant from this crisis," he noted.

For his part, the Syrian president hailed Iran's support for his country.

"Although current achievements (despite conspiracies against Syria) were gained through much suffering, they are certainly the fruit of steadfastness of the resistance front," Assad said, pointing to the partnership between Iran and Syria as the key factor for gaining these achievements.

In another meeting with Assad in Tehran on Monday, Rouhani also vowed to support the Syrian government, according to IRNA, saying "just like the past, Iran will continue to stand by the Syrian nation and government."

He stressed that supporters of terrorist groups "should not assume that they can play the terrorism card for their benefit in domestic, regional, or international equations."

"Iran and Syria enjoy many religious and cultural bonds, and relations between the two countries are based on brotherhood and unity," Rouhani was quoted as saying by Tasnim on Tuesday.

The tripartite meeting between the leaders of Iran, Russia and Turkey have stressed the territorial integrity of Syria, Rouhani said, adding that Iran is ready for the reconstruction of post-war Syria.

Assad said that the Syrian people and government appreciate the Iranians for their support for fighting terrorism in Syria.

"We acknowledge Iran's approach in multilateral cooperation, including the Astana Process and the recent Sochi Summit," Assad pointed out.

He also said that Iran and Syria will continue cooperation at regional and international levels.

During the brief visit of Assad to Iran, the leaders agreed to boost comprehensive cooperation for the interests of the two friendly nations.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 21:40:44|Editor: xuxin

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MANILA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in the measles outbreak in the Philippines has reached 203, according to the latest data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released on Tuesday.

Between Jan. 1 and Feb. 23, 12,736 measles cases including 203 deaths were officially reported nationwide through the routine surveillance system from the Philippines Department of Health, OCHA said.

OCHA said this is a significant increase compared to 2,789 cases and 25 deaths reported in the same period in 2018.

With a median age of two years old, 57 percent of measles cases are under five years old, it said.

Data from 2018 showed that 10 percent of cases were between six and 15 years of age, whereas 15 percent were between 16 and 30 years of age. "The majority of measles cases are male at 53 percent," OCHA said.

As of Feb. 23, it said 63 percent of cases were not vaccinated.

"The overall risk remains high because of a large number of unprotected children and adults," OCHA said.

Measles is a highly contagious viral disease transmitted by respiratory droplets and direct contact.

"The occurrence of the epidemic in several densely populated urban areas promotes the rapid spread of the disease," OCHA added.

OCHA said Measles vaccination coverage (MCV1 and MCV2) at national level is low and there are several pockets of under-immunized communities.

On Feb. 6, the DOH declared a "measles outbreak" in Metro Manila. A day later, the Department of Health announced that the measles outbreak had spread to more areas in the Philippine main Luzon island, Western Visayas and Central Visayas in the central Philippines.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 21:35:42|Editor: xuxin

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LONDON, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May promised on Tuesday that the members of parliament (MPs) would be given a choice to vote on no-deal Brexit or delayed departure from the European Union (EU) if her deal is rejected in a meaningful vote in mid-March.

The prime minister, in her speech at the House of Commons, said "I do not want to see Article 50 to be extended." But she also said "I know people worried that time is running out."

May told the parliament that she is working hard to win a legally binding assurance on the backstop to avoid a hard border on the Irish Island after the planned exit on March 29.

The deal, reached by London and Brussels after months of painful negotiations, has been rejected by MPs, so the prime minister need to talk to the unyielding EU leaders on a revised deal in order to get her agreement passed at the parliament.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 21:30:41|Editor: xuxin

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HERAT, Afghanistan, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Up to 16 militants have been confirmed dead as government forces launched fresh operations in Afghanistan's western Herat province, said an army statement Tuesday.

Units of Special Forces begun targeting the hideouts of militants in parts of Zawal district since Sunday and so far 16 armed insurgents have been killed, the statement said.

The operations would last for several more days, the statement added.

Taliban fighters who are active in parts of the western Herat province have not commented on the report.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 21:15:36|Editor: zh

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BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chief Engineer of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Zhang Feng, on Tuesday called on countries worldwide to work together to maintain a fair, impartial and transparent environment for the development of the information and communications technology (ICT) industry.

"With sound industrial competition based on market principles and international rules, we can jointly create an enabling environment for global mobile communication industry," Zhang said.

Speaking at the 2019 Mobile World Congress (MWC19) held in Barcelona, Zhang said that in the era of economic globalization, the 5G industry has become a closely interlinked industrial ecosystem.

A diversified 5G industrial chain, Zhang said, could facilitate adequate competition, providing operators with more market options and users with better services.

"Network security and user privacy protection constitute the basis for industrial development, and it is our common goal to build a globally trusted 5G security system. We should give play to our complementary advantages for mutual benefits and win-win outcomes," he said.

By establishing a globalized 5G industrial chain, countries could secure network infrastructure and promote the integrated development and application of ICT, so as to continuously boost world's economic growth, the engineer argued.

Zhang emphasized that governments and the industry worldwide should deepen international consensus and advance multi-level international cooperation in terms of technology, standard, frequency, industry and application in the spirit of equality, cooperation and sharing.

"In this process, we should jointly strive to maintain a fair and transparent environment for development," he said.

Zhang also said that the Chinese government has attached great importance to promoting the development and application of ICT.

Following a path of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development, China has actively abided by its WTO commitments by pushing forward the opening up and international cooperation of the telecom industry, which in turn contributes to the industry's sound and lasting development, he said.

The Chinese government will continue opening up and cooperation, and strive to foster a favorable environment for the industrial development.

Along with global mobile operators, industrial partners, and international organizations, China is committed to jointly promoting the innovative development of 5G for a better future of the global mobile communication industry, Zhang added.

MWC is the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry. For this exhibition more than 2400 companies and 100,000 industrial representatives from more than 200 countries and regions attended the event.

In recent years, the number of Chinese companies participating in the event has been increasing -- over 360 companies this year, accounting for 15 percent of the total. Chinese companies such as Huawei, ZTE, Xiaomi and OPPO have all released their 5G-related new products during MWC19.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 20:55:27|Editor: zh

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SHANGHAI, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese mutual fund companies are gearing up to invest in the new science and technology innovation board expected to be launched this year.

Nine mutual fund firms, including China Asset Management Co., Harvest Fund Management Co. and ICBC Credit Suisse Asset Management Co., have applied to the country's securities regulator to issue 10 equity investment products for the sci-tech board by Tuesday.

The mutual fund products offer an alternative investment channel for many small investors.

According to the draft rules for the board, individual investors need to have at least 500,000 yuan (74,700 U.S. dollars) in their stock trading accounts and more than 24 months of trading experience to gain direct access to the market.

The asset management firms are optimistic over the size of the funds to be raised through the first batch of equity investment products amid the huge attention on the new board and a market rally of Chinese stocks so far this year.

The leading tech companies, which are expected to expand amid a quickening economic transition, will be among the main investment targets, said Zhang Fan, an asset manager with China Asset Management Co.

Bai Xiaolan, an asset manager with HFT Investment Management Co., said on the backdrop of economic transition, the newly-emerging tech sectors offer plenty of investment opportunities.

Industrial upgrading has become a new driver of China's economic growth, with a large number of tech and innovative companies facing a pressing fund-raising demand, said Zhong Ou Asset Management Co., one of the nine firms.

The new board is vital to improving the fund-raising environment and the multi-tier capital market system, according to Zhong Ou Asset Management.

The preparatory work to establish the new sci-tech board and introduce the pilot registration-based initial public offerings (IPO) system is underway.

Yi Huiman, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), visited Shanghai last week to check preparatory work and solicit opinions, calling for coordinated efforts to push ahead with the reform and ensure its success.

The new board will focus on companies in high-tech and strategically emerging sectors such as new generation information technology, advanced equipment, new materials and energy, and biomedicine, according to the CSRC. It was first proposed in November 2018 and was approved in late January and has since been pushing forward at full speed.

The new board is likely to be rolled out as soon as the first half of this year, according to Shi Donghui, head of the capital market research center with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 20:45:25|Editor: xuxin

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TASHKENT, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Uzbekistan's gold reserves are expected to increase by 474 tons worth 18.75 billion U.S. dollars during 2020-2024, said a draft document published Tuesday by the country's state committee for geology.

According to the committee, Uzbekistan's gold reserves reached 5,990 tons as of Jan. 1, 2018.

In 2017, the country produced 89.9 tons of gold.

The Central Asian nation plans to invest around 230 million dollars in searching, evaluating and exploring its gold reserves, which is 45 percent of the total allotment of geological survey of the sector, said the document.

The main part of the geological works will be carried out in the Central Kyzylkum desert in Navoi region, as well as in Samarkand and Tashkent regions.

Uzbekistan has been carrying out reforms to develop its mining sector, which include lifting bans on private gold mining.

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has been opening up the country's economy for foreign investors since he came to power in 2016. He ordered in February more transparent policies for the country's gold reserves and production.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 20:35:23|Editor: zh

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BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Huawei Rotating Chairman Guo Ping reiterated that his company does not "do bad things" when he took the stage at MWC 2019 (formerly Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona on Tuesday.

Guo Ping spoke during a debate on cyber security against the backdrop of mounting pressure from the U.S. on Western governments not to use the Chinese telecomms company's technology in the construction of their upcoming 5G networks.

5G and the ultra-high connection speeds it offers will be vital for the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), the digital economy and autonomous and connected cars.

Speaking at MWC 2019, Guo Ping sought to calm security fears. "To build a system that we all can trust, we need aligned responsibility, unified standards and clear regulations," he said.

"We can proudly say that 5G is safer than 4G. As a vendor, we don't operate carriers' networks and we don't own carrier data."

He flatly rejected claims from the U.S. government that Huawei had broken intellectual property rules or was involved in espionage.

"What we promise is that we don't do anything bad: we don't do bad things," Guo Ping insisted.

The U.S. government is reportedly seeking to ban Huawei from supplying infrastructure for its 5G networks, but Guo Ping had a clear message for other countries considering making the same decision.

"Let me say this as clear as possible: Huawei has not and will never plant backdoors. And we will never allow anyone to do so in our equipment. We take this responsibility very seriously," Guo said.

"The U.S. security accusation on our 5G has no evidence -- nothing. ... So, for the best technology and greater security, choose Huawei. Please choose Huawei, thank you," he concluded.

Vincent Pang, president of Huawei's Western Europe region, also spoke to the press about the security issue, arguing that his company "hasn't had a single security incident in the 15 years we have been in Europe".

He said the Chinese government had "never" asked for Huawei to "install backdoors" into its technology, and stressed that the company knows that "the 5G rollout requires the highest levels of confidence, but it is a technical challenge, not a political one".
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 20:30:20|Editor: zh

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BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Huawei Rotating Chairman Guo Ping reiterated that his company does not "do bad things" when he took the stage at MWC 2019 (formerly Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona on Tuesday.

Guo Ping spoke during a debate on cyber security against the backdrop of mounting pressure from the U.S. on Western governments not to use the Chinese telecomms company's technology in the construction of their upcoming 5G networks.
NEW YORK, LONDON and HONG KONG, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hazeltree, the leading provider of integrated buy-side treasury management solutions, and Oasis Management Company, an international investment manager focused on investing in equity and debt markets, announced the successful implementation of Hazeltrees cash and collateral management product suite. Hazeltree helps Oasis finance and treasury team better manage operational risks through strengthened internal controls, driving efficiencies and increasing yield on cash management.



Oasis Management implemented the following Hazeltree products:

Hazeltree Cash Manager which enables centralized aggregation and monitoring of Oasis cash balances across more than 35 brokers, banks, and other counterparties; optimizes cash usage and maximizes yield while minimizing currency risk; and, enables cash movements and payments across all funds through a fully integrated wire solution, including multi-level authorizations, robust controls and detailed audit trails.

which enables centralized aggregation and monitoring of Oasis cash balances across more than 35 brokers, banks, and other counterparties; optimizes cash usage and maximizes yield while minimizing currency risk; and, enables cash movements and payments across all funds through a fully integrated wire solution, including multi-level authorizations, robust controls and detailed audit trails. Hazeltree Collateral Manager which streamlines and aggregates Oasis OTC collateral management activity; compares and reconciles internal, independently-valued OTC positions; applies relevant CSA terms; and, efficiently responds to, issues, or disputes daily margin calls to minimize collateral usage.

As a leading investment manager, we are continually enhancing our ability to provide our investors with consistent returns, minimize our operational risks, and efficiently scale our business, said Seth Fischer, Oasis Founder and Chief Investment Officer. Hazeltree provided an integrated, scalable solution that fully supports our expanding business requirements and has proven to be the ideal partner.

In Hazeltree, we found a partner that provides a solution to support more efficiently our front office team, and to further strengthen our controls and minimize operational risks, said Phillip Meyer, Oasis General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer. Over years of continued success and growth, we have added numerous counterparties and complexity, and Hazeltree offers a solution to manage this growth in a scalable and economic manner.

"Oasis has been a great partner to work with," said Sameer Shalaby, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hazeltree. "We look forward to supporting Oasis treasury requirements as they continue to expand their business."

About Oasis Management Company

Oasis Management Company Ltd. manages private investment funds focused on opportunities in a wide array of asset classes across countries and sectors. Oasis was founded in 2002 by Seth H. Fischer, who leads the firm as its Chief Investment Officer. More information about Oasis is available at www.oasiscm.com .

About Hazeltree

Hazeltree is the leading Treasury Management solution provider, serving hedge funds, asset managers, fund administrators, insurance companies, pension funds and corporates with powerful, proactive performance enhancement and risk mitigation capabilities that generate operational alpha, reduce a range of liquidity and funding risks and streamline operations. Hazeltrees integrated treasury management solution includes comprehensive cash management, securities financing, collateral management, counterparty management and margin management capabilities. Hazeltree is headquartered in New York with offices in London and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit www.hazeltree.com .
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 20:30:18|Editor: xuxin

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LUSAKA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Opposition parties in Zambia said Monday they will not support the process of amending the constitution if the government insists on presenting a bill to parliament for the purpose.

Last week, Justice Minister Given Lubinda commissioned a two-phased constitution refinement roadmap adopted by the cabinet to address the lacunas and inconsistencies in the current document.

He said the process, which would commence next month and last until June, would include parliamentary sessions with various stakeholders before coming up with a bill to be presented to parliament.

But Hakainde Hichilema, leader of the main opposition United Party for National Development (UPND), said his lawmakers will not support the constitution amendment bill when it is taken to parliament.

It is clear that the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) is trying to run away from dealing with contentious issues through national dialogue, Hichilema told reporters during a press briefing of an alliance of oppositions, adding constitution refinement should be part of the national dialogue process.

Chishimba Kambwili, leader of the opposition National Democratic Congress, said it was clear that the governing party was abrogating an earlier agreement by all political parties to tackle contentious issues through national dialogue.

He said stakeholders had agreed the constitution, as well as the controversial public order law, which governs public processions and gatherings, should be key issues to be tackled during the national dialogue.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 20:30:18|Editor: zh

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BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Huawei Rotating Chairman Guo Ping reiterated that his company does not "do bad things" when he took the stage at MWC 2019 (formerly Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona on Tuesday.

Guo Ping spoke during a debate on cyber security against the backdrop of mounting pressure from the U.S. on Western governments not to use the Chinese telecomms company's technology in the construction of their upcoming 5G networks.

5G and the ultra-high connection speeds it offers will be vital for the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), the digital economy and autonomous and connected cars.

Speaking at MWC 2019, Guo Ping sought to calm security fears. "To build a system that we all can trust, we need aligned responsibility, unified standards and clear regulations," he said.

"We can proudly say that 5G is safer than 4G. As a vendor, we don't operate carriers' networks and we don't own carrier data."

He flatly rejected claims from the U.S. government that Huawei had broken intellectual property rules or was involved in espionage.

"What we promise is that we don't do anything bad: we don't do bad things," Guo Ping insisted.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 20:25:16|Editor: xuxin

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BEIRUT, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The EU is cooperating with Lebanon's security agencies to supervise and control the borders and the airport, local media reported on Tuesday.

"We are working on building a secure Lebanon," Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, was quoted as saying by Elnashra, an online independent newspaper.

Mogherini's remarks came during a ceremony held on the occasion of the opening of a new headquarters for the EU in Beirut.

Mogherini said that cooperation between Lebanon and the EU in the defense and security sectors is very essential for Lebanon and Europe.

She added that the EU's investment in Lebanon is a priority and it will exceed 1.5 billion euros (1.7 billion U.S. dollars) in 2020.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 20:20:14|Editor: zh

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Photo taken on Aug. 26, 2018 shows the special stamp set "Yangtze River Economic Belt" in Zaozhuang, east China's Shandong Province. China Post released a set of special stamps on the theme of development achievements of Yangtze River Economic Belt on the same day. China Development Bank (CDB), the world's largest development finance institution, has extended trillions of yuan of loans to support the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. As of December 2018, outstanding loans to 11 provincial-level regions along the belt amounted to 3.85 trillion yuan (about 575 billion U.S. dollars), according to the CDB. New yuan loans to these regions reached 304.5 billion yuan last year, accounting for 48 percent of the bank's total new yuan loans. The funds mainly went to major projects in the fields of ecological protection and restoration, infrastructure connectivity, and industrial transformation and upgrading. The CDB will continue to support ecological protection and green development of the Yangtze River in 2019, said CDB Chairman Zhao Huan. China issued a development plan for the Yangtze River Economic Belt in September 2016 and a guideline for green development of the belt in 2017. The Yangtze River Economic Belt consists of nine provinces and two municipalities that cover roughly one-fifth of China's land. It has a population of 600 million and generates more than 40 percent of the country's GDP. (Xinhua/Sun Zhongzhe)

BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- China Development Bank (CDB), the world's largest development finance institution, has extended trillions of yuan of loans to support the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.

As of December 2018, outstanding loans to 11 provincial-level regions along the belt amounted to 3.85 trillion yuan (about 575 billion U.S. dollars), according to the CDB.

New yuan loans to these regions reached 304.5 billion yuan last year, accounting for 48 percent of the bank's total new yuan loans.

The funds mainly went to major projects in the fields of ecological protection and restoration, infrastructure connectivity, and industrial transformation and upgrading.

The CDB will continue to support ecological protection and green development of the Yangtze River in 2019, said CDB Chairman Zhao Huan.

China issued a development plan for the Yangtze River Economic Belt in September 2016 and a guideline for green development of the belt in 2017.

The Yangtze River Economic Belt consists of nine provinces and two municipalities that cover roughly one-fifth of China's land. It has a population of 600 million and generates more than 40 percent of the country's GDP.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 20:20:13|Editor: xuxin

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ENTEBBE, Uganda, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Uganda on Tuesday repatriated 70 former fighters of the defunct M23 rebel group to the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The former rebels, together with 10 of their dependents, were seen off here at Entebbe International Airport, 40km south of the capital Kampala. They boarded a United Nations military plane.

Robert Masolo, Uganda's ambassador in charge of special duties for the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, handed over the former rebels to Jean Pierre Massala, DRC's ambassador to Uganda.

"We have been talking to them about going back home. When we see them returning home it is a positive in terms of stability for the region," Masolo said.

He said the former fighters were a security threat if they continued to stay in Uganda without going home.

Ambassador Massala said the former fighters were returning home voluntarily and would be rehabilitated before reintegrating them into the community.

"We did not force them to return. They said they want to come back home and work with the government," Massala said.

The group has been staying at Bihanga camp in western Uganda, where other former fighters are said to be living.

"We went to the camp with teams from the UN and Uganda and talked to them. I am very happy they accepted the offer. My president said he wants all the Congolese people to come home," Massala said.

Uganda in 2017 repatriated 45 former M23 fighters for disarmament and reintegration.

In 2014, Uganda, DRC and M23 reached an agreement regarding the return of 1,377 former rebels camped at Bihanga military training school in the western district of Ibanda for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration back home.

M23 rebels fled into Uganda in 2012 after being defeated by a combined force of DRC army and the UN.

DRC's new president Felix Tshisekedi has been calling upon all militia groups to surrender to government and work for the development of the country.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 20:10:11|Editor: xuxin

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ABU DHABI, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's senior adviser Jared Kushner is visiting the Gulf region to seek support for the U.S.-proposed peace plan for the Middle East, the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi said on Tuesday.

Accompanied by the Jason Greenblatt, U.S. Mideast envoy, the two officials have visited the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and will carry on their visit to Bahrain, Oman and Qatar, the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi said.

Kushner and Greenblatt had talks with Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Monday.

"We want to get advice from them (countries in the region) on what is the best way to proceed and share with them some of the details of what we will be pursuing, especially on the economic vision for all the opportunities that exist if there is peace," Kushner said in an interview with Sky News Arabia.

"What we will propose is hopefully something that both sides can gain a lot more than they give and where both sides will have to make compromise," he added.

The final plan is expected to be uncovered after the Israeli elections in April.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refused to discuss any peace plan with the United States in the wake of Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December 2017. Palestinians want the eastern part of the city as their capital for their future independent state.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 20:00:06|Editor: xuxin

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SUVA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- A two-day high level dialogue between Pacific States of the African, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) Group and the European Union (EU) for ACP-EU negotiations for a post-Cotonou treaty was held in Apia, capital of the South Pacific island nation of Samoa from Monday to Tuesday.

The Cotonou agreement is a treaty between the EU and the ACP countries which will be renewed by 2020 with the post-Cotonou treaty.

According to a statement by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) on Tuesday, Pacific leaders said that the region would continue to strive for partnerships that are committed to building on regionally determined priorities, and are founded on Blue Pacific ambitions during a major roundtable with the European Union.

Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said that the Blue Pacific continent has distinct features and characteristics that set it apart from other regions of the ACP Group, and that this diversity defines its special relationship with the EU.

As the first EU high-level engagement with the ACP regions since the launch of the post-Cotonou negotiations in September 2018, the dialogue recognized the importance of utilizing existing regional priorities such as those agreed under the Framework for Pacific Regionalism.

The priorities articulated by the Pacific ACP region underscored the need for genuine and durable partnership founded on the principles of mutual respect and cooperation.

Specific priorities discussed at the high-level dialogue covered ocean governance through the Blue Pacific identity; safeguarding the region's resources and security; building on the economic potential and sustainability of the region's fisheries resources; realising sustainable development goals and aspirations; strengthening commitment to addressing climate change and disaster resilience; and striving toward quality education and universal health.

Leaders emphasized the need for the new partnership agreement between the Pacific and EU to recognize the unique challenges, and build resilience and consider appropriate responses to address these vulnerabilities.

Pacific leaders have requested for adequate and predictable funding in the new partnership beyond 2020 to ensure effective means of implementation, including appropriate financing modalities, focusing on sustainable capacity building support for regional and national institutions, their civil society organisations and private sector.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 19:50:02|Editor: zh

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BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- A promotional event for northern China's Shanxi Province was hosted at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Monday.

As the 17th presentation of the MFA's Chinese provinces initiative, this Shanxi event was themed "China in the New Era: Shanxi, New Transformation for a Shared New Future."

"Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Shanxi has moved with the times and embarked on a new journey of innovative development," said Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Wang added that Shanxi is vigorously promoting a greener economy and forging new industrial clusters.

Shanxi's primary goals are to build a demonstration zone in transformation and development of a resource-based economy, become a pioneer in China's energy revolution and turn itself into a landmark in opening-up among China's inland provinces, said Luo Huining, secretary of Shanxi Provincial Committee of the CPC.

Shanxi is a province that boasts a glorious history and booming development, said Clemens von Goetze, Germany ambassador to China.

He added that Germany has discovered cooperation opportunities in Shanxi since the beginning of China's reform and opening-up.

Mark Sutton, business development director with Johnson Matthey, a Britain-based global energy and chemical company, first visited Shanxi in 2005.

The environment over the past few years has become cleaner and inspiring, said Sutton, adding that Shanxi's vision to protect the environment is valued. "I wish to spend more time at Shanxi's historic sites and surrounded by natural sceneries during my next trip."

The MFA hosted its first provincial promotional event in March 2016 in order to serve national development, facilitate regional opening-up and offer foreigners a platform to learn more about China.

More than 500 people, including diplomats from over 130 countries, representatives from international organizations, business people and journalists, attended the Monday event.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 19:24:57|Editor: zh

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Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng (2nd R), also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, inquires about production of Yunan Baiyao Group in southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 26, 2019. Han Zheng made an inspection tour to southwest Yunnan Province from Sunday to Tuesday, where he examined protection of Erhai Lake and visited local companies. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

KUNMING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng has called for continued efforts on environmental protection and support for the real economy to ensure a good start for this year's economic and social development.

Han, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks during an inspection tour to southwest Yunnan Province from Sunday to Tuesday, where he examined protection of Erhai Lake and visited local companies.

Efforts should be made to ensure sustainable and healthy development of the economy and maintain overall social stability, Han said.

He recognized the outcomes the country has achieved in the protection and pollution treatment of the lake, and urged consistent efforts to win the lake's pollution battle.

During a tour to a biotech company, Han urged it to use the unique natural resources of the province and independent innovation to explore the global market.

He also underlined efforts to push forward state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform, foster internationally competitive national brands, increase input in research and development, and enhance mixed ownership reform of SOEs.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 19:09:51|Editor: xuxin

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LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- A total of seven Taliban militants including a key commander have been killed as government forces targeted Taliban hideouts in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, provincial police department said here Tuesday.

A number of arms, ammunitions, two motorbikes and a mine making factory of militants have also been destroyed, the department said in a statement asserted.

Without providing more details, the statement added that the security forces would continue to pursue the militants elsewhere in the province.

Taliban militants who are active in parts of the poppy growing and restive Helmand province have not commented.
TORTOLA, British Virgin Islands, Feb. 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Orca Exploration Group Inc. (TSX-V: ORC.A, ORC.B) (Orca or the Company) announced today that Mr. David K. Roberts, Vice President Operations, departed from the Company on 21 February 2019.



Mr. Roberts had worked with Orca Exploration Group since 2012 in a variety of roles. Mr. Friend, Chief Executive Officer, said, David Roberts' strong technical knowledge and leadership, primarily focussed on operations in Tanzania, has enabled Orca to overcome numerous challenges, leading to the excellent financial situation we find ourselves in today. We are thankful to David for his loyalty and commitment, and we wish him every success in his future endeavours.

Corporate Presentation

Orca is pleased to announce that its latest corporate presentation is available on the Company's website (www.orcaexploration.com).

About Orca Exploration Group Inc.

Orca is an international public company engaged in natural gas exploration, development and supply in Tanzania through its subsidiary PAET. Orca trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the trading symbols ORC.A and ORC.B. The Companys Project Agreements are more fully described in the Companys 2016 Annual Information Form, and available on www.orcaexploration.com.

For further information please contact:

Nigel Friend, CEO

nfriend@orcaexploration.com



Blaine Karst, CFO

Bkarst@orcaexploration.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service 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: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 19:04:48|Editor: zh

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BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- China will allow overseas individual investors to participate in the trading of iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange starting Wednesday, the exchange said in an online statement Tuesday.

The announcement came after the country opened iron ore futures to foreign institutional investors in May last year as part of the financial opening-up efforts.

Iron ore contracts were launched in 2013 and broadly traded among producers and traders, with futures prices closely correlated to spot prices.

By including overseas investors, futures prices should better reflect the global iron ore market, Li Zhengqiang, president of the exchange, has said.

China is the world's largest importer of iron ore, with imports of the commodity exceeding 1 billion tonnes last year.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 19:04:45|Editor: Xiaoxia

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Gonen Segev is escorted by prison guards as he arrives at court in Jerusalem, on Feb. 26, 2019. Segev, a former parliament member with the right-wing party of Tzomet, once served as Israel's minister of energy and infrastructure. An Israeli court sentenced on Tuesday the former minister to 11 years in prison after finding him guilty of spying on behalf of Iran. (Xinhua/JINI)

JERUSALEM, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli court sent on Tuesday a former minister to 11 years in prison after finding him guilty of spying on behalf of Iran.

The Jerusalem District Court approved the sentence on Gonen Segev amidst a plea deal signed between Segev and the State Attorney's office.

In the deal signed in January, Segev admitted having committed "serious espionage" and "providing information to the enemy."

The Jerusalem branch of the State Attorney's office issued a statement following the court decision, saying Segev, according to his own admission, had been in contact with the Iranian intelligence for five years. "He was in constant contact with his operators through a secret, coded system and met them in Iran and various countries around the globe."

Last May, Segev was extradited from Equatorial Guinea and arrested in Israel.

Segev, 62, a former parliament member with the right-wing party of Tzomet, once served as Israel's minister of energy and infrastructure.

After his political career, he turned to business. In 2004, he was arrested for attempting to smuggle thousands of ecstasy pills from Amsterdam to Israel. He admitted guilty amidst a plea bargain and served five years in prison.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 18:59:41|Editor: zh

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NANJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Police in east China's Jiangsu Province have busted a drug trafficking gang, in which four minors were involved in smuggling drugs in their bodies.

Eight suspects, including the gang leader surnamed Lu, have been arrested since police spotted a man on the train teaching a teenager over the phone how to excrete drugs from his body in September 2018, railway police in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, said on Monday.

A total of 1.27 kg of heroin was seized.

The final suspect of the gang surnamed Gao, who lured four teenagers into drug dealing, was arrested on Feb. 17, according to police.

The boys, aged between 16 and 17, dropped out of junior high school from a remote area of Yunnan Province in southwest China. They were lured to the China-Myanmar border with "well-paid jobs" and they were confined for a month until they agreed to carry drugs.

The boys were asked to swallow drugs wrapped in plastic capsules and take motorcycles to Yunnan's Xishuangbanna before delivering them across the country by plane.

Each of them, who carried 300 grams of drugs each time, was paid 10,000 yuan (about 1,500 U.S. dollars) per trip.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 18:49:38|Editor: zh

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BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Premium online shopping site Xiaomi Youpin made its first cross-border e-commerce attempt Tuesday by partnering with Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp to bring in more quality imports.

A Korean imports snack store was launched on the e-commerce platform, while Xiaomi Youpin products might be sold in some duty-free stores in the Republic of Korea in the future, according to a strategic cooperation agreement inked Tuesday.

About 30 popular Korean products will be for sale online including ramen and soft drinks.

Xiaomi Youpin also plans to work with other foreign governments such as Russia and Spain to introduce more overseas products to cater to Chinese shoppers' growing demands for global products.

Official data showed that China's cross-border e-commerce surged 50 percent year on year to reach 134.7 billion yuan (20.13 billion U.S. dollars) last year, with imports growing 39.8 percent to stand at 78.58 billion yuan.

Established in 2017, Xiaomi Youpin is an emerging lifestyle e-commerce player selling products made within the Xiaomi group as well as selected items from third-party manufacturers.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 18:49:37|Editor: zh

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CHANGSHA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- At least 1,000 African guests and traders will attend the first China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, in June.

The expo, scheduled to be held between June 27 and 29, will include conferences, forums and exhibitions.

"We hope that the African guests can yield good results through the expo," Hunan's deputy governor He Baoxiang said.

A signing ceremony for major economic and trade projects will be held during the expo, with a series of forums concerning agriculture, trade, infrastructure and financing, as well as investment promotions and business negotiation activities, according to the organizing committee.

The expo was launched under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

Hunan's trade volume with African countries totaled 2.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, surging over 50 percent for the fourth straight year. Contracted investment by Hunan firms in Africa amounted to nearly 1 billion dollars.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 17:39:11|Editor: xuxin

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BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The central government endorsed the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government's decision to ban the "Hong Kong National Party" from operating in an official letter to the HKSAR chief executive Tuesday.

The HKSAR is an inalienable part of the People's Republic of China and a local administrative region directly under the central government that enjoys a high degree of autonomy, the letter wrote.

"It is the HKSAR government's duty and an obligation of all Chinese people including Hong Kong compatriots to safeguard the national sovereignty, unification and territorial integrity," it wrote.

In the letter, the central government instructed the HKSAR chief executive to report on the matters related to the ban.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 17:29:08|Editor: xuxin

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NEW YORK, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. business communities warmly welcomed the progress made in the latest round of trade negotiations between China and the United States, saying hopes are building up for a potential constructive deal by the two sides to relieve the burden of damaging tariffs.

Negotiators of the two sides have achieved substantial progress on specific issues in the Feb. 21-24 talks in Washington, the seventh round since February last year, covering technology transfer, protection of intellectual property rights, non-tariff barriers, service industry, agriculture and exchange rates, according to the Chinese delegation.

U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted on Sunday that he "will be delaying" tariff hikes on Chinese imports previously scheduled for March 1, citing "very productive" trade talks between the two countries.

MORE HOPES FOR CONSTRUCTIVE DEAL

"I have strong hopes that the two largest economies will be able to bridge their differences and reach a constructive agreement," said Carla A. Hills, chairman and CEO of Hills & Company, International Consultants, a Washington-based advisory firm on trade and investment.

"It is important for each side to listen carefully to the other and to develop a win-win outcome," Hills, also a former U.S. trade representative from 1989 to 1993, told Xinhua.

She added that China will benefit from moving back to greater reliance on the U.S. market, as "that will help build trust, which has been badly eroded recently," she said.

Calling the just-concluded trade talks "very encouraging," Sourabh Gupta, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Institute for China-America Studies, said the talks have "irreversibly left the point of failure in the rear view mirror," though "the extent of the success remains to be seen."

"It is a confirmation of the trust and goodwill that have been engendered and this bodes favorably for win-win outcomes in the weeks ... ahead," Gupta told Xinhua.

In retrospect, the bilateral meetings in Beijing prior to last week's talks in Washington were "critically important," he said. "They ensured that the talks had crossed a threshold point from which failure was inconceivable."

U.S. BUSINESS COMMUNITIES ENCOURAGED

The sentiment of U.S. business communities has also been lifted by the latest trade progress made by the world's top two economies, as industrial associations and business owners alike felt relieved by the news of no further tariff hikes, and remained optimistic about the development of U.S.-China trade relations.

"We are optimistic to hear that there has been progress on a trade deal and that the Trump administration has pushed back the deadline for an increase of tariffs," said Rebecca Mond, vice president of federal government affairs at the Toy Association, a trade association for the U.S. toy industry.

"We are hopeful that a long-term trade deal is reached at the upcoming Mar-a-Lago meeting that removes tariffs, which are costing U.S. businesses and consumers every day," Mond told Xinhua.

Trump announced on Sunday that he would be planning a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to pursue a trade agreement.

Recent tariffs imposed by the Trump administration have cost U.S. businesses 2.7 billion U.S. dollars in November 2018 alone, according to data released by Tariffs Hurt the Heartland, a campaign backed by the Washington-based National Retail Federation (NRF), the world's largest retail trade association.

Tariffs Hurt the Heartland also predicted that American workers would lose nearly 1 million U.S. jobs, if tariffs on 200 billion U.S. dollars of Chinese imports increased from 10 to 25 percent.

The NRF hailed the latest trade progress as an effort to avoid a tariff hike and expressed the hope for a bilateral deal to end the tariffs.

"The decision to avoid a tariff hike is a positive development, and we encourage the administration to build on this momentum and reach a resolution that will eliminate uncertainty for American businesses and consumers," Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the NRF, said in a public statement.

Bob Grubba, whose company depends on trade, especially between China and the United States, said that both countries and peoples need each other, as "a lot of people's jobs depend on that (U.S.-China trade)."

"I'm glad to see progress, and I'm glad to see the (U.S.) government sort out their issues before it gets to a big thing," Grubba, founder and CEO of Choo Choo Shoes, told Xinhua.

Describing the trade progress as "good news" for both businesses and families, Josh Selig, president of Little Airplane Productions, a New York City-based TV production firm, also expressed optimism about future U.S.-China trade relations.

"This is good news for business and it's good news for families. I believe we'll all be celebrating very soon in the United States and in China," said Selig.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 16:59:00|Editor: xuxin

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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (R) meets with visiting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Tehran, Iran, on Feb. 25, 2019. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lauded what he called Syria's "resistance" against U.S. and its allies' pressures on the Arab country, Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Iran's Supreme Leader office)

TEHRAN, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lauded what he called Syria's "resistance" against U.S. and its allies' pressures on the Arab country, Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday.

"Resistance of the Syrian president and people has been the main reason behind defeat of the United States and its allies in the Arab country," Khamenei was quoted as saying.

In a meeting with the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the capital Tehran, Khamenei stressed that "the issue of the buffer zone, which the Americans seek to establish in Syria, is among those dangerous plots that must be categorically rejected and stood against."

Iran and Syria have built strategic partnership and forged joint power of the resistance against the U.S. and Israel, Khamenei said, adding that "this will prevent enemies from making their plans operational."

Khamenei also said that Iran takes pride in helping the Syrian government and people.

Al-Assad visited Iran on Monday and met Khamenei and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on his first trip to Iran since the start of Syrian civil war.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 16:53:56|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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TASHKENT, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said Tuesday that the Central Asian country will take a series of measures to improve its credit rating in order to attract foreign investment.

According to a presidential decree published on Tuesday, Mirziyoyev instructed the government to create a national monitoring system to evaluate reforms in the country for their compliance with international criteria and standards.

Uzbekistan was assigned a BB- rating by Fitch and S&P in December, and a B1 by Moody's earlier this month before it placed the first-ever 1 billion U.S. dollars of government bonds on the London Stock Exchange on Feb. 13.

Uzbek officials have said that the country's two banks and state-owned Uzbekneftegaz company also planned to enter international debt markets.

Since he came to power following the presidential elections in 2016, Mirziyoyev has been reforming the country's centralized economy to attract foreign investment.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 16:48:52|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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LUSAKA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- An opposition leader in Zambia was arrested on Monday for making disparaging remarks about foreigners.

Chishimba Kambwili, leader of the opposition National Democratic Congress, was arrested when he went to a police station in Lusaka, the country's capital, where he was summoned for questioning.

Police spokesperson Esther Mwaata-Katongo said the opposition leader was arrested for expressing or showing hatred against foreigners.

Kambwili is expected to appear in court on Tuesday, she added.

The arrest is linked to a video which went viral last week in which the opposition leader was shown shouting at an Indian worker of a road construction firm.

The opposition leader told the Indian driver to go back to his country and stop doing simple jobs that could be done by local people.
TORONTO, Feb. 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Peeks Social Ltd. (TSXV: PEEK; OTCQB: PKSLF) (the Company) announces that Apple has suspended the Peeks Social app for download from the Apple AppStore pending the completion of technical and procedural changes to the Peeks Social app and the Peeks service. Peeks Social iOS users who currently have the app installed on iOS supported devices continue to have access to content and the full functionality of the iOS app.



The Company has submitted its completed changes today Monday the 25th of February and expects to return to the AppStore shortly. Apple has informed the Company that its review process is now lengthy and delays could be expected in the app review process. As recently as January 30, 2019, Apple temporarily banned Facebooks enterprise certificate as part of its continuous app review processes

Peeks Social remains available in the Android AppStore and at www.peeks.social

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) has reviewed or accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this Release.

For further information, please contact:

Peeks Social Ltd.

Mark Itwaru David Vinokurov Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Director Investor Relations 416-639-5339 416-716-9281 mark@peeks.com davidv@peeks.com
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 16:43:50|Editor: Yamei

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Visitors look at stuffed toys at the booth of Ty Inc. during the 116th Annual North American International Toy Fair at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, the United States, on Feb. 19, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

by Xinhua writers Yang Shilong, Luo Jingjing, Liu Yanan

NEW YORK, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Bob Grubba sounded much happier and much relieved about his business prospects on Monday, a day after the latest round of U.S.-China trade talks yielded "substantial progress."



The founder and CEO of Choo Choo Shoes, a manufacturer for fun kids' shoes that make train sounds, made a throat-slitting gesture to himself when asked by Xinhua at last week's New York Toy Fair what would happen to his business if the next tranche of tariffs is to be imposed on goods imported from China.

"(The) progress is good. It's good for us. It's good for our suppliers. And I imagine it's good for everybody else in the industry, both in China and in the U.S.," Grubba told Xinhua via phone from his office at Ormond Beach, Florida.

"TO PUT TRADE TENSIONS BEHIND US"

After months of escalating trade frictions with the United States slapping massive extra tariffs on Chinese imports and China responding with retaliatory measures, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump agreed in Argentina in December that the two countries should strive not to impose additional tariffs before reaching a mutually beneficial agreement at an early date.

As part of their efforts in implementing the important consensus reached by the two leaders, Chinese and U.S. negotiators wrapped up the latest round of trade talks with substantial progress on specific issues on Sunday in Washington.

Trump later tweeted that he "will be delaying" the increase of tariffs on Chinese imports scheduled for March 1, citing "very productive" trade talks between the two teams.

"I'm glad to see the progress ... we can put the trade tensions behind us. And people from both countries can go on doing business and making money without (extra) tariffs," Grubba said.

Imposing more tariffs on China would cripple the business of small U.S. toy companies including Choo Choo Shoes that have made many success stories with their Chinese partners during the past decades, he said.

According to him, most of these companies have a profit margin in the range of 30 percent. If they were to pay a 25-percent tariff, it would only leave approximately 5 percent left to pay rent, insurance and other bills. "It's not enough," he lamented.

The Toy Association, a national trade association representing U.S. toy industry, welcomed the positive results of the bilateral trade talks on Monday.

"We are hopeful that a long-term trade deal is reached ... (and) removes tariffs which are costing U.S. businesses and consumers every day," Rebecca Mond, vice president of federal government affairs for the association, told Xinhua.

The industry group has more than 1,000 members, with 95 percent of whom are small businesses.

Josh Selig, president of Little Airplane Productions (LAP), also echoed Grubba and Mond's upbeat mood. "I believe we'll all be celebrating very soon in the U.S. and in China!" said the New York City-based award-winning TV producer.

LAP, which has been very active in China in recent years, made history in 2015 when Disney Junior U.S. acquired P. King Duckling, a series that LAP created and produced with China's UYoung Media. The deal was Disney's first ever acquisition of a Chinese animated series.

HARD TO MOVE BUSINESS OUT OF CHINA

Though toys have largely not been included in the tariff lists issued to date, many U.S. toy companies have been impacted by the tariffs that are currently in place, Mond said.

"They're really hurting small businesses across the country," she said, adding the tariffs on silicone, aluminum, dyes and other toys inputs have already increased costs of local toymakers.

The tariffs are "not the tool to be used" in tackling the disputes with China, a critical partner for the U.S. toy industry that supports about 700,000 U.S. jobs, she said.

U.S. market size for the total toy industry is approximately 28 billion U.S. dollars, according to the Toy Association.

While about 85 percent of American-sold toys are manufactured in China, 80 percent of the purchase price of the average toy remains in the United States because toymakers do research, development, design, and testing in America.

The idea to relocate production out of China is also unrealistic, Mond said. It is hard for toy industry businesses to find another country with comparable infrastructure, skilled workers, as well as the research and development capabilities.

Reyne Rice, a toy industry expert in New York City, couldn't agree more.

"China has been a crucial part of global toy supply chain for over a decade. Chinese toy producers are also doing better jobs in toy innovation and design, with their comprehensive global competitiveness advancing," Rice said.

Statistics show that China exported 44.15 billion U.S. dollars of toys in 2017, accounting for over 70 percent of total toys for sale in the world.

"It's difficult to move a factory (out of China) because our product is very specialized. It took us a long time to train the workers at the factories and train the engineers and get the quality the way it's supposed to be," Grubba said.

He also downplayed the option of a price hike. "If we were to increase the price, try to pass that cost onto our customers, I don't think they would pay it. I think we would sell less."

"First and foremost, trade wars never work, and everybody ends up a loser in a trade war," Mond said.

NO COMPANY CAN AFFORD TO LOSE CHINESE MARKET

After all, none of the U.S. toymakers, large or small, can afford not to be in China that is in most areas, either the world's largest market, or will become the world's largest market, industry insiders said.

"Certainly China has a great market opportunity, and it's largely untapped by U.S. companies. So certainly we hope to have greater market access and greater opportunities to sell over in China," said Mond.

China's improving economic structure, accompanied with its strong consumer spending power, unleashes huge potential for economic growth. With China's GDP reaching over 90 trillion yuan (about 13.28 trillion dollars) in 2018, consumption contributed more than 76 percent to the growth.

As the second largest toy market in the world, China has 236 million kids aged zero to 14 and 76 percent of Chinese urban population is expected to become middle class by 2022 with higher disposable income and expense, McConnell said.

For Selig, there is a natural synergy between Chinese and U.S. creators working together on global IP. "So to me, it's a win-win if we work together; if we separate, both sides lose," he said.

The establishment of Alpha Group US in 2016 is an effort of the leading Chinese animation and toy conglomerate to fully develop the American market.

"We have excellent operating and engineering teams with deep knowledge and rich experience in China, and we combine these with new ideas of marketing and design to exploit both markets," said Glenn Yu, design director of Alpha Group US.

Ty, the world's largest producer of stuffed plush toys, officially stepped into the Chinese market in late-2017 and sold some 2.5 million stuffed plush toys last year.

"We can see that China's business environment has become more favorable for foreign brands, and they are having more confidence as well," said Maggie Qiu, general manager of Deyi, the sole distributor of Ty in China.

(Video editor: Liu Yuting)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 16:38:49|Editor: xuxin

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Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen (center right) and visiting Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong (center left) take part in the signing ceremony of cooperation documents in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Feb. 26, 2019. Cambodia and Vietnam on Tuesday signed five cooperation documents to boost bilateral ties and cooperation between the two neighboring countries, according to a joint communique. (Xinhua/Li Lay)

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and Vietnam on Tuesday signed five cooperation documents to boost bilateral ties and cooperation between the two neighboring countries, according to a joint communique.

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and visiting Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong witnessed the signing ceremony of the documents after their bilateral meeting at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh.

The pacts were focused on connectivity by land and water, trade facilitation, tourism promotion, and Vietnam's 25 million U.S. dollars grant aid for the construction of a Cambodian parliament's administration building, the joint communique said.

Before the signing ceremony, the two leaders held bilateral talks, pledging to further enhance bilateral cooperation in all fields, especially in economics, trade, investment, and tourism.

"The leaders of the two countries had reported to each other about recent developments in their respective countries and had exchanged in-depth views on bilateral cooperation as well as regional and international issues of common interest," the communique said.

It said both sides also vowed to boost bilateral trade volume to 5 billion dollars in coming years after the two countries achieved 4.7 billion dollars trade volume in 2018.

For border issue, the communique said the two countries had so far completed 84 percent of border demarcation and vowed to accelerate negotiations towards completing the whole border demarcation in order to build a borderline of peace, friendship, stability, cooperation and sustainable development.

During the meeting, Hun Sen also congratulated Vietnam on hosting the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) top leader Kim Jong Un on Feb. 27-28 in Hanoi, according to Eang Sophalleth, an assistant to Hun Sen.

Trong arrived in Cambodia on Monday for a two-day state visit at the invitation of Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 16:38:48|Editor: zh

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by Zhang Jianhua, Wang Shan

VANG VIENG, Laos, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The China-Laos railway is gradually revealing its first signs of true glory, as the bridge and roadbed are taking shape and vehicles loaded with equipment are continuously entering and exiting the tunnel.

The construction of the China-Laos railway has offered more than 5,000 jobs to local people and changed the lives of local villagers whose dreams have now come true.

Bounma Chalernsak, 38, works as a driver for the railway project, and his wife, 33, works as a cleaner.

They have two children in middle school and elementary school respectively. Education requires a lot of financial support and prior to working on the project, they were barely making ends meet.

"Now, my income is higher than before, and is paid on time. In addition, my wife and I can work together," Bounma said.

He used to drive before working on the China-Laos railway project, and his wife planted rice, corn and potatoes in the westernmost province of Laos.

"I hope that someday I can send my children to study in China and contribute to the increasingly close cooperation and exchange between China and Laos," Bounma said, who holds great expectations for his children and hopes they will be proud of their parents' participation in the railway construction.

The China-Laos railway starts from northern Laos bordering China, and ends in Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

It is more than 400km long and its construction has adopted Chinese technical standards and used Chinese equipment.

The construction started in December 2016 and swung into full gear in mid-2017. It is scheduled to be completed and opened to traffic in December 2021, hence this year is a crucial one ahead of the successful completion of the railway.

Bounma and his Chinese colleagues have already made history in Laos. The Ban Somsanook No. 2 Tunnel, which was built by the PowerChina Sino-hydro Corporation Engineering Bureau 15 Co. Ltd., was successfully completed on Dec. 12, 2017.

It became the first tunnel bored along the China-Laos railway and the first modern traffic tunnel in Lao history.

"The villages along the railway have changed a lot and developed rapidly. Villagers often come to see the construction," Lien Vongphuk, deputy village chief of Phonthong Village near the railway tunnel told Xinhua.

"The villagers here used to make their living from farming and agriculture. Now, however, the railway project has increased the employment and income of the villagers in remote areas, and improved their living standards," he said.

More fruit trees will be planted and more livestock will be fed in the village after the completion of the railway. The project is really a win-win situation for everybody, he added.

Somechai Xayyavong, 34, joined the China-Laos railway project because of his dream of working in technology. He used to work for local firms building hydro-power plants.

When the railway project was launched, he was eager to be employed by PowerChina Sino-hydro Corporation Engineering Bureau 15 Co. Ltd.

"The salary is higher and the working environment is better than my previous job," Somechai said.

"But the point for me is the equipment used by Lao survey teams is not as advanced, so I have learned and gained more know-how about to use more advanced apparatuses and equipment since I started working here," Somechai said.

At the just-concluded China-Laos Railway Construction Working Conference 2019, Somechai Xayyavong was awarded the honorary title of "Railway Craftsman" of the China-Laos Railway in 2018.

"The railway construction in Laos has just begun. In the future, the railway will run through the whole country from north to south," Somechai said.

He said that he had always hoped to work with the Chinese to build railways and to accumulate enough experience and technology to open his own surveying and mapping company in the future so as to be able to further cooperate with the Chinese.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 16:33:46|Editor: ZX

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by Ahmed Shafiq

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian political experts stressed that the first League of Arab States (LAS)-European Union (EU) summit is an important step as a basis for building stronger relations in the future.

The experts pointed out that it was not expected that the first summit would come out with specific resolutions or mechanisms on Arab-European relations.

The LAS-EU Summit, which was held in Egypt's city of Sharm el-Sheikh, wrapped up on Monday after two days of meetings between Arab and European leaders.

More than 50 European and Arab countries participated in the summit, which was co-chaired by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and President of the European Council Donald Tusk.

During the two-day summit, leaders from both sides discussed ways to strengthen ties and address a wide range of issues and common challenges, such as multilateralism, trade, investment, migration, security and regional situation.

The summit also provided an opportunity for leaders to discuss the latest developments in the region, such as the Middle East peace process and the situations in Yemen, Libya and Syria.

Tarek Fahmy, professor of political science at Cairo University, said that the summit was a founding meeting for joint Arab-European cooperation, which is still in its early stages.

"Multilateral diplomacy is very different from bilateral relations, as multilateral diplomacy depends on the cumulative continuous work," Fahmy told Xinhua.

He added that the high European representation confirms European interest in having strong relations with Arab countries, as well as a notable Arab-European optimism regarding the results of the summit.

The expert noted that it was clear there were issues of common interest for both sides, saying some issues "were of high importance for the European countries such as terrorism and illegal immigration."

Fahmy mentioned that the vacuum created by the U.S. withdrawal from Syria is a concern for both sides.

"European and the Arab countries can fill this vacuum through a European-Arab force," he suggested, adding that the Libyan crisis is also a major source of worry in Europe, especially for Italy and France.

In the summit's final declaration, Arab and European leaders vowed to further deepen strategic partnership, face common challenges and share experiences.

According to the declaration, the leaders expressed their determination to move forward with deepening strategic partnership at the summit level and other existing mechanisms of cooperation.

The leaders also renewed their commitment to effective multilateralism and an international system based on international law in order to tackle global challenges, including increased cooperation among the LAS, EU, UN and the African Union.

Gamal Salama, dean of the Faculty of Political and Economic Sciences at the Suez University, said it is early to judge the outcome of the Arab-European summit, noting that the multilateral diplomacy takes time to unify visions and positions.

"Both sides are important for each other in terms of politics, economy and security ... This summit comes to realize this importance," he told Xinhua.

Salama added that the Europeans tried during the summit to focus on specific topics of high priority for them, mainly illegal immigration, terrorism and human rights, while security, economy and national unity remain the major concern of the Arab countries.

He explained that the Arab countries, especially Egypt, succeeded in bringing the Palestinian issue to the agenda and giving it a high priority.

The expert pointed out that the Arab-European summit has paved the way and laid the foundations for Arab-European understanding and dialogue.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 15:58:38|Editor: Yamei

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by Julia Pierrepont III

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Hollywood celebrated its 91st annual award celebration Sunday night. Despite the usual kvetching and complaining, the Oscars are undeniably evolving.

Critics will have a hard time overlooking the fact that Hollywood's most prestigious award ceremony, derisively referred to just a couple of years ago as #OscarsSoWhite, did an about-face this year, granting 17 out of 24 wins to minority artists or films exploring racial issues.

"Bohemian Rhapsody," a film about an openly gay rock star, sung its way to the most wins, with four in total, while "Green Book," "Black Panther" and "Roma" claimed three awards each.

Best Picture, the Oscars' highest honor, went to "Green Book," a story that examines race relations in the racially charged 1960s through the eyes of a bigoted white bouncer and the highly educated, world-class black pianist he chauffeurs around the South.

"Black Panther," a Marvel action film with a virtually all-black cast, became the first studio superhero pic to be nominated for a Best Picture Award. It ended up snapping up Best Original Score, Best Production Design and Best Costume Design, making Hannah Beachler the first black female production designer to win in this category and Ruth E. Carter the first black costume designer to win for Costumes.

The extraordinarily talented Alfonso Cuaron, who hails from Mexico, walked away with three Oscars for "Roma," his tone poem for the Mexico of his youth -- one for Best Director, Hollywood's second highest honor, a second for Best Foreign Language Film, and a third for Best Cinematography.

"Roma is not what you would call Oscar bait, you know? ... Most importantly, audiences around the world and the Academy are embracing a character who is a domestic worker from an indigenous background," said Cuaron feelingly. "There is so much talk of diversity, and some progress has been made, but definitely the Hispanic Americans, and specifically Chicanos, are really, really badly represented still."

Three of the four top honors for acting went to actors of color: Rami Malek became the first Egyptian American to take the Best Actor statue for "Bohemian Rhapsody." Regina King nabbed Best Supporting Actress for "If Beale Street Could Talk" and Mahershala Ali won the Best Supporting Actor award for "Green Book." Ali is also the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar.

When was the last time three of the top actor awards went to people of color? Answer: Never.

"When Hattie McDaniel won, she didn't win just because black people voted for her, she won because she gave an amazing performance," said King after her win. "Especially back then, the Academy was not as reflective as it is now. We're still trying to get more reflective, we're still trying to get there."

McDaniel is best known for her role as "Mammy" in 1939's "Gone with the Wind," for which she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, the first Oscar won by an African American entertainer.

Next up, from the writing team of "BlackKklansman," Spike Lee is only the third African American to win the Best Adapted Screenplay Award since John Ridley in 2013 for "Twelve Years a Slave" and Geoffrey Fletcher in 2009 for "Precious."

"Without April Reign, #OscarsSoWhite, and the former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, I wouldn't be here tonight. They opened up the Academy to make the Academy look more like America," said Lee backstage after his Oscar win.

Jimmy Chen, a Chinese American, won Best Documentary Feature for "Free Solo," while Domee Shi, a Chinese immigrant to Canada, won Best Animated Short for writing and directing Pixar's "Bao."

"One of the great things about being able to make 'Bao' is I got to do a lot more research and really dive into my Chinese heritage. I kind of took it for granted," Shi told Xinhua after winning her award.

"I also learned how universal the theme of food bringing families together is," she added.

Best Animated Feature was snagged by "Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse," the first win in this category by an African American director, Peter Ramsey.

Best Documentary Short went to "Period. End of Sentence," a feminist doc about menstruation in India. The director of the film, Rayka Zehtabchi, became the first Iranian American woman to win an Oscar.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 15:48:34|Editor: Xiaoxia

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Local people gather during a protest rally in Jaghori district of Ghazni province, Afghanistan, Feb. 26, 2019. At least eight pro-government local militiamen were killed and four others wounded in an incident of friendly fire in eastern Afghanistan Monday, a local official said Tuesday. The deaths occurred following an airstrike in the eastern province of Ghazni Monday night. It was not immediately clear whether the sortie was conducted by Afghan Air Force or NATO-led coalition troops. (Xinhua/STR)

GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- At least eight pro-government local militiamen were killed and four others wounded in an incident of friendly fire in eastern Afghanistan Monday, a local official said Tuesday.

The deaths occurred following an airstrike in the eastern province of Ghazni Monday night. It was not immediately clear whether the sortie was conducted by Afghan Air Force or NATO-led coalition troops.

"The incident occurred in Houtqul locality of Jaghori district. An investigation is still on. The initial information found the strike was conducted based on a wrong intelligence tip-off," provincial government spokesman Harif Noori told Xinhua.

The militias, known as local uprising fighters, were manning a security checkpoint in the area frequently attacked by Taliban militants.

The injured were receiving treatment in Jaghori hospital and a seriously wounded man was shifted to national capital Kabul for intensive care early Tuesday, the source added.

Such incidents happened in the past. About 15 Afghan police officers died in a similar incident in neighboring Logar province in August last year.

Ghazni province, 125 km south of Kabul, has been the scene of heavy clashes between Taliban and security forces.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 14:33:11|Editor: Li Xia

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GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- At least eight pro-government local militiamen were killed and four others wounded following an airstrike in Afghanistan's eastern province of Ghazni Monday night, in an incident of friendly fire, a local official said Tuesday.

"The incident occurred in Houtqul locality of Jaghori district. An investigation is still on. The initial information found the strike was conducted based on a wrong intelligence tip-off," provincial government spokesman Harif Noori told Xinhua.

The militias, known as local uprising fighters, were manning a security checkpoint in the area frequently attacked by Taliban militants.

The injured were receiving treatment in Jakhori hospital and a seriously wounded man was shifted to national capital Kabul for intensive care early Tuesday, the source added.

It was not immediately clear whether the sortie was conducted by Afghan Air Force or NATO-led coalition troops.

The province, 125 km south of Kabul, has been the scene of heavy clashes between Taliban and security forces.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 14:23:06|Editor: Li Xia

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SUVA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Fiji's Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho called for a healthy police force after two senior police officers died of suspected non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on Tuesday.

The top police official said one officer passed out after he finished a fitness test at the Nasese foreshore in the capital of Suva.

The officer was taking part in a 2.4-km run when he collapsed and efforts to revive him failed.

The second officer was admitted at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital where he also died.

Qiliho said the unfortunate deaths of the two officers suspected to be NCD-related underlined the urgency in addressing the concerns with regards to the health of Fijian police officers as the institution is losing more than 10 police officers to NCDs annually.

He said that into the first two months of this year they have recorded seven police deaths, five of which were directly linked to NCDs.

Qiliho added that for the period from 2016 to 2018, 48 police deaths were recorded, of which 43 deaths were directly linked to NCDs.

He said that as the head of the Fiji Police Force he wanted to address the health of police officers through the Health Audits and Required Fitness Level Tests so that they were able to live beyond retirement.

Noting that NCDs were becoming a real threat to the health of police officers, Qiliho reiterated that he would not stop conducting the fitness tests and the mandatory health audits within the institution so it could lead to a healthier Fijian Police Force.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 14:18:04|Editor: Lu Hui

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HARBIN, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- A large graphite deposit has been discovered in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province with a potential economic value of over 100 billion yuan (about 15 billion U.S. dollars).

The deposit, found in the city of Shuangyashan, has a reserve of more than 335 million tonnes of graphite ores with an average purity of 6.97 percent, according to the provincial natural resources department.

The department said the minerals there were identified as high-quality flake graphite that can be mined easily and at low cost.

Graphite is widely used in modern industries, including aerospace and electronics. It is the basis for the miracle material graphene, which is viewed as a key material in China's innovation-driven development strategy.

Provincial officials hope the discovery of the large deposit can boost the graphite industry in Heilongjiang and aid the province's industrial transformation.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 14:02:59|Editor: Li Xia

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GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- At least eight pro-government local militiamen were killed and four others wounded following an airstrike in Afghanistan's eastern province of Ghazni Monday night, in an incident of friendly fire, a local official said Tuesday.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 13:47:56|Editor: Lu Hui

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BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Like birds pecking at grain, a dozen robotic arms pressed components onto a POS machine, checked its functions and packed it into a box under the supervision of a human worker. Next to the robots, it took over 60 workers to assemble the same device, used to process card and mobile payments.

The two juxtaposed assembly lines at the Kingtronics factory offer a glimpse into the robotic revolution sweeping eastern China's Fujian Province. Like China's other coastal regions, rising labor costs and dwindling foreign orders are galvanizing labor-intensive factories into actions.

Instead of shrinking production, Kingtronics chose to deploy more robots, a strategy that not only raised the company's profits but also allowed the Hong Kong-invested firm to expand its business by designing and selling automatic equipment to manufacturers that cannot afford imported robots.

"We anticipate a market that has no boundaries, as many medium- and small-sized enterprises welcome automated solutions," said Henry C. Tseng, chairman of the company in the city of Zhangzhou.

Defying the current economic downtrend to register robust growth, Kingtronics and many other private firms point to the microeconomic tenacity of China as it struggles with an economic slowdown and uncertainties posed by trade friction with the United States.

About three years after China initiated the supply-side reform to restructure and upgrade its industries, economists say new momentum is emerging from the transitional labor, bolstering confidence for the "two sessions" that will outline China's development in 2019, a "key year" in its goal to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

As the annual sessions of China's national legislature and political advisory body in early March move to identify new engines to turbocharge the world's second-largest economy, how to help such market players tide over the tumultuous transition period is also a heated topic.

REWARDS OF CHANGE

During a State Council meeting in January, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said the country's development faces a more complicated environment this year, with growing challenges and downward pressure on the economy.

China's economy grew 6.6 percent in 2018, above the official target of around 6.5 percent, but lower than the 6.8-percent growth registered in 2017.

Apart from the threats of rising protectionism abroad, officials and experts also point to flaws in the domestic economy, including an oversupply of low-end products and lack of innovation. This year's "two sessions," where the government work report for 2019 will be released, are expected to renew calls for deepening the supply-side reform to move the industry up the value chain.

"Traditional export-oriented companies faced considerable difficulties during the industrial transformation in 2018," said Huang Maoxing, an economics professor at Fujian Normal University. "But after the twinge, a rebound is almost certain in 2019 thanks to new momentum accumulated in the transition."

The transition Huang referred to is now the order of the day across China. In provincial-level "two sessions" that preceded the national event, a majority of Chinese provinces lowered their GDP growth targets for 2019 and stressed high-quality development with promises to nurture new industries and upgrade traditional ones.

Fujian, known for its booming electronics and garment industries, has seen more and more factories embracing automation, leading to a 16-fold increase of imported industrial robots in the first 10 months of 2018.

In north China's Shanxi, coal firms are switching to new energy and new materials as the coal-rich province cut redundant capacities. In the past three years, Shanxi phased out 88.4 million tonnes of coal capacities but sped up new energy development, including extraction of coal-bed methane that now accounts for over 90 percent of the national total.

One firm, Shanxi Uni-moon Green Paper, is reaping early rewards from the clean energy transition. The subsidiary of a coal enterprise has developed a technology to manufacture paper out of gangue, a coal-production waste. By producing an annual 120,000 tonnes of such "stone paper," the company estimates it will save 2.4 million trees.

Despite the temporary loss of GDP tempo, Yan Linhu, deputy general manager of the company, spoke highly of the industry's move towards a healthier development model featuring a higher input of innovation. "The coal industry is under a lot of stress, but it's a positive sign that all companies are seeking changes," he said.

Chinese cities are also weighing in on the wave of transformation with supportive policies. Chongqing, a production base for cars and laptops in southwest China, is luring in developers of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and industrial robots to revitalize its manufacturing sector.

In 2017, the municipality ended a 15-year streak of double-digit growth after its GDP growth slowed to 9.3 percent, which further dropped to 6 percent last year, as a saturated domestic car market dragged down the city's auto output.

Seeking a change, the Chongqing government in 2018 inked an agreement to house Alibaba's regional headquarters, hoping to benefit from the internet giant's cloud computing and AI prowess. It followed another deal between the city and Tencent, another tech heavyweight, to cooperate on big data and smart technologies.

Data has revealed signs that such efforts are paying off, according to Yi Xiaoguang, director of the Chongqing Institute of Comprehensive Economic Research, who points to a quadrupled increase in the contribution of high-tech industries to Chongqing's industrial output in 2018.

"It shows the new growth engines are gaining steam, and in due course, will rise to become the new economic pillars," Yi said.

MARKET CONFIDENCE

Other good news for China's economy will come from the unified foreign investment law, which will be discussed during the "two sessions." Once adopted, it will help foster a more favorable business environment and attract more foreign investment.

The domestic market is expanding and remains strong. In 2018, China's goods consumption gained 9 percent to 38 trillion yuan (5.66 trillion U. S. dollars), continuing to serve as the biggest growth driver, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Furthermore, the infrastructure boom along the Belt and Road in recent years has brought many emerging markets closer to domestic producers as they seek to offset uncertainties in Western markets.

Panpan Foods, a major supplier of packaged pastries and puffed food in Fujian, testifies to the consumption upgrade in China driven by the rising purchasing power.

"In the past, Chinese consumers favored larger-sized pastries sold at lower prices, but now people don't mind spending more on food with better taste and quality," said Panpan CEO Cai Jinchai. "Young Chinese today consume packaged snacks mainly to feel good and stay healthy."

Cai said the consumers' hunt for premium foods is driving the company to diversify its products, come up with new tastes, and team up with Japanese experts to develop "short shelf-life" snacks welcomed by health-savvy shoppers. It is also foraying into the profitable market of assorted nuts, hailed by white-collar consumers as a "brain food."

According to a report by Bain & Company and Kantar Worldpanel, Chinese households' spending on fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), or non-durable goods such as packaged foods and shampoos, is expected to rise 5 percent in 2018, showing that the trade tensions had a minimal impact on China's consumer market.

The industrial market also bodes well for Chinese manufacturers that climb up the innovation ladder, said Deng Xiaojun, assistant to the chairman of Datong Reciprocity Group, a Fujian-based manufacturer of industrial valves that is breaking into the global market of cryogenic valves.

"The economic slowdown in recent years had a minimal impact on our company. As long as we have innovative products, there will always be market demand," said Deng, whose company just inked a 200-million-dollar supply deal with a Mexican oil firm.

Deng hoped that the upcoming "two sessions" would focus on the financial woes of private companies as they work on reform and innovation. In particular, many small and medium enterprises faced challenges in obtaining bank loans, he noted.

A slate of supportive policies were rolled out following last year's "two sessions" that called for reducing taxes and other burdens for enterprises. China is estimated to have saved 1.3 trillion yuan for market entities in 2018. Tseng, Kingtronics chairman, believes such policies are essential for China's real economy to prosper.

"Pushing for innovation in the manufacturing sector always involves a lot of risks. Small firms, in particular, have to overcome many financial and technological hurdles, so they need strong government support," Tseng said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 13:37:52|Editor: Lu Hui

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BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- China has built 853,000 charging stations for new energy vehicles (NEVs) by the end of January, surging 80.1 percent from a year earlier, the Securities Times reported, quoting an industry report.

A total of 44,000 charging stations for NEVs were built nationwide in January alone, up 231.6 percent year on year, said the paper.

Charging stations in metropolitans like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong Province accounted for 76.4 percent of the national total.

China aims to substantially improve the technology and quality of charging facilities, speed up efforts to establish a better standardization system and optimize the distribution of these facilities within three years, according to a plan released by the National Development and Reform Commission in December.

China will also make the charging networks better interconnected, upgrade the charging services and create a better environment for the development of charging infrastructure, according to the plan.

NEVs are gaining popularity in China, the world's largest auto market, thanks to a string of supportive policies, as they help reduce fossil fuel consumption and address air pollution.

The annual sales of NEVs rose 61.74 percent year on year to 1.26 million in 2018.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 13:32:49|Editor: Li Xia

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- The White House said Monday two bills that enhance background check for gun purchases would be vetoed if passed by congress.

"If H.R. 8, or H.R. 1112, are presented to the president, his advisors would recommend he veto the bill," it said in a statement, referring to the bills by their house resolution numbers.

H.R. 8, also known as Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, would require that certain transfers, loans, gifts, and sales of firearms be processed by a federally licensed importer, manufacturer, or dealer of firearms.

H.R. 1112, officially named Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019, would require a federally licensed firearms importer, manufacturer, or dealer that initiates a mandatory background check on an individual seeking to purchase a firearm to wait ten business days on results before processing the transaction, according to the statement.

Both bills run counter to the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantee law-abiding citizens the individual right to keep and bear arms, the statement said.

The U.S. House of Representatives, controlled by the Democratic Party, is expected to pass the two bills this week along party lines, but the bills would face a more uncertain fate in the Republican-held Senate.

If vetoed, both chambers would need to produce two thirds of votes to override the president's decision, an unlikely scenario unless a large number of Republican Senators defect.

The fight over gun control between the Republicans and Democrats became the center of national debate following several high-profile shootings in recent years.

In 2017, a gunman killed 58 when he fired on a concert in Las Vegas. Another man opened fire at a church in Texas, killing 26. In 2018, a former student killed 17 people at a high school in Florida.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 12:52:39|Editor: Chengcheng

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ISLAMABAD, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani military said Tuesday that Indian air force violated the Line of Control (LoC) in the Kashmir region.

Pakistan military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor, chief of the army's Inter-Services Public Relations, said Pakistan Air Force "immediately scrambled and Indian aircraft went back."

The incident comes amid growing tensions between Pakistan and India following the Feb. 14 suicide attack on the Indian police in the Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed over 40 policemen.

The Pakistan military spokesman said the Indian aircraft "intruded" from Muzaffarabad sector. Muzaffarabad is located in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

General Ghafoor said on Twitter that facing timely and effective responses from Pakistan Air Force, the Indian aircraft "released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot."

He said there were no casualties or damage.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 12:52:38|Editor: Li Xia

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In this photo provided by Vietnam News Agency, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un (R F) arrives at Dong Dang railway station in Lang Son Province, Vietnam, on Feb. 26, 2019. Kim arrived in Vietnam Tuesday morning by train for his first official visit to the country and the second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, Vietnam News Agency reported. (Xinhua)

HANOI, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Jong Un arrived in Vietnam's northern Lang Son province Tuesday morning by train for his first official visit to the country and the second summit with his U.S. counterpart.

Kim's special train arrived at the Dong Dang station at around 8:13 a.m. local time (0113 GMT), and he was welcomed in the train station by Vietnamese officials and civilians, according to Vietnam News Agency.

During the visit, the first by a sitting DPRK top leader in 55 years, Kim is expected to meet with Vietnamese leaders.

Kim is accompanied by senior DPRK officials, including his younger sister Kim Yo Jong, alternate member of the Political Bureau of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee and first vice director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department, and Vice Chairman of the WPK Central Committee Kim Yong Chol, the Korean Central News Agency reported.

Kim, who left Pyongyang on Saturday afternoon, will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump for their second summit on Feb. 27-28 on bilateral relations and issues related to peace on and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

A "comprehensive" agreement was signed at the first DPRK-U.S. summit in Singapore in June 2018. The meeting resulted in improved bilateral ties.

Issues such as a roadmap for denuclearization, the lifting of sanctions and whether to issue a war-ending declaration will be the focal points at the upcoming Kim-Trump talks.

Kim is expected to have a one-on-one meeting with Trump, local reports said.

Earlier on Monday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in voiced his wish for a successful second DPRK-U.S. summit, saying that "we wish for the success of the summit as an expression of our support for the two leaders."

Security in Hanoi has been beefed up for Kim's visit.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 12:37:35|Editor: Lu Hui

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- As the U.S.-Venezuela confrontation escalated over the entry of aid into the South American nation, the Trump administration on Monday enhanced its carrot-and-stick pressure campaign toward the Maduro government, slapping sanctions against four officials and announcing additional humanitarian assistance.

In a statement issued Monday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that it will sanction four state governors aligned with President Nicolas Maduro "for standing in the way of severely needed humanitarian assistance."

The move, banning them from financial or commercial transactions with U.S. citizens or entities, came amid an aid standoff in which the United States and other regional countries, in coordination with the Venezuelan opposition, declared a plan to deliver humanitarian aid to Venezuela.

Denying the existence of a humanitarian crisis, the Venezuelan government has refused to let the aid cross the border and called the aid operation a U.S.-orchestrated show designed to lead to an eventual invasion.

In a separate statement issued Monday regarding the sanction, the State Department noted that "we reaffirm our call on Venezuelan officials and security forces to allow urgently needed food and medicine to enter and be distributed throughout the country."

"U.S. sanctions need not be permanent," it said. "The United States will continue to take appropriate action to respond to the situation in Venezuela as it develops."

The U.S. action coincided with the trip of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who attended a meeting of the Lima Group in Bogota, Colombia on Monday to discuss the situation in Venezuela with regional nations.

During the meeting, Pence lashed out at the Maduro government for its refusal to let the U.S. aid cross its border, and reiterated the U.S. support for the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido.

Saying that the Trump administration is "identifying new areas along the border where we can pre-position additional aid for the struggling people of Venezuela," Pence said that "the United States will provide an additional 56 million U.S. dollars to support our partners in the region as you come to the aid of the Venezuelan people" who fled from their nation.

He also said that "in the days ahead as well, the United States will announce even stronger sanctions on the regime's corrupt financial networks."

As for other regional countries, Pence urged all Lima Group members to immediately freeze the assets of Venezuela's national oil company PDVSA, transfer ownership of Venezuelan assets in their countries from the Maduro government to Guaido's followers, restrict visas for Maduro's inner circle, and vote to recognize Guaido's representative at the Inter-American Development Bank.

The State Department later said in a statement that the new assistance that Pence announced "complements the aid that the United States and its partners pre-positioned near the Colombia- and Brazil-Venezuela borders over the last few weeks."

"The United States will continue to pursue all avenues to increase humanitarian assistance to Venezuelans both inside and outside Venezuela," it said.

The Trump administration recognized Guaido as the nation's "interim president" on Jan. 23, days after Maduro was inaugurated for a second term as Venezuelan president.

In response to Washington's support for Guaido, Maduro announced that he was severing "diplomatic and political" ties with the United States, ordering all the U.S. diplomatic and consular personnel to leave Venezuela in 72 hours.

On Friday, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez announced the closure of three bridges connecting the country with Colombia.

Maduro announced on Saturday the severance of his country's diplomatic and political relations with Colombia, following the latter's support for Venezuela's opposition and military defectors.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 11:27:23|Editor: Li Xia

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TOKYO, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks retreated Tuesday morning erasing earlier gains, as investors opted to secure profits ahead of testimony from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell later in the day.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average dropped 42.94 points, or 0.20 percent, from Monday to 21,485.29.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, lost 4.39 points, or 0.27 percent, at 1,616.48.

Mining, oil and coal product, and insurance-oriented issues comprised those that declined the most by the morning break.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 11:17:21|Editor: Li Xia

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by Xinhua writers Xie Meihua, Liu Tian

HANOI, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Hanoi, recognized as a "City for Peace" by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), is gearing up for a crucial meeting to bring lasting peace to the Korean Peninsula.

Hope for tangible progress toward denuclearization of the peninsula has been pinned on the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The two-day meeting, which starts Wednesday, comes less than one year since their landmark Singapore summit last June, the first between incumbent leaders of the two countries since the 1950-53 Korean War.

In a joint statement signed after their meeting, Trump pledged to provide security guarantees to the DPRK while Kim reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to a complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

But the follow-up interactions seem to have stalled, with each side accusing the other of dragging their feet and showing bad faith.

The stagnation in talks has been widely attributed to the vague joint statement from the Singapore meeting that is long in rhetoric, short in details.

With joint efforts from relevant parties, the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue now faces a historic opportunity as a strong momentum for peace has been growing in the region.

To avoid being dismissed as merely another photo opportunity between Kim and Trump, the two countries need to build up mutual trust, address each other's core concerns in a balanced manner, demonstrate sincerity and wisdom, take corresponding actions and make bold and necessary concessions, among others.

The DRPK has taken initial and unilateral steps toward denuclearization by destroying the tunnels of the Punggre-ri nuclear test site where it conducted all six of its nuclear tests, and a key missile engine facility. The United States need to consider easing up sanctions on the DPRK.

In the run-up to the second summit, both the DPRK and the United States have expressed their optimism over a meaningful outcome.

Kim has said his country would live up to its stance of denuclearization and resolving the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula through dialogue so as to achieve results that would be welcomed internationally, while Trump said there is "a very good chance that we will make a deal."

Now that Kim and Trump are about to shake hands again, they need to take a further step toward each other in order to reach some concrete results that could serve as a roadmap for the two sides to materialize denuclearization and peacemaking. That is the only way to ensure their second summit is meaningful.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 11:12:19|Editor: WX

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. top tier banking giant Bank of America announced on Monday that it will no longer use the Merrill Lynch name for its investment banking, trading and some other businesses.

"Merrill will serve as the sub-brand for our investing and wealth management offerings, representing the continuum of capabilities across wealth management, from self-directed to full-service advisory services," Bank of America said in a formal announcement.

Based in the State of North Carolina, the financial conglomerate planned to drop the name Merrill Lynch from several of its business divisions.

"Merrill Edge Self-Directed, Merrill Guided Investing, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and Merrill Private Wealth Management (formerly our Private Banking and Investment Group) will transition to this sub-brand," said Bank of America.

After dropping the Merrill Lynch name, Bank of America, also known as BofA for short, said that some of the affected businesses will be transferred to another unit.

"BofA Securities will represent our institutional broker-dealer businesses, including Global Markets, Investment Banking, and Capital Markets," said Bank of America.

Merrill Lynch, a famous Wall Street stock market brokerage founded in 1914 by Charles Merrill and Edmund Lynch, was sold to Bank of America for 50 billion U.S. dollars during the financial crisis in 2008.

Since then, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, or BAML, had become a well-known name among corporate clients on the Wall Street. As one of the top brand of investment banking and trading, BAML had operated for over a decade.

However, Bank of America said that it would not take long before changes would take place.

"We are taking these next steps in the way our brand is seen over the coming weeks and months to better reflect this," said Brian Moynihan, chief executive officer of Bank of America.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 11:02:17|Editor: Li Xia

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UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Members of the United Nations Security Council on Monday called on Sudan's government, opposition parties and armed groups in Darfur to continue the efforts towards a political solution of problems there.

According to the latest UN report on the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur, known as UNAMID, the security situation in Darfur in western Sudan has been relatively stable, except for intermittent clashes between government forces and the rebel Abdul Wahid-led faction of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA/AW) in Jebel Marra.

"Darfur today has never been more stable since the establishment of UNAMID, and the first hybrid mission has begun preparations for its eventual exit," said the report.

However, the Jebel Marra region in Darfur remains a conflict zone without the cessation of hostilities, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Bintou Keita, told the Security Council.

Keita, back from a trip to Sudan from Feb. 9 to 12, said that although civilians are no longer displaced by the clashes there, they are exposed to robbery, abduction, and violence.

Given the situation, several members of the Security Council said that the political process in Darfur should continue. In addition, after the expected exit of UNAMID, more tensions and new risk factors could emerge.

Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, said that the Sudanese government has been committed to a political settlement of the Darfur issue, and the opposition parties and armed groups there should abandon military means, take an active part in the peace process and solve problems through political means such as dialogue and consultation.

The permanent representative of South Africa Jerry Matjila said that more efforts are required in the Jebel Marra region, and it is imperative that all parties continue carrying out outstanding provisions of the peace deal in Darfur, and stay committed to negotiations.

Keita also noticed a need in Darfur to strengthen the security measures to prevent and curb inter-communal tensions over access to land, migration routes, and other sources of livelihood.

Darfur has been plagued by conflicts between the government forces and the armed rebels since 2003. UNAMID, the second biggest of the UN peacekeeping missions, was first deployed in Darfur in early 2008, and its full withdrawal is expected to be completed by the end of 2020.
Photo taken on Feb. 24, 2019 shows a passenger plane of the Biman BangladeshAirlines that made an emergency landing after a hijack attempt at the Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram, Bangladesh. (Xinhua/Stringer)

DHAKA, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- A five-member committee was formed on Monday to probe into a gunman's foiled attempt to hijack a Dubai-bound Biman Bangladesh Airlines at the country's southeastern Chattogram airport.

According to the Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry, a senior official is leading the five-member probe committee.

Bangladeshi commandos stormed the passenger plane of the national flag carrier and shot dead an armed man who tried to hijack the Dubai-bound flight on Sunday.

Bangladeshi commandos stand guard at the Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram, Bangladesh, on Feb. 24, 2019. (Xinhua/Stringer)

Major General Motiur Rahman of the Bangladesh Army told reporters that the man with a pistol died from injuries sustained during the commando operation.

All passengers were evacuated safely from the flight BG147.

According to officials, the Boeing 737-800 aircraft made an emergency landing at the Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram, some 242 km southeast of the capital Dhaka at about 5:40 p.m. local time (1140 GMT), hours after it took off from Dhaka.

Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) Naim Hassan said the suspect, who seemed mentally imbalanced, told the pilot that he had an issue with his wife that he wanted to tell the country's prime minister.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 10:32:08|Editor: Li Xia

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HAVANA, Feb.25 (Xinhua) -- Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov is making a work visit to Cuba, said the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement on Monday.

Titov is in the Caribbean island to chair the next meeting of political consultations between the foreign ministries of the two nations.

The senior Russian official held a meeting on Monday with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez. During the meeting they stressed the mutual will to continue strengthening the diplomatic, economic, commercial, and cultural cooperation ties.

"During the cordial reunion, both parties noted the excellent state of the bilateral relations, marked by the existence of a political dialogue at the highest level," said the statement.

Russia and Cuba, as allies since the times of the Cold War era, still maintain close ties.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 10:40:56|Editor: WX

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Staff members of Jerusalem's Biblical Zoo prepare to release a Persian fallow deer into the wild at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo on Feb. 25, 2019. Five fallow deers were released by the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo into the hills of Jerusalem on Monday. (Xinhua/Guo Yu)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 10:27:06|Editor: Li Xia

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HANOI, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Jong Un arrived in Vietnam's northern Lang Son province Tuesday morning by train for his first official visit to the country and the second summit with his U.S. counterpart, Vietnam News Agency reported.

Kim was welcomed at the train station by Vietnamese officials and civilians, reports said. During the visit, the first by a sitting DPRK top leader in 55 years, Kim is expected to meet with Vietnamese leaders.

Kim, who left Pyongyang for Hanoi on Saturday afternoon, will also meet with U.S. President Donald Trump for their second summit on Feb. 27-28 on bilateral relations and issues related to peace on and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The first DPRK-U.S. summit, held in June 2018 in Singapore, resulted in improved bilateral ties.

Issues such as a roadmap for denuclearization, the lifting of sanctions and whether to issue a war-ending declaration will be the focal points at the upcoming Kim-Trump talks.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 10:12:03|Editor: Li Xia

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YANGON, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar and Vietnam have signed a bilateral agreement on cooperation in crime prevention and fighting transnational crimes, the Ministry of Home Affairs said on Tuesday.

The signing of the agreement by Myanmar Minister of Home Affairs Lt. Gen. Kyaw Swe and visiting Vietnamese Minister of Public Security Gen. To Lam in Myanmar's capital of Nay Pyi Taw on Monday followed a discussion on bilateral cooperation in security, rule of law, fighting transnational crimes including drug and human trafficking, terrorism, and promotion of the capacity of police and investigation.

The ministerial meeting was the third of its kind of security cooperation between the two countries.

Prior to their meeting, Myanmar President U Win Myint met with the Vietnamese minister, during which they discussed about the implementation of Myanmar's national reconciliation and internal peace, regional development in Rakhine state, regional cooperation in Southeast Asia and global cooperation.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 10:07:02|Editor: Xiaoxia

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Henan Jianye have reached a deal with Brazil's Flamengo to sign striker Henrique Dourado, just days before the start of the Chinese Super League season.

The 29-year-old departed Rio de Janeiro for China on Monday to sign a two-year contract after Flamengo agreed to a reported transfer fee of six million US dollars.

"Everything happened so quickly and it took me by surprise," Dourado told reporters. "The proposal came on Saturday night ... and we talked about it on Sunday. It was decided that it would be good for everybody involved."

Dourado scored 15 goals in 46 matches for Flamengo after joining the club from local rivals Fluminense last February.

Henan Jianye, who finished 12th in the 2018 Chinese Super League standings, will make their debut in this season's competition with a home match against Dalian Aerbin on Sunday.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 09:06:42|Editor: WX

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CANBERRA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The size of Australia's space industry is on track to triple by 2030, Minister for Industry, Science and Innovation Karen Andrews said.

The Australian government launched the Australian Space Agency (ASA) in 2018, the country's first national space agency, with headquarters to be established in Adelaide in 2019.

Minister Andrews said that the local space industry is currently worth 3.9 billion Australian dollars (2.79 billion U.S. dollars) annually, employing 10,000 people.

"The intention is to grow it by 2030 to an industry that's effectively tripled in size so worth 12 billion AUD (8.6 billion USD) to the economy with an additional 20,000 working in the sector," she told News Corp Australia on Tuesday.

"It's a sector that's worth about 353 billion USD globally. So Australia has only got a very small percentage," the minister said.

"Australia is uniquely placed geographically in the southern hemisphere, and we need to capitalise on that."

Her comments coincided with the opening of the biennial Australian International Airshow at Avalon Airport, 55 km southwest of Melbourne, on Tuesday.

The 2019 airshow marks the first time the ASA has had a presence at the event with a focus on business opportunities in the sector with the help of Questacon, the National Science and Technology Center.

"The involvement in Avalon is so important because it is sending a very clear message to the rest of Australia and the world, that the space agency and the space industry in Australia is well and truly open for business," Andrews said.

"Knowing Questacon, I'm sure they'll have a range of things to engage young people in particular.

"The space agency will be able to leverage off that and say 'well, here are the opportunities for you in space'.

"They have got a key role in making sure our young students understand that studying maths and science at school is very important to them."

Australia's peak scientific body, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), on Tuesday released details around the construction of the world's largest radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).

The global project will see thousands of antennas built hosted in Australia and southern Africa, giving researchers the ability to explore the universe in unprecedented detail.

"We're setting the groundwork to host 132,000 low-frequency SKA antennas in Australia. These will receive staggering amounts of data," Antony Schinckel, the CSIRO's SKA Infrastructure Consortium Director, said.

"The data flows will be on the scale of petabits, or a million billion bits, per second - more than the global internet rate today, all flowing into a single building in the Murchison (radio-astronomy observatory in Western Australia).

"To get this data from the antennas to the telescope's custom supercomputing facilities we need to lay 65,000 fibre optic cables."

The infrastructure for the Australian antenna array has been designed by the CSIRO and global engineering firm Aurecon.

David Luchetti, Australia's SKA Director, said a separate consortium has designed the African infrastructure.

"CSIRO and Aurecon have delivered world-class designs, and the collaboration between the Australian and South African infrastructure consortia is a great example of the massive global effort behind the SKA project," he said.

"In addition to the incredible scientific potential of this project, we expect that the SKA will generate many spin-off benefits that we can't yet anticipate.

"We want to make sure Australia is best placed to capture these benefits."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 08:41:37|Editor: WX

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CANBERRA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has given Australia's economy a "big tick," the treasurer has said, despite a warning that wage growth will remain weak.

The IMF, in its 2018 Financial Sector Assessment Program which was released on Thursday, forecast that incomes would grow by 0.3 percent through to 2024, significantly lower than Australia's long-term average of 1.8 percent over the last 50 years.

Responding to the report on Tuesday, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg noted that the report praised Australia's economy overall.

"They said Australia had robust and resilient economic growth, it was above trend," he told Sky News Australia on Tuesday.

"So the IMF gave Australia a big tick in terms of its economic performance and praised our infrastructure spending and, of course, our overall fiscal management."

He cited findings by the Reserve Bank of Australia that there has been a recent "upswing in wages."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 08:01:32|Editor: Li Xia

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SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon announced Monday that 8,132 marijuana-related convictions have been automatically cleared as part of a pilot program of justice reform.

In partnership with San Francisco-based nonprofit group Code for America (CFA), prosecutors in San Francisco adopted a technology developed by the CFA that helped remove the obstacles in processing the decades-old backlog of cannabis-related convictions eligible for clearance or reduction.

In addition to the newly cleared pot-related convictions, 1,230 marijuana-related convictions had been expunged by the district attorney's office, bringing the total cases of sealed convictions to 9,362, the CFA said in a statement.

San Francisco became the first California county to complete the automated marijuana record clearance process.

Gascon made an unprecedented decision in 2018 to retroactively apply Proposition 64, which legalized the possession and recreational use of marijuana for adults ages 21 years or older, to misdemeanor and felony convictions dating back to 1975.

But it was a time-consuming tough task to identify eligible marijuana convictions from thousands of criminal cases, as the Proposition did not offer guidance on how to drop or reduce the offenses to misdemeanor.

The San Francisco district attorney's office worked with the CFA to streamline the clearance process by leveraging the technology of Clear My Record, a simple computer-based algorithm developed by the CFA to automatically process the pot-linked convictions.

"Using technology, we have been able to proactively bring greater racial equity and fairness to marijuana legalization in California," said Gascon, adding that other counties and states in the country are following suit by offering similar relief in their communities.

California passed Proposition 64 in 2016 to legalize the recreational use of weed in the state, which took effect on Jan. 1, 2018.

At present, a total of 29 U.S. states have adopted medical marijuana laws and seven states have adopted the most expansive laws legalizing marijuana for recreational use.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 07:51:30|Editor: mmm

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Tourists from China are seen on the Bascarsija square in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), on Feb. 26, 2019. Tourists from China made a record in 2018, with a 118.7 percent rise in arrival number and 114.5 percent increase in overnight stays year-on-year, becoming third and sixth in respective category among source markets, the Institute for Informatics and Statistics of Canton Sarajevo said in a report in January. (Xinhua/Nedim Grabovica)

SARAJEVO, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- A senior police officer in Sarajevo told Xinhua here on Monday that Chinese tourists are "always very welcome here and we will work more to increase security for them."

Zehrudin Rahmanovic, deputy commander of "Old Town" police department in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, made the remarks following the visits of a reported 10,000 Chinese tourists to the "Old Town" during the Chinese Lunar New Year.

According to Rahmanovic, the police department had prepared a special action plan for Chinese tourists arriving on Feb. 2-15, which involved deploying eight police officers for security.

Chinese tourists, he explained, visited the main street in Sarajevo, Latin Bridge, White and Yellow Fortress, all located in the Old Town, and plain clothe police officers, had been around to target pickpockets.

The police department launched a campaign in January, using posters and leaflets to warn tourists to take care of their belongings such as mobile phones, wallets, backpacks, luggage, and not to leave personal items in cars.

"We have already seen a decrease of pickpockets by 10.0 percent year-on-year," Rahmanovic added.

Tourists from China made a record in 2018, with a 118.7 percent rise in arrival number and 114.5 percent increase in overnight stays year-on-year, becoming third and sixth in respective category among source markets, the Institute for Informatics and Statistics of Canton Sarajevo said in a report in January.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 07:46:28|Editor: Li Xia

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- The White House on Monday denied allegations from a Trump campaign staffer that she was forcibly kissed by the then Republican candidate in 2016.

"This accusation is absurd on its face, this never happened and is directly contradicted by multiple highly credible eyewitness accounts," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

The accuser, Alva Johnson, said Trump kissed her without her consent in the southern state of Florida on Aug. 24, 2016 during a campaign stop. Johnson filed a federal lawsuit against Trump on Monday.

According to Johnson's recount, she was speaking with Trump in a recreational vehicle when he leaned over. Johnson turned her head before Trump kissed her on the corner of her mouth.

"I immediately felt violated because I wasn't expecting it or wanting it," Johnson told U.S. media.

Johnson's parents and her significant other confirmed to U.S. media that they were told about the episode after it took place, but two Trump campaign officials who were at the scene denied observing anything improper.

According to the lawsuit, Johnson initially decided to let the matter pass but changed her mind months later after Trump's Access Hollywood tape surfaced, which included crude remarks against women.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 07:21:23|Editor: Li Xia

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- The White House said on Monday that the nomination of the U.S. ambassador to Turkey has been sent to the Senate for approval.

In a statement, the White House said that David Michael Satterfield is a career member of the senior Foreign Service and class of Career Minister.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Feb. 15 announced that he intended to nominate Satterfield, who has been the acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs since 2017.

According to the White House, Satterfield, a B.A. graduate from the University of Maryland, has previously served as the director general of the Multinational Force and Observers in Rome, Italy, from 2014 to 2017 and 2009 to 2013.

In 2014, he was special advisor to the secretary of state for Libya, based in Tripoli, Libya, and served as charge d'affaires at the U.S. embassy in Cairo, Egypt, from 2013 to 2014.

Satterfield speaks Arabic, French and Italian.

The U.S. ambassadorship to Turkey has been vacant since October 2017.

The nomination came at a critical moment as the United States and Turkey have been recently sparring over the fortunes of Kurdish militia in northern Syria, which has been an ally of Washington in the campaign against the Islamic State, but viewed as a "terrorist group" by Ankara.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 07:11:19|Editor: Chengcheng

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BARCELONA, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese technology giant Huawei and the Austrian Federal Railways announced here on Monday that they are strengthening cooperation to advance digitalization in the railway sector.

The railway company is teaming with Huawei to develop innovative solutions that will continue to optimize the efficiency of its operations while offering passengers increased security and a comfortable travel experience, according to a joint press release issued during the Mobile World Congress, a key industry expo.

The two sides will set up a pilot installation in Austria to test solutions for various applications in the train environment. They have been working together in digital transformation since 2016.

Christian Sagmeister, head of the railway systems division at Austria's largest mobility service provider, told reporters that further digitalization will benefit both its passengers and business clients.

In addition to building telecom networks, selling consumer devices such as smartphones and laptops, Huawei also has a sizable enterprise business that brings its technologies and solutions to governments and companies. Huawei has been implementing digital railway communication systems since 1996 and its technologies are now used in international rail transport on over 120,000 kilometers of rail networks.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 07:11:18|Editor: Li Xia

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BOGOTA, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Visiting U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Monday announced new economic and diplomatic sanctions against Venezuelan officials loyal to President Nicolas Maduro.

During a meeting in Bogota of the Lima Group, a Latin American bloc aligned with Washington and its push to unseat Maduro, Pence said the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on four Venezuelan governors for their pro-government stance.

A statement from the U.S. Treasury Department accused the governors of being "involved in endemic corruption and in blocking the delivery of critical humanitarian aid."

On Saturday, trucks which were said to be carrying U.S. humanitarian aid attempted to enter Venezuela from neighboring Colombia and Brazil with the help of anti-government protesters, leading to isolated clashes.

Venezuelan authorities believed the aid effort was a cover up for a military intervention and had closed key border crossings.

More financial sanctions were coming, Pence said, calling on U.S. regional partners to help choke off Venezuela's access to financing by freezing or blocking assets belonging to state oil company PDVSA.

As the Lima Group convened in Bogota, Maduro posted on Twitter that "we will resolve (internal problems) together as a nation, with the Bolivarian government I preside."

Referring to the United States and its allies, Maduro added, "the empire and its lackeys should understand that in Venezuela self-determination rules."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 07:01:15|Editor: zh

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A plane of China's Hainan Airlines takes off from Dublin Airport in Dublin, capital of Ireland, Feb. 25, 2019. Hainan Airlines on Monday opened a direct flight between Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong Province and Dublin. (Xinhua)

DUBLIN, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Hainan Airlines, a major airliner in China, on Monday opened a direct flight service from China's southern city of Shenzhen to the Irish capital of Dublin to meet the needs of the increasing exchanges between the two countries.

A ceremony to mark the inaugural flight service between the two cities was held at Terminal One of Dublin Airport on Monday morning, attended by the Chinese Ambassador to Ireland Yue Xiaoyong and officials from Hainan Airlines and Dublin Airport Authority.

Operating twice a week on Mondays and Fridays by a Boeing 787-900 Dreamliner with 289 seats, the Shenzhen-Dublin route is the second of its kind ever opened by Hainan Airlines between China and Ireland and the third of its kind that connects the two countries.

On June 12, 2018, Hainan Airlines opened its first direct flight service from Beijing to Dublin, which consists of two non-stop flights a week between the two capitals and two weekly flights with a stopover in Edinburgh of Britain.

Earlier in the same month, Cathay Pacific, a Hong Kong-based airliner, opened a non-stop flight service between Hong Kong and Dublin.

The three direct flight routes launched between Ireland and China in "such a short space of time" reflects the fast-growing links between our two countries, said Dublin Airport Managing Director Vincent Harrison.

He believes the new service launched by Hainan Airlines will help to further promote the trade, tourism and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.

China-Ireland trade set a record high of 14.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, up 31.23 percent from a year ago, according to the China's official statistics.

In 2017, Ireland received an estimated 90,000 visitors from China, said James Kenny, a manager of the China section of Tourism Ireland, adding that Tourism Ireland aims to grow Chinese visitor numbers to 175,000 per year by 2025.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 06:56:13|Editor: yan

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LONDON, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Church bells are to be used as a back-up warning for flooding in the English village of Starcross, in Devon, the Environment Agency (EA) said Monday.

The bells of St Paul's Church in the village, which has a population of less than 1,809, will ring an SOS in the event of a flood warning if all usual forms of communications fail.

The EA has worked with Starcross Flood Group, St Paul's Church and flood wardens to create a contingency plan unique to the village if all usual forms of communication fail.

The chances of residents not getting warned by traditional electronic methods via the flood warning service are remote.

But every flood plan has a contingency and Megan Debenham, the Flood Group Co-ordinator for Starcross, suggested using the 18th and 19th-century bells in St Paul's Church.

Community fundraisers and funding from the Environment Agency has restored the bells and surrounding masonry to their former glory and the bells returned to their tower last week after an absence of 4 months.

"While flood wardens knocking on doors is the most obvious solution, if flooding is at night, then residents could be asleep or wary of answering the door," said Jane Fletcher-Peters of the Environment Agency.

"So we work together to find practical solutions like shining car headlights into houses and making people aware if that is accompanied by knocking, it could be a flood warden at the door," she added.

Starcross is very much a boating community so it made sense that if the church bells were sounded to warn of flood, ringers would adopt an SOS peal familiar to residents.

Tim Miles, churchwarden of St Paul's Church, said: "We are very excited to welcome the bells back to the church and will sleep soundly knowing they are ready if needed to warn villagers of flooding."

Starcross' use of the church bells comes 13 months after a 5.25 million U.S. dollar EA project to better protect more than 600 properties from coastal flooding in the area.

An EA spokesperson said: "There are 5.2 million homes and businesses in England at risk of flooding. The Environment Agency monitors flood risk and issues alerts and warnings."
Military personnel place a flag on a submarine during the Velayat-90 war games by the Iranian navy in the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran, on Dec. 27, 2011. (Reuters File photo)

TEHRAN, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- As long as Iran is able to export its oil via the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway would be open, Navy Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Ali Reza Tangsiri, said on Monday.

"We have already said as long as our oil is exported from the Strait of Hormuz and there is no obstacle to the departure and arrival of our ships," the waterway will remain open, Tangsiri was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.

"Iran, as the guardian of the Strait of Hormuz who has full control over it" should be able to sell its oil, he said, stressing that "this strait will be open if Iran can sell its oil."

The remarks by the IRGC commander were an allusion to the sanction grip of the United States over Iran's oil exports.

Iran had already threatened to block the flow of the oil from the waterway in case its oil exports diminish under U.S. sanction pressures.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 06:51:12|Editor: yan

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MEXICO CITY, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday resumed his call for dialogue in Venezuela to resolve the political crisis between the ruling socialist party and the U.S.-backed right-wing opposition.

"I believe dialogue is the best thing. The best thing would be to move away from the temptation to use force, to seek a diplomatic solution," he said during his daily press conference.

His made the remarks following a tense standoff over the weekend at Venezuelan border crossings, as trucks which were said to be carrying U.S. humanitarian aid attempted to enter the country with the help of anti-government protesters.

The push to take delivery of the unauthorized shipments led to isolated clashes between security forces and supporters of the right-wing opposition led by Juan Guaido, a legislative leader who declared himself "interim president" in January.

The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on four Venezuelan governors of border states for not allowing the aid to get through.

The sanctions came on top of other economic and financial sanctions that have cut off the country's access to foreign capital and its own funds abroad, likely worsening the shortages of food and medicine that the humanitarian aid allegedly aims to alleviate.

"It's very clear to us that a peaceful and negotiated solution must be found," said Lopez Obrador.

"We don't want violence anywhere. We advocate nonviolence," he added.

Mexico is one of the few Latin American countries which maintain a position of non-intervention in Venezuela's internal affairs, and it will continue to do so, said Lopez Obrador.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 06:46:09|Editor: yan

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by Eric J. Lyman

ROME, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Italian farmers and producers of food and wine should, according to analysts, focus on maintaining high levels of quality and expanding export markets through promotion and reducing trade barriers.

"In Italy, there is an important history of producing top level food and wine and it is imperative for the sector to continue to focus on this," said Francesco Sottile, professor at the University of Palermo, in an interview with Xinhua.

"These products are connected to the land, and they are produced with commitment and passion," said Sottile, who is also a member of the executive committee for Slow Food Italia, a group promoting food traditions.

Most Italian farms are small and family owned. According to information from the country's National Statistics Institute, around 4.1 percent of Italy's workforce are employed in agriculture-related sectors, compared with around 2.8 percent of the workforce in France, a country with slightly larger population and gross domestic product.

What's more, Italian farmers are working on less land compared with France, which, based on data processing company Knoema, has around a quarter more land under cultivation in percentage terms.

"Smaller companies, whether they are farmers, or food or wine makers, face problems because they are less well known than big companies and don't have the resources to promote themselves internationally," said Denis Pantini, head of the agro-industry section at Nomisma, a consultancy.

Scale, Quality for Export

Nonetheless, Italy's agriculture and food and wine sectors have seen the rise of a few big industrial players that have the economy of scale to compete on an international level.

"The big industrial companies are growing but they are also suffering," Sottile said. "Over the long term Italian agriculture production will survive based on quality, not on quantity," he cautioned.

Still, even with a strong focus on quality, Italian companies operating in these sectors have problems stemming from export markets.

Italy is a net importer of agriculture products, mostly because it imports raw materials to make certain food products, such as importing grain to produce pasta, or milk to make some kinds of cheese. Those imports cancel out some of the economic impacts of the sector, but at the same time they would make it easier for farmers and food producers to ramp up production quickly if demand rises, given that Italy's part of the production equation is mostly know-how and not the production of raw materials.

Agriculture and related sectors account for around 2.2 percent of the Italian gross domestic product, a figure analysts believe could grow if certain steps are taken to increase export markets.

Pantini noted that around two-thirds of the exports from Italy's agriculture and related sectors goes to trading partners in the 28-nation European Union. Around a tenth of the total is sent to North America, with the remaining exports divided among the rest of the world.

Most future growth will have to come from the last categories, which are the least mature export markets, he said.

Exploring New Markets

Lorenzo Bazzana, an economist with Coldiretti, Italy's main agricultural trade union, shared the view, saying trade deals can help pave the way for that growth. Italy's most recent bilateral trade deal, signed on Feb. 1 with Japan, is expected to bolster trade between those two countries.

"The government has to prioritize trade deals, giving food and wine producers an opportunity to move into new markets," Bazzana told Xinhua. "Trade agreements are a long-term process but they have to be a priority."

Bazzana pointed to trade negotiations with China, saying that under current rules, Italy can import Chinese-grown apples and pears, "but negotiations to open the Chinese market to Italian apples and pears is still pending."

All the analysts interviewed said the government should also encourage the development of industry groups that can help small producers compete collectively with larger rivals. Sponsoring promotional campaigns in other countries is also a good strategy, though Pantini said promotional strategies have limits.

"We did a study on social media in China and it showed that when Chinese consumers do an Internet search for Italy, only around 5 percent is related to food and wine. Most is about fashion or cars or travel," Pantini said.

Pantini said promotional campaigns are unlikely to move that 5-percent figure much, especially in a market as large as China's. But public initiatives in other areas can have a ripple effect that would help food and wine makers.

"Some cities in Italy have unveiled initiatives to help attract more visits for China and other countries," Pantini said. "That is the best kind of publicity because visitors will taste the products prepared the right way and they are more likely to go home and look for the products they enjoyed," he concluded.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 06:31:07|Editor: yan

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KHARTOUM, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Monday issued two emergency orders giving wider powers to regular forces and incriminating corruption amid the growing protests across the African country, the presidency said in a statement.

The first order gives the police, army and security forces the right to enter and search any building and person, monitor any property, and seize money, shops, commodities or anything suspected of violating the law.

The order also authorized the regular forces to restrict or organize the activities of people, means of transport and communication, and to arrest any person suspected of being involved in a crime relating to the state of emergency.

The second order prohibited any public employee from exploiting the authority or the influence of the public job to achieve personal interests or illegal benefits.

It prohibited the public employee from making any contracts or entering into any interactions that may pose commitments on the government against the legal purchase and contract regulations.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese president issued three emergency bans on public gatherings, dealing in foreign currency, and distribution, storage, sale and transport of petroleum products and subsidized commodities.

Al-Bashir on Friday declared state of emergency all over Sudan for one year and dissolved all governments on the central and state levels, amid the national protests since Dec. 19 last year over the deteriorating economic conditions and price hikes of basic commodities.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 04:25:31|Editor: yan

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UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Monday called on the UN Security Council to review sanctions against Sudan in accordance with the latest situation and eventually lift the sanctions.

Speaking at a Security Council meeting on Sudan and South Sudan, Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, said that the security situation in Sudan's Darfur region remains generally stable after the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) gradually handed over responsibility for security to the government of Sudan last year.

China appreciates UNAMID's contribution to the maintenance of peace and stability in Darfur, and welcomes the government of Sudan to take the initiative to enhance governance and security capacity building, Wu said.

"We believe the measures of the Sudanese government will be conducive to promoting long-term peace and stability of the Darfur region," said the Chinese envoy.

Wu said the political process in Darfur should be continued. The government of Sudan has been committed to a political settlement of the Darfur issue, and the opposition parties and armed groups in Darfur should abandon military means of settlement, take an active part in the peace process and solve problems through political means such as dialogue and consultation.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 03:55:19|Editor: Li Xia

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Photo taken on Feb. 25, 2019 shows a United Nations Security Council meeting on Sudan and South Sudan, at the UN headquarters in New York. The security situation in the Darfur region of Sudan has remained relatively stable, but intermittent clashes in Jebel Marra between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA)/Abdul Wahid (AW) faction continue, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa Bintou Keita told the Security Council on Monday. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- The security situation in the Darfur region of Sudan has remained relatively stable, but intermittent clashes in Jebel Marra between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA)/Abdul Wahid (AW) faction continue, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa Bintou Keita told the Security Council on Monday.

"The Jebel Marra area is still a conflict zone, without the cessation of hostilities. Overall, there are still close to 2 million IDPs (internally displaced persons) in Darfur," said Keita at a Security Council meeting on Sudan and South Sudan.

According to Keita, On Jan. 17, 28, and 29, SLA/AW elements attacked SAF personnel in Manabu farming area, and three SAF personnel were killed. The SAF and SLA/AW continued to exchange fire in Manabu on Feb. 9, 11, 17 and 19, resulting in the death of seven SLA/AW members and one SAF personnel in total.

In addition, infighting between two sub-factions of the SLA/AW was reported on Jan. 17, Feb. 7 and Feb. 13, with four casualties, Keita said, adding that these factions disagree over their prospects of participation in the peace, process, while some of their clashes also seem to indicate competition over scarce resources.

Though these clashes have not resulted in new displacement, civilians in the area have been exposed to numerous incidents of robbery, abduction, and violence, attributed to both personnel in military attire and SLA/AW element, she added.

Local capacity for the rule of law needs to be strengthened for the prevention and resolution of inter-communal tensions, particularly where clashes persist over access to land, migration routes, and other sources of livelihood, Keita said.

Furthermore, according to the latest report, dated Jan. 14, of the Secretary-General on the AU-UN hybrid operation in Darfur, the threat of sexual violence remained significant, restricting women's freedom of movement to undertake livelihood activities around camps for the displaced and in areas of return, including during flight for those displaced because of the conflict in Jebel Marra.

During the reporting period from Oct. 4, 2018 to Jan. 3, 2019, there were 31 incidents of sexual and gender-based violence, the report said.

Keita called on the government of Sudan to continue its efforts toward creating conditions propitious to the return of IDPs, and among the confidence building measures that could be envisaged, to pursue a constructive dialogue with the special representative of the Secretary-General on sexual violence in conflict, and swiftly adopt a framework of cooperation as basis to address sexual violence.

In addition, efforts should be made in earnest by the international community to mobilize the resources that are needed to support the exit strategy of the African Union-United Nations' operation in Darfur (UNAMID) and its immediate effect on the ability of the Government of Sudan, and the UN Country Team (UNCT), to address the challenges of the transition in Darfur, while focusing on a difficult economic and social and humanitarian context in the larger Sudan, said Keita.

"It is our collective responsibility to ensure that the exit of UNAMID does not create a vacuum that leads to persistent local-level tensions or new risk factors," she said.

The full exit of UNAMID from Darfur is expected to be completed by the end of 2020, and it is "the first hybrid mission has begun preparations for its eventual exit," said the Secretary-General in his Jan. 14 report.

The western Sudanese region of Darfur has been plagued by a war between Sudanese government forces and the indigenous population since 2003.

In early 2008, the UNAMID was deployed in Darfur, and it is considered as the second biggest peacekeeping mission in the world, after the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 03:45:16|Editor: yan

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ASTANA, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a decree on Monday appointing Askar Mamin as the country's new prime minister, after he dismissed the cabinet last week.

Earlier in the day, Nazarbayev nominated first deputy prime minister Mamin to replace the sacked head of government Bakytzhan Sagintayev at a plenary session of the lower house of the parliament, which approved the nomination.

According to decrees published on the president's website, ministers of foreign affairs, internal affairs and defense among other senior officials retained their position in the cabinet, while Nazarbayev appointed new ministers of economy and agriculture.

On Feb. 21, Nazarbayev dissolved the government led by Sagintayev citing failures to boost the economy and raise people's living standards, and he designated Mamin as the acting prime minister.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-26 01:34:38|Editor: Li Xia

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (R) arrives for the opening of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Switzerland, on Feb. 25, 2019. The continued use of chemical weapons with impunity is driving "new proliferation," and a new vision of arms control is needed, Antonio Guterres warned here on Monday. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan)

GENEVA, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- The continued use of chemical weapons with impunity is driving "new proliferation," and a new vision of arms control is needed, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned here on Monday.

Guterres said at the opening of the UN Conference on Disarmament here that arms control is one of his highest priorities and warned that the situation is particularly dangerous as regards nuclear weapons.

Should it be allowed to happen, the demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1987, would make the world a more insecure and unstable place, he said.

"That insecurity and instability will be keenly felt here in Europe. And we simply cannot afford to return to the unrestrained nuclear competition of the darkest days of the Cold War," said Guterres.

He called on the parties to the INF Treaty to use the time remaining to engage in sincere dialogue on the various related issues as the preservation of the treaty is "very important."

Guterres also said, "I also call on the United States and the Russian Federation to extend the so-called 'New START' Treaty before it expires in 2021.

New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) is a nuclear arms reduction treaty signed by the U.S. and Russia in 2010.

"This treaty is the only international legal instrument limiting the size of the world's two largest nuclear arsenals, and its inspection provisions represent an important confidence-building set of measures that benefit the entire world," said the UN chief.

He said that thousands of civilian lives continue to be lost because of illicit small arms and the use in urban areas of explosive weapons designed for open battlefields.

"New weapon technologies are intensifying risks in ways we do not yet understand and cannot even imagine," said Guterres.

"We need a new vision for arms control in the complex international security environment of today."

Despite considerable gains in the past seven decades, Guterres said the efforts of UN member states are in increasing jeopardy.

"States are seeking security not in the proven collective value of diplomacy and dialogue, but in developing and accumulating new weapons," said the UN chief.

Guterres expressed his hope that the leaders of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the United States agree to concrete steps for sustainable, peaceful, complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula at their scheduled meeting in Hanoi later this week.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 15:36:53|Editor: xuxin

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TRIPOLI, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Libyan Red Crescent on Tuesday recovered 35 unidentified bodies in the eastern city of Darna, where the army is fighting the remaining terrorists holed up in the city center.

"Our teams managed to recover 35 unidentified bodies in the old town of Darna," the Red Crescent said later Tuesday.

The bodies have been handed over to the authorities to take necessary measures, Red Crescent added.

So far this month, a total of 55 unidentified bodies have been recovered in Darna.

The army, led by General Khalifa Haftar, is still fighting remnants of terrorists in central Darna which the army took over in June 2018 after besieging it for some three years.

The army is allied with the eastern-based House of Representatives, which competes with the internationally recognized Government of National Accord in western Libya for control of the country.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL)  For the past four weeks, WTXL has shared stories of African American icons. The often unsung heroes in our community, making a difference and leaving a lasting impact.

In this final story, our Malcolm Hornsby introduces us to Chief Audrey Smith of the Leon County Sheriff's Office. But it's at the Tallahassee Police Department where her legacy truly began.

It's a story with humble origin, beginning in the small town of Cordele, Georgia.

"But if you're traveling north on I-75, people know it as 'oh that's the place that has the rocket ship by the Crystal's," said Chief Smith.

There, Audrey Smith was born the youngest of seven children.

"It was always fun for me because I was the baby of the family and everybody babied me and gave me what I wanted," said Chief Smith.

She still gets the special treatment, but be very clear, that's not due to lack of ability. And as Audrey's story will soon show, her path toward success hadn't been traveled before, at least not by anyone who looked like her.

"I decided that when I graduated in '83, that I would go to Florida A&M University. Florida A&M was not my first choice," said Chief Smith.

But that quickly changed due in part to the highest of 7 hills and to the sisterhood she quickly gained with the ladies of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated.

With a major in criminal justice, Audrey graduated from FAMU and set out to make her mark on the world. Her first stop: the Tallahassee Police Department.

"Worked my way through every department, except VICE, at TPD. Either as an officer or investigator or as a supervisor. And that's where my legacy lies," said Chief Smith.

Legacy, a word Audrey is somewhat bashful about using, but it's fitting in every way. After all, she is the first black woman to become a major at the Tallahassee Police Department.

"I'm proud of myself. It means a lot simply because when I had people along my path to tell me I couldn't or thought I couldn't do something, it was proof that, oh yes I can," said Chief Smith.

An unexpected first for her, but all a part of a greater vision. Her faith taught her that.

"Its in God's plan. We don't know, of course, the path that he has for us but he knows and he leads and guides my direction and my footsteps," said Chief Smith.

After 29 years at TPD, in 2017 Audrey relied on that faith to embark on a new journey. This time at the Leon County Sheriff's Office and it should come as no surprise that she's making history there, too.

"I am the first African American female to ever serve on the command staff here at the Leon County Sheriff's Office." "So another milestone?' Another milestone," said Chief Smith.

Leading a team of more than 50 people, her focus at LCSO is on youth services, training and guiding the next generation of leaders in Leon County.

On the wall in Audrey's office you'll find these words, "once you choose hope, anything is possible," an appropriate motto for the life of a woman, who doesn't let others dictate her future or her legacy.

Chief Smith says while her life of "career firsts" is amazing, the true honor was when her granddaughter said she wanted to be a police officer, just like her grandmother.


Tesco offers more surplus food to community groups and charities this Easter

This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Feb 26th, 2019

Charities and community groups are being invited to receive free surplus food from Tesco this Easter.

Across the UK Tesco redistributes a million meals worth of surplus food a month to good causes as part of its Community Food Connection scheme  which is run in conjunction with food charity FareShare and powered by FoodCloud technology.

Community Food Connection enables some 7,000 charities and community groups to pick up free food from Tesco each week, but some of those groups take a break during school holidays, meaning Tesco can offer free surplus food to even more organisations over Easter.

Head of Community at Tesco, Alec Brown, said: We know that there are some charities that may offer holiday clubs, or groups that put on special events over the Easter holidays, and it is exactly those sort of groups that we want to hear from.





Whatever time of year it is, we would much rather that unsold food is put to good use in the community, and feeds people first, rather than going to waste.

The free food includes fresh produce such as fruit, vegetables and bakery products, and chilled food like meat, cheese and ready meals. Groups registered with Community Food Connection are given scheduled collection days and receive a text alert to tell them what food is available. They can then choose what they want from the surplus food on offer.

Lindsay Boswell, Chief Executive of FareShare, added: We support many amazing frontline charities which use in date surplus food from Tesco to feed thousands of vulnerable people right throughout the year.

However, some groups, such as childrens breakfast clubs, close over the school holidays, which means there is even more food available  so dont miss out.

If you are a charity or community group that could benefit from the support of Community Food Connection this Easter, register your interest here.
Four-year-old girl celebrates end of cancer treatment with bell ringing on Wrexham Childrens Ward

This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Feb 26th, 2019

A four-year-old girl is the first patient to celebrate the end of her cancer treatment by ringing a new End of Treatment bell at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

Friends, family and staff from Childrens Ward gathered to celebrate Evelyns happy moment where she read a poem and rang the bell with the help of her parents and baby sister.

Evelyn Taylor was diagnosed in Wrexham with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia coming up to her second birthday.

Now after two years of treatment and chemotherapy, which was split by Alderhey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool and Wrexham Maelor, she is now in remission.





Ringing the End of Treatment bell is a symbolic act specifically to celebrate the end of cancer treatment.

Clic Sargent nurse Jude Edwards applied for the bell because Evelyns parents Liam and Ruth Taylor wanted her to have the bell ringing ceremony in Wrexham as Evelyns care was shared between Wrexham and Alderhey.

Mum, Ruth Taylor from Penyffordd, said: Its overwhelming, we are relieved to get to the end. It teaches you not to take anything for granted.

Now we just want to make up for lost time with things that she has missed while she was having treatment.

Everyone has been so kind, so nice and they always make her feel special in Wrexham. We are really grateful for her care from the NHS and from Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

Senior sister, Rebecca Morris said: Weve had the end of treatment bell put in in Wrexham because Evelyn and her family felt that although Evelyn had her treatment in Alderhey, they also came here for treatment and they wanted to celebrate with us as well.

We got in touch with the charity and they kindly offered to sponsor one here so Evelyn has been ringing it today as our first patient who has finished her treatment.

We are delighted she is very well now and it is a privilege to be part of a team that helps make children better.

The charity End of Treatment Bells kindly donated the bell to Childrens Ward.
Brymbo residents vow to continue fight against Local Development Plan

This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Feb 26th, 2019

Residents in Brymbo have vowed to continue their fight against Wrexhams Local Development Plan.

It follows a public meeting being held to discuss the blueprint which outlines potential sites for thousands of new homes.

Members of the Brymbo Residents Action Group say they are particularly concerned about proposals for a gypsy and traveller site on the edge of the village.

They have highlighted issues with highway safety and land contamination at the former sewage works off Coed Y Felin Road.





County councillor Paul Rogers (Ind) said the meeting at Brymbo Enterprise Centre was well attended with updates from a solicitor who is representing the action group.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Rogers said: The message to residents at the meeting was that this issue has not gone away however were still here, were not going anywhere and the action group are still going to fight this all the way

The support so far from residents and the community council has been fantastic and now the action group will be working to raise further funds to fight these proposals.

Following the meeting Brymbo Community Council has since met and reaffirmed its opposition to the plans.

The submission of Wrexhams Local Development Plan was backed by a majority of councillors last year despite strong opposition against the scale of development outlined.

A public examination will now be held by a planning inspector appointed by the Welsh Government, which is due to start in the spring.

The action group has sought the advice of professional experts and sent evidence to the council regarding the site which will be passed to the inspector.

Anyone wanting to get involved or donate to the campaign can email brymboLDP@gmail.com for more information.

By Liam Randall  BBC Local Democracy Reporter (more here on the LDR scheme).
#4IRSA Digital Economy Summit 2019 dates announced

The Fourth Industrial Revolution Partnership for South Africa (#4IRSA) hosts a Digital Economy Summit in Johannesburg in June 2019.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution Partnership for South Africa (#4IRSA) is pleased to announce the dates for the Digital Economy Summit 2019, following a directive of the national Cabinet on Friday, 15 February 2019.

#4IRSA is a partnership of some of South Africas premier public and private institutions. Its founding partners are the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Service (DTPS), Telkom SA SOC Ltd, and the Universities of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and Fort Hare.

The sole aim of #4IRSA is to stimulate dialogue and to serve as a catalyst to develop a coherent national response to the ongoing changes happening in our country and around the world, due to new technologies, business processes and production methods. These changes are often referred to as the fourth industrial revolution, industry 4.0, and the new digital economy.

In pursuit of this goal, #4IRSA will host a Digital Economy Summit in Johannesburg to take place on Friday, 5 July, and Saturday, 6 July 2019. The summit will bring together representatives from industry, government, academia, labour, the research sector, the investor community, international experts and other critical stakeholders.

The objective of the summit is to create a platform through which to craft the strategies, investments, policy directions and other interventions necessary for South Africa to exploit the opportunities presented by Industry 4.0.

In its statement, the Cabinet affirmed the primacy of this goal for South Africa to meet its economic and developmental ambitions:

The global move towards technology inspired by the 4IR brings with it new opportunities to build our society and economy. To remain at the forefront of new technological trends, the country will host the Digital Economy Summit in June 2019. The summit is convened under the banner of the #4IRSA Partnership.

The #4IRSA Partnership aims to address the challenges facing South Africa in the Digital Age, to find a coherent and collective response for the country.

The #4IRSA Partnership is pleased to have its work and efforts recognised and by endorsed by the national government at such a high level. This gives encouragement and affirmation that the efforts of our founding partners, though still at a nascent stage, have provided the necessary ignition to ensure success of the #4IRSA initiative. The governments support will also give the process the boost needed for it to become a truly national collaborative effort.

NEXT STEPS

A series of sector-specific workshops are being held in the lead up to the summit. Workshops for the ICT and public sector have already taken place, and three more are planned. All entities that wish to be part of this process, should contact #4IRSA via the contact details provided below.

Invitations for attendance and participation in the Digital Economy Summit will be extended to all relevant stakeholders. Further communication regarding the conference programme and list of speakers will be shared in the coming weeks.

The #4IRSA Partnership looks forward to welcoming all stakeholders to the countrys first ever Digital Economy Summit to take place on Friday, 5 July, and Saturday, 6 July 2019.
WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA  Justin Richeson, of New Martinsville, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 18 months incarceration for his role in a methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin distribution operation that spanned multiple states, United States Attorney Bill Powell announced.

Richeson, also known as Squash, age 35, pleaded guilty to one count of Distribution of Methamphetamine in December 2018. Richeson admitted to selling methamphetamine in February 2018 in Wetzel County.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert H. McWilliams, Jr., and Shawn M. Adkins prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol; Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Marshall County Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative; the West Virginia State Police; the Tyler County Sheriffs Office; the Wetzel County Sheriffs Office; the Sistersville Police Department; the Paden City Police Department; and the New Martinsville Police Department investigated. The Columbus, Ohio, Police Department Gang Crimes Unit assisted in the case.

The investigation was funded in part by the federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Program (OCDETF). The OCDETF program supplies critical federal funding and coordination that allows federal and state agencies to work together to successfully identify, investigate, and prosecute major interstate and international drug trafficking organizations and other criminal enterprises.

Senior U.S. District Judge Frederick P. Stamp, Jr. presided.
Stellar wind of old stars reveals existence of a partner

Red giants are old stars that eject gaseous material and solid particles through a stellar wind. Some red giants appeared to lose an exceptionally large amount of mass this way. However, new observations reveal that this is not quite the case. The stellar wind is not more intense than normal, but is affected by a partner that was overlooked until now: a second star that circles the red giant. These are the results of an international study led by Belgian university KU Leuven.

Humans don't live long enough to realise it, but stars are also born, they age, and they die. It's a process that takes billions of years. As a star gets older, it becomes bigger, colder, and redder - hence the name 'red giants'. Our sun will also become such a red giant in four and a half billion years.

In the final stage of their life, red giants eject their mass - gas and other matter - in the form of a stellar wind. Earlier observations confirmed that red giants lose a lot of mass this way. Twelve mass-loss rate record holders, in particular, have been baffling scientists for decades. These red giants supposedly eject the equivalent of 100 earths per year for 100 to 2,000 years on end. Even astronomically speaking, that's a lot of matter in a short amount of time.

This was difficult to explain, says Professor Leen Decin from the KU Leuven Institute of Astronomy: "If you look at the mass of such a star in the next phase of its life, the intense stellar wind doesn't last long enough to account for the mass loss that we've seen. It was also statistically improbable that we had discovered twelve of these red giants, knowing that what we were seeing was a phase that lasted only hundreds or thousands of years compared with their billion-year-long life. It's like finding a needle in a haystack twelve times."

New observations from the ALMA telescope in Chile shed light on what was happening with two of these red giants. "For these stars, the stellar wind forms a spiral. It's an indirect indication that the red giant is not alone, but part of a binary star system. The red giant is the main star with a second star circling it. Both stars affect each other and their environment gravitationally in two ways: on the one hand, the stellar wind is pulled in the direction of the second star and, on the other hand, the red giant itself also wiggles slightly. These movements give the stellar wind a spiral shape."

The discovery of a partner star made everything fall into place, says Decin: "We believed that these red giants were record holders for mass-loss rate, but that's not the case. It only seemed as though they were losing a lot of mass because there's an area between the two stars where the stellar wind is much more concentrated due to the gravity of the second star. These red giants don't lose the equivalent of 100 earths per year, but rather 10 of them - just like the regular red giants. As such, they also die a bit more slowly than we first assumed. To rephrase in a positive way: these old stars live longer than we thought."

The astronomers are now investigating whether a system with a binary star could also be the explanation for other special red giants. "We believed that many stars lived alone, but we will probably have to adjust this idea. A star with a partner is likely to be more common than we thought," Decin concludes.

###

About KU Leuven

KU Leuven is Europe's most innovative university. Located in Belgium, it is dedicated to research, education, and service to society. KU Leuven is a founding member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) and has a strong European and international orientation. Our scientists conduct basic and applied research in a comprehensive range of disciplines. University Hospitals Leuven, our network of research hospitals, provides high-quality healthcare and develops new therapeutic and diagnostic insights with an emphasis on translational research. The university welcomes more than 50,000 students from over 140 countries. The KU Leuven Doctoral Schools train approximately 4,500 PhD students.

More information: http://www. kuleuven. be/ mediaresources .

This story has been published on: 2019-02-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Officials Offer Safety, Health Tips After Flooding

By The Associated Press

FRANKFORT - Health officials are urging Kentucky residents affected by recent flooding to follow safety and health tips.

The state Public Health Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say don't attempt to drive through flood waters. Stay away from downed power lines and dangerous natural gas and propane leaks. Update tetanus vaccinations before starting cleanup.

For cleanup, wear safety equipment and use ground fault interrupters if available for electrical tools. Never use electrically powered tools in or near standing water. When cleaning up mold, wear protective gear and keep doors and windows open.

If you've had a power outage, perishable foods that have been above 40 degrees for two hours or more should be tossed. A full freezer will hold its appropriate temperature for about 48 hours, and a half-full freezer for 24 hours.
Graves Pair Face Endangerment, Marijuana Charges

By West Kentucky Star Staff

GRAVES COUNTY - Two people were arrested Monday for endangering the welfare of minors and possession of drugs.

According to the Graves County Sheriff's Office, deputies received information that a fugitive was staying at a home on Tom Drive just south of Mayfield. When deputies arrived at the home they made contact with 28-year-old Austin Burnett and 28-year-old Anne Clapp.

According to deputies, Burnett was wanted in McCracken County on contempt charges.

While inside the home, deputies said they smelled the odor of marijuana. A search warrant was executed and marijuana was allegedly found in the bathroom and bedroom of the home.

Police say two infant children had access to the marijuana and vials of THC used in smoking in vape pipes.

Clapp and Burnett were charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. They were lodged in the Graves County Jail.
Livingston Schools Back in Session Today

By West Kentucky Star Staff





SMITHLAND - Livingston County Schools are going to re-open on Wednesday.Since Kentucky and Barkley Dam are holding more water in their reservoirs, the Ohio and Cumberland Rivers are no longer an immediate threat to traffic on US Highway 60, which is vital for school transportation.School officials made a final decision late Tuesday afternoon following consultations with the National Weather Service, Army Corps of Engineers, Tennessee Valley Authority, and local emergency management officials.The district estimates 50 to 60 students are directly impacted by the floodwaters and several more students may be impacted by road closures, or about 10% of the student population. The transportation department has identified these students and have adjusted routes.Any families who can't attend school due to flooding should contact the school administrators to discuss options.On the Net:
Carp-Crete Makes Kentucky Debut in Eddyville

By Mike Cooper, West Kentucky Star Staff

Carp-Crete is actually a concrete which has as an ingredient, Asian carp fishmeal, as an admixture.

.

The idea for such a product came about as James Nobles, an Illinois civil engineer, was working on an idea to use waste products for an engineering project, while at the same time developing a product that would be more friendly to the environment.



The carp fishmeal is more friendly to the environment, compared with traditional admixture such as fly ash, which contains arsenic, lead, and mercury, which can be harmful to humans.





Lyon County Judge Executive Wade White, told West Kentucky Star, that he is extremely excited about the prospects of Carp-Crete.





White said that the new product shows signs of being stronger, and not being damaged as easily as traditional concrete products by weather elements. He also said, "if this product works, it's really going to increase the demand for the carp in all sizes. It doesn't have to be a large fish, it can be a small one, so that's one of the issues that we need is getting the smaller fish out as well. This increases the price maybe up to thirty cents per pound, that will be an incredible shot in the arm for our commercial fisherman, which is what we need."





The Carp-Crete was poured at Hu-B's Offshore Marine Sales, across from Venture River, in Eddyville. The public is invited to come and see the new product.



EDDYVILLE - The first ever use of the new carp product, Carp-Crete, was poured Tuesday afternoon in Eddyville.
Crews Rescue Two People, Animals from Flooded Home

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MASSAC COUNTY - Responders from multiple local agencies went into action Monday, after rising floodwaters trapped two Massac County residents and their pets.The Massac County Emergency Management Agency said crews responded Monday to a report of two people, six dogs and two cats who were not able to safely evacuate their Busclas Lane home due to flooding. The McCracken County Rescue Squad also responded with a boat to assist in the rescue.Responders were reportedly able to safely evacuate the residents and their pets from their homes without incident.In a Facebook post Tuesday morning, Massac County Emergency Management thanked McCracken County OEM, the McCracken County Rescue Squad, Massac County Animal Control, and the Massac County Sheriffs Office for their assistance.
Sheriff Getting Part-Time Process Server

By Bill Hughes

PADUCAH - At Monday's McCracken County Fiscal Court meeting, an ordinance received a second reading and was passed, creating a new job within the Sheriff's Department.Ordinance 2019-02 amends ordinances 2015-02 and 2018-03 and creates a new job classification in the Sheriff's Office's Compensation and Classification System. The new employment classification is for a part-time civilian process server.Sheriff Matt Carter said he thinks the new position will benefit the department and the community by relieving the burden upon deputies to perform this task in addition to their typical duties."Being able to have this position created is going to enable our patrol units to focus more on law enforcement related events, to investigate misdemeanor cases and proactively patrol areas of concern for the citizens, So, I'm excited and I believe that this will be a great asset to our agency," Carter said.The fiscal Court passed the ordinance unanimously.Also at the meeting, the Fiscal Court unanimously approved a proposed joint resolution with the city of Paducah in favor of a Tax Increment Financing Development Plan in downtown Paducah. City and county leaders met jointly on February 20 to hear details about the TIF Plan, and the Paducah City Commission is expected to vote on the same resolution at their Tuesday meeting. Both groups would still have to define the specifics of the plan and pass ordinances to put it into place.
Paducah Man Charged on Drug, Firearm Offenses

By West Kentucky Star Staff

According to the McCracken County Sheriff's Department, on February 13th, detectives and DEA of Paducah executed search warrants at 2920 Virginia Street and 2926 Mississippi Street in Paducah.



During the searches, detectives allegedly located over 80 grams of Crystal Methamphetamine, Marijuana, a stolen 9mm handgun, and $7600 in cash, believed to be proceeds of illegal drug sales.



Detectives obtained arrest warrants for 29-year-old Patrick Owens, charging him with 1st degree trafficking in controlled substance, receiving stolen property (handgun), and possession of a handgun by a convicted felon.



Owens was arrested and taken to the McCracken County Regional Jail.



PADUCAH - A Paducah man was arrested Monday on drug and firearm charges.
21 Charged in Joint McCracken Drug Investigation

By West Kentucky Star Staff

PADUCAH - Authorities in McCracken County have charged 21 people with drug and other offenses in a joint investigation with the the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that spanned about two weeks.The McCracken County Sheriff's Office says on Feb. 13 sheriff's and DEA detectives searched homes on Virginia and Mississippi Streets in Paducah. Detectives reportedly found more than 80 grams of crystal methamphetamine, marijuana, a stolen handgun and $7,600 in cash. Deputies arrested 29-year-old Patrick Owens Monday on charges of first-degree meth trafficking, receiving a stolen handgun and possession of a handgun by a convicted felon.Three days later deputies stopped a vehicle and reportedly found meth inside. They arrested 35-year-old Jodi Gainey, 56-year-old Monty Turner and 55-year-old Kenny Cooper. Deputies said Turner and Gainey gave them false names, and were wanted on probation and bail jumping charges. Turner and Gainey were both charged with first-degree possession of meth and giving an officer false identifying information. Cooper was additionally charged with first degree possession of meth.Deputies executed a search warrant on Feb. 19 at a home on Flora Avenue where they reportedly found 12.7 grams of meth, marijuana, scales and other items of drug paraphernalia. They arrested 52-year-old Lex Thornton and 30-year-old Meghan Romaine on charges of meth trafficking, possession of drug paraphernalia, tampering with physical evidence and third-degree possession of a controlled substance. They also charged Thornton with menacing, resisting arrest and marijuana possession.Deputies searched a South 19th Street home on Feb. 20 and reportedly found meth, a handgun and Pseudoephedrine pills, drug paraphernalia and marijuana. During a search of another vehicle at a different home they reportedly found 235 grams of meth and drug paraphernalia. Deputies arrested 42-year-old Sue Ann Tramble, 49-year-old Douglas Jones and 34-year-old Dale Lynn. Jones is charged with first-degree trafficking in meth, two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, marijuana trafficking, possession of a handgun by a convicted felon, carrying a concealed weapon and driving with a suspended or revoked license. Tramble was charged with first-degree possession of meth, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of marijuana and public intoxication. Lynn was charged with first-degree meth trafficking, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving with a suspended or revoked license.Detectives from Marshall and McCracken County were watching a home the same day on U.S. 68 in Marshall County when they saw a vehicle leave and pulled it over. During a search of the vehicle, deputies reportedly found meth, and arrested Jamie Tubbs for meth possession. They also served a search warrant at a home on Brian Lane in Marshall County, where they found meth, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and $8,500 in cash. Deputies arrested April Novetske at the home, and said they intercepted a package intended for Novetske that contained more than a kilo of meth.On Feb. 21 deputies executed a search warrant at a home on Sheehan Bridge Road. There they found crystal meth, paraphernalia and a drug ledger. They arrested 55-year-old Thomas Downs on charges of first-degree meth trafficking, possession of drug paraphernalia and failure to notify the department of transportation of an address change.The next day deputies charged 32-year-old Brian Wilson, 30-year-old Jamie Bailey and 23-year-old Justin Crabtree following a search of an apartment on New Holt Road that revealed meth, paraphernalia, and marijuana. Both Bailey and Wilson were arrested on charges of possession of meth and drug paraphernalia. Bailey was also arrested on an outstanding Calloway County warrant. Crabtree was cited to court on charges of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Deputies also arrested 38-year-old Timothy Cossey, 38-year-old Karen Lewis, 57-year-old James Williams and 47-year-old Michael Ezell after executing a search warrant at a Kinkead Street home that revealed meth, drug paraphernalia, and a gun. They charged all three suspects with possession of meth and drug paraphernalia. Cossey was also wanted in McCracken County for a contempt of court charge. Lewis and Williams were also wanted for failure to appear. Deputies also cited 27-year-old Beatrice Ford, 33-year-old John Tucker and 45-year-old James Mullins on marijuana and drug paraphernalia possession charges.
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Fort Polk, LA (71446)

Today

Showers likely along with a possible rumble of thunder early, then cloudy skies after midnight. Low 73F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Showers likely along with a possible rumble of thunder early, then cloudy skies after midnight. Low 73F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
The WCO Working Group on E-Commerce (WGEC) held its fifth and final Meeting from 18 to 22 February 2019 that brought together over 175 delegates from Customs administrations, other government agencies, the private sector, other international organizations, e-vendors/platforms/marketplaces, express carriers, postal operators, freight forwarders, Customs brokers and academia.

Building upon the Framework of Standards on Cross-Border E-Commerce1 that had been adopted by the WCO Council in June 2018, the WGEC examined the ongoing work and carried out further work on the identified items as per the WGEC Work Plan.

Through a robust and extensive review of various draft documents, the WGEC carried out further work and concluded all of the mandated work by finalizing and approving the following draft documents : Definitions of terms used in the Framework of Standards, Technical Specifications, Reference Data set for E-Commerce, model examples of E-Commerce Flow Charts and Return Flow Chart, Revenue Collection Approaches, E-Commerce Business Models, and E-Commerce Business Models : Roles and Responsibilities. All of these documents are aimed at further enriching the Framework of Standards and providing additional guidance for the implementation of the Framework in expeditious and harmonized manner.

In addition, the WGEC finalized and approved Implementation Strategy, Action Plan and Capacity Building Mechanism for effective implementation of the Framework of Standards by Members, working in close cooperation with other relevant government agencies and stakeholders.

Furthermore, the WGEC developed two model templates for collecting Members case-studies on the revenue collection approaches and the implementation of the Framework of Standards. Noting the case studies of Australia and Eurasian Economic Union, the WGEC requested Members and stakeholders to share their related working examples and initiatives/pilots.

Acknowledging the great deal of work done by the WGEC in short span of less than three years, Ms. Ana B. Hinojosa, WCO Director Compliance and Facilitation, the Customs-Chairperson Mr. Mike Leahy (Canada) and the private sector Chairperson Ms. Marianne Rowden (the Private Sector Consultative Group) thanked delegates for their commitment and arduous work that led to the development of a comprehensive E-Commerce Package, supplementing the already published Framework of Standards on Cross-Border E-Commerce.

Going forward, the documents finalized by the WGEC will be submitted to the Permanent Technical Committee (PTC) and the Enforcement Committee (EC) in March 2019, the Capacity Building Committee (CBC) in April 2019, and finally the Policy Commission and Council in June 2019, for their respective consideration and potential adoption.
The World Customs Organization (WCO), within the framework of the agreement between the WCO and Bahamas Customs and Excise Department (BCED) and funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), organized a National Workshop on the development of an advance ruling system for classification, origin and valuation. This Workshop, conducted in Nassau from 18 to 22 February 2019, was attended by 16 Customs officers and was building on the results of a practical application of the Diagnostic Tool on Tariff Classification, Valuation and Origin Work and Related Infrastructure which had been done in May 2018.

The participants worked on 4 main action points stemming from the action plan developed during the workshop in May 2018: drafting of Departmental Instructions concerning the application for an advance ruling, designing a template for an advance rulings decision letter, drafting public information on advance rulings and creating an online searchable database of gazetted rulings.

The workshop focused on the practical implementation of advance rulings which will play a vital role in promoting trade facilitation, as required by the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation, which entered into force on 22 February 2017. Advance rulings are an important feature in resolving disputes prior to importation, promoting the development of trade and encouraging investment.
Govt - Best Option for Gibraltar is Revocation of Article 50

The position of Her Majesty's Government of Gibraltar is that the best outcome for Gibraltar would be the revocation of Article 50 and remaining in the European Union.

This follows the statement by the Prime Minister today and the decision of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom to support a referendum where the choice would be between remaining and a withdrawal agreement.

It is clear to the Gibraltar Government that in the event of a new referendum, Gibraltar would expect to form a part of the franchise as we were last time.

However, this does not guarantee that there would be a different outcome, nor that there would be an end to the uncertainty and division in the UK once the result has been declared.

Her Majesty's Government of Gibraltar would back a 'remain' outcome in such a referendum, despite the many concerns we have had about the statements and actions of the EU institutions and some Member States since the Article 50 notification was originally given by the UK in April 2017.

The Prime Minister has made it abundantly clear that a revocation of Article 50 is not going to happen without a new referendum result, on the basis that the overall vote in the United Kingdom in the referendum of June 2016 was a vote to leave. Instead, she will return to Parliament with another meaningful vote on the withdrawal agreement by 12 March. Mrs May has made it clear that if this deal is rejected, then there would be another vote on 13 March which would give MPs the chance to vote on whether they want the UK to leave with or without a deal. The Government would then hold a vote on extending but not revoking Article 50 for a short time if MPs vote to reject the no deal option.

The Government is concerned about the consequences of an extension for obvious reasons.

The motion put by the Prime Minister on the 13th March, if it comes to that, however, will be amendable, and the results of what final position will emerge are therefore not presently predictable with any degree of accuracy.

The position of the Gibraltar Government is that Gibraltar must continue to prepare for all eventualities as we leave the European Union. Therefore the detailed and serious planning for a no deal Brexit will continue.

The Chief Minister, the Hon Fabian Picardo QC MP, said: "The final potential outcomes of this process remain unclear. We have therefore been working hard on all reasonably predictable outcomes to deliver the results we need - certainty for all citizens and businesses alike. We will continue to do so and to engage with the UK, the EU institutions and Member States, including Spain, to ensure all our citizens are equally and reciprocally protected in all eventualities."
Henry Cowper Watch Acquired by the Gibraltar National Museum

An 18th Century gold watch signed by Henry Cowper has been acquired at auction by the Gibraltar National Museum. There was significant interest in the piece but the museum was able to secure it for 5,334.

Henry Cowper is listed in the 1777 List of Inhabitants commissioned by General Boyd as a Goldsmith born in Gibraltar, yet the legacy by which he is probably best known locally is that he was the owner of the theatre in what is now Cornwalls Parade which gave the area its Spanish name of La Calle Comedia.

He left Gibraltar during the Great Siege, and in March 1783 was one of the signatories of a Humble Petition and Memorial of the Inhabitants and Proprietors of Houses in the Town of Gibraltar to the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of His Majestys Treasury, which applied for compensation for the losses during the siege. He died in Gibraltar on 10 September 1803 and was reported in The Gentleman's Magazine: and Historical Chronicle for 1803 as having been the oldest British Inhabitant at the time.

However, his work as a goldsmith and silversmith is well known in the antiques world, and his work is highly sought after together with that of John Catton.

The outer case of the watch bears testament to having been used regularly on the back where it would have been in contact with the owners clothing, and where the gilt has worn away. While the outer case is embossed with classical figures surrounded by the typical C-scrolls of the 18th century, and the elegant white enamelled dial bears Arabic and Roman numerals, it is the inside with the intricate movements inscribed Henry (Henry Cowper) Gibraltar that are the most beautiful.

It is the policy of the Gibraltar National Museum to acquire, wherever possible, items of heritage value to Gibraltar. Repatriation is possible by a number of means, purchase at auction being one option available.The intention is to exhibit this new acquisition for the first time at this years Museum Open Day on Saturday 18th May.
What You Need To Know About Cholesterol
Samuel L. Jackson, left, and Glenn Close take a selfie prior to the start of the Oscars on Sunday at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Olivia Colman was apologetic for beating Close in her acceptance speech for best actress.
Audrey Bridgette Peter, left, Blaine Claxton and Sheba Stevens are the new owners of the Rite Way Service Station in Estate La Grande Princess on St. Croix.
Normal, IL (61790)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
After the rehab center, Jared will return home, Ed Antle said. Little changes are needed -- such as the steps to the front door will be replaced with a wheelchair ramp. The bathroom will need to be more accessible for bathing, among other changes.
UW Libraries Names Open Textbook Grant Recipients

University of Wyoming Libraries recently awarded open textbook grants to eight faculty members and one graduate assistant to implement open educational resources (OER) in their classes.

The open textbooks resulting from the grants are projected to save UW students more than $25,000 each semester.

The innovation and creativity of UW instructors in this round of grants were amazing, says Cass Kvenild, assistant dean of UW Libraries. Faculty from multiple colleges will create new open textbooks and course materials to better meet student needs while saving thousands of dollars in the process.

Grants are awarded to instructors who adopt, adapt or create new open textbooks or other materials for their courses. Grant awards range from $1,500 to $3,000.

The grant recipients are:

College of Agriculture and Natural Resources

-- Karen Vaughan, an assistant professor in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management. She teaches Introduction to Soil Science. Her grant will support the creation of a free, open and accessible lab manual. The development of the manual will allow students the ability to view videos, diagrams and other materials before and after they complete the lab module.

College of Arts and Sciences

-- Christi Boggs, an instructional designer and associate lecturer in the Office of Distance Education Support and the School of Culture, Gender and Social Justice. Boggs teaches Queer Theory and discovered that there are no textbooks or OER available for the course. She will work with her students to create OER that will involve narrative and multimedia resources.

-- Michael Brotherton, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. He teaches General Astronomy II. He will develop additional content and exercises to complement currently accessible astronomy textbooks. He will make the newly developed problems and labs free and accessible.

-- Irene Checa-Garcia, an associate professor in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages. She teaches Spanish for Heritage Speakers. Her grant will support the creation of pedagogical online materials for heritage speakers of Spanish around the state. Students will be able to access each module online until they master it.

-- Elliott Hulley, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry. He teaches Inorganic Chemistry Lab. The inorganic division of the chemistry department has been actively working toward modernization in teaching techniques. Hulleys grant will support a redesign of the lab manual -- eliminating a printed version and making it accessible online.

-- Geo Nikolov, a graduate assistant in the Department of Classical and Modern Languages. Nikolov teaches Second Year Spanish I. He will use materials already found in Creative Commons. Additionally, he will develop a guide to use technology to create story maps and audio production by using UW Libraries resources such as Studio Coe.

-- Gabel Taggart, an assistant professor in the School of Politics, Public Affairs and International Studies. He teaches Public Personnel Management. No OER exists for this course, but there are OER textbooks in similar subject areas. He and his graduate students will use existing OER textbooks and recent journal articles to design their own OER specific to his course.

-- Benjamin Wilkowski, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology. He teaches Research Methods, and he will use current open access textbooks for adoption into his course.

Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources

-- Steve Smutko, a professor in the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources. He teaches Approaches to Environment and Natural Resources Problem Solving and has been developing course materials over the past six years. The grant project will involve developing case studies and curriculum that incorporates collaborative problem-solving and role play simulations.

UW Libraries will award another round of grants for the 2019-2020 academic year. Proposals for that award period are due March 15. The grant award committee will prioritize proposals for high-enrollment classes and those that include UW and community college partnerships.

For more information, visit https://uwyo.libguides.com/oer/grants.
New UW Engineering Faculty Member Brings Business Savvy

Peter Scott

Peter Scott has seen the scenario play out many times over the years: He meets someone who has a great idea for a product or can effectively fill a need in the marketplace. However, transforming thoughts into a full-fledged business is a common stumbling block for hopeful entrepreneurs.

Scott joined the University of Wyoming ranks to help turn those ideas into reality.

He began as the entrepreneur in residence for the College of Engineering and Applied Science in October. He is tasked with assisting students, faculty and prospective entrepreneurs around the state in the intricate process of starting businesses. In conjunction with the launch of UWs Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE), Scott is part of a cluster hire focused on entrepreneurship.

I like creating things -- its an intellectual challenge, Scott says. Its about trying to create a company that doesnt exist, perhaps in a market that doesnt exist. Its really neat to look at something like a business or product that simply wasnt there six months ago.

Wyomings wide-open frontiers are home to outside thinkers hungry for a challenge. They share a spirit of adventure, restless curiosity and wonder. The world needs more cowboys, and UWs 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.

Originally from Michigan, Scott brings more than 30 years of experience in industry and academia. He has advised more than 25 technology startups worth more than $10 million in investment funding in topics such as strategy, marketing, sales and finance. The industries in which the companies have been involved include solar power, wind turbines, fuel injection, engine controls, consumer products and medical devices.

Scott has created entrepreneurial training guides used by incubators and universities in Papua New Guinea and Bahrain, and has taught in South Korea, China, Pakistan and Luxembourg. Most recently, he was a lecturer at the University of Colorado, where he taught entrepreneurship concepts to students pursuing Master of Business Administration (MBA) degrees on the Boulder and Denver campuses. He began his teaching career as a professor of entrepreneurship at Syracuse University.

Scotts expertise spans both the business and engineering realms. He earned a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan, a masters in aerospace engineering from the University of Cincinnati and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

Engineers are problem solvers, he says. They know how to create a new product for a problem theyre trying to solve. That is what a lot of what entrepreneurship is. But the questions come up: What do I do now? When do I do it? Who is my customer? What do they want?

What I like to do is help people start companies. Of all the startups Ive worked with over many years, I know that I dont have the idea. Im not the technical co-founder who has a new widget, but I help the person who does. My role could be helping students become interested in entrepreneurship. It could be helping faculty members with new technology. It could be helping someone around town or the state.

Scott already has made an impact in his short time on campus. He has created two courses, including a first-year seminar for students in innovation and entrepreneurship, and a weekly faculty entrepreneurship workshop. More curriculum plans are underway to offer campuswide entrepreneurship courses and a minor program. One of Scotts goals is to develop a course in angel investing, and offer students the opportunity to vet companies that apply for funding and make a decision on whether to invest real capital.

A crucial aspect of the IIE mission is to connect entrepreneurs with UW resources and, as such, Scott already has begun to make connections.

Ive talked to company founders in the state who would benefit from a relationship with UW, he says. Thats where the universitys natural resources -- its students and faculty expertise already on campus -- can be a boon. If youre in Cody, where do you go to learn about starting a company? The university can develop that. Were in a good position to develop a mentor network, as well. We can connect Gillette with Cody with Cheyenne with Jackson. Were a statewide institution.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg, Darmstadt Lord Mayor Jochen Partsch, TU-Darmstadt Hans Jurgen Promel and UTSA President Taylor Eighmy discuss partnership.

(Feb. 26, 2019)  UTSA welcomed a delegation of 25 people from Darmstadt, Germany to the Main Campus this week as part of a sister city visit and campus tour.

UTSA and Technische Universitat Darmstadt signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2017 as part of a greater mission between the City of San Antonio and the City of Darmstadt to build cultural and educational bridges through a sister cities agreement, signed the same year.

The relationships we establish on a global scale advance our upward trajectory as a university, said UTSA President Taylor Eighmy. Our cooperative agreement with TU-Darmstadt is just another example of our momentum as a globally engaged university, and we value this important relationship between our institutions.

The universities have similar profiles in enrollment, academics and research. UTSA and TU-Darmstadt are home to the top cybersecurity programs in the U.S. and Germany, respectively. Likewise, the two cities have similar areas of interest. Darmstadt is a leading IT hub and recently received the digital city award. It is also a federally designated City of Science.

Members of the visiting delegation included Lord Mayor Jochen Partsch, mayor of the city of Darmstadt, and Hans Jurgen Promel, president of TU-Darmstadt. Representatives from the City of San Antonio included Mayor Ron Nirenberg and staff from the International Relations office.

It was a pleasure to meet with TU-Darmstadt, deepening our relationship with a strategic partner in a way that benefits both our universities, said Vice Provost for Global Initiatives Lisa Montoya. We look forward to continuing the conversation with TU-Darmstadt in the fall when a delegation from UTSA visits their campus.

During the visit, UTSA faculty and staff led discussions on research, political and social affairs, international affairs, cybersecurity and data analytics, engineering, science and aerospace, music, urban and economic development and art and art history.
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.
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Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 26 (UNI) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the concluding session of 'Students Parliament' held as part of Festival on Democracy, at the Kerala Legislative Assembly complex.

Speaking on the occasion on Monday, the Chief Minister urged students community to come forward to ensure a better democratic process in the country.

He said students must be educated on fundamental rights, privilege of a free press, freedom to speak, criticise the Government if they go wrong.
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ON THE MOVE: Goldman Lands Zdorovstov for AM Group

Goldman Sachs recently hired Vladimir Zdorovtsov, a former director of quantitative equity research at State Street Global Advisors, to join its investment management division in New York. He has had a career of more than 17 years as quantitative and fundamental equity analyst, senior economist, and stat arb trader on both the sell and buy-side. Most recently, Zdorovtsov was employed for 10 months at Rosetta Analytics, a software firm that builds artificial intelligence models to predict securities price movements, as Partner and Head of Research.

On the flip side, the white glove broker lost a top quant trader after just six months for Citadel. Vivek Upadhyay, a senior quant trader and briefly an executive director at Goldman Sachs, joined the Chicago-based hedge fund's London office earlier this month. Upadhyay began his career in equity derivatives structuring at UBS in 2008. He left the Swiss bank for a quant trading role at New York-headquartered high speed trading firm Tower Research Capital in 2012.

If you have a new job or promotion to report, let me know at jdantona@marketsmedia.com

Koine Finance, a soon-to-launch provider of custody and settlement services for digital assets, has appointed Hugh Hughes as its chairman and CEO. Hughes, who spent 10 years as the chief executive of Societe Generale Securities, co-founded Fixnetix, a financial technology company in 2015. Fixnetix with provided a low-latency network connected globally to trading venues that, in turn, provided fastest-in-class price discovery, trade execution and trade confirmation for the algorithmic trading desks of investment banks, hedge funds and proprietary trading firms, was sold to US-based tech vendor CSC in 2016 in a deal with more than $100 million.

Style Analytics, the provider of factor-based analysis software for investment professionals, announced the opening of new offices in Paris and Shanghai. The new Paris office will be run by Zenja Sabah Randjelovic who joins as Sales Director for Continental Europe. Zenja has over 20 years in selling financial software solutions.

Tier1CRM (Tier1), a provider of client relationship management tools for financial services, has named Manish Patel as Chief Product Officer. He comes to Tier1 after leading numerous multimillion-dollar product development and software projects, scaling product and engineering organizations, and implementing industry best practices and processes. Patel will be responsible for spearheading Tier1s overall product vision, growth, and development, while ensuring the Company continues to improve upon the overall customer experience.

Before joining Tier1, Patel worked at Valassis Digital as the Executive Director of Product Management for two years. Prior to that, he spent five years at Ipreo as Managing Director of Product Management. He also spent 13 years at ING Bank in London in Business Management roles within Equity Markets Research and Sales, primarily concerning CRM and Research Distribution systems. In his previous roles, Patel has overseen the development of innovative, multi-platform software products within the financial and advertising industries.

Digital Vega, an FX Options e-trading platform and provider of FX Options trading solutions, announced two senior appointments, which support its expanded product development strategy. First, Simon Benny Lewis was appointed Head of Interdealer Solutions. Lewis spent 20 years at Tullet Prebon, building a market leading exotic options desk from scratch. He was ultimately appointed as Global Head of FX Options, until retiring in 2016.

Also, Romain Camus was appointed Head of Exotic Options. The veterean with over 15 years of experience joined from VTB where he was Executive Director, Head of Foreign Exchange Structuring. He previously worked at Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank as a Structurer.

The firm also onboarded two new senior developers, and said it planned to add a pair of new salespeople.

M Science, a data-driven research and analytics firm, has hired Gerard Varjacques as Global Head of Sales. In this role, Varjacques will be responsible for all sales functions and marketing initiatives for the company. Previously, Varjacques ran global sales for ICAP, now Nex, and served as chief operating officer of Traiana. He also served as CEO of the U.S. division of GL Trade.

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Abu Dhabi Airports celebrated Kuwait National Day on February 25 by welcoming visitors coming to the UAE through Abu Dhabi International Airport with Kuwaiti flags, an assortment of sweets and other activities.



The special Kuwait National Day activities come as part of Abu Dhabi Airports focus on ensuring a seamless passenger experience and customer happiness.



In addition to the flags and sweets, Kuwaiti music was played across Abu Dhabi International Airport and lucky passengers were greeted by Abu Dhabi Duty Frees famous Dhabian camel mascot, who handed out an assortment of prizes and vouchers.



Bryan Thompson, chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi Airports, said: We are proud to welcome our Kuwaiti neighbours to Abu Dhabi International Airport and share with them our unique brand of Arabian hospitality during their National Day.



Our celebration of Kuwait National Day is a manifestation of the deep ties and close connections between the UAE and the State of Kuwait, and we look forward to continuing to build upon the profound sentiments that bring the two countries people together, Thompson said. - TradeArabia News Service
Air Products, a world-leading industrial gases company in operation for over 75 years, said it had achieved a major milestone by clocking 25 million safe man-hours without lost time injuries (LTI) during the mechanical completion of world's largest industrial gas complex at Jazan in Saudi Arabia.



The Pennsylvania-based company said it was proud of its earned reputation of successfully executing the engineering, building, owning and operating of large-scale projects for customers around the world.



Air Products announced that with this feat, it has added another successful large-scale example to its build, own and operate model portfolio.



Air Products was awarded a 20-year contract in 2015 by Saudi Aramco under a joint venture (JV) of Air Products (25 per cent) and Acwa Holding (75 per cent) to build, own and operate the world's largest industrial gas complex that will have a capacity to supply 75,000 tonnes per day (20,000 oxygen and 55,000 nitrogen) to Saudi Aramco's refinery and Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle power plant in Jazan.



"And if successful completion of the plant, with its remote location and regional climate challenges was not enough, the Air Products team completed the world-scale complex without a lost time injury in 25 million worker hours," remarked Dr Samir J Serhan, the executive vice president at Air Products.



The Jazan Project was executed by Air Products' major execution centres in the UK, US, China and India with active engagement of employees in Saudi Arabia. The now mechanically complete industrial gas complex is expected to be brought onstream in phases in 2019.



"For the Air Products team members involved to complete this project with the extensive worker hours required, facing varied challenges, and to do so without a lost time injury is a truly exceptional milestone. It speaks of the dedication to safety, and extreme focus on the task to be completed," remarked Dr Serhan.



"The confirmation of our success was the agreement of the customer that we had reached the mechanical completion stage of the construction project. Going forward, when a prospective customer is interested in Air Products' expertise, we can point to a map and say, let me tell you what we accomplished at Jazan," he added.



Dr Serhan said overall it took approximately three years to engineer, procure and construct the world's largest industrial gas facility.



"The project is significantly larger than anything executed by Air Products to date, and the global company engineering effort speaks to our engineering capabilities and expertise," said the top official.



"On top of that, there was the massive recruitment effort to bring the construction workforce and others to the location, train them, and have them understand our focus on safety. The construction success and safety results all speak to the execution by our team," he added.



The Jazan project effort required the hiring of new sub-contractors for almost all of the construction scope. At peak construction periods, a workforce of 6,000 people were at the site.



The result was a multi-national team of people from over 30 countries filling the varied roles necessary for the construction project.-TradeArabia News Service
Shell Oman Marketing Company has won a two-year contract to cater to 50 per cent of Oman Airs aviation fuel needs at Muscat International Airport.



The company has previously been catering to 20 per cent of Oman Airs fuel needs, and this increase will make a positive contribution to the companys earnings in the coming two years. Shell Oman has been the sole fuel farm operator at both Muscat and Salalah airports, and the main aviation fuel supplier to PDOs airfields.



Dr Mohammed Mahmood Al Balushi, CEO of Shell Oman, said: We are pleased to be partnering with Oman Air, the national carrier, in working together to grow and develop Omans aviation industry for the benefit of the Sultanate and its people. Capitalizing on the major investments in infrastructure projects and maturing industrial and logistical hubs in Muscat, Sohar, Duqm and Salalah, Shell Oman has and will continue to remain focused on capturing business opportunities driven by increasing consumer demand.



The Sultanate is set to transform into a regional hub attracting large investments and projects while driving the diversification of the Sultanates economy and enhancing its global competitiveness. Shell will play a crucial role in this vision by delivering global fuel technology and operational excellence to local and international customers, he added.



Abdul Aziz Al Raisi, chief executive officer, Oman Air said: Oman Air is delighted to be partnering with an industry leader like Shell. With a pioneering history, not just in Oman but also across the world, Shell has carved a name as a reliable brand with its extensive network and supply chain capabilities. I can confidently say that this is a partnership between two leading brands that reflects growth through sustainable strategies and practices, and I look forward to working together.



Shells expertise in providing top quality fuels, and reliable, efficient and profitable operations, have been globally recognized since the advent of the jet age. In 1962, Shell began selling aviation fuel in Oman from Bait Al Falaj Airport. In later years, with the opening of Seeb International Airport, today known as Muscat International Airport, Shell has become a major supplier of jet fuel, lubricants and consultancy services in the Omani aviation sector.  TradeArabia News Service
Saudi Arabias Acwa Power, a leader in power and desalination water plants, has signed a global cooperation agreement with Huawei at the recent Sino-Saudi Investment Forum in Beijing to develop the photovoltaic (PV) market.



The two firms will apply cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing to PV plant projects to promote the industry's progress with technological innovation.



Executives including Mohammd Abunayyan, chairman of Acwa Power, Paddy Padmanathan, president and CEO of Acwa Power, Rajit Nanda CIO of Acwa Power, Dennis Zhang, CEO of Huawei Saudi Company, and Steven Ma, general manager of Huawei Smart PV Solution MEA, attended the signing ceremony.



In fact, Acwa Power has cooperated with Huawei several times in 2018. On January 17, 2018, Acwa Power, Nomac, and Huawei signed a comprehensive procurement agreement on the smart PV management system at the World Future Energy Summit. On December 26, 2018, Acwa Power and Huawei signed the inverter procurement agreement for the Sakaka 300 MW project in Saudi Arabia, to which the Huawei Fusion Solar 1500 V Smart PV Solution is fully applied.



Signing the memorandum marks the further cooperation between the two sides after jointly developing the Sakaka 300 MW project, the first large ground PV plant in Saudi Arabia.



Khalid Bin Abdul-Aziz Al-Falih, Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources in Saudi Arabia, said in an interview with the media that energy cooperation has played an important role in Sino-Saudi Arabia relations and that further cooperation between the two countries in the energy field is in the strategic interest of both sides.



In the future, Huawei will cooperate with Acwa Power in the forward-looking technology fields. Through advanced technologies such as smart I-V curve diagnosis, AI algorithm, and big data with AI, Huawei and Acwa Power will build a simplified PV system, greatly improve the energy yield and O&M efficiency of PV plants, and accelerate the intelligent upgrade of PV energy in the Middle East.  TradeArabia News Service
Thirteen companies from the Middle East are among a new class of global challengers that are leapfrogging their developed market counterparts to achieve global leadership positions, according to a report.



The report, titled Global Challengers 2018: Digital Leapfrogs, is by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm.



UAEs Etisalat and Emirates Global Aluminium are among the companies driving the digital revolution that feature on the list. Despite the regions digital prowess, only one tech unicorn has emerged, and that is UAE-based Careem.



Etisalat is a telecommunications trailblazer, and the worlds 14th largest mobile network operator, with a business presence in 18 countries, partly under different brand names. It was also the first telecommunications service provider in UAE.



Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) is one of the top five global aluminium producers, with a strong geographical presence in 60 countries, EGA has recently incorporated two companies.



In addition to Etisalat and EGA, other countries representing the Middle East on the Global Challengers list include the likes of Sabic and Almarai from Saudi Arabia; and companies from Egypt, Turkey and Qatar.



Markus Massi, a BCG senior partner in the Middle East and the regional leader of the firms Global Advantage practice, said: When compared to companies in developed markets, Middle Eastern global challengers have demonstrated significantly faster growth profitability in most industries over the past decade.



In the long term, the 100 Global Challengers total shareholder return outperformed their global peers, the S&P 500, and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. More recent performance of emerging markets was affected by broader economic conditions; despite this, their revenue growth continued to outpace that of peers in other indices across multiple sectors, he said.



In fact, over the past five years, Middle Eastern global challengers have had significant revenue growth, four times that of the S&P 500 while securing high margins, he added.



Three quarters of the global challengers from the Middle East are leaders in digital adoption, both in their home markets and beyond. Nowhere is the trend toward digitisation more evident than among those 13 global challenger companies, many of which are leveraging digital technologies both to win in emerging markets and to compete globally with multinationals.



However, the region is significantly underrepresented in terms of unicorn companies: Only one unicorn company, Careem, out of 220 global unicorns comes from the Middle East, compared to the top 100 unicorns, who mainly originate from China (33 per cent) and the United States (43 per cent).



When it comes to digital adoption, instead of aiming for unicorn status by being digital disruptors, the report found that Middle Eastern challengers develop their digital capabilities in three main ways. First, they invest in internal innovation programs and research and development. Middle East companies also pursue partnerships and joint digital ecosystems or establish their own, and they acquire digital capabilities through mergers and acquisitions and private investments in startup companies and technologies. All three methods are proving to be highly productive avenues for digital development.



Among global challengers, digital adoption is evident across multiple sectors, including consumer, TMT (technology, media, and telecommunications), energy, healthcare and financial services. The Middle East region, however, still holds untapped potential that will spur growth of the digital economy as businesses and governments are behind other regions in embracing digital commerce and have yet to adapt to the digital imperative.



Although half of the Middle Eastern population is under 25 years of age, the region has 90 million internet users who account for 1 per cent of global e-commerce sales (compared to China with 42 per cent). The main reasons for this are several hurdles such as low consumer trust in and awareness of e-commerce, shortcomings in the payment infrastructure, and logistical difficulties. However, the region is undergoing a major transformation and getting ready for a digital future. A first indicator is Amazons recent market entry in the Middle East, with the recent acquisition of Souq.com and the launch of Noon.com.



Massi continued: As the Middle East is becoming the next frontier of the global digital revolution, we believe that going forward, the global challengers will continue to be a driving force and outperform the market. They are able to leverage their regional base with superior access to the local markets and build on their strong digital capabilities to improve operations and overcome many of the physical, financial, and commercial hurdles to doing business in emerging markets, including those related to geography, logistics, and infrastructure.



Favourable regulatory environments would help to embrace digital innovation and adoption within the region, in particular, digitally enabled workforces and new ways of collaborating in digital ecosystems, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
Fluor Corporation has announced today that it was awarded an engineering, procurement and construction management services contract by Saudi Arabias Sabic for the recommissioning of its polyphenylene ether (PPE) resin plant in Bergen op Zoom, the Netherlands.



Fluor will book the undisclosed contract value in the first quarter of 2019, said a company statement.



Simon Nottingham, president of Fluors energy and chemicals business in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, said: We are pleased to support Sabic with this important recommissioning project at the Bergen op Zoom site where our company has more than 30 years of experience of providing innovative solutions to the client.



Fluors proven track record in brownfield projects and construction-driven execution will minimise disruption at this complex operations site and provide cost and schedule certainty, he added.



Sabic announced the project last year, in response to high global customer demand for its unique Noryl resins, based on PPE resin technology, it said.



Noryl resins are Sabics proprietary family of modified compounds. Recommissioning the Bergen op Zoom PPE resin facility will provide customers with a second source of NORYL resins globally, and affirms Sabics commitment to the European market and global customers who specify their NORYL resin material needs from Europe.



When operational, the Bergen op Zoom facility is expected to add more than 40 per cent global capacity over a 2017 baseline, it added.



The 14-month project began in January 2019 led by Fluors Bergen op Zoom office and will be supported by Fluors Cebu office in the Philippines, it stated.  TradeArabia News Service
Oman-based Octal, a leading PET sheet producer and leading integrated packaging company, will be investing a minimum of $50 million this year in its polyethylene terephthalate (PET) sheet business in the sultanate, said a report.



The outlay will largely be in PET sheet capacity expansion to improve the existing machinery, increase operational efficiencies and generate cost savings, added the Times of Oman report.



Octal, a leading clear rigid packaging material supplier, recorded consistent growth in 2018 and has now entered its fourth development phase. The company outlined its successes during a meeting for bankers and lenders.



Nicholas Barakat, chief executive officer, Octal, said that the investment going forward is driven by the customers need for a superior product that meets their packaging and environmental requirements.
Customs officials and ports managers from across Saudi Arabia recently attended the 19th Annual Leadership Meeting and revisited recent achievements and discussed future development plans.



The Governor of the General Customs Authority, Ahmed Alhakbani, inaugurated the two-day meeting.



During his opening remarks, Alhakbani highlighted the keenness of the board of directors, headed by the chairman and Minister of Finance, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, on holding such meetings to promote and enhance customs work.



He added that these meetings provide an opportunity for customs officials and ports managers to discuss the challenges facing customs and develop effective solutions to overcome them.



He also highlighted the importance of teamwork considering customs substantial responsibility and pivotal role in the economic and security sectors.



The official said that the meeting was meant to evaluate and discuss the achievements that marked the initial implementation stage of Saudi Customs strategy, explaining: Through these initiatives and programmes, we are laying the groundwork for success, and moving forward towards our objective of becoming the first in region that provides remarkable customs services, while working to establish the kingdom as one of the worlds premier logistics hubs.



On the first day of the meeting, leaders from different department namely: Trade Facilitation, Customs Security, Customs Revenue, legal affairs, Risk management affairs, and Information Technology presented interactive sessions and discussed various topics.



On the second day, the meeting started with an introductory session presented by the Human Resources department, followed by a session by the Corporate Communications and Marketing department, Engineering Department, Advisors Unit, and the Planning and Development department.



The meeting was finally concluded by the Governor, who thanked the leaders for making this meeting a success, and praised them for their valuable contributions.  TradeArabia News Service
Canadian engineering firm SNC-Lavalin has written down $910 million in oil and gas assets amid continuing uncertainty over trade relations with Saudi Arabia, said a report.



The Canadian engineering giant had picked up a string of major contracts in the kingdom before a diplomatic dispute between the two countries last summer clouded the outlook for future orders, reported Arab News.



The firm said that near-term prospects for the business were worsening in the face of rising trade challenges in the kingdom.



The writedown contributed to a C$1.6 billion ($1.2 billion) fourth-quarter loss at the contractor. The engineering company also faces headwinds in Latin America, where it reported a C$346 million loss related to what analysts understand to be Chilean state-run miner Codelcos Chuquicamata copper mine.



It is also expecting lower annual revenue from its metals and mining business, said the report.



"We disclosed back in August the potential effects of the Canadian-Saudi issue, and I think that in itself doesnt affect the work we do today and the backlog we have," said SNC-Lavalin CEO Neil Bruce in a video presentation accompanying the companys full-year results.



But it does put a lot of uncertainty into the future prospects because Saudi have been pretty clear that they are looking wherever they choose to maybe omit us from bidding things that traditionally we would have bid, he added.
The leading opposition contender in Slovakia\s presidential election quit the race on Tuesday in a move to consolidate voter bases and better challenge the ruling Smer party candidate.

The two-round vote in March will test the three-party governing coalition a year after the murder of investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his fiancee ignited the biggest protests in the central European country\s post-communist history.

The killings, over which four people have been charged though the motive remains unclear, sparked an outcry over perceived state corruption and impunity, and long-time prime minister Robert Fico resigned to keep his government intact.

They also dented his Smer party\s standing atop opinion polls, and concerns for the rule of law and state of democracy are expected to be central themes in the election campaign from which the opposition hopes to benefit.

Scientist and entrepreneur Robert Mistrik had been the main challenger to Smer candidate Maros Sefcovic, a career diplomat and currently the European Commission vice president who holds a narrow lead in the polls.

But Mistrik bowed out of the race on Tuesday and endorsed environmental lawyer Zuzana Caputova, who is backed by a number of opposition progressive and liberal parties as well as outgoing president Andrej Kiska.

"I express loud and clear support for Ms Caputova. Data to be released this week show clear momentum for her," Mistrik told a news conference. Referring to Sefcovic, he said he was urging voters "not to let the pawn of Robert Fico become president".

Both Sefcovic, 52, and Caputova, 45, pledge to reaffirm Slovakia\s status as a member of the European Union and euro zone, making the country unlikely to join the rising tide of euroscepticism around the bloc.

Slovakia\s president wields little day-to-day power but must approve the formation of new governments and appoints judges to the constitutional court.

The latest AKO opinion poll last week put Sefcovic at 19.7 percent, Mistrik at 18.2 percent and Caputova at 17.4 percent.

The next parliamentary election is due in 2020.

SOURCE: Reuters
The United States military said Monday that its latest airstrike in Somalia killed 35 fighters with the al-Shabab extremist group not far from the Ethiopian border.

The U.S. military command for the African continent said Sunday\s airstrike targeted the al-Qaida-linked fighters as they were traveling in a rural area about 23 miles (37 kilometers) east of Beledweyne in central Hiran region.

The U.S. has dramatically increased airstrikes against al-Shabab since President Donald Trump took office. Its military has carried out 22 such strikes this year, including four on Saturday that eliminated checkpoints used by al-Shabab to collect taxes to fund its violent campaign to establish an Islamic state in the long-chaotic Horn of Africa nation.

The U.S. carried out nearly 50 strikes in Somalia in 2018. A small number of strikes have also targeted fighters pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group, who have been warring with al-Shabab in recent months.

Authorities and experts acknowledge it will take more than airstrikes to defeat al-Shabab, which continues to hold large parts of rural central and southern Somalia and to carry out deadly attacks in the capital, Mogadishu.

The group, which claimed the deadly attack on a luxury hotel complex in the capital of neighboring Kenya last month, was also behind the deadliest attack in Somalia\s history, a massive truck bombing that killed well over 500 people in Mogadishu in October 2017.

The U.S. military is one of several security actors in Somalia, along with a multinational African Union mission and troops from Kenya and Ethiopia.

The United States says it acts in coordination with Somalia\s government, whose military is expected to take over primary responsibility for the country\s security over the next few years.

The African Union mission has begun a step-by-step withdrawal of forces, but some in the U.S. military and elsewhere warned that Somali forces were not yet prepared.

A United Nations panel of experts monitoring sanctions on Somalia has described the country\s troops as largely poorly equipped and underpaid, conditions that cause some personnel to sell their weapons or uniforms for a little cash.

SOURCE: AP
A Hawkins County man who allegedly held his girlfriend prisoner over- night after breaking her arm and knocking out two teeth was arrested early on Saturday morning on charges including aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault.
NHLANGANO  Two bank tellers were arrested after allegedly pocketing money belonging to the Nhlangano Standard Bank recently.



Authorities said a female and a male teller were arrested over the weekend after the bank reported a discrepancy. Investigations conducted by the bank revealed that the duo had been allegedly setting aside different amounts belonging to the bank to keep for themselves between the months of November last year and the current month of February.



The female teller is accused of stealing a total amount of E3 755 from the financial institution, while her male colleague is alleged to have stolen around E5 510.

According to court documents, Cebsile Dlamini (34) and Mthobisi Mabuza (30) were employed as tellers by the Standard Bank in Nhlangano, and used their positions of trust to allegedly embezzle money belonging to the bank for their own personal use. Information gathered was that the bank instituted internal investigations after management received reports about the suspected criminal activity. It was not immediately ascertained how the pair was able to allegedly steal the money but information gathered was that other employees of the bank were able to uncover the conspiracy before the fraud could balloon into huge amounts.



Investigation



The investigation that was launched by the bank led to the two bank tellers and police were subsequently roped in.

The duo was eventually arrested. They made their initial appearance yesterday morning before Nhlangano Senior Magistrate Joe Dlamini. They both havent entered any plea and the matter was postponed to March 12 for the setting of their trial date. Meanwhile, bail was fixed at E3 000 for the male suspect while the female was admitted to E2 500 bail.



This is not the first time bank tellers have been accused of using their positions of trust to steal from their respective financial institutions.

Two years ago, a former Swaziland Building Society manager, was convicted of fraud and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, with an option to pay a fine of E10 000.



He was further instructed to compensate the bank for its lost monies.

The offender was arrested following an internal audit which was set off by the financial institutions superiors, after irregularities were noted by the banks accountant.



He was accused of embezzlement of funds amounting to E27 000 within a month. The fraud occurred at the Nhlangano branch of the financial institution.

The employee apparently made numerous transfers of funds from the banks suspense account into his different personal accounts on different dates between August 12 and September 5, 2016, and in the process defrauded the financial institution of about E27 000.



Unearthed



The fraud was unearthed on September 5, 2016, when accountants at the financial institution noticed the transactions by the staff member were credited against a suspense account. It was further discovered that his personal accounts had been overdrawn.

The culprit used another employee at the bank to facilitate the transactions into his accounts. Reports are that the manager would trick the junior employee by telling him that the fraudulent transactions had been approved by his superiors.



Being a senior employee at the bank, his subordinate would believe every word from the manager and heed to his instructions.

Again, it was also gathered that the manager would make phone calls to the relevant supervisors in the presence of the junior staffer, in order to make his instructions seem authentic.



After the accounts had been credited, he would then make withdrawals using a withdrawal slip from the same teller on separate occasions. In a bid to cover his tracks, the manager would again instruct the same employee to reverse the transaction on the following day.



During an investigation that was initiated by the banks superiors, the suspect was questioned about his actions, and he reportedly owned up to all the transactions, leading to his eventual arrest.

Subsequently, he appeared at the Nhlangano Magistrates Court where he pleaded guilty to the charge of fraud.
MBABANE  The entertainer who has been arrested and charged with attempted murder is DJ Cece.



The pint-sized spinner, whose real name is Celumusa Dlamini, is known for rocking fun lovers in some of the well-known hangout spots in the country.

Dlamini (32) of Luyengo under Chief Lembelele, is alleged to have shot Elliot Zitha with a pistol and in the process inflicted a near fatal wound to his (Zitha) left thigh. According to the Crown, Zitha nearly died from the wound.



The DJ has been slapped with three charges.

He is reported to have committed the offences at or near KaMntshawe Lodge in Mbabane on February 22, 2019.



Contravening



Dlamini is also facing a charge of contravening the Arms and Ammunition Act. On the same day, he was allegedly found in possession of a Bersa 9mm pistol without a valid licence. His third charge is that of contravening the same Act, in that he was found in possession of seven live rounds of ammunition without a permit.



He yesterday moved an application for bail at the High Court where he denied to have committed the offences.

Dlamini informed the court that he was innocent of the charges against him and would plead not guilty during his trial.

Narrating the events leading to his arrest, Dlamini stated that on February 22, 2019, he was enjoying alcoholic beverages in the company of his friends at KaMntshawe Lodge.



He said seeing that it was already late; they decided to take a taxi home. According to Dlamini, since they were more than five, some of his friends boarded another taxi.



On our way, I was sitting at the back when I suddenly felt something just underneath my feet. I discovered that it was gun. As I took a closer look at the a gun, the car reached a speed hump and in the process, the firearm released a bullet which hit the driver in the hip, submitted the DJ.He told the court that he knew nothing about the firearm and it was his first time to get hold of it.



Dlamini claimed that he got to learn after the police interrogated him, that in fact the safety switch of the gun was not on and that was the reason the bullet in the chamber was released.



He informed the court that he had no intention to shoot anyone since he was not even aware that there was a gun in the motor vehicle. Dlamini said in any event, he did not know how to even operate a firearm.



Traumatised



I must mention that the incident traumatised me to an extent that my family has organised a psychologist for me, submitted the accused.

The DJ went on to state that the Crown had been informed about his conditions. He urged the court to take into account that in prison he could not access psychological attention because it was only granted to convicts as opposed to awaiting trial prisoners.
MHLOSHENI  Over 200 pupils from Galile Primary might have to remain at home for a while as the confusion over the closure of the road leading to the school deepens.



The school was indefinitely closed yesterday after the Shiselweni Regional Education Office stepped in at the request of the school administration.

The school administration had requested to close the school until a protracted dispute pitting the school and a local resident was settled.

The latest development was confirmed by the Deputy Regional Education Officer, Siboniso Gumbi.



Inaccessible



We learnt that the school had been rendered inaccessible after a man damaged the road again. But the Regional Secretary has promised to address the issue soon, explained Gumbi, insisting that the matter was beyond their jurisdiction as it involved issues of land which were best dealt with by traditional structures.



Distraught parents heaved a collective sigh of relief last Friday when a trench which was presumably dug by a local resident, was filled up by hired plant. The trench had been dug across the road leading to the school, and in that way, blocking access to the elementary institution.



However, it turned out that this was just a temporary relief as the man accused of causing trouble in the area was back to his old ways again on Sunday, as he further barricaded the road.



What happened next was that teachers and pupils became stranded after they could not gain access to the school yesterday morning. Following the sudden twist of events, parents and the school administration thought the pupils would be in danger if they continued going to school, and permission was sought from the Shiselweni REO to close the school until the necessary intervention was sought.



The central issue is a piece of land which both the school and the resident in question claim ownership of.

At least 264 pupils did not attend any lessons after they were turned away yesterday due to the school closure.

Angry parents vowed to continue fighting for the school property and, as a result undertook a decision to pull out their children until something was done to solve the raging dispute.



The school was forced to take the drastic decision to turn back the pupils after administration realised that the dispute was getting worse, and could even endanger the lives of the children should they continue learning under the prevailing circumstances.

Thereafter, a group of concerned parents, who were worried about their children getting stuck indefinitely in a potentially volatile situation, took an impromptu decision to pay a visit to the Shiselweni Regional Administration office.



Power
President Donald Trump speaks at a rally June 16, 2016, in Dallas. Trump has declared a national emergency over the southern border  a move that will allow him to redirect $8 billion towards the construction of a wall along the border of Mexico.
Posted Monday, February 25, 2019 5:10 am

Editor's note: Clark County responded to The Reflector's request for comment after press deadline. It reads:

Clark County is in the final stages of transitioning to Workday, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application, to provide HRIS and Financial Management. As with all transitions of this magnitude, the county may find areas that need further review. The county is committed to addressing any concerns that are brought forward as well as take advantage of new technologies Workday implements. Overall, the transition to Workday has been a success.

The Clark County Deputy Sheriffs Guild has filed a formal complaint to the Washington State Auditors Office over the countys shift to a new payroll system which the guild says has caused no shortage of headaches for officers and support staff making sure they get paid what they worked for.

In a Feb. 11 news release, the guild, the labor union representing sheriff officers, laid out the issues it had with Clark Countys recent implementation of the new Workday payroll system. The release explained that because of the nature of officers schedules the new system wasnt compatible with the deputies.

Clark County Sheriffs Detective and guild executive board member Joe Swenson explained that the deputies had 24-hour schedules that, alongside complexity of pay scales based on experience, complicated their payroll amounts. In some cases, pay calculations led officers to be underpaid.

Some of these folks are looking at hundreds of dollars that they have been shorted so far, Swenson said. Holiday pay had been a particular sticking point as he recalled some deputies still had not been paid overtime for work on Thanksgiving.

Swenson is also worried for those who have been overpaid, given that the county would come back and ask for that money. It wasnt the employees fault for the discrepancy, he said.

Whats more, Swenson said that in some cases deputies benefits werent able to be used.

The switch to Workday was the result of the countys old Oracle system being phased out due to a stop in support the county learned about in 2015, according to the countys webpage regarding the shift. In December 2016 the shift to Workday was approved by county council, and in June 2018 the new software was implemented according to the guild letter.

Swenson said the sheriffs office was not involved with the decision to shift to Workday. The guild letter stated that immediately upon implementation the softwares shortcomings were evident. The guild points to similar cases on the West Coast where Workday has caused issues, specifically one with the Sacramento City Unified School District and another in Multnomah County.

Its just been a nightmare, Swenson remarked. He explained how the guilds bargaining agreement made the discrepancies paid a contractual issue as that agreement was the final say in what deputies should receive as compensation.

Outside of the sheriffs office, Swenson said that CRESA employees contracted with the county as well as Clark County Public Works had been affected given their own non-traditional schedules.

Swenson said the guild had initially tried to work out the issues at the county level to no avail. County staff tasked with leading the Workday project did not return a request for comment by press deadline.

Swensons letter to the state auditor summarizing the complaint called for a complete audit of the Sheriffs Office payslips. He said that he received a reply from the state auditor, stating that they would look into the matter during their regularly-scheduled audit of the county this spring.

Swenson felt it was unlikely that the county would move to a different payroll service, though he saw a solution in changing how the system calculates pay.

We just want to be paid what we are supposed to be paid so we dont stress about it, Swenson remarked, adding he has found himself thinking about issues with the software whereas in the past it was never a thought.
Wanda Cole Please join the family of Wanda Cole for a Celebration of Life on Sunday, July 11, 2021 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Louis Rasmussen Day Park in Kalama, WA.

Louise Alma Homola Louise Alma Homola, age 97, entered her heavenly home on June 3, 2021, surrounded by her children. She was born on March 17, 1924, the youngest child of John and Anna Ek, in Mist, Ore. She 

Lawrence Fox Lawrence "Larry" Joseph Fox was born in 42 to parents, Frances J. Court and Alphonse P. Fox, of Vancouver, Wash. He lived in Clark County all his life. He passed away 

Cecil Felix Kopman Cecil Felix Kopman was born in Brookings, S.D. on May 6, 2019 to Chance and Natasha (Reddig) Kopman. He was baptized into the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church of Lake Norden, S.D.; He spent most of his 
Posted Monday, February 25, 2019 5:08 am

The Clark County Planning Commission has voted to recommend removing an urban holding overlay from more than 140 acres east of the Interstate 5/179th Street interchange.

The commission voted 4-0 to remove the overlay on land, the majority of which was north of Northeast 179th Street and directly west of Northeast 50th Avenue, during their Feb. 21 meeting. The planned development of the 140 acres would have more than 600 single family detached homes and nearly 100 townhomes.

Clark County Planner Matt Herman explained the urban holding designation is applied to lands within a citys urban growth area boundary which dont currently have the infrastructure needed for development.

The designation was first applied in 2004, Herman said, and includes a total of about 2,200 acres to the north of Vancouver city limits. In September 2018 the commission voted to recommend removal of urban holding from 40 acres directly East of the interstate interchange.

The Clark County Council made the final approval of removal for that land in December. Those 40 acres have the potential for 200 single-family homes and more than 300 apartments, according to information provided at the council meeting.

As part of the urban holding removal, more than $116 million in investments are planned for local roads including more than $50 million for improving the I-5/179th Street interchange. Herman explained the interchange replacement funds came from Connecting Washington legislation.

Other road improvements included 179th Street from Delfel Road to Northeast 15th Avenue, an extension of 15th Avenue from 179th Street to 10th Avenue and work at 179th Streets intersections at Northeast 29th and Northeast 50th avenues.

Regarding funding not covered in Connecting Washington legislation, Clark County Public Works Director Ahmad Qayoumi explained county council had directed the formation of a committee consisting of members from the development community, county staff and representatives of nearby cities. The group was in the process of meeting to look at funding avenues which eventually they will present to the county council for approval.

Randy Printz, representing the applicant, Holt Homes, explained that they and the county had been working on the urban holding removal for several years. He said that removal was the culmination of a comprehensive growth management plan adopted in 2007, adding the matter was a routine process.

Printz explained that the urban holding removal would be contingent on county council adopting a funding plan that reasonably funds the transportation improvements in six years. He noted that removal of the designation wasnt an approval of the development proper, explaining that for any construction to begin the development would need to go through a process including a land use hearing examiner and preliminary plat application among other things.

With the commissions vote the recommendation to remove the overlay now heads to Clark County Council for final approval before the removal is made.
Posted Monday, February 25, 2019 5:13 am

The ongoing local measles outbreak hit 65 confirmed cases late last week and one Battle Ground doctor is leading a push to get more people vaccinated to prevent another epidemic.

Dino Ramzi, president of Patient Direct Care in Battle Ground, has co-founded Vaccinate Washington, a non-profit with the goal of having Washingtonians immunized according to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended schedule.

A news release notes the ACIP is an independent group of experts who analyze studies and up-to-date safety data to determine the safest, most effective vaccination schedules for children, adolescents, and adults, including pregnant women.

In the release, Ramzi noted he has offered free immunizations to youth since opening his practice in Battle Ground in 2016.

Immunizations have reduced, eliminated, and even eradicated diseases that our parents and grandparents lived in fear of, Ramzi states. I believe vaccines are the single most positive contribution that science ever made to the public. In the current environment, everyone needs a health professional to kindly and non-judgmentally get them and their families up-to-date on their recommended vaccines.

Ramzi co-founded the group with Kathy Hennessy, a Bellingham-based special education teacher.

We formed Vaccinate Washington to reassure our friends, neighbors, and co-workers that vaccination is one of the best ways we have to keep ourselves and each other safe from potentially deadly diseases, Hennessy stated.

Measles cases hit 65 over the weekend

Clark County Public Health announced the number of confirmed measles cases rose to 65 on Saturday, holding steady on Sunday with one additional case of the disease suspected.

Several new potential exposure sites and times had been announced including one in Battle Ground  3:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13 at the Fred Meyer (401 NW 12th Ave., Battle Ground). Other new times and locations for possible exposure are listed on Public Healths website at clark.wa.gov/public-health/measles-investigation.

Measles: what to know

Those who may have been exposed and believe they have measles symptoms are asked to contact their healthcare provider prior to visiting their offices to avoid more exposure.

Public Health is requiring the exclusion of students and staff without documented immunity to measles from schools identified as possible exposure sites. The exclusion does not apply to students and staff at schools where measles exposure did not occur.

Those with the disease are contagious for four days before a rash appears and up to four days after the rash appears, according to Public Health. The department noted that children younger than 5 and adults older than 20 were most likely to suffer complications including lung and ear infections, diarrhea and in rare cases swelling of the brain.

Public health did note some likely immune groups, such as those born before 1957, those who are certain they have already had the disease and those up-to-date on vaccines  one dose for children up to four years old and two doses for those four and older.

Learn more

Public Health has established a call center for questions about the investigation: (360) 397-8021. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, including weekends. More information is available on their website: clark.wa.gov/public-health/measles-investigation.

Anyone with questions about measles infection or the measles vaccine should call their primary care provider or Clark County Public Health, (360) 397-8021.

{{tncms-inline content="<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Age</span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">1 to 10 years: 47 cases</span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">11 to 18 years: 15 cases</span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">19 to 29 years: one case</span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">30 to 39 years: two cases</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Immunization status</span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Unimmunized: 57 cases</span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Unverified: six cases</span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">1 MMR vaccine: two cases</span></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s1">Hospitalization: one case (none currently)</span></p>" id="a6d9a04c-f142-4676-8d0e-17b2630a187c" style-type="bio" title="Outbreak at a glance" type="relcontent"}}
Posted Monday, February 25, 2019 5:06 am

The Washington state lawmakers for the 18th Legislative District are taking a tour of North Clark County this weekend with town halls scheduled for Yacolt and La Center March 2.

State Reps. Brandon Vick and Larry Hoff alongside Sen. Ann Rivers will take part in two town halls, their second set of events for 2019. The Republican lawmakers had previously hosted town halls Jan. 5 ahead of this years 105-day session.

The town halls will be at the following times and locations:

11 a.m. at Yacolt Town Hall, 202 W Cushman St., Yacolt

2 p.m. at La Center City Hall/Council Chambers, 214 E 4th St., La Center

Hoff noted in the town halls announcement that their first-ever event in Salmon Creek in January was a success. The coming weekends events mark the first time the 18th District lawmakers have hosted a town hall in Yacolt as a team.

Vick stated in the announcement that the town halls come ahead of many days scheduled for floor votes on bills. Rivers pointed to several health care and environmental regulation bills that constituents may be surprised to have seen gain traction this year.
(Obtained by ABC News) Andrew Miller, former aide to Roger Stone, seen here in this undated profile picture. (WASHINGTON) -- A federal appeals court rejected the most direct constitutional challenge to special counsel Robert Muellers authority on Tuesday, telling a former associate of Roger Stone he must testify before Mueller because the special counsel was "properly appointed" to his role overseeing the independent investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.



The appeal was launched on behalf of Andrew Miller, a former associate of Stone, a political provocateur, and steered by the National Legal and Policy Center, a well-funded conservative legal group with a deep history of mounting legal challenges against left-leaning organizations and Democratic politicians.



Miller is fighting a special counsel subpoena compelling him to appear before Mueller's federal grand jury, which has been met with heavy legal resistance. In late June, Miller turned over requested documents to prosecutors, but he was also subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury in the Russia probe.



The three judge panel found that Mueller was properly appointed in the spring of 2017 by the then-deputy attorney general of the United States, Rod Rosenstein, after the attorney general at the time Jeff Sessions, recused himself from the Russia investigation.



Because the Special Counsel is an inferior officer, and the Deputy Attorney General became the head of the Department by virtue of becoming the Acting Attorney General as a result of a vacancy created by the disability of the Attorney General through recusal on the matter, we hold that Millers challenge to the appointment of the Special Counsel fails. Accordingly, we affirm the order finding Miller in civil contempt, D.C. Circuit Court Judges Karen Henderson, Sri Srinivasan and Judith Rogers wrote in an opinion Tuesday.



In upholding the contempt order, the three-judge panel ordered Miller to testify before Mueller's grand jury.



After oral arguments last November, Miller's attorney Paul Kamenar told ABC News, "Even if we lose this [appeals] case we will certainly bring it to the Supreme Court."



Kamenars challenge to the legitimacy of the special counsel probe is based on a claim that Muellers appointment was not handled properly. He argues Mueller has been effectively operating as a U.S. Attorney at large, and as such, should have been appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate  neither of which occurred.



In a statement to ABC News following the judges decision to uphold the contempt order against Miller, Kamenar wrote, "We are disappointed with the decision and will be considering future legal action, whether before the full court of appeals or the Supreme Court.



Kamenar added, The fact that the court took over three months to decide this appeal after oral argument compared to the three days it took in December to decide another challenge to a Mueller subpoena issued to an unnamed foreign corporation, demonstrates that this was a serious and substantial challenge.



Reached by ABC News on Tuesday, special counsel spokesperson Peter Carr declined to comment.



Miller, 34, paints houses for a living now but served as an aide to Stone until 2013.



Stone, who was a longtime informal political adviser to President Donald Trump, once described Miller as his wingman because he helped manage Stones schedule, travel and media appearances, and also provided some I.T. work. Miller identifies himself as a libertarian and has said he did not support Trumps candidacy, but he did accompany Stone to the 2016 Republican National Convention.



On Jan. 25th, Stone was arrested in a pre-dawn FBI raid at his home in Florida and charged with a seven-count indictment in Mueller's probe. On Feb. 1, he pleaded not guilty to the charges.



Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
A restaurant ownership group is calling for volunteers to prep 12,000 meals for Downriver children.

Livonia-based Team Schostak Family Restaurants runs 14 MOD Pizza locations, including one in Southgate. In partnership with Generosity Feeds, an organization working to feed hungry children in every county across America, TSFR will be hosting a food drive at Davidson Middle School, 15800 Trenton Road, March 9.

The event calls for 150 volunteers to pack thousands of meals, all of which will be given to Southgate Community Schools students.

A staggering 59 percent of children in Wayne County struggle with hunger, said Ron Klabunde, founder and CEO of Generosity Feeds. We are committed to changing the math for hunger here and mobilizing people into a lifestyle of generosity. On the heels of an overwhelmingly successful event last year, we are excited to be back in the Detroit area to work toward putting an end to hunger here locally.

For more information, or to register as a volunteer, visit GenerosityFeedsSouthgate.org. The event starts at 11 a.m., and will involve packaging meals for students in-need to carry home in their backpacks.

At our MOD Pizza locations, we make pizza so we can serve people, said Jake Schostak, brand leader of MOD Pizza at TSFR. Its what we call Spreading MODness, which we define as the ripple effect of simply doing the right thing.  TSFR is thrilled to have raised enough money to provide 12,000 meals to those in need. We hope that the community will join us for this fun and inspiring event.

In 2017, a similar campaign generated 10,750 meals for metro Detroit children and families.
WISCONSIN  Authorities investigating an incident in which a semi plunged off a bridge and d
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
Menstrual health will be taught in all schools across England by 2020, the Department of Education has announced.

Students aged 11 and above will now be taught about menstrual related conditions such as endometriosis, as well as other topics including consent and sexting, in a major shake up of existing relationship and sex education (RSE) guidelines.

As it currently stands, most pupils in primary school are taught about periods but critics have repeatedly said menstrual education doesn't go far enough.

Now RSE will be mandatory in all schools with a wider scope of information taught, including a greater focus on menustration and the menustrual cycle.

Photo: Woman holding menustral cup and tampon by Max Pixel

This is the first significant change to RSE guidelines in nearly twenty years and one which has been welcomed by Action Aid - a charity which campaigns on and raises awareness of menstrual issues such as period poverty and access to sanitary towels.

In a statement given to The National Student, Jean McLean, deputy director of media, campaigns and public engagement said:

We welcome the decision of the UK government to teach secondary students about menstrual health. Periods are a natural process and a part of nearly every girls life but a lack of access to sanitary pads and social stigma often holds girls back from going to school and fulfilling their potential.

In Rwanda, for example, many girls miss up to 50 days of school or work every year because of their period. It is important girls learn their rights and are empowered to say My Body Is Mine and not let anything hold them back."

Photo: Sanitary towel by pixabay

Considering what could be the next step, Ms Mclean added:

An important next step would be to ensure that there are more safe spaces equipped with a toilet, shower, sanitary products, spare clothes and privacy for girls to change and rest. ActionAid supports local grassroots activists who set these up in some of the worlds poorest countries with funding from players of the Peoples Postcode Lottery. We also help run girls clubs in local communities, where there can be open discussions about sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Many MPs have also come out in support of the new guidelines.

Lucy Powell, Labour MP for Manchester Central, tweeted: "The last time sex and relationship education was updated, Facebook and Snapchat didn't exist. That's why I've long called for action on this issue."

Fellow Labour MP Emma Reynolds said she was "really pleased govt (sic) are doing this".
In a report presented to the Botswanan President last Thursday, the countrys government has suggested lifting an elephant hunting ban in order to manage the national elephant population.

Image Credit: Chloe Connolly

"regular but limited elephant culling" According to The Telegraph, the report follows months of public meetings, consultations and pushes for,and advises that their meat could be used for pet food.

he was looking forward to reading the report and promised to take its recommendations into consideration. According to a Twitter post by the Botswana Government, the countrys president, Mokgweetsi Masisi said

130,000 Botswana is home to aroundof the worlds largest land mammal  the largest elephant population on earth.

Image Credit: Chloe Connolly

According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the African elephant is classed as a vulnerable species.

However, some Botswanan politicians believe that elephant numbers are uncontrollable, negatively affecting the ecosystem and putting small scale farmers lives and livelihoods at risk.

BBC This is despite "a significant elephant-poaching problem" in Northern Botswana, which has killed dozens of elephants in recent months, according to the

Human-elephant conflict has emerged from the expanding distance that elephants travel. This distance has grown due to a number of factors, such as climate change and infrastructure development.

Image Credit: Annette Bonnier from Geographical

When elephants wander onto farmland and near human settlements, they can be very destructive and have been known to kill people.

Allowing hunting once again will supposedly control elephant numbers and reduce any dangers associated with the species, as well as boosting tourism, according to the report.

it would affect the country's international reputation for conservation. Nevertheless, many do not support the proposed hunting ban, seeing that Botswanas tourism has increased dramatically since it was introduced in January 2014. They also believe that

Twitter post In response to Botswana Governments, one user commented:

Botswana is an outrider when it comes to conservation in africa. This has a huge impact on the decision of many tourists to decide for a safari in Botswana. Too many steps backwards will have an influence on the rising numbers of eco tourists worldwide. Eco Tourism is growing!  Mathias Sun (@MathiasSun) February 22, 2019

Tusk a huge disappointment According to The Telegraph, Charlie Mayhew, the CEO of, which is the Duke of Cambridge's conservation charity, stated that the decision to review the 2014 hunting band is

a white paper will follow and it will be shared with the public On receiving the report, Masisi said that he would present it to the cabinet prior to making any decision, and that

Lead Image: Chloe Connolly
Welcome back pirates! As you make your return to campus The East Carolinian has created a forum that centers around topics within the community where readers can express their experiences and concerns. With the new guidelines set in place by East Carolina University do you feel as these precautions will keep you safe?

Survey
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Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning assistant professor Andrea Roberts began The Texas Freedom Colonies Project while earning her doctorate at the University of Texas.
Missouri State University will resume the administration of the Johnson & Johnson COVID- Read more
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Presidential candidates Jess Errico, a fourth-year studying aerospace and mechanical engineering and Alberto Quiroga, a fourth-year studying aerospace engineering, participate in the 2018 student body presidential debate on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018 in the Student Senate chambers of Talley Student Union. This years debate will occur this Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019 in Talley 4140 from 6:30-9 p.m.
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Schools out for summer

With school out for summer children and adults are looking for a fun place to stay cool in the Iowa heat. That place is the Tama-Toledo Aquatic ...
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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.
ISU address to honor slain alumnus Khashoggi

TERRE HAUTE (AP)  Indiana State University has announced the creation of an annual address in honor of slain Washington Post journalist and alumnus Jamal Khashoggi.

The university says the 1983 alumnus will be memorialized in the Jamal Khashoggi Annual Address on Journalism and the Media. It will examine current and critical issues related to journalism, the First Amendment and freedom of the press.

Invited speakers will include prominent journalists, authors, filmmakers, photojournalists or other professionals working in the media.

Khashoggi, who wrote critically about the Saudi crown prince, was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey in October.

He attended ISU as an undergraduate from 1977 to 1982 and received a business administration degree in 1983 from the Terre Haute school.

State launches $100M push for broadband to rural areas

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  Indiana is launching a $100 million program to expand broadband internet services across rural parts of the state.

Gov. Eric Holcomb says the Next Level Broadband program will bridge the digital divide, giving more rural Hoosiers access to the internet for business or personal uses.

The governor says the "internet is just as essential to Indiana's prosperity today as highways were a century ago."

The $100 million program is among an additional $1 billion Holcomb announced in September would be pumped into infrastructure projects across Indiana. That money will be raised through fee increases on heavy-duty commercial vehicles that use the Indiana Toll Road.

Broadband providers can initially apply for up to $5 million to expand service to unserved areas if they provide at least a 20 percent match.

Prosecutors: Condition of shot state trooper improving

GRANGER (AP)  Prosecutors say the condition of an Indiana State Police trooper who was shot and wounded by his son is improving.

The St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office said Monday the trooper was out of a hospital's intensive care unit and his condition was improving following surgery.

It says the trooper suffered a single gunshot wound to his lower extremities Thursday night. The trooper was off duty and at home in Granger, near South Bend, at the time of the shooting.

The South Bend Tribune reports the officer's 11-year-old son is currently detained in a juvenile justice center. Charges against the boy remain pending.

The Associated Press isn't reporting the name of the trooper to avoid identifying his son.

Pediatrician accused of sexually abusing 3 boys

LEBANON (AP)  A central Indiana pediatrician is facing charges alleging he sexually abused three boys.

Forty-one year-old Dr. Jonathon Cavins of Jamestown is charged with one count of child molestation involving a 12-year-old boy and two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and one count of vicarious sexual gratification involving boys 16 and 14 years old.

The Lebanon Reporter reports the 12-year-old came forward on Feb. 7 with an accusation that Cavins fondled him during a routine physical three days earlier at a Witham Health Services Pediatrics suite.

After the child molestation count was filed Friday, Lebanon police detectives interviewed the two older boys over the weekend.

Witham CEO Raymond Ingham issued a statement saying Cavins no longer is employed by Witham.

A message seeking comment was left for Cavins' attorney.
A city council discussion regarding an appointment to a new Pantheon Business Theater's operating board on Monday quickly turned to one about of transparency  or, more specifically, a lack thereof.

On the council's agenda was an appointment to the newly-formed Pantheon Educational Center, the organization's operating board that will oversee daily operations of the shared workspace and small business incubator.

But council president Duane Chattin immediately moved to table the matter, asking his fellow members to consider it carefully before they meet again on March 11.

Councilman Tim Salters, however, indicated much discussion had already taken place among members about the appointment via emails.

One of the things we have all got to do better, Salters said, is stop asking questions and having discussions via email.

We need to be talking about these things publicly.

Chattin, however, interrupted him and said as a point of order, the motion on the floor was to table the discussion  not talk about emails between council members.

Such concerns, he said, could be brought up during the miscellaneous portion of the meeting.

And that's exactly what Salters did.

Again, we've got to all do better about not having these conversations via email, he said when given the opportunity.

Salters went on to indicate that in the alleged email exchange, there was disagreement over whether the appointment to the board should be someone from the council or a third-party.

Salters believes appointing a council member would offer a direct line of communication to the Pantheon Business Theater once it's up and running.

He worried that appointing a third-party would result in instances of miscommunication. He likened it to a game of telephone, during which information can be misconstrued or even left out altogether and it's passed down the line.

That appointment, too, can offer expertise on what's going on with the city to the Pantheon operating board.

Salters also mentioned email discussions of the possible request for resumes from those interested in serving.

So is that something we're going to do now? he asked. We've never done it before.

Councilman Brian Grove agreed that a council appointment was a good idea.

That direct line of communication is going to be important, he said.

Chattin did not respond  nor did any of the other council members  and he left in a rush after the meeting adjourned.

Indiana's Open Door Law requires all elected bodies and their appointed committees to take official action only in public and requires meetings be held in public for residents to observe and record.

While the law does allow for some correspondence between council members via email or text message, making any kind of decision or looking to build consensus outside of the public's eye directly violates the spirit of the law.

Public Access Counselor Luke Britt, too, has taken the position that a council member's emails  both public and private  are subject to the Freedom of Information Act to discourage elected officials from taking too many liberties.

In August of 2017, state Public Access officials found that the city of Warsaw violated the Open Door Law when its Board of Works members voted on a handful of items via email, specifically in directing a city planner to apply for a state grant and another decision to hire a particular contractor for an alley project, according to local news reports.

In the complaint filed by a Warsaw resident, the allegation was made that such email decisions had been going on for as long as three mayoral administrations.

  

The Pantheon's operating board would make decisions on things like office rentals, student inquiries and fee structures.

The current Pantheon Board  which is overseeing renovations to the historic downtown theater and holds the deed to the property  includes appointments by the city and county councils, the county commissioners, Mayor Joe Yochum and the non-profit INVin.

The operating board would have 11 seats.

It's been set up as a local economic development organization, or a LEDO, under state statute. Its five incorporators, or original members, have already met to discuss and develop articles and by-laws. Those members are Chris Ernst, the former owner of Miller Construction; Steve Miller, founder of INVin; Tony Burkhart, owner of Burkhart Insurance Agency and an early champion of the project; Helen Seirp, Vincennes region president of Old National Bank; and Don Villwock, a member of the current Pantheon Board.

Those five can keep their seats permanently or, should they choose not to, their seats can be reappointed by the rest of the members collectively.

Four other seats will be appointed by the city council, the county council, the county commissioners and the Vincennes Board of Works respectively.

The county council appointed one of its own, Harry Nolting, last week.

The final two will be appointments made by Knox County Development Corp. and Purdue University, which has a vested interest in the Pantheon Business Theater.

The existing Pantheon Board is expected to meet next week to award a contract for interior construction, work they hope is completed by year's end.
TERRE HAUTE  Indiana State University is projecting an enrollment decline of 543 students, or about 4 percent, for the fall 2019-20 academic year, and an enrollment committee is working on ways to reverse that decline, the university says.

Thats a frustrating number, Provost Mike Licari said during a meeting of the ISU board of trustees finance committee Friday.

It would be the second year enrollment has declined at ISU, and it will also mean some internal budget cuts, or re-allocation. Last fall, headcount enrollment was 13,045, or a 5.3 percent decrease from fall 2017 headcount of 13,771.

In preliminary planning for the 2019-20 budget, the university says its initial reallocation target for the general fund is $5.5 million, or 2.8 percent of a $195 million general fund budget.

Were clearly in a period of enrollment transition, says Diann McKee, ISU senior vice president for finance and administration.

A university budget committee is meeting to determine what those reductions might be, but a lot of it depends on where we end up with state funding, after the General Assembly approves a budget in late April, McKee said.

While the decline has affected tuition revenue, ISU expects to see an increase in its state appropriation as a result of meeting state performance targets that focus on graduation rates. That increase will help offset some of the revenue losses.

McKee said its too early to say what kind of budget reductions might be necessary. Were still working through the process, she said.

Fewer students might call for a reduction in adjunct faculty.

Licari said, Its certainly not anything to panic about. Its not a crisis. You do need to make some budget adjustments ... Were reviewing those figures and making decisions throughout the rest of this semester.

A strategic enrollment management council has been meeting since September to look at ways to reverse the enrollment decline and stabilize revenues. Officials made presentations throughout campus, attended by 600 people, and a survey is underway to gather feedback.

We need to have a new strategy to grow, Licari said.

Based on a Feb. 6 forecast, the decline in new students is projected at 216, while the decline in continuing students is 327.

We need to rebound on freshmen, Licari said.

Some factors influencing enrollment include competition for Indiana high school graduates, with the number of graduates expected to decline over the next decade.

Also, ISU has been successfully recruiting Illinois students because of budget problems affecting higher education; those problems are being resolved in Illinois and could point to fewer students from across the state line.

Going forward, ISU plans to focus on three key areas for growth: online, transfer and graduate students. In addition, improving retention and graduation rates will also improve enrollment numbers, Licari said.

Growth in online students has been strong the past several years, and we need to make sure that continues, Licari said.

The university also wants to be more intentional in recruiting new students and is using analytics to look at those students who have been successful and factors that have contributed to their success.

Our goal is to bring in students who we know are likely to be successful, Licari said.

The university hopes to rebuild the freshmen class to past levels. Thats the challenge. You do it through better metrics, better analytics, so well know who we can recruit and who will be successful, he asid.

The strategic enrollment management committee is also working on short-term initiatives to improve fall 2019 enrollment numbers.

ISU previously had a standalone enrollment management division, but under President Deborah Curtis, a reorganization has taken place and it now falls under academic affairs.

ISU has hired its first vice provost for enrollment management, Jason Trainer, who begins March 1.

Offering her perspective Friday, Curtis said of the enrollment decline and accompanying need for budget adjustments, It isnt serious today because were managing it. Weve had wonderful fiscal planning here to be able to handle this, but it isnt sustainable, she said.

The arrival of Trainer is crucial to begin work on growing enrollment and diversifying ISUs student body to include more online, transfer and graduate students, she said. ISU will be looking to serve more of the 700,000 Hoosiers who have some college but no degree.

But other colleges will be seeking to serve those students as well. Thats where the need is, she said.

As far as the $5.5 million anticipated budget adjustment, Curtis noted that ISU maintains a budget reserve that also helps lessen the impact of enrollment declines. But we cant keep doing that, she said.

On a more positive note, ISU anticipates a significant increase in state funding for the next biennium.

The budget recommendation from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education has ISU gaining $4.1 million in 2020, while the House Ways and Means budget proposal calls for $3.1 million. The CHE increase is based on 2.5 percent in new money for higher education, and the House budget is based on 1 percent in new money.

During the finance committee meeting, Trustee Jeff Taylor said ISUs financial picture remains strong and we are in an enviable position because of good financial management. Going forward, he urged decision-making that will protect our enviable position.
The repair of a Main Street building facade, part of which fell to the sidewalk below last month, is progressing well, city inspector Philip Cooper told members of the citys Board of Works Monday.

Crews with Sure Clean have removed all of the bricks on 419 Main St. down to the second floor windows, Cooper said. The area has been framed and stabilized, and the laying of new brick should begin this week.

And it shouldnt take long, weather permitting, Cooper said.

The south lane of th3 400 block of Main Street has been closed to traffic since the parapet collapsed Jan. 28, spilling debris onto the sidewalk below and destroying a large black awning.

The failure happened early in the morning and no one was injured.

It's known to most locals as the former Something Special gift shop  previously owned by Dan Osborne  but is now divided into two separate buildings. The left side is owned by Tom and Becky Nowaskie and the other, as well as the second floor, is owned by the law firm Tofaute & Spelman.

The street will reopen once the repairs are completed.

Board members also on Monday, as expected, signed a contract with Indianapolis-based United Consulting for the design of a major improvement to Washington Avenue set to get underway in 2022.

The contract is for just over $753,000, and will handle all aspects of the project  design, right-of-way acquisition and an environmental impact study  through to construction.

Improvements will be made to the section from Emison Avenue near the Washington Christian Center north to Belle Crossing and include a totally new road bed as well as curbs and gutters, bike lanes, new lighting, sidewalks, better storm water drainage and sanitary sewers.

Mayor Joe Yochum said he targeted that section for the $7 million project because its so heavily traveled  both by motorists and pedestrians.

I think this will be a huge improvement for that whole area, Yochum said, especially for (Gregg Park), because there is a lot of foot traffic out that way.

We need those sidewalks.

City officials announced a year ago that they'd been successful in securing a $5.7 million state grant to pay for the long-awaited reconstruction. That area, too, is often plagued with potholes.

To cover the city's 20 percent match, estimated at $1.3 million, Yochum has said he will set aside a little from the city's share of Economic Development Income Tax dollars each year until the project begins.

City fire chief Sonny Pinkstaff also reported to the board Monday that hed secured a grant through the Indiana Department of Health for 100 Narcan kits, a drug that can be used to reverse the life-threatening effects of an opioid overdose.

Pinkstaff said as opioid abuse grows locally, theyre having to use more and more narcan. Thats the bad news, he told the board, but the good news is that its proven to be highly effective in saving lives.

But at $40 apiece, the kits are expensive, so receiving the grant was welcomed news, he said. The state even rushed 20 kits to the fire department since they were running so low.

The rest, he said, should arrive next month.
INDIANAPOLIS  The Indiana House has endorsed a Republican-backed state budget plan that would modestly boost school funding, although by much less than advocacy groups and Democrats say is needed to give teachers significant pay raises.

School funding would increase by 2.1 percent the first year and 2.2 percent the second year of the new two-year state budget under the proposal approved Monday by a 65-32 party-line vote.

Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb and GOP legislative leaders have touted the importance of addressing Indiana's lagging teacher salaries , but Democrats argue their proposals are inadequate .

House Ways and Means Committee co-chairman Todd Huston of Fishers said the plan makes the right investments in education and other programs.

The Republican proposal directs $572 million over the next two years toward allowing the state's troubled Department of Child Services to keep hundreds of new caseworkers and an expected $290 million jump in state costs for the Medicaid program for low-income families.

Huston said the additional $460 million that would go toward K-12 education in the coming two years makes up about two-thirds of other funding increases in the budget plan.

"The best thing we can do ... is to continue the path that we've been on  fiscal responsibility, preparing us well for today, making the right investments for today," Huston said.

The House Republican plan gives schools slightly more than the 2 percent boost proposed by Holcomb. It includes a $150 million state payment sought by Holcomb to pay off teacher pension obligations owed by school districts  a move that GOP budget writers say would save local school districts $70 million a year that could go toward teacher pay raises.

But nothing in the budget plan requires school districts to give such raises, and education advocacy groups estimate a 9 percent funding increase would be needed to boost average teacher pay to the midpoint of Indiana's neighboring states.

Democrats decried Republicans for rejecting proposals to guarantee 5 percent teacher pay raises each of the next two years and increase funding for the state-funded preschool program for poor families, which now has about 3,000 children, from $44 million to $175 million over the budget's two years.

"It's good that we have a great climate for corporations and the business industry, we need that," said Democrat Rep. Cherrish Pryor of Indianapolis. "But we can't just be one sided, we have to do something that's going to work for every single person in the state of Indiana."

The House and Senate, which are both dominated by Republicans, have until late April to approve a new state spending plan that would take effect in July.

Rep. Greg Porter of Indianapolis, the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, said the Republican plan "has neglected the human infrastructure of our state."

While Republicans say maintaining the state's $1.8 billion in cash reserves is a priority to preserve Indiana's top credit rating, Democrats maintain that could be tapped. House Republicans also rejected proposals from Democrats last week to freeze the state's corporate income tax cuts and increase the cigarette tax by $2 a pack, which could bring in an estimated $500 million a year to state revenue.

"Our checkbook does have money," Porter said. "We do have a way to pay for things."

Tighter rules on veterans fund grants backed

A bill aimed at tightening management of an Indiana grant program for struggling military veterans has been approved by the Indiana House following news reports that a state agency awarded grants to its own employees.

House members voted 95-0 Monday in favor of the proposal, which would shift the decision on whether to award grants to Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs employees from agency officials to an independently appointed commission. The commission would also consider any appeals for grants over the lifetime cap of $2,500.

The state agency's leader resigned last December after The Indianapolis Star and WRTV-TV questioned its administration of the Military Family Relief Fund, which is supported by fees from specialty veteran license plates.

The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
Who would ever believe that a small country the size of New Jersey would become the fourth nation to land on the moon? Miracles do happen but Israel, itself, is a miracle as it now joins with the United States, Russia and China as it heads for a landing on April 11. The lander known as Beresheet, meaning in Hebrew In the beginning, is a milestone for a nation that has increasingly, despite continued efforts to destroy it by Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, become a major world power in technology, science, medicine, and so much more of benefit to all mankind. This is often demonstrated by its providing Palestinians food and health care denied by its own people and being first on the scene when natural tragedies occur anyplace in the world. Sadly, the media gives little attention to these achievements but reserves front page for negative criticism when Israel responds to terrorist attacks.
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.
Last Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Marra ruled that the Department of Justice broke the law by not notifying Epsteins victims of the 2008 deal that allowed the billionaire to escape federal prosecution and plead guilty to a pair of minor state charges. One day later came news that New England Patriots owner/billionaire Robert Kraft is among those accused of soliciting sex from a human trafficking ring in Palm Beach County.
The Energy Innovation Act is easily the most robust climate legislation on the table in the new Congress, and the only major climate bill with support from both parties. The Energy Innovation Act will drive down Americas carbon pollution at least 40 percent in the first 12 years, and 90 percent by 2050. As it does so, it will also improve health and save lives by reducing the pollution that Americans breathe, boost the economy with millions of jobs, and stay revenue neutral.
Lets set the record straight. The latest FBI statistics show a 14.5 percent decrease in crime in Fort Lauderdale during the first six months of 2018. Our internal analysis reveals a 3 percent decrease in violent crime and a 10 percent decrease in property crime. Arrests have increased by 20 percent, our crime clearance rate has increased by 7 percent, and our new DUI Unit has made 500 arrests over the last year. These outstanding results do not happen by accident as Mr. Greenberg might think. They are due to crime reduction initiatives implemented by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, the strong relationships we maintain with our community, and our advanced crime-fighting technologies.
TALLAHASSEE  Senate and House members have filed proposals that would allow patients to obtain medical marijuana in Florida if they are approved to use it in other states where they live.
With the state facing issues during the past couple of years such as toxic algae blooms in waterways in Southeast Florida and Southwest Florida, Patronis praised Valenstein for his work after having been thrown in the deep end of the pool when elevated by Scott from the position of executive director of the Suwannee River Water Management District.
The Reinhardt case had to do with the federal Equal Pay Act, which generally requires men and women to be paid equally for the same work. The question for the Ninth Circuit panel was whether, under the law, employers can use past salary to justify a disparity in pay. Reinhardt wrote that "Based on the text, history, and purpose of the Equal Pay Act, the answer is clear: No." Five judges agreed with his reasoning. Five other judges agreed with the outcome, but not with the opinion Reinhardt wrote.
About two hours after Coronells initial tweet, Coronell said he had spoken with Ramos, one of the most prominent news anchors on Spanish-language television in the United States. He and the other team members were released, Coronell tweeted.
Richter, his lawyer, had told the jury that only a "mad man" would take the risk of abusing boys in such a public place. He said it was "laughable" that Pell would have been able to expose his penis and force the victim to take it in his mouth, given the cumbersome robes he was wearing.
During the hearing last week, Simply Healthcare attorney Kevin Reck told Dodson that the state and Simply have taken steps to ensure a smooth transfer of 1,500-plus patients and that granting an injunction would be even more disruptive. But AIDS Healthcare Foundation attorney Brian Newman told Dodson that an injunction halting the transfer was necessary because Medicaid patients would be irreparably harmed if they were forced to switch primary health-care providers.
He said weapons have gotten through every school district he knows that uses metal detectors. He said they also require students to be patted down and for the district to X-ray bags. He said the tab is about $1 million per school, mostly for staffing costs.
Responsible. I wanted to hold myself accountable and I know there are signs I missed, said Zachary Cruz. I want the world to know, dont be like me. Dont let your brother, dont let your loved one, if you see something going on with them, be there for them. Make sure theyre OK.
I didnt have them throughout my whole school and college career, said Fusco, a fifth-grade teacher who has worked in the district since 1991 and led the union for three years. Students keep their textbooks at home and there are online textbooks. Youre not harming a student by saying you cant have a bag. They can bring their lunches in a clear baggie.
In Broward County in 2018, Awan was cited for a red-light violation and speeding 65 mph in a 45 mph zone. In both cases, a magistrate ordered adjudication withheld, meaning he would not be convicted if he paid fines. Awan had an open traffic case at the time of his death: Sunrise police ticketed him in November for speeding 64 mph in a 45 mph zone. Awan had pleaded not guilty to the infraction and a trial had been scheduled for March.
As a Reform rabbi who has spent his entire 50-year career serving the Bob Mnookins among us and never officiated at an intermarriage while on that pulpit, I now, too find myself coming around to Mnookins view of the most promising strategies for the Jewish future. Yes, the very thought of conceiving of Jewish identity as optional and/or fluid has long been anathema to Judaism (and, indeed, to the other Abrahamic religions, Christianity and Islamunlike Hinduism and Buddhism, both of which embrace a more plastic definition of religion). Nonetheless, it is entirely possible that Judaism will need to compete for participation and commitment in an altogether new world in which identities are in fact more fluid and optional.
Among key principles shared at the conference was the importance of building mutually beneficial coalitions with groups that previously had not aligned with pro-Israel interests. Organizers explained that one of the most effective strategies in coalition-building is to recruit emerging non-Jewish campus leaders to see Israel and the Palestinian areas firsthand on fact-finding trips that include a visit to Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, as well as to the Palestinian Authority.
Despite his longrunning TV series, Fieri has over the years attracted a near-incomprehensible amount of hate on the Internet, mostly for his platinum-blonde hair, flame-licked bowling shirts and catchphrases. A gut-punching 2012 New York Times review of Fieris New York restaurant Guys American Kitchen and Bar described the menu this way: Why is one of the few things on your menu that can be eaten without fear or regret called a Roasted Pork Bahn Mi, the review asked, when it resembles that item about as much as you resemble Emily Dickinson?
I think it was amazing, said Joe Posa, who is a local Joan Rivers impersonator. I think all the talent here was fabulous. Anyone whos anyone was here, onstage and off. Dean Trantalis the mayor, who I love, was here. And hes single by the way.
AOosthuizen/iStock(JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) -- A zookeeper in Florida was struck by a rhinoceros during "routine rhino training" and taken to a hospital for evaluation, according to the zoo.



The incident occurred shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jacksonville Zoo Executive Director Tony Vecchio said during a news conference Tuesday.



"We are still investigating the situation," he said.



The zoo is evaluating the accident and reviewing protocols to better understand the circumstances surrounding Tuesday's event, the zoo said in a statement.



Vecchio said the training occurred with all zoo animals every day and did not believe there was any video of the session.



The zookeeper, who was not identified, was struck by the rhinoceros' horn, Vecchio said.



He did not say where she was struck.



The training was in the back of the rhinoceros barn and away from people when the incident happened.



The zookeeper was not alone and was working as part of a team, he said.



She was awake, alert and talking after the incident, he said.



The zoo released a statement later Tuesday that said the zookeeper has notified the zoo that "everything is okay."



"We are extremely relieved and happy to know that our colleague is doing well. We are grateful for the outpouring of support and concern during this difficult time," Vecchio said.



The rhinoceros is the zoo's Southern white male and is named Archie. He was born in 1969 and has been at the zoo since 1975.



He is the biggest rhinoceros in the zoos exhibit and a "well-known character," Vecchio said.



The zookeeper has been with the zoo for a few years, he said.



The executive director said that the 50-year-old rhinoceros was never out of containment and that there were no safety concerns for zoo visitors. The rhinoceros exhibit was open and Archie was on display there.



In January, a 2-year-old girl was injured when she fell into a rhinoceros exhibit at Florida's Brevard Zoo in Melbourne on New Year's Day.



During a zookeeper-led event, the toddler stumbled and fell between steel poles separating people from the animals, and the snout of "at least one of the rhinoceroses made contact" with her, the zoo said.



The child, who was taken to a hospital, was later discharged.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
In adding puppet pageantry to Fort Mardi Gras, Hammond hopes to salute the origins of New Orleans, and deliver the same dash of family-friendly authenticity to Fort Lauderdales version of Mardi Gras as he does his long-running Florida Day of the Dead festival. The festival now has a partnership with the Mexican Consulate in Miami, and has earned kudos from the USA Today, which in 2018 ranked Hammonds Florida Day of the Dead festival as one of the Top 10 Dia de los Muertos celebrations in America. With Fort Mardi Gras, Hammond hopes to re-create the template: bringing faithful cultural festivals, puppets very much included, to Fort Lauderdale, and steer Fort Mardi Gras away from its reputation as a drinking bash with New Orleans food.
The Verdict, Middle Ground Theatre Company, Everyman Theatre Cheltenham, 23rd February and touring

THE theatricality of the courtroom has always had strong public appeal. The tense struggle to win a case before a judge and jury makes exceptionally good drama. The list of films, television programmes and productions on stage depicting judicial contests of one kind or another is prodigious.

And those that have a David and Goliath element to them are especially popular: the ordinary, perhaps impoverished, person taking on the wealthy and powerful organisation  and winning against all the odds  has a particularly strong hold on the public imagination.

It is therefore not surprising that a play about a working class family seeking compensation for gross clinical negligence  and coming up against the full force of a medical establishment thats closed ranks and can afford a battalion of expensive lawyers  has all the potential in the world to garner the sympathy of the vas

Bidford-based actress Karen Drury

t majority of people. The point is made even more effectively when the familys own lawyer is a washed up attorney with a drink problem who is using this case in a bid to rehabilitate himself.

The play is called , based on a novel by the American author Barry Reed. It originally gained international recognition when it was made into a Hollywood film in 1982 that was directed by Sidney Lumet and starred Paul Newman, James Mason, Charlotte Rampling and Milo OShea. It is now doing the rounds as a world premiere adaptation for the stage by the Middle Ground Theatre Company of Malvern in Worcestershire.

The play is being put on at various locations throughout the British Isles over the next few months and among its cast is the Bidford-based actress Karen Drury, formerly a star of the Channel 4 soap opera . From 19to 23 February the venue for was the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham. Future venues include Oldham, Winchester, Jersey, Blackpool, Dublin and Edinburgh.

The demanding role of Frank Galvin, the lawyer hired to press the case for compensation when a young woman was left brain damaged during a hospital childbirth operation, is played by Ian Kelsey. He is immensely convincing in the role of the lawyer down on his luck but controversially too proud and obstinate to accept an out-of-court settlement of $300,000. He insists  despite enormous pressure to take the money on behalf of his clients  on going to court and seeking compensation of $5 million.

is set in Boston, Massachusetts, and therefore requires American accents on the part of most of the actors. (Being Boston, there are also a few Irish accents as well!) The facility with which they accomplished the feat of speaking American is quite admirable. In the case of Karen Drury, playing the part of Mary Rooney, the hospitals head nurse, the accent adopted is specifically New York  but not Brooklyn!

There are strong performances in this production, but enormous credit must go to Michael Lunney, who not only directs and designs it, but also plays the part of one of the doctors facing the accusation of malpractice. Special mention should also be made of Anne Kavanagh, whose role as the distraught mother of the brain-damaged woman was especially effective. Her despair was palpable.

The key to the productions success is the tension it builds and the sympathy it evokes for the plaintiffs in the case. On the evening I attended the audience was utterly absorbed by what was happening on stage.

The Middle Ground Theatre Company was founded in 1988 and has a vast portfolio of productions under its belt. The West Midlands is lucky to have a professional drama undertaking of such quality within its geographical boundaries.

The company can be located online at: www.middlegroundtheatre.co.uk
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.
DGAP-Ad-hoc: Jubii Europe N.V. / Schlagwort(e): Rechtssache

Jubii Europe N.V.: Dutch tax authorities request payment of Euro 1,155,183 from Jubii Europe N.V.





26.02.2019 / 17:48 CET/CEST

Veroffentlichung einer Insiderinformationen nach Artikel 17 der Verordnung (EU) Nr. 596/2014, ubermittelt durch DGAP - ein Service der EQS Group AG.

Fur den Inhalt der Mitteilung ist der Emittent / Herausgeber verantwortlich.





As reported in the Annual Report 2017/2018 the Dutch tax authorities started in 2017 a tax audit with respect to sales tax (VAT) for the period 2013 until 2018. The tax authorities have taken the position that Jubii Europe N.V. was not engaged in economic activities which would lead to a VAT deduction right during the years of examination. A final meeting with the state auditors in January 2019 had not led them to another conclusion. The consequence is that the right for refund of input VAT is denied for the whole period. On 26 February 2019 the final assessment has been issued. Accordingly the Dutch tax authorities request from Jubii Europe N.V. a payment of Euro 1,155,183 for input VAT in the period under examination, inclusive interest and fines.



Based on the assessment of Jubii Europe N.V.'s Dutch tax advisor management takes the position that Jubii Europe N.V. was engaged in economic activities leading to a VAT refund right during the whole period and having solid arguments in defense of this position. Therefore, Jubii Europe N.V. will object the Dutch tax authorities assessment in short notice. The decision on this objection will be in the hands of a VAT inspector who was not involved in the audit. If the Dutch tax authorities will finally adhere to their assessment management will, after careful consideration with Jubii Europe N.V.'s Dutch tax advisors, decide whether to take the case to court or not.



Jubii Europe N.V.



Haarlem, The Netherlands, February 26, 2019 26.02.2019 CET/CEST Die DGAP Distributionsservices umfassen gesetzliche Meldepflichten, Corporate News/Finanznachrichten und Pressemitteilungen.

Medienarchiv unter http://www.dgap.de


Ashtabula, OH (44004)

Today

Partly cloudy skies during the evening giving way to a few showers after midnight. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies during the evening giving way to a few showers after midnight. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
It fell to Northumberland shepherdess and media star, 33-year-old Emma Gray, and her two-year-old tri-coloured bitch Brenna.

Emma, who farms on the remote National Trust-owned Fallowlees Farm at Harwood Forest, Morpeth, only narrowly failed to match the all-time world record high price of 14,100 guineas, also established at Skipton in May, 2016, by Northern Irelands Padraig Doherty, of Ardagh Sheepdogs in County Donegal.

This was for a male dog. Emma and Brenna smashed Skiptons previous top price for a bitch of 9,500gns, itself thought to be a world record price for a female dog, established in 2017 by top Irish triallist Michael Gallagher, of Armoy in County Antrim.

Brenna, already a multiple nursery trials winner with open points to her credit, has impeccable breeding credentials. She is a daughter of legendary Welsh trialist Aled Owens Welsh National and International Supreme Champion, Llangwm Cap. Mr Owen, also a double World Sheep Dog Trials champion, travelled up purposely from Penyfed in Denbighshire to see Caps offspring put in a sparkling performance on the Skipton trials field.

Brenna, whose dam is Aeron Flos, bred by Mr Owens nephew Arwel Jones in nearby Llangwm, had attracted tremendous pre-sale interest, both from at home and overseas. On sale day, bidding opened at 3,000gns, with several telephone bidders from the United States fiercely competing in the hope of claiming the top-notch bitch.

She is bound for America, when the new world record price for a female dog was paid by Dr Pamela Helton, who farms in Maryland and has a flock of some 60 head of Swedish Gotland sheep. She also runs dogs in United States Border Collie Handlers Association (USBCHA) trials in the eastern and mid-western US.

I already have many plans for Brenna. She is slated to be my farm and primary trial dog and I am strongly considering importing her in whelp (pregnant) to the US. A potential sire is under consideration, said Dr Helton, who is Artistic Director and President of the Third Millennium Ensemble in Frederick, Maryland, which offers cutting-edge performances of chamber music and is also an advocate for up-and-coming composers.

Emma, who operates under the Graylees prefix, was selling a fully broken dog for the first time at Skipton, the UKs leading sheep dog sale venue. She was achieving by far her highest-ever price for one of her dogs with Brenna, who, as a condition of sale, was allowed to compete two days later in the English Nursery Final at Hutton in the Forest in Cumbria. Although Brenna put in a good run she didnt finish in the top ten, though Emma did become English Nursery Champion with another of her dogs, Telf Joff.

After her record price Skipton success, Emma, who has a 400-strong flock of North of England Mule sheep, also running a commercial suckler cattle herd comprising Whitebred Shorthorn, Blue-Greys and Galloways, said:

I am over the moon, absolutely delighted.

Emma has already made her mark in the sheep dog trialing world. She began working with dogs at the age of 13 and later became the first woman to win the Northumberland Sheepdog Trials League in the contests four-decade history.

She was also English Nursery Champion and Reserve National Champion with another dog, Tweeddale Jamie, a son of Littledale-based Ricky Hutchinson's celebrated International Reserve Supreme Champion, Sweep, with whom Emma also represented the English team that won gold in the International Sheep Dog Societys (ISDS) 2017 World Sheep Dog Trials in the Netherlands.

Jamie has since fathered a six-strong litter of pups to Brenna  three dogs and three bitches  five of which have been sold privately, with one bitch retained on the farm, which Emma will train and hopefully later trial.

She first took over the 150-acre Fallowlees Farm aged just 23, becoming the UKs youngest solo shepherdess in the process. Emma hit the headlines in 2012 when she penned a memoir of her solitary life on a farm in the middle of nowhere with no neighbours for miles around, called One Girl and Her Dog, in which she chronicled how difficult it was to find a husband.

Dubbed Britains loneliest shepherdess, the story had a happy ending when Emma, who hails from Hawick in the Scottish Borders, found true love and last September in Kelso tied the knot with local fireman Ewan Irvine.

It was a story that grabbed the nations heartstrings. As well as making the national press, Emma has since featured on national television in the BBCs Countryfile, ITVs Flockstars, Robson Greens Tales from Northumberland series and the Alan Titchmarsh Show.

Breaking news is that the story has an even happier ending, as the couple are expecting their first child, a baby boy, two months after the Skipton sale.

And with both a baby and lambing time just around the corner, fireman Ewan, who is himself already competing with success at open level on the trials field, will be having a few weeks off to take sole charge of lambing as Emma takes things easier on the farm, which remains fallow no longer!

Coincidentally, Aeron Floss, the dam of the new world record price bitch, was sold some six years ago at Bala in Wales by her then owner, Ceredigions Dewi Jenkins for 1,700gns, and the well-known handler and trialist, who is currently producing some of the most sought-after working dogs in Britain, was in top form again at Skipton when selling two superbly bred bitches for a combined 15,200gns, or almost 16,000.

Claiming the days second top call at 8,000gns was his 14-month-old black and white bitch, Bet, by the well-bred trial dog Glan y Gors Tadgh, from Irishman Ian Carroll, who is now based in Holyhead, North Wales. Out of fellow North Wales sheep farmer and dog trainer Sion Joness Nell, the highly promising hill and nursery bitch joined a Scottish buyer who requested anonymity, though he did reveal that Bet will be utilised both as a work and trial dog, and later hopefully for breeding.

The North Yorkshire venue is a happy hunting ground for Mr Jenkins, who farms Welsh Mountain ewes and Welsh Black cattle at Tynygraig Farm, Tal-y-bont, Aberystwyth. Twelve months earlier he had achieved his highest ever sale price of 8,100gns with another first-rate bitch and at the 2019 opener he was also on the mark with a further 7,200gns sale, the third highest price of the day.

It fell to another 14-month-old bitch, Cass, a classy all-rounder home-bred by Mr Jenkins own Moss, the first Border Collie he ever owned ten years ago and with whom he won the Young Handlers International Trial in 2015, also finishing fifth in the Welsh National two years later. Out of fellow North Wales breeder John Prices Tess, Cass found a new home in Ireland, though the buyer again asked for his name to be withheld.

Late in the day, another solid price of 7,000gns was achieved by Wharfedales Mark Shields, of Plum Tree Farm, Timble, near Otley, with his April, 2017, black and white dog, Lad, by County Antrim breeder Brendan McAllisters highly regarded Spot, out of Clencregg Jess, herself a product of County Donegal-based James McGees 2014 International Supreme Champion, Silver.

Mark, who regularly shows prize-winning Lleyn sheep at Skipton, bought Lad out of Skiptons unbroken pen in 2017 and he, too, found a new home in Ireland with a well-known sheep dog trialist, who also asked not to be named.

Next best on price at 5,000gns was a two-year-old black and white bitch, Jet, from another Irishman, Jake Hamilton, of Glenarm in County Antrim. Again by Brendan McAllisters Spot, out of R ODonans Gyp, Jet, who qualified for this years North of Ireland Nursery Final, returned there when falling to an undisclosed buyer who will use his acquisition solely as a work bitch.
At the two-day show and sale of 2018-born store cattle with show potential, Mr Harveys April-born British Blue-cross bullock won the first class of the evening show for un-haltered steers, before progressing to become champion steer, then overall supreme champion.

The nine-month-old is among the first crop of home-bred calves to the Harveys new stock bull, the Welsh-bred Dragon Blues Kevin, acquired in May, 2017, for 12,000gns. Out of a Blue-cross-Limousin cow, at the following days sale the all-black victor became the top-priced male when selling for 2,300 to Skipton regular Mathew Keel, of Thirsk.

The Harveys first exhibited at the Craven Champions showcase in 2016. Mr Harvey farms with his son Ben and they regularly make the long journey north to both sell and buy sheep at Skipton - Texel are their main breed, while they also run a 50-strong herd of cross-bred commercial cattle, as well as growing barley, wheat, peas, potatoes and sugar beet on their 850-acre Grade 1 arable holding, with cattle grazed on the Norfolk Broads marshes.

Cumbrian show judge Neil Slack, who runs the Plumtree herd in Newby, Penrith, remained in the same show class for his reserve supreme champion, the second prize Blue-cross bullock and reserve male champion from defending champions, the Walker family, of Brennand Farm, Dunsop Bridge.

The Walkers - father Geoff and his two sons John and Rob, who farm high above the Hodder Valley - have dominated the increasingly popular winter fixture, winning an unprecedented seven titles in recent years. They were also responsible for the 2018 reserve champion and the champion steer.

Their 2019 reserve supreme is the first show calf by the familys new stock bull, Tenace, a Belgium import acquired over two years ago from Norbreck Genetics in Cockerham, Lancaster, from whom the Walkers also got their renowned British Blue stock bull, Cromwell Fendt, who has sired many of their past Skipton champions. Out of a Limousin-cross cow, the overall runner-up, another all-black, sold for 1,500 to G Raper, of Thorne, Doncaster.

The Walkers picked up four rosettes this year and it was their third prize haltered Blue-cross heifer, an April-born embryo daughter of Cajoleur De Rettigny, out of a Fendt-sired cow, that secured the days second highest price of 2,400 when falling to John Bradley in Giggleswick.

Also coming from the same home was the first prize haltered Blue bullock, an April-born son of the Fendt, who was acquired as a three-year-old and is still going strong at the age of nine. Out of a pure Limousin cow, the red rosette winner sold for 1,350 to regular Derbyshire buyer, Michael Wynne, of Hall Farm, Matlock.

In 2014, Geoff Walker first presented the Jack Walker Trophy in memory of his late father for the Craven Champions victor. While it has returned home many times, Mr Walker said he was both honoured and delighted to present it this year to Henry Harvey, who had once again travelled a great distance to support the annual fixture.

North Craven show regular Sheila Mason, supreme champion in 2017, again performed well with their Keasden Head herd, notably with a May-born Blue-cross heifer that first won its strong show class, before being tapped out as female champion and going on to top the sale with a price tag of 3,000.

Shown by her husband David Thornton, the home-bred eight-month-old heifer is by Keasden Head Activator, used successfully for four years. Out of another home-bred Blue-cross cow, the price-leading female also joined Michael Wynne.

In the past, he has purchased multiple Craven Champions prize-winners, which have been shown locally with great success by Mr Wynnes daughter Ellie, about to turn 17, a member of Bakewell Young Farmers Club who is now studying agriculture at Newton Rigg College in Penrith.
Taking place on Wednesday 5th June 2019 at New Hall Farm in Settle, North Yorkshire, this is the first time the biennial showcase has enjoyed the full support from a leading supermarket and highlights the strengthening relations between the sheep industry and the supply chain.

Commenting on the commitment received from Booths, Northern Regional Manager and Events Organiser, Heather Stoney-Grayshon, said:

This is a major new initiative for the NSA and brings together the supply chain, with the view of working together for a stronger sheep industry going forward.

Booths are a highly respected supermarket, renowned for their quality produce and support for regional farmers. Their attendance at the 2019 North Sheep offers farmers a rare opportunity to talk to a major buyer and discuss current and changing needs for their product.

Booths support, as a supermarket, is unprecedented for an NSA event, and comes at a time when closer working relationships between the farming community and retailers are vital for our future understanding of the market place and success.

Along with their major sponsor, Agri-Lloyd, NSA North Sheep have a number of mainline sponsors, which include AHDB, Beltex Sheep Society, CCM Auctions, Crystalyx, I Anson Feeds, Roxan ID, British Wool, and MSD.

NSA North Sheep, which expects to welcome up to 6,000 visitors, will offer industry seminars and workshops, demonstrations, a farm tour, and new to this year, the Booths Lamb corner  offering a selection of mouth-watering lamb dishes for all to taste. An area will also be dedicated to the next generation, to highlight the incredible talent the industry has and promote careers for young people involved in agriculture.
The governments 25-year Environment Plan calls on the farming community to balance safe, traceable and high-quality British food with the protection and enhancement of the British countryside. In the context of this increased focus on environmental public goods in everyday farming practices, the work of the CFE is more important and relevant than ever.

Under its new title CFE will continue to work with industry partners and partner initiatives to support farmers to deliver environmental goods as part of a productive and profitable business. We continue to work closely with the Voluntary Initiative and Tried & Tested to provide practical, accessible guidance on how farmers can incorporate good environmental management into their farm business planning.

This includes taking care of the natural resources on farm which support a healthy natural environment. The CFE website has been redesigned to make it easier to access the information farmers need to deliver environmental goods which work for their farms.

The central themes of Soils, Water, Air and Wildlife set out actions which farmers can take to ensure their farms produce environmental benefits within the operation of a sustainable business. For example, habitat creation to support pollinators; soil management to reduce product run-off and more efficient fertiliser spreading to avoid water pollution and save on costs.

The founding partners of CFE (the NFU, AIC, CLA and GWCT) have always represented key players within the agricultural community and identified strongly with the central principles of sustainable farming practice delivering for both the environment and farm businesses. CFE is also supported and advised by organisations with specialisms in these areas, including LEAF, AHDB, the Wildlife Trusts and Bumblebee conservation.
English25/02/2019

DODIK EXPECTS SPAIN TO SUPPORT BiH IN OBTAINING CANDIDATE STATUS

SARAJEVO, February 25 /SRNA/ - BiH Presidency Chairman Milorad Dodik expects Spain to support BiH's efforts related to obtaining candidate status.



Dodik informed Spanish Ambassador Jose Maria Valdemoro Gimenez that the answers to the European Commission's Questionnaire have been agreed at all levels of BiH joint authorities and will be forwarded soon, the BiH Presidency announced.



During the meeting, it was noted that BiH and Spain have no open issues and that there is plenty of room for cooperation between the two countries in many fields. /end/vos
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India 'air strikes' send Pakistan tensions surging



New Delhi, Feb 26 (AFP) Feb 26, 2019



India said Tuesday it had launched air strikes against militant camps in Pakistan's territory, triggering international concern over a dangerous escalation between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Pakistan denied India's claim that the attack had inflicted major damage and casualties on militants responsible for a suicide bombing in Kashmir earlier this month as "reckless and fictitious", and said it would respond in due course.

The attack, if confirmed, would be India's first use of air strikes against Pakistan since 1971 when the two went to war over Bangladesh's independence.

The incursion across the ceasefire line that divides Kashmir came after India threatened retaliation over the February 14 suicide bombing, claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group, that killed 40 Indian troops.

The escalation has triggered international alarm, with China and the European Union calling for both sides to show restraint.

New Delhi said its jets had hit a JeM training camp and killed "a very large number" of militants training to stage suicide attacks in India.

"In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary," Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.

Pakistan said it scrambled its fighters to push back the intruders, condemning the "uncalled-for aggression" and denying a militant camp was targeted.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Islamabad would "respond at the time and place of its choosing".

Pakistan military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted that the Indian jets had crossed the Line of Control that divides Indian- and Pakistani-administered Kashmir and that they had merely released a "payload in haste while escaping" near Balakot.

He did not say what was meant by a "payload".

India's foreign ministry also said the camp was at Balakot, but gave no further detail and the exact location remained unclear.



- Residents report blasts -



Balakot is in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, a few kilometres outside of the portion of Kashmir it controls.

A strike inside undisputed Pakistani territory would be a serious heightening of the bitter rivalry between the two countries.

Residents in Balakot described hearing at least four explosions overnight, but said the damage was minimal.

"There is one house near the place whose wall has collapsed, and one person got minor injuries," said 25-year-old Zubari Afzal.

The Pakistani military escorted journalists to the site where it said the payload had been dropped.

An AFP reporter could see a crater roughly six feet deep and equally wide, and two trees snapped in half, but the only nearby buildings were three mud houses, one with a collapsed wall.

In a separate incident in Pakistani Kashmir, four civilians were killed and ten others injured in cross-border firing Tuesday, officials said.

Indian shelling along the border killed two women and two children in Nakyal sector, local disaster management authority official Shariq Tariq told AFP.



- 'Bleed with 1,000 cuts' -



Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan both summoned emergency meetings of top ministers after the attack.

Khan also convened a meeting for Wednesday of the National Command Authority, which oversees command and control of the country's nuclear arsenal, the military said.

Modi, who is expected to call an election in April, had threatened a "jaw-breaking" response to the February 14 attack.

But at a rally on Tuesday, the Indian leader did not directly mention the strike. He paid tribute to the military and said: "I assure the nation that the country is in safe hands."

Other officials said the strike displayed India's determination to act against Pakistan.

"They say they want India to bleed with a 1,000 cuts. We say that each time you attack us, be certain we will get back at you, harder and stronger," said foreign affairs minister of state, Vijay Kumar Singh, a former head of the Indian army.

While India has consistently accused its neighbour of supporting extremist groups, Pakistan has equally vehemently denied any role in attacks in India and its only Muslim-majority state, Kashmir.

This is the biggest crisis between the neighbours since 2016, when Pakistan-based militants attacked an Indian army camp in Kashmir, killing 19 soldiers.

In response, India launched what it called "surgical strikes" in Pakistani Kashmir. Islamabad denied the strikes ever took place.

Pakistani military analyst Hasan Askari called the latest events "dangerous".

"If such actions continue, it can escalate into major conflict, which will not serve any purpose but to plunge the region into serious crisis," he said.

However, Samir Saran, president of the Observer Research Foundation think tank in New Delhi, said the fact that India remained vague over the exact spot targeted was a sign it did not want an all-out conflict.

"This is to take the pressure off Pakistanis. We are still telling them that we don't want an escalation. Which is why we have said that we have taken a preemptive measure. You don't have to make this into a war, if you don't want to," he said.

burs-sq-ga-st/amu/pvh
Iran's Javad Zarif, public face of detente with West, resigns



Tehran, Feb 26 (AFP) Feb 26, 2019



Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was the lead negotiator in a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with major powers, has abruptly tendered his resignation, although there was no sign on Tuesday President Hassan Rouhani had accepted it.

Zarif offered an apology for his "shortcomings" in Monday's unexpected Instagram message, with prominent members of parliament calling for Rouhani to reject the resignation.

Zarif, 59, has served as Rouhani's foreign minister since August 2013 and has been under constant pressure from hardliners who opposed his policy of detente with the West.

"I apologise for my inability to continue serving and for all the shortcomings during my term in office," he said in the message posted on his verified Instagram account.

On Tuesday, he urged Iranian diplomats not to follow his lead as rumours spread of mass resignations.

"I hope my resignation will act as a spur for the foreign ministry to regain its proper statutory role in the conduct of foreign affairs," state run IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.



- 'Good riddance' -



The prospect of Zarif's departure was swiftly welcomed by Iran's foes.

His ready smile and mastery of both the English language and social media have made him a formidable player on the diplomatic stage.

"Zarif is gone. Good riddance," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu was a bitter opponent of the 2015 nuclear deal Zarif negotiated with Barack Obama's administration and threw his own formidable lobbying powers into an ultimately successful campaign to persuade US President Donald Trump to abandon it last May.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted that it made no difference to Washington whether Zarif stays or goes.

"Either way, he and @HassanRouhani are just front men for a corrupt religious mafia," he said, adding that supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "makes all final decisions".



- 'No trust' -



Zarif's announcement came hours after a surprise visit to Tehran by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been a major recipient of Iranian aid during his country's nearly eight-year civil war.

Semi-official ISNA news agency said Zarif was not present at any of Assad's meetings with Khamenei and Rouhani.

The Entekhab news agency said it tried to reach Zarif and received the following message: "After the photos of today's meetings, Javad Zarif no longer has any credibility in the world as the foreign minister!"

Rouhani on Tuesday said Assad had thanked Iran's foreign ministry during his visit, one of his very few abroad since the start of the civil war in 2011.

"He said he has come to thank the nation and the leader of Iran. He also thanked the foreign ministry," Rouhani said.

The president did not directly react to Zarif's resignation but praised him for being in the "front line against America", thanking the foreign minister for his "steadfastness".

Rouhani's chief of staff Mahmoud Vaezi said the president's remarks amounted to his "total satisfaction with Dr Zarif's performance and a tough response to some biased and incorrect analyses".

"In the view of Dr Rouhani, the Islamic Republic of Iran has only one foreign policy and one foreign minister," he added in an Instagram post.

In an interview with the conservative Jomhoori Eslami newspaper published on Tuesday, Zarif said "everything will be lost, when there is no trust in the manager of foreign policy".

Mostafa Kavakebian, a reformist MP, was among those urging Rouhani to reject Zarif's resignation.

"A great majority of MPs demand that the president never accept this resignation," he said on Twitter.

Deputy parliament speaker Ali Motahari slammed Rouhani for allowing "interference in foreign policy" and called on him to show authority in defending Zarif and the ministry.

Hardliners were not as supportive, indicating a deepening rift between Iran's political factions.

"Mr. Zarif resigned to avoid the difficulties of confronting America and having to answer for the wrong path he took during his tenure," said former MP Alireza Zakani.

"It is not political chivalry to avoid accountability... Zarif must stay," parliament's ultra-conservative Velayi faction said in a statement.

The head of parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, told ISNA that it was not the first time Zarif had tendered his resignation.

"That he has done so publicly this time means that he wants the president to accept it."



- 'Deadly poison' -



The face-off between Zarif and the hardliners has intensified as time has passed, and an attempt to impeach him in parliament was dropped only in December.

Zarif has publicly acknowledged that his main concern during the nuclear deal negotiations had been about opposition from inside Iran.

"We were more worried by the daggers that were struck from behind than the negotiations," he told Jomhoori Eslami.

The latest point of contention between Zarif and the hardliners has been the implementation of the requirements of the Financial Action Task Force regarding money laundering in Iran.

The rift on the issue, which has complicated Zarif's efforts to maintain European trade and investment despite the renewed US sanctions on Iran, has pitted the government against parliament and a key arbitration body.

Zarif told Jomhoori Eslami that such partisan disputes over foreign policy were "a deadly poison".

burs-amh-neg/hkb
India 'air strikes' send Pakistan tensions surging



New Delhi, India, Feb 26 (AFP) Feb 26, 2019



India said Tuesday it had launched air strikes against militant camps in Pakistan's territory, triggering international concern over a dangerous escalation between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Pakistan denied India's claim that the attack had inflicted major damage and casualties on militants responsible for a suicide attack in Kashmir earlier this month as "reckless and fictitious", and said it would respond in due course.

The purported attack would be India's first use of air strikes against Pakistan since 1971, when the two went to war over Bangladesh's independence.

The incursion across the ceasefire line that divides Kashmir came after India threatened retaliation over the February 14 suicide bombing, claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group, that killed 40 Indian troops.

The escalation has triggered international alarm, with China and the European Union calling for both sides to show restraint.

New Delhi said its jets had hit a JeM training camp and killed "a very large number" of militants training to stage suicide attacks in India.

"In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary," Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.

Pakistan said it scrambled its fighters to push back the intruders, condemning the "uncalled-for aggression" and denying a militant camp was targeted.

Foreign Minister Shah Memhmood Qureshi said his country would "respond at the time and place of its choosing".

Pakistan military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said on Twitter that the Indian jets had crossed the Line of Control that divides Indian- and Pakistani-administered Kashmir and that they had merely released a "payload in haste while escaping" near Balakot.

He did not say what was meant by a "payload".

India's foreign ministry also said the camp was at Balakot, but gave no further detail and the exact location remained unclear.



- Residents report blasts -



Balakot is in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, a few kilometres outside of the portion of Kashmir it controls.

A strike inside undisputed Pakistani territory would be a serious heightening of the rivalry that has existed since India and Pakistan divided after independence from Britain in 1947.

Residents in Balakot described hearing at least four explosions overnight, but said the damage had been minimal.

"There is one house near the place whose wall has collapsed, and one person got minor injuries," said 25-year-old Zubari Afzal.

The Pakistani military escorted journalists to the site where it said the payload had been dropped.

An AFP reporter could see a crater roughly six feet deep and equally wide, and two trees that had been snapped in half, but the only nearby buildings were three mud houses, one with a collapsed wall.



- 'Bleed with 1,000 cuts' -



Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan both summoned emergency meetings of top ministers after the attack.

Khan also convened a meeting for Wednesday of the National Command Authority, which oversees command and control of the country's nuclear arsenal, the military said.

Modi, who is expected to call an election in April, had threatened a "jaw-breaking" response to the February 14 attack.

But at a rally in Rajasthan on Tuesday, the Indian leader did not directly mention the strike. He paid tribute to the military and said: "I assure the nation that the country is in safe hands."

Other top Indian officials said the strike displayed the country's determination to act against Pakistan -- which New Delhi accuses of using militants as proxies against it.

"They say they want India to bleed with a 1,000 cuts. We say that each time you attack us, be certain we will get back at you, harder and stronger," said foreign affairs minister of state, Vijay Kumar Singh, a former head of the Indian army.

While India has consistently accused its neighbour of supporting extremist groups, Pakistan has equally vehemently denied any role in attacks in India and its only Muslim-majority state, Kashmir.

This is the biggest crisis between the neighbours since 2016, when Pakistan-based militants attacked an Indian army camp in Kashmir, killing 19 soldiers.

In response, India launched what it called "surgical strikes" in Pakistan Kashmir. Pakistan denied the strikes ever took place.

Pakistani military analyst Hasan Askari called the latest events "dangerous".

"If such actions continue, it can escalate into major conflict, which will not serve any purpose but to plunge the region into serious crisis," he said.

However, Samir Saran, president of the Observer Research Foundation think tank in New Delhi said the fact that India remained vague over the exact spot it had targeted was a sign that New Delhi did not want an all-out conflict.

"This is to take the pressure off Pakistanis. We are still telling them that we don't want an escalation. Which is why we have said that we have taken a preemptive measure. You don't have to make this into a war, if you don't want to," he said.

burs-sq-ga-st/rma
Zarif, Iran's veteran diplomat who crafted the nuclear deal



Tehran, Feb 26 (AFP) Feb 26, 2019



Mohammad Javad Zarif is credited with crafting Iran's landmark nuclear deal, but the veteran diplomat has spent years dodging "daggers" from detractors at home.

When thousands of Iranians flocked to the streets to celebrate the signing of the historic accord, it was Zarif's name they chanted.

As the Islamic republic's top diplomat, Zarif had led the negotiations between September 2013 and July 2015 which led to the deal, heralded as ending Iran's international isolation.

But initial elation came crashing down in May when US President Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement and reimposed crippling sanctions, hitting Iranians hard.

Zarif has for years come under fire from Iranian conservatives, who resented his close relationship with his US counterpart, John Kerry, during the nuclear talks.

"We were more worried by the daggers that were struck from behind than the negotiations," he told the Jomhoori Eslami newspaper in a February 2 interview.

"Internal pressure wore me down both during and after the talks."

Spending more than a third of his life in the United States and speaking flawless English have made him a hate figure for hardliners in his own country.

That is despite his status as a veteran of the Islamic revolution that toppled Iran's US-backed monarchy in 1979.

Those who last year failed to impeach Zarif continued their criticism of him Tuesday following the diplomat's decision to resign, although some lawmakers stood by him.



- 'Mr Ambassador' -



Raised in a religious family in Tehran, the two-time ambassador to the United Nations revealed in a best-selling memoir, "Mr Ambassador", that he did not listen to music until he was 15.

His involvement with politics goes back to his teenage years, when he attended secret meetings in the run-up to the revolution.

When he was 16, his parents sent Zarif to California after the Shah's regime threatened to arrest him.

There, he joined the Islamic Student Association and made many friends who later became political figures in Iran.

Among them was the brother of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, president from 1989 until 1997.

He held on to his devout ways. When he lived in the United States in the 80s, his wife, then a staunch revolutionary, did not allow him to buy a television for nearly 10 years, he said.

She later became a follower of Mohammad Esmail Dulabi, a mystic whose teachings changed her into "a quiet person filled with patience and tolerance".

"The new version had the greatest influence on our family," Zarif said. They have two adult children.

Following the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran by Islamist students in 1979 and the subsequent cutting of ties with Washington, Zarif was sent to shut down Iran's consulate in San Francisco.

He then studied international relations and earned a PhD from the University of Denver, writing a dissertation on "sanctions in international law".

Zarif has decades of experience as a negotiator.

He was a member of Iranian delegations which negotiated a ceasefire ending eight years of war with Iraq in 1988 and secured the release of American hostages in Lebanon in 1991.

In the late 1980s, he joined the Iranian delegation at the United Nations and was ambassador from 2002 to 2007, during the presidency of reformist Mohammad Khatami.

He was sacked by hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

But when the more moderate Hassan Rouhani became president in 2013, Zarif was rehabilitated and picked to head the foreign ministry.

However, despite his fervent efforts to save the nuclear deal, Zarif hinted that internal strife had made his position untenable.

In an interview published Tuesday, he told Jomhoori Eslami: "Everything will be lost when there is no trust in the manager of foreign policy."

burs/er/mj/rsc/par
India warplane incursion sends Pakistan tensions surging



New Delhi, India, Feb 26 (AFP) Feb 26, 2019



Indian warplanes breached Pakistani airspace Tuesday in a move that sent tensions over disputed Kashmir spiralling, but Islamabad furiously denied claims the strike destroyed a militant camp and inflicted heavy casualties.

The incursion across the ceasefire line that divides Kashmir between the nuclear-armed neighbours came after India threatened retaliation over a February 14 suicide bombing claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group, that killed 40 troops in Indian Kashmir.

The escalation triggered international alarm, with China and the European Union both calling for the arch-rivals to show "restraint".

New Delhi said its jets had hit a JeM training camp and killed "a very large number" of militants training to stage suicide attacks in India.

"In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary," Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.

Pakistan said it scrambled its fighters to push back the intruders and denied India's claim of heavy casualties, branding it "self serving, reckless and fictitious". Foreign Minister Shah Memhmood Qureshi said his country would "respond at the time and place of its choosing".

Pakistan military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said on Twitter that the Indian jets had crossed the Line of Control that divides Indian- and Pakistani-administered Kashmir and that they had released a "payload in haste while escaping" near Balakot.

He did not say what was meant by a "payload" and images he posted on Twitter appeared to show pieces of metal and displaced soil in a heavily forested area.

India's foreign ministry also said the camp was at Balakot, but gave no further detail and the exact location remained unclear.

Balakot is in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, a few kilometres outside of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

A strike inside undisputed Pakistani territory would be a serious heightening of the rivalry that has existed since they divided after independence from Britain in 1947, analysts said.

The purported attack was India's first use of air strikes against Pakistan since 1971, when the two went to war over Bangladesh's independence.

- 'Bleed with 1,000 cuts' -



Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan both summoned emergency meetings of top ministers after the attack.

Modi, who is expected to call an election in April, had threatened a "jaw-breaking" response to the February 14 attack.

But at a rally in Rajasthan on Tuesday, the Indian leader did not directly mention the strike. He paid tribute to the military and said: "I assure the nation that the country is in safe hands."

Other top Indian officials said the strike displayed the country's determination to act against Pakistan -- which New Delhi accuses of using militants as proxies against it.

"They say they want India to bleed with a 1,000 cuts. We say that each time you attack us, be certain we will get back at you, harder and stronger," said foreign affairs minister of state, Vijay Kumar Singh, a former head of the Indian army.

While India has consistently accused its neighbour of supporting extremist groups, Pakistan has equally vehemently denied any role in attacks in India and its only Muslim-majority state, Kashmir.

This is the biggest crisis between the neighbours since 2016, when Pakistan-based militants attacked an Indian army camp in Kashmir, killing 19 soldiers.

In response, India launched what it called "surgical strikes" in Pakistan Kashmir. Pakistan denied the strikes ever took place.

Pakistani military analyst Hasan Askari called the latest events "dangerous".

"If such actions continue, it can escalate into major conflict, which will not serve any purpose but to plunge the region into serious crisis," he said.

However, Samir Saran, president of the Observer Research Foundation think tank in New Delhi said the fact that India remained vague over the exact spot it had targeted was a sign that New Delhi did not want an all-out conflict.

"This is to take the pressure off Pakistanis. We are still telling them that we don't want an escalation. Which is why we have said that we have taken a preemptive measure. You don't have to make this into a war, if you don't want to," he said.

burs-st/bb/tw/rma
Iran's Zarif, public face of detente with West, resigns



Tehran, Feb 26 (AFP) Feb 26, 2019



Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was the lead negotiator in a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with major powers, has abruptly tendered his resignation, although there was no sign on Tuesday President Hassan Rouhani had accepted it.

Zarif offered an apology for his "shortcomings" in the unexpected message on Instagram on Monday, with prominent members of parliament immediately calling for Rouhani not to accept the resignation.

Zarif, 59, has served as Rouhani's foreign minister since August 2013 and has been under constant pressure from hardliners who opposed his policy of detente with the West.

"I apologise for my inability to continue serving and for all the shortcomings during my term in office," Zarif said in the message posted on his verified Instagram account.

On Tuesday, he urged Iranian diplomats not to follow his lead as rumours spread of mass resignations.

"I hope my resignation will act as a spur for the foreign ministry to regain its proper statutory role in the conduct of foreign affairs," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.



- 'Good riddance' -



The prospect of Zarif's departure was swiftly welcomed by Iran's foes.

The 59-year-old's ready smile and mastery of both the English language and social media has made him a formidable player on the diplomatic stage.

"Zarif is gone. Good riddance," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netahyahu was a bitter opponent of the 2015 nuclear deal Zarif negotiated with Barack Obama's administration and threw his own formibable lobbying powers into an ultimately successful campaign to persuade Donald Trump to abandon it last May.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted that it made no difference to Washington whether Zarif stays or goes.

"Either way, he and @HassanRouhani are just front men for a corrupt religious mafia," he said.

"We know @khamenei_ir makes all final decisions," he added, referring to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.



- 'No trust' -



Zarif's announcement came hours after a surprise visit to Tehran by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been a major recipient of Iranian aid during his country's nearly eight-year civil war.

According to the semi-official ISNA news agency, Zarif was not present at any of Assad's meetings with Khamenei and Rouhani.

The Entekhab news agency said it tried to reach Zarif and received the following message: "After the photos of today's meetings, Javad Zarif no longer has any credibility in the world as the foreign minister!"

Rouhani insisted on Tuesday that Assad had thanked the Iranian foreign ministry during his visit, one of his very few abroad since the start of the civil war in 2011.

"He said he has come to thank the nation and the leader of Iran. He also thanked the foreign ministry," Rouhani said.

In an interview with the conservative Jomhoori Eslami newspaper published on Tuesday, Zarif said "everything will be lost, when there is no trust in the manager of foreign policy."

Mostafa Kavakebian, a reformist MP, was among those urging Rouhani not to accept Zarif's resignation.

"A great majority of MPs demand that the president never accept this resignation," he said in a tweet.

Hardliners were not as supportive.

"Mr. Zarif resigned to avoid the hardships of confronting America and having to answer for the faulty path he took during his tenure," said Alireza Zakani, a former MP.

The head of parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, told ISNA that it was not the first time Zarif had tendered his resignation.

"That he has done so publicly this time means that he wants the president to accept it."



- 'Deadly poison' -



The faceoff between Zarif and the hardliners has intensifed as time has passed, and an attempt to impeach him in parliament was dropped only in December.

Zarif has publicly acknowledged that his main concern during the nuclear deal negoaitions had been about opposition from inside Iran.

"We were more worried by the daggers that were struck from behind than the negotiations," he told Jomhoori Eslami.

"The other side never managed to wear me down during the negotiations... but internal pressure wore me down both during and after the talks."

The latest point of contention between Zarif and the hardliners has been the implementation of the requirements of the Financial Action Task Force regarding money laundering in Iran.

The rift on the issue, which has complicated Zarif's efforts to maintain European trade and investment despite the renewed US sanctions on Iran, has pitched the government against parliament and a key arbitration body.

Zarif told Jomhoori Eslami that such partisan disputes over foreign policy were "a deadly poison."

burs-amh/kir
Indian air force downs drone near Pakistan border: police



Ahmedabad, India, Feb 26 (AFP) Feb 26, 2019



India's air force shot down a drone near the frontier with Pakistan on Tuesday, officers said, just hours after New Delhi announced its warplanes had bombed a militant training camp over the border.

Villagers discovered debris from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) not far from the Pakistan border in western Gujarat state, police sources told AFP.

"A UAV has been shot down by the armed forces. We are investigating it," a senior police officer said on condition of anonymity.

Investigators would probe whether the drone came from Pakistan, he added. The nuclear-armed rivals frequently claim to have shot down surveillance craft that strayed into each other's territory.

The police officer said villagers in Kutch district -- a remote desert region -- heard a "loud noise" in the early hours of Tuesday.

He did not elaborate further about the downing of the done or its origins, citing "security concerns".

The incident came after India said its fighter jets struck a militant camp inside Pakistan-controlled territory in a pre-dawn raid, drastically escalating tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals.

New Delhi said their warplanes destroyed a training base used by Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

The same group claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in Indian-administered Kashmir earlier in the month that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary troopers.

New Delhi said a "very large number" of JeM militants were killed in the strike on the camp, where it alleges fighters were planning further attacks on India.

Pakistan rejected the claims, saying its fighters scrambled to force the Indian jets back, which dropped payloads as they escaped. It did not clarify what it meant by "payloads".
EU urges 'maximum restraint' from India, Pakistan after air strike



Brussels, Feb 26 (AFP) Feb 26, 2019



The EU on Tuesday called on New Delhi and Islamabad to exercise "maximum restraint" after Indian warplanes attacked a militant camp in Pakistan, sending tensions soaring between the nuclear-armed arch-rivals.

"We remain in contact with both countries and what we believe is essential is that all exercise maximum restraint and avoid further escalation of tensions," EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic told reporters.

India said its warplanes attacked a militant camp where Pakistan-backed fighters were preparing suicide attacks on its cities, killing a "very large number" of militants from the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group.

Pakistani officials have confirmed Indian planes breached its airspace and dropped a payload over Balakot in the country's northwest, condemning it as "uncalled for aggression" but insisting there was no damage or casualties.

The escalation came after a February 14 suicide bombing claimed by JeM that killed 40 troops in Indian Kashmir, setting off a chain of threats and counter-warnings between the neighbours, who have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947.
North Korea's Kim in Hanoi ahead of Trump nuclear summit



Hanoi, Feb 26 (AFP) Feb 26, 2019



North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Hanoi to throngs of cheering crowds and curious onlookers Tuesday, on the eve of a second summit with Donald Trump closely watched for tangible progress over Pyongyang's nuclear programme.

After an initial historic meeting in Singapore in June that produced only a vague statement about denuclearisation, analysts say the second date must deliver more concrete steps towards dismantling Pyongyang's arsenal.

The normally sleepy Vietnamese border station of Dong Dang spruced itself up for Kim's arrival after the young leader's 4,000-kilometre (2,500-mile), two-and-a-half-day odyssey through China aboard his olive green train.

A military guard of honour in pristine white uniforms presented arms as Kim strolled down the red carpet waving and grinning, surrounded by a phalanx of aides and security personnel.

Local student Nguyen Thu Uyen who handed Kim flowers on his arrival said it was his "most memorable" moment meeting the leader.

"Kim Jong Un is very friendly and especially attractive," said Uyen of Kim, the first North Korean leader to visit fellow one-party state Vietnam since his grandfather Kim Il Sung in 1964.

Wearing his trademark Mao-style black suit and flanked by his troops of bodyguards, Kim was ushered into a waiting Mercedes-Benz and his motorcade rolled off towards Hanoi, where armoured personnel carriers patrolled the roads amid ultra-tight security.

He was greeted in Hanoi by cheering crowds behind barriers near the colonial-era pastel yellow Hanoi Opera House before arriving at the Melia hotel where he was expected to stay this week.

After a few hours' rest, he made a 50-minute jaunt to Pyongyang's embassy before returning to his hotel, echoing the summit in Singapore where he took in the sights on an unscheduled sortie.

Trump was taking a more conventional route on Air Force One to the meeting and was expected to arrive in Hanoi late Tuesday. He tweeted he was looking forward to a "very productive" second summit.

The US president again dangled the carrot of economic progress for North Korea if it gives up its nuclear programme.

"With complete Denuclearization, North Korea will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse," tweeted Trump. "Without it, just more of the same."

"Chairman Kim will make a wise decision!"

Relations between the two mercurial leaders have undergone a dramatic turnaround, from flinging personal insults and threats of destruction to Trump declaring he had fallen "in love" with Kim through an exchange of letters.

But many North Korea watchers dismissed the Singapore summit as political theatre that failed to produce a concrete roadmap to denuclearisation and stressed the Hanoi meeting must deliver more.

"The window for diplomatic progress with North Korea will not remain open indefinitely. The second summit... must emphasise substance over pageantry," said Kelsey Davenport from the Arms Control Association.

Concrete details about the summit have been thin but White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters aboard Air Force One the two leaders would dine together Wednesday along with close advisors.



- 'No testing, we're happy' -



Diplomatic progress since Singapore has stalled over the definition of denuclearisation, with Stephen Biegun, the US special representative for North Korea, admitting there was no "shared agreement" of what that means.

The United States has repeatedly demanded the North give up its nuclear arsenal in a final, fully verifiable way.

But Pyongyang sees denuclearisation more broadly, seeking an end to sanctions and what it sees as US threats -- usually taken to include the American military presence in the South, and sometimes in the wider region.

In the run-up to the summit, Trump appeared to lower US demands for Pyongyang, repeatedly saying there was no rush to rid the North of its arsenal as long as missile and nuclear tests stopped.

"I don't want to rush anybody. I just don't want testing. As long as there's no testing, we're happy," said Trump.

He also hinted more summits could follow the Hanoi meeting, reducing expectations of a dramatic breakthrough in the Vietnamese capital.

Pyongyang insists it has already taken major steps, by not testing ballistic missiles or nuclear weapons for more than a year, and blowing up the entrances to its atomic test site.

The North also wants increased security guarantees, which could come in the form of a declaration of an end to the 1950-53 Korean War -- that culminated with an armistice instead of a full peace treaty -- or opening liaison offices.

Opening liaison offices would signal the first stage of normalising US-North Korean relations, said Go Myong-hyun of the Asan Institute of Policy Studies, and would be an ideal "politically symbolic step" rather than prematurely agreeing to sanctions relief.

Harry Kazianis of the Center for the National Interest said: "Nothing would be worse than for either side to come out of the meeting as if it was a waste of time."

bur-ric/jv/mtp
Pakistan rejects Indian claim of striking militant camp, inflicting casualties



Islamabad, Feb 26 (AFP) Feb 26, 2019



Pakistan rejected Tuesday India's claim that it killed many militants in an air strike, branding it "self serving, reckless and fictitious".

Pakistan officials have said that Indian warplanes did breach its airspace and drop a payload over Balakot in the country's northwest, but said there was no damage or casualties.

The National Security Council "strongly rejected (the) Indian claim of targeting an alleged terrorist camp near Balakot and the claim of heavy casualties", Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told a press conference in Islamabad.

"Once again (the) Indian government has resorted to a self serving, reckless and fictitious claim," he said, adding that it had been done for domestic consumption ahead of the Indian general election.

He also called the violation an "uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing".

Qureshi spoke after India said Tuesday its warplanes attacked a militant camp where Pakistan-backed fighters were preparing suicide attacks on its cities, sending tensions between the arch-rivals to a new peak.

A "very large number" of militants from the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group were killed in the night-time attack, according to the foreign ministry.

Pakistan has said its fighters scrambled to force the Indian jets back, and that they dropped payloads as they escaped. It did not clarify what it meant by "payloads".

There have been no reports of any casualties in Pakistan.

The escalation came after a February 14 suicide bombing claimed by JeM that killed 40 troops in Indian Kashmir, setting off a chain of threats and counter-warnings between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
China slams 'provocative' US sail-by in Taiwan Strait



Beijing, Feb 26 (AFP) Feb 26, 2019



China on Tuesday rebuked the US Navy for sending two ships through the Taiwan Strait, calling the operation a "provocative" act.

The Pentagon said the USS Stethem destroyer and the USNS Cesar Chavez cargo ship conducted a "routine transit" between the South China Sea and the East China Sea through the Taiwan Strait Sunday through Monday.

"We resolutely oppose some of the provocative actions taken by the US that are not conducive to the stability of the Taiwan Strait, and to the China-US relations," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a regular press briefing.

Lu said Beijing had lodged an official diplomatic protest with the United States.

In recent months, US Navy ships have repeatedly passed through the waterway, which separates mainland China from the self-ruled democratic island.

Beijing views any ships passing through the strait as essentially a breach of its sovereignty -- while the US and many other nations view the route as international waters open to all.

China sees Taiwan as part of its territory to be reunified, despite the two sides being ruled separately since the end of a civil war on the mainland in 1949.
China urges India, Pakistan to 'exercise restraint' after air strike



Beijing, Feb 26 (AFP) Feb 26, 2019



China urged India and Pakistan on Tuesday to "exercise restraint" after New Delhi said its warplanes attacked a militant camp, in a move that sent tensions soaring between the arch-rivals over disputed Kashmir.

"We hope that both India and Pakistan can exercise restraint and adopt actions that will help stabilise the situation in the region and improve mutual relations," China's foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.

Pakistan's military earlier announced Indian jets had violated the Line of Control that divides Indian- and Pakistani-administered Kashmir and dropped payloads, although it said there were no casualties.

The escalation comes in the wake of a February 14 suicide bombing that killed dozens of troops in Indian Kashmir.

New Delhi had vowed retaliation after a Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed the attack.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected to meet his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj and Russia's Sergei Lavrov in the Chinese city of Wuzhen on Wednesday for a previously planned meeting.

Wang called Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday to discuss the recent suicide attack, saying China supports Pakistan and India in efforts to resolve the issue through dialogue, state news agency Xinhua reported.

China, one of Pakistan's closest allies, has poured billions of dollars into the South Asian country as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a massive infrastructure project that seeks to connect its western province of Xinjiang with the Arabian Sea port of Gwadar in Balochistan.

The project is one of the largest in Beijing's Belt and Road initiative, comprising a network of roads and sea routes involving 65 countries.
India v Pakistan: a history of conflict over Kashmir



New Delhi, Feb 26 (AFP) Feb 26, 2019



India and Pakistan have fought two wars and countless skirmishes over Kashmir, the Himalayan region claimed in full by both nuclear-armed rivals.

But rarely have ground troops or air forces crossed the heavily militarised de facto border between the two foes, known as the Line of Control (LoC), in Kashmir.

Here are some of the major clashes between the South Asian enemies over the flashpoint mountainous territory.

- 1947 -

The first war breaks out over Kashmir after partition divides the subcontinent into India and Pakistan. The maharaja of Kashmir, the local ruler, accedes to India as tribal fighters from Pakistan launch attacks.

- 1965 -

India and Pakistan fight a second brief war over Kashmir before a ceasefire is declared.

- 1971 -

India and Pakistan fight another war, not over Kashmir but over Islamabad's rule in then East Pakistan, with New Delhi supporting Bengali nationalists seeking independence for what would become Bangladesh. India's air force conducts bombing raids inside Pakistan.

- 1984 -

Indian forces seize the Siachen Glacier, a remote and uninhabited territory high in the Karakoram Range also claimed by Pakistan. The first of many battles are fought over the high-altitude stretch, until a ceasefire is signed in 2003.

- 1999 -

Pakistan-backed militants cross the disputed Kashmir border, seizing Indian military posts in the icy heights of the Kargil mountains. Indian troops push the intruders back, ending the 10-week Kargil conflict which costs 1,000 lives on both sides.

- 2016 -

India launches what it calls "surgical strikes" on targets in Pakistani Kashmir in September, less than two weeks after a militant attack on an Indian army base leaves 19 soldiers dead. Pakistan denies the strikes took place.

In November, seven Indian soldiers are killed after militants disguised as policemen storm a major army base near the frontier with Pakistan.

- 2019 -

India vows retaliation after at least 40 paramilitaries are killed in a suicide attack in Kashmir territory it controls. New Delhi blames the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) for the attack. In the early hours of February 26, Indian conducts air strikes against what it calls JeM's "biggest training camp", killing "a very large number" of militants.
India says many militants killed in Kashmir retaliation strike



New Delhi, India, Feb 26 (AFP) Feb 26, 2019



India said Tuesday its warplanes launched a strike on a militant camp that killed a "very large" number of fighters preparing an attack, in a move that worsens tensions with arch-rival Pakistan over disputed Kashmir.

Pakistan's military earlier announced Indian jets had crossed into its airspace over the ceasefire line in the Himalayan region and dropped payloads, although it said there were no casualties.

The escalation comes in the wake of a suicide bombing that killed dozens of troops in Indian Kashmir and sent tensions soaring. New Delhi had vowed retaliation after a Pakistan-based militant group claimed the attack.

India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said the raid was launched on a camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) -- the group that claimed the Kashmir bombing -- because New Delhi believed suicide attacks in India were "imminent".

"A very large number of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen (suicide) action were eliminated," he told a media briefing.

Pakistan's military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted that the Indian Air Force had violated the Line of Control, the de facto border between Indian- and Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

Pakistan Air Force jets were scrambled in response to the incursion, he said.

"Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force (the Indian aircraft) released payload in haste while escaping near Balakot. No casualties or damage."

The Indian foreign secretary also said the camp was located in Balakot.

There was confusion among analysts over the location as Balakot town is in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

A strike that deep in Pakistani territory, and not in a disputed region like Kashmir, would be a major escalation, analysts said.

In a later tweet, however, the Pakistani spokesman said the incursion was "within AJ&K" -- referring to the formal name of Pakistani Kashmir -- and just three to four miles over the LoC.

Ghafoor did not clarify what he meant by "payload", which can refer either to bombs and missiles, or more generally to items carried which are not needed for the aircraft to fly.

The military spokesman also tweeted images of what he said was the payload dropped by Indian planes, showing what appeared to be pieces of metal and displaced soil in a heavily forested area.

Private Indian broadcaster CNN News 18 said: "Top government sources said that there were nearly 200 casualties from the (Indian Air Force) strike."

No casualties have been reported in Pakistan.



- 'Serious crisis' -



New Delhi had threatened to retaliate after the February 14 attack, the deadliest in three decades in Kashmir, killed more than 40 Indian paramilitaries.

Top Indian government officials said that Tuesday's strike displayed the country's determination to act against Pakistan -- which New Delhi accuses of using militants as proxies against it.

"They say they want India to bleed with a 1000 cuts. We say that each time you attack us, be certain we will get back at you, harder and stronger," said foreign affairs minister of state, Vijay Kumar Singh, a former head of the Indian army.

Cabinet member Prakash Javadekar, the human resources minister, told journalists: "This is incredible. A necessary step for the country's security."

Islamabad has said it had nothing to do with the latest bombing in Kashmir, and has warned it will retaliate if attacked by India.

Pakistani military analyst Hasan Askari called Tuesday's incursion a "dangerous move".

"If such actions continue, it can escalate into major conflict, which will not serve any purpose but to plunge the region into serious crisis," he said.

Tensions are the highest since 2016, when Pakistan-based militants launched a pre-dawn assault on an Indian army camp in Kashmir that killed 19 soldiers.

In response, India launched what it called "surgical strikes" on Pakistani territory. Pakistan denied the strikes ever took place.

Kashmir has been claimed by both India and Pakistan since independence in 1947. They have fought two of their three wars over the Himalayan territory.

Pakistan's interior ministry announced last week that authorities had seized control of a complex in Punjab believed to be the JeM headquarters.

burs-st/qan/sls
India says 'very large number' of militants killed in air strike



New Delhi, Feb 26 (AFP) Feb 26, 2019



An air strike Tuesday on a militant camp killed "a very large number" of fighters preparing an attack on India, a senior foreign ministry official said after Pakistan accused it of crossing into its airspace.

The raid on the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camp was launched because India believed suicide attacks were "imminent", Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told a media briefing.

"A very large number of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen (suicide) action were eliminated," he said.

JeM, a Pakistan-based group, claimed responsibility for a February 14 suicide bomb attack in Kashmir that killed 40 Indian paramilitaries.

"Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose," said Gokhale.

"In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary. In an intelligence-led operation, in the early hours of today, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot."

Pakistan had earlier said Indian warplanes crossed the ceasefire line in Kashmir and dropped payloads.

India regularly accuses Pakistan of supporting radical groups who stage operations in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The Himalayan region has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in sub-continent in 1947. They have fought two of their three wars over the region.

Pakistan denies supporting militants.

"The existence of such massive training facilities capable of training hundreds of jihadis could not have functioned without the knowledge of Pakistan authorities," said the foreign ministry official.

"India has been repeatedly urging Pakistan to take action against the JeM to prevent jihadis from being trained and armed inside Pakistan," he added.

"Pakistan has taken no concrete actions to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its soil," he added.
Pakistan accuses India of launching strike across Kashmir border



Islamabad, Feb 26 (AFP) Feb 26, 2019



Pakistan said Tuesday that Indian warplanes crossed into its airspace over the ceasefire line in Kashmir and dropped payloads, after tensions spiked between the nuclear-armed neighbours over the disputed region.

"Indian Air Force violated Line of Control," Pakistan military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted, referring to the de facto border between Indian- and Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

Pakistan Air Force jets were scrambled in response to the incursion, Ghafoor said.

"Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force (the Indian aircraft) released payload in haste while escaping near Balakot. No casualties or damage."

He did not provide further information on the location, and whether it was a town of that name in Pakistani-administered Kashmir or further into its territory.

Ghafoor tweeted images of what he said was the payload, showing what appeared to be pieces of metal in a heavily forested area.

There was no immediate comment from New Delhi.

However, Indian news reports said that air force jets hit multiple targets including camps run by Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Islamist group that claimed the February 14 suicide attack in Kashmir that sent tensions soaring.

"Top government sources said that there were nearly 200 casualties from the (Indian Air Force) strike," private broadcaster CNN News 18 said.

New Delhi had threatened to retaliate after the deadliest attack in three decades in Kashmir killed more than 40 Indian paramilitaries.

Islamabad has said it had nothing to do with the attack, and warned it will retaliate if India launches any strike.

JeM is one of several anti-Indian groups fighting in Kashmir, which has been claimed by both India and Pakistan since independence in 1947.

They have fought two of their three wars over the Himalayan territory.

Pakistan's interior ministry announced last week that authorities had seized control of a complex believed to be the JeM headquarters.
Kim arrives in Hanoi for nuclear summit with Trump



Hanoi, Feb 26 (AFP) Feb 26, 2019



Kim Jong Un arrived in Hanoi Tuesday to ultra-tight security and enthusiastic crowds ahead of a second summit with Donald Trump, as the world looks for tangible progress over North Korea's nuclear programme.

After a historic initial meeting in Singapore in June that produced only a vague statement about denuclearisation, analysts say the second date must deliver more concrete steps towards dismantling Pyongyang's arsenal.

The normally sleepy Vietnamese border station of Dong Dang spruced itself up for Kim's arrival after the young leader emulated his grandfather with a 4,000-kilometre (2,500-mile), two-and-a-half-day odyssey through China aboard his olive green train.

A military guard of honour in pristine white uniforms presented arms as Kim strolled down the red carpet waving and grinning, surrounded by a phalanx of aides and security personnel.

Local official Hoang Thi Thuy, said she had waited in the cold rain since before dawn for a glimpse of Kim, the first North Korean leader to visit fellow one-party state Vietnam since his grandfather Kim Il Sung in 1964.

"I was so excited when we were told to stand in place for the arrival of the train," she told AFP. "We saw the leader from afar. I felt so happy, it's hard to describe."

Wearing his trademark Mao-style black suit and flanked by his troops of bodyguards, Kim was ushered into a waiting Mercedes Benz and his motorcade rolled off towards Hanoi, where crowds lined the streets and armoured personnel carriers patrolled the roads.

Trump was taking a more conventional route on Air Force One to the meeting and was expected to arrive in Hanoi late Tuesday. He tweeted he was looking forward to a "very productive" second summit.

The US president again dangled the carrot of economic progress for North Korea if it gives up its nuclear programme. "With complete Denuclearization, North Korea will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse," tweeted Trump. "Without it, just more of the same."

"Chairman Kim will make a wise decision!"

Relations between the two mercurial leaders have undergone a dramatic turnaround, from flinging personal insults and threats of destruction to Trump declaring he had fallen "in love" with Kim through an exchange of letters.

But many North Korea watchers dismissed the Singapore summit as a piece of political theatre that failed to produce a concrete roadmap to denuclearisation and stressed that the Hanoi meeting must deliver more.

"The window for diplomatic progress with North Korea will not remain open indefinitely. The second summit... must emphasise substance over pageantry," said Kelsey Davenport from the Arms Control Association.

Concrete details about the summit have been few and far between but White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters aboard Air Force One the two leaders would dine together Wednesday with close advisors.



- 'No testing, we're happy' -



Diplomatic progress since Singapore has stalled over the definition of denuclearisation, with Stephen Biegun, the US Special Representative for North Korea, admitting there was no "shared agreement" of what that means.

The United States has repeatedly demanded the North give up its nuclear arsenal in a final, fully verifiable way.

But Pyongyang sees denuclearisation more broadly, seeking an end to sanctions and what it sees as US threats -- usually taken to include the American military presence in the South, and sometimes in the wider region.

In the run-up to the summit, Trump appeared to lower US demands for Pyongyang, repeatedly saying there was no rush to rid the North of its arsenal as long as missile and nuclear tests stopped.

"I don't want to rush anybody. I just don't want testing. As long as there's no testing, we're happy," said Trump.

He also hinted more summits could follow the Hanoi meeting, reducing expectations of a dramatic breakthrough in the Vietnamese capital.

Pyongyang insists it has already taken major steps, by not testing ballistic missiles or nuclear weapons for more than a year, and blowing up the entrances to its atomic test site.

The North also wants increased security guarantees, which could come in the form of a declaration of an end to the 1950-53 Korean War -- that ended with an armistice instead of a full peace treaty -- or opening liaison offices.

Opening liaison offices would signal the first stage of normalising US-North Korean relations, said Go Myong-hyun of the Asan Institute of Policy Studies, and would be an ideal "politically symbolic step" rather than prematurely agreeing to sanctions relief.

Harry Kazianis of the Center for the National Interest said: "Nothing would be worse than for either side to come out of the meeting as if it was a waste of time."
Iran foreign minister Zarif announces resignation on Instagram



Tehran, Feb 25 (AFP) Feb 25, 2019



Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was the lead negotiator in the 2015 nuclear deal, announced his resignation on Instagram on Monday, which can only take effect once President Hassan Rouhani accepts it.

"I apologise for my inability to continue serving and for all the shortcomings during my term in office," Zarif said in a message posted on his verified Instagram account.

Zarif thanked Iranians and "respected officials" for their support "in the last 67 months".

The resignation of Iran's top diplomat was confirmed by an informed source, however Rouhani's chief of staff strongly denied reports that the president had accepted Zarif's resignation in a tweet.

The resignations happened hours after a surprise visit by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to Tehran. However, according to the semi-official ISNA News Agency, Zarif was not present at any of Assad's meetings with Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei and Rouhani.

Prominent members of parliaments immediately called for Rouhani not to accept the resignation.

"Undoubtedly the Iranian people, government and state will not benefit from this resignation," said Mostafa Kavakebian, a reformist MP.

"A great majority of MPs demand that the president never accept this resignation," he said in a tweet.

The head of parliament's influential national security and foreign policy commission told ISNA how a planned trip to Geneva with Zarif on Monday afternoon had been cancelled at the last minute with no explanation.

- Under pressure -



"I suddenly got a text message saying the trip has been cancelled," Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh told ISNA, adding that this was not the first time Zarif had resigned but "that he has done so publicly this time means that he wants the president to accept it this time."

Zarif, 59, has served as Rouhani's foreign minister since August 2013 and has been under constant pressure and criticism by hardliners who opposed his policy of detente with the west.

His standing within Iran's political establishment took a hit when the US withdrew from the nuclear deal in May 2018 and the deal's achievements became less and less clear as Iran's economy nosedived.

Zarif was blamed by ultra-conservatives for negotiating a bad deal that had not gained anything meaningful for Iran for all the concessions it had made in its nuclear program.

The faceoff between the minister and his critics only intensified as time passed, with Zarif saying his main worry throughout the nuclear talks had been from pressure from inside Iran.

"We were more worried by the daggers that were struck from behind than the negotiations," he told a local newspaper on February 2.

"The other side never managed to wear me down during the negotiations... but internal pressure wore me down both during and after the talks," he said.

The latest point of contention between Zarif and hardliners was the implementation of the Financial Action Task Force's requirements regarding money laundering in Iran.

The rift on the issue pitched the government and the parliament against supervisory councils.

On Sunday, ISNA reported that Zarif had warned the Expediency Council, an arbitration body tasked with solving such impasses, that it should "understand the consequences of its decision."

He was immediately attacked by the ultra-conservatives who deemed what Zarif had said as a threat.
Trump, N.Korea's Kim en route to Vietnam for second summit



Washington, Feb 25 (AFP) Feb 25, 2019



Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un headed toward Hanoi on Monday for their second high-stakes summit, with the world watching to see if the US leader can deliver concrete results on curbing the nuclear threat from Pyongyang.

Tweeting from Air Force One, Trump said he was "looking forward to a very productive Summit," after earlier reiterating his case for North Korean disarmament.

"With complete Denuclearization, North Korea will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse," he tweeted. "Without it, just more of the same."

"Chairman Kim will make a wise decision!"

The Hanoi summit comes after Trump and Kim met in June in Singapore, producing a vaguely worded agreement on denuclearization, but progress has since stalled, with the two sides disagreeing over what the agreement meant.

The summit set for Wednesday and Thursday will present them with a second shot at progress on the world stage.

Trump's departure after noon on Monday came as an armored train carrying Kim and members of his delegation moved southward through China to Vietnam, in a journey cloaked in secrecy.

The train station on the Vietnam-China border where Kim was expected to arrive was effectively on lockdown Monday.

Sources in Vietnam said Kim could arrive at the Dong Dang border station in the early hours of Tuesday following his epic 4,000 kilometer (2,500 mile), two-and-a-half-day journey.

With the two mercurial leaders en route to Hanoi, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he looked forward to the pair reaching key agreements.

"I hope that the leaders... agree to concrete steps for sustainable, peaceful and complete and verified denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," Guterres said in a speech in Geneva.

But at a White House event Sunday, Trump appeared to temper any expectations of a major breakthrough, saying sanctions imposed over Pyongyang's missile and nuclear tests would remain.

"The sanctions are on. Everything is on. But we have a special feeling and I think it will lead to something very good. Maybe not," Trump said.

"I don't want to rush anybody. I just don't want testing. As long as there's no testing, we're happy."



- 'Strong deal' sought -



Members of Trump's Republican Party, however, were demanding the president stand tough, with Senator Marco Rubio calling for the US and its allies to "maximize" pressure on Pyongyang, including immediate intensification of sanctions, if there is no breakthrough.

"American negotiators must push for no less than a strong deal to completely, verifiably, and irreversibly dismantle the North Korean nuclear and missile programs," Rubio said in a statement minutes after Trump took off.

Pyongyang insists it has already taken appropriate steps by not testing ballistic missiles or nuclear weapons for more than a year and blowing up the entrances to its atomic test site.

But at the same time, North Korea says it has completed the development of its arsenal and the facilities are no longer needed.

While Pyongyang and Washington have taken guarded approaches to the summit, hopes rose in Seoul that Trump and Kim could formally declare an end to the 1950-53 Korean War, after South Korea said the two leaders could reach an agreement.

The devastating conflict between communist North Korea, backed by China, and the capitalist South, aided by the United States, ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving Pyongyang and Washington still technically at war.

"I believe that the possibility is there," the South's presidential Blue House spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom told reporters about a formal declaration.

"There is no way of knowing what kind of declaration it might be, but I believe the US and North Korea may reach an agreement."

Trump is expected to arrive in the Vietnamese capital on Tuesday evening local time.
Two US Navy ships sail through Taiwan Strait



Washington, Feb 25 (AFP) Feb 25, 2019



The US Navy has sailed two ships through the Taiwan Strait, officials said Monday, in what the military described as a "routine transit" that is nonetheless sure to upset China.

In a statement, the Pentagon said the USS Stethem destroyer and the USNS Cesar Chavez cargo ship sailed between the South China Sea and the East China Sea through the Taiwan Strait Sunday through Monday.

"This routine transit through international waters of the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," the statement read.

The Defense Department "will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows."

In recent months, US Navy ships have repeatedly passed through the waterway, which separates mainland China from the island.

Beijing views any ships passing through the strait as essentially a breach of its sovereignty -- while the US and many other nations view the route as international waters open to all.

China sees Taiwan as part of its territory to be reunified, despite the two sides being ruled separately since the end of a civil war on the mainland in 1949.

The self-ruled island has its own currency, flag and government, but is not recognized as an independent state by the United Nations.

Beijing has said it will not hesitate to use force if Taipei formally declares independence, or in the case of external intervention -- including by the United States, the island's most powerful unofficial ally.
Iraq saves France thorny repatriations of IS jihadists



Baghdad, Feb 25 (AFP) Feb 25, 2019



By pledging to try 13 French Islamic State group fighters, Iraq has assumed the role of judge and jailor for the suspected jihadists -- thereby saving Paris the controversy of repatriating them.

France has been rocked by fierce public debate over whether to repatriate dozens of its nationals, including children, caught fleeing IS's collapsing "caliphate" in east Syria.

Most are held by US-backed Syrian forces, but 13 French citizens were transferred across the border to be tried in Baghdad, Iraqi President Barham Saleh announced on Monday.

The alleged fighters, who were turned over to Iraq after being seized by Syrian Kurdish forces, "will be judged according to Iraqi law," Saleh told a news conference after talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.

"Those who have engaged in crimes against Iraq and Iraqi installations and personnel, we are definitely seeking them and seeking their trial in Iraqi courts," he said.

The issue is extremely sensitive in France, where a deadly 2015 attack on the capital claimed by IS killed 130 people -- but this arrangement could be Paris's best option.

"This deal suits Iraq, but it's also politically favourable for France, which will avoid having to deal with the difficult return issue. Baghdad will have done it a favour," said Hisham al-Hashemi, an Iraqi expert with intimate knowledge of the issue.

"This way, France will no longer have to deal with organisations calling to repatriate, rehabilitate, and re-assimilate these people," he said.



- Death penalty -



Transferring foreign fighters to Iraq for trial appears to resolve a legal conundrum for Western powers.

On the one hand, the Kurdish-run administration in northern Syria is not a legally recognised government, so trying them there would be dubious.

On the other, repatriation is a politically-fraught issue, and governments fear they may not have enough evidence to convict IS members who claim they did not fight.

But Iraq has already tried hundreds of foreign IS fighters, including some caught in Syria and transferred across the border.

It has sentenced many, including 58-year-old French national Lahcen Ammar Gueboudj and two other French nationals, to life in prison.

Baghdad has even handed down death sentences to around 100 foreigners, only one of which has been implemented.

Iraq's 2005 counterterrorism law condemns any individual who provided material support for extremist groups to death, even if they did not pick up arms.

"This means Iraq can put anyone on trial who just passed through their territory on their way to Syria," said Hashemi.

He said the 13 French nationals now in Iraqi custody had battled government troops in Iraq, and were transferred in coordination with the US-led coalition fighting IS.

France initially insisted its citizens should face trial wherever they were caught, then seemed to soften its stance last month by saying it was considering repatriations.

But Macron appeared to double-back on Monday, saying it was "up to the authorities of these countries to decide, sovereignly, if they will be tried there."

"These people are entitled to benefit from our consular protection, and our diplomatic service will be mobilised," he added.



- 'Much tougher sentences' -



An Iraqi judicial source told AFP that Western countries had a vested interest in making sure their nationals were tried in Iraq, not at home.

"In their own countries, their lawyers could claim their clients were abducted in Syria," which could hurt the prosecution's case, the source said.

"But trying them in Iraq guarantees these countries that this point won't matter."

Handing them over to Iraqi courts would also ensure "much tougher sentences," the source added.

The 13 French nationals were brought to Iraq in parallel with the repatriation of 280 Iraqi IS members from Syria.

Fadel Abu Ragheef, a security advisor and strategic analyst, said there was more to come.

"There's another wave of Iraqi and foreign jihadists that will arrive soon to Iraq," he told AFP.

But Human Rights Watch said any transfers should be completed in full transparency.

"When these transfers get done in the middle of the night with no one knowing, there's no way to track these people," said Nadim Houry, HRW's head of counter-terrorism.

He told AFP on Monday that he was concerned about a lack of due process in Iraqi courts and the possibility of abuse in its detention centres.

"Iraqi trials are rife with due process abuses and the trials are not providing justice to the victims or information about the crimes," said Houry.

"It seems the West is still looking for someone to take that burden off of them without them engaging on the substance of the trials."
US strike in Somalia kills 35 'terrorists': Pentagon



Washington, Feb 25 (AFP) Feb 25, 2019



US forces have conducted an air strike in Somalia that killed 35 Al-Shabaab militants, officials said Monday, in the latest in a string of attacks against the Al-Qaeda affiliate.

Sunday's strike took place in the Hiran region of central Somalia and targeted armed Shabaab fighters "as they were transitioning between locations in a rural area" and trying to "mass their forces," the US military's Africa Command said in a statement.

"At this time, it is assessed this air strike killed 35 terrorists," the statement read.

Although the military did not specify, such air strikes in Somalia are typically carried out by armed drones.

The Pentagon has increased the rate of strikes in Somalia in recent years, partly because President Donald Trump loosened constraints on when the US military can take action against alleged terrorists.

Shabaab fighters were pushed out of Somalia's capital in 2011, and subsequently from other towns and cities, by African Union troops.

But the Islamists still hold sway in large parts of the countryside.

They launch regular gun and bomb attacks on government, military and civilian targets in Mogadishu as well as ambushes on military convoys and outposts.

In one strike last month, Africa Command said it killed 52 Somali militants.

In December, the US military said it had killed 62 Shabaab militants during six air strikes in the Horn of Africa nation.

But Africa Command head General Thomas Waldhauser this month told US lawmakers that air strikes alone would not stop Shabaab, and he called on Somalia's army to take more responsibility in the fight.
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
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Members of the Southern University Gospel Choir rejoice during Shell's Refinery & Adminastration: Black History Program on Thursday, February 22 under the Direction of, Earnest Bowman Jr. in Covent, LA. (Jodeci Ashford/DIGEST)
Essilor of America employee and Southern University Alumna, Lashanda Reed Larry, (left) consults with Doctoral student, Ruth Mbah during the Career Advice & Slick hosted by Career Services held on Tuesday, February 19. inside the Royal Cotillion Ballroom

(Diamond Butler/DIGEST)
Enterprise, AL (36331)

Today

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Mainly clear. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Mainly clear. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable.
A University of Cincinnati group made it to the final round of the ULI Hines Student Competition. Jessica Esemplare

A graduate student team from the University of Cincinnati is one of four finalists  chosen out of 90 entries  competing in the 17th annual ULI Hines Student Competition, a contest that challenges graduate students to devise a comprehensive design and development scheme for an actual site in an urban area.



The UC team might have a bit of an advantage, as this years site is in Cincinnati and includes portions of a highway, the central business district, and the central riverfront along the Ohio River.



The final round is in April, and the team that manages to best create a vibrant, pedestrian-oriented, sustainable, mixed-use neighborhood will win $50,000. Read more about the competition here.
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(0x7fbffa1f5360)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbffa2c0b60)', '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(0x7fbffa1f5360)') 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(0x7fbffa2c0b60)') 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(0x7fbffa1d8cd0)') 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(0x7fbffa2c0b60)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbffa2c0b60)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff9903398)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbffa2d33d8)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbffa2d33d8)') 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(0x7fbffa223ef8)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbffa265818)', '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(0x7fbffa223ef8)') 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(0x7fbffa265818)') 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(0x7fbffa209578)') 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(0x7fbffa265818)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbffa265818)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff990cae0)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbffa208e58)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbffa208e58)') 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(0x7fbffa23dad8)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff9cfdd40)', '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(0x7fbffa23dad8)') 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(0x7fbff9cfdd40)') 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(0x7fbffa1da680)') 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(0x7fbff9cfdd40)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff9cfdd40)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff990cf90)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbffa1da698)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbffa1da698)') 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(0x7fbffa275110)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbffa2810f0)', '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(0x7fbffa275110)') 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(0x7fbffa2810f0)') 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(0x7fbffa2855a0)') 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(0x7fbffa2810f0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbffa2810f0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff990cc18)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbffa143210)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbffa143210)') 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(0x7fbffa2788e0)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbffa104d88)', '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(0x7fbffa2788e0)') 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(0x7fbffa104d88)') 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(0x7fbffa1f6228)') 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(0x7fbffa104d88)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbffa104d88)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff990c2a8)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbffa258058)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbffa258058)') 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(0x7fbffa2334d0)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbffa4014a0)', '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(0x7fbffa2334d0)') 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(0x7fbffa4014a0)') 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(0x7fbffa29ae50)') 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(0x7fbffa4014a0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbffa4014a0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff990d500)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbffa3e05f8)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbffa3e05f8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
Image Group/LACardi B and Bruno Mars latest collaboration "Please Me" has cracked the top rankings of the BillboardHot 100 chart.

Monday, the record entered the chart at number 5, making for the Bronx-bred rapper's seventh top-10 hit and Mars' 16th.

The sultry single, however, isn't the first time the duo have worked together and subsequently climbed to the top of the charts. Cardi and Mars first teamed up for a reworking of the R&B crooner's 2016 effort "Finesse," which propelled to number 3 last year.

Taking to social media, the "Money" chart-topper celebrated the feat with fans and hinted that an accompanying visual for the record would be arriving sooner than later.

"Me and my cousin @brunomars want to thank everyone for listening and getting PLEASE ME to number 5 on billboard," she captioned a screen grab of the Hot 100 chart data. "Video coming out soon!!"

At the moment, "Please Me" appears to be a standalone single, although Cardi has previously detailed plans for releasing her sophomore album at some point this year.

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A $20 million government injection to fix leaky buildings at Botany Downs Secondary School will plug the hole left after the unwanted remnants of Hawkins Construction collapsed.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins today announced the investment to fix leaks across the school campus, including re-roofing and cladding work on buildings that contain 70 of the school's 84 teaching spaces. Work is already underway, and will include temporary teaching spaces for the decile 9 school with more than 1,800 students.

"As well as investing in new schools for a growing student population, we know that many existing buildings not affected by weathertightness at schools around the country have been neglected or barely patched up in recent years. That is not fair on the students or teachers and needs to change," Hipkins said in a statement.

The Ministry of Education has been contending with leaky schools for the better part of the past decade, writing off almost $1 billion from the value of its property portfolio in 2010 when faced with almost 1,800 defective buildings.

It successfully sued H Construction North Island in the High Court last year, winning a $13.4 million order for the ex-Hawkins unit to repair nine buildings at the east Auckland school.

The construction firm built a series of inter-linking two-storey buildings with interconnected roofs between 2003 and 2009 for $28 million. During the argument over the remediation cost, the judge noted the threshold didn't meet the $25 million level that needs Cabinet approval, nor the $15 million for a ministerial sign-off.

Just 10 days after that court order, the Orange H Group of companies were tipped into receivership by its shareholder, McConnell Ltd. The Orange H companies were set up to run down the residual Hawkins assets that Downer didn't want. The Australian firm paid A$55.4 million for the Hawkins business and brand, adding almost A$1 billion to annual revenue from its New Zealand business.

That transaction is under the microscope by the Orange H liquidator, who is trying to untangle $453 million of related party loans, to determine whether there will be anything left to meet the $93.8 million of unsecured claims from 249 tradespeople and suppliers.

The Education Ministry has a separate claim against the ex-Hawkins group that hasn't progressed as far, and will be preparing for a major case against Carter Holt Harvey involving 833 school buildings.

The Carter Holt suit has been running for about five years and will be a multi-stage trial with the building products maker adding local bodies up and down the country as third parties if it's found liable.

Unlike its rivals James Hardie and CSR Building Products, Carter Holt didn't reach a deal with the ministry and instead sought to strike out the claim. The government entity launched its representative action against the firms in 2013 seeking contributions for what it initially thought would cost between $1.3 billion and $1.8 billion. The predicted cost of remediation was later revised down to between $1.1 billion and $1.3 billion.

Carter Holt's ShadowClad is at the heart of a smaller claim by the ministry and Wanaka Primary School's board of trustees. They're suing Opus International, Amalgamated Builders and MR Decorating for work done in 2009 and 2010.

(BusinessDesk)

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The New Zealand dollar fell against the British pound on increased hopes a no-deal Brexit might be avoided.

The kiwi traded at 51.95 British pence at 7:50am in Wellington from at 52.38 British pence at 5pm yesterday in Wellington. It was at 68.83 US cents from 68.81 late yesterday.

Markets were cheered after UK Prime Minister Theresa May said she would seek an extension on the March deadline for Britains European Union exit, a day after the Labour opposition party said it would support a second referendum.

"Sterling outperformed as political momentum around Brexit continued to shift in favour of ruling out a no-deal Brexit," said ANZ economist Miles Workman. According to ANZ, Brexit uncertainty was alleviated after May announced there will be a meaningful vote on the withdrawal agreement on March 12, which will include any concessions the UK gets from the EU. If that fails to pass there will be a vote on leaving the EU with no deal on March 13, said Workman. And if that fails, there will be a vote on extending the deadline for leaving the EU on March 14.

Domestically, investors will be watching for January overseas merchandise trade data due today. Workman said it is "unlikely to make waves" but he is expecting a small surplus, which would see the kiwi lift at the margin against the US. Overall, however, "NZD is likely to be fairly range-bound without more global news," he said.

The New Zealand dollar was trading at 95.92 Australian cents from 96.10, at 76.18 yen from 76.24, at 60.48 euro cents from 60.56 and 4.6102 Chinese yuan from 4.6070. The trade-weighted index was at 74.25 points from 74.32.

(BusinessDesk)

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Former Prime Minister Jenny Shipley has been ordered to pay $6 million to creditors of failed construction company Mainzeal, as part of a $36 million award by the High Court against the companys directors.

Mainzeal was one of the countrys largest construction companies when it went under in February 2013, owing unsecured creditors $110 million. Just under half of the money was owed to unpaid subcontractors, including tradespeople working on Mainzeal projects.

Shipley was a director of Mainzeal from 2004, and chair of the company when receivers were appointed.

The liquidators, Brian Mayo-Smith and Andrew Bethell of BDO argued the directors breached their duties and were negligent in allowing the company to continue trading while insolvent.

Justice Francis Cooke agreed. In a statement following the release of a 178-page judgment, the High Court said Mainzeal directors were reckless, had adopted a policy of trading while insolvent, and used money owed to trade operators, particularly sub-contractors, as working capital.

The directors also relied on assurances that the millions of dollars Mainzeal had lent to its China-based parent company Richina Pacific would be paid back if Mainzeal got into trouble.

The assurances relied upon were ambiguous, conditional, and subject to the constraints of Chinese law, which restricted the ability to return money to New Zealand from China, the High Court statement said.

Justice Cooke decided on total compensation of $36 million, with Shipley and two other directors - Peter Gomm and Clive Tilby - expected to pay up to $6 million each. The rest must be made up by Richina founder and boss Richard Yan.

The court arrived at a total figure of $36 million, being approximately one third of the total loss to creditors, and being similar to the balance of funds that the directors had allowed the shareholder group to extract from Mainzeal, the statement said.

Another director, former Brierley boss Paul Collins, was not ordered to pay any compensation, as he joined the Mainzeal board not long before its collapse.

Waiheke winery Isola Vineyards, an associated Richina company, which also received money from Mainzeal, was ordered to pay $2.1 million. Isola is in liquidation.

Justice Cooke ruled that Shipley, Tilby and Gomm had acted in good faith and with honesty. However by adopting and sticking with a vulnerable trading approach, they had jeopardised the company.

It is likely that the Richina Pacific group would have taken steps to stop the vulnerable trading approach had the directors declined to agree to it, if necessary by threatening to resign, the court said.

Liquidator Andrew Bethell says he is thrilled" that the High Court found the directors of Mainzeal had breached their duties and has awarded a "meaningful distribution for creditors.

BDO was originally seeking to recover up to $75 million.

We would have liked a higher number, but its a big judgment in terms of New Zealand reckless trading, Bethell says.

I think its all about the governance that company directors owe to New Zealand companies and their creditors.

The other significant impact of this decision is the role played by litigation funding in this case. Litigation funding has some similarities to class actions in the US, in that third parties pay for mostly small litigants to take court cases against big corporates or organisations.

In this case, the action by the liquidator against the Mainzeal directors was funded by Auckland-based litigation funder LPF.

Litigation funding has enabled creditors to get access to justice, Bethell says. We didnt have the funds to take this claim without it, so its a good result.

LPF also funded the successful 2018 claim by kiwifruit growers against MPI over kiwifruit disease PSI.

Justice Cooke said that he had considered but ultimately not taken into account the $20 million of insurance liability cover held collectively by the Mainzeal directors.

Documents from Richard Yans evidence at the trial suggest that had Mainzeals original $3.2 million loan to Richina been a share investment, it could now be worth $900 million. Shipleys US$50,000 investment could be worth US$14.5 million ($22 million), on paper at least. And Yans Richina stake is possibly worth US$1 billion-plus.

A statement issued by Chapman Tripp on behalf of Shipley, Tilby, and Gomm acknowledged the judgment.

"The courts basis for finding liability appears to have novel aspects which will require careful consideration," it said. "The directors will not comment further at this stage as they take advice and consider their options."

(BusinessDesk)

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The New Zealand Shareholders Association says Precinct Properties came up with an innovative solution to overcome the unfairness to retail investors of its up to $160 million capital raising.

Precinct raised $130 million from a placement to institutional investors last week at $1.48 per share.

The shares were trading at $1.535 the day before the capital raising was announced, and were recently at $1.485.

The rest of the money will be raised from retail investors who can apply for up to $50,000 worth of shares each and Precinct is allowing for up to $10 million of over-subscriptions.

The retail offer, which is underwritten by Credit Suisse and FNZC, closes on March 5.

In our view, their solution is innovative and, while not a formal rights issue, it will largely achieve the same outcome, NZSA says in advice to members.

Thats because the total amount available means that, based on historical uptake, 99 percent of shareholders will be able to take up at least the same value of shares as they would have received in a rights issue, even if the offer is over-subscribed and allotments have to be scaled, the organisation says.

The largest retail shareholders were given access to the institutional placement in order to preserve their positions.

Nevertheless, NZSA clearly didnt think much of the reasons Precinct gave it for not raising the money via a rights issue, NZSAs preferred method of capital raising since it treats all shareholders equally.

Precinct told us that they chose not to do a full rights issue for two main reasons. Firstly, they wanted to complete the price setting for the offer quickly, given the more volatile market conditions at present and, secondly, their major shareholder Haumi was not participating, which potentially could leave a shortfall, it says.

Given the availability of accelerated rights issues and full underwriting, we think the reasons are unconvincing, NZSA says.

The property investor and developer wont need the funds in a hurry  it said it will use the proceeds to initially pay down debt and on medium term development opportunities including the Bowen Campus stage two in Wellington and the Wynyard Quarter stages three and four.

It will reduce gearing from an already low 24.3 percent to 18.5 percent.

(BusinessDesk)

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New generation development will get underway in New Zealand, but whether it is built within three years or five years is relatively moot, Mercury NZ chief executive Fraser Whineray says.

All the major generators hold development options and wouldnt have maintained consents for them if they hadnt believed new generation would be required during the next five to 10 years, Whineray told journalists and analysts today.

Its only a matter of time, he said. Its actually `when, not `if it will be developed.

Last week, Meridian Energy said it believed economic growth and decarbonisation efforts would underpin modest on-going electricity demand growth. Longer-dated futures had risen and the company was re-working consents for an up to 140 MW wind project it has north of Napier to ensure the option is available when the time is right.

Mercury has consents to develop wind farms at Turitea south-east of Palmerston North and on the Puketoi Range east of Pahiatua. It also has a 20 percent stake in Tilt Renewables, which is looking to develop a 100 MW wind farm at Waverley on the southern Taranaki coast.

Chief financial officer William Meek told analysts on a conference call that the company is keeping a watching brief on generation development, noting that Tilt and Genesis Energy may be ready to make a decision on the Waverley development later this year.

He said wind is the countrys lowest-cost generation option and has a long, bright future. But commitments to 20-plus year generation developments take a lot of work with counterparties.

Recent high spot prices are now being reflected in longer-term electricity futures, with ASX contracts for 2020 and 2021 typically $15-20 a megawatt-hour higher than they were in October.

But Whineray suggested some of that increase may be reflecting short-term risks rather than more permanent trends in the market.

Liquidity in the futures market was still seriously low and that was increasing volatility during times of stress, he said. There were also increased risks around gas supplies, the electricity price review and the pending outcome of the Electricity Authoritys investigation into high prices in October and November.

He also noted that generation developers are working to much longer timeframes than the three years of pricing available in the ASX market.

A developer also has to understand how a wind farm will affect local spot prices, how its production may be correlated with other wind farms and how its output can be optimised with other generation to ensure its output can be packaged into a reliable offer.

Nobody actually buys wind power at the end-user level, Whineray said.

Mercury makes most of its power at nine hydro stations on the Waikato River. It also has interests in five geothermal power stations around Taupo.

The company is currently upgrading its Whakamaru and Aratiatia hydro plants. Earlier this year it committed to a $75 million refurbishment of its 70-year-old Karapiro station which is expected to lift peak capacity by as much as 17 percent. That work is scheduled from 2022-24.

Whineray said the firm will now consider how best to address the four remaining stations in the Waikato chain.

All the countrys generators are benefitting from efficiency upgrades to the countrys hydro assets, as well as new technology that improves their responsiveness and the management of the catchment resources they rely on.

Homes and businesses are adding about 20 MW of solar a year and some of the more remote lines companies are also developing hydro and geothermal resources to improve supply resilience.

In Mercury's half-year report today, Whineray said New Zealand has enough commercially feasible renewable electricity development options to supply every car, truck, ferry, train, domestic plane, bike and scooter.

He urged all political parties to abandon renewable electricity targets and instead focus on developing a low-carbon policy for the entire economy so the country can meet its climate change goals.

And he urged businesses, lobby groups and politicians not to pursue activities and technologies  such as hydrogen  just because of the pressure to be seen to be doing something.

This leads to activities which sound logical but could well be irrelevant at best and in many instances likely drive a perverse outcome. This is greenwashing. And it is the fastest way to a hot planet, he said.

Saying that every bit helps can be an excuse for mis-allocating resources. Leadership should be about helping the population understand what will make a real difference beyond the endless soundbites and silver bullets, so that New Zealanders can, indeed, be a meaningful part of the solution.

The electricity opportunity in an absolute sense, and also relative to the competing opportunities, is blindingly obvious. The open door is right in front of the country and available to walk through. What, apart from courage, is preventing clear multi-partisan long-term policies being established which are in New Zealands, and her citizens, interests?

(BusinessDesk)

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The New Zealand dollar is little changed as traders await further news on a number of fronts to provide reasons to move the currency.

The kiwi was unchanged at 5pm in Wellington from 68.81 US cents at 8am and the trade-weighted index was at 74.32 points from 74.27.

The market is just waiting for new developments on old stories including the China-United States trade talks, the Brexit situation and more information on how Chinas economy is faring, says Peter Cavanaugh, the senior client adviser at Bancorp Treasury Services.

US President Donald Trump has been stoking expectations for a favourable conclusion to the trade talks, saying on Monday that he expects to sign an agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping fairly soon at another summit.

Were going to have a signing summit, which is even better, Trump told journalists. He plans to host Chinas president at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida next month.

On Sunday, Trump cancelled a scheduled increase in tariffs from 10 to 25 percent on about US$200 million of Chinese goods from early March to give the trade negotiators more time to reach a deal.

Cavanaugh says the market is also alert for more Trump tweets  the president will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Wednesday for talks on de-nuclearising the Korean peninsula.

A speech by deputy governor of the Reserve Bank, Geoff Bascand, came and went without ruffling the market, he says.

Bascand was again presenting reasons for the central bank to near double the minimum capital levels banks must hold.

The New Zealand dollar was trading at 96.10 Australian cents from 95.92, at 76.24 yen from 76.46, at 52.38 British pence from 52.60, 60.56 euro cents from 60.61 and 4.6070 Chinese yuan from 4.5889.

The two-year swap rate is at 1.8435 percent from 1.8430 on Friday and the 10-year swap rate is at 2.4300 percent from 2.4300.

(BusinessDesk)

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Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III's welcoming remarks for Miss Universe Catriona Gray

Thank you very much my fellow Senators, Senator Gregorio Honasan, Senator Nancy Binay, and the officers, officials and employees of the Philippine Senate, Miss Universe.

It is a common knowledge in the world that the Philippines has held an exemplary track record in world beauty pageants for being consistently in the top ten, and each of these, regardless of title and rank, has definitely brought pride to every Filipino.

Winning the most coveted Miss Universe brings great honor, glory and recognition to all Filipinos and it deserves nothing better than a high level of praise. We are truly blessed and honored that Miss Universe, Catriona Elisa Gray, is here with us today, to personally receive, and has received, a commendation from the members of the Senate of the Philippines.

Continue to inspire others, especially the youth, in pursuing worthwhile advocacies that could make our country and the world, the universe, rather, to be a better place for everyone.

Thank you, Miss Universe, Catriona Gray.
Press Release

February 26, 2019 Be on the side of democracy

*Editor's Note: Below is the full text of Sen. Leila M. de Lima's Speech (minus the greetings/pleasantries) delivered before the Final Blessing of the Holy Mass held at the PNP Custodial Center, Camp Crame, Quezon City last Feb. 24, 2019 in commemoration of the 2nd year of her illegal arrest and unjust detention. A pleasant morning to everyone! Two (2) years ago, Feb. 24, before 8:00 in the morning, or right before I stepped out of my Senate office and went down to the parking area to face the PNP arresting team, I convened my staff to bid farewell. I could see that most of them were trying to hold back their tears. It was a high-stress, high-emotion moment. I told them--I'm not sure how long this ordeal will last. It could take a few days, a few weeks, a few months or a few years. A few days or few weeks because we were banking on an immediate injunctive relief, a TRO from the Supreme Court. It didn't come to pass. A few months because we were hoping against hope that the Supreme Court would grant our Petition seeking for the nullification of my arrest. Again, it didn't happen. The majority of the SC chose to turn a blind eye to this gross injustice. And I will tell you now what I didn't dare openly wish in front of my staff: "Sana few years lang." I did not dare say it loud because I didn't want to give them any sign that I was afraid of a long, drawn-out detention. I didn't want to leave them with fear in their hearts, more than the fear that was already there. I wanted to be strong for them. I was in warrior mode. And now it's 2 full years. How many more years shall I endure? I want to be confident. No choice but to be confident. But I'm not sure if I can be confident. The state of our justice system hardly inspires confidence. The last two years have painfully showed me that the judiciary is not immune to the enticing promises of the devil. And it has taught me that, whatever inner strength allowed Jesus to resist temptation all those 40 days in the desert, there are those amidst us now who call themselves "judges" and "justices", and "officers of the court" who do not possess an iota of it. Save for a few, very few, gone are the legal luminaries, the civil libertarians in the High Court, and the great defenders of Lady Justice who aimed to do "justice" and defend high principles likes "truth" and "equity". They used their brilliant minds to bring light to darkness. Now, there are those who bring obscurity, even when the law and the spirit of the law is clear; who casts shadow where the demands of justice is clear. Sila yung mahihilig magtago behind "technicalities" and "plain reading of the text". Sabi nga, mahirap gisingin ang nagtutulog-tulugan lang; mahirap makakita ang nagbubulag-bulagan lang. So, where are my cases now, the drug cases after 2 full years? Finally, trial has commenced. Prosecution has presented its 1st witness, in the person of ret. Police General Benjamin Magalong who did not lie, could not lie, and obviously, did not want to lie. Thank God for that! When asked by my counsel during the cross-examination last Friday, if in the course of his years of gathering info, intel or otherwise, about the proliferation of illegal drug trade, particularly in Bilibid, there was anything or any info about my alleged involvement therein, Gen. Magalong pointedly responded, there was none. He simply spoke the truth. But, how many more Magalongs would there be among the long line of prosecution witnesses? Would those Bilibid convicts who have been illegally admitted as State witnesses, and others, be expected to do some truth-telling? I doubt it. I want to be optimistic, but I am not blind. I can see what is happening in the country at large, as clearly as I can see what is happening in my own cases. Even the few minor "victories" we achieved, like the inhibition of judges, is proof of what an uphill battle we are facing. Nobody wanted to touch these trumped-up drug cases. A number of judges have inhibited themselves. I don't blame them. They know that they will be damned if they do justice, and damned if they don't. They know what is at stake: I have to be convicted for this Administration to retain its thin semblance of legitimacy. To do justice to me is to offend the powers that be. To do right is to incur the Duterte wrath. So it all boils down to how powerful the enemies I have made are. And Duterte is but one of them...Yes, he is the most blatantly and vocally vicious, but I am wise enough to know that he is not alone. You know what they say, no good deed goes unpunished? Kaya nga today's Gospel strikes hard at me. Parang nananadya si Lord. Today's Gospel is about loving my enemies. On a theoretical and philosophical level, such a teaching is easy to accept and understand. What good is it to only love those who are good to us? But a very difficult one to put in practice. So I ask myself, can I love my enemies? I don't know. For sure, I am not there yet. That is something I have to meditate further about. But I don't know if I will ever get there. So I ask myself something easier, can I forgive my enemies, even when they have not asked for forgiveness? In truth, though, I have long ago forgiven those who were merely used as pawns, such as the convicts themselves and others who allowed themselves to be used against me. They aren't the real enemies. In the end, I think, I can find it in my heart to forgive, but not forget. Do not ask me to forget. Because to forget is to ask me to surrender my humanity. Someday, I can forgive the real enemies. But I cannot forget. This reminds me of a question I've been asked lately: why celebrate the anniversary of my arrest and detention? No, we are not celebrating, but commemorating. Why do we need to commemorate? What's the value in remembering the beginning of all this shame and agony? Why not? All throughout history, there are days of infamy and events that should never be forgotten: Dec. 7, 1941: the attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States in the World War.

Dec. 28: Ninos Inocentes Day

April 8: the Fall of Bataan

The Bataan Death March

The martyrdom of our heroes. And so on and so forth. Where would humanity be if we only remembered the good days? Where would humanity be if it had forgotten the lessons of the past, especially those that were hard-earned? To let the bad days pass quietly is to surrender hope. To forget those days is to forget those who have been victimized. If we do not recall what happened to me on this day 2 years ago, people would forget that there exists a Leila de Lima, a victim of political persecution, a victim of injustice. When people forget, who will fight for justice? And that is what I ask everyone here to do: Never forget. Remember, remember the 24th of February. For this is not MY day. It is the day when our commitment to Truth, Justice, Rule of Law, and Democracy were put to test, serious test. We are still fighting. We have not lost. We only lose, the moment we forget that there are victims of injustice who are suffering to this day; that our justice system is falling apart; that our democracy is under siege. Soon, this coming May 2019 elections, the siege will reach another level: the Trojan horses are at the doors of the Senate. They will destroy the remaining shred of independence of that institution. Unless we do something... Do something selfless about it. Reach out to people you would have never reached out to before. Your friends, relatives, colleagues who have disappointed you the last 2 years. Give them the chance to disappoint you again. After all, there is a chance they might surprise you. For as long as there is .000001 percent chance they can be persuaded to vote for those who would uphold Senate independence (I'm of course referring to OTSO DIRETSO), reach out to them. Even if you're not a people-person, become one. Because this is a fight we cannot win individually. This is a team sport, politics is. This is a team effort, nation-building is. The nation needs that right now. People reaching out, forging allies and alliances, even the most unlikely ones. Here, we are all members of the same choir. It's a different ballgame out there once you step out of this Custodial Center. Do what I could not do while I'm currently deprived of my liberty. Reach out to people. We need them on the side of Democracy and Justice this May 2019. Maraming, maraming salamat po.
Press Release

February 26, 2019 Dispatch from Crame No. 474:

Sen. Leila M. de Lima on Duterte's continued subservience to China 2/26/19 Duterte's pronouncement to allow illegal Chinese workers in the Philippines once again demonstrates the President's cowardice when it comes to dealing with China. He justifies this with the lame excuse that China might retaliate against Filipinos working in China. But this only means a breakdown in the enforcement of Philippine laws against illegal Chinese workers. If we allow illegal Chinese workers, we might as well allow all other foreigners working illegally in the Philippines. Duterte's accommodation of Chinese interests is extra-ordinary. He has practically surrendered the West Philippine Sea to China. He has basically given China a monopoly in Philippine infrastructure projects. He has barely raised a concern to the continued entry into the country of tons of "shabu" from China. He has promoted the influx of Chinese nationals to work in the Philippines, and now has welcomed even those who work here illegally. The President is constitutionally mandated to enforce Philippine laws. This includes laws on foreign immigrant workers. That Duterte cannot do this when it comes to Chinese illegal workers only reinforces the perception that he is nothing more than a puppet of China. Whatever China has on Duterte, to be able to hold him firmly by the neck while we are gradually turned into a Chinese vassal state, is definitely working to its advantage. Ano kaya ba talaga ang hawak ng Tsina kay Duterte? Ano kaya ang alam nito tungkol sa kanya? We cannot remain blind to this creeping Chinese invasion and its gradual take-over of the sectors of our economy that are vital to our national security and sovereignty. Our very independence as a nation is at stake here. If, like Judas, Duterte is selling us for 30 pieces of silver, we must resist and continue to fight for a future free from foreign control and domination.
Press Release

February 26, 2019 ANGARA: MAKE 4PS PERMANENT TO HELP POOR FILIPINOS BREAK CYCLE OF POVERTY Senator Sonny Angara said the government's conditional cash transfer (CCT) program called Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) ought to be institutionalized to give millions of poor Filipinos a better chance of escaping poverty. Angara said the 12-year-old human development program--designed to keep children in school and keep them healthy--had been proven to be an effective tool for poverty alleviation. First implemented in 2007, 4Ps invests in the health and education of poor households, particularly children aged 0-18 years old "The 4Ps helps reduce poverty and break the intergenerational cycle of poverty through investments in the health and education of Filipino children," Angara said. Patterned after the CCT scheme enforced in other developing countries, 4Ps provides cash grants to beneficiaries provided that they comply with the set of conditions required by the program. "Sa higit isang dekada na ito'y inimplementa, milyun-milyong pamilya ang natulungan na makaahon sa buhay. Milyun-milyong anak ang nakapagpa-check up at nabakunahan, nakapag-aral din at nakapagtapos," Angara said. He added: "Milyun-milyong ina ang nabigyan ng pre-natal services, nanganak sa health facility sa tulong ng isang health professional, at nakatanggap ng post-partum at post-natal care para sa kanilang anak. Milyun-milyon din ang nabigyan ng PhilHealth coverage. Sa madaling salita, milyun-milyong Pilipino ang nabigyan ng magandang simula dahil sa 4Ps." Angara is one of the authors of a bill seeking to institutionalize 4Ps, which is now one step closer to becoming a law after the Senate and the House of Representatives approved the measure. The enrolled bill will be sent to Malacanang for President Duterte's signature. The senator said it was important to institutionalize the 4Ps through legislation to ensure its continuity and unhampered implementation by any administration. "Kaya mahalagang maisabatas ito. Kung hindi, maaari itong buwagin at ihinto, imbes na paigtingin at lalong palawigin ng mga susunod na administrasyon," Angara said. "Kung mangyaring ihinto natin ito, ang nasimulang pag-ahon ay mabibigo at mauuwi sa hungkag na katapusan. Hindi ito uubra kung ang pangarap natin ay ang pag-ahon at pag-unlad bilang bansa," he added. When he filed his bill in 2016, Angara backed up the measure with studies showing that the 4Ps reduced the total poverty among CCT beneficiaries from 64.5 percent to 58 percent, or by 6.5 percentage points, according to a joint study by the World Bank and Australian Aid. It also decreased food poverty rate from 35.2 percent to 28.5 percent after the program implementation, or by 6.7 percentage points. This implies that 1.3 million Filipinos were lifted out of poverty through 4Ps. Data from the Department of Finance showed that there are about 4.4 million active household beneficiaries under the 4Ps program, as of January 14, 2019. Each household beneficiary received a cash assistance of P200 monthly or a total of P2,400 per year in 2018. This year and in 2020, cash assistance under the unconditional cash transfer (UCT) program will be increased to P300 per month or a total of P3,600.
San Francisco, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/25/2019 -- Global Zika Virus Vaccines Market: Snapshot



With the zika virus spreading at an alarming rate across the world, the global market for zika virus vaccines is likely to gain substantial momentum across the world. The recent outbreak of the viral infection in Latin America has caused a number of cases of viral transmission from an infected mother to her baby, leading to infants being born with microcephaly and several other related birth defects. As per Brazilian authorities, since 2014, over 1,638 babies have been born with microcephaly-related defects in the country but no medical treatment is available for these infants till now. This situation reveals the severity of the issue, pointing towards the dire need for vaccines for the prevention of the zika virus from spreading, which, in turn, is likely to encourage vaccine producers to develop zika virus vaccines at a high pace.



In addition to this, the classification of zika virus infection by FDA as a public health emergency and the orders to evaluate these vaccines under priority review voucher, will accelerate their time to the market. Moreover, the exponential increase in the spreading rate of this virus is anticipate to augment the level of awareness among people, which will reflect on the uptake of zika vaccines across the world.



Request Sample Copy of the Report @



https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1028



Global Zika Virus Vaccines Market: Overview



Zika virus infection is primarily transmitted to people by an infected mosquito from the Aedes genus. The symptoms of Zika virus infection include fever, skin rash, general malaise, conjunctivitis, and muscle or joint pain. These symptoms are usually mild and in many cases, this infection is asymptomatic. Incessant research and development activities in the field are providing a significant boost to the growth of the global Zika virus vaccines market.



This market intelligence report serves as a professional study of the global Zika virus vaccines market and its overlying industries. It includes a detailed description of all the important parameters of the market including its dynamics and competitive landscape. It offers invaluable insights into the statistics pertaining to the market at both regional and global levels. It profiles the prominent players in the market and presents information regarding their revenue generation, business strategies, market shares, contact information, and latest developments. It includes SWOT analysis that helps in deriving the potential growth trajectory that each key player will experience from 2017 to 2025.



Global Zika Virus Vaccines Market: Drivers and Restraints



The growing prevalence of active Zika virus infection is the foremost factor augmenting the global Zika virus vaccine market. The increasing incidence of Zika fever is fuelling the development of potent vaccines. Moreover, the rising awareness regarding the virus is stimulating the adoption of these vaccines.



Furthermore, Zika virus infection can be transmitted from an infected mother to her fetus. In such a case, infants are born with microcephaly and other related birth defects. The Brazilian authorities state that since 2014, more than 1,638 babies in the country are born with microcephaly. Thus, the alarming rise of infection is creating a soaring need for vaccines for the prevention and treatment of Zika-linked birth defects. However, in November 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that Zika virus infection is no longer an epidemic and is anticipated to be less prevalent in the near future, which in turn is limiting the global Zika virus vaccines market in realizing its utmost potential.



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Global Zika Virus Vaccines Market: Region-wise Outlook



Based on geography, the segments methodically examined in the report are Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, and Rest of the World. The Rest of the World region will be a prominent market throughout the forecast period. The widening base of patients suffering from Zika virus infection is the primary factor driving the demand for their vaccines in the region. At present, Brazil is reported to have the highest number of infected individuals, closely trailed by Columbia and Venezuela.



Asia Pacific is expected to register a significant CAGR during the same period. The high prevalence of mosquito-borne illness and the improving healthcare infrastructure are promoting the development of Zika virus vaccines. The increasing awareness among populace regarding the infection caused by the virus is also triggering the demand for these vaccines.



Global Zika Virus Vaccines Market: Competitive Landscape



The global Zika virus vaccines market is capital intensive nature and is, therefore, dominated by large pharmaceutical firms across the world. Some of the prominent players are Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Immunovaccine Inc., NewLink Genetics Co., Bharat Biotech International Ltd., GeneOne Life Science Inc., Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Sanofi S.A., GlaxoSmithKline Plc., and Hawaii Biotech Inc. These players are pouring hefty funds into the development of effective and reliable vaccines in order to expand their consumer base and stay relevant in the market.



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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.
Selbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/26/2019 -- A tunnel boring machine (TBM) is a machine used to excavate tunnels with a circular cross section through a variety of soil and rock strata. They may also be used for micro tunneling. In Japan and China, The machines used for soil are called shield tunneling machines and machines used for hard rock are called tunnel boring machine. But in Europe and USA, they are called the same name tunnel boring machine. The research we did include all of them.



Request a sample Report of Tunnel Boring Machine Market at: https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/1567372?utm_source=releasewire.com&utm_medium=SP



The Tunnel Boring Machine market research study is a combined synopsis of the evaluation of this business space as well as an analysis of its segmentation. The report projects the Tunnel Boring Machine to emerge as one of most profitable verticals, amassing substantial remuneration by the end of the forecast duration, recording a commendable growth rate over the estimated span. The growth opportunities prevalent in this space in tandem with the industry's regional expanse have also been outlined in the report.



In recent years, international manufacturers of Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) have cooperation with Chinese enterprises and China has become the world's largest TBM manufacturer which occupied more than 45.27% of production in total in 2015. At present, in the foreign industrial developed countries the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) industry is generally at a more advanced level. In Japan, Europe and the United States manufacturer of TBM still has a considerable size. The consumption volume of TBM in Europe was about 77 Units, which was follow by US, with a production of 64 Units. Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) can be used in the process of Subway, tunnel, Water conservancy project, mine, etc. With the development of industry and technology, the potential market for Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) is still huge.



According to this study, over the next five years the Tunnel Boring Machine market will register a 2.1% CAGR in terms of revenue, the global market size will reach US$ 3680 million by 2024, from US$ 3240 million in 2019. In particular, this report presents the global market share (sales and revenue) of key companies in Tunnel Boring Machine business.



An intrinsic coverage of this report:



Enumerating the basic market drivers, challenges, and strategies adopted:



The report presents, in excruciating detail, the vital driving forces influencing the commercialization scale of the Tunnel Boring Machine market and information regarding the rising demand for the product across pivotal regions.

A brief of the various applications, business arenas, and the latest trends in this industry have been presented in the report.



The various challenges prevalent in this vertical and the myriad tactics that industry contenders have adopted in a bid to market the product have also been outlined.

The study reviews the sales channels (direct, indirect marketing) that firms have opted for, the main product distributors, as well as the high-grade clientele of the market.



Unveiling the regional landscape of this market:



Considering the regional terrain of the Tunnel Boring Machine market, it is prudent to mention that this report segments this industry into USA, Europe, Japan, China, India, South East Asia.

. Details regarding the product consumption across all these regions have been presented in the report.

The study includes the valuation that each geography accounts for in tandem with the estimated regional market share.

The report encompasses the product consumption growth rate across all geographies in addition to the consumption market share, as well as the regional consumption rate.



Expounding the competitive terrain of the Tunnel Boring Machine market:



A brief of the manufacturer base of the Tunnel Boring Machine market, comprising companies such as

Herrenknecht

CREC

CRCHI

Robbins

Tianhe

Wirth

Komatsu

Mitsubishi

NHI

Kawasaki

Ishikawajima - Harima

Terratec

SELI

Tianye Tolian

Hitachi Zosen Corporation

Xugong Kaigong

STEC



, inclusive of the distribution & sales area, in conjunction with the details of every manufacturer have been enumerated in the report.

These details further include a basic outline of the company, vendor profile, and the product portfolio of the firm in question.

The report enumerates information about the revenue accrued, gross margins, product sales, price patterns, and the latest news pertaining to the company.



Ask for Discount on Tunnel Boring Machine Market Report at: https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/1567372?utm_source=releasewire.com&utm_medium=SP



Presenting a summary of the Tunnel Boring Machine market segmentation



According to the report, the Tunnel Boring Machine market, with respect to the product type, is segmented into

Soft ground TBMs

Hard Rock TBMs



. Further, the report expounds details about the product market share and the remuneration to be procured by every type.

Details about the consumption (revenue, growth rate) of each product and the sales price over the estimated duration have been mentioned.



The report claims the application landscape of the Tunnel Boring Machine market to be segmented into

Railway and Highway

Municipal Engineering

City ??Rail System

Others



. It also estimates the valuation that each application will hold and the present market share.

Information about the product consumption in terms of each application as well as the sales price over the forecast duration have also been included.



In 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.



Research objectives



To study and analyze the global Tunnel Boring Machine consumption (value & volume) by key regions/countries, product type and application, history data from 2014 to 2018, and forecast to 2024.



To understand the structure of Tunnel Boring Machine market by identifying its various subsegments.



Focuses on the key global Tunnel Boring Machine 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 Tunnel Boring Machine 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 Tunnel Boring Machine submarkets, with respect to key regions (along with their respective key countries).



To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.



To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.



For More Details On this Report: https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-tunnel-boring-machine-market-growth-2019-2024?utm_source=releasewire.com&utm_medium=SP



Related Reports:



Global LPG Cylinder Market Growth 2019-2024



LPG Cylinder is a storage device that designed for the storing and transporting of liquefied petroleum gas. LPG cylinder has a huge variety of uses, most significantly domestic use. It is suitable for both indoor and outdoor use, including caravans, camping and barbecues. Moreover, it is employed across many different sectors such as transportation, hot air balloons, construction, recreation, hospitality, agricultural, calefaction and fishing. LPG cylinder industry has low technology barrier and is labor intensive industry. Currently, there are several producing companies in the world LPG cylinder industry. The main market players are Worthington Industries, Huanri, Hebei Baigong, Sahamitr Pressure Container and Mauria Udyog. The C of LPG cylinder will increase to 78563 K Units in 2018 from 58354 K Units in 2013 with average growth rate of 6.13%.



Read More: https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-lpg-cylinder-market-growth-2019-2024?utm_source=releasewire.com&utm_medium=SP



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Harrisburg, NC -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/25/2019 -- 2018-2025 TRADE FINANCE REPORT ON GLOBAL AND UNITED STATES MARKET, STATUS AND FORECAST, BY PLAYERS, TYPES AND APPLICATIONS

This Report proposes compelling details of Trade Finance market size, market share, contemporary trends, upcoming investment opportunities, and other primary segments. The Trade Finance analysis centers over numerous vital elements that influences global Trade Finance industry along with the international economy. Historic overview, present market status, and futuristic projections of Trade Finance industry are discussed in this study report.



The report presents the market competitive landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the major vendor/key players in the market.

Top Companies in the Global Trade Finance Market: - Citigroup Inc, BNP Paribas, ICBC, China Exim Bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Mizuho Financial Group, MUFG, Commerzbank, Bank of Communication, Credit Agricole, Standard Chartered, HSBC, ANZ, Afreximbank, Export-Import Bank of India, AlAhli Bank, EBRD and Others.



Click the link to get a free Sample Copy of the Report:

https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/0503486539/2018-2025-trade-finance-report-on-global-and-united-states-market-status-and-forecast-by-players-types-and-applications/inquiry?source=releasewire&Mode=18



GLOBAL TRADE FINANCE MARKET SEGMENT BY TYPE:-

Letters of Credit

Guarantees

Supply Chain Finance

Documentary Collection

Other



GLOBAL TRADE FINANCE MARKET SEGMENT BY APPLICATIONS:-

Finance

Energy

Power Generation

Transport

Renewables

Metals & Non Metallic Minerals

Other



MARKET SEGMENT BY REGIONS:-

For comprehensive understanding of market dynamics, the Global Trade Finance Market is analyzed across key geographies namely: United States, China, Europe, Japan, South-east Asia, India and others. Each of these regions is analyzed on basis of market findings across major countries in these regions for a macro-level understanding of the market.



Avail Exclusive Discount on This Report:

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THERE ARE 15 CHAPTERS TO DEEPLY DISPLAY THE GLOBAL TRADE FINANCE MARKET.

Chapter 1: to describe Trade Finance Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;

Chapter 2: to analyze the top manufacturers of Trade Finance, with sales, revenue, and price of Trade Finance, in 2017 and 2018;

Chapter 3: to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2017 and 2018;

Chapter 4: to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Trade Finance, for each region, from 2014 to 2018;

Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9: to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;

Chapter 10 and 11: to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2014 to 2018;

Chapter 12: Trade Finance market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2025;

Chapter 13, 14 and 15: to describe Trade Finance sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix and Data source.



The report has 150 tables and figures browse the report description and TOC:

https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/0503486539/2018-2025-trade-finance-report-on-global-and-united-states-market-status-and-forecast-by-players-types-and-applications?source=releasewire&Mode=18



INFLUENCE OF THE TRADE FINANCE MARKET REPORT:

-Comprehensive assessment of all opportunities and risk in the Trade Finance market.

-Trade Finance market recent innovations and major events.

-Detailed study of business strategies for growth of the Trade Finance market-leading players.

-Conclusive study about the growth plot of Trade Finance market for forthcoming years.

-In-depth understanding of Trade Finance market-particular drivers, constraints and major micro markets.

-Favourable impression inside vital technological and market latest trends striking the Trade Finance market.



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MarketInsightsReports provides syndicated market research on industry verticals including Healthcare, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Technology and Media, Chemicals, Materials, Energy, Heavy Industry, etc. MarketInsightsReports provides global and regional market intelligence coverage, a 360-degree market view which includes statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.



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Edison , NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/25/2019 -- Advance Market Analytics published a new research publication on "Global Telecom Analytics Market Insights, to 2025" with 179 pages and enriched with self-explained Tables and charts in presentable format. In the Study you will find new evolving Trends, Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities generated by targeting market stakeholders. The growth of the Telecom Analytics market is mainly driven by the increasing R&D spending across the world. Some of the key players profiled in the study are EMC Corporation (United States), Oracle Corporation (United States), International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) (United States), SAP SE (Germany), Microsoft Corporation (United States), Cisco Systems Inc. (United States), Accenture Plc. (Ireland), Hewlett-Packard Company (United States), Teradata Corporation (United States), Wipro Limited (India) and Nokia Corporation (Finland) etc.



Scope of the Report of Telecom Analytics



Get Free Exclusive PDF Sample Copy of This Research @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/sample-report/39061-global-telecom-analytics-market



Advance Market Analytics, a global market research and consulting organization, have released a new study titled "Telecom Analytics market - Global outlook to 2024".

Industries constant focus on reducing the operational cost and increased attention on core business, and need to improve scalability are expected to shape the Global Telecom Analytics market to grow at a CAGR of 32.75%.



Market Drivers

- On-Going Indispensable Need for Churn Prevention

Challenges

- The growth of Diagnosis Should Be At Par with the Threats

Opportunities

- Growing Significance of PBX in Internal Operations



The Telecom Analytics Market report provides a basic overview of the industry including its definition, geography segment, end use/application segment and competitor segment and manufacturing technology. Then, the report explores the international major industry players in detail.



According to the Regional Segmentation the Telecom Analytics Market provides the Information covers following regions:

*North America

*South America

*Asia & Pacific

*Europe

*MEA (Middle East and Africa)



The key countries in each region are taken into consideration as well, such as United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, South Africa, Nigeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Germany, United Kingdom (UK), the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Turkey, Russia, France, Poland, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, India, Australia and New Zealand etc.



Have Any Questions Regarding Global Telecom Analytics Market Report, Ask Our Experts@ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/enquiry-before-buy/39061-global-telecom-analytics-market



The titled segments and sub-section of the market are illuminated below:

Industry: IT and Telecommunications, Manufacturing, Transportation and Logistics, Defense and Government, BFSI, Healthcare, Retail, Energy and Utilities, Others



Service: Implementation, Consulting, Training & support



Hardware: Servers, Storage, Network equipment



Software Application: Customer Analytics, Network Analytics, Market Analytics, Price Analytics, Service Analytics



Top Players in the Market are: EMC Corporation (United States), Oracle Corporation (United States), International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) (United States), SAP SE (Germany), Microsoft Corporation (United States), Cisco Systems Inc. (United States), Accenture Plc. (Ireland), Hewlett-Packard Company (United States), Teradata Corporation (United States), Wipro Limited (India) and Nokia Corporation (Finland) etc.



List of players also available in Coverage: Hewlett-Packard Co. (United States) , Amazon Web Services Inc. (United States) , Couchbase Inc. (United States)



Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/reports/39061-global-telecom-analytics-market



Strategic Points Covered in Table of Content of Global Telecom Analytics Market:

Chapter 1: Introduction, market driving force product Objective of Study and Research Scope the Telecom Analytics market

Chapter 2: Exclusive Summary  the basic information of the Telecom Analytics Market.

Chapter 3: Displaying the Market Dynamics- Drivers, Trends and Challenges of the Telecom Analytics

Chapter 4: Presenting the Telecom Analytics Market Factor Analysis Porters Five Forces, Supply/Value Chain, PESTEL analysis, Market Entropy, Patent/Trademark Analysis.

Chapter 5: Displaying the by Type, End User and Region 2013-2018

Chapter 6: Evaluating the leading manufacturers of the Telecom Analytics market which consists of its Competitive Landscape, Peer Group Analysis, BCG Matrix & Company Profile

Chapter 7: To evaluate the market by segments, by countries and by manufacturers with revenue share and sales by key countries in these various regions.

Chapter 8 & 9: Displaying the Appendix, Methodology and Data Source



Finally, Telecom Analytics Market is a valuable source of guidance for individuals and companies.



Research Methodology:

- The top-down and bottom-up approaches are used to estimate and validate the size of the global Telecom Analytics market.

- In order to reach an exhaustive list of functional and relevant players who offer Telecom Analytics various industry classification standards are closely followed such as NAICS, ICB, SIC to penetrate deep in important geographies.

- Thereafter, a thorough validation test is conducted to reach most relevant players specifically having product line i.e. Telecom Analytics.

- In order to make priority list sorting is done based on revenue generation as per latest reporting with the help of paid databases such as Factiva, Bloomberg etc.

- Finally the questionnaire is set and specifically designed to address all the necessities for primary data collection after getting prior appointment. This helps us to gather the data for the players' revenue, profit, products, growth etc.

- Almost 80% of data is collected through primary medium and further validation is done through various secondary sources that includes Regulators, World Bank, Association, Company Website, Annual reports, press releases etc.



Buy the Latest Detailed Report @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/buy-now?format=1&report=39061



Key questions answered

- Who are the Leading key players and what are their Key Business plans in the Telecom Analytics market?

- What are the key concerns of the five forces analysis of the Telecom Analytics market?

- What are different prospects and threats faced by the dealers in the Telecom Analytics market?

- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?



Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.
Selbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/26/2019 -- Market Study Report adds Global Smart Meter market report that gives meticulous investigation of current scenario of the market size, share, demand, growth, trends, companies active in the industry and forecasts for the coming years.



A smart meter is usually an electronic device that records consumption of electric energy in intervals of an hour or less and communicates that information at least daily back to the utility for monitoring and billing. Smart meters enable two-way communication between the meter and the central system. Unlike home energy monitors, smart meters can gather data for remote reporting. Such an advanced metering infrastructure differs from traditional automatic meter reading in that it enables two-way communications with the meter.



Request a sample of this premium report on Smart Meter market at: https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/1562794/?utm_source=Releasewire.com-AN



The report also presents the market competition landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the major vendor/manufacturers in the market. The key manufacturers covered in this report: Breakdown data in in Chapter 3. Landis+Gyr, Itron, GE Digital Energy, Siemens, Kamstrup, Sensus, Elster Group, Silver Spring Networks, Aclara, Nuri Telecom



The largest smart meter markets have been North America, Europe and eastern Asia (particularly China). And the market is supplied by a combination of large multinational firms and smaller local manufacturers. The leading global firms include Landis+Gyr (based in Switzerland but owned by Toshiba Corp. of Japan), GE Digital Energy (United States), Itron (United States), Aclara (United States), Elster Group (Germany), Sensus (United States) and Holley Metering (China), among others. These companies tend to compete against each other globally to supply most of the largest smart meter markets. In many markets, these leading global firms also face competition from local manufacturers. In China, for example, local manufacturers supply the bulk of the market.

China has become the world?s largest market for smart electricity meters as a result of several initiatives by the Chinese national government. The demand for smart meters in China is expected to grow from 62.3 million units in 2015 to 120 million units by 2021.



According to this study, over the next five years the Smart Meter market will register a xx% CAGR in terms of revenue, the global market size will reach US$ xx million by 2024, from US$ xx million in 2019. In particular, this report presents the global market share (sales and revenue) of key companies in Smart Meter business, shared in Chapter 3.



Request a discount on standard prices of this premium report at: https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/1562794/



Smart Meter Market Report  Quick Rundown:



Segmentation by product type: breakdown data from 2014 to 2019, in Section 2.3; and forecast to 2024 in section 11.7.



- Single-phase smart meter

- Three-phase smart meter



Segmentation by application: breakdown data from 2014 to 2019, in Section 2.4; and forecast to 2024 in section 11.8.



- Residential application

- Commercial application

- Industrial application



With an objective to help understand the development plans and policies, manufacturing processes, cost structures of Smart Meter market, this report lists and profiles leading players with top level information on them. Wherever applicable, it also focuses on the details like supply chain, market statistics, product images, development plan outlook, consumption (where available), growth rates, contact details and much more.



Sub-segments of the Smart Meter market are expansively analyzed covering industry dynamics, help on a feasibility study, vendor strategies, growth prospects and market share of the industry. Growth projections for next few years form an important aspect of this 2018 Smart Meter report.



Apart from whatever is already offered in this Smart Meter market research, the report can be customized to meet your needs  be it additional company coverage or country coverage or anything specific that you need.

More Details on this Report At: https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-smart-meter-market-growth-2019-2024



Table OF Content:



2019-2024 Global Smart Meter Consumption Market Report



1 Scope of the Report



1.1 Market Introduction

1.2 Research Objectives

1.3 Years Considered

1.4 Market Research Methodology

1.5 Economic Indicators

1.6 Currency Considered



2 Executive Summary



2.1 World Market Overview

2.1.1 Global Smart Meter Consumption 2014-2024

2.1.2 Smart Meter Consumption CAGR by Region

2.2 Smart Meter Segment by Type

2.2.1 Soybean

2.2.2 Tempeh

2.2.3 Others

2.3 Smart Meter Consumption by Type

2.3.1 Global Smart Meter Consumption Market Share by Type (2014-2019)

2.3.2 Global Smart Meter Revenue and Market Share by Type (2014-2019)

2.3.3 Global Smart Meter Sale Price by Type (2014-2019)

2.4 Smart Meter Segment by Application

2.4.1 Vegetarian

2.4.2 Non-vegetarian

2.5 Smart Meter Consumption by Application

2.5.1 Global Smart Meter Consumption Market Share by Application (2014-2019)

2.5.2 Global Smart Meter Value and Market Share by Application (2014-2019)

2.5.3 Global Smart Meter Sale Price by Application (2014-2019)



3 Global Smart Meter by Players



3.1 Global Smart Meter Sales Market Share by Players

3.1.1 Global Smart Meter Sales by Players (2017-2019)

3.1.2 Global Smart Meter Sales Market Share by Players (2017-2019)

3.2 Global Smart Meter Revenue Market Share by Players

3.2.1 Global Smart Meter Revenue by Players (2017-2019)

3.2.2 Global Smart Meter Revenue Market Share by Players (2017-2019)

3.3 Global Smart Meter Sale Price by Players

3.4 Global Smart Meter Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area, Product Types by Players

3.4.1 Global Smart Meter Manufacturing Base Distribution and Sales Area by Players

3.4.2 Players Smart Meter Products Offered

3.5 Market Concentration Rate Analysis

3.5.1 Competition Landscape Analysis

3.5.2 Concentration Ratio (CR3, CR5 and CR10) (2017-2019)

3.6 New Products and Potential Entrants

3.7 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion



4 Smart Meter by Regions



4.1 Smart Meter by Regions

4.1.1 Global Smart Meter Consumption by Regions

4.1.2 Global Smart Meter Value by Regions

4.2 Americas Smart Meter Consumption Growth

4.3 APAC Smart Meter Consumption Growth

4.4 Europe Smart Meter Consumption Growth

4.5 Middle East & Africa Smart Meter Consumption Growth



Related Report:



Global Smart Meter Market Insights, Forecast to 2025



A smart meter is usually an electronic device that records consumption of electric energy in intervals of an hour or less and communicates that information at least daily back to the utility for monitoring and billing. Smart meters enable two-way communication between the meter and the central system. Unlike home energy monitors, smart meters can gather data for remote reporting. Such an advanced metering infrastructure differs from traditional automatic meter reading in that it enables two-way communications with the meter.



https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-smart-meter-market-insights-forecast-to-2025



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Edison , NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/25/2019 -- Advance Market Analytics published a new research publication on "Global Paper Shredder Service Market Insights, to 2025" with 147 pages and enriched with self-explained Tables and charts in presentable format. In the Study you will find new evolving Trends, Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities generated by targeting market stakeholders. The growth of the Paper Shredder Service market is mainly driven by the increasing R&D spending across the world. Some of the key players profiled in the study are Iron Mountain Incorporated (United States), Shred Nations (United States), Gilmore Services (United States), American Shredding (United States), Proshred (United States), Shred Connect (United States), Shred-X (Australia), Secured Document Shredding (United States), Secure Destruction Services (United States) and FedEx (United States).



Scope of the Report of Paper Shredder Service



Get Free Exclusive PDF Sample Copy of This Research @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/sample-report/9041-global-paper-shredder-service-market



Market Drivers

- Increasing Businesses Worldwide and Government Still Used Paper

Opportunities

- Developing and Under Developing Country Are Still Use Paper



The Paper Shredder Service Market report provides a basic overview of the industry including its definition, geography segment, end use/application segment and competitor segment and manufacturing technology. Then, the report explores the international major industry players in detail.



According to the Regional Segmentation the Paper Shredder Service Market provides the Information covers following regions:

*North America

*South America

*Asia & Pacific

*Europe

*MEA (Middle East and Africa)



The key countries in each region are taken into consideration as well, such as United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, South Africa, Nigeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Germany, United Kingdom (UK), the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Turkey, Russia, France, Poland, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, India, Australia and New Zealand etc.



Have Any Questions Regarding Global Paper Shredder Service Market Report, Ask Our Experts@ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/enquiry-before-buy/9041-global-paper-shredder-service-market



The titled segments and sub-section of the market are illuminated below:

The Study Explore the Product Types of Paper Shredder Service Market: One-time shredding, Regularly shredding, On-site shredding, Off-site shredding, Others

Key Applications/end-users of Global Paper Shredder Service Market: Office Shredding Program, Residential Shredding Program



Top Players in the Market are: Iron Mountain Incorporated (United States), Shred Nations (United States), Gilmore Services (United States), American Shredding (United States), Proshred (United States), Shred Connect (United States), Shred-X (Australia), Secured Document Shredding (United States), Secure Destruction Services (United States) and FedEx (United States)



List of players also available in Coverage: Restore Datashred , Red Dog Shred , Pitney Bowes India Private Limited



Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/reports/9041-global-paper-shredder-service-market



Strategic Points Covered in Table of Content of Global Paper Shredder Service Market:

Chapter 1: Introduction, market driving force product Objective of Study and Research Scope the Paper Shredder Service market

Chapter 2: Exclusive Summary  the basic information of the Paper Shredder Service Market.

Chapter 3: Displaying the Market Dynamics- Drivers, Trends and Challenges of the Paper Shredder Service

Chapter 4: Presenting the Paper Shredder Service Market Factor Analysis Porters Five Forces, Supply/Value Chain, PESTEL analysis, Market Entropy, Patent/Trademark Analysis.

Chapter 5: Displaying the by Type, End User and Region 2013-2018

Chapter 6: Evaluating the leading manufacturers of the Paper Shredder Service market which consists of its Competitive Landscape, Peer Group Analysis, BCG Matrix & Company Profile

Chapter 7: To evaluate the market by segments, by countries and by manufacturers with revenue share and sales by key countries in these various regions.

Chapter 8 & 9: Displaying the Appendix, Methodology and Data Source



Finally, Paper Shredder Service Market is a valuable source of guidance for individuals and companies.



Research Methodology:

- The top-down and bottom-up approaches are used to estimate and validate the size of the global Paper Shredder Service market.

- In order to reach an exhaustive list of functional and relevant players who offer Paper Shredder Service various industry classification standards are closely followed such as NAICS, ICB, SIC to penetrate deep in important geographies.

- Thereafter, a thorough validation test is conducted to reach most relevant players specifically having product line i.e. Paper Shredder Service.

- In order to make priority list sorting is done based on revenue generation as per latest reporting with the help of paid databases such as Factiva, Bloomberg etc.

- Finally the questionnaire is set and specifically designed to address all the necessities for primary data collection after getting prior appointment. This helps us to gather the data for the players' revenue, profit, products, growth etc.

- Almost 80% of data is collected through primary medium and further validation is done through various secondary sources that includes Regulators, World Bank, Association, Company Website, Annual reports, press releases etc.



Buy the Latest Detailed Report @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/buy-now?format=1&report=9041



Key questions answered

- Who are the Leading key players and what are their Key Business plans in the Paper Shredder Service market?

- What are the key concerns of the five forces analysis of the Paper Shredder Service market?

- What are different prospects and threats faced by the dealers in the Paper Shredder Service market?

- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?



Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/26/2019 -- The latest report on the NEUROVASCULAR STENT market offers detailed information about the industry based on the total revenue generated for the forecast period, 2019 - 2026. The comprehensive study performs an in-depth analysis of the NEUROVASCULAR STENT industry and lays immense emphasis on the major driving forces and restraints expected to govern the overall business for the forecast period, 2019 - 2026. Most importantly, researchers assessing the business environment take a closer look at the past and present trends as well as the future prospect to offer business owners, stakeholders and field marketing executives an intellectual understanding of the winning strategies.



Request Sample copy of this report@ https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/31050



Major Players in Neurovascular Stent market are:



- DePuy Synthes, Inc.

- InspireMD, Inc.

- MicroVention, Inc.

- Palmaz Scientific, Inc.

- Gaudi Vascular, Inc.

- Aneuclose LLC

- Oxford Endovascular Limited



Scope of the report

Based on the Neurovascular Stent industrial chain, this report mainly elaborates the definition, types, applications and major players of Neurovascular Stent market in details. Deep analysis about market status (2014-2019), enterprise competition pattern, advantages and disadvantages of enterprise products, industry development trends (2019-2026), regional industrial layout characteristics and macroeconomic policies, industrial policy has also be included. From raw materials to downstream buyers of this industry will be analyzed scientifically, the feature of product circulation and sales channel will be presented as well. In a word, this report will help you to establish a panorama of industrial development and characteristics of the Neurovascular Stent market.



Make an inquiry and request for customization@ https://www.marketexpertz.com/make-enquiry-form/31050



Most important types of Neurovascular Stent products covered in this report are:



- Carotid Artery Stents

- Intracranial Stents



Most widely used downstream fields of Neurovascular Stent market covered in this report are:



- Hospitals

- ASCs



Market segment by Region/Country including:



- North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)

- Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Spain etc.)

- Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and Southeast Asia etc.)

- South America Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Chile etc.)

- Middle East & Africa (South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia etc.)



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Region wise performance of the Neurovascular Stent industry

In addition, the study on the NEUROVASCULAR STENT market for the forecast period, 2019 - 2026 quantifies the share occupied by the prominent players of the industry and enlightens the business owners from the fast-growing investment pockets and competitive landscape. Furthermore, the industry is classified into various segments with a detailed assessment of each and every aspect such as gross margin, profits, import and export status and others. All vital statistics are presented with the help of charts, tables and graphic images, which can be easily incorporated into any business presentation.



Knowing the trends influencing the industry performance

The market intelligence report further offers hard to find data derived from attractiveness analysis that narrates a lot about the products, regions and applications expected to generate more revenue. The research contains the details about the latest events in the NEUROVASCULAR STENT market including but not limited to the product launches, acquisition and mergers, collaborations and technology advancements with an aim to help business evangelists, product owners and marketing personnel understand what the future demands, customer preferences, consumption volume, production capacity and supply chain management of the NEUROVASCULAR STENT market will be like.



The research provides answers to the following key questions:



- What is the expected growth rate of the Neurovascular Stent

Market for the forecast period 2019  2026? What is the market size likely to be during the estimated period?

- What are the key driving forces shaping the future of the industry across different countries?

- Who are the prominent market players dominating the Neurovascular Stent

Market? How have they managed to maintain a competitive edge over their competitors?

- What are the major trends and opportunities responsible for the progress of the Neurovascular Stent

Market during the estimated period?

- What are the major obstacles hindering the progress of the market worldwide?



Browse complete report description and visit our website@ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/neurovascular-stent-market



The study objectives of this report are:



#To analyze and study the global Neurovascular Stent capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2019-2026) and forecast (2019-2026);

#Focuses on the key Neurovascular Stent manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future.

#Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.

#To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.

#To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.

#To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.

#To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.

#To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market

#To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market

#To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.



In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Neurovascular Stent are as follows:

History Year: 2013-2017

Base Year: 2017

Estimated Year: 2019

Forecast Year 2019 to 2026

Continue...



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Sellbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/26/2019 -- Mining Equipment Market is expected to be around USD 100 billion by 2024. Increasing investments in developing innovative and smart solutions will drive the mining machinery market. Rising demand for advanced extraction solutions is encouraging the players to increase their R&D activities to cater to the requirement of the customers.



The industry is witnessing a growing demand for connected technologies for monitoring the industrial processes. Several players are engaged in developing IoT-based equipment for remote monitoring and control. It was estimated that around 40% of the manufacturers in the industry are planning to implement IoT-connected technologies for performing extraction activities.



Request for a sample copy of this report @

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Increasing health & safety concerns about the workers are propelling the adoption of automated solutions in the mining equipment market. Several countries including the U.S., Germany, and France are developing machine safety regulations for the safety of the industrial laborers. For instance, the European Act of 1986 on health and safety outlines several guidelines for the protection of workers from hazardous industrial environments.



Such regulations are promoting companies to adopt effective solutions developed for reducing the chances of workplace accidents. The manufacturers in the mining machinery market are providing several safety features and functions in these machines including gas detection system, wireless personnel tracking, conveyor belt monitoring and ground control, and strata management systems.



Mining Equipment Market, By Product



- Mining drills & breakers

- Crushing, pulverizing & screening equipment

- Mineral processing machinery

- Surface mining equipment

- Underground mining machinery

- Others (parts & attachments)



Mining Equipment Market, By Application



- Metal mining

- Mineral mining

- Coal mining



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Drills & breakers are experiencing a high adoption in the mining equipment market with an increase in surface and underground extraction activities. The application of rotary blasthole drills for coal and metal mining processes is growing rapidly. Manufacturers in the mining machinery market are developing customized solutions based on the specifications of the companies.



For instance, Sandvik AB is providing 1190E Rotary Blasthole Drill Rig, which is an electric-powered equipment designed specifically for coal extraction processes. The Asia Pacific region is witnessing a high adoption of these solutions owing to the favorable policies regarding the export of metals and minerals. Countries including India, China, and Australia are among the largest coal producing economies of the world..



The applications of these machines for mineral extraction are expected to grow owing to the rising demand for fossil fuels in several application areas. Growing demand for crude oil, natural gas, and coal for energy generation is expected to drive the extraction process.



Browse report summery @ https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/mining-equipment-market



Countries including China, Ukraine, Colombia, Australia, and Russia are the largest producers of fossil fuels. These countries are witnessing a high adoption of mineral processing machinery thereby driving the mining equipment market. The global production and consumption of these minerals are increasing rapidly. Crude oil is the largest energy source that accounts for around 39% of fossil energy.
Harrisburg, NC -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/26/2019 -- GLOBAL MICROINSURANCE MARKET SIZE, STATUS AND FORECAST 2019-2025 studies the latest industry trends, market development aspects, market gains, and industry scenario during the forecast period. The report provides the details related to fundamental overview, development status, latest advancements, market dominance and market dynamics.



Global Microinsurance Market Analysis Report includes top Manufacturers- Albaraka, ASA, Banco do Nordeste, Bandhan Financial Services, FundaciOn de la Mujer, Amhara Credit and Savings Institution, Al Amana Microfinance, Compartamos Banco, FundaciOn WWB Colombia , ICICI Bank, Standard Chartered, Wells Fargo 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.



Inquire for free sample copy at



https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/12121027612/global-microinsurance-market-size-status-and-forecast-2018-2025/inquiry?source=releasewire&Mode=3



GLOBAL MICROINSURANCE MARKET CATEGORISED ON BASIS OF TYPES, APPLICATIONS AND REGIONS



Global Microinsurance Market: Type Segment Analysis

Type I

Type II



Global Microinsurance Market: Applications Segment Analysis

City

Rural



REGIONAL ANALYSIS FOR MICROINSURANCE MARKET:



For comprehensive understanding of market dynamics, the global Microinsurance market is analyzed across key geographies namely: United States, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India, Central & South America. Each of these regions is analyzed on basis of market findings across major countries in these regions for a macro-level understanding of the market.



We Offer 15% Customization on the Report covering additional 3 countries or 3 Companies in the report + We also offer FREE POST SALES SUPPORT FOR 6 MONTHS from the date of Purchase of the report



The report has 93 tables and figures browse the report description and TOC:



https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/12121027612/global-microinsurance-market-size-status-and-forecast-2018-2025?source=releasewire&Mode=3



PIVOTAL BENEFITS OF MICROINSURANCE MARKET REPORT



The Microinsurance report provides an in-depth evaluation of market driving factors and the growth limitations.

Individual market revenue of main territories in every region is portrayed in this report.

It consists of a comprehensive analysis of recent research and technological and clinical developments occur in the market.

Leading players of Microinsurance market and their commercial growth in recent years is conferred in the report.

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Customize given market data, according to the companys specific needs.

Data information by region, company, type and application

Detailed analysis and profiles of additional market players.

Regional and country-level analysis of the Microinsurance market, by end-use



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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/26/2019 -- Recent research and the current scenario as well as future market potential of "Packaging Tubes Market: Proliferating Demand for Laminated Tubes to Soon Outstrip Plastic & Aluminum Tubes: Global Industry Analysis 2013 - 2017 and Opportunity Assessment 2018 - 2028".



This report provides forecast and analysis of the Packaging Tubes Market at the global level. It provides historical data of 2013-2017 along with forecast from 2018 to 2028 in terms of revenue (US$ Mn) and volume (Mn Units). The report also includes macroeconomic indicators along with an outlook on consumption pattern globally. In addition, it includes global drivers, restraints and recent trends of the medical device market.



Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @ https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1877940



The report also comprises the study of current issues with end uses and opportunities for tubes manufacturers and also includes detailed value chain analysis. In order to provide users of this report with comprehensive view of the market, we have included detailed competitiveness analysis and company players with their SWOT analysis and strategy overview. The dashboard provides detailed comparison of tubes manufacturers on parameters such as operating margin, total revenue, product portfolio, and what we call innovation scale. The study encompasses market attractiveness analysis by product type, capacity, closure type, end-use, and region.



The report includes consumption of tubes and the revenue generated from sales of tubes globally and across all important regional economies.



The global Packaging Tubes Market is segmented on the basis of product type into plastic tubes, laminated tubes and aluminum tubes.



On the basis of capacity, the global Packaging Tubes Market is segmented into up to 50ml, 50 to 100ml, 100 to 150ml and above 150ml.



On the basis of closure type, the global Packaging Tubes Market is segmented into stand-up, nozzle, fez, flip-top and others (ball applicators, pumps, etc.)



On the basis of end-user, the global Packaging Tubes Market is segmented into cosmetics, oral care, commercial, pharmaceuticals, home and personal care, food and others.



Market numbers have been assessed based on consumption and weighted average pricing of tubes by product type and then aggregate revenue is derived through country pricing trends. Market size and forecast for each segment have been provided in the context of regional markets. The Packaging Tubes Market has been analyzed based on expected demand and current market scenario. Pricing is considered for the calculation of revenue that are average country prices obtained through primary quotes from numerous regional tubes manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors. All key end users have been considered on the basis of secondary sources and feedback from primary respondents. Country demand patterns have been considered while estimating the market for various end uses of tubes in different regions across the globe. Top-down approach has been used to estimate the Packaging Tubes Market by country. Market numbers for all the regions by product type, by capacity, by closure type and by end-use have been derived using the bottom-up approach, which is cumulative of each regions demand. Company-level market share has been derived on the basis of revenues reported by key manufacturers. The market has been forecast based on constant currency rates.



View Complete TOC with tables & Figures @ https://www.researchmoz.us/packaging-tubes-market-proliferating-demand-for-laminated-tubes-to-soon-outstrip-plastic-and-aluminum-tubes-global-industry-analysis-2013-2017-and-opportunity-assessment-2018-2028-report.html/toc



A number of primary and secondary sources were consulted during the course of the study. Secondary sources include Factiva, World Bank, Packaging Digest, and Hoovers, and company annual reports and publications.



Detailed profiles of companies are also included in the report to evaluate their strategies, key product offerings and recent developments. The key players of the global Packaging Tubes Market are Albea S.A., Essel Propack Ltd., CCL Industries Inc., Berry Global Group Inc., Ctl-Th Packaging SI, Linhardt GmbH & Co. KG, Montebello Packaging, Huhtamaki Oyj, Interapac International Corporation, Plastube Inc., Pack-Tubes, Perfektup Ambalaj San. Ve Tic. A.S., Burhani Group of Industries, Tubapack A.S., Norway Pack A.S., Alltub Group, Hoffmann Neopac AG, Tubopress Italia SpA, Lajovic Tuba D.O.O and Pirlo GmbH & Co. KG.



Key Segments Covered



By Product Type

Laminated Tubes

Plastic Barrier

Aluminum Barrier

Aluminum Tubes

Plastic Tubes



By Capacity

Up to 50ml

50 to 100ml

100 to 150ml

Above 150ml



By Closure

Stand-up Cap

Nozzle Cap

Fez Cap

Flip-top Cap

Others



By End-Use

Cosmetics

Hair Care

Skin Care

Others



Oral care

Commercial

Sealants & Adhesives

Lubricants

Others



Pharmaceuticals

Home & other personal care

Food

Others



By Region

North America

US

Canada

Latin America

Brazil

Mexico

Rest of Latin America

Western Europe

Germany

Italy

France

UK

Spain

Benelux

Nordic

Rest of Western Europe

Eastern Europe

Russia

Poland

Rest of Eastern Europe

Middle East & Africa (MEA)

GCC Countries

South Africa

North Africa

Rest of MEA



Make An Enquiry @ https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=1877940



Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ)

China

India

ASEAN

Australia & New Zealand

Rest of APEJ

Japan



For More Information Kindly Contact:



ResearchMoz

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Pune, Maharashtra -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/25/2019 -- About the Report



The Fact.MR study is a seamless presentation of unique insights on how the knitted fabrics market will expand across the globe during 2018-2027. The utmost objective of Fact.MR report on knitted fabrics market is to provide compelling insights on the demand generating factors, dynamic aspects, key product developments in the market, and overall market scenario of the knitted fabrics market. The report includes the ultimate predictions about growth of the knitted fabrics market in terms of market size (US$ million) and market volume (tons) during the assessment period.



Market Structure



The Fact.MR report divides the knitted fabrics market into its four broad sub-segments  construction type, fabrics type, applications, and regions.



Based on the construction types of knitted fabrics, the knitted fabrics market is segmented into two main categories  weft knitted fabrics, and wrap knitted fabrics. Based on the fabric types, the knitted fabrics market is segmented into flat/jersey, purl fabric, rib stitch, and interlock.



According to the applications of knitted fabrics, the knitted fabrics market is segmented into Agrotech, Buildtech, Indutech, Sportech, Packtech, Meditech, Clothtech, and Geotech. Based on geographical regions, the knitted fabrics market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific region excluding Japan (APEJ), and the Middle East & Africa (MEA).



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Definition



Knitted fabrics is a type of elastic textiles that are manufactured by interlocking yarns with the help of a pair of needles. Knitted fabrics can be manufactured by two principal methods  weft knitting and warp knitting. Knitted fabrics are generally comfortable, lightweight, and can be made more easily and quickly that woven fabrics, with which they are often used interchangeably.



Nearly 50% Market Shares Held by Emerging Players



With burgeoning demand for knitted fabrics in the global clothing and textile industry, a mounting number of manufacturers are entering the market to capitalize on lucrative business opportunities. These new market entrants and emerging players collectively account for 45-50% share of the knitted fabrics market. On the other hand, knitted fabrics market leaders are aiming to gain momentum in the clothing and textile industry by enhancing their value chains on two fronts  automation and nearshoring. Stagnation in Western markets has consequentially resulted in new players entering the developing markets for knitted fabrics. A mounting number of start-ups in the knitted fabrics market are adopting advanced technologies to introduce innovative fabrics and gain an edge in the knitted fabrics market. In addition, small scale producers in the knitted fabrics market in developing countries are also benefitting from favorable regulations and low labor costs, making their way through the highly-competitive knitted fabrics market.



Browse Full Report @ https://www.factmr.com/report/2865/knitted-fabrics-market



Notable developments in the knitted fabrics market:



A leading Italy-based manufacturer of high-quality knitted fabrics, Luxury Jersey recently announced the launch of two new fabrics for the luxury segment, in partnership with partner Fulgar  an Italian producer of man-made fibers. The company used Evo by Fulgar, which is a yarn made from castor oil, in combination with GOTS-certified organic cotton to manufacture these new fabrics. The company also announced that the two new fabrics offer a strong sustainable component in the knitted fabrics market, and can be ideal for women's outwear and sportswear.

In February 2018, scientists at Texinov Medical Textiles  a French manufacturer of warp-knitted textiles, developed a knitted fabric using laser technology that can be used in treatments for skin diseases such as actinic keratosis, psoriasis, and acne with light.

Zaha Hadid Architects and researchers from ETH Zurich  a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics University based in Zurich, Switzerland  developed double-curved concrete shelled pavilion was made with the help of KnitCrete  a 3D-knitted formwork. This framework is claimed to have helped in saving material, waste, and labor for construction by simplifying the construction process for complex shapes.

The report provides information about knitted fabrics market structure, key financials, recent competitive developments, and financial share analysis of leading stakeholders in the knitted fabrics market. The companies featured in the report include Guilford Mills, Gehring Tricot Corporation, Rebtex Inc., Macra Lace Company, Clover Knits, SAS Textiles, Damodar Menon International Pvt Ltd., Krishna Overseas, Jason Mills LLC, and William J Dixon Inc.



Speak To Research Analyst for Detailed Insights @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=AE&rep_id=2886



State-of-the-Art Technologies Sought-after among Digitization-driven Knitted Fabrics Manufacturers



Increasing growth of the textile industry has resulted in creating more lucrative opportunities, thereby attracting new players to enter the industry. This is leading to intensifying the competition in the knitted fabrics market. Leading manufacturers are launching more innovative and high-quality products using next-generation manufacturing technologies to bring a new dynamic to the knitted fabrics market. Increasing adoption of state-of-the-art technologies to bolster manufacturing of custom seamless knitwear apparels is becoming increasingly palpable in the knitted fabrics market. Market leaders are completely digitizing their entire production processes to further enhance their business productivity and efficiency. Technological assets, such as physical simulation software, 3D printing technology, and 3D design software, are likely to prevail over traditional manufacturing processes soon in the knitted fabrics market.



Vulnerability to Damages  Prevailing Cost-intensive Concern for Knitted Fabrics Market Players



Knitted fabrics have been deemed more prone to damage than their woven alternatives, thereby compromising the utilization efficiency of of the fabric in various applications. Needle malfunction, mismanagement of machinery, or improper care during the fabric dyeing processes, are some of the aspects that increase the risk of damage during knitted fabrics construction In addition, improper manual handling of knitted fabrics and inspection cuts lead to forcing manufacturers to keep an extra buffer for such damages. This is one of the leading causes behind high overall fabric costs, which is ultimately creating challenges for stakeholders to mitigate production costs. Thereby, unavoidable spending on knitted fabric management and machine maintenance prove to be costly challenges for knitted fabrics market players to tackle with.



Increasing use of high-tech medical textiles in healthcare applications is creating numerous lucrative opportunities for manufacturers in the knitted fabrics market. Leading market players are likely to adopt next-generation manufacturing technologies to offer knitted medical textiles that can suit various requirements of medical applications in the upcoming years.



Knitted Fabric Sales Spur as Manufacturers Emphasize Technical Performance



Owing to their soft hand-feel and characteristics to offer a perfect fit to the clothing, knitted fabrics find more demand and maximum applications in nightwear and lingerie collections. Manufacturers in the knitted fabrics market are adopting advanced printing technologies to further enhance the texture and flexibility of knitted fabrics to suit the modern requirements in the nightwear clothing segment. Apart from the offering knitted fabrics with rich feel, leading players in the knitted fabrics market are concentrating on improving performance characteristics of knitted fabrics. Manufacturers are likely to alter their manufacturing processes to offer better performance characteristics of knitted fabrics, such as resistance to washing and rubbing, functional comfort, and significant saving on energy and greenhouse emissions, to expand the scope of knitted fabric applications beyond lingerie and nightwear segment.



Additional Questions Answered



The Fact.MR report presented the latest information on knitted fabrics market, which can help market players to get the hang of prominent growth prospects of the market. The information compiled in the knitted fabrics market report can serve as a highly credible source for the readers, which can help them to understand historical and forecast data of the knitted fabrics market.



The report on knitted fabrics market also addresses some additional market-related questions about the growth trajectory of knitted fabrics market, which can help readers to make value-based decisions and gain a competitive edge in the knitted fabrics market space.



The report also helps reading by answering queries about growth prospects of the knitted fabrics market, which can help them to plan appropriate strategies for future while entering the knitted fabrics market. Some of the important questions about the knitted fabrics market that are focused on in the report include



What are the most common strategies adopted by leading manufacturers in the knitted fabrics market in developed regions?

What is the impact of statistics of the global textile industry on growth of the knitted fabrics market?

Which technologies are being used by most manufacturers in the knitted fabrics market?

Which factors are driving market players to invest heavily in the knitted fabrics market in the Asia Pacific region?

What are the challenges and restraints that are influencing growth prospects of the knitted fabrics market?

Research Methodology



The Fact.MR report provides readers with exclusive predictions about the historic and recent development in the knitted fabrics market for the period 2018-2027. A unique methodology is followed while conducting a thorough research about the knitted fabrics market to conclude the growth prospects of the market.



The information featured in the Fact.MR report is acquired by following a unique and in-depth secondary and primary market research on growth parameters of the knitted fabrics market. Secondary research on the knitted fabrics elucidates the historical industry-validated data, facts and information about the knitted fabrics market.



Primary research is carried out to assess growth prospects of the knitted fabrics market, where market players, including manufacturers, industry experts, distributors, suppliers, and investors, in the knitted fabrics market are interviewed. The insights on knitted fabrics market included in the research study have been subjected to authentication and validation of data by seasonal experts and industry giants.



The unique research methodology followed in the knitted fabrics market report represents a robust approach to gauge the parameters portraying growth aspects of knitted fabrics market over the forecast time period.



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.



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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/25/2019 -- Intraosseous Devices Market  Snapshot



The global intraosseous devices market is expanding due to the increasing number of emergency cases and ailments, such as cardiac arrest and trauma. The global intraosseous devices market was valued at more than US$ 361.0 Mn in 2017. It is projected to reach a value of US$ 586.9 Mn by 2026, expanding at a CAGR of more than 5.5% from 2018 to 2026. The global market is expanding at a relatively higher growth rate due to increase in geriatric population, rising prevalence of various diseases and expansion in research, rising number of medical emergency situations, and developmental activities and approaches in healthcare sector in both developed and developing countries.



View Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/intraosseous-devices-market.html



Intraosseous devices can be used to deliver medications and fluids in an emergency, when there's unavailability of venous access or it can't be quickly established. Initially, intraosseous devices were utilized for pediatric emergencies requiring urgent vascular access. In 2005, the American Heart Association (AHA) and the European Resuscitation Council (ERC) reconsidered their guidelines to incorporate advocating intraosseous infusion access in adults with cardiac arrest when there's no availability of IV access. During military engagements of the U.K. and the U.S. armies in Afghanistan and Iraq and the Israeli army in the Second Lebanon War, intraosseous access appeared as a viable alternative to IV. The U.S. Army Committee on the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) guidelines presently recommends using intraosseous infusion in any resuscitation case in which IV access is not achievable. Manual needles were the first intraosseous devices to be introduced, which are still extensively employed by several practitioners.



There are presently several different manual intraosseous needles commercially available. High prevalence of various diseases, such as cardiac arrest, and emergency situations, including trauma, and increasing military engagements have led to an increase in patient population needing intraosseous devices for treatment. These factors are anticipated to drive the demand for global intraosseous devices in the future years. Furthermore, extensive research and technological advancements are estimated to fuel the intraosseous device market.



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The global intraosseous device market has been segmented based on type, end-user, and region. In terms of type, the global market has been divided into manual, semi-automatic, and automatic. Semi-automatic is projected to hold a prominent share of the market, while the automatic segment is expected to expand at a significant pace during the forecast period. The semi-automatic segment is estimated to expand at a CAGR of 6.0% during the forecast period. Semi-automatic intraosseous devices provide comparatively fast and easy vascular access, as compared to manual intraosseous devices. Compared to manual and semi-automatic devices; automatic intraosseous devices are recently developed, therefore penetration of this device is comparatively low.



In terms of end-user, the global market has been segregated into hospitals, emergency medical services (EMS), and military. The EMS segment is expected to dominate the market and expand at a CAGR of 6.0% during the forecast period. This is due to the rising number of emergency situations, including road accidents, injuries, trauma, and cardiac arrest, increasing penetration of intraosseous devices, and the availability of well-trained and equipped medical professionals.



Geographically, the global intraosseous devices market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to dominate the global market and account for a prominent share of the global market. The market in the North America is primarily driven by the rapid increase in geriatric population, rise in patient population, high rate of adoption of technological advancements, and increase in prevalence of various diseases. Moreover, increase in awareness among people and the number of players and products coupled with substantial focus on research and development is anticipated to fuel the global intraosseous devices market in North America during the forecast period. The market in Asia Pacific is projected to expand at a rapid pace during the forecast period. China dominated the market in Asia Pacific, it is estimated to expand at a significant CAGR during the forecast period. Increasing population, governmental initiatives taken in healthcare field, and expansion in research and development activities are driving the market in Asia Pacific.



Request a Sample of the Report @https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=37775



Companies such as Teleflex Incorporated, PERSYS MEDICAL, and Cook, accounted for a major share of the global market in 2017. Strong network with hospitals and distributors, increasing number of acquisitions and mergers, and prominent involvement in research and development, are key factors strengthening the position of these players in the market. On April 3, 2017, Teleflex Incorporated completed the acquisition of Pyng Medical, a medical device company that developed and marketed sternal intraosseous infusion products, which complements the Teleflex Incorporated's anesthesia product portfolio. Companies are adopting the strategy acquisition and collaboration with parallel companies to improve and strengthen their presence in the global market.



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Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.



Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMR's syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.



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Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/25/2019 -- Hybrid rice seed varieties are the first filial generation of two distinct parent seeds. These hybrid rice seeds demonstrate superior productivity, raising yields above the high yielding varieties of the original Green Revolution. Hybrid rice seeds fit well for a New Green Revolution, which are a must for meeting the rapidly increasing need of the growing population. The quality of seeds largely affects the efficiency of the added fertilizers, pesticides, and other agricultural inputs. Hence, to enhance productivity, quality seeds with appropriate properties are needed to develop and be made available to farmers. Hybrid rice seeds are getting widely acknowledged for their enhanced productivity. Yet, at present, the hybrid rice seeds technology is limited to India, Vietnam, the Philippines, and the U.S., while China is cultivating around half of its rice with hybrid rice seeds. Major limitations are generally due to the hybrid rice seed technology being laborious and intensive, besides the high cost of the seeds. Still, hybrid rice cultivation tops other hybrid crops. FMI predicts that the global market for hybrid rice seeds is expected to grow at a rate of 7.5% in terms of revenue during the forecast years.



Hybrid Rice Seeds Scenario in Developing Countries at a Glance



The hybrid rice seeds market growth in developing countries is varying from moderate to stagnant, owing to the lack of trained human resources, lack of sufficient water, and unfavorable climatic conditions. Rice producing Asian countries, apart from China, which include India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Pakistan, together have 4.5 million hectares of land under hybrid rice seed cultivation. The area contributes to a small percentage in each country. The U.N. FAO's regional office in this region has developed a strategy in collaboration with these countries to move toward sustainable food security in Asia. In African countries such as Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda, Madagascar, and Tanzania, cultivation with hybrid rice seeds started in the early 2000s.



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The Green Super Rice (GSR) project, which was introduced in some countries in the African continent cultivating hybrid rice seeds, developed in Asia, coordinated by the Chinese Academy Agricultural Sciences, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and Africa Rice, during 2009-2011, succeeded from the yield perspective. However, these hybrid rice seeds are not practical for commercial rice production, since they are susceptible to African diseases. Developing hybrid rice seeds that have better resistance to these diseases as well as high yield potential will be more beneficial. On the other hand, Egypt has succeeded in producing a local hybrid rice seed variety on a commercial scale through a rice breeding program. With strategic programs and support from the private sector, governments, and leading companies, hybrid rice development in Asia and Africa has a great potential to achieve a breakthrough in the technology related to hybrid rice seeds.



Self-Cloning Hybrid Rice  a Milestone in Hybrid Rice Seeds Technology



Hybrid rice seeds are a product of the hybridization of two good parent rice varieties, which are engineered with desirable traits such as higher yield. Such hybrid rice seeds do not pass the same genetic information to the next generation of seeds. Hence, if farmers need to achieve the same yield the next time, buying new hybrid rice seeds is a must. However, a recent study conducted at the laboratory level shows the possibility of preserving genetic information through the self-cloning of hybrid rice seeds. On December 12, 2018, it was reported that, hybrid rice seeds engineered with CRISPR, a gene-editing tool, can produce such a rice plant that can clone their seeds. Successful commercial production of such hybrid rice seeds can lead to a marvelous improvement in hybrid rice seed technology and overall crop development.



Hybrid Rice Seeds Giving Higher Economic Returns



Rice cultivation using hybrid rice seeds has been reported to produce higher economic returns when compared to the economic returns of conventional rice varieties. This is due to the significant yield the hybrid rice seeds over conventional rice seeds. Also, the milling yield of hybrid rice seeds was found to be the same, or in some cases better than the milling yield of conventional rice seeds. This advantage of cultivation with hybrid rice seeds is likely to encourage poor farmers to shift from conventional rice seeds to hybrid rice seeds.



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Berlin, Germany -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/26/2019 -- HospitalityUnited.Club, a consortium of travel technology companies, brings back its classic Cocktails & Conversation event to Berlin in March. The Club will be hosting an exclusive evening for hoteliers on 7th March 2019, in partnership with Cendyn, Fornova, Hotelbeds, LiveOS , RateTiger, Roiback and Sojern.



The high energy networking event will bring together leading hoteliers and tech providers in an informal relaxed setting at Funkturm Restaurant, located 55m above the ground, in the historic Radio Tower in the German capital. The event is aimed at providing a perfect place for industry peers to relax over cocktails while discussing new trends and technology.



"This is the second year we've been a part of HospitalityUnited.Club at ITB Berlin. It's proven a great way to connect with new and existing contacts in a more relaxed environment. I know the Sojern team looks forward to connecting with guests at HUC this year and discussing how to move travelers from dream to destination," commented Celine Chaussegros, GM EMEA, Sojern.



"Partnering with HospitalityUnited.Club is always a fantastic opportunity for Fornova and we are looking forward to working together at ITB 2019. Bringing together hotels and technology providers is a great opportunity to explore innovative ideas, network and collaborate," said Dori Stein, CEO, Fornova.



John Seaton, MD, EMEA & APAC at Cendyn commented, "We're delighted to be partnering with other hospitality leaders for this exciting HospitalityUnited.Club cocktail event on Thursday 7 March. It's always well-received for leaders to have the opportunity to take a breather from the hectic week at ITB Berlin and spend time catching up with their peers in the industry."



The HospitalityUnited.Club (HUC) member companies continue to collaborate and host these events around the world as they realize the importance of this platform and how it impacts business.



To join us for the HUC Cocktails & Conversations in Berlin, register today - https://www.hospitalityunited.club/event/berlin/huc_berlin_2019.html



About eRevMax

eRevMax is a travel technology company that helps hotels to maximise online revenue opportunities through real-time distribution, market intelligence and connectivity solutions. The company provides specifically tailored solutions within its core product brands  RateTiger, RTConnect and LIVE OS. RateTiger product suite offers the industry's leading Channel Manager for online distribution, Shopper for rate benchmarking and BookingForce to help drive direct bookings from the hotel's brand.com. RTConnect provides seamless 2-way XML integration of channel management functionality with the hotel's central systems. LIVE OS offers hotels a single sign-on platform to access multiple applications, while offering technology partners a chance to get in front of hotels allowing greater distribution of promotional opportunities. eRevMax is working closely with over 200 certified channel and technology partners as well as 9000 hotels worldwide helping them increase revenue opportunities and streamline business processes. For more details, please visit http://www.erevmax.com/ or contact us on marketing@erevmax.com.



About HUC

HospitalityUnited.Club brings together hotels and technology providers to exchange ideas and knowledge in an informal relaxed setting. It is a social platform for like-minded professionals. The HUC events are co-located with major trade shows around the world, including ITB, WTM, HITEC and FITUR where technology partners come together to host networking drinks at exclusive locations for their industry peers. Join HUC to get to know the latest in hospitality innovation. For more details, contact marketing@hospitalityunited.club
Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/26/2019 -- X-ray Fluorescene (XRF) is a particularly versatile tool for examining the composition of materials, and for measuring the thickness of very thin metallic coatings. XRF coating thickness gauge is mainly used in metallic coatings for measuring the coatings on metal substrates. The principles are as below:



The X-ray Fluorescene coating thickness gauge market has developed maturely for several decades. Currently the market is being dominated by few players from Japan, Germany and United States, like Hitachi High-Tech Science, Oxford Instruments and Fischer Technology. There are also several small middle and small-sized players located in Korea, Japan, United States and China, like Micro Pioneer and ISP Co, Ltd from Korea, Bowman Analytics from United States, Densoku from Japan, while Jiangsu Skyray Instrument, Shanghai Jingpu and Heleex from China. These small middle and small-sized players mainly produce and sell the mid-and low-end products, low price, low quality and fierce competition.



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In North America, Europe, Japan and India, the market is dominated by three players Hitachi High-Tech Science, Oxford Instruments and Fischer Technology.



In China, the market is dominated by Hitachi High-Tech Science, Oxford Instruments and Fischer Technology. The local players mainly produce and sell the low-end products, importing the key components (X-ray Tube and X-ray detectors) and assembling in China.



April 2017, Hitachi-hightech acquired the industrial analysis business of Oxford Instruments, this will form a complementary advantages for their X-ray Fluorescene Coating Thickness Gauge business. This acquisition will have powerful impact on the future of X-ray Fluorescene Coating Thickness Gauge market, especially in the high-end market.



The global X-ray Fluorescene Coating Thickness Gauge market is valued at 58 million US$ in 2018 is expected to reach 71 million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of 2.6% during 2019-2025.



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This report focuses on X-ray Fluorescene Coating Thickness Gauge volume and value at global level, regional level and company level. From a global perspective, this report represents overall X-ray Fluorescene Coating Thickness Gauge market size by analyzing historical data and future prospect. Regionally, this report focuses on several key regions: North America, Europe, China and Japan.



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:



Hitachi High-Tech Science, Oxford Instruments, Fischer Technology, Micro Pioneer, ISP Co, Bowman Analytics, Densoku, Jiangsu Skyray Instrument, Shanghai Jingpu, Heleex



Segment by Type



Common Type, Polycapillary Type



Segment by Application



Electronic Industry, Iron and Steel Industry, Nonferrous Metals Industry, Others



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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/26/2019 -- Off-Highway diesel engines refer to those engines that are designed to meet the needs of applications across sectors such as construction, mining and industrial. These engines deliver stable performance in extreme conditions such as dust, vibration, high altitudes and harsh climatic conditions thereby improving productivity and enhancing profitability. Such engines are also used in off-highway vehicles such as excavators, cranes, mixers, backhoes and forklifts in performing various tasks. These diesel engines are configured each time to meet the heavy-duty requirements for specific applications.



On the basis of end-use applications, the off-highway diesel engine market is segmented into mining, construction, and agricultural applications. On the basis of region, the off-highway diesel engine market revenue is primarily contributed by the North American region due to the presence of off-road emission standards such as California Air Resources Board (CARB) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which drive their adoption across industries. Asia Pacific is expected to contribute to the growth of this market due to the increasing mining and construction activities in the region.



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The increasing government regulations for near-zero diesel emissions are the prime factors fuelling the growth of off-highway diesel engines market. For instance, U.S. EPA has implemented emission standards for all off-road vehicles, equipment and engines and supports the deployment of off-highway diesel engines that comply with such regulations. In addition to EPA, the CARB has implemented stringent regulations for handheld and non-handheld engines to control the exhaust emissions and control pollution related urban health problems. Similarly, European Commission has implemented measures to reduce air pollutants from non-road mobile machineries, thereby encouraging the use of off-highway diesel engines. Another factor fuelling the growth of off-highway diesel engine market is the stiff competition in the mining industries to cut down costs on fuel prices and enhance profits. Therefore, the fleet operators and managers prefer the use of off-highway diesel engine so as to gain competitive advantage and sustain profitability. However, the costs associated with deploying such diesel engines are too high for small and medium sized fleet operators. Due to the low profit margins, they continue using the conventional machineries and equipment for executing the mining and construction activities. Also, countries with unstable mining policies hamper the regular use of such off-highway diesel engine equipment. These factors adversely affect the growth of off-highway diesel engine market.



With the goal to comply with the changing emission standards and improve fuel efficiency, major players in the market are coming with new machinery and equipment. This helps them improve the product portfolio and further penetrate the international markets. For instance, Volvo Construction Equipment, one of the major players in the market, on 28th July 2014, introduced H-series L110H and L120H wheel loaders that meet stringent emission regulations. It possesses the innovative optishift transmission system for improved fuel efficiency up to 18 percent. The other prominent players in the market are Deere & Company (U.S.), Scania AB (Sweden), Perkins Engines (U.S.), MTU Detroit Diesel (Australia), Komatsu America Corporation (U.S.), Cummins Inc. (U.S.), CNH Industrial N.V (Italy) and Caterpillar Inc. (U.S.).



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MRR.BIZ has been compiled in-depth market research data in the report after exhaustive primary and secondary research. Our team of able, experienced in-house analysts has collated the information through personal interviews and study of industry databases, journals, and reputable paid sources.



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- Overall current and possible future size of the market

- Growth pace of the market

- Competitive landscape and key players' strategies



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New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/26/2019 -- Costume jewelry (also known as fashion jewellery, trinkets, junk jewelry, fake jewelry and fallalery) is a jewelry made of less valuable materials as compared with valuable materials such as gold, diamond, platinum and other precious metals and gem. The raw material used for these jewelleries include base metals, glass, plastic, synthetic stones, semi-precious stones, beads, ivory, lac, leather, terracotta, pearl and metals such as silver, aluminum and brass. On the basis of products, the costume jewelry industry is broadly categorized as bracelets, brooch, earrings, necklaces, chokers, bangles, finger rings, toe rings, anklets and pendants.



The costume Jewelry industry operates as a true global industry as the raw materials are mostly sourced from Australia, Africa, Russia and Canada, manufacturing takes place in China, India, Italy and Turkey whereas the largest markets is North America, followed by Europe.



The developing economies such as BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are the fasted growing market with double digit growth rates. Asia Pacific is the largest producer of costume jewelry and expected to take over North America in terms of consumption in the coming years. High growth rate in Asia Pacific region is attributed to the rising income of the consumers in these countries. Further, with the massive urbanization and westernization taking place, the consumers are now becoming more fashionable and trendy. Moreover large population of young consumers (average age is 29 year and 37 year respectively for India and China) are also a key contributor in overall growth of costume jewelry in these countries.



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The key drivers for the costume jewelry include increasing prices for gold and other precious gems and pearls, internationalization of brands and increasing demand of men costume jewelry. Some of the key challenges for the costume jewelry industry include rising raw material cost and fad sensitive market of fashion jewelry. The unorganized supply chain of the raw materials in costume jewelry industry also act as a major restraint for the industry as it sometimes lead to steep hike in the prices of raw materials. Online channels, which are still new trend, offer new opportunity for the market.



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Some of the major player in operating in the industry includes, Buckley Jewellery Limited, The Colibri Group, Avon Products Inc, Swank Inc, H. Stern Com. & Ind. S.A., Cartier SA, Channel S.A., Louis Vuitton North America, Inc., Stuller, Inc., Yurman Design, Inc., Billig Jewelers, Inc. and Gianni Versace S.p.A.
Rockville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/25/2019 -- Improvement in overall economic conditions has led to a continuous increase in construction activities over the years. This has fuelled the demand for malls, office & residential areas, which in turn is driving the growth of the Concrete Floor Grinding Machine Market. Concrete floor grinding machines are used for polishing and grinding concrete, granite, marble or any other kind of floor materials. Concrete floor grinding machines are not only utilized for grinding concrete purposes but are also utilized for polishing marble and granite countertops. Ability of these machines to work on concrete and stones make them an ideal solution for construction developers.



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The demand for concrete floor grinding machines is directly proportional to the increase in the global construction industry. Nowadays, in the decorative segment, polished concrete is certainly with no doubt the burning market category. The commercial and industry flooring communities are including polished concrete as it is becoming a new standard where a combination of aesthetics, durability, reduced construction costs and minimum environmental influence is required, which in turn drive the demand for concrete floor grinding machine market.



Concrete Floor Grinding Machine Market: Drivers



Concrete floors are increasingly gaining traction in design of residential and commercial buildings owing to superior workability and performance features. Concrete floor grinding machines are extensively utilized by construction developers to improve aesthetics and mechanical properties of the designed floor. Ease of operability, enhanced efficiency in operations, and durability features of these equipment support firm growth of the market.



The growing residential sector in Asia-Pacific and North America is driving the concrete floor grinding machine market. Moreover, the wide range of end-use sectors drives the demand for concrete floor grinding machines. Companies are adding new features to concrete grinding machine portfolio such as extended life-span, ability to work on variety of floor designs and compositions, and approaching construction developers through targeted channel marketing to sustain and grow in the global concrete floor grinding machines market.



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Concrete Floor Grinding Machine Market: Regional Analysis



On the basis of region, the concrete floor grinding machine market has been segmented into nine regions: South East Asia, North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Japan, India, Middle East & Africa and China. Most of the construction activities are centered in Asia Pacific, North America and Western Europe. The large number of new and old building renovation projects in Asia Pacific are expected to spur the demand for concrete floor grinding machines in the region.



According to estimates, construction activity in the United States is estimated to grow by 4%, where the non-residential and residential sector is expected to grow by 2% and 6% respectively. Also, non-building is expected to grow by 4% over the forecast year. Geographically, in the U.S., as of 2018, the South and the West will likely be the key regions of growth with Texas, Nevada, and New Mexico leading that growth. Moreover, the Canadian construction industry is estimated to grow by 3% in 2018, after a decline of 1% in 2017. Growth in 2018 will be fueled by a rebound in residential construction. This, in turn, is expected to drive the demand for concrete floor grinding machines in the future.



Concrete Floor Grinding Machine Market: Market Participants



Some of the market participants/vendors identified in the concrete floor grinding machine market are Husqvarna, Xingyi Polishing, HTC Group, SASE Company, National Flooring Equipment, Xtreme Polishing System, Substrate Technology, Weijie Enviromental, Scanmaskin Sverige AB, Shanghai Tuomei



The concrete floor grinding machine 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. 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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Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/25/2019 -- Latest Research Report On Cloud Communication Platform Market:

The analysis of the Cloud Communication Platform Market by GI gives out the market size and market trends knowledge along with factors and parameters impacting it in both short- and long-term. The study lays out an all-inclusive 360 view and insights, drafting the key outcomes of the industry. These insights assist the decision-makers to construct better business plans and make aware decisions for enhanced profitability.



Global and Regional Cloud Communication Platform Market Research for a Leading company is an intelligent process of gathering and calculating numerical data regarding services and products. This research focuses on the idea to aim at your targeted customer's needs and wants. The report also indicates how effectively a company can meet their requirements. This market research collects data about the customers, marketing strategies and competitors.



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Some of the key players in the Cloud Communication Platform market are Revlon, Twilio, Tropo, Nexmo, Plivo, CallFire, Hookflash, Ifbyphone, Jaduka, CallHub, TelAPI, .



Market forecasts are served for each of the following submarkets, product-type and by application/end-user categories:



By Product Types: Unified Communication and Collaboration (UCC/UCaaS), Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC), Interactive Voice Response (IVR), Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Application Programming Interface (API), .



By Application/ End-user: Logistics, Customer Service, Others, .







Regional Markets: China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asia & Australia.



Cloud Communication Platform Market Effect Factors Analysis chapter precisely give emphasis on Technology Progress/Risk, Substitutes Threat, Consumer Needs/Customer Preference Changes, Technology Progress in Related Industry, and Economic/Political Environmental Changes that draws the growth factors of the Market.



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The fastest & slowest growing market segments are pointed out in the study to give out significant insights into each core element of the market. New market players are commencing their trade and are accelerating their transition in Cloud Communication Platform Market. Merger and acquisition activity forecast to change market landscape of this industry.



This report comes along with an added Excel data-sheet suite taking quantitative data from all numeric forecasts presented in the report.



Research Methodology: The Cloud Communication Platform market has been analyzed using an optimum mix of secondary sources and benchmark methodology besides a unique blend of primary insights. The contemporary valuation of the market is an integral part of our market sizing and forecasting methodology. Our industry experts and panel of primary members have helped in compiling appropriate aspects with realistic parametric assessments for a comprehensive study.



What's in the offering: The report provides in-depth knowledge about the utilization and adoption of Cloud Communication Platform Industry in various applications, types, and regions/countries. Furthermore, the key stakeholders can ascertain the major trends, investments, drivers, vertical player's initiatives, government pursuits towards the product acceptance in the upcoming years, and insights of commercial products present in the market.



Lastly, the Cloud Communication Platform Market study provides essential information about the major challenges that are going to influence market growth. The report additionally provides overall details about the business opportunities to key stakeholders to expand their business and capture revenues in the precise verticals. The report will help the existing or upcoming companies in this market to examine the various aspects of this domain before investing or expanding their business in the Cloud Communication Platform market.



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New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/26/2019 -- The latest report Dental Examination Lamps Market discusses everything a business owner needs to know about the Dental Examination Lamps 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 Dental Examination Lamps Market Report @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/23155



Scope of the Report:

The researcher assessing the Dental Examination Lamps market dive deep to unearth intangible facts related to the key restraints, opportunities, and threats expected to shape the progress of the industry during the forecast period, 2019 - 2026. Significant evaluation of other factors such as demand and supply status, import and export, distribution channel, consumption volume, and production capability play a vital role in offering business owners, stakeholders and field marketing personnel a competitive edge over others operating in the same space. All important data are presented in self-explanatory charts, tables and graphic images that can be incorporated into any business presentation.



Major Players in Dental Examination Lamps market are:

- Chiromega

- Miglionico

- Luxtel

- AdDent

- Dentozone Corporation

- Aseptico

- Dental Instrument Design



Market segment by Region/Country including:

- North America

- Europe

- China

- Japan

- Middle East & Africa

- India

- South America

- Others



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.



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Estimating the potential size of the Dental Examination Lamps industry:

Industry experts conducting the study further estimate the potential of the Dental Examination Lamps 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 Dental Examination Lamps 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 Dental Examination Lamps industry for a specific product or service.



The research provides answers to the following key questions:

- What is the estimated growth rate of the Dental Examination Lamps 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 Dental Examination Lamps 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 Dental Examination Lamps 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 Dental Examination Lamps market.

- 1 Dental Examination Lamps Market Overview

- 2 Global Dental Examination Lamps Market Competition by Manufacturers

- 3 Global Dental Examination Lamps Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2019)

- 4 Global Dental Examination Lamps Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2019)

- 5 Global Dental Examination Lamps Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type

- 6 Global Dental Examination Lamps Market Analysis by Application

- Continue



Read More @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/dental-examination-lamps-market



Key Points from TOC

8 Competitive Landscape

8.1 Competitive Profile

8.2 Chiromega

8.2.1 Company Profiles

8.2.2 Dental Examination Lamps Product Introduction

8.2.3 Chiromega Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2014-2019

8.2.4 Chiromega Market Share of Dental Examination Lamps Segmented by Region in 2018

8.3 Miglionico

8.3.1 Company Profiles

8.3.2 Dental Examination Lamps Product Introduction

8.3.3 Miglionico Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2014-2019

8.3.4 Miglionico Market Share of Dental Examination Lamps Segmented by Region in 2018

8.4 Luxtel

8.4.1 Company Profiles

8.4.2 Dental Examination Lamps Product Introduction

8.4.3 Luxtel Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2014-2019

8.4.4 Luxtel Market Share of Dental Examination Lamps Segmented by Region in 2018

Continue



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Maharashtra, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/26/2019 -- Canned Mushroom Market



Industrial Forecast on Canned Mushroom Market: Canned Mushrooms Market, means the product prepared from the sound, succulent, fresh mushroom by proper trimming, washing, and sorting and is packed with the addition of water in hermetically sealed containers and sufficiently processed by heat to assure preservation of the product. Salt, or monosodium glutamate, or both may be added in a quantity sufficient to season the product. Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) may be added improve the shelf life.



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Global giant manufactures mainly distributed in china and Europe. The manufacturers in Zhangzhou of China have a long history and unshakable status in this field. Most of Chinese manufactures locate in Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang province. As to France, Bonduelle has become as a global leader.



Segmentation by product type:

Button Canned Mushroom

Shiitake Canned Mushroom

Oyster Canned Mushroom

Others



Segmentation by application:

Household

Restaurant

Others



The key manufacturers covered in this report:

Bonduelle group, GreenyardFoods(Lutece Holdings B.V.), Prochamp, Grupo Riberebro, The Mushroom Company, Monterey Mushrooms, Okechamp S.A., Monaghan Mushrooms Ireland, Muniraj Mushroom Farm, Green Giant, Agro Dutch, Dhruv Agro, Tirupati Balaji Agro Products, Zishan, Tongfa, Green Fresh, Fujian Yuxing, Champion Foods, Dongshan Huakang



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Important Facts About Canned Mushroom Market Report:

-This research report reveals Canned Mushroom business overview, product overview, market share, supply chain analysis, demand and supply ratio and import/export details.

-The Industry report features different approaches and procedures endorsed by the Canned Mushroom market key players to make vital business decisions.

-Canned Mushroom market depicts some parameters such as production value, Canned Mushroom marketing strategy analysis, Distributors/Traders and effect factors is also mentioned in this Canned Mushroom research report.



Key questions answered in the report include:

What will the market growth rate of Canned Mushroom market in 2024?

What are the key factors driving the global Canned Mushroom market?

Who are the key manufacturers in this market space?

What are the market opportunities, market risk and market overview of the Canned Mushroom market?

What are sales, revenue, and price analysis of top manufacturers of this market?

Who are the distributors, traders and dealers of this market?

What are the this market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global Canned Mushroom market?



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Reasons for Buying this Report:

1.To gain insightful analyses of the Canned Mushroom Industry and have comprehensive understanding of the global market and its commercial landscape

2.Assess the production processes, major issues, and solutions.

3.Market strategies that are being adopted by leading respective organizations

4.The report gives specific analysis for rapidly changing dynamics of this Industry.

5.To understand the future outlook and prospects for the this market with Marketing & Price (Price and Margin, Factors of Price Change, Manufacturers Gross Margin Analysis)



About Reports Monitor

Reports Monitor is a market research and consulting company that provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries including Healthcare, Technology, Chemicals, Materials, and Energy. With an intrinsic understanding of many business environments, Reports Monitor provides strategic objective insights.
San Francisco, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/25/2019 -- Global Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Market : Snapshot



According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) has turned into a glaring health burden across the world and possesses high rates of permanent disabilities and fatalities. It has been estimated by the NIH that approximately 9 out of 100,000 people across the world suffer from some variation of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, a number which is more concerning in the U.S. wherein 30,000 people are diagnosed for SAH each year. Among these cases, raptured cerebral aneurysms accounts for nearly 80% of the non-traumatic aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Going forward, these numbers are expected to mount even further, and thereby prove to be boon for the players in the global market for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.



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Smoking, hypertension, history of intracranial aneurysms in immediate relatives, chronic alcohol use are some of the common causes of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, while the symptoms include headache, facial or orbital pain, unilateral third nerve palsy, bilateral lower extremity weakness, and vision loss. With no absolute therapy available and severity of the implications, early detection of SAH is of utmost importance and hence, there are vast opportunities available for the players venturing in the aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage market. In addition to that, the NIH study reveals that aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage is more prevalent in developed region of North America including the U.S. in comparison to Japan and China in Asia Pacific. With the presence of several key players in the healthcare sector in North America, the research and development pertaining to aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage is expected to drive the global aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage market for the same.



Global Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Market: Overview



Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage is a type of stroke and accounts for almost 7% of all strokes. It is listed under medical emergency conditions and can cause severe disability or can be fatal as well. Subarachnoid hemorrhage is sudden bleeding into the subarachnoid space of the central nervous system that may occur due to head injury, rupture of cerebral aneurysm, and aneurysm in other blood vessels. The most significant cause of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage is trauma. Some other causes of this condition are migraine, intra-cerebral hemorrhage, meningitis, and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis. In addition, lifestyle factors, smoking, genetics, hypertension, and excessive alcohol consumption are also significant factors for subarachnoid hemorrhage.



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The report is an all-important tool to understand the progression of the global aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage market between 2017 and 2025. In this report, the various market forces and growth indicators are analyzed at length to present a clear picture of strengths, weakness, threats, and opportunities of the market until the end of the forecast period in 2025.



Global Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Market: Market Segmentation



The global aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage market is segmented on the basis of diagnostic test, therapy, and geography. By diagnostic test, CT scan and MRI are the components of this market. Lumber puncture is mandatory in cases where imaging shows indefinite results. Xanthochromia is another diagnostic test that helps in the detection of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Cerebral angiography and transcranial Doppler ultrasound are also used for detecting aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.



The regional segments of the global aneurysm subarachnoid hemorrhage market are North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World. As per an article published by Elsevier in 2014, countries such as Japan and Finland have high incidence rates of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.



Global Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Market: Drug Acceptance



In May 2013, Arbor Pharmaceuticals received FDA approval for Nymalize containing nimodipine for patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage. Currently, Arbor Pharmaceuticals possess the commercial rights of Nymalize solely in the US.



The primary treatment for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage involves stabilizing the patient by repairing the cause of bleeding with the help of vasospasms such as calcium channel blockers such as nimodipine. Anti-anxiety medications and pain killers, when administered, helps relieve headaches and pressure in the skull. Phenyton is used to treat or prevent the occurrence of seizures.



The treatment also focuses on alleviating symptoms and preventing complications such as permanent brain damage. Surgery is advised in cases where removal of large volume of blood is required to alleviate pressure on the brain. Aneurysm clipping, endovascular coiling, and craniotomy are some of the surgical procedures carried out for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Endovascular coiling involves placing coils in the aneurysm and stents in the blood vessel in order to lessen risk of further bleeding.



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https://www.tmrresearch.com/aneurysmal-subarachnoid-hemorrhage-market



Companies and Institutions Mentioned in the Report



Some of the leading companies in the global aneurysmal subarachnoid market are Arbor Pharmaceuticals, Edge Therapeutics Inc., and Actelion Ltd. Key institutions that contribute to the global aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage market are Chinese University of Hong Kong, Utrecht University, University of Miami, University of Cambridge, and the University of Calgary among others.



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.
Its not a stretch to say that California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is leading the resistance to President Donald Trump, challenging the current administration in high-profile legal battles with lots at stake on hot-button issues such as border security, immigration, criminal justice reform and recreational marijuana, to name a few.

And Becerra, whose office has filed numerous lawsuits against the Trump administration, is just getting started. His office counts 46 lawsuits against the administration, which may be nearing a record, reportedly the four dozen or more lawsuits filed by the Texas Attorney Generals Office against the Obama administration. But with nearly two years left in Becerras term, its safe to say that the Democrat could easily set a new mark for conflict with the current Republican administration.

In a new interview with us, the hosts and producers of The San Diego Union-Tribunes podcast, The Conversation, Becerra spoke at length about his lawsuits against the Trump administration, and discussed other big issues in California, such as his refusal to release police disciplinary records that were meant to be made public under Senate Bill 1421.

Todays release of our Becerra interview coincides with the publication of a UC Berkeley Investigative Reporting Program story that details misconduct by police across the state. Becerra told the reporters in that story the release of such records is illegal and threatened them with legal action, the story reports.

Becerra told the Union-Tribune withholding such records is a matter of privacy  the privacy of police officers across the state.

Youre talking about a law that requires a release of information that, until Jan. 1, 2019, was considered private, confidential. My job is to protect your privacy, everyones privacy, Becerra told the Union-Tribune.

Theres a law that changed that. To make sure we do it right you want to make sure you do it right from the very beginning because, see, the thing is you dont get a second chance to get it right when it comes to disclosing someones personal information.

Listen to the full interview on Soundcloud:

Read the transcript of that interview:

ABBY HAMBLIN: Okay. So we want to ask you youve been in the news a lot lately. Weve seen you in the news for many things. Lets talk about what puts you there, one of the things being that you have filed 46 lawsuits against the Trump Administration. Youre nearing the record that Texas holds for lawsuits by a state against an administration. For our listeners who arent familiar with these lawsuits, why so many?

XAVIER BECERRA: First, Abby and Luis, thank you for having me. Why so many? Because too many times Californias people our values, our resources have been attacked. And the things that make us a successful state, in fact the number one state for the national economy, the fifth largest economy now in the world needs to continue to produce jobs to protect the health care of citizenry and to make sure were giving everyone an opportunity to get well educated and have those same prospects.

And any time someone tries to attack those principles and those values, were going to protect the people. And so 46 times, unfortunately, the federal government has overreached its bounds and tried to undermine what we do, whether its in continuing to move towards cleaner burning vehicles or whether its the way we treat immigrant families in California or whether its protecting the health care that millions of Californians acquired as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

HAMBLIN: So what would you say to critics who feel that this is going a little overboard?

BECERRA: Well, it is on the part of the president. The presidents going overboard. He has just recently declared a fabricated border emergency so he can rob money thats destined for our men and women in uniform or for disaster victims. Thats not right and California should not and would not stand for it, and thats why we filed our most recent lawsuit, the 46th lawsuit against the Trump administration, for exceeding their authorities.

HAMBLIN: You were recently described in an Associated Press article as being among the most aggressive of the democratic state attorneys general who have battled Trump in court. How do you feel about that title?

BECERRA: As I said, I do what I got to do. I was I hope I was a productive member of congress when I was fortunate to have that position. I hope I could say Im a decent husband and a good father, and I hope to be a good AG as well.

LUIS GOMEZ: On the topic of lawsuits, the Trump administration has only filed only a handful of lawsuits against California and theres a bit of a disparity, obviously. Is it because California is overreacting or is Trump overreaching?

BECERRA: Well, we filed against the Trump Administration because theyre overreaching. Theyve only filed a few against us and, in most cases, lost because we follow the rules. We comply with the law. If the Trump Administration would abide by the law we wouldnt be suing them so many times and winning, by the way.

GOMEZ: And you mentioned the recent national emergency declaration that Trump made last week to divert funds to build his border wall. Under what circumstances would an actual national emergency at the border be justified?

BECERRA: Well, let me tell you what constitutes a national emergency from the evidence we have. September 11, 2001, George Bush, as our president, declared a national emergency after 9/11. 1979 President Jimmy Carter declared a national emergency because we had dozens of Americans held hostage in Iran.

We have seen occasions where we must take action against foreign governments by imposing sanctions, for example, because they are threatening our security or our national interest. I think in those cases people would say a clear case where our people, our interest as a nation are harmed. Down at the border Donald Trump himself has said that hes got more money to do the stuff he needs to do than he can count.

He says that he didnt need to declare this national emergency himself he said that. And his own Department of Homeland Security says that it is tougher to cross the border without authorization today than it has been in a long time and that the apprehensions of people trying to cross without authorization are at a 20-year low.

And so to say that its an emergency and then within 24 hours having said it go off to Florida to your Mar-a-Lago resort when you think theres a national emergency, I think all the evidence, including what Donald Trump says and does, proves there is no national emergency.

GOMEZ: So are you saying that there under no circumstances would there be one justified at the border?

BECERRA: Im Im simply

HAMBLIN: Yeah. What would for you?

BECERRA: Im simply saying that what is going on today at the border does not constitute a national emergency and all the evidence not just the evidence on the ground, but evidence of what Donald Trump has said and what Donald Trump has done, including what his administration has done, proves that there is no national emergency.

GOMEZ: You and your office and 15 other states filed a lawsuit immediately right after his declaration. Walk me through that process. How is that coordinated with those attorneys general and were there any that declined?

BECERRA: Yeah, so its a its a similar process to what weve experienced over these last two years. Having come from Washington, D.C. as member of congress Im very familiar with a lot of these policies that the President is trying to eliminate or retreat from.

And so my team and I have been preparing for a lot of these assaults because so many of these attacks hit California the hardest. Were the biggest, were the most populated state, we have the biggest economy, so any time the federal government tries to undo important advances its probably going to hurt California more than any anyone else. So weve always had to be on alert.

And as in the case of DACA, as in the case with the presidents attack on the Affordable Care Act, his attack on the clean car standards, we were preparing for this potential manufactured call for national emergency. And so when it came time to file right after he spoke, wed already been in conversation with a number of our sister states and, as you see, 16 states were ready to file pretty immediately after the president made his phony declaration.

GOMEZ: Were there any that declined or were not ready yet?

BECERRA: I think youre going to see other states either join us or file their own case or join with others. And there are a number of states that we spoke to who are continue to be interested. I

GOMEZ: Can you say which ones?

BECERRA: Its probably best left for them to talk about where they stand, but there are several states that are looking at this as well.

GOMEZ: Now, Trumps argument may not be all that sophisticated, but he says that theres drugs flowing into the U.S. from the southern border. How do you square that  you as the Californias top law enforcement officer  with drug busts after drug busts, the opioid epidemic and black market marijuana plaguing the state?

BECERRA: Thats very easy to square. There are drugs trying to come into the country illegally. Its just that theyre not coming across from the points where Donald Trump wants to build a wall. Theyre coming across our ports of entry.

In fact, in the last week the largest, Ill say, cocaine drug bust in the last 20 years occurred at one of our ports of entry, not along the border area where Donald Trump wants to build a border wall. Three weeks before that we had the largest drug seizure of opioids fentanyl and other opioid drugs, again, at our port of entry where building a wall would have done nothing to help our law enforcement agencies seize those drugs.

So if you really want to take care of drugs and stop the intrusion of those drugs into this country, you wouldnt be spending billions upon billions on a border wall. Youd be enhancing our abilities at our ports of entry. And you wouldnt, by the way, be stealing money from drug interdiction efforts, as Donald Trump proposes to do, to try to pay for his wall by robbing money from drug interdiction efforts if youre serious about trying to reduce the number of drugs that are coming into this country.

GOMEZ: So moving onto a different lawsuit the gas emissions issue. The Trump administration is rolling back Obama-era emission standards and, obviously, this is one of the legal battles. How big of a setback would it be if Trump had a victory on auto mileage and emission policy?

BECERRA: Well, remember, theyre not just Obama emission standards. These are national emission standards. Everyone in every state in the nation has adopted these standards, is applying these standards. The Trump administration now chooses to retreat from those standards.

Its as if I were to say, as the attorney general, I dont want to enforce our state laws. Its a dereliction of the very duty you have as the commander in chief and the president and that is to enforce the laws of the federal government. And so theyre walking away from them. Whats the consequence? We know that pollution is impacting out health and certainly our environment. Whether its the wildfires or the mudslides or whether its the increased asthma you see among our kids, were facing the consequences of all this pollution.

To retreat from the work that we can do that scientifically we know we can do is crazy. Its absolutely crazy. The science has proven that we can move in a good direction to reduce emissions. And, in fact, the auto industry has proved that they could meet these standards, yet Donald Trump is talking about retreating. Its just were not interested in California in retreating, rolling back. We want to move forward, not backwards.

HAMBLIN: So were obviously interested in asking you about these lawsuits. We have another one which has not been as in the news lately, but is another example of California being unique to the rest of the country. So the federal government historically sets immigration has been the authority on immigration issues. We want to ask about the sanctuary state lawsuit. Why does California why should California be the exception?

BECERRA: And, Abby, tell me what you mean by the exception.

HAMBLIN: Well, obviously, the you know, even just suing alone and being sued back that was obviously a big deal this hasnt been in the news in a while, but why does why should California have policies that dont line up with what the national government wants?

BECERRA: Because what the law requires is to abide by the law, not by what Donald Trump wants.

HAMBLIN: The federal law?

BECERRA: Federal law. State law. Theres theres the laws dont change with every president so that every president who wants to do certain things certain ways gets to say now Im in office, now you got to do things the way I want. It doesnt work that way.

Were a nation of laws, not a nation of men, and every person in America is expected to follow the rules, including the guy who works in the oval office. And so Donald Trump has a right to make sure the federal government enforces the federal law and make sure that states abide by the federal law. California does. In fact, in those sanctuary so called sanctuary jurisdiction cases where the federal government took California to court we won and we proved that were abiding by federal law. It was Donald Trump who was violating federal laws.

And so, as I said before, when we file suit or we defend against the federal government its not because we want to sue. Were not trying to poke eyes in Washington, D.C. Were just trying to protect everything thats made California the number one economy for our country and the economic engine for the United States.

HAMBLIN: This when we write about this, when we look into this issue, you know, whether its on social media or elsewhere, this is always a huge issue among Californians. We it

GOMEZ: Yeah, gets a lot of reaction.

HAMBLIN: It gets a lot of reaction, yeah. So what do you say to those who see these sanctuary state laws as inviting and welcoming more immigrants to the border than the federal what the federal courts can keep up? Thats in San Diego this is a huge question for us.

BECERRA: Yeah, yeah. And I get it. A lot of folks hear sanctuary state, sanctuary city which, by the way, no one has defined in the law and they conjure up images, so I get it. No one, including me, wants to provide safe haven to criminal.

No one, including me or certainly no attorney general should want to see almost an invitation to folks to violate the law. I think we want to do everything to prove to folks you got to live by the law. By the way, so does the guy in the White House. And so I get the concern. So let me try to give a sense of what typically is meant by sanctuary jurisdiction.

That typically means that communities have decided that theyre going to try to do law enforcement in their community. Every city, every county, every state has a right to decide how to do law enforcement under the U.S. Constitution. Thats not for the federal government to tell us, but California and our cities and counties have decided that we want to have aggressive law enforcement so we can go after criminals.

To go after criminals you cant just depend on a police officer on the street by himself or herself. You need the help of the community who witnessed the crime, who are the victims of a crime. If victims and witnesses dont want to come forward because theyre afraid theyll become the subject of arrest because they happen to be immigrants then there are a whole bunch of victims and witnesses who wont come forward.

We said look, we want you to know people in our communities that you can come forward and talk to local law enforcement because were going to enforce our state laws and city laws against criminal activity, not immigration. We are not going to be immigration enforcers. Were not going to be doing immigration deportation.

Thats what essentially is meant by sanctuary jurisdictions is that well leave immigration enforcement, including deportation, to the federal governments ICE authorities. And they have every right to do that. California does nothing to stop the federal government and ICE from engaging in immigration enforcement.

We couldnt even if we wanted to. And so thats why we won these cases because we dont interfere with the federal government. We just tell the federal government you cant force us to do your work nor can you take away our funds if we dont agree to do the work you want us to do. Thats the difference. And thats why I get it why some people are concerned when they hear sanctuary jurisdiction, but they should understand what it really means and know that we continue to abide by law. If theres a dangerous person out there, regardless of their status, were going to go get them.

GOMEZ: Well, I think like people here in California may understand that distinction if you you know, the way you articulated it that they come to understand it, but I think, you know, when when people think of these these things they think about what sort of message its sending to people in, you know, Mexico and Central America. You know, what sort of message do you think those people are are getting from listening to to you say were not going to were not going to work with the federal authorities once youre here.

BECERRA: No. Well, were working with the federal authorities. In fact, my Department of Justice is working, today as we speak, with federal authorities on any number of matters, including making sure were pursuing those who are trying to bring drugs into the country, engage in sex trafficking, including those who are from outside of the U.S. who are foreigners who might be trying to do that.

So were not were not we havent stopped our work with the federal government. Its just that we wont do the federal governments work in this particular area. Well let them do it, but I get it, again. And this is a message I would send to anyone whos outside this country who doesnt have a right to be in the U.S., dont try to come in unless you have authorization because youre not entitled to. You have to have a basis to come into the United States, otherwise guess what as a sovereign nation we have a right to remove you from the United States, period.

HAMBLIN: And we actually saw that some areas of the state, including here in San Diego County, were supportive of Trump at this time. You know, what were your thoughts on that as it unfolded?

BECERRA: Thats a great thing about this country were free to express our values and our beliefs. And I would defend the rights of any of those folks who are Trump supporters to express those rights, peacefully at least. And so I think thats what makes this makes this country great we the diversity of opinion. Theres nothing wrong with that. And every one of us should be prepared to explain our position and our and our values so that people can make decisions, especially when it comes time to vote.

HAMBLIN: Fair enough. Okay, so onto another big reason youve been in the news lately the high-speed rail. Obviously, Trump has said he would like to see the money returned. Hes been tweeting about this and, you know, you and the governor are responding. Ive seen your tweets as well. The central issue here is the management of the high-speed rail, and there have been state audits that have said it has been mismanaged. What how can the state defend itself? How can California really have a chance responding?

BECERRA: So, Abby, on that one, I think the state has an obligation to make sure it is conducting its affairs transparently and efficiently. And I think thats what Gov. Newsom and everyone in state government will, you know, be on alert to make sure were doing.

I cant really go too far into the discussion of high-speed rail mostly because I likely will be the attorney of record for the governor and the High-Speed Rail Transit Authority. And so what Ive actually been saying more than more often than not is that if folks have questions about high-speed rail they should really talk to my clients. They have to talk to those who have the authority to speak on these things.

HAMBLIN: Yeah. We saw that you have said that previously, but we thought wed just give it a chance and see what youd say.

BECERRA: Good try. Good try.

GOMEZ: Yeah, moving on. This is another big topic, you know, and and hopefully we can get as much as we can from you on SB 1421, the law that has made a lot of disciplinary records of police officers throughout the state public. Your office is supposed to set the tone for law enforcement agencies across the state, but your office has also opposed releasing records from your office under

HAMBLIN: For now.

GOMEZ: Under Senate Bill 1421. First off, what

BECERRA: For now. For now. Abby included that caveat for now.

GOMEZ: First off, whats your argument for withholding disciplinary records of officers in your office? Thats the Department of Justice here in California.

BECERRA: So, as this law was taking effect, it was challenged in court whether or not it should apply to pre-Jan. 1, 2019 records.

GOMEZ: And theres already two courts that have agreed that they should be retroactive.

BECERRA: Yes. Yeah. So several courts have are addressing this as we speak and several courts put on hold the release of any records that relate to activity before Jan. 1st, 2019. My job is to make sure that everyone in the state abides by the law. And, in this case, law enforcement abides by the law.

By the way, I have a law enforcement arm within the Department of Justice. I have agents who are peace officers, and so we, in the Department of Justice in our Division of Law Enforcement, also must abide by the law. The question became what exactly does the law say or require? This is a new law. It hasnt been tested yet. It has been taken to court.

GOMEZ: Well, the author of the law has said that it should be retroactive.

BECERRA: Thats correct. And so that has value when a court is considering what how to interpret the law, but it is not dispositive. And thats why there have been several courts

GOMEZ: Is it not clear? Is the law not clear?

BECERRA: Have you read it?

GOMEZ: The author has said that the law is clear.

BECERRA: And there were three courts at least a few courts that said hold off, were going to see if its clear.

GOMEZ: Okay.

BECERRA: And so my job is to make sure everyone abides by the law. If the law is unsettled its hard for me to tell folks what the law is. And so what I have said is that for now we are disclosing whats clear in the law that records from Jan. 1, 2019 forward are clearly within the law.

Courts are beginning to rule on whether records before January of January Jan. 1, 2019 should be released. And we will make sure that we, in the Department of Justice, abide by the law and enforce that law so that everyone else does, but heres the thing.

Youre talking about a law that requires a release of information that, until Jan. 1, 2019, was considered private, confidential. My job is to protect your privacy, everyones privacy. Theres a law that changed that. To make sure we do it right you want to make sure you do it right from the very beginning because, see, the thing is you dont get a second chance to get it right when it comes to disclosing someones personal information.

Luis, if I were to disclose something very personal about you that right that the law had protected up until Jan. 1, 2019 if it had to do with something since the beginning of the year Id say hey, yeah, I have to release it, but I have a if I have information if Im holding information about you thats very personal that used to be confidential that you believe is not part of this new law, you would probably be very angry with me probably be more than that be more than that. Youd probably sue me if I disclose that information before it was clear that the law applied to pre-January 2019 information. And so

HAMBLIN: In some of these cases thats already happening, though.

BECERRA: Yes, I know. And I think we have to always be very careful when it comes to private information. Im in the process right now preparing regulations to protect consumer privacy over the internet as a result of a new law that was passed last year.

Im going to do everything I can to make sure I protect your privacy each one of your privacy on the internet as well as well as everyone else in Californias privacy on the internet, but itd be hard for me to say Im doing the Im going to do a good job at protecting peoples privacy over the Internet if I get it wrong on this law when it comes to people protecting peoples privacy in their personnel records. And so well know soon from the courts and Ill make sure that not only is the Department of Justice abiding by the rulings, but we move forward to make sure everyone else is as well.

GOMEZ: Would you happen to know how many disciplinary records are in your office today for the last five years?

BECERRA: Oh, heres another question about the law. I know how many. I know the personnel records of my personnel, but I also because we are the state Department of Justice we receive a lot of personnel records of every other law enforcement agency in the State of California. How many does how many records is that? You figure. And the question from

GOMEZ: Do you know from your own personnel your own office?

BECERRA: We have those records of our own personnel, but can you imagine? This law is not clear as to whether or not when someone makes a request for those public for those records to be made public if they have to make that request to the agency that employs that individual whose personnel record theyre seeking or if they could also make the request to me, even though I dont employ that person, but that agency has, for other legal reasons, sent me copies of those personnel records.

GOMEZ: Yeah.

BECERRA: Thats going to become a really important question because I dont have the resources to go out and try to protect the still confidential information in those personnel records before the release because Im now having to replicate some would say Im having to replicate what the agencies the originating agencies are doing in disclosing these records. And so thats still another question. So, again, a law gets passed.

GOMEZ: Do you have a ballpark number of like how many disciplinary records are from your office alone?

BECERRA: I couldnt tell you the actual number right now, but we have that. But what Im saying to you is that the the task of making sure because theres certain information in these records that now, as a result of this law, becomes disclosable, but theres still a lot of private information that is not disclosed names of other individuals that are included that have nothing nothing to do with that particular officer.

All those kinds of bits of information that are contained in these reports that has to be redacted. And were prepared to do the redactions for personnel who work for the Department of Justice, but the law is unclear in this respect as well as to whether or not the law meant to have the Department of Justice do the work of all the law enforcement agencies that are sending us records for other unrelated reasons in the law.

HAMBLIN: I think one of the reasons this has become such a big question for you is because of your record, because of, you know, this was signed by Gov. Brown, this was written by a democrat, this is a progressive issue in the state. And we actually one of the things we wanted to ask you about was a CALmatters headline that asked can progressives trust you to police the police? How do you handle that question?

BECERRA: Well, I dont think theres any question. Democrats are doing everything possible to make sure that we police or we enforce the law, so were policing that everyone is abiding by the laws. And it shouldnt be a question of whether youre a democrat or a republican. In this particular case, if were talking about (SB) 1421, we want we want to make sure we do this right because we want to make sure that were policing activities the right way. We dont want to do it the wrong way because, Ill repeat again, you dont get a second chance to get it right when it comes to disclosing private personal information.

GOMEZ: Okay, moving along on criminal justice reform now.

HAMBLIN: Yeah. Well I mean one of the other interesting pieces of this is the police unions piece of this. How do you square your support of police unions with, you know, what California has long been focused on, which is criminal justice reform?

BECERRA: I square them without a problem. I work with our peace officers day in day out, I work with the chiefs and the sheriffs day in day out, and I work with community advocates who want to make sure policing is done the right way.

Last month we made an announcement that we had reached an agreement with the Stockton Unified School District because its police department had been using its police force in very aggressive ways in dealing with disciplinary issues at the schools, which began to track a lot of students  mostly students of color  often times students with disabilities into the criminal justice system instead of trying to resolve disciplinary issues within the school system itself so that these kids would not start on that pipeline from schools to prisons.

And so were actively engaged in that. Right now we are the authority that is overseeing the implementations implementation, excuse me, of reforms of the San Francisco Police Department, some 272 reforms that the city and the police department have agreed to implement to try to reform their police department. We are overseeing that.

GOMEZ: And Sacramento police.

BECERRA: And Sacramento youre aware. We have already issued the first of two reports on the Sacramento Police Department on its policies and practices in policing, and were coming close to concluding our criminal investigation of the shooting incident involving Stephon Clark who was shot and killed by officers.

Were engaged in other activities as well. At the same time, Im working closely with law enforcement when it comes to drug interdiction. Were working day in day out with our law enforcement partners to retrieve weapons from felons and dangerous people. Were working day in day out to make sure that the cannabis laws of the state are enforced. Theres no problem squaring my work and support for law enforcement and my true desire to see criminal justice reform occur in California.

HAMBLIN: Your predecessor Kamala Harris theres a lot of eyes on her right now, obviously, and her record in criminal justice reform, and shes been criticized in, you know, a lot of areas for her history there. Where do you hope to come off in criminal justice reform? How will you be different than her? What do you want to be your legacy with that?

BECERRA: To me

HAMBLIN: You mentioned a few examples just now, but

BECERRA: Yeah. To to me policing and public safety is really a matter of getting to the point where everyone has a level of respect. All the stakeholders involved... our peace officers, the communities, victims, suspects. Remember, youre not youre only a suspect until youre proven guilty.

So everyone in the community there has to be a level of respect moving forward in how we do policing because if you dont have respect you really cant go to the next stage, which is trust, and you need to have trust. Police have to trust that the communitys there to help.

Community has to trust that the police are there to do things the right way. If you cant have trust you have a breakdown, and thats where theres a need for reform. And so Im hoping that we are as aggressive as weve always been in reform because were always trying to do it better and were learning about best practices. Thats why weve been involved in Sacramento and San Francisco and Stockton.

Thats why were going to continue to work closely with our partners in law enforcement, including at the federal level. And so I hope that the legacy we leave and that Im a part of is one that shows that California is at the lead when it comes to how we do policing to the point where it engenders true trust among all stakeholders.

GOMEZ: In the same vein of reform criminal justice reform and speaking of Kamala Harris, shes done a radio interview recently this month where she clarified her position on recreational marijuana legalization. She is now in favor of the legalization of recreational marijuana at the federal level. First off, I just kinda want to get a sense of, you know, how the state of California did in its first year of implementing it in allowing the sales of recreational marijuana. I just saw the figures, you know. It was $340 something million in tax revenue that it brought in. How is that going? How is the implementation going?

BECERRA: Well, there are lots of issues at play. Its enforcement, licensing, taxation.

GOMEZ: What do you think is the biggest hurdle?

BECERRA: Well, I would tell you, as the attorney general, that the biggest hurdle I see is enforcement is getting it right is enforcing the law so that there are people who are getting into the business the right way by registering, by getting licensed, by paying taxes versus doing it the wrong way. And

GOMEZ: But isnt there a Catch-22 there?

BECERRA: How so?

GOMEZ: If theres municipalities more than half of municipalities all throughout California that make it harder for legal recreational marijuana to set up shop.

BECERRA: Well, and thats why enforcement becomes a real issue and a priority, at least for me, and thats because we have to have a regime in place statewide that lets us do it right. Under the initiative that passed and became law, local governments are given lots of authority on how to deal with cannabis in their jurisdiction and the state has to help coordinate, but Ill tell you this.

The important thing here is to establish early a strong foundation. If your foundation is weak the architecture you build on top of it will crumble at some point, and we cant afford to do that because we already have a large illicit cannabis industry. And its going to be very difficult to not only win the support of Californians long term, but of the federal government to not make it more difficult if we dont get it right.

And so I hope that we what we do soon, at the state level, is that our policymakers will help us make sure that were doing cannabis the right way when it comes to enforcement. We cant continue to have lots of illegal grows, lots of folks who arent getting licensed, lots of illegal sales because that that just harms the ability for the industry to be a legitimate one, but I do agree with the initiative and the the votes of the people in California to move from criminalizing to regulating cannabis.

HAMBLIN: Before we let you go we want to ask another question about predecessors, and that is that Kamala Harris and Jerry Brown have gone onto very high profile jobs after being attorney general. Youre young. We as we saw, you just delivered the response to the State of the Union. How ambitious are you? What do what could we expect to see from your career beyond this?

BECERRA: Well, I know Im blessed. Im the first in my family to have a chance to go to college let alone become the attorney general. My dad got to the sixth grade. My mom didnt come to this country til she was 18 when she came from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. In so many ways I am living the California the American Dream.

And, as I tell my daughters, the skys the limit. And so I just hope I can do a great job as attorney general, but I believe in what I say and what I preach to my daughters you do well, youll be rewarded, the sky will be the limit.

HAMBLIN: The sky the limit meaning senator? President?

BECERRA: Skys the limit.

HAMBLIN: All right, we asked. Okay. Thank you so much for being here. I think we covered a lot and its good to have you in San Diego to talk about it.

GOMEZ: Yeah, we covered a lot. Thank you so much for for joining us and we maybe well have you back here some other day.

BECERRA: Have me because its always a joy to come to San Diego.

GOMEZ: Thank you.

HAMBLIN: All right, thank you.

BECERRA: Thank you.

Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @RunGomez

Listen to The Conversation on Soundcloud or wherever you get your podcasts.
Not all San Diegans can afford another latte

Re Strapped for cash, SANDAG pushes on (Feb. 23): Let me get this straight: SANDAG cant afford to complete the list of projects promised to the voters from the last sales tax increase, yet it likely would want to increase taxes yet again, promising a state-of-the-art transportation system.

Another tax increase, another promise? And the new executive director, Hasan Ikhrata, whose base salary is $414,149 plus bonuses, says, Yes, this region is worth giving up a latte a month.

He needs to get out of his ivory tower and ask people just how many lattes they drink every month. The article says the population cant afford necessities and he cites lattes. Another clueless politician.

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Vickie Wolf

Oceanside

San Diego taxes dont support better streets

Re How do other cities have such nice streets? (Feb. 23): The letter writer desires high-quality infrastructure but asks What do other cities do that San Diego cant? The answer is collect sufficient revenues to pay for it.

Visitors to San Diego pay 10.5 percent on their hotel bill. San Diegans visiting Anaheim pay 15 percent. In terms of city budget dollars, thats a $50 million difference. Our sales tax is 7.75 percent. Santa Monica charges 10.25 percent. Thats a $100 million difference.

San Diego is the only major city in California that doesnt charge for trash collection. Theres another $50 million.

San Diego households pay 95 cents per month for stormwater fees to pay for water quality projects. Cities around Los Angeles charge $10 per month. And the list goes on.

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Over the decades, thats several billion dollars left uncollected from visitors, businesses and residents to pay for the cost of quality city services and infrastructure.

Michael Zucchet

Ocean Beach

If we want good mass transit, it will cost us

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Re San Diego already has the perfect transit hub site (Feb. 14): Much more income from local sources will be needed to make a strong transit system, so a local tax increase is warranted. The Purple Line is clearly needed, and should be a priority because of its long lead time.

Why not allow transit riders to update their travel cards online (getting a good discount) in a process where they document their regular trips (giving the starting/ending destinations and travel days/times)? Riders would save money, and transit planners would get better data.

Ride-sharing autos would also benefit from getting public reimbursements. Implementation could be tricky, but when riders and drivers both get benefits from this, the desire to use this would grow. Having many designated community travel nodes could enhance transit/transfers across the region. Using dynamic online transit maps, clicking the starting/ending nodes, could display relevant travel maps/options/schedules.

Robert G. Benson

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Mission Valley

Letters and commentary policy

The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below.

Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook.
Houston-based U.S. District Judge Gray H. Millers ruling that it is unconstitutional to have a military draft that applies only to men can be seen as trivial or irrelevant, given that the draft ended 46 years ago, and few people, rightly, are clamoring for its return. Relying on volunteers has mostly worked very well for the military.

Nevertheless, Millers ruling matters  and is grounded in common sense  because federal law still requires men to register with the Selective Service System when they turn 18. In 1981, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the male-only draft, justices bought the rationale that women were not suited for combat. But in 2013, as Miller noted, the Pentagon dropped its ban on women in combat, saying that women who met gender-neutral physical health standards could serve along men on the front lines.

Even if the Pentagon hadnt made that decision, having a draft for only men would still have seemed dubious, given that the great majority of military jobs now require technical or other cognitive skills. As the judge wrote, In the nearly four decades since [the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a men-only draft], womens opportunities in the military have expanded dramatically.

Change was likely coming in any event. The National Commission on Military, National and Public Service  established by Congress in 2017  was expected to call for ending the male-only draft in a report thats due next year. So why wait? Since Millers ruling isnt binding on the Pentagon, military leaders and the Trump administration should consider changing the draft immediately.

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The male-only rule is an anachronism.

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A San Diego advocacy nonprofit began airing new TV commercials Monday to warn about the potential dangers of storing nuclear waste from the San Onofre plant at the beach.

The spot opens with traffic zooming along Interstate 5, north of Oceanside, past the shuttered San Onofre nuclear plant.

Then, from a birds-eye view, the twin nuclear reactors transform into black bombs with long fuses that spontaneously ignite amid a foreboding ticking sound.

SoCal Edison is burying deadly radioactive nuclear waste at San Onofre State Beach right now, text from the 15-second TV spot states. Take Action! Text Timebomb to 99000.

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The San Diego-based Public Watchdogs bought enough air time for the spots to run 135 times over five days, as an initial test case, and it will pursue additional screenings if need be, said Charles Langley, the Public Watchdogs executive director.

Its important because no one is aware there is a nuclear waste dump at San Onofre, and if they are aware they dont know this is dangerous, he said. Our message is, this is a ticking time bomb for San Diego.

Southern California Edison has been transferring 3.6 millions pounds of nuclear waste from cooling ponds into concrete canisters as part of the decommissioning process that began after the San Onofre plant closed for good in 2013.

Several environmental and consumer groups want the utility to move the waste away from the coast and further away from population areas in nearby Oceanside and San Clemente.

Radioactive waste has been safely stored along the San Diego County coast since 1970, with no adverse impact to employees, the public or to the environment, said Southern California Edison spokesman John Dobken.

He called the video cartoonish and said it reveals that Public Watchdogs is not a serious, nor credible participant in the effort to move spent nuclear fuel from San Onofre.

Those who simply want to use the issue to fund-raise by misleading people with irresponsible videos designed to exploit existing community concerns, play on unfounded fears, and line the pockets of an organization that trades in false narratives and public anxiety, are detrimental to these efforts, Dobken wrote by email.

A spokesman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is overseeing the decommissioning effort, said the TV spots do not accurately reflect the potential threat posed by spent fuel stored at the facility.

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Regardless of the organization making such claims, they have no basis in fact, spokesman Scott Burnell said in an email. As the NRC has said repeatedly, there is no credible way for the spent fuel at San Onofre to have any effects outside the sites perimeter fence.

But Bart Ziegler of the Samuel Lawrence Foundation, which recently published reports criticizing the utilitys storage plan at San Onofre, said the television commercials are a good idea.

The more people who understand the nuclear waste around our nation, the better prepared we are to create safe solutions, he wrote in an email.

Public Watchdogs is a relatively new organization. In October, it announced that it had received a $300,000 grant from the Jennifer Moores family and the Change for Justice nonprofit to help prevent nuclear waste from being stored along the San Diego coast.

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Langley declined to say how much Public Watchdogs is spending on the TV commercials, which also are designed to collect contact information from viewers who may be opposed to the activity.

We want to capture viewers cell phone numbers and ideally get them to sign a petition so we can stay in touch with them, Langley said. That way, when we want people to mobilize, well be able to do that.

jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald
President Donald Trump hoped for great things from his second meeting with North Koreas Kim Jong Un as he paid a courtesy call Wednesday on his Vietnamese hosts. Kim was expected to take in some sights before the leaders open their second nuclear summit with private talks and a social dinner.

Anticipation for what will come out of the summit is running high in Hanoi. But the carnival-like atmosphere in the Vietnamese capital, with street artists painting likenesses of the leaders and vendors hawking T-shirts emblazoned with their faces, stands in contrast to the serious items on the agenda: North Koreas pursuit of nuclear weapons and peace on the Korean Peninsula.

We have a very big meeting planned tonight as you know, with North Korea, Chairman Kim, and I think it may very well turn out to be very successful, Trump told the top leaders of Vietnam.

I look forward to the meeting tonight with Chairman Kim and hopefully its going to be successful. Well see what happens, but he wants to do something great, Trump said, adding that Kim could use Vietnam as a model for economic revitalization. If you look at what youve done in a short time, he can do it in a very, very rapid time  make North Korea into a great economic power.

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The president sounded a similar message about Vietnamese prosperity in a tweet before he left his heavily guarded hotel.

Vietnam is thriving like few places on earth. North Korea would be the same, and very quickly, if it would denuclearize, Trump tweeted Wednesday, hours before he and Kim were to meet again. The potential is AWESOME, a great opportunity, like almost none other in history, for my friend Kim Jong Un. We will know fairly soon - Very Interesting!

Trump said at a separate meeting with Vietnamese officials that hopefully great things will happen later on with our meeting with Kim.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves upon arrival by train in Dong Dang in Vietnamese border town Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019, ahead of his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. (Minh Hoang / AP)

Trump and Kim first met last June in Singapore, a summit that was long on historic pageantry but short on any enforceable agreements for North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenal. North Korea has spent decades, at great economic sacrifice, building its nuclear program, and there is widespread skepticism that it will give away that program without getting something substantial from the U.S.

That could be a declaration to end the Korean War. Such an announcement would allow Trump to make history and would dovetail with his opposition to forever wars. But it wouldnt amount to concrete steps toward denuclearization and could even turn the focus of discussions to removing or reducing the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. If there is no war, North Korea could ask why the U.S. needs to have troops in South Korea at all.

The conflict ended in 1953 with an armistice, essentially a cease-fire signed by North Korea, China and the 17-nation, U.S.-led United Nations Command. If made, the declaration would amount to a political statement, ostensibly teeing up talks for a formal peace treaty that would involve other nations.

While Trump wants Kim to agree to dismantle his nuclear sites in a verifiable way, Kim is seeking relief from crushing U.S. sanctions hobbling his economy. Trump has been using Kims need for economic revitalization as leverage to get concessions on denuclearization.

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Other items being discussed are opening liaison offices in both North Korea and the United States. North and South Korea also 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 Norths scenic Diamond Mountain resort.

Trump remains eager to claim an attention-grabbing victory at the summit to offset the political turmoil he faces at home.

With the president away from the U.S., his now-disbarred former personal lawyer was testifying publicly on Capitol Hill later Wednesday about alleged misconduct by Trump. The Democratic-led House, with backing from several Republicans, approved legislation aimed at blocking the Republican president from steering billions of dollars to build barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. A House committee also voted to subpoena administration officials over family separations at the border.

Michael Cohen, once Trumps loyal attorney and fixer, has turned on his former boss and cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller, who is looking into whether the Trumps presidential campaign coordinated with Russia and whether the president tried to obstruct the investigation.

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The presidents eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., accused Democrats in Congress of scheduling Cohens testimony to overshadow the summit.

After 60 years of failed attempts trying to end the war, trying to end nuclear proliferation on the Korean peninsula, you have finally a president whos willing to do it, he told Fox News Channel. For the Democrats to try to counterprogram that kind of progress  to try to perhaps somehow distract him with this nonsense ... it just goes to show you how much those Democrats really disdain Trump but also America.

The president jabbed at Democrats too, saying in a tweet that they should stop talking about what I should do with North Korea and ask themselves instead why they didnt do it during eight years of the Obama Administration?

AP journalists Yves Dam Van in Dong Dang, Hyung-jin Kim, Adam Schreck and Hau Dinh in Hanoi, and Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
Democrats are moving quickly to try to roll back President Donald Trumps declaration of a national emergency to siphon billions of dollars from the military to fund construction of a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Tuesdays vote in the Democratic-controlled House comes on legislation to revoke Trumps executive order from earlier this month and would send it to the Republican-held Senate, where it would take only a handful of GOP defections to pass it.

Trump is likely to prevail in the end since he could use his first-ever veto to kill the measure if it passes Congress, but the White House is seeking to minimize defections among the presidents GOP allies to avoid embarrassment.

The vote could be challenging for GOP lawmakers who view themselves as conservative protectors of the Constitution and the powers of the federal purse that are reserved for Congress. But GOP vote counters are confident that the tally wont get near the two-thirds that would overturn a Trump veto.

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Democratic leaders said Monday that the vote is not about the merits of Trumps wall but how Trump is trampling on the Constitution by grabbing money that he cant obtain through normal means.

The beauty of the Constitution, the heart and soul of the Constitution, is the separation of power  co-equal branches of government to be a balance of power, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. The Constitution spells out the responsibilities, giving the Congress of the United States, among other powers, the power of the purse. The presidents power grab usurped that constitutional responsibility and fundamentally violates the balance of power envisioned by our founders.

Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said GOP defections will be kept well below the threshold required to sustain a veto. Describing the argument GOP leaders are using to tamp down Republican opposition, he said, Theres an emergency along the border.

If Republicans vote their beliefs, well get a lot. If they vote their party, we wont get a lot, said Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.

Trump took to Twitter on Monday to urge Senate Republicans to stick with him.

I hope our great Republican Senators dont get led down the path of weak and ineffective Border Security, Trump wrote. Without strong Borders, we dont have a Country  and the voters are on board with us. Be strong and smart, dont fall into the Democrats trap of Open Borders and Crime!

Vice President Mike Pence is expected to discuss the issue with GOP senators during their weekly private lunch. A Justice Department official is also expected to attend.

On Monday, GOP Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he would vote to block the order, joining Maines Susan Collins and Alaskas Lisa Murkowski as Republicans supporting the resolution. Congress must defend its power of the purse and warned that a future Democratic president might abuse the power to advance radical policies, Tillis said.

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Senate voting on Trumps emergency order could drag under a rarely used procedure, which an aide said is possibly a first for the chamber. The law allows for up to 15 days of committee review in this case, at the Armed Services panel  with a full Senate vote three days later. Senators, though, said the process could be expedited.

At issue is Trumps longstanding vow to build a wall along the 1,900-mile southwest border, perhaps his top campaign promise. He has long since dropped any pretense that money for the wall would come from Mexico, which he once claimed would be the source of funding.

Earlier this month Congress approved a huge spending bill providing nearly $1.4 billion to build 55 miles (89 kilometers) of border barriers in Texas Rio Grande Valley, ending a dispute that had led to a record 35-day partial shutdown of the government. Trump had demanded $5.7 billion to construct more than 200 miles (322 kilometers).

Also Monday, national security experts and former GOP lawmakers issued public declarations against Trumps edict, saying that the situation along the southern border is not a genuine emergency and that Trump is abusing his powers.

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We are aware of no emergency that remotely justifies such a step, wrote 58 former senior national security officials, including Republican Chuck Hagel, a former Nebraska senator and defense secretary. Under no plausible assessment of the evidence is there a national emergency today that entitles the President to tap into funds appropriated for other purposes to build a wall at the southern border.

In addition, 28 Republican former House members and senators, many of them from the partys shrinking moderate wing, wrote an open letter declaring their opposition to Trumps emergency declaration.

How much are you willing to undermine both the Constitution and the Congress in order to advance a policy outcome that by all other legitimate means is not achievable? wrote the former GOP lawmakers, among them former Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., once the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

It was a lawless act, a gross abuse of power, and an attempt to distract from the fact that he broke his core promise  to have Mexico pay for the wall, said top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York.

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Trumps declaration of a national emergency gives him access to about $3.6 billion in funding for military construction projects to divert to border fencing. Lawmakers in both parties are recoiling at the politically toxic prospect of losing cherished projects at back-home military bases. The Defense Department has not identified which projects may face the ax.

But the administration is more likely to tap $600 million from a federal asset forfeiture fund first. In addition, it is considering shifting more than $2 billion from Defense Department accounts into a Pentagon counter-drug fund to be tapped for wall construction.

Trumps edict is also being challenged in the federal courts, where a host of Democratic-led states such as California are among those that have sued to overturn the order. The House may also join in.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, took prescription drug manufacturers to task for high prices and byzantine pricing schemes Tuesday as he kicked off a hearing featuring seven pharmaceutical CEOs at the witness table.

Grassley set a tough tone for a bipartisan grilling, according to prepared opening remarks released by the committee.

Weve all seen the finger-pointing. Every link in the supply chain has gotten skilled at that,' Grassley said. But like most Americans, Im sick and tired of the blame game. Its time for solutions.'

Drug companies are on the defensive after Democrats recaptured the House with arguments that health-care costs are out of control. President Donald Trump has capitalized on popular anger over drug costs, giving prescription drug executives rare cause for worry in a capital where they typically win their lobbying battles.

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You Pharma executives are here because the way you do business is unacceptable and unsustainable,' Senate Finance ranking Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon said in his prepared comments. Drugmakers behave as if patients and taxpayers are unlocked ATMs full of cash to be extracted, and their shareholders are the customers they value above all else.'

Grassley, who is signaling a newly aggressive tone for the Senate Finance Committee, listed a number of tactics that drug companies use to game the system and keep prices high. And he expressed deep frustration - shared by many in Congress - that the list prices manufacturers set for their drugs continue to climb without sufficient justification.

He expressed dismay over arguments by drugmakers that the list prices are just starting points for negotiations with insurance companies and middlemen. That excuse leaves Medicare patients, consumers with high-deductible plans and taxpayers holding the bag for higher costs, Grassley asserted.

We cannot allow anyone to hide behind the current complexities to shield the true cost of drugs,' Grassley said.

The top executives assembled before Grassley and other committee members represented AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnsons Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit, Merck, Pfizer, and Sanofi.

Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla told the committee in his prepared remarks that the system of discounts from list prices, called rebates, that drugmakers grant insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers needs to be radically changed. He accused insurance companies of not passing on those discounts to patients at the pharmacy counter.

None of the close to $12 billion of rebates that Pfizer paid in 2018 found their way to American patients,' Bourla said. Pfizer supports reforms that would create a system in which transparent, upfront discounts benefit patients at the pharmacy counter, rather than a system driven by rebates that are swallowed up by companies in the supply chain.'

Bourla and other executives said they favored value-based reimbursement, a reform that is beginning to get more attention. It works like this: Pfizer would get paid based on the number of strokes it prevented or the number of cancer patients in full remission, rather than the number of pills we sell,' Bourla said.

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In such a system, if our medicines do not produce results, we would be paid less,' he said.

The first executive to testify, Richard Gonzalez of AbbVie, was expected to be questioned about Humira, the biggest-selling drug in the world with almost $20 billion in annual sales. Grassley has taken AbbVie to task for what he calls pay-for-delay schemes.

In such arrangements, brand manufacturers pay generic drugmakers to keep lower-cost competition off the market. AbbVie denies that money changes hands in its settlements with generic manufacturers.

Gonzalez, in prepared remarks submitted to the committee ahead of the hearing, said Medicare Part D prescription coverage needs to be improved to reflect more-expensive drugs that do a better job of treating disease.

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Part D patients out-of-pocket costs have significantly increased. Some would blame that solely on high drug prices, and we agree that price should certainly be part of the discussion,' he told the committee in his written remarks. But its also important to acknowledge that science has enabled us to advance the standard of care far beyond what was possible when the Part D benefit was designed.'

The executives repeatedly emphasized in their statements the billions they spend on research and development of new drugs. Compared with other developed countries, Americans pay higher drug prices for brand prescriptions to support those discovery efforts, they said.

Grassleys committee has begun an investigation of insulin prices, which put Sanofi chief executive Olivier Brandicourt under a particular harsh spotlight. Insulin prices have generated intense outrage because the drug is many decades old and because Sanofi and two other manufacturers, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, have boosted prices simultaneously. In his prepared remarks, Brandicourt shifted blame to the insurance reimbursement system.

He differentiated between the net price, after rebates paid to insurance companies and PBMs, and the list price. Sanofi is actually gaining less net revenue as its rebates to insurers grow, he said.

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The post-rebate net price of Sanofi insulin product Lantus, for example, has fallen over 30 percent since 2012, Brandicourt said, while average out-of-pocket costs for patients with insurance have risen 60 percent. He cited Sanofi assistance programs that offer financial help to patients who cannot afford their insulin.

This story was first published on the Washington Post.
A serious-injury crash that left a motorcyclist trapped under a truck shut down all lanes of eastbound state Route 52 near the border between San Diego and Santee for about 30 minutes Monday afternoon, authorities said.

The crash was reported a few minutes before 3 p.m. on the downhill grade approaching Mast Boulevard, according to the California Highway Patrol and San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

The circumstances of the collision werent immediately known, but a motorcyclist became trapped under a truck, Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Alec Phillipp said.

Crews arrived, removed the individual and transported them (with traumatic injuries) to Sharp Memorial Hospital, Phillipp said in an email.

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Update: All lanes have reopened on EB SR-52 west of Mast Blvd. #SDCaltransAlert  Caltrans San Diego (@SDCaltrans) February 26, 2019

All lanes of eastbound SR-52 were closed from about 3:15 to 3:45 p.m., according to Highway Patrol spokesman Officer Tommy Strickland and Caltrans San Diego.

All lanes were reopened by about 4 p.m., according to Caltrans.

The crash and lane closures were expected to snarl traffic during the evening commute into Santee.

Twitter: @Alex_Riggins

(619) 293-1710

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alex.riggins@sduniontribune.com

UPDATES:

4:10 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details.

This article was originally published at 3:35 p.m.
San Diego police have identified the 22-year-old man who died shortly after he was found on a sidewalk in Lincoln Park late Sunday as Gregory Izik Ruffin Jr. of San Diego.

Ruffin was discovered Sunday shortly after 11:10 p.m. on 47th Street near Castana Street.

Police said the victim was found suffering from apparent trauma to his upper body, according to San Diego homicide Lt. Matt Dobbs.

Paramedics performed emergency measures but the man died before he could be taken to the hospital.

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Homicide investigators are trying to determine the circumstances that led to Ruffins death. There were no reports of any fights in the area and police were trying to locate witnesses.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call homicide detectives at (619) 531-2293 or San Diego County Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.

Twitter: @karenkucher

(619) 293-1350

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karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com
A 27-year-old woman fatally shot Saturday in Alpine was identified Monday, and sheriffs officials said she was gunned down by her live-in boyfriend, who was arrested on suspicion of murder shortly after the slaying.

Residents along Victoria Drive near England Place reported hearing gunshots and seeing a man with a gun shortly after 2 p.m. Saturday, sheriffs homicide Lt. Rich Williams said over the weekend.

Deputies detained a man allegedly armed with two handguns, who was identified as 42-year-old Paul Alan Paraschak, Williams said. He was arrested and booked into San Diego Central Jail, where he remained in custody Monday without bail.

Shortly after Paraschak was detained, deputies discovered Melanie Benitez gravely injured near a parked vehicle on Victoria Drive near England Place, Williams said.

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She died at the scene.

Benitez, an Alpine resident, and Paraschak had a dating relationship and lived together in Alpine, Williams said in a statement Monday.

The sheriffs Homicide Unit asked anyone with information regarding the shooting to call them at (858) 285-6330 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.

Twitter: @Alex_Riggins

(619) 293-1710

alex.riggins@sduniontribune.com
San Diego took a key step Monday toward creating a government-run alternative to San Diego Gas & Electric that supporters say would decrease production of local greenhouse gases and could lower energy rates for customers.

The City Council voted 7-2 to allow Mayor Kevin Faulconer to start negotiating formal agreements with other local cities and government agencies to team up on the new alternative model, called community choice aggregation.

The council also approved a set of guiding principles for the potential partnership, called a joint powers authority, and set a timeline that calls for seeking state approval by December and launching service to customers in 2021.

Today is truly the first step in taking control of our energy future in San Diego, Councilwoman Barbara Bry said. Its a win-win for the environment and for ratepayers.

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Critics, however, say government-run energy would make the city vulnerable to financial risk, could lead to higher rates for customers and might not deliver on the promise of boosting local production of renewable power, such as solar and wind.

We are going to be putting a tremendous amount of risk on taxpayers, said Councilman Chris Cate, who joined with fellow Republican Councilman Scott Sherman in casting the only no votes.

Sherman said a scandal over inaccurate water bills last year in the citys Utilities Department should serve as a warning sign about giving government more responsibility.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who first proposed the city opt for government-run energy in 2017, said he strongly supports the move.

The best way to make us the greenest city in the nation is to give San Diegans a new choice on where they get their power, he said in a news release just after the councils vote.

For decades San Diegans have only had one option on where they get their electricity. Community Choice will change that by injecting healthy competition into the marketplace, allowing customers to benefit from lower energy costs and pick greener energy sources to power their home or business.

More than 160 cities and counties in California have embraced government-run energy since 2010, and nearly three dozen community choice programs are already operating, including programs in Solana Beach and Los Angeles County.

City officials say theyve had preliminary discussions on teaming up with Solana Beach and several other local cities, including Encinitas, Del Mar, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Chula Vista and La Mesa.

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Also the county Board of Supervisors is scheduled Tuesday to have a preliminary discussion about the potential of government-run energy.

A joint powers authority

The councils approval recommends San Diego form partnerships in a joint powers authority, which would reduce the citys financial risk. But the approval also allows the city to move forward alone if no partnerships materialize.

Either way, the program would entail government officials taking over responsibility for buying electricity on behalf of ratepayers and making decisions about whether to ink contracts with natural gas, solar, wind or other providers.

SDG&E would continue to operate the electrical grid, and consumers could choose to return to the utilitys service if they were dissatisfied with the citys program.

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A study commissioned by the city found in 2017 that community choice has the potential to deliver cheaper rates than SDG&E, while providing 50 percent renewable energy by 2023 and 80 percent green power by 2027.

San Diegos legally binding climate action plan requires the city to operate with 100 percent renewable energy sources by 2035.

SDG&E currently offers about 43 percent renewable energy and under state law must get to 50 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2045  10 years later than the citys goal.

An SDG&E spokeswoman told the council that the investor-backed utility supports San Diegos decision to pursue government-run energy, calling it a trailblazing move.

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We want to affirm our support not only to the City Council but to the right of our customers to choose their own energy commodity provider, said the spokeswoman, Vanessa Mapula Garcia. We are excited to share our knowledge and experience of this complex energy.

Garcia also vowed that there would be no interruption in service in the SDG&E transmission and distribution system, which would deliver an energy mix chosen by government officials if the city shifts to government-run energy.

If the city and the potential joint powers authority meet their goal of launching operations in 2021, customers in all participating areas would be phased into the program unless they choose to opt out.

The joint powers authority, once approved by each of its members later this year, would have a board of directors with representation from all participating cities and agencies.

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That board would hire a chief executive and chief financial officer to make the partnership a stand-alone organization and would file an application for approval with the California Public Utilities Commission by the end of this year.

If that deadline is not met, the joint powers authority would have to delay launching service to customers by one year, until 2022, under state law.

Mayor Faulconers staff agreed Monday to provide the council updates on negotiations with other cities every two months.

Three dozen speakers, many of them representing labor and environmental groups, spoke in favor of government-run energy during the public hearing before the vote. No speakers were against the proposal.

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Labor officials sought to ensure clean energy projects pursued by the city, or by a potential joint powers authority, would be required to use unionized workers.

Attorneys for the city said it would be premature to include such requirements in Mondays approval because it was only a preliminary first step.

Some members of the council, particularly the panels six Democrats, expressed support for adding such requirements later.

Kersey, the only Republican to vote yes on Monday, said the cities that come together to form the joint powers authority will have to decide how to handle potential requirements to use unionized workers.

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david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick
President Trump has landed in Vietnam for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un  the pairs second such meeting.

The North Korea summit will address the countrys nuclear weapons, with Trump prioritizing the U.S.s effort to get Kim to give up his weapons of mass destruction while Kim is eager for the U.S. to offer relief from sanctions crippling his country.

The two will meet over the course of two days: first, with a private dinner Wednesday evening and then in discussions Thursday.

Trump touched down in Hanoi at 8:45 p.m. local time Tuesday after a 20-hour journey from Joint Base Andrews in Prince Georges County, Maryland. Upon his arrival, a red carpet was rolled out by the stairs of Air Force One and soldiers lined up at attention.

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Just arrived in Vietnam. Thank you to all of the people for the great reception in Hanoi. Tremendous crowds, and so much love!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 26, 2019

Kim arrived earlier by train through southern China to the Vietnam border and then to Hanoi in an armored limo  a nearly 70-hour ride. He spent the day traveling around the Vietnamese capital, including visiting his nations embassy where he was met with a loud cheer.

Trump tweeted Monday he was looking forward to a very productive Summit! He also wrote both he and Kim expect a continuation of the progress made at first Summit in Singapore.

Denuclearization? he added.

Experts are more wary of the meeting, with few expecting Kim to give his nuclear arsenal.

So far, North Korea seems only willing to take measures that limit its nuclear and missile capabilities, it has no indications that it wants to roll back or undercut its existing nuclear arsenal or missile arsenal, Tong Zhao, a fellow at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, told CNBC.

Zachary Abuza, a Professor at the National War College, told the outlet he didnt think the two countries are close at all in terms of what they mean by denuclearization.

1 / 36 President Donald Trump (r.) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (l.) meet during their second summit meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel on Feb. 28, 2019 in Hanoi. The highly publicized meeting between the two leaders was cut short on Thursday when they couldnt reach a deal on nuclear disarmament. (Vietnam News Agency/Handout/Getty Images) 2 / 36 President Donald Trump (2-L) and Kim Jong-Un (2-R), accompanied by Kim Yong Chol (R), a North Korean senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) gather for last remarks following their second summit on Feb. 28, 2019. (Evan Vucci / AP) 3 / 36 President Donald Trump (r.) and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi after their meeting on Feb. 28, 2019. (Evan Vucci / AP) 4 / 36 (l-r) Kim Yong Chol, President Donald Trump, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and their interpreters gathjer outside while taking a walk after the meeting between the two leaders at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi hotel on Feb. 28, 2019. (Evan Vucci / AP) 5 / 36 President Donald Trump (r) and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un take a walk after their first meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi on Feb. 28, 2019 in Hanoi. (Evan Vucci / AP) 6 / 36 President Donald Trump addresses the media during a news conference after his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Feb. 28, 2019 in Hanoi. (Evan Vucci / AP) 7 / 36 The motorcade of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rides through the streets of Hanoi as it returns to the Melia Hotel Hanoi following the second summit meeting between the two leaders on Feb. 28, 2019. (Gemunu Amarasinghe / AP) 8 / 36 President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One after his second summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Feb. 28, 2019 in Hanoi. (Evan Vucci / AP) 9 / 36 President Donald Trump (l.) shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un before their second summit meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam on Feb. 27, 2019. The two will discuss, among other topics, North Korea abandoning their nuclear weapons program. (SAUL LOEB / AFP/Getty Images) 10 / 36 Donald Trump (l.) listens to Kim Jong Un as the latter speaks during their meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam on Feb. 27, 2019. (SAUL LOEB / AFP/Getty Images) 11 / 36 The two also exchanged another handshake during their public sit down. (SAUL LOEB / AFP/Getty Images) 12 / 36 Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un continue talking over dinner at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel following their first face-to-face since the 2018 summit on Feb. 27, 2019. (SAUL LOEB / AFP/Getty Images) 13 / 36 Donald Trump (C-R) and Kim Jong Un (C-L) sit with others for a dinner at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi on Feb. 27, 2019. (SAUL LOEB / AFP/Getty Images) 14 / 36 Solidiers and extra security measures line the streets of Hanoi near the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel Hanoi during Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump meeting for dinner on Feb. 27, 2019. (Linh Pham / Getty Images) 15 / 36 A motorcade transporting North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un leaves the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel following dinner with President Donald Trump on Feb. 27, 2019. The two will meet again on Thursday. (YE AUNG THU / AFP/Getty Images) 16 / 36 Vietnamese children wave flags before the arrival of U.S. President Donald Trump (not pictured) at the Presidential Palace on Feb. 27, 2019 in Hanoi, Vietnam. (Getty Images / Getty Images) 17 / 36 President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One to depart for Vietnam for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Feb. 25, 2019, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. This will be the second summit between North Korea and the United States on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) 18 / 36 Local people wait to see the arrival of U.S President Donald Trumps motorcade in front of JW Marriott Hotel Hanoi where Donald Trump will stay during his visit to Vietnam on Feb. 26, 2019 in Hanoi, Vietnam. Trump arrived in Vietnam on Feb. 26, 2019 as preparations continue in Hanoi for the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi later this week. Both leaders are scheduled to have a private dinner and meeting on Feb. 27, 2019, as reports indicate they are expected to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and end international sanctions against Pyongyang. (Linh Pham / Getty Images) 19 / 36 Security personnel oversees the arrival of President Donald Trump at JW Marriott Hotel Hanoi where Donald Trump will stay during his visit to Vietnam on February 26, 2019, in Hanoi, Vietnam. (Linh Pham / Getty Images) 20 / 36 Vietnamese workers roll a carpet for President Donald Trumps arrival at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on Feb. 26, 2019. (SAUL LOEB / AFP/Getty Images) 21 / 36 Vietnamese soldiers stand in a formation at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on Feb. 26, 2019, during the arrival of US President Donald Trump in Vietnam for a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (MANAN VATSYAYANA / AFP/Getty Images) 22 / 36 President Donald Trump waves after arriving at Noi Bai airport for the US-DPRK summit in Hanoi on Feb. 26, 2019. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump arrived in Hanoi on Feb. 26, ahead of a second summit closely watched for concrete steps to dismantle Pyongyangs nuclear program. (KHAM / AFP/Getty Images) 23 / 36 President Donald Trump arrives at Noi Bai Airport before a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Feb. 26, 2019, in Hanoi. (Evan Vucci / AP) 24 / 36 President Donald Trump arrives at Noi Bai Airport before a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Feb. 26, 2019, in Hanoi. At right is Vietnamese minister-chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung. (Pool photo by Kham via AP) 25 / 36 Vietnamese locals gather outside Dong Dang railway station near the border with China as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrives on Feb. 26, 2019 in Lang Son, Vietnam. (Linh Pham / Getty Images) 26 / 36 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives at the Dong Dang railway station in Dong Dang, Lang Son province, on Feb. 26, 2019, to attend the second U.S.-North Korea summit. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un crossed into Vietnam on Feb. 26, 2019 after a marathon train journey for a second summit with Donald Trump. (NHAC NGUYEN / AFP/Getty Images) 27 / 36 In this photo provided by the North Korean government on Feb. 26, 2019, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, arrives at the Dong Dang railway station in Dong Dang, Vietnam, ahead of his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: KCNA which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP) 28 / 36 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) waves after arriving at the Dong Dang railway station in Dong Dang, Lang Son province, on Feb. 26, 2019, to attend the second U.S.-North Korea summit. (NHAC NGUYEN / AFP/Getty Images) 29 / 36 North Korean security escorting a car carrying Kim Jong-un at Dong Dang railway station near the border with China on Feb. 26, 2019 in Lang Son, Vietnam. (Linh Pham / Getty Images) 30 / 36 Kim Jong-un waves from his car after arriving by train at Dong Dang railway station near the border with China on Feb. 26, 2019 in Lang Son, Vietnam. (Linh Pham / Getty Images) 31 / 36 Members of the public and media stand on a street corner near the Melia Hotel as they await the arrival of North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un on Feb. 26, 2019 in Hanoi, Vietnam. (Carl Court / Getty Images) 32 / 36 North Korean leader Kim Jong Uns bodyguards run alongside his car as he leaves the Dong Dang railway station in Dong Dang, Lang Son province, on Feb. 26, 2019, upon his arrival in Vietnam, to attend the second U.S.-North Korea summit. (NHAC NGUYEN / AFP/Getty Images) 33 / 36 A car believed to be carrying North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un arrives at the Melia Hotel on Feb. 26, 2019 in Hanoi, Vietnam. (Carl Court / Getty Images) 34 / 36 In this Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019, photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, is welcomed on his arrival at the Melia Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on the image as provided by source reads: KCNA which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP) 35 / 36 Bodyguards surround the car of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as he arrives to visit the DPRK embassy on Feb. 26, 2019 in Hanoi, Vietnam. North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un arrived in Vietnam on Feb. 26, 2019 as preparations continue in Hanoi for the summit with President Donald Trump in Hanoi later this week. (Carl Court / Getty Images) 36 / 36 Foreign tourists look at a painting featuring portraits of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump are displayed at a shop in Hanoi, Vietnam Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019. (AP Photo/Minh Hoang) (v / AP)

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Both leaders met back in June for their first historic meeting in Singapore, but no enforceable agreements were reached on North Koreas nuclear program.

With Wire News Services
It was 35 years ago but the brief exchange between former San Diego Superior Court Judge J. Perry Langford and the lawyer for David Leon Dew summarized a debate as relevant now as then over the states felony-murder rule.

That law allowed for people who were accomplices in a murder but not the actual killer  think of the getaway driver in a liquor store robbery turned murder  to be convicted of murder and sentenced to either 15 years to life or 25 years to life in prison.

Dew was one of three men who broke into the Ocean Beach apartment of Claude County, intending to rob the home in November 1982. However, County was unexpectedly home at the time  and in the struggle that ensued, he was was struck on the head and died.

Dew was arrested and charged, and in early 1983 had decided to plead guilty. But he balked at the hearing to change his plea. His lawyer told Langford that Dew was struggling with a basic fact: He had not struck the fatal blow on County, but because he participated in the robbery he stood convicted of murder.

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He doesnt like the felony murder rule, Langford said, according to a court transcript. Thats what it comes down to, isnt it?

Yes, the defense lawyer answered.

Lots of people dont, the judge mused. Question of serious debate; but its our law, isnt it?

It was  then  and Langford accordingly sent Dew to prison with a sentence of 15 years to life.

But now, decades after that routine hearing in a downtown court room, things have changed. The felony murder rule as Dew and Langford knew it  and as it stood for decades in California law  is no more.

Last year, as one of the final and potentially far-reaching pieces in a wave of criminal justice reform measures under former Gov. Jerry Brown, a new law changed the definition of felony murder so that accomplices who were not the actual killers would no longer face a murder charge.

The law was retroactive  meaning hundreds of inmates could have a chance to ask that they be re-sentenced, without the murder charge.

That is precisely what Dew has done. Hes one of more than 100 inmates from San Diego who have filed petitions with the court seeking a new sentence.

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Eventually, prosecutors expect upwards of 400 inmates sentenced from San Diego courts over the past decades and who are serving sentences under the felony murder doctrine will file petitions seeking a new sentence.

Its unknown how many will get hearing, but it could be scores relitigating their roles in cases that may be decades old.

In the first weeks since the law became effective, 112 petitions have been filed, said Assistant District Attorney Dave Greenberg. Petitions are arriving at the rate of about three per day, prosecutors said in court papers responding to some of the early requests from inmates.

Some cases, like Dews, are decades old, requiring a long search for case files to begin to assess the validity of the inmates claim. Some are older still: One petition is from an inmate convicted and sentenced to life in 1966, more than a half-century ago.

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The process will not be fast both because of procedural issues and challenges to the law in San Diego and from prosecutors across the state.

Petitions go to the Superior Court where they are assessed and if deemed valid the county Public Defender is appointed to represent the inmate. Deputy Public Defender John OConnell, who is overseeing the process for that agency, said that so far attorneys from the office have been appointed to 59 cases.

Researching the cases could prove challenging, especially for cases that were resolved by a plea bargain and not at a trial. Transcripts exist for a trial as well as other evidence but not necessarily for cases that were settled with a plea bargain early on.

Eventually, hearings on requests for a new sentence will be held, where prosecutors will have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person was either a major participant in the crime, as defined under law, or the person showed the same intent to kill as the actual killer.

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Its going to be labor intensive, and its going to take time, Greenberg said.

In addition, prosecutors here and in other counties are challenging the validity of the law. In San Diego, prosecutors are challenging the petition from Marty Dominguez, who was convicted in March 1990 for his role in the killing of a man on an Emerald Hills street in San Diego.

Dominguez was a passenger in a car with three other men who exchanged words with victim Paul Mallory. Dominguez, court records say, urged his companion to shoot Mallory  and was convicted of second degree murder under the felony murder rule. Dominguez is now seeking a resentence under SB 1437.

San Diego prosecutors argue that the law is unconstitutional because it changed elements of two voter approved initiatives  Proposition 7 in 1978 and Proposition 115 in 1998. They argue the Legislature does not have the authority to change initiatives without first getting voter approval.

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Kate Chatfield, policy director and for the criminal justice reform group Re:Store Justice which backed the bill, said such challenges are unfounded. When the bill was making its way through the legislature prosecutors were aware of it and never raised the constitutions issue then, though they had other objections.

So far, courts around the state have been split. A judge in Santa Clara County sided with prosecutors, while two judges in Solano County said the law was constitutional.

Eventually, the state Supreme Court will likely have to decide the question, Chatfield said.

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Twitter: @gregmoran

greg.moran@sduniontribune.com
A U.S. Marine veteran who rose to power as a reputed Mexican drug kingpin has been named in a massive cocaine trafficking indictment in San Diego.

The investigation into Angel Dominguez Ramirez Jr.s organization revealed an unprecedented level of corruption within the Mexican government, local police departments, federal police agencies and military, the U.S. Attorneys Office said in a recent court filing.

More than 41 people have been charged in the case, which has yielded 5,000 kilograms of seized cocaine and more than $9 million in drug proceeds.

Dominguezs organization sourced cocaine from Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, up through Central America and into Chiapas, Mexico, according to prosecutors. Transportation cells would move the cocaine into Mexico using boats, aircraft and commercial vehicles, then through the California and Texas borders for distribution into the United States, according to the court filing.

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The organization also used a reverse pipeline moving drug proceeds from the U.S. back south, according to the indictment that was partially unsealed this week.

Dominguez was arrested in Mexico in 2016 and is awaiting extradition to San Diego.

He is a dual U.S. citizen who served as a Marine, prosecutors said. According to his U.S. passport application, he walks with a limp due to a combat-related injury.

He is accused of using his military training as an original member of the Los Zetas paramilitary cartel, which was first formed as an enforcement wing for the Cartel del Golfo. He was known as Zeta 39, prosecutors said, no doubt informing the name of his current organization, El Seguimiento 39.

Prosecutors say he built his organization through cooperative alliances with the Beltran Leyva Organization, the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Cartel del Golfo and the Los Zetas.

He also called upon corrupt government officials, authorities said.

Those corrupt relationships were on full display in 2017, when Ivan Reyes Arzate was taken down in Chicago.

Reyes was a top federal police commander and the highest-ranking member of Mexicos Sensitive Investigation Unit. He served as a liaison with U.S. law enforcement officials, privy to sensitive information about some of the most important U.S. investigations into drug cartels.

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Turns out, Reyes was leaking the information to the cartels.

The first hint came when the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Chicago asked Reyes unit to conduct surveillance of a meeting of traffickers in Cancun. Wiretapped communications then revealed that someone named Ayala  later determined to be Reyes  warned one of the traffickers about the investigation and suggested he lay low.

You were the target, Reyes warned.

Scrutiny turned to Reyes as the mole when U.S. agents intercepted a call between Dominguez and another trafficker.

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Who is Ivan? Dominguez asked, according to prosecutors.

The boss, the other trafficker said.

Dominguez began to rely heavily on Reyes for information about the overlapping San Diego-Chicago DEA investigation.

At one point, Reyes admitted to meeting with Dominguez in Mexico City. Dominguez had proposed a plan: that he supply the federal police with incriminating information against the current plaza bosses in the Gulf state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. Once they were arrested, Dominguez could replace them with less violent bosses.

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Reyes leak in the investigation prompted one confidential DEA informant  who had been paid more than $1 million for cooperating  to be evacuated from Mexico for safety.

Years earlier, when Reyes had worked for the Beltran Leyva cartel, he revealed another cooperators identity, resulting in the cooperators torture and death at the hands of cartel assassins, authorities said.

Dominguez and another unnamed co-conspirator knew of Reyes prior relationship with the Beltran Leyva group and threatened to use it as leverage against the official if they needed to, according to intercepted communications.

Reyes turned himself in to authorities in Chicago in February 2017 and in November was sentenced to 40 months in prison.

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As for the Dominguez prosecution, several co-defendants have been already been arrested  beginning in July 2017  and many have pleaded guilty.

The complaint against Reyes in Chicago had acknowledged that an indictment had been filed against Dominguez in San Diego, but noted it was sealed. On Monday, his name was finally unsealed along with the names of eight others. The names of more than 25 people charged in the case remain sealed.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

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A San Marcos man has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for misusing tax identification numbers of charities in what federal prosecutors characterized as a tax-fraud scheme.

The 46-month sentence on Friday for Robert Holcomb, 53, followed trial in federal court last summer, at which time the jury convicted him of four counts of making false statements to financial institutions.

The federal jury, however, deadlocked as to several other charges, including tax fraud.

Those charges were eventually dismissed as part of a deal struck by one of Holcombs attorneys, Stephen White, to cap the sentence at 46 months.

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At the trial, Holcomb testified he believed he had what was essentially a birthright exemption to taxes.

He is a true believer in what he believes in, said attorney White, who did not represent him at trial.

According to a news release from the San Diego U.S. Attorneys Office, Holcomb told clients he was a specialist in asset protection, and could use charitable trust accounts to reduce their tax liability.

Federal prosecutors said Holcombs clients forwarded to her their business profits, money he then funneled through bank accounts with names that sounded like charities. He then returned the money  save for his commission  and told his clients the money was no longer taxable, prosecutors said.

Over a decade, he transferred more than $12 million in what prosecutors said was otherwise taxable income through his accounts. He collected commission upwards of $1 million.

The clients filed tax returns that substantially underreported their true income, resulting in millions of dollars in lost income to the IRS, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

In 2011, after several of Holcombs bank accounts were frozen, he opened new accounts using corporate entities whose names matched those of existing charities, federal prosecutors said.

He used the tax numbers from the real charities to open new accounts, prosecutors said.

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In the news release, the San Diego U.S. Attorneys Office said Holcomb admitted using the charities information but said he could use whatever tax ID number he wanted.

Federal prosecutors said Holcomb told officials he was part of the upper caste descended from the original founders of the Massachusetts Bay Company, which obtained a charter in England in the 1600s to establish a colony on Massachusetts Bay. That, he told federal officials, meant he was not subject to the U.S. Constitution and not required to pay taxes.

Holcomb used a series of sham trust arrangements to divert millions of taxpayer dollars into his own pocket , U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer in the news release. No one is above the law, and merely claiming to be a sovereign citizen will not exempt you from criminal liability.

Defense attorney Jeremy Warren, who represented Holcomb at trial, said Monday that his client had spent a great deal of time studying the tax codes and had a strong belief in the tax strategy he used.

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Warren noted that the jury did not convict Holcomb on charges related to tax fraud.

This is a serious case, the attorney said. He was facing serious tax charges, and he was able to convince some members of he jury that he had a good-faith belief in his conduct.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

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By now, it is widely known that Daily Show host Trevor Noah pulled a fast one on the Oscars audience Sunday night by mistranslating a phrase in the South African Xhosa language to make it seem like a traditional platitude, rather than an expression of disdain.

What most people probably dont know, however, is that not only was he not the first non-white celebrity to stage this sort of stunt with a white audience as the target, but the most renowned example was executed by the great Sioux chief Sitting Bull  in 1883, before a high-profile audience that reputedly included former President Ulysses S. Grant.

First, lets give Noah his due. In his Oscar-night stint introducing Black Panther as one of the films up for Best Picture, he noted that people on the street kept shouting the movies catchphrase Wakanda forever at him. (Wakanda is the African homeland in the movie.)

I hate all the white people. You are thieves and liars. What Sitting Bull actually said when his audience thought he was offering friendship

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Growing up as a young boy in Wakanda, Noah joshed, I would see King TChalla flying over our village, and he would remind me of a great Xhosa phrase: Abelungu abazi ubu ndiyaxoka, which means, In times like these, we are stronger when we fight together than when we try to fight apart. Noah is a South African native whose mother is part-Xhosa.

The audience on hand at the Dolby Theatre applauded obligingly, not understanding that the Xhosa phrase actually means, White people dont know Im lying.

Slate.com quotes film historian Peter Labuza of USC observing that the tradition of foreign-born movie stars slipping hidden messages into their dialogue is an old one.

But the stunt may actually have originated with Sitting Bull, who used it to commit one of the most subtle acts of defiance in American history.

In 1883, Sitting Bulls great victory over George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn was disappearing into the mists of history. The battle had occurred seven years earlier, in 1876, but had failed to stave off the ultimate surrender of the Sioux nation and its relegation to a reservation in the Dakotas.

That was when Sitting Bull was dragooned into a public spectacle being staged by the railroad tycoon Henry Villard, who was celebrating the completion of his Northern Pacifics route to the West Coast.

Villard scheduled two weeks of galas in August and early September as his ceremonial train made its way across the continent from the East Coast, culminating in festivities Sept. 8 in Montana, where it would meet a train from the West and Villard would pound a ceremonial spike into the track to mark the conclusion of work.

The cars carried leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives, governors of the seven states crossed by the line, more than one hundred newspaper reporters, former President Grant, and the whole diplomatic corpsas well as several score of prominent Englishmen and Germans  the latter representing Villards foreign investors.

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And here's just one example from Graham Russell Gao Hodges's Anna May Wong bio: https://t.co/8GImY9wfoC pic.twitter.com/f869IKEzqV  Peter Labuza (@labuzamovies) February 25, 2019

Sitting Bulls great moment came on Sept. 5 at Bismarck, N.D. The occasion was the laying of the cornerstone for the capitol of the Dakota Territory. Sitting Bull had been brought there from his place of captivity, Villard recalled in his memoirs, to make an address in the presence of a great multitude, including Grant.

The chiefs speech had been prepared jointly by Sitting Bull and a young U.S. Army officer who understood the Sioux language. It was to be delivered by the chief in his native tongue while the officer offered a translation.

As the chief began speaking, the officer realized to his horror that his words bore no resemblance to the gracious message of amity they had written together. Instead, Sitting Bull declared, I hate all the white people.

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He halted for applause from the uncomprehending crowd, bowed and smiled at President Grant and the other dignitaries, and proceeded: You are thieves and liars. You have taken away our land and made us outcasts.

The officer then read out the original speech, resulting in a standing ovation for the Sioux chief.

Historians eventually uncovered the truth. But in the meantime, the impression that Sitting Bull had spoken up for friendship between whites and American Indians helped make him such a popular pet that he was soon invited to join the Wild West Show of William F. Buffalo Bill Cody.

As Dee Brown reported in his book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Sitting Bull drew tremendous crowds on tour. Boos and catcalls sometimes sounded for the Killer of Custer, but after each show these same people pressed coins upon him for copies of his signed photograph.

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Sitting Bull later told Annie Oakley, the Wild West Shows sharpshooting star, that he could not understand how white men could be so unmindful of their own poor, Brown wrote. The white man knows how to make everything, he said, but he does not know how to distribute it.

And of course he had the last laugh  one that echoed on Sunday night in the words of Trevor Noah.
San Diegans pride themselves on exemplifying the entrepreneurial spirit. The citys startup culture excels in industries ranging from biotech to beer, making the region a hotspot for innovation and collaboration.

Sometimes those collaborations bring together unexpected partners. Most recently, its Stone Brewing and Homegrown Meats joining forces.

The local artisan beef jerky producer, co-founded by San Diego native Thad Benshoof with longtime ranchers the Mendenhall family, teamed up with the Escondido-based brewery to launch two new jerky flavors using Stones beers as marinades.

Greg [Koch, Stones co-founder and current Executive Chairman] and I met a few years back through acquaintances, and developed a foodie-focused friendship, said Benshoof about how the unusual union came to be. We both champion culinary creativity, so it seemed like a natural fit for us to team up and create a delicious collaboration with Stones awesome beer and Homegrowns craft jerky.

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The two new flavors use Tangerine Express IPA and Arrogant Bastard Ale, a pair of year-round releases from Stone and their sub-brand Arrogant Consortia (formerly Arrogant Brewing).

We tested several different Stone beers in our marinade, and the flavor profiles of the Tangerine Express IPA and Arrogant Bastard jerkies were our collective favorite, said Benshoof. Each came out balanced yet beer-forward  which is exactly what we wanted.

The Tangerine Express IPA variation definitely pushes a citrus-forward flavor without losing the smokiness of the 100% grass-fed meat, and the Arrogant Bastard Ale jerky continues Stones commitment to an uncompromising celebration of intensity with a rich, spicy, complex version that makes one question whether they are indeed worthy. Both pair well with their respective beers as well, although it seems any hop-forward brew would probably do the trick.

Stone is known for its fiercely independent streak, focus on sustainability, and local roots, which made the partnership with Homegrown a no-brainer.

Launched in 2011 in San Diego, Homegrown Jerky only uses 100% grass-fed and grass-finished meat for their jerkys. (Courtesy photo)

Finding truly locally sourced meat has been historically difficult in San Diego, thanks to a shortfall of nearby United States Department of Agriculture-certified slaughter facilities. But as demand for more environmentally conscious meat continues to rise, ranchers across Southern California are increasingly improving their practices without sacrificing quality.

Nourishment should never compromise taste, said Benshoof in a recent press release.

Launched in 2011, Homegrown Jerky only uses 100% grass-fed and grass-finished meat for their jerkys, which are available for purchase online and nationwide at Whole Foods, as well as a number of local retailers. Other flavors include cracked black pepper, Western mesquite barbecue, tangy orange teriyaki, paleo, and Joels traditional.

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Homegrown only uses meat from ranchers dedicated to the humane treatment of animals and to sustainable farming practices, according to its website. The company also avoids using artificial sweeteners, colors and preservatives in order to appeal to health-conscious consumers. Every jerky is also gluten-free and contain no nitrates or nitrites, unlike many mass-produced beef jerkies or cured meats.

Jerky aficionados can expect more culinary-inspired releases from Homegrown in the future. Stay up-to-date with the latest collaborations by following #FuelTheJourney, or sign up for a jerky subscription on the Homegrown website.

Beth Demmon is a San Diego-based craft beer writer whose work has appeared in BeerAdvocate, Playboy, Thrillist, MUNCHIES, Tales of the Cocktail, and more. Email her at beth@bethdemmon.com .

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Hoping to harness the momentum of a six-day teachers strike that drew broad public sympathy, L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner is pushing a measure to raise local taxes for education.

If Board of Education members approve the plan  and all six have said they will  a parcel tax would go on either the June or November ballot. Getting on the June ballot would require board action before the end of next week.

District staff, pollsters and attorneys unveiled the funding plan at a board meeting on Tuesday. When board members expressed enthusiasm, Beutner said hed come back later this week with a resolution for the ballot they could vote on.

This will allow for the accelerated improvement in student learning, further reduction in class size and providing more support to students and educators in schools, Beutner later said in a statement. It is time to build on the commitment the community has expressed and move forward together.

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Still to be decided are the size of the proposed tax increase and how a new tax would be calculated. The measure would require the approval of two-thirds of voters within the boundaries of the nations second-largest school system.

Officials new sense of urgency is a contrast to last July when the board split 3 to 3 on a tax measure and Beutner called the idea premature. New to the job then, Beutner wanted to wait until 2020, to give the district time to rebuild credibility and put together a well-coordinated campaign. A teachers strike already threatened then, and some thought that made a tax measures prospects doubtful.

Those who backed it, however, thought getting additional money might forestall a strike by giving the district new resources.

When teachers walked out in January, they struck a chord with residents in arguing that the citys schools need more funding.

Wondering if that sympathy could be capitalized on, Beutner commissioned a poll. And on Tuesday, the board was told that the odds of passing a tax had improved.

Pollster Adam Sonenshein said a survey commissioned by the district found that 82% of voters agreed that there was a great need or some need for increased school funding. That was a higher level of support than in previous surveys, he said.

The survey of 700 registered voters was conducted Feb. 14-19 by cellphone and landline, in English and Spanish. Pollsters estimated a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

Sonenshein said he leaned toward the June ballot because it was closer to the teachers strike.

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This is a snapshot of today, he said. Memories start to fade.

There are other risks. In either June or November, a tax measure would go on a ballot without much else, increasing the likelihood of a low turnout. Voters who show up to vote in those elections tend to be more fiscally conservative. The cost of paying the county to hold the election is estimated at about $12.5 million.

In June 2010, an L.A. Unified parcel tax proposal hampered by an anemic campaign received only 53% of the vote, falling well short of the required two-thirds majority.

This time, district officials promise a vigorous effort. They also are seeking more than the annual $100 per parcel that they asked for in 2010.

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Several community groups expressed support at Tuesdays meeting. And business and community leaders who call themselves the Civic Alliance sent a letter offering a qualified endorsement. Part of the districts strategy for broadening public support will be to share the proceeds with privately operated charter schools, a powerful local constituency.

On Wednesday  even before a formal board vote  there will be an unofficial event in support of more funding at the Museum of Tolerance in Pico-Robertson. All In for Public Education promises testimonials from students, teachers and community partners as well as student performances.

Board President Monica Garcia said she wished the board could have voted immediately to put a measure on the ballot.

I am so encouraged that there is an opportunity to bring dollars to the district faster than was previously understood, Garcia said.

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Board members looked at two funding scenarios: a flat tax on every parcel versus a tax based on the square footage of structures on properties. Staff members said a tax based on square footage would be more progressive  putting a greater burden on wealthier residents.

The board also discussed two different tax amounts: one that would raise $340 million per year versus one that would raise $500 million per year. Board members appeared to be leaning toward the larger number. The larger amount, if taxed as a flat fee, would come to about $537 per parcel.

A successful June vote would mean that money could begin flowing into the school system as early as November. If voters approved a measure in November, money would not arrive until at least November 2020, according to the staff report.

Were at our time right now, board member Richard Vladovic said of a tax measure. We need it and I think the public understands.

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howard.blume@latimes.com

Twitter: @howardblume
The Paris prosecutors office says an investigation failed to turn up evidence to support a womans rape allegation against filmmaker Luc Besson and the case has been dropped.

The woman filed a complaint in May 2018 accusing the 59-year-old director of drugging and raping her at Le Bristol Paris hotel.

The prosecutors office said Monday that investigators didnt find evidence of a rape.

The law firm that represents Besson said the filmmaker was satisfied with the prosecutors decision and noted he always denied the womans allegation.

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Besson has produced nearly 100 films and written and directed many of them. His films include the Taken series, Subway, 'The Fifth Element, 'The Big Blue, and Leon.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Encinitas will lift its ban on out-of-town, cannabis companies making deliveries within the city limits now that state regulations have changed, the City Council unanimously agreed.

For me, I think its a necessary step ... were now at the point that I think we need to take action, Councilman Tony Kranz said.

The council took up the issue in response to a recommendation by City Attorney Glenn Sabine. In a memo to the council, Sabine noted that the states Bureau of Cannabis Control recently issued new regulations and those regulations have been approved by the states Office of Administrative Law. The new regulations declare that delivery company employees can deliver to any jurisdiction within the state of California as long as the delivery company employees comply with state law.

That means, Sabine told the council Wednesday, The city has no discretion any more to prohibit deliveries within its boundaries.

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California has been reworking its marijuana regulations ever since 2016 when the states voters approved Proposition 64 -- the marijuana legalization initiative. While they waited for the state to craft new regulations, California cities established their own patchwork of marijuana-related ordinances.

In addition to the delivery company ban, Encinitas has a ban on marijuana dispensaries setting up storefront shops in town and a ban on commercial cultivation of marijuana. Those may change, however.

Next year, the citys voters will be asked to weigh in on a citizens initiative known as the Cannabis Activity Zoning Ordinance of Encinitas. It would allow marijuana to be sold in up to four retail dispensaries in town, cultivated as a commercial crop, and used as an ingredient in manufactured products.

At previous City Council meetings, marijuana proponents have called on the city to lift its delivery ban, noting that Encinitas had the highest percentage of yes votes on the states Prop. 64 out of all San Diego County cities. But on Wednesday night, only opponents came before the council to speak.

Many of the public speakers were advisors for youth drug prevention programs and they said lifting the ban would put marijuana into the hands of teenagers. They encouraged council members to wait to make any changes to city regulations, saying lawsuits may soon be filed against the state over the delivery issue.

I see your dilemma, but I dont think it has to be resolved tonight, said Judi Strang of the San Dieguito Alliance for Drug Free Youth.

Opponents also said lifting the delivery ban would benefit the backers of the next years initiative by improving their prospects for passage. Kranz told them he disagreed with that view.

Kranz said he thought lifting the ban would make it less likely that voters would support an initiative that would allow up to four storefront marijuana businesses to open in town. He added that he would rather allow the delivery companies to come to peoples homes, rather than having people drive out of town to get marijuana, use it and then drive home.
On Nov. 11, 1978, Simi Valley police arrested restaurant manager Craig Coley for the murder of his girlfriend and her 4-year-old son.

Despite a solid alibi, no criminal record, questionable evidence and a public outcry over his innocence, Coley was convicted of the crimes. He spent 38 years and 10 months in prison before Governor Jerry Brown, citing DNA and other evidence, exonerated him on Thanksgiving Eve in 2017.

Regaining his freedom was one form of justice for Coley, who is now 71 and lives in Carlsbad. Another came on Saturday when the city of Simi Valley announced a $21 million settlement with Coley over a civil rights case he filed last year.

Coleys award is the highest individual civil rights case payout to an exoneree in California history and the fifth highest in the U.S. since record-keeping began in 1989, according to Jeffrey S. Gutman, co-director of the Jacob Burns Community Legal Clinics at George Washington University School of Law in Washington, D.C.

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Gutman has tracked exoneree awards over the past 30 years in collaboration with the National Registry of Exonerations, a project of the UC Irvine Newkirk Center for Science & Society, University of Michigan Law School and Michigan State University College of Law.

Gutman said the current national average payout in successful exoneree civil rights cases is $304,000 per year served in prison. Coleys award is nearly twice that amount, and its possible he may receive more because he has filed a separate lawsuit against Ventura County, which prosecuted the case.

Coley said Monday he is grateful that he will now have financial security for the rest of his life and the ability to travel and support causes hes passionate about. But the settlement doesnt make up for everything he has lost.

When I was in, I lost my whole family other than two cousins, he said. Its a bitter thing to live with but its a reality. Its been hard to accept but Ive learned to live with it. You know, Ill never have any children, or grandchildren for that matter. So theres a lot more to life than just money.

Simi Valley City Manager Eric Levitt said in a statement published on the citys website that the city chose to settle the suit rather than face a long court battle.

While no amount of money can make up for what happened to Mr. Coley, settling this case is the right thing to do for Mr. Coley and our community, Levitt said, in the statement. The monetary cost of going to trial would be astronomical and it would be irresponsible for us to move forward in that direction.

Coley said hed like to use some of his settlement to co-sponsor seminars for law enforcement agencies to teach the importance of proper evidence handling. Much of the physical evidence in his case was initially mishandled and then, for many years, misplaced, he said.

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Over the past several months, Coley has been speaking to groups of police officers about this subject alongside his best friend, Mike Bender, 63, of Carlsbad.

While working as a Simi Valley Police detective in 1989, Bender came across Coleys case and realized a miscarriage of justice had occurred. Hounded by his superiors to drop the case, Bender instead quit his job in 1991, left town with 16 boxes of case evidence and spent the next 26 years fighting to get the case reopened.

Bender, who is now national director of special investigations for ICW Group Insurance Companies, said that he couldnt be happier for Coley, who he described as grateful and relieved over the settlement.

Now he can truly enjoy trying to make up for 40 years lost from his life, Bender said. Its a lot of money but he can do a lot of good with it. He wants to make changes in laws and regulations so nobody ever has to go through what he went through again.

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Craig Coley, left, with Mike Bender at Benders house in Carlsbad last year. (Bill Wechter / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Coleys parents passed away while he was in prison, so Bender, and his wife, Cyndi, became his new family. Today, the men live a few miles apart and are as close as brothers. Coley calls Bender my rock and said hed still be in prison if not for Benders tireless efforts.

He directed me. He guided me. Hes been my compass. He helped me reintegrate into some semblance of a home life, which has turned out much better than I ever dreamed of, Coley said, in December.

The wheels of justice finally began turning in 2015, when Gov. Browns office agreed to investigate Coleys case. Then in 2016, there was a changing of the guard at the Simi Valley Police Department. Incoming police chief David Livingstone met with Bender, who handed him the 16 boxes of files. Then Livingston launched his own investigation with the Ventura County District Attorneys Office.

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DNA evidence, previously thought destroyed, was found and tested, revealing another mans sperm, blood and skin cells on sheets and clothing in the apartment. Witness testimony was also largely discredited. Livingstone and the Ventura DA filed a clemency petition in November 2017 and Brown signed the pardon two days later.

On a Facebook page maintained by Coleys family, Craig Coley  The Truth Set Him Free, Coley said that despite the announcement of the settlement, no funds have been distributed. When the money is paid after attorney fees, he has a team of professionals who will help him manage his financial future.

A Navy veteran, Coley plans to do some charitable giving to veterans and childrens causes. But most important, he plans to use some of his money to push forward in his final fight for justice: the capture and conviction of the man, or men, who raped and strangled the woman he loved, 24-year-old Rhonda Wicht, and smothered her toddler son, Donald, in his bed.

Coley said he is hopeful that as swiftly as his case was resolved this past year, the killer or killers will be brought to justice.

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This money is not about me, its about two people that horribly lost their lives and I paid the price for it, he said. My hope is that this is solved as soon as possible for the sake of their family, if nothing else. They went through a lot to come to terms with their deaths and now it has opened up again. I would love for them to have some finality when this is all resolved.

Readjusting to life on the outside took time for Coley, who had to learn to operate a cellphone and computer. For the first seven months of freedom, he stayed with the Benders. To help him get back on his feet, the Benders started a now-closed Gofundme account that raised $79,000.

Then in February 2018, the California Victims Compensation Board voted unanimously to award Coley $1.9 million, based on $140 for each of the 13,991 days he served behind bars. Its the highest award ever paid to an exonerated California prisoner. In California, exonerees are eligible to collect both a state payout and file a separate civil rights case.

The highest-ever exoneree civil rights payout was $26 million, paid in 2007 to Peter Limone, who served 33 years for a murder he didnt commit. Other awards of $25 million, $23.7 million and $22 million went to exonerated prisoners in Illinois and New York. Coley ranks fifth, according to Gutman.

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The standard for proving a civil rights case is high. Of 2,065 exonerees recorded in the registry since 1989, just 824 filed civil rights cases and, of those, just over half received compensation, Gutman said.

Some of the reasons cited in these claims for wrongful conviction are mistaken witness identity, false confessions, perjury, misleading forensic evidence and inadequate legal defense. But the most important factor is proving official misconduct. This can include officials withholding exculpatory evidence, pressure on witnesses to provide false testimony and submitting false forensic evidence, Gutman said.

pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com
Lemon Grove is looking into yet another way to bring some money to the cash-strapped city  hoping that short-term vacation rentals will lead to extra Transient Occupancy Tax collections.

City Manager Lydia Romero estimates that the new TOT money could bring the city another $25,000 to $30,000 annually. TOT is a charge to occupants of hotels, motels, bed and breakfast venues and other structures occupied by non-residents for lodging or sleeping purposes. The owners of the lodging places in turn pay the TOT collected to their jurisdiction.

Lemon Grove has been scrambling to find ways to make up a budget deficit that could help save the citys dwindling general fund. Last June, the financial department told the Lemon Grove City Council that Lemon Groves general fund is expected to lose $322,000 in the next fiscal year, with further losses projected after that.

But last July, the City Council failed to reach consensus on two November ballot measures suggested by city staff that could have raised revenue for the city.

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The first measure called for a half-cent sales tax increase, from 7.75 percent to 8.25 percent; the other measure would have hiked business license fees and established a tax on gross receipts from marijuana dispensaries.

Both measures needed a super majority of four of the five council members to pass. Both fell short by 3-2 votes.

After hearing a report by planning consultant Patricia Bluman, the City Council last week said it would be interested in looking into taxing hosted short-term rentals, also known as home-share or home-sharing.

For that type of short-term rental of a room or rooms in the permanent residence, the host  a permanent resident  would be required to be on the premises during the term of visitor occupancy, unless daytime and/or work hours are permitted to be excluded.

While Lemon Grove may not be the hotbed for short-term rental listings found on Airbnb, VRBO, HomeAway and other online websites compared to coastal areas of San Diego County, the city currently has about 25 homes that are operating as short-term rentals, Blumans report said. Those include individual rooms and guest houses as well as entire houses.

The report said the ease of listing homes for short-term rentals has caused a significant rise in the demand for this type of use throughout the county, and that Lemon Grove could see more of these in the future.

Short-term rentals are gaining in popularity, competing for customers with hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfast inns. Lemon Grove has two hotel/motel offerings for visitors seeking accommodations, both on Broadway  the Grove Motel and Rodeway Inn.

Lemon Groves TOT is currently 6 percent of the rent charged to a person staying at a hotel. The operator of a hotel is required to collect the tax and remit to the city. None of the 25 unpermitted short-term rentals operating in the city are paying TOT.

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Bluman said that cities that permit both hosted and unhosted short-term rentals include Carlsbad (only in coastal areas of the city), Encinitas and Solana Beach. Cities that have prohibited all short-term rentals include National City, Manhattan Beach and West Hollywood. Cities that prohibit unhosted short-term rentals include Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Her report also noted that while Oceanside allows all short-term rentals and requires collection of TOT, because of concerns about them, it is currently developing a Comprehensive Short-Term Vacation Rental Program to enhance compliance and accountability. The report said Oceanside is also considering hiring a full-time short-term rental enforcement officer.

The City Council agreed that short-term rentals in the city should be restricted to single-family dwellings in residential zones and would be prohibited in affordable housing units.

Other proposals for short-term rentals that would net the city TOT include:

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Requiring the host to obtain a home-share permit with an annual renewal fee;

Requiring a business license;

Limiting the number of visitors allowed based on the number of bedrooms in the home;

Designating responsibility for conduct of the occupants to the host;

Requiring all parking to be provided on-site;

Prohibiting special events in association with home-sharing;

Requiring liability insurance.



karen.pearlman@sduniontribune.com
Towering over cars on state Route 163 in Kearny Mesa, the seemingly out-of-place office building with the Ashford University logo affixed on top is getting a fresh lease on life. Its sole tenant is exiting early next year, and the owner is planning millions in upgrades.

Know as Centrum, the 11-story, 279,800 square-foot tower at 8620 Spectrum Center Blvd. is currently being be pitched by owner Sunroad Enterprises and broker Cushman & Wakefield as the citys hottest, ready-made office property.

Thats because, they say, the decade-old, Class A building promises an urban-meets-suburban environment and sits at the nexus of several San Diego freeways, making it an unexpected gem for would-be tenants and their workers.

It is, in their minds, comparable to anything downtown or University City (where Apple is headed) has to offer, and even rivals the in-construction office campus at Carmel Valleys One Paseo development.

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Its just really unusual to see this type of project in Kearny Mesa, said Cushman & Wakefields Derek Hulse, who cited Centrums location, architecture, parking and proximity to housing as the biggest draws.

Finished in 2008, Centrum is the fruit of on-going community planning efforts that have encouraged larger developments in parts of Kearny Mesa. The project is one piece of a master-planned neighborhood  bounded by Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, Kearny Villa Road, Ruffin Road and Balboa Avenue  where the General Dynamics missile plant operated from 1957 to 1992. That plan allows for higher densities and mixed uses, meaning the area is fast-becoming a live-work-play center outside of downtown.

Centrum was originally leased in its entirely to Bridgepoint Education, the San Diego-based company that operates online school Ashford University. Bridgepoint recently declined to renew its lease and will vacate the site in the first quarter of 2020.

The lease is up in 2020 and we are reviewing our options, said Bridgepoint spokeswoman Dori Abel in an emailed statement.

The decision comes as the publicly traded firm works through a restructuring effort that would see its online colleges, Ashford University and University of the Rockies, spun off into a nonprofit institution. The company is also being sued by the state, which alleges that Ashford made false promises to prospective students and used illegal tactics to collect on student debt.

Bridgepoints exit from Centrum means the entire building is once again up for grabs. And Sunroad will use the turnover as an opportunity to invest several millions upgrading the interior of the tower, spending on better common areas, millennial-friendly amenities and a revamped fitness center, said Dan Feldman, president of Sunroad Asset Management.

The firm also has grand plans for a cafe-restaurant with California cuisine and ample outdoor space.

It used to be that you had to have a deli on the ground floor, now its much more about an experience, Feldman said. Tenants want an experience, so their employees or guests can come down and have a meeting, or work  . They dont want to come down and have a turkey sandwich.

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The idea is not to compete with other office properties in Kearny Mesa, where vacancy rates are already low (7.3 percent at the end of 2018). Rather, Sunroad hopes to challenge new construction from top builders such as the Irvine Company, Manchester Financial Group and Alexandria Real Estate.

In addition to its tower, Sunroads stake in Kearny Mesa includes the nearby Vive on the Park and Ariva apartment complexes. It also plans to break ground within the next month on the Centrum-adjacent Vive Lux, a luxury residential development with 442 units.

The Vive Lux site is where Sunroad had planned to construct two additional office towers, and represents the developers response to higher-than-anticipated housing demand in the area.

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jennifer.vangrove@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1840 Twitter: @jbruin
As the fast-moving Ebola virus sweeps through eastern Congo, scientists are braving into war zones hoping to test new medicines  including one designed in San Diego  in sick patients there.

Despite civil unrest in the region, Doctors Without Borders has set up testing sites in the cities of Butembo and Beni, the latest hotspots of the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But researchers have plans to chase the virus as it moves throughout the region, which it does at a rather rapid pace.

Here in San Diego, where scientists have long been studying the deadly virus, a biotech company is getting a rare shot at seeing how its drug compares to three other experimental treatments that are part of this trial, including ones made by biotech giants Regeneron and Gilead Sciences.

The local firm  Mapp Biopharmaceutical  leaped into national news in 2014, when its experimental medicine, ZMapp, was used during the West African Ebola epidemic. The drug is a mixture of three antibodies meant to knock down levels of the Ebola virus in the body, hopefully buying time for the patients immune system to rally and defeat the disease.

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Anecdotal accounts indicated ZMapp might have helped save the lives of infected patients such as American missionaries Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol.

ZMapp spiked in demand during the 2014 outbreak, but the company wasnt set up to make its drug at mass scale back then. By early 2015, when a clinical trial was finally authorized to start treating patients with ZMapp, the epidemic was waning. The study moved forward anyway but had a hard time recruiting patients to test. In the end, the data showed some evidence ZMapp helped Ebola patients survive. But not enough patients were enrolled in the trial for the drug to prove statistical significance.

Of course, fewer grievously ill people is a good thing. But its hard to test whether a drug works when proper trials cant be conducted.

Its challenging to do clinical trials in a way that will satisfy (regulators) because we obviously would never intentionally infect people with Ebola, said Larry Zeitlin, founder and president of Mapp Biopharmaceutical.

And so data on ZMapp  and other newer drugs designed to fight the virus  are slim. And that means scientists must rely on animal trials to learn how Ebola reacts to drugs, which can be a hindrance to understanding the virus.

This is why researchers are rushing into regions of eastern Congo to set up new trial sites at area hospitals where outbreaks arise, despite the political unrest in the area. The National Institutes of Health is leading the trial, and its overseen by a World Health Organization steering committee, along with other national and international actors.

But its a difficult task. In December, an Ebola treatment center was stormed by rioters in Beni, who protested the postponement of an election by setting fire to the facility.

Virus researcher Erica Ollman Sapphire, who works at The Scripps Research Institute of La Jolla, helped Mapp determine the molecular structure of ZMapp and is familiar with the new trial sites in eastern Congo. She said the trial might be able to tell researchers which of these four anti-Ebola drugs work best, how well and at what stage of the virus progression.

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But thats assuming best case scenario. Sapphire said shes worried the data might be noisy if the trial stumbles into difficult circumstances, like not having enough patients to sort into a truly randomized trial.

Can we be sure the people getting Therapy A is an identical population to the people getting Therapy B? Sapphire said. In a traditional randomized trial, more people would be involved.

Not to mention, she said, the instability in the region could shake up a clinical trials best efforts.

Theyre working under very difficult circumstances, Sapphire said. This is an Ebola outbreak in an unstable zone. Getting a trial done at all would be a good outcome.

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The drugs being tested in the trial are Gileads Remdesivir, mAb114, Regenerons REGN-EB3 and ZMapp, which is the control arm.

Zeitlin said the trial would likely not play into ZMapps future regulatory approval in the U.S., however. The company is taking a different route through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration via the Animal Rule, which allows drugs like ZMapp to get approval by showing efficacy in animals only. If all goes well in ZMapps trials, the company will ask the FDA for approval around 2022, Zeitlin said.

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brittany.meiling@sduniontribune.com 619-293-1286 Twitter: @BrittanyMeiling
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday asked a federal judge to hold Tesla CEO Elon Musk in contempt for violating the terms of a recent settlement agreement that required pre-approval of any potentially market-moving tweets about the car company.

On Feb. 19, Musk tweeted that the company would make about 500,000 cars this year. Four hours later, he tweeted again that he meant to say the cars weekly production rate would equal up to about 500,000 on an annual basis, but that the total car deliveries this year would be closer to 400,000.

The next day, the SEC asked the company whether the tweets had been reviewed before being published. The first tweet had not been pre-approved, the company said. Instead, Teslas attorneys saw the tweet after it was published and then reached out Musk to draft a second, corrective tweet, the SEC said.

As a result of his failure to comply with the (settlement, Musk) once again published inaccurate and material information about Tesla to his over 24 million Twitter followers, the SEC said.

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A Tesla spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.

Last September, Musk reached a $20 million settlement with the SEC, which had accused him of lying to investors when he tweeted that he had funding secured to take Tesla private. As part of the settlement, Tesla agreed to review Musks market-moving tweets and public statements before he published them.

But, according to the SEC, that didnt happen. The provision of the Courts Final Judgment requiring Musk to obtain pre-approval before publishing written statements containing material information about Tesla is clear and unambiguous, the SEC said in its court filing.
MORRISVILLE, Pa. (AP)  A mother and her adult daughter killed five of their close relatives, including three children, and were found "disoriented" after child welfare authorities arrived for a surprise visit to their trashed apartment outside Philadelphia, police and prosecutors said Tuesday.

Shana Decree, 45, and her daughter Dominique Decree, 19, were charged with five counts of homicide and one count each of conspiracy. The motive and how the five family members died are unclear; their bodies were found Monday night.

"As confusing as it was last night, we are no closer to understanding that in the harsh light of day," Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said at a news conference Tuesday. "We will continue to pursue every lead and to work this case to its just conclusion."

The victims were Shana's children, Naa'Irah Smith, 25, and Damon Decree Jr., 13, both of Morrisville; Shana Decree's sister Jamilla Campbell, of Trenton, New Jersey; and Campbell's 9-year-old twin daughters, Imani and Erika Allen.

Authorities discovered the scene after a Bucks County child welfare officer arrived Monday evening for an unannounced visit and was let into the building by someone who works there, according to court papers.

Police say they found Shana and Dominique Decree "disoriented" inside the apartment, where furniture had been turned over, drywall was cracked and glass lay around. Police initially said they found four bodies, but they discovered a fifth underneath another that was next to a bed.

The mother and daughter were taken to a hospital and at first told authorities they didn't know what happened.

Before telling authorities about their involvement in the slayings, Shana Decree said her sister Jamilla's boyfriend and two unknown men killed the five family members but left Shana and Dominique alive, according to an affidavit.

Shana Decree then told police that "everyone at the apartment ... wanted to die" and talked about suicide, according to court documents. She said that she killed one of the victims, that she and her daughter Dominque killed another together, and that Campbell killed two other victims before she herself was slain by Dominique.

Shana Decree was arraigned early Tuesday, while Dominique Decree was arraigned in the afternoon. It isn't clear whether either woman has a lawyer to speak for her. Court papers show they have not requested a public defender, and no attorney information is listed.

Authorities who had been looking for Campbell's 17-year-old son Joshua found him not far away in Willingboro, New Jersey, where he was staying with friends, Police Chief George McClay said.

Weintraub stressed the teen is not a suspect, saying authorities just wanted to make sure he was safe.

The apartments are in Morrisville, which sits on the Delaware River northeast of Philadelphia and across from Trenton, New Jersey. The three-story, red-brick apartment complex is on a busy road lined with auto repair shops, a safe-and-lock shop and a bail bonds agency nearby.

Thai Hall, 24, of Bristol, Pennsylvania, said she attended Morrisville High School with Smith and spoke with her about three months ago. Hall, whose mother lives in a neighboring apartment, said Smith was attending cosmetology school. She remembered Smith warmly.

"She was a happy person, happy person and cared for people," Hall said.
HANOI, Vietnam (AP)  Before he was elected president, Donald Trump said he could see himself having burgers and chatting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un.

About a year later, after Kim tested a long-range missile that could possibly hit U.S. cities, Trump warned that any attack would be met with "fire, fury and frankly power  the likes of which the world has never seen before."

Since then, Trump has said that he and Kim fell "in love."

So goes the roller coaster of relations between Washington and Pyongyang. The ups and downs have rattled Americans and allies alike, and the two leaders' past erratic statements have raised uncertainty about the horse trading they might do on nuclear-tipped weapons, economic sanctions and other critical matters at their second summit meeting this week in Vietnam.

The North Korean leader has gone from questioning Trump's sanity and warning he would "tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire" to writing Trump gushing letters and pledging to denuclearize his nation and turn his energy toward developing his country's economy.

And Trump has gone from calling North Korea a "menace that threatens our world" to working to transform decades of hostile relations between the two nations.

Where next? Perhaps the two leaders could agree to set up diplomatic offices in each other's capitals or move to declare an end to the Korean War. The fighting stopped in 1953, but a peace treaty never was signed.

"We are not going to invade North Korea. We are not seeking to topple the North Korean regime," Trump's North Korea envoy, Stephen Biegun, said in a January speech at Stanford University in California. "President Trump is ready to end this war. It is over. It is done."

Indeed there is wide sentiment to discard the more than 65-year-old armistice and get on with making a real peace treaty. Robert Carlin, a visiting scholar and North Korea expert at Stanford University, calls the armistice "creaky"  akin to a 1957 Chevrolet still rumbling down the roads of Cuba.

But what would Trump get in exchange for such an agreement? That's where the questions multiply. What, in Trump's eyes, would Kim have to offer to get the U.S. to ease some of the harsh economic sanctions hobbling North Korea's aspirations for economic growth?

And are the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea in play if Kim takes concrete steps toward denuclearization?

Trump said flatly last week that troop reductions are not on the table. But that hasn't completely squelched speculation he might move in that direction.

Some experts say North Korea likely wants to trade the destruction of its nuclear development and research center at Yongbyon for a U.S. promise to formally declare the end of the war, open a liaison office in Pyongyang and allow the North to resume some lucrative economic projects with South Korea.

Victor Cha, a North Korea expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, thinks Trump might not be satisfied with an announcement of only incremental progress. He envisions Trump's national security staff negotiating measured, initial steps and the president coming in and abruptly announcing: "This is small ball. I want big steps. So I'm going to put big stuff on the table."

The president already has broken away from the format of past talks with North Korea.

Instead of insisting on denuclearization first before the U.S. considers any concessions, Biegun says, the U.S. is simultaneously pursuing denuclearization, establishing new U.S.-North Korea relations and working toward a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.

That different negotiating approach has raised concern that Trump, anxious for a deal, will give away too much to North Korea, which has a history of backing out of agreements.

The White House, in briefing reporters ahead of the summit, suggested the Trump administration is looking to move the negotiations forward in big bites. But Trump himself has said he's in no rush for a denuclearization deal.

Sue Mi Terry, a former Korea analyst at the CIA who formerly worked at the National Security Council, noted how Trump at the Singapore summit last year made dramatic on-the-spot concessions to Kim that his own advisers had urged him against, including a halt on U.S.-South Korea military exercises.

Trump's on-the-spot decisions are "truly the wild card," she said.

Kim takes a long view of these talks, but Trump could be sidetracked if he gets immersed in his re-election campaign, says Kim Joon-hyung, a professor at Handong Global University in Pohang, South Korea.

"The second half of this year is critical for moving forward quickly," he said, adding that while the North Korea talks might help Trump win re-election, it's probably not a decisive issue for American voters.

"That's what I actually worry about the most," he said. "What if Trump loses interest in this?"
The man who threatened to shoot Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi, has turned his attention to the Editor of the Samoa Observer, Mataafa Keni Lesa, calling him a criminal.

Saute Sapolu made the allegations in another video he posted on Facebook yesterday.

It appeared to be in response to the Samoa Observers reporting of his threat against the Prime Minister and a subsequent editorial written by Mataafa titled Threat to shoot P.M. unnecessary. Its illegal and shameful.

Mataafa Keni you need to stop that lie you just told on your newspaper, he said, referring to the editorial. You need to ask the question why I am so upset.

Mr. Sapolu claimed that the Editor was aware of an alleged five-year-nuclear plan involving the Government and China, he blamed for the 2009 tsunami.

What plan he was referring to though, he did not say.

You guys never talk about that (plan) that caused the tsunami on September 29th 2009. What about that? Why cant you talk about that? You can call me coward and all that but you know what, I dont even feel it.

I think youre talking about yourself because youre not doing your job in your media or your newspaper. Youre not telling the people the truth and you all hate me because Im telling the people the truth.

What I saw, what I read and the whole world knows about it that you guys are not telling our people about it. So youre just bunch of criminals and hypocrite Christians. And you want to call yourself Christians? Stop kidding; look at yourself in the mirror.

Mr. Sapolus video goes on to talk about when he was locked up in prison in Samoa illegally.

He also defended the foul language he used in the video where he threatened to shoot the Prime Minister so that his brain would be scattered all over the place.

What I say is what I say, Mr. Sapolu said. Im an artist and I can express myself using words with the language in Samoan. Doesnt matter what kind of words.

And its not worse than murdering the tagata-a-nuu o Samoa on the 29th of September 2009 and you guys cannot talk about it.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa has described Mr. Sapolu a terrorist he wants the US Central Intelligence Agency to investigate.

Asked for a comment, Mataafa declined, referring to the book of Proverbs 26 vs 4.
It was a battle of legal minds in the Supreme Court yesterday, where an application to have a murder trial tried by a Judge without a panel of assessors was the subject of discussion.

The application for trial before a judge alone was filed in the lead up to the murder hearing of the man accused of the murder of former Unit Trust of Samoa Chief Executive Officer, the late Sau Justina Sau.

Accused Kolani Junior Lam, who is represented by lawyer, Leiataualesa Komisi Koria, re-filed the application on Monday, which was the date initially scheduled for the hearing.

Leading prosecutor is Attorney General, Lemalu Hermann Retzlaff, assisted by Magele Leone Sua - Mailo.

Supreme Court Judge, Justice Tafaoimalo Leilani Tuala  Warren presided.

Lam pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder in respect of his wife Sau, and alternative charges of manslaughter, common assault in respect of his step daughter, possession of narcotic and conspiracy to defeat the cause of justice.

In the prosecution submission, Lemalu responded to claims of prejudice  if the defendant is trialed by a panel of assessors  and claims of allegations based on circumstantial evidence.

Lemalu delved into the evidence of the pathologist, which feature strangulation, either the use of fingers or rope which is put before the Court with circumstantial evidence.

He raised the question of what is the disputed issue in the trial.

We say that pursuant to report pursuant to circumstantial evidence, pattern of violence within that home, pattern of consumption of alcohol in that home, pattern of behavior of defendant in that home, that he did do in fact as pathologist suggested, he argued.

The evidence that we propose to lead by the daughter of the deceased, that she (Sau) was in fact strangled, in the context of drinking and this was witnessed by her younger cousin and then later on intervened and seen of strangulation by the babysitter."

Now that environment is directly relevant to what were saying is the home environment of drinking."

On the night questioned there is similar type of drinking of the accused, but because the evidence of this behavior forms the pattern of that whole environment it is relevant, were not just grapping something from past and say - trying to hope that one incident is relevant to another.

And if (we) look at the actual issue that the defense dispute, prosecution says too this was strangulation causing the death of Sau. How can it not be relevant?

Lemalu told the Court that the charges look at the whole circumstances, not just a look at the physical assault, and this was domestic in its nature.

He argued there is going to be prejudice at first instance, but the level of prejudice effect and the evidence will be tested in Court.

Lemalu also touched on a statement made by defense lawyer, that the public is affected by social media discussions.

In that its as if it suggests that from now on we can never have a trial by assessors with the existence of Facebook, he reiterated.

There is no evidence of that. When he said that no one in this court room, it sort of suggest that there is some sort of prejudice that affect the assessors, even if directed by your Honour.

Secondly because of those posts put before you in evidence, they are specific in their presentation in those long conversation, they presume that those being appointed and elected are affected by that.

Lemalu made it clear that such a serious charge such as murder should remain and be trialed by panel of assessors under the direction of the judge.

He said there is an inherit possibility of publicity in such case and its accepted there will obviously be reports in favour or against any particular defendant.

But your Honour, how do you make consideration that every single case with publicity will therefore be subject be removed from panel of assessors, when you have in this context serious charges in section 6 of paragraph 2 refer to such as murder.

The lead prosecutor challenged the defense submission on a complaint made two years later by one of the witnesses.

That is unfair, he said.

If you read the evidence in whole she showed reason why. Her going to police was discouraged.

Furthermore, Lemalu disagreed with the submission of the tried by judge alone application, claiming it is a narrow reading of the legislative provisions together.

He argued the section in which the defense lawyer is reliant on, for defendants notice for trial by judge alone, is before the Court to consider, it is not before you because you must direct judge alone to be applied for.

Lemalu pinpointed section 126 of Criminal Procedure Act 2016 goes together with section 125.

The Criminal Procedure Act 2016 section 126 reads: Prosecutors application for trial by Judge alone(1) If a defendant has given a notice under section 125, the Judge may, on application by the prosecutor and served on the defendant before the defendant is given in charge to the assessors, order that the defendant be tried before a Judge alone.

(2) The Judge may make an order under subsection (1) if the Judge is satisfied: (a) that any reasonable procedural orders, and any other reasonable arrangements, to facilitate the shortening of the trial, have been made, but the duration of the trial still seems likely to exceed five (5) working days; and (b) that, in the circumstances of the case, the defendants right to trial by assessors is outweighed by the likelihood that potential assessors will not be able to perform their duties effectively. (3) For the purposes of subsection (2)(b), the Judge must take into account the following matters when considering the circumstances of the case: (a) the number and nature of the offences with which the defendant is charged; (b) the nature of the issues likely to be involved; (c) the volume of evidence likely to be presented; (d) the imposition on potential assessors of sitting for the likely duration of the trial; (e) any other matters the Judge considers relevant.

According to Lemalu, section 125 does say the Judge must make an order but it does not give a blanket of requirement.

Your Honour is then required to consider whether the interest of justice is not grantedthe Criminal Procedure Act gives a lot of directive to judge to direct the assessors to keep it safe, keep it fair and explained how it works and why its admissible.

Moving on to claims on panel of assessors being influenced by public discussion, Lemalu pointed out the Court room is very different from surfing Facebook.

He made the point the Court room is in the hands of the presiding Judge, where she or he gives assessors direction.

Once those directions are given they (assessors) will be reminded they need to be impartial, they need to be independent in their thinking. All in line with Article 9 of Constitution to have the right to a fair trial. The Court also reminds all assessors to disregard what they hear outside of Court.

From the defense counsel, Leiataualesa who briefly touched on grounds that supports application to have Lam tried by judge alone.

The defense lawyer made reference to the Criminal Procedure Act (C.P.A.) 2016 and the previous act Criminal Procedure Act 1972 which limits the rights of an accused in murder to a trial by judge only.

Leiataualesa told the Court that there was no section in the Criminal Procedure Act 1972  in respect of offenses that carries maximum penalty of life  to have a trial by judge alone.

That limitation no longer exists, he argued.

Under previous legislation, this type of application made in case of Lufilufi and Police, the defendant made similar application under Section 87 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1972, the Supreme Court declined the application according to Court of Appeal  the only access at the time was section 87 which limits the rights of defendant to a only judge trial.

Again your Honour that limitation does not exist...

Under the Criminal Procedure Act 2016 section 125 (3) reads: If the defendant, within the period under subsection (1), gives notice under that subsection of the defendants desire to be tried before a Judge sitting alone, the Registrar must refer the matter to a Judge of the Supreme Court (who may or may not be the Judge before whom the trial is to be held).

Sub section four (4) states: The Judge to whom any matter is referred under subsection (3) must order that the defendant be tried before a Judge sitting alone unless, having regard to the interests of justice, the Judge considers that the defendant should be tried before a Judge with assessors, in which case the Judge must make the order accordingly.

Furthermore, Leiataualesa also submitted that from social media posts, it has indicated that there is no sympathy from the public to this particular defendant.

Needless to say, this particular case has attracted high level publicity, and subject of public discussion since October last year, he pointed out.

Not only in terms of media coverage and in mainstream media, but also on social media, which is now a phenomenon in Samoa. We have attached in affidavit some of discussion going on  on posts. Discussions show that there is no sympathy for this particular defendant given the status of the alleged victim there is sympathy.

The defense lawyer emphasized  in terms of defendant being subject to a fair trial  the panel of assessors will be selected from members of the public, who are exposed to some of the discussions.

There is no one in this Court that can say they have not been influenced in their head, and cannot say there is no one at real risk of fair trial, he said.

People will no doubt be exposed to these (public) discussionswill be safer in the hands of the judge sitting, only because the judge sitting alone give proper consideration to matters, in which evidence are considered and weight of the evidence.

Lastly, Leiataualesa disputed the case from Police of the presumption of the alleged act of strangulation.

That particular argument is based solely on circumstantial evidence that made inference that prosecution hope to draw from medical report, he said.

The lawyer also questioned why a complaint from one of the witnesses against the defendant, in an incident that allegedly occurred in 2016, was filed two years late.

The witness waited two years to lodge complaint for an incident that occurred in 2016. What has happened is the complainant (Talei) waited two years to file this complaint against the defendant.

The matter is adjourned for Justice Tafaoimalos ruling on 12 April 2019.
The reality on the ground is quite frightening. What with king tides, flooding, earthquakes, heavy rain, sea level rising and threats of developing cyclones, this is not the best time to be living in this part of the world.

But if you are a visitor to our shores, and we know we have a number of them who are in the country this week for the European Union, ACP and United Nations related meetings, welcome to our reality.

If you ever doubted the climate calamities and the extreme weather patterns we experience in these parts, you will doubt no more. The past few days wouldve been enough to give you a reality check about life here, and perhaps more reason to consider the call for help that is constantly pushed by our leaders, when it comes to the international stage.

Its not all paradise, swaying palm trees, exotic cocktails and beautiful beaches.

At the time this piece was being compiled last night, there was a tropical depression intensifying with a very high chance of turning into a cyclone. Its not the first threat weve had since Christmas.

Last night, this was a nation living in fear and for very good reason. We have been devastated so many times by these natural disasters that people have had it. Lives have been lost, properties destroyed and entire communities relocated, costing millions and millions of tala that could otherwise have been used to develop lives and improve their prospects.

In this part of the world, its not just the cyclone season that brings real anxiety and trepidation. Climate change, as cliche as it sometimes sounds, is very real.

While most of the attention is diverted to Kiribati, Tuvalu and other smaller island states that are sinking, sea level rise and coastal erosion are quite alarming on these shores. All you need to do is drive by during high tide.

A couple of incidents during the past two weeks, which have been highlighted on this newspaper, provide perfect proof. Last week, the villagers of Afega and Lotosoa Saleimoa shared their concerns about the rapid rise in the sea level, which triggered real panic among families.

It was new to see the sea water come up that high, Gauifaleai Patu of Lotosoa Saleimoa said. This is the first time I have seen the tide this high, and you could even paddle your canoe, where the grass is. Compared to previous years and even during Cyclone Evan (in 2012), the sea water level was nothing compared to what we saw earlier this week.

When this newspaper visited, small pools of seawater were seen in front of family homes.

It was unlike anything I had seen at our area since I have lived here, said Peo Sione Faalelea. As you can see from the debris from the sea water, it came past our house to the front door, all the way to the other side of the road, Peo said, pointing to the road that is about 8 meters away from his door steps.

If you also look at our outdoor kitchen, it has already claimed it and is rapidly swallowing up the rocks to the back of our house. What happened on Wednesday and this morning was unbelievable and its hard to explain it, unless you have seen it yourself.

I am afraid for my children, and I am afraid that when we are not at home with them, something might hit us and we will be too late to help them.

Well that was last week.

This week, another story appeared on the front page of yesterdays Samoa Observer titled Villagers live in fear. The story highlighted the plight of residents living along the edge of the Solosolo village who fear for their lives.

Among them are 74-year-old Faumuina Sisilia Talamaivao and her husband, 80-year-old Toomata Leota Talamaivao, who have lived to see the frightening rise in sea level.

This seawall was done in 2008, about 10 years ago and it needs maintenance. Its sinking because all the rocks have been washed out, said Faumuina. What makes it worse is that heres the sea, and theres the river down there, so when it rains then the river rises and sea rises at the same time, which makes it worse as you can see now.

We are worried because it is life-threatening so in a span of more than 10 years, this has happened.

Faumuina said her family is the worst-hit and she is seeking assistance from anyone or any organization.

The seawall was done because of this very same issue. This sea wall was withstanding for a few years but its not going to last forever isnt it? It needs maintenance and thats what it needs right now, just a few rocks to make it safer.

In the long term, we believe these people are going to need more than a few rocks. They will probably need to move to higher ground. No amount of rocks will be able to protect these properties. The best thing they can do now  with the help of the Government of course  is to prepare them for relocation.

Its a frightening thought but its the truth.

Have a wonderful Wednesday Samoa, God bless!
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)  The most senior Catholic cleric ever charged with child sex abuse has been convicted of molesting two choirboys moments after celebrating Mass, dealing a new blow to the Catholic hierarchy's credibility after a year of global revelations of abuse and cover-up.

Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis' top financial adviser and the Vatican's economy minister, bowed his head but then regained his composure as the 12-member jury delivered unanimous verdicts in the Victoria state County Court on Dec. 11 after more than two days of deliberation.

The court had until Tuesday forbidden publication of any details about the trial.

Pell faces a potential maximum 50-year prison term after a sentencing hearing that begins on Wednesday. He lodged an appeal last week against the convictions.

Details of the trial had been suppressed because until Tuesday, Pell had faced a second trial in April on charges that he indecently assaulted two boys aged 9 or 10 and 11 or 12 as a young priest in the late 1970s in a public pool in his hometown of Ballarat.

Prosecutor Fran Dalziel told the court on Tuesday that the Ballarat charges had been dropped and asked for the suppression order to be lifted.

"This is not a special case," Dalziel said.

The victim who testified at Pell's trial said after the conviction was revealed that he has experienced "shame, loneliness, depression and struggle." In his statement, the man said it had taken him years to understand the impact the assault had on his life.

Pell's lawyer Robert Richter initially wanted details of the trial suppressed until his appeal was heard, but later withdraw the application.

Pell was surrounded by a crush of cameras and members of the public as he was ushered from the courthouse to a waiting car. "You're a monster!" one man shouted. "You're going to burn in hell, you freak!"

"Are you sorry?" one woman shouted. Pell did not respond.

Another of Pell's lawyers, Paul Galbally, said Pell continued to maintain his innocence.

"Although the cardinal originally faced allegations from a number of complainants, all of those complaints and allegations save for the matters that are subject to the appeal have all been either withdrawn or discontinued," Galbally told reporters outside.

Pell has initially been charged with more than 20 charges of sexual abuse against various complainants.

The revelations came in the same month that the Vatican announced Francis approved the expulsion from the priesthood for a former high-ranking American cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, for sexual abuse of minors and adults.

The convictions were also confirmed days after Francis concluded his extraordinary summit of Catholic leaders summoned to Rome for a tutorial on preventing clergy sexual abuse and protecting children from predator priests.

The lifting of the suppression order was welcomed by SNAP, a U.S. support group for victim of clergy abuse.

"We hope that his conviction will not only bring healing to his victims in Australia but hope to survivors across the world who are yearning for accountability at the top levels of the church," SNAP said in a statement. "We believe today's conviction will make Australian children safer and parents and parishioners better informed about how to prevent sexual abuse."

The jury convicted Pell of abusing two 13-year-old boys whom he had caught swigging sacramental wine in a rear room of Melbourne's St. Patrick's Cathedral in late 1996, as hundreds of worshippers were streaming out of Sunday services.

Pell, now 77 but 55 at the time, had just been named the most senior Catholic in Australia's second-largest city, Melbourne.

The jury also found Pell guilty of indecently assaulting one of the boys in a corridor more than a month later.

Pell had maintained his innocence throughout, describing the accusations as "vile and disgusting conduct" that went against everything he believed in.

Richter, his lawyer, had told the jury that only a "mad man" would take the risk of abusing boys in such a public place. He said it was "laughable" that Pell would have been able to expose his penis and force the victim to take it in his mouth, given the cumbersome robes he was wearing.

Both he and Chief Judge Peter Kidd urged the jury of eight men and four women not to punish Pell for all the failings of the Catholic Church, which in Australia have been staggering.

"You must not scapegoat Cardinal Pell," Kidd told the jury.

Along with Ireland and the U.S., Australia has been devastated by the impact of the clerical abuse scandal, with a Royal Commission inquiry finding that 4,444 people reported they had been abused at more than 1,000 Catholic institutions across Australia between 1980 and 2015.

Pell's own hometown of Ballarat had such a high incidence of abuse  and, survivors say, a correlated higher-than-average incidence of suicide  that the city warranted its own case study in the Royal Commission report.

As a result, Pell's trial amounted to something of a reckoning for survivors, with the brash and towering cardinal becoming the poster child for all that went wrong with the way the Catholic Church handled the scandal.

The conviction capped a year that had been so dominated by revelations of high-ranking sex abuse and cover-up that analysts openly speak of a crisis unparalleled since the Reformation. In addition to Pell, the allegations against McCarrick of groping a minor in the 1970s and of sleeping with adult seminarians became public.

As a result of the scandal, Francis' approval ratings have tanked in the United States, and his standing with conservative Catholics around the world  already on shaky ground over his outreach to divorcees  has plunged.

Up until the verdict, Pell's lawyers had appeared confident that they had established a reasonable doubt and had expected quick verdicts of not guilty.

When the jury chairman delivered the first guilty verdict, Pell's hands slipped from the arm rests of the chair where he sat in the dock at the back of the courtroom. His head bowed after the second verdict, but he restored his composure for the final verdicts.

Pell, who walked to and from court throughout his monthlong trial with a crutch under his right arm, was released on bail to undergo surgical knee replacements in Sydney on Dec. 14. Prosecutor Mark Gibson did not oppose bail, saying the surgery would be more easily managed outside the prison system.

The first four offenses occurred at the first or second Solemn Mass that Archbishop Pell celebrated as leader of the magnificent blue-stone century-old cathedral in the center of Melbourne. Pell was wearing his full robes  though not his staff or pointed bishops' hat  at the time.

The now 34-year-old survivor told the court that Pell orally raped him, then crouched and fondled the complainant's genitals while masturbating.

"I was young and I didn't really know what had happened to me. I didn't really know what it was, if it was normal," the complainant told the court.

The other victim died of a heroin overdose in 2014 without ever complaining of the abuse, and even denying to his suspicious mother that he had been molested while he was part of the choir.

Neither boy can now be identified, because it is illegal to name victims of sexual assault in Victoria state.

Pell was initially charged with orally raping the second boy. But that charge was downgraded to indecent assault when the complainant testified that he couldn't see from his vantage point.

More than a month later, the complainant testified that Pell pushed him against a cathedral corridor wall after a Mass and squeezed the boy's genitals painfully before walking away in silence.

"Pell was in robes and I was in robes. He squeezed and kept walking," the complainant told the jurors. "I didn't tell anyone at the time because I didn't want to jeopardize anything. I didn't want to rock the boat with my family, my schooling, my life."

The complainant testified that he feared that making such accusations against a powerful church man would cost him his place in the choir and with it his scholarship to prestigious St. Kevin's College.

Pell pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four counts of willfully committing an indecent act with or in the presence of a child under 16 in late 1996 and early 1997.

He did not testify at his trial. But the jury saw a video recording of an interview he gave Australian detectives in Rome in 2016 in which he stridently denied the allegations.

Pell grimaced, appearing incredulous and distressed, waved his arms over his head and muttered to himself as the detectives detailed the accusations that his victim had leveled against him a year earlier.

"The allegations involve vile and disgusting conduct contrary to everything I hold dear and contrary to the explicit teachings of the church which I have spent my life representing," Pell told police.

Richter told the jury that the prosecution case compounded a series of improbabilities and impossibilities.

He told the jury that Pell could not have "parted" his robes as the complainant had described.

The jury was handed the actual cumbersome robes Pell wore as archbishop. Over his regular clothes, Pell would wear a full-length white robe called an alb that was tied around his waist with a rope-like cincture. Over that, he would drape a 3-meter (10-foot) band of cloth called a stole around his neck. The outermost garment was the long poncho-like chasuble.

More than 20 witnesses, including clerics, choristers and altar servers, testified during the trial. None recalled ever seeing the complainant and the other victim break from a procession of choristers, altar servers and clerics to go to the back room.

The complainant testified that he and his friend had run from the procession and back into the cathedral through a side door to, as Gibson, the prosecutor, said, "have some fun."

Monsignor Charles Portelli, who was the cathedral's master of ceremonies in the 1990s, testified that he was always with Pell after Mass to help him disrobe in the sacristy.

The defense argued that Pell's usual practice was to linger at the cathedral front steps talking to members of the congregation after Mass. But Gibson said there was evidence that Pell didn't always chat outside and had the opportunity to commit the crimes.

The lifting of the gag order comes after Francis charted 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 last week 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 Francis went into the meeting even more weakened and discredited after one of his top advisers was convicted of the very crime he has now decided is worth fighting on a universal scale.

Pell's downfall will invariably tarnish the pope, since Francis appointed Pell economy minister in 2014 even though some of the allegations against him were known at the time.

In October, Francis finally cut Pell loose, removing him as a member of his informal cabinet. Pell technically remains prefect of the Vatican's economy ministry, but his five-year term expires this year and is not expected to be renewed.
.     ,     1    ,  ,     .          ,   , .  ,                  ,    ...
The Samoa Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Finance recently held a high level dialogue relating to this years Government Budget 2019/2020, Public-Private Partnerships and the Enabling Environment for Business.

The dialogue at the beginning of the month is held annually and is provided as an avenue for more transparent and robust discussions on Government and Private Sector collaboration in improving the business environment for Samoa.

This years agenda focused on the Government policy environment for business, policy implementation and enforcement and Government targeted support for businesses in their respective industry sectors (services, agriculture, tourism, manufacturing etc.).

The Chamber encouraged a strengthening in policy implementation and effective policy enforcement for a level playing field for businesses. In addition, the dialogue also emphasized the need for improved efficiency in government service delivery.

The Chamber also encouraged that private sector be included in policy implementation. The Chamber acknowledged various government development initiatives to support Samoas business environment, such as Faleolo International Airport, Samoa Airways and Apia Waterfront Development Project.

The Ministry of Finance reiterated that improvements are expected to be made within ministries regarding frontline staff to improve service delivery, as well as Government undergoing tax reviews to ensure better tax policies that benefit of our private sector.

CEO for MoF, Leasiosio Oscar Malielegaoi stated that the Samoa 2040 Document is being drafted  which will be the long-term vision that guides the Governments development strategy.

This long term strategy will focus on Samoas transformational sectors such as agriculture and fisheries, tourism, expansion of our economic base, digital transformation and a safe and stable Samoa. In doing so, it was reiterated that Government and Private Sector collaboration is crucial.

President of Chamber, Jennifer Ula Fruean extended her thanks to the Ministry of Finance for the ongoing partnership and opportunity to meet with the Private Sector. It was highlighted that the dialogue will continue throughout the year between the Chamber and in line ministries.
The Pacific ACP (PACP) states are preparing to enter negotiations talks with the European Union (EU) on a Post Cotonou Agreement in Samoa this week.

EUs chief negotiator, Neven Mimica, is in Samoa to meet with Pacific officials and leaders.

But there is an increasing concern by Pacific civil society organisations that the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of states (ACP) are under-prepared to strategically negotiate with the EU, and will likely accommodate the EUs negotiating position.

The current Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA) expires in 2020 and the EU and its African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) partners have begun preparations towards a successor to the CPA.

The ACP Council adopted a negotiating mandate on 31st of May 2018 and the EU Council adopted the EU negotiating directives on 22nd of June 2018.

The two Chief Negotiators launched negotiations on 28th of September 2018 in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting in New York.

First rounds of technical negotiations between the European Commission and the ACP began in Brussels on 18th of October, and 5th of December 2018 to agree on practical modalities, structure and strategic priorities.

Concern remains around timing and Pacific ACP states will require adequate time to study the EUs proposals; understand their intent; develop appropriate responses that are not EU-centric and that protect the integrity of the region and the right of Pacific Island states to develop at their own pace, and negotiate on their own terms.

The Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG), PIANGO Pacific 2030 and collective (DAWN, Diva, FCOSS, Oxfam Regional, PYC), argue that without due process and a thorough and inclusive regional and national consultative framework, it will be contrary to the spirit of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA), which involved wide participation of both states and non-state actors (NSAs). It is also potentially dangerous as well as counter-productive as it could ultimately deny the region prospects for sustainable and equitable development.

Pacific CSOs are currently in Apia, Samoa to caution PACP officials against a rush to complete negotiations for a binding treaty that is extensive in its coverage.

Due process for national consultations including with parliamentarians, local councils, media, academia, trade unions, indigenous peoples and local communities, civil society actors and private sector, will be required to guide negotiators.
The Universal Postal Union (UPU) has beefed up the capacity of the Samoa Post Limited with the presentation of three new mail vehicles.

The official handover of the three vehicles was done at the Taumeasina Island Resort yesterday by the UPU Ambassador Bishar Hussein to Afamasaga Rico Tupai, the Minister for Communications and Information Technology.

His portfolio also covers Samoa Post limited.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sa'ilele Malielegaoi gave the keynote address.

The two-day conference will provide a platform for the exchanging of views and sharing of ideas on how to improve Samoas postal networks.

Mr. Hussein said one of the goals behind the vehicle donation is to improve postal services and networks.

The traditional postal service is no longer viable and we have to come up with ways to improve our networks and the services we provide for our citizens, he said.

The second area of focus is the development of financial services, as many Samoans who live outside the country are limited in their options to send money home.

Almost all the Pacific island countries are in Samoa to attend the conference.

This is believed to be one of the contributions the U.P.U has blessed S.P.L with, as they had also provided the S.P.L with technical support and conducted conferences in the past years, trained Samoan staff and pay for their participation not only in Samoa but also all the other Pacific island countries.

His Excellency also described a few of the many challenges in meeting the needs of the member countries.

The challenges are many and we are 192 different networks, different governments, different sizes, different economies, different challenges and different languages so putting this together, we want behave and update one network so that is a major challenge for us.

Second thing is the logistic ways and Pacific Island countries especially have problems of transport and shifts takes a long time to deliver, he added.

Afamasaga acknowledged the generosity of the U.P.U with the donation of the expensive vehicles, which he said are worth about $24,000.

We will look into using these vehicles wisely as to why the U.P.U have contributed them for, to serve our country, he said.
One of two nurses charged over the death of two 12-month-old babies after receiving MMR vaccination appeared in the Supreme Court yesterday.

Luse Emo Tauvale appeared before Chief Justice, His Honourable Patu Tiavaasue Falefatu Sapolu for criminal mention in the absence of her lawyer.

She was seeking changes to her bail conditions to allow her to sign-in at a police post in Savaii, instead of the one in Apia.

Her lawyer is Tauiliili Lefau Harry Schuster.

Taking the defendants stand in her puletasi, Tauvale was asked why her lawyer was not in Court. In response, she shrugged her shoulders, and said in a low voice that she did not know where her lawyer was.

She then told the Court that she resides in Lefagaoalii and is seeking its permission to change her sign-in location from the Apia police station to Fagamalo, Savaii.

In granting her request, Chief Justice Patu said she will need to reappear again on Monday next week with her lawyer to schedule a date for her trial.

Tauvale and Leutogi Teo are charged with manslaughter, conspiracy to defeat the course of justice and negligence.

The pair both pleaded not guilty to the charges and are remanded on bail.

Also from Court, civil mention was rescheduled from yesterday to today.

A notices outside the Supreme Court room 1 stated the matters normally scheduled for Monday is postponed until today at 10am.
The man accused of attempted murder of a woman that was shot in the face wants an early hearing date as he has been remanded since early January.

Making the request through his lawyer Leota Tima Leavai, Peter Tulaga Eliesa has asked that the hearing should be scheduled earlier than May this year.

Leota made the request before Supreme Court Judge, Honourable Chief Justice, Patu Tiavaasue Falefatu Sapolu yesterday during criminal mention.

The prosecutor lawyer Lucy Sio  Ofoia told the Court the matter was called for an early hearing date and request for the week commencing May 13, 2019.

It is an early hearing date for us, she said.

But Leota argued that the date is three months from today and the given date does not reflect their priority.

We oppose to the date as prosecution during submission when bail was denied, and the understanding of an early hearing date, because the defendant has been remanded since January, she pointed out.

The prosecution at the time did stress the need to prioritise the case but now we have to waitits not fair on the accused, he is a businessman and he wants to return to his work.

Chief Justice Patu reminded the lawyer that looking back at the history of bail in Court, there have been accused remanded for periods of more than six months.

But we have trials in the last three years, in other jurisdiction accused are kept in custody awaiting trial for more than 12 months, he explained.

Samoa is well ahead in terms of short demand in custody where (accused) plead not guilty.

Patu ruled the matter to be adjourned for hearing to the week commencing 13 May.

The accused remain in custody but the defense counsel may continue to liaise with prosecution for an earlier date than the week commencing 13 May 2019.

Eliesa is charged with one count of attempted murder in connection with the attempted murder of Frysna Rimoni. He pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Attorney General, Lemalu Hermann Retzlaff, is leading the prosecution team in the murder trial of former Unit Trust of Samoa Chief Executive Officer, the late Sau Justina Sau.

Lemalu is assisted by lawyer Magele Leone SuaMailo of the Attorney Generals office.

The accused Kolani Junior Lam is represented by lawyer, Leiataualesa Komisi Koria.

Supreme Court Judge, Justice Tafaoimalo Leilani Tuala  Warren presided the matter.

The murder trial, which was scheduled to commence yesterday before a Judge sitting with assessors, did not proceed as planned.

The defense counsel Leiataualesa resubmitted an application to have the trial presided by the Judge only.

The submission followed a withdrawal of an application to trial by the Judge only made on Friday last week.

From further instruction I respectively advise we wish to refresh that application (trial by Judge only) your honour, Leiataualesa told the Court.

In response, Lemalu said prosecution wishes to respond to the application.

He added prosecution witnesses were also ready for Court.

Justice Tafaoimalo adjourned the matter for today for submissions on the trial before Judge only application.

Outside Court, Lemalu said prosecution was ready to proceed but the application from defense counsel was re-filed formally and the Judge has to consider it.

We asked for no more delays so we have to get it ready and argue it tomorrow, he said.

Police is calling more than 20 witnesses for the hearing.

Lam is charged with the murder of Sau with alternative charges of manslaughter, common assault in respect of his step daughter, possession of narcotics and conspiracy to defeat the cause of justice.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

On Friday last week, Leiataualesa filed the application for trial by Judge only without the assessors.

According to the Criminal Procedure Act 2016 part 6 (1) a defendant charged with an offence punishable by life imprisonment is to be tried by a Judge sitting with five (5) assessors.

Under the Crimes Act 2013, a person who commits murder shall upon conviction be sentenced to imprisonment for life.
Residents living along the edge of Solosolo village are concerned their lives are in danger as big waves continue to pound the seawall along the coastline.

In just a span of 10 years, 74-year-old Faumuina Sisilia Talamaivao and her husband, Toomata Leota Talamaivao, 80, have seen the deteriorating state of their rocky seawall.

Whats happening here is threatening our lives, Faumuina to the Samoa Observer yesterday.

This seawall was done in 2008, about 10 years ago and it needs maintenance. Its sinking because all the rocks have been washed out.

What makes it worse is that heres the sea, and theres the river down there, so when it rains then the river rises and sea rises at the same time, which makes it worse as you can see now, she added.

Faumuina said huge waves crash onto the seawall when theres torrential rain and even during good weather.

And this is not the first time it has been doing that. Its been like that since last year. When the seawall was first done, it was way up and now its all right down. So once these big rocks are gone, then what, what are we going to do?

We are worried because it is life-threatening so in a span of more than 10 years, this has happened.

About 10 families signed an application for assistance in October last year, and they are still waiting for a response.

We applied to the Deputy Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa because shes Minister for Environment

I contacted the CEO for Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Ulu Bismarck Crawley, and they sent somebody to do a report early last month. That was the last time they visited Solosolo.

Weve already been to our MP Lauofo, for some help, and he said that hes going to write a letter to the MNRE and the Public Works Minister Niko Lee Hang, and see what he can do to help.

We still havent heard from anyone. This thing is not going to wait for them to make a decision.

Faumuina said her family is the worst-hit, and she is seeking assistance from anyone or any organisation to help them.

I dont know how long this will be. Sometimes it doesnt rain but this still occurs, but its worse when it rains and the river overflows.

The seawall was done because of this very same issue. This sea wall was withstanding for a few years but its not going to last forever isnt it? It needs maintenance and thats what it needs right now, just a few rocks to make it safer.

Bismarck Crawley suggested that we move uphill, but I said we havent got a land up the hill, the only land we have uphill is where we have our plantation and thats the mountainous terrain. We cant move anywhere apart from here.

Famuina and her husband moved to New Zealand in 2008 when the seawall was constructed and only came back in May last year.

In May last year the seawall was really high, but in October last year the rocks just sank, thats how fast it eroded.
Dear Editor,

I refer to a Letter to the Editor published by the Samoa Observer on February 17th, 2019 penned by Paraphrasor under the heading Prime Minister Tuilaepas language.

The letter addressed the alleged harsh language by Tuilaepa reflecting an angry leader in condemning dog and pig-like behaviour.

But I remember vividly the two occasions when these words pigs and dogs were published in the Samoa Observer and attributed to the PM.

The first occasion occurred in 2012 when matai and youths of Satapuala set up illegal roadblocks at 2:00 a.m. in the morning at Satapuala apparently to stop the Prime Minister who was arriving by Air New Zealand and heading through Satapuala to Apia.

The intention was to hurt the leader of the country.

Satapuala villagers responsible were opposing the building of the hospital funded by the United States sited on Government lands at Faleolo.

Police came the following day and removed by force these road blocks. The villagers subsequently apologised publicly.

Fortunately, the PM diverted his travel plans through Lefaga to Apia and avoided an ugly incident. The matter went to the Court where the villagers apologised.

The second incident two years ago involved again animal like behaviour by matai and the youth of Luatuanuu who staged a road block with a coconut tree blocking the free flow of traffic to Apia and vice-versa in an effort to catch any villagers from Falefa to beat up in revenge for a Rugby match at Falefa that ended in a fist fight between the rugby teams from the two villages.

When Police arrived the youths stoned the police at close quarters. A few police were injured. Without the protection of police shields, there would have been fatalities.

Following these incidents, the PM was interviewed by the media which the media repeatedly reported with the villagers apologising to the PM  Samoan styled discipline! The words used by the PM addressed the dog/pig-like behaviour of those responsible and never did he refer to the people of the country as dogs or pigs as Paraphrasors letter to the editor claimed.

In fact, many people commented publicly that the PMs message should have been tougher against such behaviour.

Why the support?

You only need to see the thoughtless animal-like behaviour to hurt our the Prime Minister , illegally blocking the public roads and prevent the free flow of traffic, attacking the Police performing their duties to protect us against lawbreakers to find the answer. And it was most fitting for the Government Leader to condemn these barbaric acts  For that, he is being criticised for acting in the interest of the public?

Judge for yourself.

Sincerely,

Avel

Vaimauga


Prime Minister Imran Khan (file photo) Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday directed Pakistan's armed forces and citizens to "remain prepared for all eventualities" after the Indian Air Force (IAF) jets hit the Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan. A high-level meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) chaired by Khan also "strongly rejected Indian claim of targeting an alleged terrorist camp near Balakot as well as the claim of heavy casualties", Dawn online reported.



Khan, as per a statement issued after the meeting, "directed that elements of national power, including the armed forces and the people of Pakistan, remain prepared for all eventualities" and summoned a special meeting of the National Command Authority on Wednesday.



"Once again Indian government has resorted to a self-serving, reckless and fictitious claim. This action has been done for domestic consumption being in election environment, putting regional peace and stability at grave risk," said the statement.



The NSC meeting was attended by the civil and military leadership, including Army Chief General Qamar Jawed Bajwa and the Ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs.



"The claimed area of strike is open for the world to see the facts on ground. For this domestic and international media is being taken to the impact site. Forum (meeting) concluded that India has committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing," the statement read.



The Prime Minister decided to engage with global leadership to expose the "irresponsible" Indian policy in the region and said the LoC violation will be raised with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), UN and friendly countries, it added.



Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will raise the issue at international forums.



The meeting decided that a joint session will be called to take Parliament into confidence.



Ahead of the meeting, Qureshi chaired an emergency consultative meeting at the Foreign Office where he said that Pakistan holds the "right to self-defence" and a "befitting response" to India.



"We kept on telling the world that this could happen they (India) carried out aggression against Pakistan today," he told the media.



"India violated the LoC. Pakistan holds the right to self-defence and a befitting response."



He said that "India was bent on disturbing peace in the region" and that "the entire region stands with the Pakistan Army".



Pakistan Army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor said earlier that the Indian intrusion in Muzaffarabad sector happened within "AJK" (Azad Jammu Kashmir), 3-4 miles from the LoC that divides Kashmir between the two countries.



"Under forced hasty withdrawal the aircraft released payload which had free fall in an open area. No infrastructure got hit, no casualties," he said following an uproar in Pakistan about Indian jets flying deep into its territory.



Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif urged India to refrain from plunging the region into war.



He asked the Indian leadership to "rethink its war strategy" and warned that if India initiated a war, then Pakistan would hoist its flag in New Delhi, Geo News reported.



Tuesday's attack came after a JeM suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF troopers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14. It was the worst attack on the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir at one go since militancy erupted in 1989.






Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi (file photo) Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday summoned an emergency consultative meeting at the Foreign Office here after Islamabad claimed that Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter jets crossed the Line of Control (LoC) and returned after dropping a payload in Pakistan. Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of the Pakistan Army's media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), tweeted early morning that the IAF planes dropped the payload near Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province before leaving in haste as the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) scrambled its war planes.



According to Geo News, the meeting called by Qureshi will be attended by former foreign secretaries and senior diplomats to discuss the current situation.



The development followed the February 14 suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 40 CRPF troopers.



It was claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed and heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.






omar abdullah Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said that one cannot possibly speculate on what will happen next following the Indian Air Force (IAF) strike across the Line of Control (LoC) as there was no information of the damage caused. "Unless we know which Balakote is being talked about by the Pakistani generals it's pointless speculating about what we may have hit and what fallout the airstrike will have," Abdullah tweeted after Pakistan claimed that IAF jets crossed the LoC, and dropped a payload in haste before returning as the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) scrambled its war planes.



"If this is Balakote in KPK (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) it's a major incursion and a significant strike by IAF planes.



"However, if it's Balakote in Poonch sector, along the LoC it's a largely symbolic strike because at this time of the year forward launch pads and militant camps are empty and non-functional," he added.



The Vice President of the National Conference (NC) also spoke of a possible fallout over the air strikes.



"The problem now becomes Prime Minister Imran Khan's commitment to his country -- 'Pakistan will not think about responding, Pakistan will respond'.



"What shape will response take? Where will response be? Will India have to respond to Pakistan's response?," Omar Abdullah asked, voicing his concern about what happens next.



Abdullah's tweets came as the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) was meeting at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence.



Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Asif Ghafoor confirmed in a tweet early Tuesday about the IAF incursion. The alleged incident took place in the Muzaffarabad sector, claimed Radio Pakistan.



Tuesday's development follows a suicide attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, on February 14 that killed 40 troopers.



The attack was claimed by Pakistan-based militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and prompted a spike in tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.






Foreign Secretary Vijay K. Gokhale Twelve days after a JeM suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF troopers, India on early Tuesday struck the Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp at Balakot killing "a very large number" of terrorists and their trainers. Within hours, Pakistan threatened a "befitting response". While the Pakistani military claimed the area hit by India was close to the Line of Control (LoC), Reuters described Balakot as a town in a remote valley in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. There is also Balakote -- as different from Balakot -- in the Pakistani-administered Kashmir.



As celebrations erupted across India, Foreign Secretary Vijay K. Gokhale told the media that "in an intelligence-led operation in the early hours of today, India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jehadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated.



"This facility at Balakot was headed by Maulana Yusuf Azhar (alias Ustad Ghouri), the brother-in-law of (JeM leader) Masood Azhar."



Pakistan admitted that the IAF planes struck Balakot but claimed that they returned when it scrambled its war planes and that there were no losses on the ground.



Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the Indian jets were forced to return "owing to the timely response of the Pakistan Air Force" and warned that Islamabad has "the right to self-defence and (give) a befitting response".



Pakistan Army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor said earlier that the Indian intrusion in Muzaffarabad sector happened within "AJK" (Azad Jammu Kashmir), 3-4 miles from the LoC that divides Kashmir between the two countries.



"Under forced hasty withdrawal the aircraft released payload which had free fall in an open area. No infrastructure got hit, no casualties," he said following an uproar in Pakistan about Indian jets flying deep into its territory.



Pakistan Prime Minister summoned a meeting in Islamabad to review the situation. In New Delhi, External Affairs Minister called an all-party meeting.



Gokhale said the Indian government was "firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to fight the menace of terrorism. Hence, this non-military pre-emptive action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp.



"The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties."



He said India had been providing to Islamabad the "location of terrorist training camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir" from time to time. But Pakistan keeps denying their existence.



Gokhale said that such "massive training facilities capable of training hundreds of jehadis could not have functioned without the knowledge of Pakistani authorities...



But Pakistan has taken no concrete action to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its soil, he added.



"Credible intelligence was received that the JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country (India), and the fidayeen jehadis were being trained for this purpose.



"In the face of this imminent danger, a pre-emptive strike became absolutely necessary."



The JeM, which is based in Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the February 14 suicide bombing at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir which killed 40 CRPF troopers. It was the worst attack on security forces on a single day in Jammu and Kashmir.






Modi chairs CCS The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was underway on Tuesday in the wake of reports claimed by Islamabad that Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter jets crossed the Line of Control (LoC) and returned after dropping a payload in Pakistan. All the IAF bases were on high alert anticipating a reaction from Pakistan to the strikes carried out by the Indian fighter jets in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Balakot early on Tuesday.



Sources said that the IAF bases along the borders and inside are fully geared to deal with any eventuality. Air defence systems were activated to deal with any intruders along the International Border and the LoC.



The airborne radars were keeping a close vigil on the activities inside Pakistan, the sources added.



The CCS meeting was also attended by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and other government officials.



Though the Centre was yet to make an official statement, Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat tweeted that the IAF carried out aerial strikes across the LoC and destroyed terrorist camps.



Shekhawat is the first functionary of the government to confirm from the Indian side that the strikes have taken place.



Some of the prominent veterans, who retired recently, have already hailed the move.



"Air strikes by 12 Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft at terror camps in Balakot this morning. 1,000 kg precision bombs used. Pakistan accepts. See images below," tweeted retired Lt Gen Satish Dua, who served as chief of the integrated staff to the chairman of the chiefs of staff committee till November 2018.



Former Director General of Military Operations retired Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia said that India demonstrated political and military will by "apparently" employing the air strikes.



He added that there was a need to raise cost for Pakistan and the Pakistan Army to ensure they do not carry out terror attacks against India.



"Picture abhi baaki hai," he said.



The CCS meeting comes after the Director General of Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Asif Ghafoor confirmed in a tweet early Tuesday that the IAF planes dropped the payload near Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before leaving in haste as the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) scrambled its war planes.



The alleged incident took place in the Muzaffarabad sector, claimed Radio Pakistan.



Tuesday's development follows a suicide attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, on February 14 that killed 40 troopers.



The attack was claimed by Pakistan-based militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and prompted a spike in tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.




By SA Commercial Prop News

Durban North is emerging as speculative industrial development hotspot, while land scarcity plagues industrial property prospects in Durban South.



Durban North is emerging as speculative industrial development hotspot, while land scarcity plagues industrial property prospects in Durban South.

The Northern Industrial Suburbs, a cluster of Springfield Park, Riverhorse Valley, Briardene and Mount Edgecombe areas is fast emerging as an industrial hotspot in Durban.

The area is showing tremendous growth potential in terms of industrial property as most of the South Durban Basin is oversaturated with no new land available for development.



North Durban is squarely on the radar for companies looking for warehousing facilities and container yards.The area has natural advantages  a huge labour base in nearby areas of KwaMashu and Phoenix coupled with good connectivity as the R102, N3 and N2 flow through it. Moreover the North Industrial Suburbs lie within 25km radius of both the King Shaka International Airport and the port & container terminals at Bayhead.



Industrial real estate in proximity to transportation hubs generally tends to outperform the broader market. Also the proximity to national road network makes inland hubs desirable.



The confidence in these suburbs is reflected by the asking rents for industrial space, currently at just below R50/ m except for Riverhorse Valley Business Estate which commands R58 / m. They are likely to go up further in 2013 as demand continues to outpace supply.



Just over five years back Tongaat Hulett sold all the available land at R1000 / m, the same land now sells at R1600 / m. Despite the 60% premium, the demand continues to remain high with vacancies under 1%.



The North is slowly charting its own growth story. Springfield Park, Riverhorse Valley and Briardene has largely been home to industrial and mixed use buildings varying from the older multi story warehouses along the North Coast Road to brand new developments like the Mr Price and RTT warehouses. Zenprop recently completed the state-of-the-art Mass Discounters warehouse in the heart of the Riverhorse Valley overlooking the N2 and Stefcon Projects has developed a new facility for Camjet.



Despite the tightness of the market, demand for industrial property in Mount Edgecombe has also picked up tremendously. As the airport moved North, the South has shrunk in significance and coupled with scarcity of new land for development, the North is experiencing 100% growth in property values.



New developments in the area include the relocation of Altech UEC to the old Trade Centre retail warehouse on the R102. Zenprop recently purchased 44 000m of prime land on Marshall Drive and is in talks with a national chain for a 33 000m distribution facility.



According to Anthon van Weers, Senior Industrial Broker at Broll Property Group, North Durban is fast emerging as a hub for industrial and warehousing facilities due to its proximity to the port, airport and the national road network. This part of Durban is seeing significant infrastructure development compared to the South where developers are citing several reasons for the lack of quality industrial development mostly attributable to non-availability of large parcels of land.



He further adds, The North has a huge land bank, so large projects can be put up. We are seeing increased interest in inland warehouses and distribution centres connected to sea and airports. This growing trend will help companies reduce costs and create new opportunities for developers and investors in the industrial real estate sector."
By SA Commercial Prop News

Professor John Simpson, UCT



With todays volatile market, it may be difficult for retailers to see the silver lining bridging complex relationship between retailers and consumers.

Retail is nothing without the shopper. But do SA businesses know their consumers and are they ready for the customer of the future?

The complex relationship between retailers and consumers will be highlighted at the SA Council of Shopping Centres (SACSC) Research Conference on 14 March 2012. It is a rigorous one-day session combining insight from some of the best minds in SA and abroad to bring delegates the latest research, best practice and trends. Introduced in 2011, this is the second SACSC Research Conference.

With consumer markets as diverse as SAs, and technology driving massive changes in consumer decision-making and buying habits, a meticulous understanding of customers if imperative for retail success, says Amanda Stops, general manager of SACSC.

Emeritus Professor John Simpson, Director of the UCT Unilever Institute of Strategic Marketing will bring SAs most affluent consumers into focus at the conference, giving delegates greater insight into the top end consumer market which, while fairly small in number, has spending power that dwarfs much bigger market segments.

According to Simpson it is the backbone of the local economy. This 900,000-strong, mainly middle-class, group are hard-working, productive citizens who comprise only 10% of SAs taxpayers, but account for half of the entire countrys taxable income.

Professor Simpson says: With an estimated annual spend of over R300 billion, this group of individuals is of vital importance to the health of South Africas economy and their influence cannot be ignored.

Understanding this powerful group means accepting that time is a valued commodity for them and convenience is prized. High levels of service are expected and valued. Indeed, it can even be a key factor when it comes to shopping choices, notes Simpson. The research shows that most arent happy with levels of service in this country.

Simpsons presentation at the SACSC Research Conference delivers a clearer and more nuanced picture about exactly who these top end consumers are and how various factors, including age and gender, influence their consumption patterns.

Widening focus to the African continent, important insights into trends and opportunities around the African consumer will be provided by Derek Engelbrecht of Ernst & Young. Theres a profusion of growth on the African continent which is home to six of the worlds fastest growing economies. This contradicts conventional stereotypical views of Africa, says Engelbrecht. Getting into the many markets that comprise Africa is neither simple nor easy. It starts with knowing the customer and growing from there.

A power pair of international presenters will bring world retail trends to local delegates at the SACSC Research Conference. Natalie Berg from Planet Retail in the UK will provide a global perspective on key retail trends, and what may impact South Africa in the future.

Even with multi-channel retail, its all about the customer. So believes Colin Buxton of Toolbox Marketing, in the UK and Europe, who will discuss how only the fittest retailers survive, even with tools like multi-channel retailing and marketing.

Multi-channel marketing is about making it easy for a customer to buy in whatever way is most appropriate, explains Buxton. Channels range from retail stores to websites, catalogues and direct communication. Advances in technology are providing new ways for businesses to interact with their consumers. Buxton reports that 60% of all 'Valentine' online transactions in the UK were completed using iOS devices.

While technology is an enabler to the multi-channel retail, it cannot stand in isolation. The five rights of product, price, place, time and quantity still apply, says Buxton. It is, and always will be, all about the shopping experience for consumers.

Buxton adds: The challenge for retailers, town centres and shopping centres continues to be how best to entice customers to visit their businesses to purchase the goods and services on offer. The better they get to know their customers the more effective they can be, in delivering a personalised service to sustain the growth of their business.

Keeping an eye on the horizon is essential for retailers who hope to stay in tune with their customers  and there may be choppy waters ahead. Never has so great a challenge been evident in customer relationships, reports Chris Moerdyk of Moerdyk Marketing and Media, who will introduce delegates to the consumer of the future.

Sooner than we imagine there will be a complete change from brands taking the initiative of informing, selling and advertising their wares to consumers. Instead consumers will have the initiative and demand information when they need it, how they need and where they need it, says Moerdyk.

Social media is playing a major role in this about-turn.

Moerdyk says: Todays social media phenomenon is more than a fad. It is the spearhead of the way consumers will rate and relate to products and services. How they praise or protest experience and merchandise. How they recommend their consumer choices to others. Already we are seeing major brands suffering severe damage by not properly monitoring social media.

This is one of the myriad of new influences on the consumer of the future that Moerdyk will bring under the spotlight.

The focused, interactive event is packed full of the latest research and tactics. We will also be looking at several retail trends in an innovative line-up which highlights research, says SACSC Research Committee Chairman and Research Conference Chairman Dr Dirk Prinsloo.

Ultimately the SACSC Research Conference will present a clearer picture of the market in which shopping centres and retailers work. It is set to inspire innovative future retail tactics in local markets and put research into action, notes Prinsloo.
By SA Commercial Prop News

SA could increase its nuclear power output



Cabinet has endorsed the proposed phased decision making approach for the implementation of South Africa's nuclear build with Eskom involved in proceedings, Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Collins Chabane said on Thursday.

Briefing reporters following Cabinet's fortnightly meeting, Chabane said Cabinet had been briefed on the first meeting of the National Nuclear Energy Executive Coordination Committee (NNEECC) chaired by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.



The committee oversees any future nuclear procurement process as well as the build programmes.



"Cabinet endorsed the proposed phased decision making approach for implementation of the nuclear programme," said Chabane.



The country's Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2010-2030 states the country's intention to add 9 600 megawatts of nuclear energy to the country's energy mix by 2030. The IRP is South Africa's 20-year plan towards the balancing of the production of electricity and consumption.



The IRP makes for the provision of renewable power in the country's energy mix.

On Thursday, Cabinet said it had endorsed the designation of Eskom as the owner-operator as per the Nuclear Energy Policy of 2008.



"Eskom has been appointed a long time ago in 2008. What Cabinet did is it reiterated that position. Eskom is the principal operator of our electricity grid. We now have IPPs [Independent Power Producers] in place. The same principal is going to apply on the nuclear. We need an institution which is going to be the custodian of all the knowledge and the technology which the state is going to host as a result of the process," said Chabane.



On Monday, Eskom welcomed the participation of IPPs in the country's mix. This as the Energy Department signed implementation agreements and direct agreements with 28 preferred bidders in the first window of its Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme (REIPPP) and Eskom signed power purchase agreements with the bidders.



The cost estimates for the nuclear build is not yet known.



Nuclear stakeholders like the Nuclear Energy Corporation of SA, Eskom, National Nuclear Regulator (NNR), and key government departments, including Energy and Public Enterprise are part of the NNEECC.



Additionally, Cabinet also approved the reviewed National Energy Efficiency Strategy (NEES) and approved the gazetting of the draft NEES second review document for public comment.



The review process analysed energy usage patterns of businesses in various sectors of the economy. It further looked at the potential for adopting modern energy management practices and technologies, based on advice and views from international experts. It further set the scene for future energy reduction targets and the use of energy.
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Denver, CO -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/26/2019 --The National Foundation to End Child Abuse and Neglect (EndCAN) is bringing a new approach to addressing the rising rates of child abuse and neglect in our country. EndCAN announced today its support of three disruptive research projects that focus on helping us better understand the public health, mental health and health impacts of child abuse and neglect.



EndCAN received more than 50 applications in its call for disruption paper ideas, and 22 papers were accepted and were blindly reviewed by 18 qualified peers throughout the United States. Grants were awarded in three key focus areas: clinical, prevention and research.



"The response to our first ever call for papers tells us that many in our country want to do more for children hurt by abuse and neglect," said Lori Poland, executive director of The National Foundation to End Child Abuse and Neglect. "These disruptive ideas will bring fresh approaches and unite more champions dedicated to reducing rates of child abuse in our country."



The award for the Clinical Category of Disruption went to Florida State University's Patricia Babcock and her project entitled "What if Child Maltreatment was Childhood Leukemia?: Lessons from the Halls of the Hospital." This paper aims to examine the aspects of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) prevention, research, training and clinical treatment that can be applied to child welfare. Since the 1960s, childhood cancer researchers have been able to reach a 98 percent remission rate and 90 percent five-year survival rate with limited research, training and treatment dollars. In contrast, child welfare fatalities and maltreatment incidences have continued to increase.This paper will focus on utilizing childhood cancer research and treatment as the catalyst for disrupting or re-creating a child welfare system that is preventive in nature and better equipped to treat the multitude of family and community issues that contribute to maltreatment.



A team of researchers received the award in the Prevention Category of Disruption. Heather Risser and Alexandra Morford of Northwestern University, Kimberly Svevo-Cianci of Changing Children's Worlds Foundation and Elba Jung Karim with Roots and Wings Counseling Consultants entitled their project "Achieving Comprehensive Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect." Its goal is to create a shared mindset where people feel entitled to resources to build and maintain a web of healthy social relationships, displacing the current paradigm in which parents fear child welfare involvement and the stigma associated with asking for support; and non-parents question their role in preventing child abuse and neglect. To achieve ubiquitous access and promote feelings/beliefs of entitlement to child abuse and neglect prevention, they propose one option for implementation by leveraging existing infrastructure, increasing system collaboration and engaging experts in a population-based public health campaign to inoculate society against child abuse and neglect.



The award in the Research Category for Disruption went to a team of scientists and their paper entitled "Heed Neglect, Disrupt Child Maltreatment: A Call to Action for Researchers." Lindsey Bullinger of Georgia Tech; Megan Feely and Kerri Raissian from the University of Connecticut; and William Schneider from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign say the disruption of child maltreatment must prioritize neglect prevention. Moreover, a new approach of focusing on macro-level factors  such as economies, labor markets and governmental affairs  should be investigated. To inform new directions for child protection, they propose shifting the focus of research away from individual- and family-level factors of indicated populations. Instead, they suggest focusing on macro-level factors that, while receiving far less attention from researchers, show initial promise for understanding the causal pathways of neglect and identifying policies for universal prevention.



Three additional submissions received honorable mention:



- Clinical Category for Disruption: Craig Cline on "The application of a social justice theory to the well-being of substance exposed infants."



- Prevention Category for Disruption: Debangshu Roygardner, Vince Palusci and Kelli Hughes on "Advancing Prevention Zones: Implementing Community-Based Strategies to Prevent Child Maltreatment and Promote Healthy Families."



- Research Category for Disruption: Sharon L. Christ, and Laura M. Schwab Reese on "Shedding the Constraints of Formal Systems in Research on Child Maltreatment through High Quality Measurement and Broad Population Surveys ."



The researchers will present their projects at next month's Summit on March 13 and March 14 in Denver. Media are invited to attend the event, which is being held at the Denver Renaissance Stapleton Hotel. A pre-conference session features a panel of Denver-area and national reporters who have covered child abuse for their news organizations. The researchers will join the media panel, along with conference attendees, for a discussion on child abuse news coverage. The conference is EndCAN's first national summit, focused on collaboration and a united voice to end child abuse and neglect.



About The National Foundation to End Child Abuse and Neglect

The National Foundation to End Child Abuse and Neglect (EndCAN) is working to end child abuse and neglect in our lifetime by changing the perception of child abuse and neglect in our country as social and legal problems, to also being health, mental health and public health problems that can be treated. EndCAN helps survivors, thrivers and transcenders of abuse by uniting voices. The Foundation will work with others to dramatically expand funding for research, training and prevention.
In Psalm 38, David feels the overwhelming burden of his sin and the corresponding displeasure of YHWH. He feels as if he is a cursed sin-bearer.

1. Awareness of your sin and God's hatred of it

The psalmist is quite aware of two things: the evil of his own sin, and God's great displeasure of it. His conscience is extremely stricken with how offensive his sin is to a holy God, and he has a keen sense of God's chastening hand. Therefore he cries out in verses 1 and 2,

"O YHWH, do not punish me with Your wrath, nor rebuke me with Your burning anger!

Truly, your arrows have penetrated into me, and Your hand has come down upon me."

David is so overwhelmed by the load of his sin that he says in verse 4,

"Because my iniquities have passed over my head, like a heavy burden--they are too heavy for me!"

This word for "burden" () has to do with a load that one carries or bears, but in this case, David no longer can bear the weighty load of his iniquity, which is his guilt. He longs for the burden to be removed--he longs for something or someone else to bear his sin for him!

Verses 3 and 7 are book-ended with the phrase "there is no soundness in my flesh," referring to his awareness that there is no healthy part within him because of his sin. The intense conviction of his sin and God's anger against him are felt so deeply in his soul that he uses expressions of physical pain and anguish. Notice the parallel thoughts in verse 3:

A B

There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation,

A' B'

There is no peace (shalom) in my bones because of my sin.

God's indignation that is heavy upon David is on account of his sin, and he can feel it in his flesh, in his bones, so that his sides (literally, his "loins") are filled with burning (v. 7). His strength is swallowed up and his heart is throbbing (v. 10). What is happening? In short his body is affected by the soul. As those made in the image of God, humans are physical-spiritual creatures; our physical and spiritual natures are united in one person. When the soul is greatly afflicted, we can feel it on our bones, and vice versa.

Can you identify with the psalmist? Have you ever felt this way before? It is actually a gift from God to have your conscience plagued by a strong sense of your sin, and God's intense abhorrence of it. This is where the non-Christian differs. Although he or she has a sense of right and wrong which God implanted in them, by the ongoing suppression of truth they sear their conscience. They are dead to God, insofar as they are numb to His hatred of their sin. But the Christian has been awakened to his own evil, and it is a great blessing when God makes us aware of how much He detests our wickedness. The result is that we are driven to an end of ourselves. Thus the psalmist repeats:

v. 6 "I am bowed down, I am bent low to an overwhelming degree ()"

v. 8 "I am powerless, and I am crushed to an overwhelming degree ()"

As we will see below, awareness of these things are meant to drive us to the mercy of God.

2. Awareness of your isolation and your accusers

The psalmist is also greatly aware of his isolation. As he bears his own sin and God's displeasure of it, those who used to be close to him - his friends and his companions - are now far off (v. 11).

But the psalmist is not totally alone. There is another group that is near: his persecutors who are pursuing David's destruction and seeking his calamity (v. 12). They desire to see David's downfall so that they might boast and exalt over him (v. 16). This is not a small group, but rather his enemies are countless and numerous (v. 19). Ultimately, these enemies seek to capitalize on David's sin and use it as an opportunity to accuse him (v. 20).

It is striking that "to accuse" in verse 20 is literally "satan" () in Hebrew, which is the root for Satan's name in Zechariah 3:1-2, as the accuser of the brethren stands before God to accuse His people of their sin. David's human accusers embodied Satan and his demons' accusations against the people of God.

Perhaps this is the worst part of our fall into sin. Besides feeling isolated from loved ones, the enemy--and his demonic horde, which are many--stand to accuse us before the Righteous Judge. They know (better than us) that God must punish sinners in accordance with His justice. Yet this is the occasion were David waits for YHWH to intervene as his advocate.

3. Awareness of the rescuing, justifying grace of God

How does David respond to these attacks of accusation from his accusers? He "does not open his mouth" (v. 13). Instead, he trusts the Lord to advocate and intercede for him in verse 15:

"Truly, I put my hope in You, O YHWH! You--You will answer, O Lord (Adonai) my God!"

In the prior verses, notice that the psalmist has no answer--no defense--for the accusations and condemnation upon him, both from God, and from his accusers. Thus his only hope is YHWH Himself--that He will answer on his behalf. His hope is that YHWH Himself will be His salvation (v. 22). In this context the word "to answer" means to testify in someone's defense in a court of law. How then can David put his hope in a holy God who promises He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished (Ex. 34:7)?

The title of this psalm in the very beginning is telling. Notice it says right above verse 1 in your English Bible (although it actually is verse 1 in the Hebrew text), "A Psalm of David, for the Memorial () Offering." The word zachar, means "to cause to remember" or "to acknowledge," and the word "Offering" is implied.

The Memorial Offering is likely connected to the occasion described in 1 Chronicles 16:1-4 when David had the Ark of the Covenant brought into the tabernacle, and they offered whole burnt offerings and peace offerings to the LORD. "Then David appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the Ark of YHWH to acknowledge (same word, ) and to thank and to praise YHWH, the God of Israel." (1 Chron. 16:4). So glorious was this occasion of bringing up the Ark of the Covenant into God's dwelling place that David saw fit to ordain worshippers to acknowledge who YHWH is in His faithful, steadfast love. Moreover, "acknowledging" and "remembering" the Name of God is what God Himself commanded to be done when He first revealed His special covenant Name, YHWH, to Moses:

God also said to Moses, "Say this to the sons of Israel, 'YHWH, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, He has sent me to you. This is My Name forever, and this is My Memory () from generation to generation.' (Ex. 3:15, my translation)

What does all this have to do with David's prayer for YHWH to intercede for him before his accusers, as he is aware of his sin and God's anger against him? In short, David is looking outside of himself to the character and provision of YHWH to graciously provide an offering and sacrifice that would satisfy and absorb all of God's displeasure, and so vindicate David before his enemies. And this psalm, inspired by the Spirit of Christ (1 Pt. 1:11), was written for all God's people to sing and pray it regularly before Him,

What is most stunning is that God gave Himself to be this provision of grace "by sending His own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering (when) He condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3). It is not just because we have the New Testament that we can tell this is the case. But the very words used for David the guilty sin-bearer in Psalm 38 appear to be used and applied to the righteous sin-bearer in Isaiah 53. It is as if Isaiah had Psalm 38, among other passages, before him when he composed it.

We can't help but notice that what is true of the guilty sin-bearer in Psalm 38, is also true of a righteous sin-bearer in Isaiah 53:

"My wounds () stink and fester because of my foolishness" (Ps. 38:5)..."I am powerless, and I am crushed ()" (Ps. 38:8).

"But He was pierced through on account of our transgressions; He was crushed () on account of our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and by means of His wounds () we are healed. (Isa. 53:5)

--

"My friends and my companions stand far off because of my plague ()" (Ps. 38:11)

"Yet we ourselves considered Him plagued (), stricken by God and afflicted." (Isa. 53:4b)

--

"But I am ready to fall, and my pain () is continually before me." (Ps. 38:17)

"He was despised and rejected by men; A man of pains (), and familiar with sickness...However, He Himself bore our sickness and He carried our pains ()." (Isa. 53:3-4)

--

The Son of David became the righteous sufferer, who was also accused by accusers. Yet in His case, unlike David (and you and I), He was completely innocent. How did He respond before His accusers? Twice Isaiah 53:7 has the identical phrase from Psalm 38:13, "He did not open His mouth." Why was the perfectly righteous Son of God silent before His accusers, who ultimately put Him to death on a cross? One, because He was bearing our sin, and if He spoke up, He'd have to say our names. And two, because (like David) He trusted God the Father to vindicate Him--that is, to justify Him by raising from the dead. But in His case, His vindication was not being acquitted of any guilt, for He had none! Rather, as a righteous sin bearer, He endured on our behalf the wages of sin, which is death (Rom. 6:23). Since He had no sin, His resurrection was His vindication, that is, His justification, by His Heavenly Father declaring Him "not guilty" but righteous. "He was justified by the Spirit" (1 Tim. 3:16). Since He bore the full indignation of God toward our sins, He has been raised from the dead for our justification, as well (Rom. 4:25). Out of love for us, it pleased YHWH to crush Him, when He made His Son's soul sick by becoming the ultimate trespass-offering (Isaiah 53:10). The justification of the One is counted for "the many." No wonder then Isaiah 53:10 prophecies that "the Righteous One shall declare the many to be righteous, since He bore their iniquities."

In conclusion, let us cry out to YHWH when His hand is heavy upon us because of our sin. Let us rejoice that our Father disciplines those whom He loves, and respond like David:

"I confess my iniquity, and I am sorry for my sin" (Ps. 38:18).

Let us more so rejoice that we do not have to bear the ultimate judgment for our sin--the full displeasure and wrath of God in hell. But this is only because of the Righteous Sin-Bearer, the greater David, who identified with our sin in order to become the ultimate Memorial Offering on the cross.

As His repentant worshippers, we can pray and sing Psalm 38 as we look back to the sin-bearing of the Lamb of God. When He comes again, our Lord Jesus will bring us into His heavenly temple, where as His holy priests we will acknowledge His Name for an eternal Memorial.

Listen to the song "I'm the Problem" (feat. Shai Linne) on acknowledging and confessing your sinfulness, as you look outside your self to God's answer, Jesus Christ.

Tim Brindle is a Christian hip-hop recording artist. He is an M.Div. graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia where he is currently enrolled in the Th.M. program.

*This post is republished here with permission from Timothy Brindle Ministries.
Starkville, MS (39762)

Today

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable.
Russian court to hear Deripaskas defamation claim against Russias Communist leader



14:57 26/02/2019

MOSCOW, February 26 (RAPSI)  Moscows Tverskoy District Court has declined to set aside proceedings on a defamation suit lodged by Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska against the Communist Partys leader Gennady Zyuganov, RAPSI reports from the courtroom on Tuesday.

The court has denied a Zyuganov representatives motion to dismiss the claim he said was to be examined under the administrative procedures.

Deripaska filed the lawsuit seeking one million rubles ($15,000) in compensation for moral harm from Zyugankov in late January.

The businessman demands compensation for disparaging remarks about his activity allegedly issued by Zyuganov during the State Duma plenary session on January 9.
Rantoul, IL (61866)

Today

Overcast with rain showers at times. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Overcast with rain showers at times. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
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Japan's Defense Ministry has snubbed Korea for a naval review in October, the Sankei Shimbun daily reported Monday.

The ministry "sent invitations to Australia, China, India, Singapore and the U.S. to attend the naval review, but has not sent one to Korea," the daily said quoting government officials.

The snub is another petty episode in a spat between Seoul and Tokyo that was triggered by a Japanese military surveillance plane buzzing a Korean warship on the East Sea. The officials told the paper that Tokyo could consider inviting Korea later if it gives a "positive response" in the spat.

The Japanese Naval Self-Defense Force holds a review every three to four years. The last one was in 2015, and the Korean Navy sent the destroyer Daejoyoung. A Defense Ministry official here declined to comment.

When the spat erupted in December last year, Japan claimed the Korean naval vessel locked its fire-control radar on a Japanese surveillance plane that buzzed over the ship. Seoul and Tokyo are also clashing over a joint naval exercise scheduled off the coast of Busan in April.

The U.S., meanwhile, is trying to act as a mediator between its two regional allies. According to a diplomatic source, it wants to host vice foreign ministerial talks in Washington in mid-March to discuss improving relations between the two neighbors and bolster security cooperation.


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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
Merrill Lynch to be no more

Bank of America Corp. will drop the 104-year old name Merrill Lynch from its investment-bank brand, while keeping the name Merrill for wealth management, as part of a multi-year marketing effort, the bank announced on Monday.

Bank of America remains the enterprise brand and also represents banking services for people and companies.

As part of this, U.S. Trust be renamed Bank of America Private Bank.

Merrill will serve as the sub-brand for the investing and wealth management offerings.

BofA Securities will represent the institutional broker-dealer businesses, including Global Markets, Investment Banking, and Capital Markets.

Nearly each investment business of Bank of America, including wealth management and robo-advisory platform, will receive a shorter name and be called Merrill instead of Merrill Lynch, BofA announced on Monday.The investment bank is to be called BofA Securities and the U.S. Trust name will be dropped from the private bank. The individual units, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, Merrill Edge and Merrill Guided Investing will keep their names.Merrill Lynch came to pass as the partnership of an investment bank and a brokerage. The bank was founded by Charles Merrill and Edmund Lynch in New York in 1915. The subprime mess pushed the bank over the edge in 2007 and it was bought by Bank of America in 2008. Even though BofAs chief tried to undo the deal after finding out the gravity of Merrill Lynchs woes, the Secretary of the Treasury warned that ditching the deal would have unforeseeable consequences.Bank of America has been struggling with the aftermath of the takeover ever since. In September 2012, the bank announced a USD 2.43 billion deal to settle accusations that it misled investors about the acquisition of Merrill Lynch. The bank did not tell its shareholders about big bonus payments Merrill had approved before the merger closed, or about Merrills actual financial position.
The passing of the Financial Institutions Act by Parliament in 2004 brought with it a new regime of what became unassailable discretionary powers enjoyed by the central bank in the regulation of banks.

In the wisdom of Parliament at the time, it was believed to be necessary to concentrate this discretionary power in a single financial regulator to determine things like the issuance or revocation of a banking license, minimum capital requirements or even to determine the shareholding in a Bank.

This power was to be enjoyed by the Central Bank in an environment which is remarkably insulated from democratic oversight under the notion that the Central Bank must be independent and free from political interference.

But after 20 years of experiencing what ravaging discretionary power of a Central Bank can do to seven indigenous commercial banks which were abruptly shut between 1993 and 2016, Central Bank officials appear to have become touchable and accountable.

The report of the Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) citing irregularities and illegalities by BOU in the closure and sale of the 7 Banks is generally well received though it is underwhelming in some respects.

It is underwhelming because BOU doesnt pay the ultimate price for the insidious failure to carry out its statutory and regulatory duty which would ordinarily have called for harsh sanctions similar to those suffered by the closed banks.

Whichever way you look at the report, one thing is clear the Parliament of Uganda no longer trusts the opinion of the central bank as regards the regulation of the banking sector.

This is a very serious perception to be coming from the legislative arm of government, especially in respect of the regulation of an important sector like the Banking sector.

Following the COSASE Probe, Parliament fell short of recommending and demanding that the Central Bank monopoly on Bank regulation in Uganda should be broken even though by its damning report, it demonstrated that it has little or no faith in the financial regulator.

COSASE made a total of 46 recommendations in its report, the bulk of which were calling upon BOU to adhere to the Financial Institutions Act in carrying out its mandate.

There is one or two recommendations asking for an amendment to the law to give specific timelines for winding up of Banks and to stop the Governor from heading the Management and Board of the Bank at the same time.

Apart from that, business appears to be set to remain as usual at BOU despite the anticipated changes which the Parliamentary probe was supposed to bring.

In my view, it was light work for the Probe to recommend that BOU officials should simply behave next time around when the same regulatory structure which empowers the same institution to license, supervise, close and liquidate the Commercial Banks is still in place.

In fact, such a mild recommendation is breeding ground for the same mistakes to be repeated so that once again, we shall have another special Audit and report which will be followed by another Parliamentary Probe in the next decade or so.

During the probe, it became clear that BOU officials had already taken a stand to fault the 7 Banks in their supervision reports, and yet the same officials proceeded to investigate and rule on the Banks compliance just before closing and liquidating the Banks.

In such a situation, it was foolhardy to reasonably expect the BOU officials to act judiciously, impartially and beyond reproach in the case of actual, potential or perceived abuse of office and conflict of interest, which is why COSASE found that the officials made questionable decisions and flouted the law with impunity.

Bank of Uganda officials interfacing with MPs on COSASE

I am convinced that it is the current single model legal structure of regulation of the Banking Sector which made it easy for BOU officials to mishandle the closure and sale of the defunct Banks without detection for a long time.

We should not expect any different from BOU if it is going to remain the Accuser, investigator, prosecutor, judge and executioner of regulated Banks.

I think it would have been in order for COSASE to recommend for example that the previous practice of outsourcing the liquidation of closed Banks to reputable Audit Firms be reverted to, like it has been done in the past.

Now that the probe is over, Parliament should instead push for deeper reforms of the legal Regulatory regime of the Banking Sector by providing for other semi-autonomous or independent entities to separately license, supervise and handle the liquidation of Banks.

The practicality of it may raise concerns relating to a multiplication of controls or regulatory arbitrage but it may still help to foster the economies of specialisation of the respective regulatory units and do away with the unwanted ineptitude and abuse which we have just witnessed from the single financial regulator.

Moreover, it is doubted that the kind of loss and damage occasioned by the excesses of a single regulator can thrive easily under a regime of shared Bank regulation.

We should not lose sight of the fact that for most Countries in the world, the single Regulator model for their Banking Sector works fairly well.

It has obvious advantages like the economies of scale, the unified approach to regulation which eases and reduces the cost of decision making in addition to reducing the costs to the regulated institutions.

However, this model perse doesnt prevent Banks from failing in any economy. Ghana has a single regulator model but this did not prevent the Central Bank there from closing 5 Banks in one year.

The only difference is that the Central Bank in Ghana did not mismanage the liquidation of the failed Banks in such a brazen manner like the Ugandan Central Bank did.

That is why for the case of Uganda, we may need for now, to adopt a Regulation by activity model which should sit with different entities for some key aspects of Regulation.

This multi-layer legal regulatory framework might be the solution or part of the solution to our unending propensity for indiscipline in the management of our public financial sector.

A multi-layer legal regulatory framework has worked in some Countries like South Africa where the Central Bank also known as the South African Reserve Bank is the principal Regulatory Authority for the Banks but it is supported by the Financial Intelligence Centre, Financial Services Board and the National Credit Regulator who independently ensure that banks are compliant in various aspects of the law.

In the same way, the Central Bank of Nigeria has the power to supervise and regulate banks but another entity called the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation is responsible for ensuring all deposit liabilities of licensed banks and it also acts as the liquidator of failed banks.

My logic is that there is a chance that if different people have to license, supervise, close and liquidate Banks then there will be less risk of abuse of the process and the law which has led to unfair Bank closures.

The kind of bias and prejudice that the 7 closed Banks suffered and complained of during the COSASE probe could possibly not have arisen if we were dealing with 3 different regulatory layers.

It is never too late; Parliament can still finish the job and clean up the regulation of the banking sector by ensuring a complete overhaul of the law in this area.

=========================================================================

The author is the managing partner at Muwema & Co. Advocates.

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As the elevator doors opened on the 21st floor of the Melia Hanoi hotel on Monday morning, a tall North Korean glared at a Chosun Ilbo reporter and pointed down with his hand.

The reporter said, "I'm a guest here. Are you from North Korea?" but the North Korean continued to gesture down without saying anything.

So it is the Melia where North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is expected to stay during his visit to Vietnam for the second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Already the 17th to 22nd floors are off-limits to civilians because North Korean officials and Kim's security personnel are staying there. A suite on the 22nd floor appears to have been reserved for Kim.
Mounties seized nearly two kilograms of pre-packaged illicit drugs from a Kelowna home last spring. A Kelowna man and a Summerland woman have been charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking.
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Former President Jerry John Rawlings was compelled to park his car and step into the middle of the road to direct traffic as the level of lawless on Accra-Aflao road gets ugly.



Careless drivers who ply the road often create four lanes on a single lane road causing traffic to build up unnecessarily especially at the junction that leads to Prampram in the Greater Accra region. These impatient drivers do create needless obstacle which impede flow of traffic.



So when the former president bumped into the indiscipline act near the Pampram stretch of the road, where commuters had been stuck in traffic for over an hour, he was compel to help save the situation.



Former President Rawlings, according to a close associate, has noticed the indiscipline on several occasions and therefore decided to step out and direct traffic and bring a sense of orderliness. He has since made a passionate appeal to a joint police and military operation to be posted to the area to manage traffic and ensure discipline.

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Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
The Member of Parliament for Kumbungu constituency in the Northern Region, Hon. Ras Mubarak has described President Akufo-Addo's ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration as the worst government in the history of this country.



According to him, the NPP Government is even worse than any government Ghana has ever had.



Speaking on Okay FMs 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, he indicated that although some past governments were referred to as ones that superintended over economic hardships, the difficult times Ghanaians are currently living in under the Akufo-Addo administration is the worst in many years.



The level of the cedi depreciation against the dollar is unprecedented, but the President and the Vice have turned deaf ears to it. Ghanaians are completely disappointed . . . Look at all the negative reportage against Akufo-Addos government ever since he assume office, the high level of insecurity . . . what are they portraying, it is rather sending wrong signal to the international community," he asserted.



He therefore called on Ghanaians to throw their support behind John Dramani Mahama for victory in 2020.

Source: Josephine Acheampomaa/Peacefmonline/[email protected]









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, President Muhammadu Buhari, is currently leading the race in the presidential election conducted on Saturday.



Results obtained from States collation Centers by DAILY POST showed that President Buhari is coasting to victory with a wide margin of votes as against his Peoples Democratic Party, PDP challenger, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.



While Atiku has gained more votes, winning the incumbent President with wide margins in States in the South East and some in South-South, Buhari has gathered insurmountable strength in the North.



A total of 73 presidential candidates are participating in the election which began on Saturday.



In the result obtained so far by DAILY POST, President Muhammadu Buhari garnered 12, 025, 131 while Atiku has polled 8,570,758.



See details of results as released by states:

Source: daily post









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Assin Central Member of Parliament (MP), Ken Agyapong has threatened to expose investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas following his documentary on illegal mining popularly known as galamsey.



Titled Galamsey Fraud Part 1 the new documentary debuts on Wednesday 27 February 2019.



This latest piece by the Tiger Eye PI team, which is said to be more fascinating and revealing, shockingly uncovers top government appointees and security personnel who have since the inception of the menace appeared innocent from these acts but are the backbone of the canker.



We found some men who stabbed President Akufo-Addo in the back. Supposing, the men involved were as blameless as they parade themselves, the question, which people are responsible for giving lands to people to operate on? still begs for an answer. The public would on February 27 find all the answers but for now the trailer shows.



However the Assin Central lawmaker who is an ardent critic of the investigative journalist has threatened to release a video of Anas dealings in galamsey.



Let Anas dare and show his video on galamsey, after that I will expose him and his bosses including senior journalists in this country on the way they have destroyed the land with galamsey. Seasoned journalists in this country are behind this galamsey thing he said on Adom TVs Morning show Badwam Tuesday.



Describing his new documentary as a trash, the outspoken NPP MP said he has evidence on the alleged galamsey dealings of the ace investigative journalist.



Anas is not for NDC or NPP. He stands for money and destruction. He blackmailed NDC some years back and he wants to do same with NPP. He should bring it on; I will strip him and his bosses naked. I wont allow him to destroy us and be powerful. I have evidence and will gladly show it and I will fight to my last breath to ensure that all these seasoned journalists are exposed he stated.









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Bernard Antwi Boasiako, the Ashanti Regional New Patriotic Party (NPP) chairman, has stated that Ghanaians will only remember former President John Dramani Mahama for corruption and erratic power outages, commonly known as Dumsor.



He said Mr. Mahama doesnt pose any threat to the NPPs ambition of retaining political power during the 2020 general elections.



Mr. Antwi Boasiako, popularly called Wontumi, stated that the previous Mahama administration failed to improve the countrys economy.



He, therefore, stated emphatically that Mr. Mahama can never win the presidential election in the country again.



According to him, officials of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government only amassed wealth while in power.



Wontumi said Dumsor led to the collapse of small-scale businesses and worsened the plight of Ghanaians in general.



He said officials of the previous Mahama administration also looted state resources to the detriment of ordinary Ghanaians.



Wontumi said Mr. Mahama, who was elected as NDCs flagbearer for the 2020 polls last Saturday, would lose the general elections again.



He stated that Mr. Mahama would be easily defeated by NPPs President Akufo-Addo in 2020.



President Nana Akufo-Addo will easily repeat the dose he gave Mr. Mahama in 2016 during the 2020 polls, Wontumi indicated.



According to him, Mr. Mahama would not have any campaign message in 2020.

Source: Daily Guide









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A group calling itself Cheollima Civil Defense, which is believed to have rescued the son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's half-brother from his assassination squads, on Monday promised an "important" announcement this week. The group reportedly spirited Kim Han-sol to safety when North Korean agents assassinated his father Kim Jong-nam in Kuala Lumpur in February 2017.



North Korean flags adorn a railway station in the Vietnamese border town of Dong Dang on Monday. /Yonhap

It has since posted a clip of Han-sol on YouTube encouraging North Koreans to defect. The threat of a mysterious announcement this week suggests that it is designed to throw a monkey wrench in any deal Kim Jong-un is trying to extract from U.S. President Donald Trump. "We've received a request for help from comrades in a Western country," the group said on its website Monday. "We've responded to it despite a high risk." It included an e-mail address, saying, "Contact us anytime if you need help."

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (center) is welcomed upon arrival by train in the Vietnamese border town of Dong Dang on Tuesday. /Yonhap

There is speculation that the announcement could be a message from acting North Korean Ambassador to Italy Jo Song-gil, who disappeared with his family last November. In its last message in January, the group said, "Everything is changing this year... We're carrying out clandestine activities. Contact us if you need help." Ahn Chan-il, head of the World Institute for North Korea Studies who used to be a North Korean military officer, said, "Whatever the announcement is, the group seems to have intentionally chosen this timing when the North is on a roll." The group first announced its presence in March 2017 when it posted a clip of Kim Han-sol, who had gone into hiding. "We received a request for help from the family of Kim Jong-nam after he was assassinated. We rushed to their rescue and took them to a safe place," it said at the time. "Besides we've also helped other North Koreans defect." The group uses VPN to make it harder to track. Since then, the group has repeatedly claimed success in helping North Koreans escape or promised to take them to safety.
RTHK: Russia jails cyber-security official for treason

A Russian military court has handed long prison sentences to a high-ranking internet-security official and a hackin-protection expert after finding them guilty of treason, local news agencies reported.

Sergei Mikhailov, who was the deputy head of the FSB's centre for information security, was sentenced to 22 years in a harsh-regime penal colony.

Ruslan Stoyanov, an anti-hacking expert who worked for Moscow-based cyber-security giant KasperskyIn was jailed for 14 years.

The sentences came after a closed trial while the details of the criminal case against the men were classified.

A source familiar with the case told the Interfax news agency that the pair had passed information to US security agencies, including the CIA.

At the time of their arrest in February 2017, a lawyer involved in the case confirmed to AFP that the charges against the pair were "connected to the United States".

It is one of the highest-profile treason cases to hit Russia's security community in years.

The US in 2017 imposed a ban on the use of Kaspersky's anti-virus software by federal agencies amid concerns about the company's links to Russian intelligence services. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2019-02-26. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Leader and founder of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), Mr. Kofi Akpaloo has predicted that former President John Dramani Mahama who last Saturday was elected as the Flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2020 election will perform worse than he did in 2016.



According to him, just as his prediction of the percentage vote of Ex-President Mahama and his 6 other contestants became a reality, he is assuring former President John Mahama of his second defeat in the 2020 general elections.



I predicted that Mahama will not get less than 90% and he had 95% of the Presidential Primary, and I also predicted that due to the skewed measures put in place for the primary, none of the other 6 aspirants will pull 3% and indeed the second highest was about 1.5%, and so I knew Mahama will certainly lead the NDC in 2020 election, but he will lose the 2020 election. He can move heaven and earth, Mahama will lose the 2020 elections, he predicted.



He dared that if Mahama is able to get 75% of the votes he had in 2016, change my name.



Speaking on Okay FMs 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, Kofi Akpaloo explained that former President Mahama will have to convince Ghanaians on his assertion that Ghana is not ready for the Free Senior High policy, which has been implemented by President Akufo-Addo in his first year in office.



Akufo-Addo has brought Free SHS and didnt Mahama say it was not going to be possible? You said Ghana is not ready for the Free SHS policy but now it is working; have you not lied to Ghanaians? Can he go and convince Ghanaians that Akufo-Addo is lying to them? he asked.



He therefore said former President Mahama and his team have a lot of work to do by coming again with another message which will be convincing enough to change the minds of Ghanaians.



His prediction is borne out of the accusation made by NDC lawyer, Edudzi Tamakloe that he [Kofi Akpaloo] is in bed with the Akufo-Addo government because of the ECG contract he received.



But Kofi Akpaloo responded that he has never received any contract from Akufo-Addo as he didnt get from former President Mahamas regime; thus, his company has bid for many contracts which have been published in national dailies and he is fortunate to get one from ECG to supply electrical equipments to provide electricity for people in Volta Region.



I am a Ghanaian citizen and I qualify to do any business in the country because I have a registered company. If I had used illegal means to get the contract, the story would have been different . . . it was not Akufo-Addo who picked his phone to instruct ECG to give me the contract. Why didnt Akufo-Addo call other agencies I have been denied contracts to give them to me as well? he quizzed.

Source: Daniel Adu Darko/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected]









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Both the old and young poured onto the streets in wild jubilation across major towns and villages in the Ashanti Region last Saturday minutes after former President John Dramani Mahama was declared winner in the seven-horse race to elect a candidate to lead the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2020 presidential election.



Especially in Kumasi, Daniel Kenu and Kwadwo Baffoe Donkor, reports that delegates and supporters at the various polling centres in the metropolis burst out into wild laughter, shouting 'we've made it, we've made it.'



The overwhelming endorsement by the delegates for Mr Mahama made even supporters of the other candidates join in the celebration.



From Kumasi through to Obuasi to New Edubiase, none of the other contestants got up to 20 votes at any of the polling centres.



The gap between former President, Mahama, and the other six contestants was huge.





Contrast



In contrast, Vincent Amenuveve reports from the Upper East Regional capital, Bolgatanga, that the municipality was quiet even after the declaration of former President Mahama as the winner of the NDC presidential primaries.



Some party enthusiasts told the Daily Graphic that they were not surprised at the turn of events because they were fully aware that the former President was going to win the elections overwhelmingly.



The Deputy Youth Organiser of the Bolgatanga Central Constituency, Mr. Isaac Asore, said even though the former President polled about 94 percent of the votes, NDC party sympathisers should rally behind John Mahama for a resounding victory in 2020.



We are happy that we have chosen one of the flag bearer aspirants to go into the 2020 election: I want to say that there is no winner or loser in this contest because we are all aiming at one thing which is to win the 2020 election," Mr Asore intimated.



The Bolgatanga Central Member of Parliament, Mr Isaac Adongo, equally stated that he was not surprised at the turn of events because, among all the presidential candidates, the former president stood tall.



Babgin wins at Nadwoli Kaleo



Emmanuel Modey, also reports from Wa in the Upper West Region that with the exception of the Nadowli-Kaleo Polling Centre, the home of Alban Kingsford Bagbin, where he was narrowly beaten by16 votes, former President John Dramani Mahama swept the polls in all the other centres.



While Alban Bagbin had 383 out of a total of 810 votes cast, Mr Mahama had 367. Nine rejected votes were recorded at the centre.





In the remaining 10 polling centres, Mr Mahama beat all the other contenders: Alhaji Nurideen Iddrisu, Sylvester Adinam Mensah, Ekwow Spio Garbrah, Goosie Tannoh and Joshua Alabi.



The polling centres included Wa Central, Wa West, Wa East, Jirapa, Lawra, Lambussie, Daffiama Bussie Issa, Sissala East, Sissala West and Nandom.



A total of 7,967 delegates took part in the voting, constituting 98.78 per cent of the registered voters. There were 104 rejected votes in the region. The exercise proceeded calmly amid good security arrangements.



Minutes after voting had begun, Mr Bagbin made his appearance at the Wa Central Polling Centre and just after a few minutes, Mr Mahama also showed up, all in an effort to ginger the delegates.



Spio-Garbrah, Goosies home region



Though home region to Mr Spio-Garbrah and Mr Tannoh, Shirley Asiedu-Addo and Deborah Oluwamuyiwa, report from Cape Coast in the Central Region that the two candidates failed to get any significant numbers at the polls.



There were jubilations by members of the NDC when results of the presidential primary were announced with former President Mahama sweeping the polls convincingly.





Some voters who couldnt hide their excitement when the results were announced took to the principal streets of Cape Coast in a float amid singing and dancing in excitement.



In other places, however, there was minimal jubilation because members said the victory was anticipated.



Security good



Seth J. Bokpe also reports from Accra in the Greater Accra Region, that security during the NDC presidential primary was generally good throughout the proceedings.



Some constituency executives of the party described it as excellent and highly professional. They said apart from the highly efficient officials of the Electoral Commission, the police brought their A-game to the election and ensured that the delegates felt safe.



Constituency executives of Trobu, Ayawaso West Wuogon, Ayawaso Central, Odododiodo, Ablekuma South and Ablekuma Central were full of praise for the police who, some of them concluded, did not create a condition of fear and panic.



Ayawaso West Wuogon



At Ayawaso West Wuogon, the polling centre at the Dzorwulu Junior High School was swarming with police officers who positioned themselves at vantage points.



Coming on the back of a by-election in the constituency that recorded violence at La-Bawaleshie involving operatives of the National Security, now a subject of a Presidential Commission of Enquiry, the NDC Constituency Chairman, Mr Bismark Aborbi-Ayittey, told the Daily Graphic that the police were highly professional.



He said the Kotobabi Police arrived at the polling centre by 6 a.m and had a meeting with the stakeholders before polls started.



Ablekuma Central



The Town Council Line Park polling station for delegates from Ablekuma Central was one of the areas with tight security.



Two roads leading to the polling centre was blocked as the area is known to be one of the flashpoints in the Greater Accra Region.



Police vehicles were seen patrolling the place in addition to police officers on motorbikes.



The Mamprobi District Commander, DSP Cephas Arthur, told the Daily Graphic that the district deployed 35 police personnel who were divided into three teams.



He said while one team of eight officers were on duty at the polling centre, another group was on patrol monitoring activities in the constituency.



He said the last batch was a standby force at the police station who were ready to be deployed for reinforcement.



"We want to be pre-emptive to deal with any trouble that may arise. We don't want to be taken by surprise because this is an election involving a small group of people," he said.



Trobu



At the Tantra Hill Unity Park in the Trobu Constituency, there were four police officers on duty with a police patrol vehicle circling the area.



The Constituency Communications Officer, Mr Famous Derrick Dzisam, said the police were professional in their duties and stayed away from interfering in the process.





When the Daily Graphic got to the Wembley Park at Kotobabi in Accra, there were at least four police officers manning the entrance and exit of the centre.



Odododiodo



At Odododiodo, there was heavy police presence. The police were, particularly, active during the counting process as hundreds of people had gathered at the Wesley Methodist Church compound to witness the declaration of results.



The police ensured that the delegates and observers stayed out of the counting perimeter while engaging others in a chit chat.



Ablekuma South



At the Mamprobi 1 JHS, while some of the police officers kept watch on the process, others engaged the delegates in hearty conversation to relax them before they cast their ballots.



The police officers conducted themselves so well and everything went well. I think it was a great teamwork between the delegates, EC and the security with no incident happening.



As you can see, the police are just chatting with the delegates and the atmosphere is so calm. We are grateful to them and the EC, the Constituency Chairman, Mr Geofrey Atakli Banini, said.

Source: Graphic.com









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PDP has rejected the 2019 presidential election results that are currently being released by INEC. The PDP chairman, Uche Secondus, made this known at a press conference this evening.

Read the full text of his speech below=



Our Democracy in Under Threat



Protocols:



1. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is forced to take a stand and make the following pronouncements at this crucial point because our democracy is under threat of derailment.



2. Firstly, I want to categorically state that our collation centers have all original results from every polling unit, in every ward, in every Local Government Area (LGA) in Nigeria, of which the international community is well aware, implying all results currently being announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is incorrect thus unacceptable to our party and people.



3. Secondly, officials of both President Buharis government and the All Progressive Congress (APC), working with INEC officers, have tried to alter the course of history and disenfranchise our people through the cancellation and manipulation of figures for results already announced at polling units, nationwide, in Local Government Areas (LGAs) where our party, the PDP, had commanding votes; this must now be resisted by every well meaning Nigerian.



4. Thirdly, the ruling partys strategy has indeed been murderous, undignified, and disrespectful of the wishes of the electorate, our people and the international community who have been in solidarity with our nation as we attempt to strengthen our democracy and its institutions.



5. Fourthly, in full view of the watching world, and despite efforts by our great party and its agents to adhere to every laid down provision for the 2019 general elections, the APC in collusion with INEC have taken aggressive steps, mostly through inducements, manipulation and incarcerations, using the elements of state power including the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Army in particular, alongside other organizations including the Department of State Security (DSS) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to silence the voices of our long suffering people; this is disheartening, considering the terms of the Peace Accord, which called for impartiality and non-partisanship by members of our security organization with constitutional roles to play during this civic exercise.



6. Fifthly, as results trickled in on the Sunday, February 24th, 2019, clearly putting the PDP in the lead, the ruling party and President Buhari dispatched high-ranking officials to coercively influence outcomes in different geopolitical zones in the country. For example:



I. The minister of the interior, was dispatched to the North West of the country

II. The Secretary of the Government of the Federation was dispatched to the North East of the country; while the

III. The Attorney General and Minister were dispatched to the South East and South-South regions.



7. With the INEC IT server hacked by agents of the APC to manipulate results, we can with certainty state that results from the following polling units have, for example, been tampered with, note:



i. Sarkin Dawaki ward in Doma LGA  Nassarawa state

ii. Doka ward in Doma LGA  Nassarawa state

iii. Agyaragin  Tofa ward

iiii. 10, 000 illegal votes added to already announced results in Wurno LGA in Sokoto state

v. Additionally, violent and destructive attacks have been meted out to officials while counting at Lafia St. and police barracks polling units.



8. As if these provocations are not enough, our agents and officials are constantly arrested and in many cases locked-up for complaining that Card Readers were not in use in many Northern states, implying that all results from the Northern part of the country where Card Readers were not used should be voided in accordance with INEC guidelines.



9. I also believe, the arrest of Eng. Buba Galadima, who has been a great symbol of what is courageous about our people goes to show that one mans ambition is greater than our collective good, and most probably worth the blood of all Nigerians.



10. In that context, I call for Buba Galadimas immediate and unconditional release, as well as that of all officials and agents of the PDP, in the Southwest, who were mostly arrested on the eve of the elections where intimidation became the APCs sole election strategy.



11. Despite these provocations, intimidation and attempts to hijack our democracy and change the course of history, I must, in fact, convey to our good people the fact that the PDP is on course to victory and the Presidency; therefore, remain resolute and steadfast, because our party shares in your uncertainty and suffering, which must decisively come to a good end for us all.



12. Finally, and once again, we appeal to the leadership of INEC to remain impartial and not become willing agents to disenfranchise our people and derail our democracy, because the world is watching, and history will indeed pass judgment.



In addition, to the international community; we welcome your support for our democracy and extend our gratitude with great hope for our democracy.





Prince Uche Secondus

Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

Source: LIB









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The Ugandan army says it has arrested two soldiers who are seen assaulting a female traffic officer in a video that went viral.



The short video, filmed by an onlooker, shows one of them grabbing Police Sergeant Esther Namaganda's arm as she tries to fight him off. She had stopped their vehicle over a traffic offence.



They are bodyguards for Major General Matayo Kyaligonza, who is seen dressed in a white shirt, walking around the scene with a cane. He doesnt try to stop the soldiers from grabbing the traffic officer or from attacking onlookers.



In a photo from the scene, Gen Kyaligonza is shown stretching his hand out at Sergeant Namaganda while his bodyguards grab hold of her. According to the sergeant, the general also slapped her in the face, although this is not captured in any video or pictures shared from the scene.



The alleged assault happened on Sunday.



Gen Kyaligonza, who also serves as Ugandas ambassador to Burundi, has had a controversial past.



In 1989, he was demoted for slapping a police officer.



Gen Kyaligonza denies any wrongdoing and says he is being unfairly targeted.



As a high-ranking officer and a member of the old guard of the army, who helped President Yoweri Museveni come to power in 1986, many are waiting to see whether his involvement in the latest incident will be fully investigated.

Source: BBC









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The National Union of Ghana Students state its position on the state of the Nation's address delivered by President of the Republic, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on 21st February, 2019.



According to them they were delighted when the president stated that "We are not sparing any efforts to make education in Ghana of the best quality and for the needs of 21st Century but urge the Government not to make it just a word of mouth but must be backed by actions for the betterment of education and youth development in the country.



In a statement: "NUGS lauds this initiative but we believe that making history a part of these key focus of study at the infant level will help shape the mindsets and mentality of the school children since knowing their history and that of their forefathers who sacrificed for them yesterday will go along way in helping improve their servitude for the future."



Read Full Statement Below;



New Standards Based Curriculum From Kindergarten To Class 6 In Primary Schools



In the presidents speech, he stated that a new standards-based curriculum will be rolled out from Kindergarten to class 6 in primary schools which he stated will focus on making Ghanaian children confident, innovative, creative- thinking, digitally-literate, well rounded, patriotic citizens with Mathematics, Science, Reading and Writing at the heart of this new curriculum.

Fidelity of implementation of educational policies continues to be a big challenge in Ghana primarily because in most cases the teachers who are the final implementers of the curriculum are sidelined. However, it is not too late to kick-start a nationwide sensitization and familiarization of the new curriculum for the teachers at the basic level.



NUGS lauds this initiative but we believe that making history a part of these key focus of study at the infant level will help shape the mindsets and mentality of the school children since knowing their history and that of their forefathers who sacrificed for them yesterday will go along way in helping improve their servitude for the future. The union believes that school children must be taught in their local languages. Over these years, governments upon governments have tried their best in ensuring that schools teach with their local languages but not a concrete decision has over the years been made to make it possible. We believe that you will work at ensuring that this dream by the National Union of Ghana Students is achieved.



Legislation To Redefine Basic Education To Include Senior High School



The President spoke about the need to make legislation to Senior High Schools a part of the basic education.

NUGS believes that this idea is laudable but in making such a legislation the Government must take into consideration the various questions, suggestions and comments that have been given over these past two years of its introduction so as to help shape the Free Senior High School Policy for the betterment of the future of the Country. Indeed, NUGS believes that Free Education is important therefore we encourage that regular checks should be done to ensure feasibility of the policy , provide students with capabilities they require to become economically productive, develop sustainable livelihoods, contribute to peaceful and democratic societies and enhance individual well-being. Its necessary that an assessment of the quality of the policy over these past two years is done to make the policy better. This also should inform the kind of curriculum that is implemented at the secondary level. It should be the kind of curriculum that positions the student not only for tertiary education but also for the world of work.



Construction Of 10 Technical And Vocational Education Training (TVET)



NUGS lauds such a plan and it's of the firm believe that the construction of 100 new TVET centres will help serve as centers to improve career path for students and the youth of Ghana who may not have gotten the opportunity to enter the Senior Secondary Education System. However, the Ministry should also continue with its renovation of the existing TVET centres and equip them with the needed teaching and learning resources. In fact, agricultural institutes should be given the same attention and if possible the construction of new agricultural institutes should also be a priority.



10 Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) Centres Being Built



NUGS was pleased to note that plans are in place to build 10 STEM Centers to provide training on science and technology for students and youth of this country. The union believes that the inclusion of Science and technology into the basic education development is also key to the progress of this country, especially the world which is gradually moving into a digitised world in order not to let the youth and students lag behind in terms of Science and technology development.

The Ghanaian education system is of more theoretical therefore we plead that a more practical aspect of the syllabus should be introduced , it would ensure a more technical know how in the field of study.

NUGS believes that the Presidential Advisory Council on Science, Technology and Innovation under the Leadership of Prof.Edward Ayensu will help set a new path for the advancement of science and technology Development in the country.



Tertiary Education Policy



The National Union of Ghana Students calls on the Government to invovle the student leaders on the Tertiary Education Policy Bill since they are the major stakeholders in its implementation. NUGS has not been consulted on the Tertiary Education Policy Bill neither has any bloc and Students' Representative Council been and we at NUGS believes that in as much as the idea behind it is good and will help centralised the development of the public institutions, consulting and involving the student leadership for broader input will help Shape the policy to be implemented.

NUGS wishes to use this avenue to call for more involvement between the Government and NUGS in making this policy successful.



NUGS will also use this opportunity to call for the intervention of the Government in collaborating with the various managements of public institutions to put plans in place to solve issues of accommodation especially with the numbers that are expected to be in the universities as a result of the Free SHS Policy.



NUGS urges the Government to also pay close attention towards the development of youth and students of this country especially student leadership in order to provide the needed training and guidance for the students who wish to serve their country.



NUGS is committed to serving students of Ghana and we will continue to be firm and work in line with the directive principles ascribed in the constitution of the country.



Thank you.



Signed



Kobby Otchere Marfo

Press & Information Secretary, NUGS

0240852651



Tinkaro Asare Osei

President, NUGS

0543253243









Source: Josephine Acheampomaa/Peacefmonline/[email protected]









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The New Patriotic Party led by His Excellency, Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo is doing marvelous things in just two years. In this write up, I will highlight some of the resplendent performance(s) of this government. Before I proceed, let me use this humble opportunity to take my readers through the achievement of NPP government at the energy sector.



This government inherited a load shedding energy sector which forced alot of businesses out of operation due to the fact that, corporate organisations couldnt break-even as a result of additional cost of power due to unstable power supply from ECG. The normal formula for power supply across the country under the erstwhile NDC government led by John Dramani Mahama was twelve hours(12hrs)"light out" and twelve hours(12hrs) "light" all in a day. The basic understanding of this formula is that, if you get light for twelve hours, the next twelve hours(12hrs), you will be sleeping in total darkness till the next morning.



Under the same government, we were told to pay more for the power supply to be stable. Even that, we paid more yet, we were sleeping in darkness with the same formula of load shedding . The cost of ECG bill(s) was higher than the cost of rent. Again, we were told that, the problem(s) at the energy sector was more of technical nature than what we were told by the running mate of the opposition leader, Dr Bawumia. According to Dr Bawumia, the problem was basically FINANCIAL owning to the fact that,we were unable to settle our debts owed west African Gas pipeline.



Under John Dramani Mahama, the West African Gas pipeline supplied Ghana with gas for power generation and because, we were finding it difficult to pay for their services, there was a break in the gas supply which resulted in the severe "load shedding " which ostensibly culminated in the severe "DUMSOR" we experienced throughout the four years(4yrs) mandate of the former president who is stagging a come back in 2020.



In 2017, Nana Akufo Addo's government announced a serious tariff reduction in fulfillment of his 2016 campaign pledge to the good people of Ghana. Lo and behold, the tariff reduction took effect and since that time, there hasnt been any upward adjustment in tariffs. This has never happened in the history of Ghana. The difference here is that, under NDC government, we were paying more yet, load shedding continued unabated to the much chagrin of the economy. Under NPP government led by His excellency, Nana Akufo Addo, we are paying less yet, we arent experiencing load shedding. This remarkable success of the NPP should inform your decision in 2020 election if and only if, we dont want the dark days to return.



Under this government, Not a single debt has been created and couched as judgement debt. In 2010, NDC paid Ghc 51.2M to Alfred Agbesi Woyome, 47m to waterville and $20m to Isofoton for no work done. These payments forced one of their own[ Martin Amidu] to proceed to the supreme court to challenge the basis upon which these monies were paid. The supreme court in 2013 ruled against the government and directed the AG to retrieve the monies. From 2013 to 2016, not a single effective steps was initiated by the government to get our monies retrieved for us.



Today as we speak, the current government is battling Alfred Agbesi Woyome in the supreme court for the retrieval of the GHC 51.2m NDC criminally paid to him in 2010. The rest are being battled at the International court of Arbitration.



Today as we speak, the current government is battling Alfred Agbesi Woyome in the supreme court for the retrieval of the GHC 51.2m NDC criminally paid to him in 2010.The supreme court in Amidu v AG &others didnt mince words when they took on the government by describing the payment as fraudulent obviously to create,loot and share.



Let's try and reject the looter who is stagging a come back on the principles that, We, the good people of Ghana have short memory due to a fictitious imagination that, we are not capable of recollecting previous happenings.



#NDC is a disaster and cancerous#



Dawda Eric(Equity)

Citizen Vigilance for Justice







Source: Dawda Eric/[email protected]









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has issued far-reaching directives on how participants in the forex market should conduct their businesses to help stabilize the fast depreciating cedi.



The implementation of the new directives, which stated yesterday, is also targeted at improving information flow on how operators in the forex market will react and act on issues related to the cedi dollar relationship.



The directives were categorized under areas such as Ethics, fairness and Integrity; General dealings Principles and market conduct, as well as Risk management compliance among others.



Directives to enhance transparency



Under Ethics, Fairness and Integrity all market participants are required to conduct their activities ethically, transparently and professionally to ensure fairness and integrity of the foreign exchange market.



In addition, market participants are expected o act in an honest and fair manner when dealing with clients and other participants.



Market players are also required to act with integrity in all their dealings or activities.



The directive also stressed that it is imperative that market participants have a high level of awareness and understanding of market practices.



Management of Licensed Foreign Exchange Dealers are required to subject their staff to the highest test of knowledge and continuously provide avenues for knowledge updates.



On Licensed foreign exchange the directive states that all Licensed foreign exchange dealers are required to make market by showing a binding two-way quote for all currencies traded in the interbank market if requested by another Licensed foreign exchange dealer.



If the amount is not specified, the Licensed foreign exchange dealer shall use the minimum traded lot of 250,000 US dollars or as agreed from time to time by the industry in consultation with the Bank of Ghana. The Licensed foreign exchange dealer is obliged to trade for that amount at the specified quoted price.



A licensed foreign exchange dealer with a different amount in mind shall specify it, but need not state whether the intention is to buy or sell.



The dealer is not obliged to present a quote for any other amount other than the minimum traded lots agreed by the industry.



In addition transactions in any currency other than the US dollar require the approval of both parties and a market maker may refuse to make a quote for it even if requested.



Also the directives pointed out that the interbank foreign exchange market is open from 9:00 to 16:00 hours GMT on all business days. The Bank of Ghana is exempt from this clause and may trade with a LFXD outside the regular market hours stated here.



Furthermore Licensed foreign exchange dealer are required to update indicative quotes for buying and selling US dollars at regular intervals, on the Reuters and Bloomberg information systems.



Indicative quotes shall be updated at intervals of not more than 30 minutes.



This will show the price at which a market-maker is prepared to buy and sell at the minimum traded lots.



The directive also maintained that all interbank FX trades must be booked on the Reuters platform and appropriately confirmed within five (5) minutes after the trade is concluded.



These trades must also be reported in the daily FX report submitted the Bank of Ghana.



Participation in FX Auctions licensed foreign exchange dealers are prohibited from participating in any form of FX auction initiated by any exporter or foreign exchange earner in Ghana.



Penalties for Breach of Relevant Sections of this regulation



According to the directives, any action which contravenes any section of these rules shall attract one or more of the penalties such as issuance of warning letters the dealing officer and their LFXDs or FX Broker.



Also penalties will include administrative Fines/Monetary Penalties, Suspension of Licensed foreign exchange dealers, dealing officer, FX Broker and the publication of same in the newspapers.



In addition, offenders will face Revocation of FX dealing license, and the publication of same in the newspapers.

Source: The Custodian









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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Iranian lawmakers urge President Rouhani to reject resignation of Foreign Minister Zarif

02/26/19

Source: Press TV

A majority of Iranian lawmakers have signed a letter to President Hassan Rouhani, calling on him not to accept Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif's resignation.



Iran's foreign minister has announced his resignation in an Instagram post.

President Rouhani has not formally accepted the resignation.

Ali Najafi Khoshroudi, spokesman for the Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told IRNA on Tuesday that he was collecting signatures from lawmakers.



He noted that about 160 parliamentarians had already signed the letter, asking for Minister Zarif to be kept in office.



Meanwhile, Chairman of the Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh said the body was set to convene an extraordinary session on Tuesday to address Zarif's resignation, according to Mehr news agency.

'Zarif on frontline of fight against US'

Addressing the 58th annual meeting of the general assembly of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) on Tuesday, Rouhani said Zarif - along with Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zanganeh and Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati - was at the frontline of the battle against America, without mentioning the top diplomat's resignation.







The Iranian chief executive thanked the three officials for the efficient roles they had played in confronting Washington under the sanctions.

'One foreign policy, one foreign minister'

Shortly after the speech, the president's Chief of Staff Mahmoud Vaezi highlighted Rouhani's words in praise of Zarif as "a clear sign of the satisfaction of the representative of the people of Iran about the wise and effective positions and work of Dr. Zarif and a tough response to some biased and incorrect analyses,"



"In the view of Dr. Rouhani, the Islamic Republic of Iran has only one foreign policy and one foreign minister," Vaezi wrote in an Instagram post that included a picture of Rouhani and Zarif together.



Meanwhile, reacting to news that a number of Foreign Ministry employees and diplomats were planning to quit following his resignation, Zarif advised them against the move and urged them to "continue to fulfill their duties in defense of the country."



"I require that all [my] dear brothers and sisters in the Foreign Ministry and representative offices continue to fulfill their duties in defense of the country with strength," Zarif said on Tuesday.



The 59-year-old diplomat started serving as the Islamic Republic's foreign minister when Rouhani took office in 2013.



He was reinstated in the post when the chief executive won a second term.



The foreign minister's discourse has notably featured rejection of Iranophobia and promoted international interaction.



Zarif played an instrumental role in the negotiations leading to the conclusion of a nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic and world powers in 2015.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif Announces Resignation On Instagram

02/26/19

Source: RFE/RL

Iran's foreign minister has announced his resignation, an abrupt departure that could further undermine the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Western powers.



Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif

(artowk by Bozorgmehr Hosseinpur)

In a message posted to his Instagram account, Mohammad Javad Zarif said he wanted to apologize for not being able to continue, but gave no further explanation for his resignation. Early on February 26, there was no indication that President Hassan Rohani had formally accepted Zarif's resignation.

"Thank you very much to the dear and honorable people of Iran over the past 67 months," Zarif wrote in the Instagram post. "I sincerely apologize for the incapacity to continue serving and all the shortcomings during the service. I thank the Iranian nation and officials."

A deputy Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed the authenticity of Zarif's Instagram announcement, state-run IRNA news agency reported. Iran's semiofficial Tasnim news agency also said "some sources have confirmed Zarif's resignation," but it was not clear whether President Hassan Rohani would accept it.

Zarif, who has served as Iran's top diplomat since August 2013, headed the Iranian negotiation team that led to the 2015 agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a deal reached with the United States, Germany, Russia, China, Britain, and, France.



The deal itself has been under severe strain, despite a United Nations watchdog's conclusions that Tehran remains in compliance.



U.S. President Donald Trump last year announced Washington was pulling out of the deal, and later moved to reimpose sanctions on Tehran. In his decision, Trump called Iran "the world's leading state sponsor of terror" and said his administration had acted decisively to confront it.



Zarif came under attack from hard-line conservatives in Iran after Trump pulled out of the agreement.

The other signatories to the nuclear deal have been working to keep it alive and have resisted U.S. pressure to abandon the accord.

Top Iranian officials, including Rohani, have said that the Islamic Republic is facing its toughest economic situation in 40 years, at least partially due to the resumption of U.S. sanctions.

Zarif replaced Ali Akbar Salehi, the current head of the Atomic Organization of Iran.

If Rohani does accept Zarif's resignation, it's not immediately clear who would assume the post.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa, and irna.ir
U.S. President Donald Trump is heading to Hanoi for his second summit with Kim Jong-un amid hopes for a deal that would lead to the North Korean leader to give up his nuclear weapons.

"I think we'll have a very tremendous summit. We want denuclearization, and I think he'll have a country that will set a lot of records for speed in terms of an economy," Trump said in remarks at the White House before departing.

National Security Adviser John Bolton, two months ago, said a second summit was needed because North Korea had yet to live up to the commitments it made last June in Singapore.

 Progress Needed

A lack of a major breakthrough for the second time could have negative political ramifications for Trump.

"If the president makes substantive concessions, I think he will get serious bipartisan criticism," says James Jay Carafano, the vice president of the Heritage Foundation's institute for national security and foreign policy. That would "probably be the last thing he needs" amid the possible release this week of a summary of the special counsel's report into ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 election campaign, adds Carafano.

"If the report is good news, a distraction is bad," Carafano tells VOA. "If it's bad news, it will compound his problems."

Some analysts, however, predict there would be scant political damage for Trump as he can just declare a foreign policy victory. "All it takes is Kim pretending to disarm and Trump pretending to believe him," says Vipin Narang, an associate professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"So long as Kim doesn't embarrass Trump publicly by testing a nuclear weapon or a ballistic missile, domestically Trump can keep rinsing and repeating," Narang, author of the book Nuclear Strategy in the Modern Era tells VOA. "The advantage for Trump is that Kim's continued expansion of his nuclear weapons program is largely silent, and, at best, shows up on page 10" of local newspapers in the United States.

"If nothing positive happens, the Democratic Party hawks and the media may mock Trump's pretensions and claims to be a master negotiator," says Professor Peter Kuznick, director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University. "But as long as tensions don't re-erupt on the Korean peninsula, most Americans will be satisfied with the status quo and move on to other issues."
26 European MPs Call on Iran's President Rouhani to Free Conservationists

02/26/19

Source: Center for Human Rights in Iran

Twenty-six members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have urged Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to free eight conservationists who are currently being tried in the country's secretive revolutionary court system:

We are concerned that the trial of eight activists, that has begun behind closed doors on 30 January 2019, falls seriously short of fair trial standards. Judge Abdolghassem Salavati at Branch 15 of Tehran's revolutionary court reportedly prevented a defendant from appearing in court with a lawyer of his own choosing, and after one of the defendants told the court she has been absent from the past two sessions of the trial, that she had been tortured in detention.

The MEPs also reminded the president that 12 months after Iranian Canadian conservationist Kavous Seyed-Emami was found dead in Evin Prison where he was being held for interrogations, Iranian authorities have not conducted an impartial investigation into his death and have placed a travel ban on his wife, Maryam Mombeini.

Following is the letter in full.

H.E. Hassan Rouhani

President of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Brussels, 25 February 2019

Dear President Rouhani,

We, the undersigned Members of the European Parliament, are writing to express our strong concerns over the prolonged detention of eight environmental human rights defenders and serious violations of their due process and fair trial rights and to urge their immediate and unconditional release.

Houman Jokar, Sepideh Kashani, Niloufar Bayani, Amirhossein Khaleghi, Sam Rajabi, Taher Ghadirian, Morad Tahbaz, and Abdolreza Kouhpayeh, all members of a local environmental group, the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, were arrested in January and February 2018 and have been detained without access to a lawyer of their own choosing. On February 10, the family of Seyed Emami, an Iranian-Canadian university professor who was also detained with others, reported that he had died in detention in unknown circumstances. Iranian authorities claimed that he committed suicide, but they have not conducted an impartial investigation into his death and have placed a travel ban on his wife, Maryam Mombeini. We understand that the Iranian judiciary has accused the activists of using environmental projects as a cover to collect classified strategic information while a committee established under your authority has found no evidence into these allegations. In a worrisome development, in November, the judiciary elevated the charge for four individuals to "corruption on earth", which can carry the death penalty.

We are concerned that the trial of eight activists, that has begun behind closed doors on 30 January 2019, falls seriously short of fair trial standards. Judge Abdolghassem Salavati at Branch 15 of Tehran's revolutionary court reportedly prevented a defendant from appearing in court with a lawyer of his own choosing, and after one of the defendants told the court she has been absent from the past two sessions of the trial, that she had been tortured in detention.

As stressed during a February 2016 debate in our Foreign Affairs Committee with Foreign Minister Zarif, and repeatedly in urgency resolutions adopted by this House, we believe that respect for international human rights standards should be at the core of EU-Iran bilateral relations, and it is cases like these that serve as a litmus test for your government's commitment to make progress in its human rights record.

We therefore call on you to use the authority of your office, as the President and Head of the national security, to secure the release of these environmental defenders and, pending their release, to ensure a fair and open trial based on Iran's human rights obligations and constitutional protections.

Yours sincerely,

Ana Gomes (S&D)

Elmar Brok (EPP)

Marietje Schaake (ALDE)

Barbara Lochbihler (Greens/EFA)

Theresa Griffin (S&D)

Ernest Urtasun (Greens/EFA)

Jiri Pospisil (EPP)

Bodil Valero (Greens/EFA)

Julie Ward (S&D)

Bart Staes (Greens/EFA)

Antonio Marinho e Pinto (ALDE)

Margrete Auken (Greens/EFA)

Tunne Kelam (EPP)

Soraya Post (S&D)

Klaus Buchner (Greens/EFA)

Carlos Coelho (EPP)

Eugen Freund (S&D)

Maria Heubuch (Greens/EFA)

Karoline Graswander-Hainz (S&D)

Eva Gro Joly (Greens/EFA)

Marita Ulvskog (S&D)

Karima Delli (Greens/EFA)

Csaba Sogor (EPP)

Philippe Lamberts (Greens/EFA)

Patricia Lalonde (ALDE)

Pascal Durand (Greens/EFA)
Lady Gaga, who just won an Oscar for her A Star Is Born hit "Shallow," wants the Academy Awards to reconsider gendered acting categories. Speaking to press after exiting the stage with her trophy  accompanied by co-writers Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt, and Anthony Rossomando  Gaga used an Australian reporter's question about the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras as an entry point to talk about a tricky issue.

When asked if she had a message for her Australian LGBTQ fans who are currently attending the festival, Gaga sent them her love, then brought conversation back around to the Oscars. "I wish to everyone that is going to that celebration to feel a joy inside of them," she said, adding that, "I also have a true dream in our future, as we evolve as humanity, that these award shows will not be male and female, but that we include everyone." Related | Why It Matters That Two Black Women Won Non-Acting Oscars Last Night

The Academy currently divides all four of its acting categories  Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress  by gender. The Emmys and Golden Globes keep to the same tradition, while the Grammys and MTV Movie Awards have recently done away with gendered categories completely. Gaga joins a growing number of performers to demand that the Oscars move with the times.

What could a gender-free Oscars look like? With so many movies and performances to choose from, it's definitely weird to contemplate having only two acting categories each year. Especially as Hollywood's consistently proven gender biases could mean that men are favored for trophies  take a look at this year's Best Director nominations for an example of this dynamic in action. Related | All the Best Oscars After Party Gossip

Still, gendered awards categories are definitely a queer issue  trans and gender non-conforming actors, for example, can have difficulty knowing whether to submit to "actor" or "actress" categories. Non-binary Billions actor Asia Kate Dillon encountered this issue during Emmys submissions in 2017.

We love Gaga for her eternal devotion to her LGBTQ fanbase! Happy Mardi Gras to all.
A day after Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico, Jeva, a 23-year-old queer artist, DJ, and organizer based in San Juan, remembers their mother grabbing them by the shoulders: "We have to leave now," she said. "We can't stay here. It's only going to get worse."

Jeva's mother was right. The crisis that unfurled in the storm's wake  virtually all of the archipelago's 3.3 million people were without water service, electricity, or access to basic supplies  was a tragically prolonged one. Poor emergency response planning and deployment by both local and federal entities ultimately resulted in an estimated 2,995 deaths. Some experts report counts even higher, closer to 5,000.

Leaving about a month into the crisis, Jeva and their mother became part of a massive post-storm exodus  a five-month stretch during which about 400,000 Puerto Ricans migrated out, mainly to U.S. states like Florida and New York.

As conditions improved, some Puerto Ricans have moved back. On the surface, recovery seems far along (working electricity and water service are again widespread) there  yet many issues are still preventing its people from thriving. These are inveterate problems: an unemployment rate more than double that of the overall U.S. rate; the high consumer cost of goods because of maritime shipping laws imposed by the U.S.; a government that's drowning in debt and now under the control of an unelected U.S. Financial Oversight Board; austerity measures, like major budget cuts to the University of Puerto Rico and anti-worker labor reforms, handed down by that same board; and so much more.

As a non-voting, unincorporated territory of the U.S., colonialism plays a major role in Puerto Rico's problems  and colonialism affects perceptions too, of how Puerto Ricans view themselves, and how people elsewhere view Puerto Ricans. For Jeva, who ultimately resettled in Austin, Texas, confronting those truths is part of their artistic mission.

Just recently, Jeva  which, in Puerto Rican slang, can mean girlfriend or, like in this case, a super babely femme  made their first visit home since moving out. During that late January trip they hosted a homecoming edition of Queer Night, a pioneering party with live music, drag performances, and DJs that they first launched four years earlier. In many ways, Queer Night was an early launchpad for San Juan's flourishing, ever-growing queer nightlife community.

We connected with Jeva to discuss their trip to Puerto Rico, the mission behind their work, the community they've found in Austin, and more. Read, below, and listen to the mix created exclusively for PAPER, which is inspired by "humid nights in Santurce that smell like cigarettes, Medalla, and piss."

Let's start with when you left Puerto Rico. I realize that must have been a difficult decision to make. Hurricane Maria happened, and it was a gigantic shock. I had many, many plans in Puerto Rico [before the storm]. I had an event planned out, I had a photo shoot, I had many events that I was going to participate in. I was going to be in a gallery show. There was a lot going on, and then Hurricane Maria just really destroyed all those plans.

When you think of what you had to leave behind, what comes to mind? When I think about what I left behind in Puerto Rico, it's so many complicated feelings. I left behind my culture, I left behind my community, the people that I love, that I grew up with, that have seen me grow from being this rebellious, feminist riot grrrl to whatever I was already at the time. I left behind one of my bestest friends in the world, and yeah, it really hurt a lot that I had to leave my community and everything that I worked so hard for, for basically three years. Even though I miss all those aspects, I also think about the negative aspects that I left behind there. There was a sense of close-mindedness in the scene in Puerto Rico. And there was a lot of protection of abusers in the scene; there's people that have done completely reprehensible things, but they still hang around there and they still have friends. It's always excused with this very soft, like, Oh, no, people make mistakes. That's true, but I know people that have stalked and harassed other people in the scene for years, I know of people that have sexually assaulted, I've known of people who have done completely reprehensible things. And you see that forgiveness given more to men than to women in many aspects.

Photo via Instagram

How did that close-mindedness affect you? I didn't feel very understood, even within feminist spaces. I remember one of the first instances where I felt that I wasn't identifying as a woman was within these feminist spaces because of what they considered to be womanhood  a lot of concentration on the body in a very bio-essentialist way, very hippy-mother-vagina kind of way, and I didn't identify with any of those aspects at all. It just made me really question what was womanhood, what was me, what was my body, who am I? And there's not a lot of understanding yet of trans people, about queerness; there's a lot of femme-phobia and of non-binary people such as myself. I also felt like I left behind a lot of toxicity. Either way, it's complex feelings. It's not like a strict binary of I completely miss it and I die for it, or I completely, absolutely hate it. There's two sides of it, and I look at them both equally, and I just balance it out in my head. When I talk about Puerto Rico I always talk about the beautiful things I see of it, but I also keep in mind those negative aspects that were eating me away when I was living there.

"I left behind my culture, I left behind my community, the people that I love, that I grew up with, that have seen me grow."

How did you feel during your trip back? Did you find the queer community of San Juan somewhat changed? From my observation, this new era of queers, I really like them a lot! They're a lot more conscious about intersections regarding struggle; they are very conscious about racial oppression, racism, they realize that racism isn't just a U.S. thing. There's this benign way that Puerto Ricans dismiss racism. Because since general Puerto Rico is a POC country, a lot of the anti-Blackness is ignored and it's just never mentioned because, since we're a colony or whatever, we don't want to address our own personal shit. I'm seeing that being addressed and recognized among this new generation, recognizing what anti-Blackness is and making a space for Black Puerto Ricans, which is so important. And being generally more open to trans and non-binary people is really important; I noticed that they're even adjusting their language, which is something I admit I had a hard time adjusting to but I guess that's because I don't have any practice, because I don't have anyone to speak gender-neutral Spanish with me [in Austin].

Photo via Instagram

You mentioned to me before that, watching on social media, you've seen how the scene is expanding. I've been seeing it grow. I still follow all my queer and trans friends from Puerto Rico on social media and I'm seeing all the events, all the new organizations that y'all are building. All these new initiatives, and it just really warms my heart to see it grow the way it is. I try to explain it to people in Austin, where there is a gigantic queer club scene that it tends to intersect with other people, and for them it's really difficult to understand this concept of like, no, in Puerto Rico, there barely was anything. It's now starting to grow. And they're just not getting it. I'm like, You don't get it because you grew up in Austin. You grew up in a big city; [queer nightlife] was always available to you. I definitely am very proud of how far everybody is going and I just look forward to them growing even more and more and more.

Can you tell us more about the origins of your style?

As a teenager, I was pretty isolated. I was basically a goth kid that primarily hung out in their own bedroom, completely absorbed by the Internet. I didn't hang out much with kids my age. I was kind of far out for some people. I spent all my time looking at goth blogs, like, Adora BatBrat really influenced me dressing up real crazy. And I've always dressed up real crazy ever since I was 13. I would wear these gigantic platforms, really dramatic black eye makeup, really theatrical looks. I discovered Nina Hagen and I was like, I wanna look like that! I would also dress up like Siouxsie Sioux. I remember doing a school presentation for English class where you had to dress up as your idol, and I dressed up like Siouxsie Sioux. I even had a fake cigarette that would puff smoke. Then I discovered the club kids; I saw all these incredible people dressing up amazingly  I was like, I wanna do that. I wanna be this glamorous punk. I thought, whenever I get involved in a punk scene, everybody's gonna look amazing! And then I get to the Puerto Rican punk scene and it's like... We all have our critiques of the punk bros, but they have their style: the one dangly earring, the winklepickers, the really trashy muscle shirt with skinny jeans. It's a look, but I was like, Where's the theatricality?

Photo via Instagram

What kind of space have you found for yourself in Austin? Luckily, I found myself a really beautiful space here. I like to say the queer club scene is kind of a rave scene; you see a lot of people showing up in amazing looks. It's very interesting sharing space with all these people and a lot of new radical ideas about what is gender, what is sexuality. My circle of friends has been a very diverse group of people that I love. I'm friends with anarchists, I'm friends with dominatrixes, I'm friends with DJs  just a lot of different, amazing people. They've always been so accommodating and so beautifully kind. It's like a kindness I've never experienced in my life. And it's always this consideration of building a community space where everybody feels safe. Everybody's so understanding of boundaries. That's something I've worked on in my growth as a person. I didn't respect a lot of people's boundaries or did not understand why people would react in a way, and I realized that I don't own anybody, nobody owns me. It took me a really traumatic relationship to own this, to realize this. I don't own anybody and nobody owns me. The space that has been created, the space that I have here in Austin, is one where I definitely feel safe, taken care of, understood, and seen as a person.

Related | This Queer Biracial Woman Is Making LGBTQ Voices Heard in Texas

How has your work evolved since moving to Austin?

It's evolved into something really beautiful. My first DJ gig was for SXSW 2018 for this queer event, and I've been DJing mostly at queer or rave events [like Equal Axis for Red Bull Music], and also for a few fundraisers for the community, be that raising funds for our local anarchist bookstore or the sex workers outreach project. I've been going up and up and up, and people like my style. I'm definitely trying to improve on skills as a DJ right now. As for demos, when I first got here I really wanted to create my own original music. It's been kind of difficult to find collaborators in that sense. However now it's starting to pick up again, and now that I know more creative people that have that mindset, maybe there might be some more collaborations for original music in the future.

Photo via Instagram

You're doing performance art too, yeah?

I did my first event here, called Deseos Mugrosos (filthy desires), co-organized with Melissa Elecktrick Golgotha, in December. The piece was called "Tu Bizcochito." It was basically a cake-sitting performance, and it was me making a performance of the fetishization of Puerto Rican women in the United States. It was also very personal, like this consideration of being an accessory, being considered all these superficial aspects of what is my culture. I'm still working on the knicks and knacks of the performance, because you know, the performance isn't amazing the first time you do it; it's by, like, the fifth time you do it that it's great.

What initially prompted this piece? It started out with the audio of possibly the worst video I've ever seen on the Internet, of this guy talking about what he loves and hates about Puerto Rican women. Which, of course, it's like four things he likes and the rest is just shit he hates, and he sprinkles in there what he hates about Black and Mexican women, [saying] he understands why men beat on Puerto Rican, Black and Mexican women, and why their men cheat on them. It eventually turns into this whole like, Oh, yeah, I'm this reggaeton video vixen in a Puerto Rican bikini, and I just sit on this cake while a Daddy Yankee song is playing, but it turns really grotesque. I start punching myself, I'm choking myself, I'm shoving fake flowers down my throat, puking out, covering myself in neon blood with sprinkles, and I'm just force feeding cake into my mouth. I grab one of my hoop earrings and I snap it in half and I start cutting myself onstage. It was really chaotic. I think a lot of people were like, What the fuck did I just see? [Laughs] And that was my first performance art piece in Austin!

Photo via Instagram

That's the same performance you brought to Queer Night, except it began with a smudging  an energy cleaning ritual carried out by two other people. It was less violent than the one you're describing. It's a commentary on the violence that our bodies have to take and how in this society, it's basically that attitude. In Puerto Rico, with all the femicides, you see it in the comments  it's like, I don't condone it, but I understand it. That's why you have a bunch of femicides that are not investigated by the police and you have a bunch of comments saying, Oh, what the hell did she do? She must have done something. Always blaming the violence we receive on ourselves. It's also the fetishization. At the same time we are expected to receive all this violence, we're also supposed to be these sexual objects, always ready for whatever fantasy or desire that men have, and always horny for them, always supposed to give to them. That's what I was trying to say with my performance. And yeah, the performance was less violent than the one I did in Austin. I didn't want to do that here in Puerto Rico, I just decided to eliminate it. I am glad that it got that really good energy here. I knew it would be well received here because everybody would be getting the cultural references.

"At the same time we are expected to receive all this violence, we're also supposed to be these sexual objects, always ready for whatever fantasy or desire that men have."

So where do you go from here? What's your mission? I'm a very absurdist person. as well as a very political person. My mission  how do I describe it? What I try to do as Jeva, this new persona, is create a satirization of what is artificial tropicality. I take all this inspiration from those tacky souvenir shops from Condado and San Juan, all the exotica from the 1950s, all the hyper-pigmented, ultra-romanticized, exotified versions of what is the Caribbean. I take all these things and exaggerate them as a form of satire, but in a way that it is very unsettling for people. It's like uncanny valley and I make it as a critique of what is colonialism. I also incorporate queerness aspects to it; it's also a reclamation of this type of identity. What I try to do as an artist is to do a full expression of the destruction of gender, a complete obliteration of what is gender, and an exaltation of femmeness and queerness, while also bringing attention to colonial statuses of Puerto Rico. And bringing attention to the struggles of Latin America, because I also love to incorporate a lot of what is Latin American solidarity. I feel very hard with my fellow Latin American friends here in Austin, and I am trying really hard to build a community with them so that we're very unified. Especially in trying, hard times as Latin Americans in the United States, because being Latin America in your own country is one story, but being Latin American in the United States is a different one, and I think it's very important to have that solidarity with each other. Those are the two main points I try to address with what I do with my art.
Halima Aden recommends two staples for women who practice modest fashion: a nude-toned hijab and a turtleneck. "You know how you need a good nude shoe? You need a good nude hijab," the model says. She's animated, offering up a ready laugh. We're chatting in a restaurant in a Minneapolis suburb about 20 minutes away from the city center, equidistant to where we both grew up. I arrived late but thankfully Halima was later. "You know, Somali time," she said as she walked in, instantly recognizing that we're both Somali, a common occurrence in Minnesota, which has the largest population of Somalis in the country and recently elected America's first Somali-American congressperson, Ilhan Omar.

Aden was born in the massive Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya to Somali parents who had fled the country during its periods of instability. The family moved to Missouri when Aden was 7 before eventually settling in St. Cloud, Minnesota. At 19, she competed in the 2016 Miss Minnesota USA Pageant, where she was the first contestant to wear a hijab as well as a burkini in the swimsuit portion. Footage of Aden in the pageant circulated around the Internet and got picked up by outlets like the Today Show and USA Today, leading to her becoming the first-ever hijabi to land a major modeling contract (with IMG).

Hijab: Haute Hijab, Scarf: Vetements, Coat: Marine Serre

In February 2017, she added a new thread to the fashion industry's story with her catwalk debut at Kanye West's Yeezy Season 5 presentation  a moment so groundbreaking it felt unreal. The organic excitement over Aden's runway appearance also felt rare in such an oversaturated, manufactured market. She went on to appear on the covers of publications like Allure and British Vogue, cementing her status as the new face of modest fashion, which has historically been associated with light-skinned or non-black Arab women.

But even as her star rose within the fashion industry, Aden remained committed to her roots, staying in Minnesota rather than relocating to the industry epicenters of New York City, Paris or Milan. What those who might dismiss "flyover country" fail to understand about the Midwest and the marginalized people who live there is the love so many residents have for the cities they live in. As Aden explains, your background doesn't matter in these places  communities of Somalis and non-Somalis alike are committed to helping their neighbors, especially when they're new to the area. "People that I did not share a faith with, that did not come from the same background as me, were the ones that raised me," Aden says. "It wasn't always Somali people; in fact, Somali people needed help just like my family."

"I'm focused on the next big generation [...] What can I do to encourage girls to dream big?"

Now that she's found success in fashion, Aden wants to pay it forward. "I want to be known for encouraging other girls to go out and have their own success stories," she says. "I'm focused on the next generation. I want to one day see a hijabi at the Met Gala. I want to see a hijabi being a lead actress. Think of all the many firsts that are still out there. What can I do to encourage girls to dream big, to bring it home?" Last year she became a UNICEF ambassador, a position through which she advocates for migrants and refugees. She returned to her birthplace  Kakuma  with UNICEF to deliver a TEDx Talk (the first ever to take place inside a refugee camp) where she shared her story and once more stressed the value of connecting with, and learning from, those with different backgrounds.

Aden currently balances her humanitarian work with walking fashion week runways and shooting editorials for the likes of CR Fashion Book, British Glamour and, now, PAPER. It's this pairing that Aden says she wants to be known for: "combining the fun stuff with the stuff that really matters  fashion with advocacy." For someone who has already been able to elegantly merge what once were largely separate domains  fashion and faith, pageants and modesty  there's little doubt that her work in both arenas is poised to create a unique and lasting legacy.

Sunglasses: Gentle Monster, Top: Atsuko Kudo
It's the Monday after Hollywood's Biggest Night, so Oscars feedback continues to pour in. Many have noted that this year's ceremony was the most diverse yet, from presenters and nominees to actual winners. Notably, Hannah Beachler (of Black Panther's production design) and Ruth E. Carter (of BP's costuming), won in those categories last night, marking the first time Black women have won in non-acting nominations.

With that progress in mind, why did Green Book, which many critics have called a sanitized gloss of race relations in the '60s American South, take home Best Picture, the night's top prize? Even though Mahershala Ali won Best Supporting Actor for his role in Green Book, it points to a deeper issue of nominated Black actors who win for playing sympathetic roles that primarily appeal to white audiences. (i.e. Octavia Spencer in The Help, Viola Davis in Doubt, Lupita Nyong'o in 12 Years a Slave).

The film is based on a true story of a white man who befriends the Black musician he drives for a concert tour. The name of the film comes from a publication that helped African-Americans find establishments that would serve them in the Jim Crow South. When the movie hit theaters, relatives of protagonist Don Shirley (played by Mahershala Ali), took issue with the film's accuracy. Ali told The Associated Press in November that the film is a portrait of race in America unlike one by Barry Jenkins (whose 2016 film Moonlight also received an acting Oscar nod for), Amma Asante or Ava DuVernay. At the time, Ali said he believed the film's uplifting approach has value.

"A couple of times I've seen 'white savior' comments and I don't think that's true," he said. "Or the 'reverse Driving Miss Daisy thing, I don't agree with. If you were to call this film a 'reverse' Driving Miss Daisy, then you would have to reverse the history of slavery and colonialism. It would have to be all Black presidents and all white slaves."

Spike Lee, who won his first, long overdue Oscar last night for the BlacKkKlansman screenplay, and stole the show with his very relatable facial expressions about pretty much everything that happened, was very vocal about his disdain for the film, likening the Best Picture win to a "bad call" a referee might make at a sporting event.

A series of memes using the film title began circulating online. And, lo and behold, they contain deep-seated truths about how Black people are often viewed, particularly through the lens of white people who likely don't consider themselves racist or as having implicit bias. You know: the well-meaning white friend who reminds you of their Black friends, or touches your hair, or remarks about how attractive you are... for a Black person (!!!).

These microaggressions underscore the way in which films like Green Book might also pander to white audiences, as if to remind them that systemic racism is somehow a thing of the past. Not so, says the Internet or anyone who is paying attention. While we hope for the day we can "all just get along," a quick browse of the comments in these memes proves that this idea is currently a white myth if there ever was one. See some of the most enlightening, painfully accurate tweets, below.

Photo via Getty




Niamey, Niger (PANA) - The climate summit of the Sahel region, held in Niamey, has adopted several measures, including the establishment of an executive board and a secretariate to be cited in the Nigerien capital
Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - The Order of Doctors of Belgium has asked doctors to no longer issue certificates of virginity to girls before marriage, a statement issued here Tuesday said
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The President of the Presidential Council of the Government of National Unity in Libya, Fayez al-Sarraj, has expressed the hope that the Arab-European summit will support Libya's political solution to the crisis, ensuring that the Libyan people can not afford to waste more time and exhaust their abilities
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Martin meets marina developers, lays out scary facts

The proposed Kingwood marina development is years from becoming a reality, if then, said Houston City Councilmember Dave Martin during the recent Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 10 meeting.

Martin said the project has had much, much misinformation said and written about it  with community members exacerbating the proposal and calling for an immediate stop to it.

We scared them to death! he exclaimed.

Martin said he called a meeting recently with the developers and laid it on the line.

Really? You want to spend $2.5 billion in that area? In that river? In that lake? he asked them.

Romerica Group, a Houston-based urban development firm, is developing the project; Italian company Torrisi & Procopio Architetti is behind the design.

Those in attendance at the meeting were Martin, Jessica Beemer, Martins chief of staff, Andy Icken from the City of Houston, Gabriel Haddad (Romerica Investments), Fabio Cavarrabias (Romerica Investments), Melvin Spinks (CivilTech Engineering), John Manlove (John Manlove Marketing), Gina Manlove (John Manlove Marketing), and Leah Howard (John Manlove Marketing).

The project is planned around the Barrington community, just south of the intersection of Kingwood and Woodland Hills drives and has received significant media attention after the urging of community members who spread the word, some false, that the project was ready to be built on protected wetlands in spite of deed restrictions and would bring a wealth of traffic, noise and unwanted activity to a quiet residential neighborhood.

Martin referred to it as the infamous Heron project and said there are facts, not rumors, he wants to be known.

The developers have applied for a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers but the 404 Permit is an arduous, complicated, difficult process, Martin said.

We think they wont even get a yes or no until the end of 2019, Martin said. The facts are that there has be no action since June of 2018. The dredging application has not been updated since 2017 and the area they have identified is not in the wetlands zone. All they have right now is an excavation permit pending.

Martin went on to point out that any project must meet the restrictive covenants of Kingwood, which are far more stringent that those of the City of Houston. He told the group that there are FAA regulations involved as well.

We scared them to death. My pushback to them was, Why there? You cant access it by boat since the water is not even a foot deep in most places. Sailboats cant get past the Lake Houston bridge. It is so shallow that they will have to do constant dredging just to have any boat at all in their marina. And the impact of flooding in that area is vast and unknown, he said.

Were on this! It is front and center with me, Martin said, while adding that at this early point, it is not even a city-regulated issue. The permit is with the federal government  the Army Corps of Engineers  and that expires in June.

However, he said, anyone can buy that land and do whatever they want with it. It could be a lot worse than what folks are thinking right now.

We want to be objective and work with developers and come up with the best solutions for everyone, he said.
Seven vie for Humble ISD School Board

As the dust settled at the end of the Feb. 15 Humble ISD school board of trustees candidacy declaration deadline, seven names emerged for the May 2019 ballot.

Position 2

Four candidates will compete for the Position 2 seat being left vacant by long-serving board member Keith Lapeze. Ryan Engolio is a Humble High School graduate and has lived in the district 14 years.

He has children in the district and is an engineering supervisor at Superior Energy Services. He also serves on his community HOA and wants to be more involved in the district, bringing his engineering and manufacturing expertise to the board.

Nikki Roux is a Fall Creek resident who has children in the district. She has enjoyed seeing the area develop over the last decade she has resided here. Roux said that she has contemplated running for the board over the last several years, and that this year is good timing to potentially serve at a greater level in the community. Roux is a hospital administrator and said that there are many similarities between health care and education in that both focus on caring for vulnerable populations. Roux said that cost-effective care has been her focus for many years and she hopes to continue using that skill set to contribute to the boards success of providing cost-effective high quality education.

Robert Scarfo has previously served on the board and has decided to run again because he has three grandchildren in the district. Scarfo said that the board is losing the services of a very experienced and competent board member with Lapezes departure, and that his own proven track record makes him uniquely qualified to fill this void because I will not be faced with the typical learning curve. Scarfo also touted his financial skills and overall business acumen as a benefit to the fast-growing district. The candidate said it will be important to continue to carefully manage district construction and to provide game-changing professional development to attract and retain district employees. The district should never continue a program that does not drive the desired qualitative or quantitative return on investment, he said.

Janie Branham is a former teacher who has twins who attend an Humble ISD school. She is running because she has always been dedicated to education and wants to benefit the districts children. Branham has considered running for several years, and said that one strength she brings is the time to devote to a board position without competing priorities or conflicts. She ran for Position 2 because there is no incumbent and the voters have the ability to choose from several candidates. She looks forward to presenting her platform and letting voters decide. In particular, Branham wants to work on the districts tremendous growth to minimize absentee and drop-out rates, which she said research shows occurs more frequently in large, overcrowded schools.

Position 6

CPA Colin Carney was appointed to Position 6 after Heath Rushing departed the seat. He will seek his first elected school board position in May. Carney said he originally applied for the open seat in 2017 because he wanted to give back to the community in a meaningful way, and felt that his tax experience would fill an unrepresented skill on the board. In particular, Carney said he was keenly aware of the challenges facing the district, and he wanted to be involved in helping them make responsible decisions to expand area appeal to greater Houston.

Carney said that he is running again to continue the work I've been doing on the board to address our challenges and do important work like passing the largest bond in Humble ISD history with overwhelming public support and helping the district to address the myriad of issues relating to Hurricane Harvey. Carney suspects that the next four years will present new challenges, such as the impact of impending reform of the Texas public education finance system, and feels that his finance background will be especially important.

Carney is not concerned about this years race becoming politically heated because he feels that the community has rallied behind the district as reflected after Hurricane Harvey and by support for the bond referendum.

Carney does not know his opponent Lori Twomey, but remembers her serving on the Citizens Bond Advisory Committee and also remembers her speaking during board meeting public comment sessions. Carney said that he recently spoke with Twomey as she was evaluating whether to run in this election.

Lori Twomey is also running for Position 6. She has two children in the district and has lived in several communities over the last 20-plus years. Twomey graduated from the University of Houston Law Center and served as a full-time professor there for nearly 10 years where she developed a love of teaching. For the last three years, she has run a small civil law practice advocating for special-needs children, abused children and families in crisis. Twomey also has experience managing multi-million commercial construction budgets in both commercial and residential real estate.

Twomey has been actively involved with school district issues like zoning options and is running to take an even more active role serving alongside a tremendously talented group of existing school board trustees. Twomey said that she has nothing against Carney, who seems very intelligent and skilled, but her concern is his self-professed lack of involvement with the district prior to being appointed to his current trustee position.

Twomey also stated that Carney has never been through the public scrutiny associated with running for office and that she personally has not witnessed him being a strong voice on the board, so I decided to run against him for Position 6, using my long-held passion for the district and my expertise to have a positive impact.

Twomey stated that she is not concerned about the race becoming heated and political, and feels that respectful disagreement and debate often leads to greatness. My hope is that the entire community can be open to conversations, be free to ask questions, and be interested enough to have healthy debates. We should always question the status quo, never be satisfied with good enough, and always strive for educational excellence.

Position 7

Nancy Morrison has served in Position 7 for the last four years and will run unopposed, a status about which she is shocked but happy. Morrison thought there would be at least one opponent in every race, but the former Humble ISD teacher and principal feels very fortunate and hopes this is a signal from the community that she has been doing a good job.

Morrison is active in the community, and while she said that she will always have a love of curriculum, the incumbent has developed a particular niche for legislative advocacy while serving on the board. She earned the Master Trustee designation from Leadership TASB and serves on TASB's Legislative Advisory Council.

Going forward, she stated that one of the state legislatures continuing focus topics will be school safety, an issue that hits close to home in Humble ISD given the recent shooting at Atascocita High School. Morrison praised the districts quick response time and masterful coordination, working with several law enforcement agencies to address the incident.

Morrison also stated that it takes a good two years or more to get fully up to speed on board roles, and that she is not ready to leave yet because she wants to see all the good things started by Humble ISD come to fruition. In particular, Morrison mentioned seeing the progress on remodeled older schools like Lakeland, Northbelt and some of the Kingwood schools, all of which were funded by the $575 million bond approved by voters in May 2018.

When asked to comment on her past opponent Robert Scarfo entering the race, Morrison said that she is not surprised to see it, given that he is a very active community member who works hard.

The 2017 non-partisan election became partisan and heated, a phenomenon Morrison said she hopes does not repeat itself in this election. She surmises that the contention is just part of todays political environment, and that the community came together after the 2017 election because in the end, were all here for our kids.

Election Day is Saturday, May 4.
Northpark project nearly derailed by incomplete data

After years of preparing and careful planning, the Lake Houston Redevelopment Authority/Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) No. 10 board members were shocked to learn that the Northpark Project had received a death knell from the Harris Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) in January. The H-GAC administers federal transportation dollars.

Out of 63 final projects, the Northpark application was ranked 29th. With only enough money to fund approximately 10, Northpark would not be making the cut.

The Northpark Project is divided into two parts: Phase One will expand the road and include an overpass from U.S. Hwy. 59 to Russell Palmer Road and Phase Two will expand from Russell Palmer to Woodland Hills Drive. Phase One will be paid for with a mix of City of Houston funds and the issuance of a bond. Phase Two, however, was to come from federal money administered by H-GAC, which sporadically calls for projects. The latest call, in the fall of 2018, prompted nearly 200 responses which were analyzed and ranked on a combination of factors, the most salient of which is a benefits/cost ratio.

 H-GAC rating based on faulty information 

At the February TIRZ meeting, the low ranking and the potential sinking of the project was foremost.

Chairman Stan Sarman and TIRZ Manager Ralph Deleon explained to the incredulous group that somehow, crucial data had been left off the application.

Our application is ranked 29th of 63. There were 190 submitted but many were tossed for one reason or another, Sarman said.

The Northpark Project received a high score for planning factors, 90 of a possible 100, but we got only 17 of 100 on the benefits to cost, Sarman said.

We had material weaknesses, Deleon said. Our rush hour and travel time data was entered for only one hour a day. It should have been seven hours of data.

Houston City Councilmember Dave Martin wasted no words.

How did this happen? he demanded to know. Deleon demurred and said he didnt want to throw the consultant hired specifically to complete the H-GAC application under the bus. But Martin pressed three times, asking for transparency and names. Deleon never identified what was readily obvious in the minutes of past meetings; the Goodman Corporation was hired by the TIRZ more than a year ago to help complete the application. TIRZ audit statements indicate that more than $566,000 went to Goodman, Edminster Hinshaw, the engineering firm responsible for gathering the traffic data, Crouch Environmental, and Elmore Public Relations.

Martin also wanted to know if Goodman had been hired by others who submitted projects to the H-GAC, in particular, one coming from TIRZ No. 5, a project in downtown on Allen Parkway. Deleon said yes, they had worked on other applications.

I screw up everyday, Martin said. Why cant they admit that?

Sarman explained that in the weeks between the release of the ratings and the meeting, he had met with Alan Clark, the CEO of the H-GAC, resubmitted the application with complete data, and now feels the Northpark Project will be rated much higher and will receive funding.

Deleon later emailed his perception.

I dont think it was entirely Goodmans fault. In fact, I would put more blame on the engineers, as they were the ones tasked to collect the data which was used by Goodman to populate the models. Perhaps Goodman could have seen this coming and sent up a red flag and told us we had holes in our data sets. The engineers, on the other hand, were the ones tasked with making recommendations as to directional moves needed to be taken as the process evolved and thats really where we probably got lost.

Stan and I went down there and met with Alan Clark of H-GAC, who was gracious enough to bring in four different traffic modelers who then patiently went through their findings.

In fact, along the way, at one point, Stan threw down his pen on the table and strongly told everyone that as a resident of Kingwood who travels the roadway daily, he could attest that at times the traffic backs up all the way to Russell Palmer, which is a good mile from the railroad tracks, Deleon said.

Deleon went on to say, We went down there to see what the problem was. We identified the problem with the assistance of H-GAC, who were highly responsive to the new information, which is how we got our cost benefit ratio doubled by the time the meeting was concluded. Thats whats important. Its fixed, and to the best of our ability. The rest is now water under the bridge; crisis averted.

The top 10 H-GAC projects benefits-to-cost ratios were ranked from 100 (commuter buses in Fort Bend) to 83 (two at this ratio point  the widening of 1960 and S.H. 105), so it is unclear that even doubled, the Northpark Project will rise enough to be funded, even including the high planning score.

Sarman and the board said the H-GAC is asking for public comment through the end of February and it is very important that residents make their voices heard. Martin mentioned that the Northpark Project is the only one of the 190 that received letters of support from Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and all 16 city councilmembers.

Written comments can be mailed to H-GAC, P.O. Box 22777, Houston, TX 77227-2777. Comments from the public are also welcome via telephone calling toll free at 1-855-363-2516.

Martin asked, Bottom line. When are we putting shovels in the ground?

Deleon said 18 to 20 months depending on TxDOTs bidding process, as TxDOT will be the project manager.

The TIRZ voted to enter a reimbursement agreement with Stratus Properties, a division of H-E-B Grocery, that is building a new store on the southwest corner of U.S. Hwy. 59 and Northpark.

Rachel Ray-Welsh of Walter P. Moore, the engineering firm in charge of the traffic improvements in Kingwood, reported yet another delay with the City of Houston completing the turn signal operations at Northpark and West Lake Houston Parkway. It will be a few more weeks, Ray-Welsh reported.

The TIRZ will next meet March 14.
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The state service center for veterans was set up on Tuesday in Beijing. Photo: Guo Yuandan/GT

China established the state service center for veterans on Tuesday, which aims to support veterans' employment, improve their welfare and guarantee their rights and interests.

The service center for ex-servicemen will mainly help them find jobs or start up their own businesses, and assist them with preferential treatments.

As a key component of the veterans' service and security system, the center also undertakes work such as dealing with petition letters and visits of veterans, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday.

The service center for veterans will be fully established at all levels from provinces to villages in China, which reflects the government's increasing attention on the placement of ex-servicemen after the Ministry of Veterans Affairs was set up in 2018.

China is now paying more attention to helping ex-servicemen with new jobs. For example, of the veterans who accepted government placement, more than 80 percent have been given new positions in government organs, public institutions and state-owned companies, Xinhua reported in September 2018. More than 80,000 former military officers were offered civilian jobs and over 400,000 retired soldiers were resettled in 2018 by local governments, said Wang Zhiming, a spokesman for the ministry at a January press conference, Xinhua reported.

The newly established center will also attempt to resolve the appeals of veterans who had disputes with local governments over their placement. Police detained 10 people for staging illegal demonstrations and violently assaulting police in the name of "military veterans" in Pingdu, East China's Shandong Province in October 2018.
Oswego, NY (13126)

Today

Mostly cloudy this evening with showers developing after midnight. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy this evening with showers developing after midnight. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
According to the medical examiners report, which is all we get now, he died of heart failure, Petersen said. But if you look at the autopsy photos, which were still available then, he had boot marks on his chest. He got stomped to death. So of course his heart failed. Thats why we sometimes need access. We need to make sure government is doing its job.
On Jan. 24, he resigned as secretary of state within hours of the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper presenting photos to DeSantis office that showed Ertel at a Halloween party in 2005 wearing blackface, red lipstick, a bandanna and large fake breasts under a purple T-shirt. The photos were taken two months after Katrina slammed into New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, killing an estimated 1,836 people and leaving tens of thousands of residents homeless.
Ive talked to [House Speaker Oliva] about how some of these administrative sides of universities tend to have some bloat, DeSantis added. I think thats natural, I think you see that everywhere. So I want them to take that on, but at the same time showing support from the governor. I think is very important because I do think that that is probably the most significant thing we can do to be able to recruit more investment for Florida.
"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.
Weve taken the unusual step of endorsing Ryan Williams early to make a point that as law enforcement officers, we believe strongly that Ryan is the right prosecutor to represent the people of Orange and Osceola county, Stinson said in a statement. We have worked with Ryan and know him to be an experienced and dedicated advocate for victims and a tireless proponent of the law.
The Orlando Police Department is asking local legislators for $250,000 to purchase the ANDE 6C Rapid DNA System, an instant DNA-testing technology that allows law enforcement to test and compare evidence in-house in less than two hours, without shipping it to a state lab.
Moira Boxall found the python in her suitcase after flying from Queensland to Glasgow, a 9,000-mile flight, according to CNN. She found it curled up in one of her shoes. She then contacted the Scottish SPCA who took the serpent into quarantine.
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) undertook intensive combat training in the first two months of 2019 after Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered the military to enhance combat readiness in January.

A PLA naval formation conducted a live-fire exercise during which they fired main guns and rapid-fire cannons in mid February in the East China Sea. Another frigate formation and a submarine sailed to the South China Sea and conducted multiple drills including anti-submarine, anti-aircraft and supplement exercises, according to reports from the PLA's official websites 81.cn and js7tv.cn.

The 76th Group Army marched with tanks and howitzers in freezing weather in the remote Gobi Desert in Northwest China for a live-fire shooting exercise on February 20. Infantrymen of the 73th Group Army were recently sent to unfamiliar terrain and conducted shooting practice with a wide collection of weapons including machine guns and anti-material sniper rifles, 81.cn reported on Tuesday.

An aviation brigade under the Air Force conducted day and night mock battle exercises with J-16 multi-role fighter jets late January. Two DF-26 intermediate-range ballistic missiles were launched during a Rocket Force exercise somewhere in Northwest China in January, China Central Television reported.

Many other exercises have also taken place since the beginning of the year, according to media reports.

"Break bad practices accumulated during peace time, enhance battle readiness and combat capability," read a slogan hanging in a military facility in Beijing in February, the Global Times has found.

During peace, training is the only way to keep troops engaged and to ensure their ability to fight a potential battle, a former PLA officer told the Global Times under the condition of anonymity.

As China develops as a whole, its military, which has not fought a war in decades, must keep sharp and develop accordingly to safeguard the fruits of China's peaceful development, the veteran officer said.

Most of the exercises were reportedly set in dangerous, hostile situations and did not follow a pre-determined script, making them as realistic as possible.

Many exercises in the past were often scripted and did not involve enough live munitions or realistic targets, which did not reflect the dynamic of a real battle, the former officer said, noting the PLA now is moving in the right direction.

Xi signed a mobilization order on January 4 for the training of the armed forces, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said the entire armed forces should have a correct understanding of China's security and development trends, enhance their awareness of danger, crisis and war, and make solid efforts in combat preparations in order to accomplish the tasks assigned by the Party and the people, Xinhua reported.
No one was hurt in the explosion, but it destroyed the Buck Buck Food Cart that served fried chicken and other southern specialties adjacent the Oakshire Brewing Public House in Eugene, according to the Register-Guard newspaper.
According to the new agreement, the university also would agree to provide legal defense and indemnify Whittaker for any costs incurred in defending any claims from former university employees who were terminated while Whittaker was president. Four high-level administrators are facing termination for their involvement in the universitys misuse of state money. None of them have filed lawsuits against the university.
The Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center of Florida, which opened its Maitland location in 1986, plans to change its name to the Holocaust Museum for Hope & Humanity when it moves downtown. That should happen in 2023 when it takes over the former Chamber of Commerce Building and adjacent park on Ivanhoe Boulevard near an I-4 interchange. $30 million is needed to transform the building into a state-of-the-art museum. In addition, the center hopes to raise $5 million for its endowment, to fund future programming.
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ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Pakistani military said on Tuesday that Indian warplanes violated the Line of Control (LoC) in the Kashmir region and dropped "payload" hastily.

Pakistan military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor, chief of the army's Inter-Services Public Relations, said Pakistan Air Force "immediately scrambled and Indian aircraft went back."

The Pakistan military spokesman said the Indian aircraft "intruded" from Muzaffarabad sector in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

General Ghafoor said on Twitter that facing timely and effective responses from Pakistan Air Force, the Indian warplanes "released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot."

He said there were no casualties or damage.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi accused India of committing "grave aggression," saying his country had the right to give an appropriate response.

Qureshi was speaking after presiding over an emergency meeting in Islamabad to review the situation after the Indian Air Force's "intrusion" into the Pakistani side of the LoC, a spokesman for the Foreign Minister said.

"India has violated the Line of Control and Pakistan has the right to self-defense," the foreign minister told the state TV.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan had summoned a meeting to decide a possible response.

Earlier the foreign minister said in a statement that "better sense should prevail in India," advising India not to challenge Pakistan.

"The nation should not be worried over the Indian act as the defenders of the country are fully prepared to respond to any misadventure," he said.

The incident came amid growing tensions between Pakistan and India following the Feb. 14 suicide attack on the Indian police in the Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed over 40 policemen.

The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group, which was banned in Pakistan in 2002, had claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on the Indian Central Reserve Police Force in the town of Pulwama.

Confirming the airstrikes, Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Keshav Gokhale said a terror camp of the JeM was the lone target of the "non-military pre-emptive action" by India in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

He added that enough care was taken during the air strikes to ensure that no civilians were harmed in the targeted areas.

"Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting other suicide terror attacks in various parts of India and suicide bombers were being trained for this purpose. In the face of imminent danger, a pre-emptive strike became absolutely necessary," the Indian foreign secretary told a media conference.

"In an intelligence-led operation in the early hours of today India struck the biggest training camp of the JeM in Balakot," he said.

A top Indian military source told Xinhua that the airstrikes were carried out at around 3:45 a.m. on Tuesday morning, and the "successful" operations lasted more than 20 minutes.
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By He Tieyan and Qian Xiaohu



Recently, representatives of the Logistics Department of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Army and the five big banks of China jointly signed the Memorandum of Cooperation on Supervision and Control of the Ground Forces Agent Construction Projects Funds in Beijing.

BEIJING, Feb. 26 (ChinaMil) -- Recently, the Logistics Department of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Army and the five big banks of China, including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Agricultural Bank (ABC), Bank of China (BOC), China Construction Bank (CCB) and Bank of Communications (BCM) jointly signed the Memorandum of Cooperation on Supervision and Control of the Ground Forces Agent Construction Projects Funds in Beijing. A series of problems that have long plagued the military are expected to be resolved, such as how to monitor the fund flow of the construction unit, or whether there is any abnormal flow of funds in the account.

After implementing Agent Construction System, the military construction projects will be administered in a unified manner, and the management mode of construction funds will be changed from decentralized classification to centralized and unified. However, the large amount of funds and high management requirements call for the integration development of the military and banks (military-bank integration). This cooperation between the PLA Armys logistics department and five big banks aims to control and make full use of the construction funds, ensuring the smooth completion of construction projects.

The memorandum focuses on the demarcation of responsibilities, obligations and operational mechanisms of both sides in the supervision and control of project construction funds, as well as the flow and amount of funds in real time. It aims at grasping the progress of project construction and promoting the fulfillment of programs vigorously. And it also functions to provide strong support for maintaining the bottom line of military fund security, making wise decisions, and stepping up the implementation of construction projects.

The fund supervision and control is realized mainly by means of the special edition of online banking and controlled checks. The banks will dynamically monitor the flow of funds in the construction unit's account in real time according to the expenditure plan approved by the military. The key aspects of supervision and control are: the flow and amount of funds, the payment of unforeseeable expenses, the payment of wages for migrant workers and the abnormal accounts and balance of funds.

Furthermore, the PLA Army's Logistics Department will strengthen cooperation with the five big banks in mutual benefit in order to realize precise supervision and in-depth integration. This will lay a sound foundation for promoting the experience of fund supervision by military-civilian cooperation to a larger scope. A stable and reliable institutional mechanism will come into being, and the military-bank integration will be further expanded to broader fields in turn.
26/02/2019 - Digital technology can improve our lives but it also poses a major risk of widening social inequality and blocking opportunities for people without the skills to navigate the online world safely, according to a new OECD report.





A mix of technical, emotional and social skills is a pre-condition for people to combine their digital and real lives in a balanced way, and to avoid the mental health problems and other risks linked to abuses of online technologies, the report says.





Hows Life in the Digital Age? uses the 11 dimensions of the OECDs well-being framework to assess the risks and opportunities that people face in their experience of the Internet, mobile devices, big data and artificial intelligence across countries. The dimensions include income and wealth; jobs and earnings; health; education and skills; work-life balance; civic engagement and governance; social connections; environmental quality; personal security; housing; and subjective well-being.





Finland scores well. Its citizens reap many benefits from digitalisation and are relatively protected from its risks. Other comparatively strong performers include Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Korea, and New Zealand.





Countries that combine low opportunities with high risks include Chile, Italy and Hungary while the United Kingdom and to a lesser extent Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands enjoy high opportunities while at the same time facing high risks.





Digital technologies have radically and rapidly changed the way we work, consume and communicate, said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria. Ensuring this transformation also improves our well-being means addressing such issues as digital equality, literacy and security.





The ambivalence of how digital technology affects well-being extends across most dimensions, the report finds. For instance, while jobs are created in new technology sectors, others risk being destroyed by automation. And if teleworking allows people more flexibility in organising their professional and personal lives, constant connection to the office may increase peoples worries about their work outside official hours.





While online interactions with friends and on social networks can be enjoyable and fulfilling, cyber-bullying, online harassment and hate speech have become serious social problems.





Making the best use of digital technologies without undermining the basic elements of human well-being requires a diverse set of cognitive and emotional skills. An example of such digital literacy is the critical assessment needed to distinguish between high and low-quality information, while self-control over online involvement can prevent digital addiction.





The report argues that much can be achieved through public policies to mitigate risks, even in highly digitalised environments. As the country indicators reveal, broad internet access alone is not sufficient to seize properly the positive opportunities offered.





The report assesses opportunities and risks of the digital transformation across most OECD countries through a set of 33 indicators covering the well-being dimensions. The indicators include, for instance: wage returns to ICT skills; buying and selling goods and services online; digital resources in schools; individuals experiencing abuse of personal information; and jobs at risk of automation. The report adds, however, that the indicators are not comprehensive and further evidence and statistical gathering is required in order to deepen our understanding of how digitalisation is affecting our well-being.



Hows Life in the Digital Age? is accessible at http://www.oecd.org/social/how-s-life-in-the-digital-age-9789264311800-en.htm.





For further information about the OECDs work on well-being and the Better Life Initiative visit: http://www.oecd.org/statistics/better-life-initiative.htm.



Journalists can also contact the OECD Media Office (+33 1 4524 9700).

Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.

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Stillwater, OK (74078)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies and rain overnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies and rain overnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
The problem for the Democrats at the moment is that much attention is being focused on political novelties such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who espouse both socialism and reparations. She is ferociously telegenic, infectiously likable and clearly inexhaustible. She is also political poison, the product of a freak election in a New York City district where the past has taken root  socialism and a lot of rot about the evils of capitalism. She cheered Amazons decision to forsake New York for friendlier climes, taking at least 25,000 jobs with it. (Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.) For a mere first-termer, this is quite an accomplishment. It usually takes much more seniority to do this much damage.
A swastika was found on my childhood playground in Brighton Beach yesterday. It was drawn onto the very same jungle gym on which I used to play with my sister while my parents and grandparents watched over us to ensure our safety. A culprit is yet to be identified, but this is not an isolated incident. Attacks on Jewish bodies have been escalating in frequency and ferocity in New York and elsewhere over the last few years.
With the second Trump-Kim summit about to take center stage in Vietnam from February 27 to 28, some people believe China has played an important role in the push for peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Before each of his major diplomatic moves, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s top leader Kim Jong Un has first gone to China.

But little has been said about what deals he has made with Chinese leaders.

Yang Xiyu, the senior fellow of China Institute of International Studies, said that what China has done is vital: "Its most important contribution is a decade-long consistency."

The DPRK once threatened to turn the U.S. and the Republic of Korea into a sea of fire, but today the hope of denuclearization doesn't seem far away.

Each time Pyongyang and Washington offered dramatic words, reporters would rush to the Chinese Foreign Ministry to see what Beijing had. But to our disappointment, for years there was nothing new or dramatic, said CGTN's reporter Han Peng when preparing for the second Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam.

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With different players pursuing different goals, experts say China's consistency in dealing with the core issues is a force for stability.
Hartsdale, L.I.: Loved the Academy Awards Sunday night and the opening song set a tone and tempo that allowed me to remain awake for the entire show. The Green Book was well deserved as Best Picture and should be an example for all of us to aspire to  break down the hate. Spike Lees win was long overdue; I loved most of his speech regarding slaves and his grandmas sacrifice. And that had me thinking. Jews were killed during the Holocaust and given no choice. Im sure if they had been (Nazi death or slave), many would have opted for the latter. The survivors put much of their savings into their kids and grandkids education as a priority. To Mr. Lee and all others: We are all in many ways different, and in many ways all the same. We need to stop hating and hurt and have all of Gods children work for a common goal where peace and understanding of all is a way of life. Those who intentionally hurt and harm others regardless of color, race or religion have no place in our childrens world or ours. Robert Stein
The mayor, who failed to outright ban the horses and failed again to move them into a mythical Central Park stable  neither plan could pass City Council muster  has now forced the Department of Transportation to do his bidding through the rule-making process. He's uprooting the carriage hackline from 59th St., where it been since the Civil War, and putting it inside the park, out of sight from most potential customers.
Venezuela has been roiled by political unrest that has escalated since socialist Maduro, successor of the late Hugo Chavez, was sworn in for a second term last month. Opposition favors his conservative rival, Juan Guaido, 35, who is the new president of the National Assembly and who declared himself acting president on Jan. 23. The Trump administration has been a vocal supporter of Guaido.
Video of the operation shows the firefighters surrounded the manhole and briefly struggling with the cover before inserting wedges beneath the lid and forcing it open. Sehr can then be seen sticking his hand inside the sewer and pushing the rat free from underneath.
The 26-foot-long corpse of the whale was found last week about 16 yards from the beach on Marajo Island in Brazil, the nonprofit Bicho D'agua Institute said Saturday. The organization believes the whale is about a year old and said it is not as big as it looks in the images.
Voters will find 17 candidates on the ballot for the election  including Councilman Jumaane Williams, former council speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Assemblyman Michael Blake, and the only Republican in the race, Councilman Eric Ulrich. None of the candidates can identify by their party affiliation on the ballot, because it is a non-partisan special election, so each had to form his or her own line on which to run.
In his November guilty plea, Cohen said he lied to Congress about the Moscow deal out of a flawed sense of loyalty to Trump. Cohen also directly implicated Trump in the campaign finance crimes, which stem from the 2016 hush payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, who says she had sex with the President over a decade ago.
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Cohen confessed in December that he, along with the C.E.O. of a media company, conspired to purchase the rights to dirt that could damage Trumps 2016 presidential campaign, then buried that information. Cohen also testified his actions came at the behest of Trump, which the President has denied. American Media Inc. publisher David Pecker was granted immunity for agreeing to cooperate with investigators looking into campaign violations.
KIEV, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook arrived at the Ukrainian southern Black Sea port of Odessa on Monday, the press service of the Ukrainian Naval Forces said on Facebook.

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After a short message, when Blaylock was moved to tears, he asked his wife to lead the congregation in prayer. All those who had gathered outside for the service sang from the hymn How Great Thou Art before the event theyd all gathered for: a baptism service.
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On average this breed will deliver no more than ten puppies at a time, surgeon Dr. Erika Agone, who delivered the puppies, told ABC News. So, in this case, it was like double, which is why Cleo had to come in to give birth. It was like never-ending puppies."
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The shock wave from the blast caused a chain reaction, spiking air pressure Oakshires brew lines, which opened the taps, which started spewing beer. Oakshire owner Jeff Althouse had planned to be closed on Monday anyway, because he was doing some maintenance, he told the Register-Guard. Instead he and his employees found themselves cleaning up broken glassware, art knocked off the walls and other damage. But the building was structurally sound.
Tonight one of the kids, during our vigil was saying how Lilliana was one of the first people in the lobby, greeting people," Highlands Middle School Principal Michael Howton told Fox 19. "She didnt know what theyd do without her. I said, do what she did  be there and show that support to others."
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"(Agents) are being used as force multipliers because they have the blue uniform  and that can put them at risk," said former City Council member and mayoral candidate Sal Albanese, who has advocated for traffic enforcement agents for the last two decades. "These new jobs are also saving the city a lot of money by not tying up police officers in squad cars when agents are being paid half as much."
RTHK: Kim Jong Un's drinks cabinet may need re-stocking

Dutch customs officials say they have intercepted a cargo of 90,000 bottles of Russian vodka they suspect was being smuggled to North Korea for it's leader and his top generals, in breach of United Nations sanctions.

The Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad reported the discovery Tuesday and Customs office spokesman Roul Velleman confirmed the details.

Other media reports say officials believe the cache was destined for President Kim Jong Un and his senior military commanders.

The vodka was discovered last week in Rotterdam port under an aircraft fuselage in a Chinese container ship.

There is a longstanding ban on the export of luxury goods to North Korea, whose people live in poverty while the elite few enjoy an opulent existence. (AP)

This story has been published on: 2019-02-26. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Wustrow was set to start a new job as music director for the Catholic Diocese of Orlando in November 2017, but withdrew from the job after the FBI raid, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Assistant District Attorney Megan McDonald said the teen sex crime suspect tried to rip off her jacket and as she tried to push (him) off," he pushed her down an entire flight of stairs, causing her neck and back pain and causing her a trip to the hospital.
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Anderson will now serve time in federal prison under his true name. This case demonstrates that those who seek to commit cyber intrusions of government websites will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, Berman said.
Because there is probable cause to believe that Okoumou committed a federal, state or local crime while on release, there is a presumption that no condition or combination of conditions will assure that Okoumou will not pose a danger to the safety of any other person or the community, the prosecutor wrote.
I had the window open about seven inches, he said. He stuck his hand inside to make sure it landed on the floor, not the seat, so I couldnt reach it, Sanchez said. I got out of the car and ran around the front of the vehicle. I tried to put it out with my hands. The pain was very terrible.
As about 100 activists gathered for the rally behind state senators and assembly members on the steps of Foley Square in Tribeca, Senator Julia Salazar said repealing the law  penal code 240.37  is critical to protecting sex workers.
What we believe is that the driver knew he made a turn on a one-way street in the wrong direction of travel, said Schatz in his Midtown law office. I think Mr. Gilchrist should be in jail. At the very least, he should be fired  terminated immediately.
In academia, you have an assumption of privacy. Your work and your research is sacrosanct. I have to tell you, it was traumatic, shattering and world changing what happened, and I never believed that it could and I certainly didnt think it would happen at CUNY, Wilson told The News. I amassed an incredible amount of documentary history on black workersa treasure trove on some of the great and the unknown civil rights leaders.
"It is only when someone from the legal affairs bureau or some person within the NYPD is going to have to put their name on a declaration and under penalty of perjury  and if they are lying, they can go to jail and lose their job  that we get accurate information," Manhattan Federal Judge Kevin Castel said during a Jan. 31 court hearing to address the new evidence.
You start the process for your husband by filing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative. Once USCIS approves the petition, you file USCIS form I-601A, Application for Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver. You can try filing form I-130 on your own, but you should get legal help with the waiver application. If USCIS approves the waiver, your husband can safely travel to a U.S. consulate in Mexico to interview for his immigrant visa. Assuming the U.S. consul finds no other "ground of inadmissibility," such as a criminal record, fraud or insufficient financial support, the consul will grant him an immigrant visa. He uses that visa to reenter the United States. USCIS will then send him his green card.
Adam Hochfelder is arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court of February 26, 2019 in New York. Hochfelder is charged with scheme to defraud in the 1st degree. (Alec Tabak for New York Daily News)
The 44-year-old Manhattan man was captured on surveillance video at Madame Tussauds New York spitting on and punching, then stomping the life-size replica of the Bad Boys Record founder, which is valued at approximately $300,000, according to prosecutors.
Melissa Salguero of PS 48 in Hunts Point is the only finalist from the United States in the running for the 2019 Global Teacher Prize, which she says shell use to advocate for music education programs around the U.S. if she wins.
Prosecutors in the Bronx DAs office had no comment on whether they thought Alvarez was trying to send a message or a threat, even as Alvarez made no attempt to hide it. Alvarez attorney, like all the lawyers on both sides, is under a gag order issued by Judge Robert Neary, who warned them against speaking to the media.
She said she had been in an MS flare-up since her 7-year-old son Arthur was born in 2011, and that she had turned to drinking and self-medicating when he wasnt there before learning what she had.
McCain eventually jumps in to upend the conversation and talk about Ben Sasses (R-NE) Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. The bill would have put in place new requirements for the care of infants born after failed abortions, and could have sent doctors to prison if they failed to comply.
Rome, GA (30161)

Today

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Partly cloudy skies. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Partly cloudy skies. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable.
Cedartown, GA (30125)

Today

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable.
Its been three days since Nigerians cast their ballots in the presidential and national assembly elections. Although the Independent Natio...

Its been three days since Nigerians cast their ballots in the presidential and national assembly elections. Although the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is currently announcing results for the presidential election in the 36 states and the federal capital territory, results for the national assembly have been trickling in from the commissions collation centres across the country.





The results, so far, has exposed the frailty of some key political figures. Sitting senators and governors lost out in the bid to get seats in the senate. While some newcomers joined the house of representatives. The election has brought to the limelight underdogs like 35-year-old Tajudeen Adefisoye from Ondo state. Here is a highlight of some of the biggest winners and losers in the legislative poll.





WINNERS





YAKUBU DOGARA





Dogara, speaker of the house of representatives, is getting his fourth run to represent Dass/Tafawa/Balewa/Bogoro constituency of Bauchi state. Dogara, who ran under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), polled 73,609 votes to defeat Dalhatu Kantana, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who scored 50,078.





The constituency, according to Dogara, has set a record as the first in Bauchi state to return a member to the house of representatives for fourth consecutive term. Some of his supporters felt his defection from the APC would affect his chances.





IBRAHIM OLORIEGBE





Oloriegbe, the APC candidate for the Kwara central senatorial district, coasted to victory in his second battle against Senate President Bukola Saraki. He polled 123,808 votes to maintain a clear lead over Saraki who secured 68,994 votes in the election. The Lai Mohammed-led O to ge movement has been adduced as the major reason Saraki lost his re-election. For Oloriegbe, this is a major achievement.





ORJI KALU





Kalu, former governor of Abia state and APC candidate for Abia north senatorial district, was declared winner in Saturdays election. He polled 31,203 votes to defeat Mao Ohuabunwa of the PDP and incumbent senator, who scored 20,801 votes.





Kalu has been seeking political relevance since he ended his tenure as governor in 2007.





TAJUDEEN ADEFISOYE

Another surprise and perhaps historic win is that of Adefisoye, the 35-year old candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) who was declared winner of the Idanre/Ifedore federal constituency seat in Ondo state. Adefisoye, popularly known as Small Alhaji, polled 16,186 votes to beat his closest rival, Kayode Akinmade of the PDP.





He will be one of the youngest members of the federal house of representatives.





AISHA DAHIRU

Dahiru of the APC won the Adamawa central senatorial seat, making her the only female senator-elect so far in northern Nigeria. According to INECs returning officer, Dahiru scored 188,526 votes to beat Murtala Chibado of the PDP who scored 96,530 votes.





Dahirus win seems like a replacement of sort as Binta Garba, a senator representing Adamawa north, lost her bid to return to the upper legislative chamber. She is the only female senator from the north in the 8th assembly.





LOSERS





BUKOLA SARAKI





Sarakis loss has been described as one of the most shocking in the election. A two-term governor, two-term senator and the nations number three citizen was stopped by Oloriegbe, a former majority leader in Kwara house of assembly. The senate presidents 68,994 votes was no match for the 123,808 votes of Oloriegbe.





Accepting defeat, Saraki, wished the people of Kwara well, adding that those who emerged victorious are not my enemies.





ABIOLA AJIMOBI





Ajimobi, sitting governor of Oyo state, lost his bid to represent the states south senatorial district, to Kola Balogun of the PDP. Ajimobi polled 92,579 votes while the Balogun secured 105,720 votes.





In a statement, the governor said he had accepted the results but protested that the process was marred with infractions and malpractices. The former senator and only governor to have spent two terms in the history of Oyo couldnt secure a seat in the 9th senate





SHEHU SANI





Shehu Sani of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) who currently represents the Kaduna central senatorial district lost to Uba Sani of the APC.





Uba polled 355,242 votes ahead of Sanis 70,613 votes. The senator won on the platform of the APC in 2015 but defected to PRP when he lost the partys senatorial ticket. Uba Sani is a close ally of Nasir el-Rufai, the state governor, who has not hidden his disgust for Shehu Sani.





BINTA GARBA

Binta Garba, senator representing Adamawa north, lost her re-election bid to Ishaku Abbo of the PDP. While Abbo polled 79, 37 votes, Garba got 63, 219 votes. Garba, 52, is currently the only female senator in the north and will only run for a single term.





ANDY UBA

Andy Uba, senator representing Anambra south senatorial district has also suffered a shocking loss in the elections. Uba, who ran under the platform of the APC, was defeated by Ifeanyi Ubah, chairman of Capital Oil and Gas. Ubah ran under the platform of the Young Progressives Party (YPP).





Chris Uba, also racing for the senatorial ticket, was a candidate of the PDP. Ifeanyi polled 87,081 votes closely followed by Chris who secured 62,462 votes, while Andy, the elder brother of Chris got only 13,245 votes.





Andy, who has represented the constituency since 2011 under the PDP, defected to the APC in 2017, following leadership crisis that rocked the former ruling party.




In 2005, Chris Ekpenyong made history in Nigeria: he was impeached as the deputy governor of Akwa Ibom state but was hurriedly returned...





In 2005, Chris Ekpenyong made history in Nigeria: he was impeached as the deputy governor of Akwa Ibom state but was hurriedly returned to that position in less than seven days. The members of the state house of assembly reversed the impeachment after the intervention of then-President Olusegun Obasanjo, although Ekpenyong was forced to resign afterwards.





Fourteen years later, he has bounced back to secure a place at the senate, defeating Godswill Akpabio, an uncommon senator, in Akwa Ibom north-west senatorial district. Akpabios defeat was shocking to say the least: Apart from being an incumbent senator, he was a two-time governor who practically had Akwa Ibom as his chessboard.





And  you have to believe this  Ekpenyong defeated him with more than double his votes, after securing 136,373 votes as against the senators 67,487.





So, who is Chris Ekpenyong?

Born on September 29, 1954, Ekpenyong has a HND holder in electrical and electronic engineering. He holds a masters degree in business administration from Kensington University, Glendale, California, in America. He was the deputy governor during Victor Attahs tenure until 2005 when he was impeached on grounds of abuse of office, gross misconduct and disregard for constituted authority.





HOW HE FELL OUT WITH ATTAH





Attah is believed to have masterminded Ekpenyongs impeachment. The two fell out after his then deputy endorsed Obasanjo to become the PDP presidential candidate at the partys presidential primary in January 2003, contrary to Attahs wish. The former governor had instructed Akwa Ibom delegates to support Alex Ekwueme, late former vice president, who was challenging Obasanjo for the PDP ticket.





In addition to this, Attah was said to have been paving the way for Udoma Ekarika, his son-in-law, to succeed him as governor in 2007, a position Ekpenyong was eyeing as well.





He was impeached not long after the PDP presidential primary but Obasanjo quickly intervened. He sent a powerful delegation led by Tony Anenih, then-chairman of the PDP board of trustees, to resolve the issue leading to the reversal of the impeachment. Ekpenyong eventually resigned but was unable to secure the PDP nomination for the governorship election.





HOW HE FOUGHT FOR AKWA IBOM AS DEPUTY GOVERNOR





In an interview in 2017, the senator-elect spoke of his struggles as the deputy governor of Akwa Ibom state. He recalled how he pleaded with Obasanjo over the states allocation. The PDP candidate said he knelt down before Obasanjo, begging for the state to get its due share of the federal government allocation.





He had said: Between the periods I was with Obong Attah, we were receiving only about N600M as our monthly allocation. I remembered vividly kneeling down for 45 minutes, begging former President Obasanjo when we were short-changed from what was accrued to the state and he approved N600 million for us. That was when I got to know the wage bill of the state at that time as the deputy governor.





I called the accountant general of the State who told me that the wage bill of the state was N1.1 billion. Probably, that was why people said I exercised so much influence on the government of Obong Attah. I wrote to former President Obasanjo, appealing to him for increase in our allocation, while also playing the role of a mediator. Probably, at the federal level Obong Attah was misconstrued.





KNOCKED GOODLUCK JONATHAN





Ekpenyong was also a critic of former president Goodluck Jonathan whom he once accused of wasting the six years of his administration. In an interview with Sun, he said this was because the former president neglected the people of the south-south region.





According to him, I blame my political party that when we had a chance with our son from the South South for six years, we did not make good use of it. It was six years of wasted service as far as I am concerned. Yes, (it was a wasted period).





Where is the road to even his village? Not to talk of other major roads that should have been a priority to him. Today, when people are criticising Buhari for not looking at us, I laugh. Somebody has to look at where he comes from. That is Nigerian politics for you.





THREATENED TO EXPOSE AKPABIO





In the build up of the elections, Ekpenyong threatened to unleash Akpabios secret deals. The former governor was alleged to have said Ekpenyong deceived him into defecting from the PDP to the APC. But the former deputy governor had denied the allegation and said he would expose the senator if he continues to attack him.





Assuming someone gave that kind of advice and agreed, it means someone can ask him to go and jump into the river and he would obey? If he continues to attack me, I will unleash his records of secret deals, he had said.





I am happy that generally, people know Akpabio to be an uncommon liar; he cannot continue to fool everybody all the times with his lies. I want to implore all of you to go back to your various local governments to begin your campaign for effective change in our zones.




Godswill Akpabio will not be returning to the senate to represent Akwa Ibom north-west senatorial district. The senator, who cont...





Godswill Akpabio will not be returning to the senate to represent Akwa Ibom north-west senatorial district.





The senator, who contested under the All Progressives Congress (APC), lost to Chris Ekpenyong of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by a wide margin.





He secured only 83,158 votes as against 118,215 votes of Ekpenyong.





UNCOMMON DEFEAT

Akpabios defeat was shocking to many being that the senator was believed to have a massive influence in the state.





As a former governor, he prides himself as the uncommon senator whose uncommon defection from the PDP took many by surprise.





He had also resigned his position as the senate minority leader and joined the APC with a large number of supporters from the PDP. The senator is widely respected as one of the most influential politicians in Akwa Ibom and in the south-south region.




Governor of Imo State, Chief Rochas Okorocha, has reacted to the allegation that he forced the Returning Officer of Imo West senatorial...





Governor of Imo State, Chief Rochas Okorocha, has reacted to the allegation that he forced the Returning Officer of Imo West senatorial election, Prof. Innocent Ibeawuchi, to announce him as winner of the election.





Ibeawuchi is still insisting that the Governors men forced him to declare Okorocha the winner.





Okorocha received 97,762 votes in the election to defeat his closest challenger of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Jones Onyereri who polled 68,117.





Addressing newsmen after announcing the results on Monday, Ibeawuchi claimed that he was held hostage from 7pm on Sunday till 11am on Monday

According to him, he was compelled to announce the result, which was inconclusive.





I am a man of integrity and it is not true that the governor slapped me but I was held hostage by agents working for him. I was manhandled and I thank God I came back alive, he said.





However, the Governor has dismissed the Returning Officer as a blatant liar, insisting that he deserved his victory.





Gov. Okorocha said this in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo.





He said Prof. Ibeawuchi was a bloody liar who may be acting a script.





The statement added, I ask the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), here, to quickly correct these anomalies.





The returning officer is a bloody liar, who may be acting a script. I enjoin him to return the money he may have collected from those who understand only rigging in election.





They should examine the returning officer to know his mental state. If he is not mental, then, he must be a criminal to have ever thought of that.





How could someone ask you to change the result of an election he has already won? My score is above 90,000, and the nearest to me is slightly above half of it, when you combine both Jones and Izunasos votes.





They cant match or contest against me in Imo State, not to talk of Orlu zone. Am I even supposed to contest for Senate in Orlu; I never campaigned, but only declared and campaigned for three days.





Having won in nine out of the 12 local government areas announced, we heard that they were trying to move the result sheets to Owerri but when we demanded an explanation, the man (Ibeawuchi) said he was tired and didnt feel safe, when nobody was threatening him.





At the end, we discovered that he didnt have the declaration sheet. I wonder where this is taking us. I hope INEC would change this system because we will resist them if they try it in the next election.
We have started another LIVE UPDATE PAGE dedicated to the coverage of the final results of the 2019 presidential election Kindly ...

We have started another LIVE UPDATE PAGE dedicated to the coverage of the final results of the 2019 presidential election





Kindly follow the link below to be part of it, thanks.





(INEC chairman officially declares Buhari winner of the 2019 presidential election)





Buhari clinches Nasarawa State

ATIKU DEFEATS BUHARI IN ONDO

Below are the results:

Akoko North East

Akoko North West

Akoko South East





Akure North

Idanre





Ifedore





Ileoluji Okeigbo





Irele

Ondo East





Ose





Owo





Okitipupa





Akure South





Akoko South West





Odigbo





Ilaje





Ese Odo





Ondo West

BUHARI WINS NASARAWA





BUHARI WINS OSUN

ATIKU WINS ABIA STATE





1. Apapa Local Govt:

2. Ikorodu Local Govt

3. Ibeju/Lekki Local Govt

Lagos lsland Local Govt

Epe Local Govt

Ikeja LGA

Badagry LGA

Agege Local Govt

ETI-OSA Local Govt

IFAKO/IJAIYE Local Govt

Mushin Local Government

Oshodi/lsolo Local Govt

Lagos Mainland Local Govt

jo local govt

Somolu local govt

Kosofe LGA

Surulere LGA

RESULTS

RESULTS

RESULTS

RESULT





RESULT

Ijebu-Ode LG





Ijebu North East LG

Remo North LG

Odeda LG

Abeokuta North LG





Sagamu LG





Imeko-Afon LG





Ogun Waterside LG





Egbado South LG





Obafemi Owode LG









Ikenne LG





Abeokuta South LG





Ado Odo/Ota LG





Ewekoro LG





Ifo LG





Ijebu North LG

RESULTS



4:05 AM - Currently, Atiku and Buhari are neck-on-neck, kindly click on the link below for a summary of how things stand

(CLICK HERE)

_________________________________________________________________________________

3:15 AM - Sokoto North Local Govt



Presidential election result



Sokoto-Central/Sokoto-North Senatorial Districts Collation Centre



Collation Officer: Dr Nasiru Muhammad





Total registered voters: 140,726

Total accredited voters: 61,678

Total votes cast: 58,485

Total valid votes: 56,203

Total rejected votes: 2,282



APC: 31,695



PDP: 23,739

___________________________________________________________________________

2:40 AM - Some results from some local govt's in Sokoto

Venue: Sultan Muhammad Maccido Institute for Qur'an and General Studies, Sokoto State



Presidential election results.



Sokoto South LGA

Collation Officer: Dr Sanusi Ahmed



APC: 41,347



PDP: 24,598





Yabo LGA

Collation Officer: Dr Shehu Zaid



APC: 15,465



PDP: 10,176





Tureta LGA

Collation Officer: Mohammed Lawan



APC: 8,516



PDP: 10,209



___________________________________________________________________________

2:15 AM - News from Edo state

INEC has adjourned the announcement of results from the 18 local government areas of Edo State till 9am.



So far, the results from nine LGAs have been announced. But the submission of results from Oredo and Egor LGAs were placed on hold by the State Collation Officer, Prof. Ndowa Lale

___________________________________________________________________________

2:10 AM - Some results from Kaduna state

Results of Presidential election in 11 of the 23 local government areas of Kaduna state.



1. KUBAU LG



APC: 67,140



PDP: 13,296





2. MAKARFI LG



APC: 36,625



PDP: 14,494





3. IKARA LG



APC: 44,021



PDP: 14,464





4. KAURA LG



APC: 6,907



PDP: 33,647





5. JABA LG



APC: 6,400



PDP: 22,758





6. KUDAN



APC: 30,577



PDP: 11,697





7. ZANGO KATAF



APC: 10,411



PDP: 62,622





8. SABON GARI



APC: 58,467



PDP: 22,644





9. SOBA LG



APC: 51, 548



PDP: 10, 656





10. Kauru



APC: 33,578



PDP: 27,041





11. Kagarko



APC: 16,663



PDP: 21,605

___________________________________________________________________________



1:55 AM - NGIGE FAILS TO DELIVER LOCAL GOVERNMENT



Idemeli south LGA, Anambra



Presidential election result



APC: 2,220



PDP: 17,039





Chris Ngige laments. "There is a spike that is out of the ordinary. They are being economical with the truth, they dont want to report everything



A lot of people were disenfranchised for no just cause. This is one of the LGA Im sure that the collation of the results at the booth was tampered with.



"They removed all our party agents. This result will not stand. We are going run re-elections, I dont mind inconveniences. I want it redone

___________________________________________________________________________



1:05 AM - Collation officer drunk, unable to perform duties - Plateau REC



The Plateau REC, Hussein Pai, at the state INEC headquarters in Jos, explained to stakeholders that the collation officer for Bokkos LGA, who is a senior lecturer, was drunk and unable to perform his duties.



Pai said, "We took a decision whereby the INEC staff took over and in the meantime the actual collation officer is being stepped aside because, clearly, he could not just perform."



The Assistant Electoral Officer for Bokkos LGA, Adedoyin Musbau, said there was no cancellation and presented the following result for the presidential elections:



RESULTS

APC - 18,328



PDP - 32,236





Total registered voters - 116,911

Total accredited voters - 54,616

Total valid votes - 52,486

Total rejected votes - 1,690

Total votes cast - 54,176

___________________________________________________________________________

1:00 AM - Presidential election results for Etsako East LGA, Edo State



Venue: INEC state headquarters, Benin

Collation officer: Prof. Edosa Enuana



Registered voters: 81,639

Accredited voters: 34,436

Total votes cast: 33,966

Valid votes: 32,538

Rejected votes: 1,428



RESULTS



APC: 16,151



PDP: 16,146



Enuana noted that the result for Ward 2, Unit 4, was cancelled due to violence

___________________________________________________________________________

12:42 AM - We have results from seven local govts in Kano



Tsanyawa LGA



APC: 25,823



PDP: 5,399





Tudun Wada LGA



APC: 38,865



PDP: 10,707





Ajingi LGA



APC: 21,458



PDP: 5,267





Gwarzo LGA



APC: 33,581



PDP: 10,682





Gezawa LGA



APC: 29,954



PDP: 8,224





Rano LGA



APC: 23,885



PDP: 7,055





Kibiya LGA



APC: 18,055



PDP: 11,028

___________________________________________________________________________



12:35 AM - Buhari defeats Atiku to win Osun state



President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, beat his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar, of the Peoples Democratic Party in the presidential election held on Saturday in Osun State.



Buhari polled 347,674 votes, while Atiku polled 337,377 votes, with the APC candidate leading with a margin of 10,297.



Buhari earlier won Ekiti state, this will be the second state to be won by the president.



OSUN STATE



APC: 347,674 (Winner)



PDP: 337,377

___________________________________________________________________________

12:29 AM - Some results from Anambra state



Presidential



Awka North LGA



APC: 1,134



PDP: 15,725





Onitsha south LGA



APC: 905



PDP: 29,795



Nnewi South LGA results were rejected as the collation officer is absent. INEC officer, Uliamaka showed up to present the result but she was turned back

___________________________________________________________________________

12:20 AM - Presidential polls result in Ogun Waterside LGA



APC 6,889



PDP 8,262





Yewa South (Egbado South) LGA



APC 12,934



PDP 10,709

___________________________________________________________________________



10:10 PM - Presidential pols result in Agatu LG Benue



Collation officer: Prof. Ben Nyior





PDP 8,225



APC 4,170



Registered voters: 55,816

Accredited voters: 15,012

Total Votes cast: 13,957

Valid votes cast: 12,993

Rejected votes: 964







Presidential polls result in ATISBO LGA of Oyo State





Collation officer: Prof. Abiodun Bamidele





Registered voters: 54,401

Accredited voters: 18,834

Valid Votes: 17,990

Rejected Votes: 845

Total Vote Cast: 18,834



Results:-



APC: 8,550



PDP: 8,128







Presidential polls results in Iseyin LG, Oyo State





Collation officer: Prof. Oyetunji Ogunsola Jacob





Registered voters: 100,263

Accredited voters: 40,861

Valid Votes: 37,417

Rejected Votes: 3,240

Total Vote Cast: 40,657



Results:-



APC: 19,714



PDP: 11,781

___________________________________________________________________________

9:30 PM - BUKOLA SARAKI LOSES SENATE ELECTIONS



Final result for Kwara Central senatorial district





APC (Ibrahim Oloriegbe): 123,808



PDP (Bukola Saraki): 68,994



Senate president, Bukola Saraki (PDP) defeated by Ibrahim Oloriegbe (APC)



___________________________________________________________________________

9:27 PM - Presidential Election (Oyo State)



SAKI WEST LOCAL GOVT



Collation officer: Dr. Soji Awoyemi

Registered voters: 110,762

Accredited voters: 37,331

Valid Votes: 34,510

Rejected Votes: 2,105

Total Vote Cast: 36,615





Results:-



APC: 21,136



PDP: 10,452

___________________________________________________________________________

9:24 PM - Presidential Election in Osun State.



Ede South LG:



APC - 7,367



PDP - 14,670







Atakumosa East LG:



APC - 7,770



PDP - 6,833







Orolu LG;



APC - 8,425



PDP - 7,962







Ilesha East LG:



APC - 11,844



PDP - 11,219







Isokan LG:



APC - 9,298



PDP - 9,079







Iwo LG:



APC - 16,790



PDP - 15,691

___________________________________________________________________________

7:53 PM - Results from FIVE local government areas in Kano



Presidential election result



Kunchi LGA



PDP: 4,937



APC: 21,556





Makoda LGA



PDP: 3,234



APC: 24,749





Shanono LGA



PDP: 8,182



APC: 24,232





Garun Malam LGA



PDP: 4,861



APC: 23,810





Sumaila LGA



PDP: 34,609



APC: 4,904

___________________________________________________________________________



7:40 PM - You can be sure to stay connected with NigerianEye.com for fresh updates when the INEC chairman re-opens the collation center in Abuja tomorrow.

Nevertheless, our job is not done here, we will be giving you official INEC declared results from the ward, local government and state level non-stop, please refresh for updates as they come in.

___________________________________________________________________________





7:10 PM - INEC Chairman declares collation center in Abuja open, shits announcement of results till 11 am tomorrow

Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the commission, made the announcement after declaring the collation center open.

___________________________________________________________________________



7:00 PM - Presidential results from Girei LGA, Adamawa

Presidential results from Girei LGA, Adamawa State, as announced by the State Presidential Election Collation Officer, Prof. Andrew Haruna, VC of Federal University Gashua.



APC: 17,765



PDP: 14,673





Total Votes cast: 34,628

Total Valid Votes Cast: 33,255

Total Accredited Votes: 35,455

Total Rejected Votes:1,373

Total Registered Voters: 74,783







KANO - Presidential Election results in Governor Ganduje's Local Government



Presidential Election results: Dawakin Tofa LG Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje hails from this local government.



Collation Officer: Prof. Musa Mohammed.

Registered voters: 101, 254



APC= 37,417



PDP = 6,507





Valid votes= 45,056

Rejected= 2, 306

Total votes cast= 47, 362.

The officer reported a case of no voting in four polling units due to the failure of the card reader.

Elections to held in affected areas.





Presidential election results in Saki East LG Oyo State

2019 presidential election results in Oyo State for Saki East LG, Prof Kolawole Olumuyiwa; presiding officer of the University of Ibadan



Registered voters: 42, 484

Accredited voters: 13,699





PDP: 5,883 votes

APC : 5,730 votes

ADC : 643 votes

ADP : 285 votes







Presidential polls result in Karaye LG, Kano

Collation Officer: Mohammed Isa.



Reg. Voters 76,355

Accredited Voters 33,243.



APC 23,023

PDP 8,265



Valid votes 31,923

Rejected 962

Total votes cast 32,885

___________________________________________________________________________



5:15 PM - 2019 Presidential Election Result in Epe LGA, Lagos State



Presidential election result



APC: 17,710



PDP: 13, 305

___________________________________________________________________________



5:10 PM - 2019 Presidential Election Result in Aninri LGA, Enugu State



Collation Officer: Dr Kassy Ugwu

Result Declaration: INEC Headquarters, Enugu, Enugu State



Registered voters: 72,810

Accredited voters: 22,185

Valid votes: 21,109

Rejected votes: 864

Total votes cast: 21,973





APC: 1,462



PDP: 19,062

___________________________________________________________________________



5:00 PM - We await Akwa Ibom state INEC collation officials



___________________________________________________________________________



4:50 PM - Presidential Election results from Afikpo North LG, Ebonyi state



Presidential election result



APC: 5,356



PDP: 20,070

___________________________________________________________________________



4:45 PM - Presidential Election results from Kunchi LG Kano



Collation Officer -- Prof. Saminu Bala.

Total registered voters 58,334.

Accredited 27,281.



APC 20,375.



PDP 4,983.

___________________________________________________________________________



4:20 PM - BREAKING: Buhari defeats Atiku in Ekiti State



President Muhammadu Buhari has won Ekiti state, the first officially declared presidential election result by Independent National Electoral Commission.



EKITI STATE PRESIDENTIAL RESULTS (INEC)



AAC: 400

ABP: 28

ACB; 120

ANN: 88

APC: 219,231 (Winner)

APGA: 309

FRESH: 46

MAJA: 279

NPP: 53

PCP: 2299

PDP: 154,032

PPA: 253



NigerianEye.com can confirm that the figures above were counted and declared votes by INEC officials at the state level. We also confirm the 100% authenticity of the result! ___________________________________________________________________________

3:50 PM - Trouble for senate president, Bukola Saraki?



RESULT



Ilorin East Local Govt, Kwara central



Senatorial election result



Oloriegbe (APC): 30014



Saraki (PDP): 14654

___________________________________________________________________________



3:25 PM - House Representatives: Daura/ Maiadua/Sandamu federal constituency as read out by the returning officer, Babangida Umar



Total Valid votes : 41,935

Total Rejected votes: 1, 044



Result

APC 33,281



PDP 5434

___________________________________________________________________________



3:10 PM - APC rejects election in Enugu, calls for cancellation



The All Progressives Congress (APC) has rejected the conducted of the election held Saturday in Enugu describing it as an aberration.



The party called for the cancellation of the election in Enugu even before the release of the result.

___________________________________________________________________________

2:30 PM - Presidential polls results in Ilesa East local govt Osun State



Registered voters: 66,708

Accredited voters: 24,551

Valid votes: 23,854

Rejected votes: 665

Total votes cast: 24,519



APC: 11,844

PDP: 11,219

___________________________________________________________________________



2:16 PM - Asa local govt, Kwara state



Senatorial election result



Oloriegbe (APC): 15,932



Saraki (PDP): 11,252

___________________________________________________________________________

2:16 PM - Presidential Election Result in Atakumosa East local govt, Osun State



Registered voters: 35,744

Accredited voters: 15,266

Valid votes: 14,967

Rejected votes: 298

Total votes cast: 15,265

Cancelled votes: 506



Polling unit affected: Ajebandele, Ward 10, Unit 5

Reason: Violence



APC: 7,770

PDP: 6,833

___________________________________________________________________________

1:50 PM - Tofa Local Government, Kano



Presidential election result

APC: 19,984

PDP: 7,732



Garun Malam Local Government, Kano



Presidential election result

APC: 23,810

PDP: 4,861

___________________________________________________________________________

1:15 PM - Results from Akoko North/West Local Government Area of Ondo State



Presidential



APC - 14,158



PDP - 13,950





Senatorial



AA - 9,804



ADC - 3,317



ADP - 4,310



APC - 7,802



PDP - 4,048



SDP - 697



ZLP - 875







Rep



AA - 5,535



ADC - 2499



ADP - 922



APC - 11,555



PDP - 3,687



SDP - 2,560



ZLP - 1,535







Results from Akoko North/West Local Government Area of Ondo State



Presidential



APC - 14,158



PDP - 13,950







Senatorial



AA - 9,804



ADC - 3,317



ADP - 4,310



APC - 7,802



PDP - 4,048



SDP - 697



ZLP - 875







Reps



AA - 5,535



ADC - 2499



ADP - 922



APC - 11,555



PDP - 3,687



SDP - 2,560



ZLP - 1,535

___________________________________________________________________________

1:08 PM - We have some senatorial election results in six local governments in Osun State



Boluwaduro Local Govt



ADC - 46



ADP - 294



APC - 5,428



PDP - 4,702



NCP - 11





Ifedayo Local Govt



ADC - 32



ADP - 58



APC - 4,524



PDP - 3,767



NCP - 12





Ifelodun Local Govt



ADC - 138



ADP - 67



APC - 15,637



PDP - 13,004



NCP - 71







Ila Local Govt



ADC - 464



ADP - 88



APC - 11,197



PDP - 8,766



NCP - 39







Irepodun Local Govt



ADC - 32



ADP - 78



APC - 10,474



PDP - 12,272



NCP 47





Orolu Local Govt



ADC - 54



ADP - 84



APC - 8,883



PDP - 7,725



NCP - 50

___________________________________________________________________________

1:00PM - Results of House of Representatives elections Limawa Ward, Yola North L.G.A Adamawa State



APC 3, 082



ADC 1,439



PDP 548



Results of Presidential elections Nassarawo Ward, Yola North L.G.A Adamawa State



APC 4,753



ADC 33



PDP 3,453



SDP 2





Results of Senatorial elections Limawa Ward, Yola North L.G.A Adamawa State



APC 3,758



ADC 865



PDP 480



SDP 01





Results of Presidential elections Nassarawo Ward, Yola North L.G.A Adamawa State



APC 4,753



ADC 33



PDP 3,453



SDP 2

___________________________________________________________________________

12:45 PM - Final Results of Presidential, Senatorial and House of representatives elections in Nkwerre Local Government Area of Imo state



PRESIDENTIAL

APC - 5,161

PDP - 5,810



SENATE

APC - 5,637

PDP - 4,905



HOUSE OF REPS

APC - 6,587

PDP - 4,288

___________________________________________________________________________



12:25 PM - Adavi Local Govt in Kogi state



Presidential election result



APC: 24,843



PDP: 10,059





Magumeri Local Govt in Borno state



Presidential election result



APC: 12,739



PDP: 694

___________________________________________________________________________



12:00 PM - Abadam Local Government, Borno state



Presidential election result



APC: 5907



PDP: 270

___________________________________________________________________________





10:50 AM - Presidential Election Results of Ado-Ekiti Local government of Ekiti State.

Announcement at Ekiti Central Senatorial District, Ekiti state. Old INEC Office.



Total number of registered voters : 165994

Number of accredited voters: 60277

Total Valid votes: 56914

Rejected votes: 2768

Total votes cast: 59682







AAC: 148



AAB: 43



ABP: 43



ACD: 28



ACBN: 36



ADC: 97



APP: 39



APC: 34929



APGA: 12



DPC: 47



FJP: 17



GDPN: 73



PDP: 20112

___________________________________________________________________________

10:35 AM - Presidential election results from Ekiti East local government of Ekiti State.



APC: 12826



PDP: 13125



NPC: 09



PPN: 01

___________________________________________________________________________

10:05 AM - While you were in the comfort of your bed, this was how some NYSC members passed the night at the INEC office, Amobia, Awka South, Anambra



10:00 AM - YOBE SOUTH, Mamudo Ward, Fune Local Govt. It consists of 10 PUs



PRESIDENTIAL



APC:3,960

PDP:287





SENATORIAL



APC:1,452

PDP:2,850





HOUSE OF REPS



APC:2,326

PDP:1201



N.B - The result of PU 001, Adaya was cancelled for the House of Reps

___________________________________________________________________________



9:53 AM - Gabarin Ward (003), Darazo LGA, Bauchi State



Presidential



APC 3782

PDP 757

SNC. 10





Senatorial



APC 1618

PDP 583

PRP 1477

NNPP 277

GPN 10





Reps



PDP 402

APC 1394

PRP 1179

NNPP 923

GPN 39

___________________________________________________________________________

9:50 AM - Collated results for Gbonyin LGA, Ekiti South Senatorial District of Ekiti State.



SENATORIAL RESULTS



NUMBER OF REG. VOTERS: 49850

ACCREDITED VOTES: 22090





ADC - 39

APC - 13534

ASD - 07

DA - 04

LP - 04

NAC - 06

NPC - 17

PDP - 8093

PPN - 04



TOTAL VALID VOTES : 21708

REJECTED VOTES : 251

TOTAL VOTES CAST : 21959





COLLATION OFFICER: DR AGBOOLA

___________________________________________________________________________



9:45 AM - AWKA SOUTH LGA, ANAMBRA CENTRAL SD



PRESIDENTIAL

NO OF REG VOTER-13056

ACCREDITED-2249



AAC-3

APC-80

APGA-46

PDP-1968

YPP-11



TOTAL VALID- 2161

REJECTED-32

TOTAL CAST-2193

___________________________________________________________________________



9:40 AM - Ise/OrunLGA, Ekiti State.



Presidential

AAP: 007

ABP: 002

ACD: 003

ACPN: 02

ADC: 016

ADP: 008

APC: 14529

PDP: 4826

PPA: 04

PPN: 02



Total valid votes: 19660

Rejected Votes 410

Total Votes cast 20,070

Total Registered Voters 41,823

Total accredited voters: 20,295

________________________________________________________________________________



9:30 AM - Oye-Ekiti LGA, Ekiti State.



Presidential

AAC: 019

ACPN: 009

ADC; 028

APC: 14,726

APDA: 011

PDP : 11427



Total valid votes 26749

Rejected Votes 802

Total Votes cast 27551

Total Registered Voters 60,226

Total accredited voters: 27,654



EKITI SOUTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT, IKERE LGA



REPS RESULTS



NUMBER OF REG. VOTERS: 61615

ACCREDITED VOTES: IT IS NOT ON THE PAPER



ADC - 329

APC - 15078

ID -03

JMPP - 04

LP - 06

MPN- 02

NAC - 06

PDP - 11676

PPN - 08

PT - 02

ASD - 18

BPD - 32

NDLP - 13

YDP - 01

KP - 05



TOTAL VALID VOTES : 27183

REJECTED VOTES : 562

TOTAL VOTES CAST : 27745



COLLATION OFFICER: DR OKETAYO.

Mr Oketayo corroborated that hoodlums invaded WARD 9 UNIT 06 which led to the cancellation of the unit's election.



________________________________________________________________________________

9:25 AM - Some results at local government level as officially declared by INEC officials are coming in.



________________________________________________________________________________

9:22 AM - Presidential election result for Sarkin Kudu 1 of Sarkin Kudu ward, Katsina announced by returning officer Abubakar Abdullahi



Total accredited voters- 8317

Valid votes- 7935

Rejected 288

Total votes cast 8223



Result

APC 6455

PDP 1339

________________________________________________________________________________

8:30 AM - Buhari wins in Lalong's polling unit



President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress defeated Atiku Abubakar, of the People's Democratic Party at the Ajimakai polling unit in Shendam Council Area where Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State cast his votes.



Presidential

APC=1,166

PDP=66



Senate

APC =1,226

PDP= 59



House of Reps

PDP= 65

APC=1095

________________________________________________________________________________

8:04 AM - Waduku ward 10, Lamurde LGA Adamawa state



Presidential results

APC 1021



PDP 1968





Senate

APC 1194



PDP 1814





Reps.

APC 1130



PDP 1856

________________________________________________________________________________

7:59 AM - BREAKING: INEC office in Osun state burnt down by political thugs, several ballot boxes with votes burnt, more to follow...

________________________________________________________________________________

7:29 AM - Dino Melaye defeats Smart Adeyemi in Mopamuro



Mr Dino Melaye, a senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has won the highest votes in Mopamuro Local Government Area, Kogi west senatorial zone.



Melaye is seeking reelection for the second term into the red chamber of the national assembly, with his toughest rival, Mr Smart Adeyemi of the APC.



Mr Ibrahim Ismaila, the INEC Collation Officer of Mopamuro LGA, announced the interim results at the collation centre in INEC LG office in Mopa at about 3: 20 a.m on Sunday.



According to Ismaila, the PDP senatorial candidate, Melaye won 5112 votes, while his closest rival Smart Adeyemi of APC got 3658 votes, ADC 784 and SDP 26 votes out of the 9717 valid votes cast. There were 336 rejected votes, making total votes cast to be 10055.

________________________________________________________________________________

6:27 AM - Fresh reports from Anambra South Senatorial District, Nnewi South Headquarters







The YPP candidate for Senate, Ifeanyi Uba, walked into the collation hall as the results were still being collated.



A parade of army and SSS personnel accompanied him and everybody was asked to leave the hall.



An observer was manhandled after being identified. They took his note, checked it, and asked him to leave the collation hall. Only the military personnel, the SSS, as well as the INEC official and Ifeanyi Uba were allowed inside



As at the time of this report, corps members, SPO and party agents were all outside.



________________________________________________________________________________

6:21 AM - Drama at INEC secretariat, Sokoto East



An electoral observer at Gwardabawa INEC secretariat, Sokoto East has been sent out by the security agents.



It was discovered that the observer was with some hidden equipments.



________________________________________________________________________________

6:12 AM - Results for Ward 11, Odose, Ekiti South Senatorial District, Ekiti State.



Presidential Results

Registered Voters:

Accredited Votes: 2247



APC - 1435

PCP 18

PDP 670



Total Valid Votes: 2156

Rejected Votes: 88

Total Votes Cast: 2244

________________________________________________________________________________

6:00 AM - Ward 13, Ado 'M' Farm Settlement, Ado Ekiti LGA., Ekiti Central Senatorial District, Ekiti State.



Registered Voters: 13718

Accredited Voters: 5079

Total Valid Votes: 4786

Rejected Votes: 185

Total Votes Cast: 4971



APC: 2690

PDP: 1890



By popular consent, it's agreed that the results for the two major political parties be announced, since the party agents for other political parties are not present.

________________________________________________________________________________



5:50 AM - Ward 02, Okeruku, Ekiti South Senatorial District, Ekiti State



PRESIDENTIAL RESULTS

Registered Voters: 6519

Accredited Votes: 2686



APC - 1115

DPP - 07

PCP - 16

PDP - 1411



Note: Some partys results are omitted due to rowdiness of the electoral officials on ground.





SENATORIAL

Registered Voters: 6519

Accredited Voters: 2682



ADC - 32

APC - 1098

PDP - 1468



Total Valid Voters: 2606

Rejected Votes: 76

Total Votes Cast: 2682





HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES



ADC - 50

APC - 1163

PDP - 1403



Total Valid Votes: 2629

Rejected Votes: 53

Total Votes Cast: 2682

________________________________________________________________________________





5:40 AM - Orokere Ward 06 in Mopamuro, Kogi



Presidential election

PDP: 760 votes

APC: 447 votes

ADC: 53 votes



Senate election

PDP: 690 votes.

APC: 469 votes

ADC: 141 votes.



House of Representatives

APC: 465 votes.

PDP: 326 votes

ADC: 455 votes.

________________________________________________________________________________

5:35 AM - Umuawulu, Awka South LGA, Anambra Central SD, Presidential Ward Result



Registered Voters-5137

Accredited Voters -1553



APC-51

APGA-70

PCP-17

PDP-1348

SDP-3



Total Valid Votes 1501

Rejected Votes 38

Total Votes Cast 1539

________________________________________________________________________________

5:10 AM - AMAWBIA1, AWKA SOUTH, ANAMBRA CENTRAL SD. PRESIDENTIAL WARD RESULT



Presidential

Registered Voters 5732

Accredited Voters 1512



APC-34

APGA-165

PDP-1185



Total Valid Votes 1410

Rejected Votes 78

Total Votes Cast 1488

_________________________________________________________________________________

5:00 AM - Digal Ward, Mubi North Local Government Area, Adamawa State



Presidential

APC 1606

GDPN 012

PDP 1081



Senatorial

SDP 343

ADC 48

PDP 1073

APC 1299



Reps

ADC 66

APC 1290

PDP 1069

SDP 326

_________________________________________________________________________________



4:50 PM - EZINATO, AWKA SOUTH LGA, ANAMBRA SD PRESIDENTIAL WARD RESULT



Presidential

APC-42

APGA-27

PCP-16

PDP-1257



Total Valid Votes -1360

Rejected Votes-46

Total Votes Cast -1408

_________________________________________________________________________________

4:42 PM - NIBO2, AWKA SOUTH LGA, ANAMBRA CENTRAL SD PRESIDENTIAL WARD RESULT



Presidential

APC-75

APGA-102

PDP-1487



Total Valid Votes 1712

Rejected Votes 11

Total Votes Cast-1723

_________________________________________________________________________________



This new LIVE RESULTS page is dedicated to our second day of the coverage of voting and early results as declared by INEC in the ongoing presidential and National Assembly elections, most especially as early results are beginning to roll in from the different polling centres and wards nationwide.



We deeply appreciate everyone who participated in information gathering and sent in reports, pictures and videos from various polling units nationwide.



We believe election results announced at polling units are authentic and documenting them could help put officials and politicians in check. So, let us all contribute to documenting proceedings at our polling units.

PS: The results published on NigerianEye.com are validly counted and declared votes by INEC officials at the respective polling units, wards or local government referenced. The counting was also confirmed. ________________________________________________________________________________

To Participate in our Information gathering efforts, Please send an email with the format below to news@nigerianeye.com or Via Whatsapp to 08091783597

or tweet @nigerianey and hashtag #NigeriaDecides #NigeriaDecides2019 _________________________________________________________________________________Presidential election resultCollation Officer: Dr Nasiru MuhammadTotal registered voters: 140,726Total accredited voters: 61,678Total votes cast: 58,485Total valid votes: 56,203Total rejected votes: 2,282APC: 31,695PDP: 23,739___________________________________________________________________________Presidential election results.Collation Officer: Dr Sanusi AhmedAPC: 41,347PDP: 24,598Collation Officer: Dr Shehu ZaidAPC: 15,465PDP: 10,176Collation Officer: Mohammed LawanAPC: 8,516PDP: 10,209___________________________________________________________________________INEC has adjourned the announcement of results from the 18 local government areas of Edo State till 9am.So far, the results from nine LGAs have been announced. But the submission of results from Oredo and Egor LGAs were placed on hold by the State Collation Officer, Prof. Ndowa Lale___________________________________________________________________________1. KUBAU LGAPC: 67,140PDP: 13,2962. MAKARFI LGAPC: 36,625PDP: 14,4943. IKARA LGAPC: 44,021PDP: 14,4644. KAURA LGAPC: 6,907PDP: 33,6475. JABA LGAPC: 6,400PDP: 22,7586. KUDANAPC: 30,577PDP: 11,6977. ZANGO KATAFAPC: 10,411PDP: 62,6228. SABON GARIAPC: 58,467PDP: 22,6449. SOBA LGAPC: 51, 548PDP: 10, 65610. KauruAPC: 33,578PDP: 27,04111. KagarkoAPC: 16,663PDP: 21,605___________________________________________________________________________Idemeli south LGA, AnambraPresidential election resultAPC: 2,220PDP: 17,039Chris Ngige laments. "There is a spike that is out of the ordinary. They are being economical with the truth, they dont want to report everythingA lot of people were disenfranchised for no just cause. This is one of the LGA Im sure that the collation of the results at the booth was tampered with."They removed all our party agents. This result will not stand. We are going run re-elections, I dont mind inconveniences. I want it redone___________________________________________________________________________The Plateau REC, Hussein Pai, at the state INEC headquarters in Jos, explained to stakeholders that the collation officer for Bokkos LGA, who is a senior lecturer, was drunk and unable to perform his duties.Pai said, "We took a decision whereby the INEC staff took over and in the meantime the actual collation officer is being stepped aside because, clearly, he could not just perform."The Assistant Electoral Officer for Bokkos LGA, Adedoyin Musbau, said there was no cancellation and presented the following result for the presidential elections:RESULTSAPC - 18,328PDP - 32,236Total registered voters - 116,911Total accredited voters - 54,616Total valid votes - 52,486Total rejected votes - 1,690Total votes cast - 54,176___________________________________________________________________________1:00 AM -Collation officer: Prof. Edosa EnuanaRegistered voters: 81,639Accredited voters: 34,436Total votes cast: 33,966Valid votes: 32,538Rejected votes: 1,428APC: 16,151PDP: 16,146Enuana noted that the result for Ward 2, Unit 4, was cancelled due to violence___________________________________________________________________________Tsanyawa LGAAPC: 25,823PDP: 5,399Tudun Wada LGAAPC: 38,865PDP: 10,707Ajingi LGAAPC: 21,458PDP: 5,267Gwarzo LGAAPC: 33,581PDP: 10,682Gezawa LGAAPC: 29,954PDP: 8,224Rano LGAAPC: 23,885PDP: 7,055Kibiya LGAAPC: 18,055PDP: 11,028___________________________________________________________________________President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, beat his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar, of the Peoples Democratic Party in the presidential election held on Saturday in Osun State.Buhari polled 347,674 votes, while Atiku polled 337,377 votes, with the APC candidate leading with a margin of 10,297.Buhari earlier won Ekiti state, this will be the second state to be won by the president.PDP: 337,377___________________________________________________________________________Awka North LGAAPC: 1,134PDP: 15,725Onitsha south LGAAPC: 905PDP: 29,795Nnewi South LGA results were rejected as the collation officer is absent. INEC officer, Uliamaka showed up to present the result but she was turned back___________________________________________________________________________APC 6,889PDP 8,262APC 12,934PDP 10,709___________________________________________________________________________Collation officer: Prof. Ben NyiorPDP 8,225APC 4,170Registered voters: 55,816Accredited voters: 15,012Total Votes cast: 13,957Valid votes cast: 12,993Rejected votes: 964Collation officer: Prof. Abiodun BamideleRegistered voters: 54,401Accredited voters: 18,834Valid Votes: 17,990Rejected Votes: 845Total Vote Cast: 18,834Results:-APC: 8,550PDP: 8,128Collation officer: Prof. Oyetunji Ogunsola JacobRegistered voters: 100,263Accredited voters: 40,861Valid Votes: 37,417Rejected Votes: 3,240Total Vote Cast: 40,657Results:-APC: 19,714PDP: 11,781___________________________________________________________________________Final result for Kwara Central senatorial districtAPC (Ibrahim Oloriegbe): 123,808PDP (Bukola Saraki): 68,994___________________________________________________________________________SAKI WEST LOCAL GOVTCollation officer: Dr. Soji AwoyemiRegistered voters: 110,762Accredited voters: 37,331Valid Votes: 34,510Rejected Votes: 2,105Total Vote Cast: 36,615Results:-APC: 21,136PDP: 10,452___________________________________________________________________________Ede South LG:APC - 7,367PDP - 14,670Atakumosa East LG:APC - 7,770PDP - 6,833Orolu LG;APC - 8,425PDP - 7,962Ilesha East LG:APC - 11,844PDP - 11,219Isokan LG:APC - 9,298PDP - 9,079Iwo LG:APC - 16,790PDP - 15,691___________________________________________________________________________Presidential election resultKunchi LGAPDP: 4,937APC: 21,556Makoda LGAPDP: 3,234APC: 24,749Shanono LGAPDP: 8,182APC: 24,232Garun Malam LGAPDP: 4,861APC: 23,810Sumaila LGAPDP: 34,609APC: 4,904___________________________________________________________________________You can be sure to stay connected withfor fresh updates when the INEC chairman re-opens the collation center in Abuja tomorrow.Nevertheless, our job is not done here, we will be giving you official INEC declared results from the ward, local government and state level non-stop, please refresh for updates as they come in.___________________________________________________________________________Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the commission, made the announcement after declaring the collation center open.___________________________________________________________________________Presidential results from Girei LGA, Adamawa State, as announced by the State Presidential Election Collation Officer, Prof. Andrew Haruna, VC of Federal University Gashua.APC: 17,765PDP: 14,673Total Votes cast: 34,628Total Valid Votes Cast: 33,255Total Accredited Votes: 35,455Total Rejected Votes:1,373Total Registered Voters: 74,783KANO - Presidential Election results in Governor Ganduje's Local GovernmentCollation Officer: Prof. Musa Mohammed.Registered voters: 101, 254APC= 37,417PDP = 6,507Valid votes= 45,056Rejected= 2, 306Total votes cast= 47, 362.The officer reported a case of no voting in four polling units due to the failure of the card reader.Elections to held in affected areas.Presidential election results in Saki East LG Oyo StateRegistered voters: 42, 484Accredited voters: 13,699PDP: 5,883 votesAPC : 5,730 votesADC : 643 votesADP : 285 votesPresidential polls result in Karaye LG, KanoCollation Officer: Mohammed Isa.Reg. Voters 76,355Accredited Voters 33,243.APC 23,023PDP 8,265Valid votes 31,923Rejected 962Total votes cast 32,885___________________________________________________________________________Presidential election resultAPC: 17,710PDP: 13, 305___________________________________________________________________________Collation Officer: Dr Kassy UgwuResult Declaration: INEC Headquarters, Enugu, Enugu StateRegistered voters: 72,810Accredited voters: 22,185Valid votes: 21,109Rejected votes: 864Total votes cast: 21,973APC: 1,462PDP: 19,062______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Presidential election resultAPC: 5,356PDP: 20,070___________________________________________________________________________Collation Officer -- Prof. Saminu Bala.Total registered voters 58,334.Accredited 27,281.APC 20,375.PDP 4,983.___________________________________________________________________________President Muhammadu Buhari has won Ekiti state, the first officially declared presidential election result by Independent National Electoral Commission.AAC: 400ABP: 28ACB; 120ANN: 88APGA: 309FRESH: 46MAJA: 279NPP: 53PCP: 2299PDP: 154,032PPA: 253___________________________________________________________________________Ilorin East Local Govt, Kwara centralSenatorial election resultOloriegbe (APC): 30014Saraki (PDP): 14654___________________________________________________________________________Total Valid votes : 41,935Total Rejected votes: 1, 044APC 33,281PDP 5434___________________________________________________________________________The All Progressives Congress (APC) has rejected the conducted of the election held Saturday in Enugu describing it as an aberration.The party called for the cancellation of the election in Enugu even before the release of the result.___________________________________________________________________________Registered voters: 66,708Accredited voters: 24,551Valid votes: 23,854Rejected votes: 665Total votes cast: 24,519APC: 11,844PDP: 11,219___________________________________________________________________________Senatorial election result(APC): 15,932(PDP): 11,252___________________________________________________________________________Presidential Election Result in Atakumosa East local govt, Osun StateRegistered voters: 35,744Accredited voters: 15,266Valid votes: 14,967Rejected votes: 298Total votes cast: 15,265Cancelled votes: 506APC: 7,770PDP: 6,833___________________________________________________________________________Presidential election resultAPC: 19,984PDP: 7,732Garun Malam Local Government, KanoPresidential election resultAPC: 23,810PDP: 4,861___________________________________________________________________________PresidentialAPC - 14,158PDP - 13,950SenatorialAA - 9,804ADC - 3,317ADP - 4,310APC - 7,802PDP - 4,048SDP - 697ZLP - 875RepAA - 5,535ADC - 2499ADP - 922APC - 11,555PDP - 3,687SDP - 2,560ZLP - 1,535Results from Akoko North/West Local Government Area of Ondo StatePresidentialAPC - 14,158PDP - 13,950SenatorialAA - 9,804ADC - 3,317ADP - 4,310APC - 7,802PDP - 4,048SDP - 697ZLP - 875RepsAA - 5,535ADC - 2499ADP - 922APC - 11,555PDP - 3,687SDP - 2,560ZLP - 1,535___________________________________________________________________________Boluwaduro Local GovtADC - 46ADP - 294APC - 5,428PDP - 4,702NCP - 11Ifedayo Local GovtADC - 32ADP - 58APC - 4,524PDP - 3,767NCP - 12Ifelodun Local GovtADC - 138ADP - 67APC - 15,637PDP - 13,004NCP - 71Ila Local GovtADC - 464ADP - 88APC - 11,197PDP - 8,766NCP - 39Irepodun Local GovtADC - 32ADP - 78APC - 10,474PDP - 12,272NCP 47Orolu Local GovtADC - 54ADP - 84APC - 8,883PDP - 7,725NCP - 50___________________________________________________________________________APC 3, 082ADC 1,439PDP 548Results of Presidential elections Nassarawo Ward, Yola North L.G.A Adamawa StateAPC 4,753ADC 33PDP 3,453SDP 2Results of Senatorial elections Limawa Ward, Yola North L.G.A Adamawa StateAPC 3,758ADC 865PDP 480SDP 01Results of Presidential elections Nassarawo Ward, Yola North L.G.A Adamawa StateAPC 4,753ADC 33PDP 3,453SDP 2___________________________________________________________________________PRESIDENTIALAPC - 5,161PDP - 5,810SENATEAPC - 5,637PDP - 4,905HOUSE OF REPSAPC - 6,587PDP - 4,288___________________________________________________________________________Presidential election resultAPC: 24,843PDP: 10,059Presidential election resultAPC: 12,739PDP: 694___________________________________________________________________________Presidential election resultAPC: 5907PDP: 270___________________________________________________________________________Total number of registered voters : 165994Number of accredited voters: 60277Total Valid votes: 56914Rejected votes: 2768Total votes cast: 59682AAC: 148AAB: 43ABP: 43ACD: 28ACBN: 36ADC: 97APP: 39APC: 34929APGA: 12DPC: 47FJP: 17GDPN: 73PDP: 20112___________________________________________________________________________APC: 12826PDP: 13125NPC: 09PPN: 01______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________PRESIDENTIALAPC:3,960PDP:287SENATORIALAPC:1,452PDP:2,850HOUSE OF REPSAPC:2,326PDP:1201N.B -___________________________________________________________________________PresidentialAPC 3782PDP 757SNC. 10SenatorialAPC 1618PDP 583PRP 1477NNPP 277GPN 10RepsPDP 402APC 1394PRP 1179NNPP 923GPN 39___________________________________________________________________________SENATORIAL RESULTSNUMBER OF REG. VOTERS: 49850ACCREDITED VOTES: 22090ADC - 39APC - 13534ASD - 07DA - 04LP - 04NAC - 06NPC - 17PDP - 8093PPN - 04TOTAL VALID VOTES : 21708REJECTED VOTES : 251TOTAL VOTES CAST : 21959COLLATION OFFICER: DR AGBOOLA___________________________________________________________________________PRESIDENTIALNO OF REG VOTER-13056ACCREDITED-2249AAC-3APC-80APGA-46PDP-1968YPP-11TOTAL VALID- 2161REJECTED-32TOTAL CAST-2193___________________________________________________________________________PresidentialAAP: 007ABP: 002ACD: 003ACPN: 02ADC: 016ADP: 008APC: 14529PDP: 4826PPA: 04PPN: 02Total valid votes: 19660Rejected Votes 410Total Votes cast 20,070Total Registered Voters 41,823Total accredited voters: 20,295________________________________________________________________________________PresidentialAAC: 019ACPN: 009ADC; 028APC: 14,726APDA: 011PDP : 11427Total valid votes 26749Rejected Votes 802Total Votes cast 27551Total Registered Voters 60,226Total accredited voters: 27,654REPS RESULTSNUMBER OF REG. VOTERS: 61615ACCREDITED VOTES: IT IS NOT ON THE PAPERADC - 329APC - 15078ID -03JMPP - 04LP - 06MPN- 02NAC - 06PDP - 11676PPN - 08PT - 02ASD - 18BPD - 32NDLP - 13YDP - 01KP - 05TOTAL VALID VOTES : 27183REJECTED VOTES : 562TOTAL VOTES CAST : 27745________________________________________________________________________________Some results at local government level as officially declared by INEC officials are coming in.________________________________________________________________________________Total accredited voters- 8317Valid votes- 7935Rejected 288Total votes cast 8223ResultAPC 6455PDP 1339________________________________________________________________________________PresidentialAPC=1,166PDP=66SenateAPC =1,226PDP= 59House of RepsPDP= 65APC=1095APC 1021PDP 1968APC 1194PDP 1814APC 1130PDP 1856more to follow...Mr Dino Melaye, a senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has won the highest votes in Mopamuro Local Government Area, Kogi west senatorial zone.Melaye is seeking reelection for the second term into the red chamber of the national assembly, with his toughest rival, Mr Smart Adeyemi of the APC.Mr Ibrahim Ismaila, the INEC Collation Officer of Mopamuro LGA, announced the interim results at the collation centre in INEC LG office in Mopa at about 3: 20 a.m on Sunday.According to Ismaila, the PDP senatorial candidate, Melaye won 5112 votes, while his closest rival Smart Adeyemi of APC got 3658 votes, ADC 784 and SDP 26 votes out of the 9717 valid votes cast. There were 336 rejected votes, making total votes cast to be 10055.________________________________________________________________________________The YPP candidate for Senate, Ifeanyi Uba, walked into the collation hall as the results were still being collated.A parade of army and SSS personnel accompanied him and everybody was asked to leave the hall.An observer was manhandled after being identified. They took his note, checked it, and asked him to leave the collation hall. Only the military personnel, the SSS, as well as the INEC official and Ifeanyi Uba were allowed insideAs at the time of this report, corps members, SPO and party agents were all outside.________________________________________________________________________________An electoral observer at Gwardabawa INEC secretariat, Sokoto East has been sent out by the security agents.It was discovered that the observer was with some hidden equipments.________________________________________________________________________________Registered Voters:Accredited Votes: 2247APC - 1435PCP 18PDP 670Total Valid Votes: 2156Rejected Votes: 88Total Votes Cast: 2244________________________________________________________________________________Registered Voters: 13718Accredited Voters: 5079Total Valid Votes: 4786Rejected Votes: 185Total Votes Cast: 4971APC: 2690PDP: 1890By popular consent, it's agreed that the results for the two major political parties be announced, since the party agents for other political parties are not present.________________________________________________________________________________PRESIDENTIAL RESULTSRegistered Voters: 6519Accredited Votes: 2686APC - 1115DPP - 07PCP - 16PDP - 1411SENATORIALRegistered Voters: 6519Accredited Voters: 2682ADC - 32APC - 1098PDP - 1468Total Valid Voters: 2606Rejected Votes: 76Total Votes Cast: 2682HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESADC - 50APC - 1163PDP - 1403Total Valid Votes: 2629Rejected Votes: 53Total Votes Cast: 2682________________________________________________________________________________Presidential electionPDP: 760 votesAPC: 447 votesADC: 53 votesSenate electionPDP: 690 votes.APC: 469 votesADC: 141 votes.House of RepresentativesAPC: 465 votes.PDP: 326 votesADC: 455 votes.________________________________________________________________________________Registered Voters-5137Accredited Voters -1553APC-51APGA-70PCP-17PDP-1348SDP-3Total Valid Votes 1501Rejected Votes 38Total Votes Cast 1539________________________________________________________________________________PresidentialRegistered Voters 5732Accredited Voters 1512APC-34APGA-165PDP-1185Total Valid Votes 1410Rejected Votes 78Total Votes Cast 1488_________________________________________________________________________________PresidentialAPC 1606GDPN 012PDP 1081SenatorialSDP 343ADC 48PDP 1073APC 1299RepsADC 66APC 1290PDP 1069SDP 326_________________________________________________________________________________PresidentialAPC-42APGA-27PCP-16PDP-1257Total Valid Votes -1360Rejected Votes-46Total Votes Cast -1408_________________________________________________________________________________PresidentialAPC-75APGA-102PDP-1487Total Valid Votes 1712Rejected Votes 11Total Votes Cast-1723_________________________________________________________________________________This new LIVE RESULTS page is dedicated to our second day of the coverage of voting and early results as declared by INEC in the ongoing presidential and National Assembly elections, most especially as early results are beginning to roll in from the different polling centres and wards nationwide.We deeply appreciate everyone who participated in information gathering and sent in reports, pictures and videos from various polling units nationwide.We believe election results announced at polling units are authentic and documenting them could help put officials and politicians in check. So, let us all contribute to documenting proceedings at our polling units.________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________- We hereby end NigerianEye's coverage of the 2019 Presidential election.Join us here for the LIVE UPDATE of the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections on March 9, 2019Thank you._______________________________________________________________________________Borno presidential polls resultAPC 836,497PDP 71,788Number of Registered Voters 2,319,434Number of Accredited Voters 987,270Valid Votes 919,786Rejected Votes 35,419Votes Cast 955,205Returning Officer- Prof. Saminu Ibrahim, VC of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi._______________________________________________________________________________The senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Edo South, Matthew Urhoghide, has been declared the winner of Saturday's election.Urhoghide, who is the incumbent Senator representing the district, scored 135,588 votes to defeat Patrick Obaghiagbon of APC. who scored 121,957 votes.In another House of Representatives result released, PDP's Jude Ise-Idehen scored 53,618 votes to stop the second term bid of APC's Johnson Agbonayinma ,who polled 44,322 votes._______________________________________________________________________________PDP Senatorial candidate for Cross River Central Senatorial District, Dr Sandy Onor has been declared winner of the election.Also in the Southern Senatorial District, incumbent Senator Gershom Bassey won the election._______________________________________________________________________________Result of the Northern Senatorial District is being expected.The All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 798,428 votes to beat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which scored 209,313 votes in Bauchi State in last Saturdays presidential election.Alhassan Ghani, the State Collation officer, announced the result after collation from the 20 local government areas of the state_______________________________________________________________________________The Presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Presidential candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari has defeated his opponent, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), with over 1.073,175m.votesThe Collation Officer for the just concluded Presidential election in Kano, Professor Magaji Garba,who is the vice Chancellor, Federal University, Gusau, Zamfara State, disclosed the results at the early hours of Tuesday, after the collation of the results from across the 44 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state.He said, the APC Presidential candidate scored 1.464,768m, to defeat the PDP candidate, who garnered 391,593 votes._______________________________________________________________________________The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has won the presidential election in Benue State.The former vice president defeated the incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), his main challenger.Announcing the result in the state collation office in Makurdi in the early hours of Tuesday, the chief returning officer of the state and vice chancellor of the University of Jos, Sebastian Maimako, said the PDP polled 355,355 against the APCs 347,668._______________________________________________________________________________Alhaji Atiku Abubakar narrowly won the presidential election in Edo state with 7,849 votes more than his main rival, President Muhammadu Buhari.The State Collation Officer for the Presidential election, Prof. Ndowa Lale announced at the INEC headquarters in Benin that Atiku scored 275,691 votes, while Buhari of the All Progressives Congress scored 267,842 votes._______________________________________________________________________________Ali- Ndume of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has emerged winner of the Southern Borno Senatorial Constituency election.Ali Ndume (APC): 300,637Kudla Haske (PDP): 84,608_______________________________________________________________________________(1st Position) APC: Muhammadu Buhari - 2,976,721 votes(2nd Position) PDP: (Atiku Abubakar) - 2,690,616 votes(3rd position) AAC: (Omoyele Sowore) - 8,083 votes_______________________________________________________________________________Godswill Akpabio will not be returning to the senate to represent Akwa Ibom north-west senatorial district.The senator, who contested under the All Progressives Congress (APC), lost to Chris Ekpenyong of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with a wide margin.He secured only 67,487 votes as against 136,373 votes for Ekpenyong._______________________________________________________________________________The Independent National Electoral Commission has declared PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, as winner of Saturdays presidential election in Adamawa.Declaring the result on Monday in Yola, the presidential election Returning Officer for Adamawa, Prof. Andrew Yakubu, said Abubakar scored 410,266 votes to defeat the APC candidate who scored 378,078 votes.Yakubu said the total number of registered voters in the state was 1,959,322, while 874,920 voters were accredited._______________________________________________________________________________Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), won in 18 out of the 33 local government areas of Oyo state in the just collated presidential election results released in Ibadan.Atiku polled 366,592 votes, while Buhari won in the remaining 15 local government areas with 365,229 votes.The results were released on Monday by AbdulKareem Suleiman-Age, INEC chief collation officer for Oyo presidential election._______________________________________________________________________________PDP - 548,665APC - 468,555Results from LGAs:KanamAPC: 51, 017PDP: 18, 331WaseAPC : 35, 931PDP: 22, 809Jos NorthAPC :93, 800PDP: 53, 277ManguAPC : 42, 947PDP: 48, 923ShendamAPC : 38, 196PDP :24, 162Barkin LadiAPC : 15, 390PDP: 42, 138BassaAPC : 27, 632PDP: 34, 822Langtang NorthAPC: 16, 665PDP: 34, 105RiyomAPC: 8, 710PDP: 21, 892BokkosAPC 18, 328PDP: 32, 246Jos SouthAPC : 25, 574PDP: 106, 526QuaanpanAPC : 20, 872PDP: 17, 479Lantang SouthAPC 11, 224PDP: 18, 470PankshinAPC : 21, 609PDP: 30, 509KankeAPC 17, 946PDP: 22, 875MikangAPC: 10, 869PDP: 11, 262Jos EastAPC : 11, 847PDP: 8, 853.Just something to relax your nerves...currently trending on social media_______________________________________________________________________________Konduga local governmentPDP- 622APC/ 27644MafaPDP 138APC 50151MartePDP- 182APC- 10414Kala-BalgePDP- 364APC- 14945KukawaPDP- 347APC- 11225KagaPDP- 363APC- 14512_______________________________________________________________________________Femi Gbajabiamila of APC will represent Surulere federal constituency 1 at the house of representatives till at least 2023. He emerged winner with 14,617 votes while Adewara Michael of PDP came second with 8085 votes._______________________________________________________________________________The collating officer for Ipokia, said INEC officials left the LGA late on Sunday due to agitation from parties and thugs, in a bid to prevent cancellation of votes from a PU where manual voting was done. He said the INEC convoy was attacked on the way to the collation centre, leading to the death of a police officer._______________________________________________________________________________The Independent National Electoral Commission has declared President Muhammadu Buhari as winner of Saturdays presidential election in Nasarawa State.Prof. Azubuike Nwankwo, the Presidential Election Returning Officer for the state, read out the results polled by various political parties at the end of collation at about 11 a.m.According to him, Buhari of the All Progressives Congress polled 289,903 votes to defeat the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, who scored 283,847 votes.The result showed that Buhari won in eight out of the 13 local government areas of the state. with Atiku winning in five._________________________________________________________________________________The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, cndidate, Atiku Abubakar, has won the presidential election in Ondo State.In the final results announced on Monday, Abubakar of the PDP scored 275,901 votes to defeat President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC who scored 241,769 votes.Total accredited voters were 598,586, total votes cast: 586,827, while rejected votes were 30,833AAC 105AA 407APC 15,598PDP 11,641AAC 113AA 412APC 14,158PDP 13, 950AAC 26AA 242APC 7,306PDP 6,616AAC 129AA 06APC 8661PDP 12,786AAC 73AA 265APC 8453PDP 14,704AAC 95AA 229APC 9433PDP 11745AAC 208AA 340APC 10404PDP 12680AAC 93AA 235APC 10082PDP 12862AAC 155AA 11APC 5299PDP 8455AAC 41AA 84APC 10321PDP 12919AA 426AAC 184APC 18,322ADC 219PDP 13,375AA 66AAC 132ADC 68APC 17,017PDP 22,370YPP 64AAC 814ADP 83APC 25,177LP 203PDP 37,040YPP 202AA 817AAC 168APC 21,592PDP 16,469PT 03AA 39AA 401AAC 107APC 19,523PDP 16,608AA 185AAC 68APC 17,455LP 02PDP 14,421AA 135AAC 828APC 9,530PDP 12,005AA 50AAC 1075APC 13,448PDP 25,255_________________________________________________________________________________The INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu yesterday said the national collation centre will reconvene by 11am today. It is now a few minutes past 11am, and he is yet to be on seatNigerianEye.com will start another dedicated page to the final national collation in Abuja, stay with us._________________________________________________________________________________President Muhammadu Buhari has won Nasarawa state for the first time since 2003 defeating Alhaji Atiku Abubakar by 37,896 votes.Results collated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Lafia shows that President Buhari polled 279,315 votes to defeat Atiku who polled 241,419 votes.Buhari won in eight local governments while Atiku won in five local governments marking the first time the Peoples Democratic Party has lost Nasarawa state in a presidential election since then return to democracy in 1999._________________________________________________________________________________The Independent National Electoral Commission on Monday morning declared Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, the winner of the Imo West senatorial election.The Returning officer, Prof Francis Ibeawuchi, who announced the results at the collation center in Orlu Local Government Area, said that Okorocha of the All Progressives congress polled a total of 97762 votes to defeat his two major contenders._________________________________________________________________________________Presidential election resultAPC: 347,674PDP: 337,377_________________________________________________________________________________Final figures from the presidential electionPDP: 219, 698APC: 85,068_________________________________________________________________________________Presidential election resultObingwa LGAAPC: 3303PDP: 32,156Ohafia LGAAPC: 6,487PDP: 7,418Aba northAPC:11,720PDP: 22,957_________________________________________________________________________________Presidential election resultsNGANZAI LGAAPC: 6,804PDP: 975MOBBAR LGAAPC: 13,122PDP: 280DIKWA LGAAPC:17,805PDP: 100ABADAM LGAAPC: 5,907PDP: 270GUZAMALA LGAAPC: 5,307PDP: 521GUBIO LGAAPC: 10,207PDP: 510MAGUMERI LGAAPC: 12,739PDP: 694KWAYA KUSAR LGAAPC: 21,870PDP: 2,306ASKIRA UBA LGAAPC: 31,080PDP: 16,822MARTE LGAAPC: 10,414PDP: 182BAYO LGAAPC: 20,843PDP: 1,126MAFA LGAAPC: 50,151PDP: 138HAWUL LGAAPC: 29,236PDP: 9,228_________________________________________________________________________________So far, 17 Local Governments results have been declared.APC-18,170PDP-11,295APC:40,719PDP:21,252APC:12,179PDP:9,2224.APC: 27,452PDP: 7,3965.APC:17,710PDP:13,3056.APC: 23,638votesPDP: 21,518 votes7.APC: 21,417votesPDP: 17,936votes8.PDP:16,497APC:36,4439.PDP:25,216APC: 20,96310.APC:33,419PDP:18,100AAC:67411.PDP:20,277APC: 43,54312.PDP: 28,806APC:29,86013.PDP: 15,137 votesAPC : 22,684 votes14. OPDP: 29,019 votesAPC :24,333 votes15.PDP :21,978APC: 28,41816.PDP: 28,715APC: 39,21617APC : 30,621PDP: 31,603_________________________________________________________________________________The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Adenigba Fadahunsi, has emerged as the winner of Osun East senatorial seat.Mr Fadahunsi had 114,893 votes to beat his closest rival, Ajibola Famurewa of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who polled 105,720 votes_________________________________________________________________________________Madagali LGAAPC: 8,208PDP: 14,594Maiha LGAAPC: 17,034PDP: 7,916Ganye LGAAPC: 20,360PDP: 17,770P.S: Two polling units were cancelled in this LGA_________________________________________________________________________________APC: 15,490PDP: 9,802Presidential result Ibadan northeast LGA, Oyo stateAPC: 12,049PDP: 21,165Presidential result from Kokona LGA, NasarawaPDP: 24,563APC: 20,433_________________________________________________________________________________The Returning Officer for the Ogun East Senatorial District, Prof. Chris Nwoka, has declared elections into the Senate for the district inconclusive.At the conclusion of collation of results from the nine local government areas, the APC had a total of 84,929 votes, while the PDP polled 82,457 votes.Nwoka was about to declare the APC senatorial candidate, Senator Mustapha Olalekan winner over his closest rival, Sosanwo Ayoola of the PDP, when there was chaos in the hall._________________________________________________________________________________The All Progressives Congress Presidential candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari has won 12 local governments out of 16 local governments declared so far by the Independent National Electoral Commission .But, the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar won the remaining four local governments out of the 16 local governments so far declared .Ogun State has 20 local government areas, the breakdown of the results is as follows:APC  12,850PDP- 7,253APC-6,435PDP-5,149APC -5,659PDP-6,269APC- 10,049PDP-4,995APC- 22,044PDP- 7,528APC  20,875PDP- 16,532APC- 6,425PDP-6,689APC-6,889PDP-8,262APC- 12,934PDP-10,709APC-16,243PDP-7,938APC-10,283PDP-8,708APC-26,462PDP -13,853APC- 33,348PDP-20,352APC-10,060PDP-5,101APC-23,895PDP-8,968APC  13,974PDP- 16,196_________________________________________________________________________________Eligible Voters: 136,520Accredited Voters: 60,463APC: 34,534PDP: 20,414APA: 106PCP: 281INVALID: 2659VALID VOTES: 56,494TOTAL VOTES: 59,153Two PUs cancelledNgurore 005 (with 527 accredited voters) and Toungo 010 (with 1344 registered voters) due to over voting._________________________________________________________________________________Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun has emerged Senator-elect of Ogun Central Senatorial district in Ogun state with 88,110 votes.Amosun who contested on the platform of the All Progressives Congress defeated his close challenger, the African Democratic Congress candidate, Mrs.Titi Oseni-Gomez._________________________________________________________________________________Senator Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party, has been declared winner of the Kogi West Senatorial electionThe Returning Officer, Prof. Emmanuel Bala announced on Monday in Lokoja that Melaye polled 85, 395 votes to defeat Sen. Smart Adeyemi of the APC who scored 66, 901 votes.PDP (Dino Melaye) - 85,395APC (Smart Adeyemi) - 66.901_________________________________________________________________________________Anambra South Senatorial District Results.1. Ekwusigo LGAAPC 2,385APGA = 6,451PDP= 6, 614YPP= 10,8992. Orumba NorthAPC - 2007APGA - 7310PDP - 10, 012YPP - 7,5573. IhialaAPC - 3, 740APGA - 8, 981PDP - 10, 682YPP - 9, 4784. Orumba SouthAPC - 648APGA - 5,479PDP - 4,397YPP - 10,5115. Nnewi SouthAPC - 753APGA - 11,176PDP - 4,818YPP - 7,9306. AguataYPP - 12632PDP - 10096.APGA - 9502APC - 30567. Nnewi North LGAAPC - 810APGA- 2155PDP- 5849YPP- 28,101_________________________________________________________________________________
Dele Momodu, publisher of Ovation Magazine, has urged Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to ...





Dele Momodu, publisher of Ovation Magazine, has urged Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to concede the election.





Writing via his Twitter handle on Tuesday, Momodu asked Atiku to call President Muhammadu Buhari and accept defeat.





He made the call when the result of the presidential election are still being collated. In the 18 states announced so far, APC has won in 10 while PDP has won in eight.





Momodu, a known ally of Atiku, told the former vice-president that he has much more to gain if he concedes.

My dear WAZIRIN, as a believer, you are aware that only God can give or take power. Youve written your name in gold, he wrote.





Do not wait a minute longer. Please, pick that phone and call President Muhammadu Buhari. You have much more to gain Sir Pass on the burden!









In 2015, former President Goodluck Jonathan conceded defeat and congratulated Buhari while the results were still being announced
The Nigerian army has announced the arrest of at least eight suspects who allegedly disrupted the 2019 presidential election in River...





The Nigerian army has announced the arrest of at least eight suspects who allegedly disrupted the 2019 presidential election in Rivers state.





Parading the suspects at the 6 division of the Nigerian army, Port Harcourt, on Tuesday, Sagir Musa, army spokesman, said the suspects confessed to be working for Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state.





He said they had posed as staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and tampered with electoral materials.





He also said the army has on record phone conversations between the suspects and the governor.

The suspects were paraded before journalists at the division headquarters.





They were subsequently taken out to where the army said a car of Rivers state of government which they used in their operation was parked.





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Kanagawa Prefectural Police have arrested a 22-year-old male university student over the alleged import of the gas nitrous oxide, a designated medicine commonly known as "laughing gas," reports the Sankei Shimbun

In December, 2017, Yosuke Matsushita, a resident of Machida City, Tokyo, is suspected of importing 408 canisters of nitrous oxide from the Netherlands through the international mail.

According to police, a staff member at a Kawasaki City branch of Yokohama Customs discovered the contraband. Thus far, Matsushita has been accused of importing two of the canisters on December 17.

Matsushita, who is in custody for violating the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law regarding the importation of a designated medicine, admits to the allegations. "Since it was fun to inhale [the gas] with a friend in China, I wanted to use it in Japan. So I bought it online," the suspect was quoted by police.

Yosuke Matsushita Yosuke Matsushita (Twitter) According to police, each canister contains 10 grams of the gas, which is used as anesthesia by medical professionals. One canister sells for about 10,000 yen in Japan.

In 2016, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare designated nitrous oxide as a medicine due to the intoxicating effect it has on the user. - tokyoreporter.com
Japan's industry minister Hiroshige Seko has urged the country's antitrust watchdog to investigate whether Amazon Japan's new loyalty program will force vendors to shoulder a heavy financial burden.

The Japanese unit of the online retail giant plans to launch the program in late May to give shoppers refunds in the form of points worth more than one percent of their purchases. The company says it will have its suppliers pay the costs.

Seko told reporters on Tuesday that if Amazon abuses its dominant position by overburdening vendors through unilateral changes to their contracts, it would unfairly harm the competitiveness of small and medium-sized firms. The minister said such businesses rely heavily on online shopping sites. He stressed that he hopes the Fair Trade Commission will quickly investigate the matter.

The commission plans to examine the loyalty program as part of its ongoing probe into Amazon and other major web-based companies, to see if their dealing with suppliers and handling of personal data violate antitrust legislation. - NHK
Benefit, a leading electronic financial transactions network, announced yesterday the launch of the new national Electronic Know Your Client (eKYC) Project. The project also first of its kind in the Arab World, targets retail banks, financial services providers and money exchange networks. During a press conference held at Wyndham Grand Hotel, Benefit said it will implement the project in the second quarter of this year in collaboration with the Information and eGovernment Authority (IGA) under the supervision of the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB).

The project is intended to provide an advanced state-of-theart electronic platform and a database for financial institutions to authenticate the identities of their clients and validate their information before granting financial services. The project also aspires to help financial technology (FinTech) companies offering financial and banking products using online applications, and facilitate the launch of their products and services. On this occasion, Benefits Chief Executive Officer Abdulwahid Janahi said, The project targets retail banks to facilitate the opening of retail accounts.

Janahi also explained: Benefit will provide financial institutions in Bahrain with a complete web portal allowing identity authentication, as well as mobile applications, thus augmenting the Kingdoms electronic systems in line with Bahrains Vision 2030. Khalid Hamad Executive Director  Banking Supervision (CBB) stated that the project will also facilitate self-enrollment by the client to upload additional information and apply for financial services through electronic channels. The CBB continues to draft electronic financial services related to legislation and regulations for the benefit of clients and banks alike.

The CBB will always be the first to support technological advancement and will endeavour to provide more services with maximum ease and minimum cost. Mohammed Ali Al Qaed Chief Executive, Information & eGovernment Authority (IGA), said, IGA had already started to provide identity authentication services to the public sector. This service will allow the private sector to start providing innovative and quality services to promote the Kingdoms economic development and expand its business activity, he added.
Bahrain Real Estate Investment Company (Edamah), the property arm of the Kingdoms sovereign wealth fund, announced extending its backing the Bahrain Down Syndrome Society. The company, in a statement, said it has renewed lease contracts for the Down Syndrome Care Center located in Edamahs building in Adliya.

Edamah has also approved the Associations expansion plans. Founded in 1998, Bahrain Down Syndrome Society is a non-profit organisation. Recent statistics indicate that between 20 to 25 cases of Down syndrome emerge in Bahrain each year.

Commenting on the deal, Amin Alarrayed, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Edamah, said, One of the Edamahs key building blocks involves continuous efforts to promote the Kingdom through our portfolio of projects, which aim to contribute to the sustainable development of society at large in a holistic manner.
Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority is keen to continually enhance its tourist services and facilities, said CEO Shaikh Khaled Bin Humood Al Khalifa. Addressing participants during a meeting by the French Chamber of Commerce & Industry in Bahrain (FCCIB), the Chief Executive Officer said that BTEA continues to invest in a number of projects which aim to develop the tourism sectors potential on a global level and ultimately place Bahrain on the international map of travel and hospitality.

Bahrain is currently witnessing the launch of several international hotel chains and apartments with 22 new properties set to open in the next 4 years, Shaikh Khaled said during the meeting held at Crowne Plaza on 20th of February. The conference and networking luncheon was titled The Current and Future Projects in the Tourism and Exhibitions Sector in Bahrain. Bahrain, Shaikh Khaled said, has welcomed a total of 9.7 million visitors in 2015, this number has increased to 12 million in 2018.

The number of tourist nights spent in the Kingdom reached 9 million in 2015 and rose to 13m in 2018, and the average stay of visitors in Bahrain was 2.26 nights in 2015 and reached 2.8 in 2018. The direct contribution of tourism as a non-oil sector in GDP has increased from 4.6 per cent in 2015 to 6.5pc in 2018, he added.
A Bahraini man has been arrested for burgling several shops in Budaiya in the Northern Governorate, Interior Ministry confirmed yesterday. In a statement published on the ministrys official media website, the Director-General of the Northern Governorate Police Directorate revealed that the arrest came as a result of investigations launched by the police into the cases reported by the victims (shop owners).

The 18-year-old suspect was seen, along with a companion, in a security camera footage, that was widely shared online, while attempting to burgle a shop in Budaiya. The footage was viewed by thousands two days after it was posted on several local accounts on social media networks. In the video, one of the masked suspects was seen attempting to forcibly open the shutter of a closed shop, while the other one covered for him and surveilled the road.

Investigations led to the identification and arrest of the suspect. Legal steps are being taken to refer the case to the Public Prosecutor, the official added in the statement, without revealing more details on the second suspect.
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A Swedish-Egyptian mission led by Maria Nilsson and John Ward from Lund University has discovered a New Kingdom sandstone workshop and several sculptures during excavations carried out at Gebel El-Silsila archaeological site in Aswan.

Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that the mission discovered among the debris in the workshop a large criosphinx (ram-headed sphinx) statue.

The statue, approximately 5 metres long, 3.5 metres high, and 1.5 metres wide, is carved in a style comparable to the criosphinxes to the south of Khonsu Temple at Karnak. The sphinx is believed to be dated to Amenhotep III of the 18th Dynasty.

Nilsson told Ahram Online that the team unearthed a smaller practice piece of another criosphinx that may have been carved by an apprentice.

Both sculptures seem to be preserved in a rough-cut and had been prepared for transportation, but were likely abandoned at Gebel El-Silsila when the larger sculpture fractured. Later Roman quarry activity buried the sphinxes in soil.

Also discovered embedded in the walls of the workshop was a rough-cut uraeus (coiled cobra) made to crown the head of the larger criosphinx, as well as a blank round-top stela.

Abdel-Moneim Saeed, director-general of Aswan and Nubia Antiquities, said that hundreds of hieroglyphic fragments that belong to a destroyed Naos of Amenhotep III (Naos E), together with new sculpture fragments of the associated falcon, were unearthed. In addition, parts of an obelisk, including its pyramidion, were retrieved.

"It is a vey important discovery," said Saeed, explaining that the finding highlights that the Gebel El-Silsila area was not only a quarry but also housed workshops for the fabrication of architectural elements used in the decoration of temples.

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(Newser)  The 183 passengers stuck aboard Amtrak Coast Starlight Train 11 were finally able to exit the train Tuesday morning after a tedious 36+ hours. The Seattle-to-Los Angeles train was blocked by downed trees on the tracks in a remote part of Oregon Sunday night; the area had been hit with heavy snow, and had gotten 10 to 14 inches by Monday afternoon. There weren't many hotels nearby, power in the area was spotty due to the storm, and roads were blocked by snow, KOIN reports. Officials decided the safest option was for passengers to stay on the train, which still had power, heat, working restrooms, and food, until help arrived. And on Tuesday it did, with a Union Pacific locomotive coming to pull the train back up north to a station in Eugene, Oregon. Passengers cheered as they walked out into the fresh air, the Oregonian reports.

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Volunteers from the American Red Cross were on hand to provide passengers with water and snacks, and Amtrak said travelers would be provided with "refunds and other compensation as appropriate." Company officials said they regretted the "extended delay," but "we made every decision in the best interest of the safety of our customers during the unfortunate sequence of events." Passengers rushed to make alternate travel plans after exiting the trains, and some reveled in the ability to contact family and friends, with many having lost cell service while stranded. Some probably also bought essentials like diapers; crew members reportedly helped desperate parents fashion them out of napkins and safety pins while the train was stuck. There's no word on when the train might continue on its way to Los Angeles, the AP reports. (Passengers stuck on another train got pizzas delivered.)
(Newser)  North Carolina's redo of a congressional election won't include the apparent winner of the first go-round. Republican Mark Harris posted Tuesday on Facebook that he isn't running again, KAIT reports, citing surgery scheduled for next month. His campaign had been accused of ballot fraud in the November race, and the state's election board has decided the 9th District should vote again. That happened after Harris' son told the board that he had warned his father about a political operative accused of fraud over absentee ballots, contradicting the candidate's own testimony. Faced with the prospect of cross-examination lasting days or even perjury charges, the Washington Post reports, Mark Harris then called for a new election. The first election has never been ruled official; Harris was leading by 905 votes.

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Dan McCready, the Democrat who faced Harris last fall, is running again, and Politico reports that he has campaign money and support from the national party. McCready is an Iraq War veteran seeking office for the first time. "While Washington Republicans have spent over $2 million propping up a candidate who stole North Carolinians' votes and threatened the integrity of our election process," a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman said, "we're proud to stand with Dan and look forward to him bringing his leadership to Congress." GOP strategists thought Harris could win the primary again but would have a tough time raising money, let alone winning, the new election. Harris said in his post that he's supporting Stony Rushing, a Union County commissioner, in the Republican primary. The general election probably will be held in October, per the Post. (A national commission found no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2016 election.)
(Newser)  President Trump has arrived in Vietnam for his summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, and he's already out with a tweet. "Thank you to all of the people for the great reception in Hanoi," he wrote. "Tremendous crowds, and so much love!" Kim preceded him, and the White House press corps got some unwelcome news related to that. American TV crews had spent days setting up their work area at the Melia Hanoi hotel, the same one where Kim is staying. And the proximity may have been a little too much for him: Officials abruptly evicted the journalists just before Kim arrived, reports NBC News. It wasn't clear whether it was North Korea, Vietnam, or the US who ordered the move. (Read a preview of what to expect at the Wednesday-Thursday summit.)
(Newser)  A Michigan gay rights activist and former Citizen of the Year has been charged with setting his home ablaze in what was first investigated as a hate crime. The 2017 fire killed five pets, the Detroit News reports. Nikki Joly, a transgender man, had received death threats prior to the fire, and investigators determined that the cause of the blaze was arson. More than a year later, Joly was arrested, but police haven't put forth a motive and his lawyer says, "It doesnt make sense." The house was a rental, and was insured by its owner. A police report said two people who worked with Joly at the Jackson Pride Center said Joly, 54, had been upset that the issue of gay rights was receiving less attention, but one of them says her statement was misinterpreted and she didn't hear Joly say such a thing. And Joly's lawyer adds, "There was plenty of media coverage already [for gay rights activism] before the fire." A hearing is scheduled for March 8.

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"Its embarrassing," one gay rights activist in Jackson says. "How do you do it to the community you have put so much effort into helping?" Joly had just achieved a series of local victories for gay rights residents, per the News: He'd organized the city's first gay festival, opened its first gay community center, and helped win an anti-discrimination ordinancewhich had been rejected for 18 years running. The Jackson newspaper named him Citizen of the Year. Joly's case has drawn comparisons to that of actor Jussie Smollett, who is accused of a hate crime hoax in Chicago. "Real hate crimes are on the rise," an academic at Oakland University tells the Detroit Free Press. "But as these crimes increase and become publicized, its not surprising to me that people would take the opportunity to use this to their advantage and fabricate hate crimes." (Smollett's TV dad recently defended him.)
(Newser)  If President Trump wants to keep his declaration of a national emergency in place, it's looking increasingly likely that he will have to use the first veto of his presidency. The House votes Tuesday on a measure to nullify the emergency, and the measure is expected to pass easily, reports the Washington Post. The Senate will then have to vote on it within 18 days, and Trump can afford only four GOP defections, per Politico. The president got some bad news Monday night, when North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis announced in a Post op-ed that he planned to join fellow Republicans Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins in voting no. Given how many other GOP senators have voiced reservations about Trump's action, it now seems a safe bet that the measure will pass the Senate, too. That means Trump would have use the first veto of his presidency to keep the emergency in place.

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Already, the key question shaping up on the issue is whether Democrats can muster enough support to override the expected veto. As of now, it looks unlikely, reports the Hill. Even if the House manages to pass the measure with a veto-proof majority (two-thirds), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would need only 34 votes to sustain the veto. McConnell, though, already has warned Trump that the initial vote, requiring only a simple majority, is not likely to go the president's way, per the Hill. As for Tillis, he explained his no vote this way: "Conservatives rightfully cried foul when President Barack Obama used executive action to completely bypass Congress," he wrote. "There is no intellectual honesty in now turning around and arguing that theres an imaginary asterisk attached to executive overreachthat its acceptable for my party but not thy party." (Read more national emergency stories.)
The spread of superbugs resistant to antimicrobial drugs shows no sign of slowing in Europe, health officials said on Tuesday, making food poisoning and other infections more difficult to treat.

Releasing data on the growth of antimicrobial resistance, the European Unions commissioner for health and food safety said it should ring alarm bells across the region.

The report released today...shows we are entering into a world where more and more common infections become difficult  or even sometimes impossible  to treat, Vytenis Andriukaitis said in a statement.

Drug resistance is driven by the misuse and overuse of antibiotics and other antimicrobials, which encourages bacteria to evolve to survive by finding new ways to beat the medicines.

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) report analyzed 2017 data on antimicrobial resistance collected from 28 EU states.

It found that in a bacteria known as Campylobacter which can cause food poisoning in people, resistance to antibiotics called fluoroquinolones is so high in some countries that these drugs no longer work for the treatment of severe cases.

Most countries also reported that Salmonella in humans is increasingly resistant to fluoroquinolones, the report said, and multidrug resistance - classified as resistance to three or more antimicrobial medicines - is high in Salmonella found in humans and animals.

Mike Catchpole, the ECDCs chief scientist, said the reports findings on combined resistance were particularly worrying. Even low proportions mean that many thousands of patients across the EU have limited treatment options for severe infections, he said.

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(Newser)  Five family members are dead in Pennsylvania, and a mother and daughter stand accused of their murders. WPVI reports the bodies were discovered during a welfare check Monday afternoon after no one had seen anyone who lived in the Morrisville apartment for a few days. Shana Decree, 45, and her daughter Dominique Decree, 19, were found inside and taken to the hospital; one of the women was reportedly having seizures and the other seemed dazed. There were also five bodies: those of Shana Decree's children, Naa'Irah Smith, 25, and Damon Decree Jr., 13; her sister, Jamilla Campbell, 42; and Campbell's 9-year-old twin girls, Imani and Erika Allen. Campbell and her children lived in Trenton, NJ. The women face five counts of criminal homicide and one count of conspiracy, reports NBC10.

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"The people that committed these atrocious acts are in custody and well make them pay for their crimes," said Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub on Monday. No motive has been given, nor have authorities explained how the victims were killed. LevittownNow.com cites Morrisville's police chief as saying the bodies bore no obvious signs of trauma and firefighters confirmed high levels of hazardous materials weren't present. Meanwhile, investigators are searching for Campbell's 17-year-old son, Joshua, to verify that he is unharmed. He is not considered a suspect. (Read more murder stories.)
(Newser)  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's armored limousine, surrounded by his phalanx of burly bodyguards, rolled into Vietnam's capital Tuesday ahead of a summit with US President Trump that's meant to deal with perhaps the world's biggest security challenge: Kim's pursuit of a nuclear program that stands on the verge of viably threatening targets around the planet. Soldiers, police, and international journalists thronged the streets outside Hanoi's Melia Hotel where Kim was set to stay, and hundreds of eager citizens stood behind barricades hoping to see the North Korean leader, the AP reports. As Vietnamese, North Korean, and US flags fluttered in a cold drizzle, dozens of cameras flashed and some citizens screamed and used their mobile phones to capture Kim's rock-star-like arrival at the hotel.

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Vietnam's authoritarian leaders set up a huge security apparatus to welcome Kim, shutting long stretches of highway and locking down swaths of the bustling capital. There was a palpable, carnival-like excitement among many in Hanoi as final preparations were made for the meeting. Earlier in the morning, Kim, grinning broadly and waving, stepped off his armored train at the end of a nearly 70-hour ride that started in Pyongyang and wound through China to the Vietnamese border. Hours ahead of his border crossing, footage from Japanese TV network TBS showed Kim taking a predawn smoke break at a Chinese train station, a woman who appeared to be his sister, Kim Yo Jong, holding a crystal ashtray at the ready. Trump was flying to Hanoi from Washington and set to arrive later Tuesday; he and Kim are expected to start things off with a dinner Wednesday. More on the schedule here. (Ahead of summit, talk of a historic move.)
(Newser)  A team of American journalists led by Univision's Jorge Ramos said they had their camera equipment and phones seized at Venezuela's presidential palace after Nicolas Maduro abruptly ended an interview Monday. Ramos, one of the most influential Spanish-speaking journalists in the US, told the AP late Monday that Maduro cut short the interview after 17 minutes when he was shown video on an iPad shot a day earlier of young Venezuelans eating food scraps out of the back of a garbage truck. The Univision team left the Miraflores palace after two hours without having their phones, footage, or four cameras returned, Ramos said. He said they were informed by intelligence agents that they would be deported Tuesday, when they were already scheduled to return to their base in Miami. "The hotel we are staying in is surrounded by Venezuelan authorities, we cannot go outside," a member of the team tweeted, per CNN.

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Venezuela's government denied Ramos' account. They accused him of trying to stage an international incident after a senior State Department official and Sen. Marco Rubio relayed reports on social media of what they called Ramos' detention at the same time an interview shot earlier in the day with US network ABC was being aired. "Hundreds of journalists have passed through Miraflores and received the same decent treatment we give all those doing journalistic work," Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez said on Twitter. Ramos, who interviewed Maduro's mentor, Hugo Chavez, three times, said Maduro accused him of siding with the government's opponents in the political fight for power now raging in Venezuela. "They interrogated us. They put us in a security room. They turned off the lights," he said on Univision, via phone. "They have stolen our work." (Rubio recently made headlines for apparently threatening Maduro on Twitter.)
(Newser)  Despite a dementia diagnosis, Ernie Caswell noticed when his partner of 46 years failed to visit him in the hospital last summer. It was out of character for Dennis Dayan actor and original Mouseketeer on The Mickey Mouse Club, per the Mail Tribunewho rarely left Caswell's side. Day "doesn't even leave his house to travel anywhere," his niece, Denise Norris, tells NBC News. "The last time he left his town was [to] come to his mother's funeral. And that was 12 years ago." Yet Day, of Phoenix, Ore., hasnt been seen since Caswell filed a missing persons report last July. Members of Day's extended family, who last visited in June 2017, only learned he was missing after a January news report. Police then told Day's sister that a roommate reported he'd left to visit friends. Nelda Adkins says Day's car was left behind, along with the pets he loved "like children."

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Still, the car was later found along the Oregon coast, but "there was no evidence of a crime," Lt. Jeff Price tells KOBI. He says there's also no evidence to support a letter in which Day supposedly accused the roommate of assaulting him "on an occasion." Searches of his home, a nearby graveyard, and a creek have failed to turn up any sign of the former Mouseketeer, whose bank accounts and credit cards haven't been used. As he didn't use social media and had only a prepaid cellphone, it's difficult to glean more. "We're just kind of lost with what to do, or how to find him," Norris tells NBC. "He's not the type of person who would just disappear. Especially with his significant other being in the hospitalhe was very dedicated to him." Caswell has since moved to an assisted living facility. Adkins says he recognizes friends and is "doing well," considering. (Read more missing person stories.)
(Newser)  Britain must end its control of the Chagos islands "as rapidly as possible," according to the UN's highest court. The International Court of Justice said Monday that Britain had unlawfully carved up Mauritius, which the Chagos were a part of, when it agreed to end colonial rule in the late 1960s. The UK government reacted to the ruling by saying that it will look "carefully" at it, while stressing that the court's view is "an advisory opinion, not a judgment." But it's one that carries weight since it came from the top UN court and could put significant pressure on London to act, reports the AP. The court said it concluded that even though Mauritius' government agreed to split off the Chagos islands shortly before the country's 1968 independence, "this detachment was not based on the free and genuine expression of the will of the people concerned."

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Britain evicted about 2,000 people from the Chagos archipelago in the 1960s and 1970s so the US military could build an air base on one of its atolls, Diego Garcia. As NPR's Ari Shapiro put it, "They shipped the Chagossian people more than a thousand miles away to Mauritius, a former British colony, where the people lived in abject poverty." Many resettled in the UK and have fought in British courts to return to the islands, which the Financial Times calls Britain's "last colony in Africa." The BBC reports the UK has previously said it would return the islands to Mauritius once it didn't need them for defense, and the Foreign Office addressed that, saying they currently "help to protect people here in Britain and around the world from terrorist threats, organized crime, and piracy." Mauritius has previously said the US can retain its base even if the UK relinquishes control. (A territorial dispute over these islands has lasted decades.)
(Newser)  One of the most powerful men in the Roman Catholic Church, a close adviser to the pope, has been convicted of child sexual abuse. A jury found Australian Cardinal George Pell guilty of one count of sexually penetrating a child under the age of 16 and four charges of an indecent act with a child under the age of 16. The verdict was reached in December, the Guardian reports, but was kept secret until now by a suppression order. Sentencing is scheduled for next week, though Pell, who has been out on bail, could be taken into custody at a plea hearing Wednesday. The attacks took place months after Pell became archbishop of Melbourne in 1996. Pell did not testify in his defense, but video of detectives interviewing him was screened for jurors. In it, he insists he's innocent and interrupts as detectives elaborate on the allegations: "Oh, stop it. What a load of absolute and disgraceful rubbish. Completely false. Madness." Pell, who is almost certain to be imprisoned, showed no reaction when the verdict was announced. He has filed an appeal.

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Pell, the church's No. 3 official worldwide, is the highest-ranking church official to be convicted of sexually abusing children. He moved to Rome in 2014, CNN reports, after being selected by Pope Francis to serve as Vatican treasurer and as a member of the Council of Cardinals to the Pope. The church removed Pell from the council after the accusations surfaced. Last week, Francis held a summit on sexual abuse by clergy, in which he denounced abuse but presented no plan to stamp it out. The men assaulted by Pell told the court that fear of the powerful cardinal kept them silent at the time, per the Guardian. One, a choirboy who was attacked after mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, said that being in the choir was a condition of his scholarship at the time. "I knew a scholarship could be given or taken away even at that age," he testified. "And I didnt want to lose that. It meant so much to me. And what would I do if I said such a thing about an archbishop?" (The pope admitted nuns have been abused, as well.)
(Newser)  A California woman out for a hike in Yosemite National Park was killed Sunday, and National Park Service officials said Monday it's because she went where she wasn't supposed to go. Per the Fresno Bee, 56-year-old Xuan Wang was hit by ice and rock that fell from above as she hiked on the Mist Trail, which the NPS says is currently closed for the winter and clearly marked as such. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Wang was on the 3-mile trail leading up to Vernal Fall at around 12:30pm Sunday when she was struck by the debris.

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The Cupertino woman died shortly after from her injuries. The Chronicle notes that falling debris is among the reasons the trail is shuttered in the colder months, in addition to other hazardous winter conditions. "Wang ignored the signs [and] went around the gate," the NPS said in a release. An investigation is underway, per the NPS. (Read more Yosemite National Park stories.)
(Newser)  The driver of a Tesla Model S was killed when his car crashed near Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and erupted in flames. Witnesses told police in Davie that the car was traveling 75mph to 90mph Sunday afternoon when it left the road for an unknown reason, per the AP. The driver overcorrected and the car slid across three lanes and into some trees in the median. A police officer arrived almost immediately after the crash but wasn't able to rescue the driver, identified by officers as Omar Awan, before the car was engulfed in flames. Tesla said in a statement that it was deeply saddened by the crash and is cooperating with police. "We understand that speed is being investigated as a factor in this crash, and know that high-speed collisions can result in a fire in any type of car, not just electric vehicles," the company said.

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The Tesla's battery reignited twice on Monday morning at a salvage yard where it was towed, Davie Fire Marshal Robert Taylor said. Tesla said in a statement that it posts language on its website for first responders saying that fires can take up to 24 hours to extinguish and that they should consider letting the battery burn while protecting exposures to buildings. Last year the National Transportation Safety Board opened investigations into two Tesla fires in California, one in West Hollywood and the other near Mountain View. The Davie crash remains under investigation, though an NTSB rep said Monday that the safety group isn't investigating it. (Read more Tesla stories.)
(Newser)  A Tennessee woman accused of fatally striking a Chattanooga police officer and then leaving the scene Saturday night is now in police custody. Police say Janet Elaine Hinds, 54, was speeding in the rain on Hamil Road just after 11pm when she crossed the double center line, hit a sign in the center of the road warning drivers of an exposed manhole cover, then hit Nicholas Galinger. The officer was inspecting the manhole cover, which had water flowing from it, at the time. Galinger died at a local hospital and Hinds was added to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Top 10 most wanted list, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. She turned herself in Monday.

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Hinds is charged with vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of an accident with death, reckless driving, driving left of center line, failure to render aid, violation of traffic control, speeding, failure to report an accident, driver's responsibility to exercise due care. A judge set her bond at $300,000 with house arrest ordered if she posts bond; she is also not allowed to drive. Prior to her surrender, police had asked the public to alert authorities if they saw a 2017-2018 Honda CR-V with damage to its front end; authorities found a vehicle matching that description, with extensive damage, at Hinds' residence five miles away from the scene of the accident. They got a warrant to seize it and other evidence from the home. Galinger, 38, had only been on the job about a month when he was killed, the Tennesseean reports. (Good Samaritan hit, killed by driver who then steals his car.)




Police have intensified a crackdown on illegal foreign currency dealers under an operation code-named Dzosai Mari and 24 suspected dealers appeared at the Harare Magistrates Courts between Friday and Saturday last week.





They were arrested separately in Harare. Some of the suspects appeared before magistrate Mr Edwin Marecha.





The other group appeared before Mr Learnmore Mapiye on charges of contravening Exchange Control (Amendment) Regulations, 2018 (No.5), which criminalises illegal trading in foreign currency.





Ten of the suspects were released on $150 bail each. The remainder remains in custody pending ruling on their bail applications.





Operation Dzosai Mari started last year. It is being conducted by the police and other stakeholders.





In November last year, several illegal foreign currency dealers were raided and arrested in Harare under the same operation.





They were convicted and their money was forfeited to the State. Herald




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South Korean tech giant Samsung said it aims to expand production lines in Egypt for home appliances and mobile phones, a statement by the Egyptian investment and international cooperation ministry said on Tuesday.

The Egyptian investment ministry quoted Samsung officials as saying during a high-profile Egyptian delegation's visit to the East Asian country that it has invested $265 million in Egypt in the past years.

The volume of exports have risen to $780 million through Egyptian-made electronics to 42 countries.

The statement came during an Egyptian-South Korean business forum, which saw the biggest gathering by South Korean investors with representatives from Egyptian companies.

According to the statement, the South Korean deputy prime minister and minister of economy and finance Hong Nam-ki said that Egypt enjoys a strategic location for tourism, investment, and establishing logistic zones.

Since Monday, Egypt's Investment and International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait, and Suez Canal chairman Mohab Mamish flew to South Korea to discuss attracting South Korean investments to Egypt.

South Korean investments in Egypt stand at $560 million through tech giants LG and Samsung, according to Egyptian officials.

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Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

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Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon expressed his country's appreciation for having distinguished relations with Egypt in view of its vital role in maintaining stability and peace in the Middle East region.

The South Korean premier's remarks were made during his meeting on Tuesday with Egypt's Minister of International Cooperation and Investment Sahar Nasr, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait and head of the Suez Canal Authority Mohamed Mamish, currently on a business visit to Seoul.

A statement released by the investment ministry said that Nasr asserted that Egypt is seeking to set up partnership relations with South Korea as it is considered a successful example in the economic field, adding that Cairo is looking forward to enhancing its relations with Seoul in all domains, especially in light of the mega development projects which are currently under construction in Egypt.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait reviewed the economic reform efforts introduced by the Egyptian government, the recent economic indices as well as growth rates.

Mamish also briefed the Korean side on the investment opportunities in the Exclusive Economic Zone in Suez Canal which includes six harbours, adding that currently 161 companies are operating in the zone.

The focus of business in EEZ in the coming phase is to build three ship arsenals.

The Korean premier, said his country is willing to join in partnership with Egypt in the ship building in the EEZ of the Suez Canal, asserting that Korean companies could benefit from such projects.

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Champaign, IL (61820)

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Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low near 70F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

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Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low near 70F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
Pikeville, KY (41501)

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A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Mostly clear. Low 71F. Winds light and variable..

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A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Mostly clear. Low 71F. Winds light and variable.
By PTI

UNITED NATIONS: UN chief Antonio Guterres is following the situation between India and Pakistan "very closely" and has appealed to the governments of both nations to exercise "maximum restraint" to ensure the situation does not deteriorate further, a top UN official said Tuesday.

The UN Secretary General's remarks came after Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out a pre-dawn air strike on a terror training camp inside Pakistan. The strike was the first by the IAF inside Pakistan after the 1971 war.

India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 80-km from the Line of Control (LoC) early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders.

"He is obviously following the situation very closely and reiterates his urgent appeal to both the governments of India and the government of Pakistan to exercise maximum restraint to ensure that the situation does not further deteriorate," UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters when asked about the Secretary General's remarks on the air strike.

Dujarric said Guterres did not have any information on the possible casualties and has seen the news reports.

Guterres is returning to New York from Geneva and Dujarric said he had spoken to the UN chief about the situation between India and Pakistan before he boarded his plane.

The air strike came 12 days after the JeM carried out a suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

India launched a major diplomatic offensive against Islamabad after the Pulwama attack and highlighted Pakistan's role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

The international community led by the US pressed Pakistan to deny safe haven to terror groups operating form its soil and bring the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack to justice.

India has asked Pakistan to take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control.

New Delhi also announced the withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation status for Pakistan and hiked the customs duty by 200 per cent on goods originating from Pakistan.
Ramananda Sengupta By

Express News Service

There were mixed reactions in Pakistan as reports of the Indian Air Force strike on a terror camp in Balakot started trickling in.

While the government and the media were in denial, with TV anchors and senior journalists questioning the authenticity of the mission, others asked for proof of the action and evidence.

Syed, a Twitter user from Pakistan, claimed that So a friend from the area has confirmed that madressa Taleem-ul-Quran (its board says run by Hazrat Maulana Masood Azhar) at Mansehra (Balakot) was hit, & there are ~10 ambulances around. But the area is now sealed. Local students told him, ziada nahi marai bachatt hogae.

But he was immediately attacked by other Pakistanis who accused him of being an Indian stooge.

Syeds tweeted was endorsed by Ayesha Siddiqa, one of Pakistans foremost military analysts, who after wondering if Has anyone woken up Imran Khan? asked: A question that @SMQureshiPTI (Pakistans foreign minister) must answer or @OfficialDGISPR (military spokesperson) that even if payload jettisoned the question is how were IAF planes allowed to come that deep?... If Indian presser is to be believed then it seems Indian intelligence did a one up on its counter-part as they had exact info about the camp and who was running it?

Even if payload jettisoned and aircraft left it is redrawing red lines. Lets see where the diplomatic war goes now, she said, adding: Seems like we cant defend Abbottabad, referring to the military cantonment where US forces had found and killed Al Qaeda chieftain Osama Bin Laden.

Wonder what telephone bills look like at Foreign Office as @SMQureshiPTI fearing the worst, called up everyone and their grandmother asking for restraint from India. Every one had one message, "reign in terrorists", tweeted veteran journalist Mariana Babar.

Senior Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, however, was skeptical in his response. If it was a successful strike why Indian Defence or Foreign Minister never addressed the press conference. Why Foreign Secretary was asked to read a statement and why he never took any questions from media? he asked, demanding that India provide proof.

Salim Safi, a Pakistani defence analyst, opined that India had declared war with this violation. He insisted that India should be given a strong message. He was supported by another analyst Sohail Warraich, who said, All the parties should unite and show that Pakistan will defend its territory. We should be like a wall and give a strong message.

There is nothing uglier than people cheering for war, opined Fatima Bhutto, niece of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Nothing uglier. Nothing more ignorant than cheering for war. May sense prevail.. Pakistan Zindabad agreed Pakistani actress Mahira Khan.

Another actress, Armeena Rana Khan, condemning Bollywood celebrities for glorifying war.

Im watching some of these Bollywood accounts in dismay, glorifying war. People should take note: In the future, these particular individuals shouldnt be allowed to preach peace to the world. Artists are supposed to be sane, pacifying voices, she said.

Ive seen what war can do. Trust me, you will not want it once you see just how bloody and scary it can be. Nobody wins a war; humanity loses.
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani media gave extensive coverage to the Indian Air Force's (IAF) pre-dawn operation to destroy a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in the country and most of them stuck to the official line that the Indian fighter jets entered the Pakistani territory by 3 to 4-km without doing any damage.

Hours after the strike, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the media in New Delhi that a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated.

Official sources also said the IAF jets used a number of laser-guided bombs, each weighing over 1,000 kg, to destroy the JeM training facility in Balakot, around 80-KM from the Line of Control.

All major Pakistani TV channels, including the state-run PTV, Geo, Dawn, Express, SAMAA, ARY broadcast throughout the day that Indian jets violated the Line of Control in early hours of Tuesday, but did not talk much about India's claim of having destroyed JeM camps in the Balakot valley.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side in a pre-dawn strike, 12 days after the Pakistan-based terror group JeM carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

There was no other news in the Pakistani media since 11 am on Tuesday except the "Indian aggression".

Interestingly, the Pakistani media picked up the official line that the Indian planes entered the Pakistani territory by 3 to 4-km and no damage was done.

All the channels gave live coverage to the National Assembly session where leaders of the main opposition parties, PMLN and PPP, talked of unity in the face of "Indian aggression".

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senior leader Khursheed Shah and former foreign minister Khwaja Asif said that the Indian planes entered 30-km inside Pakistan, putting a question mark on the official claim of the Pakistani government that the aircraft entered only 3 to 4-km.

The media censored this statement of 30-km.

Talking to C24 News, senior journalist Iftikhar Ahmed questioned if the Indian planes only violated Pakistan's air space by 3-km, then why the Imran Khan government took more than 12 hours to clarify on it.

After his comment, the news channel took him off the air.

Another senior journalist Anjum Rashid said Pakistani media should not create an environment of "war hysteria" as it would serve no good.

"We should take up this matter with the international community to put pressure on India," he said.

"Why did not we shoot down the intruding Indian fighter jets?" questioned senior journalist Ansar Abbasi.

"Indian Air Force attack is intelligently planned. They don't hit actual targets but they derive political advantage at home. It establishes an incursion below threshold putting Pakistan in an awkward situation as it has no cause to respond," said GNN TV anchor Moeed Pirzada.

"It was tragic that Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi convened an emergency meeting at the Foreign Office six hours after Indian aircraft came into our territory. Even a tortoise can move faster," said anchor Syed Talat Hussain.

Known Geo TV anchor Hamid Mir put a question mark on the Indian claim of having to destroy the terror camps of JeM.

Most media anchors, journalists and security experts also followed this line.

Some TV channels also ran the footage of the locals of Balakote, claiming that no unusual activity took place in their area.
By PTI

HANOI: Kim Jong Un arrived in Hanoi Tuesday to ultra-tight security and enthusiastic crowds ahead of a second summit with Donald Trump, as the world looks for tangible progress over North Korea's nuclear programme.

After a historic initial meeting in Singapore in June that produced only a vague statement about denuclearisation, analysts say the second date must deliver more concrete steps towards dismantling Pyongyang's arsenal.

ALSO READ | Ex-diplomat says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un won't give up nukes

The normally sleepy Vietnamese border station of Dong Dang spruced itself up for Kim's arrival after the young leader emulated his grandfather with a 4,000-kilometre, two-and-a-half-day odyssey through China aboard his olive green train.

A military guard of honour in pristine white uniforms presented arms as Kim strolled down the red carpet waving and grinning, surrounded by a phalanx of aides and security personnel.

Local official Hoang Thi Thuy, said she had waited in the cold rain since before dawn for a glimpse of Kim, the first North Korean leader to visit fellow one-party state Vietnam since his grandfather Kim Il Sung in 1964.

"I was so excited when we were told to stand in place for the arrival of the train," she told AFP.

"We saw the leader from afar. I felt so happy, it's hard to describe."

Wearing his trademark Mao-style black suit and flanked by his troops of bodyguards, Kim was ushered into a waiting Mercedes Benz and his motorcade rolled off towards Hanoi, where crowds lined the streets and armoured personnel carriers patrolled the roads.

Trump was taking a more conventional route on Air Force One to the meeting and was expected to arrive in Hanoi late Tuesday.

He tweeted he was looking forward to a "very productive" second summit.

The US president again dangled the carrot of economic progress for North Korea if it gives up its nuclear programme.

"With complete Denuclearization, North Korea will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse," tweeted Trump.

"Without it, just more of the same."

"Chairman Kim will make a wise decision!" Relations between the two mercurial leaders have undergone a dramatic turnaround, from flinging personal insults and threats of destruction to Trump declaring he had fallen "in love" with Kim through an exchange of letters.

ALSO READ | North Korea 'could be great power' without nuclear weapons: Donald Trump

But many North Korea watchers dismissed the Singapore summit as a piece of political theatre that failed to produce a concrete roadmap to denuclearisation and stressed that the Hanoi meeting must deliver more.

"The window for diplomatic progress with North Korea will not remain open indefinitely. The second summit must emphasise substance over pageantry," said Kelsey Davenport from the Arms Control Association.

Concrete details about the summit have been few and far between but White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters aboard Air Force One the two leaders would dine together Wednesday with close advisors.

Diplomatic progress since Singapore has stalled over the definition of denuclearisation, with Stephen Biegun, the US Special Representative for North Korea, admitting there was no "shared agreement" of what that means.

The United States has repeatedly demanded the North give up its nuclear arsenal in a final, fully verifiable way.

But Pyongyang sees denuclearisation more broadly, seeking an end to sanctions and what it sees as US threats -- usually taken to include the American military presence in the South, and sometimes in the wider region.

In the run-up to the summit, Trump appeared to lower US demands for Pyongyang, repeatedly saying there was no rush to rid the North of its arsenal as long as missile and nuclear tests stopped.

"I don't want to rush anybody. I just don't want testing. As long as there's no testing, we're happy," said Trump.

He also hinted more summits could follow the Hanoi meeting, reducing expectations of a dramatic breakthrough in the Vietnamese capital.

Pyongyang insists it has already taken major steps, by not testing ballistic missiles or nuclear weapons for more than a year, and blowing up the entrances to its atomic test site.

The North also wants increased security guarantees, which could come in the form of a declaration of an end to the 1950-53 Korean War -- that ended with an armistice instead of a full peace treaty -- or opening liaison offices.

Opening liaison offices would signal the first stage of normalising US-North Korean relations, said Go Myong-hyun of the Asan Institute of Policy Studies, and would be an ideal "politically symbolic step" rather than prematurely agreeing to sanctions relief.

Harry Kazianis of the Center for the National Interest said: "Nothing would be worse than for either side to come out of the meeting as if it was a waste of time."
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday said India has committed "aggression" by violating the LoC and Islamabad has "right to respond".

His remarks came after combat jets of the Indian Air Force (IAF) bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side in a pre-dawn strike.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan convened an emergency meeting to review the emerging situation in the wake of the Indian Air Force's (IAF) violation of the Line of Control, Radio Pakistan reported.

India's air strikes came 12 days after the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

ALSO READ | Congress chief Rahul Gandhi lauds IAF pilots for air strikes on Pakistan

In Islamabad, Foreign Minister Qureshi said India has violated the LoC and Pakistan has right to respond.

       @SMQureshiPTI pic.twitter.com/gB9keGku70  PTV News (@PTVNewsOfficial) February 26, 2019

"First, they committed aggression against Pakistan today. It is a violation of the LoC. I consider it a violation of the LoC, and Pakistan his right to give a suitable response in self-defence," he told reporters after an "emergency meeting" with high-level officials at the Foreign Office (FO) for consultations.

Qureshi briefed Prime Minister Khan after the meeting at the FO.

Earlier, the Pakistan Army alleged that the Indian Air Force (IAF) violated the Line of Control (LoC) in Muzafarabad Sector.

"Indian aircraft intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage," Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said in a tweet.

Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage.  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019

"Indian Air Force violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft gone back," he tweeted.

Indian Air Force violated Line of Control. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircrafts gone back. Details to follow.  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 25, 2019

Senator Sherry Rehman, a leading opposition leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, said that "Indian incursion" across the LOC is strategically "ill-advised and tactically pointless".

Indian incursion across the LOC is strategically ill-advised & tactically pointless #PakistanArmy #PakAirForce clearly on alert. Such moves only ratchet up tensions in a region bristling with anger.Obvious that #Modis election wardrums make prospects for talks collateral damage  SenatorSherryRehman (@sherryrehman) February 26, 2019

"Such moves only ratchet up tensions in a region bristling with anger. Obvious that (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi's election wardrums make prospects for talks collateral damage. India's ruling party sees no other way to win the elections hence, itching for war," Rehman said in a tweet.

Meanwhile, Pakistani media was reporting that the Indian government has staged a symbolic intrusion due to domestic pressure.

Prime Minister Khan has not commented on the issue.
By PTI

PARIS: France has condemned the "terrible" Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 Indian soldiers and asked Pakistan to put an end to the terrorist groups operating from its soil.

Forty Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed on February 14 in Jammu and Kashmir when a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into their bus in Pulwama district, sparking outrage in the country.

"France most firmly condemns the terrible attack perpetrated on February 14 against Indian security forces in Pulwama, for which the terrorist group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, has claimed responsibility," said the acting spokesperson of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs.

"France recognises India's legitimacy to ensure its security against cross-border terrorism and asks Pakistan to put an end to the operations of terrorist groups established on its territory," the official said in a statement.

France, which stands by India in the fight against terrorism in all its forms, is fully engaged in mobilising the international community to sanction the terrorists responsible for this attack and freezing their financing networks, it said.

The statement came days after a senior French source told PTI that France will be moving a proposal at the UN to ban Masood Azhar, chief of the UN-proscribed JeM which has claimed responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack.

ALSO READ: Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar: An overweight blue-eyed boy of ISI

"France solemnly calls on India and Pakistan to exercise restraint so as to avert any risk of military escalation and preserve strategic stability in the region," the statement said.

The resumption of bilateral dialogue between Islamabad and New Delhi is necessary to initiate a peaceful settlement of differences, it said.

India launched a major diplomatic offensive against Islamabad after the Pulwama attack and highlighted Pakistan's role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

The international community led by the US pressed Pakistan to deny safe haven to terror groups operating from its soil and bring the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack to justice.

India has asked Pakistan to take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control.

New Delhi also announced the withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation status for Pakistan and hiked the customs duty by 200 per cent on goods originating from Pakistan.
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi spoke to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Tuesday and apprised him about the Line of Control "violation" by the Indian jets, a media report said.

In his telephonic conversation with Pompeo, Qureshi said India is "jeopardising the peace in South Asia for its political purposes and elections", state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

He said that Pakistan is desirous of peace in the region, but will not compromise on its territorial integrity.

Qureshi told Pompeo that the Indian "aggression can disturb joint efforts to establish peace in Afghanistan" as he expressed hope that US will play its role in the region.

India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 80-km from the Line of Control (LoC), early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders.

The air strikes came 12 days after the JeM carried out a suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

Last week, US National Security Adviser John Bolton told his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval that America supports India's right to self-defence as both sides vowed to work together to ensure that Pakistan ceases to be a safe heaven for JeM and other terror groups.
Four people including two children were killed and ten others injured in an exchange of fire between Indian and Pakistani troops in Kashmir Tuesday, Pakistani officials said, as tensions surge between the nuclear-armed rivals.

"An Indian mortar shell hit a house in Nakyal sector along the Line of Control that killed a mother, daughter and son while three others were injured," local disaster management authority official Shariq Tariq told AFP.

New Delhi and Islamabad regularly accuse each other of firing across the heavily-militarised de facto border in Kashmir, called the Line of Control.

Tariq said another woman was killed and seven others injured in shelling elsewhere in Nakyal. Local police official Irfan Saleem confirmed the incident.

The deaths came as India said Tuesday it had launched air strikes against militant camps in Pakistan's territory, following a suicide attack that killed 40 Indian soldiers in Kashmir earlier this month.

Pakistan denied India's claim that the attack had inflicted major damage and casualties on militants responsible for the February 14 bombing as "reckless and fictitious", and said it would respond in due course.

The purported attack would be India's first use of air strikes against Pakistan since 1971, when the two went to war over Bangladesh's independence.

The incursion across the ceasefire line that divides Kashmir came after India threatened retaliation over the suicide bombing this month that was claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group.

The escalation has triggered international alarm, with China and the European Union calling for both sides to show restraint.

Kashmir has been divided between Pakistan and India since the end of British colonial rule over the subcontinent in 1947. Both sides claim the territory in full.

Firing across the Line of Control has killed and wounded dozens of soldiers and civilians on both sides in recent years.

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South Africa: New dawn for disability empowerment

It is estimated that approximately half a million children of school going age with disabilities remain out of school.

This is despite advances noted in the 2011 Disability Report Census, which states that in the education sector, there has been a visible increase in the number of persons with disabilities enrolled in all levels of the education system up to tertiary level.

This is a huge challenge, said President Cyril Ramaphosa as he delivered his opening remarks at the Presidential Working Group on Disability, meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting, chaired by President Ramaphosa, will see the Working Group on Disability discuss and propose ideas on how to empower and advance the cause of people with disabilities in the country.

Established in 2014, the Working Group on Disability is tasked with championing and monitoring the work of government departments and society in creating a better life for persons with disability.

The Working Group last met in 2016. President Ramaphosa kicked off the meeting by apologising to the group for failure to meet.

We have lost valuable time and important opportunities to engage, he said.

President Ramaphosa said although notable strides had been made in the education sector, with respect to employment, there has been disappointing progress.

In December 2017, employees with disabilities constituted just 1.3% of the workforce of designated employers in both the public and private sector.

Persons with disabilities constituted 0.9% of the public sector workforce, and 1.25% in national government departments.

Gauteng was the only sphere of government to exceed the 2% target, reaching 2.18% by December 2017.

We therefore have an important foundation from which to accelerate the pace at which we are changing the lives of persons with disabilities and their families, said the President.

To ensure implementation, President Ramaphosa turned to the countrys international obligations, such as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which needs domestication.

The President called on the Working Group participants to advise government on how it can accelerate the domestication process.

Turning to the continent, the President highlighted that a significant recent development on the continent was the adoption of the Africa Disability Protocol by the AU Heads of State in January 2018.

The protocol provides a legal instrument to promote enjoyment of all human rights by all persons with disabilities, and to ensure respect for their inherent dignity.

Guided by these global and continental agreements, we hope that this Working Group will provide advice on how we also speed up the implementation of the White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, said the President.

Every organ of State must be reporting substantively on the inclusion of people with disability within their respective mandates.

Following a post State of the Nation Address debate in the National House of Traditional Leadership, the President said the house raised concerns about the provision of facilities and services to persons with disabilities in areas under traditional authority.

In light of this, President Ramaphosa urged the Working Group to heed these concerns and ensure they find expression in the groups discussions.

Additionally, the President gave the working group a target to ensure that the issues of people with disabilities are effectively mainstreamed across all departments.

We are committed to ensure that the interests and rights of persons with disabilities are effectively mainstreamed across all departments in the next Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) for 2020-2025, accompanied by an integrated information system to track performance against targets, said the President.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-02-26. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
By Online Desk

Tilak Devasher, former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, specializes in security issues with a specific focus on Indias neighbourhood. During his stint with the government, he has served in Delhi and J&K, as well as in Indian missions in Islamabad, San Francisco, Yangon and London. He is also the author of two widely acclaimed books on Pakistan, and writes regularly for various Indian and foreign publications. He spoke to Ramananda Sengupta

Let me preface this by saying that what has been achieved in todays airstrikes is something very fundamental, and a very major achievement. Because whatever restraints that we had put on ourselves, of not reacting for fear of escalating it to the nuclear level, those shackles have been broken down by India conclusively.

Pakistan will have now have to rethink its entire strategy of using non-state actors against us. So far Pakistans strategy was that under a nuclear overhang they could do whatever they liked and India would not dare to attack. That has been demolished totally. Thats the first point.

Where do we go from here? Pakistan will have to react for the sake of its own prestige domestically in the country. Their dilemma is going to be that there are no terrorist camps in India. So what do they retaliate against? They will either have to retaliate against a military target, or against our civilian population, or an economic target. Each of these is very escalatory or a direct declaration of war. So I am not sure whether Pakistan or its ministry of defence would either advise that or whether it is even prepared for a war.

So what they are likely to use, and its an easy option for them, would be to galvanise some of the terrorist sleeper modules within the country. They may try to do that, so we need to be very careful and remain on watch, internally. But this will not be satisfactory enough for the Pakistani army or the Pakistani public itself. Because they will say that if we have to take revenge, the Pakistan army will have to do something. So its a difficult situation for them, and it will be interesting to see how they will react. React they will, but how they do so, we will have to just wait and see.

Everyone knows that the Pakistani army needs India as an enemy to justify its own sweeping powers. Cumulatively, these steps will demolish the mystique of the Pakistani army. It is the institution of last resort, which is supposed to protect the Pakistani people. But a strike like this will dent its reputation so much that people will say they use 30 per cent of our budget and enjoy all privileges, and yet when it comes to the crunch they are not able to defend us.

So once the mystique of the Pakistan army gets demolished, or at least dented, automatically you will find that the civilian government will start asserting itself more. Once the civilian government understands the insecurity that the Pakistan army suffers from, it may be possible that in the next 10 to 15 years or so, we might have normal relations - I dont say good relations - with Pakistan. That is in case the civilian government in power is strengthened and doesnt perceive India to be a threat.

So now the ball is totally in Pakistans court. We have given a clear-cut message and demolished a major terrorist training camp. Lets see how Pakistan reacts. But the message has gone across to them very strongly that the next time you do something like this, we will enter your house and hit you.
By Online Desk

It's not just picking up lost coins off the pavement that can bring you luck. According to popular Chinese belief, throwing coins can also bring you good luck!

But this did not prove very lucky for a Chinese passenger who will face criminal charges for throwing coins into an aeroplane's engine before takeoff at the Anqing Tianzhushan Airport in Anhui province.

Clearly, the airline being named 'Lucky Air' has not been of much help (The irony!). The incident came to light when security workers discovered two coins on the ground near the left-side engine of Lucky Air flight 8L9960 to Kunming.

The 28-year-old man, surnamed Lu, admitted to having thrown coins into the plane's engine for good luck, believing it would keep the flight safe.

The flight had to be cancelled since if a coin is sucked into the engine, it can cause engine failure, leading to serious safety hazards if the plane is in flight, engineers said in the report.

All 161 passengers -- not counting Lu who was detained -- had to wait until the following day to fly to Kunming.

According to reports, the airline said on Friday: "The incident caused a direct economic loss of nearly 140,000 yuan, and our company will press charges against the passenger in accordance with the law."

Lucky Air, a part of the Hainan Airlines group, has claimed that the incident resulted in 140,000 yuan ($20,000) in losses and has said that it plans to pursue legal action against Lu.

This is not the first time such an incident has occurred in China -- In 2017, a Lucky Air flight was cancelled after a 76-year-old woman threw coins at the engine for "good luck." In the same year, a China Southern Airlines flight was grounded for nearly six hours after an elderly woman passenger tossed nine coins at the engine, and one actually went in.
By AFP

Britain's main opposition Labour Party has said it could support a second Brexit referendum as the European Union opened the door to postponing the country's exit from the bloc beyond the March 29 deadline.

Britain remains as divided as ever over Brexit, which a narrow majority of voters backed in a June 2016 referendum and speculation that London will ask for more time to negotiate its withdrawal has gathered steam in recent days.

ALSO READ | European Union top official Tusk calls on Theresa May to delay Brexit

British Prime Minister Theresa May suggested Sunday that parliament may not be able to vote on her Brexit deal until March 12, just 17 days before Britain leaves the EU, provoking alarm at home.

European Council President Donald Tusk said he had discussed the "legal and procedural context of a potential extension" when he met May on Sunday on the sidelines of an EU-Arab summit in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh.

"I believe in the situation we are in, an extension would be a rational solution but Prime Minister May still believes she's able to avoid this scenario," Tusk told a closing summit press conference.

The EU has been watching with growing concern the possibility that Britain will crash out of the bloc without a deal, risking chaos on both sides of the Channel.

Speculation is mounting that lawmakers will in a series of votes this week move to delay Britain's withdrawal to avoid a no-deal Brexit.

The opposition Labour Party on Monday raised the pressure, saying it would put forward its own plan for Brexit, which calls for Britain to stay in the EU customs union, as part of those votes.

Labour then said if its plan was rejected, it would lend its support to an amendment on holding a second referendum on EU membership -- without specifying a date.

"We are committed to putting forward or supporting an amendment in favour of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country," Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said in a statement.

Corbyn, a lifelong eurosceptic who supports Brexit, has been highly ambiguous throughout the negotiations even though many of his MPs support a second referendum.

The Times described Corbyn's decision "a significant moment" but added that much would depend on the details of the new policy.

"A second referendum risks deepening the divisions in what is already a deeply divided country. It would prolong Brexit uncertainty for much of the rest of the year. And whatever the outcome, it would not settle the troubled question of Britain's relationship with the EU," it said in an editorial.

On currency markets, sterling rose further on speculation that May could push back the March 29 deadline in a bid to avert a painful no-deal divorce.

Adding to her woes, the Daily Mail reported that a group of 23 dissidents met secretly to discuss how to stop Britain leaving the EU without an agreement, with as many as 15 said to be ready to resign.

Taking a united stand, the EU and its remaining 27 countries have repeatedly rebuffed May's efforts to reopen the Brexit deal struck with her government in November.

Since British lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected her withdrawal deal last month, the Conservative prime minister has sought to address their concerns about the text's so-called "backstop" arrangement.

London wants the "backstop" -- the clause binding Northern Ireland into the EU customs union if a new deal to keep the Irish border open is not found -- to be time-limited or to be allowed to unilaterally end it.

The EU opposes any changes to an arrangement designed to keep the border between British Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland flowing.

It also sees the "backstop" as an insurance policy for the peace process in the UK province of Northern Ireland.

Brussels, however, is not budging, though it is offering political reassurances.

Tusk said he told May that "no matter which scenario, all 27 (EU countries) will show maximum understanding and goodwill".

During a press conference Monday in Sharm El-Sheikh, May said she believes she can still deliver Brexit on time.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm leading the Brexit negotiations, is still working on the assumption that Britain will leave the bloc on March 29, commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva told reporters earlier in Brussels.
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Tuesday that he has spoken to his UAE counterpart and "expressed reservations" about the invitation to India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to attend the OIC meeting scheduled later this week.

In a strategically significant development, India has been invited to the inaugural plenary of the foreign ministers' conclave of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a powerful grouping of Muslim majority nations, in Abu Dhabi from March 1 to 2.

Swaraj will attend the meeting as the 'guest of honour'.

Addressing a press conference here after a special meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) in the wake of India's air strikes inside Pakistan early Tuesday, Qureshi said the situation has changed now.

"Aggression has been done against a founding member of the OIC," he said, referring to the Indian attack that destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and commanders.

The air strikes came 12 days after the JeM carried out the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

Qureshi said that he has spoken to the foreign minister of the UAE and expressed Pakistan's reservations for inviting the Indian foreign minister as chief of guest in the OIC meeting.

Describing the situation following the Indian air strikes as "serious", Qureshi said that Prime Minister Imran Khan also had telephonic conversations with UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as well as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman over the development.

The OIC is a grouping of 57 countries, the majority of which are Muslim majority.

It has usually been supportive of Pakistan and, often sided with Islamabad on the Kashmir issue.

On the request of Pakistan, the OIC summoned an emergency meeting of its Kashmir Contact Group at its General Secretariat in Riyadh on Tuesday.

The Contact Group expressed deep concern over the heightened tension and called for an immediate de-escalation in the region, the Foreign Office said.
By PTI

MELBOURNE: Australia on Tuesday urged India and Pakistan to "exercise restraint" and engage in dialogue to ensure issues are resolved peacefully even as it asked Islamabad to take "urgent and meaningful" action against terrorist groups including JeM operating from its soil.

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne's statement came hours after Indian fighter jets struck Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)'s biggest terror camp in Pakistan in a pre-dawn attack.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side in a pre-dawn strike, 12 days after the Pakistan-based terror group JeM carried out the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.

The Australian government is concerned about the relations between India and Pakistan, Payne said.

"Australia urges both sides to exercise restraint, avoid any action which would endanger peace and security in the region and engage in dialogue to ensure that these issues are resolved peacefully," she said.

"The Australian government is concerned about relations between India and Pakistan following the horrific terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 14 February, which Australia has condemned.

"Pakistan must take urgent and meaningful action against terrorist groups in its territory, including Jaish-e-Mohammed which has claimed responsibility for the 14 February bombing, and Lashkar-e-Taiba," Payne said.

ALSO READ | India's 'dream' of isolating Pakistan will never be fulfilled: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

She also took note of the reports that India has stated it has now conducted operations targeting terrorist groups based in Pakistan.

"Pakistan must do everything possible to implement its own proscription of Jaish-e-Mohammed.

It can no longer allow extremist groups the legal and physical space to operate from its territory," the minister said.

These steps would make a substantial contribution to easing tensions and resolving the underlying causes of conflict, Payne added.

There is heightened tension between India and Pakistan, the two nuclear-armed arch-rivals after the February 14 suicide attack by JeM that killed at least 40 CRPF soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

India launched a major diplomatic offensive against Islamabad after the attack and highlighted Pakistan's role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

India asked Pakistan to take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control.

New Delhi also announced the withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation status for Pakistan and hiked the customs duty by 200 per cent on goods originating from Pakistan.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Telangana Irrigation officials have requested Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) to direct the AP government to not proceed with the construction of Vaikuntapuram barrage.Telangana engineer-in-chief C Muralidhar, in a letter, on Monday requested the KRMB to inform AP govt to place the detailed project reports (DPR) of Vaikuntapuram barrage being constructed by it before Central Water Commission (CWC), KRMB and the Apex Council for scrutiny and approval.

Until that time, AP may be directed not to proceed with the construction of any new project on river Krishna pending adjudication of the references by the KWDT-2 without the approval of KRMB and Apex Council as per the section 84(3) (ii) fit 85(8) (d) of AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, Muralidhar said in his letter.

Muralidhar informed the KRMB member-secretary that they came to know through news papers that AP CM N Chandrababu Naidu laid the foundation stone for a barrage across Krishna. AP is unilaterally taking up the construction of Vaikuntapuram barrage with a storage of 10 tmc on Krishna river, around 23 km upstream of the existing Prakasam barrage at Vaikuntapuram village in Amaravati mandal in Guntur district, in violation of AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, the ENC said.

The AP Reorganisation Act stipulated that the planning or execution of new projects had to be appraised and recommended by KRMB and CWC and thereafter it required the sanction of the Apex Council, Muralidhar said.It is not proper of AP to proceed with the construction of any new project without complying with guidelines stipulated in AP Reorganisation Act. Until all authorities duly grant their approval, considering view of Telangana on the said DPR, AP cannot execute the project, Muralidhar told KRMB.
B Anbuselvan By

Express News Service

TIRUVANNAMALAI / CHENNAI: If you thought future generations hold the key to a caste-free society, think again. The Vanniyar Sangams unique tactics to build their caste brand, in the rural pockets of northern parts of the State, seem to be paying good dividends. Their brand ambassadors are school-going children. Vanniyar Sangam is the community organisation of the PMK.

Regardless of whether they study in private or government schools, several Vanniyar students in rural pockets of Tiruvanamalai and Villupuram districts wear accessories that flaunt their caste identity. The Sangams logo  an agnikundam with two swords  appears on stickers on the back of cycles of Vanniyar students. Children also wear yellow-red coloured wristbands  colours used by the Sangam and in the PMK flag, and chains with sickle pendant that supposedly indicates their community is fearless. Vanniyar students are also known to write their caste slogans in their notebooks and display caste symbols on their measuring rulers.

(Above) A cycle painted with yellow-red bands, colours of the PMK and Vanniyar Sangam (Left) Students wearing different coloured uniforms | Express

This trend was widely popular in Tiruvannamalai till 2012, after which a huge caste clash erupted between Vanniyar and Dalit students at a government school in the district. Then, the school education department cracked the whip on students wearing caste symbols. However, the practice continues till date.

To counter the Vanniyar youngsters, Dalit students have started painting their cycles red and blue  colours of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi. They also put up pictures of Dalit icons like Dr. BR Ambedkar in their vehicles. This polarisation keeps caste tension always simmering, ready to break out into violent clashes over trivial issues  such as over parking spaces, washing of plates, drinking water taps and even occupying seats on a bus.

After PMK intervened in the inter-caste marriage of Divya and Ilavarasan in 2012-13, even minor arguments over love affairs lead to clashes. The divide has deepened so much in the last 10 years that now even a Class-X student prefers to make friends only with children of his own caste, says a school teacher in Tiruvanamalai.

Few months ago, a group of locals started a protest against a teacher who asked a student to remove caste slogans from his notebook. They left only after realising that the teacher was also from the same caste. Teachers from other communities cannot take action, says another teacher from Cheyyar.

History of political assertion

1871 Vanniyar community leaders petitioned to the census authorities to classify them as Vanniakula Kshatriyas

1898 Chennai Vanniyakula Kshatriya Mahasangam formed

1931 old caste name Pallis removed from the Census list

S S Ramasamy Padayachi launches TN Toilers Party in 1951 with the demands for reservation for Vanniyars. In 1962, it merges with Congress after Rajaji stepped down as CM

N A Manickavelu Naicker backed by Vanniyars vote bank formed Commonweal Party and contested 1952 polls with the support of DMK. Then he dissolved the party and joined in Congress in 1962.

In 1989 PMK made its political debut in 1989 lok sabha election
By Express News Service

KOCHI: The State Fisheries Department will soon get three marine ambulances to extend a helping hand to the fishermen at distress in sea. Fisheries Minister J Mercykutty Amma on Monday cut the steel setting of the work for construction of the first of three marine ambulances being built by Cochin Shipyard for the Fisheries Department. Each marine ambulance will cost Rs 6.08 crore.

The north, central and south region will get one ambulance each. The BPCL will bear the expenses of one marine ambulance from its corporate social responsibility fund and the Cochin Shipyard will bear half the expense of the second ambulance. The Fisheries Department will contribute Rs 2 crore from its plan and Rs 7.12 crore will be sourced from the Chief Ministers Disaster Relief Fund. These ambulance boats will have an approximate length of 22.5 m and a beam size of about 6.0 m.

The modern vessel, designed in-house by the shipyard will be of high quality and fuel efficient that can reach a maximum speed of 14 knots. Earlier, IIT Madras had conducted Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis and model test to optimize fuel efficiency and firming up the powering requirement. To improve ergonomics and layout, 3-D modelling has been done, said Shipyard spokesperson V Kala.

The vessel will be able to accommodate two patients and will have a crew capacity of 7, including the paramedical staff. The vessel will also have various paramedical facilities like examination and nursing room, medical beds, mortuary freezer, refrigerator and medical lockers. There will be a Jasons cradle to safely rescue people from sea. The first vessel will be ready for delivery by November, 2019.
By Express News Service

MYSURU: Vegetation on nearly 15 acres of land on the foothills of Chamundi Hills was reduced to ashes after a fire engulfed the area adjoining the Bengaluru-Nilgiris road on Monday. The fire that broke out in the vacant private land owned by the BGS Trust spread to parts of the adjoining reserve forest before it was brought under control. The fire was contained before it could spiral into a large-scale disaster.

According to emergency service officials, the fire was reported at 12.50 pm. Forest officials alerted us. Before evening, we were able to bring the fire under control, but by then it had destroyed around 15 acres of vegetation, said district fire officer K P Gururaj.

Firefighters dousing the fire at Chamundi foothills on Monday

| Express

The official suspected that the fire could be an act of sabotage. From the indicators at the spot, it looked like an act of sabotage as the fire broke out at multiple spots. Most likely, miscreants set fire to dry grass, he said. With the fire raging from multiple spots, it was difficult to put it out, he added.

The fire was brought under control with the joint efforts of fire and forest personnel who climbed up the steep sections of the hills with sprinklers. The public, including students, also helped to douse the flames.

We have been seeing what is happening in Bandipur over the last few days. We dont want such an incident in Mysuru, that too on the Chamundi Hills. Hence we decided to help the firefighters as much as we could, said Vinay, a student volunteer.According to officials, four fire tenders were utilised to douse the fire and 35 personnel participated in the firefighting.

Fire in Nandi Hills

Chikkaballapur: Fire broke out in the famous Nandi Hills on Friday afternoon but the incident came to light on Monday. Firefighters with the help of villagers doused the flames which extended to 15 hectares, it is said. Deputy Conservator of Forests Ravi Shankar said precautionary measures have been taken by spraying water to prevent such incidents in future. He maintained that there was no fire reported on Monday.
By Express News Service

VISAKHAPATNAM: The sleuths of police and Excise and Prohibition department are now seriously working to find out the root cause of the seven deaths in the Gajuwaka ST Colony on Sunday. More so, as allegations had been there that the toxic liquid, which caused seven deaths, was a locally-made arrack and the officials were hiding the fact to evade their responsibilities. The Excise and police officials collected the samples of the liquid and sent them to the Excise regional laboratory, as well as to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in Hyderabad to get the exact analysis report of the chemical substance.

Though the King George Hospital authorities have identified the chemical as methanol, police and Excise department officials are waiting for the lab report to chalk out the further course of action in their investigation. District Collector K Bhaskar was reportedly upset with the tragic incident and gave strict instructions to the officials concerned to take appropriate action against the culprits. We think it is rectified spirit or methylated spirit, which is used in industries.

We need the analysis reports from the government-authorised laboratories to move forward in our course of investigation. We expect to get the reports on Tuesday and immediately we will continue with the investigation with more clarity, said a police official. On Monday, leaders of various political parties visited the KGH and expressed their grief on the tragic incident. They commiserated with the bereaved family members and assured their full support to them in all their future activities. Leaders of the CPI, CPM, YSRC, Jana Sena and ruling TDP visited the victims, who were undergoing treatment at the KGH and extended their support to the victims.

CPI leader Pydiraju and others demanded a comprehensive magisterial inquiry into the incident to punish the real culprits, who irresponsibly left the toxic chemical in a dustbin. They also demanded `20 lakh ex gratia to each of the bereaved family and `1 lakh to others. CPM leader Ch Narasinga Rao strongly condemned the tragic incident and alleged that due to negligence of the government authorities the incident took place.

If the supervising authorities of Industries and factories performed their duties diligently and if the Excise and police staff did their duties honestly, the tragedy would not have taken place, he said. Even the government officials failed to provide proper treatment to the victims and as a result of this three persons died on Sunday and another four on Monday, he alleged. Gajuwaka MLA Palla Srinivasa Rao commiserated with the families of the victims and assured them of maximum help from the government.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump both arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday, the eve of their second summit at which they will tackle how to implement a North Korean pledge to give up its nuclear weapons.

Trump flew into the capital Hanoi on Air Force One, touching down just before 9 p.m. (1400 GMT).

Kim arrived by train early in the day after a three-day, 3,000 km (1,850 mile) journey from his capital, Pyongyang, through China. He completed the last stretch from a border station to Hanoi by car.

The two leaders, who seemed to strike up a surprisingly warm relationship at their first summit in Singapore last June, will meet for a brief one-on-one conversation on Wednesday evening, followed by a dinner, at which they will each be accompanied by two guests and interpreters, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters.

They will meet again on Thursday, she said.

Their talks come eight months after the historic summit in Singapore, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.

While the first meeting was all about breaking the ice after decades of war and bitter animosity between their countries, this time there will be pressure on both to move beyond the vaguely worded commitment they made in Singapore to work toward the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Trump's critics at home have warned him against cutting a deal that would do little to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions, urging specific, verifiable North Korean action to abandon the nuclear weapons that threaten the United States.

In return, Kim would expect significant U.S. concessions such as relief from punishing sanctions and a declaration that the 1950-53 Korean War is at last formally over.

Trump, landing in darkness, waved as he disembarked Air Force One and was met by senior Vietnamese and U.S. officials. Trump's motorcade passed by crowds waving the flags of Vietnam, the United States and North Korea on its way to the JW Marriott Hotel, his accommodation for the two-day summit.

Earlier, Vietnamese officials were on hand to greet Kim at the station in Dong Dang town after he crossed the border from China. He got a red-carpet welcome with honour guard, military band and fluttering North Korean and Vietnamese flags.

Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, who has emerged as an important aide, arrived with him.

About a dozen bodyguards briefly ran alongside Kim's car as he set off for the two-hour journey to Hanoi, smiling and waving to children lining the route from his limousine.

Roads were closed with Vietnamese security forces in armoured-personnel carriers guarding the route to the city's Melia hotel where he is staying.

Vietnamese authorities have been tight-lipped about the summit and have yet to announce where the two will meet.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also arrived on Tuesday and met Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh for talks.

'Tremendous'

Trump told reporters before he left he and Kim would have "a very tremendous summit".

Tweeting on Monday, he stressed the benefits to North Korea if it gave up its nuclear weapons. "With complete Denuclearisation, North Korea will rapidly become an Economic Powerhouse. Without it, just more of the same. Chairman Kim will make a wise decision!" Trump said.

In a speech late on Sunday, Trump, however, appeared to play down the possibility of a major breakthrough, saying he would be happy as long as North Korea maintained its pause on weapons testing.

"I'm not in a rush," he said. "I just don't want testing. As long as there's no testing, we're happy."

North Korea conducted its last nuclear test in September 2017 and its last intercontinental ballistic missile test in November 2017.

Analysts say the two leaders have to move beyond summit symbolism.

"The most basic yet urgent task is to come to a shared understanding of what denuclearisation would entail," said Gi-Wook Shin, director of Stanfords Asia-Pacific Research Center.

"The ambiguity and obscurity of the term 'denuclearisation' only exacerbates the scepticism about both the U.S. and North Korean commitments to denuclearisation.

While the United States is demanding North Korea give up all of its nuclear and missile programmes, North Korea wants to see the removal of the U.S. nuclear umbrella for South Korea.

A South Korean presidential spokesman told reporters in Seoul the two sides might be able to agree to a formal end of the Korean War, which was concluded with an armistice not a peace treaty, a move North Korea has long sought.

Protesters in Seoul tore up photographs of Kim and threw them to the ground to highlight their dismay that North Korea's grim human rights record was not expected to figure in talks.

Amnesty International said Trump had disregarded human rights to gain favour with Kim.

"His silence in the face of relentless and grave human rights violations has been deafening," it said.

Short link:


Mayank Singh By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The swift and clean air strike by the IAF fighter jets evoked quick retaliation from the Pakistan politicians, but this time, it was a little different.

Pakistan has been dangling the nuclear attack as a threat whenever they realised that their recalcitrant behaviour was going to be retaliated, with an armed strike as one of the possibility. This time Pakistan did not threat to retaliate with a nuclear bomb.

The experts feel that Pakistan has been using Nuclear rhetoric to carry out the proxy war.

On the option of the strike to be used by Pakistan to escalate it, the former Director General Military Operation Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia (retd) of the Army says that it needs wherewithal which Pakistan dont have.

If they just jump to nuke India, they might face what they might have not even imagined. They have no economic strength to even mobilise their forces. They are running around scurrying for financial help. says General Bhatia.

ALSO READ: Expert take: Balakot strike shows India no longer scared of Pakistan's nuclear sabre-rattling

He further says that not only Pakistan will Pakistan face destruction but also will find itself isolated.

While Financial Action Task Force has tightened its noose around Pakistan's financial dealings, who will come to invest in a conflict zone which Pakistan is getting converted into.

Air Commodore Trilok Chand sees Indias air strike as well planned for it has not left any space for Pakistan to escalate the matter.

India has been repeatedly asking Pakistan to stop terror but they did not hear. Our Aircraft went into their territory and struck only the designated camp. Pakistan cannot blame India of harbouring any such camp so if at all they will have to carry out a strike on our military establishment. Says Air Commodore Trilok Chand (Retd), Senior Fellow at the Centre for Joint Warfare Studies, New Delhi.

Precaution should be exercised, as these experts believe.

We should not be complacent and should step up our border guarding. Says Lt Gen Bhatia.

For Air Commodore, it is a change into the entire approach between the India Pakistan relations.

He says, It has shown the world that we have a way out to the ever-present threat of nuclear attack from Pakistan. If required, we can opt for conventional operation as a solution to the sub-conventional war being waged by Pakistan.

Nuclear Bomb will remain a weapon of deterrence and will never be used to attack a country adds General Bhatia.
By PTI

JAMMU: The Indian Army destroyed five Pakistani posts along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday night in a befitting retaliation to firing from across the border, resulting in a "number of casualties" to Pak troops, a defence official said.

"The Indian Army retaliated for effect and our focused fire resulted in severe destruction to five posts and number of casualties to Pak army (along LoC in Rajouri and Poonch districts)", the defence PRO said.

From 6:30 pm onwards, the Pakistani army initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by shelling with heavy calibre weaponry along the LoC out of frustration, he said.

ALSO READ: Operation Balakot: Inside details of the Surgical Strike 2.0

The Pak troops were also seen firing mortars and missiles from civilian houses, using villagers as human shields.

However, the Indian Army targeted the Pak posts away from civilian areas, the PRO said, adding that this resulted in a "number of casualties" to Pak troopers.

In exchange of fire, five soldiers of the Indian Army suffered minor injuries, out of which two of them were shifted to a military hospital for medical treatment; they are stable.
Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: Speculations over the future of dissident BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha were rife in the political circles as he met Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav here on Tuesday. The meeting of the former Bollywood actor is being viewed as a move by him to contest upcoming Lok Sabha elections on Samajwadi Party ticket.

Earlier also, there were conjectures to this effect that the actor, popularly known as 'Shotgun' may contest Lok Sabha elections as an SP candidate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi. Notably, in the seat sharing arrangement with the BSP, Varanasi has fallen in SP quota of 37 seats. Sinha, who has been indulging in direct attacks on the prime minister for quite some time, could be a probable candidate from Varanasi due to his clout among the Kayastha community in the city and also because Varanasi borders his home state Bihar.

Emerging from a meeting with Akhilesh at SP headquarters, Sinha cautioned against celebrating the IAF airstrikes in Pakistan. We can feel good about the strikes but the time is not proper for celebrations till the action reaches a logical end, said the sulking BJP MP. Promising support to PM Modi on the issue, Sinha said the government should taken such an action which could prove to be a deterrent for Pakistan so that it did not dare to do a repeat of Pulwama ever again.

Meanwhile, in another major development, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav claimed on Tuesday that he had clinched an alliance with the BSP to ensure "record victory" fro his father and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav from the seat of his choice in Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Akhileshs statement assumes significance keeping SP patriarchs public condemnation of his sons alliance move recently as he felt that SP chief had compromised with the interests of Samajwadis and surrendered to the BSP. Mayawati and Akhilesh had jointly announced the alliance in January, saying the BSP and the SP will contest 38 parliamentary seats each out of the 80 in Uttar Pradesh. However, when the parties released the list of seats shared between them, the SP got 37 seats and the BSP 38.

However, the SP chief contradicted Mulayam sentiments over the alliance with BSP saying that before going to make the formal announcement, he had met Netaji and got his blessings. "I had informed him that in the alliance SP will be getting half of the seats," said Akhilesh while talking to media persons.

It may be recalled that Mulayam had recently expressed his dismay saying due to the alliance with BSP, SP had already accepted its defeat on half of the seats in the state.
By PTI

SRINAGAR: National Conference leader Omar Abdullah Tuesday said the strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force on JeM camps is a "totally new ball game" as it was the first time that air power was used during peacetime to hit terrorist targets in the neighbouring country.

"We've entered a whole new paradigm with the Balakote air strike. The post-Uri strike was to avenge our losses, Balakote was a 'preemptive strike to prevent an imminent JeM attack'. Totally new ballgame," Abdullah tweeted.

ALSO READ: Mirage 2000 fighter jets drop 1,000 kg bombs across LoC, destroy terror camp: Government

The former chief minister was reacting to the statement made by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale in New Delhi that India conducted a major preemptive strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest camp early Tuesday to prevent suicide attacks being planned by the Pakistan-based terror group, killing a large number of terrorists and trainers.

"A number of firsts from Balakote, the two most obvious are the first time air power has been used to strike inside Pakistan during peace times (last time in 1971 was during war) & first time visible, acknowledged use of force to preempt a perceived terror strike," Abdullah added.

ALSO READ: JeM was attempting more suicide attacks; pre-emptive strike was necessary, says Foreign secretary

Reacting to the developments, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti expressed hope that the "objectives" of both New Delhi and Islamabad had been served as they were making contradictory claims about the air strikes.

"Post-pre-dawn strikes carried out by IAF, conflicting reports coming in. Official communique by FS claims that terror training camps were bombed while Pak denied this & said that the planes made a hasty retreat after being spotted. Hope objective of both sides has been served," she said in a tweet.
Rajesh Asnani By

Express News Service

JAIPUR: Rajasthans borders with Pakistan have suddenly come alive with firing and bomb blasts in the wake of heightened tensions following the Pulwama attack. Responding to panic-stricken people, the Sriganganagar administration clamped Section 144 as a precautionary measure and sounded an alert on Monday.

Officials said, there was a firing incident at Hindukot area on Saturday morning followed by two blasts within Pakistan near Anupgadh area. The Border Security Force dubbed it an act of desert hunters.

Eyewitnesses at Hindukot Sukhdev and Hardev Singh, both farmers  said some people from Pakistan came on a vehicle and opened indiscriminate fire at them when they were at their farm, accompanied by two BSF jawans. They, however, did not cross the borderline near pillar marker 278. Police confirmed the incident.

BSF officers said they had registered a complaint with the Pakistan Rangers. Two blasts were recorded near Anupgarh at Gulnajim and Hashim Khan posts in Pakistan, which led to BSF tightening security.
Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: Punjab has put its border districts on high alert in the wake of the Indian Air Force (IAF) surgical strikes across the Line of Control, undertaken by India as a retaliatory measure in the

aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack.

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has ordered a spate of measures as part of the states preparedness to deal with any contingency in view of the latest developments. The DCs and SSPs of the border areas have been asked to put in place all contingency plans to ensure the protection and safety of residents.

As a confidence-building step, Amarinder would himself be visiting the border areas from Pathankot to Ferozepur by road on Wednesday, he said after a high-level law and order review meeting. The meeting found no need for panic and decided against any move to evacuate the residents of the border areas.

He discussed all aspects of the current situation with the top brass of the police and civil administration.

The CMs media advisor Raveen Thukral, who was also present at the meeting, said Amarinder directed the officials to monitor the situation closely and not let down their guard under any circumstances. The state government was in touch with the Union home and defence ministries to remain abreast of the situation. The government was fully prepared to deal with any eventuality, Thukral added.

The Chief Minister, who spoke to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, on the situation, earlier tweeted his full support for the surgical strikes. Great job by the #IndianAirForce. The #IAFStrikes have

sent the much needed signal to Pakistan and the terrorists its harbouring - dont think you can get away with acts like the #PulwamaAttack. Bravo to the #IAF men and my full support for the action, he wrote.

Meanwhile, an uneasy calm prevails in 220 border villages spread across six districts in Punjab, but there is no panic.

Residents of border villages are excited and say that India has given a befitting reply to Pakistan but the atmosphere is also tense as villagers believe they may be asked to evacuate at any moment. They recall that in 2016 also they were told to move back.



Talking with this correspondent, Surjit Singh Bhura, vice president of Punjab Border Kisan Union said, "Since morning the border gates have been sealed by the BSF and we have been told that we cannot go to our lands across the fence to do farming. There is a total of 21,300 acres of land across the fence which is cultivated by 15,000 farmers.



Shamsher Singh of Mendi village in Tarn Taran district which is surrounded by Pakistan from three sides says, "It is a wait and watch policy as we have a population of around 6,000 residents and after the air strikes the villagers are scared. The talk is that we might have to leave the village and go back if the

local administration at any given time tells us to evacuate.



"The people are talking among themselves about what will happen now as they are scared but there is no movement from the villages as it happened during the Kargil war and in 2016 when people were

told to move back, says Harjinder Singh of Manawa village in Tarn Taran.
By Online Desk

NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force on Tuesday bombed a terror camp at Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province killing about 350 terrorists. The camp, located 20 kms from Balakot town, was being used to house terrorists and their trainers, who were shifted from various parts of the Pak-occupied-Kashmir following the Pulwama suicide bomb attack, sources said.

Claiming that the facility was accommodating at least 325 terrorists and 25 trainers, sources said the resort-style camp was located on a hilltop forest, making it "a sitting duck target" for the Indian forces.

READ | Payback for Pulwama: India takes out '350 terrorists' in Balakot

Everyone at the camp was sleeping and Pakistani defence establishment had no clue that the attack was coming so deep into their country because they had expected a surgical strike on camps near the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, said the sources close to the government.

India had recently received intelligence that JeM had shifted many in-training terrorists and hardcore operatives, along with their trainers, to the Balakot camp, which has facilities for 500 to 700 people, and even had cooks, cleaners and a swimming pool.

Fighter and other aircraft took off from several air bases in Western and Central commands at about the same time, leaving Pakistani defence officials confused as to where they were heading, the sources said.

A small group of aircraft soon broke away from the swarm and headed to Balakot where "the sleeping terrorists were sitting ducks for the Indian bombing," said a source. "They had no idea that Balakot was to be the target ... when the pictures come in you will see only khandhar (ruins) of the once-flourishing camp."

READ | Balakot camp located on the bank of Kunhar river in KPK; also used by Hizbul

The pre-dawn operation by IAF's 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets saw 1000 kg bombs being dropped at the target. "The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties. It's located in a deep forest on a hilltop," Indian foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said.

The attack was termed a "non-military pre-emptive strike" by Gokhale who hoped that Pakistan will now live up to its promise of fighting terror and destroy the remaining infrastructure of the terror groups.

(With PTI inputs)
By ANI

NEW DELHI: National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval along with Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat and IAF Chief BS Dhanoa is reviewing the security situation on the borders after Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out air strikes at a massive Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camp in Balakot in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province early on Tuesday.

The Indian Air Force has already put on high alert all air defence systems along the international border and Line of Control (LoC) to respond to any possible action by Pakistan Air Force.

Indian Air Force, in the early hours of Tuesday, carried out multiple aerial strikes at terror launch pads at various places in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), completely destroying them, including control rooms of JeM terror group.

The terror camps in Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad were struck by 12 Mirage 2000 jets with 1000 kg of explosives at around 3:30 am, IAF sources said.

India's response came 12 days after a CRPF convoy was attacked by a suicide bomber in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, in which 40 security personnel were killed. Pakistan-based JeM claimed responsibility for the attack.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force struck at Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest terrorist training camp at Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, using 12 Mirage 2000 aircraft supported by a fleet of Sukhoi 30 jets, a mid-air refueller and two Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS), official sources said.

The sources said the IAF jets used a number of laser-guided bombs, each weighing over 1,000 kg, to destroy the JeM training facility in Balakot, around 80 KM from the Line of Control.

The operation began around 3:45 AM and concluded by 4:05 AM while the actual strike lasted for less than two minutes.

The aircraft took off from a number of bases, they said.

The entire operation was monitored from the Air headquarters in Delhi by top commanders of the IAF including Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa, the sources said.

ALSO READ: Balakot airstrike: IAF jets dropped four bombs during operation, confirms Pakistan Army

They said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Army Chief Gen.Bipin Rawat and Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba were being updated about the operation on a real-time basis.

"It was a massive strike and Pakistan will never forget about it. The operation was 100 per cent successful," said a source.

It said the strike sent out a clear message to Pakistan that India no longer hesitates to use air power to deal with terror groups operating from the neighbouring country.

The sources said most of the jets, which were part of the operation, flew very low to avoid being detected by Pakistani radars while the AWACS provided the radial cover to the Mirage 2000 jets.

They said all the IAF assets returned to their bases without sustaining any damage.

The mid-air refueller was an IL-78 aircraft which did not cross the LoC.

ALSO READ: Pakistan expected surgical strike in PoK, had no clue IAF would attack deep inside: Sources

The sources said Mirage 2000 fighter jets were chosen for the strike due to its capabilities of hitting long-range targets with "pin-point" accuracy.

Hours after the strike, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the media that a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated.

"Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary," he said.

Meanwhile, all the bases of the IAF have been put on maximum alert to deal with any possible retaliation by Islamabad to the strike, the first by the IAF inside Pakistan after the 1971 war.
White House adviser Jared Kushner is expected to meet with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, broadcaster CNN Turk said on Tuesday.

Kushner has responsibility for Washington's Israel-Palestinian policy. He has said he will address final-status issues of that conflict, including establishing borders, during a week-long trip to the Middle East.

Turkey and Israel, former allies, expelled each other's top diplomats last May during a row over clashes in which dozens of Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces on the Gaza border.

Turkey has been one of the most vocal critics of the U.S. move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and opening an embassy there.

Short link:


By Online Desk

When 12 Mirage-2000 fighter jets from the Indian Air Force (IAF) struck a major Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camp across the LoC during the wee hours of Tuesday, many lauded the airforce's courage, while some were curious about the team's choice of aircraft.

While the IAF has many advanced fighters such as the Su-30MKI and MiG-29, it was the lightweight Mirage-2000 that was chosen to strike at the terror camps.

Mirage-2000 is not a new name to the Indians. The jets, made by the not so unfamiliar Dassault Aviation, which also manufactures the Rafale fighters, served during the 1999 Kargil war where they destroyed several enemy bunkers with laser-guided bombs as well as conventional bombs.

The fighter jets, touted as one of India's most deadly aircraft, were first commissioned in 1985. When neighbouring Pakistan was flexing its muscles with the US made F-16, India placed an order for 36 single-seater Mirage 2000 and later four more twin seaters in 1982.

To strengthen the IAF, the then UPA government placed an order of 10 more jets in 2004, increasing the number of Mirage-2000s to 50.

The killer jets use a lightweight shingle shaft engine which enables them to fly at a maximum speed of 2336 kmph. The aircraft can travel 1550 km with drop tanks at a maximum height of 59000 ft.

In 2011, the Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) signed a contract to upgrade the existing Mirage 2000 to Mirage 2000-5 Mk, increasing the jet's life span till 2030.

The jet can carry laser-guided bombs, both air-to-surface and air-to-air missiles, along with a Thomson-CSF RDY (Radar Doppler Multi-target) radar on board.

Dassault's Mirage-2000 also serves other countries including France, Egypt, UAE, Brazil, Taiwan, Greece and Peru.
By Online Desk

12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets from the IAF struck a major Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camp across the LoC at 3.30 am and destroyed it, the Indian foreign secretary confirmed on Tuesday morning.

The pre-dawn operation saw 1000 kg bombs being dropped to target the camp that the foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said was situated on a hilltop in a jungle in Balakot.

Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, the brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar, was said to be in charge of the camp where suicide bombers were being prepared to launch the next wave of attacks on India. Over 300 terrorists including Yusuf Azhar, were reportedly "sitting duck targets" in the bombing.

"The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties. It's located in a deep forest on a hilltop," Gokhale underlined.

The attack was termed a "non-military pre-emptive strike" by Gokhale who hoped that Pakistan will now live up to its promise of fighting terror and destroy the remaining infrastructure of the terror groups.

Earlier, flight-tracking websites had spotted heightened activity along the border with an IAF early warning plane Emb 145 and mid-air refueller circling the area early in the morning.

The attack comes in the wake of the suicide bombing attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Pulwama on February 14 that killed 40 jawans.

The attack was claimed by Pakistan-based militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and prompted a spike in tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

A 20-minute operation by IAF

The operation by the IAF including takeoff and return time took only 20 minutes, say media reports. The last time the IAF had crossed the LoC with Mirage aircraft was during the 1971 war.

According to reports, Pakistan scrambled its F16s to take on the IAF Mirage jets but had to turn back due to the size of the IAF formation coordinated by the Western Air Command.

Pakistan reacts to IAF attack, threatens retaliation

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday said India has committed "aggression" by violating the LoC and Islamabad has "right to respond".

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan convened an emergency meeting to review the emerging situation in the wake of the Indian Air Force's (IAF) violation of the Line of Control, Radio Pakistan reported.

Interestingly, Pakistan army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor was the first to officially confirm that the Indian Air Force has intruded from the Muzaffarabad sector. However, he denied that there was an attack on any Pakistani infrastructure.

In his tweet, Asif Ghafoor said, "Indian Air Force violated Line of Control. Pakistan Air Force immediately scrambled. Indian aircrafts gone back. Indian aircrafts intruded from Muzafarabad sector. Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or damage."

Payload of hastily escaping Indian aircrafts fell in open. pic.twitter.com/8drYtNGMsm  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019

He further said, "Indian aircrafts intrusion across LOC in Muzaffarabad Sector within AJ&K (as the Pakistanis call the area) was 3-4 miles. Under forced hasty withdrawal aircrafts released payload which had free fall in open area. No infrastructure got hit, no casualties. Technical details and other important information to follow."

Pakistan's President Arif Alvi says India has created "hysteria" in the wake of this month's attack on Indian troops in the disputed Kashmir region.

Where is Balakot?



The strike in Balakot is significant as it was not merely an LoC violation but a punitive action inside Pakistani territory.

200-300 casualties reported

CNN News 18 has reported that the attack could have caused casualties of 200-300.

Political leaders react to the IAF attack

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi was one of the first to congratulate the IAF. He said, "I salute the pilots of the IAF."

I salute the pilots of the IAF.  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 26, 2019

Subramanian Swamy said, "Actually it was mostly on our own territory, which is called PoK- Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. So you can always bomb your own territory, nothing wrong. Even if it was their territory, we have under the United Nation charter the right of self-defence. They have been attacking us & they say we want to give a thousand cuts to India, so our government did the right thing by giving them 1000 bombs."

Subramanian Swamy: Even if it was their territory, we have under the United Nation charter the right of self-defence. They have been attacking us & they say we want to give a thousand cuts to India, so our government did the right thing by giving them 1000 bombs. https://t.co/t1N22SzLHS  ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019

If this is Balakote in KPK its a major incursion & a significant strike by IAF planes. However, if its Balakote in Poonch sector, along the LoC its a largely symbolic strike because at this time of the year forward launch pads & militant camps are empty & non-functional.

If this is Balakote in KPK its a major incursion & a significant strike by IAF planes. However if its Balakote in Poonch sector, along the LoC its a largely symbolic strike because at this time of the year forward launch pads & militant camps are empty & non-functional.  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 26, 2019

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter and praised the Indian Air Force pilots. He said, "I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan."

I salute the bravery of Indian Air Force pilots who have made us proud by striking terror targets in Pakistan  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 26, 2019

Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, said, "Air Force carried out aerial strike early morning today at terror camps across the LoC and Completely destroyed it."

    ,       ,

Air Force carried out aerial strike early morning today at terror camps across the LoC and Completely destroyed it

       !     ..     ...#Balakot #Surgicalstrike2 pic.twitter.com/fqYJgWxuqX  Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (@gssjodhpur) February 26, 2019

Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar Tuesday hailed the air strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force inside Pakistan. "It was a necessary step required for the security of the country...it was an act of maha parakram (mightily act)," he said.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said that the air strikes on Balakote in Pakistan were effective and successful as per his knowledge. He also said that he will know more about the surgical strike in the all-party meeting called today evening by the government.
Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: The families of Pulwama martyrs, woke up to a little solace and content as the information about the pre-dawn strikes by India Air Force (IAF) destroying terror launch pads deep inside Pakistan started trickling in on Tuesday morning.

The strikes came amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan following the February 14 suicide attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group in Kashmir's Pulwama district that killed 40 CRPF soldiers of whom a dozen belonged to UP. Incidentally, the IAF struck Pakistan a day ahead of the tehervin ritual marking the 13-day mourning period.

The families thought expressed their satisfaction on 21-minute IAF action carried out with utmost precision yet craved for bigger revenge with the common refrain being the elimination of chiefs of Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Tayyiaba  Maulana Masood Azhar and Hafiz Sayeed  respectively operating from Pakistan.

Brother Ranjit of martyr Ajit Kumar Azad from Unnao thanked the government and IAF for the action saying it was strong message to Pakistan. But Ranjit felt it should have been done earlier so that the incident like Pulwama would not have happened. I request the opposition parties to back the government keeping their politics aside as it was the question of life and death of the countrymen, asserted Ranjit. He urged the government to focus on education of Kashmiri youth to digress them from falling for terrorism. However, martyr Azads wife wanted a bigger action against the perpetrators of terrorism.

While the family of martyr Ramesh Yadav of Varanasi was busy performing rituals related to his last rites on the banks of Ganga, brother Rajesh Yadav called it a matter of great satisfaction for his family. Such strikes should continue till the menace of terrorism was totally wiped out, he said. We want 3000 heads in revenge, just 300 would not do, said Rameshs brother-in-law.

Amar Singh, father of martyr Pradeep Singh of Kannauj said that the action should not stop at this only. The government should take it forward as a mission to rid India of terrorism forever so that no woman becomes widow, no children are orphaned in future, said Amar Singh.

Snap off all ties with Pakistan. No more dialogue. Let the blazing guns boom till a single terrorist is alive, said Harikesh Yadav, father of martyr Awadesh Yadav from Chandauli in eastern UP. The government needs to target and break the morale of terrorists and their masters. Do everything so that they think twice before laying an evil eye on India, asserted chocked father of the martyr.

Slain constable Shyam Babus wife Rubi too wants more than just air strikes. I will celebrate the day when the mastermind of Pulwama attack would be eliminated. I want to tell the PM that I want nothing less than an eye for an eye, said a sobbing Rubi.

Vijay Lakshmi, wife of martyr Vijay Kumar Maurya of Deoria seeks the head of Jaish chief who masterminded Pulwama suicide attack. Convey a stronger message to Pakistan, said Vijay Lakshmi.

However, IAF strikes gave some peace to the bleeding heart of Rohini, wife of martyr Pankaj Tripathi from Maharajganj.

Indian Army should flush out each and every terrorist from our soil, she said adding: I shall get the real peace when every terrorist will be blown to smithereens, Rohini asserted while performing the rituals for eternal peace of her husbands soul.

Slain CRPF constable Koushal Rawat's son Abhishek Rawat, shared his feelings saying: Tomorrow is my father 'teheravi', but after hearing the news of IAF strike there is sudden change in the mood of family with a little smile and sense of final revenge of my father's death. I bow to PM Modi leadership. Abhishek is currently pursuing MBBS from Russia. Rawat belonged to Agra.

Geeta, wife of martyr Ram Vakeel of Manipuri too demanded a sustained offensive against the perpetrators of Pulwama attack. His emotionally charged 12-year-old son Rahul shouted Bharat Mata ki jai saying that the government should ensure elimination of every single terrorist from Kashmir.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Masood Azhar, the Jaish-e-Mohammed's chief whose terror academy in Balakot faced a blitzkrieg from Indian Air Force jets early Tuesday, is an overweight fugitive released by India in exchange for passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999 and has since been a blue-eyed boy of Pakistan's external snooping agency ISI.

Nearly 20 years after his release, during which he staged some audacious terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and hinterland, his Balakot camp where he trained terrorists to carry out suicide attacks, was in the crosshairs of Mirage 2000 jets, which achieved a spectacular success by destroying the resort-like facility and possibly killing up to 350 inmates.

For all his reputation, Azhar was not a hard nut to crack when he was in the custody of Indian forces, according to officials.

A former police officer, who interrogated Azhar after his arrest in 1994, said he got shaken up on the first "slap" from an army jawan, prompting him to blurt out details of his movements.

He was arrested in Anantnag in South Kashmir in February 1994 after he had entered into India on a Portuguese passport through Bangladesh.

It was a chance arrest. He along with Sajjad Afghani were travelling in an auto when it was stopped by armymen at Khanabal.

"Both ran from the autorickshaw prompting the army men to nab them. Army men were happy to find Sajjad Afghani and had a little knowledge about the other," former Director General of Sikkim Police Avinash Mohananey, who interrogated Azhar many times during his two-decade tenure in the Intelligence Bureau, told PTI.

The 50-year-old Azhar, son of a retired school headmaster from Bhawalpur in Pakistan, always felt his custody in India was going to be short-lived and that attempts would be made for his release, he had said during his first meeting with Mohnaney at Kot Balwal jail in Jammu, immediately after his arrest.

Attempts were indeed made - the first one within 10 months of his arrest when some foreigners were kidnapped from Delhi in February 1994 and demanded his release.

The plot failed when U.P. and Delhi Police managed to get the hostages freed from captivity in Saharanpur.

During that raid on Saharanpur raid, police arrested another militant, Omar Sheikh, who would eventually be released along with Azhar in exchange for the passengers of the 1999 hijacked flight IC814.

Sheikh late became well known after he beheaded Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan.

Another attempt to release him was made by a shadow group of Harkat-ul-Ansar, Al-Faran, which demanded his release in exchange of five foreigners kidnapped in Kashmir in July 1995.

A tunnel was dug in Kot Balwal jail in 1999 to his escape but Azhar could not move out because of his unusual body structure -- he was overweight and had large belly that was too big to be squeezed through the tunnel.

However, in the process, Sajjad Afghani was killed.

Finally, he was released by the BJP-led NDA government in 1999, along with Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar alias 'Latram', in exchange of the passengers of the flight IC-814.

The Kathmandu-New Delhi plane was hijacked and taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan by Masood Azhar's men.

After the negotiations with hijackers failed, the government succumbed to their demands and the then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh took the three terrorists to Kandahar in Afghanistan in a special plane to ensure the release of passengers of the hijacked plane.

Thus began a new chapter of terror in Jammu and Kashmir as well as rest of India.

After his release in 1999, Azhar formed the Jaish-e-Mohammed and scripted many audacious terror strikes in India and went on to become a favourite of the ISI.

JeM announced its arrival in the Kashmir Valley in 2000 by carrying out a suicide car bombing attack at the gate of Badamibagh cantonment in Srinagar, the headquarters of the Army's 15 Corps.

Two armymen were killed in the attack.

Later, it was involved in the attack on Parliament, the Pathankot air force base, army camps in Jammu and Uri, and the latest suicide attack on CRPF in Pulwama which claimed the lives of 40 personnel.

While in custody, intelligence agencies did not have to do much work on Azhar and he gave insights into the functioning of terror groups operating from Pakistan, the officer said.

"'I had never been slapped by my father but for the first time in my life an Army jawan did so even before asking me any question'," the officer remembered Azhar telling him.

"He was an easy man to handle and the slap had shaken him completely."

Azhar shared information about the recruitment process and functioning of terror groups in Pakistan at a time when intelligence agencies were still grappling to understand the proxy-war unleashed by Pakistan's espionage agency ISI, Mohananey, a 1985-batch IPS officer, who headed the Kashmir desk in the agency at that time, said.

Azhar gave the Indian agencies vital insights into the diversion of Afghan terrorists into the Kashmir Valley and the merger of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (HuJI) into Harkat-ul-Ansar, represented by him as its general secretary, he said.

The Jaish chief, during his stint as a journalist with 'Sada-e-Mujahid', a tabloid published from Karachi, had travelled in 1993 with a group of Pakistani scribes to some countries drumming up support for "Kashmir cause', he said.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Leaders of different political parties on Tuesday congratulated the Indian Air Force at an all-party meeting here on operation targeting a terrorist camp in Pakistan, with the Congress saying that it will support security forces in their endeavour to finish terrorism coming into India from outside.

READ | Pakistan expected surgical strike in PoK, had no clue IAF would attack deep inside

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj briefed the leaders, who included CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury, TMC's Derek O'Brian, Omar Abdullah of National Conference and Bhartruhari Mahtab from BJD, on the air strike carried out in the early hours.

Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley, both members of the Cabinet Committee on Security like Swaraj, were also present in the meeting.

READ | IAF air strike: Pakistan drone shot down near Gujarat border

Azad told reporters after the meeting that political parties lauded the IAF strikes to destroy terror camps in a "clean" operation as there were no civilian casualties.

"We will support our security forces in their endeavour to finish terrorism coming into Indian from outside. The good part was that it was a very clean operation," he said.

NCP's Praful Patel, BSP's Satish Mishra and BJP ally Ramdas Athawale also attended the meeting.

READ | Balakot camp located on bank of Kunhar river in KPK; also used by Hizbul

In a swift and precise air strike, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing over 350 terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, less than two weeks after the terror outfit carried out the suicide attack in Pulwama in which 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: India's pre-emptive strikes on terror camps in Pakistan were hailed Tuesday by leaders of various political parties, with the BJP asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's political will has made the difference while Congress chief Rahul Gandhi lauded the Indian Air Force.

"Every Indian who had the pain and anguish of the martyrdom of our forces is greatly relieved and delighted this morning. Salute to the Air Force for a meticulous operation. Our forces are world class anyway. It is the political will of our PM and team that made all the difference," BJP general secretary Ram Madhav said.

Amid speculation over terror camps in whether Balakote in PoK or the one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provice were targeted, Madhav tweeted that it was the latter.

ALSO READ: Mirage 2000 fighter jets drop 1,000 kg bombs across LoC, destroy terror camp

"By the way no doubt about which Balakot it was; it is the one in Manshera district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa," he tweeted.

Lauding the pilots of the Indian Air Force after air strikes on Pakistan, Gandhi tweeted, "I salute the pilots of the IAF."

The Congress also tweeted, hailing the role of the Indian Air Force in keeping Indians safe with its consistent and determined effort.

BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javdekar told reporters that people of Indian stood solidly behind their armed forces as he described the IAF strikes as an act of great valour.

People have faith in Modi's leadership, he said.

ALSO READ: JeM was attempting more suicide attacks; pre-emptive strike was necessary, says Foreign secretary

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also hailed the Indian Air Force (IAF) for carrying out air strikes in Pakistan.

"IAF also means India's Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind," Banerjee tweeted.

Congress leader and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh hailed it as a great job by the Indian Air Force.

"The IAF strikes have sent the much needed signal to Pakistan and the terrorists it's harbouring - don't think you can get away with acts like the Pulwama Attack. Bravo to the IAF men and my full support for the action," he said.
By PTI

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has said he forged an alliance with the BSP so that his father Mulayam Singh Yadav can win with "record votes" from whichever seat in Uttar Pradesh he chooses to fight the Lok Sabha polls.

His comment came days after SP patriarch Mulayam Yadav -- popularly known as 'netaji' -- expressed "displeasure" over his son's decision to enter into a tie-up with the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

"I have made the alliance with the BSP so that 'netaji' can win with record votes in the state from wherever he contests the Lok Sabha polls," Akhilesh told PTI in an interview.

Mayawati and Akhilesh had jointly announced the alliance in January, saying the BSP and the SP will contest 38 parliamentary seats each out of the 80 in Uttar Pradesh.

However, when the parties released the list of seats shared between them, the SP got 37 seats and the BSP 38.

When asked about Mulayam Yadav's statement last week in which he sought to know the basis for "giving away" 38 seats to the BSP, Akhilesh said, "When I was going to address a press conference to announce the alliance with the BSP, I had met 'netaji' and took his blessings."

ALSO READ: Will Shotgun fight Lok Sabha poll on SP ticket? Rumours afloat after Akhilesh meets BJP MP

"I had informed that in the alliance we will be getting half of the seats," he said.

Following the seat-sharing announcement, SP patriarch Mulayam Yadav had said, "Now, we have only half the seats left. Our party was stronger."

On the distribution of tickets, Akhilesh said, "The seats which we are going to contest is final. Now, the list of party nominees will be finalised soon. We have already identified candidates. There is no problem in it."

When asked about reports of some SP members being disgruntled over not being considered for ticket, he said the party has been making preparations for the past one year on all seats and its leaders were asked to work on the ground in their respective areas and support whoever is given a ticket.

"We all are united and contest with full force," the SP president said.

Several times, decisions in politics are taken keeping in mind equations.

"Our ticket selection was on for a year, and we got 40 applications, the maximum, from those interested to contest from Amroha, 32 candidates applied for Jaunpur seat. We will take a decision accordingly," he said The SP leader said two seats -- Raebareli and Amethi -- have been left for the Congress and two for the RLD.

"I have left Mathura seat for the RLD as they had field their candidate in the bypolls in Kairana from a SP ticket.

This is an understanding between the SP and the RLD," he said on the SP-BSP alliance's objective, Akhilesh said, "Our fight is to save the Constitution and fight those who have taken two oaths, one of government and the other of the RSS. We decided on an alliance as our goal was one -- to remove the BJP and change the prime minister."

He alleged that BJP was finishing institutions and said "its high time people should discard them".

"People are alert and they know what is happening. They are waiting for a chance to change the prime minister," Akhilesh said.

Asked about his decision to contest in Madhya Pradesh and in Uttarakhand in alliance with the BSP, he said the reason is the same -- "to counter BJP".

Attacking the BJP government in the state, Akhilesh said the lathi-charge on students in Allahabad has sent an adverse message and it has proved that the government is "anti-student".

"The government is using the official machinery to settle political scores. Now, the same students and youths of the state will give a reply to the BJP," he said.
By PTI

GUWAHATI: Setting a target of bagging at least 20 seats out of a total 25 from the Northeast, Congress president Rahul Gandhi Tuesday asserted that his party will win the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and nobody can stop it.

Addressing party's district and block unit chiefs from all Northeastern states here, Gandhi said the Congress will fight the polls focussing on three to four major issues, including job crisis, farm distress and corruption.

"In 2019 elections, Congress party is going to win. It is a reality and no one can stop that," he told the gathering.

"I am expecting 20 plus seats in Northeast from Congress party, nothing less than that. But I think you should try to win 22," he added.

The Congress had won eight seats in the Northeast in 2014.

It got three in Assam, two in Manipur, one each in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram.

The BJP had won seven Lok Sabha seats in Assam and one in Arunachal Pradesh, represented by Union Minister of State for Home Kiran Rijiju.

After ruling the region for years, the Congress lost its last bastion in Northeast as BJP ally Mizo National Front (MNF) wrestled Mizoram in December last.

The entire Northeast is now ruled by either BJP or its allies in the NEDA (North East Democratic Alliance).

Gandhi said after winning the Lok Sabha polls, Congress members should work towards bringing back the party to power in all the states, from where it was thrown out in a "wrong way".

"The Congress will fight elections on three to four different aspects in India and the Northeast. One is the Citizenship Bill. The Congress stand is clear that we oppose this Bill. Congress party stood for the Northeast and stopped the Bill from coming to Rajya Sabha," Gandhi said while giving credit to the widespread agitation against the Bill.

He also criticised the government for "shoddily" implementing the update of National Register of Citizens (NRC) and said that job crisis is a huge issue.

The Congress chief said that there is a massive agrarian crisis across the country and the youths are not getting proper education.

"Narendra Modi is not bothered and he is not interested in the problems of the people. We want to make Northeast a hub for education."

"Corruption and Rafale are massive issues. Rs 30,000 crore was given to Anil Ambani. Whenever I mention the word 'Chowkidar', all say 'Chowkidar chor hain'. I apologise to all the 'chowkidars' in this country for putting their credibility at risk, but I am saying only one 'Chowkidar is chor'," Gandhi said.

Claiming that Rs 3.5 lakh crore loans of big corporates were waived off and mentioning that five airports have already been handed over to "Modi's friend", the opposition leader said handing over of the country's resources to a few industrialists in "wholesale" is a massive issue in the Lok Sabha polls.

Besides, Gandhi alleged that BJP is trying to "crush" the regional identities as they do not understand the "Northeast culture and idea".

"Northeast will not tolerate this nonsensical idea of imposing the Nagpur culture. Do not fight the polls with hatred. You talk love and brotherhood, which will defeat BJP's hatred," Gandhi added.

Earlier, Gandhi also held a closed-door meeting of the Northeast Congress Coordination Committee (NECCC), comprising all state unit chiefs, former chief ministers and senior leaders from all states in the region and discussed strategies for the upcoming polls.

"I have made it very clear in the meeting that we are not a party like BJP that imposes one idea only. Northeast is a unique region with different types of languages, religions and tribes. It is important for us that issues of Northeast are discussed and represented," he said.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee on Security met here Tuesday morning at the residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Indian Air Force carried out air strikes in Pakistan.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman were present at the meeting.

ALSO READ: Mirage 2000 fighter jets drop 1,000 kg bombs across LoC, destroy terror camp

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other top officials of the prime minister's office and the security apparatus were present at the meeting, official sources said.

India is believed to have carried out air strikes inside Pakistan early Tuesday and targeted terror camps, sources said.

ALSO READ: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi lauds IAF pilots for air strikes on Pakistan

The strikes involving several fighter jets of the Indian Air Force successfully destroyed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the sources said.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar By

Online Desk

On Monday, the entire Kashmir wore a deserted look, as if the streets were mourning, something the people living in the Valley are accustomed to.

The Valley has been volatile since a suicide bomber rammed his car into a CRPF convoy, killing 40 troopers, but ahead of the Supreme Court hearing on Article 35(A), there has been a new sense of unease on the heavily militarised streets.

Following a series of adjournments, the Supreme Court is finally hearing the petition challenging Article 35(A) - which guarantees special rights to the residents of Jammu and Kashmir - from February 26-28.

While state political leaders such as Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and Sajjad Lone warned the Centre of violent consequences if the law is abrogated, BJP leaders have been keen to revoke it.

BJP leaders have often criticised the law, calling it one of the causes for the deepening political gap between Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of the country.

"Nobody knew that 35 (A) existed prior to 2015. The majority of people in the state feel that the Centre shouldn't touch this article. And if it's revoked, the people of Jammu will face more issues than Kashmiris," says Jagmohan Singh Raina, All Party Sikh coordination Committee chief.

Many locals consider the article to be sacred, etched into their emotions, the only thing that binds 1.2 crore people of the state. "The government is playing with the sentiments of the people," adds Raina.

If the article is abrogated, the fear of violent repercussions looms large among the people of another minority community in Kashmir.

"Rumours are doing the rounds and people in the Valley are stocking up rations, fearing a shutdown for the next two-three months. I never felt insecure even in 1990 when I fought the militants, but today I am threatened by the possible repercussions that abrogating the article might bring," says Sanjay Tickoo, leader of the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti.

Tickoo is one of the very few Kashmiri Pandits who, during the exodus of his community in 1990, fought and stayed back in his land. "The BJP wants to show that they were successful in abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution prior to the polls. If someone wants to live in the Valley, they will face problems. Not from the majority community but because of the difficult terrain. The govt of India has failed to calm the sentiments of Kashmiris, especially youth," Tickoo added.

The article was inducted into the Indian Constitution through a President's order in 1954 and was never tabled in Parliament. However, the order was passed according to the powers given to the President under Article 370, which can't be amended. "In any event as the issue requires interpretations of various constitutional provisions, let there be no interim order," J&K government counsel Rakesh Dwivedi appealed before the bench.

In 2014, the NGO "We the citizens" moved the Supreme Court, challenging the Permanent Residents Law on the grounds that it was not added to the Constitution through an amendment. Later in 2018, two Kashmiri women challenged it on the grounds that the "flawed law" bars children of women married outside the state from inheriting land.

"It is a special right given to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and any action which has to be taken should be by the state assembly. The central government or Parliament shouldn't be given the power to decide for the state," said Stanzin Lhadon, a student from Leh.

For the two lakh Buddhists living in Leh, the article is not only about job security and land rights, but also about preserving their age-old culture. "We are a minority community which holds our culture close to our heart. The heritage has been preserved for so long only because of article 35-A. Revoking it will be a disaster," Lhadon added.


Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates led the way Tuesday in contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to help Yemen, where their countries' Western-backed militaries are deeply engaged in a wrenching and bloody fight against Iran-aligned militias.

The commitments of $1.5 billion by the two rich regional powers made up over half of the total tally from the third U.N. pledging conference for the impoverished Arabian peninsula country, nearing its fourth year of intensified war. The United Nations says Yemen faces the world's gravest humanitarian crisis, and tens of thousands are believed to have died from gunfire, bombs, disease and starvation.

The U.N. said 40 pledges totaling $2.6 billion were received during the day-long conference, a 30-percent increase from the amount drummed up at a similar conference a year ago.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, opening the conference, lamented ``an overwhelming humanitarian catastrophe'' in Yemen, where some 24 million people, or four-fifths of Yemen's total population, require aid and protection.

"Twenty million people cannot reliably feed themselves or their families,'' he said. "Almost 10 million are just one step away from famine.''

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have waged an extensive air campaign; imposed air, sea, and land embargoes and tightened access to the country by shutting down its main airport in Sanaa. The two countries entered the war in 2015 after Houthis pushed the internationally recognized government out of the capital Sanaa in 2014.

U.N. officials sought to distinguish between the harsh realities of a war that they want to see end, and the pledges laid out to address a lingering _ and worsening _ humanitarian imperative in Yemen.

"We are not disregarding the war that exists, and the fact that a number of countries _ and not only the ones you mentioned _ have had a direct impact on that war,'' Guterres told a news conference. " And obviously what we want is to end the war, and to end all the consequences of the war.

"Independently of that, today we are at a pledging conference to address humanitarian needs,'' he added.

Mohamed Abdi, the Yemen director for the Norwegian Refugee Council aid group, decried that "while billions are spent on bombs and weapons bringing death and destruction, much less is made available to save lives of Yemeni civilians.''

He appealed to Yemen's warring parties "to give us unhindered access to people in need, and to stop interfering in the delivery of aid.''

U.N. officials trumpeted one sign of upbeat news on the ground Tuesday: Aid workers regained access to key grain storage silos in the conflict-ridden port city of Hodeida for the first time in six months.

The Houthis had blocked the World Food Program from crossing a front line into the government-controlled area where the silos are located.

WFP spokesman Herve Verhoosel said some 51,000 metric tons of wheat _ enough to feed 3.7 million people for a month _ had been in storage at the site when it was rendered inaccessible. He said an assessment is under way to determine the state of the wheat.

The United Nations' "Humanitarian Response Plan for Yemen'' in 2019 seeks $4 billion to reach 15 million people across the country, after raising nearly $2.6 billion last year.

U.N. officials say they are running out of money in a country hamstrung by a devastated health care system, a lack of jobs, continued fighting and fallout from the world's worst cholera epidemic in 2017.

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By Online Desk

Indian film actors on Tuesday were no short of praise and fervour of the Indian Air Force, who bombed a major terrorist camp situated deep inside Pakistan, reportedly killing over 300 terrorists and their trainers.

Superstars of various languages hailed the IAF pilots on Twitter for successfully carrying out the mission which is considered to be India's retaliation to Pulwama suicide bomb attack on February 14, in which 40 CRPF jawans had lost their lives.

ALSO READ | 'How's the josh?' ask netizens, salute IAF after surgical strikes 2.0

Tamil superstars Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, Bollywood sensations Abhishek Bachchan, Rajkumar Rao, Preity Zinta were among the celebrities who tweeted out soon after the news of the air strike broke.

However, it was a Tweet by Bollywood star Ajay Devgn that was well received by Indian users. "Mess with the best, die like the rest. Salute #IndianAirForce." - the Singham-star wrote, tagging the handle of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The tweet has so far garnered over 95k likes and 19k retweets.

Mess with the best, die like the rest. Salute #IndianAirForce.@narendramodi.  Ajay Devgn (@ajaydevgn) 26 February 2019

Preity Zinta eternalised Zaara Khan a Pakistani girl who falls in love with an Indian fighter pilot in the 2004 Bollywood drama "Veer-Zaara." The co-owner of Kings XI Punjab was in full praise of the IAF for the valour.

Killing a terrorist today saves many many innocent lives tomorrow I salute the #IndianAirforce for making this possible by destroying the terror camps across the border.       #JaiHind #BharatMataKiJai #IndiaStrikesBack  Preity G Zinta (@realpreityzinta) 26 February 2019

Tamil superstar Rajinikanth too, was quick to respond. "BRAVO INDIA," he tweeted along with the emoticon of the Indian tricolour.

BRAVO INDIA  Rajinikanth (@rajinikanth) 26 February 2019

Rajini's colleague from Kollywood Kamal Haasan, who recently entered politics by launching his own political party Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) tweeted that the country is proud of the fighter pilots' heroics. "Our 12 return safely home after wreaking havoc on terrorist camps in Pakistan. India is proud of its heroes. I salute their valour," his tweet read.

Our 12 return safely home after wreaking havoc on terrorist camps in Pakistan. India is proud of its heroes. I salute their valour.  Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) 26 February 2019

"Trapped" and "Newton" fame Rajkumar Rao hailed the offensive against the "elements that pose a threat to our country and humanity."

Saluting our #IndianAirForce for carrying out this strike against terror elements that pose a threat to our country and humanity. Jai hind! #IndiaStrikesBack  Rajkummar Rao (@RajkummarRao) 26 February 2019

Telugu action hero Mahesh Babu was short and crisp in his message. "Extremely proud of our #IndianAirForce. Salutes to the brave pilots of IAF," he wrote.

Extremely proud of our #IndianAirForce. Salutes to the brave pilots of IAF  Mahesh Babu (@urstrulyMahesh) 26 February 2019

SS Rajamouli, the director of the "Baahubali" series tweeted:

Bollywood youth icon Sidharth Malhotra's tweet had words in both English and Hindi:

Very proud of the #IndianAirForce. We salute our brave pilots !   !   ! #Respect  Sidharth Malhotra (@SidMalhotra) 26 February 2019

This is what Abhishek Bachchan had to say about the strike:

    Abhishek Bachchan (@juniorbachchan) 26 February 2019

Sanjay Dutt thanked the force for their "indomitable spirit" in keeping the country safe.

Salute to the #IndianAirForce for their indomitable spirit in keeping our country safe! Let us all pray for their safety. Jai Hind  Sanjay Dutt (@duttsanjay) 26 February 2019

Akshay Kumar, whose upcoming project "Kesari" re-narrates the story of Indian soldiers' bravery during the Battle of Saragarhi in 1897, showered praise on the air force.

Proud of our #IndianAirForce fighters for destroying terror camps.     ! Quiet no more! #IndiaStrikesBack  Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) 26 February 2019

"Fight fire with fire" is what Emraan Hashmi had to say on the offensive beyond the LOC. His tweet read:
Sudhir Srinivasan By

Express News Service

Reportedly, it was all Spike Lee could do to not storm out of the venue upon hearing that Green Book was chosen, quite shockingly, for the Best Film Oscar.

Two years ago too, it was a bit of a shock when Moonlight beat La La Land, but that was all for the right reasons. It isnt hard to see why Spike Lee, much admired for his empowering portrayal of black America in his films, got ticked off.

Less than an hour earlier, he had had much cause for rejoicing after securing his long-deserved first Oscar (Best Adapted Screenplay) for his wildly entertaining BlacKkKlansman which pulls no punches in its takedown of white supremacy. The films about a black policeman who tries to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan, and is every bit the entertaining and bitingly provocative film its premise promises to be.

When Lee won his first-ever Oscar, it seemed like, host or no host, this was going to be a memorable year. As Lee took to the stage with unbridled joy and delivered a speech in which he touched on slavery, natives, and the upcoming elections, he must not have known how much rage he was to feel barely an hour later.

He must have thought his chances rather bright of securing a Best Director or a Best Film win. Losing the Best Director Oscar to Alfonso Cuaron for Roma must not have been a big blow. Roma, after all, does its bit to further the cause of the indigenous.

But when the final Oscar  for Best Film  went to Green Book (not Roma, not BlacKkKlansman, not Black Panther, not The Favourite, not even A Star is Born), my own rage was a bit of an indicator of what Spike Lee must have been feeling. It isnt so much over BlacKkKlansman not winning it, as much it is about Green Book winning it.

Peter Farrellys film is the sort of safe take, the sort of white saviour narrative we have traditionally been forced to tolerate.

Its a film about a racist world, about a friendship between a successful, yet trampled black pianist and his racist white driver. Infuriatingly, its a story thats at all times cautious not to place the black man above the evidently racist white man. Its a film that goes to great lengths to make the white man deserving of your empathy.

The role of the white man (Viggo Mortensen) even got the Best Actor nomination, while Mahershala Ali got the Best Supporting Actor nod (which he deservedly won), showing who the films keener to prioritise. Apparently, we still cant move past being proud of mushy, tentative takes on racism centred on the white male, and crafted to humanise them. Two years after bravely rewarding Moonlight over La La Land for the formers unflinching, gut-wrenching take on black masculinity, the Academy has taken several leaps back.

And to think it all began so well when Tina Fey, Amy Pohler, and Maya Rudolph showed why the Oscars desperately needed a host.

If this was a year, an opportunity, to see if the function could do away with a host, we have the answer: A resounding no.

A large part of the evening involved predictable thank you speeches, with the occasional bright spot. Spike Lee leaping into the arms of a thrilled Samuel Jackson was heartwarming to behold. Lady Gaga (who won the Oscar for Best Original Song) being moved to tears in seeming relief that for once, it wasnt at the Grammys, was endearing. Even better was when she and Bradley Cooper lost themselves in a rendition of Shallow.

Best of all though was Olivia Colmans winning speech (she won the Best Actress Oscar), which burst with offhanded honesty. This is genuinely stressful, she opened, and followed it up with, This is hilarious  Ive got an Oscar!

Somewhere in between, she sneaked in self-deprecating Brit humour too: This is not going to happen again. Her speech  and the Academys choice to pick her, despite the pressure to cap Glenn Closes previous six failed Oscar nominations with a win  was the evenings zenith. Who knew then that an award later, the event would hit its nadir.

In support of immigrants

Rami Maleks Oscar-acceptance speech was an important moment at the 91st Academy Awards. I am the son of immigrants from Egypt. Im a first-generation American and part of my story is being written right now, he said. Notably, Bohemian Rhapsody, the film for which he won himself a Best Actor Oscar, is about an Indian-born boy who becomes one of the greatest frontmen in the history of rock music.

Perhaps because of the present leadership in America, and with parts of the world seeing an increase in right-wing supporters, immigrants and their importance was a running theme at the Osars. Fittingly, Roma, a film about an indigenous caretakers relationship with the family she works for, secured 10 nominations.

An almost autobiographical story of a Mexican boy and his nanny, it has fetched its Mexican director, Alfonso Cuaron, his third Academy Award. Cuaron hugged his Mexican friend and colleague, director Guillermo Del Toro who won the Oscar last year for The Shape of Water, and went on to thank Yalitza Aparicio, the first indigenous American woman to get a Best Actress nomination.

He thanked the Academy for recognising a film about an indigenous woman, one of the seventy million domestic workers in the world without work rights. He added, Our job is to look where others dont. This responsibility becomes much more important at a time when we are encouraged to look away.

During the evening, Ruth Carter and Hannah Beachler became the first black women to win Oscars for Black Panthers costume design and production design, respectively (ending a 30-year Oscar wait for black women in non-performing categories).

Also notable is BlacKkKlansmans win for Best Adapted Screenplay, a film that gets us introspecting on the acceptance of immigrants, and more importantly, stresses on the importance of humanity. Green Book winning the Best Film Oscar raised eyebrows on account of its take on racism, but director Peter Farrelly made an important point when he said: Its about loving each other, despite our differences and finding out the truth about who we are. Ultimately, its a simple choice, as Spike Lee pointed out: Make the moral choice between love versus hate.
By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: Sleuths of Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) arrested two persons who carried Rs 63 lakh in a joint raid at Vijayawada Railway Station on Monday. From their possession, the officials seized the cash and handed over the case to the Income Tax (I-T) department.

According to Deputy Superintendent of Railway Police (DSRP) M Venkateswarlu, the duo, identified as Potnuri Satish, 25, and his father Someswara Rao, 55, hail from Narsannapet of Srikakulam district. The duo was reportedly on the way to Nellore to purchase gold ornaments.

During the raid as part of their regular duties, the GRP and RPF Police suspected the two persons, who were found carrying a bag on Platform No. 1 in the railway station. When the son and father gave evasive answers during questioning, the officers found Rs 63 lakh of unaccounted cash when they inspected the bag. The cash has been seized.

They could not produce any evidence pertaining to the cash they were carrying. During our probe, they said the cash belongs to the proprietor of Sri Lalitha Jewellers (Narsannapet) Thangudu Srinivasa Rao. They were on their way to Nellore to buy gold ornaments from one DP Rahul. Srinivasa Rao and Rahul were asked to come to Vijayawada and appear before the I-T officials, said DSRP.
Arun Lakshman By

Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress party will field two women candidates from the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha (LS) elections. AICC general secretary in charge of the state Mukul Wasnik has, in informal discussions, communicated to the state leadership to compulsorily include two women leaders in the list of the partys candidates for the LS polls.

Shanimol Usman, K E Sheeba, K A Thulasi and Swapna Patronis are the frontrunners for a Congress ticket. The party is likely to field either Sheeba or Thulasi from the Alathur reserved constituency, while Shanimol will contest from Alappuzha if sitting MP K C Venugopal is shifted to a safer constituency given the grassroots issues he is facing in his constituency.

Shanimol, a senior leader of the party who is in the good books of Rahul Gandhi, is also in consideration for the Attingal seat if Adoor Prakash does not contest from there, in view of the partys reluctance to field sitting legislators in the LS polls. However, the party high command can make exceptions in such cases.

State coordinator of Shakti programme Swapna Patronis is another favourite of the Congress high command. However, the young leader would have to contest from the Ernakulam seat, currently held by veteran leader K V Thomas who boasts of a winning streak in the constituency.

Though it remains to be seen whether the state Congress would green light Thomas removal to make way for a fresh face, sources told Express there are possibilities of surprise candidates emerging in the Congress list, with Swapna likely to be one of them.

While the state Congress contemplates on continuing with sitting MPs, a survey conducted by the party among its cadre found there could be certain changes. Serious discussions are on in the party against the candidature of Anto Antony for the Pathanamthitta seat as there had allegedly been total revolt against him in the District Congress Committee. Meanwhile, the two-term MP has already launched his poll campaign, ahead of rivals LDF and NDA.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: The lack of proper charging facilities at Ernakulam depot has forced Kerala SRTC to temporarily suspend its plan to ply e-buses on Muvattupuzha route. In the absence of enough charging facilities, we cannot operate on Muvattupuzha now. The buses that reach Ernakulam from Thiruvananthapuram in the morning should be charged on arrival. If operated to Muvattupuzha, it has to be charged before heading back to Thiruvananthapuram, an official said. On Monday, only three e-buses completed their maiden Thiruvananthapuram - Ernakulam journey while two broke down mid way due to complete battery discharge.

The reports of the breakdown sent Ernakulam depot personnel scrambling to set up charging points. The only charging point in between Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam is at Haripad depot. However, on Monday, KSEB did not provide electrical connection to the charging point in Haripad which was a reason behind buses broke down midway, an official said.

The KSRTC officials believe the buses were hastily rolled out without proper facilities. Currently, there are two charging pods at Ernakulam depot and Aluva depot. Only two buses can be charged at a time with the available facility. It would take three hours to fully charge the buses before vehicles head back to Thiruvananthapuram. The charging facility in Ernakulam depot is set up as a temporary arrangement which will start functioning on Tuesday. If there is any issue with one charging station, operations of the entire fleet will be affected, sources said. The KSEB had installed a 90 KW three phase charging point at Ernakulam depot.

The lack of charging points on the route can hamper the ambitious e-bus project of the corporation. V M Thajudheen Sahib, DTO Ernakulam said, A proposal has been sent to set up charging facility at Thevara. Electric buses are future of transportation and it is an important milestone for KSRTC. As far as charging points are concerned, we have sent a proposal to install charging point in Thevara where five buses can be charged at a time, he said.

According to Thajudheen, the average collection of the buses that operated from Thiruvananthapuram to Ernakulam was around Rs 10,000 on Monday. KSRTC Chill bus comprising Volvo low-floor buses generated a revenue of more than `50 per km. We expect a better return from electric buses.

As the buses are taken on a lease basis, drivers are appointed and paid by the bus company reducing the financial burden of KSRTC. All the buses that came to Ernakulam had a heavy rush on its maiden trip, he said.The buses are manufactured and operated by Goldstone Infratech Limited. The seating capacity of the bus is 33. The electric buses of Ernakulam depot ply to Thiruvananthapuram at 4am, 4:30 am, 5 am, 5:30 am and 6 am. The bus fare is same as KSRTC Chill bus.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, accused in a case related to death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar, was granted permission by a court to travel to Saudi Arabia for attending a seminar.

Pushkar was found dead in a Delhi luxury hotel on the night of January 17, 2014. Tharoor was charged under Sections 498-A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 of the IPC, but has not been arrested in the case.

Special CBI Judge Arun Bhardwaj permitted Tharoor, noting that the Congress MP was given permission to travel abroad earlier and had abided by the terms and conditions of the court. The judge also noted that another court had already allowed Tharoor to travel to the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain.

Considering the fact that earlier the applicant/ accused was given permission to travel abroad and he has abided by the terms and conditions of the court, now the applicant/accused is further permitted to visit Saudi Arabia from February 28 to March 4 in addition to permission already granted to him to travel to UAE, Qatar and Bahrain, the court said.

Tharoor had sought permission to travel abroad, saying he was invited by Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre, Saudi National Committee for a UDF National Seminar to be conducted from March 1-3, and to attend a conference on the invitation from Zahrani Group, Saudi Arabia.

The Delhi Police had opposed his plea, saying that invites are to be cross-checked for their veracity by communicating with the organisers.

The police contended the trial in the Pushkars death case is in the initial stage and Tharoor has property and other interests abroad and may settle there to evade the trial.Granting travel permission for abroad at this early stage of proceedings may hamper the course of the trial and consequently delay delivery of justice in this matter, it said.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) hosted a web science symposium on Friday to boost research and education programmes in the sector, said a statement issued by the institute.

It was the first such symposium held under Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (RBCDSAI), which was founded in 2017 in IITM to expand research activities in data science and artificial intelligence sector.The two-day event, that will conclude on February 26, aims to provide a venue for the Indian web science community to meet and exchange research ideas that could result in collaborations.

This edition of the symposium features lectures by eminent researchers from Indian academia and industry as well as some of the trustees of the web science trust from the UK and the USA. Research poster session was also held with presentations from research scholars from around the country, as well as a panel discussion on fostering the web science community in India.

The event is being held jointly with Web Science Trust (WST), a U.K.-based not-for-profit that supports global development of Web Science.B Ravindran, Head, RBCDSAI, IIT-Madras, said, There are many India-specific challenges that need to be addressed by Web Science. While India has a nascent Web Science community, we need much larger nation-wide efforts to develop solutions tailored to the Indian society. This symposium is an attempt to bring both, Indian academia and industry together to enable more active focus on web science research for India. RBC-DSAI comprises faculty from several departments across the Institute who carry out research in various areas of data science and AI.
Aarthi M By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: What do you do when life snatches away everything that you hold dear? Kesang Tsetan, one of Nepals renowned directors, spoke about his documentary, Trembling Mountain, which is based on the situation of Langtang after an earthquake measuring 7.8 on Richter scale caused an avalanche, which swept away the entire village. About 176 villagers and 80 hikers were killed during the incident. Tsetan portrayed the entire situation in his documentary.

He spoke about how villagers took refuge at monasteries after the incident as they had no places to stay. At first, I was a little hesitant about filming the whole disaster. After all, who wants to document a disaster? It is truly unpleasant. But their determination to get back to normal and start their livelihood encouraged me to produce the documentary, explained Tsetan. It was filmed over a period of one year to capture the exact situation of the villagers while they were trying to re-build their lives.

The director spoke about his protagonist named Gyalpo, a cheese maker, who reached out to the director for some goats milk to feed his ailing daughter. The documentary shows their effort to return to normalcy after the earthquake and throw light on the life of survivors and their emotions after losing their family and friends. It was a challenge for me. It drew me in and I filmed this documentary to find out answers to so many questions, added Tseten. Everyone was invited to a studio and were requested to share their feelings which were documented.

Trembling Mountain is a development film to let everyone know about the situation of villagers whose entire livelihood depends on tourism. It also narrates a transition of how the herders of Nepal are slowing turning into lodge owners and businessmen. For example, a clip in the movie shows an old man with wrinkles all over his face, when asked about how he was going to sell his cattle as his son died during the quake and he did not know how to to herd them. Tsetan said everyone around was surprised to hear that he did not know the process.

The film ends with villagers setting up temporary homes and industries to earn some money and get back to business. The thing we dont understand is that we reach out to the villagers and document their lives. But all that matters is what you plan to do with it. Most of them are expressive in the most unusual ways and documenting their life was a learning experience for me, said Tseten.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: A day before Aero India began, Fire and Emergency Service officials had issued a notice to HAL, the organisers of the five-day air show, for lack of fire safety measures at the venue at Air Force Station, Yelahanka.On being asked about the notice, Sunil Agarwal, Additional Director General of Police, Fire and Emergency Services, confirmed to The New Indian Express that the notice was served to HAL on February 19.

He said the fire officials did a spot visit, and found that the stalls and the entire premises in the hangars, where the air show was being held, had no fire safety measures. We served a notice to HAL, citing 80 guidelines that they needed to follow during such events, Agarwal said, adding that despite the notice, no fire safety measures were taken.The notice pertained to the main exhibition area where the temporary stalls were put up. When asked if any inspection was carried out at the parking area where 277 cars were gutted in the fire, Agarwal said, We have not specifically mentioned about parking, but over all there was no fire safety measures.

HAL spokesperson Gopal Sutar said, As far as the role of HAL is concerned, we clarify that the land belongs to Indian Air Force and the fire services was the responsibility of the state fire department. HAL provided assistance and the requisite support as it has done in other areas related to Aero India 2019. HAL cannot comment on notices issued.

Another HAL official said on condition of anonymity: We did not do this air show on our own. Various agencies were involved, including the state government. If the fire department is now raking up the issue saying notice was issued, where was it for the first three days of the show when the cars were parked in parking lots with dry grass, which could have caught fire then too?

Why are they bringing this up only after nearly 300 cars got gutted? Couldnt they foresee that dry grass could catch fire?When Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman inspected the parking lot on Sunday, the fire officials briefed her about the poor safety measures followed at the event. A copy of the notice issued to HAL was also shown to her.Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy told reporters on Monday that measures will be taken to avoid such incidents, and added that the 2021 air show will be in Bengaluru.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Seeking to curb excessive salary payout practices, the Reserve Bank has proposed strict compensation norms for senior officials of private as well as foreign banks, including minimum 50 percent variable component and money clawback provisions.

Floating a discussion paper, the central bank has also proposed that variable pay of CEO and whole-time directors, among other key personnel, should be "capped at 200 percent of fixed pay".

Earlier variable pay was capped at 70 percent of fixed pay but did not include Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP).

High pay packets and excessive risk-taking ways in the banking industry have been under the scanner ever since the global financial crisis of 2008.

Employees were too often rewarded for increasing short-term profit without adequate recognition of the risks and long-term consequences for their organisations.

The latest discussion paper proposing changes to compensation norms comes more than seven years after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued such guidelines for private and foreign banks.

"These (2012) guidelines are being reviewed, with an objective to better align with FSB (Financial Stability Board) Principles and Implementation Standards, based on experience and evolving international best practices," the RBI said.

Apart from CEOs and whole-time directors, the proposed changes in compensation would be applicable for "material risk takers and control function staff".

It has also been suggested that ESOPs should be included as a component of variable pay.

The proposed guidelines also said minimum 50 per cent of variable pay is to be via non-cash component while mandating a compulsory deferral mechanism for variable pay, regardless of quantum of variable pay.

"It should be ensured that there is a proper balance between fixed pay and variable pay.

The total variable pay shall be limited to a maximum of 200 per cent of the fixed pay (for the relative period).

"Within this ceiling, at higher levels of responsibility, the proportion of variable pay should be higher.

The deterioration in the financial performance of the bank should generally lead to a contraction in the total amount of variable compensation paid," the discussion paper said.

Further, the paper said banks are required to put in place appropriate modalities to incorporate "malus/ clawback mechanism" in respect of variable pay, taking into account relevant statutory and regulatory stipulations as applicable.

"Wherever the assessed divergence in bank's asset classification or provisioning from the RBI norms exceeds the prescribed threshold for public disclosure, the bank shall not pay the unvested portion of the variable compensation for the assessment year under 'malus' clause," it added.

A malus arrangement permits a bank to prevent vesting of all or part of the amount of a deferred remuneration.

A clawback, on the other hand, is a contractual agreement between the employee and the bank in which the employee agrees to return previously paid or vested remuneration to the bank under certain circumstances.

In case of divergence (difference between bad assets declared by bank and assessed by RBI), no proposal for increase in variable pay (for the assessment year) should be entertained, it added.

Comments have been sought on the discussion paper till March 31.

In the discussion paper, the RBI said compensation practices, especially of large financial institutions, were one of the important factors which contributed to the global financial crisis in 2008.

"These perverse incentives amplified the excessive risk taking that severely threatened the global financial system.

The compensation issue has, therefore, been at the centre stage of the regulatory reforms," it said.

The Financial Stability Forum (later the Financial Stability Board) in 2009 brought out a set of Principles and Implementation Standards on sound compensation practices.

The guidelines have been proposed for private sector banks, including Local Area Banks, Small Finance Banks and Payments Banks.

For the foreign banks operating in India by way of Wholly Owned Subsidiary structure, the guidelines would be same as that for private sector banks in the country.
President Hassan Rouhani held back from accepting the resignation of his foreign minister on Tuesday, standing by a leading ally in Iran's moderate faction who has been targeted by hardliners over a 2015 nuclear deal with the West.

Zarif - a U.S.-educated veteran diplomat who helped craft the pact that curbed Iran's nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief - gave no reason for his decision to quit when he announced it on Instagram on Monday.

But his move thrust the schism between Iran's hardliners and moderates into the open, effectively challenging Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to pick a side.

An ally of Zarif said his resignation was motivated by criticism of the nuclear accord, under increasingly intense fire in Iran since the United States abandoned it last year.

"There were closed-door meetings every week, where top officials were bombarding him with questions about the deal and what will happen next and so on," a Zarif ally told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "He and his boss (Rouhani) were under a huge amount of pressure."

Since the United States walked out of the nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions last year, Rouhani has had to explain why Iran has continued to abide by its restrictions while reaping virtually none of the foreseen economic benefits.

Despite announcing his resignation, Zarif had not officially tendered it to Rouhani by Tuesday afternoon and the president had not accepted it.

Iran's Foreign Ministry reiterated that Rouhani had not accepted Zarif's resignation, rejecting reports in the media.

"Wise And Effective Positions"

"All interpretations and analysis around the reasons behind the resignation of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, beyond what he posted on his Instagram account, are not accurate and, as the chief of staff of the president of Iran said today, the resignation has not been accepted," spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by Fars news.

Lawmakers representing the majority moderate faction sent Rouhani a letter asking him to keep Zarif on, IRNA reported.

Rouhani's chief of staff Mahmoud Vaezi said Rouhani stood by Zarif. The president's praise was "a clear sign of the satisfaction of the representative of the people of Iran about the wise and effective positions and work of Dr Zarif," Vaezi wrote on Instagram.

Lawmaker Ali Motahari, like other politicians from both camps, said Rouhani was unlikely to accept Zarifs decision since no one else could fill the demanding post.

The schism between hardliners and moderates over the nuclear deal shows the tension in Iran between the two factions, and between the elected government which runs the country on a day-to-day basis and a clerical establishment with ultimate power.

Rouhani won elections in 2013 and 2017 on reform promises, while Khamenei, in power since 1989, is seen as above factional infighting but sympathetic to hardliners. While Rouhani chooses ministers, Khamenei traditionally has the last say.

Uncertainty

"If he (Khamenei) publicly backs Zarif and Rouhani, this crisis will be over in a good way and it will narrow the gap between different political camps in the country," said an official close to the hardline camp.

The political uncertainty comes at a difficult time for Iran's leaders as the reimposed U.S. sanctions have dashed hopes of an economic breakthrough. Rouhani has warned that the country is facing the worst economic crisis in 40 years.

Hardships have triggered waves of nation-wide protests, with calls for both Rouhani and clerical leaders to step down.

Some unconfirmed Iranian media reports indicated Zarif had resigned because he had not been informed about a visit by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday.

Zarif was quoted as condemning "factional fighting" in a newspaper interview published on Tuesday - suggesting political tensions may have played a part in his decision. The Fars news agency reported that the interview had taken place last week, before Zarif's resignation.

A former pro-reform official warned of dire consequences of Zarif's resignation is accepted.

"If accepted, it will have a domino effect ... and others (ministers) and even Rouhani might follow him and this is not something that the country can tolerate when pressured by America and sanctions," he said.

"Hardliners will be strengthened and any kind of reform will be buried for at least 10 years."

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By Express News Service

MUMBAI: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Monday said no financial institution can declare the accounts of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) or its entities as Non-Performing Assets for non-payment of dues without prior permission of the Tribunal.

The order passed by a two-member bench, headed by chairman Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya, was in response to the appeals by some banks and financial institutions in the IL&FS resolution case. This follows a recent order allowing 22 of the IL&FS firms tagged green to service their debt obligation.

As per the RBI regulations, any loan where the interest or principal amount remain overdue for a period of more than 90 days as per the terms of the loan has to marked as NPA and appropriate provisioning has to be made for such loans by the banks.

NCLAT had earlier allowed 22 green-category IL&FS group firms, which were in a position to meet their payment obligations, to do so. While this will give reprieve to the banks, it needs to be seen how RBI will deal with non-classification of NPAs as per the NCLAT order.

Out of the 169 domestic IL&FS group entities, stress test was completed for 69 entities, of which 22 are classified Green, 10 as Amber and 38 as Red. Amber, as per the reckoning, can only meet the operational payment obligations and payment obligations to senior secured financial creditors, and Red ones cannot even meet the payment obligations of senior secured financial creditors.

4 IL&FS employees back from ethiopia

Mumbai: IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd (ITNL), an IL&FS group subsidiary, said in a statement on Monday that it has safely brought back four of its employees who were stuck in Ethopia over unpaid dues. While many of its employees working abroad started returning to India following the crisis that hit the company in September last, the ones in Ethiopia had to go through an ordeal of being held hostage.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Tuesday asked the Centre as to how it gave retrospective effect - from July 2015 - to the black money law which was enacted in April 2016 to deal with undisclosed foreign income and assets.

The petition has been filed by Gautam Khaitan, a lawyer who has contended that action was being taken against him under the Act for assets which ceased to exist before the law came into force.

"How does it have retrospective effect," a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal asked the Finance Ministry and the Income Tax Department (ITD) on the plea challenging the legality of various provisions of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015.

Khaitan, represented by senior advocates P V Kapur and Siddharth Luthra, has also challenged a central government notification which gave retrospective effect, from July 2015, to the black money law which was enacted in April 2016.

Khaitan is one of the accused in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam.

In the petition, filed through advocate Pramod Kumar Dubey, Khaitan has also challenged the I-T department's January 22 order granting sanction to lodge a criminal complaint against him under section 51 of the Act which provides for jail term between 3 to 10 years if found guilty of wilfully attempting to evade tax.

His lawyers urged the bench to stay the sanction order, but the court declined to grant the relief saying it was not going to interfere in the matter at this stage and listed the matter for further hearing on April 10.

During the hearing, Kapur and Luthra contended that before issue of show cause notice and grant of sanction, tax assessment has to be carried out for the years in question which has not been done in the instant case as the assessment year was 2019-20.

However, the tax department opposed the contention saying that when there was an undisclosed foreign asset, there was no need to wait for completion of the assessment.

Khaitan, in his plea, has sought a declaration that under the black money law, the assessing officer was "not entitled to charge tax on a foreign undisclosed asset, which ceased to exist prior to the Act coming into force, only on the ground that such asset came to the notice of the assessing officer after the Act came into force".
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International

Plea seeking Nawaz Sharifs release rejected

Pakistan, Feb 25 (IANS): | Publish Date: 2/26/2019 12:00:00 AM IST

A Pakistan court on Monday rejected a petition seeking the release of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on bail on medical grounds.

The Islamabad High Court bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani announced the nine-page short order, saying bail could not be given on medical grounds, reports Dawn news.

Sharif was shifted from Kot Lakhpat Jail, where he is serving his sentence, to the Jinnah Hospital 10 days back. Speaking to the media, former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi deemed the verdict disappointing. We have always respected court orders; we respect this one as well. Will take all legal routes that are available (to challenge), said Abbasi. The treatment required (for Sharif) cannot be provided in jail; it is important that he is released.

Accountability court Judge Mohammad Arshad Malik had on December 24, 2018, convicted Sharif in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills Company (ASCL) and Hill Metal Establishment (HME) reference, and awarded him seven years imprisonment with a fine of Rs 1.5 billion and $25 million.

Last week, the bench reserved the decision on the petition seeking the suspension of the seven-year sentence awarded to Sharif in the Al-Azizia reference.

The former leader has challenged his conviction in the IHC, claiming that the accountability courts verdict is flawed and marred.
International

EU asks Pakistan to take actions against terrorists

Islamabad, Feb 25 (PTI): | Publish Date: 2/26/2019 12:00:00 AM IST

The EU has asked Pakistan to take clear and sustained actions targeting not only all UN-listed transnational terrorist groups but also individuals claiming responsibility for attacks in the wake of the Pulwama terror strike. The statement came amid heightened tension between the two nuclear-armed arch-rivals after the February 14 suicide attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad that killed at least 40 CRPF soldiers in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district.

Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the EU Commission, urged Pakistan and India to urgently de-escalate the tension which has built up after the attack.

She spoke to Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sunday and discussed the current situation, a delegation of the European Union (EU) said in a statement here. The EU is also in contact with India, it said. Mogherini also highlighted the need to continue addressing terrorism including clear and sustained actions targeting not only all United Nations-listed transnational terrorist groups but also individuals claiming responsibility for such attacks the statement said.

She said the EUs policy has always been to promote a dialogue between Pakistan and India to sort out differences. After the attack, which was claimed by the UN-proscribed JeM, India launched a major diplomatic offensive against Islamabad after the attack and highlighted Pakistans role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

India asked Pakistan to take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control. New Delhi also announced the withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation status for Pakistan and hiked the customs duty by 200 per cent on goods originating from Pakistan.

Last week, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres also called on India and Pakistan to take immediate steps to defuse tensions and offered to help broker a solution if both sides agree to UN mediation.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Tuesday reshuffled his senior military staff, the Defence Ministry said in a statement, days after announcing a nationwide state of emergency.

Bashir appointed General Essam al-Din Mubarak as state minister of defence, a new position.

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We need legal brains with requisite ...
A majority of parliamentarians in Iran signed a letter to President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday asking that Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif continue in his job, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported, quoting a member of parliament.

Rouhani has not formally accepted the resignation which Zarif announced on Monday on Instagram.

Ali Najafi Khoshroodi, spokesman for parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy commission, told IRNA he had signed the letter and was collecting additional signatures.

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You have been redirected here from Hemscott.com as we are merging our websites to provide you with a one-stop shop for all your investment research needs.To search for a security, type the name or ticker in the search box at the top of the page and select from the dropdown results.Registered Hemscott users can log in to Morningstar using the same login details. Similarly, if you are a Hemscott Premium user, you now have a Morningstar Premium account which you can access using the same login details.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry stressed on Tuesday Egypt's keenness on boosting international cooperation in the field of human rights and the resolution of conflicts.

Addressing the high-level segment of the 40th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Shoukry said that President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi launched an initiative last year to achieve development in transparency.

Shoukry also highlighted the inauguration of the country's largest mosque and cathedral in the New Administrative Capital last month to prove that there is no religious discrimination in Egypt.

He added that some countries suffer from the presence of terrorist groups, pointing out that these countries are in dire need of humanitarian assistance to help them restore stability.

Shoukry said that some countries exploit the UN Human Rights Council to make political gains and impose their views by force.

Egypt believes that human rights are an interdependent set of indivisible rights, primarily the right to life, the Egyptian foreign minister said.

Shoukry added that Egypt pays great attention to initiatives presented by the UN Human Rights Council in this regard.

The minister further stressed that Egypt's keenness to actively participate in the promotion of human rights on the African level is a priority during its current presidency of the African Union.

The Egyptian government took several steps last year in the field of human rights out of its belief that the Egyptian people should enjoy all rights and freedoms to have a better future, Shoukry said.

He added that the Egyptian state has adopted a comprehensive programme to develop pre-university education and empower women at the political, social and economic levels.

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Todd Hurley, chief relationship officer of Penn Community Bank, left; Kirsten Palmieri, HR business partner and United Way campaign coordinator for Penn Community Bank, second from left; and Jessica Sweeney, corporate administrative manager and United Way campaign coordinator for Penn Community Bank, second from right, present Penn Community Bank's donation to Marissa Christie, president and CEO of the United Way of Bucks County, center, and Matt Uhler, director of resource development and impact director for financial stability for United Way of Bucks County.
PERKASIE  It's been a year-and-a-half since the last time anyone could ride the Perkasie Carousel.
Flights from Russia to Egypt's popular Red Sea resorts of Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada may be fully resumed soon, a Russian Federation Council official said on Tuesday.

Russia suspended air traffic with Egypt in October 2015 after the crash of a Russian passenger flight from Egypts popular tourist resort of Sharm El-Sheikh killed all 224 people on board. However, flights were resumed from and to the capital Cairo in April 2018, ending a more than two-and-a-half-year suspension.

"Now the flights, at least en route from Moscow to Cairo, have been fully resumed. As for other popular routes, we are close to also resuming these routes in full in accordance with [both] sides interests," the council's Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Konstantin Kosachev said, according to Russia's TASS news agency.

Since the tourist jet crash, Egypt has boosted security procedures at many of its airports in response to Russian conditions on the lifting of the flight ban.

Officials from the two countries have held a series of talks to discuss the resumption of flights to the Red Sea resorts of Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheikh, two of the most popular destinations for Russian tourists.

The flight suspension hit hard Egypts tourism industry, a key source of foreign currency.

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Major League Baseball has apparently decided that there are 42 too many minor league baseball cities and, according to Commissioner Rob Manfred, after the 2020 season, that will change. There will be a new agreement between the majors and the minors signed and a lot of cities will lose their
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Winona Bynum

Michigan now has about 25 food policy councils

One of the Michigan's very first Food Policy Councils (FPCs) is from Detroit. In the mid-2000s, The Detroit Food Policy Council emerged to address issues of food access in Detroit, as well as equity in how the food economy benefited citizens.The Detroit-based organization has worked to improve every aspect from "farm to fork," according to Liz Gensler, an academic specialist at Michigan State University's Department of Community Sustainability.The lessons that Detroit learned rippled out into other communities and helped similar groups and food-concerned individuals understand how to advance equitable access by engaging with their communities around food laws or working with cities on issues regarding land use and urban agriculture. In this way, FPCs straddle the ground between influencing policy and supporting individuals in their respective communities to create food security for those who need it most.In many ways, Detroit's FPC has helped stakeholders form a more holistic view of the local food economy. "Many times when people think about food," says Winona Bynum, executive director of the Detroit council, "they just think about access and not [about] participating in the economics of the food system ... and being really rooted in sustainability and equity."By sharing insights through informal networks and the Michigan Local Food Policy Council Network , an organization created to foster these networks, FPCs have managed to build a framework for bodies that create civic action around food issues. For example, councils do outreach through new and existing networks, create rural and urban coalitions, and promote general literacy for policy among community stakeholders.Across the state, Michigan now has around 25 food policy councils or similar organizations that influence change in everything from hard policy  such as local, state, and national legislation, and operating procedures for large institutions  to programming for farmers markets and food banks. Although these organizations often have different missions in response to their specific community needs, they also have found strength in learning from one another and unifying around certain priorities at the statewide level."We can band together and talk about what's good for communities across the board," Bynum says of the partnerships between different councils, "and make sure those things are lifted up and show that we have a united front."A major part of their job, according to Bynum, is to make sure that community concerns don't get lost in the shuffle. "[Our work] is about really trying to connect with the community and keeping that community focus ... because administrations or different mayors can come and go."It helps that members of these councils are usually volunteers who spend the rest of their time working on farms, at food banks, and for local governments. They're able to bring the concerns of their various constituencies to bear on the council's work.Although policy can be a dry subject, FPCs believe that the more people engage with food policy, the more likely they will be to see its importance in their lives. After all, food policies govern everything from federal, state, and municipal laws, to the food-based practices of hospitals and universities. Food policy engagement tends to help create more civic involvement in general."People are really inspired and motivated by food issues," says Markell Lewis Miller, chairperson of the Washtenaw County Food Policy Council and director of community food programs at Food Gatherers . "From kind of a civic education perspective, it's a great way to get people engaged and participating in big issues and policy."Several years ago, the Michigan Local Food Policy Council Network was created to help FPCs better share ideas and collaborate on issues. "The councils themselves have been great about making themselves accessible to one another," says Gensler, who co-coordinates this body.But having a statewide organization with quarterly meetings and monthly calls has helped the volunteers just getting started with younger FPCs. Nationally, the Johns Hopkins Food Policy Networks project is another resource.One of the statewide issues FPCs have come together on is the Michigan Farm Bill . This is a classic coalition-building piece of legislation that covers a diverse set of programs from crop insurance to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known colloquially as food stamps. And yet, people in urban areas might not realize how much a bill with the word "farm" in the name affects them; roughly 80 percent of the money in it goes to nutrition programs.Because they recognized this issue as critically important to food access and security, the Detroit and Washtenaw councils recently co-hosted an event intended to raise awareness about the issues at stake.Top on the list of concerns listed in a recent Johns Hopkins report were food access and equitable development. Bynum echoes these sentiments in Detroit, asking questions about real estate development and land use. "Who does this benefit and who pays and how can we make sure that people are not negatively impacted by what may possibly be perceived as progress?"Often, the first job for FPCs is to make information more accessible to the people who need it most. Among other things, the Detroit Food Policy Council has worked with the Detroit Land Bank Authority to try and make sure their policies were readily available and easy to understand so that community members  not just big businesses  are able to acquire land.The act of making food issues more legible is important across the state, but takes different forms, depending upon the needs of the community. While Detroit may be concerned with urban agriculture, Gensler says that rural councils are often engaged with issues of farmland preservation, which has an impact both on food access and on the local economy.When it comes to making FPCs work, Bynum and Miller emphasize a broad-base of support from different parts of the community food system and multiple people willing to carry the load."Bottom line," Gensler says, "I think it's about the people that show up and having a strong cadre of leaders ... who are just willing to get in there and do the work."And although not all the food councils in Michigan are completely comfortable working in the policy realm  preferring to do programming that falls outside of government channels  Bynum and Miller emphasize the importance of policy to create systemic change."Those changes take longer to implement," Miller says, 'but they're more sustainable and scalable."By facilitating connections among legislators, administrators, and ordinary citizens, FPCs are able to make sure community concerns get heard, building community capacity in the process."Policy is where long-term change comes in," Bynum says. "Giving ordinary community members a chance to learn how to advocate on their own behalf ... and learn which policies are shaping what they see on the ground has been an important part of our work."Read more in this series here
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Cairo governorate started last week cleaning up rubbish at the historical Jewish cemetery in the city's Bassatine area, the Jewish Community in Cairo said.

The governorate has organised a campaign to remove over 2,000 tonnes of garbage from the Bassatine cemetery, which had been neglected for decades.

According to a media statement, Cairo governorate will hand over the task of restoring and renovating the cemetery to the Jewish Community to Cairo, which has welcomed the responsibility.

"Egypt is defending her Jewish heritage," the community said on its official Facebook page, adding that "thousands of souls will rest in peace tonight."

The Bassatine cemetery fell into neglect after the mass departure of Egyptian Jews from the country due to wars with Israel and nationalisation policies adopted by the Egyptian government in the 1950s and 1960s.

The cemetery is one of the largest and oldest Jewish cemeteries in Egypt and the Middle East, dating back to over 1,000 years.

In December, the Egyptian government launched a campaign to restore and renovate Jewish landmarks in Egypt including synagogues.

The Eilyahu Hanavi synagogue in Alexandria is currently being restored, with EGP 100 million allocated for the task.

In a meeting with a Jewish-American delegation last week, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said that the Egyptian government would build a synagogue and provide services to the Jewish community if Jews return to Egypt.

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Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has discussed with Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri electricity projects, infrastructure and energy cooperation, according to a statement by Egyptian presidential spokesperson Bassam Rady.

The meeting came on the sidelines of the first Arab League-EU Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh.

The meeting tackled ways to enhance cooperation between the two countries and benefit from Egyptian expertise in a number of areas, including electricity projects, infrastructure and energy. There was also an agreement on the need to increase trade between Egypt and Lebanon and to boost the size and scope of mutual investments.

President El-Sisi and Prime Minister Al-Hariri reviewed political developments in Lebanon, as well as the situation in Syria and its regional impact. They also discussed efforts to fight terrorism and violent extremism in the region.

El-Sisi congratulated the Lebanese PM on the formation of the new government, expressing Egypt's hopes for its success to fulfil the aspirations of the Lebanese people for progress, security and stability.

El-Sisi expressed appreciation for Al-Hariri's keenness to participate in the LAS-EU summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, particularly as this is his first official foreign trip after assuming the post of prime minister of the new government.

The Egyptian president also reiterated his country's position which calls "for distancing Lebanon from regional conflicts, foremost for the interest of Lebanon, and in order to preserve the stability of the region and to prevent any foreign powers from tampering with the social peace of Arab states and from undermining their security."

The Lebanese PM stressed that his country values its historic and firm relations with Egypt.

He expressed his country's appreciation for Egypt's efforts in support of Lebanon in all areas, and said that Egypt is the cornerstone for preserving stability in Lebanon and the entire Arab region.

Al-Hariri also lauded Egypt for prioritising success in developmental areas, noting that Egypt is a model to be emulated by countries in the region.

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South Africa: SAs ZACube-2 nanosatellite transmits first images from space

When Professor Robert van Zyl unveiled the first images transmitted by the ZACube-2 nanosatellite, he felt that all the hours that went into the project were well worth it.

The images showed the busy traffic flow of vessels along the continents most lucrative coastline  where 90% of all the trade amongst African countries is conducted.

After unveiling the images, Van Zyl, the director of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) satellite programme, said he was proud of the team of students that worked on the project.

The average age of my engineers is probably below 30. This is a young team building very innovative electronics here in South Africa so it is a team of 10 engineers working about two years on it. I would estimate about 6 000 work hours have gone into the satellite, he said.

The unveiling of the first images comes after ZACube-2, the most advanced of its kind yet, was launched into space from the Vostochny spaceport in Russia in December.

The nanosatellite is a three-unit CubeSat weighing just over four kilogrammes and only uses 10 watts of power.

It was developed to help monitor the traffic of vessels along the coastline as part of the countrys oceans economy.

At a later stage, the cube will also help with the detection of veld fires and provide near real-time information that will help emergency services teams to respond quicker to disastrous fire situations.

Science and Technology Director-General Phil Mjwara told journalists after the launch that the department had invested R16 million in the project, which is still being commissioned.

The Department of Science and Technology, working with other government departments, including the Department of Environmental Affairs, put in about R16 million to work with CPUT, the CSIR and industry partners...

The launch of ZACube-1 and [now] ZACube-2 was part of us developing the capability to monitor what is happening in our oceans.

We are extremely delighted with what CPUT has done with the partners in order to demonstrate that you can have a satellite, locally built and developed, that was successfully launched and that is now able to get a signal from the ships that are in the sea.

Later on, we [will] have a fire detection system that has been developed by our own -- the CSIR -- in order to monitor fires, Van Zyl said.

Following the success of ZACube-2, Mjwara said the department has now contracted CPUT to develop a further three satellites towards the complete Marine Domain Awareness (MDA) constellation. The satellites will be ready for launch in 2020.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-02-26. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
According to the Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals, 46 states (including Florida) plus the District of Columbia require professional licensure to practice massage therapy. I propose that any and all massage parlors that advertise such a service receive a visit from the local authorities so that all employees can present their up to date massage license for validation. I'm sure New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and the others who were netted in the prostitution sting wished that would have happened prior to their visit.
Simply put, our officers were becoming seriously sick from a substance that could not be detected. Once the department took unprecedented steps, working with the PSCOA, to protect the safety of everyone, I can report that illnesses from our officers are down considerably. Thats what Pennsylvanias policy is all about: Safety.
In a Feb. 20 filing, the Delaware River Keeper Network urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to extend the March 8 deadline for public comment. The network also made a similar request of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, which is reviewing permits for the pipeline.
We must keep guns from dangerous individuals. No gun should be sold anywhere without a background check, Wolf said. And, we must have an honest conversation about the ease by which anyone can get a weapon designed for warfare. I am hopeful that we can continue to make progress on improving public safety and reducing gun violence.
This misinterpretation falls well outside the letter of the law and the intent of Congress, the senators wrote. Had our goal been to change the certification requirements to apply to each type of new aircraft, the language would have specifically stated new type certificated aircraft. Instead, the Senate and the House chose this language, which clearly expresses Congress requirement that physically installed secondary barriers exist on all newly manufactured aircraft ...
After the last summit, Trump unilaterally suspended some military drills with South Korea, alarming some in Seoul and at the Pentagon. But he was insistent this week that he would not draw down U.S. troops from South Korea. And American officials, even as they hint at a relaxed timetable for Pyongyang to account for its full arsenal, have continued to publicly insist they would not favor easing sanctions on North Korea until denuclearization is complete.
But apart from brief comments in the courtroom where he was sentenced to three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to several crimes, the president's former personal lawyer, fixer and attack dog has not spoken publicly about what he now calls Trumps dirty deeds.
That caught the attention of state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, who issued a report in 2013 on the charter school. By law, charter schools are allowed to receive lease reimbursements from the state if they do not own their building. Roberto Clemente was receiving lease reimbursements, but DePasquale said it was improper for them to do so because Pearce was leading both agencies.
It was an honor for Lehigh County and my office that we were invited to participate in this conference, Martin said. Human trafficking is a crime which knows no boundaries. But with the work which can be done through the initiatives we are working on via our various partnerships, we can make inroads in the fight against trafficking in Lehigh County.
Our crews will continue working around the clock to restore power to customers who lost it due to damaging winds, PPL posted on its Facebook page. We expect all customers who lost power on Sunday to be restored by noon on Tuesday. As for those who lost power Monday, we expect most of those customers to be restored by the end of the day Tuesday.
Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met on Monday with Kuwaiti Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on the sidelines of the Arab League-European Union Summit, which concluded the same day in Sharm El-Sheikh.

Presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said El-Sisi hailed the deeply-rooted relations binding Egypt and Kuwait.

The president stressed the need for continuing to build on the momentum of bilateral cooperation in various fields, as well as pushing forward mechanisms of mutual consultation and coordination on all issues and developments in the Arab region.

Sabah hailed the distinguished and fraternal relations between the two countries, reaffirming his country's firm stance in support of Egypt's security and stability.

He also expressed appreciation for the efforts exerted by the Egyptian leadership in the Arab arena in promoting the path of solidarity and joint Arab action and consolidating regional and international peace and security.

The meeting also tackled the latest regional developments and issues of common concern, the presidential spokesman said.

The two leaders stressed the need for concerted Arab efforts in addressing various challenges to preserving national security.

They also called for regional solutions for regional problems; allowing the Arab peoples to determine their own destiny in a way that meets their aspirations to live in peace and security.

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Police said the initially found three females and one male in a bedroom in a first floor, two-bedroom unit at the Robert Morris Apartments on West Bridge Street. Another two females were taken to the hospital, authorities said. No ages or names were released by police, who are still on scene investigating.
This Bucks County District Attorney's Office handout photo obtained February 26, 2019 shows suspects Shana Decree (L) and Dominique Decree who have been charged after five of their relatives were found dead in a Morrisville, Pennsylvania apartment. - Authorities say a mother and daughter have confessed to their involvement in the murders of five family members, including three children, inside their Bucks County, Pennsylvania home after they alleged everyone involved had been talking about suicide. Shana Decree, 45, was arraigned on five counts of murder and conspiracy charges around 4 am ET on February 26, 2019 and is being held without bail. Her 19-year-old daughter Dominique is expected to be arraigned on the same charges later in the day. (Bucks County District Attorney's Office via AP)
Bethlehem police say for the second time in less than a week, a parent is charged with leaving two young children alone in a hotel room while gambling at the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem.
The fake officer on the phone will advise you about a warrant for your arrest and give you a case number, DiLuzio said. You will get a phone number to contact (in this case, phone number 844-242-0008) to confirm what the fake officer is telling you and get a confirmation number that allows you to pay with a credit card. The fake officer will tell you to call him or her back to pay the fine with a credit card or gift cards.
The Bayou in Bethlehem will celebrate Mardi Gras with a New Orleans-inspired crawfish boil, 4-10 p.m. March 4 and 5. (THE BAYOU/CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)
Its important for employees who give so much of themselves to be given some semblance of security in return, to be fairly compensated, to be treated respectfully and, beyond all else, valued for how much we care about our paper, our community and our readers, said senior reporter John Moser, who has worked at The Morning Call for 32 years. We need representation to make sure we are.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- A large majority, about 86 percent, of the economists surveyed believe car tariffs would have either a "somewhat consequential" or "consequential" harm, according to a report released Monday by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE).

Of the 281 NABE members recently surveyed, 44 percent expects the negative impact from the U.S. imposing tariffs on imported vehicles to be "somewhat consequential," while 42 percent thinks it would be "consequential."

The economic policy survey, usually conducted semiannually, was administered between Jan. 30 and Feb. 8.

Last week, the U.S. Commerce Department submitted a report to the White House on whether to impose tariffs on imported cars and auto parts on national security grounds, drawing backlash from auto makers, suppliers, and industry groups.

The Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA), which represents auto parts suppliers, said the potential tariffs were "ill-advised," warning that the impacts would be "long-term and far reaching."

Nathan Nascimento, executive vice president of Freedom Partners, a free-market, non-partisan advocacy group, said that a 25-percent tariff on imported autos would put U.S. consumers and businesses "on the express lane into a ditch."

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) in a recently released report.

The Commerce Department launched the Section 232 investigation in May 2018 at President Donald Trump's request to evaluate the effects of imports on national security.

Trump has 90 days to decide whether to adopt the department's recommendations and introduce tariffs on imported vehicles and auto parts.

The NABE survey also indicated that economists are concerned about existing tariffs on the whole. Some 36 percent of respondents expect the existing tariffs, if persist, will drag U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2019 down by 25 basis points, while 26 percent foresee a reduction of GDP growth by 50 basis points.
Stock Traders Must Stay Optimistic  The End

This, the final segment of our multi-part research post regarding the potential future market direction as well as to identify if there is any real concern for traders regarding a total market collapse as some Doomsayers are predicting should help you understand what our researchers believe is the most likely outcome. In the previous segments of this research post, weve covered everything from the globalization of markets and economies to key elements of core pricing levels and valuation levels of economies, equities markets and more. The data is out there if you know where to find it and how to read it. All one has to do is step back from the shorter term charts and see the bigger picture for a bit.

As promised, were going highlight some very informative future market predictions using our proprietary Adaptive Dynamic Learning (ADL) predictive price modeling tool. This modeling tool has been able to call the past 20+ months of market activity very accurately and help to guide us in understanding what is really taking place in the US stock market  read more about it here.

The one key element of the ADL predictive modeling system is that it accomplishes two key components. First, it can provide a very clear high probability outcome for nearly any market in any time-frame. Second, it can also provide us with a very clear point of failure with regards to the predictive modeling results. Were certain you understand the value of the first component, but do you understand the value of knowing when youre wrong?

The concept of failure to fail or failure to succeed continues to baffle many traders, investors, and researchers. If you break it down into the simplest terms, it means you are absolutely correct or you are dead wrong. The question then becomes, do you have a plan of action for both of these potential outcomes?. Keep this in mind as we continue reviewing charts.

This first QUARTERLY SPY chart highlights our ADL predictive modeling system results originating from October 2016. The ADL predictive modeling system plots the highest probability outcome for price based on a very unique price pattern and technical indicator DNA marker/lookup algorithm. What makes it so unique is that it is able to learn from any price data and apply that data/outcome to any newer price par that appears on the chart. Thus, we can ask the ADL to show us what is likely to happen well into the future with a relatively high degree of accuracy.

In this case, if you follow the YELLOW, WHITE and CYAN dash levels on this chart, youll see the predicted outcome from the ADL price modeling system matched real price levels quite accurately and actually predicted the Q4 2018 market collapse very accurately. You can read about how we called this market move here.

Currently, the ADL predictive price modeling system is suggesting the current price of the SPY is well above projected ADL price levels. Thus, we would be expecting the price to rotate lower over the next few weeks/months to settle near the 250~270 level. You should be

able to clearly see the YELLOW dash levels to the right of the current price  these are the ADL predictive price levels going forward. Our research team believes the US and global markets will enter a Pennant/Flag formation over the next few months before setting up for another massive upside breakout. More detail about this setup can be read here.

This QUARTERLY TRAN chart shows a similar setup, yet there is one key difference between these two charts. This TRAN chart shows that price is currently below the predicted ADL price levels and we can see the ADL predicted price levels trade near 10,750 to 11,200 levels over the next 4 to 5 quarters. This would likely result in an upward price bias, from these current levels, with a very strong possibility of a sideways, volatile Pennant/Flag formation setting up over the next 6~10+ months. Somewhere near Q1 or Q2 of 2020, the ADL predictive modeling system is suggesting that TRAN prices will begin a new upside price rally that may result in a +20% to +30% upside target.

By showing you these two predictive modeling charts and the results of our advanced, proprietary ADL predictive modeling system, we hope we have been able to help to settle your nerves going forward and to help to prove to you that 2019 and 2020 will be incredible years for skilled traders. All we have to do is understand what price and other technical data are showing us and then sit back and wait for the shorter term price triggers to generate strategic entry triggers.

In order to properly answer our initial question that set us off on this quest: Are the Doomsayers correct in their predictions or are our predictive analysis models correct in their predictions?  the true answer is that the future will prove one of us right and one of us wrong. We believe in our predictive modeling system because it has been able to call the past 20+ months of trading accurately and weve seen the power of this tool first hand  many of you have as well.

Overall, yes there are risks still within the global markets and they are still in the midst of a very fragile revaluation phase that could include unknown risks for all traders. Additionally, the ADL predictive modeling system does not take into account geopolitical events (war, regional power struggles, famine or acts of God). It just shows us what it believes is the highest probability outcome in the future. Therefore, we suggest all traders/investors continue to stay cautiously optimistic going forward and learn to exercise proper risk controls.

The global market data that weve presented within this multi-part article should help to paint a very clear picture of what is really happening throughout the planet at the moment  at least we hope it does. We want all of our followers and friends to understand the risks and opportunities that are currently ahead of us and we want to make sure you understand just how important good skilled research is to make informed decisions.

If you like this type of research and how we present these details, then please take a minute to visit www.TheTechnicalTraders.com to learn how you can benefit from the hard work our research team puts forth to provide our members with clear opportunities for success. Take a look at some of our recent winners to see how we help people, just like you, create success. We believe 2019 and 2020 will be incredible years for skilled traders and we are executing at the highest level we can to assist our members. In fact, we are about to launch our newest technology solution to better assist our members in creating future success. Isnt it time you invested in your future success by joining a team of professionals dedicated to giving you an advantage in the markets every day?

We still take trades just like the rest of the planets traders  we measure risk and opportunity and make decisions to take the trade or not. The only difference is that we have some very cool, proprietary modeling systems that help us find and execute these trading decisions. Visit www.TheTechnicalTraders.com to learn how you can become a member today.

Chris Vermeulen

www.TheTechnicalTraders.com

Chris Vermeulen has been involved in the markets since 1997 and is the founder of Technical Traders Ltd. He is an internationally recognized technical analyst, trader, and is the author of the book: 7 Steps to Win With Logic



Through years of research, trading and helping individual traders around the world. He learned that many traders have great trading ideas, but they lack one thing, they struggle to execute trades in a systematic way for consistent results. Chris helps educate traders with a three-hour video course that can change your trading results for the better.



His mission is to help his clients boost their trading performance while reducing market exposure and portfolio volatility.



He is a regular speaker on HoweStreet.com, and the FinancialSurvivorNetwork radio shows. Chris was also featured on the cover of AmalgaTrader Magazine, and contributes articles to several leading financial hubs like MarketOracle.co.uk

Disclaimer: Nothing in this report should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any securities mentioned. Technical Traders Ltd., its owners and the author of this report are not registered broker-dealers or financial advisors. Before investing in any securities, you should consult with your financial advisor and a registered broker-dealer. Never make an investment based solely on what you read in an online or printed report, including this report, especially if the investment involves a small, thinly-traded company that isnt well known. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report has been paid by Cardiff Energy Corp. In addition, the author owns shares of Cardiff Energy Corp. and would also benefit from volume and price appreciation of its stock. The information provided here within should not be construed as a financial analysis but rather as an advertisement. The authors views and opinions regarding the companies featured in reports are his own views and are based on information that he has researched independently and has received, which the author assumes to be reliable. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any content of this report, nor its fitness for any particular purpose. Lastly, the author does not guarantee that any of the companies mentioned in the reports will perform as expected, and any comparisons made to other companies may not be valid or come into effect.

Chris Vermeulen Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




Supply Problems Worsen in Minted Silver

Sales of the Silver American Eagles are off to stronger start this year, and the U.S. Mint has once again been caught flat-footed. Dealers received the following statement from the Mint last Thursday:

This is to inform you that we have temporarily sold out of our inventories of 2019-dated American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins. In addition, all remaining 2018-dated inventories have been sold too.

The West Point Mint is busy producing additional 2019-dated American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins. We hope to be able to re-launch the 2019-dated coins in a few weeks.



Premiums for the coins moved higher immediately following the announcement, and they could move higher still if demand remains strong.



Total 2018 sales of silver Eagles slowed to the lowest level since 2007. The Mint wound up with some excess of 2018 dated coins and actually required dealers to take a chunk of 18s with each new order placed for 2019 coins.

More than six million 2019 coins have been sold so far, two million more than in the same period last year. This is in addition to excess 2018 coins having been cleaned out since January 1st.

The demand was not fully anticipated, and sales are now suspended for a few weeks while the poorly managed U.S. Mint plays catch up. When sales resume, dealers are expected to be on allocation  or limited as to the quantity of coins they may purchase.

This leaves the silver bullion market a bit vulnerable to a supply shock right now. The U.S. Mint suspension is not the only bottleneck currently.

The two largest producers of silver rounds and bars have disappeared in recent years. Elemetal was caught in 2016 with employees later convicted of international money laundering via gold. Republic Metals filed for bankruptcy late last fall.

Asahi, the Japanese firm who purchased Johnson Mattheys U.S. gold and silver refining business in 2015, agreed to purchase Republics Miami-based plant and equipment. Silver bullion production capacity could get a significant boost when Asahi is able to begin operations.

As yet, however, there is no firm estimate as to when that will be.

It also remains to be seen whether Asahi plans to produce the wide range of products and designs formerly made by Republic. Asahi currently only produces 4 sizes of silver bars for retail investors; 1 oz, 10 oz, 1 kilo and 100 oz.

Fortunately, the higher silver prices since the lows of last November have sparked a healthy amount of retail selling. So there is more product coming back to dealer inventories on the secondary market  helping to fill the gap.

While premiums certainly rose for most silver products over the past few months, the move has not been excessive. There have been delivery delays for some bars and rounds. These have dissipated a bit recently, but could reappear quickly if the higher premiums and delays associated with Silver Eagles lead to more demand for rounds and bars.

Now would be a difficult time for the silver market to accommodate a surge in buying demand or a significant drop in supply from investors looking to sell.

By Clint Siegner

MoneyMetals.com

Clint Siegner is a Director at Money Metals Exchange, perhaps the nation's fastest-growing dealer of low-premium precious metals coins, rounds, and bars. Siegner, a graduate of Linfield College in Oregon, puts his experience in business management along with his passion for personal liberty, limited government, and honest money into the development of Money Metals' brand and reach. This includes writing extensively on the bullion markets and their intersection with policy and world affairs.

 2019 Clint Siegner - 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.




Muriel Eugenia Dunckel, age 71, of Mankato passed away on Sunday, June 20, 2021 at St. Mary's Hospital, Rochester. Services will be held at a later date. Mankato Mortuary is assisting the family with arrangements. Muriel is survived by her husband, Nelson Dunckel; children, Dan (Carla) Ewert
New Delhi : In a massive retaliation for the Pulwama terror attack, the Indian Air Force has carried out a major attack on the terrorist camps across the LoC, 13 days after the deadly attack, which left 40 CRPF jawans dead.

According to the reports, 12 Mirage 2000 jets took part in the operation that dropped 1000 kg bombs on terror camps, completely destroying it.

The Indian Army sources said that the jet struck training camps in Balakot, Muzafarrabad at around 3.48 am and Chakoti at around 3.58 am. NSA Ajit Doval has briefed Prime Minister Narendrab Modi regarding the situation.

Payload of hastily escaping Indian aircrafts fell in open. pic.twitter.com/8drYtNGMsm Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 26, 2019

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Magnolia, AR (71754)

Today

Rain showers this evening with clearing overnight. Low 72F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Rain showers this evening with clearing overnight. Low 72F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A TV play Xiaonikangqiang (Gun Girl), loosely based on the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-1945) will be launched on the Beijing TV channel on 28 February, and it will be broadcast at 6:55 pm every day.

The play doesn't focus on any specific large-scale campaign or espionage, but the process of growth and transformation of rural youth.

It tells a story of a village girl, who is played by Li Qian, and how she grew to be a brave Eighth Route Army solider after being insulted and almost rapped by Japanese soldiers.

Speaking about the production, Wu Hongwu, the director, says: "Women used to be a neglected disadvantaged group, but their growth (during this period) is worth exploring."
Business Teach your old TV set new tricks -- Digital Set-top Box | Soukacatv.com

HD Encoder To DVB-T RF Modulator

26.02.2019 08:59:29 - There are several ways to watch digital channels in analog, writes Adam Turner.

Technology is ever marching forward but there can still be a place for old gadgets in your lounge room.



(live-PR.com) - There are several ways to watch digital channels in analog, writes Adam Turner.

Technology is ever marching forward but there can still be a place for old gadgets in your lounge room.



The big push behind digital television has seen plenty of faithful old sets abandoned but it is possible to give your old television a new lease of life.



For less than - There are several ways to watch digital channels in analog, writes Adam Turner.Technology is ever marching forward but there can still be a place for old gadgets in your lounge room.The big push behind digital television has seen plenty of faithful old sets abandoned but it is possible to give your old television a new lease of life.For less than $50, you can pick up a digital set-top box, which plugs into your aerial and converts all the digital channels for your old analog television.



Connecting a digital set top box to your old television means you'll be able to watch the new digital-only channels such as ABC2, ABC3, SBS2, GO!, 7TWO and One. Even community television's Channel 31 has made the move to digital.



SKD81 IP Set Top Box



HDMI Encoder Modulator,16in1 Digital Headend,HD RF Modulator at Soukacatv.com



If it's a high-definition set top box you'll also be able to watch the high-definition channels, such as the ABC's new 24-hour news channel, although these high-definition channels won't look any sharper than the other channels if you're watching them on an old analog television. Apart from ABC's dedicated news channel, all the other high-def channels are merely simulcasts of a standard-def channel so you're not missing out on anything.



If you're connecting a digital set-top box to an old television, you'll need to dip into the settings and change the box's video output to a 4:3 picture rather than a 16:9 widescreen picture.



This means you'll get black bars at the top and bottom of most shows, an effect known as "letterbox".



You might be offered a choice between 4:3 Letterbox and 4:3 Pan and Scan. The latter will chop off the edges of the widescreen picture so it fits on your old television without black bars.



Most digital set-top boxes feature a range of video outputs on the back  HDMI and component video for high-definition televisions and composite video for standard-definition televisions.



You might even find SCART and S-Video connectors on the back. If you've got an old analog television, you'll probably need to use the set-top box's composite video "RCA" or "phono" connectors  a yellow plug for the picture along with red and white plugs for the sound.



If your television has a SCART input, you can buy an adaptor that converts SCART to composite, component or S-Video (check it's designed to work with a SCART input on a television and not just a SCART output). Of course, if your television is really old, it might not have any of these connectors, just an aerial input. One solution is to look for a digital set-top box with a built-in RF (radio frequency) modulator.



This lets the set-top box send the digital channels through its aerial output. Now you can connect the set-top box's aerial output to your old television's aerial input and then tune the television to the correct channel  probably channel 3  as you would when connecting a VCR to an old television.



If your digital set-top box lacks an RF modulator, you can buy a stand-alone converter. An easier option is to use a VCR as the middle man, assuming it has composite or S-Video inputs for connecting to the set-top box.



4 Fixed Channel RF Modulator

Now you can tune your television to the correct channel to watch the VCR, then switch over to the VCR's AV input to watch the set-top box (as you might if your DVD player is connected to your VCR).



The digital switchover has already begun in Mildura and, by the end of 2013, analog TV broadcasts will have ceased across the country. At that point, your analog VCR won't be able to record television shows and you'll want to upgrade to a digital video recorder that records to a DVD disc or internal hard drive. Hard drive-based recorders are a better option as most let you pause and rewind live TV, record two programs simultaneously and even watch the start of a movie while you're still recording the end.



Your VCR won't be useless after the digital switchover. You'll still be able to watch movies you've purchased or programs you've previously recorded.



You'll also be able to record the output from a digital set-top box. Most digital set-top boxes don't apply Macrovision protection to their composite video output, so you shouldn't encounter the strange fluctuations you see if you try to record a DVD to videotape. If you do encounter this problem, specialist electrical stores sell an "image stabiliser" that removes the Macrovision interference.



Your VCR will only record in 4:3, so your set-top box must be set to 4:3 Letterbox or 4:3 Pan and Scan video output. If you configure your set-top box for 16:9 widescreen, the VCR will probably squash the widescreen picture to fit your screen's 4:3, which looks terrible.



Of course, recording digital television with your VCR isn't as practical as upgrading to a digital recorder, as the VCR can't change the channel on the set-top box if you've scheduled a recording in advance. If you're not ready to upgrade your television yet, you can still upgrade to a digital recorder, which also offers fancy tricks such as pausing and rewinding live TV. You'll need to set the digital recorder's video output to 576i or PAL resolution, with a 4:3 aspect ratio.



If you can't connect the digital recorder directly to your television, run it through your old VCR. If your digital recorder has an HDMI output, you won't need to replace it when you eventually upgrade your television.



HD Encoder To DVB-T RF Modulator

Reach a resolution in the lounge room



The resolution refers to the number of dots, or pixels, that make up your television screen. The more pixels, the sharper the picture.



Analog televisions in Australia, with an aspect ratio of 4:3, use the PAL video format, which is comprised of 576 horizontal lines. The image is "interlaced", which means the television rapidly alternates between displaying every second horizontal line in the picture to create the illusion of an entire picture.



A new 16:9 widescreen television can display a widescreen 576 picture  wider than the old analog broadcasts but still only 576 horizontal lines. Widescreen standard-definition digital television broadcasts are in 576i, or interlaced. Any new widescreen television should also be able to handle 576p. The "p" is for "progressive", meaning it displays every line of the picture simultaneously rather than every second line alternately. Progressive pictures offer smoother playback than interlaced during fast-moving action such as sport. This is the resolution of most DVDs, so you should switch your DVD player's video output from PAL/576i to 576p if your television supports it.



While standard-definition television is broadcast in 576i, the high-definition channels use 576p, 720p or 1080i.



Blu-ray movies are in 1080p.



Most widescreen televisions labelled "HD" can only display up to 720p but will usually downscale a 1080i/p image to 720p (otherwise you can set your devices to do the downscaling). Widescreen televisions labelled "Full HD" can display an image of up to 1080i/p. If you've got a high-definition digital set-top box, it should be able to downscale the HD channels to 720p, 576p or 576i if required. Copy-protection features often mean Blu-ray players won't downscale Blu-ray movies via HDMI, although you might have more luck using component or composite connectors. Some Blu-ray players may still play DVDs at PAL/576i  these features vary between players.



HD Encoder To ISDB-T RF Modulator

If you're looking to replace your DVD player but still own an old analog television, it's only worth considering a Blu-ray player if it can play DVDs at 576i via composite video. This way you won't need to upgrade your DVD player when you buy a high-definition television.



Most Blu-ray players and some DVD players can also upscale DVDs to 720p or 1080i/p.



Connectors



Most digital set-top boxes, Blu-ray players and DVD players feature an HDMI output  the format that supports high-definition audio and video with one cable. If you're buying a new widescreen television, consider HDMI mandatory  preferably several HDMI inputs to cater for a DVD/Blu-ray player, digital TV recorder or set-top box and a games console. You might also come across several other video connectors.



Composite connections are the most common and handle 576i/p video. Composite splits the signal into one video cable (a yellow plug) and two audio cables (red and white). Component video splits the video into three cables and the audio into two. Many devices will support 1080i/p via HDMI but only 1080i via component. Other connectors you might encounter include SCART and S-Video.



Established in 2000, the Soukacatv.com main products are modulators both in analog and digital ones, amplifier and combiner. We are the very first one in manufacturing the headend system in China. Our 16 in 1 and 24 in 1 now are the most popular products all over the world.



For more, please access to



Source: smh

$50, you can pick up a digital set-top box, which plugs into your aerial and converts all the digital channels for your old analog television.Connecting a digital set top box to your old television means you'll be able to watch the new digital-only channels such as ABC2, ABC3, SBS2, GO!, 7TWO and One. Even community television's Channel 31 has made the move to digital.SKD81 IP Set Top BoxHDMI Encoder Modulator,16in1 Digital Headend,HD RF Modulator at Soukacatv.comIf it's a high-definition set top box you'll also be able to watch the high-definition channels, such as the ABC's new 24-hour news channel, although these high-definition channels won't look any sharper than the other channels if you're watching them on an old analog television. Apart from ABC's dedicated news channel, all the other high-def channels are merely simulcasts of a standard-def channel so you're not missing out on anything.If you're connecting a digital set-top box to an old television, you'll need to dip into the settings and change the box's video output to a 4:3 picture rather than a 16:9 widescreen picture.This means you'll get black bars at the top and bottom of most shows, an effect known as "letterbox".You might be offered a choice between 4:3 Letterbox and 4:3 Pan and Scan. The latter will chop off the edges of the widescreen picture so it fits on your old television without black bars.Most digital set-top boxes feature a range of video outputs on the back  HDMI and component video for high-definition televisions and composite video for standard-definition televisions.You might even find SCART and S-Video connectors on the back. If you've got an old analog television, you'll probably need to use the set-top box's composite video "RCA" or "phono" connectors  a yellow plug for the picture along with red and white plugs for the sound.If your television has a SCART input, you can buy an adaptor that converts SCART to composite, component or S-Video (check it's designed to work with a SCART input on a television and not just a SCART output). Of course, if your television is really old, it might not have any of these connectors, just an aerial input. One solution is to look for a digital set-top box with a built-in RF (radio frequency) modulator.This lets the set-top box send the digital channels through its aerial output. Now you can connect the set-top box's aerial output to your old television's aerial input and then tune the television to the correct channel  probably channel 3  as you would when connecting a VCR to an old television.If your digital set-top box lacks an RF modulator, you can buy a stand-alone converter. An easier option is to use a VCR as the middle man, assuming it has composite or S-Video inputs for connecting to the set-top box.4 Fixed Channel RF ModulatorNow you can tune your television to the correct channel to watch the VCR, then switch over to the VCR's AV input to watch the set-top box (as you might if your DVD player is connected to your VCR).The digital switchover has already begun in Mildura and, by the end of 2013, analog TV broadcasts will have ceased across the country. At that point, your analog VCR won't be able to record television shows and you'll want to upgrade to a digital video recorder that records to a DVD disc or internal hard drive. Hard drive-based recorders are a better option as most let you pause and rewind live TV, record two programs simultaneously and even watch the start of a movie while you're still recording the end.Your VCR won't be useless after the digital switchover. You'll still be able to watch movies you've purchased or programs you've previously recorded.You'll also be able to record the output from a digital set-top box. Most digital set-top boxes don't apply Macrovision protection to their composite video output, so you shouldn't encounter the strange fluctuations you see if you try to record a DVD to videotape. If you do encounter this problem, specialist electrical stores sell an "image stabiliser" that removes the Macrovision interference.Your VCR will only record in 4:3, so your set-top box must be set to 4:3 Letterbox or 4:3 Pan and Scan video output. If you configure your set-top box for 16:9 widescreen, the VCR will probably squash the widescreen picture to fit your screen's 4:3, which looks terrible.Of course, recording digital television with your VCR isn't as practical as upgrading to a digital recorder, as the VCR can't change the channel on the set-top box if you've scheduled a recording in advance. If you're not ready to upgrade your television yet, you can still upgrade to a digital recorder, which also offers fancy tricks such as pausing and rewinding live TV. You'll need to set the digital recorder's video output to 576i or PAL resolution, with a 4:3 aspect ratio.If you can't connect the digital recorder directly to your television, run it through your old VCR. If your digital recorder has an HDMI output, you won't need to replace it when you eventually upgrade your television.HD Encoder To DVB-T RF ModulatorReach a resolution in the lounge roomThe resolution refers to the number of dots, or pixels, that make up your television screen. The more pixels, the sharper the picture.Analog televisions in Australia, with an aspect ratio of 4:3, use the PAL video format, which is comprised of 576 horizontal lines. The image is "interlaced", which means the television rapidly alternates between displaying every second horizontal line in the picture to create the illusion of an entire picture.A new 16:9 widescreen television can display a widescreen 576 picture  wider than the old analog broadcasts but still only 576 horizontal lines. Widescreen standard-definition digital television broadcasts are in 576i, or interlaced. Any new widescreen television should also be able to handle 576p. The "p" is for "progressive", meaning it displays every line of the picture simultaneously rather than every second line alternately. Progressive pictures offer smoother playback than interlaced during fast-moving action such as sport. This is the resolution of most DVDs, so you should switch your DVD player's video output from PAL/576i to 576p if your television supports it.While standard-definition television is broadcast in 576i, the high-definition channels use 576p, 720p or 1080i.Blu-ray movies are in 1080p.Most widescreen televisions labelled "HD" can only display up to 720p but will usually downscale a 1080i/p image to 720p (otherwise you can set your devices to do the downscaling). Widescreen televisions labelled "Full HD" can display an image of up to 1080i/p. If you've got a high-definition digital set-top box, it should be able to downscale the HD channels to 720p, 576p or 576i if required. Copy-protection features often mean Blu-ray players won't downscale Blu-ray movies via HDMI, although you might have more luck using component or composite connectors. Some Blu-ray players may still play DVDs at PAL/576i  these features vary between players.HD Encoder To ISDB-T RF ModulatorIf you're looking to replace your DVD player but still own an old analog television, it's only worth considering a Blu-ray player if it can play DVDs at 576i via composite video. This way you won't need to upgrade your DVD player when you buy a high-definition television.Most Blu-ray players and some DVD players can also upscale DVDs to 720p or 1080i/p.ConnectorsMost digital set-top boxes, Blu-ray players and DVD players feature an HDMI output  the format that supports high-definition audio and video with one cable. If you're buying a new widescreen television, consider HDMI mandatory  preferably several HDMI inputs to cater for a DVD/Blu-ray player, digital TV recorder or set-top box and a games console. You might also come across several other video connectors.Composite connections are the most common and handle 576i/p video. Composite splits the signal into one video cable (a yellow plug) and two audio cables (red and white). Component video splits the video into three cables and the audio into two. Many devices will support 1080i/p via HDMI but only 1080i via component. Other connectors you might encounter include SCART and S-Video.Established in 2000, the Soukacatv.com main products are modulators both in analog and digital ones, amplifier and combiner. We are the very first one in manufacturing the headend system in China. Our 16 in 1 and 24 in 1 now are the most popular products all over the world.For more, please access to www.soukacatv.com Source: smh Press Information:

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Major voting changes proposed

The Queensland Government is reported to have plans to introduce compulsory preferential voting at local government elections.

Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) President, Mayor Mark Jamieson, said councils deserved to be thoroughly consulted about such a major change.

Local councils are keen to work with the Government on reform, but we will not put up with major changes like this being forced on the sector when there is no robust evidence base to support the changes that the Palaszczuk government is now proposing.

Mayor Jamieson said neither the Crime and Corruption Commissions report on its Belcarra investigation nor the Soorley review into the conduct of the last local government elections had recommended compulsory preferential voting in local council elections.

The LGAQ can only assume this is being driven by the Premier and her Minister for Local Government for political reasons, given there is no compelling case for a change that will do nothing to strengthen the integrity, transparency and sustainability of councils  matters which are supposed to be the governments priorities for the local government system.

The Palaszczuk government needs to be far more transparent with fundamental changes to the local government electoral system if it is to have any credibility around its motives, Mayor Jamieson said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is an old hand at the backroom wrangling that can stitch together a coalition in the harsh world of parliamentary democracy here.

But his latest deal  which could hand a parliament seat to advocates for Jewish supremacy and expulsion of Arabs from Israel  has provoked widespread anger, even from the Israeli rabbis and American Jewish leaders who normally offer him unwavering support.

Under the deal with Netanyahu, three fringe parties joined forces last week to form the United Right-wing Parties in advance of elections April 9. The plan is to obtain the 3.25% of the vote needed to join the parliament, then back the prime ministers fragile coalition.

In exchange, the new group was promised two senior Cabinet posts and given a spot on the list of candidates fielded by Netanyahus Likud Party  a move that essentially guarantees it a seat in the parliament, or Knesset.

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One of the fringe parties, Otzma Yehudit, or Jewish Power, is led by disciples of the late American-born Rabbi Meir Kahane, an anti-Arab activist and founder of the Jewish Defense League, which was classified as a right-wing terrorist group by the FBI.

Having immigrated to Israel, Kahane was elected to the Knesset in 1984 and served a single term before his Kach party was outlawed as a hate group.

He was assassinated in 1990.

Like Kach, Jewish Power legitimizes violence against Palestinians, advocates expelling Arab citizens from Israel and promotes a ban on intermarriage between Jews and Arabs. It has never been voted into the Knesset.

The uproar, the Jerusalem Post reports, has been deafening.

In a Facebook post, prominent Jerusalem-based Rabbi Benny Lau denounced Netanyahu in terms rarely heard in Israel.

The prime minister doesnt care, he wrote. He wants to win the elections, period.

If people whose beliefs stem from the Bible introduce racial policy into parliament, Lau asked, what will we have become?

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During his Saturday sermon, Lau preached that a vote for the United Right-wing Parties was equal to a vote for Nazism.

A group of nearly 90 orthodox rabbis followed suit, publishing an open letter warning followers who back the newly formed group that the stain of your association with evil will be permanent.

By Monday, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the American Jewish Committee and other major Jewish organizations in the U.S. denounced the move.

Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, a longtime supporter of Netanyahu, said the new deal was very disturbing.

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Speaking to the Associated Press, Hoenlein said, Politics cant dictate everything. You have to take into consideration all of the ramifications and all of the concerns.

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 party currently holds 30 seats.

The prime minister has also been under investigation for corruption for allegedly trading political favors for positive news coverage, and Israeli media have reported that prosecutors could move to indict him as soon as next week.
A 24-year-old woman went into premature labor and delivered a stillborn baby while she was in custody at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in South Texas last week, officials said.

The woman, a migrant from Honduras whose identity the agency withheld, was arrested near Hidalgo, Texas, on Feb. 18. She was six months pregnant at the time. Four days later, she went into labor and delivered a premature and unresponsive baby boy. Doctors pronounced the newborn dead soon after.

In a statement, officials said the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, doesnt count stillbirths as in-custody deaths; rather, theyre recorded in their own category, along with miscarriages. An ICE spokesperson said stillbirths are very rare, but the announcement drew swift public condemnation from advocates and migrant rights groups.

A woman losing her child is yet another horrific example of DHSs inability to treat migrants with the dignity and respect they deserve, Erika Andiola, the advocacy chief at the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, said in a statement to the Washington Post. Pregnant migrant women should not be locked up. Keeping them in jail is a Trump administration policy. Its inhumane and we cant let it stand.

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Californias new sanctuary battle could be keeping immigrant data away from ICE 

It follows the February death of a 45-year-old Mexican national who died in Border Patrol custody in McAllen, Texas, after twice seeking medical attention, and after the December deaths of two detained migrant children, which led the CBP chief to commit to conducting health checks on all minors in the agencys custody.

The stillbirth will probably raise new questions about ICEs policy of detaining pregnant women, which changed from a presumption of release for all pregnant detainees after an executive order from President Trump directed the agency to enforce the immigration laws of the United States against all removable aliens.

The new policy, the agency says, is to determine whether to detain pregnant women on a case-by-case basis. In this case, the ICE spokesperson said, the woman was scheduled for a humanitarian release from Port Isabel Detention Center, but she went into labor while being processed. Shell now be released from custody sometime Monday.

This news is tragic, and it comes on the heels of two recent deaths of children in DHS custody at the border, government reports of deplorable conditions in ICE contract facilities, and a long history of problems with medical services in immigration detention, Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLUs Immigrants Rights Project, told the Post. Its long past time for a comprehensive investigation into immigration detention conditions, and real accountability for the rampant lapses and abuses in this system.

Asylum seekers sent back to Mexico under Trump policy face another challenge  finding a lawyer 

From October 2017 through August, ICE detained 1,655 pregnant women, according to the most recent data the agency made available. Over that same period, 18 women may have experienced a miscarriage just prior to or while in ICE custody.

ICE policy states that its detention facilities provide onsite prenatal care and remote access to specialists for pregnant women who are in custody. In the FAQs section of its website, ICE responds to the foreboding question, Isnt detaining pregnant women a human rights abuse? by answering that, ICE exercises its civil detention authority consistent with the law, and all detainees receive necessary and appropriate health services, food, and care.

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Reis Thebault writes for the Washington Post.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has been declared the winner of a troubled election in Africas most populous country.

The former military dictator won easily, by nearly 4 million votes, despite widespread criticism that he had not delivered enough on his promises to tackle corruption, widespread insecurity and an economy limping from recession.

Top opposition challenger Atiku Abubakar made sweeping pledges to lift millions of people out of poverty, but in the end many Nigerians were wary of past corruption allegations and his proposal to privatize the state oil company in Africas largest producer of crude.

The official declaration Wednesday morning follows an election marred by a last-minute postponement and deadly violence.

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In a last-ditch effort to stop the official declaration, Abubakar demanded a halt to the proceedings, claiming that data from smart card readers used in Saturdays election had been manipulated. His party called for fresh elections in four states.

Buharis party dismissed the claim. Let this nation move forward, said Babatunde Fashola, the campaigns director for election monitoring.

As state-by-state vote announcements ended, Buhari led by more than 3.9 million votes in a race once described as too close to call. To secure the presidency in this nation of 190 million people, a candidate must win a majority of overall votes as well as at least 25% of the vote in two-thirds of the states.

The vote suffered from a surprise weeklong postponement and significant delays in the opening of polling stations. The electoral commission postponed it just hours before polls were to open Feb. 16, citing logistical issues.

Then on Saturday, the late arrival of election officials and materials, as well as malfunctions and harassment, caused voting in parts of the country to continue into Sunday.

The delays risked undermining citizen confidence in elections and disenfranchising voters, the U.S.-based International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute observers said. European Union observers said many people were discouraged from voting.

At least 53 people were killed in voting-related violence over the weekend, according to the Nigerian analysis group SBM Intelligence.

A Nigerian police SWAT member sits at the entrance of a vote counting center in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, on Feb. 26, 2019. Dozens have been killed in election-related violence. (Yasuyochi Chiba / AFP/Getty Images)

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The death toll rose after an attack shortly before polls opened and claimed by the Islamic State West Africa Province extremist group in the northeast proved deadlier than first reported, with at least 17 people killed.

Abubakar, a billionaire former vice president who made sweeping campaign promises to make Nigeria work again, hasnt made a public appearance since the vote.

It remains to be seen whether he will follow through on pledges to accept a loss, or challenge the results. A former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell, said the troubled election has given the candidates grounds to go to the courts. That route could take months.

In Kano, the heart of the countrys Muslim north, there was relief that the sensitive region appeared to have avoided the deadly violence that occurred in other areas.

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Well, we thank God that at least we finished this safely, without any hitches, the state electoral commissioner, Riskuwa Shehu, said minutes before carrying results to the capital.

Turnout appeared to be lower than expected, Shehu said, pointing to a number of factors, including the fear of possible violence after heated campaigning. The disappointment of a weeklong postponement probably also played a role, he said.

Nigeria has an estimated 73 million voters. The YIAGA Africa project, which deployed more than 3,900 observers, estimated turnout at 36% to 40%, down from 44% in 2015.

Nigerians reactions to Buharis victory were mixed.

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Alhamdulillah, said 36-year-old Umar Ibrahim, using the Arabic phrase for praise be to God as he chatted with clients about politics at his tiny shop in Kano. Up to now they say Buhari is leading, far. He is a good elder.

Grace Eje, a 25-year-old domestic worker, had held out hope for Abubakar, saying Nigeria needed someone new after Buhari. No money, no work, no help from him, she said of the president, grimacing.

A specter hangs over Nigerias presidential election: Hunger 

Many Nigerians have prayed for peace. They were surprised in 2015 when President Goodluck Jonathan conceded before official results were announced, giving victory to Buhari, who pulled off the first defeat of an incumbent by the opposition in the countrys history. Some are worried that such a concession appears unlikely this time.
The most senior Catholic cleric ever charged with child sex abuse has been convicted of molesting two choirboys moments after celebrating Mass, dealing a new blow to the Catholic hierarchys credibility after a year of global revelations of abuse and cover-up.

Australian Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis top financial advisor and the Vaticans economy minister, bowed his head but then regained his composure as the 12-member jury delivered unanimous verdicts in the County Court of Victoria state on Dec. 11 after more than two days of deliberation.

The court had until Tuesday forbidden publication of any details about the trial.

The convictions were confirmed the same week that Francis concluded his extraordinary gathering of Catholic leaders summoned to Rome for a tutorial on preventing clergy sexual abuse and protecting children from predator priests.

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The jury convicted Pell of abusing two 13-year-old boys whom he had caught swigging sacramental wine in a rear room of Melbournes St. Patricks Cathedral in late 1996, as hundreds of worshipers were streaming out of Sunday services.

Pell, now 77 but 55 at the time, had just been named the most senior Catholic in Melbourne, Australias second-largest city.

The jury also found Pell guilty of indecently assaulting one of the boys in a corridor more than a month later.

He faces a potential maximum 50-year prison term after a sentencing hearing that begins on Wednesday. He has foreshadowed an appeal.

Pell had maintained his innocence throughout, describing the accusations as vile and disgusting conduct that went against everything he believed in.

His lawyer Robert Richter had told the jury that only a mad man would take the risk of abusing boys in such a public place. He said it was laughable that Pell would have been able to expose his penis and force the victim to take it in his mouth, given the cumbersome robes he was wearing.

Both he and Chief Judge Peter Kidd urged the jury of eight men and four women not to punish Pell for all the failings of the Catholic Church.

You must not scapegoat Cardinal Pell, Kidd told the jury.

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Pell, who walked to and from court throughout his monthlong trial with a crutch under his right arm, was released on bail to undergo surgical knee replacements in Sydney on Dec. 14. Prosecutor Mark Gibson did not oppose bail, saying the surgery would be more easily managed outside the prison system.

Kidd warned that the continuing bail was not a sign that the 77-year-old would avoid a prison sentence.

The first four offenses occurred at the first or second Solemn Mass that Archbishop Pell celebrated as leader of the magnificent blue-stone century-old cathedral in the center of Melbourne. Pell was wearing his full robes  though not his staff or pointed bishops hat  at the time.

The now 34-year-old survivor told the court that Pell orally raped him, then crouched and fondled the complainants genitals while masturbating.

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The other victim died of a heroin overdose in 2014 without ever complaining of the abuse, and even denying to his suspicious mother that he had been molested while he was part of the choir.

Neither victim can be identified.

More than a month later, the complainant testified that Pell pushed him against a cathedral corridor wall after a Mass and squeezed the boys genitals painfully before walking away in silence.

I didnt tell anyone at the time because I didnt want to jeopardize anything. I didnt want to rock the boat with my family, my schooling, my life, the complainant told the jurors.

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The complainant testified that he feared that making such accusations against a powerful churchman would cost him his place in the choir and with it his scholarship to prestigious St. Kevins College.

Pell pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual penetration of a child younger than 16 and four counts of willfully committing an indecent act with or in the presence of a child younger than 16 in late 1996 and early 1997.

Pell did not testify at his trial. But the jury saw a video recording of an interview he gave Australian detectives in Rome in 2016 in which he stridently denied the allegations.

Pell grimaced, appeared incredulous, distressed, waved his arms over his head and muttered to himself as the detectives detailed the accusations that his victim had leveled against him a year earlier.

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The allegations involve vile and disgusting conduct contrary to everything I hold dear and contrary to the explicit teachings of the church which I have spent my life representing, Pell told police.

Richter, Pells lawyer, had told the jury that the media had portrayed Pell as the Darth Vader of the church, referring to the Star Wars character.

The complainant testified that he and his friend had run from the procession and back into the cathedral through a side door to, as Gibson said, have some fun.
British Prime Minister Theresa May may have staved off a political and economic disaster, at least for the moment, by putting the future of any Brexit deal squarely in the hands of Parliament.

Backed into yet another corner by the threat of a Cabinet revolt, resignations within her party and renewed momentum for a second Brexit referendum, May on Tuesday offered lawmakers a chance to delay leaving the European Union should her revised exit plan fail to be approved by Parliament next month.

The move was a critical turning point for the prime minister, who until now has vehemently ruled out the idea of extending the March 29 deadline when Britain is due to formally leave the EU, severing decades of membership in the body and close political and economic partnership.

Our absolute focus should be on working to get a deal and leaving on the date agreed, May told lawmakers defiantly in the House of Commons.

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Yet, she made three crucial commitments: Lawmakers will get to vote on her amended withdrawal deal by March 12; if that is rejected, they will be given a vote on leaving the EU without any deal within at least two days; and they will also have the opportunity to extend the deadline beyond March 29.

The announcement made the threat of Britain crashing out of the EU without any deal less likely  though not impossible  as a large majority of Parliament is ardently opposed to such an outcome. The British pound reached a 21-month high against the euro at the news.

The move is also likely to have quashed a potential revolt by Mays pro-European Cabinet colleagues. Those Cabinet members  Greg Clark, David Gauke and Amber Rudd  indicated over the weekend that they were thinking of backing a cross-party amendment that would give Parliament the power to decide the timetable for Brexit and thereby could stop the country from crashing out without a deal.

But even if that amendment is defeated Wednesday when it comes up for a vote, May could find that she has only created a temporary fix to an intractable problem.

She continues to face pressure from the hard-line Euroskeptic wing of her party that wants to leave the EU at virtually any cost, and view it as a staid, bureaucratic organization that is holding Britain back.

Meanwhile, the pro-remain members of her party are also becoming more vocal and unified as the March 29 deadline looms ever closer. They have been displeased with the impact the ongoing Brexit turmoil has had on the economy and business sector.

Last week, three pro-EU lawmakers resigned from the Conservative Party to join a newly formed independent group started by eight lawmakers who quit the opposition Labor Party over similar dismay at the direction in which their party was going.

One of those former Conservatives, Sarah Wollaston, said that Mays concession to Parliament on Tuesday only gave the country the possibility of a short gangplank added to the cliff edge that is Brexit.

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In another headache for May, after failing to take a definitive stand on Brexit for months, Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn gave the campaign for a second referendum  or a peoples vote  a boost Monday evening. He declared that he would throw his partys weight behind another referendum if the Labor Partys own version of an EU withdrawal bill fails to pass this week, as seems likely.

May slammed the idea, saying another referendum would be divisive and take the country right back to square one.

Indeed, the wounds caused by the 2016 referendum  in which 52% of the country voted to leave the EU and 48% voted to remain  still run deep.

Mays original withdrawal agreement was resoundingly rejected by Parliament in January and she has spent the fraught weeks since meeting with EU leaders and negotiators in the hope of securing key concessions, especially around the contentious issue of the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

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The former will remain an EU member while the latter will leave the EU along with the rest of Britain, creating a land border in a region once marred by years of bloody sectarian conflict.

May has just spent the last week meeting with EU leaders in Egypt, where she said she made Britains position clear and is confident she can get the assurances she needs to win support back home.

But it is unclear how far the EU is willing to go to help solve the Brexit dilemma in Britain.

Any changes to the withdrawal agreement would have to again be agreed upon unanimously by all remaining 27 EU members, and they have repeatedly said that the deal on the table is the best Britain is going to get.

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Boyle is a special correspondent.
The armored train, painted military green with yellow trim, lumbered across the Chinese border and pulled to a stop at Vietnams Dong Dang railway station. Under gray, chilly skies, a beaming Kim Jong Un stepped out of his customized carriage Tuesday morning and onto a red carpet lined with bouquets of red flowers.

The reclusive North Korean leaders journey to his second summit with President Trump, which begins Wednesday in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, had taken 2 days to cover more than 2,000 miles. It was steeped in symbolism for the young dictator, mirroring the travels of his grandfather and North Koreas founder, Kim Il Sung, who rode the rails to Vietnam for state visits more than half a century ago.

Trump landed in Hanoi on Air Force One also trying to evoke history: Four decades after fighting a long, bloody war, the U.S. has forged a friendship with Vietnam, an authoritarian state with a booming, capitalist-oriented economy that the White House says North Korea could emulate  if it ends its nuclear weapons program and claws its way out of international isolation.

Vietnam is thriving like few places on earth, Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. North Korea would be the same, and very quickly, if it would denuclearize.

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But the leaders second meeting would have to be about more than symbols. Trump is under pressure to show that his outreach to Kim  whom he called my friend  could produce concrete progress. Their high-profile June summit in Singapore yielded only fuzzy promises from Kim to denuclearize, and no timeline to achieve them.

Trump was scheduled to have dinner with Kim and a few close aides Wednesday before a series of meetings Thursday. Both men received a warm welcome in Vietnam, which sees the summit as a chance to cement its reemergence on the world stage.

Thank you to all of the people for the great reception in Hanoi, Trump tweeted. Tremendous crowds, and so much love!

President Trump arrives at Hanois Noi Bai International Airport before a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (Pool Photo)

Kim, who borrowed a Chinese jet to travel to Singapore but generally avoids flying, reportedly because of security fears, shook hands with Vietnamese officials in Dong Dang and waved to a crowd of hundreds, many holding North Korean flags.

Then he climbed into the back seat of a waiting Mercedes stretch limo with no license plate, driving off in the direction of Hanoi and trailed by a convoy of SUVs and black sedans.

According to the news website VN Express, Kim thanked a Vietnamese government minister for a warm and enthusiastic welcome.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives at the Dong Dang railway station in Vietnam on Feb. 26, 2019. (Nhac Nguyen / AFP/Getty Images)

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Less than three hours later, Kims motorcade reached Hanois five-star Melia Hotel, which had been seen as the North Korean delegations likeliest choice of accommodation after Kims de facto chief of staff, Kim Chang Son, was spotted there last week.

The choice came with a built-in conflict: The White House had reserved accommodation there for TV camera crews and set up a dedicated news media center inside a ballroom for several hundred credentialed journalists traveling from the United States.

That set up a clash between the White House press corps and a dictator used to total control. Since this round took place in Vietnam, a one-party state that does not allow an independent domestic press, the outcome was not in doubt: North Korea got its way. A day earlier, Vietnamese authorities had deported an Australian man who works as a Kim Jong Un impersonator, whom they said had an invalid visa.

On Tuesday morning, hours before Kim arrived in Hanoi, the White House travel office, which handles logistics for reporters covering Trumps foreign trips, abruptly announced that it was relocating the news media center due to technical issues.

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The move was believed to have come at North Koreas request. The travel office was informed about 5 a.m. Tuesday, one official said, without elaborating.

Correspondents staying at the hotel were not ordered to check out. But television networks that had taken pains to set up camera and transmission equipment at the Melia were told they could not film there.

As Kim arrived, Margaret Talev, a reporter for Bloomberg news who was at the hotel, tweeted that all guests were cleared out of the lobby, some corralled into a restaurant, and window shades were pulled down.

Security forces prohibited us from taking pictures from inside the hotel though we could see (state?) camera rolling on [Kim] as his entourage rolled through, Talev wrote. Guards were literally right up on us saying no cameras.

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It was unclear whether the White House or Kims delegation had booked the Melia first. But the last-minute change was emblematic of a summit that had been planned seemingly on the fly, with Vietnamese officials saying they had 10 days to make security and other arrangements in Hanoi.

Vietnamese officials said nearly 3,000 foreign journalists from 40 countries had registered to cover the summit. The government set up a news media center with around-the-clock catering including Vietnamese specialties such as pho and egg coffee.

Later Tuesday afternoon, Kim visited the North Korean Embassy in Hanoi about a mile away from his hotel. Loud cheering and applause erupted from inside the building, audible in South Korean news reports that captured the young leaders visit.

He left about an hour later and returned to his heavily guarded hotel as dusk fell.

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Bodyguards of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un surround his car as it arrives for a visit to the North Korean Embassy in Hanoi. (Vincent Yu / Associated Press)

The White House has kept many details of the summit schedule under wraps. On Tuesday, Trumps press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said the president and Kim would have a brief one-on-one greeting Wednesday evening followed by a social dinner that would include Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Kims close aide Kim Yong Chol and another North Korean official.

The two leaders are then expected to hold formal meetings Thursday before Trump returns to Washington.

Whether those meetings lead to substantive accomplishments remains very much up in the air. At the Singapore summit, Kim made vague pledges to denuclearize while Trump called off military exercises with South Korea, a longtime U.S. ally, a concession to North Korea that caught Seoul and the U.S. military by surprise.

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Since then, Pyongyang has refrained from conducting further nuclear tests but made no progress on dismantling its nuclear facilities or producing a full accounting of its nuclear-related sites.

In November, Vice President Mike Pence said that it would be absolutely imperative that a second summit produce a plan for identifying all of North Koreas nuclear sites, opening them up to international inspectors and eventually dismantling them.

In recent weeks, Trump administration officials have tamped down expectations for even that much progress, but insisted that the U.S. was not ready to discuss lifting harsh economic sanctions on North Korea or withdrawing troops from South Korea  two of Kims main demands.

Weve given up nothing, Trump said Sunday before departing for Vietnam. The sanctions are on, everythings on, but we have a special feeling, and I think its going to lead to something very good and maybe now. I think ultimately it will, but maybe not, and Im not pushing for speed but were not removing the sanctions.

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Such comments have left many observers wondering what, if anything, the second summit will accomplish.

If this second meeting does not produce actual tangible steps  whether its on peace, on normalization or on denuclearization  I think it will widely be seen as a failure, Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told reporters in a conference call last week.

Hanoi, Vietnams capital and a city of 8 million people, has embraced the role of summit host. (Andrew Harnik / Associated Press)

U.S. officials had been keen to hold the summit in the coastal resort city of Danang, which has a large convention center and is easier to secure than Hanoi, a chaotic capital of 8 million people where fleets of honking motorcycles jam the streets  and often the sidewalks.

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But Kim preferred Hanoi, where he has an embassy. It is also the city his grandfather visited in 1958 and 1964.

He has a history here, said one foreign diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing diplomatic protocol. Hanoi was not the Americans preference. But in the end they went along with it.

The leaders were scheduled to meet Wednesday at the graceful, colonial-era Metropole hotel in the heart of Hanoi. On Tuesday, inside the colonnaded portico, Vietnamese guards frisked visitors as plainclothes American security personnel wearing earpieces milled about the wood-paneled lobby.

Out back by the palm-fringed swimming pool, as tourists sipped gin cocktails, Vietnamese security personnel in camouflage uniforms waved metal detectors in the bushes.

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Touting its transition from poverty and diplomatic isolation in the 1970s, Vietnam has embraced the role of host, rolling out security forces and armored personnel carriers around the summit venues while festooning the surrounding streets with U.S., North Korean and Vietnamese flags. On the road leading to the Melia, which was closed to traffic, posters proclaimed Hanoi the city for peace.

Around Hanois Old Quarter, where tourists in oversized backpacks and fruit vendors wearing conical hats bustled along the sidewalks, shopkeepers were eager to capitalize on summit fever.

T-shirts depicting President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are displayed for sale in a tourist area in Hanoi. (Andrew Harnik / Associated Press)

T-shirts bearing the likenesses of Trump and Kim hung from open storefronts. In one second-story workshop, a store owner screen-printed by hand dozens of T-shirts featuring the two leaders faces above the word Peace.

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Outside the D&C art gallery, a 4-foot-high painting of Trump and Kim stood for sale on the sidewalk. The artwork had been commissioned by the gallery owner, Bien Nguyen, less than three weeks ago, after Vietnam was named the summit host.

Bien Nguyen, owner of the D&C art gallery, displays a portrait of President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un outside her shop in central Hanoi. (Shashank Bengali / Los Angeles Times)

She asked a young artist named Tuan Nguyen, who is no relation, to paint a series of Trump and Kim portraits, each of which were on sale for about $250. Tourists snapped selfies with the dual portrait outside the gallery, but no one had yet made an offer, she said.

Still, the 40-year-old Nguyen had high hopes for what the summit could mean for her country.

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I hope it will bring more investment and tourists to Vietnam, she said. This is a beautiful country  thats why they chose to meet here. We came from war to peace and friendship.

Times staff writer Victoria Kim contributed to this report.
BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Vodafone Spain, a mobile telecommunications operator in Spain, has confirmed that Huawei will build the major part of its 5G network.

The company's Director of Technology Ismael Asenjo made the remarks at a press conference during the Mobile World Congress (MWC2019) which opened on Monday in Barcelona in northeast Spain.

Asenjo said Huawei would construct 65 percent of the new network, with th rest 35 percent provided by Ericsson.

"We will continue with the same providers," he said, meaning Vodafone Spain is the first Spanish operator to publicly show its confidence in the Chinese telecommunications giant after security concerns raised by the United States over Huawei's networks.

Asenjo told reporters he believed the "political situation" could have had an influence in some of the U.S. decisions taken in respect to Huawei, but said that Vodafone should base its opinion on "technological and not political reasons."

"At the moment we feel very relaxed", he said over the company's faith in Huawei as its major 5G provider.
China blocked off roads along train tracks and censored online mentions of the trains whereabouts. Vietnam repaved roads, decked out its capital with flowers and flags, and literally rolled out the red carpet.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday morning after taking the long route from Pyongyang for his second, closely watched summit with President Trump. He made the 2-day, 2,800-mile journey through China by his preferred mode of transport: armored train.

Kims train arrived early Tuesday in the border town of Dong Dang, where he was greeted with fanfare by Vietnamese authorities.

5 reasons Vietnam was selected to host Trumps second North Korea summit 

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From there, a stretch limousine took him the rest of the way to Hanoi, where he arrived 2 hours later in a motorcade that included at least a dozen police motorcycles and cars. Onlookers stood behind street barricades and waved North Korean, Vietnamese and American flags.

Trump was due to arrive on Air Force One later Tuesday.

The arrival sets the stage for a summit that in many ways carries higher expectations for concrete results than the first historic meeting in Singapore in June, which produced only vague commitments toward peace and denuclearization.

At the time, Trump abruptly announced a cessation of military exercises between the U.S. and longtime ally South Korea, without securing concessions from the North. The move surprised officials in Seoul and many in Washington. U.S. politicians and analysts have expressed concern he will make similar spur-of-the-moment decisions in his private meeting with Kim in Hanoi.

Negotiators for the U.S. and North Korea have been in Hanoi for a flurry of eleventh-hour working-level talks to lay the groundwork for the summit.

At issue is what steps North Korea will agree to take toward dismantling its nuclear capabilities and allow verification, and what the U.S. will offer in return  a peace declaration ending the Korean War, establishment of a liaison office between the two nations, and possible relief from a host of economic sanctions.

Trump, for his part, has said he is in no rush for results from the summit  a shift from Singapore, when he said he would be able to size up North Koreas leader within seconds of meeting him.

Weve given up nothing. The sanctions are on, everythings on, but we have a special feeling and I think its going to lead to something very good and maybe now, he said at the Governors Ball in Washington on Sunday. I think ultimately it will, but maybe not, and Im not pushing for speed but were not removing the sanctions.

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The two leaders are scheduled to dine together Wednesday evening before the summit gets underway on Thursday.

victoria.kim@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter @vicjkim
Metis artist Jamie Black of Winnipeg, Canada, uses red dresses in her work to represent missing or murdered indigenous women. For the first time, her artwork will travel to the U.S. outside the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington.

The REDress Project will be displayed Friday until March 31 in honor of Womens History Month. The dresses, which will be displayed along the museums river walk, have been donated and installed previously at several Canadian sites since 2011.

Blacks artwork aims to focus attention on missing women in Canada, but this issue transcends borders and affects indigenous women throughout the Americas, deputy director Machel Monenerkit said in press materials.

The REDress Project at a prior installation in Canada. (Sheila Spence)

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More than half of Native American women have encountered sexual and domestic violence at some point in their lives, the Associated Press reported last year.

The number of missing person cases for Native American women is high in proportion to their numbers in the population. Experts quoted in the story said these women had been victimized because the legal system failed to protect them.

Black and other artists and activists will participate in a symposium called Safety for Our Sisters: Ending Violence Against Native Women from 2:30 to 5 p.m. March 21 at the museum. Admission is free.

Info: National Museum of the American Indian

travel@latimes.com

@latimestravel
February is going down as the snowiest in the history of Mammoth Mountain. In one month, the ski area has received as much as 24 feet. And the month isnt over yet. Snow is expected Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Even without those accumulations, that is a lot of snow.

Just for the sake of comparison, if you stacked that 24 feet of snow against:

The letters at LAX

Snow would cover most of the 32-foot high letters at LAX. (Reed Saxon / Associated Press)

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You would see the top 8 feet of the LAX letters. (Letters are 32 feet, LAX says.)

The letters of the Hollywood sign

Hollywood signs letters are 49 feet tall. (David McNew / Getty Images)

You would see about half of the Hollywood sign letters, which are 49 feet, according to The Measure of Things.

A giraffe

Good thing these giraffes dont call Mammoth Mountain home. (Karen DSouza / Tribune News Service)

Too much snow? Never. Mammoth extends season to July 4 

The poor giraffe would be about 6 feet under snow. Giraffes generally are 18 feet tall.

An artificial Christmas tree

This isnt a typical artificial Christmas tree, but if it were, it would be 7 feet tall. (Boris Roessler / AFP / Getty Images)

You could stack about three of these trees atop one another and the top still wouldnt poke out. (They are 7 feet tall, according to the Measure of Things.)

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LeBron James

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James. (Brandon Dill / Associated Press)

At 6 feet 8 inches, it would take 3.6 LeBron Jameses atop one anothers shoulders.

The General Sherman Tree

The General Sherman Tree is a giant sequoia in Sequoia National Park. (Tomas Ovalle / For The Times)

It would take more than 11 more 24-foot snowfalls like the one in February to cover up the General Sherman Tree, which is 275 feet.

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travel@latimes.com

@latimestravel
If your Las Vegas weekend involves bringing kids along, swing over to the funky Downtown Container Park for a tribute to Dr. Seuss. Children can listen to some of the authors most famous books being read aloud, and dine on his most famous invented dish, green eggs and ham.

Its a three-day tribute to Seuss, a.k.a. Theodor Geisel, the childrens book author born March 2, 1904. The event encourages kids to dress up as their favorite Seuss character too. Its held in conjunction with National Read Across America Day.

Skiing and snowboarding in Las Vegas? Local resort says its a banner season 

Children can attend live storytelling sessions and readings from books, such as The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham and The Lorax, Readings will be held on the parks outdoor lawn at 3, 4 and 5 p.m. Friday and on the hour from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

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And about those green eggs and ham. Theyll be served at the Downtown Terrace Kitchen & Bar for $12 to $14 all three days.

Readings are free to all. Visitors are encouraged to donate a new or gently used book to Spread the Word Nevada, a nonprofit organization that has distributed more than 4.7 million books to needy children since 2001.

If you havent been, the Downtown Container Park has 39 shops, restaurants and bars, plus a childrens treehouse and playground. You cant miss the giant praying mantis made from repurposed shipping containers at the entrance.

Info: Downtown Container Park, 707 Fremont St., Las Vegas; (702) 359-9982

travel@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimestravel
Jeraldine Saunders, the longtime Glendale resident who wrote the book that inspired The Love Boat television series, recently returned from a cruise in Florida to celebrate 50 years of Princess Cruises, the company for which she worked years ago.

The event coincided with the 40th anniversary of Saunders book, Love Boats, an autobiography based on the years she spent as the worlds first female cruise director for Princess Cruises.

The celebration took place on the lines newest ship, the Regal Princess, where Saunders mingled with the cast of The Love Boat, which aired from 1977 to 1987.

After a musical performance by Charo, Saunders, 91, signed copies of her book and people thanked her, sharing how they would spend their Saturday nights watching the show as a family.

It was a celebration to end all celebrations, Saunders said, who was introduced that night as the patron saint of cruising.

She returned to the Jewel City on Tuesday. I still like to come back to Glendale, she said.

She now regularly pens an astrology column that is syndicated in newspapers around the world, and enjoys spending time with 48-year-old Donaldo Monroy, whom she met when he was 19, but they didnt establish a relationship until years later.

Hes my gentleman friend and my man Friday, she said.

Growing up in the area, she didnt have any aspirations of becoming a writer.

In fact, an English teacher at her Tujunga elementary school didnt like her handwriting.

[And] they gave me an F in spelling. They made it a red F, she recalled this week.

Saunders, who graduated from Glendale High in 1941, was hired on a cruise ship after working as a model for many years.

During her job interview for a hostess position on the ship, she fibbed about her expertise in speaking foreign languages, something thats often looked for in new hires.

Whatever they asked me, I told them I was excellent at it, she said.

She would go on to spend 10 years on various ships, working seven days a week, 11 months a year.

Thats why I had so much to write about when I wrote my autobiography, she said of all the time she spent at sea. I didnt really know what the world was like until I got that job.

Saunders jotted down her thoughts and observations in letters and on the backs of programs that she regularly mailed back to her family.

Her mother, who had saved all of her daughters notes, eventually sent them to a publisher in New York City.

It was picked up, and I lived happily ever after, Saunders said.
International rowing officials are studying a proposal that would call for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to shift their sport from Lake Perris to the waters off Long Beach.

The idea was presented at a recent meeting among leaders of the World Rowing Council in Lausanne, Switzerland.

L.A. organizers cautioned Tuesday that nothing has been made official.

There are no changes to our plan, LA 2028 said in a statement. Were aware the World Rowing Council is considering other possibilities, but at this time our plan remains the same.

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Rowing officials have expressed concern that holding events at Lake Perris, a reservoir in Riverside County, would require a costly satellite athletes village and push their sport to the outskirts of the Summer Games.

Switching to the Long Beach Marine Stadium, which hosted rowing for the 1932 Summer Olympics, would solve those problems while potentially creating others.

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A bridge impinges on the footprint of the proposed ocean site and could force officials to design a course that has either fewer lanes or a shorter length.

With the L.A. Olympics still nine years away, the council agreed to study these possible reductions and assess tidal impacts before issuing a decision on the matter.

Rowing was held at Lake Casitas, in Ventura County, for the 1984 Summer Games.

david.wharton@latimes.com

Twitter: @LAtimesWharton
Santa Anita suffered its 19th horse death since Dec. 26 when a 3-year-old gelding went down entering the stretch during training on Monday morning.

Charmer John, who finished sixth of eight in his only race on Feb. 14, suffered a catastrophic injury to his left front fetlock and was euthanized. He was trained by Mark Glatt.

The death comes one day after Santa Anita announced it was closing the track on Monday and Tuesday to do surface and soil sampling to try and determine whether there was some irregularity that was causing the breakdowns. However, some trainers, including Hall of Famers Bob Baffert and Jerry Hollendorfer, objected to the closure and Tim Ritvo, chief operating officer of The Stronach Group, reversed his decision and agreed to allow the track to be open Monday until 9 a.m. Those trainers said they believed the track was safe.

There were 121 horses who had timed workouts and hundreds more who exercised or galloped on the surface Monday.

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Alan Balch, executive director of the California Thoroughbred Trainers, said his group asked to be part of a Sunday call between the California Horse Racing Board and Santa Anita executives but was denied.

The decisions to close and reopen the track were made without consultation with our group and without us hearing the arguments, pro and con, Balch said. With that said, we are committed to offering all the support we can to ensure the safety of our horses, jockeys and workers and stand ready to do whatever we can to help solve this tragic set of circumstances.

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Santa Anita is bringing in Mick Peterson, a track and safety expert from the University of Kentucky, to do testing and evaluate the racing surfaces. While early in the evaluation process, no cause for the sudden increase has been determined and the racing surface is but one of many possibilities. An abnormal amount of rain, 11 inches, is also being looked at as a mitigating factor.

So far, six of the fatalities have occurred during dirt racing and five during turf racing. Monday was the eighth death during training, bringing the total to 19. By comparison, last year there were 10 in an equivalent period of time. In 2016-17 there were eight and in 2015-16 there were 14.

Training is expected to resume Wednesday and live racing on Thursday.
The Kings looked as if they were freed from a chain. They skated around Amalie Arena with renewed purpose and caginess, from players young and old. It was as if they had nothing to lose.

They took the NHLs best team deep into Monday night in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, and it wasnt a coincidence that it happened hours after the trade deadline passed with only one player, Oscar Fantenberg, gone from their locker room.

The Kings were a much looser outfit on the ice. But they were aware that they do have something to lose.

Were all playing for jobs here, Jeff Carter said. Weve still got a lot to play for.

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Dustin Brown said it was a relief to get past Monday, but he echoed Carter that there is a shadow growing over this summer.

The deadlines passed, but if you want to be a King, youve got to play like a King, Brown said. I think its more of an individual thing right now, and if everyones better individually, then well be better as a team. Its one of those things where, [its] 20 games until the end of the year, but [its] 20 games until the end of a bad season where there will be changes regardless.

General manager Rob Blake made one secondary change, trading Fantenberg to Calgary for a conditional fourth-round draft pick in 2020. He indicated he wasnt close on anything else.

We talked about a lot of different things here the past few days, Blake said. But it hasnt worked out. This is what took place  the ones that we have in place right here now.

Mondays lack of activity suggests that the Kings major moves will be made at the draft and in free agency. The market didnt tilt in their favor Monday when, in theory, Blake had leverage over desperate teams.

Its hard to tell if you wait, [if] you get more, Blake said. We just felt that we had asking prices for individuals on our team and when they were met, we get those deals. ... Its not a quick process. Its not an easy process.

Fantenberg, an impending free agent, went through growing pains in his rookie season but showed he could be an NHL regular on the back end. Blake said he tried to sign him but nothing came to fruition on that.

Fantenbergs departure left the Kings defense even more shallow, but it made it all the more impressive that they erased a 2-0 deficit with goals by Alex Iafallo, Jonny Brodzinski (in his season debut) and Austin Wagner.

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Tampa Bays J.T. Miller tied the score 3-3 and the Lightning prevailed in an entertaining shootout, which featured beautiful backhands by the Kings Ilya Kovalchuk and Anze Kopitar.

On that note, Blake said the veterans arent getting off the hook here with the organization looking at younger players. Brown knows the message and the outlook from here on out.

I think everyones had a tough season, and it comes down to your personal pride essentially  what you want to be like as a player, Brown said.

Its easy to be good teammates and good players when things are going well. Its when things are not going well, that you kind of really have to see what youre made of. ... Its important for guys to respond in the right way and understand how they play now can impact not only their future but what happens individually and as a team collectively.

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When: 4 PST.

On the air: TV: FS West; Radio: iHeartRadio (LA Kings Audio Network).

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Update: Carolina has won five of its last six games and is 9-3 in February. ... Former Kings winger Justin Williams is third in Hurricanes scoring with 17 goals and 41 points. ... Kings defenseman Alec Martinez could return from an upper-body injury in a week.

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A week after Manny Machado agreed to a 10-year, $300-million deal with the San Diego Padres, another member of the National League West has locked up its primary asset. The Colorado Rockies are finalizing an eight-year, $260-million extension with four-time All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The contract will set a record for position players with a $32.5-million average annual value.

Arenado, 27, has won six consecutive Gold Glove awards and four consecutive Silver Slugger awards. He has led the National League in home runs in three of the last four seasons. He has posted an average .942 on-base plus slugging percentage since 2016.

Arenado elected for the security of the sizable offer from Colorado over the allure of the open market, which he could have hit next winter. With Arenado off the board, the premier position players available after 2019 could be Washington Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon or St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt.

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The extension for Arenado will occur as outfielder Bryce Harper remains on the market. The Dodgers met with Harper in Las Vegas on Sunday, with the Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants still in discussions with the Washington Nationals slugger.

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andy.mccullough@latimes.com

Twitter: @McCulloughTimes
When the Glendale Unified school board dismissed Supt. Winfred B. Roberson Jr., during a special meeting on Jan. 29, the move set off a chain of events.

One of the changes was to temporarily name longtime district stalwart employee Kelly King as interim superintendent, replacing Roberson, who helmed Davis Unified School District before coming to Glendale three years ago.

While Glendale Unified officials set a June 1 deadline to hire a new superintendent, King has been asked to lead the district through a few tumultuous months.

The former district teacher, teacher specialist and assistant superintendent has been with Glendale Unified since 1990 and recently spoke to the News-Press about her short-term plans for long-term issues.

Sagebrush issue

One immediate issue King will likely confront will be the potential transfer of the Sagebrush territory of La Canada Flintridge, currently under Glendale Unified control, to La Canada Unified.

In May 2017, the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization conducted a nonbinding straw vote, as described by Keith Crafton, LACOE director of business advisory services, that preliminarily approved the petition so a California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, review could be conducted.

The studys results were released this past October and a vote on the matter, which was supposed to have been taken within 60 days, may be held in March.

We continue to assert that this is our community, King said. The GUSD community includes that territory. We have no intention of losing a portion of whats been part of the GUSD community. We have so many strengths and contributors from that territory, and were not going to take a stand thats going to hurt the district, as a whole, and its our opinion that losing that territory hurts GUSD.

Cooperation with the Glendale City Council

During the LACOE meeting in October, the La Canada breakaway group UniteLCF! and its supporters dominated the public-comment portion of the meeting and were backed by La Canada Unified Supt. Wendy Sinnette and members of the La Canada City Council, including Mayor Terry Walker.

Glendale Unifieds board, which has been at odds with the Glendale City Council due to a failed property transfer proposal for new administrative offices for the school district, did not receive any in-person support that day from the council.

Weve always had discussions of getting the City Council involved, King said. We have letters of support from Mayor [Zareh] Sinanyan. We have letters of support from council member [Vartan] Gharpetian. I think that they value GUSD schools. While we might disagree on the property exchange, it doesnt mean that theyre not in support of GUSD.

Glendale Unified property exchange proposal

Five years of planning were shot down in one evening in December for the Glendale Unified school board, which saw a property exchange proposal, facilitated by developer Carmel Partners, voted down by the City Council, 3-1.

Glendale had proposed to swap its current headquarters, located at 223 N. Jackson St., for a larger and newer building with more parking, located at 425 E. Colorado St.

Glendales old headquarters would have been converted into a 207-unit residential development that some council members thought would have overfilled an already-tight residential neighborhood.

With that proposal rejected, King said she isnt sure what district officials will do next.

We just really need to see where the developer is, she said. Its not in our hands, at the moment. Is the developer moving forward or not with the city? Thats really discussions between them.

She added, I dont want to give up hope, but you know if it doesnt go through, I think well be frustrated and heartbroken, but then well really have to look and see what were going to have to do with the old building that were in.

Potential budget cuts

Operating with a $6.13-million deficit, Glendale Unified staff members have proposed cuts totaling $6.83 million that call for the elimination of some vacant positions and other reduction efforts over the next two school years.

District officials are trying to avoid any layoffs, but they may be needed after filing a qualified budget in December and seeing Glendale Unifieds student enrollment decline again.

With the proposal that we have moving forward, with some cuts that are away from classrooms, away from school sites, Im confident that well be able to present a positive certification for the county, King said. But it does not mean that we dont have some tough decisions in front of us.

andrew.campa@latimes.com

Twitter @campadresports
China leads the global greening effort with double increase in forest area and stock volume in the past 20 years

Forest in Shaxian Country, SE China's Fujian. (Photo: fj.people.cn)

Official data from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA), Chinas top forestry authority, shows that in the past two decades, China has achieved double increase in forest area and forest stock volume, with the countrys forest coverage rising from 8.6 percent in 1949 to 21.66 percent in 2017.

This month, US space agency NASA revealed satellite data showing that human activities in China and India are leading the global greening effort, which was applauded by people around the world.

According to the data, China alone accounts for a quarter of the global net increase, despite having only 6.6% of the worlds vegetated area. About 42% of the greening in China comes from forest conservation and tree planting campaigns, as the country makes huge and consistent efforts to address soil erosion, air pollution, and climate change.

China launched the Natural Forest Protection Program after the flood disasters in the Yangtze and Songhua River basins in 1998. About 300 billion yuan (nearly $45 billion) has been put into the project during the 21 years since, and the results are distinctive.

The Grain for Green Program, a program which was launched in 1999 to return farmland to forests, is another ambitious conservation program in China designed to mitigate and prevent flooding and soil erosion.

In fact, it is the largest ecological construction project in human history, involving 124 million people in 1,897 counties in 25 provinces. According to NFGA, since the start of the project in 1999, China has planted 447 million mu (about 29.8 million hectares) of forests.

Today, Chinas artificial forest coverage has reached 1.18 billion mu (about 78.6 million hectares), the largest in the world.

In addition, various other forest programs play vital roles in forest recovery and conservation, including the Shelter-belt Development Programs, the Beijing and Tianjin Sandstorm Source Control Program, Wildlife Conservation and Nature Reserve Development Program, and Fast Growing and High Yielding Timber Plantation.

The country has established over 11,000 natural protection sites so far, including nature reserves, forest and wetland parks, geological parks, etc., which, together, effectively protect 90% of the countrys terrestrial ecosystem types, 85% of the wild animal population, 65% of higher plant communities, and 50.3% of the natural wetlands.
Authorities have arrested three men they say are responsible for a shooting in October at a Glendale restaurant that left one man dead and another wounded.

Vahagn Mkhitaryan, 33, Hrachya Azatyan, 41, and Arsen Grigoryan, 35, were arrested earlier this month on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, according to the Glendale Police Department. All three men are being held without bail.



For the record: The original article omitted the name of a third suspect who was arrested in connection with the shooting. It has since been updated to include that information.

Their arrests come about five months after an unknown person walked up and shot two men who were standing in the parking lot of the Maran Ararat restaurant on San Fernando Road.

One man, identified as 48-year-old Suren Tahmazyan of Burbank, died at the scene while the other man, also in his 40s but not identified, was only grazed by a bullet and survived.

The shooter fled from the area in a waiting, dark-colored SUV that sped northbound on San Fernando, according to police.

Sgt. Dan Suttles, a department spokesman, said at the time that its unknown why the two men were shot and that there were no signs it was gang-related or an attempted robbery gone wrong. Based on security camera footage from the restaurant, he said the shooter looked purposeful.

Its unknown if the three suspects had any connection to the two victims.

Suttles could not comment further on the arrests because the investigation remains active and detectives are still working on it.

andy.nguyen@latimes.com

Twitter: @Andy_Truc
Members of the Glendale Latino Assn. know how to work hard and to play hard.

The organizations annual awards and installation luncheon demonstrates that philosophy more than any other event the group holds throughout the year.

Last Wednesday, some 200 members, guests and supporters gathered at the Oakmont Country Club to celebrate outstanding members and organizations in the community.

As mistress of ceremonies, Amy Navarrete, past president, kicked off the program with style and good humor.

She introduced Albert Hernandez, the groups president, who, in turn, introduced city dignitaries attending including Glendale Mayor Zareh Sinanyan, who gave greetings from the city, and Glendale Police Chief Carl Povilaitis.

More VIPs included Glendale Community College Police Chief Gary Montecuollo; Ann Ransford, president of the colleges board of trustees, Armine Hacopian, college trustee.

Last years Man of the Year and City Atty. Michael Garcia, at left, awards the Glendale Latino Assn.'s 2019 Man of the Year title to Dr. David Viar, superintendent/president of Glendale Community College. Assn. President Albert Hernandez joins the presentation. (Ruth Sowby Rands / Glendale News-Press)

Also introduced was Lisa Brooks, the foundations executive director. The college had a large contingent present in support of David Viar, the colleges superintendent/president, accompanied by wife, Jane.

Viar was announced as the associations 2019 Man of the Year. He was presented the award by last years Man of the Year City Atty. Michael Garcia.

Viar has been the colleges head since 2013. Since that time, the college received the highest level of accreditation and passed a $325-million facilities bond measure.

Viar is a member of the Glendale Sunrise Rotary Club and on several community boards including the Glendale YMCA where he chairs the Strategic Plan Committee and the Governance Committee.

Irene Bourdon, president of the Adventist Health Glendale Foundation, was announced as the associations 2019 Woman of the Year. Her award was presented by Glendale City Councilwoman Paula Devine, last years Woman of the Year.

Bourdon oversees fundraising for the 515-bed medical center. Over the years, she has served in two Rotary Clubs, was a board member of two city Chambers of Commerce and a regional YWCA.

The 2019 officers of the Glendale Latino Assn. are presented at the organizations Community Awards and Installation Luncheon. (Ruth Sowby Rands / Glendale News-Press)

Rebecca Palacios accepted the associations 2019 Business of the Year. She is senior curriculum adviser of the Age of Learning, a business specializing in education technology.

Palacios was presented her award by John Kelly of Jenkins Property Management, last years Business of the Year.

The three award presentations were held after the associations 2019 officers installation by Gus Gomez, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge.

Top associations officers are Hernandez, Jennie Quinonez-Skinner, president-elect; Miryam Finkelberg, vice President of Membership; and Irma Villegas, Vice President of Scholarships.

Villegas, along with Mercy Velazquez, the associations advisory board chair, emphasized the organizations role in providing scholarships to excelling, local high school students and Glendale Community College students.

Velazquez announced that the association gives at least $20,000 in scholarship funds every year.

Guest speaker Andrea Dominguez followed the installation. She is a Glendale Community College student, majoring in electrical engineering.

Dominguez also emphasized the importance of scholarships in motivating students to achieve.

Glendale Latino Assn. members hold events through the year to raise scholarship funds. Last year, 17 scholarships, totaling $20,500, were awarded to outstanding students.

This years scholarships will be awarded at the associations annual breakfast on May 23 at the Oakmont Country Club. Save the date.

Ruth Sowby Rands may be reached at ruthasowby@gmail.com.
In a sudden development, Terrence Dwyer is out as president of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa after 12 years on the job.

His departure was revealed Friday evening in a news release that shed little light on the circumstances of Dwyers exit, though it said he announced he will pursue other opportunities.

The centers board of directors thanks him for his many years of service, the statement added.

The center is sincerely grateful for his many accomplishments during his tenure, the release stated, citing the opening of the School of Dance and Music for Children with Disabilities, the Center for Dance and Innovation and the Julianne and George Argyros Plaza.

Dwyer expressed his gratitude for the time he has spent with the center, said he has been honored to have served the center and wishes the center every future success, according to the statement.

Dwyer and a Segerstrom Center spokesman could not be reached for additional comment Monday.

Executive Vice President Judy Morr and Chief Financial Officer Brian Finck will lead operations while the center searches for a replacement for Dwyer, according to the center.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Turner, the Segerstrom Centers executive vice president and managing director, has been named the next president and chief executive of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville, according to a report last week by the Nashville Tennessean. She will start there in May.

Im extremely excited about the diversity of programming that TPAC offers, both on the stage and working throughout its community, Turner said in that report.

The Segerstrom Center is home to some of Orange Countys best-known cultural and performance spaces, including the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Samueli Theater and Judy Morr Theater.

Last month, the Costa Mesa Planning Commission approved a master plan to build the new location of the Orange County Museum of Art on the Segerstrom campus, as well.

However, Dwyer  in his capacity as Segerstrom Center president  appealed that decision to the City Council, citing concerns about site access, parking, outdoor activity space and building design and use and whether the museum would be sufficiently integrated with existing facilities.

The appeal is still pending, according to the city.

UPDATES:

This article was originally published at 4:35 p.m. It was later updated with additional information.
We are in the midst of another, ridiculously long presidential election cycle, a time when even the most patriotic Americans can be forgiven for rolling their eyes and wondering when it will all end. Its a time when tempers fray and Facebook posts grow increasingly shrill and partisan. Its also a time when politicians from both major parties claim that it is they who do the most to support members of our armed forces, seemingly oblivious to the fact theyre turning into political hay a most difficult and stressful occupation.

But there are shining lights on the homefront, even as the campaigns ratchet up their rhetoric. On Saturday, community members will gather in the parking lot of the Burbank Keller Williams office for the fifth annual Thank-A-Soldier event, a decidedly nonpartisan event. There they will pack health and comfort items into shipping cartons, in support of the nonprofit Hands Across the Battlefield organization. The care packages will be delivered to local residents serving overseas, as well as to service members from other areas of Southern California.

Those men and women currently serving our country here and abroad, tackling a potentially deadly job, deserve nothing less than the support of the folks who are not in the military. We are proud to say that they are not forgotten by the people of Burbank and Glendale.
Gov. Gavin Newsoms only encounter with President Trump during a two-day trip to Washington this week for the National Governors Assn. convention amounted to a quick handshake and brief chat. Instead, the Democratic governor invested time with top administration officials, hoping to smooth tense relations with the White House that could obstruct federal assistance in addressing crucial issues facing California.

Newsoms closed-door meetings on Monday with acting U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency focused in great part on billions of dollars in promised federal disaster relief, funds being counted on following the states deadly 2018 wildfires.

Disputes over California water policy and protecting the states energy supply after the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. bankruptcy filing also were high on the agenda, even though no resolutions were hammered out or expected, Newsom told The Times.

The governor said one of his main priorities during his visit was to avoid stoking Californias escalating political feud with the president, including caustic flare-ups on Twitter between him and Trump over the administrations U.S.-Mexico border policy, efforts to peel away strict environmental laws and attacks on the $77-billion high-speed rail system.

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Newsom said hes had substantive conversations in person and by phone with Trump Cabinet officials since taking office, to work through the noise and address issues. He said they had made sincere efforts to work together and solve problems, even though at times their political differences put a resolution out of reach.

Let me take my partisan hat off. People could not be more cordial, more respectful, Newsom said of the Trump administration officials he met with during his visit. Ive been doing this long enough: You can sense sincerity and insincerity.

On Sunday, Newsom joined other governors at the White House to dine with Trump.

Newsom said he shook hands with the president when he arrived, and described having a brief but cordial conversation, though the governor reported Trump brought up one of his favorite targets of criticism in recent weeks: high-speed rail.

After Newsom called for scaling back the bullet train during his State of the State speech this month, Trump demanded in a series of tweets that California return $3.5 billion in federal funding for the project.

Trump was more hostile back in September, when he called Newsom a clown who wants open borders. Newsom, in turn, has ripped into Trump for declaring a national emergency to build a border wall, and criticized his administrations policy of separating Central American families seeking asylum.

Republican Rep. Tom McClintock of Elk Grove called the back-and-forth between the two unfortunate and counterproductive at a time when California hopes to secure billions of dollars in disaster aid.

Lincoln said you get farther with a drop of honey than a gallon of gall, McClintock said. Thats still good advice.

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McClintock joined fellow members of Californias congressional delegation for a closed-door meeting with Newsom at the Capitol on Monday evening at the end of a packed schedule that included time spent with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and the Mexican ambassador to the United States, Martha Barcena.

Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of San Jose, who chairs the California Democratic Congressional Delegation, said the top priority of the evening was working together to ensure that the Northern California and Southern California communities devastated by last years wildfires received adequate federal assistance. The effort includes asking the federal government to pick up the tab to remove debris and hazardous materials in those areas, as well as making sure similar tax relief is provided to those California residents as was given to victims of recent hurricanes.

Newsom urged Californias congressional delegation and the Trump administration to approve a $12-billion disaster relief package that the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed in January, but stalled in the Senate.

On Monday, Newsom said his recent conversations with the president give him confidence that Trump supports the relief package.

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phil.willon@latimes.com

Twitter: @philwillon

Updates on California politics
Lengthy stays in cells. A lack of access to doctors, counselors and legal aid. Few bilingual staffers who can explain rules or services. Limited opportunities to call or see friends and family.

On Tuesday, Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra released findings from the first state inspection of Californias immigrant detention centers, designed to provide a deeper look into the conditions inside the system as the Trump administration takes a more aggressive approach to confining people who are in the country illegally. California is one of the first states to examine everyday operations at the facilities.

Over the last three years, more than 74,000 immigrant detainees from over 150 countries have been held at Californias 10 public and private detention centers, all inspected by the attorney generals office. Immigrants spent more than 50 days confined on average, with one person staying in a facility for more than four years.

Conducted over the last year, the audit found conditions varied widely by center. But almost all facilities detained people in cells for long periods of time  sometimes up to 22 hours a day  without any breaks, according to the report. Immigrants faced significant language barriers and challenges in accessing medical and mental healthcare and legal counsel, state investigators found. Detainees were allowed only minimal contact with friends and family.

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At a news conference Tuesday in San Francisco, Becerra emphasized that people confined inside the centers are civilian detainees who are awaiting determinations on their deportation status, not criminals.

We hope that other states are watching because everyone in this country has constitutional rights and everyone at the end of the day  child and adult  deserves to be treated in a humane way, Becerra said.

He said the failings at some facilities appeared to result from a ramp-up of immigration detention at the federal level that didnt allow inspectors to properly vet procedures and conditions. Some detention centers have already begun taking steps to improve conditions based on the review, he added, saying it was more a matter of knowing where they could do things differently.

But the attorney general said that he is prepared to take legal action against those that fail to comply with his offices recommendations.

Lori Haley, a spokeswoman with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, declined to answer questions about the audit, but said in a statement that the agency is committed to ensuring all detainees are treated humanely.

The safety, rights and health of detainees in ICEs care are of paramount concern and all ICE detention facilities are subject to stringent, regular inspections, she said.

Lawyers with the attorney generals office spent at least a day at each detention center, including multiple days at one youth facility in Yolo County, where federal officials have been criticized over disclosures indicating they improperly identified some children as gang members.

The in-depth look at the states detention system is the result of legislation passed in 2017, when lawmakers sought to increase oversight of those facilities and protections for immigrants amid Trumps calls for increased deportations. Other state efforts from that year prevented detention centers from adding more beds, and pledged $1 million in spending to ensure proper access to food, medical care and lawyers.

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The attorney generals report coincides with a separate state audit released Tuesday that examined three private detention centers that hold detainees for cities and four counties that detain immigrants for ICE.

In that report, spanning fiscal years 2013 to 2017, inspectors found that counties failed to ensure ICE fully paid them, while cities used federal funds from ICE to pay subcontractors without performing any meaningful oversight.

The state lacks complete information about how much it costs and what conditions the detainees face, the report said. Also unclear are how many detainees are being held throughout California, where they are being held, and for how long.

Becerras inspection confirmed many of conditions reported by federal inspectors. Marisol Leon, a deputy state attorney general with the civil rights and enforcement division, called the stories of detainees, particularly of youth at the Yolo facility, soul crushing. Attorneys heard of women at other centers who did not receive proper medication, and a story of a baby ripped from a parents arms, she said.

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They hear that youth are coming, crossing multiple borders, fleeing violence, persecution and a lot of trauma and being retraumatized in many ways in the center, she said.

In their report, state attorneys called attention to previous findings by federal inspectors last year on conditions at Adelanto, a facility in San Bernardino County that housed 10,000 detainees from June 2017 to October 2018. They detailed nooses found in detainee cells, improper and overly restrictive segregation practices, and untimely and inadequate detainee medical care.

The state attorney generals report also noted the long history of issues with medical and mental health care at Otay Mesa Detention Center near the San Diego-Tijuana border. In recent years, several pregnant women there have said they werent given adequate care.

In Yolo County, which receives about $5.7 million annually from its detention contract and houses up to 24 juveniles in its facility at a time, inspectors from Becerras office met in August with 19 juveniles, all but one from Central American countries. The four-day inspection found that while staff was well-intentioned, minors were at times housed together with boys doing time for criminal charges in county juvenile detention, many in two-story dormitories in small cells with few outside windows.

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Inspectors found force had been used against the detainees 27 times in the eight months prior to their visit and was a common method of control. In at least four instances reviewed on video, the use of force violated policies, with guards in one instance tackling a juvenile detainee while he sat at a table, the report said.

Nine of the detained juveniles told inspectors they had attempted to kill themselves or self-harmed while in the facility, and inspectors noted signs of cutting on some boys. One told investigators he tried to strangle himself with blankets. Another said, I will stop trying to kill myself when I get out of here.

Still, the center  one of only two high-security placements in the nation for immigrant youth in the custody of federal agencies  had inadequate mental health care available to detainees, an extremely high level of psychiatric medication use in a detention facility and failed to properly conduct suicide watches.

At the Yuba County Jail in Marysville, state investigators noted that women and men detained on ICE immigration holds were not separated from the general jail population, something cited last month when dozens of detainees there went on a six-day hunger strike to demand better conditions.

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It is not a good place to be, said Carlos Montes-Ponce, a Sacramento immigration activist. There is always tension because [the detainees] are mixed with the general population.

California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra speaks during a news conference in February. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

For immigrant rights groups, some activists and lawyers said, the report has validated their work.

The report confirms and reinforces what we have documented  that California immigrant jails and prisons are rife with abuse and have led to a toxic culture of impunity fueled by taxpayer money at the expense of thousands of lives, said Liz Martinez of Freedom for Immigrants.

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But she and others said it also fell short of expectations. Becerra said a lack of resources allowed a deeper review of only three facilities operated by local governments: Yolo County Juvenile Detention Facility, Theo Lacy Facility in Orange County and West County Detention Facility in Contra Costa County.

Some said more pressure should be placed on centers run by private prison companies, including the Adelanto Detention Facility, which is owned and operated by the GEO Group, a company that runs dozens of private prisons and detention centers around the country.

Others said the report also failed to demand full transparency because ICE and prison operators were informed of visits ahead of time.

If we want to know whats truly happening inside detention, we shouldnt be giving them a pass by telling them when to be on their best behavior, Martinez said. The attorney general has the power to go in whenever he or his office wants. He should use that power.

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San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Kate Morrissey contributed to this report.

More stories from Jazmine Ulloa 

jazmine.ulloa@latimes.com

Twitter: @jazmineulloa
The Supreme Court justices, long divided on the role of religion, are set to decide whether a 40-foot Latin cross sitting at a busy intersection in Maryland is an unconstitutional official endorsement of Christianity or a historic memorial for local soldiers who died in World War I.

It will be the first major religion case for Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, and the outcome could signal whether the courts five conservatives are prepared to give small towns, counties and states more freedom to display Christian symbols.

At issue is the 1st Amendments ban against an establishment of religion. The justices agree this means the government must be neutral toward religion and may not favor one faith. The clearest command of the Establishment Clause is that one religious denomination cannot be officially preferred over another, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote last year, quoting a 1982 opinion.

But the justices have disagreed on how to apply this no-preference rule, with conservative Catholic justices often pitted against the liberal Jewish justices.

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In 2014, the court in a 5-4 decision upheld a city councils practice of beginning its monthly meetings with a Christian prayer delivered by a local cleric. The five justices in the majority, all Catholics, said this comports with our tradition and does not coerce participation by non-adherents.

In dissent, Justice Elena Kagan, joined by the two other Jewish justices, said Jews and Muslims should not be treated as outsiders at their towns meetings.

Last year, the high court ruled for a Christian baker of wedding cakes on the grounds he was subjected to hostility because of his faith. A Colorado civil rights commission had held the baker violated the states anti-discrimination law by refusing to make a cake for a same-sex couple. In overturning that decision, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy pointed to one of seven commission members who had commented that religion has been used to justify all kinds of discrimination throughout history.

But three weeks later, the court by a 5-4 vote rejected the claim that President Trumps travel ban reflected hostility toward Muslims.

This divide flared up earlier this month in a late-night order involving an Alabama execution. The courts five conservatives overturned a lower court and cleared the way for the state to execute a Muslim prisoner. He had asked to have his imam present in the execution chamber, but the state refused. However, it regularly allows a Christian chaplain to be present during executions because he is a state employee. In a dissent for the four liberals, Kagan called the decision profoundly wrong because it reflects religious discrimination.

The justices are likely to be divided on Wednesday when they hear arguments on the fate of the so-called Peace Cross in Bladensburg, Md., a monument built with private funds in the early 1920s to honor 49 soldiers who were killed in Europe. Since 1961, however, it has been maintained on public property by the park commission for Maryland and the National Capital area.

About five years ago, three local residents said they objected to seeing the cross towering over the intersection when they drove by, and they joined a lawsuit with the American Humanist Assn. They said they did not want the monument to be torn down, but instead moved to private property. They lost before a federal judge, but won a 2-1 ruling from the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The monument here has the primary effect of endorsing religion and excessively entangles the government in religion, wrote Judge Stephanie Thacker. The Latin cross is the core symbol of Christianity.  Therefore, we hold that the purported war memorial breaches the wall of separation between Church and State, she said, quoting words of Thomas Jefferson that were adopted by the court in 1947.

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In November, three weeks after Kavanaugh took his seat, the Supreme Court agreed to hear appeals from from the American Legion, which had defended the memorial, and from the regional parks commission. The case is American Legion vs. American Humanist Assn.

In past decades, the justices have been closely split when faced with disputes over religious symbols on public property. In the 1980s, for example, they upheld a citys display of a Nativity scene during the Christmas season when it also included Santa Claus, reindeer and a colorful tree, but not if it stood alone in a government building. Both rulings were by 5-4 votes.

In 2005, they handed down two contrary decisions on the Ten Commandments on the same day. They upheld a granite monument containing the commandments that had stood for decades on the grounds of the Texas state Capitol, but struck down a prominent new display of commandments inside a county courthouse in Kentucky. Both were 5-4 decisions, with Justice Stephen G. Breyer casting the key votes.

Most legal experts predict the justices will rule in favor of maintaining the cross. They are watching closely, however, to see whether they will do so on narrow grounds or more broadly.

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For example, the court could rule narrowly that the Peace Cross can remain because it has stood for nearly a century and because it was erected as a war memorial. Advocates of this approach cited Breyers 2005 opinion in the two cases involving the Ten Commandments. He said officials would violate the 1st Amendment if they put up new religious displays, but this does not require ripping up old granite monuments or tearing down faded murals in courthouses. High above the Supreme Courts courtroom are marble friezes of great lawmakers of ancient history, including a depiction of Moses holding a tablet with the commandments.

The Establishment Clause does not compel the government to purge from the public sphere all that in any way partakes of the religious, Breyer wrote in Van Orden vs. Perry.

It is also possible that the chief justice will seek to have the lawsuit thrown out the grounds the three plaintiffs lack standing. In the past, several justices have questioned how a plaintiff is injured or harmed by the presence of religious symbol on public property.

But lawyers for the American Legion urge the court to rule broadly. They say passive displays of the cross or any religious symbol should be upheld because no one is forced to participate in a religious exercise. In the past, Justice Clarence Thomas and the late Justice Antonin Scalia espoused this so-called no coercion rule.

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Defenders of church-state separation say this would amount to a major change.

I am very concerned the court might adopt the view that the Establishment Clause is violated only if there is coercion. There well might be five votes for this approach, said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley Law School. If so, there would be no limit on religious symbols on government property. A city could put a large cross atop city hall or in front of its chambers and it would be allowed because there is not coercion.

Holly Hollman, general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty, joined with the American Jewish Congress and other faith groups in urging the court to hold the line on church-state separation. The cross is the singular symbol of Christianity, she said. I hope the court will say that government cannot pick and choose between religions or promote a religious message.

The latest from Washington 

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After more than a decade as the keeper of Donald Trumps secrets, Michael Cohen has been spilling the beans about the presidents private business deals, foreign interests and alleged mistresses to federal prosecutors in Washington and New York.

But apart from brief comments in the courtroom where he was sentenced to three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to several crimes, the presidents former personal lawyer, fixer and attack dog has not spoken publicly about what he now calls Trumps dirty deeds.

That is likely to change Wednesday when Cohen testifies before the House Oversight Committee in a hearing that could be the most damaging for a president since former White House Counsel John Dean helped bring down Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal.

He has the potential to be a very devastating witness, said Dean, 80, who completed his own transformation from criminal presidential aide to star witness more than four decades ago.

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The Cohen hearing may very well be a turning point in our countrys history, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), chair of the House Oversight Committee, told reporters.

Cohen was at Trumps side or working as a senior executive in the Trump Organization during a period under intense scrutiny by both prosecutors and congressional investigators.

Lawmakers plan to ask him about Trumps campaign finances, still-secret tax returns and the now-closed Donald J. Trump Foundation, which New Yorks attorney general recently accused of a shocking pattern of illegality, among other issues.

Cohen is expected to bring documents to support his testimony, records that could prove useful if Republicans attack his credibility, which is all but certain.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) suggested on Tuesday that his colleagues on the committee would expose extramarital affairs by Cohen if he testifies. Cohens wife, Gaetz tweeted, is about to learn a lot. Gaetz later denied that he was trying to intimidate the witness, saying he was testing him.

With Democrats controlling the House, Cohens testimony is expected to light the fuse on months or years of congressional investigations into Trumps administration, campaign and businesses.

Like Dean with Nixon, Cohen, 52, has the painful experience of working directly for Trump to squelch dissent, undermine opponents and, according to prosecutors, violate the law. His willingness to cooperate with law enforcement has infuriated Trump, who called him a rat in December.

Dean and Cohen even looked back on their misdeeds in similar ways.

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Dean, who blew the whistle on White House misconduct to the Senate Watergate Committee and served time in prison, wrote a bestselling memoir called Blind Ambition. Cohen told a federal judge that he committed crimes for Trump out of blind loyalty.

Cohens testimony comes as Washington braces for a final report from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who has been investigating any ties between Trumps campaign and Moscows covert efforts to interfere in the presidential election by leaking hacked Democratic Party emails and posting disinformation on social media.

Former White House aide John Dean is sworn in before the Senate Watergate Committee on June 25, 1973. (Associated Press)

He was deeply involved in an unsuccessful effort to develop a hotel-condominium complex in Moscow intended to produce hundreds of millions of dollars in profits for Trump. Mueller secured a guilty plea from Cohen for lying to Congress about pursuing the deal.

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Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the House Oversight Committee, said he wanted to dig into business practices at the Trump Organization, a privately held company that the president has fought to shield from scrutiny.

I assume Michael Cohen has stories to tell, he said.

Cohen is not expected to delve deeply into the Russia investigation on Wednesday. He likely will answer those questions on Tuesday and Thursday when he testifies behind closed doors to the House and Senate intelligence committees. Senators largely declined to comment after Tuesdays hearing.

Trump has said he isnt worried about Cohens testimony at all. When his former lawyer visits Capitol Hill, the president will be in Hanoi for his second summit with Kim Jong Un, the North Korean dictator.

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Still, the White House was concerned enough that Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement Tuesday denouncing Cohens testimony in advance.

Its laughable that anyone would take a convicted liar like Cohen at his word, and pathetic to see him given yet another opportunity to spread his lies, she said.

Cohen is scheduled to report to prison on May 6. In addition to lying to Congress, he has pleaded guilty to eight other charges  tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance violations.

The campaign finance violations are tied to Cohens role arranging hush-money payments to two women who said they had affairs with Trump years ago.

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The payments, which prosecutors said were directed by Trump shortly before the election, broke the law because they were intended to influence the election and werent properly disclosed.

Cohen paid $130,000 to Stormy Daniels, an adult-film star, using a home equity line of credit, and later was reimbursed by Trumps company. He also arranged a $150,000 payment to Karen McDougal, a former Playboy playmate, from the National Enquirer, a tabloid run by a Trump ally.

Trumps allies have spent months bashing Cohen in an attempt to erase whatever credibility he has.

If his back is up against the wall, hell lie like crazy. Because hes lied all his life, Rudolph W. Giuliani, one of Trumps lawyers and a former mayor of New York, said on CNN last year.

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Giuliani and the president also suggested that Cohen is concealing crimes committed by his father-in-law.

Cohen cited those allegations when he delayed his congressional testimony, which was originally scheduled for Feb. 8. His lawyer attributed the postponement to ongoing threats against [Cohens] family from President Trump and Mr. Giuliani.

Its unclear whether Cohen will share other scandalous episodes from Trumps past after he is sworn in.

But as Dean learned during the Watergate scandal, hearings can prove unpredictable.

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A lot of the things I testified about, I had no idea the impact they would have, Dean said. You just never know where these things are going to go.

Most importantly, Dean told the Watergate committee that he suspected the president was recording him in the Oval Office. Alexander Butterfield, Nixons former deputy assistant, later confirmed to investigators that a secret taping system existed.

We were all shocked, said Rufus Edmisten, the deputy counsel on the Senate Watergate Committee.

Nixon fought a subpoena for the tapes but lost in the Supreme Court. The recordings revealed his direct role in covering up the Watergate break-in, and he resigned in August 1974 when it became clear that impeachment was inevitable.

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John Dean was a pivotal character, and the one who set in motion the demise of Richard Nixons presidency, Edmisten said.
With nearly one in five Democratic senators now eyeing the White House, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is using his control over the chamber to make life a little more difficult for President Trumps 2020 challengers.

On Monday, McConnell  the top Republican in the GOP-controlled Senate  forced a vote on a controversial anti-abortion bill. It has no hope for passage but it required some Democrats to take an uncomfortable vote that will almost certainly be used against them during the campaign.



For the record: An earlier version of this story said Sen. McConnell had not specified what his Green New Deal measure would include, but it would likely be a nonbinding resolution. McConnells office had said it would be a binding resolution.

Next, McConnell has teed up a vote soon on a sweeping climate change plan called the Green New Deal. Though most Democrats support stronger environmental protections and McConnell definitely does not, hes bringing up a binding resolution to highlight some of the Democrats most extreme ideas, hoping to draw out divisions between progressives and moderates.

The votes are among several McConnell is expected to force this year on high-profile issues, including Medicare for All, which has also fractured Democrats.

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When you have that high a number of U.S. senators who are in a Democratic primary for president, obviously you can cut a pretty wide swath through the field by simply forcing them to take a position on an issue, said Josh Holmes, McConnells former chief of staff and political advisor.

2020 Democratic presidential candidates: Whos in and whos on the fence? 

I dont anticipate McConnell will turn the Senate into a campaign studio, but if there are things like the Green New Deal  where you have four, five, six senators running for president who have endorsed it  it could get serious, Holmes said.

The Kentuckians control over the Senate calendar is another lever at his disposal. That means he could keep the Senate in session instead of going into recess, forcing the nine Democratic senators who have announced 2020 campaigns, or are considering it, to choose between the campaign trail and their congressional duties.

Democrats take a cynical view of McConnells motives.

McConnell is just trying to screw with Democrats, said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who has expressly said he wont seek the nomination in 2020.

Senate votes can have significant consequences on a candidates presidential ambitions. Then-Sen. Hillary Clintons support for the Iraq war was an albatross on her primary campaign against then-Sen. Barack Obama.

Murphy and other Democratic lawmakers said the party is strategizing over how to handle the Green New Deal vote and the others like it. They hope to use the environmental vote to remind voters of the GOPs resistance to bringing up any climate change legislation, other than one McConnell knows will fail.

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One option is for Democrats to vote present instead of in support or opposition, effectively neutering the vote. In 2017, when Republicans tried to force a vote on Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Medicare for All plan, nearly all the Democrats banded together to vote present instead of showing party divisions.

I think theres a lot of us talking about what to do on this, said Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), one of the Democrats who has announced his candidacy.

He didnt commit to voting for the environmental proposal, which is popular with progressives but whose details remain unclear.

Booker declined to criticize McConnell for bringing up the issue. I dont know what the motivation is. I dont know if it has to do with the politics of the trail or  I dont know, Booker said of the upcoming vote. You take every vote as they come. You vote your heart and your head.

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Other Democrats said they were eager to show their support for an idea that could differentiate the increasingly crowded Democratic primary field.

I dont know what [McConnells] intentions are exactly, said Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). But Im in favor of it, she said of the Green New Deal.

Some Democrats could even find it helpful to be one of the few in their party to vote against a progressive priority. Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who has announced her candidacy and is positioning herself as a moderate, and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who is considering a run, have expressed skepticism about Medicare for All. A high-profile Senate vote on Medicare for All could boost their moderate bona fides and give them an opportunity to talk about incremental healthcare expansion ideas, such as allowing people to buy into the program before they turn 65 years old.

Republicans say the tough Senate votes will prevent Democrats from trying to have it both ways: talking positively about Medicare for All in general, but then refusing to get into specifics or actually vote on the issue. As proposed by Sanders, Medicare for All would replace current employer-provided health coverage with a government-run system for everyone.

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A vote on the Green New Deal demonstrates how wacky and out of the mainstream the other party is becoming, said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).

On Monday, the Senate voted on a bill that would require physicians to provide medical care to a baby born during an attempted abortion. A 17-year-old federal law already requires that an infant born after an attempted abortion must be treated as a person.

Opponents of abortion say thats not enough; they want to make it criminal to not provide treatment. Abortion rights supporters say it is redundant. But those votes leave the 2020 Democratic candidates open to GOP attack ads claiming they refused to vote for a bill to protect newborn babies.

All of them voted with most other Democrats in opposing the bill during Mondays procedural vote, which failed to reach the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster. The vote was 53-44.

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The GOP measure came after high-profile remarks from Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who said a baby born after an attempted abortion would be kept comfortable and only be resuscitated if thats what the mother and the family desired. Trump and other Republicans portrayed Northams comments as support for infanticide.

McConnell will have to play defense this year as well. Hell have to navigate his Republican members around a vote next month on whether to block Trumps emergency declaration on the border wall. The measure is expected to be approved by the House on Tuesday and because of procedural rules, he wont be able to block it from coming up in the Senate.

He will, however, be able to prevent Senate votes on other Democratic-backed bills that are expected to pass the House, such as a comprehensive background check bill for gun buyers, and a campaign finance and elections reform bill, which McConnell has already dubbed a Democrat Politician Protection Act.

Presidential politics have bled into Senate business in the past. In 2008, when several Democratic senators pursued the nomination, then-Sen. Obama was criticized for skipping Senate votes in favor of campaigning.

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Some Democrats doubt that a single vote  particularly one ginned up by the opposition party such as on the Green New Deal  has enough staying power to derail a campaign in todays fast-paced news cycle.

This is the kind of thing that may have worked in the 80s and 90s, said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). Voters know what they want and they arent going to be tricked by a parliamentary move. I know people on the Hill are always admiring some kind of trickery, but people in the world do not admire trickery. They hate it.

Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, another Democrat who has said he wont enter the 2020 contest, noted that McConnells moves are nothing new.

This is old school. Hes going to do it. We do it. Everybody does it, he said. It amuses some small-minded senators.

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McConnell also will have to balance his ability to interfere with the Democratic primary with his interest in preserving the Republican majority in the Senate. Twenty-two Republican-held seats are on the ballot in 2020, including two in states that Clinton won in 2016  Colorado and Maine. Just like the Democratic senators, they will have to make the same difficult votes.

They have a bigger problem, Brown said of Republicans. Every time he plays games, it potentially comes down on some of their senators in tough states where Hillary won.

The latest from Washington 

More stories from Jennifer Haberkorn 
BEIJING, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- China has maintained a high vaccination rate of vaccines under the country's immunization program above 90 percent, a health official said Monday.

Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, made the remarks at a press conference.

China's immunization program requires vaccinations against diseases such as hepatitis B, poliomyelitis and measles for children and those against diseases such as anthrax for targeted groups.

The country's vaccines are safe and effective overall, according to Gao.

Gao said a work team has been set up to analyze vaccine-related problems exposed over recent years to ensure effective solutions.

He also called for more proactive prevention and control measures, including higher inoculation rates, against influenza.
The Houses approval Tuesday of a resolution to override President Trumps emergency declaration at the southern border sets up a difficult vote for Senate Republicans.

Three Republican senators have said they plan to support the resolution, just one shy of the four GOP votes needed to pass it out of Congress, assuming all Senate Democrats vote yes.

It easily cleared the Democratic-controlled House on Tuesday evening by a vote of 245 to 182.

Passage in the Republican-controlled Senate would be exceptionally embarrassing for Trump. He has vowed to veto the resolution if it reaches his desk, and it is unlikely there will be enough votes in either chamber to override him.

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The three GOP senators who say they will vote to rescind Trumps emergency order are Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and several others said Tuesday they were still undecided.

I dont think its a good way to run government  to run government by emergency, Paul said.

The National Emergencies Act allows Congress to rescind an emergency declaration by the president. The same law now requires the Senate to vote on the resolution within 18 days, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the chamber would probably use most of that time.

I personally couldnt handicap the outcome at this point, but we will certainly be voting on it, McConnell said.

The White House campaign to persuade other Republicans not to buck the president continued Tuesday with Vice President Mike Pence and the counsel for the Justice Department attending a weekly party lunch.

Senators leaving the lunch said they discussed the cost of wall construction, where to pull money from and the legality of Trumps declaration. Even McConnell said afterward that I havent reached a total conclusion about whether its legal.

Congress explicitly declined to fund Trumps border wall when it passed legislation that included $1.375 billion for border barriers, but no money for a wall and far less than the $5.7 billion he had requested. Trump acknowledged when issuing the emergency order that he was doing so because it was a faster way to get money for a wall, a key campaign promise.

Democrats argue that Trumps order is an end run around lawmakers and must be rescinded to protect Congress constitutionally granted power to determine how taxpayer dollars are spent. They have focused on positioning the resolution as a fight over the separation of powers granted to the three branches of government, not a partisan fight over the wall.

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This isnt about the border, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said Monday night. This is about the Constitution of the United States. This is not about politics. Its not about partisanship. Its about patriotism.

Some Republicans worry that if they give this president leeway to go around Congress  and its hold on the nations purse strings  future Democratic presidents will issue emergency declarations for things like climate change or gun violence.

But many GOP lawmakers are holding their cards close on how they will vote.

Defections are likely to be low. Although dozens of conservative appropriators and defense hawks have said they are skeptical of the presidents tactics, only 13 Republicans joined House Democrats on Tuesday in supporting the resolution.

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They have largely cited concerns about which military construction projects Trump plans to tap for the billions the president wants for his wall. The Pentagon emphasizes that it does not plan to touch housing projects on military bases, but hundreds of other projects are still being weighed.

Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, whose district backed Trump by more than 35 percentage points, said that he agrees there is a crisis at the border, but that its not an emergency when Congress doesnt do what the president wants.

Its a difficult vote in terms of voting against something that would allow him to achieve one of his priorities, but I think the way you do it is as important as what you do when youre following the Constitution, said Massie, who voted with Democrats to rescind Trumps declaration.

Democrats hoped a higher number of House Republican yes votes would have smoothed the way for Senate Republicans to join them. But generally the House GOP caucus stuck together.

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Several Senate Republicans said this week that the president is within his rights to declare a national emergency, and reallocate military funds, to protect the country.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said that past presidents had used emergency declarations dozens of times and that the president is acting within the powers Congress has given him. I also happen to believe we do have a national emergency at the border, so I will vote to support the presidents decision, Kennedy said.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said Trumps emergency declaration is different.

This is the only one  the only one  that has been used to get around a Congress refusal to appropriate money for a particular objective, Hoyer said. And I would hope that we will get substantial Republican support. If they vote their conscience and the Constitution, we will. If they vote party and politics, we wont.

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The latest from Washington 

More stories from Sarah D. Wire 
In a much-anticipated piece of political theater, seven leading pharmaceutical executives appeared before a powerful Senate committee Tuesday for a grilling from lawmakers who pledged a historic bipartisan effort to rein in skyrocketing prescription drug prices.

But even as drug prices have emerged as one of the few areas of common concern for President Trump and congressional Democrats, the drugmakers made no firm commitments to lower prices, and lawmakers  particularly Republicans  are far from settling on a strategy to force or even encourage companies to lower their prices.

And although the Trump administration has taken a number of modest administrative steps to change the way that prescription drugs are purchased through Medicare, prospects are dimmer for a compromise with Democrats, who are seeking much more aggressive government intervention to rein in prices.

At the same time, any compromise presents a double-edged sword politically, offering lawmakers something to campaign on in 2020, but also potentially handing the opposing party a victory as well.

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Republicans, who have historically resisted government restrictions on drug companies, should have a lot of incentive to prove that they can reduce healthcare costs, said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who presided over Tuesdays hearing.

Republicans have to start looking at it this way: Were on a slippery slope to single [payer] unless we start recognizing the fact that one of the reasons we lost the midterm elections was because  41% of the people in the elections thought healthcare was most important and 75% of them voted Democrat, he said, referring to exit polls from the 2018 midterm elections.

Voters in 2018 punished the GOP for the partys efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, and some Republicans hope that a successful effort to tackle prescription drug prices would win some of them back.

Grassley, who for years was a lonely GOP voice calling for aggressive steps to take on drugmakers, now has allies on his side of the aisle as well as the gavel of the Senate Finance Committee, which in recent years was headed by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a closer ally of the pharmaceutical industry.

Democrats, for their part, feel like they need to deliver on their own midterm election pledge to reduce drug costs.

There is no question that Democrats in the Senate and the House have made an enormous investment in getting this issue to where it is  on the radar, and pounding at home day in and day out, in community meetings, said Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee.

The convergence between the parties has given hope to consumer advocates and those in the healthcare industry that a legislative breakthrough is within reach, despite the poisonous political environment in Washington. An increasing number of states, including California, are also stepping up efforts.

One proposal to make it more difficult for pharmaceutical companies to prevent the development of generic alternatives to their drugs has attracted bipartisan support from senators, including some liberal Democrats such as Vermonts Patrick J. Leahy and conservative Republicans such as Ted Cruz of Texas.

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I think there is enough of a recognition about the problem  that something has to be done, said Matt Eyles, president of Americas Health Insurance Plans, the insurance industrys Washington-based lobbying arm. It is clear that members of Congress on both sides are increasingly alarmed.

Tuesdays hearing gave senators, particularly Democrats, plenty of opportunity to vent frustration with price hikes.

And as expected, drug executives largely dodged responsibility for high prices, blaming insurers while emphasizing their commitment to developing life-saving therapies.

But the drugmakers also signaled support for several initiatives being discussed in Washington, including proposals to target pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, the historically opaque companies that have negotiated drug prices on behalf of insurance companies. The executives also praised efforts to promote development of generics.

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Some Democrats have been buoyed by the fact that Trump has gone further than other Republicans on drug policy, even suggesting vaguely that the federal government should be able to negotiate drug prices in Medicare (though the administration has not formally proposed this).

Hes broken some new ground that no Republicans have been willing to break, said Sen. Christopher S. Murphy (D-Conn.). I dont know that wed be well-served by being against it simply because most of the rest of his healthcare policy is mean-spirited.

However, there is still considerable skepticism in Washington that congressional Republicans will back legislation that challenges the drug industrys pricing practices.

Senate Republicans are now saying the right things, voicing outrage over drug pricing, said John Rother, a former longtime executive with the AARP who now heads the reform advocacy group National Coalition on Health Care. The real test will be whether they will support legislation that will actually lower prices and protect patients from price gouging.

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Several GOP lawmakers are already attacking Democrats calls for more aggressive action.

The other side wants [direct drug] negotiations for [the Department of Health and Human Services]. They want price controls, said Rep. Michael C. Burgess (R-Texas). Those are things that are nonstarters. And theyre not going to happen. To the extent that theyre willing to move off their ideological high ground, and weve moved off some of our ideological high ground, I think there is perhaps some room.

So far, lawmakers who would write the legislation are tight-lipped on what a plan would look like. Grassley framed Tuesdays hearing as one of several he expects to hold before a bill is released. In a recent meeting with reporters, he said he doesnt know what exactly his legislation would say, but outlined the goal as taking secrecy out of the whole process.

Both Grassley and Wyden suggested they want to know more about whether PBMs are keeping rebates offered by drugmakers from consumers, a concern that has also been highlighted by the Trump administration.

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When you have difficulty having people explain it to you or they dont want to explain it to you,  theres something wrong and were trying to right that wrong, Grassley said of drugmakers and others in the prescription drug distribution process.

The latest from Washington 
President Trump has declared a national emergency along the border with Mexico, but here in Texas Rio Grande Valley, theres little sign of a government springing into action.

Earlier this week, two contractors surveyed a 150-foot-wide, half-mile-long stretch of land that had been cleared of brush so crews could build the first new border barrier of Trumps presidency. But a large excavator nearby sat idle in the dirt.

Half a dozen lawsuits and constraints contained in the spending bill Congress passed earlier this month have combined to throw the planned construction into confusion and doubt.

Officials from Customs and Border Protection, the agency charged with building Trumps border barrier, arent clear on what happens next.

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Were just waiting to hear from Washington, said Jason Montemayor, acting supervisor of the Border Patrols self-described wall team here.

Theres nothing going on right now.

In Washington on Tuesday, the House passed a resolution to overturn Trumps declaration of a national emergency, with 13 Republicans joining the chambers Democrats in voting against Trump.

The disapproval resolution stands a good chance of passing the Senate in March, although even if that happens, the 182 Republicans who voted with Trump in the House on Tuesday would be more than enough to sustain the veto that the president has promised.

No construction for Trumps wall has begun anywhere, although officials have started or completed fence replacement projects in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

Trump, who made building a border wall a central promise of his campaign, declared the emergency on Feb. 15 to bypass Congress and shift up to $6.6 billion, mostly from the Pentagon budget, to build  or rebuild  234 miles of fencing.

The entrance to a levee next to Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, where Border Patrol contractors have been clearing brush for a border fence, is marked with No trespassing signs, making it difficult for locals to see whether construction has begun.

Trump acted after Congress had appropriated only $1.375 billion for 55 miles of border barrier in the Rio Grande Valley, far less than he wanted.

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But the 1,169-page appropriations bill Trump signed into law when he issued his emergency declaration also contained restrictions on construction in specific towns, parks and wildlife reserves along about 150 miles of the border in the Rio Grande Valley, which is the administrations top priority for building new barriers. The restrictions have thwarted Trumps efforts to build a wall there, at least for now.

An aide to Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who helped negotiate the restrictions, said its not clear if the terms of the spending bill would override the emergency declaration, or vice versa, leaving landowners and town officials in limbo.

The legislation bars federal funding for fencing in the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, La Lomita Historical Park, the National Butterfly Center and part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. It also spares a SpaceX-owned facility and a tiny Catholic chapel.

The bill additionally limits spending for barriers in five border towns: Roma, Rio Grande City, Escobares, La Grulla and Salineno. Homeland Security officials are supposed to try to reach an agreement with those towns on the design and placement of any new barrier. Construction cannot begin before Sept. 30 unless they reach an agreement earlier. What happens if local and federal officials dont reach an agreement remains uncertain.

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The Border Patrol has yet to hold public meetings with landowners or post updated maps on where the new fences would be built. Communities are divided, with some landowners willing to sell their land and allow surveyors in and others insisting they will resist.

On Sunday, more than 60 people packed the Casa del Rio, a historic building in Roma, to seek answers from leaders of local legal and environmental groups.

The questions came quickly. Why were Border Patrol surveyors visiting local properties? Can residents refuse them entry? If the government offers to buy land, how much is just compensation?

And above all, as 90-year-old Elvira Canales asked after seeing surveyors on her land, Where are they going to build the fence? Where?

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Noel Benavides, who said Border Patrol officials tried to survey his property, went to federal court last week and succeeded in having his case continued to May. When he met with Border Patrol officials last week, he said they showed him out-of-date maps.

Scott Nicol, co-chairman of the Sierra Clubs Borderlands Team, used a screen to project maps of the fence passing through Roma that he said he had obtained from construction contracts and photos of the brush-clearing in Mission.

This is coming. Theyre trying to do it, he said. The good news is, it is possible to stop these things.

Figure out how youre going to push back on this if you want to stop these walls from coming through here, he added.

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The crowd applauded.

Teresa Ramirez, whose late husband worked for the Border Patrol, said she had received a letter notifying her the fence will be built on her land. I dont want to have that in my backyard, she said.

Although Texas shares 1,254 miles of border with Mexico, the most of any state along the 2,000-mile border, it has the fewest miles of fencing. Thats in large part because most of the land is privately owned.

(Sources: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, ESRI, Nextzen, OpenStreetMap, Department of Homeland Security)

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Efren Olivares, a lawyer with the Texas Civil Rights Project, a nonprofit advocacy organization, told the crowd that landowners dont have to sell their land. But he said that if they refuse, the federal government may sue to take it under eminent domain. Some in the room gasped.

Homeland Security has offered some landowners $36,200 for small parcels of land along the Rio Grande. Olivares urged them to negotiate, noting that during the last major fence-building project in 2006, some owners were paid millions of dollars.

I encourage you not to take the first offer, because its likely not going to be fair, he said. Theres a reason the government isnt here, and they come see you one by one.

Adding to local concerns is a 1996 law that allows federal authorities to waive environmental and public-notice laws for border security. The Trump administration has cited the waiver six times in two years, more than any other president, and may do so again.

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Members of Congress have introduced several measures that would rescind the waiver authority and block the government from seizing private land.

The border wall threatens the rights of landowners all along our southern border, Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas) said in a statement introducing his bill.

Its unclear how the waiver authority and the national emergency declaration stack up against the appropriations bill. They pit Congress constitutional power of the purse against the presidents broad emergency and national security authority.

This is not a question thats ever come up before, said Dinah Bear, an environmental lawyer who worked for 25 years for Republican and Democratic administrations.

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She noted that the Trump administration has yet to order the bulldozers to move in any of the areas singled out for protection by Congress in the spending legislation.

I dont expect them to move in those areas, she added. In the end, they have to deal with appropriations committees for the entirety of their institutional lives.
Talk of a Nobel Peace Prize for President Trump, commonplace among his supporters before his first summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has been revived in advance of their second summit, in Hanoi this week. Indeed, the Japanese news media have reported that Trump asked Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to nominate him. But will the summit produce a breakthrough for peace or merely a peace mirage?

We must all hope for the former, but its more likely to be the latter. Despite his rhetoric about committing to denuclearization, Kim has made clear in his actions that he is not going to give up his nuclear stockpile. He considers nuclear weapons essential for his regimes survival.

Kim has, in fact, beefed up his nuclear and missile arsenals since the Singapore summit. He has not fully declared his nuclear and missile programs, which would be the first step toward an actual disarmament. Trump, for his part, has been pulling back from his demands for complete denuclearization. Hes in no rush, he told reporters last week, as long as North Korea doesnt conduct more nuclear or missile tests.

An ill-conceived peace declaration could set in motion a too-hasty peace treaty.

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Any gains made in Hanoi are likely to be symbolic  North Korea might agree to disable part of its aging nuclear facility at Yongbyon and Trump might agree to some easing of sanctions, a further moratorium on military exercises with South Korea, and the issuance of a not-legally-binding peace declaration ending the Korean War.

The peace declaration sounds innocuous  a simple recognition that the Korean War ended in 1953. Aside from sporadic clashes between North and South, principally acts of terrorism perpetrated by the North, there have been no large-scale hostilities since. So why not declare peace?

The problem is that an ill-conceived peace declaration could set in motion a too-hasty peace treaty. If South and North Korea were to enter into a formal of state of peace, what would be the rationale for keeping 28,000 U.S. troops in South Korea? Until North Korea gives up its weapons of mass destruction, withdrawing U.S. troops  and with them the nuclear umbrella that protects South Korea  would be a mistake.

Although recent polls show that most South Koreans continue to support a U.S. military presence, in the wake of a treaty or even a peace declaration, Americans and South Koreans could question the need for them. The danger of an American withdrawal is already substantial because Trump views the stationing of U.S. troops in wealthy countries such as South Korea as a rip-off of American taxpayers. The U.S. and South Korea have just reached a one-year agreement on a cost-sharing deal for U.S. troops that will increase the subsidy offered by Seoul from $864 million to $920 million. But the negotiations for next year must begin soon  and there is no guarantee that they will result in another agreement.

If the president does agree to a peace declaration, it should come with proportionate gets from North Korea, concessions that go beyond ritualistic and undefined pledges to somehow, someday denuclearize. Listing the location of North Koreas nuclear facilities and weapons would be a credible and meaningful step.

Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute 

At minimum, if there is going to be a peace declaration, there must be a clear agreement with North Korea that a war-ending declaration does not change the status quo on the peninsula  including the DMZ, the United Nations Command, and the U.S.-South Korea Combined Forces Command  and is not incompatible with the continuing presence of U.S. troops. Such a statement would need a proviso that the armistice stays put until a formal peace treaty supplants it.

The situation with North Korea is not analogous to Americas relationship with Japan and Germany after those nations were defeated in World War II. Nor is it analogous to the situation between the U.S. and North Vietnam after the Vietnam War when we were defeated. North Korea remains undefeated and defiant  and from its perspective it continues to face an existential threat from a richer and freer rival to the south. North Korea wants as much economic normalization as possible without actually giving up the nuclear and missile programs that, in Kims view, guarantee his regimes survival  and his own.

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Dont open the Champagne yet; the Nobel Peace Prize is still a long way off.

Sue Mi Terry is senior fellow for Korea at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She was a senior analyst on Korean issues at the CIA and director for Korea, Japan and Oceanic Affairs at the National Security Council.

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This week marks the 50th anniversary of Tinker vs. Des Moines School District, in which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of students who had been suspended for coming to school wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War.

In a clarion call for the 1st Amendment rights of non-adults, Justice Abe Fortas proclaimed for the majority that it can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate. Student speech could be suppressed, however, if it materially disrupts classwork or involves substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others.

The ACLU rightly calls Tinker a landmark decision, but the ruling could be on shaky ground a half century later.

Unsurprisingly, some parents, teachers and school administrators have never accepted the idea that schoolkids have a constitutional right to express political opinions in the classroom.

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But some current Supreme Court justices also seem uncomfortable with student free speech. Without overturning Tinker, the court has undermined it in subsequent cases, including its 2007 ruling in Morse vs. Frederick, also known as the BONG HiTS 4 JESUS case. That was the somewhat inscrutable message displayed on a banner unfurled by senior Joseph Frederick and his friends as they watched the relay of the Olympic torch on the street in front of their Juneau, Alaska, high school.

Writing for five justices, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said that the schools decision to suspend Frederick wasnt a violation of the boys free-speech rights because the school could have reasonably interpreted the BONG HiTS sign as an endorsement of illegal drug use.

One of the justices in the majority in the BONG HiTS case, Clarence Thomas, complained that the reasoning of Tinker conflicted with the traditional understanding of the judiciarys role in relation to public schooling. But instead of cleanly overruling the decision, he noted, the court had repeatedly scaled back its protections. In doing so, he wrote, we continue to distance ourselves from Tinker, but we neither overrule it nor offer an explanation of when it operates and when it does not.

Its possible that Thomas will persuade some of his colleagues that Tinker has to go. But even if the court doesnt reverse the ruling, the cause of free speech for students seems to be losing support in society.

Perhaps its a trickle-down effect from the rethinking of free speech that has occurred on college campuses, where some students want to be kept safe from supposedly harmful speech. Partly it may reflect the divisiveness of the Trump presidency.

In 2017 a high school math teacher in the Cherokee County school district in Georgia resigned after being placed on leave after she asked two students to turn their Make America Great Again T-shirts inside out. She explained that her classroom was 30% minority and all of these kids have the right to feel comfortable in my classroom.

California got its own MAGA accessory case recently when a student at a Fresno school complained that her 1st Amendment rights were violated when she was told not to wear her Make America Great Again hat, which officials said was a violation of their policy against hats of all kinds  with one exception: hats featuring the school logo or school colors. (Apparently you can wear a hat celebrating school spirit but not saluting the president.)

Its ironic that Tinker may be teetering at a time when, in other settings, children are being praised for speaking out on political issues. Consider the adulation showered on the survivors of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., who have become gun-control activists. Or the flak Sen. Dianne Feinstein has taken for the way she received youngsters ages 7 to 16 who came to her office last week to lobby her to support the Green New Deal. (Feinstein has her defenders.)

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Tinker was controversial in some circles when it was decided half a century ago, and Justice Hugo Black, otherwise a champion of free speech, anticipated Thomas in his dissent.

Black wrote: It may be that the nation has outworn the old-fashioned slogan that children are to be seen, not heard, but one may, I hope, be permitted to harbor the thought that taxpayers send children to school on the premise that, at their age, they need to learn, not teach.

Blacks view may be making a comeback. But if were going to trample on Tinker and insist that students refrain from political speech  or expressive conduct such as wearing a hat with a message  the clampdown must be consistent.

Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute 

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A new report by the state attorney generals office confirms what advocates and lawsuits have been telling us all along: The immigration detention system is essentially a network of lockdown facilities in which detainees  many of whom have not been convicted or accused of criminal acts  are held with insufficient access to legal help and, in some cases, basic medical care.

The report was mandated two years ago by the state Legislature in AB 103, which directed the attorney general to inspect immigration detention facilities in California.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra released his first report Tuesday morning, which includes an overview of all 10 privately and publicly operated facilities, and more in-depth looks at three of the public centers: Yolo County Juvenile Detention Facility, the Theo Lacy Facility in Orange County, and the West County Detention Facility in Contra Costa County, which is no longer being used.

So whats new in the report? Not a lot that followers of the issue dont already know from prior investigations and lawsuits. But the confirmation of earlier findings still has value, and the reports details offer a strong portrait of Californias involvement in this mess.

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Its probably too much to hope for, but maybe folks in Orange County and other jurisdictions that are taking money from the federal government to house undocumented migrants in county-owned facilities might demand some changes.

Trump is depriving people of their liberty in service to a failed policy.

According to Becerras report, California facilities detained 74,000 migrants from some 150 countries over the last three years. From the report:

Although children, women, and men all comprise the immigration detainee population, the most typical profile for detainees housed in California is that of a 25- to 34-year-old male from either Mexico, India, Guatemala, Honduras, or El Salvador, who spends an average of 51 days at any given facility. While this is the most common profile in California, through our review, we also encountered immigrants as young as 13 and as old as 95.

Conditions range from 22-hour stretches in cells to minimum-security style settings with dormitory-style barracks.

But the migrants often are barred from physical contact with visiting relatives, restricted in their access to telephones to call lawyers, and struggle at times for access to mental health and medical care.

Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute 

There are limited scenarios in which is reasonable for the government to hold migrants in jail while they await deportation. Some do pose a flight risk. Some are dangerous.

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Yet the vast majority are not, and President Trumps draconian decision to jail as many migrants as possible  including those with legitimate grounds to seek asylum  is grounded not in public safety, but in the belief that it will dissuade others from trying to enter the country.

That hasnt worked out. Illegal immigration has been declining for years and even after Trumps stepped-up arrests and detentions, asylum-seekers  a small portion of the total migrant population  have been showing up at the border in increasing numbers.

So Trump is depriving people of their liberty in service to a failed policy, and some California jurisdictions are playing a role in it.
Michael Cohen will go before three congressional committees this week. His testimony in the Democratic-controlled House, in particular, could lead to numerous investigations into President Trumps dealings.

TOP STORIES

Michael Cohen in the Hot Seat

Michael Cohen spent more than a decade as Donald Trumps lawyer, fixer and attack dog. Today, hell begin a three-day gantlet of testifying before Congress, starting with a closed-door session with the Senate Intelligence Committee today, a public session before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, and another closed-door meeting with the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday. Given the public nature of Wednesdays testimony about what Cohen now calls Trumps dirty deeds, it could be the most damaging for a president since former White House Counsel John Dean helped bring down Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal. But Trumps allies have spent months bashing Cohen in an attempt to erase whatever credibility he has after having pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance violations. This graphic breaks down what you need to know.

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McConnells Senate Power Play

With nearly 1 in 5 Democratic senators now eyeing the White House, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is looking to make life a little more difficult for President Trumps 2020 challengers. On Monday, McConnell  the top Republican in the GOP-controlled Senate  forced a vote on an antiabortion bill that has no hope for passage. Trump quickly seized on the vote, accusing Democrats of supporting executing babies AFTER birth. McConnell is also expecting to push forward with votes on the sweeping climate change plan called the Green New Deal and Medicare for all, in a ploy designed to draw out divisions between progressives and moderates. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives is expected to vote today on a resolution ending the state of emergency Trump declared to speed construction of his big, beautiful wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. A bipartisan group of 58 former senior national security officials has said there is no factual basis for Trumps emergency declaration. But the big question again is what will happen in the Senate.

Trump-Kim 2.0

Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be in Vietnam today ahead of their second summit. Current and former administration officials and Korea analysts think Trump will probably agree to declare a formal end to the Korean War, giving in to a long-standing North Korean demand. For decades, U.S. presidents have refused to do so, insisting Pyongyang needs to fully denuclearize first. But more than 65 years after the fighting stopped, does it even matter? An end-of-war declaration, unlike a peace treaty, would be a nonbinding agreement and largely a political statement. Yet some experts say such a move is dangerous.

Clearing the Weeds

Now that pot is legal in California and other states, officials are wrestling with what to do with marijuana-related convictions going back decades. San Franciscos solution: Prosecutors teamed with the nonprofit Code for America to comb through digitized criminal records going back to 1975 and find more than 9,300 convictions they will move to expunge. Other jurisdictions, including L.A. County, are considering similar efforts, though some law enforcement groups are wary of such wide-scale expungements.

San Diegos Growing Pains

San Diego has long called itself Americas Finest City. But like many cities across California, its dealing with the rising cost of housing. Now, Mayor Kevin Faulconer is proposing some of the most aggressive strategies in the state to promote apartment and condominium construction. But while the mayor, a Republican, and the City Council president, a Democrat, agree on the need for more growth, resistance to more urban development from many residents is building.

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Will a Ride-Hailing Tax Equal Less Traffic?

Do you Uber or Lyft? L.A. County transportation officials are in the early stages of looking at a ride-hailing tax. The argument is that the services are making traffic congestion worse and dont pay their fair share to maintain public streets. And, the thinking goes, Metros tax on Uber and Lyft could nudge commuters to carpool or take public transit instead of riding alone with a driver. But experts say the real-world outcome is riding a lot on the details of how such a tax is designed.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

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J.R. Cash was born on this date in 1932, but it wasnt until November 1955 that a record executive put the name Johnny on a single that would become his first, fleeting hit. Three months later, he had a song that established a trademark for his career: Folsom Prison Blues. And in 1968, Cash would record one of the most acclaimed concert albums in pop music history inside the walls of that California prison.

Johnny Cash outside Folsom Prison in 1968. (Los Angeles Times)

CALIFORNIA

-- In Washington, D.C., Gov. Gavin Newsom had a series of closed-door meetings with top Trump administration officials, hoping to smooth tense relations with the White House that could obstruct federal assistance.

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-- An atmospheric river is expected to bring drenching rain and significant snow to Northern California this week, while in downtown Los Angeles, officials say this month has been the coldest February in nearly 60 years.

-- A Cal State L.A. plan to raise admissions standards is facing pushback from students and faculty.

-- Road to table? Roadkill could be allowed on dinner tables by 2021 if a state Senate bill proposal wins approval from lawmakers.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

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-- Among the Oscars after-parties, Vanity Fairs still reigned supreme. Jason Momoa even showed off his second scrunchie of the night.

-- Too soon? Here are eight movies well be talking about at next years Academy Awards.

-- Weeks after John Lasseter was hired to head Skydance Animation, Emma Thompson pulled out of the Skydance animated film Luck. Her letter to company executives explains why.

-- Flavorful Origins, a documentary series available on Netflix, is an ode to the culinary traditions of Chaoshan. You might know it better as Teochew cuisine.

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NATION-WORLD

-- Vice President Mike Pence promised that the United States would continue to apply economic and diplomatic pressure to induce Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to leave his country, but did not rule out the eventual use of military force. Meanwhile, the Venezuelan government briefly detained and released Jorge Ramos, the star Spanish-language television journalist, during an interview with Maduro.

-- Trump has announced that American citizen Danny Burch has been freed after 18 months of captivity in Yemen in what the State Department suggested was a rescue operation.

-- In Iran, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif  a pivotal player in negotiating the landmark nuclear deal that Trump pulled the U.S. out of  took the unusual step of announcing his resignation on Instagram.

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-- Australian Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis top financial advisor and the Vaticans economy minister, has been convicted of molesting two choirboys moments after celebrating Mass in 1996.

-- The Florida massage parlor where New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is accused of soliciting sex from a prostitute has become a hot spot for selfie seekers.

BUSINESS

-- Shrinking tax refunds are a growing problem for the Republican-backed tax law.

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-- The Securities and Exchange Commission says Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk should be held in contempt after violating his fraud agreement by tweeting material information about Tesla without prior review.

-- Emails show how a payday-lending insider tilted academic research in the industrys favor.

SPORTS

-- In the competition to sign former Washington Nationals star Bryce Harper, the Dodgers arent considered serious contenders, columnist Dylan Hernandez writes.

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-- LeBron James had some more strong words after producing the 79th triple-double of his career in a 110-105 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.

OPINION

-- Does the GOP have enough principle left to end Trumps bogus state of emergency? Well find out soon.

-- How Joni Mitchell and David Hockney make L.A. a better place.

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WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- In jails, addiction and mental health problems pose a particularly acute crisis. (New Yorker)

-- When the highest-paid Hollywood director was a woman. (Literary Hub)

-- Life beyond Earth: How scientists are trying to find it. (National Geographic)

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ONLY IN L.A.

In Beverly Crest, a prime piece of land branded as the Mountain just got an avalanche of a price cut. After listing for $1 billion last summer, its now being offered at $650 million. Even with 35% off, its still by far the most expensive property listed in L.A. history.

If you like this newsletter, please share it with friends. Comments or ideas? Email us at headlines@latimes.com.
Jeraldine Saunders, whose book on romance and adventure aboard a cruise ship inspired the long-running prime time comedy-drama The Love Boat, has died at her home in Glendale. She was 96.

Saunders died Monday due to complications from kidney stone surgery she underwent in December, her spokesman Edward Lozzi said.

The Love Boat, which ran from 1977 to 1986, was based on Saunders 1974 nonfiction book Love Boats, which recounted tales from her time as a cruise director on a passenger ship. The hit television show revolved around the adventures  both romantic and comedic  of Capt. Merrill Stubing and his crew. Stubing was played by Gavin MacLeod.

The series, which was produced by Aaron Spelling, ran for more than 240 episodes and was preceded by the 1976 made-for-TV movie The Love Boat. The popularity of the show was long lasting enough that it was followed by a series of TV movies, including The Love Boat II and The New Love Boat.

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The cast of The Love Boat in 1984, from left, Fred Grandy, Patricia Klous, Ted McGinley, Gavin MacLeod, Bernie Kopell, Jill Whelan and Ted Lange. (AP)

In a 1972 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Saunders said the basis for her book, and ultimately the television show, was culled from her observations as a cruise director.

You cannot imagine the things that happen on cruise ships, she said. The sex lives of the officers, deaths, suicides, marriages, romances  I was pretty shocked at first.

In May, Saunders celebrated with the original cast of the TV series when they received an honorary star plaque on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Unlike Walk of Fame stars, which are on public sidewalks, star plaques are placed on private property.

Saunders also was the author of Omarrs Astrological Forecast, a horoscope column originally penned by Sydney Omarr.

She was recently honored with the Southern California Motion Picture Councils Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented to her by Bernie Kopell, who played Dr. Adam Bricker on The Love Boat.

Jeraldine was my pal, said Kopell, now 85. He said he first met Saunders on the set and the two quickly became friends.

She was a beautiful lady and was honored in so many occasions for The Love Boat. I never thought of her as a great author or anything, just as someone who jotted down her experiences  she just jotted down the truth.

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She was a terrific, grateful, class act who refused to grow old, Lozzi said. She was indomitable. She broke the gender barrier in a major industry, the cruise lines.

At the time of her death, Lozzi said, Saunders was working on what she hoped would be a Broadway adaptation of her adventures-at-sea story  Love Boat, The Musical.

Saunders daughter Gail died of hypoglycemia in 1970, inspiring her to write Hypoglycemia: The Disease Your Doctor Wont Treat. She had no immediate survivors.

dorany.pineda@latimes.com

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Twitter: @DoranyPineda90
An atmospheric river rainstorm pounded Northern California on Tuesday, and officials are saying the Russian River will hit flood stage.

The National Weather Service said the new storm produced more than a foot of rain in the hills above Healdsburg in Sonoma County.

Sonoma County officials have ordered people living in about two dozen areas near the river to evacuate, noting that the river is forecast to exceed flood stage  32 feet  at 6 p.m. Its expected to crest at 46.1 feet at 10 p.m. Wednesday.

Evacuate now, the Sonoma County Sheriffs Office said in an alert shortly before 4 p.m.

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Authorities were opening shelters at the following locations:



Sebastopol Center for the Arts at 282 S. High St. in Sebastopol.



Sonoma County Fairgrounds Grace Pavilion at 1350 Bennett Valley Road in Santa Rosa.

Evacuees can take a free shuttle from the Guerneville Veterans War Memorial at 16320 Church St. in Guerneville.

Areal Flood Warning has been extended through 5 PM this evening. #cawx #caflood pic.twitter.com/EiRdvtAzvJ  NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) February 26, 2019

As of Tuesday morning, the storm had drenched Sacramento with 1.26 inches of rain in 24 hours. Venado, a community in Sonoma County, had received more than 9.5 inches in the same period, with more on the way.

With so much rain, Sonoma County sheriffs officials have warned residents of the potential for flooding from the Russian River near Guerneville.

Heavy rain is expected to continue across the area for the next 24 hours. Expect localized flooding on roads and waterways. #cawx pic.twitter.com/w3OpNL6uJw  NWS Sacramento (@NWSSacramento) February 26, 2019

The storm also is expected to drop 2 to 8 feet of snow on the Sierra Nevada through Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service. This comes amid what has already been a snowy period for ski resorts. At Mammoth Mountain, one ski area reported getting as much as 24 feet of fresh powder in the last month.

Russian River in Healdsburg courtesy Heather Danielle Stewart. #abc7now Its coming down like crazy, she says. #abc7now pic.twitter.com/cUzOesAanJ  Wayne Freedman (@WayneFreedman) February 26, 2019

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Officials plan to close a portion of Highway 1 in Big Sur at 5 p.m. Tuesday in advance of the storm. The California Department of Transportation closes the roads most vulnerable slide areas when significant storms are predicted to hit the region. Closures will be in effect at Pauls Slide and Mud Creek, near the border of Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties, until the rain ends and crews can inspect for damage.
The Los Angeles City Council must allow people to testify on issues considered during their special meetings, which are called with just one day of notice, a three-judge panel has ruled.

In a 15-page decision, the 2nd District Court of Appeal said the council improperly prevented Studio City resident Eric Preven from weighing in on a development issue taken up during a special meeting in 2015.

The decision represents a victory for Preven, who has long argued that Los Angeles does not comply with the provisions of the Ralph M. Brown Act, the states open meeting law. Preven, who serves on the Studio City Neighborhood Council, argued in his lawsuit that council members had repeatedly used a faulty legal rationale to shut down public comment.

Its not a single incident, he said. The city has been engaged in a pattern of abuse on the Brown Act.

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Read the appeals court ruling here 

The ruling took aim at the citys practice of prohibiting people from speaking on agenda items that were considered in special meetings when the same items had been discussed at a previous committee meeting. Special meetings can be called just 24 hours in advance, whereas regular council meetings require at least 72 hours notice.

Preven said the council has held more than 100 special meetings since the 2015 incident that triggered the lawsuit. Its not clear how many times public testimony was wrongfully barred during those meetings, he said.

The ruling, which was issued Friday, sends Prevens case back to the trial court for additional proceedings. A spokesman for City Atty. Mike Feuer said his office is reviewing the decision and declined to comment further.

Prevens lawsuit focused on a pair of meetings held roughly three years ago about a shopping center project planned at Sportsmens Lodge in Studio City, not far from his home.

On Dec. 15, 2015, the councils five-member Planning and Land Use Management Committee took up the shopping center proposal and Preven weighed in on it. The following day, the 15-member council conducted its own vote on the Sportsmens Lodge project during a special meeting.

Preven asked to make public comments on the proposal again at the councils Dec. 16, 2015, special meeting. He was denied the opportunity on the grounds that the matter had already been heard, with public testimony received, at a council committee the previous day, according to the courts ruling.

Nine months later, Preven filed a demand letter with the city, saying the council had violated the Brown Act, which spells out the rules for public input at government meetings. He later sued.

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Feuer and his lawyers had argued that the council has no obligation to grant members of the public the opportunity to testify a second time on an item already heard in committee. A Superior Court judge agreed, saying Preven did not have the right to make additional public comment.

The appeals court reversed that decision, saying it was made in error. State law does not permit government agencies to prohibit public comment on agenda items considered during special meetings, the court said.

The three-judge panel said state law treats special meetings as being distinctly different from regular meetings, which require more advance warning.

Under state law, city officials can refuse to take public comment on an issue considered during a regular council meeting, if public comment was taken on the same issue at a committee. That exception does not apply to special meetings, the court said in its ruling.

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Given the plain language of the statute  we find the Brown Act does not permit limiting comment at special city council meetings based on comments at prior, distinct committee meetings, the ruling said.

david.zahniser@latimes.com

Twitter: @DavidZahniser
(Photo/Chinanews.com)

An increasing number of cities in China are joining the competition to win more talents by rolling out attractive policies, including large research grants and housing subsidies.

Statistics indicate that by Feb. 18, more than 16 cities in China had introduced preferential policies on household registration to attract talents.

Haikou, in south Chinas Hainan Province, relaxed restrictions on household registration in both educational background and age. Fresh graduates from colleges and vocational schools and those under 55 years old with a bachelors degree can now apply for a household registration in the city.

Xian, in northwest Chinas Shaanxi Province, promised to provide household registration for college students, without restrictions on those with a bachelors degree.

Guangzhou in south Chinas Guangdong Province, a first-tier city, also issued a new round of policies, lifting the age for those with a bachelors, masters and doctors degree applying for a household registration in the city to 40, 45 and 50 years old, respectively. Fresh college students can now directly obtain household registrations.

Similar campaigns to lure talents have appeared in third- and fourth-tier cities, and even county-level cities.

For example, Bozhou in east Chinas Anhui Province promised to grant resettlement allowances of up to 800,000 yuan.

Moreover, Zhenjiang in east Chinas Jiangsu Province confirmed housing subsidies of 150,000 to 200,000 yuan for those holding a masters or doctorate degree.

Ninghai County in east Chinas Zhejiang Province also vowed to award research grants of up to 100 million yuan for top-notch teams.

Demographic problems in China such as its aging population and low birthrate are behind this competition for talent, said Yang Yansui, director of Tsinghua Center for Employment and Social Security.

Chen Qiulin, director of the Institute for Population and Labor Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that urbanization is another reason.

Despite preferential policies to lure talents, the key is to retain these talents, Chen added. To do so, local governments should provide better public services including healthcare, education, and transportation while ensuring economic strength.
A former Pasadena police lieutenant was sentenced Monday to a year and a day in federal prison for illegally dealing more than 100 guns across Southern California and making false statements on government paperwork during a gun sale.

U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson also ordered Vasken Gourdikian, who once served as the police agencys spokesman, to pay a $10,000 fine, according to the U.S. attorneys office.

Wilson didnt believe that Gourdikians claims of being a hobbyist who got out of control were credible, saying that the transactions were a way for him to make money, the U.S. attorneys office said.

Mr. Gourdikians side business of selling off-roster firearms violated federal law and endangered the public, U.S. Atty. Nick Hanna said in a statement. Police officers are permitted to purchase off-roster weapons for their own use and protection, but the law was not designed to give officers a lucrative second career as unlicensed firearms dealers flooding our communities with weapons not available to the general public.

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Gourdikian pleaded guilty in September to one felony count each of engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a license and making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm.

Mark Werksman, an attorney representing Gourdikian, said the crimes amounted to mere regulatory violations.

He couldve had a license, by paying a $30 fee, but didnt get one because he didnt think he needed it, Werksman said. Each transaction involving the sale of a firearm was done lawfully and through a federal firearms licensee, and to a person who was qualified to buy a firearm. But the gun laws are serious and have serious consequences.

Dozens of people, including former Pasadena police colleagues, wrote letters to the judge supporting Gourdikian. Prosecutors had requested a 30-month sentence, while Gourdikians defense attorneys had asked for no prison time.

In his plea agreement, Gourdikian, 49, admitted to selling at least 108 firearms without a license from March 2014 to February 2017. Several of those firearms were off roster handguns  firearms that sworn police officers are eligible to purchase but are otherwise not directly available to the public from licensed dealers.

Gourdikian also admitted to submitting erroneous information when buying a Smith & Wesson pistol at a Brea gun shop in 2014, according to the plea agreement. Gourdikian claimed that he was the buyer when, in fact, he was purchasing it for an unnamed person who retrieved the gun in Ontario, according to court documents.

He advertised his weapons and arranged purchases through Calguns.net, an online forum for gun enthusiasts, according to court papers.

Prosecutors said Gourdikian, who joined the Pasadena police force in 1994, leveraged his position as an officer in his dealings. As a cop, he was allowed to purchase more than one handgun in a 30-day period, and he secured special waivers from Pasadenas police chief that allowed him to bypass the states mandatory 10-day waiting period that civilians must obey.

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alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AleneTchek
A former Anglican priest was charged with sexual battery for performing sexual acts on two men when he was vicar of a Fresno church, according to the Fresno County district attorneys office and church officials.

Jesus Antonio Castaneda Serna, 51, who once led the Nuestra Senora De Guadalupe church in Fresno, was arrested Sunday after police served a search warrant.

Fresno police have spoken to three alleged victims and believe there may have been a total of 22 victims, said Fresno Police Department Chief Jerry Dyer.

He used his position as a religious leader to convince these victims that what he was doing to them had to occur in order for them to be  right with God, Dyer said in a news conference.

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According to court documents, Castaneda Serna touched the men, who were unconscious of the nature of the act because the defendant fraudulently represented that the touching served a professional purpose.

Dyer said the priest convinced his followers that they had sinned or were cursed, and that they could only be cured by being rubbed with a sacred oil.

Castaneda Serna told his victims that this was a special ritual he learned while in India and that their semen needed to be examined before they could be healed, Dyer said.

Bishop Eric Menees of the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin received reports that Castaneda Serna committed sexual misconduct against adults in the diocese in October 2017, according to a news release from the diocese. The diocese alerted authorities and hired independent investigators to look into the accusations.

On Nov. 24, 2017, Castaneda informed the bishop he would not contest the accusations, the diocese said in the news release. He was stripped of his duties the same day.

Since Bishop Menees first learned of the accusations against Castaneda, the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin has made pastoral and clinical counseling available to all victims who have already, or who may still, come forward, the diocese said.

Police said Castaneda Serna targeted immigrants in the country illegally because they would be less likely to go to law enforcement officials.

Dyer encouraged victims who are undocumented to come forward and assured them that they could apply for a U-visa, which if granted would prevent them from being deported if they agreed to cooperate with law enforcement on the case.

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alejandra.reyesvelarde@latimes.com

Twitter: @r_valejandra
Los Angeles school board President Monica Garcia said Monday that she is entering the race to replace Councilman Jose Huizar, becoming the latest high-profile politician to seek the seat.

Garcia, a school board member since 2006, sent out a video of herself disclosing her decision to run in Huizars district, which takes in neighborhoods from downtown and Boyle Heights to Eagle Rock. In an interview, she said she plans to pursue an agenda of community wellness that focuses on housing, public safety, environmental justice and economic opportunity.

I have deep roots in this part of town. Im proud to be a product of this community, she said. And Ive seen people come together and do amazing things over the 12 years Ive served on the board.

Huizar faces term limits next year. Garcia, who was Huizars chief of staff when he served on the school board, made her announcement nearly two weeks after former State Sen. Kevin de Leon announced his own plan to run for the seat.

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The election will be held in March 2020, with a runoff set for November if no candidate receives a majority of the vote.

The announcement comes at a turbulent moment in the 14th Council District. In November, FBI agents raided Huizars home and offices, carrying out an array of materials, including a cardboard box labeled fundraising. Investigators have filed at least one search warrant seeking any evidence of possible bribery, extortion and other crimes involving Huizar and several other City Hall officials.

No one has been arrested, and no charges have been publicly filed. Garcia, for her part, repeatedly sidestepped a question about whether she would discuss the FBI probe on the campaign trail.

Im interested in talking with our folks about the issues that they want to raise, she said.

Garcia, 50, first made her announcement over the weekend at what her campaign described as a private gathering of more than 100 friends, relatives and community leaders. She represents a district stretching from Koreatown on the west to El Sereno and East Los Angeles on the east.

While serving on the school board, Garcia worked for passage of a $7-billion school construction bond measure and pushed for a greater share of spending to campuses with the greatest number of students from high-poverty neighborhoods. A trained social worker, she also has worked to reduce student suspensions and expulsions.

Garcias tenure at L.A. Unified has been marked by two major political alliances. Early on, she was a loyal ally of then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, supporting his push to gain control over the nations second-largest school district.

The second alliance was with supporters of independently operated charter schools, which are privately run and compete with district schools for students. Most are non-union.

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Both alliances put Garcia at odds with United Teachers Los Angeles, which tried without success to defeat her when she ran for reelection. However, she has forged strong relations with the union that represents most non-teaching employees, Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union.

Garcia has served multiple terms as board president. Term limits prevent her from running again for the school board.

david.zahniser@latimes.com | Twitter: @DavidZahniser

howard.blume@latimes.com | Twitter: @howardblume
HiFi Kitchen is open in Historic Filipinotown. The menu features rice bowls topped with Filipino staples such as lechon kawali, chicken afritada and, for the meatless, mushroom adobo. The restaurant is owned by Justin Foronda, operator of the breakfast pop-up Benaddictz.

1667 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 258-8417, hifi-kitchen.com

Donatsu Doughnuts

Donatsu Doughnuts is open in Little Tokyo for vegan donuts. Varieties include matcha-pistachio, ube-glazed with toasted coconut and creme brulee.

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330 E. 2nd St. Suite C, Los Angeles, (213) 265-7545, donatsudoughnuts.com

Intelligentsia Coffee

Intelligentsia Coffee opened a fourth location last week on Hollywood Boulevard, just west of Cahuenga Boulevard. Sparkling teas and cold nitro coffee are on tap; Mr. Holmes Bakehouse supplies pastries and sandwiches.

6401 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 277-9095, intelligentsiacoffee.com

Amorcito

Pastor fries with al pastor, cheese, sour cream, pico de gallo, cilantro and pickled jalapenos at Amorcito. (Carl Larsen)

Amorcito is open at the Long Beach Exchange. The counter service taqueria comes from Thomas Ortega of Amor y Tacos, Ortega 120 and Playa Amor. Expect carnitas tacos with pickled pig skin and French fries, a taco salad served in an oversize shell and al pastor fries.

4150 McGowen St. Suite 13, Long Beach, (562) 420-5005, instagram.com/amorcitolb

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Sol Bee Taco

Sol Bee Taco, a Mexican restaurant from the owners of nearby Humble Bee Cafe, recently opened in Northridge. The menu includes smoked salmon quesadillas and i and cinnamon spiked pork shoulder carnitas tacos.

8640 Lindley Ave., Northridge, (818) 280-6512, solbeetaco.com

Closings

Ray Garcia confirmed the closing of B.S. Taqueria in downtown. Garcia said he has a new location in mind and hopes to reopen once lease negotiations are settled; he didnt specify which neighborhood he was eyeing.

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Mega Bodega, the Mega Man-shaped cafe and beer bar in downtown, will close with a final party at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

1001 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, (310) 567-5105, megabodegadtla.com

Teddys Red Tacos temporarily closed its new Venice location last week. Owner Teddy Vasquez didnt give an explanation for the closing but says he hopes to reopen within the next two weeks.

46 Windward Ave., Venice, (323) 495-9654, teddysredtacos.com

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Blue C Sushi, the ArcLight-adjacent conveyor belt sushi restaurant, closed in Hollywood after more than five years.

Red Herring will temporarily close following brunch on Sunday. In a statement, owners say the Eagle Rock restaurant is going dark for a few months while working to open a new location in downtown.
Our Lady J, a writer and producer on the TV series Pose and Transparent, has been on a fashion journey this awards season. It culminated Sunday when she attended the Elton John AIDS Foundations black-tie Oscars party wearing an elegant jumpsuit and jacket by Brandon Maxwell.

Ive had a very long and complicated journey with my body as a trans person, said Our Lady J during a phone interview before her glam team, Johnny Stuntz and Mylah Morales, started to get her ready for the West Hollywood party.

I grew up in a small village of 200 people in Amish country in Pennsylvania, she said. When I first transitioned, to be honest, I was kicked out of clothing stores in New York because I didnt pass as female.

Our Lady J arrives at the 76th Golden Globes at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills on Jan. 6. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

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Check out our 2019 Oscar coverage now 

In Hollywoods fashion hierarchy, she has also faced challenges borrowing dresses because shes a writer and producer instead of an actress. Despite her model-worthy height (shes over 6 feet tall), she said, It has been hard to find designers to wear, up until I made a lot of stink about it on social media.

That stink was emitted from her frustration in being criticized for a dark green mermaid gown she wore to the Golden Globes on Jan. 6. (She landed on The Times worst-dressed list that night.)

Then another social-media moment happened. Patrick Herning, founder and chief executive of West Hollywood-based plus-sized, high-end e-tailer 11 Honore, wrote on Our Lady Js Instagram page to assure her that, We are here for you.

Our Lady J in kelly green Christian Siriano at the 24th Critics Choice Awards at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica on Jan. 13. (Emma McIntyre / Getty Images)

So I was actually wonderfully surprised that there are designers out there who dress women of all shapes and sizes, Our Lady J said.

She had better sartorial luck for the Critics Choice Awards, for which she wore a kelly green jumpsuit by Christian Siriano, with a sweetheart neckline and puffy shoulders.

Amy Landecker, left, Our Lady J (in a black Juan Carlos Obando dress) and Judith Light at the Vanity Fair and Lancome Toast Women In Hollywood event in West Hollywood on Feb. 21. (Rachel Murray / Getty Images)

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In collaboration with 11 Honore, she wore a purple dress by Badgley Mischka that exposed the tattoos on her right shoulder to the Writers Guild Awards on Feb. 17 and a black dress with dramatic sleeves by Juan Carlos Obando to Vanity Fairs Women in Hollywood party on Feb. 21.

As for Maxwells all-black jumpsuit and blazer, Jessica Raiter, 11 Honores fashion director, said that it is a powerful and sexy take on a ladys tuxedo.

Our Lady J in purple Badgley Mischka for the 2019 Writers Guild Awards L.A. Ceremony at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills on Feb. 17. (Frazer Harrison / Getty Images)

A fan of Maxwells designs, Our Lady J said, Hes a really beautiful artist. Always striving to look elegant and feel comfortable, she said the sleeves were her favorite part of the jacket she picked for Johns party, which included Diana Ross and Cole Sprouse among the guests.

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Theyre these flared sleeves that are cut up to the elbow. Theres a lot of movement, she said. Plus, the sweetheart neckline was too good to resist. I think my decolletage is particularly stunning, she said.

Our Lady J in a black Brandon Maxwell jumpsuit and blazer. (Joy Newell)

For the occasion, Our Lady Js chestnut red hair was smoothed into a long ponytail. Her makeup was kept simple. I had facial feminization work a year ago. I want to show off the doctors good work, she said.

I really want to be a fashionista, she continued. I have a lot of growth. Its almost like that part of my brain has been taking a nap for the last 15 years. Its just starting to wake up. Im surrounding myself with a lot of great folks. Im meeting new stylists. I look forward to growing into this new journey of fashion again.

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Some of the more unexpected trends from this years Oscars ceremony involved a color that suddenly seems everywhere; a nifty sartorial touch that had an added (and practical) benefit for its wearer; an increasingly gender-fluid fashion look among both actors and actresses; and the growing realization that four eyes is no longer a pejorative term.

Think pink

The color pink  in shades ranging from pale rose (Kacey Musgraves in Giambattista Valli) to hot pink (Julia Roberts presenting best picture in an off-the-shoulder Elie Saab) to deep fuchsia (Angela Bassett in Reem Acra)  ruled the Oscars red carpet on Sunday night, continuing a trend seen at New York Fashion Week earlier this month, with designers like Carolina Herrera, Sies Marjan and Brandon Maxwell sprinkling it through their collections. Among those embracing pink for the final show of the long awards season were Gemma Chan (Valentino), Helen Mirren (Schiaparelli), Maya Rudolph (Giambattista Valli), Kiki Layne (Versace) and Sarah Paulson (Brandon Maxwell, in a dress right off the runway of his show on Feb. 9).

The pockets on Gemma Chans Valentino couture gown would come in handy as Oscar night progressed. (Frazer Harrison / Getty Images)

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Pockets rule

In the last few years, dramatic gowns that come with pockets have dotted the runways of designers like Elie Saab, Monique Lhuillier, Oscar de la Renta, Prabal Gurung and the couture collections of Christian Dior. Surprisingly, its also a growing trend among bridal gowns. But it wasnt until Gemma Chan showed up on the Oscars red carpet on Sunday in Valentino couture in dramatic deep pink (yes, that color again) that this sartorial advancement might have finally become a thing. The term pockets immediately began trending on Twitter, and most of the fashion reviews that night named Chan among the red carpets best dressed. (Meanwhile, Gabriele Union-Wade showed up at the Vanity Fair party later that night in a burnt orange Valentino gown with pockets, and Denise Warren, a best song nominee for Ill Fight for RBG, revealed on the red carpet that she had a tiny doll of Ruth Bader Ginsberg stuffed into the pocket of her outfit.) But it turns out that pockets were not just a fashion choice for Chan; they also had a practical aspect. After the ceremony, the actress admitted to an interviewer that she had stored a large cookie there, just in case she got hungry during the Oscars. You dont get dinner, she explained.

All that glitters

Charlize Theron wore more than 360 carats of Bulgari diamonds, sapphires and emeralds to the Oscars. (Frazer Harrison / Getty Images)

There is nothing like a statement piece of jewelry, especially when that statement is being made by a 128-carat, $30-million Tiffany & Co. diamond necklace last worn by Audrey Hepburn in a 1961 photo shoot for Breakfast at Tiffanys and rarely seen outside of a heavily protected display case at the companys Fifth Avenue store in New York. But thats what Lady Gaga sported at the Oscars, paring it with a dramatic, flesh-baring black gown by Alexander McQueen. Lady Gaga is the ultimate creator, innovator and rule breaker, and I am thrilled she will be wearing the legendary Tiffany Diamond on the awards-show red carpet for the first time since it was discovered 141 years ago, Reed Krakoff, Tiffanys chief artistic officer, said in a statement issued Sunday night. Gaga wasnt the only actress wearing jaw-dropping pieces of jewelry. BlacKkKlansman star Laura Herrier paired her eco-responsible custom silk-crepe gown by Louis Vuitton with a Bulgari necklace made up of 10 antique-cut emeralds, while Amy Adams wore a vintage 1935 Bulgari brooch in diamonds and platinum on loan from the houses archives. And almost rivaling Gaga in the wow factor was Charlize Theron, who accessorized her muted (though backless) ice-blue Dior Couture gown with more than 360 carats of Bulgari diamonds, sapphires and emeralds, including a Serpenti necklace crafted with 79.83 carats of diamonds set in 18-karat white gold. A statement, indeed.

Spike Lee finally got his Oscar, but it was his purple Ozwald Boateng suit and matching glasses that helped make him an early trending topic on Twitter Sunday night. (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images)

Check out our 2019 Oscars coverage now 

Hot specs

The vision-challenged among us had their Oscar moment in 2019. First, two of the nights early winners  Hannah Beachler and Ruth E. Carter  donned glasses to read their acceptance speeches, Beachler doing it off an iPhone that shook in her hand. Both quickly got shout-outs on Twitter. This dress. These glasses. Yes. Yes. Yes. Hannah Beachler #Oscars, tweeted one fan. And later in the show, when Laura Dern came out in custom Rodarte and a matching pair of reading glasses, Twitter again went nuts. Laura Dern walked on stage wearing glasses, and my heart stopped, I was legally dead for a second there, tweeted one overly enthusiastic fan. But perhaps the pair of glasses that got the most attention last night were the one wore by Spike Lee, a pair of purple specs that matched the Ozwald Boateng suit that Lee told interviewers was a tribute to his old friend, Prince. You think Spike Lees glasses are available on Lenscrafters? Asking for a friend, tweeted one admirer.

Elsie Fisher in Thom Browne. (Richard Shotwell / Invision/AP)

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Breaking barriers

Elsie Fisher, the 15-year-old breakout star of Eighth Grade, didnt get an Oscar nomination this year, but she coolly took over the red carpet in a three-piece, grosgrain-tipped mohair tuxedo by Thom Browne, continuing her habit of mostly wearing suits this awards season. (The actress wore custom maroon velvet Kenzo at the Golden Globes, black Thom Browne at the Critics Choice Awards and a hot pink suit by A.L.C at the Gotham Independent Awards.) Of course, Fisher wasnt the only actress who showed up in pants Sunday. Amy Poehler opened the show with her former Saturday Night Live cast mates Maya Rudolph and Tina Fey in an black Alberta Ferretti suit while Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians) wore a glittery pale purple pantsuit by DSquared2. But the person who probably caused the most stir on the red carpet by switching things up was Pose star Billy Porter who wore a tuxedo merged into a ballgown (by Christian Siriano) that continued his awards-season mission to challenge the traditional notions of masculinity and femininity. People really have a problem with gender fluidity  it makes them uncomfortable, and the only way to normalize it, is by visibility, Porters stylist Sam Ratelle told an interviewer this week. Over the past year, Billy and I have made it our mission to remind people that clothes are just clothes, and we should all be able to wear whatever we want and express ourselves however we want.
Selma Blair has opened up about her multiple sclerosis in her first interview since announcing her diagnosis in October.

The 46-year-old actress spoke with ABC News Robin Roberts days before making her first red-carpet appearance at Vanity Fairs Oscars party on Sunday, with a personalized patent leather cane in tow.

I am doing very well, Blair told Roberts in the interview, which aired Tuesday on Good Morning America. . I am very happy to see you, being able to just put out what being in the middle of an aggressive form of multiple sclerosis is like.

Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system that sparks the immune system to attack the protective myelin sheath covering the nerves. The resultant damage disrupts the bodys ability to communicate with itself.

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Throughout the interview, Blairs voice shook due to spasmodic dysphonia, a symptom of the chronic disease caused by involuntary muscle movements of the voice box.

It is interesting to put it out there, to be here, to say, This is what my particular case looks like right now, she said.

Blair added that she cried with relief when she was diagnosed in August.

They werent tears of panic. They were tears of knowing I now had to give in to a body that had loss of control, she recalled. There was some relief in that, because ever since my son was born, I was in an MS flareup and didnt know. And I was doing everything to seem normal.

I was self-medicating when he wasnt with me. I was drinking, I was in pain. I wasnt always drinking, but there were times when I couldnt take it, and I was really struggling with, How am I gonna get by in life?

Blair expressed her frustration that she was not taken seriously by doctors, as she was simply deemed a single mother whos exhausted with financial burdens.

She got to a point where she had trouble staying awake, she said, and felt ashamed when she pulled over to take a nap after dropping her son off at school a mile away. I was doing the best I could, and I was a great mother, but it was killing me, she said.

Sharing the news of her diagnosis with her 7-year-old son, Arthur Saint Bleick, was an easier task. He almost cried and said, Will it kill you? And I said, No. I mean, we never know what kills us, Arthur. But this is not the doctor telling me Im dying. And he was like, Oh, OK.

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The actress received comfort and advice from fellow actor Michael J. Fox, who has lived with Parkinsons disease for almost 30 years.

I dont know who to tell, but Im dropping things, Im doing strange things, she said. He got in touch with me and we began conversations. He really helped me.

Plus, I was like, I have Michael J. Foxs email now! she added with a laugh. Like, Im pretty cool! Im cooler than I thought. But really, he gives me hope.

When Blair is having a particularly rough day, I get in bed and I dont move, she said. Its fine to feel really crappy. And my son gets it, and now Ive learned not to feel guilty.

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Blair has been told by her doctor that, within a year, she could have 90% of her abilities back. Though she was somewhat hesitant to talk on camera, My neurologist told me, No, this will bring a lot of awareness because no one has the energy to talk when theyre in a flareup, she said.

She then threw back her hair and smiled, saying, But I do, because I love a camera.

ashley.lee@latimes.com

Twitter: @cashleelee
Texture is the operative word in describing Suzanne Jacksons show at O-Town House, where a dozen recent works abound with layers of paint, paper, fabric and wood, as well as bits of string, loquat seeds, pistachio shells, leaves and fine garnet rubble.

Just as compelling is the shows historical texture, an unusually rich layering of place and time.

The guestbook is a good illustration. Visitors signing enact a performative connection to visitors of 50 years ago, who inscribed their names in this same book when they attended openings and events at Jacksons Gallery 32, located in the same complex as the current show, the Granada Buildings.

Jackson settled in L.A. in 1967 after studying art and working as a professional dancer. She took classes with Charles White at what was then the Otis Art Institute nearby, and between 1968 and 1970 she devoted one floor of her two-story live-work studio mostly to exhibitions of fellow young, African American artists, materially adventurous and socially engaged.

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David Hammons showed his first body prints there. Betye Saar organized an important show of black female artists from L.A. Jackson hosted musical events, discussion forums, poetry readings and fundraisers for such causes as the Black Arts Council, the Watts Towers Arts Center, and the Black Panther Party. Those who signed in include Wanda Coleman, John Outterbridge, Yvonne Brathwaite, Sue Irons (later Senga Nengudi) and White.

An ephemera Suzanne Jackson at O-Town House. (Riccardo Banfi / Suzanne Jackson and O-Town House)

Gallery announcements, photographs and correspondence from Gallery 32s short but significant lifespan fill a display case in the current show. The ephemera provides relevant biographical background for Jackson and wonderful contextual resonance for O-Town House. The show helps to flesh out the story of a cultural moment, and it makes a worthy addendum to the Charles White retrospective recently opened at LACMA and Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983, coming in March to the Broad.

Jackson moved to New York in 1979 (the guestbook records the names at her goodbye sale), later studied theater design at Yale and taught for two decades in Savannah, Ga., where she now lives. She is also a poet.

A monoprint hanging near the entrance of O-Town House feels guided by automatic motion, spontaneous vitality. Streaks and swipes in dilute violet, persimmon and sea green stutter and dance across the page. Birds are suggested here, as in other works, but Jacksons forms rarely commit. They flaunt their gestural, material freedom from edge to irregular edge.

O-Town House, 672 S. Lafayette Park Place, Suite 44, L.A. Thursdays-Saturdays, through March 23. (213) 263-9428, www.o-townhouse.art

Suzanne Jacksons Toucan Negotiating Two Crows, 2003-2014. Monoprint, graphite, acrylic, cotton-backed, 38 inches by 47 inches (Riccardo Banfi / Suzanne Jackson at O-Town House)

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Conservatives found much to chuckle about after Democratic state lawmakers last week proposed, once again, a tax on sugary sodas, along with limits on cup sizes.

We get it, too much sugar isnt great for you, Assembly Republicans said in a smirking, smart-alecky statement.

But whats next  criminalizing pizzas over 18 inches? A Dorito tax? Only one squirt of butter on your movie theater popcorn? A fine for not eating your broccoli?

Yeah, theres nothing like a little snark when faced with serious proposals to combat a public health crisis.

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The Assembly Republicans dismissed their Democratic colleagues radical ideas by saying liberals have never seen a tax or regulation they dont like.

The reality is that California and the rest of the country are grappling with an obesity epidemic that has caused rates of diabetes, heart disease and other costly chronic illnesses to soar. And there is a long history of policymakers using taxes and regulations to influence behavior for the sake of the public good.

In Econ 101, you learn that if something creates a negative externality  if theres a harm  its economically efficient to tax that thing, said Jon Bakija, an economist at Williams College.

Tobacco is an obvious example, he told me. It can harm the smoker and those around him. A tobacco tax, therefore, can discourage use through higher prices, and can raise revenue to address societal costs and fund education efforts.

Similarly, a gas tax discourages use of environmentally unfriendly fossil fuels and motivates the petroleum industry to come up with cleaner products.

Theres a strong case for trying to influence behavior when the market doesnt get things right, Bakija said.

If conservatives would stop sneering for a few minutes, maybe theyd understand that 40% of U.S. adults are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thats more than 93 million people.

Obesity rates are even higher among blacks and Hispanics. No less troubling, the obesity rate among kids and adolescents is a staggering 18.5%, affecting roughly 14 million young people.

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The beverage industry insists that its products arent solely to blame for Americas expanding waistlines. But researchers say theres clear evidence that the easy availability and relatively low cost of sugary drinks make them a leading contributor to the global obesity epidemic.

In fact, study after study shows that the more sugary drinks a person consumes, the greater the likelihood that person will end up obese.

A review of such research last year in the journal Obesity Facts found that 93% of studies reached the same conclusion: There is a link between the onset of overweight or obesity and the consumption of sugary drinks in both children and adults.

Thats what California lawmakers are trying to do something about. Unless critics have better ideas, theyd be wise to at least give these proposals a fair hearing.

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In his soda-tax bill, Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) says he hopes to raise money to not just educate consumers about the dangers of sugary drinks but also promote fitness and perhaps pay for related resources, such as school nurses.

Hes not sure yet how big a beverage fee to impose, but hes considering 2 cents per fluid ounce, which would mean an additional cost of 24 cents for a 12-ounce can of soda. This would translate to $2 billion in annual revenue.

This is not a Republican issue, Bloom told me. Its not a Democratic issue. It affects everyone.

I asked if he found it frustrating to have his ideas met with ridicule by state Republicans.

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Yes, its frustrating, Bloom replied. But Im used to the barbs. They made the same kind of statements in the fight against tobacco.

Another bill introduced last week was from Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco), who wants to prohibit California restaurants and stores from selling Big Gulp-style sodas.

My proposal doesnt prevent anyone from drinking as much soda as they want, he told me. You can go back for as many refills as you desire.

So why limit the cup size?

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The goal is to make people think twice about their choices, Chiu said. Its to use that split-second when youre thinking about a refill to perhaps get you to realize that this isnt a good decision.

Blooms and Chius bills are supported by the California Medical Assn. and California Dental Assn.

Also, its not such a radical idea. Numerous other countries have taxes on sugary beverages. In the United States, soda taxes have been introduced in Berkeley, San Francisco, Oakland and a number of other cities. In each case, the levies are intended to help guide consumers to healthier choices.

A report last week from UC Berkeley said that citys soda tax resulted in a more than 50% decline in consumption of sugary beverages.

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Many people undoubtedly are shaking their heads and thinking, Keep nanny-state lawmakers out of my personal decisions. If I want to get fat drinking soda, thats my business.

Economists would counter that taxes dont just protect people from the immediate harm of bad behavior. They also protect your future self, who would possibly see things differently.

In other words, maybe youre all about personal choice at the moment, but 20 years from now, when youre wrestling with complications from Type 2 diabetes or a stroke, you might wish youd have behaved differently. A soda tax anticipates that.

Then theres the common-sense element. Sure, it might be more fun or comfortable to ride a motorcycle without a helmet or drive a vehicle without a seat belt. But theres plenty of data to prove thats just stupid. So we have laws to protect us from making really bad decisions and to save peoples lives.

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The beverage industry spends billions annually trying to get you to do something thats not in your interest  to consume sugary drinks rather than healthier alternatives, such as water.

The idea that we should use taxes to steer people toward decisions that are socially better is not a left-wing idea, said Jesse Rothstein, a professor of public policy and economics at UC Berkeley. If anything, its a conservative strategy.

Besides, we need government revenue, and it is much better to get it by discouraging people from doing something that is not in the public interest.

Is a soda tax an unwelcome intrusion on your personal freedom? Of course it is.

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Conservatives and libertarians will say that we should just leave people alone, Bakija at Williams College said. Theyll tell you that its a matter of personal choice. But do they make the same argument about heroin? No, they dont.

Heroin is highly addictive and can kill you, so we prohibit its use.

Sugar is highly addictive and can kill you.

And the best some can do is crack jokes?

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About a problem that costs Americans more than $175 billion a year, according to the CDC, and is associated with some of the leading causes of death?

Like I say, if youve got a better idea, speak up, please.

Otherwise, youre just part of the problem.

David Lazarus column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. He also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and followed on Twitter @Davidlaz. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com.
Rep. Maxine Waters on Tuesday called for a consumer-friendly overhaul of the nations credit reporting system as she brought the chief executives of Equifax, Experian and TransUnion to testify before her House committee about what she called a broken system.

The heads of the three leading credit reporting companies heard bipartisan criticism as Waters, the veteran Los Angeles Democrat, launched her first major legislative initiative as chairwoman of the Financial Services Committee.

For the record: A previous version of this article omitted some words from a quote by Experian Chief Executive Craig Boundy about the potential effect of a change to federal laws. Boundy was quoted as saying, ... it has the risk of increasing consumers access to credit. Boundy actually said, " it has the risk of increasing the cost of consumers access to credit.

To credit reporting bureaus, consumers arent consumers. They are commodities, Waters said, adding that dissatisfied Americans cant just take their business to another company.

Although Equifax, Experian and TransUnion collect information from banks and other firms about Americans  their payment history on mortgages, credit cards, auto loans and other debt  they have little direct relationship with consumers. Their customers are the companies seeking a consumers credit history.

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This commodification of consumers and their personal data is the core reason why our nations consumer credit reporting system is broken, she said.

Maxine Waters wields gavel on powerful committee, but freshmen could make it challenging 

Spurred by Equifaxs massive 2017 data breach that exposed the Social Security numbers, birth dates and other private data for nearly 150 million people, Waters has released a discussion draft of a bill that she said would fix the system.

The 199-page bill would reduce how long most negative information stays on credit reports to four years from seven years and require credit reporting companies to remove such items within 45 days of the debt being fully paid or settled.

She wants to restrict credit checks for job applicants to instances in which a credit report is required by federal, state or local law or when it is needed as part of a security clearance. And the bill would shift the burden of removing mistakes on credit reports away from consumers and onto the credit bureaus and financial firms that provide them, as well as provide a new right for consumers to appeal determinations the companies made about disputed information.

Waters has been pushing the legislation for several years and had tried unsuccessfully to get all three CEOs to testify before the committee when she was in the House minority.

After Democrats took over the majority this year and she gained the committee chairmanship, the three executives  Mark Begor of Equifax, Craig Boundy of Experian and James M. Peck of TransUnion  agreed to appear.

The executives pledged their commitment to keep data secure and improve the accuracy of consumer information. But they did not appear enthusiastic about additional federal laws aimed at their companies.

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It could negatively affect a lenders ability to assess risk and  it has the risk of increasing the cost of consumers access to credit, Boundy said of the proposals.

But legislation could be coming as the committees top Republican also sharply criticized the credit reporting industry.

What I see here is an oligopoly, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) told the chief executives.

We have three of you not really competing and the consumers are the ones that are losing out. I think thats a problem, he said. How does an oligopoly protect consumers?

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None of the three executives volunteered an answer.

OK, McHenry responded. Ill take that as an answer.

In their testimony, Begor was the most contrite. He took over as Equifax chief executive in April 2018, about seven months after former CEO Richard Smith stepped down in the wake of the data breach that compromised the sensitive information of about 148 million Americans.

He expressed his personal regret for the 2017 breach and said he appeared before the committee because we recognize there are things we can do better.

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Let me be clear: A single error on a consumers credit report is one error too many, Begor told the lawmakers. And I understand how frustrating it can be for a consumer to feel helpless when dealing with a credit bureau like Equifax.

All the chief executives said they wanted to improve the credit reporting system.

But lawmakers were skeptical.

Waters said the changes in her bill might not go far enough and we need to ask whether the system is so beyond repair that we need to completely rebuild the entire consumer credit reporting sector to truly put consumers first.

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Jaret Seiberg, an analyst with brokerage and investment bank Cowen & Co., said the hearing reinforced the firms view that the new Congress was likely to act.

While there may not be agreement on exactly what should change, there was broad support to giving consumers more power to fix mistakes and to control the data, Seiberg said in a research note.

McHenry, who proposed legislation in 2017 that would require Equifax, Experian and TransUnion to phase out the use of Social Security numbers to verify Americans identities, said he wanted more competition instead of more regulation. But he agreed that some changes were needed.

While our approaches may be very different, we both know that we need to find a way that works better for the people we represent, McHenry said in reference to Waters.

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McHenry noted that the law dealing with credit reporting companies was originally enacted in 1970.

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) emphasized that the data the credit reporting companies use belong to consumers and there is nobody advocating on behalf of them, particularly for a poor person, when it comes to disputes about accuracy. And the incorrect information could cost a person a job.

It seems as though the three of you basically can control that  and that person therefore is out of a job and therefore cant climb their way out of poverty, he said.

Consumer advocates who testified at the hearing after the chief executives said that they supported Waters legislation and that it was a long time coming.

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By my estimate, this is the sixth time Ive been before Congress talking about abuses by the credit bureaus, said Chi Chi Wu, staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, who told committee members that the system for disputing information in a credit report is a Kafkaesque nightmare that needs reform.
URUMQI, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Senior diplomats from permanent missions of eight countries to the United Nations Office at Geneva visited Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from Feb. 16 to 19 at the invitation of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The diplomats from Pakistan, Venezuela, Cuba, Egypt, Cambodia, Russia, Senegal and Belarus, spoke with trainees at vocational education and training centers, teaching clerics and other members of the public during their visit.

They agreed that the Chinese government has made achievement in cracking down on and preventing terrorism according to law, safeguarding the religious freedom of its citizens and conserving ethnic tradition and culture.

Since the 1990s, the "three forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism both at home and abroad plotted and organized thousands of violent terrorist activities and gravely damaged the stability, solidarity and progress of Xinjiang, trampling the basic human rights to life, health, property and development for the people in Xinjiang.

At the Xinjiang International Convention & Exhibition Center, the diplomats watched an exhibition on major terrorist cases in the region.

Nikita Zhukov, the deputy permanent representative of the Russia Federation to the UN Office at Geneva, said he could not bear to look at the video clips and pictures at the exhibition.

"Terrorism should not have been present in modern society like this. It is an absolute demon and must be destroyed," Zhukov said. "It is important to fight terrorism according to law, and the Chinese government has done so."

Pedro Luis Pedroso Cuesta, permanent representative of the Republic of Cuba to the UN Office at Geneva, said the exhibition showed that anyone could become a victim of terrorism.

In recent years, Xinjiang has focused on the prevention of terrorism by striking at the root and source of the problems. It aims to forestall terrorist attacks by providing a platform to the people who have been influenced by extremist thoughts and committed minor crimes so that they can transform their thoughts, learn the Mandarin language, boost legal awareness and master vocational skills.

So far, no violent terrorist activities have been reported in the last 25 months in Xinjiang, authorities said.

Terrorism and extremism sabotaged peace and caused great casualties in Xinjiang. Terrorism, in whatever form, shall not be forgiven, said Sam Ol Ney, permanent representative of Cambodia to the UN Office at Geneva.

PEOPLE-ORIENTED TRAINING

At the vocational education and training centers in Kashgar and Moyu counties of Hotan Prefecture, the diplomats inquired in great detail about the life and education of the trainees.

Trainees study the Mandarin language, knowledge on law, and take practical courses on auto repair, hairdressing, baby care and health, planting and farming.

It is foolish to make accusations against these centers where students are learning the necessary skills to improve lives, said Vadim Pisarevich, the deputy permanent representative of Belarus to the UN Office at Geneva.

Jorge Hidalgo Valero Briceno, permanent representative of Venezuela to the UN Office at Geneva, said the accusations were politically charged and made by those who do not believe in the Chinese people.

Zhukov said the centers resemble colleges with modern buildings and comfortable lodging.

The purpose of the centers is to boost the capabilities of the people, said Pedro Luis Pedroso Cuesta. People should be educated, otherwise they easily fall victims to those who exploit them for illegal ends, he said.

After observing a class on law, Pisarevich said that it was right for the Chinese government to establish the centers. It is also in line with the principle and spirit of law, he said.

CULTURE, TRADITIONS PRESERVED

The delegates visited the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar, the old city of Kashgar and local families.

Serigne Dieye, the minister counselor of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Senegal to the UN Office at Geneva, said as a Muslim himself, he felt glad to see that the Chinese government has protected religious freedom well.

Facilities for drinking water, heating and bathing at the mosque are all provided by the government, which is a great effort on its part, Dieye added.

Thanks to a large-scale renovation project launched in 2010, residents in Kashgar now enjoy a modern and convenient life in their houses with unique traditional designs.

The renovation project have fully respected the wishes of residents to conserve their culture, setting a good example for other cities, said local representatives.

"In the old city, we see a good combination of traditional culture and modern development," said Zhukov, after talking with a craftsman who makes traditional musical instruments as the fifth-generation inheritor of the craft in his family. His son will continue to carry on the family tradition.

The effort of local government and residents to maintain traditions amid development deserves appreciation, Zhukov said. Enditem
A jury in federal court in San Francisco will decide whether Roundup weed killer caused a California mans cancer in a trial that started Monday that plaintiffs attorneys say could help determine the fate of hundreds of similar lawsuits.

Edwin Hardeman, 70, is the second plaintiff to go to trial of thousands around the country who say agribusiness giant Monsantos weed killer causes cancer. Monsanto says studies have established that the active ingredient in Roundup, glyphosate, is safe.

There is a mountain of evidence, Hardemans attorney, Brent Wisner, said outside court. This company needs to get straight and be honest with its customers and say, listen, there is evidence its associated with cancer and let people make a choice about whether or not they use the product.

A San Francisco jury in August awarded another man $289 million after determining Roundup caused his non-Hodgkins lymphoma. A judge later slashed the award to $78 million, and Monsanto has appealed.

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Hardemans trial is before a different judge and may be more significant. U.S. Judge Vince Chhabria is overseeing hundreds of Roundup lawsuits and has deemed Hardemans case and two others bellwether trials.

If we are able to succeed here then it really sends a signal to Monsanto and specifically to Bayer that they have a real problem, Wisner said.

The outcome of bellwether cases can help attorneys decide whether to continue fighting similar suits in court or settle them. A jury verdict in favor of Hardeman and the other test plaintiffs would give their attorneys a strong bargaining position in any settlement talks for the remaining cases before Chhabria, said David Levine, a professor at the UC Hastings College of the Law who has followed the Roundup litigation. Thousands of other Roundup lawsuits are pending in state courts around the country.

Many government regulators have rejected a link between cancer and glyphosate.

Monsanto has vehemently denied such a connection, saying hundreds of studies have established that the chemical is safe.

Monsanto developed glyphosate in the 1970s, and the weed killer is now sold in more than 160 countries and widely used in the U.S.

The herbicide came under increasing scrutiny after the France-based International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, classified it as a probable human carcinogen in 2015.

Lawsuits against Monsanto followed. Monsanto has attacked the international research agencys opinion as an outlier.

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says glyphosate is safe for people when used in accordance with label directions. Hardeman started using Roundup products to treat poison oak, overgrowth and weeds on his 56-acre Sonoma County property in the 1980s and continued using them through 2012, according to his attorneys.

He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2015. In a setback for Hardeman, Chhabria issued a ruling last month splitting his trial into two phases.

Hardemans attorneys will first have to convince jurors that his use of Roundup caused his non-Hodgkins lymphoma before they can make arguments for punitive damages.
The Venezuelan government briefly detained Jorge Ramos, the star Spanish-language television journalist, during an interview with the countrys embattled president, Nicolas Maduro. Ramos and the Univision News television crew accompanying him were subsequently released.

The journalists were detained nearly three hours at Venezuelas presidential palace after Maduro bristled over Ramos questions, a Univision News representative said late Monday.

They have now been released, but their equipment and interview material has been confiscated, Univision News spokesman Jose Zamora said in an email to The Times. They will be deported from Venezuela in the morning. It has been a clear attack against freedom of the press.

Several hours earlier, Kimberly Breier, an assistant secretary at the U.S. State Department, said on Twitter that the agency had received word the journalist Jorge Ramos and his team are being held against their will at Miraflores Palace by Nicolas Maduro. We insist on their immediate release; the world is watching.

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Ramos, 60, who is known for his crusading style, is the lead anchor for Univision News. The native of Mexico, who became a U.S. citizen in 2008, generated huge headlines when he was kicked out of a Donald Trump political event in Iowa in 2015.

After that dust-up, Ramos said in several TV interviews that he had not been subjected to such treatment even in Cuba and Venezuela.

People learned of the incident when Univision News announced on Twitter early Monday evening that Ramos, along with his TV production crew, was being arbitrarily detained at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas. They were interviewing Nicolas Maduro but he didnt like the questions.

Unlike most American journalists who strive not to take sides in the issues they cover, Ramos is something of an activist when it comes to immigration issues in the U.S. He has insisted that the U.S. governments treatment of immigrants living in the country illegally is a moral issue, and has become an unapologetic proponent of immigration reform.

Our position is clearly pro-Latino or pro-immigrant, Ramos told The Times in a 2013 interview. We are simply being the voice of those who dont have a voice.

Its unclear when Ramos and his news team traveled to Venezuela.

Ramos on Sunday posted an interview clip from his Sunday newsmagazine show, Al Punto, in which he interviewed a woman in El Salvador. The clip indicated that Ramos was in the studio, which is based in the Miami area, where he is also a resident.

He also sent several messages about the Netflix movie Roma, which was up for best picture at the 91st Academy Awards but lost out to Green Book. Roma director Alfonso Cuaron of Mexico won top honors for directing and cinematography for the film.

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Ramos career took off after he worked as a reporter at Univisions flagship station, KMEX-TV Channel 34 in Los Angeles. He then was tapped, at the age of 28, to be Univisions news anchor for the entire network.

meg.james@latimes.com

Twitter: @MegJamesLAT
Axios, the online news organization, is obsessed with brevity  except when it comes to producing television shows with HBO.

Axios and HBO on Tuesday plan to announce a second-season pickup to their half-hour documentary-news show, Axios. HBO has ordered eight new episodes (along with four short specials)  double the number produced in its inaugural season, which featured four installments in a November trial run.

The program is part of a growing TV trend of docu-news series, which have proliferated amid the publics fascination with politics and President Trump. Last fall, Axios made waves with its controversial interview with Trump, who said he didnt need Congress to change laws recognizing that people born in America are U.S. citizens. The first season also featured newsmaker interviews with Tesla founder Elon Musk and Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook.

The second-season pickup is a big endorsement for Axios, which exploded onto the scene two years ago with exclusive and ultra-short dispatches that seek to zero in on the important elements of each story, under a ubiquitous heading: Why it Matters. The second-season pickup will allow Axios to expand at a time when other pioneering online media companies, including BuzzFeed, Vox Media, Huffington Post and Vice Media, have been purging staff.

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Financial terms of the Axios-HBO partnership were not disclosed.

We dont look at this as a make-or-break deal on the revenue side of our company, although it is a good deal for us, Jim VandeHei, co-founder and chief executive of Axios, said in an interview. Its an opportunity to showcase our journalism, and our world view, and how we think these big topics are interacting to change key parts of humanity in real time.

Four new episodes will be televised in the spring and four in the fall.

Unlike general interest publications, Virginia-based Axios specializes in a few key coverage areas, including technology, science, politics, media and business  and the intersection of these disciplines. The sites founders, VandeHei, Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz, molded Politico, which launched in 2007 and became a force in political news. The trio moved over to launch Axios in late 2016. It now cranks out 18 newsletters and last summer launched a business-themed podcast.

We try to drive the conversation and make people make sure that they are informed, said Evan Ryan, Axios executive vice president. We do that with our newsletters and our podcast and so we are really happy to partner and do this with HBO as well.

Axios boasts 1.3 million subscribers for its newsletters. The organization, which has about 150 employees, said it broke even last year with $25 million in revenue.

The relationship with the WarnerMedia channel began because HBO Chairman Richard Plepler was a fan of Axios news format and its leaders. HBO has partnered with several other news organizations, including Vice News and Pod Save America. Its Last Week Tonight with John Oliver has become particularly popular.

We share a philosophy with HBO that the world is just changing faster than most people can keep up with, and how can we help viewers better navigate the collision  the collision of tech and politics and media and science, VandeHei said. The show, at its best, does illuminate those complexities in a way that people understand and hopefully, over time, make better decisions.

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The show is produced and directed by Emmy winner Matthew ONeill (HBOs Baghdad ER and Chinas Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province) and Perri Peltz (HBOs Warning: This Drug May Kill You and Remembering the Artist Robert De Niro, Sr.).

meg.james@latimes.com

Twitter: @MegJamesLAT
The nonprofit literary organization PEN America announced on Monday the creation of the PEN/Mike Nichols Writing for Performance Award, with playwright and screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan named as the inaugural winner.

The award, which comes with a $25,000 cash prize, is named in honor of Mike Nichols, the legendary comedian and director known for films such as Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Graduate, Silkwood and Postcards From the Edge.

Nichols died in 2014, and is survived by his wife, journalist Diane Sawyer.

Lonergan is an acclaimed playwright and screenwriter. His plays This Is Our Youth and Lobby Hero were both nominated for Drama Desk Awards for best play.

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He made his screenwriting debut with the 1999 comedy Analyze This, and the year after that received an Academy Award nomination for his screenplay for You Can Count on Me. He received another Oscar nod for Gangs of New York, and took home the Academy Award for the 2016 film Manchester by the Sea.

PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said that the organization was thrilled to honor the indelible legacy of Mike Nichols and his transformative influence on American comedy, film and theatre.

Kenneth Lonergan is a tailor-made inaugural honoree whose work pushes boundaries, breaks new thematic and artistic ground, and has inflected our culture in the best tradition of Mike Nichols, Nossel said.

PEN America said the creation of the new award was inspired by deepening ties to the film and television industry as a result of the addition of a Los Angeles-based office in 2018.

The Literary Awards program is one of PEN Americas crown jewels, said the organizations president, novelist Jennifer Egan. With more and more writers working powerfully across genres, its a special joy to recognize performance as a literary form in partnership with Mike Nichols dear friend Lorne Michaels, and the Nichols family.

The award will be presented to Lonergan at a ceremony in New York on Tuesday evening. The ceremony, hosted by comedian Hari Kondabolu, will also feature other special award winners including Sandra Cisneros, this years winner of the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature. The winners of 11 other literary prizes will also be announced at the ceremony.
The heroes of the old American West lived by a simple moral code, at least in the movies. They were loyal to their friends and courageous in the face of danger. They were ready to fight on behalf of the weak  and the rule of law  against the powerful, greedy and cruel. As myths about the birth and virtue of the United States, the classic westerns were optimistic about the country and its future.

As the national mood changed during the social upheaval of the late 1960s, so did its westerns. By 1969 the war in Vietnam was going badly, and at home there was political turmoil, from student protests to assassinations. But nothing at the cinema, not even Sergio Leones spaghetti westerns, could have prepared the American public for Sam Peckinpahs The Wild Bunch, a bloody tale of outlaws on the U.S.-Mexico border.

In honor of the films 50th anniversary, journalist W.K. Stratton has written an ambitious and lively history, The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film. He tells the story of how the movie was made and argues that it marked a turning point in American film history. It was, Stratton proclaims, in most ways the last Western. With it Peckinpah destroyed all the standard stereotypes that made up cowboy pictures that came before it.

Peckinpah always insisted that his movie was nothing more than a simple story about bad men ... in changing times.

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Whatever happened to the old John Wayne movies? An audience member at a screening of Sam Peckinpahs The Wild Bunch

The outline of the story is simplicity itself. After a botched bank raid, a gang of violent criminals flees across the Southern border, right into the middle of the Mexican Revolution.

Mexican director and actor Emilio El Indio Fernandez, as Gen. Mapache in The Wild Bunch. (Paul Harper)

Peckinpah found actors who looked their parts, or had even lived them. As the aging leader of the gang, Pike Bishop, Peckinpah cast William Holden, a fading film star. The role of Pikes best friend, Dutch Engstrom, went to the WWII veteran Ernest Borgnine. The Gorch brothers were played by Warren Oates and Ben Johnson, the latter a stuntman and former rodeo cowboy. Unlike many other westerns that had Italians and Anglos play Mexicans, The Wild Bunch used mostly actors from Mexico. The number of Mexicans in the picture dwarfed the number of Los Angeles gringos, Stratton writes. But there was one exception. The Spanish-speaking Puerto Rican stage actor Jaime Sanchez played the part of a romantic but impulsive Mexican man, Angel. Peckinpah also cast well-known Mexican director and actor Don Emilio Fernandez  who was known as el Indio due to his embrace of his indigenous heritage  as the general Mapache, who, Stratton reports, often carried a real pistol with him.

William Holden as Pike Bishop in Warner Bros. restored release of director Sam Peckinpahs classic western, The Wild Bunch. (BPI)

Even though it was a simple story, there was nothing simple about the long process of making it. At the heart of Strattons book are dozens of informative and colorful interviews, conducted with everyone from screenwriters and stuntmen to Hollywood producers and Mexican film stars. Stratton follows the cast and crew to the films primary location, the dusty Mexican state of Coahuila, where Sanchez quickly realized that something special was happening. Sam made everybody feel that you go for broke, recalled Jaime Sanchez. Not to go for broke was an act of dishonor.

Stratton also places the movie in its historical context. It was filmed and released during political unrest at home and an escalating war in Vietnam.

As he notes, cast and crew settled into Mexico just days before the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. During filming, American soldiers massacred hundreds of villagers in My Lai. A few months later, Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated. The old American myth of might in the service of right was becoming hard to believe. Instead, it seemed that The Wild Bunch reflected a country that was extremely violent and morally suspect. The violence was exhilarating, said Martin Scorsese, but you felt ashamed for being exhilarated, mainly because it reflected what we were doing in reality in Vietnam, which we could see on the news at six oclock at night.

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Sam Peckinpah and crew on a barge fashioned from 55-gallon drums and wood prepare to film the bridge explosion on the Rio Nazas. (Paul Harper)

There was nothing simple about the movies themes either. The original screenwriter, Walon Green, wanted to upend the usual moralism and mythology of the West. Id read enough to know that Billy the Kid shot people in the back of the head while they were drinking coffee, he told Stratton. Sure enough, Pike and his gang pay lip service to the old code but abandon it almost every time it becomes inconvenient. And bad as the bunch may be, law and modern civilization  represented by a rapacious American railroad executive and a vicious Mexican general  are even worse. When Angel tries to defend his native village against the general, he is captured. The rest of the gang then faces a stark choice. They must abandon a friend to certain death or finally live up to their ideals.

An author photo of W.K. Stratton for his new book, The Wild Bunch. (Wyatt McSpadden)

Unsurprisingly, the film polarized audiences and critics. After a preview in Kansas City, Missouri, one woman tried to have it censored by the Motion Picture Assn. of America. In Fresno, a group of nuns walked out of the theater during the opening bank robbery. Whatever happened to the old John Wayne movies? another audience member asked. And although some critics, including a young Roger Ebert, regarded the movie as a masterpiece, others sided with the nuns. One critic condemned it as an ugly, pointless, disgustingly bloody film. Another accused Peckinpah of nihilism, Stratton writes, of viewing humanity as having no redeeming virtues, and therefore, should be blown away.

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The charge of nihilism misses the mark. Stratton convincingly argues that the film, far from being nihilistic, is in fact a tragedy. Yes, Pike and the gang betray the old code throughout the movie, but they ultimately resolve to rescue Angel from the general. The end of the picture was just about the oldest chestnut in the book, to Peckinpahs thinking, writes Stratton. That was what appealed to him about it. Peckinpah wanted to know what kind of men would really have the courage to adhere to the old code, if only briefly. And what would happen to them if they did?

The answer, in the movie, is that they would die in one of the most gruesome gun battles in Hollywood history. Stratton regards their death as Peckinpahs jeremiad against the dystopia that would overtake the world during the twentieth century. Codes of honor destroyed, human value diminished. The movie howls against what has happened to mankind during modern times. When the gang dies at the end of the film, the last vestiges of the old code seem to die with them. Stratton is certainly right about what Peckinpah was trying to say, but was Peckinpah right too?

A book jacket for W.K. Strattons The Wild Bunch. (Bloomsbury Publishing)

Perhaps the real problem with The Wild Bunch was not nihilism but sentimental nostalgia, the belief that the old values of loyalty to your friends and a willingness to stand up for the weak have no place in the modern world. Though they looked different than Pike and the gang, King and Kennedy were taking a stand in the late 1960s. They died violent deaths too, but their deaths only meant that their ideals needed new champions. Fifty years later, we still need heroes.

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::

The Wild Bunch author W.K. Stratton will sign books and take part in a conversation with Stephen Farber after a 50th anniversary screening of the film at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Laemmle Playhouse.

Stratton will also appear for a conversation with three creative participants in the film at a screening at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Ahrya Fine Arts.

Get tickets and more info here.

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::

The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film

W.K. Stratton

Bloomsbury Publishing: 352 pp., $28

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Paul W. Gleason is an instructor in USCs school of religion. He is a recent recipient of the National Book Critic Circles emerging critic award.
Weddings traditionally are held in a church, at a park or in an outdoor gazebo.

However, one Lake Geneva-area couple recently decided to conduct their wedding in a different sort of setting that means a lot to them: a movie theater.

Chris Gonzalez and JoBeth Patterson of the town of Lyons exchanged their wedding vows Feb. 18 at the Geneva Theater, downtown Lake Genevas historic movie house.

Gonzalez said he and Patterson both are movie buffs, so they decided that a theater would be an appropriate location to tie the knot. Even though they had never seen a movie before at Geneva Theater, they decided to have their big day inside the venue at 244 Broad St.

Its got a lot of old charm to it, Gonzalez said. We kind of looked at it and just liked it.

About 20 people attended the event, which started with a ceremony in a second-floor private party room. That was followed a reception inside one of the theaters, where guests were treated to a showing of A Dogs Purpose  the same movie the couple saw on their first date.

The reception included cookies and cupcakes with a marshmallow topping in the shape of popcorn.
Left to Right (starting at the top)

Trace Williams-Director of Community Service and Public Relations Coordinator

Chandler Frierson- President

Chadwick George- Secretary and Outreach Director

Bria Northington- Membership Coordinator

Jada Phillips- Public Relations Coordinator

Jaida Hampton- Former Vice President who is currently studying at the capitol
This April 18, 2017, photo shows Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif attending a joint press conference in Tbilisi, Georgia. EPA/ZURAB KURTSIKIDZE-Yonhap



Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif resigned without warning late Monday (local time), offering an "apology" to the nation as the nuclear deal he negotiated with world powers is on the verge of collapse after the U.S. withdrawal from the accord.



Zarif's resignation, if accepted by Iran's relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani, would leave the cleric without one of his main allies in pushing the Islamic Republic toward further negotiations with the West. There was no immediate reaction from the U.S.



It remains unclear why Zarif chose to leave his post now and what effect it will have on the atomic accord, which Iran has been complying with. He likely briefed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei before offering his resignation. Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, previously backed the American-educated envoy through the nuclear negotiations.



The veteran diplomat first hinted at his resignation with a vague Instagram post in which he offered an "apology" for his "inability to continue to his service." The post included a drawing honoring Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, as Iranians commemorate her birth Tuesday.



A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, confirmed to the state-run IRNA news agency minutes later that Zarif had resigned but gave no reason for his departure.



Earlier Monday, Zarif met members of the activist group Code Pink in Tehran, smiling as he posed for a photograph with them. However, he was not seen in images later in the day showing Syrian President Bashar Assad meeting Khamenei and Rouhani. Iran has been one of Assad's main supporters during the years-long war in Syria.



On Sunday, Zarif criticized Iranian hard-liners in a speech in Tehran, saying: "We cannot hide behind imperialism's plot and blame them for our own incapability."



"Independence does not mean isolation from the world," he said.



Analysts say Rouhani faces growing political pressure from hard-liners within the government as the nuclear deal unravels. Iranian presidents typically see their popularity erode during their second four-year term, but analysts say Rouhani is particularly vulnerable because of the economic crisis assailing the country's rial currency, which has hurt ordinary Iranians and emboldened critics to openly call for his ouster.



Reaction to Zarif's resignation was swift. A prominent reformist lawmaker, Mostafa Kavakebian, wrote on Twitter that Rouhani should reject Zarif's resignation as his departure would only "make enemies of Iran's dignity happy."



Hassan Mohammadi, a Tehran-based political analyst close to Rouhani, said he understood it was Zarif's third time submitting his resignation in the past year.



"It is part of plan for changing the track in foreign policy in Iran. A negotiation-seeking foreign minister is not a favored person anymore," Mohammadi told The Associated Press. "Iran needs a tough foreign minister from now on; someone who does not offer a smile towards the West."



The son of a wealthy family, Zarif overcame hard-line objections and Western suspicions to strike the accord with world powers that saw Iran promise to limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of crippling economic sanctions.



But the deal was later challenged by the administration of President Donald Trump, which pulled America out of the accord. In doing so, Trump also fueled doubts of Iranians still wary of U.S. interests decades after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. Zarif himself faced withering criticism at home after he shook hands with President Barack Obama.



Meanwhile, officials in the Trump administration have also been pressuring Iran through social media, with one State Department official tweeting an unflattering GIF of Zarif saying: "How do you know (at) JZarif is lying? His lips are moving."



Zarif, 59, served as Iran's ambassador to the United Nations from 2002 to 2007, first under reformist President Mohammad Khatami and then under hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.



Ahmadinejad wanted him replaced, but Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei intervened to keep him in the position for another two years as Iran soon found itself an international pariah over its nuclear program. Iran insisted its atomic program was for peaceful purposes only, while the West feared it could be used to make nuclear weapons.



Secret backchannel talks between the United States and Iran in Oman became full-fledged negotiations over its nuclear program. During the talks, Zarif met then U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry more than 50 times  something that would have been unimaginable only a few years earlier.



Kerry and Zarif's rapport extended beyond just the nuclear negotiations. Kerry directly reached out to his counterpart in January 2016 to help secure the release within 24 hours of 10 U.S. Navy sailors seized by Iran after they mistakenly entered Iranian territorial waters.



Cliff Kupchan, chairman of the Eurasia Group and a longtime Iran watcher, described Zarif's resignation as a "bolt from the blue" from a diplomat who had served as "the face of Iran" for years. He said that while it was still too early to determine what prompted Zarif's resignation, it didn't necessarily signal a major shift away from the nuclear deal.



"I think Zarif can charm the fangs off a snake and has done so many, many times," Kupchan told AP. "Whether it's dealing with Bashar Assad or (Russian President) Vladimir Putin, he's their ambassador to a very tough neighborhood."



"The Iranians are pretty good at making their life even harder than it has to be and this would be another step in that direction if he was forced out," Kupchan said. (AP)




WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Craig Allen, president of United States-China Business Council (USCBC), said he believes "good progress" has been made in U.S.-China trade talks and an agreement between the two countries is "within reach."

Allen, who came into office in July last year, urged the two teams to overcome difficulties and reach an agreement "as soon as possible," so as to rebuild confidence in the business community.

During the just-concluded latest round of high-level economic and trade talks, China and the United States have achieved substantial progress on such specific issues as technology transfer, protection of intellectual property rights, non-tariff barriers, service industry, agriculture and exchange rates, the Chinese delegation said Sunday.

Allen said he was happy to learn that the two sides are "putting a pen to a piece of paper and trying to come out with a single understanding." Despite "real difficulties" in certain areas, he remained "very positive" about the two sides reaching a deal.

Allen said he hopes that leaders of the two countries are able to reach an agreement "that is beneficial for both the Chinese people and the American people," and that "better reflect" norms of multilateral organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO).

"I think that the Chinese leadership is very wise, and that they realize that market-oriented competition will lead to greater growth," said Allen, who served as Commercial Attache at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing in the 1990s and later as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for China at the U.S. Commerce Department's International Trade Administration.

Allen said that one way to spur that growth is to allow foreign companies to "play a stronger role" in China, adding this is an opportunity for China to embrace a new round of reform and opening-up.

"Over the short term, there are costs for individual interest groups, but the disruption long-term will be very positive," he said.

The USCBC president reaffirmed his opposition to the tariffs added in the trade dispute over the past months. "I would say that really the entire business community would be nervous and not supportive of the use of tariffs," he said.

In the midst of the U.S.-China trade tension, "every unhappy company is unhappy in their own way," Allen said. For U.S. companies who manufacture in China but do not have to trade, the impact is smaller. For companies that do a lot of trading between the two countries, the losses are larger, and they are trying to adjust supply chains.

"Big companies can adjust their supply chains. For smaller companies, sometimes it's really impossible, especially if there's only one supplier of a particular product in the world," he added.

U.S. businesses paid an additional 2.7 billion U.S. dollars in tariffs in November 2018, according to the latest government data released following the partial shutdown, anti-tariff campaign Tariffs Hurt the Heartland said earlier this month. The data also showed a 37-percent decline in exports of U.S. products facing retaliatory tariffs in the same month.

"What we want to do is to remove tariffs, which cause real harm to real people, a lot of real people, and resolve the issues that have been outstanding for a long time," Allen said. "I think good progress has been made. So let's get to yes, as soon as possible."

Refuting the argument of absolute "decoupling" of U.S. and Chinese economies, Allen said he has to "laugh very loudly because it's quite impossible," adding that the two economies are interdependent.

Allen said it is important to talk about the "reasonable space" when discussing decoupling. "I think that both China and America have legitimate national security concerns of course. But the challenge in both countries is to bring that to a manageable size," he said.

Noting that the Chinese economy is generally doing "pretty well," and the prospects for good growth in the next five or 10 years are still strong, Allen said the U.S. business community "remains very interested in being fully engaged" with China and expanding exports and investments to China, as well as welcoming Chinese investments to the United States.

As the world's largest economy and the world's second largest economy, the United States and China have a special responsibility to "cooperate wherever possible" and "compete smartly" when necessary, respectfully "within international norms," Allen said.

On common problems such as global warming, pandemic disease, terrorism and pollution, the two countries should maximize their opportunities to collaborate, he said.

"When we compete, to compete with rules and with buffers and with guidelines so that we don't come into conflict," Allen said. "If the international rules are not good enough, then we should talk about that and adjust them so that they are good enough."

"Right now we are at an inflection point and it could go in any direction," said Allen, referring to U.S.-China economic relations.

"If we are wise, we will both grow stronger and wealthier and more prosperous and more stable together. If we are unwise, we will both grow poorer and less secure over time. I hope we are wise," he said.
Unionists of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering stage a demonstration in front of the Korea Development Bank in Seoul on Feb. 21, 2019, to protest the bank's sale of the shipyard to Hyundai Heavy Industries. Yonhap



Unionized workers at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering went on strike Tuesday in a show of opposition to the planned sale to Hyundai Heavy Industries.



Last week, workers at Daewoo Shipbuilding approved a walkout against the proposed deal. The shipbuilder's union said its workers at the Geoje yard in southern South Korea will lay down their tools for four hours in the afternoon.



Hyundai Heavy's labor union also said its workers approved the proposed strike.



Early this month, the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) said it would sign a formal deal with Hyundai Heavy early next month to sell its controlling stake in Daewoo Shipbuilding.



KDB is Daewoo Shipbuilding's main creditor and has a 55.7 percent stake in the company.



The labor unions at Hyundai Heavy and Daewoo Shipbuilding fiercely oppose the deal, claiming it could lead to massive layoffs.



The passage of the vote by Hyundai union may result in workers from the two shipyards joining forces to thwart the purchase.



Lee Dong-gull, the chief of KDB, stressed that it is the right time to sell Daewoo Shipbuilding as the industry seems to be on a recovery track.



"This is the last chance to sell Daewoo Shipbuilding ... we may have to wait another 20 years to see such a chance come again," the banker said during a meeting with reporters.



There are some obstacles hindering the deal, such as Daewoo Shipbuilding workers' opposition and regulatory approval by foreign authorities.



"But I see an over 50-percent chance for the deal," he said.



If the takeover goes ahead as planned, the South Korean shipbuilding industry is expected to be dominated by two major shipbuilders  Hyundai Heavy and Samsung Heavy.



South Korean shipbuilders, once a cornerstone of the country's economic growth and job creation, have been reeling from mounting losses in the past few years, caused by an industrywide slump and a glut of vessels amid tough competition from Chinese rivals.



The government has been hoping that the local shipbuilding industry can be overhauled in such a way that two major players can dominate the sector to better compete against Chinese rivals and tackle sectoral market fluctuations. (Yonhap)




By Jun Ji-hye



LG Uplus will strengthen cooperation with global partners including the United States' Verizon to diversify businesses related to high-end fifth-generation (5G) networks, the head of the Korean telecom firm said Monday.





LG Uplus CEO Ha Hyun-hwoi speaks during a news conference with Korean reporters at the Melia Barcelona Sarria Hotel, Monday. / Courtesy of LG Uplus
Lee Seok-ho, country manager of Symantec Korea, speaks during a press conference at the Mercure Ambassador Seoul Gangnam Sodowe hotel, Tuesday. / Courtesy of Symantec Korea



By Baek Byung-yeul



Korean telecom firms  SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus  are being urged to invest more in cybersecurity as connected devices running on fifth-generation (5G) network services can be more vulnerable to cyberattacks, said a country manager of U.S.-based cybersecurity firm Symantec, Tuesday.



"While a growing number of people are using internet of things (IoT) devices, these products are vulnerable to cyberattacks," Lee Seok-ho, country manager of Symantec Korea, said during a press conference in Seoul.



"We presume this could be worse in the upcoming 5G network era. Though Korean telecom firms are expanding their investments in building infrastructure for 5G networks, they seem to be less interested in investing in improving cybersecurity."



Kim Bong-hwan, senior manager of the firm's systems engineering, explained IoT devices in the 5G era will likely to be exposed to more cyber threats because those devices are connected directly with the 5G network.



"Currently those IoT devices are connected with users' home WiFi routers but more and more devices will be run directly on 5G networks. This makes it hard for cybersecurity firms to detect and block cyberattacks as they need to cover every device," Kim said.



Symantec held the conference to announce its annual Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR) to give an overview of the latest trends in cybersecurity threats.



The firm analyzed data from its Global Intelligence Network, which records, monitors and blocks cybersecurity attacks in more than 157 countries.



Kim also said more firms should be aware of a new type of cyberattack called "formjacking."



"Formjacking attacks happen on retailers' websites where cyber criminals inject malicious code to steal shoppers' payment card details," Kim said.



Symantec blocked more than 3.7 million formjacking attacks on endpoint devices in 2018. And nearly a third of all the new type of cyberattacks occurred in November and December, the busiest online shopping period of the year.



Greg Clark, CEO of the firm, said "formjacking represents a serious threat for both businesses and consumers" because "consumers have no way to know if they are visiting an infected online retailer without using a comprehensive security solution."



Kim added Korean consumers who purchase goods directly via overseas website need to be aware of the formjacking threat.


Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, left, poses with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi at the firm's chip manufacturing plant in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. The firm said the de facto leader of the United Arab Emirates toured the plant and was briefed on the firm's future business strategy. / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
North Korean leader should be inspired by 'Doi Moi' reforms



North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrived in Vietnam, Tuesday morning, for his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, after almost 66 hours on his train.



Kim traveled through various Chinese cities, starting with Dandong, spending more than 50 hours passing through Chinese territory to reach Vietnam. This shows Beijing is extending special consideration to Kim's second summit with the U.S. leader. By traveling across China, Kim is sending out a message to the U.S. that China is on his side as he engages in the denuclearization negotiations with the world's greatest superpower.



Even before Kim arrived in Vietnam, his choice to take the train captured global media attention. The odd choice to take the train, rather than fly, is reminiscent of Kim's late grandfather, North Korea's founding leader Kim Il-sung, who also traveled to Vietnam in 1958 and 1964 by train. His father and predecessor Kim Jong-il also chose to take the train for overseas trips.



So far, Kim has shown a more open leadership style than his father, who rarely gave public speeches or traveled abroad. The young North Korean leader has shown an enthusiasm for overseas trips. Kim visited China multiple times last year for summits with Chinese President Xi Jinping, including before and right after the June 12 summit with Trump. Most recently, he was in Beijing Jan. 7 to 10 for a fourth summit with Xi as negotiations were underway to arrange another U.S-North Korea summit. He flew to Singapore last year for his first summit with Trump and surprised the world by taking in the sights.



Kim's arrival in Vietnam was met with a huge welcome from the Vietnamese government as well as the people as it is the first time in 54 years for a North Korean leader to visit the country. Aside from the denuclearization negotiations, all eyes are on Kim's schedule in Vietnam. There is high anticipation over the kind of sites he may visit. It remains to be seen what kind of impression he will take from the country that was once a foe of the U.S., but now has become a friend and has grabbed the international spotlight with its swiftly growing economy.



Vietnam, which has initiated the "Doi Moi" reforms since the 1980s, is a country that can serve as a model for North Korea as it seeks a much-needed economic leap. Now U.S.-Vietnam relations are marked by burgeoning trade and people-to-people exchanges. There is hope for the U.S. and North Korea to end the years of hostilities and start a new relationship if the second Trump-Kim summit goes well and produces tangible results for peace.



We hope the openness that was not found in his predecessors signals Kim's new-found determination to join the global community and embark on a path of peace, prosperity and economic development.






By Andrew Hammond





With significant uncertainty over the outcome of their Vietnam summit, it is North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, rather than U.S. President Donald Trump, who so far appears the much bigger winner from the engagement process.







To date, Kim has made few concrete concessions to the United States with Trump touting last week as evidence of his diplomatic success with Pyongyang the recent absence of missile and nuclear testing.







At the same time, the U.S. president has called off joint military exercises between U.S. and South Korean forces; exchanged effusive letters of praise with Kim; held out the prospect of an easing of sanctions on Pyongyang if it does "something meaningful" on denuclearization; said that he is in no rush to conclude the negotiation process; and already declared that he will meet again with the North Korean leader after Vietnam.







This underlines how much Kim has already received from Trump in exchange for his ambiguous pledges to "denuclearize." And this in a context too where there is also reported evidence that North Korea is continuing uranium enrichment and has stepped up missile production.





On a personal level, for instance, the young head of state has assumed significantly higher political importance on the international stage, from erstwhile allies and previous foes alike.







Before and after last year's Singapore summit with Trump, other major powers with a stake in the question of the future of the Korean Peninsula, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, began jockeying for position as the region's military and strategic landscapes are potentially recast in what South Korean President Moon Jae-in has said is the real end of the "Cold War," more than a quarter of a century after the collapse of the Soviet Union.







One of the most spectacular features of this, at least to date, has been the remarkable pivot of key powers toward greater engagement with Kim and the Pyongyang regime. All key parties sense significant new political and economic opportunities, and potential risks, opening up under future sanctions relief.







Here, it is no coincidence that Xi has invited Kim for multiple trips to Beijing in 2018 and 2019, his first foreign tours since he assumed power in 2011. Moreover, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who has met Kim in Pyongyang, has invited the North Korean leader to visit Vladimir Putin in Russia.







The contrast between this feting of Kim, and the situation in 2017 when the Trump team was debating a pre-emptive strike against North Korea is striking. The turnaround in spiraling tensions on the peninsula since then has been as potentially important as it was unexpected by many.







The shifting geopolitical tectonic plates around Korea since the rapprochement have not just positively impacted the North, but also the South too. For instance, Moon is promoting a "New Northern Policy" which, alongside peace talks with Kim, is a key foreign relations policy driver under which his administration is seeking to improve its ties with key Eurasian neighbors.







Last year, for instance, Moon made a landmark trip to Russia, the first by a sitting South Korean president since 1999. His visit underlined that at the same time Kim is being courted by Washington, Beijing, and Moscow, the three have also been clear to consolidate ties with Seoul too.







Last May, Moon met with Trump at the White House, while Xi also saw him that same month with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for the first trilateral talks between the three nations since 2015.







In this context of change in the region, and with significant expectations surrounding the Trump-Kim Vietnam event this week, what remains unclear is how big the potential downside risks (as well as opportunities) are in play. This includes the outside possibility of tensions rising again on the peninsula should the U.S.-Koreas peace dialogue break down.







While Trump currently appears keen to have a sustained strategic dialogue with Kim, especially in advance of his potential 2020 re-election campaign, both of these two leaders' personal and political volatility cannot be underestimated.







And if Kim ultimately reneges on any key pledges in the U.S. president's eyes, the political pressure will be on Trump again to ratchet up his position against Pyongyang, despite the warm words of 2018 and early 2019.







In this scenario, Trump would potentially be under political pressure again in the United States on this issue having drawn a political "red line" as president over Pyongyang having nuclear weapons capable of striking the U.S. homeland.







And here he is well aware that missile tests in 2017 showed that Kim is close to developing a nuclear warhead capable of being fitted on to an intercontinental ballistic missile that can strike the U.S. mainland.







Taken overall, the Trump-Kim summit in Vietnam and wider grand diplomacy on the peninsula involving Washington, Beijing and Moscow following the Singapore summit underlines that the geopolitical tectonic plates are moving on the Korean Peninsula.







However, while historic change could yet be in the air, significant downside risks remain if the South-North dialogue ultimately proves a mirage, with warming of relationships potentially going into reverse.









Andrew Hammond (

) is an associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics.








By Trudy Rubin





MUNICH, Germany  The biggest security threats to America in the near future will have nothing to do with migrant caravans or terrorism or clashes with enemy forces.



At this year's Munich Security Conference, an annual meeting of global leaders and foreign and security officials, the focus was more on threats from new technologies than on conventional warfare or terrorism. Russia is already waging cyberwar on U.S. and European elections, while Washington is already engaged in a technology war with China over who will dominate 5G (fifth-generation) computer networks.



But listening to panels with titles like "The Coming Role of Artificial Intelligence in Global Affairs" and "Cyber Risks and the Financial System" was a reminder: We are on the cusp of technological changes that will shake global security in the near term. Changes that will play out not only on earth, but in space  and in earthly regions that were previously impervious to political clashes, such as the Arctic.



And changes about which most Americans have little awareness. "The intersection of geopolitics and technology is not sufficiently understood," said Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, at a Munich "Fireside Chat on Geopolitics and Technology in 2019."



So here are a few impressions from the conference on the impact of technology on security in 2019 and beyond.



As Bremmer noted, a declining Russia (with population falling and oil prices lower) is "using asymmetric capability to go after the West" with information warfare. Such cyberattacks are likely to continue, and become even more dangerous as technological gains make it easier to produce fake videos that look like the real thing.



Added Microsoft President Brad Smith: "Disinformation efforts require coordinated, multilateral response which is harder to summon." Especially in the era of "America first."



Meantime, civilian systems such as electricity, and communications are vulnerable to attack. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, former president of Estonia, recalled that "in 2007 we suffered a complete cyberattack." His country's banks, media, and government bodies were taken down by a massive cyber assault from Russian IP addresses. "We still do not have a combined approach in the West to cyberthreats," he complained. "We don't share information. We need to start moving."



At the same time, we have approached the tipping point between China and the United States in their tech battle over who will dominate 5G networks. The Trump administration is pressing its allies to ban Huawei, China's leading telecommunications producer, from building the infrastructure for their next-generation computer and phone networks from fear the Chinese military will use these systems to collect masses of sensitive data. (Huawei claims its systems have no secret governmental back door, but in China the line between private companies and the government is totally blurred.)



While China pours massive money and resources into the technology race, pushing to outstrip America in the realm of artificial intelligence, the parallel response from the White House has been mainly rhetorical. Microsoft's Smith believes we should treat the tech race with China "as a Sputnik moment," similar to the response to the Soviet space advances of the 1950s. But, as he points out, Washington responded to Sputnik by passing the National Defense Education Act and channeling enormous resources into education and research. No similar response likely now.



"Space is back," noted a speaker at a panel titled "From Cold War to Star Wars: How to Deal with the Arms Race to Space?" After years of fantasies about space wars, we may be on the verge of the real thing.



"Star Wars is a movie, but we face a new era in which we are very dependent on space," warned General Michel Friedling, Commander of the French Joint Space Command. "We are so dependent today on space for military operations. If we lose control of space assets we would lost the war on the ground, air and sea."



"There is conflict already in space," said Renata Dwan, director of the Institute for Disarmament Research at the United Nations. "There are low level hackers and terrorists who have the capability. Space has re-entered our imagination. And there is the risk of competition by great powers."



Added Friedling, "Last year for the first time China was first in launches, has around 200 satellites in space, with military application and more than 50 percent launched in last five years." (China landed on the far side of the moon this year.)



With 18 countries present in space, according to Dwan, and up to 60 commercial actors, "space becoming more competitive. We need to think what we need for rules of the road." The threat of cyberwar in space affects every aspect of our civilian lives and security.



Indeed, if there was one overriding message about the new risks posed by technological advances, it was the need for a cooperative approach by Western powers to unify responses to cyber threats from aggressive nations, hackers or terrorists. And yet, as Estonia's Ilves pointed out, "We are seeing every country go its own way." And no leadership is forthcoming from Washington.



So the threat of techno-risks and techno-wars was the talk of Munich. Welcome to a brave new world.





Trudy Rubin (trubin@phillynews.com) is a columnist and editorial-board member for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Her commentary was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.


By Gwynne Dyer





On a scale of one to 10, what are the chances that the meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb. 27 and 28 (or any subsequent meeting) will end with a clear and irreversible commitment to the denuclearization of North Korea? Zero.



What are the chances that this summit (plus lots of further negotiations) could substantially reduce the threat of war between the two participants in this week's meeting, and also between the two states on the Korean Peninsula? Quite good, actually.



Kim Jong-un, and his father and grandfather before him, have devoted enormous time and money to providing North Korea with an effective nuclear deterrent against the United States, which requires the ability to strike the American homeland. He may make all sorts of other deals, but he will never give that up.



North Korea doesn't need to match U.S. nuclear capabilities  the ability to deliver only a few nuclear weapons on American soil would be a sufficient deterrent  but Kim will be well aware of what happened to Moammar Gadhafi of Libya and Saddam Hussein of Iraq, heads of state who both died precisely because they didn't have nuclear weapons.



There is no deal available that would protect North Korea from U.S. nuclear weapons, since they can reach the North directly from the United States. No amount of local disarmament  the withdrawal of American troops from South Korea, even the withdrawal of American nuclear weapons from all of East Asia  could change that reality, and the United States is not planning to abolish its strategic nuclear deterrent.



The only safe road to the future, therefore, is a political deal that greatly reduces tensions between the two countries while acknowledging that a state of mutual nuclear deterrence will henceforward prevail between them.



Mutual deterrence is what has now obtained for a long time between the United States and its two peer rivals, Russia and China. The huge asymmetry between the power of the U.S. and North Korea does not lead to a different conclusion. Nuclear weapons are the great leveler: In practical terms, just a few are enough to deter, even if the other side has hundreds of times as many (which the United States does).



It's going to be a long negotiating process, because few Americans are ready yet to accept that this is the logic of the situation. Many would even reject it on the grounds that Kim Jong-un is crazy and might make a first strike against the United States, although there is no evidence to support that belief. Being a cruel dictator is not at all the same as being suicidal, and a nuclear attack on the United States would be suicide.



Trump almost certainly does not understand that the only successful outcome of this negotiation must be mutual deterrence. Indeed, most senior American officials, although far wiser and better informed than Trump, still do not accept that fact. But they will probably get there in the end, and the negotiations will lead them along the path.



That's why Trump's fulsome praise of the North Korean leader, however naive  "He wrote me beautiful letters and we fell in love"  is actually helpful. So is the vagueness on all the hard questions that marked the first Kim-Trump summit last June, and will doubtless mark this one as well.



Equally useful is South Korean President Moon Jae-in's parallel initiative to get an inter-Korean detente underway. Cross-border trade and travel, the reopening of the Gaeseong Industrial Park (where South Korean businesses were producing goods using hundreds of thousands of North Korean workers), and direct meetings between Moon and Kim (three in the past year) all help to build confidence about a peaceful future.



A much better relationship, not unilateral North Korean nuclear disarmament, is the right goal to aim for. The kind of concessions that could help include a gradual relaxation of the sanctions that stifle the North Korean economy and a formal peace treaty ending the 1950-53 Korean War, perhaps in return for very big cuts in North Korea's huge conventional army (twice the size of South Korea's, in a country with half the population).



Later on, there could be talks about permanently capping the number of North Korean nuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles (which is still in the dozens, not the thousands), in return for withdrawing some or all of the U.S. troops from South Korea. But leave that stuff for now and just work on confidence-building measures.



Holding this summit in Vietnam is a good move, since it will show Kim a country that has built a prosperous economy without ceasing to be a Communist-ruled dictatorship. He will be much more flexible if he believes (rightly or wrongly) that he can open up the North Korean economy without being overthrown.





Gwynne Dyer (gwynne763121476@aol.com) has worked as a freelance journalist, columnist, broadcaster and lecturer on international affairs for more than 20 years. He is the author of "Growing Pains: The Future of Democracy (and Work)." The views expressed in the above article do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.




By Younghoon David Kim





When U.S. President Donald Trump meets North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi on Wednesday and Thursday, he will find himself up against the issue that has always been the stumbling block preventing the North from coming in from the cold.



That is the question of trust.



Why, the North Koreans ask, should we trust the Americans and their South Korean allies and lay down our best weapons? Instead, why don't they accept us as a nuclear power and agree to sign a Korean War peace treaty?



Why, the Americans ask in turn, should we trust you to honor any agreement we make when you have never done so in the past?



If the solution to the Korea question is for North Korea to make a strategic refocus, from security to economic development, then this trust question becomes the central issue that needs to be addressed for the desired change to happen.



This is easier said than done and we must accept that the solution is long-term. Unfortunately, this means whatever happens at the summit, those who want immediate clarity are going to be very critical of Trump for failing to achieve it.



But the likely way forward toward a Korean War peace treaty and a possible freeze of North Korea's nuclear program would include some measure of sanctions-lifting that allows Kim to pursue the economic development he desires.



The more this development takes shape, the stronger the incentive for North Koreans not to sabotage the progress.



Among the plans under consideration, the proposed pipeline bringing Russian gas through North Korea to South Korea serves the economic and political interests of the United States and North Korea, as well as other regional players.



It is not directly beneficial to North Korea from an energy viewpoint, as North Korea uses coal and not natural gas. But the North Koreans will receive useful rental payments to allow the pipeline to cross its territory. More importantly, it is a way for North Korea to demonstrate its new reliability and to build the trust needed for expanded trade and investment.



The pipeline idea has been around since the mid-1990s, but politics has always prevented progress. North Korea's previous leader, Kim Jong-il, refused to allow feasibility studies along the 750-kilometer North Korean portion of the proposed route. Amid the current thaw, however, the chances are that his son and the new leader, Kim Jong-un, will see this project as a chance to demonstrate good faith.



Ironically, it is the United States that is lukewarm to the idea of Russians selling gas to South Korea. The stumbling block here is the sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. However, looked at more broadly, and more long-term, the pipeline project fits with strategic U.S. interests.



For example, closer ties are going to bring North Korea under greater scrutiny and pressure to improve its human rights. Faced with such pressure, the North Koreans may be tempted to misbehave. But the gas pipeline would be a major incentive for them not to overreact to criticism.



At the same time, the pipeline is significant in terms of Russian relations with the United States and the Northeast Asian region. The Russians are looking to reduce their dependence on gas sales to Europe and diversify to Asia. While the timing may not be right now, eventual U.S. approval of the pipeline project would go some way toward improving U.S.-Russia relations.



In addition, the pipeline would signal a return of a measure of Russian influence with North Korea, which would go some way toward balancing the major power influence on the Korean Peninsula.



Given this, rather than be motivated by a desire to disadvantage the Russians, the United States should support the pipeline in line with its strategic interests in the region.



The longer-term vision for the United States should be of a Northeast Asia that operates on free-market and democratic values. Such a region would be an economic powerhouse and the United States would naturally be a key member.



As a preliminary step toward bringing North Korea in from the cold and as part of a broader gas grid delivering energy to the region, the pipeline moves the region in the direction of future economic integration. The United States should be on the right side of such a positive initiative from the outset.





Younghoon David Kim is chairman of the London-based World Energy Council and chairman and CEO of the Daesung Group.


BEIJING, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping on Monday called for efforts to create a favorable legal environment for China's reform, development and stability.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the statement when presiding over and addressing the second meeting of the Commission for Overall Law-based Governance of the CPC Central Committee. Xi is the head of the commission.

Members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy heads of the commission Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu and Wang Huning also attended the meeting.

Documents including a report on the commission's work in 2018, as well as the main points of the commission's work in 2019 were adopted at the meeting.

According to a vision laid out at the 19th CPC National Congress, rule of law for the country, government and society will basically be in place in China by 2035.

The meeting called for solid efforts to advance the rule of law and let it play its role as the guarantee for consolidating foundations, stabilizing expectations and bringing long-term benefits.

The meeting emphasized the need to improve the Chinese socialist system of laws, at the heart of which is the Constitution, and work to put in place a sound system of intra-Party rules and regulations.

The meeting stressed efforts to maintain and promote sustained and sound economic growth with the high-quality development of legislation. Unified fundamental laws regarding foreign capital must be formulated, early arrangements must be made for the legal authorization for areas designated as reform and opening-up pilot zones, and a comprehensive and coordinated approach must be adopted in making laws regarding intellectual property right protection, bio-safety, land system reform and ecological civilization.

The meeting pointed out that building a government based on the rule of law was a major task, which would lead the building of a country and a society based on the rule of law.

An urgent need for law-based governance, according to the meeting, is to ensure procedure-based decision-making regarding major administrative issues.

The rule of law is the most favorable environment for business, the meeting stressed, calling for equal protection of the property rights and legitimate interests of all market entities, and efforts to train more legal professionals and develop more services for foreign-related legal affairs, in order to maintain and support the country's high-level opening-up.
Hong Kong: Central Gov't backs group ban

The Central People's Government (CPG) has issued a letter to Chief Executive Carrie Lam endorsing the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Governments decision to prohibit the operation of the Hong Kong National Party in accordance with the law.

Disclosing the contents of the letter to the media today, Mrs Lam said the CPG noted that the Secretary for Security made an order to prohibit the operation of the National Party on September 24, 2018.

On February 19, the Chief Executive in Council of the Hong Kong SAR decided and confirmed the order made by the Secretary for Security was effective. The CPG supports the decision.

The letter reiterated that in accordance with the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and the Basic Law of the HKSAR of the People's Republic of China, the HKSAR has the constitutional responsibility to safeguard national security in accordance with the law.

It also pointed out that it is the duty of the HKSAR Government and a shared obligation of all Chinese people, including the compatriots in Hong Kong, to safeguard the sovereignty and unity as well as territorial integrity of the country.

The letter also stated that the Chief Executive is accountable to the CPG and the HKSAR in accordance with the law.

The Chief Executive was also instructed to submit a report to the CPG regarding the ban on the Hong Kong National Party in accordance with the law and related circumstances.

Mrs Lam said the ban is in line with the HKSAR Governments zero tolerance stance on acts advocating Hong Kong independence.

Expressing its support in the form of a letter, the CPG gives due recognition to the work of HKSAR Government, she added.

Its request for the Chief Executive to submit a report to the CPG on the HKSAR Governments handling of circumstances in relation to the matter, manifests the constitutional responsibility of the Chief Executive, who is accountable to the CPG.

Mrs Lam also said the report will likely cover the process, the facts and the legal procedures for the prohibition of the operation of the National Party by the HKSAR Government, demonstrating the HKSAR Government acts according to the law.

The Chief Executive added that she is inclined to make the report public, but having regard to possible judicial reviews lodged by the individuals concerned, she will seek the advice of the Department of Justice on whether this can be done.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-26. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.


By Michael R. Czinkota





As the largest importer in the world, the United States obtains about 13 percent of global goods and services from other countries  diverse as China, Canada and Mexico. The United States tends to buy more than it sells. Americans have access to worldwide products and none has to go overseas to get it. But does this mean they have access to everything? And if not, what new inventions and innovations is the United States missing out on?



While everyone talks about exports, we focus on the so often maligned imports. Exports make imports possible, which enhances selection, competition, and competitiveness. With already a shining city on the hill, how can things get even better?



Our team of hands-on experts, exposed to products from around the globe. They are a group of seniors the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. We asked them to give us a closer look into what the U.S. should import more of. Students explore new motivations for U.S. imports to include goods and services from a wide array of industries ranging from fine foods to health and technology.



Technology has effectively become the center of our lives. Students believe that the US should dedicate its import efforts on innovative products that will enhance tech performance and connectivity. The United States currently can only support 4G services to telephones. Korea, on the other hand, has been using 5G recently, which has provided them the opportunity to grow faster and be more flexible than the U.S. There now is a lucrative market for portable chargers. As they are cheaper to import than to produce, the U.S. is more likely better off importing battery pack rentals from China.



The need for tech innovation is not limited to mobile phones, but includes automobiles and health. With rising auto tariffs, the United States will have decreasing access to advanced automotive engineering technologies. Specifically, foreign markets sell sleek pickup trucks, which are not available in the United States and penetrate Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Access to such advanced forms of auto engineering will benefit U.S. consumers.



Innovation will also support health sector advances. There was demand for robotic goods. Japan was credited with very advanced medical robotics. The Kibo Experiment Module allowed fixing problems on the International Space Station without having to send a human into space. Similarly, robots are used in Japan right now in order to have a more precise and efficient way of significantly treating cancer patients. There are also bionic arms for upper-limb amputees, customizable for each wearer. Children can update their arms as their bodies grow. Such technologies should be brought to the US, where many individuals have received damage to their limbs.



There also is demand for simple technologies and ideas that effectively improve the wellness and wellbeing of individuals. Asian face-masks mitigate pollution-related health risks. The Water-Leech - a tank that absorbs and retains water runoff from a shower, bath or sink  was found to be a product worth importing from Australia. This tank allows consumers to save water instead of wasting it down the drain.



Other ideas included public spaces where communities can be given the chance to exercise and socialize in order to become more active and engage with others. Colombia's Ciclovias, where some of the main roads in Bogota are closed off for cars and open to pedestrians who want to bike, walk or simply chill, inspired such leisure spaces well worth importing.



Discussed was leisure time at work: 2-3 hours for a mid-day nap, otherwise known as siestas. The Spanish's rendition of the traditional American lunch break could potentially attract more millennials into the workplace, and add massive value for employees, particularly those who work in innovative, creative industries.



Cultural innovation was not limited to the workplace. In this increasingly globalized world, it was important to understand different cultures. How do different backgrounds and upbringings result in contrasting approaches to the same situation? Students observed a need for educational exchange programs that remove students from their comfort zones in order to truly experience a variety of different cultures. New exchange programs will completely immerse students into the culture. Most relevant is the opportunity to explore underdeveloped and remote areas of the world, which will eventually be part of all's underbelly.



While the U.S. has access to a range of premium goods and services, imports can be crucial in providing the finer things in life. Students called on the need for luxury, fine foods to task Americans' taste buds. There was strong appeal of wines from France, Italy and Spain, particularly when paired with refined, imported cheese. Australian marinated goat cheese for $12 per 11oz jar will perhaps be the next luxurious brand of food.



Perceptions of luxury was not limited to goods, but extended also to services. Specifically, in Switzerland, the world-renowned Paracelsus Clinic offers unparalleled medical services that, in a perfect world, would be available in the United States as well. Paracelsus Recovery, founded in 2012, offers a unique "luxury treatment program" for clients struggling with addiction, including substance abuse and mental disorders. Patients live in a luxury residence with a team of international doctors that specialize in their condition. Attention of approximately 15 doctors is solely focused on the patient and their needs. Yet, the cost structure is expensive. At present, the recovery group charges $80,000 Swiss Francs a week, or the equivalent of $81,300.80.



Imports are good, but need to be fair. Our students understand and support such restraints, yet know that selection and diverseness is a strong pivot enriching lives.





Michael R. Czinkota (czinkotm@georgetown.edu) teaches international marketing and trade at the University of Kent in Canterbury and Georgetown University.






A snake has made its way across three continents, travelling from Australia to Scotland in a tourist's suitcase, according to local media reports Monday.







The non-venomous spotted python was found in the shoe of Moira Boxall on Friday after her return from a summertime holiday in Australia, broadcaster ABC reported.







Paul Airlie, Boxall's son-in-law, who lives with his family in Mackay, a city in Queensland, told the Australian broadcaster the find was a surprise.







"She was not at all expecting to find the snake when she was unpacking a bag when she got back to Scotland," he said.







The snake had hidden in Boxall's shoe, which had been packed inside the suitcase.







"Somehow or other it got from Mackay to Glasgow without being detected," Airlie told ABC.







"Snakes are as foreign to a Scot as snow is to a Queenslander," he added.







In the photos, shared with local media, the snake had shed its skin during the journey inside the shoe.







"I don't know exactly when it shed its skin but it had to happen on the flight which is strange," Airlie said.







The snake is in quarantine in Scotland. (DPA)






A Seoul court held a hearing Tuesday to decide whether to grant bail to former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae, who is detained pending a trial on power abuse charges.







Yang, who headed the top court from 2011-17, was arrested on Jan. 24 on charges of interfering with trials seeking political leverage in lobbying powerful officials in the previous Park Geun-hye government to support his plan to establish a separate court of appeals.







The disgraced retired justice applied for bail last Tuesday. His lawyer said Yang needs the time and physical freedom to better prepare for the trial.







He insisted that Yang presents a low flight risk as the prosecution has obtained ample evidence through a series of raids and also given his social status as a former top justice.







The documents on Yang's case presented by the prosecution to the court are known to be at least 200,000 pages long.







Prosecutors argue that he should remain confined considering the case is very grave and that Yang is very likely to seek to talk witnesses into testifying in court in his favor.







Prosecutors accuse him of having had his officials at the National Court Administration (NCA), the top court's governing body, devise detailed plans to influence trials that potentially had high political significance for the former president. Yang has denied the charges.







Yang is the first chief justice ever to have been arrested as a criminal suspect. He can be detained until July 11 pending the trial. (Yonhap)






Children raise national flags of North Korea and Vietnam at the Vietnam-Korea Friendship Kindergarten in Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb. 26. They hope to show off their singing and dancing to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during the North Korean leader's stay in the Southeast Asian country. The kindergarten was founded in 1978 with financial assistance from North Korea. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



By Kim Yoo-chul



HANOI  The United States has demanded North Korea rejoin the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) as one of the key conditions assist in verifying the "phased dismantling" of its nuclear program, two diplomatic sources said Tuesday.

"A sort of end-of-war declaration is very likely as it would be political symbolism. The confrontation seems to be over, and North Korea has been asked to rejoin the NPT," one source said on condition of anonymity.

North Korea left the treaty in 2003 after breaking its commitment not to acquire nuclear weapons. Re-entry to the NPT will restore the North's full cooperation required in inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the top United Nations nuclear watchdog.

Real progress in nuclear disarmament talks would be signaled in visible deliverables from the summit, the "core debate point," the source said.
















Children at a kindergarten in Hanoi stage a welcoming event for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who arrived in the city, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



By Kim Bo-eun



Vietnam is pulling out all stops to make the most of hosting the second summit between North Korea and the U.S. to be held today through Thursday.



The communist state with a fast-growing economy is hoping that playing host for the major summit will promote the country's image globally as one engaging in multilateral diplomacy, capable of hosting large international events.










By Park Ji-won







National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang met with the de facto leader of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, Tuesday, to discuss parliamentary cooperation between South Korea and the UAE. "Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed's visit was a return visit to that of Moon who went to the UAE last year," according to an official at the Assembly.







The crown prince will meet with President Moon Jae-in today.







"Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed's visit came in return for that of Moon last year," an official at the National Assembly said.







He last came to Korea in February 2014 and this is his fifth visit.







The official visit by Crown Prince Zayed is largely aimed at further improving relations between the two countries, Cheong Wa Dae said earlier.







The parliamentary leaders of South Korea and the UAE signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on bilateral cooperation in Abu Dhabi in December to strengthen parliamentary ties.







Moon and Amal Abdullah Al Qubaisi, speaker of the UAE's Federal National Council agreed to enhance cooperation and increase the exchange of information on legislative activities. They also agreed to exchange parliamentary delegations.







Following Crown Prince Zayed 's summit with President Moon, the two will dine at the presidential office's Sangchunjae, which will be open to a guest for the first time since it was closed for renovation last September. The two leaders will also sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on bilateral cooperation.







South Korea and the UAE upgraded their relationship to a "special strategic partnership" during President Moon's visit to the Middle Eastern country in March 2018. The UAE is the only Middle Eastern country to have established such as relationship with Seoul.






The government on Tuesday said it will grant special pardons to 4,378 people, mostly those involved in political protests and convicted of crimes for the sake of their livelihoods, this week to mark the centennial of the March 1 Independence Movement.



The beneficiaries included 19 people that were found guilty of staging violent rallies against a government plan to build a naval base on the southern Jeju Island, the Ministry of Justice said in a release.



The pardons to be conducted Thursday will be offered to seven others who took part in the protests against Ssangyong Motor Co.'s restructuring plan that entailed a huge layoff of its workers.



About 50 others included the demonstrators who took part in protests against the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system, and a controversial 2015 agreement between the previous conservative government and Tokyo regarding Japan's wartime sexual enslavement of women.



It is the second time the Moon Jae-in government has granted amnesty to convicted offenders. The government announced pardons to some 6,400 people in late 2017, the president's first year in office.



The list, finalized at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, did not include the names of some high-profile figures who had been anticipated as possible beneficiaries, such as former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook and Han Sang-kyun, former leader of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, a hard-line umbrella labor group.



Lee Seok-ki, a former lawmaker of a now-defunct progressive party who's in prison for treason, was also not on the amnesty list, despite continued calls from the liberal bloc.



As it did with the pardons in 2017, the government stuck to keeping powerful business tycoons and public officials off the list, especially those imprisoned for corruption.



The government also excluded those convicted of drunk driving, given the strong hostile public sentiment toward DUI offenders after a series of fatal car crashes by drunk drivers led to the recent amendment of DUI-related laws. (Yonhap)








South Korea's six largest cities are planning to ask the central government to cover losses incurred through free subway riders, officials said Tuesday.







Subway-related officials from Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Gwangju and Daejeon met last Friday to discuss ways to make up for rising losses stemming from legal free rides for seniors 65 and older, and disabled and meritorious people.







The mounting losses are imposing increasingly heavy burdens on the governments of the six major cities, officials said.







Free rides for the elderly were introduced in May 1984, during the presidency of Chun Doo-hwan, and expanded later to include the disabled and meritorious people.







The number of free-riding passengers increased by an annual average of 2.9 percent between 2013 and 2017.







In 2017, 440 million people, or 17.5 percent of total passengers, rode subways in the six cities free of charge, resulting in 592.5 billion won ($530 million) in lost fares. The lost income accounted for 57 percent of the combined deficits of 1.04 trillion won for the seven subway operators in the six cities.







The municipalities insist they are having difficulties in subway safety management due to worsening financial problems linked to free riders.







They say it is logical for the central government to pay for the free rides because the system was introduced by presidential order or national laws.







But the central government is reportedly reluctant to heed the requests, saying local governments are basically responsible for shouldering losses from the rides.







A revision of the Urban Railroad Act mandating the central government make up for losses incurred by legal free rides has been pending in the National Assembly since March 2017.







An official at the Seoul Metropolitan Government said the six major cities will make concerted efforts for the passage of the revision before 2020. (Yonhap)






HANOI, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Over the weekend, Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam, was gearing up for the second summit between top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump slated to be held here on Feb. 27-28.

A main street in downtown Hanoi was lined with the national flags of the DPRK, Vietnam and the United States attached to lamp posts.

On a bulletin erected near a hotel which will accommodate participants of the summit reads the theme of the historic meeting, "Partnership for Sustainable Peace."

Some sharp-minded businesses, including restaurants, bars and even barber shops, have launched promotional campaigns using the theme of the upcoming summit.

The streets of Hanoi seemed to remain calm as city dwellers continued to enjoy their weekend and tourists buzzed around well-known attractions.

But there were also increasing signs that the host was beefing up security. Gun-wielding soldiers could be seen on top of some tall buildings. Security barriers were installed outside several hotels where the leaders may stay. On Sunday afternoon, traffic control was imposed on one of the major roads in Hanoi.

Nearly 3,000 reporters registered for the summit have arrived, looking around for clues of information.

Hanoi was granted the title of the "City for Peace" by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1999 for its contributions to the struggle for peace as well as its development that meet the organization's standards of equality in the community, urban construction, living environment protection, culture, and education promotion and care for young generations.

The Vietnamese government and its people see the summit as a way to elevate the country on the international stage.

"I think this is a good opportunity. First, it demonstrates the important role of Vietnam and our strong willingness in contributing to the sustainable peace in the region and in the world," Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang told Xinhua on Saturday.

"This is also a good opportunity for Vietnam and the city of Hanoi to promote their images, cooperation potentials, development, investment and tourism to the world," she said.

The Vietnamese are confident that they can facilitate a smooth summit following the successful holding of the 2017 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Da Nang, a coastal resort of Vietnam.

"Vietnam has successfully hosted the APEC summit when the world leaders gathered here. The international community has spoken highly of Vietnam's security," said Hoang Nam Son, a 72-year-old resident of Hanoi.

"Based on that, the Vietnamese people are confident that the upcoming DPRK-U.S. summit will be a success," he said.

Some analysts see technical reasons behind the decision of the DPRK and the United States in choosing Vietnam for the second summit.

Both countries keep embassies in Hanoi, facilitating the preparations for the summit. Meanwhile, Vietnam maintains good relations with both sides.

The temperature in Hanoi remained cool over the weekend. But the weather forecast said it will get warmer in the run-up to the summit, just as the summit itself.
Singapore Airlines' new Airbus A350-900 jet. The carrier will start providing daily flights between Incheon and Singapore with the state-of-the-art aircraft from March 1. / Courtesy of Singapore Airlines



By Kim Hyun-bin



The air travel market between Korea and Singapore will become more competitive as the Korean government granted flight rights to two local budget carriers, Jeju Air and Eastar Jet, Monday, which will start providing flights from Busan to Singapore in the near future.



So far, Singapore Airlines, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines provide daily flights between Singapore and Incheon.



The recent increase in competition in the region comes as no concern for Singapore Airlines, which says its products and services are differentiated from the local budget airlines. It is also scheduled to launch flight services four times a week between Busan and the Southeast Asian city state starting May 2.



"There will be a different brand and product differentiation. Our brand reputation and products are different from low-cost carriers," Seah Chee Chian, Singapore Airlines' general manager for Korea, told The Korea Times, Tuesday. "I think we will be able to have our own market share and grow it, and hopefully we can increase the four-times-a-week flights to daily in the future."



Singapore Airlines enjoys a profitable market share in Korea, with an average seat occupancy reaching nearly 90 percent. But Seah believes the company's profitability will rise even further when it launches flights from Busan.



To stand out in the competition, starting March 1, the airline will introduce a new medium-haul A350-900 aircraft once a day between Incheon and Singapore. The new fuel-efficient aircraft can accommodate 263 economy-class passengers and 40 business-class seats.



"We are bringing in more planes like the A350 and we plan to bring in more new planes this year to increase seats and save fuel costs. The A350 itself saves fuel in the double digits," Seah said at a press conference in Seoul.



The A350s are known to reduce fuel burn and emissions by 25 percent as well as having significantly lower maintenance costs compared to other planes of a similar size.






By Steven L. Shields







Perhaps it was unavoidable. After all, foreigners residing in Korea were subject to the prevailing legal and government authorities, just as was everyone else. But the excitement was simply too much for three-year-old Samuel H. Moffett, whose father, Rev. S. A. Moffett, was president of Soongsil College in Pyongyang. When Japanese troops burst into their home, located next to the college, little Samuel burst out with "manse."



He did not understand the cheer was a forbidden expression of the independence movement. The troops were looking for documents and demonstrators hiding from the law. The well-known missionary family was suspect.







In the college playing field, a ruckus ensued as Japanese soldiers were trying to take down the then-forbidden Korean flag. Thousands had gathered for a demonstration and had illegally raised the flag on the school's flagpole. The elder Moffett defused the situation by taking it down himself and promising the crowd he would keep it safe until such a time Korea could fly the flag again in freedom.









Rev. Moffett was a member of the

, the Seoul-based Korean studies association founded in 1900. The list of members for 1919 is a roll-call of some of the most important foreigners in the country at the time. There were businesspeople, diplomats and lots of missionaries. Some of the missionaries had been in Korea since the mid-1880s; some had been close confidants of the recently deceased Emperor Gojong.







None were engaged in politics directly. Even the few remaining diplomats were consular officials since all embassies had been closed in 1910 with Japan's annexation of Korea. Only a handful of names on the RASKB membership list are Japanese, including Isoh Yamagata, editor of the Japanese government newspaper "Seoul Press." Yamagata also served a term on the RASKB Council.









The RASKB published only three Japanese-authored papers during the 1910-45 Japanese occupation (

). One is a seemingly innocuous paper on the history of coinage, with photos of extant samples, from throughout Korea's history.







As he introduces his topic, Dr. M. Ichihara notes that it has been his duty for many years to find and destroy all old coins of Korea and replace them with the new ones of the Japanese Empire. Such destruction of antiquities was awful. But after a reasonably competent (but quite incomplete) catalog and recitation, his conclusion was cringe-worthy: "With the restoration of peace between Japan and Russia, [Korea] was made a protectorate of Japanfor Old Korea ends here and New Chosen begins its career with new vigor and strength as part of the Empire of Japan."







Yamagata's paper on the 1592-98 Imjin War was generally critical of Japan's cruelty during the war, but his assessment of the outcome and history since then was perhaps even more cringe-worthy than that of Ichihara. Yamagata said, "Before that disastrous invasion Korea was the equal, if not the superior, of Japan in wealth, in culture and in civilization. That war was a death blow to poor Korea and the country since has been growing weaker and weaker. Today we are endeavoring to revive KoreaWe are today doing our best to atone for the sins committed by our ancestors in Korea three centuries ago."







Midori Komatsu, a lawyer, was director of foreign affairs for the Japanese government in Korea when he gave his paper in 1912. He did not attempt to be scholarly. He narrated legends and myths in such a way as to make sure his listeners understood that his position, and that of his government, was that Korea had been anciently and rightly should be in modern times an inherent part of the Japanese Empire.







Komatsu argued, "It is a well-known fact that Empress Jingo, the 15th imperial ruler of Japan conquered the three Han kingdoms in the Korean peninsula in the third Christian century[they] were made Japanese territory" Of course, he continued, such facts were long ago erased from Korean history. Nonetheless, he argued, "it is reasonable to conclude that the Japanese and Korean peoples formed for a long time one and the same nation. The recent annexation of Korea by Japan is therefore not the incorporation of two different countriesbut it may rather be said to be the reunion of two sections of the one and same nation after a long period of separation"







Komatsu applauded his government for relieving the Korean people of an arbitrary and increasingly lawless government, replacing it with a more humane administration that saw all people as equal, and afforded justice and lawfulness to the Koreans  which brought peace of mind and saved the Koreans from indolence.







RASKB records are innocuous. There are no comments about papers delivered to the society at its meetings. It's difficult for us to know the mindsets of the diverse individuals who attended and heard this paper, or read it later in printed form. The response of the attendees was likely little more than polite applause. For a scholarly organization to do anything more would have been a difficult challenge. Like all who were resident in Korea, they were subject to the prevailing laws. Probably because of the high numbers of missionaries who were RASKB members, Japanese authorities watched the society carefully, especially after March 1, 1919, and well into the early 1940s when all Westerners were expelled from Korea.







Sadly, Rev. Moffett, who defiantly retrieved the outlawed Korean flag and kept it for the day Korea once again had freedom, died in 1938, never seeing the end of the war in 1945 that liberated the Korean people. He likely would have rejoiced that the grassroots independence movement kept on throughout all the difficult times until on Aug. 15, 1945, the Japanese Empire was brought to its knees and the Taegukgi once again flew proudly from the rooftops.







Steven L. Shields, a retired cleric, serves as a vice president of the Korea Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (www.raskb.com) and is a columnist for The Korea Times.
Lee Jong-rak, a pastor of Jusarang Community Church, has been taking care of abandoned babies through baby box since 2009, saving more than 1,500 newborns. Korea Times photo by Jung Hae-myoung



By Jung Hae-myoung



Lee Jong-rak, the pastor of Jusarang Community Church, received a desperate phone call at 3:20 a.m. in April 2007.



"Over the phone, a woman kept apologizing and saying she left her baby in front of the church door," Lee said.



When he went outside, a cat jumped from a fish box in front of the door. Inside the box was a baby with a cold body. Lee said she died when he hugged her to his chest.



"Until 2009, many babies were abandoned in places like garbage boxes, bathrooms and subway station lockers," Lee said. "One day I saw a news article that the Czech Republic has a baby box for discarded babies."



Lee immediately adopted the idea and became the first to establish a baby box in Korea. He started in 2009 and has been running it for over 10 years so that parents who cannot afford to raise a child can put babies in a safe place as a last resort.



"It was to save just one more life," he said.





Baby box offers a space with heat for newborns to stay warm when they are abandoned, and a bell for the mothers to ring when they leave the child. / Korea Times photo by Jung Hae-myoung
This Jan. 28, 2019 photo shows U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton takes questions from reporters at the White House in Washington, D.C. UPI-Yonhap



U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton is in Hanoi for President Donald Trump's second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, his spokesman said Tuesday.



There had been speculation that the hawkish adviser had been left out of Trump's delegation, because his name was not on a list of officials distributed by the White House.



Bolton's spokesman, Garrett Marquis, confirmed in an email that Bolton was already in the Vietnamese capital ahead of the president's scheduled 9:15 p.m. arrival.






North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un visits the North Korean embassy in Hanoi, Tuesday, ahead of the second U.S.-North Korean summit. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited the country's embassy in Hanoi on Tuesday afternoon, hours after arriving here for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.



Kim left his hotel by his bulletproof limousine at around 5:03 p.m. and arrived at the embassy just a few minutes later. As the car stopped in front of the main gate, he was seen disembarking and walking into the compound. He was surrounded by a team of bodyguards dressed in black suits.






U.S. President Donald Trump disembarks from Air Force One at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on Tuesday, upon his arrival in Vietnam for a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. AFP-Yonhap

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, visits the North Korean embassy in the Vietnamese capital city of Hanoi, Tuesday evening, about four hours after he checked into the Melia Hanoi Hotel at 1:00 p.m. (KST). Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



Kim Jong-un visits North Korean embassy in Hanoi

By Kim Yoo-chul, Lee Min-hyung



HANOI  U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrived in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, Tuesday, ahead of their second summit scheduled for today and tomorrow.



Trump arrived at Noi Bai International Airport for the two days of meetings; while Kim checked into the Melia Hanoi Hotel around 1 p.m. (KST), after a 65-hour train ride that passed through southern China.



Four hours later at around 5:02 p.m. he left in an armored limousine to visit the North Korean Embassy, arriving a few minutes later. Kim, accompanied by his sister Kim Yo-jong, chief North Korean nuclear negotiator Kim Yong-chol and his chief of staff Kim Chang-son stayed for just under an hour.



The North Korean leader will be staying in the Presidential Suite on the 22nd floor of the hotel. The Melia has been labeled a security zone by the Vietnamese government with access to the 17th through 22nd floors denied.



The hotel had already been booked by the White House press corps, but minutes after Kim arrived at the Dong Dang Railway Station on the Vietnamese border, the government informed them it would house the North Korean leader. The journalists were relocated to a shared work space set up for visiting journalists at the Viet Xo Friendship Cultural Labour Palace, a giant Soviet-era edifice a few blocks from the Melia.



Officials gave no details about the summit, which the world is watching closely, or Kim's schedules during his stay in Vietnam, which may run through March 1.



According to multiple sources here, the North Korean leader will visit the famed Hanoi Opera House, near the Metropole Hotel, late Wednesday for a "social dinner" with Trump. Kim Chang-son previously visited and inspected the site with U.S. officials. The chief of staff has been here for some time and has inspected various venues.



Before the dinner, at which Trump and Kim will each be accompanied by two guests and interpreters, Kim Jong-un will have a brief "one-on-one conversation" with Trump, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters on Air Force One.



Trump and Kim plan to meet several times for advanced talks on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.









Meetings during the second day of the summit will be held at the Metropole Hotel, although officials there said they "weren't in a position" to comment on anything about the summit.





The motorcade transporting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un makes it way down a street in Hanoi, Vietnam, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019. Kim is in town for a summit with President Donald Trump. AP-Yonhap
North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un sits in his vehicle after arriving at Dong Dang railway station, Vietnam, at the border with China, Tuesday. Reuters-Yonhap



By Kim Ji-soo



Traveling more than 4,000 kilometers and 65 hours to take his first step in Vietnam, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un disembarked at Dong Dang Railway Station, Tuesday, looking confident and authoritative.



He was accompanied on his armored green train by a top-level North Korean entourage that included his sister Kim Yo-jong, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party Kim Yong-chol, who has held ministerial-level talks with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, senior party aide Ri Su-yong and Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho. North Korean first lady Ri Sol-ju did not accompany him.



An interpreter was seen rushing to his side, as Kim met with a long line of Vietnamese officials.









He then traveled to Hanoi in a Mercedez-Benz to the Hotel Melia that had strongly been rumored to be his accommodation during his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, and an official friendly visit upon the invitation of Vietnamese leader Nguyen Phu Trong.



As the world apprehensively watches what will emerge from the two leaders' talks, Kim was, from another aspect, repeating a similar visit by his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea. The elder Kim visited Vietnam in 1958 and 1964. Kim Il-sung kept his country on the path of "self-reliant" Juche, while the young Kim Jong-un, educated in Switzerland, has watchers keenly anticipating whether he will adopt, like "fellow communist" nation Vietnam, reforms toward a free market.





Residents in the border city of Dong Dang in Vietnam's Lang Son Province welcome visiting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his entourage at Dong Dang Railway Station, Tuesday, a day before his two-day summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi. Yonhap





Vietnamese kindergarteners wear North Korean flag stickers on their cheeks at the Vietnam-North Korea Friendship Kindergarten in Hanoi, Tuesday, to celebrate the arrival of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The kindergarten was established in March 8, 1978 with assistance from the North. Enrollment there started out with 120 students, but has now grown to 500. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk




In this image made from Japan's TBS TV video on early Tuesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, a habitual smoker, takes a pre-dawn smoke break at the train station in Nanning, China, hours before his arrival in Vietnam for his high-stakes summit with President Donald Trump over resolving the international standoff over the North's nuclear weapons and missiles. TBS/JNN-AP-Yonhap





North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrives at Dong Dang Railway Station in Dong Dang, Lang Son Province in Vietnam, Tuesday, to attend the second U.S.-North Korea summit. AFP-Yonhap



Trump, Kim to have 'social dinner' on Feb. 27









By Lee Min-hyung



HANOI  North Korean leader Kim Jong-un started his official visit to Vietnam's capital Hanoi, Tuesday, that will include a series of diplomatic engagements and visits to major manufacturing facilities here.

Kim spent 65 hours on a heavily armored train traversing China before arriving at Dong Dang Railway Station on the Vietnam-China border at around 8:10 a.m.

Upon exiting his bulletproof green train, Kim was greeted by a group of ranking Vietnamese officials and an honor guard. He then made his way to a black Mercedes sedan in front of the station.

Kim smiled, looking relaxed despite the days-long travel from Pyongyang to Hanoi.

The sedan then took the young dictator to Hanoi where he will hold a two-day summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Kim is staying in the Melia Hanoi Hotel located in downtown Hanoi during the summit. Starting this week, the Vietnamese government stepped up security around the hotel.

Those who not staying at the hotel are not allowed access, with local police and military officers providing the highest level of security.

"A security scanner will be installed in our hotel lobby as part of diplomatic protocol due to the visit of a head of state staying at our hotel," the hotel said in a note to its guests.

Armed soldiers and vehicles were seen patrolling the hotel to ensure the security of Trump and Kim during their stay in the Vietnamese capital.

Speculation was rampant that Kim would visit a Samsung Electronics factory in Thai Nguyen in northern Vietnam en route to the Melia Hanoi Hotel; however, he made his way straight to the hotel arriving at around 1 p.m. (KST)

Kim later visited the North Korean embassy, staying for around one hour, and talking to officials there.

Kim and Trump will start their second summit today with dinner together before discussing denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula tomorrow, according to the White House.

Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the two leaders will each bring two guests to the dinner. The venue has not been revealed, but it is likely to be the Hanoi Opera House, as pre-summit delegations from both sides have inspected the site.

On Thursday, the two leaders may sign an agreement on denuclearization of the peninsula, and could unveil a "Hanoi Agreement" later in the day.

After wrapping up the second summit with Trump, Kim is likely to visit a series of manufacturing sites in Vietnam, as the country is seen as a possible role model for economic development. Kim has expressed his determination to open up his country's closed economy, just as Vietnam did in the past.

Kim's possible tour sites include the industrial port city of Haiphong, and Halong Bay, one of the country's most famous tourist attractions.








By Park Si-soo







North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has picked the five-star Melia Hotel as his resting place during the Hanoi summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. And now attention is on which room is reserved for him.







Nothing is known about this, but the most reasonable assumption would be that he is staying in the hotel's most expensive penthouse suite.







South Korean newspaper Joongang Daily on Tuesday offered a rare glimpse into the Melia Hotel's penthouse suite. The room is on the 22nd floor and is numbered 2201.















"Room 2201 is the most expensive and luxurious room in the hotel," a hotel janitor was quoted as saying. It is reportedly as big as "two or three regular rooms combined."







Joongang said the room has a spacious bedroom, a living room and a separate room for business meetings.


The Vietnam-North Korea Friendship Kindergarten told The Korea Times photographer Tuesday that it hopes North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will drop by during his visit to Hanoi for his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump that starts Wednesday. But a visit to the kindergarten isn't known to be on Kim's official agenda while in Hanoi. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
BEIJING, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- What will Beijing be like as China is developing rapidly to become a modernized country? And how will the capital city spearhead regional development and blaze a new trail of balanced, high-quality growth?

These questions, among others, were on the minds of China's decision-makers when the country initiated a key strategy in 2014 to coordinate the development of Beijing, its neighboring port city Tianjin, and Hebei Province -- a regional city cluster called "Jing-jin-ji."

"The core of integrated development of 'Jing-jin-ji' lies in the concepts of optimization, adjustment and streamlining, all for the sake of pursuing healthier development," said Li Xiaojiang, a member of the expert committee advising the coordinated development of the "Jing-jin-ji" region and former head of the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design.

Today, with a better economic structure, a cleaner environment and improved public services, the "Jing-jin-ji" region is exploring a new growth mode in densely-populated areas and becoming a model for urban-rural coordinated development for the rest of the country.

"With the same objective and coordinated measures, the three places have complemented each other's advantages in a mutually beneficial manner and made steady progress toward achieving a new mode of coordinated growth," said a senior official with the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner.

NEW WINGS TO BEIJING

A prominent task of the "Jing-jin-ji" strategy is to move the non-capital functions out of Beijing to treat "urban ills" in the Chinese capital, such as traffic jams and pollution.

According to a guideline released in April 2015, the key functions of politics, culture, international communication and technical innovation will be prioritized, while other sectors will be moved out of Beijing.

Measures to clear space in Beijing include the closing of manufacturing businesses and the relocation of hospitals and schools. In 2018, a total of 656 manufacturing companies in the city were shut down, and more than 200 markets and logistics centers were relocated, according to Beijing Mayor Chen Jining.

In 2019, more than 300 manufacturing firms and 66 markets and logistics centers, usually high-polluting or low-end industries, will be phased out or moved to nearby regions.

Another major move was shifting administrative departments of the Beijing municipal government to Tongzhou District in the city's eastern suburbs.

In January this year, four key municipal organs of Beijing moved their offices from the downtown area to Tongzhou. The sub-center aims to accommodate 1.3 million permanent residents by 2035, according to a detailed plan for the sub-center's development approved by the central authorities.

Wang Kai, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Urban Planning and Design, hailed the development of the sub-center as an important step for regional development, stating that many metropolises around the world have planned and built sub-centers to realize sustainable development.

While Tongzhou has accommodated the administrative departments of the Beijing municipal government, Xiongan in Hebei Province will be the location for many of Beijing's non-capital functions and relocated population.

In April 2017, China announced the establishment of the Xiongan New Area, which, about 100 km southwest of Beijing, spans three counties in Hebei.

According to a master plan published in April 2018, Xiongan is another new area of "national significance" following the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and Shanghai Pudong New Area. It will be a new home for Beijing's colleges, hospitals, business headquarters, and financial and public institutions.

Often billed as China's "city of the future," Xiongan has been designed to become a zone for innovation, a digital city synchronized with a brick-and-mortar one, and a livable and business-friendly area.

Chinese planners envisioned that by the middle of the century, Xiongan would become a significant part of the world-class "Jing-jin-ji" city cluster, effectively performing Beijing's non-capital functions.

"Xiongan and Tongzhou are adding two new 'wings' to Beijing, and providing a Chinese solution to big city malaise," said Wu Hequan, deputy head of the expert committee advising the coordinated development of the "Jing-jin-ji" region and academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

TRANSPORT NETWORKS

More convenient transportation is connecting Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei closer, laying the foundation for integrated regional development.

More than 800 roads and expressways have been upgraded in the three places. Several new rail projects were completed, such as the extension of the intercity railway between Beijing and Tianjin, the rail between Tianjin and Baoding in Hebei, and the one linking the cities of Zhangjiakou and Tangshan in Hebei.

By 2018, more than 40 inter-province bus lines, totaling 2,800 km in length, had been in operation between Beijing and 17 neighboring districts or cities in Hebei.

The high-speed railway line connecting Beijing and Zhangjiakou, Hebei, will be in operation this year, while the expressway between Beijing's Yanqing District and Zhangjiakou's Chongli, two major venues for the 2022 Winter Olympics, will also begin service, according to the government of Hebei.

Construction on a high-speed railway connecting Tianjin and Beijing's new airport in Daxing District will start in 2019, according to the municipal government of Tianjin.

More connectivity is also expected in the air. The Beijing Daxing International Airport, sitting at the junction of Beijing's Daxing District and Langfang in Hebei, has recently completed several flight checks.

The Tangshan airport in Hebei has been expanded, and the Cangzhou airport in Hebei has been put into use. A strong and coordinated air transport system is to be established in the area.

GREENER GROWTH

During the past five years, Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei have taken concerted efforts to tackle air and water pollution, achieving tangible results.

In 2018, 13 major cities in the region had seen their PM2.5 density drop by nearly 50 percent from that of 2013.

The share of days with good air quality in the region stood at 50.5 percent last year, a year-on-year increase of 1.2 percentage points, while the PM2.5 density of the region dropped by 11.8 percent year on year to 60 micrograms per cubic meter.

More than 32 million mu (2.13 million hectares) of trees have been added to the region since 2014.

Major projects have also been launched to promote industrial transfer and upgrading in the region.

A new auto plant of Beijing Hyundai has been put into use in Cangzhou, Hebei. Han Guisheng, head of the Cangzhou factory, said the plant has created over 6,000 jobs and brought about 20 supporting companies to Cangzhou, creating an auto industry cluster in the city.

Wu Xiushan, deputy director of the development and reform commission of Tianjin Binhai New Area, said the new area has brought in 1,699 projects from Beijing, with a contracted investment of over 392.06 billion yuan (about 57 billion U.S. dollars), since 2015.

During the past five years, Hebei has brought in 1.8 trillion yuan (about 264 billion U.S. dollars) of capital from Beijing and Tianjin, accounting for more than a half of the total capital from outside the province.

Tianjin has received over 640 billion yuan (about 94 billion U.S. dollars) of investment from enterprises in Beijing, accounting for 40 percent of the total domestic investment the city received.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi Tuesday for the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Reuters-Yonhap



U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday, hailing this week's second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as an "important opportunity" for denuclearization and peace.



Pompeo traveled to Hanoi on his own official aircraft, separate from Air Force One, and landed hours before Trump's scheduled arrival.



"Made it to Vietnam for President @realDonaldTrump's #HanoiSummit with the DPRK," Pompeo tweeted, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "Will be important opportunity to make progress on Singapore Summit commitments of transformed relations, building lasting peace, and complete denuclearization."



Trump and Kim are due to meet in Hanoi on Wednesday and Thursday to follow up on their first summit in Singapore in June.



The two leaders agreed then to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for U.S. security guarantees.






President Donald Trump with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday during their first meetings at the Capella hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore. AP



U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will kick off their highly anticipated summit with a brief one-on-one and a "social dinner" on Wednesday, the White House said.



Trump and Kim are set to meet in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the denuclearization of the regime.



Kim arrived at Vienam's Dong Dang station Tuesday morning and Trump is expected to arrive in Hanoi later in the day.



After a brief one-on-one and greetings on Wednesday evening, the two men will each be joined by two officials for a social dinner, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said.






U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One before departing from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, February 25, 2019, as he travels to Hanoi, Vietnam for a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. AFP



U.S. President Donald Trump will begin his second summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un with a private dinner Wednesday.



The White House said Monday that the leaders' two-day meeting in Hanoi will begin with an official greeting and a meal.



Trump will be joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. Kim will also have two aides present and both men will have translators.



Trump and Kim will then hold a series of official meetings Thursday.



Trump is set to land in Vietnam late Tuesday and will have meetings with the host country's president and prime minister Wednesday before seeing Kim.



Trump and Kim first met last June in Singapore, a summit that yielded powerful images but few concrete steps for North Korea's denuclearization.





Air Force One, carrying US President Donald Trump, takes off from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, February 25, 2019. AFP





U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One prior to departure from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, February 25, 2019. AFP
In this image made from Japan's TBS TV video on early Tuesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, a habitual smoker, takes a pre-dawn smoke break at the train station in Nanning, China, hours before his arrival in Vietnam for his high-stakes summit with President Donald Trump over resolving the international standoff over the North's nuclear weapons and missiles. TBS/JNN-AP-Yonhap







North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un waves as he arrives at the Dong Dang railway station, Vietnam, at the border with China, Tuesday. Reuters-Yonhap





North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un waves from a car as he departs for Hanoi after arriving at the Dong Dang railway station, Vietnam, at the border with China, Tuesday. Yonhap



North Korean leader Kim Jong-un checked into a Hanoi hotel Tuesday on the eve of his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump expected to focus on trading his nuclear program for economic and political rewards.



A bulletproof Mercedes S600 Pullman Guard carrying Kim arrived at the five-star Melia hotel in downtown Hanoi after a two-hour, 170-kilometer road trip from a train station near Vietnam's border with China. Kim reached the station earlier following a 66-hour, 4,500km train journey from Pyongyang.



Kim is scheduled to meet with Trump on Wednesday and Thursday for the first time in eight months.



Security has been tightened to a maximum level around the hotel, with police and armored guards deployed close to it and a number of TV camera crews staked out.



Kim's armored, green-colored train, adorned with yellow stripes, made a stop at the Dong Dang station near the border with China around 8:10 a.m. He showed up in his trademark black Mao-style suit at the station, beamed a smile and waved to school kids waiting for him before being whisked away in the sedan.





A view of the railway station ahead of the arrival of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un in Dong Dang, Vietnam, at the border with China, Tuesday. Reuters-Yonhap







Members of an honor guard prepare to welcome North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un ahead of his arrival at the Dong Dang railway station, Vietnam, at the border with China, Tuesday. Reuters-Yonhap



He became the first North Korean leader to visit Vietnam in 55 years since the trip by his grandfather Kim Il-sung, who founded the communist nation.



Kim will also pay an "official goodwill visit" to Vietnam to strengthen Pyongyang-Hanoi ties, which heralds his meetings with top Vietnamese leaders before or after talks with Trump.



He's apparently following the footsteps of his grandfather, who's known as his role model, by taking the train trip through China, observers said.



Trump is flying from Washington, D.C. and is due to land at Noi Bai International Airport in the Vietnamese capital Tuesday night. Trump expressed optimism about his upcoming bargaining with Kim.



"Heading over to Vietnam for my meeting with Kim Jong Un. Looking forward to a very productive Summit!" he tweeted aboard Air Force One.

Before departing for Hanoi, he also said, "We want denuclearization, and I think he'll have a country that will set a lot of records for speed in terms of an economy."



The two leaders are scheduled to begin the summit with a one-on-one meeting and a social dinner, to be joined by their top aides, in Hanoi on Wednesday night. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is already in Hanoi.



The initial meeting is expected to set the tone for this week's event, another watershed not only in their personal chemistry but also in the nascent peace process.



Kim and Trump will have follow-up talks the next day in a bid to flesh out the details of their June 12 accord in Singapore, in which they agreed to work together for "complete denuclearization," transformation of Pyongyang-Washington relations and a peace regime.



There has been little substantive progress, however, in the process amid disputes over what denuclearization measures by the North and corresponding steps by the U.S. should be taken and their sequencing.



The summit location remains unannounced amid speculation that the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel right next to the government guesthouse, where North Korea's advance team is staying, has been chosen.





A train believed to be carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is seen at a train station in the Chinese border city of Nanning, China, in this photo taken by Kyodo, Tuesday. Kyodo-Reuters-Yonhap



One summit focus will be whether they can produce a joint declaration calling for concrete steps toward denuclearization by North Korea and corresponding U.S. measures that satisfy Pyongyang.



The North's main Yongbyon nuclear complex is seen as a major card the North Korean leader could play in return for such incentives as the proclamation of a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War and the continued suspension of major combined military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea.



Washington's priority is to freeze the North's weapons of mass destruction program and delivery means, according to U.S. officials. They also hope for verifiable dismantlement of the Yongbyon facilities and a clear denuclearization road map.



Posting liaison officers in each other's capital is also being considered. As he did in Singapore, Trump, a former businessman, is likely to dangle the carrot of a bright future for the impoverished nation if it ceases its nuclear weapons and missile programs.



Kim is expected to call on the U.S. to lower its guard and relax sanctions on Pyongyang.



The format in which they could announce their agreement, if they reach one, is also grabbing attention. Observers do not rule out the possibility of a joint press conference, a routine post-summit ceremony for Trump and other foreign leaders.



Meanwhile, Kim's entourage includes his influential sister, Kim Yo-jong, but he's not accompanied by the first lady, Ri Sol-ju.



The U.S. had planned to set up a press room for White House correspondents at the Melia hotel but decided to relocate it to the International Media Center at the Cultural Friendship Palace, citing a "technical" issue.



Kim will likely stay there through Sunday, given the hotel's prior notice that its own security measures, including the X-ray scanning of visitors' belongings, will last until that day. (Yonhap)




By Park Hyong-ki





Woori Bank's Bangladesh branch has forged ties with two of that country's biggest players in digital finance as part of efforts to enter into the region's retail banking market, according to the Seoul-based bank, Tuesday.







The flagship bank of Woori Financial Group will seek close cooperation with Bankcomparebd and bKash to offer customer-tailored services for Bangladeshi customers.







Bankcomparebd is a startup that offers a platform where consumers can log on and compare financial products and services offered by local companies in the region.







bKash is a digital wallet startup that provides overseas money wire services, as well as deposits and withdrawals connected with individual bank accounts.







Both are top players in their respective business areas there.







Woori Bank said its six branches will be connecting with Bankcomparebd to offer loans and services matched with local consumers' needs through big data analysis and marketing.







With bKash's 18 stores and 30 million users, Woori will be providing wire transfers, and savings deposits and withdrawal services.







The Korean lender made inroads into Bangladesh in 1996, setting up a base to offer corporate financing to Korean companies seeking to enter and operating in the South Asia market.







It said it is seeking to expand its retail services in mortgages and auto financing.







"We will continue to forge and expand our regional alliances to boost digital banking," Woori Bank said in a press statement.







The Bangladesh economy has been growing 6 percent on average over the past years on the back of young demographics, the bank noted, citing its immense opportunities.







Woori Financial Group Chairman and Woori Bank CEO Sohn Tae-seung recently said that his companies will invest 3 trillion won ($2.7 billion) over the next three years not only to invest in financial technology startups, but also boost its capability in cloud computing and software engineering.


The Financial Supervisory Service headquarters in Seoul / Yonhap



By Jhoo Dong-chan



Financial authorities will tighten monitoring on foreigners' unfair trading practices this year, an official said Tuesday.



Unveiling its regulatory directions for 2019, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said it will crack down on activities that violate market principles.



The move comes after a dramatic growth in the number of unfair trades by foreign investors.



"The agency exposed 27 unfair trading practices last year, up 17 from the previous year's 10 cases," an FSS official said. "Of them, some foreign investors were found to have engaged in high-frequency trading by utilizing computer algorithms to gain excessive profits in the short term."



High-frequency trading refers to an automated trading platform used often by large investment banks, institutional investors and hedge funds to utilize computerized algorithms to transact a large number of orders at extremely high speeds.



In August, the Korea Exchange (KRX) investigated the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Seoul office for allegedly disturbing the stock market through its high-frequency trading practices.



The issue came after a group of individual local investors filed petitions to the presidential office, saying they suffered huge losses due to large, high-frequency trades and short selling against Korean stocks through the brokerage since last year, the London-based Financial Times reported.



Separate from its move to crack down on such high-frequency trading, the FSS said it will also look more closely into possible false disclosure practices this year.



The measure follows the year's outlandish fairy tale-like disclosure about a sunken Russian "treasure ship," which a Korean firm claimed to have found in the East Sea.



Shinil Group said in mid-July it had found a shipwreck, which it believed to be the 6,200-ton Dmitrii Donskoi that went down near Ulleung Island during the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War.



It claimed the shipwreck held 200 tons of gold worth 150 trillion won ($134 billion), but the claim was later revealed as a web of fraudulent and deceitful practices to rake in money through false information and stock price manipulation.



Shinil Group was also accused of making unfair gains by manipulating the share price of Jeil Steel, a tech-heavy Kosdaq-listed firm. The share price of Jeil Steel, which Shinil Group allegedly agreed to acquire shares of, also skyrocketed on the day immediately after the announcement, but then plunged for three consecutive days due to mounting suspicions about the authenticity of the find.



"In order to protect investors, the FSS will look more closely into authenticity of such disclosures," the official said.



The FSS added it will also strengthen its crackdown on "naked short selling" this year.



Short selling refers to the sale of borrowed shares in the hopes of making a profit from the price fall by buying the shares back at a lower price. And naked shorting refers to the practice of conducting short selling without actually borrowing the stocks first, which is prohibited in Korea.



Last year from May 30 to 31, global financial giant Goldman Sachs International and its Seoul branch were fined 7.5 billion won ($6.6 million) for short selling stocks without borrowing them first.



It was the biggest penalty imposed on a financial company over such a trading irregularity.




South Korea said Tuesday it will begin its annual meeting with an International Monetary Fund team this week on the state of the economy and its overall economic policies.







The IMF team led by Tarhan Feyzioglu is set to meet officials of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Fair Trade Commission, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Bank of Korea and the Financial Services Commission, as well as other private South Korean companies, from Wednesday to March 11.







Feyzioglu, IMF's Korea mission chief, is set to give a briefing in Seoul on March 12 after wrapping up the official visit to Asia's fourth-largest economy.







The Ministry of Economy and Finance said South Korea's economy could grow about 2.6 to 2.7 percent in 2019 amid a slowing global economy and U.S.-China trade disputes.







In January, the BOK said South Korea's economy could expand 2.6 percent in 2019, in line with IMF's 2019 growth projection of 2.6 percent. In 2018, the country's economy grew 2.7 percent. (Yonhap)






Hana Financial Group Chairman Kim Jung-tae, left, poses with Kim Sam-yeol, head of a bereaved family association for independence activists, during a donation event at the financial group's head office in Seoul, Tuesday. The group said the donation was to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1919 March 1 Independence Movement. / Courtesy of Hana Financial Group
A employee of DJI, a Shenzhen, Guangdong province-based drone maker, addresses queries from visitors at one of the company's flagship stores. (Photo/Xinhua)

A Chinese brand has made headlines in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond - DJI, a manufacturer of consumer and commercial drones based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

The police department in Fremont, California, issued a news release on Tuesday showing how a drone had helped officers locate a missing teenager.

A police dispatcher received a call around 8:30 pm on Feb 5 from the California Highway Patrol requesting assistance in locating a student missing from the California School for the Deaf.

Several officers went to the scene where the student was last believed to have been, at the intersection of a railroad track and a road. Police also deployed a drone to expedite the search. The drone, a DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual model, is equipped with a thermal imaging camera that can search in the dark.

Shortly after the drone took off, the pilot located an image. It was the missing teenager, who was hiding in some bushes. The pilot then guided officers to the youth, who was cold and hungry and was taken to paramedics nearby.

Lieutenant Matt Snelson, in charge of the department's unmanned aerial vehicle program, called the search for and rescue of "a young man who needed help, and to get him to the resources he needed" a big success for "our UAV team and our community".

The technology allowed officers to expedite the search, which could have taken much more time and more resources, he said. "We have been training and expanding our program to be prepared for this exact scenario," Snelson said.

Fremont, home to a Tesla factory and several high-tech startups, is an early adopter of drones. The city administrator approved their purchase, along with the requisite training, about three years ago.

"We feel so grateful that our technology has been used to help save a young man's life," said Adam Lisberg, corporate communication director of DJI North America.

The Fremont teen was the 211th case on a global public safety list of drone-assisted rescues, Lisberg said.

More than 910 state and local police, sheriff, fire and emergency services agencies in the United States had acquired drones by May, according to research by the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.

The center also recorded the drone models and manufacturers for 627 of the 910 agencies in its database.

The majority - 523 - reported having purchased at least one drone from DJI, while 260, or 41percent, had bought one or more of the DJI Phantom models and 211 agencies, or 33 percent, had one or more of the DJI Inspire models.

Also, 103 agencies, or 16 percent, had purchased either a DJI Matrice or a DJI Mavic.

DJI is the dominant brand for all-purpose drone aircraft purchases worldwide, Lisberg said.

Last year, DJI accounted for 74 percent of global market share across all price points, according to the 2018 Drone Market Sector Report by analytical firm Skylogic Research, which studied worldwide drone sales, service providers, business and public agency users and software services.

Shao Yang, a newly elected Fremont City Council member, shared the story of the DJI drone-assisted police search on social media, calling it "a successful integration of high-tech and protection of lives".
Kokomo, IN (46901)

Today

Thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
MOUNT VERNON  On Monday, city council members heard the recommendations stemming from a recent traffic study in the downtown area. Michael Hobbs of the GPD Group said the results were based on creating a plan that would function with drivers' current habits as well as move truck traffic away from the downtown area.

City Engineer Brian Ball said the study built on the concept started in 2004 of rerouting truck traffic from around Public Square. The study included a traffic count for downtown intersections during peak traffic, an origin and destination study of drivers, previous results from Richland Engineering, and resident feedback from two public meetings in addition to the public meeting held by the Area Development Foundation. All of that information was then fed into a computer model.

The plan that came to the forefront involves eliminating the splits on routes 13 and 229, continuing the Sandusky Street corridor project south to merge with Phillips Drive, developing Sandusky Street into two-way traffic, reconfiguring South Main Street at the viaduct, and slightly rerouting southbound traffic on South Main Street.

Route 13

Southbound trucks will take South Sandusky Street to South Main Street at the viaduct and continue out of the city on 13, 586, or 661. (South Sandusky Street will be extended south, curve around the current AMVETS property, and merge with Phillips Drive.)

Northbound trucks will turn from South Main Street onto a redeveloped, two-way South Sandusky Street, cross High Street, and continue out of the city on the current Route 13.

Route 229

Eastbound trucks entering the city via West High Street will turn right onto South Sandusky Street, travel to Gambier Street, turn left (east) on Gambier Street, and continue out of the city.

Westbound trucks entering the city via East Gambier Street will continue to South Sandusky Street, turn north on South Sandusky, left (west) on High Street, and continue out of the city.

Trucks entering from the south side heading east on 229 will travel to the viaduct on routes 13/586, continue around the curve to Gay Street, and then turn right on Gambier Street. The viaduct curve will become one lane of traffic, probably 5 mph, to provide the turning radius the trucks need.

Trucks entering from the south side heading to westbound 229 will catch Sandusky Street at the viaduct, travel to High Street, and then turn left (west) on High Street.

South Main Street

Southbound traffic will travel to Ohio Avenue, turn right on Ohio Avenue to Mulberry Street, and then turn left onto Mulberry Street to South Sandusky Street. A traffic light will be installed at the intersection of Mulberry and South Sandusky streets.

Northbound traffic will turn slightly onto South Sandusky Street, then turn right onto South Main Street.

Ball said the proposed rerouting will not eliminate all of the truck traffic around Public Square, but it will eliminate a good portion stemming from routes 13 and 229. Remaining truck traffic around the square and on Gay Street would involve trucks from routes 13 and 229 that are connecting to routes 3 or 36.

Mayor Richard Mavis said the development of South Sandusky Street to handle two-way traffic involves acquisition of property. He has already spoken with representatives for Holmes Tire, AMVETS, Dominoes, and Duke Oil. The South Sandusky Street curve as it approaches South Main Street will be 25 mph.

Ball did not have a time frame for the rerouting and development of South Sandusky Street, noting that it partly depends on council's decision whether to proceed with the whole project at once or in stages. Hobbs said that it is easier to get the Ohio Department of Transportation's involvement if it is done as a whole project. ODOT safety funds and ODOT's small cities program, which allocates up to a $2 million cap, would then be available.

The improvement project lies within the South Sandusky Street TIF District (Tax Increment Financing), so the city can use TIF funds for the redevelopment. Mavis said that, similar to the Coshocton Avenue improvement project, the city would finance the project and use TIF funds to repay the loan as TIF money is generated.

Ball will have a resolution ready for the next council meeting authorizing him to proceed with the next stage of design work. The next stage will provide more details as to cost, time frame, and scope.

City officials plan a public hearing in a month or so to explain the proposal to residents. Ball said that the proposal will work in conjunction with recommendations stemming from the downtown study done by the ADF.

The ADF's plan also takes into account streetscapes, beautification, and creating a welcome for visitors to the city. Jeff Harris, ADF president, will present that plan to council in the next few weeks.

In other business, council:

Gave a second reading to legislation appointing the city's representatives to the Regional Planning Commission. Councilman Chris Menapace reiterated his position that the appointments should be separate pieces of legislation vs. all in one piece. Councilwoman Nancy Vail restated her opposition to separating the legislation, stating that if RPC representation was separate legislation so, too, should all other legislation only have one item.

Passed as emergencies five resolutions authorizing the safety-service director to sell/trade in equipment no longer needed and buy replacement equipment

Passed as an emergency an ordinance amending the property maintenance code

Postponed the ordinance establishing a vacant property registry for commercial structures to the May 13 meeting. Council will hold a public hearing on April 8 and a committee meeting on April 22 to further discuss the registry.

Authorized bill payment and appropriations. Appropriations include $343,475 from the Ariel Foundation for the tree program, $6,971.68 in grant money for the MERIT drug program, and $3,500 from unappropriated funds for K-9 expenses.

In a Parks and Lands Committee meeting, council discussed renaming Field No. 1 at Phillips Park in honor of Army Pfc. Ryan Martin. Kyle Theibert submitted the petition requesting the designation.

Martin, a 2000 graduate of Mount Vernon High School, served in the Army National Guard and was killed in action in Iraq on Aug. 20, 2004. In his petition, Theibert wrote, Ryan lived his life with honor and is a great role model for children in the community. Martin played three years of Little League at Phillips Park.

The city's recreation board approved the renaming of the field, which is currently named for Paul Slaughter. Plans call for a permanent plaque or marker to include Slaughter's and Martin's names. Future honorees will be added to the plaque.
Huawei Chairman Liang Hua

Huawei is committed to increasing R&D investment and collaboration with its partners in Canada despite the potential ban of 5G, Huawei Chairman Liang Hua told reporters on Thursday in Toronto.

Liang announced that Huawei will add 200 high-paying research and development jobs, expand R&D investments in 2019 by 15 percent, and change R&D investment practices to ensure all intellectual property generated in collaboration with Canadian institutions remains in that country.

We will not change our approach on R&D investments, and well continue to step up our investment in Canada, said Liang, We would like to work further with the telecom partners in Canada.

As a global technology giant, Huawei has collaborated with Canadas three largest telecom companies for a decade, spent millions to conduct research in partnership with universities, and employed more than 1,100 people in Canada.

Yet a ban looms over Huawei to prevent it from building 5G (fifth-generation mobile) infrastructure around Canadas new telecommunications grid.

Liang said Canada is an open and inclusive place to operate business, and there is a way for the business to forge ahead in Canada.

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.

Liang recognized that the current relationship between China and Canada is not ideal since Huaweis senior executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested by Canadian police at the request of the United States in December.

But he said the arrest of a senior executive on American charges is not common and rare, and he couldnt say that the US charging Meng is not political driven.

I believe she is innocent, and I hope that the Canadian legal system could bring justice back to her. 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.

Responding to talk about Huaweis military roots, Liang stressed that Huawei is a 100 percent privately owned company.

It is owned by 97,000-plus employees. There isnt any other organization holding even 1 percent of the companys shares, he said.

Canada is considering whether to allow Huawei to supply equipment to 5G networks. Some Canadian allies have imposed restrictions, citing the risk of espionage.

Liang said that further development of the economy is based on free trade, and he hopes that the decision on 5G can be made based on technology, instead of other factors.

In the short term, there might be some political influence which will affect our business, but in the long run, we still believe that the tide of technological progress is irresistible. If we look around the history of evolution, we definitely can see the social progress brought about by technology, he said.

Huaweis leading position in 5G is largely attributable to its investments and dedicated efforts in technology innovation and R&D since 2009, Liang said.

Moving forward, we will face the challenge and overcome the difficulties. Meanwhile, we will see the opportunity in the age of digitalization, Liang said, adding that he had faith in political leaders to make smart decisions  and not let good technology go to waste.

Huawei also pledged to work with local partners throughout Canada to provide affordable solutions for connectivity, especially in rural locations.

For instance, a recently announced trial with ABC Communications will see the implementation of its rural broadband technology (Massive MIMO) in Lac La Hache, British Columbia.

Whether its through helping rural communities stay connected through reliable high-speed internet, investing in R&D at universities throughout the country or contributing to training Canadas future engineers, Huawei is proud of what has been accomplished, said Eric Li, president of Huawei Technologies Canada.
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. Winds light and variable.
This is a bold plan. This is a brave plan, Barker said of the Green New Deal.

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Markey and Ocasio-Cortezs proposal includes a number of provisions, including a call on using 100 percent of power on such zero-emission sources as wind and solar. It also calls on upgrading to a so-called smart power grid.

Throughout his talk with attendees, Barker said he felt compelled to speak out against his climate change concerns because they intersect with his faith.

The very core of our teaching is to love our neighbor as ourself, Barker said, expressing concern for the impact climate change could bring on upcoming generations. I can say, quite confidently, Jesus would support the Green New Deal.

During the news conference, Barker was joined by several young environmental activists who expressed concern about the impact climate change could bring on their own generation.

Tova Reardon, a University of Wisconsin-Parkside student, said she believes the Green New Deal resolution can bring new job opportunities to the workforce in the next decade.

Economic stability is achievable under this deal, said Reardon, 18.
Virginia Ginny Brydges knew in second grade she wanted to help others in the same way a speech pathologist helped her.

I thought, That is just what I want to do when I grow up, Brydges said.

For years, she did just that as a speech pathologist who worked with the Kenosha Unified School District, the United Hospital System and the Visiting Nurses Association.

Her passion blossomed into a desire to help children of all abilities be better understood and help parents find the appropriate setting for their children to thrive.

There is such joy and such hope in being understood, and there is such frustration and so much anger when a child is not understood, Brydges said. I saw that some parents had to give up their jobs to make sure their medically fragile child, or uniquely abled child, would be able to get the services he or she would need throughout the day.

She envisioned a place where children  as young as six weeks and as old as 12  could have their educational, early childhood development, and speech, occupational and physical therapy needs met in the least restrictive environment possible  a place filled with loving, cognitive and behavioral support.

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The last person who asked me that is still missing.

If you need me, I'll be underwater.

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You call this hot? Bring it on.

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Evocative descriptions and strong senses of time and place complement the intricate, intelligent plot, which shocks and chills while thoughtfully examining trauma's toll on people and their relationships.

-- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Im so confused. Have you ever had a book mix with reality so much that you cant untangle which is which? Yeah. That just happened to me.But in the case of Annie Ward and herspectacular new Beautiful Bad, it doesnt matter.

Heres what happened. I got her book, instantly sophisticated and riveting, and became immersed in it--in the exotic locales, and the intense psychological drama, and the fear and the politics and the danger well, all of it. I could just picture it. The setting, the characters, the food, the attitude and the atmosphere. Beautiful Bad is unlike anything I've ever read, and it is terrific. (And soon to be a super-big major motion picture.)

Then Annie sent me the photos of her real life to go with her blog, and I will admit to you I thoughthuh? This is EXACTLY how I pictured it all.How did she get photographs of fictional people? And I realized that her book had taken me so vividly to a time and place that I thought I had actually been there.

Well, as Annie suggests today, maybe I had.

I spend a lot of time feeling nostalgic for the past. Theres a reason for that. I used to live in some fabulous cities like Los Angeles, New York and Sofia, Bulgaria, the Eastern European capital where my new psychological thriller BEAUTIFUL BAD is partially set.

And now I live in Kansas. Its actually very nice, but its not--shall we sayall that exciting. So, when I had an opportunity last November to travel with my husband and two boys to a big gathering of old friends and family in Sofia, I jumped right on it. This is going to be fabulous, kids! Youre going to experience another culture. The food is amazing. Youll be able to hear your mom speaking another language!

I moved to Sofia when I was twenty-six because of a relationship.That love story fizzled out quickly but I ended up staying five years because I found interesting work as a travel journalist and screenwriter. Also, it was cheap, fun and intriguing.

As I prepped for the big return to Bulgaria I daydreamed about my old friends and adventures and worked myself up into a tizzy of excitement and great expectations.

When I first moved to Sofia, I remember having a visceral reaction to (just to name a few things) the Communist statues, the Russian and Turkish influences on architecture and the vibrant, succulent taste of the fresh produce from the farmers markets. It was as if Id never tasted a real tomato before in my life.

I knew better than to think going back to Sofia twenty years later with my kids was going to be all-night parties at discos, running to catch trains to obscure mountain villages and intense discussions about culture, politics and religion. I did, however, think that my kids would be awe-struck by the vast difference between our sleepy green suburb at home and the gray, stark, palatial enormity of an ancient Eastern European capital.

Boys, I demanded while out and about the day after our arrival, Isnt that church beautiful? Have you ever tasted such delicious lamb? Isnt the language interesting to hear?
Vaccination in Israel is strongly encouraged after an outbreak of measles in 2018. Parents who choose not to might be fined as part of a proposed measure in the Knesset.




Donate Now As a public service during this pandemic, the Jewish News is providing free, unlimited access to all articles. Jewish News is a nonprofit publication that is owned by the community and relies on community support.
Apple will add the much-requested sleep tracking feature to Apple Watch by 2020. The company has been secretly testing sleep monitoring on the Apple Watch in secret sites around its offices in Cupertino. If testing goes as per Apples planning, the feature will make its way to the Apple Watch in 2020.

While Apple Watch is considered to be the best wearable in the market, it lacks sleep tracking of any kind. Instead, users are required to rely on third-party apps for sleep tracking and they come with their own set of restrictions. Fitbit, on the other hand, is known for its excellent sleep tracking capabilities.

Apple could likely make use of the technology it acquired from Beddit. The Cupertino company had acquired the startup in May 2017. Known for its sleep tracking devices, Apple has released an updated Beddit sleep tracking monitor last year, though the update removed a number of features and did not really introduce anything new.

The company has been using the sleep-tracking feature for several months with testers at secret sites around its Cupertino, California, headquarters, according to people familiar with the work. If the functionality is successful in the testing stages, the company plans to add it to the Apple Watch by 2020, according to one of the people.

The Apple Watch is already known for its various health-tracking features. Apart from heart rate tracking, the wearable is capable of detecting atrial fibrillation using ECG. It is likely that sleep tracking will have a negative impact on the overall battery life of the Apple Watch which is why Apple is taking its time on optimizing the feature.

Right now, the Apple Watch lasts around a day of heavy use with most users charging the wearable during the night. However, with sleep tracking, it wont be possible for them to charge it during the night. Plus, it is likely that their Apple Watch would simply run out of battery in the middle of the night thereby leading to improper sleep tracking. Thus, Apple is taking its time on ensuring that sleep tracking consumes as little battery as possible and perhaps also on improving the overall battery life of the Apple Watch.

Do you use your Apple Watch for sleep tracking purposes? Do you think it will be a handy addition to the wearable?

[Via Bloomberg
Apple today announced the winners of its Shot on iPhone challenge. The company has selected 10 winners and their submissions would be featured inside Apple retail stores, billboards in select cities, and online. Apple says the winning photos were captured from iPhones ranging from iPhone 7 to the iPhone XS Max.

The Shot on iPhone challenge was announced by Apple in the second half of January. The company accepted submissions from iPhone photographers from across the world. Initially, Apple was not going to compensate the winners for using their photos for marketing purposes. However, due to the backlash that followed, the company had to change its stance and it decided to compensate the winners accordingly.

The entries were judged by an international panel of judges which included Pete Souza, Austin Mann, Annet de Graaf, Luisa Dorr, Chen Man, Phil Schiller, Kaiann Drance, Brooks Kraft, Sebastien Marineau-Mes, Jon McCormack and Arem Duplessis. The winners are from across the world including Singapore, Belarus, Germany, Israel, and the United States. Below are some of the winning entries.

Shot by Nikita Yarosh (Belarus) on iPhone 7

Shot by Elizabeth Scarrott (US) on iPhone 8 Plus

Shot by Alex Jiang (US) on iPhone XS Max

Shot by LieAdi Darmawan (US) on iPhone XS

Shot by Darren Soh (Singapore) on iPhone XS Max

Shot by Andrew Griswold (US) on iPhone XS

Shot by Robert Glaser (Germany) on iPhone 7

The above photos simply show what the iPhone camera is capable of. With some winning entries being clicked on the iPhone 7, the results are a testament to the fact that a tool is only as good as its user. Despite sensor and processing algorithm limitations, owners of older iPhones have truly managed to capture some amazing photos from their iPhone.

For all the winners and the thoughts of the judges on the winning captures, head over to the source link below.

[Via Apple
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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.

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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
International students learn the meaning behind American sayings such as "once in a blue moon," "to cut corners" and "take it with a grain of salt" during open hours at the International Nest located in room 34 at Parks Library. The Nest is a space for international students to relax, socialize and study.
(left to right) Mayor John Haila and Chris Nelson, representative of the 4th Ward, listen to staff presentations at the Ames City Council meeting. Ames City Council held a meeting Jan. 15 in City Hall to discuss the 2019-2024 Capital Improvements Plan. Staff members gave a presentation on their recommendations for the next five years.
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Former presidential aspirant, Dele Momodu, has sparked outbursts from Nigerians following his call on Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to get in touch with President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) immediately to concede defeat in the presidential election when INEC has not even finished collating the results.

An angry Twitter user, @Kennedywest, asked the Publisher to wait for the day he is chosen as vice president so as to advise his candidate to accept defeat midway into the collation and his response was where were you in 2011 when I contested???

Another user sarcastically asked him how many votes he got in 2011 and he proudly said 26 000

This got Nigerians firing heavy shots at him.

Where were you in 2011 pls, when I contested? https://t.co/lDt35yYn3u  Dele Momodu Ovation (@DeleMomodu) February 26, 2019

26,000 from wonderful Nigerians Very proud and grateful https://t.co/tRKe2rEkQo  Dele Momodu Ovation (@DeleMomodu) February 26, 2019

Reactions;

With all your popularity coupled with the fact that you rode on MKO mantra and support from Dokpesi you manage to garnered 26k. Good of you  Abiodun Richard (@AbiodunRichard5) February 26, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Your mumu is too much oga  Tx (@TemiOlu3) February 26, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

With this result 26,376 , I remembered you lost your polling unit  0007 (@Bishopluki) February 26, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Owner of Ovation Magazine, Dele Momodu, a few hours after the presidential election results of 12 States were released, asked presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar to concede defeat.

Just like what former President, Goodluck Jonathan did in 2015 by conceding to Muhammadu Buhari via a telephone call, Momodu is asking the former president to do the same.

However, a former presidential aide, Reno Omokri criticised the Ovation magazine owner for publicly asking the former VP to concede defeat, saying he could have messaged him privately.

In his response to Omokri, Momodu says he has his reasons for messaging Atiku publicly rather than in private.

See his response below

My dear Reno, Ive read your tweet. Pls let me say a few things for the record:

I did not work for Atiku, I only volunteered like I did for Buhari in 2015. I never interacted with his campaign office.

The PDP Chairman, Uche Secondus publicly rejected the results yesterday.

The last time I met or spoke to the Wazirin was before PDP primaries but I supported him and still do with all my heart

My tweet was not meant for his private consumption but for his huge and passionate followers like me.

I learnt many lessons from the June 12 saga! I felt the tension being generated by the rejection of the polls even before the end of the exercise.

I consider it pertinent to avert the imminent danger occasioned by the reckless misadventure of the Buhari government and its operatives during these elections.

My intervention is only an appeal and an advice to the Wazirin and his supporters. You gain more when you embrace peace when people expect you to fight

Atiku is free to head to court but I doubt if Buhari will obey any outcome, if unfavourable

Where then do you go? GOD.

See Omokris message criticising Momodu

Dear Dele Momodu

I know for a fact you have Atikus phone number, email address and WhatsApp details. Why do you choose to do this publicly? Why add to the already heavy burden the man is carrying? He is carrying an elephant. Why add a snake to his load?
President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has won the presidential elections in Niger State.

Collating Officer Prof. A. Freeman, who announced the results said the following:

Total No: Reg Voters: 2,375,568

Total No: of Accredited: 911,964

Total Votes Cast: 896,976

Total Valid Votes: 851,937

Rejected Votes:45,039

AAC: 324

ADC: 588

ADP: 2,582

APC: 612,371

PDP: 218,052

SDP: 239
Owner of Ovation magazine, Dele Momodu has asked the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP, Atiku Abubakar to call president Muhammadu Buhari to accept defeat.

In a message on Tuesday, he urged Atiku, the Waziri of Adamawa to pass the burden by calling the president  so that he can gain much more.

He says Atiku has written his name in gold, and that only God gives and takes power.

His words: My dear WAZIRIN, as a believer, you are aware that only God can give or take power. Youve written your name in gold. Do not wait a minute longer. Please, pick that phone and call President Muhammadu Buhari. You have much more to gain Sir Pass on the burden!
February 25, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - In his novel 1984 George Orwell invented the expression newspeak to describe the ambiguous or deliberately misleading use of language to make political propaganda and narrow the thought options of those who are on the receiving end. In the context of todays political discourse, or what passes for the same, it would be interesting to know what George would think of the saturation use of anti-Semitism as something like a tactical discussion stopper, employed to end all dispute while also condemning those accused of the crime as somehow outside the pale, monsters who are consigned forever to derision and obscurity.

The Israelis and, to be sure, many diaspora Jews know exactly how the expression has been weaponized. Former Israeli Minister Shulamit Aloni explained how it is done Anti-Semiticits a trick, we always use it.

If one were to read the U.S. mainstream media, reflective as it nearly always is of a certain institutional Jewish viewpoint, one would think that there has been a dramatic increase in anti-Semitism worldwide, but that claim is incorrect. What has been taking place is not hatred of Jews but rather a confluence of two factors. First is the undeniable fact that Israel has been behaving particularly badly, even by its admittedly low standards. Its slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza has been unusually observable in spite of media attempts to avoid mentioning it, plus its support of terrorists in Syria and attacks on that country have also raised questions about the intentions of the kleptocratic regime in Tel Aviv, which is currently pushing for an attack on Iran. That all means that the perception of Israel, which boasts that it is the exclusively Jewish state, inevitably raises questions about the international Jewish community that provides much of its support. But the shift in perception is driven by Israeli behavior, not by Jews as an ethnicity or a religion.

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Second, the alleged increase in anti-Semitic incidents is largely fueled by how those incidents are defined. Israel and its friends have worked hard to broaden the parameters of the discussion, making any criticism of Israel or its activities either a hate crime or ipso facto an anti-Semitic incident. The U.S. State Departments working definition of anti-Semitism includes the targeting of the state of Israel and it warns that anti-Semitism is a criminal offense. Recent legislation in Washington and also in Europe has criminalized hitherto legal and non-violent efforts to pressure Israel regarding its inhumanity vis-a-vis the Palestinians. Legitimate criticism of Israel thereby becomes both anti-Semitism and criminal, increasing the count of so-called anti-Semitic incidents. That means that the numbers inevitably go up, providing fodder to validate a repressive response.

One might add that Hollywood, the mainstream media and academia have contributed to the allegations regarding surging anti-Semitism, relentlessly unleashing a torrent of material rooting out alleged anti-Semites and so-called holocaust deniers, while simultaneously heaping praise on Israel and its achievements. Professor of Holocaust Studies Deborah Lipstadt has written a book Anti-Semitism: Here and Now about what she regards as the new anti-Semitism, supporting her belief that it is getting markedly worse in both Europe and the U.S. There is also a movie about her confrontation with holocaust critic David Irving called Denial. All of the media exposure of so-called anti-Semitism has a political objective, whether intended or not, which is to insulate Israel itself from any criticism and to create for all Jews the status of perpetual victimhood which permits many in the diaspora to unflinchingly support a foreign country against the interests of the nations where they were born, raised and made their fortunes. That is called dual loyalty and, in spite of frequent denials from Israel-apologists, it clearly exists for many American Jews who are passionate about the Jewish state, including members of the Trump Administration Jason Greenblatt, David Friedman and Jared Kushner.

In the past week, a newly elected member of congress has been derided, shunned and then forced to both recant and apologize for having said something that is manifestly true: that Jewish money corrupts the American political system to favor Israel. The controversy erupted after House minority leader Republican Kevin McCarthy said he would initiate investigations of two Muslim congresswomen, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, over their criticisms of Israel. McCarthy called for the two to be denounced by the Democratic Party as anti-Semites after Tlaib had said that the sponsors of recent legislation intended to benefit Israel by limiting free speech forgot what country they represent. This is the U.S. where boycotting is a right and part of our historical fight for freedom and equality. Maybe a refresher on our U.S. Constitution is in order, then get back to opening up our government instead of taking our rights away.

Indeed, Tlaib had a point as the Congressional Israel boosters have long since forgotten that they are supposed to uphold the Constitution of the United States while also promoting the interests of their constituents, not those of a country seven thousand miles away. Glenn Greenwald of the Intercept responded to the news of the McCarthy threat with a tweet Its stunning how much time US political leaders spend defending a foreign nation even if it means attacking free speech rights of Americans. Ilhan Omar then tweeted her own pithy rejoinder to Greenwald on Sunday February 10th: Its all about the Benjamins, baby! which was in reference to the Founder Benjamin Franklins portrait on hundred-dollar bills. Her comment was almost immediately interpreted as meaning that she was accusing McCarthy of being bought by Jews. She followed up on a question about who was doing the buying she tweeted AIPAC, an elaboration that unleashed something like an anti-Semitism shit storm in her direction.

It was manufactured outrage, with political leaders from both parties latching on to a media frenzy to score points against each other. Even though it is perfectly legitimate for a Congresswoman on the Foreign Affairs Committee to challenge what AIPAC does and where its money comes from, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi complained that Omars use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israels supporters was deeply offensive. Chelsea Clinton accused Omar of trafficking in anti-Semitism. President Donald Trump, who has admitted that his Mideast policy is intended to serve Israeli rather than U.S. interests, also jumped in, saying I think she should either resign from congress or she should certainly resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Ilhan Omar quickly understood that she had touched a live wire, surrendered, and recanted. She apologized by Monday afternoon, 18 hours after her original tweet, saying Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes. My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole. 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. This is why I unequivocally apologize. But she also bravely wrote At the same time, I reaffirm the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics, whether it be AIPAC, the NRA or the fossil fuel industry. Its gone on too long and we must be willing to address it.

Pelosi approved of the apology. Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota who is running for president in 2020, chimed in to make sure that everyone knew how much she loves Israel, saying Im glad she apologized. That was the right thing to do. There is just no room for those kinds of words. I think Israel is our beacon of democracy. Ive been a strong supporter of Israel and that will never change.

Two days later, a motion sponsored by Congressman Lee Zeldin of New York passed by a 424 to 0 vote. It was specifically intended to serve as a rebuke to Omar. It stated that it is in the national security interest of the United States to combat anti-Semitism around the world becausethere has been a significant amount of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel hatred that must be most strongly condemned.

Congressional votes professing love for Israel notwithstanding, the fact is that there is a massive, generously funded effort to corrupt Americas government in favor of Israel. It is euphemistically called the Israel Lobby even though it is overwhelmingly Jewish and it boasts fairly openly of its power when talking with its closest friends about how its money influences the decisions made on Capitol Hill and in the White House. Its combined budget exceeds one billion dollars per year and it includes lobbying powerhouses like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) which alone had $229 million in income in 2017, supporting more than 200 employees. It exists only to promote Israeli interests on Capitol Hill and throughout the United States with an army of lobbyists and its activities include using questionably legal all expenses paid orientation trips to Israel for all new congressmen and spouses.

McCarthy and the other stooges in Congress deliberately sought to frame the argument in terms of Ilhan Omar having claimed that he personally was receiving money from pro-Israel sources and that money influenced his voting. Well, the fact is that such activity does take place and was documented three years ago by the respected Foreign Policy Journal, which published a piece entitled The Best Congress AIPAC can Buy as well as more recently in an al-Jazeera investigative expose using a concealed camera.

And Kevin McCarthy does indeed receive money from Israel PACs  $33,200 in 2018. The amount individual congressmen receive is dependent on their actual or potential value to Israel. Completely corrupt and enthusiastically pro-Israel Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey received $548,507 in 2018. In the House, Beto ORourke of Texas received $226,690. The numbers do not include individual contributions of under $200, which are encouraged by AIPAC and can be considerable. In general, congressmen currently receive over $23,000 on average from the major pro-Israel organizations while Senators get $77,000.

But, of course, direct donations of money are not the whole story. If a congressman is unfriendly to Israel, money moves in the other direction, towards funding an opponent when re-election is coming up. Former Rep. Brian Bard has observed that Any member of Congress knows that AIPAC is associated indirectly with significant amounts of campaign spending if youre with them, and significant amounts against you if youre not with them. Lara Friedman, who has worked on the Hill for 15 years on Israel/Palestine, notes how congressmen and staffs of both parties told me over and over that they agreed with me but didnt dare say so publicly for fear of repercussions from AIPAC.

A good example of how it all worked involves one honest congressman, Walter Jones of North Carolina, who recently passed away. In 2014, Wall Street billionaires, financial industry lobbyists, and neoconservative hawks tried to unseat Jones by bankrolling his primary opponent. The dark money intended to defeat him came from a PAC called The Emergency Committee for Israel, headed by leading neoconservative Bill Kristol. Jones war views, including avoiding a war with Iran, were clearly perceived as anti-Israel.

And one should also consider contributions directly to the political parties. Israeli/U.S. dual nationals Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban are the largest single donors to the GOP and to the Democrats, having contributed $82 million and $8,780,000 respectively in the 2016 presidential campaign. Both have indicated openly that Israel is their top priority.

If they have demonstrated fealty to Israel while in office, many Congressmen also find that loyalty pays off after retirement from government with richly remunerated second careers in Jewish dominated industries, like financial services or the media. And there are hundreds of Jewish organizations that contribute to Israel as charities, even though the money frequently goes to fund illegal activity, including the settlements. Money also is used to buy newspapers and media outlets which then adhere to a pro-Israel line, or, where that does not work, to buy advertising that is conditional on being friendly to Israel. So the bottom line is indeed the Benjamins and the corruption that they buy.

Karen Pollock of the Holocaust Education Trust said in January that One person questioning the truth of the Holocaust is one too many. That is nonsense. Any, and all, historical events should be questioned regularly, a principle that is particular true regarding developments that carry a lot of emotional baggage. The Israel Lobby would have all Americans believe that any criticism of Israel is motivated by historic hatred of Jews and is therefore anti-Semitism. Dont believe it. When the AIPAC crowd screams that linking Jews and money is a classic anti-Semitic trope respond by pointing out that Jews and money are very much in play in the corruption of congress and the media over Israel. Terrible things are being done in the Middle East in the name of Jews and of Israel and it all comes down to those Benjamins and the silence they buy by accusing all critics of anti-Semitism. Just recall what the Israeli minister admitted, Its a trick, we always use it.
Psychopathic US Senator Openly Calls For Maduro To Suffer Gaddafis Fate

By Caitlin Johnstone

February 25, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Influential US Senator and 2016 presidential candidate Marco Rubio has tweeted a blatant death threat and incitement of violence against Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. As of this writing the post has 13 thousand shares and counting.

The tweet consists of a before and after photo of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who in 2011 was mutilated to death in the streets following a US-led NATO intervention in Libya which was launched on false humanitarian pretexts. The first photo depicts Gaddafi alive and confident with a smile on his face, the second depicts him covered in blood following his capture by a militia group minutes before his death.

Senator Rubio has been Capitol Hills single most virulent advocate of US interventionism in Venezuela, and has been tweeting about it constantly. Since Washingtons bogus humanitarian aid delivery sparked violence on the borders of Columbia and Brazil, as it was intended to, Rubio has cranked his interventionist cheerleading up to eleven. The fact that Maduro would not allow a government that is openly staging a coup in Venezuela to hand a large unchecked delivery over to opposition factions within that very nation has been used to sell a narrative that Venezuelas Evil Dictator is deliberately cutting off aid to a needy populace, which was of course planned. This narrative has been helped along by highly suspicious photo-friendly fires, and has been injected into mainstream consciousness with hysterical urgency by the likes of Rubio, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Dianne Feinstein, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and the entire Trump administration. And it is completely false.

Firstly, Maduro is not refusing humanitarian aid for his people. Only an idiot would believe that the latest Official Bad Guy (who coincidentally happens to be sitting on top of the largest oil reserves on earth) is intentionally starving and depriving his people, and anyone who makes such claims should have to explain how they make that work in their minds. Whats the idea behind that, exactly? Is he starving them all and cutting them off from medical supplies because he hates them? Is he trying to kill everyone in Venezuela so that he can have the entire country to himself? Does he have some strange sexual fetish for the slow starvation of an entire citizenry? How specifically does this work?

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In reality, Maduro has been accepting aid from everywhere except from the government that is openly staging a coup in his country in gross violation of its national sovereignty. Just last week Caracas accepted 933 tons of food and medical supplies from China, Cuba, India and Turkey, and Russia has shipped in 300 tons of aid on its own.

President Nicolas Maduro announced that 7.5 tons of medical aid arrived in Venezuela from Russia. https://t.co/1jI6ONL28v  Jose J. Marti (@JoseJuMarti) February 21, 2019

Secondly, the paltry $20 million in food, medical and hygiene supplies sent via USAID pales in comparison to the $30 million per day the new US oil embargo will be costing Venezuelans this year. If the US wanted to help the Venezuelan people, the best thing it could do is end its crushing economic warfare upon them, which experts say has made economic recovery all but impossible. Believing the CIA/CNN narrative that US sanctions only impact a nations leadership is dumber than believing that US bombs only kill bad guys; former UN special rapporteur Alfred de Zayas has said that US-led sanctions are killing Venezuelans and could be tried under international law as crimes against humanity. The best way for the US to help Venezuelans would be to cease all interventionism and end its economic warfare upon them.

Thirdly, theres not actually anything stopping the US from giving the aid shipment it claims it wants to deliver to Russia, China, Turkey or India, for example, and having them deliver it. It could do the same with the UN or the Red Cross. There are many ways in which the US government which claims to care so much about the Venezuelan people could get its humanitarian aid to them which does not include highly provocative deliveries via military craft and aggressive stand-offs at Venezuelan border towns. The fact that Washington refuses to take those routes is an admission that the goal was always provocation and never humanitarianism.

Marco Rubio does not give a shit about the Venezuelan people. Like all Capitol Hill war whores, he only cares about advancing the hegemony of the US-centralized empire. Rubio endorsed the overthrow of both Gaddafi and Syrias Bashar al-Assad in 2011; now half a million are dead in Syria as a result of the empires failed regime change intervention there, and the humanitarian intervention in Libya created a humanitarian catastrophe where people are openly sold as slaves.

I was just in Venezuela where I heard many people voice fears that the US wants to turn their country into another Libya, journalist Aaron Mate reported in response to Rubios tweet. Id say their concerns are well-founded.

What Rubio is threatening/celebrating: "A mob grew around Gaddafi as he was frog-marched through the sand. While he was taken towards a group of rebel trucks, one fighter crouched in the dirt behind the frightened captive and sodomised him with a bayonet." https://t.co/2z4wcVWQvW https://t.co/tvam9KWraV  Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 24, 2019

This is the face of the US regime change intervention in Venezuela, everyone. Donald Trump, John Bolton, Elliott Abrams, and a war pig senator who calls for the torturous lynching of the leader of a sovereign nation. Whenever someone supports any part of this coup agenda, this is the side that they are standing on. This is the flag that they are flying.

Everyone knows on some level that the US government has a consistent and indisputable track record of lying about the leaders of nations in geopolitically crucial strategic locations when they refuse to bow to the demands of US interests. No matter how many Venezuelans you tell me youve talked to, how evil you tell me Maduro is, how awesome you tell me Trump is, or how bad you tell me socialism is, this will still be true. And you know that it is true. Stop compartmentalizing away from facts you know to be true and turn and face the reality of whats going on here.
Extinction Rebellion

By Chris Hedges

February 25, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - There is one desperate chance left to thwart the impending ecocide and extinction of the human species. We must, in wave after wave, carry out nonviolent acts of civil disobedience to shut down the capitals of the major industrial countries, crippling commerce and transportation, until the ruling elites are forced to publicly state the truth about climate catastrophe, implement radical measures to halt carbon emissions by 2025 and empower an independent citizens committee to oversee the termination of our 150-year binge on fossil fuels. If we do not do this, we will face mass death.

The British-based group Extinction Rebellion has called for nonviolent acts of civil disobedience on April 15 in capitals around the world to reverse our one-way track to extinction. I do not know if this effort will succeed. But I do know it is the only mechanism left to force action by the ruling elites, who, although global warming has been well documented for at least three decades, have refused to carry out the measures needed to protect the planet and the human race. These elites, for this reason alone, are illegitimate. They must be replaced.

It is our sacred duty to rebel in order to protect our homes, our future, and the future of all life on Earth, Extinction Rebellion writes . This is not hyperbolic. We have, as every major climate report states, very little time left. Indeed, it may already be too late.

In Britain, Extinction Rebellion has already demonstrated its clout, blocking roads, occupying government departments and amassing 6,000 people to shut down five of Londons bridges last Nov. 17 . Scores of arrests were made. But it was just the warm-up act. In April, the group hopes, the final assault will begin.

If we do not shake off our lethargy, our anomie, and resist, our misery, despondency and feelings of helplessness will mount. We will become paralyzed. Resistance, especially given the bleakness before us, is about more than winning. It is about a life of meaning. It is about empowerment. It is a public declaration that we will no longer live according to the dominant lie. It is a message to the elites: YOU DO NOT OWN US. It is about defending our dignity, agency and self-respect. The more we free ourselves from the bondage of fear to throw up barriers along the forced march toward ecocide the more we will be enveloped by a strange kind of euphoria, one I often felt as a war correspondent documenting horrific suffering and atrocities to shame the killers. We obliterate despair in our acts of defiance, even if our victories are Pyrrhic. We reach out to those around us. Courage is contagious. It is the spark that ignites mass revolt. And we should, even if we fail, at least choose how we will die. Resistance is the only action left that will allow us to remain psychologically whole. And it is the only action left that has any hope of halting the wholesale extinction of the human race, not to mention most other species.

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The times are inexpressibly evil, Daniel Berrigan wrote. And yetand yet  the times are inexhaustibly good. In this time of death, some men and women, the resisters, work hardily for social change. We think of such people in the world and the stone in our breast is dissolved.

People have to go to the capital city, said Roger Hallam , the co-founder of Rebellion Extinction and a researcher at Kings College London, who spoke to me from London. Thats where the elite is, the business class. Thats where the pillars of the state exist. Thats the first element. Then you have to have a lot of people involved. They have to break the law. Theres no point in just doing a march. They have to literally close down the streets. They have to remain nonviolent. Thats absolutely crucial. Once you get violent, police and the state have an excuse to remove you. Its got to be cultural. You make it into a sort of Woodstock affair. Then thousands more people come onto the streets.

Theres a fundamental difference between breaking the law and not breaking the law, he went on. Its a binary difference. When you break the law, then youre massively more effective in terms of material and psychological influence as well as media interest. The more dramatic the civil disobedience, the better. Its a numbers game. You want people blocking the streets, but you need ten, twenty, thirty thousand. You dont need 3 million. You need enough for the state to have to decide whether to use repression on a mass scale or invite you into the room. The gambit, of course, particularly in the U.K., is that the state is weak. Its been hollowed out by neoliberalism . Theyre going to find themselves overwhelmed. We will get in the room.

Were going to start on that Monday [April 15], he said. Were going to block several major roundabouts in central London. Were going to spread across the cityswarming. When the riot police or the police come, were going get up and go somewhere else. This is a tactic we innovated in November. Well give the authorities a fundamental dilemma: Do we allow these people to continue blocking the center of a global city, or do we arrest thousands of people? If they opt for arresting thousands of people, lots of things are going to happen. They will be overwhelmed. The police force in the U.K. is underfunded, like most of the public sector. Theres massive disaffection amongst the police. I wont be surprised if they form a union and say, Were not doing this anymore. Ive been arrested 10, 12 times in the last two years. Every time, police come up to me going, Keep it up, mate. What youre doing is great. Were disciplined, nonviolent people. Theyre not going to get pissed off at us. They also know its over. They spend their days scraping mentally ill people off the streets. Theres no glamour in being a police officer in a global city. The security forces are something you want to subvert, not denigrate.

The group has stressed what it calls a pre-social-media age strategy for organizing. It has created structures to make decisions and issue demands. It sends out teams to give talks in communities. It insists that people who participate in the actions of Rebellion Extinction undergo nonviolent direct-action training so they will not be provoked by the police or opposition groups.

Most of recent mass mobilizations have been social-media-fueled, Hallam said. Consequently, they have been chaotic. They are extremely fast mobilizations. Social medias a bit like heroin. Its a high, but then it collapses, like weve seen in France . It becomes chaotic or violent. A lot of modern social movements put stuff on social media. It gets clogged up with trolls . Theres lots of radical-left organizations arguing about different privileges. Weve circumvented that and gone straight to the common people, as you might say. Weve held meetings in village town halls and city halls. We go around the country in a 19th-century sort of way, saying, Hey guys. Were all fucked. People are going to die if this isnt sorted out. The second half of the talk is: Theres a way of dealing with this called mass civil disobedience.

Nonviolent discipline, as the research shows, is the No. 1 criterion for maximizing the potential for success, he said. This is not a moral observation. Violence destroys movements. The Global South has been at it for a few decades. Violence just ends up with people getting shot. It doesnt lead anywhere. You might as well take your chances and maintain nonviolent discipline. Theres a big debate within the radical left over the attitude towards the police. This debate is a proxy for the justification of violence. As soon as you dont talk to police, youre more likely to provoke police violence. We try to charm the police so theyll arrest people in a civilized way. The metropolitan police [in London] are probably one of the most civilized police forces in the world. They have a professional team of guys who go to social protests. Weve been in regular communication with them. We say to the police, Look, were going to be blocking the streets. Were not going to not do that because you ask us not to. Thats the first thing to make clear. This is not an item for discussion. They know its serious. They dont try to dissuade us. That would be silly. What they are concerned about is violence and public disorder. Its in our interest as civil-disobedience designers not to have public disorder, because it becomes chaotic.

Youre basically holding the economy of a city to ransom, he said of the shutdowns. Its the same dynamic as a labor strike. You want to get into the room and have a negotiation. Extinction Rebellion hasnt quite decided what that negotiation is going to be. Weve got three demands the government tells the truth, the carbon emissions go to zero by 2025, which is a proxy for transformation of the economy and the society, and we have a national assembly which will sort out what the British people want to do about it. The third demand [calling for a national assembly] is a proxy for transforming the political structure of the economy. It proposes a different, concrete form of democratic governance, based around sortition rather than representation. This has had a big influence in Ireland and Iceland. The optimal transition is going to be from the corrupted representational model to a sortition model in the same way aristocratic law shifted to representational law at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 19th century.

The intelligent people on the political left have woken up to the fact that weve got an existential emergency that could destroy human society in the next 10 years, he said. Its in the cards. A lot of us have already gone through the grief process. But these [newly awakened] people just had that enlightenment. Theyre in shock. Theyre maintaining a veneer of Its sort of OK. This is what the Green Deal [a United Kingdom government policy initiative] is about. It is an attempt to pretend that industrialization can stay the same. We can all still be wealthy. We can all still have great jobs. It is like Roosevelts New Deal. But the New Deal was based on the idea that we can carry on plundering nature and nothings going to happen. Maybe that was right in the 1930s. But its not right anymore. Its a matter of physics and biology. We simply cannot maintain these levels of consumption. They havent reckoned with that. One of the main reasons the climate debate has not gotten into a serious mode over the last 30 years is because people who are in charge of informing the public are terrified of telling the public that they cant have the high consumer lifestyle anymore. Its a taboo. But like any addiction, there comes a moment of truth. Were there now.

For 30 years weve had one political metaphysic, reform, he said. You either reform or you are irrelevant. But now, we have two massive, exponentially increasing structural faultsthe inequality problem and the climate problem. A lot of peoplebecause of path dependency dynamicshave worked for 30 years in this lost-cause sort of space. Theyre desperate for change. For 30 years theyve been putting their money on reform. The tragedyand you can see this in the history of political struggle going back hundreds of yearsis theres a flip where the reformists lose control. Theyre still living in the past world. The revolutionaries, who everyone thinks are ridiculously naive, suddenly come to the fore. Its usually a quake. Its not a gradualist thing. Its a double tragedy because its a quake and the revolutionaries usually arent organized. I think thats whats happening now. It has very big implications for [resistance against] fascism. Unless you have a clearheaded mass mobilization on the left which is connected with the working class youre not going to be able to stop the fascism.

The mass actions on April 15 might fizzle out. The crowds might not gather. The public might be apathetic. But if only a handful of us attempt to block a bridge or a road, even if we are swiftly swept away by the police, so swiftly there is not enough disruption to notice, it will be worth it. I am a father. I love my children. It is not about me. It is about them. This is what parents do.
The Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation announced a $74,900 grant to the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention (CHIP), which will be able to help an estimated 146 people experiencing homelessness in Indiana move into stable housing. The money will go to Street Reach Indy, a collaboration between CHIP and Downtown Indy Inc. founded in 2017 to help transition people out of homelessness.

A lot of individuals experiencing homelessness, they get connected to housing, but getting that initial first months rent and deposit is a big barrier when youre living on the streets or living in shelter, said Tom Tuttle, Street Reach Indy manager. So we kind of get them over that hump that they need to get into permanent housing to be successful.

On any given day in Indianapolis, about 1,700 people experience homelessness, which represents about 51 percent of the states total homeless population. In its first year, Street Reach Indy has had a 94.7 percent success rate with people maintaining housing, according to Tuttle.

At a press conference Feb. 26 outside the Indiana Convention Center, Tuttle highlighted the success story of a couple who lost their two children to the foster care system because the family was homeless. Street Reach Indy covered their deposit and the family has been together now for about a year.

It was the second win in as many days for the citys homeless and their advocates. The Indianapolis City-County Council advanced a proposal Feb. 25 to create an employment program for the citys homeless population. Jobs would include litter removal and assisting with beautification efforts in the downtown area.

Jeff Bennett, deputy mayor of Indianapolis, attended the press conference and said half of the money generated by the policy  $300,000 in total, coming from money raised by extended parking meter hours  would go to the employment program, with other money going to wrap-around services.

Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.

Street Reach Indy has boxes and parking meters around the city to collect money for its program, which helps people transition from homelessness to stable housing. (Photo/Tyler Fenwick)
Students and faculty at George Washington High School were the first to see the newly revealed Black Heritage stamp featuring dancer, actor and director Gregory Hines. Hines, who died at the age of 57 in 2003, is the 42nd inductee in the Black Heritage Series, which honors African-American history.

Born on Feb. 14, 1946, Hines began dancing semi-professionally at 5 years old. He displayed his tap dancing skills on Broadway, winning Tony Awards for the musicals Eubie! Comin Uptown and Sophisticated Ladies. He also appeared in several films including The Cotton Club, and White Nights, in which Hines danced alongside legendary ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, as well as Tap, a story about three generations of tap dancers featuring Sammy Davis Jr. and Sevion Glover.

In addition, Hines was known for his smooth vocals in songs such as This Is What I Believe and You Need Somebody. His duet with Luther Vandross, Theres Nothing Better Than Love, became a No. 1 R&B hit.

His on stage creations were so imaginative, they are forever etched into our minds, the U.S. Postal Service Greater Indiana District Manager Todd Hawkins said. We could still see Gregory Hines hunched over, his hands by his knees, his body curved and in constant motion as he glides from one end of the stage to another.

The stamp features a photograph of Hines taken by Jack Mitchell in 1988, and features a smiling Hines, dressed in a red blazer with one foot pointed upward to show off his tap shoe. Christi Johnson-Kennedy, the first Black postmaster in Indianapolis, attended the unveiling.

Students from Crispus Attucks High School and Lawrence North High School honored Hines through dance, songs and spoken word performances during the unveiling ceremony.

The celebration of the arts weve seen this morning, through song and through dance, is symbolic of the impact that Gregory Hines had on arts in America, Aleesia Johnson, interim superintendent of IPS, said. Im a firm believer that the arts are a powerful vehicle to showcase the human spirit and for our students to demonstrate the many strengths they bring to our schools.

The Black Heritage Series is the longest running stamp series, with the first stamp featuring Harriet Tubman appearing in 1978. Since then, the series has featured George Washington Carver, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Madam C. J. Walker.

I commend the United States Postal Service for honoring the contributions that African-Americans have made to our history though the heritage stamp collection, Congressman Andre Carson said in a letter read by constituent services liaison Jessica Garcia. These influential and history-making men and women should never be forgotten.

Contact staff writer Ben Lashar at 317-762-7848. Follow him on Twitter @BenjaminLashar.
Australia's foreign minister Marise Payne

Canberra, Feb 26 (IBNS): The Australian government has expressed worry over the deteriorating relation between the nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan, especially in the wake of the February 14 attack in Pulwama that killed 40 Indian soldiers.

"Pakistan must take urgent and meaningful action against terrorist groups in its territory, including Jaish-e-Mohammed which has claimed responsibility for the 14 February bombing, and Lashkar-e-Taiba," said Australia's foreign minister Marise Payne.

"Pakistan must do everything possible to implement its own proscription of Jaish-e-Mohammed. It can no longer allow extremist groups the legal and physical space to operate from its territory," the minister said in a statement on Tuesday.

These steps, Australia believes, would make a substantial contribution to easing tensions and resolving the underlying causes of conflict.

"Australia urges both sides to exercise restraint, avoid any action which would endanger peace and security in the region and engage in dialogue to ensure that these issues are resolved peacefully," the minister added.
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Amended money-laundering legislation that came into force in the Slovak Republic on November 1 2018 requires companies to register their beneficial owners in the commercial register. Previously, only companies which conducted business with the state or received public funds were required to report their beneficial owners; those beneficial owners were registered in a public register of public sector partners, a register that is separate from the commercial register. The new legislation requires all companies in Slovakia, with the exception of publicly listed companies, to register their beneficial owners in the commercial register.

The beneficial owners of newly formed companies must be registered in the commercial register at the same time the company formation documents are registered. For this purpose, a new box has been added to the existing forms for registering new companies in the commercial register. Companies established before the above date must register their beneficial owners in the commercial register, under a separate document, by the end of 2019.

A beneficial owner is any individual who ultimately owns or controls a company or for whose benefit such individual or company conducts their activities or business. The legislation provides for situations in which an individual is always considered to be a beneficial owner, for instance (i) an individual who directly or indirectly owns at least 25% of the company's equity or voting rights; (ii) an individual who has the right to appoint or remove at least one member of the company's statutory body or supervisory body; or, (iii) an individual who is entitled to at least 25% of the company's dividends. Any individual who alone does not meet those conditions, but does meet the conditions together with another individual with whom they act in concert, is also considered a beneficial owner. Where no specific person meets the conditions, the law provides that the members of the statutory body, the authorised signatory, and all management employees having direct authority over the company's statutory body are beneficial owners.

In contrast to the register of public sector partners, information about beneficial owners registered in the commercial register will not be made public and access to this information will only be granted to the persons and authorities provided for by law, such as the financial crimes unit of the police; Finance Ministry; National Bank of Slovakia; National Security Authority; courts; tax office; customs authority; criminal police; prosecutors; and others.

These two registers differ substantially in terms of who is required to register beneficial owners. A member of a company's statutory body is required to register beneficial owners in the commercial register and any infringement of this duty is subject to a fine of up to 3,310 ($3,769); this fine is imposed on the company, not on the statutory body. For registration in the register of public sector partners, beneficial owners must be registered and their data kept up to date by an authorised third party. This third party may be a lawyer, notary, bank, branch of a foreign bank, auditor, or tax adviser and is authorised by the company under a written agreement at the time of registration. The penalty for failure to register beneficial owners in the register of public sector partners is substantial, and may be as high as the entire financial benefit gained in any specific transaction with the state or a public entity. Where this benefit cannot be determined, the law allows a fine of up to 1 million. A fine of 10,000 to 100,000 may also be imposed on each individual member of the statutory body, and these persons may also be penalised by mandatory de-registration of any position they hold in the statutory body of any other company in which they hold such a position. The company and the members of its statutory body may also face criminal prosecution for these infringements concerning the register of public sector partners.



Daniel Futej Daniel Grigel

 2021 Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC. For help please see our FAQs.

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balance sheet

On January 21 2019, the Irish Consumer Protection (Regulation of Credit Servicing Firms) Act 2018 (Act) came into force. This Act radically alters the operation of the secondary acquisition, ownership and servicing of performing and non-performing Irish consumer loans, and certain small and medium enterprise (SME) loans (together, Relevant Loans).

The Act amends the existing Irish credit servicing regime introduced in 2015, by extending the scope of regulated activities. These originally comprised (in summary) loan administration and customer communication. The Act extends the scope to include:

The holding of legal title to Relevant Loans (Legal Title Holding); and,

Managing or administering the Relevant Loans, including by (i) determining the overall strategy for the management and administration of a portfolio of Relevant Loans or, (ii) maintaining key control over major decisions relating to such portfolios (Loan Portfolio Management, and, together with Legal Title Holding, Relevant Activities).

Immediate effects

Carrying on Relevant Activities without a credit servicing firm licence is now a criminal offence under Irish law. There are exemptions for certain National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) entities, and other persons which are deemed to be so licensed under the credit servicing regime. These include firms already authorised as credit servicing firms (there are eight such service providers), and regulated firms authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI), or by another comparable European Economic Area (EEA) competent authority, to provide credit in Ireland (Exempted Persons).

For any continuing and future sales of Relevant Loans, a prospective purchaser will need to ensure compliance with the Act in order to complete the acquisition. In broad terms, from a structuring perspective, all Relevant Activities will need to be carried on by an Exempted Person (eg, a bank, a retail credit firm or a retail credit servicing firm). Alternatively, a credit servicing firm licence will need to be obtained before closing (eg, for the acquisition vehicle and/or its investment manager).

In either situation, potentially difficult choices will need to be made by bidders.

Transitional provisions and existing portfolios

For existing portfolios, a three month transition period applies (which ends on April 21 2019). During this period, any entity carrying out Relevant Activities will need either to restructure its activities to bring itself outside the scope of the Act, or apply for a credit servicing firm authorisation.

Where an entity submits a complete authorisation application, it will be granted a transitional licence until the CBI ultimately grants or refuses the application. Any such transitional licence holder will in the meantime be subject to usual CBI powers of supervision.

Brexit and UK credit institutions

The Act contains latent Brexit risk in that UK credit institutions will not continue to qualify under the Act as Exempted Persons in a Brexit situation where the UK does not remain in the EEA. Without legislative change, any UK bank engaged in Relevant Activities will have to restructure its portfolio arrangements, or obtain a credit servicing authorisation to avoid breaching the Act.

Securitisation exemption

The Act contains a safe-harbour for a special purpose vehicle (SPV) issuer engaged in certain forms of primary and secondary securitisations of Relevant Loans. The securitisation must be risk retention compliant under the relevant EU rules, and the Exempted Person must hold legal title to the portfolio. While it is possible to structure both primary and secondary securitisations to fit these safe-harbour requirements, ultimately this merely clarifies that the SPV issuer in such a structure is not required to be authorised. In most cases, the issuer will not be engaged in any regulated activities anyway.

EU policy on regulation of the non-performing loans (NPL) market

The Act conflicts with the EU's proposed directive on credit servicers, credit purchasers and the recovery of collateral (NPL Directive) which was published in March 2018. The NPL Directive largely adopts the position in Ireland existing before the Act, and provides for the regulation of credit servicers  but not credit purchasers. While it imposes some secondary reporting obligations on credit purchasers, it makes it clear that there is no need to regulate loan purchasers (as they do not impose a systemic risk). The NPL Directive specifically provides that loan purchasers may not be subjected to additional requirements. If implemented, the NPL Directive would likely apply from 2021 at which point Ireland would be in breach of EU law unless the new regulatory regime for loan purchasers is repealed.

Callaghan Kennedy John Breslin

 2021 Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC. For help please see our FAQs.

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Lawyers and dealmakers from Morgan Stanley, AIG, JP Morgan and Allen & Overy speak to IFLR on trends, predictions and what keeps them busy ahead of our Asia M&A Forum.

For more information on the forum, to view the agenda, or to enquire about attending, please contact Umy Ng on umy.ng@euromoneyplc.com or +852 2842 6931.

What are the biggest trends in your market?

Marco Chung, regional head of legal, private funds & investment banking M&A, Morgan Stanley

The Chinese M&A market is slowing down.

Key areas that had been hot for Chinas private equity in the last 24 months, such as education, are not going anywhere. Thats partly down to recent changes in the law, and partly because parties cannot agree on valuation.

Will Gibson, M&A underwriter, AIG

We are seeing more and more interest in M&A insurance as buyers and sellers across Asia become aware of its value in helping to get their deals across the line. It proliferates the auction process, as buyers use M&A insurance as a means to differentiate their bids.

Historically, interest was driven largely by private equity, but we are seeing increasing appetite from trade buyers as their knowledge of the product has grown significantly in recent years.

We are writing policies across the region, but if I had to pick one market where we have seen particular growth recently, it would be South Korea, which is keeping us very busy at the moment.

Ying Liu, executive director, JP Morgan

JP Morgans 2019 Global M&A Outlook report suggests a continued resilience in the M&A market this year.

Companies are expected to continue to engage in M&A to drive growth and shareholder value, realising the benefits of unlocking value and refocusing on core assets through divestitures.

The deployment of capital from sources like pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, family offices and infrastructure funds will continue to stimulate the M&A market and increase competition between potential acquirers, leading to high asset values.

Connell ONeill, partner, Allen & Overy

My market is Asia-Pacific as a whole, but Im especially focused on the technology sector.

We are seeing more outbound interest from China, with a lot of capital flowing into southeast Asia. Chinese internet companies in particular are expanding their presence via investments, as well as building out organic platforms. US investors are also increasingly interested in east Asian technology companies.

What do you spend most of your time working on at the moment?

Marco Chung, Morgan Stanley

We are seeing a lot more action in India and Thailand. India is a difficult market for US-based general partners  not many of them have made money in this market, and there are potential corruption issues. For a small Indian deal, the effort and due diligence cost involved could be considerably more than what is spent on a similar Chinese deal.

Will Gibson, AIG

At AIG we underwrite a lot of deals. We were the first insurer to write M&A insurance in Asia and have an APAC M&A team of 10, with underwriters based in Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney and Melbourne.

It typically takes us five to 10 business days to underwrite a deal  though it can be much quicker if it needs to  and at any given time, our underwriters will each be working on up to five or six transactions. At the moment I am busy with deals in Singapore, Korea, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.

Ying Liu, JP Morgan

We work closely with corporates, private equity funds and M&A market practitioners to provide escrow solutions at various transaction stages  pre-closing, closing and post-closing  for complex, cross-border M&A transactions to help transaction principles mitigate risks in a cost-effective, time-efficient way.

Connell ONeill, Allen & Overy

I spend most of my time working on tech sector-related matters.

That includes advising on collaborations between non-tech and tech companies via commercial agreements and joint ventures, and helping incumbents in existing industries deal with disruption. This can involve a range of different transaction types, all centred on the theme of digitisation.

What do you think will be a key theme in Asia-Pacific M&A throughout 2019?

Marco Chung, Morgan Stanley

The above observations are likely to continue in the next 12 months: India and Thailand will continue to grow, and valuation issues will remain a problem.

Will Gibson, AIG

If I was any good at these, Id have retired by now! I think we at AIG will continue to see increasing interest in and understanding of M&A insurance as a deal facilitator, and plenty of deals getting done.

We also expect to see specific tax policies as a growth area. There is plenty of uncertainty surrounding the global economic outlook: IMF cutting global growth forecasts again, international trade tensions, Chinas economic slowdown, Brexit, and a cooling Aussie real-estate market. Yet we continue to experience strong demand for the product, and expect this trend to continue.

Ying Liu, JP Morgan

As M&A markets develop in Asia and as clients get more sophisticated in their deal structures, our escrow team is seeing a growth in appetite. We expect that to continue.

Connell ONeill, Allen & Overy

There are two big themes playing out regionally: payments and e-commerce.

We are also seeing more fintech businesses from jurisdictions like Indonesia. Chinese fintech companies funding rounds are getting bigger, and I think we will see more Asian unicorns outside of China.

In the past 12 months, collaborations in particular have grown, with a big rise in complex joint ventures between incumbents and newer tech companies.

IFLR's Asia M&A forum Marco Chung, Will Gibson, Ying Liu and Connell ONeill will all be speaking at IFLRs Asia M&A Forum on March 6-7 in Hong Kong, along with many others. For more information on the forum, to view the agenda, or to enquire about attending, please contact Umy Ng on umy.ng@euromoneyplc.com or +852 2842 6931.







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'It will close us down': Vape tax bill draws concerns from shop owners
Elm Street Lipton Mart Plans House Demolition for Parking

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Lipton Mart on Elm Street is looking to demolish a residential home on Livingston Avenue for more parking.

The company purchased the 1,200 square-foot home at 11 Livingston and is looking to add a half -dozen new spaces. The Zoning Board of Appeals granted a permit for the work on Wednesday.

"When all is said and done we'll gain six more spaces," said Bob Fournier of SK Design.

Fournier said there will be no alteration to the gas station and convenience store. But, the two curb cuts currently in existence will be consolidated, new lighting and a fence and landscaping will be done.

"The fewer curb cuts you have sometimes is better for circulation," Fournier said.

The plan calls for vehicles to be facing the store so headlights shouldn't be an issue, he said. But a new fence is being installed at the back of the property for noise.

"It is primarily a sound barrier more than anything," Fournier said.

Some neighbors did raise concerns with the project and Ward 3 Councilor Nicholas Caccamo reviewed the plans with them. Caccamo said the plan overall does fit with the characteristics of the area, which has had commercial properties encroaching on the residential area for years. But he did call on Lipton Mart to plant trees along the street instead of installing a raised planter.

The ZBA had concerns with the communication with the neighbors. Chairman Albert Ingegni admonished Fournier because Lipton Mart hadn't notified neighbors of the plan. Fournier said the company did attempt to reach out the abutters.

"You've got to reach out to the neighborhood," Ingegni said.

Lipton Mart had to go to the ZBA for a special permit because the project intrudes into a residentially zoned district. The company didn't have enough of a setback from the property lines required in a residential area, but enough for a commercial area.

Member John Fitzgerald disliked the project because it encroaches onto the residential area. He also had concerns over the circulation of traffic on the property.

"I have a little problem keep going into residential areas for parking," he said.

In the end, the board approved the permit.
El huracan Enrique se mantuvo en categoria 1, pero se intensificara en la proximas horas frente a las costas del estado de Jalisco, en el Pacifico mexicano, informo este domingo el Servicio Meteorologico Nacional (SMN).


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Hong Kong: CE meets Russian foreign minister

Chief Executive Carrie Lam today met Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov at Government House.

Welcoming Mr Lavrov's first visit to Hong Kong, Mrs Lam briefed him on the city's latest developments.

She said the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will bring massive opportunities to city. Hong Kong will play a key role in the initiative, especially in the development of a global innovation and technology hub in the bay area with Hong Kongs advantages.

Mrs Lam also noted Hong Kong and Russia have made good progress in the co-operation in various areas, with the total merchandise trade up more than 20% over 2017 to around $35.8 billion last year.

The Chief Executive said she looks forward to an early agreement on the promotion and protection of investment between both sides.

On Hong Kongs plan to set up an economic and trade office in Moscow, Mrs Lam said she is pleased to learn that the Russian Government has responded positively towards the proposal.

The office will take co-operation between the two places in economic affairs and trade, I&T and youth exchanges to a new level, she added.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-26. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Old stars live longer than we thought

Towards the end of their lives some 95% of stars evolve into red giants which lose their mass via a "stellar wind". Eventually they end up as planetary nebulae, ionized gas with a central hot star, a white dwarf.

Researchers form 14 European scientific institutions, among them the IAC, have detected the existence of a binary interaction which had not been noticed by the scientific community. This new research offers an alternative explanation to the high rates of mass loss which it was thought were present towards the end of the lives of the most massive giant stars.

The study, which is published today in the journal Nature Astronomy, show that these stars lose mass at a much slower rate than previously thought. The stellar wind is not stronger than usual, but it is affected by a companion star which had not been noticed until now, a second star orbiting around the red giant. The fact that this process is slower than expected has a major impact on our understanding of how stars end their lives. As a consequence of this discovery we find that the most massive giant star need a longer time to expel their chemically rich interiors into their environment, which affects the enrichment of the interstellar medium, and therefore the chemical evolution of galaxies.

The only observatory which could provide detailed information about the disconcerting superwind in the last phase of the lives of the most massive stars is ALMA (Atacama Large Millimetre/Submillimetre Array), in the Atacama desert (Chile)."The data show a spiral structure which show that these stars are not individual have a binary companion" explains Anibal Garcia Hernandez, a researcher at the IAC and at the ULL, a co-author of the article. He adds "The interaction with its companion gives rise to a rather complex morphology, in the form of an incomplete spiral. Previous data lacked the spatial resolution and the sensitivity given by ALMA and did not allow astronomers to find the characteristics associated with a binary star"

The interpretation of the ALMA observations has shown in a convincing way that the last evolutionary phase of these old stars is not characterized by a short-lived "extreme superwind" but rather by a "normal wind" which lasts much longer. In other words "old stars take longer to die" or as a slogan "old stars live longer".

Now the scientific community will see if the existence of a binary companion could explain the behaviour of other particular red giants. "We thought that many stars lived alone, but we will probably have to change our ideas" explains Leen Decin, the first author on the article, who is a Professor at the Catholic University of Louvain. She concludes "It is probable that a star with a binary companion is more common than we had thought".

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Scientific article: L. Decin, W. Homan, T. Danilovich, A. de Koter, D. Engels, L. B. F. M. Waters, S. Muller, C. Gielen, D. A. Garcia-Hernandez, R. J. Stancliffe, M. Van de Sande, G. Molenberghs, F. Kerschbaum, A. A. Zijlstra and I. El Mellah. 'Reduction of the maximum mass-loss rate of OH/IR stars due to unnoticed binary interaction', Nature Astronomy. DOI: 10.1038/s41550-019-0703-5

This story has been published on: 2019-02-25. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.